Mari and John sat across from each in the cafeteria. John had a fixed frown on his face and refused to make eye contact with her. Mari just simply observed him as she sipped away at a soda.
Eventually, Mari let out a sigh, "Alright, you gonna can tell me what you did to Shayera?"
"I didn't do anything to her," she reached over and punched him hard on the arm. "What was that for?" He asked indignantly as he rubbed his now sore arm.
"What was my number one rule?" She rhetorically asked him. "Never lie to me. Now, what did you do to her?"
In the interest of self-preservation, John decided to amend his previous answer, "None of your damn business."
"She's my friend so it most certainly is my business," she glared at him.
"It's nothing I want to talk with you about. It's between me and Shayera."
"She looked very unhappy and I don't like it when my friends aren't happy."
John shrugged, "She'll get over it. She always does."
Mari deepened her glare towards him and frowned, "I can just go talk to Shayera. Do you want me to do that instead? Believe me, I'd love to talk to her more than you."
"She wouldn't tell you anything. She won't even tell me anything," John replied with light scowl.
"Oh so that's what it is. She finally told you, didn't she?" Mari asked as John looked a bit confused. She carefully looked around before leaning towards him as she quietly said, "So she told you about her pregnancy and I'm guessing it didn't go well."
John raised an eyebrow, "Why is it that even you know about it? Does everyone in the League except for me know?"
"Look," Mari began as she stirred her drink with the straw. "I only know because Shayera came to me for my opinion and advice. Otherwise I wouldn't know at all."
John then gave her an incredulous look, "She came to you for advice?"
Mari gave him an unamused look, "Yes she did. She didn't know how to tell you and asked me how to go about it since I know you as well as she does. It doesn't take much for me to guess that you probably overreacted like some idiot. Though, I did warn her that the longer she kept it a secret, the worse it would be. Surprise, surprise I was right."
John swallowed as he looked down. Shayera had been telling the truth in the regard that she was going to tell him. John sighed, "Look I just don't get why she thought she couldn't just come and tell me."
"Most women don't tell their significant other the very day they find out. They have to sort through their own emotions as well. You're not the first this has happened to. You do realize that she most likely felt shocked and terrified along with a million other emotions when she found out?"
"I...I didn't think of that," John admitted as he looked down. He didn't think about that at all. Shayera was from a war-like planet. She knew how to fight, not to nurture. He sighed as he looked back up at Mari, "You're right but that doesn't justify what she did or said. It's not just that she kept the pregnancy from me. I can get over that. It's the fact that she can't just talk to me."
"Well when you get back together with someone and say it's not because of destiny, it can put a few thoughts in the person's mind," Mari then paused. "She told me about how you went to the future and saw your future son with her. She told me the whole story."
None of that was any of Mari's business. John found himself scowling once more, "We got back together because we wanted to, not because some destiny dictated it to us that we had to."
"And that's why she was worried about telling you," Mari quietly stated. "She was afraid you would see it that way. That it was all due to destiny and not anything else. She knows how much you didn't want to follow that path."
"What?" John asked in pure confusion. "What is Shayera talking about?"
Never once did he or Shayera discuss the topic of having kids since they got back together. The only time John could remember the topic of kids coming up between them had been back when she was still Hawkgirl and she had made an offhanded comment. John knew since then that Shayera wanted kids but she never once had asked what he wanted. Though the topic was seemingly taboo after he had told her about seeing Rex. The last time Rex had even been mentioned was when they got back together. Ever since then his potential existence was something neither of them mentioned to the other.
"Look, Shayera thinks you don't want to have kids with her because of you seeing Rex and then telling her that you didn't want to be destiny's puppet," Mari said to him sternly. "You put that thought into her head."
John swallowed as he avoided looking at Mari. She was right. He had inadvertently put that idea into the Thanagarian's head. He also was beginning to feel even more guilty. He had partially told Shayera about Rex to get even with her; to break her heart as she had done to him. He knew how much she wanted kids and that she still loved him. He dangled that little bit of hope right in her face before snatching it away just as quickly as it had appeared before her.
That wasn't including the guilt from now. He had insulted Shayera to her very core by calling her a filthy hawk out of spite and anger. Though even John couldn't lie that he did hate the Thanagarians after everything that had happened but he didn't and could never hate her. Then there was the fact that, knowing Shayera, her nervousness and anxiety were eating away at her which was most likely the cause of her flighty behavior recently. She needed him right now and he wasn't there for her.
But then John remembered what she herself had said and he hoped it had been out of anger as well. John also knew that humans were physically inferior to Thanagarians yet, until today, he never heard Shayera say anything derogatory about humans. Even after the Thanagarian Invasion and everything she went through on a daily basis, she never once badmouthed humans.
He also worried about her comments about having a 'wingless half-breed'. Did Shayera really view their child that lowly? Shayera did after all make her offhanded comment about wanting to have kids during a period of time that her returning to Thanagar was a very good possibility. John realized there was a very good chance Shayera hadn't envisioned staying on Earth with him all of those years ago.
A realization suddenly clicked in his mind and made John become consumed with worry. Was this why Shayera was still on active duty? Did she not care at all what happened to herself at this point? Or, perhaps, she was hoping something would happen. John hoped this wasn't the case. He honestly didn't believe Shayera would stoop that low but, then again, she did seem disgusted by the thought of having a half-human, half-Thanagarian hybrid.
"John?" The Green Lantern was snapped out of his thoughts by Mari.
"What?" He asked in a confused tone.
Mari sighed, "Great now you're spacing out. It's bad enough we have Shayera doing that."
John swallowed and took a deep breath, "Mari can I ask you something?"
Mari raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly, "About what?"
"When Shayera came to you for your advice, did she seem happy at all that she was pregnant?"
Mari stayed silent for a few moments before answering, "Honestly, she was the happiest I've ever seen her. It was like someone threw a neon sign on her. She was practically overflowing with joy. It was admittedly a little weird to see her like that."
John snorted to himself as he felt some relief, "I should have known that wouldn't have changed."
"What wouldn't change?" Mari asked him.
John waved her off, "Just a very, very old conversation that came up between us when Shayera was still Hawkgirl."
Mari shrugged at his answer, "Alright, now just tell me what happened after she told you."
John rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away, "She didn't tell me. Batman did; he blurted it out in front of all of the other founders."
Mari groaned, "That moron."
"You're telling me. Anyway, I confronted Shayera about it. It ended up turning into an argument between us."
"Surprise, surprise," Mari sarcastically muttered with an eyeroll. "You're just as stubborn as Shayera which is probably why you guys argue so much in the first place. You know that right?"
John crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, "I know that. I don't need a reminder Mari. I tried to stop her from leaving. That's when she punched me. I didn't think she was that angry at me. Thankfully she still pulled her punch a bit."
"She punched you because?" Mari gestured for him to continue.
"I...I indirectly called her a filthy hawk," John replied with a heavy sigh. "I was just so angry and it just felt right to say."
"You wanna know what I think?" Mari asked as she rest her chin on top of her hands. "Because it seems pretty clear to me."
"No, not really but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."
"I think you're afraid of being hurt by her again; so you hurt Shayera more than she could possibly hurt you. You did a little revenge treatment on her. You wanted her to know what it felt like. You also wanted her to know that you do hate her just a little bit."
"No, that's not true!" He argued. "I would never do that to her; I love her!"
"The thing is, Shayera wouldn't have ever walked out on you like that. You pushed her to do that. You deeply hurt her and she had ever right to do what she did. I'm not condoning what she did though. I'm sure Shayera had her say of things as well knowing that temper of hers. We both know how she says things without thinking."
"She's a loose cannon with her temper," John quietly agreed. "What should have we done then instead of letting everything blowup like it did?"
"I think part of the blame is on Shayera for not telling you to begin with and waiting," Mari said flatly. "And this situation wouldn't have spiraled out of control the way it did. I don't think either of you did the right thing at the time. At this point though it doesn't matter who's right or wrong. What matters is what's going on in your heart and what's going on in Shayera's heart. You may not always agree with each other but you need to realize that love is more powerful than any argument you might have. You want her as much as she wants you. You both need to prove that to each other. You also need to make her see that she can easily and freely talk to you."
With that, Mari left. She'd done her best, now it was up to John.
To say Shayera was angry would have been an understatement as she paced around her room in the Watchtower. She couldn't currently get to Batman and kill him slowly. She just wanted to pound his head in with her own fists at this point.
That's when she stopped pacing and frowned. She had taken her anger out when she first walked into the room. She ended up punching and leaving a hole in the wall.
She began to pace once again as she clenched and unclenched her fists repeatedly. She desperately needed an outlet for her pent up anger at this point before she went off on the next person that she saw.
Her commlink went off and Shayera felt her stomach drop as her breath caught in her throat.
"Shayera," she was both relieved and disappointed when she heard Mister Terrific on the other end. "We got a situation in the Gulf of Mexico. Giganta, Silver Swan, Abra Kadabra, and Black Mass are holding a cargo shipping dock hostage. Up to being mission leader?"
Shayera sighed, "Yeah alright, I'll be down there in a minute."