Chapter 3
Diana stopped dancing and looked over Clark's shoulder. Sure enough, the young woman that Clark had brought home had her eyes open and was watching them intently. Diana felt a rush of wind blow through her hair as Clark hurriedly released his hold on Diana's hips and shot over to kneel beside the girl.
"Hello" he said to her softly. "I'm Clark. I'm sure you've already heard of Wonder Woman" he signalled to Diana and the princess gave her a small wave; she realised that she was still in her Amazon gear and so Clark had no choice but to introduce her as her superhero alter-ego. Clark continued. "You're safe here. Is there anything you need?" The young lady began to slowly sit up. She was clearly exhausted and when she tried to speak only a pained croaking was able to escape from her mouth. Diana hadn't moved from the position she was in before Clark had stopped dancing; something wasn't quite right about that woman. Now, however, she forced herself to see the world like Superman did and simply tried to see a person in need of help.
"I'm going to go out and get us some food, Clark." Diana said, backing out of the window. "Is there anything else that you need?"
"No thank you, Wonder Woman; the food will be enough" then he added "fly safely". Diana smiled. She was still a little on edge but Clark's words had gone some way to reassuring her. She never wanted to be defined by her relationship with Clark, and she certainly wasn't, but she found that he had a remarkable way of soothing her nerves. She flew off to collect food for the three of them. Perhaps I'll bring back some meringues, Diana thought to herself.
When Diana returned she found that the girl was now sitting up on the sofa, still wrapped in a sheet, and drinking some sort of hot drink that Clark had presumably made for her. She jumped as Diana landed in the room.
"I'm sorry to startle you" Diana said "but I have some food. We thought that you might be hungry". She lay five boxes of pizza down on the table and justified each option to the girl as she opened the boxes: "one pepperoni pizza, in case you like meat, one olive pizza, in case you like olives, one anchovy pizza, in case you like fish, and two Hawaiian pizzas…"
"In case you like Hawaiians" Clark finished Diana's sentence and threw his hands in the air with a beaming smile as if to congratulate his own wit. The woman was completely unresponsive and Diana just gave him a glare.
"What?!" Clark said, feigning innocence. "Seriously, how was that sentence going to end? There's just no justification for putting pineapples on a pizza". Diana kept quiet. She knew that there really was no justification for putting pineapples on a pizza, but secretly a Hawaiian pizza was her favourite anyway. Once she had laid the food out for the girl she turned her attention to Clark and slowly walked up to him. She whispered so only he could hear her.
"Have you learnt anything yet?" Diana asked "about how she ended up on the street or got that bruise on her face I mean?" She gently touched his arm.
"No" Clark said, hanging his head. "I can't get her to say a single word to me and I don't want to force her. She'll speak when she feels ready. Besides," he continued "at least I got her to drink that hot chocolate. She wouldn't drink any of the water I gave her, and I offered it five separate times, whenever she coughed". He motioned to an empty glass that was sitting on his kitchen island as if to prove his point.
"If she didn't drink any of the water then why is that glass empty?" Diana asked, confused.
"Well," Clark said smiling "every time she declined a glass, I drank it. Which explains why I'm now bursting for the loo. Won't be a sec!" he told Diana as he rushed over to the bathroom with that stupid grin on his face. Diana decided to walk over to the sofa to take a slice of pizza. She looked at the girl and smiled awkwardly. They sat in silence for a moment, Diana with her pizza and the girl with her hot chocolate.
"Hi" said the woman suddenly, making Diana jump out of her seat and nearly spill pieces of pineapple all down her armour. Her voice was quiet but Diana hadn't expected her to say anything at all. Hadn't Clark said that she hadn't even muttered a single word in all the time that they'd been alone together? Why was she suddenly talking now? Say something, Diana, quickly she thought to herself.
"Hi" Diana said tentatively. The woman looked down at her feet with a shy smile. After a brief pause:
"I'm sorry that I've interrupted your evening" the girl said "and come to your apartment. I'd leave now if I could, I just…" the girl held her stomach and Diana could see pain in her eyes. "You have such a lovely boyfriend". Diana smiled and took another look at the girl. She was right, Clark really was the best. The girl continued, trying to find another line of conversation: "It must be pretty cool to be Wonder Woman" she said, looking up now, but still with a hint of nervousness. "I bet you never have to take crap from any guys huh?" She brought her hand up to touch the left side of her face, where the bruise was. She flinched slightly; obviously it still hurt her. She looked back down at the floor and hunched up her shoulders, almost as if she was trying to envelope herself and keep her protected from the outside world. Diana softened, but she still had no idea what to say. The woman was right, Diana had never been beaten to defeat by anyone, let alone a measly Earth male. She wished that she could have said something to comfort her. If only one of my sisters were here to help Diana thought. Themyscira was a nation of women who had been the subject of great atrocities at the hands of men. They may not be able to show the woman the path to healing, but at least they could have shown her that she wasn't alone.
"My name's Mara by the way" the girl said to the Themysciran princess.
"I'm Diana" Diana replied with a smile, before kicking herself for revealing her secret identity.
"That's right," Mara said "I heard your boyfriend call you Diana when you two were dancing together" and then she added, with an embarrassed look, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spy on you. I just… I woke up and I didn't know where I was, and then I saw Wonder Woman dancing right in front of my eyes. I didn't know if I could speak, so I just sat there. I'm sorry".
"You don't have to be sorry" Diana said, just glad that it was Clark who was at fault for revealing her secret identity rather than herself, "just don't tell anybody, okay?" Both Mara and Diana smiled. There were a few moments of silence whilst they both reached for a slice of pizza. Diana didn't say anything, but she was glad that Mara was eating. Something was still a little off about her, Diana thought, but maybe Clark was right about the people here: maybe there was more good in them than they knew.
After a little while Diana realised that she had to say something, but what? Did Mara want to talk more about how she ended up in the alley? Luckily, Diana wasn't forced to make the decision. Clark walked back into the living room. He was a little surprised to see Diana sitting so close to the girl. He'd gotten the impression that she wasn't overly keen of her. He also noticed, as Diana turned her head to face him, that there was an unusual expression on Diana's face; he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"How are you both?" Clark said, mainly to Mara. Diana was the one who replied.
"We're doing well actually, Clark. Mara here has just started talking."
"Oh" Clark said, looking first at Diana and then Mara. "Hello, Mara" he said, politely emphasising her name, "it's nice to see that you're talking and eating again. Is there anything else we can do for you?" Mara just stayed sitting absolutely still, her eyes almost glazed over. Diana noticed that she was doing the hunching thing with her shoulders again. Diana was happy to have Clark back in the room - she was a little nervous about the extent of her compassion on her own - but she could clearly see the shift in Mara's posture and behaviour.
"Maybe you should go, Clark" Diana said tentatively, her eyes fixed on Mara's the entire time. "She seemed to be more relaxed when you weren't in the room". Clark's face shifted, only slightly, but Diana noticed it easily. It hurt him to see that the person whom he had saved wouldn't even talk to him. Of course both him and Diana knew that he could hear what they were saying from miles away, but he felt that that wasn't important. The pain that had flashed across Clark's face so very momentarily was quickly replaced with a smile.
"Alright" Clark said, "I have to go out and grab a few things anyway. I'll be back soon". Then he mouthed to Diana "are you alright?" Diana nodded and Clark left. Mara's shoulders immediately relaxed.
"I'm sorry" Mara said, noticeably embarrassed, "I don't know what comes over me. My mind knows that I want to talk, but as soon as I see him my body just tightens up and I start screaming at myself inside my head. Please apologise for me. Look at me: sitting in his apartment, drinking his hot chocolate and I won't even talk to him. I hope I haven't made him upset - there's not many good ones left".
"Clark'll be fine" Diana said, "he's a strong guy. Now that he's gone, would you like to talk some more about what happened to you? You know, with the..." Diana motioned to the left side of her face.
"Oh right" Mara started "It's my boyfriend. He's done stuff like this before but it's never gotten quite so out of hand".
"He's beaten you before?" asked Diana, anger building up inside her as she thought of the man who would voluntarily inflict such pain on another human being. Sometimes she wondered why Clark even bothered to protect this planet. "Then why are you still with him?"
"Because I love him" Mara said, with a stoic tone, "no matter what he does, no matter what he says, I'll never love anybody else". This angered Diana even more than the man who had beaten her. Here was this beautiful young girl who, only hours ago, had been lying cold, beaten and starving on the pavement in the street because of the actions of a man, and even now she was still willing to forgive, and worse, love him. Diana was now finding it hard to sympathise with the girl. "And will you still go back to him…" she continued "even now?" Diana asked, trying to hold herself back. The girl paused for a moment.
"Yes" she said, finally. "I know you think I'm weak, but I'm not. I'm forgiving. And I'm forgiving because I love him and he loves me. We're a part of one another and he's my favourite part of me. I don't know what I'd be without him". Just before Diana was about to rise to her feet in rage she stopped for a moment. She stopped to do something that she'd never done before when she'd felt fury heaving through her veins. Something in the back of her head was telling her to think. Could I end up like this? Diana thought. If I continue with Clark the way I'm going, will I fall in love with him like this? Will I lose all reason? Perhaps it is a lie, it occurred to Diana, that love could be innocent. Just as she was about to follow that line of thought to its logical end her league communicator started beeping. It was the watchtower.
"This is Wonder Woman" she said into the device.
"Wonder Woman", it was cyborg "scanners are showing that Superman has engaged an unknown assailant in downtown Metropolis. You're the only league member within range. He's going down hard, Diana. Superman needs your help". She didn't need to be told twice. Metropolis was in danger. Clark was in danger. Her pondering on love could wait.
"Stay here" she said forcefully to Mara. "I'll be back". And the woman of gold soared out of the window and into the night sky. I'm coming, Clark.
