As Shayera continued to stitch Nightwing's left side a pleasant silence fell in the room which unlike before was broken this time by Dick.

"It is obvious that the bullet was extracted from my body." the Thanagarian nodded in confirmation even though it wasn't a real question. "It was you?" the acrobat asked curiously.

Dick had been asking this question for some time and he sincerely wished he knew the answer.

"Yes. I was the one who operated on you and took the bullet out of your body." Shayera said quietly, secretly curious about Nightwing's reaction.

The last Flying Grayson raised both eyebrows under his mask in surprise, not expecting such a response. "Can you also perform surgical operations?" asked the surprised and impressed Bludhaven vigilante.

"I am not a real surgeon but I have already performed several operations on my army comrades to save their lives." she shrugged, a small smile when she noticed Nightwing's impressed look. "It doesn't bother you that I operated on you, does it?" she asked fearing to know the answer (although she didn't even know why).

"Of course not!" Dick answered immediately without any hint of doubt or lie in his voice and Shayera gave a small smile as she continued her work. "I was just surprised: that's all."

"I assumed that since you are a hero and must keep your civilian identity a secret for the welfare of yourself and your loved ones, I figured I couldn't take you to a hospital since I was sure there would be some too curious doctors. Also, just to be sure, I also cleaned your blood from the fight site."

Nightwing smiled. "You did the right thing, Shayera."

Shayera felt warmth creep into her chest and spread throughout her body. Not knowing how to react to that, she mumbled a quick thank you before they both fell into another pleasant silence again.

After a few minutes Shayera had finished her work and she gave a slight proud smile before glaring at Nightwing. "Now stay on that couch before you tear your fists apart again otherwise you'll manage next time!" she seriously threatened.

Nightwing peacefully raised his hands in the air and he smiled at her. "At your orders, Captain!"

Shayera couldn't hold back the amused snort that escaped her lips, which made the hero's smile widen. The Thanagarian glared at him before turning and flying to the shelves where she stored all the tools.

Dick Grayson lay down on the couch and put his hands behind his head. "You know, I didn't thank you for saving my life." Shayera whirled around with a confused and surprised expression. "Thank you, Shayera."

Shayera stared at him with a surprised look for a couple of long seconds, which made the vigilante slightly nervous. "Are you serious?" she finally said.

"Huh? What?" he asked intelligently.

"Are you seriously thanking me when if it wasn't for you we'd still be in the hands of those two killers now?"

Dick opened his mouth but he was preceded by the Thanagarian who kept talking.

"I'm the one who has to thank you. You saved my life, Nightwing, and for that I can never thank you enough."

"Well, you saved my life right after so I assume we saved each other's lives." smiled Nightwing.

Shayera smiled back slightly before flashing a full blown smile, her blue eyes twinkling slightly.

Nightwing held his breath at the sight of Shayera grinning broadly: it was as if her smile could light up the whole world and the sight of it warmed his chest with an unknown but welcome emotion.

"Would you really have done that?" Shayera asked after a moment of them staring at each other. "Let you torture for me, I mean." she explained to the confused look of the hero.

"Yes."

"Even if you wouldn't have been able to free yourself?"

"If that meant that you would be fine and unharmed for as long as possible, then yes: I would have done it without hesitation."

"After you freed yourself you could have easily run away and saved yourself."

"I did not."

"Instead you decided to face two ruthless and highly trained assassins alone to save me."

"I did it."

"You volunteered to be tortured for me and then faced them alone when the odds were against you."

"Yes."

"And you would have given your life to save mine?"

"Without any doubt. I would do it again every single time."

Shayera found no lie in his voice and she believed him. "But why?" she asked in frustration. "We are enemies: why should you die for me?"

Shayera could not understand this and it frustrated her more than she would ever admit. She had been asking this question ever since Nightwing had taken a bullet for her.

Why would he do such a thing?

"Is this really who we are? Are we really enemies?"

"Well, I'm helping my people conquer your planet." Shayera pointed out flatly.

"Then you could have let me bleed to death in that warehouse if you truly considered me your enemy." said Dick with a shrug. "Instead you pushed yourself beyond the limits of your possibilities and made sure that I survived and on top of that you also operated on me."

"Well then." Shayera rolled her eyes. "You're right, I can't consider you my enemy. Not after everything you've done for me. But that doesn't mean we've become best friends. So why would you risk your life for me? Because is your hero work?"

"Not just for that." the first Robin sighed and stared directly at Shayera who was waiting patiently. "Because you are a good person, Shayera."

The Thanagarian's eyes widened, surprised by the hero's response.

"Maybe you don't see it but I can assure you that you are a good person, Shayera."

"How can you say that when you don't even know me?" scoffed Shayera.

"Because you and I are much more alike than you might think." he said in the most serious voice she heard coming from him.

"What?"

"We both underwent a lot of tough training from a young age, we both saw and witnessed things most people couldn't handle, we both fight, breathe and shed blood to protect our respective peoples. I could list other reasons for hours as well. Trust me when I say we are very similar."

"I doubt you killed." Shayera murmured softly but he heard it anyway.

Nightwing smirked somberly that made her shiver slightly. "Does it count as a kill if the bastard is dead because I beat him to death but my father saved him at the last moment?"

Shayera didn't know what the fuck to say.

She had already understood that Nightwing did not kill and that this concept has been implanted in him since he was young (probably by this Batman).

So she absolutely didn't want to know what the heck this "bastard" did to the point of pushing Nightwing to beat him to death by killing him.

Maybe she would know another time.

"We're getting a little off topic." the twenty year old chuckled but Shayera noticed that the laugh was more forced than usual.

She didn't like how it sounded.

"Basically, I would have given my life for yours either because I'm a hero but that's only 1% of the reason. You're a good person Shayera, and I've kind of grown fond of you too." Nightwing admitted, averting his gaze so that she wouldn't notice his sudden blush.

Was it him or was it suddenly much warmer?

Shayera gasped at his admission and she could feel her face warm noticeably.

What the hell was happening to her?

As the silence that had fallen between them grew more awkward she cleared her throat. "I suppose you could be much worse."

Nightwing turned to her, his blush subsiding, and he sent her a bright smile that made her heart beat faster.

She just told herself that it was nothing of importance.

Suddenly the hero of Bludhaven frowned and he stared at the Thanagarian. "Now that it crossed my mind, what on earth triggered that massive shock wave that blew us all out of Washington?"

Shayera contemplated to herself whether to give him an honest answer or to lie to him. Finally she mentally shrugged and she opted for the first choice. "It was a weapon that we were able to build thanks to the Nth Metal and with other Earth minerals that we were able to recover."

Dick let out an impressed and interested murmur that caused the beautiful woman to smile slightly and the two fell into another silence.

…

"So… now?"

The last Flying Grayson looked at her curiously. "Now what?"

"I think now I should track down and return to my army comrades." she murmured ignoring his question.

Richard stiffened.

Dick didn't want Shayera to go back to the other Thanagarians.

If before he was absolutely sure that Shayera had a real heart and that unlike the others she didn't want to conquer the Earth, now he would have bet both of his legs on it.

Dick not only was certain that Shayera didn't want to take over the Earth but he also knew that she was a woman who would do anything to defend innocent people and she would be a great superhero and a great addition to the Justice League.

The former Robin did not doubt this even for a second.

Also if that meant Dick would get a chance to see her often, it was just a double win.

"And would you like to leave me all alone?" Nightwing joked, mentally going over everything he could have told her to stay with him.

Shayera stared at him and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not your babysitter." she declared dryly.

"Obviously not. However as you said I can't move without risking tearing my stitches. You don't want all your hard work to go to waste and I bleed to death afterwards, do you?" he asked innocently.

Shayera continued to stare at him impassively, not buying his act in the slightest. Instead of sending him to hell and walking away to go back to her people (as the rational side of her was prompting her to do), she found herself sighing deeply and grumbling in defeat.

"Well. But you try to annoy me too much and I'll throw you out a window." she seriously threatened him.

Nightwing smiled and she was pretty sure he had winked behind her mask. "You wouldn't do it because you would hurt me badly and you couldn't hurt your new friend, could you?"

"Friend?" she repeated incredulously.

"Yes friend. Why, after everything we've been through together, aren't we friends?" Nightwing asked innocently, his bottom lip starting to quiver slightly.

Shayera couldn't believe her eyes. Nightwing, a ferocious hero unafraid to sacrifice his life for that of others… pouted at her?

Now she must be dreaming.

Also because the aforementioned pout was actually working on her.

Was Shayera, trained from birth to be a fierce warrior with no hesitation in killing anyone, Captain of the Thanagarian army who has participated in many violent wars against other alien peoples, giving in to a frown of a human?

A Human being able to effortlessly take down multiple Thanagarians at the same time and two dangerous assassins with wounds all over his body but these were just details.

It is not fair.

How can a grown man pout and make her resolve and inner strength waver when said man was wearing a goddamn mask?

The Thanagarian let out a defeated sigh. "Okay, we're friends." she grumbled.

Shayera ignored the fact that the bright smile she got from him was beautiful and capable of lighting up the entire galaxy and that it filled her chest with welcome warmth.

Shayera ignored how she longed for her and Nightwing to be friends.

Shayera ignored all of this and she just smiled back at him, suddenly much more content and lighthearted than she had ever been in her entire life.