War Room: Songs and Memories.
Author: Erika
Feedback: [email protected]

Pairing: None
Disc: The characters are property of DC comics and their associated companies. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston.
Rating: PG
Beta: Pollyanna. 
Summary: Dswynne put up a challenge/request on the Wonder Woman's message board. This is challenge number 1: A quiet moment between Diana and Hippolyte in the WW trophy room.

~oo00oo~

Among the debris that surrounded her, the only thing that remained untouched was the Wonder Woman lunch box that lay on the ground. Years ago, Myndi Mayer's PR firm had approved the production and sale of various Wonder Woman merchandise. At the time, Diana had been slightly aghast at seeing both her face and name on items unrelated to her mission but in time she had learned the value of marketing one's cause. She had even brought back some of the memorabilia to show her mother who had put the items on display in the War Room.

Diana picked up the lunch box and looked around at her once proud home. At the buildings that were destroyed and at the dust that still refused to settle. They had saved the planet but at what cost? So many of her Amazon sisters lay dead or injured.

And they had lost their Queen.

"You are not Wonder Woman." Her words, spoken to her mother in anger, kept repeating themselves in her mind. 

Diana closed her eyes, tightly blinking back the tears. 

She hadn't meant ...

She turned around and walked back in the direction of the square, dropping the lunch box to the ground.

Just a few months ago, before the civil war, she had paid a visit to Themyscira. The other Amazons had informed her the Queen was spending some quiet time alone in the War Room. As she entered the building and walked down its long corridor filled with mementoes of Wonder Woman's time in the Patriarch world she could hear music from the end of the hallway. Jazz. Billie Holiday to be precise.

"Mother?" Diana had called out. She could hear someone humming down the hallway and as she approached the open room Diana watched as her mother gently swayed to the music, a smile on her lips.

Diana coughed softly and Hippolyte quickly turned around. A blush rose along the Queen's cheek. Hippolyte ran her hand through her long curly hair, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. 

Diana smiled. She could hardly remember a time when she had caught her mother unaware, acting -- well -- unlike a Queen.

It had been a day filled with surprises. Memorable ones.

That day they had talked. Truly talked. Like mother and daughter. Like women. Like equals, who both wore the Wonder Woman mantle. They had shared stories on things that still confused them about the world outside their home and for the first time they had talked about men. 

She had told her mother about Superman and the one thousand years spent fighting by his side, while her mother had related her growing respect for the Justice Society heroes, in particular for Jay Garrick, the Flash.

And just as the day had changed into night Diana had shared with Hippolyte her most guarded secret. In the future she would have a son -- Jonathan.

Upon hearing this news her mother had stared at her in shock and slowly Diana had found herself recalling the events that led to her meeting her future son.

So often in the past their role as Queen and princess had interfered with their ability to connect as women. Except for that day. A day she could never have back. Could now never be repeated.

"You are not Wonder Woman." Words said in anger to be regretted forever.

"Mother forgive me." Diana said quietly. Silence surrounded her. Silence was her answer.

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