Shayera has heard that the first time is the hardest, but she barely considers it when it happens. She’s practiced alone; too much rides on her performance to permit imperfection.

Second, third, twentieth, these bring no pain. She learns to avoid and to coax.

The thirty-fifth time, in the darkness of the medlab, she discovers it is not as easy, not with John. For the brief time they share together after, she does her best to abstain and he doesn’t push.

The last time is in the Batcave. "It wasn’t personal," she says, and the lie punctures her soul.