No Goodbye for this Diana

Summary: There was one Princess Diana for this real world. But there is another Princess Diana in the DC Universe, and she is currently at Wembley, watching the Concert for Diana…without her Knight. A tribute to Lady Diana Spencer and Diana of Themyscira, the two Wonder Women in my life. Thanks to Hepburn for the great beta.

Rate: K+

-xxx-

"I suspect everything is in order, Sir?" the indifferent tone of Alfred Pennyworth somehow startled me as I entered the living room. I should have expected such a reception from my surrogate father/butler/personal assistant whatever, who currently fixed his eyes upon the 40" TV screen, but I still felt nudged in the heart. I did not answer him directly; instead, I followed his gaze on the TV. Donny Osmond, Jason Donovan and Lee Mead were singing Any Dream Will Do, and the entire audience at Wembley sang with him. Including both Princes William and Harry, some English royalties, dignitaries from other countries… and my own Princess Diana.

My own Princess, Diana of Themyscira, who was sitting – no, now she stood up and danced – in the VVIP box only a few meters away from the Royal Box. She was gorgeous as ever in her simple white Grecian tunic; a red shawl was draped on her shoulder like a cape protecting her from the cold evening wind of London. She was sitting next to Queen Audrey of Kasnia, but the other seat next to her was empty. Because it was reserved for me.

"I suppose the Penguin case is well-handled, Sir?" the dry question again.

I sat next to Alfred, who was now taking time to glance for a fraction of a second at me. I cleared my throat.

"Yes… Commissioner Gordon said that the case was solved sooner than he thought… so he did not need the Batman anymore."

"Hence, here you are."

"Hence, here I am."

"With nothing to do… but to assist me in watching the TV."

"Exactly."

"Though, with all due respect, I am more than capable of watching TV without any assistance."

I said nothing. Arguing with Alfred was never fruitful… for he knew exactly where to hit me to the ground. Besides, he had said enough this evening, when he found out that I would not go to London with Diana (my Diana) to attend the Concert for Diana (Diana Spencer, that English Princess).

"It's just Penguin, Sir…" he had reminded me then. "Robin and Batgirl could handle that bloke."

"It's my city," I growled as I put on my cowl. Diana had left a few minutes ago in dismay. She usually understood if I cancel our date at the last minute, but not this time. I had promised to accompany her to the concert (Diana was a VVIP guest and, coincidentally, I was too), but I canceled as she arrived in the cave, on the argument that Penguin had decided to ransack the Gems and Crystals exhibition in Gotham Museum.

"And it is well protected," Alfred persisted. "Miss Dinah is even in town if you need her, and I am sure she will be glad to help."

"I don't need Black Canary to safeguard my city, Alfred," I strode down the cave to the Batmobile.

"Seemingly not, Sir… especially if you are running away from your promises."

I stopped and turned to glare at Alfred. To no avail, of course, for he just spun on his heel and walked away.

And now…His Royal Highness' steam did not seem to abate as he sat rigidly next to me. I sighed and slouched to the sofa.

"It's useless, Alfred. The concert is almost over. I will be late even if I leave now."

"Not if you use the JLA teleport tube. The real question is… do you want to?"

He was right. The real question was, do I want to go to London? I pursed my lips and turned my attention to the TV. It was the 'Diana & me' video presentation now… presenting an HIV positive young woman who had met the Princess of Wales about twelve years ago, had been touched by her compassion, and now still lived to tell the story.

'The first time I met Princess Diana…' the woman said, 'I was desperate and on the verge of committing suicide. Then, she came to me and held my hands… and without a single word, just a smile, she lifted up my spirit. As my gaze fell on those deep blue eyes…I felt peace. And when she finished her visit that day, I was practically a new person with renewed spirit.' The woman then stopped to wipe her tears. After struggling to smile, she resumed, 'I always wanted to see her again…just to tell her, to show her how I was becoming a better person now… But she had left us too early… and I could only say goodbye to Diana, our beautiful Rose, without showing her how she had changed my life…'

The screen then changed to another performer that had just entered the stage, but for the love of my life, I could not recognize the identity of the singer. Not that it would matter anyway, for I was struck by the woman's words… and by the revelation of how utterly stupid and idiotic I had been.

To hell with the press! I sat straight in front of the TV for a few minutes before I stood and hastily went upstairs to the bedroom. God knows what Alfred thought of me; he might think I ran away further and further. But then, as I re-emerged in the living room wearing worn jeans, black turtleneck and a jacket, I saw him standing with respect and handed me a red wool scarf.

"It's a bit windy there in Wembley," he said with warmth.

"It's not going to be that cold," I protested as I ran down to the hidden elevator that took me to the cave. My butler plus surrogate father followed suit.

"Well, if not for you… it's for her then," he persistently handed me the scarf. I took it, smiled, and walked out of the elevator as we touched down. After a while, Alfred asked, "Oh, by the way, can you bring me something from Bond Street?"

"Why not?" I reached the Justice League teleport tube panel, activated it, and entered the coordinates of Wembley Stadium in London. I entered the tube, and as it glowed brightly, I said to Alfred, "Just text me. And don't wait up."

Before I was zapped away to England, I still saw Alfred smiling as he said, "I won't, Sir."

-xxx-

Rapper P. Diddy held his hands up high, and the audience stood up, sang and danced with him. Including Audrey and me, as we both sang I'll be Missing You at the top of our voices. Gaea knows I love that song, especially when sung at such an occasion, to celebrate the life of Lady Diana.

I first knew this other Diana during a Lincoln Center for Performing Arts' charity gala dinner in New York, back in January 1995 (Bruce actually extended an invitation to me so that I could attend the charity event). The Princess of Wales was already active with humanitarian works for several years, while I was just stripped of my title as Wonder Woman, having lost the challenge of Artemis. I just began to think of what I could do to help humanity in addition to flying around saving people and cats from burning house, thus it was timely that I met the other Diana that night. We managed to steal time to talk about her programs in Africa and other parts of the world, and I introduced her to my ideas of sustainable farming for poverty alleviation, etc. She liked it, and she said that she would love to know more about it the next time we met again. She also said that sometimes she wished she could fly away from the world, leaving all the paparazzi behind her. I knew she had a rough life, like mine, but she was still radiant from within.

My next meeting with her was in September 1996, a very informal lunch with Lady Diana after she attended a breakfast charity in the White House hosted by The First Lady. My life was better at that time (though Cassie's excessive fandom of Wonder Woman had just turned her into the new Wonder Girl, and consequently gave me the occasional headache due to her inexperience at that time), and I was more than ready with my ideas and even had done some preliminary works with several foundations (including the Wayne Foundation, actually). It was only a two hours lunch in a less known (but still lavish) café in Metropolis, but it was a very lovely day for me. And by the end of the day, I managed to take her flying for about half an hour. She loved it so much; she even asked for a picture of us together to show William and Harry. I don't know if she still kept her copy, for I definitely still kept mine.

Afterwards, I kept in contact with Diana Spencer, though not as frequently as I thought I could. The reason was, of course, my 'superhero business' that did not allow me to take a single day off. August 31st, 1997, as the world was shocked by the death of the most famous and loving Princess Diana, I was shocked as well, for I originally had plans that I wanted to pursue with her works. But the world did not let me mourn her in peace, for Neron emerged and, ironically, killed me a month later.

Later, I was resurrected again, of course, and resumed my 'superhero business' and the incipient of my humanitarian works. When I later established my Wonder Woman Foundation in 2001, Lois Lane asked me if my work had somehow been inspired by Lady Diana Spencer. Wholeheartedly, I replied with a yes.

P. Diddy just finished his song, and all of us sat down again. I saw that Audrey's cheeks went scarlet as her energy flowed from within her. She was becoming a better Queen now, and started to do more humanitarian and environmental works as well. Upon realizing me looking at her, she smiled. "Fun, eh? Pity that boyfriend of yours could not come."

Yes… a pity. But I should have known better, for Bruce was not ready for public display, especially in front of more than 60,000 people in Wembley. For, though the concert was for the English Princess Diana, who said that newsmaker would not be happy to take pictures of billionaire Bruce Wayne with ex-Princess Diana of Themyscira? And Bruce Wayne was not ready for that.

"Yes… unavoidable meeting in Gotham…" I murmured and tried to divert my attention to the recently regrouped Take That, who just entered the stage.

"You know, I never understand why you date that… man," Audrey said the last word with such a tone, as if she had a bitter seed in her mouth. "I mean, look at you darling, the 21st century Princess Diana – now that we don't have the English Diana. Almost all the guys in the world would take their chance to be with you. But this guy?" The Queen of Kasnia fixed her neat Prada coat and resumed, almost screamed at me to override Take That's Shine. "He could not be here with you because he has a meeting?!"

"A very important meeting…" I made a lame defense for Bruce, adding '…with Penguin &co' in my mind.

Audrey snorted. "Yeah, right. But I really think you should consider dating a better man than this… Bruce Wayne. Like…I don't know…Superman?"

I sighed, for it was the standard 'Wonder Woman's lover conversation' for almost everyone in this planet. Wonder Woman and Superman: best superhero couple of the year. Not.

"Okay, not him. Oh, I know! That whats-his-name…the new but old Green Lantern? He's cute!"

I rolled my eyes and was about to tell Audrey to shut up when she screamed again, "Well, anyone is better than Bruce Wayne! Pick a hero. Plastic Man?"

"Audrey!" I screamed desperately. "I want to listen to Take That!"

"Okay," the Queen pretended to regain her poise, but not before she muttered, "Gosh, even Batman is much better than Bruce Wayne!"

Luckily for me, Audrey was looking at the stage, thus she could not detect the scarlet hue that I felt creeping on my face. Batman. Yeah, right… he is with Penguin now… I was preparing myself for more silly ideas from Audrey, but Her Majesty's attention was now poured to the podium, where comedian Ben Stiller was talking via video presentation.

The rest of the evening went well, though sadly without Bruce with me. A cold wind suddenly brushed the Wembley as Elton John started his Saturday Night. I shivered as I wrapped myself with my shawl. By Gaea, don't tell me that's Diana coming… It's not even 'Candle in the Wind' yet.

"What's this wind?!" Audrey felt the cold as well as she turned to me. "Don't tell me it's –" And she stopped mid-sentence, looking behind me.

"What?" I asked her. Don't tell me it's her ghost… I turned to see what startled Audrey… but to my utmost surprise, I 'only' saw –

"Bruce!" I whispered in disbelief. It was indeed Bruce Wayne who stood behind me, flashing his magical smile as he tucked both hands in his pocket; his dark hair was a bit blown by the wind of Wembley. After a few moment of amazement on my part (and amusement on his part), I resumed, "What are you doing here?!"

"Oh, to my knowledge, I am one of the VVIP. Plus, I thought you'd be happy to see me here…" He still smiled as he sat down. "I'm hurt, you know… for you do not show gratitude…"

"But… but…" I still could not understand it. "What happened with-?"

"Business is taken care of," he shifted and almost leaned himself to me. "Besides… England has lost her Rose, her Princess Diana. I do not want to lose mine." He stopped smiling. Instead, he hung a red wool scarf over my neck and drilled his gaze intensively into my eyes; making me shiver, but not from the wind. Noting that my scarlet hue returned, he reached and hugged me. "We said goodbye to the English Princess Diana ten years ago. But I never want to say goodbye to this Princess Diana."

I fell silent as I buried myself in his embrace as I whispered, "Thank you." I did not know how long I was in his arms… but I knew that he later cupped my chin and kissed me, ever so softly, lovingly… and longingly. I closed my eyes and let the sweet savor of his lips overwhelm me before we finally let go. I looked him in the eye and saw love and passion emanating from within. I smiled, stole another quick kiss, and scanned the surroundings.

Elton had finished his first song, and he was singing another one (I did not know the title, nor that I cared). Audrey, instead of listening to Elton John, was intensively looking at us with a big smile that almost cracked her face into two. She eventually thrust her hand to Bruce.

"I trust that you are the Bruce Wayne?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Bruce gentlemanly as he shook hands with the Queen of Kasnia. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to have you here," she replied while turning her attention back to the stage. "I was planning to take Diana for dinner tonight… but I see that she is now engaged with another agenda."

I blushed as I replied, "Well… Audrey, you know…"

"That's all right, really –" the Queen intercepted with a naughty smile. "After all… Prince William is not officially engaged at the moment. One will not know…"

With horror, I shriek and riposted, "But, Audrey! He's way too young for you! And he's my sisters' favorite!" Cassandra and Kara would kill me if I fail to get any autograph from the Princes, especially William!

Yet, Audrey only laughed and waved her hand. "You know me, dear Diana. I will always find my way. And you… two love birds… have yours!"

Well… I did not know and did not want to know if Audrey ever got to do more than shaking hands with Prince William that night (I asked her to get William's and Harry's autographs for Wonder Girl and Supergirl). But I did know that through the rest of the concert, Bruce held me tight in his embrace. He stroked my hair with his jaw as Elton John finished his Are You Ready (to my dismay, Elton did not sing Candle in the Wind). As the two Princes went back to the stage to give their gratitude and bid farewell, Bruce tightened his embrace and caressed my waist with his hands. And as the entire Wembley audience got up to go home, he turned me to face him and ravished my lips hungrily.

It seemed that an overnight in London was in order, and Alfred did not need to wait up at all.

-FIN-

Author's note:

Lady Diana indeed attended the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts' charity gala dinner, New York, back in January 1995 (In DCU, Diana of Themyscira just lost her Wonder Woman title to Artemis). In September 1996, Lady Diana went to Washington D.C. to attend the White House breakfast hosted by Mrs. Clinton to raise money for breast cancer research.

The Wonder Woman Foundation was established during Phil Jimenez' run, in July 2001. Hence, it was not far-fetched here that I used the charities and work of Lady Di to inspire Wonder Woman in her humanitarian works, though Diana of Themyscira would definitely already had ideas of her own by then.

We didn't have the complete show here in Australia, so I just made up the part about the woman with HIV. I don't think it would be too far-fetched from the truth, though. Lady Diana of Wales had truly touched the lives of many people. I knew that I had two Dianas that I admire in this world, Lady Diana and Diana the Wonder Woman. Well, now I know that both are Wonder Women… and that I will continue to be inspired by them.

Chronologically, in September 1997 the Wonder Woman Diana died attacked by Neron, a month after the real Princess Diana died of the car accident in Paris. Fortunately for WW readers, Diana of Themyscira was resurrected a few months later. Yet, alas, that was not the case for Lady Diana Spencer…