Her Greatest Fear
"Get out of my city, Princess."
Diana wanted to throw her hands up in the air in exasperation. Bruce had said the same thing countless times in the past ten minutes since she'd landed on the rooftop, dodging questions and pushing her away yet again.
Bruce finally turned from the roof's edge to face the infuriated Amazon standing behind him. He knew he should really focus on his current stakeout, but Diana was just too.. Diana for anyone to ignore for very long. Even him.
"Princess.." he started, but was cut off by a loud explosion from the old warehouse he'd been watching. Cursing under his breath, Bruce spun around just in time to see Scarecrow and some of his thugs fleeing the now-burning building. He quickly opened his cape and glided after them, not at all surprised to hear Diana following him.
"Look out! It's the Bat!" One of the thugs yelled as Bruce landed in the middle of them.
With Batman distracted, Scarecrow tried to make his escape, only to find there was a wall in the form of an Amazon Princess blocking his path.
Bruce fought harder, trying to get to Diana as quickly as possible. He'd panicked slightly when she'd chased Scarecrow into another warehouse. She didn't know Crane like he did, didn't know his tricks or moves. She could get hurt. But, much to his dismay, for every thug he knocked out, three more seemed to come out of nowhere.
Finally, finally, all the thugs had either fled or been knocked out, and Bruce ran after Diana and Crane. His panic level steadily rose as he searched for, and couldn't find, either of them. When he opened a side door to find both Diana and Crane lying unconscious on the ground, it skyrocketed.
Bruce immediately ran over to Diana and crouched by her side, assessing her for any injuries. When he found the puncture marks near her collarbone, it only took his mind a few seconds to figure out what had happened.
Diana must have cornered Crane in this room, where they went head-to-head. Sometime during the fight, he must've injected her with his fear toxin, and a large dose of it too, if it knocked out Wonder Woman. However, Diana managed to knock Crane out before passing out herself.
Bruce stood with a sigh of relief. She'd be okay. He did need to get her to the Batcave though, and Crane back to Arkham. After restraining the insane villain and alerting the GCPD, the Dark Knight walked back over to his Princess and lifted her into his arms. Silently, Bruce carried her back to the where the Batmobile was waiting in a nearby alleyway and sat her in the passenger's side before getting in himself.
Once they reached the Batcave, he shut the Batmobile off and picked Diana up again. He faltered on the steps when she suddenly started writhing in his arms, making senseless noises. Again worried, he rushed the rest of the way into the manor, and then up to his room, very nearly dropping the Amazon several times.
He gently laid her on the bed before hurrying over to a bookshelf and pulling out a thick leather-bound book. Tapping his foot impatiently, Bruce watched the bookshelf turn around at an impossibly slow pace, revealing a shelf filled with vials of different colored substances, along with binders and other Batman-y stuff.
After grabbing a vial filled with a light yellow liquid and filling a syringe with it, Bruce returned to Diana's bedside. He was both somewhat relived and even more worried to find that her writhing had turned to trembling, and her cries to whimpers. He had his arm raised, syringe in hand, ready to give her the cure and get this nightmare over when he was stopped by the single word she choked out.
"Bruce!"
He stopped, surprised. A single tear broke free and rolled down Diana's face as she continued.
"Please! Not him.. anyone but him.." She began writhing uncontrollably again. "I can't.. I.. I love him.."
This snapped Bruce back to reality. He'd let this go too far. Still slightly dumbfounded, he injected the cure into her bloodstream before setting the syringe aside to wait for some kind of result. Diana's body stilled, and her breathing evened out. After a few moments, her eyes snapped open and she gasped, sitting bolt-upright on the bed and turning towards him.
"Bruce?" She asked warily, reaching out towards him with a shaky hand.
He reached up and took it, lacing his fingers with hers as their entwined hands came to rest against his exposed cheek. "I'm here."
Her free hand came out and traced the outline of his jaw before tentatively reaching up and pulling his cowl off. Bruce watched Diana's expression intently as her fingers danced across his face, ensuring he was really there.
Diana released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as her hand came to rest on his shoulder. It was really him, the real Bruce kneeling beside the bed. She suddenly collapsed against him with a sob, too overcome with raw emotion for words.
Bruce let her cry into his chest, knowing she needed him right now. And he was determined to be there for her, no matter what it took. Because Diana was his Princess, and he'd do anything for her.
After a while, Diana quieted and pulled back.
"Sorry."
"Don't be." Bruce smirked. The soft laughter that followed his teasing comment brought a real smile to Bruce's face, one that only the Amazon Princess could put there.
"Care to get into something more comfortable?" Bruce asked as he stood. Diana simply nodded before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing as well.
"Well.. um. Clothes are in the closet, bathroom's over there.." he trailed off, suddenly embarrassed, but luckily, Diana saved him.
"Thanks." She smiled before walking past him, to the closet.
Once Bruce had changed, he sat on the edge of the bed to wait for Diana. While he did, he let his mind wander the events of the evening. He shouldn't have let Crane get close to her should've protected her. Not that she really needed it. Heck, she could lift a hundred ton tank over her head and not break a sweat. No, what really mattered to Bruce was that her greatest fear was about him. The single strongest woman on the planet was most afraid of him getting hurt. And then, without even knowing it, she'd confessed her love for him.
"Bruce, snap out of it."
"What?" Bruce's head snapped up to see Diana clad in a dark grey t-shirt, tied at her waist, with black workout shorts, hands on her hips.
"You're brooding again."
"Am I?"
"Yes." She came to sit beside him on the bed. "Care to tell me what about?"
"Not really." He lay back on the bed, and was secretly happy when she lay down beside him.
"Well too bad, 'cause you're telling me anyway."
He didn't respond.
"Is it about what happened with Scarecrow?"
"Yes."
"Bruce.."
"It scared me, Di. And then you started talking.."
"I said something, didn't I?"
"Yes."
"What was it?" Her voice was so innocent, so curious.
"You.. you said.. that you.."
"I said I loved you." It was more a statement than a question.
He nodded, and Diana propped herself on her one elbow, facing him.
"Well, I do. I love you, Bruce."
"I love you too, Princess."
A/N: Well, I tried to make this one longer. I think I did okay. I have no Beta so any mistakes are solely mine. Also, please review, even if its really short, it's what keeps me writing.