Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.

Notes: This was originally intended for a SM/WW date story contest, but it was over length. Please enjoy!

A Matter Of Time

The battle, the small war in truth, was finally over, and it had ended badly. Smoke rose from the ground in thick fogs in some places and thin tendrils in others, rising slowly into the air above the city. In some places, the heroes could see no more than ten feet in front of them as some of the smoke was being blown sideways by the gentle air currents around them. In the aftermath, an eerie silence had fallen over seemingly the entire city. The sounds of sirens and emergency vehicles could be heard steadily rising and moving hurriedly toward locations far and near.

Darkseid and the small army of physical clones of himself he had created had done a multitude of damage to the city and had tested the heroes of the Justice League to the boundaries of their endurance. The clones did not have Darkseid's mind, but their physical abilities had been comparable, and although victorious, the final confrontation had left all of The League mentally and physically exhausted.

The abilities of Wonder Woman had proved instrumental in the victory. She had flown from battle to battle, assisting her teammates, giving them the advantage in disposing of their opponents. However, her rush to assistance had weakened her, and when two of the Darkseid clones had singled her out for destruction in the finale of the melee, they had taken a vicious toll on her before she had been able to put them down.

She sat alone now, the aches and pains of her body steadily rising as her adrenaline levels decreased. She was hurting so bad that she was wondering where the pain was going to stop. She tasted her own blood in her mouth and raised a finger to her bottom lip. It was split open badly, and she could tell that the cut was a nasty one. She winced as she touched the sore bruise on the left side of her face. She was caked in dirt and grime, all over her body and embedded in her long hair. She was the epitome of the battle weary warrior.

Diana barely heard Kal as he gracefully and silently landed behind her. She sensed his presence more than heard him, and that had seemed to have been happening a great deal as of late. In recent months, she had been more alert, more aware, of him than ever before. She seemed to know he was about to show up before he appeared, and she had begun to finish his sentences often in Justice League meetings or when they spoke just to each other. She had barely noticed it at first, but it did seem to be happening much more often.

"How are you, Diana?" Kal asked quietly.

Kal had already known she'd sensed his presence, but he wanted to interrupt her solemn moment carefully. She was definitely in a bad way. He could sense it.

"I'm fine, Kal," she answered a little too quickly, and a little too firmly. "Go check on the others."

Diana did not enjoy being mean or short with her dear friend Kal, but in this moment she had to use her Amazonian ways to push him away from her. She felt very weak and vulnerable, and being near Kal-El of Krypton was the last thing she wanted in this moment.

Suddenly, Kal was kneeling before her on one knee, reaching a tender hand forward to lift her chin. The close proximity of him and their eye contact startled her, but she was too weak to move away. Their eyes held one another for a tender moment, and then she quickly looked down, afraid of what he may see in them.

"You turned the tide for us today, Diana. Thank you. Without your skills, we might not have been victorious."

"Then why does it still feel like a defeat?" she whispered as more of a statement than a question.

"It isn't," he said quickly. "Come on. Let's get you up."

Diana didn't really feel like moving, but she knew that she was powerless to resist him. Kal grabbed her hands and gently pulled her upward, and before she could process what was happening, the world around her began to spin and she started to fall. Kal's powerful hands were holding on to the sides of her waist in the blink of an eye, holding her up… holding her close… so close… too close.

"Don't worry," he said as he stared into her eyes. "I've got you."

Before she could even try to protest, she realized that her red spike heels were no longer touching the ground underneath her. Slipping one hand under her soft thighs and bringing the other to encircle her slim waist, Kal carried Diana in his arms as if she were the most precious gift in the world.

'By Hera!' This was the very reason that she secretly loved and hated this man. Kal was the only man in existence that made her feel like… like… a natural woman. Everything about him… his strength, his power, his manliness, his protectiveness, his caring… stirred the feelings of womanhood inside her and brought them to the fore. He made her feel like a woman instead of an Amazon, and she despised and relished it simultaneously.

Her body responded to him without her permission. Her right hand slid its way up to entangle itself in the hair at the base of his neck, while her left hand rested her sharp nails gently against his massive chest. Somehow her forehead had buried itself in the crook of his neck and decided to stay there.

Kal wondered to himself if Diana knew what she was doing. Of course he hadn't needed to carry her, but this time he had been unable to keep from indulging himself. Diana always felt so good in his arms… so good… so right. But this small reward he had taken for himself had quickly turned into something far more than he had expected.

Diana's right hand had not only grabbed onto the hair near his neck, but she was seductively moving her soft slender fingers through it, rubbing him sensuously. As if in unison, her left hand had raised to feel along his cheek and the side of his neck, as if she longed to feel more of him against her.

Kal found himself totally surprised and ashamed of his reaction to her. They had just finished a major battle, and yet this one woman was able to elicit sensual reactions from him. He vehemently hoped that his lower anatomy would not start to join in on the excitement and create an embarrassing moment.

Well, what red blooded male could be this close to the woman of wonder and not have a… 'reaction.'

As they neared the others, Kal slowly lowered Diana down to her feet, almost as if sensing that it was important to her to maintain some semblance of her pride.

Bruce stepped over a small pile of smoking rubble to make his way over to them, followed by J'onn.

"Is she alright?" Bruce asked quickly.

"I think so," Kal answered. "I'm not certain."

"I am fine. I shall recover," Diana told them both sternly.

She didn't appreciate the two closest men to her in her life speaking about her in the third person, as if she were not standing right there with them.

"Actually, she is not," J'onn spoke up. "She is in a severe state of duress, and indeed requires immediate recovery."

"I said I'm fine," Diana said even more sternly.

"I think she…" Kal began.

"As do you, my Kryptonian friend," J'onn cut him off swiftly. "You are hiding your injuries as well. You require immediate rest. You should both return to the Watchtower at once."

"Fine," Diana said as she slowly took to the air and quickly flew out of sight.

Kal looked after her for a long moment before looking back to the group. His eyes caught Bruce's stare as the crowd began to disperse. With a barely noticeable motion of his head in the direction which Diana had flown, he told him to go after her.

Kal was out of sight a moment later. He knew that the time had come to confront their inner demons.