Diana rolled awake with a smile, unable to forget the wonder that was last night. She began mentally preparing her proposal to the senate to keep Clark alive, but as she felt around the bed but he wasn't there. She quickly jumped up to check the adjoining room, he wasn't there either. He must have escaped! Or her sisters had anticipated her hesitation and taken him away to be killed already.
Diana found she was highly disappointed in this. She wanted to touch him again, kiss him again, make love with him again. She wondered what could have become of him. Suddenly, she became aware of something that was stuffed into her hand. It was a piece of folded papyrus, opening it up, she saw that it was a letter, from him to her. As she read it, she smiled, as it meant he was still alive. She truly didn't want him to die, and would have flat out refused to kill him herself.
There was a knock at the door. Diana fumbled to try and hide the letter. She had no clothes, so pockets were out of the question, she couldn't set it down because the minute she left, this room would be scrubbed down thoroughly, and she didn't want anyone else to see it. As the knocking got faster, she realized she needed to move faster herself. She reached for her tiara, but it wasn't on her head. Looking around, she quickly found it lodged in the wall opposite from the bed. When did I do that? She asked herself.
Pulling it out she placed it on her head, and stuffed the letter underneath it. Then she answered the door. "Yes?"
"Princess are you alright? There were tremors emanating from here for much of the night." Artemis informed, backed by sister Amazons.
"Tremors?" Diana gasped.
"Yes. We were ordered to stay away. But we worried you may have been hurt."
"I am fine. I assure you." We made tremors? How did I not notice?
"You are to report to the Healing Isle at once, Epione will examine you. In the meantime we are to guard the man before the sacrifice."
"He is not here." Diana said simply.
"He escaped? Sound the alarms! We will search every bit of this land until he is found." Artemis barked to the others who quickly dispersed, before turning back to Diana. "How did he escape Princess?"
"I do not know. When I awoke he was nowhere to be found."
"Do not worry, we will find him. Until then, go to Epione. She is expecting you."
Diana left the room she was in, and Artemis quickly ran to help the others scour the island while Diana left for the healing isle.
"Princess, I have been expecting you. Please come." Epione said the second Diana's feet touched the ground. "Please lay on the table."
Diana did as she was asked.
"There were violent tremors coming from the temple during the night. Did the man harm you?"
"No. He did nothing of the sort, although powerful he was quite gentle, in all things."
Epione was relieved, she never wanted the Princess to suffer the way she had. "So the act was completed? He... spilled his seed within you?" Epione felt wrong even speaking those words to Diana.
"Yes he did." Diana could sense the healer's uneasiness, but she herself felt none.
"I must examine you now, please try to relax." Epione said quietly.
Epione had been examining women for centuries, just by laying hands she could tell if life was beginning. Even within hours of conception, today she wasn't as sure of her skills. The princess had far denser skin and muscle than any other Amazon, she wondered if she would feel the same things that she did with others.
As Epione moved her hands across her torso, Diana immediately missed Clark. His hands were a stark contrast to the healer's. Epione's hands were small, and cold, while Clark's hands were large and warm. His lovers touch was highly pleasing, Epione's scientific one was not, Diana wished she would finish soon, she didn't like this.
"Congratulations Princess, I can feel the life within you. You are with child!" Epione beamed. Bringing a big smile to Diana's face. "I will be finished shortly, after you drink this, you may go on with the sacrifice."
Diana took the cup, and drank the sweet smelling liquid, she didn't know what it was, but assumed it was good for the baby. "There will be no sacrifice."
"What? Why not?"
"He escaped. When I awoke this morning he was gone."
"Goddess no, a man who can cause earthquakes, surely our sisters will not survive if was not satisfied..."
"Do not worry yourself Epione, he will not attempt to ravish anyone. I imagine he returned home. We need not worry ourselves with him." Of that I am glad, I have no ill will against him. I can tell the baby about him. Perhaps I may even see him again.
Just then Hippolyta burst in, seeing Diana laying flat on the table she feared the worst. The earthquakes coming from the mating temple, made her extremely nervous all night. "Oh daughter I am so sorry for subjecting you to this. I should never have made you do this, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive mother. I am unharmed, I am happy even. I will be a mother soon."
Motherhood on Themyscira was a big deal. Not all Amazons were able to do it, so those that did were held in high esteem, and were honored and respected by all. Diana was proud to be among their ranks.
"We will scour the island to find this miscreant of a man. He will feel the dagger in his chest soon enough, do not worry daughter." Hippolyta assured.
"I am not worried mother, only you must order the search be called off. You will not find him."
"Why not? What do you know of this man?" Hippolyta briefly wondered how truthful Diana was being with her, in the back of her mind she wondered if Diana allowed him to escape. She chose however to take Diana at her word, at least for now.
"He is a man from another star, he lives in the Patriarch's World, but was born on another. He has immense power that emanates from Apollo's great star."
"How do you know of this?" Hippolyta asked.
"I just do. Call off the search, spare our sister's energy" She knew because of the letter. He gave her a brief description of his powers so she knew what to expect when the baby comes. Among other things.
"Very well Diana, I will honor your wish. However we will keep close watch on the borders, in case this man tries to take claim of his daughter." Hippolyta wasn't going to budge on that, and Diana didn't bother to protest. "The parade will commence shortly, I will inform the crowd."
The Mother's Walk was the event Diana had been most looking forward to. Each expectant mother would walk the streets, and the other Amazons would touch her stomach, as a symbol of giving mother and baby strength for the coming months. This event was accompanied with music, dancing and much fanfare. It was a time of celebration and sisterhood. Since she was a little girl Diana loved when others made the walk, she nearly burst with pride to take it herself.
Rumor had it, there was a vein on top of Perry White's head that jumped up when he got angry. Over the years people had said that if he was really angry it looked like it had a heartbeat. Until now, Clark never had the pleasure of seeing it, and now that he did, he wasn't too excited about it. Perry was lighting into him for missing out on the British Prime Minister's announcement. As Perry went on and on, Clark tried to think about what the announcement actually was, and for the life of him he couldn't remember. After Perry finished, he lumbered back to his desk.
"Damn Clark, you dropped the ball and let the other team pick it up and score." Lois said as he sat. Their desks were pushed together facing each other giving her a good look at him.
"I appreciate your support. Not." Clark said sarcastically.
"What did the Chief do to you?"
"He docked me."
"Like a dock in pay matters to you. I'm just trying to figure out what happened? Why didn't you go to the press conference?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Quite frankly I'm not even sure if I believe it." He said incredulously.
"Well whatever, I'm just glad Superman is back." She figured it had something to do with a woman, he seemed to always have a flock around him. It wouldn't be much of a surprise to hear he had gathered one across the pond too.
"He's back? Since when?" Clark faked like he didn't know, Superman met with Lois this morning on the roof of the building. "What happened to him?"
"He got knocked out and carried off by some crazy chick in a Corinthian helmet."
"Yeah, I know that, how did he get away?" Clark asked.
"He didn't say, all he told me was that he woke up somewhere above the ocean, and was able to fight the women off." Lois recalled. "He said he didn't know where they came from, or what they wanted with him."
That was what had Clark confused, it was documented that he was knocked out and carried away. But for the life of him he wasn't sure if the rest of it happened or not, since he returned he went through everything over and over. He couldn't decide if Princess Diana was real, or just a dream. A really good dream.
"Well Clark, don't worry about it too much. We're a team, I won't let you stay in Perry's doghouse for long. So pick yourself up, and let's go find us a story."
"Where are we going?"
"I was one of a hundred people who watched Superman get dragged off. I'd say there's a story there."
"Oh great." He really didn't want to hash that up again, but it appeared he had little choice. They were writing partners, and their relationship had become one of her making most of the decisions. Which usually didn't bother Clark, because he had other things going on in his life.
Later that night Clark went back to Kansas to to give his parents an update on what happened to him. He mostly told them the truth, leaving out the part about Diana, they didn't need to know that, besides he still wasn't sure if that part really happened.
"So they took you to an island in the Atlantic Ocean, that you couldn't find after you left, because they wanted to use you as a breeder?" Martha recapped what Clark had told them.
"I think so? Other than getting knocked out in Metropolis I'm not entirely sure what happened. I still think I might have dreamed the whole thing."
"Well we certainly didn't dream that video of you getting knocked out. That was a living nightmare." Martha assured.
"The blow you don't see coming is the one that knocks you out." Jonathan finally said.
"You got that right. I didn't see it, I didn't hear it, but I damn sure felt it."
"Language!" Martha demanded.
"Sorry." Clark said sheepishly.
"So what are you going to do if they come back?" Jonathan asked.
"I don't know. Keep my head on a swivel?" He guessed.
"Clark you know that wasn't what he meant." Martha cut in.
"I know, but what can I do? What can I ever do? If they, or anyone else comes back, or some new person shows up, I'll protect the people and myself. I know the risks."
"I know son, I just don't like the risks." Martha said quietly.
Later that night, Clark stood in his fortress. In front of the computer, locking in the coordinates of the island. Setting the computer to run an ongoing search for any anomalies. So far all it had found was the ocean, until he programmed it to search for any sort of landmass that may be of alien origin as well.
Even with his highly advanced technology, it could take hours to go through all the alien files in the fortress computer. So he set his computer to ring his phone if it found anything.
"I must have been dreaming." He said to himself.