AN. In regards to this chapter, I feel that for those heroes who aren't 100% for revealing who they are under the costume to the rest of their colleagues would be allowed to wear a mask &/or a wig at the party. For those highly paranoid they could show up in full hero-gear. Bruce would most likely fit that highly paranoid category along with Question, but with Clark's coercing Bats shows up in a tux with a simple mask covering his eyes. His plan is not to stay too long for anyone to piece together who he is. Now to Diana. I picture her in a dress (the rest is up to your head-interpretation) with her hair in an up-do and her tiara off for the night. Not too entirely sure what the occasion is for the party... An anniversary of the founding of the JL? Yeah. That could work... Well, this takes place sometime in JLU and after Shayera's return to the league. The rest is up to you, dear reader, to decide. This was a loose chapter, in terms of fitting it into the series. Also, I took the route of, "WW is blessed with gifts by the gods and goddesses of Olympus, but she could die as well as outlive her fellow comrades." Yeah... Not too concrete a route to take. Well... that's all. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry 'bout this ginormous AN. -Lem
Disclaimer.
The DCAU is not mine.

P.S. In my head-version of this story, the song that's playing is Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful".


Dancing: Resolving Everything, Resolving Nothing
Diana & Bruce

It was bound to happen.

Neither could stay separated from each other for long nowadays if they were in the same room together. They simply gravitated to one another, and tonight was no exception.

Regardless of his firm determination to avoid her and her unyielding resolve to ignore him, the two met in the center of the Watchtower Commissary. Their fellow heroes and colleagues were scattered across the room; some were absorbed in conversation, others in food, but the majority were moving their bodies freely to the music that filled the entire space. The cafeteria's lights were dimmed, and a few recently set up spotlights hung down from the ceiling, washing the entire scene in a mixture of reds, blues, and yellows.

Without any hesitation or question of approval, the man and woman fell into a familiar position, both preparing for the current song's end and the next one's start. His right arm wrapped around her waist, her left hand rested on his right shoulder. His left hand and her right grasped each other tightly. Both were reminded of the last and first time they stood like this. Kasnia.

Once the next song began to play, the two heroes in the center of the floor commenced their dance. The lyrics floated around them as they slowly moved. Their environment and colleagues were completely forgotten. It was only them.

"I've been waiting for this." she admits after a few steps.

"Have you?"

"Ever since Kasnia."

Their voices were merely whispers on the wind, murmurs between the lyrics. Their words were only for one another.

"This doesn't mean anything."

"You're wrong."

"You're immortal."

That makes her narrow her shining, blue eyes. He hadn't wanted to say it, but it needed to be done. Here, now, they were both vulnerable, both defenseless. Who knew when a moment like this would come again. This debate needed to end.

"I'm not immortal."

"You're close enough."

"You're not immortal either."

"I know."

That fact pained him every time he sat to contemplate his future. It was never their future. It could never be their future.

"Then why waste the time you have alone?"

"I'm not alone."

"Yes, you are."

"You're overstepping."

She was. She knew she was, but she had to make this point. She had to say her piece. He wasn't going to have the last say, not this time.

"No. I'm right, and you don't want to admit it."

"That may be."

"However?"

Because there was always a but, wherever he was involved. She had come to expect that nowadays, and of course her suspicion was proven right.

"I have a reputation to uphold."

"Which one?"

"Both."

There it was. His same old argument. The playboy couldn't get tied down, least of all to Wonder Woman, and the knight couldn't risk admitting he had a heart.

"You could make it work. I know you well enough, and you always have a solution."

"Not this time."

"You're scared."

"No, I'm not."

"You are afraid."

Her bold declarations took him by surprise. Well, he did initiate this with his earlier comment. It seemed only fair she get in a few gibes, too. However, he was not about to let her continue her present train of thought.

"You apparently don't know me as well as you think." he replied smoothly. This was when she should have stopped her arguing and a slightly uncomfortable silence would have fallen between them for a few minutes. Their arguments always ended like that. He should have known that wouldn't happen, though. Nothing about tonight was predictable.

"The thought of happiness terrifies you."

It was perfectly clear to her now. A brief burst of clarity had touched her and left her with the answer she had searched for all along. He knew she was right. He knew she knew, too.

"Diana."

"Hush Bruce. Let me enjoy this before it ends."

Neither appeared to notice when their friends and acquaintances moved to the outskirts of the floor.

"Bruce," she starts again. He waits for her to continue her thought.

"Take off your mask."

"I can't."

"I want to dance with you."

"You are."

"You, Bruce. Not Batman."

"Princess."

There it was. His evident frustration with her pushing was manifested into one word. It always was.

"Hera, why do I bother with you?"

"I doubt she has the answer."

She glared at him. What gave him the right to repeatedly deny any and all of her requests of him and then respond to her with humor? He was in absolutely no position to mock her emotions. He couldn't- wouldn't even admit to his own emotions.

"And you do?"

"No... I wonder the same thing as you."

He couldn't meet her eyes. Not with that slip up. She was never supposed to know that. He was never supposed to say that. Her eyes softened at the man's blunt honesty.

"Do you really not know why I care?" her eyes were focused on his face. He just knew it.

"Bruce," there was a hint of a sad smile in her voice when she said his name.

"I love you."

I.

Love.

You.

.

.

.

There it was. The three words neither had said until now. The three words that would change everything between them and, yet, nothing at all.

And she said them first.

"Diana," he began again. She shook her head.

"I meant it. I will always mean it."

What could he possibly say after that to convince her to give up on him? On them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, except the truth. He couldn't lie to himself. He couldn't lie to her. She deserved better than that.

"Diana, I l-"

Their song ended.

The notes ended. The lyrics ended. Their dancing ended. Their conversation ended. They ended. And not one person in the room clapped at their finish. No one dared to utter a word until the next song began. They separated as fast and as fluid as when they had come together. Diana swiftly made her way to the punchbowl. Bruce briskly made his way to the room's only free corner.

The next song began to play.

It was over. It was beginning. It was going.

Nothing changed between them. Everything changed between them. Something changed between them.

They were lost. They were found. They were there.

She had told him. She had uttered the truth that had lied within her heart untold for far too long.

He had told her. He had uttered his fears, his insecurities, to her. It amazed him how much the two discussed during their short rule of the dance floor. Their song had not been longer than four minutes.

It really had been an overdue conversation. He mentally consented. However, it hadn't resolved anything.

Tonight, too much was said.

Tonight, too much was left unsaid.

Tonight was not the night to even remotely broach the topic of their dance or exchange. Tomorrow, next week, next month, and the following year were still too soon.

And yet, as the two continued through the motions required by the party setting, they both felt that their brief encounter had resolved absolutely everything just as much as it had resolved absolutely nothing between them.


Updated 4/27/2014

Next: Their Correlation