Chapter 9: The Second Movement
"Emily Jones, here," she said absently as she picked up her desk phone.
"I have never been dumped in a gossip column before," Bruce Wayne said cheerfully. "Probably though, not the way to do it if you are trying to avoid charges for breaking and entering."
Emily looked frantically around the newsroom, although, of course, no one heard. It was her own fault; she hadn't looked at the caller id.
"Bruce, you shouldn't call me here."
"Did you or Wonder Woman think that the reason there is only one security guard at a major corporate headquarters is because there are security cameras all over the place? I gotta tell you, I enjoyed the video so much that I have bids out for security cameras that capture audio as well. I would have loved to hear what you girls were saying. That would have been worth the cost of a new door."
"You're not, are you?" Emily asked, horrified.
"Well, it was the first catfight over me in my office," Bruce said. "But, I would hate to miss out on another one just because they are so rare."
"Press charges, Bruce," Emily clarified, only slightly less horrified.
"Well, technically, Diana did the breaking. And, since you were let in, nope."
"Okay, good," she said, relieved.
"I do need to know something," he said gently.
She paused. "What?"
"Well, you were going to sell whatever you found. Did you have a buyer?"
"No," Emily said immediately and firmly.
Bruce inhaled deeply. "I don't believe you, Em. This means I am going to have to come down to your office and make a fuss about how you can't leave me. It'll get a lot of media attention. Everyone will see it"
He could hear Emily panicking on the other end of the line. He knew she would be too nervous to wonder how he knew what the two women had said to each other. Lip reading did come in handy quite a bit. But he was going to have to back off; he was slipping out of character for Bruce Wayne.
"I didn't have a buyer," she said flatly.
"An advisor, then?" Bruce asked. "To help you with the stock purchases."
"Maybe an advisor," Emily admitted.
That was what he needed. In fact, he didn't even need a name anymore.
"Well, I guess an advisor isn't against the law. Bummer. My lawyers really want to sue someone," Bruce said vapidly.
"You know, Bruce, she shouldn't string you along. She either needs to come out about your relationship or let you move on."
"What are you talking about?" he said, successfully sounding confused.
"Wonder Woman. You are either a couple or you aren't. And she can't make all the rules. You get a vote too."
"Oh, well, you know." Bruce said dismissively.
"You are a lot of fun, Bruce," Emily said gently. "And you deserve to be happy. Don't be so afraid of her that you aren't willing to stand up for yourself."
He nearly choked trying to keep back his immediate response to that.
"You're right, Em. Thanks."
They hung up without another word. "An advisor" suggested that he was right. He just needed some actually proof rather than his feeling.
And he knew exactly how to get that.
Flash was sitting in a booth at one of his favorite places – a little hole-in-the-wall diner – when Diana walked in, right on time.
He waved her over and she smiled at him. He watched her for a moment, admiring the view. He didn't quite understand the whole "Amazon" thing. At first, since she was the champion of the Amazons, he had thought that she was so hot because she was going to come to the regular world (she could call it whatever she wanted; it was the "regular world" to him). But then, he had gone to their island and they had all been hot. Seemed like a waste of beauty to him. The only way he could make it make any sense was that there had been a time in history when all the men in the regular world knew there was an island of hot babes who would rather kill than kiss them and knew it was because the gods were punishing the men.
Total bummer.
The real story was on his list of things to research when he had time. Since that wouldn't happen until he was about 800, he estimated, he was just going to have to remain content with his story. He had asked Diana once why all the Amazons were so hot if there weren't any men and they weren't all gay but somehow, she thought the question did not deserve an answer.
She arched an eyebrow at him as she slid into the booth next to him and he realized he was probably making a stupid face.
"Hey, how are you?" he asked. "How is everything in Asia?"
She had postponed the breakfast date to a late lunch date because she had been called in to help with an emergency evacuation in South Asia. He didn't get called to join the team so he had spent the day working in the lab as Wally.
"Good. The mud slides weren't as bad as we initially feared and Superman and I managed to divert them away from the populated areas. When I left, people were returning to their homes and a team was helping to repair what damage had been done."
Flash nodded, which went unnoticed as Diana was looking at her menu.
"I didn't trip over any photographers today," he said. "They must not love us anymore."
"I don't think they could follow us. I came directly from the Watchtower. I'm sure you changed somewhere, well, private," she said, most of her focus still on the menu. Then she looked up.
"If you want to do this some other time, that's fine with me," she said.
"No," Flash said quickly. "I'm hungry and the company is great."
She smiled at him. "Good. I'm famished."
He sat silently for a moment. When Diana didn't say anything, he waved his hand in a "come on" gesture.
"This is where you say something nice about me," he said, jokingly.
Diana looked up and smiled. "I adore you. You know that."
"Well, I still like to hear it," he said evenly.
She laughed as the waitress came up, clearly a little nervous.
"Ah, hi. My name is Linda. Can I take your order?" she said at top speed.
Wonder Woman ordered, making sure she was friendly to Linda.
"Batman to Flash and Wonder Woman", a deep voice crackled over the communicator. "You are supposed to be in love. Sit a little closer together."
Flash looked around to try and find Batman but to no avail. Linda, who hadn't heard, looked at him expectantly for an order. Diana slid closer to Flash.
"You aren't going to find me, Flash. Just order."
"Oh, right, okay, I want two club sandwiches with the chips and a bowl of soup and, can I get the potato salad and the fruit and the fries? And, oh, a Coke."
Wonder Woman laughed softly as Linda looked at Flash, completely stunned.
"Ah, okay," Linda said. She took the menus and left.
"You didn't order pie," she said.
"He totally distracted me!" Flash said, making sure he had activated his communicator so Batman heard him.
"What do you need, Batman," Diana said, trying to appear as if she was still talking to Flash.
"I need some proof, which means I need you two to make someone a million dollars so I can trace the money."
"You mean…." Flash said, letting his voice drift.
"He wants us to kiss," Diana whispered to Flash, clearly thinking that he needed a reminder.
Flash didn't need a reminder. He just didn't want to kiss her. He liked her a lot. But like a sister, not like a girlfriend. She didn't get half of his cultural references when he spoke, she got even fewer of his jokes and she could get a little intense, to put it mildly. As much as he liked her, as much as he would, and had, put his life on the line for her, he really didn't want to kiss her.
It just seemed wrong.
He looked at her.
"I don't think there are any photographers here," he said. And he really didn't.
"If you're scared, I can do it for you."
Flash was looking around the restaurant, trying to find either Batman or the photographer he was referring to when he realized that Diana was glaring at him.
"You don't want to kiss me," she hissed.
Flash looked at her. "No, I mean, yes, I mean, happy to kiss you, great idea, but how believable is it if I just kiss you with no, you know, set-up?"
"This is our fourth date," she said, clearly stunned by the turn of events.
"Fine," Flash snarled back. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.
"Pretend you like each other," Batman said.
Diana put a leg across Flash's lap and pulled him a little closer to her. Then she parted her lips when she kissed him next and made a small purring sound in the back of her throat.
Flash's instincts took over. He buried his hands in her hair and kissed her back, matching her intensity.
"That's enough," Batman said firmly. "The photo's been taken."
Diana pulled away a second later, pulling on Flash's bottom lip as she did. She smiled at him and the pair looked up to see Linda, standing with a tray full of food, quickly turning bright red. A man was running out the door of the diner as fast as he could move.
Realizing that he had had an audience, Flash's color soon matched hers.
Diana put her head down on the table and began to laugh. The laughter was soundless but her whole body was shaking.
"Hey, that's not nice," Flash said.
He wondered briefly how she had learned to kiss like that but quickly moved his attention to the food.
AN: I thought everyone could use a break from the angst.