Chapter 12

Diana shielded her eyes from the intensity of the afternoon sun with her hand, wondering what was taking Bruce so long. He had offered to go inside to get them both some iced tea, but that had been at least a half hour ago or so.

They had spent the entire morning walking hand in hand as they explored their little island paradise, Bruce pausing to show her all the most beautiful views as well as to steal kisses that never ceased to take her breath away.

It had been wonderful just spending time with him away from all the duties and responsibilities that tried to pull them in so many different directions, to just be Bruce and Diana…husband and wife for a little while.

She sat up in her lounge chair on the beach, closing her book as she turned to look back at the house for any sign of her husband and found absolutely nothing. She sat back in her chair with a sigh of disappointment, knowing he was probably on his laptop messaging Dick or Tim to see how patrol had gone last night or doing more research on Darren Strong.

Ever since Bruce had told her about taking her away for the weekend, she had been secretly wondering just how long it would actually take before he finally surrendered to his paranoid tendencies and checked in with the boys or Barbara to make sure everything was going smoothly in Gotham.

She had woken up in the middle of the night last night to discover him gone; his side of the bed rumpled and the satin sheets cool to the touch making her wonder just how long he'd been gone. She had silently crept downstairs to find him outside on the back patio in a lounge chair with his laptop working on something or other. She hadn't stuck around to discover what it was, returning to bed hopefully without him knowing she had caught him in the act.

He had gone to so much work making their first anniversary together so special and she didn't want to ruin it in anyway. She couldn't begrudge him for needing to check on things back home, his incessant, almost obsessive need to make sure things stayed under his control. It was just the way that he was and one of the many reasons that she had fallen so hopelessly in love with him.

She wouldn't want to change him for anything in the world though she did wish that he would relax a little more while they were away from their roles in Gotham and the Justice League. He needed this break far more than she did, needed to just unwind and not have to think or worry about anything or anyone else for a few days.

Shifting her leg from the lounge chair on the beach to dangle over the side, Diana dipped a red painted toe into the warm soft sand, shivering unexpectedly when the cool water of the incoming tide suddenly splashed on her toes.

"You realize you leave me no choice but to ravish you senseless when you taunt me with your leg like that."

Without looking back, Diana's lips curved at the sound of his voice, her eyes falling closed as she continued to leisurely dip her toes in the wet sand, enjoying the feel of it on her skin. "I love to live dangerously."

"Princess, everything about you is dangerous," Bruce replied as he sat down in his lounge chair next to hers.

She peeked at him through her long eyelashes, surprised to see him setting a wicker basket down in the sand. "Just what are you up to?"

"Thought you might be getting hungry again," he replied, reaching into the basket and pulling out a chilled bottle of wine. "I have to take care of my wife, make sure I keep her fed."

"And ply me with alcohol so I will do your bidding, Mr. Wayne?"

"Possibly," he shrugged a shoulder before pouring her a glass and handing it to her as his hungry eyes roamed over her perfect form all over again. "Have I told you yet how magnificent you look in that red bikini?"

Diana chuckled softly as she took a sip of her drink. "Only about a dozen times since I put it on just before lunch," she told him. "Seriously, Bruce, I can't believe you packed it for me to wear. There's hardly anything to it."

"That's the idea, Princess," he flashed her a smile, removing a container of fresh strawberries from the basket. "I get to stare at you in it all I want, but no one else gets to."

"My lasso would cover more skin than this does," she shot back as she moved over to sit on his lounge chair facing him, her back to the ocean and her knees brushing against his.

"Have you looked at your uniform lately?" he asked. "You run around in that all day long without even a second thought and you're worried about your bikini?"

"My uniform covers ten times more of me than this string bikini does," she said as she popped a strawberry into her mouth. "I might as well be wearing nothing at all."

"Whichever you prefer, Princess…I won't argue with either option," he grinned wickedly, quickly closing the distance to kiss her, enjoying the sweet taste of Diana mingled with strawberry on his tongue.

As they continued to kiss, Diana shifted closer to him, her arms snaking around his neck. She finally broke the kiss only to continue a very slow tortuous assault along his defined jaw line, her lips, tongue, and teeth all combining and working together in perfect unison to slowly and methodically drive him crazy.

"I wish you'd learn to relax more," she murmured against his tanned skin.

"I'm very relaxed," he rasped, losing himself to her ministrations.

He could feel her smile against his throat as he groaned with steadily building pleasure, his hands gripping her waist tight enough to be painful had it been another woman, but this was his Amazon Princess…his Diana.

Kissing her way to his ear, she breathily asked, "Oh, really? And what did Barbara learn about the mysterious Darren Strong?"

"Nothing much," he huskily breathed, his eyes falling closed with the intense sensations she was creating within him as she raked her teeth over his pulse point, not even thinking about what he had just divulged to her.

It wasn't until she giggled that he realized that she had tricked him. He pulled back quickly, his hands grabbing hold of her arms as he gazed into eyes dancing with amusement. "How did you know?"

"Because I know you, Bruce," she grinned proudly. "I knew you couldn't go this whole weekend away without checking in on things especially with this new Mr. Strong staking claim in Gotham now."

"And just how many times have you checked on Nicholas since we left?" he asked with a narrowed gaze.

"Only a couple of times," she sheepishly replied, doing her best to keep him from knowing she was bending the truth, resorting to biting her bottom lip to keep her poker face in place.

"Right, Princess," he snorted. "First of all, we both know what a horrible liar you are and secondly, according to Alfred, it's been at least five times that."

Diana's face grew a little sorrowful as she stared at him. "I can't help it. I miss our little boy," she admitted before abruptly turning suspicious as realization sunk in. "Wait! How do you know that I've been checking on our son?"

It was suddenly Bruce's turn to look chagrinned as he held his wife in his arms, the gentle sound of the waves lapping on the beach the perfect backdrop to their romantic interlude away from real life. "I just wanted to make sure Nicholas was alright," he confessed. "Is there anything wrong with a father wanting to make sure his son is okay?"

"No…not at all," she fought to suppress a grin as she captured his bottom lip between hers. "In fact, I think…it's very…sexy," she said between kisses.

"Hmmm…I'll have to remember that when we get home so I can use it to torture you for leaving your panties in my utility belt," he growled, pausing long enough to take a bite of a large strawberry.

"I wonder how those got in there," she attempted to frown, but it didn't last for long as he leaned in and kissed the half smirk right off of her lips.

He swallowed her moan as well as his strawberry as he tightened his hold on her. "There will be repercussions once we get back, Princess," he promised her in that baritone rasp that sent shivers up her spine. "When you least expect it, my revenge will come and you will regret you ever decided to tangle with me."

Diana stared at him for a long moment before suddenly breaking into fits of laughter. "I'm sorry, but that's not going to work on me, Bruce," she giggled almost uncontrollably, her hand covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter, but it was futile. "You don't scare me at all. In fact, I've never been scared of you even after I first met you."

She watched as his blue eyes narrowed in irritation, his best bat glare boring straight into her in a valiant attempt to intimidate. Unfortunately, it only made her laugh even harder. Bruce tried his best to look angry, but it was impossible when his wife was so damn adorable.

He had fought some of the world's most dangerous criminal masterminds , had faced death head-on and lived to tell about it more times than he could count, had been stabbed, beaten, and shot on multiple occasions and yet he found himself being brought to his knees and rendered completely powerless by a certain Amazon's infectious laughter.

Unable to bear it a moment longer, Bruce suddenly sprang to his feet, picking up his princess in his arms. "You are in so much trouble now," he playfully growled. "No one laughs at Batman and gets away with it."

Diana attempted to stifle a giggle as he carried her into the water. "If I'm going in, you're coming with me," she warned him as he suddenly dropped her only to have her pull him down into the water with her.

She swiftly came up out of the water, a victorious smile plastered all over her face. She wiped the water as well as her long hair from her eyes as she searched for her husband only to find him nowhere in sight. She quickly began turning in circles looking for Bruce, anxiously waiting for him to pop up out of the water. However, the longer she waited without any sign of him, the more worried she became.

"Bruce?" she called, wading in a little deeper into the water until it covered her bust. "Come on, Bruce. This isn't funny. You're scaring me!"

Diana was met with nothing but the sound of seagulls and the water lapping on the sandy shore. She dove under the water, frantically searching for him, her chest tight with fear that he had hit his head or something worse when she had pulled him under the water with her.

Her lungs began to burn the longer she looked for him without success, causing her to give up her search for the moment. She broke the surface in a rush with a heaving gasp, a frantic expression on her face when she found that he had still not come up to the surface for air.

Before she could dive back into the water to continue her search again, a pair of powerful arms suddenly circled around her waist from behind, taking her by surprise. "Looking for something, Princess?" he breathed heavily on her neck as he pressed his hard body against her back.

"Bruce!" Diana cried, overcome with relief.

She swiftly turned, throwing herself into his arms and nearly crushing him in her embrace as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. Stunned by her reaction, Bruce wrapped his arms firmly around her, holding her close to him only to realize that she was crying.

"Hey…it's alright, Diana," he gently reassured her as he held her. "I'm right here."

"I thought I'd lost you," she managed to choke out.

"I'm so sorry, Princess," he guiltily replied, rubbing her back as he tried to comfort her, hating himself for worrying her like this. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Bruce felt terrible for upsetting her, startled that he had reduced her to tears like this…until she suddenly shifted her position from his embrace, sweeping his legs out from under him and pushing him back under the water.

Diana smirked as she began to swim back towards the shore, proud of her victory over the great Dark Knight of Gotham. "Gullible," she laughed to herself.

She was quickly pulled to an unexpected stop by a hand grabbing hold of her ankle and yanking her backwards. Before she knew it, she found herself trapped in his embrace, his hot mouth on hers so rough and insistent that it nearly buckled her legs as she lost herself in the heated moment.

"You play very dirty," he panted, his mouth latching onto her collarbone.

Diana gasped as his fingers dug into her hips, her hands finding his wet hair as she clung to him. "I wasn't the one pretending to have drowned," she pointed out, finding it difficult to form coherent sentences with his surprise assault on her.

Bruce suddenly pulled back at that moment, giving her a quick peck on the lips before leaving her breathing hard and wanting more. "We should probably get cleaned up soon," he said as he began to swim towards shore, a confused Diana watching him. "I made dinner reservations on St. Lucia for seven o'clock. We'll need to leave here soon if we want to make it on time."

Diana followed him, disappointed that he didn't want to continue what he had started in the ocean, but she swore to herself she would have him in the water one way or another. "You are going to join me in the shower, right?" she asked as she paused by her chair to grab her towel as he gathered up the basket and strawberries. "I may need some help getting the sand out of my bikini."

"We'll see," he nonchalantly replied, pretending to not be interested in her at the moment. "I've got some other things I need to attend to before dinner tonight."

"Your loss," she practically purred as she cast a sultry glance at him over her shoulder.

He watched as she began to make her way up to the house, the way her hips swayed so seductively causing his throat to suddenly go dry. He nearly swallowed his tongue as she reached behind her to untie the top of her bikini; the tiny red strings giving way and leaving her back bare to him save for the long wet strands of raven hair that stuck to her skin.

Keeping her back to him, Diana held her arm out to her side, dropping the scrap of red material that was her bikini top onto the sand as she sauntered towards the back patio. Whatever little self-control Bruce still had left at that moment completely snapped the exact moment Diana's fingers began to tug on the red strings that rested low on each hip.

She is most definitely going to be the death of me, he thought to himself as he swiftly chased after his wife into the house.

XXX

Dick ran to get the door at the sound of the bell, excitement about the evening bubbling inside of him despite the fact that they were charged with taking care of Nicholas. He loved his little brother too much to feel as if he was in any way ruining their plans for the evening. Besides, he was positive Donna and Stephanie wouldn't mind.

He'd already fed Nicholas his supper and Tim was in the process of giving him his bath before putting him in pajamas for the evening. It had been a little trickier feeding him his dinner than Dick had first imagined it would be, but once he let Nicholas have the spoon to feed himself, things had gone much smoother especially once he started to get the hang of it.

It wasn't his fault that half of Nicholas's food ended up in his mouth and the other half all over him. The little guy was still attempting to master the massive feat of getting the spoon into his mouth. Tim had groaned at the sight of Nicholas covered from head to toe in his supper, his dark hair matted with puréed pears, but Tim had volunteered to give him his bath so he couldn't exactly complain.

Opening the front door, Dick suddenly lost the ability to breathe or make his tongue comply with his brain's commands at the sight of Donna Troy standing on his front steps. She was quite similar to Diana in many ways including looks which meant she was drop-dead gorgeous.

Dick had been meaning to ask her out since he had first met Donna at Bruce and Diana's wedding, but having just broken up with Barbara he feared it was too soon and didn't want to hurt her feelings. Then, one thing led to another and before he knew it a whole year had passed. Now, it was finally time to get to know the Amazon.

Donna smiled brightly at him, her eyes dancing with amusement as she waited patiently for Dick to invite her inside the Manor, but it didn't appear to be happening any time soon as he stood there and stared at her.

"Um, are you going to invite me in?" she finally requested.

"Oh, sorry," Dick quickly apologized, stepping aside to allow her entrance. Just as he did, Stephanie arrived as well. "Hi, you must be Stephanie," he greeted her as she approached. "I'm Dick Grayson, Tim's older brother."

"Nice to meet you," Stephanie smiled at him as she followed Donna inside.

Dick led them to the entertainment room, offering them each a seat on the couches. He was just about to ask them if they wanted something to drink when Tim's horrified scream suddenly carried its way downstairs to Dick's ears.

"Dick!" Tim yelled. "I need help! Now!"

Dick bit his lip in mild embarrassment as he smiled pleasantly at the two girls sitting before him, trying to appear as though everything was completely in control. "If you'll excuse me for just a moment," he told them before turning and bolting from the room.

He raced up the stairs as fear clawed at his throat as thoughts of what could have happened began to besiege his mind. Bruce and Diana had trusted them with their son for three days, Alfred for one whole evening and already they were in deep trouble.

Running into the nursery, Dick opened the door to the bathroom to find it full of bubbles. "Tim!" he yelled as he entered, nearly slipping on the wet floor only to catch himself just before he actually fell. "What the hell happened in here?"

"Dick!" Tim yelled from somewhere in the massive sea of white bubbles. "We had a little accident."

Before Dick could ask about Nicholas, a familiar giggle erupted from where the bathtub was supposed to be beneath the suds. The giggle was quickly followed by the sound of splashing water and Nicholas's familiar chattering.

Dick released a sigh of relief knowing that no one appeared to be hurt at least. "Tim, where are you?" he called, carefully stepping on the wet tile floor as his arms swept bubbles out of his way.

"I'm by the tub with Nicholas!" he shouted back.

"What happened?" Dick asked as he cut a path through the bubbles that had overtaken the bathroom.

"I put Nicholas in his tub seat in the bathtub and started the water," Tim began, his voice revealing the overwhelming exasperation he was feeling at that moment. "All I did was turn my back for a few seconds to get his favorite bath toys from the shelf. When I turned around, he had somehow managed to knock the entire bottle of bubble bath soap and the baby shampoo into the bathtub."

Finally finding his brothers, Dick could barely stifle the laughter that stuck in his throat. Tim and Nicholas were covered in bubbles, a wide grin on Nicholas's face and a look of utter failure on Tim's. Dick reached over and shut the still running water off.

"Why didn't you just shut the water off?" Dick laughed.

"I didn't think of that," Tim sheepishly admitted as he wiped the sides from his face. "I panicked when bubbles began pouring over the side of the tub. I just started grabbing towels to clean it up while still trying to keep an eye on Nicholas. It just happened so fast."

"Well, he seems to be enjoying himself," Dick grinned as he reached down and picked up the little boy.

Nicholas giggled again, clapping his hands as if Tim had performed a magic trick, wanting him to do it again. He quickly reached out and began grabbing at the bubbles, trying his best to capture them only to find them gone as soon as he opened his hands.

Confused to find them gone, he tilted his head as he stared at his empty hands only to look into Dick's face for some sort of explanation as to where they had gone. The expression of pure confusion and fascination on his little brother's face was hilarious, causing Dick to laugh even harder.

"You can't capture them, little bat," Dick told him in amusement, walking over to find a dry towel. "Come on, Tim. We'll clean this up later. Let's get him dressed and get downstairs. Donna and Stephanie are here."

"Already?" Tim exclaimed his eyes widening as he exited the soapy bathroom to look down at his appearance. "Bro, I gotta change. I'm covered in soap and water."

"Go get changed and I'll get Nicholas into his pj's," Dick suggested, taking Nicholas to the changing table.

Nicholas strained to get free from Dick's hold on him, wanting to go back to the bathroom to play in the bubbles, but Dick wasn't about let him go. "Hold on, little Bro," he chuckled at him. "Let's get you diapered and ready for bed. We've got dates downstairs waiting on us."

Laying him down on the changing table, he quickly dried him off and put a diaper on before grabbing his onesie pj's. Just as Dick got one foot inside, he felt a sudden breeze enter the room.

"Are you nuts? You're not putting him in those are you?"

Dick looked up to see Flash in full red uniform leaning over the changing. "Why not these?"

"Because those are Superman pajamas," Flash huffed in annoyance. "You can't tell me Nicholas prefers Superman pajamas to Flash. Where are the red Flash pj's I got him?"

"I think Bruce burned them," Dick told him with a smirk as he zipped up the pajamas, helping Nicholas to sit up.

Nicholas instantly reached out to Flash, jabbering at the scarlet speedster. "Hey there, little buddy. Want to come to Uncle Flash?" Wally gushed as he picked him up and took him into his arms before turning his attention back to Dick. "Bruce did not burn them and if he did, I'll just get him new ones…maybe a matching set for both Nicholas and Bruce."

Nicholas quickly began tugging on Flash's mask with his little fingers, trying to figure out how to get it off to no avail. He settled for grabbing at his nose and pinching it, laughing excitedly when Flash made amusing honking sounds every time Nicholas grabbed his nose.

"Ok, I'm ready," Tim suddenly announced as he entered the nursery.

Flash turned his attention to Tim, noticing how flustered he looked. "What happened to you?"

"Just had a little accident with the soap…nothing more," Tim adamantly declared, casting a dark glare at Dick in silent warning to keep his mouth shut.

Flash began to crane his neck towards the bathroom when Dick grabbed him by the arm, escorting him from the nursery. "Come on," he said. "Donna and Stephanie are downstairs waiting for us."

"Did you get a girl for me?" Flash excitedly asked as he began to follow them from the nursery with Nicholas in his arms. "Wait…Donna as in Diana's gorgeous sister Donna?"

"That's the one," Dick proudly beamed.

"What about Linda?" Tim asked, confused as they made their way down the hall. "Aren't you two together anymore?"

"Well, yah, sort of I guess, but she's busy tonight," Flash admitted.

"Good," Dick said, clapping the scarlet speedster on the back. "You can be in charge of Nicholas while Tim and I watch movies with the girls."

Flash sighed as he looked at Nicholas, but the disappointment quickly vanished. "I guess it's you and me tonight, little partner," he grinned. "Let's see what trouble we can get into."