Chapter 26

Watchtower

Shayera and Zatanna were standing in the doorway of the cafeteria curiously watching Maxima. She was sitting at a table in the back, furiously writing for quite some time and had filled the table with paperwork.

"What the hell is she doing," Zatanna asked.

"I don't know, but she's been in there for hours," Shayera replied.

"Someone should go over and ask her," Zee suggested, giving Shayera a look.

"Yes, someone should," Shayera, said, returning the look.

"Well, I'm not going to."

"Neither am I."

"But you're good at that sort of thing," Zee offered.

"What sort of thing?"

"You know, being pushy."

"I'm not pushy! How can you say that," Shayera gasped offended her friend would even say such a thing.

"Well, pushy wasn't the right word, I meant direct," Zee countered.

"Why do I get the feeling they mean the same thing?"

"Come on, aren't you dying to know what she's doing?"

"Yes, but I don't think she likes me. I also don't want to get into a fight with her," Shayera said. "How would it look if I beat up an asylum seeker here on the station?"

"Well, you certainly think a lot of yourself, don't you," Zee said with smile.

"What do you mean?"

"You really think you could take her? She'd kill you."

"I most certainly could beat her! I'm a warrior, Thanagarian trained," she said proudly.

"And she's a pissed ex-Queen that's like ten times as strong as you. She battled Superman, remember? She'd wipe the floor with you," Zee said dismissively.

"You are crazy if you think I couldn't take her! I don't care who she's fought."

"She'd probably take your mace away from you and beat you to death with it,' Zee thought aloud. "Have you noticed she doesn't like birds very much."

"Yes, I have, but I'm still telling you I could take her," Shayera stated.

"Okay, you keep thinking that, but it's not getting us any closer to finding out what she's doing. If you won't and I won't, we need someone crazy enough to just walk right up to her."

"Wally," Shayera instantly said.

"Exactly," Zee agreed. They headed off to find the Flash.

Moments later they were back in the same spot, except now Wally had joined them.

"So what is it you want to know," he asked.

"What's she doing? She's been in there writing for hours."

"Why don't you just ask her," he suggested.

"Well, she doesn't like us very much," Zatanna, said

"She doesn't like anyone very much, except Clark," Shayera added.

"So why pick me?"

"This is right up your alley, Wally," Zee said, buttering him up. "You're a straight shooter, she respects that."

"And because you're so fast, you can always run away from her if she gets mad," Shayera snidely added.

"Don't mind her, Wally, Shayera's delusional today. She actually thinks she could take Maxima in fight," Zatanna offered.

"No way, she'd kill you," Wally immediately said. He chuckled at the very thought.

'What? You're against me too? What am I, the Watchtower pushover? I'm a trained warrior of the Than…"

"Give it a rest, we've all heard about the Thanagarian training," Zee cut her off. "So what do you say, Wally?"

"Yeah, sure, why not." He immediately started for the table Maxima was sitting at. Shayera and Zee quickly followed.

"Just remember I told you so if something happens, Zee," Shayera whispered to Zatanna.

"Oh, please, you didn't even bring your mace."

Shayera was going to protest, but they were already at the table.

"Hey, Maxima! What are you working on," Wally said, diving right in.

Maxima stopped writing and looked up to see the three.

"I'm following your suggestion, Flash," she said with a smile.

"My suggestion?"

"Yes, you said I should get to know Kal-El better and then he would realize I'm his soul mate."

Zatanna turned and gave Wally a harsh look, but didn't say anything.

"I-I suggested that," Wally asked, feeling Zee's eyes on him.

"Yes, you did. I too was surprised a good idea would come from you, but I imagine it's the exception that proves the rule."

"But why all the paper," Shayera chimed in, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"That part is my idea! I thought about Wally's suggestion, but that could take months, years. I already know Kal-El's my soul mate, so why wait that long? I thought a better way would to write down every question I could think of and then ask him. That will cut down the time considerably."

The three sat down now, looking at all the papers.

"These are all questions," Zee asked.

"No, just those piles over there. The rest is information about me for him. If I have to get to know him, then he will naturally want to know more about me, so I wrote down what he needed to know. It should only take a week or so, but once the two of us finish with all of this, nothing should stand in our way."

"What weapon would you use to cut out a thief's tongue," Wally read off one of the pages. "Seems a little harsh, don't you think?"

"Yes, but sometimes a monarch must meter out justice," Maxima replied.

"Would you consider changing your name from Kal-El to Kal-Maxima once we are married," Shayera read off another page.

"It's just a idea. I think it has a ring to it, don't you?"

Zatanna had picked up one of the fact sheets that Maxima had prepared about herself. As she read down the page, Zee began to blush.

"You can do it that long and bend like that?"

"Yes," Maxima replied with a lascivious smile.

"Let me see that one, Zee," Wally immediately said, reaching for the paper. Zee smacked his hand away giving him another look.

"Those pages are mostly for after the wedding. I wanted Kal-El to know that since we are genetically compatible, children are an option. With his strength he probably worries about these things. I wanted him to know that my womb can withstand his…"

"STOP!" Wally frantically said, a look of horror on his face.

"This one says you're near his equal in strength, are you sure about that,' Shayera asked with a doubting look on her face.

"I believe so, why do you ask?"

"She was wondering if she could take you. We tried to tell her you'd kill her in a fight, but she doesn't want to admit it," Wally smiled. It was Shayera's turn to glare at Wally.

"A fight? Between me and you," Maxima said with a laugh. "Your friends are correct, it wouldn't be much of a contest."

"I'm a trained warrior of the Thanagarian military," Shayera protested.

"What does your training say to do if I rip your wings off?"

"You might have a point," Shayera said, the look in Maxima's eyes making her a little uncomfortable.

"Wow, you go into a lot of detail on some of these questions, Max. I don't even think Big Blue's girlfriend Thea knows most of this," Wally observed. Both Zee and Shayera looked at Wally in shock. They couldn't believe he had just said that. Slowly they shifted their eyes over to see Maxima's reaction. The smile had left her lips and there was a very intense look in her eyes. The steel pen in her hand suddenly shattered into pieces.

"Girlfriend?!!"

Themysciran Embassy

Diana again found herself standing on the roof the Embassy staring into the night sky. It was becoming a habit with her. She had still not received an answer to her prayers from her Gods, but now she thought perhaps she had found one for herself. It had been so unexpected, that it caught her completely off guard. It was such a small moment, but it would be with her forever. It happened during dinner with Kal. She was enjoying herself more than she had in ages. Being with him was so different from everyone else. She never worried about being herself with him. In fact, she realized, he was the only person she could be herself with, really herself.

It was during one of the few quiet moments of their dinner that the moment materialized. She was just looking at him, thinking how much she cared for him, when it happened. He looked up into her eyes and suddenly she knew. Those impossibility blue eyes never failed to take her breath away. No words were spoken, but it was their moment. In that brief instance she realized she was in love with Kal and probably always had been. She had pushed those feelings away long ago, first because of Lois and then because he disappeared.

Now sitting across from him, they all came rushing back. She knew he was seeing someone, but didn't think it was the real thing. She wouldn't do anything until his situation changed, of course. She wasn't even sure how he felt about her. Yes, they were friends, good friends, best friends, but what she was feeling was something much more. Did he share these feelings, she wondered? Did she risk putting her heart out there again? If she put herself out to him and he didn't share her feelings she wasn't sure she would recover.

Perhaps Bruce was right, love shouldn't have restrains on it, Diana thought as she stood alone. She realized she would always have to restrain herself with just about any one else. She never worried about anything like that with Kal. With him, she didn't have to be Princess Diana of Themyscira, Ambassador of her people or even Wonder Woman, she could be just Diana. That was a rare thing for her. With him she was just Diana, the woman. With Kal she never felt alone. All her life she had wanted that feeling and now she knew why it had never come with anyone else. Kal was her heart's desire. As she stood there, she could only pray that she was his as well.

France

Clark Kent was deep in thought as he sat on the beach looking out over the water. Aphrodite had dragged him here for another in a seemingly endless string of parties. He hadn't seen much of her in the last week, so he agreed to go tonight. She was having a wonderful time as usual, but Clark had felt distracted all night. As he watched the people dancing and drinking, he realized his heart just wasn't into it. Whatever allure a party like this might once have held for him, it no longer did. He'd pretended for Aphrodite's sake to be enjoying himself, but after awhile he couldn't keep up the illusion. Clark quietly slipped out and came down here to think.

As he sat down on the fine sand, he realized this wasn't working. Fundamentally Aphrodite and he were too different. At first those differences were exciting and captivating, but as time went on the novelty wore off. The truth was they had nothing in common besides sex. She had been right that first night, Clark realized, when she said neither of them had any illusions about what this was. When it had turned into something else it lost whatever truth and reality it had. He wasn't in love with her and it wasn't right to let it continue. Clark chided himself for letting it go this long. He also realized he'd been lying to both of them, but mostly to himself.

He was in love with someone else and had been for a long time. He'd only just realized whom his heart belonged to. Diana. There was a moment when they were having dinner that it suddenly hit him. It had been the most pleasant evening he'd had in a long time. They had laughed and talked for hours. There was a lull in the conversation where they were both silent. Clark had absently glanced up from his coffee and met Diana's eyes. Neither of them said a word, but in that instance he knew. He'd been denying it and making excuses for so long, but in that one moment he knew he couldn't lie to himself anymore.

He was in love with Diana. He didn't know how she felt about him, really. They were friends, best friends. He probably had his chance when they first met and had blown it. He didn't think he could do anything right now, with her still getting over Bruce, but maybe he had a second chance. Even if he couldn't be with her, it still wasn't right to let things continue with Aphrodite. The best thing, the honest thing to do was end it. Clark made up his mind that this time he wouldn't let tears or guilt stop him. If he didn't do it for himself, than he would do it because there might be a chance, a second chance for something much, much more.

As he made his resolve, Aphrodite came walking down the beach towards him. Even now he had to admit she was a vision of loveliness, but he couldn't let that distract him from the truth. When she got closer she leapt into his arms and heatedly kissed him.

"I should be mad at you for leaving the party, but I will forgive you this time," she smiled.

"I didn't want to spoil your good time."

"I'm sure there's some way you can make it up to me," she teased.

Here goes, Clark thought to himself, don't let her distract you.

"Aphrodite, we need to talk."

She saw the look in his eyes and slowly pulled back.

"About what," she said, the smile disappearing from her face.

"About us,' he said.

"Oh."

"Aphrodite, I've been giving this a lot of thought and I'm afraid this isn't working …"

"Wait, I almost forgot! I have something to tell you too," she hurriedly said, interrupting him. "Let me go first!"

Clark sighed, but saw no point in arguing about it.

"Okay, go ahead."

Aphrodite stood up and moved directly in front of him. There was a big smile on her face.

"I'm pregnant and you're the father, Kal-El!"