Diana felt rustling in the bed next to her, and opened one of her eyes to the hazy view of Clark slowly pushing the covers off of him. But before he could get up she threw her arm up and wrenched him back down to the bed.

"Ok, so there's that." Clark said calmly after finding himself pinned down. Diana climbed on top of him and hugged him close. "I need to go."

"I know, but I don't want you to." She said as she nuzzled his neck.

"Are you going to let me?"

"Eventually." As Diana held him she looked up at the clock. "Wait, it's too early for you to be leaving for work."

"I know." He answered. "There's something I need to do first."

Diana sighed loudly, "Ok. Just come back to me in one piece."

Clark chuckled ever so slightly, if only she knew what he had to do. "I'll try."

Clark bathed and then put on his armor and cape, and after a goodbye kiss and a playful slap to Diana's behind he took to the skies. He was on a mission this morning. A mission to convince Hippolyta to be a part of his and Diana's wedding.

He wasn't sure how successful he would be in this endeavor, but he couldn't not give it a try. Diana tried to act as if she didn't care, but she did. It would mean the world to her to have her mother there, and if a husband is supposed to give his wife the world, Clark had to at least try to get Hippolyta there.

The time on Themyscira was different than it was in Metropolis, where it was morning it was late in the afternoon on the island. It took Clark a whole ten minutes to find Hippolyta after not seeing her in the senate or her home. He elected not to use his x-ray vision to sweep the entire village at once, simply because he didn't like doing it. Just from his hearing alone there were things going on that were meant to be kept secret between only those involved.

Clark finally found Hippolyta a short distance from the village where he finally saw with his own two eyes the basketball court that had been set up. When Diana had first told him about it he laughed about it as if she had been joking. But seeing it in real life was simply astounding.

Hippolyta was on the court, trying to play defense but she ran into a pick set by Artemis and didn't seem to know how to get out of it. And Aleka who had been defending Artemis kept her from rolling to the basket, but didn't switch to defend the ball handler after the pick, creating an easy layup. Defense needed a little work.

On offense however Hippolyta certainly looked the part of a point guard. She calmly brought the ball up court, and directed her teammates to where she wanted them in the halfcourt. They even had some idea of how to move with the ball. Using a screen set by Aleka, Phillipus was able to separate from her defender and get to an open space on the court, Hippolyta anticipated it and delivered the ball in rhythm for Phillipus to drain a quick catch and shoot 3 pointer from the corner.

"Wow." Clark said to himself, hovering far too high for anyone to hear or see him. Struggling mightily to believe what he was seeing.

The game continued, but this time Hippolyta didn't have much to do on defense because the ball was quickly tossed to Artemis on the low block. Artemis got the ball took a drop step, made a spin move and finished with a left handed hook shot before Aleka, who was defending her could get into good defensive position.

Clark wasn't surprised at much of the action. The Amazons were highly coordinated and athletic, and it came through on the court. He could see their ability to play a fast paced high flying game complete with slam dunks and alley oops. They just weren't that basketball savvy yet, they needed some time, and probably some coaching.

Going back down the floor Hippolyta directed Aleka to the top of the key where she dumped the ball to her, Hippolyta took one step to cross behind Aleka but then turned on a dime making a backdoor cut. The lane was clear and Aleka made a perfect bounce pass Hippolyta got the ball, but missed the open layup. Artemis chased down the rebound then tossing it to her point guard to run the fast break. A few passes and a layup later, Hippolyta was screaming at Phillipus at the top of her lungs.

"You're supposed to stop the ball!" She was furious her general wasn't able to play any defense down the floor.

"You're supposed to throw the ball in the basket, not miss wide open layups!" Phillipus shouted back, with equal anger.

Clark realized that was the game point, and apparently Hippolyta's team lost. An unfortunate outcome for him, but this was probably his best chance to speak with her. As the losing team they were exiting the court making way for another. Clark flew down and landed near the baseline closest to where Hippolyta was walking. His presence was instantly noticed.

Everyone knew who he was, and the law written specifically about him. That he is only allowed when Diana is with him and he must stay at her side at all times.

It was Hippolyta who spoke up. "Where is my daughter?"

"She's not here…" He began to say more, but he was cut off.

"Then you may not be!" Suddenly an Amazon that Clark didn't recognize leaped out of the spectators area and charged at him with a dagger in hand.

Clark casually caught the wrist of the woman before she could strike at him, a quick glance at the blade said that it couldn't hurt him. But there was a chance she had an affinity for it and he didn't want to chance her blaming him for breaking her favorite knife.

As the Amazon struggled to break his grip Clark turned back to Hippolyta. "I need to speak with you."

"Has something happened to Diana?" Hippolyta asked, keeping her face calm but inwardly panicking.

"No." He answered.

"Then why is she not with you?" Hippolyta stood and came forward, signaling to the Amazon who attacked to stand down.

"I wanted to speak with you, alone."

"Very well." Hippolyta walked towards him and allowed him to lift her with one arm and fly her somewhere more private.

They landed on top of the tallest building in the village.

"Basketball huh? I didn't expect that."

"We've been playing the same games for over a thousand years, it was time for something new." Hippolyta said tersely. "I know you're not here for small talk, get on with it."

"Diana and I have set a date for our wedding." Clark said. "It's in two months."

Hippolyta didn't speak, she just looked at him.

"It's sooner than I expected but Diana wanted to do it before the baby gets here."

Hippolyta shrugged. "Very well. Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it would mean the world to Diana if you were there. And because it's important to her, that means it's important to me. Which is why I've come here to ask you, if you would consider being there for her."

"Why would she not ask me herself?" Hippolyta asked, not exactly looking for an answer.

"Because she's just as stubborn as you are. She won't ask you, she doesn't know I'm here. But I'm asking, even though you hate me I'm still doing it because of what she means to me."

Hippolyta put her hands on her hips, looked at the ground and took a deep breath. "I do not hate you Kal-El. I do not, as much as I have tried to and believe me I have. Diana means more to me than anything in this world, there is nothing I would not sacrifice, no pain or torment I would not willingly suffer if it meant she would not have to. Seeing her happy brings me joy, a joy that until your child is born you cannot fathom. And it's because of you. Diana is happy because of you."

Clark was unable to react, he was floored by that admission never in 1000 years did he expect Hippolyta to ever admit that.

"My struggle comes from the fact that Diana is no longer the Amazon I raised her to be. She has willingly chosen to leave the way of life that I live, the one that I taught her to live, because of her love for you. It infuriates me, because I do not know how to reconcile this. I do not understand it, and I have no idea how to understand."

Clark carefully pondered her words before responding. "Maybe it's not about understanding, maybe it's about trust. Trusting someone without knowing the reason, because you love them."

"Perhaps." Hippolyta sighed again. "I will consider your request, because it means so much to Diana, and to you. Please take me back to the game."

Clark picked her up and took her back towards the court. Satisfied that he'd at least gotten the Queen to consider attending the wedding, with time to spare he decided to drop in on his parents at the Fortress of Solitude. But first he had to say something, something that had been bothering him since he watched their basketball game.

Hippolyta's team were all sitting together watching the next game. "Your pick & roll defense will never work without switching. When Artemis sets that pick, your Majesty, you'll have to try to defend her, and Aleka you'll have to switch to the ball handler and do your best to stay in front of her. Otherwise you'll never stop anyone."

Clark didn't wait around for them to respond directly, he gave his 2 cents and shot into the sky. But before he broke island's barrier. He heard Phillipus shout in vindication.

"I told you!"

Clark's next stop was the Fortress, he wanted to check in with his parents. Except he couldn't, because they weren't there. Clark searched just about the entire place, and there wasn't a trace of them. Not in the kitchen, lab, training room or their bedroom, which had been stripped of everything. There weren't any sheets on the bed, nor were there the little personal items that they'd acquired since they'd been here.

Clark went to a computer terminal and tried to do a search for them. Almost immediately he saw a massive signal of Kryptonian tech being used in the African Sahara. There were two possibilities, Jor had something big there that he was working on, or there had been a major breach at the fortress. A breach was unlikely, Clark was sure it was Jor-El's doing.

Clark flew to Africa and floated over the place where the influx of Kryptonian tech was hidden under the sand. He was aware of being scanned, before suddenly being transported inside. Immediately he was greeted by the Kelex 'butler unit' as he called it. It was a floating computer terminal that could do various tasks whenever needed.

Upon closer inspection it wasn't a new one either, it was the same one he used. Until of course Diana turned it off, in fact that was the first thing she did once she officially moved in with him.

"Welcome Kal-El." The floating Kelex terminal said.

"Hello old friend." He responded.

"Kal!" The excited voice of Lara filled the corridor. She quickly came forth and hugged Kal as a mother would hug a son. So he hugged her back. "We wanted to speak with you."

"What about?" He asked.

"On Krypton, the government would have provided everything we need to prepare to have a child. What will we require?"

"Cribs, clothes, bottles I guess. All kinds of things, and since we'll need two of everything for superpowered kids we might need to make it ourselves. I don't have the answers, but we can call on the world's foremost experts on raising Kryptonian children."

"Who would that be?" Lara asked, not making any sense of his last statement.

"Jonathan and Martha Kent." He said obviously.

"Right. Of course."

"So how are you?"

"I am as well as I can be. I cannot change what has happened I can only do the best I can."

"You still feeling sick?"

"Sometimes. How is Diana is she getting sick?"

"She hasn't said anything about it." So far Diana seemed fine. "What about Jor how is he dealing?"

"He is well, actually he wanted to speak with you."

Lara took him back to the laboratory where he spent much of his time. This new fortress was nearly identical to the way Clark's was in it's original state. But Clark had expanded upon his significantly over the years, Jor and Lara were just beginning. The lab was in the same place as his was.

"Kal, good day." Jor said, he'd been sitting in front of a computer terminal.

"Good morning."

"How does one become human like you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have a job, a home and a legacy as a human being separate from your Kryptonian heritage. You use it to keep yourself a secret from the world, how might Lara and I accomplish this?"

"Oh you mean that." Clark now understood what he was being asked.

"Because protecting your secret means so much to you Lara and I have decided that we will continue to do so by blending in as humans. We agree that it may make raising our new child simpler if we are believed to be no different than anyone else."

"That can be done, it's going to take some money, but luckily I know a few people who have more money than they'll ever need." Clark said with a slick smile.

A/N: I know, I know. This is very much a filler chapter, but I wanted to get something up.