The Amazons had once come to meet them. Upon seeing Faith, they arranged for the boat to go to Amazonia to pick everyone up. Faith helped after make sure the coolers of animal blood had been offloaded for Selene to eat. Tara had put a spell on the coolers so no matter how long they were here, or how many times they were opened, or had something in them the spell would keep the blood cold.
Sam and Selene were surprised to find not only an Island but an Island filled with women. It amazed Sam and Selene the beauty that was all around, everywhere they looked. The grandeur of everything from the building to the Amazons themselves alone was worth the trip.
Once everyone settled into there rooms, and Faith along, Tara was with Hippolyta and Antiope. Diana went to talk to Selene. Diana found Selene looking out a window with a sad and melancholy look about her. Quietly going over to her, Diana, asked Selene if she wanted to talk. When Selene said, yes, Diana sat down and began thinking about how to say what she wanted to say.
"I have something I would like to ask you about," Diana said, trying to ease into the topic.
"What?" Selene questions.
"I know this. Everything is a lot to take in. I know that. I do. And I hate to burden you even more, but I cannot lie." Diana begins.
Selene cuts Diana off with a disbelieving, "What?"
"I really cannot lie. I never have. I even got into a fight about lying with Faith's Father because he lied to his boss, and I hated it. So, because of that, my question to you is, will you do a Handfasting Ceremony with me?" Seeing the shocked look on Selene's face, Diana continued, "I just cannot lie, especially about something like that. If I am going to say you are my wife, then it needs to be true."
Selene was quiet for a long time after that, Diana also stayed silent and let Selene take all the time she needed. Finally, Selene turned her head to look at Diana before speaking, "I just found out my whole life was a lie. 800 years. Everything I believed, everything I thought I knew, was a complete lie. I don't want to live the rest of my life as a lie." Taking a deep breath and looking Diana in the eye, Selene said, "Yes, I will marry you."
"I will have Mother make the arrangements," Diana said, turning to leave. "Is there anything else I can get you or that you might want while I am gone?"
Selene just shakes her head, and Diana leaves her alone.
After checking on the others, Diana goes to see Hippolyta. She needs to see if her Mother can arrange a Handfasting, and Diana wants to talk to her Mother about something.
Once it was agreed upon that a Handfasting would take place and when Hippolyta could sense something else was bothering her Young One, so once everything else was over with, she asked, "Diana, is there something else on your mind?"
"Faith recently had a Dream where creatures from an Alternate Reality came into this one, and they were almost impossible to kill. Someone decided not only to show the enemy that Faith could kill them but to tell the world as well. The Dream continued with Faith fighting the creatures, and it became apparent that she was not human. Because of this, humans began to search for her origins." Diana paused, finally realizing how difficult telling this part of the story was on Faith.
"They found Themyscira." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes. Faith said, in the Dream, she was standing not to you and Antiope when a Nuclear Missile hit Themyscira. That is where the Dream ended. It led Faith, Tara, and I to undertake a mission to stop the Dream from happening before it starts. We went to an Alternate Reality from where the creatures existed. We decided to stop the key events that they needed from happening. One of those key events was the removal of Selene from their Reality. They need her to become the almost unstoppable being from the Dream. Selene isn't human Mother; she is a Vampire, but different from the ones Faith fights. Selene has never taken human life for food; she does not bother humans at all; her War is with the creatures that came to this Reality, the Lycans." Diana said.
"I see," Hippolyta said, stunned.
"There is something else, Mother. While we were there, we had Selene go through some changes that gave her even more enhanced abilities." Diana held a hand up to stop Hippolyta from asking questions before continuing, "That is for her to tell. Anyway, I was not talking about that, but about something that happened. While she was going through one of her changes." Diana paused, taking a deep breath, and tried to figure out how to say what she was about to say. "There was a woman named Lena there, she was the Leader's daughter, and she could see things about me. She saw my relationship with Steve, Faith's birth, Steve's death, but she also saw something else, something surprising. Lena was saying all these things about my past, and then she said, 'she is a special child many battles will be fought over her,' to which I replied, 'Faith is a capable Warrior,' and she said, 'I wasn't talking about Faith.' She never said anything else after that. I do not see myself in any relationship, let alone one that could produce a child, Selene and I are only having a Handfasting because neither one of us want to live a lie."
"She truly knew all that about you?" Hippolyta asks, shaking her head. She finds it hard to believe.
"Yes." Diana answers.
"And Lena alluded that she could see another child in your life?" Inquires Hippolyta.
"Yes," Diana replied.
"Well, there is only one thing you can do, wait. Worrying about what might never come to past will do no good, so just wait and live your life if this child comes then love it, if not, then forget about what Lena said. Worrying will not change things one way or the other." Hippolyta said.
Janet, Sam, and Cassandra were in the middle of an argument when Diana checked on them. It started when Cassie suggested that Sam and Janet get married, and Sam felt that it was too soon.
Finally, Janet takes the fight out of Sam when she says, "Dammit, Samantha, I nearly lost before I could even love you. With our jobs, it could never be too early."
Sam was taken aback by Janet's blunt statement before realizing Janet was right. She could have died without ever having known Janet loved her or being able to call Cassie officially; her daughter Sam couldn't let even more time pass without the loves of her life being with her. "Alright, let's get married." Sam said, with her famous Carter smile before frowning a bit, "How are we going to get married?"
"You could get married here," Cassandra said, smiling, looking at her parents.
They decided to look for Diana and ask her about marriage practices on Themyscira since Faith was spending all her time with either her Grandmother or Aunt.
Diana found Selene standing on almost the same spot Diana was when Diana spotted Steve's plane all those years ago and let Selene know that Sam and Janet would be joining there Handfasting Ceremony. Selene didn't mind it was in name only, and she had other things on her mind than a marriage that wasn't a marriage.
"How are you feeling?" Diana inquires.
"I'm still having trouble coming to grips with everything," Selene says quietly.
"I was standing just about where you are standing right now the first time I saw Steve. He was flying on a plane that was having engine trouble and going to crash into the ocean. I had no idea what it was, but I did not hesitate for a moment, I jump in, swam to the strange contraption. I saved Steve and started a journey that led to incredible discoveries about myself and my Mother, forcing me to re-evaluate myself and everyone around me. You will have to do the same." Diana responds.
"Yeah, but I don't think your Mother lied to you because she killed everyone you loved, so it's not the same," Selene said, getting angry at the comparison.
"It is. Betrayal, no matter in what form it takes, is something that is not easily forgiven nor forgotten because betrayal is the ultimate breach of trust. The killing of your family was not as painful as Viktor's betrayal. To know he had gained your trust all the while knowing he was the one truly responsible for your pain is by far the worse pain is it not?" Diana inquires curiously.
Selene turns to Diana with tears in her eyes she opens her mouth, but nothing comes out as Diana continues, "You never had time to grieve, to mourn properly. You woke up one night to the sounds of your Niece's screams, and after finding all your family dead, you ran into Viktor, who started you on this path. You felt if kilt the Lycans that killed your family, you could let yourself grieve, finally mourn them; soon, you realized that would not work, so it was if you killed all the Lycans you could rest. Now, after 800 years, you know that is not going to fill that void." Diana said as Selene's tears came faster. Looking over Selene's shoulder to see Antiope coming towards them, Diana shakes her head silently, telling Antiope to stop before continuing, "What you need right now is to mourn finally, grieve finally. Let it out, Selene. Grieve for your family, mourn them. Heal." And with that, Selene breaks down and finally begins the grieving process, and she finally lets herself mourn her family.
Antiope quietly leaves, leaving Diana to caring for the upset Selene. What she wanted can wait taking care of Selene's pain comes first.
For the next few days, while Diana helped Selene finally grieve for her family, Faith and Tara are with Faith's Grandmother or Aunt. Sam, Janet, and Cassandra were spending time together, but the closer the Handfasting Ceremony day came, the more Sam started to express doubt about going through with it. So much so that it was beginning to bother Janet, until one day when they were on the beach, Janet was down by the water, and Sam and Cassie were sitting closer to the cliffs when Cassie made a profoundly insightful statement.
"You want to adopt me." Cassie states.
Taken by surprise, Sam could only sputter, "Of course." And wonder where this was heading.
"You met me, and less than a week later, you were saying you loved me and wanted to adopt me," Cassandra said.
Now seeing where this was heading, Sam tried to explain, "That's different."
"No, it's not," Cassie said, before running down to Janet at the water's edge.
"She is right," Hippolyta said, coming up from behind Sam. "You love someone enough to make them a part of your life no matter in what way then you should just embrace your life with them. Faith tells me you recently came close to death; this more than anything else should tell you how precious life and love is." With that, Hippolyta turns and walks away, knowing it was up to Sam to make the next move.
Sam takes some time to think about what Hippolyta said and realized Hippolyta is right. Sam goes up to Janet and upon reaching her drops down to one knee while taking a surprised Janet's hand saying, "We could have lost each other without ever really having found each other. I was afraid we hadn't known one other that long, let alone known our feelings long enough for a relationship to begin. How could we get married when we don't have that kind of foundation? Also, I was afraid of losing you like I lost my Mom," Sam held up her hand to stop Janet from speaking and continued with what she was saying. "I know it's not the same, and there are no guarantees I just want you to be safe as I know you want me to be. So, if you're still willing to take a chance on me, will you Janet Elise Fraiser do me the incredible honor of marrying me and helping me to raise our daughter together?"
With tears in her eyes, Janet looked first to a smiling Cassandra than back to Sam before saying, "It's about Damn time!" Sam chock out a little chuckle when Janet said that but waited for her to continue, "Yes, Samantha Marie Carter, I will marry and raise our daughter with you." Janet said while tugging on Sam's hand to pull her up and into a kiss.
"OK. Since you've kissed and made up, can we please build sandcastles now? You promised?" Cassie whined, looking at Sam and Janet with sad puppy dog eyes.
"And so it begins," Sam says while looking at Cassie in mock exasperation.
"Yeah. Every time we try to have a private moment from now on, our daughter is going to interrupt it. Welcome to the joys of parenthood." Janet says, shaking her while looking at both Sam and Cassie fondly.
"Oh, swell. Thanks, you could have given me a warning." Sam says, in mock seriousness. "Is it too late to get out of this?"
"Yeeeessssss!" Cassandra hisses at Sam while grabbing her hand. "Come on. Sand. Castles. Now. Let's go!"
Pulling on Sam's hand, the little girl doesn't give her a choice this time. It was now officially time to play and to forget all the serious stuff.
Now on their way back to Man's World, all except the sleeping Cassandra were lost in their thoughts.
For Sam and Janet, it was a little weird to have a Honeymoon before the Wedding, but they didn't care because all that matter to them is that they finally had each other and their daughter. Knowing they were married and that they could finally safely live a semi-open life seemed just about perfect to them.
For Selene, the trip was a cathartic experience. To be able to have an emotional release and grieve for her family was healing. For the first time in 8 centuries, Selene could finally tell stories of her Mother, Father, Sister, or Nieces without feeling a burning rage or guilt. Talking to Diana helped Selene find a little bit of peace.
For Diana, it was an emotional rollercoaster, being there for Selene brought out so many unresolved feelings for her entire relationship with Steve. Finding out that she had a Father, that her Mother had lied to her, and killing a Brother that she never even knew existed; it was a lot for Diana to process, and until now, she never truly accepted everything that's happened. Just through the process of helping Selene, it helped Diana examine and work through her issues, and now Diana felt she could finally move forward free of the past.
For Faith, she was both happy and sad. Her Mother's Handfasting was something that brought Faith great joy. However, the decision to stop coming to Themyscira was a hard one, but the right one. They couldn't risk anyone finding the Island, so to protect it from the outside World, Faith, Tara, and Diana agreed that it would be best if they didn't visit for a while.
For Tara, she just wanted to be there for her family. Tara knew that Faith was taking not being able to visit hard, and she tried to help Faith adjust to not seeing her Grandmother and Aunt as much. With Diana, it was another matter. Tara could see Diana was more at peace with the past and yet still upset with it also. Tara desired to be there to support not just her Mother-in-Law but her second Mother. And now, with Selene officially joining the family, Tara wanted to be there to help Selene adjust to her new situation in any way she could.