Chapter 28

Lex's brown eyes were burning like molten pools of lava when he gripped the back of Diana's neck and pressed his forehead to hers as soon as they got inside the door of their penthouse after the Justice League's successful attack on the Legion of Doom.

"Marry me," Lex breathed into her lips.

"Yes," said Diana. "Of course. You know I will," she smiled at him, lifting her hands up to rest them on Lex's forearms as he continued to cradle her head.

"No," Lex said to Diana with more urgency, staring deeper into her eyes.

"Marry me now. Tomorrow. Or in a few days. This week. As soon as we can plan the wedding and get your friends to show up."

Diana's eyes flew open wider and she stared at Lex, not even realizing that her heart was thudding in her chest and that her breathing had gotten hard and fast.

"Really?" she asked Lex in a whisper, as a smile a little too shy to come out until she was sure he was serious stayed barely hidden at the corners of her mouth.

"Yes, really," Lex said adamantly. "I can't live without you anymore, Diana," he growled.

"But I just - I can't - I need to marry you first," Lex said most incoherently, which by itself told Diana how much he was struggling for some reason with the idea of having sex with her.

Diana wasn't an idiot; she knew the fact that she was a virgin held a lot of appeal for Lex even though it made him want to feel extra secure in their relationship before they consummated it.

But she also knew that Lex's moral compass really was realigning and it was badly confusing the former super-villain.

Lex clearly held Diana in higher regard than he held anyone else on the planet. The very fact that he had gotten angry over Bruce's neglect of her at the charity ball in the first place and reached out to her that night with the goal of manipulating Bruce into dating her - not manipulating Diana into dating himself - told Diana that Lex's love for her was pure.

The one and only truly pure inclination of his heart, no doubt.

And given that Lex had a long and varied sexual history, with many of his encounters being casual and some no doubt even being completely selfish or mean-spirited in nature, given who Lex used to be… Diana suspected that Lex was feeling conflicted about putting his beloved marble goddess of idealistic perfection into the same category as the women before her without something special that set sex between them apart.

Something, perhaps, that made Lex feel worthy of her - even though, of course, he already was worthy and even though he did realize that Diana wasn't, in actual fact, perfect.

Still… if getting married first would make Lex feel better? And if it meant that they could have sex?

"Let's get married then," Diana said, her full smile dazzling Lex as it broke across her face. "As soon as we can. In a few days."

Lex blinked and his hands on her head loosened their grip.

"Really?" he was the one to ask now, his hands lightly brushing over her face as if he couldn't believe that he wasn't imagining that she'd spoken.

"You're sure?" Lex asked her, tracing her lips with his fingertips, needing to feel the words actually coming out of her mouth in case his ears were lying to him.

"I'm positive," Diana said, pressing a kiss to his fingers as she clasped his hand in both of hers.

"I will never change my mind about being with you, Lex Luthor," she said softly but with a heartfelt conviction that Lex could feel coming out of her soul.

As Lex's eyes filled with tears and he stared at her helplessly, overcome, Diana added, "And you can tie me up with my lasso if you don't believe me, and I'll still tell you the same thing."

Her teasing smile jolted Lex out of his reverie, although he could only manage half of a chuckle before he was kissing Diana, not hard and urgent but soft and sweet and so tenderly, drinking from a wine that he knew that he shouldn't by rights be able to afford and was therefore going to savor.

"I love you," Diana whispered brokenly against him, tears filling her own eyes, too, as she clung to the front of Lex's shirt while he cupped her face with his hands and continued kissing her.

"I love you so much that it scares me, Diana Prince," Lex murmured into her mouth. "God help me," he added.

Up on the Watchtower, the Green Lantern was still unconscious after his altercation with Sinestro and J'onn and the other members of the League were still in the dark as to what, exactly, had happened to John Stewart.

"I wish he hadn't gone off by himself," Vixen murmured as she sat in the medbay next to John's sickbed, her fingers intertwined with his.

"Yeah, the Green Arrow was pretty cranky about that after the battle when he realized what GL had done," the Flash said, in between mouthfuls of french fries.

"I can't say I blame him," Vixen sighed. "Leave it to John to be the hero instead of calling for backup. After all the lectures he gives the rest of the Justice League about teamwork and collaboration…"

"Things were happening really fast," Wally said, slurping on his milkshake now.

"Sinestro came out and attacked John so hard that he knocked Evil Star out of his green energy bond. I'm sure GL didn't want to leave Kara without backup in case she couldn't handle KGBeast," Wally said, "and I don't think Vig could have handled Evil Star on his own."

The villainous Evil Star had flying powers and shot energy bursts and Vigilante, while a sharpshooter, wasn't superpowered at all. He was a good second to Fire, though, who the Green Lantern had ordered to take on Evil Star with him, and if Supergirl's battle with KGBeast had turned against her, Vigilante would have been helpful in taking shots at her opponent while Kara kept him from getting pummeled by the much stronger baddie.

"I know," Vixen said in frustration. "I know you're right. But I still hate that he made that sacrifice."

"He wouldn't be GL if he didn't," said Wally somberly.

Vixen gave him a tiny smile.

"You sure you don't want me to get you something to eat, Vixen?" the Flash asked her. "I could run down to the commissary and be right back."

"It's ok, Wally, but thanks," she said, stretching her legs out in front of her without letting go of John's hand.

"I had a protein bar earlier. I don't feel much like eating right now," she said, meeting Wally's caring eyes with her troubled ones.

"He'll be ok," Wally said reassuringly. "J'onn said his brain wave activity seemed normal. And his stats and vital signs are good."

"I know," Vixen said helplessly. "But why won't he wake up, then?"

"He will," the Flash said hopefully as he reached out to rub Mari's arm. She sighed.

"Thanks for sitting here with me," she said to the red speedster with a little smile. "I appreciate the company."

"Sure thing, Vixen," Wally said. "Bats and Shayera felt bad they had to go back to Gotham instead of staying up here, but you know Bats doesn't like to leave his city unprotected. Even after a freakin' battle with the Legion of Doom," Wally laughed.

Vixen chuckled.

"Only Batman," she said dryly. "Shayera is good for him, I think," she said reflectively.

"She'll probably keep him from overdoing it tonight. I'm glad they got together," Mari said, and although she didn't say it out loud, the fact that Shayera was now off of the table as a dating option for John wasn't the only reason why she was happy for the Dark Knight.

Mari genuinely liked Batman. His dry sense of humor ticked her funny bone and she enjoyed trading light-hearted snarky jabs with him from time to time when they were on monitoring duty together. Or, as was more often the case, when she was on duty but Batman was on the computers anyway, working on cases when he was technically off the clock.

He needed to rest more, Mari thought. And love more. It had been so good to see a few rare smiles on his face since he and Shayera had started dating. Except for what the two of them had done to John, in hurting her boyfriend's feelings so terribly, Mari felt extremely supportive of their relationship.

"When they're not being absolute idiots, that is," she said to Wally.

Wally snorted.

"At least they made a nicer card this time," he said, picking up the thoughtful Get Well card that Bats and Shy had left for John in case he woke up before they came back up to the Watchtower the following day.

Their beautifully decorated homemade card was a huge improvement over last week's thanks-for-being-an-asshole card and the note they had written on the inside was equally sweet:

Sorry we can't be there to keep you company overnight, John, but crime in Gotham never sleeps. We are wishing for a speedy recovery and we'll be back up to check on you tomorrow. Get well soon! Love, Bats and Shy.

Vixen gave Wally a look.

"As if I wouldn't have murdered the both of them if they dared to bring anything else to John, after the stunt they pulled last week," she said seriously.

Wally giggled.

"I think you might have scared Batman," he said.

"I know I scared you," Vixen said playfully, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Wally turned a little red and laughed behind his hand, making Vixen giggle, too. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, watching John's heart rate monitor and the steady rise and fall of his chest, until Wally spoke again.

"There's been too much drama and bad feelings on the team these last few weeks," he said in a sad voice. "I wish we would all go back to being friends."

"Things seem like they might be getting better, now, don't they?" Vixen asked him. "I thought people were patching things up."

"The Founders are, yeah," Wally said. "But the rest of the Justice League?" He shook his head. "I heard some pretty ugly comments before and after the battle," he sighed.

"About Diana?" Vixen asked him and Wally nodded.

"Diana and Lex," he said. "I don't think Green Arrow would normally have been so upset with John, either, about going off by himself and getting hurt if Ollie hadn't already been frustrated over the situation with Lex and the Legion of Doom."

"That's a hard one," Vixen sighed. "I was surprised, I have to admit," she said, "that Lex didn't sabotage our attack."

"Really?" Wally asked her curiously.

She nodded.

"You weren't?" Mari said skeptically. "Not even a little bit?"

Flash shook his head negatively and grinned.

"Nope," he said. "Me and J'onn had dinner with Lex and Diana last week, and man oh man, does Lex have it bad," he said. "He adores her. If she was an ice cream sundae, Lex would have been eating her up with a spoon."

Vixen let out an amused laugh.

"That bad, huh?" she teased. Wally smiled.

"He's crazy about her," he said. "And it's not like he's not a megalomaniac anymore," Wally said. "He still wants to take over the world. But now he's going to do it with green energy and granola bars."

Vixen laughed out loud.

"Is that right?" she said.

Wally shrugged and was about to answer when John's heart rate monitor suddenly increased. The Green Lantern shifted and let out a quiet groan.

"I'll go get J'onn," Wally said, jumping up from his chair and zipping out of the room.

"Baby?" Mari said urgently, standing so she could lean more closely over her boyfriend. "John, honey?" she said, gently stroking his cheek. "Can you hear me?"

GL's hand slowly came up and weakly fluttered down on top of hers.

"What happened?" he muttered without opening his eyes.

"I don't know, sweetie," Vixen said softly. "You got separated from everyone while you were fighting Sinestro and then you didn't answer your comms. Wally found you unconscious."

The Flash had just zoomed back into the room to stand on the other side of John's bed. He picked up John's other hand.

"J'onn is on his way down," Wally said. "Good to see ya awake, GL," he said with relief. "You had us worried."

John made an amused sound in the back of his throat.

"It'll take more than Sinestro to take me out," he said.

"Do you remember anything?" Mari asked him.

John tried to shake his head 'no' but groaned in pain.

"My damn head hurts like hell," he muttered, keeping his eyes closed.

"More or less than your hangover headache?" Mari teased him gently, pressing a light kiss to his forehead.

"More," John grunted, which gave Mari pause and made her frown.

"John," the Martian Manhunter said, floating into the room. "I am relieved to see you awake again."

"How long was I out?" John mumbled.

"Over six hours," J'onn answered. "What do you remember?" he asked him.

John thought.

"Fighting Sinestro," he muttered. "Went past Diana and Flash… got deeper into the swamp… we were trading shots but we were both blocking each other, couldn't get a hit in… then -"

He paused.

"It's blank," he said. "Do I have a concussion?"

"No," said J'onn, sounding puzzled. "Nor do you have an obvious head injury. No trauma wounds."

"If I may…?" the Martian Manhunter said. "I can enter your mind. Perhaps I can find the missing memory fragments."

"Is it gonna hurt?" John grunted. "Because it already feels like Mari's elephant is tap-dancing on my brain."

She chuckled softly and brought his hand to her mouth to kiss it.

"Sorry about that, boo," she said gently.

"It will not hurt," J'onn said. "Not when you are cooperative and receptive to the mental intrusion."

"Ok, then," the Green Lantern said. "Go fish."

J'onn closed his eyes and concentrated as he reached out telepathically. He felt John's initial apprehension and sent soothing mental waves to his friend, waiting to probe deeper into his mind until he felt John start to relax and open his mental gates.

At first, John's memories from the battle were scrambled and confused, laced with adrenaline and hyper-focused on survival. J'onn carefully allowed the memories to play unhindered until John and Sinestro went into the swamp.

Abruptly, J'onn hit a blank wall. He carefully backtracked and slowed down the playback, feeling for spikes of panic or trauma that would have caused John to conceal the memories from his conscious mind.

As J'onn cautiously crept closer to the memory block, he began to feel a strong sense of foreboding danger. He sent more comforting energy to John's mind, letting him know that together they could safely face whatever his brain was trying to hide from him.

Suddenly, J'onn gasped out loud. Vixen and Flash jumped and Flash reached both hands out to steady the Martian as he stumbled on his feet next to John's bed.

Inside John's mind, J'onn was frowning to himself. He had been deliberately repelled when he approached the memory. Not surprising in and of itself, given that John's brain had already enacted its self-defense mechanisms when it had buried the memory.

But there had been a split second where J'onn had almost felt a whisper of… something. Another presence in John's mind? But there was nothing there. And none of the lingering scars that J'onn would have expected to see from a crudely performed mental invasion.

J'onn steeled himself and approached John's memory again, planting his mental feet firmly into the playback of the battle with Sinestro to anchor himself as he once again crept closer to the hidden memory. This time, J'onn reduced his mental presence to the lightest stream as he attempted to peer behind the curtain.

The picture was blurred out at first, but then it came into focus. Sinestro firing a shot that felled a tree directly in front of John, causing the Green Lantern to fly backwards to avoid being hit, into Sinestro's waiting energy bonds. As John struggled to get free, the villain reached out and injected a syringe into John's neck.

In the memory, John slumped and fell to the ground as Sinestro released him and flew off.

J'onn withdrew from John's mind and blinked his eyes open.

"You saw the memory?" the Martian asked him.

"Yeah," John grunted. "Drugs aren't Sinestro's usual style," he muttered. "And why didn't he kill me?"

"I believe he was trying to," J'onn frowned. "Pentothal can be fatal when injected into an artery."

"John was injected with pentothal?" Vixen said, surprised.

"It appears so," J'onn said cautiously.

It did appear so.

Except… it was… odd.

In all the times the Justice League had come up against Sinestro, he had never used an injectible drug as a weapon. And the Green Lantern Corps had done battle with Sinestro far more often than the Justice League had, and John was indicating that Sinestro did not use drugs in those skirmishes, either.

"Maybe he had it on hand for Lex," John said, apparently thinking along the same lines of thought as J'onn.

"Interesting," J'onn said, cocking his head to the side as he considered the possibility.

"Out of all of them, Sinestro's the one who would be most likely to walk into that meeting expecting a trap," John said.

"Why is that?" Vixen said.

John gave a mirthless smile.

"Because if he'd been in Lex's shoes, he would have called that meeting as a trap for the Legion of Doom, too," he said. "Maybe he figured he'd arm himself with a weapon Lex wouldn't expect from him, just in case."

"Well, thank goodness he missed your vein when he injected you, GL," Wally said fervently.

"I'll say," Vixen murmured.

"Yes," J'onn said slowly.

He couldn't explain it, but something was not sitting right with him. However -

"May I assist you down to your quarters, John?" the Martian asked him politely, being stronger than Vixen and Wally. "It appears that you are not seriously harmed and I'm sure you would be more comfortable in your own bed."

"Do I have to stand up to get there?" John grumbled, his head still pounding.

J'onn gave a small smile and bent down to scoop the Green Lantern up under his back and knees.

"Hey!" John protested as the Martian began to walk him out into the corridor. "Don't we have a wheelchair or something? Put me down," he insisted. "I can walk."

Vixen and J'onn exchanged a look.

"Wally, honey, why don't you scout ahead and make sure no one's in the hallways so John can maintain his dignity?" Mari said to the Flash.

"Sure thing, Vixen!" Wally said, dashing off.

"It's still the night shift, boo," Mari reassured him as she walked down the hall next to J'onn. "J'onn carrying you is easier. I don't think we have any wheelchairs."

"We don't generally allow people to leave the medbay if they require a wheelchair to do so," J'onn said with a faint smile on his face as he carried John.

"Unless they're Batman," John grunted.

"We don't allow Batman to leave, either," J'onn said dryly. "He just goes."

"And you all are too scared to stop him?" Vixen said, greatly amused.

J'onn sighed. And refused to answer.

"Have you ever tried to stop the tide from coming in, baby?" John rumbled from J'onn's arms.

"Or held a moonbeam in your hand?" Wally asked, popping back into the conversation as he sped to a halt in front of them.

"What?" said John in confusion.

"Are we not quoting The Sound of Music?" Wally asked, equally confused.

Vixen giggled.

"That's 'how do you keep a wave upon the sand,' Wally," she said. "Not stop the tide."

"Oh," said the Flash.

"What… are we discussing?" J'onn said slowly.

"The Sound of Music," Wally said. "It's one of my Aunt Iris's favorite movies. We should watch it together, J'onn!" Wally said happily.

"I bet Diana's never seen it either," he added. "Maybe she and Lex would want to watch it with us."

"She and Lex…?" John growled as J'onn finally, thankfully, approached the door to the Green Lantern's quarters.

"Well, yeah, GL, they're kind of a couple now, you know," Wally said as J'onn carried John inside and gently laid him in his bed.

John grunted.

"You can't invite Luthor up to the Watchtower, you know," he said back.

"Maybe he'll invite us to his penthouse, then!" Wally said with excitement. "I bet he's got some pretty sweet digs!"

"Oh, my God," Vixen murmured under her breath, catching John's eye, which he was just now daring to open in the darkened shadows of his bedroom with the only light streaming in from the dimmed hallway.

"Don't be jealous, Vixen," Wally said, "Just because me and J'onn are Lex's new best friends," he grinned.

"Jealous was not the word I was looking for," Vixen said in a very dry voice.

"We shall leave you to rest," J'onn rumbled, pushing Wally firmly ahead of him out the door.

Mari saw the smile on the corners of his mouth and that made her smile, too, because dammit, J'onn was another hero who was just too sad too much of the time. It would do him good to go down to Earth and watch a movie with Wally and Diana.

Even if that meant spending time with Lex.

"You will stay with John tonight?" the Martian was asking her as he left.

"You couldn't tear me away," Mari said warmly, looking down at her sick honey, who smiled up at her.

"Got me a good woman here, J'onn," he murmured from the bed.

"Indeed," J'onn agreed with him, giving Mari a kind look before following Wally out into the corridor and allowing the door to shut behind them.

Mari slipped out of her clothes without turning the light on and crawled into bed next to John.

"I was so worried about you tonight," she said to him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby," John muttered sleepily.

"See that you don't," Mari said firmly.

"Yes, ma'am," John mumbled as sleep claimed him.

Mari sighed and ran a gentle hand over his head before curling into his side. But it was a long time before she was able to fall asleep, because her heart insisted on keeping a keen ear out for the sound of John's steady breathing.

She didn't mind.