TITLE: Slipped my Mind

AUTHOR: LOTSlover

CHARACTERS: Batman / Wonder Woman

RATING: M

WARNINGS: Author Chooses Not to Use Warnings

DISCLAIMER: I love Justice League, but especially Batman and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, I do not own the characters and, if I did, things would be much different for them.

SUMMARY: While Bruce and Diana work on plans for the new Metro Tower, Diana stumbles across something that could put an end to their relationship. BMWW

Slipped My Mind

Diana looked up at Bruce who was sitting across the table from her, reviewing every single detail of the plans for the new Metro Tower. She felt her heart nearly flutter out of rhythm as she studied him. She swore that she'd never met a more handsome specimen than Bruce Wayne. His strength of character and altruistic heart instantly drew her to him like a moth to a flame, her feelings for him only growing stronger from there.

Now, she was hopelessly in love with him and she couldn't be happier about it.

She slowly drew her teeth over her bottom lip as she appreciated his striking features—the slope of his nose, his distinctive chin and jawline, his lips that she loved to devour. She couldn't help but appreciate how his shirt seemed to hug his muscled chest and arms, making her anxious to remove it along with the rest of his clothing.

"You keep looking at me like that and we're going to have a problem."

His baritone voice held a slightly husky quality that told her he knew what she was thinking about. She decided to play coy. "Look at you like what?" she innocently inquired with a tilt of her head.

"Like you're about to pounce on me like a panther," he replied, finally looking up to meet her predatory gaze.

"So, what's the problem with that?" she asked with a playful smirk.

"There's rarely a problem, but we have to decide on these plans for the Metro Tower," he reminded her. "Construction is scheduled to begin next month."

"We've been working on this for over two hours," she reminded him. "Don't you think we deserve a little break?"

"You know our breaks are never short," he told her with a chuckle. "It usually turns into a marathon event."

Diana laughed at his comparison to their sex life. "Are you complaining?"

"Never," he adamantly stated. "I'm just saying that we don't have a couple of hours to screw around. These plans need to be submitted by Monday."

A single eyebrow arched in amusement. "Screw around? Is that what we're doing?"

Bruce sighed, giving her a slightly exasperated look. "You know what I mean."

"What if we keep it short and sweet?" she flirted, extending her foot to find his leg. "I don't think we've ever done it before here in your office."

She slowly ran her toes up his shin, studying him for some sort of reaction. "You are not helping, Diana," he stated, tightly gripping his pencil in a futile effort to remain in complete control. "You know I would love to make love with you, but we have to get this done."

"It feels like I'm helping," she teased, continuing her assault with her foot. "I seem to be doing something right."

"You are very bad, princess," he growled, grabbing hold of her foot to stop her arousing ministrations. He needed to keep a tight grip on his desire for her or they'd never get these plans finished.

"I thought you two might like some refreshments," Alfred announced as he entered Bruce's office in the manor.

"Thank you, Alfred," Diana replied, taking a glass of iced tea from his tray. "I'm more than ready for a break, but Bruce doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word."

"Ah, poor Master Bruce," Alfred commiserated with the Amazon. "He's always been extremely focused when it comes to attending to business. All work and no fun."

"There's some other business that I'd like him to attend to," she muttered under her breath, running her toes back and forth along his inner thigh again.

Bruce's eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at the sexy Amazon. "Can we just focus, please?"

"Master Bruce, I do hope that you remember that Valentine's Day is tomorrow," Alfred reminded him. "I'm assuming that you have made romantic plans for the two of you."

Bruce looked from Alfred to Diana, doing his best to school his features. "I have not forgotten."

"I should hope not," Alfred stated, giving Bruce a pointed look before leaving them alone once more.

"All right," Diana said, sitting up straighter in her chair as she firmly planted both feet on the floor. "I'll have mercy on you. Let's get this done so we can enjoy a nice dinner and an even better evening before you have to leave for patrol."

"Thank you," he replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Can we have a marathon event after dinner?" she teased, unable to contain her laughter.

"You're incorrigible," he murmured with an amused shake of his head.

"Just insatiable when it comes to you, my love."

Bruce's cell phone rang at that moment, forcing them to end their flirty banter. "Do you have more pens?" Diana asked, shaking the one in her hand as Bruce checked to see who was calling him.

"Desk drawer," he told her as he stood to his feet to answer his phone. "Hi, Lucious…what can I do for you?"

Diana made her way towards his desk, sitting down in the chair before it. She frowned at the seven drawers, wondering which one held the pens. She opened the top drawer on the left, rummaging through his things and finding various office supplies but no pens.

She looked up at Bruce to ask him which drawer, but he was pacing the room, deep in conversation with Lucius. Despite dating for a long time now, she hated going through his things, but she also didn't want to interrupt him. It was obvious they were discussing something important.

Closing the drawer, she moved on to the next one. The middle drawer was wider than the side drawers and surprisingly cluttered. She rifled under file folders and stacks of papers for the pens that she'd been looking for but were obviously determined to remain elusive.

"Bruce…" she muttered his name with growing impatience, but he was too absorbed in conversation to hear her.

Shifting to the top drawer on the right, Diana pulled it all the way out to find the box of pens that she'd been looking for…along with something that she hadn't. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion as she spotted a blue velvet box at the back of the drawer. Stunned, she picked up the box, her breath catching in her throat as realization dawned on her as to what it was.

Bruce turned just then, noticing Diana holding the velvet box in her hands. His stomach immediately dropped into his shoes. "Lucius, I've got to go," he urgently stated, his heart suddenly hammering out of control. "Diana…"

"Bruce," she murmured as she looked up at him in stunned disbelief.

They stared at one another, neither knowing what to say until Bruce finally found his voice once more. "Diana, it's not what you think," he heatedly insisted, crossing the room to her in three quick strides.

"Oh, I…I'm sorry," she softly said as she looked down at the box in her hands, suddenly feeling foolish and embarrassed as her brained struggled to process the shock of it all.

Bruce quickly snatched it out of her hand, clutching it tightly to his chest. "Diana, I…"

"I'm sorry," she apologized again as she quickly stood to her feet. "I was just looking for the pens. I didn't mean to intrude in your personal business."

Bruce could feel her emotionally shutting down and shutting him out. It caused a sharp wave of panic to spike through him. "Please, let me explain," he pleaded with her.

"No…it's all right…really," she attempted to assure him, not making eye contact with him.

Diana swiftly walked past him only for him to firmly grab hold of her arm, stopping her from walking away from him. "I was engaged once," he admitted, looking down at the velvet box in his hand. "I know I should have told you a long time ago, but it honestly slipped my mind."

"Being engaged slipped your mind?" she repeated, incredulous.

"Yes," he insisted, wishing she would believe him. "It's not something that I think about."

"I know you've been with countless women before me, Bruce, and I've accepted that," she revealed. "But this one obviously meant a great deal to you if you were going to marry her. Don't you think I deserve to know about it?"

Diana and Bruce didn't get a chance to continue their conversation, their commlinks alerting them to an emergency.

"We're not done with this conversation," Bruce adamantly stated, his eyes fierce with determination.

Diana walked out of the room without a response, heading towards the cave to prepare to leave for the mission. She couldn't deny the hurt that tore through her, knowing that Bruce had kept something important like this from her. She couldn't help wondering what else he'd been keeping from her this whole time that they'd been together.

XXX

Bruce paced back and forth, his cowl clutched in his hand and a grim expression on his face. The mission had turned deadly, Diana taking the brunt of the injuries. It had terrified him to no end seeing her lying there so broken and hurt and not being able to do anything for her.

He'd felt as helpless as when she'd been trapped under that missile in Gorilla City. He hadn't been able to do anything to save her then either, but at least she'd been able to save herself. This time, she hadn't been able to do that.

It pained his heart deeply to see her lying in the medical bay in the infirmary like this despite looking better than she had a couple of hours ago. J'onn had assured him she'd make a full recovery. She just needed a little time for her healing factor to do what it did best—save her life.

They had so much that they needed to talk about, things that he needed to explain to her. He couldn't wait another day to tell her how sorry he was that he hadn't told her about his past or that he loved her more than anyone that he'd ever loved before.

Hearing Diana begin to stir, he sat down in the chair at her bedside, taking her hand in both of his. "Diana?"

"Bruce," she softly said, partially opening her eyes. "Did we stop them?"

"Yes, they're in custody," he assured her, leaning down and kissing her bruised knuckles.

Diana's forehead creased with worry as she reached over with her free hand to brush his jet-black hair from his forehead. "You're hurt," she murmured, noticing the wound on his head.

"It's nothing," he insisted with an insistent shake of his head. "How are you feeling? Do you need something for pain?"

"No, I'm fine," she replied, rolling over onto her side with a wince.

He pressed his forehead against their joined hands, drawing a shuddering breath as he squeezed his eyes closed. "You scared the hell out of me," he confessed. "I thought I'd lost you…and you'd never know the truth. I couldn't have lived with that."

"The truth about what?"

"About you," he revealed, finally lifting his head to meet her confused gaze.

"Me? What about me?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was previously engaged," he told her. "I know it's something that I should have told you about when we first started a relationship, but I honestly never thought about it. I've been so happy for the first time in a long time and it's all because of you."

"Who was she?"

"Her name was Andrea Beaumont," he replied. "I met her when I was visiting my parents' grave. She was there at her mother's gravesite. We started dating and it became quite serious. I'd been planning on becoming Batman at the time, but after meeting Andrea, I was having second thoughts.

"I was happy…had an inner peace that I'd lost the day my parents died. We got engaged, but then her father forced her to leave and to go into hiding because of his ties to the mob. She sent the engagement ring back to me. That's when I fully threw myself into becoming Batman."

"Oh, Bruce," she whispered, the pain that accompanied the memories reflecting in his eyes.

"She returned a few years later, and I thought that we were going to reconcile," he continued. "It turns out she was only back for revenge on those who had ordered her father's death by becoming the criminal vigilante Phantasm. It ended badly."

"I'm so sorry," she softly said.

"When she sent the engagement ring back, I shoved the box into the back of that drawer in an attempt to forget all about her," he admitted. "I didn't want to see anything that reminded me of her, but I found myself still thinking about her all the time. I felt like I couldn't escape her.

"And then, I met this amazing Amazon warrior who was so fierce and yet so compassionate… unbelievably beautiful on the inside and out. That's when I found my thoughts plagued by you…not Andrea. The engagement ring completely slipped my mind. I was finally happy again and in love with the most incredible woman in the world. What was even more amazing was the fact that you loved me in return."

"How could I not?" she replied, cupping his cheek. "You are pretty amazing in your own right."

The stubble on his face was rough beneath her palm, her thumb gently caressing his cheekbone. Her heart broke for him and what he had been through during his life—the pain, the numerous losses, the insecurities and doubts, the unspoken desire to just be loved and accepted by someone. She swore to herself that she would never allow him to feel that heartache again.

He gave her a gentle smile that Diana had not seen often enough but couldn't wait to see again. "I'm so sorry I hurt you," he murmured, kissing her fingers. "It was never my intention to keep anything from you. It's just that you have me under your spell, princess. I can't seem to find the will to break free."

She leaned forward and kissed him, sweet and tender. "I hope you never do," she teased.

"I never meant to hurt you, Diana," he assured her. "I'm not particularly good at sharing my thoughts or feelings and sharing painful things from my past even less so. I'm sure there are going to be other things that will come up that I haven't told you about, but I promise that I'll try to do better."

"It's all right, Bruce," she assured him. "I know this isn't easy for you."

Bruce reached into his utility belt, pulling out a deep red velvet box. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I can't wait…not after what happened today. I want you to have this now."

Diana gasped as he opened the box to reveal a diamond engagement ring. Tears blurred her vision as she struggled to contain her emotions, taken aback by the unexpected gift. "Bruce, it's beautiful."

"Diana, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" he proposed to her.

"Yes," she murmured as he took the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger. "I would love to be your wife."

He leaned over her and kissed her deeply, overwhelming relief washing over him like a spring rain. After what had happened this afternoon, he'd feared that she wouldn't want to have anything to do with him. After the mission this evening, he'd feared she wouldn't survive, leaving him devastated and brokenhearted.

Another engagement ring in his desk drawer…another true love that wasn't meant to be.

He didn't think he could survive it…not with Diana. He had always believed that Andrea had been his true love, a missed opportunity that would never come around for him again. Then, he'd met Diana, and his world had been turned upside down. He discovered a real love that was meant forever this time.

Diana pulled back just enough to gaze into his eyes, her breath warm pulses against his face. "So, do I still get my marathon you promised me tonight?" she asked with a cheeky smile.

Bruce groaned with the thought, wanting nothing more than to take his new fiancé home and spend hours making love to her. "You are in no shape for a marathon, princess."

"Not even short and sweet?" she asked, teasing him with the words she'd used earlier that day.

"Tomorrow," he promised her, "as long as you're up for it."

"Oh, I'll definitely be up for it," she assured him. "The question is will you be up for it?"

"I'm always up for a challenge like you," he flirted with a sexy smirk.

"But what about the plans for the Metro Tower?" she asked.

He pressed his lips to hers, kissing her breathless again. "It slipped my mind," he confessed with a frown. "We'll worry about it later. Tomorrow is all about you."

"I love the sound of that," she readily agreed, wrapping her arms around him before pulling him into the bed with her. Tomorrow wasn't soon enough for her liking. "How about we start now then? I'm suddenly feeling much better."

Bracing himself above her, Bruce gazed down at her, worried about hurting her. Then again, they did deserve to celebrate their engagement, didn't they? "You're incorrigible," he huskily replied, his lips grazing hers.

Diana grinned up at him. "And you love me for it."

"More than you can possibly imagine," he confirmed, finding her lips in a heated kiss.