Episode 8

| Kairos – the perfect, delicate, crucial moment|

A platonic evening with a friend had ended platonically. Much to Diana's regret. She and Kal had talked until his eyes drooped, and he passed out. Diana had smiled indulgently, twirled her fingers in his forelock, before kissing his cheek, and leaving.

She had had a fitful night of sleep and was up and dressed in her armor before the birds could start chirping.

At daybreak, she stood with her feet braced shoulder-length apart on the top of the CitySpire Center building peering into the middle distance. Her silken tresses blew like a banner in the wind while her lasso bounced occasionally against her hip. Indecision had kept her from acting, but as the warmth of the sun's rays touched her skin, reflected off her armor, she had made her decision.

Wonder Woman paid a visit to a prisoner at Concord Federal Penitentiary.

She wore gauntlets that encapsuled both hands made out of the strongest metal in the universe, nth metal. Diana had tried once to break the metal in her hands and found herself unable to do so.

The sullen woman was jostled forward, a heavy hand on her shoulder that forced her into the large metal chair in the center of the room. The boots on her feet, and her gauntlets were clicked into place, and with the push of a button on a tablet, she was magnetized to the chair. The only thing she could move was her head.

Diana hated that such measures had to be taken, but the woman have proven herself a formidable fighter. The guards were well-built women, but they were human. A fragile skeleton was contained underneath their muscle after all.

Nodding to the guards, Diana squared her shoulders and stared Hermia head on.

In the dim lighting of the visiting room, Diana could see the facial similarities between them but also the marked differences. Hermia's chin was more angular, her cheeks were a little lower than hers, her nose was broader. Where Diana's eyes were sky-blue, Hermia's were expresso brown. She did have the bearing of an Amazon, Diana recognized, but there was something off about Hermia, her claims of being Hippolyta's firstborn notwithstanding. Was it possible she might have been sculpted from clay as well?

Her skin by comparison of the bright orange jumpsuit looked sallow, and Diana wondered if the woman was ever allowed outside for fresh air and exercise. Perhaps not. She was an extreme risk.

Hermia morosely sat, blinking owlishly with a blank stare.

"Hello, Hermia. Nice to see you again."

Hermia stubbornly refused to speak.

Undeterred and even expecting her non-compliance of having a civil conversation, Diana continued, "I hope they've been treating you well."

Hermia scoffed but otherwise said nothing. Then again, she had a change of heart. "When I get out of here, because I will, I will take great joy in carving your heart out."

The words were delivered with such vehemence it was a wonder fire didn't come shooting out of her mouth and nostrils. The threat might have made anyone else bristle and call for the guard, but Diana took it in stride. Many people wanted her dead and even tried to kill her. She, unlike them, was still standing.

"Why such anger towards me? If you were raised by Hermes, as you claim, he is one of my patrons."

"And that makes you special to him? The gods can favor you one hour and curse you the next."

Diana couldn't refute that. "I guess I'm seeking understanding on why I'm the center of your derision. I have not personally wronged you. I had no knowledge of your existence until day we fought."

"Whether you wronged me or not, matters not. It is the fact that I have been robbed of my birthright, and a prissy upstart like yourself has reaped the benefits of not only having a mother, sisterhood, but the adoration of the world. That should be mine. All of it should be mine."

Prissy? Diana mused with an arched brow. She had been called lots of things but prissy certainly wasn't one of those things.

"All we have to go by is your word, Hermia that you are Hippolyta's firstborn daughter. Just as all you have is the word of a god who is known for playing tricks. Why should I step aside to indulge the delusion of a troubled woman?"

Hermia laughed then, gaily. "Summon Her—Mercury," she corrected herself. "Demand his account of things. He is the messenger god."

"He's also the god of trickery. And I won't summon him because I have a tool right here on my belt that can suss out the truth."

Hermia sat up as much as she could, her movements restricted as they were. Her gaze dropped to the glowing golden lasso Diana removed from her hip. "If you believe I'm a troubled, delusional woman then why are you here? It would seem your presence would be a confirmation that you know deep down I'm telling the truth. You could have asked Hippolyta, but you haven't, have you? Why? Because you know once you hear the truth from her mouth, you'll be compelled to give it up. Being heir, being the champion, being Wonder Woman. I know you, Diana. You're a woman of principle."

"I have a question for you, Hermia. If you felt abandoned by the Amazons, by Hippolyta why would you ever want to be the heir, the champion, Wonder Woman?"

The imprisoned woman shrugged. "What other purpose was my existence if not to disrupt things? Look, we can talk about this until our tongues turn to dust, but it solves nothing. You are the lie, and I am the truth. I suggest you count your days and enjoy what of them you have left. Guard!" she yelled. She was done with this conversation that would only circle topics she wasn't willing to elaborate on.

"I wasn't finished."

"Too bad. I am. I have nothing else to say to the false princess. You want the truth, you know who to talk to, to get it. Only come here again when you're ready to give your sword and shield to me."

The guards entered the room, demagnetizing the chair, and hauling Hermia to her feet.

Sighing, Diana shook her head and reattached her lasso.

Three hours later, Diana stood on the ridges of Mount Kyllini in Greece.

Tied to a low hanging branch was a ram. Crawling along the sand was a spur thighed tortoise, and perched in a gilded cage was a ferruginous hawk. Those three were the sacred animals of the god she wanted to have an audience with, in the place where he was most worshipped.

"Your subject beseeches you to come."

Nothing but the wind stirred.

Diana cricked her neck. Tried again.

"Lord Hermes I bid you welcome."

Minutes ticked off the clock making Diana doubt he would show. He usually did, unless of course he was running across galaxies. Patiently she waited before petitioning him to come once more.

"Lord Hermes I bid you welcome."

"Lord Hermes? No need to be so uptight and formal."

Diana heard his voice, a disembodied voice but saw no sign of him. She looked left, right, behind her.

Finally a flash of white shimmered in the distance, grew bigger, drew closer, disappeared, and reappeared in the shape of a 6'9" man with a clean-shaven face, multi-hued wavy hair that almost touched his shoulders and changed colors whenever he turned his head, and a wicked smile. He wore, to Diana's disbelief, neon green athletic gear. She stared bemused.

Hermes eyed the gifts she had assembled, flashed over to the ram, and sunk his fingers into its pelt. The animal tilted its head hoping to entice him to scratch at a spot just behind its ears.

"Well done, well done…This place certainly brings back memories."

"Is it true?" Diana began without preamble now that she had permission to speak freely.

"That your mother has secrets? Yes."

"Lo—Hermes, please."

"What do you wish to speak to me about, Diana?"

"I've had an encounter," she began, detailing the fight she had with Hermia and her claims of being Hippolyta's true firstborn. "Obviously she had been trained to fight, and believes everything I've disclosed to you. So I have a question…does her story have merit?"

"The stories always have merit according to the author of them."

Diana was growing exasperated with the non-answers. Again, something she was used to. "Whose daughter is she really?"

Hermes began to circle who he considered a daughter. "Who does she remind you of?"

Diana thought for second sifting through the choices, some that were obvious and those that would be stranger-than-fiction but no less plausible. The answer came after a moment of reflection. "Ares."

Hermes merely gave her a knowing look with flashing gold eyes, but shook his head. "He is not her father."

"Then…you are?"

"I am…Her mother is a young—well, young compared to my years—anthropology student who considers herself my biggest fan. She wrote a speculative piece of fiction in which Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons had given birth to a daughter and the messenger of the gods hiding her away. Well, when I found myself being the center of an intrigue for once, I couldn't…ignore it."

"Why lie to her about her parentage?"

"We're several millennium years old, Diana. We get bored. To stave off the boredom to keep the madness at bay, we like to cosplay one another, mortals, swans, cows, I mean you know it's endless what we transfigure ourselves into. Offspring is often a result of our…games. So I may have had the thought…why keep her story as that? A story. Why not make it a reality but bending certain truths in which Hippolyta had given birth to a real-life daughter."

Diana's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Take no offense, youngling. You are our daughter. The product of love, war, beauty, truth, wisdom, boundaries. Our finest work." Hermes' expression flattened. "Have you ever wanted something so badly that you found it impossible to stand still? Have you ever wanted to do something for yourself and not at the behest of someone else. Just you for your own pleasure? No, I suppose not, my daughter. You are a servant just as I am a servant, but sometimes serving makes for restlessness…I wanted a work of my own. Thus, Hermia."

Listening to him, the gods would never cease to amaze Diana in their daring, in the lack of care they had for those whose lives they meddled with. "You mean to leave her languishing in a prison feeding on lies?"

"All of the greatest heroes' journeys starts with conflict, leading to a hill to climb, an obstacle to overcome. If she cannot work out her problem for herself, well guess I would have failed in my experiment."

"I've never known you to be cruel."

Hermes disappeared and when he reappeared he stood impossibly close to Diana, and gently cupped her chin. "You've known me to stand on the fringes waiting for the moment to guide another soul to Tartarus. Being the last living being a soul speaks with." He closed his eyes, but Diana caught a glimpse of a pain so deep and thousands of years old, her heart ached. "I am kind, Diana, but I am what I am."

"She deserves to know the truth."

Sighing, Hermes dropped his hold on her chin. "Yes. She will learn it one day. Do not interfere, Diana. I have the road to my daughter's life mapped out."

He was gone leaving behind a sharp burst of wind that stung her skin.

Make something beautiful, Diana she heard on a wind current as she flew away from Mount Kyllini.

His words continued to echo in her head. The yearning for having something exclusively to yourself. To make something beautiful.

By nightfall Diana had returned to the embassy where she had dinner, took care of some correspondence, and had even given an interview.

Showered and attired in a light, cream tunic that she had every plan to shed once hopping into bed, as she preferred to sleep nude, she opened the balcony door and leaned her weight against it.

Her lips parted but then slammed shut a moment later.

Inhaling a breath, Diana ordered herself to be brave. "Kal?"

He could be in the middle of floating an entire apartment complex to more stable ground after an earthquake, or stopping a nuclear disaster. It was selfish to call him, but she had to see him.

Within ten minutes she heard what anyone might confuse with the engine of a jet. Diana saw a dot heading toward her, growing bigger with every mile covered. Now she saw his cape fluttering behind him, arms stretched forward, hands balled into fists.

He slowed his trajectory, shifting from flying horizontally to vertically, and then he was floating toward her.

She admired him in his uniform. He had done away with the red underpants some years ago, having adopted the Kryptonian style armor. He did keep the belt from his original uniform as it was the seat belt of the spaceship that sent him to Earth. No matter how many times she saw him, hung around him, it always felt like seeing him for the first time. Chiseled features, perfectly coiffed hair with that notorious forelock, deep-set eyes which penetrated the soul, the quintessence of masculinity.

His red boots touched down on the metal balcony, wryly smile in place that made Diana flush. As a breeze blew past shifting the material of her tunic against her bare legs she was reminded that she was practically flashing Kal.

He looked her directly in the eye, and she knew he was doing so on purpose because there was no way he couldn't see she was naked beneath her sheath.

"Diana?"

"Were you busy?"

Superman shrugged a brawny shoulder. "No more than usual. What is it? Did you need help with something?"

"No, I…I just wanted to see you. It's been a long day with some stunning revelations."

His eyes roamed her face trying to get a read on her. "Such as?" Diana rarely called him out of the blue but always with a purpose. Plus he was trying as valiantly as he could to keep his gaze above her neck.

"I went to see the woman who claims she's Hippolyta's true daughter. She still believes that, by the way, but I also had words with Hermes."

"You spoke with him? What did he have to say about all this?"

"That it's essentially his doing. He wanted a project of his own, wants to create his own legend, I guess. The gods I serve are," Diana bit off her words. A chunk of the world might have stopped believing in her gods, she knew they were still alive and vengeful looking for any slight they could twist to their advantage to make life hell.

"How are you feeling about everything?"

"Not good but I've been barred from interfering."

"Which I have a feeling you will."

Diana smiled. "You know me too well…Well, that was everything." Only it wasn't but she didn't want to detain him any longer. "I'll let you go now."

"Are you sure? I was going to do one more lap around the planet before turning in myself, but I can come back."

"No, it's all right. You go. I'll see you later."

Superman hesitated. "Okay, well good night, Diana."

"Kal?"

Superman looked at her expectantly.

"It's…nothing," Diana shook her head. "Good night, Kal."

Make something beautiful, Diana. There was that voice again. Louder, like a claxon wailing.

Superman lifted from the ground once more. Five feet, ten, thirty. He spun facing west prepared to launch himself in the sky to do as he said before heading home. Yet he couldn't deny the strong desire, pull to remain on that balcony.

Inhaling a breath, Diana released it, "Have you ever thought about us…being more than friends?"

Superman lost all altitude and stood before Diana in an instant. He croaked, "What? What's brought this on?"

She fixed him with an imploring look, "Have you?"

"I…" Superman stumbled over his words. She was asking him the one question he struggled with giving a straight answer to because of the implications. He wasn't blind or an idiot. On the surface, any man into women would be attracted to Diana. Knowing her as closely as he did, that underlining desire to be attached to her permanently, increased. So it was just easier to pretend it wasn't there. That they were friends and friends would be how they'd remain.

His silence was Diana's answer and something inside of her cracked.

"It's…it's fine, Kal. You don't have to answer. Forget I asked." She lowered her gaze. "You should probably go." Diana made to retreat inside the bedroom.

"Hold on." In three strides Superman stood before Wonder Woman. "You want to know if I've ever thought about us being more than friends?"

Diana nodded, bracing herself.

"I…have."

Her brows lifted.

Superman wasn't sure why she looked so surprised. "Diana, not wanting you has turned into another superpower," he guffawed ruefully. "From the very first time I laid eyes on you to now and all the moments in between, it's become an exercise of keeping you compartmentalized, because otherwise I would have gone mad from wanting you so badly."

"Really?"

"Yes!" Superman said incredulously.

Diana slid closer until there was no space between them, her thighs flush against his. "I want to try something." Her head turned and angled, her intent more than clear.

The old worry rose up in the man of steel that he was in some strange way taking advantage. However, when Wonder Woman wanted to kiss you, you let her.

Closer.

The first taste was tentative. A shy kiss with endless promise. Diana pulled away, eyes slumberous as she awaited Superman's verdict. Would he, in his infinite chivalry, put a stop to it? Diana received her answer.

He was the initiator the second time, moving forward, hooking an arm around her waist, and pulling her warm body to his. A rush of excitement burst within Diana as she wrapped her arms around him.

Such sweet innocence like snowflakes landing on fur with a heady perfume made Superman's head feel weightless. He wanted to devour her. Engulf her into his cells, make her a part of himself.

Hands buried in hair, mouth slanting over mouth. Energy sizzled along nerves and in this moment there was little that could get either of them to stop. Breath, they shared that as well. Every drop inhaled and exhaled was absolutely intoxicating. Dizzying. Warming. She wanted more and Superman gave her more. Pressed infinitely closer, held her tighter, loved her mouth with an intensity only a superman could give.

Cupping beneath her knees, Superman lifted her from the ground. Diana tightened her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. She could feel his heart beating fast against her chest as he walked the short distance to the room.

Her back met the mattress.

"Are we moving too fast?" Superman wondered as he eyed her mouth with lascivious intent.

"I don't know."

"What do you want, Diana?"

She jutted up her hips coming into contact with the part of him that had hardened the minute before she kissed him on the terrace.

Superman groaned, buried his face in the crook of her neck. He was a man of principle, a man who liked to do things in order. That meant going out on dates, having long talks over the phone, getting to really know each other before physical intimacy. If he rationalized it, he'd be reminded of the fact he already did all of those things with Diana. As friends—yes, however he was also a man who hadn't sex in a very long time.

Her questing hands distracted him. Her fingers grazed along the corded muscles of his arms, his chest, stopping to circle his nipples. Superman groaned again.

"I want you to give as much of yourself as you want to give me, Kal."

"I don't want you to have any regrets."

"I won't. I know what I'm doing and what I want…You."

Seeing her feelings bare killed the last of Superman's resolve.

Episode 9

| Gnasche – the intense desire to bite deeply into the forearm of someone you love |

The bedroom was tinged in shadow and moonlight. A warm, gentle breeze blew through the open terrace doors, fluttering the curtains. A cape laid bunched on the floor, boots poking out from beneath it. A soft rustling could be heard among the soft smacking of lips and sweet moans of pleasure.

A flush stained his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, and the tips of his ears. He couldn't believe this was happening. Memories of a past dream filled his head as he carded his fingers through her silky hair. How they had drawn close, the intent in both of their eyes more than clear. But to his dismay he had woken up before anything could happen.

He could do more than give her the occasional consoling hug, the playful shoulder bump, the discreet hand hold, the platonic kiss on the forehead.

There was so much more of her to kiss.

Lips fluttered from her chin to her clavicle and back again. Hands squeezed her hips and tickled her ribs. Teeth nipped the skin stretched across her sternum, and a dexterous tongue lightly traced the slopping hill of her right breast. Diana bit into her lips to keep from making a sound. This shouldn't be happening, but it was. He had told her to lay back and just feel and so she did.

She thought of Ovid's line, "I am dragged along by a strange new force. Desire and reason are pulling in different directions…" as her feet moved anxiously, but the rest of her remained perfectly still. The bottom of her tunic was pushed up exposing her dime-size navel. Higher up and her knotted abdominals came into view. Even higher now revealing a breast.

*What we have been, or now are, we shall not be tomorrow

"Beautiful." Diana heard Clark whisper as the pad of his thumb circled her bud enticing it to pebble and harden into an edible peak. Fire raced through and under her skin. Blood rushed and darkened the color of her nipple before an icy, lapping tongue cooled it off.

A breathy pant escaped Diana's lips as her back arched higher coaxing him to take more of her breast into his mouth. Clark obliged, his jaw flexing as he engulfed her creamy flesh into his hot orifice.

He lifted his gaze watching her head thrash back and forth against the mattress. To see her like this, the women who was so composed on the battlefield, impassioned during league meetings, cross when expectations weren't met filled Clark with more than just pride but gratitude.

He eased away slightly, reluctant to stop, but there was so much more of her to taste. He slanted his mouth over hers right when she huffed that he stopped feeding, taking, turning her mumbles of complaint into mewls of joy.

He ended the kiss long enough to pull her tunic off, and to disengage his armor leaving him in garments that he eagerly discarded.

There they laid bare and naked to one another, shattering years of curiosity and internal contemplations. Bronzed skin and rippling muscles, sinews, and curves, two sides of the same coin yet as different as night and day.

"Can I touch you, Kal?"

"You know you can."

Diana's exploration was as tentative as a foal finding its legs. Her fingers became that of a paintbrush, running her fingers across his pecks, trailing down his abs that contracted at each caress, immortalizing every inch of him on the canvas of her mind. Clark inhaled sharply when her fingers curled around his tumescent shaft, and his eyes rolled as she thumbed the dewy head of his cock.

He certainly lives up to his moniker, Diana mused. Man of steel indeed.

Her touch spelled his undoing and for it to come so soon was unacceptable. So, taking her by the hips, Clark flipped their positions and hiked Diana over his face.

Her brow furrowed in question, "What—?"

The second his lips kissed her center she received her answer. Diana choked on a gasp and moaned at the pressure his tongue applied when it joined in on the fun. She stared down at the intense look in his eye as he used his mouth to devour her. Her breath hiccupped and hissed making it difficult to think beyond the onslaught of sensation barreling over her. Flying at hyper speeds through space, swimming to the far reaches of Arthur's kingdom, none of it could compare to what she was feeling. Clark flicked his tongue mercilessly across that bundle of nerves and Diana couldn't take it.

She exploded.

Lightning sizzled through her and shot out the top of her head and through her nailbeds it seemed. She broke the headboard as she screamed his name, "KALLLLLLLLLL!" Her hips bucked as explosion after explosion sent tremors through her. Sumerian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse, an amalgam of languages passed through her kiss swollen lips.

Clark eased her off his face, chin, mouth, and the tip of his nose glistening with her essence. A cocky smirked played along his lips as he looked at Diana sprawled on her stomach across the bed.

The sight of her like this filled him with gargantuan pride, but the noble side of him was rising swiftly to the surface. One he wanted to bat away, but if this was going to continue he wanted to be absolutely certain they were on the same page.

"Diana…" he rubbed her lower back.

"Mmm."

"We don't have to go farther."

Rolling over, she stared at him, worried. Had she taken advantage of him? "You don't want to go farther?"

"I think it's obvious I want to." He looked down at his thighs.

Diana followed suit. She had no idea a penis could look majestic but his did. Long, thick, heavily veined—hard. Seeing the size of Kal made her nervous, but it also made her wetter.

"I want us to be on the same page," he swallowed.

"Well…" Crawling toward her prey, swinging one leg over him, Diana straddled Clark pushing him down on the mattress. Hair hanging forward, it brushed his chest, bracketed his head. She sunk her hand between her legs, touching him. He pulsed in her grasp. "Is this the page you're on?"

Clark grabbed her hips to steady her and himself. "Yeah."

"Then let's turn the page," she said, pumping his shaft. "Is that what you want?"

"Di—"

"Is it?"

"Yes!"

"Good, because the only thing strong enough to get me to stop is if Darkseid boomed into this room at this very second," she said lining herself up, the head of his rigidity breaching the outer lips of her center. Diana pressed down, tensing slightly at the foreign intrusion.

He was barely in and already her snug warmth had his toes curling. She sank on to him feeling an intense pinch that had her thighs squeezing his hips almost to the point of pain.

"Are you…uh—God! Are you okay?" Clark panted. He had never felt anything like Diana before. If she moved it would be over for him. To distract himself he attuned his hearing to the insects outside, to the staff moving around carrying out their various duties even at this late hour. But within a blink he zeroed completely on Diana. Her heartbeat was like a symphonic masterpiece, the whisper of breath leaving her pillowy lips was a siren's call.

"Are you okay? He repeated his question.

"Yes."

Diana's head fell back as she adjusted. Tears clouded her eyes because she hadn't imagined it would feel like this. A mixture of pain and fullness.

She bucked her hips.

As one they sunk down to the blistery heat of the Earth's core, burning away inhibitions before shooting off to the fringes of the universe. Everything was vivid: color, sound, sensation.

Diana sunk her fingers between his connecting them even further together. Her hips undulated, her body rocked back and forth, slowly and methodically, pumping against Clark in a toe-curling pace.

Their slow cadence turned into a frenetic pounding that made the bed creak alarmingly, but they were both far too close to the end to give a care.

Waves burst her apart.

He was far from finished. Clark rolled, placing Diana beneath him. The change in position had her licking her lips as she pulled him down for a kiss.

Beads of sweat rolled off his shoulders as he flexed and piston his hips. Her calves rubbed against his flexing ass each time he plowed in and out of her.

Clark pierced his eyes shut, his forehead coming into contact with Diana's as he moved fast, almost inhumanly fast. He had let go, surrendered, and she mewled, moaned, and groaned so lustily it was enough to have him spilling right then and there.

"Clark…Clark…Clark…" his name became a chant. When he angled his hips another fraction, she panted, "Kal…Kal…Kallllll."

"Are you close?" he wanted to know.

Diana did a series of quick nods and shakes unable to articulate anything verbally or nonverbally because the sensation was overwhelming. But she could feel it coming on like a hurricane forming over the ocean, moving across choppy waves, and heading for land. "I…"

"I'll know when you're close. I can feel it. I can feel you everywhere, Diana."

Clark pulled out. Diana's eyes popped open. If she had her sword she'd slice him in two!

"What are you…"

Her question was interrupted when Clark rolled her to her side, and climbed behind her. Lifting her leg, he slid right back where he had been seconds ago.

He alternated between kissing her neck and biting her shoulder as he circled that bundle of nerves with his middle finger, moving in and out of her slick folds.

It was happening once more. Pressure rising and funneling through her, Diana's jaw fell open, but she couldn't make a sound. All she could do was feel. So close she could taste it and the flavor was deliciously sweet and metallic.

Faster her hips moved. Faster he thrust. The friction of their bodies sent out mini tremors that were registering on the Richter scale. Unconsciously or maybe even consciously Clark noticed and floated them off the bed. He changed their positioned once more, reverse cowgirl, his hips thrusting up as Diana's came down.

She felt the frenzy building, colliding deep in her belly. Diana grabbed her hair, her own breasts, a little shocked that Kal's hands were there. Her head fell back, and it happened.

Diana cried out speaking in her native tongue, sending up exaltations to Aphrodite as she unraveled, melted, and came like the force of a thousand cannons.

Clark was right behind her, cresting over, spilling everything that was inside of him inside of her. Raw, guttural notes spilled from his mouth that he slipped into speaking Kryptonian without realizing.

The greatest moment of his life.

He was ready to repeat it again, and again, and again.

He collapsed on the bed as Diana collapsed on him.

Aftershocks tapered off some ten minutes later. Gently sliding out, Clark pulled Diana to him. Arms that could lift a planet circled around her, enclosing her like a shell protecting a pearl.

Pecking her nose and cheeks, Clark sighed into the mouth of the woman he loved. And it was a truth he could no longer keep bottled up. He had to tell her, so he did. "Diana, I love you."

She beamed. It was a truth she had known for quite a while but to hear it confirmed, made her heart sing. "I love you too, Kal."

His chest swelled and heart soared hearing her repeat those words and mean it.

"I love everyone I meet," she went on to explain, "even my enemies, but with you it's always been different. More than obligational or conditional. Deeply and without reservation is my love for you."

"Diana…" Clark found himself speechless.

"You don't have to—"

"No, I need to. The first moment I laid eyes on you, I can't say it was love that I felt, but I felt something so profound and burning in your gaze that for days I couldn't concentrate on anything else. You changed the trajectory of my life, Diana. I've loved you as a friend, like a brother, but now I love you without limits."

Diana hadn't cried all night but now she kind of wanted to, but she refrained. She angled her head and kissed her lover.

"So that is what it feels like," Diana murmured a moment later. "To share love and to be made love to."

"Hmm. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Kal, I can head butt a tank and walk away without a scratch. I'm fine." She tried to sit up and felt an unusual throbbing in her center that made her wince slightly, "Okay, maybe I will be after a bit of rest."

Clark sighed but guffawed ruefully a moment later.

Diana whispered, "How soon can we begin again?"

Chuckling, Clark brought her closer which should have been impossible. "My cells are fully charged…"

"So…?"

Faster than a speeding bullet, Clark had Diana pressed up against the tiled walls of the shower, moaning his name.

Episode 9

| Kairosclerosis – the moment you realize that you're currently happy, consciously trying to savor the feeling |

She studied her hands, her arms, even her feet.

She carried his scent.

Diana couldn't stop smiling.

She waited for a pang of regret to strike her down for submitting to a man, but she had her argument ready that it had been a mutual submission. Kal had not done anything she didn't explicitly want him to do and vice versa. Last night had brought her unbridled pleasure and the morning, unbridled happiness. So much happiness Diana had to bite the inside of her cheek periodically to keep from shouting it to the heavens.

"What has that man done to me?"

"Good things, I hope."

Clark came up behind her dressed in nothing but the bottom half of his uniform, surprising her. Sliding his hands around her hips, he wrapped his arms around her, kissed the back of her head, the side of her neck, the corner of her jaw, and once she angled her head just right, he took her lips.

He didn't know how he was going to function today or—in life! Now that he had her, now that they'd had each other, there was no going back for him. He had tried to counsel himself to take things slow. This was so new for Diana and in a way it was new for him as well. To be this compatible with a woman, it was terrifying, and the last thing Clark wanted to do was to screw up.

He wasn't alone in his fears.

"What are we going to do from now on?" Diana whispered.

Whatever we bloody well please, he nearly said. Outwardly, Clark replied, "We nurture what we have."

"How?"

"We do what we've always done, Diana. Nothing has to change. Just now…you can keep a toothbrush at my place," he grinned.

She arched a brow, "I couldn't before?"

"Of course. You can keep whatever you need and want at my place." He nuzzled her neck.

Diana bit her lip at his ministrations feeling her skin growing warm again. "The others?"

Clark planted his chin on her shoulder, his gaze locked on the horizon. As much as he wanted to scream to the world that he and Wonder Woman were more than friends, he valued his privacy. Discretion was the name of the game, but he couldn't help but feel a hint of dishonesty in that. "What do you want them to know about us?" he posed a question of his own.

Diana opened her mouth to respond but no sound followed. She thought for a moment. She was a terrible liar, and she knew she'd give away what she and Kal had done if she so much as laid eyes on him in the presence of others. Bruce would figure them out and disapprove. J'onn would sense the change but wouldn't mention it. Her mother…

Diana felt her stomach drop. Her mother and sisters would probably know instantly she had, in their words, "sullied herself with a man" and she might face banishment. She had let her loins do the talking and thinking last night, but…

She wouldn't change a single thing. Last night had been beautiful. A cherished moment with the man she loved. Diana felt not a shred of shame about that, and she'd be damned if anyone made her feel ashamed.

Turning in Clark's arms, she locked her arms around his neck, carded her fingers through the hair on the nape of his neck. "I want them to know we love each other. If they deduce that that love now includes your body communing with mine…I won't deny it. If asked."

"Do you think we've become a cliché? Earth's strongest heroes getting together."

"Not a cliché, Clark. Inevitable."

Clark began lowering his head, "I love you, Wonder Woman."

"And I you, Man of Steel."

Epilogue

| On Year later |

Shayera Hol held out her hand, palm facing up. A crisp Benjamin Franklin was slapped into it.

Mari leaned on her elbow, the sight of Diana and Clark dancing at Oliver and Dinah's wedding reception flitting in her peripheral, "Two hundred bucks it takes him six months to propose."

Shayera faced her romantic rival. "Deal, but I say it'll happen in three."

Clark smiled. He planned to ask tomorrow night.

THE END

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this little fic of mine. Feedback is always welcome, and hope to see you again soon.