Chapter 2  --  Tuesday Morning

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"Alfred," I exclaimed, "Bruce was right!  This IS divine."

"Thank you, Miss Diana."

"Hmph," Bruce snorted from the opposite side of the small kitchen table.  I didn't think it was intended as a negative, but rather as a general expression of discontent.  He sat hunched over his own share of the Eggs Benedict, pushing it around the plate with his fork.  He had promised me Sunday night that he would not go out on patrol, but instead go to bed and give his wounds a chance to heal.  Since I had never known the Batman to go back on his word, I was sure he had done so; just as I was sure he had gone out early last night and worked twice as hard as usual to prove to everyone that he could do it.  He was paying for it now.  The bruises that had been starting to form on Sunday now discolored his face and I could see the pain flicker in his eyes when he moved incautiously.

He looked up suddenly and snapped, "Sit down, Alfred!"

Alfred looked scandalized.  "Most certainly not, sir."

"Why not?"  He looked at me.  "Breakfast is the only meal I have ever been able to convince him to eat with me and then only if it is served here in the kitchen."  His surly expression softened and he looked back at Alfred.  "I miss the company," he told him.

"You have other company this morning, sir," Alfred responded.  "It would be most improper for me to join you when there is company present."

"Why?" I asked.  "I know the customs are different in Patriarch's World but I would feel more comfortable if you would sit with us.  It would feel more like home."

"You're going to make Diana think you don't like her," Bruce threw in, which earned him a severe look.

"Please," I added.  "Otherwise I will only have Bruce to talk to and I don't think his conversation will be very enlivening this morning."

Alfred snorted at that and, looking uncertain, sat down.  He dished himself up some of the Eggs Benedict, being careful to leave plenty for us.  No one seemed to know what to say, so we all ate.  I was tempted to make some pointless comment on the weather or the Gotham Knights' chances this year (Cassie was determined to teach me to enjoy baseball, although I couldn't see the point to it) but desisted.

When the silence started to become oppressive, I turned to Alfred and asked, "Is he always this grumpy in the morning or is it because he overdid things last night?"

Bruce scowled.  Alfred replied, "He is not normally a morning person, Miss Diana, but I am sure last night's exertions did not help."

"I'm sorry everyone finds me so unpleasant," Bruce snapped.

"Not at all," I told him.  "Actually I think it is rather sweet."  Bruce scowled more fiercely than ever.  "I'm sure poor Alfred doesn't appreciate being exposed to it everyday, but knowing that the great Batman is..." I searched for the very expressive phrase Julia Kapatelis used to use and found it, "as grumpy as a bear with a sore head in the morning is rather reassuring.  It makes you seem more human, somehow."

"Human, yes, Miss Diana.  He certainly is that."

In an obvious bid to change the topic, Bruce said, "Alfred was a Shakespearean actor before entering service."

"Really?"  I turned to Alfred.  "What roles did you perform?"

This safe topic occupied us until we had all three finished eating.  I was surprised at how knowledgeable Bruce was on the topic and then was surprised that I had been surprised.  Why wouldn't Alfred have shared his knowledge with the man he clearly looked upon almost as a son?

As Alfred went off with the dirty dishes, Bruce turned to me.  "What would you like to do now?"

I had been debating just that since the last time I had been here and still had no answer.   Trying desperately to postpone making a decision, I asked, "Can't we help Alfred with the dishes?"

Bruce smirked.  "I have been banned from cooking or cleaning in his kitchen."

Alfred looked over his shoulder.  "Quite true, Miss Diana.  The consequences are not to be thought of."  He shuddered delicately.

Such panic was beneath an amazon.  Squaring my shoulders, I said, "There was something you wanted to show me the last time I was here, Bruce.  Perhaps now would be a good time?"

Bruce's eyes widened as he realized what I was asking.  "Of course," he said, rather reluctantly.  "Alfred, if you will excuse us?"

A slight smile flitted across Alfred's face.  "You children go have fun."

I think we both reddened at this remark.  We proceeded silently upstairs but Bruce stopped and turned to me in the second floor hallway.

"Do you really want to do this, Diana?  You seemed undecided before."

"You mean, I didn't rise to your baiting."

"Well, yes."  He looked a little green.  Perhaps he was feeling unwell.

"Are your injuries paining too much to wish to have sex?" I asked.

"Of course not!" he snapped.  But he still looked unhappy.

"I don't have as much as experience in these matters as you do...."

"Neither do I, Diana."

I stared at him, perplexed.  I had never heard him utter such a nonsensical statement before and I wondered, briefly, if this was a sign of the imminent end of days.

"That is, I mean... Bruce Wayne has this very overblown reputation and it's not really deserved."

I had borrowed 'The Joy of Sex' from Helena Sandsmark and done some reading so as not to be completely ignorant.  I thought of something that might make sense of this seeming nonsense.

"Are you afraid you won't be able to satisfy me?"

His eyes suddenly got larger, as if this was something that had not occurred to him.  He gulped.  I cursed myself for making things worse.  Another thought occurred to me.

"Are you impo...."

"No!" he shouted.

I remembered what I had said the last time I was here: if I took him up on his invitation, he would quickly change his tune.  It appeared I was right.  But I found that the more he prevaricated, the more certain I became that I wished to do this.

"Well, then I don't see what the problem is.  You cannot have less experience than I.  I have no expectations, so you cannot disappoint me.  Let us try it and see what happens."

He rubbed the back of his neck.  "This is your first time, Diana."

I nodded to indicate I was aware of this fact.

"I don't want it to be rushed or... or anything less than perfect."

"We have nearly two hours.  Won't that be enough?"

He gulped and nodded.  I was starting to get impatient.

"Bruce, am I going to have to tie you to the bed post and have my way with you?"

He goggled at me.  Then a corner of his mouth turned up and he waggled his eyebrows.  "A little kinky for the first time, don't you think?"

"What I think is that you don't want to have sex with me."

He abruptly turned away.  My heart sank; that didn't seem a good sign.

"Do you remember what you said to me the first time you were here?"

I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me.  Before I could reply, however, he continued, "The last thing you said to me?"

"About needing the World's Greatest... oh.  You mean loving you as a friend but not being sure what else?"

He nodded.  "Oh, Bruce...."

"I don't want you to say, afterwards, 'Well, that was nice but I think we should just be friends'."

"Oh, Bruce...."

"I think it would break my heart, Diana.  I think I could take just about anything except that."

"Bruce."  I stepped up behind him and turned him around.  "I am not going to break your heart."

His troubled eyes looked into mine.  "How can you promise that?"

"I can't promise that what I feel for you will never change, but I can tell you that, here and now, I love you.  Not just as a friend, but as a man.  The man I want to spend my time with.  The man I want to have sex with."

His smile, when it came, was not the Batman's lip twitch or the playboy's leer or the knowing smirk or the mischievous grin.  Instead, the glow started in his eyes and spread slowly across his face until almost I felt the need to shield my eyes from it.  For a moment, I saw the man he would have been, if only things had gone differently in that lonely alley so many years ago.  My heart wanted to break at the thought of all he had lost; at the same time that it wanted to take wing at the thought that I had brought him such happiness.

Then the glow subsided and his eyes were troubled once more.

"Bruce?"

He looked down.  "It won't last," he said.  "Nothing good ever has."

"You are the last man I would have expected to be superstitious, Bruce."

"Not superstitious, just realistic.  I won't run away or try to drive you off, but I will understand when you leave."

"No happily ever after for you, is that it?"

He nodded, still studying the floor.

"But to have a story-book ending, the knight must first find his princess."

He looked up at this.  There was a look of such hunger in his eyes that I felt both frightened and elated.

He put his arms around me, gently and lovingly.  "And now I have."

I put my arms around his neck.  "And now you have."  And this time, I kissed HIM.

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My head lay on his chest and I listened to the rhythmic beating of his heart and the gentle susurrus of his breathing.  I felt sweaty and lethargic and peaceful and content.

"So," his voice rumbled in his chest.  "Did I satisfy you?"

I thought about that for a while.

"Diana?"  His voice had that thin thread of uncertainty that I found so endearing.  I smiled.

"I was just counting up how many times you 'satisfied' me," I told him, trying unsuccessfully to keep the smile out of my voice.

He chuckled.

"Since I expect you to exceed your record next time, I have to remember what that record is, after all."

"Uh...."

"It's just like a training exercise, isn't it?  First we set a record; then we work to beat it."

"Not EXACTLY like a training exercise," he suggested.  I considered that for a moment.

"Can you imagine Kal barging in on one of these 'training exercises'?" I laughed.

"CLARK wouldn't be the worst," he responded.  "Think of Firestorm."  That deserved a belly laugh.  We lay together for another few minutes.  Then....

"It's time for you to go."

I wanted to object.  I wanted to say, 'Let me call and cancel all of my appointments.  Then we can spend the day together.'  But I had my responsibilities and he needed his sleep.  I got up and searched around for my clothes.  I had never guessed how much fun (and excitement) there could be in just taking off clothes.

"When can I see you again?"

I groaned silently.  "Friday morning?  I have an early appointment on Thursday."  Three days.  How could I wait three days?

"All right."  He got up and kissed me.  "Until Friday.  Stay safe."

"Be careful."

"Always."

It was going to be a long three days.