Disappear (DCAU)

"Change…now," Bruce growled with a patented Batglare, throwing a shirt at Wally's head as he stalked past him with a scowl fixed on his face. One might have called it jealousy, but he refused to even go there.

Diana smiled in amusement as she turned and walked away, making her way to the women's clothing section. She glanced up to find Bruce picking out a shirt and pants across the aisle from her. She couldn't help wondering what he was thinking about at that particular moment, noticing once again how incredibly handsome he was.

She chided herself for thinking that way at a time like this. So much had happened recently…so much that the team needed to talk about. Decisions needed to be made, an alien invader needed to be banished from their planet, security protocols had to be reevaluated and reassessed. Most of all, a former friend and teammate needed to be stopped.

First, though, they needed to disappear.

Bruce looked over his shoulder to find Diana picking out a sweater, his mind racing with so many thoughts. Despite the darkness of the department store, he could clearly make out her striking features that only seemed heightened as she stepped into a shaft of light shining through a nearby window.

He quickly looked away, scowling to himself for allowing her to distract him. He still couldn't believe that he hadn't seen Shayera's betrayal coming. He was furious with himself for missing it, knowing that he should have predicted it. He should've been warier and less trusting of his teammates, putting protocols in place for such an event.

Then they wouldn't be trying to disappear from sight, blending in with society so they could stop this nightmare from getting any worse. They were in serious danger, one that could end up costing all of them their lives if they weren't careful.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice Diana until they almost collided on their way to the changing rooms. She grabbed his arm at the last second, steadying him. "Sorry," she murmured.

"My fault," he muttered with a fleeting glance and a frown before disappearing into the changing room next to her.

His thoughts began taking him in directions his heart didn't want to go. Diana wouldn't betray them…betray him…would she? He couldn't begin to imagine Diana leading the Amazons into a war on the world to overtake it. It wasn't in her nature to betray others. She'd figured out his identity while in Paris and had never once given that information away.

He trusted her with his life, but maybe that had been a mistake on his part. He did trust her completely. He had trusted Shayera too and look where that trust had gotten them. They were on the run during a worldwide invasion. He couldn't afford to make that mistake again no matter how much he cared about them.

"Bruce?" she softly called his name, her tone tentative and small to his ears.

"Yes?"

"Do you think—" she began only to stop short. "Never mind."

"What is it, Diana?" he asked with a gentleness that surprised them both as he removed his uniform, pulling on the pants.

"Do you think Shayera truly loved John or was that all a lie too?"

He sighed heavily as he began to button up his shirt. "I honestly don't know," he quietly admitted with a wavering doubt. "I'm sure John is asking himself the very same thing right now."

"Probably," she simply agreed.

Bruce could hear the consternation in her voice, proving she shared the same warring emotions that he was struggling to deal with. He could picture the look on her face without having to think about it—the creased forehead, the furrowed eyebrows, the pursing red lips, the razor-sharp focus in her sapphire eyes as she tried to work through something in her head.

He wanted more than anything to put her mind at ease, to have all the answers to her questions, but he had nothing. He had no answers for any of this. He didn't even have a plan to put a stop to the madness that had invaded their world.

"We need a plan," she said as if reading his mind.

"I'm working on something," he admitted.

"I knew you would," she replied.

Bruce couldn't help the faint twitch of a smile at the corner of his mouth. He could practically hear the smile in her voice, the fierce confidence that she held in him. It was something that he secretly coveted, knowing that she counted on him. An Amazon warrior depending on a mortal man with no special gifts—it was baffling to the mind and yet it filled him with an emotion he didn't want to think about.

"I'll find a way to end this, Diana," he swore to her.

"I know you will," she said with the utmost confidence. "We'll do it together."

Diana exited the changing room at the same time as Bruce, both sharing a look that lingered a beat longer than necessary. It held so much emotion, words that begged to be said only to die on their tongues as they hastily looked away.

"We're going to need to split up into teams," he told her, already deciding that Diana would go with him.

"Let's do this," she responded with a determined air.

XXX

"Diana, no," Bruce chided her as he grabbed her arm, pulling her back and keeping her from interfering with the Thanagarians accosting a young couple.

They needed to remain inconspicuous while out in public, not advertise the fact that Justice League members were there right beneath their noses. They wouldn't be able to stop the invasion if they were locked up again.

Diana's eyes narrowed into an indignant glare. "You would stand by and do nothing?" she demanded to know.

"We can't risk a confrontation," he reminded her, standing almost nose to nose with her.

From their proximity, he could see the fire blazing in her orbs, intensifying the blueness of her eyes. Beneath his hand, he could feel her muscles tensing with the inherent need to act. Standing by and doing nothing when someone was in trouble was not in her nature. It wasn't in his either, but he also knew that sometimes they had to pick their battles.

Rocks suddenly began to rain down from the roof of the building, taunts from a couple of guys causing the Thanagarians to fire their weapons at them. The ledge of the roof crumbled, forcing Diana to react without a second thought. She immediately flew towards the couple huddled on the sidewalk, scooping them up and flying them to safety.

Bruce leaped into action, kicking both Thanagarians in the back and knocking them to the ground. "Over there!" a soldier yelled, coming from an alley. "It's the Justice League!"

Bruce and Diana took off in a dead run, Bruce glancing back over his shoulder at the Thanagarians who were firing at them. "So much for blending in," he groused, knowing deep down that Diana didn't have much of a choice. The couple would've been killed by the falling rubble.

Running around the corner, Diana paused to remove a light pole, using it like a baseball bat to buy them a little extra time. She slammed both soldiers into the building only to be fired upon by more Thanagarians converging on the area to capture them.

Bruce ran back, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out of the way of heavy fire. They ran down the sidewalk only to be hailed by an Indian man. "In here…please hurry," he said as he ushered the couple into his restaurant, guiding them to a table in the back of the restaurant.

"We can't stay," Bruce tried to him. "If they find you helping us…"

"Sit here," the man said as his wife approached with a blue handkerchief, tying it around Diana's hair to help cover her raven locks.

Three Thanagarian soldiers burst through the door at that moment. Without a second thought, Diana immediately reached for Bruce, her hands slipping around his neck to draw him to her. Bruce reacted just as quickly, his arms sliding around her body as their lips met with an unexpected spark of electricity.

Her lips were soft and warm and tasted like honey, her hands tangling in his jet-black hair. There was an urgency behind her kiss, one that left him wondering if it was because of the soldiers or something that had absolutely nothing to do with the crisis they were currently in.

He broke the kiss but only for a moment, his lips finding hers with the same intensity that she had shown him. It caused his pulse to quicken, his heart thumping wildly in his chest...and he knew that it had nothing to do with the Thanagarians in the restaurant.

Diana couldn't believe this was happening. What had been an impulsive decision on her part to avoid capture had turned into something more. The feel of his hands gripping her shoulders…pulling her closer was exhilarating. There was a hunger behind his kiss that was stirring something deep inside of her that she'd been harboring for so long now.

She finally reminded herself why she was kissing him in the first place, cracking an eye open to watch the Thanagarian soldiers exiting the restaurant. She reluctantly released her hold on him, sitting back in her chair with a shy smile on her lips, wondering how he would react to her kissing him like that.

"Sorry," she murmured, knowing that she didn't mean the apology one bit. She's enjoyed every single second of kissing him and was anxious to do it again.

Bruce gave her a little smirk, speaking with his usual Wayne charm as he gazed at her with a gleam in his azure eyes. "Don't be."

She smiled to herself as they stood to their feet, feeling warmth suffuse her face. Her heart was pounding, but not because they were on the run from the Thanagarians. She followed Bruce through the kitchen to the back door, Bruce pausing to nod his appreciation to the restaurant owner.

Diana exited out into the night, appreciating the cool air against her face. Hearing the door close behind her, she turned to Bruce. She didn't get the chance to ask him where they were headed next as he pressed her up against the wall of the restaurant, his lips claiming hers in a heated kiss.

The feel of his muscular frame pressing into hers was making her lightheaded, the restrained passion behind his kiss making her hungry for more of him. Her hand settled on the back of his neck, holding him there as one kiss turned into two and then three.

He savored the taste of her lips once more as he stole another kiss, the first one not lasting nearly long enough. He knew that they needed to keep moving or risk being captured again, but for the first time in his life, he found that he couldn't help himself. His vaunted self-control had withered in her presence.

At that intimate moment, he'd just discovered his one true weakness, one that he'd believed for so long didn't exist for him.

And it was Diana.

He retreated briefly, brushing his lips against hers one more time before backing away from her. "We need to move," he said with an airy quality that bespoke of the fact that she'd taken his breath away. "Let's head to the manor and regroup with the others."

Diana simply nodded her head, stunned by this unexpected turn of events. He grabbed her hand as they ran down the alley towards the street. He immediately hailed a cab, both climbing into the back with an overwhelming sense of relief.

Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts as she cast a glance at Bruce, wondering what he was thinking about. Was he wishing that he hadn't kissed her again? Was he going to deny the fact that something magical and electric had just transpired between them?

He was staring straight ahead, his jaw set in that stubborn way that told her he was trying to work out what had taken place in his mind. She sighed heavily, fearing that logic would win out over what had slowly been building between them over the last two years.

"Bruce—"

"Diana," he said at the same time, turning to gaze at her with those piercing blue eyes of his. "What happened between John and Shayera tells me to push you away and not look back…to not get involved with you."

"Bruce, I'm not Shayera," she reminded him. "I'm not going to betray you. I care too much about you to do something like that. I would never hurt you."

"I know," he admitted, stunned by what he was going to say next. "I don't think I can ignore what happened back there…I don't want to."

"I don't want you to ignore it either," she replied, taking his hand in hers.

He looked down at their joined hands, a trill of excitement and fear racing through him like little bolts of lightning. "I'm not good at this, but I want to talk about us when this is over."

"I'd like that," she confirmed with a warm smile. "Just promise not to die on me before then."

He gave her a tiny smirk as he gazed at her. "Why? You think I'll do something crazy?"

Diana chuckled as she leaned in and kissed him. "Because I know you, Bruce Wayne. You'll do whatever it takes to stop this invasion including sacrificing yourself. Please, promise me you'll do your best to stay alive this time."

His hand cupped the side of her face, his thumb stroking her cheekbone as he lost himself in those sapphire eyes sparkling with what he knew was love. "I promise I'll do my best, princess."

Little did either of them know that he would be breaking that promise in a matter of hours.

A/N: This is how this episode should have gone. Oh well, at least we have fanfic to correct things like this. :)