TITLE: A Sacrifice for Christmas
AUTHOR: LOTSlover
CHARACTERS: Batman / Wonder Woman
RATING: T
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: The family makes a sacrifice in order to allow a teammate to have a Merry Christmas. BMWW
A Sacrifice For Christmas
Three Days Before Christmas
Rachel released a disgruntled huff as she flopped back onto the couch. She crossed her arms against her chest as she absorbed the bad news that her dad had just delivered. She had always known that it was a possibility. Come on…she was eight years old and the daughter of superheroes. There was always a chance.
And this was the year that it had finally come—the Christmas she had been dreading her whole life.
Reesa wasn't handling it much better as her bottom lip began to tremble, her big blue eyes welling with large tears. Rachel reached over and put her arm around her twin sister's shoulders. She was always the more emotional one between the two of them.
Rachel was mad, but Reesa was heartbroken.
Meanwhile, three-year-old Aydin sat on the floor playing with his toy train, completely oblivious to the drama going on around him. He made what was supposed to be a choo-choo sound for his train, but it ended up sounding more like a bulldozer.
"Why?" Reesa tearfully asked. "It's not only Christmas but it's my birthday."
Bruce sat down on the couch on the other side of Reesa, pulling her up onto his lap. "Because your mom wanted to let other families be together this Christmas," he tried to explain, kissing the top of her head.
"I know it's hard, sweetheart, but sometimes we have to make choices even when we don't like it," Diana said, sitting down on the floor in front of her daughters. "Besides, we can still have our Christmas together and celebrate your birthday. It'll just be later in the afternoon instead of in the morning."
"It won't be the same," Rachel pouted, sullenly kicking her feet back and forth over the edge of the couch. "We always get up early to open presents."
"Yeah, and we're all in our Christmas pajamas," Reesa added.
"And Grandpa Alfred makes us cinnamon rolls," Rachel reminded them.
"I'm sorry," Diana replied, tears shining in her own eyes as Aydin crawled over to sit in his mother's lap. "It wasn't my intention to hurt you, but sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do so we can help others. I'm afraid this is one of these times that we need to help someone else."
"I know, but it doesn't make it any better," Rachel groused. "Might as well not even have Christmas this year."
"Rachel," Bruce sharply said her name. "I know this is hard for you two to accept, but your mom isn't doing it to ruin Christmas or your birthday, Reesa. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices to help someone in need."
"I guess," Reesa softly agreed, wanting to run upstairs to her room and hide.
"Who is it?" Reesa asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands.
"We can't tell you right now," Diana replied. "This friend doesn't want us to talk about it just yet."
"We'll make some fun, new traditions this year," Alfred added as he entered the entertainment room with a tray of frosted Christmas cookies.
"Like what?" Rachel asked, looking warily at Alfred. She still wasn't convinced this was a good idea…at least not yet.
Bruce leaned forward to snatch a couple of cookies from the plate, knowing it would cost him extra time in the training room, but it was worth it. Alfred always went out all out on Christmas treats during this special time of year.
"Why don't you and Reesa think up some new traditions this year?" Bruce suggested. "Is there anything that your school friends do with their families for Christmas?"
"I don't know," Reesa murmured. "I'll have to think about it."
"Why don't you head upstairs and see what you two can come up with," he told them. "Maybe Tim and Damian can help too."
Rachel rolled her eyes with a huff as she slid off the couch. "Damian's too grumpy."
"I saw him smile the other day," Reesa reminded her sister as they made their way to the door.
"That's because Tim stubbed his toe," Rachel told her.
Bruce looked to his wife, knowing how hard this was for her. "You're doing the right thing," he encouraged her. "They don't understand it now, but they will someday."
"It'll be all right, Miss Diana," Alfred assured her as he handed Aydin a cookie. "The girls just need a little time."
"I know, but it's also our anniversary," Diana reminded them, holding Aydin on her lap as he gobbled down his cookie.
Bruce had understood and completely supported her decision, but it still felt as if she had just ruined everything for her family. He had told her that if she hadn't volunteered to take the Christmas morning shift on the Metro Tower, he would have done it himself. Diana had beaten him to it.
"We'll have plenty of time to celebrate together," he assured her with a knowing smirk "I'll make sure of it."
"Don't worry," Alfred said, walking to the door. "I'll help the girls come up with some new traditions. They'll be so excited that they'll forget all about how you're not here Christmas morning."
"I hope so," she softly replied. "Hurting them is the last thing that I ever wanted to do."
"The twins know that, but they're eight years old…the world revolves around them," Bruce replied. "Give them a few days, and they'll be so excited about their presents that they won't even care that they didn't open them in the morning."
"I hope you're right," she said, getting up to sit on the couch with her husband. "I think we went a little overboard this year on presents. Actually, it was you who went overboard."
"Uh, if I remember right, you agreed to it," he said.
Finishing his cookie, Aydin crawled over to his father's lap, opening and closing his hand in a request for more cookies. "I think you better stop with one, buddy," Bruce told him. "We're going to have dinner soon."
Aydin growled deep in his throat, wiggling out of his father's lap and trying to get a cookie from the plate himself. "Like father like son," Diana reminded him, moving the cookies out of her son's reach. "Stubborn to the core."
Aydin stomped his foot and cried in frustration before flopping onto the floor to pout. "At least I don't pout," Bruce pointed out, pulling Diana into his arms.
She went willingly, enjoying the feel of her husband's arms around her. "I know I'm doing the right thing," she told him. "I didn't think the girls would take it so hard. It's not like I'm gone all day on Christmas."
"You are doing the right thing," he agreed, kissing her temple.
"Then why does it hurt so much?" she softly asked.
Bruce rubbed her back, wishing he could ease her aching heart. "It'll be okay," he promised her. "Dick, Tim, and Damian took it well. They were fine with having Christmas when you get home from the Metro Tower."
"That makes me feel a little better," she admitted.
"And Aydin has no clue," he pointed out. "That's four out of six kids. That's pretty good odds in your favor if you ask me."
She couldn't help but smile at him. "And what about my handsome husband?" she asked, tilting her head to look up at him.
He readily seized the offer, capturing her enticing lips in a deep kiss. "Your handsome husband thinks that you are the most selfless, most beautiful woman inside and out that he has ever known," he replied.
"I think seducing you all those years ago on the Watchtower is the best thing I've ever done," she decided, nuzzling her nose against his cheek.
Bruce couldn't help but chuckle with the memory. "You certainly surprised me," he revealed. "I had no idea that you could be so mischievously seductive."
"I got what I wanted," she reminded him.
"So did I," he agreed. "What made you do that in the first place?"
"You were taking entirely far too long to do anything about the building attraction between us, so I decided to take matters into my own hands," she confessed.
"I'm so glad you did," he replied. "I was foolish for trying to keep you at arm's length."
"You were foolish for thinking that you could," she corrected him with a mischievous grin.
"I can admit that I met my match in you," he acknowledged, his lips hovering close to hers. "A very good match indeed."
Their kiss was interrupted by a pair of boys of who were not the least bit surprised to find Bruce and Diana kissing. "I'd tell you two to get a room, but I don't want any more brothers or sisters," Damian told them in no uncertain terms.
"Come on," Tim said. "You love us, and you know it."
"I don't know if I'd go that far," Damian decided. "You're tolerable. I'll give you that."
"Gee, thanks," Tim replied with a frown.
"We heard you told the girls Diana has monitor duty on Christmas morning," Damian told them.
"Are they okay?" she asked.
"They're taking it better than I expected," Tim confessed. "They're planning out what they want to do on Christmas day."
"Thank, Hera," Diana breathed a sigh of relief.
Two Days Before Christmas
Rachel glanced at the family gathered around the table for the meeting. Aydin sat in his booster seat playing with his toy phone, intently pushing buttons as if he could make a real phone call. Everyone else appeared to be paying attention so she began.
"This meeting will begin…even though some obviously don't want to be here," Rachel said, leveling Damian with a pointed look.
Damian was unfazed by the fact that he'd just been called out in front of everyone. He sat at the table with a frown fixed firmly on his face, making his feelings clear. "I'm just here for the cookies," he announced.
Aydin began kicking his little legs and bouncing in his seat with the mention of cookies. "Me want cookies!"
"Just a couple more minutes and the first batch of gingerbread cookies will be ready," Alfred informed them.
"Alfred, you keep feeding us goodies like these and Bruce will make us run until we puke," Tim said.
"Not us…you," Damian corrected him, poking Tim in the stomach.
Tim rubbed his stomach, scowling at Damian. "Can we just move on with the meeting?"
The alarm sounded on the oven, Alfred leaping from his chair to retrieve the tray. "Cookies!" Aydin cheered.
"Back to why we're meeting here," Rachel said, unhappy with the fact that she was losing complete control over the meeting.
"Can I have milk with my cookie?" Reesa asked.
"Of course, Miss Reesa," Alfred replied.
"Ree! Focus!" Rachel told her, her frustration boiling over.
"Sorry, but they smell so good, and milk always makes them even better," Reesa said.
"Go ahead and start, Miss Rachel," Alfred said. "I'll be right there."
"This is the list of ideas that Ree and I came up with so far," Rachel began. "If you have any more ideas, we can add them to the list and then decide which ones we want to do."
"I think Ree should get to decide," Damian volunteered, taking a cookie before Alfred could put the plate on the table. "It's not only Christmas but it's her birthday too."
"We always do our best to keep the two separate," Tim reminded him. "We don't want Reesa to feel forgotten in the chaos of Christmas."
Reesa beamed at her big brother sitting across the table from her. "I don't mind if Christmas and my birthday get all rolled up into one this year. All I want is for all of us to be together."
"That's very grown-up of you, Miss Reesa," Alfred told her, sitting down next to Aydin and handing him a cookie.
"I want that too, but it's not going to happen if mom is going to be on monitor duty," Rachel harumphed as she sat back in her chair.
"Your mother is doing something very important," Alfred reminded all of them. "I know it's difficult to understand, but your mother is just as disappointed about not being here Christmas morning as you all are."
"Then, why did she volunteer?" Reesa asked, tilting her head in curiosity.
"It's not something that your parents are at liberty to talk about, but one of their teammates was no longer able to take their shift at the Metro Tower Christmas morning," Alfred attempted to explain. "Your mother volunteered to take it so that this teammate wouldn't have to worry about it."
"Mom is always so nice," Reesa said.
"If your mother hadn't taken the shift, your father would have," Alfred revealed. "Either way, one of your parents would not have been here Christmas morning."
"I guess it was the right thing to do," Rachel reluctantly agreed. "I just want us all together like we always are on Christmas."
"I think I have an idea," Tim suggested, his lips curling into an excited grin.
"How?" Rachel asked.
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Diana asked as she entered the kitchen.
Aydin held up what was left of his gingerbread man cookie while Rachel quickly lunged forward to cover her notebook full of ideas for Christmas. "We're having a private meeting, mom!" Rachel told her.
"Mom-mom," Aydin said. "Cookie!"
"You are my little cookie monster," she said, kissing the top of her son's head.
"You have to leave, mom," Reesa stated in no uncertain terms. "This is a secret meeting that you can't be at."
"I'm sorry," Diana apologized, reaching over Rachel's head to steal a couple of cookies. "Have you seen your dad?"
"I think he's downstairs," Tim replied.
"I'll just go down there and see what he's up to," she said. "Carry on with your meeting."
Rachel waited until her mother was out of sight before continuing. "Okay, what's your idea, Tim?"
XXX
Diana made her way down the secret stairway into the bowels hidden beneath the historic Wayne Manor. She found him in the training room doing chin-ups. The sight of his chiseled chest glistening with sweat made her stomach flutter. She almost forgot what had brought her down here in the first place.
Bruce dropped to the floor, relieved that his wife had returned home. She had left a few hours ago for a mission that had him concerned for her safety even though he knew he was more than likely being paranoid. Still, he couldn't help it. She may be Wonder Woman, but she was still his wife.
"How did it go?" he asked frowning at the bruise that was forming on her cheek beneath a cut. He reached out to cup her face, not liking what he was seeing. "You're hurt."
"It's nothing," she reassured him, melting into his touch. "Just a lucky shot."
"I still don't like seeing you hurt no matter how minor you think it is," he reminded her, heading towards the training room door with her.
She handed him a gingerbread cookie as she walked with him towards the showers. "Do you know what the kids are up to upstairs?"
"I think I heard a rumor about a private meeting that we weren't invited to," he revealed, slipping off his shorts before heading towards the shower.
"Do you know what they're meeting about?" she asked as she sat down on the bench outside the showers to wait for him.
"I think they're making plans for Christmas day," he called from the shower. "You know you always have an open invitation to join me in the shower, right?"
"I already had my shower," she pointed out.
"Not with me," he replied as he scrubbed away the sweat from his workout. "The girls came up with a list of new traditions for Christmas. I think they're presenting them to the boys and Alfred for their input. Who was running the meeting?"
"Rachel…of course," she informed him. "Like father, like daughter."
Shutting off the water, Bruce grabbed a towel to dry off, laughing at the image of his daughter running her own business meeting. "Well, I think Dick and Tim will have some competition running the company when I die."
"You don't see Reesa running the company with Rachel?" she asked.
Bruce thought about it for a long moment, exiting the showers in all his glorious masculinity. "I don't think so," he replied, grabbing a fresh set of clothes. "I see her running Wayne Enterprises' charities department or starting her own charity."
"I agree," she decided. "Either that or she'll end up working at a museum. You know how she loves to draw and paint."
"True," he agreed. "She has your tender heart and artistic talents."
"And Rachel has your no-nonsense business mind and leadership abilities," she added.
"Who knows," he said as he slipped on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. "Maybe Aydin will end up organizing a takeover of the company."
"Bruce," Diana chided him as she followed him to his workstation. "Our son is not going to set up a takeover of the company from his own family."
"He's going to be a genius, Diana," he reminded her as he stopped before his workstation.
Diana pressed her body against his back, her arms snaking around his waist. "He's going to be a handful."
"Oh, you can already tell that," he said.
"Like father, like son," she told him, kissing the back of his neck.
He hummed with the feel of her warm lips against his neck, chuckling with her sudden affection. "You wouldn't join me in the shower, but now you want something?" he teased.
"You're dry now," she pointed out.
Bruce turned around, picking her up and setting her on the edge of his workstation. She wrapped her legs around his waist, effectively trapping him right where she wanted him. He kissed her hard, his arms slipping around her waist.
"You are such a tease," he murmured against her lips before deepening the kiss.
Christmas Eve
"Last present," Tim told Rachel. "It's from me."
Rachel looked skeptically at the big box Tim had placed in front of her, wondering what he had gotten her for her birthday. She made quick work of the wrapping paper, tearing into the box and finding a lime green scooter.
"No way!" Rachel excitedly squealed, running over to Tim and hugging him. "Thanks, Tim!"
"Now I know what I'm getting for my birthday tomorrow from Tim," Reesa muttered under her breath. "I just hope it's pink."
Alfred chuckled softly with Reesa's rumination, setting Rachel's birthday cake down. "You don't know, Miss Reesa," he told her. "It could be a hoverboard."
"Do you think so?" she asked, perking up.
"Time to blow out the candles," Dick piped up as Donna lit all nine candles.
They all watched as Rachel blew out her candles, both parents beaming with pride. They could hardly believe that their twins were nine years old. It felt like the girls had just been born. Time was flying, their children growing up too fast. They were going to be heading to college before they knew it.
Bruce watched as his daughters laughed at Tim who shoveled a large bite of cake into his mouth, getting pink frosting all over his lips. Aydin had already finished his piece of cake and was begging Alfred for more. He swore his son had a bottomless pit for a stomach.
"I can't wait till Christmas tomorrow!" Reesa exclaimed. "I get double the presents."
"This little guy needs to get to bed," Diana commented, sweeping Aydin up into her arms. "You have a big day tomorrow."
"I don't want to, mama," Aydin said, trying to squirm out of his mother's arms. "Me want to play."
Diana kissed him on the cheek, tightening her hold on her son. "You can play all you want tomorrow, and when I get home, we'll open up Christmas presents and have Reesa's birthday party."
"Me want presents," he told her as she carried him out of the room.
"Good," Rachel said as she ran to her father, making sure her mother was gone. "Now that mom is gone, we can tell you our plans for tomorrow."
"You're finally going to let me in on your plans?" he asked.
Reesa jumped up onto the couch with her dad, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "We have a lot to do, so pay attention," she warned him. "This is very important."
Bruce looked to Alfred for help, the British butler merely smiling knowingly at him.
Christmas Day
Diana looked at the clock for the hundredth time, wondering what her family was doing right now. She was making a sacrifice for a friend in need. Hopefully, her girls would understand that when they got a little older. Thankfully, Aydin was too little to care what was going on around him.
She sighed to herself, wishing that she could've talked to Bruce before she'd left for the Metro Tower this morning, but he was still sleeping from a long night of patrolling Gotham. It would have to wait now until later tonight after the kids were in bed.
Reaching for the mouse, Diana turned up the Christmas music that she had playing in the Metro Tower, hoping to cheer herself up a little. At that moment, she noticed the notification on the computer system alerting her to the fact that there was an incoming transport.
At that moment, her family appeared in the Monitor Womb holding Christmas presents. They were all still wearing their pajamas. "What are you doing here?" Diana asked, shocked by their appearance.
"We brought Christmas to you!" Reesa cried, running to her mother and jumping up into her arms.
Diana embraced her daughter as tears brimmed in her eyes. "I can't believe it."
"We're in our jammies!" Aydin exclaimed excitedly, running to his mother.
"It was our idea," Rachel told her, hugging her mom. "We wanted to spend Christmas with you. Since you couldn't be home, we came to you instead."
"Well, it was technically my idea," Tim interjected, "but I'll let the twins take credit."
"I even brought breakfast," Alfred revealed, holding up a large basket.
"I…I don't know what to say," Diana murmured as a tear slipped down her cheek.
"Say 'let's open presents'!" Dick told her.
"Yeah!" Aydin agreed.
"And eat," Donna added. "I'm starving."
"How about you get it all set up at the conference table over there," Bruce suggested.
Everyone headed to the table to set up Christmas as well as breakfast as Bruce made his way to his wife. "Are you surprised?" he softly asked.
"I'm stunned," she admitted as he kissed her cheek. "I was just thinking how much I missed all of you, and then you showed up."
"We have some pretty incredible children," he reminded her. "All of their ideas for Christmas this year was about how to make it a great Christmas for you."
"You've all made it a great Christmas," she replied, leaning into his embrace as his arm slipped around her shoulders.
"They wanted to still have Christmas this morning, and then tonight we'll have Reesa's birthday party."
"This is perfect," she said, watching with love shining in her eyes as Alfred began to serve his famous homemade cinnamon rolls.
"Happy anniversary, princess," he said.
"And Merry Christmas," she responded before kissing him.
"No more kissing! There are young children present!" Damian yelled. "Besides, it's time to eat and open presents!"
Diana chuckled softly with Damian's comment. "I think this is the best Christmas ever."
"And I think you say that every year," he reminded her with a chuckle.
"That's because you have a way of making every year better than the last."
He smiled tenderly at her, brushing a curl behind her ear. "Have you heard from Clark at all?"
"He checked in this morning when I first got here," she informed him. "He said his mother is doing a little better. She finally opened her eyes this morning. The doctors think that it'll take a lot of therapy, but she should make a full recovery. He didn't want anyone to know until he was sure she was going to be all right."
"That's great news."
"It was a worth missing Christmas at home, knowing Clark was able to be with his mother at the hospital on Christmas," she said to him, laying her head on his shoulder as they drank in the heartwarming scene at the conference table.
"You know I think we've started a new tradition in the process," he decided. "We might be spending all of our Christmases at the Metro Tower."
"And you got Damian to keep his pajamas on," she pointed out. "That is quite the achievement."
"I threatened him with blackmail if he didn't."
"This was a good lesson for the girls," she added. "They learned that Christmas isn't just about them. It's about helping friends in need."
"Come on," he said, taking her by the hand to lead her to the table and their waiting family. "I can't wait for you to open your Christmas present."
"Is it something I can open in front of everyone?" she skeptically asked, a single eyebrow cocked in question.
"Yes, I promise," he replied. "Your anniversary present…not at all. That you can open tonight when it's just the two of us."
"Hera, Bruce," she murmured with a pleased chuckle. "It'll be hard, but waiting till tonight to have you all to myself is a sacrifice I'm definitely willing to make."
TO BE CONTINUED…CHRISTMAS 2022
A/N: Merry Christmas to everyone in the Wonderbat fandom! You guys are amazing. Hope you enjoy the fic update! :)
