TITLE: Roses and Wine

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: Sequel to Tears and Whiskey, Bruce and Diana try to work through the beginning of a relationship. BMWW

Roses and Wine

Watchtower; May 21st, 07:20 EST

Diana moaned groggily as conscious awareness began to take hold of her, forcing her awake and to face the consequences of her actions last night as well as the humiliation. She rolled over onto her back, immediately cognizant of two things—her head was pounding and she was alone.

She groaned in misery as she pressed the heels of her hands against her eye sockets in a futile attempt to alleviate the drums that relentlessly pounded away in her head. She had to try to figure out what had really happened last night and what had been nothing more than a dream conjured from the depths of a drunken haze.

Her muddled thoughts took her back to what had started it all—her date last evening with King Faraday and how everything had begun to unravel right before her eyes.

Washington, DC; May 20th, 21:37 EST

Diana set her wine glass down as she studied the handsome man sitting across the small, intimate table for two. "You seem distracted tonight," she commented. "Is everything all right, King?"

He looked up from his half-eaten dinner that he'd been picking at all evening, his eyes filled with something that was akin to regret, but Diana couldn't for the life of her figure out why. They'd had a pleasant evening so far, the perfect ending to a day that hadn't begun as such. A mission this morning with Batman had gone terribly wrong, but thankfully both of them had escaped without injuries, allowing her to enjoy her date tonight without second thoughts about her teammate.

King stared at her for a long moment as if earnestly weighing his words before taking the cloth napkin from his lap and wiping his mouth with it. He tossed it onto the table before his forearms came to rest on either side of his dinner plate, leaning in with a sudden determination he hadn't felt up until that moment.

"I don't think we should continue to see each other anymore, Diana," he told her.

She felt as though she'd been hit, his words coming out of nowhere and blindsiding her with a painful sting that she had been ill-prepared for. "What?" she gasped, stunned.

"Diana, you're an incredible woman with an inner beauty like no one I've ever met before, but I just don't see this relationship going anywhere," he continued, his expression as miserable as hers was becoming.

"Why?" she demanded, anger replacing the surprise that had just been there. "What makes you say that?"

King looked away from her, his gaze roaming across the crowded restaurant as if suddenly realizing this might not have been the most appropriate place to break up with a powerful Amazon with a temper to match. He didn't want to suddenly find himself in the parking lot by way of the plate glass window they were sitting by.

"I just don't believe that you feel the same way for me that I feel for you," he confessed, his fingers of his right hand curling into his napkin as he silently prayed she wouldn't rip his throat out right here in front of everyone.

"I care for you, King—" she began to tell him.

"But you don't love me," he finished for her.

"I never said that," she snapped, her blue orbs infernos of simmering anger.

"But you didn't say it either," he pointed out. "It's all right, Diana. I'm not upset with you. The last month spent together has been amazing, but I can tell that your heart lies with someone else."

Diana's glare darkened dangerously as she tossed her cloth napkin on the table before sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms against her chest in utter defiance of his accusation. "My heart does not belong to someone else," she spat out. "My heart is my own."

A sad smile tugged at the corners of his lips, understanding flooding his face. "You don't believe that he shares your feelings…or maybe he doesn't even know yet himself how you feel."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she answered him with a huff, averting her eyes to stare out the window to her left as the rain began to fall.

"Diana, I'm not blind," he told her with a razor-sharp edge to his voice, his jealousy rising to the surface. "I see the way you look at him, the way that you two always gravitate towards each other like there's no other person in the world. I saw the picture of you and him in the newspaper this morning after your mission…the way that you were hovering over him to make sure he was all right. It's quite obvious there's something there between you."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she ground out.

A derisive laugh escaped his lips as he shook his head, seeing that one or both of them were in denial. He had a feeling it wasn't all her, but him as well. "Batman."

He watched with bitter validation as she bristled with the mention of the Dark Knight's name, her jaw clenching tightly like a steel trap. The proof was right there before his very eyes in the way that she tightened her grasp on herself as if trying to hold herself together or from revealing anymore than she already had.

"There is nothing going on between me and Batman," she angrily stated, struggling to keep her temper in check. "We are good friends…teammates…nothing more. Nothing will ever happen between us—not now…not ever."

Her response sounded rehearsed, something that she had either repeatedly told herself or had been told to her by the one who shared in her denial. Didn't the fool understand what he was missing? What it really meant to have an amazing goddess like this fall in love with him, choosing him over all others? Damn fool truly was blind as a bat…or maybe he saw it all too clearly. Was any mortal man actually deserving of her?

"Diana, I don't want to prolong this any longer and I definitely don't want to argue over something that you're not willing to even acknowledge," he shot back. "You either don't want to see it or you do see it and you aren't willing to deal with it."

"King, I—"

The Agent held up his hand to stop her as he pulled his wallet out to throw some bills on the table. "I accepted a transfer today, Diana. I'm going deep undercover tonight and will be gone for the next year, probably longer."

Angry tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but she forced them back. Her shoulders slumped slightly, wondering how she had let things fall apart like this. "I see," she softly murmured, biting at her bottom lip. She honestly had tried with him, had wanted to feel more for him than she did. Maybe in time she could have grown to love him, but now she'd never know.

He drew a deep breath as he stood to his feet. "I'm sorry, Diana," he replied, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Please know that I don't regret one moment spent with you. It's been the best month of my life. Besides, not everyone gets to say that they dated Wonder Woman or got to kiss her."

She looked away from him again, staring out the window as the rain fell harder. She watched as a couple walked along the sidewalk holding hands, huddled beneath an umbrella and so obviously in love. They paused for a moment, the man leaning in and kissing the woman with a passion that Diana had longed to share with someone.

"Take care of yourself, Princess," he told her. He began to turn away before pausing to look back over his shoulder at her, swallowing his jealous pride all for her. "Talk to him, Diana…tell him how you really feel. If he still doesn't want you, then he's the biggest fool that ever lived."

Diana watched with steadily building fury as King left the restaurant, leaving her all alone, her only company a half-empty bottle of wine and the red roses in a small vase in the middle of the table. She ground her teeth as she reached for the bottle, pouring herself another glass of wine and downing it in one swallow.

Men. Who needed them? Not her. Her mother and sisters had been right along. They were nothing but pond scum, trifling with the heart and pulling strings they would only end up snapping with idiotic reasons and ridiculous explanations that held no merit or weight.

"Excuse me, miss," the waiter politely interrupted her thoughts. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

"Chocolate cheesecake and another bottle of wine," she replied as she emptied the bottle into her wine glass.

"Yes, miss," he responded. "I'll bring it at once."

King had no idea what he was talking about. If he truly wanted her, he wouldn't have given up on them so quickly, giving up on her and accepting a transfer that would take him away. Hera, they'd only been dating for a month, barely any time to truly get to know each other let alone form any meaningful feelings.

She poured herself another glass of wine before taking a small degree of comfort in the cheesecake the waiter brought her. The more she thought about King and Bruce, the more her anger bubbled and seethed, prickling every inch of her and clawing at her hurting heart.

What was wrong with them that they didn't want her? What did other women have that she didn't possess? The more she drowned herself in the wine, the hotter and bright her anger flamed. All the men in the world could go straight to Tartarus for all she cared.

Watchtower; May 21st, 07:43 EST

Diana swallowed back the stab of pain that the reminder of last night still carried, the sting of rejection lingering in her chest. She forced herself to sit up, her boot accidently kicking an empty bottle of Jim Beam and sending it rolling into another like bowling pins.

She looked around; searching for signs that Batman had truly been here with her last night. No black gauntlets lay on the floor, no cowl on the couch where she could have sworn she had fallen asleep tucked protectively into his arms and pressed against the length of his muscular body. She lightly traced her lips with the tips of her fingers, memories of a sweet kiss that lasted only a handful of seconds flashed through her mind.

Had it all been nothing but a dream meant to further torment her? Mock her with unfilled desires that would forever stay trapped in her heart?

She leaned forward, ignoring the wave of dizziness and nausea that washed over her, her forearms coming to rest on her thighs. She gripped her pounding head in her hands, pressing her fingers into her skull in an effort to appease the hammering that only seemed to grow stronger by the second.

She knew she needed to return to her quarters to get a shower, but she was still besieged by everything that had happened, humiliated about being dumped by King and how she'd responded by getting blinding drunk. It was all so unacceptable for an Amazon let alone the Princess of the Amazons.

Her Amazonian pride had taken a sharp blow, the humiliation of it all amplified by the dream that Bruce had actually been here with her last night…confessed that he loved her too.

She had been so foolish, taking her eyes off her mission of love and peace by allowing herself to be wrapped up in the ridiculous romantic customs of Man's World. Shayera had told her once not to knock it until she'd tried it. She decided she never wanted to venture into matters of the heart again. She was done with this pathetic nonsense. There was only her mission and nothing else, no room in her life for love.

"Here…drink this."

Startled by the unexpected sound of an all too-familiar deep baritone rasp, Diana looked up in stunned disbelief to find Batman standing beside her with a mug in his hand. "Bruce," she murmured, blinking several times to clear her blurred vision.

"Drink this, Princess," he gently encouraged her, handing her the mug.

Taking it, she wrapped both hands around it, absorbing the warmth as she brought it to her nose to inhale deeply. "What is it?"

"Ginger tea," he informed her. He set down a tray of food that he'd brought with him before sitting on the edge of the table in front of her. He leaned forward, his forearms coming to rest on his thighs in a mirror image of the princess sitting less than three feet away from him. "It'll help with the nausea."

"How did you know I needed it?"

Batman studied her for a moment, his lips thinning into a grim line. "Don't you remember last night?"

Diana grimaced with the reminder, her eyes momentarily falling closed as she wrestled with the fuzzy images that lingered in her mind. "I'm trying not to," she bitterly muttered before taking a drink of her tea.

The corner of his lips twitched slightly as he watched her, noticing for the millionth time how absolutely breathtaking she was. He'd never seen her like she'd been last night and it had unnerved him more than he cared to think about.

She had always been their fearless rock, the glue that held the Justice League together. When things turned perilous, she was their beacon of hope that they constantly turned to…that he looked to. Knowing she was always there gave him strength and faith, provided him an anchor that kept him grounded. As long as she was in the world, he could function; do the things that he needed to do in the way only he could do them.

Last night had reminded him that even their strong beacon had moments of vulnerability and weakness. Despite being the most powerful heroine in the world, she was still very much a woman at heart, one that felt intensely and loved just as deeply.

And for some illogical reason that he would never begin to understand, she had fallen in love with him.

"Have you forgotten everything?" he quietly asked with a tentativeness that startled her, causing her to peer at him over the lip of her tea cup. He was more Bruce right now than Batman, more man than formidable hero.

"Some of it's still a blur," she admitted, not wanting to corner him into something confessed last night that he would only take back this morning. "You were really here last night…weren't you?"

He slowly nodded his head in affirmation, intently studying her response. Things had been confessed…feelings expressed that couldn't be taken back now. And he wasn't completely certain that he wanted to take them back. He didn't exactly regret it, but he also had no idea where to go from here or how to handle things with her.

He knew what he wanted, but, was what he wanted, what was best for him? For her? Just because they shared strong feelings for each other, it didn't necessarily make it right or something they should act on. At the same time, he'd never wanted something so badly in his life apart from getting his parents back.

The question was just how much of what happened last night did she really remember?

"I…I was worried it had all been nothing more than just a dream," she divulged, a rosy hue of shame rising to her cheeks as she remembered the sorry state that he'd found her in. It had been so un-Amazon-like.

She had been a blithering mess, crying like a broken-hearted teenager over the loss of a man that she didn't even love only to be comforted by the one that she loved most. She'd never been more humiliated in her life then she was at this moment, finding it more than difficult to meet his intense gaze as she intently studied the tea in her mug.

She wished that she could request an immediate transport straight to her quarters where she could hide from him instead of being forced to face him. She drew her legs up, tucking them under her as if attempting to curl into a tight ball so she could just disappear from sight.

He could tell she was embarrassed about what had happened last night, but she had nothing to be ashamed of. He had initially taken her aloofness as regret for her admission of love to him when in reality it had been shame over the drunken state he'd found her in.

"You were here last night?" she ventured.

"Yes," he simply said, wishing she would at least look at him again. He handed her a piece of toast from the tray he had brought with him, hoping to ease her discomfort. "Eat this. It'll help."

"I don't think anything can make me feel better right now, Bruce," she countered with a shake of her head, her raven hair tumbling over her left shoulder with the movement.

"Well, I'm trying my best, but you're making it a little difficult, Princess," he lightly teased, hoping to ease the tension that bunched her shoulders as she sat huddled on the end of the couch.

"I'm sorry," she murmured before taking a bite of her toast. The dry bread stuck in her equally dry throat at that moment, the crumbs nearly causing her to choke. She took another drink of tea, pushing the toast past the thick knot that filled her throat. "I never meant for you to see me like that. It definitely wasn't one of my finer moments."

He was taken aback by her apology, but didn't let it show on his cowled face. "You needed a friend, Diana," he said. "I'm just relieved I was the friend that could be there for you. I would've been pretty pissed to find out you confessed your love for Wally instead."

Diana couldn't help the lilting laughter that escaped, her blue eyes momentarily brightening only to fill with sadness once more. "No, instead you had to take the heat of my fury with the whole male race before unexpectedly finding out there's one man that I don't hate at all."

"I'm honored I wasn't counted among the hated, Princess," he replied with a smirk as he pulled his cowl back to reveal his dark blue eyes lit with a smolder that caused her breath to hitch.

"I could never hate you, Bruce," she replied, allowing her feelings for him to reflect in her eyes as well, hoping he could feel it.

They stared at one another for a long moment, losing themselves in some of the still unspoken emotions swimming in each other's eyes. "Diana…about last night," he began with an unexpected nervousness that caught her off-guard.

"It's okay, Bruce," she quickly came to his rescue, holding up a hand. "I said things that I probably shouldn't have said. I don't hate the male race and I know me telling you that I love you put you in a very awkward position. I'm sorry I did that to you. I didn't mean for you to find out like that. I know your mission comes first and I don't want you to feel obligated to—"

Bruce found her rambling endearing, but his apprehension got the better of him as he suddenly interrupted her. "Would you join me for dinner tonight at the manor?"

Diana froze, shocked by his request. "What?"

"Diana, I'm afraid that I'm not very good…at all of this," he confessed, releasing a reluctant sigh as he uneasily rubbed the back of his neck. "The whole playboy persona is just an act. When it comes to real matters of the heart, I'm the worst person you could have possibly chosen. It isn't something that I do very well, but I really want to try…with you."

"You do?" she whispered with a faint curl of her lips.

"I've been so miserable for the last month," he revealed, his voice edged with an air of fear. "I've been an absolute bear to be around because I thought I'd lost you to Faraday. You can ask Alfred if you don't believe me. He made sure to point it out to me every day for the last month."

Diana bit at her bottom lip to keep from smiling. "A bear?"

A crooked smile formed on his lips, one that she immediately decided she adored and hoped to see again very soon. "Okay, so that's not quite what Alfred called me," he admitted. "I cleaned it up for you, but you get the idea."

"I do," she said with a nod.

They smiled softly at each other, neither really knowing what to say. Bruce finally broke the uneasy tension. "You should probably go back to your quarters and get some more sleep," he encouraged her. "You also need to drink plenty of water. Alcohol is dehydrating."

Diana's lips quirked into an amused smirk. "Know from experience?"

"Let's just say I had a few nasty hangovers in my early days trying to establish my playboy persona before I gave up drinking," he told her, grimacing with the thought.

"Thank you, Bruce," she told him, warmth beginning to return to her features. "You've always been there for me when I've needed you the most."

"And I always will be, Diana," he promised her, reaching out to caress her cheek. His gaze fell to her lips before reluctantly retracting his hand, pulling himself back behind his walls. "I need to return to Gotham. See you tonight at the manor at six-thirty?"

"I'll be there," she replied, already missing the warmth of his touch on her face.

He stood to his feet, his legs unexpectedly feeling heavy. He found he didn't want to leave her, but he knew he couldn't stay. He grudgingly pulled his cowl back into place as Diana stood to her feet as well. He began to make his way towards the door, wishing that it was evening already and yet a part of him still remained uncertain about the wisdom of pursuing this with her.

He paused for a moment, standing there with his back to her and his head lowered. His hands curled into fists of indecision, a battle of sorts being waged within, one that no one could see but was felt with every inch of his soul. "In case you don't remember from last night…I love you, Princess," he murmured. "See you tonight."

Diana looked up from the tray in stunned disbelief to find him already heading out the door, his black cape whipping like a sail behind him. Her lips curled as she stared at the door he'd just passed through. "I love you too, Bruce," she whispered to no one.

A/N: Sorry if you guys are sick of me by now. As you can tell, I get into these creative spurts where fics come pouring out. Hope you don't mind. :)