A/N: Well, here's chappie 17 – and we start with Shayera and John...

Oh, and the quote (I'll see if any of you get it) is from some Star Wars book or another - it is NOT mine.

Chapter Seventeen – Our Favourite Gothamite

Neither Shayera nor John had spoken in at least an hour. All they did was grasp each others' hands, white-knuckled with the streaks of tears down their cheeks. Shayera was dressed in a paper-thin white gown, sitting in a bed in the medical bay. The news wasn't as bad as it could have been.

But it was bad.

Foetal intrautrine death.

One of their children was gone.

It wasn't common, apparently, but it did happen from time to time. They'd probably never know the exact reason it had happened – but then the exact reason didn't matter. All that mattered was that they'd lost one of their babies. Knowing that the other – as far as Doctor Thompkins could tell – was fine, was cold comfort.

Leslie had been beamed up to the Watchtower by J'onn, who though the most medically skilled person onboard, was no obstetrician. She'd confirmed J'onn's diagnosis that one of the foetuses still lived, but couldn't do anything more without her equipment. "You'll still need to come for a scan tomorrow," she said gently. "I have to check there's no damage and that the other foatus is still safe."

Shayera nodded. "Thank you, Doctor," she whispered.

J'onn accompanied the doctor to the transporters, both of them with grave expressions. They passed Wonder Woman coming the other way, her blank face still as cold as it had been since their return from Themyscira. It looked as though she'd just gotten back from a mission; her upper arm was burnt slightly.

"I imagine this is not the first such case you have come across," the Martian said.

"No," she answered sadly. "Though it's been many years since I've known it to happen. Poor John and Shayera. I can't imagine how they must feel."

J'onn kept silent. He did know how it felt to lose a child, and the pain of it never went away. His poor friends. He said goodbye to Leslie and began to make his way back to the Infirmary. On the way, a horrible thought struck him. Wonder Woman had been going in the same direction. If she'd gone into the medical bay…it was not something Shayera could take – having her best friend not care about their loss.

His fears were confirmed – when he entered, Wonder Woman was just leaving the Infirmary, a roll of gauze in her hand. She nodded calmly to him before leaving. J'onn went inside to see Shayera in her fiancé's arms, sobbing, her whole body shaking with it.

"I hate her…God, John, I hate her…"

---

Bruce wasn't known for being particularly loquacious. He'd even been described as a man of few words. But even so, it was at least a full minute before he could speak after Hera made her announcement. And even then he could only repeat what she'd said.

"Her immortality?!" he spluttered.

Hera nodded gravely. "Yes. In order to restore her soul, the cost is dear."

"You can't," he said. "The world needs Wonder Woman. It will always need Wonder Woman."

"If you truly believed that," she said, "then your struggle would be futile, and you would not fight so hard."

"We don't have to win," he said. "All we have to do is fight."

"A pretty line that I imagine works well on mortals," the goddess replied. "But conflict is pointless if there is no hope of victory. One day the world will not need Wonder Woman. And your love may spend the rest of her life with you – or return to Themyscira, and you both will be alone."

"So you're asking me to kill the woman I love?" he demanded.

"No," she said. "I am asking you to choose. And to make your choice easier, Apollo has agreed to show you the result of agreeing."

"The god of the Sun?" he questioned.

"And of prophecy," she confirmed.

Bruce turned away. "I don't need a prophet to tell me what a life with Diana would be like," he said bitterly.

"Then you must declare your choice."

He whirled back to her, fists clenched. "No."

"No?" she exclaimed, apparently totally nonplussed that he would simply refuse. "You wish her to remain like this?"

"Get out," he said suddenly.

Hera looked highly affronted, but Bruce didn't care. He stepped forward with a measured pace. "You want me to decide Diana's fate, without consulting her, without considering the fact that billions of people rely on her for protection and without thinking about what her mother might want?"

"The decision must be yours," she said.

"Well make it someone else's," he snapped. "I…" He trailed off, the set of his mouth turning bitter in self-loathing. "I can't."

She reached up and removed a peacock feather from her elaborate headdress. Handing it to him, she put a hand on his shoulder. It was warm, but light, almost insubstantial. "Call for me. If you change your mind."

Looking at him with something like motherly disappointment in her face, Hera disappeared.

---

One week later

Clark was late for work. It would the third time this week – not that he could help it. Monday it was a forest fire in Australia, Tuesday a volcanic eruption on Sicily, and today was Thursday. And he'd overslept. Not that that was his fault. Lois had a day off, and had switched the alarm off.

Somehow he didn't think Perry was going to like that excuse.

He didn't, and spent fifteen minutes yelling at him about it. After he'd said, "Sorry, chief," for the millionth time, Perry let him go to his desk. To get to it, he had to pass by Kacey's desk, the gossip columnist for the Planet. He would have walked right past her desk without a second glance – except he did glance at it, and the main picture was a full-colour shot of Bruce Wayne. The headline was: Prince of Gotham – Missing in Action?

Clark stopped, putting an easy smile on his face. "Hey, Kacey."

She smiled. "Hi, Clark. No Lois today?"

"It's her day off. What are you working on?" he asked as casually as he could manage. Which wasn't casually at all.

She glanced at her screen. "Oh, that. Well, you know there was a new exhibition opening last night at the Metropolis Art Gallery? Bruce Wayne was supposed to be there – he'd confirmed and everything, but didn't show. And my sources in Gotham say he's just dropped off the radar. So I did a little digging," she said proudly.

"What did you find?" he grinned, trying not to sound nervous. This had something to do with Wonder Woman, it had to. But even Clark hadn't suspected it'd be this bad – Bruce was more paranoid about protecting his identity than everyone else in the League put together. Nothing short of a total meltdown in Gotham would make him let his daytime façade slide. Lord, what had happened in the Arctic?

Thankfully, the excited smile on Kacey's face faded a little. "Nothing much to be honest. Jessica thinks that he might have a new girlfriend he's romancing secretly."

"Jessica?"

"His personal secretary. We were in the same sorority in college."

"A secret girlfriend huh?"

"That's the angle I'm going with…but I don't buy it – Bruce Wayne avoiding publicity? Not his style."

Clark forced a laugh, and mumbled something about getting some coffee. As he walked away from Kacey though, a frown formed on his face. He could well understand why Bruce hadn't been to the Watchtower lately; Batman wasn't known for being a regular fixture anyway, but with Wonder Woman being the way she was…None of Diana's friends wanted anything to do with the creature wearing her skin – but it couldn't be that affecting Bruce so much…sure he was closer to Diana than most, but Diana wasn't in Gotham – there were no reminders of her there, surely? Had something happened in the Batclan that he wasn't aware of?

At the end of the day, Clark was no closer to working out why his friend would take such a risk. Deciding to fly to Gotham and check on the situation himself, Clark picked up a copy of the evening edition on the way. When Batman demanded to know why Superman was in his city – and he would – at least Clark would have something to say.

He read the article before setting off; it wasn't anywhere close to the truth, but it was Kacey's final sentence that worried him most.

Whatever our favourite Gothamite is up to, the question remains on everyone's lips – just what is Bruce Wayne doing with his time nowadays?

---

A/N: I know I was vague on Bruce's reasons for refusing Hera's offer – but they will be discussed in the next chapter. Review please!