A/N I've been meaning to end this soon, but the deliciousness just won't let me. A few more chapters, I guess.

Warning: This chapter verges on more the T-plus. No sex scene, just a few swear words and half-nakedness.

Enjoy.

Annie stood behind the drinks table, wishing it were just a few inches taller. It came up to her mid-thighs, hiding about half of her exposed skin. It'd have to do for now, she thought, at least until she could find another hiding place.

Why, she thought, why did she insist on the Wonder Woman costume? Auggie begged her to go as Lois Lane as a companion to his Clark Kent/Superman, but she wanted to be a superhero unto herself and dug out her Wonder Woman costume from when she went to Comi-Con a few years back with her college friends.

When she'd emerged from the bathroom in full ensemble – including gold lasso at her hip – Auggie nearly fell out of his chair. She'd expressed her misgivings about the sexy outfit, but Auggie had assured her that Carl's parties were large and mixed, and she'd fit in fine with the crowd.

But, after about a half an hour there, Annie wished she'd gone with the Lois Lane outfit. Mixed crowd, yes, but the other women there were dressed more modestly in more up-to-date outfits. She even had one ask her what she was dressed as. She'd scoffed at the coed's comment before realizing she wasn't kidding.

Annie sighed and refilled her cup from the highly spiked punch bowl. If anything, she thought, she'd enjoy a good buzz to make up for the fact that, besides Auggie and Carl, she knew no one among the few dozen people milling around.

She'd tie herself to Auggie's side, but since he'd arrived, he was surrounded by techno geeks who bombarded him with questions, comments, and, once they learned of his successful Lasik surgery, he began telling the whole story.

Annie wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a wallflower, but at the moment, she sure felt like one. She scanned the crowd again, looking for anyone she might slightly know or perhaps be able to talk to. A foreign language mixed among the conversations in the room caught her ear, and she turned to see a man talking on a cellphone at the other end of the drinks table.

By his highly stylized and shiny outfit, Annie knew immediately that he was dressed as Aladdin. His midnight black hair and dark caramel skin set off the white fabric beautifully, and Annie found herself intrigued. Partly because of his looks, but mostly because she recognized the language he spoke into his cellphone.

She wasn't fluent in Hindi, but had a good enough grasp to understand a bit of what he was saying. She hadn't heard the language for about a year, when she'd traveled through the Middle East.

Her intense study of him must have gotten his attention, because he suddenly turned and caught her gaze. Embarrassed, Annie gave a smile and returned to her punch.

"Hello."

Aladdin had hung up his cellphone and walked up to her, rounding the table as he went so he wound up just a few feet away. "Well, hello, Wonder Woman. Or do you go by Diana these days?"

Annie blinked up at him, surprise evident on her face. "Wow, not only do you know I'm dressed as Wonder Woman, but you know her secret identity?"

Aladdin shrugged. "Who doesn't?"

Annie laughed, "Apparently, half the people here. Nobody has any respect for the classics anymore."

"Except you and me. My name's Jai, Jai Wilcox," he said, extending his right hand to her.

Annie shook it, "Annie Walker. Nice to meet you. So, was that Hindi I heard you speaking?"

"Yes, I was talking with my father. How did you –"

"I traveled through India last year and picked up some of the language," Annie explained.

"Really?" Jai asked with a smirk.

"I did. Not enough to be fluent in it like I am Spanish and Russian, but –"

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Jai said, holding his hands up in surrender. "How many languages are you fluent in?"

Auggie was finishing up the story of how well his Lasik surgery went for maybe the fourth time that night when he realized Annie wasn't anywhere near him. He figured she'd snuck off to the bathroom, but it'd been longer than a few minutes.

"Excuse me, have you seen Annie?" he asked The Flash – he couldn't remember the man's name.

"You mean Wonder Woman? Hottie's over there by the punch bowl, getting hit on by Wilcox," The Flash said.

Auggie would've stayed and set the guy to rights about Hottie's status as his fiancee, but once he heard the name Wilcox, he began extricating himself from the group surrounding him and heading across the room.

He knew Jai Wilcox by reputation only, but that was enough to make him worried for Annie's safety. Even if Jai saw Annie's engagement ring, it'd hardly keep him from making a pass. He trusted Annie, but the drinks were flowing free tonight, and just about everyone was buzzing happily and getting louder.

As he neared the drinks table, what he saw made his heartbeat nearly double as it pounded through his veins. He hoped it was just the effects of the alcohol that made a flare of jealousy well up in him. If it wasn't, it meant he didn't trust Annie, didn't trust in their love or commitment to one another.

But the facts were right in front of him. Wilcox, over-dressed in what Auggie figured was a jodhpuri suit that he tried to pass off as Aladdin, was standing way too close to Annie. And though she gave no visible vibes that she was falling for his exotic charm, she was giving him a smile that Auggie swore she'd reserved only for him.

He didn't bother waiting for a pause in their conversation, but just rounded to the back of it where they stood and came right up behind Annie, sliding his hands around her waist and pulling her to him.

He knew she was startled by the unannounced embrace, but he whispered, "Hey, Wonder Woman. How about we find a phone booth?"

Annie jerked at the sudden contact, but once Auggie whispered into her ear, she visibly relaxed, laying her hands on his arms as they encirled her waist. "Auggie, thought I'd lost you to the Justice League over there."

Auggie chuckled and nuzzled her neck with his nose before looking up at Jai. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you standing there. Jai, right?"

Auggie saw Jai's megawatt smile dim, and he puffed his chest out in male satisfaction. The effect worked, as his Superman costume mirrored his prized collectible of Clark Kent in a suit, his button-up shirt ripping open to show the lycra "S." Auggie knew he wasn't a true man of steel, but he took care of himself, and the tight fabric fit his chest quite well.

"Yes, Jai Wilcox. Anderson?"

Auggie removed his hand from around Annie's waist to shake Jai's extended one. "I take it you've already met my fiancee?"

"Yes, we were just talking about my homeland."

Auggie nodded, then turned his attention back to Annie, who leaned back against him. "Sweetie, are you having a good time?"

Annie shut her eyes as she reveled in his embrace. She'd lost count of the amount of punch she drank, but it was more than enough to throw off her equilibrium. "Now that you're here, I am."

Out of the corner of his eye, Auggie saw Wilcox move away. "Why were you standing back here? And talking to Jai of all people?" he murmured, his arms pulling her closer to him.

"You were busy," Annie said. "And what's wrong with me talking to Jai? He seemed nice enough."

Annie's nearness and her costume – or lack thereof – was having an uplifting effect on Auggie's libido, and he turned her in his arms. Which, he soon found out, wasn't the best decision as her cleavage, constrained as it was in the tight, corseted costume, threatened to spill out as she pressed up against him.

"Auggie?" she asked, lifting her arms to place them on his shoulders. "You didn't answer my question. What's wrong with my talking to Jai? He's about the only one here I have anything in common with."

Her full weight was by now full on Auggie, and he staggered back a few steps until his back hit the wall. He melted into it and pulled her more against him, his hands sliding down to her hips. He clenched his fingers, pulling her between his legs. "You have me," he growled out before lowering his mouth to hers.

Annie was about to argue his point when his lips crashed against her partially opened mouth. It was almost an angry kiss, with undertones of possession and jealousy. Normally Annie would be turned off by such a display of he-man behavior, but the effects of the alcohol, the late night and his costume which fulfilled a couple of her fantasies made her inhibitions fade into the background.

Her hands dove into his wavy brown hair, effectively knocking his lens-less glasses off his nose. She caught them and stuffed them into his pocket before returning back to her task of kissing every inch of his face.

"Mine," Auggie growled into her mouth.

"Yours," Annie whispered back. "Can we get out of here?"

As soon as the cab pulled up in front of Auggie's building, he jumped out, dragging Annie along with him. He threw a couple of $20s at the driver, hoping that'd be enough to cover the fare, and walked quickly to the side to unlock the door to the building.

His grip on Annie's hand was forceful, but he couldn't wait any longer. It'd been four hours since he first saw her in the Wonder Woman outfit, and though he managed to suppress his desire while he was sober, the alcohol he'd downed loosened his control considerably.

Then when he saw Wilcox nearly drooling over her, something in him snapped, and he wanted nothing more than to take her home and –

"Auggie, slow down," Annie said, nearly tripping over her boots as Auggie took the steps two at a time up to their apartment. To his credit, Auggie stopped long enough for her to catch up, and after a few more steps and fumbling with his keys in the lock, they were inside.

Annie knew what he wanted. His desire matched hers, and she wanted nothing more than to rip the rest of his suit and shirt off to reveal her own personal Superman.

But when she walked into the apartment, taking a few steps past to allow him to shut and locked the door, he grabbed her wrist again and pulled her backwards.

"Auggie, what are you –"

The rest of her question never made it past her lips as he pressed her against the door and proceeded to kiss the breath out of her. He caught both of her wrists and placed them above her head, muttering, "Stay," against her lips as his hands slid down her bare arms. The costume, modeled after the classic one Lynda Carter wore on the tv show, left little to the imagination, resembling a strapless one-piece swimsuit.

Hauling his head back to catch his breath, Auggie panted as his hands slid down her sides. His fingers felt the catch of a zipper, and he smiled in satisfaction, jerking it down. His enthusiasm, however, did more than separate the fabric as a rending sound could be heard.

Annie froze at hearing the tearing of fabric. She looked down to see that Auggie not only pulled down the zipper of the corseted top, but the rest of the fabric, as well, effectively ripping the top completely apart.

"Auggie!" she yelled, dropping her arms down to her outfit and pushing herself away from the door. "What have you done?"

He tried reaching for her again, once the fabric slid off into her hands, revealing her skimpy strapless bra. The lower half of her costume remained in place, and his fingers went to her belt, but she batted his hands away.

"I can't believe you tore it!" Annie cried.

"It's just a costume, Annie," Auggie said, confused as to her abrupt change of attitude.

"It's a classic! Do you know how hard it was to find this? And now it's ruined!" Annie stalked over to the bedroom area, plopping herself on the bed, the top in her hands.

Effectively cock-blocked, Auggie took a deep breath to get some oxygen back into his lungs after the makeout session and walked across the room to her. He shed his suit jacket and button-up shirt, leaving his skintight Superman tee on as he sat next to her.

The drunken passion that'd been driving him the past hour slid away, and he ran his hands over her hair, plucking the tiara out and setting it next to him. He then gently pulled her to him, until her head was nestled onto his chest.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, his lips against her hair. "For ripping your costume and for going all neanderthal on you."

Annie let out a chuckle. "You can go neanderthal on me all you want, but I'd rather it be because you want to," she said, folding the material up and letting it drop to the floor. "If this is what jealousy does to you, I'm going to have to budget more for clothing."

Auggie tucked his hand under her chin to tilt her face up to his. "Then you aren't angry at me?"

"Well, I wasn't until you ripped my outfit," Annie said. "And it's not fair you took off your suit already. I wanted to do that."

"Oh, really?"

"Duh, yeah," Annie said, rolling her eyes. "How often does a girl get a chance to unmask Clark Kent?"

Auggie grinned and stood up quickly, retrieving his shirt and jacket. He buttoned the shirt completely up, covering the Superman tee and slid the jacket on. He also retrieved the glasses she'd removed and slid them on his face.

The effect complete, he turned back to Annie, who sat on the bed in practically her underwear. "Miss – Miss Lane, if there's anything I can do to rectify your torn garment," he said, shuffling his feet and looking down at the floor. "Maybe we – I could call up a 24-hour tailor for you?"

More than ever, Annie wished she hadn't been so adamant about going as Wonder Woman. Auggie's dead-on impression of Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent set her heart racing. She'd teased him the past few months about role-playing, and although she'd envisioned him as Westley from "Princess Bride," with her as Buttercup, she'd never again picture him as anything but her own personal Superman.

Deliberately, she stood, picking up her ripped corset as she walked towards him. "I'm not sure it can be fixed," she said. "Unless you have some sort of superhero ability to mend fabric with your laser eyes or something."

Auggie's lips twitched with a smile, but he kept up the ruse. "Oh, I don't know about that," he said.

"You know," Annie said, looking down at her less-than-attire and his fully dressed body, "One of us is awfully overdressed for the situation."

"Do you want me to get you a sweater?" Auggie asked, his fingers twitching beside him.

Annie shook her head, and she lifted her hands to his face, sliding his glasses off. A hint of déjà vu came to her as she remembered that day she'd done the same thing before their first kiss. This time, however, she knew he wouldn't stop her.

She folded the glasses and stuck them in the breast pocket of his jacket before moving her hands underneath, sliding it off of his shoulders.

Once the material hit the floor, her fingers were on the buttons of his shirt. Annie feigned surprise as the shirt parted, revealing bright blue fabric with a majestic red and yellow "S."

"Clark, what's the meaning of this? You mean to say –"

Auggie couldn't take the pretend any longer and ripped his shirt off, the tinkle of a couple of buttons hitting the hardwood floor echoing. "Miss Lane, I can explain everything," he said.

"No explanation needed," Annie said, running her hands over his muscular chest. "I had an inkling that there was more to you than a cute geek. All I had to do was just peel away the layers."

A/N Nice and long chapter, too. Hope you enjoyed it.

How'd you like the appearance of Jai? :)

Please review.