A/N: 'For the Man who has Everything'; 'Kids Stuff'; 'This Little Piggy'; 'Doomsday Sanction'

I tried to give a little background, but it helps if you've seen them.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

ARTIFICE

When she didn't answer, Alfred asked the question again. "Why are you leaving?"

"Because he's forsaken me."

She knew it was an odd way to say it, but it seemed to fit the situation best. Having been looking down at her cup, Diana slowly raised her head to meet his gaze when Alfred sat in silence after her response.

She explained further, "He wants nothing from me now. To others, he calls me simply a 'valued colleague' or 'trusted friend'. The others don't notice because he's Batman, but those words are either said with sarcasm or sadness. In actuality, we're barely teammates. This is why I must go. It is best for the team. He has resisted all of my attempts to make amends. I need to go before the team becomes irreparably damaged. He would never accept this, but they need him far more than myself."

Alfred's expression changed from one of concern to disbelief. "I can hardly believe what I am hearing. I was under the impression that Amazons didn't surrender."

She offered a wry smile in response. "We don't surrender. We will however sacrifice ourselves if necessary to win the war."

He shook his head as if to clear it. "Miss Diana, I must ask - he discovered the truth on his own then?"

She nodded her head.

"And knowing him as I do, your explanation was apparently unsatisfactory?"

She sighed. "As much as I could explain. He really wasn't interested in hearing any explanations. After he confronted me, things just…chilled." Always intuitive to the emotions of others, Diana could see that Alfred was becoming angry at Bruce. "Please don't be angry with him. I understand – even expected – this response from him. He's questioning many of the things he held as absolute truths in his life. Unfortunately the Fates determined that he should discover the truth about our first meeting at a time when it would cause the most damage….I don't suppose he discussed with you what happened on Clark's birthday?

Diana expected the negative response she received and continued with barely a pause. She explained how they had gone to the Fortress to find Clark under the control of the Black Mercy, sent by Mongul who was still there when they arrived. As she described that the plant caused it's host to believe they were in their own personal dream world, a perfect existence - their heart's desire - she could see Alfred was already suspecting what might have occurred. While Diana battled Mongul, Bruce had managed to somehow get Clark free of the plant. While Superman fought Mongul, beaten and injured she climbed back to Bruce, only to find him in the grips of the Black Mercy.

"I knew what he was seeing. I just knew it. As I am sure you do now. I'd been there with him in that alley so many times. My heart ached for what he would go through when he was released from the grip of the plant. It would be like the nightmares, but far worse. That feeling of happiness that he's not had in thirty years would be ripped from him. I had to get him out of that vision as quickly as possible."

At this point, Diana paused and stood, walking over to the glass kitchen doors to gaze out over the cliffs along the bay. "I screamed his name and I pulled. Hard. But Mongul is strong and he had beaten me. Badly. I needed more than what remained of my strength to get it off of Bruce. Besides, the plant wasn't something that one just….removed. The host needed to somehow begin to understand that what they were seeing wasn't real. Morpheus wasn't there to help me, but I hoped the connection we'd already established would be enough. It was enough to get me inside, briefly. We were right back there in the alley again. I watched as realization dawned for him and the image before us changed from his heart's desire into the nightmare. We looked at each other – his eyes were wide with surprise and confusion. All I was able to say was, 'Stop this, Bruce' before the Black Mercy released its hold."

She turned away from the window and walked back to where Alfred sat at the large kitchen table. "He never spoke of his vision and I didn't ask. I couldn't tell him everything anyway. It wasn't until later that he even realized that I was the girl he saw while under the Black Mercy's control."

" It was almost as if the Fates were toying with us because as you know, our very next mission actually required us to be magically transformed into eight-year-olds. It was then that he realized the girl he saw had been me."

Diana told him everything about that mission that she was sure Bruce hadn't. Of course, every adult on Earth realized something very wrong had happened when they were suddenly banished to a shadow realm. They had reversed the spell so quickly that by the time Morgaine Le Fay returned them to their adult states after taking down her son, most of the world wasn't sure what exactly had happened. Life resumed with relative normality. Denial was the was the easist way for most of the world to deal with it.

Not so for Diana and Bruce. He recognized immediately that it was Diana who had released him from the Black Mercy's spell. He was so disconcerted that he spent the entire mission practically running away from her until he could understand what it all meant. Diana, on the other hand, took full advantage of the fact that she momentarily possessed an eight-year-old's lack of impulse control and she spent the mission chasing him. Bruce had apparently never lacked impulse control, even as a child.

When it was over, Bruce was clearly disturbed by the whole experience. On one of the rare occasions that Wonder Woman felt unsure of herself and what course of action to take, she simply withdrew from him immediately after the mission. This was an occasion, it seemed, that it was best to give Batman his space…that is until Circe and the stakeout in Gotham City.

She was still an Amazon. Amazon's by nature, did not back down in battle and typically took what they wanted if it was in front of them. It was difficult to fight her heritage and she wasn't inclined to do so anyway. So, she pushed Bruce a little harder.

Shortly after she arrived in Gotham for the stakeout, it was apparent that he still didn't know about her nocturnal visits in childhood. Based on his response to her question about dating, she came to the conclusion – which he later confirmed – that he believed there simply existed an unusual bond between them that had allowed her to enter his mind while he was under control of the Black Mercy. It was the most logical conclusion to draw and having come to this conclusion, he had prepared to respond to and rebuff her romantic overtures when the time came. That they would come he did not question, given her behavior as an eight-year-old in their last mission together. At the time, he firmly believed that it would not be in either of their best interests to become involved.

As it would turn out, events that occurred during his search for Circe that would eventually turn the source of their bond – his dreams – into the mechanism for its ultimate destruction. That night he had a dream that began the same as any other nightmare would have, except this time it was one from his childhood. He dreamed of her visiting him and apparently awoke with the memory of all of the dreams from his childhood that had been long forgotten. And he remembered it all.

Diana's voice was heavy with emotion as she gave Alfred an edited version of his confrontation. He didn't need the details and she wouldn't have been able to speak if she tried to give them. It was simply too painful for her.

"We had a Founder's meeting the morning after he had recovered those childhood memories. He was quiet throughout the meeting, which wasn't all that unusual. Afterward, he followed me to my room and confronted me."

"Since he discovered the truth, we've been engaged in a masquerade for the benefit of the team. Being so adept at the role of Bruce Wayne, he's much better at it than I. It is becoming too difficult for me to maintain. As you know, last night he was injured after saving Clark and I from a Kryptonite missile on its way to San Baquero.

After he had been patched up, he threw Clark and I out of the watchtower infirmary. He's never been particularly trusting of metas, that we all know. But he trusted Clark and I. Now he trusts neither of us. He mistrusts Clark because of his leadership in our banishing Doomsday to the Phantom Zone. He mistrusts me for all of this. I've seen him be fully…Batman…to others. I've never felt that hostility directed toward myself. That's when I came to the decision that I should go."

"Before you ask, yes, I am doing this for him as well as for the team. He doesn't need the constant reminder of my betrayal. He's experienced enough of that from people he's cared about. But do not think for a minute that this is entirely self-sacrifice on my part, Alfred. I'm doing what's best for me as well, given the circumstances. Officially, I'm still exiled. But I strongly suspect that I would be welcomed back if I agreed to stay on Themyscira. I feel perhaps identifying again with my Amazon heritage is what is best for me now."

"When will you go, then?" She could hear what sounded like grief in his voice.

"I don't know. Part of me keeps hoping that something will give. I'm planning to go, I'm just not planning when. When I've finally had enough I suppose, I will just leave. It's better that nobody know I'm leaving until I do. Everyone will want to know why and if they don't know I'm leaving, they won't have the chance to ask. I know it's a lot to ask, Alfred, and I'll understand if you refuse, but I think it's better if you keep my leaving from Bruce too. As I said, the Justice League needs Batman and I don't want to give him the opportunity to leave the group to prevent me from doing so."

As she spoke the last few sentences, her voice began falter as the emotions she had been holding in check the last few hours finally threatened to unleash themselves. Her Amazon identity strongly resisted such an emotional display, so she asked Alfred if she could have a moment alone to collect herself. She walked outside from the kitchen into the garden. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, breathing in the aroma of the roses that Alfred so painstakingly cared for.

That day, he had entered her room silently, without knocking. She was used to that.

She turned toward him. His cowl was off and it was all there in that icy glare. Anger, betrayal, pain. He knew. They stood in the middle of the room facing each other. She met his gaze.

"You've been lying to me since the beginning." His voice was low, but hard.

"I knew only Batman in the beginning."

"Then when?"

Her blue eyes lowered to the floor briefly before looking up and meeting his again. "Paris."

It was a split second, but he visibly flinched. "More than a year ago. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Bruce, you weren't supposed to remember. I was forbidden to tell you. I was a child, but I gave my word then. I couldn't break it now."

His tone was cold. "Manipulated by your Gods? When Zatanna summoned Themis to help us find Circe - it was her wasn't it? She called me by name – my given name. I found that odd, but not all that surprising given her status. But she seemed to know me. Too well. Then, after, when you walked away from me in the hallway, humming…it was so…familiar. Last night, I had a dream. One that I had before. When I woke up, I remembered them all." He paused, "Why did they do it?"

"They said you needed guided to correct path – the one that would lead to..." she gestured with a bounce of her head, "all of this. They said that the world needed you."

Bruce narrowed his eyes and moved his face so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath brush her lips.

"Was that all they did, Diana?"

The question sent Diana into an emotional tailspin. He meant his parents. He thought... "Oh no – no, they didn't do that –"

"I'm supposed to believe that? I have no idea what is the truth now."

He moved toward her and she instinctively backed up until she met the wall. When she stopped, he pressed his lips against hers – hard. Diana felt every imaginable emotion in that kiss. Love, hate, passion, anger, betrayal… The initial confusion quickly melted away as she responded fervently. When they needed air, he pulled back and put a gloved hand on each of her shoulders holding her away from him and against the wall.

"That, right there, was the only thing that's ever been between us that I know was real. After last evening, I had planned a very different conversation for us today. The hours I spent trying to release you from Circe's spell, I started to question all of the reasons I gave you on that roof. I had decided that maybe I was wrong."

He stepped back from her and pulled on the cowl. He turned and walked to the door, pausing just before he opened it. "The others won't know about this. As far as they are concerned, nothing has changed. Make sure it appears that way. But know for certain that we are just teammates, nothing more." He walked out as silently as he entered. Diana slid down the wall to the floor.

"Diana." J'onn's voice in her communicator, pulled her out of the painful memory.

"Yes, J'onn."

"Batman left the infirmary a few minutes ago."

"Thanks, J'onn." He was headed here. She needed to leave.

Diana flew back up to the doorway that led to the kitchen. "Alfred, I'm sorry, I need to go."

She stopped short. Bruce, arm still in a sling, stood in the kitchen.

"You're goddamn right you do," he said quietly. "Get out of my house."

She met his gaze defiantly and walked over to Alfred, quickly embracing him. "Goodbye, Alfred."

He didn't respond, just looked at her with sympathy and regret.

She turned and walked out of the door she had just entered, making her way to her jet. As she left, she overheard an exchange between the two men.

"I've never seen more appalling behavior from you."

"What was she doing here?"

"Saying goodbye."