A/N: So, the plan was for this to be a long chapter concluding with the eventual 'waking up'. However, I'm a little stuck and since I was almost at 3K I decided to go for the subtle cliffhanger instead. Besides, there are a few things foreshadowed that deserve a new chapter before being revealed. Any guesses?
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.
IDEAL
Diana watched as the orange haze of the sun reflect on, then fade behind the ever darkening blue of the ocean horizon. She stood on the balcony outside of her bedchambers in the Queen's Palace, just as she had done every night since returning to the island. As her days were a struggle to think of anything but him, it was during this time that she allowed her thoughts to roam freely and unfettered, knowing that they would quickly find and focus on Bruce. It was her time, the only time during each day that she released the hold she kept on her emotions and allowed herself to embrace them.
"Come Princess Diana of Themyscira, we have much to discuss."
Startled, Diana quickly spun around to find herself facing the glowing and enchanting form of the Goddess of Beauty and Love.
With a bow and nod of her head, Diana greeted the divinity. "Lady Aphrodite, how may I be of service?"
"It is not I that needs you my child. He does. Thoughts and dreams of you consume him and now he's lost within them."
Diana's brow wrinkled with concern. "He's lost My Lady?"
"Yes, he was injured in battle and fell dormant. A blow to the head. He sleeps still and has become lost in near ceaseless dreams, his soul calling for yours. It is time for you to go and guide him once again."
"Again? But Themis and Morpheus – "
"Themis is quite content with your Champion's attentions to her and they shall continue when he awakens. As much as he may fear it, they'll not be restrained. Your presence will only aid him in his quest for justice. It is only your absence that hinders his mission. So, he must be brought back."
"Morpheus shall aid me then?"
"No Princess. You do not need Morpheus's aid. You never have. This has always been in your power. You have already done it by your own power when he was overwhelmed by that dreadful plant. Since you first went to him, this has been in your power."
A questioning expression spreading across Diana's perfect features. Bruce's parents. She was unable to speak the words to ask the question. She did not need to.
"Diana. His mission has always been a part of him. It was never necessary to take his parents from him. That was simply the exercise of a destructive man's free will. The only manipulation of his mortal life made from Olympus was sending you to him as a guide for the first time."
She smiled as Diana's eyes closed in obvious relief. "Now, enough time has been wasted. Sleep and go to him. Again, it is in your power to so. You may choose to simply observe, but you may also intervene as you wish. He also has this ability. This information you may share with him. It's a powerful gift, use it well."
In a shimmering flash of white light, Diana found herself alone in a now darkened room. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she processed what had just occurred.
Before long, she walked over to lie on the large bed that was covered with the light, white cotton fabric that had been made by her sisters on the island and was appropriate for the tropical heat. She smoothed down the skirt of the short white chiton she wore and then closed her eyes. The gentle ocean breezes washed over her as she tried to relax, yet maintain her focus on where it was that she wished to go.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X
Once again, in the comfort of her own bed, she fell into a deep slumber and soon found herself in the dark alley once again. However, the world was no longer strange. It was even more familiar. It was Bruce's world.
He kneeled on the ground, next to his parents. He was still holding his mother's lifeless hand. She watched him for a moment. The empathy and now love she felt for him almost overwhelmed her. Again, fighting tears, she went to him. Once again he needed her strength. And once again, she would give it to him. When she reached him she stood by his side for a moment, looking at his mother and his father as he was. "You don't have to stay here," she whispered.
Before her eyes, the boy changed into the man as he stood and turned to her.
This time he wasn't startled or confused. His blue eyes looked weary but as he looked at her his expression became suddenly serene. For different reasons than it had years before, her heart ached at the sight of him.
"I've been waiting for you." He walked up to her and took her hand.
Diana narrowed her eyes. "You have?"
"Yes."
Diana's eyes widened as the scene around her transformed from Park Row to a cliff side overlooking the ocean. The waves were crashing against the rocks below. She turned and looked over her shoulder. As expected, Wayne Manor loomed behind her.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know if I did do it. How do you know it wasn't you?"
"This is your home, not mine." She paused for a moment, studying his expression. He looked …. relaxed. It was unusual to see him look that way unless he also wore Bruce Wayne's aloof expression. Which he did not.
"Bruce, Aphrodite – she said you were injured and lost in your dreams. But you don't look lost. You are not lost are you?"
He shrugged again, one corner of his mouth lifting up a bit in a half-smirk. She should have known. When has Batman ever been lost?
She had the odd sensation that he was playing with her. She felt her irritation growing with her confusion. "Bruce. You weren't injured – well you probably were injured – but you aren't lost or trapped here. You look comfortable. Like you are…you are choosing this. You are, aren't you? This isn't like you. Why are you here and not in Gotham?"
"I've only been gone one night and I couldn't patrol if I was there anyway. Besides, Dick has things under control. He can handle it. He always could. I also wouldn't be surprised if your sister is soon helping him."
"My sister? How do you know that?"
"I can hear them talking."
"You can hear them?"
"Yes, in the infirmary at the Watchtower." He paused for a moment as if he were listening for something. "Well, I could before you arrived. I guess I can't multi-task while I'm dreaming."
"So you are doing this intentionally?"
"Some, but not all of it. I can't control what I dream about, but the fact that I'm dreaming at all was very intentional."
"Why?"
"For a few reasons. I needed to know how….. it was possible. And I wanted to see you."
"How did you know it would work?"
"I didn't. But you've done it before. I thought if I went to sleep long enough, you might eventually come."
"You intended to get a head injury so you could dream?"
"No, I planned to fall asleep and then dream – a lot."
"How did you do that?"
"It was simple, really. REM rebound. REM sleep is the stage of sleep when you dream. After periods of sleep deprivation, the length, frequency, and depth of REM sleep increases. So I stayed awake. For days."
"But you do that all the time. Sleep deprivation is a way of life for you."
"Not for this long. Alfred drugged me last week. I was livid. It set me back days."
"So, you were severely sleep deprived and went patrolling. And you are now in the infirmary, so you must have gotten hurt. What happened?"
"Bane."
Diana was silent for a moment. Her irritation had rapidly rose to anger the second she heard the name. "Bane," she said finally. "You went out and fought Bane severely sleep deprived? You could have been killed. Just so you could see me? That was incredibly stupid and you are anything but stupid, Bruce. Why are you doing this?"
For the first time since she'd appeared in the alley, he looked away from her. "I fight tired all the time, besides, I said it wasn't just so I could see you. But why I wanted to see you was so I could talk to you and show you..." his voice drifted off. "Without the inhibitions and restraints I can't seem to push out of the way while I'm conscious. Like I was able to – back then. You needed to know. I couldn't leave it like that."
Angry Diana went to infuriated in seconds. "So what you are saying is that you have to be fucking asleep to really talk to me? You know that's total bullshit Bruce, but it certainly IS like you to think that it was necessary."
Suddenly her eyes flew open. She could hear the ocean, feel the ocean breeze, and see the stars outside her window. But it wasn't the cool breeze off the eastern seaboard of the United States anymore. She was back in Themyscira.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
In the Watchtower infirmary, Donna sat by Bruce's bedside flipping through a magazine Black Canary had given her. Nightwing had wanted to share his update with Alfred. Donna had offered to stay with the promise that Dick would also sleep at least a few hours..
She jumped as the monitor alarms began to go off. Bruce's heart rate was rapid and irregular. He breathing was shallow and labored. Donna looked at his face – his serene expression was now one of anguish.
She decided efficiency was in order. J'onn. Bruce is in distress.
Within seconds J'onn materialized through the floor and began checking the readings on the monitors. Finding no obvious cause for the change in his condition, J'onn turned to begin doing a cursory physical exam, including listening to Bruce's breathing and heartbeat and checking his reflexes.
"How…unexpected," J'onn uttered surprise at the condition of the patient with his usual stoicism.
Donna came over to see what had J'onn concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Yesterday, Batman was covered with purple and black bruises. Today, they are nearly gone."
"I take it that is unusual?"
"For Amazons, no. However, normal humans do not heal this quickly."
They both watched as Batman inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly in his sleep. Then just as suddenly as the alarms on the monitors had started to go off, they stopped.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
As soon as she realized he had awakened, she set her mind to immediately return to sleep. Some deep relaxation exercises and she was able to return to a deep slumber. It took very little time until Diana found herself dressed in a long white coat walking through a cemetery.
It was winter and there was snow on the ground. She saw footprints immediately and followed them, her tall black boots falling into each print as she wound through the cemetery and between the tombstones. He'd never brought her here, but she knew it just the same.
His back was to her when she found him. His back was to her and he was facing what she knew were the graves of his mother and father. She approached him steadily. When she reached him, she slipped her hands under the arms of the black wool coat he wore and wrapped her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his back. She felt him inhale and exhale deeply when she settled against him.
"Hera, Bruce," she whispered. "The way you constantly torture yourself breaks my heart."
"You left."
"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
He turned in her arms to face her. "I thought I'd lost you again."
"You have never once lost me, Bruce. You repeatedly push me away." She pulled back a bit to slide her hands up his arms to rest on his shoulders. His arms tightened around her.
She looked over his shoulder and stilled as she caught sight of the tombstones behind him. The two large ornate stones of Thomas and Martha Wayne were expected. The third was not expected. It was hers.
"Bruce?"
He knew her question. "I'm always afraid I'll lose you."
She laid her head on his shoulder. "Bruce. Be logical. I'm nearly indestructible."
He pulled his head back to look at her. "Like I said, I'm not choosing these dreams – they just happen. But the fears are real. Maybe it's not logical to live in fear that something will happen to you, but I still do."
"So, this is what you wanted to show me? This is an obstacle? Is this what you needed to be asleep to talk to me about?" The irritation felt earlier hadn't completely left her.
He paused a moment longer to study her before directing a small, playful smile at her. "Diana, I didn't know you knew those kind of words. Who taught you to curse like that?"
Despite where they were, she felt the mood lift a little and smiled back. "Yes you did. You've heard them in Ancient Greek many times. And I've been in man's world long enough to have picked up the translated versions."
"From Shayera."
She laughed. "How'd you guess?"
"She curses like a sailor. I'll bet those were the first words she learned on Earth. She called me a jackass just last week."
"She's both articulate and intelligent." Her eyes sparkled at him. It felt so good to just be here with him right now. She glanced around. They were back on the lawn outside Wayne Manor. She wondered vaguely why they kept coming back here.
They were standing on the cliff again with their arms around each other. The snow began to fall softly. She brought her blue eyes back to his. His expression had become serious.
Her heart began to pound at the way he was looking at her. She felt the warmth flood her cheeks as they flushed with anticipation. He wasn't angry with her right now. They weren't hiding during an alien invasion. She closed her eyes as he threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her lips to his for their first real kiss. No, it wasn't actual reality, but they shared it and it felt real. And that was enough for now.
It began slow and tentative, growing slowly in intensity. He fisted her hair in his hands and tilted her head back. As her lips parted, he slipped his tongue between them. The feel of his tongue sliding against hers sent a shockwave through her. The kiss grew more passionate and more desperate.
How could it possibly have taken so long to do this?
When they finally broke apart for need of oxygen, they rested their foreheads against each other and breathed deeply.
"Diana?"
"Mmmhmm?"
"Why do they keep sending you back to me like this?"
Diana tried to pull away from him, but he held her tightly. She looked at him in confusion as she couldn't break free. He didn't move when she pushed against him again, harder. She should have been able to escape easily. He smirked and shrugged as she looked at him and struggled.
"It's my dream. Do you want me to let you go?"
She stopped and shook her head. "No." She was feeling apprehension at trying to explain how she was able to keep returning to the recesses of his mind.
"Diana, why are they sending you here?"
"Well, technically they aren't." She explained what Aphrodite had told her. She had the ability to enter his dreams and had apparently been able to since that first time. "She said we've always been able to do this – since that first time. You could do this as well. The connection made that first time never left us. She said we became bound to each other then."
He released her and pulled back at that statement. The look on his face very clearly told Diana that this was not information he welcomed.
"Is that why? Is it why I can't just let you go?"
Once again she began to feel angry. "Is it why can't you let me go? Bruce, why can't it just be about how you feel about me?" She crossed her arms in front of her, in a defensive pose.
"You are the image of perfection, Diana – an ideal. Every man on Earth is in love with you. It's more than that. It's my inability to leave you alone. I try to stay away, but I can't. I have never not been able to stay away from someone before, no matter how I felt about them. You know me. I don't like being played like a puppet by your Gods."
Her head was spinning. They had gone from… to….this in a matter of seconds. What in Tartarus was wrong with this man?
He paused to turn away and look out at the ocean. It suddenly seemed like he couldn't face her. "I'm sorry, Diana. You know I'm not good for you. Not for anyone, really. You shouldn't be forced into this. I know you, if you ever wanted to leave you wouldn't. You'd stay in it out of a sense of duty. "
She wanted to hit him.
Diana opened her eyes. She was alone in her palace bedchambers. It was morning. "Hades." A string of profanity in Ancient Greek followed.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
Chapter End Notes: In case anything seems OOC here - I tried keep it not so much, but keep in mind we are talking dreams here. If anyone has studied Freud, dreams are supposed to represent 'wish fulfillment' and attempts of the unconscious to resolve conflict. There will probably be a little more of that in the next chapter, but in this one I see the Bat as exerting more control than most over something that is supposed to be unable to be controlled. What is needed is for someone to take some of that control away...