You're My Mom

As soon as Diana looked at the boy, she knew it could only be her son. Standing before her could easily have been a younger version of Steve Trevor.

"What'd you say, Johnny?" asked Ponyboy, confused.

Johnny seemed to come out of a daze and shook his head, "M-my mom, she told me to be home early. I should probably get going," he said lamely to cover his slip, though he didn't look away from Diana the whole time.

"When has she ever wanted you home early? Or at all?" said Dally; his disbelief at seeing Johnny's real mother and what she could do was replaced by his usual uncaring demeanor. Johnny flinched visibly at his callous words and finally looked away from Diana to stare at the ground as he scuffed it with the toe of his worn down shoe. The rest of the gang all sent Dally a glare.

"Are you Peter and Ursula Cade's son?" asked Diana, for appearances. Johnny was slightly startled, which was easy to do to him.

"Yes ma'am," he said quietly.

"I'm an old acquaintance of your parents; it's nice to meet you," she shook his hand. "I was at you house earlier, though, and there didn't seem to be anyone home."

"Mom was probably passed out… I mean she was taking a nap," he said quickly.

"Well if you're headed back that way, anyway, why don't I walk with you?" she said kindly.

"Alright," said Johnny.

"You gonna be alright?" asked Pony.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Well we oughtta be headed back to the house now. You got homework," he added to Pony boy, "Thank you so much for your help," he said to Diana.

"It was no problem," she insisted. After a few similar thanks, they all parted ways. Dally seemed reluctant, and sent a glare of his own at Diana. To his surprise, she didn't flinch or look away. She stared him back in the eye.

"Later, Johnny," said Dally, gruffly, and set off after the others.

Diana and Johnny began walking in the opposite direction.

"Hold on a minute," said Diana, and Johnny came to a halt as she walked into the alley where she changed clothes earlier. Jonny was surprised when she came back out, barely a minute later, in her polka-dot dress.

"How'd you change so fast?" he asked.

"It's a trick I learned back home. Maybe I'll teach you sometime," she replied with a smile. Her expression became a little more serious though as she said, "You know who I am, don't you?" Johnny nodded slightly.

"You're my mom," he said.

"I'm not entirely sure I've earned that title," said Diana.

They stood awkwardly for a moment before Johnny did the one thing he wanted to do since he found out he was adopted: he stepped forward slowly and hugged his mother. When she realized what was happening, Diana wrapped her own arms around him tightly, as though she'd never let go. He noticed she seemed to smell like a mixture of coconuts, bananas and sea water.

Johnny pulled back reluctantly and made a vain attempt to wipe a few stray tears off of his face. He was still a greaser after all, and greasers don't get sappy.

Diana noticed and laughed a little as she wiped away a few of her own. She then took a good look at her son's face for the first time.

"How did you become so tan? You don't get that from me or your father," she said teasingly. She ruffled his hair playfully, and then pulled back her hand in slight distaste as it was covered in grease. She pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the grease off as Johnny fixed his hair, mildly annoyed that it was messed with.

"I spend a lot of time outside," he said when his hair was fixed to his satisfaction. Not by choice, he failed to add. Truthfully his dark complexion came from the many years that he was either kicked out of the house or just afraid to go home.

Diana noticed something even more troubling, "Where'd you get that scar?" she asked, referring to the scar that ran from the left side of his forehead to the top of his left cheekbone.

Johnny was visibly uncomfortable in talking about it, "It's nothin'," he said as he started walking, nowhere in particular in mind. He noticed the insistent look on her face as she walked alongside him, he added, "I just got jumped by some socs a few months ago. One of them wore a lot of rings on his fingers."

Anger like she'd never known before flared up inside of Diana, "Were they the ones that attacked your friend earlier,"

"No, they were different," Johnny said quickly.

"Does that sort of thing happen often?" she asked. Johnny shrugged his shoulders, examining his shoes, "Who are they?" she demanded.

Johnny took a second to answer, "We call them socs. They're the rich kids from the West side of town. They drive around in fancy cars and pick fights with us greasers."

"Why do the socs pick fights with you?"

"I don't know really," he shrugged his shoulders again, "I guess 'cause we don't got as much money as them, and everyone thinks we're bad."

"Why would anyone think that you're bad if the socs are the ones jumping people?" she asked.

"It ain't just the socs jumpin' people; they just never get caught."

Diana shook her head, "That's so wrong,"

"It's all we know," said Johnny bitterly. Diana mistook the tone as being directed at her, and immediately felt guilty.

Seeing how upset his mother was, Johnny decided to change the subject, "So how's you do all that? You threw those socs around like bean bags."

Diana smiled at the question, her gaze fixed forward as they came into the main part of town, "I'll tell you because it's a part of your heritage; but you'll have to keep an open mind,"

"Okay," he said eagerly.

"What do you know about Greek Mythology?"

"Not a lot," said Johnny, glancing at Diana as they continued walking along the side of the road. They failed to notice the stares they were receiving; an attractive and stylish young woman like her didn't normally interact with hoodlums.

"So… how old are you?" asked Johnny after she finished telling him all about Paradise Island and the Amazons.

"Almost Two-Thousand and Fifteen," she said matter-of-factly.

Johnny was slowly taking in all of the new information. It was hard to believe. But he witnessed her fighting off those socs, which was amazing on its own. Speaking of which, "Why can't I do what you can do?" he asked.

"The island's environment is what gave us the purity of mind, body and spirit to reach our potential. It took lots of training and concentration for us to get where we are now. But when we leave the island, that potential is lost, and we have to rely on our magic belts to maintain our strength and agility."

"So I'd have to be trained on the island and get one of those belts to be strong like you?"

"Yes, I believe so," she said, "Of course we'd have to discuss it with the Cades first,"

"What?" Johnny panicked slightly as he finally realized where they were headed, "Why are we here?"

Diana stopped when they were just a few feet from the fence around the Cade residence.

"I'm just going to talk to the Cades."

"Why?"

"I want to get to know the people that raised you all of these years," she said, giving him at least part of the truth. She walked through the gate and was about to start up the steps, but Johnny ran ahead of her.

"Wait!" he said, almost frantic, "Why don't you let me go in first. So I can get them ready for the news."

"Why would you need to do that?" she asked.

"Please, just let me go in first," he said in a quieter voice, not wanting to alert his adoptive parents.

Johnny's behavior wasn't escaping Diana's instincts at all. Every fiber of her being was telling her to take him away from this house and never to let him return. But instincts could be wrong. And she hadn't heard anything definitive about what kind of people the Cades were.

"Alright, but if you're not back in five minutes, I'm coming in," she said, her voice stern.

Johnny nodded and then walked up the steps and through the front door, which opened into the living room. Once inside, he instinctively looked around for any signs of movement. He relaxed slightly when he didn't see any bottles or fists coming at him. He walked to the doorway to the kitchen and tensed when he saw his adoptive father standing with the refrigerator door open, downing half a bottle of beer before stopping.

"Where the hell were you?" asked the drunken man when he noticed Johnny.

"I was with my friends," he replied in a quiet voice.

"So you hang out with that trash, and I'm expected to work my ass off to provide for you. Why don't you get a job?" he took a swig of his beer, "Or are you too stupid to know how to do anything?"

Johnny didn't answer; he just stared at the floor. Before he knew what was happening, he had been shoved against the wall. He felt some of the sheet rock give way where his back hit.

"I asked you a question boy!" a fist connected with his jaw, sending him flying at the table, where his forehead collided. He blacked out for a second, but came to when he was pulled to his feet by his shirt. He heard fabric ripping.

"You need to learn some respect," said his 'dad', pulling back his fist for another blow. Just when he was going to bash the boy's face in, his fist was caught in a bone-cracking grip. There was a powerful tug as he was spun around to face not a princess, not an Amazon, but a mother.