Surprise (DCAU)

Diana appeared on the transporter pad on the Watchtower, a forced smile appearing on her face that was incongruous with the annoyance that permeated her ocean-blue eyes. "Good afternoon, Mark," she greeted him.

"Welcome aboard, Wonder Woman," the civilian crewman replied from the controls with a broad smile. "Have a good day."

"You too," she told him as she walked out of the transporter room.

Waiting until the doors had slid closed, Mark quickly hit the commlink button. "She just boarded the 'Tower," he relayed.

"Thanks, Mark," Flash said. "Make sure you stop by when you get a chance. It's going to be a good time."

"Will do," Mark agreed, ending the transmission.

XXX

Diana slowly made her way down the halls, not quite certain about where she was going. Should she just go to her quarters until her monitor duty shift, or should she go to the cafeteria for an iced mocha? She also knew that she should go to the training room for a workout, but she wasn't really in the mood for once. She was aware that beating up some holo villains would make her feel better, but she couldn't muster the motivation at that moment. Perhaps she'd go later.

Her mind was too consumed with thoughts that she would rather not dwell on, but they continued to plague her despite her best efforts. Bruce's actions lately were making her head spin. One moment, it was as if he wanted something more with her only to push her away the next day.

She'd barely seen him the last several days and when she had, he had ignored her. It left her wondering what was going on between those bat ears of his. Whatever it could be it was making her crazy. She didn't know what kind of game he was playing, but she was not participating anymore.

She was done with him. No more games. No more dancing around their feelings without acting on them.

"Diana!"

Wonder Woman stopped in her tracks, turning to find Black Canary catching up to her. "Hey, want to grab lunch?"

"I'm not really hungry," she told her, deciding she just wanted to be alone today.

"Come on," she attempted to coax her. "Keep me company while I eat. You can have an iced mocha."

"I guess so," she replied with a sigh.

Canary frowned as they began to make their way to the cafeteria. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You don't seem yourself today. Is something wrong?"

Diana's brow furrowed as she clasped her hands behind her back. "I don't know," she murmured, a distant look in her eyes. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Like a certain tall, dark, and menacing Bat?" Canary ventured with a smirk.

Diana huffed in frustration. "I'd rather not discuss it," she curtly stated.

Dinah smiled knowingly. "He's definitely infuriating to deal with at times," she agreed. "Makes you want to bash his face in sometimes, but then he does something totally sweet and unexpected, and you can't help but want to hug him."

"Totally," she concurred.

"Well, I'd tell you he's worth the effort, but only you can decide that one for yourself," she commiserated with her. "Ollie can be the same way so I can relate. You love him, but you want to strangle him at times."

"Yes, but at least Ollie isn't afraid to tell you how he feels and actually do something about it," Diana pointed out.

"I'm sorry, Diana," Canary said. "I know how exasperating Bruce can be, but he really is a good guy."

"I know," she agreed. "It just makes it even more frustrating that he won't make up his mind about what he wants."

"How long has been ignoring you this time?"

"Eight days," she murmured, her anger beginning to flame hotter once more.

"Ignore him," she advised. "Give him a taste of his own medicine. When he comes back around…and believe me he will…make him work for your attention. Don't just accept his bad behavior."

"He's probably just busy working on a case in Gotham so I'm sure it's not without good reason," Diana tried to defend him.

"Diana, you two aren't even together and he's already treating you like this," Canary pointed out. "If you two finally hook up, I hope he changes his ways for you."

"I'm tired of trying to figure out what's going on in his head," she decided.

"Well, we already know how he feels about you."

"I know nothing for sure, Dinah."

"Too bad you can't just tie him up with your lasso and get the truth out of him."

"He'll never trust me again," Diana reminded her. "That's something that he would never be able to forgive or get past if I did that."

"Still, you have to admit that it'd be fun," Canary said with a devilish laugh. "Oh, the possibilities."

"Dinah, you're terrible," Diana said with a laugh.

Reaching the cafeteria, the doors parted revealing a room full of heroes and civilian crew members alike. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone cheered as the pair entered.

Diana stopped dead in her tracks, stunned by the fact they knew it was her birthday let alone planned a huge party. She hadn't told anyone her birthdate, leaving her to wonder how they could have known. "Surprise!" Dinah exclaimed, hugging her friend.

Diana was shocked as everyone took turns hugging her and wishing her a happy birthday. The room was filled with balloons and streamers of red and blue. Everyone was wearing a party hat, using noise makers and party blowers.

Flash pushed a large cart through the throngs of people, an enormous birthday cake loaded with over a hundred lit candles on it. "Coming through! Coming through!" he yelled. "Fire hazard here! May need a fire extinguisher."

"Oh, Hera," Diana murmured as she covered her mouth with her hand, laughing at the flaming cake. She knew she was the oldest person in the room, but did they need to make a point of it?

"I would've put a thousand candles on it, but I ran out of room," Flash quipped with a grin. He was wearing two party hats, one on either side of his head above his ears. "Besides, we probably would've set off all the fire alarms on the 'Tower."

"Funny," Diana replied with a giggle. "Yes, I know I'm older than everyone here."

"More like ancient!" Plastic Man yelled from the right side of the room with a glass of punch in hand.

"Prehistoric!" Booster Gold agreed.

"Leave the birthday gal alone!" Vigilante hollered. "She's a pretty little filly for her age!"

"Yah! She's hot for her age so who cares how old she is!" Green Arrow agreed, receiving an irritated scowl from Black Canary.

"You better blow out the candles before you set the Watchtower on fire," Superman said, handing her a knife to cut her cake.

"I don't know what to say," Diana said, clearly emotional from the show of love she was receiving. "Thank you all for this wonderful surprise. You made my birthday a special one."

She blew out all of her candles to a round of cheers. People began to make a beeline for the buffet of snacks that had been set up as well as the punch bowl. Someone had gone to a lot of work to plan all of this just for her. Could it have been the Founders?

"Are you surprised, Wondy?" Flash asked, cutting the whole cake in a couple of seconds.

"Shock is more like it," she confessed. "I didn't think anyone knew when my birthday was."

"We didn't," he admitted. "Batman figured it out."

"He did?" she asked, stunned.

"Yep," Flash confirmed. "He's been working on it for a couple of months."

Diana was astonished by the revelation but couldn't ask any more questions as more friends and teammates wished her well on her birthday. She couldn't stop smiling, her frustration and loneliness vanishing in the wake of the surprise party.

Superman gave her a bear hug, lifting her off the ground. "Happy Birthday, Di," he murmured in her ear. "I hope you have a wonderful day."

"It already is," she told him as he set her down once more. "I can't believe that all of you went to so much work just for me."

Superman shook his head. "It wasn't just us," he corrected her. "Batman was the one who planned it. Flash, Shayera, and I just decorated the cafeteria."

"Batman planned all of this?" she questioned him, deeply touched by Bruce's thoughtfulness.

"Yes, that's why he's been mostly absent the last week or so," he explained. "He's been organizing and ordering everything. Wouldn't even let Alfred help him with it at all. He insisted on doing it himself."

Diana swallowed hard as her throat tightened with emotions that threatened to engulf her. "I can't believe it."

"Believe it," Clark told her, patting her back. "You must be pretty important to him. I've never seen him do this for anyone else before today."

"You are going to be busy, birthday girl," Shayera warned her, handing her a large basket filled with hundreds of birthday cards that she was sure would take her weeks to read all of them.

"Hera!" Diana exclaimed as she looked down at the pile of cards in the basket.

"Smile, birthday girl!" Donna said, snapping a picture of Diana with her basket of cards.

"Donna!" Diana cried, excited to see her sister.

Setting the basket down, Diana engulfed her sister in a hug. "I thought you were still on Themyscira. When did you get back?"

"I returned this morning," she told her. "I couldn't miss your party."

"How is Mother?" she asked.

"Misses you," Donna informed her. "She sends her best wishes to you, but we'll catch up later. I have a party that I need to capture on film."

"That's right! Let's party!" Flash yelled, zipping over to the music system that he had set up beforehand. "You know it's too bad Bats won't let us have alcohol on the Watchtower."

Music began to fill the cafeteria as everyone mingled, laughing and eating to celebrate the birthday girl. Diana began looking all over, trying to find Batman. He had to be here somewhere, didn't he? He had gone to so much work to plan all of this for her. He wouldn't miss her party…would he?

The celebration continued on for hours without any sign of Batman. Coworkers and teammates wandered in and out all afternoon as duty called them away. Diana suddenly glanced at the clock, gasping when she saw the time. "Oh no!" she cried.

"What is it, Diana?" J'onn asked.

"I was supposed to be on monitor duty three hours ago," she told him.

He smiled slightly at her, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. "Do not worry," he reassured her. "Batman is covering your shift for you so that you can enjoy your party."

Diana slowly shook her head, blown away by the man who she had been ready to strangle just hours ago. "I just don't know what to think about all of this. He went to so much work to make my birthday special."

"You mean far more to him than you can begin to imagine, Diana," he revealed. "Enjoy your birthday."

She still couldn't figure out how Bruce had learned her birthdate. Of course, he was a genius detective. She knew that he had his ways of getting information, but how would he have gotten it from Themyscira? He wasn't allowed to go there.

"Happy Birthday, Diana," Zatanna greeted her, handing her a large bouquet of flowers.

"Thank you, Zee," she replied, pausing to smell a rose. "These are beautiful."

"Better to get flowers for your birthday than a pet pig," she teased. "Flash wanted to get you a piglet for your birthday."

Diana groaned with the reminder. "I'll never live that down, will I?"

"Not if Flash has anything to say about it," she said with a grin. "I should have talked Batman into singing for you on your birthday."

Diana laughed. "I doubt anyone could get him to do that again."

"Oh, I think you're about the only one who could do it," Zee told her.

"I need to go find him and thank him for all of this," she said. "I can't believe he went to all this trouble just for me."

"Believe me it was no trouble to him," Zee assured her.

XXX

Batman couldn't believe how relatively quiet the afternoon had turned out. He had expected a hectic shift, but it turned out differently. It allowed him to get some of his other work done, specifically researching a case that he was working on.

While missions around the globe were down right now, Gotham continued to be a constant source of trouble. Last night another prostitute had been murdered, making her the fifth in the last month. He was waiting for DNA results to come back to hopefully make a break in the case.

Lost in his research, he was startled when a hand came to rest on his back, and a piece of birthday cake appeared on the desk before him. "Happy birthday, princess," he said as he continued to type.

Diana pulled up a chair beside him. "Thank you for the surprise birthday party. It was wonderful."

"Glad you enjoyed it, but it wasn't me," he told her.

"Right," she replied. "I heard otherwise from several people."

Bruce sighed as he sat back in his chair. "No one can keep a secret around here."

"I think they did a great job," she countered. "I didn't know about the party until I walked into the cafeteria."

"I specifically told everyone involved to leave my name out of it."

"Why would you do that?" she asked, curiosity permeating her tone. "Don't you want me to know it was you behind it all?"

"No," he bluntly stated, realizing their friends had betrayed him on purpose. "You were supposed to think it was the Founders."

"Some days, I wonder if I'll ever truly understand you, Bruce," she softly said, her voice barely audible but the hurt in it was unmistakable as she got up to walk away.

Batman reached out to grab her wrist, keeping her from leaving. She sat back down as he turned his chair to face her, knowing he had hurt her. "I have my reasons for not wanting you to know it was me," he revealed. "Let's leave it at that. I just wanted your day to be special, nothing more."

"Nothing more…what?" she pressed, the corners of her lips quirking slightly.

"Diana, just enjoy your day and leave it alone," he tried to persuade her.

Diana leaned in closer, her gaze falling to his lips. "Is there something that you want to tell me, but you're too afraid?"

Bruce snorted as he averted his eyes, her close proximity beginning to get under his cowl. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"I think there's one thing you're afraid of."

"Oh, really? What is that?"

"Me," she ventured, her hand moving to cover his gauntlet. "I think you're afraid of being happy…afraid of fully letting me in, but you don't have to be afraid, Bruce. I'm not going to hurt you."

Bruce felt cornered, knowing she was right. The worst part was that she knew she was right about all of it. There was no way out now. He opened his mouth to deny it only for Diana to suddenly close the distance between them, assaulting him with a heated kiss. He felt himself melting into the feel of her lips moving against his, finding himself unable to resist her as his hand settled on the back of her head.

She broke the intimate moment with an impish grin, knowing she had finally won. She stood to her feet, placing her hands on the arms of the chair as she leaned in close to his ear. "One hour. My quarters. Don't be late or I will hunt you down, tie you up with my lasso, and take you for myself. Happy birthday to me."

She kissed his cheek before quickly leaving, Bruce releasing the breath he'd been holding. "Wow," he murmured to himself.

He really hadn't planned on her birthday ending quite this way, but he definitely couldn't complain about it. It turned out better than he could have dreamed for both of them.

A/N: Happy Birthday, Gal! I know this is set in the DCAU, but I love WW & Wonderbat so I needed to write something for it. Still planning on posting Family Tree as soon as I can get another chapter done. Thank you for your patience. Life has been quite difficult the last several months but I'm not giving up on my fic! :)