"You did what?!" screamed Clark.
"She said yes, right?" yelled Lois at the same time.
"I…" he run his free hand through his hair. "I got carried away, I said something about wanting to marry her and she saw it on the live stream! And… she said that I should have asked her, that we've waited long enough and… oh fuck what did I do?"
"Nothing wrong Steve," said Lois. "Listen, I know Diana and if she said that you've waited long enough, she means it. "You're going to be just fine, don't worry about her. Come on, let's find a quiet place, so we can talk, do this interview and you can calm down. You have two hours before the press conference, you can't do that if you're hyperventilating."
They found a nearly empty not too far away from the building, ordered their coffees and a blueberry muffin for Clark and sat in a booth. Steve had to take off his jacket and vest, also he pulled the tie open and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt. "Goddammit, what the fuck did I do…" He tried to take a deep breath but he didn't feel the air reach his lungs. "This is not how it was supposed to go, I had plans I…"
Clark wrapped his large hands around his shoulders. "Steve, calm down! I get it, it was a spur of the moment thing and she wasn't supposed to hear about it like this. I get it. But it happened and you can't turn back time. Also Diana's not one for formalities, I think you're safe!"
"Yeah, I'm surprised she didn't actually propose to you herself!" added Lois.
"Women do that these days?" Steve asked, the whole idea sounding completely absurd to him.
"Oh yes, it's becoming more and more common! See Steve? What's better than a declaration of love made in front of millions of viewers? Hell, people are organising flash mobs as proposals and post the videos on YouTube!"
"Alright, I'm not even going to pretend I know what you're talking about. It's just so… out of this world that I can't really wrap my head around it." He grasped a spoon and turned the coffee in the mug to let it cool down a little quicker. "God, the world has changed so much… will I ever catch up with everything?"
"I don't doubt it," she replied. "And I'm pretty sure you're going to have fun doing it. Also, listen to Clark. Diana might be an unspecified number of centuries old, but she's lived through the last century and enjoyed it in its fullest. She's quite the modern woman, even farther ahead than most of us. I'm quite sure she actually appreciated what you said. I know I would have, had it been Clark speaking that way about me. Now, how about we go through with the interview, get it behind our backs? You have to be back for the press conference in about ninety minutes, we better hurry!"
"Oh yes, she's got tons of questions," added Clark. "And be ready to answer all of them, she can be a real rabid dog, when she wants answers."
In the end both that interview and the press conference went quite smoothly. By two in the afternoon, everything was done and technically Steve could return home, but his flight was booked for the day after the next and changing it was going to cost a fortune. Sure, Bruce could afford it, but he didn't want to bother him for such a nuisance. He caught a train back to Metropolis with Lois and Clark and he finally walked through the doorstep of Diana's apartment just after sundown.
He sighed. "Home sweet home…"
He took his coat off, hung it to the rack beside the door and left the case there too. With that done, he moved to the bedroom, dragging the bigger case and the backpack with him. Once there, he took off the suit and carefully laid it on the bed. The piece wasn't cheap, and he didn't want to ruin it by haphazardly throwing it around like it was a pair of trousers made out of a sack of rice.
He felt strangely worn out but also energized. He had no idea how to deal with it, it was a weird feeling. His mind was completely depleted of all energy, but his body was still buzzing. The jet lag was going to kill him. He took a long shower, ate the sandwich he had bought at the Starbucks at the train station before calling the cab and dropped on the couch. Bored out of his mind.
He had so grown accustomed to spend the evening chatting with Diana about how things were going in the world, watching the news or watching a movie, that being again in that apartment, by himself this time, felt strange.
Grunting, he checked his watch. It was nearly midnight in Paris. Diana was both a night owl and an early riser, maybe he could call her…
He hadn't finished the thought when his phone buzzed on the table in front of the couch. It was Diana.
"Hey Angel."
"Hey, Soldier… how's the hero of the day doing?"
He took a deep breath. "I'm exhausted and at the same time I feel like I could run a marathon. Do you think it could be possible?"
"I think I can recall a couple of occasions it has happened to me too. Still in Washington?" she asked.
"No, I'm in Metropolis actually. No more press duty for me, so I caught a train back here. You were right, when you gave me the key for the apartment. It's a tad cold but it will do, for a couple of days." He barely managed to stifle a yawn. "How was your day?"
He could almost see her, walking around the loft in Paris as she always did when she spoke on the phone. "Normal. Mountains of paperwork and little to no time to actually handle the real deal. I'm still trying to finish the work for that exposition in Ukraine and I've been informed that my father truly donated parts of his collection to the museum and that means I'll have to file, date, catalogue and decide what stays in storage and what gets exposed. I swear that after I'm done with this job we're going on vacation. A real one."
"What people do when on vacation, these days?" he asked.
"I…" she started but stammered for a moment. "I have no idea, you know? Usually I take time off work only to… only to be Wonder Woman."
"Well, time to change it then. What do you want to do? I'm up to everything, last time I went on vacation I went camping in the mountains with the other boys in my parish, more than a century ago, I wasn't even fifteen. How about we go somewhere by the sea?"
"Uhm… I bet you're not so subtly trying to suggest we should go to Themyscira?"
Steve shrugged. "Why not?"
"Because getting there takes ages, you can go only by boat and because if you come with me my mother will probably murder you in cold blood?"
"Oh come on, she can't hate me that much! I'll stay on the boat, if they don't want me around. I won't disturb their training, they won't even see me around, if they don't want to. I just… I think you should talk to your mother."
He heard Diana grunt on the other side. "Because of Zeus?"
"And because you haven't seen her in ten years. Diana, every single time we talk about Themyscira you get teary eyed. You want to go back, see your people, stay with them for a while. Why do you keep pushing it back?"
"Because I don't belong there!" she exclaimed. "When my mother allowed me to come back despite the law that forbids it some people… very important people on Themyscira, they weren't happy and they made no attempt to at least make me feel welcome and getting back has become harder and harder each time. This is why I don't go back so often, even if I miss them."
"Ah crap I hadn't thought about that." He sighed. "Alright, we'll talk about that another time. Either way, I'm not going to sail from anywhere to the Aegean Sea in January. In any case, come on, tell me, did you see the press conference too?"
"Not live, I had work to do. I watched the highlights when I got home though. What can I say, still impressive for an elder, but not as much as the hearing. That was truly phenomenal."
"Are you sure?" He slid down until he was lying on the couch. "I mean… I had a little meltdown after you called and I didn't feel like I was at my peak. I haven't heard from Bruce or the others though."
She chuckled. "I did. They're all enthusiast about your performance. But… what are you talking about? A meltdown?"
"Yes I…" He scratched his chin and sighed. "I think I had a bit of a nervous meltdown when you mentioned marriage. I know I brought it up first, although unconsciously, but… Sometimes I can hear my father's voice in my head telling me that what I'm doing is wrong, that I'm tarnishing your reputation."
"Oh Gods Steve! You're not tarnishing anything! Times have changed!" she laughed.
"I know!" he exclaimed, slightly exasperated by his own foolishness. "It's just… when I was born things were different and travelling ahead in time it's not like flipping a pancake. It's just so integrated in my mind that I can't get over it."
"Alright. Now listen to me then. Push the green button with the white symbol in it on the screen please," she instructed. He did as instructed and was amazed to see her face appear on the small screen. From the little he could see around her, she was lying on the couch just like him, with the flickering light of the TV giving her an otherworldly appearance as it moved shadows around her face that the light glow of the lamp in the corner couldn't contrast. "Hey, I like this function!"
She smiled. "Yeah, me too. But, back at more important matters. Look at me Steve and mark my words: I understand. I lived in your times, I know them very well. And as I said this afternoon, if you want to marry me, you just need to ask! Steve, just because my people don't know the concept of marriage doesn't mean that I haven't learned about it. Or that I disapprove. Alright, I think it's a little antique, the vestigial form of a man's ownership over the women in his family and more of a contract between two men for said ownership but hey, it doesn't hurt anyone, not these days!"
"But Diana, this doesn't belong to your culture!"
"Well neither did egalitarianism belong to yours, but you listened to me, you trusted me despite…" She shook her head and chuckled. "Gods, I was such a brat at the time… it was either my way or no way!"
"You were adorable! And… what's the term these days? Badass?"
"Yes, it is."
Steve felt a surge of emotions when she smiled at the tiny video camera. "You know… I dreamed about marrying you, that first night on the boat. At the time it was pretty much a nightmare, you were bossy and unreasonable, but it happened again the night before we reached the front. Remember, when we met Chief."
She nodded. "Oh yes, I remember. You didn't seem to be plagued by nightmares that night though."
"Because that time it wasn't a nightmare. More like something I really, really wanted to happen."
"Do you remember it? The dream I mean."
He shook his head. "Not really… Bits and pieces," he recalled. "I remember we were somewhere in England, maybe the countryside. It was cold, but not enough for snow or ice on the ground. I remember one scene in particular, we were walking on one of those unpaved roads, open fields on each side of it, no one around… and just a few meters ahead of us a little girl with long dark hair like yours running around, chasing God knows what. You were holding my hand and… I don't know, it was brief but magical. And then Charlie woke up and ruined everything!"
"Seems like a nice dream, for a night like that."
"Yeah, it was…" he murmured. "It was strange though. It seemed strangely real…" He so wanted to tell her about that other dream, the one had in Metropolis, the night he had gotten smash drunk along with Lois, but that one was much closer, even more real and in some ways even scary, so real it had felt to him. "And it felt good. A little beacon of hope, when I had lost it."
"We can have it, you know? Maybe not what you dreamed, not so precisely, but if you want, we can have it. Nothing, no one's going to stop us," she told him, a tad of emotion coursing through her voice, making it tremble slightly. "Just ask."
"Like this? On the phone?"
"Yes, like this," she stated, more than resolute this time. "Take it off your chest. You can do it again, your way, when you come back."
God this is terribly out of my league. He thought as he took a deep breath. "Alright then. Diana, daughter of Hyppolita Queen of the Amazons, Princess of Themyscira, would you do me the honor of allowing me to be your husband?"
It felt strange, but just saying those words actually lifted a weight of his chest.
"Well, Captain Steven Rockwell Trevor, liar, murderer, smuggler and time traveler, since you asked me, yes, I will!"
With a sigh of relief, he let his head fall back against the pillow. "Oh thanks Hades!" he exclaimed. "And without whatever you gave me this morning!"
Diana arched an eyebrow, questioning. "Wait, Hades was at the hearing?"
Steve nodded. "Oh yes, he came to me just before I entered the room and gave me something his wife made, nothing alcoholic he said it would boost my confidence. He said it was blueberry and elderflower juice with honey, something like this."
She shook her head, a minute jest that moved a lock of hair in front of her face. God she was so beautiful… "Damn, I miss you so much!"
"I miss you too, Steve. But you're going to be home in just a couple of days, it's not going to last so long."
"I know…" he whined a little bit. "But it still sucks! I… I wish I could just kiss you goodnight and…"
Another arched eyebrow. "And?"
Steve grunted. "Do I have to say it aloud? Like, really? Oh damn it, I just wish I could make love to you all night and forget about my meltdown!"
"Well, there's an alternative for that. It's not exactly the same but…" She turned the phone and pushed icons and typed something, and an email notification appeared in the corner of the screen. "There, check the few links I sent on your computer. The larger screen helps."
"Uhm… alright." The laptop rested on the table beside the couch, so he opened the lid and the moment it connected to the wifi he opened the email box then then clicked on the first of the few links she had sent. Only to jump sitting upright the moment the page loaded, hastily click the close button and shutting the lid with a jerk. All while Diana watched and laughed her ass off on the other side of the atlantic. "What the fuck was that Diana?" he cried.
"That my dear was one of the most famous website that provide free pornography to millions of users every day."
And she said it like it was the most common thing in the world. "But…" he gasped. "What kind of sick joke was that? I almost had an heart attack!"
"Welcome to the dark side of the internet. And don't worry, it's pretty common these days. It's not like when you were younger," she explained. "It's not exactly a subject of conversation but it's almost taken as granted that most people in Western World have at least once tried pornography on the internet. Come on, don't tell me you never had experience with porn in your time!"
"Diana, I'm a soldier, of course I have experience with the pornography of my time it's just… I wasn't ready for it…" He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "God, I so need to wash my eyes with bleach. Do you have any here?"
"Check the laundry room," she told him. "Come on, go to sleep. It's been a hell of a day for you, you need some rest!"
"Yeah, I just hope I won't get nightmares. I'll call you tomorrow, alright? The flight back arrives in Paris in the middle of the night, can you book a cab from the airport?"
"I can pick you up there, if you want."
"No Diana, there's no need. I'll have to get used to this whole coming and going, you don't have to follow me around, I'll deal with it on my own. Don't wait for me awake, alright?"
"Got it, Steve. Good night, Soldier. Love you."
He gave her a quick wave through the phone. "Good night, Angel. Love you too."