Of course, Diana didn't sleep in the next morning. Steve woke to the sound of running water in the bathroom and in the background some music coming from her cellphone, as usual. With a soft grunt, he rolled in the direction of his nightstand and took a peek at his watch resting there. "Uhm, in the end she did sleep in." In her own way.

It was a quarter to eight in the morning. She was showering, the very first thing she did every morning after waking up, so it meant she hadn't rose so much time earlier, maybe five or ten minutes. By her standard, getting out of bed nearly two hours later than her usual wake up time counted as sleeping in.

For a moment, he considered the foolish idea of joining her and save some water, but as he sat up on the bed his stomach gurgled, loud. That could wait, breakfast couldn't apparently.

Diana had renovated the loft, when she had acquired it, and it was extremely efficient thermally speaking, with the heated floor and the insulated walls, ceiling and windows, so he could simply get out of bed and move around, not caring about getting dressed right away. He was getting used to the concept of walking around in his underwear at home, while back in his time rules of modesty dictated a certain attire even in the privacy of your own home. He stretched his back and neck on the way to the kitchen, smiling when he walked past the bathroom and heard Diana belting what he had learned was her favourite song, Purple Rain by Prince. He had to admit he liked it a lot too, though he didn't possess the vocal range to sing it as well as her, so he just hummed it as he prepared coffee and toasts.

He was applying a generous layer of Nutella on his slices of bread when Diana, just out of the shower, wrapped her arms around him and pressed her chest to his back. She was still warm and wet and the water seeped through the towel wrapped around her into the thin material of his undershirt. She pressed her cheek on his back and sighed, loud. He felt the vibration against his skin. "Sorry I woke you up."

Steve set the bread and the knife down on the counter and turned around to hug her. "You didn't. Contrary to popular belief, I can be an early riser too. Once I slept the war off, that's it."

She nodded against his chest. "I know. I just wished you would have slept a little longer. You were the one flying over the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the night."

"And you were the one saving people from a fire. You were doing the heavy lifting tonight, you were the one that deserved to sleep in." He fished behind his back and grabbed her mug of coffee, then offered it to her. "Here, drink some fuel. Do you have plans for today?"

"Not really." She took a long sip of coffee. "Uhm… Damn, I can still feel the smoke in the back of my throat. Anyway, How do you feel?"

"Not bad. A little tired, but nothing too bad. Thing is, the weather doesn't look too good, so I guess we could just take it easy here at home, what do you think?"

She nodded. "Sounds good. I have a couple of things to deal for work, and then I'm all yours."

"Cool. Now, eat something, then we'll see how we can occupy our time today. Also, you still have to tell me what happened yesterday."

As he set the plates with the toasts and his mug on the table, Diana sat at her usual chair. "Nothing really special. Faulty wiring or a gas leak, something in one of the apartments caught fire and it spread faster than the firefighters could control it. When I heard on the news that there were people trapped in, I didn't even think about it, I just got in the armor and got there. Took me nearly four hours to get everyone out."

"Victims?" asked Steve as he chewed a bite of toast.

"Unfortunately, yes. An elderly couple for all I'm aware of." She added a touch of milk to her coffee. "I tried but… I was alone and of course the firefighters couldn't go where I did, I couldn't save them all."

"It's terrible to say, but I know the feeling all too well. Must be tough though."

She gave him a quick, weary nod. "Yes, it is. The worst part is that it never gets better, or more bearable. It never is, no matter who dies. I've seen many people die and…"

"Diana, it's not even nine in the morning. Leave the dark and twisty mood for later, alright? Those people that died… it's tragic. But how many more deaths have you prevented, yesterday? Think in perspective, I bet it will make you feel better."

"How did you get so wise?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. I guess that near death experiences give people a certain… I don't know, perspective maybe?"

"I don't know," she replied in a playful tone. "Could be near death experiences or that thing that Hades gave you."

"Uh, speaking about Hades, I went to his place, the other night."

"You seem to be awfully close to him!"

"Hey, I apparently spent ninetynine years with him, only I don't remember it. Seems like Cerberus liked to play with me so we hanged around quite a lot, before Flash rescued be. He seems to have a soft spot for me, what can I say? And he's awfully nice, you should meet him, I think you'd like him."

"You sure?"

He nodded as he bit the last of his toast and pushed the bite down with the remainings of his coffee. "Kind of. Anyway, let me shower then I'll tell you what he told me the other night. It was an interesting conversation."

With personal hygiene dealt with and the stench of sitting for hours in a cramped space with other people finally gone from his nostrils, replaced by the way more pleasant scent of shampoo and bodywash. As part of his morning routine, he trimmed his beard to the length he preferred and brushed his teeth. Even after two months, he still marvelled at the little things this century provided, like running water, stable electricity supply, new means to cook better without coal or drywood, but even more menial things like the electric razor or something as small as the modern ballpoint pen, unthinkable in his age. Sometimes, when he took down a quick note, he thought back at all the clothes ruined by fountain pens that leaked or exploded in the pocket of his shirt during the war.

The little things, those were the best improvements of the new millennium, in his opinion. From his point of view, despite the obvious advancements in every single department of everyday life, there were still things that were way too similar to his time. It hurt him, to see that in the end he had sacrificed his life - almost - for nothing, that mankind was still battling each other in terrifying new ways to systematically kill each other. The rampant violence and racism he heard of, or witnessed nearly every day made him sick. When Diana had told him that racial segregation and racism had become crimes, he had hoped that it had really stopped, that somehow racism had been eradicated from society, but no such luck.

Anyway, as he set the brush down in its holder, he tried to push away those grim thoughts. He had the whole day to spend with Diana and he had so much to tell her he had no time to dwell in those dark thoughts. There would be a time to fight those battles, but that day, it wasn't.

He emerged from the steamy bathroom sort of cleanse from the stress of the past four days, finally happy to be home. Immediately, he went looking for Diana and found her now dressed in a pair of form fitting black cotton pants and a simple blue t-shirt lounging on the couch with her tablet in her hands, reading something. Slowly, he walked to the couch and leaned closer to her from the back. "Something interesting?"

She averted her eyes from whatever she was reading to look at him with a smile. "Quite. It's the official list of what my father's sending over. That little show he put up back in December wasn't just an excuse to meet me, he really wanted to get rid of parts of his collection. He's going to send it over by the end of the month."

"Uh, neat! I didn't really think he was going to fall through with his offer." He walked to the front of the couch and, moving her legs away, sat down, then lay her legs over his own, so she could get comfortable. "Seems nice of him."

"Yes, nice enough. I just wish he'd come to see me earlier. I don't really get the whole I was scared speech. What could I have done to him?"

"Diana… you killed Ares. And from what I've heard, you did it in such a spectacular way it looked effortless, or so you uncle said. You killed a god, you killed his son! Would you approach someone who could possibly kill you and has all the rights to hold a grudge on you, if you could choose not to?"

She dropped the tablet on her face and sighed behind it. "I guess not. I understand that, Steve, the thing that bothers me is that at the time I didn't hold any grudge on him, I just wanted answers no one would give me. Answers I'm still looking for actually, at least from my mother. The grudge came when I couldn't get those answers! I mean, to them was I just a mean to defeat Ares once and for all, or was I something more? I know my mother loves me, but deep down, she knows I'm a weapon, and I was meant to be one. Once I fulfilled my destiny and killed Ares did they think I would just disappear? Did they think that after doing such a thing I would just lay low and do nothing?"

"I have no idea Diana, you have to ask them."

She grunted in barely contained rage. "Easier said than done. I've asked my mother for decades, but she just looked… ashamed. And she never gave me a single answer on her side of the story. After a while I stopped asking but deep down I always felt like… like after Ares was gone she thought I meant less."

"Come on, you can't seriously believe that. Even I could tell that your mother truly adored you and that she was hurt deeply, when you left. But she let you go, she let you fulfill your destiny because beneath the hurt and the pain of letting you go, she knew you would do great things. And you did! Look at what happened last year, or two years ago. How many people have you saved during War War Two? How people were born from those people you saved, and now live their lives quietly and happily because of what you did? How can you even think that your existence means any less now than you did before you killed Ares?"

She didn't reply, not immediately at least. For some reason, that morning Diana seemed in a particularly broody mood, he had never seen her like this, not even back in December, when she had met Zeus, and it got him worried. "I don't know. It's just… Remember the other day, when you mentioned going back to Themyscira?" He nodded. "Well, I told you that some of the Amazons don't really like when I go back and they do nothing to mask it, I guess that thought is still nagging at me."

With a sigh, Steve extended his hand towards her. "Come here, looks like someone needs a hug." She grabbed his hand and he pulled her flush against him, wrapping his arms around her to keep her as close as he could. "You said your mother defied her own rule to let you return for brief periods of time, right?"

"Yes, she did. And that's the reason some Amazons don't see me returning home in a good way."

"Tell me now, how many Amazons have left Themyscira before you did?" he asked. "Well, don't count those who left to fight Steppenwolf of course."

"No one I think. Not that I know of at least."

"See where I'm going? Now, do you think your mother would have allowed any hypothetical Amazon that had left before you back on the island if they wanted to come back, like she did for you?"

"Probably. I can't know for sure, but she's never been one to abandon her people."

"Great. Last but not the least, who's your mother?"

She seemed quite weirded out by that question. "Uh, the Queen?"

"And isn't a queen, any queen, allowed to change the laws, even those she proclaimed?"

"Yes but…"

"Then who the hell are these Amazons that dare to defy the will of their Queen by not approving her decisions?"

Diana opened her mouth to speak, but stopped before any sound could escape her lips. She had to shake her head to get out of that very short moment of stupor. "I never thought about that."

"See? You have no reason to think you're not worthy of going back home because a minority thinks so. Also, you have gained all the rights to go home whenever you want, for how long you want, in my humble opinion. You dedicated a century of your life to pursue the cause of the Amazons, a cause they seem to have forgotten altogether."

"Oh come on Steve, don't be so harsh on them!"

"No, seriously Diana, hear me out. You once told me that the Amazons were created to protect humankind, to be the bridge to a greater understanding. What have they done to fulfill such a cause? How many wars do you think they could have prevented? How many people that died in atrocious ways would instead have lived a long, fulfilling life if the Amazons had decided to come forward and help us be better? This is what you do, every day! You inspire people, don't you think I see how people talk about you, what they write on social networks every time you make an appearance. You're a beacon of hope in a world that almost lost it, there are little girls that look up at you, young women that realized that even girls can be tough and fight and be fantastic, even men are starting to re-evaluate some of their beliefs on women because of you, Diana, you are that bridge to a greater understanding you told me that night in the pools. And you're alone, try to think of what an army of Amazons could do to this world!"

"It's too late for them, Steve. They have no reason to move away from their customs, they… would I sound like a spoiled brat if I say that they're too old?"

He shrugged. "I don't think so. I have no idea how aging works for the Amazons, but you definitely look way younger than any of them. Uhm, now that you make me think of it, how old are you compared to them?"

She seemed to think for a moment. I don't know… I guess I'm kind of a young adult to them, somewhere between 25 and 30 while they're fifty or something." She thought about it a little more. "But I also think it works different for me, I'm not just an Amazon, I'm also partially a god so… it's not the same."

"But they're immortal too, right?" he wondered.

"Yes, but they can be killed in battle as you saw. I think they age though, just slowly. Like… very, very slowly. Or at least there's something about time not passing for them, on the Island. Something that clearly never worked for me because I was born there and I did age, up to a certain point."

"I see. Well, it might be too late for them to move away from their customs, but it's not too late to stand up for what you believe it's right, even though some people think you don't deserve it. Remember that night, on the airstrip? It's not about deserving…"

"It's about believing." She nodded. "And I believe in my mother's ability to make her decisions."

Steve kissed the tip of her nose. "You see? Fuck those haters, your mother admitted you to the island even after you had left because she believed, in good conscience, that you deserved that chance. And I bet she let you back not just because you're her daughter, but mostly because you managed to accomplish the unthinkable. You killed a God Diana, barely weeks after you left your home, with only theoretical situations as your training, even given the fact that you're a demigoddess, it's absolutely astounding when you think about it!"

"Oh come on Steve now you're exaggerating!" she laughed.

He shook his head. "No I'm not. And not just because you're my girlfriend, but because I saw what you're capable of doing, and I know what's inside your heart. The world still has to see the best you have to offer. Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but I can feel it, deep down in my time travelling bones, there's still so much more hidden here," he placed his palm over her heart, felt it beat strong and steady beneath her ribs and through the fabric of her shirt, and kissed her forehead. "That I can't wait to see how the world will react when they will finally see it."

"Gods, I wish you were with me decades ago. Maybe things would be very different." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hid her face in the crook of his neck.

"I'm here now, Diana." He held her closer and tighter, feeling her shake a little bit in his arms. The fire must have stirred something deep within her, something she probably wasn't even aware of. "I'm not going anywhere. You stick with me, no matter what."

"Oh well, I can't really imagine anyone else I'd wish to spend eternity with, so…" He felt her smile against the skin of his neck. "Listen, it's still kind of early and if we move we can get there in an hour or so, do you want to go to Disneyland?"

"Whatever makes you forget the fire and all these doubts Angel. We could catch a plane to Rome for all I care, as long as you're happy."

"Uh, maybe for Easter break. I have work to do on Monday and it would be a waste, staying there only for a night and maybe half a day. Right now, Disneyland sounds better. And closer. Come, it's just out of the city."