As Poseidon had predicted, the coast guard contacted them and asked them to relay all their paperwork to identify the boat, but once they got a confirmation of their identity and their travel plan, they were free to go.
As the sun set behind their backs, the GPS tracker signalled they had just circumnavigated around the Strait of Messina and were now headed East keeping the Ionic Sea on their left and the northern coast of Africa on their right. With all that precision instrumentation, navigation had become way easier, almost boring.
Diana found herself often wandering off with her thoughts quite often as she helmed the boat, which was proceeding at remarkable speed. The Olympian was a gem, fast and sleep and easy to maneuver. It was also really comfortable, with the areas below deck looking more like an expensive suite in a luxury hotel than a sloop. It had a large bedroom with a queen size bed, a living room with attached kitchen and a bathroom that could very easily be larger than some in houses Diana had occupied through the years. It was amazing. Considering the ways she had travelled in the past century, she wished she always had that kind of boat, while most of the time she had little dinghies that looked more like rafts than real boats.
"Are we going to sail at top speed through the night?" asked Steve emerging from below deck with a mug of fresh coffee in each hand. He handed one to her and then leaned against the railing, taking a sip from his own.
"Why not? The weather's nice and forecasts are excellent, the sea is easy and the wind favourable. Why should we slow down?"
"I don't know, resting maybe?"
Rolling her eyes, she sighed. "I'll take the first shift, alright? You go to sleep and I'll wake you up when I'm tired. How does that sound?"
"Sounds reasonable, but how about we switch? You go to sleep and I do the first shift?"
"Steve, I'm not tired! I slept soundly last night, and the night before. I can stay awake for some more hours, even if you're not here to keep me company."
It was his time to roll his eyes. "How come every time we're on a boat of any kind we argue for something?"
"What? We're not arguing! And what are you talking about?"
"Oh come on Diana, don't you remember? We spent days arguing while we were sailing to England when we left Themyscira!"
"That's because you were insufferable. So used to technology I had to teach you how to sail because you were too cocky and proud to admit you weren't able to do more than tying knots!"
"Alright, I was cocky," he admitted with a large smile. "But admit it you liked it!"
"Now you're exaggerating. And no, I didn't like your cockynes, I liked you. On a physical level. But definitely not the arrogance. It was kind of putting me off, actually. Took me a while to realize I was falling for you."
"Oh really? When did you exactly started falling for me?" he inquired, again with that cocky smirk twisting his face in the dimming light of the later stages of sunset.
"After you stopped telling me that I couldn't do things! I mean, you were slash are good looking but damn you were insufferable. You thought you knew everything!"
"Oh and you think you were so easy to deal with? Running around half naked in the middle of London? At that time? Walking in the war room during a meeting? I think that would be unacceptable even by today's standards. Do you have an idea what I risked because of you?"
"Well if I remember correctly it took us days to reach London, if not weeks, and we got some speed just because that steamer towed us on the Thames, you had all the time to instruct me about your customs and what did you do? Spent those days trying to teach me how to play baseball! In the middle of the sea!"
"I was trying distract myself, divert my attention from…" he yelled and then stopped all of a sudden, biting his lip, then releasing a low pitched groan. "Diana, sometimes I think you don't realize how beautiful you are, of people's attention diverts to you every time you walk in a room. You're… I don't know, otherworldly, you're so beautiful there are no words to describe how beautiful you are and at the time… hell it was less than a year ago for me, at that time I was going through a pretty long and forced dry spell. There were moments I got lost looking at you and I so wanted to kiss you and…"
He was getting all flustered in his attempted explanation of why he forgot to explain the customs of Man's world during their trip to London, and he looked so cute as be babbled about it. He was really embarrassed by his lack of perspective he looked like a child caught trying to steal cookies from the jar.
With a slight shake of her head, Diana blocked the wheel and turned towards him. "I get it, Steve. It's lust, it's normal. What do you think happened to me the morning Barry brought you back? Between the adrenaline from the battle and the fact that I couldn't really believed it was happening and that you were real, I literally jumped your bones in Bruce's kitchen! Or nearly did."
"Oh you did, as soon as Alfred closed the door. Can't really say I didn't enjoy it."
"Believe me, I noticed. You were more than enthusiastic, despite the near death experience you just had gone through."
"Still am, you just need to ask."
Diana smiled and leaned closer to kiss him, almost melting into his tight embrace when he wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his chest. For a moment, she felt like she wasn't going to face a substantial group of people that didn't really want her back on the island but also the very probable chance of meeting her own mother's ire by bringing Steve back to the Island, not only going back when technically once a person leaves it they would be banned from returning, but also because men were banned from Themyscira. He had already been there, that was true, but taking him back a hundred years after he had departed and, most of all, when everyone on the island thought he had perished was going to be a surprise for all the Amazons.
A not so welcome surprise.
And yet, for a moment, she was able to forget everything, the stress of the previous months, the ever present worrying of something too big for mankind to happen in the world. Something that would require her intervenance or even worse, the intervenance of the Justice League as a whole, her own crushing fear of disappointing her mother and the rest of her sisters in arms… gone. Forgotten. For a fraction of a moment, she was free to breathe without feeling that ever present restriction that sometimes made her feel like she was going to drown on dry land.
All because of him.
And she was oh so tired of that impending sense of doom that pressed down on her shoulders, so heavy sometimes that she felt she couldn't walk with her head high, always a step away from cracking again and just let the world rot in its own misery, in its own inability to collectively feel a gram of empathy for one another and always required something out of their control to come together for the briefest of time.
He was her island, her own Paradise Island. So caring, so supportive, so attentive… he had learned how to live in a century so different from his own at the speed of light, and he had done so only because he wanted to be there for her, not being a dead weight making her sink in his own wretched situation. He was home away from home. And she could never be grateful enough to Barry for bringing him back and being so careful of not causing a temporal disruption by doing so.
Steve pulled back and smiled down at her. It was funny, she often looked taller than him because of the high heels, but now that she was wearing a pair of worn Chucks it felt eerily good, being a little shorter than him.
"Should we stop the boat for a couple of hours?" he asked her, his face twisted in the naughtiest grin he could sport.
She nodded against his chest. "We should stop the boat for a couple of hours."
His trick had worked wonders, reflected Steve as he got dressed. Diana slept peacefully at his side, undisturbed by the slight swaying of the boat. Sometimes it was so easy to trick her… but only about little things. Diana was way too smart to be fooled about more important stuff, but tiny, inconsequential things like bedtime? That was easy enough, if you knew her well.
He left the room and went upstairs on deck and pulled up the anchor, then set sails making sure he was had se the right course. It was a splendid night, the moon and the stars shone brightly above him in a way he had almost forgotten. It was probably during their trip from Themyscira to London the last time he had seen the night sky so well, thought the lights from the ground hindering the view.
He ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed. So much time had passed… but to him, it was barely ten months. He thought he was now used to the feeling of being misplaced in time, and instead… it still affected him, from time to time.
Shaking his head violently, he went back at checking the navigational instruments to see if they were heading East and he had unwittingly turned the boat in the wrong direction, to distract himself. Once he was sure they were heading towards Greece, he locked the helm in the correct position, sat on the incredibly comfortable chair beside the command station and exploiting both the bright light coming from the moon and the more feeble but still usable hue coming from the instrumentation, he picked up the book he was currently reading and resumed from where he had stopped just the night before.
Growing up isolated from the rest of the world at the family farm, there was not so much a boy could do after doing homework, tending the animals and helping around with menial tasks even a little boy still unsteady on his legs could do, but his parents had made sure there was always something to read in the house, be it books from the public library in town or the morning newspaper and with time, as soon as he had learned how to read, books had become a sort of friend. He lived tens, if not hundreds of adventures in his childhood and teenage just with books alone. Even during the war, he had come to know that books were a commodity in the trenches, often allowing soldiers a moment of respite in a situation that allowed none. They were passed around and treated like the most precious things and that's why he had started carrying more than one wherever he went, most of all those he knew allowed the best diversion, as tradable items. And Edgar Rice Burroughs worked wonders and were highly sought.
This was a little different though. It was a very thick book, a long intricate story set in Medieval England, during a period of instability due to the lack of a clear heir to the throne. One of the main protagonists was a poor builder that took on the assignment of rebuilding a cathedral while the world around him changes and noblemen fight each other for power. After a long streak of modern spy novels by Tom Clancy, he thought that going back in time for a while would be a good thing and Diana had this book in her own library, along with the two sequels and they were perfect for this kind of trip. While fun and well written, it required a great deal of concentration to follow the story. If the two followers were written the same way, he had at least three or four weeks of reading ahead of him. He also had the first two books of the series A Song Of Ice And Fire, fresh from the bookshop in the airport and also those two were big books… even if the Amazons banished him on the boat for their visit, he could manage. He had never had many issues keeping himself entertained.
Heck, that thing was truly complex and intriguing. Not as long or complex as War And Peace but it was a truly entertaining story.
"But of a brick you will love taking with you though," he commented aloud a little after dawn when the nav computer beeped and he had to readjust the cruise.
According to the GPS system, they were approaching Greek waters and they would soon be subject to their rules of laws. Not that it mattered, they had all the correct documents and by law standards, they were clear. There was even a document signed by Zeus himself under the name he went by that authorized them to use his property.
Later, while he was adjusting the sails to catch more wind and speed up a little bit, Diana decided it was time to make her appearance. He almost tripped in the rope he was wrapping so no one would, well, trip on it when he saw her. If there was something he still had to wrap his mind around was the concept of some women clothes, included the barely there swimsuit she was wearing. Not that he minded seeing her more naked than clothed but from his perspective that sometimes was still stuck in his own time in some aspects of life, some clothes were too much. Or close to nothing, like in this case.
And yet, he managed to regain some sort of composure and don't look like the ogling perv caught in the act before she walked up to him and offered a mug of coffee. "Nice trick you pulled last night," she told him as she handed him the mug. "I almost fell for it."
"More like you fell asleep!" he exclaimed, raising the mug and drinking a long sip. "Slept well?"
"Like a baby, surprisingly. What about you? Have you slept?"
"Nah, not really. I dozed off, that I did, but mostly I read."
"Uh, getting a kickstart on your cultural vacation. Are you planning to be a bookworm the whole time or there's a chance to drag you down to the beach for a swim or two?"
Steve quickly gulped the coffee in his mouth to answer her. "Of course! I may have brought more books that I can read in a month… I hope at least, just in case your mother banishes me to the boat. And believe me, I fear she will do it."
With a groan, she sat on one of the many seats scattered around the living part of deck, right on the prow. "Yeah, I'm afraid she will. I'll try to get her to reconsider it, though, if she does, don't worry about it."
"Just asks her if I can at least go for a run in the morning. I'll accept every conditions she wants, I'll even accept being constantly watched, having a watchdog or two, I don't care. Everything, as long as she lets me go on runs and you talk to her."
"I think I can manage. Zeus has given me some tiny little details about my mother I bet she doesn't want to rehash, maybe I can use them as a leverage. Anyway, where are we now?"
"Still in international waters but closer to Greece than Italy. Your uncle was right, we should get there by tomorrow afternoon if things go really bad. The wind is strong but not enough to cause troubles with the ship. It's a pretty smooth sail, I'd say."
"Eh, I could get used to this. Listen, let's make some breakfast so I can take the helm and you get some rest, what do you think?"
He tried to suppress an incoming yawn but failed miserably. "I think it's an awesome idea. I just hope I won't fall asleep on the plate though."
Well, he didn't fall asleep on the plate, but nearly so. Despite the more than abundant dose of coffee he ingested, Steve fell asleep about half an hour after they had finished washing the dishes he fell asleep while reading his book on a lounge chair beside the helm. Despite the bright morning sun shining straight in his face as a disturbance, he seemed oblivious to it behind the dark sunglasses as he slept. Once she noticed the slight snoring beside her, she found him sprawled on the padded chair, book still in his hands lying open on his chest.
"At least you got sunscreen on before you fell asleep," murmured Diana as she pried the book out of his hands and set it in a safer area of the boat. She softly ran her fingers through his hair to pull back a rogue strand and smiled. "What have I done to deserve someone like you?"
She let him sleep, just like he had done for her that night, and took care of the navigation. With the on board computer it was almost too easy, they were crossing the border and entered Greek waters when she started wondering why legislations around the world required a sailing licence when nowadays most of the job was done by computers and one needed only to correctly the sails to catch the wind. Almost. It was nearly boring, but she had to admit, the technology made it easier to reach home, made her worry less about what was about to come.
"Hera, give me strength…" she murmured, adjusting the course just a little bit. "Everything will be fine."
And if it didn't, they could always sail away and go wherever they wanted. She had packed both their passports, just in case.
The day went smooth enough. The only, very minor, issue came when she tried to wake Steve so he would turn and get an even suntan, and also apply more sunscreen just in case. He was apparently in the middle of a very pleasant dream and the moment she turned towards him and noticed a certain detail she nearly doubled over so hard she was laughing. She made such a noise Steve woke up with a violent startle and in great distress for more than obvious tenting of his swimming trunks, and trying to hide such problem he fell from the lounge chair with a loud thump that caused a bruised elbow and a wounded pride.
"It's normal, you know?" he groaned rubbing the hurting joint. He was adorable when he was sulking, Diana couldn't help herself from smiling wide as she watched Steve collecting his thoughts and get back in control of his body.
"I know," she laughed. "I'm sorry I woke you that way, it was just too funny. I didn't mean to scare you like that though."
"Don't worry about it, I'll get my revenge one way or another. Can you hand that bottle of water please?"
She launched him the bottle of fresh water. "There, hydrate yourself. I woke you to tell you to roll over, or you'll get an uneven and slightly awkward tan."
Steve nodded as he chugged down the cool beverage. "Got it. I think I'll tan standing up for the next few hours. How long did I sleep?"
"About six hours. It's nearly lunch time. Are you hungry?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Not so much, more like really really thirsty."
"There's some fresh fruit down in the fridge. How about it?"
"God, yes!" he exclaimed. "It would be awesome! Want some? I'm gonna fetch it right away. Jeez, in this heat I can't think about eating anything else but fruit and veggies," he said as he walked below deck. "I think I ate too much in the past couple of days. Whoever cooks for Dionysus and Poseidon are true masters of their craft," he continued as he came back with a bowl full to the brim with peaches, apricots, grapes and other fruits.
"That's very true," she commented, a little absent minded as she grabbed a peach and bit into it. "Oh damn it's been awhile since I ate a peach like this…" she said, whining a little bit as she chewed the sweet, juicy pulp.
"There's something about the sun in Italy that makes fruits taste better."
"More like magic, Steve. I don't think this is just a standard peach, I bet Poseidon performed some magic on all the food below deck to make them last longer and even taste better. I would bet on it."
He opened an apricot and pulled the pit out. "I'm not complaining. I don't know why but even after nearly a year of normal food, I still think that my next meal is going to be another stale army ration or worse, stale German army ration. Those sucked even more than the British ones."
"Don't remind me. It's not like rations improved much during World War 2," she explained. "I had to eat a number of them during the war and… no, better not to think about it." She shrugged at the memory. "Not when there's better food awaiting for us."
"Now that you make me think about it, ETA?" he asked.
"If the wind remains constant, we should arrive in twenty two hours. Why? Seasickness is creeping up?"
"Oh no, don't worry, my stomach is just fine. I just… I don't know, I kind of want to get things done with your mother and enjoy this month. You know… the sooner the better."
"Aren't you afraid she won't take it the way you want her to?" she wondered. "I may be hardheaded, but she isn't exactly a lightweight, when it comes to stubbornness."
"I'll see how it goes. In any case I'll try to use all the aces up my sleeves. If she doesn't want to listen, or even talk to me, I can't force her, but at least I'll know I've tried my best. Her loss, not mine."
Diana took a deep breath. "Yeah… her loss."
She truly hoped her mother would see the light of reason and let him talk, because she didn't really want to be forced to choose between her own mother and the man she loved. And that was what she feared the most.
The rest of the navigation went as smooth as the first day. They took turns at the helm, Diana did the night shift so Steve could sleep. She felt like the last three nights of deep rest had nearly taken away all the stress of the past few months, and the vast open sea around her somewhat energized her. And she felt the energy singe beneath her fingertips more and more as they got closer to the island.
The next morning, when Steve woke up and brought her breakfast and relieved her at the helm, she couldn't even feel the tiredness from staying up most of the night. Sure, she had dozed off long enough to rest and be very alert when the sun rose, and it wasn't like she had spent the day doing strenuous jobs, but by Steve's standards she had pulled an all-nighter and he was worried about her, as always. He was always very careful of her levels of stress, how much she slept and ate, he even took great care with disinfecting and bandaging scrapes and cuts when she got them during her escapades as Wonder Woman, despite the fact she didn't need it. But it was cute and she let him do it because she knew he cared and it made him feel a little useful being just human while she was a demigoddess. He was adorable when he did it, concentrated like an expert surgeon and careful not to hurt her more. He even apologized for the sting caused by the antiseptic.
She was submerged in her thoughts when he heard Steve banging on a hard surface. "I think we're getting closer!" he declared. "Electronic stuff is starting to go berzerk, we'll soon have to navigate the old way."
"Not for long," she replied. "Look ahead!"
The fog that protected Themyscira was getting closer as seconds went by. Soon they were completely engulfed by the thick dark mist and Diana felt her breath catch in her throat. That was it, no turning back. She was going home for the first time in eleven years. Fifth time since she had left back in 1918.
And for the first time, he felt like this could be the last visit she'd ever pay to her home unless official League business came up.
"We can always turn around, head to Athens and spend the month there!" screamed Steve. The wind had picked up and it was hard to hear him from the helm, since she was perched on the very tip of the bow, fretting to see the sun again shining on the shores of Themyscira.
"No, it's too late!" she replied. "We have unfinished business here, better take care of them now than delay them until further notice. I've ran away from this for too long, I'll get my answers from my mother now, one way or another…"
When they finally crossed the fog and emerged from it, Diana felt her heart both soar and cringe at the same time. It was a strange sensation, being extremely happy to be home and at the same time fearing she could be kicked out the moment she set foot on the beach. But damn she couldn't wait to reach the dock, secure the boat and just… be home. She could already see some figures on the top of the steep rock formations that lined that part of the beach actually. The news of their arrival had probably already reached her mother and Menalippe in two, and she was sure the two of them would soon lead a scout party to the same spot where the two figures on horses stood in that moment.
"Go Diana!" screamed Steve behind her. "You can swim faster than this thing can go. Or you can leap there, do as you please. I can handle the boat on my own."
"Are you sure?"
He nodded. "Sure, go! I can take it from here. Also, I'll be there in how long? Ten minutes? I can already see the dock. Go now, I can take care of this myself so stop fretting and just go!"
It had been nearly one hundred years since the last time she had dived in the waters of Themyscira with that enthusiasm. Almost of a century of avoiding such a little thing and now she was doing it on her own volition.
Steve was right, she had been fretting and she was indeed faster than the boat and she reached the beach in seconds, just in time to see a quite large cavalry party ride down the beach to reach the dock where she was hanging on. She saw Menalippe riding in front, quickly followed by Artemis and other warriors, weapons ready.
They stopped the horses just meters away from the dock. Menalippe raised on the stirrups. "Diana?" she called, bafflement and uncertainty written on her face. "Is that really you?"
"Of course it's me!" replied Diana as she pulled herself up from the water. "Who else knows the way to the island?"
The commander in chief of the Amazon army jumped off her horse and ran towards her then hugged Diana tight, not caring that she was soaked to the bone. "It's so good to see you girl… how long has it been?"
"Eleven years."
"By Hades' grace that's way too long! You should come down here more often you know you're welcome! Oh your mother will be so happy to see you, she'll be here in seconds. Is that your boat? Who's helming it?"
Damn, now came the bad part. "Uh… Menalippe… listen to me, you're not going to like it. No one here is going to like it."
"Diana, what are you talking about? Don't tell me you brought someone here!"
Diana cringed. "I… Did?" Menalippe's face twisted in a wrathful grimace that scared her to death. "But wait, he's already been here in the past!"
"He?"
That was her mother. A second, even larger party of warriors arrived and they were escorting Queen Hippolyta. A very angry Queen Hippolyta.
"Mother, I can explain…"
"Well then do it quickly because I want to hug my daughter without being angry at her for bringing a stranger on the Island!" prodded Hippolyta.
"Mother, it's Steve!" she blurted out with way more force she required. "It's Steve!"
Everyone around her was beyond confused, except for her mother. She didn't look one bit worried about her apparently foolish statement. She just sighed. "I should have imagined. Is he here to stay?"
"Just as long as you're allowing me, Your Highness!" he screamed from the boat as he slowly maneuvered it so he could secure it on the dock. "If you're allowing me. I'm alright with staying on the boat too, I won't hinder your business, I swear! I know I'm not welcome here, and that I bring back only bad memories, but I don't mean to cause more stirring than I already did one hundred years ago."
Much to Diana's dismay, his appearance, no matter how peaceful, was met with hostility. All the warriors around them raised their weapons, be them swords or bows and arrows and pointed them at Steve. He raised his hands above his head, on instinct, trying to show he wasn't a threat.
"Should we kill him?" asked Menalippe, her voice still full of bitterness about that day down at the beach.
"Stand down!" her mother ordered, and Diana could draw a relieved breath. "Steve Trevor, you're going to stay here on the boat until further notice. Food and fresh water will be delivered daily. We'll have to discuss if you're safe to step on dry land."
"Of course Your Highness," he nodded and lowered his hands as the Amazons put down their weapons.
"Diana, gather your things. We have many matters to discuss."
She sighed, heavily. It's going to be a very, very long month.