Part II

Batman and Diana were halfway down the hall when a thought hit him and he stopped.

"I forgot my cowl in the articulator's room, I'll talk to you later, o.k."

Before she could reply he was gone with only a whisper of air signaling his departure. As Bruce neared the door he heard Diana's voice and then his own sound from the other side.

" Can I have one more day?"

" Every one I have left is yours."

Bruce walked into the darkened room and activated the light panel. As the machine became illuminated the enormity of what just happened hit him. Diana had searched her subconscious for what she thought their future together might be and it had proved to be a tragedy, according to her. Everything he had heard her say while in the machine sounded as if it was perfect. So maybe it wasn't said. The detective in him wanted to know what she saw, if only for his peace of mind.

Batman walked towards the control panel for the machine hoping to find someway to retrieve the images that Diana had observed in her dream. Though not familiar with this particular type of Martian technology he assumed that it stored information, considering it repeated some of the dialogue from Diana's dream without her hooked in. Batman heard him as he materialized a few feet away from him.

"Batman, I'm sure if Diana had wanted to show you her revelations she would have shown them to you herself."

Batman never looked up at him as he continued to try to access the files.

" This concerns me too. I want to know what drove her away."

The Martian saw a look of sadness wash over the Batman's uncovered face.

" I'm sorry Batman. I can't help you invade Diana's privacy."

Batman finally looked up at the Martian with a small smirk on his face.

"Who said I needed your help, J'onn." He turned his attention back to the control panel.

"I doubt even you will be able to retrieve the images contained within the Articulator. Once maybe, but I had to increase security measures since I discovered Wally making less than appropriate DVDs with it. You'd be amazed how much I had to encrypt the information to account for his speed." The Martian had a small smile on his face.

Batman's jaw clenched tightly and he strode over to his chair and retrieved his cowl and cape. He secured his cape and pulled his dark cowl over his face as he walked by a still smiling J'onn. He navigated the halls of the Watchtower quickly and he soon found himself in front of a teleporter. After entering in the coordinates he arrived in the cave in a matter of seconds.

He walked across the cave floor to the platform that held his computers. There he opened a secure channel.

"Oracle here."

"How would you like to take a whack at Martian encrypting." He said with a smile.

It was nearly two in the afternoon when Oracle cracked the image archives. She was hesitant when he told her what to look for. He barely managed to convince her it was for a good reason without telling her what it was for. Using the Watchtower's latest physical information they matched Diana's brain wave patterns to those in the articulator's archives. Bruce was amazed at how large the file was. Soon though Oracle had him a direct line and he was able to view the dream on his monitor. He examined to the dream three times looking for something he could have missed. He could not find anything that would indicate why she did not want to try. In all the variations she imagined seemed like they were happy. Still in love. It was surreal at times, but most of it was grounded in reality.

As he finished analyzing it for the third time he arose from his chair feeling both angry and defeated. If anything, the dream should have convinced her to give it a try. She didn't even want to try though, that's what angered him the most though. Her very mission's core is love, but she won't even let herself love him. He was determined to make that easy for her now.

Like everything else is his life his emotions were tools. He was using them now to fuel his third hour of intense training. He was determined to push himself farther than ever and he succeeded. They could have kept driving him, but not having eaten in twenty-seven hours was beginning to affect him. Using a towel to dry the sweat from his face he proceeded to climb the stone stairs that led to the manor. Many twists and turns later he arrived in the common kitchen where it seemed Alfred was expecting him. A hot plate of food was set for him at the kitchen table.
Alfred observed the large man that he considered his son sit quietly at the table and begin to eat. He was troubled. He had the same look on his face that he always had when his heart became to great a burden to bear.

"Is everything alright, Master Bruce?"

"Do you ever wonder why my relationships never work, Alfred?"

The butler was surprised by the question. It was entirely unlike Bruce to open up at all, much less like this.

"I have my theories." Bruce smiled at the older man.

"And what might those theories be?" Bruce waved his hand at the chair opposite him, implying for Alfred to sit.

"Well," Alfred began as he took a seat," Most do not work because of certain nighttime activities, that in itself leaves little room for anything else."

He paused before continuing to look at Bruce.

" The ones that did know your other half, such as Talia and Miss Kyle, were part of the darkness in which you thrive. A man cannot live entirely in the darkness though. You have to have some light in your life to keep a man sane."

" I have you and the entire Bat family to bring light to my life." Bruce replied.

"That's not exactly what I mean. I mean you need someone in the light to love and be loved by. That will bring the balance needed."

Bruce smiled as Alfred finished.

"Alfred can we please stop speaking in metaphors?"

"Very well then, Tell Miss Diana how you feel. I have seen her look at you
and I assure you she feels the same."

" I know she does Alfred. It's not that simple though."

"Have you told her?"

"Well, no…"

"Then how do you know it isn't that simple?"

"She refuses to try."

" Don't let her refuse, Master Bruce. You have fought too hard your entire
life to give up on something this important." Bruce nodded.

"Thank you, Alfred."

"Anytime, sir."

Batman had just finished his second patrol and he stood atop the Wayne Building. He was gazing out across Gotham, like a king would observe his kingdom. The night had been quiet. Almost nothing to keep a vigilante busy.
Probably helped that it was below freezing. He was scanning the surrounding rooftops for the fifth time when he sensed her presence behind him.

"I thought we had an agreement concerning our cities, Princess."