A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Right, now I owe you all an apology. My normal medium of getting JLU scripts has failed me, so I had no choice but to go on memory alone for the end of The Balance - I got the gist, but not the exact words, and I'm not happy with it, but there you go. Enjoy the chapter anyway.
Chapter Eight - More Than A Month
"Oh this is ridiculous!"
Artemis chuckled slightly. "Trouble, sister?"
Aphrodite fought the urge to throw her scrying glass down the mountain. "I have never come across a mortal so resistant to my workings! Especially to our champion, of all people! There are men on Earth half in love with Diana who have never met her!"
Artemis put her bow down and lazily wandered over. "Ah. The 'Bat' man again?"
"Need you even ask? I have lost count of the number of times I have been forced to...prod him in the right direction! I even allowed Circe to-"
Artemis looked up, anger on her beautiful features. "You were responsible for that? Diana nearly died!"
"But she didn't, as I knew she wouldn't! Her Dark Knight saved her. And do not look at me like that, Artemis, it was only to change the dynamic between them in the hopes that it might shift something in him!" She cursed in a language older than man. "Stubborn, pig-headed..."
Artemis shrugged. "It is easily settled. Call for Cupid."
"No!" Aphrodite said sharply. "I cannot use Cupid. You know how it must work with soulmates. They have to find each other."
The goddess of the hunt chuckled. "It is your own rule."
"I know, and I am seriously regretting that." The goddess of love ran her hands through her spun-gold hair in distraction. "I already got them together once, and it would have been the most glorious love of this age - but then another interfered! I hate the fickle nature of time!"
Artemis picked up an olive casually. "As opposed to the fickleness of love?"
Aphrodite sent her a glare. "True love is never fickle. But Diana does not remember finding it."
Her sister shrugged. "So restore her memory."
"Hera will not let me," Aphrodite sulked.
"Has that ever stopped you in the past?" Artemis asked dryly.
"I have no desire to see a repeat of Troy," was the defensive reply. "And I suspect I have found a way to, so I have interfered in the only way I can so far."
Artemis looked suspiciously at Aphrodite. "What have you done?"
The goddess of love only smirked. "You will see."
---
It had been more than a month. More than one month since they'd got back from the future, more than one month since he and Diana had slept together, more than one month since he lost her and got her back. And more than one month since he'd been able to look her in the face. Of course, with his lenses it hardly mattered that his gaze was fixed just past her left shoulder. He tried for about half a day to look at her left shoulder, but...
But the way her hair brushed over her skin. The memory of her flesh that still set his hands tingling. The fragrance of those ebony locks. The warmth and softness of her body against his. Diana...
He now came to the Watchtower only out of necessity.
Something needed to change. But what, and when, he had no idea.
The bi-weekly founders meetings were something that he couldn't avoid, however, not without too many questions being asked. And during the staff meeting that had occurred today, it had become apparent that it wasn't just Diana he needed to be avoiding.
Green Lantern had spent the entire (two-hour thanks to Superman. Mental note: KRYPTONITE!) meeting ignoring Clark totally, and only looking from Bruce to Diana and back again with something that looked unsettlingly like comprehension.
When the meeting was over, Bruce didn't try to escape back to Gotham. John was as stubborn as he was when he wanted something, and however long it took they'd end up having the conversation anyway.
The others left, and Batman moved over to the computer bank to give John an opportunity to talk. He found himself under silent scrutiny for several minutes before a conversation began. Bruce didn't mind the silence - it gave him time to prepare for what he was sure would be a fight.
"Something happened in Oklahoma," John finally said, arms crossed. "You and Diana slept together didn't you?"
Irritatingly, John was one of the few people that Bruce wouldn't lie to. But that didn't mean he wanted to share either. "So?" he asked, changing his mind and heading for the door again.
"So she has no idea!" GL exclaimed. "You can't just pretend it never happened, she has a right to know."
Bruce stopped. "Have you told Shayera about Rex?"
There was a long pause. "Then we're done here," he said, opening the door and stalking off.
---
One Week Later
"The truth is it doesn't matter," she said, shrugging. Then she smiled at her teammate. "I know who raised me, and I know what I was raised to do."
Shayera nodded with an encouraging - if hesitant smile - then lifted into the air. After suppressing a retch, Diana followed. Ever since they'd entered Tartarus the sulphur and brimstone of the place had been almost overwhelming, making her eyes water, her stomach turn. It had been like flying into a solid wall of stink.
Still, no matter how hard the mission had been, they'd done it. And she and Hawkgirl had managed to rekindle their bond. It wasn't the old friendship; that probably wouldn't ever come back, not really, but it was a start. They could exchange greetings in the hallways, both have dinner with Flash without shooting glares at one another. It would be better.
Once they were through the gates and back on Themyscira once more, Diana felt so much better. Hera, had air always been so clean? She landed next to her teammate more abruptly than she'd meant to, then stumbled. She was barely listening to her mother - she knew her words were good, but she couldn't focus on them. Gone was the terrible smell, but now she'd gone completely light-headed. She put a hand to her head with a soft groan.
"Hey," Shayera said, putting a hand on her arm. "You ok?"
Diana nodded, forcing herself to sound unconcerned. "Just...a little dizzy, that's all." She straightened and smiled. "Probably from the fumes down there."
Hawkgirl nodded. "Hey...are we ok?" she asked.
Diana nodded. "Yeah. Friends?"
Shayera smiled again with a nod. "We're like oil and vinegar...we work together, but we don't mix."
The princess smiled as the two women flew after Hippolyta. Oil and vinegar. Yes, that did sum them and their relationship up well. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that it had been some time since her last meal, and she was definitely hungry.
The sunlight on her skin felt wonderful when they finally made it to the surface, and she found her mother's arms open and waiting for her. Diana stepped gratefully into them and embraced Hippolyta. "Well done, Diana," she said warmly. "You did well." She let go and turned to Shayera with a nod. "As did you."
The queen beckoned and led the two into the private residence that Diana and her mother had shared when Diana was a little girl. It was very odd, being back here after so long. Good, but odd. Leaving her mother and Shayera to chat for a moment, Diana went to her girlhood bedchamber. No Amazon could ever be described as girly, but this room had unmistakably a child's. She had not been young in years when leaving Themyscira for Man's World, but she had been a child, and this room was a testament to that. She smiled at the clumsy clay sculptures in the corner, and at the cracked discus in the corner.
As a girl she'd tried to be an athlete, an artist, a philosopher. Amazons did not only revere warriors, though love of battle lay at the heart of all of them - many of her sisters were both fine soldiers and mistresses of other disciplines. Multi-tasking, as Man's World called the skill. Diana knew that logically she must have other abilities, blessed as she was by the Five, but as a girl she'd never found them. The realisation confirmed what she'd long suspected - there was no place on Earth better to grow than Themyscira, but perhaps it was not the best place in which to live as an adult. Nothing ever changed, there were no real challenges. At least there never had been for her.
Diana stopped and laughed aloud when she found the armour she'd made at seven years old. It was a smaller, far more primitive version of the armour she wore now. Determined to prove to her mother that she was ready for combat training, Diana had sewn together a crude copy of the Champion's uniform, worn it proudly before Hippolyta and Antiope and been utterly indignant when they both had burst out laughing.
"I told you you would grow into it," a voice spoke from the door way.
Diana put the gold-painted leather girdle down and smiled at her mother. "I did not believe you," she confessed.
"You have the wisdom of Athena," Hippolyta told her, coming into the room and looking fondly at the tiny uniform. "But not her patience."
Diana grinned. "Perhaps not. I'm not much of a diplomat," she agreed, remembering what she'd told Agent Faraday once.
"But you have grown into it," her mother said. "I am proud of you, Diana. When I would have chosen to turn the other cheek, you did the right thing. You saved the lives of billions through your disobedience. There is no one else who deserves to wear the armour more. Truly our champion."
Diana was not a woman who cried easily. In fact she could probably count the number she'd actually cried on her fingers. But there were definitely tears in her eyes now. She blinked furiously to clear her vision. For Hera's sake she was an Amazon, she did not cry! Hippolyta seemed to understand, and only pulled her daughter into a tight embrace.
When her mother said, "I love you," into her ear, it was too much for Diana's raging emotions, and the tears came whether she willed them or no.
The queen let her daughter sob into her shoulder for a few moments before drawing back and wiping the tears from Diana's smiling face. "Why are you weeping, my little sun and stars?"
Diana shook her head with a watery laugh. "I don't know!" She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, forcing herself to calm down. What by Olympus was wrong with her? She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment. It is simply the emotion of coming home. Even if Themyscira wasn't really her home anymore.
In a few moments she felt calmer, and smiled at her mother. "Shayera will think we've abandoned her," she said.
Hippolyta smiled. "I doubt she'll notice we've gone; she seemed rather intent on devouring her meal."
Diana nodded; that she could understand. Their dinner with Wally had been cut short by both of them, and that was over fourteen hours ago now. No wonder she'd been feeling dizzy earlier. Her stomach chose to echo that and give a loud rumble.
Hippolyta laughed and patted her daughter's shoulder. "Come."
Strangely, though Diana had been ravenous, when she sat at the table she found she couldn't stomach the rich pheasant stew that her mother's chef had concocted, and in fact only the simple things looked palatable; pitta, salad and olives. Still, those things she ate with relish, and didn't stop until there wasn't a speck of bread left on her plate. She stopped with a sigh of satisfaction and looked up to find Shayera looking at her with one eyebrow raised.
Diana shrugged. "What?"
"Nothing. Just...not sure I've ever seen a princess eat like that," she grinned.
Once they'd eaten, they stayed and passed a pleasant evening with Hippolyta before they got back into Diana's jet and took off from the island. "I can see why you love it," Shayera commented as they left. She smiled at Diana. "I imagine it was a wonderful place to grow up."
Her voice held a wistful tone; nostalgia and almost bitterness mixed in. There was a story there, Diana thought, a less-than-happy childhood. She'd ask, one day, but for now that was territory too heavy for their fragile friendship to bear. "It was," she finally replied. "But very...sheltered. I was trained from birth to be a warrior, yet I'd never experienced any real conflict. The real world is better. Less idyllic, perhaps, but better."
Shayera was silent for a moment. "The real world is ugly and cruel, Diana," she finally said. "Themyscira...it's paradise."
Diana couldn't argue with that.
When they got back to the Watchtower, the two women said goodnight with smiles that were only a little tentative. Not yet feeling sleepy, Diana walked toward the cafeteria for an iced mocha, and ran into John coming the other way, his green gaze on Shayera.
"You two are talking again?" he asked, sounding surprised.
Diana nodded. "Yes. Nothing like a trip to Tartarus to straighten us both out." She smiled at him. "So where you headed? I'm going to get a mocha if you'd like to join me?"
He looked back to where Hawkgirl had disappeared around the corner, hesitated, then nodded. "Sure. Coffee sounds good," he sighed.
"Are you alright, John?"
He blinked as if he'd forgotten Diana was there, then nodded vigourously. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."
They entered the commissary and got their drinks, then sat chatting quietly about the mission that the two women had just been on. Diana sighed. "And I need to do a mission report soon, or I'll have Bruce nagging at me."
John snorted. "Get him to do it for you; he owes you," he muttered.
Diana frowned. "Owes me?"
His expression took on the unmistakable expression of 'did-I-really-just-say-that-out-loud?', his mouth opening and closing in a manner reminiscent of a bemused fish. Before he could reply, though, Zatanna came over, put her dinner down, and then went back to Wonder Woman wrapping her arms around Diana's neck in a hug without saying anything. Diana wrinkled her nose. Whoa! Easy on the perfume, Zee!
She stepped back. "Thank you," she said finally.
Diana smiled. "You're welcome. How are you feeling now?"
The magician nodded. "Better. No one's hammering a spike through my head anyway. I take it you got the gates closed?"
"Yes," Diana told her. "With Shayera's help."
Zatanna sat down, smiling at GL, who drained his coffee. "Well I need to be going. See you ladies later."
Diana frowned slightly at his retreating back but turned back to Zatanna, taking a long slurp of her iced mocha. Her friend dug into her burger and fries with no further ado, wolfing down the greasy meal as though she were starving. Diana tried hard not to let her disgust show on her face; she didn't understand why it should be revolting; she loved a triple cheeseburger just as much as the next girl (and unlike the next girl did not have to worry about the three million calories that entailed). But for some reason the gods-awful smell that was coming from the meal was turning her stomach.
Mistaking the expression for pain, Zatanna frowned. "You weren't injured or anything were you?"
Diana shook her head. "No, I'm fine. It's just... Never mind," she said, shaking her head. "It's nothing."
Still, it wasn't nothing, and she downed her mocha as quickly as possible, then left the commissary. She showered and went to bed. She slept well.
Right until she woke in the middle of the night with a roiling stomach, and had to leap out of bed in order to vomit several times, heaving and retching until she didn't have anything else to throw up. Groaning slightly, she stood up quickly and then put a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness hit her again. She closed her eyes until it had passed, then flushed the toilet with the other hand. The skin under her hand was hot, she realised suddenly, warmer than it normally was.
Diana poured herself some water and drank deeply. Great. So she was getting sick. Well, that would explain it. Of course...she'd never gotten sick, but her friends had. Temperature, nausea, fatigue. All the signs of flu.
---
A/N: Review please!