They sat on Clark's couch in silence, both deep in thought. Since he told Diana what her mother said to him, they'd both been stewing. Clark was mulling over what he said to Hippolyta about his relationship with Diana, things that he hadn't even told Diana yet. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to tell her now, Diana might be receptive, but now he potentially had a nation of Amazons against him. How could he cope with that?

"How could she say that? There's no way I would stop speaking to you." Diana finally said, breaking up the quiet.

Clark didn't respond. He really didn't know what to say.

"Maybe I'll stop talking to her. Just for a few hundred years, I'll see how she likes that!"

"Don't do that." Clark said calmly.

"Why not? She doesn't care about me. Why should I care about her?"

"She's your mother, of course she cares about you. I don't think she likes me though..." Clark tried to joke, but it was clear Diana was in no mood to laugh. So he decided to switch gears.

"I think your mother is terrified, scared out of her mind. She relates everything to what happened to her, and she can't handle the thought of that happening to you. I get it, I really do. I think your mother needs help, a lot of your sisters do too. The things they said while I was there. They weren't angry with me, they were afraid. Your sisters have lived in paradise, while they have had peace, they haven't had healing. And your mother may be worst of all, because she blames herself for everything. It is not her fault, and the sooner she realizes that, the better off she'll be. The worst thing you can do to her is stop speaking to her. Not over me, because I don't think it's about me. I think it's about her facing her fears."

Diana shifted on the sofa, moving closer to him, so she could put her arms around him and lay her head on his shoulder. He was always so perceptive, and he always knew just what to say.

He had given her a new perspective, she hadn't considered the fact that her mother could be afraid. Amazons didn't feel fear, and her mother was the strongest of them all in her mind. Perhaps it could explain her mother's behavior today. She couldn't understand how her mother would abandon all rational thought in regard to Clark. She sent Diana away during the meeting and didn't use the lasso, none of that made sense. Perhaps Clark was right, and if he was, how could she get her mother to change her mind? Diana doesn't want to leave Clark, but doesn't want to abandon her home either. Something has to give, but not tonight.

"I can't think about this anymore, I'm going crazy here." Diana said suddenly. "I want to do something fun. What can we do that's fun?"

"Fun?" Clark began thinking. What is fun? He usually doesn't have time for fun. Until he got an idea. "How did you fare in making clothes for yourself?"

"I made a few dresses. Why?" What did dresses have to do with anything?

"Well get one on and put on your dancing shoes. Let's go out on the town."

"Ok." Diana said, as she got off the couch. "That sounds great."

Clark found a parking spot a few blocks away from the club they were going to. He wore his typical weekend wear, a cardigan sweater and a button up shirt and tie. To finish the outfit he wore khaki slacks and brown leather shoes. Diana, wore a not too revealing emerald green halter dress that stopped just below her knees. She made it herself, styled after one she saw on her last shopping trip. The one on the rack was very nice, but it wasn't made for someone of Diana's body type. The dress wasn't nearly as flashy as what Wonder Woman would wear in a public outing, but that didn't stop Diana from being nervous. She felt like her glasses being the only thing keeping her secret wouldn't work very well. She hadn't had any issues before, because she always wore long sleeves, but now with her bracelets and well muscled arms in full view she was slightly self conscious.

"Are you sure nobody will recognize me?" She asked as they walked towards the club hand in hand. "Even with my bracelets?"

"I guarantee they won't." He told her confidently, what he didn't tell her, was that it was because in that dress, no one would be looking at her wrists.

"If you say so." Diana was skeptical, but decided to believe Clark. He'd been right about everything so far. "Have you ever been to this place before?"

"Yeah, I've been here a few times. Not enough for anyone to know me though."

"This isn't the kind of place Hal and Wally go to is it?"

"No way, this is much more... uh. Low key."

Low key, of course it would be, that's how Clark always did everything. She figured it was a good thing, this being the first time at a club and all. Aside from being noticed, she was only worried about one thing. She had no idea if Clark knew how to dance. They had never spoken about it before, she assumed he could since he suggested it, but she couldn't be sure. She also wondered if she would know the dance as well. Themysciran dances were drastically different from what they did here. Mostly due to the fact that there were no men. Man's world had many types of dances, there were the wild dances that the young people did which often consisted of the woman grinding her body against the man. The others were ballroom oriented, and were stiff and uncomfortable, and with music that didn't appeal to Diana. Julia had taught her the ballroom dances, so she knew how to do them, but was worried that Clark would want her to dance like the young people, after all she was young herself at only 23. As close as she and Clark had become over the past few weeks, she didn't feel close enough to be comfortable gyrating against him, and definitely not in public. The ballroom dance seemed a better option, but she couldn't see Clark moving in such a robotic fashion.

Once inside, Diana tried to get a feel of the room. The music was live, sounded very good. Sweeping the patrons, she didn't feel she and Clark would be too out of place. The people there seemed mostly like couples, of various ages. From what looked like early 30's to mid 50's, she figured at 23 she was probably the youngest person here, with Clark being 27 he would better fit in.

"Do you want a drink?" Clark asked, motioning towards the bar.

"I wouldn't know what to order?"

"Do you want something fruity?"

"Ok. I guess so." She didn't know anything about drinks, all she ever had was wine or champagne, which were incredibly weak to her. Themysciran wines were much better.

Clark ordered her something called a Carmel Apple martini and got himself a beer. As with other alcoholic drinks in Man's World, it was incredibly weak, but it did taste good.

"Clark, why do you drink beer? It doesn't taste good, and you'll never start to feel it, why bother? You should have gotten something else, like this." Diana asked pointing to her own drink.

"Because I'll look like a wuss if I drink that. Before you ask, it's something about guys not being able to drink certain things in public, and having to drink what doesn't taste good. I don't get it either, but I do kind of like beer so I'm not complaining right now."

"Oh." Diana thought for a second. "You know I knew that! Other people have said the same thing. It's too bad, because this drink is very good."

"You want another one?"

"Are you trying to get me drunk Clark?"

Clark didn't answer, instead he got a look on his face as if he was just caught red handed, and didn't know how to respond. Diana couldn't help but smile, they both knew she couldn't get drunk, he was just being funny. Often times his silliness annoyed her, but it didn't tonight. She was trying to forget her mother, she was here to have a good time.

"I don't know how to do this dance." She was nervous, this was totally different from anything she had done before.

"Ah, don't worry about it, it's like flying." He assured her as he led her to the dance floor. "I lead, you follow, nothing difficult about it."

Diana was a natural, just as he expected, it didn't take long for Diana to relax her body and just go with him. He was able to lead her properly, give her enough strength to get her to turn the right way without worry of breaking her arm. Once she got the hang of it, he was able to lose himself with her and the music.

The band was live, a woman was singing lead. The rhythm was perfect, and her voice flowed perfectly with it. Clark was able to zone out. There was no one on the floor but he and Diana. She was smiling, so was he. She felt perfect in his arms, like she belonged there. She was so beautiful, as if no other woman ever existed. She was the reason that God made a girl. He could fall in love with her, it would be easy. He could see it all, watching her walk down the aisle, picking china patterns, decorating a house in the country, maybe with a few kids. Deep down that what he always wanted, his human upbringing trained him to want it. The Kryptonian in him thought it was an unattainable dream, because no one could be with him as he was. No one could be what he wanted or needed. Except for Diana. She stood by him in the worst of times, when all seemed lost, she was the one who picked him out of the dirt and inspired him to keep going. Why couldn't she be there in the best of times? In the times of pure happiness?

There was only one problem: He had no idea how to express this to Diana. Feelings were always Clark's problem. He could never seem to express them to the person he cared for. He had only done it once, and he was left devastated. Since then he'd been on guard. Second guessing everything. Always keeping the door open to the possibility of rejection. It was a defense mechanism, because there was nothing, no death ray or kryptonite laser that could hurt more than a broken heart. Diana could change her mind at any minute and leave him. She could decide that her mother was right, and cut him off completely. If he reminded himself of those possibilities maybe it would hurt less if she did leave.

Luckily for him, right now she was here and wasn't going anywhere. And this is where he would keep his thoughts. Right here, right now.

Diana was just enjoying herself, enjoying being free, from her mother, from her responsibilities, from anything but Clark. She didn't want to be anywhere but here, with Clark. The dancing was great, it was a similar to the ballroom dancing she was familiar with, but it was more upbeat, more loose, there were more steps, more dips, more spins. She didn't miss a beat, Clark was a great dancer, and a great leader. Could this night get any better?

High in the Metropolis night sky, Clark and Diana continued their dance. The club had become too crowded for Clark's liking, so he suggested they leave. Diana didn't want to stop dancing, so she suggested they continue in the sky. They held each other close, in a gentle embrace. The pace changing from fast to slow.

"That was fun. What was that dance called?" Diana asked, staring gently into his eyes.

"Chicago Steppin' or Detroit Ballroom, depending on where you're from."

"But you're from Kansas?"

"That's true. But my mother was born in Detroit and grew up in Chicago. So she would switch back and forth in what to call it."

"You mother? So I guess that means she was the one who taught you how to dance?"

"Yes."

"She did a good job. You are excellent."

"That's good, because the first time I went dancing it was bad."

"How bad?"

"Awful. It was 6th grade, the first formal dance I'd ever been to, and the first time I'd ever seen Lana Lang wear a dress which is a totally different story. Anyway, I asked her to dance, thinking it would be easy. So for the next 3 songs I stepped all over her feet, it was not a pretty sight. After the dance, she went home and told her mother about it. Who was not happy, she thought I'd done it on purpose, so she called my mother to complain. Long story short, Mama cleared it up, and forced me to take dance lessons. So now, I'm an expert in 'urban' ballroom dancing."

Diana couldn't help but laugh. He didn't talk about his childhood very often, it was difficult to imagine him at a young age.

"Thank you for this." She said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You're more than welcome."

When Diana shifted her head again, Clark caught her gaze. At that second he realized there was something he wanted to do with Diana for a long time. Ever since the first pictures he saw of her. He wanted to kiss her. He saw the look in her eyes, it felt as if they were on the same wavelength, as if she wanted to kiss him back. So in an uncharacteristically forward moment for Clark, he went for it.

Diana's lips were soft, softer than he imagined. It was a wonderful feeling. Kissing Diana was totally different than anything he'd ever experienced up to this point. He could feel her kissing back in a way he never could with anyone else. It was almost intoxicating, he didn't want to stop, but knew he had to. He wanted to make sure Diana didn't react to his kisses the way other women did. He found that if he kissed too long, his partner would get woozy and have temporary memory loss. The first time he and Lana kissed, she forgot that she agreed to kiss him in the first place.

Diana didn't want to stop, when he began pulling away, she unconsciously floated up to prevent him from breaking it. "Why are you stopping?" She asked, slightly out of breath.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

She started to say something else, but mumbled it, deciding words didn't matter. She was more focused on going in for another. She found she wanted more than he'd given her, she wanted to be closer. She quickly broke apart to remove her glasses, before resuming again. Not missing a beat, Clark took his own glasses off as well. Diana couldn't believe how wonderful it was, she never imagined kissing could feel like this.

When they finally did stop kissing, Diana finally got a grasp on where they were, she suddenly realized that the wind was whipping violently through her hair, and that gravity was in full effect. The were falling, and falling fast! Just as she was realizing what was happening, she noticed Clark was too. It took them both a few seconds to stop themselves, and once they did, they found themselves holding on to each other. Diana had her hands linked around his neck, and he was holding her with his hands on her hips.

They both laughed. They had gotten so wrapped up in each other that they hadn't even realized that they were literally falling out of the sky.

"That would not have been good." Clark managed to say between chuckles.

"No it would not have." Diana agreed. "I think we need more practice."

"I think that would help. We should get higher, just to make sure nobody can see us."

It was highly unlikely that anyone would be able to see them, but Clark wanted to make sure. So without thinking he glided them up under his own power. High enough that he felt comfortable again.

"That was my first kiss." Diana said, still smiling.

"In a way, it was mine too. I've never felt anything like that. It was incredible."

Diana's smile widened. What began as an awful day was ending wonderfully. Diana decided she didn't want to jinx anything. "I can't thank you enough for tonight. I really needed this after what happened earlier. I'm sorry that my mother..."

"Shh... It's ok. I have a feeling things will work out in the end between the two of you. Just give it time. Goodnight Diana."

"Goodnight Clark." Diana pulled away from him, but quickly came back for one last peck on the lips before flying off into the night.

Once she left, Clark discreetly flew back down to his car, and turned on the engine. Just before pulling off, he said to himself, "I'll say, in the end, this was a pretty good day."

A/N: If you're curious about the dancing they were doing, look up 'Detroit Ballroom' or 'Chicago Steppin' on YouTube. It's a real dance.