Clark awoke with a heavy metal bracelet slamming across the bridge of his nose. It didn't hurt, but it was highly annoying. He was laying on his back neatly, barely moving from the spot he was in when he first climbed into the bed. Diana however was not, clearly she was not used to sharing a bed. She was laying on her stomach with her arms and legs sprawled across the bed. She tossed and turned throughout the night, kicking and elbowing him several times. He tried to say something, but she was out like a light. Now she had her hand on his face, and her foot hooked over one of his. It was an awkward situation, he was half expecting Diana to move closer to him at any moment throughout the night. But she didn't, not consciously anyway. Given the circumstances of him being there in the first place he certainly wasn't going to initiate anything. After a break in and likely attempted assault, Clark wasn't going to do anything that would make Diana uncomfortable. He decided immediately, that anything that happened would be totally her choice. Not to mention having Shannon in the next room would have made things even more weird. Based on the sun in the window, Clark figured that it was mid-afternoon they got to sleep rather late, and slept for quite a while. Deciding to get up, he gently picked her hand off of him and unhooked her foot from his. She didn't stir at all, and her breathing remained the same.
"And you say I sleep like a rock." He said softly.
Shannon woke up on the couch initially unsure where she was. It took a moment to get her bearings and realize she was still at Diana's. It had been a horrible night for her, hearing her friend get attacked over the phone was a terrifying experience. She couldn't imagine how it must have been for Diana. She briefly wondered what she was going to do with her morning, when Clark walked into the room.
"Morning Clark." Shannon greeted him.
"Morning. You feeling better?" He said as he made his way to the kitchen area, getting some orange juice from the refrigerator.
"I think so. It was a rough night, I can't imagine how Diana's feeling."
"Diana's tough, she'll be alright."
"I hope so. It's scary, that could have been anyone, that could have been me. I don't know if I could have fought him off like Diana did."
"I'd say you're probably more capable than you think. But Diana's been doing kickboxing and karate type stuff since she was a little girl. She's actually really good. I'm sure she'd teach you a few things."
"Really? That's good. I think I should be more aware of protecting myself. Or get a big strong man like you. Say, you don't have any brothers do you?"
"No, I'm an only child." Clark laughed.
"Aww, that's too bad."
"Well look who graces us with her presence. Good morning." Clark said as Diana walked into the room.
"Good morning." Diana said groggily.
Her hair was a disheveled mess. Clark loved that, it gave her a down to earth sexy look, and the fact that she didn't seem to care made it all the more appealing. He was finding that the less Diana did to her appearance, the more beautiful she was.
Shannon however had a completely different interpretation of Diana's messy hair. "Woah. Good morning Diana. Did you two have a nice night?" She looked back and forth between Clark and Diana. Clark looked calm as ever, but Diana looked as if she was going to panic.
Diana caught the looks Shannon was giving them, and realized what she was hinting at. She must have thought they were having sex. "No! I mean y-yes. I slept well. How about you Clark?"
"I'm good." He said casually.
"Well I'm going to go freshen up, and then head back home. I've been the third wheel long enough." Shannon got up and went into the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later Shannon was finally gone, leaving Clark and Diana alone. They sat silently on the bar stools in front of Diana's kitchen island. She was drinking a cup of coffee while he was having his fourth glass of orange juice.
"I guess we should finally have the talk shouldn't we." Diana finally said.
"I guess so."
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable last night. It wasn't what I was expecting, I've never shared a bed with a man before." Of course she hadn't, that was obvious. But Clark didn't say anything. "Last night, I didn't want to do anything, b-but that doesn't mean I won't want to, in the future." She continued.
"Last night was unexpected, and given what happened with the break-in, I understand. The time wasn't right at all."
"Right. Okay. Good." She said awkwardly.
She welcomed hugs and kisses from Clark, as she thoroughly enjoyed being close to him, but last night was bad timing. She only offered him the bed because there was nowhere else to sleep. She hadn't imagined how she would feel actually laying next to him. It brought things to the forefront that she'd been ignoring.
During the time they were getting to know each other, Diana became aware of the new feelings he stirred within her. When they started dating she thought about a little bit more, but even still, those thoughts were fleeting and quickly pushed away. Last night brought everything to the forefront, she allowed her mind to consider all the possibilities of being with him.
"Clark. When we first met, you told me you wanted to make love to me. Do you still want to?" She suspected that he did, but figured asking him directly was the best way to approach the matter.
"Only if you want to." Clark said softly, recalling the words he said when they first met.
"Okay" Diana smiled shyly. "Then we will, at some point. Only I don't know when that will be. I don't think I'm ready yet."
"I've been patient for a long time. What's a little while longer?"
"Thank you for understanding." She then set her cup down and started back towards her room. "Do you have any plans for today?"
"No." Clark was caught off guard by Diana's sudden change of subject, the second she said they would have sex, his mind went there. The part about not being ready was secondary. He was deep in fantasy, and barely lucid enough to respond to her.
"I was thinking we should go shopping. I should buy a television. What do you think?"
"Uh, sure. You want me to come with you?" He followed her into her room.
"Yes. I don't know anything about them, you can help me pick out a good one."
"Let's just do it online, they can probably deliver it by tomorrow. Last time we went shopping, I was miserable."
"You're coming. There might be some other things I want too."
"That sounds even worse. Can't Shannon do it?" Clark didn't like the turn in conversation, it went from sex to shopping. From good to very, very bad, the change was so sudden it caught him off guard.
"Clark, since I'm relegated playing the role of weak woman, I need you to do the heavy lifting. Now go home and take a shower, I'll meet you back here in a hour."
Clark grumbled as he put on his pants, and headed for the balcony. Since he was coming right back he figured he'd leave his car there for them to take later.
"One hour Clark, I mean it!" Diana demanded.
"Now this is a television!" Clark said as he marveled in front of the a 90 inch flat screen. It was the most expensive one in the store. It was showing football highlights from last season. Clark was glued to the screen, and was deep in thought, trying to work out where he could put it in his apartment.
"Is this the one I should get?" Diana asked, about the behemoth screen.
"This won't fit in my car, and if you get it, it's going in my house. You don't deserve such a pristine picture."
"I don't deserve it?" Diana knew full well he was joking, but still that was ridiculous. "Why don't you just buy it yourself?"
"Because I don't have 8 grand just sitting around, but I can dream can't I? In the grand scheme of things it's not that big of a deal though, I do have that sweet set up at my uh... place up north."
"That's true." Diana admitted. At the fortress he had a screen bigger than a movie theater's, that could show just about anything he wanted. There were also several similar screens on the Watchtower. "I'm going to look at something smaller."
"Oh man, this is beautiful." An older man said, coming up to stand next to Clark. The man who looked to be in his early to mid 50's was shopping with his wife, who was standing behind him. "This would be great for football season."
"Perfect for football season." Clark agreed.
"You already know we can't afford this." The man's wife said, "We need to live within our means."
"I know. But I can dream can't I?"
"I suppose." The wife said, moving down the wall of television screens, towards where Diana was.
Diana was looking at TV that was much more modest. 46 inches seemed plenty big enough to her. She was reading the specifications on one particular model, but didn't know what they meant. Clark was planted in front of the big screen, and wasn't there to explain, and there wasn't a salesperson to be seen anywhere.
"1080p, 600hz refresh rate, 46 inch LCD screen. This seems ok, but what does it mean?" She wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but knew full well Clark could hear her. He looked in her direction, and indicated he would join her eventually.
"Boys and their ballgames. They may never walk away from that big screen." The older woman said, walking up next to Diana.
"Yes. They seem quite enamored with it." Diana observed.
"For some reason they a new tv to let them see the logos on the players shoes as they run by. And use it as an excuse to ignore us." She said, almost sourly.
"Many see sports as therapeutic. It's an entertaining release from the stress of real life."
"Ha ha. How long have you been married?" The woman asked skeptically.
"Oh, we're not married. Just dating."
"Hmm, after 25 years with that man, watching the game is not therapy, it's his life."
Diana didn't like the woman's cynicism. To put her husband down like that to a complete stranger didn't seem right. Suddenly it dawned on Diana that there possibly was something else missing in her mission. Relationships. How could she bring gender equality to the world if personal relationships were still broken? If a man disrespects his wife, of course it would be easy to disrespect a co-worker, or random person on the street. Some relationships were strong, like Jonathan and Martha's and others were like this woman's, and appeared to need work. Diana certainly wasn't a relationship expert, as she'd only been with Clark for a little more than a month, but she decided to dish out a bit of advice.
"Have you ever tried watching with him? My boyfriend took me to a baseball game just the other day, it was fun. I didn't really understand the game, but I think he enjoyed having me there, and I would go again."
"Ah, to be young. Yours is still trying to impress you, mine hasn't even asked me if I wanted to go a game."
Clark heard the conversation Diana was having, and wasn't sure how it would end. The woman was slightly agitated, and he couldn't tell if Diana was doing more harm than good.
"You could try asking him about it. You may enjoy it. Perhaps you could try to impress him?" Diana suggested.
"Perhaps." The woman simply said, seeing a handsome young man headed towards them, she assumed this would be her boyfriend. She tactfully stepped away and eyed Clark, if only she were a few years younger.
"That was different." Clark observed. "Not sure you got through there."
"Well, I didn't know what else to say."
Their analysis of Diana's relationship advice would have to wait as a salesman finally approached them. "Is there anything I can help you two with?"
"Yes." Diana said. "This television appears to be on sale, is it a good one?"
"It's pretty good, 1080p, 600hz refresh rate, 46 inch LCD screen, you can't go wrong with that." He just spouted off what was written on the sales card, those numbers meant nothing to Diana. "And also with the current sale that we're having, if you buy any TV, we'll include a blu ray player at half price, and two free blu ray's from our bargain shelf."
Diana considered the offer. "Clark what do you think?"
"Seems like a good deal to me. This is a good size, it's big, but not ridiculous."
"Then I'll take it." Diana said.
While the young salesman traveled into the warehouse to get the TV, Clark and Diana picked their free movies. The bargain shelf was full of old movies that were never very popular in the first place, which was probably why they were on the ten dollar shelf. Diana picked two romantic comedies, just as Clark suspected she would. He also suspected they would have to watch both of them tonight.
Checking out went quickly, but loading the tv into the car was a hassle. It's store policy to have an employee load the car, and apparently half their workers called in sick that day, so the person loading it was a 90 pound teenage girl.
"Well this is ironic." Diana said to Clark as they watch the small girl, who refused their help, struggle to place the box into the car. With the back seat folded down there was just enough room to get it in, but for some reason the girl didn't want to lay it down.
"Just lay it down. Please. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I'll drive safe, it'll be fine."
The girl finally relented, and Clark placed the box into the car, and closed the trunk. He and Diana got in and drove away.
"Why would they have such a small girl loading a television?" Clark asked.
"Are you suggesting, a woman can't do that job?" Diana asked, half joking, but Clark didn't see the humor.
"No! But they literally picked the smallest person in the store to load a TV into a car. Who does that?"
"I don't know." Diana sat in silence for a few minutes while Clark maneuvered down the road. "Are you hungry?"
"I could eat."
"What do you say we get some food, set up the TV and watch the movies I bought?"
"Alright, let's get something delivered. I don't want to leave the car with this thing sitting in it." Clark said, indicating the TV.
"Ok. Let's get chinese from that place we had before."
"Shnazzy." Clark said.
Hippolyta and Donna had been in Metropolis for most of the day. They were now at the public library, after spending most of the early day exploring Metropolis square. The woman at the desk was most helpful in helping them find books about the city's history. Unfortunately all records of Superman were kept only in the computers, and since neither Hippolyta or Donna had any clue how to use one, they settled for books about other things.
As Hippolyta read, her mind wandered to what she saw today. Many of the men around Metropolis were very off putting. In Chase City, the small town in Virginia which they had landed, the people were laid back, the men smiled, said hello, but not much else. In the big city, several men were rude, shouting perverse things at she and Donna. Her first instinct was to run them through with a sword, but she didn't have one. She then wanted to order Donna to crush their spines, but knew that would call attention she didn't want. The hustle and bustle of the city was trying for her. Short of Diana, she held little regard for anyone who would choose to live there.
"Donna. What are you reading?" Hippolyta asked.
"Skyscrapers. By Jolette Guy. I think it's a children's book, but it's very interesting. It shows how they make such tall buildings." The buildings downtown fascinated her immensely, but she was finished with that one, so she picked up another from the stack that was in front of her. "What are you reading?" Donn asked.
"It is a record of this city's history. What is that one you have now?" Hippolyta asked, indicating the book Donna had just picked up. It was a small paperback book, with a man and a woman hugging on the cover.
"It's a romance novel, the woman suggested that someone my age might enjoy it."
"Do not read that trash!" Hippolyta snatched the book away from Donna. "Read more about the buildings. I won't allow you to fill your head with such things."
Donna was disappointed that her mother took the book, she thought it may give her an idea to what Diana was doing with Clark. She was having a difficult time with being in Man's World. She didn't understand anything, some of the men seemed just as awful as she'd been taught her entire life, but some didn't. More confusing was Diana, she was adamant about being with Clark, and Kara insisted he was a good man. Meeting him, he seemed okay, but her mother didn't think so. She found herself torn, she wanted to honor her mother's wishes, and rescue Diana from a fate of degradation and servitude, but had faith that Diana was smart enough to not be trapped. She wanted her sister to be happy, and would be inclined to welcome Clark if he indeed made Diana happy.
"Mother, what about all of those women we have seen? Many of them looked happy in the company of their men." Hippolyta didn't answer, and Donna couldn't read her face, it was between, angry and sad. "What about those children?"
"I do not know." Hippolyta simply said. Internally, she couldn't get the image of the soldier with his family out her mind of. It was so contrary to everything she ever experienced in her life. Those two girls were beyond happy to see their father, they loved him. A feeling she never felt for her own father, in fact when they were young she and her sister Antiope cowered at the sight of the man who claimed to be their father. To see anything different was unsettling. Only that wasn't the only indication that men could have changed. In Metropolis she saw lots of couples, of all ages, and all walks of life, with women who seemed happy. Perhaps some men were different.
At the end of the day, the only man that mattered was Clark Kent. What kind of man was he? He claimed to be good, Diana claimed he was good, as did Kara, but could he be? "Can you locate Diana?" Hippolyta asked.
"No mother. I feel her emotion, which makes me able to find her sometimes, but in such a large city, I'm not sure I'll be able to." Donna had a unique ability to find Diana in a crowd. She could sometimes feel her sister, if she was hurt, happy or sad, Donna knew it. However it didn't work the other way around, Diana couldn't feel Donna, which was a good thing for Hippolyta as she didn't want to be found just yet.
"We will leave this place soon, I want you to concentrate. Find where she is."
"But the periodical we saw, said that Wonder Woman works in a place called Washington. Why would she be here? I thought we were looking to find more about him anyway." They found an old Daily Planet article about Wonder Woman not long after arriving in city, incidentally neither of them noticed, that the article was written by Clark Kent.
"She is here as well, I just know it." Hippolyta stated.
"Very well mother."
After setting up the TV and eating dinner, Clark wanted to take a patrol around the world. Since Diana had nothing else to do, she decided to go with him. They were flying, at a leisurely pace, high in the sky, where no one could see them.
"So what was that earlier with that lady at the store?" Clark asked. "You're giving out advice now?"
"Well, I'm not really qualified to give relationship advice. But it made me think, that one of the things I should be doing is trying to improve relationships. So many women desire them, that to ignore it, is shortsighted, I didn't think of that until you came along. My focus will always be to empower women, but I'm realizing that while i do that, I can't ignore the men in the their lives."
"So you think you're going to branch out with this?"
"Maybe, I'll talk to Julia about bringing in a relationship expert or something."
"A relationship expert? Does such a thing exist?"
"You know what I'm talking about Clark. Someone who gives advice on how to better the relationships in one's life. We could even get a male and female point of view."
"Sounds alright to me. If you have an event, make sure you contact the Daily Planet, and I'll cover it." He said, with very little enthusiasm.
"You don't think it's a good idea do you?"
"What are you talking about? I said it sounded alright. Once you figure out details, I'm sure you'll make it work."
Suddenly Clark stopped and stared down, Diana stopped and looked herself, but couldn't see anything wrong. However by the serious look on his face she could tell he was about to fly down and assist in whatever was there.
"What are you seeing?" She asked.
"Traffic crash. Three cars, no ambulance yet."
"You go. Call me if you need my help." She said to him. "I'll wait here for you."
"Alright." Without another word he shot down towards the ground.
Diana knew that he would spend more time at the scene than was probably necessary, as he always did. In some ways she wanted to be by his side helping as a true girlfriend should, but she knew that would cause unwanted attention from the general public. If he asked for her help, she would go, but she knew that he wouldn't. Which gave her some time to fly back to Metropolis to handle something she had been thinking about for much of the day.
Superman stayed on the scene of the crash for nearly an hour, even longer than Diana expected him to. She flew down closer to get a better look at what happened, but made sure to stay out of sight. Watching him, she gained a whole new perspective on how he operated. Much of the world saw a calculating alien, who put on a straight face, and did whatever it took to help someone in need. Many people saw him as cold and emotionless, figuring him to be detached from humankind, but that couldn't be further from the truth. This event affected him, she could see it in his movements. Someone was being hauled away in cuffs, while others were being zipped into body bags. Someone died down there, and it hurt Clark in a way she'd never seen him hurt before.
After he was done, he took to the sky, flying right past her. She had to race to catch up to him, grabbing at him so he would slow down. Staring him directly in the eyes, he looked exhausted.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.
They flew together back to her apartment, where he just about fell into a seated position at the foot of her bed. She joined him, sitting close and tenderly holding his hand.
"What happened?"
"Those kids parents are dead. All because of some fool driving drunk. How can people just have no regard for human life? I don't get it. Don't they understand that they're just killing themselves? They don't even need a supernova, they'll just cause their own genocide."
He was referencing the destruction of Krypton, he must really be upset. "Clark don't say that. One person doesn't represent all. You know that." She assured him.
"One person? This happens every day. Do we even make a difference here?"
"Yes we do. You more than any of us. You're the example, the light to show us the way. We've been at peace for quite a while now. You know we make a difference." She moved to rub his arm softly, she would have rubbed his back but his cape was in the way. "What about the children?"
"They're alive but pretty beat up. But a few broken bones seems like nothing knowing that your parents are gone."
Diana didn't really know what to say, she'd never seen him like this. He was always a rock. When everyone else was ready to throw in the towel, he kept going, and inspired everyone to go on as well. It occurred to her that he could always have been this way. In the middle of a battle, he couldn't be phased by collateral damage, until the job was done. Once it was, they would always go their separate ways, and when they regrouped, someone was able to have a few laughs about something. Maybe before he could laugh, he had to let out his frustrations some. This was still different though. Coming fresh off of an incident where he couldn't save anyone. She didn't know if she could say anything to make him feel better, but she did lean closer in an attempt to comfort him.
He turned to look into her eyes intensely. By now Diana knew what that look meant, he was going to kiss her. She welcomed his mouth against hers, and ran her hands from his arms to his chest to his neck, pulling him closer. She couldn't be sure if it was the pressure of him leaning on her, or if it was on her own volition, but she found herself laying on her back and inviting him to be on top of her.
While he laid on top of Diana kissing her passionately, he let his hands ran down her arms and sides to rest on her hips. He began moving his hands back up her body when his left hand suddenly got caught in her lasso, it's power quickly ran through him, telling him to pull away.
"I'm sorry. As much as I may want this, it's not right. You're not ready." He pulled away and stood up, still holding the lasso.
"Wait." Diana said, surprised. She didn't want him to stop yet. "Don't go."
She sat up and hopped off the bed to follow where he began towards the balcony door.
Taking the lasso back she said, "Stay with me tonight. I don't think you should be alone. You're upset, just relax."
Clark didn't have to be told twice, if she wanted him to stay, he was going to stay. Diana grabbed his hand, and pulled him away from the door towards her closet. She reached inside the closet and handed him a bag. He reached inside and pulled out a brand new pair of shorts.
"I got them when you were helping those people on the road." Diana said, answering his question of where the shorts came from before he could ask it. "Let's just sleep, we can talk more tomorrow. Besides, we need to improve upon last night."
Clark finally laughed. "Yes we do. You're a violent sleeper."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You kicked me so many times you practically beat me up last night. I think you've never had to share a bed before."
"Well, I haven't. But maybe if you hold me close I won't kick so much."
A few hours later Clark and Diana laid in bed sleeping. This time he was on his back with an arm wrapped around her, while she had her head laid against his shoulder, with her hands resting on his bare chest and a leg wrapped around his.
The couple rested peacefully, totally unaware of the furious Amazon Queen standing at the foot of the bed.