Clark & Diana spent the next few weeks working hard to find time for each other. Clark got busy at the Daily Planet, and Diana got busy again for her foundation. Sometimes it was a struggle to find time for a quiet dinner, or a stolen lunch. Diana had been so busy she even missed the last league meeting.

Now he laid in the center of his bed in what felt like an empty apartment. Staring at the ceiling, his equilibrium was off, despite the fact that he was perfectly centered in the room, he felt off. Sliding over to the left, and then the right sides of the bed, he still felt off. And suddenly he realized that it wasn't the furniture that was off. It was the fact that Diana was missing. He missed her. When they did get together these last few weeks, it was mainly for sleeping in Metropolis or for lovemaking in the fortress, but when she was there, he didn't have the feeling of anxiety over being out of balance. Now he did.

Sleep came easy when Diana was with him, not so much when she wasn't. It was early on a Saturday morning and Clark had lain awake most of the night. He tossed and turned, longing for Diana's tender touch. With nothing else to do, he closed his eyes, and imagined the last time they were together, almost a week ago.

He was knocked out of his memory by knocking at the door. He rolled over in bed groaning, thinking it's probably Lois at his door again. But once he finally got up and looked, he got excited. It was Diana. He briefly wondered why she used the main entrance, but decided he didn't care, as long as she was here.

They didn't have to speak, he opened the door she closed it. She jumped into his arms, he caught her. She kissed him, he kissed her back. Talking would come eventually.

"I've missed you." She finally said, still held in his arms with her legs around his waist.

"I missed you too."

"Did you have plans today?" Diana let him go and set herself back on the floor.

"Not really. I was waiting for you."

"Good. Let's not do anything, I need to sleep." She grabbed his arm and pulled to his bedroom. Before spinning into a silk nightgown.

It had been established by now that, if Diana put on clothes before getting in bed, she wanted only to sleep. If she got naked first, they would eventually end up in the fortress where things would get really interesting.

"I'm finding that I don't sleep as well when you're not with me." Diana said, as she got in bed on top of the covers. "Come hold me."

Clark got in bed and held her as she requested. "So how was your week?"

"Very good. The bracelets are still successful, we're now starting an international push to get them moved worldwide. Very soon they will be available in the UK."

"Good." Clark mumbled as he laid on his side with his chin on her shoulder and one arm around her torso.

"Clark can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Why is Zatanna so curious about our sex life?"

"Is she?" Zee hadn't said anything to him in quite some time.

"Yes. Every time I see her she asks me about us. So does Dinah, and I think Shayera and Mari are curious, but they never ask." It started after their 'girls night' and didn't let up.

"What do you tell her?"

"Nothing. It's not her business. I just can't figure out why she keeps asking."

"Probably because of me."

"You?"

"She asked me out a while back, and I turned her down, because I was with you." Zatanna hadn't actually asked him out on a date, but Diana didn't need to know what she really asked.

"She did? When?"

"When we were in Smallville the first time. Remember the night I couldn't sleep? It was the same night Bruce found those drugs."

"Yes I remember. She said you turned her down." Diana couldn't be mad at Zatanna for that, as no one knew she and Clark were dating yet.

"Uh... Yeah."

Diana knew why Zatanna said he turned her down. Because he wasn't in love with her. But what did that mean? Diana laid still while Barda's words came rushing back to her. Were they in love? Diana wasn't sure if she wanted the answer right now. So she didn't ask.

Clark was glad Diana didn't ask anything else. He wasn't sure if Zatanna told her everything he said. It was true, he didn't love Zatanna, which aside from being with Diana was why he spurned her advances, but the question if he was in love with Diana or not weighed in his mind. He told Hippolyta before that he could see himself in love with Diana, but that was the last time he really thought about it. Is that what was happening? He needed to marinate on that one.

A few hours later, Diana decided that her nap sufficiently restored her energy. However Clark who was still asleep next to her had her pinned under his arm. She would probably have to wake him in order to get up. She didn't want to stay here too much longer, but figured to let him sleep for a few more minutes.

While she laid still she pondered the habit he'd developed since they'd started making love together. His hands had a tendency to end up holding her breasts every morning when they awoke. And today was no different, this time one of the thin straps holding up her gown was moved off her shoulder, exposing one to be cupped by his hand. It wasn't that she didn't like it when he touched her, because she did. As it was, she did nothing towards moving his hand away now, she just wasn't sure if she wanted him to do it every night, or if she should put a stop to it before he's too set in his ways to want to change.

Deciding she was hungry, Diana started to push him off so she could get up. But he wouldn't budge. She put some strength behind her push, and still couldn't get him off. For someone who was supposed to be asleep, he sure had a strong grip.

"Clark! Wake up! Clark!" Diana demanded.

Clark couldn't hold it any longer and finally started laughing. Which made Diana stop struggling, and look at him quizzically.

"This is fun." Clark chuckled. "I've been awake for a little while, I was just waiting for you to say something."

"I see. Well kindly let me up, I'm hungry."

Clark rolled away and let her up. Before standing himself he laid back and watched her do the mundane tasks of adjusting her top, and tying her hair back.

"What?" Diana asked, as he'd been staring at her since she stood, at first she assumed it was because her gown was halfway removed, but even after she covered back up he kept staring.

"What?" Clark responded innocently.

"Don't what me. You're staring. Why?"

"Because I can."

"Because you can?" What kind of answer was that?

"Yeah. I'm going to be honest with you, before we started this, I had to fight myself not to stare at you. When we first started the Justice League, and did our regular meetings, I'm glad you started sitting next to me, because if you had sat across from me, I never would have paid attention. You are, distractingly beautiful."

Diana lit up at his words, but there were more pressing matters at hand. "Well, I get ugly when I'm hungry. So feed me."

"You don't get ugly, you get angry when you're hungry. And ironically enough, you're beautiful when you're angry too." Clark stood up, put on a tee shirt and headed towards the kitchen followed by Diana. "I'm curious though, why did you sit next to me in those early days? You didn't even like me back then."

Diana laughed softly, "Actually I did like you. I just didn't understand it yet."

"Oh is that what it was?" Clark pulled a package of sausage out of the refrigerator and began the process of cooking breakfast. While Diana sat at a bar stool and watched.

"Yes. Clark you have to understand, when we started the league, I had only been away from home for six months, and was having feelings I'd never felt before. I couldn't ask Julia, or my mother or sisters, or even Shayera, and I definitely couldn't tell you."

"You were mean to me, and not to anybody else, Hal and Wally hit on you constantly and you never really got after them about it. Or Bruce and that grumpy guy thing he has."

"In some ways, I think it was because I was afraid of you. I had met men before you, and knew that they didn't want to keep all women in chains. But you were different, you were the only one strong enough to throw me to the ground and have your way with me. Even though you said under the lasso that you never would, I was still afraid of that on some level. "

"Amazons don't like being afraid." Clark said matter of factly.

"Yes. And because of that, I felt less than Amazon. I was afraid of you hurting me. But during that whole time, I wanted you to kiss me. It was a very confusing and lonely time for me. I've learned that most girls start to deal with those feelings when they're 6 years old. I was 21!"

Clark chuckled. "While I didn't know you were attracted to me, I did detect a little bit of fear in you. That's why I treated you so nicely, even when you weren't to me."

"I'm very glad you did that. Offering me friendship, that was the right thing to do. It made the progression to what we're doing now feel natural. I'm very happy with our relationship right now as it is." Diana added, hoping that would stop him from airing any feelings she wasn't prepared for yet.

After a breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins, Clark and Diana moved to the couch. He sat on the end, while Diana laid across it, and put her feet in his lap.

"So, did you have any plans for today? Or did you just want to sit around." Clark asked.

"I have plans tonight. Shannon and some of her friends are having some sort of girls night, and they invited me."

"Girls night? I don't even want to know what that means."

"I'm not sure I know what it will mean with them. However I have a bit of an idea since my last monitor shift."

"How so?"

"Dinah, Zee, Shayera and Mari had an impromptu girls night the day after our weekend in the fortress. They invited Barda too."

"Really? How did that go?"

"It was enjoyable once they stopped asking about us. They sat around with fruity drinks, and talked about girly things. It also made my monitor shift go by much faster."

"Ok, Zee, Mari and Dinah I get, but Barda and Shayera? They're not the girliest women in the world."

"Shayera relaxed after a little while, Barda was uncomfortable nearly the entire time though. I guess being a fury all those years made it difficult to be in company like that."

"I guess."

"But until then, I intend to stay here with you."

"Sounds good."

Diana waited on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. Shannon had just texted her saying she would be there any second to pick her up. Diana wasn't really sure what to expect tonight, only that it was some sort of girls night. Technically every night for the first 20 years of her life was a girls night on Themyscira. Her sisters would often gather in small groups to have fun, drinking and dancing, but this seemed somehow different. Even different from what she did on the Watchtower a few weeks ago. Shannon had told her they were going to a club, but that was it.

Diana was checking her phone again when a black limo pulled up in front of her. She was very confused when it stopped, until Shannon opened the door to greet her.

"Come on Diana!" Shannon called.

Diana followed Shannon into the limo, which was had six other women inside, all dressed sharply, with their faces caked with makeup. Diana wore her green dress, and a pair of silver flat shoes, she didn't look out of place at all. Some of them even had Wonder Woman bracelets on. The limo was fancy, and several of the girls had already started drinking.

"Everyone, this is my friend Diana." Shannon introduced.

Diana was greeted with smiles and waves, she reciprocated warmly. Shannon then introduced everyone by name.

"So are you the Diana that made the dress for Shannon?" Asked Ziva, the young woman sitting next to Diana.

"Yes."

"Cool, you're really talented. You're a dressmaker?" Ziva asked.

"Not really, it's just something I learned when I was young."

"You could open up shop if you wanted to. Custom dresses could make you good money around here." said Kate, who was sitting across from Diana.

Diana simply shrugged, she hadn't really thought about it. It was in her original plan when she took on her secret identity to find a job, but she never bothered to look. With the foundation and Clark to deal with she didn't really have time. Eventually she'd have to do something for appearances sake, but for now she wasn't dealing with that.

"Where are we going?" Diana asked Shannon.

"A club called the Red Door. Rumor has it, there are going to be some members of the Justice League there tonight." Shannon answered.

"Please be Superman, please!" Ziva called. "If he's there I'm gonna lose it!"

Diana tried to hide her frown, she still didn't like it when women talked about Clark like that. She had enough of that on the Watchtower, she didn't want to deal with it here too. Luckily, Kate lightened the mood.

"Superman isn't going to be there. Wonder Woman wouldn't let him go out to a club."

"You really think they're together don't you?" Shannon asked, indicating that she'd heard this theory from Kate before.

"Yes." Kate went on. "They have the same powers, they dress alike, and they'd be crazy cute together."

"I don't know about that." Ziva interjected. "If they were together, I think they would have said something by now. Besides, I'm convinced that Wonder Woman would rather date one of us."

"They're keeping it a secret Ziva!" Kate said. "She's all into him."

Diana held her tongue, one difference between she and Clark, was that he was very comfortable talking about Superman as if he's another person. Diana chalked it up to his always keeping his other life a secret. She on the other hand was uncomfortable when Wonder Woman was the topic of conversation. It was even more disconcerting that their speculation was spot on.

"What do you think Diana? Your boyfriend knows Wonder Woman. Has he ever said anything?" Shannon asked.

The others all shouted in unison, all asking something to the effect of 'How does your boyfriend know Wonder Woman?'

"He interviews her for the Daily Planet. He doesn't really talk about it all that often. I don't think he asks about her personal life." That was true, during interviews Clark was the consummate professional. Even when they were alone, he still wouldn't indicate anything about knowing her personally, let alone dating her. Still, Diana wanted to end this conversation quickly.

Arriving in the club in a limo attracted a lot of attention to the group, seeing a couple of six foot model types in Shannon and Diana, they were immediately allowed into the VIP lounge in the upstairs of the club. To everyone in the group's surprise except Diana, Flash and Green Lantern were hosting the party. They were on a couch in the corner surrounded by women.

Diana didn't like the way the men were looking at her, she was getting the same looks that she got while in her armor, but the men were much more bold. Probably because they didn't think she could throw them across the room if they offended her.

"What's up ma?" One man asked, while Diana was sipping her caramel apple martini.

Diana didn't say anything. She just gave him her best Batman stare. He went away after that.

Clark was sitting alone at home listening to Marvin Gaye records. Every once in awhile he would unbox his turntable and listen to music on vinyl instead of MP3's. Tonight was one of those nights. He was grooving on the couch to 'Please Stay (Once You Go Away)' when his phone rang. John Stewart was on the caller ID.

"Stewart, boy it's a good thing it's you calling and not anybody else. I don't like people interrupting my Motown." Clark joked.

John heard the music through the phone. He loved Motown music just as much as Clark did. If not more. "My bad man. You busy?"

"Not really. What's up?"

"I'm trying to find Hal. His ring says he's in Metropolis, but I'm having a tough time tracking him down. You got some time to help me out?"

"Sure why not. Where are you?"

"Right above you."

Clark looked up through the roof and saw John hovering high above his apartment, out of view of anyone but him. "I'll be right out."

A few minutes later, Superman flew up to meet John. "Thanks man, I know this is kind of inconvenient for you."

"Ah, no big deal. I wasn't doing anything. So what's going on, something on Oa?"

"I guess. Tomar-Re wants us for something, he didn't say what."

"Can't your ring find him?"

"Usually yes. But I think Hal is blocking me somehow. He's not answering his communicator either. He's probably at the club with Wally."

"Probably. Alright let's go track him down."

It was about twenty minutes later when they finally found him. He was in the VIP lounge of a club called the Red Door, surrounded by women.

"Well there he is. I'll see you later." Clark started to fly off.

"Wait a minute man. You're not coming in with me?"

"I don't go to places like this. I'll probably get mobbed."

"Yeah you probably would. But think of it this way, didn't Diana get mad when she found out Hal was betting on you two?"

"Yeah." Clark knew John took part in the betting too, but decided not to say anything.

"How about getting a little payback. If you walk in there, he won't see another girl."

Clark thought about it, Diana hadn't said anything about that incident in a long time. He was sure she was over it. "Ah what the hell."

Ziva was drunk, Shannon was close, there was one man in particular who kept sending them drinks. No doubt thinking he'd get one of them home tonight, but Diana had her eyes on him. She was going to make sure he went home alone. Diana didn't particularly like Ziva, but wouldn't allow her to be taken advantage of, and most definitely not Shannon. The man was on his way over again, until commotion started near the door. Everyone stood and turned, expecting a fight of some sort, only to see Superman and Green Lantern walking into the lounge.

Diana immediately stiffened, thinking there was something going on. For Clark and John to be here something must be. They were probably looking for Hal and Wally. Diana whispered discreetly to Clark, hoping he'd be able to pick her voice out, but he made no indication he did. He didn't seem to be doing much observing anyway. He looked locked in, with the face of the logical alien instead of the sweet caring man that she'd come to know him as. It was the look he usually put on as Superman.

Diana knew it was an act. Deliberately put on to keep himself from being mobbed, and it was working too. Diana learned that women could get aggressive over men when they wanted to. They were bold and pushy, sometimes even more than men were. But one look at his face, a combination of scowl and indifference, stopped them cold in their tracks, just staring and taking pictures with their phones. Ziva squealed and jumped up and down at the sight of him, Diana observed that even her drunken state Ziva was still quite nimble.

Hal and Wally craned their necks to see what the commotion was about, as did the women who were with them. As soon as they saw the red cape, the women rushed away to join the gawkers at Superman.

"Damn, it was fun while it lasted." Wally complained.

"Something must be going down for Superman to be here." Hal observed.

"Wasn't John trying to contact you?"

"Yeah, I was ignoring him, but this must be serious."

Clark and John stood in front of Hal and Wally.

"Outside." John said sternly.

Wally followed them outside assuming whatever was going on included him as well. But he discovered that was not the case, by the time he got through the crowd, John and Hal were already flying away.

"What's going on Blue?" Flash asked.

"I don't know. Something for Oa, I assume."

"So since there's nothing happening. You want to come back and party down for a while?"

Clark looked over at the crowd that had gathered to watch them, a crowd that consisted mostly of women who were still taking pictures. He immediately regretted walking into the club, it was highly out of character for him and he was already considering the repercussions of going in. "No."

"Come on dude!" Wally called as he took off.

But Clark didn't stop, until he heard an unmistakable heartbeat and voice, Diana. She was in the club. Shutting down some guy who was attempting to hit on her. He was surprised he didn't notice her before.

"Hmm. Well this should be interesting." Clark said to himself.

After the limo dropped everyone off at their homes, and Diana made sure Shannon was sufficiently shut in for the night she went for Clark's apartment. She wasn't sure if he noticed her at the club or not, but she wanted to clear the air, just in case he got the wrong idea about why she was there in the first place.

When she arrived Clark was carrying a crate of 33's into his storage room. She strolled quietly into the living room from the balcony, unsure if he noticed her or not.

"Clark?" She called.

"Yeah." He recognized her presence immediately, but was more concerned with putting away his records first.

"Any excitement tonight?" She asked.

"Not really. John needed Hal for something. He asked me to help track him down. But you already knew most of that didn't you?"

"Yes. So you did see me?"

"Yep." He said casually.

"You're not upset are you? That I went to a nightclub without you."

"Not really. As I was leaving I heard you shut down some guy who was trying to pick you up. It was pretty funny."

"Oh don't remind me. I heard some of the most miserable pick up lines ever tonight."

"Did you hear my favorite one?"

"What's your favorite one?"

Clark lifted one eyebrow and turned up half his mouth into a sly smile, and stepped close to her, pretending to be smooth. "Girl... You must be a parking ticket, cause you got fine written all over you."

Diana stared for a second, then burst out laughing. "That's your favorite line? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." She said between guffaws.

"That's what it's supposed to be." It was a line he used often, but only when he was already dating. Now that he thought about it, he was disappointed with himself that he hadn't said it to Diana before.

Diana kicked off her shoes and walked into his bedroom, and took a towel from his linen closet.

"You're staying here tonight?" Clark asked, as she went into the bathroom. He followed, stopping just outside the door.

"I was planning on it." She turned on the shower and began removing her dress. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope." He closed the door leaving her alone.

Sometime later Diana left the shower dripping wet wrapped in her towel. She went to the closet to put away her dress and get a nightgown from one of the bags she kept in the closet. It was ridiculous that everything she kept in his apartment had to be limited to two very small bags he allowed. Diana had the distinct feeling that even Clark thought it was ridiculous, but it still didn't stop him. It was more annoying than anything, and would be something they'd have to deal with moving forward but Diana wasn't dwelling on it now.

Clark hoped Diana would drop the towel and jump in bed with him, but when she emerged from the closet with a fresh nightgown he found he would have no such luck. However since he wouldn't be killing the mood it did give him the opportunity to ask something that had been on his mind.

"Diana?"

"Yes?"

"There's something I wanted to ask you. Something we haven't talked about before, but uh..." He looked serious, Diana became a little concerned, and stopped short of climbing into the bed.

"We've been, sleeping together for a little while now, but haven't discussed any sort of uh, protection."

"Oh that!" Diana was relieved. "No no, it's fine. I can't get pregnant. Don't worry."

"Ok good." Clark was relieved, but for a much different reason than Diana.

"Actually that's not true." Diana said, as she climbed into the bed and curled up next to him. "I can get pregnant, just not if I don't want to. And trust me I don't want to."

"Ok" Clark wondered what she meant by that, but decided not to ask.

"Goodnight Clark."

"Goodnight Diana."

A short time later, before either fell asleep, Diana turned to him again. "Clark?"

"Yes Diana?" He didn't open his eyes or even move.

"I think we should try making love here in the apartment."

"You think?" That got his eyes open.

"Yes. We're going to need to learn eventually." Diana rolled over to get on top of him. "The fortress may not always be an option."

Clark thought that they should get a regular bed and put it in the fortress first. That way they could learn exactly how much to reel themselves in. But when Diana removed her top, he gave up on that thought.

They would have to learn by doing.