I know! Unusually late update from me, but work had me busy! But here it is! I hope you enjoy this last chapter. P.S forgive any mistakes, I haven't exactly had time to proof read it. I will fix any mistakes as soon as I have some time.

15

The next two days go by in a blink of an eye. All of us allow ourselves to enjoy these days of happiness by putting aside all of our worries and future battles. Mother organized a big feast to celebrate not only my return home, but Antiope and Steve's return and our new alliance with men.

Well, some of them.

I stand in front of the mirror watching myself in a floor length, white tunic with a plunging neckline; my hair falling in waves over my shoulders and the most unburdened look I remember seeing in my face in a long time.

I walk over to my bed and grab the golden rope to tie it around my waist. I feel a little jittery. I feel vulnerable now that I don't have any particular mission I'm going to complete or information I'm looking to gather. Me going to this feast is just for me. No hidden agenda and no ulterior motives.

I finish tying the knot and look at myself one more time before heading to the great hall. As I descend the stairs, I hear the music grow louder and louder and I wonder if there will ever come a time when occasions like this one will become more plentiful.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and I can hear the distinct laughter of Antiope and Menalippe, who no doubt have had a few drinks in them by now. Amazons. being the mega humans that we are, have a higher tolerance for alcohol which makes our spirits quite strong.

"You look beautiful,"

I turn around to see Steve and Bruce both wearing beige pants, but Steve's wearing a light blue shirt and Bruce a white one. My mouth falls slightly open at seeing Steve look so… modern.

"Where did you get that?" is the first thing that I think to say.

Steve points to Bruce, "Bruce lent me some of his clothes and the seamstress your Mother kindly sent our way made a couple of arrangements and now it fits perfectly,"

He looks down at himself and then up at me and I can't help but smile at the spark in his eyes.

"You look very handsome,"

He smiles at me and I feel my smile grow bigger and bigger. Apparently we were admiring each other longer than I thought because Bruce aggressively reminds us he's here. Clearing his throat very loudly and slapping his hands together, he looks between the two of us.

"So, shall we head to the party? I have a very hot Amazon, hopefully in a stunning dress as well, waiting for me somewhere in there,"

I roll my eyes at Bruce and Steve takes a few steps towards me and offers me his arm, "Princess,"

I take his arm and nod my head slightly forward, "Captain,"

We walk down the corridor that leads to the great hall and when we reach the doors, two guards open them wide for us and as soon as the three of us come into the room, standing side by side, cheers erupt.

We make our way to the centre of the hall where Mother awaits for us with a warm smile. She hugs all three of us and raises her hand to ask everyone to be silent.

"Today we celebrate four people who have fought against Gods, against death and against evils one should never have to face. Today we celebrate truly courageous and selfless people. Bruce Wayne; a citizen of Man's World who has showed us that no matter where you come from, if you decide to do good then wonderful things can be achieved. For your willingness to help vanquish evil, we celebrate you. Antiope; our cherished General and my beloved sister, you have always put everyone before you and there isn't a single person in this room who does not know that. For your bravery and selflessness, we celebrate you.

Captain Steve Trevor, a pilot who crashed into our island and changed everything for us in a matter of minutes. You showed us, showed me, that not all men are the same and that we shouldn't condemn all for the acts of one. You showed my daughter what lay outside Themyscira, you protected her and guided her and most importantly, you showed her love. For your compassion and willingness to protect and not destroy, we celebrate you."

I feel myself fill up with infinite amounts of pride as I look at Steve and see him with his head bowed, his humbleness not allowing him to look at my Mother in the eyes as she praises him. Eventually he raises his head and I lock eyes with him and hope all of that pride and love is reflected in my eyes.

He winks at me and I can't help the smile that tugs at my lips.

"And last but not least, Diana. You are a better Amazon than I will ever be. You don't ever let anyone tell you who you should protect, even if that someone is me. You have sacrificed so much in your life to make sure others are safe. You always fight, even when all seems lost; even when all seems hopeless. You have a gift and it has nothing to do with who your Father is. You are truly good. You have the purest heart of anyone I have ever met and I can truly call myself the luckiest woman for having had the honor of being your Mother. I once told you you were my greatest joy and today, you are my greatest pride. For your bravery and dedication to the cause, we celebrate you,"

I feel the tears run down my cheeks as Mother raises her cup and everyone follows suit exclaiming,

"May the Gods protect, Bruce Wayne! May the Gods Protect Antiope! May the Gods protect Steve Trevor! May the Gods protect Diana!"

The band starts playing music again and I move to envelope Mother in a hug. "Thank you, Mother. Your words mean so much to me,"

I feel her cup the back of my head and kiss me on the temple, "It is the truth and I should have told you that earlier. I love you, Diana,"

"I love you too, Mother,"

She pulls back and rests her hand on my cheek. She looks over my shoulder and nods her head forward, "I believe you have a Captain waiting for you. Go. Have fun,"

I smile at her and turn around to walk towards Steve. I stretch my hand out and he takes it.

"I think it's time for you to truly know what dancing looks like,"

He throws his head back and laughs, "I don't remember you complaining at all,"

I feel the heat creep up my neck as I remember exactly what kind of dance we ended up doing that night.

"I wasn't complaining. I was merely making an observation,"

We walk to the dance floor and I teach him the most basic of moves which involve some lifts and turns, nothing complicated, but as it turns out, Steve is actually a really good dancer and we dance for hours.

The next day we stand in the shore, duffle bag in my hand, Steve and Bruce next to me and feeling very homesick even though I'm still home.

"We shall wait for your message and we will be ready," Mother says to me trying to stay 'all business' but I can hear the sadness in her voice even though it's not obvious.

"And Bruce will send a ship to take you all to the battle scene," I say going over the plan one last time.

She nods her head and lets a moment pass before hugging me fiercely.

"We'll see each other again soon, Mother."

"I know. But I will still miss you everyday. Be careful,"

I pull back and smile at her. "I will be. I'll miss you too."

"She'll be fine, Hippolyta,"

I switch my gaze to Antiope and she gives me that knowing look, "We'll give them hell,"

"Yes, we will,"

She nods her head once and hugs me as fiercely as Mother. She pulls back and looks at Steve.

"Captain," Antiope walks a little closer to him. "We have been on quite a journey together and it seems we are going to be on it still. I wish you good fortune and until we meet again, my friend,"

Steve smiles at her, "I wouldn't have chosen anyone else to escape the Underworld with. Thanks for everything, Antiope. I'm glad I get to call you a friend,"

Antiope motions him forward and hugs him. We all say our goodbyes one more time (including Bruce saying a very passionate goodbye to Venelia) and we get on the boat to cross the barrier to the yacht. I sit on the boat and look at Mother and Antiope and see them grow smaller and smaller until a ripple appears and just like that, they're gone.

I turn around and see Steve looking at me with a sad smile, "It won't be too long until you're with them again,"

"I know,"

We reach the yacht and I momentarily forget my sadness over leaving my home because I'm too distracted by Steve's stunned face.

"This is quite a yacht, Bruce,"

Bruce stretches his hand out to me and I take it, stepping onto the yacht.

"Oh, this old thing? I was actually going to donate it. I have better ones. I just assumed Diana would prefer the 5 million dollar yacht as opposed to the 25 million dollar one. For a woman who wears Prada, she really doesn't like anything too flashy,"

I give Bruce a look, but he shrugs. I like wearing nice clothes. It's one of the few things I actually spoil myself with. Plus I work at the Louvre. I can't exactly wear Levi's to work.

Steve's jaw practically hits the floor, "25 million do – Wow. You really are a millionaire,"

"Fourth richest man on Earth," Bruce reminds him once again.

Bruce turns the motor on and we sail towards Nice. When we were near the Amalfi coast a drone circled us for a few minutes before landing on Bruce's feet. He leant down and opened a compartment on the drone and pulled out an envelope. He gave a signal to the camera on the drone and it flew away.

"What was that?", I asked a little confused. Steve was even more confused, not only by the situation but by the actual drone.

"This," – He hands the envelope to Steve – "Is your way in. Inside you'll find a birth certificate, ID, passport and driver's license,"

Steve looks surprised at Bruce and opens the envelope. He pulls out all the documents, looking at them closely. "Steve Rockwell Trevor. Date of birth June 2nd, 1980. How did you even do this so fast?"

Bruce points at himself, "I'm fast like that. Plus I have an Alfred,"

Steve frowns confused but he shakes his head, finally understanding Bruce a little better. "Thank you,"

"You already thanked me. No need to keep repeating it," For all his grandeur and big ego, Bruce can be incredibly humble.

The rest of the trip is uneventful and by the time we reach Nice, the sun is coming out and we are descending from the yacht. As expected, a member of the coast guard is expecting us and he asks to see all of our documentation. He examines Steve's passport more thoroughly as he's an American and seems to find no problems with it. We breathe a sigh of relieve as we walk the marina towards the parking lot.

"Are you sure you don't want the Lambo?"

I roll my eyes, "I'm sure Bruce,"

"Okay, okay. I guess this is where we part ways. I'll call in a week, but if you need anything, I'm just a phone call away,"

"Thank you, Bruce. For everything. See you in a week," I hug him and when I pull back, Steve shakes his hand.

"See you later, Bruce,"

"See you later, Steve,"

With that, he gets into his car and drives off.

"Now what?" Steve asks me.

"We uber to the airport,"

"We what?"

I laugh at his confusion, "I'll explain it to you later,"

We reach the airport and Steve cannot even belief what he's seeing. The actual design of the airport and the little things like vending machines and scanners fascinate him. When we reach security my heart starts beating a little faster, as the true test of Bruce's ability to falsify documents will be tested now. We try to look as unworried as possible, laughing about anything we can think of. The agents don't even bat an eyelash our way. They scan my passport and I walk through the x-ray machine.

"Have a nice flight, madame. Sir,"

Steve copies my exact movements, they scan his passport, he walks through the x-ray machine,

"Have nice flight, monsieur,"

We walk towards the bar and sag with relief.

Thank you, Bruce.

We reach Paris 4 hours later and we take a taxi to my apartment on the Oberkampf district. We ride the elevator to the 7th floor; I pull my keys out of my duffle bag and open the door.

"Welcome home, Steve,"

He takes tentative steps and looks around. "This is beautiful,"

"Thanks. I tried to make it mine. Although no place I ever lived ever felt like home. Maybe that will change now,"

He smiles at me, "I think it will,"

"Well," – I lower my duffle bag next to the coffee table – "I'm making myself something to drink. You want anything?"

"I'll take whatever you're having,"

I see him move to the couch and sit down. I go to the kitchen and put a pod into the coffee maker and repeat the process once again. I take both mugs with me to the living room. I sit next to him on the couch, folding my legs under me. I hand him the mug.

"Here,"

"Thank you," He takes a tentative sip. His eyebrows shoot up and he stares down at the milky brown liquid. "This tastes amazing."

I smile at the role reversal. 100 years ago I was the one being constantly amazed at every new thing I saw and every new thing I tasted. Now I get to be the one to show him all the wonderful things this century has to offer.

"That one is my favourite – vanilla latte. The espresso machine is one of my most prized possessions," I say with a smile. Then I remember his watch, the most precious thing of all.

I stand up and walk to my bedroom to bring the watch from my nightstand. I feel Steve's eyes on me, sensing the change in my mood, but he doesn't say anything.

Everywhere I went, the watch has always been on my person, and every time I went to sleep, the watch was always right next to me on my nightstand. A constant reminder, a physical reminder that he was real – that he was here. And now I have him back.

I walk back to the living room with the watch on my hand. He's looking at me curiously, not noticing his watch. When I sit down next to him, putting my mug on the coffee table and leaning back, he sees it and freezes.

"My watch," He too puts down his mug and takes the watch gently from me, rubbing the glass with his thumb. "After all this time. You kept it," He raises his eyes to meet mine.

I feel the tears coming and for the first time since Steve's death, I will allow myself to be seen crying in Man's World. The last person who saw me cry was Etta, before she passed away. Every single tear I've shed since then has been done in the privacy of my own home. I never found a group of friends with whom I felt I could be that vulnerable with. Or, I should say, I didn't bother to get to know anyone well enough again. I just couldn't fathom the thought of losing someone close to me once more.

"That watch helped me so many times. When I thought I couldn't be happy again, I would look at it and remember that you gave your life up so that the rest of us could fight for our happiness. When I was angry at the things that men would do, I would look at it and be reminded that with the darkness that all men have in their hearts, there's also light,"

The unshed tears that were making my vision blurry spill over and I look down at my hands, feeling overwhelmed by the emotions I haven't let myself feel in so long. I feel Steve cover my hand with his and give it a squeeze, understanding frighteningly well what I'm going through.

He doesn't say a word.

"On the days that I would feel your absence and the pain in my heart was choking me, I would look at your watch and remember the time that we did have. And although it wasn't nearly enough, it got me through,"

He puts his hand on my cheek and gently wipes away the tears with his thumb. My eyes close instantly at his touch. I cover his hand with mine, letting his presence anchor me.

"I have missed you every day for the last 100 years," I feel an overwhelming urge to say, "I love you. I always have and I always will. I love you,"

I open my eyes to see him crying too. "I love you. I've loved you since the moment I saw you and I'm sorry I left you. We're not wasting any more time. I'm here now. I'm still not a hundred percent sure how the hell I manage that, but I'm here,"

We both laugh a watery laugh. Both of his hands are now holding my face, his thumbs rubbing my temples. I lean forward so that our foreheads are touching.

"I promise you this time nothing will tear us apart. I'm here to stay by your side for as long as I possibly can. I will fight anything and anyone who threatens our time together, I promise you that,"

I nod my head and close the space between us. The kiss is different from all the other kisses I've shared with Steve. It feels like the sealing of a promise.

And we all know that a promise, a promise is unbreakable.

AN:The end has come, my readers! But do not fret, I have written an epilogue and I will not make you wait until Wednesday. Expect the epilogue on Friday at around 7pm PST. It has been my honour and for the last time, see you Friday!