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Chapter 22

Lex Luthor grinned as he stared at the big bold letters splashed across the front page of his newspaper—"Wayne/Wonder Woman Wedding Postponed". He reread the headline for the tenth time, savoring each word as his grin grew wider.

He lost himself in the stunning full-color picture of Diana below the headline, choosing to ignore the fact that Bruce Wayne was standing right beside her with his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. The Amazon looked incredible in a navy blue halter dress that hugged her every curve in just the right ways; the color making her eyes appear even bluer if that was even possible.

Her raven hair hung in loose waves over her shoulders, her dazzling smile drawing him in as if she was smiling just for him. She was the epitome of everything that he'd ever wanted in a woman, but had yet to truly find until now. He wasn't certain how he'd allowed himself to become so focused on destroying Superman and the Justice League when she had been there right under his nose the whole time.

He could have had her long before now if he had been paying attention, possibly eliminating the League at the same time. He still believed that removing her from the League would put a huge chink in their seemingly impenetrable armor. Removing the very heart of the legendary do-gooders would ultimately cripple them.

Batman and Superman were obviously protective of her regardless of the fact she could more than likely take both of them out if it came down to it. They had made that abundantly apparent with their visits to his cell in Arkham, warning him to stay away from her. Once he removed the trinity, the rest would crumble…or at least that was what he was still banking on.

Luthor slowly raked his teeth over his bottom lip as he stared intently at her picture. He'd been so close to having her all to himself with that chip he'd implanted in her brain only to lose her again. This time would be different, though. With her power and his brains, they would be unstoppable.

He forced himself to tear his gaze away from her picture long enough to read the actual article, anxious to find out what had happened to delay the most anticipated wedding of the entire century. He was almost giddy as he read how Bruce Wayne had been injured in a serious car accident in Tokyo. Wonder Woman had immediately flown to Japan to be with him and to bring him back to Gotham to recover in the comfort of their home.

Luthor smirked to himself, not believing it. He didn't doubt that the wedding had been postponed, but an accident wasn't the cause. He was certain that Wayne had done something stupid to screw up his relationship with the Amazon princess and Luthor would make sure he would be there to help her pick up the pieces. At the very least, it had bought him more time to get what he wanted if the story was true.

"What did you do this time, Wayne?" he muttered suspiciously to himself, his dark eyes narrowing as he studied the picture again.

This time he focused on Bruce Wayne, his gaze roaming over his competition for the Amazon's affections. A nagging feeling slowly swelled from some distant place in the back of his mind that told him something was wrong with this whole thing, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He didn't trust Wayne as far as he could throw him, but, if truth be told, he didn't trust anyone but himself.

Maybe Wayne wasn't as big of a fool as everyone had thought he was. Wonder Woman obviously saw some sort of redeemable quality in the billionaire playboy or she never would've fallen for him. She was by no means stupid. Maybe Bruce Wayne wasn't either.

Lex began to ponder the unexpected thought that it was all just an act, wondering now if there was actually more to Bruce Wayne then he had given him credit for. He ran his hand back over his bald head as he contemplated the somewhat startling notion, slowly turning it over in his mind.

Diana would never have fallen for his playboy antics or his womanizing ways. She must have seen something more in him than anyone else ever had. An Amazon warrior from an all-female island wouldn't tolerate such obnoxious, idiotic behavior from a man no less. She would've knocked his teeth down his throat with the first lewd comment or groping move he made on her.

There was always the outside chance that Luthor was giving Diana too much credit, but he highly doubted it. The possibility still remained that she had given Wayne a chance to prove himself and prove himself he did; rising to the challenge of courting a stunningly beautiful princess who was so far above him, Wayne could've only hoped to attain her in his dreams.

There was no doubt; however, the Amazon had definitely reformed him, banishing the philanderer that he once had been and transforming him into a respectable human being.

Pieces of the puzzle gradually began to click into place in Luthor's mind the more he worked to unravel the mystery of why Wonder Woman had fallen for Wayne of all people. He stared at Bruce's face, the niggling sensation in his brain growing stronger. Seeing him in this possible new light, there was something about him that was familiar to him in a way that he had never noticed before.

Unfortunately for Lex, Hush decided to enter the room at that moment, interrupting what could have proven to be the biggest discovery of the decade, but it quickly slipped through his fingers as he turned to address his newest partner in crime.

"Looked at a newspaper lately?" Lex asked with a smug grin as he abruptly tossed his copy of the Daily Planet at him.

Hush caught it against his chest with a frown before holding it up to look at it. "Looks like someone in this universe is on your side."

"It says they should be returning to Gotham in a couple more days," Lex told him. "It should give us plenty of time to finish plotting out our next move."

"I thought you already had everything planned out," Hush tersely said as he tossed the newspaper back at Luthor, "or do you have something better in mind then bugging Wayne Manor?"

"Hey, that was all your idiotic idea," Luthor shot back as he smoothed out the wrinkles of his paper to gaze at Diana's picture once more. "Soon, Princess, soon," he thought to himself.

"No, going after your Amazon was my idea," Hush corrected him. "You decided you just wanted to bug the place instead. Look how well that went. We ended up with nothing more than an English butler talking gibberish and then 'crunch'…no more bug."

"It's not my fault he broke the vase," Luthor snarled.

Hush glared at Lex, his hands coming to rest on his hips. "It was your hired henchmen that trampled the bug when they charged into the house."

Lex leapt to his feet, his newspaper forgotten as he swiftly closed the distance between them. "Squabbling like children isn't going to get us what we both want. You want Bruce Wayne and I want Wonder Woman. Let's just get this done and then we never have to see each other ever again."

"Fine with me," Hush ground out. "Less time I have to spend with your ugly, egotistical—"

"Don't push me," Lex interjected, anger punctuating every word. "I'm running this whole operation. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be here right now."

Hush laughed something sardonic and cold, his head falling back with amusement. "Don't flatter yourself, Lex. You need me more than you can possibly dream. I know Bruce Wayne better than he knows himself. Without me, you won't get your precious little princess."

Luthor's face was growing redder by the second, his blood near boiling. "I will have her," he spat out, standing nose to nose with him. "With your help, I will transform her and she will rule by my side or she's nothing more than a liability."

Hush snorted in response as he rolled his eyes. "Like you could actually take Wonder Woman's life. If you love her as much as you claim to, then you won't be able to kill her."

"If she stands in the way of what I want most, then I'll have no choice but to end her life."

Lex actually felt an unexpected measure of sorrow over the thought. It was a somewhat startling feeling, one that he wasn't accustomed to experiencing. He wasn't exactly used to it and he definitely didn't like it, but he wasn't going to let it get in the way of what had to be done. He'd just have to work that much harder at breaking her and the perfect way to do that was through Bruce Wayne.

Hush shook his head as he turned away from him in obvious disbelief, still laughing to himself. "I won't believe it until I see it, Lex. The way you obsess over her says something completely different."

Luthor scowled as he dropped back down into his chair. "Do you really think I care what you think?" he asked with a bitter tone. "Let's get to work. We only have two days before they're back and I want to strike before they have a chance to reschedule the wedding. Are you certain you have everything you need to perform the necessary procedure on Diana?"

"Yes," Hush confirmed as he looked over the trays of surgical instruments Luthor had shipped in especially for this surgery. "All we need now is Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman."

XXX

Lying there in the dark, Donna lightly traced invisible patterns on Dick's chiseled chest, her mind a million miles away from her bedroom in the palace on Themyscira and yet it was just down the hall in the room next to hers.

She couldn't stop worrying about Bruce and Diana even though they were safely back from the Underworld now. They may be alive and on the road to physical recovery after what they had suffered, but mentally…she wasn't so sure.

Neither of them would talk about what they had seen or the trials that Hades had forced them to face in order to prove their love for one another. They had both been deeply affected by what had happened to them, neither of them immune to the emotional trauma they'd endured despite their mental fortitude.

She hoped in time they'd begin to open up about what they had experienced no matter how horrible it could be. They couldn't keep it bottled up inside forever. It would only end up festering, breaking them down and possibly driving them apart if not careful.

Donna felt Dick tighten his hold on her, his hand gently rubbing her back. "You can't stop thinking about them either?"

She was surprised that he knew what she was thinking, but she didn't question it. "I can't help it," she admitted instead. "I've never seen Diana like this before. She was really struggling just to keep herself together. She's always been so strong, Dick…so confident and full of life, but now…"

"I know," he agreed, releasing a long slow breath as he thought about it. "The look in her eyes was unnerving. They were almost wild with fear when Bruce left her on the beach this morning. I thought she was going to have a panic attack."

"Something terrible happened down there…something we can't even begin to imagine," she murmured, unable to hide the fear in her voice or suppress the shudder that roiled through her. "Bruce doesn't seem to be handling it much better than Diana. He's like a walking zombie."

"It's almost as if he's emotionally shutting down, functioning on pure instinct and nothing more," Dick confirmed. "I think his love for Diana is the only thing holding him together right now."

"Her love for Bruce is the only thing keeping Diana going," Donna replied. "It's like they were both broken down and stripped of everything they had until there was only their love for each other left to save them."

Dick stared at the ceiling of Donna's bedroom as he continued to rub her back, contemplating Bruce and Diana's behavior. "I don't know what they encountered, but it shook them both to their core. It's like they don't know what to think or believe anymore. The only thing they have to hold onto now is each other."

"I just hope they do turn to each other for comfort."

"You're afraid Bruce will shut her out?"

Donna lifted her head, resting her chin on his bare chest so she could look into his impossibly blue eyes. Even in the darkness of her room, she could see his love for her shining brightly in them. "You know as well as I do Bruce used to shut her out at every turn over the years. It took her nearly dying for him to finally admit that he loved her."

"I know, but Diana has really changed him, Donna," he told her as his fingers absentmindedly played with her dark hair. "Since Bruce let her in, he's been a completely different man. I've never seen him so happy or in love like this in all the years that I've known him. He's more relaxed and content, finally at peace with himself as well as his past.

"Diana has been the only one who has ever been able to do that for him. Besides, he just risked his life in order to prove his love for her. I don't think he'll just walk away from her now."

"But do you think he's changed enough that he won't run away from her?"

"I hope so," he confessed with a sigh. "We'll just have to keep an eye on them, watch them to see how they handle this going forward. If things begin to fall apart, we might have to step in and knock their heads together."

Several moments of silence passed before Donna spoke again. "I didn't even have the chance to tell her about us," she murmured, sadness causing her voice to tremble. "I've never been happier and I can't even tell my own sister about it yet."

Dick pulled Donna to lie on top of him, taking pleasure in the feel of her body pressed against the length of him. "I know what you mean, but we'll tell them about us as soon as they have recovered from all of this. Until then, I'm happy just having you all to myself without anyone knowing."

Donna's lips curled into a tender smile, her eyes dancing with mischief. "Well, I think my mother suspects something and we'll have to see just how long it takes for Artemis to spill the beans. She's not one to keep secrets especially from my mother."

A low moan emanated from his chest as her hands roamed over his chest, relishing the feel of her touch. "I shudder to think about how your mother will handle having both of her daughters in love with mortal men who are also superheroes. Just please tell me that Hades isn't your father too."

"No," Donna retorted, shaking her head. "You know you don't have to worry about that."

"Thank your Goddess Hera for that," he teased her, his lips lightly brushing against hers. "Batman made it back from his encounter with Hades, but I have a feeling I wouldn't be so lucky."

"Why do you say that?" she asked with a frown. "I thought Bruce was the one who trained you."

"He did train me, but I have a feeling that Hades would make it twice as hard on me after having to deal with Bruce."

Donna kissed him on the nose, her hands settling on either side of his face. "Don't worry; I'll always take care of you."

A mischievous smirk spread across Dick's face as his hands settled on her bottom. "Just how do you plan on doing that? Please, be very specific, Donna. I want to hear every dirty detail."

Donna chuckled softly, hooking her legs firmly around his to secure her spot on top of him. "How about I just show you, Boy Wonder?"

Dick groaned in response, closing his eyes as her lips descended on his throat, her hands beginning to explore his muscular body. "I think I really like that idea, but, if you ever call me Boy Wonder again, I'm going to make you pay dearly for it."

She giggled against his throat, her body shaking with her amusement. "Oh, really? And just how do you plan to do that?"

Donna released a squeal as Dick abruptly flipped her over, rolling her under him and taking full control. "I guess I'll just have to show you, Wonder Girl."

She scowled up at him, her blue eyes narrowing into a deadly glare. "It's Troia now and you know it…Dick. Don't call me—"

She gasped sharply as he abruptly pushed himself fully inside of her, taking her breath away and silencing her. "What were you saying…Donna?"

She replied by leaning up and covering his mouth with her own, kissing him hard and stealing his breath this time. Neither found the desire to speak anymore as he began to move his hips, setting a tempo that had them both moaning with building pleasure, all thoughts of Bruce and Diana quickly vanishing.

XXX

Waking with a start, Bruce swiftly sat up feeling a momentary flash of dread wash through him, struggling to remember where he was. His heart pounded against his bruised ribcage as he looked around the room, finally remembering that he was in Diana's bedroom in the royal palace on Themyscira.

Rubbing his face with his hands, he fought to catch his breath, finally forcing himself to lie back down. He swallowed down the thick knot of worry that had lodged in his throat as he tried to rein in the emotions storming within him.

Shafts of moonlight spilled across the bed, entering from the balcony doors on the other side of the room and casting an angelic glow on the woman sleeping next to him. He stared at her for a long time, watching her as she slept, the peaceful rise and fall of her chest. He drank in every minute detail from the way her long eyelashes lightly brushed against her cheekbones to the delicate curve of her face; her proud chin to her silky hair that fell in loose raven curls.

There was nothing about her that wasn't absolute perfection, nothing that didn't completely turn him on or drive him to distraction. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her breathless at that moment, to cover her body with his own and make love to her for the rest of his life, but he couldn't.

Too much had happened; too much that he didn't want to deal with.

He loved her more than anything, but he couldn't be with her right now, not the way that he was aching to or in the way that he knew she needed. He had longed for her with such a fierce desperation when they had been separated in the Underworld and now that he finally had her back, he was almost afraid to be near her or touch her.

He was terrified he was going to lose her again. Holding her lifeless body in his arms had caused a piece of his soul to die along with her and he didn't know if he'd ever get it back. How would he handle it now if the Joker ever got his hands on her for real? Would he be able to control his rage? Keep himself from killing him just to protect her, to prevent going through that unimaginable anguish all over again?

From the moment he had first donned the cape and cowl, he had sworn that he would never cross that line for anyone, for any reason. Then Diana had come into his life and he had still vowed that he would never kill, not even for her. But now…now, he didn't know what to think or believe especially after what he'd witnessed in the Underworld.

He had practically trembled with an overwhelming desire to kill the Joker with his bare hands when he had seen him slicing Diana with that butcher knife, when she had reappeared with blood coating the insides of her thighs. If he could have gotten his hands on him in that moment, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would have taken the Joker's life and it scared him senseless.

Even now, images of what the Joker had done to Diana made him ill to his core, inflaming his fury and fueling his fear. He could no longer trust himself to not let his love for Diana get in the way of his mission, of staying true to his beliefs even if it cost him her.

Everything had been turned upside down and inside out—his love for her, his beliefs, his confidence, his mission. Nothing had been immune to the hell that he had experienced over the last several days.

Staring at her now, Bruce couldn't keep himself from reaching out to finger a raven strand, allowing it to curl around his forefinger. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let her go, hiding here in this room alone with her forever.

He gently brushed the lock of hair back away from her face with a reluctant sigh. She softly murmured his name in her sleep, causing a faint fleeting smile to touch his lips. Even covered in bruises and cuts, she was still breathtaking to behold, almost painfully so.

He wanted to kiss every bruise, every cut in order to atone for not being there for her, for failing to protect her not only from the punishment her own father had laid out for her but also from what the Joker had done to her in his nightmare. Even though it hadn't really been her, it had felt all too real to him.

He should have gotten to her sooner, found a way to force Hades to let her go before the Hydra's poison had taken her life, but he had failed her. "I'm so very sorry, Princess," he whispered. "I let you down."

Careful not to wake her, Bruce pushed the sheet away before slipping out of bed, stifling a groan as his body screamed in protest. After eating this morning, they had both fallen asleep, not waking until this moment. His body was stiff, his shoulder sore and his ribs aching mercilessly after spending the entire day in bed.

He made his way to the glass doors, silently opening them and stepping out onto the balcony and into the night. He looked back over his shoulder at his princess to make sure he hadn't woken her. He wanted Diana to sleep for as long as possible, hoping it would help her recover more quickly. While more than anxious to return to Gotham, she was his priority right now.

It was killing him inside to see her like this. From where he stood on the balcony, he could see that the wounds on her back had bled, nearly seeping through the thick bandages that he'd applied. He would have to clean and bandage them again as soon as she woke up. Even though a Meta, he still feared they might become infected. He wouldn't put anything past Hades.

Bruce scowled as he thought back on their last few moments in the Underworld. While Hades had thankfully brought Diana back to life again and removed her stutter, he hadn't seen fit to heal any of her wounds. He didn't know how injuries sustained in the Underworld would heal now or if her Meta healing would even be able to keep up with her injuries.

Too many variable and no answers. It drove him crazy. Time would have to tell.

Guilt continued to eat away at his heart, forcing him to turn away from her. He walked to the edge of the balcony, resting his forearms on the stone ledge as he took in the exquisite scenery that stretched out before him, the way the moonlight reflected off the water. This truly was paradise in every sense of the word.

They were supposed to be getting married in the morning, going on their honeymoon tomorrow night. He had planned it all out, taking her to an amazing place that he'd picked out just for her as a surprise. It was supposed to be amazing, just the two of them for a whole week with no interruptions, no League missions, no Gotham, no rogues.

Now, he didn't know when they'd be able to get married.

"As of now, it's on hold indefinitely."

The words that he had spoken to Alfred early this morning still echoed in his mind and pierced his heart. What he had wanted most had slipped through his fingers once more just like he should have known it would. It always did.

His eyes fell closed as the warm tropical breeze brushed against his face, the steady crash of the waves against the Themyscirian shore reaching his ears in an effort coax him out of his brooding. Everything felt so out of control, beyond his grasp and for once in his life he had no idea how to fix it.

Thoughts of his parents rose to the surface of his mind, his throat clenching painfully. He had received the unexpected gift of seeing his parents again only to be forced to choose between saving them or saving the woman he loved more than his own life.

It had been an impossible choice that he'd had to make—choosing between his past and his future, between two dreams that could never co-exist no matter how desperately he wanted them to. How could he choose one knowing he would lose the other?

Watching his parents' murder had been devastating, destroying his eight year olds' world and forever altering the course of his life. It had hurled him down a path that had ultimately led him to find true love in Diana, contentment unlike anything he'd ever known could exist before her.

He knew in his heart that he couldn't have taken the risk of robbing the world of Wonder Woman nor could he have survived living without her. Alfred had told him once soon after he had proposed to Diana that this was what his parents had wanted most for him, to find love with a beautiful woman like her. They wouldn't have wanted him to be consumed with his mission, missing out on happiness or a future with her.

Right now, he was clinging to that belief with all he had.

XXX

Diana's eyes slowly fluttered open, her vision blurry before finally clearing as she fought to connect her thoughts. She hurt all over, but at least it wasn't that excruciating pain that she had experienced in the Underworld from the Hydra's poison.

She immediately reached out with trembling fingers to feel the empty place in her bed where Bruce was supposed to be, frightened to find him not there. Her heart instantly raced as her mind began to spin, her blood rushing in her ears. She bit her bottom lip as she tried to control the waves of panic that washed through her, knowing that he had to be here somewhere. He wouldn't just leave her.

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take slow deep breaths in an effort to pull herself together. Bruce needed her and she wouldn't let him down. It was all because of her that he had been taken to the Underworld and forced to endure one nightmare after another.

Memories of her own nightmares besieged her, further fueling her panic. Bruce loved her. He had more than proven that to her with what he had just gone through for her and yet she couldn't help fearing that it would end up driving him away in the end.

What if he decided now that marrying her wasn't what he wanted after all? What if dealing with her father had proven to him that he wanted nothing to do with her or her gods?

Grimacing with pain, she pulled her legs up to her chest, pressing her forehead against her knees as she struggled to forget the things that Bruce and Selina had said about her on that rooftop in her nightmare, how he had loved her once, but not any longer.

"I only love you, Selina. No one else."

The memory of that moment made her nauseated. She refused to give in to the fear lancing through her. It wasn't true. Bruce loved her, wanted to marry her. She needed to hold on to that with all that she had if she was ever going to make it through this.

She hated feeling like this, so unlike the strong Amazon warrior that she had been trained to be. Hades had managed to play upon buried fears, twisting her mind and toying with her emotions. It had shaken her to her very foundation and now she had to find a way to get back to the Diana she had been before Thanatos has taken them.

Something inside of her made her lift her head, forcing her to look to her left. She suddenly noticed Bruce standing there on the balcony. She drew a shuddering breath as she stared at him. She felt as though she had been buried alive in a deep chasm, Bruce the ray of light leading her out of the darkness and fear that consumed her.

He looked so broken standing there in the moonlight, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed as if in prayer, but she knew better. Her heart broke for him, wishing that he would talk to her and let her in. Neither of them had talked about what they had experienced or the nightmares they had lived through.

She didn't know if she could ever talk about it. Talking about it would make it all too real and she wasn't prepared to deal with that.

She silently slipped out of bed, desperate to touch him and needing that connection with him. She knew he would know she was there before she even reached him, but she didn't care. She just needed to feel him now more than ever.

Coming to a stop behind him, Diana silently watched as he raised his head, his body instantly tensing with her presence as if prepared for a fight. There was so much pain surrounding him, rolling off of him in fierce waves. It was palpable and she shared it, felt it in her bones. It was similar to hers and yet different.

It felt as though there was a wall separating them, keeping them from being what each other needed in that moment. She was standing an inch away from him and yet it felt as though they were miles apart from each other. She lowered her head, releasing a ragged breath choked with tears that threatened to release.

Bruce didn't move, didn't breath, so unsure of himself that his stomach churned. He'd never felt so uncertain about anything in his entire life…about her. He was engaged to her, she was his lover. He needed her just as much as she needed him right now and yet he found himself nearly paralyzed with fear—fear of losing her again, holding her only to have her slip away from him, afraid that he truly wasn't what was best for her or that he couldn't protect her like he needed to.

His breath hitched as he felt her hand come to rest so gently against his back. They stood there like that for several moments, her hand on his bare back before her arms slowly began to snake around his waist, the side of her face coming to rest against his back.

He hung his head in shame as his hand tentatively came to rest over hers, cursing himself for being so weak and allowing his fears to consume him again, keeping him from her. Because of her, he had been able to do battle with his demons only to find them returning with a fierce vengeance. Would he ever be able to defeat them again?

With her, he truly hoped he could someday.