It felt wrong to be having a birthday party at a time such as this. So it was only for Alfred's sake that Bruce had decided to throw a party at Wayne Manor for all those who wanted to come. The turnout happened to be many times what he had expected and suddenly Bruce was left staring blankly through an undulating mass of urban socialites, trying to reconcile with himself.

Dozens of thoughts were galloping through his head, distracting him thoroughly from his surroundings. For instance, he still was unsure of his own theory that the government was behind the efforts to dismantle or destroy the League, even though the evidence was fairly clear. And if it was that clear, what might that mean for Clark? Bruce almost openly dreaded the idea that Clark might unwittingly get turned into some all-powerful pawn of someone with evil intentions. He dreaded even more the prospect of renewing the bitter feud they had set aside years ago to form the League in the first place. And that left the question of how Bruce might actually hope to win that speculative confrontation with Clark when he had just barely survived the last one. At the time, Bruce had fully resigned himself to the idea that he was going to be a martyr for humanity. That was then, however, and what might have worked then made little sense now.

"Bruce… Bruce man, do you hear me buddy?"

The question from Oliver Queen finally managed to snap Bruce out of his trance like meditation of these issues. So with an awkward throat clearing, Bruce summoned every scrap of manners he could within the context of the conversation and said, "I'm sorry Joan, I was a million miles away."

Ollie raised a pure blond eyebrow at him. He always hated being called by his pet name Joan, a play on his middle name of Jonas. It was a jibe that Bruce had hurled his way on occasion since they had first been in business together about four years ago. As it stood, it seemed as though Ollie was willing to let the swipe go for the moment in the interest of finally having a two sided conversation. "As I was saying, the recent legislation must have been very good for Wayne Enterprises. You and yours have to look upon any kind of financial deregulation as a good thing."

"It mostly had to do with mortgage backed securities and freeing up investment devices to be used as collateral against private leverage," Bruce answered coolly. "It had very little to do with our business since we deal mostly in enterprise banking like stocks and bonds. Getting into the retail business interests me not at all."

"Uh huh," Ollie let out before he took a small sip of Champaign and surveyed the sea of guests arranged in the dimly lit Wayne Manor ballroom. "Still, I'm sure a lot of your buddies will be happy that they were finally able to buy the influence of the most powerful man in the world."

"The President's days in office are winding down," Bruce countered. "Besides, I don't think there's anyone in Star City who doesn't know where your political tendencies lie. If you're such a champion of the people, why don't you throw your money into the ring? You could buy out the influence of a hundred of any of my friends."

That brought a smirk to Ollie's face. "I could buy out a hundred of your friends because you've got an egotistical streak, man. You can't handle being around anyone more successful than you."

"I tolerate you don't I?" Bruce retorted wittily.

Ollie stroked his golden goatee at this and chuckled, "I suppose you've got a point there." Bruce shrugged. "Besides, I should think the President's proxy war in Afghanistan would make you even richer."

Ollie shook his mop of blond hair at this. "Mortgage backed securities are to Bruce Wayne what Afghanistan is to Oliver Queen."

Bruce looked skeptical. "The biggest covert arms supply operation in the world and you're telling me Queen Industries has no part?"

"I know, it's hard to stomach the loss," Ollie allowed. "But it would be even harder to stomach letting those people fight our wars for us. The defense department makes all kinds of pretty promises to help those poor peasants after the fighting's done, but you know that's a lie, and I'm not dragging Q.I. into anything as shady as that."

"Had enough after that affair with the Contras eh?" ventured Bruce.

Ollie's expression grew serious and with a pointed index finger he held up his Champaign glass. "You bet your ass we did."

Just then Bruce heard a familiar feminine voice call his name. He could feel the goose bumps go up his back as he turned around and saw the vision of Diana Prince coming towards him. She was wearing a maroon colored dress with a thigh high slit along the side. Her hair was done up in some obnoxious looking beehive and clearly she had sunk enough careful time into her makeup for the result to pay off handsomely. Needless to say, Diana's look caught Bruce utterly off guard and he was at a loss for words as she confidently strode over to where he and Ollie were standing.

"There you are dear. I've been looking for you all night. It would be a shame for me to come all this way to a party at Bruce Wayne's mansion and not give the man himself my best in person."

"Uh, trust me Ms. Prince, I think it's clear to anyone tonight that you are at your very best," Bruce muttered out awkwardly.

After a painfully long silence, it was Ollie who finally spoke up. "Welp!" he exclaimed as he clapped a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "I'll leave you two to chat then," and he shot Bruce a mocking wink just before he strode away to mingle with the other guests.

Bruce wanted to say something to delay him but by the time anything came to mind Ollie was already out of earshot. He had effectively been left swinging in the wind. Resolved not to let this trip him up, however, Bruce summoned all the finesse he could muster and dutifully reiterated, "I'm sure you've been told plenty already so perhaps I'll refrain from telling you how beautiful you look tonight."

"Stop it Bruce. You'll make me start to think you find my look unattractive when I don't go through all the trouble to do myself up like this."

Bruce could feel himself start to blush which led to a subconscious turn of the head away towards the rest of the crowd. "I meant no offense. Even you must admit you don't get made up that often. I didn't mean to imply that your look was vastly improved from your normal one though."

Diana reached a hand to Bruce's cheek to turn his face back to hers. She said as their eyes met, "Take it easy. I was only kidding."

Bruce felt his jaw slacken a bit but he quickly composed himself. He reminded himself that he was a professional, through and through, and that this was a trusted colleague and nothing more. So as Diana's hand returned to her side, Bruce finally regained enough strength in his jaw to ask, "Anyway, what brings you out here to my humble party? You're surely not here just to celebrate my birthday."

Diana shook her head, but judging from the grin on her face it was more out of silent judgment than a confirmation of Bruce's last statement. Ignoring his question entirely, she simply responded with a gesture to the floor and a, "Shall we dance?"

For a moment, Bruce stood and stared at the slowly undulating sea of people moving about the marble floor. Suddenly the picture was a little threatening, but not one to be deterred by the thought of a dance, Bruce gave his female companion a curt nod and the two of them set off onto the floor and fell neatly into the rhythm of the rest of the dancers.

As they swayed around the room, from the enormous brick fireplace with the number 30 in balloons above it, to the tall windows looking out over green fields to the city beyond, and back, Bruce could feel his eyes searching about for something to focus on besides the vixen like stare that Diana was giving him. They went on like this for a while before Diana finally drew close, leaned her mouth to his ear and stated silently, "So I hear you have connections at the White House…"

Resisting the urge to chuckle at Diana's typical lack of subtlety, Bruce sighed, "So that's what you're here for… well yes I do know someone who works in the East Wing as it happens. Why? Planning on doing something dangerous?"

"Not necessarily," Diana denied. "I want an audience with the President."

This time Bruce could not contain himself and a small puff of laughter escaped his lips. "Is that all?" He asked rhetorically. "It's not like I rub shoulders with the guy all the time, Ms. Prince. If anything, I'm probably on his black list for my association with Ollie since he gave heavily to Mondale's campaign a few years ago."

"Well, getting into the building proved to be not enough the last time. The President blew me off entirely to go tend to some other security matters."

Bruce grinned. "Something to do with our mutual friend from Krypton."

"You're fast Mr. Wayne," Diana confirmed with a grin. "I like that about you."

"Not something I usually hear from beautiful women…" Bruce responded coyly. The dancing couple maneuvered their way across the dance floor with deftness and grace until the music soon ended. Then they retired to a dark corner of the room while half the guests split off from the dance floor to head to the freshly stocked buffet table.

Bruce leaned against the door frame of the passage that lead to his private study which contained the secret entrance to his other life. Diana walked up and draped her arms around his neck which elicited little response from the man except a slight stiffening in posture.

Fixing her companion with an undeniably predatory stare, Diana continued her venture. "So just how close can this associate of yours get me to the man?"

While Bruce was tempted to crack some joke about just how close Diana already was to himself, the words couldn't quite come to him so he decided to drop his playboy act a little more. "You mean former associate," he corrected. "Miss Wells left Wayne Enterprises two years ago to take a position on the President's board of economic advisors."

"Good for her, the economy isn't doing too badly. Does this Ms. Wells have a first name?"

"Hmm, I guess you might say she doesn't. 'Miss' is her actual first name," Bruce explained.

Diana looked momentarily bemused by this but she soon dismissed the expression to return to her earlier one. "Well what could I offer you in exchange for a chance to meet with her?" she purred.

It was all too obvious to Bruce what Diana was implying through her question, and while he found the offer to be surprisingly tempting, he once again resorted to his dogged professionalism in his response. "I don't think it would be worth bargaining over. If I didn't mention it before, Miss Wells works on the other side of the White House from her boss and they rarely encounter each other except for a monthly meeting which he spottily attends anymore. I'm told his behavior in general has grown increasingly erratic, as a matter of speculation. There are rumors that his age is finally catching up with him, but you didn't hear that from me."

Diana frowned as she backed a few steps away from Bruce. "Fine," she huffed. "I thought you might have a way but I suppose if you're not willing to help me then I shall have to find someone else who will."

If Diana was thinking that the possibility of missing out on giving her such an assist was giving Bruce any number of scruples she was mistaken, as Bruce thought satisfactorily to himself. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more use to you," he regretted. "Maybe you should talk to Ollie. He's deep in the Democratic donor circles so maybe he'll be able to help you out if his man wins the upcoming election, as long as your reasons for wanting to see the President aren't dire, that is."

Diana shook her head. "That won't do," she said. "I need to see him as soon as I can. Besides, I don't want Ollie's help. I want yours."

"Ms. Prince, I've already told you, I can't really do you any favors," Bruce reminded her.

That grin returned to Diana's face as she drew herself up near enough to Bruce's face that he could feel the breath of every syllable as she whispered, "Now I don't know about any. That depends on what kind of favors we're talking about."

Bruce could feel the color rise in his cheeks again and he stuttered for a response just before Diana delivered a short kiss on his lips.

Once she drew back, she fixed him with a sly smile and said, "Don't be a stranger." And with that, she glided away back into the crowd.

After he managed to shake the stars out of his vision, Bruce regained himself and strode off after her intending to say something to her, although he hadn't quite made up his mind what it was going to be. By the time he caught sight of her again, however, she was outside at the manor drive, slipping into the sleek red sports car she had rented for the occasion. Just before she took her place in the driver's seat, however, her gaze was drawn almost magnetically to Bruce's. She gave him one last sly smile and then dipped into the car and drove away.

"Okay, now you've got to tell me what that was," came a voice from just behind the doorway where Bruce was standing. He didn't turn to see who it was since he already knew he would see the tall, blond figure of Oliver Queen again. Instead Bruce rubbed his chin pensively and forced out the awkward lie, "I'm… not sure."

Ollie chuckled boyishly and said with a flourish, "Whatever you say Brucie. Me and the rest of the guys will be crashing at the bar until you decide to join us!"