Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Thanks again, Kipling, for beta-ing this!

Chapter Nine

Diana's eyes snapped open at the sound of her communicator going off. Disoriented by waking up in a room that was not her own, she was further startled by the pair of hands tightening around her waist. And then it all came back. She was with Bruce.

The incessant beeping of her com link broke through, and she answered it, voice still tinged with sleep. "Yes?" she whispered, not wanting to wake Bruce.

"Why are you whispering?"

It was Tom.

Diana tried not to panic. "Can I call you back later?" she asked.

"This isn't because of what I said last night is it?"

"No, but I can't talk right now."

"Alright. I'll see you later." Tom didn't sound as if he believed her, and what was worse, he was hurt.

"Bye," she said.

Her back felt absolutely rigid, and her body stiffened further as Bruce rubbed his nose against the nape of her neck.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"His name is Tom," she said, very quietly.

"How do you know him?"

"He works with the League sometimes."

"You never mentioned the League before. What is it?"

Diana turned over to face him. Because of the dark, she could barely make out that his eyes were still closed. She wanted to touch his face, confirm that he was really there, but she held back. She had a job to do, namely collecting information about what happened during his disappearance.

"Bruce, tell me what it was like before we met."

He didn't speak until his fingers were laced with hers. Sensing he needed the support, she squeezed his hand.

"I remember waking up to voices. I couldn't understand what they were saying. Then there was light, and I saw two men."

"Would you be able to recognize them if you saw them again?"

"I don't know."

The retelling was already taking a lot out of him. His palm felt sticky in hers, and she wondered if she was pushing him too hard. Placing her free hand against his face, she tried to speak soothingly, like she would back home when she was gentling a spooked horse. "Bruce, it's alright. What else happened?"

"I don't know…One of them left, and then the other jabbed me with something sharp, and I passed out. The next thing I remember was sounds."

"Like what?"

"A loud screeching. Blasts. Screams. Low whispers, but with words I couldn't understand. The sound of flesh hitting flesh…They come almost every night. I don't know why they won't go away."

A chill went down Diana's spine, and she moved closer to him. Without knowing it, he was reliving his nightmares. Gunshots, his mom's body falling on top of his father's, bats screeching and fluttering about his head. Diana thought it unbelievably cruel that even when he shouldn't have been able to remember them, his dreams found a way of haunting him.

The cot was shaking from the trembling of Bruce's large frame, and Diana held him close, trying to calm him. "It's alright. Let's talk about something else. Will you tell me how we met?"

"You just came to me one night when I was going out of my mind. I opened my eyes and you were there. You held me. Talked to me."

She waited a few minutes, mindlessly rubbing his back. He needed to calm down, and to be honest, she did too. Of all the people he could have conjured up, why had he chosen her? Part of her thought she knew, but she had been confident about matters concerning Bruce before, only to find out that she could not have been more wrong. She wasn't the type to make the same mistake twice.

"What did I say?" she asked, when his breathing returned to normal.

"At first I couldn't understand you. But you kept coming back. You would tell me that everything would be alright. You were the one who told me to get out and get some food. You would tell me to go to sleep."

Was it possible that those nights she had spent visualizing herself helping Bruce had actually worked something magical? While she didn't know, she said a brief prayer of thanks to her goddesses that she had been there to help him in some small way.

"Was that all we talked about?" she asked.

The darkness made it nearly impossible to see him, but they were so close she could feel and anticipate his every movement. The bed shifted as he leaned towards her.

"No." He briefly claimed her lips, pulling back just a little to say, "You told me you loved me. That you would be with me forever."

Diana's eyes fluttered shut as his mouth found hers in the darkness again. This really needed to stop, but she couldn't bring herself to end it.

Without warning the lights flickered on, and they both sat up, startled.

Before she could do anything, Bruce pushed her behind him and glared at the intruder. Under better circumstances, Diane would have found Bruce's instant dislike to Superman amusing.

"I take it you two got a good night's sleep," Superman said, his voice edged with ice.

"What do you want?" Bruce snarled.

"Nothing. I came here to bring breakfast."

Sliding open the door, he brought in a tray of food. Diana took it, knowing Bruce needed to eat. She and Clark would settle their issues later.

Bruce turned to her, no doubt surprised she took the food.

"You know him? Is this Tom?" he asked.

"No, I'm not Tom," Clark said, his voice tight. "My name is Superman."

Bruce looked over at Diana for confirmation. "It's true. Superman is a friend. To both of us. He is going to help you regain your memory."

"I don't want his help," Bruce said.

Ignoring the look of hurt on Clark's face, Diana said, "Thank you for the food."

He nodded grimly. "You're welcome. J'onn and I will return in an hour, and there will be someone else joining us."

"Who?" they both asked.

"Alfred."

To Be Continued