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Hey, Kipples!

Thanks for all the reviews and for reading! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Madly:

Chapter Sixteen

A steady beeping pulled Bruce from sleep. Opening his eyes, he squinted at the bright overhead lights.

"Hey."

Turning his head to the side, he saw Diana smiling anxiously at him. Behind her was a machine, to which he was connected. A green line kept spiking at a steady rate, and he realized it was the source of the sounds.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

Bruce pushed himself up to a seated position, falling back on his pillows. "Yes. What happened after I passed out?"

A throat cleared on his other side, and Bruce noticed the Martian Manhunter. "We ran a few tests while you were unconscious. There is nothing out of the ordinary, apart from you regaining some of your memories. You may return home, though you must make sure to rest for the next couple of days. You must also not use the lasso again," the green being said.

"That is not an option. I need my memory back," Bruce argued.

Diana placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Bruce, you only recovered a handful of memories and yet you passed out. If you were to receive back all your memories, there is no telling what kind of damage the lasso would inflict on you. It might cause irreversible damage."

"Or it might heal me," he protested.

"I'm afraid it's out of the question, Batman," the Martian said. "It's too dangerous."

"This is my decision, not yours!" Bruce could hear the desperation in his voice, but raised his chin stubbornly. They had just discovered the key to regaining his memories, and now they were trying to take it away. He wouldn't allow it. "You can't stop me."

"But I can," Diana quietly said.

Bruce looked over at her, stunned that she couldn't understand how important this was for them. Surely, she would want him to have his memory back. Wouldn't she?

"Excuse me," the Martian said, leaving them alone.

"Diana, this might be my only chance to regain my memories. I have to take it."

"Please try to understand. I can't let you hurt yourself. I'm sorry." She reached out to touch his face, but he turned from her.

"Why are you letting your fear for something that might not even happen prevent me from getting better?"

"You don't know that you will actually get better."

"But I know that I won't get better without doing this. Tell me, Diana, if the situation were reversed, would you do it?"

She said nothing, but that in itself was an answer.

"Then why are you asking me not to?" he pressed.

Diana stood to her feet, voice raised, "What if you die? What if you end up comatose? What good will your memories be then?"

"What good am I now? There is no point to my life if I can't remember who I am. I might as well be dead."

Diana gasped as if he'd physically struck her. Then, just as suddenly, her eyes narrowed and she leaned in threateningly. "Don't ever say that!"

He held her glare for a few seconds when she abruptly turned her back to him and took a few steps away from his bed. Her fists were clenched at her sides, her back ramrod straight, but her head was hung low. "I've already lost you twice," she said in a small voice.

Bruce got out of the bed, pulling off the monitoring nodes. Walking over to her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest. "It's alright. I'm here," he said against her temple.

"But for how long?" She shook her head, wiping her forearm across her eyes. "Please, Bruce. Just promise me you won't try this again."

He turned her in his arms, forced her to look at him. "You told me you wouldn't be with me unless I had my memory back," he gently said. "Has that changed?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter one way or the other. You can't do it. The League and Gotham need you."

Bruce laughed derisively. "Yes, because I've been able to do so much for them since I've returned."

"I know you are upset, but you need to stop denigrating the work you are putting in and how important you are to everyone, in action or not. Just the very idea of you returning has given so much hope to the League founders, and while Gotham doesn't know that you are missing, the belief that Batman is still out there patrolling every night is keeping your city safe."

"I would be a much better help if I could actually remember. Then I could do all these wonderful things you keep telling me I am capable of!"

"Maybe you don't need your memory to be Batman."

"This argument is stupid. If you would just let me use—"

"No, it's out of the question! So stop asking," she commanded.

A sharp retort was on the tip of his tongue, but he bit it back. Diana was the last person in the world he wanted to hurt. Taking a deep breath, he tried again, but she spoke first.

"Bruce, if there were any way I could give you back your memory, I would. But I'm not going to let you endanger yourself." Her hand reached for his, wrapped her fingers around his. "Those nine months when I thought you were dead…" She swallowed, and her eyes glistened. "I can't lose you again. Do you understand?"

Bruce sighed and rested his forehead against hers. "We'll find another way."

Diana nodded and exhaled, taking a step back. "I was thinking we should visit my quarters. You said you saw me in a black dress. Maybe it will jump your memory."

Bruce wasn't all that hopeful, but he didn't want to disappoint her, so he followed her to her room on the Watchtower. After she keyed in her door's code, they went inside. The room was bare, which made sense since she mostly spent her time at the Manor, and before that had been living out of the Embassy.

Walking over to her closet, she opened it, pulling out two black dresses and laying them across her bed. "Was it either of these?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, picking up the dress in question. "This one."

"Can you remember where we were? In the Manor? The Batcave? We wouldn't have been in public."

"Why not?"

"We had to protect your identity. I might have appeared at the same events as Bruce Wayne, but if we were kissing…" her voice trailed off.

"It was the Batcave. In the chair in front of the monitor."

Diana took the dress from him, and turned back to the other on the bed. Her cheeks were flushed, and she would not look him in the eye.

"Did it bother you? Not being able to be seen with me in public?" He had studied the newspapers from the time when they had dated. Bruce Wayne had regularly been seen with other women. Nothing serious, but it had surprised him that it was not Diana on his arm instead.

"When we first started dating I understood that our relationship would be different. You couldn't be linked with me. I accepted that. In any case, I think I remember the day in question. We ran into each other at a charity event in Gotham, and you told me there was something in the Cave you needed to discuss with me, a case related to Poison Ivy. Some plant native to the Mediterranean that you wanted more information on."

"Did I often invite League members to the Cave to consult on cases?"

"No, and this was the first time you asked me. You admitted later that you didn't really need my help."

"So that's when our relationship started?"

Diana laughed, putting the dresses away in the closet. "Yes and no. We had been flirting with each other for years. However, that was when I decided to finally do something about it. Of course, you hadn't really needed my help, so it seems we had come to the same decision at the same time. And thank Hera for that. If you had waited any longer, I might have forced myself on you during one of our sparring sessions, which would have required some explaining to whoever was on Monitor duty."

Diana smiled at him, but Bruce was in no mood to be cheerful. The dress had done nothing, only triggered the memory of them kissing in his chair. None of the details Diana had shared.

"I wish I could remember it," Bruce said, feeling sorrier for himself and Diana than he had ever felt before.

"I do too."

To Be Continued...I'm going to try to post another chapter tonight. Or at least in the next couple of days.