TITLE: Always on My Mind

AUTHOR:LOTSlover

CHARACTERS:Batman / Wonder Woman

RATING: T

WARNINGS: Author Chooses Not to Use Warnings

DISCLAIMER: I love Justice League, but especially Batman and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, I do not own the characters and, if I did, things would be much different for them.

SUMMARY: Takes after the ep A Better World. Diana struggles with what she finds in the alternate universe. BMWW

Always on My Mind

Diana stared out at the vastness of space that spread as far as the eye could see, the endless sea of stars looking back at her. She'd been standing there thinking for only Hera knew how long, her thoughts conflicted and her heart heavy. It made no difference that they had won the battle against the Justice Lords just four days ago or that everything was right in the world again. It didn't even help that Shayera was almost completely recovered though Diana was definitely relieved by the news.

She was having a difficult time reconciling what she had seen in the Justice Lord's universe with what she had felt she had known about herself. She never in a million years would've guessed that she was capable of becoming anything remotely close to that other woman. That Diana had been barely recognizable.

It was unimaginable, unthinkable that she would just outright kill someone like that. Even though she'd been raised a warrior, Amazons don't just kill without provocation or without trying to find some other way to stop someone first. It was always a last resort unless they were under attack.

It made her nauseated the more she thought about it, causing her to second guess herself as well as every decision she made. Today, her hesitancy a most cost her a teammate's life. If she'd waited a moment longer to act, Bruce could've been severely injured or worse.

Her chin fell to her chest, the guilt and shame too much to bear. She had been too horrified to hang around after, leaving the moment that the chaos had died down. She hadn't even stuck around to help with clean up, too ashamed to face him. She was a warrior and she had failed him.

It was hard enough to not think about him as it was without this happening. She found he was always there, always on her mind especially since Paris, but she hadn't seen him since returning home. He'd avoided the Watchtower and therefore her since that night leaving her feeling hurt and more than a little confused.

It had been the most wonderful night of her life, one that she would never forget and was eager to do again. She'd truly believed that Bruce had enjoyed it too, but he never made any attempt to contact her after that. It left her wondering what she had done wrong, filling her with doubts that she was not accustomed to experiencing. Had she completely misread what she had been feeling or what she had sensed from him?

She'd reached for her commlink at least a couple dozen times or more to contact him, needing to see how he was doing only to retract her hand with a scowl on her lips. She was acting like some sniveling female pining away after a man and she refused to do that. Instead, she had thrown herself into her duties, biding her time and tying not to hope that he missed her or was thinking about her too.

Diana pressed her forehead against the viewport window of her quarters, her eyes falling closed. She had been a complete fool to have believed that something could truly happen between her and the Dark Knight of Gotham or that he might actually feel something for her too.

He preferred the darkness and solitude not happiness and love. It went against his mission, so incongruent with the foreboding persona that he'd worked so hard to cultivate for himself. Now that she knew his secret identity, that feeling of foolishness only intensified.

She felt tears well up as she recalled everything that she'd learned about Bruce Wayne after returning from Paris. His parents, their horrifying murder committed right before his eyes, the turmoil and self-imposed prison of guilt all made complete sense now. It had been the missing piece of the puzzle that she had needed and yet there was still so much more to learn and discover about the enigmatic man that she was falling for.

She swore she could hear her mother's voice now, ashamed of how she had betrayed the Amazon way by allowing herself to have feelings for a man. She would be considered a disgrace to her people if they ever found out. Of course, it wasn't as if they were claiming her now anyway. She was an exile, an ex-princess who would never be allowed to return home to see her family and now she had failed as a warrior and teammate today.

Hearing an alert that she had a visitor, Diana didn't even bothering turning around to answer her door. She didn't really feel like seeing anyone right now. She just wanted to be left alone. With any luck, whoever had come to see her would realize that and…

The door slid open without her unlocking it, causing her to whip her head around to see who had the secret code to her quarters not to mention the utter audacity to enter without her permission. She froze when Batman walked into her suite, a stoic expression on his face as the door slid closed behind him.

"How dare you…you…you insolent man!" she spat out, her hands curling into fists at her sides. "You have absolutely no right to just come barging in here and—"

"What happened today?" he demanded to know with a frown, unfazed by her haughty tirade.

She folded her arms across her chest, her blue eyes flashing dangerously as she challenged him with an impressive glare. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Princess," he barked, his gauntlets creaking as his fingers curled into his palms. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Look, I'm sorry," she ground out. "I hesitated and I nearly got you killed today. It won't happen again so you can leave now."

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me," he stubbornly stated.

All the emotions that she'd been doing battle with over the last few weeks finally came to a head as she stormed towards him. "There's nothing to talk about," she yelled. "You could have gotten hurt today because I failed. I know it…you know it. There's no sense talking about it. Now, leave. I'm sure your city needs you more than I do."

Batman was stunned by the angry swell of emotions that assaulted him, but it was her last words that stung far more than he cared to admit. She never really needed him, didn't need anyone. She was the most powerful woman in the world, more than capable of taking care of herself. Why did he even think for one second that she would ever truly need him or that he had to protect her?

Nonetheless, his own fury burned through him with her words. He closed the distance between them in three quick strides, his hands finding her upper arms and gripping her almost possessively or at least far more tightly than he should. "Talk to me, damn it," he growled. "It's not like you to hesitate like that in the middle of a fight."

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, her chest heaving with emotion, trying not to notice his close proximity or the way her insides were growing very warm. "I failed, Bruce…I failed you. That's not something that I can ever forgive myself for doing. You could have died today and it would've been my fault."

"I don't care about myself, Princess," he growled, his nostrils flaring with ire. "I want to know what is wrong with you. You haven't been yourself since dealing with the Justice Lords. I want to know what is going on."

"Why do you suddenly care?" she spat out. "It's not like you've been around the last three weeks. Stopping Luthor was the first that any of us have even seen or heard from you since dealing with Savage in Kasnia."

Stunned, Bruce released his grip on her arms, taking a step back in an effort to calm himself. "I've been busy," he muttered, averting his eyes.

It was his standard line along with "I'm fine" and "stay out of Gotham", but there was a small ring of truth to it. He had been busy. Since returning from Paris, he'd been tied up dealing with a drug smuggling ring for the last three weeks, but that wasn't the whole truth.

The truth was that he had been avoiding her, doing his best to forget the magical evening that he had spent with her in Paris. It had terrified him how easily he could have given in to what he wanted with her, how willing he had been to do whatever it took to make her happy. He feared there were no lengths that he wouldn't go to just to see that smile on her face, what he was capable of becoming if he let her in only to lose her.

He had distanced himself from her, hoping that she would forget about how close they had become that night in Paris. He couldn't let her or himself believe that something could actually come from their growing attraction to one another. Nothing but friendship could ever pass between them.

"Look, Bruce, I understand Gotham comes first and that you might not be around for weeks on end, but could you at least give those who care about you the common courtesy of letting us know you're still alive and not dead in some alley?" Diana scowled darkly, giving the infamous Batglare a run for his money.

Bruce was taken by her request, but did not let it show. He thought for sure she'd be mad at him for not contacting her after what happened between them in Paris, not be understanding and worried about him. She never ceased to surprise him. Every time he thought he had figured her out, she'd say something or do something that left him reeling on the inside. Now was proving to be no different.

The eye slits of his cowl narrowed as he studied her. "What's really going on, Princess?" he questioned her, changing the subject back to the real reason he was here in her quarters. "This is more than just me not contacting the League for three weeks."

He hoped she didn't point out the fact that he didn't really answer her about contacting them. He didn't want to make any promises that he couldn't or wouldn't keep. There were times when Diana and the League had to take a backseat to Gotham. If she couldn't accept that, there was definitely no reason in pursuing this attraction any further, adding weight to his growing list of reasons why they would never work.

Diana turned her back to him, wrapping her arms around herself. She's already failed him today. Admitting she was feeling lost and confused wasn't something she wanted to reveal to him. It would only add to her humiliation and she couldn't handle that right now.

Seeing her looking so fragile completely unnerved him as he studied her, his anger vanishing. He'd never been truly angry with her or over what had happened today. He'd only been worried about her, knowing that something was very wrong. He wanted to help her no matter what.

He silently walked towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Diana, talk to me…please," he softly said. "Does it have to do with the Justice Lords?"

Diana's shoulders slumped, knowing that she wasn't going to get out of this. His "please" melted her resolve in a matter of seconds. "I just can't seem to get past what I saw in the Justice Lord's version of me."

Bruce let his hand fall to his side, knowing that touching her for any length of time was dangerous especially seeing how they were alone in her quarters. He could feel her struggle and the heartache that came with it. "It's not outside the realm of possibility you know."

Diana whirled on him, fire blazing hotly in her sapphire eyes. "That's what scares me," she confessed with an unmistakable edge of panic. "I looked into her eyes and what I found there terrified me."

"What was it that you saw?" he asked with bated breath, wondering if what she had experienced with her doppelganger had been anything like his own. It had been terrifying to behold.

"Her eyes were so dead…so cold," she hauntingly replied, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed. She drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them as she thought back on the events that had drastically changed her perception of things. "She was filled with nothing but hatred and bitterness. What if I become like her, Bruce? What if I somehow lose who I am…what I came here to accomplish?"

Had she really been so naïve to believe that she could never become a cold-blooded killer, so heartless and devoid of all warmth and compassion?

Bruce slowly made his way to her bed, sitting down next to her. He pulled his cowl back, revealing the face that had taken her breath away when their eyes had first met that night in Paris. "Seeing what I could become if I ever crossed that line chilled me to the bone," he admitted. "I would love to tell you that there's no chance of that happening, but I can't, Diana. There's always going to be that risk with what we do. That's why we have to constantly be on guard against it."

"When she threw you across the floor…stood over you with that piece of rock…so ready to crush you, I wanted to destroy her," she confessed, staring straight ahead. "Then today when I saw Copperhead going for you, I was furious. Those same feelings came rushing back again with a vengeance. I wanted to destroy him too. I hesitated because I was afraid I was going to seriously hurt him…that I was going to cross that line. It scared me, but I was more scared of you getting hurt so I acted."

"I'm glad you did," he quipped, giving her a crooked smile. "Regardless, you still saved my life today and you didn't cross that line, Diana. You did what you had to do without compromising who you are."

Diana drew a deep breath, meeting his intense gaze and finding a sense of comfort in his smile. She had missed this since Paris…missed him. "I'm glad I did too," she lightly said. "Who else would I have to argue with around here if you were gone?"

"I'll always be here to argue with you, Princess," he promised her. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"I'm glad," she softly said, her gaze falling to his lips.

"We'll just have to watch out for each other…make sure that we never become like them," he told her. "That's what friends do for one another."

"So I look out for you and you look out for me?" she suggested with a little smirk.

Bruce swallowed hard as he stared into her eyes filled with such warmth. It was so unlike the way the Justice Lord's Wonder Woman had looked at him. There had been nothing but cold, sadistic hatred in her eyes. It had rattled him to his core. "That's what teammates do for each other."

Diana allowed her legs to hang over the side of the bed, feeling much better after talking to Bruce. "You know I was sort of thinking that I did like her hair," she commented, playing with a curly lock and allowing it to wrap around her finger. "What do you think about me cutting my hair?"

"Don't you dare, Princess," he growled out the words with a ferocious edge that surprised them both. "Your hair is perfect just the way that it is."

Diana's lips curled into a pleased smile, happy to know what he actually thought about how she looked. "If you say so," she nonchalantly replied, releasing the raven curl as her face grew serious. "Thank you, Bruce."

"Always, Princess," he said, his brain screaming at him to run while his body demanded he stay here with her. Logic ultimately won out. "I need to return to Gotham."

"I'd ask if you needed any help, but…well, we both know the answer," she said, trying to hide the disappointment that would no doubt come with his response. "My offer of assistance still stands, though."

Standing to his feet, Batman pulled his cowl back over his face, the corner of his lips twitching ever so slightly. "We'll see," he murmured before turning on his heel and heading to the door, leaving a stunned Amazon princess sitting on her bed. "Good night, Diana…sleep well."

He completely missed the dazzling smile that lit her entire face as he passed through her doors, but he could feel the warmth of it against his back. He knew that he couldn't let anything romantic evolve between them, but it was far too late to take any step backwards in their relationship. She already meant so much to him now and losing her friendship was unimaginable.

Justice Lord's Universe

Diana stood in her quarters on the Watchtower staring out the window at Earth. She had somehow forgotten how breathtaking the view really was from the floating satellite. In the midst of losing Wally, she'd lost herself somewhere along the way.

She unfolded an arm, propping her elbow on her forearm as she absentmindedly played with a short lock of hair. How had she lost her sense of humanity…her compassion along the way? Meeting her other self had been eye-opening to say the least.

At first, she had pitied her, even despised her for being so naïve and viewing the world through rose-colored glasses. She had once been just like her, but then Wally had died and everything had changed…even her relationship with Bruce had changed.

They had been growing closer, the attraction to one another becoming harder and harder to ignore. Then Wally had died and Kal killed Luthor and everything changed…they changed. Nothing was ever the same after that. It was as if she and Bruce had been too afraid to believe that something good could ever possibly exist when things seemed so bleak and hopeless.

They just seemed to turn to their duties instead of to each other in the midst of their heartache, losing themselves along the way as well as what they had begun to mean to one another. Would-be lovers became nothing more than professional teammates, friendship lost in the midst of the pain and the unspeakable horror of what they were all becoming.

Seeing the other universe's Batman and Wonder Woman had only served to inflame her fury, reminding her of what could have been…of what she'd never have. It was obvious in that brief moment when Batman had tried to stop her from hurting his Diana how they felt about each other.

She hadn't been able to think of anything else these last few days since returning to their universe. Bruce was always on her mind now, wondering where he was and if they could ever back to the way things had been before life had gone so terribly wrong.

She'd been furious with him at first, refusing to talk to him or even make eye contact with him, but now she realized what a blessing this had actually been. By helping to defeat them, Bruce had broken the chains that had kept her heart bound; destroying the walls she'd built about her to keep herself from feeling anything ever again.

Hearing the alert at her door, she ignored it, not wanting to talk to anyone right now. She felt so lost with no powers, no League and nowhere to go. She had absolutely nothing and no one. Ignoring the alert again, she closed her eyes, willing whoever it was to leave her alone.

To her surprise, the lock on her door was overridden, bidding her unwanted visitor entrance to her quarters. Diana whirled around in fury, stunned to find Batman standing there in the doorway. "How dare you!" she growled. "Get out!"

"I'm not going anywhere…Princess," he calmly told her.

Her heart melted hearing him use the term of endearment for the first time since everything had changed. It almost felt like everything was right in the world again. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice losing a small measure of her anger.

"I came to see how you were doing."

"How do you think I'm doing?" she bit out, still angry with him. "I have nothing—no powers, no life, no home, nowhere to go. I have nothing."

His heart hurt for her, but he didn't let it show just yet. "You know that's not true, Diana," he calmly stated. "It just feels that way right now."

Her anger got the better of her as she stormed towards him. "You destroyed everything," she yelled, pounding her fists against his chest with little effect. Her powers were gone now, never coming back. Nothing would ever be the same again and she had no idea what to do about it. "Now, it's all gone. Wonder Woman can never come back and… Wally's never coming back."

Bruce gently enveloped her in his arms, pulling her close to him. She resisted at first only to succumb to the pain that had been building since they'd lost their teammate. Tears that had not been shed for far too long began to stream down her face as she buried herself in his embrace, clinging to him.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head as he repeatedly stroked her hair, hoping that this was the new beginning that the two of them had so desperately needed. God, he'd missed her, missed her smile and the warmth that used to fill her sapphire eyes. He missed his Diana, the one that he had fallen in love with.

Seeing the other Diana had hit him like a ton of steel, reminding him of what he'd lost…what the two of them had lost through all of this and he wanted it back more than anything. Now, they finally had that chance and he wasn't about to let it go this time.

He wasn't going to let her go this time.

He stood there holding her for several minutes, just letting her cry and providing her the comfort that she needed. He'd purposefully left her alone since her return, giving her time to come to terms with everything that had happened, but he hadn't been able to wait any longer to see her.

Diana finally pulled back to look into his face to find that he'd pulled his cowl back, revealing blue eyes filled with emotion. Hera, she'd missed those eyes. "What am I going to do, Bruce?" she tearfully asked. "I'm all alone now."

"No, you're not," he told her. "You have me…you always have me."

Her bottom lip trembled as his gauntleted hand came to rest against the side of her face. His lips slowly descended on hers, brushing softly…gently against hers. He silently begged her to let him in, to not give up on them again. He couldn't bear it.

Just when he thought she was going to pull away, Diana drew him closer, her lips connecting with his with a heated passion that he'd been aching to feel for far too long. He fully returned her kiss, deepening it with a throaty moan as her fingers found purchase in his hair, gripping it tightly.

Her tears came anew for a whole new reason now, happiness she hadn't felt in over two years taking root in her broken heart. Her hands searched for the fasteners of his uniform as he began to kiss along her throat, finding forgiveness and salvation in one another at a time when they'd needed it most.

He began removing her uniform as his cape and cowl landed on the floor, her boots quickly following. It didn't take long before she was beneath him on her bed, sharing in what they had both needed and wanted almost from the very moment they'd first met.

Rolling him onto his back, Diana kissed him with abandon, desperation rising up within her. She was afraid this was nothing more than a wonderful dream, one that she would wake from at any moment. She kissed him breathless as his hands roamed over her body, each of them memorizing every single detail and imprinting it in their minds.

"I've wanted you…for so very long," he breathlessly confessed as she slowly kissed a scar that ran across his chest, his fingers buried in her short hair. "I love you, Princess."

"Hera, I've missed you…loved you for so long, Bruce," she replied, finding his lips once more. "I don't ever want to go back to the way things were."

Bruce sat up, kissing her hard as he rolled her beneath him once more, setting over her and pinning her to the mattress. His hand gripped her thigh, pushing her leg up further as he made love to her. "They never have to," he murmured against her ear between kisses. "You're coming home with me."

A soft smile formed on her lips as she pulled his face to her once more, kissing him deeply. "I'd love nothing more."

He smiled down at her, his heart nearly bursting with the emotion that was thrumming through him. She'd always been on his mind even from the very beginning and now she'd forever be his no matter what came their way.

A/N: Hope you loved the update! I know it's a slow build and you're all anxious for them to get together and I promise they will, but I'm following the JL/JLU animated series and filling in the missing BMWW gaps that they failed to do for us. So, hang with me! We WILL get there. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. :)