TITLE: Hope You Don't 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: Set directly after Comfort and Joy, Diana visits Gotham to deliver Batman's Christmas present.

Hope You Don't Mind

She flew through the night sky, her silken strands flowing like an ebony river over her back. She kept a firm grip on her treasure, her excitement growing as Gotham's brightly lit skyline came into view. Along with that excitement came a measure of apprehension knowing that she was going to be treading on very dangerous ground.

She was going to be entering Batman's guarded domain, embarking on a treacherous mission that she never would have considered doing a year ago, but things had been steadily changing since then. Something had changed since she had first arrived in Man's World, not only in her but between them.

She could hardly believe this intense attraction that she had developed for her teammate. She had not come to Man's World looking for a man or for love. She hadn't felt the need for a man to fulfill her or her life. There was only herself and her mission, much like Batman and his mission to protect Gotham.

Falling in love had been the furthest thing from her mind, her mission of peace and love her foremost concern. In fact, if anyone had told her when she'd first arrived that she'd develop feelings for a teammate let alone Gotham's Dark Knight, she would've thought they'd lost their mind.

Now, she couldn't picture wanting anyone else in her life but him.

Batman had intrigued her from the beginning, from the moment that she had first landed on that rocky ledge to meet her future teammates. He had stood off to the side and a few feet away from them, a silently observing sentinel so terrifying and sinister in his appearance it should have repelled her from the very start.

He hadn't even offered so much as a smile or a word of welcome, but he had quickly proven himself to be a remarkable hero, one who frequently shied away from praise and the spotlight. He had soon gained her respect on top of her fascination. Now, she found herself looking forward to tracking him down tonight.

He'd proven himself to be a very formidable opponent in their sparring sessions on the Watchtower. He was the best warrior that she'd ever gone up against and that included Phillipus. Hunting for him now was going to prove to be a rather enjoyable adventure, the princess pursuing the knight.

And Diana could hardly wait to get her hands on her prey tonight.

XXX

Batman stood on a rooftop overlooking the heart of Gotham, his jaw set like steel. His city was unusually quiet as a light snow began to fall, adding to the already two feet plus that blanketed Gotham. His gaze carefully roved over his city, thankful that Christmas night was actually proving to be peaceful and calm for a change.

He tilted his head slightly as his right boot came to rest on the stone ledge of the roof, his forearm moving to rest on top of his thigh. The abrupt change in the direction of the wind caused the edges of his cape to lift like a sail, creating an even more threatening air about him.

He frowned to himself, wondering how long Diana was planning on waiting before finally making her presence known. She'd been following him since twenty-third street, nearly sixteen blocks and over thirty minutes ago. His curiosity had finally gotten the better of, leading him to this ledge to wait for her.

He grew more irritated with every passing moment as he studied the empty streets below, wondering what it was that she wanted tonight, causing his already surly mood to grow even darker. She was here…in his city…no doubt dressed as Wonder Woman…on Christmas night of all nights.

The list of charges against her was piling up by the second the longer he waited for her. He was more than prepared to unleash a lecture on her, one that began by reviewing each one of her offenses and ended with telling her to get out of his city. He was no mood for the cheerful Amazon princess to be invading his domain on Christmas no less—the one holiday that he detested the most.

With all of the carols and festive decorations came painful memories, heartache and bitterness. It always resurrected memories of Christmases past…the way Christmas would never be again. His parents were gone and so were his dreams and his hope for the future along with them, his desire to celebrate holidays that only made him foolishly wish for the way things had once been…for the way things should be now.

His throat clenched tightly as snow began to fall again, fat fluffy snowflakes that clung to everything that it touched. It had been a quiet day spent covering monitor duty on the Watchtower, allowing him the excuse to avoid family dinner at the manor with Alfred and the boys. It was better off this way for everyone.

His guilt prickled knowing that he wasn't being the parent that Dick and Tim needed, but how could he be a father when he couldn't even put his own broken past back together let alone his heart. It was difficult to be what they needed when he spent almost every waking moment trying to wall off all emotional attachments in order to protect himself from getting hurt again.

How could he ever offer any sort of emotional support when he was inept at being able to deal with his own?

He knew, though, that his sons had managed to work their way inside of him…along with the Amazon princess that was landing on the roof several feet behind him. He bit back the sharp reprimanding retort that danced on his tongue, not wanting his churlish mood to ruin her Christmas. Still, she was invading his territory and he needed to put a stop to it before it became a reoccurring event.

"Princess," he rasped with a dangerous edge that carried a definite warning to it. "What are you doing here?"

Diana could feel the tension that abruptly filled the air with his brusque greeting, his anger roiling off him in hot waves that created a reawakening of the apprehension in the pit of her stomach. She was beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea after all.

What in Hera had she been thinking?

She should have waited until next week instead of coming here uninvited on the one day that most likely brought him the greatest pain, but it was too late now. She was here and he was waiting impatiently for an explanation. She just had to come up with a good one and fast.

Not receiving an answer, Batman turned around more out of curiosity than any real anger on his part. She looked so beautiful standing there before him with the snow falling down around her, clinging to her silky ebony hair, her long eyelashes and her uniform. Her cheeks were flushed a lovely shade of pink from the cold temperature, but it didn't seem to be bothering her otherwise.

"Batman," she greeted him with a shy smile.

All his anger seemed to melt away in that moment as he stared into her ocean blue eyes, noticing the trepidation that clouded them. She nervously tucked a curly lock behind her ear, biting at her bottom lip. The movement gave him pause as realization drifted through him—he could make Diana feel unsettled and vulnerable just like she always seemed to do to him at any given moment.

The sudden, unexpected knowledge caused his lips to twitch in amusement and a definite surge of male pride to flood his system. He'd never seen anyone make the confident Amazon princess react like this and yet he had just been able to. It left him feeling a little lightheaded with this unexpected influence that had over this powerful woman who could bench press a tank.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice rough as it seemed to scrape from his throat and across her skin.

"Hope you don't mind," she began to finally speak again, glancing down at the brightly colored bag dangling from her fingers. Her long raven hair fell over her shoulder with the movement as she carefully chose her words, hoping to ease his anger with her. "I know you're busy patrolling Gotham and you don't like any of us being in your city…especially a Meta, but I promise I won't interfere. It's just that I had to see you…I mean I wanted to bring you your present before Christmas was over."

She was rambling. The confident, poised Princess of the Amazons was rambling. Diana silently cursed herself, pausing to draw a deep breath to calm her nerves. She raised her head, holding it high as she squared her shoulders in an effort to display every single ounce of regal bearing that she could possibly muster.

Why did this man always make her so anxious inside?

She could take on Cheetah without batting an eyelash, battling the worst that the world had to offer, but put her in front of Bruce and she was babbling like an idiot. It was time to tap into her poise and grace, her royal upbringing that had been drilled into her in order to navigate this situation.

Bruce found himself falling a little more with every rambling word that slipped past her red lips. She was completely endearing and she had absolutely no idea. Without even realizing it, his legs began to move of their own accord, closing the distance between them.

"What is it?" he asked a little huskier than he had intended.

"It's really not much," she replied, averting her eyes under his intense probing gaze. Even though hidden behind white slits of his cowl, it was still unsettling. "You're a very hard man to shop for you and I don't actually do a lot of shopping so I snuck home to get this for you."

Bruce froze in stunned disbelief as his brain attempted to process her words. "Diana, you're banned from returning home," he earnestly reminded her, his heart beginning to beat a little harder in anticipation of what she had done and the trouble she had no doubt gotten herself into.

"I know," she said with a nod, "but I wanted you to have this so I returned to the island at dark and snuck into my bedroom to retrieve it for you."

"Diana, they could've tried to kill you for trespassing on the island if they had discovered you were there," he stated in annoyance, reeling on the inside from the great risk she had taken just for him.

"No, they couldn't," she replied with a frown that slowly turned into an impish smirk as she returned his steady gaze. "My sisters would've had to have caught me first. Besides, I've learned a few things about stealth from a certain Dark Knight since leaving Themyscira two years ago."

"You still shouldn't have risked it for me," he chided her with a frown.

"I wanted you to have it," she insisted.

Bruce glanced down as she reached into the bag and pulled out a very old-looking leather bound book. His brow furrowed as he took the book from her, his gauntleted fingers gently caressing the aged leather cover. It was obvious that it was at least as old as she was.

"What is this?" he asked, glancing up at her to find a tender expression gracing her face.

"It's my book," she revealed. "It is what I believe people here in Man's World call a personal journal. I wrote in it every day when I was young, sharing my thoughts and dreams for the future…all the things that I had learned, the things that I yearned to learn about and know. You are actually in there."

Bruce's head snapped up with her revelation, his grip tightening on the small book. "Me?" he questioned her, the white slits of his cowl narrowing. "We've only known each other a couple of years, Princess. How could I be in here?"

"Well, not you specifically, but more like the notion of you," she explained. "When I was younger, I used to have dreams about what lay past the shores of Themyscira, the things that I could learn about and experience. I had a recurring dream about meeting someone like me that was a true warrior, willing to fight for justice no matter the cost in an effort to make the world a better place.

"I never actually saw your face in my dreams, but I truly believe that my goddesses were preparing me for coming to Man's World…for being a part of the Justice League." Her gaze fell to the journal, her hand moving to cover his. "I feel a kinship with you, Batman. You have shared your vast knowledge and skills with me and I wanted you to have something of mine…from one warrior to another."

Bruce swallowed hard, her words affecting him far deeper than he had ever dreamed possible. He was truly touched that she was willing to share such a personal part of herself with him. He wasn't someone who opened up to others. He barely opened up to Alfred and he'd known him his entire life. He didn't revel in his feelings or shared his heart with others.

He was closed off and brusque, more than difficult to get to know at more than just a superficial level and yet this remarkable woman was standing before him, willingly offering a piece of herself to him and asking for nothing in return except his friendship. It staggered his mind, allowing him to see her in an even brighter, warmer light than he had ever seen her before.

"I…I can't accept this, Princess," he softly said with a shake of his head, feeling like a filthy pauper standing before pure royalty.

She was everything he wanted to believe in and hope for, the embodiment of the very faith that he lacked and the strength to keep going when he wanted to give up. How could she possibly want to have anything to do with someone so dark and broken, a brilliant goddess associating with a demon of the night?

She tightened her hold on his hand before finally retracting it, causing him to look up to meet her ocean blue eyes only to find them lit with such a warmth and confidence that he couldn't help but draw unremitting peace from it.

"Bruce, are you refusing to take my gift?" she challenged him, a raven eyebrow arching and her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. "I believe that would be considered quite rude to deny someone the joy of giving a gift to a good friend at Christmas."

"Diana, I'm honored that you would chose to give this to me," he managed to utter. "I promise to take good care of it."

"I hope you can read Greek," she replied.

"I actually learned Greek about two years ago," he cryptically told her, his thoughts retreating to the countless books that he had bought in order to learn as much as possible about the Amazons. His suspicious mind and fascination with her had led him to learn to read and speak Greek.

"Good," she said with a satisfied nod. "Oh, I brought you something else."

He watched as she reached into the bag once more, wondering how much more this amazing woman could possibly give him. Her gift already had him feeling as though he was walking about three feet off the ground. His lips twitched into a reluctant smile as she pulled out a large cup.

"Thought you could use something warm out here in the cold," she told him.

He took the offered cup, taking a sip. He was surprised by the unexpected sweet taste that assaulted his taste buds. "Hot chocolate, Princess?" he asked with a smirk.

"Sorry…wait," she said, reaching into the bag again. "That one is mine. This one is for you."

He couldn't suppress the amused chuckle that escaped nor did he want to at that moment. She had managed to pierce another piece of his seemingly indestructible armor, lightening his mood and lifting his spirits like no other had ever been capable of doing in more years than he could count.

Switching cups, Diana smile softly at him, fighting off the slight chill that was settling into her bones. While the cold didn't typically affect her, it was exceptionally cold in Gotham tonight. She told herself that it had to be the temperature that made her shiver and not the fact that Bruce was staring at her through the slits of his cowl in that penetrating way of his that always seemed to make her flush inside.

"I've kept you long enough," she told him. "I know you need to get back to patrol."

"Stay," he readily replied. The words were out of his mouth before he even realized that he had uttered them. For some reason, he found he didn't mind that he had asked her to stay with him just a little longer. "I mean at least long enough for me to drink my coffee."

"I'd love to," she agreed with a dazzling smile that rivaled the brilliance of the Christmas lights that added an extra glow to Gotham.

He turned, leading her to sit on the stone ledge of the roof. Their legs dangled over the side of the building, each of them seemingly lost in their own thoughts as they took a drink of their hot beverages. Bruce carefully tucked her gift into his utility belt before finding the compartment he was looking for.

"I actually have something for you too," he revealed much to her surprise. "It's not much, but I hope you like it."

Diana took the small box from him, opening it to find smart phone. "A phone?" she asked, somewhat confused and taken aback by his gift.

"It's so you can call or text whoever you want to," he informed her.

"Like you?" she coyly asked, casting a sidelong glance at the man sitting next to her.

Batman stared straight ahead, taking a long sip of his coffee. "Already programmed into the phone," he revealed, refusing to meet her amused gaze.

"Thank you," she said as she began scrolling through the contacts section, a sense of warmth filling her and not from her cup of hot chocolate.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce noticed the way her lips curved down and her brow knitted together. It was a telltale sign that something was bothering her. "What is it?" he asked. "If you don't like it, I can get you something else."

"No, that's not it," she revealed as she looked up to find him staring at her now. "There isn't a picture of you to put with your contact information."

Bruce was relieved that was all that was bothering her. At the same time…

The flash of the camera on the phone came a few seconds later and before he had a chance to tell her not to take a picture of him. "Princess," he growled, trying to sound angry, but it sounded more like a cross between infatuation and annoyance.

"Found the camera button," she excitedly revealed. "I just have to make sure that you smile for the next picture that I take of you."

"There won't be a next—" he began only to be halted by another flash of the camera from her phone. "Princess!"

Diana's lilting laughter filled his ears as she checked to see how the picture turned out. "This one is better than the last one," she decided between bouts of laughter, holding it up for him to see.

Batman suppressed a smirk as he looked at the picture of himself, shaking his head in amazement. How this woman had managed to make this Christmas one of the best that he'd had since he had lost his parents was beyond him. All she had done was share a part of herself with him, turning what was normally one of the hardest days of the year into one he would never forget.

She had shined her light on him, illuminating his dark world and bringing with it a sense of warmth and comfort. It was far more than he felt he deserved, but it was a gift that he would carry with him wherever he went.

XXX

Carrying Diana's journal with him, Bruce settled into his warm bed, more than anxious to get some sleep. Ever since Diana had given him her personal journal several hours ago, his curiosity had been running rampant, more than anxious to read the adventures and dreams of a young Amazon princess.

Because of Diana's visit tonight in Gotham, he had returned to the manor in a better mood than he had in a long time. She had stayed for nearly half an hour, trying to learn how to use her new phone. After several more pictures on her part and threatening growls laced with curses from him, she had finally settled on a picture of him that she liked.

It had been hard to watch her leave him after that, but he knew that he had to let her go. She couldn't remain in Gotham with him. It was too dangerous…she was dangerous to him. She was working her way further and deeper into his heart. She made him want to lose all control, to give into what his heart and body wanted, but he knew that he couldn't. At the same time, he didn't know if he could let her go.

Settling back against the pile of pillows in his bed, Bruce opened to the first page of her journal, the corners of his lips curling with the sight of her precise, neat handwriting. He gently ran his thumb over the worn papyrus, feeling closer to her than he ever had before.

"Today was my first day training with my very own sword. It was so exciting learning to fight like my sisters, to carry my sword with pride and honor like a true Amazon warrior. I hope that I can make my mother and sisters proud of me."

"I'm so mad at myself today. I dropped my guard on my left and Phillipus took advantage of it. Her sword sliced deep through my thigh. It hurt like Hades, but I won't make that same mistake again. I will repay her for it and teach her a lesson. I am the Princess of the Amazons after all. I won't be beaten by anyone."

Bruce chuckled to himself, warmed clear to his toes by the words that had been written by a young Diana a thousand years ago. He could picture every single scene playing out in his mind's eyes—the way the sun played on her raven curls, the fierce determination in her cobalt blue eyes, her small hands tightly fisting her sword.

He found himself falling even more in love with her the more he read, seeing so much of her played out on every single page. His eyelids grew heavy as he turned to the page, a smile playing on his lips as sleep began to take hold of him.

Images of a beautiful little girl with raven curls and his piercing blue eyes, her infectious smile and his nose began to dance through his dreams, forcing the nightmares that usually haunted his sleep back to the recesses of his mind.

She had told him tonight that she hoped that he didn't mind that she had invaded his city, interrupting his patrol. He found that he hadn't minded at all, especially when she invaded his dreams as well.