Making the Best of It
Chapter 27
Gotham Park
A sunny day in the City of Gotham as the people in the park chatted amongst themselves. Crowds of families and joggers passing by. Kids playing with other kids or dogs, or people just going about their lives on a summer day.
It was the Fourth of July, mid-afternoon. Families decided to make it an all-day thing. The annual fireworks display was scheduled for eight and everyone present was excited for it.
Among the families was one in particular.
Bruce, Diana, and Elissa decided to spend the Fourth of July as a family. They planned to have a picnic, finding a perfect spot under a tree with a decent amount of shade. The three sat on a blanket a fair distance from other people.
A picnic basket was left near them, but the parents were focused on getting Elissa settled first. They were all dressed for the weather. Elissa wore a red t-shirt and cargo like shorts and sandals. Her pacifier latched onto her shirt. Diana had slathered some sunscreen on her daughter's face, arms, and legs. She even put a hat on her head for extra protection.
The Amazon wore a purple t-shirt and jean shorts and sneakers. While Bruce wore a gray t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers.
Bruce had started unpacking their basket while Diana tried to keep Elissa from getting too far. Since she started to crawl, they couldn't get her to sit still. She was always on the move whenever she could. They were just waiting for her to start to stand and then walk.
Knowing their daughter, it was going to happen when they least expected it.
Diana reached over and pulled Elissa back to the blanket and plopped her on her bottom. "Sit still," the woman told her child. In response the child took her hat off and started to play with it. Staring at it with intrigue.
Diana was content with her daughter playing with the hat. She turned to Bruce, who was already unpacking their lunch.
"Nice day," the man commented, making conversation.
"Yes, lovely," the woman responded pleasantly. Her eyes returned to Elissa content with her hat.
The man handed out their lunch, but they let it be idle for a while. They preferred to just enjoy the nice day.
Elissa had abandoned her hat and started to crawl away. Diana had tried to pry her back over to them, but Bruce held her arm and stood. As Elissa crawled further and further away, her father following her. He saw no harm in getting some exercise. He was right next to her.
Seated on the blanket, Diana watched as her daughter was laughing as she saw her father faux jogging alongside her, silently egging her on to go faster, go farther.
The raven-haired woman smiled at the scene. Her heart swelled as her baby girl was getting so big. It would not be long before she started walking. Part of her was saddened that Elissa was growing up and soon be at eye level with her and would not need her mother anymore.
Time was the enemy, something Wonder Woman could not fight. But she swore to make the most of it.
She witnessed Bruce pluck their daughter into his arms when she was about to intrude on another family, he offered a mild apology. She watched as Bruce put Elissa back down and sent her back towards Diana.
"Come here, my star beam," the mother called sweetly to her baby. She held her hands out beckoning her forth.
Elissa eagerly crawled to her mother, jabbering to herself, pacifier still in her mouth. Eventually, her journey ended, and her mother embraced her. Holding her tight to her chest, kissing her cheeks until Elissa started to giggle and push her mother away.
They started in on their lunch with the couple were enjoying the family time, Elissa, on the other hand, refused her bottle, which was unheard of.
"Come on, my love," Diana cooed. But Elissa would not have it, she shook her head, waved her arms squirming in her mother's grasp.
Eventually, Diana gave up. "Okay, fine," she sighed. "You can play," she said, grabbing some toys from the diaper bag.
"It's odd that she isn't hungry," the woman commented to her boyfriend, capping the bottle.
"It's probably the excitement," the billionaire assured, leaning back on the towel.
"Still…" a worried Diana uttered, staring at her daughter, occupied with her blocks.
She jolted in place when she felt lips press against her soft cheek. In response, she relaxed when he pulled back.
"Relax," he told her sincerely. "We'll know when she's hungry," he chuckled as he recalled the number of times that little girl wailed for food.
"Definitely," she joined him in a chuckle.
They leaned back against the blanket their eyes on their daughter as she played. The two turned to one another smiling at the other before they kissed and sat back merely enjoying the quiet respite in their lives.
They took Elissa home a few hours later as the sun was beginning to set giving the sky that perfect orange-like red sky.
Even from Wayne Manor, the fireworks display from the city was still very visible. Say what you will about Gotham City, but they certainly knew how to throw a celebration when it counted.
Only a few hours after the sun had set and night loomed over the city. The fireworks set off almost immediately.
First it was the crackle followed by the deafening boom and then the night was lit aflame by a rainbow of colors.
Bruce thought having Elissa see the display from inside the manor rather than outside was best considering he worried the explosions would hurt her little ears.
Elissa, however, was captivated by the lights, unfortunately the loud pops made her whimper and eventually start to cry.
Bruce soothed her, patting her back as she buried her face into his neck. The fireworks having startled her.
"Hey, it's just a little loud," he said softly, rubbing her back. But Elissa continued to cry and refused to turn back to the window.
Diana leaned in kissing her daughter's head. "It's okay," she assured. She turned to Bruce, "Maybe she will enjoy it more when she is older," she suggested.
"I… when Dick first came to live with me, I had a fireworks performance that July for him," he disclosed. "I wanted to make him feel at home. It wasn't that long before he lost his parents. We haven't done that in years." His voice was hollow as he agonized over the loss of Dick. He was still alive but with no memory of his life upon entering Wayne Manor. They were strangers.
The Amazon was surprised to hear him talk about Dick, especially after the shooting. She was glad to see him talking about it, but she was surprised by it. She usually had to prod a little.
She smiled, patting her daughter's back. "Well, it looks like we will have a new family tradition," she declared.
He couldn't help but smile lightly at her declaration. He didn't see anything wrong with such a tradition. Not anymore.
A week later was the Gotham Carnival. It took some doing on Diana's part as she had not only Wayne Foundation business but Justice League and Wonder Woman cases. The woman was swamped in the truest sense of the word. She had only seen her daughter for moments in the time that passed.
Part of her hated that she was so absent. Thankfully, Bruce had a much more flexible schedule. That was the point of him leaving the League. So that Elissa had at least one parent in her life.
Moments. She told herself. Hold onto the moments and be there for when she truly needed her. It kept her going. It wasn't much but it would have to do.
So, the couple decided to take Elissa to the carnival for some family time. It was something Diana was excited about. In her heart she knew Elissa would love it.
The raven-haired woman raced down the stairs and met Bruce in the living room as Elissa was sitting on the floor playing with her wooden blocks.
"Sorry," she panted. She hurriedly taken a shower after just coming back from a League mission in Guam.
"It's fine," a casually dressed Bruce dismissed.
She bent over the couch checking Elissa's diaper bag to make sure she had everything. From her posture, her jeans rode down exposing her underwear.
Bruce, who was checking his email, noticed her underwear out of his peripheral. "Is that a thong?"
Instantly, Diana shot up straight, her posture ridge. Her cheeks were heated in embarrassment. Her wide eyes slowly moved to him. "I'm trying new things," she reasoned, feeling a little self-conscious. "Problem?" she asked, a frown on her face, hands on her hips, challenging him silently.
"No," he shrugged. "I just didn't see you wearing something like that," he reasoned innocently.
A sultry look formed in her eyes as she brushed up against him real close. "Well, if you're very good today, I'll let you take it off of me and then maybe we can have some fun," she said huskily to him.
Her voice and the look in her eye got his blood pumping. He silently cursed her for tempting him so profoundly.
When she saw him swallow, her smile grew deeply pleased that she got him.
She pressed a kiss to his lips and parted from him with a comforting pat on his firm chest.
"Come along, Elissa," the mother called to her child. Elissa in turn looked at her mother just as she was scooped up into her arms. A whine escaped her as she missed her blocks. "We can take some with us," her mother soothed her, picking up a couple of blocks and gave them to her child.
"Ready?" Bruce asked, the diaper bag over his shoulder.
"Yep," Diana smiled as left for the car.
A drive to the carnival was about an hour from the manor. They parked a significant distance away. They should have left earlier. They couldn't find a parking spot.
Disembarking from the vehicle, Bruce took out the stroller and diaper bag, sticking it under the stroller after opened it up. He turned just in time for Diana to inject the car seat into the interchangeable stroller.
After a few minutes they entered the deep end of the carnival.
The atmosphere was clamorous as kids on rides were screaming their heads off. People laughing and talking while waiting in line, the smell of food assaulted their senses.
"Where to first?" Diana slightly yelled at the man next to her.
"Let's get tickets," he responded, going over to the ticket salesman.
The woman chose to stay back and wait for the man to return. In the meantime, she picked into the stroller inspecting on Elissa.
"Having fun?" the woman said sweetly. She was amused by how her daughter stared at every little thing with wide eyes. "We'll see what rides we can put you on," she told her. "Would you like that?"
Elissa kicked her legs, sucking on her pacifier.
When the raven-haired woman looked up Bruce was standing in front of her. "Any ideas?" he said holding the tickets in his hand.
She thought for a moment before she answered. "How about we walk around for a bit?" she suggested. "See what we find," she shrugged.
Wordlessly, Bruce followed her lead as she started walking pushing Elissa forward.
They navigated past families and children racing pass them, merely looking around. Specifically, Elissa as she stared out of the sides of the stroller. Her blue eyes full of wonder as she found the scene incredibly fascinating.
They stopped at a balloon dart stand. Diana interested in popping some balloons paid the vendor and grabbed a few darts.
Turning to Elissa, who was turned around to watch her mother, "Start picking your prize, star beam," the woman told her sweetly. In quick succession Diana popped all the balloons that she had darts for.
An impressed Bruce clapped, while Elissa flinched whenever the balloons popped, but cooed when the manager of the booth exclaimed, "A winner!"
The raven-haired woman claimed a blue balloon on a stick as her prize, to which she gave to her daughter to have.
Instantly, the little girl started flailing the balloon around with fascination. Both parents smiled fondly as their daughter had fun with the balloon.
"Would you like try?" Diana inquired of the man.
"No, I'm fine."
They started walking again and stumbled upon a baseball try-your-skill booth. An interested Bruce decided to try his hand at the game.
Given four worn out baseballs, Bruce rolled his shoulder before taking one. With precision a bottle was knocked over, he made short work of the others until he used up all the baseballs he was issued.
"Nice shot," Diana praised. She turned to her daughter, "Did you see that?'" she asked.
The billionaire walked over to his family with a purple octopus in hand. "Here you go, princess," he handed his daughter the stuffed toy. The stroller starting to get crowded, in response, Diana chuckled, "We may have to take you out before we smother you," she said playfully.
The man shared the humor until a thought occurred to him. "No, giant teddy bears, Diana." He said it strongly. They already had one at home, they didn't need another.
"We'll see," she replied coyly.
"Diana…" he trailed off with a soft warning.
"We'll see," she merely smiled. She started walking away with a confounded Bruce frozen before following with a resigned sigh.
They stopped at a small table for something to eat. With Elissa on the Amazon's lap, Bruce gave her her bottle. Instantly, the child went to town, downing the white liquid. As her parents made conversation on where to go next, Diana would occasionally bounce her daughter on her knee, knowing that Elissa liked it.
"How's work going?" Bruce suddenly asked her.
Her response was a weary sigh and grimace.
"That bad, huh?"
"It just seems that I am being pulled into so many different directions," she sighed.
"What can I do?" the man inquired. He was willing to help alleviate the stress she was under.
"Nothing, Bruce. Maybe I should just quit the League for a while. I'm already leading the Dark in matters of magic," she reasoned. She was more talking out loud rather than truly discussing it.
As Bruce listened to her, he decided to reply. "Diana, I quit because someone needed to be present in Elissa's life. I was always more concerned about Gotham rather than the world at large."
"Really?" she answered with skepticism.
"My involvement was always based on dealing with threats before they reached Gotham," he shrugged honestly.
"Huh," was all she could utter. She was honestly surprised by his answer.
"I hope you're not angry with me," Bruce wondered, self-consciously worried he upset her.
"Of course not, Bruce," she dismissed. She turned checking on Elissa to see where she was at with her bottle.
Seeing that the bottle was empty, she gingerly took it from her daughter and left it on the table. "Are you full?" she said softly, wiping the child's mouth.
Elissa, instantly, started to squirm in her mother's lap. Desiring to go somewhere.
In the background, a band started to play on a stage in front of tables and chairs of people either eating, discussing, or listening to the band.
The three finished eating and moved on to the next attraction. They stopped at a ring toss vendor. This time they tried to have Elissa give it a go.
Sitting her daughter on the counter, Diana experimentally tossed a ring hooking around a wooden stack. She handed one to the child, "Try, my star beam," she encouraged her child.
Elissa curiously took the ring, staring at it with fascination. However, she seemed more interested in holding it than tossing it.
Seeing her confusion, her mother showed her how to do it once more. "Give it a try," she encouraged, rubbing her back.
Elissa still had no idea how to do it, so Diana took her little arm and slowly tossed the ring. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough power behind the toss, missing the stake.
"That was a good first try, Elissa." Diana cooed excitedly which brought a smile to the child's face.
They left the vendor without a prize, but they held happiness in their hearts at the time they spent together.
The next place they went was a slide attraction. Diana and Elissa went on that one. The slide was at least one hundred feet long and rainbow colored.
"Here we go," Diana said cheerfully to her daughter, who was seated in her lap. When they started going, Elissa started to laugh. The Amazon was glad her daughter was having a good time. Truth be told, so was she.
Bruce stood on the ground his phone recording his two special girls coming down the slide. His heart swelled when he saw the huge smile on his daughter's face as they slid down. That sweet innocent laughter brought a smile to his face.
"You're turn," Diana suddenly said to him when they met up. She handed Elissa over to him and then he took her down. Just like before she laughed in amusement by the excitement.
She greeted them as soon as they went past the gate. "Hey, did you have fun?"
Elissa instinctively reached for her mother, who took her readily. She started cooing and twisting the body pointing at the slide, telling her parents she wanted to go again.
Unfortunately, the sun was starting to set and would have to start heading home soon.
But what trip to a carnival with a twenty-month-old child be without a ride on the carousel.
Diana took a mesmerized Elissa to the carousel. She sat her done on the inanimate horse, buckling her in. The woman kept her hands on her daughter's sides to keep her in place. But her daughter kept whipping her head to see everything around her.
The lights, the other children, and their parents on the carousel.
"Hey," her mother whispered to her. "Look there," she pointed over to Bruce. "There's daddy," she said sweetly. Elissa looked to where her mother pointed and saw her father with his phone out recording. He smiled at her and waved.
Diana took her little arm and waved at him for her.
Suddenly, the carousel jolted, startingly Elissa, a ringing bell followed, and music followed. The carousel began to move as the horse she was on moved up and down as the ride rotated.
Bruce watched from his position recording the whole thing. He determined that she was having fun based on the smile on her face.
He managed to take some photos.
With a loud ringing, the ride came to a halt and the patrons disembarked. Diana and Elissa greeted him as other patrons boarded the ride.
The woman handed off their daughter to her father. "She wants to go again," she told him. She took his phone from him getting the record app ready.
"Okay." He turned his head to his little girl. "Ready to go?" he said with a small smile on his face. In response, Elissa just cooed, pointing back to the carousel.
But before they could go the ride started up again signaling to them that they had to wait.
"Oh. We have to wait a few minutes, princess," the man said to the baby. Unfortunately, Elissa didn't like waiting and started to whimper.
"Easy, easy, easy," Bruce uttered quickly. He bounced her in his arms attempting to calm her down until the ride was over. "Just a few minutes, Elissa." He assured her.
Elissa buried her face into his neck, dampening it with her tears.
"Aw," Diana rubbed her baby's back soothing her.
When Bruce took her on the ride she eventually calmed down.
They came home in the early evening; they got her fed and ready for bed.
Inside Bruce's bedroom, he watched her under a careful eye. The way her chest rose slightly with every breath she took. She was fast asleep and on her side. Her hair hung in front of her bare chest that was covered by the bedsheet. He was in awe of her beauty as the moonlight that snuck into the room through the curtains gave her an ethereal glow. The slender column of her neck expressed a light bruise from earlier. Her firm back was to him, her toned arms that betrayed the power truly behind them were bent, resting on her body and the bed.
He leaned in a bit to get a good look at her face. She wasn't drooling this time that was a plus because she always denied the accusation out of embarrassment. He, however, found it strangely adorable.
She was breathtaking where her eyelashes grazed her face. The way her nose twitched in her sleep. Her red lips slightly parted. Her beautiful Mediterranean kissed skin not too dark but just enough to see she spent time in the sun.
Bruce could only describe her as breathtaking. Perhaps even otherworldly.
He loved her. After so long with failed relationships-toxic relationships he finally found a good one where Batman didn't get in the middle. He wanted to finally try, really try at making a relationship work. And Diana was the one he wanted to be with.
Suddenly, the woman turned over facing him. Burying her face into her pillow, her hair plopping into her eyes. The effect caused her to open her eyes, in between the strands she noticed Bruce watching her. Whipping her hair away with her hand she uttered tiredly, "What are you doing?"
"Watching you sleep," he answered honestly.
She stared at him for a moment before she responded. "That's a little strange." He knew she didn't mean anything by it. "Are you okay? Trouble sleeping?" she pulled the sheet to her chest.
"Yes," he said softly, mimicking her as he laid on his side.
She smiled and reached over, caressing his bare shoulder.
He turned his head, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand.
"I was thinking," he began.
"About?"
"About going on vacation."
"Really?" she was skeptical. She pulled her hand away, laying it flat on the bedding. "Who are you and what have you done with Bruce?" she said teasingly.
"Funny," he uttered dryly.
"Are you sick?" she pressed her hand to his face checking his temperature.
"Enough," he huffed. To which provoked a laugh out of the woman. "I remember going on vacations with my parents. I want Elissa to have the same memories," he confessed earnestly.
"Are you sure?" she cupped his face in her hands. Inwardly, she was delighted to take a vacation. She needed one as she was running herself ragged for a while now. Some time with her daughter and with Bruce would be good for her—for them.
"Yes. The others can look after Gotham for a week."
"A week?!" she exclaimed lightly. "A few days was what I imagined but a week? My you do want this vacation," she teased.
"I've spent years protecting Gotham. I like to think I've made some headway in cleaning the city up. But I…" he swallowed the lump in his throat as he prepared himself to let go just a little bit. "Elissa won't be little forever. And I know I won't be around for everything but when I am I should."
The woman laid there listening intently to his conviction on being present in their daughter's life. The fact he would put her first instead of Gotham spoke volumes of how much he wanted to be a father to their child.
"I think we could use a family vacation," she said knowingly. She snuggled up to him, his arm instinctively wrapping around her as she pulled the sheet over them. "So where would you like to go?" she inquired. She was curious on where they would go for the trip.
"Well, I have this beach house…"
NEXT: Vacation