The man beneath Diana coughed, his eyes opening but then immediately shutting as the bright sun scorched his eyes. When they opened again, he froze as his eyes caught sight of the woman with raven dark hair above him. She was older. Her eyes hardened. But it was still her. He knew it was.

"You're a man." She said in awe.

He smirked, "Yeah, do I not look like one?"

Diana froze and then reached out slowly her hand brushing the hair back from his face, before pulling away as she caught sight of his familiar blue eyes, "Steve?"

"Steve?"

The man in question sat up, his face breaking into a beaming smile as his eyes locked on the woman before him, "Diana."

Diana's eyes welled up and she shot forward. Her body slammed into his and he let out a grunt as the breath was knocked out of him, but he quickly raised his arms wrapping them tight around her back, his fingers grasping for purchase on her clothes. Her arms were tight around him, her face buried in his neck, his wet clothes cold and scratchy against her arms.

"I can't believe I made it back." He mumbled into her hair.

She pulled back slightly, her eyes flashing, "Where have you been? You vanished. We did not know if you were dead or alive."

"I'm so sorry." He released one of his hands from around her back to brush the hair out of her face. His eyes raced over her features trying to memorize her face worried that she was going to disappear again.

His eyes darkened, "I tried to come back."

12 years old:

Steve walked barefoot along the beach the leather bracelet he was making Diana for her birthday tight in his hand. He needed just one last pearl to complete it. After an hour of kicking over shells, he still hadn't found anything.

With a sigh, he waded further into the ocean, his eyes widening when he caught sight of something on the ocean floor. He threw the bracelet back onto the sand, before taking a deep breath and diving deep. His eyes opened under water, burning slightly but he continued his descent until he reached the bottom. Grabbing onto the pearl, he smiled. He spun around and pushed off the ocean floor, breaking the surface with a gasp. He looked around trying to catch sight of the island. When he finally saw it, he realized he was farther away from the beach than he thought. He began to swim when a wave crashed over him, he gasped for breath, struggling to stay above watch, but another wave knocked him down and he began to sink, the world going dark around him.

Steve coughed, rolling over as water spurted out of his mouth, his throat burning. He opened his eyes, seeing a woman leaning over him.

"Diana?" He coughed.

When his eyes focused, the woman in front of him became clear and he scrambled backward, his eyes wide.

The unknown woman walked slowly over to him and he stumbled to his feet, his head swimming. He couldn't comprehend what was going on. He could see the woman's mouth moving, but all he heard was silence.

He shook his head trying to clear his ears and when looked up again, sound flooded his ears. When he heard the word London his heart dropped. His head swung around and he caught sight of dozens of people, women, men, and children, standing around him. He wasn't on Themyscira anymore.

The woman grabbed onto his arm, but he shook his head ripping himself out of the woman's grasp taking off back toward the ocean. As he reached the edge, the water splashed up around his legs. If he could just get back under the water, he could make it back home. Back to Diana. The water had just risen to his waist, but before he could go under, arms pulled him back.

And the last thing Steve remembered was calling out Diana's name before everything went dark.

"Steve? Steve?"

Steve shook his head, the memory flittering from his mind. His eyes rose to meet Diana, who looked concerned, her hand stroking the side of his face. As he leaned into her hand, an explosion rocked the island and they whipped around catching sight of the boat breaking its way through the barrier.

Diana's eyes were wide as Steve and Diana scrambled to their feet, "Who are they?"

"The bad guys. Come on, Diana lets go!" Steve held out his hand to her and as she reached to take it a loud shout came from the top of the cliff.

"Diana! Get away from him!"

But Diana's hand landed in his and his fingers threaded through hers before they took off toward the cliff, as Amazon's began descending from the top, as German's touched down on the beach.

Flaming arrows rained down as bullets flew past and Diana and Steve slid behind a rock as fighting commenced on the beach. They shared a glance and smiled and for a second it felt like they hadn't been separated for years.

"Let's go."

Steve ran out and grabbed a gun from a soldier, flipping around a knocking him in the face before taking aim and taking out several other Germans. Diana followed behind him, taking cover from his back until she managed to grab a bow. She slid across the sand picking up spare arrows and she let them fly one by one.

Diana slide up alongside Steve, placing her back against his and they circled around each other taking out more soldiers.

"You remember your training," she panted, dropping the bow and taking out her sword, spinning it around in her hand.

She spun around with a smile wide on her face; her hair fanning out around her and for a second, Steve's heart flopped, flashing her smirk before taking out the soldier to his right.

"I had a good teacher."

She raised her eyebrow and pointed to herself.

But let out a scoff, rolling his eyes, "No, Antiope."

She threw him a light glare, sticking out her tongue at him, before spinning around and taking off after more soldiers. Steve was watching her leap off a boulder and slice down a soldier when a man tackled him to the ground. He wrestled the knife out of the soldier's hand and punched him across the face, his head shooting up when he heard a loud shout.

His head whipped around, his heart pounding as he watched Antiope race across the sand. His heart stopped as he watched her throw herself in the way of the bullet that was going to strike Diana.

His breath caught in his throat as he watched her go down, but without wasting a second he took aim taking down the soldier before running toward Diana, who had dropped down screaming next to Antiope.

When he slid to his knees beside her, he could hear Antiope gasping.

"You must go Diana. Godki-" she turned and caught sight of Steve, her breath gasping, "Steve? My Steve?.

Steve nodded with a small smile as her hand rose up to brush across his cheek. She let out a wide smile before she took a deep breath and her hand dropped.

"No! No!" Diana cried, her body dropping down onto Antiope's stomach. Steve's head hung and he placed a gentle hand on her forehead, tears falling down his face.

Diana let out another wail and Steve's heart lurched at the sound. He reached over placing an arm around her back and turned burying his head in her hair. For a second, it felt as if the world stood still.

"Do not move."

Steve felt a sword being pressed against his throat and swallowed hard and he untangled himself from Diana. He pulled back, standing slowly, his hands out as the Amazon's surrounded him.

"No!" Diana shouted, scrambling to her feet, she placed herself in front of him.

"It's Steve! It's Steve."

Gasps sounded and everyone immediately lowered their weapons.

"But he came with the villains," someone argued.

"No! He is not one of them."

Steve peeked out from behind Diana, "I'm not by the way!"

Diana turned around leveling Steve with a light glare.

"Enough!" Queen Hippolyta pushed her way through the group of warriors and gestured for the women to disperse.

They wasted no time. The next thing Steve knew, he was wrapped in the famous lasso.

"You know after learning about this thing for years, you never mentioned that it was hot."

"Why are you here, Steve? How did you find your way back?"

"Um….I'm not exactly sure. I like to think it was luck, but I think it was something more." He went on to talk about the war. He talked about how he went undercover. How he was trying to stop the generals from burning innocent villages to the ground. How so many women, children, innocents, soldiers, had already died.

"I need your help, please. We cannot do this alone."

He had barely finished talking before he being dragged away. He fought frantically against the Amazon's. He turned around his eyes meeting Diana's. She threw him a smile and he nodded. Even after all these years, they were still able to communicate with just a glance.

Steve faced forward and let himself be dragged out of the room, after stopping at the medical room, they dropped him off in the bathing room telling him in no uncertain terms that he smelled.

Once he was alone, Steve all but collapsed to the ground. His heart was racing, his head felt all jumbled. He had only been back for a few minutes and already he had lost one of the most important people in his life. Antiope had been more to him than the others. She had adopted him as her own. She had trained him. Care for him. Loved him. And he hadn't even had time to talk to her and now she was gone. As much as his heart was aching, the pain had to be pushed aside. A war was raging and he could help stop it.

He ran his hands over his face and took a deep breath as he looked around at his surroundings. He couldn't believe that he was back on Themyscira. He had no idea how he had gotten here or why. All he remembered was crashing the plane into the water. But that didn't matter now. Because now he was back. With Diana.

Diana.

The second he saw her, he knew it was her. She looked older but the second his eyes met hers, he immediately recognized that mischievous glint in her brown eyes.

She was beautiful. She had always been beautiful to him. Growing up with Diana had been amazing. But his ever-growing affections had been troublesome. She had been his best friend and not wanting to ruin their friendship, he pushed them aside. It wasn't until he lost her that he regretted never telling her. But they had been young. And now they were older. But he didn't know this Diana. She seemed more mature and reserved, not as talkative as she once was, much like the warrior's that had raised them. He knew she wasn't the same. But he wasn't the same either. They had both grown and changed, but he knew that now that they were together again, they would find that balance again. Everything was about to change, but with Diana at his side, he knew they would get through it, together.

Diana tore her gaze from Steve as he was dragged from the room and turned running after her mother.

"Mother! We need to help him."

"Diana." She sighed.

"No. I believe him. You must as well. He is still the same man."

"That is not your Steve anymore."

Diana stopped short, "What do you mean? He is Steve."

"He has been gone for years. Diana, you do not know how corrupt mankind is. He has been in the world of men. He has changed."

"I believe him. Mother-"

But Hippolyta held up her hand, silencing her daughter, "No, Diana. It has already been decided. We will not go."

Diana's heart raced and she nodded her head before walking away. The second she turned the corner, out of view from her mother, she broke into a run. When she arrived at the medical room, she peeked inside hoping to find Steve, but all she saw was the doctor. She rolled her eyes a pointed to the bathing room and Diana nodded in thanks.

As she walked to the bathing room, her mind was racing. Steve was back. Her Steve. He was so different from the young boy she remembered. He had been all long limbs, crooked smile, and quick wit. Now he was older, his long limbs replaced by muscles, his manner seemed more mature, but his smile was still the same.

It had been years, more than a decade really since she had last seen him. She didn't truly know him anymore, but just one glance in his eyes and suddenly she was a 10-year-old girl again. In that one glance, she could remember every single moment she had spent with him. He had been her best friend. And she had loved him.

She knew that being with him wouldn't be the same. They had both grown and changed so much. But she knew that it would only be a matter of time where one single glance between them, would be enough to tear down the world around them.

As she rounded the corner, her heart was pounding but she smiled knowing that even though everything was going to change, at least Steve would be by her side.

A few minutes later, Diana walked into the room, the second that Steve rose from the bath. Diana's eyes grew wide. She hadn't seen Steve since he was 12 years old and he was so different from how she remembered him.

Steve coughed, his face flushing, "Oh, Diana."

She smirked, "Steve." She watched as his face grew a deeper red and she cleared her throat, "What's that?"

Steve's eyes grew wide as he looked down, "I… um- what? Oh, that."

He cleared his throat before scurrying down the rocks and sliding on his pants before reaching down to grab the watch resting on the ground.

"It's a watch. When I- um…got sent back, I found my way back to my old home. I found all my belongings. My childhood memories. But nothing mattered to me anymore. Other than this watch. It belonged to my father. Everything else was nothing. Everything I wanted was back here. All I had to remember you by were the clothes on my back. I was told over and over that it was a dream, that I had imagined it all. I thought I would never see you again. At one point I even convinced myself that I had made it all up, but then I would dream and you'd be there and I'd just know that you were out there somewhere. I've thought about you every day. I spent hours trying to remember every detail about you. I wrote down everything I could. Every conversation. Every prank. Every time I kicked your ass." He smirked.

Diana rolled her eyes before smiling sadly, "It was different for me. I had too many things to remind me of you. So many memories. So many objects. It hurt. I haven't gone into my childhood room since you left. I couldn't deal with the memories. I never forgot about you once. When you vanished, I broke. You were here one day and gone the next. When I would miss you, I would sit up on the roof where we used to star watch. I'd imagine you beside me. I knew you were still out there. I always had hope. That is why I always wear this."

She held up her arm and pulled down her arm gauntlet so that Steve could see the bracelet tied around her wrist. His eyes widened and he took a step up, reaching into his pocket and grabbed something, holding it out for her to take.

"I've kept this with me all these years. This is what I was looking for the day I went missing. It was the last piece I needed." He took another step forward so that he was just inches from her. He reached down and grabbed her hand pulling it up. He spun the bracelet around and placed the pearl in his hand into the empty space.

"A perfect fit." He whispered, brushing his thumb over her wrist, feeling her heart racing.

A beat passed and then Diana shot forward wrapping herself around him, his arms wrapping tight around her back and he felt her shudder against him.

"I've missed you, Steve."

His arms tightened around her, "You have no idea how much I missed you, Diana."

Diana pulled back, his hands sliding from around her back to settle on her waist, her hands cupping his face, "I am coming with you. My mother refuses to send help, but I am going anyway."

Steve smiled and nodded.

"But we have one stop, before we leave."

Diana tangled her fingers in his and they walked through the corridors. As they reached their destination, they passed by Diana's old room. Diana kept her face front and continued walking, but Steve stopped abruptly stopping Diana in her tracks.

"Can I?"

Diana nodded and Steve opened the door. The air was stale but everything was clear and it looked exactly how Steve remembered it.

Steve dropped Diana's hand, leaving her in the doorway as he walked over to the bed, "I miss the nights we spent lying here. The way we just talked about everything."

Diana chuckled from the doorway, "Also the mornings when your mother would find us asleep next to each other and you could hear her screaming from across the island."

Steve swallowed hard and took one last look around the room before he closed the door behind him.

"So where exactly are we going?"

"Breaking into."

"Breaking…into?"

Diana smiled and Steve rolled his eyes, just like old times.

"Stay here. I will open the door for you. After I make the jump."

Steve's brows furrowed, "Jump? Diana?" But she was already gone.

Steve was standing silently by the door when he heard a loud bang. His eyes widened and he peeked around the corner watching as Diana scaled the side of the wall with her bare hands. Well that's new.

The door flew open behind him and he spun around watching as Diana gestured for him to follow her.

Diana weaved through the halls, Steve following quickly after her. She slipped inside a room and appeared holding two sets of armor. Steve took one with a raised eyebrow watching, as Diana didn't wait a second before taking off once again. With a sigh, he raced after her almost running into her motionless body when he turned the corner. His eyes widened as he took in the sword before him.

"Is that-"

"Yes."

The boat was ready when they arrived and Steve turned to take one last look at the island. He wished he could have stayed longer. This place had been more of a home to him than London had ever been. But he knew that getting back to the war was more important. He had Doctor Poison's notebook. He could stop hundreds of thousands of innocents from dying.

Pounding footsteps stopped Diana and Steve in their tracks and they turned watching as Hippolyta rode up on her horse.

"Diana. Steve."

"I am going, Mother. I cannot stand by while innocent lives are lost."

"I know. And I know I cannot stop you. But you must know that you may never return if you leave."

Diana tensed, "Who would I be if I stayed?"

Steve cleared his throat, "I am sorry, Hippolyta."

"It is not your fault, Steve. You are doing what you believe is right. I hope you know how deeply we all cared for you. Antiope especially."

Hippolyta reached behind her and pulled out a sword, holding it out for Steve to take. Steve stepped forward slowly and took it from her. As he stepped back, he ran his fingers over the engravings.

"Antiope would want you to have that. Use it well."

Steve's eyes welled up as he tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword, "Thank you. I hope you know that I cared for you as well. You were my family."

Hippolyta nodded before turning back to Diana. She reached out handing her Antiope's headpiece, "This belonged to the greatest warrior of all time. Make sure you are worthy of it. I know I cannot stop you, but you must be careful in the world of men, Diana. They do not deserve you."

Diana and Steve watched as Hippolyta rode off before turning back to look out at the water.

Steve reached out and slipped his hand into Diana's and together they walked toward the boat, hand in hand, ready to go save the world.