22. Future Possibilities
Summary: An epilogue of sorts.
"Mommy, mommy, mommy."
The raven-haired beauty's eyes automatically turned to the door, seeking out the one calling out to her. Seconds later a child….her child slipped from between the barely parted halves, his cubby face twisting in an adorable frown as he stopped to fix the upturned lapel of his coat, his pink tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth as he mimicked his father's actions.
"Good work Master Thomas," he muttered to himself, repeating the praise that his grandpa-butler-Alfed showered upon him whenever he did something good.
Satisfied with the results, he looked up to find the love filled eyes of his mother looking down at him, her lips curved in a full smile, one that lit up her eyes. It had been almost four months since the mother-son officially met each other. His father explained to him that his mother had been under a magical spell that made her forget everything and everyone and that the spell cancelled out when she saved them from the bad-lady. Already liking her from when he met her at the party and then the next morning, Thomas soon overcame the hesitancy, progressing from Alfred's Miss Diana, to Mommy Miss Diana, to Mommy Diana and finally to Mommy in a matter of weeks. Although, still a Daddy's boy he soon warmed up to his mother, a seemingly magical link forming between the two.
----
"Hey Master Smarty-pants," rosy cheeks turned a deep crimson at the complement Barbara Gordon sent his way.
"You are going to knock 'em all dead," piped up Kara Kent, aka Supergirl.
"Huh," the young child gasped in horror. He did not want to hurt anyone, leave alone knock them dead.
"Kara!" Diana mock admonished the Kryptonian teenager, opening her arms for her son, who shirking from the knocking-talking red and blue clad lady immediately ran into her embrace.
"Mommy, I don' wanna hurt anyone," he mumbled as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck, turning his face away from Kara, but keeping a corner of the eyes gaze on her.
"I know my dear," Diana whispered to him, as if speaking just for his ears and not the five other women in the room, Kara Kent, Barbara Gordon, Shayera Stewart, Cassandra Cain and Dr. Leslie Thompkins. "And no one is going to hurt you too."
"P'owmis?" Thomas looked up at her, his bottom lip quivering slightly. Although he had recovered from the torture he had to witness at the hands of Circe, he still had occasional flashbacks. Luckily, for him, he had now not one but two parents to take care of him.
"Promise," Diana repeated with a gentle kiss on his impeccably combed hair, her smile reflected in the one that her son flashed at her, a smile that was an exact miniaturized version of his dad's. 'Kara is right,' she mulled silently at the heartbreaker he was going to be one day. 'Not if his mother can help it,' the Amazon in her chimed up. No child of her was going to do anything against woman, not even be a billionaire playboy. Anyways, one of those was enough in a household, and theirs already had one, even if he was on retired status now.
----
"Ooh, ooh, I gotta give you sumthing'," Thomas piped up, wiggling in his mother's grasp, his actions demanding that he be set down.
As soon as Diana lowered him to the ground, he reached into his coat pocket to draw out a thin rectangular box, which he promptly held up to Diana.
Her brow creasing in expectant confusion, Diana took the box, a shiver running down her spine at its familiar design.
"Diana," Shayera caught onto the sudden change in her friend's demeanor. "What is it?"
"Its-its…." Diana fumbled with the cover, her eyes widening at the contents inside it.
The next moment she off was and towards the door, which she yanked open forcefully, her face expressing all the emotions churning up inside her…..surprise, anger, hurt….and most of all love.
Seeing the person standing before her, she said just one word.
"Mother."
----
Earlier,
"Your majesty," Hippolyta turned to face the guard at the door, her regal eyes literally showing their two millennia plus age.
"Yes," she gathered herself as she responded, her left hand tightly grasping a child's dress between her fingers. It was HER dress, just as it was HER room….Her little sun and stars, her daughter, Diana. The daughter she had wronged…..failed….betrayed. If only she had given into her mother's instincts and not her queen's, she would not have discarded the child, her as she had. Given that he was a male, he was still innocent, having done no wrong to anyone. 'Except being born in your domain,' the mother inside her accused vehemently. It wasn't for the first time in the last four years that this inner voice had risen up against her, and unlike before, the queen had no words left to speak against it.
"There is a man on the shores of the island," the guard informed warily. "He says you know him…calls himself Batman."
-----
Present,
"Diana," Hippolyta returned softly, her eyes brimming with tears at the sight before her. Dressed in a flowing shoulder less wedding gown, an intricate mixture of traditional Greek and modern design cues, Diana looked every bit the warrior-princess-bride she was.
Both women stared at each other, no words coming forth from either of them as their eyes did all the talking. It was only when Thomas peeked out from behind Diana's gown did Hippolyta's gaze waver, traveling down to the nearly three foot tall male-child, his facial features telling of his parentage….as if the way he clung to Diana wasn't signal enough.
Diana knew that this day would come. Both Bruce and Alfred had prepared her for this, although truth be told, it was Alfred's brainchild. Although Bruce knew about the souring of relations between Diana and her mother, he did not broach upon the topic, not until Alfred urged him to. Unlike Bruce, who left things on Diana, Alfred wanted relations to improve and be like they were before between Diana and her Queen Mother. He told Bruce as such and the boy, who lost both his parents at the young age of eight, understood the importance of parents in a child's life and vice versa. He had then spoken to Diana about it, even going to Themiscyra to invite the queen herself.
Now they stood face to face, silently regarding each other, until unable to bear it any longer, both broke down simultaneously and rushed into each other's arms.
It wasn't a case of all forgiven and forgotten….after all they were Amazons and warrior and it just wasn't the way of the warrior. However, it was atleast the first step in the right direction.
----
"Mommy," Thomas called out softly, his face expressing his confusion at seeing his mother cry. Today was a happy day, everyone had told him so. Dickie and Timmy even had a party planned for later, with a special surprise for daddy and mommy. So, why was mommy crying?
"Thomas," Diana broke away from her mother's embrace and turned around to reach for her son, dabbing way the tears that threatening to screw up Zatanna, Dinah and Barbara's carefully done masterpiece of a makeup…..well a masterpiece according to them anyway. "Come here. I want you to meet some…." She stopped mid-sentence, correcting herself. "Meet your Grandmother."
"Gran'mother?" Thomas took a couple of small steps, not stepping away from the safe confines of his mother. Maybe it was seeing how his mother cried after meeting the strange woman, or just that Hippolyta's traditional Grecian robes reminded him of Circe, but the otherwise friendly Thomas didn't quite take to the new relation.
"Yes," Diana gently took his hand and urged him towards the Amazonian Queen, or atleast in front of her. "She's mommy's mommy."
"Mommy's mommy," the young child rolled the words over his tongue and his mind, taking a few seconds to make the connection, his eyes lighting up as he reached the appropriate decision. Like grandpa Alfed was daddy's-butler daddy. "She's grandmommy?" He looked up to his mother for her confirmation, getting it in the form of a silent nod.
Turning back to the strange blonde haired woman, he stepped forward with renewed confidence. "Hi, grandmommy," he wished with a smile, offering his hand for a handshake, just like daddy taught him. "My name is Thomas Wayne, but only mommy and daddy call me that. It was my grandpa's name too. You can too if you like it."
All her apprehension gone at the innocence of the child, Hippolyta's nearly fell to her knees as she enveloped the young male in a maternal embrace.
"Thomas is a very good name. I'd be honored to call you that."
----
"Dearly beloved, we have gathered here….." the priest started addressing the gathering, especially the two people standing before him, the bride, Ms. Diana Prince, a new secret identity for Diana, and the groom, Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises.
Present were, besides the immediate Wayne-Bat family were the members of the Justice League and their spouses and other close friends of the Wayne family, namely Dr. Leslie Thompkins and her date, Mr. Alfred Pennyworth, the gentleman who has walked the glowing bride down the aisle and Mr. Lucious Fox, Wayne Enterprises' President and his family.
Thomas was firmly ensconced between grandpa-butler-Alfed and his new grandmommy, his mommy's mommy, Queen Hippoi'ta. He had run forward and stood next to daddy, just like Dickie was standing right now. Grandpa-Alfed told him that Dickie was the best-man, something he did not agree with. In his eyes, his daddy was the bestest man and his bestest daddy too, just like his mommy was the bestest mommy…..not that he was going to argue with grandpa-Alfed about it.
-----
Standing before the gathering, with everyone yet just alone with each other, were the bride and groom, their hands firmly meshed with each others.
They had gone through a lot of ups and downs to get here, as they would do from now own...except now they would have each other, together, for always.
"I do."
"I do."
Note: I had
ended this fic with the previous chapter and had planned on doing a
sequel sometime in the future. However, got a few reviews asking for
a proper epilogue….so here it is.
Hope you liked it. Please review and let me know!