~~9:00 PM~~

Bruce was yawning as he entered the cave entrance behind the grandfather clock. It'd been a long and exhausting day, and unfortunately it wasn't about to end. He still had a full night of patrol yet to perform even though he was already exhausted. He was mostly to blame for his current condition, having chosen to stay away from the Manor all evening in order to avoid a certain someone as much as possible. He didn't want to give her any chance at him until he could uncover the truth behind what was actually going on within his own household.

This point in time however, would serve as one of the few unavoidable situations for him. Diana typically served her monitor duty shifts in the evenings, and he would at a minimum have to be in the same vicinity as her when he changed into his armor. Bruce ventured a glance over to the Cray super computer in order to ascertain Diana's attention, and he couldn't stop himself from the double take to confirm what he thought he'd seen. Surprisingly enough, Diana wasn't intently looking at the monitors as she'd normally be. She also didn't seem to be waiting to confront him either. Instead, it seemed that she was more focused on a pile of papers strewn about in front of her.

Thoughts instantly flooded his mind, wondering if these might be some pages from the notebook she'd been working on in the study with J'onn the night before. But she'd seemed so vigilant in keeping everything from view then, having angled any materials she'd been holding from any and all camera views within the Manor as well as the book she'd had with her. He couldn't believe she could've been trying to hide what she was working on if she had them so out in the open now for anyone to see. The only lame excuse that came to mind was if she'd perhaps lost track of time as a result of being deeply engrossed in what she was working on. Regardless, he felt that he needed to confirm what it could be that had her intrigued enough to distract her from monitoring the world's events. So, with that question in mind, he allowed his curiosity to derail him from heading toward the changing area, and instead went in the opposite direction. That direction being straight toward her.

Diana was moving from one piece of paper to another, pen in hand as she jotted down another note when Bruce approached from behind. She'd already heard him from his point of entry, and knew that he would approach her out of curiosity and paranoia. He'd made the mistake of not trying to slip into the cave using his normal silent methods, and she almost smiled as he was now trying to close in silently. "Good evening Bruce." She said without turning around while simultaneously bursting any potential belief that he'd have any success with stealth. It was likely a blow to his arrogance, but she figured he could handle it.

Meanwhile he was busy internally cursing at himself for having been caught. In his exhausted state, he'd obviously failed at sneaking around unnoticed. That was definitely a rarity for him, even with meta's involved. But still, he was even more thrown off by the fact that Diana never seemed to be concerned about his presence. She hadn't even scurried in attempt to hide anything from him. "Working on something interesting?" He asked, trying to sound only half intrigued.

"Actually, it's something that you might be able to help me with." Diana said as she finally faced him by spinning around in her chair. "I believe Patriarch's world calls this...apartment shopping?"

"Thinking of moving out?" He asked, somewhat surprised. "I figured you'd just stay here until the new Watchtower is finished."

"Well, I admit that was my original intention." She admitted. "But I don't want to be any more of a burden on you or especially Alfred. That sweet man already has more than enough on his plate without having me here adding to it. Besides, I think it might be a good idea to have a place of my own even after the new Watchtower is completed. After all, who knows how long the new Tower will last?"

In response, Bruce merely released a disapproving grunt. He certainly couldn't argue the validity of her point, but that wasn't what really had him so disgruntled. Had he been worrying all this time about a possible confrontation with Diana regarding his dreams when perhaps she'd actually just been researching potential housing options? He'd been absolutely positive of her intentions before, but now doubt had begun to linger in his mind.

And it was then that he realized he'd been blankly staring at Diana for more than a few moments, and he had to internally shake himself from his thoughts in order to force himself to break the silence. "Find any potential prospects?" He finally asked.

"I think so with Alfred's help earlier today, and he couldn't have offered his advice at a better time for me." Diana answered.

"What did he say that was so helpful?"

"Well, he actually helped to calm some of my frustration more so than anything." She said in response. "I'd been considering either New York or Washington D.C. as a good base for me to call home, but it became a little frustrating to actually find a place that felt right. But after he came and shared some tea to take my mind off the search, I was able to take a step back, breathe, and then found a few places with potential."

"Alfred has a knack for things like that." Bruce agreed. "How far have you gotten with your search? Have you made any calls yet on the potentials you found?"

"Actually, I was planning on making some calls first thing in the morning." Diana replied. "I just wanted to dig a little more through them before I start reaching out.

"Well, I suppose I should wish you luck." Bruce grumbled as he started to turn toward the changing room, but paused momentarily. " But if you need any help.."

"You'll be the first person I reach out to." She finished for him, and then watched as he virtually stomped away from her.

Diana could tell she'd gotten under his skin, and had to fight to keep her lips from turning upward. She had to admit though that there was still a small part of her which felt guilty about the deception behind her story, but she knew that she no choice. He'd gotten too close to discovering her plans already. Besides, if things didn't end well, she may well need to find a place of her own rather quickly.

To keep up with the deception, she'd went so far as to pull up multiple rentals on Bruce's super computer just to create a traceable paper trail for him to dig into. She was certain he'd gather any and all evidence, and stew over this new information. He'd have to add it to everything that he'd already compiled, validate it, and re-validate it before he would come to any sort of conclusion as to the actual veracity of her alleged story.

As a result of this new information, Bruce wasn't even thinking straight any longer. He was steaming over this previously unknown information as he slipped into his Batsuit armor. He'd even begun to wonder if there might of been something he'd said or done that might have caused Diana to even think about looking for another place to stay. If she'd said that she wanted to find a place once the Watchtower was up and running, he would've been fine with it, but the fact that she'd said she wanted to find a place for before as well as after the Watchtower was finished was absolutely eating away at him.

A very large part of him wanted to march right over to her and demand to know why she wanted to leave his home when she was clearly welcome to stay. He quickly calculated there was less than a miniscule chance that her desire to move had anything to do with Alfred. And J'onn, she'd basically lived with in the same manner on the first Watchtower before, so the likelihood of him being the reason was almost as low as Alfred's. That left only the Manor itself or him as the justification.

He couldn't help but to mentally run through each and every conversation they'd shared since she'd been a resident in his home. For the most part, he could conclude that their conversations had been no different than any previous ones they shared aboard the first Watchtower. The only differences revolved around her increased knowledge of his full time routine, but she'd seemed to be completely understanding of his non-League related responsibilities. She'd never really questioned him about what he was doing or why, and they hadn't even had a real argument regarding her not being permitted to join him on his nightly patrols.

Luckily for Bruce, he'd been performing this routine of preparing for patrol for such a long time, that he could probably do it in his sleep. In fact, before he even realized what he was doing, he'd already climbed into the Batmobile and fired the engine. And his good fortune of not needing to be on top of his game didn't end there either. It turned out to be an extremely slow night that he'd later chalk that up to more of a result of poor weather conditions than anything else. The night, after all had been accompanied by quite the torrential and steady downpour.

He knew as he continued on through one of his typical patrol routes that he had to do something about this internal issue sooner rather than later. It'd been distracting him far more than he could recall happening in recent memory. He'd literally thought about nothing else up to that point, and with all that thought, he was still no further along in determining what was actually going on with Diana than when he'd first become aware of her possible apartment hunting.

He'd confirmed that she had indeed performed some research online. In fact, she'd been at it for hours if the logs from the Batcave computer were accurate. She'd even skipped out on dinner to apparently continue with her search. Everything he looked into only seemed to indicate that Diana was indeed looking into finding her own place, but there was still something playing at the back of his mind. That something was telling him that she knew about his nightmares. And if it were anyone else, he'd think that this apartment search would be nothing more than a ruse to try and throw him off.

But this wasn't someone else. It was Diana. She wasn't the type of person to hide things, or set up shadows and falsehoods in order to conceal her real objective. But then, he wasn't entirely certain of what her objective might be anymore either. It was the means of how she might attempt to confront him that he couldn't quite wrap his head around.

He'd concocted so many possible scenarios as the night progressed, that he ended up never coming out of his own personal autopilot mode until he was already parking the Batmobile back inside the cave. It was yet another in the long line of mental lapses that'd been the result of Diana and her potential plans combined with such a lack of sleep.

It was a calculated risk to stay around Diana if she did plan to confront him about his dreams, but he desperately needed at least a few hours of sleep to recharge his mind and body. He only hoped that this would turn out to be one of his few dreamless nights, and that Diana wouldn't try to push her way in if it wasn't.

~~4:47AM~~

Diana sat up in her bed with a start, startled by the sounds of Bruce's voice coming from the room adjacent to her own. It only took a moment for her to conclude that Bruce's nightmares had obviously latched their claws into his psyche once again, and also that now was going to be her best shot at trying to help him move past these nightmares.

She wasted no time, climbing out of her bed and running out of her bedroom, and only pausing once she reached Bruce's bedroom door. She knew that she needed to take a moment and focus on what she could hear with her enhanced senses before she tried entering, but after just a few seconds, it wasn't hard to determine that his sleep had been interrupted as well. She heard him through the door panting heavily, trying to catch his breath. Then she heard what sounded like soft steps being taken, and that was when she decided it was time to enter.

After stepping into his room, at first Diana couldn't see anyone or any movement within the room, but before she had time to truly seek out Bruce's whereabouts, she then heard water running from a faucet and beginning to pour into a sink. While there was no light turned on in his master bathroom, she knew that was where Bruce had to be.

So Diana quietly approached, and sure enough there Bruce was, bent over the bathroom sink, repeatedly cupping water into his hands before splashing the cool liquid onto his face. At first, she wanted to think of something witty to say in announcing her presence, but she figured even if he honestly hadn't already noticed that she was standing in his bathroom doorway, she'd only have another few seconds before that changed.

And realize her presence he did, but not until just after Diana flipped on the bathroom light. Bruce inadvertently froze at the sudden change for a fraction of a second before then reaching for a nearby towel in order to dry his face. However, that single moment was more than enough for someone such as Diana to pick up on. In fact, he assumed that she might eventually go off bragging to the others about "that one time" she managed to sneak up on the great Batman. He almost growled at the sheer thought of such gossip possibly taking place at his expense, but instead just looked straight ahead at the reflection staring back at him in the mirror. "So the apartment search was just a ruse." He said.

"Sort of." Diana admitted as a small amount of color began to flush over her cheeks. "It depends."

"On what?" Bruce asked.

"On if I'll be in need of a place to stay after tonight until the Watchtower is completed and operational."

"You think I'm going to kick you out of the Manor because you're planning on butting into my personal matters." Bruce said. For anyone else it would've been a question, but not the World's Greatest Detective.

"Well, you did have J'onn move to the other end of the house, and he respected your wishes to leave your night time troubles alone." She answered.

"And you won't." Once again a statement more than a question.

"No, I won't." She confirmed before crossing her arms over her chest, taking a defiant stance as she continued in a demanding tone. "And I'd appreciate it if you would at least have the common courtesy of looking at me when you are speaking to me."

Upon taking in her words, Bruce's head lowered and his shoulders slumped. He knew that he'd behaved rudely toward her, and she'd correctly called him out on it. Even though he didn't want her to interfere in his personal matter, he knew that she only had the best of intentions. She was wrong on one account though. He didn't want her to move out. He just wanted her to drop the subject of his dreams.

Bruce's mind rushed with all the arguments he'd formulated beforehand, and turned to face her directly, but then he froze at the sight of her. Diana hadn't apparently planned everything out, or at least he hoped that she hadn't. Otherwise he wasn't sure just how she wanted him to react to her state of dress, or rather of near undress.

She was sporting an almost sheer black negligee, which left very little to the imagination. He wanted to look away out of respect for her, but found that his eyes were vehemently refusing any command to look away.

Simultaneously however, Diana was also staring at the man before her. She took in the glean of sweat shining over his muscular body, which was only otherwise covered by a pair of boxer briefs. She wanted to scold herself for not having properly prepared herself for how to react, but she had to internally admit that she did enjoy the view. All of Bruce's hard work and dedication toward being a warrior and hero of Gotham had certainly created quite the delectable physique before her to ogle.

In fact, she was almost salivating as the thought of having her way with this male specimen began to formulate. But that was until her eyes finally managed to make their way up to his ocean blue orbs, and then she noticed how wide eyed he was. She then spared a glance downward at herself, and realized just what she was revealing to him. She instantly recognized that aside from her boots, while there was still technically more fabric currently covering her than her normal armor did, her current appearance still seemed to hold a certain amount of higher intimacy than armor did. Plus the armor wasn't nearly as translucent as what she was wearing.

Still, the initial shock did begin to wear off. Bruce tried to clear the sudden lump from his throat, and Diana was silently thanking herself at having thought to not sleep in the nude like she normally would. "Thank you." She eventually murmured as Bruce finally managed to avert his eyes, and she figured that gesture meant that it was now or never for her. "I know that you have a strong desire to keep many things private from others Bruce, but you have to know that I care about you. I'm concerned that something like this seems to have affected you for such a long time."

"I don't need your pity Diana." Bruce said as he began to become quite angry.

At Bruce's instant change in demeanor, Diana knew she had to act quickly or risk losing any chance at him even listening to anything more she had to say. "It's not pity Bruce." She started quickly, taking a step closer to him, but still giving him space. "I honestly don't know how you've managed to not only survive on such a limited amount of rest, but that you are somehow able to do more than any other person I know. And you do it all over and over on a daily basis. You can't possibly imagine the level of respect I have for you in being able to sustain such a pattern for such a long time."

"It's a formula that works for me." Bruce responded defensively. "I've gotten used to it, and I know how best to deal with it."

"Are you so sure?" She asked.

Bruce's eyes once again fixed upon hers when she questioned him. He was almost dumbstruck at the audacity of this woman questioning him in such a way. "I use it Diana." He said succinctly. "The nightmares are more of a tool for me than a hindrance."

"But what if it still really is a hindrance Bruce?" Diana continued to push. "I know you want to believe that it helps you in some way, and perhaps you've managed to make it true to some extent. Perhaps putting up with this suffering does somehow serve as a form of fuel, and it helps to keep you focused on why you became Batman. But maybe there's some other reason behind it which you refuse to acknowledge. I believe that the events which led to you becoming Batman have already molded you. No amount of nightmares will enhance that, but I also believe that you don't need this torture in order to continue being the warrior that you've already become. And I believe that you could possible become even more if you would just try to do something about it that would allow you a few extra hours to rest and recuperate your mind and body."

"And I believe that I've already given thought to that." Bruce replied. "I also believe that it's none of your damn business."

"What goes on in those dreams is not my business Bruce." Diana Fired right back. "But what is my business is when I see a beloved friend suffering needlessly."

"I don't want your help!" Bruce practically yelled at her before he stormed passed her and back out into his bedroom where he began pacing.

"Then maybe you aren't as intelligent as everyone seems to believe!" Diana responded heatedly, not backing down one iota as she turned to keep him in her sights. She then found that her last comment also earned her the first Batglare of the argument. Needless to say, it did not have the desired result Bruce was likely looking for, and she was going to make sure he was fully aware of that. "You won't intimidate me Bruce. And it is foolish to believe that allowing or wanting yourself to continue suffering is the best way for you to be, as either Batman or as Bruce Wayne."

"You don't..."

"Don't even try to tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about!" Diana interrupted vehemently. "What you're doing to yourself is virtually no different than if any other hero were to choose to go into battle with a pulled muscle, at a minimum. Without proper sleep, your mind is not running at full capacity despite anything you might have to say, and there's no amount of caffeine that you can ingest or otherwise put into your body to compensate for that. While what you do is more than most anyone else would be capable of under the same conditions, you still are limiting your own potential. You can try denying it all that you want, but that will only prove how stubborn you are. You need to accept that in this instance Bruce, you are wrong."

Diana figured that if steam could pour out of his ears when Bruce became really angry, this very moment would've been the most opportune time to display such a feature. He was beyond fuming, and what was worse, he couldn't come up with an acceptable retort to throw back at her. She'd made a valid point, and he had to at least give her that much, even if he still had no intention of giving in.

"I don't want to talk about this." He said defiantly. "There's the door. Get out."

Diana merely glared at him as she placed her hands on her hips. She was more than ready to pound some understanding through his thick skull if it came to that, and she had prepared herself well for his coldness.

"That was your cue to leave." Bruce growled as he stomped right up to her.

"I'm not leaving." She fired right back at him, her lips curling ever so slightly upward to show what she thought about his posturing.

Bruce thought about grabbing her by the arm and dragging her out of his room, but he quickly discarded such a notion. If Diana didn't want to go, and he couldn't infuriate her into leave voluntarily, there really wasn't much he could do. Instead, he'd just have to ignore her until she gave up and left. She'd said it herself. He was stubborn, and that meant he could wait her out.

"Fine." He said as he turned away from her, and headed over to his bed. "But I'm not going to talk about this, and I have a full schedule at Wayne Enterprises later this morning. I'm going to sleep. You can just stand there for the rest of the night if that's what you want to do."

And Diana did stand there. She stood and watched as Bruce climbed into his bed staring up at the ceiling. He stayed like that for a few minutes, and she assumed that he expected she would give in and leave. Eventually though he did shut his eyes while also releasing a rather noisy sigh.

The only thing Diana did in response was drop her hands from her hips, allowing her arms to dangle at her sides. She knew him too well to expect that the Batman would permit sleep so long as he was knowingly being watched. So, regardless of what Bruce thought, and so long as he didn't kick her out of the Manor, she wasn't going anywhere. At least not until he would let her try to help him with his nightmares.

So Diana continued to stand there watching him lay on his bed, completely motionless. Occasionally, she would shift weight from one leg to the other and glance up at the clock to see how much time had passed. Bruce's eyes remained closed the entire time, but it wasn't hard for her to tell that he definitely wasn't sleeping. His breathing was a little too even and controlled, and looked more like he was meditating in an effort to ignore that she was still there.

When nearly fifteen minutes had passed, Diana finally came to the conclusion that while she was still in his room, he for the most part was controlling the situation. She'd gotten no closer to getting him to talk to her, and she knew that she'd never get him to open up if he continued to maintain that control. She had to do something to rattle him a bit. The only question was, what would sufficiently rattle the Batman?

That was when she thought of his initial response to seeing her in his bathroom doorway earlier. She recalled his initial reaction when he looked at her. He'd been thrown off balance by her appearance, and couldn't seem to look elsewhere. And if he was thrown off just by the sight of her, then perhaps she could use that to her advantage by also invading his personal space. Although, she'd decided that she wasn't about to do anything inappropriate, she still wanted to try and get a reaction out of him.

With her choice of action decided, Diana then floated over to the empty side of Bruce's bed. She swiftly slid in underneath the covers, but hardly had a moment to settle in before she'd already received the first reaction from him.

"What are you doing?" He asked quickly as his eyes snapped open, but continued to stare straight up at the ceiling.

"Getting comfortable." Diana answered as if he should've known better.

"Your bed is in the room across the hall." He responded as he rolled over to the edge of the bed on his side, attempting to increase the space between them.

"I'm not leaving your side until you'll honestly and openly hear me out instead of just letting what I have to say go in one ear and out the other." She replied in a tone that made clear there was no room for compromise.

Bruce however, was still not willing to admit defeat. She'd surprised him by willingly climbing into his bed, but he could still wait her out. His bed was specifically designed to have the utmost in comfort, and Diana had likely never slept on such a surface before. It was only a matter of time before she'd let her eye lids close one too many times, and then he'd be able to slip away while she slumbered.

At that point, Bruce would hole up in one of his many bunkers throughout the city for however long it took for her to give up on this ridiculous quest. He almost smiled at the inevitability of his escape, but that was when he realized just how far he'd underestimated the level of Diana's commitment.

"Just in case you were thinking of an escape." She said as she slid over next to him and draped an arm over top of him.

Warning sirens were immediately going off in Bruce's head. Diana was practically spooning with him now, and she'd definitely gotten a reaction out of him that time as his whole body involuntarily jerked the moment her arm made contact. He could practically feel the warmth of her body with it ever so close to his back. In fact, with every breath she took, he could just feel her chest grazing against his back before retreating away again. There was zero chance he could ignore her now, and he was even beginning to lose an internal battle with a growing desire to react to her touch.

Bruce was desperate to get her away from him before he lost all control and did something he could never take back, something that might end up with him laying in traction for months. His will could only withstand so much, and she was definitely testing that limit. She was so close that he could even smell the almost floral scent of her hair, could feel the softness of her skin, the warmth of her breath gently caressing his neck and shoulders. She was being incredibly erotic toward his senses and the worst part was that she wasn't even trying to.

In fact, she was most likely being completely innocent with everything that she'd done, and that was when a last gasp idea struck him. It was cruel, but it was the only card his panic riddled mind had left to play. Enter the playboy fop.

"Just how much farther are you willing to go in order to get your way Princess?" He asked in a much huskier voice than he'd initially intended on using, but he disregarded it and continued to press on with his approach. "Seems a little progressive for someone from an island of women who have a documented hatred of men, don't you think?"

Diana physically flinched for an instant as she pulled her head back and away from Bruce. Was he really trying to use the notion of sex against her? She'd expected him to be difficult, but never thought that he'd go to such lengths. He'd always leaned away from such areas before when it came to her. He'd always been respectful, treated her as a colleague, an equal. Bruce had never acted this way toward her, and that had been one of the reasons why she respected him so much. He'd always been different from any other men.

Although, the more she thought about it, the more she began to suspect that he could be using it as an act of pure desperation to get her to leave. It was certainly a dirty tactic, and he had to have felt her when she shifted away just a moment ago. Well, if he wanted to play dirty, then she was going to see just how long he'd keep up the ruse. She knew how to play chicken too.

Diana then scooted up even closer to him so that his back was almost fully pressed against her front. She felt him hold his breath for a split second, and decided to press onward a bit more as she moved her lips as close to his available ear as she could before she whispered to him. "Just how much farther are you thinking I'd need to go to get my way, Bruce?"

A shiver went down his spine as her soft words caused the fine hairs on his neck to stand up. His throat suddenly felt as dry as desert sand, and he couldn't begin to try swallowing the lump that'd stationed itself there. His natural male instincts were screaming at him to just turn around and take her, and he couldn't stop the natural reaction from certain parts of his anatomy as they began to react to her advances. She was a goddess in every which way, and she was curled up to him in his bed. A lesser man would've completely melted into putty by that point, and he couldn't be completely certain that he hadn't started to melt himself.

"Just...how many...others would you be willing to go this far for?" Bruce somehow managed to spit out as a last ditch effort to anger her.

"We haven't done anything Bruce." Diana replied casually before an evil smirk graced her face. "Not yet at least."

Bruce's mouth hung open as he registered what she'd said. She couldn't really be offering herself to him, could she? Why would she want to do such a thing with someone so very obviously broken. He tried to think of a way of how to respond when he suddenly realized, and too late to stop himself, that his hand had already reached back, beginning to gently stroke her left thigh. His eyes instantly widened upon realization of what he was doing, but that was when Diana's leg suddenly moved to hook around his.

Diana's eyes snapped open as she realized not just what Bruce was doing with his hand, but that she'd responded to it without even giving thought to it. She hadn't intended for this little game of chicken to reach the levels it had, but she couldn't deny that there was also a part of her which deeply enjoyed the feel of his hand as it continued to sensually caress her with soft strokes up and down the outer part of her thigh. She couldn't believe the hint of disappointment that coursed through her when his fingers came oh so close to her rear on a few upward passes before retreating back down to her knee, and that was when she realized that they were both practically panting.

Someone had to stop before neither of them could, and Bruce was beginning to roll over to face her. "What are we doing?" She whispered as his rolling motion started to become more pronounced.

"I don't know." He responded as he made it onto his back. His free hand moved to cup her face as his lust filled eyes aimed to connect with hers, only to find the same lust looking back at him. His lips ached to touch hers, but then his control managed to grab desperate hold one final time. Only instead of becoming angry and closed off, he actually started to smile. It was a genuine smile too, and that caused Diana's mind to clear a bit as well.

She thought it was a beautiful sight to behold. Especially considering that she believed it had to be a rarity. And it seemed to be contagious, as she started to smile back at him before they both began to chuckle. They'd been acting like lust filled teenagers, and they'd both realized it at the same time.

After a few moments, Bruce's subtle laughter died down enough for him to finally clear his throat, but the smile never left his face. "Truce?" He offered.

"Only if you'll agree to try letting me help you." Diana countered, hoping that his smile would make many more appearances she could witness it. In fact, she decided to use that tidbit of information to her advantage. "I've never seen you smile like this before."

Bruce's smile began to fade upon hearing that, but Diana immediately put a hand on one of his cheeks. "You shouldn't hide it." She said. "I think it's very attractive."

His smile stopped fading away after hearing her opinion, but he did roll the rest of the way onto his side so that they were now facing each other. "You're not going to give this up, are you?"

"I've gotten you to smile." Diana replied. "I think that should serve as proof enough that I can help you Bruce. You just have to let me. And who knows, you might just enjoy it."

Bruce's eyes traveled a little south before returning to Diana's fiery blues, and the smile transitioned into a cocky smirk. "If this is how you were planning to help, you're definitely going to be right."

Diana playfully smacked him on the shoulder. "Typical response from a man!" She said with a beaming smile on her face.

"Hey now!" Bruce responded. "I can't be blamed for that. You obviously didn't give much consideration to your attire when you came bursting into my bedroom."

"Actually, I did." Diana informed him, which seemingly caused his eyes to grow double in size. "I thought it would be more appropriate than how I normally sleep."

Bruce tried and failed miserably not to create a mental image of how Diana normally slept, and he barely suppressed a shudder from rolling through him. He was definitely going to need a cold shower. "I suppose I should thank you for that." He managed to say. "I don't think I would've been able to keep my hands off of you at all if that was how you showed up."

"Good to know." Diana said as a mischievous look suddenly graced her facial features just before Bruce felt her hand covering his so that he couldn't remove it. "But you still didn't keep your hands to yourself."

Bruce instantly tried and failed to remove his hand from Diana's leg. While she hadn't used all her strength, she did use more than enough to let him know that he wasn't going to get his hand back until she was good and ready to allow it. "I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't even.."

"It's alright Bruce." Diana interrupted. "If I weren't okay with it, you would've have known it immediately, and painfully so."

"So then what..." Bruce started to question before realizing that he didn't know what he wanted to ask her.

"First, we work toward seeing who is right about your nightmares." Diana said in answer to his half question. "Along the way, I'd also like to revisit that kiss during the Thanagarian invasion. I'd like to believe that my thoughts on that particular moment are accurate as well, especially considering what we almost gave in to just a moment ago."

Bruce normally would've sighed in frustration, and probably would have, if these subjects had come from anyone else. Anyone but Diana. But instead, he found himself fighting an emerging smile, and at that moment, he came to the realization that maybe, just maybe she could be right.

FIN

AN: Well, this is the end, and even it grew quite a bit after the first two proofreads. Four I hope was the lucky charm to complete a short little fic for everyone to enjoy. Also, I haven't given up on my other two fics. Things have been terribly busy this year, and I've had a couple of issues coming up with some scenarios to fit for both of the fics. I think I'm going to solely focus on one and try to get it out of the way so that I can better focus on them both. Just wanted to give anyone interested in them a head's up.