TITLE: Tears and Whiskey

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: Bruce comes to a drunken Diana's rescue when her boyfriend breaks up with her. Angst/Comfort. BMWW

Tears and Whiskey

Watchtower; May 21st, 01:46 EST

Flash stood before the transporter, his right foot rapidly tapping the ground and creating an irritating noise reminiscent of the motor of a speed boat. A civilian staff member running diagnostics on the transporter threw him a glare that Flash was completely oblivious to. He had a huge problem on his hands and he needed help immediately.

"How long did he say he'd be?"

Tom looked up at Flash, an annoyed expression clearly conveying his feelings at that moment. "Since the last time you asked me thirty-seconds ago, I'd say three more minutes."

"Sorry, but I can't help it!" Flash cried, throwing his hands up into the air in frustration. "We have a real crisis here!"

Tom's frown deepened. "What is it?" he asked. "Do I need to recall Superman from Malaysia?"

"No, no, no," Flash bemoaned, his head falling back with an exaggerated sigh as he stared at the ceiling. "Bats is the only one who can help right now!"

At that moment, the transporter fired up, a bright light encompassing the transporter pad before disappearing to reveal the Dark Knight of Gotham. His jaw was set like steel, his hands balled into fists at his sides, his mood as dark and brooding as ever.

"Where is she?" he demanded without preamble as he stepped off the pad.

"Bats!" Flash cried in relief, stepping directly into the path of the dangerous vigilante. "What took you so long? You've got to do something! We have a real emergency here!"

Batman sneered as his gaze slowly dropped to Flash's hand clutching the front of his uniform. "Where is she?" he darkly rasped, his patience thinning rapidly.

"She's on the observation deck," Flash revealed, swiftly removing his hand before he lost it.

Batman stalked from the transporter room without another word, Flash following close behind him. "You have to do something, Bats," Flash told him, his panic still running rampant despite the fact that Batman was finally here. "She took my whole secret stash and locked herself on the observation deck. She won't open the door or answer my calls. You gotta save my stash."

Bruce turned a menacing glower on the scarlet speedster, one typically saved for criminals and miscreants. "Alcohol is forbidden on the Watchtower. If you hadn't had it up here, she wouldn't be in this situation right now."

Flash had the decency to look somewhat sheepish about the obvious part he'd played in his friend's current predicament. "I don't know, Bats," he thoughtfully said. "She's pretty upset. If she hadn't gotten it here, she could have ended up just about anywhere right now. At least this way we can keep an eye on her."

"What happened?" he demanded.

"No clue," he replied with a shake of his head as they made their way to the observation deck. "She was cursing in Greek and muttering something about men being the scum of the Earth. Actually, I cleaned that up for you. You don't want to know what she really called the male race."

Batman noticed how Flash visibly winced. He could only imagine what Diana had said. When she lost her temper, she could curse with the best of them. "I'll take care of her," he stated, clearly dismissing him as he reached the doors to the observation room.

"Just save as much of my stash as possible," Flash told him. "I was planning a party for next week and—"

Flash abruptly and wisely closed his mouth without finishing that sentence, knowing he was in enough trouble with him as it was without taking the foot that was already in his mouth and shoving it all the way down his throat. Bats would do a fine enough job of making him hurt for this as it was.

"Fine," he sulked, his shoulders slumping in defeat. There was no way he was getting his stash back. "Tell Wondy she owes me big time."

A low growl from the back of Batman's throat caused the Flash to disappear in the blink of an eye, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor at that point. When it came to Wondy, Bats was pretty blind to everything around him except for her, his hot temper developing an even faster trigger since Diana had been dating King Faraday for the last month.

Batman tested the door to find it locked like Flash had told him. He quickly punched in the code to override the security code only to find that she had managed to disable that too. She was extremely stubborn, but so was he.

Reaching into his utility belt, he pulled out the necessary tools, forcing the door open against its will. He entered the observation room to find it completely dark save for the starlight that created a dim glow from the expanse of windows that afforded a picturesque view of the Earth.

Using his night vision lenses, Bruce scanned the room, no sign of the Amazon princess anywhere. The only thing that told him that she was there was the strong smell of whiskey that permeated the room. That and he always had a special intuition when it came to her, seemingly able to sense her presence no matter where they were.

He slowly made his way around the room past couches and plants before finally finding the one that he had been looking for. She was sitting on the floor, her back pressed up against a couch, her knees drawn up against her chest. She had a half-empty bottle of whiskey in her hand.

He looked down to toe a couple of empty whiskey bottles with his black boot, forcing them out of his path. They slowly rolled across the floor, clinking softly as they came to a stop against the wall. He clenched and unclenched his jaw several times as he stared down at the woman sitting on the floor appearing for all the world as if she'd lost all hope, weighing his options as well as his words.

"Princess," he called to her.

"Go away, Batman," she told him, her rasping anger startling him.

He watched as she tipped her head back, taking a long pull from her bottle. She drew a shuddering gasp from the burn of the liquid on her throat, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. He didn't think he'd ever seen her quite like this before, so lost and broken. It was disconcerting to say the least.

Bruce moved to stand directly in front of her, leaning his back against the window as he studied her. The fresh track of tears down her cheeks glistened in the starlight, her typically sparkling blue eyes now lifeless and dull. It hurt his heart.

"Looks like you're keeping pretty good company with Jim Beam," Batman pointed out with a patience that surprised even him. "Mind if I join the party?"

"I want to be left alone," she bit out, her voice heavy with anguish as well as the alcohol.

He slowly slid down the wall to sit on the floor across from her, his long legs stretching out before him, his boots coming to rest beside her left hip. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Fine," she spat out, gripping her bottle tighter. "I'll leave."

She began to sit forward, stopped by the firm press of his gauntleted hands against her bare shoulders. "You're in no shape to be going anywhere, Princess."

"Get your hands off me." She slowly hissed each word that was punctuated by the fury coursing through her veins along with the whiskey.

Batman slowly retreated, leaning back against the window once more as his hands came to rest in his lap. It wasn't out of fear that obeyed, but self-preservation. As drunk as she was, she no longer possessed the self-restraint that kept her from using her full strength. He needed to get her to talk to him, not rip his arms off and beat him with them.

"I'm not going anywhere and neither are you," he firmly stated.

Diana laughed something derisive and dark, so unlike his beautiful princess. The chill that pervaded her eyes sent a shiver up his spine. "Don't you have a criminal to maim?" she asked, pulling her bottle of liquor closer against her chest as if afraid Bruce would try to take it away from her.

"No," he simply stated.

"I thought your precious Gotham came before all else, including me," she spat out with disdain.

"Diana," he warned, not in the mood to get into another argument with her about the necessity of his mission coming first above everything.

She stared at him, bleary-eyed from the liquor and near trembling with the anger and hurt consuming her. A stray tear suddenly broke free, slowly sliding down her cheek. "Why are you here, Bruce?"

"Because my friend is hurting," he told her.

"I'm fine," she lied. "You can leave, Bruce. You're off the hook now. Feel free to do whatever you want…sleep with whoever you want. I don't give a damn anymore."

Her words caused his stomach to unexpectedly lurch, tightening with a knot of dread. She was in a very precarious place right now, teetering on the verge of completely letting him go once and for all. One single word could push her totally over that edge, setting him free forever. He knew there would be no going back if that happened.

He drew a deep breath, swallowing his uncertainties before slowly removing his gauntlets and tossing them aside. He reached up and pulled his cowl back, allowing it to fall against his back. He stared back at her, seeing her for the first time tonight through the eyes of a mortal man instead of the enhanced slits of his cowl.

She watched him for a long moment, her tearful gaze roaming over his face. "What do you want from me, Bruce?" she asked, her voice choked with anguish.

"I want to help you," he honestly replied. "I want you to talk to me…to know why you're hurting."

Diana snorted in amusement that held absolutely no humor. "That's funny coming from you."

He intently studied her as she drained the last of her liquor, tossing the bottle aside and looking around for another. She found a full bottle peeking out from under the couch she was leaning against. Instead of immediately removing the top and downing the powerful liquid, she stared at the bottle in her hand, the feel of his intense gaze burning across her skin.

"Talk to me, Princess."

Diana tightened her hold on the bottle in her hands, finding sudden fascination with the label. "There's nothing to talk about, Bruce, so why don't you go just back to your sleazy Cat and leave me alone."

She began trying to work the top free from the bottle, the tears falling faster and harder against her will. He was the last person she wanted to see her like this. A hand unexpectedly appeared in her line of sight, covering her hand on top of the bottle and stopping her from accomplishing the simple feat that was turning into a struggle.

She looked up at him, twin orbs of blue fire blazing back at him. She was stunned when he gently took the bottle from her hands, pulling the top off for her. He brought the bottle to his lips, tipping his head back and taking a long swig before handing it back to her.

He internally grimaced with the burn of the booze down his throat. Drinking alcohol was something he rarely indulged in, preferring to be totally in control at all times, but he decided to make an exception for her. She always seemed to be the exception to all his damn rules.

They sat in silence for several long minutes, neither saying a word as silent tears trailed down her cheeks. He patiently waited while she cried, just being there for her in the only way he knew how at that moment. This wasn't exactly his area of expertise, but she was always pulling him out of his comfort zone whether he liked it or not, forcing him to face feelings he'd sooner ignore.

"King broke up with me tonight," she softly confessed, her bottom lip trembling as the words began to pour from her lips with the same burn as the alcohol swimming like acid in the pit of her stomach. "He said he couldn't be with a woman who was clearly in love with someone else."

Bruce felt an inexplicable weight being lifted off his chest, the vice of dark jealousy that had held him in its powerful grip since he'd heard about Diana and King finally loosening some. He had wanted to beat the man for dating her and now he found he wanted to choke him for crushing her.

She stared past him and out the wall of windows behind him, lost in painful memories that she wished she could just forget. Maybe she could petition Mnemosyne to erase her mind, taking with her the painful memories of loving and not having, wanting and not being wanted in return.

"What's wrong with me, Bruce?" she brokenly asked. "Why doesn't anyone want me?"

Her words struck him as sharply and surely as a slap across his face, stunning him momentarily speechless. Did this amazing creature actually believe that no one wanted her? "There's nothing wrong with you, Diana."

Diana put the bottle of whiskey to her lips, holding it there but not taking a drink. She lowered her arm instead, setting the bottle down. She leaned forward, holding her head in her hands. The room was beginning to spin, her stomach churning from the booze as well as the whirlwind of emotions storming inside of her.

"King doesn't want me because I'm in love with you and you don't want me because you love Gotham," she resentfully stated, bitterness hanging thickly in the air between them along with the suffocating tension.

Bruce leaned forward, his hand tentatively reaching towards her. She unexpectedly jerked back away from him before he could touch her, moving to sit on the couch. She leaned forward once again, her forearms coming to rest on her knees. She held her pounding head, her fingers digging into her scalp as she tightly gripped her hair in a futile attempt to stop the pain teeming inside of her.

"What is it about me?" she questioned him with honest curiosity lacing her voice. "Am I not pretty enough? Smart enough? Special enough? Good enough?"

A snort of amused laughter filled the air, causing Diana to look up sharply with a glare that could have incinerated him had she been the Man of Steel. "You honestly don't know, do you?" Bruce asked her with obvious surprise.

"Know what?" she angrily growled, her fists clenching at her sides.

"What you do to me," he evenly replied.

"What in Hades are you talking about, Bruce?" she yelled, wincing at the pain that rang through her head.

"How I get a flutter in the pit of my stomach when you walk into a room or how your smile alone lights up my whole world," he continued, staring her down with an intensity that mesmerized her. "How your Jasmine scent nearly makes me forget my own name…or how I can hardly sit beside you during a Founders' meeting without wanting to kiss you senseless. Do I need to go on?"

Her heart began to race faster, beat harder with every word that he uttered. "I…I don't understand," she whispered. "You always push me away."

"I push you away because I want you so damn much," he confessed.

The unwanted tears returned with a vengeance that she couldn't begin to win the battle against. She bit at her bottom lip, stunned and unsure what to say to him. She watched as he slowly got to his feet and made his way to her, her breath catching in her throat as he sat down beside her. He reached over to take her hand in his and lacing his fingers with hers.

She lifted her head, turning to look at him. "Why couldn't you just tell me?"

"I was afraid…I guess I still am," he admitted.

Diana stared at him in stunned disbelief, seeing a vulnerability in him that she'd never seen before. His eyes were open to her for the first time in a long time, allowing her to see past his defenses to the scared little boy that lived inside of him.

"Why?"

"You're the first person who has ever gotten through all of my defenses," he revealed. "No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried or what I threw at you to keep you out, you managed to get further into my heart than anyone I've ever known before. I didn't know how to deal with it so I pushed you away. It was easier to do that than to face the fact that I was falling in love with you."

"Love?" she whispered.

He slowly nodded his head, an unanticipated sense of peace washing through him. It was as if saying the words had somehow set him free, breaking the chains that he had held him fast and had kept him isolated for far too long. "Yes," he softly replied, reaching out to hook a raven curl behind her ear. She was so very beautiful, almost painfully so.

Her eyes felt so heavy from the alcohol, her heart so light with the knowledge that Bruce loved her. She didn't know where they were going to go from here, what the future held for them, but she had a spark of hope that she thought had died long ago.

He slowly leaned towards her, his gaze falling to her lips. He paused a breath away from her, his heart hammering in anxious anticipation. His lips softly touched hers, brushing their sweet softness before finally claiming her with a long-awaited kiss.

Retreating far too soon for either of their liking, Bruce wrapped his arms around her, gently prompting her to lie down beside him. Her head came to rest on his chest as he draped his cape over her to keep her warm, his arms keeping her firmly pressed against his side.

Hooking her leg over his, a contented sigh escaped her lips as sleep swiftly claimed her, Bruce holding her close as sleep took him too. Neither noticed a certain scarlet speedster sneaking into the observation room, snatching up the still full bottles of Jim Beam that lay forgotten on the floor.

Closing and locking the door behind him, Wally decided it was definitely time to find a new secret hiding place for his party stash.