"What did you think of the ceremony, Dru?" Steve asked as the lines of guests began to file out of the lines of white wooden folding chairs. The late afternoon sun was warm, but there was the slightest nip in the air, first day of summer or no. They walked slowly towards the entrance, and Steve kept his eye on the knot of honorees and press who were having their pictures taken at one end of the lawn. In her red, white, and blue satin cape, Wonder Woman stood out like a peacock among swallows, and she was taking turns having her picture taken with each of the officers.

"That man with the glasses, that was the President?" Mrs. Prince asked, and General Blankenship nodded.

"That's President Truman. He's only been President for a couple of weeks."

"I guess I thought he'd be... bigger," Drusilla said, looking slightly puzzled, and Steve laughed. At times like this, he could definitely see the family resemblance between the sisters. He remembered all the times he and Etta had stumped Diana, who had never even been to a movie before she came to Washington, and didn't know Jack Wood from Jimmy Stewart. It was obvious that they had grown up pretty sheltered, and now that he had met their mother, he could understand why. It must have been hard, raising two girls all alone in war-time.

"Say, I have a special treat for you," he said as he saw Wonder Woman approaching them, one or two stray journalists on her heels before two of the Marines began herding them back off the lawn and towards the press entrance. "Hello, Steve," she said with a warm smile, and despite himself, he felt his heart skip a beat. There was just something about her smile that always did that to him. The first time he'd seen her, he'd been weak from blood loss and infection from a bullet wound to the shoulder, and he'd been sure he'd died and gone to Heaven because she was an angel. Since that day, she'd always been there just when he needed her the most. "General, Etta," she said, greeting each of them in turn.

"Wonder Woman, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine," Steve said, drawing the young man on the crutches forward. "This is Danny Robbins—"

"You're Maggie's brother!" she said, and he shifted one of his crutches beneath his arm so he could shake her hand. "It's an honor to meet you."

"The honor's all mine, believe me!" he said, pumping her hand enthusiastically.

Wonder Woman's smile was genuine. "If it weren't for brave young men like you, I don't know where we'd be," she said with great sincerity.

"And this is Mrs. Prince, and her daughter Drusilla. They're my secretary Diana's family, and this is Mrs. Prince's first time in Washington."

"It's wonderful to meet you," she said, reaching out to shake Mrs. Prince's hand. The older woman's eyes were sparkling, and Steve was glad they had come along today.

"I wish Diana could have been here," Etta said with a sigh.

"Me too," Steve agreed. "I've always wanted to introduce you two, Wonder Woman."

"I'm sure you will someday, Steve," Wonder Woman assured him. "There's plenty of time, and I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"Perhaps not," Mrs. Prince began, "But if Phillip is correct, and the Germans are expected to surrender soon, why, Drusilla and I shall simply stay in Washington until they do, and then Diana can return home with us." She seemed quite pleased with her logic, and her youngest daughter's eyes lit up.

"Oh mother, that's wonderful!" Drusilla grinned, but Steve was frozen in place.

"Diana's going home?" Etta asked, sounding dismayed.

"I don't see why not," Mrs. Prince said with a smile. Somehow, he'd never seen this coming. Oh, sure, once the War was over, there was the possibility of Diana rejoining civilian life. But he had always assumed that would mean staying in Washington—perhaps even continuing to work for him.

It had simply never occurred to him that she might leave. Never, not once.

"Well then, we'll certainly miss her," Steve said, shaking himself out of his trance, his thoughts in a whirl. For the first time, he turned to study Wonder Woman's reaction, but she seemed just as taken aback as he was. "Won't we, Wonder Woman?"

"We certainly will," she said as a White House aid came over and handed a folded note to General Blankenship.

"What is it, sir?" Etta asked as the General scanned the note.

"Hamburg radio just made a special announcement. Hitler is dead," the General said with amazement in his voice.

Diana was waiting for her family in their hotel suite when they returned from the White House. Her hair was back in its neat and tidy bun, her thick glasses perched on her nose and she sat primly, ankles crossed on the sofa when the key turned in the lock.

"Diana!" Drusilla threw herself into her sister's arms as soon as she crossed the threshold. "Isn't it wonderful? You're coming home! I'm so excited!"

Diana hugged her sister, but her face still remained curiously blank, something which did not escape the notice of the Queen.

"Drusilla, will you give you sister and I a moment, please?" she said, and Dru released her, puzzled. "Go on, child."

"Of course, mother," Dru said, taking the key from the door and pocketing it "I'm going to go downstairs to the gift shop to read the magazines."

Hippolyte waited until her youngest daughter was gone, and sat next to Diana on the sofa, pulling off her kidskin gloves one finger at a time, and setting them down on the low coffee table. "You do not seem pleased, daughter."

"The war in the Pacific—" Diana began, but her mother cut her off with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"—Is almost at an end. Surely it can be concluded without Wonder Woman?" the Queen asked, watching her daughter's face closely. "You came to these shores to fight the Nazis, and keep them from enslaving humanity. You've accomplished that goal. You are the heir to the throne, Diana. Your place is on Paradise island, at my side. Don't you want to come home?" Hippolyte asked, surprised.

"Of course I do," Diana replied quickly. "I've missed you and Dru terribly. It's only..." she trailed off, frowning.

"This world no longer needs you, Diana," her mother said gently.

"But what if I need it?" she said, dismayed. "I have learned so much in the time I have spent here. Not just about this world and its people—but about myself. Things I never knew." She knelt at her mother's feet and took her hands in hers. "What's three years to an immortal, Mother? An eye-blink. Less than that—a heartbeat."

She squeezed her daughter's hands, a sad smile on her lips. "A heartbeat. It all comes down to your heart, doesn't it child? You want to stay because you love this man Steven Trevor."

Diana paused, knowing what must be written across her face. She needed no mirror—she could see it in her mother's eyes. And as much as it pained her, she knew it was the truth. Knew it with every fiber of her being. "What's so wrong with that?" Diana finally asked, and her mother caught her up in an embrace.

"My poor, sweet, innocent daughter. You understand nothing. You do not know the evil men can do."

Diana pulled herself from her mother's arms, suddenly angry. "I've spent the last three years protecting the innocent from the evil men—and women—do!"

"You don't understand," her mother insisted, "And I pray you never will."

"Mother!" Diana began, exasperated, but Hippolyte held up her hand for silence, regal and imposing once more. Gone was the mother who had fussed over her infant daughters, bandaging their cuts and kissing their scrapes, and smoothing their childhood tears away with loving hands. In her place was Hippolyte of Themyscira, warrior queen of a once-defeated people who had lead her sisters and her daughters to an un-dreamt of paradise as far away from the shores of their homeland as they could travel so long ago that not even a single stone of the palace of her birth still stood.

"You've never been raped, beaten, and locked in the stinking dark," she said gravely. "You've never had to watch your sisters chained, watched the sister of your flesh murdered before your eyes. You've never seen the kind of evil I have seen—the kind of evil I have protected you and Drusilla from—"

"Not all men are Herakles, Mother," Diana said firmly, and saw her mother flinch. But she continued on, undaunted. "Not all men seek to dominate and control. Not all men hate."

Sorrow shone in Hippolyte's eyes. "All men hate. Some are just better at hiding it, that is all."

"But mother—"

"But nothing. I may be your mother, Diana, but I am also your Queen. And my decision is final."

Diana looked up into her mother's face, and saw the resolve carved there as if in immortal white marble, and knew that any protest she could have made would fall on deaf ears. Rising to her feet, she picked up her purse and placed her uniform hat on her head, folding her coat over her arm.

"As you wish, my Queen," she said stiffly and then she stepped out into the hall, closing the hotel room door behind her. Walking down the carpetted hallway, she dashed the impatient tears away, her back ramrod straight as she prepared herself to say good-bye to the world—and the man—she loved.

Author's Note: Please, if there's anything that doesn't work for you, or is factually or grammatically incorrect, don't hesitate to tell me! Constructive criticism is the greatest gift you can give an author. I'm not a delicate flower who will curl up and die at the first sign of criticism. I want to make this story the very best I can, so please let me know what works for you, and more importantly, what doesn't.