It was something she had been contemplating for some time now. She felt that a trip home would do her good. It was definitely overdue.

It was hard to believe that almost five years had passed since she had last seen her homeland, Paradise Island. The beautiful beaches with their crystal clear, blue-green waters sweeping forward across the sand leaving it speckled with small shells and crustaceans. The warm breezes tickling her soft skin as she walked aimlessly, lost in thought. These memories made her heart ache and made her decision to return much easier.

And so Diana Prince soon found herself making arrangements to leave, which included first and foremost, tying up all loose ends at the office.

This particular Tuesday morning she was on her way to Dale Hawthorn's office when she nearly collided with Brett Cassidy as he exited the research lab.

His smile widened into a grin when he turned and saw it was Diana.

"Hey beautiful," he said playfully.

Diana had grown accustomed to his teasing and many times had returned it in her own oblique way. But at the moment, startled as she was, she was unable to do anything but blush at his compliment. He had successfully caught her off guard on numerous occasions and each time she had felt rather foolish at her loss of how to respond. When he was in the room she felt a nervous energy pulsing through her especially when she caught him staring at her as she talked. It was almost like he was trying to figure her out as if ... as if she were some unfathomable enigma.

"Good morning. And what are we up to today? Anything interesting?" Diana queried, deliberately steering the conversation in a different direction.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I'm just about finished with that lab report for the Garner case and will have it to you in a couple of hours. In fact, I will deliver it myself, say... over lunch?"

Diana quickly averted her eyes and said, "Well, actually, I'm just in for a little while to take care of a few things and then I'm taking some vacation time. I'll probably be gone for two or three weeks."

Intrigued, he asked, "Are you going home?"

Fearing that she might find herself trapped by his questions, she responded a little more brusquely than she meant to: "Look, Brett, I really need to get in to see Dale for a few minutes. Could we talk when I get back into town?"

Not waiting for an answer, she brushed past him and disappeared around the corner leaving Brett more curious than ever.

Of course, Diana felt awful at the way she had just acted. She had no right to be rude to Brett, but having been in that situation before, she felt it was better than lying. Anytime she could avoid having to make up something, she did. Especially when it came to people she felt genuinely close to, like Brett Cassidy.

She thought back to when she had first met him over a year ago when she was working on the Reichman case. Brett, or Bryce as he was known back then, had participated in a study for Joseph Reichman who along with another doctor had come up with an anti-aging drug that proved to be a little more than anyone had anticipated. Volunteering as guinea pig, Bryce had started having regular injections of the drug, which over a period of time made him physically invulnerable. It had been Reichman's plan to make a whole army of "invulnerable" men like him. Thankfully Wonder Woman with Bryce's help, managed to thwart his scheme but Reichman escaped before being able to reverse what he had done to Bryce. Not knowing what he was going to do from then on out, Diana had convinced Bryce to come work for the IADC in their research department.

Suddenly remembering Brett's dejection over the fact that he would never again be 'normal', Diana felt even worse over the way she had just treated him. She guessed that was the reason she felt such a bond with him.

He had a secret, too.