undeserved_protector | Chance meetings? ( for thats

Flying from place to place became the normal for her. The acquisition of artifacts and maintaining relations with other museums was just the two main points of her job. Well, the job that kept her in touch with the world around her and not secluded to the other persona. The real her that protected humanity and kept them safe. Not that she disliked this job or living as Diana Prince. In fact, she loved it as much as the Amazon from Themyscira because he gave her that name and started her life in this world.

But she didn't wish to think of him right in that moment. Not while she stood perusing the displays of weapons from Ancient Greece that Emily Attwater insisted that Diana fly over to see and give her expert opinion on. Not that Ms. Attwater seemed to be so keen to keep her appointment at this rate. Normally the bubbly blonde that wanted so desperately to 'one-up' Diana would be there immediately the moment she walked into the entrance of the Smithsonian. Today, she was asked to wait by the reception.

A task she chose to do with notebook in hand, notes being taken as she went through each. She had only been sketching and noting details in her book for about twenty minutes, but it still caused a frown to furrow her brow. Perhaps her fellow curator had something else in mind today?

Whatever it was, she at least found it easy to continue her cataloging and notations of the items around her. It felt a little like glimpsing home in so many ways. It was one of the few things that did give her that chance to pretend she was nearer to her mother and friends back on the island by doing this work. And well, it gave her time to drift off and write notes in other languages about the page. Sometimes quotes from great philosophers of the time period and sometimes notations on who might've been the metal worker that forged the weapon. Regardless of what she inked on the page, she really wouldn't have even noticed if Ms. Attwater entered the room at that moment or not she was so engrossed in her work.

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"How...?" Steve wasn't sure of what else he meant to say. There were too many questions. He'd spent years searching for answers and Diana had them but instead, he of relieved, he felt like he'd started an avalanche of possibilities and questions that would take a lifetime to ask. Too many for him to put into words when it was obvious that the sight of the hilt hurt her so much.

Slowly mulling over her words, he felt something settle in his bones, maybe his soul. It felt like the moment he'd found the hilt, knowing he had to keep it safe, protect it until... until what he'd never really been sure but Steve knew that he was meant to be its caretaker. Until he met Diana? "Did it draw us together?" The question seemed impossible, but so did 'the Sword of Athena'.

Resting his cheek against her hair, Steve tried to put that name into some kind of context that didn't sound like myth but everything he thought of made him think of the books he'd read as a kid, not the logic he was supposed to have as a scholar. "I'd like to know more about the sword, when you're ready to talk about it." It was obvious that Diana was bothered by her family's - heirloom? That sounded like an old necklace or an ugly vase that had been passed down for generations, not a sword that had a name that hinted at legends. "If I'd known who it belonged to, I would have returned it."

"Many don't realize I am, well.. from Greece." It was as true a statement as she could make. Her mother was an Amazon Queen, her father the king of the gods that ruled so many years ago. What else could one say her descent was from? Not that she wished to go through that right now or ever. Not like she did so willingly while laying in the bow of a boat looking up at a sea of stars. The stories were so easily told then.

She'd not told them again. Not sense her heart shattered and she faced reality only to lose the only person she felt so connected to without her mother and the other Amazons. But those far away thoughts dissipated as she turned her head at his question. A line furrowed her brow softly as she considered that and she finally shook her head. "I don't know. It was abandoned so long ago. I never would have believed anyone would have found it."

And by a man named Steve that had his face. Even if this was his reincarnation, she refused to think of them as the same person. And thinking fate would force him to her again seemed almost sad. Why force something?

Not that anything they had done that day felt forced. It came as easy as breathing. Moving her hand from the book, she found his and curled her fingers around it. Pressing close, she let her eyes fall closed so she could just focus on him. His warmth, the scent, and even the feeling of his heartbeat. "I want you to keep it. There is none other like it. It... it suits you." It was a piece of who she was. Who she is. And she wanted him to have it. "It can never be fixed... because it can never go home." Just like her.

That wasn't quite the question that Steve intended to ask but it was one of the answers that he'd hoped Diana would give him eventually. He'd thought that someday she might become comfortable enough with him to share more of her life stories with him as they continued to get to know each other. He hadn't wanted it to bring her pain. Kissing the top of her head, he could sense something was bothering her, a greater sadness than a lost artifact should bring.

He waited for her to compose herself, to give what answers she was comfortable with despite years of curiosity about the sword. Knowing it brought her pain, he almost wished had hadn't found it, but then they wouldn't be together. "It could have," Steve offered, voice subdued since he couldn't quite gauge her reactions to the sword or him having it. Diana might see him as a thief even if he'd had no way to return the hilt to its rightful owner. "I don't know how I found it. I was in this little village, in the middle of nowhere. if it'd been lost for so long someone else should have found it since then." But it had called to Steve somehow.

After that the nightmares had started. The dreams related to the sword and darker, more disturbing things that he never remembered but he always woke in a blind panic afterward.

Lifting her hand, he kissed her knuckles, the gesture old-fashioned but seeming to be right. Just like the feeling of having Diana curled up with him, even if she seemed pained by what they'd both learned. "Shouldn't you ask the rest of your family before you give it to me?" They should have a say in it before he kept it. If he kept it. "A broken sword suits me?" he teased, hoping to get a smile. "I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that or not."

Biting into her lip, she considered it a moment. Honestly she'd only accept that if he wanted to meet her again. Finally lifting her head just enough, she turned to look him in the eye and hold his gaze. "Are you happy it brought you to me? If you are happy then I can accept that fate..." She deliberated, wondered if she should admit how she felt or if that would alter his perception. "I feel like... I was waiting to meet you. But that only works when both feel that way."

Watching him kiss her knuckles, she smiled softly before ducking her head again. Finally shifting closer, she touched her lips to his jaw lovingly and half closed her eyes. "I think it did call you. And you were meant to find it." Lifting up, just enough to look at him again, her smile was soft if a little wistful as her chin came to rest on his shoulder. "When I left home... my mother told me I could never come back. So myself, just like the sword... will never see home again."

It took a great effort to push past that sadness before she could huff a shaky laugh. "I say it suits you because it's a part of me. But if there is something broken about you I should know about, I am ready to hear about it." Diana couldn't help but tease back at that, her dark eyes brightening a little as she watched him, a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. "I'm sure I'll still approve of you."

Chance meetings? ( for thats_neat)

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