"Bruce? Bruce Wayne where are you?" Diana said, sounding annoyed, as she walked into the darkened room, dressed in a white tracksuit and sneakers, and a blue spandex t-shirt. Bruce was still in bed, covers over his head. Diana rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Bruce Wayne, you kept me waiting at the Watchtower’s Gym for over an hour, you never even bothered to page me to let me know you were running late, and I find you still in bed! You had better have a good explanation!" Diana said, pulling the cover off his head.

"Merciful Athena!" she said, looking at him in shock. Bruce’s face looked drawn and pasty white.

"W-what?" Bruce replied, his voice a near whisper.

Diana turned him on his back and felt his forehead. "Bruce you’re burning up! Let me call Alfred!" She said.

"No…might be contagious…Alfred might get sick…" Bruce mumbled, looking at her pleadingly, "besides… Aphrodite’s gift…I heal fast..."

"Yes it makes you heal faster; it doesn’t make you invincible to viruses! You have a temperature Bruce; you need a doctor if you won’t call in Alfred!" Diana said.

"No…might detect unusual activity in immune system…too risky…" Bruce said.

Diana looked at him and nodded in spite of herself. Bruce was making a valid point. Even with the Watchtower’s Doctors oath of secrecy, any thorough testing might expose Bruce’s status as an Amazon initiate; keeping that under wraps might be impossible in spite of all precautions.

Case in point: originally, she and Bruce wanted to keep their relationship among founding members only, but soon enough, the rumour mill kept on turning and the entire Justice League found out.

While that was fine, Bruce’s status as an initiate was not. Should it become commonly known that Bruce Wayne is aging slower, healing faster and has enhanced reflexes thanks to an elixir called ambrosia extract; also known as Aphrodite’s Gift … the consequences might be devastating: hordes of men might swarm Themyscira for the sole purpose of finding the fountain of eternal youth by seducing an Amazon.

Worse yet, an outfit such as STARLABS or Lexcorp might storm Themyscira with armed forces, not realizing ambrosia extract is only available from Mont Olympus, from goddess Aphrodite herself; creating an international conflict between Themyscira and the world of man.

Diana smiled. "Then let me call J’onn, he’s the only one who shares our secret. Human viruses do not affect him, and he was the resident medical officer before the Justice League went through the massive recruitment program, and before we had a dedicated medical staff!" She said.

Bruce nodded. "Diana… first… medicine cabinet in the bathroom … thermometer and Acetaminophen bottle…please…" he said.

She nodded. She walked to the master bedroom’s bathroom and grabbed the electronic thermometer from the medicine cabinet, as well as the bottle of Acetaminophen. She stopped by the intercom.

"Alfred?" She said.

"Yes Miss Diana, how can I help you?" Alfred’s voice crackled in the intercom.

"I fear Bruce is feeling rather under the weather, he has a fever. He is concerned he may be contagious, so could you have Wilfred send up a bottle of water so he can take some medicine for the fever?" Diana asked.

"Oh absolutely Miss Diana, right away, I will also prepare some chicken soup when Master Bruce has an appetite." Alfred said.

"Thank you Alfred!" Diana said. She put the bottle of Acetaminophen of the night table and put the thermometer in Bruce’s mouth.

"My poor love! I’m sorry I was snippy with you when I came in!" Diana said, brushing a lock of Bruce’s sweaty hair from his forehead with her fingers. Bruce mumbled with a shrug, keeping the thermometer in his mouth.

"I’ll be right back!" She said, going back to the bathroom, and returning with a wet facecloth. She gingerly wiped the sweat from Bruce’s forehead with the cool wet facecloth.

Bruce drew in a sharp breath through the nose as he felt the coldness against his skin, then an expression of relief graced his face.

"Does that feel nice?" Diana asked, now wiping his cheeks with the facecloth. Bruce nodded. The thermometer chimed. Diana looked at the reading and shook her head.

"101 Fahrenheit, Bruce, how long?" she asked.

Bruce shrugged again. "All I had was a slight headache before bed …I was looking forward to meeting you at the gym …I noticed you getting out of bed, tried to get up but felt too drained … fell right back to sleep .." he said.

"No wonder; you were feeling sick! I can’t believe I didn’t even notice it!" She said, as Wilfred knocked at the door.

"Come in Wilfred!" Diana said. Wilfred entered with a tray, which had a pot of tea, a bottle of water, a bottle of orange juice and an avocado, lettuce and tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread.

"The tea and sandwich are for you Miss Diana, Alfred figured you might be hungry as well," Wilfred said in his electronic voice, "and he thought Master Bruce may require some Vitamin C, thus the orange juice. I do hope Master Bruce feels better!"

Diana walked up to him and took the tray. "Thank you very much Wilfred, and thank Alfred for me?" She said.

"I certainly will, and whenever Master Bruce feels up to some chicken soup, please page us." Wilfred said as he took his leave.

Diana put the tray down on the night table on her side of the bed. She opened up the water bottle and took two caplets from the Acetaminophen bottle.

"Here Bruce, this will help the fever and any body pain you may feel." She said.

Bruce nodded, put the caplets in his mouth and washed them down with a bit of water.

"Now we need to figure out what’s wrong with you. Whatever is, you will heal faster, but we won’t know how much faster until you’re properly diagnosed," She said, looking pensive.

She stood up and spun around a few turns, magically changing into her Wonder Woman outfit. "I need the communicator!" She said to Bruce, with a wink.

She activated her communicator. "Wonder Woman to Watchtower, do you copy?" she asked.

"Watchtower here Diana, how is Bruce feeling?" Martian Manhunter asked, right off the bat.

She rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed at her friend’s telepathy, and then shrugged, "Oh, just as well" she thought.

"Not too good J’onn, he has a temperature of 101 Fahrenheit and feels quite drained. I have given him some acetaminophen for the fever … and for reasons you can understand we can’t have a regular Doctor look him over." She said.

"Say no more Diana. Mike will be relieving me in a few minutes; I will be over with a Med-kit." He said.

"Thanks J’onn, we appreciate it a great deal!" She said, terminating the link. "No point in staying dressed in my outfit if I’ll be here taking care of you!" She said, spinning again to change back in her tracksuit.

"There ought to be an easier way to access my communicator than to change outfits on the fly like this!" She said, with a smirk.

"Princess… you don’t have to …," Bruce said, shaking his head.

"I don’t have to, but I want to." She said, sitting beside him in bed, once again cooling his face with the facecloth.

"I…don’t …deserve you!" He said, smiling.

"Just be quiet and rest." Diana said, smiling at him tenderly. "And for the record, yes you do. I would not have taken you as a mate otherwise." She kissed his forehead. He smiled at her, a tired smile that brought tears to her eyes.

"Please…don’t cry!" Bruce said.

"I just feel so guilty for thinking you’d stood me up!" Diana said.

Bruce shook his head and reached for her with his left hand. She smiled and took his hand in hers, and resumed cooling his face with the facecloth in her other hand.

"J’onn will be here soon my love. We’ll figure out what’s wrong with you." Diana said.

Bruce closed his eyes. "Just a flu bug…I’ll be over it soon…I promise!" Bruce said.

J’onn materialized in front of the bed 15 minutes later.

"Oh great…I’m hallucinating now!" Bruce said.

"Bruce, be nice!" Diana said, looking at him with surprise.

"No worries Diana, it was actually quite humorous!" Martian Manhunter said, smiling.

He looked Bruce over, also taking his blood pressure, a blood sample and a throat swab. He ran various tests on the samples with the Med kit.

J’onn paused, seeming perplexed by the results. "This is definitely a flu strain, and the reason you are feeling so drained is that your enhanced healing capabilities are busy supporting your immune system. What bothers me is that with the flu vaccines we had all human Justice Leaguers take a few weeks ago, you should be fully immunized thanks to Goddess Aphrodite’s gift …you did get your shot didn’t you?" J’onn said.

"Uh…actually …" Bruce said, looking embarrassed.

"Bruce, you promised!" Diana said, looking at him, arms crossed.

"And I thought Joey was the one who hated needles!" J’onn said.

Bruce looked at them sheepishly, which on his pale, drawn face made him look rather vulnerable. Diana could not help a feeling of tightness in her throat, feeling guilty again for acting annoyed towards him.

"I goofed, I admit it." Bruce said. "I got over confident of the effects of the ambrosia extract."

Martian Manhunter smiled at his friends. He saw the concern on Diana’s face, the remorse of Bruce’s face for skipping the flu shot, and the unmistakable love they felt for each other. He could sense it.

"I might sound cliché, but the recommended treatment is bed rest, plenty of fluids and Acetaminophen or ASA for the fever and body pain: the virus must run its course." Martian Manhunter said. "Should you feel any chest congestion or develop a cough, you may wish to ask Alfred to bring you a Cough syrup with DM …and call me again if you need something stronger than over the counter medicine."

"We definitely will do that J’onn, thank you so much for seeing Bruce on such short notice!" Diana said.

"In the mean time, you may want to keep a close eye on our stubborn friend," Martian Manhunter added, looking smug, "he has a tendency to push himself when he should be resting, remember the bite he got from Copperhead? I made sure your schedule was clear at the Watchtower to allow you to do so Diana."

"That will be a pleasure!" Diana said with a grin. Bruce’s lack of protesting made her feel worried again.

Martian Manhunter transported back to the Watchtower.

Bruce looked at Diana. "The flu can take several days to several weeks to run its course on the average human being, depending on the severity of the case." He managed to say in a mumbling voice, without pausing. "With the enhanced healing powers I have thanks to the woman I love, I should be up and about in a matter of days …though that day isn’t today … I’m feeling kind of dizzy right now."

Diana felt his forehead, and smiled. "You’re still pretty warm but the fever is down at least. Take a nap Bruce; I’ll be right here with you." She said, sitting down next to him in bed.

"Princess, you’ll get bored sitting here while I sleep …," Bruce said.

"Don’t worry, I can watch the soaps on your bedroom’s TV set if it doesn’t bother you, I’ll keep the volume low!" She said.

Bruce smiled, lying on his side to face her. "You’re the best; I’m one lucky son of a gun to have you, the world’s most wonderful nurse caring for me! The TV won’t bother me at all!" he said, laying his head on her lap, putting his arms around her.

She put the wet facecloth on the tray on her night table and grabbed her sandwich, and the remote control to the TV set. She flipped channels for a few moments and settled on a station.

She then put the remote control on the bed between her and Bruce and put a hand on the nape of Bruce’s neck. His face still felt quite warm on her lap, through the fabric of her track pants.

"Hera, please help him through this…I hate seeing him this helpless!" She prayed silently, taking a bite of her sandwich with her left hand. Good old Alfred never forgot she was a vegetarian, and always made sure she ate – she could be as bad as Bruce could when it came to her eating habits.

She gave him a loving look and ran her right hand fingers through his hair. He was falling asleep. "Poor thing, he’s going to need a shower once he’s over that flu!" She thought, putting her hand back on the nape of his neck.

"Maybe it’s the flu doing the thinking," Bruce thought, drifting to sleep, "but I’m sick and I’m still happy – I feel so secure…so…" he fell asleep on her lap.

Diana watched absent-mindedly the latest generic talk show. The thought really on her mind was, "You just get better quickly Bruce Wayne, in spite of the ambrosia extract I still worry about you!"

About an hour later, Bruce woke up and sat up. "Was I out for long?" He said.

Diana smiled, felt his forehead and with a sigh of relief, saw his temperature was back to normal.

"My tough guy slept for about an hour with his head on my lap and his arms around me!" Diana said, with a teasing grin, "I think it’s safe to say your immune system is winning the battle. You scared me for a while there, but you are getting better, you’re even getting some colour back in those cheeks!" She said, kissing him on the cheeks to illustrate her point.

"See? I told you the virus stood no chance with the effects of the ambrosia extract on me!" Bruce said, trying to look smug.

"Bruce Wayne, don’t you start gloating, you would not have had to spend a day sick if you had had your flu shot like you were supposed to!" Diana said, frowning.

Bruce chuckled, a reassuring sight in spite of the annoyance she felt.

"I’m only teasing Princess, thanks for taking such good care of me!" He said, smiling at her. "I’m going to take a long warm bath, I feel filthy and sweaty."

He poured himself a glass of orange juice.

"Shall I scrub your back?" She asked, grinning again.

"That sounds wonderful Princess!’ He said, and took a sip of orange juice. "I think I’ll have some of Alfred’s soup after my bath, I feel better but I’m not ready yet to go toe to toe with any Villain." He said putting his glass down.

"Hera, he’s being reasonable, I don’t think he’s better yet!" Diana said, looking at him teasingly.

Bruce sighed shaking his head, still chuckling, "I still have to get used to your sense of humour Princess!" Bruce said, "But you’re still the most wonderful nurse on Earth!"

"Come on mister sweet talker, time for you to take a bath!" She said, taking him by the arm, leading him to the bathroom.

"As you wish!" Bruce said.