After living for over a century in man's world, Diana has decided she enjoys having a routine. It changes a bit every time they move countries or when she has to change jobs to avoid suspicion about her and Steve's ageless appearances, but it remains generally the same. She enjoys waking up at dawn and watching the sunrise. She likes it when Steve brings her tea and breakfast. After fighting for the bathroom, she enjoys walking to work and getting there early. She likes the routine.

Steve, on the other hand, despises it. He gets anxious if he does the same thing every day, so while Diana remains a loyal fan of yoga, Steve tries out a variety of different morning exercises and switches up his daily schedule every few years.

But it works and it's become such a common little routine (or non-routine, it depends on who you ask) that when Diana returns to the apartment after an early morning run, she's not all that surprised to find Steve in what she's sure is supposed to be some type of yoga position.

It was time the routine changed a bit anyway, she thinks, tilting her head slightly to try and figure out what move Steve is trying to do.

When he sees her, Steve lets out a surprised grunt and topples over. "Diana!"

He smiles up at her from the floor and Diana grins back, kicking the door shut behind her and flicking the lock.

"I was wondering when you were going to give up on cross fit," she says. She drops her keys and her phone on the counter then joins him on the floor to stretch. "I'm not sure yoga is necessarily your thing, though."

Steve scratches the back of his head and chuckles under his breath. "Yeah, I think you're probably right."

As Diana starts stretching, Steve gets to his feet and presses a warm kiss to her head. He leaves her in the living room and heads for the kitchen to start on breakfast. While Diana has learned how to cook over the past few decades, they've both decided that the kitchen is more Steve's domain and Diana is better off saving the world.

They go about their morning in relative silence. Diana disappears to take a shower and when she returns to the living room, Steve has just finished breakfast and is on his way to claim the bathroom. She kisses him in passing, not sure if he'll be finished with his shower before she leaves for work, and happily sits down in front of the food he's left out for her.

Steve is still in the bathroom when Diana finishes breakfast, so she knocks on the door as she slips on her shoes and through the wood she shouts, "I love you."

"I love you more!" Steve shouts back. It's followed by what sounds like a bottle of shampoo falling and a muffled curse.

"Stay safe," she teases. Steve grumbles out something else she can't understand, but she's already leaving five minutes later than normal, so she doesn't stick around to find out what it was.

Even at seven in the morning, Paris is bustling with people but no one pays her a second thought as she walks the familiar route to work. She stops at a little patisserie down the street and nibbles on a pain au chocolat because despite Steve's delicious breakfast, she can never seem to pass up the treat.

She arrives at work before most of her coworkers and takes the time to organise her desk and review the last few things she'd gone over the evening before. By the time she's satisfied that everything is in order and has done a bit of extra work to help out a colleague, her assistant steps into her office with a stack of files.

"We just received word that a temporary Viking exhibit will be arriving next January," she announces in rapid French. She sets down the files on Diana's desk and without pausing to breathe, she continues on, "We have eight months to prepare the exhibit and ensure that all pieces make it over safely and seeing as you seem to be the primary linguist here, they're requesting you oversee it all."

Opening the first file, Diana asks, "Where is it arriving from?"

"Norway."

Diana nods and glances up to see her assistant brush a strand of hair behind her ear frustratedly, clearly not used to the fairly last minute arrangements like Diana is. "Sophie, we have plenty of time. I can talk with Antoine about taking care of some lower level projects for me and have plenty of time to arrange the exhibit."

"Yes, I know, but—"

"No buts," Diana interrupts, giving her a knowing smile. Sophie's cheeks turn red. "It gets like this sometimes, but I'm prepared to handle it. It's time I showed you how to manage multiple exhibits at once anyway."

With Sophie following her every step, Diana gets started on coordinating with the museum in Norway that is lending them the exhibit and finishes up ensuring a recent exhibit has been safely returned. While Sophie looks like she's drowning in work, Diana tries her best to help her organise the many projects based on priority.

By the time they take a break for lunch, she's fairly certain Sophie is starting to understand. It's only her second week and really she's just an intern, but Diana's become rather fond of her in the short span of time and wants her to succeed at whatever she ends up doing after this. If giving her tips on how to organise a pile of work is the best way Diana can help, then she'll do it.

"Do you think they'll ever bring back that exhibit on Cleopatra?" Sophie asks as they walk back to the Louvre, lunch long finished and both of them running a tad late. "I really enjoyed the one from last year and I think—"

Diana lets Sophie continue on, talking excitedly about whatever she's just covered in her university class. Sometimes, Diana has discovered, it's best to just let the girl talk instead of offering up her own thoughts.

They bypass the line of tourists and Diana finds herself skimming over their faces subconsciously. Sometimes Steve visits the Louvre and sometimes Clark tries to surprise her as well. After a particularly eventful and unexpected visit from Barry, she's taken to scanning the lines quite often. This time, it pays off because her eyes find Steve and he gestures helplessly to the line in front of him.

"I'll meet you at the office," Diana tells Sophie, interrupting her current train of thought on the Egyptian mummifying process.

Sophie's eyes follow Diana's across the crowd. She must recognise Steve from the one or two times he's visited before, because she turns back to Diana and smiles.

"Alright," she says cheerfully, winking at Diana before scanning her badge and returning to the office.

Diana makes her way around the long queue, ducking out of photos and meeting Steve just outside the security checkpoint.

"You know, you can call before you arrive." She presses her lips to his quickly and smirks. "Then you don't have to wait."

"It wouldn't be a surprise then," he tells her. Diana laughs under her breath and Steve grins. "You get this cute little smile on your face when you see me. It's my favourite."

Diana shakes her head with a smile and pulls Steve further away from the waiting line. Some of the tourists are giving them weird looks and Diana doesn't particularly care for it.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Diana asks, raising a brow at him. She loops her arm through his and they slowly walk along the outskirts of the plaza, admiring the tall pyramid in the center. "I thought you said you had an assignment."

"Yeah, from Bruce." Steve frowns and Diana bites back a smile. Even after so many years, Steve isn't a big fan of her coworker. "It's actually what brought me here, believe it or not."

Now it's Diana's turn to frown. "What kind of mission is it?"

"That's the thing," Steve mutters, glancing at her warily. "You're not supposed to know."

Diana stops in her tracks and pulls her arm from Steve's. "What kind of mission?" she repeats.

"Bruce's security system picked up on someone who seems to be a little too fond of you," Steve says, lowering his voice so that the passing tourists can't hear. "He shared the news with me and I've been following it up."

"Too fond of me or too fond of Wonder Woman?" The two are very different, but only one would lead Steve to arrive at the Louvre.

"Of you."

Steve looks a little worried and if Diana didn't find it a little endearing, she might be more annoyed.

"You know I can take care of it." Her hand finds his and when Steve laces his fingers through hers, his grip is a bit tighter than normal. "Steve, I'm okay," she murmurs, stepping towards him. She smoothes out his brow and reminds him, "I've faced worse than a stalker."

"We don't have any information on him," Steve grumbles, squeezing her hand. She gets an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, but rather than check over her shoulder anxiously like she wants to, she just smiles at Steve. "Aside from an obvious infatuation with you, we don't know who he is or what he looks like. That's what bothers me the most."

Diana's about to suggest tracing whatever trail they have back to the beginning, but before she can form the words, there's a sharp gasp behind her followed by the distinct echo of a gunshot.

On instinct, Diana turns towards the sound, eyes locking on the attacker who's standing less than two meters away from her. She sees the gun pointed at her, hears the screams around her, but doesn't feel the impact of the bullet. At least, not until she tries to take her next breath and pain is suddenly all she can feel.

"Diana!"

The gun is still pointed at her even as security flocks to the attacker. She stumbles back into Steve and his arms wrap around her before her knees buckle. Pain shoots up from her chest to her shoulders and down to her toes as she hits Steve's chest, but her own gasp of pain is muffled by the terrified screams of tourists.

"Diana," Steve cries, looking at her with wide eyes. He looks just as terrified as Diana is starting to feel, but she's not necessarily sure how to solve that when all she can think about is the pain in her chest.

Well, the pain and the fact that should someone call an ambulance, she can't be taken to a regular hospital.

"Bruce," she gasps, grabbing his shoulder too tightly. She struggles to balance herself and begs Steve to understand. "The hospital," she gasps out and Steve shakes his head. "They can't—Steve."

"Okay."

Diana hopes that means he understands because she loses consciousness seconds later. When she wakes up, Steve will tell her that he got her out of there without causing a bigger scene, but she'll find out the truth later when she watches the news.

Instead of calling Bruce, Steve calls Clark because he can fly and may the gods help him, Steve trusts him more. Clark arrives minutes after Steve hangs up and while the crowd surrounding them insists that Diana be taken to the hospital and to wait for the French medical officials to arrive, neither Clark nor Steve listen.

"I'll come back," Clark promises, taking Diana from Steve with a nod.

He nods back numbly and watches as Clark launches back into the air and flies all the way to Gotham with Diana bleeding out in his arms. Steve, in shock and terrified, tries to disappear back into the crowd but finds it difficult to do when his shirt is soaked with Diana's blood.

All around him is a flurry of languages he doesn't understand mixed with French that he knows he should be able to understand, but can't find the energy to. He collapses on the ground a few meters away from where Diana was shot and watches through wide, shocked eyes as the police arrive to take away the shooter and question the witnesses.

"Monsieur?"

It only takes a few attempts before Steve is conscious enough of his surroundings to notice the police officer standing in front of him, asking him about what happened and where the victim went.

"Clark," Steve says. The police officer blinks and even though the questions had all been in French, Steve can only think to answer in English. "He took her, she's okay. She'll be—She'll be okay. In Gotham."

The police officer blinks back at him in confusion and attempts to repeat his questions in English, but Steve can't really give a better answer. Luckily, he's saved from having to when Clark drops down in front of him less than twenty minutes after he left with Diana.

"Diana?" Steve asks anxiously, leaving the officer with more questions than when he'd arrived.

"She's being taken care of," Clark promises. Steve can't help but eye the blood on Clark's suit. "Do you want a ride or what?"

Steve hastily accepts the offer and while it's a little awkward to climb on Superman's back in front of a crowd of people, he doesn't necessarily care.

It takes five whole minutes to arrive at the hospital in Gotham and as soon as Clark touches the ground, Steve races through the door. Bruce is just arriving as well, so Steve joins him in asking the nearest doctor how Diana was.

"She was brought in twenty minutes ago," the doctor sighs, clearly familiar with the way the Justice League tends to run on impatience and anxiety. "She's still being stitched up, but we'll let you back as soon as we can."

It ends up being ten more minutes before someone comes out to get them and by then, Barry and Lois have arrived.

"She really shouldn't have all of you at once," the doctor grumbles. The protest is weak, and he still leads them all back to the private room where Diana is laying.

For what it's worth, she does look like she'll survive (and Steve knows she will), but that doesn't make Steve relax. He can't help but replay the image of her crumpling against him while someone so close stands with a gun pointed at her.

It's Barry who reaches her side first, unsurprisingly.

"Holy shit, Di!" he exclaims, staring down at her. "You got shot in the chest and survived!"

Steve flinches and Barry's enthused expression immediately drops.

"I mean, not that it's good, it's just, you know, impressive?"

"Nice save," Bruce mutters.

"Hey, angel," Steve murmurs, carefully sitting beside her on the bed. Diana finds his hand silently and squeezes it tightly. "Scared me there for a bit. How are you feeling?"

"I will survive," she murmurs softly. The way she's gripping his hand though tells him she may not feel like it.

"I may have left things a bit of a mess in Paris," Steve admits, brushing a hand across her brow. Her forehead is sticky with sweat and Steve's heart clenches in his chest as he realises she must really be in pain. "Have they given you anything for the pain?"

"My body runs through it too quickly," Diana reminds him, shaking her head. "It's getting better."

Lois and Clark step forward enough to catch Diana's attention and even though Steve can see she's exhausted, she still answers the few questions they both have. She even reassures Barry that she cannot feel the hole in her chest and asks Bruce to track down the shooter himself before the doctor sends them all away. As soon as the door closes and it's just them, Diana closes her eyes and breathes shakily.

"I should have seen him," she murmurs, eyes still closed. "He was right there, Steve. Why didn't I see him?"

"There was no sign he had a gun until it was pointed at you," Steve replies. He squeezes her hand again and her eyes open slightly. "We were well out of the way. This isn't on you."

"Other people could have been hurt."

Steve bites back a comment about how he's fairly certain the shooter had only been there for her. He hadn't tried to shoot anyone else after and as much as Steve hated it, his own mission trail had led him to the Louvre with the belief that Diana's stalker would be there too.

"Bruce will take over the case in Paris," Steve promises. He leans forward and brushes a kiss across her forehead. "We'll close the case and I'll have ARGUS personally ensure the Louvre increases security."

"You think it was the stalker."

Unfortunately, it's not a question and even if it was, Steve wouldn't have denied it, so he nods.

"The trail led me to the Louvre just like it led him there," he explains softly. Diana sighs and Steve reaches forward to frame her face with one hand. "You didn't fail a mission, Diana. You were a victim in a mission that I failed."

Diana frowns and opens her mouth to argue, but Steve presses his lips to hers before she can. She allows the interruption and as soon as he pulls away, she pulls him down beside her.

"Lay with me," she murmurs.

He's careful to avoid the stitches and surrounding gauze over her chest, but he curls in close around her and holds her as tight as he dares.

"Tell me if I hurt you," he mutters, gently laying an arm over her waist.

She pulls him closer and even though he's fairly certain she's already half asleep, she still murmurs, "You never do." and it's almost enough to make him forget she came so close to dying.