TW: mentions of date rape drugs used, but no referenced rape or other abuse.

A modern law-enforcement AU.

It was not often Diana had to sport a full length gown for work, but on days that she did, she was glad that Steve was her assigned partner. No one else in the precinct could get half as many weapons through any type of security as he could and since Diana was always more, well, limited with a gown, Steve had her covered.

"If you prefer, I suppose I could wear the dress and you could wear the suit," Steve suggested, leaning against the doorframe.

Ensuring her one gun was secure in her thigh holster, Diana stood up and smoothed out her dress before looking up at Steve with a teasing grin. "As dashing as you would look, I think you might turn more heads wearing this than I would."

"I don't know." Steve gave her an appraising look and smirked. "You might draw more attention than you think, angel."

Diana rolled her eyes and turned back to the mirror to make sure her hair was still smooth and her in-ear comm was well hidden. Satisfied, she turned back to Steve and offered her hand for him to take.

Taking care to avoid Diana's red lipstick, he kissed the very corner of her mouth and grinned. "Let's knock 'em dead."

They walked out of the hotel and met their chauffeur outside, sliding into the back of the limousine without a word. As they arrived at the gala, they clicked on their comms before stepping out of the limousine and making their way towards the grand ballroom. Both of them made it through security without hassle and with a shared look, they split upon entering.

"We've only just arrived," Diana murmured into the comm, sending Steve a look from across the room. "How are you already at the bar?"

"Hey, it's the ideal vantage point." Diana rolled her eyes, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and scanning the crowd herself. "Everyone is bound to stop by at some point during the night. Besides, in all the movies, who knows everyone, everywhere?"

"The bartender," Diana grumbled. She pulled a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and looked away from the bar. "Just don't get drunk. There's a reason you're my backup."

"Yes, ma'am."

While Steve contented himself at the bar, chatting amicably with the bartender who seemed very enthralled by Steve's antics, Diana kept an eye on the crowd for their target. It was a bit of a stretch, assuming their art thief would make an appearance at a gala such as this, but Etta's intel was rarely wrong and Diana was willing to spend one night playing dress-up if it meant they were one step closer to catching him.

"Nine o'clock." Steve's voice echoed through her ear suddenly, his voice clearer than the muffled conversation with the bartender she'd been tuning out.

Her attention moved swiftly just in time to see their target, Heinrich Precht, appear to her right.

"Spotted."

Diana made her way towards Precht as Steve resumed his muted conversation with the bartender. Precht didn't spot her until moments before she collided with him.

"Oh! Pardon me!" Diana exclaimed, swaying on her feet. Precht's hand moved to her waist to steady her. "Must be these shoes on the tile. So sorry, monsieur."

"No harm," Precht assured her, his eyes lingering on the top of her gown a little too long. "Are you alright?"

"Splendid!" Diana said cheerfully. She swayed again and Precht eyed the champagne in her hand.

"Perhaps you've had enough to drink." He gave her a charming smile and pulled the champagne flute from her hand. "Miss..."

"Dumain," Diana supplied.

"Miss Dumain." Precht's eyes dropped momentarily before returning to her face. "I see no ring, Miss Dumain. Here all alone?"

"I'm afraid so." Diana didn't let her eyes wander to the bar where Steve was still chatting with a man at the bar. "I just get too excited about art. I can't find the time to bring someone who won't appreciate it with the same enthusiasm."

Precht raised an eyebrow. "I find myself in the same situation. Perhaps we could both enjoy the art together?"

"Oh, that would be lovely!" Diana clasped her hand around his arm and Precht smiled. "Who did you say you were? I can't very well spend the night with a stranger."

"You may call me Heinrich," Precht replied. He turned and pulled two flutes of champagne from a nearby table. Diana's eyes connected with Steve's from across the ballroom and at his questioning look, she nodded in reassurance. "For you, my dear," Precht said, interrupting her to hand over a flute of champagne. "To new friendships," he said, clinking the rim of his flute with Diana's.

"New friendships," she echoed, raising the glass to her lips. She took a sip before Precht linked their arms again and pulled her across the ballroom.

"There are a few friends of mine here you might enjoy meeting," he informed her.

Diana's footsteps faltered. "Friends of yours? Here?"

She felt Steve's eyes on her immediately, but she didn't turn to look at him.

"Yes, art curators, if you will," Precht said. He led her over to a man Diana recognised from briefings and shook his hand. "Miss Dumain, meet Mr. Thessolon. He's a special friend of mine who has experience working in the Louvre in Paris."

"Mr. Thessolon, very nice to meet you," Diana said. In her ear, Steve ended his conversation with the bartender. "How did you meet Heinrich?"

Precht only introduced her to two more men after that, but it was enough for Diana to realise they were likely outnumbered. It was unreasonable to expect such men would travel alone and if her memory served her right, Diana definitely recognised the last man she'd met: Mr. Angelo Entirie.

At some point, Steve had moved away from the bar and she'd lost sight of him only a minute ago, but she could still hear him in her comm and knew he was nearby.

"Let me show you one of my favourite pieces here, Miss Dumain," Precht said, leading her out of the ballroom.

"It's not in the foyer?" Diana asked, hesitating momentarily. "I thought all the expositions were out front."

"Not this one, no." Precht shook his head and in her ear, Steve muttered a hasty goodbye to someone she could not see. "I have special clearance, you see, and I think you may really enjoy this piece."

Diana only followed him around the corner before lunging at his back. Precht was one step ahead of her, however, and twisted to pin her against the wall before she even landed her hit. The sudden jerk had her head pounding and for a moment, her vision swam.

"You thought I wouldn't recognise you?" he hissed. His arm reached up towards her throat, but Diana grabbed his wrist and twisted sharply, causing him to growl in pain and let go.

"I thought it would take a bit longer," she grunted. She swung her foot behind his knee and kicked it in, sending him to the floor.

Precht brought her down with him and quickly rolled so he was above her. Diana's knee came up between them sharply, only to connect with something hard and metal instead of his groin.

Precht smiled wickedly. "Came prepared for a fight."

Diana growled and brought her head up to his. He howled and Diana fought through her own dizziness to pull her gun from its holster and roll on top of Precht. Below her, his body became blurry and Diana squinted, trying to clear her vision.

"Is something wrong with your head, agent?" Precht taunted. He wrestled her gun from her hand, sending it skidding across the floor before surging forward and dropping Diana on her back with a painful thud. "Must have been the champagne."

Diana cursed and from her comm, she heard Steve ask where she was.

"West exit," she groaned. Above her, Precht snarled and raised his fist. She twisted out of the way moments before he hit her face, wrapping her leg around his own and flipping him over. "Down the hallway, first left."

"It's cheating if you can't take me out alone," Precht taunted. He yanked on her gown, preventing her from getting to her feet, and tugged the comm out of her ear. "Make it a little—"

Diana's elbow connected with his sternum and Precht coughed, keeling over at the sudden hit. Fighting her torn gown, Diana pressed firmly on a point behind Precht's neck until he collapsed in front of her. The sound of someone running up behind her echoed through her ears as she pulled Precht's arms behind his back and squinted angrily in order to see what she was doing.

"Diana!"

She held out a hand towards Steve's voice, keeping Precht's arms pinned with her knees.

"He won't stay out for long," she said sharply. Steve passed over a pair of handcuffs and she hastened to bind Precht's arms. Once she was sure Precht was secure, she climbed off his back, swaying slightly.

"Hey." Steve's hand wrapped around her arm, steadying her. "You good?"

"He drugged me." Diana shook her head and pushed a strand of her behind her ear. "Not too bad, but I'm a little woozy."

"Fuck." Diana smiled despite herself and Steve held her a little tighter. "I called for backup when he started introducing you to others. Sameer and Charlie should be here with a team in minutes."

"Good, we can meet them outside."

Diana stepped aside so Steve could pull Precht to his feet, shaking him awake in the process. He spit at Diana, but she ignored him and fell into step on Steve's other side. Her hand found his as her vision spun a little to the left, but she managed to not sway.

She flashed her badge at security, pulling Steve's from his suit when they demanded his as well, and they made it through the back doors unperturbed. When they arrived back out front though, the many stairs down to the parking lot stared back at them and Steve paused.

"Still woozy?" he asked. Diana grimaced and nodded.

"She'll be feeling it for a while," Precht snickered, eyeing Diana from the opposite side of Steve. "Might need an extra hand."

"I'll double your prison sentence," Steve threatened, pinching the back of Precht's neck until he was nearly on the ground. "Take your time," he told Diana, starting down the stairs with Precht at his side.

Diana found the hand bar in the center of the stairs and started down, keeping her eyes on Steve's blurry figure in front of her and Precht's unhappy slouch. Sameer met them at the bottom and by the time Diana found herself at Steve's side again, Precht had been loaded into the back of the police car and Charlie had gotten his entire team through security.

"Diana, you good?" Sameer asked, frowning as she approached, carrying her heels in one hand and holding up her torn gown with the other. "Looks almost like you were the one attacked and not the one doing the attacking."

"It was a mutual attack," Diana said, dropping the hem of her gown and bringing a hand up to her forehead. "Do you have any water on you by chance? All I've had tonight is champagne and date rape drugs."

Sameer let out a strangled sound and Diana smiled warmly.

"Let me check," he muttered, disappearing into the car to search for a spare water bottle.

Beside her, Steve took her heels from her hand and gingerly laced his fingers with hers. "How's your head?"

"Very fuzzy," Diana admitted. She inhaled sharply when Sameer appeared in front of her a bit too suddenly, but he held out a full water bottle for which she thanked him.

"Etta says you're both free to go," Sameer said, glancing at his phone. "I may have mentioned the drugging thing."

"I'll be fine by morning," Diana assured him. Even with a headache to rival the gods themselves, she doubted the drugs would last through the night. "I'll drink enough water to flush it all out and be in the office by nine."

"We'll see."

Diana frowned, turning to look at Steve despite knowing he would be blurry. She was met with a warm kiss to her temple.

"Let us know what happens with the others," Steve told Sameer, wrapping his arm around Diana's shoulders.

The sidewalk was cool against her bare feet, but not uncomfortably so, as they walked from Sameer's patrol car to where a limousine waited to take away guests. Diana stumbled into the back seat while Steve instructed the driver where to find their hotel. Shortly after, he slipped in beside her and pressed his hand to her forehead.

"You sure you're alright?" he murmured. His arm slid around her shoulders and Diana leaned into him.

"You don't plan on taking advantage of my weakened state?" Diana teased, her hand finding his. Steve shook his head, kissing the top of her head warmly. "Yes, Steve, I'm sure," she promised.

Beside her, Steve grumbled about filing attempted assault charges against Precht as well as burglary but didn't pull away from Diana. She closed her eyes and the dizziness faded enough that by the time they arrived at the hotel, her headache was nearly gone. Steve still insisted on helping her through the lobby, draping his suit jacket over her torn dress and steering them clear of anyone still lingering in the lounge.

"We don't have to go in tomorrow," Steve muttered, pulling her to his chest as they stepped into the lift. "I'll tell Etta and she'll keep everyone off our backs for the day."

"I will be fine, Steve," Diana insisted. She stretched up to press a kiss to his jaw, running her hand along his face. "Unless you want a reason to stay in?"

"Absolutely."

Diana laughed and the lift bell rang softly before the doors slid open.

"Well in that case," she teased, wrapping her hands around Steve's and letting him lead them back to their room. "You can tell Etta that I'm feeling terrible and likely won't be able to make the 11AM check-out."

Steve grinned and nodded, unlocking their room in the process. Diana moved straight to the bed while Steve relayed the message to Etta. As soon as they had both changed and Steve was sure they wouldn't be bothered, they fell onto the bed together and flicked off the lamp.

Surrounded by the silence of the room, Diana closed her eyes and tucked her head into the crook of Steve's neck. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, Steve's voice cut softly through the room.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Diana groaned and pinched his side sharply, making Steve yelp unappreciatively.

"Ask me again and you won't be," she warned, fully prepared to roll to the other side of the bed and leave Steve be. Before she could though, Steve wrapped his arms around her tighter and rendered her unable to move away. "If I wasn't alright, I'd tell you, okay?"

"Okay," Steve finally agreed. He pulled her closer still and after he was well and settled, he pressed one last kiss to Diana's cheek. There was no response except for a soft snore when he whispered a very quiet, "I love you," in her ear minutes later.