Summary: three times Diana experiences a nightmare, and the one time Steve's life become one.

i.

The first time Diana has a nightmare, it's the night after Steve's unofficial funeral and she's staying with Etta. The whole week had been terrible and Diana was exhausted enough she usually slept through the night, but this night was different. This night, as Diana lays curled up in the bed of Etta's guest bedroom after one of the most emotionally draining days of her life, she wakes up with a scream lodged in her throat and terror filling her chest.

Something is wrong, she knows it, and it has to be something horrible if it pulled her from her sleep so abruptly. She can't remember what she'd been dreaming, but she's never felt fear like this: sharp and unyielding in the middle of the night.

"Diana?"

It's Etta. She knows it's Etta on the other side of the door, but Diana can't respond. Words fail her and when Etta opens the door, allowing light to spill in from the hallway, Diana realises she's crying.

"You alright, love?" Etta asks, stepping cautiously into the room. "You were making quite a fuss and I know how the boys get sometimes."

"Something's wrong," Diana whispers. She still doesn't know what, but the fear in her chest has taken up residence now and there's no getting rid of it. "Etta, something's wrong with me."

Etta looks more worried now and hurries over to Diana's bed. She gently pulls Diana's hand from the bed sheets that she's clutching a bit too tightly and rubs the back of her hand soothingly.

"What's wrong, love?" Etta asks. The question is simple enough, but that's just the problem, isn't it? Diana has no idea what's wrong, she just knows something is.

"I do not know." She wipes at her cheeks as more tears well up in her eyes and looks down at her hand strangely. "I woke up and knew something was wrong. What happened, Etta? What's wrong?"

"Oh, love," Etta sighs, squeezing Diana's hand. "You must have had a nightmare."

Diana gives her a curious look, wondering what a nightmare was and if it was a common problem among humans. Should she be worried that she has it now too?

"A bad dream," Etta tells her. She pats Diana's hand comfortingly. "Charlie and Sameer have them all the time. Steve did too. It comes with fighting in a War."

"But I did not dream," Diana objects. She can't remember dreaming and even if she did, weren't dreams always peaceful?

"Sometimes that's the worst part of nightmares." Diana isn't sure Etta is making any sense, but she lets her explain some more with the hope that maybe, just maybe, it will help explain why Diana is so panicked. "When you fight in a war, sometimes you have bad dreams that wake you up at night. Some people remember them, but others do not."

"Why would I not remember them if they are bad?" Diana asks. She certainly remembers all the bad things that happened in the war. Why would a dream be any different?

"It's better that way," Etta tells her. Diana doubts it, but Etta seems to know what she's talking about and Diana can already feel the fear slowly disappearing.

"What do people do after? After a nightmare?"

"Some people go right back to sleep." There's no way Diana will be doing that and Etta must see it on her face, because she follows it up by saying, "But others stay up. They read books or listen to a vinyl."

"I will do that," Diana decides. After all, she's seen Etta's bookshelf and she wants to read what man has read. "What is the best book to read after a nightmare?"

Etta smiles and leaves the room, returning shortly after with three different books. She turns on the lamp beside Diana's bed and hands her the books.

"This is my favourite series," she tells her as Diana reads the titles. "They should keep you company until you sleep again."

Diana doesn't want to ever sleep again if she'll wake up as terrified as she just did, but she doesn't want Etta to worry more so she nods. After making sure Diana is well settled in bed and no longer worrying, Etta pats her hand one last time and returns to her own room. In the morning, Diana has finished all three books and neither of them talk about the night before.

ii.

The second time it happens, she's pulled awake by Steve. She can hardly breathe as an explosion replays in her mind, but she knows he's alive because he's there, saying something and looking at her with so much worry, one would think that he had been the one dreaming.

It takes her several seconds to understand what he's saying and it's only by sheer force of will that she understands. Her heart is beating louder than he's speaking and she has to hold her breath in order to make out his words, but somehow it happens that she calms down enough to understand his frantic murmurings.

"You're okay." A hand in her hair, a finger brushing her brow. "You're alright, angel. It's okay."

He looks worried enough that Diana feels like she has to explain herself. She tries to—even opens her mouth to—but all that comes out is a broken sob and soon, she's an absolute mess.

"Oh, angel," he murmurs, pulling her to his chest. Diana clings to him so tightly she's a little worried she'll hurt him, but he doesn't ask her to release him and she's glad. "We're home, love. Perfectly safe."

She knows that, of course. She knows everything he's whispering to her so it's not a surprise. But it helps. Somehow, the little reassurances help and maybe it's just because it helps her remember that it's real, he's actually there, holding her, but it helps.

When she can finally breathe, she stops squeezing Steve so tightly, but she doesn't let go.

His lips brush her ear and his breath is warm as he asks, "Want to tell me what that was about?"

"Etta tells me it is a nightmare," she replies. Her eyes are wide even though all she can see it black from where her head is tucked in Steve's neck. She doesn't want to see another explosion if she can help it. "I do not understand them, but I do not like them."

"No one does," Steve tells her. He presses a warm kiss to her head and holds her just a little tighter. "They're common after a war, unfortunately. It won't be your last one."

"Do you have them?"

A pause. And then, "Yeah, sometimes."

"What are they about?" She's curious and maybe pushing a bit, but anything to keep Steve's voice ringing in her ears will do.

"The war." She should have expected that. "Things I saw, things I did. Sometimes things I didn't do."

Diana hesitates, wondering if she should tell him what her nightmare was about. Maybe if she says the words, they'll come true. But there's also another maybe: maybe Steve will be able to help her.

"In mine, you die."

Steve rubs her arm and presses another, firmer kiss to her head and doesn't pull away.

"Talk to me?" she asks because at the moment, the silence is bringing back that creeping sense of panic.

Steve doesn't ask what she wants him to talk about or why. Instead, he starts telling her about his training before and during the war. He tells her how he met Sameer and Charlie, even Chief and about when he met Etta. She drifts off to sleep sometime during a story about Etta finding him drunk with Sameer and Charlie, but when she wakes in the morning, he's still alive and still breathing and that's all she could ask for.

iii.

She's screaming and in that moment, Steve decides that there's nothing more terrifying to wake up to. Even if she's a goddess and more capable of protecting herself than Steve could ever be, he wakes up to her screaming and is more terrified than he's ever been before.

When he realises she's still asleep and not about to be killed by some rogue god or escaped demon, he relaxes only a little. She's still screaming and it's still horrible, but at least she's not in danger.

Reaching for her gently, he tries to shake her awake. "Diana."

The reaction is instant unlike other times.

Diana's eyes flash open and suddenly Steve is on his back, staring up at Diana who has effectively pinned him down. With one of her knees on his arm and the other thrown across his waist, there's no way he can get up even if she didn't have a hand against his throat and her fist raised. Despite how almost murderous she looks, Steve can see she's still terrified from whatever she was dreaming about and can't stop his heart from breaking a little at the sight.

"Diana," he tries again.

Just as quickly as she'd rolled on top of him, she's gone. It takes him a second to register the change, but when he does, she's backed against the wall and staring at him with wide eyes.

"No, Diana," he says, sitting up quickly. "Come 'ere."

She shakes her head so fast it makes Steve dizzy. Pressed against the furthest wall and with one hand over her mouth, Diana refuses to return to the bed.

Alright, Steve decides, throwing his legs over the bed. He'll go to her.

"No!" He's hardly taken one step towards her, but Diana looks more panicked than before and holds out a hand to stop him. "No, Steve, stay over there."

"Angel, it's okay," he whispers, reaching out a hand towards her. "You didn't hurt me, Diana."

"I could have," she argues fiercely. Steve doesn't have an argument for that considering it's very true, but he can see her shaking from across the room and he can't very well do nothing.

"I hardly felt it," he promises. It's not a lie, but it's also not the truth. He knows he'll probably have light bruises on his neck in the morning, but nothing painful. Even in her sleep, Diana hadn't pressed hard enough to hurt him.

"No," Diana says, still refusing his hand. He takes another slow step towards her and she freezes. "Steve." It's a warning, but Steve has never been particularly great at listening to warnings anyway.

"Come here, angel," he murmurs. He gently grabs her hand and when she doesn't pull away sharply, he gently pulls her to his chest. "Relax, Diana." She does, but she doesn't wrap her arms around him. That's fine, he figures, as long as she doesn't try to disappear. "Would you like tea? You're shaking."

Diana nods against his chest and together, they walk to the kitchen. Steve starts the water, keeping his hand in Diana's even though she doesn't hold it back quite as tightly as normal. By the time he's fished her favourite tea out from the back of the cabinet, the water is boiling and Diana isn't shaking as much.

"Here you are, love." He hands her the tea and presses a kiss to her head.

Standing in the kitchen, he waits until she's finished the last sip before starting back towards their bedroom. He's prepared for Diana to argue with him, to tell him she'll sleep somewhere else instead, but she falls on top of the blankets beside him and suddenly won't let go.

It's a bit of a struggle to pull the blankets out from under her, but eventually they're out and Steve wraps them both up in a pile of blankets just like he knows Diana likes.

"Want to talk about it?" he asks softly. He brushes a thumb over her cheek and she shakes her head. Fair enough, he decides. Instead of saying anything else though, he just pulls her closer and presses warm kisses to her head until she falls back asleep, peacefully this time.

+ i.

Steve knew the mission was a mistake. He knew from the moment Diana had received the call that something would go wrong, he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

In all fairness, the battle had gone quickly which should have been the first sign. But Bruce and Clark had been too busy doing fuck knows what and Diana had insisted on checking on the few citizens nearby, so no one noticed. At least, that's what Steve says when she asks later on. He won't tell her that Barry was the one to uncover the bomb or how he tried to run everyone out before it went off, forgetting that she was still inside. He definitely won't tell her it took Clark a full minute to find her body after.

Watching the building crumble on the TV, Steve decided he had never felt anything more terrifying. Not even when he'd flown a plane of gas into the sky, knowing he was going to die. Not even when Diana had fought that Doomsday thing and he'd seen the aftermath littered across her skin.

He almost felt like Barry watching the footage. The kid had said once that time moved a bit differently, a bit slower for him, but it wasn't until Steve watched an entire building drop on top of Diana that he understood what he'd meant.

Unfortunately, he was too far from the battle to run in and had to rely on the broken conversations he could hear between the rest of the team. The news footage was the only camera they had and whether it was fortunate or not, Steve couldn't see any of the League members.

"She's not breathing."

Steve stopped breathing too.

"Don't fucking say—Steve, there's a pulse, she'll be okay." Steve wasn't too sure, but Bruce's comm was working clearly and the others weren't, so maybe he'd heard the first comment wrong?

"But she's not breathing." Or apparently it was correct.

"Just take her out, Barry."

There was no more talk of Diana after, but a few minutes later, Barry is panting in front of them and talking a mile a minute. Steve only makes out a few words here and there, but it's enough to understand.

They arrive at the Gotham City Hospital only a minute after Diana's been taken in for surgery. Apparently the doctors already know what to expect because when Steve tries to tell them she's a little different, they just tell him they have her file on hand and have it all taken care of.

"I'm sorry."

Steve looks up at Barry's voice to find the kid staring at him guilty.

He starts to ramble in a panicked sort of way and Steve has to blink a couple of times to realise that Barry is being serious and really does feel guilty. "I forgot she was in there and I tried—I would have gone to her first, I promise. The others were all outside and she usually does—"

"Barry, it's not your fault," Steve interrupts. Barry looks at him, his eyes wide with guilt, and Steve sighs. "It's not—you couldn't have known. Besides, it's Diana. She's, well, she's a goddess. She'll be fine, but she won't be happy to hear you blaming yourself."

"I should have known," Barry mumbles, sinking further into his seat. Steve pats his shoulder and they leave it at that, neither of them saying a thing until the rest of the team comes in to wait with them.

By the time Steve is sitting alone in Diana's hospital room, it's been hours since the surgery and she only looks a little better. Her entire body, as far as Steve can see, is covered in horrible bruises and they aren't healing half as fast as they normally would. He assumes it's probably because she needs to heal elsewhere first, but the thought isn't exactly reassuring.

It's almost a full day before Diana wakes up. Steve cries as soon as she opens her eyes and he doesn't even care that Clark is standing in the room with them.

"Steve?" She's clearly confused, but Steve is too busy being glad she's awake to answer any questions at the moment, so it's Clark that sums up the experience.

"I pulled you out from under a building," he says. Steve chokes a bit and Diana looks at him as worriedly as she can with a bruised face. "A bomb. Dropped the whole thing on you in less than a second."

"Don't spare the details," Steve mutters between tears. He gives Diana a watery smile and gently squeezes her hand. "You stopped breathing. I was—I was terrified."

"How long?" Her voice is scratchy and very, very weak, but it's still her voice and Steve almost starts crying again in relief.

"Almost a day. You've been asleep the whole time."

He can see that the news surprises her, but she doesn't say anything. In fact, she stays quiet for the rest of the time that Clark is there, telling her how the mission ended and that as soon as she's ready, the rest of the team will be stopping by.

"I'll tell them you're still out though, yeah?"

Diana smiles softly at his teasing grin and nods her head slightly. Clark gives her a grin then looks at Steve.

"I'll be off then," he tells them both. "Lois says 'hello'."

"Hello to her," Diana whispers. Clark nods his promise to relay the message then walks out of the room, leaving just Steve and Diana.

"You really scared me, angel," he murmurs, gingerly brushing his thumb across her brow. She leans into his touch and Steve wonders for a moment if the movement hurts. "Are you feeling alright?"

"No," she admits, but she doesn't look like she's in too much pain. "I will be though. You will stay?"

"I'm never leaving again," Steve promises. If he had the ability, he'd never let her fight with the Justice League ever again, but it's not his place to forbid or permit her to do anything, so he'll have to just hope that she comes to the conclusion herself. When she inevitably doesn't, Steve will just have to make sure there's more ice bags in the freezer and plenty of goddess-worthy medications ready.