A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! *clears throat* Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting for one night only, the once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of...Batman versus...himself! (Sorta) Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven - Where Does She Belong?

Diana watched, just like the others, captivated by the fluid movements of the people inside the training room. She was becoming less and less convinced by the second that neither of them were metas. It surely wasn't natural for human beings to be so alarmingly flexible, or to defy gravity like that?

The group drew in its collective breath when Bruce aimed a right hook at Bella - but it was a feint, Diana could see - and apparently so could Bella. Though she moved into the trap, with Bruce's left fist speeding toward her chest, she moved at the last minute, grabbing his gauntlet and using his own momentum against him, yanking it up and over her head. It ended up with her on her back, but Bruce diving head first toward the floor.

Bella flipped to her feet, apparently knowing that Bruce wouldn't be at all slowed down by her actions.

He wasn't. Diana spent so much time actually sparring with Bruce that she couldn't remember the last time she actually got to watch him fight. She'd forgotten how liquid he was.

Bella was facing him now, and he charged. She blocked, first one fist then the other - but that locked them together, each of them unwilling to relinquish the hold on the other. Then Bella moved, bringing her leg up in an impossible angle to deliver a snap-kick. To avoid her foot, Bruce seemed to go completely boneless, his spine bending backward.

Diana had seen J'onn do things like that, but J'onn was a shapeshifter.

The dominance of the fight ebbed and flowed between them, neither gaining the upper hand for long. At one point, Bruce kicked out at Bella's abdomen, and at Diana's side, Damien took an involuntary step forward. Diana blinking, wondering why he'd done that. For whatever reason it was, he relaxed slightly when Bella twisted, taking the hit on her kidney rather than her stomach. Diana frowned. Doing that had meant she'd lost the opportunity to make a counter-attack - why had she done it?

Apparently Bruce had noticed this to, since he stepped back from Bella and said something. A brief grin flitted across Batwoman's face, and she replied, and they began again.

"What are they saying?" Shayera's voice broke in.

No one answered her; Batman was the only one who could read lips. "Superman?" the redhead asked.

Clark shook his head. "Can't hear either for some reason."

Diana turned to her counterpart. "Why is it sound-proofed?"

He tore his eyes away from his wife long enough to look awkward. "Uh...our sparring sessions can get quite...intense at times. This way we don't...disturb the manor."

Everyone except Wally caught his drift, and didn't ask any further. Flash would have, but he worked it out half-way through his sentence. "Intense? What does-" GL glared meaningfully at him, and Wally's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Oh." He paused. "Ew."

Diana smiled, turning her attention back to the fight. But her attention was no longer as focused as it had been - Damien was right. Though obviously she and Bruce had never gotten quite that intense, sometimes their sparring sessions did climb to heights as emotional as they were physical. Each of them faced the same dilemma - the desire to win clashing violently with the desire to let the other have their way with them. Without her powers they were evenly matched, and by mutual (if silent) agreement they alternated who won each time - normally who pinned whom to the wall or floor. Sometimes, once victory had been attained either way, they'd stare at each other for what seemed like hours. Though lately she'd tried hard to keep her thoughts from going in that direction, it was unavoidable now - and her eyes unfocused from the fight in front of her, instead seeing flickering images of sweat dampened black hair, Kevlar, quick heavy breathing, pounding hearts. The surges of lust that she knew they both choked down.

Her reverie didn't end until the others around her gasped. She refocused, just in time to see Bella sweep Bruce off his feet. That wasn't all that surprising, but what was shocking was the blatant anger on Bruce's face.

"Whoa," Flash commented quietly. "Never seen Bats lose it like that..."

Diana shook her head. No. She had never seen Bruce lose his temper in a fight before. Curiosity welled up. What had Bella said to make him do so now?

---

Ten minutes earlier.

"Care to make things interesting?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow in question. "What are you suggesting?"

She shrugged. "A small wager."

"The stakes?"

"If you win...I'll stop talking about you and Diana."

He narrowed his eyes. That was getting irritating. "And if you do?"

"Did you ever take her dancing?"

He blinked. He'd been thinking about that more and more often lately. No, he never had taken her up on the offer. Told himself it was because he didn't think she was serious, but when the weeks passed and no dancing was forthcoming, the disappointment in Diana's eyes every time she looked at him was obvious. He considered. More than likely Diana had a dress for the ball that was going to paralyse him into stupidity, so he probably would end up dancing with her. Of course once she was in his arms, whether or not he'd be able to let her go again was a different matter...

"So you want me to take her dancing?"

She nodded. "You do owe it to her."

He returned Bella's nod, then changed topic. "Should you even be sparring anyway in your condition?"

She only smirked. "Afraid you can't take me?"

There was really only one answer to a challenge like that, so he returned the smirk and dropped into a defensive stance. Bella took that as her cue to go on the offensive. She went for a simple punch toward his neck; Bruce grabbed her arm, then the other one when she tried the same thing. It locked them together, and he broke the stalemate by jerking his head forward to collide with the bridge of her nose. It had the intended effect, and she stumbled backward. He took advantage of that, hooking his leg behind her knee and pulling.

Rather than crumpling to the ground, she threw her arms behind her head and moved seamlessly into a backflip until she was a few feet away from him. "Not bad."

"Not done," he replied.

She nodded, and moved again. This time, though, she didn't stay quiet. "Out of curiosity, where does she belong?"

He dropped into a crouch to avoid her kick, tried to sweep her legs out from under her before she leaped over his leg and punched him in the temple. "What?"

"Diana."

"I thought you weren't going to talk about Diana anymore?" he ground out, aiming a flurry of strikes at her chest, all of which she blocked with the same lightning speed.

"That's only if you win," she told him smugly, dodging the last one and then driving her knee into his ribs. "What part of your life does she fit into?"

He grabbed the aforementioned foot and threw her onto the floor. "She's a teammate."

"Really?"

"You sound surprised," he noted.

"I am surprised," she admitted, before flipping them over and moving her fingers toward his neck. "Surprised you think you can lie to me."

He threw her off, leapt to his feet. "Why are you pushing this so much? I thought you didn't give a shit what I did in my life."

"I don't," she affirmed, circling him. "I care about what you do to Diana's."

"Well where does Damien fit into yours?" he asked, actually curious about the answer. She knew damn well what his reasons for keeping Diana at arms' length were, she just ignored them in this world. Before she answered, he wrapped an arm around her neck from behind in a choke-hold she had to break before answering.

She slammed her foot onto his instep and her elbow into his stomach. "Exactly where he should. On the battlefield he's a teammate, nothing more."

"I find that hard to believe," Bruce said sceptically. Diana certainly wasn't just a teammate on the battlefield, and they weren't together. It could only be worse if they were. He kicked out at her stomach, only remembering half-way through she was pregnant and trying to pull it in. He needn't have worried; Bella had already twisted to take the hit on her side instead.

"Off it he's the man I love," she answered with a slight smile. "There's no overlap."

He backed off again, waiting for her to strike and prepared when she did. "And Diana?" she asked. "Which one does she belong to? I've picked the safer option, Bruce."

"Safer?" he repeated scornfully.

Her elbow hit his jaw. "Think about it. The Bat won't let her be anything more in your personal life. And your heart won't let her be just a teammate in the mission. As a result-"

"She belongs to neither," Bruce finished.

"And both," she pointed out.

Bruce did something he very, very rarely did in a fight. He lost patience, letting out a roar of frustration. "For God's sake stop it! Just stop! Enough!" To emphasise his words, he moved again, going for a roundhouse kick that in his temper wasn't quick or accurate enough.

Bella sidestepped it easily, then used his momentum and superior strength against him, grabbing his ankle and forcing him to take a step back to avoid overbalancing. She took advantage of the lapse to drop into a crouch, sweeping her leg around and knocking his feet from under him. Bruce immediately rolled to one side, and her next punch impacted into the floor rather than his face.

"Why?" she asked. "Am I making you confront things you'd rather not?"

The truthful answer was 'yes', but rather than verbalise it, Bruce flipped up to his feet while she rolled forward to spring up to hers. For a moment they circled each other – but as she'd already proven, any lull in the sparring and Bella started talking. "The logical thing is to love her."

"So you've just categorised Damien?" he growled.

He charged at the same time she did, only she leapt up at the last second, somersaulting over him. His momentum carried him forward too fast, and by the time he'd stopped, Bella had already hit points on his neck and chest in a very specific order. His arms fell limply to his sides.

"I suppose I have, yes," she agreed. "But that doesn't mean I love him any less. It just means we can both do our jobs and be happy. When was the last time you could claim that?"

Her fingers whipped out again, and sensation returned to his limbs. "And I think that's my win."

She walked over to the door and opened it, looking totally unsurprised to find the others looking sheepishly at her. "Twenty minutes, then we're leaving," she ordered, heading for the shower.

The others all nodded, dispersing now that the fight was over. All except Diana, who was still standing there, looking at Bruce as he came out of the room. He looked back steadily, the question still annoyingly persistent. Where do you belong, Diana?

---

A/N: Review please!