A/N: I think, since this story is based on one of Kipling Nori's, and since her suggestion made me laugh really hard, the duet that Batman and Batwoman will be singing is...

Chapter Thirteen - Checkmate

This may be the most harrowing moment in Bruce's life thus far.

Singing was bad enough.

But singing this song?

It hadn't taken long for Le Fay to magic up a stage, as well as amplifiers and microphones. He could certainly give Circe a run for her money.

After having conjured a glowing throne for himself, Morgan Le Fay settled on it and gestured toward the two Bats. "You may begin."

Bella looked at him with the same stoic expression he knew was on his own face. The 'may as well get it over with' look. The music started. Bruce leaned forward to the microphone and waited for his cue. It didn't take long.

"Don't go breaking my heart."

Bella copied his movements, though he had a sneaking suspicion that she was enjoying herself a little tiny bit. "I couldn't if I tried."

"Honey if I get restless-"

"-Baby you're not that kind," Bella sang.

Why, why, why did it have to be this song? Anything else - a Disney song, even, that would be better! "Don't go breaking my heart."

Damn Le Fay for choosing this song. It may be ridiculous and cheesy, but taken out of context it was all too easy to apply to Diana. Why else would he keep the distance between them? There had been few women he cared about enough to actually fall in love with them. And he'd learnt from them. Love inevitably led to heartbreak, which led to weakness, which couldn't be tolerated. He'd made the decision a long time ago not to fall in love. Of course forming an active relationship was totally different from falling in love accidentally. No grown person fell in love accidentally, for God's sake.

"You take the weight off of me."

"Oh honey when you knock on my door."

"Oooh I gave you my key."

He glanced at Bella as the chorus came up, and knew they were both thinking exactly the same thing. But for Diana and Damien, they would certainly not be doing this. He refocused. Diana, Diana, Diana... "Woohoo - nobody knows it."

"But when I was down."

"I was your clown."

Not surprisingly the mock-joyful expression on her face faded slightly at the word 'clown'. It was a reflexive reaction. Clown meant clown prince (or princess, here), which always came with a wince. "Hoohoo - nobody knows it."

"But right from the start."

He was right; Bella was enjoying this more than she was letting on. In fairness Bruce himself singing along to the occasional bit of jazz wasn't unheard of, but strictly when he was alone and only then very quietly. He had the impression that Bella didn't restrict herself quite so much. His brain prodded him in the direction of why that probably was - Batwoman certainly seemed like a happier person than he was.

"I gave you my heart. Oh-ho, I gave you my heart," she sang.

"So don't go breaking my heart."

"I won't go breaking your heart."

"Don't go breaking my heart."

Damn it, they were only one verse and a chorus through the song, and somehow he didn't think that Le Fay was going to let them get away with not finishing the song.

He didn't.

They had to stand there and do the entire thing until with a final 'Nobody knows it', they were finished. And Bruce was eternally glad that he wore a cowl, because he wasn't sure his red-face would be fading for the next decade. From the slightly pink shade of Bella's jaw-line, she was experiencing the same embarrassment.

As soon as the last note faded, Bella was stepping off the stage and stalking toward Le Fay. "We've done what you wanted. Release the League."

Bruce stepped up slightly behind her. "Now."

Le Fay finally nodded.

"A bargain is a bargain." He waved one arm in a wide arc, a glowing trail of magic following behind. The portal opened, and the other founders came through, swiftly followed by this world's Justice League.

"Wow, what did you do?" Flash asked once Morgan transported away.

Batman and Batwoman regarded each other for a second, silently agreeing never to speak of that ever again. "Nothing," they said in unison.

"Is everyone alright?" Bruce asked.

They all nodded, and a very confused looking Olivia Queen spoke up. "Uh, Batwoman? Who are these guys?"

"It's complicated," she answered succinctly, casting a significant, and relieved, look at Wonder Warrior.

He got the hint. "You should come back to the manor," he said. "It's big enough for us all, we'll explain there. The Watchtower's, uh, out of commission at the moment."

"And Bella Wayne isn't going to mind us all invading her house?" Fox asked dubiously.

"It's my house too," Damien said firmly, folding his muscular arms.

Bella turned and strode away, hiding a grin.

It didn't take long for everyone else to disburse, with Dr Fate transporting the majority of them to Wayne Manor, with Clark and Wally going with them. John and Bella had already taken off, and he could see Damien settling into the pilot's seat. Bruce was more concerned with Diana. Though his eyes had found her within seconds of her coming out of the portal, she was lagging behind now.

He moved to her side. "Are you alright?"

She looked up quickly. "Fine," she nodded with a reassuring smile. He didn't miss the fact that she'd tucked her arms behind her back.

He levelled a look at her and held a hand out. "Diana."

Reluctantly, she put her hands in his. There were shallow cuts slicing through her palms on both hands. "How did this happen?" he asked.

"Excalibur," she said. "I managed to destroy it, but...it wasn't as easy as I'd anticipated." She chuckled. "Damn sharp too."

He nodded and pulled out some antiseptic spray from his belt. "This will sting," he warned before spraying it lightly on the wounds. Diana's fingers twitched reflexively but she didn't have any other reaction. Once that was done, he pulled out a sterile bandage and wrapped it tightly around her palms to staunch the bleeding. In a matter of hours there would be no trace of the wounds, but it made him feel better to help anyway. Diana seemed content to humour him as well, since she wasn't pointing out that it was futile.

Once it was done, she smiled and then moved past him.

He wasn't entirely sure what possessed him to stop her again, he just knew that somewhere in between cleansing the cuts and putting the bandages on the decision to had been made. She apparently had no more idea than he did, and only looked questioningly at him. He opened his mouth, felt the pulse jumping in the crease of her elbow. It caused a small wave of relief, apparently encouraging his decision, but a sentence didn't seem forthcoming.

In lieu of words, Bruce leaned forward and stunned Diana with a firm, if brief, kiss on her mouth. When he pulled away, her eyes were wide. "What-?"

He licked his bottom lip slightly nervously; was gratified to see her gaze follow the movement. "It's your answer," he said.

"My answer?"

"I'm fighting." He squeezed her hand and boarded the plane.

---

When they got back to the manor, Batwoman was nowhere to be found, which Bruce had expected, since Wonder Warrior was more than capable of handling the situation. In this scenario he'd be entering as Bruce Wayne any minute now to put the other Leaguers off the scent.

They were gathered in the ballroom, since it was big enough, and Damien was standing in front of the assembled heroes, explaining what had happened since their incarceration.

"So we're going after Luthor, right?" Zatan asked. "Get her to reverse whatever she's done to the founders?"

There was a murmur of assent from the others, but Damien shook his head. "No - we don't know what she's done yet, and we need to know that before we do anything." He looked around. "Go to the Metro Tower, begin monitoring Earth and doing what we've always done. Batwoman, the founders from the other world and I will deal with Superwoman and the others when they return."

"Which will be when?" Dove asked.

"About four days' time. I think that's-"

From outside the room, there was the sound of the front door slamming. Bruce suppressed a smirk. Time for Bella Wayne to make her appearance. A few seconds later, her voice was hear. "Damien?"

The Amazon didn't miss a beat. "In here, Bella!"

She was talking even before the door opened. "Good, because I've had a hell of a day, and you better get your sweet ass in the bedroom right..." She stopped in the doorway, obviously out of the Bat-costume and in a designer business suit. Her face was a picture of shock. "...now and why is my ballroom full of superheroes?"

They were all (with the exception of Zatan), staring back at her in equal shock, mainly at the idea of Wonder Warrior being apparently dominated in the bedroom. "We had no choice, Bella," Damien said. "Not after what happened to the Watchtower."

"So the Justice League just thought it would take over my house?" she spluttered. "You know what, Batwoman's the one who blew the damn thing up, where is she? I want a word!"

"She's not here," Miss Terrific told her.

Bella scowled. "No offence, I like all you guys, but kinda need the ballroom later. Quite an important event if you remember, honey?"

"Yes, I know. We'll be out of here soon," he assured her.

She nodded. "Alright."

Bruce knew what she'd do next, because it was exactly what he'd do if given the opportunity. She walked over to her husband and kissed him fiercely in front of all the assembled Leaguers, totally without shame. It made sense to Bruce. Obviously she couldn't do it as Batwoman, and hadn't, so this was Bella telling him how worried she'd been about him.

She pulled away when they were both breathing heavily, then sauntered to the door. "And Damien? I meant what I said about the bedroom," she winked.

It was Bella Wayne being Bella Wayne - and she did it beautifully.

---

Later that evening

"What? But the ball's still hours away! Why do you need to go get ready now?"

Wally, potato chip halfway to his mouth, looked aghast. He was waiting for Tia to finish her homework so that he could, in his words, 'kick Robin's ass at Mario Karts'. That desire, Diana suspected, stemmed from the fact that Tia had kicked his ass fairly solidly the night before.

"They're women, Flash," John said, as if that answered all of life's questions.

All that actually happened was that he was on the receiving end of glares from Diana, Shayera, Bella and Tia. GL backtracked. "Uh, I mean..."

Diana fought the urge to smile. Once the other League members were gone, they'd moved into the drawing room for something to eat and to brainstorm about what was going to happen next. Luthor was a guest at the ball tonight, she hopefully they'd be able to glean something from her. Once they had a basic plan of action, they'd all pretty much drifted off to do their own things around the room. Diana and Bruce were playing chess. And she wasn't doing too badly, even if she did say so herself, considering she couldn't stop grinning every time their eyes met. Just hearing him say that he was fighting for her told her everything she needed to know. It was hard, trying to remind herself that she'd told him he needed to actually fight for her. So far all he'd done was tell her he was intending to. She needed to keep her head about this, despite what her heart (or her loins) might want.

Bruce moved a pawn forward one space. "How are your hands?" he asked softly.

She glanced down at the bandages that were still wrapped around her palms. "I think they've healed now."

He extended his hand. "May I?"

Swallowing, she nodded and willed her heart not to speed up when he took her fingers gently. Moving carefully, he unwrapped the bandage on one hand, then the other before examining her now unblemished skin. He ran his thumbs lightly down the life-lines on her palms, looking up at Diana's quick intake of breath.

"Tickles," she explained quickly. Not quite true. but he didn't need to know that...

He smirked and let go, looking like he knew exactly where her mind now was, and that it definitely wasn't on the game of chess. A point he proved a few seconds later, after Diana had moved her bishop without thinking. Bruce moved his queen once, then looked up to meet her gaze, his dancing. "Checkmate."

Diana's eyebrow's drew together in a frown as she studied the board more closely. She cursed in Ancient Greek when she found he'd made no illegal moves. Bruce raised his eyebrows in mock-shock. "Such language, Princess!"

She pointed her index finger threateningly at him. "Just wait. I'll get you back for that."

His smirk only got wider. "I'm sure you will."

"I'm going to go get dressed," she smiled, following Bella and the others. She knew exactly how she was going to get Bruce back too. It was going to take a while, of course...

It turned out Flash had been wrong; it really did take that long. Getting ready entailed first showering, then blow-drying, then styling of hair, then application of make-up (though Diana skipped most of that step), and only then the putting on of the evening gowns. The arrival of the guests was scheduled for eight pm, and it was five to by the time they were all ready, Shayera just fastening her shoes.

Looking at her friend, Diana wondered how by Olympus John was going to be able to talk once he saw her. The redhead had Bella's bracelet fixed around her wrist, and her wings were invisible. Still, Diana had never seen her look more beautiful. The shimmering gold fabric clung to her every curve without it looking cheap. The soft eye make-up she had made her eyes glow astonishingly green.

"You look beautiful," Diana told her.

Shayera scoffed. "Diana, I could be wearing a sack and next to you no one would notice."

Diana glanced at herself in the full-length mirror. She had to admit, it was a lovely gown. The purple silk went down to the floor, with a slit up to her thigh. It was form-fitting, off the shoulder, exposing her arms and collarbones. Simple, but luxurious. Coupled with the sapphire necklace and earrings that Bella had purchased for her yesterday, Diana thought she looked quite good. Her hair was up, with a few loose ringlets around her face and trailing down the back of her neck.

"Ready?" Bella asked. Her dark green dress was a halter-neck, showing her shoulders and the top of her back without exposing the scars that littered the rest of her body. There was the bite mark on her shoulder, but make-up had more or less covered that.

They all nodded, and there was a knock at the door. Damien poked his head in. "Rachel and Ben are here. Ready to go down?"

His wife took his arm and led the way down the huge staircase. At the bottom, Clark, Wally, John and Bruce were already waiting. As expected, when John say Shayera, his mouth fell open. Diana elbowed her friend gently. "Told you."

Shayera chuckled. "Oh yeah?" She nodded to another figure at the foot of the stairs. "Check him out."

When Diana looked at Bruce, it was with a sly grin. The expression on his face was for once completely unguarded, and it brought only one word to Diana's mind. Checkmate.

---

A/N: I don't own 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', so don't sue me. Review please!