A/N – I guess this story has to take place somewhere in between Wildcards and Starcrossed (if that isn't already obvious).

Umm…things have changed greatly since I first started this story. The orginal idea isn't so clear in my mind anymore. I'm thinking maybe I should not do the ending the way I originally intended it.

Oh…and thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story back when it was under the D.C. Heroes category. You were all very kind. Sorry, for the delay. (embarassed smile)

Now, on with the combat!

Training Day

Chapter 3 – Love and Jealousy

"What in the world is going on here?"

Hawkgirl and Katma Tui were instantly separated by an impenetrable green barrier projected by the power ring of John Stewart. He floated up over the ropes and into the ring looking perplexed and angry.

"Have you two gone crazy?" he asked pointedly.

"John!" Both combatants exclaimed at the same time. Neither of them had expected him to inject himself into the middle of their tournament.

"What's going on?" John demanded again, allowing the glowing force field to dissipate. He stood between the two women and had to turn his head alternately from side to side looking for an explanation. Katma managed to speak first.

"Just a little training," Katma said evenly, a little miffed that her planned assault on Hawkgirl had been interrupted. "I was about to show her the flaw in her strategy."

Shayera had a different explanation for this fighting session, but she didn't know how to easily explain it to John. Still, she had to say something.

"No," she said, while looking directly at Katma Tui. "It's something more important. Very important …"

"Hmmph," Katma retorted, returning Hawkgirl's gaze. "You have no idea, chickie"

"John…" Shayera grabbed John's hand and began to pull him closer so she could begin to explain. Katma bristled at this and grabbed John's other arm.

"John!" the female Green Lantern half shouted. "We have to talk."

John regarded Shayera's pleading eyes and then looked over to Katma.

"Uh…just a second, Kat." John began to turn away from her.

"John." Katma insisted, now grasping his arm with both gloved hands. "It's important."

John, however, despite the love they once shared, was now beyond Katma's control. He knew his responsibility lay with his winged lover and she seemed to be distressed about something. He had to see what it was that was disturbing her.

"Yeah. Okay, Katma." He sounded conciliatory while he still pulled himself away from her grip. "Just give me a minute." Shayera led him back into her corner.

Diana, not sure what to do finally said, "I guess that's the round then." The Amazon princess sounded the bell.

Having pulled John away from Katma's literal clutches gave Shayera quite an emotional boost. Whatever doubts Katma had put into Shayera's her head regarding John's loyalty and love for her were put to rest by this simple choice by him. She was so glad to see his radiant green irises favorably regarding her that she didn't speak up right away even though he was looking at her expectantly.

"Are you okay?" he asked concernedly. He ran both his hands up to her shoulders. "Why are you doing this?"

"It's hard to explain," she began. She laughed to herself at the irony of that statement. How was she to explain to someone not of her world the significance of contesting for mates? As an individual characteristic, it was something so important in her culture that it could weigh as heavily as all the other criteria of attraction and selection. Sometimes it mattered more than anything.

Among the Thanagarians, especially the traditionalists, a woman's successful defense to a mate challenge was considered evidence of a females worthiness to be a mate, an affirmation of her commitment, and even proof of her true love. What more, even though not every woman truly believed in the validity of such "proofs", it was an intrinsic tradition, that a woman dare not fail to respond to unless she sully the honor of her relationship, have her love called into question, and implicitly concede another woman the right to court her man. The ritual of such love sparring was ingrained into Hawkgirl's blood from birth and she could never let such a challenge go unmet. Yet, the subject of this particular duel was standing right before Shayera, imploring her with glowing jade green eyes to explain to him the meaning of what was going on. Her own green orbs regarded his deeply.

"John…" she began again. She paused a little trying to get the right words out. "This is…something I have to do. It's not a simple sparring match. It's about…it's about us."

"About us?" John repeated incredulously. He quickly glanced over his shoulder at Katma and just as rapidly turned back. "You don't mean… you two…? You're not fighting over me are you?" John rolled his eyes derisively.

"Good, lord." John shook his head. "What has Katma tricked you into? I'll talk to her…"

"No! You can not!" Shayera seemed startled by the mere implication of his interference in the fight. She calmed when she saw the confusion in his eyes. "Oh that's right…you don't understand. If you interfere on my behalf its like you are admitting my defeat…my unworthiness to be your… John, it's not Katma, I'm glad to be fighting her. She did the right thing in challenging me out right."

John had a combined look of confusion and doubtfulness on his face.

"Umm….I don't know Shay. Are you sure? Kat can be pretty crafty sometimes. She's big into stealth and guile. It's her big thing you know. I don't think you should be doing this. "

"I have to." Shayera pleaded. "Every woman has to on my planet. Oh you'd understand it easily if only you knew."

John's attitude changed abruptly then. Many years of interacting with alien cultures plus a long term relationship with a woman from another world (Katma) had made him very respectful to the traditions of other people. Even though he was very rigid about many things, John treaded very delicately when it came the morés and customs of anyone and everyone, but especially a certain Thanagarian.

"Oh. Well…if you must…" he said concernedly at first and then with a reassuring smile. "…then I'm behind you one hundred percent. But then you know that. You…"

"Thirty seconds!" Diana shouted indicating the imminent start of the next round.

"John, wish me luck." Hawkgirl took a swig from the water bottle John offered.

John looked over at Katma bouncing around in her corner looking fresh as ever. Yeah, Katma had a plan allright. John was intimately familiar with the way she thought and this was typical Katma. She had obviously studied Hawkgirl's form or perhaps learned of Thanagarian hand to hand combat techniques somehow. Yes, she would never go into something like this without being highly prepared, which she seemed to be. John sighed audibly.

He kicked his brain into overdrive trying to find a way to help Shayera without fouling the ritual. He couldn't let her get hurt. He kicked himself mentally. He had to be cleverer than Katma this time. Her close mentoring had made him into the best Lantern in the Corps in the opinion of the Guardians. She had never seemed to mind John's rise in their esteem, but maybe that was because she could always claim him as her pupil, John thought. Maybe she was concerned that he was finally, completely beyond her influence. The important thing was Hawkgirl, though. Kat was getting to her somehow…making her miss too many shots. He had to be the one to turn that around. After all if anyone knew Katma's vulnerabilities it was him.

"I wish there were something I could do to help you in…in…," he searched for words that would not seem insensitive to the importance Shayera might be putting into this.

"…In this cat fight?" Shayera helped. They both laughed at the pun. More seriously she added, "Don't worry. It has to be this way. I'll be all right." She could see the concern in his eyes and she loved him all the more for it. He had been the first man to see her vulnerable and soft side despite her tough exterior. It renewed much of her strength, and hopefully that would be enough.

"I don't know," John demurred cautioning. "Make no mistake, hun…Kat's a killer. She knows how to get in a person's head..." He paused as Shayera placed one gloved hand to the side of his face.

"On my planet, John, it is believed that…if a woman has true love…she can not be defeated by any challenger…for her man." Shayera looked wistfully into his eyes.

It was then that John knew. He knew how to unbalance Katma. It was the one gift he could give Shayera.

"Then you can not lose." John said those words softly as he bent his head down gently, slightly tilted his head at an angle, grasped Shayera by the waist, and passionately kissed her on the lips.

Everybody saw it this time.

Diana had suspected. She had wondered about those two, but oddly the times when she felt most comfortable around them was when they were bickering. In the midst of such spirited competition, to see Green Lantern being so gentle with Hawkgirl… She ran her hand along her waist absentmindedly. She forgot to ring the bell. She looked over at Batman.

Batman returned her gaze, but he had already known. In the way that he always knew things, he knew this. He silently cursed GL for upping the ante. A public showing of such affection would set a precedent that would not soon be forgotten, and no one would dare accuse John of being out of line. No way.

Crime fighting may be my obsession, Batman thought to himself. But to John it's a full time job. He wears no mask. He has no secret identity.

And yet he seems to favor dating his fellow crimfighters. First Katma Tui and now Hawkgirl. Doesn't he know that love and crime fighting don't mix? It makes you vulnerable. I hope he knows what he's doing.

Batman frowned. He regarded Katma, who was now squeezing the ropes in a death grip. Batman suddenly realized there was a method to Lantern's madness. Katma would never be able to fight the same. She had been cracked. Batman shook his head ruefully but smiled never the less. Very clever.

Katma was livid. She had also known, but she was not prepared to see it. She was not prepared to see the lips that she had last kissed, being kissed by…that Thanagarian. She didn't want to see this. John was making a terrible mistake, and she would beat his winged woman to a pulp if only she would stop kissing him! Katma looked over to the transfixed Diana and pounded the ropes ferociously.

"Why are you not ringing the bell?" Katma scowled.

Diana broke from her reverie, but did not take too kindly to being addressed so harshly. How dare this outsider try to interrupt this moment of passion between her two friends? So what if it interrupted this little match. Love was more important. It was very welcome. Diana ignored Katma, but when John and Hawkgirl finally broke their kiss she reluctantly rang the bell.

Round three began with Katma hurling herself across the ring in a furious opening strike, and for the first time…she missed. Hawkgirl crouched under Katma's opening punch and twisted herself into a strong left hook that caught Katma solidly in her ribcage. Katma took the pain, but did not pause as she flexed her upper body over into her own left hook…that whooshed over Shayera's head.

With that miss Katma had left the right side of her face open and Hawkgirl threw a strong overhand right at Katma's head. Shayera's glove made contact with Katma's face for the first time in the fight, and the shock of that event surprised both of them. Hawkgirl quickly threw out a left jab that also got a piece of Katma's left cheek. Hawkgirl was on cloud nine.

Katma quickly planted her left foot and used her abdominal flexor muscles to bring her right knee up into Hawkgirl's side. She was trying to nail Shayera in the ribcage just as Hawkgirl had hit her a few moments before. Shayera stepped forward quickly and closed the gap between them forcing Katma's knee to go behind Shayera's back and only her thigh impacted with Shayera's side.

While so close, Shayera reached over and clinched Katma around her head and brought a vicious upper cut right into Katma's abdomen. Again Katma had to take the shot, but she brought both of her hands down and swung alternating lefts and rights into Hawkgirl's torso.

"Get…off…of…me!" Katma grunted out behind each punch. She did not want to be held by this particular woman, but if Hawkgirl was going to clinch her like this she would pound her for it. Unfortunately, for Katma, she had lost the advantage of her height and reach with such an in-close exchange. It was harder for her to nail Shayera's body as it was a smaller and lower target. Katma was getting frustrated

Shayera held on to Katma for dear life with her left arm and pressed her head into Katma's shoulder making it next to impossible for Katma to get at her face. Even though she could only use her right arm and was getting only one hit for every two of Katma's, she was making the most of each thrusted uppercut into Katma's tight but now vulnerable midsection. Katma's feet were practically lifting off the ground which each punch from Hawkgirl's fist. It was unclear how much more Katma could take. She had to do something.

Katma reached around with her left arm and clinched Hawkgirl back. Thus she was restricting Hawkgirl's shoulder motion and reducing the effectiveness of the punches. However, using up that arm also cut Katma's own punching arsenal in half. She would need more. It was time to unleash her secret weapon.

"I know your secret," Katma hissed.

Hawkgirl was unsure what she heard. She tried to snake an uppercut to Katma's face but instead caught Katma in the solar plexus. When Shayera heard the resultant "oof" emanate from Katma's lungs she took the moment to ask, "What?"

What Katma announced next hit Hawkgirl solidly in the pit of her stomach and nearly took the fight out of her.

"I said, I know what your secret is. I know why you are here…and when I get through with you I am going to tell John…and he will never love you again."

- end Chapt 3