Barbara woke to a slight tickle on her back. It repeated itself until she couldn't ignore it anymore and squirmed to try to make it stop. She felt her face rub against skin, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with the muscled expanse of Bruce's chest. She was flush against the side of his body, straddling one of his legs between hers.

"Oh," she whispered.

"Good morning," he whispered back. "How are you feeling?"

She sat up on her knees when she realized she wasn't completely nude. "Um… good? Embarrassed, mostly," she fiddled with the edge of the shirt she was wearing.

He made no move to hide the morning bulge in his boxers that had been revealed when she moved the covers with her. She momentarily wondered if it was a normal morning occurrence or if her proximity had anything to do with it. She had no clue what movements she had been making in her sleep.

"And your…" his brow furrowed. "Urges? You said they started in the mornings, yes?"

"Yeah," she closed her eyes and thought of the slow ache that was beginning in her gut. "Not as strong, but it's there." It was hard for her to tell how much of what she was currently feeling was from the memories from the night before. "At least I don't feel particularly frantic yet."

He took one of her hands in his and turned it over, considering the lines on her palm. "Have you tried… taking care of things before it got to the frantic point?"

Her mouth went dry, and she had to swallow before speaking. "Yeah, but I… uh… I still needed to that night, too."

He nodded. "So that's not much help for you, then."

She felt the heated rush of desire radiate from the back of her hips up her spine and down to the juncture of her legs. "That depends on your definition of 'help." Her eyes went wide, and her free hand popped over her mouth.

She wasn't quite certain what he was thinking as he smirked at her. She briefly thought about how different he seemed in this setting than he was at other times she had been around him, but that thought ended quickly when he pulled her back down to him.

She landed half on his chest, and he ran a hand along the side of her face before pulling her down for a chaste kiss. When they separated, she sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned back toward him. He smiled into her kiss and pulled her fully on top of him.

When they broke for air, he grinned up at her. "We seem to be back to the beginning."

She couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Not exactly, but if you'd like a repeat of the night I first came to you, I'm not going to argue."

"Like that, huh?"

She gave him a sly look. "Oh, you know… it was alright." She glanced down at his lips. "This was the first time you kissed me, though."

"Would you rather I not?" he rested his hands on her hips.

"No, it's fine," she sat up with her hands on his chest. "You can kiss me if you want."

When she rolled her hips back, she felt his firmness beneath her. She wasn't certain if the noise he made at her movement was more of a moan or a sigh. She bit her lip and gave him what she hoped was a sultry look. From the glint in his eye, whatever look it was, he seemed to like it.

"So… if you're going to keep helping me," she rolled her hips over him again. "Maybe you should let me know what you like."

He rose his hips up into her at her next pass. "I have no complaints yet. Variety is good."

She leaned down to kiss him again, pulling his bottom lip with her teeth. He practically growled and flipped her over so she was under him.

"That one, too?" she bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"It's too early in the morning for you to be so sassy."

"Please," she scoffed. "I'm made of sass. You like it."

"You think so…" he laughed and buried his face in her neck as he rolled his hips into her. "I can think of something I definitely like."

"Oh yeah?" she gasped and wrapped her legs around his hips.

"Mhmm," he rumbled against her neck as he reached down to pull his boxers off and kick them to the bottom of the bed.

When he thrust into her heat, she grasped at his shoulders to help move against him. She moaned as he palmed one of her breasts through the shirt she was wearing. Wiggling underneath him served a dual purpose of both moving her hips into a position to allow him to thrust deeper into her and to pull off the shirt.

When she was also fully naked, he ran his hand over the same breast, watching as her nipple stiffened into a tight bud. The dark look he gave her as she gasped beneath him only made the heat she felt in her core burn hotter.

He squeezed her breast and dove back to her neck as his thrusts began to increase. With the hand that had been on her hip, he pulled her leg over his shoulder so he could go deeper, the new pressure making her moan out his name as she clawed at his back.

She could feel the pressure building inside her with each slide of his cock. Her whimpering moans seemed to egg him on, thrusting into her harder and faster until he let a low groan out. His thrusts slowed slightly as his hand left her breast to press into her clit.

She pulled it away and scraped her teeth against his jaw. "Don't stop."

He grunted and sped his hips back up, grasping her by her hips as he pounded into her. She felt the warmth spread from her hips, sending tingles down her legs as they tensed, and he began to make stiff jerks above her. The deep rumble from his throat elicited an aftershock that made her hips jerk up against his.

He rolled from atop her and spread out on the bed next to her, breath ragged. She closed her eyes and willed her legs to stop shaking.

"You can squirt."

She gasped and covered her face with her hands. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"It's embarrassing," she hissed from under her hands.

"It's hot," he rolled to one side and pulled her hands down.

"It's messy, and I was trying not to."

He grinned and ducked down to plant a kiss just above the swell of her breast. "Don't try to stop it. Makes me think I'm doing something right."

"Oh, because you need your ego stroked?" she raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but grin back at him.

She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"What are you thinking?" she felt his hand run over her breast again, and when she opened her eyes, she found him propped up on one elbow, waiting for her response.

"This is weird, isn't it?" she asked, staring at the ceiling. "This should feel weird."

"Does it feel weird to you?" she shook her head, and he continued. "It doesn't exactly feel weird to me either. I know it should. But maybe because we already know each other so well, it's not as weird as it could be."

She let a long breath out through her lips. "So what now?"

"We should go talk to Zatanna," his eyes suddenly became serious. "Not that I don't enjoy this."

"Being judged by one of your exgirlfriends wasn't exactly high on my bucket list," she tossed an arm across her face.

"She's not going to judge you," he pulled her hand down to clasp it over her chest. "She's going to judge me. Believe me. She rarely thinks I make the right choice, and she's going to see me as far too old for you in this situation. And she'd be right. But she was never my girlfriend."

"Oh," Barbara raised an eyebrow. "That's not what the rumors said."

"Rumors?" he stared at her with a frown.

"The girls in the league talk," she shrugged.

He sighed and dropped his head to the bed. "I need to stop taking you on league missions."

"You did what?"

Barbara sat perfectly still has Zatanna Zatara glared at Bruce. They were backstage of her Chicago show, where they had waited in her dressing room until she was free to talk to them.

He had barely opened his mouth to speak before she cut him off. "No, no, no… let me get this straight. When she realized she had a problem… one relating to an attempted demonic invasion… and came to you for help, your first thought was to fuck her to sleep?"

"He didn't…" Barbara started but was stopped by a held up finger and sharp "nnt" sound from Zatanna.

"I tried to find Fate," Bruce glanced away from her.

"He was still cleaning up the last dregs of that mission," Zatanna crossed her arms over her chest. "Ones like this. He thought he had all of them and has holed himself away to replenish his energy."

Bruce sighed again and drew his gaze over to Barbara. He could tell she wasn't uncomfortable solely from the tension in the room. The way she sat stiffly with her knees pressing together in near perfect rhythm told him she was getting closer to the edge once more.

"Is there anything we can do?" Barbara's voice was faint, and if Bruce hadn't seen her speak, he would have doubted the words came from her. He wasn't used to her being so timid.

Zatanna sighed and pressed a finger to the bridge of her nose. "What you're dealing with here is the demonic equivalent of a nymph. They can't remain on our plane of existence for long without a tether. Nymphs generally have a river or plant that their lifeforce is connected to. Which is why Demeter gets so pissed off about environmental destruction."

"Demeter?" Barbara scrunched her nose. "Like the Greek myth?"

"Not a myth," Zatanna slumped onto a small couch. "None of them are myths. Greek, Wiccan, Egyptian. All the gods are real. Some are just more vocal than others. The moon goddess, for example. She has an iced coffee addiction. Gets real chatty when she's hyped up on caffeine."

"So… Pastafarians…"

"Ugh!" Zatanna pressed the palms of her hands over her face. "Gary is a river nymph and thinks he's funny. Let's not go there."

Bruce watched as Barbara crossed her legs, uncrossed them, and pressed her knees together. "Is there a solution for this?"

Zatanna looked up at him. "We break the connection. This demon couldn't stay here for long without a connection. He can't attach himself to an unwilling host. But he can try to influence someone to make a host for him. That was his goal." She paused at the nervous look between the two. "You used condoms, right?"

"I…" Barbara swallowed. "I'm on birth control. The shot."

Zatanna relaxed. "That should work. Demons are stupid enough to be thwarted by human birth control. Otherwise you would have given him exactly what he wanted the first time you had sex." She turned a harsher gaze to Bruce. "Not like you to think with your dick, Bruce."

"I seemed to have missed the demonic portion of sex ed," he deadpanned.

"I zoned out after they told us not to feed them after midnight," Barbara gave him a quick smile.

"Gremlins," Bruce smirked and crossed his arms. "Different lesson. I was totally around for that one."

Zatanna groaned. "I'm not sure which one of you is more annoying."

Bruce wasn't certain how Zatanna severed the influence of the demon. She had simply nodded to no one in general, abruptly stood up, and loudly clapped her hands together once before shoving him out into the hallway. After the door slammed in his face, all he heard was a lot of whispering, a muttered "what the fuck, Bruce" that he was certain he was meant to hear, and a bright flash of light from under the door followed by the sound of something shattering and a loud moan from Barbara.

When he forced himself back into the room, he found the room in shambles and Barbara lying in the middle of the floor. Zatanna stood over her with her hands on her hips.

"What happened?" Bruce scowled at her.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," she brushed him off. "It's done. I assume you'll handle any damages?" She gestured to her vanity mirror which now had a large antique looking dagger protruding from the middle of it.

"What happened to her?" He let the gravel of his voice deepen.

"She's fine." Zatanna scowled back at him. "It takes a lot of energy to block energy. She's going to be out for a while. Maybe up to a day. In a couple days, she should be back to normal."

"That doesn't answer my question. Why did you make me leave?"

Zatanna rolled her eyes. "Protection. We didn't need it trying to attach itself to you next. I performed a spell that detached its influence from her. That can get… violent. Think exorcism movies. That's pretty similar." She started to pick up costumes to hang back on a clothing rack. "Is there anything else you need me for? Because honestly, I'm supposed to be on League duty here in less than an hour, and I still have to prep for tomorrow's show."

Bruce kneeled to brush the hair from Barbara's sleeping face. Her body was serene and her breathing even. "No. As long as she's fine."

When he looked back up, Zatanna's gaze had softened. "Let me know if she has a relapse. Or if anything else is out of the ordinary. I understand why it took so long for her to say anything. But I would have expected more of you."

Bruce had lost track of how many times he had sighed that night. Carrying an unconscious woman out of a Chicago show house was hard enough. Carrying her into the private airport where his plane waited added to the shady situation he was almost certain he would be reading about in the papers the next day. Still, it was preferable considering he knew Guy Gardner was on monitor duty. A Watchtower pass through was out of the question.

Once they were aboard the plane and had taken off to Gotham City, he touched base with Nightwing and Robin who were under the impression that Bruce and Barbara were on a separate League related mission. Which wasn't entirely untrue. Gotham was thankfully fairly quiet. Resulting in the first sigh of relief he had since this whole thing started.