A/N: Thank you for the reviews!

Part II

It didn't take her long to get to Metropolis, and she headed straight for the house Lois shared with her fiancé and Jason. Her visits weren't uncommon, so she landed on the front lawn and knocked on the door. The first time she'd done this, it had been alien, a strange encounter between two women who barely knew one another.

Now, when Jason opened the door, he grinned happily. "Auntie Diana!"

She smiled back, kneeling to hug her godson. He was so much Kal's son that she wondered how it wasn't obvious to the whole world. "Hey, Jason. You okay?"

He nodded, his face full of excitement. "Have you see Superman yet? Did you talk to him? Man, he is just so awesome! Not that you're not awesome too," he added guilty.

Diana forced a laugh. It looked like Kal had managed to gain another fan - how would he deal with learning Jason was his most important one? Diana certainly wasn't going to tell him, and she knew Bruce wouldn't. She would be there for Lois, but that was all she was prepared to do. She owed Kal nothing.

"Yes, I've seen him. Listen, Jason, can you -"

Richard's voice interrupted. "Who is it, Jason?"

"Auntie Diana, Daddy."

Richard entered the kitchen and smiled somewhat strainedly at Diana. She understood how he must feel. Accepting that his fiancée's last love had quite literally been Superman was one thing; with Diana here now it must seem as though Lois was still holding a candle for Kal. The problem was, Diana knew, she was.

"Hello, Richard. I'm here to see Lois. Obviously with Superman back the League needs good press. We need to make sure people don't stop trusting the rest of us because of his return. We could also do without anymore of those articles," she added with a small grimace.

She saw him relax. She hadn't lied; those reasons were both true. They just weren't the most important ones. "She's in her study," Richard said, before turning his attention to the boy he thought of as his son. "C'mon, kiddo. Bed."

"Okay, Daddy. Night, Auntie Diana."

She smiled and ruffled his hair. "Sleep well, Jason." She headed down the hallway and up the stairs, entering Lois's study. It was empty, but the window was open. Diana lifted into the air and floated gently up to the roof.

Lois was sat away from her, on the edge of the roof. "You're not going to stop me smoking, are you?"

Diana chuckled and sat next to her. "Is that what Kal did?"

She nodded and pulled a cigarette out; her hands were trembling so badly she failed to light it. Diana took the lighter from her and lit it or her. Ordinarily she would have admonished the reporter for her habit, but today she figured she'd earned one. Lois inhaled a shaky breath. "Thanks."

The two women were silent for a few moments. Then Lois spoke. "I can't hate him. I wanted to, so much... What the hell do I do now?"

"That's up to you," Diana replied, "but whatever your decision, I'm with you. You owe him nothing."

Lois looked at her in apparent surprise. "You do though, don't you? Hate him, I mean?"

"I don't... I don't hate him," she said, "but... I'm so angry. He left. I'm not trying to belittle what he did to you, but I feel like..." She looked around, gesturing angrily at the lights of the city. "I'm angry with them too! I feel as though Kal came back and they just started celebrating. He's one man - I thought thy understood that, knew that we could deal with everything just fine..." She sighed. "It's like he's come back, perched on top of what Bruce and I have built, and the people have lavished all their glory on him."

"Batman wouldn't want the glory, you know that," Lois pointed out.

"Yes, but Bruce and I come from very different cultures. Mine honours heroes," Diana said simply. "All heroes." She shook her head. "I'm not angry with Kal. I'm angry at myself, I'm angry at them, and I hate that one day I'm going to forgive him."

When she looked down at Lois, she was holding out a cigarette. Diana laughed and waved it away. "Alright, I've vented. Your turn."

Another silence. "I just... I keep asking myself how much time I have."

"Before Jason's powers come out?"

"Before Jason does something impossible, before Luthor resurfaces and tries to kill Superman, before something else happens, God knows what." She ran a hand through her wavy brown hair. "I feel like I'm living in a house of cards. And now the strongest man in the world has come along to knock it all down." She made a movement, swiping away tears both women pretended weren't there. "I am not going to fall apart, though."

Diana smiled. "I never imagined for a moment that you would."

"I have a job to do, and I have a son to raise," Lois said firmly. "And he is my son, no matter what else. I love him. I'm his mommy. I'll protect him from anything."

Diana nodded approvingly. This was why she'd come; to make sure that Lois's inner strength would pull her through. It would. No matter when Clark found out, ois would weather it. She always had.

Lois looked at her. "Would you condemn me if I -" She cut off, but it was clear what she meant. Would you condemn me if I still loved him?

Diana hesitated. "All I can tell you, Lois, is... be careful where you place your heart. I'm not counselling you toward either of them. Just be sure you put your heart where it'll be safe."

Lois raised an eyebrow. "Like you, you mean?" she asked dryly.

Diana smiled. "No," she said, "perhaps not like me. But I didn't have a choice, Lois. The force that pulls me to Bruce... it's stronger than the pull that gravity has on you. I held back as long as I could, but now... I love him."

"Just like that?"

Diana nodded. "Just like that. It just... clicked in my heart."

"What clicked it?"

"I realised... how much I need him." She looked down. "It isn't an easy admission for an Amazon, even to myself. And I have no idea how to tell him after spending five years just using him."

"Just say it," Lois said softly. "It's three little words. And it'll all be better once you do."

Diana raised an eyebrow. "Lois Lane - hard-bitten, world-weary, cynical reporter advocating love conquers all."

Lois took a last drag of her cigarette. "Tell me about it. But for the moment it's true. I love Richard. But the fact is... Superman will never be out of my life." She smiled bitterly. "Time will tell, I guess."

Diana nodded, reflecting the truth of that. It would be the only thing that sorted out Lois's problem, in the end. Love - for one man or the other - would conquer all.

Lois threw her cigarette butt off the room and stood. "Thanks for coming, Diana."

Diana hugged her, lifting into the air as she did so and taking them back to the open study window. From the way Lois stiffened, Diana knew it was the second time she'd felt her feet leave the floor today. She felt another wave of anger at Kal. So he'd already come to Lois and tried to pick up where they'd left off. She shook her head inwardly. She never would have believed it five years ago - that Clark could be so callous as to play her Lois's heart like that.

Once inside the house, Lois let go as soon as possible. "You should go home," she said. Go tell Bruce the truth." She nudged the lasso at Diana's hip. "That's your thing, right?"

She nodded, forcing her nervousness down. The man had seen her naked more times than she could count, for Hera's sake. But baring her soul was quite different.

After ordering a transport to the manor, Diana paced up and down the Batcave, eventually sitting in the chair that a few hours ago they'd made love it. She looked up at the computer, tracking Bruce's patrol.

She didn't want to focus on anything except him, but her thoughts inevitably returned to Kal. Could the hole he'd left really be filled again so quickly? And could things go back to the way they were? Did she want them to? She hated to admit it, but without Clark leaving she wasn't sure she and Bruce would have ever taken that final step. The third part of the trinity had left a hole that had to be filled by something stronger than friendship. She needed Bruce without Kal. With him, she'd wanted Batman; just as she was sure he'd wanted her. With only the two of them, they'd collapsed inward and together.

Please, she prayed to whichever goddess was listening, please don't take him from me now.

She'd rather the trinity never reformed than that. If the last five years had taught her anything, it was that she could cope with Clark at the other end of the universe. She could not go back to having Bruce just out of reach.

At just after half past three, she heard the sound of the Batmobile returning. It must have been a slow night, she realised, standing as the canopy opened.

"What's wrong?" Batman asked immediately.

She frowned. "Nothing. Why would anything be wrong?"

"You're normally in bed asleep when I return from patrol," he pointed out.

"I know," she sighed heavily. She hadn't cared enough before. She welcomed the knowledge that from now on there would be sleepless nights. "Bruce, I..."

He turned with the cowl off and an eyebrow raised, waiting for her to continue. She moved forward and took his hands, kissing them. "I love you. And I'm sorry it took me so long to say it. That it took... him for me to say it."

He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her hair. Uncertainly filled her as the wait for his reply seemed to stretch into forever. Then he spoke. "I love you too, Diana." He breathed a sigh against her hair as he carried on in a lowered voice. "So much..."

"Things aren't going to be the same as they were, are they?" she asked, her fear still simmering at the surface. "I'll understand if you want them to be, but give me one more day." She looked up, pleading with his eyes. "Can I have one more day?"

"Every day I have left," he promised, kissing her. "My life is yours. It always has been."

A/N: Yes, those last lines are from JLA #90, but they're so romantic that it makes my heart thump every time I think about them. I'll do a final part, to tie up the trinity, since I'm not sure I can really have them be all fractured etc. Review please!