Both of the Diana's stood and moved towards each other in anger. Alindra quickly placed herself in between them and put her hands out. "This does not solve anything. And frankly I am ashamed of you both. We are Amazons. Sisters. And need I remind you that we are all here for the same purpose? Now sit down!"

Shayera reached out and lightly touched Diana's arm. "Please, Diana, sit down and let's talk about this. Alindra is right."

Reluctantly, Diana allowed herself to be placed back in the chair. Di didn't move, but instead turned her attention to Alindra. She eyed the blonde general, and then suddenly started laughing. Everyone in the room stared in shock as the the Amazon kept up the loud behavior.

Alindra's jaw dropped, and she became defensive. "Why are you laughing at me?"

Di, in between throaty chuckles, managed, "I know who you are. I see the owls on your wrists. I was told that you would be an ally. I was also told you would probably have hickies all over your chest."

Alindra's eyes went wide and her hands went up to cover her chest.

Shayera and Diana started snickering, it just couldn't be helped. Di shook her head, and sat back down on the couch. Alindra regained her composure, and spouted, "Are you done now?"

Di threw her hands up in mock submission. "I await the wisdom of Athena's champion."

"Smart ass."

Audrey looked at the women, sure that she was missing something. But she shook it off, there would be time later to ask what that had all been about. She looked back at Shayera and Diana. They were now holding hands and just when she thought her heart might ache a little at the site, it didn't. She looked at Di, and felt confused. The woman was going to kiss her earlier. What had prompted that action? And she was going to let her. This was getting to be way too confusing, and that was not the state of mind she needed to be in. Instantly, the Queen in her kicked in, and she addressed the group.

"We need to move past all of this. Is there anything else that needs to be said? Now is the time, as afterwards, it will be considered over and done with. There are far more pressing matters to discuss."

Shayera looked at Di, "I am sorry I slapped you. I should have listened. Given the circumstances I am sure you understand why."

Di smirked. "Shayera, as long as I have known you, or rather your counterpart, I don't think I have heard an apology come out of your mouth. Consider it accepted. It will probably be the only time I ever hear it anyways."

Shayera glared, and felt her hand shake. She looked down to see Diana trying to suppress a chuckle. The redhead tried to be indignant, but instead, laughed herself. She really didn't apologize for much unless Diana was involved. She turned her attention to Audrey, "Give me no reason not to trust you again and we are fine too."

Audrey nodded, "I understand. I won't."

Alindra looked at Diana, "Do you have anything?"

Diana looked at her twin and then back to Audrey, and while she was not happy that there could possibly be a blossoming relationship, she bit her tongue. It really was none of her business, and any objection she would raise would be misinterpreted by Shayera. "Just that I make no apologies for thinking I was protecting Shayera. I seem to overreact where she is concerned. But, I may or may not feel bad for your swollen eye."

Di laughed. "Well, I don't feel bad about your split lip. And it is strange to think that someone like me would be protective of Shayera." She leaned over to Audrey and whispered, "The Shayera I knew was incessantly annoying and I really can't imagine this one would be any different. What is the attraction in that?"

Audrey smiled slightly, and felt relief in her mind. And where had that come from? She really needed to get her emotions in check. She drew in a deep breath, and asked, "What news do you have from the capital?"

Diana answered, "We have secured the city, and the palace as well. And we bring even better news. Dmitri was found alive, although barely. He lost his arm, and his body went into shock from blood loss, but he is resting comfortably. The doctors believe that he should recover."

Audrey closed her eyes and said a quick prayer of thanks. "I am so relieved."

Diana continued, "I also found Illiana. She is overseeing his care until you return."

Audrey nodded, "I have to make that situation right. They both deserve better. But that is a conversation I will have with them when I get back."

Di leaned over, "Who are Dmitri and Illiana?"

Audrey bit her lower lip. "Dmitri is my husband, and is the highest ranking general in Kasnia's army. Illiana is head of our Intelligence Bureau, and his girlfriend."

Di recoiled slightly. Audrey turned and faced the Amazon. "It was a marriage based on political need. He and I are not together in any romantic way. We never were."

"But you have a son."

"I do, although he was not conceived in the traditional manner. And Dmitri loves Illiana. Once we can get this sorted out and Dmitri has recovered I will speak to them both. As I said it is something needing to be fixed, finally. Moving on, what is the next move?"

Shayera started, "We need to figure out how the NKFR knew that they could invade the capital. I know you will not like this, but I am inclined to believe you have a mole. Someone has to be feeding them information. We should look into that as quickly as possible. That being said, we need to keep vital information to ourselves. Right now I do not trust anyone outside of this room."

"Agreed." Alindra nodded. "I would suggest that we bring in some of Audrey's advisors and interrogate them."

Audrey's head perked up, "Is that necessary? And what of Dmitri and Illiana?"

Di answered, "It is. If we are going to be successful, we need to figure out who can be trusted. And until we do, I am not leaving your side."

Diana agreed, "Audrey, I know you don't like the idea of this being an inside job, but we really need to be steadfast here. As for the latter, we should indeed start with Illiana. We can use the lasso, and get answers quickly. If we can figure out who is leaking information, then we can use that to our advantage. The Amazons decimated the NKFR, so if we can draw them into a trap, we should be able to end this quickly."

Audrey's anger was beginning to surface. "I cannot believe that someone I trust would betray us. There will be no mercy for the person who did though. I know you don't condone killing, but I will not tolerate my son, husband, and my people being threatened."

Shayera nodded, "We will leave that up to you. We are not here as representatives of the League, but you should keep in mind that there will be a need for you to be discrete. There is a difference in killing enemy soldiers in the heat of battle, and assassinating someone."

"Did you just tell her to be discrete?" Diana was shocked.

Shayera looked into Diana's eyes. "I did. I would kill anyone who threatened you and our child the way Audrey has been." Shayera looked back to Di, who was slightly nodding.

Diana continued to look at Shayera, but silently she agreed. She too, looked at Di, and then sighed. "Keep her out of trouble. She is a good person, and I don't want her to be tainted with someone's blood."

Di considered the statement, but knew that if it came down to it, she would be snapping someone's neck as well. She would have thought that they would scoff at her for the idea, but clearly Shayera was on board. "Audrey, your safety is paramount. Promise that you will at least discuss anything you plan on doing with us."

"I promise that I will consider it." came the queen's reply.

Di shrugged, "And we won't get anything better will we?"

"No."

"Very well. Don't go off half-cocked."

"Speaking of my safety," Audrey started, "I will need to make a public appearance soon. I need to reassure the people that the royal family is alive, and that our alliance was successful in defending the capital. I also need to make it apparent to our enemies that I will not be bullied."

"Nothing public!" Diana demanded. "Do it in closed quarters. Speaking in public will be inviting trouble."

"I will not hide Diana."

"I am not asking you to hide. I am asking you to consider that you are not safe out in the open."

"I understand, but I want the people to see me. I want to reassure them that we are not cowering, and that I am still in command in this country."

Di sighed, "Audrey, rethink this. Diana is right. To make a public appearance right now is foolish."

"I will not hide! I will make it clear that we are not going to bow to terrorism."

"Then let us at least return to the capital and regroup. We can talk about this again then. And you must keep one of us with you at all times. In public, or in private, you are not to be left alone."

Audrey reluctantly conceded, "Fine. That I will agree to. But, please, excuse me for a moment, I want to check on Dane. I can't imagine that he slept through this whole thing."

She stood and so did everyone else in the room. She exited, and everyone sat back down. Alindra finally spoke up, "Princesses, there is also something else to consider. I did not want to mention it in front of the Quuen." She touched her wrists lightly, and spoke again. "Athena named me as her champion, and Aphrodite chose Di. Both of us were given gifts to assist us in this war."

"What are you suggesting?" Diana asked.

"I am not sure yet. But Athena is wise. She made sure we were prepared, but I wonder now what exactly she was getting us ready for. We must keep our eyes open. I am not sure how deep this treachery runs, but I get the feeling that we might be up against something more than just the NKFR."

"Like what?" Shayera whispered.

"I don't know. I just have a feeling..." Alindra gazed out the window. "The Amazons were successful, but that is because the NKFR was overextended. I don't think that they will make that mistake again. And while I am confident in our sisters' abilities, I don't want any surprises either. My gut is telling me that there is something we are not seeing. I wish I could be more specific, but I don't know."

"Then we need to keep our eyes open. Maybe there will be something learned when we return to the palace."

As the sentence was finished, Audrey returned with her son in her arms. He was rubbing his eyes, and yawning, but was starting to stir as he noticed the room full of women. He quickly found Shayera, and tried to spring out of his mother's arms. "Angel!"

Shayera smiled, and offered her arms out to the little prince. Audrey set him on the floor, and he scrambled as fast as his little legs could take him. Shayera scooped him up in her arms, spinning him around. He giggled, and settled his arms around her neck.

Di laughed, "Isn't that sweet? Shayera you should have ten!"

Diana nearly fell out of her chair, "T-Ten?"

Di grinned, only in half jest, "What better torture for you than to have ten of her little minions running around?"

A/N:hmmm...well you will tell me what you thought. I haven't decided yet. Thanks as always for the reviews.