Barbara fell down, her tied back hair falling over her shoulder and sweat falling from her forehead to the floor mere inches below. She was panting heavily, and her body shook slightly. Her skin radiated heat, despite the particularly cold climate of the cave. She had landed on her forearms, the entirety of her weight pushing into her elbows and wrists. Her hip also pressed into the floor painfully where she'd landed.

"You okay, Princess?"

She looked up over her shoulder. The large hand of Jason Todd was extended towards her, an offering to help her back to her feet. She rolled onto her back, keeping her weight on her elbows. "That was a cheap shot, Todd," she said, her lips turning upwards at the edges into a wicked grin.

His smirk was bigger than hers, and he emphasized his hand because she had not yet taken it and he was growing impatient.

Barbara smiled, and did not say anything. She pushed herself up off her elbows, jumping to her feet and standing shoulder to shoulder with him. She looked at him, still grinning. "Cheap shot, but I'll get you back." Jason laughed, slapping her ass as she walked away from him.

She positioned herself with her feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, her arms pulled in close and tucked under her chin. She was ready for battle; all the while Jason was standing with a slight hunch in his back. His arms swung aimlessly from his shoulders and most of his weight seemed to be placed on one of his feet as he lurched forward, toward Barbara.

His eyes narrowed, the smirk still on his lips. He examined the gleam of the sweat as it traveled from the lobe of her ear down her neck, moving along her collarbone and then plunging downwards into her cleavage. Jason's smirk seemed to grow as he followed that little droplet of sweat. Her skin was shining in the dim lighting of the cave, and the only sound was her slight heavy breathing.

Suddenly Barbara lunged forward, with a right hook going straight for Jason's cheek. He blocked, though it did catch him off guard. He was attempting to catch himself before she threw any more punches. But she already had, and her left fist came in and hit his cheek hard. The world lurched around his vision as his head swung behind the impact of her blow and before he knew it she had delivered a severe uppercut to his jaw before he even tried to recover from her original punch. Another punch from somewhere hit him directly in the abdomen and he heaved over, all the air in his body forced out very suddenly. Two feet pressed roughly and quickly against his chest and that was the hit that finally tipped him over.

The ground was hard and cold as his sweaty back slammed into it, his head not too far behind. It was a hard thud but nothing he wouldn't recover from. Maybe a bruise at most. And then there was a huge weight bouncing on top of his chest and pinning his arms above his head. He opened his eyes, and all he saw was Barbara leaning over him, light shining from directly above her head and she was smiling down at him as if nothing mattered in the world in that moment.

"I told you," she said, "I'd get you back."

Jason was now the one breathing heavy. His hair was plastered to his forehead with his own sweat, and his sea green eyes were bright as ever, alert and searching her face. His skin was red from exhaustion and his muscles were bursting out of his skin as he pushed his body.

They'd been sparring for at least two hours now, and both were getting tired of winning one and then losing one. Jason had been watching the way Barbara's body moved all that time, and now feeling her so close to him, seeing the way her eyes were moving over his body was making it hard not to kiss her right now.

But they'd talked about this. Barbara and Jason had talked about this. After last month when they had kissed after a mission and they'd almost gotten to second base but Barbara had stopped him. She had stopped him and said something along the lines of 'I can't you've always been a brother to me think about our working relationship what about Dick'. It wasn't bad, and Jason respected her decisions because if Barbara really didn't want to have that kind of relationship with him then that was fine. Even though that kiss felt amazing and Barbara did seem really into it, he didn't want to push the matter because Barbara had made her thoughts on it clear.

Jason was okay with that. He really was okay if she just wanted to stay friends because he valued her presence in his life and even if he wanted more he wouldn't risk their friendship if she didn't.

There were moments like this. Moments that made respecting Barbara's wishes to remain platonic hard. Especially since he could see all over her face that she wanted right now to plant her lips on his.

It was now that he noticed he'd lifted his head up and moved closer to her, and she had lowered her head slightly from where she sat. The smile was gone from her lips. Now her eyes were fluttering closed, her mouth was puffing out in a slight pucker. Her body was trembling with as close as she was to him and she could feel his heartbeat against her breast.

Her grip was loosening on his wrists and suddenly without thinking he wrapped his arms around her waist and he was on top of her. Her arms were around his neck and her legs around his waist, she was kissing him and he was kissing her.

But then she stopped him.

"Jason," she whispered, pushing his face to be away from hers. And even though it was hard to stop, he did. He pulled his lips away from hers and looked into her eyes. "Jay-" her voice cracked, her eyes watering a bit even.

He propped himself up on his hands, sitting up straight onto his knees and looking at her. "Don't say it, Barbara. I know,"

She, too, sat up onto her elbows so that she could look at him. Her brow was furrowed, and she looked close to tears. Barbara loved Dick Grayson. That was something Jason could live with. She loved him and she was in love with him and that was okay. But Jason also knew that she loved him. Barbara could easily move past all the other reasons they couldn't be anything, she had before when she dated Jason's brother. But she couldn't move past having dated Jason's brother.

Barbara's voice cracked and she sucked on her upper lip. "Jason, I'm sorry. You know I am," she said. She pulled her knees up into her chest. Her blue eyes moved downwards, away from Jason's intense stare.

"Barbara, you have nothing to be sorry for. You really don't," he said. A single tear started rolling down her cheek.

"Jason, we can't-" When her voice broke, Barbara looked back up at him. The strained look on her face broke his heart.

He didn't move, just kept her gaze for a moment. Maybe she planned to complete the statement, but he doubted she would. They just sat there, on the floor, sweaty and heartbroken and staring into each other's eyes. Barbara's bottom lip was quivering and Jason had never thought she was more adorable than in that moment.

He opened his mouth to say something, but words didn't come out. His mouth just hung open, with the promise of words that never came. Jason's green eyes were downcast, yet his mouth remained open as if he was simply waiting for the right words to come out and make the situation any less awkward.

But when he looked back up at Barbara, she was moving quickly towards him. Suddenly the weight of her entire body was on him, her lips on his and he was falling onto his back with Barbara on top of him. Her lips tasted like salt and she melted against him like warm butter. She wasn't holding back anymore. She had her fingers in his hair and she was grinding her hips against his.

It took mere milliseconds before he started kissing her back. He had his hands on her hips, and his thumbs were pushing up her shirt at the hem. He applied pressure onto her hips, indicating he wanted her to stop. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. She looked at him, her eyes still red and puffy from her tears. "I don't want you to do this just for me."

She shook her head, and without opening her mouth took off her shirt. Jason looked back up at her, and it was then he knew that she wasn't sure, but she was sure she wanted it at that particular moment. And that was all he was going to get for now.