A/N: I'm sorry about the delay, people! I went through all of yesterday thinking it was Monday, and only realised at 7 a.m. this morning that I hadn't posted a chapter. Please accept it now :)

No Light, no light,

In your bright blue eyes,

I never knew daylight could be so violent,

A revelation in the light of day,

You can't choose what stays and what fades away,

And I'd do anything,

To make you stay,

No light, no light,

Tell me what you want me to say

You want a revelation,

You want to get right,

But it's a conversation,

I just can't have tonight,

You want revelation,

Some kind of resolution,

Tell me what you want me to say...

No Light, No Light—Florence + The Machine

Chapter Seventeen

"You won't kill me," Ivy said apparently really confident that it wouldn't happen.

"You've been gone a long time. Things change."

Things did indeed change, and very quickly. Though not in the way Alexa had alluded to. Mostly because her type of change did not involve being hit by a full-speed Kryptonian. To say it was like being hit by a truck wouldn't have been accurate. Alexa had been hit by trucks before. She'd been hit by tanks. And she had always been able to shrug it off fairly quickly. This wasn't like anything she'd had before. If she had to, she might have likened it to being hit by a small planet. Maybe a moon. And it hurt; actually, it wasn't being hit that hurt so much as it was being put through a forest and several buildings.

She didn't panic, even though she didn't have any more kryptonite, and drove the point of her elbow into the junction of his neck and shoulder. It was a move she'd used in their sparring before, and it worked now. His hold around her waist loosened enough so that she could slip out and into the air. Kal's momentum carried him a little bit further, but knowing his reflexes were equally quick, Alexa shot after him and slammed his head right down into the ground. It gave way, and there was soon a long, deep furrow in the concrete. While he was pulling himself up, she pressed the button on the beacon for the League. Now was a really good time for a rescue. She didn't waste time trying to reason with Kal—she doubted it would work, and she doubted it would be a quick process. Her death probably would be. Kal was up again, and coming towards her; she caught his fist, deflected it and slammed the heel of her hand into his breast bone. The impact reverberated up her arm, but did hurt Kal too. She followed it up with a punch to his face, then a kick to his midsection. It was then she realised Kal had definitely been holding out on her. Because his next set of offensive moves had a fluidity and technique that could only be attributed to a martial art. And extraordinarily, it was one she didn't know inside and out. One she didn't recognise any of the elements of. When this was all over, and assuming she survived, she'd have to get Kal to show it to her. At the moment she didn't really have time to admire the grace of it. He was driving her back towards Ivy, and while she knew that she was powerless to stop it. The nanite remote had long since disappeared, so Ivy and her plants weren't inhibited anymore. As well as Kal's fists, Alexa was also trying to avoid vines, barbs and thorns that were after her too.

Both she and Kal were bleeding now, though her more than him. With a well-placed blow she'd managed to open a cut above his eye; it was bleeding freely and partly obscuring his vision, but Alexa had the worse of it. There were bleeding scratches along her arms where the plants had punched through her suit, her nose was bleeding from where she was almost positive Kal had broken it, and finally a metal fence post had gone partway through her leg. She had pulled it out, and it wasn't near anywhere vital, but it still hurt.

They were both on the ground now, which gave Alexa a slight advantage. She could know every martial art in the world, but it was intensely difficult to use them to full effect in mid-air. On the ground, it was much easier. When Kal aimed another punch at her, she dodged, turning on the spot to slam her elbow into the middle of his face. She used full force (no point in doing otherwise), and ploughed into his nose. It didn't break, but at this point anything that slowed him down for a moment helped. She vaulted over him, but he caught her ankle while she was in the air and twisted it; she kicked him in the side of the head with her other leg then put him into a stranglehold from behind. It probably wouldn't have worked, but it didn't matter—a vine suddenly twined itself around her waist and yanked her away from Kal. By the time the plants dragged her before Ivy again, Alexa was cocooned, so tightly wrapped that even her strength couldn't break her free.

Ivy was holding the remote for the nanites, looking pleased with herself. She threw it to Kal. "Destroy it."

Half a second later, it was powder. Alexa raised an eyebrow. "You don't think I have backups?"

"Oh, I'm sure you do," Ivy replied, moving closer. "But after tonight, you won't want to use them."

She opened her palm; sitting it in was a small quantity of very fine powder. Seeing Alexa quite prepared to hold her breath for as long as necessary, Ivy made a gesture to Kal—who yanked violently on her right arm, pulling it out of its socket. The move had the desired effect, and Alexa gasped in pain. Ivy was there to make sure she inhaled the pheromones.

"Yes, Batwoman. Feel the power of the earth flowing through your veins."

She could definitely feel it—heady, dizzying, intoxicating. For just a moment, she wanted to do anything Ivy desired her to. She'd taken the pain away. She'd reunite her with Kal … But it wasn't all that dissimilar to fighting off fear toxin, and in less than a minute, lucidity had returned.

"It's going to take more than one dose," she said.

"I know. It took dozens to subdue him," Ivy replied. "But don't worry. I have the patience. Now all we need is somewhere nice and quiet to –"

The enormous green bubble that enveloped Kal came out of nowhere, and Ivy was dispatched with a blow from a megarod, and then it seemed like the entire League had come to the rescue.

Tom landed in front of Alexa, a worried frown on his face. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, and then wondered why she had when she so clearly wasn't. "There're … pheromones in … in my blood. You have to –"

"I'm having trouble here!" GL called from about fifteen feet in the air. Inside the bubble, Kal was making ferocious escape attempts.

"Kryptonite lamps in … Metrotower," Alexa managed, her voice still slurred. Mentally, she was fine, but physically Ivy's drug was still affecting her, helped along by her injuries. "Holding cells. Code … Alpha Two Threat."

Mira nodded, putting a hand to her com-link. "Metrotower, this is Green Lantern. Prepare the holding cells. Alpha Two Threat. Transport us there asap."

A few seconds later, both she and Kal were teleported away. Tom put Alexa's good arm around his shoulders. "Come on. We need to get you medical –"

She shook her head. "Get Ivy to Arkham."

Barda dropped the aforementioned villainess onto the ground, unconscious. "I'll take Batwoman to the infirmary, don't worry. You might need to restrain this one though."

Tom nodded, tying Ivy's hands and feet and dumping her in the waiting batmobile. Barda moved to Alexa, hugging her tightly. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you!"

"Barda –"

"I don't know why I didn't, I should have known better than to –"

"Barda, please," Alexa broke in, her leg beginning to give way and her shoulder now burning.

"What's happened to your shoulder?! We need to get you to the infirmary!"

"Thanks," Alexa said weakly.

Barda manoeuvred them both onto an energy disc and flew them to the Metrotower, handing Alexa into the hands of the doctors. Apart from the dislocated shoulder, her nose was indeed broken, and she had a multitude of cuts and scratches that needed cleaning, then a dressing on her leg and a tetanus shot because of the fence post. Only then would they let her get up. Once they had, she made them take a sample of her own blood and give it to her, though all of them looked bewildered at the request. As soon as that happened, she was suddenly hobbling as fast as she could toward the transporter room.

"Where are you going?" Barda demanded.

"Batcave. Work to do," Alexa answered shortly.

When she reached up to take the sling off her arm, Barda stopped her. "What work? Can I help with it?"

"I need to synthesise an antidote to Poison Ivy's toxin, then we can administer it to Kal."

"Won't it wear off if given enough time?"

"It might, but some substances can lie dormant in the body for years before they reactivate. And besides, he'd have to be kept under kryptonite lamps for days, and – he'd be in pain for all that time. His injures won't heal either. It's taken us this long to get him back even halfway. I want to get the full way as soon as possible."

"Understandable. What do you need?"

Alexa glanced at her arm. Her shoulder was back in its socket, but it would take some time for the torn ligaments and tendons to reattach. "I might need help with the fiddly bits."

Barda nodded. "Then I'm your woman."

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me. I owe you for not believing you in the first place."

"You weren't the only one."

"That's no excuse, I'm your best friend and I know you're crazy about Kal—I should have known you would be the first one to spot it if something was wrong."

Alexa smiled. "Apology accepted."

"So what are the options?"

"Well, I can use the same nanite solution I did with Ivy, but they're not particularly sophisticated and changes would have to be made. Or I could make a chemical solution that would counteract the toxins."

"Which would be more effective?"

"The nanites, probably. I don't know how much he's got in his system but I'm willing to bet it's a hell of a lot. Ivy said she'd dosed him dozens of times. If I use them, the nanites will remain in his system—at least for a while—and root out all the traces of the toxin. At the moment they're programmed to seek Ivy's DNA out and destroy it. The pheromones aren't of her origin; she's distilled them from existing plants."

"Alright, so how do you know what that consists of?"

Alexa held up the vial of her blood. "By good fortune, Ivy gave me a dose too."

She walked over to the computer, tapping on the touchpad. A little shelf suddenly slid out next to Barda, with a petri dish on it. Alexa tried to pull the top off the vial and found she couldn't without more pain from her shoulder. Barda held out her hand for it, and Alexa gave it to her with a smile. Barda tipped the blood into the petri dish.

"Push it back in?"

"Please."

Barda pushed the shelf back in gently, and the computer accepted it smoothly. "Now what?"

"Computer, analyse sample."

"Analysing now."

"It shouldn't take too long," Alexa said. "There'll be a lot more in this sample than the last one."

"Last one?"

"Oh. That's how I knew it was Posion Ivy. Yesterday, Kal … he kissed me. I knew he would never do that, and it made me dizzy."

"A good kiss'll do that," Barda commented.

"Yeah, but this was barely any kind of kiss. Being light-headed and dizzy didn't make sense, so I ran a test just as a hunch and it came up with trace amounts of Ivy's toxin. Matched it from the archives. Prepared for a fight from there."

Only a couple minutes later, the computer flashed up the result. It was the same toxin, about fifty times more of it. "Kal's blood must be saturated," she muttered.

"Would explain the trying to kill you thing," Barda agreed. "Although, how to you know he'd never kiss you?"

"He wouldn't. There have been chances, Barda, hundreds of them. And he just doesn't take any of them. Whether he's not ready, or … I don't know what it is. But he wouldn't kiss me." Truthfully, she thought she knew what was stopping him: guilt. Or the semblance, or the echo of it. Guilt, and enduring love. A terrible combination.

Barda's eyes were sparkling. "Well, let's get him back to himself and see, shall we?"

Alexa nodded firmly. "Let's."

After that, the program that the nanites would carry was written by Alexa, and then the two women carefully made the prototype together for the computer to replicate. When it was doing that, Alexa pulled her sling off, gingerly flexing her shoulder. It ached a bit, but felt a lot better than it had an hour ago.

"How do I look?" she asked Barda, pulling back her mask. "Do I look like I've had the crap beaten out of me?"

Barda attempted to adopt a cheerful expression and tone. "Well, you're a pretty range of colours. You like purple and yellow, right?"

Alexa's shoulders slumped. "I had the feeling you were going to say that."

"Why?"

"Because I think Kal will probably remember everything, and I'd really like to be able to convince him I've completely shrugged it off. Which with bruises and a limp is going to be pretty difficult."

"At least your mask will cover the bruises. Of course, he can see through it, but still. He might not look."

"He'll look," Alexa sighed heavily, as the computer signalled the nanites were ready. Alexa put them into a plasma solution that would be put directly into Kal's bloodstream. "Come on. Let's go save him."

Barda ordered the teleport while Alexa pulled her mask back down over her face. When they got to the holding cell, Kal was slumped over, handcuffed, bathed in the sickly green glow of the kryptonite lamps. The bruises were obvious on his own face, and while the cut above his eye had stopped bleeding, no one had cleaned it up.

Alexa felt a wild burst of rage. "Why in Athena's name has no one helped him?" she demanded.

"Well, we didn't want to – He's not in his right mind, someone might have gotten hurt –"

"Get me a first aid kit," she ordered coldly. "Now."

Thomas arrived just as the technician scurried off to get her one. "Ivy's in Arkham. Commissioner was a little surprised to find her still alive."

"Why?" Alexa asked. "It makes sense."

"Does it?" Barda asked.

"Yeah," Tom said. "Because of the nature of her powers, her body is essentially a husk. She could grow a new one each time the old one wore out, and simply transfer her consciousness."

Alexa nodded. "That was my hypothesis."

Barda blinked. "It was?"

"Remember that rose plan we found in the old Asylum? Big enough to sit in?"

"You think someone cut Poison Ivy out of that?"

"It's the most logical explanation."

"But why would they do that?"

Batwoman shrugged. "A religious cult, misguided eco-warriors, anything. They're probably all dead by now, or slaves to Ivy's pheromones."

The first aid kit arrived, and she snatched it off the civilian member of staff and went inside the cell to release Kal from those very pheromones. He didn't seem to notice her at first, until she started to roll his sleeve up. Then he lifted his head up. "Alexa … Alexa please … turn them off. Please."

She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. "I will, Kal," she promised. "As soon as I can."

She pushed the needle into his skin and injected the nanites, then pulled the syringe away. Then she opened the first aid kid and started cleaning the dried blood from his face and cleaning the cut as tenderly as she could. When she was finished, she touched his face gently. He flinched like she'd hurt him. "I know it hurts," she whispered. "But it'll get rid of Ivy."

She stayed in the holding cell for the next three hours while the toxin was forced from him. When sweat poured from him, Alexa wiped it away; when he was thirsty, she held water to his lips. Her hands kept twitching towards the switch for the kryptonite lamps, the desire to turn them off driven by the ragged gasps. Each time though, she pulled her hands back again. It was nearly over. Surely, it had to be nearly over. Just as it had been the first time, the council members began to arrive, in combinations of worried and relieved.

An hour later, dawn had broken, and Kal finally opened his eyes. They were confused, a little afraid, but completely clear. Alexa switched the lamps off immediately, snapped his handcuffs off. Still weak—and there were no windows to let sunlight in—he slumped forwards into her arms.

Thank Hera. "Are you alright?"

"Just," he answered weakly. "But you –"

"Later. We need to get you to sunlight."

"Arboretum," Barda said. "Up three floors."

There were almost too many people there to help, but they managed to manoeuvre him up to the arboretum. As soon as the elevator doors opened, warm, golden sunshine flooded them. It felt like Kal was already standing a little straighter. Alexa let go of him and let the others help him forward, hanging back. She wasn't going to leave—how could she?—but she didn't trust herself with everyone else around. At all. She found a fairly shaded part, underneath a tree, and waited. The only person who really noticed her was Barda.

Barda, in the traditional manner of all best friends, started slowly shepherding everyone else out. "Come on, guys, there'll be time for catching up later. He'll heal faster if we leave him alone."

Only Tom noticed Alexa standing still. "But –"

"Batman, can I get your help on something?" Barda asked, taking his arm. "It's really important."

Tom didn't have the opportunity to object further, and the doors closed after him, leaving Kal and Alexa alone. He was faced mostly away from her, though she could see his profile. The sunlight lit him in a brilliant glow, and every injury and bruise on his face slowly healed right before her eyes. His posture grew straighter, stronger. Alexa watched him with a deep feeling of contentment. He was safe. He was healing. He was him. It honestly was like having a mini dream come true, just watching it. Finding she was too far away, she moved to his side.

"Better?" she asked quietly.

"Much. Alexa … I can't begin to –"

"There's no need."

"You don't know if I was going to thank you or apologise," he said.

"You were going to do both. And neither are necessary. I'm just – I'm glad you're back. Though that's a completely inadequate sentence if I've ever heard one."

"How did you know?" he asked.

"Because I wasn't done being scared. You were right in front of me, but I was still … afraid."

"Of me?" he asked, distress on his face.

"For you. I was still sure I'd lost you, and that idea …"

When she didn't finish, and she didn't look at him, Kal reached out to lift her face back up to his. "What?"

Screwing her courage to the sticking post, Alexa said, "It terrifies me. And it was made worse knowing that it should have been me, that it was my fault you were in so much danger –"

Kal leaned down and captured her mouth with his. Shock flooded her, but even that couldn't prevent her from kissing back. If her heart had been pounding before, it was nothing compared to now. It seemed to be hammering right out of her chest. She stopped breathing, stopped thinking. There was nothing except him, and this moment. Her hands moved down from his shoulders to rest on his chest as she pressed herself closer. She couldn't think of anything she wanted more than to carry on, to lose herself totally in him, body and soul. But when she tried to deepen the kiss, he stiffened suddenly and pulled away.

He didn't run, exactly; he didn't even leave the room. But he crossed to the window and stood with his back to her. "Kal?"

"I'm sorry, Alexa, I- I didn't…mean to do that."

"I did."

He shook his head slowly from side to side.

"One of us was going to sooner or later," she pointed out. "What's so wrong with sooner?"

There was a long pause. "I do…"

Like me? Love me?

"…want you," he finished. Alexa waited with bated breath for more. "You're an incredible woman, Alexa. Having you as a team-mate is great – as a friend even more so."

Her heart sank slowly into her boots. There was something bad coming, she just knew there was. "But?"

He turned to face her, moved closer and touched her face with soft fingertips and a sad smile. "But I can't…look at you without wanting to be with you. And I can't want that without thinking of-"

"Lois," she whispered.

"Thinking of you is like betraying her – being with you would be worse."

Alexa thought hard before she spoke, searching for the right words. "Well, I… I understand that."

"Do you?" he asked, frustration peaking in his voice. "Because I don't. I don't understand it at all." He squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them again, Alexa saw tears shining in them. "She's dead, Alexa. She's dead, and I-"

Without another word, he moved abruptly away from her, and then out of the room altogether. For a while, Alexa just stood in silence. Then she cursed herself for not seeing it before, for walking into it like that. Of course he'd feel like he was betraying Lois' memory. He was moving on, and that wasn't allowed. Widowers weren't supposed to have love again, or be happy. But then no other widower had to spend eternity grieving. Why should Kal?

A/N: Review please!