Author's ramblings:

Not much to say, just read and review. Please!

I get so few reviews, even though my stories get read.

But it's awfully hard to motivate yourself to write fanfics withouth any encouragement, even if it's only constructive criticism

As always speech is indicated by ""

Direct thoughts are indicated by "" and are in cursive

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Disclaimer: Brick walls do hurt, when you run full speed at them and I own no DC characters, DC does and I'm not even implying I do.

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Chapter II

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Keeping your "hat!"

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A week had passed. A week of using every opportunity, every available moment to make love.

Considering that, this had to be the most fulfilling relationship Bette ever had. The only thing that bothered her was that not once so far Kate had answered in kind, when Bette had professed her love for her.

Apart from that, Kate was an attentive and imaginative lover and an even better friend.

On the business side of things, the whole week had been a fruitless search for the Mad Hatter and his goons.

It had already become quite frustrating. Tetch was using a very good version of his usual gear and so far, no victim had shown even the slightest unusual behaviour, up to the point when they had committed the crime the Hatter was controlling them for.

It was already dark, when Bette awoke after an afternoon of frantic lovemaking. The bed beside her was empty.

Yawning and stretching she made her way out of the off partitioned "bedroom" and to the bathroom.

Seeing no sign of the redhead, Bette concluded that Kate was not in the loft at all.

After a quick shower, she made her way to the kitchen area to grab a glass of OJ. There, her eyes fell onto a small post-it, with a message from her partner.

"Got a possible lead to Tetch. It's probably nothing, but I'm checking it out anyway.

Decided to let you sleep, because you looked so "worn-out." Love Kate."

"Worn-out, huh? That's nice. She's gonna pay for that." She thought to herself.

Next, she returned to the bedroom to slip into some clothes. Just shorts and a tee, since she figured, she would have to change into her Flamebird uniform soon anyway.

She walked from the bedroom to the computer table and checked if there was any clue to Kate's whereabouts, but if the clue had come via electronically means, Bette was not able to find it.

She grabbed her communicator from her utility belt and floundered herself on the couch. Her hand wandered over the spot where her fingers had torn into the fabric and she smiled.

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Shaking her head, she tried to raise Kate with the comm., but to no effect.

"She probably is stalking out some hideout and can't answer." The blonde girl assured herself.

Collecting her uniform from the bedroom, she started to get into it.

Bette closed her belt and walked over to a mirror, to check her reflection.

"Not bad, Flamebird. Not bad at all." She told the person in the mirror, clad in red leather and a short yellow cape, before she put on her mask.

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Bette stopped the bike and swore in frustration.

She had been looking for Batwoman for almost 8 hours now. Yet she had found no trace of Kate at all

No one had seen her, no one had heard about her.

Yes, Kate valued her independence and yes, she was not used to a partner yet, but still she would have called in by now.

This meant something unexpected had happened.

"Damnit, why can't I find her? I'm so useless, always so useless!"

She thought to herself.

"Why can I never get anything connected with this right? Maybe Dick was right about me after all."

She interrupted herself.

"No he wasn't! He's just an asshole. He has talked to me, what, like five or six times over the years? And he thinks he knows shit about me? Fuck him and his high and mighty attitude. Fuck him!"

Yes! That felt better.

"I'm gonna make this hero-thing work. I'm gonna make this partnership, this relationship work… But first of all, I'm gonna find Kate!"

And, as an afterthought.

"And fuck Dick Grayson and his condemning ass."

Yes, sometimes swearing really helped.

She let her head drop behind the windshield and rested it on the cold metal of the bike.

A possibility was to contact Kate's father, but the bond between Kate and him was still strained.

Moreover, her uncle didn't take to well, to the fact that his daughter and his wife's niece had a sexual relationship.

She worked her brain hard, to find any more options.

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Just when she wanted to start the machine again, her comm. sounded.

"Ka… I mean Batwoman. Are you okay? Hello?"

An unknown female voice answered.

"Hi Flamebird. Calm down! I need you to listen to me. I'm a friend of Dick and I work with Batman. Okay?"

Bette nodded, then remembered that of course the woman couldn't see her.

"Y-yes. Yes, but what do you want? I'm somewhat busy, right now, you know?"

She heard a quiet chuckle and already started to resent the woman. Was everyone Grayson knew as judgemental as he was?

"I know Bette. That's actually, why I contacted you. I know where Batwoman is."

"How do you know my name…? Wait! Did you just say you know where she is? Tell me! Tell me right now or I swear I will kick your…"

"No need for that tone, Flamebird, if that is better. Of course, I'll tell you. Okay… She was seen breaking into a Wayne tech facility, stealing a new type of microprocessor unit. And she was unusually brutal in taking out the guards."

Bette did not say anything; she was too baffled to.

"Batman knows you two have been after the Mad Hatter for almost two weeks, so he thinks she's probably under Tetch's control.

At this moment, she is trying to get into a secure Wayne tech storage and it should occupy her long enough for you to get to her.

I just don't know if you're up to it. It might be too much for you. You could just wait until Batman finds the time to stop her."

Bette was seething. Did nobody ever take her serious? No matter how much effort she put into this? Well, somebody did. Kate did.

"Never mind the Batman. I'm sure I can handle it! Just give me her location, please."

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Bette quietly sneaked up to the next door. Since this was almost the last storage room, the chances that Kate was in there were big.

As silent as possible she typed in the code Oracle, as the voice had told her to call her, had provided.

The door slid open and the blonde glanced carefully inside.

It was a fairly big room, with raw concrete walls and it was almost empty, with just a couple of shelves located in one side of it.

Bette gasped, when she saw Kate in her black and red Batwoman costume, kneeling in front of a small metal box, she had obviously already taken from the shelves.

Quietly she sneaked into the room and it was not until she was just a few meters away, that Batwoman noticed her and turned to face her partner.

"B-Batwoman? Are you okay? Did the Hatter really get you?"

Kate gracefully stood up and stared at the red and yellow clad heroine.

Her voice was almost emotionless.

"You better leave Bette; he doesn't give me a choice, but to take out any opposition without restraint."

"Y-you wouldn't hurt me, would you?"

The Batwoman took one tentative step towards her lover. Her voice sounded strained when she answered.

"I told you, I have no choice. You don't know what I did to some of the guards."

"I do, I've found them and did first aid, before I called an ambulance. Good for the both of us, that they rushed you at the front door.

That should give us a few minutes, until the police gets in here.

But you wouldn't attack me. Not someone who loves you."

Kate stepped closer, her every move a threat."

"If you don't get out now, I will. Please let the police try to take me out."

Bette shook her head, denying the possibility.

"No way! They could hurt you. They may even shoot you."

The Batwoman was standing in front of her now, visibly shaking as she pressed out.

"Bette, darling. Last chance. I d-don't… I can't fight it anymore."

Flamebird simply shook her head again. She was getting a bit scared now, but she just could not believe it that Kate could actually hurt her.

Then she noticed a burning rage in her girlfriend's bright blue eyes.

Could it be that Kate did not feel as strong for her, as she did for Kate?

She had not even once told her that she loved her. Not once.

The next moment the palm of Kate's right hand tried to connect with her throat and Bette just so managed to sidestep the blow.

The next one did connect though. A fist drove into her face and she could feel her left eye swelling almost shut, even under the protective leather of her face mask.

She stumbled and jumped a few steps back.

Kate followed her and aimed a kick at her waist, which Bette managed to block. Quickly the blonde woman turned her body into her friend and then pivoted around herself once more, dropping into a crouch kicking Kate's feet out from under her.

The Batwoman managed to cartwheel forward, and land on hands and feet, but when she tried to stand up again, Flamebird tackled her.

Bette was surprised that she actually managed to pin Kate to the ground. Now, if only she could find the control tech soon enough to stop her love from seriously kicking her butt.

No such luck, she could not find it and Kate did not give her anymore time. Both her knees rammed into Bette's back, throwing her forward and off her opponent and knocking the air out of her lungs.

While she lifted herself to her feet, she could not suppress a moan. Her back felt like it was on fire.

In addition, of course the Batwoman was already on her way to deliver pain again.

Bette sighed and steeled herself for what was to come.

Somehow, she had the feeling it would hurt a lot, until she managed to stop Kate. If she managed to stop Kate.

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The fight had begun in earnest now, as Kate started to let loose an overpowering number of kicks and blows, against Flamebird's defences.

The problem was that Batwoman, in the Mad Hatter's thrall, fought with full power, without restraint, each attack aiming to hurt and disable her opponent, while Bette only tried to avoid her lover's attacks and find a way to break her free of the mind control.

The few hits she could land, were only half-hearted attempts, as she simply couldn't think of a way to stop her hypnotized girlfriend's rampage.

She could not bring herself to really try to hurt Kate and her fighting skills were not good enough, to give her any chance to take the red-haired woman out of the fight without doing so.

And she couldn't find this damned control device.

"Fuck! It has to be somewhere on her head, it always is."

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Pretty soon, the imbalance in abilities led to Bette being hit with devastating force again and again.

Already her left arm had gone limp, her corresponding eye was now totally shut, and it seemed to her, that her whole body was one giant bruise.

She could have run, but that would have meant leaving her love in the hands of a lunatic. Besides, she was not even sure she could still manage an escape.

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Then her entranced partner landed a powerful kick, almost straight on Bette's solar plexus.

It sent the blonde girl meters away through the air, against the shelves behind her. Both her ribcage and her head collided with the metal construction and Bette was sure, that at least one of her ribs broke under the pressure.

She attempted to get on her feet again, but all she managed was to get on her knees, supporting herself with her arms on the ground.

Each breath send a sharp pain through her chest, making her wince, while she panted heavily.

She coughed and was shocked when she spat out a fair amount of blood.

Glancing over to her hypnotized opponent, she saw that the Batwoman was advancing towards her, with slow and menacing steps.

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Bette tried to connect her eyes with Kate's steel blue orbs, but found it hard to keep her focus.

"Pl-Please Batwoman, stop hurting me. I don't…"

Before she could finish her desperate plea, Kate grabbed her lover's blonde hair with her left hand and pulled her up, so that the red clad heroine once again stood on her weakened legs.

One moment Bette allowed herself to hope that Kate only tried to help her, albeit unnecessarily rough, but then the red-haired woman smashed her right fist twice into Flamebird's face.

The next moment Kate was breaking her nose and splitting her lips under the force of the blow, so that a gush of blood erupted from the normally so beautiful features of her sidekick.

Batwoman followed her blows with a knee into Bette's stomach.

Then she grabbed the blonde's costume with both hands, yanking her lover off her feet.

She whirled around herself once and let go of her opponent, hurling her across the room, into a wall.

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This time Bette did not even try to get up again, she just lay there concentrating on staying conscious and breathe regularly through the pain.

Still, she just could not keep the sobs and painful sighs inside.

She knew that Kate was not in control of her own body and mind, yet it hurt almost as much as the physical pain, that the woman she loved was the one responsible for her agony.

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Her unsteady vision revealed two legs walking toward her, clad in dark spandex and red boots.

Now Bette struggled, without success to stand up, just to be met with a kick.

It hit her body from below, lifting her up a few centimetres (Yeah, fuck inches! I'm from continental Europe and we fucking love the metric system!)and knocking the breath out of her again.

The first kick was followed by another, this time it hit her chest and at least one more rib cracked under the strain.

She was catapulted against the wall once more, succeeding in even more damage to her ribs.

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The blonde girl drew a ragged breath; more blood was dripping from her broken lips mingling with tears of pain and frustration.

Gathering her strength, she managed to roll over on her back; she needed to check why the beating had stopped for now.

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The dark-clad, hypnotized heroine gazed down on her, an expression in her face, mixing malicious glee with curiosity.

All thoughts of overcoming her mentor had long passed, in fact Flamebird very much feared for her life by now.

She was still coughing up blood, and at least three of her ribs were cracked or broken.

It was pretty obvious, that there was some damage to her inner organs, hence the blood.

"Please, please! Let her stop. I don't t want to die! Not just now."

Were the blonde's desperate thoughts.

Yet the respite did not last long, already the Batwoman leaned forward, to get a hold of her sidekick again.

Seeing this, Bette frantically pushed herself away with all her working limps along the wall, until her back pressed into one of the room's corners.

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Slowly and calculated, the entranced Kate Kane walked over to her crime-fighting partner and lover.

Bette knew it was not worthy of a hero, but could not help shaking from fear.

"Dear god, my girlfriend is going to kill me. She really is. If she continues like this, I won't last more than one or two minutes."

She pulled her knees up to her chest, curled up into a ball, trying to shield her head with her one working arm.

There was absolutely no strength left in her to fight back.

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Batwoman's lithe, costumed body loomed threatening over her lover's broken form.

The blonde girl could not keep from crying anymore, through her swollen eyes, she gazed up to her love and decided to try to reach her one last time.

"Kate! Please Kate! You're killing me. Please don't kill me. Please! Not now that I've just…"

The blonde girl was struggling for words.

Kate's gaze revealed, for the first time since Flamebird had found her enthralled mentor, an expression of…uncertainty? instead of the cold, emotionless resolve.

The next words came deep from Bette's heart. She wanted her lover at least to hear it once more, before it was over.

"I don't want to die, Kate. Not now. Not when I just found you.

I love you, Kate. I love you!"

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Kate Kane remained motionless; the doubt in her face seemed to get deeper.

Then something like a metallic flash seemed to ripple across her blue eyes as terror suddenly filled them.

"Bette, Oh, my goddess (bad pun, I know)!"

She dropped to her knees besides her lover, cradling her bruised and beaten body to her.

"Bette! Bette, I'm so sorry!"

The normally so reserved woman started to cry.

"What have I done to you? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

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Her gloved right hand gently caressed Bette's swollen face, her left arm clutching the woman to her.

She buried her own face, in Bette's blonde mane, inhaling its honey like smell

She started to run her hands tenderly through her friend's hair.

Bette gazed up to her out of her almost fully closed eyes, warm blue meeting sad blue orbs.

"S'not… not your fault. You… Were… Controlled."

Her words were almost unintelligible, due to her swollen and bruised lips and face.

Kate continued to cry.

"That doesn't matter, Bette. I should've shaken it off earlier. I shouldn't even let an idiot like Tetch get me at all.

Look what I did to you. I almost killed you."

Bette's swollen lips formed into something almost resembling a smile, even though she flinched for a moment, when the muscle movement put pressure on some of her bruises.

"Didn't… Kill… Me. Wasn't you. You stopped. Saved me.

L-love ya."

Kate's crying intensified.

"You stupid girl. I didn't save you; you saved me. You brought me back."

She softly kissed Bette's forehead, then rested her own against it.

"I love you, Bette. I love you so much. I should've said it earlier, but I was afraid to admit it. After all I've lost already, I was afraid.

I couldn't stand losing you as well, that's why I tried to tell myself it was just sex and friendship."

Hearing this, the blonde-haired woman's right arm slowly rose, until she was able to hold Kate's chin gently. Then she pulled the younger woman's face closer to her. This was what she had waited for, she felt happy even through the incredible pain.

"Then. Kiss. Me. Please."

Their lips met in a soft, loving kiss. Bette slowly intensified it, ignoring the pain, to taste her lover's lips just a little bit more.

She moaned softly into Kate's mouth, equally from pleasure and pain.

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After too short, a time Kate regretfully broke the kiss and carefully lifted the hurt woman of the ground.

She carried the blonde in both arms like a newlywed groom his bride.

"I'll take you to a Doctor the Batman mentioned; hopefully she'll be able to help you, at least until we know if you need to be hospitalized.

And until we can think of a story to tell the staff there.

Something like "your girlfriend abuses you" or such."

Bette chuckled lightly and rested her head on the redhead's shoulder.

She felt her weakened body give in and slowly it grew dark around her.

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When Bette opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a white ceiling above her.

She looked around, the colours white and (a really ugly) green dominated the room.

"My detective skills tell me I'm in a hospital."

She told herself and giggled, then thought.

"Uh oh! Laughing about my own pathetic attempts at humour, that's gotta be a bad sign."

Only then, it came to her attention that a lot of her body seemed to be wrapped in bandages or covered in band-aids.

Her chest and parts of her head were bandaged, her left arm was in a cast from the hand, including two fingers, up to the middle of her upper arm and judging by her restricted field of vision her left eye was covered as well.

Thankfully, she did not feel much pain, more a general numbness of mind and body.

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She noticed two hands enclosing her right hand, and the beautiful, pale redhead, sitting slumped over on a chair, snoring lightly, but still holding onto Bette's hand.

As if she felt the blonde looking at her, Kate slowly opened her eyes.

Bette squeezed the younger woman's hand.

"Hi."

Kate stood up yawning and leaned forward to kiss her girlfriends lips gently.

"Hi yourself, love. How do you feel?"

Bette contemplated the question for a moment, before she answered.

"Still tired. Not much pain though. Weak. A bit whiny. I demand more kisses."

The pale redhead complied with pleasure.

"So what's my status, gorgeous? When can I get out of here?"

Kate smiled at her lover.

"Not so fast, hon'. You have to stay here for at least three more days, then I can take you home with me.

But you have to stay in bed for about seven till ten days, so that your broken ribs can stabilize enough…"

She caressed Bette's right cheek, which thankfully was not all bandaged up. Guilt gleamed in her beautiful eyes.

"I really did a number on you. If I had continued for only one or two minutes, I'd have killed or crippled you."

Bette replied angrily.

"Stop it! You blockhead! If it was the other way around, if I'd hurt you, while under a villain's control, would you hold me responsible?"

"Of course not! But wouldn't you blame yourself as well?"

The blonde girl sighed and caressed the hand that was still holding hers, with her thumb.

"Maybe, but Kate, I want you to stop it.

I don't want you beating yourself up over this any longer.

Not when I'm so happy that you told me you love me.

Plus, as far as I know, the Hatter has even controlled Batman a few times."

The redhead sighed, looked into her love's gentle eyes and nodded her head.

"Okay, hon.' I'll try, but I can't promise it. I really hurt you and knowing that feels terrible."

Bette smiled, careful not to put strain on any of her facial wounds.

"You'll just have to make it up to me, to ease your conscience, then."

Kate smiled back at her lover, full of warmth.

"Okay, I'll do that. You just tell me what I have to do."

"Well, for starters… I feel really lonely in this bed and wouldn't mind some company."

Kate was not so thrilled about this.

"Won't I hurt you?"

"Uh-Uh! Just be careful."

The blonde answered and pouted.

"I really want to be in your arms, please Kate."

She begged in such a cute voice and with real longing in her eye that Kate could not resist anymore.

Carefully she sat on the bed to Kate's right, so that she didn't disturb her broken left arm.

The redhead rested her back against the headpiece and gently pulled her lover into her arms, so that Bette could rest her head against her shoulder.

The blonde sighed contend and closed her eyes.

"Feels nice. I'm sorry but I think I'll fall asleep pretty soon."

She looked up to her girlfriend.

"Please stay like this, if it's not too uncomfortable.

I never had as many injuries before and would feel better if I could sleep in your arms."

Kate noted and gently kissed her forehead over the bandages.

"No problem. I'll stay and wake you when Dr. Tompkins comes to check on you."

She watched as her love slowly drifted into sleep.

"It's true, Bette. I really do love you. That's why I'm not sure I can let you be my sidekick.

Not as long as I am not sure that you'll be able to survive it."

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A. N:

So, that was my first official lemon. Even if there wasn't any lemon in this chapter, but at least there was waff.

Again, I hope the lemon parts were not that bad and the story not that boring.

I just hope that Kate and Bette really partner up in the new Batwoman series.

If not, maybe I'll continue this story sometime, when I come up with any good idea.

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I do my best to edit these stories: but you know... fanfiction doesn't give me much to work with.

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One last thing, please do review. My last few stories had their readers, but got no reviews so far, that is so dissatisfying.

The reviews and favourite author/story alerts are what keeps us writing.

I know I'm repeating myself here, but I'd really appreciate reviews.