I wrote this one night during a band of bad thunderstorms that was moving through my area. They were the ones that had spawned all those tornadoes in the plains. My reason for slight panic and insomnia. But, thankfully, Lake Michigan nixed most of them. I'm close enough for that to work. :)
And I think I promised to not come back to this fandom for a while and I kept that. I've gotten better, so I thought I'd do a fic to undo what I did with my previous multi-chapter story. Well, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Catherine belongs to me. Any other characters belong to the folks at DC.
11111111111
It was bound to happen.
She was living in Montana under the name Catherine Walker. Happy, content and avoiding all things Justice League. She avoided discussing it with the club of old farmers who gathered in the diner in town, turned the channel whenever a story about them came on the news.
If it had the words 'Justice' and 'League' anywhere in the title or in the description, she avoided it like the plague. Literally.
...And then it happened.
She'd been out spending time with the calves, petting, rubbing, getting them used to her presence when she had seen the smoke. It could only have been a house fire, judging by the color of the smoke. She'd gotten out of the pen, locked it behind her and jumped on her ATV. When Catherine had arrived, Jason and his family were out, but there was one little girl who was still inside and he couldn't get to her.
"Give me the blanket, hose it down!" she'd said, snatching the garden hose from him and wetting it down. "Call the fire department!" she said, giving him her cellphone. Pulling the wet blanket around her head, Catherine had used some of her remaining power to protect herself from the fire and locate the little girl. Catherine picked her up and settled the wet blanket around the girl while clearing a path in the smoke to reach the front door, then dropping the path, so as to appear she hadn't changed a damn thing about it. The girls mother had taken her daughter, sobbing with relief and heaping thanks on her.
The story of an heroic female farmer had quickly gotten out and her face had been plastered across the national news, despite her attempts otherwise. She knew the story would fade from the public quickly, especially after the latest celebrity shenanigan.
Didn't mean she didn't expect him.
A familiar presence tickled the edges of her sleeping consciousness and it woke her. Catherine sighed, sat up and rubbed her eyes. She pulled on a shelf-bra cami, a pair of comfortable, beat up jeans and slipped into a pair of sandals. Thankfully, it was summer. He had landed in her spacious backyard, stealthy as always, not disturbing the calves in their pen.
"Mel-" she cut him off by raising her hand.
"I go by Catherine now. Or Cathy, whichever." she said, shrugging. "Coffee?" she asked, gesturing to the house. Batman nodded and followed her inside.
"Beautiful house." he said. She nodded.
"Thank you. Black with two sugars, right?" she said, placing a mug down in front of him.
"Right." he said. Catherine nodded, sitting down in her chair, yawning.
"All right, let's have it." she said. "The questions, the attempts at intimidation." she said, waving her hand tiredly.
"I thought you were a ghost." he said. Cathy snorted.
"Ran out of time."
"But you were dead."
"Ran out of time." she repeated with a shrug. "Don't ask me for answers I don't have, Bruce. One second I'm fading away into oblivion and the next I'm waking up in a hospital in Tulsa with a headache and a hangover. Search me why, but I figured I got a second chance for a reason and I don't want to make the same mistakes. Returning to the league? You'll pardon the usage, but that would be inconceivable. You don't want me, I don't want you. Simple as that." Batman was silent for a long moment before speaking again.
"Why Montana?" he asked. Catherine shrugged.
"Good a place as any. How often does the League come here anyway? Billings on occasion, maybe, Helena in an emergency. But a little town like Medicine Lake? Really?" she laughed. "You might say I was hiding in plain sight." she said and sipped her coffee.
"We need you in the League." he said, taking a sip of his own coffee. Catherine snorted.
"Bullshit." she retorted. You have Fate, Etrigan and Zatanna. Don't insult me. You want me back to keep an eye on me. I know you. You don't like loose ends." she subsided and shook her head. "I'm not coming back, Bruce. I can't."
"Can't? Or won't." he said. Catherine grinned.
"You're getting old. You used to be better at manipulation." she said, sipping her coffee again. A flicker of her eyes, corner of her eye trained on Batman showed that it was 4:30 in the morning. She had to get up in about an hour. "Well, much as I enjoyed the coffee too early in the morning, You had better go. I'd like to get some more sleep." she said, getting up and holding her hand out for his mug. He passed it to her and watched as she poured it down the drain.
"You've matured." he said quietly. Cathy laughed.
"Yeah. Once upon a time, I'd have put my hands on my hips, told you off and then made nice-nice. I was such a brat. 'Course, now I'm not much better. I'm just a regular ol' bitch now." she said. Bruce let out a quiet chuckle.
"Good night, Mel- Catherine." he corrected himself mid-way.
"Bruce," she called before he left the kitchen. "If anyone asks, please tell them I don't want any visitors. Anyone." she said. Bruce nodded. Cathy heard the quiet swish of his exit and knew it was for her benefit. Catherine Walker stared at her reflection in the dark window and remembered a time when she was much worse.
Circling each other, the swordsman and swords woman tested each other with various swings and parries. After a moment of silence, Justin charged. Melanara neatly sidestepped and grinned as her sword pierced Justin's stomach, hitting every vital organ on the way in.
"You have no honor." he gasped, then sagged. Melanara pushed him off her sword.
"Good-bye, Sir Knight. Angels sing thee to thy rest."
Catherine shook her head. If she was back from the dead, then Justin should be back as well. He had better be. He deserved a second chance far more than she did, god knew.
Melanara Raya had faded in to oblivion. Catherine Walker had woken up in a hospital in Tulsa, dazed, confused and full of memories of mistakes made and things lost. Catherine had vowed never to return to that life.
And of all the vows she had ever made in her life, she would keep that one.
That one.
222222222222222
Batman materialized on the Watchtower and took a step back as Diana came striding towards him.
"Is it true? Please tell me it's not true!" Diana snarled. Batman nodded.
"It's true." he affirmed quietly. Diana spat out several curses and Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Is it considered proper for a Princess of Themiscrya to be swearing, using words from the world of man?"
"Shut up." Diana snapped. She stalked away and various members of the league scattered in front of her. Bruce shook his head. A familiar figure landed in front of him and he held up a hand to stem the coming tide.
"Yes, it's true. And she doesn't want any visitors. At all." he said and leveled a mild glare at Orion. The innocent expression did nothing for Bruce's belief that the brash New God would do it anyway. Orion had never been one to listen, even if it was for his own good.
333333333333333333333333
TBC