Title: "Kittens"
Author: Kat Lee, the author formerly known as Pirate Turner
Rating: G
Summary: Bruce is right beside his beloved Selina on this memorable night.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Author's Note: 244. That's the number of stories that were sitting on my hard drive collecting dust because I lack the energy and time to take care of them as I once did. My betaing pattern has always been to write, then type up if written on paper, the story, read it aloud to my beloved Jack and our children, editing as I go, and then finally format and post. Sadly, this part is simply taking too much of my time and energy, and my beloved Jack and I have too little time together in person these days to be able to keep up with my stories. So what to do? Give up writing? I actually considered it for a while, tried to make excuses to myself other than the large number of stories collecting cyber dust on my computer, as to why I lacked the energy and Muse to write new tales. And then, with the turn of the new year, I decided to stop running and face the problem. The problem is, quite frankly, that once one gets so bogged down in formatting and editing that writing is no longer a pleasure but the actual posting of those writings becomes a hassle and - egad! - work, it's time to cut something out, and that will never be the writing process. So, in short, yes, there will be mistakes in this tale. Yes, it's missing about half of the header information I usually include. But I wrote it for pleasure and am posting it in hopes of sharing that pleasure with others. Do with it as you will.
He strained forward, anxious as thunder again rattled the little home in which she was living. His blue eyes peered around. Where was Alfred when he needed him? A cry piercing the hot air instantly brought his attention back to the urgent matter at hand. "I-is it a . . . a boy?" he asked, wishing there was more light to see, but she had seemed determined to wait until now, when electricity was out all over the city and a storm howled, to have her babies.
Selina smiled and held up the new, little one for him to see. "Leave it to the Batman," she teased, "to deduce correctly without so much as a glance."
"So that's . . . that's what?" he asked. "Two boys and a . . . a girl?"
Selina laughed lightly. The gentle, rare, and lovely sound of her laughter was usually music to his ears, but this time, it made him blush. "You'd almost think we were the ones having the kittens."
For a moment, he thought he heard her purr, but no, it was just the wind growing more distant. That, he admitted to himself while swallowing the golfball in his throat, and his own hopeful thinking. His eyes met hers. He reached out and touched her hand. She carefully deposited the kitten into his upturned palm, but their fingers lingered together longer. "Well," he asked with just the faintest trace of hope to his tone of voice, "we are, aren't we, in a way?"
"In a way." Her smile was truthful and the brightest he'd ever seen it. "But they're Shadow's babies first, and she's doing all the hard work." She petted the mother. "Aren't you, girl?"
The black cat started to purr but then meowed sharply as another kitten began to come. "Four and counting," Selina remarked. Her other cats meowed while Bruce thought that perhaps it was a good thing that they really weren't the ones having kittens. Although, he thought secondly, as he gazed down at Selina's beautiful form, wrapped half in shadow and half in flickering candlelight, having kittens with her would be the experience of a lifetime and one he hoped to share in all ways. Words of love were perched on his tongue's tip, but they were silenced by the newest kitten's mewl. Now wasn't the time, but he would tell her one night and then they'd have kittens of their own.
The End