A/N: Okay, here's the sequel to Forever. So excited to start this story. It's gonna be good, if I do say so myself!
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs anything else belongs to the owners of the DC universe
Enjoy!
Chapter: 1
The quiet night in Wayne Manor was broken by a yelp and a shout from somewhere in the giant mansion. Bruce Wayne grunted in his sleep, part of him wanting to investigate, the other wanting to stay under the warm covers and sleep. He'd gotten in from patrol an hour ago at two, he'd sent Damian in at one and his twin daughters in at one-thirty. Finally deciding to find out what that noise was, he got up and silently patted down the stairs, searching for the source of the disturbance. He was worried it was an intruder until he looked into the second floor living room to find Katherine, the youngest of the twins, nodding off on the couch while Nina, the oldest of the twins, grappling with Damian over the remote to the TV,
"I will not watch that stupid southern romance movie again!" Damian growled grabbing, for the remote, which Nina used her height to her advantage and held it away from the eleven year-old,
"Gone with the Wind is a classic!" She stated,
"It's three something hours long Ni, why in the world would you want to watch it at...three in the morning?" Katherine mumbled from her spot on the couch. Despite still being the one Bruce kept the closest eye on while patrolling Gotham, Katherine had proven that she wasn't as bloodthirsty as she had been a year ago...violent, yes...but not so bloodthirsty,
"Yes, why are you watching a three or more hour movie at three in the morning?" Bruce asked, eyeing his children who looked at him eyes wide. Damian rolled his eyes while Nina looked guilty,
"Nina woke me up," he stated, "About half an hour ago when she first came down here,"
"I came when they were watching Full House," Katherine said, hugging the couch pillow to her chest,
"Bed, all of you," Bruce said, Damian snorted and tossed the remote he took from Nina on the couch,
"It's better than watching some old stupid romance," he said as he walked by. Katherine sighed and walked by Bruce to her room. As Nina walked by he stopped her,
"Are you okay?" he asked her, Nina looked at him confused,
"What do you mean?" she asked, Bruce knew she knew exactly what he meant. She'd been getting up earlier than he has been, she usually liked to sleep late which is why watching super long movies at three in the morning was weird,
"Just...just try to get some sleep Nina," was all he said before letting her go to her room. Sighing he trudged back to his room and collapsed into the pillows and in no time was snoring into them.
. . .
Right, get some sleep? Nina thought bitterly as she tossed around in her queen sized purple bed. Not likely for her, she's been having nightmares. Nightmares about several things. A bunch of the nightmares were about her deaths...yes deaths, plural...thanks to her psycho grandfather and slightly crazy mother Nina and her sister, Katherine, were now successfully immortal...they can't die as far as they know. Not only that but it's apparently irreversible although Bruce is still trying to find a cure...which is going nowhere. Add her imagining all the worse case scenarios of what would happen if they never did find the cure and on top of that add her fear of a relapse.
There had been a scary moment where Nina's body and immune system rejected the change her blood cells were undergoing thanks to extreme exposure to the chemicals of the Lazarus Pit, which had kept her grandfather and mother alive for centuries. For four days she had been a prisoner trapped in her own body. She's been afraid of that happening overnight and then never waking up. She's been waking up scared and covered in sweat every night for months because of these irrational fears that she's never had to deal with before.
Sitting up in her bed she got up and started pacing around, trying to calm her racing mind. Glancing at her clock ever so often and avoiding looking in a mirror. She didn't want to see the dark half-moons under her newly changed eyes. Her and Katherine's eyes used to be a dark green like their mother's, but now they were a gem-like gold color…a side-affect of the Pits, a mark to show they were different, unnatural—inhuman.
Every time she woke up from a nightmare she'd try and list positives in her life to distract her from the negatives...it also kept her from calling Nick, who would probably be getting back from his job that he'd gotten…he was forced to work the night-shift every Thursday night. It still didn't help, she was hopelessly unprepared to handle nightmares. She'd never had them when she was with the League...emotions like fear were practically forced out of her mind, but now that she was with her father, it was like the emotions she didn't want right then were forced back.
Settling into her desk chair she powered up her computer, she could look through police records while she waited for sleep to come, or she could hack the Pentagon, or even maybe the Times Square bill boards to say 'Batman is bat-ass.' Smiling to herself she started typing. Halfway through flipping through the police records her phone started ringing,
"Who the hell is calling me at four in the morning?" she demanded, not stopping her typing and reading. She tried to sound tired so that they'd think she was sleeping and leave her alone,
"You can drop the 'I'm tired' act Nina," Barbara Gordon said from the other line, "Did you even think to cover your cyber trail when you started hacking into places you shouldn't be?" she said it in a scolding voice, Nina groaned,
"I forgot," she said,
"Nina, the only other girl I know who has photographic memory, tells me she forgot? It took me not even a minute to trace this IP address back to you! " Barbara said sounding incredulous,
"Yes, I did. What are you doing up anyway? Hubby not home yet?" Nina asked, trying to sound snarky and not tired as she stifled a yawn. Barbara and Dick finally got married last summer and now were expecting baby numero one,
"The little one wanted to eat,"
"So you wanted to eat...you might not want to eat so much otherwise it'll take forever for you to burn the fat off," Nina said, yawning while resetting her hack so that no one could trace it back to her,
"I'm not worrying about that right now, I'm worrying about you," Barbara said,
"What do you mean?" Nina asked, confused, why would anyone worry about her?
"Four in the morning Nina. Four in the morning, you came in at least an hour before Batman did, and you're still up,"
"So, I'm still a little wired from fighting goons. I'll go to sleep soon,"
"You have photographic memory, you never forget, never. I know, I'm photographic memory girl too. With what we do every night and what you've been through, that's not easy to ignore—It came back didn't it?" Nina didn't respond, "The memories you tried so hard to forget. Dying that many times is trying on the mind even if it's part of who you are, not to mention nearly dying despite not being able to die..."
"Barbara stop," Nina finally said as she felt her heart start to race from unwanted anxiety, "I don't need Dr. Phil right now,"
"You need to sleep," Barbara tried to say again,
"Goodbye Babs," Nina said before hanging up and letting out a huff of air. She had no idea what was going on with her. Why was she all of a sudden a weak little girl? Something had to be wrong with her, it had to be that. Getting out of her chair she peeked out into the dark hallway...no one else seemed to be up anymore. Silently she padded down the hallways to the living room on the first floor by the kitchen. TV helps, it always helps.
A/N: the mind can be a scary place, and an assassin that has never dealt with fear before...well that can't be good. Next chapter next Tuesday. READ AND REVIEW!