He'd arranged their latest meeting.
He hoped it would go smoothly. She may be more or less reformed these days, but that didn't mean he never still had to chase her. She still loved making him do that, thief or not. And, as she knew, he would always, always go after her. He didn't want to do that tonight.
She didn't come immediately. She was taking her time, he could tell, not simply refusing to come, as was the case other times. As he waited, he reflected on the history of their relationship, and how it had evolved so much over the years…
The very first time he had met her, she was just another cat burglar, but that had changed quickly. At first, she was just a recurring nuisance, but it quickly evolved into a much more elaborate game of cat and mouse, and as much he hated to admit it, he was the mouse. Always the mouse…
And yes, among the many things she'd stolen over the years, his heart was one of them, but he never wanted to admit it. And certainly not to her, especially back when she was a criminal...
But she also had a heroic side, and once that had become evident, he had tried to bring it out in the open. Get her to embrace that side, and leave the cat-burglar she acted as behind. But she refused to give up what was more then just a habit, but a way of life for her. And so, their relationship stopped developing, never getting past the occasional tense partners against some common enemy or another, with the occasional awkward romantic moment thrown in as well.
But then after her apparent death at the hands of Deathstroke, and her disappearance afterwards, she approached him, and this time really was serious about embracing that heroic side as he had always wanted her to. For him though, it was too little too late as far as their relationship was concerned. Or was it?
At first, they remained only friends, with him unsure of whether or not she could really make the commitment to go straight. But then the business with Hush started, with her caught in the crossfire…
That was the turning point. They'd kissed many, many times before that, but that kiss on that roof, after the end of Killer Croc and the beginning of Hush, that was the turning point for their relationship, when he seriously thought that they could at last work something out, even to the point where he had finally revealed to her who he was under the cowl. But once again, things ended in disaster. After Hush was beaten, he had grown paranoid of her involvement with the scheme that had come inches away from taking his life apart, and so once again, their love soured.
She remained more or less reformed though, so there was that to be said. And they made a great team as well. And he was content to leave it that…wasn't he?
He wasn't he found, and in a cruel twist, it took Hush's return and his worst act yet to make him realize it. He had saved her life. Once again, it wasn't the first time, but this time was so different. He'd really come close to losing her, and this was when their relationship had again, evolved so much…
As she lied recovering, he finally opened himself to her. He'd confessed it all. His love for her, how she had stolen his heart, everything. And of course, they shared a kiss at the end of it all. He later heard rumors she'd extracted a little personal revenge on Hush afterwards. He couldn't say that he blamed her. Of course he would have preferred that she had handed him over to the authorities, but even in her new mindset and allegiance, that just wasn't something she would do, and he knew it. He was just grateful she didn't outright kill him…
She still hadn't come. But then he heard the unmistakable sound of her traversing the rooftops to meet him on his. As it was, he'd preferred someplace that wasn't glaringly obvious as a location, but one that was still special all the same. And so he chose the rooftop of the old boxing ring where Wildcat had trained both of them.
"Bruce? What is it?"
He turned to face her, seeing her lithe black-leather clad form. Even with the goggles on her mask, he could still see and feel her green eyes on him. He walked over to her, slowly. He was still unsure about whether or not he could go through with this.
"Selina I…." He balked. Dammit, why was this so hard? Well, he could come up with a dozen different answers for why it was so hard. But at the same time, he also realized something. Realized a lot of things actually.
First off, life was short. And youth was even shorter. If he was to truly be with her, he would have to make the decision now, once and for all. He couldn't put it off any longer. Every time one or both of them came close to dying only further drove that fact home.
Second, he found that her mere presence in his life helped him. Helped him recover somewhat in the wake of his parent's deaths. That was something he would never fully recover from, he knew that the day it had happened. But she helped. In a way that no one else could. Not Tim, not Barbara, not Dick, not even Alfred if he tried, and Lord knows, he had. No. Only she could help him sufficiently fill that void.
The third reason was as simple as could be. He just wanted her and he loved her. There really wasn't any other way of putting it. And so he finally completed what he was trying to tell her:
"Selina…we haven't really been able to talk much since my…resurrection (the term sounded so crude, but he decided that it would do) and this whole "Batman Inc." thing I've started…"
"Oh yeah, I heard about that "Batman Inc." thing. Don't expect me to sign up."
"I'm not. And that's not why I'm here. I'm here because…because I need to make something clear…"
Selina raised an eyebrow. If she could get at what he was trying to say, he didn't know, and she did a good job at not showing it if that was the case. He reached into his belt. He opened the pouch he had stored it in. And he took it out and opened it.
Her green eyes widened in complete surprise the second she saw it. Given someone of his wealth, finding a nice-looking ring was not hard. He picked the cat one for obvious reasons. It hardly so much as burned a hole in his pocket.
This was the moment of truth. It was now or never. He steeled himself, everything he had ever trained himself for coming down to this one decision that would affect him forever. He decided to say it as best he could.
"…You know I love you. But…I don't want us to be constantly playing this on the fence game. I just want us to come to a decision for better or worse. I want to be with you Selina."
She stared at him. For what felt like so long, nothing was said. What could she say? For all of her talents, she probably couldn't have predicted this. She thought she had figured him out by now. The feeling was somewhat mutual. But finally, she spoke:
"Bruce I…" She looked at him hard.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I said I want to be with you Selina, but only if you are sure that you want this."
"Well, I mean if you want me to admit that I love you, I do. But, I don't know…"Selina Wayne" sounds kind of stupid don't you think?"
"I'm serious about this Selina."
"All right, all right. It's just that marriage has never really been something either one of us have ever really considered as a possibility right?"
"It's something I didn't think was possible because I didn't think I could get it. But you've changed that."
She smiled.
"That sounded kind of corny"
"Please Selina. Yes or no?"
She went silent once more. He wasn't sure if he could bear this much longer. It was eating away at him more then almost anything else ever had with the exception of maybe Jason…
Finally, she gave him an answer:
"Yes"
He didn't bother pretending he didn't hear that, because he knew that he did. He responded:
"It won't be an easy life…"
She smiled.
"When has it ever been for us?"
"I mean it. If we would be together, it…it wouldn't be an ideal marriage…I would still have to commit my time to the city and…."
"Well, every good husband's got a job right? Yours is here…" She stared out at the city, before turning back to him. "If you want to be with me like this, then I'm willing to be with you."
Now it was his turn to decide. It didn't take him long. This was closer then he had ever come before with this kind of happiness. If he let it slip, he would never forgive himself.
"I want you to marry me"
He drew her closer. She didn't take the ring. Instead, she closed her eyes and brought her lips to his…
He'd finally found happiness with someone.
Author's Note: Nice job huh? Now, I have a personal philosophy: More comic book couples need to get together and stay together. Yes, we all love our love triangles, yes, 2 out of every 5 marriages end in divorce, but come on. Clark and Lois and Reed Richards and Sue Storm are the only ones in their universes that can make it work? It's ridiculous. I want more couples to get together and stay together. And come on, the Bat's life sucks enough as it is. I think the least we can do is give him SOME happiness…Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed.