Nancy Drew

Description: Really, Bruce should've known better than to read in the living room, where Selina could easily track him down, but he had just finished boxing and, well, his book was just lying there so… yeah. In which Bruce tries to read in peace, Selina learns who Nancy Drew is, and Alfred can't deny that this is better for Bruce than it should be.

A/N: So I'm a big fan of Gotham right now on FOX 2, and I wanted to write something cute for it, even though I'm not fully caught up (Just finished the episode where Selina moves in with Bruce). I can't get over lately the idea of Bruce liking Nancy Drew books.

It was around three or so when Bruce and Alfred were finally finished boxing. It was later than usual for them to end one of their sessions, but the whole training thing had eventually been thrown out the window and they'd been mainly letting off steam for about two hours. Selina was nowhere to be found when they came in, not that Bruce was looking for her. He was much more intent on either showering or just doing something that could train him even further. If it were up to him, he would've kept on going until the sun went down, but Alfred had been persistent in making him rest for awhile, especially after Bruce had accidentally gotten a bruise on his shoulder from a not-so well-aimed punch from Alfred.

The duo walked into the living room after dragging themselves through the back-doors, Bruce lying down almost immediately on the couch, surprised internally by his own fatigue. Huh, he'd thought that he could go longer without a break, but it seemed that Alfred was right. He'd need to work on that. Having tossed himself onto a huge stack of his study papers, Bruce squirmed on the couch before finally finding a comfortable position, making the eight year old sigh with content. As he closed his eyes, he heard Alfred say something about readying an early dinner before walking off to the kitchen, leaving Bruce in peace. Alone at last, Bruce sat up on sore elbows, reaching onto the coffee table until he finally found his book.

It was titled "Nancy Drew: The Mystery at Lilac Inn". He had hardly started on it a few weeks prior, before Selina moved in, and finally found enough time to get cracking at it again. Opening it up, he focused entirely on the story, ignoring the world around him for the time being. It was the perfect and worst time for Selina to show up. Perfect, because Alfred wanted Bruce to communicate with her more if only to be more social with kids around his age. Worst, because Bruce only wanted to finish his book and not get distracted. He refused to admit that Selina was a distraction, of course, but that didn't change anything! Without any warning whatsoever, Selina made her presence known as she plopped down onto the couch, right on Bruce.

Neither had expected it, as Bruce had been too far into his own little world to notice Selina running down the hallway and into the living room, and Selina hadn't even seen Bruce much less heard him when she decided to jump on the couch. Bruce squeaked, embarrassingly enough, and rolled onto the floor, taking Selina down with him. As Bruce nursed his sore head, it having slammed right into the corner of the coffee table, Selina sat up on her knees after narrowly missing the table, a wry smile on her face. She began laughing after a few moments, Bruce not following her lead, instead choosing to glare at the girl for having nearly crushed him. Selina jumped up, grinning down at the billionaire.

"You okay there, kid?" She asked, offering her hand, which was quickly accepted with a slight blush from Bruce. "Didn't even see ya there."

"It's okay, I'm fine." Bruce promised, looking around until he found his book, unfortunately, he found it in Selina's hands. "Hey! Give that back, that's mine!"

"Gotta reach for it!" Selina teased, jumping onto the couch and holding the book up over her head, that toothy grin still on her face. "Come on, I know you can do it!"

"Cat! This isn't funny, give it back!" Bruce begged, jumping onto the couch to try and get it, only to have Selina flip off and start running around the room with it. "Get back here!" He demanded, hands balling into fists from his anger.

"Nope. Gotta catch me if you want it!" Selina explained, taking off down the hallway with the book. She had little idea why Bruce wanted it back so badly, since she thought it was just a stupid book, but wouldn't turn down the opportunity to tease him.

With that said, Bruce was after her, chasing her down the hallway and up the grand staircase with only one goal in mind: getting his book back… and maybe getting back at Selina, but that wasn't as important! Selina was faster, dashing around corners almost faster than Bruce could track them, but there was one major difference between them. Sure, Selina was much faster than the wealthy child, but Bruce knew the manor like the back of his hand. So, it wasn't all that unexpected when Bruce finally cornered Selina at a dead-end hallway. He stomped towards her, snatching the book right out of her hand with a defiant smirk of his own on his face. He breathed heavily as his adrenaline wore down, happy to have finally won.

"I win." Bruce whispered with a heroic smirk on his face, hopping back a few steps to wave the book at his house guest. "How's that for a kid?"

"You know the place, I'll give you that." Selina admitted, hands up in surrender, her smirk never having left. "But out on the streets? I would've won in a matter of seconds."

"Whatever, I still got my book back." Bruce made sure to remind her as he opened the book back up, finding where he'd left off. However, Selina once again took it from him. "Hey! No fair, I already won!"

"Calm down, kid." Selina suggested, closing the book to look over at the cover with a raised eyebrow. "Nancy Drew? Who the heck is that?"

"A legend! That's who!" Bruce declared, stealing his book back with a harsh glare. "I can't believe you've never heard of her! She's only the greatest detective of all mystery novels in the world!"

"Nerd." Selina replied dryly, not nearly as impressed as her housemate. "Who cares about some detective lady? Why do you even like her?"

"It's not HER I like so much, it's her adventures! In every book, she has a new mystery to solve, a new villain to apprehend, and a new hideout or place to discover! And what's even cooler, is that all of the books aren't even by the same person! They're almost all by different authors!" Bruce explained proudly, handing the book back to Selina. "Every author writes her a bit differently, even if it's just the slightest change. It's up to the reader to decide which one they think is the best."

"Okay, I GUESS she sounds KINDA cool… for a detective." Selina muttered, tossing the book over her shoulder.

Bruce caught it, not looking too happy that she'd treated it with so little respect. "Hey, Jim Gordon is a detective too, ya know! You should treat detectives with more respect… who knows, you might be one someday if you try hard enough."

Selina laughed at the idea, resting her hand on her hip. "Yeah, that'll totally happen. What about you, what're you gonna be when you grow up?"

"Me?" Bruce repeated, giving Selina a curious glance. "I dunno… well, I do, sort of, but I'm not sure if I should tell you…"

"Oh, keeping secrets, are you? I find that attractive." Selina commented, lacing an arm around Bruce's shoulders.

Bruce gulped, blushing nervously as the heat rose to his cheeks. "Y-you do? Really?" He asked, looking almost hopeful.

"Yeah, in attractive people." Selina explained, laughing aloud as she grabbed the front of Bruce's shirt and tugged it over his face, popping a button in the process, before snatching his book and running off. "Catch me if you can, kid!"

"Hey! I already won! That isn't fair!" Bruce shouted, running off after Selina despite this. "The games over! I won! Give me back my book!"

As Alfred finally found the children, balancing a tray holding Bruce and Selina's dinner on it, Selina dashed by, nearly making him drop the food all over the place. Bruce followed soon after, face bright red both from exhaustion and anger. Alfred opened his mouth to yell at the kids to quit horsing around inside the manor, but stopped short, a small smile finding it's way onto his face. This was progress, he supposed, more progress then he'd made in a long time. Yes, Selina wasn't exactly GOOD for Bruce, but… she wasn't entirely bad for him either.

A/N: Pretty short, but I just wanted to write this really badly. Hope you enjoyed it, please R&R if you can, it'd make me SUPER happy!

~Supercasey.