In the summer of Season 4 Bruce and Selina's romance grows. They are closer now than ever before, but the choices they make about their night lives may drive them apart for a very long time.

I own nothing, this is all property of FOX and DC etc. etc. Generic disclaimer.

Did you just say "generic disclaimer?"

Sure did. 100% legal.

Five Summer Nights

katya_x

Part I - July

It was nearly quiet in the study. This naturally made Alfred Pennyworth nervous. Had it just been Bruce with his textbooks, he would have stayed in the kitchen to finish his own dinner. But as it was he had stationed himself outside in the hall under the guise of cleaning the telephone table for the last twenty minutes.

SHE was here.

The alley cat. The stray.

He would have felt much better had they been having a row, arguing with each other like they had been the last few days. But no, this time she had come in peace, had eaten dinner with Bruce, had been civil to the help, had worn a dress. He'd never seen her looking more dangerous.

But try warning young Master Bruce of such portents.

He'd given the boy several telling looks while he refilled water glasses and cleared the salad course, but the boy had waved them off in turn. That was frustrating, knowing damn well Bruce had understood his meaning but had decided to ignore Alfred anyway.

Alfred scrubbed extra hard at a water spot with his cloth and polish. He couldn't recall the last time the boy had taken any good advice from him. Perhaps he could send the boy off come the autumn. Many fine schools in Britain. He'd be well-received in any of them, smart lad that he was.

Alfred scowled. Who was he kidding? Bruce would probably swim the whole Atlantic Ocean just to spite him.

He stole a peek into the study, just quickly enough not to intrude. Concerned as he was, he still respected Bruce's right to have a bit of privacy for himself. But at sixteen he shouldn't expect much leeway, Alfred smirked.

In the brief moment Alfred was able to spy inside, he observed an unexpected sight. The barefoot Selina Kyle was perched, in her dress, somehow impossibly gracefully, atop the back of the tufted leather settee. The cream window sheers danced gently behind her. She was looking down at Bruce who sat on the corner of the coffee table, gazing up at her like a besotted Romeo to his Juliette. Alfred held in a judgemental sigh and turned to find another task to occupy his attention. They were several feet away from each other and not arguing. It was an acceptable arrangement he could leave be for a while. Besides, there was a pie and a beer in the kitchen with his name on it.

Bruce would have been happy to just gaze at Selina in silence for an hour longer. It had been a perfect evening so far as he was concerned. Witty conversation, lively verbal sparring, no biting insults, no fights to speak of. He was almost afraid to move or speak again lest he break the spell. What was the point in speaking? he reasoned. Often when she looked at him as she did now, he sensed Selina could read his mind. But she was enigmatic, and whatever she held behind those dark eyes was a mystery to him.

It was warm in the study. Summer had come into the city and settled deep in its streets, in its buildings and its parks. It had settled in the grounds of Wayne manor, deep in the dirt of the gardens, and it seeped in now, dancing through the open windows and settling on them both like a perfume. It smelled of warm earth and gentle breezes and a flower whose name he couldn't recall at the moment because she was still looking at him in that way of hers.

He could perch on the edge of Wayne Tower and jump into the wind, but as he lived and breathed he couldn't unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth at the moment.

The right corner of her mouth twitched up in a smirk and she pulled her legs to the left as she shifted her weight towards him. "Cat got your tongue, Bruce?"

"I apologize for staring, Selina. I was thinking about what a nice evening it's been."

"Been? Is it over then? Can I loosen my corset now?"

Bruce laughed, finally tearing his eyes away from her to look down in chagrin. "Please, whatever makes you more comfortable," he offered.

Wordlessly Selina pulled the clip from her hair and shook loose her curls, then tossed it in the general direction of where she had dropped her shoes haphazardly by the fireplace. In another graceful movement, she removed the thick ribbon from around her waist and let it drop to the floor, immediately forgotten. "Working with Tabitha has its perks, but the fashion advice isn't one of them."

"I was wondering what made you choose something other than your signature ensemble tonight."

"Tabitha told me I should soften the edges a bit. Make it hard for you to look away. I guess it worked."

Bruce shook his head slightly. "It wasn't the dress."

"Oh?"

"You'd look exactly as lovely in anything else."

It was her turn to look away now, "You're quick with a compliment, I will give you that."

"I promise you it's the truth."

She turned back to him. "Sit on the couch," she said simply, neither ordering nor asking him. He obliged, moving not too close. She liked her space, and he could see more of her from the end of the couch. But she slid towards him, seemingly floating. Her bare foot touched his knee and she settled it there. "Do you think Alfred's finally done dusting that table in the hall?"

"Oh, yes. He left right after he stole a glance in here."

"Good. I was tired of waiting." She lowered herself down as if she was on strings, and he found her in his lap with her arms around his neck. It had happened so fast that he didn't even realize what was happening. But suddenly there she was, one leg tucked under her and the other draped over his thighs, and her face and everything else so incredibly close to him.

"Selina- "

"If you want me to sit somewhere else, say so."

Bruce opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound. He stupidly shook his head. They were too young to drink under Alfred's watch, but then why did he feel drunk right now?

Selina pressed her mouth to his and kissed him long and slow, until she felt him relax into her. She pulled away but his mouth found hers again and finally he put his arms around her too. Bruce didn't care if Alfred, Gordon, Lucius, and Ra's al Ghul walked in on them. At that exact moment he and Selina were the only two people in the universe. Everyone and everything else could wait.

It was minutes later that they broke apart, neither of them quite sure what to say next. At some point his hand had become tangled in her hair, and the other had found the top of her thigh. When had she pushed him back against the armrest and maneuvered on top of him? He didn't know. But he knew he hadn't stopped her.

"Selina…" he whispered, his jaw hardening. "We ought to… Take a break."

Her dangerous smile curled her wet lips upwards again. "Don't worry, Bruce, I'm not that reckless. Tell Alfred I've left and you're going to bed. I'll meet you upstairs."

Bruce felt surprised and thrilled and terrified all at once, but he couldn't help his instincts taking over. Gently he pushed her back, but he slid his hand into hers. "No, no, I can't. We can't," he clarified.

"We can do whatever we want to," she purred, brushing his hand from her arm and sliding closer to his face to kiss him again.

"You're right," he agreed as he broke away. "But that doesn't mean we should."

Selina looked somewhere between incredulous and insulted but Bruce took her other hand and held them to his chest. She was still above him, straddling him, making it hard for him to say or do anything reasonable, yet he persisted. "Please don't be mad with me." He exhaled and it felt like he'd been breathing wrong his whole life and was just at this minute learning to do it correctly. "You are extremely impossible to say no to. And not just because you've been kissing me for the last ten minutes. But I'm just not ready for that. Yet. Not now."

For just a moment he was sure she was going to turn her eyes hard and leave him. She would head for the window as she always did when they fought. She'd jump out to the garden, barefooted, and walk the entire way to wherever home was these days, alone, in the middle of the night, just to show him she didn't care.

For a moment Salina nearly did.

Surprising them both, she leaned back, and like the acrobat she was, flipped herself off of him and landed on her feet next to the couch. She looked down at him with that perfect poker face of hers, and Bruce waited for some hammer to drop. But it never did. She reached a hand down to him. He stood up and she stepped into his arms. She wasn't a romantic. She was a get the job done kind of girl. See it, want it, take it, no regrets. Being told no usually sent her mind working in a hundred directions to make what she wanted happen. But something in Bruce's voice kept those wheels from turning. Maybe it was the civil evening they had passed together, or the laughter that had replaced the recent arguments. Maybe it was being told not "no," but "not yet" that made her feel hopeful instead of slighted. Whatever it was, it made her want to be nearer still to Bruce, despite not getting what she was so sure they both wanted.

She pressed her lips to his ear and whispered. "You're the only guy in all of Gotham who could have the nerve to be able to say no to an offer like that."

"You're the one girl in Gotham worth waiting for," he replied, quite seriously.

"I'm the one girl in Gotham you know," she reminded him with a little laugh.

"I know plenty of girls, Selina. But, yes, you are the one."

Neither knew how much time had passed, but they passed it together, arms around each other, standing there in the warm summer breeze. Alfred had come back, completely unaware of all that had transpired, and offered to drive Miss Kyle back to the city for it was getting on midnight. While Alfred got the car, Bruce silently slipped Selina's shoes back on her feet and buckled them for her, then escorted her to the waiting car. They spoke very little in the back of the limo, and she fell asleep on his shoulder nearly the whole way home. When they arrived at the corner nearest Salina and Tabitha's apartment, she wouldn't let him walk her inside, so he insisted on watching her get to her door. He found himself genuinely pleased when she turned to smile at him before disappearing inside.

Any other night Bruce would have moved up to the passenger seat to sit with Alfred on the way home. But tonight he wanted to stay right there in the seat where Selina Kyle had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He wanted to remember everything in detail. Her bare toes on his knee, her thick ribbon gliding from around her waist, and the way her eyes had softened when she reached out for him. She was the one, and he wanted to remember tonight forever.