Freeze stood at the window, looking in. Around him, the flakes had begun to fall, drifting gently to the ground on a soft breeze. With the snow beginning to fall, he no longer needed his suit. He could walk the city like a normal man again. It had been so long.
Inside, the family rejoiced. Chairs crowded the food-laden table, ready for the many guests coming to celebrate, not one but two miracles. The birth of Christ, and the rebirth of Nora. His beloved Nora. She was radiant.
As he watched, they noticed the snow falling outside and went out to feel the snow against their skin. Laughing, Nora tasted a snowflake on her tongue. Victor sighed. It had been so long since he had heard her laugh. He would like to hear it again.
"There will be no need of violence, Batman."
The shadow had flickered across the façade of the house, and Freeze was too experienced in the ways of the Detective not to recognize the signs. He felt the vigilante's eyes like sunlight focused through a magnifying glass, burning holes in his back. Perhaps this would be the last time their paths would cross. One day, a time would come when he had no fear of the Dark Knight. No need to look over his shoulder, expecting to be followed.
"How long will the snow last?"
"Long enough." Victor closed his eyes, picturing happier times. Before the illness, before the accident. "Nora had always hoped for a white Christmas. Now I can finally make her dreams come true."
"And your own?"
Victor heard the snow crunch beneath the Dark Knight's feet. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he knew instinctively that a tracer had been planted on his collar. He smiled wryly. It was too much to hope that the Batman would let him escape. His life of crime was behind him, but there were still deeds for which he had to pay the price.
"I saved my love. My dream is over," he said. "She should not see me this way."
Prison itself didn't worry him. Not even Arkham scared him anymore. But the look in his wife's eyes when she learned of all the horrible things he had done, all the heinous crimes. That was something he couldn't bear. Even the pain of never seeing her again paled in comparison. Better that he disappeared, so that she could forget and move on. So that Gotham could forget.
Freeze turned to face his former adversary. In the clear winter light, without fear or anger clouding his judgement, Freeze finally saw him for what he was: a man in a suit. It seemed so foolish now, all of their antics. Their battles through the years. All of it was for nought. In the end, they were not so different. Both simply men who had lost loved ones and had gone to extremes to heal.
A handheld ice-gun, the shape and size of a pistol, hung at the scientist's belt. Batman eyed it suspiciously, but Freeze made no attempt to use it. His struggles were over. And for a moment, he thought he saw that understanding in the Dark Knight's eyes.
"Turn yourself in, Freeze."
And with that, he was gone.