Author's Note: I got a request on my Tumblr to write a Oneshot with Selina being sick and Bruce taking care of her, so here it is! I promise I will be updating my multi chapter Gotham fic "Home" soon, as well as posting more oneshots! If you'd like to request a Gotham oneshot just PM me or head over to my tumblr — anonymous is always available there if you prefer to stay anonymous!
Until the next fic!
-LizzySong
It had been nearly a week since the last time Bruce had seen Selina, and although it wasn't completely uncharacteristic for her to temporarily loose contact with him like this, he was worried. Something about this time seemed... different.
They'd been on good terms lately, and in the past whenever there wasn't a strain on their relationship, Selina wouldn't loose contact like this.
By the sixth day without a sign of Selina, Bruce decided to go out and find her himself, ignoring Alfred's advice to leave the girl alone and wait for her to come to him.
He started with the last place he remembered her living in the narrows, but found it abandoned for what, judging by the dust, seemed to be longer than a week.
The next place he knew he could almost always find her was The Siren's Club, though he'd been hoping he wouldn't need to go there. He'd never particularly enjoyed his encounters with Barbara Kean.
"We're not open," Barbara said without turning around when she heard the boy enter, "Come back tonight."
"I'm looking for Selina Kyle. Is she here?"
The woman rolled her eyes at the sound of Bruce's voice and finally turned to face him, putting on a smile of forced calm, "No, she's not. Can I take a message for her?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Do I look like her mother? What she does when she's not working is her business."
"Is she coming into work later?"
Barbara sighed in irritation , "No, she took a few days off. Said she needed some time for something, I don't know what. —Now, as I said earlier, we're closed, and you're trespassing, so get out before I call the cops."
Bruce briefly considered mentioning that calling the police would only help him as he was friends with Jim Gordon, but then decided against it, knowing that if Jim were to get involved it would most likely make things more difficult for Bruce to find Selina.
He decided to go back to the Narrows and see if anyone knew Selina and if so, where she might be. This plan quickly changed, however, when Bruce turned a corner and saw Selina only halfway down the block in front of him.
He pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car, quickly getting out and running after the girl.
It was bitter cold, and Selina had her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, still not able to control her shivering — though this was not entirely due to the weather.
She normally would prefer to run across rooftops and climb down fire escapes to get herself home, but she was tired and a little dizzy and she'd decided it was probably a better idea to stay on the ground for once.
She had been so lost in thought and focused on trying to stay warm that she hadn't notice the sound of someone running up behind her, calling her name, until he was right behind her.
"Selina," Bruce said, breathing only slightly harder than normal from running as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
Selina gasped and turned around sharply to face him, the sound of something clattering on the ground when it fell from where it had been hidden in her sweatshirt as she did so.
She had grabbed his hand from where it was on her shoulder in preparation for a fight, but stopped in her tracks when she realized who was standing in front of her.
"Bruce?" she asked, letting go of his hand as the adrenaline left her body, leaving her feeling colder and weaker than before, "What the hell are you doing here? Are you stalking me?" She was trying to sound angry and indignant, but her voice didn't sound like it normally did, and she realized this made her sound much less threatening.
"I was looking for you. You've been missing for days — I even looked for you at The Siren's Club and Barbara said you took time off; are you in trouble?" As he took a closer look at the young woman in front of him, he noticed how pale her face was, the dark circles under her eyes, chapped lips and slight sheen of sweat covering her face despite how cold it was. "...Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Bruce," Selina said with a sigh that caught in her throat, though she managed to keep herself from coughing.
"You don't look well," Bruce said, concern clear in his expression as he took a step closer, nearly tripping on a small bottle that had fallen out of Selina's sweatshirt earlier as he did so.
He bent over to pick it up and inspected it, but Selina quickly grabbed it away from him, hiding it in her sweatshirt again, and he looked back up at her. "You're sick," he said, worry in his voice.
"I'm fine," said Selina, crossing her arms defensively, shivering slightly, trying to suppress a cough and failing.
Bruce quickly shrugged off his coat and moved to drape it around her shoulders, but she turned on her heal and started walking away from him. "I don't need you to take care of me, Bruce. I've been taking care of myself my whole life. I'm fine."
Bruce followed after her, placing a hand on her shoulder again to stop her, "Selina wait — I know you've been taking care of yourself your whole life, but you don't have to be alone anymore. Come home with me, please, it's warm and I have better medicine than that." He gestured to where he knew she'd hidden the bottle of medicine she had most likely stolen from a corner store.
Selina stared at him for a few moments, weighing her options. The thought of a warm house and a real bed was a pleasant one, and though she didn't want to admit it, having Bruce there, taking care of her, sounded just as pleasant. Besides, she'd been trying to take care of herself for almost a week and she wasn't getting any better — if anything she was feeling worse every day. Maybe it was time to admit she needed help.
"...Fine," she said eventually, and she could see Bruce relax.
The boy smiled a little in relief, "Thank you."
By the time they had arrived at Wayne Manor, Selina was nearly asleep in the passenger seat of Bruce's car. At first she had done her best not to show any more weakness than she already had, but after only several minutes of being in a warm car with the only person she felt truly safe with sitting next to her, she found herself letting down her guard.
She was curled up in the passenger seat, her head resting against the window, which fogged up slightly with every breath or cough, when Bruce pulled in front of the building.
The boy helped her into his home, concerned by the fact that she was relying on him instead of trying to push him away, both literally and figuratively, like she normally would.
He lead her to his bedroom, thinking she'd be more comfortable there than in one of the guest-rooms, and she collapsed onto the bed with a small "hmmm..." of content.
"It smells like you," Selina said with a small smile as she snuggled into the pillows. Her voice was soft and raspy, but happiness was clear in it.
Bruce gave her a slightly confused smile, realizing he'd never seen her be this vulnerable — even with him — and wondered just how high her fever was that she was showing this side of herself. He placed a cool hand gently on her forehead and frowned at the heat rolling off of her.
"I'm going to get you some medicine," he said, straightening up, "I'll be right back."
"No...!" Selina said, looking up at Bruce through fever-bright eyes.
"Why not?"
"I... don't want you to go..." she looked like she might start crying, and Bruce sat down on the edge of the bed, running a hand through Selina's curly hair.
"I'll come right back," he said, "I'm not even leaving the house, I'm just going to get something to help with your fever."
"Nobody ever comes back... People always leave me, Bruce..."
"Hey," he said, a slight tone of sadness in his voice, "Not me. I will always come back to you, Selina."
"...Promise?"
"Promise."
It only took Bruce a few minutes to find what Selina needed, but by the time he returned to her, she had covered herself with the duvet and was half asleep.
He sat on the edge of the bed again and gently shook her shoulder. She groaned and turned away from him, pulling the blanket closer around herself.
Bruce sighed. "Selina, you have to take these," he said, holding two small tablets out to her, "Then you can sleep as long as you want."
Selina groaned again, but nodded and pushed herself up with one arm, taking the pills from Bruce with her free hand and popping them into her mouth. The boy then handed her a glass of water which she drank more than half of in a matter of seconds, and then laid down again.
She patted the spot next to her, indicating that Bruce should join her — which he did.
Selina sighed and moved to rest her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, and he wrapped a comforting arm around her.
Neither said a word for several minutes, finding comfort and safety in each other's presence. Then Selina spoke, so softly that Bruce might not have heard her if she weren't so close, "...Thanks."
"For what?"
"Worrying about me... taking care of me. ...Nobody's done that before," her voice started to waver, and she hated how vulnerable it made her feel, "...Not even my mom. You... you're the only one who didn't leave me, Bruce."
Bruce hugged Selina closer as she started to cry, and he took in the weight of what she had said. She hadn't been taking care of herself all these years by choice, it was because she didn't have anyone who cared enough to take care of her.
His parents might be gone, but at least he'd had them for the first twelve years of his life to love and take care of him — and even now he still had Alfred.
Selina's mother had abandoned her when she was only five and Selina had been caring for herself ever since.
...So it was true; he was the first person not to leave her for good — and it made him feel guilty for all the times he had left her, however temporary it might have been.
"Shhh..." he said softly, rubbing her back reassuringly, "It's okay... You're alright... You're safe now... and I will never leave you again."
"Promise?" Selina asked, sniffling as she began to calm down, and hugging Bruce tightly.
"Promise," he replied, kissing the top of her head.
He didn't now that he wouldn't be able to keep this promise in the future and would have to leave her again, but it didn't matter, because the one thing Selina would always be able to count on was that no matter how many times they went their separate ways, Bruce would always come back to her.