A/N: Catwoman loves Batman, but Batman is only interested in justice and fighting crime. What is a cat supposed to do to get his attention?

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Heart's Desire

By

AJ

Catwoman stared at the photo, her heart pounding in her chest. Who was this mysterious man in the cowl and why does her heart seem to beat faster when he's around. If only she knew who was under the cowl it might make her life easier. Was he like her, poor and destitute? No, he couldn't be. The car that he drives is far from being a clunker. He had to have money in order to do the things that he does. If only he would turn to crime, then their lives would be purr-fect, but that wasn't about to happen.

Catwoman picked up the other photo of the boy, the one called Robin. He looked utterly delicious . . . and cats loved birds . . . to eat. Of course this little bird was like his mentor . . . all work and no play. She wasn't interested in him in the way she was interested in Batman. He just looked good enough to . . . eat. After all, wasn't she a cat? The Bat however would take exception to it.

'Perhaps, I'm just jealous of the fact that he didn't ask me to be his partner. I'd gladly give up a life of crime . . . if he would only ask . . . in the way a woman wants to be asked.'

Catwoman picked up the newspaper article and read about Mark Andrew's collection. There was something about these two cats that drew her. What she could see of the two golden cats, everyone said they were identical.

'Identical? I don't think so,' Catwoman thought.

She let her fingers trace the delicate lines that she could see that graced the back of each cat. No, these cats weren't identical at all. Just like the markings on a tiger, the markings on these two cats weren't the same.

'I wonder where they came from?' she thought. Reading the article carefully, she discovered they had been passed down in the Andrews' family for at least six generations. They were hinted at being the property of the famous pirate Captain Manx. Legends tell that Captain Manx hid a portion of his treasure so it could be given to the people of Gotham to help the needy and the children, but the treasure never materialized. Captain Manx was captured and hung before he could reveal where his treasure was hidden. Other legends say that he did provide a treasure map of sorts, but everyone who sought that map never found it.

'That's because the map was right in front of them all this time,' Catwoman thought, 'Who to hide a map on a pair of cats than a man named for a cat. He would have been my kind of man.'

Catwoman returned to the photo she had been gazing at earlier. 'I wonder if you would see me differently if I were a rich woman. If I were to find Captain Manx's treasure . . . Ah but I will have to acquire the two cats that will lead me to that treasure. And maybe I'll have to let Batman know as well that I'm back in town. As for Robin . . . well . . . I just might have plans for him as well . . . After all my pets could use a nice juicy bird for their dinner.'

Catwoman stretched out on the bed and hugged the photo of Batman.

'If loving a bat is wrong . . . I don't want to be right. And when I have Captain Manx's treasure, I'll show Batman how I'm the right girl for him.'

End