Bruce saw nothing of Selina all that day. At lunch, he dialed his friend, former Police Chief Jim Gordon, now Retired Jim Gordon.
"Bruce Almighty," Jim joked when he heard his friend's voice, "how ya doing, kid?"
"Not too shabby," Bruce replied, "Yourself?"
"Ehh," Gordon sighed into the receiver. "Retirement sucks."
Bruce chuckled, "So long as you don't start playing chess with the man in the mirror," he warned.
"Did you call me up just to tell me how old I'm getting?"
"No; actually, Jim, I was wondering if I could invite you to dinner."
"A dinner date with Bruce Wayne? Now you're talking!" the older man whooped. "I'd be more than willing to take you up on that offer."
"Great," Bruce smiled, "Meet me at the Blue Jazz Grill at eight."
"Should I bring a date? Is Mistress Dazzle coming too? How are things between you two nowadays?"
Bruce hesitated, "Nah, just a man-date this time. It's—kind of what I wanted to talk with you about."
The thing Bruce appreciated about Gordon was his understanding and sensitivity. "Jeez, Bruce; what did you do now?"
Bruce winced, "We'll talk later," he said, and ended the call.
A few minutes after eight o'clock, Gordon pulled up in front of the Blue Jazz Grill and prepared to allow the valet to park his car.
Accordingly, he rolled down his window at the knock.
"Sir, can I have your keys, please?"
Gordon did a double-take. "What the—Hell!" he spluttered as Bruce Wayne winked at him. "Bruce, you oughta be kinder to this old man! Maybe help me outta this car instead of performing like a trained monkey!"
Bruce, meanwhile, laughed long and hard at the beleaguered man's expression. "Gordon, buddy, it's been way too long; you're losing your eyesight."
Gordon climbed out as the real valet took the driver's seat. He threw a playful punch at Bruce's shoulder, "My eyesight's just fine, smartass! You better quit with the jokes if ya know what's good for ya!"
Bruce winked as they entered the restaurant. "Where's the fun in that?"
Gordon pretended to scowl and shake his head. "We all gotta grow up sometime, kid."
They sat at Bruce's customary table, and Bruce nodded at the waiter. Gordon smoothed the napkin on his knee and leaned forward. "So... You and the Kyle girl; what's going on?"
Bruce gave a wry smirk. "I've been wondering the same thing myself. But we'll get to that. What I really wanted to tell you about is the dreams."
"What dreams?"
Back in the Manor, Selina ate a ordered-in dinner. Well, "ate" is the operative term; she was so preoccupied that she mostly picked at things. Finally, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed.
"Hello?"
"Jen?"
"Holy crap! Kyle? That you?"
Selina smiled at her friend's reaction. "Yeah, it's me." There was so much more to say, but Selina didn't know where to begin.
Jen prompted, "So…how are things going?"
Selina tried to come up with some kind of cover answer, but just in that moment of speaking with someone who actually cared, she broke. "Not…" her chin wobbled and her voice broke, "not good."
Jen's voice carried genuine sympathy. "Aww, what's the matter?"
"Bruce has been acting totally weird—well, okay, not weird exactly; but at least I'd thought he'd changed so much, and now he's back to his old self and bringing home other girls and partying just like he used to—and I've been having these weird dreams and I don't know what they mean, but it feels like I've been there before and done all this stuff, but I can't remember it!" Oh man, it felt so good to finally talk to somebody! "Am I going crazy, Jen?"
One could always count on friends to know just what to say to this kind of question, above anyone else on the planet. And as far as Selina was concerned, Jen was the closest thing to family she had.
"Yeah, Sel; you're certifiable. We established that years ago."
Selina sighed.
"Now," Jen continued, "What's this about Bruce acting weird? Why does that have you so worried? From the sound of it, his philandering shouldn't even show up on your radar; he's always been that way."
"Not lately!" Selina rose to his defense. "Well, at least, over the last year or so. I think he's even been talking about settling down, Jen!"
"Since when?" Jen was duly shocked. "Are you being serious?"
"I thought I was," Selina admitted, "but it's like he's completely forgotten about last week and about me!"
"Loser," Jen growled; then she brightened, "Okay, so then you said something about the weird dreams you keep having of stuff that you've done before."
"No, not quite," Selina ran a hand across her forehead. "I mean, it plays out like a memory, but I could swear I've never seen this place before! And I, well, steal things from it, one by one, all except the big gold sarcophagus at the center. Then I awaken."
"Hmm," Jen mulled the strange tale over in her mind. "You sure you've never been in that sort of situation before? Like maybe you did the exact same thing, but at a different museum?"
"No, not really," Selina frowned in thought. "I don't recognize any of the things in the museum in my dreams, and I definitely don't recognize the museum. But I just can't shake the feeling that I really have seen it all before! Like, it all seems totally natural; that's what scares me."
"Have you talked with Bruce about this?"
"No; you're the first one. He's—we…haven't exactly been close lately, I mean, there's moments, but honestly, Jen, I don't think he'd understand."
"Selina," Jen remonstrated gently, "you sound like you haven't even tried yet."
"Well, he's hiding stuff from me too, so there!" Selina protested.
"Stuff like what?"
"How should I know? He won't tell me!"
"I thought you hated waiting for people to tell you stuff."
"Well—" Selina couldn't find a retort for that one.
"The fact that you're waiting for Bruce shows how much you care about him, Selina; and if you care, you can bet your ass he cares, too. So what if he won't tell you what's bothering him? Show him you trust him enough and care for him enough to clear the air between you two. Be the one to take the first step." Jen waited for a response, but none came for several minutes. "Hello?"
"Still here," Selina informed her. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around my best friend Jennifer giving me relationship advice."
"You're welcome!" Jen chirped. "You know me; I can be very surprising when I want to be."
Selina chuckled, "Oh, it's so good to talk to you, Jen! You're the closest friend I have."
"Not true; you have a friend closer than that; so close, in fact, he's in the same house."
Selina huffed, "So close, yet so far."
"Just try it; if I'm wrong, you can penalize me any way you like."
"Wow, someone's sure of herself!"
"Yeah; unfortunately I learned more from error than trial." Jen let out a noisy yawn. "I gotta get to bed. Think about it, 'kay, Selina?"
"Okay; goodnight, Jen."
"We'll talk later!"
"You bet!"
Selina ended the call, feeling better than she had in a while. She threw on some loungewear and sat on the couch to wait for Bruce.
It was long after midnight when Bruce finally returned to the Manor. A few lights were still on, but he was too preoccupied to care. He went straight to the bedroom and changed into his pajamas.
Jim had listened like a faithful friend to the weird dream, but he could make no more sense out of it than Bruce could. Was there still a criminal overlord with whom Batman had not settled a score, and this is what the man would "count good"? Why would the dream keep happening if such an event had nothing to do with real life? Was it a warning of things to come, or merely a bizarre set of circumstances from an overdrawn brain? Jim had brought up telling Selina about them, but Bruce knew better. Selina had enough problems to deal with; there was no need to dump his own onto her. Bruce was almost hesitant to fall asleep again; the dream was beginning to annoy him. He rolled over and tried to empty his mind of everything.
Selina awoke soon after Bruce entered the bedroom. She hadn't really been sleeping. She waited through Bruce's changing and pre-bed routine, until she heard the sheets rustle. She then arose and tiptoed over to his door. Jen's suggestion weighed on her mind, almost precluding all other thought till this one was dealt with. She licked her lips.
"Bruce?" she called tentatively.
He didn't move; she detected no change in the rhythm of his slow, steady breathing.
Selina opened her mouth to continue, but she could not make the words come out of her mouth. She worked her lips silently before giving up with a sigh. She trudged back to the guest room. Reconciliation would have to wait till the next night... Or the one after that...
*A/N: Thanks for waiting! :P This next part is shaping up to be a bit tricky... it might be a while. Meanwhile, let me know what you think!-KM
