7.
~ Bruce returned to the little sitting room where Selina and Tip were discussing theme related decorations for the dance platform.
"Oh, good news, Mr. Wayne!" Tip said happily. "I've just gotten off the phone with Steven Murphy. He was able to secure the last of the moon bounce castles. That will make five in total!'
Bruce wasn't exactly sure what a moon bounce was, but he had to assume it was good by the wide smile Tip had plastered on her face.
"Good to hear." he managed to say.
He looked at Selina and saw she looked a little flush.
"Tip, why don't we call it a day?" he asked.
"We still have to discuss the host dinner." Tip said in shock. "The Mayor and his family will be there. We have to plan it."
"Alfred is more than capable of making those decisions, Tip." Bruce said. "He's in the hall."
Tip looked a little confused but flashed her larger than life smile, took her sample books, and left them in peace.
As soon as the doors closed behind her, Bruce felt Selina sag back into the couch.
"Selina, I'm sorry I left you with her. It's not your party." he said.
He took her hand in his, and kissed her ring finger. Once upon a time, it had a special meaning for them. He looked to see if she remembered.
"I think I need to go back to bed." Selina said weakly.
"You're in pain?" Bruce asked. "I can have the nurse bring you something."
"No, I just need to be off this hip for a little while. My rib is hurting to." she said sadly.
Bruce nodded and helped her to stand. She seemed too fragile these days. Her injury making her almost like glass to touch.
He allowed her to put as much weight as she needed to on him. His workouts, his constant training, had given him a more impressive physique than just a few years ago.
"Maybe we can have dinner together." Bruce prompted.
"I'd like that." Selina said. She allowed him to help her back into her chair, but insisted on pushing herself free.
"I can manage." she said quickly.
He had made a move to push her to the elevator and then back to her room.
"Bruce?" she said before opening the doors?"
"Yes?"
"I appreciate your letting me stay here, but from now on, please don't come into my room without permission." she said.
With effort, Selina braced open the heavy oak doors on her own, and pushed herself out.
Bruce Wayne stood dumbfounded in her wake.
~ It was always hard to push Bruce away. Selina hated to be the ugly person she knew was her true self. She knew that it hurt him to say he wasn't welcome in her bedroom any longer. Even if the visits were platonic.
When they were young and innocent, it was pure manners that kept Bruce away from her bedroom. He had a typical fear of girls back then. As teenagers, when fate pulled them together, it was easy to have him in the same room. It was only talking at first. Maybe watching TV or something friends would do. How easy it had been to become so much more in those days.
It wasn't so very long ago that Selina had given Bruce her whole heart. Then, reality broke apart their fairy tale life. It was tempting to hide out here in his castle, but she was in more danger than she thought before.
People would soon know she was staying at Wayne Manor. This party, the Mayor. Gordon would find out soon enough to. It wouldn't take much for anyone to piece together her injuries with the break in. They had happened on the same night Bruce was already suspicious of her story.
She had to leave Wayne Manor tonight if possible. If Rilo or one of his men came here, Bruce or Alfred could get hurt.
Alfred might be able to defend himself, but Bruce was hopeless when it came to violence. He was trained to fight with boxing gloves and fencing swords. He couldn't fight off a group of hardened street criminals.
The best thing for Bruce was to leave him. Get out of Gotham and never come back.
She would have to wait until the cover of night, before slipping away. Bruce couldn't know, he would try to talk her out of it. Even though Bruce knew she was a thief when she lived on the streets, he never judged her for it. He seemed to understand it was about survival and not to be taken personally.
She had lied to him about having a job and she was sure he didn't believe her. But he never called her out on it. It was the part of him that she loved the most. How adaptable and understanding he was. He never really trusted her, but accepted that she couldn't be trusted, and was her friend anyway.
She took her pain medication, her rib and hip really hurting her after she snuck away to listen to Gordon's conversation. She would take a quick nap, and wait for darkness.
~ Bruce was seldom fooled by Selina Kyle. She was hiding something from him, the way she avoided looking at him. The anger and the need for space were all classic tells. She would be terrible at poker.
"Alfred." Bruce said after the butler had finished with Tip.
"Yes, Master Wayne?" Alfred said pleasantly. In just fifteen minutes, he had ordered a pristine dinner for the mayor and other VIP guests that would come to the grand opening the day before the party.
"When we installed the motion devices in the house, we put pressure sensors on the windows upstairs, right?" Bruce asked.
"Absolutely." Alfred said. "With the large windows in the rooms there, we can't have unannounced visitors. Especially with your recent… well, hobby, shall we say."
"Miss Kyle's room?" Bruce asked.
"She opened the windows last night, sir. Wanted some fresh air, I expect." Alfred offered sadly.
"I'll be monitoring the sensors from my phone." Bruce told him.
"Are we expecting Miss Kyle to leave us in her usual way?" Alfred asked.
"If you mean, by anything but the front door, yes." Bruce said dryly. "I'll be downstairs."
Alfred nodded. They were on the ground floor of Wayne Manor, but that didn't mean there wasn't a lower level. A much lower level that Bruce would retreat to when he was tired of being Bruce Wayne.
~ In his father's study, Bruce had changed just one thing. A large, ornate grandfather clock ticked the long, lonely hours away. No one used grandfather clocks anymore. They were a pointless waste of space for the busy people in Gotham City. You could look at your watch or your phone to get the time. No one even had room for such a thing that ticked so loudly anyway.
But Bruce liked the old clock. He had bought it at auction in Paris and paid to have it masterfully restored to his exact specifications.
A minor switch on the inside, a thing no one would ever notice, was placed just under the clock face. A switch, that when Bruce Wayne or Alfred needed it, moved the clock open with silent ease.
Bruce looked down the flight of stairs that lead to a massive cave like hold. The concrete stairs had all been done by contractors. An underground garage, he had told them, to keep safe his collection of rare sports cars. He had let the out of state contractors do most of the work, then completed all the secrets additions himself. It had taken years to accomplish and it would never be finished.
Without a second thought, he left behind the sad life of Bruce Wayne and stepped into Batman's world.
I would love to hear some more feedback about this story. If you like the direction it's going in, or if you think there could be another view point I'm not looking at yet. I have an idea for a second part to this, but I'm not sure if I'm on the right track for my readers. Let me know, people!
