The Bat and the Cat Come Back

Nine

Selina Kyle casually strolled into the dark apartment. It wasn't much; just some ugly pieces of furniture and some room-darkening curtains and shades.

She'd come in through the kitchen door first and found exactly what she'd suspected. The sink was piled high with dishes and after peering in the fridge and finding a couple beers, a carton of milk, and a couple slices of cheese, she shook her head.

This guy needed help.

It certainly wasn't going to her, because she was too busy keeping Bruce from helping the kid, but someone could probably help. Maybe.

She stepped carefully into the cramped living room and then found two more doors. One had to be the bathroom and the other was the bedroom. Selina opened the door and found she'd chosen correctly.

"Rise and shine, b…" she trailed off upon finding that Blake wasn't alone in his bed.

Both people, Blake and an unknown redhead, blinked angrily at her.

"Oops!" Selina smiled.

"John, who is that?" the woman mumbled into his shoulder as she rolled away from the light coming in from the doorway.

"I'm a friend of Blake's," Selina replied. "And I do believe we had arranged to start now?" she said to Blake.

He groaned. It sounded remarkably like Bruce right there.

"You were the one who picked the time. And it's already eleven."

"AM?" Blake asked.

"Right. It's eleven PM. That's why the sun is shining around your ridiculous room darkening shades. What are you? A vampire?"

"Make her go away, John."

"He's been trying to do that for a while, sweetie, and it hasn't worked yet," Selina smirked.

Blake finally sat up in the bed. He was shirtless and Selina got a good look in the dim light at a jagged scar on his side.

"I do have to go," he told his bedmate.

"Nooo," she mumbled half-asleep before snoring softly.

"Kept her up late past her bedtime?" Selina teased.

Blake stood and gave her a dirty look.

"Oh, dear lord, put some pants on," she said, covering her eyes.

"Get out of my bedroom, then," he groused as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.

"I'm still slightly curious about the girl…"

"Well, since she's asleep, she won't be able to tell you much," he said as he pushed Selina out of the room and closed the door.

Selina was still smirking when they got out into the kitchen.

"You doing that Big Brother program? Because I don't think you're allowed to do that…"

"She's 21," he spat back at her.

"You did keep her up past her bedtime," Selina replied. "How'd you get a girl that cute to come back to a shithole like this?"

"I can be convincing," Blake said. "And she's my girlfriend."

Selina held up her hands in defeat. "Oh, my bad," she said sarcastically. "Who is she?"

"Barbara…Gordon," he answered slowly.

"As in, a relation of Commissioner Gordon?" Selina smirked.

"His daughter."

"Holy shit. I thought I had issues. Does she know?"

"That she's Gordon's kid? Um, yeah."

"Smart ass. No, does she know about you…"

Blake shook his head.

"This trip back just keeps getting better," Selina said. "Why don't you have any food?" she asked as she rifled through the cabinets so she could get him some breakfast.

"Job doesn't pay so good," he replied around a mouthful of milk straight from the carton.

"Come on," she said. "We'll get you carbo-loaded at the place on the way."

"Where are we going?"

"I know a place where we can work and we won't be interrupted."

Blake looked up at the ceiling as he lay flat on his back. Selina Kyle, aka the Catwoman, aka Batman's wife, had taken him down again. He wasn't sure if he was angry or disappointed. Or if he was ever going to get up again.

"Get up! We'll try it again," Selina called.

She had brought him back to the penthouse, where Bruce had quickly put together a space specifically for this. They were up higher than most buildings in Gotham, so there wouldn't be any danger of anyone seeing them.

Blake hoisted himself up again and put himself into a fight stance. He was good at taking down the bad guys that weren't trained fighters. He could call on his police training for that. But anyone who'd had any martial arts training whatsoever was definitely harder to take on. And Selina Kyle was definitely in that group.

Selina surprised him again and once more, he was down on the mat.

"Good form," a male voice called. "But once you start to think you know where your opponent's next hit will be, you get cocky. A skilled fighter will know you're getting cocky," Bruce said from his place leaning against the wall. "Selina is one of those fighters who will use that against you."

Blake sighed. He really hadn't gotten any sleep last night and now he was getting his ass handed to him by a woman he'd once put in jail.

"Don't be afraid to hit me," Selina said as she extended a hand to help him up. "I'm not going to break because you hit me."

"Can we take a break so I can ask you both some questions?" Blake asked. "Since I know that this place is safe?"

Selina looked to her husband who nodded and joined them both further into the room.

Bruce handed each of them a bottle of water before pressing a kiss to Selina's semi-sweaty temple.

"What questions do you have?" Bruce said, sitting in one of the chairs. Selina joined him and sat down in Bruce's lap.

"What happened to the Joker?"

"I thought we covered that; he's dead," Selina replied coldly.

"Batman doesn't kill," Blake replied.

"The Batman didn't," Bruce replied matter-of-factly.

Blake looked to Selina. "You, then?"

Selina pretended to be offended at the idea. "Why does it have to me then? Why couldn't' the crazy man have blown himself up?"

"Because he wouldn't have done that," Blake said. "I've read his files at Arkham. So what really happened?"

"He was shot," Selina said. "Shot and killed, all right?"

"You didn't do it?"

Selina stood up and marched up to him. "See this?" she showed him the scar on her shoulder. "Bullet went through me and into the Joker. I did not shoot myself; so don't suggest it."

"Selina, calm down,' Bruce said very calmly. He was still seated.

"I just don't know why the kid is so concerned with the Joker, who isn't a problem anymore. We have real people causing problems now and one of them is bat shit crazy," Selina said. "No pun intended," she added. "And you fight like a cop. If you're going to do this, you need to fight a little dirty. Don't tell me you're going easy on me because I'm a woman. Remember? I'm the one who kidnapped the senator and lied to you about it."

She was in Blake's face, egging him on.

"Come on, kid. Show me you aren't just a sidekick…show me what Nightwing's got."

She was purring the words into his ear, doing what she did best.

Bruce saw it immediately. Blake snapped and it was clear in his eyes, even at a distance.

He grabbed Selina's left arm, the one she'd shown she had a weakness in and wrenched it.

Bruce saw the pain on Selina's face, did not make a sound. She brought her leg up to try to push him away, but he deflected it.

Selina kept putting up a good fight, but a couple swift maneuvers later, Selina was pinned to the floor.

Both Blake and Selina were breathing hard, staring into one another's eyes.

"Good," she said hoarsely as he had his forearm across her windpipe.

Blake regained control of himself a second later and he helped Selina to her feet.

Bruce crossed the room and joined them.

"Your wife is aggravating," Blake told Bruce.

He nodded and smiled. "I know," he said. "What else do you have planned today?"

"He needs food. His fridge has some cheese and beer."

"You're going to have to cut alcohol out of your diet," Bruce told him.

Blake blinked. He couldn't believe that no one had addressed what had just occurred between him and Selina Kyle. And it didn't appear that they were going to talk about it.

"He's got a girlfriend, too," Selina smiled.

"Did you have to tell him?" Blake asked like a petulant child.

"Do you really think Bruce wasn't going to find out," Selina asked.

"Barbara Gordon," Bruce replied, almost disinterestedly. Selina laughed. "Alfred can make sure Blake gets groceries..."

"I can get my own food," Blake said. "And how did you…"

Bruce simply looked at Blake.

"Right," Blake replied quietly.

"Okay, same time, same place, tomorrow, birdboy," Selina said. "You did good today. I just don't want to have to work so hard to rile you up next time," she said.

"Selina," Bruce said, his voice bordering on the Batman growl. "Alfred will make sure you get home, Blake."

"Bruce, why are you rushing him out?"

"We have some things we need to take care of," Bruce said. "Just the two of us."

"Oh," Selina smiled.

Blake made a face.

"Some work issues," Bruce added.

To be Continued…