A/N: I hate to sound repetitive, but like I said before the last chapter: this one picks up right where the last left off, so make sure you read Chapter 8 first, or you might be severely confused. Enjoy!

Reunion and Regret

Alfred found Selina sniffling on the floor of the study, staring into the blaze of the fireplace. The flames danced in her watery eyes, and she was tightly holding onto a dark cloth.

"You 'aven't gone and burned yourself, again, 'ave you?" Alfred asked her in his usual concerned tone.

"No," she responded flatly, trying to communicate that she didn't want to talk to him.

Alfred either didn't get the memo, or, more likely, he simply didn't care. "Well then, Miss Wayne, what is the matter?" he asked, sitting down next to the girl.

She wiped her nose with her sleeve and told him, "Bruce came by…"

Alfred nodded. "Went that bad, did it?" he asked jokingly, his usual stern and grim mask replaced with a light smirk.

She smiled momentarily at his rare attempt at humor, but it was quickly replaced by the sadness again. "He doesn't know anything," she told him, spite rising in her voice.

Alfred scoffed. "Well, I'd assumed that much, he always seemed rather thick in the head to me…"

"That's not what I meant," Selina told him. "He doesn't know anything about my parent's death. He said that he only told Gordon that he saw the killer's face so he could stay out of jail." She sniffed again. "He was just using me…"

"Well, to be fair, it's probably in his nature, coming from where he does," Alfred told her.

"What's wrong with me?" Selina asked him, her voice starting to crack and the tears renewing.

Alfred put an arm around her shoulders and said, "You trusted him, and he broke that trust. Now, I know it hurts, but it might be for the best, staying away from his type."

Selina nodded. "Maybe…" She took a deep, shaky breath, collecting herself, and then stood up. "But I'm not going to let him get in the way." She took one last look at the beautiful coat she'd bought for him. She'd thought that he would love it...but aparently not. She threw it into the fireplace and watched as it burned. Turning away from the fire, she gazed at the cork board on the back wall. "I'll find new leads," she told Alfred. "This is just a setback."

Alfred nodded. "Atta girl," he encouraged. "And I'll be right here whenever you need me to be," he told her.

Selina looked at him, her eyes now clear of tears, determination replacing the sorrow. She hugged her butler and told him, "Thank you, Alfred."

He smiled. "It is my honor, Miss Wayne."


Two months.

It had been two whole months since Bruce had last seen Selina Wayne, during which he'd done his best to forget all about Wayne Manor and its residents.

He hadn't realized it at the time, but the burden of having to constantly lie to Selina had been weighing down on him, and getting it off his chest had been good for him.

However, every now and then when it got quiet in the earliest hours of the morning, he could finally hear himself think, and he'd remember that day when he'd first met Selina, and how everything had been looking up. That Bruce had had no idea what was about to come his way.

But, life was good.

At least, that was what he told himself to avoid thinking about the tears he'd left Selina in.

Then, one day while he and Zee were stealing food from the hospital food court, Zee pointed someone out.

Over the past two months, he and Zee had gotten closer and closer, and he'd even went as far to kiss her on her thirteenth birthday. Neither of them considered themselves 'a thing', but practically everyone else in the Narrows did. Zee had told him that Zinda was already looking at bridesmaid dresses.

"Hey, B," she started, "isn't that Selina?"

Bruce looked up and his heart dropped. Sure enough, there stood Selina Wayne, ordering food from one of the counters. Bruce watched in shocked stupor as she walked back to the elevator and headed off to somewhere else in the hospital. "What's she doing here?" Bruce murmured to himself.

Zee came up next to Bruce and told him, "Go talk to her."

"What?" he asked, taken off guard by her suggestion.

"From what you told me, you were a douche last time you talked. Go apologize," she told him.

"But…" Bruce began.

Zee raised an eyebrow. "Bruce Robert Kyle, if you don't go and apologize this instant, I will personally beat the living shit out of you, right here, right now. Now go talk to her."

"Why'd I tell you my middle name?" Bruce mumbled. She crossed her arms and stuck her hip out in defiance, showing him that she wasn't going to drop this. Bruce relented, knowing that whenever Zee made a threat, she typically went through with it. "Fine. I'll be back in a minute." As he walked towards the elevator, he called over his shoulder, "And save some food for me!"

"No promises!" she replied.


Bruce took the elevator to the third floor, which was where Selina had gotten out. He approached the front counter and asked, "I'm here to see Selina Wayne?"

The lady at the desk looked at her computer and told him, "Miss Wayne is here, but she isn't who is checked in. If you're looking for Mr. Pennyworth, he's in room 302. It's just down the hall and to your left."

Bruce thanked her and made his way through the hospital. He felt his palms start to get sweaty with anxiety and he wiped them off. He didn't know what to expect when Selina saw him, but he seriously doubted that it'd be a positive reaction. Unfortunately, he arrived at the open door of room 302.

He crept around the corner and heard Selina reading some odd-sounding book to an unconscious Alfred. "-and seeing no pity in the glittering multitude," she finished.

"That's cheerful," Bruce sarcastically commented.

Selina shot up from her chair, a mix of shock, anger, and recognition showing on her face.

"Hey, Cat," he greeted. "It's been a while."

She stared at him for a few seconds; a dull fire being alit in her eyes.

She slapped him.

Bruce stumbled backwards. He rubbed over the spot where she'd hit him and quietly commented, "I probably deserved that."

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, the dull anger being replaced with utter fury at his nerve to show up, then and there of all places.

"Zee and I snuck in to steal food from the sickies," Bruce told her. "She spotted you." Bruce paused, studying her. She'd grown in height since the last time he'd seen her, although he was still nearly half a head taller, and she'd let her hair grow out a bit more. Bruce thought it looked good. Snapping himself back to reality, he asked, "Are you okay?"

She wiped at her eyes and asked, "What's it to you?"

Bruce looked down at the ground. "It's probably worth nothing at this point, but...I'm sorry, Selina," he told her. He took a deep breath and told her, "It was for your own good."

"My own good?" she asked, anger starting to fill her voice. Bruce slid the door closed behind him, as she started yelling, "Telling me off for hassling you was good for me? Lying to my face over and over about seeing my parent's killer's face was good for me? How about kissing me, and then dumping me, huh? Was that good for me?" she demanded.

Bruce chose not to point out the fact that it'd been her who'd kissed him, instead saying, "I'm sorry, Cat. But leaving you alone was the best thing I could've done for you."

"And why is that?" she demanded, still practically shaking with unvented anger.

"I got kidnapped," Bruce told her, flatly. As she registered his words, the look of anger was extinguished and replaced with that of concern. Bruce continued, "After I left the Manor that night, I got drugged and kidnapped. Then, when I escaped, I got to watch a man get beaten nearly to death, in front of me. And then, I got to watch while Zee was forced to hold the gun that killed him." He stopped to take a breath. Eyes full of shame, he told her, "Selina, I was scared, and I hurt you. And for that, I am truly sorry."

Selina stared at him. "Well…that's very convoluted reasoning…" she said with a quiver in her voice at the end.

The retort didn't hold its intended effect, as almost the second Selina finished, she walked forward and threw her arms around his neck. It took Bruce a second or two to realize that she wasn't attacking him, and he hugged her back. They embraced for what felt like a short eternity, but Bruce still felt that it ended too soon. "I'm sorry," he said into her shoulder. "I screwed up."

She chuckled sadly. "Yeah. You did." Bruce let her go and she returned to her chair. "But what else would I expect from you?" she quipped, wiping away a few stray tears.

Bruce smirked. Glancing over at Alfred, he decided to address the second elephant in the room. "What happened to him?" he asked.

Selina sighed and told him all about Alfred's old war buddy: Reggie Payne. She told him how he'd gained her and Alfred's trust, only for Alfred to catch him stealing from them. Then, Reggie stabbed him.

"Weird…" Bruce whispered, running through the scenario in his head.

"What's weird?"

"Well, you said that Payne was in the Special Air Service, right?" She nodded and Bruce continued, "So he would know how to kill someone with a knife…"

Selina thought about it. "So, Reggie may have not been there to kill Alfred, after all…"

"What did he steal, exactly?" Bruce asked.

She shrugged. "A whole bag of random crap, none of it really expensive, but some of my files were missing."

Bruce asked, "Did he say anything about where he'd been staying? Or did Alfred say anything about him before…well…before he got here?"

Selina wracked her brain. "I think I overheard Alfred say something to Reggie about him getting blind drunk at a shooting gallery…" She paused. "Why would he be drinking at a gun range?"

After realizing Selina wasn't pulling his leg, Bruce stifled a laugh. Selina asked what was so funny and he told her, "They're not the same thing, Selina. I'll see what I can dig up." He started to walk out. Just as he reached the door, he turned back and told her, "You don't need to worry about Reggie Payne, by the way," and with that he left.

"What are you going to do?" Selina called, but he was already gone.

She shook her head. Turning to Alfred, she whispered, "Damn him."

Alfred's eyes slowly opened, and Selina realized he'd been awake the whole time. "Language," he scolded, weakly, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.


The second Bruce was out of her line of sight, the fake, confident smile he'd put on vanished.

He knew what he had to do next, and he wasn't looking forward to it.

A couple minutes later, Bruce and Zee arrived at the doors to the Flea. He took a wary glance at her and saw just how pale she'd suddenly become. "Hey, you know you don't have to come in with me, right?" he asked her gently.

Her jaw clenched and she nodded. "If it's alright with you…"

"It's fine, Zee. Go home," he told her. "I'll probably be at the Gym later tonight if you want to come by and hang out, or whatever."

She raised an eyebrow. "Hang out? What is this, a social visit with a psychopath?"

Bruce shrugged. "I just need to ask him to do a favor, is all. Don't worry."

She nodded. "Okay…but be careful, Bruce."

She gave his hand a light squeeze and walked away.

When she was out of sight, Bruce sighed in relief. In a way, he felt better entering the Flea alone, rather than having Zee with him. Especially considering who he was about to go talk to, and what he was about to do.

Bruce entered the Flea, and within seconds, the room had gone eerily quiet. Dozens of beady eyes stared him down as he calmly walked through the warehouse, making his way to the back staircase that led to Jack's office.

Jack saw him coming and smiled wickedly. "Brucey! Where've you been, man?" he lulled. He nodded to the television that was showing the news. "Did you hear about this guy?"

Bruce shook his head and Jack told him, "He killed him mom with his bare hands, so they say. Then he went insane in the interrogation room." Jack gazed at the screen in utter fascination.

Bruce shrugged. "Isn't that kinda normal around here?" he asked.

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose it is, but…he just seems so…what's the word?"

"Psychotic?" Bruce offered passive-aggressively.

Jack didn't catch his tone and he exclaimed, "Exactly! Such, presence…" He flicked the TV off and turned to Bruce. "So, how have you been doing? It's been a while since our last…meeting," he said, ending the sentence with a dark chuckle.

Bruce shrugged. "I'm alright. Actually, I'm here because I need a favor," he told the older boy.

Jack grinned and nodded for him to go on.

"I'm looking for someone, a criminal for hire named Reggie Payne. A friend told me he'd be in a shooting gallery somewhere in Gotham, probably half drunk to death…"

Jack held up a hand. "Say no more. Turner!" he yelled.

Bruce found that the yell was quite unnecessary, since Ben Turner was standing right next to Jack. However, Turner didn't seem surprised by it whatsoever.

Jack asked Bruce, "Have you two met?"

Bruce nodded. Ben was only seventeen, but he was six feet tall and probably double Bruce's weight. Bruce shook the older boy's hand, and Ben asked him, "How's Ted doing?"

"Alright," Bruce said, anger starting to flare up in his chest. Ben had been a prodigy boxer, and had been the only person to ever last five rounds with Ted, until he'd gotten himself disqualified because he'd had weights in his gloves. It'd taken Ted weeks to recover from the fight, and he still had some nasty scars.

Jack cleared his throat to break the tension. "Anyways, Ben, I want you to send a message: first person to bring me Reggie Payne's head earns a favor from me, personally."

"That's not what I meant!" Bruce told him, losing his cool momentarily. "I just need to find him and interrogate him." Bruce knew that in order to reach Jack, he had to talk to him on his level of crazy. So, he mentally removed himself from the situation, and emotionlessly told Jack, "He's useless dead."

Jack considered this for a moment. "Fine. Ben, switch that from his head to his right middle finger," he said, as though chopping off someone's finger was a perfectly normal thing to suggest.

Bruce sighed. Figuring that was the best offer he was going to get from Jack, he agreed. "Fine. I'll be downstairs."

Jack grinned as two of his guards blocked Bruce's path. He lulled, "Now, now, Brucey, it isn't polite to not say thank you. And if there's one thing I won't stand for, it's a lack of manners…" he growled.

Bruce took a deep breath, reminding himself that, A: He needed Jack's help, and B: There were six other guys in the room who'd jump in to protect the scrawny kid, and six on one would be more than an unarmed Bruce could handle by himself. So, he turned to face Jack and spat an insincere, "Thank you."

Jack smiled, not caring that Bruce wasn't actually being grateful, instead, he was just pleased that he'd gotten the boy to do what he'd told him to.

"That's all I ask…" he told Bruce creepily.


After just over an hour of waiting, two big guys lugged a burlap sack into the Flea, dragging it upstairs. Bruce followed suit, and they arrived in the concrete room.

Bruce felt a chill rush down his spine, seeing the red stains in the center of the floor and knowing that some of them had been from the brains of the man that he and Zee had seen die.

One of the men pulled a brown paper bag from his coat and tossed it onto a chair.

Bruce the sickening feeling that he knew what was in the bag.

Once again, he was glad Zee had decided to bail on him. He didn't want her to see what he was about to do anyways.

Jack entered, crying joyously, "Yay, you got him! I told you, Brucey, didn't I? Now, let's have a look, shall we?"

One of the behemoths picked up the base of the sack and raised it into the air, dumping its contents out onto the floor.

An older man fell out, his right arm a bloody mess, and his face badly injured. He was motionless.

"You haven't killed him, have you?" Jack whined.

One of the men grunted and shook his head, kicking the man on the floor hard in the ribs.

He groaned and Jack exclaimed, "You see, Brucey? Not dead, as promised."

Bruce circled around so the man was looking at him. "Reggie Payne?"

The man, still wheezing from the kick, spat through a mouthful of blood, "Who's askin'?"

"My name is Bruce, and I'm a friend of the man that you stabbed a few days ago."

Payne seemed to be wracking his brain. It took him a few seconds, but he nodded. "Oh, yeah. How is Alfie doin' anyways?" he asked. Bruce detected genuine concern in his voice.

Bruce scoffed. "Look, buddy, I ask the questions, and you answer 'em. Understand?"

Reggie raised an eyebrow. He told Bruce, "Kid, next time you try and threaten someone, take 'em by the scruff o' their neck, or their collar, or somethin' intimidatin'." Bruce punched him hard in the nose.

"How about that?" Bruce asked.

Payne gurgled out, "But never start with the head…your victim gets all fuzzy."

Bruce took Payne by his collar and demanded, "Who hired you?"

Payne scoffed. "Please, kid. You don't scare me nearly as much as they do. You've got nothin' to threaten me with…"

Bruce stood up, letting Payne's heavy torso slump back onto the ground. He told Jack, "Take off another finger."

Jack laughed joyously, like a kid on Christmas. "Now that's more like it…Ben!"

Turner stepped forwards and removed a long kitchen knife from his belt.

Payne realized the teens were serious and screamed, "Wait! WAIT! PLEASE! I'LL TELL YOU! PLEASE DON'T!"

Jack solemnly nodded to Ben, who stopped his progress, although looking a bit disappointed.

Bruce crouched down and demanded, "Who sent you?"

Payne shook his head. "He'll kill me," he begged Bruce.

"I'll do worse," Bruce growled.

Bruce had never let this side out. The demon inside of him had been caged for so long, and now that it was free, it was like Bruce was an entirely different person.

Payne was almost shaking with fear, or alcohol, or drugs, or a mix of the three. "Alright, alright," Payne relented. "His name was Bunderslaw, but that's all I know, I swear." Bruce raised a fist, and he begged, "Please, don't!"

Bruce stood back up. "I believe you." The two behemoths picked him up under his shoulders and Bruce stepped in close, growling, "If you ever come back to Gotham, I will find you, got it?"

Payne nodded, and Bruce told the two men to take him out.

However, another voice chimed in.

"Not yet, boys," Jack told them.

The two men turned back towards Jack. The leader nodded again to Ben, who stepped forward and abruptly stabbed Payne in the chest with his knife.

"Wait!" Bruce yelled, but it was too late.

The men let Reggie Payne's lifeless corpse collapse onto the ground.

Bruce turned on Jack. "What the hell was that?!" he demanded.

"Are we still getting paid?" one of the men asked in a deep, dopey voice.

Jack ignored the giant and shrugged. "He saw our faces. Besides, if you got all the use out of him that you needed, why keep him around?" Jack asked Bruce, neither sympathy nor empathy his voice whatsoever.

Bruce looked at the bleeding corpse of Reggie Payne.

"You're gonna pay," Bruce told Jack, darkly.

Jack scoffed. "Well, you're hardly a saint. This was your idea, anyhow."

Bruce shook his head. Without another word, he left the concrete room, trying to keep the image of another corpse, bleeding out on concrete, from searing itself into his memory.

However, it was to no avail.


Hours later, it was Zee who finally found him, sitting motionless on the floor of the bathroom.

His hands were tinged red with dry blood, but his face resembled that of a corpse.

He didn't even look up when she opened the door.

"Bruce?" Zee asked hesitantly.

He hummed, acknowledging her presence, but didn't respond otherwise.

"Are you o-" she stopped herself. He clearly wasn't okay. She knelt down next to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to comfort him the best she knew how.

She felt him tense up at first, but he eventually relaxed into her embrace.

Finally, she asked, "What happened? Did you find the guy?"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, we found him."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" she asked.

"It would've been. I got all the information I needed from him, but…" he trailed off.

"But?" Zee prodded him on.

He sniffed. "Jack killed him, for no reason." He took a shuddered breath and continued, "And it's my fault."

"No, Bruce…" she started.

"Yes it is!" Bruce exclaimed. "I went to Jack. I ordered the bounty. I brought him to that room. I interrogated him. It's my fault that he's dead. I basically killed him, Zee…"

Zee took the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her. "Bruce," she started firmly, "this is Jack Napier trying to break you, and, right now, he's doing a pretty damn good job at it."

Bruce looked up at her in shock, surprised by the bluntness of her words.

"You didn't kill him, Jack did. Bruce, you've got to stop taking responsibility for the actions of psychopaths," she told him.

He looked up into her eyes and took her hands in his own, saying, "Let's leave Gotham, just you and me. We could go anywhere we wanted. We don't have to stay here."

"Bruce…" Zee started. She sighed. "You know that I'd love that, but…you can't leave, yet." He furrowed his brow in confusion and she continued, "You got yourself mixed up with Cat, and you need to help her."

"But…" he trailed off.

She shook her head. "No 'buts'." He smirked, and she rolled her eyes. "You're such a little kid, sometimes. But, once Cat finds her parent's killer, once all this is over, we can talk about it."

"The 'butts' or the 'leaving Gotham'?" he asked slyly.

She shrugged, a flirtatious smirk forming on her lips as well. "A bit of both." She kissed him on the cheek and then stood up, saying, "Now, let's get you cleaned up, shall we?"

He nodded, grateful to have someone who cared about him so much.

Around nine the next night, Selina Wayne sat in the study, trying to focus on her research. However, her mind was elsewhere, pondering what Bruce might have done after he'd left the hospital the day before.

She didn't care what he did, really; just that he'd stayed safe while doing it.

Then again, this was Bruce Kyle she was talking about. It was more than likely that he'd almost died several times.

But wasn't that just a part of the fun?

She was jarred from her thoughts by a piercing ringing in the room. She glanced over at the telephone and saw an unfamiliar number calling.

Selina picked up the receiver and asked, "Hello?"

"Hey, Cat," a boy's voice responded. Selina almost melted with relief at hearing his voice.

"Bruce," she started, "are you alright?"

"I'm alive," he replied simply. "Meet me under the Midtown Bridge at midnight. I might have some information you want," and with that, the line went dead, leaving Selina anxious for midnight to come, as well as formulating a way to get out of the house while under the hawk-like eyes of Alfred Pennyworth.

A/N: Another chapter in the books! I want to thank all of you for your continued support, and I wanted to say that if you're worried that this is turning into a BrucexZatanna story, don't (I had gotten some worried messages about that and just wanted to clarify). This is still a BrucexSelina storyline, and it will always be that. No matter how far they get split apart, they're the Bat and the Cat…they'll always come back to one another.

Anyways, please review if you enjoyed/have any questions or critiques, as finding an inbox full of messages pushes me to continue writing. Thanks for reading!