Happily Ever After

Chapter 11

As they walked Alfred out to their car, Selina and Bruce were both happy that they'd packed up their things and paid for the hotel room before the party. They could just take Alfred back to their house, no stops required.

Selina had latched onto Alfred and made sure he was okay. It was hard for her to tell because he had become silent. Bruce led the way, and he wasn't saying anything either.

Bruce opened the back door and Selina let go of the older man's arm to climb in, but Alfred moved past her.

"You can sit in the front with your husband. I'd prefer the backseat," he said quietly.

He closed the door and Selina shared a look with Bruce over the roof of the car. Both climbed into the car and sat quiet for a moment.

"Alfred…" Bruce began.

"Just tell me what's going on," he said.

"Well, the long story short…Sofia blackmailed me," Selina said.

"What in the bloody hell are you talking about?"

The pain in his voice nearly broke Selina's heart.

"I'm sorry," Selina replied softly. She positioned herself so she could meet his eyes in the rear-view mirror and he saw her own pained expression.

"Believe me; she loves you," she said. "I can tell. But she knew who Bruce was; she knew about Batman. And she threatened to use the information. And she knew about my past."

"What was the business with her being arrested though? How was that enough to get her arrested?"

"Sofia told me that I had to do a certain task, a test, to prove she could trust me for a bigger job. The test was for me to steal the Leopard Diamond for her…during the party."

"Did you?" Alfred asked.

"Yes," Selina said as Bruce said, "no."

"It's going to be better for you if you don't know the exact details," Selina explained. "You won't have to lie when they bring you in for questioning."

"How long have you been keeping this from me?" Alfred asked, his voice still low.

"We…"

"How long?"

"A couple of months," Bruce replied.

"I see," Alfred said.

"Alfred," Selina said as she turned around in her seat to look at him. "We wanted to involve you in the plan as little as possible. We didn't want her to do anything stupid and hurt you."

Selina realized how foolish she sounded, but she didn't try to back-track on what she said.

"I understand you didn't want to tell me. You just wanted me to stay the foolish old man," Alfred said.

"No," Bruce said.

"Then what?"

"Sofia is a member of the Falcone family. And she would do anything for revenge because of what happened to her cousin Carmine."

Alfred said nothing.

"Alfred, I know you're mad at us, but…"

"But what?" Alfred said. "By not telling me when you found out, you make me look the bigger fool. Please excuse my anger, but I just found out the woman I am in love with…"

"She would have killed you, Alfred," Bruce interrupted. "And I will never let her do anything to you or Selina. You're my family. I wasn't able to protect my parents, but I will sure as hell make sure the both of you are safe."

That effectively silenced the entire car. Bruce continued to drive them towards their home.

An awful hour of silence later, Bruce was turning the car off in their garage.

"Do you want to go get your things tonight or tomorrow morning?" Bruce asked.

None of them had moved from the car and it didn't appear that it was happening anytime soon.

"If you'd let me borrow…" Alfred began.

"I'll take you," Bruce said.

"I can stay here and get your room ready," Selina offered.

"I am able to get my own things," Alfred replied.

"And the two of us can pack it up quicker," Bruce answered him.

Selina gathered her things and climbed out. Alfred climbed out as well. As they crossed paths, Selina wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

"I love you, Alfred. And I am truly sorry," she whispered.

"Thank you, Selina," Alfred replied in a choked voice.

She let go of him and he climbed into her vacated seat next to Bruce.

"Be careful," she said to her husband. He nodded to her and started the car back up. Bruce threw the car back in reverse and soon they were gone.

Selina let herself into the dark house after closing the garage door. She was happy to be home and happy that the mess was all over.

She turned on the lights as she went and made her way up to the master bedroom. She was going to get changed out of her ball gown and then get Alfred's room all fixed up for him.

Finding her favorite black yoga pants and her softest shirt, she headed back downstairs. She didn't care that she'd left her heels on the stairs or her ball gown in a heap on the closet floor. She'd never need the things again and they were horrible reminders of an absolutely awful night.

Her lip had become more swollen and bruised. When she touched it, she nearly shouted in pain. She wished to herself that she'd kicked him harder or let Bruce tear him limb from limb.

She stepped away from the mirror and headed back to the guestroom downstairs.

Selina got to work putting new sheets on the bed bought specifically for Alfred Pennyworth. She started moving Bruce's workout equipment into his office across the short hallway; he was just going to have to make due.

Selina was just finishing cleaning the bathroom when she heard the garage door go up.

She walked towards the door and opened it. "Good, I'm glad…"

Something hit her hard on the side of her head. She tried to speak, but black spots danced in her line of sight as she fought to stay awake. Selina felt her knees buckle and pair of arms catch her before she fell down the steps. Her head felt heavy and muddled; her thoughts couldn't catch up with what was actually happening to her. The last thing she knew before she passed out was that she was being hauled away from her house.

… …

Alfred let himself and Bruce into the home he'd been sharing with Sofia. He grimaced as he turned on the lights and looked around.

"It was all just a lie," Alfred muttered.

Bruce, in turn, clasped a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"No, not at all. I believe she really loves you."

"How could she do this? She was using me to get to you," Alfred said.

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it was all accidental," Bruce said, knowing full-well that it wasn't true.

"Is anything she told me real?" Alfred said. "I was going to ask her to marry me."

The shock must have registered on Bruce's face.

"What? Am I too old?"

"No, no. I just…I just never knew you were interested in getting married," Bruce said. "I just figured you liked being single."

"Let me tell you, Bruce Wayne; taking care of you is a full time job."

"So, I'm why you never married?" Bruce asked.

"I have known that I would always put you first. Someone had already taken your parents away from you. You deserved my full attention."

The men shared a moment of silence.

"Now, if you're done making this all about you, I need to pack some of my things up."

To say that Alfred was efficient at packing would be an understatement and would be doing the man a terrible disservice. Alfred had all of his clothes and small personal belongings packed within an hour. As he put bags out, Bruce loaded them into the car. Four suitcases later, he was locking the house back up.

"I hope Selina isn't waiting up for us," Alfred said once they'd gotten back on the road.

"She's probably passed out cold. She was attacked by some idiot at the museum. That's what the fat lip was from," Bruce explained.

"I'm glad to hear that it wasn't you getting too rough doing whatever it is you both do," Alfred replied with a smirk.

"I like to pretend you don't know about sex. It makes my brain hurt otherwise," Bruce smiled back.

"Your brain hurts for a lot of other reasons, my boy. Not because of me and my sex life," Alfred said.

"Sex life?" Bruce repeated. "You have a sex life?"

"For a lot longer than you've been alive, Bruce Wayne. Now shut up and drive," Alfred said before relaxing into the car's leather seat and closing his eyes.

They were back home before long, but Bruce was not pleased to see the garage door still up.

"Didn't I put the garage door down?" Bruce asked.

"I don't remember," Alfred said.

Bruce brought the car into the garage and saw that the door to the house was lying open.

Bruce wasn't even sure he'd thrown the car into park when he hopped out and went running into the house. For as badly as his knees always hurt, Bruce was moving at lightning speed.

"Selina!" he shouted as he systematically moved through the house.

The guestroom was cleaned up and his office was filled with his exercise equipment. The bathroom smelled like cleaning products.

He moved up the stairs and checked the second level, she wasn't there.

"Selina!" he screamed, desperately, as he climbed the staircase up to the master suite. He found her shoes discarded on the stairs. Their bed was turned down, but Selina wasn't in it. Bruce checked the bathroom and then, as a last resort, he checked the closet. Her dress was in a wrinkled pile on the floor.

Bruce was breathing heavily and he was feeling dizzy. Selina didn't pull this kind of shit. That meant something was seriously wrong. Her purse was still sitting on the chair next to their bed. He rifled through it quickly; her cell phone was still there.

"Shit!"

Bruce moved out of the master bedroom and down to the main floor. Alfred was looking around the kitchen and waiting for a response from Bruce.

"She's not here. And she didn't take her purse or phone," Bruce said.

He was pale. He felt sick. He wanted to know what happened to his wife.

"So now I've got to find her," Bruce said.

"Of course, you do," Alfred said. "Is this Sofia's doing?"

"More than likely," Bruce said. "Except I don't know who she had working for her."

… …

As Selina started to wake up, she realized her head throbbed. Her hands were bound behind her back and her ankles were bound to the chair she was seated in.

She heard nothing as she started to wake up. She struggled to move her heavy head and observe her surroundings.

She tugged at the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles, but there was just no give to it. It rubbed at her skin and within seconds, the area area there was becoming raw.

"Holy shit," Selina hissed.

"Oh, good," a man's voice said. "You're waking up."

Selina didn't want to make eye contact with her captor. She kept her head down in an act of rebellion. The man noticed this and moved her head up with a hand on her chin.

"Well, Mrs. Wayne," the man said. "You're going to help us whether you want to or not."

"Who are you?"

The man was probably only a couple inches taller than her. Built thin, but it looked like the bulk he had on him was pure muscle. He looked like he was built to be a runner. His dark hair was cut extremely short and didn't move as he did.

"I'm a friend, of course," he smiled.

Another man walked into the room. "Great, she's awake."

"Are you after ransom? Because I'm not worth it," Selina said.

"You think we're after money? No, no, no," the second man said.

It took a minute, but realization dawned on Selina and her clouded mind.

"You. You're the man from the party," Selina said.

"Oh, good, you remember me," he said. "Let me introduce myself; I am Leo Giordianni. And you, Mrs. Wayne…I'm going to call you Selina…are going to help us like you were going to help Sofia."

"What?" she hissed. "Why do you know Sofia?"

"She's my mother," the first man said.

"Your mother?"

"And since you somehow got her put in jail, congratulations by the way, I'm running the show now," he said.

"Josef?" Leo said.

"What?" Josef replied.

"Make sure you tell her that the room she's in is sound proof so she can't shout for her husband… Batman," Leo said, smirking.

"I won't shout for my husband," Selina said calmly.

"And why is that?" Leo asked.

"Because when I get out of these ropes, I'm going to kick both of your asses myself," she said quietly.

To Be Continued…

A/N: What'd ya think? Lemme know! Please leave a review! I do love reviews.