~ A month later ~
"Holly! Where are my pearls?"
"In your top drawer?"
"Which top drawer?"
"The one near the handbags."
"I don't see them. Holly!"
"Found them! Isis stole them."
I wondered into the hall, carrying my shoes in one hand and my hair dryer in the other. I found Holly searching under the lounge and Isis looking proudly at me.
"Good kitty." I praised her, grinning like a clown. Not like the Joker kind of clown. But like a regular circus clown.
"Alfred and Bruce will be here any minute now. Let me do your hair and you can put your shoes on."
"Just one night, just once, I'd like to be ready on time. I don't even have to pretend to be someone else tonight." I sighed, both out of exhaustion and out of relief.
Holly giggled behind me, and I realised that Isis was sneaking back to my room, probably off to steal something else of mine.
"I'll be on call all night if you need me, if the suits rock up I'll page you." Holly reassured me, yelling over the hair dryer.
"They haven't made an appearance all month, and Lola said they backed off, so hopefully tonight is a breezy night and I can actually enjoy myself." I yelled back.
Within a few minutes, I was dressed and done up, and Bruce was ringing the buzzer in the apartment lobby.
"I thought Alfred was driving us?" I smiled when I approached Bruce, linking my arm under his.
"Tim was hurt last night after his rope was cut descending from a building in North Gotham, so to make sure he does as he's instructed, Alfred is staying home to care for him." Bruce explained to me as we walked to the Lamborghini parked outside the lobby. This time an exquisite Murcielago.
"So kind of him." I smiled. As Bruce opened the passenger door for me, I gave him a 'Riddler' look as he would call it. I only had these looks when I had a question I wanted to know if he had an answer for.
"What is it this time?" He smirked.
"Did you know that Murcielago is Spanish for 'bat'?" I asked him after he had started to pull away and onto the street.
"Why do you think I own a few?" he chuckled.
Since introducing me to the "family", Bruce seemed to have lightened up. It was easier to get a smirk or a chuckle out of him, and Barbara had commented that he spent less time in the cave too.
The opposite could be said for Dick and Tim though.
The very next day after I met them without masks, Dick went straight back to Blüdhaven, bringing down what was left of Penguin's arm dealers, and Tim went on a hiking trip with his father. I hadn't seen Dick since, and Tim I only saw when I visited Bruce in the cave after he arrived back from a late night on the streets.
Occasionally, Bruce would ask me to stay the night at the mansion. That's why Babs noticed that Bruce wasn't in the cave as often.
When we arrived at the gala, Bruce exited the car and passed the keys to the valet. I heard him murmur "not a scratch" which made the valet shake in his young boots. Taking my hand, he helped me out of the car and up the red carpet.
My injuries had almost healed completely, but I was still unsteady on my feet. My collarbone was no longer protruding on a disgusting angle, and my wrist was two weeks from being out of the temporary and optional brace. My cracked ribs were still bound but 90% healed as Alfred said, but my calf was still healing, and I was on a strict 'no heels' instruction. Except for tonight.
"You look fine, Selina. No one will notice your injuries." Bruce assured me, smiling for the cameras as we walked towards the museum doors, noticing my distracted mind.
Wearing a simple black lace gown and a faux white fur jacket, I blended in with the A and B list celebrities of Gotham. And I looked like the prize of Bruce Wayne.
"Not really what I'm worried about Bruce. Although thank you for the confidence boost." I whispered in his ear, 'posing' for the paps.
Linking my arm back under his, we continued up the stairs and into the museum.
A few cocktails later, a blonde haired-blue eyed reporter introduced herself to me whilst Bruce stepped outside for a 'business call'.
"Selina Kyle, isn't it?" she asked, shaking my hand. "I'm Vicki Vale."
Dressed in a tan one-piece pantsuit with her hair tied back, I remembered the tabloids following her and Bruce's short lived romance. Pretending to like her, and I smiled.
"What can I do for you, Vicki? Bruce is outside if you're looking for him." I gestured to the doors that opened to the balcony.
"I actually wanted to speak to you, if you don't mind." She said quietly. Nodding, I walked us over to a more quiet part of the room. Looking around to see if anyone was listening in, I noticed she was doing the same thing.
"You're way more honest than Bruce, Selina. And woman to woman, I wanted to give you a heads up." Pretending to care about what she had to say, I entertained her and let her speak. "When Bruce and I were together, I noticed he wasn't all there."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Vicki." I played stupid, unsure of where she was taking this.
"He was always distracted, always taking business calls and cutting dates short because he had to be back at Wayne Enterprises for some meeting he forgot about. I'd even wake in the middle of the night to an empty bed." She sighed, and I suddenly realised she had no idea who Bruce really was. "I started following him, making sure he couldn't get rid of me. I'd follow him to meetings and to work, I'd tag along with him on his business trips, and occasionally on his 'holidays'."
"Vicki, are you sure you weren't stalking him?" I asked, still acting like I didn't know Bruce's games.
"I wasn't. But I clued on pretty quickly. He has a dark secret, Selina. Darker than what you could imagine." She said quietly, her eyes scanning the room.
"You thought he was Batman, didn't you?" I laughed, a big belly laugh.
"Shush! No! He's not Batman! He's too gentle to be Batman."
Ha! Bruce? Gentle? We're obviously dating two different Bruces…
"He has a mistress, Selina. He has to. I've spoken to all of his love interests. They all have said the same thing and believe everything I've told them." She paused for a moment, the cogs working in her mind.
"Bruce doesn't have a mistress, Vicki. He's just a busy man, with a dark past and mental issues. He's hard to love, and he likes to be private. You obviously didn't give him his privacy, and so he had to be secretive." I assured her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"I have evidence, Selina. Midnight rendezvous' every few weeks, a few ending in some apartment in Park Row. Sometimes they wouldn't even make it to the apartment." She looked pedantic, like she was desperate for my assurance it wasn't all in her head. I, on the other hand, needed Bruce to save me, before I gave anything away.
"Vicki, that must have been months ago. Bruce and I have been together for a little more than a month, and he's been nothing but honest with me. Go write a column, sweetheart. I'm sure some of his model pickups will agree to be interviewed." I sighed, beginning to walk away to find Bruce, or another cocktail. Preferably both.
And that's when I saw them.
The suits.