Chapter 21

Good evening Gotham!

If you get a chance to reread chap 20 please do- I lightened up the Bruce Selina scene per some feedback on the content. I think it plays well.

Thanks to all that took the time to review- I live for reviews! I hope everyone always feels welcome to give critiques and criticism ideas and such as they have helped tremendously in guiding this story and keeping the characters in shape.

So I have been getting lots of requests for a Meghan/Bruce & Selina/Alfred scenes and I have a perfect one loaded and ready to go! I wrote it in tribute to my favorite author and fan fiction mentor Landscaper01 but I have been having a hell of a time getting it worked in! That being said ... There were several things I might go back and revisit. I had wanted to include some of these in the original story, but for whatever reason they didn't make the final cut. Some are already written and some are just evil plot bunnies hiding in the corners of my demented mind... (Examples: Bruce and Selina's night in Monte Carlo/ their fight with Scarecrow/ Selina's sleep over with Meghan/ Fox and Selina at the office/ a return to their game at the tumbler...my favorite btw/Bruce training Blake/ Tony and Pepper with Bruce and Selina/ the handsy agent and Selina meet again... Just ideas for possible one shots

Anyways...here we go down the home stretch towards the end of our story. Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I am getting a little emotional as I am saying goodbye to the characters... and to all of my dear readers. There will be an epilogue where I will break down properly. Until then... happy reading...

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Bruce watched Selina protectively as she walked down the pier. Her steps were long and confident and he wondered how much was bravado and how much was just the absolute steel nerve that he knew she possessed.

She never looked back at him, but now and again he saw her cock her head to listen, ensuring that he was trekking along behind her. He found it both endearing and infuriating that she had questioned if the walk from where they left the Lamborghini would bother his knee. The last thing a man like him wanted was to show weakness in front of his woman. He had again held back from telling her of his pending appointment in Switzerland. One thing at a time Wayne. He allowed his steps to land heavier reassuring her of his presence.

He had lent her a jacket and the dark brown leather shoulders relaxed visibly at the sound of his boots on the dock. She continued to stride along the desolate pier, the narrow walkway was clogged with trash and debris, but it was passable. The wind whipped off the water bringing in a chill, it was foreboding of another winter storm. It looked to be a white Christmas for Gotham this year.

He glanced up at her and noted that she was huddling deeper inside the jacket. It hung long on her, ending well below her shapely bottom. She had been lucky to find anything at all to wear, having pilfered a thick sweatshirt from his closet, she rescued her only pair of jeans from the hamper and ran them through the wash. Her old standby combat boots grudgingly got the call as her only shoe choice available. We are stopping at that apartment of hers or a store before we go home. I am tired of her having to live like a vagabond. He thought about the money in his pocket and decided a store would be better. I am ready to start the spoiling process.

Another gust of wind blew up off the water and the chill had him dropping his hands into the pockets of his own leather jacket. He had been surprised that she was willing to bring him down here. She had done her damnedest to get out of telling him, but he had persisted. She finally gave in earlier at the penthouse and started talking to him about her life after escaping her father.

He bit back the anger that accompanied every reference to her abusive father. Father was a term to be used loosely when describing the monster that drove a terrified nine-year old out on the streets of Gotham. She had been reduced to sleeping in alleys and abandoned cars, crawling through garbage for food. The fact that she had felt safer in the company of the degenerates in the streets than at home with her own parent was a crime. That she had been left to starve and struggle with no one to care for her in a city of twelve million people was a travesty.

He looked ahead to Selina and watched as the brisk wind whipped her curly hair over her shoulder. He imagined her as a child walking along these same docks…scared and alone...homeless. It was a cruelty that he had fought against his entire life through his charity functions and donations to Gotham orphanages. It had been hard enough for him without his parents if he had to face things without the love and support of Alfred and the security that came with the Wayne trust…well his mind couldn't even fathom it.

When she had spoken of Mrs. Han he had been both grateful and disappointed. The woman had worked Selina hard for the privilege of food and a thin pallet on the floor of her store. But he had heard no ill will in Selina's voice, she spoke of Mrs. Han with respect, admiration and love. Selina seemed truly thankful for every moment that she had spent with the family. That was where she was taking him now. She was taking him to the only place that had ever been a home to her.

Selina paused at the end of the dock and Bruce brushed up beside her. Her chin was dropped into the throat of the jacket. She blinked up at him and he noticed the small droplets of moisture in her dark lashes. There was a mist falling and he wondered if it was that or the memories to blame. It had already been an emotional rollercoaster of a day.

xx earlier that morning xx

He had come into the kitchen showered and shaved, drawn by the comforting smells of coffee and the sound of a happily burbling teakettle. He was fastening the sleeve of his hunter green button down as he walked down the hall when it struck him how common a thing this should be for a man his age. Waking up to the woman he loved, sharing their morning routine together. He shouldn't be so excited about it, but for Bruce this was an alien and exhilarating experience. For some reason he felt like this day was the beginning, the real beginning to something special. So what most men would consider common, Bruce intended to cherish. He had experienced the storm his entire life, now he just wanted the calm.

He looked around the kitchen and smiled at the mug and teacup that sat side by side on the counter. He glanced over at the coffee pot and saw that it was just beginning to brew. He ventured further into the kitchen and smelled the oatmeal that was cooked on the stove. He smiled and swallowed down some of the emotion that was constricting his throat. There was a container of cinnamon sitting beside the bowls and he knew that it was for him. Alfred had made it like that for him in Florence. He glanced around the kitchen and realized where she had gone, the door to the safe room was open.

Bruce forewent the coffee and walked quietly down the hall, his bare feet soundless on the floor, he found her sitting quietly in the room. He didn't call to her; he just stood for a moment and watched her as she sat on the steel bench that lined the wall. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and her chin was tucked to her chest. He was struck by the similarity of the pose to when she was in Monte Carlo. She was sitting on the bench outside waiting on Sigmund...alone and afraid…drawing in on herself. It was Selina Kyle's shelter position.

He walked calmly over to where she sat, her sketchbook was sitting close beside her. Bruce picked it up and sat down in its place. She didn't acknowledge him, but her eyes watched him as he moved, eventually they settled on the book in his hands.

"I have hundreds of books like that filled with drawings. Looking back on things I guess it was like therapy." Her voice had that mechanical beat to it again and Bruce found himself at odds with how difficult this was on her. I am forcing her to give a voice to her pain. She had never talked about any of this to anyone and now I am demanding it from her. Trooper that she is, she is trying ...trying to gut it out for me.

"Selina, if you aren't ready to tell me..." His voice fell away as she looked up at him. Her eyes were haunted and distant, she was locked deep in the grips of her memories.

She pressed her lips together in an unhappy line, "If you are going to wait until I am ready, Bruce...you'll be waiting forever."

Bruce slipped his arm around her and was relieved when her rigid shoulders relaxed and she leaned into him, "Forever happens to be exactly how long we have, Selina."

That hit the mark. Selina took a deep breath and unfolded; Bruce's arms became full of her as she climbed into his lap. He smiled in spite of the situation. Yes to all of this. Yes to her finding shelter in me. Yes to her opening up about her past. Yes to her acceptance of forever. Just keep that word coming Selina…yes, yes, yes…I still have an important question to ask you and I will be needing to hear a 'yes' one more time... He held her with her bare legs dangling over his; she was clad only in his grey thermal pajama top. His hand slid up and down her arm as his lips pressed against her temple.

"Three weeks after Mrs. Han's brother took the kids back to Korea, I saw my father again." Her voice was soft, but the mechanical tone was gone. Now it was full of pain and quiet strength, "I had got out of school and found myself walking across town to my old house. I still don't know why I went, but I saw him. It had been two years and I finally saw him again."

He felt her hands gripping his shirt and Bruce linked his arms around her.

"He was walking up the steps of the apartment, he was carrying something. A woman was walking up behind him and he turned to say something to her and I realized..." Her voice was a hoarse whisper as she gritted through it, "He was holding a child, a little girl."

Bruce felt the chill go through him, "Dear God, no."

Selina pressed hard into him and was rewarded by his arms wrapping tighter around her, gathering her close to him, "She was small, probably five or six…curly blonde hair…"

The whistle of the kettle sounded from the other room and Selina seemed more than relieved for the excuse to stop her recount of the event. She extracted herself from his arms and ran a hand through her hair as she stood. She glanced down at Bruce and he looked up at her, their eyes locked as the pain of her past threatened to overwhelm them both. Selina walked to the door and paused for a second. She didn't face him as she spoke, "It's strange... now that I try to remember that little girls face…all I can see is…Meghan."

No...Selina...no. Bruce pressed his fingers to his eyes and tried to collect himself. He remembered only too clearly the night Selina told him about finding her...naked and bloodied...He growled out a sound of frustration and pain as he thought of Meghan and Gordon now. Little Meghan holding her arms open to me, trusting me to hold her while she slept...her soft voice telling Gordon that she loved him. Bruce leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands he ran his fingers through his hair. "Oh my God this world...it's too much sometimes."

The images of Meghan kept flashing through his mind, her crystal blue eyes, and the crinkles on the side of her nose when she grinned. Bruce rested his elbows on his knees, his hands clenched into fists as he tried to control his emotions. His eyes dropped down to the sketchpad that was lying beside him. He gathered up the book and clutched it in his hand as his thoughts jumped from Meghan to Selina to the little blonde girl that had surely been doomed to their same hell. He questioned then if he was really ready to hear the rest of this story. I don't know if I can handle this…as a man I just don't know if I can.

He tried to focus on something else, anything else. He looked hard at the cover of the sketchpad and forced the memory into his mind. I found this the day I returned to Gotham. I hadn't been ready for that either. I had taken one look inside the book and knew that I couldn't go any farther into it. The pain was too much. Not having Selina...thinking that it was her goodbye, it was just...too much. He still didn't feel like he could look in it, not yet. He clenched the book tightly in his hands and something drifted out of the pages onto the floor. Bruce bent down and retrieved it. He examined it and finally realized what it was, a dried flower petal. The color was faded, but it was still a recognizable blue. His jaw worked as he let the book crack open, his fingers found the gap and he opened it to that page.

Selina's blue dahlia lay pressed between the sheets. He saw the drawing behind it, the Cours Seleya flower market. He stared down at it and it all came crushing in on him. His throat worked and his jaw flexed as he looked at the dried flower. How close…how close had I been to never getting her back? How much is her past still endangering what we have? Suddenly he was torn, he wanted to know, but he didn't know if he could hear anymore of the atrocities. What if it changes things between us? Changes how we see each other...she was worried that it might. He felt his stomach twist as the gravity of her situation threatened to overwhelm him. What if this keeps her from me? The desperation was crawling over him and he was struggling to stop it. How can I combat it if I don't know...if I don't understand...I need to know.

His mind reeled as he tried to come to grips with all of it. He thought of her sitting in this very penthouse locked up with the memories of Meghan...fresh off the horror of that day, Selina had sat alone in the bathroom…watching the tub fill as she battled with the images. Bruce had willed himself strength then...strength to be man enough to face the ordeal with her. She needed me...she opened up to me...shared that pain with me...It brought us closer. Bruce shut his eyes and took a breath. I love her and I want to know her past because I don't want her to be the only one to carry that burden.

He dropped his head back against the metal wall and shut his eyes. He remembered laying himself open to her, telling her everything about his parents, Batman, Rachel...the Joker...his eyes snapped open and he stood up. She took all that from me...not knowing who the hell I was, she took all that pain from me and she has helped me carry it...deal with it ever since.

Her voice reached him from the other room. "Bruce, coffee is ready."

Bruce tucked the sketchpad under his arm and walked across the room, he paused at one of the duffel bags and reached in, helping himself to a stack of hundreds. He slapped the banded bills into the open palm of his hand and took another deep breath as walked out and the door of the safe room shut behind him.

X

Selina had poured him a cup of coffee and was in the process of making her tea. He noted with interest that she was using lemon juice now. Alfred is rubbing off on her.

She glanced up at him and gave him a knowing smile, "When an English gentleman suggests how to drink your tea it usually behooves one to listen."

Bruce snorted a laugh as he sipped his own beverage. He raised a brow, "Very good coffee Selina," He praised her gently.

Selina nodded and gave him a smile, "Alfred told me how you like your coffee too."

Bruce sipped it again and smiled, "Tell me Selina, how do I like my coffee?"

"You like it like Alfred makes it." Selina shrugged, "If I tell you any more details than that, it might jeopardize his job security." Her eyes danced and her teasing tone squeezed at his heart.

Bruce smiled at her, imagining the two of them collaborating over his coffee preferences. It touched him in a tender way he had not anticipated, "I am a lucky man to have two such people as you and Alfred in my life."

Selina smiled as she sipped her tea, "You are very lucky to have him, Bruce." Her eyes glistened as she set her cup down on the counter, "I love seeing you two together. It shows me what it might be like to have a father."

Bruce shut his eyes and ran his hand through his hair again, "Selina, I can tell you that you are quickly becoming family to him." Bruce looked down at his cup and shook his head a small smile played across his lips.

Selina looked at him and quirked an eyebrow, "What are you thinking?"

Bruce cocked his head and gave her a side-glance as he exhaled a breath. He lifted his cup to his lips and muttered, "I'm thinking that I will have to ask Alfred his permission to marry you, Selina." He shook his head again and laughed, "He is one of three men that I am feeling an obligation to consult in pursuit of your hand."

That brought a chuckle from her as she pictured Bruce Wayne, hat in hand, making his rounds to Alfred, Lucius and Jim Gordon. She grinned devilishly, "You better not ever step out of line, those are some powerful people to answer to."

Bruce sipped his coffee, "Good thing you will be there to make sure I'm always walking the straight and narrow."

Selina laughed aloud at that concept. Me keeping the Boy Scout in line...indeed, what has the world come to? "How 'bout we eat and I take you on a trip down to the docks?"

Xxxx

Selina hooked her arm through his and led him down the crumbling sidewalk past the boarded up buildings. She identified several, telling him about the families that had owned them and how they fell to the crime lords. She paused at the corner and smiled up at a large brick building, it was obviously an old firehouse. Of all the structures it had fared the best. Its walls were still strong and sound, but the glass doors had long since been boarded and sealed.

"Firehouse Seven," She looked fondly at the old building, "The guys in that company were so great. They came in nearly every day for lunch. Mrs. Han never charged them, but they always left enough to cover the food and some extra. The lieutenant was this burly hulk of a man. He was growly and demanding to the guys, but he was always so nice to me." She blushed a little as she confessed a secret, "He had the kindest eyes I had ever seen." She looked at Bruce as if she was assessing him for the first time and she smiled, "Until you."

Bruce acknowledged the compliment with a small twitch of his lips and he let his hand slip out of his pocket and capture hers. He squeezed it gently and pulled her cold hand into the warmth of his pocket as he gave her a knowing look, "And there began your fascination with Gotham's public servants."

Selina blushed again and smiled up at the building, "Lucky for you...he laid the ground work for my hero fetish."

Selina encouraged him to turn and they leaned up against the old wood pylons that separated the walk from the canal below. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and slid them into hers, lacing their fingers together. He followed her eyes to the small shop. The entire front of the store had been glass and was now covered by warped, weathered plywood. He could just make out the faded red on a sign above the roofline. It was oriental characters, "What does it say?" He asked softly.

Selina smiled up at him over her shoulder, "Little Korea." She looked back at the store, "I painted that sign."

Bruce heard the small hint of pride in her voice and his hand tightened on hers, "You are remarkable woman, Selina."

Selina gripped his hand tightly, her eyes intent on the sign, "I killed him, Bruce."

The words hung between them for a long time. He shook his head, "I know the story Selina. You didn't kill him. Adriano—"

Selina interrupted him, "I killed him, Bruce. Just as sure as if I had beaten him to death myself."

Bruce forced himself to speak. "Tell me, Selina. Finish this and tell me what happened, stop letting this eat away at you and just get it out. "

Selina nodded and her gaze tracked back over to the restaurant.

"Falcone had been sniffing around asking questions about what happened to the Hans. Asking about the stuff disappearing from the store." She leaned back against him as she spoke and again Bruce was grateful that she was seeking him out. It would have been easy for her to collapse in on herself…shut me out.

"Carpanzano and Falcone were both working protection rackets on the docks, a turf war was building between the families." Bruce let his head drop over her shoulder and rest against her cheek as he stared at the little shop listening to her speak.

"I was liquidating everything in store as quickly as I could. Someone must have finally got wind of it because Falcone's guys busted in the place. They almost got me unloading the refrigerator units to the butcher shop. It would have been bad for the Kraut and I both if we had gotten caught." Her eyes narrowed as she looked down the dock, "You can almost see his place from here. An old German immigrant and his wife ran it. They had a meat shop in the back and a German restaurant in the front, Hildegard's. You could get fresh brotchen and authentic German mustard. It was awesome." She smiled over her shoulder at him, "This dock was a collection of cultures like I have never seen the like of since. So many first generation immigrants that found a way to make it...until Falcone and Carpanzano squeezed them out of business."

Her face darkened and she looked back at the small store that had been her home. "The collectors came around more and more after that. They almost got me a couple of times, but once I made it out into the open they didn't have a chance in hell of catching me."

Bruce smiled into her cheek. Even then my little Selina was a handful...smart and resourceful.

Her jaw clenched as she tried to find her next words, when she spoke Bruce heard the raw emotion in her voice; " I remember laying there under the counter in the corner, listening for them, knowing they would be coming to get me. I tried to tell myself to run, to get the hell out of there, that there was nothing left worth staying for. But I couldn't make myself leave. It was the first place that I had ever felt safe. I didn't want to lose the memories of them," Selina squirmed at the admission, "I was still trying to hold onto it. I knew it was just a matter of time before my luck would run out. Then the strangest thing happened, I stopped being scared and I started getting angry."

Bruce pressed his lips together and tried to ready himself for what was to come.

Selina's voice was stronger now…colder, "I realized I shouldn't have to run from those bastards. They were the problem…not me. They shouldn't have been able to force me out of my home. They shouldn't have been able to get away with hurting people the way they did... doing what they did to the people down at the marina…to Mrs. Han...to me."

Her eyes fogged as she lost herself in the bitter memories, "After I saw my father that day…with that little girl…my mind just wouldn't let it go. How those pieces of shit could do what they were doing...getting away with it all. It was like the cops were blind to everything." Her voice was strained and the words came quicker now, "I couldn't close my eyes without seeing Mrs. Han…her children…my father with that little girl…It was eating me alive."

Bruce listened as he pictured her huddled into herself lying on the floor of the room, the fear and loneliness she must have felt tore at him. He wrapped her so tightly that he was surprised she could even breathe, but she didn't complain, she just let him envelop her and accepted the refuge in his arms. Her voice stalled and Bruce realized she was bogging down in the emotions of the past. "What did you do with dangerous animals like that hunting you, Selina?"

Her shoulders sagged with the weight of the admission, "The only thing I could do. I turned them on each other."

He listened as she told him about allowing Carpanzano's men to catch her. She had intentionally kept a stack of the money on her and she told them that Falcone had been behind the liquidation of the store. "They thought they scared me into talking. I was plenty scared, but I used it...used the fear to play them. They roughed me up and I held out for a while until I felt it starting to turn serious and then I gave him up. I gave up my dear old dad as the Falcone connection."

Bruce braced her against him and just held her as she continued, "I told them about the money and that Falcone was using him to horn in on their territory at the docks. I had seen and heard enough about what was going on in the Marina to really sell my story too. I knew exactly the businesses Falcone was working. The auto shop on the corner and the bakery were getting stood on heavy by Falcone, so heavy they hadn't been able to get straight with Carpanzano for months." Selina smiled with sad pride, "I told him that Falcone was on top of him, that the businesses weren't paying him anymore because Falcone was protecting them. I told him that my father was the collector. Then I told him where he hid the money." Her lips curled into a brittle smile and she took a deep breath, "It was flawless."

He heard her throat click as she swallowed, "I had skipped school the day before and broke into my old apartment. I planted everything I needed to make it look like he was working for Falcone. That was the real masterpiece in all of this...what I did there." She took a slip of bills from Bruce's pocket and gave him a wink when he realized he had been picked-pocketed. Her hands folded the currency long ways and then she rolled it in her palms. "When Mrs. Han or I would pay the Falcon protection money his collectors would take the bills and roll them like this." She gave him back the stack of cash, "Then they would rubber band it with a scrap of paper or business card from the store stuck around the outside. So that's what I did. I made one from Mrs. Han, the bakery and the auto shop and I hid them in his dresser drawer."

Selina pulled at him and they were walking again, past the small store. Her eyes swept over the familiar wood framing, the white paint was worn and cracked, peeling off onto the equally weathered dock. Her boots stepped over the random trash and lumber that littered the walkway. Bruce followed her down to the end of the pier. The dock had collapsed here and the wreckage of the boat slips was just visible below the water line.

Selina stood at the end of the pier and Bruce stood beside her, his arm brushed hers and Selina smiled at the small gesture of support. Bruce Wayne…who would have known that cracking his safe would have led to all of this? She let her eyes trail up his leather-clad arm to his broad shoulders and then to his face. He was beautiful...an Adonis. Truly if there had ever been a more aesthetically handsome man to walk the earth I would have to demand to see proof. And if there had ever existed a man more focused in his pursuits and in his convictions I would have to see proof of him as well.

Selina realized she had been staring at him when he touched her hand and she came back to herself. She mumbled an apology, but Bruce just shook his head, "Selina you can look at me like that anytime you want." His eyes were bright and his skin was flushed.

Selina regained her composure, "Look at you like what?"

Bruce's lip twitched, "Like a woman in love." He cleared his throat from the emotion that clogged it and looked at her with a longing she understood only too completely.

He saw her lip tremble before she pressed them hard together. When she regained herself she continued, "I only wish I was the woman you believe me to be, Bruce. I wish I could tell you I had remorse over this...that I would do it differently if I could. But that would be a lie. I am not going to lie to you, Bruce."

Selina turned out to face the water, "They brought him here, into the marina office," she pointed out to the water; part of the structure was still visible. "His hands were tied behind his back and there was a burlap bag over his head." Selina hesitated, her head cocking to the side ever so slightly as her mind worked, "I think that's why I froze up when I first saw Scarecrow last night...the burlap mask...it was like seeing a ghost from my past."

Her voice cracked and Bruce knew she was struggling, her back was rigid and she stood stock-still. Patience Bruce...space, give her space... He willed himself to stay still and just listen to her voice.

"I had told Carpanzano that he still had the money from the store, that he was holding out on Falcone. Fifteen thousand was a lot of cash; they must have turned over his apartment looking for it." She jammed her hands into the pockets of the jacket, focusing on the water that lapped around the exposed remains of the office. "They didn't find it of course, but they found the 'protection money' I planted...and they found something else...something even more damming..."

Her mind replayed the scene. The old white shoebox being passed to Adriano. He opened it and I felt his eyes on me. The other men just looked away, looked anywhere but at me. Selina swallowed thickly and forced her voice to come. "Carpanzano told them to cut me loose. They opened the door and I walked away."

Bruce stood behind her and his voice was just a whisper as he asked, "What did they find Selina?"

Selina felt her eyes brim but the tears didn't fall. "A box...photos...of me."

Bruce felt his stomach roll and his mouth went dry. He nearly died at her next words.

"I hope they were just of me. That I got to him before he could do the same to that little girl." Then the tears fell and he saw her shoulders shaking. He turned her gently into him and she accepted his comfort, crying silently into his chest.

His mind reeled as he tried to comprehend what had happened. Carpanzano had tortured Brian Kyle to death in that shack over the water. The police had found the body much as Selina had described, bound and gagged. Bruce now understood the brutality of the scene. The photos...Carpanzano was a mobster and criminal, but he was also a Catholic and a father of six, four of them girls. I wonder when he looked into that box...when he saw the evidence of Selina's lost innocence...had he seen his own children in her? How much of what happened to her father that day was about money...or territory? How much was about retribution?

The image of Meghan slammed into Bruce's mind. He forced the rising bile down with a swallow. Meghan had a guardian angel that had saved her. There had been no one there to save Selina Kyle. She had suffered until she had finally summoned the courage to save herself. She had run...escaped the hell that had been her childhood.

Bruce held her against him, the wind blew her hair across his face and he shut his eyes and lost himself in her pain. She had returned to that hell to save a little girl whose name she didn't know, from a fate that she knew all too well. She had saved every child he might have harmed in the future by stopping him permanently. Bruce cradled her against him and soothed her as she struggled to get on top of her emotions. He rocked her gently until her hitching breath alarmed him enough that he had to calm her, "Hush now. Take a deep breath, Selina. Now I have you, but you need to breathe." He smoothed his palm along her wet cheek.

Selina leaned heavily into his hand and took a shaky breath, "Selina you are alright. You are safe with me. I understand...I understand." His words were even and soft, "You did what you had to do baby. You did what you had to do to save that little girl." He realized he was doing exactly what she had told him he would do, justifying her actions. By damn she was justified...she was just a child. He gave voice to that truth, "You were just a child yourself, Selina. None of this was your fault."

His words brought a pained laugh from her, "I wasn't a child Bruce. My childhood was gone long before that day on the docks."

He held her up against him as she buried her face in his neck, "You were just a child Selina, left alone in a world of monsters. You will never face another one alone. Do you hear me Selina?" His voice was insistent that she acknowledge that truth, "Tell me you will let me be there for you, Selina. That you know you aren't alone anymore."

Selina gripped him tightly, fisting the lapels of his jacket in her hands. "Bruce, I know I shouldn't have done it…" She swallowed hard and looked up at him her eyes shining, "I never cared about it before you…never felt guilt over it." Her eyes were wide and her breath was coming in quick pants, "I gave them both what they deserved. I called the police on Carpanzano, they caught him and his boys red-handed, gave them life for the murder. They deserved it…not for my father...but for what he did to Mrs. Han...he killed her and he deserved to pay for that. "

She looked at him the pain obvious in her eyes. "I still believe that Bruce, the truth of it is...I wouldn't change what I did." Her eyes locked on his, "The same goes for Bane."

Bane...The name landed hard on his ears and Bruce flinched involuntarily.

"Knowing how you felt about killing, Bruce...I still shot him...and I would do it again...in a heartbeat." Her brown eyes held his and she repeated it like a promise, "To save you Bruce, I would shoot that bastard again without any hesitation at all." Selina held herself away from him. "I know what that makes me. I will never be who you want me to be. I am so sorry, Bruce. It kills me to admit it." She looked at him longingly, "I wanted this...us."

Bruce felt the panic dusting up inside him, he let his arms circle her and pull her into his chest. Her face was cold and her body was trembling, "Selina, I wish things had been different for you, that you had been able to reach out and get help, that you hadn't felt so alone that you had to deal with things the way you did. But what happened, happened and there is no changing that." He held her tight, "Things are different now. You have people that love you and care for you. I want that to matter enough that you will try...try and make different decisions...that you will try to trust the system to find justice."

Selina listened to him and was grateful that he hadn't just swept it all under the rug. It would have been a lie if he had pretended that he agreed with her actions. She knew it was something that he never would have done himself. The Batman would have never taken justice into his own hands and turned himself into the judge and jury.

He looked down into her face and cupped her chin, "You are who you are, Selina. I know you are never going to be able to play totally by my rules. Hell, if you had I wouldn't be standing here right now." His jaw flexed as he thought of Bane, "He would have killed me, Selina. Gotham…you…everything would have been destroyed." He spoke as if it had just occurred to him that all would have been lost with his death.

He shut his eyes for a moment, "You did what you had to do then, Selina, just as you always have, but you are different now too. When you found Meghan, you could have killed Jassop. Put a bullet in his brain, but you didn't. You made the right choice." She had surely taken her pound of flesh...but she hadn't killed him. She hadn't pulled the trigger…because it didn't need pulling...not then… Jassop was going back to prison. Gordon was coming for him…she had trusted Gordon to take him off the street. She had trusted the system for once in her life. She had trusted Jim Gordon.

He looked at her and the urgency that she understand him was clear on his face and in his eyes. "I want you. Not for who you think I want you to be, but for who you are, Selina. And yes, I want you to work within my parameters, because then I can justify what we do. Batman does what needs to be done...what others cannot do for themselves. He works outside the hard lines of the law, but I still have to have rules...limits or I risk becoming the very monster I've vowed to protect Gotham against."

Selina nodded that she understood. His hand stroked her cheek, "Selina, when it comes down to the wire...we both know that you will do what you have to do."

His eyes met hers and he realized they had come to an understanding. She would play nice, until nice didn't play anymore. Then she would do what had to be done. She looked into his eyes and blinked away the tears, "I can live with those limits, Bruce."

He nodded and gripped her tightly in his arms, "So can I." His mouth pressed against hers and she felt him lift her off the ground, she wrapped her arms over his shoulders as he kissed her. She felt some of their desperation fade and a smoldering passion quickly took its place. He finally broke away and he whispered in her ear, "I want you to go away with me, Selina."

Her eyes blinked open and she stared up at the grey sky of Gotham answering him without hesitation, "Yes".

Bruce chuckled and she found herself smiling, "You don't even know where we are going."

Selina sighed, "It doesn't matter. I'd follow you through the gates of hell, Bruce."

Bruce kissed her cheek, "Not hell, Selina. They don't take our kind there. We are going to Switzerland."

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xEdits by Cheed!x

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-Slingblade-