"Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart."
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
"Are you sure, Bruce?" Selina gasped. "Does anyone else know about the crash?"
"I started a worm program running all over the country as soon as the computer notified me of the crash, Selina," Bruce said thoughtfully, "no alerts anywhere, no one else picked it up."
Selina breathed a sigh of relief as she made her way to the medical bay Bruce had set up for the girl. Her own girls had taken up spots on both sides, watching as the little blonde girl laid there absorbing sunlight. Still, in her uniform, most people found her intimidating, sometimes they were more scared of her than they were of the Bat. Her girls, her kittens as she called them, found the uniform fascinating. In fact, Lena had recommended visual acuity changes to her mask that allowed her to see even in zero light conditions. Alex had helped Bruce with the latest updates to her bike, including installing the new turbo booster and throttle controls. The two were so different and yet so alike at the same time.
She swept back the new girl's blonde hair from her forehead and watched her sleep, remembering the day they had picked up a certain little dark-haired baby from a hospital in Ireland.
Bruce had been pacing the hallway for two hours and it was driving her crazy. "Bruce, please sit down. Please."
"What is taking so long?" He growled.
"Sorry, Mr. Wayne, but this isn't something that your mysterious alter ego can make go faster through sheer force of will." She stood and padded across the floor, "it could be a long night, but we have waited for nine-months, surely a few more hours won't kill us."
"I'm going through the scenarios in my head, trying to figure out what happens if Lionel finds out," Bruce said, looking into his wife's green eyes.
"Bruce, she has the best identity money can buy, and you have already purchased that home here for her mother," Selina softly reprimanded him. "We will be fine."
Bruce hung his head, "You're right, I'm overthinking again." Then he took a deep breath and relaxed, "Have I told you lately how much I love you, Mrs. Wayne." The smile on his face took Selina's breath away. "I'm going to head down and get some coffee."
Twenty minutes later, Bruce came back to an empty waiting room. However, his hearing picked up the sound of a baby crying, and he approached the door, only to have the nurse come through holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. "Mr. Wayne, I would like to present Martha Alena Wayne."
Smiling widely, Bruce took the bundle into his large muscular arms and pulled the blanket down to expose the face of their baby girl. Then the nurse led him to the recovery room for the child's birth mother.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Selina asked again for what seemed the thousandth time.
"I'm sure, Mrs. Wayne." She answered, smiling weakly. "I'm too young to raise her by myself, and you two can give her the world."
"If you ever want to meet her, we will make it happen." Selina smiled.
"If it's quite okay, I would rather not, you may tell her she is adopted, but please, don't ever share my name with her." The young woman smiled. "You are her mother now, Mrs. Wayne, and that's how it should be."
"Do you want to hold her?" Bruce asked softly.
The woman smiled, "No, sir, I would rather not. It's not that I don't love her, I truly do, but she was not born of love, something you and your wife seem to have quite a bit to share."
The nurses came and retrieved the baby to feed her and settle her for the night. Bruce and Selina made their way back to their hotel. The young woman, the blood mother of Martha Alena Wayne, checked herself out of the hospital the next morning and disappeared, just as she wanted.
Forty-eight hours after she was born, Lena, as her mother and father had taken to calling her, was boarding Bruce Wayne's private jet for the long flight back to Gotham. The adoption papers were filed and sealed at the request of the birth mother and went missing seventy-two hours later.
Lena had been a wonderful child, well behaved and smart as a whip. She had been spoiled as well but had a loving family, one that was a bit unusual. The first time Diana had come to visit her, Selina learned her child's own superpower, the ability to wrap an adult around her finger. By the time Diana left after that first visit, she was completely taken with the youngest Wayne and Selina had agreed that going forward she would be Lena's godmother.
Selina's memory was interrupted by the sounds of Alex's escrima sticks igniting. She looked up to see her oldest girl enter a fighting stance opposite of Bruce. She smiled as Bruce grabbed his own set off the wall and entered a more relaxed stance.
Alex tried to focus herself, but his name kept rattling around her head, Superman. Her mother and father had died because they wouldn't give anything up about Superman. As scientists for Star Labs, they had been helping him learn to control his powers and learning his weaknesses and limitations. Other than Bruce, Alex probably knew more than anyone else on the planet about Kryptonians, and while she didn't want anything to happen to the girl on the table, she didn't really want her in their lives either. Her mind wandered and she could hear their screams again.
It was Saturday, her birthday and today was all about her and her parents. They took her to breakfast in Midvale, her favorite diner, the one her Daddy always took her to on fishing weekends and every sporting event he drove her too. After breakfast, it had been archery and 9 holes of mini-golf, then the one event she had been waiting all year for, her first surfing lesson. She'd had a total blast at the beach and after what seemed like ages, she finally stood up on her board, the one that the surfing instructor had told her that parents bought especially for her. When they finally left the beach, she had personally helped Jeremiah tie it down to the roof of the car.
They stopped one more time for dinner and she was treated to her favorite chocolate cake with nine candles. On the way home, she fell asleep.
She remembered Eliza shaking her shoulder and telling her to head into the house. Sleepily she made her way upstairs, stopping to wash her face and hands, then headed into her room. She didn't turn on the lights and then she heard yelling from the front yard and looked down to see her parents arguing with a bald man and an older teenage boy she didn't recognize. They were all surrounded by men wearing black and carrying big guns.
The yelling got louder and she heard the name 'Superman' and the bald man called her mother and father Earth-Traitors. She looked back out the window just in time to see Jeremiah step in front of Eliza as the balding man lifted a pistol and shot him in the head. Alex screamed as her father's body fell to the ground outside, and the boy looked up smiling at her. Eliza saw her too and she understood the word 'Panic' as the man turned the pistol on her mother and pulled the trigger.
Alex rushed blindly downstairs and ran into the kitchen, sliding to a stop in the pantry and slamming the button on the back wall. The wall swung open smoothly, and Alex hurried in, smacking the green button inside, then she dropped to the floor, curled into a ball and started to cry. She didn't know how long she was there, her tears had dried a long time ago, but her fear was growing by the second. Then the door was ripped from the hinges and there stood Superman. He was scanning the room, barely even registering the little girl on the floor, but Batman had noticed her. Batman scooped the little girl up in his arms and held her close, telling her it was alright to be sad, okay to cry. He sat on the floor and she wept into his shoulder, she cried and screamed that it wasn't fair and Batman let her, never once did he tell her everything would be okay, that he could make the pain stop. He didn't lie to her, he just let her mourn, let her cry and let her scream. She remembered falling asleep again.
That night, Bruce Wayne showed up in Midvale, and Alex stayed with him at the beach. He sat and explained what was going to happen, that he would do anything he could to help her. She told him that she had seen the person that shot her mom and dad and he called the sheriff and they did a drawing that looked like the man she saw.
Bruce studied the picture and Alex studied him. "You know him don't you, Mr. Wayne?"
"I do, Alexandra, he's a very dangerous man, and a rich one," Bruce answered thoughtfully.
"You're him, aren't you?" Alex whispered, she recognized the eyes, "You're the Batman?"
Bruce looked at the little girl, "You're a smart one, aren't you?" He smirked. "How did you figure it out?"
"Mommy and daddy taught me to pay attention to everything, to listen, to learn and watch, always know what's going on." She smiled, trying to cover the tears. "There was a boy with him, a mean nasty boy that smiled at me when-when they shot daddy." The tears started again, and Bruce gathered the little girl in a hug and gently rocked her to sleep.
Bruce carried her into the living room and laid her gently on the sofa, then stepped back onto the deck. Alex heard the familiar sound of Superman landing and heard Bruce tell him that he knew the shooter.
"It was Lionel, Clark," Bruce whispered. "And he had Lex with him. He's sending you a message."
"I'm a big boy, Bruce, I can take care of the Luthors," Superman spoke confidently.
"They plan twenty moves ahead, Clark. They wouldn't call you out unless they knew what they were doing," Bruce warned.
"Go hide in your cave, Bruce, I'll take care of the Luthors," Superman said with a cocky grin on his face.
A year later, he was dead.
"Lexi!" Bruce waved his escrima stick.
She shook her head, dropped her sticks and bolted for the stairs leading up to the manor. Selina stood to follow when her little kitten looked at her and said, "I'll go, mommy. I know where she went."
Selina hugged Lena and then allowed her to follow her sister. Bruce walked over to Selina "What was that all about, Cat?"
"I would hazard to say that our little Nightwing is imagining everything bad that has happened to her since Kryptonians came to Earth. Where do you think they are going?" Selina responded.
"The same little bolt hole that Dick hid in whenever he had a bad dream," Bruce answered as he watched his little girls run up the stairs.
Selina pulled back her mask, allowing her black hair to roll down her shoulders. "Is she going to be okay, Bruce?" She was looking down at the sleeping Kryptonian as he answered.
"We are doing all we can." He answered softly as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
At the top of the stairs, there was a small space between the rock and the wall of the house, completely hidden unless you knew it was there. Dick Grayson had shown the space to the girls before he had walked out the door to head for Bludhaven. Alex squeezed into the space and turned on the small light and sat down with her back against the stone wall. Then she placed her face in her hands and screamed.
Lena gave her sister a second and then followed her into their spot. "Lexi?" Lena asked softly.
"Leave me alone, Lena," Alex growled.
"That might scare the bullies at school, but you know it doesn't bother me, Lexi," Lena smirked.
"Fine," Alex sighed.
"Want to talk about it? You normally look forward to Dad kicking your butt," Lena smiled.
"My parents were killed because of someone like her. Superman, he learned how to control his powers, let my parents test him, study him and they became experts. Because of that Lionel and Lex Luthor killed them," Alex stared straight ahead. "Her being here puts us all in danger Lee. Lex Luthor will find her and kill us too."
Lena walked over and sat down beside her sister. "Do you really think that dad is going to let that happen?" Lena asked.
"Well, no, but…" Alex stopped.
"But what, Lexi, we have each other, and all the Justice League. Plus, our mom is Catwoman and our dad is Batman." She smiled, then got serious. "He's not going to let anything happen to us, Lexi."
"Aren't I supposed to be the older sister?" Alex smiled.
"Yeah, but we are a team, Lexi," Lena smiled. "You always say the Wayne sisters should come with warning labels."
Lena leaned her head on her sister's shoulder and felt the familiar arm wrap itself around her shoulder. "Love ya, Lee," Alex whispered.
"Love you too, Lexi," Lena smiled.
Twenty minutes later Alex and Lena made their way back downstairs. They saw their mother sitting beside the bed singing to the blonde girl. The girls stopped their approach, next to Dinah, their mother was the best singer they knew, and it was always so wonderful to hear her sing. When she finished, she turned to the girls, "Hello kittens," she purred. "Your father is in the bunk room, he has a board meeting in the morning."
Alex walked over and wrapped her adoptive mother in a hug, "sorry for running off mom, I got a little scared."
Lifting her chin, Selina looked into Alex's eyes, "Alexandra, kitten, we all have our memories and our past. You are fourteen, not forty. You're scared Lex will come for her aren't you?" She asked and watched as Alex nodded. "Honey, I understand you are scared, and I understand why, but Bruce is not going to let anything happen to us if he can help it. You know that right?"
"Yes ma'am," Alex answered, holding her down, feeling slightly ashamed.
"Alex, you have no reason to be ashamed. Lift your head," Selina smiled as her eyes met Alex's. "That's better, now give me a hug." Her smile brightened as she was engulfed in the arms of her adoptive daughter. Then Lena joined them and all was right in Selina Kyle Wayne's world.
Alfred brought down soup and sandwiches later that evening and at Selina's insistence sat down with her and the girls to eat. "Alfred you are as much a part of this family as any of us, you know where I come from, and you never looked down on me."
"I'm sorry Miss Selina, it just is not easy to adjust to." Alfred smiled,
"Sixteen years and still not adjusted Alfred." Selina laughed.
"It has been wonderful Miss Selina, but my training is ingrained much deeper than that. Not to mention I have known you long enough that you were family long before you and Master Bruce got married," Alfred reminisced.
"Did you ever think we wouldn't make it Alfred?" Selina asked, curious.
"Master Bruce has been taken with you since the first time he saw you, Miss Selina. There was never a doubt in my mind that he would marry you," Alfred smiled as he answered, the joy in his tone knowing that Bruce would be taken care of long after he was gone.
As they ate, Lena kept peering over her plate at the girl on the table. She started thinking about the last time she had met a new girl in the house.
Lena and Alfred were standing in the entry hall of the Manor as Mommy and Daddy and Alexandra came through the door. She was holding a gift for the new girl, who looked so angry as she stormed in. She paused when she saw Lena and the gift, her mouth set into a hard frown. Mommy had explained what had happened, and Lena understood a little of it, it was hard for her to wrap her head around either of her parents ever being gone, but she had tried. She approached Alexandra slowly, and held the gift up, offering it to the older girl.
Alex is overwhelmed, the house is so big, and then there's the little girl and a gift. 'I don't want anything from her' she thought to herself. She held out her hands anyway and accepted the gift. The little girl smiled at her.
"Hi, I'm Lena," the little girl said. All Alex saw was the smile and in her mind, it matched the horrible smile that the teenage boy had given her as her daddy fell to the ground. She dropped the gift to the hardwood floor and watched the lid bounce off and a small stuffed dog fell out. She looked at the dog, then at the little girl who was frowning and then bolted up the stairs, looking for a place to hide.
Lena looked up at her mother and father, a few tears forming in her eyes. "Did I do something wrong, Mommy?"
Selina lifted the dark-haired little girl up and pulled her into a hug, "no baby, she is just very upset because her parents are gone, this is all new to her and she is lonely and scared."
"I'm going to go look for her, Selina," Bruce spoke quietly.
"No Bruce, let me and Lena go, you are exhausted, non-stop from here to Midvale for two straight weeks, a funeral, tracking Lionel, tracking Clark?" Selina smiled, setting Lena back on the floor.
Lena picked up the small stuffed dog and tucked it back into its box, then took her mother's hand and together they headed upstairs to find Alex.
After looking in the first three rooms, they enter the fourth door, Lena's bedroom. Alex is sitting on the window bench staring out over the gardens, looking down at the lake and the woods on the other side. "Alexandra, you don't have to stay with us, kitten."
Alex looked over her shoulder, seeing Selina and Lena standing side by side in the doorway. She looks away, and after a moment feels rather than sees them sit down on the bench beside them. Lena slides the box between them, pushing it just a little closer to her. Then Lena hops down and crosses the room to her bed and picks up a teddy off her bed and returns to her mother's side.
Alex lifts the box and sets it in her lap. It sits for a few moments, a comfortable silence between them. Finally, she removed the lid and pulled a small stuffed dog from the box, a Scottish Terrier. Tears burned her eyes as she tries so hard not to cry in front of these two, but fails miserably. Holding the stuffed puppy tightly to her chest, she cries and finally leans into the offered arms of Selina. Then she feels a small hand pat hers and realizes that the little girl, Lena, just wants to be her friend. She grips the hand tightly and continues to cry, settling into the hug of this unfamiliar woman. She slowly stops crying and wipes her eyes on her sleeve.
"Alexandra, I'm not going to lie and tell you this will get any easier, but Bruce and I promise to take care of you and do whatever we can to help," Selina spoke, smiling just a bit.
"Thank you," Alex responded softly.
"Are you hungry?" Selina asked.
"Yes ma'am, a little." Alex swallowed as her stomach growled.
Lena giggled a bit, and Alex tried to resist, but her stomach rumbled again, and she couldn't help herself, and she started to giggle herself.
Selina excused herself to go and get some soup and sandwiches, leaving her daughter and Alex to get to know each other. "I'll be back shortly, kittens."
As she left the room, she overheard Lena introduce Ms. Pizzly to Alex's new stuffed puppy, Mac.
Lena saw movement coming from the blonde on the bed.
"Mom, she's waking up.