Bruce's eyelids felt as if they were glued to his skin. He tried twinkling them against the weak light entering the room. Groaning drowsily, he turned to check the alarm clock on the bedside table. He rubbed his eyes, realizing it was almost nighttime and he'd slept for ten hours. Well, he'd also driven for almost as much the day before, so that wasn't a surprise.

They had only gone to bed in the morning, but the sheets on Selina's side were cold, so she'd been up for some time now. Bruce forced himself up and into the shower to try to at least look alive. When he was finished and already dressed up, he slid the curtains and opened the door to the balcony. The air was cool and fresh, announcing fall was finally settling in. The ocean was darker and more turbulent than usual, but it still made it to a very nice sunset.

By the beach, contrasting with the plain white endless sand, sat Selina on a long round cloth wearing Bruce's navy blue sweater. His heart stumbled upon a mix of feelings caused by the image - joy, sadness, frustration, wistfulness, but most of all, relief. God only knows how many times in the last few weeks he'd thought he'd never see it again. Or, more accurately, how many times he'd avoided thinking like that, not allowing himself to ever consider it, knowing what even the idea of it would do to him.

On the way down the stairs, he ran into Paula coming up. She carried piles of clean sheets and towels and complimented him cheerfully as she'd usually do, then told him she had a meal prepared for him in the kitchen. By the time she came back, Bruce was almost done eating, and so she decided to take the opportunity to approach him. She respectfully asked him if everything was okay with Miss Kyle and if anything had happened to her while they were gone. She expressed her concern about her and mentioned that she found her looking ill and sad.

Bruce tried to ease her mind, explaining she'd just caught a bug on their trip, but that she was recovering fine and that her paleness was only due to the recent lack of sunlight. Paula insisted that she still thought Selina was a bit blue, but eventually let it go, telling him about dinner and letting him know what she'd stocked the fridge with. She continued to make small talk until she casually brought up how surprised she was when Batman showed up during the "incident" in Paris, and then asked him if he was too, being from Gotham and all. Bruce almost choked on his last bite, which then made her completely forget the subject and reach out to help him.

Paula left soon after and Bruce sighed, knowing he could no longer postpone what he needed to do. As he walked slowly towards the beach, he realized he had no idea how to approach Selina, and so he grew even more frustrated with how everything had changed in just a matter of weeks. They were so good before. No fights, no secrets, no earth-shatteringly traumatic events.

And so he wasn't sure what he was most angry about, that Selina had kept all those things from him, or that she'd come clean about them. I mean, she'd done them way before they ever met, and so did he really want her to tell him the truth? Did he want the truth, or did he prefer living blissfully in ignorance? He didn't know, and, honestly, he figured that at that point it didn't matter. He couldn't change what happened. So the real question was, did it all really make a difference to him? And if so, how much would he let it affect him or their relationship?

Could he simply forgive and forget?

He hoped so.

As he stepped foot in the sand and started getting closer to Selina, he realized she was talking on the phone. He didn't want to seem too prying so he stood a few feet back away until she was done, although he was curious to know who could she be talking to.

She hadn't noticed his presence yet, being too absorbed in her conversation with Holly and her memories of a distant life in Gotham. It all seemed like forever ago.

It had been a bit of a pickle to get her number, but she managed to find it with Alfred's help. Holly was not the kind of friend you have to keep in touch to keep. A few minutes of catching up and it was like Selina had never left, which gave her the impression that things in Gotham never really changed. They talked mostly about her illicit life in the city, and Selina just laughed, just slightly internally wistful of it all. Aside from actual murder, her life had been pretty lawful since she'd left. Her friend eventually stopped asking her where she was and what she'd been doing when she realized she would just keep on deflecting, and Selina was grateful for that.

Besides, if her plans went accordingly, she'd be seeing her again in no time, and by then she would've probably figured out what to tell her.

"[...] I know, but that's the point," Selina chuckled, "out of all people, you should know I'd be the last one to judge you for doing that…"

Selina then saw Bruce's shadow on the sand next to her and turned her head to him. Her smile quickly grew dimmer.

"Hey, Jen, I'm gonna have to call you back later… yeah, I know, I'm sorry, I should've reached out sooner… I miss you too... bye," she hung up and looked up at him again, "Hi."

"Hi," he replied.

The awkward silence that followed after made her hands fidgety, and she started tapping her nails on the cellphone.

"I grabbed your sweater, I couldn't find my winter clothes. Hope that's not a problem," she babbled, but he kept quiet, staring ahead with his hands on his pocket and looking out of place.

How had they come to this?, Selina thought. How did they go from such an intimate, warm relationship to charged, uncomfortable interactions?

"Talking to Holly?", he asked unaffectedly.

"Yeah, just doing some catching up," she sighed, defeated, "so how do you wanna do this? Do we talk or not talk about it?"

"I don't know," he answered after a while.

"I came out here to run. Only I found out I couldn't. It's like my legs won't listen to my brain," she mumbled suddenly.

Bruce realized she must've been really anxious, cause she wasn't one to jabber away like that.

"You should take it slow, your body's still recovering," he responded, trying to ease her a bit, but she cut him in almost immediately.

"Do you remember my first day here?", she asked.

Seeing she wasn't about to quit blabbering nervously, he sat down on the cloth as well, though she barely seemed to notice it.

"You kissed me right here on the beach. Well, in the ocean, more precisely," she said, hugging her legs, "I was so scared after that. I mean, that kiss scared the crap out of me."

"And why is that?", he asked.

"I don't know. I just… I felt this warmth, and… softness in me I hadn't felt in so long, I'd convinced myself it never even existed there in the first place. And then out of a sudden, you come up and unearth it like it's no big deal. I mean, the audacity... ", she shook her head and chuckled humorlessly.

"You're giving me way too much credit. It was probably the wine", Bruce tried to joke, but neither of them laughed.

"Nah, I've been drunk enough times to know the difference", she muttered.

"Selina…"

"Don't," she interrupted him, "please. I'm not sure I can take what you have to say right now."

"At some point you'll run out of jibber-jabber to avoid this conversation. Besides, I know for a fact there's not much you can't take."

She sighed airily, and seeing no other option muttered, "Okay… shoot me."

"I'm actually not sure what I have to say yet. I still have no idea how to proceed here. They don't teach you how to deal with your girlfriend's criminal past in Relationship 101. I've been doing fine so far, but it seems like now I've hit a bump."

Selina took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead, trying to prepare herself and expecting the worst that was yet to come.

"But I think we'll be fine," he said, and she looked at him surprised, "it's debatable, but I guess we've been through worse. I just haven't had time to process this yet. But I know I can't hold you to the things you've done before you and I ever met. And most of all, I can't hold you accountable for doing what you had to do to survive, especially when you were so young and had no way to know what it'd turn into... Why do you look so surprised?", he asked when he noticed her expression.

"I… I guess I just thought there would be at least some yelling. Or at least a moral lesson."

"I guess you've had enough of those from me. And I'm hardly an example setter at this point. I know I don't say this much, but I see how much you've changed and how much you try to do better for me. It doesn't go unnoticed. And I'm sorry you feel the need to 'adjust' yourself to be with me, but now I see you've changed me too, though I don't think you realize it. You've shown me not everything is black and white. But now with this… and most of all, with what I was ready to do to save you that day in the tower… I was ready to leave all morality behind if it meant you'd be okay. I was ready to be the most selfish I could be by putting you in front of everyone else. It's something I would've never considered doing for me or anyone else about a year ago. So you said before I hadn't and couldn't change for you, but I already did, and drastically."

Selina eyed him studying his expression. He seemed determined and sure, but also kind of sad. There was a time she would've been terrified to hear declarations of that sort, but not anymore. The only thing she could feel was overwhelming affection; and guilt. A whole lot of guilt.

"I'm guessing you don't view that as "good" change, though, do you?"

"Does it matter?", he asked sort of rhetorically, "We've both done terrible things, and we've both suffered immeasurable pain and loss, and we've both come out the other way. It's the ties that bind us," he said as he gave her a short wistful smile, "But to answer your question, for the most part, no, I don't particularly think I'm better for it, but you were... well, I don't often say something was worth the wait, because I hate waiting. But I didn't even know I was doing it, that I'd been doing it my whole life. But yeah, you were worth the wait. And you should know you're worth a lot more. And maybe it's just me being selfish and thinking only of myself, but I can't lose that."

Selina tried not to overthink it and give herself too much time to get scared to be turned down, and brought her hand to his face, stroking his cheek lightly with her finger. He sighed and closed his eyes, giving in and leaning into her soft touch and cold hands. Her thumb traced his lips gently and she thought about how much she missed them on hers. It didn't feel like the time for that yet, though.

"Well…", she mumbled and dropped her hand from him before she could do something time-inappropriate, "maybe my take on this isn't really that valid to you, but you're the best person I've ever met. I mean, truth be told, I haven't met many great people in my life. And maybe that's not universally true, but at least to me, you're the best one in the world. And I'm stupidly glad you came into my life, so I guess that's selfish of me too - you would've never swerved from your 'righteousness' and wouldn't be feeling guilty for it right now if it wasn't for me."

"Right, but I don't regret it for a second, Selina. And of course your take is valid to me. It's probably more valuable than anyone else's - isn't that why I feel guilty, though? I don't care about anyone else's opinion but yours. But for now… I'm thinking we should just forget about "good" and "bad".

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I gave you the clean slate program once. Maybe we just need to apply that logic to us right now. If we're gonna try to make things work."

"Where are you getting at?"

"We don't let our past lives interfere with us anymore. Not like this, anyway."

"Sounds easier said than done," she muttered pensively.

"I know. But aren't you willing to try?"

"I am", she quickly replied, "I really am. Though we might need to postpone and revisit this later."

"Why?", he asked confused.

"I want to go back to Gotham. I want to see this thing through to the end. I know Harley kept yelling that this wasn't over, well, I need to see that it is, and that's with her safely vexing some poor old guard in a cell in Arkham. I can't let this go any further, especially now that you know everything. And of course, you can't come, cause you're supposed to be dead. So I need to deal with this first. And when I come back we can start from zero."

"No way," he said promptly, "we all know how well the last time worked out."

"Exactly. Look, you don't know her. She's insane. Crazier than he was. And she should be even more so now that he's gone, cause she was obsessed with him. And I killed him, so trust me, she's not gonna let that go."

Bruce was looking away from her, quiet and contemplating. She waited anxiously for him to say something, but he just laughed in disbelief.

"What is it? What are you thinking?"

"Well, right now I'm genuinely concerned for your mental capabilities if you actually think I'm just gonna let you run off alone to freaking Gotham to make sure justice is being served. Like this isn't all too ironic. Gee, I can't seem to catch a break."

"Look, of course I'd much prefer that you could come with me, but we both know this isn't a viable option. People are already buzzing as it is with Batman's sudden comeback. And in Europe of all places, where you, Bruce, were once supposedly spotted. We shut those rumors down. But if you suddenly reappear alive practically at the same time as Batman did, people will quickly connect the dots."

"We'll think of something. If you are really determined to go, then you'll have to make peace with the fact that I'm joining you."

"Okay, can we not talk about this right now? We've just settled, we don't wanna jump from one argument to another."

Bruce was hesitant at first, but then sighed defeated, "Fair enough."

"So that's it? We're done fighting about… yesterday?"

"Yeah, I guess", he mumbled, "I still need some time to process through all of it though."

"Alright," she muttered, barely able to hide the sadness in her voice, "for what it's worth, I'm really sorry I make things so hard for you."

"On the contrary. I'm the one who complicates them. You actually make them very very easy. You've got me in the palm of your hand, one look from you and all is forgiven. I'm the one who fights against it, cause it shouldn't be so easy. What you should be apologizing for is for making me love you so hard and so blindly it eats all my pride away," he said, seemingly more to himself than to her. His tone wasn't loving or affectionate, just frustrated.

"So you've already forgiven me, but you're not going to let me acknowledge that yet cause you feel like you should've taken longer to do so?", she said inquisitively, trying to keep up with his logic.

"Yes," he replied, feeling a little pathetic after she'd voiced it out loud.

"Okay. I can play along," he groaned, looking irritated, "what?"

"See, you're making it too easy again."

"I don't understand. What do you want me to do?", she asked confused.

"Nothing," he grunted, "just leave it."

Silence followed. She wasn't sure what to say, and so she decided to just shut up and give him the time he'd asked for. They both sat quietly looking at the ocean. The breeze was cold and the skies were a darker shade now with the sun almost gone. There was something eating up inside Selina, and though she didn't think it was perfect timing, she just couldn't stop herself from saying it. The last time she'd almost died without being able to voice it out loud. She'd been scared all that time to do it, like she'd be setting herself up for disappointment by letting her guard down and letting him in completely. That fear seemed ridiculous and almost laughable after what she'd suffered and been through. And in that moment, sitting beside him and feeling the safest she'd ever felt or ever could ever feel, the words just spilled out of her mouth like an unstoppable stream.

"I love you," she whispered, still not looking at him.

He sat there quietly for some time, trying to ignore the cool sensation that took over his stomach, but it didn't last. Her words had made him feel like his cold hardened heart had melted into a pool of lava that was about to burst. He'd longed to hear that sentence coming out of her for too long. The first time she'd voiced it to him had inflicted way more fright and fear upon him than joy or relief.

"Damn it," he moaned.

Before she could ask, he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, pressing her against his chest and holding her head down to him in a caring way. He gave a quick peck to the top of her head and she settled in his embrace, taking a deep breath into his neck, trying to make the most of that moment.

They were going to be fine. She trusted it, though the heavy atmosphere hadn't been lifted yet. That certainty was all she'd allowed herself to consider, because the alternative was unbearably unthinkable. However, she hadn't been able to skew herself around feeling uneasy and unsettled after her eyes caught a glimpse of the markings on her ankle, like a sick joke forever stamped onto her; a reminder of how fragile and thin her once thick-skin was after she'd let someone get under it; of how quickly and easily things could go wrong. Selina trembled as she could've sworn she could hear the Joker's laugh just by looking at that tattoo, and she shivered noticeably at the imaginary sound.

Bruce made his grip tighter around her, thinking she was probably chilly from the cool winds. His hands rubbed her arms comfortably to warm her up and the gesture drove her to the edge of emotion, leaving her teary-eyed. She almost rolled her eyes at herself for feeling so sensitive, but she was more focused on her heart, which was pounding so fast and loud in her chest she knew there was probably a panic attack coming. Her insides were getting jittery with the bad kind of butterflies wandering around her stomach. The anxiety taking over her got her lightheaded and internally agitated.

She grabbed Bruce's hand unwieldly and pressed it hard against her heart, and he instantly noticed the arrhythmia, accompanied by her heavy breathing. His eyes widened in preoccupation, but before he could say anything she started moving and massaging her chest in circles with his hand. He quickly picked it up and kept doing it while she tried her best to relax by breathing his intoxicating scent in and out. His lips were in her ear, rustling and shushing her soothingly as the accumulated tears started streaming down from her eyes, spreading across her cheeks by the strong ocean breeze.

Yes, they were going to be fine, but no, it would not be a short road to that.