How could she not have seen this coming? The last mob to have taken over the drug trading operations in the neighborhood had been Eiko's family. They had been killed over gang disputes during the occupation, but she could've connected the dots. If she had done so, they wouldn't have gone there so clueless and unprepared. She wouldn't have let Bruce go alone.

"I am not joking, Selina!", Eiko yelled exasperated after having shot the ceiling.

The bullet had rebounded and hit some computer screens and both Bruce and Selina crouched down to protect themselves. Eiko was very close to losing it and Selina took the opportunity to get closer to her.

"Selina," Bruce warned her quietly.

She ignored him and lifted her hands up in front of her, as if she was trying to approach a wild animal.

"Eiko, listen to me…"

"No! Put your gun down or I'll shoot him right now! Stop messing with me!", she cried out, "Oh my god… I killed those people. I killed them… all those people… look what you've done to me!", she yelled, momentarily retracting the gun from aiming at Bruce to smack her head a couple times with it.

Selina flinched, noticing the safety lock wasn't activated. She'd put her own gun down on the floor as requested and was feeling even more vulnerable.

"Eiko, please," she begged when the woman put him at gunpoint again, "give me the gun and we can talk this through, okay? I'll do whatever you want, just hand it over, please."

"Don't you see, Selina? There's nothing you can do anymore. I screwed up everything now," she wailed.

"I can help you. We'll fix things together, I promise," Selina said calmly, carefully taking one more step towards her but stopping when her trigger finger tensed up.

"You keep saying that, but we were together for almost a year and never once I caught you on a lie. You're that good, I bet that hasn't changed," she snapped.

Selina was starting to get desperate as she realized there wasn't much more she could do, specially when they were unarmed and being held at gunpoint by someone having a mental breakdown. She hadn't been able to change Eiko's focus to her and seeing Bruce in the direction of the barrel of that gun was wearing her composure and rationality down.

"Why do you keep glancing over to him?", Eiko shouted madly, "Huh? I thought you said he was just a tool, so why do you look so concerned?"

"I'm not, Eiko…"

"He'll never love you like I do! Like I did! I would've done anything for you... I've killed for you! So why?! Why is he different?", she yelled wiggling the gun at him.

Selina knew she had stopped being any kind of convincing for a while now, and so she let her fear take over her completely and she yelled back, desperately and with tears accumulating in her eyes, "He's not, Eiko! He's not! I promise, he…"

"Then you won't mind me doing this," she said coldly as she pulled the trigger.

Selina only had time to process her reaction after the word came screaming deafeningly out of her mouth, "No!"

Bruce hit the floor flopping and grunted in pain. She couldn't see where the bullet had hit him from where she stood, and she was already promptly on her way to run to him when she heard Eiko recharging the gun. She only glanced at her out of instinct, but stopped unwillingly when she saw it was pointed at her. She quickly considered her options. She could run to Bruce and be killed midway and have him bleed out there with nothing to do, or she could try once more to get to her.

"Eiko, please, please, I'll go with you. I swear to you, on my life. They will arrest you if you stay here, but if you just let me go to him and get him help I'll run away with you, just like you wanted, okay? I'll do whatever you want, we'll go wherever you'd like and we'll never go back, you hear me? Just please, let me help him," she rattled off, begging.

"You never loved me, Selina. You said so yourself. You told me I was just a means to an end, and you're doing that again. And then you're going to discard me like I'm nothing, again."

"I won't. I'll be on my knees asking for your forgiveness for as long as it takes. I'll go with you wherever you wanna go. I'll help you. Just let me help him first. Please."

Eiko's face frowned weirdly and she shrieked as the unending tears started pouring out of her. She dropped the gun down and crumbled to the ground, crying loudly and hysterically. Selina barely paid any attention to it after being released of her aim, having immediately hurried to Bruce's side.

He was conscious, just looking out of breath and in a lot of pain. The bullet had apparently gone right through his shoulder, so there was a lot of blood coming out of both sides.

"Hang on, okay?", she mumbled nervously as she tried to apply pressure where the bullet had entered, "Don't you dare die on me, Wayne."

"Selina, I…", he tried to speak, but his voice was coming out strangled and throaty. His eyelids started weighing down and she gave him quick soft slaps on his face to keep him awake.

"Hey, stay with me. Don't talk. I'll get you help, okay? Just hold on."

Suddenly a loud exploding noise echoed through the air and Selina looked up to see the Gotham police squad blowing up the backdoor and invading the room through the main one. She saw Eiko pick up the gun and she quickly jumped over Bruce's body, but the woman was shooting aimlessly in all directions.

However, she ran out of bullets shortly after, and was tackled by the police over high-pitched whines and wails. Selina barely heard it, being much more focused on calling out to the paramedics who had just stormed in.

———

It was almost night outside. Selina watched Alfred practically jumping off a car on the other side of the street. She couldn't hold back the tears she'd been holding in front of everyone else as she saw him. His expression quickly crumbled into a worried, alarmed one when he saw her face.

"Miss?", he asked concerned as she dove into his arms and cried on his chest.

"He's alright," she sobbed.

He let out a deep and relieved breath and held her trembling body. She couldn't care less about the people around her anymore, or if they'd recognize her or not. Her worst nightmare had almost come true, and she wasn't about to start caring about they thought.

She led Alfred behind the ambulance where Bruce was laid on a gurney outside, waiting to be transported to the hospital. They had been able to stabilize him and the wound, and they'd given him morphine and put him on a ventilator to help him breathe. Selina had stayed by his side the whole time, stroking his hair and face and holding his hand trying to comfort him, specially before the drugs had started to kick in and he was writhing in pain.

Alfred grabbed Bruce's hand, "Oh, Master Bruce. I am so glad you're alright. Please tell me now you're done with these shenanigans."

Bruce simply chuckled drowsily and gripped his mentor's hand back. Selina's tears continued to stream down her cheeks, soaking her mask, but she was able to crack a smile too when she saw him do so. He brought his hand up to her and wiped the tears off her face, mouthing soundlessly "I'm fine". She nodded and sniffed, trying to get her emotions under control again.

A paramedic came and began informing them that they'd be taking him to Gotham General, but he soon stopped talking when he got interrupted by horrifying howls as the cops tried to drag Eiko out of the building. She was being particularly difficult, wiggling around and throwing herself down to the floor at times. But her eyes focused and she quit fighting them momentarily the minute she saw Selina outside. And then she began whining even louder.

"You monster! I did everything for you!", she yelled as they hauled her towards the police car, "I loved you and you threw me away like garbage!"

Selina looked over to Bruce, who watched the scene seemingly confused as if it was real or not. She clutched his hand and kissed its palm, "Just give me a sec, okay?"

She eyed Alfred as if asking him to watch him for a minute and started walking towards Eiko, who suddenly became paralyzed. She stopped moving or making any sounds as she watched Selina approaching. Jim Gordon stood beside her and mumbled something affirmative to the cops who restrained her, who promptly stood down and waited.

Selina stopped right in front of her and studied her - her puffy eyes, scratched cheeks and smeared makeup -, and she couldn't do it. She couldn't yell, or scream, or even get mad long enough to waste any energy on it. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

Tucking her messy tangled hair behind her ears, Selina stroked it softly for a while before she mumbled, "I'm really sorry for what I did to you back then. You didn't deserve it. In fact, you deserved so much more and better," she sighed, "but it's no excuse for what you did… Life's unfair. People suck. Take it from me, you can't go on revenge or killing sprees every time someone's an asshole to you," she wiped Eiko's tears, "Try to get better. Try to do better."

Selina pressed a soft quick kiss to her forehead and let the guards take her.

———

The Wayne name could really work wonders when it came to overlooking bureaucracies and undermining rules. They fixed him up with the VIP suite as soon as he stepped foot in the hospital without even asking for ID or insurance cards. They also managed to provide as much privacy as possible considering his "celebrity" status.

Selina had changed into the clothes Alfred had brought her before going in. The nurses had reassured them both that they'd take him straight to the room after he woke up from surgery, which took less time than expected. His wound was clean and easily fixed, but they'd also brought in the best surgeons in the hospital to operate him, because apparently having money insured you got these things without even asking for them.

Selina, who had been stress-napping on Alfred's shoulder on the bedroom couch, stood up the second she heard the gurney wheels passing through the door.

Bruce appeared fine overall, just looking a little pale and tired, but he smiled lightly as soon as he saw her. The anesthesia was still wearing off, and so he wasn't yet fully aware of what was going on, but being surrounded by his family made him feel tranquil and safe enough to not mind it. He couldn't really process what they were saying, but he'd nod quietly and smile from time to time. He also didn't know when had he fallen back asleep, but when he woke up it was already morning, and Selina's head lay on the mattress near his hand. She'd slept all night sat down on a chair by his side, and when he looked around he also noticed Alfred, asleep sitting on the couch.

He tried to move quietly to stretch his stiffened muscles a bit, but a sharp pain hit him across his shoulder and he couldn't help but groan. Selina sat straight up, startled and alarmed, which made Alfred wake up too. She reached out to him worriedly, but Bruce quickly reassured her he was fine.

The dark circles under her eyes and the general exhaustion printed on her face indicated she hadn't yet calmed down enough to sleep through the night. She could still feel the last remnants of adrenaline in her veins and they were taking their sweet time wearing off.

Over the next days, though, she seemed to get better and even looked like she was in a good mood. She'd smile and joke around and hop into the hospital bed with him to watch movies on her laptop. And she never even left the building as Bruce was being kept over for observation for a few more days; which to him sort of appeared to be unnecessary and overly thorough. Selina would've agreed, because the doctors did seem to be checking up on him every five seconds, and honestly being downright toady; but since it was Bruce, she didn't mind much the extra bootlicking if it meant he was well taken care of.

Alfred had returned to the penthouse and would come by twice a day to see him and bring Selina food and extra clothes and toiletries. Bruce insisted that she could go home, even if just for a quick bath - since he knew she hated showering in strange bathrooms; but she made it clear she wasn't leaving, and even joked he was just looking for an excuse to be alone with the female doctors and nurses.

Bruce didn't pressure her after that. Honestly, he was just concerned she might've been pretending to hold down the fort so well that she might just crack at some point. So he kept watching her, waiting for her to show any signs that she might break or flip or crumble. They never came.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?", she asked one day as she dried her recently washed hair with a towel.

"Like what?", he asked, feeling a bit caught.

"Like I'm about to trip over something and you're about to run over and catch me."

"That's… oddly specific."

"But is it accurate?"

Bruce sighed, "A bit. I guess I'm just wondering if you're suffering in silence and putting up a good front for me. Cause I don't want you to feel like you need to do that. I can take it."

"I'm not doing that. And I know you can."

"So you're not just trying to keep a strong facade? You're not gonna wake up one day and snap and fall into a guilt spiral, are you?"

"No… Do you think I should?"

"No! Absolutely not," he affirmed, worried he might've been misunderstood, "I'm just saying it cause it's just your usual mechanism. You definitely shouldn't."

Selina sighed and stepped closer to sit on his bed, "I'm following your advice from before. Cause you were right. This isn't on me. I'm terribly sorry, and I'll never forgive myself for what I did to her. But how she handled it, what she did after… that is not on me. There's no excuse. If I could go back and do it differently I would, but I can't. I already carry enough guilt on my own without absorbing hers."

Bruce smiled, satisfied.

"But, with that being said, I do feel like I could've done better in there. Like I should've kept or at least faked my cool better. But I just couldn't go on being so cruel to her, and seeing you at gunpoint like that just sent me…," she shivered and shook her head trying to brush off the thought, "I never used to mix my personal life with my "cat life", and that's why. I'm sorry you paid the price."

"No, Selina," he touched her arm with his free uninjured one, "I would've taken a hundred of those bullets to get you out of there safely. Well, not hundreds, you know, cause that thing hurts like a bitch," he joked, "but I don't care, as long as you're well."

She brought her hand to his face and stroked it lightly, looking into his eyes, "For a second there I really thought I'd lost you. I don't know what I would do if that ever happened, I don't think I'd be able to... breathe," she sighed, "You really shouldn't have brought me into your life, Mr. Wayne. Cause now it's like you're as vital to me as air or water or food."

"Well, the feeling's mutual. So I guess we've both screwed up," he smiled briefly, "I can't even imagine having to live without you. Honestly, on some level, I can probably relate to Eiko…", he mumbled slightly amused, but Selina frowned and he cut it off, "Too soon? Sorry."

But then she chuckled a bit and he relaxed.

"I need to talk to you. But first of all, I need to ask you something," she said and he nodded curious, but patiently, "are we still leaving? Cause I know you said we could go anywhere. But I've noticed for the past days that you've missed here and, well, you've missed him…," Bruce furrowed his brow thinking, "Whether you want it or not, Batman is you. Even when you're not him."

Selina studied his expression carefully. He seemed in deep thought and not wanting to speak yet.

"I've talked to Blake. He agrees with me. He's well-trained, he's more than capable than handling the city on his own, but it only took one puff of that cheap out-of-date drug sprayed on his face for him to get knocked out. That's not supposed to happen, and it does because he doesn't feel comfortable doing this. He's not at ease being the Batman - cause that's you, not him."

Selina sighed and looked down at her hands as she continued, "I would never make you choose. Between me and him. I won't. It's okay if you miss that life. I miss my old one too sometimes, although you and I both know you'd never be on board with me returning to it," she chuckled lightly, "which is okay, because I'd never miss it enough to want it back or to change from what we have. But it's okay if you do. I get it. But if I may also say - I'd prefer if you didn't. I don't know how I'd learn to live every day in fear every time you stepped out the door. But I understand the rush, and the confidence and the excitement that comes with it; so I can figure it out if that's what you need. Though, if you were to do this only for the people and for the message, you should know you've created a shapeshifter symbol. And the city already has someone else to fill in the gap for that. It doesn't need to drain the life out of you anymore - leave that to me," she smiled softly, joking, "but, as I said, I can't and I won't make you choose."

"No, you can. But you won't," he simpered, having snapped out of his thoughts, "I love you so much for offering me that... It's true. I miss it, I really do. I don't miss it more than I miss our life back home, though," she looked up at him and he grabbed her hand, "I'd already chosen to let go of this a long time ago, and now more than ever I want to stick by my choice. A life with you is all the excitement I need."

Selina beamed coyly and cuddled in on his chest on the side of his healthy shoulder. He kissed the top of her head.

"Good. Cause I know I played it cool but I was dead scared of what you were going to answer," she said, and he scoffed a laugh.

"Why did you ask me, then?", he asked, genuinely interested.

"Cause I didn't want you to feel like you had to suppress this part of yourself for me... I didn't want history repeating itself," she mumbled, looking a bit disconcerted and even slightly embarrassed for saying it. It took Bruce a second to grasp why, but he eventually understood - she was talking about Rachel.

"Selina…", he shook his head and lifted her chin up so she would look at him, "there's nothing here to repeat. You're the one person I've loved most in this life. You're so strong, and genuine, and beautiful. You're my miracle. In my heart, everyone else can't hold a single candle to you."

Selina blushed and he had to hold back not to laugh at the sweet sight of it. She lay on his chest again, feeling flustered - would he ever stop having that effect on her?

"Either way…," she continued, trying to regain her composure, which Bruce was finding infinitely amusing, "I just wanted you to know I love you both. Bruce and the Bat. And I wouldn't ever want you to give up any of them for me."

"Yeah… I wish I could say the same about you," he said on a serious tone and sighed, but Selina slapped his arm playfully and his mask easily fell off, giving space to a light-hearted chuckle.

"I'm obviously joking. You of all people should know how much the Cat has grown on me, how she holds a special place in my heart - specially after she introduced me to that little whip of hers."

Selina laughed and he smirked, leaning in for a calm, warm and devout kiss.