"You look beautiful, no one is going to notice that you did your makeup in the car." He reassures her as she pretends not to hear Frankie taking the pictures. He makes a mental note to buy them a better camera as a thank you gift.
"You were the one who made me cry." Mary leaned forward, fork in hand and not a hair out of place. In different circumstances, Bruce wouldn't have hesitated on going for her, and part of him believed she would've reciprocated.
"I'm sorry, I had no idea you are the type to cry when someone else cries." He apologizes as if it had been his entire fault that they had both cried their eyes out when seeing the ultrasound of the baby.
"And I'm sorry that me being the father of your child is going to endanger your internship with Dr. Almeida." He says wryly knowing the Chilean Lawyer at the head of the best legal clinic in Gotham County didn't like him sleeping around her interns, especially promising ones like Mary.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I started volunteering at the Catholic Charity for immigrants and the food pantry in Park Row to amp up my resume."
Mary counts the five seconds it takes for Bruce to come up with ways to keep her safe. He apologizes after asking, "Why the fuck do you keep going back there?"
"Because that's where my friends live." She answers as if it weren't one of the most dangerous places in Gotham. "Do remember I live and grew up a ten-minute drive from Tamaulipas, Mexico."
He remembers at least two stories she's told him where she's had to hide underneath a table when cartel members started a fight near her favorite taco place in her parent's hometown. He has also seen the reports from the Watchtower that honestly made him fear for her life knowing she will likely go visit her family in Mexico during winter break.
"That doesn't help, Mary."
"Nothing's going to happen to me, Bruce." Mary assured him, as if she had any real power to stop it from happening.
"Its two birds with one stone: I get the internship as well as a chance to do something meaningful with my life," Mary continued and bites her bottom lip holding back a teasing grin "…and I get to make my mom believe that I still go to church when she comes to visit me on spring break."
"Almeida would be very lucky to have you, and if she can't get past it then it's her loss." Bruce smiles, he hasn't really stopped smiling since that morning and he's learned to enjoy these moments. "And I would be willing to help you convince your mom, so long as you help me explain to her that yes, Jewish people can be atheist."
"Deal, but I will expect gifts on Hanukkah as well as my birthday, Christmas, and Three Kings' Day."
"Here's to you getting your internship and lying to your mother." He teases and raises his glass.
They toast to her career with orange juice and before they can resume their brunch, the inevitable happen.
"Who is that with Bruce Wayne?"
Fuck.
In a matter of minutes, the world knew that a Mexican American law student, and substitute teacher at Gotham Academy by the name of Maria Garza was pregnant with Bruce Wayne's baby.
Sure, there would be an article in which it emphasized that she had been inseminated against her will by a mentally unstable doctor, but no one cared and assumed they were dating or at least fucking. Mary wouldn't have believed it either if it had happened to someone else, but that didn't excuse the god-awful comments she read.
To date Bruce Wayne was being the entire Country's flavor of the month and so far, no girl -or Clark Kent- had made it as far as the One Ring.
Even some people have given up hope on Bruce Wayne ever having Mrs. Wayne -or Mr. Wayne because the man might be cisgender, but he sure as hell wasn't straight.
The world floundered in between pitying, glorifying, or slut-shaming (CNN, Telemundo, and Fox News respectively) as no one really knew how to speak about Bruce Wayne's baby mama.
At least Latin American networks never found it in their hearts to doubt her story or speak badly of her.
Mary had never thought she would somehow get all that slut shaming and finger pointing her date didn't give her. When her date made local news, local gossips had felt bad for her and told her they would pray for her to get a call back from Bruce. (Mary hadn't even gotten his number, but she wasn't going to tell her friend who had her own radio station that)
Now her virtue and asexuality were being disparaged by the same people who praised her on being a 'great example for the younger girls'. If only people would read the fucking article.
As a member of the populace that identify as female, Mary was no stranger to be called a whore by random people. As hurtful as it was, it relieved her to know she still wasn't being made out to be some modern incarnation of the Virgin Mary. Walter Mercado and several other astrologers on Television had speculated it, but no one seemed to believe it.
"The old man who sells oranges on the stoplight gave me a bag of oranges for you. I gave him twenty bucks." Maggie effortlessly tosses a big sack of oranges over the marble counter.
"That's nice." Mary muttered while she aggressively scrubbed the dishes. She had cooked herself tacos al pastor, wanting something greasy and fattening like pork tacos marinated with chili peppers and pineapple. "Letty made me pay full price for the Arepas at the food truck this morning."
"No one has actually said anything bad about you, except the vindictive bitch Bruce dated three months ago. Everyone thinks you are a telenovela come true. Like the one on CW with Jaime Camil and Gina Rodriguez. Hell, the entire cast sent you a gift and donated to the charities your volunteer at."
"Yeah, but they haven't become the unwilling face of pro-lifers and just about every group of people hates us. Ted fucking Cruz and Greg fucking Abbot tweeted some bullshit story where I embody good Christian values. For fuck's sake we're shitty Catholics and I am Pro-Choice!" Mary leans a little too much on the sink she dents it.
"Okay calm down, we can fix that. Have you talked to Bruce? Talking to him usually leaves you in a better mood." Maggie gently pries the metal scrub from her hand and dries her older sister's hands like she would their errant nephews. Mary doesn't like being treated like a child but having someone take care of her with zero judgement did a whole lot of wonders.
"He is at work, and I don't want to be the clingy baby mama." Mary answers.
"Okay have you called Tia Mina?" As much as the medication worked, years of therapy had really been the thing that helped Mary. Lucky for them, their aunt was her therapist on account of it not being safe to talk to anyone else.
"I already did, and there is nothing wrong with me being in a bad mood. You don't have to keep walking on eggshells around me, Maggie." She assured her sister who had been treating her like her mental breakdown happened a week ago and not almost two years ago.
"I know, and I am sorry if I do. It's just I am terrified of it happening again." Maggie sighed her concern still etched in her face.
Mary does not remember what happened in the two weeks she went missing. Every time she tries to remember what happened between being evicted from her apartment in Kingsville and waking up in a psychiatric hospital in in Austin, she feels like she is throwing herself at a brick wall. She knows the only other person who knows what happened to her is Vandal Savage, but Mary wonders if that was another hallucination.
"It won't. I am better now and who knows, maybe I will get better like it happened to Aunt Lucia. Stranger things have happened." Mary gestures at her belly making her sister laugh. "So you never told me about the guy you were seeing, the one who 'went out to buy superpowers', what was his name?"
"Hank. He is weirdly obsessed with Batman and I am pretty sure he and his sister, Claire, just went on a bender in South America. He was pretty, but nothing serious." Maggie answered, already having moved on and pretending him ghosting her didn't hurt.
Vandal looked at the footage of his sister, no, granddaughter on the news. They were the same woman and yet two completely different people.
His sister had been given strong abilities, exactly like the ones Maria has, but the meteor had not given her immortality nor had it saved her from the madness nor the backlash of said abilities.
He had taken measures to prevent that with Maria, the reincarnation of his sister as well as his granddaughter, when he had convinced her to leave her mundane little life and take her place as his right hand.
Scandal had already proven a disappointment and his other descendants had better use in his organ banks. He had confidence Maria would be a triumph. A perfect replacement for his errant daughter.
Vandal Savage had been proved wrong and for now he waited to see if the tiny fragment of the meteor had accomplished anything he may have missed in those two weeks.
He wondered if Alexander Luthor or the Court of Owls knew why Savage had left the girl in psychiatric hospital instead of continuing with his original plan.
First things first, I am sorry this took too long for me to write, but I was struck with three chapters worth of my Iroh II/ OC fic, and two drafts for two fics I am starting. I also get discouraged when I don't get comments or kudos. I don't want to pressure the handful of people who read this fic to comment more often but think about it as encouraging your local aroace depressed Mexican fanfic writer. Even if its just to point out a mistake, don't hesitate to leave a review.
I have personally met women who's pregnancy made their anxiety become more manageable and in one case go away completely.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, in 2009 32% of pregnant woman with anxiety who participated in their survey felt their symptoms lessen, so its not unheard of.
I headcanon Bruce/Batman to be Jewish as well as atheist. Martha's family the Kane Family is canonically Jewish, so genetically speaking he would be half-Jewish, and I am pretty sure if your batman believes in God you are writing/reading him wrong.
He is also Pansexual in my fic.
If y'all wanna talk about the fic, Batman, current world events or whatever, y'all can find me in Tumblr. My url is julyzaa.
Happy Election Day to the Americans reading this fic. fingers crossed they don't pull an Al Gore or a Hillary Clinton on us again.