Selina dragged herself up the stairs of her walk-up apartment building, the elevator never having been repaired after the flooding. She was just too exhausted to climb the fire escape right now. She still wore her catsuit but figured it unlikely anyone would spot her in it at one in the morning.

Rescuing those women, most of them just girls, had been such an adrenaline high. They had thanked her over and over again, weeping at the relief to be free from their captors. It made the rush she got from thieving seem like a pittance. Not that she planned on giving it up.

She understood now why Vengeance had dedicated himself to helping Gotham. This felt so good. She hadn't wanted it to end, suggesting Vengeance come back to her place to keep the high going. He politely declined, which in his way was to not acknowledge her suggestion at all. He simply told her he'd already contacted Gordon then said good night.

Selina appreciated the heads up. She grudgingly acknowledged Jim Gordon was probably one of the few good cops on the force, but she didn't want to work with him. She left that to Vengeance. When she heard the approaching sirens, she got the hell out of there.

Once inside her apartment, she slipped out of her catsuit and left it draped over her sofa. In the shorts and tank top she wore underneath, she wove her way around the cats meowing at her feet. It got much quieter when she finished lining up bowls of cat food and fresh water on the floor. Unfortunately, her own stomach growled as she examined the meager contents of her fridge.

A knock sounded on her door.

She almost jumped out of her skin as it echoed through her apartment. Some of the cats ran off. Many of them stayed focused on the food.

Could it be Vengeance changing his mind about her offer? She shook her head, chuckling to herself. If Vengeance came for a bootie call, he'd come through her window.

Selina checked the peephole and sighed. Her elderly neighbor stood outside the door.

"Mrs. Peterson?" Selina questioned as she opened the door to a white-haired lady leaning on a purple cane.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry to bother you so late but I saw your light turn on. Mr. Wuffles has gotten himself trapped in the closet."

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to let him in there anymore?" Selina asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. Mr. Wuffles had a history of getting himself stuck in places he couldn't get out. He also had a feisty attitude towards those who tried to help him.

"I'm trying, but I had trouble getting my fan out. It's just so hot out! He snuck in when my back was turned. Will you please help me get him out?"

Not really wanting to, but concerned about the cat being in there for who knows how long, she nodded and followed Mrs. Peterson next door. She could hear Mr. Wuffles mewing from the next room over. They found him on the very top shelf of the closet, and Selina couldn't help but wonder how the overweight tuxedo cat managed to get all the way up there.

"I have a step stool," Mrs. Peterson offered. She pulled one over and Selina rolled her eyes behind the woman's back when she saw it. It stood about a foot high, looking like the kind of thing a little kid used in the bathroom. She briefly debated going back to her apartment to get her much taller step ladder but she decided to do this the dirty way. She stepped up on the stool, cringing as it creaked.

Mr. Wuffles meowed again, then squeezed himself behind a tan leather bag.

Selina stretched up and reached Mr. Wuffles' hips. Gripping gently, she tried pulling him back towards her. She didn't hear the low growling until it was too late.

Mr. Wuffles let out an ear-splitting screech and lashed out with his paw. His nails bit into the skin on the back of her hand, drawing lines of blood.

Selina snatched her hand back but the sudden movement had the step stool wobbling underneath her. With much less grace than she usually possessed, she fell off the stool. She did manage to twist herself enough to land on her ass.

With a yowl, Mr. Wuffles slammed his body into the tan leather bag he'd crammed himself behind.

Selina looked up just in time to see the bag fall over. Her eyes widened as a sparkly, blue bowling ball toppled out and crashed into her head.

Everything went black.

XXXXXX

The sound of a voice penetrated through the darkness first. It sounded far away, as if she heard it from a different room. She could hear the inflections of the voice talking but not the actual words. She concentrated on it, and as she did, it grew clearer.

"...started about a month ago, maybe two. She would drink a whole bowl of water at a time! Cleo's never been a big water drinker so I got a little worried something might be wrong."

She identified the voice as male, but young. Maybe late teens, early twenties. Selina fought against the darkness, heading in the direction of the voice. Finally, her eyes opened.

As her vision adjusted to the bright lights in the room, she focused on a cat staring intently up at her. Cleo, Selina presumed. The Siamese's bright blue eyes reminded Selina of the bowling ball that had been hurtling towards her head. Had it hit her? She couldn't remember. The cat tilted her head, peering at Selina as if puzzled by her.

Yeah, I'm puzzled too, Cleo.

"Dr. Kyle?" The voice interrupted her communing with the cat.

Selina looked up. A young man wearing a Metallica T-shirt stood on the other side of an examining table where Cleo sat. Cat pictures lined the walls and a computer sat on the counter next to her. Cleo's name graced the top of an open chart. She opened her mouth to correct him, that she wasn't a doctor, when she noticed she wore a white coat with a stethoscope draped around her neck.

Before she could make sense of that, a horrible pain slashed through her head. Her teeth snapped together from the sheer intensity of it. She grabbed her head, unable to breath.

"Dr. Kyle! Somebody help!"

Selina collapsed to her knees. For the second time, everything went black.

XXXXXXX

Selina bolted up as she became conscious of the world again. She almost screamed from the remembered pain in her head but then realized it was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Glancing around the room, she realized she lay in a hospital bed. An unflattering hospital gown covered her body and an IV dripped fluids into her arm. This made more sense to her than wherever she'd been before with the cat staring at her. That must have been a dream.

A woman in a red blouse and tan pants stood with her back towards Selina. She spoke with a tall, blond woman in a white lab coat, presumably a doctor. The woman seemed agitated by the way she waved her hands around as she talked.

Selina cleared her throat, alerting them to her being awake.

The woman in the red blouse whirled around, rushing to Selina's bedside. "Oh, thank goodness you're awake!"

As Selina took in the dark-skinned woman's face, her eyes widened with shock. "Mama?" she whispered.

Maria Kyle smiled down at her daughter, running a soothing hand over Selina's cheek. "I'm here, baby."

Her mother wore her hair short and natural, not the long straightened hair Selina remembered before her mother was murdered. She looked exactly like Selina would have imagined if her mother had been allowed to grow older.

Joy and confusion threatened to overwhelm her. "How is this possible?"

"Your work called like ten times. I don't think they realized I shut my phone off when I'm teaching. Finally, they called the front office, who pulled me out of class to come down here."

Tears ran down Selina's cheeks. She grabbed her mother's hand, squeezing it. "I don't understand how you're here, but I've missed you so much!" she cried.

Maria looked back at the doctor with concern on her face.

The doctor stepped close to her bed. "Hello, I'm Doctor Clark, the neurologist. Can you tell me your name?"

"Selina Kyle." She refused to let go of her mother's hand, fearing she'd disappear.

"Good. Now I'm going to have you follow this light with just your eyes." She pulled a pen light out of her pocket and Selina dutifully followed it. "Good. Do you remember what happened?"

"I got hit in the head by a bowling ball."

The doctor pursed her lips. "Actually, you collapsed and had a seizure at work. You're a veterinarian, right?"

That explains the cat, she thought but answered. "No, I'm not."

Maria broke in, sounding flustered. "She is a veterinarian! She graduated Gotham University College of Veterinary Medicine two years ago. She works at the Just Cats Clinic over on Pine Street. What's wrong with her?"

"Selective amnesia brought on by the seizure. Almost always temporary. The good news is all her scans were negative for damage. Plus, she still knows the basics. Her name, that you're her mother. Sometimes it comes back all at once. Sometimes it comes back in little bits. Mom, just keep talking to her, telling her about your lives. Selina, keep asking questions. It really helps visualize the answers. I promise your mom won't be upset by any of your questions. Right, Mom?"

"Right!" Maria responded emphatically.

"Okay, doc. When can I get outta here?" Selina desperately wanted to leave and grill her mother about this place. She highly doubted the selective amnesia diagnosis. She remembered everything about her life and this wasn't it. But to have her mother back...hell, she'd say anything.

"Just need to get your discharge papers together. I'll give you a doctor's note for your work for the next week when you'll see me for a recheck. In the meantime, no working, driving or playing with knives. Don't want you hurting yourself or others if you have another seizure."

So no jumping off rooftops? she wanted to ask but held her tongue. "I promise," she said instead.