A/N: This is an idea I had a few days ago and wanted to write it.
Warning: contains mature content
Selina's New Family
Chapter 1
Selina sat in her corner hugging her knees as the man was hurting her mom. It was nothing new. Mom always brought home a different stranger and he always hit her. He kept calling Mom bad things. Words Selina didn't understand. Why was he so mean?
"C'mon, are ya gonna be a good girl," the man growled. He held Mom against the wall by the jaw. His free hand moved from her chest to her waist. Mom trying to not look uncomfortable as the mean man touched her.
When his hand slipped under her skirt, she kneed him. He said several bad words and punched her in the head. She fell to the floor and Selina whimpered. She tried to scootch further against the walls if it could get her away from the boyfriend.
Please go away. Please go away, the scared girl thought.
She started to tremble more as he was looking at her. She wanted to push even further into the wall.
"Well hi there," he said with a scary smile. Other boyfriends have given her that look that made her want to run away. "Are you a good girl?" She did not answer. He walked up to her and grabbed her hair. She shrieked and cried awful tears. "Shut up or I'll beat you like your ho mother."
"No!" Selina's mom shouted getting up from the floor.
"What you don't want your little chit daughter to be—"
"NO! Let her go," Maria cried. "You're not here for her. You're here for me! Have me! Not her! Not the child!"
Selina could tell she didn't want him to touch her, but she was accepting it.
Looking her daughter in the eye she said, "It's okay, baby. It's okay."
He let go of her hair and she crawled away. Her scalp and eyes stung. She hid under a table as her mom led him to her bed. Scared, Selina ran to the bathroom. She hid in the bathtub drawing the curtain shut. The sound of the rickety bed could be heard through the wall and the moaning started. And that's when she finally let go and wept.
Her head hurt. Her throat hurt. She didn't want to hurt anymore. She didn't want her mom to have any more boyfriends.
She hated all the pain, all the yelling from the men her mom brings over. They were always so mean. Always throwing and hitting them. It was good if they stay the night. Those were the good nights.
She hugged herself lying on the cold, hard porcelain floor. "Mommy," she muttered with a watery sniffle, waiting for the dark to take her away.
Maria slouched on her bed feeling sore and disgusting counting the money in her hands. About fifty bucks from that good-for-nothing brute. She sold herself to be abused—and her daughter manhandled—by that drunk creep for fifty lousy dollars. It just figures. One more client might be enough, regrettably.
But desperate times.
She got dressed and instantly looked for Selina. Since the lousy apartment was only a one-bed, the only places Selina could go when a man was staying the night was either the closet or the bathroom. And so she wouldn't have to see them… at it. The closet was too messy and cramped, even for a five-year-old. So Maria went into the bathroom and pushed back the curtain to the shower.
There was her baby asleep in the tub. A gnawing pain ate at her heart from the site. Reaching down, she stroked Selina's beautiful curly hair. She had the sweetest face. She looked too much like an angel to be her daughter. Maria doesn't deserve her.
"Selina. Kitten," she whispered to the little girl.
She began to stir and soon enough her big hazel eyes were peering up at her. Without saying a word, Selina jumped into her mother's arms and Maria did not hold back. She rocked her and whispered soothing words into her ear. It was ironic to her that the place her daughter felt the safest was in her arms. Especially to someone as damaged as her.
The note Maria found on her door bothered her greatly. After all this time, it finally caught up to her. This was extremely bad.
Thunder rumbled outside.
She looked at Selina playing with her toys on the floor. This will greatly affect her too. Oh God, it could get her killed! She's five years old, she has her whole life ahead of her. Why couldn't some people see that? Why couldn't this damn city be somewhat decent?
She had to do something. She couldn't pay it off, even if she had enough money—which she didn't. At that moment she knew what she had to do. She had to leave Gotham.
Looking back at Selina, she comprehended that she wouldn't be able to run very fast with a kid. An aching feeling shot up and down her arms and chest. She had to make a choice that will break her more than anything.
"Hey Selina," she said feigning a happy tone. The little one looked at her and she continued. "How 'bout we go see Uncle Ted?"
The sweet little cherub burst into humungous cheerfulness. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's go! Let's go!" Selina was bouncing around and Maria could never resist the urge to smile.
"UNCLE TEDDY!"
Selina, drenched in rain, leaped into the big, muscular arms of twenty-five-year-old Ted Grant.
"Kitty Cat," the man cried picking her up and twirling her around with her joyful giggles.
Maria beamed at the sight. Ted was a good friend. They met when she was walking the streets, working. She tried to make a client out of him. He was so handsome and not much older than her, she was tempted to do him for free. But he declined. Instead, he invited her to his home and gave her food and some money without violating her. Even after departing, they continued to see each other and he helped out with Selina. She took a liking to him and started to call him Uncle Teddy.
Why couldn't he be her father?
Ted Grant was one of the very few good men in the Narrows. Perhaps even in Gotham. It was refreshing since some sick bastards Maria comes across takes a different sort of liking to Selina. It was horrible when a lowlife was leering at her daughter with vile intentions. Thank, whatever, God that nothing has happened to her… yet.
"What brings the Kyle girls here?" Ted asked.
"Well Selina wanted to see her Teddy Bear," Maria hailed.
"Is that true, Lina?" Ted asked the girl on his hip.
"YEAH!" Selina bellowed.
Ted chuckled. "Well let's see if I have anything special for my Kitty Cat." He brought them around the boxing ring to the back room.
"So how's the boxing going?" Maria asked as they entered his living quarters. It was only one room with the—sort of—kitchen and the bed in the same place. Some trash and clothes were scattered on the floor and the place smelled like a sweaty fighter. Still better than hers.
"Oh, it's fine," he responded sitting Selina at the dining table. "Business is starting to pick up."
"That's good…. That's good." Maria's troubles came back to her making her feel sick. She watched as he gave Selina a bag of cookies. It may have not been a good idea to give her so much sugar, but it makes her happy and she needs happiness. And Ted was so wonderful to her. Seriously, why couldn't he have been Selina's daddy?
"So what's up?"
She was started when he whispered to her. She moved him out of hearing distance of the child and told him her problems and who was after her.
"Oh my God," he gasped. He took a quick concerning glance back to Selina. "What are you gonna do, Maria?"
She breathed a heavy sigh rubbing her arm. "For this… I realize that I need to run. I have to get out of the city. Across the country, if I could." She gripped her shirt sleeve. "But I won't be able to run very fast with a five-year-old."
A knowing look both hardened and softened Ted's face. He glanced one more time at Selina eating her snack. "So what's your plan?" he asked crossing his arms.
Maria pushed her hair back. "I… I know I can't bring her with me." She sniffed. "At first, I thought of leaving her at St. Maria's—the orphanage I grew up in. But then I realized, what if she turns out like me or worse if I leave her there?" She turned away from her friend.
"And you're here thinking that I might be able to take her in and raise her," Ted concluded for her. "Am I right?"
She looked back at him. Her throat was so filled with so much stuff and emotion that it was impossible to speak.
He sighed. "Maria… you know I would do anything for you and Selina, but I can barely take care of myself anyhow. I've been crashing in a back room of a gym and waiting for my next match for pay. Which is barely enough for me if I win it. If I bring in a kid, I'd have to think of school and child support things. I'm sorry. I wish I could—I really do—but I'm trying to think of what's best for Selina."
He's right, Maria's guilty conscience said. "What am I gonna do?"
Ted stroked the stubble of his jaw. Then he heaved a heavy sigh that was never a good sign. "Try to find a family to adopt her," he said. "A good family."
She walked to the window. Looking out dazed in the hardest decision she has to make. Out there she only saw the slums of Gotham. In that bad neighborhood, desperate people were trying so hard to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads. The hood even forged a large chunk of the people who grew up in it into criminals. There are no good families out there.
She gonna have to look in the other districts of the city. Somewhere nicer that has a larger count of wholesome folks.
Looking up, she literally plucked the answer from the sky. Or rather, Gotham's skyline.
"Where are we, Mommy?" Selina asked gazing up at the humungous building. It was bigger than their apartment building. Never before has she ever been near something so large and beautiful. It was also intimidating. What was this place?
"We're just going to meet some very nice people," Mom said smiling.
She shepherded her daughter to the door and knocked. Not long later, the door opened and on the other side was a man wearing a suit.
"May I help you?" He sounded funny. Not funny as in laughable, just different.
"Please," Mommy said almost afraid, "we need your help."
A/N: Please leave your thoughts in the reviews and wait patiently for any future updates.