Black and Blue
Chapter 1
"Are we there yet?" Selina moaned.
"Selina, I told you," Bruce said, "Gotham is on the East Coast. We're still in the middle of the Great Plains."
"And I thought the plane ride was long," she said without turning away from the window. The dark storm continued to rage in the night.
"You're the one who stowed aboard. No one asked you to come. Again why did you come?"
She gave him an incredulous look. "'Cause I've never been to San Francisco," she said as if it was the obvious thing.
Bruce sighed. "You could've just asked to come with. You didn't have to sneak aboard. Again, how did you get on the jet in the first place? There's immense security."
Selina scoffed. "Please." Then she turned back to the window.
"Well, now you have seen San Francisco. Happy?"
"If you said there was gonna be rain the whole time, I wouldn't've come."
"You never asked to come, ergo you never asked what the weather was."
"But it's California. Isn't it supposed to be sunny all year round? I was gonna go to the beach and get a tan."
Bruce's eyebrows furrowed. He blinked a few times before he asked, "I don't recall you bringing any luggage. Did you bring a swimsuit with you?"
She turned back to him. "Who said I was bringing one?"
Alfred cleared his throat from the front and silenced the two of them. "If you two don't mind," he said, "I would rather not listen to your teenaged squabbling and skullduggery for the next thousand or so miles."
"Skullduggery?" Selina echoed confused. "Now you're making up words."
Alfred ignored her and focused again on the road.
The windshield wipers swatted away at the rain. The headlights only illuminated a few feet of the vacant road. The high winds and heavy rain beat against the car. The rumble of the thunder could be felt inside their chests.
First a six-hour flight from Gotham to San Francisco. Two days full of undesirable weather conditions during a mandatory Wayne Enterprises expo that was surprisingly boring and a stowaway teenage girl. Then the private jet had a malfunction that forced them to land somewhere in the middle of the country. Now they had to drive the rest of the way back to Gotham. And it hasn't been ten hours yet. Ten hours of sitting in a car with a goody-two-shoes orphan billionaire, a streetwise teen thief girl, and an old British war dog butler. Not to mention without seeing a pitstop for quite a while and food running low.
A flash of lightning illuminated Selina's face. Bruce hadn't noticed how dark it had gotten. But he did notice the girl to his left pulling her leather jacket tighter around her and rubbing her arms.
"Are you okay, Selina?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said impatiently.
Bruce leaned slightly forward and picked up a blanket from the floor. "Here's the blanket if you're cold," he mentioned, handing it over to her.
She looked passively at it and him for a second then soften the next. She took it and wrapped it around herself while muttering a "thanks." She removed her jacket first so she could feel more warmth of the blanket over her t-shirt.
Bruce couldn't help to see that she left enough of the blanket laying across the middle for him to take. It was barely big enough for them both to share, but that was never discussed for when they brought it with. Did she leave enough for him on purpose to share with him or did it just happen?
Nonetheless, he gingerly grabbed a handful and slowly tugged it over his knee. It didn't cover him though. He was worried taking more would make her think he was hogging it. He simply stayed like that. Touching the soft cotton between his fingers while he watched the scenery outside and keeping Selina's bushy hair in the corner of his eye.
Selina huffed a sigh. "Where are we?"
CRASH!
The blinding flash of light burst before them and the next thing they knew, something heavy fell on top of the front. They felt the back teetered up while glass shattered, the stinging wind surged in, and the horn blared.
"Selina are you okay?" Bruce asked nervously.
"Yeah I'm okay," she answered to his relief.
"Alfred?" he called to the front. There was no answer. "Alfred? Alfred?"
"Alfred?" Selina joined him.
Bruce was starting to get anxious. "Alfred…?! Alfred!"
"Hello!"
They heard someone. Someone outside calling to them. They called back to him. Begging for help. Then before they could call a second time, Bruce's side door wrenched open, and a hand reached in. Bruce grabbed it and the person pulled him out. He then helped Selina out.
The two of them watched from the side. Selina held her jacket over her head against the rain. Bruce did the same with his overcoat. Neither helped keep the rain out of their eyes. It was dark as the good Samaritan went around the car. There was a definite crashing sound as they saw that it was a tree that fell on their car. Out of the black, they saw their savior haul Alfred's body over his shoulder and effortlessly ran back to them.
"This way," he ordered, and they followed.
They ran against the howling winds not far into a building. Bruce and Selina breathed a relieving sigh to be out of the storm.
"Are you folks okay?" the man asked as he shut the door. They answered yes just as he lowered Alfred to the ground. "It's quite the monsoon out there. You guys are very lucky I was close by." He flipped a light switch.
They now saw that they were in a barn. When they turned back to their savior, he was kneeling next to a groaning Alfred. From his size and shape, he seemed young. Their age most likely, but quite muscular. He was also wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. He must've been in bed when they crashed. They couldn't see his face as he had his head bent down, so all they saw was his dark hair.
"It seems like he has a minor concussion. As well as some bruising on his left side… and your left knee seems to be dislocated, sir," he said. "Don't worry, I can fix that. Brace yourself."
"Now wait just a bloody—AHH!" Alfred tried to protest but the boy just relocated his knee.
"Sorry about that," he said. He then helped him to his feet. He tried to help support him, but Alfred turned it away to stand on his own.
Finally, they had a good view of his face. He had a strong jaw with a chin dimple and the bluest eyes.
"Uh…" Selina ruffled her soaked curls. She suddenly had a loss of words in front of the tall, well-built boy who was straining against his shirt.
"Thank you for your help," Bruce said. "I'm Bruce by the way. Bruce Wayne. This is Selina Kyle and Alfred Pennyworth. What's your name?"
The young man gave a big, dazzling smile. "You're welcome," he said. "My name's Clark Kent."