Author Note: No own, please no sue. And damn, I'm such a 90's music whore...

Nobody knows it but you've got a secret smile

And you use it only for me

So save me

I'm waiting

I'm needing, hear me pleading

And soothe me, improve me

I'm grieving, I'm barely believing now, now

When you are flying around and around the world

And I'm lying alonely

I know there's something sacred and free reserved

And received by me only

Secret Smile - Semisonic

Bruce did the internal math; A year after he and Selina had broken up 'The Cult of the Cat', Thomas Blake bought the Downtown Gotham's Museum of Ancient Civilization. He was probably the one who got the curator, Chester, to get Selina to steal the cat statue from Rupert Thorne.

The question was, why?

Shadow, who had left from his lap earlier, had returned. Bruce frowned when he saw Shadow place a dead bat at his feet and chirped up at him.

"Bad." Bruce stated firmly before going back to his research.

There was obvious reasons to why Blake wanted a cat-statue; he was head of a Cat cult that stole things. He probably didn't want to do it because it would attract too much attention, attention he needed diverted for... whatever reason. Obviously, the museum was part of it and it was an ongoing plan.

He pulled up the newspaper article from the twenties and cross referenced it with any of the artifacts on display there.

Sure enough, a month ago the "Eye of Ra" was sold from a private collector to the museum. It was also on display at the Blake's museum now.

Shadow jumped on Bruce's lap, so Bruce idly stroked the cat.

There was two ways he could deal with this; he could take a look at the scene as Bruce Wayne, inquire to the nature of the items and if they were for sale (His girlfriend was Selina Kyle after all. Lois seemed to make sure the public always knew who stayed at the Wayne Manor...). Or he could show up as Batman, rough Blake up a bit, and find out why he was after these items.

And while the idea of roughing up someone like Blake, the best way was to use a less invasive means as a first line of attack.

Bruce looked at his watch; 9 am. He had been working all night.

He buzzed up to Alfred who responded calmly and in an always dignified, "Yes sir?"

"I'm going to be going to the Downtown museum of Ancient Civilization today. I'll need the car and a fresh suit."

"Right away sir, and before you leave, might I ask if you've seen the whereabouts of one of Miss Selina's cat? I'm told it's a rather large black cat with--"

"With no tail?" Bruce glared at Shadow who merely stretched, "Tell Selina I found him."

"And where shall I tell Ms. Kyle you've been all night?"

Bruce thought for a moment, he hadn't been ready for these types of circumstances and had already used a variety of excuses. "What parties were there last night?"

"There was a rather active party at the Iceberg Lounge, it seemed to have moved to Ms. Vreeland's home at the end of the night. The papers have mentioned Veronica being rather inebriated."

Bruce sighed, "Call Veronica, ask if I left a set of cuff-links there. Then tell Selina I got just got back from the party after a business meeting."

"Sir, isn't this similar to the excuse you used last week when you ended up in Mr. Fox's bushes covered in scratches?"

He remembered, Ivy had gotten him pretty good that night. Selina wasn't an idiot, but he had little choice, "You have a better idea?"

"I'll make the call immediately, sir."

After Bruce finished dressing, he thought he'd walk down to the kitchen to get himself a bite to eat before heading out again. He wasn't expecting Selina to be sitting at the table and feeding Isis bits of fresh dover fillet.

"Where were you last night?"

He smile and gave a shrug, "I really don't remember too much. After I left the office, some of the guys and I decided to stop by Veronica's party. Last thing I remember was waking up on some of the pool furniture."

Selina raised an eyebrow.

Bruce put up his hands defensively, "I was just missing my jacket, I'm still trying."

She looked momentarily appeased and picked another piece of fish up for Isis. Quietly she whispered, "I missed you last night." a bit louder, as if to cover the blunder she continued, "This big house gets lonely once Alfred goes to bed."

The comment covered up the small bit of shock he felt as well. He coughed and mentioned, "This place gets like that sometimes."

Selina sighed, "How do you deal with it? I mean, with Tim off at school in Jump City, and Dick living in Bludhaven... it's just you and Alfred."

He replied simply, "I don't spend much time at home."

Selina frowned and turned back to Isis, "I can imagine..."

Bruce sighed. He grabbed an apple from the dish and gave Selina a quick peck on the cheek, "I have to go."

Selina looked up, "I'm going too."

"Selina--"

"I've been cooped up in this house for a week. It's a lovely house, Bruce, but dull. I'm going."

Quickly, he thought of ways to deter her. Bruce going to check out a statue Batman was tipped off to...

"Actually, I was hoping you might stay around for a bit." Alfred said. He had entered the room without either he or Selina noticing and began to take out some groceries, "I need some help getting tonight's dinner together." he looked pointedly at Bruce, "I've been told Master Bruce will be staying for dinner tonight and I was hoping to make something... rather complicated."

Selina glanced at Alfred, "Alright," then she shot daggers at Bruce, "But only because I'm mad at you."

At once Bruce felt relieved, he took Selina's hand, "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

She seemed slightly mollified, "You'll make it up to me today."

"Today."

"And you won't disappear."

He winced, "Selina..."

She pulled at his hand, "Not tonight Bruce, please." a mischievous twinkle set in her eyes with a hard grin, "Or I'll get my suit out, I swear."

That wasn't a threat, it was a promise. He quickly acquiesced, if only for Selina's health and the fact he didn't want to bail Selina out of jail this week. "All right. I'll be home tonight for dinner. With presents."

She smiled like a cat in cream, "You can't get a cat to do that."

Bruce walked into the dimly lit museum. It was overshadowed by much larger buildings and it was difficult for natural light to come through. To have such a small place lit artificially in the afternoon was off. It seemed the museum didn't spend much in terms of decoration or flooring; The floor was polished cement and the walls had a plain cream-colored paint on them.

Bare bulbs hung with simple tin shades on them and focused the light downward. One of the bulbs had blown and darkened one corner of the museum.

A thin man, average height, walked over to him with a simple smile. He lifted his glasses briefly in what almost seemed like a tip of the hat, "Afternoon sir, can I help you?"

He looked at the man's badge, "Chester".

"Hi Chester, I'm Bruce--"

Chester smiled nervously, "Bruce Wayne, yes, I know."

Bruce looked around at the place, "I've been looking for something unusual to get my girlfriend, Selina Kyle... just some ideas, really. Do you have any cat-themed objects so I might get a better idea?"

Chester nodded, "Oh, sure, plenty." Chester coughed, "I've, uh, delt with Miss Kyle before. Tell her I said hello. Nice lady."

Bruce smirked, "When she's happy, anyway."

The slight man gave a chuckle and led him down a hallway, "This is our Egyptian room, it has a few artifacts..."

Bruce spotted the statue immediately and walked towards it. The reporter in the twenties didn't give it justice; it was massively detailed! You could see the small individual hairs on the cat's back, a very slight pattern along the fur given by slightly coloring the gold with different metals gave the cat a tabby appearance. On the head was a scarab-like pattern, typical of the cat breed called 'Egyptian Mau'.

The eyes were stunning; A deep black onyx was encased in a ruby circle, a circle he knew to be red diamond. Bubbled over the top of the eye was a clear substance, a stone he couldn't tell just by looking at it.

"Remarkable, what is the stone over the top?"

Chester began to chatter excitedly, "Now that is a type of quartz without any flaws! It's given a cabochon cut to mimic the dome over a cat's eye naturally. The real question is the red diamond in the center; how was it shaped? The Egyptians had no such tools at the time and, honestly, it's flawless! Now, in India it was mined... but they could never have gotten such precision... it's a perfect Pi! Perfectly round! It's barely possible now-a-days! Let alone such a rare color as red!"

"The detail... stunning..."

"Yes, they had the means to make something so detailed... but with human error... this is almost precision worksmanship! A computer might be able to do this, I highly doubt any human could."

Bruce smirked, "You're saying this statue wasn't made by man?"

Chester looked down nervously, "Oh, well, maybe. I mean, who believes aliens were around way back then?" he said with a nervous chuckle.

I know a couple Thanagarians, Bruce thought, "This really is an amazing piece..."

"Yes, if you like this, let me show you our other piece from the same site!" He nearly jogged over to the amulet, "This is the 'Eye of Ra', the sister piece."

Bruce looked at the simple round orb. "Not as impressive." he said simply.

"No, not at first glance, but look closer. Again, we see the perfect circular shape! Not one error! And we see the stone in the eye; Emerald. Now, Egyptians did mine emeralds, bit they're usually very small and have many, many inclusions—erm, flaws." Chester looked around nervously before he took out a large key-chain and opened the case. He whispered, "Just this once," under his breath. He took out the medallion and the slim chain, holding it as reverently as one would hold an infant, "Now, look at this emerald; perfect! Not only is the color deep and uniform through out this large stone, but the cabochon cut is also mathmatically perfect! It has an even rise and fall." Chester gave a small chuckle, "Cabochon is French for 'Bald Head'. Here... I see no better example! Even the shine of it!"

Bruce gave his polite business man's 'Haha. Funny. Really.' laugh and looked closely at the gem; it really was quite perfect. Even the grooves along the the medallion were perfect and uniform in the eye shape.

"You sold me." Bruce chuckled, "How much for the pair?"

Chester set the medallion gently back in it's case, as if it would burst from too much manhandling, "Oh, no, sir, I'm sorry if you misunderstood, these pieces are not for sale."

Bruce flashed a warm and genial smile. He took out a wad of hundreds from inside his jacket pocket, "If this isn't enough, I do have my check book."

Chester swallowed nervously and wouldn't tear his eyes away from the money, "Oh sir, I wish I could. I know Miss Kyle would take proper care of these... and honestly, if anyone should have them I believe it would be her. But I can't, my boss--"

Bruce smirked and tucked the money back in his pocket, "What's his name?"

"Oh, uh, his name is Kyle Carlson." Chester sighed, "This is his number. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

Bruce leaned over and gave an award winning smile, "You can get me a phone."

The souffle ingredients were setup and Alfred had begun to butter the souffle dishes. "Now, Miss Kyle, if you could begin chopping the onions finely, I'll begin getting the herbs together."

Selina took the knife and began to chop, she didn't mind chopping onions, but just as she was finishing, she began to sneeze. A lot.

"Miss Kyle, are you all right?"

She took a deep breath, "I forgot, onions make me sneeze."

Alfred raised a brow, "Sneeze, madam?"

"Some people cry, I sneeze."

Alfred merely smiled and went back to gathering the herbs, "That's quite interesting. Master Bruce would hiccup."

Smiling, Selina put the knife down, "Alright, what's next?"

"One cup of milk, the onion, the bay leaf, and 6 of the peppercorns go in the saucepan on the stove. Just until it almost begins to boil, then remove it."

She poured the milk in the pan and added the onion and the herbs. She turned on the heat and slowly stirred, watching carefully.

Meanwhile, in another sauce pan, Alfred melted some butter and put in some flour, stiring it quickly to avoid browning and just mixing the two. "You must forgive Master Bruce, he is... unaccustomed to having visitors. He is used to keeping his own hours."

She sighed over the white sauce, "And he can have them, I just wish he wouldn't lie to me so often." She took the pan off the heat.

Alfred put a strainer over his pot and began to whisk in the white sauce into the flour. "Miss?"

"He used the same excuse last week... out all night, woke up somewhere."

"If you could get the grated zucchini and squeeze out the moisture with some paper towels?"

"Sure." and Selina did just that.

Alfred continued whisking until even the finest lumps were out. Then he added some sea salt, some pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. "Master Bruce requires much patience, admittedly. I would advise you to... hang in there."

She smiled, "I want to try Alfred, I really do."

Alfred got out another pan and set some butter in it, "May I ask why?"

She glanced over, "Why what?"

"Why you wish to try this time." Once the butter melted, Alfred set the remaining onion in the dish and began to soften.

She paused and thought for a moment, "I realized I need some stability. Being in that hospital room alone... waiting for Batman..." she sighed, "I needed to know someone cared."

Alfred added the zucchini, "Batman doesn't?"

"He would have visited if he cared. I understand that maybe it would have been too much to for him to tell me; he thought it was his fault. It wasn't! He didn't even give me a chance to explain!" she watched Alfred add the parsley.

Alfred put the white sauce mixture over medium heat and then add the egg yolks he had kept aside in a dish. He stirred the mixture slowly, "If you could beat the egg whites? They're in the mixer."

Selina flicked on the mixer and spoke a little louder to make up for the sound of the machine, "I'm tired of it Alfred, every time I need him to understand, he's gone. Every time I try to get through that thick skull of his, he disappears!"

"And how is Master Bruce any different?"

Selina leaned on the counter, the pain beginning to echo unbearably through her legs, "He's trying Alfred. We're both trying really hard at... whatever it is we're trying to do. Batman doesn't try... so I'm not, either."

Alfred stopped the machine once the egg whites were fluffy and carefully folded them in the warm mixture. "But, if I may ask, whom is it that you... have feelings for?"

She glanced away, "We're trying Alfred, that's hard enough for us."

"You and Master Bruce, or you and Batman?" Then he folded the white sauce mixture back into the egg white mixture with equal patience.

She gave a weak smile, "They're both doomed though, aren't they? Batman doesn't lie to me, at least. But he doesn't want to compromise... he doesn't want to trust me. Bruce trusts me, he's trying hard... but he keeps lying to me."

Alfred nodded, he poured the souffle mix into the dishes and carefully put them in the oven.

Selina smirked, "Sometimes, I wish they were the same person. They would have enough of each other so I could be happy."

Alfred closed the door to the oven, "Hope is that thing with feathers, if I recall correctly."

When Bruce came home, he was more then a little upset. The talks with Blake lead no where. Blake insisted he would not be selling the artifacts and had the gall to ask that, if he ever found the sistrum to let him know so the collection would be complete. After all, they owed it to society to make sure something so precious would be around for the next generation.

That meant it was time for plan B...

He tried not to smile at the thought of punching Blake's jaw again. He still owed him for the three vertical scars on his back.

The timing couldn't be worse for the Justice League to call. Superman came by with the spare uniform he kept at the Metro Tower and rushed him to worm-hole Chronos had opened. He had been up for two days jumping back and forth in time, a full day had been in medieval times where he saw Shining Knight encased in ice. At the end, Huntress (who was there with Superman, Vixen, and himself) was able to shoot the Chronos Belt and reset it to about 9pm the same day.

He wondered why it couldn't have been 3 hours earlier?

Tired, sore, and hungry. He saw the dinner had been left out for him. Unfortunately, Shadow, Isis, and some other cat were nibbling on what looked to have been fillet mignon and a deflated souffle.

He sighed, and went to the kitchen to grab one of those nutrient shakes in a can.

When he walked through the living room up the bedroom, he noticed Selina on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and the fire down to embers.

He looked over at the stairs. Stairs were hard on her, and he regretted all the bedrooms were on the second floor. He set the can on the table and reached over to pick her up.

She stirred lightly, "You're late." she muttered.

"Unavoidable." was all he said.

"Too tired, I'll yell at you later." she replied before she put her arms around his neck.

He managed to get up the steps when something stopped him. Instead of taking her to her room, he walked to his own and placed her lightly on his bed.

She stirred a bit, "This isn't my room." she began to wake up at this.

Bruce took off his shirt, "Do you mind?"

She thought for a minute before settling back in. She buried her face in the pillow and stretched out, "Not really."

He pulled back the blanket and got in beside her. He put his arm around and pulled her in close. He nuzzled her shoulder and kissed it lightly, "Good."

She turned around and smiled at him before kissing him herself. It was long and deep and thorough. After which, she curled in his arms, ready to sleep.

He smiled against her hair, "You kiss me like that and you want me to sleep?"

"You deserve as much." she said into his chest, then promptly fell asleep.