"I'm not bringing him to you, Bruce." Selina said firmly into her communicator, a closed bedroom door firmly between her and Alf's ears. "The kid was running scared - no, not of you, of what you and the other birdies might figure out about the future timeline from him."

There was a noticeable pause before Selina sighed, silently thumping a hand against her forehead at the stubbornness of Bats. Although, she mused to herself, the way things had been lately, she could very well count herself as one of said Batfolk.

"Yes, I'm absolutely certain he is who he says he is. No, I'm not revealing that to you." She smirked at the familiar grumbles of a man who couldn't stand being deprived of information. "Look, Bruce, trust me on this - he knows about his being a time traveler, probably against his will, 'cause he nearly had a panic attack after telling me just about his name." Well, and quite a few more details beyond that, but Selina wasn't about to reveal knowing those.

Hearing Batman's next growled question, she had to resist the urge to chuckle. "Of course not. Even if he wanted to slip away again, the cats would tell me. We're at my apartment, if you must know, but I swear to God Bruce, if you show up here without advance warning I'm getting Alfred to swap all your meals with cat food for the next week." Satisfied that the threat would be sufficient, Selina went to shut off the communicator, though one last warning had her smiling as she did so. "I'm always careful, dear."

With that, she turned and opened the door - and froze at the sight of the empty living room. Alf, her cats, they were all gone, and right after she told Batman they weren't going anywhere, either!

Swearing vehemently, Selina grabbed her gloves and whip, hurrying towards the wide open window. She stepped out onto the wide sill and turned to propel herself towards the roof.

Alf stared down at her with the neutral expression as all the perplexed felines around him.

"Oh, for- Warn me next time!" Selina admonished him, her anxiety ebbing away along with the slowing of her racing heartbeat.

"Sorry," The kid said honestly, blinking. It was a struggle not to smile as Torem and Isis, perched on either of his slim shoulders, repeated the motion in sync.

Sighing, Selina jumped, grasping the edge of the roof and pulling herself up to sit beside the boy. "Why are you up here?"

He shrugged slightly, careful not to displace the cats. "Didn't want to eavesdrop. Figured coming up here would be best while you were talking."

Snorting in amusement, she rubbed a hand through his hair. "You, little mister, are most definitely a Bat." Alf grinned at her, before he returned to looking at the city with a pensive expression. "What are you thinking about, if I can ask?"

"You can. I might not answer, though." His nose twitched for a moment before he answered. "How you're different."

Selina raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

"Well, you're mostly the same, but there's a few things that aren't." He hesitated. "You haven't given me the Gr- the old person glare yet."

"I'm sorry, the what?"

"That look old people give you when they know you're not being completely honest or are holding something back, the one that says there will be a reckoning if you don't fess up! My grandparents are really good at it."

"The Wests? I don't think those two have perfected glaring at their own kids."

"No, not Gran and Gramps. Grandfather and- and Grandma." Alf sent her another anxious glance, one that said he was worried about revealing a piece of the timeline. When she realized what he meant, Selina had to work very hard to keep breathing.

"Grandma? Who would that be?" He bit his lip. "Nevermind. That's gonna kill me with wondering now, but nevermind."

"...Sorry."

She sighed. "No, don't be, just... Tell me something else. About you, about your future, whatever you feel is safe, just get my mind off of that last statement, okay?"

"Okay." Alf had to think for a minute. "I'm Robin Number Nine. Lucky Nine, that's what Gra- erm, what some of my family call me."

"Lucky Nine, huh?" She couldn't help the slight curl of her lips. "Sounds cat-like, to me." The kid cringed again, but this time there was a sparkle of mischief in his eyes, and Selina decided not to worry. "Do I get to ask about who the others were?"

Alf pursed his lips, thinking, but it was totally for show this time. The woman could tell she was getting him to loosen up a bit.

"Maaaybe. Do I get to ask if there's cookies down in the kitchen?"

"Ah!" Selina couldn't help her exclamation of mock outrage. "How'd you know about my secret stash?"

He just shot her a cheeky grin, surprising the woman with his sudden turnaround in personality. "'Cause you're always the one to slip me some after dinner, when no one else gets any."

Well. Maybe that wasn't too much of a surprise. She'd already seemed to develop a soft spot for the kid as it was; he was fun, for a Bat. "Alright, one cookie for every previous Robin name you spill."

"Oh! In that case, the first one was Uncle Dick." That had Selina throw her head back and laugh. It wasn't often she was outsmarted by a pint-sized birdie. "Does that still count?"

"Sure it does, Alf. One cookie for you."

"Okay. Then there was Uncle Jason, and Uncle Tim, and Aunt Steph for a little while, and then-"

"Damian."

"... Yeah. A long time after him, was my Aunt Holly, and then Jas, and Jack, and me." He was a little more hesitant with the first name after Damian, and Selina wondered to herself where Bruce was going to find another kid to adopt.

She'd help keep an eye out for the child, at any rate.

"Knowing this family, though, there's bound to be more people around than that."

"Uh-huh. I've got a bunch of legal-cousins, and a few blood-cousins on my Mom's side, and lots and lots of honorary cousins, the kids of my aunts and uncles and parents' really good friends."

"Sounds like you get plenty of presents on your birthday."

He grinned at her for that. "Yep! Christmas, too! Momma likes to say, me and my brother have more relatives in the superhero community than anyone else on or off the planet Earth." His smile wavered. "But, I don't know if they'll be able to come and find me or not."

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, before a thought entered Selina's mind. "Alf... How did you end up in this time, anyway?"

She didn't like the way the kid shuddered. "Momma and R- my brother, Impulse, were fighting Zoom. Dad and I couldn't do much, but we were trying to help, and then, then I saw him knock Momma down, and he grabbed my brother, a-and he was gonna drag Richard through a rift, so I jumped after them, and I hurt Zoom enough he let go of my brother, but then-"

As his words were replaced with labored breathing, Selina finished for him. "You fell though, didn't you? You fell through the portal in that Speed-thingy the Flash folk use." Alf nodded miserably.

"I couldn't control it. Mom's tried to teach me for so long, but my big brother's the only one with speed, and I couldn't control where I ended up. There was a really bright bang, and then I woke up in Central City."

"Did your family see what happened?"

"I don't know." He whispered down to his clenched hands. "Maybe my brother, but there was blood on his forehead, and I didn't see where Momma and Dad ended up." Selina studied him in silence for a moment. Eventually, she reached out and ruffled his hair, eliciting a squirm out of the kid.

"Come on, you. I owe you eight cookies, and we need to cheer up a bit anyway." The woman dropped back down to her window sill, Alf and the cats following inside.

A rooftop away, a cowled figure put away the binoculars, and turned off the listening device that rested just outside Catwoman's window, deep in thought.