Author's note: Hello, thank you for reading! Hope you like this one, I really enjoyed this beginning. I've exciting things planned for this hot mess of fic.

If you could leave a review I'd be forever grateful, even if it's to say that it sucks.

Thanks again and see ya around!


2. A CHAPTER ROLLING HIGH

Time does tricky things to people when they roll high in unamusing places. It stretches and tangles, reaches its hands and let go in the last moment, grasps for dear life and dies in the sand just to rise again and do it all over in full cycle.

Ivy Pepper had hold on to time her whole life: the seconds that ticked with her hands in her ears waiting for her father's rage to dissipate in drunken sleep, the minutes that count down for her mother's bruises to fade out, the hours that took for the Child Protective Service to approach her, tell her that she was now in the system because both her parents were gone, not even the tasteless tea of the hospital's cafeteria warm enough to burn her body back to function for a while, just the raging hate boiling in her veins. She did count the time in good moments too, but they didn't seem to matter enough when you're kidnapped by your own instructor. At that moment – that long, eternal, ephemeral moment – Ivy could guess how the hollow was created in Barbara's heart and it was both parts sad and clarifying.

Ever since she was knocked down, drugged, dragged, Ivy couldn't figure out the measures of time. It felt as if too long had passed, but probably not so long. The only thing she knew for sure was that they were unease. She spent five awakenings in the same place – dump and bright, like some underground mastervillain set -, but on her sixth awaking, they were moving. They've been moving for quite some time now and she knew it not in a "I'm in a vehicle" kind of way, but in a "we didn't stay long here" kind of way.

To count how many times she woke up was the only way Ivy found to count at all, to have some sort of control over what was going on between places and time and drug vials and restless sleep. Those rare moments with her eyes open were terrifying and desperately wanted, for those were the only ways to let her know what was going on and, God forbid, beg for them to stop.

Maybe her begging was the reason they were putting her under over and over again, maybe all they wanted was for her to be quiet and consent, but if there was one thing Selina ever taught Ivy was that one could not force consent into happening. Besides, Ivy deserved to know. She deserved to know what they were doing to her and why, but lucidity was a slippery thing and her hands were wet.

[...]

There was a stillness in the air when Ivy woke up, a dripping noise that put her lazily awake, a sense of lull that was much like a cold touch that made her shiver with anticipation. For once, she seemed to be in her own mind again, slowly backing to herself after seventeen awakenings. Seventeen, she counted again, just to make sure.

She tried to move, but there was a pointed pain in her right arm and although her eyelids were still heavy, she managed to look around, turn her head, focus on the letter of the vial that fed her IV bag, making out an N and an O and an M.

This place was different and Ivy noticed. Her nose could pick up the smell of plants, of freshly watered green that made her heart jump with enthusiasm, almost glee, feelings she thought she had lost again.

They weren't underground, that she could somehow tell, but they also weren't somewhere legal, it was obvious. Perhaps a hidden area of Arkham where no one goes anymore. In her chest, a butterfly fluttered – if they were in Arkham, they still were in Gotham, and that made all easier for Harleen or Selly or Jim to find her and soon Ivy would be home, back to Babs and her new sister. Damn, what a disaster if she weren't there when her baby sis come to the world. Many unfair things had happened to Ivy Pepper in her sixteen years, but that particular one would be just plain evil.

Obviously, they weren't in Gotham, the sane part of her mind called. It would be too risky, she knew that and if they hadn't killed her yet, they probably didn't want her dead. Seventeen awakenings and the only thing Ivy wanted from them was reasons. Was it too much to ask?

The people who came to feed her arrived at that moment. She suspected that they were feeding her via tube if she wasn't awake at meal times, because not every time she had her eyes open someone tried to force a spoon in her mouth – or maybe she was too high to remember, but Ivy didn't like to think that it could be the case.

They never talked, those people with the bowls and spoons, so Ivy didn't bother to ask things after she realized it'd be useless. Different from the people with the needles, she didn't recognize them and different from the people with the food, she couldn't form coherent thoughts when the needles approached. They were lab lords, Ivy knew, and she was a lab rat.

That thought could almost make her laugh. People tried to reduce her to less than what she actually was her whole life, no one ever gave her the space to grow until Barbara put her under her care and Ivy – Pamela – made a name for herself. Now she was back to that, her personal cage of human wasted potential. Her visual change of humor caught someone's attention and she heard a little chuckle.

"You are quite the specimen, aren't you, Pammy?" he said. She had never noticed how his voice pierced her brain like a frozen dagger. All she had ever carried about was the knowledge that he could pass, all those beautiful plants in his herbarium. Now, the sound of his voice shut her down.

Among her seventeen awakenings, he was there only three times. His appearances were foggy and dreadful, his words about a new world filled with a new brand of humans, the mad thinking of a revolutionary beast turned every single one of her cells into scared puppies, made her a pack of living fear.

If there was one thing she hated more than all the others, it was fear, and to be filled with it made her hate herself with deafening strength, so thick she couldn't even process his words.

"You're not going to get away with it." She managed to speak, her voice hoarse with the lack of use and it amused him.

"Don't worry, little Pepper." Dr. Woodrue said after that, reaching for the vial by her side and sticking the needle in it to suck a great amount of the greenish liquid that would go to her body. "Soon enough everyone will forget about you and when they last expect… you will be my best creation."

Ivy scoffed.

"What do you think you are? Fucking Frankenstein or something?"

He started to laugh again, but this time he was close enough, so she really spat on him. It infuriated Dr. Woodrue so quickly it was as if Ivy had switched a button. She still had to list all the things that made him a sick bastard in an understandable order, but his hand pressing her head down while the other stuck the needle in her neck with those mad eyes so close to hers got to be on the top.

God, how that burned her alive, and she wasn't even thinking about the pain stretching up from her neck to all of her body. No, the feeling of her senses being driven to the limit wasn't even the worst time. What bothered her the most was that somehow her brain would start to believe that she would really be forgotten. That couldn't happen.

[...]

The problem with boyfriends was that sometimes, even if you were the boss bitch, they managed to win. That was Selina's argument ready to be used in case, Jim confronted her. Now, of course Bruce wasn't her boyfriend, he was just a friend who happened to be a boy, but her family liked to use that word when they were talking about him. It was kind of funny really, because he was "The Bruce Wayne" anywhere else, but in her house, he was "Selina's Boyfriend". Only Ivy refused to call him that, but again, she hardly liked him.

Besides, he wasn't. Her boyfriend, she meant, she always had to correct the term, even though that was a battle lost a long time ago with Babs and Jim. It'd be funny, though, if Jim called her on that for sleeping in Bruce's house that particular time, because it happened when he really was being just a friend.

Bruce had met her the previous evening at the Starbucks midtown and rescued her from a pile of bills that she was trying to figure out. The gallery was making money, but she needed to make a big purchase to keep the place full and she couldn't figure out how to deal with the money.

The blame of her blank brain could be put on the situations, but the situations weren't public for Bruce, so Selina only said she was freaking out, let him gather her things along with her pieces and followed him to the Manor where they sat on the study, checked deals and numbers together, made an urgency plan together, a few phone calls and later watched Sarah Connor together. It was only when her alarm went off the following morning that she realized that she was supposed to spend the night in her own bed.

"You look terrible." Marla said after lunch. She was the only person with balls to talk to Selina like that, sometimes not even Barbara would use certain words. Selina could be the youngest, still a teen, but she proved her worth. "Must be all the work you did yesterday." Marla continued, closing the pages she had in hand.

Beside the bills, Selina and the other girls had also changed a few things, moved statues from place to place to give the gallery some fluidity for the new week. Selina sighed.

"Must be a lot of things." She admitted. She was feeling sick and horrible ever since she woke up and it was annoying.

Everyone knew about Ivy and could only wonder how the family was hanging on. Secret was: they barely were. Ivy gave them a balance that was now compromised and they were slowly falling apart. At least Selina was.

"You know, it's not your place to worry and take care of everyone." Marla told her with a little smile. She slid the papers with the financial data they needed to their new big purchase in Selina's direction and the teen smiled. "Deal is good, let's do it."

They had just crossed the door, hardly ten minutes later, when Rachel announced.

"Selly, you've got a visitor."

Selina frowned.

"What is it? Jail?" she asked wondering if it could be Harleen again. Only a week had passed since they talked and it was too soon for things to change, but…

"Holy shit, you look!" Bruce practically shouted, appearing in front of her and Marla and Rachel stepped away smiling. Selina smiled too, stopping in her in her tracks, cheeks blushing. He had two coffees in his hands and was being Playboy Billionaire, catching everyone's attention. "You look fucking amazing, Selina, I could spot the smoke from miles away!"

Selina laughed and he came closer. She was wearing a black dress that marked every single curve of her body, but was also very classic, knee high, sleeveless with a turtleneck with her high heels to give her a few more inches and a professional look. She liked to buy work clothes that screamed "Kardashian chic" and despite the little show Bruce was making, he was the one who zipped her up earlier.

"You look prettier than I remember from this morning." He continued and she shushed him.

"Goddammit, do you need to always use so many words?" she interrupted him and he smiled before pecking her lips.

"This is for you." Bruce handed her one of the coffees and she gladly accepted it. He was talking lower now, normal. "To make you feel better."

"Thank you, I needed it." She admitted, sipping her coffee with glee.

"Everything alright with the bills now?"

"Yeah. Yeah, thanks for the help." Selina smiled, really thankful and Bruce shook it off.

"It's nothing. Look," he changed the subject so fast, she almost lost the transition. "Alfred told me that you weren't feeling well this morning." He paused, seeming concerned. "What's up?"

Oh, yeah, there was that too.

Selina took a deep breath, her head aching, and she gave him the most honest answer she could give.

"Everything. I'm so worried all the time, it's making me sick."

Bruce shook his head. He wasn't at all surprised with her response, for Selina had a palpable sense of responsibility over her humans.

"Selly…" he said hugging her. Her hair was braided, longer than it was when they first met. "I know it's kind of dumb what I'm going to say, but you have to relax." Selina scoffed, just to make a point. "I'm not telling you to forget – about V and Babs and the baby and work -, I'm just saying that you need to understand right now that you can't control everything. Some things are just out of your reach."

It was a reasonable advice, she had to admit. Well-chosen words and all. There was why she liked him: he wouldn't let her fend for herself, he would always find a way to cheer her up. So she looked up at him and smiled knowing that half of the women in that gallery disapproved her interaction with that cocky playboy billionaire and the other half would be texting their daughters, sisters, cousins in the first opportunity to pass along that Bruce Wayne was taken again. It was funny because he had always been taken, they were just open.

"You know what?" he told her "It's almost 3pm. How about we go shopping and then we go we go to this new Argentinian restaurant that opened at the Botanic Garden, ask for some cheap empanadas just to piss them off and basically take a time for you?"

Her smile grew larger.

"Uh, are you going to buy me things?" Selina asked and Bruce shrugged. It was a yes.

"What do you'd like?"

She pretended to think for a couple of a couple of seconds.

"You know, I've a thing for diamonds."

And that was how they ended up being the first clients of the evening in that new Argentinian restaurant called El Gaucho that served the best churrasco they had ever eaten and how they got to dance some tango in the dancefloor and have their own serenade, where a handsome tenor sang Bésame Mucho and gave a red rose to Selina.

Bruce used his magic to make Selina relax, even if it was just for a little bit or a little while, like he could always do. He had a way of working her that if she wasn't careful could overtake everything else. She didn't know how it happened, but at that point she could do anything for him.

Maybe, Selina thought, Ivy was right.

(but somewhere, not so deep as one would think, she knew that he'd do anything for her too)

They were paying the bill when she finally noticed that her phone was buzzing, Jim desperately calling again. If she picked up, she could bet that he'd be firing up because of her little escapade again, or maybe some tabloid already had posted that Bruce was around with his on-again-off-again girlfriend that afternoon.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, when he saw her looking at her scandalous phone. She sighed.

"Just wondering if Jim is gonna lecture me." She replied and hit the green button. "'Sup, handsome?"

"Where the hell are you?" the cop ranted, his tone urgent in that way that reminded her that the world didn't revolve around her. She felt more alert, was that it? "Come to the hospital ow, the baby will come out any moment and Barbara wants you here."

That was it!

She jumped up at the same moment, startling Bruce, who was charming the waitress in Spanish.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed excited, gathering her things in a hurry.

"What is it, Ivy or the baby?" Bruce asked her and only then she realized how many important things were going on in her life. One thing is to know that your life is busy and another, completely different, is to let that information settle in.

"The baby! Did the water break?" the last part was for Jim, who kind of chuckled and kind of sighed nervous.

"Yes, it did."

"Holy shit. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Uh-uh." Bruce interrupted Selina in the middle of her movement and took the keys from her hand. "You're not driving like that, you get blind when you're overexcited. I'll do it."

They looked at each other for a few, Selina analyzing the offer. It wasn't that Bruce had never driven her T-Bird, he had. It was just that he could be awfully careful sometimes and she had no time for that, but she also wanted to get to the hospital in one piece.

"Fine, but don't drive like a grandpa."

In fact, it was probably the first time that Bruce didn't drive like a grandpa with her, perhaps the expectation on the birth of that baby was so high that he was dying to see her too, a little bit of normality in their messy lives, so he drove fast, yet carefully and they got to GCGH in record time.

Jim wasn't even expecting her, he was with Babs the whole time and Selina had to find her way to the room.

She arrived in a seemingly lull moment where Barbara looked exhausted already and Jim was buzzing with nervousness ad she was welcomed with warm smiles, open arms and rushed anxiety. Her duty, she was informed, was too register everything she could – every single moment – and Bruce's, who wisely decided to wait outside, was to contact everyone they knew to tell about the birth of the baby.

After Selina was there, camera in hand, it still took two hours for her to be born. The room was hectic, busy with nurses and doctors and GU students, the birth was a mess and there was a powerful baby cry in the ambient. Little bloody thing had a pair of strong lungs and for a whole minute no one could hear their thoughts. Selina was floating, Barbara was exhausted and Jim was crying, so moved to have his daughter in his arms that the teen had to stop from mocking him with something like "get it together, man". Damn, she herself was feeling emotional about that tiny loud thing already and the baby only had a few minutes of life so far.

It was no surprise to them when they realized that somehow, in the middle of that chaos, the doctors understood that the name of the baby would be… Barbara. It was only when Jim went to actually register her that he realized what happened, unable to pinpoint exactly when that little slip occurred. For some reason that he wasn't very good to explain later, he decided to keep the name and when Babs got word of it, she wasn't very happy.

"Come on, Babs, it's a beautiful name!" Jim argued and Selina laughed, focused on keep an eye on Bruce in the corner of the room, just to make sure that he wouldn't drop the baby, and Barbara threw her hands up.

"Yeah, it's my name!"

"Why can't there be such a thing like a Junior Barbara when it's okay to have a Junior James?" the cop continued and Bruce nodded.

"It's a good point." He whispered to Selina, who had to agree. Jim hadn't finished.

"Besides, she looks like you. I don't think it's a bad thing a daughter with the same name as the mother."

Barbara was unconvinced.

"That's bullshit, James. Selina, come on, back me up!"

Selina's eyes widened as she looked at the couple. She wasn't expecting to have a call on it, they had never even addressed her to lay an opinion when they were discussing names.

"Don't look at me, I'm finding it super funny. You two would be just like the Gilmore Girls – except that Babs makes terrible references."

Babs' jaw dropped.

"Gilmore Girls? How do you even know about this show, aren't you, like, twelve or something?"

Selina shook her head, because once upon a time Barbara was so good at using words like daggers, but motherhood had softened her.

"There's this thing invented a while ago, it's called the internet." The teen answered. "I believe you heard of it."

She caught Barbara looking to Bruce over Selina's shoulder, heard him mumble the word "Netflix" very apologetically and noticed the exact moment her mom realized she'd lost.

"Fine." The blonde said. "But she will know who to blame for this terrible choice, my poor thing."

Jim and Selina exchanged a look and smiled. Lil Barbie it was then.

[...]

Three things filled Selina's following days: work, disconnected clues and Barbie.

The first big purchase of May, mediated by Bruce, was a huge hit from the first moment that it colored the gallery. Maybe people were excited because of Barbie, maybe the art was all that jazz. The main point was that they were making money and what else you'd want more?

Time. You'd want more time to figure out all the little things that were getting to her desk and mailbox. The frequency had increased significantly after the baby was born, small urgent things that Selina could hardly connect to each other and current events, they were like souvenirs you get when you go to the beach, she was beginning to think looking at all those random things in her desk, they don't work as a memory to the person who received them, it only worked that way with the buyer. The more recent one was an email that Selina didn't dare to open yet. She had a feeling she wasn't ready for it.

Also, there was the overwhelming love she was feeling for a thirteen days old baby that she couldn't explain. Barbie wasn't Selina's. Selina wasn't Barbie's in any way but the girl who kind of lived there with them when she came to this world and the teen had no idea how she could feel such a sense of responsibility over that teeny human being (but if she dug deeper, she'd find out that Bruce, Babs, Ivy and Jim – even, maybe, Alfred – were worth saving, worth keeping, and she'd also didn't know how they ended up there).

It was a Tuesday when Selina was home being a silly and careful big sister and the doorbell rang. With Barbie in her arms, she went to open the door, the smell of roasted chicken coming from the kitchen and it was rather awesome how well Babs could pull the housewife thing sometimes. To her surprise, the one at the door was Bruce.

"Hey, I was hoping to find you here." He said as a way of hello and kissed her forehead before changing the focus to the baby in her arms. Barbie had one arm out of her baby cocoon and held his finger with a strong grip. "Hello, Barbie! That's some serious Supergirl strength you have, isn't it? You sure you've no part with them?"

"Nah," Barbara said behind them, a dish cloth in her hands. "We just use alien pounder on her." She joked. "Hi, Bruce."

"I've a few things for you." He informed, as if he had just remembered it and went back outside, the door still open. When he came back, he had a dozen bags in his hands, probably filled with baby stuff. Barbara gasped, running to take a few bags from him and Selina gapped at him.

"And I was here thinking for a brief second that you came for me!"

Selina went back to the living room and put Barbie in her Moises while the other two took those bags to the baby's room. Barbie was thirteen days old, a Homo sapiens prototype with white-ginger hair and huge blue eyes that cried every three hours to be fed, changed, bathed. It also meant that almost a month had passed since Ivy disappeared. Twice Barbie's age, to be more precise and so far they had no clue at all of how to find her. So far, time was being unmerciful, eerie and fearful. Her picture weren't in the daily news anymore, the folders around town and in Gotham U were being covered by other things – newer things, more favorable things. Even around the GCPD was a rumor to move her box to the cold cases already and if it wasn't fucked up, what would be?

It didn't matter mater that Jim could go back to her box every now and then, one thing was certain: Ivy was being forgotten.

What a relief that Selina had a very good memory, thank you very much.

"Hello you." Bruce called from behind her, startling Selina from her thoughts and he jumped on the sofa by her side.

"Hi, B." The girl's voice was very soft, perhaps because the baby was quiet for once and she wanted her to continue that way. "What brought you here?"

"I thought that maybe you could use an extra pair of hands for a few hours. I heard new born aren't an easy task."

"They aren't!" she agreed. His reasons were a cover up, she was sure of it, but she also rolled with it for now. "All those diapers, Gosh!"

They laughed and talked and when Barbie claimed she was hungry they gave her to her mother, who informed them that lunch would be ready in forty minutes before they locked themselves in Selina's room.

"Is it urgent?" Selina asked, her head rested on Bruce's chest. He had a lock of her hair in his fingers, curling it with alarming calm.

"Not now."

It was only after lunch that he held her hand and led her to the balcony. The view was pretty from up there, it was her favorite part of the apartment. She liked the noise from the street and the angle the sunlight hit the windows at three in the afternoon.

"You were so worried" Bruce started "about sucking at being a big sister, but look at you totally nailing it."

"I am, ain't I?" she agreed. "Note to self: never doubt that I'm capable of everything."

By her side, Bruce chuckled making Selina tore her eyes from the skyline and look at him. It was almost three in the afternoon and his eyes were unusually clear, that greyish green stare that she'd only see in bed.

"What?" she asked and he shrugged.

"It's weird that you'd ever doubt yourself." The boy told her very frankly. "You've always felt like some sort of superheroine of your own for me."

It was flattering and it made her smile, but the girl also shook her head.

"I'm just a stray cat trying to survive, B." The honest truth and they both agreed to that. It took years and Bruce wasn't quite there, but she knew that he was getting it, getting her and getting Gotham itself. They were in silence for a while before she spoke again. "So? What is it?"

Bruce took a deep breath. It was urgent and it was the time, but he could have his own tempo. On the other hand, he knew that Selina could take it better than anyone else, for she had thick skin.

"I'm leaving tonight."

The only sign of surprise from the girl was a frown, as if she had suddenly faced a tricky math problem. That very night? It was sooner than she ever expected and his decision seemed sudden, like he had woken up and decided to do that, same way you decide to eat yogurt instead of bread at breakfast once in a while.

"Already." Selina finally spoke and Bruce nodded.

"You and Alfred are the only ones who know and we'll try to keep it that way for as long as it's possible."

"Why?"

"Don't want to make a fuss about it."

She nodded. They had talked about it before, about how he wanted to disappear someday the way she used to do in the streets, and how hard it was with his name being so big. She never took him very seriously. Maybe she should have.

"Look, I'm unreachable for a while, okay?" he told her. "No phone, no computers, no nothing. But if it's important, you tell Alfred and he'll know how to find me." She nodded again and he held her hand. "I'll contact you as soon as I can."

"It's okay." She said, because it really was.

There was a thing about Bruce and Selina that no one could understand but themselves, a connection beyond words and time as if they were meant for it – whatever "it" was -, as if nothing would stop them. Yet, they were stopping.

She let him kiss her goodbye – fast, for they didn't have any spare time to waste -, Barbara and Barbie saw it through the glass door and walls, no one cried.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." Selina said, her voice low, her lips still touching his, her eyes locked in his and Bruce smiled.

"You too."

He left after that, knowing that she wouldn't break. And she didn't. She watched him say his goodbye to Barbara, who thought he'd be back any other day, and then watched him get in his fancy car and roll out.

Later that night, unable to sleep, Selina opened her email and clicked on that unread one that had been teasing her for days already. There was no subject, it was sent by "The Big Pond" and it had one line:

Do you want help to find your sister Ivy Pepper?

Her finger hit reply too fast, but Selina had to ponder for three seconds before typing her answer, praying that it wasn't too late.

Yes.