Chapter 5

Weapons

"I don't like guns," Bruce growls out with a chilling voice, his thinned straight lips alter into a tight grimace. He stares down at the loaded pistol gun resting on her suitcase, his muscles tense and hazel-green eyes lock on the black metal weapon. "They bring me nothing but grief." he says with a hint of cold remorse scraping against his throat.

Selina stands rigidly in front of the vanity mirror, sunlight caresses over her ivory skin and lithe frame is covered in a black silk dress, her dark coffee eyes narrow slightly down as she releases a shallow breath and fingers absently rub over the string of pearls around her neck. She keeps her voice locked away for those long moments of silence between them. It's unnerving, but effective.

She finally lifts her head up, staring at her reflection in the glass of the mirror, she feels like a stranger to herself-a domesticated stray wearing an expensive collar of her owner-a woman trapped in the illusions of the normal world. Blinking her painted, curled lashes, she stares deeper into the visage-searching for her true self beneath the layers of flawless skin and fading scars. She turns on her heels, and meets his intense stare, swallows and then says her piece with the fierce demeanor of the cat. "I use guns to survive-that's how it's always worked with my methods." She mashes her teeth into her bottom lip, trying to grasp the control of the situation. "You wouldn't understand what I've done with a few bullets in order to save myself from falling into a grave."

"I might," he concedes, tentatively moving closer to her. "If you just stop keeping secrets from me and tell me, Selina."

She snaps her brown eyes away from his soulful gaze, feeling it burn into her wounded, cold heart. "I never tell..." she bites back, folding her trim arms protectively over her ample breasts. «I always show. But I never tell."

Bruce lowers his head down, "If we want this to work-we need to unmask ourselves fully. We need to stop hiding from each other and starting building a strong relationship."

Selina sighs quietly, almost like a breath. "What I've done in the past can't be raked off with the Clean Slate. I've been a bad girl all my life, handsome. I've done some things that are unforgivable to good people." She unveils looking warily past Bruce and to the hotel doorway. "I'm trying to clean off my ledger by fully wiping my past away-"

Bruce's eyebrows furrow. "By what killing people with that gun-" he rasps darkly and points at the weapon. He clenches his jaw hard enough for her to see his aggression. "You know that's not the answer."

"What's yours, huh?" she challenges him, shooting him with a lethal glower of hollow darkness. "This is how I survive... How I live, Bruce."

Bruce stiffens, gritting his teeth. "Don't cross another line that you can't fall back on, Selina." he warns with the gravelly voice of the Bat. "You're better than this, I know you are. Stop allowing the vengeance control you and start living a life without the past chasing you down."

"That's a tempting offer, Bruce." she says in a perfected sultry purr-it feels like velvet against his ears as she whispers. "But I'm already sinking in the deep. And the only way out is to claw my way back up."

"Selina," Bruce inches closer, her defensive nature is kicking in but he doesn't yield, he grabs her before she can run and wraps his strong, muscular arms around her. "You can try to climb back up, but fear will always find you." he whispers over the shell of her ear with a gentle brush of his lips. "I know you are afraid to take a leap with me-but you don't have to be, I give you those pearls not because they looked better on you than in a safe bet because I know the real woman under the mask- and I can see every time I look into your eyes, Selina Kyle. I don't care about the mistakes you've made in your past. I've done plenty with mine as well."

Selina glances down at her heels, heart slams against her ribs and she huffs out a breath of irritation. "Stop sounding righteous." She lifts her head and glares him down; anger clouds the softness she forces to hide from him. "Do you think I care about your past?"

"No," he breathes out with an edge lacing in his deep voice. His fingers grip over her upper arms. "I'm not expecting you to, Selina."

Selina's eyes grew wide, she wrenches a step back. "Just like that? You take me in your arms and pretend that nothing is wrong?" she stares at him with a pointed look. "That everything we did in Gotham means nothing to us now..."

"I'm trying to adapt to a new life," Bruce says with a soft brisk in his tone. "Away from all the darkness and the pain that Gotham has given to me."

She snorts, minutely shaking her head. She chews on her lip and releases a sigh, "That's not the answer I want, Bruce."

"Well, it's all you're going to get from me," he replies in a serious tone. Her brown eyes dim. "You think you're the only here that had everything stolen-I lost everything," he ceases his words and rolls his sullen hazel eyes to the gun. "... Because of a gun."

"So did I," she digresses, her expression turning darker and complex. She keeps herself guarded from him and searches for her resolve in the afternoon bisecting the shadows of the room; she is staring at the crossroads-the straight and narrow lines that always pointed her to dangerous territory. "Now, I'm the one who pulls the trigger." She lowers her eyes, trying to make him understand. "I'm the one who steals from the demons and allows them to chase me."

Bruce caresses his palm on her jaw, his hazel eyes search for her soul beyond the murky darkness as he slides his hand slowly to the back of her neck and stares at her full, scarlet red lips-her most lethal weapon that could slay a man in an instant with just one look. "You've been running for a long time, Selina Kyle, but now you don't have to." his eyes gleam with trust. "You've got a home."

She shakes her head in disdain. 'No, Bruce." she begins, words clogging up her throat. "I won't drag you down with me. You're a good man and you don't deserve to live in this hell that surrounds me."

"I love you."

"Stop saying those words," her voice becomes damaged, she tries to break free, but she becomes frozen under his stare. "I'm dangerous-I'm a killer-umph-" she halts in her protest and feels his soft lips conjoin with hers with that split second movement, he slays her mouth with relentless heat as her fingers dig into the fabric of her shirt, she holds on to him and silently begs for him to let her go.

She feels the carnal urges to run and to hunt down her prey, but the heat emitting from his accepting mouth locks her against him. She gives in to the cushioned pleasure folding over her lips and finally allows herself to kiss him back with equal fervor, knowing that he is her shield against the flames of remorse trying to consume her back into the ashes of the past.

Bruce breaks away, gently licking her lips with his tongue, "I love you," he says with no hesitation in his strong, breathless voice. "I'm not afraid to face the fire with you."

Tears prick her eyes, she doesn't say anything, and instead she wraps her arms over the broad span of her shoulders and claims his lips with a deep and long kiss.

She knows that the strong and wounded heart underneath the tough, molten steel layers of the bat is his greatest weapon to use against her.