Chapter 30 : A Time to Heal

After tying the Joker up against a chimney chute on the roof, Batman left him at the scene of their fight as he went back inside the water treatment plant. He marched through the door leading up to the roof and rushed down the corridors back towards the observation deck. He ignored the grievous agitation of his wounds suffered through his confrontation with the Joker, and focused on the single thought of Selina clinging to life – waiting for him. He used his left over adrenaline from the fight to press forward past two GCPD officers stationed outside the doors and back onto the deck.

He spotted Gordon just where he left him: hovering over Selina and tending to her wound; his hands were a bloody mess. Shoving down the sinking feeling within his gut, Batman slowly trudged forward towards them. Gordon looked up to him as he approached.

"How is she?" Batman asked in a breathless voice, falling to his knees beside Gordon.

Gordon narrowed his eyes to the blood on Batman's gloved hands. "She's hanging in there…She's a fighter – that's for sure… My men are working to clear the wreckage. The EMTs should be thr-"

"Commissioner." A voice crackled through Gordon's radio.

"Copy?"

"We've cleared through the rear entrance of the plant. The EMTs are heading towards you now."

Gordon glanced at Batman to see if he heard the message. His face was a frozen unreadable mask as he silently stared down at Selina. "Copy that. Good work." Gordon ended the transmission. He reached forward and placed a hand on Batman's shoulder. "Hey, are you all right?" He gestured to Batman's bloodied side where a sharp hole, the size of a switch blade, was imbedded in his armor.

Batman shrugged him off. "Nothing I can't handle."

Gordon nodded towards Batman's blood-stained hands. "The Joker?"

A grim silence followed as Batman stared at the blood stains on his hands for a long moment as if lost in thought. When he finally met Gordon's gaze, it was with unflinching eyes. "He's alive."

Gordon nodded. "I know…" There was never any doubt to the Commissioner. He gestured to Selina. "You both did a great thing here tonight. Thousands of lives were saved…including my daughter's." A remorseful look crossed his face. "The city will never forget that – I will never forget that."

It felt like ages before the Batman solemnly nodded, his deteriorating expression focused on Selina as he watched her paling skin. Victory never felt so hollow…

A voice crackled through Gordon's radio again, this time it was Blake. "Commissioner. We've got a head-count, sir."

"How many?" Gordon replied.

"Twenty hostiles in custody, ten of them dead…no sign of the female perp."

"What?" Batman's head snapped up, his voice suddenly confused.

Gordon could assess by his reaction that there was something completely off here. He spoke into his radio, "repeat that again, son?"

"I repeat – no sign of the Joker's girlfriend."

"That's impossible…Have your men checked the observation room?" Batman demanded.

"It's empty. We gave the area a full sweep. We found only unconscious and deceased hostiles wearing masks." Gordon clarified. "We were hoping you'd have an idea on her whereabouts…" When a beat elapsed without the Dark Knight's reply, Gordon reached to his side and pulled up an evidence bag.

"This was all we found…" He held a small plastic bag containing the empty vial Vedette had consumed that led to her…suicide. Batman narrowed his eyes at it, his analytic mind searching through his ocean of memories for an explanation, but like a vessel being anchored down, he was held aloft by the grizzly sight of Selina's trembling body in front of him.

He shook his head at Gordon and instead focused his attention on Selina. "If her body isn't there, then someone's taken it…" He vaguely recalled during his fight with the Joker's men, someone had thrown a smoke bomb at the observation room… Batman shrugged with closed eyes as he came to a stark conclusion. "Tell your men to search the sewer tunnels."

Gordon nodded, rising up to his feet. "Blake, take Daniels, the SWAT team, and run a point-by-point grid search of the tunnels beneath the building."

"Sir?"

"We may have a few escape-goats."

"Copy. We're on it."

Gordon looked down towards Batman who anxiously checked Selina's pulse. "And where the hell is that EMT?!" Gordon demanded angrily.

"Heading up the elevator. They're a minute out," came Blake's reply.

"Selina…" Batman tried to soothe her as he watched her fluttering eyelids move at a rapid pace. Her brow was glistening with a cold sweat as her body quivered.

"She's fading…" Gordon whispered.

"No," Batman breathed, lifting her body off the ground into his arms. Her head rested against his shoulder as he kissed her. "Selina...if you can hear me..." He screwed his eyes shut tightly; the sinking feeling of despair began to build within him, breaking away at his barriers. "…I love you...I love you so much..." He opened his eyes and stroked her hair. "Please come back to me...please."

"I..." a faint whisper escaped from her lips as her eyelids slowly fluttered open. His eyes softened as he smoothed the dark bangs off her forehead. Selina sucked in a deep breath. "I love you...Bruce...Batman…" she closed her eyes.

Batman felt his heart throb at a standstill as he buried his face into her and silently wept as she drifted away in his arms. "Selina..." he gasped out, tracing his lips over her clasped ones. "Selina."

He closed his eyes, and a collection of images surfaced into his mind.

He was standing on the altar surrounded by candlelight inside a small church on a fresh summer afternoon, his hands clasped as he waited and soft music echoed in his ears...He turned around and saw Alfred dressed in a suit and sitting in the front row along with Rachel, and Dent with their newborn baby girl. There were also his parents; Thomas and Martha Wayne with graying hair and wearing gentle and proud smiles stretched across their faces. He closed his eyes then opened them again as the music chimed louder.

He glanced to the foyer and smiled. There she was, dressed for a perfect dream with a happy ending.

She wore a long laced cathedral veil flowing down the back of her Italian designer made bridal gown. She held pink roses in her hand and wore white pearls around her neck with a crown of white roses resting on her head. He ran his softened eyes over every inch of her...absorbing this perfect capture of time as she approached. Her brown eyes fixed onto him with a bright red smile.

Bruce could see all the equally happy souls shedding their tears. He smiled back at them knowing that this moment was the moment that everyone he loved and cherished had been waiting for...a moment of sheer happiness that can only come once in a life time.

He reached out and took Selina's hand; she took a few steps up and handed the flowers to her maid of honor: Holly Robinson. They stood in front of hanging wooden cross on the wall as the balding priest stood dressed in ceremonial white garments with the Bible steady in his wrinkled hands.

Bruce leaned over and mouthed a few soft words to her. "I love you..." She wept tears of happiness and squeezed her hand tighter into his as they both felt time become still around them. It was heaven.

Batman opened his eyes as he felt the paramedics unlatch Selina out of his arms and strap her motionless body onto a stretcher where they placed an oxygen mask over her mouth.

"Selina..." he murmured under his breath, bowing his head.

Alfred arrived at the ICU in Gotham General just as Selina's body was being wheeled into the operating room. He caught a glimpse of doctors and nurses scrambling in their blue gowns as they prepared for the procedure in removing the bullet from inside her abdomen. The paramedics hoisted Selina onto the table. He could see Bruce sitting against wall with tousled hair and blood shot eyes. He wasn't quite sure what to say to the young man. He knew that his presence was all the comfort that Bruce needed during the next few hours.

"Master Wayne..."

Bruce looked up to Alfred and one of his hands held onto to his bandaged throbbing rib cage. His eyes narrowed to the floor. A line of blood dripped from the edge of his mouth and streamed down his chin. Gingerly, Alfred stepped forward, trying to present a strong composure as tears brimmed in his eyes. "I'm sorry..." He slowly knelt down and lifted up his master's shirt, staring at the damage. Bruce had suffered a few bruised ribs, a stab wound and mild inflictions. He watched the beads of sweat drip down the point of Bruce's sloped-narrow nose.

Bruce quickly spun his body around, hunched his back, clutched an arm over his tender stomach muscles and spewed out violently the acidly contents of his stomach. His body was trembling as his eyes grew dimmer and icy chills swept through his veins.

Alfred rested his hand on Bruce's shoulder. "It's okay, Master Wayne...she's going to be back on her feet in no time." he said calmly, listening to Bruce eject more bile from his constricting stomach. "She's as stubborn as you are..."

"Alfred...I tried..." Bruce sniffled, his body sinking lower to the floor. He groaned in heaving breaths, seeing shadowy figures zip through his mind as he took his face to his hands and released all the overcoming emotions as he cried out her name."It's my fault, Alfred..."

"Oh no, no, no..."

"I should've been more alert...It's never easy with the Joker-"

"Master Wayne. There was nothing more you could've done."

Bruce pressed his face into Alfred's chest and sobbed. "I love her, Alfred… I love her so much."

Alfred wrapped his arms around Bruce as if the young man was that eight year old boy he spent so many nights comforting. "So do I...Master Bruce...so do I."

Selina." Bruce was going into a shock; his heart beat was increasing as the same terror he felt as a child had come back to haunt him. He wanted to dissolve into the floor as he felt that familiar feeling of having his loved ones ripped away from the cold deathly hands of the Joker. First his beloved friend Rachel and now his Selina...she was slipping away on the operating table and he couldn't be in there with her and give her the assurance that he believed was still possible.

Through the endless tears and harsh breaths of his physical and emotional pain, Bruce felt a warm hand on his shoulder- a firm touch that he felt so many years ago in the Gotham Police station but in his current state he could respond. "It's going to be okay," he heard a gentle voice from a friend say as he removed a few fingers from his right eye and opened his eyes fully to stare into the aging face of Jim Gordon that was crouched down in front of him with calm and concerned gray-blue eyes.

Bruce exhaled deeply, "Jim," he rasped in a hoarse tone, slamming his eyes shut for moment as he gathered up the will to find his strength."Selina...is in there dying." A crackling came from his throat as he bowed his head and rested his lips on his knee. His whole body convulsed as tears raced down his flushed chiseled features.

"Do you need anything, Mr. Wayne," Gordon said. "A cup of coffee...it always calms the nerves."

Bruce shook his head and narrowed his eyes to the floor. "I was so close to ending him...I had every intention of making his laughter stop."

Gordon shifted his body slightly. "That was how I felt when Dent held my son's life in his hands. But killing monsters would just turn us into them in the long run...we chose to be the heroes of our own lives."

"It doesn't matter," Bruce somberly said, looking at his own shaky hands.

"Yes it does," Gordon argued. "You're a good man, Bruce...but you're only human. Everyone walks the narrow path of good and evil...it's up to you to choose the right path."

Bruce furrowed his brows then nodded as he rose and straightened up off the floor. He turned his gaze to Alfred walking closer with Emily Gordon at his side. He sighed as the little girl came running up to him, she crashed her body into his and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

"Is Selina going to okay..." her little voice sobbed. He stroked her back.

"Emily...Selina is," he paused hearing the doors open as an older doctor emerged. She approached them, removing her surgical mask, her face expressed relief.

"Mr. Wayne," she said looking directly at Bruce. "Good news. I managed to remove the bullet without damaging her large intestines. Selina is fine. We stitched her up and she's on her first blood transfusion. There's nothing to worry about...everything was successful."

Bruce released a breath of relief. "Thank you."

The doctor nodded. "Now she is going to be quite exhausted for a few days...we'll be keeping her here until all the transfusions are done...You can see her very soon."

Alfred walked up to Bruce and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Wonderful news, Master Wayne."

Bruce's knelt back down to Emily's level and cradled her cheek with a hand and said, "Selina is going to fine Emily. Just fine."

After a quick stop to the rest room to splash water on his battered face, Bruce walked through the door of Selina's recovery room and found her lying in bed hooked to an IV drip. She was still pale as a ghost. His heart stuttered with anger as he recollected all that he had been through, investigating countless murders of children, watching Selina get torture by the Joker, taking a dose of a hellish supernatural transformation, and now watching his love breathe faint breaths because he underestimated his the Joker.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

She opened her eyes and her crimson lips curved into a weak smile. "Finally. I was wondering when you'd come to see me."

Bruce walked to her bedside and instantly leaned over, being cautious of the wires and IV's as he gently caressed her face, pressed a tender kiss on her forehead. He closed his eyes and made an inward vow that he would never let this happen to her ever again.

When he pulled away, he sat down in a chair by her bed and narrowed his eyes down to her motionless body, feeling his emotions were beginning to build as he held one of her hands tightly in both of his hands. He could fresh warm tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he gazed into her dozy dark brown hues. She asked in a strained voice, "Everything okay, handsome?"

He lowered his teary gaze for a moment. She winced as her eyes closed breezily and made a strong effort to straighten her body against the pillows while still feeling the aching of her closed wound. "Is it over... are the children safe?"

"They're safe," Bruce whispered in response as he brought his eyes onto her face. He choked up a few words, "I almost lost you Selina...Don't tell me that everything is okay...Don't you dare say it."

"This time I'm keeping my mouth shut," she replied with a smirk, placing her icy fingers on his cheek as she watched tears glisten in his eyes. "I know that we've been to Hell and back. But we survived the war. Gotham is safe."

Bruce clenched her hand tighter. "You're safe now...Selina." he paused, blinking away his tears. "I'm never going let anything happen to you again." He lifted her hand and pressed his lips hard onto her knuckles. "I swear it."

She slightly smiled, ran one of her fingers over his lips. "I'll hold to that, Bruce...but just don't make any ridiculous promises that you can't keep."

"I'm not," he said with a genuine look in his eyes. "I meant every word."

"Okay," she relented with a sigh. "So what happens now? Do we go back to the way things were...Protecting Gotham or do you have something else in store for us?"

"We live," he replied, into her heavy lidded eyes."That's all we can do." He watched her drift to sleep.

"Sounds like a plan," she murmured, feeling the warmth of his armored body next to hers and exhaled deeply when she felt the covers entwine over her as he laid down beside her with his hand protectively stroking her back and cradling her close to his chest. She smiled nuzzling against him. "When do we start?"

"Tomorrow...when the dawn comes," Bruce murmured, holding her closer and listening to her exhale as he fought off every threatening wave of emotion. Slowly he placed his hand over her chin and pressed his lips slowly in a soft, sweet kiss before saying. "I love you."

"I love you, Bruce," she said before falling into a thick sleep.

Bruce held onto her in his embrace as she slept in peace. Despite Alfred's protests, he didn't move an inch or close his eyes but instead kept a protective gaze locked onto her as he realized how close he was to losing her. Even beyond a shadow of doubt he knew that right then and there that she was his greatest love...his soul mate and emotional survivor. Now he would wear the mask of Batman for another reason, and that reason was to protect her.

Shafts of moonlight streamed through the windows of the master bedroom on an early morning. It had been five days after Vedette Countess's death…since her body disappeared. Selina awoke from a blissful slumber. There were two things that engulfed her thoughts at the moment as her eyes became fully focused. Firstly - she no longer felt the pressure of a bullet in her abdomen, and secondly - she felt relieved that the evil she-devil wouldn't bother them again. Today for the first time in her life, she was glad to be alive, glad to wake up without a pile of dirt blanketing her skin.

She smiled and turned over, but didn't find Bruce on his side of the bed where she expected to find him. Instead she found a cluster of red roses tied together in a ribbon with a bottle of expensively aged wine. She sat up in bed and looked around, squinting in the darkness of the room, assuming that he was out patrolling the city or talking to Commissioner Gordon but already finding her assumption to be wrong when the bedroom door creaked opened. She keep her guard up, eyes locked to the shadows and her blood pulsing.

She quickly pulled the covers, and narrowed her eyes as her hands rubbed against a silky slip barely covering her body. She rolled off the bed and moved to the window. Her eyes were focused on the doorway. She made an effort and sauntered to the door, peering at the tall shadow of Batman trying to sneak on her, but he failed. She arched her back against the door frame and rubbed her lips. She was taunting him. He reached out and snaked his arm over her waist and caught her surprised as she purred in a casual tone, "I was wondering where you've been hiding?"

He stared into her with scorching eyes behind the cowl. She stepped back, giving him more room. He became intoxicated at the sight of his love in the moonlight, thin silk covering her skin. He was so distracted by her beauty that he hardly noticed a little smirk playing on her lips.

Both lovers bore their emotions into each other's eyes. He inched closer, and caressed her cheek with a gloved hand and then replied in a gravelly voice. "It doesn't matter." He pulled in closer, and she wrapped her arms over his plated shoulder. "I'm here." She felt her adrenaline spike up a few levels as she listened to the huskiness piercing from his lips.

In response, her eyes became darker and flickered with playfulness. A shadow of a deadly smirk formed over his lips, and she mused. "Hmmm...moonlight...a sexy man in bat ears...what more can a girl ask for." Her fingers gripped the cape. "I think I better slip into something more comfortable for this occasion."

Batman gave her a small nod. An idea ran through his mind as he looked at the bed, a piece of furniture that two normal lovers made love while entwined in sweat drenched sheets. But Selina and him were both creatures of the night, the bed was perfect when out of the costume but he was hungry to see her fully dressed in the cat suit once more while they would taste the night air and the coolness of cement chill their feverish bodies. He placed both of his hands on her shoulder and looked into her eyes as he spoke.

"Meet me in the garden," he pressed a faint kiss on her lips before saying, "Catwoman." She smiled and watched him disappear into the shadows as she stripped off her slip and grabbed her skin-tight black suit.

A dumb girly smile on her face, she started assembling her cat-suit together with high anticipation.

The night air was frosty, but she wasn't one to be complaining. It was a scenic trip across the manor's grounds - moist grass crunched in the traction of her heels, and the waxy moonlight guided her path to the greenhouse.

She found him in the darkness next to the vine covered greenhouse. He was keeping to the shadows, waiting patiently. She decided to make her presence known and this would be the first to time that she had success in finding him in the shadows of the night. His cape was billowing in the wind; he was unmasked with the cowl tucked underneath his arm. There was an intense look into his dark eyes. She inched closer, razor-sharp heels carefully avoiding slicing through the curtain length cape.

Bruce stepped closer, his burning hazel chasms raking over her body. He tried to fight the emotions that were latched in the back of his mind. He was so close to losing her...He knew deep in his bones that he could never face that sight of her strapped down to hospital bed as he stood by her side and listened to the rise and fall of her heart beat. He knew from that moment, as he bore a tender gaze into her chocolate eyes, he would be never strong enough to endure her suffering.

Selina encircled her body around him and purred in a low seductive tone, "Did you miss me?" as she casually stepped forward with a deadly glint in her eyes.

He slowly closed his eyes as he felt her gloved hand swirled over his embossed bat insignia, and then up higher until her fingers brushed over the his sharp jaw. "I've missed you so much," he confessed in a soft tone, and his hands reached to envelop themselves over her body.

"Well I'm back, handsome," she purred, dropping her hand and taking a step back. "So what happens now, do we go back to the way things were?"

He grabbed her wrist and pulled herself closer until both of their bodies collided with each others. The moonlight shone over their bodies as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and felt the rise and fall of her chest against the Kevlar armor. He leaned his head against her cheek and pressed soft kisses down her neck. Everything was silent between them, there was no present looming disaster unfolding on the streets of Gotham, no distant sirens calling him to a crime scene. There was only the darkness that shrouded over their forms and the warmth of her body.

He gripped her hips and lifted her until her slender stomach touched his chest. She wrapped her arms over his shoulders and leaned her head back, letting her goggles slip through the strands of her dark hair. She released cotton balls of breath as his hand slowly touched the zipper at her neck. She smiled and closed her eyes. He began unzipping her suit, just to get a glimpse of the firm cups of perfection covered with see-through lace underneath.

"Don't be shy," she groaned, feeling his moist lips brush down the crease of her breasts. His hands gave a pleasurable massage on her hips as he moved his hot mouth up to her throat as she offered it to his hunger. They were interlocked with feverish passion, untamed desires and shaky exhales. She listened to a slight growling sound escape from his lips as he bruised her flesh with smoldering and rough kisses until he lost his footing, and crashed to the ground without unlocking his mouth from hers.

Selina broke away to catch an intake of air and then pinned his wrists down. Her eyes stared into his - absorbing every detail of him. She lowered her chin and sank her lips into his mouth. Their tongues became entwined, his hands moved to her thighs and she moaned a little against his warm lips as they deepened their kiss - tasting the fire and the delight of their senses heightening. She dug her fingers into his hair and pulled away, taking another quick intake of breath.

Her body jolted from the soft suckling as he moved down her chest, placing feathery kisses over every visible part of flesh. She released deep lungfuls of air as he overwhelmed her body with bruising kisses. She swallowed harshly, her finger nails were digging into the bi-weave fiber of his suit. She felt the time around them grow still as intonation engulfed all her senses. She was literally melting in his arms, feeling like the flesh of her bones were dissolving as he pressed hard over her jawline and slowly ran his lips from corner to corner of her swollen blades. In the final moments of mortal pleasure - Bruce placed a hand behind her neck, shot up and dipped her back into an air sucking kiss, then when he pulled his lips away, she felt robbed of breath.

Bruce looked deeply into her eyes as she slid her body downward and her thumb ran over his bruised lip.

"You know things aren't going to be easy for us. There's always going to be an oncoming storm." She said, in a hoarse tone. "What happens if a black tempest comes our way?"

"We'll face it together," he replied, pressing another kiss to her lips before breaking away with a sinecure look in his eyes. "Selina, you need to know that no matter what comes our way...I will always love you."

She lowered her eyes. "Still making promises you can't keep?"

He shook his head. "It's not a promise...it's something else."

"That would be?"

"You'll just have to be patient."

She turned her head for a moment, only to see the bat signal reflecting in the clouds.

"Looks like you're going to be occupied until morning." she said with a smirk. "I'll let Gotham have Batman until dawn...but after that, you're all mine."

He smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way." he said, giving her another soft kiss. "I love you." He straightened off the ground and quickly pulled the cowl back on and planted one more kiss on her cheek before slipping away.

"Don't keep me waiting long, handsome," she smiled. "You know how impatient I can be."

Batman turned his head and looked steadily into her dark brown eyes, "I know," he said with a raspy voice before disappearing into the shadows of the night.

For once in her life, after everything she endured with Vedette and the Joker, she was finally looking forward to seeing the dawn's first light.

One hour later, Batman sat perched at the top edge of Wayne Tower, his cape wrapped around his body while his head was bowed down looking at the city that he loved. Airy rain drops were running off the pointed nose of his cowl. In his gloved hand was blue box. He opened it and looked at Martha Wayne's diamond ring inside.

"One day the dawn will come."

Down below, the sound of eerie sirens wailed through the airways. Somewhere there was danger lurking in the shadows of the city. He lifted his head and saw the reflections of red and blue flashing in store front windows. He placed the blue box in a compartment in his belt, and then jumped off the edge of the roof and glided into the streets of Gotham.