Old Batman Stories, Part 7
Sep. 21st, 2022 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apachefirecatRinging in the New Year, posted 1-1-12, rated K/G
Characters: Bruce/Selina
Batman and Catwoman ring in the new year.
This was her favorite part of their yearly festivities, Selina reflected, her emerald eyes drifting shut beneath her mask in sweet anticipation. She loved letting her babies unwrap their presents, watching them play with their jewels and catnip mice, and wowing her man with a better present each year, but always most of all, she enjoyed catching her Bat underneath the mistletoe.
He didn't fight against her whip as the clcok chimed midnight. He simply took her in his arms and ravished her passionately and lovingly into the new year. Gotham rejoiced, but none more beautifully than their entwined hearts.
The End
Running From Ghosts, posted 4-1-13, rated K+/PG
Characters: Barbara WILSON
She has one place where she can escape the ghosts that haunt her.
She's haunted. She's heard her mother's voice in her head ever since the day she died. She feels her father's loving arms reaching for her every time she cries. If she let herself, if she was any less strong than what she is, than the woman both her loving and doting parents taught her to become, she'd never stop crying, but Barbara knows she has to carry on with her life for that's what they would both want.
That's why her mother wanted her to come to the States, why she wanted her to meet her Uncle Alfred again after all these many years, - and why she wanted her to find out his secret that, somehow, she'd known all those years ago. Barbara suspects that Uncle Alfred didn't have the same secret back then, but it doesn't really matter. He's still a hero. He's a hero to her, Dick, and Bruce, was a hero to her mother, and is the true hero behind the Batman, even if the world will never know.
She values her time as Batgirl, but she didn't come here to the States to become a hero. She came here, in a truth that she can only admit at the lowest times and late, late at night when she is, on rare occasion, by herself, to finish her mission in life. Her mission had been to give her Uncle Alfred her mother's goodbye message and then to end her own life. She'd thought it was the only way to end her suffering, but her suffering's not going to stop.
There is one place, though, that makes it better, that makes the memories stop for a little while. There's one place she can go where the wind's so rough and wild that her father's arms can't reach her and where she loses her mother's voice in the roar of the engines. Even her own tears can't catch her there for she moves faster than they can fly and doesn't have time to let them blur her hardened vision. That's why she spends so much time on the road, not as Batgirl but as just an anonymous biker chick, beating the guys at their own games, living the rough style, and for a little while, but never long enough, forgetting who she really is, what she's suffered, and, most of all, who she's lost.
The guys have come to understand that now about her. They lose their misery while beating the crap out of the bad guys. Defeating villains and saving Gotham and innocents helps, but with every innocent she saves, Barbara still finds herself wishing she could have saved her mother. So it's come to be a frequent occurrence that, as soon as they finish saving the day, she's off again that night not with a cape but still with leather and a bike between her legs. She's off again to get lost on the city, lost in the roar of the racing engines, lost in pretending that she's only a biker chick racing against other bikers when she'll always be so much more, even if she doesn't want to be.
The End
Secrets Revealed, posted 7-14-12, rated G/K
Characters: Bruce/Alfred, Dick
Alfred has always known the truths Master Bruce tries to hide.
He stared across the table at his oldest and truest friend. He kept pushing his eggs across his plate as his argument with his other best friend from the night before played continually through his mind. "Master Bruce, if I may be so bold," Alfred turned back to him, wiping his hands on his apron, "might I ask if you had another argument with young Master Dick?"
Bruce stared at him. His blue eyes seemed to look right through him, but Alfred knew better. He had seen this same, dazed expression many times over the years on his ward's face. He gave a soft sigh and sat down before him. His motion was rewarded with Bruce blinking rapidly and finally, truly looking at him for the first time that morning. "Alfred," he spoke, startled, as though the butler had just arrived.
"Master Bruce," Alfred returned casually, "if it was not young Master Dick, was it Mistress Selina?"
"No." Bruce looked distracted again. Then, with a heavy sigh, he admitted, looking back to Alfred, "He wants me to do something I can not do."
"Now what on Earth could the lad request that neither Batman nor Bruce Wayne could grant?"
"He wants to out us."
The look of shock that fell across Alfred's old but kind face matched the shock that sat heavily upon Bruce. He nodded eagerly. "Precisely."
"But - But you can not possibly tell the world that you are Batman and live any kind of a normal life!"
Bruce looked away again. Alfred paused his voicing of his flustatrions. They sat in silence for a moment, Alfred carefully and quietly scrutinizing the man who was the closest thing he'd ever known to a son. Ten minutes ticked pass before Alfred quietly announced, "However, that you can admit."
Bruce's eyes were the widest he'd seen them since he had been a child as his head whipped back up to look at him. "Alfred!" he cried. He swallowed hard and then whispered, "You . . . You can't be serious?"
"And why not? You already set a fine example for the children across the world as the heroic vigilante protecting Gotham. Why not set another example and let the public know that you are unafraid to admit that you love Dick?"
"I . . . I . . . I . . . " Bruce was so shocked that he could not even form a coherent sentence. Then, at last, he exploded, "How in the world did you know?"
Alfred smiled. "I have known for years, shortly after you first realized how you truly feel for him. If I may be so bold, Master Bruce, he is old enough now that there would be no legal implications for acting upon your feelings, and any who would chastise you for loving who your heart decrees to love is not a real friend. It is one of the few things you could do, in fact, to weed out the garden of your acquaintances, as you've so oft admitted to me that you would like to do, and learn who your true friends are."
Bruce was no longer sitting. He had jumped to his feet, and a look of sheer panic was upon his handsome face. His head whipped about, but never once did he see anything. "Isn't that the Batlight? I've got to go!"
He practically ran from the room. Alfred sat back in the chair, a grin of mirth playing across his lips. At last, he laughed. Bruce would come around. Young Master Dick was not one to hide in the shadows, and he knew that Bruce truly hated hiding his true self. The partners would reveal themselves in time to the world, and it would make their relationship even more beautiful.
Yet it was not a man who had just left the kitchen. It was the same little boy for whom Alfred's own heart had once tugged so hard that he had reshaped his life around him. The child was there, despite everything both Bruce Wayne and Batman had undergone, and Alfred enjoyed chuckling for a good while before finally reaching for his master's cold, leftover eggs.
The End
Shadows, posted 8-17-13, rated T/PG-13
Characters: Selina, Cats
Selina's never alone.
She was never alone. Selina was reminded too vividly of that fact as she stripped away blood-soaked bandages in the solitude of her latest apartment. Cats mewled about her feet, each meowing because of their concern for her, but they were not her only companions. Batman had left her too near to death for comfort as he had chased after the villains that had attacked Gotham, making it far too clear to Selina where his true priorities lay.
She had barely been able to walk, but her cats had come for her as always. Two tigers had supported her back to the building while the other big cats, lions, jaguars, and even a black panther, had kept the other denizens of Gotham who thought her weak enough to attack far at bay. She had not been supposed to be aware of their battles in the war-torn city on their way home, but she had. She had known every time her babies had struck and every time they had been struck and hated Bruce Wayne more with every time one of her furchildren was touched.
He shouldn't have left her, but he always left her. He left her in restaurants and theaters when Gotham needed her but they were supposed to be on dates. He left her alone on buildings when he didn't like what she had to say or didn't want to be bothered with her for some other reason. He left her behind bars far too often and easily.
She growled as she let the bandages fall to the floor. An ocelot held a bottle of peroxide out to her, its white cap clenched in her dangerous teeth. Selina thanked her baby and set to applying the medicine while still trying to ignore the others around her. She would never ignore her babies, but as many as were alive around her, there were still other beings hovering nearby.
She saw the shadows every time she felt herself to be alone. They flickered in and out of her vision, reminding her she never walked alone. Her parents were there, caring for her more than death, ironically enough, than they ever had in life. Her parents could get fucked, but there were others there who called to her far more greatly. Her mentors, other girls she had known her age, younger girls whom she had failed to protect, her babies who had died and gone on before her . . . They were all there, always there, lurking just off in the shadows and waiting for death to come and take her to join them.
She ached sometimes to be with them, especially the precious felines whom she had lost, but it wasn't happening yet. "Not tonight." Her babies mewed. A lion roared. Selina downed the whiskey Onyx brought her and rebandaged herself yet again. Then she laid in bed with her babies pressed all around her, all their glowing, green eyes intently watching the shadows until they fled again with the morning sun.
The End
She's Back!, posted 5-21-13, rated K/G
Characters: Bruce/Selina
He has waited for her return.
He's watched the city every night since his return to Gotham after his parents' cold-hearted, brutal murder, but he's watched it even more closely since she left. His keen eyes have kept a constant vigilance in search of any sign of her return since she last ran from him and he let her go. He's questioned villains and the animal shelter workers alike, but none had the answers he sought. He's looked in every dark alley, in every cage holding a feline in the zoo, in every bank, every robbery, and even every pet store. He's constantly listened, even in his sleep, hoping against hope to hear the faintest meow that would mean she still loved him and was returning.
He's standing on a gargoyle as the first rays of the sun are beginning to slowly climb over the far horizon when a speeding car catches his attention. He swoops toward it, and it flies even faster. He comes closer, searching intently for any sign that will tell him what's happening and knowing that most speeding cars at this hour of the night are villains desperately trying to get away.
He's about ready to land on the hood and force the driver to stop when he sees a small, dark, and furry bundle on the dash. He swoops in closer again, and this time, he smiles. That little car is full to overflowing with cats of all sizes and colors. There's even a tiger asleep in the back seat, and the driver herself is too busy trying to get a tabby, a calico, a black and orange, and a hairless kitty all to settle down on her lap at once, while another kitten not even as big as his gauntleted hand, snores on her shoulder.
The Batman's cold lips turn up into a smile. A warmth glows in his well guarded heart as he swings away, allowing the speeding car to continue its reckless drive down the road. Catwoman has returned; she does care!
Later that morning, Alfred can't figure out, for the life of him, why his Master wakes him making a mess in his kitchen and whistling. He watches him bustling about the kitchen, seemingly unaware of his presence, and it's not until he caresses a milk carton that the old butler understands and shares in his Master's smile. His suspicions are confirmed when Bruce pours milk for a raggedy stray suddenly showing herself in the Manor, a stray Alfred's seen before and who Bruce has refused entrance into their home until this morning.
Catwoman has returned, and with her has come, no doubt, her cats but also his ward's happiness. The men spend a jovial morning together, sharing smiles and breakfast but no words. Each, however, knows what the other is thinking: Bruce looks forward as eagerly as a child on Christmas morn to his first encounter with his lady love while Alfred hopes only that, this time, they are both rewarded with the happiness they deserve.
The End
She Believes, posted 6-22-13, rated K+/PG
Characters: Bruce/Selina
She believes they can work, but life has a way of dashing beliefs.
This time will be different. She tells herself that every time, yet it never is. She tells herself the law will not stand between them, that he will accept her for who and what she is, that he will love her, and with every kiss that passes between their lips, she believes. She believes they'll have a chance this time. She believes they'll finally be able to be together, that she'll finally get the happily ever after ending in which she's always claimed not to believe and which caused her to hate fairy tales growing up. She believes he'll love her.
They fall into the sheets, or against the bricks, or down onto the roof. She's in his arms. His hands are all over her, claiming her as his, stroking her with love, and she believes again. She believes things will work out for them. She believes he wants this as badly as she does. She believes she's finally found a place where she can stay, a person with whom she can stay, a home. She believes he loves her.
They dance through rooms and through crimes, through bullets firing and others' lives. They dance, and they return to each other again and again. She stops stealing. She gives back to him what she took from him. She makes him smile. He makes her laugh, and she believes. She believes it can work, they can work. She believes her heart will finally be mended. She believes nothing will tear them apart again. She believes he loves her as much as she knows she's always loved him.
But then, some one's in trouble. Crimes are sweeping across Gotham City again. He's pulled back into the fray, but some one she cares for is in trouble, too. Her cats are in danger. Her life's at stake. She's back to work, back against him, back to fighting him for her life as well as her sanity.
Fists strike where once lips met flesh. Tears are kept at bay. Angry words hiss. Eyes glare with hatred. He doesn't love her. He's not capable of loving her. His only love will always be Gotham. She knows all this, and yet she knows, too, as she runs away yet again, her babies mewling all about her, that there will come a time when they meet again and she'll believe in him again. She'll believe he can love her, but yet, the only love she'll ever have is that of her own and her feline children.
The End
Silhouette, posted 4-30-08, rated K/G
Characters: Bruce/Selina
Catwoman watches her Bat.
She watched his silhouette as he passed beneath her, a purr rumbling deep within her throat. If she had had a tail, it would have swished in the cool night air to the rhythm of her heart that his mere presence set to beating harder and louder. She understood why he created such a devilishly wicked image for himself. It was one that inspired fear in the hearts of the bravest men, but to her, it would always be the image of the man she loved and the only one outside her cats who had ever loved her in return.
The End
Silly Bat, posted 1-21-13, rated T/PG-13
Characters: Bruce/Selina
He wasn't that kind of bat, or man!
He had known that he would have a difficult time tonight, ignoring Gotham's cries and hoping all the while that the Batsignal would not flare as he focused on his lady love like he'd promised her he would. He'd known that it would be hard for him to shut out everything else, but he had not expected this. He had not anticipated being surrounded in her home, and especially not by such a multitude.
Okay, Bruce thought with a mental sigh, so he had expected to be surrounded by cats - you couldn't date the self-proclaimed mother of all cats without having them crowd all over you -, but he still had not expected this! There were cats perched and laying on every available space, covering the entire apartment except the cushions where he and Selina sat. Not one of them was paying any attention to him.
Miguel and O'Hara were between his feet; he could feel them rubbing their little, furry heads over his designer, leather shoes when they weren't stroking one another. Roger and Steve were behind him on the back of the couch; from the way they licked each other, one would have almost thought they'd discovered a feast in each other's ears! Sam had the water bowl covered; no one approached it without first giving him a lick on the nose.
Stripes and Ruby were perched on top of the television that continued to play an action movie in which Bruce had long ago lost any interest. While Stripes nuzzled Ruby with his furry face, his striped tail did double time, swishing below the television and enticing Sapphire to play with it.
Onyx and Princess cuddled on Selina's other side. He had been amused by the way they'd been gently reaching out and touching each other's nose, whiskers, paws, and other body parts until the activity in the rest of the cathouse had broken through Bruce's concentration on Selina. Now, they continued to not only touch each other but to also do other things which he would much certainly prefer not to witness.
Sammy's purr ricocheted through the room as Midnight bathed her ear; her purr was amazingly loud, drowning out the racket of the TV. Hers was not the only purr in the room but merely the loudest. Nearly every cat in the room and, he suspected, the entire apartment was purring and doing other things about which he tried hard not to think as Selina's warm and willing body nestled into his side.
His arm was wrapped around her. His fingers ached to crawl up her length and find more seductive territory, but every time they started to move, as he watched the cats instead of the movie, Bruce stiffened them, stopping their movement and curtailing his baser instincts.
He was not a voyeur, and even if he had been interested in such, cats certainly did not turn him on! Only one cat, only one woman, still held that privilege, and he would give her the night for which she had asked.
"Brrruce, darrrling," Selina purred, suddenly shifting her body so that she now lay in his lap, straddling the bulge in his pants and arching her full breasts against his muscular chest, "stop fighting it. Do you really think I invited you over just to watch a movie? You silly, silly bat!" She meowed, licked her lips, and then pressed her mouth to his. It only took one single, passionate kiss to make him hers for the rest of the night.
Selina purred joyously; her rear end sashayed as though she had a swishing tail. She'd have to remember to throw out the catnip before he arrived every time he came from now on!
The End
Characters: Bruce/Selina
Batman and Catwoman ring in the new year.
This was her favorite part of their yearly festivities, Selina reflected, her emerald eyes drifting shut beneath her mask in sweet anticipation. She loved letting her babies unwrap their presents, watching them play with their jewels and catnip mice, and wowing her man with a better present each year, but always most of all, she enjoyed catching her Bat underneath the mistletoe.
He didn't fight against her whip as the clcok chimed midnight. He simply took her in his arms and ravished her passionately and lovingly into the new year. Gotham rejoiced, but none more beautifully than their entwined hearts.
The End
Running From Ghosts, posted 4-1-13, rated K+/PG
Characters: Barbara WILSON
She has one place where she can escape the ghosts that haunt her.
She's haunted. She's heard her mother's voice in her head ever since the day she died. She feels her father's loving arms reaching for her every time she cries. If she let herself, if she was any less strong than what she is, than the woman both her loving and doting parents taught her to become, she'd never stop crying, but Barbara knows she has to carry on with her life for that's what they would both want.
That's why her mother wanted her to come to the States, why she wanted her to meet her Uncle Alfred again after all these many years, - and why she wanted her to find out his secret that, somehow, she'd known all those years ago. Barbara suspects that Uncle Alfred didn't have the same secret back then, but it doesn't really matter. He's still a hero. He's a hero to her, Dick, and Bruce, was a hero to her mother, and is the true hero behind the Batman, even if the world will never know.
She values her time as Batgirl, but she didn't come here to the States to become a hero. She came here, in a truth that she can only admit at the lowest times and late, late at night when she is, on rare occasion, by herself, to finish her mission in life. Her mission had been to give her Uncle Alfred her mother's goodbye message and then to end her own life. She'd thought it was the only way to end her suffering, but her suffering's not going to stop.
There is one place, though, that makes it better, that makes the memories stop for a little while. There's one place she can go where the wind's so rough and wild that her father's arms can't reach her and where she loses her mother's voice in the roar of the engines. Even her own tears can't catch her there for she moves faster than they can fly and doesn't have time to let them blur her hardened vision. That's why she spends so much time on the road, not as Batgirl but as just an anonymous biker chick, beating the guys at their own games, living the rough style, and for a little while, but never long enough, forgetting who she really is, what she's suffered, and, most of all, who she's lost.
The guys have come to understand that now about her. They lose their misery while beating the crap out of the bad guys. Defeating villains and saving Gotham and innocents helps, but with every innocent she saves, Barbara still finds herself wishing she could have saved her mother. So it's come to be a frequent occurrence that, as soon as they finish saving the day, she's off again that night not with a cape but still with leather and a bike between her legs. She's off again to get lost on the city, lost in the roar of the racing engines, lost in pretending that she's only a biker chick racing against other bikers when she'll always be so much more, even if she doesn't want to be.
The End
Secrets Revealed, posted 7-14-12, rated G/K
Characters: Bruce/Alfred, Dick
Alfred has always known the truths Master Bruce tries to hide.
He stared across the table at his oldest and truest friend. He kept pushing his eggs across his plate as his argument with his other best friend from the night before played continually through his mind. "Master Bruce, if I may be so bold," Alfred turned back to him, wiping his hands on his apron, "might I ask if you had another argument with young Master Dick?"
Bruce stared at him. His blue eyes seemed to look right through him, but Alfred knew better. He had seen this same, dazed expression many times over the years on his ward's face. He gave a soft sigh and sat down before him. His motion was rewarded with Bruce blinking rapidly and finally, truly looking at him for the first time that morning. "Alfred," he spoke, startled, as though the butler had just arrived.
"Master Bruce," Alfred returned casually, "if it was not young Master Dick, was it Mistress Selina?"
"No." Bruce looked distracted again. Then, with a heavy sigh, he admitted, looking back to Alfred, "He wants me to do something I can not do."
"Now what on Earth could the lad request that neither Batman nor Bruce Wayne could grant?"
"He wants to out us."
The look of shock that fell across Alfred's old but kind face matched the shock that sat heavily upon Bruce. He nodded eagerly. "Precisely."
"But - But you can not possibly tell the world that you are Batman and live any kind of a normal life!"
Bruce looked away again. Alfred paused his voicing of his flustatrions. They sat in silence for a moment, Alfred carefully and quietly scrutinizing the man who was the closest thing he'd ever known to a son. Ten minutes ticked pass before Alfred quietly announced, "However, that you can admit."
Bruce's eyes were the widest he'd seen them since he had been a child as his head whipped back up to look at him. "Alfred!" he cried. He swallowed hard and then whispered, "You . . . You can't be serious?"
"And why not? You already set a fine example for the children across the world as the heroic vigilante protecting Gotham. Why not set another example and let the public know that you are unafraid to admit that you love Dick?"
"I . . . I . . . I . . . " Bruce was so shocked that he could not even form a coherent sentence. Then, at last, he exploded, "How in the world did you know?"
Alfred smiled. "I have known for years, shortly after you first realized how you truly feel for him. If I may be so bold, Master Bruce, he is old enough now that there would be no legal implications for acting upon your feelings, and any who would chastise you for loving who your heart decrees to love is not a real friend. It is one of the few things you could do, in fact, to weed out the garden of your acquaintances, as you've so oft admitted to me that you would like to do, and learn who your true friends are."
Bruce was no longer sitting. He had jumped to his feet, and a look of sheer panic was upon his handsome face. His head whipped about, but never once did he see anything. "Isn't that the Batlight? I've got to go!"
He practically ran from the room. Alfred sat back in the chair, a grin of mirth playing across his lips. At last, he laughed. Bruce would come around. Young Master Dick was not one to hide in the shadows, and he knew that Bruce truly hated hiding his true self. The partners would reveal themselves in time to the world, and it would make their relationship even more beautiful.
Yet it was not a man who had just left the kitchen. It was the same little boy for whom Alfred's own heart had once tugged so hard that he had reshaped his life around him. The child was there, despite everything both Bruce Wayne and Batman had undergone, and Alfred enjoyed chuckling for a good while before finally reaching for his master's cold, leftover eggs.
The End
Shadows, posted 8-17-13, rated T/PG-13
Characters: Selina, Cats
Selina's never alone.
She was never alone. Selina was reminded too vividly of that fact as she stripped away blood-soaked bandages in the solitude of her latest apartment. Cats mewled about her feet, each meowing because of their concern for her, but they were not her only companions. Batman had left her too near to death for comfort as he had chased after the villains that had attacked Gotham, making it far too clear to Selina where his true priorities lay.
She had barely been able to walk, but her cats had come for her as always. Two tigers had supported her back to the building while the other big cats, lions, jaguars, and even a black panther, had kept the other denizens of Gotham who thought her weak enough to attack far at bay. She had not been supposed to be aware of their battles in the war-torn city on their way home, but she had. She had known every time her babies had struck and every time they had been struck and hated Bruce Wayne more with every time one of her furchildren was touched.
He shouldn't have left her, but he always left her. He left her in restaurants and theaters when Gotham needed her but they were supposed to be on dates. He left her alone on buildings when he didn't like what she had to say or didn't want to be bothered with her for some other reason. He left her behind bars far too often and easily.
She growled as she let the bandages fall to the floor. An ocelot held a bottle of peroxide out to her, its white cap clenched in her dangerous teeth. Selina thanked her baby and set to applying the medicine while still trying to ignore the others around her. She would never ignore her babies, but as many as were alive around her, there were still other beings hovering nearby.
She saw the shadows every time she felt herself to be alone. They flickered in and out of her vision, reminding her she never walked alone. Her parents were there, caring for her more than death, ironically enough, than they ever had in life. Her parents could get fucked, but there were others there who called to her far more greatly. Her mentors, other girls she had known her age, younger girls whom she had failed to protect, her babies who had died and gone on before her . . . They were all there, always there, lurking just off in the shadows and waiting for death to come and take her to join them.
She ached sometimes to be with them, especially the precious felines whom she had lost, but it wasn't happening yet. "Not tonight." Her babies mewed. A lion roared. Selina downed the whiskey Onyx brought her and rebandaged herself yet again. Then she laid in bed with her babies pressed all around her, all their glowing, green eyes intently watching the shadows until they fled again with the morning sun.
The End
She's Back!, posted 5-21-13, rated K/G
Characters: Bruce/Selina
He has waited for her return.
He's watched the city every night since his return to Gotham after his parents' cold-hearted, brutal murder, but he's watched it even more closely since she left. His keen eyes have kept a constant vigilance in search of any sign of her return since she last ran from him and he let her go. He's questioned villains and the animal shelter workers alike, but none had the answers he sought. He's looked in every dark alley, in every cage holding a feline in the zoo, in every bank, every robbery, and even every pet store. He's constantly listened, even in his sleep, hoping against hope to hear the faintest meow that would mean she still loved him and was returning.
He's standing on a gargoyle as the first rays of the sun are beginning to slowly climb over the far horizon when a speeding car catches his attention. He swoops toward it, and it flies even faster. He comes closer, searching intently for any sign that will tell him what's happening and knowing that most speeding cars at this hour of the night are villains desperately trying to get away.
He's about ready to land on the hood and force the driver to stop when he sees a small, dark, and furry bundle on the dash. He swoops in closer again, and this time, he smiles. That little car is full to overflowing with cats of all sizes and colors. There's even a tiger asleep in the back seat, and the driver herself is too busy trying to get a tabby, a calico, a black and orange, and a hairless kitty all to settle down on her lap at once, while another kitten not even as big as his gauntleted hand, snores on her shoulder.
The Batman's cold lips turn up into a smile. A warmth glows in his well guarded heart as he swings away, allowing the speeding car to continue its reckless drive down the road. Catwoman has returned; she does care!
Later that morning, Alfred can't figure out, for the life of him, why his Master wakes him making a mess in his kitchen and whistling. He watches him bustling about the kitchen, seemingly unaware of his presence, and it's not until he caresses a milk carton that the old butler understands and shares in his Master's smile. His suspicions are confirmed when Bruce pours milk for a raggedy stray suddenly showing herself in the Manor, a stray Alfred's seen before and who Bruce has refused entrance into their home until this morning.
Catwoman has returned, and with her has come, no doubt, her cats but also his ward's happiness. The men spend a jovial morning together, sharing smiles and breakfast but no words. Each, however, knows what the other is thinking: Bruce looks forward as eagerly as a child on Christmas morn to his first encounter with his lady love while Alfred hopes only that, this time, they are both rewarded with the happiness they deserve.
The End
She Believes, posted 6-22-13, rated K+/PG
Characters: Bruce/Selina
She believes they can work, but life has a way of dashing beliefs.
This time will be different. She tells herself that every time, yet it never is. She tells herself the law will not stand between them, that he will accept her for who and what she is, that he will love her, and with every kiss that passes between their lips, she believes. She believes they'll have a chance this time. She believes they'll finally be able to be together, that she'll finally get the happily ever after ending in which she's always claimed not to believe and which caused her to hate fairy tales growing up. She believes he'll love her.
They fall into the sheets, or against the bricks, or down onto the roof. She's in his arms. His hands are all over her, claiming her as his, stroking her with love, and she believes again. She believes things will work out for them. She believes he wants this as badly as she does. She believes she's finally found a place where she can stay, a person with whom she can stay, a home. She believes he loves her.
They dance through rooms and through crimes, through bullets firing and others' lives. They dance, and they return to each other again and again. She stops stealing. She gives back to him what she took from him. She makes him smile. He makes her laugh, and she believes. She believes it can work, they can work. She believes her heart will finally be mended. She believes nothing will tear them apart again. She believes he loves her as much as she knows she's always loved him.
But then, some one's in trouble. Crimes are sweeping across Gotham City again. He's pulled back into the fray, but some one she cares for is in trouble, too. Her cats are in danger. Her life's at stake. She's back to work, back against him, back to fighting him for her life as well as her sanity.
Fists strike where once lips met flesh. Tears are kept at bay. Angry words hiss. Eyes glare with hatred. He doesn't love her. He's not capable of loving her. His only love will always be Gotham. She knows all this, and yet she knows, too, as she runs away yet again, her babies mewling all about her, that there will come a time when they meet again and she'll believe in him again. She'll believe he can love her, but yet, the only love she'll ever have is that of her own and her feline children.
The End
Silhouette, posted 4-30-08, rated K/G
Characters: Bruce/Selina
Catwoman watches her Bat.
She watched his silhouette as he passed beneath her, a purr rumbling deep within her throat. If she had had a tail, it would have swished in the cool night air to the rhythm of her heart that his mere presence set to beating harder and louder. She understood why he created such a devilishly wicked image for himself. It was one that inspired fear in the hearts of the bravest men, but to her, it would always be the image of the man she loved and the only one outside her cats who had ever loved her in return.
The End
Silly Bat, posted 1-21-13, rated T/PG-13
Characters: Bruce/Selina
He wasn't that kind of bat, or man!
He had known that he would have a difficult time tonight, ignoring Gotham's cries and hoping all the while that the Batsignal would not flare as he focused on his lady love like he'd promised her he would. He'd known that it would be hard for him to shut out everything else, but he had not expected this. He had not anticipated being surrounded in her home, and especially not by such a multitude.
Okay, Bruce thought with a mental sigh, so he had expected to be surrounded by cats - you couldn't date the self-proclaimed mother of all cats without having them crowd all over you -, but he still had not expected this! There were cats perched and laying on every available space, covering the entire apartment except the cushions where he and Selina sat. Not one of them was paying any attention to him.
Miguel and O'Hara were between his feet; he could feel them rubbing their little, furry heads over his designer, leather shoes when they weren't stroking one another. Roger and Steve were behind him on the back of the couch; from the way they licked each other, one would have almost thought they'd discovered a feast in each other's ears! Sam had the water bowl covered; no one approached it without first giving him a lick on the nose.
Stripes and Ruby were perched on top of the television that continued to play an action movie in which Bruce had long ago lost any interest. While Stripes nuzzled Ruby with his furry face, his striped tail did double time, swishing below the television and enticing Sapphire to play with it.
Onyx and Princess cuddled on Selina's other side. He had been amused by the way they'd been gently reaching out and touching each other's nose, whiskers, paws, and other body parts until the activity in the rest of the cathouse had broken through Bruce's concentration on Selina. Now, they continued to not only touch each other but to also do other things which he would much certainly prefer not to witness.
Sammy's purr ricocheted through the room as Midnight bathed her ear; her purr was amazingly loud, drowning out the racket of the TV. Hers was not the only purr in the room but merely the loudest. Nearly every cat in the room and, he suspected, the entire apartment was purring and doing other things about which he tried hard not to think as Selina's warm and willing body nestled into his side.
His arm was wrapped around her. His fingers ached to crawl up her length and find more seductive territory, but every time they started to move, as he watched the cats instead of the movie, Bruce stiffened them, stopping their movement and curtailing his baser instincts.
He was not a voyeur, and even if he had been interested in such, cats certainly did not turn him on! Only one cat, only one woman, still held that privilege, and he would give her the night for which she had asked.
"Brrruce, darrrling," Selina purred, suddenly shifting her body so that she now lay in his lap, straddling the bulge in his pants and arching her full breasts against his muscular chest, "stop fighting it. Do you really think I invited you over just to watch a movie? You silly, silly bat!" She meowed, licked her lips, and then pressed her mouth to his. It only took one single, passionate kiss to make him hers for the rest of the night.
Selina purred joyously; her rear end sashayed as though she had a swishing tail. She'd have to remember to throw out the catnip before he arrived every time he came from now on!
The End
