Selina Wakes up

[moonshadows]

Selina may not have known beforehand what it would feel like to be brought out of cryo-stasis and healed of her condition, but as she became sluggishly aware that she was breathing, it occurred to her that the whole thing felt very like recovering from a near-lethal dose of Scarecrow’s fear toxin. It was several more minutes before she felt able to force her leaden eyelids open. Before she managed that, however, a barely-heard low growl sent her pulse….shambling somewhat faster than it had been, but it seemed that her heart was as tired as the rest of her was, and couldn’t even race properly. She waited until she heard a door close to indicate that she would either be alone with Batman, or alone with whoever he’d been talking to, and then wrestled her reluctant eyes open.

At first, everything was a sterile, pale blur. She focused on the dark blob that had to be a person, and slowly, he came into focus. It wasn’t Batman; it was a youth with Bruce’s black hair and enough of his good looks that it made her want to smile at how many girls he must have throwing themselves at him.

“Thomas,” she whispered, one hand twitching towards him but lacking the strength to actually reach. The teen looked at her in shock. “My little boy’s grown up.”

“Uh…my name is Terrence,” he corrected warily. “Terry McGinnis.”

Well, if that wasn’t a downer. “Have I been under that long?” she murmured sadly. “I go to sleep the mother of a young boy, and wake up having missed not only my son’s childhood, but my grandson’s as well?”

Terry looked mildly alarmed, but before he could say anything the door opened and a grizzled old man with a very familiar jaw stumped in, only to stop in shock.

“Bruce?”

“Selina.” The word was a prayer, thanks and apology rolled into three syllables he uttered as if reluctant to let any of them go. In a breath he was sitting on her bed, hugging her as awkwardly as only hospital beds could make the act. “I missed you so much.”

“How long have I…”

“Almost fifty years,” he answered in a tight voice, and she could have wept for him but she lacked the strength. “It’s been…hard…without you.”

“Oh, Bruce…the years haven’t been kind to you, darling.” Her cheeks were wet anyway, but so were his. “Where’s Thomas?”

“Thomas lives on the west coast,” he said, moving from bed to nearby chair, just as Terry asked, “Who’s Thomas?”

Briefly, Selina’s brow furrowed before that effort was abandoned. “But…Terry…”

“Terry is my assistant,” Bruce said in a warning tone.

If she’d had the strength to wave, she would have waved it away. “Well, naturally. But…”

“He’s my night assistant.”

“That goes without saying, Bruce.”

Awkward silence fell as each of them tried to figure out where the break in communication was and Terry wished he dared ask a question but feared any answer he might get.

“We’ll discuss it once you’re back home,” Bruce said at last.

No one argued.

 

The uneasy silence held while Selina was cleared to check out, loaded into a hoverchair, and transferred into the Wayne car. Terry was afraid they’d have that discussion once the door closed, but his employer’s wife – and boy, was that weird to think about – snuggled up to the old man and slipped into something that was more exhaustion than sleep, and the drive was quiet. She woke up as the car stopped, and although Terry had reservations about it, she and the old man supported each other and hobbled slowly inside. Somehow, neither of them fell between the door and the mate to Bruce’s favorite wing-back chair, which the teen hastily removed the dust sheet from.

“Feels good to be home,” she said quietly as she sank into it. “Now, Bruce, I think we need to have that discussion.”

The older man sank into his own chair, leaving Terry hovering awkwardly. “Terry’s taken my place as Batman.”

“I would hope so. I imagine Thomas is too old for that by now.”

Bruce looked uncomfortable, something Terry never thought he’d see. “Thomas never wore the suit.”

“Then who…”

“Me,” he said grimly, “until about twenty years ago, when I had a heart attack.”

“Oh, Bruce…”

His expression was mingled regret and grim resentment. “I know, I know. Things were…hard…without you, Selina. Thomas and I…don’t talk much. Makes things more civil when we do. You’ll see. I let him know you’re awake again; he flies in on Saturday.”

“I guess you’ll want me to drive you to the airport,” Terry sighed.

“If you’re not busy.”

“No, Mr. Wayne, it’s fine.”

Selina frowned. “Terry, why do you call Bruce that?”

Both men looked at her quizzically. “Uh…because it’s more polite than just calling him Bruce all the time? I mean, he’s old enough to be my grandfather and he’s my boss, what else should I call him?”

To Terry’s utter surprise, she leveled a fierce glare at her elderly husband, who actually looked ashamed. “Bruce…”

“I thought I was imagining it,” he protested weakly. “Seeing what I wanted to see.”

“Whoah, wait, seeing what?”

“Darling, when I first saw him, I thought he was our son.”

“Uh, news flash Mrs. Wayne, your husband’s a little old to…uh…” On second thought, he didn’t really want to finish that sentence.

“I’m married,” the old man snapped at him. “Think about what it would take for you to propose to someone, then remember I was head of a multi-million-dollar corporation with no living family and just as many eyes on me with or without the mask. And I. Married. Her.”

“And she could probably kick my ass, suit or no suit,” he fired back. “But she’s seen younger Waynes a lot more recently than you have, and apparently I look like I could be your kid, so I’m sorry if I seem a little freaked out right now at hearing that my dad might not be my dad.”

“What I want to know is who did it, and how, and why.”

“And what I want to know,” Selina interrupted both of them, “is if finding those answers is going to distract you to the point of not eating, because it’s clear Alfred’s not around anymore, I’m sure Terry has a home to go back to, and I’m not strong enough yet to get to the kitchen, much less prepare something and remind you pointedly to eat it.”

It was amazing, Terry thought. You could almost see her yank the leash. He wondered if this would make the old man more, or less, crotchety.

“I’m sorry,” Bruce said heavily, and it was unclear who he was directing it at. “I can search for answers later. You can go home if you want, Terry. I won’t need you this evening.”

He was more than willing to get the hell out, because seeing the old man apologize was creepy as hell. “Alright. It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Wayne. I’m sure we’ll see each other quite a bit.”

“Terry…” she held one trembling hand out, and he took it. “I can see how much Bruce trusts you, but I know how bad he is with admitting things like that so I’m telling you that he does, because I doubt he has.”

The teen glanced uncertainly at his employer. “Um…what makes you say that?”

She gave his hand a tiny squeeze. “He isn’t suspecting you of being an active part of a plot against him.”

For a long minute, he stared in shock at Bruce Wayne, who looked not only unrepentant, but…proud? Either way, he wasn’t denying any of it. This was too weird. “Right. I’m gonna go home now and let you two…catch up.”

 

“So,” Terry began as he made his nightly rounds, “how’s your wife doing?” Man, that still sounded weird.

“She’s sleeping,” Bruce’s gravelly voice replied. “A day or two of rest and food and she should be back to normal.”

“I’m surprised you let her talk to you like that.” A brief pause to realize that didn’t sound very good. “I mean, I’ve never seen you take that tone from anyone without a fight.”

“We have history.” The words were uncomfortably tinged with smugness.

Terry rolled his eyes. “You’re married, I’d kind of hope so.”

“When I first met Selina Kyle, it was at a charity event. Handsome men auctioning off dates to benefit wildlife. She paid ten thousand for a date with me.”

The teen’s eyes widened and reflexively, he looked at the speaker Bruce’s voice emanated from. “Ten grand?”

“Yup. Blew the competition right out of the water, calm as you please. Then told me I was ‘off the hook’ because she’d done it for the animals.” He let that sink in for a moment. “She got the money selling a necklace she’d stolen the night before. Led me on a rooftop chase when I confronted her. Called me magnificent, clawed my cape, kicked a pile of trashcans over on me, screamed like a frantic mother when her cat nearly got run over, and blew me a kiss before running off.”

“Love at first sight, huh?” Terry grinned, secure knowing the old man couldn’t see him.

“Something like that. It didn’t take me long to figure out that she was Catwoman. Catching her to turn her in to the police took a bit longer. She pled guilty and got five years of probation. Still ran around as Catwoman for a while, but she kept herself clean. We got along great at night, but during the day…” He trailed off for a few seconds. “I got a date here and there, but a year later I was still just a friend and a business associate. Finally, I told her we needed to talk and did it in a way that let her know I was Batman. Turns out she’d known almost the whole time and was playing it cool to keep Bruce Wayne safe from Batman’s enemies. She told me later that if I hadn’t stayed true to myself and turned her in, I never would have gotten anywhere with her.”

“So you’re saying this is par for the course with her.”

“Any healthy relationship has to be built on trust and mutual respect. Ours involves trusting each other with our other identities, and respecting our reasons for having them. She’s been there for me enough that she’s more than earned the right to call me on being an idiot without fear of retribution.”

Terry stared at the speakers again. “Uh…are you feeling okay? You’re being…”

“Nice?” You could almost hear the self-depreciating smile. “You’d be surprised how stressful it is to spend fifty years worrying that your wife wake up from being in cryo and find that she’s a widow.”

“Yeah.” Still unnerved, the teen shook his head. “I guess it would be.”

“Don’t think this means you get to slack off,” he said in a more reassuringly sharp tone. “I’m picking up a break-in on the east side.”

Terry grinned; that was more like the old man. “Right. I’m on it.”