moonshadows

“Ms. Kyle, you have a visitor. A Mr. Bruce Wayne…”

“Send him up,” I tell the doorman through the intercom, then make sure the door to the elevator’s entry hall room is unlocked.

There’s enough time to haul another suitcase around to the master bedroom before the elevator delivers my visitor. How did he know I’d moved, and where to? He must have been to my old apartment first. This penthouse was expensive, but not as much as it could have been. The neo-Japanese style, rooms arranged in a square with a central garden taking up half the square footage, failed to attract a buyer, and the garden got more and more overgrown until it resembled a patch of wilderness transplanted onto a Gotham high-rise. Perfect for me. I lavish a smile on Isis, sleeping in her basket, as I pass. My precious kitty needs to be able to prowl, and I won’t risk her in the concrete jungle again.

“Hello?”

I set the suitcase down and hurry back in time to see Isis twine around Bruce’s ankles. Purring. My baby is so standoffish around other people that she doesn’t even purr for Maeven, and she didn’t care one way or the other for Bruce the last time he visited…but that was before the viral plague, and Batman nursing her back to health.

Humans are easy to fool. New clothes, change your voice, slouch. A bit of acting, and you’re a new person. Cats aren’t so easy to fool. Now that I know what to look for, I can see where the suit changes the lines of his body…his magnificent body. I’m glad he’s distracted by crouching to pet my cat, because I need a minute to think things through. My first instinct is to throw myself into his arms. My second is to hiss at him for being two-faced about this. He destroys my secret, and then expects me to roll over and play nice for his alter-ego? Or maybe he thinks he’s doing the honorable thing by taking his interest out of the shadows.

“Bruce. What a pleasant surprise.” My voice is just slightly stilted, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

“Selina!” He straightens and offers me the roses his body had been hiding. “She’s lovely, but not as lovely as you.”

“Flatterer.” I kneel and collect my purring cat, then stand and take the roses. “I’d put them in water, but I’m afraid the place is still a disaster area.”

“Maeven said you’d been holed up here for a few days. I thought maybe I could stop by and try to talk you into some lunch.”

More than you’ll ever know, the memory of Batman’s voice taunts me.

“Sure. I think the fresh air will do me good, and I could use some time to think about things.”