moonshadows

The night breeze is sweet on my face as I run, leap, and climb, reveling in my freedom, losing myself in sheer physical expression. Then I see a shadow not cast by any light, and my joyful frolic becomes a race against fear. I’m not running anywhere in particular, just trying to lose him. Up, down, across, in and out, and then I’m running across a rooftop alone with no shadow dogging my steps or pacing me. Just when I think I’ve won, he looms up in my path and I leap aside, twisting mid-air to evade his grasp.

“Wait.”

The word arrests my motion towards the edge I was about to fling myself off of. Part of me wants to give him a flirty come-on, but with how he’s been shadowing me the last few weeks – always letting me see him, never saying a word nor letting me get close enough to utter one – I am disinclined to make this easy on him. Let’s see how he deals with a sulky cat. When I turn to face him, it is with defiance and I can see him scowl unhappily. Good, at least neither of us are happy about this.

His eyes narrow behind the mask. “Where’s Isis?”

“I left her at home. The streets of Gotham are too dangerous to risk my precious baby a third time.”

“Then what are you doing out here?”

I stretch languidly, insolently. “A cat needs to prowl every now and then, no matter how domesticated she appears to be.”

“That’s why you bought that penthouse.” It’s not a question. I nod, and his posture relaxes somewhat. “You left something behind on one of your earlier romps,” he says, walking over to me. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to return it.”

“What-“ the question is cut off deliciously by his lips on mine, one hand on the small of his back and the other between my shoulderblades. When it ends, my hands are greedily spread across his glorious chest and I can see him smirk beneath the mask. “Mmmmm, you keep it.”

He makes no motion to evade me as I take a step closer and raise my lips to his again. The hand high on my back moves as though he were stroking my hair.

“Can I trust you to behave?” he asks once we separate again.

“I won’t do anything to endanger my freedom.” Or moments like this, but I won’t tell him that. I’d go stir-crazy in jail, and I think he knows that.

His hands close on my wrists. “Selina. I need to know that you’re not going to violate your parole, even if you won’t get caught.”

So that’s why he’s been following me. As uptight about the law as he is, it must be driving him crazy to have a lady friend whose ethics he can’t trust.

“As long as I can get out to prowl every now and then, I’ll be a good kitty,” I say bitterly, meeting the eyeholes of his mask squarely. “I promise.”

“No little thefts to fund your organization?”

“You know the saying about any publicity being good publicity. Since the trial, donations and sponsors haven’t been lacking. We’re on solid financial footing now. We’re even negotiating with Wayne Industries.”

The name doesn’t get a reaction out of him. Hardly surprising.

“No…stunts…to get my attention?”

I grin. “I can’t promise that, but I do promise that I’ll stay on the right side of the law.”

“I’ll settle for that.” He grins back. “One more thing. If you find something that needs to be investigated-“

“-I’ll alert the police if I can’t pass it on to you.”

“Thank you.”

He lets go of my wrists, brushing my cheek with one hand before taking off without a word.