Batman & Catwoman: baby makes 9

5. Back

"Honey, I'm home!" Selina announced as she walked into the manor. Bruce had let her know that he was home early, but she was caught up at work at her jewelry store. She heard the metal clang of weights coming down and went down to the gym.

They had been married so many years now, but seeing him shirtless, muscles rippling and glistening always gave her butterflies. Selina smiled at the vision in front of her and went to him.

"Hey," she straddled him as he sat at the pec machine.

"Hi," Bruce smiled and kissed her.

"How was work?"

"Work was good."

"You buying the world yet?"

"Already stole it," Bruce whispered with a wink. He let go of the machine and grabbed her thighs, kissing her before sighing in her neck.

Selina strummed her fingers through his hair and tucked his head under her chin. "What's wrong?"

"I called Jack Drake today."

"That's good. Did you apologize?"

"Mhmm."

"And?"

"And, he asked us to babysit."

Selina sighed and pulled his head up to face her. "You could have politely declined."

"I... froze. I owed him something. Couldn't decline the first favor he asked. And, he offered to return the favor in the future."

"Well," she smiled, "I for one am glad you took on the job. You can't run away from kids forever, Bruce."

"What if something goes wrong?" He pleaded, holding on to her hands.

"What's going to go wrong? We just have to babysit him. And there's no way we're involving him in our nightlife," she assured him.

"Kids and I don't get along, Selina. I can't take this!" He pushed her off and walked in stress.

"And what are you going to tell him when he asks why? That you can't watch his son because ours is..."

"Gone. Children leave me, Selina," he whipped around. "I've housed two and they are both gone. And the third one..." Bruce duh his fingers into his hair, keeping his mouth shut. "It didn't even come home."

"That's not on you, Bruce," his wife immediately stepped up to comfort him. "You are a beautiful person, and I'm sure you'll make a great dad someday. But Dick's still there. You just have to reach out to him. Don't push him away."

Bruce held on to her hands that were on his face. She smiled at him and he was forced to echo.

"Okay. Kids scare you. So for tonight, why don't you go scare people who scare kids. And I will call Mrs. Drake. Sound like a plan?"

Bruce kissed her in reply. "Yes, ma'am."

He left the gym and headed to the lair. He had a gallery of suits now, each with a history. The recent one, he had used incorrectly. That wasn't the purpose he had given himself. The previous one, was slow. It couldn't get to his son on time. Bruce hadn't even washed it since.

He didn't need a fresh start, not right now. Now, he needed to go back to his roots. Remember why he was doing what he did. He walked past all his upgraded suits and found the one he wore in his early days, when he first started this crusade. That's what he needed right now.

"Gimme that!" The man yelled and yanked the object the from the girl's hands. "It's not broken, 'sit?"

"No, it's not broken!" The girl retorted as if offended. Her pride left when the man gave her a cross look.

"Where's the brown one?"

"It's all here, I swear!"

The man grabbed her by the collar and swung her, leaning her over the flat roof of the garage. "You calling me a liar?"

"Bitch, did I say that? I got it when I got it. Maybe it dropped, slipped out my pocket."

"Maybe you slipped my hand," the man said, then let go of her collar.

The girl fell back and flailed her hands out, grasping on to nothing. Instead, something grasped her arm and pulled her back onto the roof. In the same move, with his other hand, he swiped the fence off the roof, catching the back of his shirt in time. The girl ran away, leaving the men on the roof.

"Find the brown one yet?" Batman growled.

"Pull me back and I'll talk!" The man screeched.

Batman yanked him and he landed on his back on the concrete surface.

"Talk."

The man attempted to get to his feet, but once he was in a squat, he made a run for it. He didn't get far when a grapple caught his ankle and pulled him back. He fell face first this time.

The man eyed him up and down as he looked behind him. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

Batman lifted him from the back of his head and slammed his face into the wall to the stairs. "Remember now?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I got you!"

"I'm not gonna break you. I'm gonna let you go, and you're going to walk yourself in. If I don't see that booking in an hour, I'm gonna find you. And I'm gonna break you. Got it?"

The man nodded with trepidation. "Yeah, turn myself in. Got it."

Batman let the man go, intent on keeping his word. The man cautiously peeled himself away from the wall, staying as far from his assailant as he could. He made it past the wall and got his face kicked in, knocked out cold.

"I heard you were on a cleanse, but you've never let them off the leash!" The new arrival reminded him.

"I don't need backup on a thief," Batman told him, feeling insulted.

"Not on a petty thief, no," Nightwing replied ominously.

"So you're speaking to me, now?"

"I heard you put down the glass. Thought I could lower the wall, just a bit."

"How're the girls?"

"Fine. Jia's in her princess phase right now," he joked.

Bruce smiled. "Is that why you're here?"

"Yeah! Mind if we take over your castle for a minute?" Nightwing joined beside him, looking over the roof to catch sight of their home on the cliff at the end of town.

"It could be worse."

They rode their separate vehicles back to the manor, but didn't make it inside. They met each other at the grave.

"I failed."

"Yeah," Dick didn't try to negate him. "But if you don't move on, that's all you'll have. Give yourself another chance. Learn from it. Now you know what not to do."

Bruce looked up from the grave of his second son to look up to his first. "How'd you turn out?"

Dick smiled and swung his arm around his father figure's shoulders as they walked back home.

"I turned out a Wayne."