Bat, Cat, and Coin

Selina IV

She sat slumped in the parlor at Wayne Manor, in the same spot where she had unknowingly sat opposite her father two and a half years ago. This time, however, the only other occupant of the room was Alfred, who stood at the window, mulling over her words.

"You are correct, Miss Kyle, that Mr. Falcone has shown an unusual amount of care for you. And your physical similarities are, now that you mention it, conspicuous. But I highly doubt that you will find any proof that—"

"Dr. Wayne knew." She didn't like interrupting Alfred, but she couldn't bear to hear those words. "He was friends with Mr. Falcone. My father is the only one who could have told him my mother's name."

"It is possible that Master Wayne knew, yes."

"And he never told me. Maybe he never told anyone at all, not even Mrs. Wayne. But maybe he wrote it down somewhere, or left a hint as to how he found out."

"So you're asking that I allow you to go through Master Wayne's personal papers."

"You lent me the journal."

"Because I believed that Madam Wayne's notes on the Wayne Foundation would interest you."

"And you don't think that proof of my father's identity interests me? You don't think that finally learning what happened to my mother interests me?"

Alfred looked down. "You are quite right, Miss Kyle. I shall assist you in your search."

"Thank you, Alfred."

* * *

She spent the rest of the holidays at the Manor, looking through any of Dr. Wayne's papers that she could find. There was a lot of old paperwork from Wayne Enterprises, and she felt a sort of vindictive satisfaction at the thought of Bruce having to deal with all of this one day. There was also a lot from the hospital, some of it about employment and taxes and some of it about surgeries. But there wasn't anything about her or even her father.

They couldn't find any private diary, if Dr. Wayne ever kept one. Perhaps he didn't, which was why he wrote the name of Selina's mom in a journal about an entirely different matter.

"Mr. Falcone isn't mentioned anywhere here," she muttered grumpily when she regrouped with Alfred on New Year's Eve, before Leslie was due to arrive with champagne. "Do you think Dr. Wayne was involved in anything illegal with him?"

"I don't believe that, no," Alfred said determinedly. "But I do believe that he would keep quiet about anything Mr. Falcone wouldn't want publicly known."

"Such as my existence," Selina grumbled.

"Indeed, Miss Kyle. And if I may say so, perhaps it is for the best that the secret be kept. Mr. Falcone has enemies, some of them on the right side of the law but many rival criminals. If knowledge of your relation to him were to get out, it would put a target on your back. And Dr. Wayne was surely aware of that."

"I still wish he'd told me."

"I understand."

The agreement to not tell Leslie went unspoken but understood. Alfred was safe out here in the Manor, but while Leslie lived in a nice part of the city, she was still much closer to the criminals, especially when she was at her clinic. So they had put away all of Dr. Wayne's things by the time she arrived, and they spent the evening eating and drinking and watching Gotham's New Year's celebrations.

As she did every year, Selina made resolutions to better herself. This time, however, her resolutions were directed towards finding out everything that she didn't know about her parents and about herself.