Legend

The decision

That evening, Damian and I had dinner and cuddled a bit before he went out for the night. There was a slight but discernible distance between us that I suspected was a result of him waiting for my decision. The next day we had breakfast before parting, and I went in to the tower for work with my uncle, then finished my interviews and decided to do a little shopping. I went uptown to Athleta for workout clothes, then down to Modell's for shoes, then to Chacott's for ballet shoes. Natasha and I had started stretching and dancing again and I needed some new shoes for that. My renters insurance had paid out faster than I thought it would, so I had a little extra to spend. Then my last stop was Azaleas, and I headed back to the hotel. I cut through a parking garage to make better time, and slowed and turned as someone called my name.

I frowned to see Talia. She looked slightly out of breath and cross, but I'd been moving fast and I was dressed for it, whereas she wore a tight pencil skirt and heels. "You really need to stay away from me," I said conversationally. "Damian won't be pleased when I tell him you followed me."

"My son will get over it. Specifically, he'll get over you. What on earth is he thinking? You're fairly intelligent,  pretty and I imagine he enjoys your body well enough, but you bring nothing substantial with you. No power, no money, no connections." She shook her head. And lunged at me with a knife. She wasn't as good as she thought, telegraphing her moves that much. I disarmed her easily, let her land some blows to see how she fought and what her skill level was, then pretty much beat her to a pulp. She was skilled, don't get me wrong, but she was not in my weight class. And the look on her face as she also realized this was priceless. Is it bad of me to be pleased by that? I consolidated my purchases a bit and picked up the knife with one of the plastic bags, wrapping it well and securing it with my ponytail elastic in case there was something on the blade. Then I turned my back on the mess on the ground and walked away.

I got home a little before Damian and took a shower to wash off the confrontation in the garage before starting dinner. He came into the kitchen, loosening his tie a little, a trace of apprehension on his handsome face. "Come sit down," I invited him, walking into the living room. He perched gingerly on a sofa and I sat on the coffee table , looking at him. "I've made my decision." He tensed, and I shook my head astonishingly. "Have some faith," I scolded him. "I'm staying. I adore you. Passionately, outrageously. You're the light in my life. I talked to Emma about what it was like for her; she's had two husbands in the superhero game and knows what the challenges are. Then I talked to Alfred." Damian's face was a study. His fear hadn't quite left him yet and warred with rising hope and relief. "Very interesting conversation, about which I'd be happy to fill you in later. But the truth is this. I love you, and I want to spend how much life we each have with you. I'm committed to you and to us. There's not much I feel like we can't get through together, but my hard line is infidelity or abuse. Anything else we work on together. Life is risk, and there's a possibility that an accident could part us next week, or, against the odds, that we die of extreme old age. So here it is. I want to be with you, ideally, I hope to marry you down the road, and I'd like to bear your children at some point. So what do you think of that?"

"I think that I'm the luckiest man on earth and that I don't deserve you," he breathed.

"Sure you do," I disagreed amiably, then stood up and untied the wrap dress I wore, peeling it back to show him the new lingerie I'd gotten that day at Azaleas. He stood up jerkily and yanked me to him for a frantic kiss. I ended up under him on the floor as we made love wildly and passionately.

Dinner burned. Whoops.

He rolled off me and after a moment I straddled him. "Also, your mother caught up with me when I was shopping today and told me that I wasn't good enough for you, so I beat her up. I'm sure somebody found her and called it in. There were cars going in and out."