Author's Note: Good morning, everybody. I've been in these fandom streets for a long time. I've been a devoted Batman Stan for a long, long time. And y'all already know how much I adore GOTHAM. Y'all already know how much I stan for Bruce Thomas Wayne. You guys know this. You guys know me. He is my son and I love him.

THAT BEING SAID...look, I knew it was gonna come to this. I knew that Bruce and Selina would not get a conventional happily ever after ending. I knew that as soon as Camren wasn't put in the 10-year time jump Finale (but why, THO?!) and I saw it coming in the lead up to where Season 5 is now. I understand what's going on. I understand where B is coming from, especially given what Bane did to Alfred, Jim, and tried to do to Selina & failed miserably plus the Fucking Clown and his nonsense before that. I get it because Bruce is now officially BATMAN and he needs to Train for it so joy, love, family, having competent back up to keep him alive long enough to become The Bat that Gotham desperately needs? That can't happen for him while he does that. Nooo...but it can, though. It really can!

Me being the shipper trash that I am and with my lovely, going on 11-year habit of publishing fics that fix the mistakes that have been made? Yep. I'm fixing this. Tonight. Or more like within the next 1-4 hours.

I'm fixing this and then I'm gonna throw myself headfirst into writing the Batcat gets Turnt together story because I may have seen it coming. I may have still enjoyed the episode overall but I ain't taking my Emo kids having a Casablanca, melancholy, "we'll meet again at the green light at the end of Daisy's dock" ending (and I count it as an ending because new time jump Selina is not my Selina nor is she Bruce's. Camren is Selina Kyle and she deserved to be in the Finale!) lying down. It's not in my nature. It just isn't.

Disclaimer: "Honestly, it's not mine!"

"...you piece of shit."

His heart stopped and began to pound at double time. How? What?

"You absolute. piece of. fucking shit!"

Turning around, Bruce Wayne's eyes became even wider at the sight of an absolutely enraged Selina Kyle. Not only was she standing in the aisle of the private jet, she was dressed in...

"Eyes up here, douchebag!"

Bruce caught the thong of her whip before it could touch him but he knew that he was on borrowed time, even with her change of attire. An angry Selina Kyle was a very dangerous Selina Kyle. He knew that better than almost anyone. He knew that leaving a note was the coward's way out. He knew that in his bones but...he just couldn't. He wasn't strong enough.

Saying goodbye to Jim and Alfred had been so difficult, some of the most difficult things he had ever done. Leaving Gotham, even just temporarily, was painful but he saw no other way. Too many people had been hurt because of him. Too many people had died or nearly died because of him. He had to make things right. He had to make amends and in order to do it properly, he needed to leave. Not only would Gotham no longer have him or most of his loved ones in its crosshairs, he would be able to gain the skills he needed. He could have purpose. His parents' sacrifice would no longer be in vain...

"What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Selina..."

She let go of her whip and picked up a decanter of scotch, taking a deep swig before turning back to him with the coldest, blankest expression on her face. Sans her eyes. Her eyes were blazing with rage and filled with so much hurt that Bruce felt bile rising in the back of his throat.

What had he done?

"...you were gonna leave me just like Maria did. Not only that but you even didn't have the balls, the respect that I have earned to face me to do it. No, you were just gonna write a goddamned piece of shit note and fly off into the night like one of the bats that swarmed Roid Rage Mouth Breathing Dickhead that fucked up Alfred's everything! If I hadn't ripped it, you would be choking on it right now! Why the hell did Harper and Bullock have to give it to me?! Why the hell did Jim, Lee, Barbara have to tell me that you were really gonna leave?! Why the hell did I have to have Lucius and Alfred sneak me into the airport to stowaway on this fucking tiny ass airplane, which I am terrified of, by the way, to be here?! Why?! Tell me why, Bruce!"

"Cat..."

"Don't 'Cat' me! Don't you dare! You don't get to 'Cat' me! You don't get to act like you care about me! I ain't worth flaming dog shit to you and this proves it! I'm nothing but Gutter Trash that you felt sorry for and now it's time to finally cut the Charity Case Curly Haired Cunt loose! Hell, you might be able to write me off your fucking taxes, if you even bother to pay them..."

"That's not even close to true!"

"Then why?! I thought you...I thought you cared about me. You said you did. You showed me you did so many times but you didn't even say goodbye. You know what I've been through. You have seen what I have been though and you still left like it was nothing, like I was nothing! I thought you cared! I thought we were best friends! I thought you fucking loved me but you don't. You're a liar! You're just like everyone else that I was stupid enough to trust! You're actually worse than everyone else because you...you..."

Bruce had seen many awful things. He had witnessed death, torture, and destruction on a massive scale. He had heard anguish in people's voices as they screamed, including his own. He had made countless mistakes, said thoughtless things, hurt those who loved him most...

He had hurt her again.

He had hurt her worse than he ever had before.

He had underestimated just how much he meant to her again and now...

What had he done?

As he closed the distance between them, Selina fought him, still sobbing hysterically. She was a skilled combatant. Usually she could best him but size and sobriety gave him the tactical advantage. Her feet kicked rapidly as he lifted her up. She was trying her utmost to break free but he wouldn't let go of her. He shouldn't have tried to do so in the first place. Bruce could feel her nails scratching his arms. He barely managed to avoid her backwards headbutts. Her fists were pounding his chest and he grunted as her foot connected soundly with his left knee cap. If she had her boots on, it would've broken on contact or be heavily bruised.

He took the pain willingly. He deserved it.

He had made the biggest mistake of his life and he had no idea what to do next. Returning to Gotham was out of the question. Gotham needed to rebuild in peace and that couldn't happen if he was there. Someone would ruin things just like Jeremiah, Ecco, Bane, and Nyssa Al Gul had. People wouldn't be able to get the help they needed and deserved to have after enduring hell for so long. Gotham's citizens had stood up to Nyssa and Bane, faced certain mass murder with no fear. They deserved better. They deserved the best that they could get. He wasn't a part of that.

Sending Selina back to Gotham wasn't an option either. She had mentioned that Lucius and Alfred had helped her. Jim, Harvey, Lee, Barbara, Detective Harper...so many people had helped her get to him. Sending her back would be like a slap to the face to all of them. Sending her back would sever their connection forever. If she stayed, there was a chance for him to make things as right as they could be. He couldn't change what he had done. He had shattered her trust. He had shaken the very foundation of their relationship, made her doubt everything, including herself, and it would take everything he had to keep her from walking away from him.

Eventually, she gave up and became a dead weight in his arms, whimpering as he stroked her hair. Both of her hands were clutching his shirt and she hid her damp face in his chest.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I've made a terrible mistake...I shouldn't have done this to you..."

"No shit, asshole...just tell me why. Do you even know?"

"If I had faced you, I wouldn't been able to leave."

"...would that have been so bad? The city's not fucked anymore. Okay, it is but there's hope. People are finally getting help and the rebuilding has already started and..."

"I didn't want to cause anymore suffering."

"...how'd that work out for you?"

"Not well. I do love you, Selina. I love you more than anyone in the world."

"Yeah?"

"Always."

"Then, why did you do this? I don't get it."

"I couldn't see another way and I didn't want you to get hurt again."

"Not every bad thing that happens is your fault, Bruce."

"Selina, ever since you met me during my parents' case, horrible things have happened to you. You've been kidnapped, tortured, pushed out of a window, shot, paralyzed..."

"I know. I was there when it all went down and none of it was your fault. I made my own choices and so did the sick fucks that attacked you, your family, and the city over the years. They wanted to hurt and kill people. They wanted to take advantage of the mayhem and fuck shit up because that's the type of people they are. They just used you as an excuse."

"It doesn't feel that way. My mind understands what you're saying but..."

"You know, when me and the rest of the pack of idiots that give a damn about you told you to think with your heart more than your brain, this wasn't what we had in mind. For the love of God, B. Why? Why are we up here? Where are we even going and why couldn't you have used a real plane to get there? This isn't a real plane. It's a very nice tin can with good furniture and dope ass scotch, which is mine, now. That's what you get for being stupid and making me have to come up here. I usually like being up high but this ain't it, Chief!"

"Cat..."

"I'm not going back to Gotham without you, not without you knocking me out first and I know that you're not gonna do that. And if you try to ditch me, I'll hunt you down and make you piss blood so whatever the hell you're planning to do with your life next, I'm in. That's how it's always been between us and how it's gonna stay whether we like it or not. Right now, I really don't like it...and I'm not too fond of you at the moment, either, goddamn it."

"Join the Club. We have turtlenecks."

A watery laugh escaped her and that gave him hope. Selina was more hurt than angry at him. Not to say that she wasn't angry because she certainly was but it would be easier to reconcile with her. His past mistakes with her had taught him that. As her breathing slowed to normal, he made to pull away but her nails dug in.

"Selina, I'm not leaving you again. I can't. We're 41,000 feet in the air in a..."

"Tin can! It's a tin can and why'd you have to tell me just how high up we are? Fucker."

"I didn't know you were afraid of flying."

"I didn't know either. It's not like I've traveled a lot, unless you count Juvie. I'll let go of you but only because I have to pee. You better not parachute out of here while I'm gone."

"I won't."

She used the back of her hand to wipe her face and the movement drew his gaze back to her attire. Selina Kyle was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. That had been true for ages. Typically, she preferred street style. She wore lots of leather and combat gear. She would occasionally change her look for the sake of a Job or when she was at rest but...

"Alfred and Lucius told the pilot that we picked up a marriage license after the promotion ceremony and we're flying out for our honeymoon. Rule Number 1 of any Job: look the part."

"You look..."

"Stupid? Slutty?"

"Lovely."

Her nightgown was ankle length and snow white. The embroidered lace covering the sheer material was in a pattern of roses and cat's paws. The ties on the side of her white panties were robin's egg blue, matching one of the ankle socks on her feet. Selina purposely mismatched her socks when she wore them. It was a habit from her brief time in Group Homes. Belongings were stolen all the time so she adapted. Her other sock was black and Bruce knew that she had been thinking of him when she picked it out. Selina never did anything without a reason.

A lot of times, he didn't understand them or her but up until now he had gotten much better.

"You're not a very good husband, you know that? You tried to fly away on our wedding night which made me cry bad tears and drink booze in a fucking tin can..."

Bruce chuckled and picked up the decanter of scotch.

"May I have some?"

"As far as everyone up here and back home knows, we're hitched so it's 50/50. Well, more like 60/40 in this case, you getting the 40. Drink up and come lay down. If this thing pulls a Final Destination, I wanna be comfortable and I wanna make damned sure that you die with me."

/

"...where are we going? How long are we gonna be up here?"

"It's a 7-hour flight to Switzerland plus an hour to travel to the Chalet. I was planning to rest and recover there for a month, 2 at the most. Afterwards? I don't know. I have contacts but...

"You just pulled this whole idea out of your ass, didn't you?"

"No."

"You sure about that?"

"Mostly...Selina, I had to leave."

"...I know. I just don't like how you did it, not just with me but with everyone else, too. You said that you didn't want anybody else close to you to get hurt but there's more than one type of hurt, Bruce. Worse hurts than gunshots or stab wounds. You fucked up big time with this shit. You burned some bridges and you're gonna have to make it right eventually, even if you never set foot in Gotham again."

"I'll come back."

"When?"

"When Gotham needs me to. When I'm ready to protect it in the way it deserves."

"When we're ready...I'm not going anywhere. I told you that I'll be here whenever you need me. It looks like you need me now more than ever."

She wasn't wrong.

As much as his fear railed against her staying, Bruce knew that her joining him on this journey could be a good thing. She was brilliant. She was a formidable combatant and she had a perspective of the world that he didn't. She understood the seedy underbelly of life and the desperation that accompanied it all too well. She was loyal to him to the point of death and she prompted those same feelings in him, despite his mistakes. He hadn't lied to her when he told her that he loved her. Selina Kyle was the love of his life and had been for years. He just never mustered up the courage to tell her. He could no longer let her think otherwise.

She wasn't a charity case. She wasn't someone that he could just use and disregard as nothing.

She was his anchor. She was his light. She was his savior.

She was everything.

His pride and fear had almost cost him everything but as usual, Selina came through. She set him straight. Bruce knew that he still had to make it up to her. He knew that it would be a very long time before she trusted him fully again, if ever but the fact that she was with him? The fact that she had faced multiple fears to be with him? God, she was everything...

He would keep her safe. He would be a better friend and partner to her.

He was going to love her sweetly and spoil her as rotten as she would let him.

It was the least he could do.

"So...a marriage license?"

"It's fake. Barbara used one of her contacts to score it for me. Alfred and Jim signed it."

"I'll have to have a word with them."

"If it's anything other than 'thank you for helping me not be a complete idiot', then save it."

She was sprawled out on top of him. After drinking his scotch, Bruce had gone to the bedroom. Selina was already dozing so he went into the bathroom to change clothes. As soon as he laid down, she had climbed on, clinging to him like before. Part of it was her lingering fear of flying but mainly, it was to make sure that he stayed put. His actions had reopened and deepened a lot of wounds inside of her. He had hurt her, devastated her...

How could he even begin to make things right?

What could he do?

As always, Selina provided a solution and not in a way that he expected.

Slowly, she got out of bed and after turning on one of the lamps, loosened the ties of her panties.

He sat up immediately.

"What...what are you..."

"Quiet."

The edge to her voice reminded him of Nyssa Al Gul or Tabitha Galavan. Instead of fear, or in Nyssa's case, disgust, he felt his blood quicken. Bruce hadn't really allowed himself to dwell on her attire, knowing that it was part of a Job and also knowing that they really weren't in a good place to...

A gasp that was pain, surprise, and pleasure escaped him as she grabbed him by the hair.

"Selina!"

"I said quiet. That means your mind, too. You overthink. You borrow trouble and it keeps you miserable. I'm fucking sick of it."

"I...I'm sorry..."

"You should be...here's how this is gonna work: you're gonna lay back and you're gonna eat me out until I tell you to stop. I'll let you breathe because I don't want you to die. That's part of the reason why I'm here but I'm gonna give you something better to think about. Something that will make us both feel good and before you even go there, I'm not drunk. I know exactly what I'm doing. I know exactly what I want right now and I know what you want: me. Am I right?"

"...yes."

"As usual. Now lay back."

/

One Hour Later...

"...I...I said...stop..."

"I don't want to."

"...you sure?"

Selina's nails raked gently over the flesh just above the waistband of his pajama pants. Swallowing thickly (and relishing more of her nectar on his tongue), Bruce cleared his throat and released her immediately. She felt and tasted better than any of his dreams. She heated his blood and his mind was only on her. Selina surrounded him, entranced him in the best ways. He wanted to make her feel good. He wanted to keep making her feel good...

"That's what I thought. Sit up."

Trembling, he obeyed her and her gaze was slumberous emerald, riveted on him.

"And to think you almost left me behind."

"I'm an idiot."

"Sometimes. But you're mine so it's okay. Off. Now."

Bruce practically ripped his top in his haste to shed it and her hands went to her nightgown.

"Eyes up here."

It took every bit of his control but he kept his gaze on her face. The nightgown joined her panties on the floor and when he grabbed her, she didn't pull away. Selina offered her neck to him and he buried his face in it, relishing the feel of her. His pants and underwear were removed. They were skin on skin. So close but not close enough. He could never get close enough...

"We're best together, B. We're awesome solo but together? We can do fucking miracles."

"I know."

"But you tried to leave me, anyway. You weren't even gonna say goodbye."

"I'm sorry."

"You hurt me."

"I'm so sorry..."

"What good is saving Gotham and everyone in it if you break your own heart and spirit in the process? Huh? Why are you determined to be miserable and alone when you don't have to be? I've done the lone wolf bit. It's not good. You know. You saw. It messes you up bad and it ends up messing the people around you up. You said that you don't want us to get hurt anymore, yeah? What do you think always seeing you so sad and eager to die does to us? To me? Huh? And just what the hell are you gonna do, 50, 60 years from now when you're all alone in your rebuilt Manor and your body and mind won't let you save Gotham anymore? You're just gonna stop like a dead cellphone? You're gonna have someone find your body days, weeks, maybe even months after it happens? You keep this martyr, scared of joy shit going and that's exactly what's gonna happen to you."

"...I never...I didn't think..."

"That's right. You didn't think. You're hella book smart but you don't have the sense that God gave a goat when it comes to actually living life but that's okay...that's why I'm here with you. That's why you have Alfred and the Squad back home. You wanna save Gotham from eternal darkness or whatever? Fine. It's a damned dumb idea but fuck it. Dumb ideas can be fun but you don't have to do it all by yourself. You shouldn't do it all by yourself."

"You're right."

"As usual."

"Debatable."

"Fuck off. No, don't fuck off. Just lay back. We're not done yet."

/

He couldn't get close enough but he could try.

Instead of laying back, Bruce had put her underneath him and she had grabbed his hips, urging him into her. They had spoken enough for now. She had given him so much to think about but that was for later. He was all instinct, all warm heat, and need. So much need...

"...don't stop...please don't...oh, Christ, B..."

She shuddered underneath him and he wiped her tears away, resting his brow on hers.

"Don't cry..."

"...good tears this time...you feel good in me...on me...I...I..."

Her mouth fell open in a silent scream and it was too much for him. The rhythm he had learned was lost and Bruce let himself go. Dimly, he registered the sound of the lamp hitting the floor and her squeal as his teeth sank into her shoulder. Electric shivers went up and down his spine, aided by her nails raking over it. Selina always left her mark on him and he wanted it. He wanted her. He didn't want to be alone. His departure had been viewed as a necessity, his isolation for the best but he had been wrong. So very wrong...

"... Je t'aime ... je t'aime tellement …(I love you...I love you so much...)...Selina..."

"I got you."

"Selina..."

"I got you."

He nodded and held onto her as tightly as he could, tears dampening her skin.

"...look at me...look at me, Bruce."

Looking, he saw the softest smile, the softest gaze.

"I'm gonna be here whenever you need me. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Good."