Impossible Dreaming

"I'm just really not sure that this…relationship…would work," Bruce said, once the afterglow had worn off.

Selina snorted. "Neither am I, stud, but that's no reason to give up before we've even started." Rising from the bed, sheet clasped loosely across her bare breasts, she demanded – never pleading, with her – "Couldn't we try?"

Bruce sighed, taking in the scene before him with Batman's calculative detection. Catwoman, Selina, was half in costume, half in one of his shirts, unbuttoned beneath her scant covering of the pale blue sheets. And she was revving up for a hissy fit. They should have had that conversation last night, before…well, before his little head had started doing all his thinking for him.

Or at least, before his little head had hijacked his body and decided to be in charge for the evening. Then again, if that hadn't happened, last night wouldn't have, either, most likely.

Batman…had allies. Not any connections more personal.

That was at the core of his problems with his Robins. He'd invented the persona of Batman to work alone, and had never bothered to revise the character when it become clear his script wouldn't work, despite how much trouble it had caused him with Dick, and later Jason.

Jason…he should have tried more with Jason, instead of avoiding the issue.

And he couldn't avoid the woman glaring at him with heated, predatory intensity for much longer. The sheets were tossed half on the bed, the pillows smushed around the footboard. And Selina looked delectable, wearing skintight purple leather under white silk, that determined set to her pouty lips that let him know in no uncertain terms that he would not being getting out of this conversation by letting the Bat take over.

And reminding him viscerally of the fact that he was only wearing a pair of boxer briefs and her love bites, scattered across the remains of the scars her claws had left over his heart years earlier.

"That's…impossible," Bruce said before he thought. "You're dreaming if you think we can make this work." They couldn't. He'd given up on happily ever after when his parents died. But then Dick had come into his life, and he'd let himself hope for the future, allowed himself to dream.

Jason's death had reminded him that some dreams were impossible.

Selina was impossible – impossible for Bruce to forget, no matter how much Batman knew he should. Even though Catwoman wasn't a criminal anymore – well, any more than a vigilante hero ever was – Batman worked alone. Though a part of his mind whispered contrary thoughts. She wasn't a Robin, but she was more than enough to be his partner.

His carefully ordered world was crumbling around him, and Bruce almost found himself glad of it, if it meant he could have Selina.

"Damned right I'm dreaming, Bruce." She scowled at him, swiping a lock of hair back from in front of her face, and then proceeding to put her hands on her hips as she faced off with him. "Someone has to, and it's obvious that you quit long ago – if you ever dreamed at all."

Bruce didn't know why, but those words, from this impossible woman…they wounded him. "Selina, I…"

"You what?" Her words were sharp, but her voice was softer. "Bruce, what do you really think about…us?" Only most of a decade spent deciphering her purrs and growls let Bruce hear the insecurity in her voice.

She was woman to his man, Cat to his Bat…and they wanted each other. In that moment, all their perceived differences disappeared.

"I think…" Bruce closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and expelled it as he focused his gaze on Selina, and spoke from the heart. "I think that you're a dream come true."

The smile in her eyes said it all, but she tried with words, as well. "Oh, Bruce…" she said, rising to meet him as he drew closer to the bed.

Bruce drew her into his arms, face nestled in her dark cloud of curls. "Selina…" he whispered in her ear, and felt her answering purr of contentment. And impossibly, Bruce got the feeling that no matter what the future held…it would be more of a dream than a nightmare.

For the first time, he looked towards tomorrow with hope, and not dread. All because of the impossible woman in his arms.

"I still think you're a jackass, you know," said impossible woman mumbled. "A judgmental jackass."

Bruce laughed softly and tightened his arms around her. "I know, Selina. I know."

Truly impossible…and everything he never had the heart to hope for.

THE END