Rooftops

She's not sure what it is with them and rooftops.

Or, rather, she does know.

She runs and leaps and never stops to think that she might not make the next jump, that the next roof might be that little bit too far. For one, her whip is ready in her hand. For two, she knows he will never let her crash.

Batman is a little too predictable that way.

She doesn't pause in her mad dash, her loot of diamonds and precious jewels safely tucked in her leather jacket, certain he will follow whatever happens. Almost certain he will only catch up to take it away from her and will let her go free. Like Gordon, Batman tends to close his eyes when it comes to her.

She's never asked who he is, she's never even ventured a guess.

She has never needed to. He appeared not long after Oswald's third – or was it the fourth? It was hard to follow with the Penguin sometimes – rise to power. A masked vigilante keeping the streets safe and the criminals on the straight and narrow. Gordon tried to catch him for weeks before finally letting it go and accepting the help readily offered.

No, she has never asked and she has never thrown the name at him. When they are running across rooftops in the dead of night they're Batman and Catwoman.

He calls her Cat. The nickname always sounds weird in his distorted voice. So she calls him Bat. Familiar and cheeky and refusing to submit to the fear he seems to instill into the heart of every villain in the city.

She doesn't know where she ranks on the villains ladder. Sometimes she fancies herself one, sometimes she wants to be a hero. Sometimes she's just happy to remain somewhere in the middle.

So the rodent runs after the cat and the cat pretends to escape but usually lets herself get caught. It's easier to run into Batman than into him nowadays. The time of the Gotham Sirens is long gone and she doesn't own a club anymore, doesn't actually run in the same circles as billionaire playboys.

Not often but sometimes, she wants to call him kid. For old time sake. To let him know she knows his secret although he's probably well aware already.

She never dares.

She's not good at relationships and Bruce Wayne, when it comes down to her, is all about relationships. This is easier. Meet under Gotham's skyline. Run and chase. Run and escape.

They've always had a thing about rooftops after all.