So yeah...had to bump this up to an M rating. Which I promise you was not originally planned.

The idea that Selina was having the worst pregnancy of all time, from Selina's perspective, was only a minor exaggeration.

The bleeding had finally stopped five days after her trip to the emergency room, and though the hemorrhage had shrunken significantly in the eight weeks since, it was still taking longer to heal than Leslie had liked. Since the presence of a hemorrhage put her at an increased chance of preterm labor and a placental abruption, Selina was bumped up from pelvic rest to bed rest until it was finished healing. The novelty of being in a constant state of what some might call "relaxation" had almost instantly worn off. Selina found being stuck in bed all day anything but relaxing.

She had reread The Scarlet Pimpernel, Much Ado About Nothing, and even a little Petrarch and Gita Govinda* in the first week. Besides the persistent boredom Bruce and Alfred hovered around her constantly, as if she was made of glass, which drove Selina crazy. One day she made a break for it, and got to spend 90 blissful, solitary minutes in the greenhouse on a particularly sunny day, before Alfred found her and banished to the confines of her bedroom just like that.

"I feel like Bertha Mason," she told Bruce on more than one occasion.

Despite it all Selina tried her very best to be grateful. She was glad that their baby was healthy and developing normally and was willing to do whatever she needed to keep it that way. She told herself that her situation was only temporary. She could deal with the boredom, the isolation, the lack of activity, and the overbearing husband.

That she could deal with.

There was, however, one thing that was really getting to her more and more.

It started off simply enough. Selina, being the master escape artist that she was, defected from bed rest yet again. This time she hid out in the warmer east wing of the manor, where Alfred wouldn't find her as quickly. The room was sunnier than any of the others, and was almost completely bare, save for a wicker lounge chair, a fireplace, and piano in the center of the room.

Selina gently poked a few piano keys.

"Playing the piano in a completely empty room might not be the best idea if your plan is to stay hidden," Bruce said with his arms cross from the doorway.

Selina was unfazed by his presence.

"You wouldn't have found me if I really didn't want you to," she said as Bruce crossed the room.

"I wouldn't count on that," he said. "Selina-"

"Bruce, relax. It's not like I'm lifting weights in here. I was just looking for a quiet place to read."

Bruce didn't say anything; he just gave her that look.

"See," she said sitting down on the piano bench "I'm sitting. I'm relaxed. Happy now?"

"How did you manage to find me by the way," she said tapping a few more keys.

"I figured you would go somewhere Alfred was unlikely to look first," he said sitting next to her on the bench. "You aren't very quiet by the way."

"I am when I want to be."

Bruce flexed his fingers before pressing his hands into the piano. I did a few bars to warm up, before transitioning into Moonlight Sonata.

"I didn't know you could play the piano," Selina said.

"I am a man of many talents Ms. Kyle. Here I'll show you," he said getting up and leaning behind her.

As Bruce's hands guided Selina's on the piano, she became painfully aware of how close he was to. It was as if every sensation was magnified- his skin against hers. The muscles of his arms rippling as his hands continued to lead hers. His breathe against her neck and he murmured instructions that sounded muted in her current state. His arm brushing against the side of her breast. She felt electricity running through her.

It wasn't the usual teasing or flirting or stolen glances from across the table. It was chaste. It wasn't even remotely erotic. It was almost nothing at all.

And yet Selina had never felt so turned on in her entire life.

He whispered something against her ear that she wasn't quite listening to. Her mind was too preoccupied with the growing inferno inside her, fueled by every twitch of his muscles. She kept her eyes focused intently on the movement of their hands, but her mind kept picturing it—hoping it would move lower and lower and lower…

"…and those are basic chords."

Before he could utter another word Selina suddenly pressed her lips against his. The kiss took him by surprise, but he surrendered to it immediately. Selina wrapped her arms around his shoulder pulling him closer to her. He sunk back onto the piano bench and leaned in closer so that her back arch slightly over the keys.

"Bruce," she moaned quietly into his mouth. "I want you."

Bruce gently broke away from her and sighed, pressing his forehead against hers.

"Selina, we can't." He said brushing his hand against her waist.

On impulse she was about to argue against him. Not that either of them knew it at the time, but Bruce and Selina had fallen in love the moment they met. That didn't mean things weren't complicated, of course. He was Batman. She was Catwoman. Complicated didn't even begin to cover it. Bruce was the push and Selina was the pull. It was a herculean effort, but Selina chipped at his walls piece by piece. After that Bruce stopped trying to resist Selina. He embraced what he felt in his heart and for once in his life he stopped doing the right thing and did what he wanted. In a way making love was the only uncomplicated part of them. Until now that was.

Selina closed her eyes and sighed.

"I know. You're right," she said dropping her arms.

Selina had decided, after the scare in Metropolis, that she did really want this baby. It scared her how much. She wasn't naturally maternal and for so long she had lived a life that only involved worry about herself. Now she had a husband and a baby involved. She wanted to prove to herself that she could make the sacrifice, she could put someone else's needs before her own. She could and as small a gesture as it was, she could start with this.

xXx

As it turned out, involuntary celibacy was easier said than done.

It was if that day in the piano room had awaken something primal inside of her. She wasn't used to denying temptation and couldn't seem to get her mind off it. She tried everything to ease her urges. Meditation, doctor approved low impact yoga, cold showers. One night she left in the middle of the night to sleep in a different room. Nothing worked. The burden often fell on Bruce to gently turn her down on the days when it became too much her and she was feeling particularly out of control.

"These are just the hormones," he would remind her. "This will pass."

He knew they were just doing what was best for their baby. They both were but still Selina found herself increasing frustrated at her situation.

She was just so frustrated.

"Fuck," she groaned waking up from another shamefully erotic dream about that time they shagged at Salvatore Maroni's safe house**.

Bruce was already back from patrol and settled into bed. Before she would've gone out with him that night, maybe enticed into a race across the rooftops if he was in a good mood. Those always ended with them lying together under the Gotham moonlight.

"Are you okay?" Bruce asked half asleep.

"No," she mumbled bitterly.

He shifted suddenly, more alert.

"I'm fine," she said. "It's nothing. Go back to sleep."

Selina wasn't a praying woman, but she began to pray that every time she went in for a checkup that it would be the blessed day that they would inform her that the hemorrhage was gone, and her suffering was over. She tried her very best to keep perspective; she really did. Of course, she was glad her baby was developing normally, and she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that, but her resolve was starting to crack.

Relief couldn't have come soon enough.

Bruce came home from patrol and was surprised to see Selina still awake. She put down the book she had been reading, a pleased and mischievous grin on her face.

"I didn't think you'd still be up," Bruce said kissing the top of her head. "Is something wrong?"

"Why do you always assume something is wrong? As it so happens, I've been waiting for you," she said as Bruce sat on the edge of the bed removing his boots.

"You should be resting."

"I rest all day long. I'm very well rested," she said coming onto her knees to massage Bruce's shoulders and running her hands along his biceps.

She ran her hands underneath of his undershirt and felt the muscles in his back trembled. Still he stiffened.

"Selina," he started.

They had this conversation before. A hundred times before.

Selina ignored him and brought herself closer to him. He shuddered when he felt her warm breath against his neck.

"Guess what?" She said, gently biting his ear.

"I-"

Before he could answer Selina pulled him backwards so that he was flat on his back and straddled him.

"Selina, please" he tried again, coming onto his elbows.

"I was medically cleared today," she said, running her hands under the front of his shirt across his pecs and down the rigid muscles in his abdomen.

Bruce's breathing hitched.

"I don't have to be on rest anymore, and I know the perfect way to celebrate," she said tugging up the bottom of his shirt.

"So, the hemorrhage is gone?"

"Yes," she said. "Mostly."

"What does that mean?"

Selina shrugged. "That I probably don't need to worry about it."

She was too preoccupied in her task of getting Bruce undressed to get into specifics.

"Probably?" Bruce said, removing her hands from his chest. "What exactly did the doctor say?"

Selina sighed exasperatedly. "She said that it had shrunk significantly, and I probably don't need to worry about it anymore."

She expected that to be enough for enough for him. Instead he pulled away when she went to kiss him.

"Bruce, this is a good thing. Why are our clothes still on?"

He didn't answer her immediately. Selina had been such a good sport these last couple of months. Restraint was completely against her nature and yet she had allowed everyone to fuss over her. She had been patient. She took it easy. She stayed in bed. She went to all her appointments. She only mildly complained, even though he knew she hated every minute of it. She just wanted to let go.

Of course, he wanted to be intimate with his wife. He wanted nothing more than to press her into the mattress and to feel his pressure on her hips. Not be able to be with her was hard for him too. Expressing how they were feeling didn't come naturally to Bruce and Selina. Anything they felt- the grief, failure, joy, mania- they just swallowed it down and watched it fester until the darkness leaked from every pore. Sometimes they just needed release. Sometimes they needed to lose control.

The reason, Selina often theorized to herself, that she and Bruce were so sexually compatible was because they were emotionally in sync. Even in the early days when it was just masks, dancing, and chardonnay they seemed to give each other exactly what they needed. Without being told they could differentiate between the nights when a particularly steamy tango on the rooftops demanded rough, almost violent fucking and the nights when they were so emotionally raw it required tender love making.

He knew in addition to the out of control pregnancy hormones, that was what she missed the most. Craved it. Hungered for it. He did too. As much as he loved Selina and as far as they'd come together, it still wasn't easy for him to be vulnerable. He didn't always want to tell Selina about how he felt like the rage he'd been carrying around since that night in the alley when he was eight years old would swallow him whole. He still worried if she were too exposed to this side of him, she'd turn her back on him.

Who could possibly love a man this broken? This irreparable.

Now they were having a child, and for the first real time in his life he was beginning to see to the light at the end. Here was something good they were bringing into the world. Something innocent and undamaged despite all of the horror. It was a true reprieve, a blessing really, but he had never been that lucky. Though the prospect of having a family of his own was a joy he could never describe, the fear of losing them was always looming over him. Something bad would happen. It always did. He could never be so lucky that he could have them both.

But if there was a way to keep them safe, no matter how slight, he'd do it. He would do anything to keep them.

"Selina," he started slowly. "I think we should wait a little while longer. Just to be sure."

Selina stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Are you serious?"

"Selina-"

"So, we're just never going to have sex again?"

"We should just wait until it's completely gone and do what's best for the baby."

Selina felt a wave of anger wash over her.

"What's best for the baby?! Bruce, I've been laying in bed for over a month doing what's best for the baby. What about what's best for me? I'm a person, Bruce! I'm not just a vessel. I've been miserable for months. Now I'm debasing myself by throwing myself at you, and you're going to humiliate me by turning me down?"

Bruce sighed, "I'm sorry-"

Selina didn't want to hear it.

"Fine," she said curtly, climbing off him.

Without another word she quickly retreated from the room, slamming the door behind her.

xXx

Bruce woke up the next morning with the distinct feeling that he had fucked up.

Selina never came back to bed. He assumed that she had slept in a guest bedroom, but a small part of him thought that she might have packed her things and left him for good. He was surprised to see her already at the table when he went down for breakfast.

"Good morning," he said to no response.

Selina turned away when Bruce leaned in to kiss her.

Bruce sighed and slid into the chair perpendicular to Selina. He had hoped that with sleep she'd be in a better mood. A clear miscalculation.

"How did you sleep?" He asked, lightly taking her hand in his.

Without answering Selina snatched her hand away and crossed her arms across her chest. Bruce sighed, giving up on his attempts at peace. He would just need to give her space for a while.

The rebuff did not go unnoticed by Alfred. He had surmised from the slamming of doors in the middle of the night that marital discord was afoot. He wasn't sure what Master Bruce had done wrong, but Mrs. Wayne had seemed to be especially dour that morning. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Ms. Lane will be coming by later. Mrs. Wayne, shall I arrange afternoon tea, or would you prefer a full lunch course?"

"Well who cares what the incubator wants," she said sharply.

"Selina," Bruce started.

Selina abruptly pushed back from her seat and left. Things more or less carried on the same way for the better part of a week. Lois' visit kept her preoccupied for at least a few days. Even without spending much time with Bruce and Selina in the same room together, Lois could see that there was tension. She tried to pry out what was going on, but she had refused to talk to her about it.

Truth be told; Selina was too embarrassed to admit that she wasn't speaking to her husband and sleeping in separate rooms because he didn't want to have sex with her. But it was more than that. It was a storm of emotion that she wasn't entirely sure she could blame on the baby hormones making her crazy.

She tried to maintain perspective, but she couldn't help but be resentful. She resented how quickly this had become her life. How quickly she had been forgotten. It was as if the second she became pregnant it was expected of her to become a mother and nothing else.

Yes, she knew that becoming a mother had been what she had decided, but June Cleaver she was not. She couldn't be expected to stay home and bake cookies and join the PTA. That would never be who she was. She naively believed that she could be a mother and still keep the other parts of herself. She was impulsive, she was vain, she was a little bit selfish, and she was a person who embraced her sexuality with little inhibition. She could already see all of that starting to chip away. She should be out prowling the night, not chained to a bed for weeks on end. She was fine watching all the plans she had made for herself crumble, but she didn't want to crumble away with them.

It made her sometimes resent the life growing inside of her, and that scared her. What kind of mother resents their own baby? God, she was going to be a terrible mother.

Selina had always thought of herself as adaptable, but maybe this was just beyond her. After all; it's not like she had much of a role model to look up to in that area. Her own mother had made sure of that.

Selina began to think about her own mother more than she ever had in her entire life, and for the first time she began to grieve her. She had been very young when she had died, and she barely had memories to recall. She didn't even know her name. For the first time ever, she wished things had turned out differently. She wished her mother had been a normal mom who baked cookies and joined the PTA. She wished she hadn't been sick and that her very first memory, the singular memory she had of her, was of a bloody bathtub and cold, unstaring eyes looking right through her.

"I try but I just can't get that imagine out of head," she had told Bruce the first night they made love, her eyes welling with tears. "I hope I forget it one day. But I don't think I will."

If she could remember anything else, even the bad parts, she'd at least what not to do.

Don't let my child find my dead body, was her only takeaway.

xXx

After more than a week of unbearable tension in the manor, Alfred begged Bruce to make peace with his wife. He had hoped that giving her more space would assuage her anger. Another miscalculation. There was nothing else to do but apologize.

He knocked softly on the door of the guest room where Selina had been holed up for the last couple of days. Selina was sitting curled up on the window ledge. She quickly wiped her face free of tears, when Bruce entered the room softly closing the door behind him.

"I've made you unhappy," he said taking a seat next to her. "I hurt your feels and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like you don't matter."

"I'm not mad at you," Selina sighed, her voice somewhat hoarse from crying. "I mean I was, but I... don't know."

Her voice trailed off and she stared off into the darkness. Bruce let the silence hang for a long moment.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, her shoulders sagging.

"Selina, please talk to me," he said placing her hand between his. "Something's obviously wrong."

He was right of course. Trouble was Selina didn't feel like talking. ***

"It's not like you talk to me every time something's bothering you," she said.

Bruce seemed to be considering this. He had spent quite some time thinking about this rift he had. This whole thing could've been avoided if he had just talked to Selina about what's been on his mind.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," he said taking a deep breath. "It's not that I don't want to be with you, because I do. I didn't mean to make you feel like you aren't important, or the baby is more important. I just worry about you. I worry about you a lot. And I can't help but feel that something...something bad is going to happen to you. I just didn't want to put you at risk."

Selina suddenly felt guilty about how bad she had reacted. As it turns out Bruce just needed reassurance, not excoriation.

"Bruce, nothing is going to happen to me."

"You don't know-"

"Bruce," she said softer this time, stroking his hand with her thumb. "Nothing is going to happen to me. Is that what all this has been about? Why didn't you just tell me that?"

"I didn't want to worry you or burden you with my...issues."

"Bruce, dealing with emotional baggage is kind of part of the deal."

"And that goes both ways?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Good," he said. "Now it's your turn."

"What? No. That wasn't the agreement."

"You just said-"

"I was talking about you; not me."

"Selina."

"G-d damn it," she sighed. "Fine."

She took a long breath wondering where to even begin. She had probably revealed more about the most intimate parts of her life, even the parts she'd stuffed into the smallest crevice of her psyche, with Bruce than any other person. Still she was not sure how he'd understand the emotional and psychological roller coaster she'd been on for the last few days.

"I've just been thinking that maybe I'm not cut out for this after all. I know that I said I could before, but now- now it's becoming real and I can't run away from it. I-I don't know what I'm doing, and it's not like I had any kind of example to look up to. I don't remember anything about my mother except for..."

She sighed.

"Selina," Bruce said gently. "Your mother was unwell, and you aren't her. You already love her. If you didn't you wouldn't be worried about raising her."

"What if I'm too selfish to raise a child?"

"You aren't."

"I don't even want to give up sex."

"You don't have to and I'm sorry that I made you feel like you did. We can still be whatever we what to be. Maybe not all the time, but we'll find a way to make it work. Together," he said.

Bruce wrapped his arms around Selina's shoulders as she rested her head against his shoulder, taking in his scent.

"You're so good to me," she whispered.

Bruce kissed the top of her head.

"C'mon," he said after a few minutes, standing up.

He took Selina by the hand and lead her to the unmade bed in the guestroom. His lips made their way to her neck and collarbone as he gently laid her across the bed.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Selina said sounding breathless.

"I want to," he said sitting up to take off his shirt and kissed her again on his way down. "Besides you need this."

References:

(1) Batman: The Telltale Series 1x4

(2) Batman (v3) #28

(3) Catwoman (v3) #83

I'm having a fun writing this fic, but I'm always worried that I'm not getting the characters just right. If I'm doing something wrong, I'd like to know for future reference, so please let me know what you think. What works well and what needs work. The less I doubt myself, the more inspired I feel to keep going.