****************
Chapter 36 - You Say It�s Your Birthday

Bruce Wayne awoke on the morning of his thirty-eighth birthday and began the difficult process of extricating himself from between two sleeping women.

Selina had come to bed only hours before, collapsing into an exhausted slumber. She had been doing much the same for the last two weeks. He had no idea if she was still angry with him. Bruce wanted - hell, needed - things to be better between them. He wanted to apologize for their last encounter but he wasn�t sure if she was even speaking to him.

Right on schedule, Lucy appeared at their bedroom door an hour before sunrise. Wordlessly, Bruce had swept aside the sheets and waited until the little girl had snuggled into position securely between them. He knew that, like himself, Lucy never really slept until Selina was home.

The child stirred slightly and opened her eyes. Bruce felt immediately guilty. He knew she was sleeping for only three or four hours a night. Lucy spent most of the day following him or Alfred around the manor, watching the butler clean or observing silently as Bruce slogged through old case files in an effort to find a connection between the Ottisburg killings. She was a very quiet child, totally absorbed in her inner world and consumed by whatever visions haunted her. Lucy didn�t talk about her past life in the Court of Miracles, at least not with Bruce. She only really came alive around Selina.

�Are you getting up?� Lucy whispered to Bruce.

�I need to use the bathroom, Lucy,� he whispered back.

She yawned, her small pink mouth pink dotted with white baby teeth. She had lost one of her top front bicuspids and lisped slightly. �She doesn�t sleep so good if you�re not here,� Lucy mumbled, falling back into sleep. In the darkness of the bedroom, Bruce smiled softly. Thirty-eight didn�t look so bad, suddenly.

******************

Bruce sat back from the Cray monitor and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Still nothing. The forensic evidence Nightwing and Batgirl had gathered from the Ottisburg crime scenes was unrevealing. Whoever had murdered those people, they had been careful. No fibers, no DNA on the scene and Bruce wasn�t even sure how the SMILE-EX gas had been administered. The Joker usually detonated a chemical bomb in a closed area. This new player seemed to prefer some sort of topical application. He liked to touch his victims. A handshake, perhaps? Bruce theorized, his finely-trained mind going over the facts again. And again.

He came up for air hours later, unsure how many hours had passed. Time often lost its meaning in the depths of the Batcave. Alfred hadn�t been down to force a sandwich or some cold soup on him yet, which meant that less than eight hours had gone by. Bruce resisted the urge to check the time, to wonder if Selina might come down to speak with him before patrolling tonight. She couldn�t avoid him forever.

Dick pulled into the cave on his Nightbird cycle, one of the new toys he�d purchased with the trust money left to him by Pop Haley�s Circus. He hadn�t requested funds from Bruce in the four years he�d been operating in Bludhaven and Bruce had accepted it as part of the young man�s desire to strike out on his own. He had never told Dick how much he admired him for his desire to be self-sufficient.

�Is it brooding or sulking today?� Dick asked lightly, swinging his leg over the axle and getting off the bike. He removed his helmet and Bruce saw he was in his street clothes, not the Nightwing costume. Apparently it wasn�t quite time for patrol.

Bruce stood, not acknowledging Dick�s teasing question. He tapped a few keys on the computer, putting the Cray into sleep mode. The central processors still whirled, calculating statistical data for the JLA and running a sweep of the nation�s DMV and birth certificate registries for any red flags. Criminals were always finding new ways to beat the system.

�You�re early,� Bruce guessed, heading up to the manor proper. Dick grinned, trailing behind. The greatest detective in the world didn�t suspect a thing.

�I�m here to pick up Lucy,� Dick informed him. Bruce stopped short on the stairs.

�Why?�

�She�s going to catch a movie with Babs and I. Something with cute singing animals, probably.�

Bruce turned and fixed penetrating, analytical eyes on Dick, a stone-cold stare that was never challenged for long. People gave up any information he wanted when he used that look: he�d learned it from a high-level KGB interrogator in Moscow nearly fifteen years ago under rather unpleasant circumstances.

Dick, having been exposed to �The Look� since the tender age of twelve, was unmoved. He simply grinned again, his mouth wide and relaxed. Rather than admit defeat, Bruce grunted in disappointment and tried another tactic.

�Where are Selina and I going tonight? She�s too creative for The Iceberg and too sophisticated for Montana�s.�

Dick�s mouth dropped open, the smile disappearing from his face like money from a political slush fund. He started to ask his father how he knew but simply chuckled and shook his head.

�Don�t let on that you know, okay? Selina�s looking forward to surprising you.�

�I suppose the question now becomes, who told her it was my birthday?�

Dick held up his hands, making a big show of his innocence. �Smart money�s on Tim. He�s a squealer.�

Bruce turned and continued up the stairs into the study. He glanced briefly, as he always did, at the portrait of his parents, then continued down the hall into the kitchen. Lucy was there, watching intently as Alfred scrambled some eggs in a large saucepan. She held out a plate for the fluffy yellow eggs without being asked. Alfred nodded approvingly as he set the eggs on the plate and garnished them with chopped parsley.

�Good afternoon, Master Dick,� the butler said formally, handing the plate back to Lucy. She chewed the soft eggs slowly, juggling her new stuffed rhino and a fork. Mr. Pickles waited on the kitchen table.

�Hi Dick,� Lucy said, echoing Alfred�s formal tone.

�Hey, Lucy,� he smiled, picking up the child, plate, rhino and all. Bruce saw it then, a slight stiffening of her posture, a dull glazing-over of her bright brown eyes. In an instant, the change was gone. Dick hadn�t even noticed the shift. Bruce wondered if the momentary tensing was a sign that Lucy was peering into his son�s future. Had she liked what she�d seen?

Dick set the child on the counter and addressed her at eye level. He really was good with children, Bruce noted, thinking of Jim Gordon�s hope for a grandchild. Bruce tried to imagine himself as a grandfather and quickly shut down that train of thought.

�Can Stevie come to the movie, Dick?� Lucy asked him, holding up the rhino. Alfred had helped her decide on the name earlier that afternoon. He thought Stevie was an acceptable moniker for a stuffed animal and had told Lucy so, much relieved that she hadn�t insisted on Poopy or another such embarrassing name. Master Bruce had named every one of his stuffed animals after a bodily function when he was a child. Alfred was secretly glad he was not being asked to care for another young boy.

Dick nodded, wondering if Selina had told Lucy about their plans for the evening or if she had used her prognostic powers. He decided it didn�t matter. �As long as he doesn�t Bogart the popcorn, Lucy, Stevie the Rhino can do anything he likes.�

Lucy nodded gravely. Dick grinned and turned to smile at Alfred and Bruce, who were watching the little girl with equally serious expressions. Dick shrugged inwardly; he was used to being the only in the room at Wayne Manor who found anything funny.

�I hope I�m not interrupting,� Selina asked from the kitchen�s doorway, a knockout in a black Vera Wang sheath, a blood-red shawl held lightly in her hands. Her makeup was carefully applied, her body lean and firm beneath the silken material of the dress. Dick was suddenly reminded that this was Catwoman. The Feline Fatal. International jewel thief, scourge of the underworld, unrelenting thorn in Batman�s side. And he was babysitting for her.

�You look great!� Dick told her after it became clear Bruce wasn�t going to. He knew Selina would probably have to walk around naked to get any kind of reaction from his taciturn father, and even then�

Selina grinned at Dick but didn�t flush or murmur something modest. She was a woman who knew how to take a compliment.

Selina leaned casually back against the doorframe and Dick stole a glance at Bruce. His adopted father�s eyes were fixed on her and they were exchanging a long, slow, challenging gaze. Bruce quirked an eyebrow, and Dick knew it was official. The man was head over heels. The slight facial twitch was practically a declaration.

�I need a wig from the costume vault,� Selina told them.

�The blonde,� Bruce responded, his voice gruff. Selina shook her head.

�I wore it last Tuesday when we went shopping. Can�t have Bruce Wayne seen in the company of the same woman twice. Might make the secretaries jealous,� she teased. Bruce didn�t respond, but Dick�s eyes widened. If she knew about the secretaries�

�You need a necklace too,� Lucy suggested, her voice small and strange in the currents running between the three adults. �The shiny white beads.�

�The pearls?� Selina asked, perplexed. Karon and Holly had packed her jewelry from the East End apartment and she remembered seeing a strand of princess-length white pearls in one of the boxes the girls had packed for her. Pearls were far from her favorites (diamonds were her precious-gemstones of choice) but Lucy�s suggestion made sense. She knew the princess strand would look stunning over the black dress and they were headed someplace nice-

�No pearls,� Bruce said, his voice strange. Selina looked at him. Nothing about him had changed: he still stood in the center of the kitchen, a little apart from Alfred, Dick and Lucy, his arms folded across his chest, but she sensed something fundamental had shifted within him. Something about his eyes, something that made her think of the things she�d seen growing up in Crime Alley�

And then it was gone again, just a flicker of something moving deep beneath the surface. She found herself swallowing hard and nodding, silently resolving to give the necklace away without really understanding why. She came back to herself only when Bruce moved towards her. He brushed past her, saying over his shoulder, �I�m going to change.�

She looked up at Dick and Alfred, who were both staring at her. Lucy�s little face floated between them, and she too was looking at Selina searchingly. It occurred to Selina that they were all waiting for her reaction.

�Why?� she asked, her voice catching in her throat. Dick didn�t seem capable of an answer. Alfred scooped Lucy up off the counter, supporting the child on his hip. She rested her head against the butler�s chest.

Alfred looked at Dick, sighed, and spoke in a strange, sad tone very different from his accustomed sardonic delivery. �The night his parents were killed, Master Bruce asked Mrs. Wayne to wear her pearl necklace to the movies.�

His words echoed in the small, still room. Selina felt as though they had never been spoken aloud in this house.

�And the man who killed them�he might have done it for the pearls?�

Alfred stared at her and so did Lucy, her wide, dark eyes watching her uncertainly. Dick had lowered his head. Selina closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose, once, twice.

�I have six other strands,� she whispered.

*********************

Alfred pulled the Bently to a stop, rich classical elegance and taste on a street lined with Jaguars and limos. Selina arranged the red wrap on her shoulders as she prepared to step from the car, hoping Bruce�s mood would lift slightly when they got inside the hotel. Tonight was important to her: it was the first �girlfriend� thing she�d done that didn�t involve a whip or a leather costume.

Bruce got out first and helped her out of the backseat with his good arm, his expression channeling his idle playboy personae. Flashbulbs popped as Bruce Wayne revealed his newest conquest to the media. The paparazzi snapped a few dozen shots before they realized the tall, elegant woman at Bruce�s side wasn�t a movie star or European royalty. They kept snapping anyway, realizing sensibly that Selina was probably the loveliest woman to hang off the millionaire playboy�s arm in quite some time. Newsworthy or not, she was a story.

They pushed through the gauntlet of reporters to the hotel�s entrance and into the Ritz-Carlton�s lobby. Selina and Bruce paused in the midst of a mad crush of people waiting to get through the metal detectors and into the hotel�s ballroom. Everyone in the crowd was elegantly dressed in tuxedos or eveningwear, offering their clutches or empting their pockets for the security personal who busily waved metal detectors over the bodies of Gotham�s rich and famous. Selina waited patiently, keenly aware of Bruce�s presence just behind her. She could feel his eyes moving over the room, filing each detail away with methodical certainty, memorizing each face and cross-checking the information with his mental files on wanted criminals and corporate robber-barons. Apparently, his mood hadn�t lifted.

When they reached the front of the line feeding into the security trap Selina presented her small evening purse and Bruce handed over his wallet. She knew they had each concealed a costume somewhere on their person. Hers was folded carefully into her purse but it was a mystery where Batman kept his spare. Selina intended to weasel that information out of him during the course of the evening, among other things. To that end, she lifted herself on her toes, balancing easily on high heels as she placed a steadying hand on his shoulder and leaned in close to his ear, her breath fanning the hair around his temple.

�Look up, second floor, by the plastic palm tree.�

He did so, scanning the crowd in the area she�d pointed out, and straightened perceptibly. His remarkable mind had found a focus.

The man Selina pointed out was Edward Nigma, AKA the Riddler, missing from Arkham for nearly three months. With all the distraction of meeting with Jessica Bradshaw and the usual Gotham insanity, Nigma had gone unapprehended for far too long. Bruce had last heard he was in Jamaica and to see him in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton was quite a shock. He glanced at Selina, who smiled coyly.

�I called in some favors among my fellow dastardly villains. Nigma will be in the Diamond District later tonight so we can take him out now or change into our pajamas and get him then. Your choice. Happy birthday, Bruce.�

He wrapped his arm securely around her waist. Selina leaned into him and he kissed her fully, ignoring the pop of flashbulbs as tabloid photographers captured tomorrow�s cover shot. He broke the kiss reluctantly but kept hold of her hand as the security guard waved them through.

Soon they were seated in a quiet corner near a window with a spectacular view of the city. Candlelight glistened against the silverware and a red rose floated in a small glass bowl between them. Selina shrugged inwardly. Sure, it was cheesy, but they were playing a part tonight. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, out on the town. Later, they would wear Batman and Catwoman�s masks and take to the city�s rooftops. And somewhere between the bored society figures and the reckless vigilantes they would make time to be themselves. She hadn�t expected to fill that space for him, the place on the margins between his two identities. Selina had never separated Catwoman from Selina Kyle as rigidly as he had Bruce Wayne from Batman and it was a bit troubling that she was beginning to see her two identities as separate beings. The thought that soon a third person might emerge, one who wasn�t Bruce Wayne�s date or Batman�s paramour, gave her a headache. Sometimes she felt as if there were too many people standing between them.

The waiter came by to pour water into the thin crystal glasses before them. Selina examined the menu, carefully making her selections. Her French was a little rusty, but not quite as bad as her German. Thank God she hadn�t thought to drag Bruce to the Borsht Buffet on 169^th street.

�Do you like this place?� she asked him, peering over the top of her menu. Bruce murmured something, still studying the wine list. He was trying to find something that looked enough like water that he could make the switch and avoid imbibing before they went out to catch the Riddler.

�We�ve been here before, you know,� Selina told him. Bruce looked up at her, narrowing his eyes as he thought about it. The Ritz-Carlton was the city�s newest four-star hotel, built just after the No Man�s Land ended in Gotham. It had been constructed with heavy donations from Wayne Enterprises as part of a stimulus package to encourage tourism in Gotham. So far, the stimulus hadn�t worked.

�Remember?� she prompted. �Think back. Way back in our checkered past.�

Then it came to him. Falcone. Batman had encountered Catwoman for the first time on this rooftop when it was the old Gotham Arms building, topped off by the Roman�s penthouse suite. And the wedding party. The night Johnny Vitti got married. He�d first met Selina Kyle here, too.

�I heard Falcone�s townhouse was destroyed during the �quake. I had no idea Wayne Enterprises had funded a hotel to be built over the site,� she said. �Was it an attempt to pave over the past, Bruce?�

He shook his head. �You overestimate the impact of those days,� he told her softly. Selina frowned, sipping at her water.

�I don�t think we can ever escape the past. I�ve spent ten years trying, and you�ve spent a lifetime. So maybe confrontation is best. We never really talked about those days, did we? The Roman and Harvey Dent�the way I betrayed you.�

Bruce set his menu down, touching her hand. Selina looked up. �What brought this on?� he asked her gently, his thumb stroking the soft flesh of her wrist.

�Lucy, maybe. Or I might just be tired of worrying.� She sighed. �Sooner or later someone is going to show up in our lives and accuse me of some old crime. They might not have access to the same kind of information that Jessica Bradshaw had. I doubt they�ll be using the Huntress or an old Gotham cop as their agents, but someone will come for me, Bruce. And they�ll be right.�

�Gordon wouldn�t-�

�Gordon hates me,� she hissed at him. �And if he thought I was guilty of some new crime, he�d put me away. It�s his job, Bruce. It�s just that things are different now, with Lucy. I never-� she hesitated, dropping her eyes. �I never wanted a supporting cast. Between Slam, Holly, Karon, Maggie, you and Lucy I�m practically a citizen. There�s a lot at stake now.�

�Would you prefer to be alone?� he asked her, the truth hitting him like a punch to the solar plexus. He wasn�t aware when he�d made the choice to include other people in his life but he knew he�d made the decision. Selina was facing that same choice now, but it was different for her. He feared for the future of his loved ones. She worried that her past would destroy them.

Selina licked her lips. �I told Gordon that this�that this thing between us was a prison. I knew going in that I was going to come second no matter what. You would sacrifice me to the mission. You did it before,� she reminded him. They both thought of that cold morning ten years ago, the day after Valentine�s Day when she�d left him. Bruce had left her first.

�I�m no good with commitment,� Bruce said, his voice low. �If you wanted-�

�I don�t want a commitment, Bruce. We both know why that can�t happen,� she whispered. �And out of all the women you�ve ever loved - and I know there have been a few, most of them better people than me - I�m the only one who isn�t going to wait up for you at night. I�ll be out there with you. That�s what tonight was about.�

�The Riddler?�

Selina nodded. �I�m not asking Bruce Wayne for anything. I�m saying I�ll stick around for Batman.�

Bruce closed his eyes, wondering how to respond. The waiter appeared and delivered their meals. Selina began to pick at her food with her fork, still waiting for his answer. She was afraid of his response. He began to speak slowly, deliberately.

�I�m not Batman or Bruce Wayne, Selina. I�m both. A woman had to die to convince me of that,� he told her, the open, aching place in his heart hurting once again for Vesper Fairchild. Someone else he hadn�t been able to save. �I�m not sure how you fit into that equation yet. But I meant what I said to you at Leslie�s. We belong together. Twelve years ago, when we first met, I thought I wanted a partner.�

Her head came up, and she looked at him in question. He nodded.

�And now?�

Bruce decided to tell her.

�I want a wife.�

Her eyes widened and she looked around anxiously, wondering if there was a hidden camera somewhere. He had to be joking. Bruce tried to explain, unaccountably hurt at the wild fear in her eyes. He�d expected this to go more smoothly, somehow.

�Jessica Bradshaw showed me the future,� he told her. �And in it, I was alone. I had alienated everyone and everything I had ever cared about. It was like starting over again. I was back in Crime Alley watching my life collapse.�

She watched him as he struggled to say it. He had never spoken of his parents� deaths before, at least not with her. �And I can�t stand for that to happen again, Selina. I want you to be a part of my life. And Lucy.�

�I hope this isn�t a marriage proposal,� she warned, smiling a little despite herself. �I�m still legally dead, remember?�

�It�s not a proposal,� he assured her, his blue eyes twinkling. She hadn�t known they could do that. �It�s a�suggestion. A promise to consider it, someday, when I�m not so-�

�Crazy?�

Bruce smiled a little. �Unsettled,� he compromised. �And when you�re in a more secure place. We still have a lot of work to do in this city. Alfred used to tell me that you cannot work to improve humanity from the outside of it and Jessica Bradshaw tried to show me that my fate was always to be an outsider. I can�t try to atone for the past anymore, Selina, by hurting others. So if you�ll think about it-�

�Okay, stop with all the talking. It isn�t like you,� she grinned. �You�re going to wear yourself out. This was just a fancy way of saying, �Hey kid, I like your style. Let�s team up to fight the bad guys and then we can play footsie afterward�, right?�

�We�re working towards something more than that, I think,� Bruce corrected her.

Selina smiled, joy bubbling up inside. He might not have much of a sense of humor. He might be cold, calculating and deliberately cruel sometimes. But he was a hero, perhaps the best man she had ever met. And he wanted her. More importantly, she wanted him.

�Let�s dance,� she suggested.

************************

The call came in just as they were handcuffing the last of the Riddler�s gang to a handy lamppost outside the Gotham Diamond Exchange. Barbara�s voice came over the Oracom channel, cool and efficient as she directed them to Ottisburg. For the fourth time in as many weeks Selina entered the district with a cold feeling of dread settling like iron at the bottom of her stomach. Bruce shadowed her, grim and silent in Batman�s cape and cowl. He�d managed to avoid the use of his arn and Selina had been impressed as she always was with his versatility in hand-to-hand combat. She was glad she didn�t have to worry about fighting him anymore.

They reached the address Oracle had given them and watched as Batgirl emerged from the shadows near the porch. The house was quiet, a prefab construction job done cheaply and designed for a large family.

�How many?� Batman asked Cassandra. She held up six digits.

Catwoman left them on the porch as Batman and Batgirl looked for the point of entry the murderer had used. She entered silently, slipping into the house and shivering. Two bodies were slowly cooling on the white carpet in the living room. An older man, the grandfather, she guessed, and a teenage boy, were prone on the floor, their faces hardened into the grotesque grin which signaled a SMILE-Ex exposure.

She had seen death before, and what she noticed most was the expression of still finality on the faces of the dead. These people did not bear that expression. They had died in pain, slowly choking on poison gas invented by one of the worst criminals in the world. The grandfather and the teenage boy had tasted the bile of their lungs before they had died, and the last thing they had seen was the horrified grin on each other�s faces.

Selina kept moving through the house, up the stairs and into the master bedroom. A man lay on the bed, holding a toddler. The child was still and cold. She turned from the sight of the poisoned smirk on the dead baby�s face.

A light had been left on in the bathroom. The bare bulb shone out into the bedroom, illuminating the father and baby on the bed. Selina wanted to turn off that light, to sit in the dark for a while and try to contemplate the evil in the world. She entered the bathroom, her hand frozen over the light switch.

A woman lay naked in the overflowing bathtub. The water was red with her blood, which streamed from two slashes running the length of the woman�s arms. Her mouth was open, dark eyes staring coldly at the ceiling. A straight razor, its glittering blade stained crimson, had fallen out of the woman�s hand onto the floor.

Selina stumbled backwards, a small, choking cry escaping from her throat. She whirled, leaned over, and vomited onto the bedroom carpet. So much blood.

Bruce was there suddenly but she didn�t remember hearing him come up the stairs. He went into the bathroom and exited a moment later, watching her fight for control. Batgirl was right behind him. She had already seen the bathroom. Cassie touched Selina�s shoulder gently and with that, Selina broke. She sobbed uncontrollably, still seeing the woman�s pale gray body surrounded by red water.

It was clear what had happened. The SMILE-Ex gas had claimed the grandfather, the son, the husband and the baby girl. The mother had come home late, perhaps from working a double-shift at one of the gas stations or diners on the outskirts of Ottisburg. She�d found the bodies of her family. Then she�d run a bath.

Six victims. Three generations gone, and she and Bruce had been dancing (dancing!) at the Ritz-Carlton while it happened. Selina fell to her knees, dragging the Catwoman mask up and off her head. She couldn�t seem to breath. Somewhere, far away, she heard Nightwing�s voice. Dick had just arrived.

Cassandra�s touch deserted her and Selina kept her eyes focused on the carpet, watching the blue and green dots swim before her eyes. It was a long time before she could stand. When she finally did, Dick took her arm gently.

�Bruce?� she asked, her legs threatening to collapse. Dick shook his head.

�He and Batgirl went to find the person who did it,� Nightwing informed her. Selina didn�t remember anything more.

******************

Voices woke her, soft and far away. Selina sat up, trying to remember how she had gotten home and into bed. She was still wearing her Catwoman costume but the mask was gone. The leather felt cold and strange against her skin and as she got up, Selina wrapped a blanket around herself. It was still dark outside and she followed the sound of voices, pausing outside the kitchen doorway when she heard her name.

��and Selina just collapsed?�

Dick�s voice. �She must have seen worse before.�

�Her mother killed herself when Selina was eight. She found the body in the bathroom.�

Bruce.

She squared her shoulders, pushing through the swinging door and into the kitchen. Dick leaned against the counter, still in his Nightwing costume. Bruce was sitting at the table, wearing jeans and a sweater. He strictly observed the �no costumes in the house� rule. The fact that he had bothered to change could mean only one thing.

�You caught him?�

Bruce and Dick looked up. Bruce rose slowly, relieved to see that Selina wasn�t still in shock.

�No,� Dick told her. �Still nothing. The forensics-�

�Then let�s get back out there,� Selina said, dropping the blanket from her shoulders. �What happened to my mask?�

�We have no way of finding whoever did this without forensic evidence,� Bruce told her flatly, stooping to pick up the blanket. He resisted the urge to touch her and reassure himself that she was all right. She hadn�t stopped shaking for an hour after they pulled her out of the house in Ottisburg.

�We need to know what we�re looking for before we hit the streets,� Dick explained gently.

�So run your postmortems,� Selina said, turning to leave. �I�ll head back into the city. You can contact me when you�ve found something.�

Bruce caught her arm, his touch a gentle pressure through the leather costume. �You should rest.�

�I�m fine,� Selina informed him coolly. Bruce dropped his arm. �You should be running your tests.�

Bruce met her eyes directly. �There�s another option.�

She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. �And we already decided not to exercise it.�

Bruce folded his arms. �Lucy-�

�You want Lucy to focus in on the man who did that? You want a five-year-old child to see what we saw tonight? Because she will. She dreams these things, Bruce. She�ll see the whole thing. The bodies�the bathroom�� Selina shivered. �How could you even be considering this?�

�I�m trying to save some lives,� Bruce replied quietly. �You know this will continue until we can figure out who��

�Not like that,� Selina shook her head. �We don�t involve Lucy. Find another way.�

�I�m not sure I can,� he confessed softly. �The crime scenes have been clean. The victims are unconnected. The only thing we know is that, for some reason, the killer is striking in Ottisburg. And that isn�t enough to go on, Selina. I-� He stumbled, fear moving deep in his eyes. �I don�t think we can find him without Lucy�s help.�

Selina folded her arms, glancing at Dick. He seemed unwilling to weigh in on this argument. Coward, she thought savagely.

�You ask that child anything - anything - about tonight, and I swear to God, Bruce, you�ll live to regret it.�

She delivered her ultimatum in Catwoman�s low, threatening tone, a voice he hadn�t heard in more than three years. Bruce stepped back, a little shocked by her response. Surely she could see that, with Lucy�s help, the SMILE-Ex killer could be apprehended before sunrise. Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but Selina cut him off.

�I�m going back into the city. I might have a few sources there who could point us in the right direction. Keep working the forensics,� she advised, heading out into the hallway and down into the Batcave.

Dick stepped closer to Bruce. He was staring fixedly at the kitchen doorway. Bruce was tense, although Dick couldn�t tell if he was angry or worried. He touched Bruce�s shoulder and his adopted father spoke in a cold, dead voice.

�Follow her, Dick. Keep her away from the house.�

Dick froze, staring at Bruce. Dick opened his mouth to speak but the cold resolve in Bruce�s face stilled him. Dick replaced Nightwing�s mask and headed for the Cave.

He was a good soldier.