The Ties That Bind Us

CHAPTER 22: Nostalgia

WARNING: Explicit content.

———

Nightwing came out to play for the first time one night a couple days after the incident. Blake had decided to share his identity with the Commissioner, who took it upon himself to introduce the blue-masked man to the population.

"As many had suspected, the Batman who had returned a few months ago was not the original Batman. As we know, the original Batman died heroically saving this city from Bane's short lived reign of terror a year ago. Our new, mentored by Batman himself, friendly neighbor, is Nightwing. He had initially taken the dark knight form so people could be comfortable with a familiar face, and eventually realize they could trust him. We in the GCPD welcome this new hero, in hopes that one day this city can be what Batman had envisioned for it, and in that way we can honor his memory."

"How do you feel?", Selina asked, turning off the TV just after Jim Gordon's speech at the press conference was over.

"Nostalgic," Bruce answered looking absentminded, staring blankly at the darkened screen.

"Bruce," she muttered, scooching closer to him on the couch, "you don't have to do this. I know what Alfred thinks, but I'll support you and be on your side no matter what."

"No," he replied, finally snapping out of it and looking at her, "nostalgia is good. Means I had something good there for a while, something that'll be missed. But I have something even better right here now, something I wouldn't trade for the world. I have a whole future with you," he stroked her cheek shortly, "Nightwing can look after Gotham... I only want to look after you. By the way—what kind of name is that?", he asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Yeah, I don't know. But no offense, what kind of name is Batman anyway?", she said jokingly.

He chuckled softly and rested his hand on her leg, looking deep in thought.

They were sitting in the office couch near the fireplace to fight the cold. Winter had arrived in Gotham and the first snow shower had hit the night before, coincidentally the day Bruce was leaving the hospital. They sat there quietly under the blankets and remained silent for a while, just distractedly observing the flames.

"I don't know if this is the best time to bring this up... but something Pamela said back at Holly's apartment that other day was stuck in my head for days," Bruce started talking, looking slightly nervous, as Selina waited patiently, but curiously. "Okay, now that you're here and I'm saying it, I suddenly feel like this was a horrible idea. I feel like I should just drop it."

"Are you serious?", she asked and rolled her eyes annoyed. "You can't do that, you can't start something like this and not finish it."

Bruce stared at her, unsure and unsettled. He eventually caved in and stood up, walking towards a heavy bookshelf and grabbing a thick black folder from in between books.

"Perhaps I made the wrong call by doing this without talking to you first. Please, forgive me if I've overstepped here," he said and sat down next to her again, handing her the package.

"What is this?", she asked reluctantly, analyzing the unlabeled plastic cover.

"This...", he hesitated, "is everything Alfred could find on your siblings... Pamela mentioned you were looking for them back then, and I thought maybe... I don't know."

Selina's eyes widened in surprise as her head spun. She gulped and looked down to the folder again, brushing her fingers softly through pages on the side, scared to actually open and see them. Curiosity was almost taking over her, when fear began talking louder.