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There’s a universe where Bruce leaves Gotham, where Selina Kyle is left alone at an airport, staring up at blinking airplane lights in the darkening night sky, as her mind screams with things she doesn’t get to say and her heart painfully pounds in her chest at the realization that the one person she thought would never leave her finally has.
And, in that universe, it’s the right choice. But there’s another universe, one where Bruce stays.
One where Selina arrives at the airport, but instead of watching Bruce fly off, she finds Bruce is still there, on the ground, with her.
“Stay,” she says, her arms sliding around him and her eyes falling shut as he brings his forehead down to rest against hers. “We’re in this together.”
“Together,” he repeats, like it’s a promise, like it’s something unbreakable, like they’re something unbreakable.
And, as long as they’re together, they just might be.
***
In this universe where Bruce stays, he and Selina grow together, evolve together, and she’s there when he first puts on the cape and cowl.
They’re both silent for a minute, and there’s a weight to the silence, like they both know that this is a turning point, that this is where everything changes. One day, this will be known as the night the legend started, and they’ll both remark that they somehow knew it.
But, for now, Selina rolls her eyes and says, “The bat ears are ridiculous, by the way.”
***
In this universe, there’s one night, up on a rooftop and under a star-filled sky, where Bruce finally goes to propose, and he finds that the black velvet ring box in his pocket is surprisingly empty.
“Looking for this?” he hears Selina say, and when he looks up, he sees something glitter on her finger and realizes that Selina’s already wearing the ring. And also his watch.
Part of him wants to ask how on Earth she did that, but there’s another question to ask her instead, a more important question that makes his heart pound and his palms sweat because everything, everything depends on her answer.
“Sorry,” Selina says, not looking the least bit contrite. “But after all these years together, you really think you can hide a diamond from me? You remember I’m Catwoman, right?”
“Is this your way of saying yes?”
“Well, there’s no way I’m giving back this diamond,” she says, and he can tell that she’s trying to sound serious, trying to sound like she’s still thinking it over, but there’s a smile that spreads across her face, one that’s so brilliant he thinks it puts the stars to shame as she says, “so yeah. That’s a yes.”
***
In this universe, there’s one night, where in the middle of a rooftop stakeout, Selina sets down her whip, crosses her arms, and says, “You want to go where, Bruce?”
“To the circus.”
Selina stares at him, unbelieving. “Not really a fan of clowns,” she says finally. “Hadn’t realized you were. A clown shot me once, you know.”
Bruce grimaces, “I know.”
“I stabbed him too,” Selina says. “Might have the urge to stab another one if you make me watch them.”
“I think you’d like The Flying Graysons,” Bruce says, ignoring the clown stabbing comment altogether.
Selina raises an eyebrow. Now she knows why Bruce is interested in the circus. She wouldn’t mind seeing the Flying Graysons in person herself, they might be the only people more agile than she is…they just happen to be in a different line of work.
“Fine,” she says, rolling her eyes and picking up her whip. “I’ll go with you to the circus. But you’re buying me popcorn.”
“Deal.”
“And cotton candy,” she adds as she spots their target and they both leap off the roof.
(They come home from the circus with popcorn and cotton candy…and a child named Dick Grayson.)
***
In this universe, criminals whisper about two figures cloaked in black who move like silent shadows. Where one goes, the other’s sure to follow. They work in tandem, the stories say, and together they’re unstoppable. They call them Batman and Catwoman, the vigilante duo of Gotham City, and they’re terrifying.
And there’s a rumor that they’ve acquired something called a Robin now.
***
In this universe, there’s a day when Selina comes into Wayne Manor’s kitchen and unceremoniously dumps a brown paper bag down on the counter in front of Bruce while he’s eating breakfast.
“Brought you a gift,” she says.
Bruce stares at the bag cautiously, because Selina’s surprise gifts usually involve sentences like, “That guy was a jerk anyway, B,” and “Don’t ask how I got this, but...” and include things like roped up thugs and black market emeralds and flash-drives with dubiously acquired information on them. Then there was that time she brought home four cats.
But when Bruce carefully opens the bag, he’s relieved to see there’s no jewels or weapons or ancient artifacts - or even a GCPD badge like that one time that led to him having an incredibly awkward conversation with Jim. Instead, there’s a suspiciously normal looking mug inside with big black letters printed on the side of it.
“‘Proud Dad,’” he says, reading the words off the side before asking, “did Dick have you get this for me?”
“Nah,” Selina says, stealing the last piece of bacon off his plate and earning a sigh from him. “I picked it out for you. As a clue.”
She waits expectantly, eyebrow raised, as she watches him mentally go over her behavior in the past week, watches as the cogs in his mind turn and turn until they finally click.
“Wait…” he looks up at her, “Does this mean..?”
“Yeah, some detective you are,” she says, smirking. “Congratulations, Batdad. What do you think of the name Helena?”