Summary:Helena brings breakfast to Bruce and Selina in bed for Father's Day - they discuss business, and then learn that Bruce and Selina plan marry. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's father's day! Which means it's the last time this year that Bruce and Selina may be blessed with waffles that actually taste good. There are two kinds, even: one with bacon cooked into it, and one with bananas and chocolate chips. Thankfully, Helena learned years ago to knock before she comes into the bedroom. For everyone's safety and sanity.
Out in the hallway, she has a tray with both types of waffles, fresh maple syrup, bacon, and fresh cut fruit balanced on one arm, with a carafe of orange juice in the other hand. "Knock knock, everybody decent?" she calls in, tapping on the door.
After the Embassy party, there was patrols. Bruce didn't return home until the early morning hours. And as is the way these things go after a long patrol, it was a shower, change into pajamas, and currently in bed, snoozing quietly as his arm is reached out to where Selina usually is - until he hears the knocking at the door. There's a pause as he hears the voice at the door, and then he lifts his head.
There's a smirk as he rumbles. "It's your turn." he offers. A throwback to when Helena was an infant and needed attention at night.
Selina had a longer night than Bruce did, albeit probably a less violent one. A girl has criminal contacts to keep up, after all! Right? That's normal, right?
Right.
As such, it's the purple costume and a very tall pair of boots that's been discarded by the bed tiredly before managing to work in a shower and barely managing pajamas before she passed out in the bed. She stirs a bit, eyes opening narrowly as their daughter knocks on the door, and when prompted by Bruce, gives a groan that's nontheless accompanied by a small smile. "Hnnnnnoooooooo, I'm caught in a time loop…" She complains, taking a deep breath and putting her hand to her forehead as she swings her legs over the bed and walks to the door.
She opens it a crack and squints suspiciously, unable to suppress a smile, "Still scratching at my door, Kitten?" She greets, before her eyes fall on the food, mouthing a silent 'Ooooo…' as she backs up, dragging the door open and holding it open for Helena, and giving Bruce a bit of a look, "Guess what day it is~"
"I had a terrible nightmare. My parents snuck out at night to fight crime. There was a scary clown," Helena deadpans to her mother before the smile tugging at the corners of her lips breaks out. Once the door opens, she sidles her way inside, setting the tray down on the dresser before she heads for the drapes.
"Brace yourselves, there's sunlight outside," she teases, cracking them open but leaving the sheers in place to at least diffuse the light. "Happy Fathers Day!"
"Clowns, and plants, and puppets and penguins, and somewhere in there, a cat." Bruce says as he starts to stir awake. "Then that cat showed up and had a kitten. Just terrible. She just hangs around the house." As Helena heads for the drapes, the oldest Wayne gives a smirk. "You should have seen her last night, Selina. She was brilliant as you were the first time we made an appearance." Reaching for his phone, he unlocks it to show Selina a picture of Helena in her dress. ( https://lnk2.biz/2wXY9Tq )
He then swipes it over for a picture of himself. ( https://tinyurl.com/yyugu6qs ) Once the curtains come over, he moves to sit up fully in the bed and straighten up, pulling back the covers so that Selina can come back, and leaving room for Helena if she wants to take a seat. "I had to leave early - but it gave more of the spotlight to the one that deserved it."
"In my defense…" Selina says, clearing the way for Helena, "… when I lounge around the house, it's a *spectacle*." She's not wrong. Also: Gag. She crosses her arms as Bruce speaks about Helena and smiles softly, "Wish I could have been there." She notes softly, then peers curiously at the phone, "Oh?" she says curiously, drawing closer until she can see it clearly, and clasping her hands together and grinning, "Ohhhh my gosh, look at you!" she says of Helena.
It's an odd feeling really. Proud and a little sad; not unlike when Blackbird made her first appearance, but a bit more human and a bit less crazy. "My girl…" She hangs her head and slumps into bed, "Aaaaaahhhh, I can't get all weepy this early. Helena, stop being gorgeous!" She complains good naturedly.
"I would, Mom, but my parents are ridiculously hot, so. Can't be helped." Helena grins, reclaiming the tray from the dresser and coming over to set it on Bruce's lap. "I brought you two kinds of waffles. These ones have bacon, and these ones have bananas and chocolate chips. Sweet or salty, whichever you're feeling. And the party was great," she adds, looking between her parents as she steals a pillow to prop herself up against the headboard.
No boundaries. Wherever would she get that?
"I got to meet Reed Richards, and talk to him about his latest paper. And he said that if I brought him my resume, he might have some projects her could use an assistant on. Isn't that awesome?"
"That's amazing, Helena." Bruce is proud and excited for his daughter, but she was younger when the registration stuff went around. Bruce and Reed didn't exactly see eye to eye on the whole thing. Reaching over to take Selina's hand, he brings it over. "You're going to have to help me eat these." he points out to her.
His thumb brushes over her fingers before Helena settles between them. "I may have something to work on. But it'd have to be not as Helena." he says finally. "And not until I know for sure. I was at the Japanese embassy the other night, and there was a resonance weapon attack. The power source for that attack was vibranium. Or a very close approximation of vibranium to the near molecular level. The new Ambassador stands beside the official party line that Wakanada knows nothing about vibranium." He frowns at that.
"So I don't know if we will have an ally in this or not."
Who does she get that from, indeed? Couldn't be the lady who may honestly be a reincarnated cat. In fairness, Selina's learned to play nicer with other people. When she has to! Or when the relationship she cares about hinges on it.
She takes a short, animated little breath of excitement and holds her hands together briefly as the food is presented, and smiles, speaking without looking away from it, "This is gorgeous, Kitten, thank you." before Bruce takes her hand, prompting a smirk, "Oh, this is for you? Shoot." She grins, "Sure, I'll help."
"Mmph!" She makes an excited noise around the first bite of food, and taps her collarbone a few times before she swallows fast enough to respond about Reed, "That's great news. Boosts your reputation, lives your dream, and bugs your dad a little~" She says cheerfully, giving Bruce a playful nudge. Thank god all those Reed Richards lectures Helena got her to bring her too might be worth it! Science isn't Catwoman's strong suit. Her use of the scientific method more or less ended when she finally mastered breaking and entering.
But now it's time to talk shop, and Selina nods slowly, mulling over the news over another bite of food - GOD the chips! - and sighs softly. "Hard to buy the party line when no one gets to look at the country, yeah."
"They're definitely keeping something on lock," Helena shrugs, leaning forward long enough to steal a piece of bacon for herself. No shame, either. "But the princess seemed happy to see Kate and I there, for what it's worth. I asked about those bracelets they were all wearing, if there was a cultural significance, but it sort of fell into a black hole. Maybe it's rude to ask, but…" She trails off. Coincidence is not something the Waynes really buy into.
"I can look into it though. One way or the other. Probably better as Blackbird," she agrees. "Feeling like I might be getting a little close to things on my own, so it's probably time to take a step back and let things cool off."
"Indeed. Too many irons in the fire, you stretch yourself thin, and then you find yourself in trouble." Bruce responds. He remembers that from his early days - when it was Batman. No Robin. No Catwoman. Just him. As the other two start to talk business, he can't help it. There's a chuckle. "I think I've rubbed off on you as much as you have on me, Selina." There's amusment in his smile, before he clears his throat.
"So, there's one other thing you should know, Helena." he offers finally, taking a bite of the food, and closing his eyes to savor it. Crusty, just like he likes them. After chewing and swallowing, he looks towards the other two and considers. "You know we're helping Steve and Bucky with their reception.. and it got me to thinking…" he glances over to Selina, as if asking her silent permission. Does he actually look a little /nervous/?
Selina thinks of like twelve responses to that, and says NONE of them in front of their daughter,, opting instead for "Well, we *are* influencers~" as she smiles wryly. The next subject gets her to straighten up a bit, feeling oddly and uncharacteristically nervous for a moment before she nods softly and puts an arm around Bruce's arm and her free hand on his shoulder, leaning into him a bit. The idea's still alien and strange to her, but… it's not like Bruce and Selina themselves are going to be changing all that much.
"And it got you thinking…?" Helena quirks a brow between her parents. "I'm not going to Kate's finishing school and taking the prenup classes, just for the record." She takes another bite of her bacon, still eyeing them both. "You're being weird. Why are you being weird? Are you going to send me to Bucky and Steve boot camp for the summer or something?"
"It's not really weird. It's just going to be a change. As you know, you come with me to most of the formal functions, because you're the next in line for the family." Bruce explains to Helena as he feels Selina's gentle press to him and his arm moves to press and hug her closer to him. "There's going to be someone else along with us." he explains, not exactly coming out and saying it - he's leaving a trail of crumbs for Helena to follow.
Selina's eyes are closed when she gives a wry amused smile at Helenas response - not entirely unsympathetic, either, it's weird for her too - but she's enjoying Helena's confusion given the Parent Trap-like madness she used to pull to try to make this happen. "Helena, fetch the little box out of dresser, would you? Top drawer, right at the front? Give it a look, tell me what you think." She says, green eyes opening narrowly with a look of anticipation, and disguising a bit of nerves.
Inside is, well. A ring! A gorgeous ring. With a gorgeous green stone that matches Selina's eyes. A bit of research into her parents past lives, if committed, might reveal it quickly as THE stone. The Cat's Eye that was Catwoman's first 'big' theft, and one of the few that wasn't contracted; committed soley for personal want of the prize. And which returned just as mysteriously as it was stolen as a condition of not going to jail when Batman caught her. And which, Selina likes to note, was the first time she met Batman, because she can't go more than a couple months without mentioning turning him upside down.
"Oooookay…" Helena squints a bit at her father, but when Selina directs her to the dresser, she bounces off of the bed, opening the drawer and retrieving the box to take a look inside. "Is this…?"
She turns back toward her parents, quirking a brow, then slowly grins. "Did she finally say yes?"
"I think she may have been worried that I was going to stop asking." Bruce says in more than a little amusement as he gives Selina a fond squeeze and presses a kiss to her temple. After all the schemes, after all the questions - all it really took was Bruce taking Selina back to where it all began, getting down on one knee and asking her properly.
"She said yes."
Selina grins broadly at Helena's question and purrs when Bruce kisses her, nuzzling her cheek against his shoulder and saying, fondly, "Big lug finally wore me down~"
"Yes!" Helena reaches both hands into the sky, doing a little dance in a circle. "Oh, it is on." She grins broadly, bounding back to the bed and hopping back into place to toss the ring back to her mother. "When's the wedding? What's the plan?"
Laughing merrily as Helena does a celebration dance 18 years in the making, Bruce can only shake his head at his daughter's antics. And then comes the barrage of questions. "We uh…" he glances towards Selina, and now it's his turn to blush. "You know, I didn't actually expect her to say yes this time, so I uh…" The fabled Batman does /not/ have a plan.
Selina also laughs, covering her mouth with one hand and closing her eyes happily. It's… a lovely moment. Almost worth putting it off in a way, the pressure built up to a pretty solid explosion. She catches the ring with her off hand, keeping a wistful little smile on her face as she takes it out of the box and puts the ring on her finger, admiring it happily even as she pinches Bruce's arm without changing her expression.
"No back up plan~?" She asks merrily, and grins, shaking her head slightly before settling her cheek against his shoulder again. "After Steve and Bucky's wedding, definitely. Don't want to steal any spotlight. After that?" She smiles, "After that, we figure out if we want to show the world, or keep it in the family, I think." She says, her smile taking a brief hit as she realizes, ruefully, "Ohhhh, I have to pick out a dress now, don't I? I've only been putting that off for nineteen years or so, should have covered that by now…"
"Oh, we have to pick out a dress, and I have years of options to look at," Helena grins at Selina, doing another little shuffle dance in bed. "It's going to be great. We could do a winter wedding. Plenty of time after Steve and Bucky. Black and white to play off the snow. Ride in on a sleigh, with two black horses. We can decorate everything to look like a lodge, have fires going for warmth. No red though, it's too cliche. Navy and gold with the black and white. Lumber and furs, for a nod to the beginnings of the Wayne fortune, with warm drinks and hearty food…"
It's too late, she's already on a roll.
There's more chuckling as Bruce listens to his wife to be and daughter natter at each other on plans. "I'm not exactly a wedding planner. I just figured we would go to the justice of the peace and make it official. I mean, she's been living here all of your life, Helena.." he offers, but it seems there will be no stopping this hype train that Helena has decided to set themselves on.
Though he does offer one thing. "Perhaps we can get your beau to take the official photographs for the engagement announcement in the Bugle?" he asks Helena. "I would be willing to compensate fairly." He doesn't ask for favors when he knows he can pay and it would help someone.
There's an increasingly less subtle look of delight on Selina's face as Helena's enthusiam pours all over the place, watching her excited daughter and his slightly overwhelmed fiance - no longer in name only - hash out plans for the future. For their future. In a lot of ways, she's glad she waited. As inevitable as it may have been… it feels like it would have been missing something without her Kitten there with them. Her two best-friends-that-aren't-criminals. She just… gives a warm, happy smile and says, despite the probable need to trim Helena's increasingly convoluted plan, "That sounds… perfect."
She even says it like a normal person. It's one of those rare happy occasions where she doesn't feel an ounce of Catwoman in her. Just… Selina Kyle. As much overlap as there may be there, it's a nice feeling to just be human for a minute. Happy with her family.