𝙇𝘼 𝙁𝙀𝙇𝙄𝙉𝘼、young justice

[002]

"Thanks hun, but I don't need help," at this point Selina had moved from her permanently creviced spot on the couch and marched to the kitchen. She was wearing a white shirt and a pair of underwear. Rio threw a pair of pajama pants at her, which she threw back. "Thank you for coming back, sorry I didn't mention my release. I'm guessing word on the street is that I got out," she poured a glass of something, Rio did not bother questioning.

Rio leaned onto the couch, shoving her hands back into the pockets of her jacket, "ye. Dad mentioned it the other day, thought I'd stop by."

That was a lie. She showed up a week ago and saw Selina through the window. But something in her knew it wasn't the Selina she remembered. So she left, afraid to encounter what she didn't know.

"Well this is partially your place. I can only assume you're the one who had fed the cats while I was gone. Oh and how's the crew doing? You think I could get a discount from him before they ship some shit off?" She took a long swig of her drink. Rio looked at her for a good moment, noticing that, besides her demeanor, her eyes still held the sharpness of the woman behind the mask. And her movements reflected the swift, and sexy, Catwoman. No matter what happened, she was still the feline. She was just lacking in being Selina.

"I'll mention it. Just stop by," Rio stared at her feet. She hated this. She had so many questions. But that wasn't how things were anymore. No one comes back from Arkham normal. Rio knew that. But part of her yearned to see the Selina she once knew. The Selina she idolized. The Selina that braided her hair on Monday mornings after a heist. The Selina who saved her.

Rio called her father, "Papi, eh.."

The call dragged on for a few minutes as Rio leaned against the bathroom wall. The wall was covered in some cheap mint wallpaper that gave the bathroom an ill-retching look. She tapped at the chipped tile flooring.

"I need to get this replaced before I have another one of my heels get stuck into this shit," Selina brushed mascara along her eyelashes as Rio begrudgingly sat on the toilet, putting on pantyhose.

"I know he is your boyfriend, but do we have to go?" She groaned, sliding the sheer fabric over her legs. She was sixteen, she wasn't used to fancy stuff like this.

"Correction, boytoy. Yes, of course we do. And his son is, like, your age. Besides he doesn't know I am showing up, it'll be a fun little surprise."

This fun little memory is part of what wounded the famous Catwoman into Arkham. Rio wished she had just stayed home that night. Instead, she now has a scar from a bullet wound on her right leg. And a grown woman to take care of.

She walked out of the bathroom, "I'll be moving back here, my dad has business."

"Oh yay, we can have girl time like we used to," Selina criss-crossed her legs on the couch, her glass refilled.

"First, you're throwing away all that shit. Then, we are going out."

Screaming was typical from this apartment building, no one was going to bat an eye as two women cursed at each other and spat out Spanish slurs from the fifth floor of an apartment in Gotham City. No one was even going to care. Glass broke, cats scrammed, and objects flew through the air. It was only about twelve o'clock when Rio sat outside the bathtub scrubbing Selina's hair. The woman stared at her reflection in the faucet.

"Never let yourself get this bad," she mumbled to Rio, not making eye contact with her.

"I'll make that promise to you, if you can make it to me," water ran through Rio's hands and Selina's hair.

"I don't know if I can, hun."

"Then I don't know if I can either."

Selina was not the type of woman to cry. But a single tear ran down her face as she watched Rio pull a towel from a rack. Warmth embraced Selina as she watched the young woman, much younger than herself, taking care of her as if she had held her in her own womb.