Epilogue

Little Beating Heart

The south of Asia was her home. Although she was not born here, she had no memories of elsewhere. Everything she knew began in the mountains, in the snow or the rain, in the green or the cascading rocks. Everything she'd become had started within great walls and vast grounds that had stood for centuries. But the true beginning, the past she knew to be what had truly started it all, had taken shape in a foreign American city called Gotham. It was a land she didn't know, a country she didn't remember. A first home that had not engrained itself in her heart, as Asia had. She loved her country. She loved her home and those in it.

And, she thought almost forlornly, it was time to leave it for a little while.

The field was vast and green, sprinkled with wildflowers here and there that dazzled the eye and charmed her. The great mountains she was so accustomed to surrounded them, concealed them. Protected them, and very much a sight her eyes would have to adjust to when they no longer became so prominent. The field was not far away from home, their grand mansion tucked into those striking mountains, and close enough to make it special. This day. She had fallen for this spot fenced by mountains and dusted with flowers in the green. The air was cool here, not hot or freezing cold, the latter of which they were used to so high above the world. And above them, like a gift to her, the sky was not gloomy, but only on the brink of rain, the scattered clouds in the sky a tad angry but still making way for some patches of blue. The scent was floral, the smell of grass and cliff travelling on in the breeze that would ruffle the skirt at her ankles and the bouncy ends of her brown hair along her shoulders. A young woman she was, tall and lithe, willowy in appearance with full pink lips and long limbs. She bent down into the grass of the field, studied a lone blue flower that looked out of place for this part of the earth. A flower that could be used very dangerously, she knew.

The blue flower may have been meant to cause harm a long time ago, and was once an offering to her people's leader. But she knew firsthand that some things were not meant to heed their original calling.

She knew this blue flower, she thought, wrapping her arms around her knees. Knew it because it lived the same life she had. Not meant to cause harm or join the others of her kind. Instead, she'd found a field and bloomed for a different purpose.

Emmeline Cross was very much like this blue flower.

She had chosen this field in her home country, had slipped a simple dress the color of champagne over her head. She had fluffed her shoulder length brown hair and had walked through the grass with purpose just moments before. Encircled with mountains and field and flowers. Joined further by the League of Shadows for ceremony. This day, she thought again with a contented sigh. A perfect setting for finding a prince and dancing with him like in her old storybooks. A child's dream left unforgotten.

Emmeline had found that prince. And on this day, at twenty years of age, she'd married him.

She stood, leaving the blue flower to live its life, and glanced around.

In the distance, surrounded by his brothers who were only those of the League, was the man who was now her husband. His skin was olive toned and his hair dark and thick, his brows matching the hair on his head. He equaled her in height, as Emmeline had grown tall, and beneath the ceremony dress black of the League of Shadows was lean muscle of a young man her same age. He had hopes of joining the League a couple of years back, had made the climb up the mountain and passed the initiations. He had travelled from Greece to train under the Demon Head, to serve him for a greater purpose. In the end, he'd fallen for the Demon Head's daughter. It had been a struggle. It had been, in so many terms, a fight for her heart and her hand.

The man named Nikolaos had won both from Emmeline Cross.

She waved at him through the field, her wedding ring shining in the sporadic spurts of sunlight. His dark eyes gleamed, his young grin lifting higher as he watched her in the flowers. Many members of the League still mingled about, glad to be out of the mansion for the ceremony and away from duty that would take them away from relaxation. Emmeline looked away from her husband, smiled brightly when she caught sight of a woman nearby speaking to Barsad. They made up half of her family.

Her mother Dominique was still the loveliest woman she'd ever seen in her life. In age, her mother was no longer in her prime, but her best girl had a talent for appearing as nothing but. Her body was still magnificent, her hair still wavy and retaining its shining auburn vibrancy, much like the blue of her eyes. There may had been a few lines etched into her eyes and she may go into a panic when she would find strands of gray on her head she would quickly cover up, but Dominique Cross was still a mermaid. Would always be to Emmeline. Catching sight of her husband again, she knew it would be time to depart soon. She began to approach her mother, lifting her champagne skirt as she trotted over the field.

Dom, dressed in flowing tendrils of casual red, watched her daughter make her way over to her. Some mother's, she could only assume, would probably cry their eyes out when their only child got married off. Probably even more so when the future son in-law happened to be a member of the League of Shadows, although Nikolaos was given a pardon from continuing his work with the assassins, as was his wish since meeting her daughter. But Dominique had only rejoiced when Emmeline had fallen in love. She'd laughed and jumped with her, danced with her when her daughter had been given a ring, and had been all too happy to help plan this very small event meant only for the League. Restrictions like love had once been a burden to Dominique. It had taken her too long to find her own and to be okay with it. For her daughter, knowing it was the real thing for her baby, love was something Dom couldn't be sad about.

One corner of her wide mouth lifted high. "Look how pretty she is. Isn't my kid pretty, Barsad?"

Barsad, older now too but still somehow the same with his no-nonsense stare and snippy wit, lifted a brow. "I still see her in nappies."

Dom made a face. "What's a nappy? Jeez, how old are you? You talk like you're a hundred."

"We will be approaching that age one day."

She scoffed. "Speak for yourself. I'm only thirty-nine."

"I feel as though you have turned thirty-nine since your child was in those nappies."

"Just tell me how pretty my girl is. It's her wedding day. A girl needs to know she's pretty."

Barsad studied Emmeline Cross, such a young woman already tied down. But by the look of her, the bright glow to her face, it was what she wanted. She was never meant to become the Demon Head, he thought, and felt better for it. This young woman was not meant for their world in such a way, although she had stayed to grow and learn. She'd once been the heir, but after a wise ruling by their leader, she was given relief, and freedom, from such a title.

"She is as beautiful as her mother," he muttered, although it killed him to say it.

Dom cast him a glance, one he despised. A playful look that told him she would use these words against him in the future. Dom and Barsad's relationship had been an abnormal one, since the very first day they'd met. Friendly love and hate swirled between them always, and it contented them so. Unbreakable for years, and something that had confused Dominque's family to no end. The others may not have understood their dynamics, but the two could hardly care.

"What would I do without you?" Dom grabbed Barsad's face because she knew he would hate it, and kissed him firmly on the cheek. A loud, smacking kiss. "You're a big sap, Mr. Right Hand. But I promise not to spread rumors."

He huffed and pushed her away, cleared his throat and his regained composure when Emmeline walked up to them. She was still the Demon Head's daughter, and would be given respect because of her blood. "Congratulations to you, little heir."

The title was no longer hers, but Emmeline knew some habits were hard to break. She gave Barsad a smile. Her family's brother.

Barsad, feeling like he should give the two their time together, set a passing hand on Dominique's shoulder. He walked off, ready to see to work that had to be done. His title as right hand hardly came with the act of mingling.

Emmeline's eyes turned to Dom. "Mama," she breathed, leaning into Dom's open hands and sighing against the feel of her cheeks being rubbed. Her voice, somehow still that of a child's in Dom's ear, was smooth and feminine.

Dom brought Emmeline's face closer to hers, seeing as her daughter was a tad taller, and set their foreheads together. "I know you have to leave soon. I know Niko is waiting for you so you can go see the world. You look so pretty, junior."

"I could never measure up to you."

Dom's nose crinkled in amusement. "Sweet girl. My heart melts at the sight of your face. You look just like your father, but a much lovelier version."

The tranquil smile on Emmeline's face turned a little sad then. A wistful look, Dom saw, as she grazed her thumb over her daughter's cheek tenderly.

"I know this day is hard," Dom murmured to her, rubbing her brown hair back and patting her softly on the cheek. When it concerned this touchy subject, Dom had had to carry Emmeline along during the preparations for her wedding, and her leaving. "Even with all your happiness, it's hard. I know a part of you feels bad, but don't. He wouldn't want you to be sad. Honestly."

"But I don't want him to—"

"Stop." Dom placed a hand over her daughter's mouth, saw the smile gleam in her eyes. She'd always had a knack for making her kid laugh during times when she would be reserved or uncertain. Dom's ability had come in handy over the years as her girl became a woman, when those years had brought about strange moods from her daughter concerning her past, or more likely, her parent's past. But they'd conquered it together. All of them. "This is what happens. This is the way. Maybe he tried to prolong it, but don't let him fool you. He knows your heart, better than anyone. Since you were a little baby. He knows, on some level, that you're happy. And it's all he's wanted."

Emmeline stared at her mother, her best girl. She held such respect for her, after the life she'd lived, the decisions she'd made, the hard truths she'd had to overcome. This woman, the woman who'd carried her, had made it possible for her to be who she was today. The one who'd helped her through trying times when Emmeline had felt a little lost. "I love you, Mama. I'll miss you."

And with those sweet words, Dom felt the first sting of tears in her eyes, the first clench in her throat that could very well release a sob. But she held it back, with all her strength, all her might. Every ounce was used not to grab her and never let her go. But she would allow her daughter to fly, as Dom once had. To see the world, and become. "You'll be back," she said casually, and hoped to God her words were true. "Spend a while with your handsome Grecian man, build whatever life you need to build. This is the way," she reminded her, taking in all the details of her girl, all the ways she looked just like her father. It was comforting. "I love you, junior. You're the best thing I ever did."

The two women wrapped their arms around each other, held on tight as the light grew a little dimmer from a shadow. Emmeline's heart was already clenching as she said her goodbyes. But one in particular would be the hardest. She kissed her mother's cheeks, felt the looming presence of the next goodbye waiting for her. Another had come - very reluctantly - to send her off. She turned to the next body, looked up, and smiled beautifully.

The love of Emmeline's life.

"Daddy," she whispered.

Bane could only stare at her in silence.

He was frowning. She could tell, even with the mask covering his face. He was sad. She could tell, even with all the armor, the heavy coat, and imposing presence of him. Emmeline had tried to help him along her season of falling in love, tried to prepare him for her impending wedding and inevitable departure from the mansion where he'd raised her. The fight she'd recalled earlier that Nikolaos had fought hardly had anything to do with her, and everything to do with her father. The entire courtship had been nothing but respectful and true on her husband's part, but to the Demon Head, his own soldier had been a snarling threat, ready to snatch his baby away and never return with her. But there were some things that couldn't be stopped. There were some things that were meant to be, always. And Emmeline's time to flourish and seal herself to her mate had come. For a while, Bane had refused to believe it. Had outright refused.

But his foolishness had been realized, and here his only daughter was. Married now.

If Bane knew that giving her away to another man could be so painful, then he wished he could've prepared himself for it when she'd still be an infant.

Those days were long gone.

Emmeline held her smile. She had to constantly show him her happiness. She needed him to believe that her new season of life was a good thing. If he didn't feel it now, then he would eventually. "I couldn't bear it if I left you this way," she told him, lifting her hands to probe the wedding ring on her finger. "Don't be sad."

Bane remembered Dominique's words to him, words that told him this was always going to happen. Words that also told him their daughter would be heartbroken if he couldn't accept her new life. "I'm not," he muttered, the mask wheezing.

She knew it was a lie, and loved him immensely for it.

He stared at her, stared right into her eyes. The image of her in his vision had always been that of a little girl. When she'd been four, he could only see an infant, a baby who would gabble away at him as her chubby hands fused themselves to the tubing of his mask. And when she'd grown, bloomed into the woman she was now at twenty, he could only see a toddler, the four year old who'd needed his attention, who'd read to him, who'd told him she would never leave him and remain with him always. The acceptance of her womanhood, the transition of her and the new image he had to force now, had quite literally ripped a chunk of flesh out of Bane's side. She used to be so small, so innocent, so delicate because she'd been the heir to the League of Shadows and held the future of their kind in the palm of her hand. Bane had taken that burden from her a long time ago, but in its place had this been created. This… new love. This new life. This new man. But he himself had told her, told that little four year old, that only when a man took care of her the way he would, then she could finally leave.

When that day comes, Daddy, I will still live here. I will never, ever leave you.

He shouldn't have believed her.

But her smile was so bright, he saw, staring at her like she was gold because he didn't know when he would see her again. And her eyes were so happy, so full, sparking hazel because this day had meant so much to her, as did the man she now belonged to. How could he keep her from that? he asked himself. How could he refuse her dance with the prince she'd waited for for years? The answer was simple, although it pained him.

He couldn't.

Bane took comfort in the fact that right now, those bright eyes and big smile were all for him. Only him.

Emmeline lifted her arms, wrapped them around him. She snuggled into him, an action that had travelled with her into womanhood. Her smile turned sad again, but only for a moment. One small moment when she felt his own arms wrap around her waist, the mask in her short hair and the solidness of him consuming her. Her first love, she thought, this giant man. The Demon Head. Emmeline placed her ear over his heart, felt the strong and mighty beat of it. She became lost in time then, sailed back to a time when she was only a soul, a little soul wanting desperately to feel the heartbeat of the man who thought about her. Emmeline felt her feet rise above the ground as he lifted her, holding her closer.

She may have been a woman in his arms, but Bane could only feel his little one.

"My girl," he whispered into her hair. "My baby. Azizah."

She squeezed him. "Ana bahebak," she murmured fluently, words she told him often. I love you in Arabic. He set her back onto the ground. Staring up at him, she took his masked cheeks into her hands tenderly. "I love you, Daddy."

More frowning. But his girl was still happy. "Ana bahebak, little Emmeline." He ran a hand down her brown hair, swiped a thumb over her plump pink lips. "I will miss you."

She rose to her toes to peck the grate of the mask, took his hand as she stepped back. Her first love, she thought again, then looked behind her. But not her only love. Her heart galloped as she spotted Nikolaos waiting patiently for her before they would leave. Before they would begin anew. She gave her parents one last look, Dom standing nearby, quiet for once, while she said her goodbyes to her daddy. And heeding the call of her new love, she stepped away, her fingers sliding out of Bane's hand.

"Take care of each other," she told them, then trotted down the field to her husband.

Bane watched her go, then suddenly felt awkward when he noticed his hand still out like he could pull her back. His only daughter, gone. Gone just like that. He could've felt alone.

Dom came to stand next to him casually, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched with him. The loneliness eased back like a wave on the shore.

"I have lived many years," he began, his eyes leaving his daughter and landing on the man she'd married. They grew just a little dark. "And I lost count of the men I've killed a very long time ago. Never have I so desired to take one life."

Dom smirked and shook her head. "You can't strangle your new son. Sorry."

The look he cast her way said he now wanted to strangle her for uttering such a word. Son.

"Easy, big guy. Emmeline asked me, in so many words, to keep you steady. She wants you to be steady, Daddy," she said, figuring she could cry a good few tears later when Bane was out of sight. She already missed her girl terribly. "You have to keep it together for when she comes back."

And who knew when that would be? The wedding for the Demon Head's daughter had been small and very short. Emmeline had walked the field looking so beautiful that Bane had almost grabbed her and ran for the hills so that she would remain untouched by a man, and only assuming that she'd already felt such pleasures was inconceivable to him. Only witnesses were needed and vows spoken, everything else left out, and something Bane was glad for. It was quite possible that his family knew he simply would not be able to give her away ceremonially. The only additional thing needed was someone to proclaim them man and wife. Ronan Asher, League elder and in his nineties now, had graciously joined his leader's child with her chosen fellow member. The elder had approached him after the ceremony.

"You did well with your girl, Bane. I must say that I'm quite proud of you." Asher nodded to himself, sitting in a wheelchair guided by one of his sons, and certainly living his last days, although his mind was still sharp. "How children change us, yes? First she was named heir, and now only God knows what will become of the League after you."

Bane had been the one to see him off. "I remember you as being very consistent to the continuation of our legacy."

Asher had shrugged in his chair, sitting back contently and patting the hand his son had laid on his brittle shoulder. "I'm an old man, Bane. I fought to keep the League going because I believed there was nothing else. Now I just don't give a damn. Besides," he'd added before he would catch his plane back to Israel. "If you no longer care about securing the League with your blood, who am I to argue with you? You outrank me, after all."

Something even Bane couldn't argue with.

"I don't care for this feeling," Bane now told Dominique.

Dom sighed as the wind whipped at her long hair. "Me either. But we have to let her go. Hey, maybe she'll come back with a bun in her oven." When he visibly tensed and grew very uncomfortable, almost raging at the very thought, she quickly grabbed his arm to honor her daughter and keep him steady. "Calm down, I'm just teasing you. We both know from personal experience it takes much longer than that to get pregnant."

Bane looked down at her. To another's eye, Dominique Cross had grown older - albeit still attractive - a woman with an adult daughter and over fifty years under her belt, although she would never speak her true age nowadays and would ignore him stubbornly if he dared to mention it. To his eye, she was the very same woman from Gotham City. The woman who had charmed him, irritated him. The one who called out, and saved his life. The mermaid he'd known for well over twenty years.

The mother of his child, and his lover.

"We both know a lot of things now," she continued, her hand resting casually on his arm. "Our kid's gone. She's off, and probably going to make kids of her own someday. And here I am. Nothing left to do."

Her body next to his had become like another limb to him over the years. They seemed to fit into one person after so long. Looking down at her because he knew her tones of voice and directions she could take, he asked, "What are you saying?"

Dom placed a fist on her cocked hip. "I'm saying that I've been with you for over twenty years. Emmeline is gone and now I have no reason to stick around. What makes you think I'm staying in that mansion for twenty more?"

Throughout their years together, Bane had mentioned multiple times to Dominique that if she wanted him to marry her, then he would. When Emmeline had been four years old and had just survived an event with a former Gotham cop, Dominique had moved into his room and remained there. They had, for the first time in Emmeline's life, begun to raise her as a united set instead of separately. They'd become true partners, for their girl but primarily for themselves. Their relationship over the years had been an unconventional one, although all the evidence otherwise was there. Bane and Dominique shared themselves with no other, lived together, slept together. But never was either given any relational title other than lover. Each time Bane brought up the idea of her becoming his wife, she would wave it off like it was an errand she could constantly put off until the next day.

"You don't need to put a ring on my finger," she would always tell him before crawling into the bed they shared. "I'm already sleeping with you, aren't I? Come lay with me."

So, just lovers they'd remained.

But there was never any other interest for them. Partners for years and years and side by side, unconventionally. It was a word that seemed to sum them up perfectly.

Bane had never assumed that the relationship would be over as soon as their child moved on.

"Is my own body not enough for you?" he asked her with irritation.

Dom let out a little laugh. "Oh, your body has been quite the fun pastime and kept me awfully busy and svelte. But I'm sure that's not what you meant."

"Is that to be it, then? You're leaving me now?"

She looked up at him sideways, in the middle of a field surrounded by mountains with growing angry clouds above them. Their hearts were sore from their daughter's goodbyes, and now they were discussing the future of their relationship. She used to avoid crap like this. "What reason do I have, other than this pleasing body of yours, to stay here in the middle of Asian nowhere? Twenty years is a long time, Bane. We're both older now, and maybe I want to travel again instead of living with the Demon Head."

He could strangle her. He could leave her in this field, pat her on the head and simply walk off, deserting her so he wouldn't have to hear this nonsense. She would find her own way, of course, but at least it would be satisfying to see her face when he banned her from the mansion. Twenty years truly was a long time, he told himself, staring down at her neck and imaging his hands there. It had been twenty years of anger, of annoyance. Of stress from dealing with this flighty carefree woman who'd given herself to him a long time ago in a faraway American city. They were opposites, two completely different people that probably never should've worked for as long as they had, having no business being together because she was everything he wasn't, and vice versa. He could see a new life in his head now, one without that stress, that annoyance. Without Dominique Cross.

Making his decision, Bane reached to her jaw, grabbed her cheeks in one hand and forced her to look at him.

"I have spent over twenty years being angry with you," he told her, staring into her pretty blue eyes, eyes he'd woken up next to for far too long. "I no longer know a life without feeling that anger, and I don't plan on ever being deprived of it. You must stay with me."

Dom blinked, and as he held her cheeks in place, squishing them, those blue eyes smiled bright. Exactly what she wanted to hear.

"You know I love you," he then murmured softly.

But those words were ones that threw her for a loop. Her heart had been his the whole time, beating for him, pulsing for him. Crap like this she used to avoid like the plague had been the very best things about her entire life. Her man, and their daughter. Her family.

Of course she couldn't live without Bane.

"Trying to make me blush?" she asked playfully.

Bane released her jaw and sighed. But still he leaned down to her when she pulled him close to kiss his face.

"Let's go home," she said, taking his arm again and pulling him to the edges of the field where their vehicle back to the mansion waited for them. This time, they would leave without their girl. Somehow now… it was okay. "You can get me outta this dress."

A home without Emmeline was still their home. Two partners with nothing left to partner on were still partners nonetheless. Bane placed his hand on the back of Dominique's neck underneath her hair, resting it there as they walked just to stay connected to her. Twenty years was a long time.

Of course she would be there for twenty more.

It is a happy day and it is a sad day. It is a day I have longed for, and a day a man I love dreaded to come. It is a bittersweet day, and a day full of promise and of future. I am a married woman now. I am a wife and a daughter, and one day, I hope to be a mother.

No longer am I the heir. It was a title that was never supposed to have been mine.

It was the purpose for which I was originally created. It was the title that felt like a million pounds on my chest, crushing me, screaming at me with a bellowing voice that the League of Shadows was my destiny, and destiny was something I could not run from. Those before me had died because of their destiny. Those before me had quite simply fallen prey to their own madness before it killed them in the end. A smothering of failure that would eventually be my own because that was the way, and my very reason for breath.

But those before me did not have my daddy.

And so the title was removed, the burden relinquished, and the crushing pounds taken from my chest so that I could finally breathe and be something other than heir. I know I was always daughter first to my father and my mother, but there had been this constant weight of expectation I once tried so desperately to take on. A birthright that had been given to me before I was even conceived. But he gave me freedom. My Daddy looked at me, and was more than happy to let the League die with him, or to leave it as this asset anyone could take with his passing. The title of heir haunted me, frightened me. I was supposed to restore balance to the world.

Instead, I was given that freedom. And then I fell in love.

I was fought for by my Niko. I once told him, as daughter of the Demon Head, that he would have no choice but to pick up a sword and battle his way to my heart and hand. My daddy was a formidable opponent, and never would Niko face a tougher fight anywhere in the world than the one he would enter for me. I'd felt guilty for a while, terrible guilt for both men. My daddy was my whole world, but this man was becoming my heart. How could I leave one for the other? How could I break a heart just so that I could give my own away? A tough fight it would be.

Niko had simply replied with a sly smile, telling me men loved to fight with swords.

I will leave with him now, the man who is my husband, my bonded. I will travel the world with him, see all there is to see. And I have made a decision. I may no longer be the heir to the League of Shadows. I may no longer be a part of what my father has built, and will leave the rest to him to do as he pleases.

But I can still bring balance to the world in a way unlike that of my father. I can create balance, and I will start with its children.

There are little ones who are lost and abandoned. There are small boys and girls who live without love, without purpose. They are told they are nothing, that they are a mistake. They cry at night, wishing for someone to tell them they are important, to persuade them that they are meant to be here. That they are not accidents, and neither are they toys that can be molded like clay and played with. No child deserves to feel so lost. No child should ever feel like they are never wanted, or worse… Wanted for a destined purpose they could not choose.

There was a time when I felt that way. There was a time when I felt like nothing other than the goal to a deal. I came to realize later that I was wrong in thinking those terrible thoughts, but now I know I can be the one to lift up our children today, and teach them all I learned about purpose, and about destiny.

I was always meant to be here. I may have been paid for originally, but it was a price my daddy would pay a million times over.

Somehow, knowing that saved me from darkness.

Before I leave with my husband, I look back over the field and spot my parents. They are quite the pair, and have never ceased to amaze me with their blatant differences. But to me they are perfect. To me, one cannot be without the other. My mother, who is so beautiful and so lively, full of color and always good for a laugh. She is exhausting at times, and my family – those who consist of my father, my mother, our brother Barsad, and myself – have all taken equal turns in looking out for her. Out of all of us, she gets into the most mischief. And we love her for it. I will miss her during my travels. I will look up at the sun and hear her soothing voice in my head. I will feel the heat of the rays, and fall into her embrace. She has always been the sun to me. And like the sun, she has given me and my husband sustainable life outside of the League. Her original earnings from my father, the money she was paid to carry me, has been given to us in return. She'd kept it safe for me, and happily bestowed it to me as a wedding gift.

Next I study my father. He is the biggest man I know, the greatest, the smartest. We have been connected always. My very first memory is of him, of the mask on his face and the deep baritone of his voice. And somehow I know that I knew him before I entered the world. I loved him when he knew nothing of me, thanked him when he gave me what I so desired.

Once, a very long time ago, I wished for a heartbeat. I wished for it in a way that I would gladly accept it only so I could feel it stop in my chest. My father, the Demon Head, gave me that heartbeat. And because of that, it will constantly beat for him until it becomes silent.

I leave my parents behind. They will have each other now. My first love and my best girl.

It used to be that all I wanted was a heartbeat.

It was well worth the wait.

In the dark of the night he searched for her. It was a cold night, as it always was in the mountains, and it was hardly something he noticed anymore. But she still did, he knew. She hadn't adjusted to the temperature, had always belonged in the sun and the surf. It was only another reason why she would remain here with him. How could a woman stand the snowy cold when she was always meant for the light and the heat?

Questions, Bane mused. But at least he knew the answers now. Dominique Cross, to this day, was still very in love with him.

He'd discovered a long time ago that he needed for her to stay that way. He was a man set in his ways, after all.

Upon their return to the mansion, they'd discovered it somehow empty now that their daughter was gone. The grounds made up a vast structure and numerous veterans and initiates, but still their big and mighty home felt a little hollow from the missing presence of one girl. And that hollowness had instantly smothered them, leaving them clueless and discomfited. They'd parted ways then so that each could tend to it differently. Bane always had a million and one things to see to, a million and one men and women to keep track of and strengthen. And Dom, after a good cry into her pillow from the pain of her empty nest, had slept the day away in a lazy catnap. Now that the moon was out, or at least behind the stormy clouds, and the mansion was asleep and sound, Bane went in search of his woman.

He'd already lost one of his girls on this day. He found he desperately needed to be around the other one.

And after all their years together, he knew exactly where to find her.

The pool was heated, built upon a deck years ago and looked out at the mountains, beautifully visible during the daylight. It was meant for training, or to simulate drowning in certain circumstances, but Dominique had seemed to take it over for herself. A girl needed to swim, she'd told him, persuading him to build another pool on the other side of the mansion for his soldiers. If she was going to live in this ice land, then she would have a little slice of the ocean. In this area, and at certain times of night such as now, no one would be about. It was restricted and not one wise man or woman would be snooping around if they didn't wish to speak privately with the Demon Head. Turning the corner, he found her. Right in the water and humming a haunting tune.

The waters were lit in the night, the steam rising heavily from the surface and pinking her cheeks. Her long auburn hair was slicked back, the ends trailing in the water likes snakes slithering behind her. She sang no words as she continued humming, just the rise and fall of her husky voice she would always use to seduce him with when he would be mad at her. Dominique stood in the heated water, small waves of it lapping at the swell of her chest where a dark blue bikini top was tied behind her neck. She could still wear such clothing, as her dancer's body had been preserved.

The call of her sang in his head. And when she smiled at him, he followed her beckoning. She continued to hum.

Dom waited for him, spinning slowly in the water and watched the currents she made, breathing in the steam until her lungs were filled with it. She dipped her head back into the water playfully as he removed his clothes, tossing them onto the deck without a care before following her into the water in only dark boxer briefs. Bane kept his eyes on her as she danced in the pool, as he stood at the end with hands itching to touch her. And a mouth desiring to taste. Before he would go to her, he reached for the mask and removed that as well. She had the right idea of making this area restricted. They'd spent many an hour in this heated pool with nothing but the water on their bare skin.

His face, she thought with a sigh, drinking him in as she always did when he would be without it in her presence. Bane's face was for her, something only she was given and could take pleasure in. And it was a nice face, she told herself yet again, remaining still when he began to approach her in the middle of the water. She really, really liked this very scarred, very hurt, but very lovely face of his. Continuing with her breathy humming because she knew it would please him, Dom lifted her hand and beckoned him closer seductively. He narrowed his eyes even as his mouth twitched into a half smile.

God, he loved her.

Dom's smile went lazy as she looked right up at him when he stood in front of her, the hot water around them, but not as hot as the heat they could generate themselves. Bane tilted his head, teased her when she was all but ready for him to kiss her, but remained barely an inch away from her humming mouth. He liked keeping her on the edge. He liked flustering the mermaid, and turning her own ways against her. He was the only one who'd been able to catch the siren, and to keep her. But, of course, it could only go on for so long. Dom's hands rose from the water, ran up his chest and began to caress his bare face, sliding her fingers over his cheeks, precisely feeling the parts of him he kept hidden from the rest of the world. Over the scars, over his lips. Until finally her arms hooked themselves around his neck.

"Kiss me," she whispered.

Bane took her waist underneath the water, and kissed her waiting mouth.

God, she loved him.

Dom moaned softly in approval, Bane tasted her with the need of a thirsty man. Even after all these years she still felt good and familiar, his siren from the deep who'd waited for him to grab her, and take hold. She was older now but she looked the same, an unchanged flighty woman back in Gotham with the gorgeous face and body, that free spirit that had charmed him. Bane kissed her deeper, his hands inching up her back so that those skinny ties of her bikini could be untied. She let him remove it, allowed it to drift away on the surface. Her skin was soft and silky against his chest, her wet hair covering her back and floating in the water. He growled against her, sank into the heat, the wet, the warmth. The mermaid. The water was rising now as she began to sink into it, pulling him with her into what could've been the dark ocean around them. He knew what she wanted, knew her silent demand as she sighed against his lips.

With his mouth fused perfectly onto hers, Bane drifted down underneath the water with her.

The mountains were cold but the pool was hot. Their daughter was gone, yet neither was ever alone or left in the dark. And when they'd shaken hands over twenty years before, they couldn't have known that the deal would go on to last the rest of their lives. Beyond the black clouds above them, the sky was alive with stars.

And somewhere in space, the sun quietly slept.

The End

A/N: Follow me if you'd like for anything that could pop up in the future, and also on Tumblr for fun. As always, thank you. I couldn't do this without you.