That Fateful Night

Bruce woke up to a horrible throbbing in his temples, and he groaned, the dim sunlight piercing through the blinds. He grumbled to himself as he walked into the bathroom, where he washed his face with ice-cold water and brushed his teeth.


He stared at himself in the mirror, watching the water drops drip down from the bridge of his nose, down the edges of his chin, down the ends of his stubble. 


I really should shave... 


Bruce poked his face for a few minutes, before grabbing a razor out of the cabinet and a can of shaving cream.


He stared at his dull eyes as he cut away at all the stubble, watching the way the shadows and angles seemed to pop out from his face under the bright lighting. The ladies thought it was hot, the way his face seemed to be carved from hard marble, but he himself thought it was repulsing. He didn't want to be seen as a statue, cold, feeling-less, an object for people to toy with.


He suddenly felt a sharp prick as he accidentally cut the skin of his jawline with his razor, and he watched the blood stain the blade. It wasn't very noticable, but if it continued bleeding out like that, then that'd be a problem.


Bruce gasped as his memories came flooding back into his head like the water from a broken dam.


*FLASHBACK*


It was one of Bruce's annual company meetings, and it was pretty damn early in the morning. 


Bruce had gone into the master bathroom to shower and shave and he'd barely noticed that he'd cut himself in the process, just under his sideburn. He thought nobody was awake, so he softly made his way out of the master bathroom in just a towel to find his wife, yawning, but very much awake, with her arms wrapped around her pajamas. Her hair was ruffled around her head like a halo of dark chocolate, her eyes the color of tree bark in the dim light.


"Bruce?" she yawned, rubbing her eyes. Boy, was she a light sleeper. 


"Darling, just go back to sleep." he gave her a soft smile, reaching out a hand and brushing her hair out of her eyes.


"Are you going somewhere?"


"Yes actually, I have a meeting." he kissed the top of her head and made his way over to the dresser.


"So you're going to a meeting with a shavejob that looks like one done by a twelve year old?"


"Huh?"


"Oh, come on Bruce, you gotta be more careful, you cut yourself!" she hopped out of bed. "We can't have you bleeding all over your suits, and the only bandaids left at the Manor are Dick's Paw Patrol ones."  


"It'll stop bleeding by then?" he questioned it, feeling the cut with his fingers. It wasn't a big cut, but it was those small ones that wouldn't. stop. bleeding.


"Stay right here. I know just the thing to help." she started walking out the bedroom door, stretching and yawning, but Bruce extended a hand and stopped her.


"Isla, please, don't get all worked up about this. I've had worse."


" Shut up and let me do what I want to do." she mirthlessly said, swatting his hand out the way and heading down the hall and into one of the closets. She came back with a roll of electrical tape.


"Electrical tape? What are you-"  Before Bruce could finish, she'd ripped off a piece of tape and  smacked it onto his cut, before kissing it with a smirk.


"You-," Bruce said with surprise, "just slapped tape onto a cut."


"And I kissed your boo boo better." she smiled, helping button up his white shirt. 


"And you did that." he chuckled, watching her smooth down his shirt with her small hands. Bruce dressed the rest of himself,  Isla helping out with the smallest things- smoothing out a crease there, straightening his tie, dusting off his shoulders. Finally, Bruce was ready to go. 


" Happy now? Now go back to sleep. "


"No. I'm walking you out."


"You're only in your pajamas, you'll freeze. It's cold in the Manor at night."


"I won't die," she insisted, and she struggled to keep up with his large strides as they walked down the steps and through the halls to the garage door. 


Bruce turned around and grabbed the briefcase out of his closet, before opening the door and being stopped by his wife.


"You forgot this."


She peeled the tape off of the cut, the bleeding gone. Bruce looked into a nearby mirror, shocked, as he ran his fingers over a small pink line that once wouldn't stop spouting blood. Isla smiled, watching his expression, before he turned to the door once more.


"Oh! And you forgot this!" she said. As soon as Bruce turned around, she pecked him on the lips.


Bruce went slightly red. It'd been three years, and he still wasn't used to Isla's abrupt loving ways. But he knew exactly how to react, though. He pulled her in closer for a deeper kiss, before finally, finally pulling away to get to the Wayne Tower.


"Mwah! I love you!" she blew him a kiss as he hopped into his intricate McClaren. He pretended to catch the kiss and pressed it to his lips, before giving her a wide smile.


She was waving like crazy, even though he was only to be gone a few hours, a stupidly huge grin on her face.


Oh, how he wanted to see that stupid grin again.


*FLASHBACK ENDS*


***************************************************************************


Jason didn't know what to do when his Ma died. He remembered staring at the ruins of the factory, at the mutilated, dead body that once was the reason he loved life. He could never, ever forget that night. No matter how hard he tried to forget, it just became more and more vivid.


*FLASHBACK*


Little ten-year old Jason peered out from the doorway of his room, spotting his Ma in the hallway. He immediately raced out and launched himself at her, nearly knocking the taller woman down the spiraling stairs.


"Ma! I'm sorry I was so naughty, please don't leave us, please don't go away because of me! Stay Ma!" he wailed, clinging onto his mother like a lifeline as she tried to get down the stairs.


"Oh, sweetheart," she laughed, pecking his forehead. "Ma will be back in twenty minutes, sugar bug. I just have to go down to work to pick up some files."


"Oh." Jason started to pull away, going red as a tomato, but Isla pulled her son closer, and hugged him tight.


"Dearest, just know I wouldn't give up my place here as your mother for anything. I love you, chiquito."


"I love you too, Ma." he mumbled, going redder than before, but Isla just laughed, kissing his forehead again and ruffling his hair while she went down the rest of the steps, heading to the Batcave before she went out.


Isla had walked into the Batcave and spotted Bruce, all geared up with Dick and Damian by his side, and she'd bounded over, Jason following closely behind.


She wrapped her arms around Batman, pulling his cowl off his face, before kissing him on the lips.


"Eww. Gross." Damian looked away and so did the others, blushing furiously.


"Get out there and kick some criminal butt, mi corazon." she had her infamous stupid grin on her face as Bruce stared down lovingly at his doting wife. Jason wisely stayed a good distance back from his mother, because she had been using a lot of Spanish around the house that day, and that only happened when she was feeling extra lovey-dovey. Whenever that was happening, she'd be like a bear trap that refused to let her children out of her arms for an hour straight.


"How did I ever manage to hook a lady like you? " he muttered under his breath. 


"I mean, we could hook up right after this, if you want," she seductively whispered in his ear, and Bruce's cheeks went pink, pupils dilating.


"Oh, I can't pass up on that." he winked at her. 


Isla then fawned over Dick and Damian, before heading back to Bruce and kissing him again. Suddenly, Isla pulled away and stood in front of him, and suddenly, an air of seriousness surrounded Jason's ma.


"Eh, chico." she grabbed his face as Bruce tried to look away, and made him face her. "No silly business out there, huh? If you waltz in here with a dozen holes in your body, I will freaking lose my mind.  And you two-" she glared at both the boys. "If you aren't careful out there and get hurt, I will make sure you guys end up as handicaps. That also goes for you, mi corazon."


Dick and Damian went paler than before, and promised to be extremely careful. Bruce just sent her a grin. He thought it was super hot when Isla got all fussy and overprotective.


"Alright, stay safe out there !" she called as they hopped into the Batmobile and sped off into the night.


Isla went over to Tim, kissed him on the forehead and told him that she was going out to grab stuff from her office, before ruffling his hair and grabbing her coat. 


Jason went to see her out, clinging onto his mother's leg as she tried to leave the house.


"Ma, why can't I come with you?"


"I would bring you, chiquito,but you'd get bored in a heartbeat."


"Okay, that is kinda true, but still! Can you come back quick, then?!"


"As quick as a gazelle."


With that, Jason watched the door shut on his mother, before humming a mellow tune and heading to the family room, where he put on some Guitar Hero.


/TIMESKIP /


"JASON! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" Tim screeched from the Batcave, and Jason obliged, curious to see what had caused the calm and collected Timothy Drake to yell like a banshee. 


"Master Drake, please don't forget your manners." Alfred warned, rubbing his ears as he walked up from the Batcave. "Goodness, that boy has one very efficient larynx."


Jason nodded at Alf on his way to the cave, and as soon as he got there, he spotted Tim all geared up and frantic.


"What's wrong, Timmy?"


"It's Mom, she's in trouble." Tim choked out. Jason immediately checked the clock. Ma was supposed to be back home an hour ago. How could he have been so careless to not notice? 


Jason immediately geared up before they raced out of the Manor, calling his mother with the phone Bruce had left behind.


She picked up on the third ring. "Bruce?!"


"Ma! Ma! Where are you?!" Jason put the phone on speaker.


"Oh, Jason, baby-" she was cut off by a nearby scream.


"MA! Are you okay?!" Jason felt a tear slip down from under his mask, before feeling rage echo through him. Whoever was hurting his Ma was gonna catch his fist in their stomach.


"I'll be okay, sweetheart. I love you all so much."


"Mom! Mom, where are you, Mom?" Tim choked up, trying not to lose his balance as they raced across rooftops while trying to triangulate her position.


"My boys- mi vida, I'll always be there for you-" she was cut off by a huge sound of an explosion, and the phone went dead. Tim spotted the fireball just a few blocks west from where they were, and they raced to the scene.


Oh, how much better it would've been for them all if Jason had never stopped clinging to his mother.


In the midst of all the bodies, there lay his Ma, burned beyond recognition but the diamond engagement ring on what used to be a finger giving off the hint. And as Tim burst into silent tears as they melted into the shadows, Jason found himself unable to process anything.


A minute later, regret and grief crashed down onto his young form, and Jason had to fight to hold back tears.


'No,' he thought ' I must not cry.  I must be strong for Ma.' 


But that didn't stop him from wanting to. He felt regret, that he didn't tell his mother that he loved her in her last moments. That he shied away when she fawned over him when he first tackled her down.


He felt ashamed that he'd let her down. Ashamed that he once muttered 'I love you too, Ma', as if those four words were one that caused him embarrassment. Because now, he'd give anything to scream out those four words again and have her respond.


Jason grabbed Tim and brought him back to the Manor before anybody noticed the mourning presences of two vigilantes.


/TIME SKIP, IN BRUCE POV/


He had returned back to the Manor with Damian and DIck, and had changed out of the suit, waiting to hear his wife's quiet pitter-patter footsteps as she raced to greet him.


He was only met with silence. Cold, hard silence. And Bruce went ballistic.


 "Alfred have you seen Isla anywhere?!"


"She went out to her office to grab some files, but should've been back an hour ago."


"We should go see if 'Umi is okay. She's usually never late." Damian worried, pacing back and forth. Dick nodded, and Bruce turned around to head back into the Batcave to change back into the suit when his other two sons came into the room, all changed into typical clothes. 


Tim was crying, and Jason was struggling to keep himself in check, as he choked out two heart-stopping words. "She's dead."


Bruce's heart dropped as he felt his mouth go dry. "What? Boys, this isn't funny."


Dick was in the other room, tuning into the news, when he suddenly started sobbing. 


"Dick, what is it?!" Bruce raced into the living room with the others at his heels, Damian blinking back tears. It was a nightmare unfolding. And unfortunately, Damian was unable to yell at Jason or Tim for lying, because the truth was beginning to unearth itself.


The headline nearly made Bruce's heart stop. 


U OF GOTHAM PROFESSOR'S BUILDING EXPLODES, KILLING TWELVE PROFESSORS.


ISLA WAYNE FOUND DEAD-


The knock at the door was answered by a very distraught Alfred, and it was Jim Gordon,there to corroborate what Bruce already knew- but wished he didn't.


Isla, his beautiful Isla, was dead. 


*FLASHBACK ENDS.*



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