Catgirl: Young Justice BOOK 2 (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER 42

|Gotham City

|December 19 2013, 19:11

Nightwing returned with food as he'd promised, serving it at the table Katherine hadn't moved from. She continued to pick at her compression garments, her claws damaging the thick sleeves she had to wear over her burns. It was something she seemed to have done a lot; the thick material was covered in little holes from it.

"You know Leslie won't be happy with you if you break that." He said, now only half paying attention to her picking.

Now his gaze eyes were on her's

Her narrowed his slightly, trying to figure her out. He wished he could read her emotions like she could read his.

Katherine let out a small sigh, leaving the sleeve alone to see what Nightwing had brought back with him.

At least she seemed to want to eat.

"We got pizza, burgers, fries, chicken wings-"

"Yeah." She looked at all the food uncomfortably, "Anything you didn't get?"

Ok, maybe she wasn't too keen on food.

Still, Nightwing dug in.

Katherine watched him eat for a moment before getting up and going over to the sink for some water. "So, you never told me why you came here." She said, watching the glass fill up.

"I did." He took another slice of pizza, "Wanted to make sure you were ok after you...well, you know.."

Maybe she did know, but wanted to keep pretending.

"No.." She watched as her glass started overfill with water, "I already told you, I'm fine."

She'd coughed up blood.

It wasn't ok.

She knew that now, but didn't want to- couldn't accept it.

"Right." Nightwing stared down at his food, "Well, you may be fine now, but we both know it wont last."

She couldn't deny that.

"What does it matter?" She turned off the kitchen tap, keeping her back to him, "There's nothing anyone can do to stop it. I'm old, so what? It's not that big of a deal. I'll be gone 48 hours then come back, better than ever. No scars, no sickness, no weakness."

"Right..but before that." Nightwing dared to ask, "What happens before you come back?"

Katherine took a sip of her water, hoping that would give her enough time to come up with a lie.

The truth was she had no idea what was going to happen to her before she died.

She'd never lived long enough to find out.

"Look." Nightwing told her, "It may just be 48 hours you're gone, but before that it could be months. You said the life Z returned to you gave you a few years. I did the math, and it's coming up to a few years. You're sick now, but it could be months before it's your time. You need to have some sort of plan- retirement."

"Hah.." Katherine pulled the glass away from her lips, "Me, a retired old lady. Funny."

"I'm not joking." Nightwing gave a stern look, "Really, Katherine, you need to think about it. Not even you can escape this one; there is no way out or around this. You need a plan."

She sighed, putting her glass down on the counter, "I'll retire when I retire, but that isn't right now, not while I can still fight."

"You don't need to fight anymore though." Nightwing frowned at her, "You shouldn't be fighting at all, in your condition." He looked at the compression garments she was wearing, "You're supposed to be retired right now, waiting until your next life. Leslie-"