I Bet On Losing Dogs

A Deal With God

an: can u believe we're at 80? that's wild. thanks for reading. ♥♥ might change this song chapter because of stranger things lmao. 

Being back in the Tower still grates your nerves. Your restless nights continue as you spend them staring up at the cloudy Gotham sky and with your eyes closed, but sleep never visits you. So much for a blushing bride; you start to see darker circles appear under your eyes in the mornings. This place is a vampire and the week creeps on. Jacques is not here, but Dunham does his best to ensure you get the nutritious meals you need. You still do not ask if he feels a certain way about Jacques coming back, though you begin to wonder if he declined the invitation. Sabrina still comes every day even though you don't leave.

The news of your engagement has, of course, rocked the world. Your phone can't be another place to escape even after turning off any notification on social media. People you haven't spoken to in years, no decades, come to speak on your character and happiness. You wonder what gives them the right to talk about you to people who would listen when you see some girl you think was mean to you in high school talk about how you two were close and how she wishes you and Bruce the best. That's not even including the many requests from publications asking for a comment on your marriage outside of the official one from Bruce's page that is jointly posted on yours. You two are happy and excited for the future and wish for privacy in this intimate time.

Sometimes when you need something to numb your mind, you look into the theories that netizens have come up with for your sudden engagement. Most people have settled on pregnancy news to come. Somehow that infuriates you, the way some people zoomed in on the engagement photos and the pictures at the Memorial and your stomach, commenting on how in some angles, it 'protrudes' just out enough like in early pregnancy. Within that theory, people quickly say that it's the reason Bruce has been so public lately, so that it wouldn't be a shock. Others claim that the publicity is because you were looking for fame and were blackmailing him.

You look down at your stomach, bloated, and curse at it for the different angles that cause this theory. Sabrina notices you brooding and staring at it once, commenting, "Even if there weren't any pictures they could zoom in on, they'd go with that anyway. That's always what people think first." She then puts your social media sleuthing on hold for the day, suggesting you go for a walk in the garden.

The garden is half open as it's getting a winter update. Dory is in charge and wants to make it a winter wonderland. They have the lights already set, even though November has just begun. You need to see her more to tell her she can handle it. The cooler air sometimes stings your lungs as you match Sabrina's brisk walks as she means you about her daughter's studies. Though you're annoyed to be outside, you're grateful she is still here. She hasn't mentioned quitting again.

When Sabrina goes home at night, you get back to your theories. It's fascinating to you how much people can run with the news. Outside the pregnancy camps, you see they can overlap with your other 'favorite:' blackmail. You wonder what they think you're blackmailing Bruce for and with. They somehow try to link you to Falcone as your father went to grade school with him. Grade school. They were not close, but for them, it was enough. You doubt your father spoke to him past age 10. But they have pages of these thoughts, but not as long as the pregnancy ones. You wonder if Bruce is aware, but you know he wouldn't care.

Then, a sneaky notification pops up as you open your phone to ask if he'll be home tonight. It's a text from Miguel, your last ex. "Congrats on getting engaged. I guess I just needed billions of dollars to get you to settle down. Hole in the condom to keep it secure." You're surprised by the vitriol as your brow furrows. If you were blessed with super strength, you would have squeezed your phone into pieces. But instead, you go to your now verified accounts and angrily type, "I wish people would stop jumping to conclusions about things they do not know about. I am over the moon with my engagement, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with my love." You know, if Sabrina were here, she would have stopped you. So would everyone, but you put your phone against your chest as you try to calm your breathing.