(shorter chapter I know LoL but I felt it should be its own thing)
She spun, ready to strike—
And found herself face to face with her son.
Suguro stood by a table, wearing dark civilian clothes and a hood that partially obscured his face.
Nemuri looked back toward where the blank-faced man had been standing, but he was gone.
"I've decided something," he said, reaching into his jacket pocket. "If you want to maintain contact with me when your in Japan, if you genuinely want to try being part of my life despite everything..."
He pulled out a phone—sleek, modern, clearly expensive technology. "LexCorp makes these off the books, for the mafia and villains. They are untraceable, impossible to remotely access and can't be monitored. The Maroni family uses them as do the Falcones.
So will you."
He held it out to her, and Nemuri took it with trembling hands.
"You're giving me a way to contact you?"
"Yes," Suguro confirmed. "My number is already programmed in, don't use it for anything except contacting me, don't let anyone else access it and when you go through airport security tomorrow, use the leftmost customs lane. The Maronis have people running that checkpoint—they won't inspect the phone or ask questions."
Nemuri looked down at the phone in her hands, then back up at her son, and before she could stop herself,
she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
Suguro went completely rigid—his entire body tensing like she'd attacked him. His arms remained at his sides, not returning the embrace, not quite pushing her away but not accepting it either.
"Thank you," Nemuri whispered against his shoulder, tears she couldn't control streaming down her face. "Thank you for giving me this chance, I won't promise to never disappear again."
She felt him slowly, awkwardly, lift one hand to pat her back and then stepped out of the embrace.
"Sorry," she said, wiping her face. "I shouldn't have—"
From behind them, a figure stood up from the table behind her son, a woman Nemuri hadn't noticed before, wearing a hood and scarf that obscured most of her features. But Nemuri caught a glimpse of distinctly green-tinged skin and bright emerald eyes before the woman pulled the scarf higher.
"We should go," the woman said,
Suguro nodded. "Remember—leftmost customs lane tomorrow. The guards there know to let certain items through without scanning, and don't tell anyone about the phone or me. I'm deciding to… trust you..."
"I will," Nemuri promised, clutching the device like a lifeline. "I'll… I'll wait for you to contact me, if and when you want to..."
Suguro nodded once, then turned and began walking away, the green-skinned woman falling into step beside him and watching them disappear into the growing crowd.
Nemuri's Hotel Room - Friday Night - Midnight
For the first time all week, Nemuri slept peacefully.
Not because Gotham was quieter—she could still hear the distant sounds of sirens, sporadic gunfire, the perpetual background noise of a city in chaos.
But because she had hope now.
It wasn't forgiveness. It wasn't reconciliation. It wasn't even really a connection yet.
But it was a start.
She curled up in the hotel bed, pulling the covers around herself, and let sleep claim her—deep, and peaceful rest that she hadn't experienced since before her sons birth.