This would be the last time Adelle allowed men to leave her out of the loop. She'd heard echoes and whispers about terrorist attacks on Rossum's bases but every time she asked for more details she was politely told it was none of her business. They told her it was most likely an isolated case, a single vengeful maniac. They didn't give her a description, didn't give her pictures or a name. Heck, they didn't even tell her it was a girl.
And this was how Adelle DeWitt ends up naked, facing a wall with a gun to her neck, five days into what was supposed to be a luxurious two week vacation with no company business. A gun to her neck and cold air on her still wet skin and Caroline Farrell's voice cracking through the air between them like a lightning bolt. "Put your hands behind your back now."
She'd been holding them above her head until now, trying to look as harmless as possible with Caroline acting so unpredictable. Now she put them behind her back and a pair of handcuffs clicked around them. So Caroline was prepared for this, whatever it was. Adelle silently cursed every man in the Rossum chain of hierarchy. She could have been prepared for this too.
The gun eased off her neck, which probably meant Caroline wasn't going to shoot her for now. That was good. She allowed Caroline to pull her over to her bed and watched as Caroline pulled a laptop out of her day bag. She'd seen the laptop before—Caroline's regular—but never the militant calm on Caroline's face as she typed in her password and opened up the internet. She glanced over at Adelle.
"There are some things that I want," she said.
Well, Adelle didn't say, her business was all about helping people get what they wanted, and she'd thought she'd been helping Caroline with that for the past four days. Instead she said, "I gathered from reports that you want to see the world burn."
"That's you, lady, not me," Caroline said. "You're the ones destroying human freedom. All I want to burn is Rossum." She placed a hand on Adelle's shoulder and smiled. "It's a bit more manageable but it's still a pain in the butt. Think you can help me with that?"
Even an hour ago Adelle would have expected Caroline to follow up with an innuendo. Now she simply nodded, a bit stiffly. "Tell me what you need me to do."
/…/…/
It started five days ago—four days ago?—at a bar in the early morning hours. Adelle liked to start her vacations, rare as they were, with a bang. Still, she didn't expect much more from the night than a healthy amount of booze and maybe an older man taking her home. She was attractive enough that men didn't turn her down, and old enough that they thought she'd go for anything because she was probably desperate. During her vacation time, they were unfortunately right. So what? She planned on taking one home, having a good night and kicking him out in the morning so she could enjoy the rest of her vacation at the beach more or less alone. It was her custom.
She spent only a brief time on the dance floor, pulled onto it by a man about her age and reasonably attractive. Somehow she lost him after about half a song and found herself dancing with a younger woman, probably just barely out of college. Long brown hair and a face simultaneously model-level gorgeous and somehow relatable. For a disorienting moment Adelle imagined she was dancing with a doll before shaking herself out of it: this was the real world, and occasionally there really were stupidly gorgeous people.
The girl was moving closer and closer to her as they danced, enmeshed in a nameless, faceless crowd. She danced a lot better than Adelle did, but then she'd probably never had hip problems. Maybe it was the crowd squeezing them together or maybe it was something baser, more instinctual, but within minutes their bodies were plastered against each other, swaying, grinding…
It was not Adelle's usual experience at bars to be seduced by young women. Usually she got ridiculous propositions from stupid men, or she was the one doing the seducing. It was a taste of something different, though not unwelcome, and when the crowd manage to separate them again, she could only regret it.
She headed back to the bar, intent on ordering another bourbon, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and it was the girl, breathlessly grinning.
"Whew! What a rush," she said. "You're pretty good for a granny."
Adelle gave her a very politely crushing look.
The girl laughed and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Just kidding. Can I get you a drink?"
Really, she had to be recently out of college. Probably chained up to massive student loans. Adelle said, "How about I get you one? I'm a bit expensive."
"Well, I'll never turn down a free drink," the girl said.
She took bourbon, like Adelle. She claimed she didn't have much taste anyways, liked trying out new things. She winked.
"Well," Adelle said. "I've always prided myself on having excellent taste." Noting that the girl had finished her glass, she lifted her own glass to the girl's mouth. The girl stared at her for a moment and swallowed nervously before allowing Adelle to press the glass to her lips and pour a little bourbon in. Adelle put the glass back down in front of the girl and said, "Would you like to try out a different hotel room for the night?"
The girl blinked. Raising a finger, she said, "You are bold as fuck."
Adelle smiled drily.
"It's a good look," the girl said. "Sure. I always like trying out new beds."
/…/…/
They took a cab to Adelle's hotel, which Adelle paid for as well. The girl didn't object. They made casual conversation on the way over—the girl was indeed a recent grad, with a political science major. She wanted to change the world but (here she laughed) hadn't even found a job yet.
"The job situation is bad," Adelle said, regretting that Rossum didn't usually hire political science majors, or types who dreamed of changing the world. Though perhaps it was for the best. Everyone they got their hands on, they sucked dry sooner or later—Adelle, of course, included.
"The worst," the girl said. "What do you do? If you do anything."
"I'm a manager in a pharmaceutical company," Adelle said. It wasn't exactly a lie.
"I'm guessing you don't actually work at a pharmacy."
"No."
"You're some kind of crazy executive boss lady," the girl said. She sighed dreamily. "I'm fucking a crazy executive boss lady."
Adelle wasn't sure how to respond to that.
In her room, she offered the girl more bourbon. The girl politely accepted, but didn't drink anything out of the glass when she received it, only held it in front of herself like a prop, or maybe a barrier. Adelle wondered if she was starting to have regrets.
"I don't actually know your name," the girl said. "Isn't that weird?" She took a careful sip. "Do you want to do this nameless?"
"Not unless you do."
"Fuck that," the girl said. "My name is Caroline. Caroline Farrell." She held out a hand for Adelle to shake. As Adelle did so she asked, "I guess you haven't heard of me?"
"Should I?"
"No, I'm no one. Who are you, boss woman?"
"My name is Adelle DeWitt," Adelle said. "You may call me Adelle."
"Aw," Caroline said. "Can I call you Addie?"
"No."
Caroline laughed. "Fine. Adelle is nice." She gave Adelle a long look and set the glass down. "Wanna get started?"
/…/…/
(In retrospect, Adelle realized Caroline must have been testing her out, seeing if she knew who Caroline was, if it was a trap. Not the best way of testing a woman out, of course—if it were a trap she'd hardly have reacted at Caroline's mere name. Not if she were prepared.
But the men at Rossum had left her out of the loop and she hadn't been prepared, and somehow Caroline had known that.)
/…/…/
Caroline was good. She must have garnered some experience at college, because she definitely knew what she was doing. She knew the way to lick her way into someone's mouth, how hard to suck on someone's neck, the standard places to press and stroke and hold. She knew foreplay well, and she gave Adelle a very good time.
But Adelle was better. She was a bit rusty, sure—the "crazy executive boss lady" life didn't leave much time for recreation. But she'd had more lovers, and she'd always taken very good care of them.
"Enjoying yourself?" she asked after one particularly long kiss.
Caroline was gasping. "How the fuck do you get this good?"
"Practice." Adelle left a comparatively delicate kiss on her collarbone. "Would you like me to make you come?"
"You're so fucking polite about it," Caroline said. But she was already pushing Adelle's head down to her crotch, where her shorts were already missing. Cute little leather things—Adelle had fond memories, but she didn't miss them at all.
Adelle hadn't specified oral but she didn't complain. She let Caroline have it slowly and deliberately, taking satisfaction from every moan and every grunt she elicited from Caroline's mouth. She pulled away just before Caroline came with a full body shudder, and watched Caroline struggle for breath.
It had been a long time since she actually enjoyed giving someone oral. With Caroline, she didn't think she'd mind if the night ended right here.
"Wow," Caroline said when she was finally slightly calmer. "Wow. That was…" She took a deep breath. "Do you want me to…"
"Tonight is about what you want, Caroline," Adelle said. She sat down on the bed next to her, their thighs touching. "Tell me what you need."
Caroline hesitantly picked up Adelle's hand and pressed a kiss to it. "Thank you." She looked up. "I don't think I can do it like that."
"You learn from experience," Adelle said. "But if you don't want to do anything, you don't have to." Caroline hadn't signed any contract, hadn't been conditioned to do anything for Adelle—unlike the actives Adelle occasionally commissioned to release her tension. It was what made tonight special, and if Caroline felt pressured it would ruin everything.
She put a hand on Caroline's knee. "Tell me what you want," she said.
Caroline hesitated. "I…" She swallowed. "For tonight, I think I should go home."
Despite having told herself she was satisfied, Adelle was admittedly disappointed. She hoped her somewhat well known poker face didn't show it. "Right then. I'll call you a cab."
"Wait," Caroline said. "How long are you staying around here? If you're on vacation."
"Three weeks." It was the plan.
"Can I see you again? Sometime soon?"
"I think that could be arranged," Adelle said. She took out a piece of paper and wrote down her phone number. "Here."
"When are you free?"
"It's my vacation," Adelle said. "I'm always free." She hoped that didn't sound too desperate.
"How about tomorrow?" Caroline said. "I don't have any job interviews or anything. Nothing better to do." She smiled at the double entendre. "Someone should show you the beach."
Adelle had been to this beach plenty of times before. She took vacations here almost every year. Still, she said, "That would be lovely."
She pressed a lingering kiss to Caroline's neck before helping her back into her shirt and shorts, which was almost as fun as helping her out of them. Caroline picked up her dress to do the same but Adelle waved her off. She was going to shower.
"Well, I had fun," Caroline said, pausing at the door. "Good night, I guess."
"Good night."
/…/…/
All right, so it hadn't exactly been a relationship. It couldn't exactly be a relationship if its duration was four days, after all. But it had been a sort of an affair, Adelle had thought, and a pleasant one for them both. They'd gone to the beach the next day, and Caroline had insisted on actually paying for the ice cream. She spent the whole day with Adelle, going out to dinner at a restaurant she claimed was "way over her budget" and ended the night reciprocating Adelle's favor from the night before, and then allowing Adelle to wind her up all over again.
Adelle wouldn't exactly say she'd fallen for Caroline, but there had still been something there, and it hadn't just been sex. Of course, the sex had been nice, for her and for Caroline both. Couldn't deny that was a highlight. But she liked hearing Caroline laugh and she liked the way Caroline peppered kisses on her stomach on their third night together and she liked Caroline talking about her dreams of life when she finally got a job that meant something, liked allowing herself to believe that for Caroline at least, things really would turn out all right.
As for Caroline, she hadn't pried too much into what Adelle did or thought. The most she asked Adelle, apart from her opinions on long philosophical rants, was how she learned certain tricks with her tongue and whether Caroline was emulating them correctly. (Adelle said here and there, and yes, she was.)
It was a very enjoyable week until on the morning of the fourth day Adelle came out of the shower dressed in only a towel to find Caroline on Adelle's private computer, sorting through company files.
She should have reacted faster. Instead, all she did was drop the towel (not on purpose, only out of surprise) and take a step backward. That was when Caroline heard her, looked up and pulled out the gun.
"Hands up," she said, her voice harder and colder than Adelle had heard it before. (Oh, how she longed for that careless laughter now.) "And face the wall. I want to talk to you about Rossum."
/…/…/
Adelle had never really considered herself the type who would stand up under torture or blackmail. As it turned out, she didn't hold up that well under guns pointed at her either, especially when she was naked and the woman holding the gun (now she wondered how she had ever thought Caroline a mere girl) was a terrorist who only the night before had been fucking her.
Caroline wanted the passwords to get into certain online records of Rossum's. Very delicate records, very private. Probably Adelle could lose her job over this, and in Rossum losing your job didn't mean a nice retirement package. She gave Caroline what she wanted anyways.
Caroline scrolled through file after file, downloading some and taking physical notes on others. Her gun sat on her other side, far enough away that Adelle wouldn't be able to easily grab it. She barely seemed to notice Adelle sitting next to her, thoroughly naked, but when Adelle tried to rise her hand clamped down viciously on Adelle's thigh. "Where you going?"
"It would be nice to get dressed," Adelle said. Or call her superiors at Rossum and get help. Or heck, call the police or just get out of the building.
Caroline gave her a mocking look, clearly reading her mind. Then her gaze dropped to Adelle's breasts, making Adelle shift uncomfortably. "Why? I think it's plenty nice for you to stay as you are." She grinned. "You were fine with it last night."
"As you well know, you have been lying to me," Adelle said. "Whatever intimacy you had with me was under false pretenses."
"Yeah? Does that make you uncomfortable?" Caroline asked. She'd stopped working with the files on the computer. "Do you feel used? That's kind of funny considering you work in human trafficking."
"You don't understand our work," Adelle said. "If you did, you wouldn't be so eager to stop us. The things we are doing advance the human condition." It was a typical phrase they used at Rossum. She wasn't sure exactly what it meant, but either way she didn't feel guilty for her work at the Dollhouse. The actives were consenting adults. They knew what they wanted.
"Yeah, that's what they all say," Caroline said. She finished fiddling around with the computer and shut it down. Standing, she shoved her computer back into its bag and turned, holding the gun again, to Adelle.
"I really should shoot you," she said.
"Mm. Killing the defenseless really is your signature style, isn't it?" Adelle said. She pressed her knees together to keep them still. She wouldn't be able to overpower Caroline in handcuffs, but she could at least die with dignity.
"Defenseless doesn't mean innocent," Caroline said. "Are you innocent, Adelle?"
When Adelle didn't answer, she stepped forward and tapped Adelle's jaw with the tip of her gun. Then she leaned in to leave a long kiss on Adelle's lips, ending with a bite to Adelle's lower lip that made her wince.
She squeezed Adelle's right breast just a little too hard to be erotic before leaning back. "I think we'll meet again," she said, picking up her bag. "Tell Rossum Caroline Farrell was here."
With that she headed out.
Adelle was left sitting on the bed. Her hair was still only half dry, an odd feeling since she usually blow dried it. It would probably look strange until she washed it again. That wouldn't be long—as soon as she got out of the handcuffs, she was going to take a long, hot shower, and rinse away the memory of Caroline's hands and lips.
/.../.../
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AN: I kind of like Adelle/Echo and Adelle/Caroline. But at least with Adelle/Caroline you can bet things would be pretty fucked up.
Anyways, reviews would be much appreciated.