Hello, people of the internet! Welcome to another chapter! Fun fact, I didn't even mean to start typing this. My friend just unblocked my computer (my freaking school blocked Fanfiction!) and this happened. Then, I finished it at home the next day. Please enjoy!
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You have got to be kidding me.
Celeste felt like tearing her own hair out when Alfred - albeit apologetically - had informed her that guests with prison records were not allowed at the inn. How had he known that? Well, the esteemed Mayor Mageía had decided to have her very private juvenile records published for the whole goddamn town to see. She also just happened to give the inn a little call to remind them of their policy. Which resulted in her and her son being homeless.
"Are you okay?"
She glared viciously at the man to the side of her. "Of course I am, Rex," she drawled sarcastically as she shoved a bra into her suitcase. "Not only am I homeless, but my son is too! Why wouldn't I be happy?"
Rex shrugged at her. "No need to get snippy."
Celeste inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down. She had to remind herself that he wasn't the enemy here. Cecile was. And no way was she going to take this laying down. She was no longer the poor little orphan, forced to deal with the shitty way people could treat her and get away with it. She was a twenty six year old woman, bail bondswoman, and mother and she wasn't about to let herself be pushed around anymore.
Rex must have noticed the look on her face because he held out his hands cautiously. "Princess, you're not going to do anything stupid, are you?" he asked her, eyeing her carefully.
She supposed it made sense. Though, she preferred to think her actions through, she wouldn't deny that she had a temper. A temper that could get ugly were she angered enough. He had been the sole witness to it during their relationship. Most of the time, she wasn't angry. She had a calm, collected mannerism that she used to see through people clearly. It definitely came in handy as a mother.
Yet, in her younger years, she was guilty of hastily lashing out. Primarily, it hadn't been directed at Rex specifically. The worst he had received - she recalled - was her highly annoyed with him. There simply hadn't been any time for her to get really angry with him. Not with all the time they had spent on the road, laying under the radar of the law.
Still, he had witnessed her temper. Their clothes hadn't always been the cleanest and their appearances almost always disheveled, so at times they attracted the stares of others. As foster kids, they had been judged all their lives, so they were both used to people staring at them. That wasn't what set her off.
What set her off was that a woman had the actual audacity to comment on how they looked to their faces.
Celeste, to this day, still couldn't remember exactly what she said to the woman. All she could recall was her thumping heart, her flushed face, and Rex holding her back by her waist after the fact, practically dragging her from the store before the police were involved. He had good-naturedly named her "She-Hulk" after the incident.
She hardly spared him a glance. "What I'm going to do is none of your business, Rex," she snapped, stalking past him. "Just keep an eye on Ryan."
He reached out and grabbed her arm. "Celeste, just wait a minute," he tried to reason with her. She could tell he was being serious seeing as though he used her name. He never did that. The man gently but firmly tugged her away from the door. "Listen, Princess, you can't mess with Cecile."
Celeste scoffed, yanking her arm away and placing her hands on her hips. "Why?" she demanded. "Because she's the oh-so powerful mayor? Is that supposed to scare me?"
Rex crossed his arms. "No," he answered. "You can't mess with Cecile because she's actually Circe."
She tilted her head in confusion. "Who?" Was she supposed to know who that was?
He sighed, rubbing his temples. "The sorceress who cast the curse and separated us from our parents," he informed her. "The witch Ryan saw in his dream."
Celeste rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." She couldn't believe that he was still going on about that. Cecile wasn't some evil witch that she needed to burn or whatever. She was just another person of authority abusing her power and trying to put her down. Well, she wasn't going down without a fight.
Rex grabbed the comic and flipped to the wedding scene. "You're going to try and tell me that this isn't Cecile?"
Well, even she had to admit that they did look similar. They had the same refined facial structure, the same voluptuous body. The only real difference was that Cecile's hair wasn't purple, though the inky black color was close to it.
Despite this, Celeste waved it off. "Coincidence." It seemed as though she used that phrase a lot nowadays. It was what she was sure that these similarities were, merely coincidences. "And if what you and Tim are trying to convince me of is true, then I should be able to take her on, right? Isn't that why I'm the 'Savior,' as you put it?"
He groaned. "That's not really how it works-"
She held up a hand. "Save it. I'm a grown woman and I'll do what I have to do. Take care of my baby." With that, she walked past him with her nose turned upward and exited the room.
Rex sighed, running his fingers through his hair. She was going to get herself into so much trouble and he wasn't sure that he could protect her. He supposed that she wouldn't want him to, anyway. She was independent and would throw his attempts right back at his face. He smirked; that must have been one of the reasons he was still so madly in love with her.
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Celeste found the oh-so esteemed mayor at the diner and slammed the newspaper onto the table. "What the hell is this?" she spat, her words dripping with pure, unadulterated fury. Never in her life had she felt so exposed. Her dark past was on display for everyone to see- and it was all because the mayor had a particular dislike for her.
Cecile spared her a glance. "I'm afraid that I've no idea what you're talking about. Can you be more specific?"
She gestured to a picture of herself at seventeen years old and completely stone-faced with the words "Juvenile Delinquent in Our Town?" plastered above her. "I'm talking about this," she hissed. "How dare you publish my private information. These are juvenile records; they're not accessible to the public!"
The mayor gave her a rather bored look, which only served to infuriate her more. "Miss Shade, I have no power over what the press publishes," she so blatantly lied. The woman had power over everyone, that much was clear. While she may not have had official power over the press, she definitely had influence. Everyone in town was afraid of her. Even Diana, who was as fierce and strong as they came, seemed to fear her. "If you're so concerned with you privacy, you'll have to take it up with the press."
Celeste scowled. "Oh, believe me, I will." She wanted to do so much to the woman that it was borderline sadistic, but managed to withhold herself. Attacking the mayor was definitely not in her best interest and would only cause more suffering for Ryan. She definitely didn't want to get arrested again - prison wasn't fun - which meant that the only thing to do was to walk away. So, holding her head up high, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the diner.
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As she made her way to the press building, Celeste tried to calm herself down. She had to remember that whoever had exposed her like that more than likely hadn't done it of their own accord. They were just another ant under Cecile's manipulative thumb. Still, she was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.
She came across a man typing rapidly at his desk, slightly hunched over. From what she could tell, he had short, messy black hair and quite a muscular build. "Excuse me?" she called sweetly, trying to let him know that she wasn't angry with him.
The man started and turned to her and she could see that he had sky blue eyes hidden behind glasses and a firm jaw. He couldn't have been that much older than her, perhaps Diana's age. "Oh no," he muttered at the sight of her. "Miss, I am so, so sor-"
Celeste held up a hand, silencing him. "I'm guessing the mayor had something to do with my face being on the cover of today's paper, right?" she guessed, keeping her tone light.
The man blushed, lowering his head in shame. "She dug up some information on you a few weeks ago and made me write it last night," he revealed. "She told me that if I didn't, I'd be out of a job."
Just as she suspected. He was just as much as a victim as she was. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Clark," answered the man. "Clark Kent."
Celeste raised an eyebrow; now that was a name that no one could ignore. "Like Superman, Clark Kent?"
He blushed lightly. "My folks were real big fans," he told her, as if he got that question a lot.
She sighed in contentment; finally, someone having a DC name made sense! Now, if only the rest of the town had a reasonable explanation. "I see," she responded. "Listen, Mr. Kent. I'm not angry with you."
Clark actually looked up at her, relief washing over his face. "You're not?"
Celeste shook her head. "I've dealt with people like her before. She's nothing but a bully with too much power. Not anything I haven't handled before. This is simply a minor setback for me."
He nodded, but still looked ashamed. "I really am sorry, Miss. I wish I could have told her no. I hate that no one in this town is brave enough to stand up to her." He sighed. "Including me. Everyone just does what she says." He thought for a moment. "Well, except for Mr. Exousía."
This peaked her interest. "Mr. Exousía? You mean the pawnshop owner? The one everyone pays rent to?"
"That'd be him," replied Clark. "Even Cecile has to pay rent, that's why she hates him; because he has power over her. But, he's the one person who isn't scared of her." He paused. "And the one person everyone is scared of more than her."
"Hmm," pondered Celeste. "That's actually something to remember. Thank you, Mr. Kent."
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You can just call me Clark."
She smiled. "Well, then you can just call me Celeste." She turned away from him, making her way towards the door. "See you around, Clark." She left the building, thoughts of Mr. Exousía on her mind. Since she already had Cecile as an enemy, it would do her good to have him as an ally.
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Rex eyed her as she walked into the room. "Oh, good," he commented upon seeing her. "You're still alive. For a second I thought that I'd have to have Tim look for you on his motorcycle."
Celeste rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. "Cecile doesn't have any magic powers to turn me into a toad or something." She smirked evilly. "Besides, I'll pay her back." Oh, was she going to pay the mayor back. Cecile wouldn't know what hit her when she was done. She was already formulating a plan in her head.
He sat up straighter, eyes scanning her face. "Celeste, no," he implored. "Just leave it alone. Cecile has too much power and influence in this town. Think about what'll happen to you. Think about what'll happen to the kid."
That caught her attention and pulled her out of her revenge plans. Right. She wasn't a teenager anymore. She was a mother and she couldn't afford to put Ryan at risk. It was just him. Rex being here was making her forget who she was now, forcing her to delve into her past personality. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't let her heart ruin everything she had worked for.
"You're right," she admitted reluctantly. "I... let my anger get the better of me."
He shrugged. "Happens to the best of us."
Celeste nodded. "I won't attack her," she promised him. "but if she pushes me, I can't promise that I won't push back."
"Understandable."
There was silence between them. A silence that was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, it simply just existed. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. She was ready for anything Rex Stewart threw at her, right? There was nothing he could say that would ever take her for a loop.
"I imagined having a kid with you back then."
Except for that. She wasn't prepared for that.
Celeste blinked, trying to wrap her head around the words he had just uttered. "I'm sorry, what?"
Rex shifted nervously. "The days before the... 'incident,'" he clarified. "We had been talking about settling down. I had always thought that would include a kid." He chuckled bitterly. "Well, that and marriage. And I... I think I was ready for it. I really do. I wanted to be a dad and I wanted to marry you. God, did I want to marry you." He turned to face her fully. "Princess, I-"
She cut him off by pressing her lips to his.
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Aaannnnddd scene! Cheesy, I know, but I couldn't resist! Oh, and you loyal WonderBat shippers, just wait! It's coming! Please, just bare with me. Anyway, please review!
