Sophie felt like a child searching for Easter eggs just that she was looking for the entrance to the basement. Together with Kate she was back at Gonzales's house. They had sneaked in from the backside as they suspected people watching the house. Jacob would go on the big screen at Crows HQ as soon as they were done here, until then he was in a car a block away, waiting as backup. So were Julia and Luke in two other cars.

"I think I found the entrance to the basement." Kate stopped in front of a bookshelf. She wore something like goggles that allowed her to see if a wall was solid or not.

"Where again did you say you got these goggles from?"

"I buy real estate, I want to know if the walls are solid."

"You are the first real estate agent I know with high technology gadgets."

"How many real estate agents do you know?" Kate coked her head.

"Your point." Non. Yet, it was weird that Kate had such things like it was weird that she was interested in real estate. Opening a gay bar, okay, she could see Kate enjoy this, selling property, renting it out to people? Not so much. Sophie started touching the books, one of them should open the entrance. She moved each a little bit.

"There could be a switch behind one of them," Kate said, letting her finger run over the wood.

"When I was a child I read the book of the "Famous Five" and found hidden paths and doors all the time. This reminds me of it a little bit. Or of "Panic Room", depending on if we can search in peace or get some visitors." Gonzales would be missed by his friends, they had been here before, had seen the evidence of a fight. Sophie and Kate had seen the trace of B&E at the front door it hadn't been them, who had caused it.

"Do you have a panic room in your condo?"

"No, I don't. Do you?"

"Nope, but I might want one as times are getting more and more crazier."

Sophie could only agree. Her next condo as somebody had broken into her she would get a new one when this was over — would have a panic room. Could you ask for condo's with panic room when you were looking for a new place? The perfect question for the real estate agent.

"As I want a new condo, can you find me one with panic room?"

"I'll have my eyes open for you."

"Thanks." The Bible did the trick. Why hadn't she tried this book first? The Holy Book opened the door to the basement, which surely was not heaven.

"You won."

"I had no idea were in a competition. What did I win?"

"A cocktail of your choice at my bar."

"Then I hope I can have it soon." Sophie switched on her flashlight. A narrow, wooden, steep stair lay in front of them. Kate took a deep breath.

"Ever since "Silence of the lambs" I feel not one hundred percent comfortable in basements , to keep your movie examples."

"You can hide behind me."

"You mean, I can have your back?"

"Didn't I say so?" Sophie smirked. Gosh, it felt good to work with Kate again. Their banter, knowing what the other would do, what the strength of the other was, what the weakness. With Kate, it felt like there were no words necessary, they simply read each other's mind. Sophie walked down the stairs, careful not to hit her head, checking every step to make sure no booby-trap waited for them. When Kate closed the door behind them, she swallowed once.

"If somebody shows up they won't know where we are."

"You better send a message to Julia so she knows where we are in case we need somebody to know."

"I sent her a photo of the shelf and the hint that she should move the biggest fairy tale book in history to open the door."

With a comment like this her mother would never approve of Kate. Not that she approved of Sophie anymore. And it was not important if her mother approved to her and Kate, they weren't a couple anymore.

"There is a light switch," Sophie said, pulling her thoughts away from her and Kate, "I'd rather not use it."

"Me neither. Too much danger." They had a case like this during their training: somebody switched on the lights and instead of light a bomb exploded. Test failed.

"Do you still have these skilled fingers?"

"Uhm." Sophie felt how she blushed. What was Kate talking about?

"There is a cabinet and a serious looking lock. Do you still have your lock-picking skills?"

"Oh, sure, I can give it a try."

"What did you think I mean?"

"Nevermind."

The quiet chuckle told her Kate knew exactly what Sophie had thought of. Great. Now Kate knew Sophie thought about them having sex and only for the books: Kate's fingers had been very, very skillful too. Mind off the gutter, Moore, you have work to do. With a lock picker Kate had brought (again, what kind of real estate agent had a lock picker in her pocket?) Sophie started on the lock.

"We've got company," Kate whispered.

Sophie stopped and listened. There. There were footsteps above them.

"No signal, I have no idea if they called us to warn us or it's one of our people."

"If it's somebody, who knows about the basement, we'll have company soon." There was nothing to hide. The basement was nothing more than this five by five yards big room with the cabinet.

Slowly they retreated to the stairs, stepped beneath them. It was the only cover they had in case somebody came in here. One person. At least Sophie heard only steps of one person, no conversation. Could it be somebody, who was looking for the same things they were looking for? If Gonzales had anything important hidden, his friends would want to have it. Furniture was moved, things dropped on the floor. Her hand felt for Kate's in the darkness and she squeezed it when she found it. If this person was looking upstairs, he or she seemed to have no idea about the basement. They could be in for some waiting time. Hopefully the others didn't get the idea to look for them.

"We could take him out," Kate whispered.

"Too risky, we don't know where he is, what he carries. The shelf did not move quietly, he'll hear us before we are out of here."

"The stairs squeaked."

"We can hold up our phones, hope to get a weak signal close to the door and let the others know somebody is here and we're in the basement." It was a small chance, yet the only one they had.

We have company, whoever it is seems not to know about the basement.

Sophie hoped her phone picked up the signal and send the message. A few seconds later she looked at the screen. No signal, the message couldn't be sent. In the dim light of the phone she saw Kate shook her head. She hadn't had any luck either.

"Let's hope whoever is up there leaves soon, I have no intentions of staying here forever nor do I want to wait until there are more and people walking around the. At one point, somebody, who knows about the basement and how to get there, will show up and then we're in trouble," Kate whispered.

Yes, then they needed help. If Batwoman was around?

It took an hour before the footsteps were gone. Sophie and Kate waited an additional fifteen minutes to make sure whoever had been up there was out of the house. When Kate went upstairs to let their friends know they were all right, Sophie turned back to the lock.

Do you still have these skilled fingers?

Damn it, Kate could with a simple question make her blush and feel like they were about to do something sinister. It has been almost six years and she should be over them. Not because she was married to Tyler, but because it had been six years. Wasn't that enough time to get over a lover?

The love of your life.

That was what Kate had said when they stood in front of the restaurant after they left before they had a chance to eat. The owner wanted them out because he thought they were on a date, Kate had stood up to him and Sophie, well, she hadn't been a help. Would she react different now? Sophie wanted to believe she would, the truth was, she wasn't sure.

The locked clicked and opened. Yes, her fingers were still skilled.

"Let's see what's in there."

"Dad took care of the woman, who was in the house. We have an eighth guest."

"The room is getting cozy, I hope they all like each other." Sophie opened the box that stood in the cabinet. Except for this nothing was inside. It was an iron box, secured with another lock, one Sophie couldn't pick as easily as the last one. "We take this one with us."

"Let me see if this is only a bait." Kate put her goggles on and looked at the cabinet. "Thought so. There is another room behind this cabinet. Whatever is in this box will be worthless, maybe even deadly."

"In this case I don't want the box." Sophie put the box down, out of their way. "Can I have hidden door two, please?"

"Sure you don't want to have the envelope instead?"

"I beg your pardon?" What envelope?

"Sorry, this reminded me of an old TV game show I've seen in Europe. " Kate let her fingers run over the cabinet on the left while Sophie did the same on the right.

"I've got a switch," Sophie pulled it.

"So do I." When Kate pulled as well the cabinet swung open. "Not a new car."

"No, only a new room." Sophie stepped inside and saw another cabinet. "Want to scan the thing first before we believe we hit Jackpot."

"How many hidden iron doors you have in one basement?"

"It depends on now paranoid or criminal you are."

"Many it is," Kate sighed.

As this whole thing seemed to be bigger than they had expected at the beginning, Sophie wouldn't be surprised when there was a third room. Although, did it make sense to add a third one? People kind of expected it to be there, like they did now.

"This is the end, beautiful friend."

"My only friend, the end?"

"Yes," Kate smiled softly.

Yes, they had their own language. Kind of. Had.

"Well, then this locked shelf should be what we're here for. Unless." Sophie dropped to her knees, her fingers touching the ground until she smiled. "We take whatever is hidden under here." She took her knife and pushed the ground up. A safe appeared.

"Smart."

"The more traps you install the more likely it is that your secret stays a secret. As a real estate agent, do you have a gadget to open a safe?"

"That is not exactly what I need for my job, however, as I expected something like this, I took something from Julia." Kate pulled something that looked like a phone out of her little bag. "Hold it next to the lock, whenever you hit the right number it will tell you."

"Don't you just love gadgets?" Sophie sighed happily and started on the safe. There were so many useful things, so many things she didn't get her hands on and could only dream of. Like all these things Batwoman had. She wanted such a suit, she wanted to be able to fly up a building.

"Jackpot." She opened the safe. Folders, DVDs, USB sticks, and photos. Were these the answers they had been looking for?

"Perfect. Let's bag it and then we leave, we have been here long enough."

Almost two hours. Due to whoever had been upstairs their short trip had turned into an afternoon tour. When they wanted to hack into the screen at the Crows HQ they had to hurry. Stopping in front of the bookshelf on top of the stairs, Kate sent a message to their friends, asking if they could come out?

Nobody is around, Julia answered.

"Let's go." They left the house through the back door and hurried back to the SUV, where Julia waited for them.

"Two hours? What did you do? Remember the good old days? Or shall I say nights?"

Skilled fingers.

"No! We had to wait until whoever was upstairs was gone. Do you know who it is?" Why the hell did she have to blush? If her skin was pale she'd turned into a ripe tomato and if she wasn't mistaken, Kate's ears were slightly red too. Had she thought about the same sentence Sophie had?

"Not yet, she is asleep. A peaceful chloroform sleep."

"They are popular these days."

"Others use the eternal sleep, we are very kind to the people, who are in our way."

"We are." Sophie closed her eyes for a second. It was time to get back to the safe house and see, what she and Kate had found. Maybe she even got a few minutes to play with Kodah. Oh, she couldn't wait for this to be over and to go out for a walk with her puppy. An ordinary walk, not worrying if anybody was out to shoot her She most definitely was up for a vacation time Somewhere far away from Gotham, Unless Batwoman had time for her