The Gala

"Diana - I thought you weren't going," Aikaterine said when she saw her friend all dressed up on Friday.

"I wasn't planning on it, but I get a strange feeling from that Maxwell Lord. I want to talk to him. I might just be worried for nothing, but-" She shrugged. "So a party it is."

"Oh, okay. Well I'm glad you're coming along. I'm going to go meet Barbara, we said we'd take a car together. She said she'd arrange it all, which is a good thing because I have no idea how to do such things."

Diana chuckled. "I'll show you sometime. Sounds good, I'll see you there then, I'm not quite finished getting ready."

"Yes, see you there." On that note, Aikaterine headed out and made her way to Barbara's apartment.

"Hi Aikaterine - wow you look-" For once, Barbara was speechless. "I don't even know how do describe it!"

Aikaterine found herself chuckling. "Thank you. You look lovely yourself."

"Thanks, I'm almost ready. Come on in!" Barbara waved her inside while she adjusted her earrings and put on her new shoes.

Her apartment was a lot smaller than Diana's, but had a warm feel to it. Aikaterine didn't have long to look for Barbara was ready in mere minutes.

"Ready? Let's go!" She linked her arm through the redhead's and the two headed out front to where the car was waiting for them to take them to the museum.

The museum had been transformed for that night's event, with dim lighting, decorations, and music.

She could see everyone staring as they entered the gala, all the men ogling them. Some things never change.

"Wow, this is great!" Barbara cried.

People kept giving them compliments. "Wow, your outfit is amazing!"

"Great dress!"

"Love your shoes!"

Barbara was clearly loving it. "Thank you so much."

It was unlike any party Aikaterine had ever attended. The lights were low, the crowd was heavy, and the noise that mortals of this era called music filled the room.

"It's a wonder anyone here still has their ears in tact," she called, practically shouting over the noise, which in her mind would never classify as music. This made Barbara laugh.

"Dr. Minerva." A voice behind them stopped them as they were going up the stairs.

"Oh, hello again, you," Barbara said, grinning at the man in the dark blue suit.

"You look breathtaking!" he complimented.

"Oh, thank you."

"But of course, a beautiful woman like yourself always does."

"Oh, well..." His praise was clearly making Barbara flustered. "We have to go to these things a lot for work so, I've probably worn this dress a million times... Or not. No, I haven't. I'm not sure why I said that." She chuckled. "I never look like this. Took me a long time to get ready."

Aikaterine cleared her throat, breaking the awkward air.

"Oh yes. Mr. Lord, this is Aikaterine, Diana's friend and roommate. She works in Greek Mythology here at the museum-"

This, of course, wasn't at all true, but a good excuse for why she hung around the museum all the time, it was good cover, so Aikaterine went with it.

"-Aikaterine, this is Maxwell Lord, our very generous donor."

"Ah. Good evening, Lord Maxwell. What are you Lord of?" she asked him.

"'Lord Maxwell', oh I like that!" he said. "Perhaps I should change my name to that on my commercials."

"Do it again," cried Barbara. "Show her! In real life!"

He chuckled and pointed at them. "'Life is good - but it can be better. All you have to do is want it.'" Aikaterine just stared back. "You and Dr. Prince are a tough crowd."

"He does it all the time on TV, it's great," praised Barbara.

"Well Diana and I aren't so much into the whole advertisement industry, but if that has worked out well for you then very good."

"Thank you." But he seemed much more interested in Barbara. "Dr. Minerva-"

"Oh, just 'Barbara' please."

"Barbara - gosh it's so loud in here!" Looked like he and Aikaterine could agree on something. "I was hoping I might discuss my donation with you. Could I steal you away for a moment?"

"Oh, yes of course." Barbara turned to Aikaterine.

"Go ahead," Aikaterine waved her on.

"Thanks, be back soon."

Aikaterine watched her disappear with Lord Maxwell through the crowd.

Barbara still wasn't back. It had been at least twenty minutes. Perhaps they were having a lengthy discussion about work, as had seemed the purpose of the private conversation, but after hearing Diana's doubts and concern about this Lord Maxwell, Aikaterine was a little wary.

And he clearly didn't like Barbara - well, he did, was fond of her, but not in the way he was portraying. He was using her, giving her false hope, and that wasn't right, that wasn't fair.

And so, when Barbara had been gone precisely half an hour, Aikaterine went searching for her - not that she hadn't been scanning the crowd of party goers for her already.

She had been watching for Diana as well during her time waiting, but hadn't spotted her either. It seemed people could disappear into this party without a trace.

She headed deeper into the museum, away from the party, which she wasn't all that disappointed about.

Where would Barbara and Lord Maxwell go? He had commented on the noise, so clearly somewhere away from the crowd and more quiet. Probably in the back where the lab and offices were. At least it was a good first place to check.

The lab was dark and empty, as were the adjoining halls, but she noticed a crack of light up ahead down the hall where the offices were. Upon closer inspection, she found that the light was coming from inside Barbara's office, where the door was shut.

She could hear movement inside the office. She tapped on the door. "Barbara?" She turned the knob and opened the door a crack. "Oh!"

She jumped when she saw she had caught the woman she sought as well as Lord Maxwell entangled together in a passionate, messy embrace on Barbara's desk. "Oh, excuse me-" She shut the door a crack to block her view of the two.

"Aikaterine!" cried Barbara, clearly flustered. "What, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, I thought we were making this a 'girls night'. But I see you're busy, so, I'll leave you to whatever it is you're doing." With that, she shut the door behind her and headed back to the lobby, now in search of Diana, pushing away the disappointment bubbling deep within her.

Diana was nowhere to be seen - clearly she hadn't caught up to Lord, so Aikaterine was on her own.

Stupid party. She had been encouraged to come and all the good it did was leave her abandoned in this silly place in this silly outfit. If this was the mortals' idea of fun she could not see why.

"Hey, saw you all alone out here, thought you could use a drink." Oh dear. A man holding two glasses stood behind her where she stood out on the balcony getting some air and avoiding the crowd inside.

"No, thank you. I needed some time to myself."

"Well you came to the wrong place if that's what you wanted."

She rolled her eyes - clearly he wasn't going anywhere so easily. "I didn't want to come here in the first place, but a - friend - convinced me and now I wish I hadn't." She should have listened to her gut, not her heart. She also wasn't sure why she was explaining this to him.

"Well then, you sound like you're in need of some cheering up." The man came up close and leaned against the railing, facing her and smirking. 'Come on, pretty girl like you should be having fun at a party like this." He set down the drinks and reached out to take her arm.

But she grabbed his wrist before he could. "I am not just a girl, and I'm not going back there, certainly not with you." He struggled against her iron grip. "Get. Out," she ground out through gritted teeth. She let him squirm in her iron grip for a moment longer before letting him go, watching him run back inside.

With that, she left the party, not eager to stay another moment.

I'm working on a new Maxwell Lord story as well now!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)