"It's such a relief not to have to crack a book for days."
"What do you mean?" Kate asked.
"What do you mean what do I mean?"
"Why aren't you cracking a book? Do fourth years have something going on?"
Veronica gawked in surprise. "Spring break is this week."
"Really?"
"Unbelievable. You're unbelievable. Who forgets that?"
It did suddenly explain why Kate had been talking about coursework like it was a day away from beginning again.
"I… honestly, it hadn't crossed my mind."
"So I'm guessing you don't have any plans?" Veronica asked, still recovering from the shock of Kate's admission. She rolled to her side, propping her head on her elbow to survey Kate who still had her eyes closed.
"No, you?" Kate said, shaking her head. It was Sunday morning which meant if Veronica did have plans, she was taking her sweet time getting on with them.
"I was going to rent a car and see how far I could get. After that I planned on setting it on fire before buying a plane ticket back to this place."
"Sounds exotic," Kate replied dryly.
"Very. Want to come?"
"Obviously," Kate said, humoring Veronica's fictional plans.
"Great. I think we should get started by like 0800 tomorrow; that way we'll be somewhere decent by the time lunch rolls around."
"Oh, you're serious," Kate gaped, opening her eyes to examine Veronica.
"If I'm honest, I'm still weighing whether to burn the car at the end or not. What with the paperwork and the lawsuit the rental company will likely slap me with."
"But everything else…"
"Is a 'go'. You in?"
Kate didn't immediately reply, instead playing out the proposal in her head. Part of her was compelled by the spontaneity of Veronica's proposal, but another part of her was pulled toward a surprise week alone, free of plebes and the rigorous schedule she'd been keeping all semester. She might finally have a chance to catch up on all the studies benched for weeks.
"You don't have to answer now," Veronica said, sensing the hesitation from Kate. "Just let me know by tonight so I still have time to get batteries before I go if you're a 'no'."
"Batteries?"
"Unless I can borrow your fingers for the week," Veronica grinned back.
"Sophie, your stress is stressing me out," Melvin groaned. "Stop pacing."
"I'm not pacing," Sophie shot back, crossing the room in a repetitive, linear fashion.
"Then what do you call it? A trot?"
"A mode of concentration."
"Babe, you're over-preparing," he began, earning a quick distracted glare from Sophie. "Remember what Ka-my advice from last time? Just be your sassy, clever, intuitive self, and it'll be smooth sailing. Besides, you have an entire eight hour drive to fret over this stuff."
"But last time was over the phone and it didn't include three other board members," Sophie explained for the fifth time. "On top of that, I have to provide an interim review of my coursework performance, and Reyes hasn't officially approved the extra practice sessions with Kate to boost my Tactics grade, so no, Melvin, I'm not over preparing. I'm practically two miles behind the lead car at this point."
"Ok, ok," Melvin sighed, seeing Sophie work herself into a tizzy.
"Hey."
"Hm?"
"Where'd you go?"
"Nowhere," Kate said, shaking her head dismissively.
"Who messaged you?"
"What?"
"Earlier. You've been distracted ever since."
"No one," Kate said with a slight edge of defensiveness.
"Can I have three guesses?"
"No."
Veronica's eyes rolled in exasperation. "Ok… a family member? Nope, ok," Veronica said, taking Kate's side-eyed scowl as a negative. "I don't know anyone from your past life, so I won't even pretend to try that…" Veronica continued as she pondered a moment longer. "Oh! I see; what does lover boy want?"
Kate shook her head, silently willing Veronica to drop it. Unfortunately, Veronica was more insistent than most, and when she put her mind to something, she didn't back down. Kate realized this very early on; it was different from her own stubbornness, but only in that Veronica was more playful about it.
"Want me to guess?"
"Stop it," Kate sighed.
"We could make it a game," Veronica teased, slipping her hands under the blankets.
"No, drop it."
"A little tit for tat?" Veronica smirked as her fingers found and lightly squeezed Kate's nipple. Her efforts were rewarded with a small hitch in Kate's breath before a hand pushed her away. "Oh come on," Veronica whined, watching Kate climb from the bed and grab at the pile of forgotten clothes.
"I said no, V."
Melvin glanced at his phone for the hundredth time, willing it to blink with a notification. He didn't know what to expect when he'd messaged Kate earlier, but he'd hoped for a miracle. Unfortunately that was a rarity these days, and he was now entering his second hour of rehearsing interview questions with Sophie. The interview itself would take place in Gotham at Wayne Tech on Tuesday, and her parents were due to pick her up in two hours. That didn't bode well for Melvin who calculated it meant he might be trapped in this role until then.
"How was it?"
"Great. How do you feel about lunch?" Melvin suggested.
"It's only ten. You weren't even listening, were you?" Sophie sighed.
"Honestly? No, but that's because I have all the faith in the world in your ability to talk about the importance of gender equality."
"That's not even what I was talking about."
"You sure? It must have been a subliminal thing. You're very good at that."
"If we get food will you promise to pay attention?"
"How about this: If we get food I promise to try harder at paying attention," Melvin counter-offered.
"You know what the most frustrating thing about you is?"
"You sure know how to start a conversation," Kate said dryly, taking a sip of the freshly poured coffee. "It's a charming trait, really."
They were occupying a far booth of a diner sandwiched between the pool bar and the drabby hole-in-the-wall that hosted their Tuesday night gatherings. The diner wasn't anything special, but it served an all day breakfast and bottomless coffee which made it a frequent endstop to whenever Veronica and Kate spent a night together.
Kate had begrudgingly agreed to join Veronica on the condition that their previous conversation not reemerge. Until now she'd been behaving.
"You never let anyone in," Veronica continued, ignoring Kate's attempts to deflect.
"What?" Kate asked with surprise. "That's not true. And we agreed not to talk about this."
"No, we agreed I wouldn't talk about lover boy and his mysterious mood-altering messages. I'm talking about your self-isolation."
"That's a bit extreme," Kate said defensively. "And you're also one to talk."
"I know. Jess said I'm setting a bad example," Veronica said lightly, and Kate's eyes narrowed in confusion. "She might be right, but don't tell her I said that."
"Ok…" Kate said, unsure what this confession had to do with the looming trajectory of the conversation.
She silently watched Veronica concoct her preferred balance of sugar, coffee, sugar, cream, and sugar before leaning back into her side of the booth in a moment of contemplation. Veronica's expression hadn't changed much from a moment earlier, but Kate could see she was trying to curate her next words carefully.
"I had a girlfriend once."
"You? No, way. For how long? An afternoon?" Kate teased, unable to hide her surprise.
"I'm trying to open up here," Veronica scowled.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Go on," Kate said, sobering from her jesting mood. "Tell me about your girlfriend."
"I hear the condescension in your tone, you ass."
"I'm sorry - it's just… I was surprised. You didn't seem like the type," Kate offered in apology. "How did you meet?"
Veronica eyed her skeptically before continuing:
"It was summertime nearly three years ago. Her name was Ashley. She was a cadet here - two years ahead of me."
"Wait, what?"
"I can tell the coffee hasn't hit you yet, so I'll do the math for you: I'm a senior, so three years ago meant I was a first year."
"I heard you fine, you just weren't talking in complete sentences," Kate pointed out.
"Like I was saying, it was the summer after my first year when I met her," Veronica began again. "She was part of the scholars program and was assigned summer duty going into her final year. I was stuck here because I couldn't be bothered to book a flight back to California."
Kate watched as Veronica maintained a lightness about her story-telling, pausing occasionally to take a sip of her over-sweetened coffee.
"I got a job here of all places; the late shift," she continued, gesturing at the outdated vinyl and chipping laminate interior of the diner. "It's why we get ten percent off the bill," she added with a wink.
"Then how come I still always pay full price?" Kate asked skeptically.
"Anyway," Veronica said, quickly sidestepping Kate's question, "I got to know a number of third and fourth years who were also staying in town for the summer. They'd pour in after the bar next door closed. They were terrible tippers, but it made the nights fly.
"Ash wasn't part of the usual wave of cadets. She was pretty bookish in the first place and mostly she stayed away from that scene. I found out later it was because her dad was an alcoholic. But one night she came out with them, and let me tell you, I'd never seen anyone as drop dead gorgeous in my life. It was lust at first sight. Like, my God, it was unbearable. You know those truly wretched pop songs about girls who don't know they're beautiful?"
"I listen to Blondie and Talking Heads, so… no," Kate replied.
"Well that was Ashley. She sat right there," Veronica said, pointing to a table set in the middle of the restaurant. "I could barely put two words together when I went to take her order. I was a wreck; in fact I messed up everyone's orders that night. I'd blindly scribbled onto the notepad in illegible handwriting because my eyes were stuck on her. I spilled water all over the table. I knocked an entire tray of food over just as it was being delivered. I was nearly fired, but it was totally worth it."
"I spent the next two weeks hawkishly waiting to see if she'd appear with the group of cadets, but she never did. She was like a damn unicorn or Cinderella; I didn't even know her name. Part of me wondered if I'd been tripping and imagined the entire night," Veronica said, falling into momentary silence as a smile crept across her face in memory. "As luck would have it, I ran straight into her as she was leaving the bookstore one day shortly after all of that. Like, literally ran into her. My clumsiness knocked every book out of her hands and onto the sidewalk. I was an embarrassed wreck, and she was sweet as fuck."
The arrival of their food interrupted Veronica's tale. Kate watched her with curiosity as she poured a gallon of syrup onto her pancakes and began alternating between bites of syrupy cakes and sharing more of her tale. Twenty minutes of goofy, endearing, puppy-love stories had been enough to cement what Kate saw as obvious mutual affection.
"By the end of summer we were hanging out almost daily. A week before term started, we went over to Sylvan Beach for the day. Evening rolled around and we were the last two on the beach, and I kissed her as the sun set."
"How romantic of you," Kate said with a cheesy grin.
"Oh, no, not for her. She was positively mortified. She wouldn't drive back to town with me and didn't talk to me for the rest of summer."
"What? But you two were… how? Why?" Kate asked, stunned by the revelation.
"This was what my heartbroken adolescence asked every night for a month," Veronica sighed with dramatic flare.
"Did you talk to her?"
"I tried. It took the first two weeks of term, but I managed to track her down to apologize for reading the signals wrong, but mostly I wanted an explanation. Had she really not felt it, too?"
"And?"
"She had. She felt the same as me but had never done anything like that with another woman. She'd had feelings for other women but never crossed the line toward something more. She was terrified."
Kate didn't respond. She couldn't because what Veronica was saying suddenly felt too close for comfort.
"But I'm persistent to a fault. She never stood a chance against me, and we spent that year secretly hooking up all over campus. Eventually we started renting a room at the motel down the street for added privacy. Her being a senior and me a second year didn't exactly make excuses for fraternizing easy," Veronica said. "But we were both in love. I was such a naive little youth. It was painful how in love I was with her, but she wouldn't risk coming out. Between her family and the military, her mind was set. I'd been out since high school and didn't have the same reservations as her, but this was before the school changed its requirement to serve, and she wouldn't risk being outed right before deployment."
Their plates had been cleared minutes earlier and silence fell between them, their mugs of black and tan liquid long ago reaching room temperature.
"Have you ever met someone who makes you want to be the best version of yourself?" Veronica asked with a small scowl of contemplation. "I'm no saint, but I wanted to be that for her."
Kate felt a lump in her throat as she gave a terse nod.
"I spent that whole year hoping she'd come around; that it'd be more than this secret we both carried. I got angry at the end when she wouldn't let me have something more. Even 'girlfriend' is a posthumous label - we were never officially even that. I squandered those last few weeks imploring her to come out; to have a relationship after graduation. When she deployed we weren't speaking. It broke my heart the day she left. It had been breaking bit by bit that last month, but I really felt it that final day."
"A couple weeks ago, you said you'd never date someone in the closet," Kate said in thought.
Veronica chuckled, "You're a brat, you know? Way to kick me while I'm down."
"No, I didn't… I guess I just… do you regret it?"
Veronica fell into contemplative silence for a moment before shaking her head. "The only thing I regret is that I made her feel like she wasn't enough; that I didn't make it clear she made me happier than I'd ever been even in the secrecy of it all," she said evenly. "And that I wasn't more patient. Yea, that too. Our relationship ultimately died because I wanted to force it into something it was never going to be; at least not in the short term. I like to think Ash would have come out eventually, and I'd have liked to have been by her side when it happened."
"Have you two talked? Maybe you could… I don't know. Maybe it's not too late?" Kate asked.
"She died," Veronica said simply. "Six months after deployment. Land mine."
The abruptness of Veronica's words completely blindsided Kate who could only stare back in shock.
"That's the thing about the military. You hear stories on the news all the time. It's always someone's kid or loved one. Even though we're attending a military academy and watch our friends go off to war, you never think the news will be about someone you know," Veronica said, and for the first time Kate saw the raw emotion she kept concealed under her joking demeanor. Kate slid her hand into hers, giving it a comforting squeeze.
"I'm so sorry, V. That's… I don't know what to say."
"The thing that hurts the most for me isn't that we weren't speaking when she died. I knew she loved me, and she knew I loved her. Things ended but it wasn't because we weren't in love. That was never in doubt. The thing that bothers me is that her parents never really knew her. Very few did, actually. I waffle with it all the time. I met them once; they were truly terrible, mean people. It was always a wonder to me how people who could be so demoralizing could raise someone as loving as Ash. If they knew, would they have accepted her? Did she feel truly happy knowing that part of her was always hidden? It might be selfish of me to wish she'd told them, but maybe that 'untarnished' version of her is the best gift for them."
Silence fell between them as Kate processed everything Veronica had just shared. It was a heavy story and shed some light on her aloofness when it came, well, everything about her. It also felt reminiscent of her own story, and that made her uneasy; uneasy in a way that she hadn't anticipated when they'd first come in for food.
"So what did lover boy want?" Veronica asked, pulling Kate from lingering too long with her thoughts.
"Uh, Sophie has her final interview for Wayne Tech this week. She's freaking out," Kate admitted without a fight.
"What does that have to do with you?"
"My cousin is Bruce Wayne," Kate replied, not bothering to challenge Veronica's line of questioning.
"You're related to the Wayne's?"
"I… yes."
"I need to start taking advantage of you."
"Isn't that what last night was?" Kate smirked.
"We'll come back to this," Veronica said, not taking the bait. "What does Bruce Wayne being your cousin have to do with you?" Veronica repeated with a scowl of disapproval on her face.
"What do you mean? He's the CEO."
"Don't be dense. That's not why he's messaging you."
"Babe, you're going to be fine," Melvin smirked, pulling her into a tight hug of reassurance.
"If you call me babe one more time, I swear," Sophie muttered in his ear.
"Worth it. You should see your dad's face," Melvin joked. "Want to make out? Really set him off?"
"Only only you want an ass whooping," Sophie said, quickly releasing him to offer a small scowl that faded into a smile. "Thank you."
"I expect to be your first call when you land the gig."
"If I get it, you'll definitely be in the top five."
"Five?!" Melvin pouted. "You're going to tell four people before me?"
Sophie rolled her eyes as she gave him a small wave and went to meet her parents who were sharing skeptical glances back at Melvin. He grinned back, already knowing the first questions out of Diane Moore's mouth would be at least fifteen minutes of distraction before Sophie managed to fall back into a fret.
"I'd just never considered it before," Kate said as they left the diner. The day was surprisingly warm for mid-March. The sun shone bright, contrasting the heaviness of Veronica's story. "That people could really let that be a factor. That they'd… that they'd actually let it control their lives."
They'd spent the last ten minutes talking around Sophie, and Veronica played ball until they were free of the confines of grease and sticky surfaces to speak more freely.
"Of course you wouldn't," she replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"People do all sorts of shit out of fear. You and me? We had a fucking walk in the park compared to most. I grew up on the west coast in a town where, only in the mildest of hyperbole, being straight was the minority," Veronica began.
"Sounds fun," Kate smirked.
"And you're rich as hell which makes you practically impenetrable to suppression," Veronica continued, unphased by Kate's interruption. "On top of that, we're both white. That's privilege to a T if you ask me."
"Sure, but… I mean, yes. I know I grew up in a bubble."
"You still live in it," Veronica corrected. "I can barely imagine what it was like for someone like Ashley: white trash from some rural plain with a drunk for a dad and an evangelical faith pressuring her to hide her feelings. Even that feels like cake to what Sophie lives through," Veronica said, calling the elephant for what it was. "Can you even imagine what it must be like for her? I mean, she doesn't sound like trailer park trash, but growing up as the lone black girl in a blue collar town fighting for a spot that a white man takes for granted couldn't have been easy. Add to that being gay with parents who think she'll go to hell if she tells them? I get why she's afraid to come out. Her parents would be terrified to see another obstacle in her way plus all that afterlife crap. It's hard enough to be a woman in this world. Add to that being black and a lesbian? Fuck."
"Hey."
"Is she still here?"
"You just missed her," Melvin said. "She left maybe twenty minutes ago."
"Right," Kate said.
"I think she'll be fine," Melvin said, speculating on Kate's sudden appearance at his door. "She's been prepping for days."
"Of course," Kate said. "Yea, I was just… just curious. Thanks," she said with a half nod, backing away from the door.
"It couldn't hurt to send her a message though," Melvin encouraged. "I know she'd appreciate it."
"She'll be fine," Kate repeated, turning to leave.
"Kate," Melvin said, trying to get a read on her mood when she looked back. "You going anywhere for break?"
"I'm… not sure yet," Kate said cryptically.
"Well, if you're around this week, James left his copy of that new assassin video game."
"Oh?"
"And it has a 2-player option."
"No, no, no!" Melvin shouted, tossing his controller to the side as his character took a knife to the back.
"You do this every time!"
"He snuck up behind me," Melvin pleaded.
"And I'd believe you if this hadn't happened a bajillion times already. The game doesn't change each time you respawn," Kate complained back as her fingers deftly navigated the controller in an effort to fight off the thugs that were now surrounding her.
"You're gonna die," Melvin said.
"You don't… ugh… you don't know that," Kate said, caught up in the game.
"You can't pass this level without me," Melvin teased. They'd been stuck on this stage for the last hour with only incremental success.
"Shut up," Kate shot back.
"I'm hungry," Melvin said, feeling the grumble of hunger now that his concentration from the game was broken. "You want pizza?"
"Don't care," Kate said, her eyes narrowed in concentration as her on-screen character fled for higher ground to separate herself from the mob of bad guys.
"Extra olives?"
"Sure," Kate auto-replied, paying no real attention to Melvin's words.
"Ok..." Melvin replied with a smirk as he picked up his phone to order. At the same time the screen illuminated with an incoming call. "Hello?... Hey… wait, you what?... hold on, I… hey, Kate can you pause?"
"And destroy my momentum? Go in the hall," Kate growled back.
"Hang on, sorry," Melvin continued, making his way to the door.
He returned a minute later just as Kate let out a cry of disappointment, her attempts at carrying out the mission solo failed.
"What'd you order?" Kate asked. "No olives, right?"
"That was Sophie," Melvin explained. "She just had her interview."
Kate didn't look away from the game menu on the screen. "So does that mean you haven't ordered pizza yet?"
"I… don't you want to know how it went?"
"No."
"Really? B-but why?"
"Because I already know how it went," Kate said plainly.
"What?"
"She got the job."
"How did you know?"
"Because it's Sophie," Kate explained as though she were describing gravity to a child. "And Bruce messaged me about it ages ago; he wanted to know if I'd be in town."
"Wha-what? But she only just had her interview," Melvin gaped.
Kate shrugged. "The in person interview is really just a formality. She'll probably have an onboarding meeting soon to help set her up-"
"Tomorrow, she said. She's staying the night in Gotham."
"Makes sense. She's already there," Kate shrugged.
A moment passed as Kate returned her attention to the screen, navigating to reset the latest level.
"You gonna order pizza or what?" she asked, looking up at him still standing in thought.
"That's it?"
Kate's face scrunched lightly in confusion. "I said no olives," she offered.
"No," Melvin said, shaking his head. "That's not what… Sophie just landed one of the most sought after internships in the country, and that's all you've got to say about it?"
Kate's confusion soured to a scowl. "What exactly are you looking for me to say?"
"I don't know… don't you at least want to… to I don't know, message her? Congratulate her, maybe?"
"No," she replied simply. "Now are we gonna play or what?"
Melvin sighed in disappointment. "Let me order first."
"Ms. Moore?"
Sophie was pulled back from her thoughts by the sound of a knock and a voice joining her in the office. "Hi?"
"Am I interrupting?"
"Oh, no, no - just finished sharing the good news with a friend."
"Very well. I just wanted to pop in before I leave for the day and formally introduce myself. I'm Lucius Fox, head of the Wayne Foundation that funds your work. I will be overseeing you and the other three interns this summer."
"Oh, that's great, good to meet you."
"We can chat more tomorrow when the others are here, but, and don't tell anyone I said this, Bruce mentioned he was particularly excited about you," Lucius said. There was a fatherly warmth about him that put her at ease, but she could tell that behind that was a quiet intelligence. His wardrobe matched it perfectly: a blazer over a sweater over a tie and button up. It was March, but certainly it wasn't that cold out. "Will you be joining Bruce and the others?"
Lucius was referencing the welcome mixer that had been set up for them, although Bruce advised it was less of a mixer and more of a corporate obligation to the politically connected who wanted to latch themselves to the good things Wayne Enterprises was doing. The candor had caught Sophie off guard, but she was beginning to sense that there were multiple sides to Bruce.
"Yes, for a little while. At least to meet the others."
"Well, don't get too rowdy. We have plenty to review tomorrow," he said with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am running late to meet my son. Congratulations Ms. Moore."
"Thank you, sir."
"What are you doing?" Kate called out in frustration. "You just stopped in the middle of the room and now - ah, damnit Melvin."
Kate gaped. "What did you do that for?"
"Sorry."
"Sorry? That's what you have to say? We were so close!" Kate scowled between him and the stats log running from the latest round.
Kate slumped into the couch, her arms crossed grumpily.
"Can we talk?"
"Isn't that what we're doing now?" Kate sighed as her fingers fidgeted with the controller.
"Y-yea, but I want to talk about something specific."
"We aren't talking about her," Kate scowled, reading Melvin's hesitation and realizing the reason for them losing was out of his distraction.
"Why not?"
"Because there's nothing to say," she replied, setting the controller aside.
"But what happened?"
"We both know she's already told you," Kate said, getting more and more agitated as the conversation went on.
"Yes, but I want to hear it from you. Because the last time we talked at the end of term, I thought you wouldn't be back, Kate. And then you were, and I just… why won't you talk to her?"
"I talk to her plenty," Kate shot back.
"That's not what I mean," Melvin said, alluding to their weekly sessions. "There's no reason you two can't be friends. You were before all of this - is it really too much to go back to that?"
"Yes," Kate said sharply.
"But… but why? You two were inseparable even before you started dating. Even if you don't love her anymore, you aren't someone who just stops caring, Kate."
"Who says I did?"
"You have some way of showing it," Melvin said in disbelief. "Not even apart two months and you were off hooking up with some fourth year," he accused.
"What?"
"I'm not an idiot Kate. All those nights you never come home? The less than subtle glances with that V person? You're never around because you're always with her. Admit it."
"So what if I am?" Kate shot back defensively.
"That's not who you are," Melvin argued.
"You have no idea who I am. I was alive for eighteen years before you met me."
"Well you are fooling everyone here then, because I sure as hell don't get why you're doing this."
"I'm not any different, Melvin."
"Yes, you are. The Kate I know wouldn't do this. She wouldn't be going out to bars and hooking up with some random chick and ignoring her friends. The Kate I know is madly in love with Sophie, and she'd do anything to make things right."
"It's not that simple," Kate argued back. It wasn't a lie. She'd spent the semester feeling the familiar weight of loss and fell into the habits that made her numb to it. She had plenty of experience with this in her teenage years. When Jacob wasn't there to keep her in check and motivated, she found other, less savory hobbies to fill her time and the emptiness she never truly got over. Now that a similar hole had found its way into her life in Sophie's decision, the days filled with training sessions and the nights at bars or with Veronica were the temporary salve she needed to get through the days.
"Why not?"
"Because."
"Kate," Melvin said, his tone of frustration fading into one of concern.
"Because I'm not… I'm not done being angry. I'm not… I know logically I should accept it, but I can't look at her and not feel that rejection all over again."
"You get it was never you though, right?" Melvin asked cautiously, beginning to understand Kate's motivations.
"What?"
"She wasn't rejecting you," Melvin said slowly. "She was rejecting herself."
"And that's just supposed to help me forgive her?" Kate asked, feeling the growing weight of her earlier conversation with Veronica chastise her for her words.
"Doesn't it?" Melvin asked in surprise.
"I don't know," Kate admitted. "No… at least, not right now."
"I was hoping Kate would be here. She hates these things almost as much as I do." The voice appeared as if by magic next to Sophie. She jumped and only barely managed to hold her tongue from slipping out a small curse of surprise as Bruce Wayne slid up next to her. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn he was trying his hardest to hide the edges of a small smirk from appearing.
"I can't imagine why. This has all the allure of a funeral."
"It's missing the floral arrangements," Bruce remarked easily. "Rookie mistake. I'll remember that for next time."
"Maybe less cake, too."
"You think?"
"Makes it feel like a wedding. Or a birthday party. Sends mixed messages and really kills the vibe."
"Pun intended?"
"That's not a pun."
"'Kills'? You sure?"
"Pretty sure," Sophie replied.
"Or just not intended."
"No, just not a pun."
"Hmm," Bruce conceded, giving his glass a small swirl before taking a sip. She'd talked with Bruce on three occasions, but this was the first she wasn't doing so sitting across from him with terror and anxiety pulsing through her veins. Now that those filters were off, she couldn't help but note obvious similarities between him and Kate. She knew they were fairly close growing up - even given the age gap, but she didn't think they'd have so many traits in common. Aside from being unfairly naturally attractive, they both had quiet a confidence about themselves. Kate was more outgoing in her personality but they both held their emotions in check. Perhaps stoicism was a Kane trait. Or perhaps it was something that they both shared as a result of mutual childhood trauma.
They had a practiced way of navigating a conversation that Sophie could only dream of. Where Kate was able to make people feel immediately at ease, Bruce's knack was finding common ground in most conversations, often playing moderator or, even more powerfully, watching silently. It was clear between the two of them that Bruce's ego was bigger, rightfully so given the latest successes coming out of Wayne Tech, but Sophie imagined that, together, the duo would make quite the super team. It took Sophie by surprise when the dry humor she'd known as a signature Kate Kane trait also resided with Bruce Wayne. It made him surprisingly down-to-earth for how powerful he was as CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.
"How is she? I haven't seen her since last summer," he asked by way of small talk. Having only discussed her education, work experience, and professional merits, he knew little else about her. Kate was what existed in the intersection of their venn diagram.
"Really? I didn't think she had gone anywhere; wasn't she in Gotham over winter break?" Sophie asked in surprise.
Bruce gave her a curious look. "Aren't you two together?"
"Oh, no. We broke up," Sophie said simply. She wasn't necessarily surprised Bruce didn't know, but she wondered if Kate had intentionally withheld that bit of trivia from him.
"Mm, sorry to hear," he said with a tone that suggested anything but. "Good thing I wasn't hiring you as a favor to her, otherwise this would have just gotten a hell of a lot more awkward."
"That's… good to hear," Sophie said, not sure how much she should read it as a compliment.
"I'd say I'm surprised, but she's not known for being relationship material. I was more surprised when she told me she was dating you," he continued.
"Sorry?"
"Flaky, noncommittal, a bit too stubborn to be vulnerable and far too guarded to take on feelings," he rattled off from years of experience. "It was only a matter of time before she bailed."
"Oh, no, no, she… it wasn't - I… actually I broke up with her," Sophie clarified poorly.
Bruce's brow raised in surprise before he sighed in exasperation. "What was it?"
"What?"
"Did she cheat?" Bruce accused with a small scowl of annoyance. "She really can be her own worst enemy-"
"What? No, she wouldn't… no, she didn't cheat," Sophie quickly clarified, surprised by Bruce's assessment of the situation.
Befuddled wasn't a feeling Bruce was familiar with, but the extent of their conversation about his cousin was not following precedent. He prided himself on deciphering quickly how people ticked, and he'd had his cousin down pat for years. It was like a storybook he'd read over and over.
"So what happened?"
"It wasn't anything she did. She was… actually, she fought to stay together," Sophie said cryptically, unsure how far to tread into the waters of their relationship.
Bruce nodded thoughtfully before breaking into a practiced smirk. Sophie noted it didn't suit him - not because he didn't look attractive when he smiled, it was just so obviously fake; she wondered if people really fell for it. "Well, Kanes aren't the easiest people to love. Refill?" he asked, gesturing at the glass of ice in Sophie's hand.
"No, I'm good, thanks," Sophie replied, feeling compelled to correct Bruce's perception of Kate and their relationship. Instead she held her tongue, realizing that kind of tone wouldn't land well after he'd just offered her the opportunity of a lifetime.
"Very well. There are two people in this room I've been avoiding like the plague. I'd best go pay my dues before it turns violent," Bruce continued. "Congratulations again, Ms. Moore; it is a position well earned."
"Thank you, sir."
"Bruce, please. A car will take you to your hotel whenever you're ready. Get some rest tonight; tomorrow is going to be tedious and boring," he smirked. "Lucius Fox has a way of being both brilliant and incredibly dry. The latter seems to be a curse of the former."
Sophie nodded as she watched Bruce offer the same practiced smile to someone who looked every part the Gotham politician standing across the room. A beaming grin in response proved Bruce's falsity worked on most, and a wave of greeting cemented his departure.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pretend to care about the mayor's concern over the rumor of some oversized reptile wandering the sewers."
"She is," Sophie said as he stepped away.
"She? Who?" Bruce asked, doing a double take at Sophie's words.
"You said the Kanes aren't easy people to love. Kate is."
A small twinkle appeared in Bruce's eye, and Sophie couldn't help but note another similarity between the cousins: when genuine, their smirks were both disarming.
"Then I stand corrected," he said with a small nod before navigating toward a group of men who were clearly two or three decades his senior.
"Aren't you supposed to be halfway across the country by now?" Kate called out as she shut the motel door behind her.
"Apparently you aren't allowed to rent a car if your license is expired," Veronica sighed.
A chuckle escaped Kate as she shed her jacket and tossed it onto a dilapidated armchair in the corner.
"How did you not check that?"
"I thought it lasted ten years! It's highway robbery to make me renew it every five. You know they make you pay for it each time?"
Kate just smirked as she surveyed Veronica lounging casually on the bed.
"What's worse is now I have no idea how to get home."
"What do you mean?"
"You need a valid id to fly."
"Take my jet," Kate replied easily.
"You have a jet?"
"No," Kate smirked. "Just get a new one here."
"And become a New York resident? No thank you. I'll hitchhike my way back to California before I sign myself over to the east coast."
"About the batteries," Kate said, pivoting Veronica away from a monologue about how much better the west coast was. "Was that a joke, or…"
"Did you not bring them?" Veronica said, sitting up in disappointment.
Kate had received a message shortly after leaving Melvin's room for the night from Veronica asking if she was up and to bring batteries. When Veronica said she already had a room, Kate inferred her message as an explicit rendezvous.
"You were serious?" Kate asked with a chuckle.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Maybe because it's after midnight and you didn't bother including what type to get?"
Veronica sighed dramatically into the pillow behind her.
"But lucky for you," Kate said, reaching back into her jacket pocket, "the convenience store is open 24 hours and they have a whole slew of options."
She tossed a bag next to Veronica who rolled back up, a smile the size of the cheshire cat's on her face as she dug into it.
"Perfect," Veronica said, pulling out a set of AA batteries.
"What do you need them for?" Kate asked, although she had a guess.
"Depends; how wild do you wanna get tonight?"
Sophie turned off the overhead light of the hotel room. She'd left the lamp on to help navigate back to the bed but was instead struck by the brilliance of the city lights flooding through the windows and overpowering the single bulb.
Wayne Enterprises had booked her in an all-expensed hotel room a block down from Wayne Tower. It was top-to-bottom the picture of wealth and status. Only on tv had she ever seen spaces this grand and decadent. With the exception of the night the summer before when she stayed at Kate's, she couldn't recall ever having been anywhere as extravagant.
It was the kind of place that charged for wifi by the hour, but it was also a place where that didn't matter because anyone who stayed here didn't give such measly sums of cash a second thought. Growing up, her parents wouldn't have humored a glance at a hotel like this, and yet here she stood in her own suite staring out at the blinking city skyline below. Not above; below.
She stood there for a few minutes, taking in the small pride in her accomplishment when a tiny pang of sadness hit her. Her entire life had been one of focus and planning. It had been about doing the right thing, working diligently, and not letting anything interrupt that trajectory. But for all of that, there was one thing that kept her from truly celebrating: she missed Kate.
She shook herself to get rid of the thought, knowing it was an empty gesture that wouldn't make it go away and instead took a step closer to the glass. After hearing Kate's voice in the room with Melvin hours earlier, she'd felt a tiny hope that she might reach out. This faded into familiar disappointment when the hours ticked by into the early hours of the morning and still nothing but silence resonated through their unused line of communication.
Out of sheer curiosity, she had navigated down the list of text messages and landed on Kate's contact. It had been one day shy of sixteen weeks since the last incoming message. It was a string of three messages from Kate asking where she was. They were spaced out over an hour. She felt a sinking feeling as she recalled with vivid detail the minutes that followed. She'd been hiding, afraid to say what she needed to for weeks. Every day that she kept quiet slowly ate at her and only made it harder and harder to tell Kate she needed to end things. She'd given herself a deadline to do it before Thanksgiving and had hoped she could hold on a little while longer by 'missing' Kate. This would give her another four days to build up the courage. Then the sound of Kate bursting through her door changed everything.
Sophie blinked away the memory, instead fast-forwarding to her conversation with V from over two weeks earlier. That it had taken her by surprise was an understatement, and it only left her more confused about her feelings toward Kate. Of course, that wasn't entirely true: she knew exactly how she felt about Kate. What confused her was that she couldn't make those feelings stop. She wasn't used to failing; usually once she set her mind to something she could make it work, but this had her stumped. Part of her was frustrated by it, but part of her didn't want to let the feelings go. She'd never been in love before, and while there was something raw and exposed about those feelings, there was a larger part that made her feel whole for having them.
It had also been nearly two weeks since Kate and Sophie's last session when things had ended with Sophie concussed and Kate racked with guilt. Kate had cancelled the week prior; she received the message through Reyes who told her sessions would begin again following spring break. This meant it would be three weeks before Sophie would have a scheduled chance of seeing her again. There was one option she considered but didn't expect it to have much effect.
She scanned the skyline one last time, trying to imprint it to memory. There was a good chance she'd never have an opportunity at a view like this again, and she wanted to soak up as much of it as she could. It was only then that she saw the faint glow in the sky that she had only ever seen in pictures or the nightly news. The overcast sky provided it the perfect canvas for the beam of light that projected the city's symbol of hope.
It surprised her just how the mere presence of it comforted her. Granted, from what she understood, the light was only ever on because the city needed him.
She'd never seen the Batman and certainly had no reason to consider him a significant part of her life. Growing up on the outskirts of Gotham meant she heard the stories, but crime was never significant enough where she lived to warrant his presence. And yet, looking out at it beaming up at the cloud line gave her a small hope that the tiny demoralized voice in her head had given up on.
"How is it…" Veronica began before a soft grunt caught in her throat, "that you... can be so good at this?"
She was winded, and Kate was surprised by how much she was enjoying it.
"I guess I'm just a natural," Kate smirked as she flicked her wrist to the side.
"You're sure… ugh. You're sure you've never done this before?"
"You know, you'd stand a fighting chance if you quit smoking," Kate said lightly. "40-love."
"No wait, I'm not… gah," Veronica groaned. "I wasn't ready!"
"That's match," Kate said, tossing the controller onto the mattress as she collapsed next to it.
"Rematch?"
"Haven't you lost enough?"
"I'm just getting warmed up," Veronica said, rolling her shoulders. "How do you feel about baseball?"
"You know, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when you asked for batteries," Kate said.
"So is that a yes or no? Cause we could do bowling instead."
"What?"
"There's bowling, too," Veronica explained lightly, navigating through the main menu.
"What's gotten into you?"
"What?"
"You invited me to a motel and all we've done is play virtual tennis all night."
"So?"
"So, that's not usually how our nights unfold."
Veronica shrugged. "Are you disappointed?"
Kate faltered, pausing in thought for a moment as she felt the tug of Melvin's words from earlier weigh into her response. Before she could formulate it though, a ping from her phone interrupted the conversation. Half-expecting it to be Melvin, she looked and was shocked to see a message from Bruce:
BW: how is it I've learned more about you in ten minutes from my newest intern than in ten months from you?
"So?"
"Hm, what?" Kate said, glancing up from the screen as she tried to suppress the flush rising in her cheeks. "Oh, right. No, I guess not."
"Great," Veronica grinned happily. "And tell lover boy he already had his fun; you're mine for the night."
"Sure," Kate smirked, not bothering to explain.
"Now how 'bout some bowling?"
"Fine, but first round is practice," Kate called out, throwing her phone onto the nightstand and grabbing the discarded controller.
"No way. If tennis is any indication, this is the only round I have a chance of winning."
Sophie had lost track of the hour, mesmerized by the activity playing out on the streets below and the soft creak that swayed the highrise with each guest of wind. She had just stepped back from the window nearly an hour earlier when a silhouette hurling itself through the air caught her eye. A blink and it was gone. She scoured the rooftops for a few moments before sighting it again. It moved quickly with a cape billowing behind before catapulting over across a street intersection, swinging at the last second from an invisible wire that connected the outstretched arm to some unknown fixing.
It wasn't until she felt her forehead against the cool glass that she realized she'd been craning her neck to get a closer look. Instead, she was interrupted by the transparent barrier as her breath sent a small fog over it. She watched like this for a few minutes, anticipating the Batman would disappear at any moment. When he finally did, Sophie sighed in disappointment but continued scanning, holding out hope he'd return. After a few minutes she pulled up a chair and curled up in it, gazing out.
Only then did she start seeing the nuances of the city below. For being the dead of night, it was riddled with activity. Growing up in a quiet neighborhood where the only thing open all night was a corner Walgreens, this was a new world to her. Taxis navigated the city streets, slowing to dodge pedestrians drunkenly making their way home. On a rare occasion the two interacted and a pedestrian would stumble into the back seat. Lights flicked on and off in various buildings. The office buildings surrounding her had lights set on timers that went off as cleaning crews tackled different floors. Even for as high as she was, if she strained her ears she could hear the overground train passing by like clockwork.
It was only when she couldn't keep her eyes open that she stumbled back to bed. Blearily she sent one more hopeful glance at her phone before sighing sadly and resting her head against the soft pillow.
The light glowed brightly on Kate's face as she stared at her phone's screen. Veronica was sleeping soundly next to her as she idly flipped through old messages waiting for a notification to appear. When it did, she let out a small smirk and continued the conversation:
BW: it's a bit late to be messaging cuz
KK: you started it
BW: yes… two hours ago
KK: well you've always been a night owl
BW: are you out?
KK: depends on your definition of the phrase
BW: funny. everything good?
KK: right as rain
BW: i've never understood that phrase
KK: it's british
BW: of course. when are you back in gotham?
KK: summer
BW: pencil me in. you owe me dinner
KK: for what?
BW: for bailing in december
KK: i didn't bail
BW: you ignored me. a whole month in gotham without a word
KK: fine. but it'll be blue box
BW: as long as you don't make alfred cook it
KK: deal. night cuz
a/n: hi all,
I know, I know. What a positively lame way to end this stupid long chapter, right? Don't worry. It's gonna get good super fast, I promise. Some of this is stage-setting for future chapters that I may or may not ever get around to writing (they'll probably find their way into the 'outtakes' story if I'm honest).
Up next is the penultimate chapter of this flashback term. It'll be posted sometime between now and Friday with the finale coming next weekend (I think).
As always and always, thank you for investing time in this; it means a boat load.
Cheers,
EQT.95