Chapter 13: Adventures in House Hunting

"Thanks for doing this with me." Kara smiled gratefully at Laurel. "Moira had a meeting she couldn't get out of and with Thea and Kal at school – it's hard enough doing this on my own."

Laurel waved her off. "Think nothing of it. I know how frustrating the housing market in Starling can be, even if you have enough money to skimp out on offers in the Glades. I had similar issues when I went apartment hunting during my college years." The two women continued to converse until the housing agent, a middle-aged woman wearing business casual attire, appeared, carrying with her a ring of golden and silver keys.

"Miss Danvers." she held out her hand, which Kara took. She then held out her hand to Laurel. "And you must be Miss Lance. Miss Danvers told me you would be coming here today in place of the Queens."

Laurel grasped the offered courtesy firmly, nodding. "Yes. Moira had business to take care of and Thea is attending school today."

The housing agent nodded. "Very well then. You may call me Miss Mericle." she turned back to Kara. "Now, Miss Danvers, I know you have not enjoyed the last few homes we have visited over the last few weeks, but I can assure you that today, you'll find something that you will like. Here, for example." She gestured to the door, then fished through the ring of keys until she found the correct one. She inserted the key, and with a click! the door opened.

When Kara and Laurel first entered the condo, they first thing they noticed was the wide, open space of the living room. "That's a lot of space." the lawyer commented.

The Kryptonian hummed in agreement. "Good. Kal-El needs a place where he can move a lot." She peered into the kitchen, taking note of the appliances and utilities. "Are these solid brands?"

Laurel walked into the kitchen herself, surveying the logos. "Pretty solid. Granted, I don't cook often, but a quick google search should –" she stopped speaking as a very familiar smell wafted into the room.

Kara, also noticing the scent, wrinkled her nose. "What smell is that?"

"You don't want to know." Laurel grimaced. "Miss Mericle! We're ready for the next place!" She called out as she started shoving Kara back towards the door.

"Laurel?" Kara asked, perplexed.

"One of the downsides of working in the Glades is that you're familiar with smells you really don't want to be familiar with."

From the corner of her eye, the former castaway saw a shifty-looking man leave from the condo next door, coughing and sputtering. "I see."

"I see you still haven't finished your food, Oliver." Malcolm Merlyn remarked to his godson, observing the large slab of meat still present on Oliver's plate. The Queen scion, in the middle of cutting another piece of steak, paused momentarily.

"After the island, you tend to savor things like food a little bit more." Oliver admitted.

Malcolm gave a short nod. "I would imagine so. Living years without them makes a person more appreciative of the finer things in life."

Oliver grinned. "You sound like you're talking from experience, Uncle Malcolm."

Malcolm smiled coolly. "Maybe I am. And perhaps, one day, I'll tell you all about it, godson."

"I look forward to it." Oliver replied, sounding genuine.

Just then, Tommy appeared from his short trip to the bathroom, plopping back down into his seat. "I'm back! Did I miss anything?"

His father schooled his expression into something more benign. "Nothing you need to worry about, Tommy." he turned back to the other member of their dining party. "So, Oliver, now that the GED exams are over and done with, do you have an idea on what you plan to do with your free time?"

"We don't know if I passed yet, Uncle Malcolm." Oliver responded humbly.

Malcolm shook his head flippantly. "Nonsense! Of course, you did. You're a smart young man, Oliver, and you and Kara and I have no doubt Barry as well all studied hard over the last month and a half. Those exams must have been a piece of cake for you three."

They were, but Oliver refused to admit that. He was playing a role, and that meant not letting anyone outside of his inner circle how smart he really was. Instead, he gave a small chuckle. "I wouldn't go that far, but I will admit that they were easier than I thought they were going to be. And as for plans – well, I'm debating starting a business."

"A business?" Malcolm leaned forward, as did Tommy, who was watching the exchange uncomfortably. "What kind of business?"

"Kara and I were thinking of partnering up and starting an affordable shopping center in the Glades. The old family steel mill is still there, abandoned, and well…"

Malcolm smiled, careful to hide the strain. "Ambitious. And thoughtful as well. I'm glad to see you taking such initiative like this." he praised his godson.

Unbeknownst to both Oliver and Malcolm, Tommy was observing and listening, frowning heavily when he heard his father compliment his best friend.

Dad had never said anything like that to me before. He thought, green-eyed.

Laurel and Kara stood in the middle of the entranceway, staring.

"Are those raccoons?"

Barry smirked. Caitlin and Cisco glared back.

"What? No hello?"

Caitlin huffed. "I don't greet murderers."

Barry shrugged. "I am what I am. And considering that I work here now, you'd better get used to working with a murderer." Granted, you already have, even if you haven't realized it yet.

Cisco walked up to him, shaking slightly but trying not to show it. Barry noticed his slight trembling, but didn't comment, admiring his courage. "Look, Edward Cullen, I don't care if you're a blood sucker – you try anything with me or her, and super speed or not, I will lay your ass out." he threatened.

Barry ignored the threat, and looked confusedly at his aggressor. "Who's Edward Cullen?" he asked.

Silence.

Both Cisco and Caitlin blinked, forgetting the tension in the room. "You don't know who Edward Cullen is?"

"Nope." Barry shook his head.

"The dude from Twilight?" Cisco hedged.

Now it was Barry's turn to blink. "What's Twilight?"

"You don't know what Twilight is?" Caitlin questioned, both aghast and slightly jealous he had no such knowledge.

"You guys do know I spent the last ten years stranded on an island, away from modern civilization, right?" Barry interrogated back. When he got no response, he clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Your boss didn't bother to tell you why exactly I didn't have so much as a high school diploma?"

"You're telling me you've missed out on ten years of pop culture?" Cisco demanded, sounding legitimately horrified.

Barry, slightly befuddled, slowly nodded.

Cisco threw his hands into the air. "Alright. This is greatest travesty I have ever seen in my life. We must remedy this immediately. Caitlin." he snapped his head towards his best friend, who jumped slightly. "Prep the monitor. I've got a cache of DVDs and my laptop of bootlegged movies stored in my lab." With that, he turned away, heading out of the Cortex.

Barry watched him leave, before turning back to the other occupant of the room. "What just happened?" he asked, puzzled.

Caitlin shrugged, before moving towards the monitor.

"Are you sure we won't be having any issues with this one?" Laurel pleaded Miss Mericle.

The woman nodded, completely immune to the disgruntled mood of her client and her client's friend. "Positive. This condo has been left virtually untouched for the last six months. There should be no issues."

Slightly apprehensive, Kara turned the door knob. Laurel and she were relieved to see that there were no raccoons and the smell of the condo was stale but not unpleasantly so. The two women looked around.

"Lots of space like the first one." Kara noted first.

"State of the art appliances." Laurel continued.

"Hardwood floors."

"White, solid walls, so you can decorate however you want."

"Beautiful view of the city." Kara pointed to the large, sliding doors, windows that led out to the balcony.

Laurel began to smile. "So far, so good. Let's look at the –"

SLAM!

"WHO DARES TO INVADE MY HOLY KINGDOM! THE GREAT LOMBARGO DEMANDS IT!"

Both women sighed. "MISS MERICLE!"

"We really must do this again sometime." Malcolm commented as the three men exited the restaurant.

"Agreed. In fact, we can do it next week, with a whole bunch of other people." Oliver responded as they made their way towards the Merlyns' car, where their personal driver was waiting.

Tommy looked at him, following his train of thought. "Thanksgiving?"

"Yes. Barry and his family are coming, along with the Lances." Tommy perked up at that. "Didn't you two already get your invites from Mom and Dad?" Oliver inquired.

"Just yesterday." Tommy confirmed.

"Robert must've forgotten to tell me the last time we talked." Malcolm lied smoothly. In reality, he hadn't been personally invited to the Queens for any family occasions in several years – he was just expected to show up to keep appearances.

Oliver smiled. "Well, here's the invitation from me. We're celebrating Thanksgiving next week, with a traditional dinner and afterwards, some karaoke. I, as a representative of the Queen family, would be delighted if you could join us."

"Happily." Malcolm smiled back, a calculating glint in his eye.

"So, he's a vampire." Barry established.

"Yup."

"Who sparkles."

"Yup."

"…What kind of vampire sparkles!?" Barry challenged incredulously.

Cisco threw his hands into the air once more. "Thank you. I wonder that myself, almost as much as I wonder how in the hell this became a popular film series."

Barry looked at him disbelievingly. "Why do you even have this film on your hard drive, then? From the sound of it, it looks like you hate it."

The mechanical engineer held his hands in front of him in defense. "Hey, I pride myself on being culturally relevant, and it was either watch the movie, or read the book. And from what I hear, the latter is much worse."

"This crap is based on a book?" The speedster queried, shocked.

"Yes." Caitlin interjected, sounding pained. "And let me tell you that it is the most pathetic excuse of literature I have ever read in my entire life. I knew I should've never taken that bet."

Cisco patted her arm sympathetically.

Dr. Harrison Wells watched the feed from within the Time Vault, amused. They seem to be bonding nicely. He looked at another monitor, which showed a sparkling Edward and Bella.

I can see why France banned that movie seventy years from now. He shuddered. And why the books were burned en masse here in the States.

Some stories were not meant to be passed down through the centuries. Twilight was one of them.

"Last one?" Kara asked her housing agent tiredly.

Miss Mericle, as unruffled as she was this morning, nodded. "Last one."

Kara, deciding enough was enough and cheated, looking at the condo with her x-ray vision. No lifeforms, at least.

Laurel was the one who took the plunge this time, carefully opening the door.

Sunlight blasted both women.

It was clean, thankfully. The air was crisp, with no disagreeable scents pervading their senses. It was just as spacious as the other condos, with a large living room, connected to two other rooms and a balcony that held a gorgeous view of the heart of Starling City. Kara and Laurel walked in, encouraged by their first impressions. One room, the masters, was also very open, and even connected to a personal bathroom. The other room was relatively sizable as well, and right across from another bathroom.

"This place is nice. Really nice." Kara commented when she and Laurel met back up in the living room.

Laurel lightly slapped the side of her thigh. "And not too far from Balliol Prep either."

"Or from Starling City's premier shopping center." Miss Mericle interposed as she walked forward, looking expectantly at Kara.

The Kryptonian gazed at her, pleased.

"What's the asking price?"

And now, Kara and Kal have a home.

For the record, I don't have anything personal against Twilight, it's just low-hanging fruit, aka easy to mock. I did watch the first movie (a long time ago) and it was decent for what it was. I tried reading the book, but I couldn't make it pass a hundred pages. Not because of the allegedly bad plot mind you – Stephanie Meyer's writing just bored me a lot. I can see why ATOS had it on a fourth-grade level.

This is mostly a filler chapter, as you can see. Next chapter is Thanksgiving, where everyone meets everyone (again), along with the entry of a particular character I think you all will be happy to see.