"Check this out!" Luke announced, rolling into Bruce's office and throwing a copy of the Gotham Gazette onto the coffee table next to the napping form of Kate.
Kate jumped at the sound, springing up in surprise and doing a once-over of the space ready to take down whatever threat was looming. Once she realized it was just Luke, her mood turned to a dark scowl of disapproval. "What time is it?"
"It's paper time!" he declared, his smile beaming with excitement.
Kate just stared at him, her glower giving off enough warning that Luke choose his next words carefully.
"It's just after eight."
"Uuugh, which means I'm already late. I need to start setting more alarms," Kate cried, collapsing back onto the couch. "Can you call me in sick? That would reinforce my 'party animal' persona, right?"
"Are you just not going to check out the paper?" Luke asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.
The two were clearly on different levels of 'awake'. Kate begrudgingly leaned forward and slid the paper toward her, examining the headlines.
"Mayor and Wife Celebrate Birth of Twins?"
"What? Oh, no, other side of the fold."
Kate's disinterest gaped back at Luke as she flipped the paper open, revealing the lower half of the front page: Up and Coming Real Estate Mogul Purchases Landmark Locations.
"Isn't it great?!" Luke asked, practically beaming with elation. "We're already getting press around it."
"So this wasn't you?" Kate asked with mild surprise. They had discussed issuing a press release when the deal went through, but that was two weeks ago before everything had officially settled.
"No. I mean, someone had called Monday with questions, but I didn't think they'd go and write a full article about it."
Luke was referring to the three apartment buildings he and Kate had negotiated the purchase of nearly three weeks earlier. All three were owned by the same cash-strapped developer, and Kate's ability to pay all cash up front had accelerated the closure. In a matter of days crews would be working their way through each building to renovate it back to livable conditions before offering them up as affordable housing units.
Kate was excited by the news: it was a small way Kate Kane could do something for the city. Anymore there was a stark contrast between the kind of press Batwoman and Kate received. Batwoman was the city's new hero, taking down crime and improving general morale and trust in the system. Kate Kane was a spoiled bachelorette jumping from bed to bed and painting the town with her over the top partying. Apparently this week she had been 'seen' with a foreign diplomat's daughter on her arm in "an obvious rebound from her heartbreaking split with Angelique".
After weeks of dodging Margaret's persistent invitations to have Angelique and Kate over for dinner, Kate had to inform her that she had broken it off with the French business woman. Luke seemed more upset by the imaginary break up than anyone: he had committed himself to writing a number of follow-up articles about their relationship that would have to be thrown out. Fortunately, he was chock-full of new ideas for Kate's life.
Kate's joy about the news surrounding the building purchases was short-lived as she leaned in to read the article. Instead of honing in on the article about their properties, she instead caught sight of a smaller announcement in the lower left:
Gotham Security and Covert Surveillance Announce Merger
Following many weeks of closed door negotiations, Theodore Wedgewood, the Founder of Gotham Security, has agreed to purchase Covert Surveillance for $165 million in one of Gotham's most unprecedented deals in modern history. As part of the merger, Gotham Security will absorb Covert Surveillance's current infrastructure and adopt three of its five board members. The agreement had been struck nearly two weeks ago but remained on hold until the City of Gotham weighed in on its legality. The approval has permitted both parties to formally announce the deal...
"Have you heard?"
"Uh…" Kate stared back at Sophie quizzically. They had run into each in the kitchen - Kate on her way in for a much needed caffeine injection and Sophie on her way out. Kate's plan of avoiding Sophie was ruined when she had sprung the question on Kate. Not only was it unexpected, her tone carried a familiarity and eagerness Kate hadn't heard from Sophie in the longest time, and for a brief moment, Kate thought she saw the warm side of Sophie come through.
The sharp drop off in their communication hadn't gone unnoticed: anytime the two appeared in a room together, it would conspicuously clear out in minutes for fear of getting caught up in hostile crossfire. They hadn't intentionally spoken outside of the required window of time that was their weekly meeting in over three weeks, and, as much as Kate hated that, she knew it was for the best; Sophie wasn't done being angry with her yet, and Kate wasn't sure that would ever change.
"What? Have you?" Sophie pressed.
A small smile betrayed Kate's practiced stoicism. "Context, Sophie."
Sophie paused, realizing her error before breaking into a grin and shaking her head in self-exasperation. "The - the news about…" she began, glancing around before continuing, "about Gotham Security and Covert Surveillance?"
"Oh, tha-"
"Morning everyone," came a voice from behind Sophie. Sophie's posture turned rigid as she promptly stepped away from Kate, reverting to the familiar cool demeanor Kate had come to know as she turned and watched Renee walk into the kitchen.
"I didn't know they let you out of your cage," Kate remarked, taking the distraction to grab a mug and reach for the pot of coffee.
"Only for full moons and coffee breaks," Renee quipped back, ignoring the critical stare coming from Sophie. "Nice article by the way, Kane."
"Er… thanks, Renee," Kate replied awkwardly, now looking for an opportunity to slip out of the kitchen and get back to her own cage.
Sophie's eyebrows rose with sarcastic wonder. "Another article? What was it this time? Get into another bar fight? Date another princess? Destroy another storefront?"
"I didn't realize you were such a fan," Kate replied, trying to deflect Sophie's accusations.
"Or better yet, rob a bank? I hear the poverty line has dropped - would be in your interest to strike now."
"Gotta replenish those coffers," Kate said, passively playing along with Sophie's new view of her. "Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I've got my own hole to crawl back into."
Sophie watched Kate exit, only realizing when it was too late that she hadn't answered her original question. She cursed herself for letting her frustration get the better of her the one time she actually thought they might find common ground.
The news of the merger had come from Paulie the night before and was confirmed by all the major media outlets that morning. After the night outside the Crow's facility when Kate suggested Cobblepot was up to no good, Sophie decided that, while she didn't yet believe Kate's theory, it would do well to look into it. Instead of revealing to Paulie what Kate had said, she had simply told him she was interested in outsourcing some of the Crows' surveillance jobs and asked him to keep an ear to the ground for useful bits that might help narrow the field.
"I get your deal with old man Jacob, but your problem with Kate makes no sense to me, Soph," Renee observed after Kate left. "She seems pretty cool."
To say Kate's approval rating over the last few weeks had plummeted would be an understatement. Sophie stared back at Renee's comment in surprise.
"It's Sophie, not Soph, and that's because you aren't dealing with the spoiled party animal version who couldn't give a damn about compromise or helping better what we do. She's an intermediary until this audit - your work - is done and we can get back to real assignments. She's been nothing but an obstacle and is no better than Cobblepot is for Gotham."
Renee cocked her head to the side and grinned. "You're cute when you're angry. You're also way off base about Kate."
"Excuse me?" Sophie replied, caught off guard by the remark.
"I said," Renee started, "You're cute when you're angry. You have a severity about you - it's, it's actually quite sexy… I take it back; your reaction was merited - 'cute' was definitely the wrong word."
"And I thought we agreed you'd keep your remarks to a minimum during business hours," Sophie muttered through a blush as she glanced around to confirm their privacy remained.
Instead of backing down, Renee walked over to Sophie, pressing her lips close to her ear. "But where's the fun in that, babe," she whispered, sliding her hand onto Sophie's ass before giving it a light squeeze and walking out of the room, leaving Sophie both speechless and breathless.
Over the last three weeks, Sophie and Renee's proximity had gone from cold and distant to… something more. They had initially worked closely together out of Sophie's distrust of any GCPD handling sensitive Crow information. After two days of hawkishly auditing both Montoya and Azveda, she realized she had no time to do her own work which meant peeling one of them off her plate was necessary. That turned out to be Azeveda. The decision had been easy - Sophie couldn't stand his sexist, xenophobic remarks, so she offered him to Paulie to deal with which left Sophie with Renee. Day three had been cold and business as usual until a short conversation about where to order dinner turned into an hour long banter about Gotham's best take-out spots. This broke the ice, and by day five they were staying late not because of the workload, but because they were enjoying each other's company a little too much.
Sophie found Renee to be quite a resilient spitfire and enjoyed how she would come up with wild theories about various cases that, while implausible, had actually led to uncovering new leads. There was a no-nonsense honesty about how Renee worked that Sophie found compelling, and, after their fifth day together, she found herself wondering why Renee had never considered becoming a Crow.
It was on the second Tuesday, day six, of working together that Renee had been especially provocative in her commentary. She had just discovered the Duela Dent case and was offering vivid details of her theory that Duela was secretly part of a team of former Arkham inmates working together to take down the city using a combination of the Riddler's left-over gadgets and Mr. Freeze's Ice Gun.
Sophie had lost count of the number of eyerolls she'd given Renee that day, but this one topped it: instead of an eyeroll, Sophie was laughing so hard tears were running down her cheeks.
"And how exactly does a sex ring fit into this?" Sophie asked between laughs.
"I figured it was the only way you'd broach the topic."
"The topic?"
"Sex. I'm talking about sex."
"Are you always this direct?" Sophie asked, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Renee smiled and glanced down. "I've been told it's a fault."
"It's not," Sophie responded, "it suits you."
"So then you won't be surprised if I ask you out for a drink," Renee said, a mischievous smirk dancing across her face.
In fact Sophie was surprised, but she liked it - she liked Renee.
"Is that you asking, or should I wait?"
"Oh, yea, shit, I mean, that was me asking. But it didn't really come out as like, a question about drinking - it was more a question about being surpri-"
"I'd like that."
"And so then they moved me to Captain Morgan's precinct, and he's been super great," Renee said, regaling Sophie with her history at the GCPD.
"Captain Morgan? That's his actual name?" Sophie laughed.
"Yea, and don't get me started on how many puns that man tries to make out of it."
Sophie had listened with amazement. Renee was an uncompromising fighter, and her escapades to take down Gotham's worst was awe-inspiring. Sophie was surprised she wasn't either dead or missing.
"So why are you at the GCPD? Why not enlist with the Crows?" Sophie finally asked. It had been on her mind for days, but it felt strange to bring up at work where Renee's job was to objectively review the Crow's work.
Renee broke out in laughter as Sophie stared in confusion. "No offense, but I'm not in this for the elite. I became a cop to help the little guy. Soon enough I'll become Detective and can take on cases that really matter. Crows don't do that - they take on whatever the big dogs pay them to take on."
"That's not true," Sophie challenged. They had danced around this topic for a week, and Sophie was ready to tackle it head on. "Do we have high-profile clients? Yes. But their fees support over seventy percent of our caseload. Nearly forty percent of all cases the Crows take on are pro-bono, and the remainder is at severely reduced rates for those with able but limited income."
Renee looked at Sophie thoughtfully, seeing Sophie's impassioned stance. "Forty percent? Hmm, that surprises me. I, Renee Maria Montoya, will admit it: I am surprised. But, your cute little monologue doesn't excuse the string of raids that have blatant disregard for bystander safety. In the last year, you know how many buildings have been erroneously blown up by the GCPD? Zero. And how many by the Crows?"
"I'm not saying we're saints. And I'm definitely never going to condone those actions as long as I'm Lead Crow. I've already implemented a policy that eliminates any use of explosives on future cases. I can't fix what Jacob Kane did, but I can make sure it doesn't happen again," Sophie replied with an intensity similar to when she appeared in front of the board two weeks back.
Renee was silent in response. She observed Sophie's demeanor. It was impassioned and loyal to her beliefs. It wasn't a set of traits she was used to seeing in people - especially not people who worked for the GCPD.
"I'm going to probably kiss you soon, by the way" Renee said casually.
Sophie nearly choked on her drink in response. She suddenly felt more nervous than she had since… well, since her night at the bar with Kate. She forced down her nerves, trying to give off a casualness she had never mastered. "For someone as direct as you, I'm surprised you didn't just do it," she said, trying to sound indifferent.
"Yea, normally I would, but you've been glancing around the bar ever since we got here, so my guess is this isn't exactly your style. Thought I'd give you the chance to reject me, first."
Sophie glanced at Renee, annoyed that her nervousness was that obvious but also touched that Renee would consider her discomfort with the situation.
"You're almost too astute…" Sophie began, weighing how much to share before finally deciding to go all-in. "I guess… I guess there are two reasons. The first is maybe the most obvious: I'm Lead Crow out having drinks with someone from the GCPD special inspections team. It wouldn't do well to fraternize with someone whose job it is to audit me."
"Oh, I'll audit you," Renee responded with an insinuatingly cheesy grin and raised eyebrow that caused Sophie's cheeks to burn. "Fair point though," Renee continued, bypassing the first remark as though never said. "At the moment though we've kept it professional looking enough, so even if someone we knew did come in, we could pass it off as an after-hours onboarding session. But you're right - I suppose I'll have to take you down some dark alley before I can kiss you proper then."
Sophie was having a hard time not finding Renee's directness and confidence insanely attractive. On a Subconscious level they were the same qualities that had attracted her Kate years ago, and seeing them in someone like Renee was refreshing. For as much as Sophie's role at work demanded an authoritative temperament, she had found Kate's control and decisiveness in their relationship arousing. It was something missing from her relationship with Tyler, but having Renee here and vocally affirming what Sophie was feeling reminded her how impactful it was.
"So, what's reason number two?" Renee asked, pulling Sophie from her thoughts.
"Well… If I'm honest..."
"That's definitely my preferred way of communicating," Renee teased.
Sophie smiled and relaxed slightly. "I've only ever dated one girl, and… and that was years ago. So you might say my experience with women is… limited. And I've only actually just come out, but only to a handful of people, and I-"
"Say no more. I get it. I've been out since high school, but I get it. My last ex came out three months before we started dating, so I'm not new to being with someone fresh off the boat."
Sophie let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in. They'd been at the bar for over three hours but Sophie felt like it had passed in an instant. That had been a common theme over the last week when it came to Renee. She had a lightheartedness about her that Sophie felt relaxed around. The tension from earlier had quickly washed away when they both realized they were fighting for the same thing but in different ways. Renee had grown up on the hardened streets of Gotham and watched the Batman signal from her window at night while Sophie had grown up in Gotham's suburbs, but both saw the deep-seeded distrust the citizens had in law enforcement. Batman had worked for years to rebuild that relationship, but his sudden departure had sent that work spiraling back to a regressed state of distrust. Sophie saw a way to rebalance that from the outside as a Crow while Renee wanted to change it from within the GCPD.
They worked their way from topic to topic - discussing their childhood, their plan for Gotham, and even sports teams. In all of these they found similarities albeit done in their own way: both were top of their class, but while Sophie was attentive and studious, Renee challenged her teachers and frequently ended up in detention for, according to her, "being right."
Everything had been going well until just over an hour into the night the topic of Batwoman was broached. Sophie was taken aback to learn Renee did not endorse Batwoman's antics. When Sophie pressed Renee for an explanation, she pointed out that Batwoman had made no attempt to coordinate with the GCPD, and, more than that, she didn't like the idea of another symbol of hope being taken from the city of Gotham.
"It just feels like she's in it for the wrong reasons," Renee reasoned. "With Batman, I always knew he was there to protect everyone, but it feels like Batwoman chooses her battles differently - like there's an agenda. She's been more interested in trying to call out GCPD for all of its corrupt actions than letting the GCPD build it from the inside out. Now all the people of Gotham see is a symbol pointing at the badge and saying 'they're the bad guys'."
Sophie stayed mostly silent, unsure how to navigate the conversation without revealing too much about her workings with Batwoman. She disagreed with Renee but found some of her points informing. She hadn't considered how the tone of Batwoman cleaning house could impact the public's view of the GCPD. To her, Batwoman was doing the city a favor, but where she saw good, others might not. Instead of challenging Renee's opinions, she chose the silent route, letting the conversation transition to something lighter.
Renee polished off the rest of her drink before turning to Sophie, "so, what now? Happy hour ended… mmm, about two hours ago."
"Oh, uh - well, it's getting late… we should probably call it a nigh-"
"Oh, Moore, that was a trick question" Renee interrupted. "My place is a block from here."
That night at Renee's had been over a week ago, and every other night since had been at Sophie's. After leaving Renee's place that first morning, she found herself second guessing her decision: Renee was a special inspector as part of the Crow-wide audit. If anyone found out or suspected Sophie was in bed with someone from the team sent to review their company, it would spell disaster for her career and the future of the company. She spent the walk to her place and then to work preparing her speech to tell Renee the night before had been amazing but couldn't happen again. When Renee arrived to work that morning, Sophie had called her into her office, ready to give her talk but instead Renee came barreling in with ten reasons why they shouldn't stop seeing each other.
Sophie sat through each reason, listening to Renee's impassioned argument slowly running out of reasons to say no, and after months of uncertainty and back and forth with Kate, she felt a sense of belonging with Renee that made her feel grounded in the world.
"Sophie, I'm talking to you."
The frustrated voice came from Kate who had arrived in Sophie's office asking why Sophie had bailed on their weekly meeting for the second week in a row. Kate's annoyance was evident.
"Right. Didn't we move that?" Sophie asked, feigning ignorance as she tried to come up with a more legitimate excuse. She hadn't meant to bail again, but all of her recent… distractions… had her forgetting some of the most basic things.
Sophie watched Kate roll her eyes from the doorway. "I get that this isn't how you'd like to spend your time, Sophie, but like I said before, this isn't up to you or me. I'll cover for you this week, but you need to get it together by Monday, or the board is going to step in with their own measures," Kate said before leaving, slamming the door behind her.
"What about Sophie?" Luke asked, "she might be able to help us track down some of them."
Luke was referring to a new batch of patients that had recently been released from Arkham. Thanks to their stolen files, they could trace every single one of them back to Dr. Butler, and they were brainstorming ways to fast track locating them.
Luke looked expectantly at Kate who had fallen quiet at the mention of Sophie. This had become a theme of hers, and Luke had already started wondering if there was more to it than Kate was letting on.
"Kate?"
"Yea, that's an option," Kate replied half-heartedly. "I'm sure we could do a lot of the legwork ourselves, though. No need to bring in a third party."
"There are ten new releases. You want the two of us to try doing this work ourselves? We have renovations to oversee and you have a full time gig with the Cro-"
"I know that Luke," Kate cut in. The two stared at each other, unspeaking for a minute as they both weighed their next words. After weeks of this, Luke was experienced enough now to know the topic of Sophie struck a nerve with Kate, but he still didn't know why.
"You gotta let me in, Kate. I don't know what's going on, but this doesn't work if you aren't honest with me."
Kate sighed, knowing Luke was right. She had lost track of the number of times Luke suggested reaching out to Sophie only to have Kate shoot it down. First it was because Kate couldn't imagine facing Sophie after what she did to her weeks ago, but now it was because Kate was afraid Sophie's latest revelation held some truth to it. After Sophie had alluded to Kate in private that she was tracking Batwoman, Kate struggled with how to handle it. She had weighed the pros and cons of telling Luke earlier, but had hoped to gather actual evidence before presenting him with the possibility that Sophie wasn't the ally they thought she was. Instead, she had been stonewalled in all of her efforts which only reinforced her worry that Sophie couldn't be trusted.
"A couple weeks ago, I was confronting Sophie about her working with Batwoman," Kate began. "It was meant to be a test - to make sure Sophie would stay vigilant about how she did or didn't mention Batwoman, but… but she said something that didn't sit right with me… normally I can read Sophie, but that day - that conversation..."
"What did she say?" Luke pressed, his imagination running wild with speculation.
"I think there's a chance she's working with my dad to uncover Batwoman's identity."
Luke collapsed back into his chair. He stared thoughtfully for a moment, trying to grapple with this revelation. "And you're sure?"
"I'm not not sure, which has me unsure enough to be sure until… well, until there's evidence that I can be sure about being unsure."
Luke nodded, understanding Kate's noncommittal gibberish.
"I take it this is off the record?"
"That's my read on it. I've only got high-level access to the Crows' server, so even if it is on the record, I won't find it. One bit that has me thinking you're right is that she said the GCPD is running a similar investigation and Jacob doesn't want information leaked to their network just yet."
"The GCPD, too? Shit, Kate."
"I know," Kate replied, watching him mentally go through the same scenarios she had spent the last weeks analyzing.
"What if we tested her?" Luke offered, noting Kate's critical face before quickly continuing. "Think about it, she might have been trying to get you off her back, and this was her best option. What if we play out a few situations, and if she passes those, maybe we can trust her."
"If she passes, maybe we can trust her? Luke, I've known you to be hedgy, but you aren't giving me much confidence."
"She said a minute after reinventing the word," Luke countered.
"Ha ha," Kate mocked in reply. "So how do you propose we do this then, Mr. Ideas?"
"I'm not trying to pick a fight, I just genuinely don't understand what your deal is with her. You're able to get along with some of the most pompous aresholes at your job, but the moment Kate walks in the room, it literally drops five degrees."
Sophie's head poked up from behind the counter. "Figuratively," Sophie corrected, before returning to the task of filling the dishwasher. It was late, and they'd just finished up dinner and a movie when Renee brought up the morning's incident in the Crow's kitchen.
"No, babe, I mean literally. I've never seen anyone shoot ice out of her eyes, but somehow you've done it. Mr. Freeze would be jealous if he knew."
"It's complicated," Sophie replied, not wanting to have this discussion again.
"Yes, 'it's complicated'. We all know it's complicated, but just because she's Jacob's daughter doesn't mean she's a completely horrible wretch. I mean, today's paper is a shining example of that."
"Again with the article, Renee? You talk about it like she's some saint!" Sophie shouted, her last ounce of tolerance for the day being depleted. She hadn't read the article, but hearing Renee make yet another reference to it was the tipping point.
A silence rang through the apartment. Renee understood she had overstepped, sensing that the last thing Sophie wanted to do after a full day of work was be psychoanalyzed for her opinion of someone who, to Sophie, existed only to make her life a living nightmare.
"I'm sorry," Renee said, walking up behind Sophie, interrupting the pan she was washing. Renee wrapped her arms around Sophie's waist and rested her head against her shoulder. "I just don't like that she gets you all worked up. It's like she has this power over you, Soph."
"Sophie," she corrected tersely.
"Right… sorry," Renee replied defeatedly.
Sophie remained silent and unwavering against Renee's warmth. There were two reasons for it: the first was that she was genuinely irritated that this was the third time Renee had pressed the topic of her and Kate's work relationship. The second was that she hadn't been completely honest with Renee about who Kate was to her, and that ate at her. Parts of their history had been shared, yes, but in all instances, certain facts were blanketed from truth.
Renee knew Kate was Jacob's daughter and that they had been at Point Rock together. She also knew Sophie's first and only girlfriend was a student from Point Rock, but Sophie had never connected the dots. Instead, she let Renee draw her own conclusions that the two were mutually exclusive.
In turn, Sophie had spent the last week convincing herself she was keeping it a secret out of worry about Renee's reaction if she found out the one person that could unwind Sophie was also her ex-girlfriend. In the back of her mind she knew this wasn't entirely truthful either.
"It's fine," Sophie finally said. "And you're right. I shouldn't let it bother me so much."
She turned around to face Renee trying to hide the worry on her face.
"All right," Renee said, "I'm off to bed. This face needs all the beauty rest it can get!"
Sophie's face broke into a smile at this, allowing Renee to pump her fist in success.
"Ha, see! Self-deprecation always works," she teased before reaching up and giving Sophie's cheek a kiss. "Join me?"
"In a bit," she replied.
"Suit yourself, but just know you're gonna miss out on all of this," she said, dramatically gesturing to herself.
Sophie watched Renee strut into the bedroom, imagining curling up next to her before nodding off, but her restlessness wouldn't let that thought linger long. The last few weeks wore heavy on her mind, and the one thing Sophie was no good at was compartmentalizing work from her free time.
She looked around at the flat, trying to find a distraction until she was too tired to keep going when her eyes settled on the bar cart. It held a rarely used set of bottles she had collected over the years. She had established early in her childhood that a true sign of being an adult was to have a bar cart. As a kid she remembered visiting her grandparents, and set proudly in the corner of their living room was one with modest offerings. There was nothing high end about it, but Sophie's grandfather would always offer it up to passing guests. It had been cemented in her that being able to do the same was what being an adult was, so she had bought one when shortly after moving into her first apartment after graduation.
Sophie wandered over to it, surveying the partially used beverages before her eyes settled on a recently opened bottle. It had been intended as a graduation gift for Kate four years earlier, but after things between them quickly dissolved, it had unwittingly been left as a strange souvenir of their relationship. Instead of getting rid of it, she lugged it around with her year after year, apartment after apartment. At one point Tyler had wondered aloud why she even had it if she didn't like it. It wasn't that Sophie didn't like it: after years of trying it, Sophie had grown to appreciate the smoky slap that came with the whisky, but opening it without Kate never felt like an option. Then came the fateful night all those weeks ago when the opportunity to break the seal came.
She walked back to the couch, collapsing on it with a sigh and a pour of the whisky. She contemplated throwing on the news when a copy of the Gotham Gazette caught her eye. She didn't subscribe to it, but Renee read it religiously. To Sophie, the writing was inconsistent and downright unreliable; she'd lost track of the number of mis-reportings about Crow cases.
She glanced back at the bedroom door, listening for any sound that Renee might still be up and about. When she felt confident Renee was soundly tucked in, Sophie grabbed the stack of paper. It didn't take long to find the article - it's front page placement made it hard to miss: Up and Coming Real Estate Mogul Purchases Landmark Locations.
"Of course," she muttered to herself, imagining the high-end real estate Kate had acquired before delving into the article.
She continued reading with an air of skepticism, waiting for her assumptions to be proven right. Instead, it took less than a minute before she found herself speechless. The article immediately dove into the history of the sites, elaborating on the ambitious plans by the previous developer to usher in a new age of real estate that would effectively gentrify poorer neighborhoods of Gotham, but the sudden disappearance of Batman and the ensuing riots left the sites empty and barren for years. Cue Kate Kane and her inherited fortunes: not only was she buying up the properties to renovate them, she was doing it at a loss. The cost of the land, existing structure, and speculative repair costs would never be offset by the rent income because the intent was to offer them up as rent-controlled units:
Ms. Kane was unable to comment for the article, but her business partner, Luke Fox, confirmed Gotham's findings, citing plans to begin renovations once necessary construction permits were approved.
The article was less than 500 words in total, but in those few short paragraphs, Sophie's world felt turned upside down. Not quite believing it, she reread every word of it again, and then, after taking a sip from her glass, read it a third time. She had spent the last three weeks convinced that Kate had become the worst version of herself: a partying, money-focused shell of a person looking out for the interests of the politically minded and power-hungry. She had squelched any idea that Kate's motives were to benefit Gotham, but this piece jarred all of that thinking.
She stared at the paper, reflecting on what she'd just read when she saw the merger announcement between Gotham Security and Covert Surveillance. Gotham Gazette would have been better off printing in massive block letters TOLD YOU SO. She felt the stinging sensation at the corners of her eyes, and she blinked the looming tears back in frustration. After weeks of back and forth, she had all but given up on Kate, convincing herself that she wasn't the person she'd once been in love with. Now, all of those feelings of anger, annoyance, frustration, and disappointment were converging into feelings of surprise, doubt, and regret. She had let her pride get the better of her, stubbornly rejecting any evidence that Kate was still the same supportive figure she'd come to know her as. Now all Sophie could do was hope she was just as forgiving, realizing she'd be chowing down on a big plate of Crow the next morning.
Batwoman landed on the familiar terrace for the first time in weeks. Her communication with Sophie had, like Kate, also stymied, but mostly out of precaution: Kate wasn't willing to risk her identity being revealed if Sophie really was working with her dad. She would regularly think back to their previous meet-ups and try recalling any specific information that may be clues to her identity. Nothing obvious came to mind, but that didn't mean anything: she had grown relaxed and reckless around Sophie. That meant a forgettable slip of the tongue could be the difference between keeping Batwoman's identity a secret or not.
For this trip, she came equipped with a curated script. Her and Luke had spent the evening strategizing how to keep the conversation social but controlled. Unfortunately for Kate, her arrival at Sophie's was marked by Luke telling her he needed to sign off. An alarm had just gone off at one of their properties and, not yet having security set up, that meant the task was left to them to deal with. This also meant he wouldn't be in her ear guiding the conversation should it fall off the rails.
Part of her was excited to be there. She missed Sophie, and, aside from the obviously looming threat of her or Jacob figuring out who Batwoman was, the thought of seeing her sent butterflies flurrying. The last few weeks had been hard to handle; Sophie and Kate were both stubborn, especially when it came to each other, but even in that there wasn't much they couldn't work through. This time was different though. Kate's job, whether Sophie accepted it or not, was to play the role of Cobblepot's ally. That meant doing things that Sophie felt were invasive or undermined her authority as Lead Crow. If Kate did anything less than appear compliant with Cobblepot, a more reliable board member would swoop in and take on the direct oversight which would have very real consequences for Sophie and the task force.
Kate had tried explaining this to Sophie twice, but both times it dissolved into a fighting match over Kate's lack of honesty and trust. It wasn't like Sophie to hold a grudge for this long - Kate had recalled their longest fight lasting weeks in their first year, but that was more to do with Kate refusing to admit she was wrong than Sophie's refusal to forgive. Kate knew her mistake in kissing Sophie was holding lasting consequences for their relationship.
She shook herself from her thoughts, beginning to also feel the all-too familiar sense of dread that came with loitering on Sophie's terrace slowly creeping into the anticipated conversation.
Since Luke had begun tracking the latest releases from Dr. Butler's list of patients, he had discovered one ongoing thread: no one from their group of friends or families had been notified of their releases. In fact, no one had even heard from the patients following their releases. Luke's undercover work was limited given his means, but if the Crows were able to reach out to the respective families and get approval to open a case, they could progress the investigation exponentially. That's what Kate was here to try getting Sophie to agree to.
"What are you doing here?" came a whisper from the terrace door. Kate watched the shadow of Sophie exit the apartment onto the outdoor space.
"I was… is that La-?" Kate began before catching herself. Sophie had emerged dressed in her old Point Rock sweatshirt clutching a glass of whisky, and Kate momentarily forgot it wasn't years earlier.
"Is that 'what'?" Sophie asked, still whispering but now looking at Batwoman with added perplexion. She hadn't seen Batwoman in weeks, and their phone communication had been limited to minute-long excuses from Batwoman that she hadn't uncovered any new information. Now she stood unplanned and unannounced on her terrace.
"Nothing. Sorry," Kate began a little too forcefully, "I know this wasn't planned, but I wanted to-"
"Can you keep your voice down?" Sophie said suddenly. It was then that Kate noticed Sophie hadn't stopped glancing back toward the interior.
"Does Sophie Moore have a guest?" Kate teased.
Kate expected Sophie to roll her eyes or throw out a sarcastic remark, but instead Kate watched Sophie hesitate in uncertainty as she silently opened and closed her mouth, at a clear loss for words. She looked like a deer in the headlights, trapped between fleeing and coming clean.
"Oh…" was all Kate could respond with.
Kate Kane had spent her life adapting and training for every obstacle and risk she could think of, but not once did that include preparing for the gut-punch she had just taken by Sophie Moore's silence. She was not prepared for this, and an indescribable tightness tugged at her chest as she watched Sophie continue to flounder for words.
"It's… it's new," Sophie said, still searching for how to justify someone in her bed to Batwoman. She didn't owe her an explanation for her personal life, but she suddenly felt the need to apologize - for what exactly, she wasn't sure. For not telling her sooner? For having someone else at all?
"You don't need to explain," Kate interjected, trying to smile while suddenly wanting to get as far away from the apartment as possible. She felt claustrophobic and confused. Of course she would move on, she scolded herself. It made sense, but Kate couldn't comprehend logic. Instead, she felt like her heart was racing a mile an hour and simultaneously splitting in two. "I'm sorry - I'll go. We can… this - we can do this another time."
Disoriented, Kate felt an emptiness take over followed by a wave of emotion that quickly translated into tears. Sophie looked like she might disagree but instead nodded silently. Her look of discomfort made Kate want to leave even faster. She silently turned away not wanting to risk Sophie catch sight of the first tear fall.
"See you around, Sophie," she called, trying to keep her voice clear as she shot her grappling hook toward an adjacent building, not daring to look back.
a/n: oofta, this was a heavy one to write, but it had to be done. Here's to some brighter days ahead?
- EQT.95
