A/N: So I'm gonna try and keep this brief, but all I really wanted to say this time was thank you.
Thank you, dear readers.
When I started writing this, I didn't expect more than, maybe, five people to read this. But in a stunning turn of events, almost TWENTY of you guys follow this story, and that just blows my mind. You guys are why I decided to stick with this story and not give it up like so many other passing hobbies. I love writing this story, and I look forward to hearing what you guys think. So if you could leave a review, that would be awesome, just so I can not only get feedback, but I really enjoy responding with the fans of my story.
Now. with that out of the way.
ON TO MORE CRIMINAL LESBIAN ANTICS!
Weiss sat next to Red in the black convertible as they zipped through the streets of Naples. They had spent the last week meeting with Red's different contacts and gathering some last minute recon on Ironwood Engineering. Blake and Yang hadn't been kidding when they said Red had contacts everywhere. They had spoken to all kinds of individuals; from certain members of the slums who were on the janitorial staff happy to lend Red their keys for the day in order to make copies, to rivals of the private security firm who were more than happy to reveal details about security shifts and when and where patrols were, to members of upper management who were easily convinced to give up details about current projects while simultaneously having their ID pickpocketed and copied on card scanner strapped to Weiss's arm.
They had even managed to find time to go shopping to find Weiss some appropriate clothes, Red insisting on getting her several pairs of skinny jeans and shorts to show off her legs.
Legs that are pretty damn svelte, by the way. She thought as she remembered the way Red had trouble keeping her eyes up as they made their way out of the store with a smile. Something about being able to attract the attention of the normally hyperactive girl, and the somewhat hungry look in her eyes had sent sparks tingling up and down Weiss's body before pooling in her lower abdomen. Even thinking about it now, three days later, made her inexplicably giddy with excitement.
It turned out that Red was exactly what Weiss had needed after the hellish month she had spent at her father's house. She understood that Weiss needed her space and freely gave it to her. But as soon as the loneliness or memories of the past threatened to crush, Red reappeared with a joke or some childish antic or even just to sit next to her and offer silent comfort and company.
"We're almost there!" Red shouted over the wind as it rushed passed the girls' ears.
Weiss didn't reply but instead nodded and turned to examine the girl who had, almost effortlessly, worked her way into Weiss's heart, securing the position of her best friend, and, if she was completely honest with herself, maybe something more. Not that she would ever admit that to herself. The occasional throbbing from the left side of her face ensured that.
They zoomed around a sharp turn and Red whooped, drawing Weiss's attention back to the con-woman.
En lieu of the ratty clothes she had worn when they visited the slums, Red was garbed in clothes that almost looked like they came out of Weiss's personal closet back at her father's house. She wasn't wearing a single article clothing that cost less than a hundred dollars. From the designer sunglasses and sandals, to the silk blouse and expensive pants, Weiss could now see how Red had placed her for a rich girl so quickly when they first met.
Oddly enough, though the clothes she was wearing now were of a far better caliber, in both materials and design, to the ratty hoodie and jeans the girl normally wore, Weiss preferred her friend to look like a hoodlum instead one of those prissy rich girls she had seen at her father's events. Sure, Red could pull off the designer clothes look, especially when in character, but she truly looked at home in that silly oversized sweater of hers and was where, to Weiss, her beauty truly shone.
The car came to a stop and Weiss turned to read the sign on the front of the building in front of her.
Kensington Country Club.
"Alright, we're here." Red said, taking the keys out of the ignition before opening her door and exiting the vehicle.
"Your contact works at a country club?"
"Nope, Coco's a member."
They made their way into the club and Red flashed the employee working the front desk some sort of ID and, without a word, they were both whisked away to the pool out back. Before leaving the man informed them that his name was Ricardo and that if they needed anything, they need simply ask. Upon hearing his name Red flawlessly switched to Spanish and asked the man for a glass of wine for both her and Weiss.
After receiving their drinks, the man left them and they made their way around the pool deck, keeping a safe distance from the pool itself to keep dry. "Who exactly did he think you were?" Weiss asked as Red took a sip of her wine. She lowered her glass and licked her lips slowly, inciting yet another face-burning blush in the heiress, before answering.
"I may or may not have revealed that I'm a Scandinavian duchess." She said with a smile. "Now, other than English, what languages can you speak?"
"Why do want to know?" Weiss asked.
"Just answer the question."
"Let's see: Spanish, Mandarin, German, and some rough Italian. Why?"
"Alright, Italian. That's good."
They were about halfway around the massive swimming pool, and before Weiss could ask any more questions, a loud squeal was heard and a brown blur barreled past her and tackled Red.
"Mademoiselle Adalise!"
Attached to Red was a girl with chocolate brown hair who looked to be about a year or two older than Weiss. Red laughed and hugged her back before planting a kiss on both her cheeks.
"Bonjour, Coco. Comment ca va?" Red asked in what sounded like perfect French.
"Bien, mais J'suis pretes a retourner chez moi. Velvet me manque." Now that Weiss got a good look at her, she was impressed by the girl's beauty, her short, wavy brown hair framing her face perfectly, and the two piece bikini showing off a nearly flawless body. Yet for some reason, seeing her so close to Red, holding her, and chatting amicably in a language she couldn't understand, made the silver haired woman uneasy. She decided that the quicker Red got her information and left, the better.
"Malheureusement ma amie nous comprend pas. Pourion nous changer a l'Italien?"
"Of course!" Coco said in flawless Italian before turning to Weiss, "Hello, I'm Coco."
"I'm Weiss, forgive me, my Italian is a little rough."
"Nonsense! It sounds fine to me!" Coco then reached out and grabbed Weiss's arms, then kissed her on both cheeks, leaving the heiress very flustered. "Looks like I still have a way with the ladies" Coco said before laughing.
"Your powers of seduction are unmatched Coco," Red said before putting a comforting hand on Weiss's back. "Unfortunately I'm here for business, not pleasure. Do you have anything on Ironwood Engineering?"
Coco's smile faltered slightly, but never left her face. "I do, in fact. You know that James Ironwood never leaves his office in London, right? Well, apparently the reason he's coming down here is that the American board of directors are going to be attempting a hostile takeover, and Ironwood is desperate to get whatever heavy hitter he can into his corner to take on the board." Red listened intently before answering.
"Thank you Coco. I wish we could stay longer," Red's eyes flicked over to Weiss for the briefest of moments, "but Weiss and I have work to do. I'll try to visit you back home when I get the chance." She then got up and grabbed Weiss's hand, pulling the heiress behind her. "Give Velvet my love!" She called as she dragged the heiress out of the country club and into the car.
Red was silent throughout the whole car ride back to Miami. They arrived at the resort and before Weiss could open her mouth, she shot out of the car towards her cabana. Grumbling, Weiss undid her own seat belt and ran after the younger woman. She passed Yang and Blake who were sitting cuddled together on a small couch, watching the sunset.
"Heya Weiss! What's the rush?" Yang said, waving the heiress over.
"Ask your sister, we went got back from meeting one of her contacts and she bolted from the car and into her cabana."
"Oh, she must need to do some research or something. Best to leave her for a while." Blake said, readjusting herself so that she was laying in Yang's arms. "Why don't you join us for a little while?"
"Yeah, we could always use a third when enjoying a romantic sunset on the beach." Yang said sarcastically
"Quiet down, I'll make it up to you later." Blake said suggestively.
"Deal." Yang then placed a quick kiss on Blake's lips before turning her head to face Weiss. "So, Weiss, how's it going with my little sis?"
It took her a second to respond, for she was still trying to process the little display she had just seen. In less than a minute, Yang and Blake had done just about everything her father had enforced her not to. "Fine. We worked everything out and had a little heart-to-heart."
"That's good," Blake said. "Red has seemed a lot happier recently, it's good to see she has another person she can call her friend."
"Oh please, Blakey. With the way she gushes about Weiss, it sounds more like she desperately wants in the Ice Queen's pants."
"Wh-what?!" Weiss screeched, face glowing red.
"Yang, behave." Blake said sternly. "What goes on between those two is their business."
Weiss spluttered as she tried to string together enough words to make a sentence, causing both girls to burst out laughing.
"Oh, you should see the look on your face right now, Weiss!" Yang said between fits of laughter. Weiss glared at the pair as she waited for them to calm down. After several minutes of laughter they finally managed to calm down. "But seriously, I dunno what it is she sees in you, but it's nice to know that she has someone there for her."
"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked. "Red has plenty of friends." She struggled to keep the contempt out of her voice as a certain brown-haired French girl came to mind.
"Not really, no." Blake replied in a sobering tone. Upon Weiss's look of confusion she continued. "You've been with her for almost all of her meet-ups with her contacts over the past week or so, right?" Weiss nodded. "And have any of them called her by name? Or even called her Red?"
Weiss thought back to the meetings with all of Red's different contacts. The younger woman had been addressed with a different name for almost every person they met. Even that inexplicably irritating brunette had used one of the con woman's many pseudonyms when speaking to her.
"That's what I thought," Blake's voice brought Weiss back to the couple cuddling on the couch across from her. Everything her father had told her suggested that these two women were sick and needed help for the way they were acting around each other. But when she looked at them, all she saw were two people who seemed perfectly happy as long as they were together. The sight of Red's sister and Blake cuddled together sent a strange pang through the heiress's chest and she immediately thought of the young con woman who had quickly become her first, and best, friend.
"But why am I any different from those people? She's just Red to me as well…I-I don't even know her real name."
"Don't worry about that, this one's one of the only people who actually knows Red's name," Blake said, jabbing a thumb back at Yang.
"Yup," Yang smirked. "My little sister may have the brain of a criminal mastermind-but she's also got the trust issues of one too."
"So she hasn't even told you, Blake?"
"No, she hasn't. But I don't hold it against her. She hides her real identity for good reasons."
"Like what?"
"Well, firstly," Yang started, "it acts as a sorta two-way shield. Keeps her from getting too close to people, so they can't hurt her and she can't hurt them."
"Is she really that suspicious of other people?"
"Yes, she is." Blake answered. "Despite her savant-like skill at grifting, Red herself isn't very good with people."
"That seems counter-intuitive." Weiss remarked.
"Yes, well Red is one big paradox after another." Blake said as Yang let out a mighty yawn. The sun had long since set and the cool tidal breeze sent a shiver down Weiss's spine.
"Well, me and Blakey are gonna turn in. We have some-ahem-matters to attend to."
"Alright," Weiss said, feeling slightly awkward at the blatant double-entendre. She stood up and walked over to her cabana. She stopped at the door when a flash of light caught her eye. She looked to her right and saw that bright blue light was flashing through Red's windows.
There's no way I'll be able to sleep with all that light shining directly into my room.
It didn't shine through any of the windows in the heiress's cabana.
I'll simply pop in and ask her to turn off all the screens, then leave.
She was going to stay.
I'm going because I want to ask her that one thing. Not talk to her about anything else.
She was going to talk about anything but that one thing.
Before she knew it, Weiss had slid open the screen door and snuck into the kitchen.
"Hey Weiss," Red called from the bedroom. "What's up?"
"How did you know I was here?" The heiress asked as she entered the room and looked around. Covering the bed were stacks of folders. Some, Weiss noticed, had the word "classified" stamped on them in bright red ink; others were full of black sharpie, covering most of what was written in them. Sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed was Red, she was writing in one folder with her left hand, while typing on a laptop with her right, and in front of her sat a much bigger file filled with different coloured highlighter marks and sticky notes. Sitting around the younger girl were several different screens that displayed information at a breakneck pace, to the point where Weiss could hardly follow it. She thought she saw something about some sort of security firm, and she could have sworn she saw the name Schnee appear more than once.
"My sister dates a cat-burglar. You get the hang of things like that, plus I like to think of it as my own little Jedi mind trick."
"Jedi mind what?"
"Don't worry about it. Now is there something you need?"
"O-Oh… Um…W-well you see-" Weiss's rambling was interrupted by a loud grumbling from her stomach.
Red quickly stopped what she was doing and doubled over in laughter. "Sounds like someone's hungry!" She continued laughing as the older girl fought down a blush.
"Sh-shut up! I haven't eaten since this morning due to you dragging me all the way across the state to various country clubs and such!"
"Ahaha-alright. Well, if you want, I made some extra KD that you can have. It's in the kitchen."
"Humph! A lady such as myself would never be caught dead eating that gr-" before she could finish, another loud grumble interrupted her. Face feeling hotter than ever, the heiress stomped into the kitchen to prepare a bowl of macaroni and cheese, grumbling something about exceptions having to be made in times of duress, while Red's youthful laughter filled the cabana.
Macaroni prepared, Weiss returned to the bedroom, folding her legs beneath herself and sitting with perfect posture next to Red in front of the many screens. Still unable to discern the deluge of information that passed by, she turned to the younger of the two. "What exactly is all this?"
Red gave Weiss a look like she had just asked the con woman to explain nuclear physics, and, stranger still, she seemed excited to do it.
"R-really?! I-I mean you really want me to explain what I'm doing?"
"Of course I do, is that a problem?" Weiss was now using her more commanding tone, usually reserved for employees and serving staff only, in an attempt to regain some lost dignity from the last few minutes.
"N-no… I mean not at all- it's just-" Weiss had never seen the young con woman so flustered. It was kind of charming in a cute sort of way. Wait, what?
"Just what?" Red broke eye contact, and turned her attention to the monitors in front of her.
"It's just that… no one normally cares about how I get the information. Just that I got it. I'm not used to explaining it to someone." Weiss put a hand on Red's knee, causing the younger woman to turn her attention back to the heiress.
"Try, for me." In the blue light of the screens Red's blush was clearly visible as she turned back to the monitors.
"Okay. Well, these folders you see here, or most of them at least, are the reports my various contacts send me regularly so I can stay up to date with what's going on in different places. But my real pride is this," Red then pointed at the cascading sets of information on the different screens. "I wrote a program that finds any and all information and sifts through it, arranging them in order of importance and validity before making a prediction about how the events will turn out. With it I get everything from stock predictions to breaking news as far as a month before anyone else. For example," Red pointed at a set of arrows pointing up and down that flew across the screen, "This is telling me that, pretty soon, oil prices are gonna start rising dramatically. And over here it's showing that there's signs of civil unrest cropping up in Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama." Weiss looked at the screen where Red pointed, the specific areas she pointed to were highlighted in a dark crimson.
"Why are those ones highlighted and the others not?"
"Oh, that," Red's face quickly turned from one of childlike wonder to that of a scholar trying to solve a difficult equation. "See, normally my program finds stories and won't show them until it's found the signs and what events are causing them, but lately, I've been getting news, like the oil spike, or civil unrest, but not what's behind these events."
"So, what does that mean, exactly?"
"It's like I'm being given the effect, but someone, or something, is going to great lengths to keep me from seeing the cause."
"So is that what you've been working on since we got back?" Asked Weiss.
"Not really," answered Red, while flipping a page in the folder on her left. It was then that Weiss noticed that, throughout their entire exchange, Red had not stopped writing in that folder, despite not looking at, or even seemingly paying attention to, what she was writing. "I'm just gathering some final information about Ironwood for when I brief you guys tomorrow."
"Hmm..." The girls soon fell into a comfortable silence as Red worked and Weiss watched. It was incredible watching the woman work through all that information. Seeing her hand glide across the keyboard and different touch screens, it felt almost like the heiress was watching an artist creating there next masterpiece. Weiss yawned, glancing at the clock next to the bed and realised that she had been sitting watching the brunette work for the better part of three hours without saying a word. Feeling another blush creep up her cheeks, she quickly stood up, stammered out a thanks for the explanation and macaroni, and damn near sprinted to her bed in her own cabana. She thought about the events of the day, glossing over the French bits, before falling asleep and found herself smiling.
And this time, she didn't fight it.