Breaking the news to Sarah had been tough, but luckily Kory didn't have all the answers, and as a result, they didn't talk long. Sarah promised to call Kory with any information she received from the police and with that, they bid goodbye. Kory remained on her bed, gripping her pillow tightly and waiting for word that the body Dick dealt with wasn't Cahaya. From beside her, Silkie raised his head and growled, springing from the bed and into the hallway.
"What is it?" Kory called and received nothing but another growl. "Silkie, calm down." In a flash, the malamute was gone and racing towards the front door. "Silkie!" She chased after the animal and pulled on his collar, yanking him away from the door. The dog continued to bark, though, even as she shut him up inside the bathroom.
Tiptoeing back to the living room, she pressed her body against the door and peered through the eyehole. Nothing but an empty hallway. Still positive that Silkie's uproar wasn't in vain, she unlocked the bolt and peeked out. The hallway still remained empty and there were so visible signs that someone had been there.
Faintly, Kory could hear the ringing of her cell phone in the bedroom and she headed towards the noise, shutting her apartment door back with a click. Giving up momentarily on the mystery, she headed back for her phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Kory, how are you holding up?" Dick's voice calmed the nerves growing inside of her, but the curiosity remained for what Silkie had been responding to.
"I, uh…" A thump resonated again from the living room, "I'm not sure." No longer focusing on her wary boyfriend, she repeated her earlier actions, this time throwing open the door with a bang.
"What was that sound- wait- you're not sure?"
"Yeah." She muttered as she scoped out the interior of the elevator. Absolutely nothing. As she made her way back to her home, a sharp creak echoed. Less than twenty feet away, a coated figure was moving unstably towards her. The stairs, Kory mentally bashed herself upside the head at the horrible detective-work.
"I'm really sorry that it was your friend. I wish-"
"Shh!" Dick's eyebrows shot up. Was he that bad at consolation?
"Kory, what's going on?" He could hear her inhale sharply as another loud sound- possibly a door slamming- was heard again and his heartbeat quickened. "Babe?"
"Richard…" Kory's breathless tone came, "I- there is someone outside my apartment." Indistinctly, he could hear Silkie barking in the background.
"Don't move. I'll be there in ten. Lock the doors and go back into your bedroom and do not hang up." Knowing that he wasn't merely being an over-protective boyfriend, Kory obeyed.
In his Pathfinder, Dick switched on the undercover lights and siren, turning sharply onto Kory's street. With a screech of the tires, he was out and heading up the building's stairs within a few seconds. "I'm on the third level. Has anything happened?" The moment he heard another voice, the lines of the stairs became a blur. The adrenaline coursed through his veins and he gulped in oxygen to assure a speedy ascent. "Kory, answer me!" Flinging the stairwell door open, he pulled out his gun and moved to her apartment. The door was cracked and two separate voices flooded out between the slit.
In one motion, he burst into the room, kicked the door shut, and trained his gun on the mysterious figure. "Freeze! Put your hands behind your head! Now!" The man stumbled slightly and then surprisingly obeyed the detective's commands.
"This your new toy, cutie?" Dick fought back a feral growl and retrieved a pair of cuffs from his jacket. Kory gasped and flung her arm out to stop him.
"What are you doing?"
"Did he bust down the door?" The freshly splintered wood near the door frame told him all he needed to know.
"Well… yes, but why are you-"
"Name?" Dick barked and the man, clearly intoxicated, replied flippantly with,
"Bond. James Bond."
"Name." A painful grimace split across his face.
"Wes Redd, you prick, and I haven't done a thing wrong so stop tightening those damn cuffs!" Withholding a sadistic laugh, the detective continued.
"What are you doing here?"
"Came to patch things up with- sheesh, buddy, I oughta sue for police brutality!"
"Kory's taken. Next question: why were you stalking her?" Wes rolled his eyes dramatically and mumbled something about being too afraid to knock on her door. "So you decided to make a better impression by breaking in?" Dick chuckled darkly, "Here's my advice: next time, don't even think about coming over here."
"Ahh, so you are the new toy. Here's my advice," Wes mocked in a deep voice, "You're barking up the wrong tree, officer." His eyes traveled to the form of his ex who was standing nervously to the side, watching with large green eyes at the scene playing out. "Kory here is a little prude. Won't give it up for no man, so I suggest you-" Wes let out a yowl and dropped to his knees as the metal dug into the thin skin of his wrists.
"Wes Redd, you are under arrest for breaking and entering. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of-"
"Aww, cutie, don't let this prick lock me up." Wes bat his bloodshot eyes towards the redhead. Kory scowled at her ex-boyfriend and watched as he was carted out by her current boyfriend before she could even begin to reason with him. Exhausted from all of the action, Kory dropped down onto her couch and drifted fitfully into sleep, lulled by the muffled barking of her dog.
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As soon as Dick returned from the police station, though, Kory had lit a fire within and seeing him kindled it with a rush of heat and harsh words.
"I'm not pressing charges against Wes." She watched his blue eyes flash from sympathetic to enraged. Even if Dick Grayson didn't want the world inside his head, Kory could always look into those cerulean irises and find the truth lurking in their depths. This instant was no different.
"Are you fucking serious? He broke into your house! He could have killed you!" Astonishment caressed her features.
"Kill me? You believe he is some sort of maniac? You do not even know him."
"Damn it, Kory, don't give me that. All I know was that you answered the phone, told me someone was outside, then you wouldn't talk to me while I'm flying down here to save you-"
"I am not a damsel, Richard! You are the one who raced out here on your noble steed!"
"Bullshit!" Silkie, now free from the confines of the bathroom, snarled at the ebony-haired man, the one he thought he could trust, but now ended up like all the others- yelling at his mistress and upsetting her dearly. Kory inhaled raggedly, pulling her thoughts together to try and reason with him.
She knew Dick had good intentions, that he hadn't flown over here and played cops and robbers for nothing more than the thrill. He was protecting her and she was thankful, but she needed him to understand that the issue could have been solved without legal means.
"Richard, Weston is not violent. He is a drunken ex."
"That busted down your door and God knows what he was going to do-"
"I know what he was trying to do, Dick. I'm not completely infantile. All he wanted was for me to give him a second chance, to which I assured him I would not be giving him one." She hoped this would help calm Richard down but it only seemed to stoke his own fire.
"And if it hadn't been him?"
"I will not argue such pointless topics with you because there is no sense in doing so." The pacing across her floor stopped as he spun and actually faced her.
"You don't get it, do you? What if it had been the Fairytale Felon? What if… if he came here and hunted you down?" She visibly flinched, her slender fingers curling in and up to her chest.
"You believe he is after me, then?"
"Yes! For God's sake, Kory, are you that blind? You could be next!" The change in her demeanor was so sudden, Dick wasn't sure if she'd ever been anything but purely enraged. And all of it was searing straight towards him, her anger like a river of molten lava pouring down upon him.
"Get out."
"Listen, I'm sor-"
"I do not care what you are feeling. I said get out." Heavy, guilt-ridden eyes stared lifelessly as she flung open the splintered door.
"Kory, please don't-" Her head rose defiantly.
"Out. I will not ask again." Under the spell of her fury, Dick trudged into the hallway and barely registered the ear-splitting sound of the closing door. He stood silent for a moment, keeping his sights on the beige-colored wall opposite him.
Let's hope you don't run this one out of town, either. Bruce's words weighed thickly on him, acting as heavy anchors and dragging him down the bottomless pit of frustration that leaked from his pores. His fist connected with the beige wall. Tiny whimpers floated underneath the door and with each one, he grew smaller and smaller. His chest tightened and with each breath, the next one was harder to inhale. When he finally moved to take the elevator down, his fingers felt too light and insignificant to press the button. The only thing to bring him back to size was unfortunately trapped in Wonderland, too, crying an ocean of tears as Alice had done.
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Several hours after his mistress had fought with the man, Silkie awoke to the clickety-clack of the bright lap machine. Silently, he crawled over to where she sat on the couch and placed his head on the open space of her lap.
"Hey, boy. I'll be done in a little while. Go back to sleep, my bumgorf." A low whine emitted from his throat and she laughed it away. It was the first time he'd heard her laugh all night and to even him it was obviously forced. Humans were the easiest creatures to read, whether they knew it or not. He could smell the waves of pain, guilt, and a touch of anxiety rolling off of her. Before, he felt the warmth between the dark-haired man and her. When they were raising voices, though, a deep fear filled the room. No matter what emotions they had been hoping to project, the true ones leaked out beneath their hard exteriors.
Knowing that nothing could be done until the man came back without that dangerous level of blind fear inside, Silkie settled on the cushion and dosed off.
Google was not helping, Kory declared to herself as she typed passionately on her laptop. The clock in the corner read two-thirty. The schedule on her fridge listed she needed to be in at seven sharp. Too bad it was too late to call in one of the other instructors- and the ones she did know would be too trashed to replace her. The need for information overpowered her rational mind. Since she'd thrown Dick out, her eyes had been glued to the news reports the Gotham City Police Department's official website provided. And although the Google searches were coming up with the same websites, she continued the search to understand the mysterious and elusive killer. Kory wanted to know the Felon, inside and out.
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The pink-haired receptionist watched intriguingly as the handsome detective made his way around the gym, his usually charming smile set in a grim line.
"Anything I can help you with, Mr. Grayson?" Kole called to him as he passed her desk a fourth time. His blue eyes shot up from the phone in his hand.
"Did Kory come in today?"
"Hmm… no, actually. She should have been here at seven, but I haven't seen her clock in yet."
"Thank you." Kole nodded wordlessly as the detective sprinted out the door, leaving his jacket and bag behind.
"You're… welcome?"
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The consistent knocking on her door was what finally brought Kory back to consciousness. Dragging the laptop off of her and stumbling to the door, she wasn't prepared for the attack she received as soon as the thing opened.
"Oh, thank God," came the voice of the tight arms that were coiled around her torso. Blinking twice and firing up some neurons in her brain allowed Kory to pull back from the lung-crushing embrace and realize who it was.
"Richard? What are you doing here?" Silkie lifted his head off the couch and inhaled the sweet scent of relief.
"When you didn't show up at the gym this morning, I- I drove straight here to make sure you were okay," His blinding smile brightened the room, "You… are okay, right?" Taking in a deep breath to stabilize and sort out her thoughts, she nodded.
"Yes, Dick, I simply fell asleep as I- I am okay."
"With… all of that stuff that happened last night?" The wariness didn't miss her ears.
"There are some things that need to be discussed- at a later time- but yes," Her hands found his and she laced them together, wove the two into one, and brought them to her lips, "We are okay." Glad she had taken a deep breath earlier, Kory squealed lightly as he crushed his lips to hers. Responding deftly, she pressed her body against his, nudging him until his back smacked the door.
"I'm sorry, Kory." His words caressed her lips as they dove for another kiss. "I really am. If you want to drop the charges, it's your decision. Marty already released him from the holding cell. I shouldn't have acted the way I did." Kory answered by running a hand down his sweat-stained tee, feeling the muscles with her dancing fingers. He gasped in her mouth and dug his hands into her hips, dragging her closer to him.
He needed her. For strength through this rollercoaster of murders and for the attachment to another human being he'd craved for so long and denied himself. In his line of work, finding someone that accepted you wouldn't be home every night and follow through with every plan you made was hard. He'd tried before, many years ago, with his longtime friend Barbara, but she couldn't stand the unknown; if he was merely sitting at the precinct doing paperwork or out bleeding in the street, his life in the hands of a deranged criminal. So they'd broken it off before the marriage dance even began and Dick hadn't participated in anything more than a couple dates since.
When he met the fiery redhead with that innocent persona of hers, though, he found himself tearing down those rules and paving new ones. "You should probably head to work. They might be angry you didn't call in sick." He reasoned once he found his voice. Underneath him on the bed and still clothed, Kory giggled and shrugged. "Enjoy your day off, then." In one fluid movement, he was off of her and at her bedroom door, the suggestive smirk remaining on his gorgeous face as she eyed him curiously.
She needed him. For the relationship she had longed for; the romance her mother had talked about once upon a time. A fairytale romance, her mother had said, one where you think you're going to wake up any minute and realize it's all been a dream. Personally, Kory wanted to stay in this comatose state if it meant she could stay with Richard. While the term soul mate frightened her, she couldn't doubt that it seemed the two of them had a deeper connection, one more than the average couple. Sure, they didn't know every little thing- or several colossal things- about one another, but they had time. They would always have time to discuss and plan, to laugh and dance, to kiss and tell.
After being discarded so many times by the people in her life, it felt wonderful to have another person worry over her well-being. All this time she deemed herself invisible because no one cared, but Dick had broken through that smoke screen long ago. Warmth traveled up her body. He saw her. Now, she wanted him to see another side she'd kept hidden.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Gym. Gotta exercise to keep up this sexy bod," The emerald eyes that were focused solely on him grew darker as he flexed, "And since my trainer is being lazy, I'll have to do it alone."
"What a shame. I was envisioning the most glorious morning." Teasingly, her tank top was peeled off and Dick watched hungrily as she reached for the bra, the tight muscles in her arms flexing as she moved. "We could have done some exercising of our own." One lacy black strap was lowered down the sun-kissed skin of her shoulder. All teasing words and sarcastic comebacks drained out of him as the other strap fell, landing on the supple swell of her chest.
Giving into her seduction, his shirt was off and on the floor at the same time her bra met the lavender sheets. Kory laughed as her boyfriend pounced from the doorway. Together, they rolled into the center of the queen canopy bed. Lips found places to kiss. Hands found hard lines and silky skin. Dark emeralds sought equally darkened blues before both closed and let the sense of touch guide the way.
AN: Merely an intense make out session. Moving too fast? I'm not sure because being only 17, I do not have the feelings or morals of a nearly thirty year-old. However, it was meant to be a passionate relief from all of the drama and I figured I needed to let out some of their pent-up sexual frustration out.
Next chapter's key words:
Storybook, shopping, playboy, admissions, and funeral.
You know the drill: review!
Chapter Six: "She is the Sunlight" by Trading Yesterday