7.
Ares walked past the policemen towards his sister with his bodyguards waiting in the car. It wouldn't do to have them arrested. That just wasn't smart.
Upon seeing his sister in such a state the Greek in his blood heated even more and boiled past his ears. He climbed the steps to the patio and asked his sister when she was close enough to touch, "What in the hell happened to you," in Greek, wanting a private conversation. Not caring whether or not his sister's boyfriend knew Greek, or thought his use of it in the moment was rude.
Equally moody.
She set her bruised hands upon her hips, nastily spitting out her Greek answer, "Why are you here?"
From the look upon the playboy's face he was in the dark.
Ares reached for his sister.
Athena slapped his hand aside, then yelled, "When was the last time you visited me for no reason other then to see me?"
His silence answered enough for her and she popped him upside the head. Continuing in their childhood language, "So what do you want? From the look on your face I can tell you're surprised. Enlighten me Ares, what do you want from me? I can't hide any bodies for you anymore."
Ares looked to Bruce, "What happened?"
"We had a break-in and Athena was home when it occurred."
His eyes widened and the lieutenant jogged up the steps. He signaled for Bruce who patted Athena's shoulder and went over to Gordon, "Yes lieutenant?"
Wetting his lips and then bitting down on his lower lip, Gordon sighed, "Could you possibly have your butler stop following around my detectives? He's hampering their investigation. I realize that this is indeed your home, but, we have a job to do."
Later that evening…
Bruce peered out the front hall window as Athena put a sheet over Alfred in the library, where he slept on the couch. A empty glass of wine on the floor beside an empty bottle of wine and a half full, or half empty matching bottle of wine. Both of exceptional quality.
She smoothed her bruised hand over his white hair gently and made sure he was covered.
"The last one just left."
With a glance up at his direction, not fear, but something close filled her. Concern. Unease. "You're staying tonight?" She tried not to sound desperate or afriad but knew she failed when her words came out.
Bruce gave her his full attention. His eyes softened, "I'm staying in tonight with you. Don't worry. We have work to do."
One of her dark eyebrow's rose.
She crossed her arms over her chest. The soft fabric of the oversized sweater that she had on was soft against her bare skin beneath it. She had stolen it from Bruce's drawer not an hour prior. He crossed the room and gently rested his palms on her shoulders and kissed her lips.
Feeling the bump on her upper lip and tasting the minty freshness of her toothpaste, Bruce's gut twisted.
She wasn't even safe in his home.
When he was ready he slowed the kiss and spoke against her lips, "Remember the fingerprints?"
Downstairs…
Arms crossed over her chest, Athena watched while Bruce lay the sheet of paper with the fingerprints down on a scanner. A heavy wool blanket was wrapped around her to keep the dampness of the cave out.
A light came from the scanner and the fingerprints appeared on Bruce's computer. She watched with fascination while he entered into several criminal databases and began to run searces to match the fingerprints.
"How many databases are you running those against?"
He glanced over his shoulder at her. She was seated on his work table and showed an genuine interest. "Three. The basic one cops use here nationally. A federal database and Interpol's database."
"How long before it will match?"
"A while probably."
She nodded thoughtfully as a little buzzer went off.
Both looked up at the computer screen as a window popped up from a security camera. Lieutenant Gordon was on it at the front gate.