BAE Chapter 73

Stephanie couldn’t help herself; when she slipped back into bed, she made herself the big spoon. She wakes up when Riley stirs, her hair tickling Stephanie’s nose.

“Morning,” Stephanie murmurs.

Riley doesn’t reply right away; she’s assessing the situation: being the small spoon with Stephanie’s arms around her.

“Interesting,” she says blearily.

Stephanie snorts. “What is?”

“Nothing.” Riley turns her head, rolling slightly to look at her.

Stephanie matches her gaze. It’s early, but there’s some pale, gray light coming into the apartment through the big windows. Messy hair. Morning breath. Riley is asking questions with her eyes. She’s asking what kind of morning this is supposed to be.

“Use your words,” Stephanie prompts.

“You look nice.”

Stephanie snorts, but Riley’s not being funny.

“Do you want to ghost out? No fuss? Or are you comfortable?”

There are the words, and Stephanie is struck by them. This is what it’s like waking up with a woman instead of a guy. Stephanie has been with some truly nice guys, but even the nicest guys just aren’t wired to actually understand how she thinks.

She swallows, suddenly uncomfortable. The feeling is weird, but she doesn’t hate it. And for the oddest reason, it makes her miss Tim.

“What do you want?” she asks, turning it around on Riley.

“There’s a beautiful blonde in my bed. I don’t want her to leave.”

Stephanie smiles. “That works for me.”

Riley turns over to face her. They lie in comfortable silence. Riley inches closer, and Stephanie laughs.

“Subtle,” she says.

“I’m so subtle.” Riley takes that opportunity to snuggle up, body to body.

Stephanie offers her lips, and Riley goes for it. It is heavenly, and at a leisurely pace, their hands begin to participate. Over the course of twenty minutes or so, what begins as idle caressing and fondling under the covers becomes something more intense. The kissing becomes fierce as Stephanie rhythmically pulls on Riley’s cock while Riley’s fingers work skillfully between her legs.

Stephanie keeps jerking, a little roughly, as Riley brings her off. Some rough tugging and watching Stephanie cum is enough to do the job. Riley blows under the covers. Stephanie feels one burst of hot liquid hit her skin down there, and the rest ends up on the sheets.

As they recover and become increasingly aware of the real-life things like the smell of sex the morning after, musky body odor, and the significant wet patch between them, the awkwardness that considerately held off for this long starts to creep in.

They shower together without saying anything, and with minimal touching.

With her hair still wet, Stephanie is getting dressed. Riley breaks the silence. With the magic of being female, she doesn’t need to ask certain questions. She knows that Stephanie feels like it’s time to go. She doesn’t offer breakfast or anything, and it’s not rude. It’s just correct.

“I want to do this again,” she says.

Stephanie looks over her shoulder at her, blushing.

“Me too,” she says, and she wishes that she were acting.

BAE

The first order of business when Stephanie reaches the Cave is to change into clean clothes. Then it’s to eat fresh orange cranberry muffins that Alfred has baked and drink coffee.

Then it’s figure out life.

She chews, swallows, and wipes her mouth.

“How’s Babs?”

Stephanie sits in a chair off to the side of the big chair in front of the Computer. It’s odd to see Alfred in the big chair, but it stands to reason that he would know how to use the Computer as well as anyone.

“Recovering,” Alfred replies, swiveling to face her. He sips tea and takes a deep breath. “On initial infection, it appears that the Seed formula resulted in fatigue that lasted for some days. The antidote appears to have a similar effect. Ms. Gordon is awake and functional, but not fit for fieldwork. She’s under observation by Mr. Fox at Wayne Tower.”

“Are we happy with this?”

“Mixed,” Alfred replies frankly. “The unwanted anatomy is gone. Dr. Isley has delivered in that aspect. However, possible side effects or hidden surprises in the formula remain open questions. Meanwhile, Ms. Gordon must ask herself if her potential customers want to willingly take on this side effect of fatigue. The answer is likely yes, but it’s complicated for her to tout the antidote without a sense of how long the fatigue lasts. She’s planning to be on television this evening to transparently discuss the situation.”

Stephanie nods. “Sounds like it could be worse.”

“Indeed.”

“And Kate?”

“That news isn’t quite so good. The way that this Lotte de Jong has reacted to Ms. Gordon’s intervention is competent.”

“Suspiciously competent?”

“Quite.” Alfred sets his cup on his saucer. Steam rises from the tea. Stephanie stuffs another muffin into her mouth. “Ms. Kane was able to look at her communications, and everything to do with Seed was done very cleanly. Encrypted, self-deleting messages devoid of helpful information. And since she was compromised, it would appear that her supplier has cut her off. There is a level of care and meticulous attention to detail that suggests that whoever is behind this isn’t just worried about the police.”

“This is someone who’s gone up against Costumes before.”

“Perhaps even the Batman.”

Stephanie sighs. “I was hoping it would be someone from that shootout that Babs got a piece of. One of the local mobs.”

“Elite Pride is working for someone. It’s the only reasonable conclusion.”

“So they aren’t the problem? They’re just the henchmen?”

“So it would appear.”

Stephanie takes that in. “Then Lotte’s a dead end.”

“For now.”

“OK. Did you have any luck with Riley Beaumont’s electronics?”

Now Alfred sets down his tea. Stephanie braces herself and forces herself to continue chewing.

“I’m afraid so,” he says. “There was evidence that the devices were used for communication. I’ll spare you the details in the interests of brevity, but my conclusion would be that Ms. Riley Beaumont was indeed in contact with Andrea, whom I know to still be alive.”

Stephanie swallows and puts her half-eaten muffin down. She picks up her coffee, takes a deep breath, and turns to gaze at the giant penny at the far end of the Cave.

“Keep going.”

“You found nothing else in the home? No costume or equipment?”

Stephanie shakes her head.

Alfred crosses his legs and laces his fingers in his lap. “Then to read between the lines with the information available, I would theorize that this is what has occurred: Andrea became aware of Amelie Araignee’s involvement in her father’s ****; she was merely part of the cohort that drove him out of business. She communicated this to Riley, who assumed the persona of the Phantasm to eliminate what might be the last of the people on Andrea’s original list of targets.”

“You think she did it?”

“There’s no indication of Andrea being here. If there were, I would be uncertain. Or rather, I would look at Ms. Riley as an accomplice.”

“You’ve had access to her electronics. Any evidence of another apartment? A storage unit?”

“None. Which is encouraging,” Alfred adds. “It suggests that having completed her mission, Riley disposed of the disguise due to having no particular intention of using it again. An isolated incident.”

“She’s a killer.”

“Likely. But unproven. Did you enjoy her company?”

Stephanie blushes.

“Ms. Gordon also found her charming,” Alfred says.

“I’m surprised you aren’t more judgmental about this.”

“Quite the opposite.” He sighs and glances at the rows of cases containing the various costumes. “The people who occupy this cave aren’t known for their contentment with life. I think that it’s important to enjoy life.”

“Well, I enjoyed life last night. That’s why I’m not happy about this.”

“Understandable.”

“Can’t bring her in without any real evidence. Gordon can’t do anything with what we’ve got. I guess someone with bat ears could intimidate a confession out of her, but it wouldn’t hold up in court. Is there a play to make that I’m not seeing?” Stephanie asks.

Alfred shakes his head. “Not really. Typically we intervene in situations with characters with history, priors, and witnesses to counteract the unofficial nature of the intervention. In Riley Beaumont’s case, if this is all there is, there’s no touching her.”

Stephanie snorts. “Jesus. This is why she seduced the DA. In case she slipped up. It’s insurance because she knows that she isn’t an assassin.”

“Tidy work,” Alfred notes.

“Is that admiration?”

“For competence. Not ****.”

Stephanie takes a sip of coffee.

“Did she enjoy your company?” Alfred asks tactfully.

“She thinks that I work for Hill’s campaign. And I think that she did enjoy my company,” Stephanie adds, rolling her eyes. “Independent of that. So I have a foot in the door if we need it.”

“She’s a link to the DA, who is a mayoral candidate. The election will have consequences for Wayne Enterprises and for those who dress up in costumes. Mr. Fox is already pressuring Ms. Gordon to put her finger on the scale.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“It’s complicated. Master Bruce would never have entertained this conversation; he would’ve been out punching someone. There are ethical concerns in meddling in politics. There is also the potential to do a greater good than punching a mugger,” Alfred says.

“Is Babs the leader of this team? Or you?”

“I’m just thinking aloud, Ms. Brown. I have great admiration for Master Bruce and the work that he’s done. No one is perfect. Nor should they be expected to be.”

“You know, if you’d just gotten him into therapy, we’d all be reading a book right now,” Stephanie tells him frankly.

Stephanie can assume the ‘Sara’ persona that she used to meet with Riley and actually join Mayor Hill’s campaign. This will place her in a critical position to spy on and possibly influence events to come. It will also mean that she’ll spend more time with Riley, who is a murderer.

Stephanie can close the Amelie Araignee case. Alfred’s detective work is more than good enough for that. No having to worry about how she feels about a killer and no politics, at least for now.

She knows what Bruce would do. She’s not sure about Barbara.

Alfred looks at her expectantly.