Cassandra!

He wasn't disappointed.

"Cass!"

Aaron hardly recognized her. Rather than a pure jet black skin tight outfit, she wore armour of some kind. Made of a thicker, robust material, still black but now lined and patterned with gold, and fitted with shoulder guards. And where there should have been a cape, there was a hoodie. The pants were subtly baggy, providing flexibility where the upper area gave protection.

After looking her up and down, Aaron grinned. The chirpy smile Cassandra gave in return brought his mood up.

Aaron glanced out the hall. It was Cassandra, of course she wouldn't be careless but still. Better safe than sorry. "Come in," he said. "Feels like we haven't seen each other in a good while."

She stopped inside but stopped on the foot of his doormat. She turned, offered an apologetic smile, and said, "Can't take off shoes. Suit is the whole body."

Aaron tried not to cringe. Wearing shoes in the house was close to blasphemy. "I don't mind," he joked. "Anything to keep my house clean."

Cassandra blinked and looked away, the tips of her ears pink. She muttered an apology and headed inside. Aaron laughed and followed. Despite the fact that they had explored each other's bodies more than the average married couple, Cassandra easily got embarrassed when he flirted.

He readied dinner. A pork tenderloin with tons of roasted vegetables and lasagna. For two people, it might have appeared excessive. But Aaron had learned the hard way that Cassandra was a mighty eater. Her appetite only rivalled her libido, in part because of her supreme physical prowess. She could twice as much as him and Aaron was happy to supply. He kept a plethora of ingredients in the fridge and was proficient in cooking and baking.

"Enjoying yourself?" Aaron asked, chuckling.

Cassandra stuffed a forkful of lasagna and sent him a thumbs-up. The dinner table was small, intended for two. It was the first time Aaron had seen it full. There was a heavy flutter in his stomach and it wasn't from the food. Oddly enough, he didn't mind the strange feeling.

His plate licked lean from the lasagna, he decided to voice the thoughts he had been suppressing since he saw her.

"So what's up with the outfit?"

Cassandra gulped down some pork and put down her utensils. She signed him an explanation. Cassandra wasn't just Batgirl, she was also Orphan. Her skill set was too wide to be based only in Gotham, to be limited by the Bat Family, so she occasionally went over to Blüdhaven and New York. In those cities, she was known as Orphan, a mercenary title she stole from her father. She reclaimed it as a way to better the world rather than inflict pain on it; to right the wrongs of her family.

"So that's why you have a different suit." An awed smile formed on Aaron's face "You told me about Orphan but you failed to mention how badass the suit was. You rock it well."

Cassandra beamed at him, elated that he understood her.

"Isn't the hood a little too…how do I put this, not enough? The mask in your Batgirl costume hides your face but this hood kinda doesn't."

Cassandra shook her head and pulled up a black neck mask. Aaron's smile widened.

"That's super cool. You got the full ninja experience going on."

Cassandra nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!"

Cassandra Cain, despite struggling with verbal language, did not know sign language. Not really. She was taught the basics by Barbara Gordon but not much else. ASL was as complex as any verbal language with its own grammar, phrases and syntax. Like any mouth-speaking language, it required years of practice and discipline to be fluent in. But because of the way Cassandra's brain was wired, the way her father raised and abused her, she could only speak ****. The mere concept of a language was foreign to her for nearly fourteen years and the consequences of that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

She could read the subconscious cues of a person and that worked well enough in her role as a superhero. But as a normal person? An ordinary woman walking the streets of Gotham? Making friends? Dating? It hampered her ability to express herself greatly.

For deep discussions, it became borderline impossible for folks to talk to her. She threw random gestures, spoke in movie lines, but generally nothing stuck. Cassandra was **** to keep quiet and nod or say one-word responses because that was all she could do. She understood English and Mandarin, but was half illiterate and a quarter nonverbal. A combination leading to a harrowing life.

"I feel as though the name Orphan is still a little depressing. How about…Silhouette? You're really stealthy and it fits with the ninja theme."

Not with Aaron. He could read body language to an absurd degree, less like Shiva and Cassandra and more like Batman, the world's greatest detective. For him, Cassandra's thoughts were as easy to read as a book.

He saw how she flashed with joy, then deflated a little. Given who she was with, it was obvious to him that she was saying, "Batman would need to approve."

Yes, Cassandra spoke. But she spoke with her body first, then her mouth. Even then, her words were short and sweet, never long-winded. Aaron understood her regardless.

"I guess he's a little stingy." Aaron crossed his arms. "Maybe it needs a little flair. Shadow Silhouette? No, the One Silhouette? Like the Dark Knight, you know?"

Cassandra silently snickered and shrugged. She cleared her throat, gargling bile, and began to speak in an absurdly low, raspy voice. "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am…Batman!"

Crickets. Aaron tilted his head, lost. Cassandra's cheeks turned into a joyous shade of red as she laughed.

"D-does…does Batman really say that?" he asked quietly.

An arm thrusted at him, she declared mockingly in the same weird raspy, deep imitation of the Dark Knight, "He's the goddamn Batman."

Cassandra went into a hushed fit of laughter again. So did Aaron. He couldn't help but cackle at her impression. "Does he really sound like that?"

"Mhm, mhm."

"Wow…being a vigilante must be hard. On your throat."

He didn't mean to but there was an innuendo there, which Cassandra immediately capitalized on by imitating the motions of a blowjob. This time, it was Aaron who went red and he discreetly hid his expression behind a face-palm.