Stripping and Flashing (H,T)

Hazel had brought her own file from her boss’s closet to the bed to spread out and go over. There were thirty years to go through and filter, although what was before her employment would need minimal inspection before being offered to Mr.Turner. It was easier to think about him like that when she was working.

She appreciated that Genet had used Helena’s space to bring their files along. Not everything was here, but everything they might need was. They had the files on themselves, Richard, and the other contestants. Yesterday they’d tried to iron out what they could on Genet, but they were without their usual resources to run a good background check and what information they had was sparse or contradictory. Despite how much Ms.Turner had wanted to build information on her, it seemed like it was an impossible task. Although she’s been spending time with Ms.Steward. Maybe the others might have picked up more information.

But they had plenty of time for that. She had promised him her file by tomorrow morning. Not everything in there was her secret to share, so she was filtering out the Turners’ story from her own. New Jersey needed to be culled. Brooklyn and Queens should be removed. It’d be safe to leave Manhattan in though, the one page describing their missions there could be cut on its own and he might notice if their other acquisitions were in here but all of their property on the island was missing.

Speaking of the island, Long Island was going to be complicated. The Montauk house was the only property that Helena kept from her inheritance other than the Providence Manor. But both sides of Mr.Turner’s family had once lived on Long Island, and so she had to make sure she kept in the encounters with them that Mr.Turner knew about when she took out the rest.

It was as she was separating out the incident reports from a string of attacks she’d needed to stop in Long Island that Ms.Turner came back. She laid down on a part of the bed that hadn’t been covered with incident and mission reports yet. She was still in her skirt from their match with Mr.Turner and Miss Conners since she had gone straight to the Stone House after everyone split up. It made her look a bit more like when they’d first met.

Her sigh made the lighter skinned woman feel even more like she was back then. “Things didn’t go well?” Hazel asked.

“I think I made things worse. The more I told her to stay away from him, the more she wanted to go further just to spite me. She even started making digs about our parents and me acting like I was trying to replace them."

That felt... surprising. Hazel had given Felicia the warning because she knew how intense and protective her boss could be. But it sounded like she’d gone farther than necessary. She’d known the doctor was competitive, but this was troubling.

“Are you alright?” That was most important.

Her boss glanced at her. She ran her fingers through her auburn hair before responding. “I’m fine. That was more impressive than anything else. I… I can’t be bothered by something that small. It’s more important that she doesn’t say something like that in front of Richard, that’d break his heart. Would you be able to discuss that with her to make sure that doesn’t happen?”

“Of course.” Hazel said. It was obvious that it was affecting her more than she wanted to admit. But she’d give her space for now. “Would you want me to take a break from this and do it now?”

“No. You’ll have an opportunity to do it tomorrow. She asked for your help exploring that temple Genet said we couldn’t visit alone. She seemed to think there’d be some big prize for the first people there, although it feels like a long shot to me.”

“I can do that, but will you be alright without me? Something like that might take all day.”

“I’ll be fine. I plan on taking things easy tomorrow. I might borrow your list of the light challenges if that’s alright.”

Hazel nodded. It was reassuring that Helena was trying to rest. “For now, did you want to look at my progress and make sure I didn’t miss anything?”

Helena dismissed the idea. “I’m long past needing to check your work. You don’t have to do this though, I’m sure I can convince him that this would be a breach of your privacy.”

“I appreciate the thought, but I’m somewhat looking forward to this. This way he can know everything I’d eventually need to tell him, without the awkwardness of discussing things like my foster parents.”

“As long as that’s what you want. I can go through the past five years for any attacks he shouldn’t know about.”

Hazel took out the last third of the file and passed it over. They sat on the bed quietly for a while, sorting through their papers. Occasionally one of them would ask the other for advice. Sometimes it was Hazel, like when she was trying to weigh the risk of leaving in a trip to France against the risk of him remembering something missing. Sometimes it was Helena, questioning again whether Hazel wanted to share everything that he could safely know. They worked her way through her life, stripping the stories of her work for the Turners away and leaving in the story of her work for the CEO. It left the file smaller. Still more detailed than anything else in the closet but his, but smaller than it was.

“Thank you for your help, ma’am. I’ll show Richard in the morning.”

Helena nodded before lying down.”I’m not trying to replace her.”

“Maria?”

Helena nodded, slower this time. “I know I can’t. I’m not trying to.”

“I know you’re not, ma’am. Are you thinking about what Dr.Owens said?”

“No. I’m fine.” Helena lied.

“You had a lot of fun this morning when we were down on the tennis court. Would you like to get a late lunch, then have another match together? We can even stop at the gun range for a while afterwards, blow off some steam?”

“That sounds nice.” Her boss said, rubbing her temple. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

***

Three hours later, Helena was being put through her paces. She’d actually lost the first set, six to four. She’d pulled out what tricks she had and claimed the second set, six to two. Now they were far into the third set and she was winning, but fighting hard for every point. It was great. She hadn’t had enough time to practice in the past year with needing to find time for both Richard and Aubrey until she was safe. So this was the first time in too long she and her bodyguard had been able to play together. She was more experienced, but Hazel was faster and hit harder. Her opponent remembered how to counter anything special she had from how many times she’d leaned on them during the second set and so now all Helena had in her favor was better positioning.

Pow! They were in another long rally. Hazel was trying to drive her back, with hit after hit that was arcing high. But Helena had done this enough times and so she was trying to fight against the current. Each shot she was taking at least two small steps forward, sacrificing power to catch the ball sooner in its arc.

Bam! She had to pivot as Hazel realized what was going on and hammered several feet to the left. She was able to keep it in the air and advance far enough to the net. Another shot came and Helena returned it normally, trying to make sure Hazel stayed down at the service line.

One last hit came and she swiped her racket to the side. The ball darted to the left, hitting the ground just before bouncing out of bounds.

“Forty-thirty.” Hazel called out.

Just one more point and she could win. That wasn’t a given though, she needed to win by at least two to pick up her sixth game. Hazel had already managed to claw back enough points today to make it close. Helena had one more advantage at least; this game she was serving. She tossed the ball gently above her, and spiked it down. Hazel hit it back, and the point was on.

Hazel was hitting shorter this time and so the more experienced woman was able to use the opportunity to take charge. It was her hammering away now, trying to make sure that her opponent was didn’t have a moment to think about anything but countering her next shot. If she could keep Hazel focused on her left side of the court and leaning on her forehand, then she could swing to the right and test the stronger woman’s backhand. She had a little extra difficulty aiming it sometimes, so making her suddenly switch to it might throw her off. So she started striking down at the level of Hazel’s feet, forcing her to bend down to scoop it up. After a few more shots making her focus down, hopefully she could catch her off guard.

But something else happened first. Hazel had been taking advantage of her strength all day, and they were on hour six between the two matches. As the tennis ball struck her racket, a center cord snapped. The ball bounced uselessly into the net, ending the set.

“That’s six to four. Game, set, and match.” Hazel said as she placed her racket on the ground. Their laundry had been cleaned every night, so hopefully the racket could be restrung the same way.

It was a little disappointing for Helena. Both that the match was over, and that her plan hadn’t been needed. Like this morning, the match ending **** her to think about the fact that the four of them were still trapped here. And she needed to find an opportunity to take care of Genet’s deal. She used one foot to pull the shoestring on her other foot loose as Hazel approached the net.

“I hope you had as much fun as I did ma’am.” Seeing the nervousness on Ms.Turner’s face, she checked in. “Are you still stressed?”

Trying to psyche herself up, she shook her head. “My shoe just got untied during that last point, I just need to take care of it quickly.”

She bent down to tie her shoe, sticking out her rear more than necessary. Would this be enough? She hadn’t heard any noise from her phone where she’d left it. She’s seen things like this before. She’s seen me in a swimsuit. Hell, she helped me wash my hair this week. This won’t be too bad. She tried to convince herself

She leaned further onto her knees lifting her butt higher. She felt the cotton of her skirt brush up against her ass. The ceiling fans were stirring the air, the wind only reminding her how exposed she was. She held the position, leaning marginally further and bracing herself with her racket, until she heard a ding from her phone. Is she alright? She turned her head to look, and it was as she’d feared.

Hazel looked horrified. Her normal professional demeanor had been punctured. Her cheeks were flushed and her empty left hand was wavering, unsure whether it wanted to cover her mouth or remain at her hip. Helena watchedShe deserves so much better than me.

Helena hastily stood up, dusting off her skirt as if nothing had been happening. “I apologize for taking so long.”

Hazel swallowed her breath, trying to compose herself. She was clearly still disgusted. “That’s alright. Did you want to go get some water? We can go shooting after we have a moment to rest.”

Thankfully she wasn’t making an issue of what happened. Helena nodded, following her assistant to the bench and water cooler they’d left their possessions at. While Helena was filling a cup, the bussineswoman went for her phone.

Good job, and thanks for helping with me. I’ve deposited your BP you can use with Ata or I, and you can share this with Hazel when you’re ready.
Safeword: Once per round Hazel may reject a transformation when it would be transferred to her. If she does, then that contestant can try again later in the round with any other transformation they possess, but Hazel is immune to the rejected transformation until the following round.

“Hazel?”

“Yes ma’am?” Hazel asked after taking a sip.

“It looks like she’s trying to bribe me now for me to get out of her way. She sent me some bonus points and a description for an upgrade you’d be able to get. She said that I might be able to get info on my own if I behave.”

“May I ask what my upgrade is supposed to do?”

Helena read the description of Safeword for her.

“I see. No one with an unpleasant TF is aggressive enough for that to seem necessary, but that’s good to keep in mind. Hopefully she’s willing to offer us yours soon, ma’am.” She paused, getting ready to change the subject. “Did you still want to find the gun range? We could always head back to the house.”

After what she’d done to Hazel, she couldn’t handle slowing down. She’d hoped that getting her the description and enough points to afford the upgrade would outweigh her guilt from working with Genet. But reading the host’s gratitude afterwards just made her mind wander to what might be happening while her stepbrother was under her influence.

She wasn’t trying to replace Maria. She couldn’t. But she couldn’t let her down either. Maybe after she had a bit of time to refocus, she could try again to live up to her promise. “Take me to the range please. I'm still having trouble calming down.”