BAE Chapter 59

Ivy snorts, looking amused.

“Sounds like you’re not used to doing that exec-style bossing,” she says.

“I’ll get there,” Barbara replies, a little defensively. “What do you need from your bag for the vaccine?”

“All of it.”

“Nice try. What do you really need?” Barbara plants her hands on her hips. “The growth hormones, the fungus, or the journals?”

Ivy’s eyes grow wide. “You actually got it? How?”

“Well,” Barbara says a little laugh. “I had to take my clothes off.”

Ivy stares at her in disbelief. She realizes that Barbara isn’t kidding. It’s the first time that Barbara has seen her taken truly off-guard.

“Um,” Ivy says, looking away. “I didn’t mean for you to have to do that.”

Barbara says cool and confident. “It’s the journals, isn’t it?”

Ivy nods slowly with a little shrug.

“You’ll have them today. The other stuff seems a little dangerous.”

“It is,” Ivy admits, looking at Barbara with new eyes.

“So what are you thinking? What do you like? I was thinking mid-century modern with some colors that pop.” Barbara gestures at the floor, which is smooth, shiny, gray granite tile. “Yellow’s good. Teal. White. Do you want some rugs?”

“Um,” Ivy replies, blinking several times. “Can I think about it?”

“Come on. Decorating’s the easy part.”

“What’s the hard part?”

Barbara bats her eyelashes and shifts her weight to one hip. “Not falling for your beautiful new coworker.”

“You mean boss?”

“I’m not your boss. Just let me know what you want. And I told you breakfast is coming, right?” Barbara says over her shoulder as she walks over to Lucius, who breaks away from the workmen to confer with her. The workmen head for the elevator.

“Is it really necessary to flirt with her?” he asks.

“Yes. She’s a person, not a plant. People flirt. People have fun. People have feelings.” Barbara steals a glance at Ivy, who has never looked more human. The slightly dazed look of puzzlement and optimism on her face is so normal. “I want her to be in touch with that part of herself.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you wanted to touch her… self.”

“If that’s what it takes. I need her happy. And we are not doing conjugal visits with Harley.”

“No, we most certainly are not,” Lucius says with a shudder. “Really moving your office down here?”

“Why not?”

“Barbara, you can make a difference in this city and maybe even this world, but not by punching people.”

“You see me punching anybody?”

Barbara’s phone goes off. “Excuse me.” She answers the call. “What’s up, Alfred?”

“Ms. Gordon, there’s a problem in the building. The elevators are all frozen.”

Barbara feels a chill. She looks over her shoulder. One of the workers stayed behind. She’s over by the windows, where some lab tables are half-assembled. She’s got a long box in her hands, and Barbara has a feeling it doesn’t have table legs in it.