eddie likes to (riddlethem) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-05-18 17:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: dc comics, riddler, stephanie brown |
Who: Eddie and Steph (Part Two of Two. Here is Part One)
Where: Saint Agnes Church
When: The night of Arkham explosion before Arkham explosion
What: Riddler crashed Batgirl's party and helps her protect some people. Warm fuzzies and awkward all around.
Warnings: Language maybe some violence
Steph offered him a shaky smile when he promised that he’d at least try. That was all she could ask of him for now without pushing and pushing for more. She didn’t want to push him to the brink because she didn’t want to deal with the consequences at the moment. It would make her vulnerable to him in a way she couldn’t be right now if she wanted to make it through the night. She felt a little pathetic not actually fighting off his affection and confessions with the anger still boiling under her skin, but she felt so tired. Still, she whined as he swung around and tried to arch away from him before he grabbed hold of her. Shaking her head violently as he began to suggest they talk. She didn’t want to talk. She didn’t want to do anything, except maybe stop feeling everything again. Where was Crane when you needed him?
“Ed--.” She tried to talk over him to interrupt his plea, but the crackle of the radio did the job for her, and for once, she was thankful for some jackass goons bursting through a personal moment. She wasn’t ready to deal with him just yet, but she buried all those feelings away to drum up the raw anger to take out on Bane’s men. “Ready,” she said firmly, a couple of sniffs the only indication she’d even been upset, and she couldn’t resist brushing her gloved fingers across his jaw before jetting up the stairs ahead of him. She slowed as she reached the top, tiptoeing until she reached the slightly opened door and peaked around the edge. One goon was close enough to reach, and Batgirl edged out of the small opening.
“Ooh, party crasher in the hoooouse,” she whispered in his ear when she was close enough and wrapped her arm around his neck, with one hand around his mouth, to quickly cut off his airway. He collapsed after a bit of a struggle, and Steph could feel the sharp pain in her ribs, but grinned right through it. “I guess I must’ve lost my invitation to the shindig,” she shouted as the goons closed in on the other people in the church, guns toted. Immediately, she took off running down the side, pushing herself up in the air with the help of one guy’s shoulders to knock his head into his friend’s. “Man, are you guys ever gonna learn not to stand next to each other? Oldest trick in the book.”
Eddie wasn’t exactly a crime fighter in the most literal sense, but his experience going up against Batman again and again taught him a couple tricks. He was always good support for someone who could throw a punch. And, he was always prepared. Hopping off the desk after she bolted, he sifted through the basement junk until he came across a good nine iron and raced up after her. Ducking behind some pews pushed over to the side to be dismantled, he crawled over to the backpack of supplies he left the cops and carefully pulled out a harmless enough looking transmitter. Three more armed thugs busted through the front door with the usual PLAYTIME’S OVER catchphrase before shooting a couple stray bullets in the air to show they meant business.
“Hey, frosted tips!” Eddie called from behind the table, baaareelly peeking up at the thugs. “What kind of cellphone do you have?”
“Iphone?” Frosted tips asked, dumbfounded.
“Great choice.” Eddie changed a dial on the transmitter, pointed it at his leg and in an instant the church was filled with a billion different beeping ringtones at once all coming straight from Frosted Tips’ pants. Panicking, the goon tried to pull the overheating cellphone out, but by then it had already caught fire. Completely forgetting why he was even there in the first place, Frosted Tips sprinted out of the church to go roll around in the rain while the other two looked on like Eddie was some kind of wizard. And, if you asked him? He kind of was.
By then he had already slid two handguns over to some of the retired cops who were taking positions behind cover. Neither of them did more than aim, though, looking to Batgirl to finish the job.
As Eddie busied himself with his own brand of crime fighting, Batgirl was off quipping with the mooks on her side of the church. Her leg swung to sweep one of the guys off his feet just as another ran to lunge at her. “They don’t build you guys like they used to, huh? All brute, no brain. Where’s the fun?” She backflipped over the guy on the floor and landed two hard, swift kicks to his chin, then his chest. He rocked backwards and fell onto the floor before Stephanie even bounced herself back onto her feet. A sharp cough snuck out as she felt the stab of her ribs, and she allowed herself a brief clutch of her side before straightening again.
“Yo, girlie,” a voice shouted behind her, and a wicked grin spread across her face. She turned around to another goon measuring a gun at her chest, and she pulled a gesture that said, little old me? As the idiot inched closer, Steph tilted her head, as if completely interested in the little threats he was spouting at her. “That’s Batgirl to you, jerk.” And she cocked her fist back far, connecting it quick into his jaw with a delicious crunch. A roundhouse kick to the back of his knees had him slamming into the marble floor with a pathetic little meep.
Quickly, she scrambled over the wake of unconscious bodies and climbed up to stand up on a pew. “Hey, idiots!” she shouted at the rest of the goons at large and to the ones looking to come in through the front door. “Unless you want to end up like the rest of your friends or worse,” she snapped, waving toward the now-armed cops, “I’d suggest high-tailing it. Comprende, jerkfaces?” She placed her hands on her hips and shot her hardest look at them, anger over everything bleeding into her actions. The remaining goons eyed the exits like it was a good idea to ditch the effort, at least until they were more prepared. Steph took that moment to jump down closer to the remaining goons. “Oh, and tell Bane I say hola, too.”
Eddie was just about to sneak back over to the entrance to take out a couple kneecaps Arnold Palmer style when Stephanie made quick and easy work of the mooks like it was nothing. Next to him one of the little girls gave a soft wow. “Yeah, she’s pretty great.” Eddie whispered and then stood up just as the remaining goons made a run for it. Once the coast was clear, there was a sudden, resounding cheer from the people in the church and Eddie grinned right over to her, momentarily forgetting all of the tension between them. He was just proud and surprisingly awed at the whole display even after being on the receiving end of an ass kicking from someone in the bat family on multiple occasions.
Suddenly, the room was energized in a way it wasn’t before. They weren’t afraid they couldn’t survive without Batgirl or skeptical of what these two weirdos from Gotham could do. Instead, Eddie could sense a sort of fighting spirit and yes a hope that might have died otherwise. It was a strange and unfamiliar kind of feeling like he had never been in a crowd before or worked together with a team that wouldn’t automatically turn around and backstab him the second they got the chance. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or the whole thing kind of scared him, but at least it was something new.
After a moment of celebrating, Father Michael called for everyone to get back to work and Eddie picked his way through the crowd over to her. Cops, kids, wives, all of them taking a moment to thank Batgirl briefly before going back to whatever they were doing to help fortify the place. Finally, he got to her, biting back a small grin sheepishly. “I don’t know what to say.” He murmured near her shoulder, trying not to get too close as if it’d ruin her integrity. There were only a few times Stephanie left him completely speechless, but he was fine putting this one down in the books.
And it was a thrill to see those idiots bolt out like the Bat had suddenly jumped out and scared the crap out of them, and even a bigger thrill to see all those people filled with a sort of confidence Bane and the toxin’s aftermath robbed from them. She grinned brightly, letting her hands fall from her hips and swing at her sides for a second. “Oh, you guys,” she said faux-sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders and waving a hand as if telling them to just stop. “It was nothing, really.” But, she drank up the thank-yous, smiling and shaking hands and mussing up some of the kids’ hair as they came over. This was exactly what she needed, a selfish sort of feed to her ego and a reaffirmation of her role in Gotham. They still wanted her, even after all the screw-ups, and that? That felt kind of wonderful. Her ribs hurt like a bitch, but she could smile through the pain when they all looked at her like that.
She didn’t notice Eddie edging through the crowd until he whispered close at her ear, and she jerked her head in the direction of his voice. She smiled over at him briefly just as little Katie tugged on her fingers. Immediately, she crouched down again, pulled on her safety blanket, and said, “Told you we’d keep you safe. Now, go make sure your brother keeps helping over there, okay? I think he’s got a crush on that girl over there, and boys get distracted.” Katie pulled a face, and Steph smiled, and after a moment, she fished out a Batarang, this one duller than the rest if not still a little inappropriate for a three year old, for the little girl and held it out. It might not have been the best idea, but she couldn’t resist. “Don’t throw it around, but keep it.” As the little snatched it to show off to her big brother and the rest of the crowd dispersed back to their respective jobs, she stood back up with a hiss and turned to Eddie. “You have nothing?” she teased, warmer than he’d heard in weeks. She was on an adrenaline high, and for one moment, she allowed her guard to slip down. “Tell me you’re proud of me.”
Eddie crossed his arms, watching little Katie with a warm smirk on his face that was similar to how he regarded Frankie Jr or one of his dino kids. He couldn’t have concocted a better way to show Stephanie how great she was and how much she meant to people in the city. And, maybe Batman wanted being a vigilante to be a thankless, justice focused kind of job, but Eddie didn’t see a problem with some positive feedback. Batgirl, at least her Batgirl, wasn’t about fear or vengeance. It was closer to the people of Gotham than that. “I’m proud of you.” He said with that simple confidence free of the usual riddles and tricks. “And stupidly impressed.” Eddie nodded with a smile, wanting to say more, but looking away as one of the retired cops stepped up.
“Would you two mind sticking around for the night?” The old cop asked, clapping Eddie so hard on the back that he made an eeek noise through his nose.
“Hell yes.” Eddie said after a gulp and extended his hand (okay, handshaking a cop was a first for The Riddler, too) with a steadying grin. “I got cameras to put up, I have a fancy door lock to show you and I swear the second the rain stops, I’ll have an electric fence up and ready for you guys.” He turned back to Stephanie, grin slowly fading a little but eyebrows up and maybe a little wishful. Though, he tried to be casual. “Are you sticking around, too?”
Her lips shook into a tentative smile as she looked at Eddie, that familiar buzz in her stomach caused by those stupid butterflies, and that smile looked a touch more genuine as he lauded her for her efforts. Because him being proud of her still meant something, it meant something big to her despite everything that had happened. Eddie being proud would always be something that caused a jolt in her spine and a smile to spread across her face, even when things could eventually fall apart like they were before this stolen little moment. She opened her mouth to respond, but the older cop barreled over and nudged his way into their conversation.
Eddie earned a raised eyebrow from Steph because she knew that had to be a first for him, shaking some cop’s hand. She watched the exchange slightly amused, lips twitching in betrayal of a smile she was fighting. After a beat, she looked at the cop with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. “I guess I’ll have to stick around. Can’t have him outshowing me in the good deeds department, techie or not.” She turned to Eddie, the maelstrom of emotions in her blue eyes only recognizable to him, because the cop could only see the light teasing in the crinkles at the corners of her eyes.
Eddie didn’t have time to internally warn himself not to slip back into old habits. Here he was next to Stephanie, telling her how proud he was of her and working on something as her partner. That was all he ever wanted when he first started playing nice and it drummed up feelings of loyalty and affection that had been lost over the past couple of weeks. Dark eyes brightening a little and returning some of her gaze, though most of the pain she saw when they first broke back into Gotham wasn’t anywhere to be found. “Are you going to beat up my surveillance equipment again? I’ll have you know I named all these cameras I brought. They’re like family.” He quipped back, wiggling his eyebrows.
The cop laughed at the two of them and headed over to help dragging goons out of the church and far enough away that maybe they’d get lost or decide to not come back. “Well I-” Eddie looked back at Stephanie, giving a kind of awkward laugh as he rubbed the back of his head and squinted at her. “Actually, I probably need you to put those cameras up for me. I typically use a lever-pulley system but the whole process just makes me look like a dork.” He almost sounded awkward, as if he were speaking to a stranger or someone he hadn’t charmed over yet and the more he became aware of it, the worse it got. Eddie thinned his smirk out and started walking over to the supply table. “After seeing you ground all those goons, you kind of make me nervous.” Eddie said over his shoulder, turning a little to look at her. They both knew that wasn’t why, but it sounded convincing.
She continued to raise her eyebrow and smiled as Eddie quipped back. Any other day, he’d earn himself a set of rolled eyes, but that seemed so wrong to her still. Like everything was too easy for him after everything that had happened. She flashed the cop a smirk, but when he walked away, she sighed heavily, lips dipping down to a frown, but she stood straight so anyone who glanced over wouldn’t know the difference. “I figured,” she said quietly, that warmth diminishing by the second, and she tugged at the ends of her short hair sticking out of her cowl. “Leave the physical stuff to me.”
Steph followed him over to the table and then raised her eyebrow again after his somewhat false confession. “That’s not why you should be nervous,” she offered immediately, lips pursing into a tight line. It completely and totally wasn’t, and they both knew it. “Don’t start. I don’t want to talk about--,” she started to plea with him, but cut herself off. It was quiet, kind of weak, and she stepped forward to lean a hand on the table. She glanced over the scraps and supplies and tried her best to make heads or tails of whatever he was concocting. “What do you need me to do?”
Eddie mouthed a silent wow at her striking back at his own admittance, clearly believing she was being a little unfair. He was trying to be patient and his feelings for her were trumping a lot of the pain she had caused him for simply denying the way his brain worked, but he could tell she was still interested in crossing a couple lines. His eyes closed as she started pleading with him, exhaling slowly through his nose to keep his nerves in check and told himself this wasn’t it. He couldn’t lose her after everything that happened. But, if she kept pushing him away despite all the pawing and love, at what point would he have to just give up?
“I have four of these neat ball cameras.” He held all of them out for her, two in each hand. “Just mount them on the four corners of the church, I’ll test run them a little and we should be good to go.” Eddie pulled out a small, bright green fanny pack and with no humor at all held it to her. “You have to wear this. It has all the tools, screws and such.” Eddie’s eyes narrowed seriously. “Failure is likely without the assistance of this sweet, sweet fanny pack.”
Steph’s head simply tilted to the side to counter that wow, biting down on her bottom lip to suppress an argument or a sob or something inside her that wanted to react to his hurt look. How was he allowed to even think of looking to her that way if she was the one who got hurt? He hurt her. Yeah, sure, she knew he was upset, too, but it was his own fault. He chose to forgive Death after what happened, he had gotten angry with her after her reaction. But someone looked over towards them, and Stephanie smiled a little tightly as she grabbed the cameras from his hand, two in each of her hand, and she glanced down as she rolled them in her palms while he continued to fish through his supplies.
And, when she looked up again, Eddie was swinging a fanny pack out to her, and a laugh bubbled out of her chest, a girlish, surprised giggle that echoed out of their conversation and around the church. “I’m not wearing that,” Steph replied, voice tinged with that carefree amusement that matched the laugh as she waved her hands in front of her. “No way, no how.”
Eddie’s expression went even flatter, his frown turning almost comical as he leaned his head to the side like she was being a princess about the whole thing. “Alright, fine you asked for it. I’m about to drop a logic bomb.” He pushed the fanny pack closer to her even though she wasn’t taking it, the fake seriousness breaking long enough for him to laugh geekily before he regained composure. “I know for a fact your Han Solo utility belt and that hot thigh belt you have going are packed full of supplies and couldn’t hope to dream to house what would be needed to mount these cameras. Furthermore, you and I both know that I can’t be trusted to temporarily hold onto any of your gadgets without wanting to try them out myself. So, there is simply no way you can help set these cameras up without using my fanny pack here.”
He slowly, slowly raised his pointer finger, eyes closing dramatically as if he were just about to solve the world’s hardest math problem. “And, if you refuse to help me at all, I’ll spend the rest of my night trying to hoist myself up on that rain-slick rooftop instead of doing a myriad of other helpful techie duties to keep this place secure for the next round of Bane idiots.” Eddie swung the fanny pack so it lightly hit her hands again. “The probability of me falling off the roof, by the way, is about 68% or higher. And, a geek like me isn’t going to survive a fall like that. If that was your original intent, then by all means.”
“No, no, no,” Steph said firmly, trying her best to talk over him and failing miserably. And maybe her lip twitched when he called the thigh utility belt hot. Maybe. She would always be a sucker for compliments like that, too, because he would never lie to her about that at least. And she liked feeling hot because of him. But, no, not the issue at hand, and she rolled her eyes as he shot that finger up. Why was he right? She didn’t want him to be right. “You’re supposed to be the dork in this outfit,” she said with a weak tease, fighting her twitching mouth to no avail until eventually she gave up with a sharp sigh. “Fine, give it to me,” she said, lips curling up at the corners as she snatched the fanny pack from his hands. “I’m not wearing it, though. I’ll use it, but it’s gonna clash with the black, purple, and yellow if I wear it.”
He gave her a look of shock as the fanny pack was taken, eyes bright and mischievous. “Don’t you dare even try to pretend those colors clash.” Eddie warned, pointing to the very familiar silver ring inlaid with green, purple and black fabric that she’d have to pry off his right hand if she wanted him to take it off. “It’s missing yellow, but you know what I wear enough question marks of that color, it’s good enough.” He rambled, flipping his glasses back down, grabbing his coat and heading out towards the back door. Outside, the light wind made the rain look like glistening sheets of water waving towards them in the streetlight. Eddie blinked as he shouldered his jacket on pulled his baseball cap back around. The little riddled man must have looked odd, hands on his hips as he stood in the middle of a crumbling graveyard and analyzed the best places for the rolly cameras.
“I hope this lets up by morning. Even if I do kind of like it.” Most thieves, even ones like him who weren’t exactly built for stealth, liked the rain. It slowed everyone else down, muffled noises and aggravated pursuers. That last part he could really identify with. Eddie looked over to Stephanie as she followed him out, stepping closer as they had the privacy of the graveyard so that his chest just barely grazed against her shoulder. She could feel the normal, buzzing warmth he gave off and even in the rain some of the heat of his breath reached the side of her face. “Right there, so it’s obstructed enough by the roof design, but can still get a clear shot of the street.” He held an arm up, violet light from his glasses tracing along his fingertips and up towards the roof.
She shot him an innocent look, all wide-eyed and tilt of her head and a silent what, me playing across her lips. The fannypack swung to and fro from her hand as she followed behind him, the image of the ring she gave him still on his finger stuck in her mind. Of course, she’d never taken the necklace off, even after everything, and that was telling itself. There were moments when she stared in the mirror at the pendant resting on her chest where she felt like ripping it off or times in the shower when her fingers closed around the clasp and squeezed it. But, she never went through with it, she didn’t have the heart to do it. It was still resting underneath her suit right then, tucked beneath that yellow bat splayed across her chest. And, maybe that was telling too, what was closer to her heart. Not that bat symbol, but a piece of Eddie that was there as a reminder of what he did to keep her, to keep them safe.
The rain whipped against her face, and she spluttered a few times as rainwater fell into her mouth, and she dropped the cameras into the fanny pack along with the tools she needed to mount them. When he inched close to her, she sighed shakily and closed her eyes, water dripping down her nose, and she turned her body until her chest brushed against his, until her nose was barely inches away from his. A natural reaction, something she’d done time and time before, and something so fundamentally right even if she wanted it to feel wrong. Jerking her head toward the path of violet light, she nodded. “You just want an excuse to stare at my ass as I climb up,” Steph teased, and with a relenting sigh, she stooped down to clip the fanny pack around her thigh. (Take that, Eddie.)
She procured her grapple gun from one of those nifty utility belt pockets just in case as she began to scale the side of the building. Jumping on windowsills and using decorative spires to drag herself up. And once she was mounted in a somewhat safe position, she began to busy herself with placing those cameras in the designated spots, bouncing from place to place as he pointed them out.
“You caught me.” He grinned, digging his foot between hers, slowly lowering his violet glasses dramatically before giving one of those cheesy 80’s movie winks. The kind they’d laugh at snuggling together on the couch with the rest of Gotham on hold. She was allowed to be mad, mad as hell if she wanted. That didn’t mean he was going to let her forget how good it felt to be together. She may not have wanted his love anymore, but Eddie didn’t know the first thing about holding himself back from something he wanted. In fact, he almost asked her to forget about the cameras for a little while and find a nice dry spot outside to lose themselves in. “Steph I-” Eddie started just as she grappled away and he decided it was best to just let the suggestion die with him in the muddy, old graveyard.
Sighing, Eddie turned the comm on and gave her some instructions as he tested the cameras one by one. “Okay, that’s- yeah that’ll work just fine.” He told her once she set up the last camera and he took a couple stumbling steps back to look up at her. “What do I have to do to convince you to paint your regular thigh belt bright green? I like how that fanny pack looks.” Eddie made a rolling rawwwr noise and she could practically see the smarmy smirk forming at the edge of his mouth.
He earned a quick twitch of her mouth at that wink, and she carried that as she climbed up and around the outside of the church. It was so easy to remember what she loved about him when he pushed it on her like that. Smarmy smirks and cheesy winks and wriggling into her personal space. Pressing again and again until she relented with her own affection and love. No, she didn't want to love him anymore after such a betrayal, but it wasn't that simple with them. It hadn't been simple since she poked him on the journals after that disaster of a Halloween party. But, somewhere between Las Vegas and here, they had lost each other in the fray. Communcation got muddled, intentions were misconstrued, and ideologies clashed. The fundamental flaws within the two of them created a rift that she didn't know if they could move past.
"No growling," she said into the comm, trying to be serious but he knew that voice better than that. After one final adjustment, she used the grapple line to parallel down the side and landed in the mud with a splash. "Ugh," Stephanie groaned as she shook off the bits of mud she could, then looked over to Eddie. Smiling despite herself. "Lots of convincing would be necessary. I like to keep my green hidden away just for me." Her cheeks burned at that, and she cleared her throat as she looked away toward the sky and the rain pouring down on them both.
He shielded his face when she plopped back down in the mud, diligently picking off stray globs from his arms and soaked jeans before smiling up to her. “There’s got to be some kind of good bargaining system.” Eddie tried to wipe away some of the rain, taking off his now soaking baseball cap and tucking away his violet glasses with a sigh that seemed to accept there was no trying to stay dry at this point. “You know when Supes died a long time ago, Batman would wear a black band around his arm. Maybe if this rain makes me come down with a cold you could wear green in honor of my sacrifices.” He knelt next to her when she looked up and snapped the fanny pack off her thigh, slinging it over his shoulder and stood back up a couple more inches closer than he was before.
“I’m going to go back and work on the door. Maybe find an old bible study club t-shirt to dry off in.” He reached to brush the back of his hand against her face, mouth screwing up in a bittersweet kind of smile. The moment of hesitation to leave lasted longer than it should have as he pressed a little closer, hand sliding down to hold the side of her neck as he visibly tried to work out what he should do versus what he wanted. That was always something he wasn’t very good at weighing out. His thumb made a couple small brushes along her jaw and then he said quietly, “You really were something tonight. I like seeing you be- well I like seeing you.” He tried to pry himself away from her, but his feet and hands weren’t moving. “You ought to push me away now. I need a little kick to get going.”
"I've come to think your immune system is perfect, so I don't think you'll have an excuse to whine at me about a cold. Thank your Cheetos sandwiches, I guess." She looked down from the dark sky to him, water drops slipping down her nose and cheeks, and she flashed him a tiny smile, the curve of her lip as teasing as the tilt of her head accompanying it. "I'm always wearing green. It's just not for others to see." Leaning into his touches, her eyes closed, but she dipped her hand underneath her collar to tug out the familiar pendant hanging off a familiar chain. She didn't open her eyes just yet, but she felt the pendant swing back and forth in the delicate grasp of her fingers. He felt close, too close, and she knew she would probably do something stupid once she actually looked at him proper.
After a moment, she opened her eyes despite herself and let the pendant fall with a tiny pip onto the slick Kevlar. "Eddie," Stephanie said weakly, like those pleas from earlier but with little of her angry oomph behind it, and looking down to the muddy ground beneath them. She leaned into his gentle touch, head tilting into his fingers, and sighed deeply. A couple sharp breaths almost made it like she wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. He made her stupid. So stupid. Suddenly, she jerked her gaze back up, blues meeting deep browns, and before either of them could say anything, she crushed her lips hard against his. Consuming, unrelenting, and painful. But, before he could rope her in anymore, she shoved him away roughly, albeit not too far. "Go fix the door," she said thickly, panting.
He made a sound through his nose like the wind got knocked out of him, clutching her cape with one hand while the other cupped her cheek like he was starving for her. His focus blurred in that sweet way it did when she got too close and he pushed back without thinking twice about it. An automatic response to something he wanted. Normally, Eddie wouldn’t accept a painful, crushing kiss in fear it would become a habit or she’d turn him into a punching bag like everyone else. Tonight, though. Tonight, it was a good expression of how she felt and Eddie was willing to take any kind of returned feelings he could pull out of her. He didn’t want to be pushed away again. He didn’t want her to try and play it safe. Tonight he was perfectly fine with a little mess.
Eddie didn’t get a lungful of air back until she shoved him back, hand still gripping her cape like letting go meant a certain kind of doom. He looked up at her, eyes wide and wanting to say more and he tugged on the edge of her cape twice as if that alone could tell her all she needed to know. “Yes, ma’am.” He said weakly, rolling the cape’s fabric between his fingers before letting it drop to her side again. Eddie took a couple reluctant steps back, fingers combing through his wet, black hair before he turned and trotted back inside without her.