alwaysroomforhope | Suite 138: Conversations

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Suite 138: Conversations

Steph's sprawled on the couch, watching Wendy the Werewolf Stalker - old episodes, but they're always good for a re-run. There is popcorn nearby. Also, chocolate.

And the door's invitingly open, spilling sound and light into the corridor. Stop by, if you're passing. Her flatmate's randomly vanished, and she could always use company.

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Sometimes, you have to go looking for people. And this is one of those times. Barry has to tell Stephanie he's leaving. And that requires finding her, since he can't put this off any longer.

Thus there is a knock at the door.

Steph looks up, and breaks into a huge grin. "Barry! Hi! Come in, check out the new house!"

"Hey." Barry enters and looks about. "Hmmm. Not bad. Looks very, er, lived in." Which is to say, he can tell a teenager lives here. "How are you doing?"

"Great!" Steph smiles up at him. "I'm just really, really glad to be home, the shine hasn't worn off that yet. I think it's even better now I know - like, really know - that there's nothing for me in Gotham any more. I used to daydream about going back, but now - yeah, I'm happy. Have a chocolate?" She passes the bowl up.

He takes one, and smiles. But it's a sad smile. He really doens't want to ruin her mood, her joy at being here. But he can he not tell her?

"That's wonderful, Stephanie. I'm glad that you are feeling that way. This place is good for you." He pauses.

"There's something I have to tell you."

Steph looks at him.

"...I'm not gonna like this, am I."

She puts the chocolate bowl down and gestures at the other armchair.

Barry sits, and tries to keep grinning.

"No, I am afraid not.

"I have to leave soon. The Speed Force is calling to me and this time, I have to go. I'm sorry." The smile is gone.

Steph sits very still.

"...you don't mean just for a little while, do you." It isn't really a question.

"No. As much as I wish I had that option...

"The Speed Force is forever. It happens to all speedster eventually. It's the part I pay, I guess for my powers." Barry's face is full of pain and sadness. He doesn't want to leave this place, or this young woman.

"I wanted to make sure you knew. I didn't want it to happen and me not getting to tell you."

"No. Yeah. Thank you." Steph's voice is distant and carefully controlled. She looks away, still hardly moving. "I appreciate being told." She clamps her lips together tightly.

The blaring of Wendy the Werewolf Stalker is loud in the quiet room. Steph smacks her hand down on the remote, muting it; the heroes and villains keep fighting on the screen, bright shapes in Steph's peripheral vision.

She's not. going. to. cry. She won't. It's a hard enough decision for Barry. He doesn't need some girl making it even worse. She stares at the floor determinedly and folds her hands in her lap.

Barry looks at the poor kid, struggling with this. How do you react to this? He should say something.

"Stephanie...

"I'm glad I got to meet you. I'm glad that you are part of my life."

Steph nods briefly, not really trusting herself to speak.

She knows it's not betrayal, she knows he's not deliberately abandoning her like everyone else ... Batman, Tim, her father, her mother, even Cass... because Barry wouldn't do that. But knowing something isn't the same as feeling it.

She takes a deep breath and tries to remember Batman's emotional control methods, and when she looks up she has her Robin face on, bright smile and all.

"I'm happy for you," she says, and it hardly sounds false at all.

He can tell something isn't right here. He knows that she can be quite emotional, which is sometimes a good thing. Lord knows, he hasn't been, and maybe he should be.

"I am not. I don't want to go. To leave Sara, or my friends. Or you.

"You're family now. Do you know that?"

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There is a peek around the door, from a Billy. he peers in and waves.

"Billy!" Steph beams. "Come on in! How're you doing, did you get pneumonia from swimming the other day?"

He grins.

"Nope. A little cold almost, but lots of orange juice and warmth kept it at bay. How are you faring. And I have to admit, you had me beat out there, fair and square. I dont know how you do it."

He grins and he slips in.

Steph laughs. "Well, I have the advantage of being trained by Batman. You'd've wiped the dirt with me if you were in your other body. Want some chocolate?" She passes the bowl.

He grins and accepts some.

"Thanks! And yeah, but that would have been cheating. I want to learn to be self sufficient in this body, you know? I still feel like the other one isnt mine most of the time."

then he grins.

"How're the new digs?"

"I'm loving it." Steph beams. "Lots more room to make a mess in. Ed's randomly vanished, so I've got the place to myself for a few days, too."

Billy chuckles.

"Scaryyyy! Whatever will you do with all this space?"

He is grinning, then he is tossing a cholclate at her, because... just because.

Steph catches it out of the air and eats it, grinning. "Decorate! I've never owned so much room before, it's awesome. One of the things I guess I missed by dying young - and then Milliways provides it." She beams. "This place rocks."

Another chocolate goes flying back towards him. What, they need reasons?

He grins and catches it and devours it.

"Sounds like a plan. You going to go with some thing classic, or a whole new style?"

He fields a chocolate and tosses it longhand at her.

"Well, classic for us is, y'know, stalactites and chasms and bats ... which is tempting, but I'm thinking of something a little easier to live with." She grins. "I better check with Ed before I do anything too drastic, though. He's gotta live here too."

The chocolate lands briefly in her hand and then goes zooming back.

he chuckles.

"The Batflat?"

Then he ducks, reaches up and grabs the chcolate and tosses it back with spin. And munches another while he is at it.

"...dude. That's it!" Steph grabs the chocolate and disappears into her room briefly, reappearing with paper and pen in her hands and the chocolate in her mouth. "I hereby name this room The Batflat! You any good at making signs?"

Because a name isn't a name unless it's sticky-taped to the door, of course.