Chapter Text
Fall in National City settles in with little fanfare. It's like the world sighs after the heat and excitement of the summer, the energy fades till even birds are settling in, huddled together. With their feathers puffed they look like the people on the Metro, necks bundled in scarves pulled from the depths of closets, nestled in warmer clothing.
Fall doesn't come with the aggressive bluster like Metropolis. Kelly can get away with keeping her style quite the same, although the slight chill numbs her fingers as she walks down from her apartment towards her office.
She rubs her hands together, and is just about to bring them to her face to warm them up when a warm, tantalising aroma meets her nose. She's walked down this street before, she's familiar with the coffee shop and the few restaurants that sit between other businesses but she's never encountered this before.
And- there. She spots a blonde woman down an alleyway loading a large box into the back of a van, but as she's walking over the woman skips to the front of the van, clambers in, and starts the van.
She catches a glimpse of the back of the shop though, the logo on it. It's only a street over, and she circles around to the front of what appears to be a bakery.
-
Fate works in mysterious ways. Alex will one day look back on this particular set of circumstances and wonder if it was truly luck, or if a particularly mischievous god with a love of irony and drama had stacked the deck a certain way before Alex went for the draw.
"Alex, can you man the counter?"
There's a clatter, and a muffled (self-censored) curse as Kara hefts a cake box to the back door.
Alex pauses with the oven half-open as she pulls out a rack of loaves, brow furrowed at her younger sister. "What?"
"These cakes, I thought they were for eight-PM but actually the customer wanted them now , in time for a morning meeting so I'm heading out-" she rambles, double checking the contents of one of the boxes of pastries.
"You can't just leave me here. I'll deliver them-" Alex starts, but Kara raises her eyebrows, and glances at Alex's flour-covered apron and sleeves.
"I'll do it. It'll be ten minutes, tops. It's down the street, Alex. Please-e-e?" Her eyes widen, and her lower lip sticks out and- damn it.
Alex seethes, and drops a hot rack of bread onto a work counter with a somewhat satisfying clatter. Her grunt of disapproval seems to be taken as acceptance, and Kara shouts her thanks as she heads out the back door.
Great.
She loads some baguettes into the display, and stands by the counter. It's early enough that the foot traffic is mostly people going off to work, none of them seem hungry enough to wander in right now which is a welcome relief. She takes a cloth to rub the flour off her hands, and manages to get a decent amount off. She's about to head back into the familiar warmth of her side of the bakery when-
Ring-ring ,
The bell above the door chimes, and Alex shakes out of her thoughts as a customer walks in.
The first thing she notices is the coat she wears, thigh length with the collar upturned. Then it's the way she swipes her hand across her face to brush long black hair out of the way of the most gorgeous eyes that Alex has ever seen... ever.
Then she smiles and the muscles of Alex's face twitch awkwardly in some semblance of a response, blood rushing to her cheeks as her heart begins to pound.
"Hi," Alex croaks, then clears her throat- focus . She takes a deep breath, settles herself. Smiles wide but not threateningly, just like Kara said- then tries again. "Hello."
"Hello..." the woman responds, a twitch to her eyebrows as her smile widens. They stare at each other for a moment, the woman taking in Alex's appearance before flickering back to meet her gaze to add- "Alex."
How does she- oh. Alex glances down at her apron, where her name is embroidered across the left side. Right. She looks back up, and the confusion and surprise must be evident on her face because the woman laughs and- oh what a sound.
"I'm sorry. I've been up since five,"
The woman hums, and glances over at the recently filled racks beside Alex. "Baking?"
"How did you-" Alex's eyes narrow, and the woman laughs again, louder this time.
"This is a bakery, Alex."
Right. What the fuck. Nice going, idiot. Alex winces, and rubs her forehead as hot shame shoots up her spine. "If you know my name and you're going to make fun of me then I think I should know yours too."
"Kelly," the woman- Kelly, says, pursing those full lips afterwards as if to hold back another laugh.
" Kelly ." Alex muses, then remembers why she's standing behind the counter in the first place. "Why are you here?"
It's Kelly's turn to be taken aback. "... to buy something? Do you usually ask customers why they're in your shop?"
Alex is equal parts intriguing and confusing to Kelly right now. Standoffish and somewhat rude, but also an earnestness behind it that lets Kelly know that she isn't being rude for no reason, the woman is just out of her depth. Not accustomed to being in the front, clearly.
With her sleeves rolled up, Kelly can see the definition of her forearms, the gentle dusting of flour on her hands which she leaves on the back of her collar when she rubs the back of her reddened neck awkwardly. She gestures gruffly at the shop, at the pastries in the cases and the bread in the racks.
"We've got bread. We've got cakes. Take your pick."
"Do you make all this?" Kelly asks, and the woman looks a bit flustered again, like she isn't used to being questioned.
"Not this stuff, no. I make the bread. My sister makes the cakes."
"Any recommendations?"
Alex thinks for a moment, drumming her fingers on the front counter before pushing off. She gestures to a tray of dark rye bread rolls. "These are still warm,"
"Then I'll take one of those. How much for the one?"
When Alex looks over at her again, she smiles and stands a little taller, selecting one of the rolls and sliding it into a brown paper bag stamped with the bakery's logo. She hands it over with a smile and Kelly's cold fingers relish in the warmth of the bread inside the paper bag.
"Don't worry about it. I baked too much."
Kelly blinks in surprise, and Alex glances away with that same small shy smile playing on her lips.
"Thank you-" Kelly starts, just as her watch buzzes with a message from a client. She purses her lips, almost wanting to linger a little longer in the bakery. "Sorry I- I've gotta go. But thanks for this. I'll be back again for sure."
It's on her way out, as she walks, that her stomach grumbles to remind her that she'd forgotten breakfast. The warm bread is way too tempting, and as she bites through it, crisp outer crust giving way to a light and airy inside, she nearly moans in the middle of crossing the street.
She's definitely going to make another stop at that bakery.
-
Kara comes back in half an hour, as promised. She makes her way through the back, picking up her apron and gently sidling past Alex to the front counter as she slips it on. "Any customers while I was gone?"
"Yeah," Alex says, going back to her own station in the dark shadows at the back of the bakery. It's more comforting there, it's familiar. The big oven, the workbenches, her equipment all where she keeps it, the perpetual dusting of flour over everything.
But now her eyes are drawn to the front of the shop, the light streaming in from the large windows, the street and the autumn leaves caught on the breeze that flutter by as people walk back and forth.
"Did you sell anything?"
"No," Alex says, and as Kara looks about to get into one of her rants about Alex's customer service skills, she adds- "But I met someone."