Chapter Text
After hours of traveling on foot, the trio finally arrived in Gotham a few hours past midnight. They sneak around the city, making sure to keep a low profile and not get spotted. All of those miles had them exhausted and extremely hungry. Cassandra knew she had a large appetite, but she had never felt this hungry before. A loud grumble comes out of Tenji, and he groans.
“Can we please get something to eat? I'm sure your people have some good food, but I cannot wait any longer.” Tenji pleads desperately.
Cassandra looks around an alley and stops after sensing no one is nearby, “I know a place we could go, but don't talk to everyone you see, understood?” She directed that comment mostly to her brother.
He nods right away, “Yup, understood.”
“Give me one of your bandanas so I can cover my face.”
Tenji pulls one out of his pocket with a raised brow, “Uh, what about the huge bat symbol you have?”
She wraps the bandana around her face, covering half of it. Jaya takes off one of the big sweaters she had on, “Here, take it.”
Slightly hesitating, Cassandra takes off her cape, throwing it in a nearby dumpster. There was plenty more waiting for her at the Batcave. She takes the sweater and puts it on, clearly oversized on her. “Okay, you two just stay behind me.”
They made it to a twenty-four-hour burger fast-food restaurant, since it was 2:00 am, there was no one inside besides the workers. Cassandra simply waves towards the workers, trying to seem like any normal customer. Tenji scans the place in awe and his eyes glow at the kiosks, seeing a good amount of the menu.
“Just tap what looks good to you, and get as much as you want, don’t worry about the price.” Cassandra lets the two order and smiles softly under the bandana, seeing her friends amazed by the technology. She tapped her credit card to pay, and the total was around sixty bucks. A receipt prints out from the kiosk, and Cassandra grabs it, handing it to Tenji.
“That’s our order number. Show it to them when they call it out.” It was risky to let Tenji grab their food, but he was the only friendly-looking one. He quickly fills in their cups with water and rushes over to them at a table.
When the order number is called out, he makes his way to the counter nervously and hands them his receipt. The worker glances at it before handing the brown bags to him.
Tenji grabs it with a grin and almost trips when speeding over to the girls. They open the bags and Jaya and Tenji grab the wrapped food, confused. Cassandra notices before taking a huge bite of her burger, "Chicken is yellow and beef is white.” The two swap their food and unwrap it, still confused about the whole thing, but nonetheless starving so they start to chow down. The table was filled with them just eating and chugging down their water.
As they finished, there was a mess on the table and they all sat there, completely stuffed. Tenji sighs heavily, “Wow, that food wasn’t too bad for being made in less than two minutes.”
Cassandra chuckles, “I’m glad you two enjoyed it. I know some better places that are actually better and not fast food.”
Jaya raises a brow, “Fast food…?”
Tenji looks at his sister for an answer. She smiles at both of them and shakes her head, “You guys don’t know much about the city, huh? Well, I can explain more later, we gotta get going.”
They clean up their mess on the table and leave shortly after. It has been a long night, but the meal gave them more than enough energy to make it to the Wayne Manor. Cassandra presses and holds on the buzzer on the front gates, “I’m home.”
A moment passes by and the gates open slowly. The trio takes a few steps inside before the double doors of the mansion open wide, showing Barbara in disbelief, but also joy as she makes her way to Cassandra. She doesn’t have to get very far to reach Cassandra since she basically sprints towards her, hugging her tightly.
Barbara hugs her hard, “You’re back! God, please don’t ever scare me like that again!”
Cassandra quickly nods, “I’m sorry, we, uh…Had our hands full?”
The redhead giggles, “Yup, you used it right.” She holds on for just a little longer before letting go and looking at Cassandra with a wide smile, holding her face, “You look like you need some sleep.”
Cassandra smiles softly, “Probably…Oh, these are the friends I told you about.” She stands up straight and moves to the side for Barbara to see them.
Tenji grins, “I’m Tenji, her brother, well, half-brother, but I just say brother.”
They both shake hands and Barbara gives him a welcoming smile, “Good to finally meet you, Cassandra told me a lot about you.”
His eyes glowed, “Really? Is that true, sis?!”
She cracks a small laugh, “Sure.”
He gives his sister a knowing look and shakes his head, smiling, “Uh-huh, trying to act all cool again.”
Tenji steps out of the way so that Jaya can introduce herself and she offers her hand first with a smile, “I’m Jaya.”
Barbara smiles back and shakes her hand, “I have a feeling you’ve been the one babysitting these two.”
Jaya chuckles awkwardly, “Um, maybe a bit.”
Tenji rolls his eyes playfully, “Mostly Cass, she’s the real troublemaker.”
Barbara laughs and teases, “Well, just so you know, it doesn’t get better.”
They all share a laugh before Barbara invites them to come inside. “You guys must be dying to eat something. Alfred made everyone dinner.”
Cassandra doesn’t say anything, but her face says it all and Barbara smiles warmly, “Already ate, huh? That’s okay, I’m happy you all didn’t wait too long. I have rooms prepared for Tenji and Jaya. I can take them, and you can go meet the others, they’re in the dining room.”
Cassandra nods, “Thank you, Barbara.”
She heads over to the dining room, excited, but also nervous about reuniting with her family. It has been a long time, but she’s sure that they miss her as much as she misses them. Some footsteps were coming closer to her as she turned to the left and came closer to the dining room.
It sounded familiar and Cassandra had a good guess on who it was. She leans back against the wall and waits for the person to walk past her in the hallway. When she sees her walk by, Cassandra sneaks up behind her and wraps her arms around her waist, hugging tightly. Stephanie releases a surprised gasp and turns her head to see who it is.
“C-Cass?! You-You, made it back!” She quickly turns around and pulls in her friend for a deep hug. They held onto each other, not wanting to let go and take it all in.
Stephanie buries her face into her shoulder, “I’ve missed you…so much.”
Cassandra puts her hand behind the blonde’s head, “I’ve missed you a lot too…I’m sorry for going off contact, I just—“ She holds her closer, “Didn’t want to show a part of me that I wasn’t proud of.”
Stephanie slowly shifts away to look at Cassandra, “Hey…It’s okay, I knew you didn’t mean any harm in it. All I care about is that you’re here.”
A smile grows on Cassandra’s lips and the two look at each other, remembering each other's features. Some footsteps stop Cassandra from responding and they awkwardly pull away, having a large gap between them. Damien looks at them, sensing small tension. Ignoring it for now, he gives his sister a short hug.
He puts on a small grin, “Good to have you back.”
Cassandra returns the grin, “Thanks, Damien.”
“Well, come on, the others are waiting.”
The two follow behind him and as soon as Cassandra walks in, the energy changes. Everyone goes one by one to hug her and goes in for more hugs later on. After trying to catch up on everything when she was gone, Bruce places a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re all happy you’re back, but you should go get some rest.” He looks at her, slightly concerned, knowing that she hasn’t slept in weeks. Bruce knew that since he had the same look when he was sleep deprived. There was something else that was going on with his daughter, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it.
“Right…Goodnight everyone. We’ll catch up tomorrow.” They all hug Cassandra before she leaves and Stephanie sneaks around, following right behind her.
“Do you mind if I uh, take you to your room?” The blonde fidgets with her fingers, trying to calm down her nerves.
Cassandra gives her a tired smile, “Yeah, of course.”
Stephanie almost melted away at how the girl in front of her looked and how she just wanted to hold her and help her sleep. She looked like she could sleep for days and seemed to be ready for it with her comfortable posture. That's when Stephanie noticed the sweater she was wearing and furrowed her eyebrows, knowing it was something she'd never seen Cassandra wear.
“What’s up with the new style?” She teased lightly.
Cassandra looks down at the sweater, remembering she had it on in the first place, “Needed it to bend in and hide my identity. I should probably give it back to Jaya now since I don't need it anymore.”
The name echoed throughout Stephaine’s mind. Jaya? Who's Jaya?
“Oh, ah, sorry, but I don't remember you talking about Jaya?” Stephanie bit her tongue at how nosy she sounded.
“Hm, I guess I didn't mention her when you were around. Barbra knew of her, though, not sure why she didn't tell you.” Cassandra said cluelessly, having no idea about how this was making Stephanie feel.
Her lips became a thin line. Barbra, really?! Did she think I was going to get jealous and act weird because of it? I wasn't going to at all!
“Psh, she probably forgot. No biggie. You think we can stop by real quick?”
Cassandra took off the sweater, holding it with one hand. “Maybe. I don't want to wake her up if she’s asleep.”
Stephanie glanced at her build for a second and then quickly looked again. Cassandra sure was lean and thin, but there was a clear difference now. She had to gain at least around five pounds of pure muscle and fit tightly in her suit. It was as if she bulked up a little and still stayed lean.
Pink blush ran through Stephaine’s cheeks and her eyes blinked away to get rid of the trance she was in. “Y-Yeah, sounds good.”
They make it to the room Jaya was given, and Cassandra knocks softly, waiting for any response. A couple of seconds go by and the door slowly opens, showing Jaya in a set of black and yellow pajamas. Very so Batman themed.
“Hey Cassandra, what's the matter?” She says with a sleepy voice.
Cassandra hands over the sweater with a small smile, “Just wanted to return your sweater, thank you.”
Jaya smiles back, taking the sweater, “Yeah, no problem…” Her eyes finally notice the other girl who's there. “Oh…Is this one of your family members?”
Stephanie’s eyebrow slightly twitched at the comment.
“This is Stephanie, she's a friend of mine. She wanted to stop by and say hi.”
The blonde makes the first move, putting out her hand. “Nice to meet you Jaya. I hope you made yourself comfortable.”
Jaya, somewhat taken back from the passive aggressiveness, slowly takes her hand, shaking it gently. “Likewise…It’s very nice here. I appreciate all the hospitality.”
Stephanie keeps her hand firm before letting go, “Good to hear. Well, we should let you rest then.”
Cassandra nods in agreement, “If you need anything, don't be shy to ask Barbara. She’ll be more than happy to help.”
Jaya smiles softly at Cassandra, “Thanks again. Goodnight you two.”
The two other girls say goodnight before Jaya closes the door and they start to make their way to Cassandra’s room, which isn't very far. Stephanie’s pulse quickens by every passing second, rethinking everything that just happened and being stuck with the thought of Cassandra wearing another girl’s sweater.
Cassandra sensed it as soon as it happened, but it seemed like a personal issue and something she should just let her handle on her own.
They don’t say a word before they make it to her room, and Stephanie builds up the courage to hug her friend once more.
“Get the sleep you need, okay?” She whispers.
Cassandra hugs her back softly, “Okay…”
This hug was not as tight as the one before, and it was gentle. Almost as if they were cuddling one another. It helped both of them ease down and become a little sleepy, eyes getting heavy. But, as soon as they pulled apart, it all went away.
All there was a hint of the feelings the embrace gave them and the need to go back to it. None of them gave in to that need, and they shortly after said their goodnights.