Suite 138.

[i_spoiled_it]

Suite 138 is large, airy and light. The far wall is entirely windows, opening out onto a balcony that overlooks the lake; the others are mostly white, punctuated with pictures and postcards. There's a series of photos blu-tacked up of a three-year-old girl with red hair and Steph's blue eyes, just below a large, slightly dog-eared poster of

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[someboywonder]

I take a good deal of time coming up to the room, and even once I'm up the stairs, I pass Steph's door once and enter a minute later upon doubling back, once I'm sure nobody at all is in sight. I slip in, close the door around me, and put my bag by the door. Promising myself I won't snoop around, I sit down on the couch.

And then I go into detective mode and before I know it, I'm combing over the entire place so thoroughly and so quickly even Bruce would be proud. No trace left, nothing obviously disturbed. I check out all the rooms, the picture frame on the floor, how unused everything that doesn't belong to Steph seems to be.

It takes me about eight minutes. I time myself, worried Steph will show up, and then I'm back to the couch.

Sneaky, I know. But I can't help it.

[i_spoiled_it]

It's only a couple of minutes later that Steph slips into the room, eyes bright. "You found it okay?"

She's grinning as she shuts the door behind her.

[someboywonder]

Steph's smiling. She's alone with me, and she's smiling. I take that as a good sign, and I smile back.

"No problem for a guy like me; I mean, I was trained by the world's greatest detective you know."

[i_spoiled_it]

"I think Alvin's a bad influence on you, Tim." She grins at him. "So -- what now?"

That's the question. She can't keep Tim locked in her room -- whether she'd like to or not -- and she can't really spend time with Tim Drake, because everyone knows Stephanie Brown is Robin and questions would be asked that might endanger Tim.

Steph hasn't had to worry about secret identities for years. It's ... making her smile, a little, because it reminds her of home.

[someboywonder]

"For now? I hang out here. I can probably stay a day, maybe two, without anybody knowing, unless you have a roommate. If Oracle doesn't show up in that time, I suppose I can go about pretending to be Alvin until a solution presents itself; I can get my own room if I'm going to be here for very long."

It sounds like a decent plan to me, but maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to be around Steph for so long.

[i_spoiled_it]

She leans on the back of the couch, thinking. "I do have a roommate, but he hasn't been around for almost a year. Goldy tends to barge in without knocking pretty often, and Ange and Mel and 'Kita, though.

"There's no need for you to get your own room, though. They won't say. Well -- I guess Goldy might, but she'd probably just be glad I wasn't --" She swallows whatever it was she was about to say. "Well, she'd insinuate things, but I'm sure we could handle that." She gives him a quick grin.

"Oracle will show. She's around a fair bit. I'll leave a note at Bar if you like."

[someboywonder]

"That'd be good, yeah. I appreciate it Steph."

I stretch and relax a little, trying to get comfortable. If I'm going to be staying here for a bit (well, maybe) I better get used to the place.

"So I take it your roommate isn't your boyfriend?" I pause, trying to be casual. "And the guy in that photograph over there is?"

Just a lucky guess?

[i_spoiled_it]

Steph darts a sharp look at him. "Should've known you'd... Yes. That's Zuko."

Her tone is so flat it reveals nothing. Which in itself reveals plenty.

She picks the cracked picture frame up and tucks it into the bookshelf between a couple of Shakespeares, without looking at it.

"We lived together for a bit, but I moved back here."

[someboywonder]

My eyebrows shoot way up at that one, but...well, I do make an effort to lower them again, even if it's not working very well.

"Huh." Don't do it Tim. Don't be an ass. Remain blissfully silent on the subject. "So, this place cost you much?"

Topic changes are my specialty.

[i_spoiled_it]

"I don't think I actually pay for it at all," Steph admits, coming over to sit crosslegged on the end of the couch. "I mean, I earn plenty on Security, but I think Mel not-secretly picks up my tab anyway."

She wrinkles her nose for a moment, and sighs in resignation. She owes Tim a straight answer, at least.

"Zuko dumped me a while ago. We're not -- together. But it's -- I'm dead, you know? He's not. You're not. So that's just -- how it has to be."

[someboywonder]

There's a lot I could say to that, but somehow, I doubt Steph wants to hear it. Whoever this asshole was, he hurt her pretty badly. So I sit silently for a few moments, and I wonder if maybe she wants to believe this, just to make it easier on herself.

Then again, I'm also wondering how I suddenly got tossed into this conversation like that, so there's a lot on my mind.

"If he left because he could only be with you here, then it's his loss. I'm just sorry he hurt you."

I'll try not to say any more on the subject. For her sake.

[i_spoiled_it]

"So -- I guess that's the story." She's glad he's not making a big deal out of it; her glance is grateful. "Just so you know. I mean -- it's not -- Not even talking about Zuko, though, you -- you know what I'm saying, right? You have a me, at home. You don't need any -- complications like this."

She trusts Tim to understand, to pick up the implications; Tim's always been brilliant. And he's always understood.

"So ... want a drink?"

[someboywonder]

"It's really not my choice, is it?"

To be honest, I haven't been thinking about that. Because I know it would be weird and complicated and all sort of things, but at the same time...I just don't know what would happen. So I concentrate on changing the way things will happen, making the world this Steph knows...well, not exist. It's a lot to think about, so I don't need to spend time thinking about this. Us. Me and her.

But I'm not going to tell her something just to make it easier on her. Not if I don't honestly know.

"Sure, I'll take a drink. Whatever you've got."

[i_spoiled_it]

She flashes a smile at him. "We've got everything. From Zesti to 51%. Age limits don't apply when you're dead ... I'd be nearly nineteen now, anyway, so. I'm guessing you don't want the alcohol. Zesti for all?"

[someboywonder]

"Sure," I reply, still a little weirded out to think of Steph as eighteen or nineteen. It doesn't show on the outside, since she's dead, but inside, I guess she really is a lot more mature now than the Steph I know.

[i_spoiled_it]

She gives him an awkward smile, bringing glasses over. "Help yourself, obviously, to anything in the fridge or anything. I'll bring a couple extra blankets out -- you don't mind sleeping on the couch, right? I mean, I guess Ed wouldn't mind if I opened up his room for you, if you'd prefer?"