FIC: Courtesy of the Gotham City Fire Department (DCU)
Title: Courtesy of the Gotham City Fire Department
Author: rysler
Date: April 13, 2009
Source: DC Universe: 52, Renee Montoya/Kate Kane
Rating: R
Notes: 1700 words. Sort of an origin tale.
Courtesy of the Gotham City Fire Department:
Renee yanked at her suit jacket and sighed. The fabric itched. The jacket bunched against her back. She wished she hadn't bought it. Bullock had helped her pick it out. He'd taken her to some sweatshop in lower Gotham, assuring her that if she paid the dressmaker directly, there was less of a chance of the money going into some pimp's hands.
She tipped as generously as she could afford, decided the knockoff looked enough like D&G to wear, got her hair done by her cousin, and went off to the policeman's ball.
Commissioner Gordon had given her the invitation personally. She didn't have the heart to tell him where he could shove it. At least her parents were excited. They wanted to see her name in the paper without "mugger" or "gangster" beside it.
So she had come to the fabulous Kane mansion. For work. For familia. The Waynes, whom Renee preferred, were the patrons of the police force, but after Wayne Manor had burned down, the Kane family had stepped in. Out of generosity, of course. Not territorialism.
Just saying, it was their firemen who had put out the flames.
Just saying, Wayne owed them.
Bruce didn't show up, though. Word on the street had it that he was on an island somewhere. Renee couldn't blame him.
She wandered into the courtyard. The night was warm enough that people filled the space, illuminated by tea lights strung through the trees.
Trees inside someone's house. Renee decided that was her new symbol of having too much money.
She wandered toward the scent of meat. Cops waited in line for slivers of tenderloin carved by a server in a white chef's outfit. When Renee got her sliver, she put it on her tongue. She'd swear in court that it melted.
Maybe it was good she'd come after all. She went to the back of the line.
She caught her first glimpse of the patroness when Kate climbed onto a cement fountain rim and tapped a fork against glass. Renee gave up her place in line and moved under a tree. She didn't pay attention to Kate's words. She paid attention to Kate's body, in a skin-tight red gown that complimented her fiery hair. The dress had a slit up the side, nearly to Kate's waist.
That was worth observing. Renee gulped champagne and the bubbles stung her tongue. She had to blink hard to bring Kate's thigh, lean and sculpted, into focus.
Kate's voice seemed to get louder. Renee dragged her focus upward and found herself meeting Kate's eyes. Kate gazed right at her, speaking about the heroism of the police or something insubstantial. Renee held the gaze as evenly as she could manage with her heart suddenly pounding in her chest and she was rewarded when the corner of Kate's lips quirked into a smile.
Renee had heard Kate's name whispered in the squad room. Poor little rich girl got a speeding ticket, a pot bust, an indecency charge. And since the family was the patron of the police's mortal enemies, Renee knew she should hate her on sight.
She wanted to explore better reasons to hate Kate Kane.
Kate disappeared after the speech. Renee got back in line. But after another slice of beef as thin and translucent as sushi, Renee went searching.
She found Kate inside, standing on a second floor landing, looking through a window out at the courtyard. Renee climbed the stairs. Kate shifted slightly toward her direction. Her gaze stayed on the window, but Renee sensed that she had all of Kate's attention. As she reached the top step, Kate turned to face her.
"Hello…Detective?" Kate asked, her smile widening.
So they weren't going to beat around the bush. Renee took that as a positive sign. And she never needed many hints in order to act.
"Renee Montoya, detective third grade." She offered her hand.
Kate's handshake was gently solid, neither too firm nor limp. Her fingers slid across Renee's wrist as they pulled apart.
Renee said, "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Kane."
"Kate."
"Kate. Thanks for the shindig."
"My pleasure." Kate looked her over, and then met her eyes.
Renee wondered what she saw. Despite getting all dressed up, Renee felt too young for her severe fake designer suit. Never mind that Kate was impossibly young, too, and wearing that dress. Renee tugged at her collar. Her crucifix kept getting tangled in her shirt. She had a gun strapped to her ankle. Not that Kate could see that.
She balled her fists to hide her short, unpolished fingernails.
Kate asked, "So. Would you like a tour?"
"What haven't I seen?"
"The bathroom is here--were you looking for that?--and across is the library."
"I don't really need to go to the bathroom," Renee said.
"The library, then." Kate smiled and opened a door.
Dominating the center of the small, well-appointed room was a 50" projection television. Leather furniture and bookcases circled it--two stacks deep on the left. A spiral staircase in the back corner was partially hidden behind a potted frond. Renee wondered where it led.
She asked, "Have you read all these books?"
Kate shrugged. "I'm not sure I've read ten. I'm more of an outdoorsy person. This--" she gestured at her gown. "Is not me."
Renee tugged at her collar. "Let me tell you, this isn't me, either."
"So we're even," Kate said. Her lips quirked.
Renee wasn't quite sure. She drifted toward the books. "I spend all day on the streets. Going home to a book is like…a vacation."
"I see. That makes sense." Kate went to sit on the nearest couch. She lay back, dangling her legs off the side. She kept her gaze on Renee.
Renee came and sat next to her. She faced Kate, with Kate's hips against hers, and the cushion was small enough that she had to settle her arm in a friendly way on Kate's thigh. Otherwise, she'd slide off the leather. She wanted to cross her legs, to still the tingling between them. Just because they were alone, when the party was downstairs--
Kate's gaze had traveled to her throat.
Renee swallowed.
"You're not on the street anymore," Kate said.
"That's true. I keep forgetting. I just made detective." Renee shook her head, trying to clear it.
"How'd you get your gold shield?"
"A drug bust. But it was--" Renee pursed her lips, remembering and not wanting to remember the white powder falling like snow on dirty cops. Jim's kind face, with so much sadness it hurt to look at him.
Her friends. Ex-friends.
She asked, "I'm not here to make conversation. Am I?"
"I hope not," Kate said. She took Renee's hand and drew it further up her thigh.
Renee let herself be drawn closer. "That's a beautiful dress."
"What. This old thing." Kate pushed Renee's hand between the folds of her gown. Renee offered no resistance. She was willing to let Kate do almost anything. The unseen, smooth skin under her fingers tantalized her.
She caught a hint of Kate's perfume as she moved closer--
"The scent?" she asked.
"Irises," Kate said.
Renee then felt the crackle of curls beneath her fingers and realized Kate wasn't wearing underwear. She lost her breath at her own knowledge of Kate's vulnerability. A hundred horny, muscled, male cops in her house. Nothing but satin to protect her. All those men, yet here Renee sat.
Kate pushed her fingers down. Renee encountered welcoming and anticipatory wet heat. The heat that echoed in the back of Renee's neck and ran down her spine. Her own desire was no longer content to be suppressed. She wanted Kate. Her palm moved under Kate's guiding hand. She met Kate's eyes.
"There," Kate said, pressing Renee's hand against herself. "If you could just--"
Renee leaned forward, twisting her fingers.
Kate hissed.
"Irises?" Renee said.
Kate shifted on the couch, allowing more room for Renee's hand. "Funny," she said. "You don't smell like cop."
"I scrubbed before I came. Even behind my ears," Renee said. Her mouth was inches from Kate's as they spoke.
Kate inhaled. "Spicy. Dial?"
"Herbal Essences," Renee said. She lowered her mouth toward Kate's.
Kate lifted her chin to meet her lips--
The door opened.
Renee straightened. She stilled her fingers.
Kate looked over the back of the couch.
A guest--but not a cop--quickly scurried out and closed the door. Renee squinted.
"Who the hell was that?" Kate asked.
"Water commissioner."
"Fuck."
Kate sat up, sliding away from Renee. "I don't think he'll--Anyway." She looked at Renee, and then away.
Renee didn't exactly want to be caught with a smoldering redhead in a red dress either. She stood up. "Nice meeting you, Kate."
"You too, Detective Montoya." Kate offered her hand. "You'll come again?"
Renee clasped Kate's fingers, unashamed of the stickiness, annoyed she'd have to wash the scent off before she went downstairs.
"Try to stay out of trouble," she said.
"How will I find you, if I do that?" Kate asked. She stood, invading Renee's personal space, close enough to kiss.
Renee stepped past her and didn't look back as she slipped through the door.
By the time she made it back to the party, the crowd was thinning. Half the cops had gone home to their wives, but the politicians were still drinking. A reporter took a picture of her with Gordon. She tried to smile without expressing the air of scandal that clung to her, that had followed her downstairs. Even if Kate hadn't minded, Renee didn't want her career to go in that direction.
And Kate had seemed to mind.
Renee slipped out of the mansion and back to her city. The air was cooler and sweeter than it had been in the courtyard. She tried to shake off the evening.
She didn't want the thrum of anticipation that persisted in her veins. Despite Kate's promise to cause trouble, Renee couldn't envision ever running into her on the streets.
She just wasn't Gotham's type.
END
Author: rysler
Date: April 13, 2009
Source: DC Universe: 52, Renee Montoya/Kate Kane
Rating: R
Notes: 1700 words. Sort of an origin tale.
Courtesy of the Gotham City Fire Department:
Renee yanked at her suit jacket and sighed. The fabric itched. The jacket bunched against her back. She wished she hadn't bought it. Bullock had helped her pick it out. He'd taken her to some sweatshop in lower Gotham, assuring her that if she paid the dressmaker directly, there was less of a chance of the money going into some pimp's hands.
She tipped as generously as she could afford, decided the knockoff looked enough like D&G to wear, got her hair done by her cousin, and went off to the policeman's ball.
Commissioner Gordon had given her the invitation personally. She didn't have the heart to tell him where he could shove it. At least her parents were excited. They wanted to see her name in the paper without "mugger" or "gangster" beside it.
So she had come to the fabulous Kane mansion. For work. For familia. The Waynes, whom Renee preferred, were the patrons of the police force, but after Wayne Manor had burned down, the Kane family had stepped in. Out of generosity, of course. Not territorialism.
Just saying, it was their firemen who had put out the flames.
Just saying, Wayne owed them.
Bruce didn't show up, though. Word on the street had it that he was on an island somewhere. Renee couldn't blame him.
She wandered into the courtyard. The night was warm enough that people filled the space, illuminated by tea lights strung through the trees.
Trees inside someone's house. Renee decided that was her new symbol of having too much money.
She wandered toward the scent of meat. Cops waited in line for slivers of tenderloin carved by a server in a white chef's outfit. When Renee got her sliver, she put it on her tongue. She'd swear in court that it melted.
Maybe it was good she'd come after all. She went to the back of the line.
She caught her first glimpse of the patroness when Kate climbed onto a cement fountain rim and tapped a fork against glass. Renee gave up her place in line and moved under a tree. She didn't pay attention to Kate's words. She paid attention to Kate's body, in a skin-tight red gown that complimented her fiery hair. The dress had a slit up the side, nearly to Kate's waist.
That was worth observing. Renee gulped champagne and the bubbles stung her tongue. She had to blink hard to bring Kate's thigh, lean and sculpted, into focus.
Kate's voice seemed to get louder. Renee dragged her focus upward and found herself meeting Kate's eyes. Kate gazed right at her, speaking about the heroism of the police or something insubstantial. Renee held the gaze as evenly as she could manage with her heart suddenly pounding in her chest and she was rewarded when the corner of Kate's lips quirked into a smile.
Renee had heard Kate's name whispered in the squad room. Poor little rich girl got a speeding ticket, a pot bust, an indecency charge. And since the family was the patron of the police's mortal enemies, Renee knew she should hate her on sight.
She wanted to explore better reasons to hate Kate Kane.
Kate disappeared after the speech. Renee got back in line. But after another slice of beef as thin and translucent as sushi, Renee went searching.
She found Kate inside, standing on a second floor landing, looking through a window out at the courtyard. Renee climbed the stairs. Kate shifted slightly toward her direction. Her gaze stayed on the window, but Renee sensed that she had all of Kate's attention. As she reached the top step, Kate turned to face her.
"Hello…Detective?" Kate asked, her smile widening.
So they weren't going to beat around the bush. Renee took that as a positive sign. And she never needed many hints in order to act.
"Renee Montoya, detective third grade." She offered her hand.
Kate's handshake was gently solid, neither too firm nor limp. Her fingers slid across Renee's wrist as they pulled apart.
Renee said, "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Kane."
"Kate."
"Kate. Thanks for the shindig."
"My pleasure." Kate looked her over, and then met her eyes.
Renee wondered what she saw. Despite getting all dressed up, Renee felt too young for her severe fake designer suit. Never mind that Kate was impossibly young, too, and wearing that dress. Renee tugged at her collar. Her crucifix kept getting tangled in her shirt. She had a gun strapped to her ankle. Not that Kate could see that.
She balled her fists to hide her short, unpolished fingernails.
Kate asked, "So. Would you like a tour?"
"What haven't I seen?"
"The bathroom is here--were you looking for that?--and across is the library."
"I don't really need to go to the bathroom," Renee said.
"The library, then." Kate smiled and opened a door.
Dominating the center of the small, well-appointed room was a 50" projection television. Leather furniture and bookcases circled it--two stacks deep on the left. A spiral staircase in the back corner was partially hidden behind a potted frond. Renee wondered where it led.
She asked, "Have you read all these books?"
Kate shrugged. "I'm not sure I've read ten. I'm more of an outdoorsy person. This--" she gestured at her gown. "Is not me."
Renee tugged at her collar. "Let me tell you, this isn't me, either."
"So we're even," Kate said. Her lips quirked.
Renee wasn't quite sure. She drifted toward the books. "I spend all day on the streets. Going home to a book is like…a vacation."
"I see. That makes sense." Kate went to sit on the nearest couch. She lay back, dangling her legs off the side. She kept her gaze on Renee.
Renee came and sat next to her. She faced Kate, with Kate's hips against hers, and the cushion was small enough that she had to settle her arm in a friendly way on Kate's thigh. Otherwise, she'd slide off the leather. She wanted to cross her legs, to still the tingling between them. Just because they were alone, when the party was downstairs--
Kate's gaze had traveled to her throat.
Renee swallowed.
"You're not on the street anymore," Kate said.
"That's true. I keep forgetting. I just made detective." Renee shook her head, trying to clear it.
"How'd you get your gold shield?"
"A drug bust. But it was--" Renee pursed her lips, remembering and not wanting to remember the white powder falling like snow on dirty cops. Jim's kind face, with so much sadness it hurt to look at him.
Her friends. Ex-friends.
She asked, "I'm not here to make conversation. Am I?"
"I hope not," Kate said. She took Renee's hand and drew it further up her thigh.
Renee let herself be drawn closer. "That's a beautiful dress."
"What. This old thing." Kate pushed Renee's hand between the folds of her gown. Renee offered no resistance. She was willing to let Kate do almost anything. The unseen, smooth skin under her fingers tantalized her.
She caught a hint of Kate's perfume as she moved closer--
"The scent?" she asked.
"Irises," Kate said.
Renee then felt the crackle of curls beneath her fingers and realized Kate wasn't wearing underwear. She lost her breath at her own knowledge of Kate's vulnerability. A hundred horny, muscled, male cops in her house. Nothing but satin to protect her. All those men, yet here Renee sat.
Kate pushed her fingers down. Renee encountered welcoming and anticipatory wet heat. The heat that echoed in the back of Renee's neck and ran down her spine. Her own desire was no longer content to be suppressed. She wanted Kate. Her palm moved under Kate's guiding hand. She met Kate's eyes.
"There," Kate said, pressing Renee's hand against herself. "If you could just--"
Renee leaned forward, twisting her fingers.
Kate hissed.
"Irises?" Renee said.
Kate shifted on the couch, allowing more room for Renee's hand. "Funny," she said. "You don't smell like cop."
"I scrubbed before I came. Even behind my ears," Renee said. Her mouth was inches from Kate's as they spoke.
Kate inhaled. "Spicy. Dial?"
"Herbal Essences," Renee said. She lowered her mouth toward Kate's.
Kate lifted her chin to meet her lips--
The door opened.
Renee straightened. She stilled her fingers.
Kate looked over the back of the couch.
A guest--but not a cop--quickly scurried out and closed the door. Renee squinted.
"Who the hell was that?" Kate asked.
"Water commissioner."
"Fuck."
Kate sat up, sliding away from Renee. "I don't think he'll--Anyway." She looked at Renee, and then away.
Renee didn't exactly want to be caught with a smoldering redhead in a red dress either. She stood up. "Nice meeting you, Kate."
"You too, Detective Montoya." Kate offered her hand. "You'll come again?"
Renee clasped Kate's fingers, unashamed of the stickiness, annoyed she'd have to wash the scent off before she went downstairs.
"Try to stay out of trouble," she said.
"How will I find you, if I do that?" Kate asked. She stood, invading Renee's personal space, close enough to kiss.
Renee stepped past her and didn't look back as she slipped through the door.
By the time she made it back to the party, the crowd was thinning. Half the cops had gone home to their wives, but the politicians were still drinking. A reporter took a picture of her with Gordon. She tried to smile without expressing the air of scandal that clung to her, that had followed her downstairs. Even if Kate hadn't minded, Renee didn't want her career to go in that direction.
And Kate had seemed to mind.
Renee slipped out of the mansion and back to her city. The air was cooler and sweeter than it had been in the courtyard. She tried to shake off the evening.
She didn't want the thrum of anticipation that persisted in her veins. Despite Kate's promise to cause trouble, Renee couldn't envision ever running into her on the streets.
She just wasn't Gotham's type.
END