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MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, OHIO. 2018
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IT WAS A TWENTY MINUTE journey by car from Cleveland to Middleburg Heights—a full twenty minute car ride filled with nothing but silence. To Estela, it easily felt like the longest twenty minutes of her life.
Dick had woken her and Rachel in the ungodly hours of dawn, with the sun barely present to greet them warmly and claimed, 'If we want to get to Washington as quick as possible we're gonna have to leave right now.'
It had peeved her to be woken up so early, especially by Dick Grayson, who always made it a point to shake her shoulder vigorously, much to her annoyance. He always woke her up like that, for as long as Estela can remember.
Her annoyance didn't help at all when she got to the car and couldn't find it in herself to go back to sleep. So with Rachel peacefully dozing in the backseat and no conversations being exchanged, Estela took the opportunity to watch the day come awake as they drove out of the city and into the outskirts of Middleburg Heights.
The sky was always her favorite to look at during winter. It was as if the weather created a clearer canvas for the sunrise to come alive with its vibrant hues of orange, pink and red.
She barely remembers the last time she ever just stopped, just to admire the beauty of the world.
Being busy with work always kept her moving with no rest—or maybe, she just made it her excuse. But now that she wasn't working, and was sitting in Dick's Porsche with her head leaning against the window, she told herself to do it more often.
Still, even the calmness of the morning didn't stop the nerves grumbling in her stomach. Sitting in the trunk was her gym bag of extra clothes and a black, dusty briefcase, similar to the one right that had been packed before hers—except it looked like it had been recently used.
Estela didn't know why she decided to take the thing in the first place. Judging from the understanding look Dick had given her when she saw his briefcase sitting on the trunk as well, she had a feeling the reason would reveal itself to her soon enough.
God—she barely even remembers how to put it on.
A chime went off on her phone, snapping Estela out of her reverie. Glancing at the screen, she saw Stacey's text flash brightly at her:
everything good? update me from time to time okay. really wishing you and your fam the best <3
Estela exhaled loudly from her nose. She didn't like lying to Stacey at all, but at the same time she couldn't really tell her the truth either. It just sounded too ridiculous to say, 'Hey, I'm not going to be in work for a few days because my ex-crime fighting partner wants me to babysit a teenage girl with him! Stay safe, though!'
