Starships

Chapter 35

The rest of the week felt as if the day was being replayed. I would get up, try to organize my family's affairs without crying, Richard or Commissioner Gordon would visit me during lunch, I would then again clean around the house, then it would be dinner. Whoever did not visit me during lunch would come for dinner. Whenever Commissioner Gordon would come it would be awkward and time would move slowly. When Richard comes he would try to get to know me and not make things awkward. 

Sunday evening came, and based on the men's schedule, Richard should be coming for dinner. I clean up the kitchen and prep for our dinner. I am setting the table when I hear knocks at the front door.

I fly over and open it. Richard is still in his work uniform, "Hi Kori."

I wave. I open the door wider for Richard and he walks in. He stripes off his boots and we make our way into the kitchen.

"I like the set up." Richard lets me know.

I nod telling him thank you. I walk to the island and show him the pizza dough, sauce and toppings.

"We are going to make pizza?" Richard asks me. 

I nod, but I point at myself.

"Oh, Kori is going to be making pizza?" 

I nod.

"Kori, do you know how to make pizza?" Richard smiles.

I nod, being proud with my I remember my mom making it when she homeschooled Komi and I. I take a quick glance at Richard. He is sitting there patiently watching me. I look around the kitchen to see if there are any clues. The stove! I take the pan from its handles and put in on the stovetop. I turn back around, beaming a big smile at Richard.

Richard chuckles and gets up, "You need to turn the stove on then." He turns a dial and I see numbers flash up. Richard turns the dial to the right pizza cooking temperature. I clap my hands together, which causes Richard to laugh again.

"Now, you will take this," Richard grabs the pizza dough and opens it, "And we need to flatten it," He works the dough on the countertop with his hands, I watch as he works the dough and then turns it. He keeps repeating it until the small piece of dough is a medium size. He sees the pizza pan that I took out earlier and takes the dough and places it on the pan. Perfect size.

I look up at him and smile. Richard catches me looking at him and smiles back. I grab the jar of red sauce and hand it to him. He opens it for me and hands it back. I take a spoon and take some red sauce out of the jar and smear it on the dough. Richard grabs the bag of cheese, opens it, and sprinkles it on when I am done covering the dough with the red sauce. As Richard is covering the pizza with cheese, I grab the pepperonis and peel each individual pepperoni off of each other and add them randomly on top of the cheese. As soon as I add the last pepperoni on the pizza, the oven beeps. I turn and see that Richard has the oven door open. I take the pizza pan and slide it in. Richard closes the door and turns on a switch. I see a light turn on in the oven, giving our pizza a spotlight.

We both sit at the kitchen island and together we watch the pizza cook. 

"So I was thinking about something." Richard breaks the silence.

I nod my head slowly. I think I already know where this conversation is going, but I make it so he doesn't know that I know.

"I was talking to Commissioner Gordon throughout this week. We were thinking of having you work with us."    

I nod my head again.

"Don't worry, we will take it easy on you." Richard pats my thigh. I sit up straight, which causes him to remove his hand. He rubs his hands together, "Should we check on the pizza?"

Without me answering, he gets up and peeks in the stove. I get up and walk around the island. I sit myself up on the counter. I put my socked feet on the opposite side of the counter to keep myself balanced. Richard turns the dial, and see that that oven is turned off. Richard turns and bumps into my legs.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Richard looks down at my legs, his eyes trail up and stops at my tattoo. 

"I like your tattoo." He whispers.

I wasn't sure what he was taking about, until I noticed his eyes were looking at my upper thigh. There tattooed is my little space ship with red stars around. I blushed. 

"What does it mean? Your tattoo. Does it have a meaning?"

This question caught me off balance. I nearly fell off of the kitchen counter. I brushed a strand of my red hair back behind my ear, I nod. I keep my head down, looking down at the drawing I drew many years ago.

I felt my head getting lifted up. I am now looking into Richard's blue eyes. 

Is he going to kiss me? Our faces are inches away. He leans in and I do too. Our lips are about to touch until his radio on his hip goes off.

"Detective Grayson, you are needed at the Gotham Fine Arts and Museum."