Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 11: Victor, Rose, Yukie: Longing

Victor Fries waited in his laboratory for a call that did not come. What if Yukie cannot make Nora understand? He told himself his fears were groundless. His assistant was adept at smoothing things out; she had done so for him for years, keeping the peace between him and the Rogues. Yet the hours passed and still there was no call. It began to snow.

Finally, just when he managed to divert himself with a book, he heard the outer door to the facility unlock, and then the inner door irised open.

"—and that's how you get in down here. I have never brought anyone here, incidentally. It would be a breach of both trust and security." Yukie said.

"It'll take me a few tries before I can unlock it on my own," came that familiar, well-loved voice. "Brrr, it's colder in here than it is out there."

"Nora!" He abandoned his book and hastened to the entryway. "Yukie, why bring her in down here? This isn't how I meant it to go."

Yukie raised a hand as she slipped past on the way to her own quarters, then silently pointed at Nora.

"Because if we're going to have a life together, then I need to know everything and get to go everywhere," Nora said firmly. "No secrets, Victor. Even if you think it's for my own good."

"Nora, I—." She was here, with snowflakes dusting her hat and her coat, and she was lovely, so lovely. "If you can forgive me, it is more than I deserve."

"You better believe it, so you have to get to work on deserving it, buddy," she said, poking him in the chest with a gloved figure. Dropping the playful pose, she turned serious. "I won't lie and say I wasn't upset when I found out what you did. I never asked you to get obsessed or to devote your life to finding a cure. I never wanted you to bury yourself in research—in fact, I wanted the opposite. Of course you'll say you did it out of love for me. I have never doubted you loved me. I only wish you loved you as much as I do. That was your cue to hug me, by the way," she added.

He was not wearing an environmental suit, but she had on a winter coat. "I'm afraid this is going to be quick," he said, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin briefly on her head.

"Heh, that was what you said the day I stole your sock," she murmured. When they parted, she caught his eyes and fixed them with her own. "Victor, I don't want to make any promises or any decisions right now or for the foreseeable future. I think too much has happened too fast, and until I'm more grounded—well, can you be patient with me? I warn you, I'm going to be freaked out sometimes. I'm likely to cry at any time, and—do you think you can cope?"

"Yes," he gasped. "I can. Because it's you."

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There were things the serum helped with, such as picking up languages and thinking strategically, and then there were things it didn't, like essay writing. Rose finally had a topic, though: From Thane of Cawdor to Throne of Blood: Comparing and Contrasting Shakespeare's Macbeth with Kurosawa's Kumonosu-Jo. The biggest difference she could see was having the Lady Macbeth character be pregnant, which gave 'Macbeth' a perfect motive for doing away with the character who would 'be king hereafter', so she went into detail about it. The essay was due very soon, December 23rd, the day before winter break.

Already she was starting to pick up some Japanese, just from watching the movie, because the language center of her brain went to work on it without her conscious mind getting involved, the same way a preverbal baby's would. Not much as yet, just that sentences that ended with 'ka' were always questions, things like that. The written language would take actual study.