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English
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Part 1 of CEO and Bodyguard
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The very best of Stephanie Brown works
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Published:
2021-06-20
Completed:
2021-08-16
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3/3
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A Villian's Kid

Chapter 2: Knows How to Cheat

Summary:

Stephanie isn't going to say no to easy money.

Notes:

vase and I got to talking in the comments of the first chapter and I got inspired by a joke they made.

Chapter Text

Stephanie didn’t look up from her phone as a man slid into her booth on the bench across from her.

He cleared his throat.

She speared a bite of waffle and stuck it in her mouth.

He cleared his throat slightly louder.

“Holy Bats! I gotta send this to Cissie!”

“Ms. Brown.”

She sighed dramatically and looked up. “Dude, take a hint. Even if I was looking for something, you're both too old for me and not my type.”

The man looked unimpressed. “I assure you, that isn’t why I’ve approached you.”

“What’d you want then?” she asked, turning back to her phone and scooping up another bite of waffle.

“I’m here to make you an offer.” An envelope slid into her view. “Inside that is two thousand dollars. It’s yours. All you have to do is call your boss up on Friday morning and tell him you're sick.”

Stephanie looked up with a raised eyebrow. “You're saying you’ll give me two grand for playing hooky?”

He nodded.

She grabbed the envelope and opened it. She ran her thumb over the bills, counting the fifties and twenties. When she was sure it was the promised amount, she shrugged and stuffed it in her purse. “Sure. Why not? I know a doc that’d probably even give me a note so I could get paid for the time off. Win-win.”

“Wonderful.” He stood. “And I’m sure that I don’t need to tell a young woman of your background that it would be preferable that you keep this little exchange to yourself.”

She snorted and pointed her fork at him. “I’m not stupid. I’ll keep my mouth shut. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to enjoy my lunch break in peace.”

He narrowed his eyes, but left without a backward glance.

Tim snickered at the video Kon sent him and shared it with Cass.

He heard a car approaching and sighed. He’d really been hoping the guys following him were just scouting, but no, of course someone had to try to kidnap him while Stephanie was out sick.

A flicker of yellow above him had him looking up just as a van stopped next to him and people in dark clothes piled out with guns drawn.

“Mr. Drake-Wayne, if you’ll come with us,” one said as she grabbed Tim’s arm.

“Uh, you might want to…” he gestured upwards.

Then Signal dropped down onto the van.

Tim’s little brother looked over the situation, then met his eyes. “Seriously. Can’t you Waynes go one week without a kidnapping? Didn’t I just save one of your brothers two days ago?”

He shrugged. Had one of them gotten kidnapped? Oh, wait, that was right. Dick had mentioned getting grabbed. Tim thought it was a Nightwing thing, though.

He’d have to read the report before the gossip hounds came sniffing around for statements.

“Aren’t you supposed to be sick?”

“Food poisoning,” Stephanie said, grabbing a cracker out of the bowl balanced on her stomach. “Real bad. Threw up and everything. My dormmate can confirm. She acted like a total germaphobe about it and had her girlfriend bring me over here.”

“Sure,” Tim said, unconvinced.

She smiled and held up her phone. “Look.”

He kicked off his work shoes and shuffled over, loosening his tie as he went. He laughed as he caught sight of the picture. “That looks horrible. Send it to me so I can post it on the group chat. Bart and Cassie will love it.”

She nodded and a moment later his phone went off.

“Why are you on a house-hunting site anyways?”

“Since you and Brucie are both paying my bills now, I figured I’d rent an apartment. Get out of the dorms.”

“I told you not to get a shared dorm.”

“Not all of us are introverted cave dwellers, Timbo. I wanted to make friends.”

“Instead you got a germaphobe that’s constantly on the phone with her girlfriend and thinks carbs is a swear word.” Tim sat on the couch's arm and stole one of her crackers. “Found anything?”

She shrugged and handed him the phone. “Not really. Don’t want anything too fancy, but I’ve got two grand in cash and three in savings so I figure I’ve got enough for the downpayment and first month of somewhere reasonably nice.”

“You know, I own this entire apartment complex. I could give you a discount.”

“Hm, discount, but also being your neighbor… Give me a bit to figure out if the pro outweighs all those cons.”

He rolled his eyes and gave her back her phone.

“So how was your day?” she asked as he went into the kitchen.

“Fine.” He peeked into the fridge. “Do you want -”

“I already ordered dinner for us.”

He shot her a look, but closed the fridge. “I have food. You didn't have to order out.”

“You have nutrients. I want food.”

He rolled his eyes. “How long’s it gonna be?”

She checked something on her phone. “Fifteen-ish.”

“Bath will have to wait, then,” he sighed and dropped onto the couch in front of her legs.

She picked up her legs so he could scoot back then set them down over his lap. “Bath, huh? Rough day listening to boring old white guys?”

“I didn’t have any meetings today, actually. Tam rescheduled the only meeting I had when you called in sick. Which is good because I would have missed it if she hadn’t. Some idiots tried to kidnap me on my way to lunch.”

She smirked at him. “You really can’t go a day without me, can you?”

He jabbed her in the side, making her squeak.

In retaliation, he shoved her foot into his face.

“Steph.”

“Duke.”

He glared at her for a few seconds before huffing and slapping a twenty into her hand.

“Thank you!”

“You knew someone was coming for him, didn’t you?”

“Are you accusing me of cheating?” Stephanie gasped dramatically.

“Yes.”

She poked him in the chest. “I told you. Timmy just looks kidnappable. People can’t help but target him when he doesn’t have someone watching him.”

“Come on. Someone just happens to try to kidnap him on the very day that we make a bet that he’d get kidnapped if you called in sick?”

“That’s Timberly for you.”

Duke threw his hands in the air and marched off.

“Sucker,” she snickered, shoving the bill into her pocket.