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After a minute or two, Savage's phone buzzed as his reply from Oswald finally came. ”A bit of both...” the message read. ”She is among one of my employed that have taken it upon themselves to make up for another former employees shortcomings. In her case...several members of her immediate family.”

A few moments passed, and Oswald sent Savage a reply.

'I suppose that would depend on a few factors. Her brother is still in employment that puts him in positions to add onto her family's bill. Her father has drank the majority of his debt, and her sister has run off with the other half.'

A few seconds passed, and a second message came through.

"Rebecca has been working for me for nearly seven years now. She's worked off one of her brother's debts. But is still working to keep three of her family members on everyone's good side.'

A few moments passed again, then a reply was sent back to Savage.

"Well, all together that would be several million dollars assuming the man causes no further loss of profit or property."



Rebecca moaned softly next to Savage and rolled onto her side. Still sleeping, but getting close to waking up. She sighed gently and became still again.

Unfortunately, Rebecca was used to getting only a few hours of sleep each night. Late nights followed by early mornings. The only thing that had kept her in bed this long was the...late night activities she normally didn't participate in. And the bed. She was used to an old spring mattress. Not one of these soft, body molding everything.

Her eyes opened part way just as the text had finished being sent. She sighed again and stretched out a bit before looking over at Vandal. This would have given him time to hide his phone, thought it wouldn't have mattered to her. She wouldn't have been able to tell who he was talking to from her current angle, and from what he had told her the following night...he could have been talking to anyone about business or...whatever else he does.

She looked up at him, her expression not fully awake yet, but smiling contently. "Morning..." she said gently.

"Wonderfully." Rebecca replied as she stretched out on the bed. "I don't think I've ever been in a bed this comfortable." she said, then rolled over to let her legs hang off the other side of the bed. "Eggs will do just fine for breakfast. I'm really not picky with what I eat in the morning." she continued as she stretched again, then got up and walked around the bed.

// While I'm on this account... whee //


Rebecca smiled at him as she ran a hand through her dark hair to brush it out of her face. "Well, in that case..." she replied. Honestly she couldn't remember the last time she had something besides eggs or cereal for breakfast. If she was even able to eat breakfast... late nights and early mornings didn't leave much room to eat. Just getting to have a night like last night was a vacation all in it's own. "... it's been quite a while since I've had anything other than the usual eggs and cereal for breakfast."

Rebecca's brown eyes stared back into his, a smile wrapped around her lips.

He really was serious, wasn't he? About having feelings for her... about Ireland this weekend... about taking her with him whenever he traveled. She'd never been outside of Gotham or Metropolis before. Heck, the Iceberg Lounge was the fanciest place she'd ever been to.

She used to have family that lived in Metropolis... she had fond memories of the city growing up. But... her immediate family had gotten caught up in... other business in Gotham, and they couldn't afford to live in Metropolis. Couldn't afford to live in anything other than a run down apartment complex outside of Crime Alley for that matter.

Somewhere in the back of Rebecca's mind was a nagging pang of guilt. That she had just had an amazing night in a place that would take her family years to save up for one night. That she might actually be getting OUT of this city while the rest of her family would have to live with the rats and deal with Cobblepot themselves.

There was another pang in the back of her mind that was also nagging at her. She worked in a place where criminals with enough money could come and go as they pleased. She knew what they were like, how the conducted business, double motives, all of that. After everything that Vandal had told her last night... she KNEW that he wasn't exactly on good terms with heroes. But he said he had feelings for her and was going to take care of her and everything... So where was the catch? If things like this didn't just happen without some kind of catch. People who walked into the Iceberg Lounge didn't just pick a waitress out for the night and then decide to make an official relationship out of it over the course of an hour.

They were just nagging little pangs in the back of her mind though...

Right now she was in an expensive hotel, with probably the best catch she'd ever had in her life, about to have the best breakfast she'd had in years, after what was probably the greatest night of her life. Right now, she was more focused on what was happening. Focused on Vandal. As far as she was concerned... she deserved this.

"You really are serious about having a relationship, aren't you?" she asked with a smile. She moved her own arms under his and curled them around his waist, pulling herself closer to him.

// long post is long... //

Rebecca stared up at him, her expression thoughtful and serious now as well. She was...quiet for quite a few moments before she gave Savage a reply. It was a lot to think about after all. And serious thought needed to be put into it.

To throw away her normal life... well her normal life wasn't really anything fantastic. It pretty much revolved around work and her family. Wake up, take care of herself, get groceries, go see her family and take care of them if they needed it, go to work, then go to bed. That was the daily routine. If anything interesting happened, it was at work or taking someone home for the night.
To trade all of that in for traveling around... staying in lavish places like this... HER being taken care of for a change... She hated to say it, but she would trade it in all in a heart beat.

Could she trade it in knowing that Savage wasn't on the best of terms with the heroes though? Revenge, scheming, and whatever else those that came into the Lounge usually did. She hadn't opened a history book in some time, but she was fairly certain that some of the names Savage had given her last night were not well liked by society. Putting aside how wonderful things were here and now... could she really do it?

She wouldn't have much of a problem keeping quiet if she was approached by a hero. She worked at the Lounge after all... it was pretty much a job requirement. If you didn't have it, you were trained to do it or you were terminated. She was fairly confident that she could handle being questioned... especially if Savage kept his "work" elsewhere so she didn't know about it.
... actually, not knowing about a lot of things would probably make things easier on her.

Alright, so she had no problem trading in her normal life for something more exciting. She would love to travel and be taken care of for a change. She wasn't sure if she could morally trade it in for the things she might become involved with... but she worked at the Lounge. In a way, she was already involved with more tabu activities than she cared to mention.

...though that brings up one of the main problems she had with just leaving. Not seeing or hearing from her family very much...

Could she do that? She was working at the Lounge to pay off her families debt to Cobblepot... and keep them alive. Could she really just abandon everyone like her sister had? Could she really just leave, making things worse for them, and live a better life by herself? After she had promised herself that she wasn't going to become that kind of a person? Her father would probably sink deeper into a bottle knowing that his last daughter had left to... her brother would be killed for his failures... actually... Cobblepot would probably kill everyone in her family. She was the only one really making any progress in paying off their debts.

...and she couldn't just go in and give them her notice that she was quitting. Someone in her position didn't just quit working for Cobblepot.


As Rebecca remained in silent thought, and as she neared the end of her long train of thought, something in her expression just seemed to sink. As though she was remembering the real reality of her future. Her heart sank in her chest, and her gaze fell away from Vandal's face.
"I'd give anything to get out of my "normal" life..." she finally replied. Her voice quiet and solemn. "...and... I think I could handle most of it. But... my family. I... I can't leave work. They have no other means of support and..." she began, then grew quiet again. She wanted to say it, but you didn't tell someone that you work working at the Lounge for any reason other than you wanted to.
"....I'm sorry... I got caught up in how nice this was... I wasn't thinking. I can't leave Gotham." she said finally, as though the very thought crushed any other hope she had.