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Queens is a calm, cool suburb. Fall is edging into winter. The snow isn't falling, but it will soon. It's a cool 43 degrees. Kids aren't playing. They are inside, getting cleaned up for dinner.
The Stacy house is a rather simple two-story wood house, with the requisite front porch, old couch, and hanging plant.
"What are you doing, Bishop?" Kate asks as she sits outside in her Beetle, considering the Stacy house. Not casing it, honest. After blowing into her hands, the young woman sets her lips with a frown and then forces a smile as she leaves the car and heads up onto the porch, she's dressed in a sweatshirt, coat and jeans, with a beanie cap pulled onto her head, the little pom-pom bouncing around, before she rings the doorbell and waits.
There is a few long seconds of silence. Then the back door bangs open, and Kate can hear the thup-thup-thup of light feet on hardwood flooring. Then the door opens.
The girl in the black dress, collapsed and weeping next to the casket in the photo of the funeral, was not this girl. This girl was wet with sweat, hair tied back in a ponytail, headband encircling her head like a cloth tiara, grey sweatshirt, grey sweatpants, tennis shoes. Her eyes are alive and aware, glacier ice shot though with the eternal dawn of winter in the Arctic.
"Hi!" she says, a little breathlessly. "Can I help you?"
"Hi." Kate offers, the woman considering for a moment and then straightens up. "This is probably weird - I doubt anyone else has done this. But.. my name is Kate Bishop." The name should draw attention immediately to the young socialite's identity. "…and a few years ago, I was attacked in Central Park. Your father was the Captain that was assigned to handle my case. And I never got to thank him for his assistance, even if they never caught the man that did it. I was angry and upset.. but I know he tried his best." she draws in her breath and considers the sweaty blonde. "I never got the chance to thank him for his effort. I.. was hoping to at least pass it on to you. And offer my assistance if you need anything."
Gwen blinked. It took her a moment. Yeah. Katherine Bishop, the debutante. The woman preyed upon in the Park.
"Oh! Jeez, come in, come in!" She opens the door wide, a pleasant smile on her face. "I'm sorry…I was in the backyard, exercising. Do you want to talk out there? I set a fire in the pit, so it's not too cold." She seems to dance from foot to foot, keeping her circulation going.
"Sure, if I'm not interrupting?" Kate asks with a lift of her brow. "You seem like you were busy. And I don't want to bother - you know, if you have more important things to do." There's a grin for a moment as she considers. "I know that protocol is to like bring a casserole or something. But I'm not that great at cooking, and didn't know what you liked."
Gwen chuckles. "I think I have enough casseroles to feed two precincts. Follow me. Make sure the front door closes, it sticks a little." She steps back, moving down the hall towards the rear door of the house. "Follow me. If you hear noises from upstairs, it's just the new tenant settling in."
"New tenant? That's nice of you." Kate responds as she walks in after Gwen, shutting the door firmly and checking it to make sure. It's a think with her. "And I totally get it. I have a penthouse in Washington Square, and it can be totally a bore at times." she admits as she looks around, and sees all the things that Captain Stacy once was before she quirks her lips for a moment. "Going to follow in his footsteps?" she asks curiously.
Gwen looks askance at Kate. "Actually…yes. I mean, I've been dad's backup ever since I was 6." She chuckles as she steps out into the backyard.
No treehouse in the copse of trees at the far end of the yard. and near the back porch, no above-ground pool.
Instead, it looks like a gym.
Three heavy bags, two tied by rope, one tied by chain, hang from a steel-braced length of pipe. A medicine ball sits next to a speed-bag. Other itemsa jump rope, a set of barbells, an exercise bench supporting a pole with weights on each sideat spaced fairly equally over the yard. A pile of tarps in one corner reveal how she keeps the rain and the damp off of them.
"It's a good thing to do. I'm still figuring out what I'm doing." Kate says with a small smile before she turns her attention to the gym with a low whistle. "Don't have a set up like this, though. Something to be said for having a backyard." There's a grin offered at that. After a moment, she glances aside to Gwen. "It looks like a nice setup."
Gwen smiled as she walked over to the cooler on the porch, taking out a bottle of water, the glass frosted with chips of ice. She looks over to the heavy bags, the one on the chain still oscillating slightly. "Well, Dad set up most of it. I added a little, myself." She uncorks and takes a sip, then looks to Kate. "Listen…have a seat. Since my father isn't here, I kinda wanted to speak on his behalf."
"Uh. Well, sure." Kate shrugs her shoulders before she moves to take a seat. "So you know, I'm not mad at him or anything. I know that it was one of those things that happened." And it happened to her. "..and I just have to figure my way out throught it all." she admits, a shrug of her shoulders offered. "There's no animosity towards you or your dad, if that's what you're worried about."
Gwen sighs. "It drove my father nuts, you know. He couldn't find the guy. He worked until he dropped, but he couldn't figure out what happened. It was…" she sighed. "It was one of his biggest regrets. He always said you remember the ones you failed forever." She looks down. "He was more right than he knew." She looked up again. "You said you were trying to figure out what you were doing about it. Did anything come to mind?"
There's a shake of her head, as Kate reaches and touches Gwen's hand for a moment. "No need to feel a regret. I had to work past it. Still am." she leans back and gives a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm a cellist. Going to be working in an orchestra when I can. And I do a lot of charity work for women's shelters and advocates."
Gwen smiles. "Cellist, eh? Even thought of playing in a band?" She stands up, placing the bottle on the bench and walking dow to the chained heavy bag. "Me and a friend are trying to put one together." She settles into a boxing stance, fists raised, then straight-arms a punch into the bag, the bag swaying back from the punch, then swinging forward again to find another punch waiting for it, causing it to swing back again.
"Don't think a Cellist works well in a band." Kate admits with a wry grin. "It's sort of big and loud and tends to drown out singers." she points out as Gwen gets to her exercise. "Is there anything happening with you? You seem to be training for a reason. Into martial arts and all that?"
Gwen chuckles. "My dad…taught me boxing…when I was 12," she pants as she continues to punch the bag, the bag now swinging back and forth. "It's only lately…that I got…back into it."
She is doing a number on the bag, the bag beginning to spin slightly as she assaults it. "I'm…working on a few projects…of my own…"
"Such as?" Kate raises a brow. If there's a charitable interest that she can help with, she'd be more than happy to assist with it as she continues to watch the young woman's training.
She pauses, breathing hard, her chest heaving. "I…" She pauses. "How bad do you want to get involved with doing something about it? About…what happened to you, to keep it from happening to other people?"
"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't consider ways from keeping what happening to me to occuring to others." Kate admits with a firmness in her voice. "I may not be able to do much physically to stop it, but there are things that I help with."
Gwen walks back to Kate. "Well…we can start with teaching me some self-defense. Boxing is a good self-defense art. We can start there." She smiles wryly. "We're talking hard, physical training. Showing up daily. No vacation days. No sick days. Starting at 5 am. You think you can handle that?"
Kate lifts a brow and chews on her lower lip wryly. "…you know, I have taken some self-defense courses." she says simply. And she's been watching Gwen's form, learning her style as she chuckles a little. "And I do have a life outside of the heiress bit. But.. I appreciate the offer. Let me mull over it a little?"
Gwen chuckles in response. "Well, I didn't know what you do, Kate. What sort of help were you considering providing?"
"Well, is it helping you if you're training me?" Kate asks with an amused lift of her brow. "As for what help I can provide? If you ever need anything, call. I will see what I can do to help." She takes out a small card and writes her number on it to offer to the blonde.
Gwen takes the card, looking at it for a long moment, then back up to Kate. "Well…I could use all the help I can get," she replies with a little too much honesty. "But if I ask for your help, that means I need to be accountable to you. You have to know what you're getting into."
"Is.. there something I should be aware of?" Kate asks with a curious tone to her voice. "I mean, you're not like secretly a mob boss or something, are you?" she gives the woman a once-over as she sets her hands on her hips thoughtfully.
Gwen looks around. "Well…it's early days to be sharing deep, dark secrets. Let's just say I've got more to work with than most." She looks a little unsure saying this much, but sometimes you have to go with your gut.
After a momentary pause, Kate returns to her seat and puts her hands in her lap. "Try me." she says as she waits to hear Gwen out on what she has going on.
Gwen shrugs, then points to the heavy bags—the chained one in particular. "Move that one. Don't punch it or anything. Just try to swing it."
Rising to her feet, Kate makes her way over and tries to move the bag, finding that it won't budge much. "…that's.. pretty heavy." she responds, patting the side of the bag in curious exploration.
The bag feels like it is made of solid metal, with only the leather covering to hide its true nature. Gwen stepped over to the bag, looking to Kate. "Step back a little, please?" she asks politely.
Stepping back, Kate raises her brows high. "Uh. Okay." she says simply with a considering glance at the blonde.
Gwen nods, looking at the bag, then acts.
She doesn't try to push it. She lashes out with a single punch.
Kate hears the impact, without the expected sound of all 42 bones in the human hand pulverizing. Instead, the bag shakes…then swings slowly, the bag giving instead of her slim hand.
There's a moment when Kate wonders exactly what Gwen's about to pull when she slams her fist into the bag, the woman jumps up in alarm. "What are you trying to do, break your…" and she trails off when she sees what happens, instead of Gwen's hand falling apart, the bag sways away and she steps forward, taking the woman's hand to study it for a moment. "…how?" she asks curiously. "And is this how you greet all your visitors? Neat party tricks?" There's a smirk at that.
Gwen chuckles. "You want to know the whole truth…come by tomorrow. If you think you can handle that much truth." She reaches out to stop the bag from swinging. "I have to start dinner. You're welcome to stay. It's Mrs. Angelo's lasagna. The 7-layer lasagna."
"Oh, no, I have dinner out tonight." Kate says with a lift of her brow as she tries to determine whether or not she can trust this woman - but she just shared a pretty big thing. "I'll see. But there's a charity ball tomorrow afternoon I promised to show at, so it won't be for long." she admits before she steps back. "I should let you get back to your training.'
Gwen nods. "Listen…if you REALLY want to do this…then you get to know everything. But if you feel you can't be involved, I'm not going to ask you to take risks you don't think you can live with…it's up to you.'
"As I said.." Kate repeats herself, and it shows in her features, "There's a lot I tend to. I don't have the ability to punch a bag like that, and I doubt that's something you can teach me unless you have some crazy lab in your basement, and that's so not a first meeting activity." she points out and then smirks, pulling her beanie back into place. "I'll be here, but I do have a life outside of this." she says with a small smile before turning away. "But.. thank you for the words. About your father. And letting me stop in. And don't worry about your secret. It's safe with me. Unless it's the first thing you show every stranger that shows up at your door." She casts a wink over her shoulder as she starts to leave.
Gwen watches her go. Time will tell. She rubs her neck with a towel, then hears the phone ring. She waves to Kate as she leaves, then says, "Hello?"
Kate can't hear the other person on the line, and leaves too soon to see that whatever Gwen hears drains the color from her face and the light from her eyes, and suddenly she shivers uncontrollably…