Lengthwise 
by Kerrie Smith (Kerrie@subreality.com)

***
 
11:30 pm. 

Silly. 

Executives needed their secretaries. 

Even for New Management Strategy Conferences in Keystone City, which  
apparently, called for a lot of racquetball playing and eating of shellfish.  

Secretaries were much better at eating crabs, and racquetball couldn't be  
that hard to learn. Supposedly there were long and tiring conference  
sessions as well, just so all the executives didn't get too bored of  
racquetball and shellfish, but Cass figured she could just skip those and  
run out to find Wally. 

Except that junior executives were not allowed to take their secretaries to  
New Management Strategy Conferences in Keystone City, which is why Cass  
sprawled by herself in the queen-sized bed she normally shared with Tim. 
Sprawled didn't begin to cover it. 

From the tips of her fingers to the bottoms of her toes, every part of Cass  
was splayed as wide as her flexible muscles would allow, for maximum surface  
area. 

Tim Drake might be sleeping in a smooshy hotel room bed, complete with free  
cable and Delicious Mints, but Cass had the entire bed to herself. 

Ah, sweet heaven. 

Tim's pillow was stacked underneath her own, and Cass' head rested on  
*double luxury.* 

And she had the heat turned completely off, so the apartment was that  
fabulous frosty temperature that made Tim's toes purple and his nose all  
crusty. 

She'd eaten cake for dinner. In bed, no less. The plate was still on the  
bedstand. 

The alarm clock wasn't even set, because Tim wouldn't be back until noon  
tomorrow which meant that there was no way Cass was showing her face at the  
office before 11:59 and 58 seconds. 

Sweet, sweet heaven, it was. 

Poor Tim, slaving away at that stupid conference, without his secretary. 

By this time at night, he'd probably been hauled out for drinks, and forced  
to tell amusing stories. Cass could practically see his lids drooping. 

Poor, poor Tim. 

It was a tough life being a junior executive, especially when there wasn't  
room in the budget to bring his secretary along. 

Ha, ha, Tim Drake. 

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. 
 
***
 
3 am. 

Yawning contently, Tim crept into the apartment. 

God bless Lucius Fox. As it turned out, all of Tim's scheduled seminars  
had been the day before, and while his hotel room was on the Wayne  
Enterprises tab, the vaguest suggestion from Lucius that his presence wasn't  
really necessary after the dinner and Tim was in his car, speeding back to  
Gotham. Three hour drive be damned, he wanted to spend the night in his own  
bed with his own girlfriend. Tim was half-shocked she wasn't still awake,  
hosting some raucous party. 

Her shoes rested peacefully atop the glass-top coffee table, and her  
uniform was draped over various pieces of furniture in the living room. An  
empty pizza box sat in the sink. 

Chuckling, Tim removed her Doc Martens from the table, and set down the bag  
of hotel mints he'd begged from every WE employee he knew at the conference,  
and a few he hadn't. He'd considered hiding them somewhere and leaving one  
on her pillow every morning for the next two months, but he knew that would  
last approximately one day before she beat their location out of him and ate  
them all. Might as well just give them to her in one go. She'd be just as  
happy that way. 

Tim decided to leave the mess until the next day, and carefully opened the  
bedroom door. 

A stifling blast of heat hit him in the face-- apparently she'd turned the  
thermostat up as high as it would go. 

Tim's eyes adjusted to the dark, and he could just make out her tiny form,  
huddled into a tiny ball over on the edge of the bed. Both pillows had been  
thrown off to the side. 

For a moment, Tim wasn't entirely sure this was his bed-sprawling,  
pillow-hogging Cass, but then he noticed the cake plate on the bedside  
table. 

He slipped off his clothes, and slid into bed as quietly as he could, but  
at the weight shift, her eyes snapped open, and she shot up in bed. 

"Tim! You are back! Why didn't wake me up? I could have kill you!" 

Tim stretched dramatically. "You looked all cute and non-dangerous when  
you were asleep." He grinned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you missed  
me." 

"Did not miss at all. Had whole bed to self!" 

"Oh, you did, did you? And how did you like that?" 

Cass lay back down, tossing an arm over Tim's torso, and one leg over both  
of his. "Was wonderful. Can't believe you come home and ruin. Look at all  
this bed you take up." 

"I am a terrible boyfriend," Tim agreed. 

"Yes, you are," Cass agreed, stuffing her head into Tim's shoulder. "No  
ever do it again." 

"I promise."

-end_