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chapter twenty-three ━ this is who you are

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❝ i'm glad it was with you ❞

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SELINA HAD LEFT on a supply run, leaving Skylar alone with Bridgit at their place. The morning had arrived and though she never slept much, she was still very irritated to be awoken to the side of what sounded like tiny pieces of wood and glass being scraped off the floor. A scowl appeared on her face and at first, she ignored it but she quickly was losing her patience and turned around, laying on her back as her eyes narrowed at the firebug who was cleaning the floor for whatever reason.

"What the hell are you doing?" she snapped, her tone not even raising a flinch from the older girl despite the fact that she was being quite rude, though she would never admit to that.

Bridgit looked over at her, blushing slightly at being caught and also the fact that she knew now that she was harboring a crush for the girl who saved her life. "Cleaning, I couldn't sleep and I don't know what to do with myself so I figured I could clean up the place a bit. I thought you would appreciate the gesture." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ears, scooping some last bits before glancing back over at the fellow brunette.

Skylar groaned, throwing her hands up and then flopping them down onto the bed, kicking the fur blankets she stole before sitting up at looking straight at her. "That's nice of you to do but completely unnecessary. You're free now, you can do whatever you want." She ran a hand through her hair, giving her a tired look as she sat with her right knee pointed towards the ceiling, her right arm supporting on top of it.

"What am I gonna do?" Bridgit questioned, looking undeniably scared about being arrested, not so much that she killed someone. Skylar would be lying if she said that it wasn't intriguing that she did not seem to care. "I killed someone last night. I can't go home. I can't go to the police-"

"I'll look after you."

"You can't promise that." She sighed, shaking her head as she stared at the other girl with an exasperated tone, trying to show her that she didn't have any, didn't have any resources to get her out of Gotham and to somewhere safer. "One day, they're going to catch me and arrest you and Selina. I have to leave town but I got no money."

The female Valeska sighed, licking her lips as she tried to think of something and then got one crazy idea. But who cared? It wasn't like anyone was worried about her safety. Little did she know, Barbara was searching for her because she was beginning to realize that there was definitely something up with Theo.

"No problem," she replied, a smirk appearing on her face. "I'll get you some money." She sat at the end of the mattress, throwing the rest of the blankets that had pooled at her feet, grabbing her boots and got them on. There was no need for her to dress because she slept in her casual clothes, never wore cute pajamas because it wasn't her style.

"You mean, like, crime?"

Skylar laughed softly, couldn't resist a sarcastic comment to lighten the mood. "Nah, we're going to start a bake sale." Her words raised a laugh and a smile from Bridgit who tried to roll her eyes to brush off the fact that she found humor in it. Then she took her hair tie and quickly put her hair into a braid.

Bridgit sighed, the mood dimming so she looked away from her, nervous for what she had planned. "Why are you helping me?" Her eyes and entire expression reflected just how confused she was, not understanding why all of a sudden she was being kind to her. "Yesterday you seemed pretty pissed off because of me."

She had gotten her boots on, stretching her right leg out, her eyes flickering over to her's as she could see the genuine question on her face. So she was going to tell the truth, be honest with her. "Because you and I both know what it's like to have people push us around and treat us like crap. And I meant it when I said you'll find that spark and I think you're on the right path. It never hurts to have some help."

"But I killed someone," Bridgit pointed out, standing up.

"And? Do you really think I care if you killed someone? Because I don't, Bridgit, not at all." She stood up, significantly shorter than her but she had a louder voice. Then she started pointing at the floor as if something were there. "And those cops don't give a shit about what you went through. You kill another cop and they go all crazy, you kill some random homeless woman on the streets and then turn the other way. They won't stop until they find you. So if you think you're doing any of this alone, you're mistaken."

The firebug tried to hide just how much Skylar's words affected her, yet failed, the smile on her face prominent as she nodded, caving in because she did enjoy her company more than she initially thought she would. "Alright, so this. . .crime you have in mind? What is it?"

Skylar moved past her, grabbing her other knife since she only kept one with her at all times. "You'll see, Selina told me about the place when she was telling me about the rougher parts of town." She turned around as she went to the door, raising an eyebrow and waved her forward. "Come on, don't just stand there."

---

There wasn't a good enough word to describe just how horrible and disgusting this place was. And Skylar did want to help these girls, she truly did. But she was much too scared to, being reminded of all of those men who would try to touch her. From the look on Bridgit's face, she wanted to save them as well, looking determined yet horrified as they looked through a dirty window at two blonde girls in revealing clothing, collars around their neck as they were pulled down a runway. Men surrounded the floors, holding cash up in the air to buy the poor girls.

It was night now because they had waited out for most of the day stealing what they could off the streets before making their way to the building. Bridgit was adorned in her special suit and Skylar wore her usual black leather attire to blend in, hair in two French braids.

"Those girls are for sale?" Bridgit breathed, her eyes dimming as she was nearly pressing her entire face against the window.

"Yep," Skylar replied, trying to act nonchalant about it and succeeded. She couldn't look for any longer so she pushed herself away from the window, walking away so Bridgit turned around and followed after her.

"We need to help them."

"And I need an actual place to live but we don't always get what we want, now do we?" she snapped back, looking back at her with a roll of her eyes before she forced herself to calm down, taking a steady breath as she looked at her. "Look, we are here to help you because you killed a cop and need to leave town as soon as possible but first, you need money, we're here to get money."

Bridgit still didn't seem to want to listen, already having it in her mind that they needed to go help those girls who were being sold like they were nothing but animals. So she tried her hardest to convince the girl to listen. "But-"

"Listen!" Skylar told her, pointing at her before pointing towards some stairs nearby. "You go down the stairs. The lock on the back door is busted. I know, 'cause I busted it, you should've seen Selina's face when I did." The firebug made a face. "You go in, wait for me to make my move." She started walking away but then the brunette called out.

"How will I know when?"

"You'll know, just pay attention."

Skylar pulled up her mask that had been hanging around her neck, covering her mouth but leaving her nose and eyes exposed. No one would recognize her, she had practiced manipulating her voice to sound different because, no doubt, that someone there might watch the news and heard her in one of the countless recordings of her crying and screaming when Jerome died. Though the main cameras had been shut off, there was still one rolling and it got leaked to dozens of news channels.

Her steps were quiet, undetectable as she started honing the skills she earned from Selina. However, she could never quite match her grace which was infuriating. Little she did she know what the future would bring. The two blondes were sold for two thousand and five hundred to some random man, making her lips curl as she swiftly walked along the rails on the ceiling, reaching the cage full of females before she crouched down. A satisfied smirk appeared on her face before she leaped, tackling him to the ground.

The man tried to stand but she smacked him across the face with the back of her hand, withdrawing a gun and shot the ceiling twice. Instantly the girls behind her started shaking on the bars, crying for help. Skylar didn't acknowledge them at that moment, looking out at the crowd of people as she walked down the stairs towards the man running the show, gun pointed at his face. "This is a robbery, everyone shut up and hand over all your money!" Her voice boomed, deeper than her normal voice.

He merely rolled his eyes, looking to a man in the crowd. "Milo! Kill that punk." Before he could shoot Skylar, Bridgit appeared, using her blowtorch to blow fire above the peoples' heads, making them all scream and duck. He pocketed his gun quickly as everyone watched the two females move with precision.

"Yeah, buddy, she's with me," Skylar spoke with pride, her eyes reflecting a wicked smirk on her features as she got even closer. "So put your fucking money in the bag and then it's everyone else's turn." The female Valeska walked down a little farther, pointing the gun around which made everyone shrink away in fear. She wanted to scoff and spit cowards at them. Here they were, selling innocent girls but they were afraid of guns.

Except for one idiot who stood up on the stage, yelling at her. Bridgit came to her side, directing her blowtorch around, waiting for someone to jump out and try to attack them. And this man was her next target. "Or what? I ain't scared of you." Not even a second passed when he said that before the fire was aiming right at him, flames igniting on his jacket. He gasped, throwing it off his body and backed off the stage, holding his hands up in surrender. "Yeah. All right."

Skylar couldn't help but laugh, extremely amused by his quick submission. She looked back out to the sea of people. "Anybody else got a problem?" No one said a word and she smirked wider, tossing her right braid over her shoulder. "I didn't think so." Each person started throwing their money on the stage and they collected every last dollar until they knew they had enough. As the younger girl was leaving, she couldn't resist. "And by the way, all of you are going to Hell." Then she turned to look at them all. "Guess I'll see you there." She laughed again before walking out with the bag of cash.

Bridgit was clearly enjoying herself because before she left, she blew more fire, going in a complete circle. The women behind her were screaming for help and she threw one glance at them before dashing to the exit. She was much too high on adrenaline to care about them. Once she was outside, she saw Skylar casually leaning against the brick wall, an unconscious man at her feet. They grinned at one another.

The firebug laughed, holding another bag of money. "Oh my God, that was. . .wow." Her newfound friend nodded in agreement, smiling so wide that it felt like her cheeks were going to split. She pushed herself off the wall, feeling a new emotion inside of her, feeling different, more confident, better. Gosh, she couldn't remember the last time she felt this amazing.

Skylar stared at her for a long moment, that shift inside of her only growing stronger. She didn't know what it was or what it meant but she had a pretty good idea. Yet, she didn't act on it because she didn't wish to ruin the moment or make anything awkward. Plus, she didn't even know where to start. So she kept her smile up, nodding her head in the direction of her place. "Come on, bet Selina's waiting for us."

Bridgit never hesitated and followed after her, feeling happy, excited, thrilled. She too was feeling better than she ever has in her entire life. And boy did she really want to kiss the younger girl at that moment, shield her from everything, protect her. Little did she know that her loyalty would never die, not even in the years to come.

---

"When you get to the bus station, take the first bus south," Skylar directed, trying to remember to instructions Selina told her about where Bridgit needed to go. After last night, the girls treated themselves to a full dinner, dessert included, and then all headed to bed and had the best rest they've gotten in a long time. But then once the sun rose, word got to them that Jim was coming to look for them. Selina offered to stay and so Skylar went and decided to lead the firebug to freedom. "Stay on till the end of the line and wherever you end up or feel like staying in, go for it, it's your choice."

Bridgit nodded her head, trailing after her. "Well, what do I do then?" When it came to her, she asked many questions, almost as if she wanted to please the younger girl. Still, she hadn't told her that she no longer wanted to leave and instead wished to stay in Gotham. Preferably, with her. All the duo she was staying with didn't have anything else but each other. And those two, she could see herself spending time with. She was going to miss them both, but the certain complicated delicate one more.

Skylar seemed taken aback by the question but still gave her answer. "Whatever you want of course. You have plenty of money to do what you want, get yourself a new identity, a job, a place to live, a whole new life. A clean slate. You're lucky, most people don't get that." She glanced up at her, trying not to show just how much she was going to miss her.

They stopped finally, knowing that it was time for them to say goodbye. Neither wanted to so they stood there silently for a few moments before Bridgit spoke up first. "Thank you. For everything. You've been a really good. . .friend." The word sounded off, not the right one to use, foreign. Even Skylar winced, not appreciating the word used either and surprisingly enough, she was blunt about it.

"Okay look, I know I was a bitch to you but you were one back so we're even." She took a deep breath, eyes softening. "There's something different about you and I don't understand it, I can't figure it out. All I know is that you mean something to me now, just like Selina and. . ." Her words trailed off but then she shook her head, not going to admit about him. "Letting you go is hard because I've never met someone who understands what I've been through. And to be completely honest. . .I don't want to say goodbye."

Bridgit smiled softly at her, holding her bag on one shoulder. "I don't want to either. Last night was brilliant, it felt right, it was thrilling. Sure stealing is a crime but I don't regret it. You're different too, Skylar. You're a real Vixen."

She laughed at that, biting her lip as she shook her head. Then she looked away for a moment before looking back at her, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "If you're gonna go. . .I want to do something first." When she turned back to her, the older girl was standing there patiently, still being kind and gentle with her by not even doing anything.

And it seemed as though she knew exactly what she wanted because Bridgit set her bag on the ground, taking a few steps forward. Then she wrapped her arms around the shorter girl, setting her chin on the top of her head because there was that much of a height difference. Skylar withheld her disappointment, wrapping her arms around her as breathed in her scent. But then they pulled away and she got what she had been hinting at.

Bridgit lifted her chin, pressing her lips against her's. Skylar's breath hitched, eyes widening in alarm before she finally closed them, pressing her hand against her cheek and leaned in, kissing back. The kiss was sloppy, clearly showing how inexperienced both were. At least their first kiss was with each other, that's what made it perfect and nice. They kissed for a little longer, their lips trying to find a rhythm but could never seem to settle down.

When they pulled away, they rested their foreheads against one another's before laughing. The girls just kept laughing and smiling, still wrapped in each other's arms, oblivious to the events that were about to occur. Skylar was the first one to speak, that time. "We are so bad at that." Bridgit nodded in agreement, finding it humorous. "But it was nice. I'm glad it was you."

"I'm glad it was you too." They hugged again, embracing as Skylar hid her face in Bridgit's right arm, tears falling down her cheeks. And she could sense that she was sad so she held her a little tighter. "It's okay, be who you want to be, don't ever be ashamed. I'm glad that I could be here to help you figure that out."

Skylar went to say something else but then a van came speeding around the corner, rushing towards them. It took her a few moments to realize what was happening and who the vehicle was coming for. Horror coated her expression. "Bridgit! Run! Run!" She screamed, pushing the girl away just as the van came to a stop, one of the girl's brothers jumping out. But the Valeska fought back, swinging at his jaw but she was still learning how to fight so she wasn't ready for the kick to her back, making her collapse to the ground.

Bridgit yelled her name in worry, trying to fight against the death grip her brother had her in. She truly did try but ended up being shoved into the van. Skylar got up with a wince, taking out her knife and stabbed the other male in the abdomen, making him cry out in pain as she yanked it back out, her eyes darkening with rage. But then he slapped her across the face, sending her sprawling to the floor and quickly hopped into the van.

And before she knew it, they were off, speeding down the road. Skylar got up again, taking out her gun and attempted to aim for the tires but she was a bad shot still so she missed each time. Then the van was out of sight, leaving her alone standing there. She covered her mouth with her had, tears streaming down her cheeks, her heart racing, feeling absolute dread take over her body.

What were they going to do to Bridgit?

---

I'm breaking my own heart by making Skylar and Bridgit this way but honestly, it feels right. This chapter was completely about developing Sky's sexuality and embracing who she is. By no means is she and Bridgit going to be endgame or anything like that, but they will be loyal to one another and will be very close. And guys, this book is totally about the romance between Sky and Bruce. This book is about discovering who you are and is about coming from a tragic background and learning how to evolve from all the trauma.

Also, this chapter was a bit shorter than usual but still pretty long. I'm cutting the episode into two parts because I was satisfied with this ending. And finally, just so you know, when two people are experiencing their first kisses together, it's not perfect, it wouldn't make sense for it to be. So I wanted to display the reality of it.

Next chapter will contain a very pissed of Skylar go after Bridgit and bashing Jim for his absence :)

I hope you guys have a great day/night and don't forget to vote on this chapter, comment your thoughts, and follow me for updates!