Owner Pose
Stephanie Brown It is a rare Tuesday in that Stephanie does not have any assignments due on Wednesday. Dick does not have to work late, nor has he received any calls that he needs to come in to handle more homicides than the on-duty detectives can handle. And neither of them are scheduled to be out on patrol tonight.

An actual entire night to themselves!

Stephanie finishes cooking some vegetables and puts them on plates. Baked potatoes already came out of the oven but are still piping hot. The blond girl juggles them from hand to hand in moving them over to the plates, then cuts open the foil wrap to expose the insides for easier access. She moves the plates to a tray, and then adds some little bowls of grated cheese, butter, sour cream, bacon bits, and other potato toppings.

"Dick!" she calls. "Everything is ready. How're the steaks coming!?"

Stephanie adds two glasses of ice and a pitcher of lemonade, and then heads out of the glass door onto the dock of the lake house set on the small private lake on the Wayne Estate. There a table and some chairs can be found, looking out over the lovely, sleepy little lake. Also the grill, and a few small craft secured further down the dock.
Dick Grayson     Since he doesn't have any plans beyond having dinner and relaxing for a change, Dick is in sweatpants and a grey GCPD tee shirt. He gives the steaks a little nudge to test them, then nods and puts them on a plate. Shutting down the grill, he carries them over to the table and places them in the middle of the table, gives Steph a quick kiss on the cheek and sits down.

    "Your timing was perfect, love. I bet most people don't know Batgirl is a good cook." He grins at her then gestures at the plate, "Ladies first, they're both medium rare."

    Given it is a rare night off, he's skipped bottled water tonight and is having a soda. Not even a diet soda. The horror. Once Steph picks a steak, the other one goes onto his plate. A little steak sauce is added, then he takes one of the potatoes and liberally adds toppings to it.

    Looking out over the lake as he takes his first bite, he smiles and comments, "I think I like this better than actually living in the manor, the view is just wonderful." Looking back to his fiancee he adds, "And you being here with me only makes it better."
Stephanie Brown Stephanie Brown sets down the plates on the table, her eyes drifting over to Dick Grayson to flash a beautiful smile at him. Moments like this weren't things that young Stephanie Brown would have even let herself daydream about too far. To be living them, keeps the young woman's already buoyant spirit floating.

She's wearing a bikini top, and a pair of shorts over the bottoms likely, so she's ready to go swimming afterwards if they like. The lake is teeming with fish that have flourished without needing to be restocked, and the water is beautifully calm tonight, reflect the red of the setting sun.

Stephanie takes the smaller of the steaks, then settles into her seat. She reaches a bare foot over, resting it on Dick's knee under the table as she starts cutting into her steak. "Mmm, perfect," she tells him of the medium rare result. "Well, I can't say I did too much. Baked potatoes, and some steamed green beans with a little bacon and butter mixed in," she says.

She relaxes back in her chair and looks over at Dick, then out at the lake, sighing contentedly. "I agree," she tells him. "I really like the view from every where in the house. And, as much as I love Alfred and everyone else living at the manor, I'm happy to have it be just us. Let's me walk around in my undies without giving Alfred conniptions," she says with a warm laugh.
Dick Grayson     Nodding with a chuckle, he agrees with her "Yeah, there's a certain amount of freedom living here. And I would never want to quell your need to wander around in your undies. And we still have access to all the important stuff, but also the kind of privacy a young couple needs. As for the potatoes, I could argue that all I did was burn meat with fire."

    He continues to slice bits off his steak and potato, eating slowly since he's got the chance not to be in a hurry for a change.

    "Sometimes I forget what it's like to be a normal person. Seems like we're always just zipping through meals because we need to patrol, or get to work or class. But tonight, unless the next big alien invasion drops from the sky, we have the time to just relax and enjoy."

    He looks out over the darkening lake again, then adds, "Especially since we don't have a mosquito problem." A small form flits erratically over the lake, soon joined by a multitude of similar critters. "It's good that Bruce never got rid of the bats, they do a good job of improving outdoor activities."
Stephanie Brown Stephanie cuts a slice off her steak. She individually applies a tiny bit of salt to each bite, rather than salting the whole thing in advance so she doesn't end up using as much. One of her little idiosyncrasies.

She glances up as the bat swoops across the lake in search of a meal. "Yes, they definitely help keep the number down," she agrees. The abundant fish also eat any larvae that are left in the lake.

"Mmm. My man burns meat with fire good," she says with a little cave woman grunt as she smiles across the table at Dick. Stephanie adds some butter and cheese and bacon to her baked potato. "Maybe after we could go for a kayak before it gets too dark. And then after... I just -might- have picked up some scented massage oil that I could be convinced to put to use," she tells Dick with a little waggle of her eyebrows.

"I can't believe I'm already halfway through college," she comments to Dick. "It won't be long before I'm the CSI showing up at your crime scenes. Possibly. I could always find something with another department if you preferred to not see my ugly mug -all- the time."
Dick Grayson
    Dick contemplates the suggested activity for a moment then nods, saying "Well, as long as we aren't breaking that old swimming after eating rule we could probably take a run around the lake. Following that up with a massage sounds just about perfect, and then we can go with whatever strikes us after that."

    His potato is slightly simpler than hers, adorned with only butter and bacon. Scooping out a bit of it, he continues "As for showing up at my crime scenes, you are more than welcome. At least you don't have chronic halitosis like Detmer, I call that a win from the start."

    He applies a bit more steak sauce to his meal, then eats quietly for a moment, just enjoying the chance to really relax for a change.
Stephanie Brown Stephanie gives a soft laugh. "Haven't met Detmer yet, but thank you for considering me an upgrade," she tells Dick, a blue eye giving him a quick wink across the table.

Not having a patrol tonight doesn't mean that she doesn't come with an appetite. At her age and with the metabolism they have built up from their hero activities, calories are not too much of a problem. Another bite of steak is enjoyed, Stephanie giving a happy sound. "So I gather this motor on the boat is supposed to be better for the lake than normal ones. Less wake, erosion, impact on the fish," she says, glancing over at the powered boat that has the fancy new Wayne Tech motor. "I have to say most all of my experience with boats has come from something with the Bat logo on it. I'm looking forward to trying waterskiing though. Maybe we could get your brothers out here sometime for a cookout and a few trips up and down the lake?" she suggests.
Dick Grayson     Nodding with a smile, he also looks over at the boat. "Yeah, it's got an electric motor, so a lot less noise to start with. And the prop has a shroud around it both to cut down on cavitation and provide better power with slower rotations. I think you'll enjoy waterskiing, it strikes me as your kind of thing. I do like the idea of a family outing though, so we'll have to see if we can find a day everyone is available."

    He purses his lips, giving the idea some thought, then says "Maybe I can get Bruce to loosen his deathgrip on Gotham and have a few of the Titans sub for the Bats so we don't leave the city unpatrolled. Otherwise I don't see us successfully getting everyone relaxing at the same time. And we should invite Cass also, I know how close you two are."

    He chuckles a little and adds, "I'm not sure she'd understand the reason foe waterskiing, but you can try and explain it to her."
Stephanie Brown Stephanie breaks out in grins at the mention of Cass and her understanding of things. "Oh, I think she'll grabs quickly enough that it's for fun. And probably something that she'd enjoy at that," she counters.

Stephanie takes another bite of her steak, the pours some lemonade into the glasses, passing one over to Dick. "Alfred made the lemonade, not the powder stuff," she comments. Though they do some of their own shopping, as often as not since they moved into the Lake House, the food just comes from the Manor where Alfred has already bought what they need without even having asked him.

"Well, there's also the Birds who are out there," she says. "Long as we pick what should be a good quiet date. Can have the Batcomputer pick a day that is historically low crime. Or do some machine learning to pick one. Heck, I could probably just mention it to Barbara and she'll be so jazzed she has a result before I've hardly finished the sentence," she says with a warm laugh.

"Anything in particular you'd like dessert later? Figured we could have it later tonight," she asks.
Dick Grayson     He hmms, thinking about it as more of his steak vanishes. "I think it's an ice cream night. More than warm enough for the cold to be enjoyable." As if the inside of the lakehouse isn't comfortably climate controlled. "Probably something including chocolate sauce. That sounds right to me."

    With a slightly naughty grin, he adds, "The chocolate might even see use before we get to the ice cream, you just never know."

    "Hadn't thought of the Birds, they haven't been that active lately, but if they're ready to step up their patrols we all could have a little more time off, including them. It's something I wouldn't mind seeing to be honest. We've been pretty lucky so far, but tired people make mistakes, and given how little downtime the Bats get, I'd say most of us are tired a lot of the time."

    He scoops out the last of his potato and then cuts up the last of the steak before sitting back, well fed and relaxed for a change. After a minute, he shakes his head with a rueful smile "I can't quite shake the feeling that I should be doing something instead of relaxing. I think Bruce has me overtrained sometimes. Kind of like a guard dog with nothing to guard."
Stephanie Brown Stephanie Brown gives a warm laugh about the chocolate sauce. "I was going to say we have hot fudge that can be heated up too, but that might not work as well for some things." She finishes off her plate as well and then takes a long sip of the lemonade. After, Stephanie rises from her chair, moving around to where Dick is seating, and indicating he should turn his chair so she can settle onto his lap and cuddle while they look out at the lake.

"Yes, you need to be able to relax," she says. "Sometimes... ok, a lot, if not as much anymore, I was jealous of all the training you guys got," Stephanie comments. Once in his lap, she snuggles her head to Dick's shoulder. "Though, you know, it came at its own price too. I mean, he was a good father, loves you guys. But yes, you do have some tendencies from what you went through," she agrees.

She brushes her fingers gently through Dick's hair as they talk. Overhead the bats continue to flit through the air now and then, chasing down mosquitoes and other bugs. The sun is disappearing into the trees on one end of the lake. The water curves just slightly to either side of the house, giving a bit of a view whether sunrise or sunset.
Dick Grayson     Slipping an arm around Steph as she settles onto his lap, he leans his head against hers with a smile. Moments like this are what he carries with him, that keep him from becoming all about the job. Bad enough that his real job and his secret job both deal with the same things, it's too easy to become so involved that he has no time for anything else. Fortunately he's always managed to keep himself a little less obsessed than Bruce is. Between the Titans and his brothers, he's had less time alone than Bruce did.

    "The training is good, but we have to remember that we're people as well as being heroes. Bruce had to give a lot of that up when he started, he had to become the thing every criminal in Gotham feared, but in doing so, he had to give up a lot that wasn't Batman. I'll never give up on him though, I know I can get him to relax a little more."

    He plants a quick kiss on her head then stands, slipping an arm under her legs so that she doesn't fall. Carrying her into the house, he flips a switch as he carries her past it, causing the glass walls to go opaque. Time to work off the calories that ice cream is going to add later.