Blue Robin | S. Lang

Chapter Seven

Much like when Scott discovered who she was, Rowe wasn't very worried about Scott telling his boss about her. Also like when Scott discovered who she was, Rowe knew that she probably should be worried, or concerned at the very least. But all she felt was calm.

And while not feeling all those negative emotions was pretty great, it didn't exactly make much sense to the shapeshifter.

She was much more hung up on her actions towards Scott.

There weren't a lot of things in her life that Rowe regretted. And giving Scott her number certainly wasn't one of them, but she could see that there was the possibility of that becoming one of the few things she regrets in her life. If her giving him her number ended up screwing things up, then there was no doubt in Rowe's mind that she could regret that action.

Of course, this also put a possible wrench in her future plans as Blue Robin. Working with Scott for whoever he worked for could mean that she wasn't allowed to continue doing what she was doing. That would probably be the worst possible outcome.

Being Blue Robin was important to Rowe. She didn't do it for no reason. Helping people and giving back had always been something she wanted to do, and Blue Robin was giving her that chance. If Scott's employer stopped her from doing that, that would be a definite dealbreaker.

Blinking open her heavy eyes, Rowe looked towards her side table where her phone was lit up and vibrating. Looking to her alarm clock, she saw that it was six o'clock in the morning, meaning she had only been home and asleep for three hours. Besides the fact that Kace knew she was working nights, her family knew not to call before ten o'clock.

So who was calling her?

Reaching for the phone, Rowe rolled onto her back and answered the phone, holding it up to her ear, "Rowe Montgomery," she said.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" the male voice on the other end asked.

"Speaking?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, right. It's Scott."

"Scott? What the hell do you want? I only got three hours of sleep, can't this wait?"

"Um," Scott's voice trailed off and there was silence on the other end and Rowe almost drifted off again, but his voice came back. "Yeah, it can wait. When should I call back?"

Rowe sighed, "I don't know, Scott... How about I call you?"

"Yeah, okay, that works for me. I'll wait for your call."

There was a click and the line went dead. Without even bothering to put her phone back on the side table, she closed her eyes and fell right back asleep.

It was around eleven when Rowe woke up again, feeling a lot better rested, and not remembering Scott's phone call till she rolled over and smushed her phone against her face. At first, she didn't understand why her phone was on the pillow next to her and not on her nightstand. Then she remembered Scott's six am phone call.

Grabbing her phone, she padded her way to the kitchen to get food before calling Scott.

After saving him as a contact, Rowe walked back to the living room and dialed his number, leaving her phone on speaker on the coffee table. The phone rang thrice before Scott answered with a, "Hello?"

"Hey, Scott. It's Rowe."

"Rowe! I was just starting to worry that you forgot," he told her.

"I did," she answered honestly, "but then I remembered again."

"Right," he said, stretching out the word, "anyways, I called to arrange that meeting I told you about. Do you work today?"

"Yeah, I work from nine to four."

Scott made a humming sound on the other side for a moment and Rowe waited patiently, munching on some Shreddies. "That's pretty late, but I think we can manage to swing by at eleven thirty. Ish. Does that sound good?"

"Sure," she agreed. "But I won't be able to meet for long, I only get a half-hour break."

"That's fine," he assured her, "or, well, it should be. If not, we'll have a second meeting or something like that, I don't know."

"Okay."

"Uh, bye, then."

"Bye, Scott."

Oddly enough, Rowe was thankful that she wasn't working with Kace tonight. She knew that he would be suspicious about this meeting and she hadn't even told him that it was on the table. And the fact that Scott wouldn't be suited up meant that it would be that much easier for him to figure out that Ant-Man was actually Scott Lang.

Which she didn't want.

As much as Rowe loved Kace, she knew that the more he knew about this secret life she was living, the more danger he would be in. Knowing about her was enough to have her worrying about his safety should someone decide to retaliate against her, but knowing who Ant-Man was and the whole shebang, that just seemed to be ten times worse.

Secrets weren't fun to keep from her best friend, but this one she would need to keep from him for as long as possible.

At quarter after two, Rowe's phone rang once more. She was far from expecting it to be Scott again, but the name she saw on the screen was not one she was expecting either.

Mom.

What did her mother want on this random Wednesday afternoon?

Only one way to find out.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hi, hun," her mother, Violet's, voice rang through the speaker, "how are you?"

"Just like I am every other random Wednesday," Rowe answered.

"Rowe, please," her mother said and the girl rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, mom," she explained.

"Good to know."

They lapsed into silence as Rowe waited for her mother to get to the point of why she called.

"This is when you ask me how I am, Rowe," she told her daughter in a snippish voice.

"You know I'm not going to do that so why don't you just get to the point?" Rowe responded easily, hopping up onto the kitchen counter.

Violet sighed, "I just wanted to remind you that your father's birthday is coming up and we're going to be doing something special."

"My father's birthday is in five months," Rowe responded, an edge to her voice.

Once more, her mother sighed, "Rowe, darling, you know that I care for you and that Isaac thinks of you like his own."

"Well maybe if you guys actually acknowledged Dad, I would believe that."

"He does the exact same thing and you know it."

"No, no, he doesn't," Rowe corrected, "Dad actually tries to reach out and still be involved in your life. I know he sends birthday cards and Christmas cards. I actually know that he never gets one from you. So when you decide to start using those snooty manners the way you're supposed to, I'll start caring."

"Rowe-" her mother started, but the shapeshifter hung up before the older woman could finish her sentence.