(A/N: Not gonna lie. Totally forgot that I was supposed to be doing epilogues for this story. I was recently reminded of it though so here you go. Initially I was going to do two from Dave's point of view of the first night in the safehouse with Mindy and then the morning after they first straddled second and a half base and Dave tried to pretend it didn't happen. But the more I did those in my head, they just came across kinda…whiny. And the only real payoff you get for it is that the real reason Dave put his arm around Mindy the first time was because she was shaking and he thought she was cold and he just wanted to go to sleep. That and that Mindy looked like she was going to cannibalize him while eating those pancakes. Not much of a payoff so instead I'll just do this chapter and a preview for the sequel when I get around to it…eventually…)
Katie sighed as she flopped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her mind began to go over her day and everything she was supposed to have done. It was an irritating habit, to be honest. Half the time she'd remember something she didn't do and it would either be too late to do anything about it or she'd have to get up again to do it. But she couldn't control how her brain functioned, especially when she was tired.
That had become another habit of hers lately. Whether it was because she read really late, worked on homework assignments in advance or if she had an extra workout session. She did not want to lay in bed wide awake for extended periods. She was always dead tired before even laying down. He was still fresh in her brain even after all this time and if she thought about him too much, she would just get frustrated and the tears would start.
It was time for her last sleeping ritual as she placed the earbuds in her ears and the music started. She found it was a lot easier for her to not focus on him if she could focus on the music instead. No love songs, no breakup songs. Mostly pop and club music. Something to put her in a happy space as she drifted off to sleep. Katie closed her eyes and let the pounding beats take her away, pulling her covers up over her.
She wasn't sure how long she'd been listening when Katie felt a sudden pressure on her lips. Her eyes shot wide and as she saw the silhouette that was silencing her, she instinctively tried to scream in vain and fight it so that she'd have her voice back.
"Geeze, bitch. Calm your shit or I will have to hurt you. That's not why I'm here." The shadow spoke.
Katie thrashed a bit more but the familiarity of the voice began to bring her to her see senses as her eyes adjusted to the dark. "Mmm-hmph?"
Hit Girl visibly rolled her eyes, currently being forced to straddle Katie's torso, holding her arms down with her knees, and using her hands to cover her mouth. "You gonna calm down?" She asked again.
Katie nodded as much as Mindy's grip allowed. Only then did Hit Girl cautiously remove her hand. "Is he okay?" She immediately asked, the fear still clear on her face.
Hit Girl's eyes bulged behind her mask. She hadn't expected that question. In retrospect, it made total sense. Why else would she be there? And it wasn't like Katie was an idiot. And she'd have to be not to put together who Hit Girl really was at this point. "Dave's fine. He's great." She answered awkwardly, getting off her.
As soon as Katie wasn't weighed down anymore, she quickly sat up, looking around the room for any other shadows.
"He's not here with me." Hit Girl responded to the unspoken question.
"Of course, he isn't." Katie muttered, the disappointment clear in her voice.
"He doesn't even know I'm here." The young vigilante admitted.
This caught Katie's attention and made her focus on Mindy once again. "Then why are you here?"
Hit Girl chose to keep her distance now and lean against Katie's dresser as she finally answered, "I felt like we…needed to talk…"
Katie just stared for a few seconds before she finally replied, "I don't think we have anything to talk about."
"Look…Katie…" Mindy sighed. "I don't like you."
Katie threw back her head into an odd laugh. "Of course, you don't. And I didn't like the way you looked at my boyfriend."
"He's not your boyfriend anymore." Hit Girl snarled.
Katie's eyes widened. "I am very aware of that!"
Mindy sighed, and took a deep breath. "Wait…back up. That's not why I'm here. I don't like you, but it wasn't just because you were dating Dave… You just…seemed so fucking perfect and…it seemed like total bullshit to me."
Katie rolled her eyes. "Of course, it was bullshit! I'm in high school and not a nobody. Everyone in high school is fake at some level if they want to be popular."
"I wasn't fake." Mindy shot back. She had to water herself down, sure. But she sure as hell didn't make herself into something she wasn't to be popular.
There was an awkward pause between the two girls before Katie choked out, "That's because you're a better person than me, okay? That's why Dave chose you over me. Is that why you're here? Just to gloat and taunt me?"
Mindy let out a frustrated groan. "Godammit…no…that's …okay, if I sheath my claws, will you?"
"I don't have any claws right now!" Katie shot back. "I'm basically a glorified scratching post at this point!"
Mindy sighed and reached into her pocket and pulled out a device that lit the area. Katie looked at the device before it triggered why she knew it so well, finally asking, "Why do you have Dave's phone?"
Mindy turned off the light, letting the darkness return, playing with the phone between her fingers as she spoke. "Dave didn't want it anymore. I…read your message…"
Katie's eyes bulged widely as she put together what Mindy was telling her, suddenly feeling extremely exposed. "So…he has been reading my messages...?"
"Yes…" Mindy answered. She wanted to say more but the words just…weren't there.
"Okay…okay…" Katie repeated. Even in the darkness, it was clear how hard she was trying to hold back her tears and how much she was failing. "I guess…that's that then. He didn't even send you. You came on your own…"
"Katie-"
"Don't!" Katie help up her hand, sobbing softly. "Just…I don't need your pity."
"It's not pity." Mindy said, sincerely. "It's…empathy… I don't think I'd be handling this anywhere near as well as you are. That message-"
"Do you have any idea…how long that message took to write?" Katie couldn't look Mindy in the eyes any longer and seemed to find the floor much more interesting. "How many times I rewrote it and deleted it and rethought it and second guessed whether I should send it at all? Weeks! I practically have the damn thing memorized by now. All five versions of it! I am not handling this! I just don't have a choice!
"I started taking martial arts just so if I get attacked, I'm not thinking that he'll save me and tell me that he's been watching me all this time and that he didn't leave me for you, that he just didn't want me in danger anymore. And that's just one of the many scenarios I play in my head. I work myself to the point of exhaustion every damn day just so I don't have to think about this! And it still fucking hurts!
"And the most fucked up thing is that he didn't even dump me! He was my boyfriend and then he was just fucking gone! I mourned him! And he won't even-…" Katie slumped further, deflating right before Mindy, and then wiping her eyes. "Sorry… Not your problem."
"I am sorry." Mindy begrudgingly admitted. "I…I don't know if this will mean anything to you, but I promise I will keep him safe."
Katie's eyes shot up as she looked at Mindy again. "Safe? You're the reason he's in danger!"
And there went declawed Mindy. She lasted barely ten minutes. "Fuck you! Dave chose to be Kick Ass on his own. And when I quit, he did it behind my back! He's a hero! He just is! I'm just making him a better one!"
"Oh please…" Katie rolled her eyes. "Don't put this all on him. You couldn't deal with your personal shit and you dragged Dave with you because he feels responsible for you! You're just taking advantage of the fact that he feels guilty about your father!" Katie didn't even see the murderous look in Mindy's eyes at that moment. She just knew that as soon as the words left her mouth that they were the wrong thing to say. "I'm sorry. I'm…really sorry. I…didn't mean that. It was a really shitty thing to say. I'm a bitch and I'm taking my pain out on you because you have what I want…"
Hit Girl took a very deep breath. Throwing her father in her face like that brought Katie this close… "I'm going to let that go. But please don't mention my father again. I really want to say that I didn't touch you when I tell Dave about this conversation later..."
Katie merely nodded. "What would you do in my position? Honestly?"
"Honestly?" Mindy smirked. "I'd break your arm out of principle, maybe a leg too, then hunt Dave down and make him talk to me."
"I can't do either of those…" Katie complained.
"What would you do in my position?" Mindy asked, curiously.
"I'd be sickeningly nice, while inwardly gloating my ass off and then I'd feel bad about it later and have guilt sex with Dave."
"Guilt sex…" Hit Girl repeated, grinning a little too widely. In fact, it was so wide and thoughtful that it told a little more about her and Dave than she'd intended. When she looked at Katie again, her face was a blend of utter shock and disgust. It clearly hadn't occurred to her that their relationship had progressed that far. Mindy just shrugged. What was she gonna do? Call the cops?
"Where is his birth mark?" Katie asked intensely.
Mindy grinned widely knowing her reasoning for this question. That birthmark wouldn't be visible if Dave was wearing so much as a speedo. "The one that looks like Mickey Mouse?" She asked, coyly.
"Shit, it does look like Mickey Mouse…" Katie grumbled to herself, letting out a sigh. "This sounds really petty to me even as I'm saying it but I really hope it hurt."
Hit Girl chuckled back, the grin never leaving her face. "It did at first but Dave was gentle with me…the first time, anyway…that night…" By the time Mindy got to those last two words, she was emoting almost entirely through her teeth.
There was another awkward pause and it was clearly one of those, the first one who talks loses, kind of situations. Katie bit the bullet. "I suppose I deserved that."
"Yes. Yes, you did." Mindy nodded back, feeling very vindicated.
Katie sighed. "Look…as long as you're in front of me I'm going to keep snapping at you because…I'm just going to, okay? I really appreciate what you're trying to do here but we're not going to be friends."
"Of course not." Mindy rolled her eyes. "I hate your guts."
Katie couldn't help but to laugh at that. It was a painful laugh but a much needed one, regardless. "I don't hate you. I can't. First and formost, Dave was only in Rasul's because of me and…if it wasn't for you-… well…you know…"
Mindy nodded again, remembering that night quite clearly. "Yeah, I know."
"That said…I really want you to get the fuck out of my room."
"Gladly." Mindy pushed herself off the dresser and headed for the window. "This was the most awkward conversation I've ever had in my life. And that includes Dave telling me you wanted him to fuck you in the ass."
This time, not only did Katie's eyes bug out of her head but her jaw dropped as well. "What? Are you trying to out-petty me?"
Hit Girl put one foot on the window and then turned back, letting her teeth emote for her once again. "You said that Dave was only with me because of my dead dad, who I watched burn alive."
"I did…" Katie remembered, with a nod. "Low blow all you want then…"
"Heh." Mindy laughed, about to jump out into the night.
"Mindy?" Katie called back.
"It's Hit Girl." She snarled back.
"Mindy." Katie tried out her own teeth emotion, but it didn't last nor did it have the bite of Mindy's in the first place. "You better make Dave a fucking crime fighting god out there…"
"A god?" Mindy grinned widely thinking it over. "Sure. I'll make him into someone Lucifer himself would shit his pants before fucking with."
Katie smiled back. "I can deal with that."
"I don't give a shit." Mindy winked as she hopped out of window. "By the way, Mike knows about us if you need to talk to anyone."
(A/N: For anyone who's like…how the fuck do you emote with your teeth? Watch Game of Thrones. Wait for Circe to get pissed at someone but be too dignified to yell at them. I swear that woman's entire emotion is in her teeth. It's like how you'd imagine a tiger would talk to you after you pissed it off. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this. I'll get the last one out when I can.)