Characters: Mindy M., Dave L.

Genre: Romance, Family

Mako's Message: This is a short chapter, but I think it fits with the Easter theme of "New Beginnings" quite well. I hope you all enjoy it, along with the Holiday, Spring, and whatever other new beginnings come your way.


Mindy felt awareness of the world wash over her and she twisted in her bed, humming to herself, and trying to find a position that would let her drift back to sleep.

Her shifting limbs collided with something heavy and warm.

She smiled and wrapped herself around Dave, nuzzling against him and sighing in contentment.

"Mmm. Good morning to you too."

"No. Not morning yet," she said, burrowing her face deeper into him.

"Hmm," he said, wrapping his arms around her, "I think the sun disagrees with you."

"The sun is wrong," she said, pulling the blanket up over them and wrapping herself more securely around him.

"I don't think it is," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"But I don't want to get up..."

"But if we get up, we can do stuff."

"Stuff like what?"

"I could make us breakfast..."

"Breakfast is good..."

"We could go out to a park...have a picnic...lay out in the sun."

"What about training?"

"It's a holiday. We can skip today."

"Hmm..."She said, rubbing her leg against his and her hands against his chest, "Maybe we could just stay in bed then, and do other things," and started kissing up his neck."

"Jeez," he laughed, "are you ever going to get enough?"

"Never. You still owe me interest on the first three years we knew each other after all." Then she stopped kissing him and asked, "Unless that was a complaint?"

"Never," he said, rolling over her and planting a string of rapid kisses across her shoulder and up her neck.

She grinned and arched her back, pulling him back down towards her chest, but then he pulled away, "We really should get up though."

"Ugh," Mindy groaned as Dave climbed off the bed and slipped the pajama pants he'd worn for all of five minutes the previous night back on. "What is it with you and getting out of bed today?"

Dave paused in the middle of putting on his shirt, an act Mindy knew meant he had to really think about his answer. "What is it?"

"It's Easter."

Mindy squinted at him, "And?"

"And I thought we could go to Church. If we get up now we'd have time to have breakfast and still make make 11 o'clock mass."

Mindy stared at him in silence for a moment before looking away, "I'm...not really a church kind of person, ya know?"

"I know." he said, as he continued to dress, not looking at her. "It's just, when my Mom was alive, we went to church. Not often, just, ya know on Holidays. Like Easter and Christmas. Sometimes other days. And I was just thinking maybe we could start going."

Mindy looked away from Dave, considering what he'd said. She looked out the window and into the clear blue sky, letting her mind drift along a sea of "what if"s and "Maybe"'s.

"Ya know," she said, finally, "What we do...it depends as much on luck as it does on skill. I don't suppose it wouldn't hurt to do what we can to get some higher powers on our side, right?"

Dave turned and smiled at her.

"Especially now," she added, running her hand down her body, and across the newly showing bump in her belly.