Interlude

The microwave dinged mournfully. Dave pulled himself off the couch and went to pull out the frozen dinner he'd put in there for tonight. He set it on the counter, stared at it for a moment, then picked it up and dropped it directly into the trash. It just wasn't worth eating. Opening the pantry, he pulled out a bag of chips and then grabbed a soda from the fridge. That would have to suffice for dinner tonight.

Dave wandered through the house until he got back to the couch. He looked around the living room and sighed. There was his dad's chair, which Dave still didn't feel comfortable sitting in a year after his Dad's death. When the lawyers had gone over the will, they had told Dave that his dad had left him everything. All their stuff was now his. But that chair… Dave still didn't consider it his own. He couldn't decide if he needed to get over that feeling or just get rid of the chair. Because staring at it each night was driving him crazy.

Crawling back onto the couch, Dave hunted until he found the remote hiding under a beaten up cushion and then brought up Netflix. He had a mission to finish. Honestly, it was kind of stupid but stupid was all he had left in his life at this point. He was systematically watching every single movie that he knew Mindy had loved. Which was pretty much every single gory, horror, or action movie that Netflix had. And then some. Given how many movies she'd watched, he wasn't sure when she'd found the time to do all of the training to hone herself into a deadly killer. Maybe the lack of school for most of her life had helped. What helped Dave was using these movies to somehow reconnect with her. He'd been her friend, then her Robin. And near the end, maybe even her partner. That had felt pretty wonderful during the last fight against the MotherFucker. It was as if he'd completed some sort of rite of passage.

And then she'd sat on a sparkly purple motorcycle and made him her first kiss. It had turned his world upside down, awakening feelings that he'd previously discarded because she was just a little girl. She wasn't that child any longer. She was luscious and perfect and he'd just wanted to slide his hands into that thick blond hair and find out if the second kiss would manage to be better than the first. But she'd just threatened him, pulled on her helmet, and ridden off into the distance. Her parting gift… A spectacular view of her ass as she rode away. She'd probably have killed him if she'd caught him staring. But it would have been worth it.

These were not the respectful thoughts that he should be having about her. And it didn't in any way diminish how amazing he thought she was. Smart, funny, deadly, loyal; an all-around perfect friend and partner. But part of him was still trying to reconcile that change from child to adult that she'd seemingly made in a single moment. And even the guilty part of him had to admit that fact was fact, and her butt had looked great as she perched on the seat and rode away.

He was sometimes disturbed by how often he thought about that view… but more often guiltily found himself reaching for the tissue box. He wondered what she'd do if she ever found out about his obsession. Would she be disgusted? Angry? Intrigued? Maybe even turned on? Or would she not even care? Somehow he'd rather that she be mad than not care. He wanted to matter to her at least on some level. But apparently he didn't, because she'd ridden out of his life almost two years ago and he hadn't heard a single damn thing from her since. Not even a damn postcard.

Netflix finished logging in and he checked to see what movie it suggested that he watch next. Technically, he was done. He'd watched everything he'd known she'd seen and was just waiting until next month for more movies to come on. In the absence of known films, he was watching every other movie that fit her criteria. He figured that she was out there somewhere watching more movies and this was his only way to keep up with her. Recommendations included the latest Steven King, some old vampire movie called 'Near Dark', and… The British Baking Show.

He stared at it for a few minutes and then laughed. Apparently Netflix had gone crazy. But maybe the algorithm had a good reason for choosing it and it would appeal to Mindy. So, unable to think of a good reason to fight the madness, he went ahead and clicked play.