Mako's Message: I don't know how this happened, but I don't think anybody's going to complain. Right now I need to figure out how to eat time without eating chapters because I'd hate to burn through another ten chapters and only get through a month again. Maybe Mindy will just be too busy for this... Anyway.

I think there's a little something for everyone in this chapter. And if you're curious about some of the things I mention, go read the Independence Day chapter of Holiday Bonus. Unless you have already...but then you wouldn't be curious about then nowm would you?

Enjoy!


Today started out so well, so of course it had to all turn to shit.

I'd been lounging around the house in as little as possible, so I guess Marcus took this as his best opportunity to attack.

I was looking through my clothes trying to find something short and light and finally understanding the appeal of all those stripperific outfits I see other girls wearing, when I look over and see Marcus leaning against my door.

"Looking for something cool to wear?" he asks, and then when I nodded he pulled a sundress from behind his back and held it out, dangling on his finger, "This should be exactly what you're looking for."

I said, "No way. I'll wear jeans first." Mostly it was the principal of the thing. I was not going to let him win this.

So he said, "Sure? The saleslady assured me this was the epitome of summer comfort."

"I'm sure.."

He shrugged and hung it up on my door, "Well, I'll just leave this here. You might change your mind. Besides, I want you to look nice for the barbeque today."

I yelled. "I always look nice you ass!"

And he called back, "And watch your mouth around the guests!"

I didn't want to wear the dress, but what he said about it being cool and comfortable started to tempt me. And it's not like it was that bad. It was light purple and had a tiny pink flower pattern.

I fought it until Marcus called me down to start meeting people. Then I bit the bullet and put on the dress.

And he was right. It felt great. As soon as I stepped outside the slightest breeze felt like heaven.

Marcus didn't invite many people, just a few friends from work and their families, but it was still kind of overwhelming meeting them. It wasn't like at school where I could just ignore pretty much everybody. Here I actually had to talk to everyone. Even if it was only for a minute.

It was hard. I mean, for the first time in a month I was around people I had to act "normal" around. Hell, even at school I'd gotten into a nice little...comfort zone with Angela and Jessi, and Marty and Todd... I miss Marty. I mean yeah, we visit him every week, but it's so... stupid. He's not there. We're just visiting a body, not a person. I hope he wakes up soon. Erika still visits him, but I don't know how long she'll keep waiting for him. For all they fight, I know they really like each other, it's the only reason they could possibly have stayed together this long.

And Todd... I just haven't seen much of him. I'd see him around when we were in school, but I'd started eating with Angela and Jessi most of the time since Katie was always running off with Dave, and we haven't been going to Atomic Comic's as often as we used to, so I just haven't seen much of him. I hope he's okay...

Anyway, I kept hoping that Angela and Jessi would come over, but then I got a text from Angela saying that they wouldn't be coming over because Jessi's boyfriend broke up with her. I wanted to text back, "Thank god," but I didn't want to sound like a bitch. But seriously, good fucking riddance.

I was so happy when Dave and his dad arrived. Finally there was someone I didn't have to watch my every move around!

And I got some payback for his damn haricut.

"You're in a dress," he said, completely stunned.

His Dad wasn't nearly so surprised. He just said, "Oh look at you. You look great," then went over to start mingling with people.

I smirked at him and said, "Yeah, I'm wearing a dress, got a problem with it, Ass?"

His look of complete shock slowly turned into one of utter amusement, "No, but what brought this on? I thought you swore you'd never wear a dress?"

I shrugged, "It's hot. This is cool."

Dave said, "Oh, huh. I guess it would be. Hadn't thought of that."

And that's when I had the most awesomely wicked idea ever, "Oh yeah. It's like I'm wearing nothing at all. Especially since I'm not wearing underwear."

Dave... just sort of ...laughed awkwardly then raised an eyebrow and said, "Seriously?"

I plucked at my dress and pulled the hem up a little past my knees, raised both my eyebrows and grinned like minx and said, "Wanna see?"

He just laughed and held out a hand, and said, "No, that's okay, I believe you.?"

I dropped the skirt and shrugged, "Your loss."

Dave shook his head and laughed, " Girl, I don't know what to do with you sometimes."

I could have given him some suggestions, but that's when Marcus decided to come over and say "hi" and I never got him alone enough to talk dirty to him again. The moment was sadly lost.

I did ask him if Katie was mad about him being here though.

He said she wasn't, since they'd spent last night together(gag me) and her family was going to their lawyers annual 4th of July picnic.

Then he mentioned Riley was annoyed he'd turned down her invitation to go watch the fireworks with a friend of hers.

So, hey, at least that was kind of a win. Not like it's Valentines day or something... Though I did get him for Thanksgiving (heh, I had no idea back then... or maybe I wasn't...in love with him yet then..) and Christmas(That was a good day. Can't wait for next year. I'm going to buy mistletoe for every doorway in BOTH our houses.) Actually, speaking of win- No I keep these in order.

So, I missed Angela and Jessi being there, though I didn't really miss the idea of Jessi crying all over me again. Hopefully she's not as torn up about it as last time. I'll text her again in the morning, maybe see if she want's to go do something. But the barbeque was fun anyway. I ended up playing up the "innocent school girl" thing with the late teen and older guests, while making myself the "cool older kid" to kids that were under ten. No one really my age though.

Oh, and I caught this lady talking to Dave and asking when his birthday was. That's all I heard of the conversation they were having but it was enough. I've got enough competition without some cougar prowling after Dave too. So a dragged him away and glared daggers at her till she looked away. And yes, I do think he might've gone for her. I overheard Marty teasing him about his fantasies about his English teacher.

When it was over though, and after we cleaned up, and Marcus and Mr. L went out to a baseball game and Dave and I headed out for a night on the town.

Well, over the town. Sorta. I knew a building that was both pretty tall and relatively easy to get into that we could watch the fireworks from. We stopped and picked up some popcorn and sodas before suiting up at the safehouse.

And the fireworks were great. It was awesome. Might have been nice to have had some some real beer instead of soda, but it was still great to have Dave all to myself. The day couldn't have been going better.

And then, just when I was getting ready to try snuggle up with Dave...

Boom.

Literally. Boom. Like, two dozen bombs went off around the city.

People started panicking, alarms and sirens were going off. Mini-riots had started all over the city and they were in full swing by the time we got to one. And guess who were the "leaders"? The Cunts of course.

We didn't need to say anything to each other when we saw what was going on. We just waded into the chaos and started cracking skulls.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, it didn't take long for the looters and people who just wanted an excuse to smash shit to scatter after we started laying into them. Dave zip cuffed as many as he could, but he ran out before we were done with the first one. I didn't bother. I just broke bones.

By the time we got to the center of the next one, things were getting really bad. People were really getting hurt. In retrospect, I'm kind of surprised it took so long for me to find someone committing a rape, since they seemed to be out to cause as much chaos and violence as possible.

I didn't bother beating him. I just impaled the guy with my swords and kicked him off of her.

I notice Dave looking at me, and I said, "What?"

A guy chose that moment to rush him with a knife. Dave disarmed him pretty easily, kneed him in the gut and then stabbed the guy in the shoulder. He looked back at me and said, "Nothing."

The swords stayed out the rest of the night.

And man was it a rush. It felt so fucking good to just be able to carve my way through the shit heads who thought they were so much better than everyone else, that looked at other people like they were there for their amusement, to put some fucking fear into THEM.

Dave left his batons holstered and just turned whatever they came at him with against them, whether it was a baseball bat, a broken bottle, or a knife.

Then someone tried to shoot Dave. Dave ducked behind a tree and I pulled out one of mine and put three bullets in him. Dave picked up the guys gun and disassembled it, taking the clip and leaving the pieces in the street.

We saw a few other heroes out kicking ass too. I heard The Gentleman before I saw him, "That is not how you treat a lady, ruffian!"(I fucking love that guy). Colonel Stars was laying into some guys with a bat(He's pretty spry for an old guy). Even saw The Guardian beating the shit out of some guy while he had another guy in a choke hold(He may be a holier-than-thou dick but he is good.)

We found Biker Knight sitting on car at what had been the site of another riot, but now whatever had been going on there was over and paramedics where helping people and cops were taking interviews and piling people into cars and trucks. There was a cop standing next to him holding a tablet or something, who nodded, took something out of whatever it was, handed the thing to Biker Knight who nodded and got off the car and started walking off. He saw us and gave a salute before he left though. It would have been nice to team up with him again, but he looked pretty beat up and I think he was limping so I'm guessing he was packing it in for the night.

I know I was fucking exhausted by the time things calmed down. We must have covered a dozen miles. I didn't even care when we walked into a store for some food and drinks. Or when we sat on the curb outside to eat and rest a bit before we headed back to the safehouse.

After Dave showered he asked if it'd be okay with Marcus if I stayed out all night, because he just wanted to crawl into that bed and sleep. I told him it wouldn't be a problem and that I I'd join him after I had my shower. That shower felt really fucking good too.

Now I get to curl up in bed with Dave. I guess the night wasn't a complete loss.