It Takes One to Raise One

Sequel to the incredibly long titled No One Takes Down Hit Girl But Hit Girl. Welcome and thank you for reading and reviewing. Title courtesy of Makokam.

Miranda and I had just finished talking about The Motherfucker being back and finding her a new place to live when Bethany wandered in from the living room. She was obviously sleepy, but still whirled and danced while she crossed the kitchen. Then she crawled up on my lap and snuggled into my shoulder.

"Did you have fun Mindy?" Did you see Dave graduate?

"Did I see Dave gradu…. FUCK!" I shouted. Bethany slid to the floor while I frantically stabbed at the screen of my cell phone until it was dialing Dave. I noticed several texts from him had come in so he was probably safe, but in all of the craziness, I'd forgotten to call. Finally he picked up.

"Are you OK?" He asked, an edge of panic in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Took a bit to get out of there, and then my music was messed up and… Never mind. It's a stupid story. Sorry I didn't call sooner. Are you OK too? And Marty and Todd?"

"We're all fine. But Todd's sporting a pretty good shiner from when I clocked him before they could restrain my arms. I really wanted to climb up on that stage and shove that microphone through Chris's heart. Well, that's assuming the asshole has a heart. He could be fucking bionic by now. We're holed up at Marty's place. Obviously, no one was in the mood to celebrate. Where are you?"

"I'm at Miranda's. Everyone is fine here too and I told her Chris was back. She's a bit freaked…"

Miranda had obviously been listening and shouted at the phone. "I'm a lot more than freaked!"

I switched the phone over to speaker and continued the conversation. "Sorry Miranda. Didn't mean to talk about you like you weren't there. OK – we're all on speaker. Well, anyway Dave, I promised that I'd help her find a new place to live. Someplace Chris will never find. And she'll help watch Bethany while we hunt the cocksucker down."

Dave chimed in. "Thanks Miranda. Are you sure you don't want to pull Night Bitch back out of mothballs and help? It might feel good to know you had a part in getting rid of him."

Miranda gave a rather nervous little laugh. "No way. I'm done. I said I wanted to make a difference when my sister died, and I still do, but it will be strictly as hero support. The only way I'm using my pool cue now is to beat your ass at 9 ball. But seriously, Mindy already promised me but I want you to promise too. Make sure the bastard is dead this time. Please. And any goons he's got on his payroll. Then maybe I can sleep again."

Dave's concerned voice came out of the phone. "Is it the nightmares again?"

"Yeah. And they were finally starting to fade. I'm sure tonight will bring them back though. Please make them stop for good?"

"Alright then. I promise. And I'll come and stay tonight. I remember how that helped. Mindy? Are you OK with that?" Dave said.

"Umm, sure. I'll wait for you to get here and then take Bethany back home." I said it because I could see how scared Miranda was and it was the right thing to say. But I still had to take a deep breath before I said goodbye so that neither one of them would hear the trembling in my voice. I'd just been teasing Dave about not even looking at other girls when I drew those pictures and described the vast punishments I would inflict on his genitals should he ever stray. But I really was scared of him finding someone else. I was afraid that he'd want someone without the phenomenal amount of baggage that I came with. Someone who wasn't so broken. But while I was a little shocked at how close the two of them still seemed to be, there was no hint of romance or desire in their conversation. So, I decided to tell the insecure jealous part of me to go fuck off. We had, as they say, bigger fish to fry.

Then my mind drifted for a moment. Fish... Shark…. Chris falling in the shark tank.

Why hadn't the fucking shark done his job? Fuck you, you suck ass shark! You had one fucking job! Eat Chris! Fuck you, you fucking fucker! I hope they use you as chum for the real sharks in next year's Shark Week!

I was pulled out of my reverie by Bethany tugging at my shirt and trying to climb back up. I let her and wrapped my arms around her tight as sort of a security blanket and we all sat there in silence for a very long time. Eventually, Bethany broke the silence.

"Who's this 'Motherfucker' you guys are talking about?" Bethany asked. Miranda winced as at the swearing but I was pretty much used to it.

"Well, it's pretty much like this. D'Amico senior used to be a big mob boss. He basically ran this town. My Daddy was a cop at the time. Well, he wasn't exactly my daddy yet, because I wasn't born yet. But anyway, Daddy did something to really tick D'Amico off and so D'Amico sent some people to kill my mom and frame Daddy. It pretty much worked, although luckily I was born before Mommy died."

"He killed your mommy?"

"Yes. He had her killed. Didn't do it personally, but he was responsible for it. So, Daddy went to prison for a while and eventually got out. He wanted revenge and so we started training to be super heroes. We stayed quiet though and worked on getting all the info we needed to bring down the mob. Then Kick Ass happened."

"What?" Miranda and Bethany asked the question at about the same time. And I remembered that Miranda really didn't know my true story, in fact, almost nobody does.

"Dave happened. He read one too many comic books and saw one too many injustices in the world. He couldn't take it anymore. So, he bought a fancy wetsuit and a couple of batons and went out to do war."

"Did he do good?" Bethany asked.

"Well, I guess you could say that he earned his name. Kick Ass, or Ass Kick as my Daddy called him because Dave got the complete shit kicked out of him his first time out. They totally fucked him up. He had no real training. Daddy and I did well and stayed out of sight, but that's because we worked and trained hard. Dave just jumped out there and paid the price. But he's tough. He didn't die. He ended up in the hospital and they bolted him back together. Most people would have given up at that point, but not my Dave." I shot a quick look at Miranda to see if she reacted to me saying 'my Dave'. I felt a bit better when she didn't. "Anyway, Dave was way too stubborn to give up. He doesn't give up on anyone or anything. So, he went back out, got seen and made a name for himself. He and I ended up running into each other in a drug dealer's apartment and it goes without saying that I saved him from certain death."

"And you fell in love with him?" Bethany prompted.

"No, not really. He was kind of pathetic, but in that scrappy puppy kind of way. And I was only twelve. Anyway, things started to escalate with D'Amico and he thought Kick Ass was the cause of it all. So, D'Amico let his son Chris go out on the streets as 'Red Mist' to try to catch Kick Ass. Eventually, Daddy and Kick Ass got captured and tortured them. I went in to rescue them but I was too late to save Daddy."

When I paused to remember Daddy's passing, Miranda spoke. "Yeah, I've seen the video on YouTube. I'm sorry about your dad."

"Me too." I said, breathing deeply to stay in control.

"So, D'Amico killed your mommy and daddy? And Red Mist helped?" Bethany prompted.

"Yep. And so I went in to kill D'Amico. I didn't care if I came out alive, as long as he was dead when I was done. Dave wanted to quit at first, but then he realized that some things are worth dying for. He backed me up and together we killed D'Amico and most of the mob in New York. And for a little while, we had peace."

"So then you fell in love with Dave?" Asked Bethany.

"No, not yet. A couple of years later, Chris went nuts and declared that he was 'The Motherfucker'. He built an evil army, and ordinary people banded together to be heroes to stop him. Miranda was one of them." I said. "We won, but not before 'The Motherfucker' had Dave's dad killed as well."

"So, the D'Amico family is responsible for killing both your parents and Dave's dad? And there are still some of them alive on the planet?" Miranda asked.

"Well, I'm not finished yet." I said defensively. "And we thought Chris was dead. But we found out tonight that we were wrong."

"So when did you and Dave fall in love?" Bethany asked.

"A little bit at a time, then all at once, to paraphrase a good book." I smiled in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "What's with you and love stories?" I looked into Bethany's face. After a moment she turned away.

"The story is really sad. I just wanted to find some happy in it, that's all." She buried her face in my shoulder.

"This is a lot for her to understand." Miranda said. "Are you sure she can handle it?"

"It's going to get dangerous. And something bad could happen. People we love should know what's going on instead of wondering what happened for the rest of their lives.

"You love me?" A little voice spoke into my shoulder.

"Yes, honey. I do." I said, and squeezed her tighter. I suppose there should have been some sort of revelation in that statement, but it just felt right and natural.

"So, I guess that means you love me too?" Miranda teased.

"Nah, you were just sitting here." I joked.

"Nice try Mindy." Said Dave, as he stepped out of the shadows in the hallway. All three of us girls screamed. I never scream, so I blame it on them.

"How in the fuck did you get in here? We had the door locked!" I shouted at him, trying to cover how startled I was. This was quite possibly the first time he had ever snuck up on me.

"I came in through the window. 'You can't use the front door, asshole!' You left that line out of the story."

"I did. I didn't want them to think you were that much of an idiot. So you pretty much heard everything I told them?" I blushed.

"Probably. Todd doesn't live that far from here and I left right after our call." He knelt down next to Bethany and me and wrapped his arms around us. "I love you both. And I'm so glad you're safe."

"What about me?" Piped in Miranda.

"You're family. Mindy might kill me later for saying it, but we love you too." Dave hugged Bethany and I a little tighter.

"I don't love…" I tried to say, but Bethany interrupted me.

"Say it!" She ordered, and started squeezing me for all she was worth.

"But…" I tried again, and was again interrupted, this time by Dave.

"Say it!" He said, and I could hear the laughter in his voice. He squeezed too, but I think just hard enough to make Bethany feel like she wasn't alone in the struggle. I pretended to fight back for a minute and then Miranda came over to join the hug.

"OK! OK! OK! I give. Yes, Miranda, we love you. And no, Dave, I'm not going to kill you for saying it. Not unless you start crawling into Miranda's window on a regular basis." I was surprised to find that I really was joking and that all of that fear and jealousy about Dave moving on had indeed fucked off. At least for now.

Bethany chose that moment to yawn so wide I thought her head was going to split in two. Miranda jumped right in.

"OK sweetie." She said, taking Bethany out of my arms. "Let's go grab your stuff so Mindy can take you home to bed." She carried Bethany out of the room.

Dave looked at me seriously. "Are you really OK with me staying? To help with the nightmares?"

"Yes." I told him. "I'm really OK with it. I trust you. And I trust her."

"I'm glad to hear it." Dave said.

"When you stay, what exactly do you do? Not sleep with her, I hope?" I asked.

"I thought you said you didn't have a problem with it?" Dave said defensively.

"I don't. Really I don't. I'm just curious."

Dave sighed. "I sit in the doorway of her bedroom with two guns. One that I've promised to use to kill anyone who comes in to attack her. And one that I've promised to use to shoot her if I can't stop those attackers. She said she'd rather die than go through it again." He lowered his voice. "But that one's filled with blanks. I could never shoot her."

Miranda came in with Bethany's bag and gave it to Dave to take down to the car. He headed out and when he was down the hallway, Miranda came up to me and whispered. "Dave used to visit a lot when you were gone. I couldn't stand to be alone and I don't think he could handle being without you. But I was so scared some nights that I couldn't sleep. And I meant it when I told him I'm never going through that again. So, he came up with the two guns thing. So there was one gun he could use and one that would be safe. And I let him think that. But do you want to know a little secret between us girls?"

I nodded.

"Neither gun has blanks. And just in case he doesn't have it in him to even shoot me with what he thinks are blanks, there's a third gun with very real bullets under my pillow. Never again." I saw the hardness flash in her eyes and then she was back to all sweetness and light while we got Bethany bundled out and into my car.

I kissed Dave goodnight and considered telling him the truth about the guns. Finally I decided not to. It was Miranda's decision. But I really hoped that if that moment ever came, she'd choose to put that last bullet in the attacker and not in herself. Because I've buried enough family.

I drove Bethany back home and put her to bed. Then I sat down with my IPod and after changing my ITunes password, went through all of the stuff Bethany had purchased. It wasn't all crap. In fact, I think it was part of her 'finding the happy' in a life that had sucked pretty much up until now. And it wasn't anywhere near a big deal as it had felt like before. I decided that I wouldn't bring it up until she tried to buy something again and found the password changed. And then we'd calmly talk about it. And then we could set rules and expectations. And try to give her as normal a life as possible. I knew that the next few months were probably going to be hell. It was time to get serious about being a hero. There was no real way to know if we would win or be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. But for as long as I could give it, Bethany was going to have love, and family. And as much as I could, I would keep Miranda safe. That's how it was going to be until either Chris or I was dead.