Many, happy thanks to booksandbands, XxBlue and CrimsonxX, CAPJHMPAgirl, imagine believe, ScipioPB, and teamBLAZE for the reviews! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story, and I appreciate your input!

Someone throw a brick at my head – I started playing Rune Factory 4 for some reason, and it's taking up my free time. I forced myself to put it down now that I met Dylas, and I'm determined not to play again until this story is finished. Which, hey, is in two days, guys! CAHRAYZAY. Let's see how much I can get done today. :D

The Spring Picnic

"And she's nothing like Lanna – Laney's great! I hope I see her again. She's a blast, man."

Though it would be incredibly easy to point out the similarities between both girls, including their appearance and very names, he wasn't going to bother. Vaughn's hands slipped from the steering wheel, and he let out a long breath. The seat next to him bounced in happy anticipation.

"You better not screw this up," Vaughn growled, turning off the engine.

"Aw, but didn't it go so well the last time I tagged along?" Denny teased, a wicked grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. With the glare that he received in turn, he rolled his eyes and forced himself to grow more somber. "Look, I'm not going to mess with ya. At least not until I forget."

"Let's just get this over with," Vaughn looked defeated as he pushed open his door and pocketed his keys.

"Hey!" Denny scrambled out of the car to catch up to his friend who was moodily stomping towards a familiar, park pavilion. "Hold up!"

He planted his feet and waited at the edge of the parking lot. With his hands in his pant pockets, Vaughn felt a sense of déjà vu as Denny caught up to him. Only it wasn't the same girl on his mind this time, making Vaughn feel like a fickle heroine of a high school sitcom. He shuddered at the thought.

Denny ruffled the curls in his hair, but he was otherwise casual about the whole situation. Vaughn wasn't one to beat around the bush with his opinions, but he didn't just 'talk about his feelings' either. So when he would clam up or get irritable whenever Denny mentioned Molly, he got the hint. It was how Vaughn communicated these kinds of things, and Denny was used to that by now. That didn't mean it didn't still amuse him, though.

"I don't know what you're so beat up about," Denny mirrored his friend, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Are you worried I'm seeing Molly? Because I told you a hundred times I'm not. Alright?"

"Right…" Vaughn actually appeared sheepish, realizing how over dramatic he was being. He tapped his boot against the budding clover, trying to pinpoint all of the thoughts flying about his head. Like grasping at smoke.

Since he was still unconvinced, Denny looked around the immediate vicinity before spilling the beans. "Look, Molly's a great girl, so I might've… kind of agreed to help her out."

"With what?" Vaughn asked in genuine bewilderment. What did Denny have to offer? …No offense.

"Stuff! I'm not tellin' – you ask her," he shrugged his shoulders.

Vaughn frowned but shook his head. "Whatever. I don't care."

"Can I get a burger now?" Denny asked, taking strides up the hill past him.

"You're lucky more family members are here this year," Vaughn muttered as he trailed behind him. He looked around and caught sight of Eve and Dan their daughter, pushing her back and forth on the swing set. Even Ying had returned, now accompanied by an old woman talking animatedly with their spazzy, coworker Tina. "It's just a matter of time before Gill shows up and rightly kicks you out."

"You worry too much!" Denny chuckled, waving off his concerns. He made an obnoxious lookout position, holding a hand to his forehead and standing on his tiptoes. "I wonder… How am I going to set this up?"

"Setting up? Count me in!" Allen, whose wardrobe choices were never casual, twiddled his fingers in greeting as he stepped out of the shade of the pavilion.

Rod tagged along behind him stuffing grapes in his face and generally looking grumpy as he shot Basil hateful sneers whenever he could. It was the intern's first company picnic, and he seemed to be having a good time chatting it up with Alice and Louis.

The sun was spotty behind the clouds, but it was still warm and fresh and smelling of spring rain. The weather was nice enough for Rod to wear a T-shirt and shorts, making him quite the contrast to his tall friend.

"Are you following me?" Vaughn grumbled, his shoulders tensing.

"You wish~" Allen winked, getting a laugh out of Denny.

"Ha! I like this guy. Allen, yeah?" Denny reintroduced himself in case, holding out his hand.

Allen shook it. "Ah, the boyfriend. Nice to finally meet you properly."

Denny nodded his head knowingly. He looked to Vaughn who was crossing his arms. "Charming. Gay?"

"In theory," Vaughn answered shortly.

"Such open dialogue you exchange!" Allen gasped in faux scandal. "Like I'm on the unpopular end of Mean Girls. Speaking of, aren't you supposed to be on a date with the flattest chest in the office?"

"You didn't tell me you were on a date with Molly!" Denny accused, smacking Vaughn on the shoulder.

"Shut up! That was never a plan!" Vaughn snapped, pointing a finger in warning at Allen. He didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling confident this time around. With Candace, he felt like an idiot 24/7. But he was so used to being around Molly that the transition to liking her only felt natural. At least he wasn't stuttering and blushing. He could defend himself this time.

"Oh… well…" Denny scratched at his chin. Vaughn's vehemence didn't convey what he felt, and as none in the group were mind readers, Vaughn still seemed childishly opposed to his obvious affections for their favorite secretary.

Allen clicked his tongue. "I don't think a soul here doesn't know you've got a grade school crush on Molly."

"That's a real thing?" Rod asked, spitting out some grapes in surprise and choking.

"Except for Rod; he lives in a bubble," Allen patted him on the back. Rod only choked harder. "Your cowardice joke is getting a little old."

"It's not like that," Vaughn said, growing testier.

"If you wait forever, you're going to miss out," Allen shook his head. Denny nodded in support though he grew wary seeing the expression changing on Vaughn's face. "Someone else is just going to come along before you grow a pair. In fact, I'm thinking of sweeping Molly off of her feet myself just to teach you a lesson you're too thick-headed to learn—"

Allen barely got to finish his little speech before the man he was lecturing jerked him forward by the shirt, lifting him an inch or two off of the ground in doing so. With chilling composure, Vaughn darkly threatened: "Wanna die?"

"It's so great to see you two bonding!" A call down the hill alerted them. Heads turned and found Molly cutting across the grass from the path towards them, waving in greeting.

Vaughn threw Allen back, pretending that hadn't happened. Allen moodily adjusted his wrinkled suit jacket. Vaughn waved a little too lamely, and Denny slapped her on the back like she was one of the guys when she finally caught up to them.

"All these years and nothing's changed," Molly smiled at them, wrapping a friendly arm around Denny and giving him a side hug. "Good to know."

"I wouldn't say nothing," Denny said without a careful ounce of subtly. He ruffled her hair, which was easier said than done with the French braid she was sporting. He just managed mussing up her bangs. "Good to see you, Molly. In person anyways."

"Yeah, it's almost weird hearing a voice," she admitted. Due to Allen's intrigued expression, she expounded upon it. "Oh, we've been texting buddies since Vaughn set us up. Where was that, Applebee's?"

"Something like that," Denny nodded.

"This is why you leave the matchmaking to the professionals," Allen tsked, shaking his head. He punched his palm in remembrance, though it was obvious he hadn't forgotten it in the first place. He was doing a good job of ignoring the warning glare Vaughn was shooting him. "Speaking of! Molly, are you thirsty?"

"You know I can't answer that coming from you," Molly deadpanned, pursing her lips in annoyance.

"Well, I was only looking out for your best interests," Allen smirked.

"I'm flattered," she said sarcastically. Molly beckoned for Vaughn to follow her, pointing to the food spread. "You haven't eaten yet, right? Come on – you can hold my plate down the line!"

"Great, what an honor," he rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

Allen and Denny watched in silence as Vaughn and Molly left them behind. Denny crossed his arms as he appraised them. "Huh. Guess I should have brought a date after all."

"And I'm not about to miss a front row seat to theirs," Allen flippantly waved a hand in the air. He snapped his fingers at Rod. "Gremlin – fetch me punch. I'm thirsting."

"Aye, aye, partner!" Rod saluted, dropping his grapes in suit. He skipped along to complete the task, and Allen followed nonchalantly after him to receive his drink.

"Hey, wait! If we hide under the table, they won't see us!" Denny suggested, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder to indicate they would sneak around the back.

Allen clapped in glee. "Genius! I'm so glad you've stowed away. You're much more devious than you look."

"Why, thank you," Denny smiled in pride.

"So I'm not getting you a drink?" Rod asked as they tried to hide from Vaughn and Molly's line of sight. He shrugged. "Oh, well. Maybe I can do something by myself for a change…"

Rod didn't get far before he became hopelessly lost without someone giving him directions. He wound up finding Gill and begging him for instruction, which, the blond was all too happy to oblige to. Poor Rod spent the afternoon scraping chipping paint from table tops and re-shellacking them. 'For the good of the people!' And to prevent anyone in the office from getting splinters and trying to claim worker's compensation. That, too.

Everyone was finally gathered together at the park. Hamilton was leading Tina and Louis who were the only ones brave enough to try a game of Frisbee. Little Ying and her grandmother watched and cheered on their distant cousin, and poor Louis tripped over his own feet and wore more than his fair share of grass stains.

As there were no current, city laws pertaining to alcohol for their public party, Luke was throwing back the beers. He stood upon a picnic table and called attention to himself as he sloshed around. Once he got most of his friends watching, he happily announced he was getting married to a belly dancer. No one was surprised. And not again when he fell down and almost chipped a tooth.

Gill had disappeared, and this found Rod and Basil working against one another for top butt kisser. Basil had his chisel and was speedily prying away at the paint, gritting his teeth in determination to do better work. Rod held high his stain covered paint brush and can and sprinted along the tables shouting a warrior's call. Both desperados cried for someone to notice how much better they were from the other, but their peers had become quite adept at ignoring them by this point.

Alice sat on the edge of the little dock at the lake, kicking her bare feet back and forth in the cold water. She wasn't feeling peppy enough to tie her hair up in pigtails, and her sunglasses were perched protectively on her nose. Even so, she felt at peace by the water in the quiet, hearing the familiar voices laughing and shouting behind her.

The dock creaked, and she flinched in surprise. Whirling around in her seat, Alice scowled when she saw who it was. She held her sunglasses to her face. "What?"

Gill nervously twisted his hands in his pockets. He realized how unprofessional it was and quickly freed them, patting his sides. "I… was wondering how you were doing."

"I'm fine," she said too quickly. Alice turned around and stared out at the water.

"I'm… I'm sorry," he said. Gill mulled it over, feeling he deserved her silence. "I've been rotten about the whole… thing, and I was wrong. Wrong to treat you… like that… and…"

He trailed off lamely, rubbing at the back of his neck and staring at the cloudy spots in the sky. His apology sounded much stronger in his head, but Gill felt that it was coming out all wrong now. In his mind, she would have been happy to hear him say he was wrong. Any other day of the week, and she'd be rubbing it in his face. Or… he thought she would. For a time, Gill thought he had a pretty good handle on Alice. Now he was unsure if he ever really knew her well at all if she was taking this so badly.

The tranquility had been ruined for her. She swung her feet out of the water and stood, grabbing her sandals. Alice pushed her sunglasses into her hair and glared at him. "You'd better go before someone sees you talking to me. I'd hate to ruin your reputation."

Gill froze as she quickly sidestepped him and marched back to the path. She slipped on her shoes and held her head high as she made her exit. Her lip quivered for a second, but she bit it. When he finally turned to her, Gill watched as Alice waved to Hamilton to join in on the Frisbee toss. He gave her a jolly greeting and passed it her way. She was already smiling and giggling as always. The pit inside Gill was hoping to fill with her acceptance of his apology was gaping wider than ever.

Vaughn pretended he didn't see Allen and Denny leering at him from underneath the buffet tables, but he still suggested seats at the edge of the building out of earshot. Molly spritely took the concrete corner, folding her yellow dress around her as she sat and propped her plate loaded with food on her lap.

"Mm, this is great!" She hummed, swallowing the first bite of cheeseburger. Molly critically looked it over as Vaughn sat beside her with his own plate. "Who cooked these?"

"Probably Louis," Vaughn guessed, picking up his own. He fiddled with it, not yet taking a taste.

"Chairman of food tables. Right…" she agreed with a chuckle. "And Luke's getting married… who'd a thunk?"

"I wouldn't have bet on it," Vaughn agreed with equal confusion.

"I'm sure Rod will be sad his ship of him and Tina is down the tubes," Molly teased, nudging him with her elbow.

"Don't let him hear you say that word. He'll lose it," Vaughn said in good-humored warning.

"Ha, right! Rasil! Or was it Bod? I kind of like Bod…" Molly trailed off and looked up after noticing an object in her peripheral. With a snort, she grabbed the clipboard off of its hanging spot on the post above her head. "Ha! And here's the sign-in sheet. Only Rod, Basil, and Gill signed in. Talk about a triple ship of goody-two-shoes. Care to write your name down?"

"No," Vaughn refused, starting on the popcorn he sampled from the buffet.

Molly fondly eyed the paper before getting a nostalgic look about her. Seeing the pages behind the one clipped to the front, she set her food aside and inspected the others. She sighed. "Aw… this is from fall. Look!"

"Oh, yeah…" Vaughn said, taking it from her to see for himself. He laughed as he folded the front paper back for a better look. "Forgot Kim Kardashian showed up."

"And look – Candace," Molly pointed at the elegant cursive near the top. Right under her own name. Her smile was a little sad. "This is the first picnic without her."

Vaughn saw her face fall. He stubbornly set his plate down and grabbed the attached pen. He clicked it and scribbled under Rod's name. He tapped the pen again and handed it to Molly to see. "Nope. Still here. In spirit."

Molly grinned at his sloppily scrawled impression of Candace's signature. "Yeah… thanks."

Vaughn was going to finish his meal, but he figured this was as good a time as any to ask her about texting Denny. What they were talking about. And what's more – what Denny meant when he said he was helping her out. Which Vaughn couldn't deny made him uneasy.

"Uh, yeah…" he started, pulling at the hair hanging in front of his eyes. He focused on that, and it was easier to talk. "Look, Denny said he was helping you out or something. And I saw you were talking about curling your hair and getting advice or whatever, and I wanted to know—"

"What?!" Molly actually laughed, cutting off his train of thought. She munched on a chip. "You read Denny's text history? When'd you do that?"

"It was at the police station when I bailed him out," Vaughn answered defensively.

"But you read his texts?" She was still giggling.

"It was an accident!" He snapped.

Molly shook her head. "Just surprised you'd be reading his texts…"

"Well? What'd it mean?" His curiosity persisted despite his annoyance. He rolled up the cuffs of his blue button-up higher on his elbows in an attempt to look indifferent.

Molly patted her hands free of salt and rested them behind her, reclining backwards on her palms. "It meant what it meant."

"And?" Vaughn asked, hoping she'd elaborate. He thought he knew what she was talking about, but he wanted better confirmation than that. When she hopped up to put her plate in the trash, he followed behind her. He tossed his in after her, wasting the potato salad he didn't want to try anymore.

"Take it as you will," Molly replied airily.

"But—" he almost protested, but she was looking at him in a different way than he'd ever seen before. Or maybe he had seen it. Like after she laughed at something he said. Or when he'd hold the elevator for her. And when she said she was proud to be a friend.

A steady thrum caught the attention of the partygoers as it grew louder and louder. Soon, the thumping, roaring propellers of a helicopter rapidly descending floored their eardrums. Everyone covered their ears as the slick black, stylish air transporter hovered in the wildly flaying grass not more than fifty yards away from the pavilion. The shingles rattled and one went spinning off into the woods. Molly had to hold down her sun dress, and Allen and Alice held their collars tight. The engine finally cooled, and it came to a graceful, humming stop.

Throwing back her flyaway hair with enormous self-importance, Vivi alighted from the craft first. She stood in the doorway looking like a championed gladiator, breathing in the triumphant air of her kingdom with all of its little commoners. Holding out her hand to signal, Gale appeared behind her and took it, helping her down to the grass. She fawned over him for a moment before she spotted Hamilton rushing up to see what was going on.

"What? Is that the Superintendent? Vaughn?" Molly waited until the motor was cut, so she wouldn't have to shout over it, but Vaughn was already walking away. Then running. She tightened her ponytail and ran after him. "Vaughn! Hey, wait!"

She thought he wasn't going to stop for her, but Molly was surprised after she fell into step beside him. Vaughn felt her running next to him and grabbed her forearm, so she could keep up. Her little sandals couldn't make the journey, and they kicked off as she was pulled along towards the helicopter. Once they were off, she sped ahead and was the one dragging Vaughn to meet the higher ups with Hamilton.

"What's going on?" Vaughn asked first, panting and coming to a stop with Molly.

Hamilton was already there, but he turned in surprise to see them both with him. He waited as a third runner approached and answered as Gill stopped in front of him, wheezing with his palms to his knees. "I'm… not entirely sure myself."

"Sir?" Gill finally asked. He straightened up to address Vivi. "And… Ma'am?"

"Ah, what a lovely day!" Vivi admired the sky and mild temperatures. She spread her arms out in reverie, her eyes ablaze. "We've got a very special guest with us today!"

"What's happening?" Alice came dashing up next, tossing her hair back with a hand over her forehead. She exchanged a look with Gill, but they quickly ignored one another. "Mr. Hamilton?"

"The Superintendent has decided to visit us for our spring picnic! How wonderful!" Hamilton clapped. He pointed over his shoulder enthusiastically. "We have a Frisbee? Would you like to play Frisbee, Madame Superintendent?"

"You're learning," she noted in appreciation at his address. But her smile grew. "I'll be happy to do whatever you wish! But after curtain call."

"Enough of the riddles… ma'am," Vaughn tacked on the end after getting a wild, appalled look of disapproval from Gill. He shuffled his feet. "What's the big idea?"

"So good to see you, Vaughn!" Vivi held out her hand to him. "You may kiss it if you wish. Or rather, I should be offering the opposite."

"It worked?" Vaughn's jaw dropped, taking only seconds to form into the biggest smile any of them had ever seen on him. Mind, it wasn't earth-shattering or Rod-sized, but it was big for Vaughn.

Vivi only nodded, her own giddiness getting the best of her. Hamilton had his hands clapped over his mouth in stunned surprise, unable to believe it.

"It worked?!" Molly gasped. She tapped Vaughn's arm. "What worked?"

"Alright, alright, I'm going! I'm going!"

Out from the helicopter came the squeaky-voiced perpetrator. Taylor jumped to the ground, crossing his arms huffily over his chest. He sent viciously bratty glares to them all.

"I'll have none of that!" A long faced woman lifted her old-fashioned skirts and exited the helicopter after him. She shook her finger at him as she approached, snatching the boy up by the ear. "We raised you to show respect to your betters!"

Apparently, the craft was at max capacity as another man alighted right behind his wife. "Ruth, they can hear you squawkin' out in Bluebell! Tone it down, will ya?"

Everyone watched in goggle-eyed bewilderment as the family gathered beside Vivi. The last from the helicopter was Taylor's secretary Freya who was looking like she was in mourning. Though she seemed to be on the same level as Gale and kept her safe distance from the freaks off to the side.

"Welcome! I'm so glad you agreed to do this in front of my employees," Vivi smiled sweetly down at him, holding a designer briefcase before her.

"Suck a – OW!" Taylor whined in pain, clutching at his ear that his mother was ruthlessly twisting.

"Language, Taylor!" Ruth scolded him. "We taught you to be a gentleman!"

"Fine, enough of the chit chat," Vivi's cold demeanor returned. She snapped her fingers. As she lowered herself, Gale provided a chair to catch her, a table to put her briefcase on, a lemonade with a pink umbrella, an ink pen, and a chair awaiting Taylor across from her. He quickly backed away once Vivi dismissed him. She popped open her case and removed a hefty stack of papers.

"Is that…?" Hamilton ogled the documents, his employees leaning over his shoulders to see in. More and more of his people were gathering around at last, as they had decided to walk. Allen held his chin in wonder, and Rod peered from over his shoulder as a shield. Luke had wandered up with Dan's help, as he was holding a beer in his spare hand with the blue haired writer slung over his arm. His wife and daughter tagged along with Ying and her grandmother Yun. Tina snapped a picture beside them.

Basil hoofed it up there last. He took a deep breath. "Hey, what's going on, guys?"

"Shush!" Rod hissed.

"But what's going on?" Basil persisted with an annoyed nick in his brow.

Rod dived for Hamilton's pocket and produced the remote for Basil's shock collar. He cranked it up all the way and hit the ominous red button.

"Ack! No!" Basil cried. Too late. He was relentlessly buzzed and hit the ground in a twitching heap. The plot could continue.

As Vaughn was the only one present to know what was going on, he stepped forward and took one of the packets. He shook his head in bafflement. "Deeds… all of the deeds to the properties Taylor bought."

"He's signing them over?!" Alice gaped.

"Just like that?" Gill echoed more skeptically.

"All previously signed and witnessed," Vivi confirmed as Taylor plopped unceremoniously into his seat. She held the pen out to him, and he grumpily snatched it. "Just one last initial right… here."

"But why? How?" Molly voiced everyone's confusion.

"This says he's not signing them over to us…" Tina took a picture of the deed to the Forget-Me-Not farm Vaughn was holding. "It's to that old guy!"

"Taro," Vaughn nodded. He went into monologue mode, mostly speaking to Molly and Gill who had been partially in on it. "He started out small, just like Taylor, but his business grew into a shipping empire. He was the only person I knew with enough money to pull this off. Taro knew better than anyone how to bring Taylor down, and that was to go after his original assets. Where he was getting his stock money from – and that was the tree and seed business that took out his parents' crop store."

"Pipsqueak," Taylor's father muttered, arms dismally crossed. His wife elbowed him, shushing 'Craig!' but it was obvious she agreed.

"We needed to get an outside buyer who could handle the properties as well as outbid our little champ," Vivi went on, folding her hands under her chin. "Since Taylor was so busy buying up land and playing J.P. Morgan, he wasn't paying attention as Taro bought him out of the stock market. Once he was crippled, we moved in and set Taro up on the auction block. With his promise, all of our little, farming communities are back on the market and kept safe as residential sales under his name."

"And Taro gets ports with more farmers all over the world for his shipping empire…" Gill pieced it together.

"That was risky as hell…" Molly mumbled. She smacked Vaughn smartly upside the head. "No wonder you've been so stressed about this! You were relying on Taylor's childish tendencies to build his own empire!"

"But it worked," Vaughn told her with a relieved grin, holding the sore spot.

"Fine! I lose! You're all jerks!" Taylor scribbled his initials and shoved the papers Vivi's way. He stood and pointed at her. "You better believe I'll be back after college!"

"Yeah, get accepted after this blunder, and we'll talk…" she snorted, tapping the papers straight and setting them back into her briefcase. "I might even let you be my shoe polisher!"

Ruth led her son back to the helicopter. She griped at her husband while she led Taylor along by the ear. "You should have never let him play Monopoly!"

"Why is it always me? He's your son, woman!" Craig argued, stomping his farming boots along the other side of their boy.

"We're going home to your sister!" Ruth said, pulling Taylor to the door and pointing for him to go in.

"No! I don't wanna pick turnips! I wanna play in my fancy office!" Taylor threw a temper tantrum, slinking to the ground and crying.

Craig picked his son up by the scruff of the neck and forced him to his feet. "You're going to be picking turnips until you're tall enough to ride the coasters at all of those parks you planned!"

"Nooooo!" Taylor wailed.

"March!" Ruth demanded. Everyone cheered in mass hysteria as Taylor glumly kicked his shoes forward and fell into the fancy helicopter, crawling into the dark with his parents close behind. Freya flipped them all off but held out her hand to help Denny in after her.

"Denny?!" Vaughn shouted.

Denny waved to him, a half-eaten hamburger in his hand, and shrugged. He pointed at Freya and mouthed 'damn' with a thumbs up as he hopped aboard after her.

"We did it! We did it!" Vivi screamed in excited victory, leaping from her seat and tackling Hamilton. She picked him up and spun him so fiercely around that he was thrown an impressive thirteen meters across the lawn.

"Catch me!" Rod hollered to mimic them. Allen dodged just in time, hands in the air in surrender as Rod came crashing down on his tail bone. He let out a weak: "I'm alright…!"

Dan and Eve kissed even though they weren't completely sure why this moment was so magnanimous. Mostly because Dan slept through most of the important developments and got the spoiler filled ending. Tina's camera was going a mile a minute, and Ying and little Tina were giggling as they pushed a wasted Luke between them like tether ball.

"I can't believe it!" Molly laughed, losing the little formality she had and hugging Vaughn around the waist.

Vaughn took her arms and forced her to let him go, making her face contort in horror that she had done wrong. He then pulled the same trick as Vivi had on Hamilton and picked her up, dizzily spinning her around as she laughed and squealed in worry they would fall on the hill.

Gill and Alice had immediately turned to each other but instantly went awkward. Alice held her hand forward first. "Hey, um… truce."

He limply shook her stiff handshake. "Um… right…"

"No hard feelings," she nodded. But she still gave him that heartbroken smile.

Gill didn't have much choice with everyone around them. He nodded brightly. "Of… course."

Basil groggily rose, wondering what he had missed or why he was taking a nap at the park. Before he could get a good look around, Louis didn't see him and tripped right over Basil, knocking him in the head and sending the accountant sprawling for the grass. Allen and Tina caught him by the arms, saving him before he fell.

"Phew! Thanks guys!" Louis held his rapidly beating heart. "I thought I was a goner!"

"No problem, Lou!" Tina chirped. "We've got your back!"

"Clumsy people are so endearing," Allen mused in agreement.

"Oh, sure… ignore the guy who's literally getting stepped on…" Basil said from below. He was ignored again as usual.

Vaughn finally let go of Molly and set her down when the cell phone in his pocket buzzed. He saw the name and quickly flipped it open to answer the call. "Taro! Your timing is suspicious."

"That scary young woman with the grey hair just let me know that Taylor fella signed the last paper," Taro's voice came on over the line, crackled and quiet amongst those celebrating around him. "Hard to use this newfangled text messenger."

"So you called…" Vaughn deduced with a smile. Molly was watching the conversation in anticipation, barely able to keep her feet on the ground. "Look, I owe you one. A hundred. A million! Thanks, Taro. For everything."

"Getting sentimental?" The old man teased with a laugh and a nasty cough. "Here's what you can do for me, boy."

"Name it," Vaughn said, his tone rising in evident surprise a favor would be called in so soon.

He let out an indignant 'humph.' "You call more often, ya hear? Worries us sick over here!"

Vaughn smiled again. "Can do."

"And try to visit! Mirabelle's gettin' antsy with all you kids running around in that city!" He added.

"As soon as I can," Vaughn promised.

"Alright… my hip's telling me you've got better things to do than let me chew yer ear off. You take care, young 'un!" Taro finished.

"You as well," Vaughn returned, but Taro had already ended the call. He shook his head and looked to Molly with a shrug.

"Pretty sure this is the best day ever," Molly observed their coworkers dancing and cavorting about, much to the unease of passersby. Vaughn could think of one thing that could make it better, but he let it go, just enjoying Molly's happiness. For once in a blue moon, he felt proud of himself. Just knowing she was proud of him, too.

The group began to dissolve. Vivi said her farewells, as she needed to get the precious deeds back to headquarters where a lawyer was waiting for them. Tina finally took pity on her drunk partner and helped Luke to the pavilion where she nursed his aching head with a much needed water bottle over the head.

Basil wasn't going to be ignored any longer. He slowly rose to his feet. Panting, defeated, an unpaid intern. He slicked back his ginger hair and rolled up the sleeves on his cheap button-up shirt. He ripped the collar from his neck, throwing it to his feet. This was his day of reckoning.

"One day… maybe years from now… you're going to regret this. One day! I will rise!" he vowed, thrusting a promising finger to the sky. "ONE OF THESE DAYS!"

All heads turned, and for a second, Basil was happy to have won their respect and attention. But he turned around as a second helicopter came whizzing in from the sky. This one was much smaller and elite, buzzing to the ground in seconds beside Vivi's copter. The wind was so fierce, it sent Basil reeling to the grass again.

Before it could land, men in militia regalia jumped from the open compartment toting automatic weapons. Pedestrians in the park screamed and fled the scene, and those from Persuasive Papers could only look on in horror as the secret police swarmed, professionally pointing their guns to their target.

"Not again!" Basil screamed, but that was the last anyone would hear from him. He was promptly tackled, his face stuffed down before a bag went over his head. Another man handcuffed him while another pinned him with his knees in the ginger's back.

The main officer called in over his radio, speaking in rapid Russian. He eyed the witnesses, but he didn't bother to lose any time. Basil was carted away, charges being shouted at him in a language none of the English speakers could comprehend. He was tossed into the helicopter, and the men re-boarded efficiently. The officer commanded they take them up, and it didn't take a minute before they were gone as fast as they came to the terrified, stock still onlookers from Persuasive Papers Inc.

One last tumbleweed of shredded paper confetti passed by in tribute across the silent park grounds.