31st October, 2026
Eliza and Jordan's House
San Francisco, CA. America
I pulled up to the side of the road near Eliza and Jordan's house for their Halloween Party. The driveway was already full as Ela and I were a few minutes late. For some reason, whenever we are invited to a gathering, San Francisco traffic likes to be total shit. From the car, I could hear the sounds of the party from the spacious backyard. It helped that it wasn't too hot or cold this evening. I turned to Ela who was sitting in the passenger seat wearing a simple costume of a cardigan and some jeans.
"Ready?" I asked. She flashed me a grin.
"She's going to kill you. And I'm here for it," she responded and adjusted the cardigan she was wearing. Then she pulled out a short curly blonde haired wing from her bag and put it on over her head. I looked down at my costume. I was wearing a ripped black t-shirt (over a clean black sleeveless undershirt) along with a "filthy" and ripped beige jacket. The jacket looked like it had just come out of a lake as well. See where I'm going with this? Don't get it yet? That's fine, I'll continue. My pants were also black and ripped near the bottom and I was wearing plain brown boots. Ela proceeded to hand me a pair of black gloves, a fake (but extremely well made) machete and an old school hockey mask. Yeah baby, I was Jason Voorhees motherfucker! I stepped out of the car and out into the cool evening breeze. I pulled out my phone and checked my messages. As expected, Derrick had informed me of what my target was wearing.
Zoolander - "Danny Zuko. Eliza is unaware of the plan but Jordan's running interference on that one."
Me - "Thanks chief. What did you and Tina end up deciding on?"
Zoolander - "You'll find out fren ;)"
I put my phone in my back pocket and pulled on the surprisingly comfy hockey mask. Ela and I had also fixed my hair to make it look like I had just walked out of Camp Crystal Lake. Derrick had helped me get Jason's mannerisms down so I didn't give myself away before I wanted to. My phone pinged again and saw that this message was from Jordan.
Jordan - "I see you two. Kick the gate in. It'll be AWESOME…plus I needed to fix that anyway."
I smiled from under the mask and showed Ela the message. She also smiled.
"Perfect," she said and handed me a packet of fake blood that I proceeded to pour all over my machete. Satisfied, I positioned myself and got into the Jason character. I hunched forward a little and held my arms a little more stiffly at my side. I turned to Ela.
"I know the signal Lukas," she said a little exasperated. I nodded and turned to the wooden gate. The top of my head just peeked over the top of it. No one was really paying attention but I managed to spot my target standing in the corner dressed as Danny Zuko from Grease. Even at this distance and with her wearing a black wig, I could totally tell it was Monika. As I scanned the crowd, I saw a guy dressed in a brown overcoat and silver boots talking to a woman with part of her hair dyed white. I smiled to myself and proceeded to kick the absolute shit out of the gate. It splintered to pieces by the force of my kick. It caused a few of my colleagues to jump in fright. I was able to recognize a few of them as they turned to face the sound of the noise. Elena was there with Ryad and they were dressed as Princess Buttercup and Westley respectively. A man that looked like Eliza's brother was dressed as some kind of Greek god with his wife and children (the same 2 kids Derrick saved once) sharing the same theme. Jack Estrada (Pulse) and Yumiko (Hibana) were here too and their costumes were pretty funny. Jack was that American painter Bob Ross and Yumiko looked like she was his "happy little tree." I started to make my way towards Monika doing my best Jason Voorhees impression. No one recognized me. This was great! No one tried to stop me either. Monika's eyes widened in sheer horror when she realized I was walking toward her. Meghan, who was next to her dressed as Sandy (from the end of Grease), stepped in front of her right as I got about a meter from her.
"Who the fuck are you," Meghan demanded.
"Ki ki ki ma ma ma," I responded, doing my best to hide my voice. The mask helped.
"Not funny asshole," Meghan said and aimed a kick at my groin. Expecting this, I grabbed her foot and shoved her backwards. She staggered a little and fell over. From behind me, I heard Derrick's voice say "I give that dive a 3 actually." Still in character, I slowly turned to face him and spotted him standing next to his wife. I smiled under the mask. Gambit and Rouge. How perfect. I'll be honest, I was expecting Superman and Lois. Derrick was even wearing that weird face mask thing Gambit wore along with the purple chest piece and brown trench coat. Tina was wearing Rouge's outfit from the 1990s. A green and yellow bodysuit, yellow boots and a brown jacket with the X-Men logo on the sleeve. Currently she too had stepped in front of her partner to protect them from me. Meanwhile, Monika had gone to help Meghan stand up and that's when I "attacked." I grabbed Monika by the shoulder, turned her to face me and went to stab her with my knife. A few people screamed but Ela had made her voice heard.
"JASON!" she shouted. I dropped the whole "I'm going to kill you" act and turned in the direction of the noise and then pretended to tremble. Ela had sauntered forward looking extremely disapproving.
"It's all done Jason," she continued while walking forward. "You've done a good job and Mommy is pleased. Come to Mommy, I've got a reward for you." I turned back to face Monika, who had apparently inherited Meghan's signature "Jesus Christ Derrick" look because that's what I saw. Monika reached over and pulled the mask up revealing my scruffy 80s metalhead face smiling at her under it. She proceeded to call me a few choice insults in German. A highlight was "Arsch mit Ohren" which means she called me an ass with ears.
"Not funny," she eventually said after calling me a lot of rude things. I pointed around to everyone else who eventually got the joke and were laughing. Derrick was doubled over while Tina stood next to him rolling her eyes. Ela had arrived and was standing next to me chuckling herself.
"Are you alright Meghan," she asked as Meghan was helped to her feet by Monika.
"Yes, fine," she answered and brushed herself off. Monika glared at me before she and Meghan went over to get some food.
"Where's my reward? I was promised a reward," I said to Ela. She smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek.
"There's a good boy Jason. Do you love Mommy?" she whispered. I nearly lost my cool. Thankfully, Jordan saved me.
"Damn bro, you saved me about a half hour of work," his voice said from behind me. He was wearing a modernized Fred Flintstone costume. Eliza must be Wilma then. Cool.
"Please tell me I scared the crap out of Eliza," I said. Jordan nodded.
"When she starts yelling in Hebrew, I know something got to her. Oh there she is," he said and motioned to her. Eliza was in fact wearing a modernized Wilma costume.
"I should have figured it was one of the Doofus Brigade," Eliza said. Well, now that's rude!
"Food's over there," Eliza said and pointed to the food table. "Bathroom's inside if you need it."
"Thanks Eliza," I responded. "Sorry about the gate. Jordan's idea"
"Thought so. I've been wanting him to fix that for a few days," she said. "How's married life so far?" I noticed a tinge of jealousy in her voice and saw her eyes go from Jordan to me. Ela answered that one.
"Not that much different, except for the fact that people now know he's mine," she said. Eliza smiled and then went serious.
"I heard about your dream. You're ok right? You seemed a little more protective of Monika and Ela during drills recently," she said. I glanced at Monika's back. Caught her glaring at me again.
"Yes," I said and motioned to Ela. "Helps to have someone there to comfort you." Ela scowled. For some reason, she didn't like people to know that she's a big softie when it comes to loving me.
"Don't I know it," Eliza said, glanced at Jordan again and walked off. I looked at Jordan. He looked around the area but no one was really paying attention to us.
"Yes," he whispered. "Keep it on the DL please. Derrick and Tina know too. Just you four do. I need the right moment." Jordan looked at Eliza's back and I almost saw him sigh wistfully. What a fucking guy. He really loved the Commander.
"When you know, you know man," Derrick's voice whispered from nearby. He had walked over with Tina.
"I've got a bone to pick with her about calling us the 'Doofus Brigade'," he continued.
"I mean, it's true," Tina said. She looked a bit distant for some reason. Then I realized why.
"Where's Mini Tina?" I asked.
"Tina's parents are in town," Derrick answered. "Offered to watch Zoey for the night so she and I can have a break. Tina, she's fine" Tina had pulled out her phone and looked at her messages.
"I miss my baby," she said softly.
"I'm right here chere," Derrick said, pulling out the Gambit impression. Tina fucking swooned. Like good Lord woman, dial it back. We get it. You think he's hot. I did notice Ela had inhaled sharply and I looked at her with a slight smirk. What she doesn't know is that I can do that voice too.
"You gotta enjoy de night chere," Derrick continued. "Da little one is fine wit yo folks. For now, you get to have Gambit." Tina proceeded to give Derrick a kiss, whisper in his ear and then grasp his hand. She then spoke. Like Rogue. What the fuck?! Why can't Ela do impressions?! This is BULLSHIT.
"All ah ask is for someone to enjoy this party with me. More than anything Remy... ah want that person t' be you," Tina said, again, as Rogue. Derrick's face upon hearing her do that was pretty funny. Meghan and Monkia had apparently walked over because Derrick suddenly began humming "Those Magic Changes" from the Grease soundtrack as Tina smirked at him. I faced Monika who still had an annoyed expression etched on her face.
"Had to," I said. She reluctantly smiled.
"I'll admit, it's a great costume. You look like the Freddy vs. Jason version of him," she said.
"I mean, he's tall enough," Meghan added before she turned to face her brother. She looked nervous for some reason.
"Hey Megs. What's up?" Derrick asked. Meghan looked around the area for a few seconds. The wig she was wearing swished from side to side while she was doing so.
"Um…" Meghan began. "Will you be my…best man?" She finished asking the question and then looked at the ground as if she was embarrassed to even ask him. Monika put her hand on Meghan's shoulder and that caused her to look back up at Derrick.
"I'm more insulted that you felt the need to ask me that. Yes Megs. Of course I will. I assume you want Tina as one of your bridesmaids?" he asked. Meghan's eyes glanced in Tina's direction. Tina smiled.
"I would be honored Meghan," she said. Meghan suddenly flinched violently. Oh boy. She still must be suffering from the effects of her capture and imprisonment by the Chimera Protean. Derrick recognized this behavior. He had suffered from similar trauma before. He was much better now that he was married and had Zoey.
"Megs. Hey, Meghan. It's us," he said and reached out his hand to touch her shoulder. She reacted to his touch.
"He's…he's here…" she said in a soft voice.
"No he's not Meghan," Tina said just as softly. "You are surrounded by your friends and family." Meghan still looked on edge. Even when Monika grasped her hand.
"Leibling, it's me. You're safe. It's alright," she said and then looked at me and Ela.
"You're safe Meghan. Think about your niece," Ela said. I opened my mouth to say words of encouragement too but my eyes caught movement in the dark trees. I closed my mouth and stared at the spot.
"Lukas?" Ela asked. I waved her away and proceeded to walk towards the area. When I got to the fence I looked into the darkness for a few seconds before a bird flew out from some branches. I sighed. It must have been that. I could have sworn it was a humanoid shape though. Whatever. Meghan was still staring off into the distance, coincidentally right at the spot I had just checked.
"Meghan, it was just a bird. The bastard you think you see is gone. Your little brother made sure of that. He and I saved you from him, remember?" I told her. That seemed to have calmed Meghan.
"Get her some water," Ela said before turning to me and whispered "What the hell was that about?" I shrugged.
"Thought I saw someone peeking in the trees. Was just a bird. Come on, let's enjoy the party," I said.
"Aww, are you making sure Mommy is ok," Ela whispered in her sultry voice. Unfortunately for her, Derrick had pretty good hearing and he smirked at her. Ela gave him the "say anything and I will kill you face" but he continued smirking. Then he pointed at Tina's back. I got the message. "I'm married. Your rage is nothing compared to my wife's." Ela continued to glare at Derrick.
"Ela, come here," I said and then pulled her into a hug. "It's alright. People understand that you love me. You said it to my face in front of them about a month ago. Just enjoy the party ok? There's most likely booze." Ela smiled and gently released me. I caught her staring at Tina with a weird look on her face a few minutes later. Frowning slightly, I went to ask why she had that face before I caught the tail end of Tina's conversation with Meghan who had since calmed down more.
"Zoey misses you Meghan. She 'asks' me where 'Egg' is from time to time," Tina was saying. I think I understood Ela's animosity towards Derrick and Tina. She was jealous. Not because she didn't have Derrick (she liked him as a friend. Often called his bass playing exceptional), because she didn't have what Derrick and Tina had waiting for them at home. No wonder she had agreed to be Pamela Voorhees so easily. I put my hand on her shoulder.
"Soon," I said. She looked up at me with a look that said "Promise?" I nodded. We proceeded to have a great time after that.
26th November, 2026
Our House
San Francisco, CA. America
Yet again, I found myself being woken up by Ela's muttering to herself. She was drawing as per usual. First off, I understand what you are thinking. I think Derrick had this problem too. You want me to get to all that action and gadgets and shooting bad guy stuff huh? I get it. But…to be honest…nothing that exciting is happening right now. Typical base shit and drills and trust me, you do not want to hear about those. They're annoying. As for today, Ela and I happened to be some of the lucky ones to get American Thanksgiving off. Derrick was at the base with Meghan and a few others (minus Tina because of little Zoey) and Monika was expected to arrive later in the day.
"Morning Lukas," Ela said and finished shading part of her drawing. I tried to take a peek at it but she pulled away.
"Ah ah ah, no," she said, shut her sketchbook and stowed it in her nightstand.
"Understandable, what time is it?" I asked.
"About 10. You gonna explain to me what happened last night?" she asked harshly. I gave her a confused look.
"What…what did I do?" I asked. Ela still looked irritated.
"Who. The FUCK is Heidi?!" she demanded. "I heard you on the phone with someone named 'Heidi'. Who is she?! Are you cheating on me?!" I looked at her incredulously.
"Are…are you serious…" I said.
"YES. WHO. TELL ME," Ela demanded more harshly. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Jeez, talk about a jealous pants huh?
"GUILTY ARE YOU?!" Ela continued. "Have you fucked her yet?! Hmm?! Am I going to have to kick you in the bal-"
"Ela…that's Richter's wife…" I said almost in a monotone voice because I felt myself getting angry at this stupid conversation. "You met her at our wedding. Brunette woman. Braided hair like Eliza's." Comprehension dawned on her and I raised my eyebrows.
"Remember now?" I asked. "I was talking to her about what the kids want for Christmas."
"O...Oh…" she said and looked away rather embarrassed. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked back at me.
"Do I look mad? Why would I cheat on you?" I asked.
"Because…I'm…not good enough…" she muttered. I pointed to some of Ela's artwork we had displayed in the bedroom. Including the one she did for my birthday.
"You're perfect," I said and squeezed her shoulder. She moaned a little. Not in a sexy way. Still gave her a comforting hug though.
"Mine," she said but it came out a little muffed.
"Hanging out with Tina a lot lately?" I asked. She shoved me playfully in response before saying "Sorry."
"It's alright. Good news is that you have the whole day with me to make up for it. I believe today's America's Thanksgiving hence why we have the day off," I explained.
"So…like will Derrick and Meghan have that huge dinner or whatever at the base? I figured he'd want to be with Tina," Ela said before she started to get dressed.
"Nah, I think he celebrated the Canadian one with Tina's family. Thanksgiving was never a holiday he gets excited about so he tells me. It just sort of always happened around him," I said, following Ela's lead of getting dressed. "Bad news is that most places for food are likely gonna be closed so I hope you guys want whatever we have in the freezer."
Turns out I had some burgers in there. Awesome. I told myself I'd fire those up later after doing some more work on my sonic grenades. I don't think I ever told you about them. These are the devices that got me onto the BKA. I had started to develop them when I was starting the civilian recruitment process with help from my dad. In a nutshell, what these things do is emit a highly concentrated sonic wave that will disrupt electronics, weaken certain structures and stun and hostels not wearing protective ear equipment. This is what caused the falling out with Monika back in 2014ish. She had found out about these and got pissed. After I had joined Rainbow, she and I had made many improvements to the overall design and function of them. Originally, it was a simple "press and hold" feature with 3 levels of charge and the sound that came out of it was an extremely high pitched version of me doing a heavy metal scream. Now, the sound is more of a metallic screech that can easily rupture eardrums if I'm not careful. I had used that feature when I was posing as the vigilante "Fenrir" because I was pissed at the White Masks at the time. I had seen first hand what that setting does and I avoid using it. I think I would most likely use that feature to disrupt a server room or something. I don't know. Right now, I was mainly working on a way to have them explode on impact and release the sound waves every few seconds but so far, no luck. I've at least removed the press and hold feature. It was a dial selector with an LED screen now. Elena was better at this but I hadn't really had the chance to talk to her much whenever I was on duty at the base. Technically, I'm not fully on Research and Development like Derrick and Monika are. I'm security mainly. The amount of asshole politicians I've had to do security detail for is astounding. Both American and German. Some of them were nice…others weren't. I can't tell you who because that's classified.
"Lukas, Monika's here," Ela's voice called from upstairs about an hour in a half into my working session. I'd made some headway at least so that's high time to call it. I made my way upstairs where I came upon Ela and Monika sitting in the den and talking.
"Always working in the basement are you?" Monika asked before she got up and gave me a hug.
"Not all the time. Has she been telling lies?" I answered motioning to Ela.
"No…but I was about to hear a story about how the big strong 23 year old metal head in the Judas Priest t-shirt cried in front of his boss," Ela said with a smirk on her face. I sighed. I knew what she was talking about. Monika smiled too.
"You should have seen him back then, Ela. People always thought he was going to punch them in the face because of how scary he looked at the time. But whenever he saw me, my sister or my mom, he became a big softie," Monika explained. I walked to the fridge and pulled out the burgers as well as the toppings.
"Alright fine, tell her the story while I cook…Actually no, follow me outside. I wanna see if you get everything correct," I said and walked outside onto a cool but cloudy day. Monika and Ela did so before Monika launched into the story with me filling in any other details she may have missed.
3rd September, 2013
Musikhaus Kietz
Leipzig, Germany.
I leaned against the front counter of the music store while reading some inventory reports. Recently, I had just been promoted to assistant manager of this place and I was familiarizing myself with how to do some of the backend stuff. My mind wandered to Monika as I knew it would. I hadn't seen her in quite some time due to her BPOL/GSG9 duties. The last time I had seen her in person was my college graduation about 1 year ago. The door opened and a mother with her child came in. She flinched a little upon seeing me. I didn't mind. I'm used to this. I am a tall man in my 20s that has some muscle, long hair tied into a ponytail and a beard. Today, I was wearing black jeans and my Judas Priest Painkiller T-shirt so it was no surprise why this customer thought I was a little scary looking.
"Good morning," I said and gave the woman a nod before turning back to the computer. A few seconds passed before I noticed that her daughter was standing in front of me. She also looked a little scared of me.
"Can I help you," I asked politely. I think hearing that my voice wasn't a death growl might have calmed this girl's nerves because I saw her posture ease.
"Um yes, do you have the album by that English group The 1975? It just released," she asked me.
"Let me check," I said, pretending to make it seem like we didn't. In reality, we did. Plenty of them. Manager ordered a bit of a surplus just in case. We had about 10-15 copies of it left.
"You're in luck. I do have one in stock," I said, reached under the counter and pulled out the CD. The girl's eyes got wide and I even saw a smile cross her lips. She turned to her mother who had nodded. She reached out her hand to take the album after I had rung it up.
"Anything else ma'am?" I asked the mother.
"Yes actually. My husband is a big fan of 80s music. Do you have any Fleetwood Mac albums in stock?" she asked.
"Any in particular you are looking for?" I asked.
"Daddy's been looking for Tango in the Night," the girl told her mother. I checked the computer again. We did in fact have a copy of that classic album in stock too. I pulled it out. The woman smiled.
"We'll take both," she said and pulled out her wallet. I took the euros and gave the appropriate amount of change.
"Thank you sir," the young girl said. I nodded.
"I like that song 'Settle Down' by that band," I told her. "It just gives me a big dumb smile for some reason." She pretty much gawked at me. Absolutely dumbfounded that a guy like me listened to music like that. They left and I went back to looking at the inventory sheet as well as keeping an eye on some of the other staff members. One was dusting shelves and the other was sorting through the vinyls. I checked the time and determined that it was time for my lunch break. I was about to signal to one of the workers to inform them before I heard my boss's voice yell from the back.
"WEISS, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE. NOW!" he shouted. The other employees jumped and stared at me. I gave them both a confused look before I made my way to the back. My boss was standing in the hallway with his arms crossed. He was an older guy. Big Scorpions fan as evidenced by his tattoos. He was staring at me with malicious intent.
"Yes?" I asked.
"In my office. NOW," he said, just as angry as the first statement and pointed to his office door. Still confused as to what I did, I proceeded to push open the door and take the seat in front of his desk. The door closed behind me and I turned at the sound of the noise…and I saw her. My sister. Standing there in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a light purple jacket. I couldn't help it. I turned forward and proceeded to cry into my hands. I hadn't seen her in person for about a year and seeing her right here right now was pretty much the best gift I could ask for. She had pretty much taught me everything I knew…minus all the music theory and performance but still. I felt her hands wrap around my shoulders.
"C'mon Lukas. Don't I get a hug?" she asked while crying herself. I obeyed that order and hugged Monika as if I was never going to see her again. Over her shoulder, I saw my boss standing in the now open doorway smiling. Oh, so this had been a dirty trick had it?! Fucking FINE. I don't care. Hugging my sister meant more to me at this moment. It reassured me that she was safe.
"Happy Birthday Lukas," Monika said softly. This was the best birthday of my entire life.
26th November, 2026
Our House
San Francisco, CA. America
"Aww, now isn't that cute," Ela said after Monika and I had finished telling the story. I had finished grilling and plating the burgers at this point and brought them inside where the 2 women followed me. Monika looked nervous for some reason. She caught my eye and I saw that "help me" look she often gets whenever she freaks out about something. I returned fire with the "you got this" look and motioned taking deep breaths with my hands. Monika proceeded to follow my instructions and turned to Ela who had just finished slicing her burger in half.
"Ela, I have a question to ask you," Monika said. Oh, I see where this is going now.
"Shoot," Ela responded.
"Will…you be part of my wedding party?" Monika asked the floor for some reason. Jeez, she's in her 40s and still acts like a little girl whenever she asks someone a big question like this.
"Bout time," Ela answered after swallowing the bite she had just taken. I caught her…well an abridged version of her "oh" face. Damn, I must've done a good job cooking. The following smirk I was given confirmed that theory.
"Is that a yes?" Monika asked…still facing the damn floor.
"Monika, say it to her face," I ordered. Monika looked up at Ela.
"Will you?" she asked again.
"Yes Monika. Why'd you think I was gonna say no?" Ela asked.
"Well…I know Poland isn't very friendly to the LGBT community," Monika answered.
"You must be really naive to think I never experimented in college," Ela said. I proceeded to do a spit take. Like right out of a comedy film. I didn't hit either Ela or Monika thankfully. I then looked at my wife incredulously and cleared my throat. Monika was trying not to laugh but Ela looked like she was having the time of her life.
"Right then…" I began before Ela interrupted.
"It was just one woman. I eventually realized I like men better. Lukas was the only man that could ever handle me. In multiple ways," Ela said. It was Monika's turn to do a spit take. I chuckled.
"Alright you two, new subject please," I said.
"Monika, I don't care who your heart belongs to. I will gladly be by your side on that special day. Have you got a day picked out?" Ela asked.
"Yes. March 2nd," Monika answered.
"Ahh, so after the Tournament of Champions I see," I said. Monika nodded.
"Speaking of which, I was just informed of my teammates for that. Elena, Jack, Meghan and Tina," Ela said. I forced myself to hide a smile with great difficulty (but also with success because neither of them noticed). You'll find out why shortly. Right on cue, I got a text. Monika did too because I saw her pull out her phone. She stared at the message before glancing at me. I only had milliseconds to give her a "keep in on the DL" gesture. She understood and started to engage Ela in conversation again. She was talking about wedding plans but I could still see the happiness in her face and it wasn't about the wedding. In the meantime, I pulled out my own phone and checked my messages.
Zoolander - "Tina just told me her team. This is going to be outstanding. It's almost too perfect."
Jackal - "I can't believe Six and Sam allowed this."
Yumi - "Do any of your partners know?"
Me - "Monika and I just found out ourselves. She just got a text from one of you guys about it. I had to run a bit of interference to keep it on the down low."
Jackal - "Si, that was me. Just got confirmation of the final teams and I decided to let her know. My chica's got no clue. How bout you guys?"
Me - "Ela knows nothing about me competing."
Yumi - "Jack is clueless as ever. We got my parents to watch Maho for us when we're away."
Zoolander - "Same with me and Teen. She thinks I'm going to watch her 'dominate' the competition. Cheya, whatever. She might have studied my tactics, it's another thing entirely to face them head on."
Har-Monika - "Wait…I have to shoot Meghan?! Why did Six ok this?!"
Me - "You think I'm gonna be happy shooting at my wife? Have you seen her?"
Zoolander - "Yeah. I threw snowballs at Tina's butt when she came home from the grocery store once. Hoo boy was she mad at me. And by mad, I mean we had the most epic snowball fight EVER."
Har-Monika - "I'm marrying Meghan a few weeks later though."
Yumi - "Mon, it's a training exercise disguised as a Tournament. No one cares afterwards."
Har-Monika - "Oh yeah…right."
Later that night after Monika had gone home, Ela and I were just laying in bed cuddling… for once. Well, I mean I was shirtless and Ela tended to sleep in one of my old t-shirts half the time. This time it was my Iron Maiden shirt depicting Eddie as The Trooper. We were just laying there enjoying each other's company.
"Do you know if we have Christmas off this year?" Ela asked. I nodded.
"Since we were on last year, I think we had priority with the time off. Derrick got lucky but Meghan and Monika did not. I think he and Tina want us to come over. Did you want to?" I asked. Ela kissed my cheek in response.
"Yes. I'll get to see how big Zoey's gotten," Ela said.
"And curse me for not giving you a baby yet," I added. Ela responded by kissing me on the lips.
"I can wait. Because I know you always keep your promises," she said and laid her head against my chest. After a couple more minutes of small banter like this, the pair of us fell asleep and my dreams were invaded by happy memories rather than terrible ones.
25th December, 2026
Derrick's House
San Francisco, CA. America
Tina opened the door within a few seconds of me ringing the doorbell. She was standing there with Zoey in her arms. Zoey was dressed like a little elf minus the hat. But she did have little reindeer antlers.
"OOKUS!" Zoey exclaimed happily. I waved and then pointed to Ela.
"Who's this Zoey?" I asked.
"La!" Zoey responded and reached out for Ela. Ela took Zoey from Tina as I gave Tina a hug after setting the box of presents on the porch..
"Merry Christmas Teen. Where's the Christmas Clown," I asked.
"I heard that Cool Hand," Derrick's voice called from inside the house.
"He's busy finding out which Chinese food place is open for dinner," Tina answered and beckoned us inside. Inside of Derrick's house, I spied a Christmas tree near the fireplace and a family photo of all 3 of the Castellanos mounted on the wall. Even Zoey was smiling. I'll bet it's because she was being held by her favorite man in the whole world. The tree was decorated with a bunch of ornaments including traditional ones and one's I know are Derrick's.
"Bah!" Zoey's voice said.
"I know, Santa came to our house too. Some of these are from your aunties," Ela told Zoey. Derrick came out of the kitchen carrying a piece of paper and a pencil. He was wearing sweatpants and an AC/DC "ugly" Christmas sweater.
"Alright, Great Eastern's open for take out. What do you guys want?" he said. Ela, who looked hungry said "I'll do the spicy szechuan chicken and wonton soup." Derrick scribbled it down then pointed at me.
"And for the big man?"
"I'll have the spiced salted spareribs and the hot and sour soup," I said and went to pull out my wallet. Derrick scribbled it down but shook his head upon seeing me do so.
"Nope, nice try Cool Hand," he said and turned to Tina. "Wait, I already know what you want. The beef short ribs and chicken and cream corn soup. Duh." Derrick mimed smacking himself on the forehead.
"I'll get a bunch of egg rolls and dumplings too. Bee are bee yo," he said and walked back into the kitchen. Tina sighed.
"God, I love that man," she said quietly.
"Dada!" Zoey said, still in Ela's arms.
"That's right Zoey! Mama loves your dada so much!" Tina said and booped Zoey on the nose. I caught Ela looking at me wistfully. I nodded and mouthed "soon" again. Ela smiled back and gave Zoey a little squeeze. Zoey giggled. Ela proceeded to put Zoey on the ground and she got up and stumble walked towards her Scooby plushie. I know Zoey absolutely loved that toy. Meghan had given it to her one day. Zoey brandished it towards Ela and said "Ooby!" From the kitchen, I heard Derrick do the Scooby laugh which caused Zoey to giggle herself and then hug the toy.
"Is Daddy Scooby-Doo?" Ela asked Zoey.
"Ya!" Zoey responded. I noticed a couple new toys for Zoey in the vicinity too and smiled to myself. Hopefully I'd be able to supply my child with a plethora of toys to play with too.
Derrick went out 30 minutes after ordering and returned with the food. I had just realized how hungry I was and ate like it was going to be my last meal. While we ate, gifts were exchanged. My gifts to Tina and Derrick were the collectors version of 2112 and a new guitar strap respectively. Monika and Meghan had given Zoey some Scooby-Doo pajamas, Derrick received a Batman workout shirt and Tina a new jersey for her favorite sports team. I'm not that familiar with American sports to be honest other than baseball but this jersey looked like a hockey one. Ela, of course, had done some more artwork.
"I hope you guys don't mind," she said in a small voice. Almost sounded like she felt ashamed.
"It's fine Ela. Remember how much I appreciated the portrait of Zoey?" Tina said and pointed to it on the wall. It depicted a smiling Zoey with the caption "Zoey 'Snowflake' Castellano. 1/1/2026." She had given it to Tina a few weeks after Zoey was born. Derrick tells me Tina cried for almost 20 minutes straight. Ela proceeded to hand Derrick, Tina and myself one. We ripped the wrapping paper off and gasped at the same time.
"Dude…no way…" Derrick said, staring at his portrait.
"Oh…oh my…" Tina added, putting her hand over her mouth while staring at her portrait. Zoey, who was near Tina, looked at the picture, smiled and said "Mama!" I currently was gaping at my own portrait. It was me as Guts. Like full stop. Perfectly detailed and everything. I had his sword, the missing eye and arm as well as that flowing black cape. Near my foot was the decapitated head of a man with long silver hair (minus all the gore) and leaning on my other shoulder was Ela depicted as Casca. I looked up at Derrick who caught my eye and showed me his. I grinned. Of course. He was Kenshiro. Down to the smallest detail. Tina was behind him as Yuria and I think even Zoey had made an appearance as…oh crap…RIN! Yes! That's the little girl that's in love with Ken!
"Nice," I told him before turning to Tina. She turned hers around where I saw that she was depicted as Wonder Woman. She had her lasso of truth around a man that looked like Der-..oh of course. Derrick was Steve Trevor. Zoey's hand touched the part of the frame where Derrick was and said "Dada!" Ela smiled upon hearing this and that's when I noticed that my drawing came with a note. It said "Part 2 is later ;* "
25th December, 2026
Our House
San Francisco, CA. America
Later that night, I found myself downstairs just fiddling with one of my guitars and getting some practice in. Ela had said she wanted to get some cleaning done and left me to it. I had my headphones plugged in so I could hear the backing and vocal tracks of songs I was practicing. I started off testing my shredding abilities by playing some Megadeth, Slayer and Judas Priest. I played through the beginning parts of "Painkiller" well but I messed up on the sweep pick arpeggiated intro to the solo.
"Schiesse," I cursed before I heard something behind me. I took off my headphones and heard
"Tsk tsk tsk, did somebody mess up?" It was Ela's voice. I had a witty retort primed and loaded so I turned to face her….and my jaw promptly fell open. Ela was standing there dressed in nothing but some Mrs. Claus lingerie. Her nails were red too. Plus you know her hair is green so that completed the whole ensemble. I didn't know what to do. I sat there like a complete idiot while she just looked at me with that fucking hot ass smile.
"Have you been a good boy this year," she asked. I nodded stupidly still not quite knowing what to do. She sauntered over and took the guitar's place on my lap. One of her hands immediately went towards the inside of my sweatpants. She smirked upon touching my dick.
"Going commando I see?" she said before whispering "You lied. That's very naughty." That's where I lost control. Off went my pants. My crotch enjoyed the basement air for about 5 seconds before I was straight up receiving the best head of my life. Like to the point where you can't even say anything but your partner's name and variations of "Oh fuck." I let Ela blow me for about 5 minutes before I picked her up and proceeded to carry her to the bedroom over my shoulder. She looked sad for some reason.
"But…I wasn't done yet," she said.
"Naughty girls deserve punishment," I said (while trying not to lose control early). Not like she was making it easy for me on the way up either. Since her dominant hand couldn't reach my dick comfortably, her foot kept hitting it. She noticed after 3 seconds and continued doing it until I pushed open the bedroom door and tossed her (lightly) onto the bed. She bounced a few times and righted herself right when I got my shirt off. She licked her hands and then proceeded to feel my muscles and my dick again.
"I want you so fucking bad," she said and took off the lingerie. She wrapped her arms around me afterwards and started rubbing my dick against her vagina.
"How bad," I teased, wanting to do the deed just as bad as she did.
"Bad," she whispered knowing it would set me off. She was right. This Polish woman got the absolute shit fucked out of her for about 30 minutes. That was all I could do. What didn't really help was her saying things like "Right there," "Don't stop doing that", "YES LUKAS," and "I fucking love you inside of me." I was currently panting while staring at the bedroom ceiling while Ela was in the bathroom. She came out, still naked, a few seconds later and cuddled up next to me.
"I assume that was part 2," I asked sleepily. She responded by planting a kiss on my cheek.
"I love when you fuck me like that," she responded.
"Anytime Engel," I said, starting to lose the battle of staying awake.
"Good night Lukas. I love you so much," was the last thing I heard before falling asleep.