With the addition of unexpected guests to the party, the tea party was changed to a picnic. The sandwiches and cookies were packed in a basket along with fresh fruit and thermos' of tea. The girls were thrilled with the change of plans despite having looked forward to their dainty princess tea party for two weeks.

Since they were going to the park, the dogs were brought along. The girls divided the dogs among them, two each, with the remainder going to Mari. Cream Puff had officially chosen her as her favorite person. Surprisingly, Meowy opted to grace the motley crew with his presence choosing to perch on the wide, brawny shoulder of Power's present incarnation.

The dogs were situated in the dog run first to get rid of excess energy. Mari, with the assistance of Yoshida to her shock and surprise, set about arranging the food on a picnic table under the pavilion while Denji and Power laid out a blanket on the grass nearby. Meowy quickly availed himself of taking a prime spot in the middle of the blanket to curl up for a nap in the sun. Mari sat down beside the snoozing feline to watch the boys throw one of the dog's tennis balls back and forth while the girls threw another one for the dogs inside the fenced in area.

Life is good. No. Life is great.

At the moment, Mari's anxious inner voice needled her. When will it all go horribly wrong? Again.

"Ugh, dammit," she groaned, flopping onto her back. Closing her eyes, she draped her arm over her face to block the sun, willing the thoughts of doom and gloom to go away.

Not today. I won't listen to it today. I am allowed to enjoy my happiness, she told herself.

"Mari?"

She moved her arm and opened her eyes but had to squint to avoid being totally blinded by the sun and to see Denji leaning over her. Concern drew his eyebrows together and straightened his mouth into a hard line. The sun behind him created a halo around his golden blond head. She smiled up at him. His eyebrows separated when he broke into a big grin in return.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, placing his hands on his knees to bend down a little further for a closer look at her face.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "You look like an angel right now with a halo around your head."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he inquired, his eyebrows drawing back together and the smile disappearing from his face.

"Yes," she sighed, raising up to her elbows. "And I know how ironic that is considering. But honestly, the Devil I know is more kind and sweet and loving than some of the so called angels I've known in the past."

"What do you mean?" He sat down beside her on the grass rather than on the blanket.

"It doesn't matter. Just know that I love you." She sat up and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. A childish giggle escaped her when he blushed and simpered. "If you ever get tired of me telling you that, let me know."

"Oh, hell no," he murmured, grabbing her and hugging her tightly. "I'll never get tired of hearing it."

"Mmmm." Her arms slid around his waist in a somewhat awkward, half side wise hug since she had only turned her body halfway toward him when he seized her in a bear hug.

She inhaled his scent which despite the slight musk of sweat was pleasing. He smelled like sunshine and wind and grass. Bright, light, verdant. Alive. His warmth permeated her body, warming her even further as if he were a ray of sunshine himself. Her heart felt light and her head like it was floating. So very alive.

Mari pressed her cheek to chest to feel the steady thump of his heart against her skin and hear the rhythmic beat in her ear. Thank you, Pochita. It's because of you he's alive. You also helped him remain innocent and trusting, willing to love, despite how people treated him, rejecting him and being so damn mean.

"Mari, I love you too," Denji whispered, stroking her head. For a change, he was petting her.

"Hmmm," she hummed in contentment, tightening her arms around his waist.

"Well, well, lookee here at the two lovebirds," Power commented, dropping down onto the blanket on his belly beside Mari. He was so close he pushed her into a Denji almost knocking them both over.

"Can you two give it a rest for five minutes?" Yoshida muttered, walking past them to go to the picnic table for a cup of tea.

"Awww," the girls cooed in three part harmony before following Yoshida to the table.

"So will I be sleeping in Mari's apartment again?" Power asked, folding his hands under his chin to form a makeshift pillow.

"No," Denji and Mari replied in unison. Denji went on to say, "You'll be staying in my apartment with Nayuta. You're her bodyguard now remember?"

"Where will you be staying?"

"With Mari."

"That's not fair," he pouted. Meowy jumped onto his back, walking down his spine to turn circles in the small of his back before settling down to continue napping.

"Oh, it's very fair," Mari insisted.

"Can we eat?" Nayuta asked, opening the picnic basket.

"Sure. Go ahead," Mari returned to receive a trio of cheers in response. She relinquished her grip on Denji. "I'm sure you're hungry too."

"I am but..." He pulled her back into his arms. "I'd rather stay here with you...like this."

"Well, I'm sure we could find a little bit of alone time tonight," she murmured flirtatiously.

"To do what?" Power interrupted.

Mari reluctantly pulled away from Denji. She picked up the cat from Power's back but the feline stubbornly tried to hang on to his extra warm pillow by sinking his claws into the t-shirt. Once the cat's claws had been unhinged from the cotton fabric, she placed the annoyed fuzzball in her lap to pet him in apology.

"Go get some food, Power," she ordered him.

"Okay," he energetically complied, raising into a push up position before pulling his knees forward to a squatting position then hopping up to stand straight.

"That was the most athletic way to get up I've ever seen," Mari muttered watching him jog the few feet to the table.

"Power always was a bit hyper. Guess that hasn't changed either."

Denji smiled watching as Himari and Melanie heaped sandwiches, chips, and cookies on a plate for him while Nayuta poured him a cup of tea.

"The girls seem to like him. They're not afraid of him at all." Mari sighed heavily, glaring at him with suspicion.

"Are you afraid of him?"

"I still don't trust him. He's Sato's hunting dog."

"But Mari - "

"Denji, look," she began, turning to face him. "Mr. Sato is an incredibly greedy man and a sore loser. He doesn't like for any of his possessions to be stolen from him. I also know how, shall we say, persuasive Mr. Sato can be. There's no telling what kind of torture he put Power through to control him. I don't think Power's telling the truth about what he was promised either. His reason just doesn't seem like enough motivation. Especially for a Devil. Why didn't he just kill Sato and all his men?"

"I don't know. Maybe one day Power will tell me everything."

"Maybe. He certainly looks strong enough to have fought his way out."

The body he had chosen did not look weak in the least even by human standards. The man was without a doubt a weightlifter, possibly on a competition level. That body looked like quite a powerful human flesh suit even if the Devil was a bit weakened. The little inconvenience of death probably made the gigantic puppet a bit unwieldy but Devil were still sometimes remarkably strong as Fiends. And this one was fueled by blood which could be a prolific power source when fighting.

"Well, like I said before, if you can't trust Power, trust me. And Nayuta," he added, nodding toward the girl who was spraying cookie crumbs out of her mouth unable to contain her laughter at something one of her friends said. "She's really changed a lot. Being with you has really changed her. You've taught her how to be a normal child. A happy normal child." Denji took her hand in his. "You've taught us both to be better people."

"Oh," Mari gasped, her already sun blushed cheeks turning a dark red. "Well, you two have given me something I never thought I would have...something I never want to lose."

"What's that?" Denji squeezed her hand when she did not immediately answer.

"A family."

Denji leaned over to capture her lips with his.

"Hey! Are you two going to come eat?" Power yelled, reaching for another sandwich.

Nayuta slapped his hand to make him drop it.

"If you don't come eat now, you won't get anything because Power will eat it all," she warned, refilling his empty cup.

"Shall we?" Mari asked, extending her hand to Denji who was already on his feet at the threat of missing lunch.

"We shall, milady," he jokingly returned with a cheesy grin. He took her hand and easily jerked her upwards to her feet.

Mari picked up two of the triangle shaped sandwiches, ham and cheese and cream cheese with strawberry. Denji took the two egg salad and two turkey sandwiches that were left before Power could grab them. The two men proceeded to argue over the last ham and cheese sandwich. When it appeared they would come to blows, Nayuta tugged on Denji, the other two girls pulled on Power's t-shirt to keep them apart. Yoshida watched apathetically from the sidelines while munching a cookie.

Mari backed away to watch the scene with a smile on her face. Family. And their little family was growing. Sometimes the best families are the ones you chose, not the ones you are born into.

~\'/~

Mari walked into her bedroom after her shower to find Denji lying shirtless, wearing only sleep pants, in the bed reading a book. Sexy and scholarly. The combination looked good on him and made her smile. She was thrilled to see him reading by choice too. Usually he had to be cajoled into it with the promise of his favorite edible treat or a more special intimate favor. However, she was embarrassed to see he had found one of her cringe worthy romance novels.

"Uhm, whatcha readin'?" she asked, pressing the towel in her hand to her hair to dry the dripping ends.

"The pirate just found this mermaid. But he doesn't know she's a mermaid because she has legs. He took her back to his ship to the captain's cabin and now they're - "

"I know what they're doing," she cut him off. She snatched the book out of his hands and threw it behind her somewhere. It hit the floor with a thump and slid into the wall with a muffled thud.

"Awww," he whined with disappointment. "I was just getting to the good part. He had just tasted a pert pink nipple after her caressing her soft mounds of creamy white flesh."

"Well," she murmured, crawling across the bed to straddle his lap. "Wouldn't you like to do the same thing to your mermaid, Captain?"

"Aaaarrgh," he said in pirate fashion, sliding his hands under his t-shirt that she was wearing.

Mari chuckled, assisting him with removing the shirt she had put on only five minutes earlier. Her palms pressed to his cheeks, pulling his face to hers for a kiss while his hands kneaded her breasts. The kiss was light, their lips barely touching but tingling with the delicate contact. His fingers were gentle, unhurried, compressing and lifting her heavy breasts. Her nipples grazing his smooth chest sent a rush of excitement through her that raised goosebumps over her entire torso.

His hands moved down her stomach and around to her back with a ticklish pressure causing her to squirm on his lap. He pulled her forward to press her breasts against his chest while his lips pushed against hers with only slightly more urgency. He was moving at a snail's pace employing a touch more tender than he ever had before. A far different experience for her in comparison to his typical heated rush, fueled by the adolescent urgency of his raging hormones and his desire to experience the pleasure he had fantasized about hundreds of times.

Mari inhaled sharply when his lips slipped from hers to move down to her neck. He pressed light kisses in a row along the pulsing artery leading down to her collar bone. His lips followed the length of the prominent horizontal bone under her skin to her shoulder. Opening his mouth, his teeth scraped across her skin. Stimulating her further with the gentleness of his bite, his teeth applied only minimal pressure and absolutely no pain into the thick tissue of the round of her shoulder.

"Oh, Denji," she gasped, her fingers sliding into his hair before curling into fists to pull - but only a little.

"Mmmm," he groaned in return, lifting his mouth from her shoulder.

When she looked at him, his eyes were half closed. She adored that passion drunk expression. The pointed tip of his pink tongue moved along his parted lips leaving them moist and glistening, beckoning for a kiss to which she happily complied. His fingers spread across her sides and back, compressing her ribs a little as he pulled her into him.

Mari moaned against his lips when he raised his hips, rubbing his erection across her panties which she was sure had grown a bit damp. She found this new patience and gentleness of his extremely enticing and exciting.

His hands slipped under her armpits, lifting her, and swinging her off his lap and over onto her back on the bed. She squealed and giggled at the unexpected and fast movement. Her laughter quickly faded away as he hovered over her, his brown eyes intense when they captured hers.

"What? Is everything okay?" she asked, her eyes switching back and forth between his apprehensively.

"Everything's perfect," he assured her. He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, then gave her a peck on the lips before meeting her curious gaze. "I love you."

"I love you too. But what - "

His mouth covered hers to cut off her words. She lifted her hips when his fingers curled over the top of her panties to begin sliding them down. Their lips remained in contact despite all the movement required for him to shimmy out of his sleep pants.

He made love to her slowly, sweetly, allowing her to feel every movement and each ripple of pleasure while punctuating the spikes of bliss with little kisses on her cheeks, eyelids, or lips. Her arms twisted around his neck while her legs enclosed his waist to cling to him. He pushed her entire body back and forth over the smooth cotton sheets, soft and slick as silk.

Rather than running a race, desperate to reach the finish line, they kept pace with each other. Steady and controlled movements, their pleasure rising and falling in sync. Whispered words of love for the present and promises of the future, shared in breathy declarations. This was the essence of making love; exhibiting emotions in a physical manner.

They rose and fell together, their orgasms taking place simultaneously. Denji lowered himself on top of her, taking great care to hold himself up as not to crush her ribs. Though breathing heavily, they were not completely breathless. However, that by no means was that an indication their lovemaking was not breathtaking all the same.

"Denji," she murmured, kissing his cheek that was warm but not sweaty. "That was - "

"Amazing? Mind boggling? Transcendent?" he interjected hopefully.

"Oooh, all of the above. I particularly like the last word. Someone's been studying," she teased, tapping the tip of his nose with her fingertip.

"I want to make you happy. And proud," he added, dropping on to his side next to her. He propped his head on his hand so he could gaze down at her.

"You do. You really do," she assured him, cupping his jaw. Tears sprang to her eyes, brought on by the sheer joy and pride welling within her as she gazed upon his face. "I am so proud of you. You are a good, a very good man. Smart. Handsome. Kind. Gentle."

"No one's ever called me those things before," he admitted, stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"You are all of those things and more. You make me happy. I have never been so happy in my life. And that's all because of you."

"Wow," he gushed smiling down at her. "This is just like a sappy romantic moment in one of those books you read."

"What?" Her stomach clenched and the warm fuzzy feeling that had been circulating through her body disappeared. She sat up, glaring down at him. "What the hell, Denji? How many of those books have you read?"

He shrugged, lying flat on his back and lacing his fingers behind his head. "A few. I was curious to know what you liked so much about them. I think it was little romantic moments filled with lots of feelings and poetic words."

"Oh," Mari mumbled, lowering herself to lie beside him. "Well, you know, we already had those. You didn't need to try to follow one of those silly books like a how to guide."

"I know, but sometimes it's hard to express exactly how I'm feeling. I also wanted to show you...in a different way," he added, gulping self-consciously.

"I see." She rolled toward him, laying her head on his shoulder with the crown of her head pressed into his neck. "I liked it."

"You did?"

"A lot."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Denji rolled over on top of her causing her to shriek and giggle. "Want to do it again?"

"Oh, yeah."