Author's Note: A Happy New Year to everybody and welcome to 2015! I must say a big thank you to all who have supported me throughout the last six months, or so, of 2014!

Forsaken will be continuing and so far the story does not have much of a planned anything, let alone an ending! As long as people continue to read, I will continue to write! If people have ideas or suggestions, please do not hesitate to drop a PM or a review. On the other hand, if my ideas start to drift and get weird and/or stupid; please let me know!

Over the coming months you should expect to see: new characters, new adversaries, new weapons and new equipment. There will also be excessive and gratuitous violence, worthy of Hit Girl, with a lot of blood being spilled. I also intend that there will be some decent levels of smut, too! Hopefully, something for everybody!

This will be the very first of, hopefully, many chapters for 2015.

The following morning
Thursday
West Ridge

Dave and I awoke that morning, feeling very refreshed and after a surprisingly good night's sleep, despite the night's loud interruptions!

By the time we had showered after our activities last night, Marcus and Cathy were up and in the kitchen. Dave and I grabbed a coffee each and also a plate of bacon and eggs that Cathy had cooked.

"This bacon is much better than yours, Dave!" I teased.

"You're a creep Mindy!" Cathy commented, but smiled at the compliment anyway.

"Much better than Mindy's!" Marcus said. "I'd actually rather eat the bacon raw!"

"That isn't fair!" I growled.

Curtis appeared next, looking a little bit tired. He was closely followed by a shy looking Chloe and a smirking Josh.

"Morning, kids! Happy New Year!" I announced and got muted responses from each of them. They both seemed a little bit tired!

"What do you guys want for breakfast? Bacon and eggs?" Cathy asked innocently, then she smirked and looked directly at Chloe and Josh, who seemed to shrink away. "Fruit juice? No cherry anymore, though!"

Chloe just stood completely still, with her mouth open and she went very, very red! Josh just grinned, sheepishly. I started to laugh and so did Dave and Marcus. Curtis, did not seem to have a clue about what was going on!

"You are so evil, Cathy!" I commented. "Well done!"

Chloe glared at me.

"Yeah! What was all that shouting about last night, Chloe?" Curtis asked. "What was so amazing?"

Chloe ignored Curtis.

"Well?" I asked Chloe. "Curtis needs an explanation!"

Chloe was still unable to move and her mouth was flapping like a grounded fish! Finally she got her voice back.

"Well he's not getting an explanation from me and not before he's thirteen!" Chloe said, trying desperately to avoid everybody's eyes and grinning faces, before turning on Josh. "Joshua, help me!"

"I got nothing!" Josh admitted after a short pause.

"Boys are so fucking useless!" Chloe growled and then blushed a bit more. "Sorry!"

"Josh didn't seem so useless, last night!" Cathy said and she seemed to be enjoying her daughter's intense discomfort.

"I think Curtis still wants an answer!" I pushed.

"Well the little shit can stick his answer... Dammit! Okay Curtis... Sex... That's was what was so amazing! Happy now?"

Chloe looked very embarrassed.

"Okay!" Curtis said, simply. "It must have been good; the whole damn zip code heard you two!"

I was no longer a virgin.

Nobody was complaining about that fact, but instead they were all making outrageous jokes at my and Josh's expense! Okay, I admit that I may have been a little bit noisy, last night! But it was the best feeling ever; I had never felt anything like it! Should we have waited? Probably, but we would both be fifteen in another six or seven months, but... I thought it was worth it and apparently so did Josh.

Well, the main thing, was that Mindy wouldn't be able to tease me about having sex with Josh; or so I thought!

Mindy could be so fucking evil!

…_...

At dinner that night I was rather pleased that nobody had anything further to say about Josh and me! While that was a surprise, it was also a pleasant one. Although I had only just embarked on my sex life, I had absolutely no desire for it to be part of general conversation and discussion, neither did I want it to get out at school! The other big surprise was Mom; I didn't know how she would feel about me being 'de-flowered', but the fact that so far, she had only joked about it, seemed a good start and I didn't even want to contemplate what Dad would say!

It had been good to be together with Mindy and Dave, over Christmas and New Year. They were both more than friends and fellow vigilantes to me; they were family. Dave was a big brother and Mindy a big sister. This meant that I could talk to either of them about things that I couldn't talk to Mom or Dad about; like sex.

I must have been daydreaming, because Mindy's voice brought me back to reality.

"You actually going to eat? Or are you dreaming about that super-hot sex, last night!"

"Err… No… I was just… Never mind!" I stammered, feeling everybody's eyes on me.

"Or were you dreaming about your future kids?" Mindy added.

"You evil fucker…" I exclaimed, as Josh just burst out laughing.

"And fuck you too!" I finished.

"That's all it takes!" Mom said.

After dinner that evening I was standing outside, on the deck.

It was very cold, but I wanted to be alone; I was worried, very worried. I felt that something was brewing.

Just then I felt an arm wrap itself around my waist and it wasn't Dave; the arm was too small. I looked down to my left and found Curtis looking up at me; he wasn't smiling.

"You okay?" I asked. I knew that Curtis had had a rough couple of days, what with this being his first New Year without his parents.

"I'll be fine; life continues. I'm worried about you... You look unhappy."

I smiled down at Curtis, before answering.

"I can feel trouble approaching. There are storm clouds gathering over Chicago and I have a city to protect," I replied, taking Curtis into my confidence. "I have a feeling that two thousand and fifteen, is gonna be full of trouble!"

There was silence for a couple of minutes, before Curtis responded.

"You're not alone Mindy. We are all standing alongside you and we're all ready to fight with you. You'll guide us through the storm, like you normally do; I believe in you and I know the others do too."

Quite a speech from a ten year-old! I came down to his level and looked into his hazel eyes.

"You are wise beyond your years, Curtis. Thanks."

Curtis smiled back at me.

"Thanks Mindy, you're the greatest!"