Friday night
Three thousand miles to the southeast
The two warships were cruising within one nautical mile of each other.
The closest vessel, the eight-thousand tonne destroyer, HMS Dragon, cut through the waves at twenty-two knots. The other vessel, painted in a slightly different shade of grey, was holding position off the Dragon's starboard quarter. That warship was the nine-thousand tonne, USS Churchill. The two warships, operating together, had been diverted and were on a mission for the British Admiralty.
Commander Ryan Bennett studied the container vessel through his binoculars and issued commands to the OOD. As they closed, the MV Atlantic Trader continued to accelerate and despite numerous radio calls from both vessels, the British registered vessel refused to stop. It was now in the hands of HMS Dragon as Commander Ryan focussed his binoculars on the destroyer's bow.
The 4.5-inch Mark 8 Mod 1 gun swung a few degrees to port and the barrel raised slightly. With a puff of smoke and a loud bang, a shell ripped through the air, landing two-dozen-yards ahead of the fleeing merchant vessel. The automatic mechanism cycled within the turret, loading another round into the gun breech. The operator in the operations room, beneath the bridge made a slight adjustment to his aim, pressed the foot pedal and another shell ripped through the air landing only a few yards ahead of the container ship which immediately cut power and the bow wave could be seen rapidly diminishing.
..._...
After a brief radio conversation with the Captain of HMS Dragon, the two vessels separated and took up position with the HMS Dragon off the container ship's port quarter and the USS Churchill on the container ship's starboard bow.
The OOD (officer of the deck) took a moment to glance at the ship's mascots. At the rear of the bridge was a three-foot tall, two-foot wide, poster. The high-resolution poster depicted Hit Girl and Shadow in their combat suits. Hit Girl had her twin Katana swords drawn, while Shadow posed with her bō-staff. There were similar posters throughout the ship. Anybody who dared to interfere with them risked hell on earth.
Commander Bennett issued orders to the boarding party as they lowered the ship's boats. Through his binoculars, he could see the Merlin helicopter on the stern of HMS Dragon lift off. She carried eight Royal Marines Commandos who would rapid-rope down onto the container vessel's bridge. They would ensure that the ship remained stopped. The USS Churchill's boarding party would then race over and board, searching the ship from stem to stern.
..._...
The search had taken a little over four hours, but it had been worth it.
Commander Bennett headed down to his cabin to make a very important phone call, even before he sent a signal to CINCLANT.
Chicago
West Ridge
I answered my cell.
"Good morning, Mindy!"
"Commander," I replied.
"Two hundred and twenty-nine."
"My God!" I replied, astounded at the number.
"All safe, thanks to you and your team," Ryan Bennett said.
"Thank you for telling me, Ryan, it means a lot to know we were successful."
"Any survivors at your end?"
I knew what he meant.
"Not a one!"
"As it should be," Commander Bennett replied coldly.
USS Churchill
"... In other news, Hit Girl and Kick-Ass, along with their team have put their lives on the line, yet again, and rescued fourteen kids and two adults from a people trafficking gang that was closely related to the activities today... There are understood to be no surviving traffickers in Chicago..." Commander Bennett told his crew, over the 1MC announcement system.
There were broad smiles on the bridge and several glances at the ship's mascots. Around the ship, there were similar smiles and expressions of triumph. Everybody was pleased when bad guys got what they deserved.
Commander Bennett was secretly very proud of what his only daughter did in the name of protecting the innocent.
Chicago
Saturday morning
Glenview
We were moving in, officially, to the new house.
That afternoon and evening, we were going to have a housewarming party, with everybody invited. It would also be a great opportunity for people to meet the twins. We spent the morning moving our possessions from West Ridge and doing an awful lot of shopping for supplies!
It took every minute that we had to prepare the house for our visitors. It was the end of the second week in October, but the weather was still reasonably mild and the twins spent most of the morning running around the garden with Sophia.
..._...
Anne-Marie's bedroom was now festooned with toys. Her bed was now sporting a 'Frozen' themed duvet cover and pillow set. There were also 'Frozen' curtains and bedside lamps! Danny had opted for a 'Transformers' themed bedroom, which I thought was much better as I was more a 'Transformers' fan than a fan of 'Frozen'!
I had spoiled them both, just a bit and there was a large screen TV with a Sony PlayStation for them both share, which lived in the room above Danny's bedroom.
That afternoon
The first to arrive were Marcus and Paige along with Megan.
"The house is amazing, Mindy!" Paige said in awe.
"Wow!" Megan exclaimed, so amazed that she never thought to swear.
"Nice place," Marcus commented.
When Megan saw the pool, she begged to go swimming. I had mentioned to everybody coming that there was a pool and that people could swim if they so wished. I suggested to her that she go find the twins and then they could all go swimming together.
Minutes later, Megan, clad in a dark green one-piece swimming costume re-appeared in the kitchen with Anne-Marie in a pink one-piece suit and Danny in blue swim shorts. Paige said she would keep an eye on them and took them through to the pool. I had given Danny and Anne-Marie very strict instructions never to go near the pool unless an adult was present.
Soon all three were splashing around in the water.
..._...
Within the hour, many more of our guests had arrived and the pool was getting busy. Megan and the twins had been joined by Tommy, Curtis, Chloe and Josh. Dave warned the two lovebirds to keep their swimming costumes on!
I felt privileged to have such good friends and I enjoyed having the house heaving with people who were all there for Dave and me. It was about as close to normality as I had ever been. Marty and Kim appeared, along with Abby. Tony and Shannon Morgan were chatting with Jack Bay, while Vicky was talking with Sharon Fellowes and Rachel Murphy. Vicky was enjoying exchanging stories about their husbands. Brad Fellowes and Cam Murphy soon joined the other kids in the pool.
Isaac Swanson was helping Paige keep an eye on the kids in the pool, while Kyle and Hailee were vigorously checking each other out on a couch in the living room. Abby was not too bothered about splitting from Kyle and had not yet decided on a new boyfriend. Erika eventually joined the kids in the pool, much to the delight of Josh and the other boys!
Everybody commented on how cute the twins were and I had been able to introduce them to everybody. Even better, everybody quietly offered every assistance that they could provide in my quest to become a Mom.
Looking across the kitchen, I saw Dave chatting with Isaac.
I soon found myself chatting with Isaac in the kitchen, from which he still had a good view of the pool.
We watched as Chloe threw Megan across the pool. Surprisingly, Megan resurfaced in a fit of giggles and had a big smile on her face.
"Chloe can be pure evil when she wants to be," Isaac commented.
"Comes in handy when she's out at night," I replied.
"I suppose it does, Dave. She's a very strong girl, but she comes across very soft and gentle."
"So can Mindy..."
"Point taken!"
"She gets her evil streak from her mother," I said with a laugh.
"Somebody talking about Catherine Bennett?" Cathy asked as she joined us.
"Yes, Doctor!" I replied with a grin.
"I am not evil – well some may think so. Now I wanted to talk to you, Dave. A friend gave me this..."
I stared. It was a copy of Curve Magazine.
"What are you doing with a copy of a lesbian magazine?" I asked with a smirk.
Cathy did not even blush.
"Like I said, I borrowed it from a friend," she replied before continuing. "Look what I found on page twenty-three..."
Cathy opened up the magazine at the relevant page and passed it over. My eyes bulged out and so did Isaac's. It was an array of photos taken outside a certain bar in a certain city and right there in the foreground were two very familiar girls, kissing. It was not just a peck on the cheek, either – you could see the tongue...
"It was a mission, Cathy – nothing untoward. They had to play it perfect, or they would die," I explained seriously.
"Did they, err, pull it off...?" Isaac enquired.
"Oh, yeah!" I explained on for a bit.
"Anything else happen?" Cathy pushed when I had finished.
I explained about Josh, Chloe and Erika. I then went on and explained about the following, all girl 'threesome', without giving too many details.
"Oh my!" Cathy exclaimed. "Josh must have felt a little, err, inadequate!"
"What you guys talking about?" Mindy asked as she joined us.
Cathy looked Mindy up and down before replying.
"Just talking about the 'eating-out', you three had."
Mindy went so red I thought she might faint.
"Chloe told me everything – I just had to confirm it all. I found this, you see and I'm very good when it comes to interrogations..."
Mindy glanced at the photos for a minute, then turned, and stalked away upstairs. Two minutes later, she returned in a sleek, slightly revealing, swimsuit. As for the colour...
Mindy strode through the crowd of people and dived into the swimming pool. She did not resurface, but Chloe suddenly vanished underwater. Both girls soon reappeared and Mindy was whispering into Chloe's right ear. Chloe's face exploded and she looked over at us, then instantly looked away in acute embarrassment when she saw Isaac grinning. She bit her lip and sank under the water. Mindy was smiling.
"Yeah, Cathy, you are the ultimate Doctor Evil!"
Cathy smiled at that and went off to talk with Kim. I looked over at Kim; she was the size of a beached whale and I wondered how something so enormous could actually get out; Kim was a slim woman.
I turned back and smiled as I saw Mindy playing with Anne-Marie. Danny was putting a lot of effort into trying to drown Josh as Curtis watched; the boy was still being cautious due to his wounds. Chloe was hiding behind Erika, avoiding anybody's gaze.
That evening
We had ordered in a lot of pre-cooked food as I did not want to cook and neither did I want Mindy to give everybody food poisoning! The kids seemed to have made a good dent in the food as soon as it had appeared.
I was enjoying entertaining and decided that we needed to do it more often. The twins were enjoying all the attention, too. It was difficult to believe that it was less than a week since we left Gotham and brought the twins with us. They had settled into school well and we had not had too many issues, considering it was also less than a week since they had lost their father. Mindy and I were expecting that trauma to hit the kids very soon.
..._...
It was nearing eight o'clock and I was looking for Curtis and Megan, as they seemed to have vanished from sight.
"Have you seen Curtis or Megan?" I asked Cam Fellowes.
"Up in the 'petting corner'..." he replied, pointing up to the library above the living room.
Apparently, we had a 'petting corner'; 'okay', I thought! I wandered upstairs to the library and there, in the far corner there was indeed a lot of 'petting' underway. Curtis was doing the petting and Megan was doing the kissing. As for the other pairs, Chloe/Josh and Kyle/Hailee, I was not sure if it was more pornographic rather than just simple petting!
Anne-Marie was watching closely, though. Danny was talking to Marcus on the other side of the library, who kept throwing dirty looks at the 'petting corner', especially at Megan. I was surprised to see Megan with Curtis. The girl used to be very shy about her changing body. However, that had been before we went to Gotham. That City had changed a lot for us all! Now Megan was almost happy to be touched. Mindy had told me about how much Megan had seemed to enjoy the boys helping her get back to her feet at D-JAK. Mindy had also noticed how the boys had allowed their hands to, 'accidentally', wander across Megan's chest and butt.
Considering that Hailee was now slipping off her bra from underneath her shirt, I decided that it was time for Anne-Marie and Danny to go to bed. Marcus offered to read them a bedtime story and threw Megan a dirty look as he left the room with the twins in tow.
I was tired after the previous two night's activities and more than a little sore. That was part of the price, which we paid to keep the City safe.
That night
I awoke and looked around the strange room.
It was the second new bed that I had slept in within a week. I was not complaining; the bed was wider than I was tall and the duvet cover, it was to die for! I had never had such a big room and normally I had always shared a room with my brother, but now he had his own room, too. My bedroom was almost as big as our entire house had been!
It felt strange – I knew that Daddy was never coming back and that our home was now with Dave and Mindy. They were very nice to us, but I had no idea if they might get bored and dump us. It had felt good when Mindy had gone bananas over my being hit by that other girl at school. I had also enjoyed the time at D-JAK and seeing Mindy spar with Hailee; that had been very cool!
Everybody had been so nice to us today and being able to splash about in the swimming pool had been awesome. I was still worried though, but I had no idea why.
I climbed out of bed and looked out of the window and down onto the front garden. I missed Daddy, but he had told us to stay with Dave and Mindy and I intended to follow his instructions. I walked out of the bedroom into the dark passageway that led past Dave and Mindy's office – we were not allowed in there. Next came the door to Danny's room on the right and then the spare room on the left.
Currently Josh and Chloe were sleeping in there – those two had made a lot of noise after they went to bed, no idea what they were doing. I then reached the balcony over the entrance hall and looked down to the front door and across the stairs. Behind me was the entrance to the library where Hailee and Kyle, amongst others, had been doing interesting things to each other.
I knew I was not supposed to be there; Mindy told us that we were not allowed to leave our rooms during the night. I knew she meant it for our own safety, but I saw rules as something to be broken, at least some of the time.
"What are you doing out here?"
I turned and saw Danny standing in the passageway.
"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk."
"Mindy'll freak!"
"We've had a lot of change over the past week and I want to be able to look after us. Dave and Mindy may get bored of us and..."
"No they won't – they promised to look after us."
"Yeah, but adults don't keep promises."
"They really care about us..."
"How do you know?"
"I overheard people talking at the party thing, last night. Marcus said that Mindy never wants to give us up and is doing everything she can to do right by us."
I hated it when Danny was right and I was wrong!
"Let's get back to bed before Mindy sees us. I know they will look after us – I think they're wonderful; I just don't want us to be disappointed if we don't work out."
"I know – come on."
Anne-Marie was not the only one who could not sleep.
I smiled to myself as I gently and silently followed the two kids as they walked back to their bedrooms. I then padded down the stairs and into our bedroom. I cuddled into the sleeping Dave and thought about what Anne-Marie had been saying.
I hoped I could do the right thing for them both, I really did. Anne-Marie had an active imagination and a brain that needed constant stimulation to keep from getting bored. Danny was less so, but I knew that he would probably change, as he got older.
Many things were due to happen over the next two weeks, with a large life-changing event finishing it all off. Was I ready for that commitment? Yes, I was.
I fell asleep happy.