Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

The dark-haired man nodded, pouring himself a drink. The knuckles of his hand bore a few scars. “I must admit. I’m attracted to you,” he said, turning so that his side was to Monica and walking toward the corner toward a cushioned seat was positioned. It was where the other woman had sat just a few minutes ago. “I don’t know your face, it is true,” he said with a slight grin, “but your voice, your confidence…I know that you are fit, and I bet you have nice body under there. I have—what is the expression? An eye for these things.”

“Take off the costume for me,” Branko said, “and I will forget the interest, take the car, and another $2,000 from that guy. In next 6 months. That is my offer.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"I appreciate the spirit in which that offer was made, but I must at this time decline. Obviously, I can't be taking my suit off as doing so would reveal my secret identity as intrepid reporter Lois Lane... or some such." Monica shrugged "Honestly I think I'll just head out and counsel Brian to run. Everyone will know he ran rather than face you and face the music. Everyone is mostly satisfied. You can't get blood from a stone. Honestly, I have to say lending Brian money didn't really seem like a great idea. What made you think he could pay it back?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“We could fuck with the mask on. No problem,” Branko said in a half-joking tone before taking a sip and adding, “Might even be fun.” He sighed. “You are good girl. You probably have a nice guy—handsome guy, right? Maybe cop?” He took a deeper drink. “You probably fuck to Adele, or some shit, yes?”

Branko groaned. “One time he was good for 3,000, but you’re right. It was not a good call. Tell him he’s a dead man if he ever steps blah blah blah. Say whatever you want. I think he more scared of you than of me now.” He held up the glass as if in salute, then downed the rest.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica smiled though he couldn't see it. She crossed her legs and leaned forward a bit "thank you for understanding. I'll make sure to keep that in mind actually, if your name comes up in things." She stood "I'm going to collect that idiot deadbeat and take him home, then put him on a train or a plane or a bus or some shit."

She got up, giving a little bow. She moves out into the bar, then grabs Brian by the scruff of the neck "Come with me" She hauled him out to the car, past the bouncers, then pushed him against it "You got lucky, you fucking punk. Here's how this is going to work. We're going back to your apartment, where you are going to pack a bag. Then we're putting you on a train. Once you're on the train you're not ever coming back to prospect city. Not for any reason. Not for your mother's funeral." She kept ahold of his jacket "that's the deal I bought for you." She stormed around to the other side of the car after letting him go. "Get in, lets drive." She was beyond pissed, but at least the loan shark had a rough sort of honor about him. She meant what she said to him. She'd cut him some slack.

 

[Halcyon638]

Brian said little, staring glumly off into the middle distance for the walk back to the car. Before long, they were back at his apartment where Lily sat, nearly nodding off on the ratty plaid couch that sat in the middle of his living space. Brian explained the situation to her, copping to the actual amount of the principal.

The woman’s face fell as he told her that he’d be leaving forever. She blinked back tears as he asked her to take care of his cat. Lily looked at Monica. “You’re just going to let that fucker get away with threatening to kill him? That’s okay with you?”

“Lily,” Brian said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not—it’s not her fault. Look. 6, 7 months from now, I’ll have earned up and I can pay it off and come back.” He glanced over at Monica, his face silently imploring her not to say anything. “I was already looking at jobs near Albany. My friend Jake lives there and he’ll let me crash for a bit.”

He hugged her. “You should go get some sleep, okay? We’ll have time to say good-bye. But you look exhausted.” The clock was creeping closer to 3.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Lily" Monica said quietly "I think you need to understand that Brian is alive because of me. He took a gun down there. I'm reasonably sure he was thinking we weren't there to talk. Also there was no deal to be worked out at 200 dollars a month, because of the principal. It would have basically been interest only. you'd have paid 200 dollars a month forever. They are not going to look for Brian, they just don't want him to come back to Prospect City. That's a win." She looked at Brian "you need to get down to the bus station and take the first bus to anywhere. Good luck."

She was dead tired herself, and already resolved to skip class in the morning "I'll find you, Lily. Some time next week probably. for now, i need to head home and pass the fuck out. I have a real life too."

 

[Halcyon638]

Lily’s jaw hung open when Monica mentioned the gun. “Why do you have a fucking gun, Brian?”

“Lily,” he said. Brian looked at Monica. “Thanks. I’m sorry. For everything.”

After summoning the Sliver, Monica arrived home a little past 3:30. She was awakened by a soft, warm kiss on her cheek. “Baby, it’s 8:20,” she said. “You feeling okay?” When Monica explained the plan, Gabi covered her with the blanket again. “Okay. See you at lunch. Love you.”

Monica did manage to fall back to sleep for another hour before being awakened by dual texts.

Austin: You okay? I took a shit-ton of notes today in case you need them. Hope all is good.

Dad: Can’t wait to see you. Should be there around 2:30-3:00. Anything you need from the store? Love you.

 

[siobhancan99]

texted back "yeah, was up late. Thanks for taking notes." She was glad her dad was going to be early, as she was starving. She fired off a few expensive items like Tide and things they needed around the house. "Are we meeting up with Gabi's folks at all this weekend?" She texted "Also I thought we could hit this amazing taco truck when you got here, sort of pregame for dinner"

She rolled onto her back and sighed, replaying the earlier part of last night. She slid her hand down into her shorts and sighed again, thinking about Gabi as her fingers moved against her own body. She thought about them being Gabi's, being touched so softly and carefully. She slid a hand under her shirt and tugged on a nipple, imagining Gabi's hands all over her, her mouth... Her breath quickened as her finger circled, and she whimpered softly, letting out a little of her pent up energy. She twisted her own nipple, imagining the pretty latina getting a little rough, and she arched a bit, holding that thought as her hand moved faster, circling against her pussy, rubbing her lips against her clit till she came. "mmmm fuck" she lay still on the bed for a few minutes, then got up and showered, before looking to see about Morgan's article.

 

[Halcyon638]

James Bergenson texted back:

Sure. Will grab those things. I ran into Sara at Valu-Shop the other day and we talked about all of us maybe getting dinner tonight or tomorrow night. Unless you wanted it to be just you and me. In any case, tacos sounds great. Just let me know about dinner and see you soon.

Morgan’s article included the text of the full interview, only lightly edited for clarity. In the aftermath, Fiona Haigler had returned the money donated to her via Paterson Lowell’s father’s hedge fund, though a press release denied the funding had any influence on her stance. “Ms. Haigler’s tireless fight against crime and corruption in her ten years as a county prosecutor has earned her the support of countless business leaders, including the board of Knowlton-Fiennes, one of the financial engines driving Prospect City’s return to prosperity. With that said, to avoid the misperception that Ms. Haigler’s recent criticisms of vigilantism were influenced by having the support of Mr. James Lowell, one of five members of Knowlton-Fiennes’s board, Ms. Haigler will be returning the money and strongly encouraging Knowlton-Fiennes to donate the money to Beauchamp’s Children Hospital.”

When asked to respond to the comments regarding the Paterson Lowell case, Haigler said, “That’s an ongoing case, and I don’t think it would be appropriate to comment on it before all the facts are available.”

As Monica and Hadley were leaving their film class, Hadley said, “So, I thought we could all meet up at 12:00 on Sunday to go shopping for Halloween costumes. Gabi said she thought that time would work for you but said to check. You cool with that? Also…I was thinking about inviting Cameron. From the play. I don’t know. He’s kinda been…ugghh…do you sorta kinda think think there’s a chance he might…be into me?”

To the side of one of the paths alongside the quad, Detective Knapp sat on a bench, seemingly admiring the Halloween decorations in the windows of one of the nearby dormitories. “I’ll be skipping lunch, so say hey to everyone for me,” Hadley told Monica.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica texted "lets do a later dinner tonight, still tacos at 2. Maybe meet Gabi's folks around 730 somewhere nice Gabi and I can't afford. hint."

As she left class with Hadley she agreed "Sunday at 12 is perfect. I'll let Gabi know. I'm thinking Vampires, but Austin also invited us to a party... all of us by the way... and since he's injured I thought maybe I'd get me and Gabi some scrubs and fake blood and be his nurses." She laughed and looked around. "As for Cameron. Girl. get on that. He seemed alright. You know, stuffy and british but alright." She smiled at her friend, glad she was looking at some guy she actually knew from real life and not from social media. "He's into you, unless he's gay and I think he's just British."

When she saw Knapp she resisted the urge to wave. When Hadley said she was busy she nodded. "Im... glad you two are you know. Like. whatever." she gestured "I don't know that I'd patch up with my mother at this point so. Good on you. Glad its working for someone."

 

[Halcyon638]

James texted back, “Sounds like a plan.”

When Monica mentioned the party at Austin’s house, a confused look came over her face. “Oh. You two are still…friends? Umm…we’re still doing our party, right?”

Knapp caught sight of Monica and gave a wave. “Yeah, it’s…he’s trying to do something beside working. We’ll see how it goes. He’s tried before. Later.”

As Monica arrived at the dining hall where Gabi, Nick, and Layla were hanging out, her girlfriend broke into a wide smile seeing her approaching, getting up from her seat and giving her a light peck on the cheek. “Hey, carino. You get some more sleep?”

Before long, Monica had finished her writing class and was sitting down with her father outside her favorite taco truck, where the proprietor now seemed to recognize her. Gabi had had to make a last minute run over to the library, though Monica suspected she might have bowed out to give her and James some time alone together. “I have to say. I haven’t been eating that well since you left,” James remarked. “How about you? Are you and Gabi mostly making your own meals? If you need more meal points on your card, let me know.”

James took a hefty bite, then wiped his lips with his napkin. “It feels like it’s been forever. I was looking forward to you coming home last weekend before everything that happened. Sounds like you’ve been busy.” He glanced around, making sure no one was in earshot. “Wasn’t exactly expecting to wake up and find out that you’d given an interview to the school paper.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"yeah, we're still doing our party. His is the next night. That's why two costumes. Also we're still friends because he was actually very supportive of me and Gabi and also didn't ask for a threesome so. You know. He deserves to have a friend."

When she saw Gabi she lit up and kissed her, tugging on her lusciously full lower lip. "Hey Corazon. Maybe an hour. Austin texted and so did my dad. I was thinking late dinner with your parents? somewhere fancy? My dad can sit between us so there's no temptation."

Sitting with her father, Monica devoured an al pastor taco and looked out over the nearby quad. "Dad you gotta eat." She did do most of the cooking when she lived there, and she felt a little pang "When I come home for Thanksgiving I'll cook a bunch of shit and put it into single portion containers and freeze it, so you can just defrost it." her father, like her, had to eat an enormous amount of food a day. "You can't just live on beer and potato chips because they collectively get you to your caloric requirement. I cook mostly for Gabi and I and I have decent points. I got a job too, and basically its food money. Its pretty mindless. Physical work that they don't think I can really do because gosh things are heavy."

She blanched when her father brought up the article. "Hearts and minds. Haight kind of forced my hand you know? I can't inspire people and make them feel safe, and I absolutely can't get criminals to behave if she's out there saying that I'm fucking things up for the DA. Especially since it was readily apparent that her statement had to do with that little shitbag that she's not going to prosecute because he's a rich white guy."

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi purred and draped her arms over Monica’s shoulders. “Sounds good! As long as dinner’s not too late. I really should get to bed early tonight,” she said softly in a teasing tone.

Near the taco stand, James shrugged. “I’ll have you know I bought some of this Terra veggie chips where you pay 6 dollars and you get 3 chips and they’re good enough,” he replied, a twinkle in his eye. “Don’t worry about me.” When Monica mentioned the job, he furrowed his brow a bit. “You need money? You know, you could have asked me. Your job is to be a full-time student and…well…a part-time superhero, I guess.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” James said, “I’m proud of you. And you came off a hell of a lot more articulate than if I had had to give an interview on stuff like that on the spot. You get that from your mother. She could also put together an argument that would make you feel like an idiot for even questioning her.” A wry smile appeared on his face again, though his tone was weighted with some regret. “I might have donated some money to Daunte Ellis’s campaign,” he added, referring to one of the men Haigler was up against.

“I guess I just worry that the more famous you get, the more scrutiny that’ll come along with it,” James said. “You know that part of the deal when you and I decided you were going to get to live a normal life is you were going to do your best to make it as normal as possible. I support you. I just…worry,” he reiterated, balling up the wrapper in which his food had arrived.

“Sara mentioned something about a museum exhibit and a football game tomorrow,” James said, referring to the Hopper exhibit and the Prospect U Tigers game, respectively. “Speaking of which…am I going to get to meet this basketball player?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded "I know I just... I don't want to treat you like you're the bank of dad you know?" She sipped at her jarritos, letting the ultra sweet soda wash down her taco. "I don't know that life can be normal. Honestly dad its partially too much. All of it. and part of it is that so much of this had to do with Tom and now I'm falling in love with someone else and like... this little part of me is worried that like... I'm starting this thing and I can't stop it. And part of me knows I won't want to stop it. That mom was right. That we all need to be part of something bigger. That another person can't fill that void. I don't have a grand and glorious purpose. I have this and it feels good." She tossed her stuff away "you might meet Austin. He isn't my boyfriend though. He's very sweet and hot and a bit of a fucking manwhore. We had different notions of what being together meant. So we broke up."

She inhaled and turned "so you know, Gabi and I" She shifted a little, pausing. "We uh." She brushed her hand through her hair and tugged "well you know, uh."

James had a look on his face like he was trying to not laugh "What, princess? you're roommates?"

She glared at him as he sipped his soda. "We uh. you know are uh. kind of. well not kind of actually. A thing. Like. A couple. As of pretty much last week. I know I know its probably a terrible idea but."

 

[Halcyon638]

There was a brief flutter of James’s eyelids, but otherwise, whatever reaction he had had to the news about Gabi was measured, likely the product of years of Centauri conditioning regarding controlling one’s emotions. “Ah,” he said, not meeting her gaze. “Hmm. Well…Gabi is a great girl. She’s sweet and smart and ambitious. Not that I have to tell you any of this.”

James took a sip of soda, staying quiet for a few moments. “Do Sara and Orlando know?” He got up, walking now to the nearest trash receptable to deposit their garbage. “I have to say, it’s a little bit of a relief that I don’t have to worry about you dating some jerk or someone who’s not deserving of you.” He placed a reassuring hand on her back. “My standards were pretty damn high, so she’s probably the only person I know of who could meet them. At the same time…be careful. You two have been such good friends that it would be rough if anything were to get in the way of that. But it sounds like I’m telling you something you already know. And I’m the last person to ask for anything resembling relationship advice.”

“That was great,” he said to the truck’s proprietor.

As they were walking, they crossed paths with Porter. With him were a blandly good-looking couple, the man dressed in a freshly pressed suit, the woman in a ribbed sweater and dark pants, a silver cross hanging from her necklace.

Porter waved shyly as if trying to acknowledge her without attracting the couple’s attention. “Who is this?” the man asked.

Growing red, Porter said, “Uh, this is Monica. She’s, uh…a friend.”

“So nice to meet you,” the woman said, extending her hand. “I’m Elizabeth and this is my husband, Kevin.”

“A pleasure,” Kevin said, like his wife giving off heavy church energy. James gave Monica a brief, skeptical look and then extended his hand, introducing himself.

“It’s so nice of you to make friends with our son,” Elizabeth added. “It hasn’t always been easy for him.” Porter looked down at his shoes, as if contemplating digging a hole right beneath them to hide in.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded at her dad "Its a serious concern. Like, when we're fighting who do I go talk to? I mean I can't talk to mom because she fucked off and I can't talk to my best friend because that's who I'm fighting with." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "plus like, she holds me up on this pedestal a little and I feel like her disappointment is inevitable." She sighed "and no Sara doesn't know. She fucking freaked the fuck out after what happened to Hadley and threatened to ship Gabi off to state, like there aren't weird serial killer profs there. It was like, all this drama. Part of the reason she didn't is that I'm here. But there was a moment where she was like ... you're not family. So. I'm like one perturbed moment away from being that white dyke that's dragging her good catholic baby off to hell in comfortable shoes. So you know, this weekend if you could pretend not to know what you know that'd be just great."

When she saw Porter's parents, it sort of confirmed for her that if he took care of himself he might be a decent looking dude. Time to double down on the gym. Get him to eat right. "Hey Porter" she smiled and waved, taking her dad over. She turned to Elizabeth "yeah he's shy but he's a good solid dependable friend. You couldn't have raised a nicer guy. Really." She smiled at Porter "and we're getting him to open up a little."

 

[Halcyon638]

James gave a sympathetic nod. “Well…I hope you’ll stay friends, no matter what happens. I love Gabi. Yeah, I was wondering if her parents’ religion was going to be a problem.” He sighed. “Humans.”

Porter couldn’t help but smile at Monica’s comments, nor could his parents. “That is great to hear,” Elizabeth said.

“I trust we’ll be seeing you two at the reception tomorrow?” Kevin asked, referring to an event for parents and students being held at the Chevalier Hotel downtown on Saturday evening.

James looked at his daughter questioningly. “Probably?”

As they said pleasantries and walked away, James said, “So, what does Gabi know about you?” When Monica revealed what she’d told her, he went quiet for a while. “Kinda wished you’d talked this over with me first,” he commented. “I guess it’s a good sign that she didn’t run off the minute you started talking about it.”

That evening, Monica, her father, Gabi, and her parents went out to a nice restaurant. It had good reviews and a bit of a hipster vibe, only the quality of the food outweighed the pretension. As promised, James sat between Monica and Gabi, who was dressed a bit more demurely than she had been lately. Orlando and James talked about upgrading to 4K TVs and Orlando talked about a downturn in the insurance market.

“So,” Sara said, taking a forkful of her salad, “did I tell you who we just hired at the shop?” Sara ran a small florist’s shop in town.

“No,” Gabi said.

“Kayla,” Sara said enthusiastically. Gabi blinked a few times.

“Kayla? I thought she was working with her dad.”

“She is, but she wanted to pick up a few more hours to save for college and a trip to Europe in the spring,” Sara said. “You don’t keep in touch with her?” she said, looking at both girls. “I thought you were close.”

“No,” Gabi said a bit abruptly. “Not…not really.”

“Ooh, and Liam Sommers came home to visit one weekend,” Sara noted, a sly smile on her face, referring to a good-looking guy who’d gone off to attend Northeastern. “He asked about you, mija. He says he’s pre-med.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded "I made sure to imply you were fully human. I kept it all about mom. I got these powers from my alien mom. My alien mom went back to where she was from. So on and so forth. Your secrets are yours and not mine to share, but i've been lying to my best friend by omission for a decade and well" She paused "I can't start a relationship off with a lie. Plus she figured out I was the nighthawk before I told her, and finding out I'm strong and tough and stuff made that an easier pill to swallow."

Monica was torn on the Kayla thing. She didn't want to give Sara more reason to pry but she also wanted to sort of drive a wedge there. She contemplated saying Kayla ghosted her when Tom died, but ultimately left that go. Kayla was a lesbian landmine and blowing that shit up was a sure way to get Gabi shipped off to State. Though there was the fact that Kayla would have been Gabi's first. Still, just a better idea to leave that unexploded ordinance in the ground. "You know, I lost touch with a lot of folks after Tom. That was really on me. I was barely functioning so keeping up with everyone's tik-toks wasn't exactly high on my radar."

Teasing her girlfriend a little Monica grinned "oooh pre-med. Shame its so far away though, Northeastern." She grinned "Gabi and I aren't dating any boys right now. School is so much work and we have our whole lives ahead of us. Who wants to waste it on chasing some guy? Besides, Gabi's a bio major. She can go to med school herself and find herself a guy who actually makes it into med school. For all we know, Ian would wash out and just go to like...business school or something. Can you imagine?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Sara wore a sympathetic look as Monica explained the situation with Kayla. “Oh, of course,” she said, reaching across the table and touching her hand. “She said to say ‘hi’ to you two. She was looking forward to you visiting last weekend before everything that happened.”

Gabi smirked a bit as Monica teased her and noted they were not dating boys at the moment. “I’m glad to hear you’ve got your priorities straight,” Sara said. “Though maybe having a boyfriend would help keep you safe around here.”

Gabi rolled her eyes. “My soc professor said every twenty minutes someone gets physically abused by their partner.”

“You bring this up at dinner?”

Gabi sighed.

“So Monica, you got a problem with business school?” Orlando said with a good-natured grin.

“Someone has been taking online management classes,” Sara said, looping an arm around her husband and giving him a squeeze.

“You better be careful or I’m going to beat you to that Bachelor’s,” he said to Gabi.

“Didn’t know it was a competition, papi,” she said with a smile.

“So, have you made any friends at services here?” Sara asked Gabi.

Gabi hesitated. “Umm, no. I mean, everybody’s nice and all, but, it’s just—I don’t have a lot of time to hang out afterwards and get to know people.”

“The priest was so nice,” Sara noted. “And young! I bet he’s easy to talk to.”

“Yeah,” Gabi said, digging around in her risotto.

“Can you believe that Richardson game the other day?” James said, referring to the city’s pro team’s quarterback. As the discussion shifted to football, Gabi excused herself for a moment and went to the restroom.

A moment later, Monica received a text: “God, I need you tonight.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica texted back "I'd join you to make out but I don't want your mother walking in on us."

She made small talk about football, texting Gabi back again "Don't worry, I'm home all weekend. Once your parents leave tonight, I'm all yours. Though we might want to be prepared to wake up early so we aren't in someone's bed if they drop in." Being cheeky, she texted Gabi a few pictures of them dancing from that night in the club. "maybe we can recapture the moment"

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi texted back, “How do you always know the right thing to say to me?”

“So, James, are you coming to our Halloween party this year?” Sara asked. “I hear Samantha Tompkins is going as Catwoman. Just saying.”

Monica received another text after resending the pictures from the club. “I’ve been waiting for another excuse to wear that dress…”

A minute later, Gabi returned, giving Monica a fleeting, affectionate glance, before settling back in.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Dad you should go. Maybe you should give dating a local woman a try. They don't all have to be... Swedish" She grinned at him, then paused. Her dad was in his mid 40s by earth reckoning, and he looked substantially younger. She'd once asked her mother how long Centauri lived and she had said "most of us are killed in battle by our 60th birthday" When she had asked her mother about normal people like her father who weren't great house commandos her mother had looked at her as if she'd been asking about the lifespan of unicorns. She and her father had never broached the subject, but it might be something she needed to know. "Or if you want something younger our friend Hadley is boy crazy." she teased.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s father grinned, then took another swig of his microbrew. “I’m sure Samantha Tompkins wants to hear all about the exciting world of hydroelectric dam maintenance and repair,” he noted. Nodding to Monica, James observed, “This is the same girl who was just telling me earlier today I have to stop eating like crap and take care of myself. Not going to inflict myself on any poor woman until I get things together.” He gave Monica a squeeze with his arm.

“Oh, we couldn’t do that to Hadley,” Gabi added with a grin. “She’s been through enough.”

“All three of you now? Orlando, back me up, man.”

Before long, the remnants of dessert were on the table and Sara was attempting to pin down a schedule for tomorrow. “Okay. We pick you girls up at 9:00, then hit IHOP by 9:30. We’re at the museum by 11:15, 11:30. We leave for the game around 1:30. Does that sound good to everyone? Anything I’m forgetting?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed "there's a thing, in the evening. At the Chevalier hotel. If you guys are gonna be wiped out though we don't have to go...." She trailed off, not super into the idea of being at that sort of thing with her girlfriend and not able to touch her, but... she then thought that it would be ironic if there was some need for a superhero and she wasn't there. Plus poor Porter's parents were looking forward to finding out he actually did have friends. "So yeah, if you guys want we will head to that too."

 

[Halcyon638]

“Right, I was going to ask about that,” Sara said. “What do you think, mija?”

“Oh. Are you guys going?” she asked Monica and James. “I guess we could go.” Before long, Gabi was headed out to her parents’ car and Monica was headed toward James’s.

“Gabi, can I steal you for a second?” James asked.

“Umm...sure.” The dark-haired girl looked over hesitantly, then made her way over. “Be right over, guys,” she said to Orlando and Sara, who were already discussing tomorrow’s plans again.

James gave Gabi an affectionate look, then put a hand on her shoulder. “Normally, I would need to give you the whole ‘take care of my daughter’ routine.” The Latina looked down self-consciously, though the seeds of a smile graced her lips. “But with you, I know I don’t have to. I’m happy for you. For both of you.”

“Thank you,” Gabi said, gazing at Monica.

“Have a good night,” James said, waving to Gabi’s parents as well. He and Monica drove back to her apartment, the radio on softly. “Get some good sleep, ‘kay? Early morning and it sounds like Sara’s going to be putting us through our paces,” he added with a grin, giving her a hug on the doorstep.

Nearby, Orlando and Sara embraced Gabi and waved to the Bergensons before entering their SUV. Gabi had just barely shut the door and listened for the sound of their vehicles pulling away when she strode toward Monica, wrapping her arms around her tightly and pulling her in for a lengthy kiss. Her warm tongue slid against Monica’s with purpose. “Mmm. I missed your lips.” She gave her lover's ass a soft squeeze. “That was tough.”