Authors Note: This is another brief anniversary chapter, celebrating the very first story that I ever published on Fan Fiction. That story was, of course, Sleep Tight.

With six years gone, my published words have increased to over 2.7 million words. Those 2.7 million words are currently made up of 921 chapters, across 31 published stories. My biggest story, Forsaken, has exceeded 1.2 million words and consists of 390 chapters. My next largest, Vengeance, has over 430,000 words and 81 chapters. There are many more ideas, chapters, and stories planned for the coming year, too. Some of my stories, including Forsaken & Vengeance are undergoing an update as I have time; hopefully improving the early parts of the stories somewhat. I also have a massive Forsaken Universe story which is currently on schedule to be published August 1st, 2020: Vigilante Fallout and you can find a teaser on my YouTube page – see my Profile. It will be my biggest story yet and brings together every part of my Forsaken Universe.

As I write this, the world is going through an era of unprecedented events caused by a tiny little virus which has threatened our very existence. It has caused hardship and sadness around the globe. Many of us have had to readjust our lives to work around the lockdowns and changes forced upon us. We have all had to find alternative things to keep us occupied and to focus our minds. In that vein, I write to alleviate my own personal fears for myself, my family, and my friends. Delving into my fictional universe gives me hope. I can imagine my characters under similar circumstances. Indeed, I wrote a chapter expressing some of my own frustrations through the eyes of the Lizewski household (see Chapter 7 – Lock Down of The Trials of Kick-Ass and Hit Girl). I will admit that working from home has given me more time to write, although I really hate being stuck at home, after all this time! Being unable to see friends and relatives has been the hardest, but I know that there are others around the world who are worse off than myself, so I can live with that.

To all who are reading this, stay safe, and as always, thank you to all my supporters and readers, for a brilliant sixth year. [17th June 2020]

This chapter picks up after Chapter 16 of Sleep Tight.

New York City

Sunday, July 23rd, 2014

The grumpy old man did not seem to think much of the surroundings.

"Can't you cover up, Mindy?"

"Marcus, it's sodding eighty degrees!"

"It's obscene, that's what it is."

"I think Mindy looks perfectly fine," Dave chipped in.

Marcus scowled at the young man.

"You would! Until last year, Mindy never dared to show so much as an inch of bare skin – now look at her!" Marcus groused.

"I am."

Marcus growled.

"Everything important is covered up," Dave added.

"Barely! I can see – never mind!"

Mindy could not stop herself from grinning as she lay stretched out on a sun lounger on the roof of her safehouse. Admittedly, the two-piece bikini severely stretched the word 'skimpy' to the limit, but she wanted Dave to see as much of her as possible, without embarrassing Marcus . . . too much. It was also the very first time that she had been able to persuade her guardian to visit her safehouse. He had not been all that impressed by the weapons wall which had caught his attention as he had stepped inside.

"Shades of Damon, this is!" he had commented as he had surveyed the instruments of death which his ward seemed to crave.

Admittedly, he had expected the safehouse to be exactly what it was – Mindy was Damon's daughter, after all. Marcus had long given up trying to make Mindy into someone different. Marcus knew that Hit Girl was a part of Mindy and always would be, as inseparable as she and Dave.

Marcus had not been incredibly pleased to learn that his ward had been sexually active for well over six months – the condoms a mortified Mindy had dropped one morning had given the game away. He knew that he could have run Dave in, but no, he loved Mindy too much to do that to her. He hated himself for even thinking it, but Dave was having a good effect on Mindy. Admittedly, seeing her in a bikini for the first time had been an eye opener, but in a pleasant way. Marcus had not seen that much of Mindy since he had last bathed her as a young child – so long ago, he thought wistfully. As he nestled into the garden chair with his iced tea, he thought back twelve years to when Mindy was just four years old and just six months away from Damon reclaiming his daughter. Mindy had been a normal child, playing with dolls and the like. She had been a loving angel. Now, she was still loving, in her own way, but her halo had slipped slightly along the way – actually, quite a bit! Seeing Mindy giggle and laugh like she had, all those years before, filled Marcus with happiness. For five years, Mindy had been his daughter, just as she had been for the past almost five years since the death of Damon.

There was so much of Kathleen in Mindy and that was good – in a way. Kathleen had always been strong willed, and she never backed down, but just like Mindy, she was like putty in the hands of the right man. Kathleen had loved Damon with all her heart and the impending arrival of Mindy had filled them both with so much joy and so many plans for the future . . . but then fate had cruelly intervened and Mindy's life had been torn apart before it had even begun. It always filled Marcus with sadness when he thought about how much Mindy had missed out on by not knowing her mother. But Marcus could see Kathleen there in the sixteen-year-old girl who was giving Dave sly kisses thinking that Marcus was not watching. Whatever Marcus did not like about how his ward behaved, he did not care; at the end of the day, she was happy, and that was all that mattered to the man.

If Mindy was happy, then so was he.

..._...

That evening, Mindy finished drying her hair after her shower and she decided to leave it down – she knew it sent Dave wild when it was like that.

However, she had to make a phone call, first.

"Hello, purple menace."

Mindy laughed.

"Thank you for coming over today, Marcus."

"I was impressed, but I saw so much of your dad there."

"I know, and I know that you have never seen eye-to-eye with my Dad about me and how he brought me up."

"He didn't do too badly," Marcus admitted. "What made me happy, though, was to see how much of your mother there is in you. Dave seems to bring Kathleen to the fore, and that's good to see – your mother had brains."

Mindy beamed, pleased to hear Marcus comparing her to the mother she had never known.

"Thank you for saying that."

"I know we have had our bust ups over the years, but you are who you are, and I can never change that, and I won't. You are happier than I have seen you in years, Mindy, and that means a lot to me. I know that the happiness is due to Dave and I will not get in the way of that."

"I love you, Marcus, and I always will," Mindy admitted.

"I love you too, Mindy."

"Sleep tight, Marcus."

"Sleep tight, Mindy."