Reheat

"So Hilda died?"

Dave nodded and paused the show at the end of the episode. "Yeah. She does. There are a few deaths. Mostly "bad guys" but Hilda dies early in the series." He looked at Melfina. "Do you need a moment? That's a good place to stop for a bit."

Melfina nodded. "It's a bit sad. I didn't know Hilda very well before but... she took from where they were holding me and treated me fairly decently. But I didn't know much about her really. I learned more about her in just these past couple of episodes than I knew before now."

Dave got up and stretched. "Not surprising. She's that type of person and story wise it adds to the plot, unfortunately for her. I'm going for thirds." He headed for the kitchen.

"Right behind you," Tink said flitting after him.

Harley called out, "Grab us some too, ok?" She looked at Melfina. "Do you need to talk about it?"

Melfina shook her head. "No... I am a bit sad but I barely knew her. I suppose that's just a part of life for all living things. Things live and then they die... still it makes me sad her **** is just a "plot device" in a story. She was a real person to me."

Harley smiled. "That's how it is. Almost all Characters are just that here. Characters from some story. Whether it's a Book, comic, show, movie or game. To the people of Prime they are fictional realities that they managed to learn to cross over into. RealDreams has, and works hard, to maintain a monopoly on that. Dave's father was their first wildly successful explorer and agent ages ago. Kinda a living legend. Might be a minor part of the chip on Dave's shoulder. Hard to compete with that. Idiot. Nobody's competing but himself. His folks are just the sweetest and he's coming around. He's always been a "mommas boy" too."

Melfina laughed softly. "Is that so? What's she like?"

Harley shook her head smiling. "She's a lot like you. Different of course. She's both more and less human than you are but she was "created" too. Through magic she became a "real" person... but she was always a real person anyway. She always had a soul. Her logic's a bit fuzzier than yours but she was..." Harley thought about her teenage years growing up at the ranch. "She was one of the most special, crazy and wonderful people I ever met and an awesome mother. All of them were awesome mothers infact! Which is good cause he's gonna be a big brother again. It looks like Kali is pregnant. Again."

Melfina blinked. "I take it he has a lot of brothers and sisters then?"

She rolled her eyes. "The Gardners may have the numbers but the Starks are coming up fast from behind. Some of those ladies are baby crazy! But back to Dave's birth mother? She's as amazing as his old man! If his father is the star they all orbit then She's the one that sets them all spinning in their orbits, happily around him. Her "garden of love and happiness". Or maybe she's the Sun and Neo provides the shade? I dunno. Her analogies and logics a bit fuzzy in places but usually makes sense. Like I said she's crazy in a way but it's a wholesome kinda crazy."

Harley shook her head. "Either way it's amazing. It's like an old sitcom, if the writers were unbalanced geeks and nerds who did **** all the time, there but it works because they all work hard to MAKE it work. Growing up there I realized love and happiness take work and you get what you put into it. Which is why it's important to have the right partner. That's what I want. What we want. For Dave, Tink, myself and now you if you're open to it. Our lives are gonna be different but that's the basic model we want to build off of for ourselves."

Melfina smiled. "I see! Love and happiness take work and care to nurture it, make it grow and keep it blooming naturally. Thank you, Harls. That was extremely informative! I shall try to do my part in working hard to build happiness too!"

Harley laughed and grinned. "See? You're a bit like his mother is. You and Dorothy when she gets here should really meet with her and Curie and the rest sometime!"

"Urgh," Dave said coming back in with Tink who was giggling. "Let's not rush into that please? I don't want to go "home" especially now that we have our own!"

(("Speaking of, I'm not "nagging" you but you have another message from "Home", Dave."))

Dave sighed handing Harley her plate and Tink handing Melfina hers. "Dammit Pepper. Just tell them I'm still busy getting settled in! Some of them can come visit once we're all settled... like in a decade maybe!"

"Don't be a fucking baby," Tink said making Dave frown. "They fucking love you and are excited for you. Deal with it."

"I'm not a baby," he said. "I'm a grown man and-"

"And you'll always be their precious little boy no matter how old ya get," Harley stated. "Tink's right. Deal with it and at least call your mother!"

Dave sighed and nodded turning on the show again. "Fine. I'll be back in a bit I'm getting a drink. Pepper call "Penny", please?" He started walking away. "Hello, Mom- Mom! Don't call me that... I'm not five years-old anymore! I know... I love you too. Tink and Harls said to call you... No, we're still settling in... my uncle wants to say "Hi"? Who do you- *Sigh* Hi, Zwei. How are you? That's good... I'm fine..."

Harley and Tink start laughing. "Who is Zwei?" Melfina asked.

"The dog," they said still laughing. "He's going to be on the "phone" for awhile if Zwei and Ruby are with Penny."

Sure enough he was on the "phone" a long-time and they watched another two episodes before he came back.

"No, I'm going to get my own head of security... Yes I plan to have them get 3S trained... No, a custom job... Yes for myself... I'm thinking one of the maids... *Sigh* Yes they can join Roberta and Sayoko's "Battle Maid Corps" if they want to... I know... I know... we love you too... Bye, Mom." He sits down. "Awwww... I better reheat my food." He grabbed his plate and stood back up heading for the kitchen.

"You talk to yer dad?" Tink yelled.

"He wasn't in," he called back. "Somebody goofed on some planet and he's off playing zombie pied piper or arm wrestling Hades or whatever. Pepper reheat, please?"

(("I can't do that, Dave."))

"What- oh, yeah," he said. "Not fully integrated yet. Damn we need to get that and these appliances updated. What button do I push?"

"Who knows," Harley said unhelpfully.

"Just hit the "minute plus" button and keep doing it til you're happy," Tink called out.

Dave did. "What did I miss?"

"Aisha's reappearance and Suzuka's appearance," Tink said.

"They just returned to Sentinel III and the K pirates have shown up," Harley said trying not to give anything away to Melfina.

Dave thought and nodded. "Gotcha... Ow! Too hot! And cold in the middle! Alright these appliances suck and definitely need updating. Sad... we had better stuff in the basement. This stuff is older than I am. Pepper calculate the best upgrades with the space available and work up a list of suggested models for us?"

(("I'd be happy to... but I am not integrated into the-"))

"The kitchen system yet, right," Dave sighed. "How about if I leave my phone on the counter? We can move you from room to room and you can work out a list of our upgrade requirements?"

(("That should work satisfactorily for the time being but it is far from an elegant solution, Dave."))

Dave nodded taking his food carefully out again satisfied with how hot it was now. He placed his phone on the counter. "Completely understand. Trust me getting you full integration is among the highest on the priorities list, Pep."

Pepper created a holographic representation of "herself" from the phone. Dressed similarly as before but this time wearing an apron of sorts. Likely because she was in the kitchen. She began looking around the room. ((Thank you, Dave. That's very nice to hear. Scan complete. Begining creation of a 3d representation of the kitchen and suggested upgrades."))

Dave smiled. "No, no. Thank you, Pepper. You're awesome." He walked back out to the living room.

[David Stark Pepper Tinker Bell Harley Quinn and Melfina VSD02C

Will Return In

Heating Up On the Couch

Coming Soon]