The Last Good Day

The Last Good Day

by Kat

Kate was finally home. It had been a long day.

She walked through the door and was pummeled by a chocolate Labrador. Brutus. Kate picked the dog up and held him like a baby. “How is my good boy? Did you destroy anything today?”

A familiar voice came from the kitchen, “I got home 45 minutes ago, and discovered the trash spread out all over the living room. So, the answer is yes.” She looked up to see her husband come around the corner.

She set Brutus down and walked over to Dave. “Good thing you’re his dad. You can clean up the mess in less than a second.”

He smiled as he met her and wrapped her in his arms. “Yes, but I shouldn’t have to. We need to get this dog trained!”

“Oh shush, he just misses us. I would raise hell if you left me for a couple of days, too!” Kate smiled as she breathed in his scent. He must have showered when he got home. She could smell the body wash and shampoo that they had just bought at the store the previous day. He had let her pick her favorite, blue cedar and cyprus.

Dave pulled away and looked her in the eyes. “That’s days. He was left alone for a few hours!”

“I guess we can look into it. Anyway, what is for dinner? It smells delicious!” She exclaimed as she started towards the kitchen.

He zipped in front of her and blocked her path. “So, uh,” he began sheepishly. “I started to make the fancy chicken that we had at that restaurant in Italy because I wanted to surprise you… but I burned it, so I ran out and got Chinese.”

Kate laughed, ” I appreciate the thought! After the day I’ve had, I could probably eat something out of the dumpster behind McDonald’s.”

“Awww, I should have just kept the chicken then. I threw it in the dumpster behind McDonalds!”

She laughed again and pushed him aside. “So, what did you do today?”

Walking to the counter, he grabbed the food and took it over to the table. “I caught some robbers down at the bank on 3rd. Nothing too fancy. They were in handcuffs in the police cruisers before they even realized I was there.”

“Impressive!” She grinned as she sat down and opened her container. She loved hearing about his day, and he was always so happy to share his experiences. “I don’t know why people even bother to commit simple crimes like robbery. They get caught every time. Why risk it when you live in Freedom City? There must be a better use of their time.”

“I’m not sure, but it gives me something to do, so I don’t mind. I also got to interview Derrick this morning for the daily paper. They wanted to know what made him change his ways and become Mortis. It was fun to watch him pretend to not know me. Cody got some really nice pictures, too.” He gave her a knowing smile as she groaned at the mention of Cody, Dave’s photographer who didn’t seem to know that women were people and not objects. He nudged Kate’s hand. “What about you? Anything exciting?”

“Today was a sad day. Daedalus and I went to help out a girl who was being held hostage by her father. He kidnapped her from her mom’s house and was demanding money in exchange for her life. There was a bomb strapped to her, and he had a speaker set up outside so that he could state his demands. All the windows were bolted, doors locked, and he kept saying that if I got close to the house, he would blow them both sky high. Daedalus tried to negotiate, and we were on the phone with Fletch who was going to lend us the money he was demanding when the father’s finger twitched. They both blew up right in front of us.” A tear fell down Kate’s cheek. “She must have been so scared. I should have been able to do more. I’m Centuria for heaven’s sake.”

Dave gave her a sad look. “Unfortunately, even we can’t save them all. There are some really horrible people out there. You did everything that you could.” he reached out and wiped the tear from her cheek. “That girl deserved better than what she got. Some parents…” he cut off, banging his fist on the table.

Kate hesitated. “I know this is a sensitive topic, but… do you ever think about expanding our family? I’m not even sure how our DNA patterns would work together, but do you ever think about giving it a try?”

Dave stared at his clenched fist on the table. “Kate, I-” he unclenched his hand and ran it through his red hair. “I don’t know if I would make a good dad. What if… What if I go bad like my dad?”

“Dave! You have one of the purest hearts I’ve ever seen. You are the most compassionate, caring, and all-around good person I have ever met. That’s why I married you! That’s why you became Overdrive! You wanted to help people. You could never be like him.”

Dave exhaled heavily and looked up with a hopeful gleam in his eye. “You think so?”

She smiled and grabbed his hand. “I know so.”

Dave stood up and glanced towards the bedroom. “Well then, we better get started!” he joked and started pulling Centuria with him, their meals forgotten on the table. She ran her hands through his hair and reached up to press her lips against his when they heard a loud banging on the door accompanied by the sound of Brutus barking.

They looked at each other and Dave zipped over to the door, while Centuria followed slowly behind. “Gemma?” she heard him say.

She came around the corner to see Gemma standing in the doorway, a panicked look on her face and her normally tan skin looked sallow. “Una’s back”. She grabbed onto Dave’s forearm and looked Centuria dead in the eyes, loose dark hairs from her braid whipping around her face. “Una’s back, and she’s coming for us.”