Ozzy kissed her back, grinning as he pulled away.

"Of course I won't forget. In fact..." he said, sliding one of his hands behind him to rest over hers, where the other cafe patrons couldn't see. Suddenly, she'd feel a tingling sensation as Tats, in his tattoo form, slithered onto her hand and up her arm, stopping on her shoulder for now, where the sleeves of her blouse would hide him.

  She shivered, and whispered breathily into his ear "That tickles . . . but I like it.  Got to have a good way to keep myself busy, right?  Does terrorizing you count?"  She winked, then kissed him again.  Oh yes, terrorizing was ONE way to put it . . . .

Ozzy couldn't help but grin as Clarissa winked at him, "If it helps you, go for it. I'm not sure if being thrilled is the same thing as being terrorized. We'll just have to find out, eh?"

  She giggled, and said "Make your pulse race and your cheeks turn bright red at any time, and without warning!  Bet some people will wonder though . . "

Ozzy blushed at that and smiled, "Yeah, maybe. But let 'em wonder. Just... promise me you'll stop if I need you to, okay? I don't think either of us will be very happy if a bad guy kills me 'cause I couldn't think straight."

  She said softly "When you need me to behave, just tell me it's Hero Time."

Ozzy nodded and whispered with a slight grin, "Got it. So the safe word is 'Hero Time'. I can remember that."

  She smiled, and said "Yeah.  After all, I want you in one piece, and not shot full of holes either.  You know, I bet your grandpa knows exactly what I've been doing to you.  And is laughing."  She cuddled a bit closer, so that he could feel EVERY INCH of her against him.

Ozzy shook his head, "I doubt it. Grandpa's the pretty stoic type. He hasn't laughed much ever since Grandma died a couple of years ago. Nah, he'd be more likely to chastise me for my 'improper behaviour', and remind me of what a gentleman and a lady do and do not do in public. He's really old fashioned like that. Fortunately, he doesn't make a habit of watching me when I'm in my civvies. Now, my Uncle Dave. If he knew about this, he'd laugh his ass off before giving me a high-five."

  She giggled, and said "That could be funny.  But, do you think your Grandpa would think he made a good chaperone?"

"You mean, do you think my Grandpa would think my Uncle Dave would make a good chaperone? Err, no. I don't think he would either. If I'd have asked him for advice about tonight, he probably would've just handed me a condom and said 'make sure you wear this'. While I do think I'm more like Uncle Dave than anyone else in my family, I do think that the others, as well as Tats' influence, have tempered me some. Now, if you mean, do you think my Grandpa would think he would make a good chaperone? Definitely. Like I said, he's really old fashioned, and there's no way anything'll slip by him. We probably would have ended up sitting on opposite ends of the table tonight," said Ozzy. He then whispered into her ear, "You know, you're really cute when you giggle like that. Of course, you're cute all the time."

  Clarissa smiled, and said "Do you think he'd count a couple of my cousins as chaperones?  So, if, like, they wanted to do a daytrip for shopping, you could come?  Keep me company, you know?"  She leaned against his chest, rubbing her cheek back and forth as she talked to him.

Ozzy smiled, "Yeah, as long as we're not alone, he should be okay. Like I said, I tend to be given a lot of 'leash'. And a shopping trip with you sounds like fun, even if we are being supervised."

He blushed slightly as she began to rub her cheek against him, enjoying the feel of her being this close. There was literally nothing between them now but their clothes, and once again those pesky hormones filled his mind with the sorts of thoughts that horny teenage boys tended to think. He tore his eyes away once again, wondering how much time remained. After all, they'd talked and talked of plans for the future, but none of that would come if he brought her home too late.

  He had 20 minutes.  Time to head her home.  She said softly "Are you going to be busy tomorrow, after about 9 AM?"

Ozzy shrugged, "Maybe. Depends on what sort of hero work comes in tomorrow. Why what's happening then?"

He then left a generous tip, and then started scooting them towards the edge of the booth. If she hadn't gotten out of his lap by then, he'd simply pick her up and carry her out to the car in his arms.

"Time to head home, unfortunately," he said, sighing, wishing that they could've had more time together.

  She giggled, and scooted with him, but didn't get up, rather, she held onto him, and held tightly to him as he carried her.  Just holding tight, although she let go to get into the car.  She reached up to pet Tats when she got her seatbelt on, and said with a giggle "You are so going to be blushing tonight . . . . I know you are.  Keeps MY mind off of things I don't need.  It's much, MUCH better to be thinking of how to make you blush and dream of me, than of what hunger screams aand claws at me."

Ozzy smiled softly, "It'll be a nice change of pace, for sure. I..."

He trailed off, his look becoming somewhat grim before he continued, "Ever since I fought Shade, I've been having a little trouble sleeping. I've just been so on edge. He nearly killed me the first time we fought, and given that he can port via shadows... well, I think you get why I'm worried. I haven't told most of the Defenders yet, I don't want them to worry about me. Still, knowing that I damn near died... it's a scary feeling, you know?"

  She hugged him, and said "Then you can tell ME if you need help.  Not that I could do much, but . . . I can hold your Tats close to me at night."

Ozzy smiled as she hugged him once again.

"Heh. Thanks. It's a bit of a story. It started when Dragon Fist messaged me, asking for my help with a tough case. Shade, also known as Michael Bertelli, the adopted son of Antonio Bertelli, had captured the head of the DPA and was holding him ransom, the ransom being a list of the current names and whereabouts of all the kids from a government facility where they'd studied para kids who were orphaned. Apparently, he wanted to get the old band back together or something, I don't know, nobody told me. Anyway, since D.F. asked for Grandpa's help, too, we were both arriving at the meeting place when..."

He continued to tell the story as he drove, and occasionally Tats would 'demonstrate' for Clarissa. Soon, they were back in Clarissa's neighborhood.

<b>>>>To the Suburbs>>>

----> arriving from Derring Condos, with Bella and the whole Eskin family


Finding a parking space too a bit of driving around and around until Rodger caught someone pulling out. From there, it was get everyone out of the car, the doors locked, and heading inside.

  Bella landed lightly beside them on the pavement, and said "You know, I have no idea what's in fashion, so don't worry about fashionable, but serviceable will be a good idea."

John gurgled something.

"No, we're not getting ice cream John. We're shopping for clothes." Rodger told him gently.

"I have no idea what's fashionable, either, Bella. I'll leave that to a lady's sense of taste, not a professional clown's," he commented to her as he got his bearings on what stores they were closest to.

  Brenda led the way toward Dots, a 'ten and under' store in the mall.  The stuff might not be stylish, but it was affordable and offered sensible things.

Pushing John's chair, Rodger followed, taking care as always to mind what was ahead for his son's safety. And keeping an eye on Harold as well as the ladies to be sure he didn't get into anything he shouldn't.

  Brenda and Bella were looking at the jeans.  Bella was tall and slender, so she was definitely going to be difficult to get properly fitted.