^^Above, chapter title credit: Song by the Bangles.^^

{Geoffrey}

One year later.

I never thought I'd say this, but it's my daughter's first birthday today. She looks so much like Raina, her hair curly and fair, and her eyes the exact same blue-green, except for a brown splotch in the corner of one. Our doctor told us that was heterochromia, but it wouldn't affect her health or her vision. So we just left it. Besides, it gives her character.

When I get home that day, our housekeeper Mila greets me with a hug. I return it with a certain amount of confusion, pulling back to look at her.

"What's going on, Mila?"

"The baby, Mr. Geoffrey."

I follow her into the living room, seeing the furniture's been pushed back to make a clear area in the center. Raina's standing with Ettie's hands in hers, and she looks up when I come in, smiling at me.

"Raina? What's going on?" I set my briefcase down.

"I'll show you." Then she bends down, and to Ettie, she says, "Can you go to Dada now?"

Ettie waves her hands in response. Raina gently guides her forward, until she reaches the coffee table. Then Ettie grabs hold of that and takes a few shaky steps, stops, and then keeps going. When she reaches the end, with me only a few inches away, she seems to hesitate. After a second, though, she lets go, teeters, and there it is — the first step.

"Look at you, little Miss Ettie," I grin and catch her in my arms as she suddenly tips forward. "You're cruising."

"She didn't want to do it at first," Raina says, joining me and sliding an arm around my middle. "But I think she prefers you, honestly."

"You think so?" I switch Ettie to my other arm, and put my other one around Raina. I still can't believe that after all these months, that she's my wife. It took a long time after Ettie was born for us to get where we are — mostly because I was too busy with Dad's will and his assets and Raina was trying to figure out everything with the baby — but I'm glad we found it. "I don't know. You saw her this morning."

Raina sticks her finger out, and Ettie grabs it, shaking her entire arm. "I think it's because she doesn't understand why Dada's leaving every day."

"I wish I didn't have to." I kiss Raina's hair.

"I wish you didn't either." She drops her head to my shoulder. "But you know...have to make a living somehow, right?"

I sigh, and Ettie touches my lips. "Yeah."

"Hey, so I invited some friends over for dinner," Raina says, sliding out of my grasp and taking Ettie back in one movement. "You know...just for old time's sake. And to see Ettie, obviously."

"Really? Who?"

"Well...Matt and El, of course, and Hugo, Aisha, Jake if he can get away. And Hank too."

"Hank?" I furrow my brow. "Who's that?"

"El's friend. He's a super too," she tacks on when she notices my expression. "Don't worry. I haven't told anyone else."

"That's not what I'm worried about, it's..." I think of the piece of paper burning a hole in my briefcase. "You think you could have Mila take Ets for a second? There's something I want to show you."

"Sure." Raina's brow furrows with concern, and while she's gone, I rummage through my briefcase and pull it out. It's written on yellow legal pad paper, and isn't signed, but I know the handwriting well enough.

"This was on my desk this morning. No return address." I give her the piece of paper when she comes back.

"'I hope you haven't forgotten about me,'" she reads out loud. "'Because I haven't forgotten about you for one second. Don't try to escape what you already know, Cromwell. I'm coming for you, and you'll know what we could have done together.'"

I run my hand over my hair as she furrows her brow at it and reads it again, this time silently.

"Ridley?" she says softly after a while, her eyes worried.

"Yeah. Unfortunately."

"Is he trying to sound like a spiteful mistress?" Raina's brow is still furrowed, but now I see the hint of a smile tugging at a corner of her mouth. "He's definitely accomplished it if that's true."

"Funny, Matt said something similar before." I remember it too. If he wanted some time alone, why didn't he just ask you out?

"You know, I think he really looked up to you." She drops her hand, still holding the note, and runs the other one through her hair. "He probably just wanted to bask in your attention for a little bit. Any way he could."

"Yeah, I kind of figured. But is it a serious threat?"

"We'll talk about it later, if you want." Raina catches my cheek and rubs it, giving me a gentle kiss. Every time she does that, it's like we're college kids again. "I promised I'd go help with the appetizers."

"That's no fun." I loop an arm around her waist before she can get away, pulling her against me. Then I kiss her again, deeper this time. "I didn't think getting married meant you'd start being my wife."

"Geoff, stop it." She pulls away, blushing. "There's actual other people around."

"I know. That's why I do it." I grin. "Are you sure all you want to do is talk about that note tonight?"

"We'll see," she says, cupping both my cheeks. Then, after one more kiss, she's gone. Like I said, I still can't believe she's my wife. Which I mean in the best possible way this time.

≈

They start coming around five. Ellen is the first one to arrive, with a box wrapped in gold paper under her arm. She greets me with a one-armed hug, and a kiss to Ettie's forehead. Ettie smiles and takes both of her index fingers, shaking her hands.

"Look, she already knows what a handshake is." Ellen kisses both Ettie's hands. "I'd say that's successful parenting."

"El?" Raina's voice comes from behind me, and I turn just enough so they can see each other.

"Raina Cromwell. My favorite mommy." Ellen grins, passing me to hug her. Then she pulls back. "You look great, Rains. Really. And that dress looks fab on you."

"Anniversary present," Raina says, and although it's not in her face, I can tell she's flattered.

"And look at this." Ellen catches Raina's hand, inspecting the ring on her finger. "Nice rock."

Raina blushes.

They migrate into the living room, talking the way old friends do. I dandle Ettie a couple times, rubbing her cheek with my finger.

"You're still my best girl, aren't you, Ets?"

In response, she sticks her tongue out at me.

The doorbell rings again when I've left Ettie with Raina and Ellen. I go to answer it, and find myself pulled into a rough bear hug. It's Matt.

"Hey, Geoff," he says, clapping me on the back. "How's it goin'?"

"Never better." I cough. He's still as strong as ever, but looks different now. He's grown his hair out, into a cloud of blond curls, and he's in grown-up clothes, a turtleneck with a sport coat over it. And he's grown a beard. "You?"

"About the same. Hey, so can I see the little one?" His eyes light up in a way I've never seen before. "Gotta get some experience, right?"

"What?" That comment catches me off-guard.

"Met somebody." Matt winks. "Gonna have to introduce her sometime. Think she's the one."

Then he's gone, and a second later I hear Raina and Ellen greeting him. A third knock comes after that, and I open the door to find Hugo and Aisha there. Hugo's changed a lot too, and I almost don't recognize him. He's lost a lot of weight, and changed his hairstyle. And as Aisha comes in for a hug, I catch a glint of a ring on her left ring finger.

"So she's the future Mrs. Hugo Thomas, then?" I ask him, when she's joined our growing crowd in the living room.

"Yeah." He shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets. He seems confused, like it's all happening too fast. "I just kinda...jumped into it with both feet, you know."

"The only way to do it." I give his shoulder a punch. He never got around to getting us the rest of Walker's work, obviously, but now that I think about it, I don't know if we really needed it. We have Matt to thank for dispatching Ridley in the end.

Hank shows up right as we're getting ready to have dinner. Although his clothes are still a little shabby, and his haircut's uneven, and he's so thin it looks like he hasn't had a good meal in a while, he seems happy.

"I'm called Supernova now," he explains, sounding awed. "Barracuda came up with it."

"I like it," Ellen says, winking at him across the dinner table. "It suits you."

Jake doesn't show, but I expected that, honestly. He's halfway through law school, working towards real estate. He's busy, getting on with his own life. Just like we all are. And although that note from Ridley still sits in the back of my mind, I can forget it for a while, surrounded by my friends, sitting next to my wife, and watching my daughter play with her spoon. It may be an empty threat, and it may not be. Either way, it doesn't matter now, because I'm happy now, happier than I've been in years. And I can see many more ahead of me. It's the future, and it looks bright.

(And that's a wrap for part I of the Super Jerk prequel! I hope you liked reading it as much as I did writing it, although the first draft is a few years old now and needed some editing, yikes :P. Next part is the songs used for the chapter titles all together in one list – hope you'll get some 80s vibes from it!)