My Super-powered Diary Chapter 47 Dolled Up By Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero?

After we were finished training and then showering for the morning, Mom and Andy had managed a few hours of sleep and decided that we should go to Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House for breakfast. We planned on spending most of the day there anyway, and I missed Peaches and wanted to let Hana know that I was okay. I would have called the night before and left a message but we hadn’t gotten home until after midnight, there was all the other stuff to deal with, and I didn’t want to risk waking her. I had briefly texted her, but I didn’t feel that was as reassuring as hearing the voice of the person that you love or seeing them in person.

“Oh my God! I just thought of her as the person I love!” I thought halfway through braiding Fawn’s hair as we were getting ready to go. She was dressed in her usual comfortable fairy clothes and would be ready to go once I finished with her hair. I had planned to just wear my hair in my usual loose style, but I was still in my bathrobe and would need to decide on what to wear for the day.

“Merida? Merida, are you okay?” Fawn’s voice inquired from in front of me, snapping me out of my semi-stupor.

“Aye, sorry, Fawn,” I told her as I resumed braiding her hair. “I was jus’ lost in thought.”

I finished braiding her hair and tied it off before going to look in my closet for something to wear. I was still a bit floored by my earlier mental self-confession and I was a bit torn as I stared at the clothes hanging in front of me and tried to decide what to put on. I was getting nowhere fast when Fawn placed a hand gently on my shoulder. “What’s wrong, Merida?”

“Oh, it’s nothin’ I jus’ cannae decide wot tae wear,” I admitted with a sigh. Fawn was my best friend, and even though we both preferred comfort over getting all dressed up I valued her opinion and knew that she wouldn’t judge me for what I was thinking. “I… it’s kinda a special day, an’ I’m wonderin’ if’n I should wear sumthin’ special.”

“Is this Labor Day thing really that special?” my Fairy friend asked.

“Nae, well sorta, it is a holiday an’ all. Tha’s no’ wot I meant though,” I answered with a sigh, trying to figure out how to put it into words and blushing brightly at the mere thought. “Hana’s treatmen’ is today. If’n e’erythin’ goes right she’ll be ‘erself agin, an fer the rest o’ her life. Either way it’s goin’ tae be a mem’rable day fer her. An’ I got sumthin’ important tae tell ‘er…”

“You’re going to tell her how you feel about her, right?” my bestie guessed.

“Aye,” I replied, my face likely glowing a brighter shade of red than my hair. “Bu’ should I dress like I normally dae or wear sumthin’ special… fer her.”

Fawn considered the question for a moment. “I think she’s going to remember it fondly either way, because it’s you and I think she feels the same way for you that you do for her. You can be yourself and I’m sure she’ll be happy with that, because it’s you and she knows that you dislike getting all gussied up as much as I do, but what do you want to do?”

She was right, either way Hana would probably just be happy to have me around. She had seen me in dresses before and seemed to like it, but she also took me for who I was and didn’t want to pressure me to be anyone but me. So what did I want? I took a deep breath and looked at the dresses to the right side of the closet. “I dinnae really like dresses, bu’ it’s a special day fer her, an’ I think tha’ I wan’ tae show ‘er tha’ I may no’ be big on bein’ all pretty an’ feminine, but tha’ she’s worth daein’ tha’ fer sumtimes.”

“I’d help you Merida, but I have even less experience with that kind of stuff than you do,” Fawn said apologetically.

“Mebbe ya kin ‘elp wi’ ma hair?” I thought aloud before realizing that I was going to need a lot more help than that as I looked down at the chipped black polish on my fingernails. I was getting okay with make-up, but the only look I ever really used was a punk look, with heavy eyeliner and daring colors for eyeshadow and lipstick. I could do a Goth look too if I really wanted, but other than that I didn’t know how to do anything else really.

*Tasha and Vanessa, are you out of the shower yet? I could really use some help here,* I sent to my sisters along our psychic network. I would have included the twins and Brooke, but they knew even less about make-up than I did.

*I just finished getting dressed, what do you need, Mer?* Vanessa offered.

*I’m still learning to use make-up and I’m only good with one or two looks but I’m not going with the punk look today so I want something more normal that will look nice and go with the dress I’m going to wear,* I admitted sheepishly. *I want to look nice.*

*For Hana, no doubt,* Vanessa replied cheerfully. *Sil and I will be right there, Mer.*

A moment later Vanessa opened my door and stepped inside with Silvermist fluttering in behind her. The mermaid took one look at the dress that I was examining and grinned. “That’ll look great on you, the color will make your eyes pop and stand out against your pale skin and bright hair. Let’s get you dressed and we can get your nails done first. The rest we can do as we’re waiting for them to dry. You’ll want a strapless bra with that one, Mer. Fawn, could you braid her hair? I think with that dress we want a more refined look.”

The dress in question was Meghan Taylor original, an aqua-hued satin skater dress with lace trim at the neckline and mid-thigh hem and delicate shoulder straps that left my shoulders mostly bared. It had a bodice style front with gold lacing and showed off a bit of cleavage, though not too much as Meghan had stated, since I was only thirteen after all. Meghan had coordinated a lot of my more feminine outfits when making my wardrobe to make things easier on me, so once I found the matching strapless bra and panty set in the same color as the dress it didn’t take me long to get properly attired.

The down side to wearing a dress like this was that my usual sneakers or combat boots weren’t going to go well with it, so Vanessa suggested a pair of open-toed sandals in what she called ‘eggshell white’. The sandals had a one and a half inch heel, but it wasn’t too much higher than the heels on my combat boots so I was able to walk in them without too much trouble. She also insisted on a white clutch purse to match, instead of my usual backpack purse. I didn’t have one, but she did and quickly transferred everything from my regular purse.

She didn’t let me put the shoes on though, those would be the last thing we put on since she made quick work of removing the black polish from my fingernails and then did both those and my toenails in a sparkly green polish that she thought would go well with the dress and my eyes. “I didnae think this would take so bloody long,” I grumbled. My stomach had been making similar protests while waiting for my nails to dry and when I get hungry I tend to get a little irritable. Still, I wanted to look my best and Vanessa said that it would be worth the time and effort to do it right.

“They’re mostly dry now, Mer,” Vanessa offered sympathetically. “We won’t be too much longer and you’re going to look great. Let’s get started on your face, but pay attention so you can start doing this on your own, Tasha or I may not be around every time you want to look hot for your girlfriend. Fawn, you should pay attention too. Now that you’re going to be human-sized part of the time you should really know how to do your own make-up for those days when you want to look your best.”

Then she got to work as Fawn and I tried to pay attention. She said that the secret was to make it look like you’re hardly wearing any at all, which didn’t make any sense to either me or Fawn, since she seemed to be using a little bit of everything in the make-up kit we had bought on that first shopping trip from hell. All the while she and Silvermist chattered away about making me look elegant rather than edgy and what would work best for that. I did have to hand it to them though, Silvermist could be a bit of a ditz but she certainly had that refined lady thing going and it seemed to have rubbed off on Vanessa, at least whenever the mermaid wasn’t swimming or surfing.

When Vanessa finally moved out of my field of vision and let me look into the mirror of my vanity I was a little bit stunned. I looked good, really good. The girl staring back at me could have been fifteen and my green eyes looked huge, but it was definitely me. Fawn had finished braiding my hair and it added an air of sophistication to my appearance. Hana was barely going to recognize me. I barely recognized me. “I... ‘Nessa… wow,” I said as I gazed uncertainly at my reflection.

“See, you’re looking good, Mer.” Vanessa said with a grin.

“She looks flitteriffic,” Silvermist agreed, beaming.

Fawn’s stomach and my own growling in concert snapped me out of my trance, “Aye, thanks, all o’ ya. Kin we go eat now?”

“Get your shoes on and grab your purse and we can get going so the two of you can eat, everyone else is probably already ready to go,” Vanessa said with a laugh.

When we got downstairs everyone was already waiting, just as we had expected. “Sorry we took so long, I…” Everyone was staring and it made me feel a little bit self-conscious. “Maybe this was a stupid idea after all,” I thought morosely.

The flash of the camera on Mom’s cellphone dazed me and put an end to that line of thought. “Sorry, bu’ you look beautiful Merida, I needed a picture in case this never happens again. What brought this on?”

I was pretty sure that my face was bright red under all that make-up. “Wot? A girl cannae wan’ tae look ‘er best?” My stomach growled again and I looked at the floor.

The twins each grabbed an arm. “You look awesome, Merida! Let’s go!”

Tasha was the only one not smiling as we reached the door to leave. In fact, her face fell into a frown as Andy opened the door. *Mom, Andy. That Agent Gillis guy is somewhere out there watching the house. He’s waiting for us to leave.*

Mom surprised us all by replying, *I know, Tasha. He’s wearing one of the infiltration suits. He’s probably hoping to do a search of the house while we’re not around and maybe find the surveillance footage from last night, as if I would make it that easy. I put trackers in all the suits and the house security system has countermeasures for them in place in case the HAA tried to pull something funny. We should get going. The sooner we leave for breakfast, the sooner he’ll trip my security system.*

We were nearly at the restaurant when Mom’s phone emitted a siren. She glanced down at it, finger-swiped a few times and then turned to smile at those of us in the back seats. “Did they really think I wouldn’t take precautions against ma own tech? As I thought, he tried ta use Andy’s appearance, retinal information, and biometrics from his HAA file ta enter the house. He almost got to my lab before the thirty second delay tha’ I programmed kicked in ta override the suit’s systems and put it in confession mode. I’ve got the footage an’ he won’t be movin’ a muscle until we get home and call the police to pick him up.”

“Confession mode?” Brooke asked.

“A little insurance policy in case the HAA ever used the suits ta do somethin’ they shouldn’t,” Mom explained. “The suit’s primary systems deactivate, the hood becomes transparent ta reveal the wearer’s identity, an’ every other part o’ the suit from the neck down exudes a fast solidifyin’ silica-gel tha’ hardens inta a solid foam with the tensile strength o’ yuir standard diamond. The suit’s internal systems switch over to detect heart-rate, galvanic skin responses, oxygen intake, pupil dilation, an’ several other factors to become an extremely accurate lie detector fer when we or the police wan’ ta talk ta him. Since only I can make the substance ta dissolve the foam he’s trapped in, he won’t be goin’ anywhere ‘cept ta cool off in a cell when we get home until he’s made a confession.”

“Remind me to never break curfew or anything else that might make you mad at me, Mom,” Brooke muttered, her eyes wide.

Andy pulled the SUV into the parking lot of Paul Bunyan’s Pancake House and we all got out of the vehicle, though Tasha and Vanessa had to remind me how to do so without showing the world my underwear. I was absolutely starving as we stepped inside the restaurant. The place was packed, but that wasn’t surprising since it was a holiday and the restaurant would be closing early for the day just after lunch. Still, it seemed like the Forrester’s had saved us space at the regular pair of tables that we ate at.

Both Hana and her mother Kasumi were already tucking into their breakfasts, but they were the only ones there since most of the guests for the day weren’t expecting to show up until that afternoon once the restaurant was closed for the day. Hana was trying to eat her own breakfast while making sure that Peaches wouldn’t choke on hers. Neither she nor her mother noticed us until we were nearly at the table and Peaches suddenly looked up and crooned happily at me.

“Aye, Momma’s ‘ome, ya wee pink baby,” I said with a smile. She crooned again and then went back to her breakfast and I felt my heart flutter nervously as Hana looked up at me. What if I was wrong to do this? What if Hana didn’t like me going all girly like this?

She was staring at me like a deer caught in headlights for a brief instant and then she was on her feet. Before I knew it she had crossed the distance between us, wrapping me up in her arms and planting a kiss on me that made my legs turn to jelly. I reciprocated, quickly showing her at that moment what I wanted so badly to tell her in words. When we finally came up for air she smiled and laughed giddily. “Your reward for coming back to me,” she told me breathily.

“Aye, I’ll try no’ tae be leavin’ ya like tha’ agin any time soon, though mebbe I should if’n tha’s the welcome back I’m goin’ tae ge’,” I replied with a giggle. I firmly told myself that it was okay to giggle when I was as happy as I was, after all I was already dressed all girly.

“You… you look amazing, Merida. I think I really messed up your lip gloss though. I can help you fix it later,” she said as she took a step back to get another good look at me, holding my hands in her own. Those words, that look in her eyes, they made every second that we had spent getting me ready worth it. “You didn’t do all this for me did you?”

My breath seemed to catch in my throat and my heart leapt about wildly in my chest as I blushed bright red. “I… I thought tha’ since it’s a big day fer ya tha’ I’d…” I tried to get out the words but my tongue seemed to be stumbling even worse than usual and I felt so hesitant. I wasn’t used to feeling that way.

“You didn’t have to do all this for me, you know that I like you for who you are, not just because you’re a pretty girl. right?” I knew that she meant every word of it. Still, she liked seeing me like this and I found that I kind of liked that she liked it. Because I knew that while she would gladly take me as I was, that she appreciated the effort that I had gone through to try to be beautiful for her. It was frightening sometimes just how deeply I cared for her after so little time together, the strength of the bond we seemed to share.

“If’n all goes well this’ll be the first day o the rest o’ yuir life… our lives. This isnae sumthin’ I’m used tae, an’ I’m no’ shoor if’n I will dae it often, but ya ken… I think tha’ sometimes getting’ all dolled up kin be nice. It’s worth it tae make maself beautiful fer the person I lo…” I flushed bright red and pulled her into my arms, well aware that our parents, my whole damn family, and every Fairy in existence were watching and listening intently to every damn word. For now though I wanted those words to be just between us, so I softly kissed her earlobe and whispered them, my voice tremulous as I held her close. “I... this is crazy, aye? I’ve no’ been wit’ ya long and I dinnae ken much aboot this girl stuff yet, bu’ I dae ken one thing fer shoor. I love ya Hana, an’ I’ll stick wit’ ya no matter wot, as long as you’ll ‘ave me.”