"Ellis, time to get up!" Adam said as he shook her awake.
Ellis stared at him blearily, before she grabbed the blankets, and pulled them over her head.
"Just let her sleep." Ash said from the hallway.
Ellis sat up immediately, clutching the blankets to her chest.
"What're you doing here?" she glared at Ash.
"You're dressed, just so you know." he pointed out wryly.
Ellis glanced down, realized she was wearing a pretty black lace nightgown, and cocked her head to the side trying to decide if it was better or worse than being naked. Then she shrugged. It was Ash, and if he had any lecherous thoughts, Adam would kill him. It was all good.
"You were supposed to start training today. Of course I am here." Ash said with a sigh.
"Oh yeah... that." Ellis turned her glare full throttle on her fiancé who blinked at her innocently. He had decided that she needed to get better at hand to hand combat, and ahd somehow conned her into agreeing to be taught, and Ash into teaching. Apparently, Adam didn't think he'd be able to teach her properly.
"Get up, love." Adam said calmly, completely unfazed by her death glare.
"But..." Ellis started, but Adam just gave her calm eyes. Ellis sighed, and nodded. Then she turned a narrow eyed look on Ash.
"Out!" she snapped.
"What did I do?" Ash whined.
"Ash." Adam said coldly and Ash gave Ellis a dirty look before he moved out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Ellis pushed the blankets away and slid out of bed. She could feel Adam's eyes on her as she walked to the washroom and gave him a sexy smile over her shoulder. "Like what you see?"
"I love what I see." he drawled. "But even that is not going to get you out of this."
Ellis stuck her tongue out at him, and she slammed the door of the washroom so hard that it's hinges rattled. Adam laughed.
...
"You ready?" Ash asked, looking apprehensive. Ellis had had a murderous aura around her ever since she had come downstairs. He had no idea what Adam had done, but he sure has hell was not grateful for it.
Ellis nodded, and for the first time, Ash realized that all the anger was just a cover. He was teaching her actual physical combat, and now he understood why Adam could not teach her. Ellis knew how to fight, what she really needed to learn was to master her fear of other people in general, and other men in specific. He slowly advanced on her, but instead of making it silent, he kept talking as he moved, telling her how he was moving, how she could counterattack, where she could side step and where she should press her advantage.
Soon it was all about the physical movements, and the only thought left in her mind was the next attack; the next counter. Adam watched it all from the side and not once did he interfere. Not even when Ash accidentally landed a punch on Ellis's ribs.
"All right! That's it for today." Ash said finally, and Ellis simply collapsed on the mats. Adam had converted the basement into a gym. Half of it was weights and machines, while the other half was a dojo. The poor laundry machine had been given one teeny tiny corner. She had thought the dojo was for him to train with his team mates. Now she knew better.
"Wanna do a round?" Ash asked Adam. Ellis's head snapped up. Maybe the dojo had multiple uses after all, just like the rest of the gym; where she worked out thrice a week of her own free will. Just like the shooting range they had set up at the back of the house. She practiced there at least twice a week too, and she was an excellent shot. Otherwise Adam would have been on her case to learn that too.
Adam saw Ellis's look and gave her a small smile, before giving Ash a nod. Then he pulled off his shirt and walked to the centre of the mats.
"Foul! Distraction technique! Put your shirt back on." Ellis called.
"Not for me!" Ash said with a grin.
"I am putting on a show for you, darlin!" Adam chuckled, giving her a world class leer.
Ellis moved to the side to watch them, chuckling. They were both very good, and very dangerous. She had known Ash was holding back with her, but now she realized just by how much. They kept at it for nearly 30 minutes, but there was no victor, and Ellis decided she had had enough.
"I'm going upstairs for a shower. If you want to join me Adam..." she let that trail off as she started to walk away but next thing Ash was flat on his back and Adam was striding purposefully towards her. Ash's laughter followed them both all the way up.
...
Ash looked at Ellis in surprise. He had just come downstairs from taking a shower in one of the guest rooms, that had mostly become his room when he was here, and she was already in the kitchen.
"How can the two of you take a shower togetherfaster than I take a shower?" Ash asked bluntly.
Ellis smirked. "You really think that he was going to get anything after he made me train? All he gets to do today is cook."
Ash groaned. "C'mon Ellis. I'm here, and I want to eat good food, not his cooking."
"I heard that." Adam said wryly, entering the room.
"Sorry Ash. You know the deal. I train with you, and he cooks." Ellis said stubbornly, sitting on one of the stools. Ash sat down next to her, looking for all the world like his best friend had died.
"Don't worry, since I am teaching him, it'll be edible." Ellis consoled him, while trying not to laugh.
"Yeah edible. Your cooking is great though. Gah." Ash looked disgusted, and he directed all of that at Adam, who simply ignored him.
"How's your ribs?" Ash asked after a while.
"Fine." Ellis said offhandedly, in the middle of giving Adam instructions.
"Bruised, but it should be gone in a few days." Adam answered calmly. Ash nodded.
Ash leaned back and watched as she ordered even someone as reluctant a cook as Adam into making them an actually great meal. Of course it helped that there were other things in the house that she had made beforehand, like homemade salsa. So they had spaghetti in tomato sauce with bread and salsa on the side.
"If I had not seen you make this, I would never have believed that you could actually make something so delicious." Ash said with a smirk.
"That was a very backhanded compliment." Adam said with narrowed eyes.
"It was backhanded, but not a compliment." Ash retorted.
"Enough boys. If you wanna fight, make it physical, and with minimal clothing." Ellis drawled. "Maybe in oil."
"You got bored." Ash pointed out.
"There was no oil." Ellis said, pointing her fork at him.
"Somehow I am no longer sure it was a good idea to leave the two of you alone for those two weeks." Adam said with a wry smile.
Ash and Ellis gave him identical, evil looks.
"I don't mind. I got fed." Ash said.
"And he bought all the alcohol." Ellis said with a nod.
"Yeah, no wonder you get along." Adam shook his head in mock-pain. Ellis smacked him on the arm. Adam gave her an unrepentant smile and dropped a kiss on her temple. Ash rolled his eyes at them. He had seen Ellis go from someone who could not stand to be touched, to someone who actually liked to be touched by Adam. He liked the change.
"So how are we going to do the training?" Ellis asked Ash.
"No more whining?" Ash asked, amused.
"Nope, no more whining." Ellis said seriously.
"How about one session every morning, and in return Adam makes lunch?" Ash asked.
"Done." Ellis nodded.
"Done." Adam added.
"Great. I get to eat Ellis's cooking for breakfast." Ash said with a satisfied smile.
Ellis stared at him before shaking her head. "Hopeless. Totally hopeless, the whole lot of you. A person would think none of you has ever had any decent food."
Ash clicked his tongue. "That is not a nice way to talk to your instructor."
"That is not a nice way to talk to your chef." Ellis retorted, getting up. They had all finished eating a while back. "I am gonna go. I have a project deadline coming up."
They both watched her go, neither saying a word until they heard her office door close.
"What do you think?" Adam asked quietly.
"For a civilian, she fights well. But we both know that she can do much better." Ash said quietly.
Adam nodded. "I can't train her."
"No. She's not scared of you anymore, and she will be scared of her opponent. She needs to be trained by someone she is not physically comfortable with." Ash agreed.
"You were the best choice. Asking someone else from the team..." Adam stopped there.
"Yeah, that would not go over well. Maybe after she is done with me, Vince could train her. They're kinda friends. It took me a while to become friends with her, and even now, I am careful to never enter her personal space. Getting someone she does not know, even if it is someone from the team, would be pretty harsh on her." Ash's brow was furrowed.
"She's made progress Ash. Lots of it, far more than I would have thought possible, in very little time." Adam said, and there was pride in his voice.
"Yeah well, you were her incentive. She does love you so much that it makes me gag." Ash said with a grin.
Adam grinned back. "I know."
Ash's phone buzzed and he flicked it open. "Lee."
"Ash, we have a job." Vince said coolly.
"Oh yeah?" Ash asked, instantly interested.
"Yeah. Get Adam, and come meet me at the base. Everyone else is also on their way. Oh and tell Adam that if he is worried about Ellis, then he can bring her along. I have set up an office here for her, so she can work from here too. Unless she's not working... I dunno what she can do here in that case." Vince said.
"Gotcha. We'll be there ASAP." Ash said and hung up.
"We have a job Adam. Oh and Vince has set up an office for Ellis to work in at our base. Sweet huh?"Ash said jumping to his feet. Adam stood up and strode over to Ellis's office. There were days when he was quite glad that all she really needed to work was her laptop. He couldn't decide if today was one of them.