"This is cheating." Ash snapped, scowling at Ellis.
"It's using my resources. Stop whining." she retorted as she used the arm with the protector on it to smack him soundly.
"You won't always have this resource." Ash told her, even as he moved out of her reach on the mats.
"I will for at least a year Ash. My arm was broken in how many places? Of course I am wearing a protector. I am just surprised I didn't think of wearing it last practice." Ellis said cheerfully.
Ash sighed. "I am going to have bruises you damn woman."
"I still have bruises from your punch last time." Ellis told him, even as she tried to kick him in the shins. Ash jumped back to avoid it.
"Wanna show me?" Ash asked, with a waggle of his eyebrows.
"You want me to ever cook for you again?" Ellis asked brightly.
"Keep your clothes on. I'd rather eat." Ash said as he moved in and tried to throw her, but Ellis was ready for him, and she moved to the side, before hitting him from behind and knocking his feet out from under him. Ash fell down face first.
"Time out!" he called in a muffled voice, and Ellis stopped right before she punched the side of his head.
Ash rolled onto his back and stared at her.
"How in hell did you get so good so soon?" he asked, impressed.
"I was always good. You're just less scary this time." Ellis informed him, before extending her hand, offering to pull him to his feet. Ash looked at the hand in amazement before taking it, even though he jumped up using his own strength. Ellis let go immediately.
"That's still a bit too much huh?" Ash asked. He had never believed in ignoring any problem.
"Still progress right?" Ellis said wrinkling her nose.
"Definitely." Ash agreed with a smile. "Come on, let's see what disaster Adam has cooked."
Ellis giggled. "If it's sushi then it's going to be perfect. Anything else, well..."
"Yeah well..." Ash sighed. "I am doing this for food. I still think it's unfair that I have to eat his cooking."
They had reached the kitchen by now, and Ellis smiled at the subtle but delicious smell. Adam was making sushi, and miso soup, just as she had thought he would.
"There is enough time for you to grab a quick shower." Adam said without turning.
Ellis padded up to him anyways, and gave him a quick kiss, before she headed up to her shower.
"I think I'll just get the shower. I am sure you can do without my kiss." Ash said snidely from the doorway. Adam's knife barely missed him as it embedded itself in the wall next to his head. Ash was still laughing when he entered the upstairs guest room.
...
"Why is there a knife stuck in the wall?" Ellis asked curiously as they ate.
"There was a fly next to Ash's head." Adam answered blandly. Ellis stared at him before shaking her head.
"If ever there is a fly on Ash's head, please kill it outside. The stains will never come out, and I like this carpet." she told him deadpan.
"Nice to know how much you value me Ellis." Ash said with a glower, but she just stuck her tongue out at him. Adam smirked.
"Ash, James Chan, gossip, dish!" Ellis said suddenly, completely ignoring his glower.
Ash sighed. "You do realize that I am a man? Men do not gossip like old women."
Ellis just stared at him with puppy dog eyes.
"Oh fine!" Ash snapped. Adam laughed.
"That does it! I'll tell you, but only when this jerk is not there. I'll be at the base all day, so come over whenever you have time, okay?" Ash said.
"Okay." Ellis said cheerfully.
"Not that I have anything against your gossiping, but don't you have a deadline coming up soon?" Adam asked mildly.
Ellis's eyes widened. "OH GOD! OH GOD! OH MY GOD! I am so dead! I totally forgot about it while working for you guys. I had a week then, but I wasted half of it on your mission. And I fell asleep when I was going to do it at your base! I am so screwed!" Ellis panicked, before she started shovelling food down her throat. As soon as she was done, she jumped up from the table, grabbed her plate, dumped it in the sink, and ran to her office.
Then she ran back out, grabbed her laptop bag from where she had left it last night when she and Adam had come in from the base, and then ran back into the office.
"She looked like a headless chicken." Ash mused.
"A headless chicken that left a vapour trail." Adam answered.
"Something like that." Ash nodded. "She also offered me her hand today to pull me off the floor."
"She put you on the floor?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, and she would have given me a black eye if I had not called a time out. Not to mention, her damn arm protector bruised the hell out of me." Ash told him.
"And this is only the second time she's trained with you." Adam smiled slightly.
Ash grinned. "I am just that good a teacher."
Adam's look was answer enough.
...
"Ash?" Ellis called as she entered the command center. She had worked today all day on her code and now it was finished. She had apparently done more than she remembered while she was half dead from sleep deprivation at their base.
Adam was out doing some work thing with Vince, and so she had decided to come get the gossip from Ash after all.
"Ash?" Ellis called again, looking around. When she had called, he had said he'd be right here.
Ellis sighed, and started to turn around, but before she could, the lights suddenly went off and someone grabbed her from behind.
Ellis immediately tried to fight her way free and when that did not work, she tried to scream but a hand clamped down on her mouth, while another grabbed both her wrists. She fought with everything she had, struggling with every bit of her strength but it was no use. The man holding her captive was too strong, and she could not break free, could not even make a sound. With every futile effort, Ellis was remembering other things, ones that she never wanted to remember again. Ellis felt the world dimming around her, as she started to weaken, and then she thought of something, and just went completely limp.
The man shook her but she just rolled around like a rag doll. He loosened his arm from around her head, and the hand that had been clamped over her mouth, now grabbed her chin and shook her. Ellis rammed her head back, and heard a sickening crunch. She had broken her assailant's nose. The man suddenly let go of her, and Ellis scrambled away from him.
She hugged the floor as she crawled away, using whatever she remembered to get to the cabin at the side of the room. When she felt the glass walls, she kept touching them until she came to the gate and then she entered it, scrambled to the desk and pulled out the gun from the drawer. Then she hid in the corner, her eyes scanning all over the place for any movement in the dark, while she kept the gun pointed at the door.
Even with the gun in her hand, and the wall at her back, the dark was closing in on her, and she stopped seeing the dark silhouette of the command center, and instead all she could soon see was a dark dingy room in a basement somewhere. A room she had only seen in her nightmares for the past five years.
...
Ash turned on the lights in the command center and came to a sudden stop.
"What the hell?" he said as he saw the upturned chairs and the things that had fallen off the desks.
Then he noticed the two people who were in the place. James was sitting on a chair, holding his shirt to his nose, which from the looks of things, was broken, and Ellis was... Ash swore.
"Ellis!" Ash rushed forward to the cabin door, but as soon as he tried to open it, Ellis shot at him. Ash stared at the bullet embedded in the door and stepped back, closing the door partly. He could see her through the glass, even through the spider web cracks the bullet had put in the glass. Ash knew that Ellis had aimed to kill him, she was not playing around. If the glass door had not been bullet proof, he'd be dead right now.
Ash pulled out his phone and called Adam. "Command center. Now." he said as soon as Adam answered, and then hung up.
"What did you do?" Ash asked James, even though he kept his eyes on Ellis. The expression on her face had been fear when he had turned on the lights, and her eyes had been haunted, but now both her expression and her eyes were empty. Ash knew that although Ellis could see him, she could not recognize him.
If she could, she would kill him right now.
"She came to meet you. I grabbed her from behind. I was expecting her to take it like a hug, thinking it was you, but she started struggling, and I just held her immobile against her will. She broke my nose to escape, and hid in there. You came here before anything else happened." James said quietly.
"Get out." Ash said coldly.
"What?"
"Adam will kill you for this. She suffers from PTSD, and you just sent her into a relapse. If you get out now, I could tell him that this was me playing a prank. It just went horribly wrong." Ash's voice was quiet now.
"You think he won't kill you?" James asked.
"He'll stop before I die, and Ellis will eventually forgive me." Ash said neutrally.
"I'll stay. I made this mess. I can bleed for it." James answered.
Right then Adam skidded into the room. "Ash if this is one of your jokes..." Adam said angrily, and then his eyes landed on where Ash's eyes were and had been since he had first seen her after entering the room.
Adam ran to the cabin door, and he completely ignored it when Ellis shot it. He just stripped off all his weapons, except for one gun, and threw them on the floor. Then he pushed open the door and walked in. Ellis pointed the gun at him, but there was a flicker of recognition in her eyes. She did not shoot, and he knelt right in front of her. Then he offered her his gun.
"Can't have you running out of bullets, love." he said quietly.
Ellis's hands started to shake, and she lowered the gun she had pointed at his heart. Adam placed the gun he had offered her on the floor, next to her.
"I want to take the woman I love back to our home. I want to listen to her talk while I drive." Adam said, his voice was gentle. Ellis's shoulders were shaking as well now.
"I want to tease her when she cooks, so much so, that she tells me to make the damn food myself. Then I want to make her smile, to make her laugh, and then get her cooking again." Ellis dropped the gun, and hugged her knees, refusing to look at him.
"I want to sit with her on the back porch, which she hates, and have dinner. Then I want to take her upstairs and take a long bath together. I want to make love to you, Ell." Adam's voice had gotten softer, and Ellis's whole body was shaking.
"I want to hold you so tight, that I cannot tell if the heartbeat I am hearing is yours or mine. When I finally fall asleep, I want to be holding you, knowing that you are mine, and that you will be right next to me when I wake up." Adam murmured, and Ellis looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Adam simply spread his arms, in a gesture of absolute defencelessness, but Ellis threw herself into them, clutching him tightly, and crying. She screamed, she cried, she wept and Adam held her through it all. She cried for what had happened years ago, she cried for what was still happening to her because of it now, and she cried because she finally had someone in whose arms she could break down, because deep down she knew that no matter what, he would put her back together once it was over.