"So when will you ask Novi out?" Ellis asked taking a break from her sparring with Ash.
"Excuse me?" He startled.
"You heard me!"
"Why would I ask that rattlesnake out?"
"You are already in the nickname stage! How cute!"
"This is so not funny!"
"But it is! Just not for you.."
"Damnit Ellis!"
"Why is it making you so mad if she doesn't matter?"
"..."
"That's what I thought. So, when will you ask Novi out?"
"It's not that simple."
"Explain."
"Can't."
"Do it, or I go ask her. I would do it too."
"Last night.. we were pretending, for the benefit of some lawyer who had been hitting on her. Do you see? I am her haven. Would I take that away from her?"
"Excuses. Ash, this is not why you don't want to ask her out."
Ash shrugged. "Novi and I.. we understand each other quite well. I don't want a relationship right now, and she can see it plain as day. Lying to her or myself about it would be plain stupid. How about if I promise you this, once I feel like dating, and she's not seeing anyone, I'll ask her out? Unless its another woman who made me want to start dating.. then all bets are off."
"I'll hold you to that."
"Of that, I have no doubt. Now, can we please start sparring? This heart to heart will not get you out of training."
"Screw you!" Ellis launched a kick at his head, making Ash laugh as he ducked.
"Language! You used to be so polite! What happened to you?"
"Let's see if you are still laughing when I am done with you." Ellis growled, and proceeded to beat him up, in the name of training of course.
...
Next Day:
"Adam I need you at the command center!" Vince snapped into the phone.
"I'm just dropping Ellis off at work. I'll be right there." Adam answered and hung up, but then he glanced at Ellis who sighed in exasperation.
"I'll be fine. Just go. I'll have my phone with me, and I know how to handle myself. Seriously Adam, you worry too much." Ellis told him.
"Okay.. just..." Adam sighed. "I love you."
Ellis smiled and kissed him as he stopped the car in front of her office. "I love you too."
Adam watched her walk inside, and then he drove to the base, wondering what in hell was so important that Vince had called him up, when he already had Ash with him.
...
"Are you sure about this?" Ellis asked, looking at her boss in absolute confusion.
"Yeah. I am surprised you did not get the memo. Due to renovations, the entire wing is closed, and if you had showed up even ten minutes later, I would not have been here either. Just go home Ellis, it's not like we really need to be at work, to work. Don't worry about it. You know I'll call you if there is anything that you really need to know or if I ever need you to come here in person." Diana said with an apologetic smile.
"I guess so. I'll call my fiancé back. He drove me here today." Ellis replied pulling her phone out.
"I can give you a ride if you want. Why bother the guy again? It's been forever since we had a bit of a chat, anyways. Maybe we should grab some coffee first though. Drives are not that long." Diana chuckled and Ellis laughed.
"All right. Coffee it is, and then you can give me a ride home." Ellis agreed, still smiling.
...
"Good, you're finally here. We finally have more information from Chan. He's on the tail of the terrorist and his locator is on. We are to keep an eye on him and move in as soon as he gives the green light." Ash summarized as soon as Adam entered the command center.
"All right then." Adam said, taking a seat, his eyes trained on the screen in front of him.
"Ellis's as safe as can be. I mean we know exactly where this guy is." Vince pointed out and Adam raised an amused eyebrow.
"I know." he answered, but refused to comment more.
Ash just paced the room. He was on edge and his tension level was not going to go down until this man was taken care of. Even the fact that Ellis had really truly kicked his ass in training yesterday was not enough to alleviate his worry.
"Hold on.. damn! Isn't he moving closer and closer towards your home Adam?" Vince said suddenly.
"Shit!" Ash snapped.
"Let him come. Ellis's not home, and the bastard won't know what hit him." Adam said, his previous amusement giving way to icy fury.
"I'll let Chan know that she's not home." Vince said with a curt nod.
"That.. he's still aiming for Ellis." Ash snarled.
"All he's gonna meet is my bullet." Adam replied, his eyes narrowed onto the screen.
"He should reach your place within 30 minutes. Chan says not to move until he says so." Vince said after speaking into the phone.
Adam nodded, but he was caressing his gun in a way that made Vince wonder if he would really wait.
...
"So when did you get engaged? In fact when did you meet this fiancé of yours? You know you have never even introduced him to us." Diana pouted and Ellis chuckled.
"I knew him a few years back, and then he kind of moved in next door, and we became friends again. Then we became more then friends, and he proposed, and I said yes. Oh, and his name is Adam. I'll introduce him to you one of these days. You'll like him." Ellis smiled, and Diana could not help but smile back. She already liked this Adam, because ever since he had come into Ellis's life, the change in her was obvious. She was happy now, and the guy could have two heads for all Diana cared, as long as he made Ellis happy.
They kept talking for a while more, until finally Ellis decided it was time to go home.
Diana drove her home, letting out a low whistle when she saw the manor.
"Wanna come in?" Ellis asked.
"Maybe some other time. Bye Ellis!" Diana called before driving off.
Ellis waved and then headed into her home.
...
"SHIT! MOVE NOW!" Vince snapped suddenly.
"What?" Adam said jumping to his feet.
"The terrorist entered your house five minutes ago, and according to the entrance security camera, Ellis just came home." Vince gritted out as they raced to the main doors.
"It takes us ten minutes to get to your house from here." Ash snarled under his breath.
"We'll make it in five." Adam said sliding behind the wheel.
...
Adam was the first one inside the house, with Ash close at his heels. Ash ran into Adam when he came to a sudden stop in the sitting room.
"You're late guys!" Ellis said brightly, from her perch on the sofa arm.
"What the heck?" Ash said sidestepping Adam and entering the room. He could not believe the sight that greeted him.
The terrorist was unconscious and hog tied on the floor in the middle of the room, and James was sitting on one end of the couch, while Ellis sat on the arm at the other end.
"You did this?" Ash asked James, but he shook his head.
"Actually, he had me at gun point. Then Ellis came in, and somehow she knew there was an intruder and I have to admit, she kicked ass. He never knew what hit him." James explained.
Ash raised both eyebrows at Ellis, but she was looking at Adam. He had not spoken a single word since he had entered this room, and even now he was completely silent.
"Adam?" Ellis asked softly, rising to her feet.
"Get this out of my house." Adam said gesturing at the terrorist without taking his eyes off Ellis. Ash and Vince looked at each other, and then moved forward and grabbed the terrorist and carried him outside. James followed them after throwing one uneasy glance at Adam and Ellis.
"Adam?" Ellis asked again, walking towards him now, her brow furrowed. It was unlike him to ever ignore her.
When she reached him, to her surprise, he hugged her tightly, so much so that all breath whooshed out of her. Ellis hugged him back.
"Do not scare me like this Ell. I can't deal with it." Adam said, his lips moving against her skin.
"I'm fine. I did it all on my own. I sensed someone was here, and I protected myself. You protected me, by teaching me how to take care of myself." Ellis told him, her voice quiet, steady. Adam loosened his grip on her, but did not let go.
"Good, because I never felt fear until I felt it for you. It would be much worse if I thought you were defenceless." Adam told her, but she could tell he was still not okay; his hands were shaking, and he was pale, and sweat was glistening on his forehead.
"I want to cook for the man I love. I want to bicker with him while I do so, tease him mercilessly, and tell him I am making food he does not like, and then surprise him with his favourite dishes. I want to eat with him out in the garden as a picnic." Ellis said softly, leading him to the living room.
"I want to hand feed him his favourite dessert, because for some reason he never ate sweets when he was young." Ellis murmured as she walked backwards. Color was returning to his face now, and Adam was starting to smile.
"I want to lie back and watch the stars with you. I want your arm to be my pillow and I want you to be my warmth." The back of Ellis's knees hit the couch, and she fell back on it, pulling Adam to stand in front of her.
"Then I want to tell you how much I love you over and over again, because once can never be enough, because words can never be enough." Ellis whispered, looking up into his eyes, as she pulled him towards her. Adam was not shaking anymore, and instead of following her on the couch as she wanted, her picked her up, and carried her upstairs, kissing her the entire way.
...
Epilogue:
One Year and Five Months Later:
"Are you sure your niece is completely fine now, Petri?" Doctor John Williams asked sceptically.
"Oh yeah, totally. She's perfectly fine." Petri answered with a shrug.
"Are you sure? She had a major case of PTSD, not to mention..." Williams stopped at the glare Petri threw him.
"I know what my niece had, John. She's been married for nearly one year now, and she's fine." Petri answered. Williams remained silent but his expression said it all. Petri laughed.
"I should not know it, but when I was younger, I teased her mother a lot by telling her about all my flings, so now Ellis gave me quite an earful about her honeymoon. Trust me, she's fineon that account. If Adam had his way, they'd have never left the bed during the honeymoon at all. Humm come to think of it, I don't think they did." Petri looked thoughtful before shaking his head. "Need to know only. I tell that girl a thousand times, TMI, but she never listens. I swear my sister must be looking down at us from heaven and laughing her head off."
"And what of her fear of men in general?" Williams asked, genuinely curious now. Obviously, Ellis had made tremendous progress, although she had never agreed to see him, she had asked him for help through her uncle. Williams was an old friend of Petri's and so he had also sent her the books that were related to what she was going through. The good doctor did think of her as one of his patients, but she was also family.
"Apparently someone sneaked into her house and she took care of it on her own. Since then, she's been mostly okay on that account too, though she still likes her personal space. But then if you ever meet her husband, you'll see that, thatis so not a problem. He gives off such strong look-at-her-wrong-and-I'll-kill-you vibes that people always give her space. It works out." Petri shrugged.
"She took care of an attacker on her own?" Williams decided to concentrate on the important part. He had been out of the country for two years, and apparently, a LOT had happened in that time.
"Yes! Apparently her best friend had been training her in martial arts and self defence. The classes were good, I'd say. It's such a pity he refuses to teach me." Petri grinned.
"Her best friend is a man?" Williams was flabbergasted now.
"Oh did I not mention that?" Petri wondered.
"No..." Williams muttered faintly.
"Yeah, he's a man, and no delicate flower either. A full on mercenary. His latest girlfriend is scarier than him though. Violet eyed devil, that girl. Stunning to look at, but with the truly dangerous look in her eyes. I find her adorable." Petri muttered.
"Okay, I suppose you are right Petri, Ellis has recovered completely from everything." Williams said, smiling.
"Of course she has." Petri said getting up.
"Then why did you come to see me? You usually only come when she needs some help of some sort. You are the selfish, narcissistic, type." Williams asked perplexed.
"Oh did I not tell you? She asked for you to come to the baby shower. She was so sorry that she could not invite you to the wedding since it was a very simple ceremony, but I assured her that it was okay, since you were out of the country. Anyways, she's throwing a huge party now, to celebrate the completion of her first trimester, I guess." Petri shrugged.
Williams blinked slowly. "If you had told me that at the beginning..."
Petri laughed. "Oh well, where's the fun in that? Be there Doc. You wanna give her the good wishes on her soon to be born baby."
Williams shook his head, and then laughed. "I'll be there."