ORP: One Step Closer

As Lucas pushed himself to his feet he heard his Commanding Officer’s voice and his eyes went wide. ”Sir, I-I…we…” He began to stammer, his gaze going from Al to Ayden and he swallowed thickly. ”…She told me not to go easy on her, Sir. I-I didn’t mean any harm.” With his shoulders slumped and a look on his face that would rival a kicked puppy dog’s Lucas shuffled off of the sparring mats and he picked up his bright orange water bottle that he had filled with Gatorade. He took a long drink from it and wiped his face off with a rag.

Ayden watched the boys with an amused smile. Lucas seemed like a nice enough kid, even if he did have the urge to be impulsive a lot. He was young, it happened, and she honestly hadn’t expected anything else. When he was finally off the mat Ayden walked over to where her water bottle sat and she bent down, making sure to give Alavair a bit of a show as she did, and she picked up her water to take a drink from it before using her towel to wipe her face and neck dry.

Once she was finished Ayden stood back up and turned her attention to Alavair. ”How do you know that I won’t go easy on you, darling?” She asked, challenge flaring in her eyes as she walked to the middle of the mat. ”I wouldn’t want to bruise your ego in front of your men – especially since it’s your first time back in a ring in quite some time.” She smirked at her husband as she finally reached him and she came to a stop. Alavair was few of the men who stood taller than her – being a six foot tall woman didn’t always have its perks – and she looked up at the man she loved. Her hands rested on his shoulders as she met his gaze before she briefly pressed her lips to his.

When she pulled back the smile on her lips never faded and she rolled her shoulders back, taking a moment to center her thoughts. ”What are we betting on this time, love?” Ayden asked. It was rare that they went a sparring session without making a bet. They were evenly matched and it was often a throw-up as to who would win a match. Something she had enjoyed time and time again with her husband were moments like this. Throwing a bet on the table made their sparring all the more interesting.

Ayden wasn’t one for PDA, in fact it rarely, if ever, actually happened between the two of them but something about him coming back from the dead and being here in front of her changed how she felt about it. She loved Al more than life itself and a simple gesture such as a quick kiss meant the world to her, and she knew it was the same for him. After being apart for so long she had learned to cherish the little intimate moments they could have together – even if it was in the middle of a room surrounded by a few people who wanted to see a sparring match.

She rolled her eyes at his comment of her fan club and she walked back to the center of the ring after placing both the towel and water bottle to the side. She stretched her arms out in front of her and rolled her head in a full circle to stretch out the muscles in her neck. Beating Lucas was one thing – he was still an impulsive child – but Alavair was a trained fighter, one that had years of experience under his belt. His terms caused her to raise her brows and she looked him over.

”You never are going to drop that – are you? Me taking your name and all.” She never did understand why he was so persistent on her taking his last name. She was a Sheppard – she had a name that she had built and entire career on and she wasn’t about to push that aside. Perhaps if they had met while she was younger and hadn’t had all the accomplishments she had now she would’ve been a little more lenient but she had twenty years of service under her belt and when people thought of Ayden Sheppard they knew there was power behind that name. ”What I want you to do isn’t appropriate to say in front of these men – so you’ll find out later tonight.”

The corners of Ayden’s lips curled up into a small smile as she stepped towards him after she finished stretching. ”We have a deal, love. Are we playing by our usual rules? No low blows, no punching or kicking, and no aiming for the face or more important areas, so to speak?” She asked with a playful smirk as her bare feet led her to circle around him. ”One round – we fight until the other taps out or forfeits.”

Alavair was correct with what he said. They were the only two – to her knowledge at least – that knew of Kat and Walker’s marriage and the fact that Katrina had taken his last name did speak volumes. Ayden was a stubborn woman when she could be and she felt as if fully shedding her maiden name would take part of her away that she could never get back. She could tell that it bothered Alavair, and even though it would bother her if it was something he truly wanted she would give. She would do anything for the man in front of her and she hoped that he knew that. She wasn’t always the kindest soul, but the love for Alavair she had ran deep.

As he moved to the edge of the mat, Ayden took that moment to fix her hair into a tight bun so that it would not fall into her face and obscure her vision while they were sparring. She rolled her shoulders back and readied her stance. Gone was the playful nature that had overtaken her for a moment and back was the warrior she had trained most of her life to become. ”Good luck to you as well, darling.” As he moved forward, open palm attempting a strike at her ribcage, Ayden dodged it but just barely. He had gotten faster than she remembered and she was glad of that. He had learned a lot – and she knew that he was not telling her everything of his time in captivity.

As Ayden dodged his hand she soundlessly circled around him, one long leg sweeping out in an attempt to sweep him off his feet. It was meant only as a distraction though and she moved her hand out as well, aiming for trachea. She wouldn’t hit him hard enough to cause much harm, but hard enough to knock him back so she could get another blow in. They both had to hold back – she knew that. With how they were trained they had to be conscious of every move and how it could hurt the other.

Knowing someone as well as Alavair knew Ayden and vice versa made this fight harder than the rest. She knew what to look for when he was fighting and he knew what to look for when she was fighting - it had come from many nights on the Delta Site spent sparring together. It was how they bonded, in a way. Both were superior in their fields, and both had something to prove to the other at the time. It didn't surprise Ayden that he was able to so easily deflect her attempt to get him off his feet, but when he deflected her higher blow as well she knew that he had done more fighting when he was away than he let on to. 

Her breathing grew heavier as she danced away from his attempt to grapple her leg and she bounced backwards. She was on her toes as she moved in place, her gaze studying him, trying to find an opening. As she wiped some sweat from her brow she steadied her breathing. She considered letting him win this fight for the briefest of moments, giving in to his wish of her accepting his surname as her own but her stubbornness and pride won out. If he wanted this from her he was going to have to earn it.

Ayden's reflexes kicked in when he made another attempt to get her but they weren't fast enough. He managed to graze her side but it wasn't enough to knock her off course. As she bounced to the side, still on her toes she moved toward him, head on and her foot slammed back against his calf as she circled him. It wasn't hard enough to break anything, but she hoped that she had put enough force behind it to bring him to the ground, or at least cause him to lose his balance so she could go in for a grab.