"There's two types of people I hate in the world. You're both of them." —Jamie Pine

•••••

Unsheathing her practice dagger, she came at him from his exposed back, thinking she could get a blow in before he spun around. But he had seen her already, and she found herself tumbling backwards. Landing on her back, Emma flipped her legs up, rolling backwards to get to her feet.

She came up crouching, ready to attack but stopped, confused when she saw Jules on his knees, hands covering his nose and mouth. He was shaking.

"Jules?"

Emma started when she saw red staining his hands.

Jules made an odd sound, and she realised he was laughing.

"I was — you kicked me—" he wheezed.

Julian pulled his hands away from his slightly damaged nose, stained with blood and a distinctive boot mark. Her lips twitched.

Soon they were both on the ground, convulsed with laughter.

Jules tipped his head back, stemming the flow with his fingers, his eyes still crinkled.

They lay there, heads besides each other's feet, at awkward angles to look at each other.

It was peaceful in the empty training room, still a bit early for the younger ones to be training.

Emma and Jules on the other hand trained whenever they could. In between teaching the twins and checking in on Dru and Tavvy, making sure they lacked nothing, all afternoon and evening. It was harrowing sometimes. The absence of Mark and Helen and Emma's parents hung heavy in the air. But Emma tried not to think about that. Instead she thought of Jules.

So moments like these were nice. Making silly mistakes and watching Jules laugh openly for no reason.

"I guess," he said at last, breathlessly, "that could be useful in combat."

She snorted. "Maybe, though I doubt demons would be coming to help me up right within kicking reach."

"A toast to Emma," announced Livvy later, as Jules served lunch. "For breaking Jules' nose."

"It's not broken," Emma protested hugging Tavvy to her chest.

Jules met her eyes and winked good naturedly, a bandage across the middle of his nose.

Emma smiled and looked down at Tavvy instead, a happy blush on her cheeks quelling the twinge of guilt in her chest.