Please read the A/N at the end.

I do not own.

Cherish. It wasn't really a word in Six's vocabulary. Sure he knew what the word meant, but he never thought about its meaning much less ever used it in his everyday language. That is until now. He woke up to another beautiful day. Beautiful, not because how the world looked outside, but beautiful because of whom he was lying next to. They were married for a little over a year now. It seemed like it had only been a short time since they had met each other: her comment about him being a hired gun, he responding that he didn't use guns. Little did he know that exchange would lead them to where they were now. He checked the time. It was 5AM. Too early for her but it was his usual time to get up. Slowly, extracting himself from her arms, he moved carefully so as to not wake her. When he finally got off the bed, she stirred.

"Mmm, trying to get away from me again?" She asked sleepily with a small smile.

Six leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I didn't mean to wake you." He replied.

"It's okay. I can fall asleep again." She kissed him back before turning around to snuggle back underneath the covers. "Don't train too hard."

He watched her drift back to sleep before walking into their bathroom. It was strange sharing a bathroom with someone again. It was something he hadn't done since he lived on the island with One. He had to share his room with IV and consequently a bathroom. It was terrible. IV was always leaving the bathroom in disarray. Luckily, his current roommate was considerably neater and more thoughtful. It helped that there were two sinks. Both were kept neat and orderly but hers had more… stuff. He picked up her bottle of hairspray. Funny. He never thought about her using this until it appeared the day after the wedding during the honeymoon. Other things were a surprise like the type of toothpaste she used, her make-up, and other womanly things. He replaced her hairspray and got ready to shower. Lately, he seemed to have slowed down. Usually he would be in and out already and in the training room. Now he dawdled. He realized why. He didn't want to leave his wife. Shaking himself, he turned on the hot water. While waiting for the bathroom to steam up, he started to brush his teeth. After his shower, he began his shaving regimen. Wiping the steam off the mirror, he started with the main shave with a straight edged razor. When he finished, he carefully trimmed his soul patch. He placed his razor back in the mirrored medicine cabinet. As he closed it, he thought he saw someone behind him. Spinning around in alarm, he saw nothing. Leaning his back against the sink, he took a deep breath to steady himself. Checking the bathroom door to make sure it was locked, he continued his routine but cautiously. Finally, he excited the bathroom. Checking to make sure Rebecca was okay, he did a quick scan of the room to make sure there was nothing abnormal before he left.

An uneasy feeling accompanied him all the way to the training room. He trained alone now that Rex was away at college. He started up the droids and began his training. In the middle of the simple exercise, he felt something was wrong. Jumping out of the way, an errant laser fire cut his tie in half. Looking, he realized all the defenses were activated at once. This was not part of the training. Six kicked into overdrive. Somersaulting across the room avoiding the laser fire, he paused long enough to pull out some shurikens. He flung them at the guns in the walls. He managed to knock out a few, enough to have a safe zone so he could get his bearings. He saw that several more droids were deployed. Twisting out of the way to avoid being impaled by training droids, he realized that they were out to kill.

Six's blades slid from his sleeves and sliced the closest droid in two. He dove into a front roll with his blades sticking out on either side, slicing the droids on either side while avoiding the deadly laser fire. Stopping on one knee he leapt up and stepped on the droid's head to launch him above the heads of the attacking droids. Using his blades he sliced through the rest of them as he passed over them. When he landed, the droids fell sparking. A laser ripped through the side of his shoulder. Six grunted in pain but he threw his blade at the offending laser taking in out.

He had to reach the outside and turn off the training sequence. Grabbing one of the broken droids he used it as a shield to block the lasers as he ran to the door. When he got to the door, it did not respond to his command. Using his blade he ran it through the control panel. Sparks flew out and the locking mechanism disarmed leaving a small crack. Six pried open a space wide enough for him to get through. Tossing his shield, he squeezed through. He fell heavily on the other side. As he started to get up, something grabbed his leg. Glancing toward the door, a training droid had stuck its arm through the crack. Six sliced off the arm at its base. In disgust, he wrenched open its grapple off his ankle. He could see blood seeping through his trouser where the robot had grabbed. Six hobbled up careful not to put his full weight on the injured leg.

He managed to get to the console and shut down the training sequence before collapsing into a chair. Now that the adrenaline was running out he was starting to fell all the aches and pains from the attack. Glancing at the panel to see if he could figure out what Six picked up the ear piece that he had left on the console.

"Six to White. We have a problem." Six stated.

0o0

White watched from the monitor as Six dabbed iodine on his cuts.

"I checked the system. Someone has tampered with our computers." White said.

"No kidding." Six said through gritted teeth.

White narrowed his eyes. "Don't get snippy with me, partner"

Six didn't answer. He continued bandaging himself up. There was quiet. Finally, Six broke the silence. "Now what?"

White sighed and leaned back in his chair, acknowledging the unspoken apology. "Have you checked The Network?"

Six's head snapped up at the screen. "You don't think…" He left the rest unspoken.

"Someone tapped into our computers… our computers and tried to kill you. That kind of level of skills… well, you know what that can mean."

Six's face hardened into a scowl. He limped to a computer. After a few minutes, his shoulders slumped a fraction of an inch. White noticed.

"That bad?" White asked.

"See for yourself." Six said emotionlessly.

White turned on a different monitor on his desk. His eyes ran across the screen. He gave a low whistle. "It's the death card." After a moment, he added, "There's a hit on all of you."

Six was already on the phone. "Five? You there? Have you checked The Network?"

There was silence as Six listened to the person on the other side. "Yes, plan delta zero, zero eight." He hung up. He stared pensively at the screen.

"What are you going to tell her?" White asked.

"Nothing. The less she knows, the safer she will be." Six said flatly.

White snorted. "I'm sure she'll love that."

"What else can I do?" Six countered.

"You're going to have to get out of here without them knowing. I'm sure there must be a dozen lowlifes watching this place." White noted.

"Can you get Callan to do a sweep?" Six asked.

"I've already ordered one. But you know how wily some of them are. There's no telling who might have slipped through." White said.

"I know. I'll have to take my chances. I'm going to have to meet up with my old group and figure out who put this hit out on us." Six got up. "And stop it."

"Your wife isn't going to like you leaving her without so much as a good-bye." White observed.

"As of this moment, she's no longer my wife." Six said flatly.

White raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Do you know what they would do if they found out I had a wife?" Six asked rhetorically.

"You can't unmarry her." White protested.

"That's what we call a divorce." Six answered sardonically.

"A divorce doesn't mean they'll leave her alone." White pointed out.

"They will if it was acrimonious." Six looked at him. "Send her the papers. Don't tell her anything. The reason will be abandonment." Six stopped. Then in a less steady voice he added, "Then back date the papers so that it looks old."

White's face was passive as he listened to his old partner. "You should reconsider."

"When it comes to The Network… there is nothing to reconsider. This was what I was afraid of… my past coming back. I can't let Rebecca be dragged into this mess." Six knew he was rambling. "See you around Knight. Thanks." He walked out the room leaving White staring at an empty room.

"Fool." He muttered before killing the feed.

Not to be confused with A Game of Numbers by Flight of Phoenix Wings. Now that is a great story. Unfortunately, it was never completed. I have PMed to ask if the writer could finish it but I never heard back.

This story has nothing to do with that however. This is my first rated M story. No, there is no smut, lemons, or slashes. There's a little gore but it's not Texas Chainsaw massacre level. And I don't really do much cursing… at all. So why is it rated M? There are adult subject matters discussed that may not be appropriate for the younger audience… although honestly, from what I've seen on prime time TV now-a-days, this may seem tame in comparison. But if you are under 18, please read responsibly. I realize I may be hurting my readership by placing this at an M but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

Reviews are appreciated. I'm working on two other stories right now (Rex vs. and Gravity AU) so updates may be slow. It's nearing the end of the school year so things get hectic around now.