A/N: I've had to change a few names and events and change and make up fights to fit the story.
Nick told Nate that he was going to Louise's place and drove off to Miller's training camp instead. He got there to find the door already open. He nodded a hello to Miller who was putting glove bandages on, on the ring floor. "Hey Mark'll be out in a sec" Miller said getting up. "Who?" Nick said as he put his rucksack down. "That Mark" Miller said pointing to a door entrance where a muscular guy with dark shaven hair came out. "Hi Nick how you doing?" Mark said as he walked over to him and they shook hands. "Good, heard a lot about you" Nick lied. He made a note to look him up on the internet.
"Jase has got a fight coming up at any moment, so he just practising his stance" Mark told him as they both watched Miller get back in the ring. "How's your takedown defense?" Mark asked Nick. "Come on" Mark said as he pointed to a mat. Nick was looking for hip escapes all over the place, but once Mark had him down, he pinned him there laying on him like a ton of bricks. Nick was thinking about how to secure an armbar when Mark left a big arm gap which Nick pressed against to change Mark's position. Within seconds Nick was back on his feet.
"I guess Jase forgot to tell you I'm an All-American Wrestler" Mark said looking back at Miller. "Like he'd tell me shit" Nick said. "Any tips on who he's facing?" Nick asked. "He could be facing Ronaldo Souza" Miller said. "Mark get in here" Miller asked as Nick watched them practise takedowns, moves for getting out of the clinch and sprawling. Nick got in the ring after Mark went out to take a break. "Mark's cool isn't he?" Miller asked. "Yeah, better than you, that's for sure" Nick said. "Nick more people are gonna be coming in in a hour. Souza's a black belt and I'm drafting in black belts to help" Miller explained.
"Who?" Nick asked. "Well, Roy Nelson, Fabio Santos, John Olav Einemo, they've agreed to come down" Miller said. "I know someone that can help you out" Miller nodded. "Can you write their name and numbers down" Miller asked. Nick through a few fake jabs at him followed by a flimsy leg kick. "Duh" Nick said pointing at himself. "I've trained under the Gracies, you won't get much better" "You?" Miller asked surprised. "Nick you had a heart attack just coming here to train. Me and Mark had to re-arrange our team schedules so that we could be alone" Miller explained.
"But we're not alone" Nick said jerking his head towards the entrance. "Mark's a really great trainer and I had to tell him you were coming. Mark runs his own classes here and wanted to train with both of us. You won't find anyone that works harder than Mark he's a machine" "Really?" Nick asked. "Have you fucked him?" Miller sniggered as Mark came back in with punching bags. Nick agreed to train with Miller for most of the week to help him train for the "Souza" guy. Apparently Miller had faced him once before at Dream's "Dream 4" Event and lost. Nick had locked Miller in his gym and left him there, so the least he could do was help him out, this once.
He took a shower and checked his mail before looking at his mail, one text from Nate and another call from Louise. He'd have to make a date with her to cover his ass. Nate thought that he'd seen her today anyway, so he called her up to see if she wanted to go out for lunch. It was a sunny day so Nick wasn't surprised when she got in the car wearing a tiny pair of denim purple shorts and a pink vest top. "Hey" Louise said as she kissed him on the cheek. "Haven't seen much of you" She said. "Yeah...I'm free now...so..." Nick said. He drove along until she chose a cafe she liked. She got out while he parked on the other side of the road.
She ordered a couple of diet cokes, but Nick changed his order to water. "So how you been?" Nick asked as her foot slid up his ankle. "Good, I've told my parents about you" "Grrreat" Nick said biting his straw. "They wanna meet you" Louise said. "Dad's resting his leg and Mom's taken taken a couple of days off work, so now's the time" "What like for the week?" Nick asked. "Pretty much" Louise said. "I mean you train, but you run your own ship right? You can stop whenever" Louise said. "Come on...it'll be fun, it's be ages since we've done anything" Louise said.
Nick agreed she was right but didn't know what he was gonna say to Miller, so he decided to tell his brother Nate, his trainers and no-one else. Louise's parents were nice everyday folks. He didn't swear in their presence and they asked him all sorts of questions about his job. They were a little worried when he told them he fought for a living, but calmed down when he told them he fought a couple of times a year and trained students in Mixed Martial Arts most of the time. Nick showed Louise's dad a couple of moves and he clapped when her Dad copied him bad leg still kicking. "There you go, you'll be the new Roy Nelson" Nick said as his mind went back to Miller and he imagined Roy and Miller training.
Miller text him for the last time on Friday night. His moles on the inside were right, he was facing Ronaldo Souza in a few weeks and he wanted to know what Nick was playing at. He got no repsonse and Mark wondered why his friend was looking so anxious as he checked his phone. "So Nick didn't show up, you've got black belts coming out of your ass to help you out. Roy's amazing" "Yeah I know, but it's not the first time Nick's jerked me off...I mean...around" Miller said putting his phone on a mat. "Is there something else going on?" Mark asked confused.
"Nah...just pure hate" Miller lied. "You've seen the Strikeforce brawl" Miller said. "Look, if you really wanna get Nick back...I've got an idea" Mark said, as he pulled Miller into the break room and watched a few DVD's. When he pulled up to his place, his little brother Nate was standing by the door like an abandoned puppy. He helped Nick with his rucksacks and put them in his room. "How was it?" Nate asked. "Did they like you...they had to right?" Nick nodded. "It was cool, they were nice" Nick said as he went to the fridge and got out a salad.
"You still got those Protein bars?" Nate asked asked as Nick opened the fridge again then shut it. "Protein?" Nick asked putting the salad on the table and looking at his watch. "Protein now?" Nate nodded and Nick playfully punched his little brother on the arm. "You're fighting? When did you get the heads up?" He asked. "This week" "Shit...you should have called me" Nick said. He would have been rescued from Louise's family if he'd had a good excuse. "I didn't wanna spoil your "meet the parents thing" Nate said, putting the TV on.
"Who are you facing?" Nick asked. "Rory MacDonald" Nate said. "I've looked him up. thirteen wins, no losses...want that to change" "We sure fucking do" Nick said reaching over and muddling his brother's hair. "You really need to start training like right now" Nick said. "Well that's what I wanna talk to you about" Nate said. The only guy that's almost beat Rory is called Clay French, he trains at Reigns centre" "You've gotta be shitting me" Nick said. Reigns was Miller's training camp, the same camp that he'd walked out on to spend time with Louise. Miller had probably banned him by now.
"The Reigns centre?" "I called them up" Nick told him. "Clay'll be there. Miller trains there, but he'll be away from us" Nate told him. "OK" Nick said as he got training gear for both him and his little brother and went to the car. "Here are directions" Nate said as he gave his brother the sheets of paper. Nick glanced at them every now and again so it looked like he needed them. They got to the Reigns Training Centre and were greeted by Mark. "Nice you see you again" Mark said. "Again?" Nate said. Nick coughed and stared at Mark who changed the subject. "Clay told us, he's over there" said Mark pointing. They walked over to the other side of the gym, Nick keeping his eyes to the floor. His younger brother shook Clay's hand and Nick nodded.
"So can you give us advice on Rory?" Nate asked. "Rory's a tough son of gun, always coming at you, great wrestling, hard striker...have you seen any fights?" He asked. Nate shook his head. "Not yet" Nate said. "Well we've got his fight with Mike Guymon, you wanna take a look?" Nate got up and followed Clay to the break room. Nick stuck his head in the door, as Clay was looking for the DVD, but got distracted when he heard a familiar voice. "God you're good" "Well practise makes perfect" He heard someone else say.
"I'll be back in a sec, keep watching" Nick said to his younger brother, although Clay hadn't found the DVD yet. Nick walked to the other side of the gym, the side he was supposed to keep away from to see Miller rolling around with some guy. No big deal, until he realised who the guy was. "You nearly broke my arm" Miller as the guy caught him with underhooks. "They don't call me the "Natural Born Killer for nothing" The man said. Miller was up against the fence with Carlos "The Natural Born Killer" Condit. This had to be some kind of sick joke.
Condit was the last fight that Nick had lost against. It was a bullshit decision. He'd never seen Condit duck and run so fast in his whole career. Condit put Nick through five, five minute rounds of cat and mouse and called it fighting. Nick had condit in his sights the entire time, but Condit would kick and run, punch and pace, tag then hide, it really pissed Nick off. By the time the fight was over Nick was ready for another five rounds. Condit was on the edge, ready to break, he couldn't handle Nick's power, everyone in that arena knew it. Nick got him on the floor, Condit was slowly giving in, Nick was almost ready to sink in the choke, and then the bell rang betraying him.
The judges had picked Carlos over Nick and now Miller was doing picking Carlos over him too. Nick turned to go back to the break room to see how his brother was getting on. "Nick, you know Carlos don't you?" Miller shouted out. Nick gritted his teeth and nodded. He could feel eyes on his back and didn't want to be bitched about so he turned around and walked towards them. "It's been awhile Nick, how you doing?" Carlos asked with a smile. He was so polite Nick just wanted to punch the smile off his face.
"Good for you...helping out the UFC reject" Nick said to Carlos as he walked back to the break room. "You finished?" He asked his brother. "Yeah" Nate said watching the credits as Clay turned the DVD off and watched TV. They walked past the runners and the athletes when Carlos said hello to Nate as well. Nate nodded a hello and they looked at Carlos tripping Miller to the ring floor and catching him in his guard. "Fuck" Miller whispered. "Jay use that brain, come on think" Carlos said. "Ronaldo Souza will catch you in this" Miller pretended to use elbows and strikes to weaken Carlos who allowed him to get to his feet. "Well done, you're a black belt, an awesome one" Carlos said patting Miller on the back.
"Let's go" Nick said as Mark shouted a goodbye. Nate waved but Nick just wanted to get out of there. "What the fuck was that?" Nick asked as he started the car.
"How did Miller get in touch with Carlos?" Nate asked.
"Haven't a fucking clue. Carlos is already champ, he can't be that fucking desperate" Nick said.
"Mount me and thousand times, your awesome, you're so cool" Nate mocked. "How faggy was that? They need to get a room"
"Nate I'm gonna drop you off, I'll pick you up early" Nick said having the urge to be alone.
"I wanna stay at yours...I know you've just got back, but with the fight coming up you can show me that natural herbal stuff, you know to keep my weight down" Nate said. "Yeah...Sure" Nick said. They watched some of Rory's fights on the internet wrote down his strengths and weaknesses until Nick told Nate to quit worrying and get some sleep. Nate dosed off for over two hours, then woke up to get some water. He came out of the kitchen and noticed Nick's room light was on. He opened the door to see Nick's bedroom lamp on, but no Nick. "Nick?" Nate said looking around.
Nick seemed to have disappeared. Nate noticed a message on his answering machine and pressed the button. "Babe it's Lou, my parents loved you, but you haven't called so I just wanted to see you...can't wait, bye" That message proved that it was simple, it gave him an answer but Nate wasn't sure it was the right one. After Mark let the "again" word slip, Nate had a pretty good idea where his older brother was. He knew he should be sleeping, but the curiousity would have kept him awake all night. If Nick was with Louise then, great, but if he was at Miller's camp...before Nate had time to think he changed into jeans and a hoodie and took the bus to Reigns training centre.
He knew it was crazy but he ran from the bus stop round the training centre to car park. Nick's car was there. He ran to the centre prepared to kick the door down but it was already open. He pushed it open gently, relived it stayed silent. The place was empty but Nate walked silently past the mats to see if they were in the break-room. The blinds were closed so he couldn't see inside, but he could hear his brother.
"Nice going, picking "The Natural Nervous Born Bitch Condit" He heard Nick say.
"Uhh...you're forgetting I asked you, and you fucked off, I was still texting you like a prick and you ignored me. Then you've got the nerve to walk into my training camp and bitch at me" Miller said.
"Let's go on the mats, you wanna train, let's do it now" Nick said.
"Train my ass, we both know training's the last thing you wanna do with me" Miller said as they turned at the knock at the door. Nick opened it to see his younger brother scowling confused and tired. "Nate, why aren't you asleep?" Nick asked giving Miller a hard stare. Nate stepped in and stayed by his brother's side. "What did you mean?" Nate asked Miller. "What do you two wanna do?" Nate asked.
"Nate, it's way past your bedtime, I'll get you a glass of milk and a cookie" Miller said as he left both brothers in the break room and went out alone to get all three of them some fast food.