[This is the "eye opener" chapter. But I won't go too far, I swear]

The drunken couple woke up out of their sleep deprived stupor. They had to get up. Jonas had seen a banner that promoted Sunday competitions just off the highway before they got to the main road and wanted to see what it was about. It was for couples, apparently. Jonas slipped into the shower and urged Molly to get out off bed. The confined space, and the water made his voice sound echoing and hollow, and Jonas knew that she hated that. Molly was alreay stressed out, but dragged her feet out of bed. She wished he had told her about this last night, so that she could have stayed off the alcohol. She knew that Jonas thought it would be a good surprise, but his version and her version of a surprise differed. Obstacle courses were what you planned for new soldiers, not middle aged wives. Jonas was out of the shower and changed in a flash. Molly got a shower and changed into the most comfortable clothes that she could find. She was pleased when the sun started rising up out of the morning clouds.

"Are you ready?" Jonas asked

Molly nodded and grabbed her bag but Jonas took it for her. They checked they hadn't left anything behind and also took the pancakes and waffles. They got downstairs thanked the staff spread some tips and checked out. Jonas hurried to the car and put the bags in the trunk. Molly got in the car. Jonas grabbed the pancake container and gave it to her. Then Jonas drove to where he thought this course was being set up.

"You're really excited about this, you've been on them before"

"Yes, but never with you"

Molly knew he was going to treat this like a training drill. She'd never seen that side of Jonas before and at this point didn't want to. She'd imagined what he'd be like at these kind of events but didn't dwell on it because when Jonas came home he wasn't a sergeant, he was a father and a husband and that was good enough for her. She just hoped that he would go easy on her and realise that she had her limitations. They were nearing the end of the highway when Jonas noticed the banner. He turned in to see couples with raincoats on a open field. Men were bringing out equipment left right and centre, and Molly began to feel nervous. The handymen set up wire and wooden beams, cargo nets, climbing ropes, vertical poles and this menacing looking wooden wall that was way taller than her husband. She began to feel mad at Jonas for bringing her here. The men ordered the participants to go to the hall to put their belongings in. She began trudging along until one of the women came too close to her and adjusted her backpack which hit Molly in the face. The woman weakly apologised and carried on talking to her partner. When the men had finished a guy in an army uniform told them to get in starting postions along the taped line. The Army clothed guy said that they would do the obstacle course three times. They would get timed and their times would be added up. The couple with the overall shortest time won.

"Molly could feel Jonas's determination. It was bigger than the both of them. They braced themselves for the whistle, then they all set off. Molly was able to get under the nets and across the wooden beams quite carefully then headed to the climbing ropes. She felt a scratch on her and turned to see the backpack woman that she saw earlier grasping for a rope, she had quite long nails and said sorry before looking at Molly up and down and struggling to control her laughter. This was the last straw for Molly, who climbed up the rope with all the strength she could muster. She might lose the course overall, but as god as her witness, she vowed to beat the spoilt horsey looking heffer. Jonas called to her shouting words of encouragement. He couldn't start on the wall until she had finished. They had to start together. Jonas did the wall in the quickest time he could, climbing the wall rungs with expertise. Molly tried to stick close with him, but when he finished, he could see her begin to struggle.

"Come on Molly, stretch yourself, that's it, use your core"

Poor Jonas. He didn't realise that after a baby, Molly didn't really have a core. She just had weak stomach muscles under a layer of fat. Jonas was getting impatient when he saw that couples were overtaking them and on their second lap. When Molly finished the wall they had to start again. Jonas completed the 2nd and 3rd lap easily, but when Molly began to get muddled, he started barking out orders.

"Honey go over to the left not the right"

"Use your knees to elevate your body"

"Don't just lie there Moll, crawl"

Molly was getting tired. Not so much of the course, but of her husband. He only had to look at her to know that she was going to find this hard, so how could he blame her? They finished all 3 laps and they had come second to last. Jonas looked a little disappointed but kissed Molly on the cheek and told her well done. Molly patted him on the back as they went to the hall to collect their things. They got back to the car. They were silent and Molly knew that Jonas was annoyed that they had nearly come last so decided to set out a discussion.

"I'm not a new recruit, you knew that was difficult for me"

"I know" said Jonas, who didn't want to fall into her trap.

"I did what I could"

"But did you..........I mean, really?

"I knew it! You think I was deliberately slow"

"I didn't mean that" sighed Jonas trying to back-pedal.

"Just drive"

Jonas didn't know what to say but did think that she could have tried harder. Maybe because it was such a physical activity, she allowed herself to give up. When they got home Jonas made himself a snack, because Molly had taken all the pancakes and waffles upstairs. She probably did it just to spite him, and to remind him that she was never going to go on another obstacle course again. With Molly giving him the silent treatment, Jonas actually found himself looking forward to going to the base tomorrow.

Mack got up and took an extra pair of clothes with him to get ready for this protection drill. The papers that Hector had written up just to recap were still in the meeting room. As Jonas had reminded him last week, he was a number 2, so he had to get there to recieve a catch-up on any news and to set a good example. When he got there, he went to his locker where he put his bag, and said hello to the Colonel. The Colonel had no new updates so he went to the meeting room to get Hector's paper's only to find they were already on the table-in the boss's hands.

"Morning Gerhardt"

"Mornin' boss"

Jonas gave him some of Hector's papers and Jonas opened his mouth to speak but Bob, Charles and Hector came in. Bob said a quiet hello to them all while Jonas nodded at all of them. He wanted to focus on a recap of what happened while he had been gone, and move forward to rehearse the protection drill, but he knew that would have to wait.

"So" said Charles, "Tell us about the big weekend"

"Yeah, where did you go, what did you do?" Asked Hector.

Jonas thought that the quicker he told them the quicker they could go back to the task in hand.

"We went to a hotel, did wine tasting, went to a museum walked to the beach, went to the bar"

"And?" Charles said loudly.

"Well guys, this is where the action comes in so brace yourselves"

Charles and Hector leaned forward and Bob tried to pretend not to be as interested as them, but he was.

"The next day, in morning that looked like the dead of night, I took her in the car a little off the highway to..........an obstacle course"

"What?" Said Charles.

Jonas laughed as he saw the disappointment on their faces. They retaliated by scrunching paper up into balls from the table and throwing them at him. They started the recap on what Jonas had missed, which by their own admission, hadn't been much. Then they began to talk about the drill with Miss Pritchard they were going to act it out in about half an hour. They went through the route places, safety positions, possible problems, health concerns, postions of standing guard, and different scenarios that could happen. When they finished Jonas said the guys could go on a break, so Bob, Charles and Hector did, but Mack stayed behind, knowing that Jonas would want his opinion.

"So Gerhardt, any concerns or queries?"

"No boss"

"Any excess ideas or easier routes?

"No Sir"

"Did you win the course?"

Jonas didn't really think that Mack cared, but answered him anyway.

"No. We failed"

Jonas kept the fact that they had nearly come last from his colleague. As a leader, even a personal loss, was a bad one. If Mack knew he may tell the others or use it against him to throw back in his face later. Mack felt a little bad for Jonas, he hated being beaten at anything, he was the same too. God knows how he would have fared on the same course with Tiffy. She wouldn't be seen dead near one of those. He tried to cheer him up.

"In singles you know you'd kick ass, right?"

"yeah right"

Jonas was glad that they were on more friendlier terms.

"I'm sorry for not telling you-" Jonas started to say.

"Don't be"

"I know you're monitoring Molly"

Mack looked at the floor, he knew that he was going to be challenged about this sooner or later, but couldn't find the words to get himself out of that hole. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to.

Jonas carried on. "Why don't you dismiss yourself from that Op, and monitor me instead"

Mack stared at him in shock and nodded while Jonas put on his professional front as his team came back from break. They did the drill without any problems. Jonas went back home to try to patch things up with Molly, he'd probably have to go to her favourite fast food joint on the way home. While Tiffy couldn't help but notice that Mack had a spring in his step as he parked the car and walked through the door, but she figured he had missed her so much at work. Only to wonder why he said a quick hello to her and listened a while to the girls before he went back out again.