(A/N: Finally got this chapter out. Was a bit shorter than I intended, but it hit all the points I wanted. Hoping I'll be able to get these out more frequently, but you know how it is. Other than that…hm…don't have much else to say. Hope you enjoy it. As always feel free to let me know what you think.)

Mindy deliberately crunched her cereal loudly, savoring every needlessly sugary sweet morsel as she glanced over at Dave running on the treadmill. Personally, she always preferred to run actual distances as opposed to on a machine, but until they could find an open area where it was safe for them to train, the treadmill was the best bet. Dave had even given her an unexpected bonus of taking off his shirt when he started getting hot around the first 15 minutes she made him run. There was a part of her that wanted him to suffer through it with the shirt on. She had warned him to wake up first after all, but in the end her hormones won out and she simply enjoyed watching him run. The look on his face showed Dave was absolutely not happy with the speed Mindy had set it at.

"I think I'm gonna die…" Dave gasped, trying to keep up.

Mindy gave Dave a look and rolled her eyes. "What was your New Years resolution again? Oh yeah, I think I remember it now. So stop whining and keep running, ya wuss!"

Dave just groaned and tried to keep pushing himself, but he was obviously on his last leg, so to speak.

Mindy had just finished her breakfast when she continued to watch for a little while longer until she finally sighed and made her way over to the treadmill, turning it off. Before she turned it on in the first place she made it very clear that if he tried to turn it down or get off without her say so he would face a fate worse than death, her unbridled fury. He decided not to push his luck, though when she finally stopped it, he let himself fall down on the floor to catch his breath.

Looking at the digital readout from the treadmill, Mindy grinned down at Dave. "See? Look at that. You technically ran longer than usual and you didn't need to slow down like a pussy."

"Did need to slow down…" Dave wheezed. "…couldn't…"

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Oh for fuck's sake, you big baby. Go ahead and get some food in you."

"Can't…move…"

Mindy chuckled and slowly walked over to Dave, purposely standing over him with a wide grin, her hands on her hips. "So…you can't get up, huh? Let's see if I can…motivate you."

Dave might not have ever gone from horizontal to vertical so fast in his life. It's amazing what a jolt of honest fear can do to a person. Grumbling under his breath, he did as Mindy said, while she got on the treadmill, even showing off by speeding it up further and barely breaking a sweat. As she spared the occasional glance, Mindy couldn't help but to be glad that Dave at least appeared to be back to his normal self. Whether it was having a goal to focus on or whatever was going through his head, this was just like any of their other training sessions. The only difference was that they had the whole day…and every day after that. Just thinking about it made her have to fight to keep from smiling like an idiot. But first thing's first, she implied Dave would be going through the training of the damned, and she was going to stay true to her word.

"You got fifteen seconds to get on the mat!" Mindy ordered, probably growing a little power mad as Dave hopped to it. "Okay, Dave. Now hit me."

"So…how exactly is that different from any other sparring session?" Dave rolled his eyes.

Mindy glared. "Did I stutter? Just fucking do it!" And Dave did. He swung and she dodged. "That was your freebie. I said, hit me."

Dave swung again, and Mindy dodged with less effort than the first one, and keeping with the motion, slapped Dave in the face. "Hit me!" Mindy yelled again. This is where things got tricky. As Dave continued to try to land a blow on Mindy getting slapped progressively harder every time he missed, he was getting frustrated, but frustration wasn't what Mindy was aiming for. Unfortunately, Dave had probably the most difficult temperament to crack of anybody Mindy knew. Fear? Sure. Excitement? Definitely. Guts? He had that in buckets. But getting him angry just wasn't something that happened often. As far as she could remember, the only time Dave had really gotten pissed was in the video that made him famous. And even that was mostly frustration at the situation.

As Mindy slapped Dave for the ninth time…or possibly the tenth, she wasn't keeping count, Dave's frustration was starting to grow into something more. "What the fuck, Dave! I'm barely moving! Fucking, hit me!" It was a backhand slap this time. Dave let out a growl and it was showtime. This was going to suck. Really, really suck, but it had to be done. Dave staggered with the force of the slap, and went for another punch, putting all of his strength into it…and Mindy didn't dodge this time. Dave wasn't exactly going for subtlety, so he telegraphed the Hell out of the punch, which allowed Mindy to roll with it as much as she could. But even then, as she learned before…Dave hit really hard. It was everything she had to keep her footing, and that's exactly what she was focusing on, despite all the spots flashing in her eyes.

"Mindy!" Dave shouted, running up her, and grabbing her face. "Mindy, what the fuck?! There's no way you couldn't have dodged that!"

Dave was very close. The pain radiating through Mindy's face helped her to focus on the task at hand, as she grabbed Dave's head and rammed it into her knee, taking him to the floor.

"SON OF A-! ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" Dave roared.

"Yup." Mindy replied, with a grin. And it must have been one scary ass grin, from the way Dave immediately backed off. "Why did you stop?"

"W-what?"

"Why did you stop, Dave? You had me. I was standing, but you could have easily taken me down. Why didn't you?" Mindy asked calmly.

Dave looked like she'd asked him to prove why two plus two equals fish. "Mindy, you're hurt…maybe I hit you so hard you frazzled your brain or something…"

Mindy's eyes narrowed as she grabbed the back of Dave's head and forced him down to her level. She'd have preferred to do this by pulling him down by the front of his shirt…but he wasn't wearing one, which would have distracted her more if she didn't have the throbbing pain on her face to override her libido for the time being. "Let me make this very clear, Dave. Unless I'm unconscious or I tell you to stop, if you get a lucky hit on me…if you get an opening…any opening…you take advantage. You. Always. Take. Advantage. That's all offense is. Seeing an opening and taking advantage. That's what I'm going to expect from you from now on and that's all that you're going to get from me. Am I clear?"

"Mindy…"

"Am I fucking clear?! Yes or no?"

Dave glared, and then gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, okay? My goal in life will be to kick your ass. Happy?"

Mindy chuckled as she crossed her arms. "Ecstatic. Now, I'm going to put some ice on this, 'cuz it fucking hurts. And when I get back, I expect you to land another hit like that one without me letting you." With that said, she walked away and heard Dave mutter something under breath. She was sure she caught the phrase 'crazy bitch'. And he was damn right. If Dave was going to be a hero like her, then he was going to need to get in touch with his own brutality. And she now had all the time in the world to beat that brutality into him…and if he has any excess energy he wants to sexually take out on her…well…that's just an awesome little perk, isn't it?