FLASHBACK

Silence. Deafening silence filled the room, only broken by the sound of Katherine's breathing. The sat on a solitary chair in the center of the room, trying her hardest not to fidget. The door opened to reveal her father stood haughtily before her.

"Number Eight. The others have finished their training for today. Now you will begin yours. Number Two and yourself will be combat training together since neither of your powers affect your ability to defend yourself against assailants hand to hand." Reginald said, sticking his nose in the air.

Diego stepped from being him looking like he would rather be anywhere else. The fourteen year old boy was steaming that his father thought he needed more training. On the other hand, he knew that if anyone could help her with combat, it would be him. He had seen her fight and it was sloppy at best. At the very least he could help her defend herself. After all, Katherine was one of the only people in the house that he could stand to be around.

Kat had been raised differently from the others. Much like Vanya, she was kept under lock and key until time for a mission, then she was allowed out with the others in the public eye. The others did their best to include her in things, especially Five, Klaus, and Ben. Diego had never particularly spent a lot of time with her, he just noticed her in passing and kept her from being hurt during missions.

As soon as they were given the go ahead, they began sparring. By the end of the three hour session, Kat had recieved a split lip, a broken nose, and several places that would have certainly been bruises. Those had all healed almost as soon as they appeared, the flesh wounds only leaving blood as a reminder that they had even been there. Diego had recieved a nasty bloody eyebrow, a broken nose, and several potential bruises.

Reginald called time to stop, and both children collapsed to the floor in exhaustion athe moment he left. Kat managed to crawl over to Diego and sit up, pulling him into a sitting position. She looked at his face and cringed. "Can I heal you?" She asked.

She had ne er needed to heal Diego before, and she had no idea on how he would react to her simply reaching out and touching his face.

He nodded, and she gave him a warm smile. Her hands slowly raised to touch his cheek. Within seconds, his face was healed, and his nose fixed. Her hand moved from his cheek to his chest, where she felt heartbeat thumping. She focused on the power flowing through her hand into him, and he gapsed quietly as all of the pain he was feeling from where she landed her hardest punches had disappeared.

Diego looked up at Kat as she took her hand off of his chest and stood up, offering the same hand to help him stand. He graciously accepted it, rising to his feet, then dusting himself off. They wordlessly walked together upstairs, where Luther and Allison were waiting for Diego so that they could question him.

They were surprised to say the least to see the boy approach with Kat by his side.

"What were you doing downstairs with Katherine for three hours?" Luther asked bluntly.

Kat lowered her head and avoided his intense gaze.

"We were training. Dad wants us to work together and work on hand to hand combat." Diego explained with a bored expression.

"Like that's gonna help," Luther scoffed, "we all know she's useless in a fight."

Diego saw red at those words. "You know what? She seemed able to handle herself pretty well when she has handing me my ass a little bit ago. And even if she doesn't fight on missions, how many times has she saved your asses when you get hurt, huh? Do why don't you lay off her, Number One?"

He took Katherine by the hand and pulled her to her room, then slammed the door behind them.he turned to her and saw the look of wide eyed confusion on her face.

"What?" He snapped.

"I just...you stood up for me." She said, clearly not understanding why he would do such a thing.

Diego's posture and expression softened. He was sick of Luther talking bad about her behind her back, and seeing how genuinely sweet and caring she was made it that much worse. She just wanted to help people. Help them.

"No need to thank me. You stick with me, and I'll stand up for you. I'll always be there for you." He said with a small smile.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

END FLASHBACK

Diego stood in front of the door to Kat's room, wondering if he should go in, or if she would just yell at him to leave her alone. He made his choice and cautiously entered her room to find her laying on the bed, facing away from the door.

"Kat?" He said quietly.

"What's up?" She responded, not turning over to face him.

"I'm about to leave, gorgeous. Are you still coming?" He asked hopefully, sitting on the foot of the bed.

A moment of silence passed between them before she answered. "Yeah. I'll be down in a sec."

He took that as a fair answer and stood, exiting the room quickly.

Kat turned to see his figure retreating down the hall. He could be an ass at times, but he cared about her, right?

She groaned and rolled over, standing up as she stretched.

She made her way downstairs, picking up on Klaus and Diego's conversation.

"Are- are we leaving?" Klaus inquired.

"Yeah, we're leaving, me and Kat, by ourself." Diego countered, seeing Kat descend the stairs.

Kat couldn't help but smile and shake her head at the boys. "Klaus." She said before hitching a thumb over her shoulder. signaling for him to get his stuff.

"Oh, fabulous! I'll get my things." Klaus said excitedly, kissing her cheek as he passed by.

Diego sighed as Kat approached him, looking down nervously. "Hey. Look, I'm really so-sorry about earlier. I d-didn't m-m-mean to ups-set you. And I-" he stopped, frustrated with his inability to speak without stuttering like an idiot.

"Hey, remember what mom taught you. What we worked on. Picture it and concentrate. Calm your nerves." She told him, stepping forward and hesitating for a moment before putting a hand on his bicep.

He took a steadying breath, putting his hand on top of hers. "I didn't mean to just leave you there. I just got so damn angry, and I wasn't thinking clearly."

"Hey. No need to apologize. You're good." She assured him with a small smile. She hugged him tightly, secretly glad that he had apologized for his behavior. Not that it was a good excuse, but an apology was more than he normally gave. More than anyone normally gave her.

He hugged her back and gave her a quick kiss on he top of the head, then stepped away and led the way to the car. By the time they got there, Klaus was already waiting in the back seat. Diego opened Kat's door for her and closed it once she was in, befor walking around to the driver's side.

"Hey! Diego. You know, every time I close my eyes, I see a diarrhetic hippo about to shit on my face. It's terrifying!" Klaus said, laughing.

"Terrific." Diego replied, starting the vehicle.

Kat looked over in time to see Klaus close his eyes and shake his head, saying, "No! No."

She laughed at his antics, causing Diego to smile at the sound of her laughter.

"Lean back and put on your seatbelt, dummy." She said, still laughing.

She locked eyes with Diego, both of them smiling, and she knew that no matter what he did or how badly he messed up, she still loved him with all her heart. And deep inside, she knew that even though he didn't show it too often, he felt the same.