7.

The Future

Chapter Theme Song: Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar

"Whoa!" Nina gave a yelp as she fell back and hit the mat once again, groaning with the impact.

"Come on," Nate urged her. "Try again."

So they did, but she didn't last long, and it ended, once again, with her flopping down onto the mat, landing hard.

They had the training room to themselves, which Nina was glad for, for she didn't want anyone besides her boyfriend to witness her embarrassment. Her boyfriend witnessing it was embarrassment enough.

With a frustrated groan she smacked the mat. She was sweaty, tired, her muscles were sore, and she wasn't making any progress.

"No one likes a sore loser." Nate was staring down at her wearing a smirk that made her both more frustrated and flustered.

"Easy for you to say, super-soldier, you've won every time." She blew her bangs out of her eyes in her classic frustrated manner.

Nathan had expressed a concern about her fighting abilities, well, more like lack of. The whole reason he had come to the mansion was to help everyone train with the knowledge he gained in the far future, and he wanted to make sure she could defend herself in more ways than one, especially in hand-to-hand combat, and without the use of her powers. She appreciated his efforts, but she obviously wasn't making much progress. Nate remained confident in her though. Sweetheart.

The next time he swung at her, she blocked the blow with a fistful of energy.

"No powers," he reminded her of the rule he had set for this training session.

"You said to use my strengths," she countered.

"Your powers aren't your only strength. The sooner you realize that, the better." She wasn't sure if she fully agreed with the first part, that her powers were not her only strength. They seemed like all she had. They were who she was.

"What if you find yourself in a situation where you're unable to use them? You've got to be prepared."

"Unlikely, as my powers are different from everyone else's so it's improbable to assume that I would ever be caught without them." Reality was a complicated thing.

He chuckled. "Smart ass."

"Yeah, one which I keep landing on because you've been kicking it this whole time."

"It's a great ass, though." His smirk grew.

She twisted around to cast a glance down at her bottom. "It is, isn't it?" She flushed at her own boldness - Wade and his own characteristic boldness must really be rubbing off on her. But she liked it, and the fact that Nathan had seemed to help bring out her bold side. She had been known to be shy and held back for so long (her complicated and unpredictably strong power set hadn't helped, and the fact that she may never come to fully understand it) and she liked these new characteristics of herself. Now that she had finally gained more control over her abilities, this had allowed for more confidence, and she liked it.

"Come on," he urged. "Let's try again."

"Fine." She got to her feet and once again stood in a fighting stance, watching him carefully.

"Concentrate."

"I am."

"Focus."

"Yup."

He swung at her; she dodged it, aiming to strike him in the side. He blocked her blow, grabbing her arm and moving it away. She twisted her arm out of his grasp, holding it up to join her other one guarding her face. No powers, no powers.

Concentrating hard she blocked the next few fists he threw, managing to sneak under his arm and get behind him where she grabbed hold of his metal arm and kicked one leg out from underneath him, throwing him off balance. She kneed him in the gut, knocking him over the rest of the way. He fell to the mat, she landing on top of him, straddling his waist.

She stared down at him, stunned for a moment, before an adorably excited smile graced her lips and she beamed. She began to cheer. "Yes! Yes, I did it! I did it! I won! I - whoa!"

She gave another cry when he rolled out from beneath her, flipping them over so that she now lay on her back staring up at him. "Easily distracted." He shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Well excuse me for being excited that I finally beat you!"

"Yes, you did. See, I knew you could do it. You should be proud. I am."

"Thank you for believing in me," she chuckled.

"Always. Maybe you'll start believing in yourself more." He leaned down to kiss her.

"Hey!" The accusing voice of Wade broke them apart. "I thought you said you were training! Or is that key-word for something else? Looks like I might have to clean off those mats before I use them."

Nina wrinkled her nose. "Eww. Relax, Wade. We are training," she told him with a roll of her eyes.

"Uh huh, sure. If that's what you want to call it. Whatever it is, hurry it up, there's other people who want to train too, you know!"

Nathan gave a frustrated sigh as Wade left. He was tired of Wade always interrupting their sweet, private moments. Wade always seemed to know exactly when to interrupt. Hell, he was just tired of Wade altogether.

Nina chuckled, knowing full well of his frustration and annoyance towards the red-suited merc. "Come on, we had a good workout. He's right, let's free up the room for someone else to use. Besides, I could use a shower."

"Me too," he agreed. He put his arm around her. "Shower together?"

She grinned. "I was hoping you might say that. I was thinking the same - glad we're on the same page."

Ah, so different from their relationship now ;) The first of our flashback/flash-forward chapters :) I was going to do this when Nathan was remembering Nina telling him she was pregnant with Hope, but then decided to make it a memory instead.

Not sure if the plot seems a little slow so far, sorry if it does! I want to establish the emotional conflict before the big action conflict comes along ;) Nina has a lot to deal with even before the main threat arrives! Also, a familiar and favourite character will soon make an appearance, within the next couple of chapters! (I'm going to try and update quickly because I'm excited about the next chapters - lots happens! ;) As always, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)