It's been nearly a week and no sign of Tara, each day without her inside of the pub made Charlotte fear for her aunt's life. She's never known this side of her aunt before but she only wished that she was as good as she looks. Breathless and fists hurting, Charlotte pounded her frustration out on a punching bag that she found near the back of the house. She was trying to get herself used to throwing her fists out in front of her in case anything just might go wrong.

"You're hopping around like a little chicken. Do you honestly think that you could last 15 seconds with one of the guys that you saw at the buffet?"

"It's better than lasing 5 seconds"

Eliot walked over and stood next to the punching bag, "You're fighting like you're in a movie"

"So I have a chance against Matt Damon?" Charlotte asked.

"This isn't a game" Eliot shook his head. "Those guys can hurt you if you ever think about going up against them"

"So teach me"

"That's not a good idea" Eliot objected. "It took me years to master everything that I know"

"So teach me the basics" Charlotte countered.

"I can't" Eliot shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you. Practicing takes a lot of will power and strength to overcome the pain of just being a beginner. That's not what I was hired for anyways. Not to-"

"What if they kidnap me?" Charlotte asked. "How would I defend myself if you don't teach me?"

Eliot crossed his arms over his chest and heaved out a sigh. As much as he didn't want to think about her being kidnapped under his watch, he had to think of all of the possibilities.

She was right at least. He may not be able to teach her to kill a guy but he can sure as hell make sure she can hurt him enough to get away.

"I have a lot of things to do as it is"

"What, like being in the restaurant?" Charlotte motioned over to the door. "Why aren't you there now?"

"You seemed stressed" Eliot said.

"And why wouldn't I be?" Charlotte asked.

Eliot bit back his tongue from letting his temper show, "I thought you wanted to talk to someone"

"I want someone to teach me how to fight" Charlotte took a step closer to Eliot.

"I already gave my answer"

"And I'm not giving up until you change your mind"

"These people will be a lot more trained then you ever will be" Eliot tried again.

"You don't think I know that, Eliot?" Charlotte asked. "These guys will think that my only defense will be my cell phone. I will catch them by surprise if I at least knew how to break their nose properly. You can keep me alive long enough to find me again"

"I won't let that happen. These guys will have to kill me in order to take you back" Eliot objected.

"Don't say that!" Charlotte said defensively.

Eliot let out a long breath, "I'm sorry"

Charlotte avoided his gaze as she looked back over to the punching bag. She didn't want to think of herself screaming Eliot's name at the top of her lungs while he lay in a pool of blood around the men in black. She wanted to think that she can hit one man to the ground, run off and at the end of the hall was Eliot with open arms. She would hug him tightly and maybe even cry knowing that she was safe.

"I don't want to think that it might come to that" Charlotte said quietly.

Eliot looked over to Charlotte and noticed that her gaze was still nowhere near his face. He thought that making her terrified of not wanting to fight would be more effective but he noticed now that she was scared for his life.

"Okay"

Charlotte looked up to Eliot, "What?"

Eliot gave her a small nod, making her squeal and jump into his arms. He took a sharp intake of breath before slowly wrapping his arms around her. Charlotte was still elevated in the air as she felt his big arms slip around her tiny waist. She hoped that her cheeks were still flushed from fighting the punching bag in order to know that she wasn't blushing.

"We'll start after closing time" Eliot told her.

"Fine by me, I'll see you tonight" Charlotte beamed.