Tien checked over the bundles he had packed in preparation for trading at the nearby village. He only went to town a few times a year to trade in some of the things he'd made for supplies he couldn't get on his own. He would trade pelts, arrowheads, and herbal remedies for things like coffee, sugar, and salt. In all honesty, that was the closest thing to money that Tien ever used. He'd told Sabriena to take the day off, saying that she'd earned it with all of the hard training she'd put in over the past few months.

Tien stretched and looked out the window of the cabin – he was glad the warm weather was here. The garden was coming in nicely, the days were growing longer as summer approached. He was just getting ready to head out when there was a knock at the door and Tien sighed, feeling Sabriena's energy.

"It's open," he muttered, shaking his head. He really didn't want to take her along on this trip.

Sabriena bounced into the cabin, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm ready! I wanna see this town you keep talking about!"

He finally turned to look at her, his heart nearly stopping when he saw her. "NO," he said firmly.

"Tien, come onnnnn!" Sabriena whined. "I want to go with you! You always go to town by yourself. It sounds cool." Tien had told her about the small town that was over the next mountain ridge. Something about an oil rig... It sounded neat and she had nothing better to do. Besides, she was used to hanging around Tien all day every day now. She'd braided her long blonde hair into two messy pigtails and thrown on a tight hot pink tanktop with her daisy dukes and white cowboy boots. If he said no to her today, then he either had the will of a saint or he was playing for the other team. "Please? I wanna go with you."

"Nope," he answered, shaking his head.

She crossed her arms just under her chest, pushing her cleavage up a bit. "PLEASE?!" she asked, batting her eyes.

"I said no," he repeated, running a hand over his face.

"Why not?" she demanded, the slam of her boot on the hard floor loud in the cabin.

"You don't know what this town is like," he answered. "There's no mall. No fast food places. It's bare bones. Housing, a general store, a tavern, a bank... that's about it. It's built near the oil rigs and there's not much there other than the rough necks who work 'em. I cannot take someone like you with me."

"What?" she scoffs. "You embarrassed of me or something?"

"No," he answered. Tien frowned at her, he didn't invite her along because the men who worked at the oil rig were the ones that society didn't want. He didn't want to think about the problems it could cause if a woman like her strolled down the street. "Sabriena, I told you those men there are the roughest as they come." He frowned, biting his lip and turning away from her. Gods, why did she have to show up wearing that? It just firmed his resolve, "You are not coming with me into town wearing that!"

"But it's hot out!" she argued. She looked down at her outfit. Okay, so it was a little revealing, but it wasn't that bad. She'd seen worse. "What's wrong with it?"

Tien took a deep breath. "Look, there's not a lot of women in this town, except for a few men who were dumb enough to move their wives out there. You'll draw too much attention."

"But I like attention," she grinned.

"Not that kind of attention."

She batted her eyes at Tien. "Well then, I suppose some tall warrior is going to have to defend my honor then?" she suggested sweetly. "Besides, nobody's tougher than you. You can protect me!" She didn't know why she wanted to go so badly. It was something new, something exciting. She kept picturing some kind of old cowboy town - it would be fun to explore. She stared at his back as he refused to look at her. "All right. I won't wear this," she sighed. "But I don't have anything else to wear, so I guess I could always go naked."

Tien felt his face grow hot and he wanted to give her a good shake, "Ugh. You are insufferable, have I ever told you that?!" He turned around looking her over. "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

She beamed at him. "Nope."

"FINE. You can come, BUT. There are ground rules. One, dont go anywhere without me and stay right by my side. Two, do not talk to anyone at all. PERIOD. Got that? And three, you have to swear to immediately follow any order I give you without question. Don't look at any of the men there, they will look back. Some of them haven't seen a decent looking woman in years. So be warned."

"Yes, yes, okay DAD," she answered, grabbing her purse. "Can we go now?"

Tien cringed. Dad? That hurt his ego more than she could possibly fathom.

Sabriena wagged her eyebrows at him. "Well maybe you'll get a better price for your furs today." She was thrilled. Going to a new place with Tien, showing off a bit for a bunch of rugged men who would die to have her attention for even a second? Sabriena nearly squealed. "I'm so excited!" Her face turned overly serious and she lifted two fingers in salute, "I'll stay right by you. Scout's honor."

Tien slapped his forehead, "The shopkeep isn't who I was talking about; he's married. Happily I might add." He sighed, "Alright. You listen to me. The moment there is any trouble, I want you to fly back here to the cabin...whatever I say, goes, understand? No arguing, no sighing, no nothing." He opened the door and jumped into the air, hovering as he looked down at her. "Let's go then."

Sabriena grinned, happy that she'd gotten her way, and took to the air, following him. It felt good to fly in the hot spring air. They flew over the trees and the mountain ridge until they finally landed in a small town. She looked around. Tien hadn't exaggerated. There wasn't much here. She followed Tien into a mercantile shop. It was like it was made for people who lived like Tien. Cast iron pots, oil lanterns, tools... It was fascinating. "Oh my god," she breathed as her eyes fell on a beautiful black cast iron stove. "Tien, look!" she said in a hushed, excited tone as she pointed at it. "That's so cool!"

He couldn't stop the chuckle that worked its way up his throat, "Yeah. It's nice, isn't it? Too expensive though, and I can do without. I can't waste resources on things like that." He nodded to the shopkeeper who knew him. "You can look around but don't wander far, I'll be up here talking if you need anything." He went to the front counter, setting the packs on the counter.

The shopkeeper was an older man who'd run the shop for most of his life. He knew everyone in the area and had been doing business with Tien for years. "Ah, Tien, good to see you again," he said, looking over the items Tien had laid on the counter. "The usual supplies, I assume?" he asked and Tien nodded. His eyes flicked to the pretty blonde who was gushing over the cast iron stove, making her way around the store, looking everything over. "Who's your lady friend?" he asked with a chuckle.

Tien shook his head, "Just a friend. A student I've been training the past couple of months." He looked over the supplies, "Add a bit more coffee to the list if you can, she's been running me dry faster than usual. How've things been around the town? Nobody's causing you any trouble, are they?"

The shopkeeper snorted as he picked up the furs from the counter and carried them to a storage area behind the counter. "Oh yeah, we've got another rough bunch that showed up here a few weeks ago. Strange looking guys. Got their hair all dyed weird colors and stuff. Not the type we usually get around here." He returned, carrying the large bags of coffee, sugar, salt... He looked Tien over. "I bet you could take care of them. None of the workers have stood a chance against them."

Tien chuckled. "Yeah, I'll take care of them." He looked around the store, "Where have they been holing up?" He spotted Sabriena in the back, looking over some of the old fashioned cooking utensils. He paused for a second, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she looked like she was in heaven. He snorted and shook his head. She would be fine on her own if he stepped out and took care of these trouble makers.

"They're over at the tavern," the shopkeeper answered. "I'll set your stuff aside if you wanna go have a word with them. We'd all certainly appreciate it."

Sabriena wandered up to the counter, crossing her arms and leaning on it with her elbows. "Where are we going now?" she asked.

Tien shook his head. "You are staying here; I'm going across the street to take care of some trouble makers for the town." He turned and left the store before she had time to protest, which he knew she would do, the door clacking shut behind him, making the little bell over the door ring loudly. The last place on earth he wanted Sabriena to enter was that tavern. He'd end up fighting the whole town to keep them off of her.

Walking to the tavern, he could already hear the loud noise coming from inside, how had he not heard that before? He pushed the door open and walked inside, he nodded to the bartender. He didn't come in there often, but he was known to nearly everyone in the little town. However, he didn't recognize the men at the bar, and he grabbed one by the arm who was reaching for another bottle of booze, "Think you've had enough boy."

"Who you callin' boy?" he asked, turning in Tien's grip, yanking his arm away. He brushed the strangely dark purple hair from his eyes. "Oh, another redneck hick who wants to fight? Haven't we kicked your asses enough for you to learn your lesson?"

One of his buddies finished off a shot and stood up, "Ah, what's one more? Let's have a little fun." He swung his fist at Tien's face, trying to land a punch, but Tien easily ducked and countered the attack, driving his fist into the guy's stomach. "Sonuvabitch," he gasped, doubling over as the purple-haired man's eyes went wide. He yelled at their third friend, who was still sitting at the bar, calmly sipping his drink, barely paying attention to them.

Tien blinked at them, there was something different about them than the normal trash he usually cleared out of here for the locals. The oddly colored hair, the unusual eyes... He had the feeling they'd met before but he'd never seen them. "These people aren't hicks and neither am I," he looked around at them, stopping on the man sitting at the bar, "Last chance to leave here without any broken bones."

The man at the bar finished off his drink with a calm smack of his lips and stared at the empty glass in his hands. "Broken bones, huh?" he asked, getting to his feet as he picked up a large, rough wooden club as a blue shimmering light washed over it like ripples. "We'll see about that."

Sabriena huffed, leaning on the counter. "What's taking him so long?" she grumbled. She'd been trying to work out in her head how she could convince Tien to let her buy that cast iron stove. But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where it would fit into the cabin. So she'd settled on picking out a new skillet and a muffin tin, both made of cast iron that she could use to cook over the open fire with. But now Tien was taking far too long to return to the store and she was getting impatient. "I'm going to find him."

"Uh, miss, I think he told you to stay here," the shopkeeper reminded her.

Sabriena's eyes flashed. "And just what the hell makes you think that any man can tell me what to do?" she snapped and stomped out of the store, heading the direction she'd seen Tien leave.

Tien's eyes widened as he caught sight off the blue shimmer over the club. He had seen that too many times in the he last battle with Enye's people and the dragons. His eyes snapped up to the man's, raising his power level and dropping into a fighting stance, "You!" He licked his lips, "you're one of those people, the followers! We beat you all...so is this where you are hiding? Where is Enye?"

The Atlantean threw his head back and laughed. "I thought you looked familiar, three-eyes." He twirled the heavy club around as if it was weightless. Other men in the bar had gone quiet, watching with interest, a couple of them barking words of encouragement to Tien. They were sick of this group who'd come in and done nothing but cause trouble. The man with the club swung, catching Tien in the gut, doubling him over as the purple-haired man brought his elbow down in the middle of Tien's back, knocking the big man flat on the floor. He reached down and hooked his arms under Tien's and hauled him up. The man with the club pointed it at Tien's nose. "Maybe we ought to make an example out of you. Show your buddies what they can expect when we show up again," he threatened. They jumped and turned when a feminine voice split the air.

"TIEN!" Sabriena cried in alarm, standing frozen in the doorway to find him like that.

Tiens eyes widened and he gasped, trying to look over his shoulder, "Get out of here!" He shouted, not seeing the man with the club swing with all of his might at his knee. Tears welled up in his eyes and he heard an audible crack resound throughout the tavern and he crumpled to the ground, crying out in the worst pain he'd ever been in. "Sabriena, be careful! They're using magick!"

A furious rage welled up within Sabriena as she watched Tien fall to the floor. No... not these fuckers again. With a scream, she felt something in her snap and the magick coursed through her body. Her hair lit up like the sun, her eyes burning as brightly as stars. "Get away from him!" she screamed and flew at the men, who had turned their attention to her. She jumped in the air and spun, landing a hard kick to the jaw of the man with the dark hair. He yelped and stumbled backwards, spitting blood and a piece of a broken tooth. She dropped into Tien's defensive stance as the man with the club started for her.

"Come on, bitch," he snarled.

"I'm not scared of you," she answered in a deadly calm voice.

Tien didn't know what to think. The pain in his knee was terrible, some of the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life. He growled through the agony, but stopped when he heard Sabriena's dangerous-sounding voice, the brilliant light shining through the tavern had the regulars gasping and the trouble-making Atlanteans taking a step back. Save for the one that went after her.

"SABRIENA LOOK OUT!" he shouted, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight, not sure if he wanted to see her get ripped to shreds, if this is what happened to his knee, he didn't want to see what happened if a direct hit landed on her head.

The man with the club swung but Sabriena jumped back, narrowly missing it, and she dropped to the floor, sweeping his legs out from under him. He fell hard on his back with a shout and she jumped back to her feet, throwing her arm out towards the man with the purple hair, a bolt of lightning flying from her palm, striking him in the chest. He screamed and fell to the floor, writhing. The third man ran forward and grabbed both of his companions, realizing they were outmatched against someone who used magick like they did. "Stupid twat," he spat at her and spun, disappearing with his friends on the spot.

Sabriena's chest was heaving as her hair fell back to normal, her eyes returning to their natural color. She rushed over and dropped to her knees at Tien's side. "Tien! Tien, are you okay?!"

Tien had been, shocked, no pun intended, when he saw Sabriena's attack. He wondered if it was like the one she must have done on the battlefield that fried Loki to a charred corpse. The danger wore off, he could hear the clapping and a couple of gruff cheers from around the tavern.

The bartender came over and leaned over him as well as a few patrons, which he quickly shooed away. He laughed, looking down at Tien, "That's some lady friend you have, Mr. Shinhan."

Tien bit his lip at the pain in his knee, it was already swelling up and he could feel the blood pooling around the joint. "Man, that guy hit like a freight train." He felt terrible, like his energy was being sapped. He cursed, hoping he would have enough energy to carry the supplies and fly home at the same time.

"Come on," Sabriena said in a strained voice, pulling his arm around her shoulders and trying to help him stand. "You're going straight to the doctor."

"There's a doctor's office just 'round the corner, there, miss," the bartender said, pointing out to the street. "Not much to work with, but he oughta be able to do somethin' fer him."

"Tien, get up," she groaned, "you have to have that looked at."

Tien shook his head and leaned heavily on Sabriena as he stood on his right leg. "Can't afford it," he grumbled under his breath. Of all damn things to happen. And at this time of year, too. If this had been midwinter, he wouldn't have been nearly as irritated about it. But they were coming into summer now and there was far too much work to do. The garden needed watering and weeding daily, and Sabriena had those stupid chickens out there now. "Maybe we can put back the extra coffee and just put it on my tab," he muttered.

The bartender scoffed, "Nonsense Tien. Miss, you just tell Doc to put it on Willy's tab. I ain't gonna let him fret about it. He's been taken care of the trash in this town more years than I can count, bout time I did something back for him."

Tien felt a blush cover his cheeks and he looked at the ground as he thanked the man, and hobbled down the street with Sabriena's help, trying to not pay much attention to her cleavage which was far too close to his face or the pain in his leg, but it wasn't working.

Sabriena managed to help him into the doctor's office. She wrinkled her nose - she'd been hoping for something a little more modern than this. After getting him checked in, she helped him back to one of the small rooms. She was glad he was so tall - it was easy for him to sit on the table and swing his leg onto it. She finally sat down in one of the chairs beside him and crossed her arms, staring out the tiny window. That had scared her, seeing him overpowered like that, ambushed out of nowhere. She pressed her lips thin. What if she hadn't come along that day? Would they have killed him? The thought made a knot form in her throat.

Tien didn't know what to think or to say. They sat in awkward silence for a little while, both of them lost in thought. All he could think about was getting patched up and getting back home. "Thanks," he finally muttered. He really just hoped that he could get a few pain pills for this and they could be off and he'd be good to go.

Unfortunately it wasn't that simple.

The small town doctor came in, looking at a file in his hands. "Hurt your knee, huh?" he asked and rolled up the leg of Tien's pants to look at his knee.

"Yeah," Tien muttered. "Some jerks over at the tavern were causing problems."

The doctor nodded. "They've been causing problems around here for months," he replied, frowning at the bruising that was already appearing on Tien's knee. He grabbed Tien's leg, trying to help him move it. "Can you bend it?"

Tien tried, but sucked air through his teeth in pain. "No," he answered in a strained voice, screwing up his face and shaking his head.

"Hmmm. I think I'm going to have to refer you on to a proper hospital," the doctor said. "You need to get some x-rays done. I don't think it's broken, but I'd feel better if we made sure."

Tien shook his head again. "No. I don't have time for all that."

"Tien," Sabriena protested, but he held up a hand to silence her. She frowned and looked back out the window. She still wanted to argue, but the look on his face told her he wasn't listening to it.

"Well, if you're going to be stubborn about it, there's not much I can do," the doctor said. "The best I can do is put you in a brace and tell you to keep off of it for awhile."

"That's fine," Tien answered, trying not to wince in pain.

"All right, I'll be right back," the doctor said and left the room.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Sabriena hissed at him.

"I'll be fine," he growled back at her.

The doctor reentered the room a short time later with a heavy brace and fitted it around Tien's knee. Tien wrinkled his nose at it – it made his whole leg stiff and unmovable.

"Here you are," the doctor said, holding out a cane to Tien.

Oh dear gods. As if he didn't feel old around Sabriena as it was, now he was supposed to hobble around with a cane? What was next, dentures? He shook his head firmly. "No."

The doctor looked frustrated. "Suit yourself. You can just rely on your lady-friend there to help you get back and forth to the bathroom."

"Gimme the damn cane," Tien growled and snatched it out of the doctor's hands, looking even more agitated than before.

"Language, Tien," Sabriena teased.

He narrowed his eyes at her. He was in no mood. "Not now," he warned.

The doctor tried to hide his amused smile. "You'll have to keep it elevated and stay off of it for about four to six weeks."

"Four to six weeks?!" Tien cried. "That's crazy! I can't do that! Do you have any idea how much work I have to do?" He felt a slight panic rising in his chest. He was going to have to figure something out. He couldn't just lay around useless for the next six weeks.

The doctor handed Tien a couple pills and a glass of water, which Tien reluctantly swallowed down, then slipped the bottle of pills into his pocket. "If that gets worse, you're gonna have to go to a bigger hospital."

Tien gave a nod and got to his feet, looking less than pleased as they left the doctor's office. He refused Sabriena's help and leaning heavily on the cane. He looked exhausted as they entered the mercantile shop again.

"Thanks for holding our stuff," Sabriena said to the shopkeeper. She grabbed up her purse that she'd left laying on the counter and fished around in it, withdrawing the capsule for her car. "There's no way you're going to be able to fly all the way home," she muttered to Tien. "You look too tired. Come outside with me. You can sit in the car and I'll load up your stuff."

Tien scoffed at that, "My knee's busted, not my arms, I'll load up the supplies." His face was burning as he took the items from the shop keep, thanking him and followed Sabriena outside. He didn't know what to think, he felt helpless and it was wrong to make her do something he'd been doing for years just because his leg was injured. He ignored her look and opened the trunk when the car appeared, putting the supplies in. He finally shut the door and went to get in on the passenger side, sighing in relief as he took the weight off of his leg. He didn't know what he was going to do. They still had training to finish for the day and the chickens needed tending, the garden needed weeding and watering, the laundry had to be done. "I don't have time to have a busted knee."

Sabriena frowned at him as she got into the car and headed back towards the cabin. "Yeah, well you still need to take it easy or you won't heal," she replied. She shook her head. Stubborn old man. She should've known that he was going to be this way. They drove home in silence; Sabriena chewing her lip the entire time. He wasn't going to be able to do the things he needed to do, not with a bum knee. He was going to need help, whether he liked it or not. She drew a long breath through her nose, making up her mind right then and there. Now all she had to do was figure out how to tell him.

They landed in the yard a short time later, Sabriena parking his side of the car as close to the door of the cabin as possible. She turned the car off and turned to look at him, her eyes burning into his with a serious expression on her face. "Now go inside and get laid down in bed. I can at least pack the supplies out to the root cellar."

Tien looked at her, seeing that stubborn look in her eye and feeling his own starting to rise up in him. "You shouldn't have to do it alone because of my injury," he protested, "And I still have chores to do...the chickens need to be fed, I have laundry, the garden needs tending..." He drifted off at the dangerous tint that started swirling around in her eyes, a spark of light... He was suddenly reminded of when she transformed in the tavern. He started at her a moment, "You transformed..." He said, dumbfounded look on his face as the realization struck him. He'd been so focused on the pain in his knee and his frustration at the situation that it hadn't sunk in yet.

She blinked at him. "Yeah..." she said slowly, "yeah... I did." She looked away from him, staring out over the yard through the windshield, trying to think of how she did it. She'd been frightened, angry, just like she always was when she transformed in the past. "Dammit," she hissed. "I don't know how I did it..." She shook her head as if trying to clear her mind. "Doesn't matter right now. You go rest, I'll take care of the garden and the laundry. And the chickens are mine, anyway. Now GO," she said firmly and got out of the car, hurrying around to the trunk and hauling the bags out before he had a chance to get to her to stop her.

Tien frowned, but decided it was past arguing at the moment any way, he'd have to worry about it later. Maybe a hot meal and a good night's rest would be just what he needed. He went over to the bed, sitting down before he pulled out his large bear cloak and bundled it up putting it under his knee as he laid back. It did feel good to be off of it, but it was killing him to just lay back while he knew Sabriena was out there doing his chores. "Dammit," he cursed under his breath.

Sabriena spent most of her day working on the garden, pulling weeds and running buckets of water back and forth. It took twice as long to do it without Tien's help. She skipped lunch, hoping Tien was sleeping and wouldn't even know they'd missed a meal. She felt like she had to keep busy, to push herself even harder without his instruction. She needed to get back to training or she was going to fall even further behind. And if she didn't have him to teach her, she wasn't going to get anything done. She finally stumbled into the cabin late in the afternoon, her stomach grumbling and her back aching. She huffed and looked at him, putting her hands on her hips. "How in the hell did you do all of this on your own day in and day out before I got here?" she demanded. "I'm exhausted."

Tien looked over at her, seeing her looking more exhausted than normal and guilt hit him. He must have dosed off; the sky was darker than he remembered it being a minute ago...was it a minute? He shrugged. "I managed," he answered as he moved to get up. "At least let me make you something to eat," he offered, "There's enough supplies in the root cellar to make a decent stew of sorts." He looked at her with gratefulness in his eyes, "You really did everything? Even the garden?"

She nodded. "I'll cook," she said, "You can't do the stairs to get in the cellar." She turned, rolling her eyes once her back was to him, and headed out into the yard, aiming a kick at the rooster as she passed him. "Yeah, remember that you bastard," she spat at him as he flapped his wings and hurried across the yard. She despised that rooster. He was always at her with his spurs, scratching the hell out of her arms and legs for no reason at all. Tien was always getting onto her for trying to kick the bird and wouldn't even listen to her argument that the rooster started it.

She made her way to the cellar, grabbing up some vegetables and a big hunk of deer meat that hung from the ceiling, then headed back into the cabin. There was no way Tien was going to be able to take care of himself with that busted knee. She slammed the items on the table and turned to him. "Well, that's it. I'm moving in," she announced.

Tien blinked at her, "You...You're what?!" he cried. He wanted to spend more time with her, yes, but not like this. Would it really be that different? She was there every single day anyway and would sleep over a couple night a week when their training ran too late. But now if she moved in and stayed…

"I didn't stutter," she answered, moving to get a fire going in the fireplace. "I don't have any of my stuff. I'll have to fly to Capsule Corp after we eat something. It's just until you're healed up. So... what? A month? Six weeks? Something like that, right?" she asked as she started fixing the stew. "They didn't say if it was broken or not for sure, so..."

Tien grabbed his cane and stiffly moved to sit at the table, thinking it over. "Its not broken," he muttered. "Alright. You'd still come anyway wouldn't you?" He sighed and leaned back, he wondered how he was going to survive all that time, being so close to her, sleeping next to her every night, smelling her perfume. He put that thought process to a halt and shook his head, "I'll see if I can come up with a training schedule for you to do without my help."

She gave a nod. "Okay," she answered and sat down at the end of the table, letting the stew simmer behind her, staring at him. She couldn't leave him out there on his own like this. But her mind began to wander... what about when he needed to bathe? She ducked her head, trying to hide the smile on her lips as she thought about it. She nearly snorted as she pictured his outraged expression if she offered him a sponge-bath. Gods, that would be hilarious. She tried to school her expression, but she knew her cheeks were still pink. "So, ah, I know you hate my phone and all, but do you want me to call Jenny? See if they have any senzu beans?"

Tien shook his head, "No, we need to save all the senzu beans that we can for the war. Dende's busy enough, as is Jenny working on that armor. I'll be fine. Like you said, it's just a few weeks." He couldn't stop breathing in deeply the smell of the stew. He didn't know how she did it, he could make the same exact stew and it would taste sub par compared to her version.

"All right, suit yourself," she sighed and got up to fix them both a bowl of stew. She ate quickly, she was starving after working so hard all day. After finishing a second bowl, she got up and put her bowl in the wash basin. "When you're done, I want you to go back to bed. I'll take care of the dishes when I get back. I hope I can get back before it gets too late. You need anything before I go?"

Tien slowed down his eating, blushing terribly at the urgent need. "I ah... need to go to the outhouse." he muttered under his breath. What was he? An invalid? He sighed, now wasn't the time for modesty on this...he was injured, he didn't want senzu beans, this is what he had to do.

"O-Oh," Sabriena said. She hadn't even thought about that. "Okay." She tried not to sigh. That's what he got for putting the damn thing on a path with such a steep slope down to it. "Come on," she said, handing him his cane. He seemed to manage walking across the yard with his cane all right, but when they came to the edge of the woods where the path was steep and overgrown with roots that formed a type of stairs, he looked rather sour and perhaps a tad nervous. Sabriena walked down the first bit then reached for his hand. "I won't let you fall," she promised.

He pressed his lips thin, taking her hand and using his cane with the other. Wincing every time he had to move that leg, determined to not cry out at the sharp pain. After a few fumbles, they found a rhythm that worked and got there fairly quickly. He hated that he relied on her for that. He wished he still had his energy. He couldn't figure out why he felt so utterly exhausted unless it was something about the magick nature of the injury or what caused it that stopped him from being able to fly even a few feet. He shut the door quickly behind him and did his business as quickly as he could. He just wanted to go hide in his bed for the rest of the night. "You could just leave me out here, save you the trouble of hauling me out here."

Sabriena covered her face with her hands. "And then what? Bring you your meals out here?" she countered. She snickered to herself and shook her head. Things were about to get a lot more personal, real quick. "So should I pick up a nurse's outfit while I'm out?" she teased.

Tien's face blushed as he pictured that perfect hourglass form of hers in a nurse's outfit. He shook his head violently even though she couldn't see him. "No... No better not." He finished up and pushed open the door. "Come on girl. Let's get this old man back into bed, but if you need any help tonight, I want you to wake me up. Or if you have any trouble with anything out here. You know like lions, tigers..." he teased.

"And bears, oh my!" she laughed taking his hand and helping him move back towards the cabin. She shivered as she thought about the encounter with the bear. "Actually, the bears thing isn't funny. Maybe I should bring my guns..." she said thoughtfully. She didn't trust her bow to take down bear and she doubted that she could pull Tien's bow.

Tien shook his head, "No guns. I was just joking. Besides, not like you need me to take care of any bears, I bet you could take one all on your own now." He chuckled as they went back to the cabin, "Just do that lightning trick again. Unless you see cubs, then come get me. I will move a mountain with this bum leg to get them out of our hair."

Sabriena rolled her eyes. As if she would leave her guns behind. Ah well, what Tien didn't know wouldn't hurt her. She was grateful he'd never rummaged in her car - it wouldn't take much to find the handgun stashed in the console. She helped him back into bed once they were in the cabin and she pulled his boots off before she helped get his leg propped up and she pulled the quilt over him. "You rest," she said. "I'll be back in a few hours."

She stood in her room at Capsule Corp, looking around at her belongings, trying to decide what she should take with her. It was going to suck going that long without a hot shower. She didn't know how Tien could stand it. She grabbed her biggest suit case and started packing her clothes, her shoes... It was quickly filled and she grabbed a second suitcase. She suddenly wished she had Goku there to instant transmission her and her stuff to Tien's house.

"Whatcha doin'?" Trunks asked as he leaned in the doorway of her room.

"Tien's got a bum knee," she answered. "I'm gonna stay with him and help him out for a bit until it heals."

Trunks' eyes went wide. That didn't sound like the Sabriena he was used to. "Damn," he muttered. "I'd offer to get some senzu beans, but I know they're all out. Catie used the last one the other day when Dad tore up her shoulder in training."

Sabriena shrugged, "He wouldn't even let me call to ask about the beans anyway. Stubborn old man if I ever saw one."

Trunks snickered, "Yeah, Tien's pretty independent. I'm surprised he's letting you stay and help him at all."

"I didn't give him much choice," she replied, heading into her bathroom and grabbing up all her toiletries - shampoo, toothbrush, perfumes, body wash, makeup. Just because she was living like a mountain man didn't mean she had to end up looking like one.

Trunks cocked an eyebrow as she filled her third suitcase. "You really need all this stuff out there? I mean, Tien's place is pretty... primitive, isn't it?"

"YES," she answered. "And that's exactly why I'm taking as much of my modern conveniences as I possibly can." She made sure her guns and ammo were packed carefully before she turned to Trunks and flashed him a big smile, batting her eyes. "Oh Trunks! Would you mind..."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered before she could finish her question and grabbed up all of suitcases and followed her out of the house to the car. "If you guys need any help, just shoot me a call," Trunks offered after he placed the bags in her car.

"Thanks, but we'll manage," she said, waving to him as she got in her car and headed back for Tien's cabin.

It was dark by the time Sabriena arrived back at the cabin. She carefully opened the door, cringing as it creaked, and stuck her head in. "Tien?" she whispered. "TIEN?!" she repeated, her voice still in a whisper, but louder and harsher. A soft snore was the only response she got. She heaved a sigh and tiptoed across the cabin, pausing at the side of the bed. He really did look handsome as he slept peacefully. She got to her knees and cautiously slid the rifle case under the bed, pushing it all the way back to the wall where Tien would have to actually move the bed to find it. Her handguns soon joined it, along with several boxes of ammunition. She peeked over the edge of the bed, heaving a sigh when she saw him still sleeping. She crept back outside and began to drag her other suitcases into the house one by one. It wasn't until she knocked a chair over with the third suitcase that Tien's snoring stopped and he sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes and looking at her. "Sorry!" she cringed. "I didn't mean to wake you! Go back to sleep. I'm almost done."

Tien blinked through the darkness, trying to see. The fire had gone down some and the world outside was pitch black. His leg throbbed anew with pain and he winced, biting his lip until it passed. He looked around seeing the three, no, four giant suitcases piled at the end of the bed. "What...what is all this?" He moved back to sit up against the headboard, "Did you bring your kitchen sink too?" He shook his head, women... Particularly this woman. "What do you need all of this for?"

"Just the essentials," she tried to joke.

Tien started to argue, but he paused, his leg was worse than before; he could feel the swelling and he couldn't stop the groan that made it past his lips as he looked longingly at his wall of herbs. "Bring me the small round jar at the end there. And then the bigger jar in the middle, the cylinder." He went to work, removing the brace around his knee, wincing at the sight of the black and blue bruise, swollen.

Sabriena went to the wall and grabbed the jars he asked for and brought them over to him. She felt bad for waking him when he had been sleeping so peacefully. "I'm sorry for waking you, Tien," she said softly, cringing at the sight of his knee. Good gods, that looked painful. Some stupid part of Sabriena's brain dared her to poke it, but she schooled her expression and kept her hands firmly in her lap. But she'd remember that just in case he got too demanding. She glanced over at the suitcases. "I didn't know what I might need," she said and shrugged. "So I brought everything."

Tien took the smallest jar, opening it up and seeing what was left in it. "Did you pack a glass of water in there?" he managed to tease, "I need to mix this with water...helps...numb the pain...better that that pill crap." He set aside the small jar and opened the bigger one, scooping out a dollop of green paste onto his fingers before he moved to rub it into the swollen knee, biting back his pain, but unable to stop the pinpricks of tears forming at the corner of his eyes. He could barely work it in and wondered what good it would really do. He wondered if he was going to have to puncture the wound to let it drain out. It was almost tempting at that moment.

Sabriena sighed. "I'll get you some water." She'd been so busy that day working outside that she'd forgotten to get any fresh water from the spring. She grabbed up a couple canteens Tien had laying on the little counter and headed out into the darkness. Gods, this was going to get old fast. She returned to the cabin a short while later, grumbling about why he couldn't at least have plumbing out here and poured him a cup of water. "Here," she said, handing it to him. "Anything else?"

He opened the small jar, taking out two generous pinches of another paste and dropped them into the water, swirling the cup a moment before he tilted his head back and swallowed it all down. He didn't even grimace at the taste. He looked down at his knee again, wondering if he should open the wound or wait...he could wait. He shook his head, "No. Thanks." He eyed the suitcases again. There was hardly any room for them. This was going to get old fast. "Get some rest, I'm sure I'll think of some more things to irritate you with tomorrow."

"I'm sure you will," she muttered, taking the cup and the jars from him and putting them on the counter. She looked at the laundry basket that was full of Tien's shirts and sighed. She hadn't gotten the laundry done. It'd have to be done tomorrow. She groaned as she realized she didn't know which suitcase her pajamas were in (truth be told, she rarely slept in pajamas at home, so she didn't have much except for sexy lingerie anyway). "Screw it," she muttered to herself and peeled off her dirty tank and jeans shorts and tossed them in the basket with Tien's stuff before she went to crawl in bed with Tien, content to sleep in her bra and underwear. She was too tired to care.

Tien blinked as he suddenly caught a glimpse of creamy skin and impossibly too small lacy pink underwear pass in front of him before crawling under the sheets. If he wasn't in so much pain, he as sure he would have a big problem that he would have trouble explaining to the half naked beautiful woman in bed next to him. "You...you're wearing that to bed?" Like he was much better, but he had his pants on at least. He usually slept in the he nude on the nights she didn't sleep over. These pants were stifling, but there was no way he was going to go without them in bed next to her.

"It's this or nothing," she muttered, scooting as close to the wall as possible, pulling the blankets tightly around herself, and she drifted off to sleep, snoring loudly, before Tien even had a chance to answer.

He shook his head and scooted back down to lay on the he bed, his knee in too much pain for him to roll on his side so he was stuck laying on his back. He tucked his hands behind his head and sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling, this was going to be rough. He glanced over at her, chewing his lip for a moment, holding the image of her nearly naked form in his mind. There was no way he was going to survive six weeks of this. He groaned and ran a hand over his face, whispering to himself, "Gods, save me."