It's Just Us Now

Ana woke up with a start by a sharp bark from Apollo. He was sitting at her shoulder, staring down with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. She evaded a drop of his drool, making a note to change her sheets when she could as she sat up. He let out a soft woof and jumped up to lick her face and she laughed as she wiped away the slobber, scooting out of bed.

"Fine, fine, let's go out."

She got dressed quickly in joggers and an oversized shirt, slipping on her sneakers and grabbing a doggie bag, not bothering for a leash as she walked out of her room, Apollo following as she headed outside.

She blinked in the sunlight, unsure what time it was as Apollo barked and ran off, stopping for a moment to lift his leg against a tree before resuming his activities. As much as she hated being at Headquarters mandatorily, it was a plus for Apollo to have the open grounds to run around in. Back at her condo, she only had the rooftop garden or outside on the street; the nearest park was at least six blocks away.

The sound of footsteps on the gravel path drew her attention and turned and saw Roxy slowing to a jog towards her, a smile on her face.

"Hey!" she said, sounding only slightly out of breath as she stopped, not a drop of sweat visible.

"Of course you're a morning runner," Ana said flatly, making Roxy grin.

"I was raised with it, to be honest."

"Don't turn your hot bod into a sob story, I'm still grouchy from him waking me up," she said, nodding her head towards Apollo who was chasing a dragonfly but then stumbled and fell onto his back - where he stayed, letting out a bark and moving his legs in the air; "Doofus," Ana muttered and Roxy laughed.

"How'd the castle go?" Roxy asked, watching Apollo and avoiding Ana's gaze.

"Galahad didn't tell you?" she asked, having a distinct feeling that Eggsy had told his best friend something.

"Galahad?!" Roxy said, turning to meet her gaze with a furrowed brow, "You won't-"

"If he insists on calling me by my codename, I'll call him his," she said, walking towards Apollo and letting out a whistle.

"Seriously?" Roxy asked, following.

"Seriously," she said, bringing out a ball from her pocket, getting Apollo's attention before throwing it, "He learns my nickname, doesn't call me that, then learns my real name without my permission... and yet, it's still Lincoln."

She wasn't going to tell her that he'd called her by both names the other night.

"Linc."

"Huh?" she asked.

"I've only heard him call you Linc," Roxy said, her gaze searching.

She only shrugged and turned back to Apollo running towards her, ball in his mouth. He dropped it at her feet, the ball covered in drool. She toed it around in the grass first before picking it up again and throwing it.

"So…" Roxy started, and since Ana wasn't feeling like a heart to heart with Eggy's best friend so early in the morning, she decided for a distraction and asked what she'd wanted to ask for a while.

"Can you teach me the climbing takedown move?"

"Sorry?"

"That move you did when training with Galahad… you climbed up him and then took him down with a twist of your legs."

Roxy grinned and crossed her arms.

"I like to call it Thumbelina and Goliath."

Ana laughed out loud at that, clapping her hands together once.

"Yes. Please."

Roxy looked her up and down.

"Well, you're dressed for a session, let's stretch and begin."

"Really?"

"Really."

Ana hit the grass flat on her back for the umpteenth time, letting out a grunt at the impact.

She closed her eyes, out of breath, sweating everywhere, her entire body tired but also on fire at the strain of training.

"Need a hand?"

She opened her eyes to see Roxy standing above her, arm outstretched.

Ana shook her head and rolled over to her hands and knees, pushing herself back up.

"That looked rough."

Ana looked over to Percival, lounging under a nearby tree, Apollo draped over his legs. He had appeared near the beginning of the session and made quick friends with her dog as he watched and played the part of the gallery, making a quip here or there.

Most of his quips were at her failures.

"How about you make yourself useful and be my dummy, huh? Roxy's the same height, that's why it's not working."

Percival raised an eyebrow.

"It isn't working because you aren't getting it right."

Roxy cleared her throat, and looked chagrined when Ana turned to look at her.

"You get comfortable after the climb, let your guard down. You need to be quick at the top to get your legs in place."

"You know the move!" Ana said defensively, more-so than when she usually trained, "Hence me wanting someone to make themselves useful," she said, turning to Percival again.

He raised both eyebrows this time, and Roxy groaned.

"I've already been useful," he said.

Ana threw her arms in the air.

"At what, exactly?"

"Contrary to your belief, little one, I'm the reason we're all here."

Ana crossed her arms this time.

"Care to elaborate?"

"He's a tech specialist as well as an agent," Roxy muttered.

"Specialist is an understatement," Percival said as he stood up, Apollo growling at the movement but staying asleep all the same. The man slowly walked towards Ana, a small grin on his face, "I've helped improve the Kingsman's specs, across the world, adding blueprint rendering, weapon detection, night vision, and advanced facial recognition."

Ana's eyebrow ticked.

"Congratulations?" she said, unsure what the man was getting at.

"Because of you, I realized there was a specific fault in my facial recognition program."

She blinked, still unsure what he was saying, but only a moment after did it hit her.

The night she met Eggsy, he was wearing glasses; Kingsman specs. When the facial recognition program ran on her but came up with nothing… that's what made her a person of interest. She already knew that he was up to something from before, without her specs (thank you very much), with the way he was looking more at Marsha Valentine than her before he came over to flirt.

"Your program didn't include other agents," she said softly.

Percival snapped his fingers.

"Hence the slight… delay, as one might say, in the situation. Agent Galahad was already quite… preoccupied with you, so I ran the update through Agent Lancelot's specs, and confirmed your identity."

Ana nodded, a 'Thank You' on her lips that she refrained. She knew she had a good sixty-forty chance against Eggsy. But even then, the different outcomes of their fight would've resulted in Eggsy living... or her dying.

He only looked at her, waiting for her response. Her body was aching and she was upset with herself for not getting the move right, so she snapped.

"Even without that information both Roxy and Eggsy would've been fine with me. What, you want a gold star?"

"Seeing as you were an agent using… unconventional bullets-" Ana gave him a glare and Percival raised his hands as though in surrender, "It was pure chance and luck it was an agent such as yourself we came across. Imagine the repercussions if it was a different, unthinking, trigger happy agent that she and Eggsy had met."

She raised an eyebrow, and Roxy cleared her throat.

"All in all, that night was one of pure circumstance, I believe is what he is trying to say-"

Ana shook her head, done about hearing any of it.

"C'mon, make yourself useful yet again, this is very important work," she goaded.

Percival raised an eyebrow with a sly grin on his face, and she opened her mouth to let him have it when a new voice interrupted them.

"I'll take a crack at it."

Ana closed her eyes at Eggsy's voice and took a deep breath to ready herself before turned to look at him.

He looked well rested, the bastard, in a black shirt and sweats, his hands on his hips as he looked at her. Apollo was standing next to him, tongue hanging out of his mouth. No growling, no ankle biting, the traitor.

"Thanks, but I've already got someone…" she said, turning back to Percival and Roxy, her voice fading as she watched the the two of them walk away, arm in arm.

"Goddammit," she whispered to herself.

"Scared?" Eggsy goaded her.

She shook her head as she turned to face him.

She looked tired. And beat.

He wondered how many times she'd practiced the move. Could even imagine her being thrown down again and again… only to get back up, just like he'd watched the last three times at a distance. The look of determination on her face wasn't just what drove him to interrupt and see her reaction - but it drove him to help her. To help her become a better agent, just like he felt driven to become a better agent himself when he was around her. After all, she'd kicked his ass enough times that he knew he needed to step up.

"You wish."

He blinked, almost forgetting what he had said to bring forth such an answer, but then tampered a grin. It was a weak come-back - she must really be tired. He'd only heard the back-end of what he presumed was Percival bragging about finding the fault in the facial recognition program. He himself thought over many times of that night – what would have happened if Roxy hadn't intervened when she did. With Ana and her tranq guns (though he was unknowing at the time) he knew he would've been safe. For him, he wasn't fighting to kill her. He only did so when he knew it was necessary or if it was part of the mission. But he wondered if she knew that. Was she fighting to save her life, or just silence a complication in her rogue mission?

"Roxy trained that move on me millions'a times… I'm the perfect trainin' partner."

"I can make due with-"

"An immobile dummy in the trainin' center? Why not a live dummy? One that can react and train ya better?"

She faltered, sparing him a glance before looking away as she tilted her head back and forth, as though stretching her neck.

"Fine."

That one word ignited an excitement inside of him he didn't even know he had there.

He knew so little about her, really, and yet he felt he knew her so well. And even more startling was how much he wanted to spend time with her. And even more surprisingly was that he had confessed as much to her the other night at the Magic Castle. And she didn't bite his head off for saying so… she blushed.

He wanted them to talk, he wanted to make her laugh like Dylan and Roxy and even Apollo did. Wanted to just… be with her. Just the simple act of spending as much time with her as he could.

And yet she was doing her damnedest to make sure it didn't happen.

Even now she wouldn't meet his gaze as she flexed her fingers before curling them into fists as she took her stance.

He almost shook his head at himself – acting like a poor sap chasing after a girl in a time like this. To be willing to get his ass handed to him – yet again – just to spend more time with her.

The look she gave him before she took a running stance at him solidified his feeling.

He was a poor sap. But he'd do what he had to. And if he'd learned anything in this past year or two – time was of the essence.

"Finally!" Ana cried out, rolling over and quickly jumping up, leaving Eggsy on the grass as she walked away, feeling upset rather than victorious as she should.

This time she'd executed the move perfectly. She'd dodged his punch, swung her leg over his arm and boosted herself over his shoulders to turn and lock her legs around his neck before she turned her body – using the force of her momentum to sweep him off his feet as they'd landed.

But this was only time she had completed the move with him. Because even though the last few times she had executed everything perfectly – Eggsy would lose his balance and they would fall in some heap or another or he would counter a move and drop her to the ground.

She rested her hands on her hips, catching her breath as she closed her eyes, realizing solidly in her mind what she knew a more than a couple tries ago. She was doing the move perfectly: her weight was why she wasn't succeeding.

She was acting as a heavy backpack dropping onto his shoulders without warning; someone would need to adjust their stance. And she had a feeling if she tried this move against an enemy, they could use it against her immediately. The fact that trying it with Roxy countless times and not knowing – that it was with him that she came to the truth that as much as she tried she would never be able to execute this move because of her body – hurt even more.

"Again," she heard Eggsy say and she sighed, shaking her head. She stood with her back to him.

"C'mon, let a woman have her moment."

"You 'kay?" she heard him come closer, "hit the ground a little hard-"

"I'm fine," she replied, waving her hand and turning away from him when he came into her peripheral vision.

He stayed silent for a beat, then sighed.

"What did I do?"

"It might be a surprise, but it's not you."

"This time," he muttered, and she rolled her eyes, "C'mon, let's go again."

"Just a sec," she said, turning away from him again.

"You'll lose ya momentum-"

"I think I just got my period – I'm gonna go get some rest from some cramps, apply a tampon, you know, period stuff," she said, emphasizing the word. Periods always made the male sex uncomfortable.

Eggsy paused but then let out a laugh.

It surprised her so much that she spun around to look at him.

"Nice try! What," he asked, calming down and meeting her gaze, "ya think Rox hasn't tried that on me to change the subject?"

She opened and closed her mouth, unsure how to reply.

"What is it, then, huh?" he asked, taking a step close, "I'll say it if I have ta – but ya picked this up quick. You've gotten betta each time."

"I know I have," she glared.

"Then what?"

She only stared as she racked her brain for other excuses. No way in hell was she discussing her weight with him.

"Maybe I want another sparring partner," she said, turning away.

"Nah, that ain't it," he said, "this is your first excuse ta beat me up without gettin' yelled at for it," he walked around to face her again.

"You seem tired, you need a break," she muttered, not meeting his gaze as she turned away again.

"That was weak, Linc, even for you," he walked around to face her, but she made a move to turn away again.

This time he grabbed her arm and immediately she turned to him, grasping his arm and pulling him towards her, reaching up with her fist to punch him on the underside of his chin, knocking him backwards.

She stepped out of his grasp and watched him regain his composure, lifting his head with a grin.

"There ya are," he said as he took a step forward.

She shook her head but he kept coming at her. He raised a hand – not even to spar – but she countered it and punched his chest. He coughed but didn't stumble back. He raised an arm at her yet again, a confused look on his face. This time when she countered she used both hands and put her weight behind shoving him away. He stumbled backwards but caught himself.

She shook her head.

"Like I said, period cramps," she turned away, and this time, she took the first steps to leave.

However, she heard him grunt and felt the ground lightly tremble as he ran towards her. She barely turned back in time and didn't even react enough to brace herself for his football style tackle. She felt his arm wrap around the back of her head during the fall, and grunted at the weight of him falling on top of her.

She pushed him off and landed punch to his chest.

"For fuck's sake-"

He cut her off by grabbing her arms and keeping a tight grasp. She moved her leg to knee him in the groin but he kicked at her shin and intertwined their legs to hold them in a lock. She closed her eyes at the vulnerable position – the both of them laying on their sides, facing each other.

"Explain," he said.

"Explain what? That you just attacked a menstruating woman in pain-"

"Bullshit. Explain what the hell happened from the moment you finished the take-down perfectly to where we are, right now-"

"Cause of you," she seethed, trying to get out of his grip, but it only strengthened.

"Cause of you, goddammit. You and… your fuckin' walls I gotta break down, literally it seems."

"What's with this walls metaphor?"

"You were fine and then ya aint? And it's not me? Then what the fuck is it?" he yelled.

"I'm not a Black Widow, okay?!" she yelled back.

They both fell silent after the outburst.

She felt his grip falter slightly and moved to get free, but he tightened his grip again and even pulled her closer.

"Explain," he repeated.

"No."

She moved and he tightened his grip even harder. She used that to pull against him and use her weight to roll them – but instead landed on top of him.

Much more vulnerable – and even more intimate – than she could handle.

"Comfy?" he asked, his eyes smiling up at her. She only glared and moved again to shove off of him, despite his continuous grip on her. This time he rolled them so he was on top.

"Shall we rumble down the grassy hills together?" he asked.

She knew exactly what he was doing, but refused to let her emotions get the best of her this time. The fact he had said their practice session was an excuse for her to beat him up… made her realize she'd maybe reacted irrationally in the past.

She was realizing a lot of things today. Maybe Mercury was in retrograde.

"Like Jack and Jill?" she asked, playing along.

"Exactly."

She moved and shifted their bodies again, her rolling on top. She pulled her arms back, knowing he would hold on tight – bringing the upper half of his body off the grass. She then pushed her arms down, hitting his head hard on the ground.

"Jack broke his crown, remember?"

He laughed as he shifted her weight off of him but kept their position – side by side with legs intertwined, a good grasp on her arms to keep her from hurting him. He adjusted his legs and his grip and a shiver wracked her body at the realization of their position. They might as well be lovers intertwined.

Either he wasn't feeling the same thing or he was hiding it as well as she hoped she was.

She let out a sigh.

"I can wait all day," he said.

"Fine."

"Sorry?"

She let out a laugh.

"You fucking just said you can wait all day. So can I."

Eggsy took a beat.

"Seriously?"

"Weren't expecting that, were you?"

"No. Can't say that I did."

"Good."

"Fine, then."

"Fine," she answered, "could use a nap." She closed her eyes and relaxed her body, moving her shoulder and arm, now basically connected with his, to prop up her head.

He was tense, holding his body tight, his breath coming in short puffs which were distracting - but she kept her eyes closed, wondering how long the both of them would wait, their pride and stubbornness could only last them so long in this particular situation.

After a while, she wasn't sure if it was five or thirty minutes, she felt herself relax, her closed eyes growing heavy…

"Like the spider?"

She held her breath.

"You've got a sting, I can tell ya that. But why relate yaself to a spider-"

"For fucks sake," she said, opening her eyes, "don't you watch movies?"

"Some. Which one is the spider from?"

She rolled her eyes at his grin and shifted but his grip on her tightened and she froze, looking away from his face.

"Those comic book movies?" she asked the grass.

"No idea what ya on about."

She shook her head.

"Black Widow. She's a spy. She's beautiful, and thin," she winced as she said it out loud – why had she said that? – "and can take on any opponent by lithely jumping on them and taking them down."

Eggsy let out a breath that hit her neck, making her shiver just as she did last night.

"That's why you wanted to learn the-"

"Somewhat," she said softly.

She felt his body relax – just not enough for her to break free.

"You're not Black Widow, Anabelle."

This time she tensed up. Hearing her name from his lips drew out many different emotions all at the same time and her body reacted. She let out a short yell and thrashed, slipping an arm free to shove at his chest, throwing him off of her. She drew up her knee but he evaded, his arms grasping her leg to pull down; she slid along the grass and she moved to punch him but he ducked out of the way and in turn gave a light punch to her throat.

Her eyes widened as she coughed, his hands moving to her shoulders to hold her down as she clutched her throat. He had never fought her like that, she realized. He had only moved defensively with her – never offensively.

She gazed up at him, still recovering from the hit, the both of them breathing heavily from their sparring.

"You're… ya not some dainty little thing that needs the high ground."

She closed her eyes and let out a breath, trying to calm herself down. She felt his hand brush her cheek and her eyes shot open, staring up at him in a daze.

Everything was moving too fast. How did it get to this? How did she let it get to this?

"You can meet ya opponent on the ground – face to face – an' run through them."

"Like a bull," she said dully, "You're basically calling me a bull-"

He reached forward and put his hand over her mouth.

"A lion."

A soft breeze rolled through the grass and around them as they stared at each other silently. As though there wasn't anything to say after that. As though something colossal had just changed between them.

"A lion… a lion stalks and stays low… but they charge full speed ahead."

She reached a shaking hand to cover the one over her mouth, moving to his wrist, grasping it and pulling it off of her. He looked as unnerved as she did.

She opened her mouth to reply but another voice interrupted before she could even think to say anything.

"What the fuck is this?"

They both jumped and she felt Eggsy move off of her immediately.

She let out a deep breath, shaking her head to rid herself of her daze as she turned and hoisted herself up, Eggsy standing up along with her as they turned to face their interrupter.

It was Dylan, standing there with his arms crossed and a concerned look as his gaze flittered between the both of them.

Ana felt the same. Concerned. Concerned about so much…

She looked over to Eggsy and blinked in surprise when she saw he was already looking at her. She quickly turned away and then before she knew it her feet were carrying her away without a word.

Before she reached the front doors to headquarters she heard Apollo's bark and the scatter of his feet as he ran towards her, stopping by her side as she looked down at him.

"Couldn't just use the pee-pad and let me sleep in, could you?"

Hoo boy, things just got real! Thank you for reading, and even more thanks for leaving a review! Please let me know what you think (constructively, of course)!

Adding this again just in case: I may or may not be writing a Star Wars AU that takes place in the Star Wars universe but with the 'A' heavily implied... and would like a Beta or at least a fresh pair of eyes to know if what I'm writing is even worth it for people to read. If you are one of those, or know someone else who might be up for the job, let me know! I want to emphasize that it won't effect this current fic.

It's Just Us Now by Sleigh Bells