AN: LoMaRiBa, the bestest beta in the world! And also the one who came up with then ending of this chaper. From the * on it is almost word for word what she suggested. Hope you guys like! More to come!

"Hey, Rich, wake up," Duncan said turning on the light. Richie groaned and buried his face in his pillows to block out the light. "Get up." Duncan slapped him on the rear. He chose to pretend he didn't hear Richie's muffled comment. "Up, up, up," he chanted pulling off the blankets. Richie mumbled a few more choice words. "Come on."

Finally, Richie rolled over and squinted up at him. "What do you want?" he demanded.

"To train, come on, get up."

Richie looked at his clock. "It's five in the morning."

"Can't get anything past you. Get up."

"Ahdon'wanna," Richie slurred hiding his face again.

"Since when has that stopped me?" Duncan asked picking Richie up by his shoulders and forcing him to sit up. He handed him his sweats and slapped him lightly in the face. "Wake up or it will be all too easy to kick your ass."

"It's always easy for you to kick my ass," Richie pointed out beginning to, somewhat begrudgingly, wake up.

"That's why you need to train. It shouldn't be easy."

"It's not a fair fight, though," Richie sleepily protested putting on his sweatshirt, not to get ready to train, but to block out the cold since his blanket was now lying on the floor. "You're older."

"Everyone's older than you, so by your standards it's never going to be a fair fight. That's why we need to work on your skills, since we can't do anything about your age."

Richie yawned and stretched. "You're not going away, are you?"

"Not until I know you'll be ready in five minutes."

"Fine."

Duncan drove Richie out to the Paris countryside with the Green Day CD Richie had left in the car blaring the entire way. "I've been looking all over for this," Richie mumbled sleepily.

"It's pretty good. I've been listening to it since I found it," Duncan told him pulling the car to a stop.

"We train here?" Richie asked looking around at the field.

"We train there," Duncan corrected pointing out a very steep looking hill.

"There?"

"That's what I said."

Richie tried to yawn and sigh at the same time and ended up making a weird noise instead. "You're doing this to torture me aren't you?" Richie might have looked awake, but his voice betrayed him.

Duncan thought for a minute. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Thought so." Richie got out of the car and stretched and groaned still trying to wake up. It didn't help that he'd only had a couple hours sleep. He had wondered around the streets of Paris until two am, when he got tired of the offers he was getting from the hookers and the knowing glares he was getting from the cops. "Tell me why I'm doing this again?" he asked as he started hiking up the steep hill behind Duncan.

"Because I told you to."

"Note to self," Richie grumbled. "Require better reason to do things than 'Mac told you to'."

"So tell me more about Heather," Duncan said after a minute. "How long is this fling going to last do you think?"

Richie thought for a minute. "I think it's more than a fling. I don't know how long it's going to last, though. Hopefully a long time. I really like her. It's nice to run into a girl who has more on her mind than hair and make-up."

"What does she do?"

"Sings and acts. She's amazing, Mac, you gotta hear her some time. Mariah Carey has nothing on her. And she does impressions, accents, and writes her own stuff. Multi-talented."

Duncan chuckled. "Already found that out, eh?"

Richie blushed. "Actually, no. She wants to wait until she gets married and she's sticking to her convictions. As much as I'd like for her to give it up, I think it's pretty admirable of her."

"Does she know that you've. . ."

"Yeah, and I'd like to know how you know. And if you say Mike, I'm gonna kill him, because that's disgusting."

"You're an easy book to read, Richie. Mike had nothing to do with it. I could tell the second you walked into the store after being out all night with Kira, I believe, that there was something different about you."

"Kira wasn't my first time," Richie pointed out. "But I get what you're saying."

"So does it bother you?"

"What? That you know?"

"No, that she won't."

"Not really, there's something about not being able to get what you want, but knowing that if you play your cards right one day you might get it."

Duncan stopped and looked at Richie. "Are you thinking about. . .?"

Richie smirked and shrugged. "Not now. I mean, I'm only twenty, and I'm still in school, and I've only known her a couple months. Don't be stupid."

"So how did you meet her?" Duncan asked starting back up the hill with Richie at his heels.

"Comp Sci. I was working on this paper and she was reading it. I'll admit, first it was strictly physical, but the more I got to know her, and the more she got to know me. . . something clicked. Although, I wish her brother would just give it a rest. The team doctor is already convinced I'm a medical miracle, I don't know how long I can keep him from sticking me in a cage and poking me with things."

"Maybe next time you shouldn't be okay," Duncan suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"Fake it. Next time you get injured, fake it."

"Fake a broken nose? How am I supposed to do that?"

"You can't keep being perfectly fine. How did you play off that ankle thing last week?"

"Yoga?" Richie shrugged. "They kinda bought it."

"They won't always. Just be careful."

They reached the top of the hill and put their swords down so they could stretch. Richie slid down into a straddle splits and flattened himself to the ground to stretch his lower back and almost fell back asleep. Funny how just a year ago Duncan had slowly pushed him down into the same position and he swore he'd never forgive him for putting him in so much pain, and now it was extremely comfortable to him. Even though he didn't want to, he sat back up and watched Duncan stretch his calves.

"Is it too late to say I don't wanna?" Richie asked standing up and facing Duncan.

"Yes," Duncan smiled. "Well, let's get started."

Together they started a slow, relaxing kata then began to pick up speed and soon they had gotten to the point where if anyone was dumb enough to step in the line of fire they would be dead. Duncan turned and challenged Richie to a weapon-less fight. Richie had been telling the truth, he had been practicing his martial arts, there were a couple times he almost beat Duncan. After nearly twenty minutes of full out battle they called it a draw and sat down the catch their breath. Richie rubbed his jaw and wiped blood off his lip and out from under his nose. Duncan massaged his aching shoulder and tried to find the pressure point to relieve the tension, Richie found it for him.

"For once you told me the truth," Duncan mumbled.

Richie grinned. "Thanks a lot. Some friend you're turning out to be."

"So how rusty are you with your sword?"

Richie's shoulders drooped a little as he realized what was coming next. "It's kinda like riding a bike, right? Besides, this stuff is so drilled into my head I doubt I'd be able to forget it if I tried."

"I stand by what I said, Richie. You have to practice."

"Mac, I'm fine, really," Richie insisted.

"So prove it." Duncan jumped to his feet and before Richie could react he had his blade at the young man's throat. "I wonder how many times I'll beat you in the next five minutes?"

Richie swallowed and lightly pushed the blade away. "That doesn't count, I wasn't ready," he insisted.

"You never know when a threat will come your way," Duncan reminded him positioning himself behind Richie sword once again at his neck. "Just because things are calm one minute doesn't mean they will still be the next." He slowly circled Richie tracing a line around his neck. He could tell by his face that he was making Richie nervous. "Anyone can turn on you at any minute. Most of the time, you won't know its coming and you won't be ready. You always have to be ready."

"Gotcha, Mac. Always ready," Richie nodded slightly and stood up. Duncan followed his movement with his blade. "Lesson learned; you can put that down now."

"You're young, you still don't know what you're doing," Duncan continued following Richie as he backed away. "And one of these days, one of these days very soon if you're not careful, you're going to get yourself into a whole mess of trouble." His voice was low and dangerous; his expression sent shivers down Richie's back. Something was going on.

Richie kept a close eye on the blade of Duncan's katana as his mind raced with possibilities of what was happening. Mac had snapped and was going to kill him, Mac had gotten tired of watching out for him and was going to kill him, Mac had gotten bored with him and was going to kill him, Mac was playing some kind of cruel joke, Mac wanted him dead, he had been stringing him along for the past two years so he could coroner him and take his head. . .

Suddenly, Richie's eye caught a glimpse of his sword on the ground where he had left it. In one swift movement Richie ducked under Duncan's blade did a sort of half summersault on the ground and grabbed it. He was so happy to have the reassuring feeling of the hilt in his hands that for a split second he lost his focus. . . and his balance. He fell backwards from his squatting position and landed on his rear. Half a second later, Duncan was on top of him and Richie found he had two blades crossed at his neck, both of which were under Duncan's control.

"Mac?" Richie whimpered.

Duncan glared down at him. "See how scared you are? You notice the fear running through your body right now?" he demanded. Richie hastily nodded. "Remember this the next time you decide you don't need to practice." Duncan pushed himself off Richie, leaving his saber lying on his chest. "Imagine how much worse this could have been if I had actually wanted to kill you. How much more scared you would have been if you didn't have that little voice trying to convince you it was a test. A test that you failed." Duncan's voice was rich with disappointment. "I wanted to believe that you knew what you were doing. I wanted to trust that you were making the right decision. I wanted to believe that you were right. You were wrong, Richie."

"It was a test?" Richie repeated standing up and keeping his sword firmly in his hand. "This was all a test?"

"That you failed. You could have been killed."

"Because of your demented joke!" Richie yelled. "What the hell did you think you were doing, scaring me like that? I almost shit myself because of you!"

"Well then I guess you would have if I had been someone else," Duncan shot back at him. "This isn't a joke Richie, this isn't a game; this is life or death. Your life and your death. I can't keep an eye on you twenty four hours a day. I shouldn't have to. But you sure as hell need me to if you don't practice!" He began yelling and pacing and Richie silently watched. "Richie, you are a grown man, you need to start acting like it! I don't want to treat you like a kid, because you're not anymore. You're an adult and you're on your own. You have to make your own decisions, but damn it, you have to make the right ones!"

"So tell me, don't give me a heart attack!"

"I did! We all did, last night? You remember that? Right before you stormed out like teenager. Do you have any idea how worried I was last night? How long I searched the entire city looking for you?"

"What? Mac, what is your deal? You worry when I have my sword, you worry when I don't. Make up your mind!"

"I was worried last night because you had your sword and you were mad. When you're mad you pick fights with anyone who's willing to trade blows with you. I almost didn't expect to see you this morning," Duncan admitted.

"You didn't think I was coming back?" Richie asked in disbelief.

"I didn't know if you were going to be able to. You were mad and you hadn't been practicing. I think what just happened is proof enough that if you had gotten into a fight last night you would have died." Richie came to the realization that it was true and couldn't bring himself to say anything, or even look Duncan in the eye. "Richie, promise me that when you get back to school you're going to find a way to practice." Duncan put his hand on Richie's shoulder. "Talk to Miller, put out flyers looking for a sparing partner, I don't care if you teach John how to fence. Just find something."

"Okay," Richie quietly agreed still looking at the ground. "I promise."

"Richie, look at me," Duncan said gently. Slowly, Richie raised his eyes. "I didn't mean to scare you; well, yes I did mean to," he correct with a slight smile, that he was relived to see Richie return. "But it was the only way to get it through your thick skull that you needed to listen. I'm sorry you almost shit yourself."

"Yeah, well," Richie replied. "At least it was you and not some head hunter."

"So are we okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay."

*Duncan and Richie walked back down to the car and climbed in. The drive back to the barge was quiet, but neither felt the need to talk; Richie was thinking over what Duncan had just, rather forcefully, proved to him and Duncan was worried that he had lost the closeness of their relationship by his act. He was only trying to tell Richie what he needed to know. He knew he had taken advantage of Richie's trust by attacking him, but he felt it needed to be done. Hopefully, Richie would understand. The silence was broken only when Amanda greeted them when they reached the barge.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

The two looked at each other and Richie replied, "Not too bad, but I think I need to find a someone to practice with back at school."

Duncan smiled, and knew that their relationship would survive this hurdle.