A/N: Thank you Melissa ( ) for pointing out that Dannie would have been a Maid of Honor, not a Matron. I did change it in that chapter.

Six months went by and the news of Dannie spread throughout the Helion System. Stations were sending her their officers left and right, they all preferred the non-killing method to law enforcement that she provided. Derick had become her star pupil, and Dannie turned nineteen with nothing more than a simple video message from Kyra and Connor with clips of Cameron spliced in.

Dannie had no friends and that was how she liked it. No one to get too close. No one new to just end up hurting me later. But the ever persistent Derick never left her alone after that "beat down" she gave him.

About a week after her birthday, while "joining" Dannie for lunch one day, Derick mentioned as casually as possible, "You know, I've never met a girl who could knock me out before." "Well, I still haven't met a boy who could knock me out." Dannie said with a certain bite in her tone. "Ouch."

"Will you please go away? I was enjoying being alone with my thoughts." "Fine, but I thought you could use a friend to talk to, since you never sit with anyone, ever. But if you would rather be alone and banish me to the nether reaches of the cafeteria to have to sit in that large group of women who will all want to ravish my body, than so be it." Derick said, trying to sound as sincere as possible, and not laugh at the same time, while making huge gestures to attract as much attention as he possibly could.

"Fine you weird freak! You can sit your ass down over there," pointing a couple of chairs down to her left diagonal, "but only if you shut up and quit drawing so much attention to yourself, and me in the process." "Thank you." he whispered just for her to hear. Dannie leaned over to him and whispered forcefully, "If you ever do something like that again, I'll throw you a beat down right then and there. Understand?" "10-4, over and out."

Weeks went by, and a private friendship began to form between them. He didn't disrupt the class, she didn't have to kick his ass during class, he didn't make a big production of sitting down with her in the lunch room, she quietly allowed him to sit across from her. few words were said between them in public, but many occurred during the private hours before they would part company for the night. He would go home for the night, she would go kick many an ass before class the next morning.

After about a month, Derick sat down in the chair Dannie had pushed out for him, as was their custom, and said to Dannie as casually as he could without sounding too excited, "I've been hearing about this underground fighting ring for some time now, I think that we should go tonight, after I take you out for dinner. What do you think?" "Absolutely not." she said.

"But why? I bet that you would do great in the battles. I'd wager that you could beat their undefeated champion, this Destroyer. One look at you and he would be so cocky that you would have him unconscious in a heartbeat. Come on, say yes? I'll even join in." he practically begged. "No! and if you ask me again, I'll break your nose." she said trying not to draw too much attention to herself. Derick kept his mouth shut for the rest of the day, knowing that she didn't make threats, she kept promises.

No words passed between either of them, not even outside of work, for the next few days, until Derick noticed that she hadn't come into work one day. Dannie never missed work, not once, she never even had a day off. Not until today. Today, she was nowhere to be found. After work that day, Derick rushed over to her house to check up on her, fearing the worst.

When he got there, he could see Dannie's car in the driveway, so he knew she was home, but saw no other signs to agree with his conclusion. It was early evening and the lights were out, the door was locked, and her car was in the driveway. That combination never happened here.

He knocked on her door, but got no answer. He knocked louder, but still no answer, so he knocked louder, longer, and he yelled, but still no answer from Dannie. Derick began to get worried. If she were home and everything were alright, she would have answered by now, the door wouldn't be locked, lights would be on. He heard a scream from inside, "Dannie!"

he kicked in the door using his field training, pulled out his gun, and ran to the back of the house where he heard the screams coming from. "Dannie! Where are you? Answer me! It's Derick! Dannie!"

He made it to her bedroom, opened the door as carefully as possible so as not to alarm who ever was in the room harming Dannie. Derick looked into the room and found Dannie rolled up in the covers of her bed, thrashing about, having a nightmare. Derick calmed down almost instantly and put away his gun before he approached the sleeping Dannie. He leaned down, placed a hand on each shoulder and shook her just enough to wake her up. Dannie woke with a start, "Derick? What the hell are you doing in my home, in my room? Why are you here, tell me now and don't lie!"

"When you didn't show up for work this morning, I got worried and came over after my shift. When I got here, things looked wrong, then I heard you scream bloody murder and, broke in. when I found you, you were having a nightmare and I was just relieved to find you alive. Are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

"No, I'm fine. You broke in!" Dannie nearly screeched at him. "Yes, I kicked in the door. Of course, you focus in on the most unimportant part of the story." Dannie looked at him differently than she ever had, "You must have been really scarred that I couldn't even take care of myself. Seeing as I do teach a rather advanced self-defense class for cops." "Can't you just say thank you like a normal person? And yes, I was scarred that something awful happened to you. I don't know what you have planned for tomorrow's class." he said as jokingly as he could.

He left the room to allow her to change into some slightly less revealing clothes so they could talk in a more comfortable manner. When she emerged from her room he looked up at her and said, "Now I can talk to you on a more professional level." laughs, "Why weren't you at work today? You never miss. I don't think that you've ever had a day off since I started here."

"I had my first day off. After my little out burst in the lunch room the other day, Chief Fry decided that I should take regular days off from now on, so I don't blow up at a student anymore." "Wow, so once a week…" Dannie interrupted him in mid sentence, "A month. One day a month I will have off. I can't stand to have too much time to myself, so I want to spend as much time as work as I can."

"Weird." "What?" "I just heard that the fighting ring is holding a monthly tournament now. There's one tonight, we should go. I bet you would like it. Maybe see some moves that even you've never seen?" "I can't, I have errands that can't wait any longer. But I also don't think that you should go either. You don't know what all goes on there, and who's to say you could even get in." "I'm going to try anyways, whether or not if you agree to come with me tonight, Destroyer."

"What did you say, there at the end?" Dannie looked as confused as she sounded.