A/N: Alright, I went back and tried to figure out how much time had passed so far in the story. Turns out, it's a minimum of 13 months and 3 weeks by now. Which oddly works really well with the healing timeline I had sorta imagined when I started this. Yay.

[START]

"You look happy…" Emily smiled as she returned from work that day.

He nodded, a big grin plastered across his face.

"Care to let me in on the reason?" she asked as she placed her work-bag next to the shoe shelf.

"Yup." He nodded, "Wanna go for a jog?"

"You're cleared for jogging now?"

He nodded, "They told me to start out slow, not go as fast as I think I can… But yeah, I'm allowed to jog."

"That's great!"

"-So, do you wanna go for a jog with me, or are you tired after work?"

Emily chuckled a bit, "Do I look like someone who enjoys jogging? At all?"

Metal shrugged.

"-You'd outrun me…"

"Oh, you haven't seen slow yet…" Metal chuckled, "You do realize I haven't been above walking speed since I got injured? That's more than a year now."

"Really?" Emily frowned, "Has it been that long already?"

He nodded, "I don't even want to mention the embarrassing number on the treadmill earlier today, but you'll definitely keep up with me."

Emily smirked a bit, "You mean I for once in my life could have the chance to outrun a Tier-One SEAL operator?"

Metal chuckled a bit, "A still-healing Tier-One SEAL operator… Sure."

"Alright, let me just put on a sports-bra and some more suitable clothes." She shook her head a little, "I can't believe you're actually tricking me into working out…"

Full Metal smirked a little.

"Just, remember; I have short legs…"

That broke Metal, and he started laughing. "I won't outrun you… Chances are, you're going to be walking beside me most of the time, nurse-tempo walking, but still walking…"

"You're that slow?"

Metal shrugged, then nodded, "Probably."

"That's something I'll believe when I see it."

"So… You're ready?"

Emily nodded.

"Alright, I better change into some workout clothes as well then…" Metal shrugged.

SEALTEAM

She realized pretty quickly that he hadn't been joking with her. Not about being slow, not about that she would probably be able to do her fast-paced nurse-walking beside him.

"How are you doing?" she asked once they reached what they had decided would be the midway point of their so-called jog, "Should we take a short break?"

"I'm…" he stopped a little and leaned over with his hands on his knees, "My left leg feels like it's in acid-hell."

She frowned, "That doesn't sound pleasant."

He shook his head a little before he stood back to his full height and shook out his legs in hope that it would relieve some of the lactic acid burning in his left leg.

"So, should we sit down, take a break?"

"Yeah, a short one…" Metal nodded and started half-limping over to a nearby bench, "It's annoying that you're not even breaking a sweat, while I'm struggling this much."

"Well, you're not sweating either." Emily shrugged, "Muscle fatigue, that's another thing…"

Metal chuckled, "Guess it is…"

They sat down, and Metal kicked his legs out in front of himself. Emily edged close to Metal's right side.

"One step closer, right?" Emily whispered as she watched Full Metal rub hard along the length of his thigh, over the compression sleeve covering his leg.

"Huh?"

"One step closer to being back in the field…" she shrugged, leaning closer.

"You really think I can make it?"

"I know that if there's even the slightest sliver of a chance, you're sure as hell stubborn enough to make it." She let her head rest against his shoulder, "If it's still what you want to do with your life…"

He shrugged, "Honestly… I'm not sure…"

"Well, I'm pretty sure you still want that." Emily craned her neck to look up at him, "I can see it in you, you're not done yet."

"Yeah?" he chuckled, "I feel pretty done…"

"You just got cleared for jogging…" She let her head fall back against his shoulder, "You can't expect to run a sub-6 minute mile straight away… Or run a marathon… -Yet."

"Guess I'll just have to grit my teeth and buckle up…"

Emily nodded, "Think that's the only way forward from now on."

He took a deep breath. "Where there's a will, there's a way… Right?"

She chuckled a little, "Something like that, yeah…"

He smirked, "You ready for the jog back home?"

"I am…" she winked, "You ready?"

"Only way forward, right?" he shrugged as he got back up to his feet.