Chapter 2. Training Day
"Is this strictly necessary?"
"Sorry Danny boy, 'fraid it is." Jack said, sounding not very sorry at all. The Colonel clapped the younger man on the shoulder, steering him down the hall. "Your marksmanship scores were not bad. Your physical assessment was…average – though I'll say this, for a scrawny kid you sure can run."
"Thanks." He replied sardonically.
"But your hand-to-hand combat scores," Jack continued as if he hadn't heard him, "well, frankly, they suck."
Daniel only glared at him, irked.
"So a little training wouldn't go astray. Plus, it helps to practice with the best of the best."
Daniel snorted, rolling his eyes. "Jack, if your head was any bigger it wouldn't fit through the Stargate."
Jack only grinned at his comment, placing both hands on his shoulders and almost shoving him through the door to the gym.
"Oh, I wasn't talking about me."
Sam stood in the middle of the boxing ring, dressed in skin-tight sparring shorts and a tank top. Her hands and feet were taped up and she was stretching, bending one elbow behind her head and pulling it across with the other hand. She grinned when she saw them.
"Hey Daniel. You ready?"
"Uh-hgn?" The odd noise he made was halfway between disbelief and fear, glancing back and forth between Jack and Sam.
"Carter has top scores in hand-to-hand – hell, she has top scores in everything. She's beat my ass more than once, and she's the closest to your weight range so…have at it!" Jack seemed to be enjoying this way too much, almost bouncing with glee.
Hesitantly, Daniel shuffled to the ring and discarded his shoes and sweater, leaving him in his plain, black t-shirt and loose training pants, before ducking under the ropes. He watched Sam warily, but she only smiled back, innocent as a newborn pup. Daniel was not deceived.
"I'll be back in a couple hours with a mop." Jack quipped, still grinning as Daniel glared at him. "Have fun kids!" He waved jauntily and closed the door behind him, cackling on his way out.
Daniel turned back to Sam, rocking on his heels nervously.
Her smile was gentle, which only put him off even more. "Don't listen to the Colonel. I'm here to teach, not beat you senseless. I only do that to Jack because he tells me not to go easy. So I don't." She shrugged, but Daniel's pretty sure that's not the only reason.
He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Alright, tell me what to do."
"Well first of all," she tapped on the bridge of her nose, "lose the glasses."
"Oh. Right." He hastily folded them and reached down over the edge of the ring to tuck them into his shoe.
"Okay, I thought we'd start with some basic defence and grappling today – see how you go." She took on a fighting stance, pulsing on the balls of her feet and flexed her fingers at him, beckoning him closer. He mirrored her position, trying to relax his body and allow his instincts and training to take over.
"Now remember, I'm shorter than you, so my centre of gravity is lower than yours, so you'll need to adjust your angle of attack."
"Okay."
They began to circle, and Daniel watched closely for her first movement. Her left hand jabbed out, testing, and he blocked it. She threw a few more obvious punches, easing him into it, and he countered readily.
She threw another jab and when he blocked it, her hands shot up to grab his arm and she spun into him, yanking his arm across her body and the rest of him reluctantly followed, ending up in a heap on the floor by her feet.
"Ow." He wheezed, his back stinging from the contact. She laughed, offering him a hand to help him to his feet.
"Good. Now you try me."
Daniel hesitated; he would never insult her by voicing the fact that he was afraid to hurt her, so when he caught her wrist, he did not fling her full force to the floor, aiming to deposit her more gently. It was a mistake.
Halfway through the takedown she somehow managed to hook her leg around his knee and he was suddenly flat on his back again with her on top, her knees pressing painfully into his thighs.
"Daniel, if you're not going to take this seriously then I really am going to kick your ass." She warned, though her eyes twinkled with mirth.
"Argh!" He groaned as she got off him and helped him to his feet. "Okay, okay. Sorry."
"Good. Now, we're going to spar like your life depends on it, because at some point, it probably will."
Daniel exhaled a breath and nodded, sinking back into his fighting position.
Sam launched into a series of attacks, and Daniel was flat out just trying to dodge most of them. Her foot caught him in the ribs and he stumbled back, clutching his side.
"Don't drop your guard!" She snapped a kick at his head which he barely managed to block. He kept his hands up near his face after that.
"And don't stop moving." He counter-attacked; his reach was longer than hers and it forced her back. He swung a hook at her head but over-sold it and she caught him under the arm, turning her body into him and flinging him over her hip.
"Oof!" He slammed against the mat, the breath forced from his lungs and his arm twisted above him where she had it pinned to her hip.
"And if you're going to go down, roll with it." She smirked, mirth glinting in her blue eyes, and he twisted his hand to grip her wrist, swinging his legs around and sweeping hers out from under her. She landed hard, but was already rolling to her feet before he could stand. She spun on her toes, her foot flying towards his head, and he quickly dropped back to the floor to avoid it. He surged up, barely getting his feet under him before he crash-tackled her to the floor with a yell.
His arms were wrapped around her and he thought he had her, but suddenly her legs were around his and she slammed her pelvis into him, bucking him off and flipping them both over. She had his arms and legs pinned, and try as he might, he couldn't buck her off. He tapped out and she rolled off him, backing up to let him clamber to his feet.
Warily, Daniel resumed his position, the circling beginning once again.
"Watch my eyes, not my hands. You need to be able to anticipate your opponent, and then catch them off guard."
He nodded, then made the first move, jabbing out with his fists before he swung his leg up into a roundhouse. She ducked, then shot up to slam the heel of her palm up into his inner thigh. The electric jolt of bruised nerves shot down his leg and sparked up through his groin like a current, leaving a tingling sensation wherever it went.
"Ow!" He hopped back on his good leg, shaking the numbness out of the other.
She smirked at him, her eyebrow quirked up. "Like I said, catch them off guard."
He blocked her right hook and snapped out with his fist, the back of his hand glancing off her jaw. The 'sorry' wasn't even fully formed on his lips before she grabbed his wrist, ducking under his arm and twisting his arm up behind his back. He gasped at the pain as his shoulder wrenched and went to his knees, falling on his free hand, trying to get out of the hold. His sudden downward movement put her off balance and he kicked out behind him, forcing her to dodge and loosening her hold on him. He rolled, shooting his legs up to catch her around the back of the knees and flick her legs out from under her. She landed with an echoing thud, her arms outstretched, and Daniel quickly scrambled over her to pin her.
He pressed her wrists to the mat but wasn't quick enough to pin her legs. She wrapped one leg around his middle and slipped the other between his legs, trying to roll him and forcing him to release one of her hands to brace himself. Her knee slammed into the back of his leg, corking his thigh and he groaned when her pelvis ground against his as she flipped them, the muscles deep in his belly tightening.
She had him pinned again, and trying to buck her off was only making his situation worse, so he did the only thing he could think of. He yanked his arms up the mat above his head, drawing her hands up with them and she let out a surprised grunt as she fell and almost headbutted him in the face.
Instead, he kissed her. He crushed his lips to hers, invading her mouth when she inhaled sharply, and while she was stretched out above him, he broke free of her grip, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rolled her under him.
He sat up, grinning victoriously.
"Well that's cheating." Sam cocked an eyebrow at him, but the twist of her lips gave away the smirk she was trying to hide.
"Still counts as a point to me though, right?" He teased impishly.
"Alright, just remember, you started this." Her lips parted wickedly, and suddenly Daniel wasn't so sure his idea was a good one. The legs around his hips shot up and clamped over his ears. He grunted, his hands coming up to grip her thighs, trying to pry her off him, but she twisted her hips, forcing him to the ground. She rolled with him, her thighs tightening around his head, squeezing his face. From here, he could see every curve and crease in her tight, purple shorts; up the planes of her flat stomach and the curve of her breasts above him. She was close enough that he could smell her, the familiar scent sending a jolt straight to his groin.
When he felt his head was about to pop like an overripe cantaloupe, he tapped twice against her thigh and she released him, rolling off him with a grin. He levered himself up on his elbow and wiped the sweat from his brow, eyeing her crouching position; she looked ready to pounce.
"Er, give me a minute." He panted, trying to will away his arousal.
Her answering grin was predatory. "No time-outs in the field, Daniel."
She rolled across his leg, trapping his ankle to her chest as her heel dug into his opposite thigh, pushing his legs apart. He gasped as the leglock sent a jolt of pain up his inner thigh. He was about to tap out when one of her hands slid up his thigh, brushing over his hardened arousal, and he gasped for a whole different reason. She gripped him through his pants, squeezing and releasing but not giving him the friction he so desperately craved, and when he tried to buck up into her hand it only made the muscles in his leg pull tighter, the pleasure mixing with the pain and making him groan and gasp until he couldn't take any more.
He tapped out.
She released him immediately, rolling to her feet and backing away. Daniel shifted unsteadily onto his hands and knees, his breath coming hard. His leg ached, but so did his groin, and he glanced up at her smug expression.
"Well, I think that's enough practice for today, don't you think?" She smirked as he struggled to his feet, his chest still heaving and every movement shifting the fabric of his pants against his straining arousal and making him twitch. "Better save some energy for tomorrow's session, after all."
Daniel groaned; if every training was going to be like this, the only thing he'd learn would be how to be sexually repressed. He'd almost rather have Jack beat him to a pulp. Almost.
Sam swung under the ropes and hopped gracefully down to the floor. She turned, holding the bottom rope down for him to step through. She strode toward the entrance to the locker room as he bent to scoop up his clothes, wincing when his battered body twinged uncomfortably.
"I'm gonna hit the showers." She paused in the doorway and glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyebrow raised. "You coming?"
His heartrate quickening, he scrambled after her, his aches and pains suddenly no longer concerning him.
"Yes, ma'am." He grinned. Maybe combat training wouldn't be so bad after all.