A/N: I decided that Bivas was too awesome to let die.
Dave looked on at the scene in front of him. Since he'd been fully briefed by Danny and his new bride, he'd come to enjoy this new posting. The woman he was assigned to was a walking contradiction; in some respects, she was fearless. She ruled her lab with complete authority, of course. But she was also perfectly comfortable in the presidential courthouse. Her status and lack of official rank explained a lot about that, but she was neither above chatting with the staff or below occasionally rolling her eyes at Michener's rather impressive scientific ignorance.
However, in the face of an adoring crowd or even a solo 'fan', she became withdrawn. She didn't seem to mind a sincere 'thank you' from someone who'd survived due to her cure, genuinely warming up to any children who might want to chat with her. But the second she was asked for a selfie or a signature, she clammed up. And there was a small but growing paparazzi-style presence, who harassed her daily, preventing her from enjoying walks in the park or picking up the Chandler children from school. It had gotten noticeably worse as people heard about engagement, the questions shouted at her becoming very personal and intrusive.
That presence was also why they were here in the gym now. Last weekend, during an impromptu trip for some tea, some reporter had jumped out in front of her with a camera. Dave had grabbed the idiot before he got more than four feet from her, but Rachel's instinctive reaction had been to reach out and hit the camera. She'd successfully knocked the (very expensive and likely currently irreplaceable) camera onto the ground, breaking it. But she'd also been rattled by the experience, and the incident had demonstrated her lack of basic self defense skills. After some discussion, they'd decided on a few basic training sessions.
Chandler first tried teaching her himself, but it quickly became clear that that was problematic; Burk quickly noticed that they were having trouble hitting each other, and suggested bringing in Bivas instead. She was closer to Rachel's size and weight – and had no qualms about hitting anyone. Tom had been relieved at the suggestion; right now he'd stopped by to check in on her progress, and was grinning as Ravit and Rachel traded barbs in between blows.
"Well, to be truly even, we'd pair you with Kara." Bivas smirked, easily ducking a swing. Rachel couldn't help but laugh; Kara had given birth less than two weeks ago. Both mother and child were fine, but Kara could hardly be said to be at the top of her form.
"Or I could drug your food." Rachel replied gamely, regaining her balance. She heard a low chuckle from the doorway. "Or yours, Tom."
"Good to know." He said dryly. "…How about we get takeout tonight?" He suggested, noticing the suppressed smirks of everyone in the room.
"I know this Cajun place downtown." Burk offered.
"Sounds good." Rachel grunted as a hit landed. "Just not too spicy, okay?"
"Alright, I'll go talk to the kids. See you upstairs. And Bivas – " Rachel took that distraction as an opportunity to land a decent hit, but Ravit merely ignored it. "Try not to enjoy this too much."
"Yes, Sir." She replied, but it was undercut by the grin on her face. Tom sighed and left. "Your fiancé can be such a killjoy, you know that?" she said, moving in on her trainee once more.