AN. Wow another chapter already! A lot of things have happened since I last updated, namely I became old. My birthday was the nineth and I am now working on my twenties. How did I become 19? That's so strange. I definitely enjoyed writing this chapter. I find that writing very emotional moments are my strong point. I think my muse is finally fully back. :D I'm making this take place in 2009 mostly because I wanted to use a song in this chapter which means I need a disclaimer. Sigh.

Disclaimer; I don't own the song Bad Romance. Lady Gaga does. I just admire it.

Well, you know the drill by now. There is always a musical inspiration for each chapter. This one is by Hot Hot Heat. Anyone heard of them? No? Figures. I'm marrying the lead singer btw. Not that he knows that. Shifty eyes.

They all warned me of her crime

Cut your losses while there's time

Don't try to warn me

Don't try to warn me

Don't try to warn me I said

I'll make my own mistakes

You don't know what she's like

I'll make my own mistakes again

But all I know is all I got's

Frustration frustration

I hate this vacation

So give up? Give up?

I got to get away from here

I got to get away from here

It's killing me just thinking about it

~Give Up? By Hot Hot Heat

Give Up?

"Well, this is it," Lisa said dragging her luggage behind her. She had finally arrived at her apartment-sweet-apartment with the addition of a somewhat unwanted guest. Sure, he was there to help but the fact that he was going to living with her still annoyed her. Stepping in to her cream colored living room, she dropped her bag next to her couch and flopped onto the couch. She was exhausted. Between the flights, shopping in New York and the emotional stress of hiring an assassin, all she wanted to do was stuff her face with delicious food and go to bed, but her work was not done. She had to welcome in her guest. Her assassin. The brilliant murderer who would be living with her. Oh boy.

Lisa looked over at Jackson who was looking around her apartment located on the tedious twenty-fourth floor. It was a beautiful apartment with high ceilings, hardwood floors and an all around open feel to it. The only thing that separated the kitchen with the living room was an island with a sink attached to it. Off of the living room was a hallway with three doors. Two doors lead to a different bedroom. One was Lisa's master bedroom and the other was a spare bedroom that was now going to be Jackson's. The third door was to her bathroom. The entire apartment had an Egyptian feel to it with gold accents and antique looking furniture.

"Nice place," Jackson noted also putting down his bags, choosing to crash on the wicker chair adjacent to the couch. "Very… Egypti++an."

"Thanks," Lisa sighed. "My aunt bought me that vase next to the TV when she was in Egypt. Her buying me that vase turned my apartment into this." She waved her arms around. "You hungry? Because I'm starving and tired and Chinese take-out sounds perfect right now."

"I'm up for that," Jackson nodded.

While they were waiting for the food to arrive, Lisa showed him around and settled him into his new bedroom. Lisa thought that this was going to be awkward and strange but in reality, she was just too tired to care. She watched Jackson as he unload his massive amount of equipment. The only thing that Lisa really recognized was a laptop. When the take out arrived, Lisa and Jackson ate together talking about Miami and its wonders.

"So, are you all set then?" Lisa asked when they finished cleaning up. "I mean, you are all settled in?"

"For the most part," he replied. "I still have a few things to do, but I will not be in need of your assistance if that is what you are wondering. You look pretty tired. Go to bed."

Lisa nodded and headed off to her bathroom. She found herself odd to be in this situation; the situation of welcoming a complete stranger into her home. After doing her normal bathroom necessities, she opened her cabinet to get something she would normally not use. She only used it in emergencies and this certainly was an emergency. There would be absolute no way she would be able to sleep that night knowing that Jackson was just in the other room so she took a sleeping pill. It's not something she likes to do, but due to the circumstances, it was necessary.

She walked to Jackson's new room to tell him goodnight. Upon entering, she found the room almost transferred into what looked like a high tech lab. He had most of his equipment sprawled across the floor and he was pounding away on the key board. His back was turn towards her.

"Um," she uttered trying to make him acknowledged her. He turned to look at her. Leaning back in his chair, he smiled and crossed his legs.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"I'm going to go to bed," she informed him. "I have to work in the morning and am pretty tired as it is. You can help yourself to anything you need; water, food, anything. So… goodnight, then."

"Good night, Leese. Have pleasant dreams," he said.

Lisa quickly went to her room unsure of why she needed to get there so fast. Closing the door behind her, she did something else she normally would not do; lock her bedroom door. She knew very well that Jackson would probably be able to breaking in if he wanted to, but she felt better doing it all the same. The clock on her table told her that it was only nine o'clock. It didn't matter that it was so early she wanted to go to bed, damn it! She put on her most conservative pajamas, set her alarm and hopped on into bed waiting for drugs to take her.

She was walking back to her car, minding her own business and humming the song she had just heard in the store. She hears noises behind her. She glanced back to see a group of men following her. She quickens her pace. They match it. They were slowly catching up to her. Why did her car have to be so far away?

Finally, she had it. She broke out into a run at full speed. Damn her heels! She had to be wearing these today. She was two cars away.

A hand landed on her shoulder then another around her waist. Dragging her down to the ground she turned to look at the guy. Black hair. Black eyes. He started tearing off her clothes. She heard cheering in the background. She barely heard what they were saying as she tried to get the man off of her.

She screamed. Clawing, beating, trying to fight. She felt him touch her and the knife against her chest. Tears were building up in her eyes. How could she have let something like this happen to her?

The man kept going at it ignoring every cry and plea she made.

"Wake up," someone was yelling.

She didn't understand anything at all. He grabbed her arms and held them tight.

"Wake up," someone said again.

She fought her hardest.

"Leese, wake up!"

Leese? No one called her that. No one except….

… No one except Jackson.

Lisa woke up startled and sweating. Jackson had her arms in his hands, keeping them from hitting him. Tears welled up in her eyes, she was shaking. She looked into Jackson's eyes. They had a sense of concern she had never seen before. Glancing over at the door, she saw it was open. He must have busted it open.

"Leese," he whispered letting go of one of her arms and putting it on her face. "Are you-"

She did not care. She did not care that she despised men. She did not care that he saw her; the complete mess that she must have looked. She did not care that the only reason he was there was because she hired him. It was the first time that anyone had been there after one of these nightmares. The first time someone looked at her and truly knew what had happened to her. It was the first time someone saw how effected she was by it. She grabbed onto Jackson, burring her head in his shoulder and cried her eyes out.

"Shh," he whispered soothingly. He rocked her back and forth, letting her cry onto him. His hands brushed through her hair trying to calm her down. "It's ok, Leese. It's over now. It's ok," he kept repeating. "Don't worry. I'm here. No one is going to hurt you now. Shh, Leese. Shh." He held onto her for what seemed like ages.

After a while, she slowly pulled away from him with her tears finally becoming fewer. She gasped for air, holding as many sobs as she could in. Jackson grabbed a tissue from the box next to her bed and started whipping away her tears. She grabbed one and blew her nose.

"I'm hic-sorry," she gasped out, hiccupping over her words. She made a fool of herself again.

"Shh," Jackson shushed. "It's ok, Leese. You did nothing wrong."

"Bu-but, I hic got your shirt hic all wet. I'm sorry," she stammered. The tears were steadier now. She was still shaking. "I didn't mean to latch onto you like I did. It's only…" She could not finish her sentence. Her voice was too unstable.

"Really, its fine," he reassured her. They sat there in silence for a while as he petted her hair. "Does this… does this happen every night?"

She shook her head no. It did not happen every night, just most of them. She coughed to make her voice less shaky. "No," she voiced. "This was just the first time I was awoken from it by someone. I'm sorry that I used you as a shoulder to cry on. You were the first person that… that was there. I'm am really-"

He put his hand to her mouth.

"If you are going to say 'sorry,' don't," he whispered looking her straight into her eyes. His eyes were very calming to look into. They made Lisa feel… well she wasn't quite sure what they made her feel. They just made her feel. It was only then that she realized that he was in his pajamas which consisted of a white shirt and blue plaid pajama bottoms. His hair was a little messy. She had clearly awoken him up. "If anyone here has to be sorry, it's me. I broke down your door."

Lisa looked over at it again. She realized that the top brackets were no longer attached to the wall.

"I just had to lock it," she muttered to herself. Jackson had a smirk creeping on his face still looking at the door. Lisa saw it and slowly acquired one of her own. When he turned to look at her, he started laughing to himself. It caught on and eventually the two of them lightly laughed together. Neither of them was quite sure what they were laughing at. It was either the fact that Lisa thought that she could keep Jackson out with a lock or how she realized it was stupid of her to think so.

"Feeling better?" he asked once they stopped laughing with the smile still on his face. She gave back a hesitant nod.

"I don't think that I'll be able to go back to sleep though," she told him. "At least not right away." She glanced at the clock. It told her it was two in the morning. It would be three hours until she had to get up for work. Knowing that her body would still need a while to fall back asleep, she thought of things she should do in the meantime. "Do you want something to eat? I think I'll make myself a cheese omelet."

Jackson thought about it. "You know," he said. "I think I would like one."

So, off they went into the kitchen to make them some eggs. They weren't particularly hungry, but anything to keep Lisa's mind off of her dream. Jackson was able to make her smile some more as they ate together, talking about nonsense. It was three-thirty when Lisa went back to bed. Not much time for sleeping as she had to get up at five, but she could use as much as she could get. Before she went, though, she had something to tell Jackson.

"Thank you."

"It's why I'm here," he told her. "To protect you, even if it is from your dreams."

Lisa went to bed thinking of Jackson until she fell asleep.

"Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah! Ro-ma-ro-ma-ma! GaGa-oo-la-la! Want your bad romance," sang her alarm clock after what seemed like five minutes later. Lisa slammed her fist down to make it stop. Not that she hated Lady Gaga, it's just not the first thing she wanted to hear after a rough night. Groaning, Lisa climbed out of her bed.

Not wanting to wake up Jackson, she managed to get dressed and out of the door as quietly as she could and made her way off to work for another day back at work.

Jackson watched her out the window of his new bedroom as she drove off to work. Wishing that he could crawl right back into bed, he knew he had a job to do. True, it was job to first and foremost find the guy that raped Lisa, but Braun had emphasized that he wanted her protected. So, off he was to follow her to her job. He had checked the blue prints of the building on his computer and there was a surveillance room right above the main lobby. He needed make it so he would be able to check up on her when he was at the apartment and she was at work. A cakewalk.

He left with his laptop in his bag and hailed a taxi. On the ride there, all he could think about was Lisa. He had one main thought about her; she was fucked up. She jumps at her own shadow and then last night! He had no clue when he was given this assignment he had to be a therapist as well.

"It wasn't that bad, though," he thought "taking care of her last night. It only made me realized how much she needed someone. And how much she needed someone dead."

The fiasco of last night really put things in a different perspective for Jackson. They way she had screamed in her sleep was soul reckoning as well as the way she was thrashing around. She had almost hit him a couple times. It was definitely a new motivation to find this asshole. Even with this new inspiration though, he could not help but feel frustrated. They guys in the organization had been bothering him that he would have to do this kind of stuff. They had warned him not to take the job… like he had a choice. They had no right to tell him what to do anyways. They were all far below his skills which was why he was given the job and if he made a mistake (which was rare), then he made a mistake. He could fix anything. There was also a bet he heard going on saying that he was going to give up. Give up! Giving up was something that Jackson would never do, no matter what the cost.

Jackson looked up to see the hotel in front of him. The Lux Atlantic was a beautiful building. Rich, classy people could be seen walking through the doors. Rich, classy people with an attitude problem, that is.

He easily walked through the doors into the building. He saw Lisa at the desk training a new employee and helping a bossy customer at the same time. She did not see him. He could have been wearing a monkey suit and gone unnoticed.

Jackson made is way up the stairs and to the surveillance room. There was one guard in the room, watching the cameras. He easily knocked him out and erased all evidence that he had ever been in the Lux.

Next, was to connect the cameras to his computer. Easy.

It took him less than two minutes to copy what was being shown on the TV screens onto his computer. He set the cameras so that they would stop recording in one minute so he could get out of there.

Jackson strolled right out of the Lux, walking right past Lisa without her noticing. He made in back into her apartment without ever being missed. He set up his computer and observed her as she worked. She was dealing with an elderly couple complaining about the color of their room. Jackson shook his head. This was not the type of person who should be going on a mission. The only thing she was used to was giving assholes stupid rooms. This girl could not withstand a fight.

He was going to have a hard task of trying to beef her up.

Sighing to himself, he walked towards Lisa's room and looked at the damage he had done last night. The door was in fine shape, he just needed to fix the hinges. It was the least he could do for her. Jackson was lost in his thoughts when he heard someone shouting from his room.

"What do you mean you don't have our reservation," cried a women at the Lux. Lisa was not there, but a new trainee was frantically trying to take care of them. She was failing at getting them what they want. Jackson found it very amusing. "We want to see Ms. Reisert! She is the one who is always taking care of us. She'll get this straighten up."

Jackson watched with interest. Lisa may not be all here but she is good at her job. The new employee brought in Lisa who had it all sorted out in a matter of minutes. She's just as good at her job as Jackson is his and that is really saying something. Jackson realized that she is stronger then he thinks. A different strength. She can keep a level head and not panic. She commands her team while keeping the enemy at bay. She had all the skills of a natural born leader. All she needs to do is gain back her confidence and bravery from her older self. Lisa is brave, brave enough to hire him, but she needs to face her fear, get over the past and not be afraid of every man she sees. She will also need muscle strength and the ability to fight for herself. On this mission, she would have no way of protecting herself if she would wind up alone. Of course, the only way she would wind up alone is if Jackson has died because he swore to protect her not matter what. It's not likely that he would end up dead, but still possible.

Lisa had shown him the purse the night before. It was made of cheep material where he would be able to retrieve the prints but it was going to be difficult to find. So, all he had to find this lunatic was cheep leather, a caricature (drawn by Matt), and a panicky victim. Jackson smiled to himself. Two weeks before he had complained to Braun about not having any challenging assignments. Good to know he was listening.

His phone went off; a call from the man himself.

"Rippner here," he answered in a business voice.

"How are things going?" asked Braun cheerfully. Jackson could hear the smile.

"As good as I thought it would be, sir." That was the truth for the most part. He was expecting to have to deal with some trauma. "She is going to be the hardest part."

"Is she resisting you Jackson?" Somehow that did not seem as innocent of a question as it should have been. It was in the tone of his voice. There was concern but something deeper that only a trained professional, like himself, would have been able to pick up on.

Great, now Braun is trying to be a matchmaker.

"No, sir. She's been very cooperative," he replied. Hopefully he got the hint. "It is just that she is very emotional and a little… paranoid? No, more like anxious. Last night she had a nightmare of it. I managed to calm her down though. I'm positive that it was the first time that anyone had been there for her."

"That tends to happen," sighed Braun. "My Abby took a couple of months to fully recover. Just make sure you are always there for her. She's going to be very emotional and need someone. As you are the only one who can be there, I am counting on you to take care of her."

"Of course," affirmed Jackson. "I doubt she will be dreaming tonight. Today is the first day of Rippner Physical Training." Jackson smirked.

"Just don't kill her," laughed Braun. The laughter died quickly and turned to a more serious tone. "Have you contacted Brandon yet?"

Brandon. With all that was happening, he had almost forgotten about him. Brandon was the spy from Braun's team living in Miami gaining the trust of the opposing group called Slayer. Stupid name. The organization that Jackson was in did not have a name. Names can be traced. Without a name, no one knows they exist.

"No," responded Jackson. "I want to find the DNA of the man first. Then I'll contact him."

"Good. He told me that they were getting a little suspicious of him. Someone is usually following him so he won't be able to tell you where the location of the hide out is. Keep the calls as brief and as quick as possible. I also would prefer it if Lisa called inst-"

"What?" interrupted Jackson yelling. There was no way that Lisa would be able to make such a phone call in the state that she was in, at least a phone call as important as that one. "You want Lisa to do it? She can't! She'll screw it up!" He paused. There had to be a logical reason that Braun wants Lisa to do it. "Why?"

"He overheard someone talking about screening his calls. Any slips, he's dead and we lose everything. You can help her. If she needs any persuasion, reminder her that she is getting this job for free. I must go. Stay on top of things, Jackson."

His phone went dead.

Great, one more thing to worry about. Jackson really did not like the idea of having Lisa make the call dealing with any of his business. He preferred that he would do all the work but orders are orders and he understood the ricks.

Jackson looked at the clock. Lisa would be home in a while and he needed to get everything ready for her return. He was going to start beefing Lisa up. It wound not be anything too over the top. She would learn the basics; punching, kicking, and becoming more agile. Jackson smiled. Lisa was going to be in for a big surprise when she came home.

Lisa's day was not going too well. From training the new employee, Cynthia, to having to deal with the security man that works in the camera room who had a blistering headache and needed to go home, she was not in the best of moods. Not to mention the countless amount of costumers who needed help with this and that. Now, she gets to go home and have to put up with someone else in her own home.

Lisa had not been able to get over how Jackson had treated her during the night. He was more sweet and gentle then she could have ever imagined anyone for that kind of company could be. Braun had made the right choice in choosing Jackson for the job. Not only was he supposedly good at his job (Lisa has really yet to see him do anything truly related to the job), but he could take care of her in an emotional way and protect her. He was not a sleaze ball as you would imagine a person in this kind of work would be.

Lisa walked into her apartment to find everything out of place. Her couch, chairs, tables, everything was pushed against the wall. On the floor where her yoga mats placed in various positions. In the middle of this mess was Jackson wearing Addis work out pants and a white shirt. Lisa stared at Jackson unsure of what to make of it. She decided to let him talk first.

"Welcome home."

"Don't you welcome home me!" she asserted. "Look at what you did to my apartment! What is going on? You better explain yourself because I did not allow you into my home to mess it up."

Jackson smiled, closed his eyes and dramatically exhaled like he smelled the world's best apple pie.

"That," he said "was a breath of fresh air."

"What was? What are you talking about?" replied Lisa still angry.

"Your anger. It's very refreshing." Jackson started slowly walking towards her. "You're going to need that anger." Jackson was about two feet away from Lisa. His smile was alluring.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"You're beginning your training today," he informed her. "Welcome to Rippner's Physical Training."

Could this day get any freaking worse? What does Lisa get to do after her very exhausting day at work? She gets to train!

Ugh. It's almost is not worth it.

"Do I need to?"

"Yes, now get into something you can work out it."

When Lisa came back in her yoga pants and college t-shirt, she sighed and went to find Jackson. Jackson turned towards her and smiled. The first thing on his agenda was to stretch. Easy enough, Lisa had been in rugby in college so she was pretty flexible. Once that was done, Jackson asked her to do something she wasn't expecting.

"Punch me."

"What?" she declared.

"Punch me," he commanded her. He beat his chest. "Right here."

"You want me to punch you?" She was not sure.

"Absolutely. Punch me as hard as you can."

"I don't want to hurt you," she said worried. It's not like she had no muscle. It was possible

"Don't worry. You won't." Arrogant bastard.

Lisa did it. Jackson was right; he was not at all impacted by the punch. Lisa sighed defeated as she looked at Jackson's smirk.

"That was not as hard as you can. Come on, you can do better. Think of how mad you were when you came home," was Jackson's from of motivation.

That worked for Lisa. Of course, it made little difference.

"Can't I wear boxing gloves or something?" suggested Lisa. "I won't be as worried to hurt you."

"No," was the simple reply. "There are no boxing gloves in the real world. Now this is what I want you to do."

Jackson spent most of the afternoon teaching Lisa how to punch and kick someone. Lisa was a little shaky at the start of it, but she never gave up. She had finally started getting it right when Jackson decided that it was enough. Lisa had learned a lot from Jackson's little training sessions. She had learned the proper way to punch. She had never thought that there would be so many different techniques to it. Lisa went to bed that night with no nightmares.

I was going to add more, but I decided that this was a good place to stop.

Quick funny story, when I read though this chappie I read "therapist" as "the rapist." The irony amused me . . . that and SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy.

Again, I don't have beta. I just have an iPod and he doesn't help me much. He does play OK Go's new CD pretty good though.

REVIEW! I COMMAND YOU!

:D