Ars Amatoria Romance Themes Challenge:

#34: Fight.

Jen woke up with every inch of her body hurting. At first she couldn't remember what had happened, but it all came back to her very slowly.

The mutant running into the alley.

Running after the mutant.

Realizing she was going after the mutant by herself.

"The bastard left me alone!" she whispered angrily.

"Jen! You're awake!" It was Katie's voice, sounding happy.

"What happened?"

"You took a serious beating. Michael left you by yourself to go after the human criminals."

"The bastard!" Jen whispered spitefully again.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," Jen said sitting up. "Can I go now?"

"I think so, you were supposed to stay here until you woke up, and now you've woken up. Let me go get the doctor."

While Katie went to get the doctor, Jen sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the window. Alex had been her patrolling partner, but after the breakup she had felt it would be too weird, and had requested a new partner. Alex had told her it didn't matter to him, but she could tell it did.

Michael had been assigned to her, and he wasn't anywhere near Alex. He made her feel unsafe, alone, and he had this knack for pissing her off that nobody she had ever met had had. She even began to understand why Alex couldn't stand to see him and he guy seemed to have a natural dislike for Alex too. After he learned she had broken up with Alex, he seemed to think she disliked him as much as he did, and told her every single bad thing about Alex he could remember, or make up. Jen had given him a chance, and he had proven not only annoying but also inefficient, and today it had been the last straw, he had left her alone to fight a mutant, and had run after the human criminals.

Katie came back with the doctor and after a quick check the physician told her she could go home and rest.

"Come on," Katie told her, helping her up.

"Katie, I'm fine. I need to go to the office," Jen said, walking towards her office, located on the same floor.

"Not now, you need to rest," said Katie, pushing the elevator button.

"I have to go to the office, Katie. I want my old partner back."

"You can request him tomorrow; right now you have to rest," Katie said, trying to pull her towards the elevator.

"Just let me make the request and I'll go home." Katie gave her a stern look, but she kept walking towards her office. "I promise."

"Fine. I'll go with you."

As they walked towards Jen's office, they heard a big commotion at the end of the hallway. Then they heard glass shattering and someone yelling in pain, followed by someone yelling in anger.

Forgetting about her pain, Jen ran alongside Katie towards the end of the hallway, where Alex's office was located, and found him hitting Jen's new partner, Michael, with all the strength and anger he could muster, sitting on his chest and pushing him against the bits of glass that had once been the door to Alex's office. Michael finally managed to return one of Alex's punches and hit him across the jaw, but he might as well have hit the wall, for Alex gave no sign of even feeling it.

He kept punching Michael, and nobody seemed willing to stop him. Michael finally managed to get Alex off his chest and they engaged in a regular street fight, a fighting style that served Alex a lot better than Michael.

After punching Alex a couple of times, Michael found himself on the floor again, serving as a punching bag for Alex.

"Alex!" Jen had finally found her voice back. "Alex, what are you doing?!"

"Beating this asshole up," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Alex, you…" She approached him, but he didn't stop. "You can't do that!" She finally grabbed his fist and held it in place. "Stop it!"

"This asshole…Jen…" Alex could hardly breathe, he was so tired and mad.

He moved to hit Michael again, but the other man put up his hands to cover his face and yelled: "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Say it like you mean it…" Alex threatened with his fist still high.

"I'm sorry Jen, I'm sorry."

"Alex! Stop this! Let him go, you're acting like an animal!" Jen said, looking at his eyes. "This isn't you, Alex. What is wrong with you?"

"Jen… Jen…you exchanged me for him…" he whispered, sounding mortified for some reason.

"Alex, that is not good enough reason to hit him like this. You're acting like a schoolboy!" she said angrily. "I thought you were better than this. You are beating him up because you're jealous?"

"No…" Alex said. He made to continue his answer, but then a fist crossed his face, throwing him to the floor, where he cut his hands with the glass.

"Now it's my turn, bitch!" yelled Michael, pushing Jen out of the way and proceeding to hit Alex repeatedly across the face.

Both men engaged in a fight again, and Alex recovered quickly and was about to hit the other man again when Jen stepped in front of him. "That's enough!" she yelled. "Look at him!" she said, pointing at Michael's bloody face, all swollen and turning purple. "Look at yourself!" she said. Alex had a few cuts in his face as well as his hands, and one of his eyes was swelling as well. "Come on." She grabbed him by the arm and led him to his office.

"Jen…" Alex said sitting on the chair behind his desk. "You exchanged me for him…"

"Don't talk," said Jen sternly, looking for his first aid kit. She had forgotten her own pain with the shock of seeing Alex behave like that. She began cleaning his cuts and put a cold bandage over his swollen eye. "I can't believe this! You are the last person I ever thought would do something like this!"

"You replaced me with him!"

"I get the point! You are jealous!" she said dismissively.

"It's not that!" he said. "I'm not jealous, even if I think it was unnecessary for you to change partners. You know better than anyone, I don't mix work with personal stuff. That's the reason you broke up with me."

"Then why did you hit Michael so brutally?" she asked, sitting in front of him, looking at him with her face full of concern and sweetness. She was startled by Alex's behaviour; it was bound to get him sanctioned severely.

"The bastard left you alone in an alley to fight a mutant, and went after human criminals."

"I know."

"Yes, well, that's not all. The human criminals escaped, and he went back, and saw from the shadows the beating you were getting, and ran away. The bastard called an ambulance, saying you were dead!"

"WHAT?!" Jen exclaimed, surprised.

"My heart nearly stopped, Jennifer. I swear it stopped beating for a moment when I heard him say you were dead. He didn't just run away, he didn't help you and then left you for dead! He had the balls to say he thought you could handle it, but that obviously you weren't as good as they made it seem, because that monster had beaten the crap out of you. He called you an overrated stupid bitch. He was so cool saying that, saying that you really couldn't fight, that it was all publicity, that you were inept and stupid and that it had been great to see that mutant beating the crap out of you, because that would put your ego in place. I've wanted to beat him to death for such a long time, and this seemed like such a good reason."

"Did he say all those things to your face? Was he trying to get you to beat him?"

"No. He told Logan. Logan told me. I called him to my office and he admitted to it, probably trying to provoke me into a fight. He got his wish."

"Except it wasn't an actual fight, it was you almost beating him to death. You are going to be punished for this, Alex, you know that."

"It was worth it, that coward left you for dead, Jennifer. He left you for dead." He put his injured hand on her check and caressed it tenderly.

"I'm not dead, Alex," she said, caressing his cheek in return. "I want you back as my patrolling partner, Alex. With you, I was safe."

"I'd be honored, after I'm back from the suspension I've earned myself with this."

"Was it really worth it?" she asked. "Is all the pain you've gotten from this worth it?"

"For you, everything is worth it." He leaned back on the chair and sighed. "My Jennifer, for you everything is worth it."