"You've got to give it more force." I instruct her. I'm completely uncomfortable, and I would be surprised if she didn't feel the same. My body is positioned over hers, hands holding her arms down. I pray this isn't reminding her of the recent events. Its been almost a month, and she did ask for this. When she first came to me asking if I could teach her some self defense, I wasn't sure what to say. It seemed completely reasonable that her attack had warranted wanting to learn how to protect herself a little better. At the same time, I still worried about her. She had barely spoken about her attack at all, almost as if it never happened. I didn't push her, but I feared she was letting it effect her more than she wanted me to know.

In hindsight, Simms caught wind of what had happened. I guess the on-lookers had been able to piece together the situation and told him. He kicked Jericho out of town and came by to give Kate a personal apology. She had accepted it, but said she didn't want to talk about what happened. The Sheriff understood of course.

We set up to do it again. I try to change my approach each time. A smart attacker won't leave much room for error. I straddle her once again. Kate had promised she didn't care how close or personal this training got, but I can't say I feel the same. "Do you think I can really do this Chare?" She asks. I can feel her confidence slipping. Something in her eyes looks like she's already given up. We've been at it for about an hour and she hasn't made much progress."If you can disarm me, you can disarm anyone." Its not flattery, it's a fact. I have years of training plus height and weight on my side.

Kate sighs and tries again. This time she successfully works her wrists out of my grip, but when she goes to flip me off of her she struggles. "You're too fucking big!" She fumes, slamming her fist against the floor. The whole living room has been cleared for todays training. I sit up and let her sulk for a few minutes. "Maybe we should take a break." Kate says, finally calming down. I nod and walk to the kitchen to get us some water. She needs some time to cool off and get her confidence back.

When I return she's staring right at me, almost into me. She accepts the water bottle and says, "Im sorry Charon." I just stare at her, unsure of what shes sorry for. Her lack of ability? Her frustration? I didn't expect her to be an automatic pro. Luckily she speaks so I don't have to ask, "I…I haven't really thanked you for what you did." Her eyes move to the floor, "I just didn't want…." She trails off and I can't tell, but I think shes crying. "Its okay, I understand." I say, but she stays silent. I wonder if she doesn't want to talk about it after all, but I do.

"I don't even remember most of what happened." After a few minutes she looks back at me. Her eyes are a little red but she smiles. "You were scary." She almost giggles, "You kept screaming at him, telling him you were going to bash his skull in." Now its me that cant look at her. "Oh." I say, a bit embarrassed by my actions. Kate continues to smile, "You really did though. When Simms came by he told me almost every bone in Jericho's face was broken. He didn't even look like himself. Im sure Doc Church loved fixing that." It's the first time she's said his name. I smile, happy to know I hurt that asshole to the point of disfiguring him.

"Im sorry I got so carried away," I say. Kate shakes her head, "No, it was amazing. No one has ever done something like that for me. No one but you. If you hadn't showed up..." She takes a deep breath. "If you hadn't showed up I would have been very upset, more so than I already was. You did good Charon, so thank you for that." Kate says, nervously playing with her hair.

I look at her seriously, "You know I would do the same to anyone that tried to attack you."

"I know, its your job."

She looks through me again. It hurts so bad to hear her say something like that. She believes I did what I did because of the contract. The pain of her words burns inside of me until it turns to anger. "You really think thats why I did that?" I try to mask the fact that my words sound hurt. Kate just looks at me with regret, "Charon I-" I cut her off.

"Yes, some of it was the contract. But don't you think that for a second when I saw-" I consider telling her everything. That when I saw that scumbag raider over her I wanted to hurt him. I wanted him to know what happens to the men that touch her without her permission. I don't forget their faces. I don't forget their names. I make them suffer.

Instead I sigh and say, "I protect you because you deserve to be protected. Im not going to stand by and let someone hurt you. Thats something I want to do."

When I finish speaking she's smiling at me, smiling like nothing has ever made her happier.

"Thats why you busted Ronald Lauren's nose?" She asks and I nod. Her smile grows and she shakes her head as if she's finally understood something. For a moment, I worry I have made my feelings too apparent. I fear she will ask me how I feel about her, and Im not ready to tell her. She doesn't push, she doesn't ask the question, instead she stands up and stretches.

"We should probably practice some more." I comply and we set back up. Within five tries she completes the move and effectively disarms me. Dare I say it even hurt when she flipped me off her. When Kate succeeds she shrieks with excitement. "I did it! I did it!" She exclaims. I don't know what changed in her. Maybe it was the break or talking about what happened, but something worked.

We move everything back to its proper place in the living room. When we finish Kate smiles at me and says, "We should go see Gob and Nova. Its been a while and I could use a drink." I look at her as if she's crazy. "You want to drink again?" I thought she would never want to touch alcohol again in her life. Kate shrugs, "Yeah. I want to go out with you, see our friends. That kind of stuff." She almost looks as if she's blushing. "Who's gonna keep me from falling on my face if you don't come with me?" I feel warm as I look in her eyes and see sincerity. For once I don't care if Im grinning like an idiot.

"Alright," I say, "lets go."

Thanks to everyone for reading! :) I hope you all liked the conclusion.