iTeach Shelby Marx

Sam Puckett woke up with a start. Against her heart's advice, she'd left Carly alone in her childhood bed at Bushwell and had fallen asleep on the living room sofa huddled in a loose mess with Wendy. This clearly didn't sit well with Shelby Marx, who made her way down the stairs from the third floor to see her partner sleepily winding Sam Puckett's blonde curls in her fingers.

That tore it. Sam Puckett had to die.

Shelby snatched Sam up with both hands, tearing her from Wendy and sleep, speaking to her in a growl loud enough to be heard, but low enough so as not to wake her partner. It showed restraint on Shelby's part. It was obvious that she would rather have been screaming.

"LOOK! HANDS OFF, PUCKETT… ISN'T IT ENOUGH TO HAVE CARLY SHAY? YOU WANT WHAT I HAVE TOO? JUST BECAUSE SHE HAD A THING FOR YOU IN SCHOOL DOESN'T…"

Even torn from sleep, Sam Puckett's invisible ninja skills, honed on the streets of Seattle, trumped Shelby Marx's manicured cage fighting techniques. Shelby fell backwards across the coffee table, thanks to a well placed sweep kick that caught her behind the kneecap. Now it was Sam's turn to rant. She needed to set the record straight.

"Look here, Bitch… I wasn't about to bed down with Carls – not that my relationship with her is any of your goddamn business – given her condition. Wendy and I just sat and talked. You're seeing what you want to see… and what do you mean she had a thing for me? Rule number one, Marx… Don't you dare open a Pandora's box you can't close… because I will take you apart!"

Shelby stared up at her from where she had fallen.

"Are you stupid, Puckett? Wendy was crushing on you hard all through high school…"

In a display of compassion, Sam extended her hand to Shelby.

"Get up. We need to go for a walk."

Sam, though rumpled, was accustomed to sleeping in her clothes. She had made it to the door and had thrown on her leather jacket by the time Shelby had finished putting herself back together.

HALF AN HOUR LATER…

Shelby Marx walked through the park with Sam Puckett at first light. Neither woman had set foot here since the evening of Carly and Sam's wedding. They walked close and spoke in hushed tones. Anyone passing by would easily mistake the two for the oldest and dearest of friends.

"Look, Marx… You fight great, but I'm a great fighter. There's a difference between what you do and what I've had to do. You fight because somebody pays you. I've fought to survive. You're good, but frankly, you're out of your league…"

Shelby took offense to this. She was the youngest champion in CFC history – male or female.

"Sam, You've seen what I can do…"

"True, but what you do to some Russian chick standing eight inches away from you is a hell of a lot different from what I do…"

Sam spent the next twenty minutes explaining to Shelby in explicit and gesticulating detail exactly what made her the steely invisible ninja that she'd become. She'd spared nothing. She knew that, in order for her and Shelby to squash this thing, Marx needed to know everything. She would always love Wendy – but as her fellow Ridgeway Bulldog – nothing more or less.

"God… Sam, I'm sorry…"

Without thinking too much about it, Shelby took Sam Puckett's hand in her own, the same way she did with Wendy's when they went on their evening walks together. Before she realized it, her fingers had intertwined with Sam's. They fit together well, but not nearly as perfectly as hers and Wendy's did. It made Sam feel strange – to have someone other than her Cupcake touch her this way – but she tolerated it just the same.

The tall brunette looked down at the slight, yet muscular blonde. Her hazel-green eyes met the piercing blue gaze that Carly Shay had loved her entire life. Part of her wanted to kill this woman for moving in on the one she loved, while her other half flirted with the notion of stealing a kiss, solely to see what it was about this mysterious blonde that both Carly Shay and her own partner found so appealing. She knew she couldn't. She looked deep into Sam Puckett's eyes, searching out her soul. Shelby spoke, not giving any forethought to her words.

"Sam, I… you know… If we hadn't spent all this time hating each other for stupid reasons… we might've been…"

Shelby stopped short, choking down her emotions.

"Friends." Sam finished. "I'd like that."

Shelby Marx snaked her arm low around the blonde's waist, just as she did every night with Wendy. Sam allowed it. Shelby, for all her bravado and arrogance, was gentle, like the Cupcake. The unlikely pair walked together, arm in arm, talking quietly together about life, love, and what the future might hold for the Marx and Puckett families.

LATER THAT MORNING, AT THE GYM…

Sam grunted, talking trash to Shelby, a right cross slamming into her temple.

"That the best you got, Marx? My mama hit me harder than that!"

Shelby attempted to sweep kick Sam off of her feet. Sam skillfully avoided it as easily as skipping rope.

"YOU'RE NOT LEARNING! START PAYING ATTENTION!"

Sam caught Shelby in the face with a flurry of punches, absorbed mercifully by her headgear. One final uppercut caught the brunette on the chin, sending her to the canvas. Sam stood over her opponent for a long moment, gloating over her success.

She looked up to Wendy, followed by Carly, staring at her from outside the ring. Both women looked hurt. Before Sam could explain, Shelby Marx was on her feet, shaking the ring rust from her brain. She spat out her mouth guard, explaining for the both of them.

"Ladies… it's... Sam and I've had a bit of a morning, and well, if I don't train with the best fighter in Seattle, how will I be able to face the best in the world?"

Carly seemed to accept Shelby at face value, but it clearly didn't sit well with Wendy that her partner made a living at the expense of her beautiful body. It was further complicated by the fact that she still, on whatever level, cared for Sam Puckett, despite her recent marriage to Carly Shay. Wendy locked eyes with Shelby, instantly wanting to run into the ring and hold her.

"Shelby… Honey…"

"Wendy, it's okay, really… It's just a sparring session that got a little heated… We'll talk about all of this later, I promise…"

Carly looked to Sam, not needing to say anything more than her name.

"Cupcake, it's like she said… We're cool now, really… I love you…"

The combatants left the ring, removing headgear and gloves, rejoining their partners. They needed to all have a good long talk. After putting their issues to rest earlier this morning, it had become clear to both Shelby and Sam that the Marx and Puckett families would be intertwined from this point forward. They had what it took to be the very, very best of friends.