A few weeks had gone by and everyone seemed to settle into a status quo. Antonio was a perfect fit in the lab, he worked with Seth and Violet as if he'd known them for years. He even started stocking one of the drawers in the break room with fancy chocolates for when AJ was on the war path, it became a routine, whoever got ripped a new one was allowed to indulge in a piece of candy. Needless to say, Violet was afraid she'd develop diabetes, because not only did she need chocolate after getting reamed out by AJ, but she also needed chocolate after every single encounter with Roman. She saw him almost every day between the typical security detail rounds and the planning meetings for the plant-wide evacuation plan. AJ was supposed to be taking the lead on the project, but she claimed she was totally swamped and dumped it all on Violet.
At least she knew she wouldn't see that sexy beast tonight, she had two hours of MMA ahead of her, intermediate level kickboxing and grappling. As soon as she healed enough from Jake's attack, Dean insisted that she learn to defend herself, she thought it was a great idea but was too timid to go on her own. The dojo offered a women's self-defense class, so she went with Leslie. She was hooked instantly and signed up for beginner's kickboxing before leaving that night. She had been going to classes three times a week for almost a year now and she loved it. She wasn't totally convinced that she could fight off Jake but she could certainly blow off some steam pounding on the punching bags.
After grappling was over, the Sensei called everyone to attention, someone had advanced a level and was getting a new belt today. The whole class was buzzing with excitement. Sensei talked about how this student trained very hard in the last year and overcame many obstacles and personal demons and he was honored to be able to reward this student with a low blue belt. Violet looked around at her classmates, many of them were high white belts or blue belts, she couldn't wait to see who had advanced. She could hardly believe her ears when Sensei called her name and asked her to step forward.
She bowed to her Sensei and put her arms out at her sides, he removed her high white belt and replaced it with the low blue belt. She turned around and bowed to her class as they erupted into a round of applause. Violet knew her cheeks were bright red, she wasn't used to this kind of attention, but she was beyond giddy. She said goodbye to some of her classmates and grabbed her bags from her locker, she was all sweaty and gross, but she wanted to show Dean and Leslie right away, she debated calling them first, but knew they'd be home, it was early enough where they were probably still eating dinner and hopefully were still completely dressed.
She parked in front of the Ambrose house, blocking the driveway, and ran up the front steps, she leaned on the doorbell hopping from one foot to the other like a sugar crazed toddler. Finally Leslie opened the front door.
"Jeebus, Violet, keep your pants on, what's the big rush?"
She pushed past her friend into the house "Is Dean here? I have to show you guys something!"
"What's up half pint?" Dean said as he leaned down to give her a hug, "Shit, Vi, you smell like dirty gym socks. What the hell?"
She punched him in the gut and giggled as he pretended to double over in pain. Then she triumphantly took of her coat and showed off her new belt, "I made low blue belt tonight!"
Leslie squealed and they both started jumping up and down clapping their hands, Dean shook his head, "Great job, kiddo. I'm proud of you."
"Hey what's all the celebrating about?" Roman asked as he strolled out of the kitchen.
Violet heard his voice and froze, oh crap, he's here too. That would explain the extra car in the driveway.
Leslie spoke up first, "Violet just stopped by to show us her low blue belt. And luckily, she's in time for dinner."
"Oh, no, I, I can't stay tonight, Les, I reek, I mean, just ask Dean, he's been holding his nose since I walked in."
Leslie shrugged, "So, go upstairs and take a shower. You have 20 minutes and I know you left some spare clothes here."
"Yeah, come on kiddo, stay and celebrate with us! Leslie made pot roast and the big man brought dessert."
Violet knew there was no way she was getting out of this, so she stomped upstairs.
Violet was wrapped in Leslie's fleece robe tearing through her overnight bag that she had left in the guest bedroom, this could NOT be the only things she left here. Shit, all she had was a pair of yoga pants, a bra and a tank top. No panties, not even a grimy old pair of granny panties, Roman was downstairs and she was going to have to go commando, in yoga pants. She grabbed her phone and sent Leslie a text message.
"Help! I need to borrow a really long hoodie!" She huffed at her phone waiting for Leslie's response.
"I have one in the hall closet, just come down and get it."
What? Go down? No way. "Can't you bring it up to me? Please!"
"Why are you freaking out?"
She rolled her eyes at the phone "I don't have clean undies, you can see my ass through my yoga pants!"
A minute later the door to the guest room opened and Leslie tossed in a giant hoodie, looked at Vi, busted out laughing and walked out.
"It's not funny!" Violet shouted after her, but, really, it kinda was.
Dean was putting an extra dish on the table for Violet when Roman slapped him upside the head. "Fuck! What was that for?"
"You planned this, didn't you?"
"Ha! Come on, Ro, I'm not even that good."
Roman raised his eyebrow at his buddy, "The next time you call me Ro, I'll kick your ass."
"Yeah, and I'll help!" Roman turned to see Violet standing at the bottom of the stairs, she was wearing black yoga pants and the biggest hoodie he had ever seen, the damned thing came down to her knees. She had pushed her wet hair away from her face with a cute pink headband and she was barefoot. She looked stunning, he licked his lips at the thought of all the things he could do with her…
"Oh, Little Miss Blue Belt thinks she's tough, huh?" Dean said pulling Roman out of his fantasy.
"Yeah, well, with me holding you down, she can do some serious damage." Roman challenged.
"Bring it on! I'm not scared of you two!" Dean put his fists up and started bouncing on the balls of his feet. Violet started laughing and Roman just couldn't help but laugh with her, she was so cute and her laugh was contagious.
"OK, I obviously missed something," Leslie said placing a big dish on the table, she looked at both Violet and Roman and then at her husband, "Are they threatening to kick your ass again?"
Dean tried his best to look offended, "Aww, come on woman, aren't you going to defend me?"
"Hell no! I'm gonna make popcorn and enjoy the show! Now sit your asses down and eat before it all gets cold. That crock pot worked hard to make us this meal."
They all sat down and started passing the serving dishes, all talking stopped as they were busy eating. The food was so good that Violet almost forgot she was sitting next to Roman with no panties on.
Dean looked at the empty dishes on the table, "Sorry bro, no leftovers for you take home tonight. Vi ate everything!"
"Hey!" Violet yelled, "I trained for two hours tonight! What's your excuse?"
Roman almost died, two hours, "See, Ambrose, I told you that you were getting soft! Violet can outlast you in the gym!"
Violet tried not to giggle like a schoolgirl, Roman was hot and his voice did things to her, she could listen to him talk for hours. She stood up and started clearing the table, "Let's go Ambrose, Leslie cooked, the least you can do is help clean up."
"Nope! You sit down Vi, I need to be alone in the kitchen with my woman." He smirked at Leslie.
"Yeah, you two go sit on the couch or something, relax." She said and took the dirty dishes out of Violet's hands. Leslie laughed as her friend just stood there staring at her with her mouth hanging open.
Her mind was racing, sit on the couch, next to Roman, without any panties on, I hope my breath doesn't smell, what if I have meat stuck between my teeth? Dean put both hands on her shoulders, spun her around and shoved her in the direction of the living room.
They sat on opposite sides of the couch, Violet with her legs curled under her and her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and Roman with his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was wearing short sleeves and for the first time she could see that his tattoo was probably a full sleeve, she ached to reach out and trace it with her fingertips.
Roman broke the silence first, "So, you take MMA classes?" He gave himself a mental head slap, of course she takes MMA classes she came running in with her new belt, dumbass.
Violet nodded her head, "Yeah, almost a year now."
Roman was impressed, "Wow and you already have your low blue belt. That's fast."
"Yeah, well, I had some good motivation. And I go three nights a week. Working the bag is a great way to relieve stress."
"I believe it. I did some martial arts when I was in Marines."
"Really?" Violet looked up at him, "That's cool, what type of martial arts did you take?"
"The Marines developed their own martial arts training program, its mostly for hand to hand combat and field techniques," He said looking over at Violet, he thought she was just making small talk, but she look genuinely interested.
"Is the belt structure the same?" She asked.
"Naw, it's a little different, can't wear the bright colors with fatigues," he said, she giggled.
"Well? Don't be modest, what color belt do you have?"
Roman hesitated, "I have a black belt, 6th degree. Towards the end of my enlistment period I was training the new recruits."
Now it was Violet who was impressed, "Those poor souls. How many did you scare away?"
Roman tossed his head back and laughed harder than he ever remembered laughing, "Enough!"
Dean and Leslie heard Roman's booming laugh in the kitchen, Dean grinned at his wife, "I know for a fact, that I never heard the big man laugh like that before."
Leslie agreed, "And look at Violet, she is smiling and laughing too. Just wait until she sees that he brought cherry cheesecake. If she wasn't in love with him already, she will be now!"
She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up into his eyes, "Maybe we should give them a few more minutes alone."
"Woman, you read my mind," he said as he leaned down and kissed her lips, thrusting his tongue in her mouth when she moaned. "I can't wait to kick them out of the house, baby, you are gonna be moaning all night long."
"I like the sound of that!" She said as she pushed away from him, "Let's feed them their cake and get them out."
"Wait, what's the deal with Vi? Why is she wearing my hoodie?" Dean asked.
Leslie snickered, "She didn't have any clean undies in her overnight bag!"
Dean laughed until he had tears in his eyes. "Now that's the funniest thing I've heard all day! Our sweet little Vi is going commando!"
After they finished their cake Dean shot Roman a look from across the table. Ha! He wanted to get busy with his woman, he could take a hint. He stood up, "Leslie, thanks again for another delicious meal."
"Any time Roman!"
He nodded at Dean "Have a good night, bro, see you at work."
Violet jumped up, "Oh! I think my car is blocking you in! Hang on, let me find my shoes and we can leave together."
Leaving with Violet sounded like a great idea, but he knew that's not what she meant. He watched as she gathered her things and slipped her shoes on. They all said their goodbyes and Roman held the door for her. They walked out together and tried not to laugh at Dean and Leslie peeking through the blinds watching them.
"They could be a little less obvious," Violet muttered.
Roman chuckled, "Ambrose never was very subtle."
They stopped by her car and Roman opened the driver's side door for her. "It, uh, seeing you tonight was a nice surprise," he said softly.
"Huh? Me?" Violet looked up at him, "Um, yeah, I probably should have called first, I was just a little too excited."
Roman smiled at her, she was so cute, "Don't apologize, I'm happy you came over. And that's quite a reason to be excited."
They stood there for a while just looking at each other, Roman was so tempted to lean down and kiss her, but he was not going to put on a show for Dean. If, no when, he kissed her for the first time, it would be in private.
"Good night, Vi. Safe trip home."
"Yeah, you too, see you tomorrow." Violet's heart was pounding in her chest, she was terrified that he was going to kiss her but now that he didn't she was disappointed to say the least. Stupid Ambroses peeking through the blinds like little old ladies, if they weren't looking, he probably would have kissed her.