Two Weeks Later

Sara waited for Lee at Tool's at the arranged time. She had her backpack of things and her bow and arrows. Barney warned her that she'd be put through the wringer, but she was ready. She was given some time to recover from Vilena, and then it was time to get back to it before another job came along. When Lee came out from Tool's office and saw her, he gave a nod.

"Let's go," he said.

"Don't scratch her," Barney called after him. Sara raised a brow.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"He's talking about GeGe," Lee commented.

"Who is that?"

"His truck."

"You bust up GeGe, and I bust up your face!" Barney added.

"He's got a lot of history with that truck," Lee commented as Sara started to chuckle. Barney couldn't help himself and followed them outside.

"GeGe's got me through some rough times," Barney said, wincing as Lee hoisted his bag up and over the side of the box with a bang.

"She's the love of your life, I know," Lee said, opening the driver side door as Sara carefully put her things in the box too.

"I mean it," Barney warned. "If she comes back with so much as a hairline scratch..."

"You'll gut me like a fish," Lee finished for him. "I know."

"Exactly."

"So what did you do to yourself after you brought her back all shot to shit a few weeks ago?" Lee asked, looking at Barney.

"I went on a suicide mission," Barney replied.

"I see."

"Then I fixed her up with all new parts."

"Uh huh."

He started the engine before Barney could start talking again, and then he was gone. Sara rested her arm on the window, feeling the breeze tug at her. She felt tired, but she was still alert.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"You'll see."

She didn't like the vagueness, but she didn't say anything regardless. She looked out the window at the scenery passing by, thinking about Cid. Was he scared? Was he angry? Had he forgotten about her? She wondered for the millionth time if he thought she was dead. It had looked pretty grim for her after all.

The city view turned into a country view the farther they went. After a few hours, Lee stopped at a cabin at the end of a long driveway in the middle of the woods. He cut the engine and paused, keys in hand.

"You own this?" she asked.

"Tool does. For training purposes."

"I see."

"Come on," he instructed, getting out. She followed suit and grabbed her things. She let him go inside first and scope the place out. Then she went in and was shown where she'd be sleeping. Lee went to get the rest of the food, and she walked around the place, trying to get a sense of it. She wondered how long they'd be staying here.

"Outside in ten," Lee said after he'd returned and put everything away.

"What am I doing outside?"

"Training," he answered logically, like she'd asked the world's dumbest question.

"How long are we staying here for?" she asked next.

"We aren't leaving here until I know you can look after yourself," Lee told her. "And until I can fully trust you." Sara pressed her lips together but didn't say anything in return. She knew what she'd signed up for. This was like military training. She could use it.

"How will I know when I have your trust?" she asked.

"You'll know," he answered, walking away. She heard him unzipping a bag in the other room and setting heavy objects on something in there. She drew in a shaky breath, trying to get her wits about her again. She was doing this. She was becoming a mercenary.

It wasn't like she had a choice.

...

Joe was trying to hold onto the memory of his wife as best as he could. Images of the two of them traveling, spending time together, and laughing together kept playing like a film reel in his head. She'd been the best thing to ever happen to him. She'd saved him from his destructive path. She'd shown him that forgiveness was a real thing.

He wondered how long it would be until the next job. He only ever got information on paper at a drop site. He didn't know who left it there. Abe had promised once he'd done his part here he'd go back to his wife and be left alone. Joe didn't exactly buy this, but he couldn't do anything about it right now.

He did know one thing, though. If Abe had hurt his wife in any way, shape, or form, Joe would rip him apart slowly piece by piece.

...

Sara was growing frustrated the more times Lee threw her down onto the ground during their sparring. He was too quick for her, and she couldn't get any blows in. She was on her back for the thirtieth time as he stood above her with his arms crossed.

"You've got a lot to learn," he commented with a sigh. She refused his hand to help her up, and she dusted herself off.

"Then you better get to teaching," she retorted. He scoffed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. She got back into her fight pose and went at him again. The sun was blistering hot above, and she was down to a sports bra, tank top, and shorts. Lee was unbelievably still in pants and a t-shirt. He was sweating, though.

"Argh!" she exclaimed when he deflected her blow, twisted her around, and shoved her down to the ground. She landed on her knees, trying not to scream in frustration.

"Again," he said. She stood up slowly, facing him once more. The only expression he seemed to wear was one of unimpressed.

"Water," she said, a little hoarse. He moved to grab a bottle from the table and tossed it to her. She drank eagerly, enjoying the coolness in her throat. She set it down on the ground after drinking about half of it. She sniffed and wiped her mouth with her arm quickly.

"You about ready now, princess?" Lee asked. The word hit her hard. A memory came along with it...one where a john had insisted on calling her that during their time together and made her do things she didn't like to do. It had made her nauseous.

"I am many things, but I am not a princess," she retorted sharply, putting her fists up. She circled him slowly, and he kept his body facing her in preparation.

"Prove it," he said. She lunged, and he dodged. She rammed her fist behind her, catching him in the upper rib on his back. He grunted but recovered quickly. Sara was already trying to attack him again, but he was too quick for her...again.

"Can you stop evading me and actually show me how you're doing that?" she asked, aggravated.

"You learn by doing," Lee insisted. She rolled her eyes.

"You're just pissing me off," she shot back. "Show me what the hell you're actually doing, and I'll do it."

"Fine," he said. He moved closer to her. "Arms up." She obeyed. "Now, I'm gonna come at you like this." He gestured with his fist. "You're gonna do this." He reached to move her into a stance that would duck his punch.

"Oh," she said, understanding finally.

"Try it," he instructed.

"Okay..."

He went to hit her, and she didn't move in time. His fist clipped her cheek, and she felt her head snap back a little from the impact. She stumbled backwards, but Lee didn't even look sorry.

"You good?" he asked.

"Not really," she answered. "I think you broke my cheek bone."

"It'll heal," he dismissed. "Move faster next time."

"Ugh," she growled, but she got back into the stance. Her face was slightly throbbing, but the next punch he sent her way, she dodged. She felt giddy suddenly, thinking that perhaps she could do this after all.

"Again," Lee said. There was no "good job" or "hey, you did it," and she didn't think she'd ever get one from him. He was all business it seemed. And really, she didn't need the kudos. She was just as hard as him.

"I'm gonna beat you," she promised.

"You'll try," he retorted. He went to punch her again, and she ducked again. She clipped him in the stomach when she came back, and he put her in a chokehold. She shouted in frustration as she failed to get out of it. He eventually let her go, and she rubbed her neck while shooting him a glare.

"What's Lacy doing here?" she asked, and he turned to look where she gestured. She was on him in seconds, and he stumbled, taken aback. She got one punch to his face in before he threw her off onto the ground. He was rubbing his jaw as she sat up and leaned back on her hands.

"What?" she asked innocently at his look. "It's called the art of distraction."

"Well played," he said.

"Is that a compliment coming from the stone cold Lee Christmas?" she asked, getting to her feet.

"No," he retorted. "It's merely an acknowledgement."

"Yea, okay." She smirked. He just shook his head, but the corners of his lips twitched slightly. Sara was determined to beat his ass, so she put her fists up again.

And again and again and again.

...

Lee had to resist chuckling as Sara walked around stiff that evening. She was popping pain killers and icing her cheek and knuckles, which were a bit chafed from punching him a few times. He had to admit that she was getting a little better, but there was a long way to go still.

"How do you do this all day and then act like nothing happened?" she asked, joining him on the porch.

"Years of practice," he replied. He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the railing, sliding his hands behind his head. He was thinking about Lacy. Things had been a bit better between them in the last couple of weeks. He knew she wasn't entirely thrilled about him taking off for possibly two months to train a newbie, and he knew she'd be royally pissed if she knew he was training a woman. He'd left that out for some reason, and he didn't understand why.

"How's the girlfriend?" Sara asked on cue.

"Fine," he answered.

"That's good." She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the railing, her one leg bent. Lee looked at her, taking in the black shorts and the white tank top. It was muggy and hot, and he could feel his t-shirt sticking to him.

"Why are you really here, Sara?" he asked, deciding to take a chance. He knew because Barney had told him, but he wondered if she would tell him herself. She turned her head to look at him, and he could see in her eyes she was trying to think of what to say.

"I guess this is a way of getting your trust," she reasoned.

"Slightly." His tone was sarcastic.

"If I tell you," she started, turning to lean her lower back against the railing and resting her hands on it on each side, "you have to promise me that no one else finds out. Trust goes both ways."

He studied her, working his jaw slightly. He could agree with that. She didn't know him from a hole in the ground either. She was risking a lot by telling him things.

"You have my word," he promised.

"I'm here because working with your team is going to keep me and my son alive," she said. He stiffened. That was not what Barney had told him...

"Barney knows," she said softly, reading his mind. "You two are the only two that know, so please keep it that way."

"Alright," he said. "Who has your son?"

"He's with his father."

"Oh." Of course there was a father. Lee wondered if they were still together; he hadn't noticed a ring on her hand.

"He is safe for now, but it wouldn't take much for them to know where he is, and they will hurt him if I screw up," she added. "They promised that."

"Who're they?"

"I don't know," she answered.

"You don't know?" he repeated.

"No," she clarified.

"Well, we could help..."

"No," she cut him off. "They've said if I tell anyone, they will kill him. I can't risk it. I'm already risking too much by telling you this."

He stared at her, incredulous. Something about this story felt off to him, but she looked genuinely afraid, so he didn't push.

"So you see," she continued. "I need to get better at this and I need to pull through or else he's dead too."

"It seems to me that you were given a death sentence," Lee commented. "Our line of work isn't exactly desk duty."

"I know," she said, running a hand through her hair, "and I keep thinking that. I have to hang onto that hope that they'll keep their word, though, that if I do the work they'll let him go if I die. I've got nothing else otherwise. My son is everything to me."

Lee felt jealous in that moment. She had a son. He'd always wanted a child, but the chance had never come up. He cleared his throat and brought his arms down to fold his hands in his lap. He pushed on the railing with his foot to rock his chair a little bit.

"The father," he started.

"Is not a part of my life anymore," she finished for him. "Not that you'd care." She looked at him, and he did his best to act like he didn't care. He wasn't really sure why he wanted to know if she was single or not. Really, her saying her son was everything to her should have been a big indicator.

"Right. Well," he finally said. "I will do everything I can to make you the best you can be in this field."

"Thank you," she said sincerely. He kept looking at her, not failing to notice the scar of a gunshot wound on her chest once again. It wasn't exactly subtle.

"What happened?" he asked, unable to help himself. She gave him a puzzled look until he gestured at the same spot on his chest where her wound was. She looked down at it.

"Oh, that."

"Yea, that," he said. She was being awfully nonchalant about it...

"Someone tried to kill me," she answered simply, looking at him again. She wasn't offering anything more than that; curiosity was burning in him now. He suddenly needed to know, but he didn't want to pry. His phone rang, and he knew it was Lacy. Sara gave a small smile before pushing off the railing.

"I'm going for a walk," she said.

"Alright."

He watched her go down the steps and head for the trail to the right, wondering who had tried to kill her and who had her under their control now. Then he pulled out his phone to talk to his girlfriend.

...

Barney looked up from what he was doing when Toll came walking into the garage. He was up to his right elbow under the hood of a truck he was fixing up. He was trying not to think about his prized truck being used by Lee. He'd fixed it all up after it getting shot up and smashed, and he didn't want it to get beat up so quickly.

"Lookin' good," Toll commented, standing across from Barney and looking under the hood.

"Thanks."

Barney could tell that Toll had something on his mind, and he had an idea of who it was. When it had been announced that Lee was training Sara, Toll had appeared a little bothered by it.

"You hear from Lee at all?"

And there it was. Barney gave one last tug and grunt before pulling his arm out and looked at Toll.

"No," he answered. "You know he doesn't really contact the real world when he's out there."

"Do you think he's the best person to be training her?" Toll asked, smoothing his left hand back and forth along the car and not looking at Barney.

"His interest in Sara is purely business," Barney said to him. "If that's what you're really asking."

"No," Toll denied, his face going slightly pink. "I just...I dunno. I think any one of us could have done it."

"I made Christmas do it because he was so against it," Barney explained, reaching for a socket wrench next. "I need him to accept her on the team and learn to trust her. To do that, they need to do this."

"Right." Toll gave a small sigh and scratched the back of his head.

"What's making you so drawn to her?" Barney asked, curious.

"Ah, nothing. I just think she's sweet is all," Toll answered. "It's not often you meet someone who does what you do and has a nice personality."

"Personality?" Barney challenged.

"Okay, okay, form. She has a very nice...form," he corrected, going even more pink in the face. Barney snorted.

"Form, huh?"

"She's attractive, alright? There, I said it," Toll said, slightly aggravated.

"Nothing wrong with noticing pretty ladies, Toll," Barney replied, cranking his wrench and smirking. He heard steps and saw Yang come in next.

"Hulk trying to smash," he commented. A roar overhead could be heard, and all of them looked up at the same time.

"I don't think your analyst is doing a very good job," Barney commented, flicking his eyes over to Toll.

"It's withdrawals," Toll explained. "Once he gets through it, he'll be good."

A resounding crash followed by another roar and Caesar's hollering back took place above them next.

"How soon will that be?" Yang asked.

"I have no idea," Toll replied honestly.

"Barneeeey!" Caesar yelled down the stairs.

"Ah, shit," Barney said, dropping his wrench and grabbing a rag to wipe off his hands before stuffing it into his back pocket and rushing up the stairs. Toll and Yang hurried after him, and it took all of them to calm Gunner down and talk him through his cravings and withdrawal.

"I really think you oughta be at that rehab center, Gunner," Barney said as he held on from behind, his arm around Gunner's neck. "You promised, remember?" He'd been saying it for two weeks, but Gunner had tried to say he could do it on his own.

"I think...you're right," Gunner conceded, breathing hard and sweating.

"I'll call," Toll said, going for the phone.

"I'll pack," Yang offered, moving to Gunner's room.

"Deep breaths, man," Caesar said, holding Gunner's legs down. "It'll be alright soon."

Barney felt Gunner slowly relax, and he patted the man's right arm before daring to release him. Gunner curled into a ball and breathed. Barney shared a relieved look with Caesar, and soon they had him on the couch where he fell asleep.

"Sleepy night night," Caesar commented, dusting off his hands.

"Let's hope he stays down for a while," Barney said. He slightly envied that Lee was missing all of this craziness.

The Next Day

"Get up," Lee ordered. Sara groaned. It was still dark outside.

"Five more minutes," she said, not looking at him. She heard the cock of a gun and jerked upright to find him aiming his pistol at her.

"You don't have five minutes," he said. "You have five seconds." She got out of bed and shot him a glare as she grabbed her clothes and went to get changed and ready for the day. He was brutal, and she honestly felt like she was going to die at one point. He was making her punch a bag and spar with him and other tactical training that her muscles were just not prepped for. By late afternoon, she was done.

"I can't," she said. "I have literally no energy." Lee looked at her, and then he pulled out his pistol. She opened her mouth right as he aimed and fired above her head.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed. He aimed again, and she ran for it. He definitely had some harsh teaching lessons, but she understood what he was doing. In real life, you didn't get to stop if someone was hunting you. She ran, hearing him come after her. She decided to take him down, so she positioned herself in a hiding spot and waited for him to pass by her. She could hear him getting closer, so when he was right there, she lunged out at him. He grunted as she launched into him, and they both lost their footing and went tumbling down the hill together. Sara gasped and yelped as she hit different things on her way down. They landed at the bottom of the hill, and she groaned. Lee was breathing a bit hard, but he didn't make a sound. He got up and aimed his gun at her again.

"Bang, you're dead," he said dryly.

"Come on," she groaned, trying to get up. He held out a hand, and she took it. Once she was upright, he let her go and holstered his gun.

"Nice try, though," he added, going back up the hill.

"'Nice try?' That's all I get?" she asked.

"Better than a kick in the pants," he answered. She growled. When was this torture going to end?

...

Over the next month, Lee would burst into her room first thing in the morning and wake her up. He either aimed a gun at her, threw water on her, pinched off her nose and mouth, threw something onto her stomach, yanked her pillow out from under her head, or, like today, dumped her off the mattress.

He'd made her learn how to assemble and disassemble guns quickly. He made her run, crawl, climb, and fight. He made her swim laps. He made her hold her breath for a long time underwater. He made her jump rope. He watched her slowly get muscular and lean and hardened.

Today, he was going to introduce assembling/disassembling guns blindfolded and knife fighting.

"Son of a bitch, Lee," Sara said from the floor. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I don't train quitters," he retorted, stepping over her and leaving her to get up and change. The sun was rising when she came out, and she stifled a yawn.

"No coffee?" she asked, her voice a whine, as she stood staring at the empty can by the coffee maker.

"Sorry," he answered.

"I can't do today then," she said, crossing her arms.

"If you were..." Lee started.

"...out in the wild with nothing but the clothes on your back and a knife in your holster, you would have to survive," she finished, quoting him. He gave her a look. "What? You've said it a million times already."

"Then stop whinging," he ordered. "Come on. We have to get started." He heard her groan loudly as she walked out behind him.

...

Sara had to admit she did enjoy learning how to fight with a knife. He had ones that shocked you if they made contact, and she was pleased that she'd shocked him at least twice already.

"Don't get cocky," he instructed, giving her his famous lifted brow and stare.

"Take the fun out of it," she grumbled. They battled again, and she didn't want to admit that she enjoyed him touching her or the way they'd wrestle with each other. She hadn't felt like this around a man before, and it scared her. She was used to being an object for men, having them treat her like shit and use her for her body. She wasn't used to someone respecting her, which Lee did.

"Ah!" she yelped, getting shocked. He snickered as she stepped back to shake it off. "It's not fair. You're a freaking knife specialist."

"Then you're learning from the best," he retorted back. "Come on. Again."

And again and again and again.

...

"I need to know you've got my back out there," Lee said, walking a ways from the cabin. "So, you're gonna show me that you can haul my ass out of the field if I'm taken out."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"I'd get one of the guys to carry you," Sara reasoned.

"If they're not there, it's just you," he pointed out. She groaned, and he lifted a brow. "I'm sorry. Am I not worth saving?"

"It's not that," she said. "You're just...heavy."

"Too bad." Lee got down on the ground and then rested on his back. "You got five minutes. Go." Sara groaned again but went to grab him under his arms and started to drag him. She made it halfway to the cabin when he stopped her.

"Again," he said. "Too slow."

"Give me a break," she said. "I've never done this before."

"Which is why we will keep doing it until you've got it mastered," he said. He walked back to his spot and got on his back again. Sara refrained from moaning and started to drag him all over again. By the tenth time, she was barely breathing and barely pulling him.

"That's not very promising," he commented, looking up at her.

"Maybe your ass just really isn't worth saving," she said back.

"Is that so?"

She fell to the ground and flopped onto her back, gasping for air. Lee sat up and waited patiently. She finally turned her head to look at him once she wasn't choking and spluttering.

"You know," she said, "even God took a day to rest."

"You'll get plenty of rest when we're done," he promised. She made an "ugh" sound in her throat before looking back up at the sky again. It was a nice day; a bit cooler. He hadn't heard from Lacy in a week, and he wondered if she was getting bored of him already.

"I think my son would like you," Sara said out of the blue, taking him off guard. He looked at her as she pushed herself up into a sitting position opposite of him.

"Why's that?" he asked. He was very curious.

"I don't know," she answered. "I just know he would. You're tough, but you also have this calm side that I think would be meaningful to him."

"I see." Lee didn't know what else to say about it. He watched as she got to her feet and came around behind him.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go, lardass." She looped her arms under his and yanked him again. Her determination was something he admired.

Maybe one day he'd tell her that.