A/N: We're back! It's been a while, but hopefully you were able to check out my one shot, Vena Amoris, which was essentially a deleted scene from this fic while you were waiting for this update. Thank you so much for your patience and for sticking with me!

I wasn't feeling particularly inspired for this chapter (initially it was longer, too, but I decided to split it so I could get an update out sooner), but I did some research into street fighting and things like that and I think it helped shape it a bit better.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think. :)

Atlantis' gym was an odd, transient place. Most of the time it was packed with people from all parts of the expedition, but at hours like this, when most of the population was having dinner, it was as empty as a ghost town. This was the way Eva preferred it.

Glancing at the overhead clock, she realized she still had over half an hour before her sparring session with Ronon. If she was going to go up against him in a sparring match – especially a version of him who was twenty years younger than the one she knew – then she needed to warm up. So, in relative privacy, she found ways to pass the time.

She stretched, ran, and boxed and as the hour wore on, watched more and more people slowly trickle in. Blocking out the new distractions, she sharpened her focus and analyzed her boxing stance in the mirror, perfecting and correcting every kick, hook, and jab she threw. The more time she spent looking the mirror, though, the more she realized her body had begun to recover from her time as a runner. The muscles in her arms and legs were visible once more, she had gained back some weight, and it looked like her frame had finally turned the corner from skeletal back to solid. Slowly, she was returning to herself. Never would she be the same as she had been before all of this happened, but at least now she recognized her own reflection.

Ten till seven and the gym was filling up. From the mirror's surface, she watched as the women flocked to the treadmills and the men to the weights area. Her father had always complained about that implicit gender separation, cursing and dismissing it as one of the practices from Earth he would never be able to understand. Building muscle was just as important as building stamina, and he had made sure to tell her that almost every time they visited the gym. She was thankful he had taught her to be fast and strong, to be unafraid of being too muscular for a girl. She wouldn't have survived on Sateda if she hadn't built up that strength before being captured.

Unexpectedly, a lump caught in her throat and so she quickly drowned it with a gulp of water.

"Up, Lieutenant! Again!"

The voice had come from the sparring mats where three men were taking turns practicing their hand-to-hand skills. Jarheads, by the looks of them, two standing and one lying prone on the mat.

"Thought you said you were a green belt."

Based on his confidence alone – or perhaps it was arrogance – it was clear that the man who spoke was the highest ranking of the group. He was the tallest and bulkiest of the three, solidly-built, blond hair growing from his close buzz cut. Extending his hand, he helped the fallen marine to stand.

Back on his feet, he straightened his shirt and turned around, causing Eva's adrenaline spike. It was Lieutenant Williams.

"Said I was working on it, Corporal. I'm still just a grey belt."

"What about you, Santiago?" the corporal asked. "You been lyin' to me, too?"

"No, sir," the third man replied. "Earned my green belt a few months ago."

"If you say so." He cracked his neck and shook out his hands. "All right. You heard me. Go again, Lieutenant."

They regrouped, the corporal along with Santiago taking on Williams. Two against one. This was bound to be interesting.

From the reflection of the mirror, Eva surreptitiously observed their fighting style. Technically, Williams appeared to be well-trained, but he was simply outmatched by Santiago's speed and the corporal's sheer size and strength. It was only a matter of seconds before Williams fell on his back again, the other two still standing.

More roughly this time, the corporal hoisted Williams up, and it became evident to Eva that he was helping him not out of a sense of camaraderie, but of duty. Something told her that if they hadn't been brothers in arms, he would have left him right there on the mat.

"Listen to me, Lieutenant. You're splitting your attention. When you're caught in a fight where you're outnumbered and you're absolutely sure you won't come out on top, focus on taking just one of the enemy down so your buddy behind you only has to deal with one attacker instead of two."

"Yes, sir."

Eva frowned at that. You should never go into a fight thinking you can't win. She capped her water bottle and marched toward the sparring corner.

"What if you don't have a buddy watching your back?" she called, the 6-inch scar along her own spine prickling from the memories of her time alone.

The men all looked at her in surprise.

"Eva!" Williams blurted out as soon as he saw her. His cheeks glowed bright red – whether from embarrassment or exertion, she didn't know.

She nodded to him. "Lieutenant."

"Can we help you, Miss?" the corporal asked. "Women's yoga won't start for another hour or so."

"I don't agree with what you said. Sometimes you're out there on your own…with no one to look after you. You can't just focus on one enemy at a time. You'd die."

The one called Santiago frowned as he looked at her. "Are you that kid they found on Sateda?" he asked.

"I'm the runner they found on Sateda."

The corporal took a long step toward her and it took every ounce of her self-control not to take an equally large step backward. "You're the one who called me a shitbird when we were on the Alpha Site the other day."

Eva assumed he intended for his tone to be jocular, but there was something in the way his pupils caught the light that made her stomach constrict.

"Sorry about that," she said with a grimace. "I've been told that the way I address military officers around here leaves something to be desired."

He winked at her. "Start by leaving out the profanity."

"Solid advice."

He stared down at her, hands on his hips and for an instant, she thought he was going to say something else to her, but he refrained. "Santiago, Williams, reset." He turned his back to her and joined Santiago on one end of the mat, with Williams at the other.

Eva stayed to watch.

The corporal peered over at her from the corner of his eye. Apparently, he didn't want an audience. "Looks like one of the ellipticals just got freed up. Why don't you claim it before someone else does?"

She shrugged as innocently as she could manage. "I already did my cardio."

He shook his head, decided that it was easier to pretend she wasn't there than argue, and popped his mouthguard in. Again, they charged Williams and after a short melee, he managed to knock Santiago to the floor; but not a second later, he was taken out by the corporal himself.

"Better!" the corporal shouted.

This was useless. Williams wasn't going to learn anything by getting thrown to the floor every time he tried to defend himself. Eva, perhaps more than anyone else, knew the truth in that.

She stepped onto the mat and knew instantly from the corporal's reaction that she had crossed a line. Nevertheless, she offered a hand to Williams and helped him up. "You could have taken them both," she whispered.

"Miss, if you don't mind –"

"Your CO's a heavyweight," she continued, talking only to the lieutenant. "But you're, what? Middleweight, maybe?"

"165 pounds, ma'am."

"Right. So the techniques that work for him maybe won't work for you. The corporal could probably take both of you on and through brute force alone mow you down. It's easy for him to say to just focus on one." She crossed her arms and gave Williams a good once over. "You know how to get someone into a clinch?"

Williams looked over to his commanding officer, asking permission. The corporal rolled his eyes and shrugged as if to say, "humor her."

"A uh…Muay Thai clinch?"

She nodded. "I think that's what you guys call it."

People from Earth liked to separate their moves into different styles – Judo, Krav Maga, Muay Thai – but to her father, and therefore to her, it was all just fighting.

"Yes, ma'am."

Eva planted her feet in front of him, guarded her face with her hands, and looked him in the eyes. "Go ahead."

He lifted his hands, but hesitated.

"You won't hurt me," she assured him.

"That's uh, that's not quite what I was worried about, ma'am."

She heard snickering from the side of the mat where the corporal and Santiago were taking a water break.

Of course that wasn't what he was worried about. Laying his hands on a girl whom he now knew was underaged wasn't exactly prudent. Well then, it looked like she was going to have to force him into it.

With no warning, she charged at him and swung at his face. He dodged it, but she took advantage of his surprise, wrapped both her arms around the back of his head and forced his face down and to her chest. She felt him struggle to break free of her grip on him, but he was too afraid to actually punch or kick her, so he floundered about, losing his ground even more.

"How's it feel in there, Williams?" Santiago jeered.

"Remember, the clinch is an attack, not a defensive move." Her voice strained with the effort of holding down a man who had over fifty pounds and several inches on her. "When your opponent tries to dodge your attack, take advantage of that slip in balance." She tightened her grip on him. "Hands on the crown the head, not the back of the neck. Don't lock your fingers. Dig your elbows into his collarbone and knee him till he drops." She simulated a few knees to his face before letting him go.

His head bobbed up and his face was even redder than it had been before – all the blood having rushed to his head. He shot a quick glance at Santiago behind her. Following his gaze, Eva looked over her shoulder and saw that his expression had changed from one of mockery to genuine surprise. She smirked; sometimes being underestimated gave her an advantage.

"Your turn," she said as she directed her attention back to Williams.

She took a step back and held her arms out wide, offering herself up as an open target. After a brief moment of hesitation, he advanced and got her into a passable clinch.

"Good!" Her voice was muffled by the hold. "Keep these on the inside – that's the dominant position. Dig those elbows." She reached up and clapped one of his arms.

He leaned his elbows into her chest for only a fraction of a second before releasing her.

She smoothed her hair back and gave him a smile. "Nice."

"But what about the other guy?" he asked.

"May I?"

He nodded.

She clinched him again and, once he was subdued, whipped him from side to side. "Use the opponent in the clinch as a shield. Put his body between yours and the other attacker. He'll be hesitant to punch you over his partner. And with something blocking your face from below, the other guy can't throw combinations, but you…you can still kick him." She let him go. "Then once you're clinched opponent is down, all you have to worry about is the other attacker."

"What if he's armed?"

She recognized the new voice immediately and wasn't surprised when she looked over her shoulder to see Ronon coming their way.

"What?"

"What if your opponent has a knife? You get him in a hold like that, he'll gut you like a pig." He dropped his bag of sparring supplies at the edge of the mat, crossed his arms, and shot Lieutenant Williams a glare. "Why is it both times I've found Eva today, you've had your hands on her?"

The lieutenant opened his mouth to answer, but it was the corporal who spoke instead.

"Easy," he said as he approached Ronon, palms outstretched. "She just thought she would entertain us with a little demonstration. I watched over the whole thing, made sure it stayed appropriate."

Ronon sneered. "Uh-huh."

Eva looked back and forth from Ronon to the corporal and realized she was definitely missing something. Thankfully, whatever history existed between them had drawn Ronon's ire away from Williams.

He turned to her. "Let's go. Ready to get your ass kicked?" He didn't wait for a reply before picking up his things and heading to another mat.

"Rude," she scoffed, making moves to follow.

"Hey, Eva." She looked back and saw it was Williams who had spoken. "Thanks."

She smiled and nodded before joining Ronon who had already begun the process of unpacking his sparring supplies on the new mat.

Arms crossed, she looked down to where he was crouched. "Why did you embarrass me like that?"

"What do you mean?" He pulled out a pair of bantos rods and set them aside.

"Calling me out for using that hold. They were just starting to take me seriously and then you came and ruined it."

He gave her a shrug as he tucked a towel into his pocket. "He should know the disadvantages of the position."

"They weren't practicing with any weapons," she argued.

"Well we are." He stood to his full height, presented two polished wooden shafts – the kind they used when sparring in place of real knives – and tossed one to her. "You ready?"