It snowed so my work day is delayed. So i got this ready for you.

ThirtyFive

"Oh, shit!"

It was like something exploding against her head. One moment she was spinning into a defensive kick block, the next the world was turning over around her and the floor was coming up way to fast, at a very wrong angle.

"Tor!" Jade dropped her hands and bolted, ducking under the arm of her startled sparring partner. Tori's body had barely hit the mat before she was dropping to a knee at her side, reaching for the arm Tori had curled around her head.

"Jesus! I'm really sorry!" Tori's sparring partner also knelt, looking mortified. "Man, I didn't meant to kick you like that!"

"Ow.. not your fault." Tori hissed. "I stepped into it.. damn.. that hurt." She half rolled back over, recognizing the arms closing around her. "I'm used to someone taller."

"Easy." Jade pulled her hand away. "Let me see."

"Ahh.. Dr. Jade." Tori turned her head slightly, her face only half visible under her foam protective gear. "I think his boot.."

"Got you right in the eye." Jade winced.

Several other students gathered around, with concerned expressions. The teacher came over, crouching down next to them with a frown. "What happened?"

Jade eased the head protector off, pushing Tori's sweaty brown locks back to reveal an angry, red patch starting above her right eyebrow and extending across her eye to her cheek bone The eye itself was closed, moisture leaking from the inside corner. "Oh, boy."

Tori reached up, then let her hand fall when Jade gently took hold of her face. "We were going through that new roundhouse kick, and I turned the wrong way." She said. "Ow."

'That's gonna bruise." One of the other students said, in a sympathetic voice. "You should get some ice on it."

"Yeah." The instructor agreed. "I think you should, too." He glanced across the training room. "We are done here, anyway, I was about to call practice."

"Me, three." Jade responded promptly. "C'mon, Tor."

Not really wanting to be picked up and carried, Tori carefully rolled onto her side, then got her knees under her. She was glad of Jade's steadying hand, though, because when she tried to open her eye, the stinging tears made her promptly shut it again.

It hurt like hell. She got to her feet, with Jade's hands firmly grasping her wrist and upper arm and stood a moment, getting her balance. "Jesus, that hurts."

Jade made a small noise, which Tori recognized immediately. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, straightening up and giving her partner a pat on the side. "Okay, give me a second to catch my breath, then we can head for the icebox."

"I think we should detour." Jade said, tilting Tori's head up to the light, and looking at the forming bruise. "I'd like Dr. Dodie to take a look at that."

"Jade.."

"That's a very good idea." Don, the instructor interjected. "I think Jade is right. You should go, also, because it worries me that someone should get hurt in my class."

"God, I'm so sorry." Tori's sparring partner repeated. "Tori, I don't think you moved wrong, I think I did. I was supposed to go right."

Tori felt a headache coming on, and her eye was stinging badly now. She didn't want to have to go to the doctor, but she didn't want to stand there arguing either. "Okay." She nodded. "Let's go." She let Jade guide her to the locker room, and sat quietly as her partner unlaced her gloves and removed them.

"That's gonna hurt." Jade muttered. "Son of a bitch."

"He didn't do it on purpose, hon." Tori felt the headache getting worse, and she didn't object when Jade took her by the shoulders and eased her up onto her feet, so she could strip the workout gear off her body. "I'm going to have a black eye, aren't I?"

Jade cupped her face in both hands. "Oh yeah." She informed her regretfully. "Can you open that eye?" She watched as a sliver of very bloodshot white and a bit of brown appeared. "Can you see?"

Tori closed her other eye and blinked a few times, then nodded. "Yeah, it just hurts." She reassured Jade. "I think I just need a cold compress." She paused. "Or maybe the old fashioned cure.. a chilled piece of roast beef."

Jade managed a short laugh. "I think it's supposed to be raw sirloin." She tossed Tori's gear into her locker, and handed her a tshirt. "Slip that on. Let me get this junk off me."

Tori eased the shirt over her head as Jade stripped out of her own gear and rid herself of her sweat drenched shirt, pulling a gray heather tank top over her sports bra. "Hey, Jade?"

Jade turned and faced her. "Hm?"

"You're really sexy when you're grubby. How do you do that?"

Her partner looked carefully around, then back at her. "Are you trying to distract me from taking you to the doctor?"

"Me?" Tori eased her small duffel over her shoulder. "Would I do that? No. I was just making an observation." She meekly followed Jade from the locker room, tangling her fingers in the waistband of her partner's shorts as the throbbing in her head intensified.

Maybe going to the doctor wasn't a bad idea after all.

"Look up, kiddo."

Tori did her best, squinting at Dr. Dodie through her half open eye, now puffy with swelling and very tender.

Dr. Dodie clucked his tongue. "I don't know what I'm gonna do with you kids. Can't you take up something like bowling? What's all this chop socky stuff, anyway?"

"It's more fun than bowling." Tori protested faintly. "Honest. I don't usually get my noggin kicked."

She was lying on her back on the examining table, still fully clothed against the mostly darkened office's chill. Jade was huddled on a stool next to the foot of the table, her arms leaning on the leather as she watched Dr. Dodie like a hawk.

"Uh huh. Likely story." The doctor said. "Except I've been patching up old blue eyes down there since she was a tot and she still don't have the sense to take up croquet after all these years." He touched the side of Tori's face gently. "Well, chipmunk, you've got a real nice bruise there, but it doesn't look like anything's permanently broken."

"Mmph." Tori grunted in some relief. "My head hurts."

"I'm sure it does." Dr. Dodie chuckled. "You were lucky you had you some styrofoam over your face, or you'd have broken that cute little nose, I'm thinking. As it is, you just need a bag of ice, and some TLC." He turned and looked at Jade. "You'll take care of that, right?"

Jade propped her chin up on her fist, and managed a half grin. "Yeah, I think I can handle that."

"You think?" Tori nudged her with one knee. "Tell you what, you can walk around with me at work and explain why I look like I had a run in with the Ultimate fighting squad tomorrow. Otherwise I'll have to wear a sign around my neck."

"Sugar, if you still got that headache, stay out of that office tomorrow." Dr. Dodie advised. "You didn't break anything, but if you hang around in there getting your blood pressure up, it'll just make for a worse bruise." He leaned on the table with both hands and studied Tori. "Speaking of which, let me get a check on that little old thing."

Tori tried to relax her body fully as she waited for him to come back with the pressure cuff, not really worried, but not really confident either. She'd been watching herself lately, making sure she laid off the salt, and avoiding too much caffeine, but she wasn't sure the recent aggravation wouldn't show up on Dr. Dodie's annoyingly accurate cuff meter.

She'd been borderline on her last examination, much better than before she'd gone on vacation, but still not in a range either the doctor or she felt comfortable with for a normal baseline. Now, after having to go through the stress of the bid, she was sure it was going to be at least as bad.

Hopefully not worse. With a little sigh, she glanced down at Jade. The taller woman was looking back at her with a wry sympathy, and they exchanged brief grins.

She felt Jade's fingers curl around her lower leg, and a gentle stroking start up on the inside of her knee. A surprising tension eased from her, and she watched in almost benign regard as the cuff was fitted around her arm and the tension increased.

It tightened further, held, then relaxed after a few seconds. "Very nice." Dr. Dodie pronounced. "You've been being a good girl, I see."

Faintly surprised, Tori managed a nod. "Trying to." She agreed. "Glad it's working."

The doctor patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You keep it up, Tori. I don't want to have to be your whiny old doctor too frequently." He turned and glanced at Jade. "Okay, take this little prizefighter home and put her to bed."

Jade unwound her long legs from the stool and stood up, visibly relieved. "Don't worry, I will." She promised. "Anything we can do for that except ice?"

"Nope." Dr. Dodie turned and studied the X-ray he had taken of Tori's skull, reviewing it one last time. He ran a finger over the bony ridge around Tori's eye and leaned closer. "It's fine, honey. Just a black eye that's gonna drive her nuts for a few days."

Jade sighed.

"I'll live." Tori sat up and hopped off the table. "Hey, I've never had a black eye before. Have you?" She asked her partner.

"Yes." Both Jade and Dr. Dodie answered at once. Jade gave her old family friend a slit eyed look, but then just chuckled and shook her head.

"This scrappy little thing had more fights as a tyke than a Chihuahua in a pack of Dobermans." Dr. Dodie said. "Wasn't a week she wasn't in here with something or other.. broken arm, broken ankle.. cracked skull, you name it. Ran out of lollipops one week when she'd been here three times."

Jade put her hands on her hips. "C'mon. I wasn't that bad."

"Honey, your files are right in there." Dr. Dodie pointed. "I don't make this stuff up."

Tori put her arms around Jade and gave her a hug. "C'mon. You can tell me all about your fearless battles while I put that steak on my eye."

Jade returned the hug, kissing the top of Tori's head affectionately, then pausing in mild embarrassment as Dr. Dodie chuckled and shook his head. After a moment's frown, she shrugged one shoulder and hugged Tori again, patting her back gently. "How about we get that steak cooked, and use my gel pack instead. It's less messy, and Chino won't be trying to eat it off your face."

"Okay." Tori agreed. "Whatever you say, babe. You're in charge."

Dr. Dodie walked them out to the front room, where the lights were mostly out and the building silent. When they reached the door, Jade clapped her old friend on the arm. "Thanks for meeting us. I appreciate it."

"Anytime, Jade." The doctor patted her on the back,he paused and looked her over. "How are you feeling Jade? I heard you did a thing?"

She stopped mid stride and looked at both of them. "We did a thing, and it has only been four days… I feel nothing."

He nodded. "It's okay… These things can take time to manifest and you won't really know for at least four more weeks. Just take care of yourself, and modify your exercise to lower impact."

"So… no Tae Kwon Do tournaments, got it…"

"You might have to pause this kickboxing thing until you know." He said Jade sighed the kid wasn't even manifested and it was already cramping her style. Dr. Dodie patted her shoulder and carefully ruffled Tori's hair. "You take care of her, okay?"

"Always." Tori answered before Jade could. "Thanks, Dr. Dodie." She released her partner, and gave their doctor a brief hug. "Take care."

"You too, Tori." The older man responded, holding the door open for them. "Drive safe, eh?"

"I will." Jade promised, as they walked out into the tropical night, and headed for home.

Not long after, Tori found herself laying on their leather couch, the promised gel pack draped over the side of her face as she listened to Jade accept their dinner delivery at the door. Her head was still hurting, but the pain had at least reached a plateau and the rest of her body was far more comfortable, nestled into the plush surface nicely warmed to her skin.

She'd never had a black eye before, and from her brief glimpse in the mirror before Jade pointedly steered her towards the couch, she'd certainly started off with a doozy of one. The bruise extended all around her eye and halfway across her cheekbone and it was a little scary looking.

She wasn't looking forward to explaining it to everyone. It reminded her suddenly of a classmate of hers in college, who'd gotten involved in some chancy business her boyfriend was doing and went crossways of him

Sarah, her name had been, Tori recalled. She'd come to class one day with a huge black eye, and explained it away with a laugh as an accident when she'd been taking something out of the refrigerator.

No one had believed her. Everyone thought the boyfriend had beaten her up. Tori sighed, and shrugged a shoulder. At least everyone knew she did martial arts, so it would be more embarrassing than anything else especially since she didn't have a criminally inclined boyfriend.

"All right." Jade settled next to her on the edge of the couch, setting something down on the table. "How's it feeling?"

Just an endearingly overprotective spouse. "Ucky." Tori responded honestly. "Jade, I look like a poster child for the anti-boxing league." She reached up to touch the ice pack. "Freaky."

"Nah." Jade unwrapped their dinner.

"Yes, I do." Tori draped one hand over her partner's thigh. "What'd you get?"

"Open up and you'll find out."

Obediently, Tori opened her mouth and waited, biting down instinctively when something was placed inside it. She chewed and swallowed, then smiled. "Mm. Orange chicken." She was happy to taste a favorite of hers.

"Yeah, I figured it would be easier for you to chew than a sirloin." Jade touched the side of Tori's face gently. "You said it was a little sore here."

"Mm." Tori moved her jaw from side to side slightly. "Yeah, it is. What else you got?"

Jade lifted the cool pack momentarily, then set it back down a little to one side. Despite her casual dismissal, the bruise did look horrific, and the brown eye under the compress was swollen almost shut. "Green beans and chipotle polenta."

"Ah, Spicy grits." Tori started to ease up onto her elbow. "My favorite."

"Lie down." Jade took hold of her shoulders and pressed her back down. "Let that ice pack do its thing." She waited until Tori complied, then went back to arranging the plates. There was no real easy way for her to accomplish her task of getting her ailing partner fed, but then, she was never much into doing things the easy way anyway, so improvisation was in order.

Carefully, she lifted the plate up, then hoisted herself up and over Tori's legs to settle between her partner and the back of the couch.

"Mm." Agreeably, Tori squirmed over a little, giving Jade more space as she felt the plate settle on her stomach.

"There." Jade propped her head up on her hand, working the fork with the other as she selected a piece of chicken. "How's that?" She rumbled, right into Tori's nearby ear.

Tori merely grinned as a response. She'd taken some Advil and she had her ice pack, but there was something about having Jade this close that beat both of those hollow. She accepted the chicken, then sighed. "I still can't believe I was that stupid."

"Tor."

"Well, I was."

"He moved wrong, you didn't." Jade argued.

"You're just saying that." Tori picked up a green bean and nibbled it. "You didn't even see it happen, did you?"

Jade scowled.

"See?"

"I know you didn't do it wrong." Jade stubbornly insisted. "That guy's a nitwad. He's got the reflexes of a gumby." She grumbled. "I should have kicked his ass in the last round, and maybe.."

"Jade, Jade, Jade." Tori tapped her partner on the head. "Stop that." She dropped her hand to Jade's neck and kneaded the back of it. "Tell me about how you ended up in Dr. Dodie's office so much, huh? Take my mind off this?"

Jade offered her a forkful of polenta. "I scrapped." She admitted briefly. "I fought with anything that got in my way and it didn't matter how much bigger than me they were." Her eyebrows twitched a little. "And I was a little accident prone."

"You?"

"Uh huh."

"I find that very hard to believe. You're disgustingly graceful."

Jade chuckled wryly. "Now, most of the time, sure." She said. "But I grew six inches between sixth grade and seventh. I gave myself concussions just getting in and out of the damn truck." She offered another green bean. "Wasn't pretty."

"Hm." Tori regarded the long body fitted against hers. "I guess sometimes steady growth has its moments. I think the most I grew in any year was about… an inch, maybe." She reached up and traced Jade's cheekbone. "But I bet you were pretty anyway."

Jade shook her head negatively.

"Yes." A thumb traced across the well shaped lips. "I've seen pictures, Jade. Don't give me that icky face."' Tori remembered one in particular, a full length shot of Jade at thirteen or fourteen, in shorts and a dirt covered tshirt, long dark hair half obscuring her face, but not the sharp blue eyes peeking out or the hesitant half grin that surely identified the camera holder as her father.

Gorgeous. Even then, Jade's face had been distinctively unique and the smudge of mud across her cheek only amplified the character of it.

"Tori?" Jade whispered into her ear. "Hello? Earth to Tori?"

"Sorry honey." Tori felt the pounding in her head beginning to subside. "I just so absolutely love you I can't help drifting off into dreamy hazes sometimes." She turned her head so her unobscured eye could meet her partner's.

Jade was blinking at her, an expression of somewhat puzzled pleasure on her face. "Really?"

Tori traced her fingertips over Jade's lips again, and nodded. "Thanks for taking care of me." She felt a smile tug at her mouth. "And I think you're right. He did go the wrong way. I just wish I could have stopped in time so I didn't hit his foot."

Jade lifted the ice pack, and leaned forward, brushing her lips over the injured area before she replaced the gel again. "I'll kick his ass next week for it" She promised solemnly. "And then I'll teach you how to duck."

"No you will not… You heard Dr. Dodie." Tori scolded.

"We don't even know if it took!"

"We don't know it didn't. Why take chances?" Tori exhaled in satisfaction, putting her accident behind her for the moment. "Hey. I've got an idea." She burred softly. "How about I wear a patch over my eye tomorrow.. kinda like a pirate?"

Jade chuckled soundlessly.

"Arrrr…. Avast ye mateys!"