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He passed his thu, sweetheart?"

"I feel like giving up," she confessed after a long h her "I’m afraid to test my limits, see where they actually are Maybe it’s better not to know I’ I know I’s like this to anyone Maybe not even to herself Hearing the words resound in her head nowto take the the scars, lulling the memory of them

"Yeah, you are a little bit Hell, anybody would be But you knohat? You could have busted my ass at the car rental place You didn’t You were brave enough to do this, Dana I know you felt like it was easier to ju who and what you are, than to face the uncertainty of where you’re going nohat you can be"

"Hoould you know that?" shehis forehead to hers, he cupped her face with both hands as she lifted hers to close on his wrists "Because it’s hoould feel Only I’d be a lot est and the strongest" She stifled a half chuckle, half sob "Yeah, you called that right" But she kept her forehead pressed to his, and for now, he seeet her ehtened on her own She set her jaw, h it was hard to leave the proxiher for the next one"

"No Once you do a full workout at this range without it exhausting you so radual, sweetheart" But in two days, she’d be gone Unless she decided to stay

"Believe et back into shape" His tone changed "I don’t want anyone h I kind of agree that your ass is a little spongy right now"

Picking up the two-pound girly weight she was sure he’d dug up for her, unless he did finger or toe lifts, she hurled it in the direction of his voice At his satisfying grunt, she put her hands on her hips "You don’t knohat a fine ass is, white boy"

"Oh, yeah? I know an attack on a superior officer when I feel it" She recognized theup into a iven her the room’s layout, and unlike the apart Her hand followed the wall as she anticipated his approach, though of course she couldn’t hear his steps unless he approached like a clog dancer

It didn’t, back and forth across theher knohen they were approaching the boundaries of the roo else, he pushed her a little past where she thought she could go Whiny, pathetic Dana ht have wanted to drop to the er, older Dana surfaced, reet cohen she lost her balance froht loss handicap Every ti her back to her feet, keeping her going until she inded again

And feeling better, despite it all

An hour later they sat side by side on the screened porch, eating breakfast Well, he sat, while she wilted into a chair like a li hi familiar with the layout there Despite her weariness, she was ravenous, probably for the first tiood cook?"

She stopped in midbite "Yes Well, I was"

"What, you don’t think you are anyrated, tearing the toast in half and finding the jelly

"Make me one of those as well" He put his slice of toast next to her hand, guiding her fingers to it "I like it pretty thick"