Feeling lighter as I go through the work day. No more Archer, I have said that before but I really mean it this time. Filling Nate and Maddy in on the details. They are surprised to say the least. Filling Nate in on the result of our fight outside. He was he one to point out the absence of the ring. Something in the fight he was also right about. Jordan isn't moving out, he's not finding his own place or moving to Tracy's. He wants to be near the kids. It's what I want too. Nothing will essentially changed. Yet everything feels different.
Agent Broswell agreed to his afternoons after work. About four for training. I don't have work out shorts, just shorts for the outdoors. Throw on a tshirt and I'm good. He's at his car, with a duffle bag. "You said you know basics. What I saw at the diner." I'm nodding. He's pulling out of his bag what looks like oven mitts with fasteners on them. Havin me punching and hitting them for ten minutes. Makes me think of boxing. It's making me sweat. Trying to remember the last time I worked up a sweat like this. Taking a water break. "If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to kill me." My breathe heaving. He's smiling. "Believe me, you would know if I was trying to kill you." He is nuts. "Hand to hand training is next." The break is over? The things he's showing me are next level to what Jordan was. Kicks, hits, blocks. I am going to be sore tomorrow. I thought with the boxing thing it was without the gloves, it might be later down the line though.
I am out of shape. He is trying to kill me. "This will help in the field." He instructs. Be able to run and move without being winded. Won't have to think about what's coming at me. It will make things easier. He seems confident in what he's showing me, he's not out of breathe like I am. "How long have you been doing this?" It seems to come easy to him. "Less than five year. Three maybe." It seems like longer. I think it's in him. "I do freak out. I just keep it on the inside." Fighting a laugh, why do I find that hard to believe. "Losing Jess, I numbered all of it out. I didn't want to feel the world around me. I didn't want to see it. It would mean she's gone. I wanted to start feeling again. Compassion, hope."
I get it, it's hard to believe when you are struck down like that. "You and Tyler?" This is bringing a frown to my face. "The argument before the explosion." I had forgotten about it. Shaking my head. "Its a non issue. He wanted something, I didn't. He couldn't accept it." It's all it is. It was never what he played it out to be. "The last time I saw him I almost broke his finger." He's breathing through this teeth, holding his own hands. "Does Jordan believe?" He is asking a lot of questions. Trying to cover some ground? "No, neither do the kids. I'm not scared of it. I'm not trying to make excuses for it. I've accepted I can do something. It has helped so far." I am doing as I can as I go.
"From the minute people start training, they are trying to out do each other. Trying to be the ones who solve the case so they can get some kind of recognition." He has seen it in his training days. Stepping all over each other. I hope he knows how rare it him to see what he did when he was here that day. "I'm no hero." I don't want him to confuse it. He's the one shaking his head now. "You are to them." It's what I was afraid he would say. "I did what I've always done. Protect them. Fight for them." Just because Tess and Tracy are older doesn't mean it stops. "Tracy may be close to my age but she is my daughter." Blood be damned.
Ibuprofen becoming my best friend, waking up barely able to move. "You look like you just got thrown by a bomb." Nate is worried. On the floor, I can feel the pills wearing off. Maddy has been giving me strange looks. "Agent Broswell has been training me." I haven't told them anything about it or the deal I made with him. Two men in suits are walking in from the parking lot as I deliver food to a table. The bell chiming. It's Agent Broswell. There is a man with him. My height, dark eyes, dark hair. We are all in our thirties it seems. "This is Agent Patrick Fisher. He's stepping in for Carver." He means replacing him. This new guy is also Agent Broswells boss. "I thought the boss is supposed to be an older guy." I can hear Nate laughing. If they take it as a compliment as to how young he is then so be it. It's more question of their system and how it works.
YOU ARE READING
Rock Bottom:Breaking Ground
ActionLife for Kayla is going well. She is content in her life and it's going well. Her past will come knocking, she has grown, will it be enough to get her through what hurdles lay ahead. Or will it change her forever?
