Lude comments began to fly as the guys around the gym noticed the pair standing at the door. Lucas shot dirty glances around in an attempt to dissuade further stupidity but it seemed to only encourage the behavior. The coach approached the ropes of the ring and popped his small frame between them before dropping to the ground and storming towards his wayward fighter. McMillan’s face was turning a bright crimson color and Lucas knew this was going to be a tough conversation. At least Noel was there. Having a strange attractive girl standing by his side might help reduce the furious tirade that would probably be directed at him shortly. If the old man could see her and understand that they were her one chance at help, maybe he could be persuaded to let her stay.

“I’ll shower” Noel said absent mindedly as the angry man approached. Pulling the long sniper rifle from under the sweater, she handed it to Lucas and went sauntering off towards the ladies room. The cat calls died off significantly as the weapon came into view, now cradled in Lucas’ hands for all to see. He closed his eyes and let out a defeated breath while wishing the world would open and swallow him up.

“I’m so dead.” Lucas thought to himself.

“You! Office! Now!” the coach screamed as he plowed right past Lucas. Entering the office at the base of the stairs, the old man turned and stood at the entrance to hold the door open, tapping a foot impatiently.

Not knowing what to say, Lucas tried to force out an explanation but his brain had turned to mush. “But…I…um…”

The coach’s red face turned a special shade of purple as he exploded. “NOW!”

Lucas’ feet lurched forward on instinct and he sped past the man and into the small room before his brain could comprehend the action. The door slammed shut behind him loudly.

“Sit.” The man instructed curtly, his anger barely in check, while stepping around the desk and sitting down himself. Lucas did as instructed so as not to infuriate the smaller man more.

McMillan raised his hand up and rubbed it on his bald head in an attempt to ease his frustration.

After a moment, he started to quietly talk while continuing to rub his scalp. “This place requires focus and dedication.” He began. “When I brought you in here, I expected that from you as well as a level of respect.”

Lucas opened his mouth to defend himself but the glare his coach gave him at that exact moment caused the young man’s throat to seize and he shut it again instantly. The older man continued on. It was now understood that silence was expected until further notice.

“When you come back from a morning run five hours late, with some drugged up street walker carrying a rifle under her shirt you are disrespecting this establishment and what we do here. This is my world. I allow you to be here because I see potential in you. The moment I can’t see that any more, you can go back to wherever you came from.”

A single sincere nod seemed the best response so Lucas did just that.

“You have anything to say for yourself before I kick your butt out?” McMillan asked.

Taking a moment, Lucas considered his options. The rifle in his hands felt heavy and was an anchor pulling him down right now. Noel couldn’t have picked a worse time to hand it to him. What could he say to possibly explain why he needed to help this woman? He couldn’t think of anything that would make sense to the man in front of him.

Lucas trusted his coach, but the old man had no idea who he really was as they had never talked about their pasts. This man had accepted him into his gym without prejudice and let him define himself by his actions alone. Disappointing him was the worst thing Lucas could do and he felt horrible that it had come to that. The past didn’t matter here. Everyone left it behind them and Lucas had gotten the opportunity to start fresh under this man’s roof. Now, his past was coming back to haunt him and risking what he had regained of himself. Lucas could never escape who he was and he found himself envying Noel at that moment. She was unburdened by the pain and regret that memories could provide.

Swallowing hard, Lucas steadied his nerves to speak. “Yes. I have something to say.” He said. “I want to tell you about the man I was when the woman in the bathroom saved me a month ago.”

Lucas told the old man everything. About his family as he grew up and where he learned to fight. He told the man about his mutation and what he could do as well as how he had used it at the retirement home in Florida when taking care of his grandmother and the fears he had of being exploited. The embarrassment of his descent to the streets after his grandmother’s death was still difficult but he shared it too. Nothing about him was off limits.

He told his coach about Noel and how she had come into his life. Her memory problems and the difficulties it caused were also expressed but the true cause was clouded. It was her right to have secrets in her life and to tell him she was a mutant felt like a betrayal of trust. Lucas explained how he had found her in Battery Park that morning but left out the Asylum and the escape that went with it. When it came to the rifle, the only thing he could think to say is that it was hers.

It had felt good to finally get his past on the table. Now it was up the old man before him to decide what he wanted to do. Lucas stopped and waited for the coach to speak.

“I guess she can stay a little while.” McMillan sighed. “But tell your friend she has to wear pants from now on, ok?”

The sound of moronic male comments started up in the gym again and Lucas turned around to see Noel coming out of the bathroom in nothing but his sweater. Her shapely legs poured out below a very revealing hemline and it was hard not to appreciate their smooth, freshly showered glow.

Forgetting the rifle on the table, Lucas turned and bolted from the room to intercept the woman.

McMillan reached out and took the rifle. He examined it for a moment before slipping it behind his desk. The coach sighed again and shook his head.

"Kids." He muttered to himself, amuzed.

Her cheeks were still pink from the heat of the water, but they only got pinker when she was coaxed out from the women's restroom. Somebody was going to show her to Lucas' room, but something made a taste in her mouth that was sour. Her forehead crinkled up with worry.

"Did he go somewhere?"

The sweaty man had a hand at the small of her back and was herding her somewhere, but Lucas came jogging out and caught her elbow. Apparently they had been going the wrong way. She trusted Lucas a lot more to know where his own room was. At this point, he could have walked her off a cliff and she would have lemminged right after him.

She leaned in sideways as they walked to whisper to Lucas. "I didn't get clothes or a towel first." Little beads of water still clung to her eyelashes and ran down her legs. Her hair made large dark wet spots against the shoulders and back of the sweater and there were dark foot prints that showed the first couple steps she had taken out of the bathroom before the soles of her feet had dried.

"Sorry if you got in trouble." The brunette would have to figure out what to do to her herself back on her own two feet. She couldn't mooch forever. She wouldn't have mooched at all if she wasn't so very tired. "Can we go to sleep now?"

One of the other fighters had beaten Lucas to Noel’s side and was trying to escort her to somewhere more secluded. The look Lucas shot the man as he approached spoke volumes and the attempted usurper retreated as quickly as he could. Taking Noel by the arm, Lucas changed their direction and began leading her to the back of the gym and his room. She leaned into his shoulder and a stray lock of her wet hair escaped the hood to tickle along his arm. It set his nerves on fire as it left a trail of small droplets upon his flesh as it passed. The feelings he had for Noel had been suppressed over the past month but, now that they were together again and the threat of danger was gone, he was surprised by how fast they came flooding back with the merest touch.

"I didn't get clothes or a towel first." Noel whispered to him as they walked.

Her breath danced across his newly moistened bicep as she spoke, warming his skin and causing his eyes to flutter closed for a second as he appreciated the sensation. She hadn’t done it intentionally but there was something very primal about the way this woman made him feel.

"Sorry if you got in trouble." She continued quietly, her silky voice inadvertently teasing his subconscious thoughts even further. "Can we go to sleep now?"

The word ‘we’ was not missed by the young man. Though Lucas longed to lie down beside the attractive woman on his arm at this very moment, he feared it would only end up being exquisite torture. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and hold her until she fell asleep. The man and animal inside were clashing again and Lucas needed to be strong. He desperately yearned for more from Noel but that wasn’t in her best interest. A friend that she could count on was what she needed now. Someone who would be there and support her while she rebuilt her life. Any kind of romance between them risked destroying that by adding a level of emotion that could easily cloud and complicate things.

“I’m not sure if I could right now.” Lucas responded. “How about I just sit with you until you fall asleep? Would that be ok?”

Reaching out with his free hand, Lucas turned the knob and opened the door leading to the back. Another few quick steps and they were both inside his room. It was small, smaller than some walk in closets, but it was home. A neatly made single bed took up almost half the room with both its head and foot against opposite walls. The only other piece of furniture was a dresser wedged into the corner where he kept his things. The bare white walls were devoid of decoration and part of the ceiling angled downward to accommodate the stairs ascending to the floor above while making the room seem even tinier then it was.

Making his way to the dresser, Lucas pulled a drawer open and removed a t-shirt and boxers for the woman to change into.

“Here you go.” Lucas said as he handed her the clothes and attempted to squeeze past to close the door.

The tight confines of the room made the passage difficult and he found himself brushing up against Noel as he passed, looking down into the depths of her hazel eyes as they watched him form the shadows of her hood. Lost in the moment, he studied her face, admiring the curve of her chin and the flush on her cheeks. Her lips seemed so soft and the memory of the kisses they had shared attempted to overpower his resolve. His arms started to rise on their own to take hold of the woman before he managed to wrench his gaze free with a violent twist of his head. Ashamed of his own weakness, Lucas finished shuffling past and made it to the door, leaning against it with both his forearms and burying his head at the same time.

“For future reference, the door doesn’t lock” He warned as he faced the wooden portal, attempting to give the woman some semblance of privacy so she could change. He needed a distraction. Anything to help get his mind free from the spell she had cast over him would do.

“Is there anything you might want to eat when you wake up?” He asked her in an attempt to make casual conversation. “I could go out while you’re napping and pick you something up if you would like?”

Leaning against the hard wood, Lucas’ tried to expel the thoughts of how smooth Noel’s skin would feel beneath his finger tips by focusing on the grains and texture of the door in front of him. It didn’t seem to be working very well.

She had heard him call the room tiny, but… this was smaller than tiny. For some reason she had expected that tan colored bed to be here. Now that she was looking around, it was clear that the tan colored bed from her memory would have taken up the entire space. Now it made sense that he didn't want to rest too. That was obviously a single person bed.

"Oh! Err, you don't have to." He pushed a shirt and some shorts into her hands and then stood in the corner. Why was he standing in the corner? She looked down at her dirty clothes and then the clean ones. Oh. He was giving her privacy so that she could change. He could have gone outside the room too, but he didn't. She tried not to be nervous.

The clean clothes got sat on the bed and the brunette turned away from him, toward the dresser to unzip the hoodie. She didn't want to get her new clothes wet so after the new shirt went on, she rubbed her legs and hair with that much abused sweater. It also served as a nice layer where she could bundle the rest of her dirty things.

Lastly, the shorts slipped on. They had a hole in the front, but it wasn't ragged like a tear. She tried to check how bad it might gap before it registered that these were his underwear. He had… these were… "Ehm. Thank you." She wanted to ask for pants, but she didn't want to be rude. Also, she had to edge around him if she wanted to drop her sweaty clothes in the one unoccupied bit of floor.

That put both of them in the tiny space between the door and the dresser when she tucked her long hair behind her ear and asked, "Are you going to go punch people now?"

Eventually the quiet voice of Noel crept around his shoulder as Lucas stood, still facing the door respectfully. "Ehm. Thank you." She said softly.

A gentle touch alerted Lucas to her closeness as she brushed against his back while dropping her dirty laundry in the corner opposite the dresser. He turned and put his back to the door, watching her lithe form as she rose back up before him in the cramped space between the bed and the wall. The large shirt had crept up a little and showed off the smooth curve of her back as well as the tips of angel wings. Sadly, they disappeared as she got to her full height and the cloth fell back over the curve of her butt. Noel lifted a few fingers to her face and used them to pull her hair behind an ear before looking up at him with doe like eyes.

“Are you going to go punch people now?” She asked innocently.

Lucas swallowed hard and stood frozen in space for a second before looking down and examining the bruised and cracked skin of his knuckles. The abuse his entire body had sustained throughout the day was most obvious in his hands but still felt throughout. Without gloves or tape, he had cut the skin open in several places during his few scuffles and the open wound on his right palm from the window glass, though better thanks to John, still needed to be dealt with. He had done enough fighting for one day. It was likely he wouldn’t swing a punch for another day or two to let his body have time to heal if he could manage it.

“I think I’ve punched enough people for today, don’t you?” He answered with a smile. “I was thinking I would chuck your clothes in the wash and run out to the drug store while you slept instead. Maybe get you a few essentials. Toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner…just the basics for while you’re here.”

Reaching his fingers behind his back, he found the cold metal of the knob and thought to turn it and escape. It offered freedom from the lovely woman before him, who was practically leaning up against him thanks to the confined space of the small room. A part of him refused to go and he released the door knob again. Instead, he gently rested a hand on each of Noel’s shoulders while the couple looked at each other. A thumb lifted up and idly traced along her cheek, the smoothness of her skin as intoxicating as he had guessed it would be. He watched it as it slowly glided along the side of her face, enraptured for a second at the beauty underneath his hand. Some small part of him wrestled the thumb back down upon her shoulder and reminded Lucas of what he was trying to accomplish.

“But you have to go to bed first. You look exhausted.” Lucas said with a grin as he extended his arms and pushed her backwards playfully. The mattress would stop her legs from being able to keep up with the momentum of her torso and she would tumble into the mattress. At least, that was the plan.

Lucas was nervous. Why was he so jittery? She nodded along at his plan for conditioner and other essentials, but reached up to pull his hand from her face. "Hairbrush too. Actually, you know, I could do all this myself later." She wasn't incompetent or incapable. In fact, what had they called it? "I am[/i] handicapiable."[/color] It was just a little smile, but she rolled her lips together to stymie it. That had been a joke.

Accused of looking exhausted, she got playfully shoved back. That sent her reeling. She tried to take a step back, but there was no where else to go; her knees were forced to bend forward when the bed hit the back of them. Her butt bounced into the mattress and her head smacked against the wall. Not a hard hit, but enough to smart.

The ex-agent sucked in breath and curled her arms around her head. "I get it, I get it. I'll stay, you go." She peeled an arm off her head to wave him away. There wasn't enough room for two people in this closet anyway.

She ruffled the back of her damp hair as she rubbed the spot, but retracted her legs and feet from the ground and managed to wriggle her way into the covers without getting up off the single bed. She plopped her shoulder into the mattress, it wasn't all springs she just had to find the right spot, and made sure her back was to the door. Just as she had the last time Lucas saw her prepare for bed, she flipped her long brown hair up over the pillow so that the back of her neck was exposed to the air. Somethings went deeper than names or jobs.

Lucas felt like an idiot as he watched Noel’s head bounce off the wall. He flinched reflexively at the sound of her skull hitting the dry wall but cold do nothing to stop it. In his bumbling attempts to get some distance from the woman he had inadvertently hurt her. Both physically with the playful push and also by making her feel like she couldn’t buy her own things. She had tried to make a joke about it , but it had been a unintentionally insensitive all the same. Now Noel sat with her arms around her head, looking a bit annoyed with him and Lucas couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I get it, I get it. I’ll stay, you go” Noel mumbled as she cradled her head with one arm and waved the other to dismiss him. Pulling up the blankets, she crawled into the bed and rolled over giving Lucas a wonderful view of her back as she ignored him and cut off any further conversation.

“That could have gone better.” Lucas’ inner monologue taunted. He wanted to salvage something from the failed exchange but was at a loss. He hadn’t meant to hurt her and the friendly shove was intended to start forging a more platonic ‘buddy’ approach to their relationship. Instead, he had made a mess of things yet again. Lucas didn’t remember girls being so difficult before….Oh wait….yah…they were always difficult. The only avenue left to him was to make concessions and try again later.

“Um...Sorry about the head.” He said awkwardly to the back of her hair. “I’ll wait til you get up and we can go shopping for your stuff then. I’ll be out in the gym if you need me.”

Leaning over the bed, Lucas placed a hand upon her shoulder and kissed her gently above the ear. It was meant to be more of a calming gesture than anything romantic, like his grandmother used to do for him when he was younger. As his lips came in contact with Noel’s temple, the young man turned his focus inward to remove the pain from the bump he had just caused. It wasn’t a serious injury but the pleasant sensation she would receive from the act might help smooth over his earlier fumblings and let her feel more comfortable.

As quietly as he could, he grabbed a fresh change of clothes from his dresser as well as a pen and pad. He scribbled a quick note for her to read when she woke up.

Noel,

I’m waiting for you in the gym (out the door and to the left). When you wake up we can get you some stuff from the drugstore. Help yourself to my clothes. See you soon.

Lucas

Folding it gently, he placed the page on the flat wood surface of the dresser so it would be easily seen when she awoke and tip toed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The young man made his way to the equipment cupboard and pulled out a roll of white tape. Sitting down on a small bench, he began to wrap his damaged hands with long strips that he tore off. He kept the tape tight as he sealed in the large cut on his palm as well as the different scratches and marks that decorated his knuckles. After he was finished, Lucas flexed his fingers carefully. Satisfied with his work, he rose, ready to get started.

Throwing his clothes up against the wall, Lucas approached the heavy bag. He gave it a few test jabs to make sure his hands would be able to take some more punishment and then checked to see that everything had held in place. The wrappings were still tight and the knuckles were a bit sore but that was to be expected. No skin had torn and that was the important thing. Taking the hem of his t-shirt, he pulled it up over his head and threw it towards the wall where it landed beside his clean laundry pile. A full length mirror before him let his eyes examine the many bruises and cuts he and Noel had sustained during their escape. If not for John, he would probably have needed medical attention but he was still a bit of a mess despite the healing. There were so many purple blotches that he couldn’t remember where each mark had originally occurred.

Turning to the black leather bag beside him again, Lucas dismissed his injuries and let his thoughts drift back to Tiny and the other mutants he had left behind. He threw himself at the bag with everything he had as he recalled their faces.

The bed, for all its uncomfortableness, felt good. The sheets had the slight starchy texture of a fresh laundering. The pillow smelled like the jacket had. She was sheltered, clean and she had someone who legitimately had her interests at heart. She knew that much even if he confused her with thumb on face petting and pushing and usurping her independence and the like.

Clearly, this was a time in her life where she could not be functionally independent. Ideas buzzed around in her head of how she could get to a place where she could be a member of society again.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and warm breath on her temple before Lucas placed a kiss there. That was something like an older brother for a younger sister. Now she was really confused. A wash of relaxation ran through her brain and she pulled the blankets stubbornly closer to her face. She didn't feel quite so jostled. She didn't feel much of anything beyond safe and warm and maybe just a little bit happy.

No dreams. She hardly even moved, only rolled from her side to her back. She had no idea what woke her when she did wake. No way of telling that time had passed at all except by how much her hair had dried. Not too much by the feel of it, but she had have a lot of hair.

This first thing she noticed was a distant hum coming from the ceiling. It's none-so-gentle slope was a bit disorienting. The second thing she noticed was that little white specks wafted down from that ceiling. Most of the dust or plaster (or whatever it was) seemed to trickle down from around the edges of little brown slatted rectangle that seemed to be working its way loose. From the ceiling.

She yelped and tried to roll over, only there was no over. There was just floor and a slight drop between the two. The little vent plopped onto the bed where her head had been moments ago and the hum got louder. What the heck!

The ex-agent shoved the sheets off of her and hopped back on the bed. Standing on the mattress, she could easily reach the little rectangle and look inside.

The top side of a vent was almost a full arm's length away and above that a vacuum was running in the space directly above this one. She knocked on the ceiling to get the vacuumer's attention. "Hey! Hello!" The vacuum stopped and suddenly she didn't want to see who was up there. The brunette grabbed the fallen vent from the bed and tried to smash it back up into its place above the bed.

The vent left little dark smudges on the bed and on her fingers, but she managed to wedge it a little bit caddy corner and hop off the bed before she heard some distinct grumbling from above.

The paper on top of the dresser she looked at as she grabbed a pair of sweats to throw on over her boxers. This place wasn't very big. She could probably just wander around and get there. Yep out there seemed like a better place than in here. Out the door she went to find Lucas, only slightly dusted in a layer of white powder.

Rivulets of sweat dripped from Lucas’ body and his muscles screamed for mercy as the young man pounded the heavy bag over and over again. Its thick chain creaked and groaned with each impact of his fists and the black leather duked and spun as if it was trying to dodge the punishment it was receiving. The bag could not escape the onslaught just as Lucas could not escape his thoughts. He had left a dozen mutants behind so that he and Noel could escape. He regretted having done it and wished he had thought of another way for them all to get away together. Even now as he continuously ran through the scenario in his head, he couldn’t see the choice he had missed that would have changed the end result. They had all been left behind to suffer for his actions and Lucas cursed himself for not being strong enough to make the difference.

A large hand startled him as it slapped down on his shoulder and Lucas jolted out of his fighting stance to spin and see Gregore standing beside him. Large black spots began to swim across Lucas’ vision and his balance shifted from underneath as a wave of dizziness took hold. The large Russian smiled down at the smaller man sympathetically and steadied him easily with his strong grip already in place. In his free hand, he held a bottle of red Gatorade and a towel which he offered to Lucas as his balance returned.

“Women is problem?” Gregore asked with his heavy accent. The large man had noticed Noel and Lucas earlier and assumed something had happened in the back room to upset the man before him. Something bad enough to drive Lucas to seek solace in his training instead of her arms. He had let him be for a time but eventually, felt the need to intervene.

Breathing heavily, Lucas tried to dismiss his friends concerns. “Nahh. <pant> Just needed <weeze> to get the blood pumping.” He raised shaking fingers to the bottle’s cap to free the precious liquid from its container. Lucas noticed that the once white tape on his hands had taken on a pinkish red stain around the knuckle region as his previous wounds seeped into the fabric. How long had he been at it? He had lost track of everything while he pounded away in self contemplation. It was probably a good thing that Gregore had stopped by.

Upending the container in his hand, Lucas guzzled the beverage in one go and then chucked the empty bottle into a nearby waste bin with an underhand toss. Looking towards the back door, he noticed it opening to reveal Noel covered in a fine white powder. His T-shirt and sweatpants were far too big for her and hung loosely from her feminine frame. It looked like she had been shrunk by some magic dust and her clothes had been somehow immune to the effects. She looked absolutely adorable to him and he smiled without even realising. “What did you do now?” he chuckled quietly to himself.

Noticing the way that Lucas looked at the woman who had just entered the room, Gregore shook his head, thinking he understood everything. “You spend less time in gym now. More time in back with girl. Da?”

“Thanks big guy. I’m good.” Lucas answered without taking his eyes off Noel, not really hearing a word the larger man had just spoken.

Throwing his hands up in the air in mock exasperation, the large Russian turned and went back to his own business.

((*cough* had to edit a bit of the last post. keep forgetting something that she has forgotten))

She had to re-tie the drawstring as she was walking to keep the dang sweats up over her hips, but so far it was holding. Lucas was easily identifiable as the man who was beating himself up as much as the punching bag. "I thought you were done throwing punches for today."

Lucas and all his sweaty tattooed shirtless self tossed a plastic bottle in the trash and the brunette nodded her hello toward the Russian in a masculine sort of 'I see you've worked hard for what you've got' kind of way. She was used to running with the boys. Policing no matter the pay grade was a male dominated field, after all, and if they ever got a hint of physical interest all hopes of keeping a professional working relationship were gone. Her intent was to keep things professional.

She gave him his due. He finished his conversation with Lucas and then tossed up his hands before abandoning ship. The ex-agent snatched up Lucas' hands and turned them over as she examined them. She couldn't see much under all the tape, but the picture was clear. There was damage here.

"Drugstore. Now." Wait. She didn't have any money. Or anything" Ehm. Nevermind." She let his hand go. She had no right to demand anything in this situation. She was at best, at the mercy of her host Lucas. "They have hydrogen peroxide here, surely." And her hungry tummy could wait until she had this whole situation figured out as far as earning keep.

"I didn't do anything." She grumbled. His queation had been in jest, but it was an easier topic to tackle. "Whoever is upstairs nearly brought your whole room down with a vacuum cleaner." A cough and a halo of dust wafted from her shoulders. She had already brushed the majority of it off her arms in a couple swipes, but the powder in her partially damp hair meant that another shower would soon be in order. "A vent cover fell on your bed. I put it back." She wondered if she had any marketable skills.

“Weird” Lucas responded with a shrug. “Never had any problems with the vent before. I’ll grab a couple of screws and fix it later for you.” He would also have to look into what was going on upstairs. Only having been in the coach’s living space a couple of times, Lucas had never set foot in the room above his. The door had always been closed and he had never considered peaking in to investigate further until now.

“We keep the first aid kit in the kitchen.” He responded to her earlier question. “I bet we have some peroxide in there. You hungry? Probably nothing other than some energy drinks, granola bars and fruit in there right now but it could tie you over until we get some shopping done. Haven’t gotten out to stock the fridge in a while so it is pretty much empty accept for the stuff for clients to snack on.”

Using the towel Gregore had given him; Lucas tried to wipe the excess sweat from his body with a quick pass. It helped but he would still need to clean himself up at some point soon. Throwing the white cloth over his shoulder nonchalantly, he started to walk towards the entrance of the kitchen, assuming Noel would tag along.

She shrugged at his question about hungry. Hunger wasn't the reason why she wanted to go to the kitchen, though, if they just gave those things to any person off the street who might be interested in the gym then maybe it would be okay to eat an apple or something. And the question of a stocked fridge only brought more questions to mind.

For one, "Can you cook?" She couldn't remember cooking. Not that she couldn't imagine what that meant. No. Pots and pans and oil came to mind. Maybe puffy white hats. But none of that was her. "I don't think I cook."

And the nature of this gym constantly confused her. Lucas led the way to a kitchen. Everything she had imagined when the word cooking came to mind and more was in the cramped little space. The decor was a bit off, but it was definitely a fully functional kitchen. "Not all gyms are half house, half boxing ring, right?" That was weird? Right?

A little white box with a red mark was fished out from beside the refrigerator and the brunette poked around inside of it. The loose bits of cloth and tape that were left on her fingers to protect her from chewing her nails off caught on all the little paper bits in the metal box. Her medical bracelet caught against the edge. A stiff clearing of a throat sounded behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to see a squat but solidly built man in a white polo looking at the two of them.

"She can't stay in your room." Well how was that for hello? She breathed in and held it. At least she had gotten a good bit of rest in before she got tossed out. Well, she hadn't wanted to freeload anyway. Maybe... it was better? She chewed her lower lip and went back to digging in the kit so that she wouldn't have to see it coming.

"S'not proper." He gruffy continued. "Can't have you distracted." Oh God. She had to think of something, someway to earn the right to a roof over her head.

"I haven't been to the hardware store yet. Might install a lock."

She had narrowed her options down to two different canisters.

"Are you even listening to me?" He snapped and she jumped. She looked at Lucas, but he looked just as lost.

"Follow me. Both of you."

Was it childish to want to hold Lucas' hand? Yes. She kept the two possible bottles of antiseptic instead. One in each hand just for something to hold on to. The coach lead the two of them up a flight of stairs and she just couldn't help but ask. "Did the gym come first? Or the house?" If she was getting tossed out, she at least wanted to know that.

"House." That one word held more sadness than a single word should have.

He stopped in front of a door with two daisy stickers on it. They peeled at the edges.

"I need somebody to help me clean out this space. Box up the... stuff. You know, make it into a real rentable space."

The ex-agent nodded with sudden hope. Could he be offering her a job? A job so easy that a trained money could do it?

Having prefaced them, the coach opened the door. The room was long and narrow with an even narrower walkway, freshly vacuumed. Everything else was coated in dust. Underneath that dust was... pink. Pink toys. A pink bed spread. There was a lot of junk piled up against the walls. Broken gym equipment, boxes of papers, stacks of books. It looked like anything the man hadn't wanted to deal with got shoved in the small space. It would be an undertaking.

"I can't pay you, but you can stay so long as you work. You up to it, girlie?"

In answer, she hugged him.

McMillan hesitated for a second before giving her a hug back, tapping her shoulder affectionately with his hand. The stress and creases in his face seemed to melt away as he held onto the young woman in his arms. After a couple of seconds, the old man seemed to remember the scene was being witnessed by another. Opening an eye, he spotted Lucas watching them while leaning casually against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest. McMillan started to try to extract himself from Noel’s grasp, the gruff facade returning to the forefront almost instantly.

“All right there honey. This isn’t some hippy commune. Save the mushy stuff for when you don’t have work to do.” The coach said as he tried to salvage his tough guy image.

Noticing the smirk growing on Lucas’ face, the coach blurted out at him to try but fail to hide his embarrassment. “What are you gawking at like a half wit? That box at your feet needs to go on the top shelf of the hall closet. It ain’t going to get there on its own, is it?”

The edges of the box in question had been sealed with duct tape and a fine layer of dust covered its surface. It was large enough to be considered bulky and appeared heavy enough to be considered full. Big black letters were scribbled across one of the top flaps in magic marker to identify the contents as “Zoey Stuff”. Obediently, Lucas bent down and lifted the old cardboard box, his smirk transformed into a full smile. Carrying it without complaint, Lucas left the room to complete his task as instructed.

“Damn lollygagger needs more work to do I’m thinking.” McMillan muttered after the young man. Finally managing to get himself out of Noel’s arms, he turned back and gave the woman a heavily eyebrowed stare to make sure she listened to every word he said next.

“Except for the gym equipment, this stuff is pretty much junk. If you find anything you want to keep, just go ahead and do that. The previous tenant left a couple of boxes of clothes in the back somewhere and they might fit your scrawny bones. You were both about the same size. She was into the grungy music. Bunch of plaid wearing losers from Seattle that won’t amount to nothin’ if you ask me.”

Suddenly realizing he was rambling, McMillan refocused his instructions and his glare. “Try to salvage the furniture if you can. What happens to the rest is up to you. If you need to refinish any wood or do any other maintenance work, bug Lucas. He’ll show you were the tools are. This is your job and I don’t care how you do it as long as it gets done. I don’t want a million questions every time you find a paperclip, understand?” His eyes snapped back and forth as they looked into Noel’s, looking for some acknowledgement that she understood.

Refinishing wood and fixing old gym equipment? This was going to take a lot more time than she originally thought. She very nearly hugged him again. He shied away with his hands up in case she got any bright ideas. Right. Professional. "Yessir. Thank you. I understand, sir. I won't bug you."

She turned her next attempted hug into a sort of salute which would have been more effective had she not been holding a bottle of peroxide in one hand and a bottle of calamine lotion in the other. The coach blinked and waved a thick hand at her dismissively.

"Go eat something before you blow away."

The brunette grinned and raced past Lucas down through the halls toward the kitchen. She liked fixing things. She liked working with her hands and being active. Maybe she would have to crawl over a broken Row Master 8000 to get onto the single bed for now, but it wouldn't always be that way.

"Hey, you stayin'?" A masculine voice called out as she streaked past. She stopped, glanced out at the lot of them and just grinned.

That was enough. High fives were exchanged and she dashed into the kitchen. Everybody seemed to be on her side today.

And she had a real place to stay. Step one of self reliance accomplished? Eh. Not really. But it would do for now. The two medicine bottles she set on the counter waiting for Lucas to sort out. Someone called for a drink from the doorway and the brunette complied, tossing it where the sweaty man who wore (in Noel's opinion) far too short of shorts could catch it.

The brunette settled on a apple and sat herself up on the counter so that she could face the door and eat. Coach had told her to eat. She was being a good girl.

"So what's your name?" He was apparently the elected representative from testosterone town sent to collect information on their newest neighbor.

She shrugged, happy as can be.

Coming back to the room, Lucas almost got bowled over as Noel streaked past him like her hair was on fire. She flew down the stairs and out of sight before he had a chance to say a word. Shrugging, he went through the door to find his coach still there, left behind by the excited girl.

“You letting her stay?” Lucas asked as he leaned back on the door frame where he had been a moment ago.

McMillan nodded.

“You starting to get soft in your old age coach?” Lucas kidded as a grin crept across his face.

“That’s funny coming from a guy who looks like he went three rounds with a meat tenderizer.” McMillan shot back through a sudden grin of his own. His gruffness wiped the smile away just as quickly and returned his signature scowl. “When you’re done being a comic, there is a storage room downstairs that will need reorganizing before all this old equipment moves in.”

“I’m on it.” Lucas responded and pushed off the frame with his elbow to stand on his own again. With Noel around, Lucas’ life was about to become a lot more complicated, but he was happy just the same. He liked having the strange amnesiac around. She was worth the turmoil she brought with her whenever she blew into his life. Now there was a chance to pay her back for what she had done for him a month ago, and the stocky old man in the little pink room was the reason why.

“Thanks” Lucas said and left back out of the doorway, proceeding down the stairs towards the storage room and his new assignment.

The hard lines of McMillan’s face smoothed out and relaxed when he knew he was alone.

“You’re welcome kid.” the coach whispered to the dusty old room as he smiled to himself.