by Amy Faye
The bell rang again. It hadn't been five minutes; it hadn't been two. And then she saw it. Shannen's hand slapped again on his own shoulder, which must have hurt. Still, she couldn't see any other place for him to have reached.
The referee stood them both up and started announcing. Coogan let out a breath that Caroline hadn't noticed him holding. She let out a breath of her own. Her mind went blank as the adrenaline started wearing off, and five minutes later, two more fighters were being walked into the ring.
The old man didn't wait to watch the fight. He grabbed her by the arm and started them both walking back. He walked around the back parts of the venue like he knew it well, and in all likelihood he probably did. The found a dressing room marked 'O'Brien' and the old man went inside without knocking.
"Hey, no press," started one guy as soon as the door cracked. Seeing who he was talking to seemed to change his tune. "Oh, it's you."
"Good fight, boy-o." His hand released Caroline's arm, and she rubbed at the place where he'd been holding her, his fingers digging in too much for comfort. "Go on. You're free."
Shannen looked over at him sourly. "We're square, then?"
"Square as can be. Good luck." He started to head out before turning around. "One more thing, kid. Your ground game sucks."
Shannen smiled. "You caught me."
Caroline watched the old man go, which was why she didn't notice Shannen coming up behind her. She didn't notice anything at all, until suddenly she was wrapped up in strong arms and couldn't move if she wanted to. He slacked the grip and Caroline turned, pressed a kiss against her lover's lips.
"We're out," he told her.
"We're out," she agreed. And then she pressed another kiss. They were out, and there was nothing more to worry about.
Epilogue
Caroline settled into the bench that surrounded the hexagonal cage, and watched Shannen wrestling around with Jeremy. The boy was small, still; it still gave Caroline the heebie-jeebies to see Shannen seriously fight, even in training, but it would be years before the little boy was able to challenge his father, and by then Shannen would be on the wrong side of his life for fist fights anyways.
The gym was clean, which was a first; she wondered how long Shannen had spent cleaning up before she got there, because its usual state was to have sweat stains all over everything, discarded energy drink bottles wherever people had thought to hide them.
Not today, though.
"Come on, you two," she called in. "We're going to be late."
Jeremy squirmed easily out of Shannen's hold, showing exactly how seriously Shannen had taken the hold, crap ground game or not. "Come on, mom," he whined. Just a few more minutes?"
"You said that ten minutes ago," Caroline reminded him. But she could already feel herself caving in. It wasn't like she was looking forward to the dinner any more than either of them were. But there were responsibilities to keep in mind, right?
It wasn't until Shannen started in with the puppy-eyed expression that she finally surrendered. "Fine," she sighed. "Ten more minutes. And not a minute more!"
They started rolling around again on the mat. Shannen let Jeremy slip his grip and made pained noises as the boy twisted his arm in what might have been an effective lock if it weren't for the hundred pound size discrepancy between them. Caroline hated this sport, but she smiled, leaned forward on the bench, and something made her shout out:
"Kick his ass for me, Jeremy! You got him!"
The boy grinned at her and tried to yank. The yelp of pain that Shannen let out wasn't totally fake this time; he pulled his arm loose and turned under the boy, pinning him to the mat, his fingers darting in and poking and tickling until Jeremy was a mess of laughter. Caroline stepped into the cage and knelt down beside them.
"Okay, big guy, I think you got him. Come on, let's get going."
Jeremy wriggled free and started moving, and Shannen looked up at her, a faint smile on his face.
"You too, mister."
"Are you gonna make me?"
She got down and straddled his waist. "You bet I am,"
"You're going to have to hurry, then, if you want to get it done before Jer gets back."
"I can tap you out in a second," she boasted. "You just don't know it yet."
He leaned up and pressed a kiss on her lips and pulled her back down with him. "Sure you can."
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