Razor was not thrilled with the idea that Lena wanted to do a little sparing with him. Still he came over out of respect with her, and looked at the practice weapons. He did not want to do this cause he was afraid of hurting Lena. Lena was not that worried. She pointed out that the practice weapons were dull wood, that they were both wearing padded armor and that she was not exactly completely helpless. He argued that he was still running and might not be able to control his instincts. She argued that she had managed to train him just fine when she was running. He argued that she was weaker than he was when she taught him how to fight . . ..
Suffice it to say that Lena eventually got tired of exercising her tongue when she wanted to exercise her body. She took a swing at Razor with the wooden practice blade and Razor acted instinctively. He popped all of his razors and caught her across the face with his right hand. She took a serious wound. His follow up blow was ended to but the blade from his right elbow through her gut. He pulled it in time to leave only a moderate wound: She was not quick enough to get out of the way.
Razor went hysterical and was going to run upstairs for Anderson. Lena said damn and started telling him it was not his fault and that he was to keep it quiet. After all, Anderson and Cardigan were up on the roof with Carissa and she didn’t want them to find out about this stupid accident. He took off his gang jacket to help stop the bleeding. She got herself wrapped up and instructed Razor to go back to his apartment through the back way and KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT. After much persuasion, he agreed to do what she said.
Lena didn’t want Anderson to know until she had had a chance to get stitched up and explain things calmly. (The fact that Anderson’s heal spell might come in handy didn’t cross her mind). So she stashed the bloody towels in the gym and locked the door to the gym. Then she went down to Frank’s clinic with the bloody jacket in hand.
Frank needled her a bit about needing to put is a special emergency window just for her. Then he needled her skin, putting it back together. He used small stitches so that there would be minimal scaring, but she didn’t end up with her whole face swollen and bandaged. Lena was folding the jacket as the elevator got to her floor. She heard Anderson and Cardigan calling her name and looking for her. Realizing that the jacket was a dead give away as to who she had been sparing with (even if Anderson didn’t recognize it, he could astrally trace it to its owner). She dropped the jacket in the elevator and closed the elevator door before stepping around the corner to let them know she was here.
Lena’s "I’m here"carried out into the room. Shel let out a small scream. Anderson and Cardigan rushed into the room and froze. Lena looked like hell. Anderson mentioned the traces of blood he had found in the hall way and went balisitic. He wanted to know who had done this to her . She refused to tell him when he was that upset. She explained that she had just been sparing with one of their FRIENDS and a little accident had occurred. He pointed out that that little accident could have killed her and that no friend would let something like that happen. She promised to be more careful. He had started trembling in anger (and fear) and she went to hold him. With Daniel’s head buried in her shoulder, Lena mouthed to Cardigan a request for him to clean up the gym. Cardigan nodded and Lena and Anderson went off to bed where he reassured himself that she was still alive, fussed over the wound, and made her lie down with him for a while.
After a dinner which Lena ate through a straw, everyone retired for the night without anything else being said. When Carissa woke Lena for her midnight feeding, Lena took the opportunity to sneak back to the elevator to retrieve and hide the jacket. However, the jacket was gone. Lena was worried about who had it.
The next morning Lena awoke alone. It was well past Carissa’s morning feeding, but the baby was sleeping contented. Lena went up on the roof looking for Anderson. She found a crumpled a piece of paper. Moved by the note she had found, Lena decided that it was time to give up running. As much as she loves fighting, she loves Daniel more, and can’t bear to see him hurting.
Lena went back inside and found Anderson checking on Carissa. She showed him the note and promised to do her best to keep him form ever having to live without her.
Cardigan was next in line to tell Lena what he thought of her "accident". His extensive experience with drill sergeants came in handy as he told her of how stupid she had been. That she could have been killed and that scratch was not the result of a simple training accident and if it was the result of a sparring match, her opponent should be shot for being stupid enough to bring in live steel.
Lena hates the idea of backing down or showing throat to anyone. So in an attempt to regain her footing, she quipped "He didn’t have the ability to leave it behind."
That got her into more hot water. Cardigan told her that in no uncertain turns should she be sparring with someone who didn’t have the brains necessary to control his own cyberware. He told her how big a mess she had left in the Gym and how he never wanted to have to clean up his sister’s blood again.
Cowed, for the moment, she promised him he wouldn’t have to do it again and walked off.
It was much later in the day when Shel got in her two cents. Lena hadn’t heard from the girl all day, so she went to Shel’s room to check on her before dinner. Shel was plopped on her bed. when Lena sat down and asked what was wrong, Shel explained that she was scared that Lena had been killed when she saw the blood on the floor, and that she was trying to decided what to do to the person who had hurt Lena. It was then that Lena found out that it was Shel who had found Razor’s jacket. Lena apologized to her, and since Shel was less hysterical and more confused than either of the men, Lena gave Shel the full story, pointing out that it was her own stupidity that got her into this. She convinced Shel to help her get the jacket back to Razor (who is and was a friend of Shel’s) without letting Anderson find out about it. In return, Lena promised she would eventually tell Anderson who her sparing partner had been - once he had calmed down a little.
Unfortunately, Razor wasn’t willing to wait for Anderson to calm down. Two days after the incident Lena was in the nursery when she heard Anderson bellow "What?!!" out in the living room. She hurried out to find Anderson, fists clenched and trembling with rage immediately in front of a apologetic Razor who was down on his knees apologizing to Anderson for having hurt his wife. Needless to say, this did not sit right with Lena. She went to interfere trying to protect Razor from Anderson. However, Cardigan stopped her. Razor kept asking Anderson to hit him or something for the pain he had caused and Anderson kept control. Eventually, Anderson admitted that he understood it was just an accident and that he forgave Razor. Razor was not pleased about gaining Anderson’s forgiveness without getting punched first. (Something about the sense of honor and responsibility being instilled in him by the Yakuza.) Lena was not pleased with the idea that Razor had just apologized to Anderson for an injury done to her. However, the incident did end with Anderson realizing he was able to control his temper, even when angry, and Lena was pleased that Anderson and finally learned something that she had known all along.
Consequently, Lena decided to give up fighting. After all, she was just a normal wife and mother now, and did not have a need for fighting or sword-skill. It was time to put aside the passions of youth and become a more responsible and sedentary individual. With her decision, Lena put away her form fit, the sword and her other running gear and allowed them to collect dust as she took care of Carissa and tried to regain a little of the loss muscle tone through more normal activities like swimming and calisthenics.
However, as many would guess, Lena was not entirely happy about her decision. Being hard-headed and persistent, she would not change her mind and was determined to make the best of it. But she wasn’t really happy without the challenge of keeping herself in condition and the thrill of fighting - even if only in the practice ring.
Cardigan noticed. He is, undoubtably, the one person in the world who may be more stubborn and pig-headed than Lena herself. Moreover, since he is coldly logical where Lena is all fiery, impulsive passion, he often makes better decisions - especially in areas affected by emotion.
Thus, while Lena was determined to give up fighting for the sake of her family, Cardigan was just as determined to see his sister behaving like her old self. (O.K. - Lena will never admit it, even to herself, but part of the problem was fear. She was better than Razor before the pregnancy and he made mincemeat of her. She had never been frightened by an injury before, yet this one scared her. She had lost the skill and the edge she had always relied on, that part of her that dominate her self image. In short, Lena hates to fail and she couldn’t stand the idea of failing at something she had always been so good at. Thus, she gave it up entirely.)
Thus, Cardigan bullied Lena into going into the home gym for a few light workouts, to get her back in shape. (For some reason, whenever he uses that word "quitter" she bites.) For the first time Lena had an actual instructor, moreover she had one who has taught hand to hand at West Point.
Lena was a little afraid that first afternoon when she approached the gym to work out with Cardigan. In that back of her mind, she was wishing the Carissa was not being quite as good about taking her afternoon nap: Lena would have welcomed the excuse not to be doing this. She knew how badly out of shape and form she was and didn’t like the idea of looking quite that clumsy and stupid in front of an active duty special forces officer, who (even worse) was also her brother. As Lena opened the door to the gym she saw Cardigan in a sweatsuit stretching out and waiting for her. He told her to go ahead, get stretched out and warmed up, then we’ll start. She stretched out feeling more self-conscious than she could ever remember being. By the time she finished her body was limber, but every nerve was tense and on edge.
Finally Cardigan interrupted the silence. "O.K. why don’t you some over here and get in a basic stance and let’s determine exactly what you have lost."
Lena stood where she was directed, looking a bit like a lump of dough.
"Take your stance."
"My what?"
Suddenly realizing that his sister had never had any formal training and did not understand the term, Cardigan patiently explained, "Stand like we are going to fight."
Lena tried, but because she tried her body was completely unable to find the balance point that had so long be an instinct. Her feet end up to close together, and her weight was badly distributed. It wasn’t until Cardigan came in with a punch to her chest that Lean instinctively found her stance as she moved out of the way.
Cardigan smiled, "That’s what I was looking for. See, you’ve positioned yourself much better now. I knew you couldn’t have lost all your instincts."
In that moment Lena’s confidence began to return. Just a small piece of it at first, but a piece capable of great growth. For Lena it was a strange experience, having a teacher. Cardigan taught her the whys and the more formal names for things she had done instinctively for years. Lena had lost some of the fire and edge that had sustained her as a runner, but Cardigan gave her polish and technique sufficient to make up for the loss. To Cardigan, it quickly became apparent that his sister had real talent with a blade and within the first month she was better than him with a sword. He used the fencing to close the lessons for the next few weeks, letting her rebuild her confidence with the blade work after inevitable having it dented by how much her better he was at hand-to-hand.
Then it came time to improve her blade work - something he was not capable of with his limited blade skill. So he called on a friend.