"Did you not read my file?" Tanner asked with serious concern, and she frowned at him.

"No. I didn't want to know anything about you, only your crime and prison behavior records. Allen did the rest of the background work and only let me know something if it was pertinent."

"Well then, have you ever juggled something sharp or on fire? Held two women up on your shoulders that weighed less than one of your arms and tossed them? Or had a person fly through the air a few stories up that trusted you to catch them? It requires precision and rhythm, all of them, as does fighting. I was a circus performer."

A sound escaped her that she hadn't known she had in her anymore. It was a laugh, and it rolled through her so hard that she leaned forward and had to cover her mouth just to contain herself. It was so much different than the small sound she'd once made to Allen. When she eventually regained control of her faculties, she turned to Tanner and he was glowering at her.

"You're huge," Maggie said, defending herself.

"I lifted, caught, and threw people. You need a lot of upper body strength for that."

Maggie pushed his knives toward him and he sighed heavily. Reaching slowly, he pulled the two of them out of the holsters. It was actually quite entertaining to watch him spin them in his hand, up until he threw them. It startled her, and she backed to the armrest away from him.

Almost immediately, Tanner crumpled to the opposite side of the couch and gripped the armrest in fear again.

"You told me to show you how they are used," Tanner said in a hushed voice.

Hopping up from the couch, she was jittery, but she looked at the knives that had found purchase in the wall across from them. They were so neat, one right above the other by no more than a few millimeters. Tanner was not kidding about the precision thing. In an attempt to free them, her hand slipped off the flat of the dull end.

A hand came over her shoulder and she turned to Tanner, who froze for a moment until he noticed she was calm. Gripping the knife, he wiggled it gently and then pulled it out in one yank, followed by the other.

"You pull them out like it's so easy," Maggie said, hopping back over to the couch they were sitting at. Tanner was still standing and spun them in his hands again. It was an interesting nervous tick, but it looked like the action made him feel more comfortable. "I imagine before your incarceration you kept those on you all the time... like I do mine."

"Yes." Tanner came over and set them on the table, sitting next to her. "It's calming, knowing they're within my reach. It's not even like I am happy that I have a weapon or anything. The sleek feeling of the metal across my hands is comforting. I've had them my whole life and throwing them is relaxing." Tanner paused, looking her over. "What do you do to relax?"

Beat guys up, sometimes kill them.

Maggie stared at him and frowned, unable to say that.

"I see." Tanner smirked, as if he knew what she was thinking. It made her solidify her frown, angry that she was that easy to read for him. "If you put your blades down, I can show you some easier ways to fight against someone who is bigger than you."

"I've been fighting people who are bigger than me for years," Maggie argued but he let out a breath of almost disdain.

"Killing men who are bigger than you, and fighting them, is different. If you don't want to, it's all right. I like living." Tanner wasn't kidding on the last bit, and she shoved his arm in annoyance. It startled him, but he calmed when he realized she wasn't actually accosting him.

"Fine. Bring it on, big guy." Grabbing the collar of his shirt, she pulled him to the empty part of the living room between the couches and the stairs.

Obedient like he was, he followed her, and she stopped across from him. Remembering, she pulled out the remainder of her blades and set them aside on the table. Facing him without weapons made her uneasy, but Tanner already looked uneasy himself, so at least they were on equal footing.

"You're standing like you are going to hit me," Tanner said, looking at her lifted hands, and she stared at them confused. "How much damage do you think it will do?"

The chuckle pissed her off, but she really did want to hit something.

"Little," Maggie admitted.

"How about this. I'll be you, you be me. Come at me as if I'm smaller and easy to knock down, and I'll demonstrate." Tanner smiled and she wanted very much to wipe it off his face.

Darting for him, she knew at least vulnerable points to hit on an unguarded brute. Unfortunately, her hands never made it to his body, as he sidestepped and shoved the back of her shoulders as she passed him. Hitting the ground, she groaned and picked herself up, grumpy that she'd scraped her knees on the carpet. She was wearing jeans, but it hurt like hell.

"Bigger people, have more momentum and turn slower. It's best to slide by them and use their own power to force them down. If someone charges at you, dodge, and redirect. You are too narrow sighted. You want to kill so vehemently that it blinds you to the easier alternative of allowing your target to kill themselves."

"You want to play that way, I can do that." Maggie got up and darted for him.

Again he slid to the side, but so did she, spinning around when he went to push her and wrapping her arms around his shoulder joint like an anaconda. Pulling her body in, she rolled him over her shoulder and he hit the ground with an unhealthy thud. Maggie could swear the walls shook.

"So you do know how to fight someone bigger. You're just too... impatient." Tanner swung his leg around and planted her on the ground as he swept her feet out. There wasn't enough time to right herself, and she skittered away as he reached for her arm. Instead, he ended up with her ankle, and he pulled her several feet until she was under him.

Holy crap, this guy moved people like they weighed nothing.

"You don't want to end up on the ground with someone bigger than you," Tanner said, releasing her ankle to lean over her menacingly. "Always keep your feet and pay constant attention. Killing isn't fighting, so you have to remain alert for any opportune-"

Maggie collapsed his elbow and rolled him off of her. Ending up on top of him, she glared down at him. There was no amusement in his eyes, and he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You're not getting it. Too impatient. I'm bigger than you, you don't want to be on top of me." Tanner, threw her off of him when he rolled, and she ended up on her stomach. Unable to find anything to steady herself with, she whined as Tanner grabbed her arm, pulled it back, and pushed it against the ground, pinning her. "Now you're dead," Tanner whispered into her ear.

"Fuck you," Maggie said in anger to the carpet, losing her eyes into it.

"I don't imagine I'll have you in this position very often," Tanner said, contemplating with the words. There was clear intent in his voice, and fear trickled into her. There was no way for her to free herself, and she was even unarmed.

What had she been thinking trusting him?

"Admit I'm better than you, and I'll let you go," Tanner teased, and she groaned, gritting her teeth.

Did this man not understand that he could harm her? Why was he still playing at this like they were friends?

"Not happening," Maggie spat at him, and he sighed.

"No?" Tanner chuckled, running a hand across her hair, and pulling it out of her face. The feeling of a man touching her like that made her want to vomit.

Tanner released her and removed himself from over her. Confused and defeated, she sat up and looked to him for an answer.

"I didn't expect you to show me mercy," Maggie said as a jab, but his expression was no longer amused.

"You like to scuffle. You have fun and it relaxes you. When I touched your face, you recoiled back from me. I'm not that sort of person."

"You notice too much." Maggie glared at the wall.

"I am very intelligent and observant of others' behavior." Tanner paused. "If you are upset, and it will calm you, you can hit me. I did not mean to upset you."

"I..." Maggie growled at the floor. "It doesn't bring me joy to hit people who aren't trying to harm me."

"Do you want a hug?" Tanner offered, and she snapped more heated anger at him. It caused him to chuckle. "I like hugs, even if I'm a giant in stature and look like I don't."

"I noticed." Maggie was looking away from him, remembering how he'd collapsed onto her and clutched her to him for dear life. The man had expected a normal response from a woman, some sort of empathy, but she'd been unable.

Now that she thought about it, she just felt cruel.

"You know, it's the most guarded people who crave touch the most," Tanner insisted, and she let a breath of disgust. "They are just unable to trust someone enough to let them trap them in their arms. I didn't use my position against you. I released you. I'm not here to hurt you."

"If you want a hug, just ask. Don't insist that I want one," Maggie grumbled, pulling on the carpet in annoyance.

"Tiny assassin wants a hug?" Tanner teased her, and she clenched both of her fists. Edging toward him on the ground, she stood stiff as a statue in front of him on her knees. Tanner was sitting against the wall with his legs bent but open.

"Why are you so desperate to live?" Maggie asked, and he flinched.

"I couldn't tell you. Death frightens me, even though I have nothing. Why are you?" Tanner repeated the question, and she lost her breath for a moment.

Was she? Desperate to live...

Arms came around her and she looked to either side terrified. They came up under her arms, cradled her head, and pulled her against his chest... and she trembled. It had been so long since anyone had embraced her. Allen thought she was death incarnate and feared her, just like all of the rest. No one had ever bothered or wanted to embrace her, not if they knew her.

It made her feel trapped.

"Tell me you are afraid of me, and I will let you go," Tanner said into her hair, careful, but still keeping her pressed against him.

Instead, she slammed her fist into his chest. He groaned in pain because he hadn't been expecting it, but his grip didn't loosen. The next several blows were better received, as he tightened his muscles when she hit him again and again and again.

Her hands were wet and it took her a moment to realize she was crying. How long had it been since she'd cried? Had she ever since she'd leaned over the still smile of Maggie in that dark bunker room. Once, when she'd feared Allen, but after, not once.

Emily had been stupid, weak, had trusted a man and he'd taken everything from her. She'd cried, cowered, and submitted to him as he brutalized her.

Maggie deserved to live.

Not Emily.

Here she was, keeping Maggie's name alive through nothing but death and pain. Maggie had wanted to be free so desperately that she'd sacrificed her very life. What was Emily but a ghost doing the opposite, struggling so hard to live that she was destroying the essence of strength that Maggie had been.

She was afraid to trust, to fall into the same hole that she had as a child. Emily didn't even trust Allen not to turn her in and give up on her. Would Maggie have been strong enough to walk away from Josef and trust someone? Emily would never know.

Sobbing against Tanner's chest, she was gripping his shirt so hard that her hands hurt. They hurt anyway, aching from hitting a rock, and she imagined they'd have bruises later from railing against something as impassible as her broken soul.

"Maggie." Tanner's voice, but it was a hushed whisper. His arms were no longer around her, though she didn't know when they had moved away. "Maggie, please stop him." There was fear and urgency in his voice that woke her from her despair.

Wiping her eyes on her shirt, she looked up to Tanner and he was white as a ghost, his arms clasping his thighs so hard that his knuckles were white. It took her another moment of her brain's inability to function to turn and find Allen. Standing with both hands on his gun, he was aiming it at Tanner's head and she jumped.

Shit.

No wonder Tanner was panicking.

"Allen, stop." Maggie stood up too quickly and teetered. Tanner didn't stand up, but he lifted his arms to steady her, to which Allen tightened the grip on his gun. "I said put your gun down." Maggie regained her composure, and Allen lowered it, though his arms were shaking almost convulsively.

In front of her, the man who'd given most of his life to raising and caring for her, was afraid of Tanner, but also afraid of her. That was her fault, Emily's fault, for living in that bunker for the rest of her life and never seeing the light that Maggie had craved so.

It was time for her to walk out into the light, togive Maggie what she'd fought for.

Word count: 2374 -- Edited July 14th, 2020