“Come on, wimp! Quit trying to hit me and hit me!” Britt bellowed, causing Phil to pause for a second. She saw the suit’s helmet tilt slightly.

“Morpheus? That’s what you’re going with?”

“Ah! Why are you such a fucking nerd? Just hit me, will ya?”

Phil smiled beneath his helmet as he resumed his stance.

“She’s changed. She never let me drop my guard like that without making me pay for it.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too,” he responded quietly so his voice wouldn’t be broadcast. “Ever since I put her through a table last month she’s been, I dunno, keeping her distance. Almost like she’s afraid of me. It’s only when we train that she faces me head on.”

“Hmm. I don’t think it’s you she’s afraid of, my friend,” responded MB.

The first time they’d interacted again after Reese’s story, Phil had been asleep. He’d shown up in the living room, complete with smashed coffee table, and Tiny Bruce had been kneeling, face pressed firmly in to the floor. He’d started apologizing profusely before Phil had even been able to register where he was. The little man had begged forgiveness, but Phil waved him off. As angry as he’d been, Britt’s trick of distracting him had proven effective and he’d had time to calm down and process everything. He’d determined that it wasn’t his place to render forgiveness or not, but the girls’, especially Reese.

Phil didn’t consider the figure before him to actually be Bruce anyway. That man had been turned to ash months before. This was just an echo of the man he used to be. An echo shouldn’t bear the obligations of the source. They sat that night and talked. It was important for Phil to have a working relationship with this voice in his head, and if he shut it out for actions that couldn’t be taken back, he’d be placing himself at a serious disadvantage. Not the least of which was because Bruce helped run the suit Phil was currently in.

“Think we can safely up the power by another 10% yet?”

“Don’t get greedy. You’ve only been at 50% power for a week now. Your body hasn’t fully adapted to it yet. You need to train more to be able to control the speed and power of the suit, or need I remind you of what happened when you tried to jump from 30% to 40% too quickly?”

Phil grimaced. A couple weeks previous he’d dislocated his wrist, elbow, and shoulder after insisting MB raise the limit. The suit could handle his thrown punch just fine. His arm, however, could not, and it was unable to keep up with the suit’s motor control.

“Right, let’s not do that again. Ok, 50% it is.” He stepped forward, body in a boxer’s stance, and threw a jab that Britt knocked away easily. He tried to follow it up with a body blow, but she’d anticipated his move, dancing out of the way before landing a right hook to the side of his head. Armor or not, he still felt the impact and saw stars for a second, giving her the opportunity to follow up with a shot to the gut with her left.

They weren’t really boxing so much as getting Phil used to taking hits in the suit. That didn’t stop him from trying to get some hits in on his own though, and her constant drills and sparring sessions had allowed him to make remarkable progress in hand to hand fighting. He still got his ass kicked on a regular basis, but she’d been at this for seventeen years. His four months couldn’t hope to touch that kind of experience.

He feinted a kick to her leg, and she glanced down at the unexpected movement, allowing him to bring a haymaker around and connect with her cheek. He was fairly certain the impact hurt him more than it did her, but he’d given it his all anyway. She rolled with the punch, spinning around and bringing a backhand to the back of his head. He stumbled forward and lost his balance, hitting the dirt with his knees. Before he could scramble back up she was beside him and all he saw was her black and red legging just before her shin connected with his chest, knocking him on his back. As soon as he hit the ground, she was on him, straddling his chest and raining blows against his helmet.

“I yield!” he said, holding his hands up. She stopped instantly and he dropped his hands to his side as he retracted his helmet. “Ok, that hurt,” he said, knowing his head and chest were going to be swollen purple messes soon. Well, it gave Rose something to do, so there was that.

He glanced up at Britt to see what pointers she had this time, but was rather surprised to find her still straddling his chest and… blushing? “Uh, Britt?”

She leaned down, her face getting surprisingly close to his. He could make out only the slightest mark where he’d connected with her cheek earlier, but it was her blue eyes that held his attention as they narrowed at him.

“If you really want to know what hurt is, go ahead and keep feeling up my legs,” she gritted out. Phil’s eyes got wide and he gave his hands an experimental squeeze. Perhaps a little too late, he realized his hands weren’t on the ground as he’d thought.

She must’ve rung my bell more than I’d thought.

“I said get them off my legs, not fondle them!”

“Oh shit! MB!” Phil’s helmet snapped into place just as Britt’s fist slammed into it, driving his head into the dirt beneath them. Fairly confident he was concussed, he still had the foresight to lift his arms as far away from Britt as he could get. She glared at him a second longer, then pushed herself up and off of him before stomping back to the house, stomping on his chest as she moved over him.

“You’re going to want Rose to look at you sooner than later, I think.”

“Well aren’t you just a font of fucking wisdom,” Phil muttered as he slowly started to get to his knees. “Figures. The first time a woman’s straddled me in a year I’m covered in armor and she’s beating me.” He flexed his armored fingers. “Can’t even feel a damn thing with these.”

“Careful. Say that any louder and you’ll trigger the broadcast. Don’t need Rose overhearing that.”

“Rose?” Phil looked up and saw Rose jogging out to where he was in the yard. “Ah. Good call.” He retracted the helmet again so he could smile gratefully at her approach.

“A year? Really?” MB asked.

“Been at least a few months for you too there, buddy,” Phil mumbled.

“That’s a low blow, man.”

“Philip!” Rose cried as she reached his side. “Good lord. What did you say to her?” Her eyes were wide at whatever damage had been done. Phil was grateful he couldn’t see his own face. The armor was great, but one still felt the impact, and that left considerable bruising sometimes.

“Why do you automatically assume I said something?” he asked.

She gave him a look and he hung his head.

“Apparently I was feeling her up.”

“Apparently? How does that work?” she asked as she started running a healing hand over his head. He immediately felt relief from whatever internal damage had been done.

“After I yielded the match, I dropped my arms down. I can’t feel anything with these,” he waved his hands in front of him, “so I had no idea that they’d been resting on her legs. I guess she thought I was trying to cop a feel. I only wish I’d been that lucky. Would’ve at least made the beating that followed worth it.”

He felt an impact to the back of his head and gripped it with both hands, staring in shock at the brunette next to him who was giving him an evil eye.

“Ow! What the… you’re supposed to be the nice one!” he cried.

“Oh am I, now?” she asked incredulously. “Let me guess, Britt’s the mean one and Reese is, what? The sexy one?”

“No,” he grumbled. “She’s the tease. Anyway, what was that for?”

Rose shrugged. “It was a reflex. Here, let me see it. Oh, you’ll be fine. Come on, let’s get you out of that armor so I can fix the rest of you. Back to the house, Iron Man.”

Phil got to his feet and started making his way back with Rose at his side. “What?” he asked when he saw her appraising him.

“Nothing really. I’m sure you’ve already heard it a lot, but you’ve changed. If I were to judge by your comments, I’d say you’re completely free of Chuck’s influence. You never would have said anything like that about Britt before, and certainly not in front of any of us.”

Phil shrugged. “Could be. Or I could just be used to being around you guys all the time now. I never really interacted with anyone I didn’t have to before, so getting close to people wasn’t something I did. Even at my old job I did my best to be invisible.”

“I still think that was part of the effect Chuck had on you. You had no charisma, no social skills, and didn’t know what to do when you were the center of attention. Now you’ve loosened up enough to joke around with us, even Britt, knowing full well she could turn you into paste if she wanted.”

They made it back to the house and Phil held the door open for her as they entered. Making their way towards the armory, he thought about her statement. “Maybe. I don’t know. I just know that these days, even with everyone’s issues, I’m comfortable here. It would have been so easy for you guys to hate me for what I did, whether it needed doing or not. Hell, maybe you did, but kept it to yourself. I wouldn’t blame you. To my face, you’ve always been kind. You were the first to greet me the next morning, even though you were going through so much. Everyone still looked out for me even after I acted like an asshole and demanded to be allowed to leave.”

Entering the armory, he waited for Rose to release the suit. He casually made sure his attention was elsewhere as she reached between his legs for the release mechanism, not wanting her to see him blush at their proximity. She did, naturally, but ignored it. Her mind was on other things. He exited the suit, clad in shorts and a t-shirt, and sat down on a nearby stool for her to continue her examination.

“Shirt off. She told me kicked you pretty hard in the chest.” As Phil complied, she couldn’t help but compare his current physique to when they met. Before he’d been out of shape and lanky, his ribs clearly evident. He’d never be large and muscular, but he had definitely filled out. He was still a work in progress, according to Britt. His definition was better than most because he hadn’t had any fat to begin with, so any mass and definition gained was immediately noticeable. Just as noticeable as the massive bruise that covered his chest. She let out a low whistle.

He glanced down and took in the sight. “Damn. That was either from the kick that knocked me on my ass, or the parting stomp when she left.”

Rose shook her head. “You do know it’s not normal to be so blasé about getting your ass kicked, right?”

He chuckled. “Name one thing about our lives that’s normal?”

She pretended to give it some thought. “Hmmm. Well, like most guys, you still check us out when you think we’re not looking. That’s pretty normal, right?”

He gaped at her for a second. Had he really been that obvious? Who was he kidding? Of course he’d been that obvious. Subtlety was not something he was well acquainted with. He hung his head in surrender, then blushed as she giggled at him.

“Hey, if I were in your shoes, surrounded by beautiful women all the time, I’d do it to. Frankly, we’re surprised you haven’t made a move on one of us yet.”

“How could I?” he asked defensively. “Reese is working through her issues and I’d hate to take advantage of that, and you and Britt…well, I’m not Chuck. Taken women are off limits to me.”

She processed what he just said while finishing up healing his chest. That task completed, she grabbed another stool from a nearby workbench and planted it in front of him before taking a seat. He looked up in surprise, but didn’t say anything, expecting she had something important to say.

“Philip, we’re not taken. I’m not gay, as you’re aware. I’m not even really bi, at least I don’t think I am. Britt is. Her flags fly both ways. What we have is comfort. That’s all. There’s no romance.”

“Oh. Sorry, I just assumed…” he trailed off.

“The last couple years have been tough for us. We were essentially living under a dictatorship. Yes, I still loved Bruce and shared his bed. I had that naïve thought that I could change him, in that way that abused women all over the world think. ‘He loves me, he’s just having a rough time right now. I’ll help him and bring back the man I fell in love with.’” She sighed. “Even after Reese’s, um, rape, I couldn’t find it in myself to hate him. I told myself and her that it had to have been a mistake. I still can’t believe I said that to her face. I pushed away a woman I considered a dear sister because I couldn’t accept that Bruce would do something like that. I’ve spent the last two years trying to make up for that, but I understand why she keeps me at arm’s length most of the time.”

Phil put his shirt back on as she spoke. He hadn’t expected her to open up like this just because he said he thought she was in a relationship with Britt. He wisely kept his mouth shut though. If she chose to finally talk about it, he wasn’t going to stop her. It might be that she needed to say it more than he needed to hear it.

“Anyway, the further he was from the man I knew, the less time I wanted to spend near him. I’d go back to my old room, but he’d follow me later. I made the mistake of locking the door one night. I woke up to the door being ripped off the hinges before he crawled into bed with me. He never hit me. He never physically abused me at all. He never even forced himself on me when I wasn’t in the mood. But I soon began to feel like a hostage or a prisoner. I started staying in Britt’s room. If anyone was his equal, it was her. She became my protector. That’s why we’re so close now. She was there for me when I needed it the most. Falling asleep in her arms each night finally gave me some peace of mind. I knew nothing would harm me if she was near.” She shrugged and smiled to herself. “One night I decided to repay her kindness, and I felt there was only one way to truly demonstrate the depth of my gratitude.”

She looked up and chuckled. Phil, as usual, had reacted to images in his head as she told her story. Hands folded and firmly set in his lap, his face red to the tips of his ears.

“Uhh, hmm, that was… that was nice, that she was able to do that for you. So… you two, um, aren’t…”

“We’re not in a relationship like you’re thinking, no. It was just a physical comfort thing. I don’t know what it was for her, not entirely, but for me it was just nice to be held by someone who hadn’t turned in to a monster. I craved the companionship without the heavy emotions usually involved. And, just so you know, since you got here it’s slowed down a lot.”

“Huh?” he asked, surprised at her last sentence. “What does me being here have to do with it?”

“I told you she was my safety net, right? My protection. Well, the reason for that is no longer here, is he?”

“Ah,” he said, understanding what she was getting at. He jerked back a little as she suddenly leaned in with a wicked gleam in her eye.

“And between you and me, I think her attention’s been elsewhere lately.” She winked, but not elaborating further. Phil was about to ask what she meant by that but was never given the chance. A throat was cleared quite loudly by the door and both of their heads whipped around to see who it was.

Britt was standing there, her tall frame filling the doorway, arms crossed and face almost as red as her hair. Rose’s eyes went wide as the color drained from her face. Phil didn’t quite understand what was happening, but he knew she was pissed and braced himself for the inevitable impact that came from her anger.

Britt wasn’t pissed, however. Phil had mistaken her whole stance for one of rage, while in reality she was blushing from embarrassment, and her arms were crossed to keep from shaking with nervous energy. If she’d arrived even a couple minutes later, Rose might’ve revealed the biggest secret she currently had, and Britt wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if that got out. Recognizing Phil’s bracing gave her an out though, and she quickly used it to her advantage.

“Phil!” she barked and took some satisfaction in watching him jump.

“Yes!?”

“Go wash that pervert body of yours. You’ve been summoned to the guild. Reese will be joining you, don’t worry.”

“The guild?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, the guild! And they don’t like to be kept waiting, remember?”

“Right! I’ll be off then. Thank you for the healing, Rose.” He shot Rose a strained smile before attempting to leave. Britt refused to move from the doorway though, forcing him to try to slide passed her. His chest bumped her elbow and his leg brushed against hers, causing her head to whip around to stare at him. He gave her a terrified smile, apologized, and bolted for his room as fast as his legs would carry him. As soon as he was out of earshot, Britt walked stiffly over to Rose. She managed to make it to the stool that Phil had just vacated before deflating and hiding her face in her hands.

“Why would you tell him that?” she wailed into her hands. “It’s so embarrassing!”

Rose continued to look shocked for another couple seconds, before she started laughing. “Oh my god! You really are sweet on him, aren’t you!? I was just teasing him!”

“Shut up,” muttered Britt.

“And here I thought it was just a passing thing when he put you through the coffee table. Oh, this is too good.” She giggled again.

Britt leaned forward and leveled a finger at her. “Don’t say a word to him about this.” She leaned back and sighed. “He’s not even my type! What the fuck? He’s shorter than me. Weaker than me. He’s got no experience in the field. He stares at my tits and ass every chance he gets! Why!?”

“Cause they’re pretty amazing?” offered Rose, earning her a glare from Britt.

“You know what I meant. Why does such a little wimp like that keep me up at night? Why am I so eager to start our daily workouts and training, and so disappointed to see them end? The little runt has the sex appeal of a mangy stray dog.”

“Maybe it’s his persistence? Maybe it’s the fact that he’s working so hard? Maybe it’s because we lived in hell for two years and he’s the one that saved us from it? Maybe it’s his honesty? Who knows why we feel attracted to those we do. The real question you should be asking yourself is this: what are you going to do about it?”

Britt leaned back on the stool, blowing her breath out at the ceiling. “I don’t know, honestly. Part of me wants to take him and have my way with him. When he grabbed my legs earlier, I panicked. I knew it was an accident, but didn’t know how to react, so I punched him. It’s my default state, I guess.”

“Only part of you?” Rose asked.

Britt met her eye. “The other part doesn’t want to step on any toes. I’m not the only one interested, am I?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah, you’re not. She is as well.”

“I don’t think she’s just interested. I think she’s head over heels for him. All that playful teasing must have turned into something real for her. It’s because of him that she’s finally getting counseling, you know.” Britt leaned forward again, cupping her hands together as she rested her elbows on her knees. “What about you?”

Rose shook her head. “Hasn’t even crossed my mind. I’m not sure if it’s lingering anger over him killing Bruce, even if it was justified from our point of view, or if I’m just not interested in him in that way, I just know that I don’t see him in that way. I adore him and the effort he’s put in for us, but I don’t see love in our future.”

“So just me and Reese, then, is it?” Britt said, shaking her head.

“Which means it should probably be none of us.”

Britt chuckled. “Was wondering when you’d announce your presence.” She turned and faced the blonde woman who was entering the armory.

Rose looked between them in surprise. “You knew she was there? How long have you been listening?”

“Long enough,” answered Reese with a smile. “How’d you know I was there?”

“You giggled when Rose complimented my ass. So, ‘none of us,’ you say? Care to elaborate?”

Reese nodded. “You remember how childish I was acting when Rose and Bruce got together? Locking myself away. Avoiding them every chance I got?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

Reese and Britt looked over at Rose.

“Of course you wouldn’t, love. You were in your honeymoon phase,” Reese said with a smile. “No one existed but you and Bruce. I was a wreck, emotionally. Britt did a far better job of hiding it than I did. No, don’t worry about it now. It’s all in the past. Anyway, it split the house. I was happy for you, but at the same time I couldn’t stand the sight of the two of you. It was a constant reminder that it wasn’t me.”

“And you don’t want to risk something like that again,” said Britt, understanding what she was getting at.

“Right,” nodded Reese. “To keep balance and harmony in the house, it has to be none of us, or all of us.”

Britt laughed. “All of us? God, the little perv would love that wouldn’t he?”

Reese smiled back. “Yes, I’m confident he would. However, since Rose doesn’t feel the same way about him that we do, I don’t feel that any good would come from anything that would develop between only two of us.”

“Uh, I don’t mind if you two…”

Britt shook her head. “No, she’s right. We’re a team. For us to work best together, we all have to be on equal footing. Sex is just sex, but once you add emotion into it, the whole dynamic of the house changes. Dammit. Doesn’t this just fucking suck?”

Reese nodded morosely. “Yes it does. That was the whole reason I started getting help too.” She chuckled lightly. “Well, I needed it anyway.” She checked her watch. “Looks like it’s time for me to go. He should be just about ready to go, and he probably shouldn’t know we had this talk. Not yet, at any rate.”

Britt stood, then pulled Reese into a surprise bear hug. “You know I both love and hate you so much right now, right?”

Reese chuckled into the other woman’s chest, where she was locked in. “The feeling’s mutual,” came the muffled reply. Britt released her, then wiped at the tear she saw forming in Reese’s eye.

“Don’t give up just yet. Maybe one day she’ll come around.”

Reese barked a surprised laugh, then sniffed. “We can only hope,” she said. Smiling at the two women, she turned and headed for the foyer to wait for the man she’d just given up for the good of the party.