"I can't believe it has been a full year since you have been in the ring," Alex noted as he leaned in the door of my dressing room.

"I can't believe this place still has such terrible security," I joked right back. "Look at who they let in here, without my permission."

"Your daily sparring partner?" Alex retorted.

"My daily stalker, more like," I answered. "You ready to get your ass kicked in the ring?"

"I am, but are you supposed to be using such strong language around the kids?" Alex tsked at me, then walked over to where Ramona and Keith were sitting in their bassinets.

They were pretty soundly asleep, but I knew that would change as soon as the fight started. I wasn't sure how they'd do with the fight itself. They were a little young to see any blood shed, and definitely too young to see their daddy getting punched, especially in the kind of fight that Alex was capable of putting up; he'd gotten very, very good since I had been away. I wouldn't tell him this, because it would definitely be too much for his ego to handle, but I'd had to put in double the amount of training in order to feel like I stood a chance of winning against Alex.

I glanced over at Samuel. "Do you believe this guy?" I asked my husband of six months.

Samuel gave me a small grin. "I believe that he knows how to get under your skin, which is just what you're itching for in a fight like this," Samuel answered. "And I believe that I like him much better than the camera guy Kamal hired."

"Ah, still not quite ready to forgive Terrance?" Alex noted.

Samuel's lips turned down into a frown. "He caused a lot of harm. He tried to cause a lot worse than that."

I ducked my head down and gave Ramona a gentle kiss on the cheek, before doing the same to Keith. I didn't want Samuel to see the smile that came over my face at his ridiculous over protective nature. It wasn't necessary, of course. Kamal would never have hired Terrance back as part of the organization if he didn't trust Terrance one hundred percent, but I liked the feeling that my husband was keeping an eye out on us.

Apparently, my desire to submit to the whims of an alpha had only grown since the children had been born. Who knew that was even possible?

"He has made amends," I noted, tucking the sheet in around Keith as he stirred slightly. "Don't you think our children should be taught to give people second chances?"

"Ouch," Alex said with a low whistle.

I rolled my eyes at him, but turned a smirk towards Samuel.

He shook his head. "I think you have a fight to go win, husband of mine," Samuel answered.

"Cruel," Alex noted, but he headed out the door before me.

"Good luck," Samuel called.

"Thanks, husband of mine," I retorted lightly.

The fight was definitely a rough one. Maybe it was because it was the first fight that I had been involved in in over a year, but it was a struggle to stay on my feet and not get knocked down.

It would get easier, I told myself, after I had been doing this for a while again. Once I got into the actual routine of having these fights on a regular basis again, it would take less of a toll on my body.

But just because it was difficult didn’t mean that I was losing.

I struggled to dodge Alex’s punch, but he still didn’t land a solid blow. It was rough in ducking the upward kick of Alex’s leg, but I managed to take the opportunity to grapple Alex to the ground.

I won within an hour, and I won by a grapple and submission.

Standing up after the fight, I shook Alex’s hand and I caught Terrance’s eye. Alex was smiling a friendly, open smile that spoke of a long-standing friendship. Terrance, poor guy, looked a little wistful, but nothing that made me seriously worry about him.

I stood there in the middle of the ring, listening to the enthusiastic cheer of the crowd. There were still plenty of women in the crowd who apparently weren't offended by the last interview I gave in which I introduced my family to the world. There were still plenty of men out there in that crowd, too.

People of all genders were cheering my name. There were signs being held up that welcomed me back to the arena and that welcomed met back to HIT. One particular sign read, MMA Was Boring Without Hitch-Fallow!

I wondered if I could get that fan to give me that sign so I could take it home and hang it in our living room.

It wasn’t as though I could just jump down there and get it.

On the other hand, Terrance could, and he did owe me.

As I went backstage, there was a tiny party waiting on me. My hands were full, with the sign that Terrance had gotten from that fan, and with the trophy that proudly proclaimed the fact that I was back in business.

I set both down and immediately had my arms full of a happy and proud husband.

"You did great," he said, balancing Ramona on one hip. "Ramona thought you sounded really great, too!"

"Our son slept through the whole thing?" I asked with amusement.

"He sure did," Samuel chuckled. "Arenas must not be his thing. Maybe he's making plans to grow up and work in a call center."

I wrinkled my nose, but happily took another kiss from Samuel, before dropping one gently on Ramona's eyebrow. She waved her tiny fists in enthusiasm, and I could definitely see a sparkle in her eye. Ah, so this one was going to be our little fighter. That was fitting; she had my eyes. Keith looked more like Samuel in the face, and they were both owners of messy dark blond hair.

“I hate to break up this charming scene, but I have a physical to do,” the familiar voice of a doctor cut through our happy reunion.

“Ugh, really?” I complained.

I was never going to like physicals.

The doctor crossed his arms. “Yes, Mr. Hitch-Fallow. Yet another physical. You would think that the person who lied to me about being pregnant in order to skirt by the rules would have come to his senses now that he is a father.”

I rolled my eyes and sat down to let the man begin his inspection. Samuel sat down with Ramona, and she leaned over far enough to smack the shiny trophy I’d just won.

What a good baby she is, I thought delightedly.

“If you think that I’m going to be a good by and follow all the rules now just because I had a couple of kids, you are incredibly mistaken,” I warned the doctor.

He shined a light right into my eye at the point, and I was sure that it was nothing less than retaliation.

“That’s true. You’re definitely still bratty to the core,” Samuel teased.

I heard and felt the sight that came out of the doctor at that. Poor old man, he should probably think about retiring soon. It was apparent that one of us needed to retire soon, anyway, and it certainly wasn’t going to be me.

As the doctor continued to poke and prod my head, even more people came into my dressing room. Kamal came by and I gave him permission to pay Samuel while I was inspected. He then moved on to holding Ramona.

It was an amusing way to spend twenty minutes, watching my boss try to explain the general rules of MMA fighting to a baby who wasn’t even six months old yet.

After the physical portion of the test was done, the doctor moved on to taking my vitals. At that point, Alex came in, and he was closely followed by Lila and Cassidy Paige who had both been invited to see the fight.

Samuel’s face beamed as he recognized them, and Keith choose that moment to wake up.

“He clearly knows that his favorite aunt is here,” Lila decided, reaching into the bassinet to pick him up. He stopped crying almost immediately.

“Don’t know how you managed to have such cute kids,” Alex said as he bent over and looked at Ramona.

She gave Alex her best toothy grin, and he looked utterly charmed by the experience of being grinned at by a baby. I couldn't blame him, I had that look more than once myself.

“Alright, I suppose you are healthy,” the doctor told me finally.

“Could have told you that,” I muttered, getting up and walking over to where my husband sat, being amused at the little family that had gathered in my dressing room.

It was a valid thing to be amused about, I supposed. Sitting down on his lap, I thought about how lonely I’d been, a little more than a year ago. I thought about how I had woken up in that lonely, cramped apartment without anything in my life except my the drive to achieve the next championship.

I definitely still wanted that championship, because three championships just wasn’t enough.

But they were entirely different things now that I had an actual family and friends to share them with.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Samuel asked.

I glanced down at him and smiled at the loving and concerned look that he had on his face. “I was just thinking about how lucky we are, and how beautiful our family is.”

“It is,” Samuel agreed. “And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Me too,” I acknowledged. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Aw, come on guys,” Alex interrupted. “It’s the first match and you won! Against an awesome opponent, I might add.”

I rolled my eyes at that one.

“I think they are suggesting that we stay and party,” I told Samuel.

Kamal looked up from his arm full of Ramona to say, “The cake is on its way. It would be a shame if you didn’t stay for at least once piece.”

“Mm, I do like cake,” I had to acknowledge. “And I did thoroughly trounce my opponent. What do you say, Samuel?”

“I say that home will be waiting on us,” he answered. “So we should stay and celebrate.”

That sounded ideal. We did, after all, have so much to celebrate.