“Jemma!” Mikel exclaimed as she rushed toward her. “Are you really here? Are you okay?”

Jemma smiled and inhaled the scent of her favorite gym. “I'm great. How are you? Good vacation?”

“Except for the fact I spent the entire trip scared out of my mind that you were going to get yourself killed.” Mikel studied her. “You look lighter.”

“I imagine I’ve lost some weight,” Jemma said with a laugh.

“Not actual weight, Jemma, geez. You look calmer; your eyes are brighter.”

“I feel better. I’ll still have to testify and go through the whole court process, but that bastard is now behind bars where he belongs.”

“I’m surprised Agent King let you out of his sight.” Mikel winked.

“I needed some space. Caid is amazing. But I missed you, and I was hoping that since you’re back, you might be interested in sparring?”

“Hell yes!” Mikel exclaimed. “Let me go get my gear, and I’ll meet you in the sparring room.”

“Awesome! I need to go change anyway.” Jemma turned and headed for the locker room, more than excited to spar with her old friend. Caid had argued it wasn’t safe for her to be out, but she had spent nearly her entire life being cooped up; now it was time for her to get some fresh air.

She had just finished pulling on her workout clothes when the door to the locker room opened. She started to walk out when a familiar face stopped her in her tracks.

“Maria.”

“Forget about me? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Came to catch up with my old neighbor.” Maria’s jaw was tight, and Jemma circled around to get to the door.

“I thought you’d fled the country.”

“Nah, you just didn’t know where to look.”

“What do you want?”

“You know, I had a pretty sweet deal going with Charmont. He was going to get my sister back for me, and now she’s dead. Her husband killed her because you couldn’t stick with the fucking plan.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“No, you’re not.” Maria laughed. “You’ve only ever cared for yourself. It’s why your mother died, and why Liam couldn’t stand to look at you.”

“Maria--” Jemma saw the large blade Maria pulled from a holster on her leg.

“Don’t you just love a freshly sharpened blade? That bite you get from just a tiny prick.” Jemma saw a drop of blood well up on Maria’s finger.

“You’re making a mistake.”

“Am I? I don’t think so.” Maria charged, and Jemma dodged, unfortunately not fast enough as the blade sliced her arm. “Feel the bite?” Maria taunted. Jemma kicked at Maria’s legs and knocked her to the ground.

“Bitch!” she yelled and attacked again, but Jemma pinned her in a matter of seconds. Tears stung at Maria’s eyes, and Jemma couldn’t help but feel pity for the woman’s sister.

“You have the wrong person, Maria!” she screamed. “I didn’t do a damn thing to your sister! If she died, it’s because your boss wanted her dead!”

“You’re wrong!” Maria cried out and head-butted Jemma.

Jemma’s vision blurred, but she got to her feet just as Maria came after her again. Moments later, Maria was ripped off Jemma and tossed backwards by an incredibly pissed off Mikel.

“You attacked the wrong person in the wrong fucking gym,” she said and punched Maria so hard she fell backwards unconscious.

“I see why you were a champ,” Jemma said as Mikel helped her to her feet.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I need to call Caid though.”

Mikel pressed a button on her cell and handed it to Jemma. “It’s ringing.”

When he answered, Jemma smiled. No matter the circumstances, she would never tire of the sound of his voice. “Hey, Caid, I found Maria. Or rather, she found me.”

* * *

“How’s your arm?” Caid asked as the paramedic finished stitching Jemma.

“A little tender.”

“You’ll have some nice shiners to go with it,” he said, pointing to her nose.

“Yeah, not the first time.”

“We’re all done here,” the medic said, and Jemma got to her feet.

“Did you find out about her sister?”

Caid nodded sadly. “Lupita Gonzales. She was found dead two days ago, and police arrested her husband, Gregory. It appears she was ‘accidentally’ killed when the two of them got into an argument and she fell down the stairs. At least that’s his story.”

“That’s so awful.”

“Yeah, the evidence is solid. It won’t bring her back, but he’ll go down for it.”

“So, Liam was going to help her get her sister away from the husband.”

“That’s what it looks like. You did say he liked exploiting people.”

She nodded, “he never would have saved her sister. He would have just killed Maria too.”

Caid nodded. “It’s over now, Jemma. He’s behind bars, and soon we can put all this behind us.” He pulled her toward him and wrapped his arms around her.

“Dinner?” he whispered into her hair.

“You asking me on a date, Agent King?” She pulled away and smiled at him.

“Eh.” He shrugged. “It’s about that time of day, and I’m hungry.” He grinned. “Besides, didn’t you promise me?”

“I would love to go on a date with you, shiners and all.” She laughed, and he wrapped his arm around her.

Jemma wasn’t sure what she would do now, but as she looked around, her life felt as if it were finally in color.