Kay had a really fun evening at Tanner Ranch. After a dinner of ratatouille, Sophie and Max insisted they all played a really complicated board game called Carcassone. It mostly consisted in building a map out of tiles and claiming castles, roads and fields off it using little wooden men.

Kyle was pretty bad at it, but Sophie and Max were very competitive, so he spent the entire game screwing up their plans. By the third game, Kay got the hang of it and managed to steal a large field from Sophie right before the end of the game and score second place. Max took it out on Kyle in what was the most amazing childish insult war Kay had ever witnessed.

It ended with Sophie grounding them both and Max threatening Kyle that he'll see in the morning. What he would see exactly, Kay wasn't sure.

After her full evening, Kay slept better than she had in weeks. Maybe it was the really comfortable bed, the loving family atmosphere or the bucket list she'd made, but when she woke up the next morning, she found herself excited to start the day. She couldn't remember when that happened last.

She found Sophie in the kitchen, brewing a large pot of coffee. A consistent stack of pancakes waited on the island.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Kay," Sophie answered, pouring coffee into two mugs. "Slept well?"

"Very," Kay said, taking her cup and smelling it. Yup, this is what heaven probably smelled like in the morning. "Are the boys going to join us for breakfast?"

"They already ate." Sophie took a delicate sip of her coffee. "Kyle's out running the course and Max is probably bellowing at him. I swear, I raised him better than this."

"What course?" Kay asked frowning.

Sophie's eyes widened and Kay could swear Kyle's grandma actually looked excited that she had no idea what the course was.

"Come," Sophie said with indecent enthusiasm, grabbing Kay's forearm and dragging her towards the door. "You've got to see this."

Throwing the pancakes a longing look, Kay followed Sophie out the back door. The woman led her to the stables at a brisk pace, then around them. Kay almost dropped her mug. They've come across a large wooden construction, for lack of a better word.

The course looked like the love child between a police obstacle course and an adventure park. It was about three stories high and there were swinging logs, rotating wheels, nets, zip lines and even a barbed wire tunnel Kyle was now crawling under.

As Kay watched, Kyle rose a little too high on his elbows and the barbed wire nipped his t-shirt.

"You're sloppy!" Max yelled from the other side of the course.

He held a stopwatch in one hand, and to Kay's utter shock, a pistol in the other. She hoped it was one of those signaling guns that only made noise, but it looked like a regular, killing gun.

Kyle lowered himself to his stomach and crawled the rest of the way until he cleared the barbed wire. When he got to his feet, his eyes fell on Kay and Sophie and he hesitated. From behind him, Max pointed the gun.

Before Kay could open her mouth to let out the terrified scream rising inside her, Max pulled the trigger. Kyle jerked back as the bullet hit his shoulder.

"Ow, fuck!" he said, rubbing it viciously.

"What the hell are you doing? You're dead! Move it!" Max pointed the gun again, this time at Kyle's head, and shot.

Kyle ducked the speeding bullet and threw himself inside a tunnel made from a hollow log. Max strode towards them, rolling the pistol around one finger, looking very pleased with himself. Kay felt a sudden urge to slap the smirk off his face.

"Good morning, ladies," he said, reaching them. "Come to see the show? Of course, he's not in the best of shapes today." He hit his palm against the tunnel. "What are you doing in there, taking a nap?"

On cue, Kyle rolled out and started climbing up a net. Kay watched his progress, trying to detect any trace of blood, wondering how he could move so fast, as if he hadn't just been shot by his own uncle. But there was no blood and Kyle reached the next wooden platform safely. Max raised the gun again.

"No!" Kay slapped the pistol out of his hand.

It unloaded as it hit the ground. The bullet launched at a sturdy wooden pole and bounced back. Realizing what was going on, she could breathe properly again. Rubber bullets. But, then again, Max wouldn't really shoot Kyle.

"Hey." Max bent to retrieve his weapon, not seeming too affected by the fact that she'd just slapped his hand.

Kyle in the meantime had jumped from the platform and dangled off a wooden beam. He released it and his feet landed on another beam. He continued making his way down, jumping and swinging. Kay watched with bated breath, waiting for him to make just one wrong move.

And he did. His foot missed the center of the next beam by millimeters and he slipped off. Kay bit back a scream as he whooshed through the air and crashed to the ground with a loud thud. There was no safety net, no nothing.

"Oh, for crying out loud." Max rolled his eyes and checked his stopwatch. "Kyle, this is your worst time ever."

"What, that's it? He just fell ten feet!" Kay screeched.

"It's eight feet, and he should move it, unless he wants another bullet in his ass," Max replied, aiming the gun again.

"Maximillian, you don't have to be crass," Sophie said with disdain.

Kay stared at the pair of them, unable to believe how easily they accepted that Kyle might have broken his neck. He hadn't, however. He climbed back on the beam, a look of determination on his face.

"Finally," Max mumbled.

And Kay understood what he meant. It seemed like Kyle was focusing properly, because he no longer stumbled across the field. He ran around it, dodging flawlessly, every step certain and calculated. It was something he was good at, something he'd mastered to perfection. Max shot the occasional bullet at him, but Kyle dodged them without missing a beat.

Ten grueling minutes later, he climbed down the last rope and dropped next to Max.

"How bad?" he asked, breathless.

Max looked at his stopwatch. "Actually, after a disastrous start, you broke your previous record. I'm impressed by your recovery."

Kyle's face brightened in a smile. "Sweet."

"See you in an hour for target practice," Max waved to them and headed for the stables.

"I'll go get you kids some pancakes," Sophie said, following her son.

Kyle looked from them to the course, the satisfied smile still in place. Kay stared at him, trying to wrap her mind around this person standing in front of her. Because he wasn't a teenager, he wasn't even a rock star. He was something much more. And he didn't mind his uncle screaming and shooting at him. This was normal.

"Why do you do this?" she asked.

"Huh?" He rubbed his shoulder absently. "You mean the course? It's great exercise," he said when she nodded.

"Yes, but why this specifically? There are so many other ways to exercise." Not that he needed it. "It feels like Max is training you for war."

Kyle laughed, but she didn't think it was funny. "He's training me for whatever. It's cardio, it's precision, and it keeps me focused. It's a body-mind workout kind of thing. Plus, it's really cool and never boring."

"I'll say it's never boring," Kay mumbled watching the bruise blossom on his shoulder. But he did have a point about it being really cool, and the body-mind bit sounded very intriguing. "Do you think I could do it?"

Kyle looked at her curiously and, unless she was imagining it, delighted. "This one? No, not without a lot of training. But Max kept my first course and you could try that one."

She nodded and he gestured that she followed him. They walked just to the other side of the stables and found a much smaller course. It wasn't as high or complicated, but Kay still eyed it warily. It didn't look embarrassingly easy either.

"I recommend having a go now," he said. "The pancakes will only weigh you down."

"Don't you have to be at target practice?" she asked, not sure if she was chickening out or scared that he'd leave while she was in the middle of the course.

"In fifty five minutes. This should only take you fifteen. Then we could both go to target practice." Kyle sounded more excited with every word. "Have you ever fired a gun?"

Okay, Kyle was getting a little scary, especially because he seemed thrilled when she shook her head.

"Awesome. This counts as trying new things for your bucket list."

Oh, the bucket list. She'd momentarily forgotten all about it. But if she wanted to try new things, why not start with becoming a superhero?

"Okay, I'll do it. Though I should go change... " She drifted off when he shook his head.

"You should do the course in your regular clothes. If you'll ever actually need this stuff, no one is going to give you the chance to change."

God, did he think he'd ever need that stuff? Shaking away the thought, Kay tackled the course. The first log she stepped on moved under her feet and she almost toppled over. She managed to regain her balance and was a lot more careful around everything. Kyle walked by her, always under her to catch her in case she fell, she suspected, but didn't yell at her to hurry up or give her any advice at all.

It took her about a half an hour to finally slide down the last rope, her palms aching and feet shaking. But she'd learned a few things. Converse were not the best shoes to walk on wires with. It was very hard to walk on stuff that moved, let alone run, and it was surprisingly difficult to climb nets. She also loved the adrenaline the course gave her. Running around it like Kyle did must be awesome.

"How was it?" he asked as she made her way towards him on shaky legs.

"I loved it. I sucked at it, but I loved it."

"Are you kidding? You didn't fall once."

"That's only because I did it in double the time you predicted."

Kyle smirked, but it wasn't a mean smirk. It was more all-knowing. "So, would you like to keep doing it? Get better? Get good enough to tackle mine?"

Kay tilted her head. Did she? Hell yeah, she did. It was hard to think about Donnie and her shortcomings when she had to focus on every breath she took. "Yes."

"Are you sure?" This time, he sounded dead serious. "Because it would imply a lot of extra training and yelling and actually using a stopwatch."

"As long as you don't cap my ass with rubber bullets, I'm game."

He grinned at her and she was sure her use of language had something to do with it. She didn't sound five anymore.

"Yeah, Max is exaggerating with that one." He swung back and forth on his heels. "I'll also include teaching you how to fight in this, if you want to."

"Yes, I want to." She drew in a huge breath and rubbed the stich in her side. "I also want target practice and we'd better get there before Max shoots us both."

Kyle laughed. "You're starting to know Max." And he led her back to the house.

The shooting range was in a phonically isolated room in the basement. Max and Sophie joined them for practice, and Kay watched the Tanner family at it while eating some pancakes. Sophie was decent, Max was good, but Kyle was amazing. Kay watched him at it for ten minutes and he never missed the bull's-eye on any of his targets. He then moved from the pistol to a shotgun, to a hunting rifle, ending it with a semiautomatic thing that seemed to pack a powerful recoil.

"Enjoying the show?" Max asked, sitting next to her and taking the pancake dangling in her hand.

Kay watched him wolfing it down, trying to figure out if she was freaked out or amused by his antics. Kyle's uncle was weird. Not eccentric weird, but potentially crazy weird. She didn't see any other reason why he made Kyle do those things.

"He's very good," she said carefully.

"It's not hard. You'll get the hang of it, too. I mean, look at my mother. She only ever practices when she comes here, and she hit every target. Come on." He got up, grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Let me show you how it's done."

Max had been right. It wasn't very hard. Once she got used to the weight of the pistol and got the hang of aiming, Kay actually hit her target in the head. The bull's-eye was on the chest, but whatever.

"Nice," Kyle said, taking off his headset. "Remind me never to get you angry enough to shoot me."

"I'm still nowhere near as good as you," she said, putting the pistol down.

"You haven't practiced nearly as much as I have. You'll get better." He threw the shotgun in his hand in a barrel by the door, and led her out. "If you want to, of course."

Kay pondered on this. She wasn't as sure as she'd been about the obstacle course, but she did enjoy shooting. Maybe she'd come over from time to time and practice some more.

"When can I start training for the course?" she asked instead.

Kyle raised his eyebrows. "Today if you want. We can get started after lunch. But don't you want to rest a little? You've had a full morning."

She shook her head violently. Being busy was what kept her sane, made her walk alongside Kyle and not crave his warmth and his touch. They were acting normal, like friends, like student and pupil and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Okay then. But just so you know, you need sports gear for that."

No problemo. Kay actually had shorts and a t-shirt with her, so she was more than happy to be in the gym after lunch. Max was taking Sophie on a tour of the ranch, so they were alone this time. Kyle too wore sweats, a tank top and trainers.

The gym was a cavernous room filled with aerobics equipment, a punching bag and a plethora of exercise equipment. Max really liked this working out thing. Kay didn't even have a treadmill at her place.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kyle asked, heading for a stereo in the corner. "Last time I'm asking."

"Yes, I'm sure," Kay answered, hopping in place.

"I'm not going to take it easy on you. I'm also going to yell a lot and annoy the life out of you."

Kay nodded and rolled her eyes. Could they get on with it so she could stop staring at him? That tank top molded a little too snugly over his torso.

"Okay, grab a stepper, weights and a mat." He turned up the music and a remix of Britney Spears with a heavy beat started playing.

"Britney Spears? Seriously?" she asked in disbelief.

"And oh, how you're going to hate her by the end of the class," Kyle said with an evil grin.

Kyle was wrong. Kay didn't hate Britney by the end of the class. She hated her, every 90s boyband and Kyle with a passion hard to rival. He'd yelled at her, blew his whistle, and made her work muscles she didn't even know she had. She'd had no idea she was this out of shape.

By the time she put the stepper back, her arms were shaking, and she was dragging her feet.

"How was it?" Kyle asked.

He hadn't worked in tempo with her, just demonstrated each exercise and then left her to it, staring at that evil stopwatch that seemed to tick hours instead of seconds.

"Don't talk to me," she mumbled, shaking her legs, trying to get some feeling into them, loosen her aching muscles.

"It's going to be hard until you get used to it. That's why I asked you if you were sure."

Kay glared at him, but she was still sure. Her blood was racing, adrenaline pumped through her, and the only thought on her mind was shower. Alone. Things couldn't be better.

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This chapter is a little weird because it's sort of a transition chapter that shows a lot of stuff. As fun as it would have been to stretch out each scene, I feel it would get a little annoying and boring. So, did it work for you or was it boring/too fast?

What do you think about Kyle now? Do you see him a little differently? And would you like to learn all that stuff?

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to grace me with your opinion and maybe leave a vote. Also, if you're reading and enjoying this, please consider adding it to your reading lists. It helps :)