She looked at the wall, gaged it's height and how quickly she might be able to climb it. It would be easy enough for her, but judging by the lack of a rope she would need to work with her partner for this one. So be it. She glanced back at Lawrence and then to the wall again. It was just tall enough that she wouldn't be able to climb to the top and then reach down to pull him up, which would have been her first choice for speed. Alexandria motioned for Lawrence to wait for a moment while she climbed the wall and peered around the top carefully.

The Elf could see the buildings on the other side, but nothing at the top of the wall that would help. Quickly she climbed back down, being as silent as she could. When her feet touched the ground she turned to her partner to discuss quickly what to do. After a few minutes of talking in quiet tones she and the man started up the wall again. It was a fast pace, but slow enough that they would not be heard. She stopped regularly to make sure she did not get ahead of him, and if he seemed to be having trouble she reached over to him to steady him until he got his footing again.

Once at the top of the wall they crouched down, examining the buildings and talking quietly again before they slipped down the other side and took to whatever shadows they could find. Her footfalls could not be heard at all, even in the heavier armor. She slipped inside of the first building, going through a side door and sneaking up behind the soldier that was waiting for her. The Elf disabled him without harming doing any real harm to the man before she moved on to the next building. After each building, and each conflict she would quickly look for her partner, keeping contact with him to make certain that he was alright by sign language. If she went to long without seeing him, she would search.

Lawrence followed the new recruit, strict orders from his superior. They were gauging her skills making him have to be a slow and poor partner. If he ran the course like he usually did, telling how well Alex could work would be pointless. At least this brought him some amusement making simple mistakes that cost her time. Slipping, falling behind, not doing as directed. The plan was to add as much pressure on her as possible. Needed to know her breaking point. To Lawrence he believed she didn't have one as long as James wasn't around.

The first time he saw the elf he could feel the incredible tension between them and without thinking. He had done the course unconsciously and was now ahead of Alex. Oh, how the scolding he would get for that. What could you expect from the partner of James. Could compare the pace they were going at like a snails. He wouldn't comment on that though. So now he stood before the obstacle course.

It didn't represent any sort of real life situation. Built for reaction time and dexterity. One person stood at a path that slowly turned into a trench and the partner at the opposite. While on the course they would encounter situations that they would need to overcome together without speaking or seeing what the other did. Trust was a key factor. Would need to believe in your partner that they would do what was needed. If they didn't they would realize it once they came to a place they would require the help of a partner that was left behind. In turn causing them to run back, wasting supposedly precious time.

James didn't care about time, just desired for people to get through the course unharmed and efficiently. So from Alex's show of good skills he gave the signal to Lawrence to run through this part of the course at a moderate pace. That is if Alex figured it out fast enough in time to keep up with him. The general had high hopes for her. Wouldn't let her live it down if she disappointed him.

When she reached the course a little after her partner her eyes took in what she could see of it. The woman then looked to Lawrence and nodded before she motioned to him that they should start. She wanted to be through the course as quickly as they could, with as few mistakes as possible.

Once she started the course, she moved as though she knew exactly what she was doing, with the determination of a well trained military veteran that had never lost her touch. Every time they reached an obstacle where they needed to work together, her mind took over and they made it through. She was in her zone, where she belonged, Alex just had not realized it until she got into the course.

Everything was pushed from her mind but the task at hand and she moved as quickly as the course, and her partner, would let her. Perhaps she moved a little fast, but she always ensured that she would know if something were to go wrong. Instinct took over.

It wasn't hard for Lawrence to keep up with Alex while he enjoyed himself running through the course. For once he didn't have to worry. So when they were done he couldn't help but chuckle. "The rest is up to you know." he spoke to her walking off the course to join James. All that was left now was the typical run of the mill course. Avoid obstacles, get through as fast as possible. The training course really, the one you could do at your own leisure.

When Lawrence was finally next to James he looked over at his superior. "You knew she would do well didn't you?" he asked with a sly grin. James never paired him up with a recruit that lacked potential. "You are a wise man Lawrence, but a fool at time." James chuckled giving his friend and right hand man a friendly punch in the arm.

After Alex was done with the coarse James was waiting for her at the end with a bored look on his face. Still couldn't help himself from not agitating her. Lawrence though should a more pleased expression smashing all of James' attempts if Alex even looked in his direction.

She finished the training course quickly, and easily, passing other recruits that had been there before her. Some of them actually stopped and gapped at the ease that the elf moved with before they remembered where they were and continued on with their tasks. When she reached the end she seemed to barely even be out of breath, and she held her chin high as she moved towards James and the man she had been paired with. The expression on her face was blank, void of any emotion. Even so, the tension grew as the woman neared the two. Little things, like her fingers curling and uncurling a couple of times, gave away her annoyance.

Alexandria tried not to let the look on his face get to her, but it was hard not to. He was the Commanding officer, and he seemed completely unimpressed with the way she had blown his other recruits out of the water. There was a fire in her eyes that she could no conceal, and she barely stopped herself from sniffing in disgust at the man.

James rolled his eyes before letting out a bored sigh. "What more can you expect from an elf to be fast. If you were trying to impress me you failed. You will need to tame that anger of yours on top of that before you ever go on a mission with us...." his voice was nonchalant and rather down casting. Was purposefully making it like he was looking down on her. Only he quickly took a step towards her closing the distance. Placing a hand on her shoulder he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "...because if you don't you'll never find yourself a partner." Then with that sad he gently brushed his lips against her ear before walking away. He at least had enough brains to run away from her wrath. Would expect nothing less of her to realize he had just played her.

Lawrence couldn't help but laugh a little, never had he seen his superior act in such a way. It was new to him and all the other recruits that they even stopped to stare forgetting once more of the task at hand. Though Lawrence held his tongue not commenting on what just occurred or even spoke. Didn't want to play with her anger like James.

There was a mixed look of feeling on her face before she finally chose anger. She wanted to lash out at something, mostly James, but there was nothing she could do. Instead she frowned and looked at Lawrence, very careful to keep her tone as level as she could, "Is there anything else I am needed for at the moment?"

She wanted to find some place she could spar with someone, release the anger. There had to be somewhere she could go, someone she could have a good brawl with to cool herself down. If not then she would just find another way.

"No, not really. But her is a schedule and map of the place, if you need anything just come and get me." Lawrence handed her the papers James had gotten ready for her. The commander was the one she was to speak with. After that encounter though Lawrence decided to give her a break and put himself out on the line to help her. Either way James would be too busy and she would mostly likely not see him until morning.

With that over with Lawrence bid her farewell and took off to the Mess hall to get something prepared for James when evening came. That man would be locked away in his room forgetting to eat or anything. Alex couldn't get into too much trouble here anyway. Right? He hoped that anger of hers was only directed towards James.

She nodded and muttered and thank you as she looked at the map. Though she did not find a place she could spar at, she did find a gym. If nothing else she could use those facilities to distract her from the rage she felt. Why, of all the places she could be put, did it have to be under his Command? Alex wanted to scream in frustration, but she kept it to herself.

When she made her way into the gym, with the schedule and map tucked into her pocket, she began to push herself in the exercises she did. There was a reason she was so fit, and it wasn't because she was an Elf. Her expression was determined, detached, and angry all at once.

The gym was bustling with noise. New recruits were be putting in there place by the actual troop. One think James men disliked was a cocky, big shot newbie. When you are apart of this unit everyone is equal, elf, human, male or female. So when they pulled there attention away to look at Alex they let her be. Her anger and determination kept them away. Why mess with someone who was working hard to be there best?

For this gym their was a moderator and his name was Samuel. He was quite the massive size. Looked extremely muscular but really he wasn't, James could easily do more reps then him. That is James was leaner and Samuel was on the larger side. He watched the gym quietly from his seat and observed as some recruits went to bother her. At first he didn't get up he wanted to see what she could do.

The woman stopped her exercise and looked over her shoulder at the recruits from the corner of her eyes. Alex turned fully towards them after a moment, "What do you want?" One of the men looked her up and down. He had already been in one scrap, likely with the Troops, and now he wanted what he thought would be easy prey.

"I'll make you a bet. If we can beat you, you come to our room." The Elf tilted her head slightly. Her voice was smooth, luring them into a lull, "And if I beat the four of you?" The smirk that played on her lips should have told them that they were getting themselves into a mess.

"If you beat us, doll, then you can do whatever you want with me." He made obvious hints with that and her grin widened. Alex walked closer to him, almost pressing her body to his, and she cooed into his ear, "Good then." Before the men knew what was happening, the spar had began.

In one smooth motion she swept the feet from underneath two of them and had introduced her elbow to the thirds face. The fourth, the ring leader, she turned away from herself and forced his right arm up between his shoulder blades while the others regained themselves.

Most of the troops stopped to watch as the newest recruit laid waste to the morons they already beat a little sense into. They couldn't understand new recruits and women. Such vulgar creatures. So they watched as ready to break the fight anytime if unfair advantages were taken or it got out of hand.

Really the most movement it caused was Samuel getting up from his seat. "Fight fair men. I know she will." he commented with a laugh. They seemed like sore losers and would soon spar inappropriately. If it got too out of hand James would end up in the gym. None of them wanted that not even the recruits.

"Think she will win?" One of the troops asked. "No duh she will. I bet you 10 bucks she will crush them easily." The men started making bets on the fight. Fifty was going towards Miss Alex and only twenty for the others. If Alex won they would give her the money, they were betting on her. The ones that started the quarrel would get nothing.

"Put me down for fifty on the girl." Jaws dropped when Samuel spoke up. He never bet on anyone it was a rare and honorable occurrence.

She ignored the commotion around them, and the sounds of bets being made on who would win. Her eyes darted from one man to the next and in another instant the ringleader was on his face, his chin cracking against the floor jarringly. She had hooked one leg around his.

The remaining three decided that they should surround her. That was not a bad idea, but she already expected it. When the first tried to diverge one of her legs snapped out to take him in the side. The wind was knocked out of him and he was coughing on the floor.

One of the others threw a punch, and hit the girl square in the jaw. Her head moved with the impact in an attempt to lessen the pain it would cause. He had, however, caused her teeth to bite into her tongue. Alexandria could taste the blood and she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth before she tackled the guy, sending him sprawling to the floor with her shoulder.

The last one, a little smarter then his friends, surrendered to her. He did not want to be one to have bruises that he would have to admit had been caused by a woman. He was pretty sure she had broken a couple of bones in the one she kicked. When he backed down Alex eased her stance so that it was less threatening.

The troops were having a riot watching the guys get smacked around. When she was finished with them they picked up the ones that got injured. "You are the one explaining this to the General Samuel." They called back dragging the recruits out of the room in an anything but pleasant way. Their broken bones were going to hurt. A lesson they should take to heart.

With all the money in hand Samuel walked over to Alex once the recruits were taken away to the medics room. "How is your jaw?" he asked in a monotone way. He was there to assist her not be her enemy and desired to know what injuries she got. Even if they disliked the recruits they had to take care of them.

"I believe this is yours." He added holding out a hundred and twenty dollars. "You can leave to town anytime you want as long as you have money and you come back. Rather not take the General from his paper work." He attempted to make at least some sort of conversation with her. Even though it was a completely lame attempt all together.

She watched the others drag off their companions, a sly look on her face, before she turned to the hulking man that approached her. That was a man she would not relish fighting, but she would if she had to. At first she did not notice the wad of money in his hands. At least not until he held it out to her.

"That's...for me? Because I won then?" She didn't hesitate to take the money though. This would not be the first time she had seen something like this happen. Her head tilted slightly as she watched the man and shoved the bills into a pocket. "My jaw is alright. It will be bruised, but it is not broken." There were still small lines of blood coming from the corners of her mouth where she had bitten her tongue. These, she wiped away carefully.

When he talks about dragging the general from his work she muttered something that sounded like "He's always been such a work-a-holic." Her blue eyes raised to him, "Well, thank you. I do not think that I will go to town, but I might shower if I don't have anything coming up on my schedule."

((Sorry for the late response. Went to the midnight release for fall out new vegas.))

"Yeah, we always give the money to the winner if we chose they deserve it. If those guys beat you, not that I thought they would, we wouldn't off given it to them." Samuel explained the whole betting situation in between the troops in a nonchalant way. Couldn't help but be glad that she beat the guys up and won. If she made it through the next few days and stayed he would be glad to see her around. That was also the fact he didn't know of how James treated her. Would change his opinion that she really needed to stay.

Samuel nodded to her before explaining one more thing. "You are very welcome. If the other recruits ever harass you just find one of us troops to either clean up after you or beat them up. We are here to help when we want too." He chuckled at his own words and patted Alex upon the shoulder like a relative would. Samuel wasn't the youngest man on the world, he was one of the older ones.

Which came to show their were a few recruits sprouting gray hairs, all of them were still lively and James wouldn't let them go. Just like he had separated off just a bathroom for Alex so she wouldn't have to deal with all the hormonal men. Truthfully it was actually his private bathroom and the only one he put on the map so she wouldn't attempt to go to the others.

[{It is fine. Needed to study anyway.}]

She couldn't help but smile at the large man, there was something oddly fatherly about the man. "I don't think many men will bother me to much after that display." With a sigh she shook her head, "If I need anything, though, I will be sure to let someone know."

The Elf nodded, and then saluted him before she turned to leave, picking her way around the grounds until she found herself at the bathroom that had been indicated on the map. There was nothing on her schedule for the time being, so she would take the time before she had something else to do.

Without knocking, she pushed the door open and entered the room. It was nicer then she had expected, and she waisted no time in stripping her uniform off before she stepped into the shower and let hot water cascade over her. It would not be everyday that she would be able to take a hot shower, and she knew it. Alex would relish it while she could.

((Ah, cool. ^_^))

Once Alex left Samuel went to fixing up the gym in a better mood then when he came in. Which only heightened when James walked in after her. It was a rare time and he was glad the gym was cleaned up. "Hey James. Everything is to your liking." Samuel smiled glad he could assist the general in lessening his stress.

James just looked over at his troop, gave him a nod and a smile before walking over to the weights. On his way over he turned on the radio turning the music up before beginning his workout. Like Alex he was determined, he wasn't fit for no reason. The workout he did daily would be strenuous to people who hadn't been training their body. He did all kinds of workouts to gain muscle strength not shape and also flexibility to keep them movable.

When he finished drenched in sweat and shirtless he walked to his bathroom only to pause. The shower was going. In his mind he had two choices, go in and die or wait. To wait was so boring. Drive Alex mad seemed more amusing. A slight pace back and forth. He walked into his bathroom ready to run back out when needed.

The Elf was to engrossed in her own shower to notice that anyone had entered at first. She was rinsing soap from her long hair, her head tilted back and the water pouring over her. Of course, James only saw the silhouette of this through the cloudy glass that separated the two.

When she opened her eyes, she could see a foggy shape outside of the shower, and assumed it was simply another soldier that wanted to shower. She had not known that the bathroom set aside was for her and James alone. "I suggest you stand outside and wait." There was not an edge to her voice. She seemed pretty confident that word of her exploits in the gym had gotten around to most of the recruits and soldiers by now.

At entering and not a thing happened James couldn't help but smirk. It only grew as she spoke. Taking a towel he draped it around his shoulders and grabbed another for Alex once she finished. One of the few kind acts he would do that wouldn't be seen that way. "You are telling me to wait when this is my bathroom, recruit?" he purred with a chuckle. "You seem rather confident. Want me to join you?" Now he was truly having some fun with this. Never expected her to lack so much anger, he wanted to make her snap. The anger was so much more, sensual. With a shake of his head James tried to erase that from his mind.

"I suggest you hurry up Alexandria. Not like I haven't seen it before." Oh he loved messing with her. The anger she had towards him had to be boiling. Even in an amazing shower would be crushed by his presence. At least he thought that from how she looked at him all the time. Never a happy look, it kind of put James in a sour mood making his anger rise along with his mockery.

The shower stopped running immediately and she pushed the sliding glass open. She didn't bother to cover herself, he was right. He had seen it before. When she looked at him she was careful not to let her eyes wander beyond his face, assuming that he would be naked again.

Her skin glistened, and her slight annoyance was obvious, but at the same time there was something else in those blue eyes of hers. "Why is it that your bathroom is marked on the map I was given, James?" Alex thought she knew the answer, but she wanted to hear him say it. The way they had been at each others throats, though, she doubted he would ever admit the truth.

She noticed he had a towel for her and she took a couple of steps closer to him so that she could retrieve it. There certainly had to be things she would need to do soon. She was, after all, only a recruit.

If only James was as considerate, he ended up looking over Alexandria's glistening body. The first thought that came to his mind was how he had missed her which slowly got his anger to rise. He left her, there were no feelings left, this was just a game. So when she got close enough he threw the towel over her body and slid her up against his that was simply covered with a towel. Only his hands were upon her ass to slid her into him. "Thanks for getting out of the shower Alex."

She had been right, he was not going to tell her. Just slid past her dropped his towel and enter his shower. What she did next was up to her, he would be taking a long awaited shower. Once the water drizzled down onto his body a pained sigh escaped his lips and he just let the water pour down onto his body.

It seemed having Alex so close was agitating the always emotionless calm general. "If you are going to continue using this bathroom expect to encounter me more." And that was his last comment to Alex as he pushed his wet bangs out of his face. After this he would be going back to paperwork and he wanted to relax before that.

She shivered when he pulled her against him, her emotions roiling inside of her head. He was doing this on purpose, but she couldn't help but bite her lower lip. Alexandria could not deny that she had missed him, missed how he felt. He had left her though, without a word as to why.

When he got into the shower and started to clean himself she just stared at the cloudy glass. What was she going to do? The Elf knew that she should leave, but could she? No, she couldn't. Not after what he had just done. With a muttered curse to herself for being stupid, Alex found herself in the shower again, this time with James.

As the glass door to the shower opened James slowly opened his eyes to see no other then Alex. "Don't regret this." that was the only comment he made as he turned the water up. Luckily the shower was large enough for two if they were fine with being close. James only warned her because he didn't know what he would do especially with how she looked. How was he not supposed to be tempted by that?

Even as he tried to ignore that she was in shower with him, he couldn't and ended up finding himself pinning her up against one of the steamy walls kissing her. He had no idea what came over him, he just knew he couldn't stop now not after being able to have her bare skin against his, and so close.

[{You can time skip if you want or beat him up, up to you.}]

((Hrm..decisions decisions. Time skip I think.))

She didn't protest when he kissed her, or when she was pinned to the wall of the shower. Alex just let things unfold as they would....

-------------

After some time she stood outside of the shower, the towel draped around her and she tried to wring her hair out in the sink. A lot of the tension that had been building since she saw James again was gone, but she didn't speak. Not yet. The woman did not know where to start.