She has him pinned.
Arm around his throat, knee in the small of his back.
It's as close to an embrace as makes no difference.
She increases the pressure, cuts off a little more of his wind. If he doesn't tap out soon, she'll strangle him. She knows he knows it.
"Guess this isn't the kind of wrestling you're used to these days, is it, Sarge?" she whispers. "Do you miss it?"
He can't even breathe, let alone answer her.
She doesn't feel even a flicker of guilt at the fact that she has an unfair advantage.
There's no such thing as an unfair advantage, in the rule-book they both play by.
"Does she know you miss it?"
He won't give in.
She feels him shifting, trying for leverage. Forestalls him, once, twice.
The third time he flips her. They come down still locked together, her beneath him now. He's heavy, and she'd have to let him go to break her fall.
She doesn't.
Sees stars as his weight drives the breath from her lungs.
Holds on.
He lifts them up a little and drops back down on her. Something gives in her side with a stomach-turning crack. His hands are on her arm, waiting for his opportunity, waiting for her grip to ease.
She holds tight.
He taps her forearm, twice, lightly. It takes her longer than it should to feel it, and when she lets him go he rolls away from her and lies, heaving for breath. She stays on her back, looking at the ceiling, tasting blood and wondering how much it's going to hurt when she moves.
A lot, is the answer, as she discovers when she tries to sit up.
"You're fucking crazy, Alpassi," he says at last, not looking at her. "Fucking crazy."
She grins at the ceiling. "I won, didn't I?"
He gets to his feet and holds out his hand. "Fucking crazy," he says again.
She lets him pull her to her feet, chokes back a curse at the pain. "Takes one to know one, Sarge," she says. "Takes one to know one."
It really hurts. For a second her knees buckle, and he grabs her other arm to hold her up. Her eyes are watering, from the pain, that's all. Just from the pain.
She presses her face against his shoulder to hide the moisture on her cheeks.
It's as close to an embrace as makes no difference.
And she won't give in.
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