This is a quick little story meant to take place between The End of the Beginning and Become Who You Are. It should follow that same storyline, so any inconsistencies are unintentional. I thought while I was waiting for Indiejane to do the next chapter of Allegiances, so I can continue with Become Who You Are, I'd fill in some of the blanks in the two year gap between the stories. Feedback, please!

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"I want to get back in the ring." V propped herself up on her elbow and turned to face Jax.

Jax opened his eyes slowly, turning to her with clear apprehension. Jesus, he thought. Already? He'd hoped, at first, when V had just been released from the hospital and was still doped up on painkillers and bandaged, that her allowing him to take care of her would last after she recovered. He ought to have known better. The cast had only been removed from her badly broken arm for a few days, and already she was talking about fighting. "What's the hurry?" he asked, keeping his voice light.

She grinned. "Same hurry as getting back here," she said, gesturing to the bed.

Jax shook his head. He'd been stunned when, on the third night after she'd gotten out of the hospital, she'd come out to the sofa where he'd been sleeping and reached for his hand, asking him to come to bed with her. The doctors had told Gemma, who had bullied them into treating her as V's next of kin, that although her physical injuries would heal over time, her emotional ones might last forever. An offer of her body was the last thing he'd been expecting.

Still, as always, V knew what she wanted. "This is how I get past this," she'd said, putting a finger to his lips to shush his protest. "Please, Jax. I don't want to talk about it. This is what I need." He didn't argue, just took her slowly, relearning her body, listening for her cues. Though he wondered later if he'd made the right choice, he knew he was no more in control now than he'd ever been. He was never going to be able to turn her down.

The next day, V had insisted on returning to Teller-Morrow, her arm in a sling and her face still a mess. From then on, there was no more taking care of her. Though she hadn't said anything, he knew that she was looking for a new place of her own. And now she wanted to get back into the ring.

Jax scowled briefly. He didn't like the idea that V thought of being in bed with him as the same as being in the ring with an opponent. Given her recent allowing him to be gentle, he'd thought that part of their relationship was over. "All about fucking and fighting with you, isn't it?"

V knew Jax was getting pissed. In the past, that would have been her cue to leave, or to agitate him further, just for the sake of the fight. Since her abduction, though, she'd tried much harder not to instigate problems, to let Jax at least feel like he was taking care of her. She slid over, pressing her body against his. "You don't seem to mind the fucking," she said, her voice teasing, trailing her fingers down his chest.

He refused to be assuaged, grabbing her wrist before her hand found his cock. "You're trying to change the subject."

She smiled up at him. "Maybe."

He lifted her arm above the sheet. Even in the room's dim light, it looked pale and withered from weeks in a cast. "You're still healing, baby."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'm not sayin' I'm gonna be ready to fight tomorrow. But I'm itching to get back to it. Besides, Chibs won't let me fight before I'm ready."

Jax's body stiffened. He'd studiously avoided the subject of Chibs since V had come to stay with him. "That what this is about, then?" His voice was low. "You think we're goin' back to the way things were before?"

"No," V frowned. "It's about me going back to being me." She wondered, though, if Chibs was part of what was drawing her back into the ring. Her turning to Jax the night she was kidnapped had been purely instinctual, putting herself in the hands of the man she knew would take care of her when she couldn't take care of herself. As she'd healed, though, she'd wondered if she'd make the right decision. Once again, she owed Jax, and already she felt herself resenting the debt.

Jax was quiet for a minute. He wanted to tell V he wouldn't share her again, to demand that she commit to him. He knew, though, that there was nothing more likely than rules and boundaries to send her running. He sat up and lit a cigarette. "You know," he said, drawing in a stream of smoke, then letting it out, "you're a pain in the ass."

V laughed, reaching out to take the cigarette. "I'm worth it."

-0-

"You sure about that, princess?" Chibs asked. He looked at V skeptically. Even without the cast on her arm, the evidence of the Russians' attack was still clear on her if you knew where to look. For his part, he'd spent the recent weeks trying not to look at her at all. As soon as his relief at her being alive had faded, the pain of her inalienable choosing of Jax had hit him. He'd known all along that she was never going to belong to him, but he hadn't expected to see her belong to someone else, either.

V. hadn't sought him out to ask him about starting training again, but instead had made the request in the clubhouse, with Jax sitting next to her at the bar. Trying to keep it on the up and up? Chibs wondered. He turned to Jax. "What do you think about this, brother?"

Jax's jaw was tight. "Up to V," he said. "She wants to fight, I'm not gonna try to stop her." He wanted to add a warning to Chibs, tell him to keep his hands off V, but knew better of it. The only chance he was going to have to get V to stay was to let her do things her own way.

Chibs looked surprised at Jax's change of tune. He'd never liked to see V fight, and if anything, her abduction and everything she'd gone through at the hands of her tormenters was all the more reason to try to protect her. Is he finally getting it? Chibs wondered. And is it even the right move anymore? V had seemed very much herself lately, independent and mouthy, but he hadn't caught even a glimpse of pain seeking in her, and wasn't sure it was still there. Had the pain finally been enough?

"This doesn't have to be a big deal," V said, turning her smile back to Chibs. "No idea if this arm is even going to work well enough to get me back into any real fights. But I gotta do somethin'. Sittin' in the office isn't enough."

Chibs nodded. "Up to you," he said, catching himself in time to keep from calling her "princess" again. "You want to train, I'll train you."

"Good. Let's start tonight!" V looked enthusiastic about the prospect, then shocked both men by leaning over and planting a quick kiss on Chibs' cheek before getting up to head towards the door back to the office.

After V let the clubhouse, Chibs turned back to Jax. "What's this really about?"

Jax scowled. "She says it's about her bein' her again." He met Chibs' eyes. "I'm not sharin' her this time." His voice was threatening. "I don't give a fuck what you think she needs."

Chibs smiled. It was hard to be angry with Jax—he knew he deserved all of his brother's anger. Still, it wouldn't hurt him to win with a bit more grace. "She chose you, Jackie," he said, his voice quiet. Then he got up and left the bar.