Back from the Brink (Book 2 of Arrow/SPN Crossovers)

Roads Filled With Good Intent Part 2

About two hours in Felicity brought them huge glasses of water.

"It makes me happy when you guys get all sweaty," she said as she put the glasses on the dock. Oliver looked at her, waiting for it. As she stood up she stopped. "Well, because it makes you happy to get each other all sweaty. I mean...." Her face started getting red. "Here's some water, I'll be leaving now. " She started walking quickly back to the house. Oliver started to chuckle. Sam shot him a look.

"She does that a lot, she's getting better. When we first started working together how she would phrase things was near disastrous. I got a lot of practice at not laughing at things. She doesn't seem to understand innuendos well. I'd been dead several times over if it wasn't for her though." Oliver took a long drink from a glass.

"Yeah. When I watched her monitor you guys, she's amazing. She really is." Sam said and Oliver saw a bit of sadness and regret in Sam's eyes.

"Keep going or do you need a break?" Oliver asked.

"I'm good. Tomorrow I won't be moving but that's then. Let's do this."

"Alright then." Oliver smiled and faked a punch at Sam's face.

They went at it for another two hours and Oliver called a halt, his muscles were burning and he was panting. Sam had been pushing him hard for the last half an hour applying what Oliver had been teaching him. Somehow Sam had been moving faster and faster towards the end. Oliver saw some glimpses of anger in his eyes and movements but it seemed as if he was controlling it, not the other way around.

"Hey we need to get cleaned up, eat something and head to town to get the car. I think we managed to burn off breakfast." Oliver said as he ducked a punch.

"Ok, sounds good." Sam threw a kick and managed to catch Oliver on his upper thigh and was rewarded with a wince and a sharp intake of breath. The longer they had sparred the more Sam had picked up but his rage had started to reappear. He felt it building as memories of other fights he had been in with Dean had cropped up. Unwilling to channel it into harder hits he used it to overcome his exhaustion. Truth to tell two hours in Sam's muscles had been screaming at him. He and Dean hadn't really ever trained like this, there was so much daily violence in their lives they had never felt the need to actually train. The physical pain started serving as a way to release all the emotional pain. When Oliver finally called a halt to the session he had wanted to snarl at him, this was something he needed how dare Oliver stop it. Then he caught himself took a deep breath and nodded. They cooled down and then walked back to the house.

"Well I hope I don't have to fight anyone tonight, I don't think I'd be able to do much. Good job Sam! You learn and adapt pretty fast. I'm impressed. If you want to join up with us some time I can always use the help." Oliver said. He reached his hand out to Sam. Sam clasped his hand, pulled him in close and half embraced him with the other arm.

"Thanks, I was thinking it may be worth hanging out here a bit longer. Once I get back to hunting I'll be on my own, I need to learn some new skills to survive. If you don't mind teaching me." It'd been a long time since anyone had complimented Sam on something, it felt good. Dean was never much for positive reinforcement.

"I wouldn't mind at all. They won't all be 4 hour marathon sessions though. Occasionally I need to look like I am running a company," Oliver replied.

"Huh, that's just an excuse. You don't want me kicking your ass in two weeks."

Felicity had seen them start heading up to the house and figured they'd be hungry. She started putting together some sandwiches. She had been spending the time monitoring police scanners and trying to track down any other information on the Mirakure. It had been a frustratingly fruitless search. Even though Oliver wasn't really talking about it she knew it was weighing on him that they hadn't had any breakthrough. It was as if whoever was running this was anticipating Oliver's moves. It had left Felicity on edge. As she set down the sandwiches when the guys walked into the kitchen she put the plates down with a lot more force than usual.