A/N: Shout out to my awesome Beta, Jennifer!! This story wouldn't be half as good as it is without her. Thank-you, thank-you, Thank-you. I hope you enjoy my story.
North and Owen haven't said a word since we left my condo this morning. It's been about an hour that I've been sitting in the backseat, going crazy from the brooding going on in front of me. North's hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel as he drove. I could see the white knuckles from here. His lips were pulled down and his dark eyes were tight in the rear view mirror when I caught glances at him. Owen was equally as tense, though he had different tells. He had an iron grip on his phone and jabbed at it a little harder than necessary when using it. He too was frowning as he played with his phone, but it wasn't as harsh as North. Owen looked more disappointed than angry. It had been like this since we got into the jeep this morning. I curled my legs up on the seat, wrapping my arms around my pink yoga pants, bracing my sneakered feet on the edge of the bench. I rested my head on my knees and tried to block them out for a little while. I was slightly chilly in my black and pink t-shirt, but if the chill of the spring morning got to be too much, I had my black hoodie with me.
I was thrilled when Owen asked me if I'd like to learn to shoot a few days ago. I jumped at the chance to finally get to start the training. Unfortunately, since joining the Academy two and a half years ago, I always seem to have been on assignment, or the training was full before I was even aware it was being offered. However, Owen said he knew a guy from another team who was a weapons expert and all the other guys on our team went through training with him. What I hadn't expected was North's reaction. He was outside the condo as I was leaving to meet Owen. My light pink beetle convertible was in pieces in the parking garage. Not just my car either, but everyone else's vehicles. Most of the boys lived in the building with me. We occupied the entire building, all the units belonging to one of us. North owned a garage in North Charleston, near the Charleston Naval Complex where he restored vintage vehicles, and lived in a converted loft above it with Silas. Silas loved it because it was close to the marina where his boat was docked. Owen and Sean shared a house about fifteen minutes away on a few acres of land with a large pool in West Ashley. We spent a lot of time there during the warmer months. Our building had an indoor pool and gym on the lower level which looked out on the Waterfront Park, which lined the edge of the downtown district.
When I confronted him about it, North just shrugged like it wasn't a big deal and told me it was routine maintenance he'd been planning to do for weeks now. He claimed ignorance of the fact that I was supposed to be meeting Owen at his place across town so I could go to my gun training. North just suggested that I cancel. There wasn't any need for me to handle guns, or know how to use them as one of the guys would be with me all the time and they could handle it for me. That answer was unacceptable at this point and he knew it. The Academy wanted all it's members to go through gun safety training within their first three years of joining. I was running out of time before I'd be benched from any other missions until I completed this safety course. There were very few rules that the Academy had. Most of the rules were dictated by the teams themselves. However, this one was universal. Go through gun safety or don't go on missions until you do. It was like North didn't want me going out on missions with them anymore. Maybe he didn't think I was good enough now that I was part of the team and participating in the missions with them. Maybe the others agreed because no one seemed very upset that I hadn't gone through the class yet. In fact, none of them seemed surprised. Owen was the only one who brought it up on occasion. But, it seemed that by the time he mentioned something to me about the class being offered or coming up, we were already going to be out of town or busy, or the class was full. I hated disappointing him and I had been trying to keep my ears open for another class.
When he surprised me a few nights ago over dinner with this offer, I jumped at it. He was going to pull in a favor so I could get a personal class with a guy from another team who usually ran the training. Owen seemed pleased by my eagerness and made the arrangements immediately for me. He wanted me to keep this information quiet from the rest of the team, acting like he wanted to surprise them with the certificate of completion. I had my suspicions that maybe it wasn't just poor timing keeping me from the class. It made me doubt myself. A lot had changed since joining the Academy, since becoming a member of the Blackbourne team. I was able to escape my family and that awful school. I graduated from high school early and started taking college classes. I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but the Academy and the guys encouraged me to just take classes that sounded interesting until I found a subject that I wanted to stick with. I've learned several languages with their help, such as Japanese, Russian, Greek, French and Spanish, as well as sign language and Owen even suggested that since I had a knack for it, maybe going into interpreting as a career. I learned how to drive, got my license and then convinced North to teach me how to drive a stick shift and then a motorcycle. I'd love to learn how to fly planes. I mentioned it to Victor a few weeks back and he's been researching the best places to learn locally for me. They've never stopped me from learning or doing anything outright. But, with North's little outburst this morning, I'm starting to doubt the coincidence of me missing the gun training so much. I feel like it's offered pretty regularly, so it does seem odd in retrospect that I haven't made it to a class yet.
We turned off the main road onto a long gravel drive. I noticed a sign for the Charleston Gun Club. We must be there. I sat up, looking around, eager to get out of the car. When I called Owen to explain to him what was going on with the "maintenance" he offered to come get me and drive me. But, North wouldn't have it. We waited for Owen to get to my condo and then took off in North's Jeep. Owen had some hushed words with North privately, out of my earshot, which was pretty far away since I had excellent hearing. They both motioned angrily at each other and North's was typically, more aggressive as well. But Owen wasn't having any of it and like usual, he won the argument they were having and we left. No one said anything the entire trip.
There was only one other vehicle in the parking lot, a black suv, parked outside of the white non-descript building. It didn't give me the impression that nefarious things happened here, but it was secluded and certainly out of the way. I hopped out of the vehicle before grumpy one or grumpy two could get the door for me. They didn't like when I didn't wait for them, but I wanted them to know I was unhappy with their behavior. I rushed up to the door of the building and as I was reaching to pull it open, the door burst open with the help of a massive arm, covered in tattoos. I stopped in my tracks and followed the arm up to the shoulder it was attached to and along the large frame wearing a black form fitting tank top, up to the head, with dark chocolate eyes peering back at me with an undecipherable look behind his dark brown hair. He had two silver hoops in his left ear and a silver hoop in his lip. If I ever thought I wouldn't want to meet Silas or North in a dark alley, I don't think I'd want to run into this guy, anywhere; a park, surrounded by people in the middle of a sunny day, in a police station surrounded by officers. Warning bells went off and I took a step back. This guy couldn't possibly be in the Academy. He was the scariest guy I'd ever seen. He stepped out into the light and I had to look up to see his face still. A gleam entered his eye and a grin ghosted across his lips.
"Privet, malen'kaya ptichka. Vy zabludilis'?" (hello little bird. Did you get lost?) He asked in Russian, his deep timbre slid over my skin and caused me to shiver. He hadn't noticed North or Owen, still by the jeep. I smiled at him then, he probably wasn't expecting me to be able to understand him, let alone answer him in Russian. I couldn't wait to shock him. I enjoyed surprising people. I knew they often looked at me and saw a small, shy girl; much less timid than I used to be, but sometimes I still couldn't help myself. I looked physically weak and combined with my miniscule height, I was often underestimated. With my chameleon colored hair that fell just past my shoulders and green eyes, I felt like just your average girl. Nothing to see here. Keep moving.
"Ocean." I said to him in Russian, not forgetting my Academy training.
"Fruit cup." He replied, his eyebrow quirked up, a smirk following the grin.
"Hello," I started, still in Russian, "I'm here for gun safety certification. This might go easier if you could speak in English. I'm assuming you know English?" It had been a little while since I'd been able to have a real conversation with someone in Russian and I laughed outright at his stunned face. By this point Owen and North had joined us, coming up behind me during our interaction. I heard North grumble something under his breath, but didn't catch it as the big scary guy in front of me picked his chin off the ground and started talking again, in Russian, with that smirk plastered on his face. It lightened him up immensely and made him ruggedly handsome.
"Why would I switch to English when it is a joy to hear Russian come from such a beautiful mouth." He laughed and I blushed furiously. I wasn't used to being hit on by someone outside of our team. "Besides, I know for a fact that neither of these two can speak Russian. You must be their little bird." He motioned to North and Owen and I laughed at him, my mood brightening. He was funny, and a nice guy and since I knew he had to be Academy, I quickly started to feel comfortable around him. Which was unusual since I normally only felt really comfortable around my guys.
"Cut it out Raven. Stop talking about us." North grumped angrily.
"Not so fun when someone speaks in a language you don't know with someone else, is it?" I taunted North in English. He and Silas used to talk all the time around me in Greek before I picked it up so I wouldn't know what they were talking about. I hated it and they knew it and still, they'd do it just to get a reaction out of me.
"Keep your shoes on Zapadnyy, I was only greeting the little bird." He directed at North. I snickered under my breathe since I knew that Zapadnyy meant west in Russian and Raven was making fun of my Northstar. I didn't defend North at this point because he kind of deserved it a little after the stunt he pulled this morning and his attitude so far today. I was also dying to correct Raven's colloquism as he said it wrong, but I thought it might be considered impolite since English was not his first language.
"My name is Sang, by the way. I'm sorry I didn't properly introduce myself earlier." I held out my hand to shake his. He grabbed me and pulled me in for a massive bear hug. I felt like he was going to squeeze the life out of me for a moment. Both Owen and North tensed. Raven smelled of metal and oil. It wasn't as acrid as I thought it might be. It evoked a feeling of safety.
"My name is Raven, little bird. It is a pleasure to meet you." He whispered in my ear as he left me go. I was blushing bright red but I couldn't contain the goofy grin on my face.
"Let's go shoot things, yes?" Raven stepped back from me, addressing all three of us this time.
"Yes, well, Mr. Raven," I rolled my eyes at Owen. He would never break that habit if he didn't try. I was finally able to get him to call the guys by their first names and he accepted being referred to as Owen now that all the guys had graduated from the Academy. I was the only one who hadn't and it wouldn't happen if I couldn't accept missions because I wasn't certified in this gun safety class. "As I mentioned on the phone a few days ago, Sang here needs to go through the certification class for the Academy and our team has been in such high demand that she hasn't had the opportunity until now. And since her two year grace period is coming to a close soon, we need to get this taken care of."
"Owen, you know better than to wait this long for the training. She should have been in here as soon as she joined. I can't believe you would let her wait this long." Raven admonished Owen. He did look contrite about it and likely embarrassed that he had to make special arrangements for me to come in. I felt bad now. I knew he had to call in a favor for me to be able to get this done today and I know how valuable favors are. I sighed and my shoulders dropped. I was still a burden for them.
No, I couldn't think like that anymore. I wasn't a burden. Family is a choice. Family first. I needed to get this taken care of and I'm a member of the family. Owen chose to help me out. I still had six months to get here and get this training done. It wasn't critical yet. He offered to help me get this taken care of and I accepted the help. That's all there is to this.
I followed Raven and his massive tattooed body through the building and out a back door. Black jeans hugged his body showing off all his assets. Not that I was looking, but I was looking, you know, because he was in front of me. I couldn't help but look. I couldn't very well walk around with my eyes closed. There was a fairly long line of booths and tables set up with targets positioned across from them. It was all empty except one table about a third of the way down, I saw equipment set up. Raven walked right up to it and beckoned me over.
"You two stand back behind that line." Raven motioned to a white line on the grass about five feet behind us, "I don't need you getting hurt."
I gulped. "I could actually hurt someone?!" My voice spiked up at the end of the question.
"No, little bird. Not with me here. I was saying I might hurt them cause they get in way of teaching." His grin was evil and it did nothing to reassure me with that accent of his coming through. I simply nodded. He directed my attention back to the table in front of us. There are a few different looking guns placed on the table, along with a variety of bullets and what look to be pieces of the guns since all of the handles seemed to be missing a piece. He grabs one of the larger guns, it looks like it's metal with a wood handle.
"This is a Ruger mark three. You see, gun empty. No magazine in the grip." He gestures to the gaping hole in the handling of the gun, "And no bullet in the chamber." He points to a hole on the top of the barrel. I take his word for it, because I have no knowledge about guns at this point. I simply nod my understanding. If this means the gun is empty, then I'll store it away for future reference. He picks up what looks to be a long slender piece of plastic, shaped like a rectangle and hollow inside.
"This is a magazine. The magazine holds the bullets for the gun. This is a single stack, which means just one row of bullets fits in the magazine. See, no bullets in this magazine." He shows me that it's empty and I nod again. I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to learn how to shoot a gun without bullets, but I bite my lip and let him continue. "You put the magazine in the butt of the gun like this." He puts the empty magazine in the hole in the handle. That must be the butt or grip of the gun. There is a little bit of the magazine sticking out from the bottom of the gun, it looks like it might fall out if he were to hold it upright. It didn't look quite right from the pictures of guns I'd seen and from the movies. He then thrusts the meaty part of his palm against the magazine and it locks into place. Ok, I could probably load a gun with a magazine without much assistance if that's all there is to it. It seemed pretty straight forward.
Raven motions to the gun again, his right hand on the grip and his left points to the hole on the top of the gun. It appeared that there was a piece on the barrel of the gun that was slid back, lining up an opening on it with an opening in the top of the barrel. It looked like where the bullet would probably sit before being fired.
"This is the chamber. There is no bullet in the chamber, see? The chamber is empty. When there are no more bullets in the magazine, the slide will catch in the open position like this, telling you the gun is out of bullets. Once you put a filled magazine in the gun, the chamber needs to be loaded." He points to a little button on the side of the gun. "You press this to released the slide. It's called the slide release." He presses the button and the top of the gun slides forward. It now looks like the pictures I've seen of guns. "Now, even with the magazine in place and the slide released, you still can't fire the gun." He pulls the trigger and I jump back, expecting something. He grins at me and chuckles under his breath. I forgot he just showed me the gun was empty, nothing should happen. He slowly pulls the trigger again and I notice that the trigger stops before it's fully depressed. "You need to switch the safety off, once you are ready to fire. The safety is this toggle right here."
He again points with his left hand to a little button on the side of the gun below the slide release lever. He then pulls the trigger and I can see it's pressed all the way back. There is a little click and the slide catches, showing the hole on the top of the gun again, proving the chamber is empty. He presses the safety back on, on the side of the gun and then holds it out to me. I look at the gun in his hand and I look back up at him. My palms become a little sweaty at the idea of actually picking up the gun. I look over my shoulder slightly and see Owen and North leaning against the fence. Owen was as relaxed as I ever saw him, wearing khaki pants and a dark grey polo, his hands in his pockets. His face was neutral as he watched us interacting, but his eyes were curious as they met mine from behind his glasses. I was hesitating. I shouldn't be hesitating. I was excited to go through with this class when Owen approached me. I wanted to be in the Academy. I needed to do this. I was getting training to learn to handle a gun so I wouldn't accidently hurt anyone. I needed to trust them.
North was gloomy next to Owen, his face dark, his eyes hard as they watched every little movement Raven and I made. His dark hair falling into his face as the wind blew across us. His muscles were tight as if he was just waiting for the signal to move. I knew he'd be over here in a moment if I gave any indication that I was uncomfortable, or needed help. I guess I was lucky he hadn't shouldered his way into my lesson already. But, he couldn't take this class for me. I needed to do this on my own, for the team. If I didn't get certified, I was benched and that would only hurt the others.
"You can't learn to shoot a gun without holding it little bird." That's all the prompting I needed, I take a deep breath and reach out for the gun. It's surprisingly lighter than I thought it would be. I look at it in my hand and then back up to Raven.
"Ok, so I'm holding the gun. What now?" I ask him. Still uncomfortable holding something that could kill someone else with the twitch of a finger. Raven comes up behind me and kicks my feet apart a little so I'm sturdy and planted where I am. He reaches around me and grabs a hold of my hand holding the gun.
"Which is your dominant hand? Your right?" He asks into my ear as he's bent over me. I'm surprised at how comfortable I am with this and him there.
"Yes."
"Ok. Put your hand around the grip. Don't put your finger on the trigger. You don't do that until you are ready to fire. Take your left hand," he grabs my left hand in his and positions it so that it's cradling the butt of the gun from the other side, my left thumb falling over my right wrist, "and place it like that. Now, do you see the site at the end of the barrel?"
"Yes." I nodded my head.
"You want to line that up with your target. You'll release the slide," I toggle the slide release button, "Good. Now, turn the safety off." I use my left hand to press the safety button off, "Perfect. Now extend your arms, use the site to aim the gun and pull the trigger." I take a deep breath, feeling my back leaning against Raven's hard chest, I close my right eye to aim the gun and pull the trigger. "Pew. Pew." Raven makes a laser gun noise as I fire and the slide catches open. I giggle against him.
"You ready to try this with the gun loaded this time?" He smirks at me. He already knows the answer. Heck yeah, I'm ready to shoot things. He doesn't wait for a response before taking the gun from me and stepping back to the table.
"Now little bird, you will need to wear some ear protection. The gun is loud and I don't want you going deaf." he met my eyes as he held out the industrial looking earmuffs, "Then how could I talk to you in Russian?" I reach out without hesitation and grasp them, our fingers brushing over one another. It's amazing how at ease I am with Raven at this point. I've only just met him and I'm not nervous at all about firing my first live rounds from a gun