Cause I was bored. You're welcome!

***********************************

"Are you ready?" Carter asked.

Kennedy nodded, her round face tense with determination. A smile tugged at the corner of Carter's mouth.

"Good."

Grabbing a rubber band, Carter combed her fingers through Kennedy's thick, silky black hair, pulling it back into a ponytail.

"Remember," she said, tying it off. "He has a tendency to focus only on your fists, that means he's not watching your legs. This is where you can disarm him. A sweep of the legs and he's on the ground, giving you the advantage."

Kennedy nodded again, the messy ponytail dancing with the motion. As she stared into her daughter's brilliant cobalt eyes, Carter placed her hands on her shoulders.

"You can do this," she said.

Standing, Carter took up a position behind Kennedy, facing the competition. In an instant, she catalogued the opponent's state of mind, the energy in their stance, their level of focus. She wasn't worried.

"Is your cadet, ready?" Carter asked.

Donovan rested one hand on Harrison's shoulder, his gaze challenging Carter.

"We are indeed," he said.

The two four-year-olds were ushered into the center of the living room, where space had been cleared. The kids were guided without question, facing each other with looks of fond friendship. Their hands were encased in soft, foam gloves. Carter settled in beside Donovan.

"All right," Donovan said. "Today we judge who is better trained. On the left, we have Kennedy Eleanor Owens-Keller, who has been trained by the weaker of the two trainers, Carter."

Carter smacked Donovan's arms, eliciting a laugh out of him.

"On the right," he swept his arm out to Harrison. "We have Harrison Mason Evans, who has been expertly trained by the amazing and devilishly good looking, Donovan." 

This pulled a laugh out of Carter, which widened Donovan's smile. Harrison's arms hung by his sides, his face upturned and already showing the first hints at boredom. Across from him, Kennedy was swinging her arms about, enjoying the weight of the gloves.

"Now, it's a fight to the death!" Donovan said.

"Donovan!" Carter said. "We're only going with first blood."

Both kids stared up at them, the innocence in their eyes contrasting the image of intense and violent combat.

"Okay," Donovan amended, "till the first one lands a blow." He leaned over his knees. "You both know the rules." He looked back and forth between them. "No biting. You only win and get ice cream if you manage to hit the other person."

Harrison tilted his head back. "Daddy says I'm not allowed to hit girls."

"Yes, well in any other situation, you're not. But I'm giving you permission for this one."

This was accepted with a careless shrug.

"Mommy says I'm not allowed to hurt people," Kennedy said.

Carter crouched down. "No, you're not allowed to use willful force against an unsuspecting victim or bystander that has caused you or someone around you no personal harm. This is fine, Harrison can take it."

Kennedy looked at Harrison and repeated his answer of a shrug.

"All right," Donovan said, straightening. "Let the games begin." When this didn't get an immediate reaction, he went on. "Ice cream for the winner."

Kennedy raised her fists and took on the stance Carter had taught her as Harrison did the same. The two edged closer to each other before starting to make an uneven circle.

"Kenny, remember what I said about his legs," Carter said.

Donovan faced her. "You can't offer advice in the middle of battle. If your trainee isn't prepared that's on you." He looked at the pair. "Harrison, her left side."

The two kids didn't react to these bits of advice, still focused on each other. When they had made a second rotation with no action, Harrison dropped his hands and stared up at Donovan.

"Can I just have ice cream now?"

In the moment of distraction, two things occurred: Kennedy took the opening and lunged in for a punch while the door to the apartment opened and Link walked in. Harrison went down with an oof and Link stared in shock.

"I leave my son with you for one hour and you have the two boxing?" he asked, moving to kneel beside a dazed Harrison.

Carter and Donovan exchanged a look.

"We call it a lesson in self-defense," Carter said.

Link threw her an unamused look, before lifting his son to his feet.

"Hey, little man," he said, brushing down his shirt. "You all right?"

Harrison tried to wipe his nose, where Kennedy bonked him, but his glove made it awkward.

"Can I have ice cream now?" he asked.

At the mention of the victory treat, Kennedy began to bounce up and down.

"I won, I get ice cream," she said.

Carter cast a smug smile Donovan's way. "That's right you did win, Cadet." She tugged off Kennedy's gloves and tossed them to the couch, before scooping up her daughter. "You definitely get ice cream."

Carter settled Kennedy on a barstool and went to the freezer. Before Harrison could get angry about not only losing but being denied ice cream, Link picked him up.

"You get ice cream as well, for putting up with two terrible babysitters," he said.

"If your son plans to be best friends with our daughter, he's going to need to learn how to handle himself," Donovan said, stealing one of the ice cream popsicles Carter set on the counter.

"I know, but isn't four a little young?" Link asked. He shook his head. "What am I saying? You had boxing gloves hanging over Kennedy's crib."

Carter and Donovan exchanged a smile. The apartment fell quiet as everyone dug into the dessert of victors.

"I'm proud of you for winning," Carter told Kennedy.

In response, Kennedy beamed, her mouth smeared with chocolate ice cream.

"It wasn't a true win," Donovan said.

"How was it not?" Carter countered. "She saw an opening and took it."

Kennedy kicked her legs, watching her parents.

"I bet daddy couldn't beat mommy," she said.

Donovan raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "Is that so, Cadet?"

"I have to agree with you, Kennedy," Link said, smirking. "I don't think Donovan could beat Carter."  

"Uncle Donny could beat Aunt Carter," Harrison chimed him.

Donovan gestured to the brown-haired boy. "At least I have some amount of support."

A teasing smile curled Carter's lips. "What do you say? Want to see who gets to win ice cream?"

"Fine, as long as you're prepared to have our daughter see you lose."

In answer, Carter walked back to the living room and cleared a larger space. She faced Donovan, hands on hips.

"Till one of us is pinned?" she asked.

"Works for me," Donovan said, pulling off his hoody and throwing it to the couch.

The trio in the kitchen watched the pair with gleaming eyes, the ice cream only adding to the sense of entertainment. As Donovan rolled his shoulders, Carter closed the distance between them. Smiling, she placed one hand on the back of Donovan's neck and kissed him.

When he went to kiss her back, she hooked one foot around his ankle and whipped his leg out from under him. He crashed to the carpet, Carter on top of him.

"I saw an opening," she said.

In retaliation, Donovan wrapped a leg around Carter's waist pinning her to the floor. As he shifted, she slipped from his hold and scrambled to her feet. The pair circled each other, in a slow, calculated motion.

Carter sprung forward. Ducking out of Donovan's reach, she grabbed his arm, pressed one foot to his leg, while encircling her other leg around his middle and using her weight to off balance him. They collided with the ground.

"I don't want to know what your downstairs neighbors think you do up here," Link commented.

His remark was ignored as Donovan rolled, trapping Carter under his weight. She wound her arm around his neck. Before she could get close to cutting off his airway, Donovan rolled again and flung her off his back.

The kids at the counter watched in awe, as the pair attacked and countered with such ease. If Donovan was a panther, Carter was a lynx slipping from his grasp.

At the end of fifteen minutes, Donovan had Carter pinned and both of them were sweating and grinning at each other.

"It looks like I get-"

Donovan was cut off as a small body barreled into him. Though Kennedy wasn't big enough to even cause damage, the surprise of the hit made Donovan tumble off Carter. Kennedy landed on her father's stomach, laughing. Carter prompted herself up on her elbow and tapped Kennedy's nose.

"And that is how you defeat someone stronger than you, you have backup."

As if to reinforce this thought, Harrison leapt onto Carter, bringing her down with a shocked breath of air.

"We win," Harrison said.

He high-fived Kennedy.

"It looks like they get more ice cream," Link said, grinning down at Carter and Donovan.

**********************************************************************

Take 'em down!

(Haha all this makes me think of is that epic scene in the second Lord of the Rings during the battle where Aragorn yells at Legolas to take down the guy with the torch. 🧝🏼‍♂️🗡)

I'm not sure that made any sense but whatever.

Moving on! What did you think?

Now that's you've told me I have something to tell you! I think I found a comprise!

So half of you want Kennedy in a few months and the other half want to keep the One Shots.

So here's what I'm going to do! You'll get both! ☺️ But it will change slightly. I will post every other week so these can keep going but without putting a lot of pressure on me.

Sound good?

I hope so cause this was the best way I could make both of your wants happen.

Vote, comment, follow but only if you have nothing better to do.