Protective Love

Mich smirked slightly before leaning forward putting all his weight on his left foot and brought his right fist into the center of the punching bag causing it to almost fold in half, the chains barely holding onto there anchors, as sand puffed out from the stitches lining the bag. He stared at the bag for a moment before looking back at Melinda saying "That, you will never be able to do, but that's not what your strength is. Your strength is your size. You can use your size to your advantage in combat just like i can use mine. While i can over take enemies, wrap myself around them or even throw myself at them if need be, you can evade them and counter there moves." He smiled only slightly before walking up behind her and nudging her closer to the bag before stooping down to her level behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder and he brought his arms around her molding them to her arms saying "But first, you need conditioning, we will work on stamina, form, and speed. Now stand like this . . ." He quickly shifted her feet and arms to the correct positions and brought her hand out in the motion of a jab before saying "Now Work on Jabs. I want you to do one hundred jabs while i Lift some weight's. Ok?"
 
"Right!...Wait, a hundred?!" she asked incredulously, turning her head to face him with her eyes wide in shock, "I can barely do 10 push ups and you want me to do 100 jabs?!"

She hadn't even started, but she could already feel the burn just thinking about it. However, when Mich merely narrowed his eyes at her and gave her a stern look, Melinda clamped up and gave a short nod. This was for her best...this was for her best.

"O-Okay...I'll try," she replied, sighing quietly as his warmth suddenly left her, a warmth she had wanted to keep feeling surrounding her, and she was left to do her 100 jabs, which she started on as soon as he had stepped away from her, "1...2...3..4..."

She had gotten into a pretty good rhythm, her upper arm and shoulder burning just as she thought it would from the muscles going so long in disuse, but the more she punched at the bag, as pathetic as her hits were, the more comfortable she became. At one point, she thought about a movie she had seen with her friends about a kick boxer and when remembering a particular scene where the man was rapidly punching and roundhousing the punching bag just like the one before her, she accidentally copied his moves and made a kick after a two punch combo. When she realized what she had done, and how ridiculous she probably looked, she snapped herself out of her thoughts and went back to her jabs.
 
Mich had been lifting the weight's smiling from ear to ear while he watched her punch and when she threw in a kick he couldn't help but smile wider and fight off a chuckle before continuing on with his workout. By the time he finished she only had a couple of punches left and had broken quite the sweat, as had he. He slowly walked up to her at the punching bag and said "Good, Now do it again, with your other arm." He smirked slightly at this before saying "You need to work on both arms. The strength of you is your size and speed so the jab and the kick will be your best friends. So you need to condition both arms."
 
Melinda bit back a groan as she wiped sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her jacket; she honestly wasn't used to working this much. How she had the figure she had was a mystery, but she really didn't work this much! With a deep breath, she started on the other arm even though she felt like just passing out from the pain she already felt in her right arm. She did as she was told, a few more kicks making their way into the workout. A few minutes later, she hit the bag with her final punch...and then collapsed to the ground with arms that felt like cooked noodles.

"I can't feel my arms anymore, Michael," she stated from her place on the floor; every now and then her arms would twitch from her muscles still spasming due to being worked after so long.
 
Micheal smiled softly this time, his eyes warm and content as he walked over and slowly scooped her up in his arms kissing her forehead saying good job. Now I need to workout for a little bit while you rest. Then I'll clear out the mens locker room so you can take a shower." He slowly walked over to the padded weight bench and lowered her down so she could sit comfortably before saying "Why don't you take off that jacket. It's hot in here and No one is going to bother us, it's just you and me back here." He smiled softly before walking over to the CD Player behind the bench and stuck his CD in before waking up to the bag.

As the soothing music began to play Mich slowly slipped his shirt off and tossed itagainst the far wall before leaping into the air towards the bag into a spining whirlwind kick bringing his foot right into the side of the bag with a loud heavy thud before dropping to the ground and throwing out a flurry of punches, each one with enough force to rattle the chains holding it and cause sand to puff out of it. As he moved around the bag his feet almost seemed to dance across the ground and his breathing stayed perfectly calm never picking up. His knuckles continued to pound into the bag one after the other Until he Did a back spring away from it and ran forward leaping towards it and lifting his knee into it causing sand to puff out from behind it. As he hit the ground this time he dropped low to the ground and slammed his foot right into the lower chain breaking it loose from the bag before bringing his fist into the bottom of it sending it swinging away from him, and as it came back towards him he took one step forward with his left foot and brought his right fist right into the center of it puncturing the bag and snapping the chain off of the roof slamming it into the ground. He stared at the bag for a moment his hand still embedded in it before letting out a slow breath and pulling his hand from the bag a small streak of red going up his middle knuckle as he had split the skin from not having protective hand gear.
 
Melinda had been mesmerized for almost the entirety of Mich's workout, the girl almost unconsciously slipping her arms out of the sleeves of the jacket and then holding it against her chest as she watched him. She only flinched out of her trance when he broked the bag from its stationary stance by knocking out the bottom chain and then punching it right into the ground with this earth shaking force that made her shake a little bit. She was then forced into motion when he pulled his hand away from the punching bag to reveal a small stream of blood running down his knuckle from the split skin. Melinda shot up from the bench, weak arms and all, and bolted over to his side, taking his significantly larger hand in her two smaller ones. The cut wasn't too bad, but it was bad enough to make her practically feel the sting herself.

"Mich...you can't do this to yourself," she stated softly, looking up at him with her big golden eyes as she covered the injury with her hand, "I don't care how good you are or how strong you are, if you hurt yourself like this...I'll worry about you."

Reaching into the pocket of her jacket, she pulled out a bandaid and quickly applied it to the cut, leaving it to be cared for later as she kissed his knuckle.
 
Mich slowly rose his hand to up her cheek gently as he tilted her head to look up at him as he said "Babe. Why do you think I'm so tough and strong. I work hard to be strong. But I'm glad you worry. He slowly wrapped his other hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him so he could hug her still sweaty body saying "All this pain I've been putting myself through these last few weeks, they were to keep you safe. . .Don't ask me why, but I think I'm falling in love with you." He held the hug there for a few moments before pulling out to look down at her afraid of what her reaction might be. He hoped he wouldn't regret his words.
 
Melinda could only stare up at Mich for the few seconds after his confessions, her mind suddenly jamming up. Mich might be in love with her? A kid like her? A broken, tainted, weak little thing like her who would probably only bring him more problems and inconveniences? It was almost too good to be true, but as she stared into this dark, beautiful eyes of his that were nothing but soft and gentle when they locked onto her, there was no way she could question it.

She clutched at his arms tightly for a split second before getting on her tiptoes to kiss the man deeply. She could feel his sweat underneath her fingertips, but she hardly noticed it was there as her lips and tongue tangled around his lovingly.

When she pulled back, slightly red in the face, she smiled shyly at him and said, "Well...to be honest, I think I'm falling in love with you, too."
 
Mich smiled down at Melinda for a moment before hugging her one more time his arms wrapping gently around her as he said "I'm glad." After several silent moments He slowly pulled out of the hug and Stepped back taking her hand in his saying "Let's get our things, You need to take a shower before We head down to the store." He smirked slightly before walking over and grabbing his shirt and the duffel bag he had brought with him with a spare change of clothes for the both of them. As he walked her to the men's locker room He stopped her just outside before saying "Hold on one minute." He smiled comfortingly before stepping inside the men's locker room. It was thankfully empty. Stepping into the showers he looked around making sure it was empty before finally going back outside. Mich Stepped out of the Men's locker room and smiled softly saying "It's empty. Why don't you take your shower first." He smiled softly waving for her to pass saying "I promise I won't let anyone inside."