A/N: Set between parts 1 and 2.

.:':. .:':. .:':.

"Hey North. You set?" Carolina dropped her gym bag near the wall of the training room, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. The male Freelancer smiled gently, lifting his hands into a defensive posture.

"Ready when you are."

They circled each other warily. Carolina suddenly feinted forward. North went to block, overbalancing when he didn't meet with the resistance he had been expecting. Within seconds, Carolina had neatly flipped him over onto his stomach, pressing his face into the mat and twisting his arm behind his back. Just as quickly, she let him free, helping him to his feet.

Rolling his shoulders, North edged to Carolina's left and swung a punch. She easily swayed out of the way, but didn't entirely sidestep the scything sweep of his leg. She hit the ground, but recovered quickly, rolling to the side and springing to her feet before moving back towards him. More conservative in his movements now, North sent a few quick jabs at her ribcage, which she batted away, throwing in a few rapid strikes of her own. He knocked her leg away when she tried to sneakily knee him in the side, and she used the momentum to flip gracefully away from him, clipping him on the chin with her other foot when he didn't jerk back quite quickly enough. With barely a pause, she sent a kick straight at his chest. He caught the kick on his forearms, pushing her back once more. Carolina made to tackle him to the ground, then suddenly snapped her body upwards, the heel of her palm speeding towards his face. She pulled the hit just before it connected with his chin and eyed him seriously. "You're leaving your upper torso open too much," she told him.

Nodding once, North accepted the criticism. "I'll work on that."

The next half-hour passed in a similar fashion - the initial grapple, the exchange of blows. Block, parry, deflect. Carolina inevitably besting him. North managed to get her in some sort of hold a few times, but she always managed to quickly work her way out of them.

Still, in previous sparring sessions, he would never have been able to get her in a hold in the first place.

He frowned. Whilst still beating him resoundingly, Carolina's game had been off during the session. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, concerned. "You seem a little distracted."

A flush that had nothing to do with strenuous physical exercise flooded her cheeks. She cursed her pale complexion. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

North eyed her shrewdly. The denial had been defensive, but it wasn't injected with the usual hostility that coloured her tone when she thought someone was questioning her ability. "Carolina, I can see something is going on. I know you're going to feel like you don't want to, but I really think you should talk about it."

"You're right, I don't want to," she huffed, walking over to her bag and pulling out a small towel to dab the sweat from her face.

"Something's happened." Her shoulders hunched slightly and she tossed the dirty cloth grumpily back into the bag. "Something's wrong," he pushed, guessing this wasn't the case. If something bad had happened, she would have been aggressive, not grouchy.

His suspicions were confirmed when her blush intensified, creeping down her neck. "Nothing's wrong."

"But something's happened," he urged gently, receiving only an irritated hand motion in response. "...Something to do with York?" he ventured, smiling when she froze for just a moment.

"That's ridiculous!" she blustered. "I would never do something like that with York!"

The smile grew. "Something like what? I didn't mention any specifics at all."

Carolina's mouth opened and closed a few times without a sound. North thought she looked like a child that was trying to deny they'd been stealing cookies when their face was covered in chocolate and their hand was in the jar. Then she scowled, folding her arms. "I tell York not to tell anyone, and then go and give it away to the next person I see. I'm never going to hear the end of this."

North's grin turned into something more conspiratorial. "He doesn't have to know that you told me. As far as he knows, you haven't told anyone."

She shot him a keen look. "And he is a terrible liar..." she murmured.

"And he does sit at the same table as me at breakfast," North added.

Carolina grinned wickedly. "And I do have a training session with him tomorrow evening."

"Wouldn't it be terrible if he told me his secret just as you were walking past?"

She peered at him inquisitively. North had always been like a caring older brother to everyone in the squad. She'd never known he had such a devious streak. "I'll tell him before we actually start sparring," she decided. "Still should be enough to make him sweat a little, though. Be nice to get some payback for all those stupid pranks he pulls."

"He did put melted chocolate in my boots last week," North offered. "I'm a forgiving person, but I can only take so much."

"He should have known better than to involve liquefied confectionery." Grinning, she zipped up her bag and hauled it up by its strap. North placed a hand on her shoulder once she straightened, squeezing gently.

"Hey, I'm happy for you," he said fondly. "I think you need someone like him."

"I think I do too," she admitted quietly, not able to keep herself from glancing at the leader board on the far wall. The things seemed to be popping up everywhere on the ship now, and even though Carolina was still at the top, Tex was catching up fast. So few things are certain, she thought absently. Especially in a job like this.

With another squeeze, North dropped his hand, and, gathering his own things, left the room. With a decidedly snarky grin, he called over his shoulder in an obvious double entendre, "Stay safe, kiddo."