Finding Femininity

"You're overtraining, Cassidy," Brian said casually. "The idea is to build strength. Not to kill the bag. Reshape your fist, or you're going to break your fingers. Like this." He curled his fingers into a fist in order to show her how to properly hold her fingers. He was seated on the weight bench doing leg curls in order to flex his legs, especially his bad knee. And you should wrap your wrists or use the gloves if you're going to work out on the bag. Women are not, nor have they ever been designed to have the muscular strength in their upper body that a man does. I don't mean that to discriminate against women. Its just simple biology. We don't need you blowing a wrist or a hand."

Robert brought Khaat inside and brought her down to the gym too. Khaat was surprised. She didn't think her father would be asking her to work out. He simply transfigured their clothes to work out clothing and stood with her on the floor space guiding her through some slow, gentle tai chi movements in order to help her not only relax but to stretch a bit without overstraining herself. The two didn't speak. He merely stood right beside her. And when he thought she needed a bit of repositioning, he moved behind her and gently took hold of her hand to move her arm slowly and carefully to not hurt her any further.

Cassidy sighed doing as he said the waved her wand and tape wrapped around her wrists and then she hit it again , she ignored his last comment and continued to hit the bag shadow boxing " I'll have you know there are female boxers out there take Jane crouch ,then again she's retired now " she said and sat down exhausted " just wanted to get it out of my system " she said looking at them both.

"I think I'm done here," Brian glared hard at Cassidy, angry with her. He got up and left abruptly, going back upstairs. Khaat knew where he would go. He would be heading up to their room in order to refersh himself a bit from working out. And he wouldn't be likely to answer the door to her or anyone else at the moment. Khaat understood Brian's point. Cassidy's ego was getting in the way. He had not been dissing women. He was a trainer. He believed in the strength of women, but he was also a healer and he understood well the physiological differences between men and women. They were not structurally the same. Cassidy could have a sharp edge to her--especially to her tongue at times, and Brian didn't like it. Khaat and Robert did not respond. They kept working on their tai chi. If Khaat knew Brian, he would not offer her anymore advice or training. Rather, he would allow her to do whatever she wanted in the gym, and when she misstepped enough times and had earned enough medical leave, she'd either learn or lose her position. One or the other. Brian knew his job, and was obviously taking her remarks for insubordination. He didn't like it one bit.

Steven shook his head and continued his own work out knowing her comment was not best revived not at this moment in time . standing he walked over to her. "Cassidy, drop the attitude it won't wash here your Lucky to still be here and have this job" he said " now go out of here before i put you on your ass ... again" he pointed to the stairs and made it quite clear he was not happy with her one bit.

Cassidy watched Brian leave, then Steven walked over. She could tell by the look on his face she was in trouble it was the same he had when she had put him down that first time on the grass. she took her position and bowed her head knowing he was about to get her ass chewed off. Ste stood quiet and listened " yes sir" she said quieter and turned to walk up the stairs her wraps disappeared.

"Thank you, Steven," Robert said, after Cassidy left, his voice in a smooth, relaxed, unruffled tone. He was focused on his Tai Chi, and he'd had no intention to be uprooted from his workout or to allow her to be uprooted either. He could feel her becoming distracted, feel her muscles lose their positioning and their definition.

"Focus," he told Khaat gently. "You know how to do this. Let it go. Breathe and focus." She heard his smooth, relaxed tone, and she did try to redirect her thoughts and refocus. "Better," he said. "Check your position."

"Its starting to hurt," she told him. Her injuries were fresh, and this was causing her to be on her feet too much. It hurt.

"Give me one more minute then we'll quit," he said. Wanting her to try. She only managed another 30 seconds before she crumpled, sobbing. She felt her father's arms around her from behind.

"Alright. I've got you. That's enough. I'll fix it." He drew off her pain from her again. "I'm taking her up to the living room to rest, Steven." Robert simply apparated out with her and reappeared at the living room sofa and put her there. Khaat knew full well that her mother was more than likely to chew him out for pushing her just a bit too hard today.

Steven bowed to Robert " had to be done" he said and watched them leave sometimes even he didn't understand Cassidy any more one minuet she is doing well and in an instant all that good work gone ,this confused the hell out of him and he gave the bag a round house kick landing on both of his feet . He sighed and walked up to the living room smiling as he saw Robert and Khaat now sat on the couch " she ok now??" he asked sitting to face them.

"Yeah," Robert said, finishing making her comfortable. "She just is going to be sore for awhile. I thought her pain potion would hold longer than it did, but I guess its just going to need another day or two."

"I didn't have any," she said softly.

"What?" Robert asked.

"I didn't have any pain potion."

"Well, no wonder, then," he frowned. "Why didn't you say so?"

"You didn't ask," she said. "And it just didn't come up." He rolled his eyes at her, annoyed. He went to his bag, and passed her a bottle of pain potion. "Take a dose. Now." She obeyed, recapped the bottle and handed it back to her father. "I need to go talk to Brian."

"No, you don't. Give him a few minutes. He's dealing with a huge amount of stress. Let him work it out his own way. He knows where to find us all when he's ready," Robert said. "The best way you can help him is to feel better. When you hurt, he hurts. When he' see's you're better, he'll relax."

Steven nodded and shifted in his seat " i have to say sir shes right " he said softly "i think that why he left Cassidy to me to deal with " he said shifting again " whats digging in my back" he reached back and pulled out a stuffed duck " humm wonder who this reminds me of " he said and chuckled as he held it up before placing it in the play pen with the girls .

"I know. I know exactly why he left you to deal with Cassidy," Robert said. "I was watching. Brian is a professional athletic trainer. He is solely responsible for the training of my operatives and Khaat's guards. He might have delegated some of those tasks to you to assist with, but in the end, he knows that if Cassidy screws up and costs my family injury or causes harm to herself because she's not trained well enough, I'm not going to hold you responsible. I"m going to hold him responsible. He knows what happens when I make him accountable for those sorts of deficits. And Cassidy, at times, doesn't want to listen to simple fact.

"What Brian told her was 100% accurate and was not discrimination against women. Women's bone and musculature to not allow them to develop and do the same exact tasks in the same way, with the same strength as a man. Men carry their greatest strength areas in their upper bodies. Women carry theirs in their lower bodies because they're designed for childbearing. We're not. Not like women are. It doesn't mean women can't train for some upper body strength. But they don't have the hormones to assist them to even biologically build muscle like a man does unless they take higher doses of testosterone, which some female weight lifters have purposefully done. Brian's answer was medically correct. Perhaps not so politically correct or appealing for someone who only has limited trust and has a high need to be independent.

"Her insubordination to his answer was what provoked him. He wants her to learn to follow orders and to accept what he tells her--just like you and Jack had to learn it. He needs Cassidy to trust him as a competent and knowledgeable leader instead of thinking she can always rely on her own understanding. She'is not a single operative now. She's part of an organization, and needs to learn how to function in one. I'll deal with him in a bit. I jsut want him to cool off for awhile."

Steven looked at Robert and nodded "I agree Sir and i am happy to trainer her , when she listens shes a worthy operative but when she doesn't ..." he shook his head " shes pig headed and suborn to the point i want to put her over my knee and tan her backside like the child that she acting out as " he said folding his arms across his chest and he sighed " give it time, she'll come around, she's still young, besides you can always put her in one of your jars i guess for a couple of months if it doesn't work out " he smirked at the thought .


Cassidy walked down changed into her normal clothes and sighed seeing and hearing Steven talking to Robert she turned and headed for the kitchen and a drink of water. Returning once she heard the talk settle down she moved to the French door and looked out , moving out side into the warming sun she sat down cross legged on the grass and meditated.