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“Rise and shine,” Gisele’s voice rang out as she threw open the hotel room curtains.
Han released a confused cry of distress as light flooded over the bed, and he blocked the sun from his eyes with his hand. While Gisele was fully dressed, boots already on her feet, Han was still shirtless under the covers.
“What the hell?” he demanded. “What time is it? You know I don’t get out of bed before 10.” He buried his face in the mattress and gripped a pillow over his head.
“It’s time to get up; we have plans,” she responded matter-of-factly.
“What plans?” he moaned. “I don’t remember agreeing to this.”
“You didn’t,” she shrugged. “But we’re going to the shooting range. Get in the shower, or we’re going to be late.”
Han lifted the pillow slightly, peeking one eye at Gisele.
“The shooting range?”
“Of course. Why did you think I wanted to come to Switzerland?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” He grumpily threw the pillow on the floor. “The mountains? The chocolate?”
“Wrong,” she replied. “Lax gun laws, lots of places to practice. Remember in Rio when you said you wanted to learn more about weapons? Now is the time.”
“Oh, come on,” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “That was back when I was looking for an excuse to talk to you.”
“I’m serious,” Gisele said, crossing her arms. “This is important.”
“But why is it such an emergency all of a sudden?” Han yawned and ran his fingers through his rumpled hair. “We’ve got time.”
“Don’t be so sure,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t you remember that other thing you said in Rio?” Gisele asked. “About me taking off if you couldn’t keep up?”
“Whoa, hey,” Han said, abruptly sitting up and throwing his long legs over the side of the bed. He was now completely awake. “I assumed we were way past that. What’s going on?”
Gisele slumped her shoulders and sighed. “We should be way past it,” she replied. “I’m trying to get us past it. But you can’t keep expecting me to do this alone.”
“Doing what?” he asked, bewildered.
“Exactly my point,” she said, clearly frustrated. “You’re oblivious while I’m here watching out for us both. Don’t you remember how close Hobbs’ men were to catching up with us in Berlin?”
“We got out of that just fine,” he shrugged.
“I got us out of it,” she reminded him.
“What are you talking about? I drove!”
“Only because I spotted them in time!” Gisele was now exasperated and raising her voice. “What if I hadn’t seen them? It would have been too late by the time you noticed. And you wouldn’t know how to shoot your way out of it since you don’t even carry a gun.”
Her voice echoed throughout the room, and Han looked at her, slightly dumbfounded. She’d never yelled at him, and he suddenly realized they were in the middle of their first fight. Until now, their biggest disagreements had been over who got to drive or which restaurant to visit for dinner.
As Han tried to process what was happening and think of a response, Gisele sighed and sat beside him on the bed.
“Look, we could have found a nice little island with no extradition and lived without looking over our shoulders,” she said. “That’s what most of the others did. But we both decided we didn’t want to hide. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in prison, that means we have to be prepared.”
“Ok,” Han nodded, eager for this argument to be over. “I guess that’s fair. I’ll do target practice and start carrying a weapon.”
“I need more than that, though,” she said, shaking her head. “I love you, but when you’re not in the middle of a job, your tactical awareness is shit.”
Now, he was annoyed. “You’re acting like I’m some kind of amateur,” he snapped. “I know what I’m doing. I might not have formal training, but I’ve been successfully avoiding cops since I was 15.”
“Right – cops,” Gisele emphasized. “These are the feds, elite task forces. Not the idiots who hand out traffic tickets. They don’t announce themselves with clearly marked cars or Punisher tattoos. They come when you least expect them, right when you start to get comfortable.”
Han looked at the floor, taking in her words.
“You have no idea how much of a toll it takes being on alert all the time,” she continued. “I’m used to it, but the stakes are higher now. I’m not only watching out for myself anymore.”
“I never asked you to be my bodyguard,” he replied with a defensive tinge to his voice.
“No,” Gisele said, shaking her head. “But I’d never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you, and I could have stopped it.”
“You shouldn’t have to carry that burden,” he frowned.
“Of course I should,” she said, looking Han in the eyes. “It’s what you do when you love someone. But I need to know that you’re looking out for me just as much. If we’re going to keep doing this, we need to have each other’s backs. We need to be a team.”
“Ok,” Han said, his face softening. “I guess I’ve been acting like nothing changed after Rio. But you’re right, it has. We’re much bigger targets now.”
Gisele breathed a small sigh of relief, and Han took her hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much this was affecting you. I’ll learn. I promise.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. She paused and shifted her eyes in embarrassment. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. For all of this. I was frustrated.”
“I forgive you,” Han said, putting an arm around Gisele’s waist. “But I wish you’d said something sooner. I know I’m not the most communicative guy in the world, but I’m also not holding any secret grudges against you. It’s unfair to suddenly drag me out of bed and threaten to leave me. You need to talk to me. That’s part of being a team, too.”
“I know,” Gisele blushed. “I’m sorry … I don’t normally do relationships. In case that wasn’t obvious.”
“Neither do I,” Han laughed, kissing her quickly. “Let’s do our best to figure it out together.”
Gisele nodded and tried to smile.
“Can we still make our appointment today?”
She looked at her watch and frowned. “We could get there about 10 minutes late, but we’d have to leave right now.”
“I can be ready in 5,” he said, standing up. Gisele looked at him skeptically, and Han rolled his eyes. “I can get ready quickly,” he said as he walked toward the bathroom, “I just don’t usually want to. Feel free to wait for me in the car.”
“Hey,” Gisele called after him as she heard the shower start. Han poked his head out the bathroom door expectantly, toothbrush in hand. “You know this isn’t going to be easy, right?”
“Of course not,” he shrugged with a smile. “That’s what’s going to make it fun.”