His words were sharp, nipping at the heels of her own the very second she had uttered her apology. She could tell by his expression that it wasn’t his intention to be rude. Ava simply assumed that he wanted to escape the subject, to move on since the weight of his emotions was getting heavier by the moment. It seemed that he also wanted to escape the elevator, possibly even her. As the doors slid open to the apartment, he entered quickly, leaving her behind for the second time. After staring at his back briefly, she sighed and gathered up her bags. She climbed the steps to see him changing into his workout clothes, but gave him the peace and quiet that he so obviously desired. Instead of engaging him in conversation, she went about putting her things away, arranging her new belongings neatly in the closet. By some feat of restraint while shopping, she was able to adhere to the commander’s only rule, that she not get more than her closet was capable of holding. When she was through, she collected the bags and moved to the steps to toss them in the trash, but she paused.<br/><br/>Ava’s eyes landed on the commander as he let out his aggressions on the punching bag. She lowered herself down so that she could sit on the top stair and watch as he landed one powerful punch after another. She found herself flinching at times despite being nowhere near. She could feel the thunderous sound of his fists colliding with the bag in her chest, and just imagining person standing on the receiving end of the blows was enough to make her wince from time to time. For a while, she simply watched, feeling helpless. She wanted to find some way to help ease his frustrations, but she left him to his own methods. Ava pushed herself up finally and went to throw away the trash. She put out a glass and a pitcher of water for him if he needed it, then started on dinner. She was halfway through when he began to wind down.<br/><br/>She pulled out the rum he liked to drink and Dr. Pepper for him in case he wanted something to take more of the edge off. “Will you have dinner with me? Or, will you be busy?” Ava wasn’t certain if he wanted the rest of the night to himself, if he had work to do before morning since they would be training the new recruits—a task that made her a bit nervous. She still felt like a new recruit herself.