As she sat back, happily munching on her sandwich, Michael was struck by two things.

One - he and Patrick were definitely having a much harder time dealing with the women’s reality than the women were.

Two - he was pretty sure Ellie had the worst story. Because she was the most guarded. And that made him want to run around hitting things all over again.

But he couldn’t.

With Lexie and Angel’s determined help, somehow they managed to get the conversation back around to Marquis and what kind of decorations they wanted, which was what they’d been talking about before Lexie and Patrick had gone to make lunch. Both Michael and Patrick remained distracted for the rest of the afternoon though. Distracted and agitated.

When Michael got home he immediately headed out for a run to clear his head. It was still hot and humid, but he didn’t care. Being in his apartment made him feel confined; he had too much energy running through him to sit still and concentrate on anything.

He didn’t often go running, he really had to be in the mood for it, and today was definitely one of those days. It hadn’t escaped his attention Lexie didn’t share what her story with the others had been. He assumed it was too personal. Or maybe too upsetting. Although he was willing to bet Patrick now knew the details.

Were the details something he needed to know? With the others, no... it didn’t seem to affect them the same way whatever had happened to Ellie still affected her. With her, considering her hard limits, she was still dealing with the impact. Which meant it was probably really, really bad.

Michael’s leg muscles burned as he pumped them harder, running faster, as though he could outrun the rage and feeling of helplessness assaulting him. It took him a moment to also realize he was a little upset Angel and Lexie obviously knew more about what had happened to Ellie than he did.

He’d known Ellie for longer, dammit.

Slowing his pace, because his lungs were starting to burn and his legs felt like they were on fire, Michael forced himself to take deep breaths of the muggy air - which wasn’t easy. This had to be one of the worst evenings he could have chosen for a run; the air was so thick he practically felt like he was trying to breathe in water.

He knew it wasn’t personal. Lexie had even said Ellie had probably only opened up because the others had. Michael didn’t have any kind of life experience that really compared. Before, he would have said he could imagine what life was like for women, but... he hadn’t. He’d never even known how Angel had gotten into teaching self-defense classes.