Black Creek

Sophia laughed as she turned the key in the ignition, it took a few seconds for the old car to start, but once it did she immediately pulled the car back onto the road. She wasn't so sure if badass would be the correct term to use for her, but even she had admit driving at the age of fourteen was pretty awesome of her.

"That doesn't make it feel any better, just justifies something that can't be helped." Sophia answered softly with a smile, both of her hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly enough that her knuckles were white. She wasn't scared of driving, she just couldn't believe everything that just happened, and couldn't wait to get home.

"I'm guessing that it doesn't get easier as time goes by, huh?" She asked, her tone turning more serious. Though she was trying not make it such a big deal, she didn't want him to think she wasn't old enough to handle it. If she were to be completely honest with herself, her mind was still reeling with thoughts and emotions from almost having to choose between him and Lennie. Maybe it was affecting her more than she thought it would, she wasn't sure what she would do if she was ever faced with the choice of life and death again, and for real. She wondered if Carter had ever had to, maybe that was why he was always such a joy-kill... didn't want to ever make that choice again.

"Make sure your foot's on the brake when you switch gears. Keep your eyes down the road, deep, not right in front of you. Flood lights are the lever to the left of the steering wheel, don't be afraid to use them, you won't be blinding anything out here that we have concern about." Christian advised her before returning to their subject matter. That was the Roman way; work first, feelings later.

Her question was a loaded one, and he felt shame knowing that he wasn't in the same shoes as the other Centurions. The first time Christian had to make the choice between life and death, he was under the influence. He felt if there was ever a time to tell someone about the former addiction, it was now. Lennie and Evelyn were both asleep, two people he couldn't stand to let down. Was Sophia another?

"You did the right thing." Christian assured her. "Lennie's the future of Cohort Five, I've got less than a year until the legion is going to induce retirement on me. You might never have to face something like that again, on the other hand, you might have to face something twice as hard." His left hand was elevated, a good tactic to make the bleeding stop faster, while his other hand supported his head. "Cohort Two. Tell me how the heck you ended up there."

Sophia listened to the driving tips, with an open mind. Some of it she already had picked up on, but some of it not. She liked that someone was finally taking the time to teach her something like this. She had always been self-efficient for her age. Sophia had always figured Carter or Emmett would eventually teach her, but she also might have killed that brotherly/sisterly by teaching herself.

But in reality, Sophia's driving lesson was probably going to end up like that time Emmett was going to teach her how to roller blade, but she had just figured it out for herself a few days before he mentioned teaching her.... Or like the time she taught herself for to ride a two-wheel bike, and left Carter with his mouth hanging open and dropping his helmet as she rode away from him, when he offered to teach her.

"I suppose that's true... But at the moment I can't imagine anything worse than having to choose life or death for someone," she admitted. "How'd I end up in Cohort 2?" She repeated, laughing a bit, "That's been my question since I was twelve... Probably had to do with my mom... She's pretty high up there... Maybe because of Carter... I try not to think about how." Sophia wasn't dumb, she knew at one point in time the cohorts had been fairly equal with each other. But at some point they became based on things like family, or people you know.

The higher up, the higher chance of getting into a "better" cohort. Sophia had been born into a fairly important family, almost as important as the Davenports, who as much as she didn't like admitting it, were at an entirely different level when it came to pretty much everything. She tried not to think about how maybe she didn't actually deserve to be in a cohort 2, maybe she wasn't even technically qualified to be a centurion either. She would probably never know for sure.

"That's not what I meant." Christian's head tilted for a moment. Sophia was much more of a humble human being than Christian would have ever expected, he hoped that quality wouldn't leave her with age. Maybe the answer to his question was just that simple. Age. If Sophia was born before Carter, maybe she would be the Centurion of Cohort One. Christian would be a lot happier in that case.

"I didn't mean to ask how you got so high. I meant to ask how you got so low." Christian had always figured it was a power or political structure. Having a Centurion in Cohort One and Two in the family was likely useful. Even if that was the case, was it fair to those put there? Rowan was the only Davenport placed in Cohort Two compared to Cohort One, which was a striking similarity to Sophia's situation. "It seems pretty clear to me that you know what you're doing." Christian decided not to force the topic; she didn't seem to want to talk about it.

He wasn't kidding himself, his hand hurt badly. Without the constant use of painkillers, it was like he was feeling real pain for the first time recently. It showed on his expression. "When we get back, do you mind waiting for me to tell Rowan about the hostage thing?" He asked. "She's gonna kill me."

"Its not?" She asked, laughing. Most people asked that and wanted to know how high she had gotten. Sophia smiled, she liked that Christian wanted to know the exact opposite but she was glad he didn't push the reverse question on her... because she had no idea what the answer would be. Maybe it was because she was the youngest she'd be in cohort 1, then again, maybe she'd be exactly where she is now... No point of thinking about it. "Thanks for thinking that I know what I'm doing though!" She added, smiling a bit, cause the gods know that she definitely had no idea what she was doing half the time.

"Yeah I'll wait for ya." She told him... Oh shit... she forgot to tell Rowan she was leaving.... "Don't worry, I think Rowan will be to angry at me for neglecting my cohort duties without telling her... again..." Sophia said, she frowned a bit. Both her and Rowan were having a hard few months, and Sophia forgetting her duties wasn't helping either...

Sophia glanced over at him. She could tell he was still in a large amount of pain. "Are you sure you don't want me to heal that for ya?" She asked, as she made the turn onto the road that would take them back to camp and New Rome.

"She's got enough anger in her for both of us." Christian mused. Rowan wasn't the sort of person you wanted to screw with, which left Christian wondering why he screwed with her so much. "I think I'd rather have her beat the holy hell out of me if it'd make things easier for her. She testified earlier today, against her father." Christian didn't clarify the details. He was positive all of New Rome had heard about it before he had.

"Thanks, but, I'm sure." Christian confirmed. He gestured his head in reference to the two in the backseat. "If all goes well, we'll be fine. But if something does go wrong, and we have to fight, I'd rather you be at full strength." Christian paused. "That, and, Corinne and Rowan can't beat me up in good conscience when we get back if I'm already bleeding." He was playful, but, only half of it was a joke. He genuinely felt he'd be feeling this pain now or later.

"You made that guy submit." Christian said, watching the turn. She turned pretty well, not wide at all, a lot better than he was at her age. "You gotta teach me how to do that one day, it'd save me a lot of hassle."

Sophia nodded, in agreement. She knew just how impressive her co-centurion's temper could be, and Sophia was always glad that she was never really on the receiving end of it. The two were fairly close friends, or at least they both trusted each other enough. "Yeah, I heard. It's all really crazy." She added, she knew some of the details, but only by default. Her family was fairly close to the Davenports, despite the age gap between both sets of siblings. Their parents were coworkers or something, and had also been friends growing up also, both having been centurions of the first cohort.

She laughed, "If you say so." Though she kind of doubted that the guy in the trunk would try anything, what was he gonna do? Jump out and die? They were going to fast for him to do anything. "Lets hope that they're actually above hitting bleeding people though. Cause lets be real here, I'd probably still hit ya if I were them." She smiled, innocently.

"It's not that hard of a move. I saw it on a tv show once..." She admitted, glancing over at him. The road was mostly straight forward now, just fairly long. They still had another half hour or so before they actually reached camp. "I wasn't actually sure if it would really work or not." She smiled, awkwardly. "Luckily it did!"