Simply Sonny: An SVU love story

Chapter 44: Range

I wake up in the morning without Sonny next to me. I crawl out of the bed and make my way to the kitchen where he's at the stove and humming along to a jazz song. He must hear me come in and turns his head, "morning!"

"Morning, what are you making?" I ask moving further towards him to look at what he's got on the stove.

"French toast and sausage." He says leaning down to kiss me, "was gonna bring it into bed to you."

"How sweet," I say moving back to his counter top to sit at the bar stools.

I watch him as he finishes cooking and next time he turns around he's serving me the dish, "you know the last time I cooked for you was the night of our first kiss." He puts the plate in front of me with a smile.

I smile back at the memory, "what was that? Like 2 months ago?" I ask him, beginning to cut up the food.

"2 months tomorrow. When you're done with breakfast, go ahead and get ready for the shooting range. We have a full day ahead of us." He takes a bite off his own plate of food.

"A full day?" I ask, not realizing he had more planned for us.

"I added some things to the agenda. Is that okay?" He questions.

"Of course, I had an appointment with my therapist but I can reschedule," I tell him back, excited for this day he has planned.

He shakes his head, "I remembered your appointment, I scheduled around it. Don't worry."

"You think of everything, don't you?" I smile at him in awe of how amazing he is.

"I try." He cockily smiles. I finish my meal and head to his bathroom to clean up. I make my way to his shower and look around for a towel.

Once out and dressed, I brush my hair into a ponytail and make my way out to find him, "I'm ready!" I exclaim when I see him.

"Alright, I got everything here! Let's go!" He lifts a duffle bag off the floor and we make our way outside. We take the subway to the range and he gets us the far corner spot and starts to unload the guns once we're inside, "okay, so headphones and goggles on at all times!" He yells over to me.

I do my best to listen through the headphones and over the banging of the gunshots, "we'll shoot with my off duty weapon first." He pulls out the gun I've held two times now and lays it flat on the mat. "whenever you load it, make sure the gun is down, alright?"

"Alright." I return back.

He begins to load the gun and then halfway through he puts something over it, "here, load the rest. This will make it easier." He hands it to me and I try to load the bullet, "like this, " He shows me, helping with me one hand. "Now, slide the clip into the gun and make sure it clicks." I pick the gun up with my left and slide the cartridge in. I hear it click and look to Sonny to let him know I got it, "good, now always keep the safety on until you're ready to shoot. It's right here and all you have to do is switch it over when you're ready." I nod again and he explains, "show me how you'd hold a gun." He directs.

I move my feet and hands to what feels comfortable to me and look to him over my shoulder, "like this?" I ask cautiously.

He smirks, "almost. Just move your feet." He helps me adjust to a better standing, "and don't lean back as much, you'll see why when you shoot. Now, your hands are fine but make sure you keep your thumb out of the way." He moves my thumb from where it is and bends it from the back of the gun, "when you're out of bullets this thing is gonna fly out and it'll break your thumb, hurts like a bitch." He explains.

I give him a knowing look, taking a mental note of everything he's saying and another 5 minutes go by of explanation before he tells me he's ready for me to shoot. He keeps the target 5 feet from us and I look through the gun at the white line I'm supposed to match up with and slowly release the trigger. I do my best to contain the shaking and as the trigger is pulled. It's harder to do then I thought it would be and it kicks back like Sonny said it would. I count out 6 more bullets as I shoot in front of me, something feeling so right, yet so wrong about it, "how'd I do?" I ask, putting the gun down on the mat like he said to do, my heart rate quick.

"Safety on." He directs and I quickly lock the gun. He moves the target closer and shows me, "not bad, your aims a little low. But you hit the target 5 out of 7 times." He shows me all the spots I got. He shows me how to get the clip out and I try to load the gun again. With his help, I manage to load it and I try again from 5 feet. The 7 rounds go off and he brings the target closer, "better! All 7 hit this time. Remember to try to line up those white lines and keep your hand steady at the kick, that's why it's getting low."

"Okay," I mutter back, repeating his words in my head. I make sure the safety is on, take the clip out and replace the bullets all on my own. I take aim, he helps adjust my body once more and I shoot the bullets, "I think that was better." I yell to him when it's done, feeling good.

"Let's see." He smiles wide, probably already knowing if it was or not, "look, you got a chest shot, right there." He points it out, "and here" he points at two more "are pretty close together, good job! Let's try it from 10 feet now." He hits some buttons and the target slides away 10 feet from where we stand. We spend the next 2 hours practicing shooting this one weapon from different distances away, each time building the confidence I have in myself.