Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Like No Tomorrow ❯ Like No Tomorrow ( One-Shot )

Like No Tomorrow

By: Cece Williams

((Disclaimer: I don't own "Gundam Wing," but if I did, I'd have a hell of a lot of money; I only own Caitlin. Anyway, this is part three, which takes place after "Betrayal for a Heart" and "I Almost Lost You." I thought I'd try a drama/romance, but I can't tell you the plot. It'll unfold itself. Enjoy!))

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Caitlin Maxwell walked down the hall of the high school she went to. Her slender figure looked really good in her school uniform. She got to her locker and did the combination. After she unlocked it, she put her books in it.

"Hey, Caitlin," a familiar voice said to her.

Caitlin turned her head to see her brother, Duo, beside her. "Hey, bro," she said, a smile creasing her pretty face. "I thought that you had to work today."

"Well, since I own that salvage shop anyway, I can make my own hours," he answered her. "How's Quatre doing?"

"Oh, he's back on L4," she answered, talking about Quatre, her boyfriend. "You know Quatre; trying to help his colony any way possible." She closed her locker shut.

"And leaving his girlfriend lonely?" he asked her.

Caitlin sighed. "Duo, I'm not lonely," she answered, starting to walk down the hall again. "Quatre just has a nice heart, that's all."

Duo walked after her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "I know," he said. "I've known him for a year, so I know what Quatre's like."

"Yeah," she answered, smiling. Suddenly, she almost collapsed, her books falling to the floor. Her hand grabbed the wall while she felt her brother's arm go around her waist.

"Hey, kid," he asked her, holding her up with a concerned look in his eyes. "Are you feeling okay?"

Caitlin held her stomach with one hand, while her other held the wall. "I'll be fine," she answered him, although the look on her brother's face said otherwise. "Stress does that to me, you know."

The look on Duo's face was skeptical, as he looked at his little sister. Her face was pale, and normally it was never that way. "I don't think it's stress, Caitlin," he protested. "It's probably worse than stress."

She rolled her eyes. "Duo, it's probably nothing…" Before she could finish her retort, she collapsed to the floor.

He caught her in his arms out of instinct and laid her on the cool floor. He patted her face lightly, trying to wake her up. "Caitlin? Come on, kiddo," he said to her. When she didn't respond, he reached into his pants pocket and grabbed his cell phone. "Hello? I got a girl here passed out at the high school."

Meanwhile, in L4, Quatre sat in his office, papers on his desk just barely past his blue-green eyes. "It'll take me from now till New Years to get all this done," he complained. He stood up just as a secretary knocked on the door. "Come in," he said.

She walked in. "Mr. Winner, do you happen to know a girl named Caitlin Maxwell?" she asked him.

Quatre's blue-green eyes brightened as the name of his beautiful girlfriend back on L2 came to his ears. "Yes, I do; as a matter of fact, she's my girlfriend," he answered. "What about her?"

"Duo Maxwell, her older brother, called here just a few minutes ago," she answered. "Caitlin is being taken to L2 Memorial Hospital."

A look of shock came over the blond Arabian. "What's wrong with her?" he asked her. "Did she fall, hit her head…?" He left the rest unsaid. He didn't want to think of what worse else could happen to his girlfriend.

"Duo, her older brother, didn't tell me much," she said. "She just collapsed in her high school without warning, and he wanted me to tell you."

Quatre grabbed his jacket from the coat rack in his office. "Cancel all my appointments and hold all the calls!" he shouted as he ran out of the office. "Get the shuttle ready for L2 immediately!"

Back at the high school, Duo held his little sister in his arms. "Caitlin, come on, kiddo; it's your brother," he said, still patting her face lightly. He heard some of the EMS workers race down the hall to where they were.

"Okay, we've got her stabilized," one said.

The EMS workers wheeled her out of the hallway, Duo close behind them. A second looked at him. "What's her name?" he asked him.

Duo ran a hand through her hair. "She's Caitlin Maxwell," he answered. "My little sister."

"Caitlin, can you hear me?" he asked her. After a few seconds, nothing came out. "We're taking her to the hospital; you're welcome to tag along."

Wordlessly, he agreed, following them to the ambulance. He saw Caitlin's eyelids flutter, and he looked down at her, a relieved look on his face.

Her eyes started focusing in on a face. "Duo, is that you?" she asked.

He ruffled her hair a little bit. "Hey, sis," he answered her. "You kind of scared me a while ago. We're going to the hospital right now."

A confused look appeared on her face. "Why are we going to the hospital?" she asked him. "Did something happen to you?"

"No, I'm fine; it's you I'm more worried about," he answered. "I just called Quatre, and he's going to meet us there."

Caitlin looked at her brother, a look of shock on her face. "You called Quatre, Duo?" she asked.

"He needed to know," he answered before his younger sister could add anything else. "You know how much Quatre loves you."

Her face relaxed little by little until she got to the hospital. When they got her out of the ambulance, she grabbed her brother's hand tightly, so tight that her fingernails could have hurt him. "Just tell me that nothing's going to go wrong," she said.

Thanks to him being a Gundam pilot, her fingernails didn't hurt him at all. "You're going to be fine," he answered, letting her hand go as they wheeled her deeper into the hospital.

Duo stood in the waiting room, his dark blue eyes looking at where they had taken Caitlin in. He remembered the last time he was in the hospital; she was recovering from saving Quatre's life the same day that he was reunited with her. The only thought in his mind was that if nothing was wrong with her.

As he turned around, Trowa and Noin walked in.

"Duo, I hope you called me away from work for something important," she said as she was walking in, but when she saw the look on his face, her voice stopped. "What happened?"

"It's Caitlin," he answered. "She collapsed at school."

Trowa looked at Duo with uncommon worry in his green eyes. "Does Quatre know about her condition?" he asked him.

"I called him before the EMS guys got there," he answered. "She talked to me for a little bit; I told her that it's going to be okay."

Noin looked down to the floor, her purple eyes downcast. "That poor kid," she said. She looked up, seeing another familiar person walking to them. His blond hair and blue-green eyes were unmistakable. "Hey, Quatre."

Quatre stood next to Trowa. "Any news on Caitlin?" he asked.

Duo sat on the couch, holding one hand to his head. "No, not yet," he answered. He felt like he couldn't do anything to help her. He looked up again, this time to see a doctor. "What have you got?"

The doctor looked at the people who were gathered in the waiting room. "Caitlin's got a rare stomach cancer," he said. "She could possibly die before she reaches eighteen."

All of them looked down, thinking there was no way to save the young girl. Duo and Quatre's heads popped up. "Isn't there something you can do for her?" Quatre asked.

"The only thing we can do for her is surgery," the doctor answered.

Duo stood to his feet. "Then, if it'll save my little sister, then what are you waiting for?" he asked.

"Caitlin, during the time she was awake, said she didn't want the surgery," the doctor answered.

"Didn't want the surgery?!" Noin, Duo, and Quatre said at once.

"Although she doesn't want to admit it, she's scared," he answered. "This surgery will save her life, but if she doesn't get it, then she'll die painfully."

Quatre's mind was going in circles. He loved Caitlin, maybe even to the point that if the time were right, he would have asked her to marry him. His blue-green eyes were closed; he was imagining in his mind what would happen if she didn't have the surgery. He could see a pained look on her face, a crushing pained look that he had never seen before. He hated for Caitlin to be in such pain as he was during the war.

Trowa had only known her through Quatre, but he had seen her around. She was a beautiful girl; if Quatre weren't dating her, he'd probably have a shot. If the surgery could save her life, why doesn't she want it? he asked himself.

Noin thought of Caitlin as her "little sister." She was just as important to her as Zechs, her boyfriend was. She thought of the situation as if Zechs were in Caitlin's shoes. She'd want him to have the surgery in a moment's notice.

Duo thought of what Caitlin meant to him. Granted, they were separated for over ten years, but she was still his little sister. He looked up at them. "You guys, I think we need to talk to Caitlin," he said.

The doctor nodded. "I think that is the best thing to do," he answered. "I'll take you to her room." He led the four people to her hospital room. "Here you go; she's resting right now, but don't get too loud."

After they thanked the doctor, they looked in on her. Caitlin was lying in her bed, her brown hair framing her face. The steady beep of the monitor sounded melancholy to them, but they were relieved that her fingers were moving. Her eyes started opening.

Duo walked in first, then Quatre, then Trowa, and finally Noin. Just as they saw Caitlin's eyes open, they all breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't seriously hurt.

Caitlin looked around the room, seeing four very familiar people. "Are you guys okay?" she asked. "You look like you saw a ghost."

Noin looked at her. "Caitlin, what's this I hear about you not wanting this surgery?" she asked her.

Caitlin leaned her head against the pillows, her dark blue eyes looking around at her friends and her brother. "It's not that I'm afraid of it," she answered her. "It's just that I'm not certain of what I should do."

"Just get the surgery, silly," Quatre answered her.

"What if something goes wrong?" Caitlin asked him, moving her eyes to Quatre and then to her brother. "What if I end up worse off than before?"

"Nothing's going to go wrong," Duo comforted her, ruffling her long hair with his hand. "Besides, if someone screws this up, I'll personally send them through hell."

Trowa held a hand to his face. "Here we go again," he said, rolling his green eyes. "Duo's being way too cocky at a time like this."

"I wish I knew why," Caitlin said, making Noin look at her. "I wish I knew why you want me to have this operation."

"Well, the doctor told us that if you didn't you wouldn't live past your eighteenth birthday," Noin answered. "And with you being fourteen, that's only four short years. You owe it to yourself to have a long life."

Trowa nodded his head in agreement. "Sure, you'll end up hurting a bit because of the surgery, but it'll be worth it," he answered. "It's better only hurting a little now than hurting a lot worse later on."

"And you know that I can't stand seeing you hurt," Quatre added his concern for her. "I can't even imagine what would happen to you if you didn't go through with this operation."

"So, Caitlin, you got four damn good reasons why you should have this surgery," Duo finished their thoughts. "We just reunited after ten years; don't make it an eternity."

Caitlin closed her eyes in thought. Maybe they're right, she thought. I do owe it to myself … and to them, especially, to have a long, healthy life. She opened her eyes again, a shy smile creasing her face. "Okay, you got me," she said. "I'll do it; I'll get this operation."

All three of her friends and her brother gave Caitlin a huge hug, giving Caitlin little "thank you's" and "we love you, kiddo." The doctor knocked on the door and walked in. "Caitlin, I heard that you changed your mind."

"Yep," she answered, a grin on her face. "I've got four good reasons to get this operation." She looked at Quatre. "One very good one, to be honest."

"Well, how about we get started?" he asked her.

"I think the sooner, the better," Caitlin answered. She grabbed her brother's hand. "Can my brother go with me?"

Duo looked almost shocked. She wanted him to go with her, but he wanted Quatre to go with her. "Sis, are you sure?" he asked.

Caitlin nodded. "Of course I am," she answered. "We haven't spent much time together, and I need someone to keep me calm."

"That's what the anesthesia's for, kiddo," he answered her, ruffling her hair playfully.

"I'll go with her," Quatre said from behind Duo. "Besides, I think there's something that I can tell her that'll calm her down."

Caitlin rolled her eyes; she knew what Quatre was thinking of telling her. She looked up at her brother. "If it's okay with you," she said to him.

"That's what I wanted for you, sis," he answered her.

Smiling, knowing the fact that all of them were behind her, she nodded. "Let's rock this party," she said to the doctor.

Everyone in the room laughed, even Trowa, and he rarely ever laughed.

"That's my little sister," Duo said, shaking his head. "She got that sense of humor from me."

As the doctor gently transferred her into a wheelchair, Caitlin rolled her cobalt blue eyes. "Among other things, Duo Maxwell," she said.

Noin and Trowa snickered.

Duo looked at them. "Ha ha, very funny, Caitlin, really funny," he said.

"I try," she answered, jokingly tugging on his long braid as she was wheeled out of her room with Quatre following them.

Quatre looked ahead of them and saw Heero and Wufei sitting in the waiting room. "Hey, guys," he said to them.

Wufei looked at the girl in the wheelchair. "What's Caitlin doing here?" he asked him.

Heero answered from the couch that he was sitting on, "Why else would she be here, Wufei? She's probably been under the weather."

Caitlin looked at them. "Well, I wouldn't say that," she answered. "I have to have surgery in a few minutes. You can ask Duo or Trowa; they'll fill you in."

After that, they left for the operating room. The radio was playing a random song that she loved. Caitlin's head was bopping to the music, somehow forgetting about the surgery that she was going to have. She hummed part of the song to herself.

"I see that Caitlin's already ready to go," the doctor said to Quatre.

"Yeah, all of a sudden, she heard a song and just became distracted," he answered. "That usually gets Caitlin sidetracked."

"Well, since there aren't any radios in the OR, would you mind keeping her mind on the song until we mask her?" the doctor asked him.

"I don't know that song that well, but I could tell some things that her brother would kill me for saying," he answered. "Would that help?"

"Anything's great," he answered as they walked in.

Keeping Caitlin distracted was going to be an easy thing to do for him. He only took a second and thought of a song that she loved. He almost turned red, but he got to where she was on the table and sang "Back At One."

Caitlin laughed. "Quatre, you're scaring the doctors away," she joked.

"Well, that screws up my music career," he answered, resuming singing anyway, much to Caitlin's embarrassment until she was put under.

Back in the waiting room, Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei all sat or stood in the waiting room. Heero and Duo had the couch, Trowa stood, leaning against the wall in his usual stance, and Wufei sat in a chair, facing the window.

"So, Caitlin's got a rare stomach cancer?" Heero asked.

"Yeah, and the chances of her getting back to normal are pretty good," Trowa answered from the wall. He looked at Duo. "Don't look so down, Duo. Caitlin's going to get better."

Duo looked at Trowa. "Yeah, I know," he answered him. "It's just that when she tugged on my braid, it kinda hurt."

Wufei couldn't help but chuckle at it. "Maxwell, you've got to have a low endurance of pain if your sister could do that," he said, laughing.

Duo was about to get up and strangle him when Quatre walked back out. He jumped to his feet. "Quatre…" he started.

"Don't worry," he interrupted her brother. "She's under the anesthesia right now, but she wasn't screaming her lungs out, if that's what you're asking."

"Now, it's only a matter of time," Trowa said from the wall.

A long six hours and twenty cups of coffee later, the doctor came back out to greet the five caffeine-driven pilots. "She's doing really well; the operation was a complete success."

Duo wanted to back flip, but he didn't want to risk knocking himself out. "So, when's Caitlin gonna wake up?" he asked.

"When the anesthesia wears off, which will be about another hour or so," the doctor answered. "You guys can go see her now, but don't get too loud in there; she needs her rest."

The five guys walked back into her room, where they saw Noin still sitting in the room, her eyes on Caitlin like a hawk. "She'll be okay, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Duo answered. "She'll be fine." He looked at his little sister, his usual smile on his face. She got through the operation okay, but he knew she'd have to seriously get some sleep.

Trowa, Heero, and Wufei all looked at Caitlin's sleeping form. Her long brown hair was obviously tangled from everything that had gone on. They knew that the first thing Caitlin was going to say was "What happened to my hair?"

Quatre looked at her, smiling gently at her. Of all the times when he thought Caitlin was peaceful, this was the time. He didn't care what her hair looked like; as long as she was all right, that was all that mattered to him.

Heero looked at them as a shock from his beeper came to him. "We got to go, you guys," he said. "We're on patrol." He looked at Wufei. "Let's go."

"Heh, anything a guy will do for love," Duo joked. Everyone except for Caitlin, who was still resting, groaned. "What's the matter; was that a bad joke?"

"How nicely should I say this, Duo," Trowa answered from his perch against the wall. "Very bad joke."

Heero and Wufei left the hospital room, leaving the three guys in her room. Trowa shook his head, while Quatre sat near Caitlin's bedside. Duo looked at Trowa, who was trying not to laugh. "What is so funny?"

"You know that Heero hates Relena's guts," he answered. "But we all know that Wufei has a feeling with Sally."

"Speaking of love," Duo added, looking at Quatre. "How close have you and my sister gotten lately?"

Quatre had a look of feign shock on his face. "Duo Maxwell, do you think that Caitlin and I have … done it?" he asked. "Well, we haven't."

Trowa looked at Quatre. "Don't worry about it," he told him. "Maybe Caitlin wants to wait, too. You never know." He looked at his watch. "I got to leave, too. My act's coming up."

"Okay," Duo answered. "Take it easy, Trowa."

"I will, thanks," he answered, leaving the room. "Tell Caitlin I said hey when she wakes up."

"I will," Quatre answered from her bedside. Suddenly, Quatre started laughing.

"Now what's so funny?" Duo asked him.

"Well, is it just me, or did Caitlin just 'mm-hmm' in her sleep?" he asked.

Duo looked at his watch. "Well, it has been about an hour," he answered. "She'll be kind of out of it when she wakes up."

Quatre shook his head. "Nah, maybe we should let her sleep a while longer," he answered, stroking Caitlin's face with his hand. "I kind of like her like this anyway."

Duo shook his head. Quatre had a lot to learn.