Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Orphan Stage ❯ Stage Blue ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gundam Wing Characters, blah blah blah

Pairings: 1x2, 3+4, 5+?

Warning: angst

Summary: Duo Maxwell is put into a protection program after his father gets out of jail and goes missing. Duo finds himself in a situation where he can finally find his brother that was adopted ten years ago.

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Stage Blue

"Glade, glade grass… woo woo woo! Nothing but that grazing graaaaasss…" A weird noise snapped me awake from my dreams. It took me awhile before I figured out it was someone singing. As for the song…

"Woo woo woo, yeah , yeah , yeah…"

"Ugh." My hand came up to cover my ears as the sound got louder, making my head start to pound painfully.

"Oh! Your awake!" Someone off to the side said in a chirpy, happy voice. It took me awhile to process that the person was talking to me, making me wonder where I was. At first I thought that maybe I was back at the orphanage, and sister Helen was sitting over my bed. Maybe the whole protection program was just a dream. I sighed, slightly wishing that it was true.

My eyes slowly opened, squinting at the brightness coming through the window on the far wall. I seemed to be in a bed of sorts… maybe a hospital bed? Was I hurt? The minute I said that I could feel a soreness spread through my right shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked, trying my best to sit up and get a good look at this 'singing person.' A hand came and pushed me back into the soft mattress. That didn't help the dizziness I was feeling and I ended up moaning from the nauseated sensation. I felt like I had just ridden the spinning tea cups at Disneyland. Though, I've never been to Disneyland, but one of the orphanage kids told me about it. They had apparently thrown up after that ride and I felt a little close to puking myself.

"Stay still, your not well enough to get up yet. You were shot in the shoulder and leg, you need your rest. Not to mention the giant bruise on the back of your head." The womanly voice stated. "Try not to make any sudden movements." Couldn't she have told me that 'before' I tried to sit up. Ugh.

"Leg? I was shot in my leg? Will I be able to walk?" I asked head tilting to get a look at the bandage wrapped around my calf. For some reason, I hadn't noticed the faint pain coming from there until she pointed it out. Which brings me back to my previous argument, some things are all in the mind. Though, the pain was real, but thinking about it made it hurt. So I needed to get my mind on other matters.

"Don't worry, it should heal fine. Your really lucky, ya know. Unlike your officer friend." Her voice grew concerned and I turned my head away from my injuries to look at her. The waitress from the diner stood to the side of the bed. Her clothes consisted of a long white coat covering most of her brown pants. Her hair was still in a bun, but bits and pieces were hanging out, as if she just woke up.

"What happened to Kemp? He's alive right?" My voice pleaded with her… I needed him to be alive. I would never forgive myself otherwise.

She looked down to the floor for a minute, brushing her dark bangs out of her eyes. "I don't really know, I did my best to stabilize him enough to be transferred to the Van City Hospital. He was shot three times in the stomach… truthfully, I didn't think he would survive the transfer." At seeing the distressed look on my face she quickly continued. "But he made it there alive, he's probably still in operating now though, so I wont be able to find anything else out for awhile yet."

"Why am I still here?" I asked, once again trying to sit up. It was hard to lay down and talk to someone. "And just who are you?" Her hand came back and pushed me lightly against the bed once more. I growled but felt to weak and dizzy to protest further.

"When a helicopter came to pick up you friend, you were still unconscious. I decided since you weren't in any immediate danger, it'd be best to keep you here until you awoke." She offered her hand to me, "You can just call me Doctor Jack." She said, pointing to herself proudly with one hand as I shook the other. What a strange lady.

My eyebrow raised a little at her weird behavior. "But… you're a waitress."

"No, I'm a doctor. I just waitress sometimes because I don't have too many patients in this small town." She pushed a chair in front of the bed, sitting down at an angle in which I could see her more clearly. Her eyes were starting to droop slightly and I got the impression that she hadn't slept since I had been there.

"Eh? But you killed Hall… and you're a doctor." Doctors were suppose to save people weren't they? Not kill them! It was some unwritten law, people only died on their operating tables! I wonder if she could get in trouble for killing him… even if it was to save me.

She chuckled lightly, "Next your going to say 'But… you're a girl!"

"But… you're a girl!" I mocked her tone of voice and rolled my eyes, causing her to break out laughing. I smiled a little, I couldn't help it, laughter spreads! "So… Hall is dead though right? Are you going to be alright?"

Her smiled rose as I asked this. "You let me worry about that young man." Her hand came to clutch mine, squeezing it reassuringly. "Everything will be fine, but you really need to get some more rest."

My mouth opened to speak but a yawn took its place. Guess I did need some more shut eye. "How long have I been out doc?" My head leaned further into the pillows and I took a deep shaky breath, trying to forget about the aching of my body.

"Four days." She stated.

"WHAT?" My eyes bulged and I successfully shot up into a sitting position. I guess she was as shocked as I was because she ran to my side, cursing me repeatedly for moving.

"Joking, joking… jeez, didn't think you would take it that seriously. You were only out for a couple hours. Now lay back down and let me check to make sure you didn't pull your stitches with that little stunt of yours." He hands came to lift up the bandages and she worked quietly, letting my mind wander back to Kemp.

He had better be alive… that stupid man! He should have stayed home and not have had to take care of me. He got shot because of my problem… I don't think I will ever live that down. How could I? When someone gets hurt because of you, your not going to forget it easily.

"How'd you find me?"

She looked a little startled at the tone in my voice, sad and confused. "Your friend told me to go after you." She said, wrapping my shoulder back up and taking position in her chair once more. "He wouldn't let me check his wounds until he knew you were alright."

My chest heaved painfully as I tried to calm myself. I could feel a prickling in my eyes where tears wanted to come. But, I wouldn't let them. A warm breeze flew over me and I realized that the doctor, Jack, had opened the window. I looked at her disheveled hair and her puffy eyes as she bowed her head down… she was the one who 'really' needed to rest.

"Isn't Jack a boys name?" I was suddenly really curious about her. After all, she was the one who saved me… I kinda felt bad for being so rude to her before. But I don't like being waken up suddenly, always makes me grumpy.

Without glancing in my direction, she spoke. "Nah, short for Jacqueline. Though when I was younger I wanted to be a boy… made everyone call me Jack, it sorta stuck with me after all these years."

Her voice carried a sad tone to it, but I didn't want to comment and make her bring up her past. I wondered why anyone would want to stay in a small town like this. Maybe it was to get away from the pressures of the big city. Be able to live more freely… can speed around in cars without too much worry about being pulled over… heh.

"Um… Jack?" She turned around from the window, titling her head to the side to give me her full attention. "Thanks."

That brought a smile to her face and I was a little relieved to see her in this better mood. I don't know why, but I felt like she needed someone to tell her they were grateful. Someone to cheer her up… she seemed lonely, out here in this town.

"Your very welcome." Her feet carried her quickly to the door and she stood beside it grinning at me. "What do you want to eat? My treat."

My stomach growled in response to the thought of food and I could feel my mouth start to water slightly. "I want a brownie!" I said, raising my fist up in the air with mock demand.

"I said 'food'." Her arms crossed as she waited for me to answer with something else.

"I want beef jerky."

"Food!"

"I want some apple pie."

"Duo!"

"How'd you know my name? Are you a psychic?" I asked, amazement lining my voice.

"Fine! That's it, I'll go make you some fried… bean sprouts!" She left the room in a huff and my mouth opened to call after her, but I couldn't stop the giggles that spilled out in its place. I wondered how many times I could make her agitated with me during my stay here?

I couldn't help but keep the grin on my face as sleep claimed me.

My nightmares were not as before… I was dreaming I was in a red convertible car, in the back seat, and someone was sitting in the front, driving to nowhere. No matter how much I yelled or screamed, the person wouldn't look around or stop the car. It seemed like I was sitting there, in the car, and screaming for hours and hours. But as I woke up, the sun was still out so it must not have been that long.

Jack came in about ten minutes after I awoke, she seemed please to see me up and went away to get the food she promised me. I groaned when I thought of what it was that I was going to be eating soon… but Jack was just kidding about the whole fried bean sprouts thing. Instead she brought me a deli sandwich with lotsa mayo. Yum.

"They're going to send someone down here tomorrow, the sun is going down and they said that they'll have someone leave in the morning. As for me… I have to go also. Lucky, huh? Finally get out of this town and it is to be escorted by the police!" She leaned back in her chair with a frustrated sigh. The sky was slowly darkening as we ate and as the minutes passed on, I was getting more and more curious to what she meant by her statement.

"Why are you in this town?" I asked, looking down at my half eaten food. I don't know why I was feeling so uncomfortable asking her this, probably because it could be personal stuff. Hmm… I guess this is what Heero feels like when asking 'me' questions.

"You mean why don't I leave if I seem to hate it so much." It wasn't a question, she already knew what I wanted to know. Her eyes seemed to drift off into her mind, not really seeing what was in front of her anymore. I wondered if she knew that she had been staring into space for a good five minutes before she decided to come back and answer my question. "I cant leave." Was all she said before standing up with a yawn and walking out the door. Her head popped around the corner and she said, "Get some sleep." Before disappearing for the night.

I wasn't tired. Sleeping all day will do that to a person. My legs felt cramped and I just wanted to stretch my muscles, if only I wasn't too afraid that I'd pull a stitch or something. The rooms air was a little too warm for my liking and I ended up pushing off all my covers. They fell to the ground making me groan and curse myself for kicking them where I couldn't retrieve them. One thing is for sure, being injured sucks.

Since I wasn't tired, the only thing I could do to occupy my time was think. And the only thing I wanted to think about was Heero. Even though it hurt slightly, wondering what he was doing… without me. I had only left him a little while ago and then all this happened… too soon. But it was over… I would finally be able to go back to him, I hope. What if they decided to send me back to the orphanage? They couldn't… but I had no money now, I'd have to get a job… and living in Vanibin would be hard. Everything is expensive there.

What was I going to do?

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Morning came and I was thrilled when Jack came in early to check on me. She had a brownie and beef jerky with her! My hands clapped together and I thanked her with a big grin. "Being hurt isn't so bad if you still get good food!" I said through mouthfuls of the chocolate.

"Hey! Don't eat all that in one sitting!" She yelled while snatching half of the brownie away from my tight grip. My lip stuck out in a pout as I attempted to reach for it back, to no success. "Your healing, you need healthy food, and you haven't even eaten breakfast yet!"

"Brownie! Brownie!" My hands waved anxiously in the direction she was holding it away from me. "Pleassseeee Jack?! I've been dying for sugar all night!"

She just shook her head with an evil grin and put in on one of the far tables, out of my reach. My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms angrily. Pain lanced through my shoulder as I tried to cross my right arm, causing me to wince.

"Duo! Careful… jeez, cant stay still for a minute, can you?" She scolded while checking over my injuries.

"Ow!" Her finger came to poke at my leg. "Jack, that hurts!" She just chuckled at my whining and poked me again.

"Well… it doesn't look like we have to amputate it." Her hand came up to her chin and she looked thoughtfully at my leg.

"Y-you…" She smirked at seeing my wide scared eyes that were trying to get a better look at my leg.

"Joking, joking." Gah! She said 'that' again… Kemp use to always say that when he would kid around with me.

"Did you find out anything about Kemp?" I asked, looking worriedly out the window. The sun was still eye level so I figured it was still pretty early. Well, I would call afternoon too early on some days, so I wasn't the best judge of time.

"Yeah… called them this morning." She didn't finish answering my question, just walked over to play with some of the fake flowers she had put beside my bed. Apparently, purposely avoiding answering.

Ugh… do people like to make it hard for me? Like to keep me in suspense? "And…" I asked, annoyingness sounded through my voice.

She just smirked. "They said he is stable… but he hasn't woken up yet from the drugs they gave him." As she turned in my direction, her lips formed a sad smile. I guess she noticed the relief that was washing through me as she has said that. Kemp was doing alright, hopefully he would stay that way.

"So when do I leave to go see him?" Well, she never told me I would be able to see him… I only hoped they would let me. And what about his girlfriend… she must hate me right now. First for taking him away from his home, and second for being responsible for his injuries.

"You don't. Your going to be transferred to the same hospital, but he isn't allowed any visitors for some time. Only family, you know… usual procedures. During that time you will most likely be questioned by the police and hopefully we will not have to go to court over this. But I don't know anything about that stuff. I'm just a Doctor slash waitress, remember?" She turned the chair around and sat in front of me, chin resting on the back part of it.

"Are you the only doctor in this town?" I think I was figuring out a little of 'why' she wasn't able to leave this place.

"Yup, just me and my assistant, though he is in school right now." My eyebrow raised in question… in school? At seeing my unvoiced question, she answered with, "My son, he's in fifth grade. Usually helps me around the clinic."

"Your married?" She looked a little too young to have had a kid at her age… and a fifth grader at that! Maybe she was one of those early mothers, had a child in her teen years. But… how was she able to become a doctor so quickly then?

Her face grew sad, even with the smile still in place I could tell her mood had dropped. "Was married. He left us a couple years ago and disappeared."

"Hmmm… how old are you? Twenty five?" I asked seriously.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise before she grinned. "Haha, very funny."

"What? Your not twenty five? Are you twenty three?" She laughed some more. I noticed she was really attractive when smiling, and it made me wonder why someone would ever want to leave her.

Her eyes rolled at me before saying. "Thirty one." Now it was my turn to be surprised. I looked her up and down, trying to find the thirty one year old to no success.

"Your joking right? Joking, joking?" Her hand came up in attempt to stifle her giggle and she shook her head amused by my little question.

Jack looked like she was going to say more, but their was a sound outside that might have been a car pulling up. She jumped out of her chair and quickly made her way through the door. I was left alone with one thought still circling my head. "She couldn't be thirty one!"

A man came into my little… hospital room? He was a police officer, and I was surprised that I recognized him. Though, I couldn't figure out where I had seen him before. He walked up and smiled at me before introducing himself.

"I'm Harris, you'll be coming with me to the hospital so they can do a quick check up and figure out how long you have to stay." He held out his hand and I took it shakily. I still couldn't remember where I had seen him from and it was bugging me.

Jack came in with a wheelchair and they both lifted me up into the uncomfortable contraption. The only reason it was uncomfortable was because I was in a weird gown with no back and too baggy pants. The pant legs had one side long and one side cut off above the calf, where my bandages were. I think I complained a little as they wheeled me outside in front a big van, but Jack only laughed at my clothes and said that I looked cute in them. Ugh… there was definitely something weird about this woman. She liked to laugh at her patients. Grrrr.

I was lifted into the front seat and the wheelchair was stowed in the back. This was it, I was leaving. Jack took my hand in hers and smiled sadly. "I'll come visit you when I get forced to come down to the police station." I smirked and nodded my head in answer. Though, that didn't seem to be enough for her. Leaning forward she placed a light kiss on the cheek before shutting my door and waving goodbye.

I blushed at seeing the Harris guy looking our way. Ugh , embarrassing. But I wasn't complaining, I like Jack, she was a nice Doc. We pulled out of the dusty driveway from the almost rundown looking clinic. Harris didn't really talk to me much on the way there, and I found myself stealing glances at him every so often. He had red hair, the kind you wouldn't forget easily, and light blue eyes. He caught me a few times looking at him and raised an eyebrow at me in question.

"Sorry… you look familiar but I cant remember where I've seen you." I admitted after the third time he caught me staring.

He just smirked slightly and said, "Hmmm… I get that a lot."

I sighed before turning my head towards the road outside. It would take us about twenty more minutes to get there and I was bored out of my mind. It didn't help that my leg was cramped and killing me because I couldn't move it much. The hospital would tell me when my leg would be healed… and when I would be able to walk again… But I wish they would let me see Kemp. I was starting to get really worried about him…

"That's it!" My loud voice startled Harris and he looked at me in surprise. "You're the guy in the picture with Kemp at the police station!" I said, proud that I had figured it out.

He smirked, turning his eyes back to the road. "Yeah, we went to school together." That's the only thing he would tell me, for we had now just entered the city. My heart was racing quickly as I looked around the streets of my home. My home… only because Heero was here. I really wanted to see him. Heh, I was back quicker than I thought! Who knew that Hall would go and get shot the very next day!

The hospital came into view and my good mood seemed to disappear entirely as I stared up at the blue building which held Kemp. "Have you heard anything about Kemp?" I asked softly, eyes glued to the big entrance doors.

"Aa… don't worry about him kid. He's made it through a lot worse than a couple bullets in the stomach." Harris said as he parked the car close to the doors. He walked around and opened the passenger door for me, helping me out. I had to balance on one foot as he got the wheelchair out for me, which was a little uncomfortable.

It took a long time for me to finally be placed in a room and assigned a doctor to look over me. He was a little surprised when seeing that I was stitched up and everything was fine. Guess he didn't think Jack would do a good job. The doctor told me that I wouldn't be able to move much for about a week, and I'd have to stay here until my shoulder wound healed enough to where I could move around without worry of breaking the stitches. It was tough not being able to lift your right arm higher than a few inches. And it didn't help when they bandaged me so I could barely move to eat by myself.

Rest was boring, but I had a television in my room… which soon became annoying since I could never find anything good to watch. People came in to see me sometimes… and I wished that they would have been Heero… but I didn't really want him to see me like this. He would get freaked out and worry… plus I didn't have his phone number… and if I did, his family would probably hang up on me. A couple times I played with the idea of asking Harris to go and get Heero for me… but I didn't want to bother him with that. So, I just had to suffer.

I couldn't wait for my release date when I could go see him and everyone. I missed seeing Quatre too. It always cheered me up when I saw him smile. He just had that type of personality I guess, he could make anyone feel better.

Five days later I was released. After cursing and whining about everything the nurses were glad to see me go. Heh, I was suppose to leave two days earlier but I was stupid and tried to walk… my stitches got ripped again, and let me tell you, the nurses were 'not' happy with me after that. They had stopped treating me nicely shortly after I pulled some plugs on my machines causing a weird beeping sound to go off. They had run in here faster than I had ever seen a nurse run and scolded me, telling me sternly to stop getting into trouble and rest. I was sick of resting! Right now I felt like I would never go to bed again! It sucked!

On my fourth day in the hospital, Jack had stopped by for an hour. She told me about her son, and played cards with me to pass the time. It got really quiet after she left and I was starting to contemplate getting Heero over here somehow so he could to hack into the hospital computers and get me released. But… I was only thinking through an extremely bored mind.

Harris came to pick me up on my fifth day and told me the good news. Kemp was doing fine, but was worried about me. I wanted to go see him, but Harris said we had to go down to the police station for paperwork and stuff.

Well… that turned out to take three days, and I was so sick of hospitals and police officers that I almost turned down the invite to go see Kemp. But my inner conscience told me that I had 'really' wanted to go see him. It was weird watching him laying in a bed, nine days after the accident he still looked pretty sick. They said that he had gotten an infection and was still recovering from that. But it didn't make me feel any better.

Kemp was thrilled to see me up and alive… leaning on one crutch as I made my way to his bed. We talked for awhile about what had happened and I was surprised when he started apologizing to me. Him… apologizing.

"Kemp! What the hell are you saying sorry for? It was my fault you got shot!" He just shook his head slightly, not listening to my reason.

"I shouldn't have gotten shot, that was the problem. I didn't even notice that car tailing us as we left! It was a stupid mistake which I wont make a second time." He seemed really depressed, blaming himself for my accident. And no matter what I said, he didn't feel any different.

I left him a half hour later, intending on going back to my apartment. Though, I didn't have any of my clothes, since it was still in Kemp's car… forty miles away. Harris had said that I was still allowed to live at the apartments, but I would need to get a job when my leg healed, that's when they would set me loose and I would be on my own. It was really scary thinking about that. But I figured I'd be happy as long as I got to see Heero and Quatre. Nothing else mattered at the moment, especially not money.

So here I was, limping on my one crutch towards my front door. It was weird coming back there, and seeing it almost exactly the same, minus my clothes… and no food. Ugh. Harris had left me with a couple shirts and pants that he had grown out of and never gotten around to throwing out. They were a little too big, but I wasn't really complaining… clothes were clothes, and I could use all I could get until my stuff was retrieved and sent back to me.

I leaned my head against the cold tiles of my kitchen counter. It felt good to be back, even if this place always made me lonely. Anything was better then being in that hell hospital! My head lifted slightly to see a pink flyer sitting in front of me… hmmm. I picked it up, feeling myself smile as I read it over.

"Ooooo…"

TBC.

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hmmm… that one ended up to be longer than I expected… wooooo. Sorry about the lack of… Heero *sniff* in this chapter. Please Review and tell me what you thought of me storyeee sooo far!

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