Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Survival ❯ Crossing Boundaries ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Crossing Boundaries

April 23rd 197 - Sunday - Amsterdam

“Duo!”

I couldn't help but smile, starting to move forward to hug her… but the next moment she was vaulting the couch and literally flying into my arms. Laughing, I caught her and spun us to kill the momentum… and her hands were all over my face. I closed my eyes, enjoying the familiar touch, breathing in her soft scent… I hadn't realized just how badly I'd missed her until now. “Heya, Hilde,” I greeted softly, opening my eyes back up. Her waist was smaller than I remembered…

Had she always been so small? She couldn't be any bigger than Karina…

“I thought you died,” she whispered… though with how quiet everybody had gone, I bet they could all hear her.

I shrugged. “I didn't.”

She chuckled a little hysterically… then looked about to cry as she fingered my ponytail. “Your hair…”

“Heh… it doesn't look that bad, does it?”

She shook her head and I set her back down on her feet, not sure exactly what to do. Before I could think of a way to break the ice, though, she was resting all her weight back on me, running a hand up my chest until she reached my hair and favored it with a tight grip, touching my face again with her other hand. Again, I accepted the touch, closing my eyes… and she gently tugged my ponytail to bend me over enough so she could kiss me.

I hadn't gotten that much taller, had I?

Smiling into her mouth, I picked her up a little bit - apparently I had - and deepened the kiss, holding her as tight as I could… She was there, and I found I really didn't care about a whole lot else. I felt more than heard her giggle as she kicked at the back of my knee and threw her weight against me so I stumbled backwards into the bar and she could brace one knee against it and hold onto me by the back my neck, running her other hand down my back hard enough that I just had to kiss her again…

“Okay, bet's off, he's not gay.”

I choked hard as I suddenly remembered we were in the middle of the Den…

Holy shit, I'd just started to make out with Hilde in front of everyone… I felt my face start to flush, and noticed hers was pretty damn red too.

“Get a room!” somebody laughed.

“Who thought I was gay?” I demanded, absolutely flabbergasted. The following silence was just that comforting. “Oh come on!”

“Speak English,” Hilde muttered petulantly, looking back and forth between me and the rest of the room. She'd slid down me to rest back on her own feet and was straightening her shirt.

…I'd managed to muss her shirt? No, it was just one of those little ones that hitched easy… “You're wearing Sin's clothes, aren't you?” I demanded suddenly. No wonder, she'd always been showing less skin than me, back during the war…

Karina was just about falling over herself giggling… and she wasn't the only one. I started to laugh myself. “God help me, I'll pay you for that outfit, she needs to keep it…”

Whoever hadn't already been laughing started… and Luc grinned. “Don't bother, that one doesn't stay on very long.”

…I was so glad he'd said that in Dutch…

Hilde's smile was a little doubtful. “Do I want to know?”

“Don't be crude!” I whined at my leader.

“Oh come on, boy, if we'd all quietly walked out I don't think you'd still be able to claim you were-”

“Hey!”

Hilde seemed to have decided to just ignore the language that was flying over her head anyhow, and had started fiddling with my ponytail. “It's too short,” she muttered irritably, tugging at it as if that would magically reveal its old length. Sniggers sounded throughout the room again.

“Better than getting caught,” I returned, rolling my eyes.

She smiled at that, looking back up at me… then frowned.

“What?” I demanded warily.

“…Is that…?” she reached up and wiped at my eye… and her finger came away black.

…I was never going to live today down.

***

April 30th 197 - Sunday - Jerusalem

Heero waved a hand when Moira moved to help him out of the car, offering her a smile and doing it himself. It was getting easier and easier… both the smile and moving about on his own.

“Don't you strain yourself,” the Jewish woman warned him, her dark eyes sparking with the danger he would face if he didn't heed her warning.

“I won't,” he reassured her, accepting the cane when she offered it. It was nearly dusk, and they were at the clinic for a more formal check-up, at the end of Dr. Srona's day. Slowly, they made their way to the door.

Heero had no memory of when Quatre had brought him here. The only reason the blonde had dared to do something so rash, he suspected, was because he had already been delirious with a high fever and unable to talk, let alone fight him off. Heh… This last year had taught him more about pride than he'd ever wanted to know… especially how stupid it was. He would be dead now if he'd had his way about not seeing a doctor.

“Finish the antibiotics, clean it every day, and you should be fine,” he could hear Samuel muttering. “And for God's sake, don't push it, or the muscle will never knit back up right.”

“Thank-you, doctor,” muttered a voice that froze Heero in his tracks. That slight lilt of an accent… “I'm sorry to trouble you… I wouldn't have, but I'm a long way from a safe house, and the infection set in.”

“What's wrong?” Moira asked curiously.

“I need to go,” the man muttered quickly at her voice, hissing slightly as cloth rustled - maybe pulling on a jacket. “Thank-you again… I won't forget your help. I'll come back and pay you once I'm not on the run.” Heero started up the stairs again, as quickly as he could manage.

“Don't bother. Just take care of that arm… and give them one for me.”

“I will.”

Breathing hard, Heero burst into the office… in time to see a teenager wearing a dull green coat ducking out the back entrance. He had a short black ponytail, and the hand slamming the door shut after him was a bronze that suggested Chinese descent…

And he was gone.

He tried to yell after him, but he was completely out of breath, and instead he fell to his knees, gasping, with the Sronas huddling around him, demanding to know what was wrong and checking his vitals…

He almost thought he could cry. He'd missed Wufei by a mere two seconds.

***

Brussels

“I hear you've been spending a lot of time with Dorothy.”

Relena smiled. “She's changed so much since we last talked… I think we've both grown up enough to be friends, now.”

Milliardo smiled back. “And I imagine it must also be a relief to have someone close to your own age around.”

His little sister laughed. “You have no idea… We were actually talking about going shopping the next time she had some time off.” Malls are too crowded to easily tap a conversation.

“She's pretty busy, isn't she?”

“Yeah, but it works out so that I can tag along and learn what needs the most attention firsthand.” She sniggered a little. “And still have girl talk, point out what delegates we think are cute and all that.”

He shook his head a little. “So long as you're not still ooing over Yuy.”

“Oh, Milliardo,” she rolled her eyes. “I only said he was my boyfriend once and that was only because I was trying to get more information about him out of Dr. Po at the hospital.” She shrugged a little and forced another grin. “Besides, he was cute.” Sighing, she added, “Confused enough to make me look steady back then… but cute.”

“I always thought girls would fall over Maxwell more,” her brother noted, tilting his head.

She wrinkled her nose. “Who wants to go out with a boy who'll take longer to do his hair than you will? Besides, he never seemed to take anything seriously… not that I ever exchanged more than a few words with him.” She considered. “Actually, I don't think I ever actually talked with any of them except Heero and Quatre… They all always seemed to know me, but for the most part they stayed with Noin when they were in Sanc.”

He grimaced. “Noin always had a way of making people around her feel comfortable… she attracts company, good and bad, but everyone always behaves for her. I miss her, some days…”

“Yes…” You never deserved Noin, Milliardo… She had too good of a heart. I'm glad she finally realized that… I doubt I'd have the strength to stand up against what you say if she was here at your side. “I miss her too.”

The reports were unclear as to Noin's whereabouts… each rebel group claimed to have her, and there was a decent chance she might have faded into obscurity just to get away from what she must see as a ruined life. Relena wasn't sure which she wished was true… it would be wonderful if Noin would stand with her against her brother, when push finally came to shove, but she really didn't want to put the other woman through any more emotional trauma than she was already dealing with. Her heart had been so split when it came to that last battle… the way she had come with and supported the gundams, then stood by Milliardo, then just disappeared during his last fight with Heero and the others… Relena supposed that at that point she just hadn't been able to handle it anymore… and just hoped she was safe, wherever she was.

“She accompanied you quite a bit during the last war, didn't she?”

“She did,” Relena agreed. “She was always advising me on how to best keep a hold on my temper…” She smiled a little. “These days it seems like I'm always cooling off Dorothy's temper. Perhaps I inherited something of Lucrezia's disposition?”

Milliardo laughed. “Maybe…” Shaking his head somewhat, he handed her a file with a decent-sized stack of papers in it. “Read through that and tell me what you think?”

“Of course,” she returned eagerly, taking it from him and opening it at her desk. She knew it wouldn't be anything important… he didn't really trust her that well yet. He only gave her things he had already gone through and come to a decision on, and was waiting to see if all her opinions came in line with his own. They would discuss the issue at length once she had told him what she thought… and she told him what she thought he wanted. Maybe sometime soon he would give her something she could actually use. But for now…

Well, for now it was something to do.

***

Amsterdam

“You need to settle your mind about this sometime soon, Rina,” Chaos muttered under his breath as they trudged through the snow. “It's going to get real complicated soon enough, and I need to be ready.”

Sin bit her lip. “I know…”

“I'd really prefer it if you'd do something to make Cal break up with you,” he continued. “He beat you before he found out you were pregnant, didn't he?”

“We fought,” she snapped, shifting her coat. “What the hell makes you think I'm stupid enough to stay with a man who'd hit me?”

“Well,” he returned hotly, “you were obviously-”

“I did what I did initially because I was scared,” she snarled. “I thought I was getting insurance so that whichever group fell, I'd be okay… then the guy above Cal, who wouldn't have given a damn who some girl was with, he died and Cal took over and renamed the group… and I've been in this limbo since.”

“You should've broken with Cal when he took power,” Chaos argued. “You should have realized what-”

“I was fourteen years old, Chaos, fuck you,” she cried. “I didn't have a clue what I was getting into, I was just trying to keep my head above water the deeper I got! My folks died when I was little, the orphanage sucked, then my foster father got drunk all the time and beat me whenever he saw me, and his wife didn't give a damn unless I was hollering loud enough to interrupt her soaps, and then she'd just tell him to hit me harder! I was out of the house as much as I could, and it didn't take long to realize what was a girl's only way to have a speck of protection from anything in this town! At least if I made it home when somebody tried to hurt me, Carl would hurt them back, but then he'd beat me around a bit to try to make the lesson stick that I shouldn't mix up with that kind! Like there was any other kind to mix up with! And-”

“Hey, calm down,” he muttered, pulling her into a hug. “I'm sorry, alright? Just a little high strung… Shit, if you don't play this out right I'm high strung right along with you, you know?”

She paused, getting her breath back, and thought about it for a minute. “…Cal would take you on.”

“Sweetie, we've been over the fact that I don't like Cal; I don't think I can trust him, and they get too much publicity. And hell if he'd make a good dad.”

“Luc's a patronizing shit,” she snapped irritably.

“That's because Luc actually gives a damn,” he returned just as irritably. “And he's not so dumb as to believe you're actually legal, he just treats you with the respect you want and tries to keep you out of trouble anyway. The guy actually loves you, and Cal just…” He shook his head. “You know what, this is your choice, never mind.”

“No, what were you gonna say?” she demanded, getting up in his face, or as up in his face as she could, with her height. “Come on, tell me.”

He scowled. “Calvin Slinger just appeases you to keep you quiet and happy like a good little whore for hire.” She opened her mouth to snap back at him, but he overrode her. “Do you honestly think he's going to care about this kid once it's born? Sure, he'll make sure you've both got clothes and that you'll never go hungry, but do you think the asshole will bother trying to be a parent?”

She scowled. “Well, maybe it'd be better that way; the baby'd never grow up wanting.”

He scowled right back at her. “With his daddy tearing up what's left of this city left and right? Who's gonna make him think that men aren't supposed to care about anything but themselves? That's a hell of a role model.”

“…There'd be you.”

He snorted. “I ain't ever going over to Cal, Rina. You pick him, and I'll say how do you do to you on the street… but that's it. I'll have to watch my own back for the sake of Luc and the rest, then.”

That really hurt. She didn't want to… but she started to cry once he said that. She didn't want to think of what life had been like without that unconditional friend, who'd take her despite all her mistakes…

“Rina…” He sounded sorry, but…

“Why don't you just run off with your girlfriend too, then!” she cried. “That way you wouldn't ever have to see me again!”

“Rina, come on, I was just-”

“She's a real looker, isn't she? No wonder you didn't like me when you got here! You two had better get on the road, Shov's sweet on her and you wouldn't want to accidentally break up the whole group with your romance!”

“Sin, really, don't-”

“Whatcha still doing here with all us fuck-ups?” she demanded nastily. “You should just-”

“Karina!”

She fell silent at that; he never used her real name like that… the last time she'd heard her name said in that tone she'd still been living with Carl Demach and his wife.

“Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm just worried… I don't want this to all go to hell in a hand basket, because I don't know if I'll be able to pull it back into anything like normal if it goes too far. I just don't think Cal's good for anything… the guy gives me the creeps.” He sighed. “And I'm not leaving with Hilde… I've got too much going on here, and… Well, believe it or not, I actually like it here.”

She sniffed, wiping at her eyes. “You're just saying that to make me feel better,” she insisted.

“No,” he returned easily, leading her over to sit down on a bench. They were in the park they'd found him in, she realized dimly. “I like it here. I've got the church, and with the kids, hell, maybe a chance at redemption… I've got a full crew of guys and even a few girls that I can always trust to watch my back… I can't say I miss getting two hours of light sleep waiting for my proximity alarm to go off because I was out long enough to get tracked. That's the kind of life Hilde'd want me to go back to, and I'm not ready to handle that kind of shit again, not now, maybe not ever. Nobody here expects me to be anything but me… and I've got friends, real friends, for the first time since I was a little kid.”

He tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear. “And I did some real stupid shit when I was thirteen or fourteen too… Actually, that was what got me mixed up in the war in the first place. So I guess I really don't have any room to bad talk you, huh?”

She sniffed again, thinking over everything he'd said. He wasn't actually mad at her, and he'd know she wasn't upset with him, but… “You think I should stay with Luc?”

“Yes, I really do. I think it'd be better for both you and the baby.”

She considered his sincere indigo eyes for a moment… and nodded. “How do we do it, then?”

He sighed. “I don't know yet… But we can start by skipping your visit with Cal today. Come on, I promised the kids I'd take them out for a treat of some sort.”

“Sounds good,” she noted, lifting a hand for him to help her up.

“Of course it does, you're a regular cow,” he teased.

“I weigh just about as much as one,” she admitted with chagrin. “I'm going to have to go on a diet after the kid's born.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he dismissed, tugging her after him in the direction of the church. “The Father will be happy to see you; he and the Sister have both been talking about how they see so little of you lately.” He grinned. “And with how much of you there is right now, that's saying something.”

She smacked at him playfully and he just laughed… and not for the first time, Sin realized how incredibly lucky she was to have gotten herself such a friend.