Alone
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
Warnings: Het- 5xSP, the unwavering curiosity of children, and a teeny tiny hint of 1x2 (yeah, it's in there :D)
*`*********
As the warm spring days started to reappear from the bleak winter nights, things were starting to fall back into normal routine at Preventer Headquarters after the nervous Christmas season. Lady Une was helping the President with his campaign for reelection, Noin and Zechs were returning from Mars to visit later that month, and Sally Po once again found herself restocking the medical wing room by room.
It was a devious task -oh, she knew- but the blue-eyed Preventer never refused the job. Being a former army surgeon herself, she was far beyond capable of checking off supplies from a clipboard. She just wished the long day could be spent with a certain ex-pilot partner of hers.
She took a head start one day when all her paperwork was complete and strolled down the hall slowly, clipboard in one hand and flipping one of her golden twists behind her back. The first door was closed when Sally arrived, so she fished out a set of keys from a pocket of her Preventers jacket and quickly opened it.
"Check, check, check," she skimmed through the shelves in the small room. "More gauze, more syringes, more gloves, and more band-aids," she said outloud while writing it all down on the checklist for the room. With a sigh, she continued to the next room, locking the door behind her.
Her chore went on for about an hour and she was seriously wondering where all the medical gauze from the rooms was going, since she never saw anyone wearing any, when the young, red-haired Mariemaia wheeled into the storage room behind her.
The ten-year-old girl leaned forward in her wheelchair and tried to look at Sally's checklist. "Hello, Dr. Po," she said.
"Hello, Mariemaia." Sally's eyes stayed focus on slowly reading all the labels of the boxes across the shelf. "Are you having fun?"
"Oh yes, I always have fun here at Headquarters." Mariemaia grasped the wheels and turned herself to look at the labels also. "I just wish Mother wasn't so busy when it was this nice out."
"Well," Sally said with a sigh and looked down at her clipboard. "You know the President has gone out of his way to help the Preventers, and your stepmother will do anything to repay him."
"I know." Mariemaia said, a little distant. As Sally scratched her pencil across the checklist, the young girl turned her wheelchair to face her. "Doctor, I have a question to ask you."
"What is it?" asked Sally, looking up from her paper for a second to acknowledge her.
"Do you close the door when you're changing your clothes?"
Sally's eyebrows furrowed and she stopped writing at hearing the question. "What?" she asked and turned around.
"You know, since you have an apartment. You're alone." Mariemaia said. "There isn't anyone to watch you, so you wouldn't have to shut the door."
As odd as the observation seemed to her, Sally didn't want to criticize Mariemaia's youthful curiosity. Instead she smiled and replied, "Well, I guess that would be true. If I don't live with anyone there wouldn't be any need for worrying about peeping toms, right? But closing the door is just a habit of mine. When you were almost always the only female in an army full of men, you tended to want your privacy when it came to changing."
"Ohh, that's right." Mariemaia said. "You were the only woman." Sally smiled again and took the handles of the wheelchair and gently strolled her outside the room, shutting the door after. "When are you going to be done?"
Sally skimmed her list and flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "It'll be a while."
"Oh," Mariemaia said glumly, but then instantly perked back up. "Well, there are other people around. Lunch break is coming up soon, right?"
"I think so."
"Okay, I'm going to go see if can ask anyone else my question." Mariemaia took a hold of the wheels and carefully turned her wheelchair. "Good afternoon, Dr. Po," she said politely and started to push the wheels, quickly picking up speed down the hall.
Sally smiled. "See you later, Mariemaia," she called after her and continued on her way to the next room shaking her head lightly, the girl's question still on her mind and the thought of being alone lingering longer than it should have.
***
Wufei poured his fourth cup of coffee carried on from that morning and leaned against the counter in the lounge. His muscles ached and his neck was stiff from filling out paperwork, but he had too much pride to complain. He just wished that his partner wasn't stuck on an inventory chore for the whole day, since she was always there to make everything more interesting.
He gently tipped the mug and slowly the warm liquid flowed past his lips and over his taste buds. Coffee was so bitter. Atleast at Headquarters it was.
"There you are!" called a young girl.
Wufei stopped in mid-sip as he heard the familiar voice and mentally sighed as he lowered the mug to see Mariemaia push herself into the lounge room. "Good afternoon, Wufei," she said pleasantly and stopped near him.
"Good afternoon, Mariemaia. How are you?" he asked her, enthusiasm lacking in his voice.
"I'm fine, thank you." Mariemaia replied.
"Still in the wheelchair, I see." Wufei stated. He turned his back to refill his coffee mug to the top.
"Yes. The doctors told me that I should be walking normally again by the end of the year."
Mariemaia and Wufei's relationship was different then from what is was during the second war. After Lady Une received full custody of Mariemaia, the Khushranada girl visited Headquarters more often. When she started becoming a more consistent visitor, Wufei had put anything he had for or against her behind and tried to start out as if he had never met her before, like Sally had told him to. But Mariemaia was, and he knew always would be, a little haunting reminder of Treize.
"I have a question to ask you," she said.
"Go ahead."
"Do you close the door when you use the bathroom at home?" Mariemaia asked, a small, childlike smile playing across her lips.
Wufei turned around and snapped, "What do you need to know that for?"
"You live alone in your apartment, right?" Mariemaia asked, her smile growing wider at his agitation. "So no one is there to watch you."
Wufei didn't have a response to her answer. In fact, it was actually hard for him to say, that being one of the more weirder topics he stayed away from in normal conversations. "I can't even dignify that with an answer, it's such an irrelevant question," he finally retorted. "Why are you asking that anyway?"
"I was just wondering if people who lived alone had to close the door when they went to the bathroom or changed their clothes." Mariemaia told him truthfully. "And you live alone, so I asked you. I saw Duo today and I asked him. He told me that he walks around in his underwear and sings and dances along to the radio."
That thought processed in his mind, as much as Wufei didn't want it to, but then he realized and said, "Maxwell doesn't live alone. He has an apartment with Heero Yuy."
"Oh," Mariemaia said, remembering also. "That's right.he does live with Heero."
"Probably still does that anyway," mumbled Wufei under his breath.
"Well then Wufei, you didn't answer my question."
"I told you, I can't."
"It's just a question Wufei," Mariemaia reminded him. "You live alone and no one's there to watch you, so you don't have to close the door. It's simple."
Wufei suddenly became aggravated by not being able to answer her. "That's right, I live alone and I like it that way. But if it will make you happy, no comment."
"Fine." Mariemaia said, giving up on him. She was bored then, seeing that she wasn't having fun pushing his buttons anymore, and turned her wheelchair around towards the doorway.
"Take your question somewhere else, I'm sure you'll find someone here to answer it," said Wufei.
"You know I will. Good-bye, Wufei." Mariemaia said as she was leaving.
"Good-bye." After she was gone, Wufei turned back and took a creamer from the counter. "She needs a hobby."
Or maybe it was him who needed the hobby. The thought of being alone was suddenly becoming a little more distracting than it had been.
Maybe he really didn't like it after all.
***
Sally slowly pushed the cart down the isle in the grocery store late that night while looking over the items. She didn't think that after restocking shelves all day that would she end up having to look at them again by choice, but having no food in her cupboards was reason enough to do it anyway.
She picked up a box of chocolates and read the descriptive contents. Soft peanut butter, rich caramel, smooth milk chocolate.
The loud clanking of grocery carts startled her and she noticed that someone had bumped into hers. "Oh sorry, am I in the middle of the isle?"
"No, it was my fault."
The familiar voice caught Sally's attention and she quickly looked up to see her partner. She smiled and said, "Wufei? What are you doing out this late?"
Wufei smiled himself; his own bad-boy type smile that he usually only showed to her. "I had nothing better to do. Besides, I drank too much coffee today and couldn't fall asleep."
"I told you to back off of that stuff! It'll only lead to problems if you get hooked." Sally said.
Wufei smirked again. "You're the one who drinks a minimum of five cups a day, woman." He then added, "And weren't you also the one who arm- wrestled Duo for the last cup a week ago when we ran out?"
Sally snickered. "Yeah, you're right." There was a short pause between them. "Work used to be fun," she added, "occasionally."
"Yeah." Wufei trailed off as he lowered his eyes and looked at the items in her cart. They were basic things; milk, lettuce, carrots, cereal, bottled water. He looked up and noticed the box of chocolates she was holding. "Chocolate?" he asked. "Not a very healthy snack, Doctor."
"Oh," Sally noticed that she was still holding the box. She smiled and shrugged. "Well, everyone loves chocolate." Instead of putting it in her cart, though, she set it back on the shelf. "But those are the kind you're supposed to give to someone you love on those mushy-lovey holidays. And besides, they're not on sale."
Wufei raised an eyebrow. 'Not to be rude,' he wanted to say to her, 'but I think with the paychecks we get you don't need to worry about things being on sale.'
"Oh well," Sally said uneasily. "I better get moving before they close. It was funny seeing you here and not at work today."
"Yeah," Wufei replied. "It was.really dull without you in the office. Are you on inventory again tomorrow?"
Sally nodded. "Sorry."
Wufei started noticing her carefully. She obviously had a tiring day from what he could see, looking at her comfortable black cotton pants, matching tank-top, and white tennis shoes. The night was cold so she was wearing a light gray sweater left unzipped. Her hair attracted him the most; she carelessly tied it behind her head in a messy bun giving her a trendy look that he thought made her look pretty. As he thought of her then, Mariemaia's question was coming back to him. He had to do something about it. The thought of being lonely wasn't sounding that likable to him anymore. "Well, then I hope your task is over soon," he said.
Sally smiled and raised an eyebrow. He was making it sound like he wanted her around more. And why wouldn't she want to be around him? He had grown up so much in the three years they had been working together. She couldn't help but be attracted to his tall, built figure and naturally tanned skin, or that silky looking jet black hair and dark, onyx eyes. Or maybe it was how he fit into those loose khaki pants and dark green polo shirt. His attitude was starting to shape up, too. Atleast, from what she thought. He had really started to lighten up after the wars. Then she remembered Mariemaia's question, and she thought that being alone wasn't always what she wanted.
"Do you need anything else?" she finally said. "I still have a few other things to get."
"No, I think I'm done." Wufei answered.
"Okay. Well, I'll see you later, Wufei." Sally said and took a hold of her cart.
"Good night, Sally." Wufei smiled at her.
"Good night." Sally returned the smile and started down the isle again, feeling content after such a nice conversation with him.
She took her time finding the other things to replace the food missing from her apartment, and headed to a register that was still open. Barely anyone else was in the large store since it was so late, and a couple workers had already started mopping the floors.
As the cashier slid her groceries across the scanner and typed in codes for bags of fruit, the odd design of the checkout area let Sally look over at one of the other open registers. Wufei was there, and the other cashier had just rung up his groceries. He looked over and they smiled at each other.
"Sir?" the young teenage boy asked. Wufei looked back at him. "Here's your change and receipt. Have a good night."
"Thanks." Wufei forced himself to mumble and stuffed the change and paper into his pocket. He picked up the four bags, not being one to want to take the cart out to his car and have to return it, and shared a quick smile again with his partner as he left.
Sally felt herself blush as she watched him walk out of the store and into the parking lot. She smiled to herself and shook her head as she handed the cashier a couple large bills of money after hearing the total.
***
There was a knock on Sally's door a while after she had gotten home from the store. She wondered who could possibly need anything that late at night, but still answered it anyway.
"Wufei?" She was surprised to see him again.
He didn't look at her directly, and he was holding something behind his back. ".Hi," Wufei said uneasily. "Is it too late for you?"
"No. Is there something you need?" Sally asked, the confusion obvious on her features.
"Well, no.I.came here to give you something." He revealed from behind his back the box of chocolates she was looking at in the store earlier and held them out to her.
Sally gasped lightly but took them anyway, her eyes wide. Then she remembered saying that those chocolates were supposed to be given to someone you love. He must have went back and got them while she wasn't looking. Her heart felt like it was skipping beats and she was almost breathless. "Oh.Wufei."
Wufei smiled at her reaction; a bright, genuine smile. "May I come in?" he asked.
"Yes you may." Sally answered, smiling herself and stepping aside for him to enter.
And neither of them were alone that night.
The End
*`*******
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
Warnings: Het- 5xSP, the unwavering curiosity of children, and a teeny tiny hint of 1x2 (yeah, it's in there :D)
*`*********
As the warm spring days started to reappear from the bleak winter nights, things were starting to fall back into normal routine at Preventer Headquarters after the nervous Christmas season. Lady Une was helping the President with his campaign for reelection, Noin and Zechs were returning from Mars to visit later that month, and Sally Po once again found herself restocking the medical wing room by room.
It was a devious task -oh, she knew- but the blue-eyed Preventer never refused the job. Being a former army surgeon herself, she was far beyond capable of checking off supplies from a clipboard. She just wished the long day could be spent with a certain ex-pilot partner of hers.
She took a head start one day when all her paperwork was complete and strolled down the hall slowly, clipboard in one hand and flipping one of her golden twists behind her back. The first door was closed when Sally arrived, so she fished out a set of keys from a pocket of her Preventers jacket and quickly opened it.
"Check, check, check," she skimmed through the shelves in the small room. "More gauze, more syringes, more gloves, and more band-aids," she said outloud while writing it all down on the checklist for the room. With a sigh, she continued to the next room, locking the door behind her.
Her chore went on for about an hour and she was seriously wondering where all the medical gauze from the rooms was going, since she never saw anyone wearing any, when the young, red-haired Mariemaia wheeled into the storage room behind her.
The ten-year-old girl leaned forward in her wheelchair and tried to look at Sally's checklist. "Hello, Dr. Po," she said.
"Hello, Mariemaia." Sally's eyes stayed focus on slowly reading all the labels of the boxes across the shelf. "Are you having fun?"
"Oh yes, I always have fun here at Headquarters." Mariemaia grasped the wheels and turned herself to look at the labels also. "I just wish Mother wasn't so busy when it was this nice out."
"Well," Sally said with a sigh and looked down at her clipboard. "You know the President has gone out of his way to help the Preventers, and your stepmother will do anything to repay him."
"I know." Mariemaia said, a little distant. As Sally scratched her pencil across the checklist, the young girl turned her wheelchair to face her. "Doctor, I have a question to ask you."
"What is it?" asked Sally, looking up from her paper for a second to acknowledge her.
"Do you close the door when you're changing your clothes?"
Sally's eyebrows furrowed and she stopped writing at hearing the question. "What?" she asked and turned around.
"You know, since you have an apartment. You're alone." Mariemaia said. "There isn't anyone to watch you, so you wouldn't have to shut the door."
As odd as the observation seemed to her, Sally didn't want to criticize Mariemaia's youthful curiosity. Instead she smiled and replied, "Well, I guess that would be true. If I don't live with anyone there wouldn't be any need for worrying about peeping toms, right? But closing the door is just a habit of mine. When you were almost always the only female in an army full of men, you tended to want your privacy when it came to changing."
"Ohh, that's right." Mariemaia said. "You were the only woman." Sally smiled again and took the handles of the wheelchair and gently strolled her outside the room, shutting the door after. "When are you going to be done?"
Sally skimmed her list and flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "It'll be a while."
"Oh," Mariemaia said glumly, but then instantly perked back up. "Well, there are other people around. Lunch break is coming up soon, right?"
"I think so."
"Okay, I'm going to go see if can ask anyone else my question." Mariemaia took a hold of the wheels and carefully turned her wheelchair. "Good afternoon, Dr. Po," she said politely and started to push the wheels, quickly picking up speed down the hall.
Sally smiled. "See you later, Mariemaia," she called after her and continued on her way to the next room shaking her head lightly, the girl's question still on her mind and the thought of being alone lingering longer than it should have.
***
Wufei poured his fourth cup of coffee carried on from that morning and leaned against the counter in the lounge. His muscles ached and his neck was stiff from filling out paperwork, but he had too much pride to complain. He just wished that his partner wasn't stuck on an inventory chore for the whole day, since she was always there to make everything more interesting.
He gently tipped the mug and slowly the warm liquid flowed past his lips and over his taste buds. Coffee was so bitter. Atleast at Headquarters it was.
"There you are!" called a young girl.
Wufei stopped in mid-sip as he heard the familiar voice and mentally sighed as he lowered the mug to see Mariemaia push herself into the lounge room. "Good afternoon, Wufei," she said pleasantly and stopped near him.
"Good afternoon, Mariemaia. How are you?" he asked her, enthusiasm lacking in his voice.
"I'm fine, thank you." Mariemaia replied.
"Still in the wheelchair, I see." Wufei stated. He turned his back to refill his coffee mug to the top.
"Yes. The doctors told me that I should be walking normally again by the end of the year."
Mariemaia and Wufei's relationship was different then from what is was during the second war. After Lady Une received full custody of Mariemaia, the Khushranada girl visited Headquarters more often. When she started becoming a more consistent visitor, Wufei had put anything he had for or against her behind and tried to start out as if he had never met her before, like Sally had told him to. But Mariemaia was, and he knew always would be, a little haunting reminder of Treize.
"I have a question to ask you," she said.
"Go ahead."
"Do you close the door when you use the bathroom at home?" Mariemaia asked, a small, childlike smile playing across her lips.
Wufei turned around and snapped, "What do you need to know that for?"
"You live alone in your apartment, right?" Mariemaia asked, her smile growing wider at his agitation. "So no one is there to watch you."
Wufei didn't have a response to her answer. In fact, it was actually hard for him to say, that being one of the more weirder topics he stayed away from in normal conversations. "I can't even dignify that with an answer, it's such an irrelevant question," he finally retorted. "Why are you asking that anyway?"
"I was just wondering if people who lived alone had to close the door when they went to the bathroom or changed their clothes." Mariemaia told him truthfully. "And you live alone, so I asked you. I saw Duo today and I asked him. He told me that he walks around in his underwear and sings and dances along to the radio."
That thought processed in his mind, as much as Wufei didn't want it to, but then he realized and said, "Maxwell doesn't live alone. He has an apartment with Heero Yuy."
"Oh," Mariemaia said, remembering also. "That's right.he does live with Heero."
"Probably still does that anyway," mumbled Wufei under his breath.
"Well then Wufei, you didn't answer my question."
"I told you, I can't."
"It's just a question Wufei," Mariemaia reminded him. "You live alone and no one's there to watch you, so you don't have to close the door. It's simple."
Wufei suddenly became aggravated by not being able to answer her. "That's right, I live alone and I like it that way. But if it will make you happy, no comment."
"Fine." Mariemaia said, giving up on him. She was bored then, seeing that she wasn't having fun pushing his buttons anymore, and turned her wheelchair around towards the doorway.
"Take your question somewhere else, I'm sure you'll find someone here to answer it," said Wufei.
"You know I will. Good-bye, Wufei." Mariemaia said as she was leaving.
"Good-bye." After she was gone, Wufei turned back and took a creamer from the counter. "She needs a hobby."
Or maybe it was him who needed the hobby. The thought of being alone was suddenly becoming a little more distracting than it had been.
Maybe he really didn't like it after all.
***
Sally slowly pushed the cart down the isle in the grocery store late that night while looking over the items. She didn't think that after restocking shelves all day that would she end up having to look at them again by choice, but having no food in her cupboards was reason enough to do it anyway.
She picked up a box of chocolates and read the descriptive contents. Soft peanut butter, rich caramel, smooth milk chocolate.
The loud clanking of grocery carts startled her and she noticed that someone had bumped into hers. "Oh sorry, am I in the middle of the isle?"
"No, it was my fault."
The familiar voice caught Sally's attention and she quickly looked up to see her partner. She smiled and said, "Wufei? What are you doing out this late?"
Wufei smiled himself; his own bad-boy type smile that he usually only showed to her. "I had nothing better to do. Besides, I drank too much coffee today and couldn't fall asleep."
"I told you to back off of that stuff! It'll only lead to problems if you get hooked." Sally said.
Wufei smirked again. "You're the one who drinks a minimum of five cups a day, woman." He then added, "And weren't you also the one who arm- wrestled Duo for the last cup a week ago when we ran out?"
Sally snickered. "Yeah, you're right." There was a short pause between them. "Work used to be fun," she added, "occasionally."
"Yeah." Wufei trailed off as he lowered his eyes and looked at the items in her cart. They were basic things; milk, lettuce, carrots, cereal, bottled water. He looked up and noticed the box of chocolates she was holding. "Chocolate?" he asked. "Not a very healthy snack, Doctor."
"Oh," Sally noticed that she was still holding the box. She smiled and shrugged. "Well, everyone loves chocolate." Instead of putting it in her cart, though, she set it back on the shelf. "But those are the kind you're supposed to give to someone you love on those mushy-lovey holidays. And besides, they're not on sale."
Wufei raised an eyebrow. 'Not to be rude,' he wanted to say to her, 'but I think with the paychecks we get you don't need to worry about things being on sale.'
"Oh well," Sally said uneasily. "I better get moving before they close. It was funny seeing you here and not at work today."
"Yeah," Wufei replied. "It was.really dull without you in the office. Are you on inventory again tomorrow?"
Sally nodded. "Sorry."
Wufei started noticing her carefully. She obviously had a tiring day from what he could see, looking at her comfortable black cotton pants, matching tank-top, and white tennis shoes. The night was cold so she was wearing a light gray sweater left unzipped. Her hair attracted him the most; she carelessly tied it behind her head in a messy bun giving her a trendy look that he thought made her look pretty. As he thought of her then, Mariemaia's question was coming back to him. He had to do something about it. The thought of being lonely wasn't sounding that likable to him anymore. "Well, then I hope your task is over soon," he said.
Sally smiled and raised an eyebrow. He was making it sound like he wanted her around more. And why wouldn't she want to be around him? He had grown up so much in the three years they had been working together. She couldn't help but be attracted to his tall, built figure and naturally tanned skin, or that silky looking jet black hair and dark, onyx eyes. Or maybe it was how he fit into those loose khaki pants and dark green polo shirt. His attitude was starting to shape up, too. Atleast, from what she thought. He had really started to lighten up after the wars. Then she remembered Mariemaia's question, and she thought that being alone wasn't always what she wanted.
"Do you need anything else?" she finally said. "I still have a few other things to get."
"No, I think I'm done." Wufei answered.
"Okay. Well, I'll see you later, Wufei." Sally said and took a hold of her cart.
"Good night, Sally." Wufei smiled at her.
"Good night." Sally returned the smile and started down the isle again, feeling content after such a nice conversation with him.
She took her time finding the other things to replace the food missing from her apartment, and headed to a register that was still open. Barely anyone else was in the large store since it was so late, and a couple workers had already started mopping the floors.
As the cashier slid her groceries across the scanner and typed in codes for bags of fruit, the odd design of the checkout area let Sally look over at one of the other open registers. Wufei was there, and the other cashier had just rung up his groceries. He looked over and they smiled at each other.
"Sir?" the young teenage boy asked. Wufei looked back at him. "Here's your change and receipt. Have a good night."
"Thanks." Wufei forced himself to mumble and stuffed the change and paper into his pocket. He picked up the four bags, not being one to want to take the cart out to his car and have to return it, and shared a quick smile again with his partner as he left.
Sally felt herself blush as she watched him walk out of the store and into the parking lot. She smiled to herself and shook her head as she handed the cashier a couple large bills of money after hearing the total.
***
There was a knock on Sally's door a while after she had gotten home from the store. She wondered who could possibly need anything that late at night, but still answered it anyway.
"Wufei?" She was surprised to see him again.
He didn't look at her directly, and he was holding something behind his back. ".Hi," Wufei said uneasily. "Is it too late for you?"
"No. Is there something you need?" Sally asked, the confusion obvious on her features.
"Well, no.I.came here to give you something." He revealed from behind his back the box of chocolates she was looking at in the store earlier and held them out to her.
Sally gasped lightly but took them anyway, her eyes wide. Then she remembered saying that those chocolates were supposed to be given to someone you love. He must have went back and got them while she wasn't looking. Her heart felt like it was skipping beats and she was almost breathless. "Oh.Wufei."
Wufei smiled at her reaction; a bright, genuine smile. "May I come in?" he asked.
"Yes you may." Sally answered, smiling herself and stepping aside for him to enter.
And neither of them were alone that night.
The End
*`*******