When I woke up, the house was quiet. Ania had just gotten up herself and was curled up on the couch in duckie-print pajamas and a flannel robe, watching Trowa's back as he made eggs. Duo was reading a magazine and Quatre was reading a book. Heero and Wufei looked to be out. I double-checked the computer room—empty.
I padded down to the living room and yawned. I had pajama pants on and a long-sleeve shirt, but I was still pretty cold so I snuggled up under the tail of my sister's robe.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Trowa's secret recipe," she replied.
"For eggs?"
"That's what he says."
I eyed Trowa's back. "Huh…" I glanced at Duo. "What's the magazine?"
"The latest in mechanical endeavors," he replied, flipping the page; I made a face. "I'll let you read it when I'm done, if you like."
"No thanks," I mumbled.
Just then, Heero walked in. He brushed my arm and motioned for me to follow him onto the balcony. I grumbled out of the warmth of Ania's robe, snatched a jacket from the kitchen chair I'd officially turned into a coat rack, stuffed my feet into Ania's ankle boots, and clopped outside. I glanced back at Duo, who was eyeing us from over the top of his magazine.
"Wow, its cold out," I said when I stepped on the balcony. The wind, when it blew, was frigid. I tightened the jacket around me.
"Come here," Heero said so I did. His face was very serious.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"When Duo and I were out on our mission, we found out that OZ is looking for two rogue contractors possibly affiliated with the resistance. They had one partial ID from the break-in—yours."
I felt the muscles in my face drop tension. Shit!
"What about Ania?" I asked, gripping the railing. "Do they have anything on her? Is she still safe?" I felt the panic welling up in my chest but Heero put a calming hand on my shoulder.
"She's fine, for now."
I exhaled a little bit of anxiety and swallowed.
"Okay…" I whispered. "Okay."
"OZ is assembling a profile on you now. Anyone who has ever come in contact with you is now a liability. We can't assume your identity will remain safe for long. And if they learn who you are, it won't be long before they figure out you have a sister… and that your sister is who you've been working with."
I nodded.
"What should we do?"
"Infect their information network—do anything we can to delete and corrupt their files." He faced me fully and stared down with an intensity that only Heero Yuy could possess. "I have to get you out of here."
"When?"
"Tonight."
I was silent as I absorbed his words and what they meant. He only spoke of whisking me away, not my sister. She and I had never been apart before.
"I take it… Ania won't be coming?" I asked. He nodded. "I thought so… Where will you take me?"
"The safest place for you now will be the Aria Station. I'll come back for you when I know your profile has been deleted."
"You're not dropping me at Aria and running off on your own. I'm coming with you."
"No you're not," he said solemnly. "There'd be no point in hiding you if we risk your identity trying to erase it."
"You're not leaving me alone up there," I said. More than any OZ profile, being left alone on a space station with no idea as to when I'd be allowed to leave was frightening. "I want to fight with you."
He reached out and gripped my shoulders. His face came closer.
"Believe in me," he said. My voice caught in my throat; there was no way I could argue with him when he said things like that.
"I…" I muttered, but I never went anywhere with it.
"I will make sure you're safe," he said. "And when I do, I will come back for you."
All I could manage was a nod. Probably later, I'd take it back and argue my right to come along. But right then, with him so close, I was locked up.
"Tell no one, not even your sister."
I thought about asking why, but already knew the answer; she would make a huge fuss and there'd be no leaving without her. As I mentioned, we'd never been apart. Just like Heero wanted to keep me safe, I wanted to keep her safe. Staying silent would be the best way to do that.
I nodded again. The wind blew and I was reminded how cold it was outside. The shock of all that he'd said had distracted me from lesser woes. We stared into each other's eyes and I tried to borrow his strength.
The uncertain future was scary.
/
Heero and I had a plan: as soon as Ania and Duo left for their date, we would slip out. It was hard keeping it a secret from her. She was so excited for her big evening and I was trying to be excited with her, but all I could think about was being separated from her and stuck on a space station. I kept catching myself frowning.
"What do you think?" she asked, spinning once.
She was dressed in a midnight blue beauty that hugged her curves and showed off her best features with spaghetti straps, a v-neck, and a high slit. Somehow, she made it look classy with her pinned-up curls draping over one shoulder and her elegant, open-toed heels.
I was perched on the edge of her bed, one foot tucked under my butt, in shorts and a ratty t-shirt with one side off the shoulder. I had the curling iron still in my hand.
"Perfect," I said. "You already know that."
She smiled and checked her handheld mirror again, making sure the eyeliner was in the right places and the lipstick in none of the wrong.
"It's hard to tell when your mirror is as big as your face," she mumbled. I hopped up, curled one more strand, and then unplugged.
"I can't believe you're going out like that in this weather. I'd freeze my you-know-what off."
"I have a high tolerance for cold," she said, and I didn't need to be reminded. That woman was a friggin' furnace underneath. "Plus, I'll have a coat."
"Have fun," I said. "You're pretty much hook, line, and sinker in this getup."
She gave me a hug and I resisted the urge to embrace her. I walked her to the cats and stopped at my room as she made her way down the staircase like a true champion; if it had been me, I'd have tripped and busted my face after the first step in those heels.
Duo was waiting at the door in stunned, dropped-jaw silence as she came down. He had her long coat on his arm but was too entranced to use it. Trowa and Quatre admired her from the couch; even Wufei peaked out of his room.
"You… are… beautiful," Duo said. She blushed under the make-up.
"You're not so bad yourself, Duo Maxwell," she replied, admiring his suit. "You clean up real well."
He held out her coat and she slipped into it.
"Duo Maxwell can be a very refined gentleman when he wants to be," he informed her. She took his offered arm but before they could leave, I shouted from the catwalk.
"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Don't stay out too late."
"Don't worry," Duo said. "I'll take good care of her."
"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to her," I said and nodded to my sister. "You have him home by eleven, you hear?"
She stuck her tongue out at me and they left. I leaned back on the wall and blew the hair out of my eyes.
"Bye…" I whispered and ducked into my room.
/
Heero knocked only once, didn't wait for an answer, and came into my room. Good thing I wasn't expecting privacy. I was sitting on the bed, a satchel stuffed full of clothes, wondering if I was forgetting anything.
"You ready?" he asked. I shook my head.
"Not really," I admitted. "What am I supposed to do up there while I wait for you to come back?"
He didn't reply. Big surprise. I stood up and threw the satchel over my shoulder. We squared off, he guessed I was ready, and we left. I closed the door behind us but didn't lock it.
We walked the dark path to the mobile suits in silence. As I was starting up my flight sequence, Heero appeared in the doorway.
"Remember to—" he started, but I interrupted him.
"I remember everything you taught me," I assured him. I gave a small smile and focused on the keyboard. "Can't promise I won't panic when we break earth's atmosphere, but…"
Heero leaned into the cockpit and I felt the heat on his skin.
"You'll be fine," he said. "When you were with me in Wing Zero, your heart was beating hard and I could tell you were afraid. But when we crossed into space, your heartbeat calmed."
Well, I couldn't say what it was, but right then, my heartbeat was thudding against my chest. He reached behind me to flip the vector switch and, when he did, his face was very close to mine. I knew my cheeks must've flamed even brighter. He didn't say anything, however; he just mashed the button to close the hatch, jumped down, and headed for the Wing Zero.
I waited for Heero to confirm departure and then followed his Gundam upward into the sky. We climbed higher and higher, and I began sweating more and more. I didn't remember his story; I couldn't recall how I felt when I entered space. I was enthralled, sure; I'd never seen it before. But that was different. Heero had been piloting and I was under his protection. This time, I was entering space myself. This time, something was likely to go wrong because I was at the helm.
The closer to earth's atmosphere that we came, the more my stomach knotted and curled.
"Heero—" I started, but his stern reply shut me up.
"Look up at the sky," he said. "Watch it become something infinite."
I was biting so hard on my lip, I caused it to bleed. The deep blue became darker the higher we climbed and then the red haze of our atmospheric barrier began pushing on my mobile suit. I fought the pressure and pushed harder. It rumbled around me and my suit trembled in the vibrations as it threatened to crush me. Stay on earth, that's what it was telling me. Human beings aren't meant to be in space, it whispered.
But Heero Yuy had gone to space. I couldn't do anything else but follow him.
I held on and pushed through, and then the last layer of the earth was stripped away. The earth peeled back to reveal an infinite blackness littered with bright, white lights. It was as though I'd unwrapped the treasure of the universe; Merry Christmas, my daughter, the universe is yours to explore.
My heartbeat immediately returned to normal and my breathing calmed. Space, I thought, but my mind was too blank to communicate how I felt. Heero's face appeared on a screen in front of me.
"See?" he asked. "It's as though you were born in space."
Born in space? I wondered.
We rocketed off toward the Aria station with Heero in the lead and me by his side. On earth, I'd had to learn this suit; but, in space, I felt completely at home.
/
The door to the Gundam base in Antilles opened up into a dark room.
"I guess they've all gone to bed," Ania remarked as she stepped inside. Duo came in behind her and shut the door.
"Huhn," he mused. "That's unusual. It's not that late." He checked his watch. It was only eleven.
Ania cleared her throat and turned to face her date.
"I, uh, had a really great time," she confessed. Duo smirked and stepped closer.
"I did, too," he said. "Dinner was good?"
"You know it was, or did the first three times I said 'mm, this is amazing' miss your ears?"
He held up his hands in surrender.
"Just checking." He reached out and gently brushed a curl from her face, still grinning. "Are you ready for dessert?"
"You mean you?" She wanted to know, eyes playful. "I'm on a strict health food diet. I can't eat anything bad for me."
"And how would you know I'm not on the menu? Since when have you had a slice of Duo Maxwell?"
Ania didn't really have a response. Okay, fuck cargo, she thought. She was ready to give this round to Duo. She tried to psychically convey to her heart to stop beating so hard and so loudly, but her heart definitely wasn't listening.
Duo reached out and took her jaw line between his thumb and index and gently guided her toward him. She couldn't close her eyes, even though he was coming so close. He was too gorgeous to not look at. Just when his lips came close enough, however, a flushing sound was heard down the hallway, followed by a stream of light that quickly clicked off. They took some inconspicuous steps away from each other and watched Trowa sleep-walk up the stairs and back to his room.
After their nerves calmed down, they both laughed a little. Awkward. Ania and Duo climbed the stairs, too.
"Well, thanks again," Ania said, glancing back at her date. "I had a nice time."
But when she turned to go, Duo yanked her by the arm and spun her around. Their lips connected in a hard kiss of soft lips; after a moment, it became a sweet, open-lip exchange in with what one might call "church tongue". And then it was over.
Duo grinned in a way that made Ania's heart do the final triple-step of the Remigold. It was obvious he was just as embarrassed as she was, but every muscle in his face tugged with utter control.
"Goodnight," he said. She nodded, speechless, and ducked inside her bedroom before any permanent tomato-ing happened to her cheeks.
Ania quickly got out of the dress and make-up and into some pajamas. She peeked out of her bedroom to confirm Duo had already gone to bed. Check—the coast was clear. She ran to her sister's room and knocked softly. No answer. She knocked a bit louder, but nothing.
"Must've gone to sleep…" she mumbled, a bit disappointed she wouldn't be able to gossip 'til the morning. She thought about barging in and waking her up, but decided against it in the end.
/
While my flying had been graceful, my docking at the Aria station resembled a back-alley bar brawl. So much for space finesse.
When the doors locked behind us, Heero and I lowered our mobile suit doors and kicked out into the zero-gravity chamber. My first time in zero-grav, and I wasn't handling it like a champion. I want to lie and say it was something—anything else—but the truth is, I couldn't stop laughing.
Heero spun around and watched me as we slowly moved for the ground.
"What?" I wanted to know, barely restraining the giggles. Then, the tickle monster doubled his effort on my gut and I was only thankful I didn't spit everywhere when I started laughing again.
"Are you okay?" he asked. I could tell he really thought there was a problem. Alas. Why is laughter considered the medicine of the soul when everyone who catches you indulging just thinks you're crazy? Either someone ain't reading up on their daily quotes or it's one of those double-standard things; be that as it may, I still think I get the short end of the stick on this one. I'm constantly medicating my soul.
When we got to the door, Heero helped pull me to the ground. It whirred open and the smiling face of Sally Po greeted us with the sour-patch gruff of Lieutenant Braxxon behind her.
"Welcome back to Aria, you two," she said.
We all began walking down a hallway I'd never been down before. Last time I was here, I wasn't exactly a guest of honor…
"As you requested," Sally began, and I guessed she wasn't talking to me, "the operation has remained on a need-to-know level. The Orion Base blueprints were finally completely assembled this morning. A tracer program is en route from the Peacemillion."
I soaked in the info. Even though Heero intended to leave me behind, one never knew when these sort of things would come in handy.
Sally and Braxxon stopped to look at us.
"A place was prepared, but I still don't understand," Sally said. "You really intend to leave her behind?"
"Show the girl to her room," Heero said coolly. "I'm going in alone."
He brushed past us and headed up to the bridge. I frowned at his back. I guess I should've been thinking, Alone? You bastard, I'm going with you! But I was really thinking, Girl? The girl? What do you mean, the girl? Is that all I am to you? The girl? You bastard!
I caught Sally's gaze in my peripherals and was surprised at how she was sympathetically sizing me up.
"So it's you, huh?" she said, and I gathered it was a rhetorical question. "God forbid they get you."
I didn't really know what she meant by that, and felt more than under arrest when two guards appeared beside me and escorted me up to my room.
The bedroom they'd confined me to did not scream space station; it screamed United Earth's Sphere Alliance ambassador, complete with carpet, a king-sized bed with ten layers of sheets, blankets, and comforter plus a billion pillows, hand-carved wood furniture, and drapes over windows that had only one channel: stars. It was Ania's king-sized fluffy-fluff dream come true.
I tried the door and wasn't very surprised to find it locked. I hem-hawed around the room for a couple hours but the allure of the fluffy-fluff was too strong. I'm not sure how long I was asleep, but when I opened my eyes, the room was dark and Heero was sitting on the bed next to me.
"I'm leaving. Try not to worry, I'll be back as soon as I've completed my mission," he said. I sat up, still feeling groggy from sleep.
"Heero, I'm not okay with this. You can't just leave me here," I protested. "I can help you. I should be helping you. This is about me. This is my fault."
Heero put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. Okay, so I was a little wobbly… I was feeling really groggy; guess I didn't realize how sleepy I was.
"This is not your fault. This is your life in danger. If you go into OZ territory, you're just volunteering to finish the profile for them. Stay here, and I'll finish this."
He began pushing me down, and I was stunned when I didn't have the strength to fight back. I grabbed his arm and pulled him with me, but my vision was fuzzy so I didn't see his face contort into surprise when he found himself only inches from my face. Okay, I thought. This is way too groggy for sleep.
"What did… you… do to… me?" I mumbled, but slipped into the unconscious. Heero slid from my grasp and brushed the hair from my forehead.
"It's for your own good," he said. "I can't guarantee your safety if you're following after me."
And then he got up and left.