Chapter 10 and so they meet again, in real life this time
Last time:
She started blushing a deep red and fainted right there in the entrance of the room.
"Oh dear", Grandma said, she softly shook her head. "Poor thing, she must be very scared of everything on the island, to get such a scare from a couple of visitors."
"I doubt it mother, she certainly wasn't afraid from Gordon and he was the first she actually saw."
The Tracy patriarch seemed confused, while John kneeled next to Ami, he pondered about why she fainted, and what she was about to tell him.
He started analysing the situation. She'd seen him before so that couldn't be it. On the other hand his mother wasn't exactly someone to be afraid of and she'd seen John's painting before hadn't she?
When he thought back to the moment, however, he kept having the impression she fainted upon seeing John. So his decision was made.
"John, please get her to the infirmary and stay with her till she wakes up. You're the only one of us that knows Japanese so neither one of you will need a translator." And then with an afterthought, he added: "Oh and please, avoid getting slapped when she wakes up."
John nodded with a small grin.
"Yes Sir."
Then he started blushing while lifting the girl in his arms bridal style.
His blush became even more apparent when she rubbed her face against his chest in the hallway, muttering something about some person named Haruka-kun to set her down, that she was certain that she could walk on her own.
Somehow he doubted she could, so he started chuckling softly and the tremors in his chest started to wake up his precious cargo.
She opened her eyes again and for the second time she saw someone she thought existed only in her dreams. Her mind quickly took over and she came to a conclusion.
"Wait you're John? That's just great! Would it have killed them to give me some pictures?"
"What's wrong with me being John? After all I've been myself for a couple of years now and I really enjoy being me."
"Oh, so you speak Japanese? Right should've remembered that. All right then, welcome back to the island John now if you would kindly put me back on my feet then I can go and talk to your father."
When she said that the second eldest Tracy son realised he was still carrying her in his arms. He blushed and put her down.
The second her feet touched the ground the blue haired girl stepped away from the man of her dreams and bowed while muttering a thanks.
"Now I don't wish to be impolite, but i have to talk to your father about something important so I'm afraid I shall have to leave you."
In a hurry she walked back towards his father's office. He just watched her go with confusion in his eyes.
-In Jeff's office a bit later -
His mother had left for the kitchen, and right now Jeff was looking at another female.
"I'm glad to hear you have decided to accept my offer. Now how are we going to arrange everything?"
"I'm not sure, since you won't need me most of the time, perhaps I could find a job at the closest hospital and you could get me when my help is needed?"
She gave him an offer she knew he would refuse. They would probably want her on the island, somehow they were gonna have to 'gain her trust' so they could start to 'teach' her. She felt a bit guilty for leading them on and making things harder for them, but she was on a mission.
"No I don't think that's a good idea, you see I asked you to be our personal doctor so we wouldn't have to go to other islands to get medical help, if something serious happens we shall need help right away."
"So I am to stay on this island? I guess I can see your reasons. Then I shall have to go and get my stuff from my apartment though."
This actually offered a solution to a great problem Jeff had for some time. If Ami was in Tokyo to get her stuff, then Brains and Fermat were safe to take 3 up to Thunderbird 5. They had planned to go much sooner, but hadn't found a way to take off without the doctor finding out about IR.
Oh, of course Jeff realised he'd have to tell dr Mizuno soon about their 'hobby', he just hadn't found a way to break it to her yet.
"I think that's a wonderful idea. I understand you wish to wear your own clothes and everything. How about you and John leave in about an hour. Take Tracy two and settle the necessary things with your previous job and your apartment."
Ami pondered about this for a moment. It seemed like a good idea, but then she'd have to speak to Setsuna first. There were some slight details that could give her problems. One being that she didn't have an apartment in Tokyo,... yet. The other problem was that she needed some answers from the guardian about the 'not giving pictures' and the sudden appearance of her 'dream man'.
"if you give me an extra half hour before leaving I shall have everything arranged with my previous job. If you don't mind that is."
"Of course not miss, take your time, I shall tell John about this trip."
The Japanese girl nodded and took a bow before leaving. After she closed the door Jeff pressed a certain button and called Brains, Fermat and his sons. In a couple of minutes they stood before him. Alan and Fermat obviously just came out of the pool.
"Right I called you guys in here to discuss some things. Now I know we had some delay in taking the necessary things to thunderbird 5 because of the arrival of ms Mizuno. We shall finally be able to solve that problem. John in about an hour and a half you and our new doctor shall leave for Tokyo in Tracy 2. Right now she is arranging matters with her previous job and the two of you shall go to her apartment to get her things. From now on she shall move in with us on the island."
That was quite a shocker. It was silent for a while then Gordon asked hesitantly: "...sir?"
Jeff sighed and closed his eyes. "Now boys I understand that this might seem strange to all of you, what with international rescue and operation cover-up. However Dr. Mizuno shall become a necessary part of our operation soon. I have two reasons for doing this. One of them is that this woman is one of the best emergency doctors around as far as my contacts have told me.
Now we need someone with this ability. It has happened before and it shall happen again that one of you gets seriously hurt during a rescue. In case it is serious we shall need a doc as soon as possible. And while Brains and Virgil are great paramedics, there might be times that we'll need someone like her."
The guys all looked at each other and shrugged a bit, it seemed plausible. Lord knew what injuries they sometimes got while rescuing people. Then Alan spoke up: "what's the second reason sir?" Hearing that question, Jeff's eyes hardened.
"You all know how she came upon our island in a mysterious way. I heard from her previous superior that strange things like that have happened before. We believe this girl has strange powers, powers comparable with the ones Tintin has and,"
Alan cut him off "...and her uncle, the hood" Jeff nodded. He didn't want to scare his sons, but they had to know the situation. "Apparently he escaped a couple of days ago. I discussed this with Kyrano, he says that Ms Mizuno has nothing to do with the Hood, their aura seems to be completely different. I believe him and I think all of you agree with him about this." The boys nodded, except John who didn't quite know her yet. He just shrugged"
"Tintin and Kyrano are going to help our new doctor. They shall teach her how to control her powers as it seems that she hasn't got complete control yet."
The whole room thought about all this. Then Jeff snapped back to attention.
"So that was all, now, Brains and Fermat pack your bags and then go to thunderbird 3's silo. Gordon you go there too. You'll drive them to Thunderbird 5 and get back as soon as possible. I have no idea how long the trip to Tokyo will take. I shall let you know when John and Ami have left so you can depart."
All three nodded and said: "yes sir", before leaving to go about their tasks.
-in a different room on the island-
While Jeff was explaining things to the members of IR, Ami was calling one of her 'superiors'.
"Setsuna please pick up, pick up, aah Pluto!"
"Calm down Ami, now tell me, what seems to be the problem."
"Sets, did you have something arranged for an apartment in Tokyo that was mine? Otherwise we'll have a problem, plus I should try to get all the stuff in my sub-space pocket in that apartment. Otherwise we've got a problem."
"Ah, I see. You 'accepted' the job offer and you're going to get your stuff. Well it's nearly done. How many time do you have left?"
"well, it took a while to reach you, so, about an hour before we leave the island."
"good, just enough time. Now remember this please, your apartment will be a bit of an illusion, but they won't be able to reveal the truth. Your old apartment before you came to live in the palace, you remember where it was? Well I took the equivalence of that place in this dimension. It looks about the same and I used the paperwork from our dimension. Everything will work out fine. A temporary memory has been placed in the minds of the other residents' of the apartment so it will seem as if they know you, but not enough to be considered 'close'. I'll send you the info on the other residents on your minicomputer."
Taking in all this information, Ami sighed in relief and nodded.
"Now if that was all, ..."
"No wait Setsuna, ..." silence reigned for a moment and both women became slightly sad.
"You knew it, didn't you? You knew it all."
"I did."
"And you weren't allowed to tell me? You're not allowed now, are you?"
The guardian of time sighed "no I'm not. I'm sorry Ami"
"No it's, *sigh*, it's alright Setsuna, you didn't make the rules after all."
"I'll talk to you later. Keep strong alright?"
"Yes I will, bye."
-leaving the island-
There was a certain tension in the cockpit. Ami was sitting silently next to John who was driving the airplane. She didn't know what to say to him, how to react. The man of her dreams, the one she kept getting worried about, she didn't know what she could tell him.
But then she thought about it. Just because she was dreaming about him, didn't mean he was dreaming about her! Then the rational part of her brain spoke up, saying that even if she did make him suspicious she could just chalk it up to these strange powers she had and didn't completely understand yet. That would work! She sighed in relief coming to the conclusion she wouldn't give anything away. So she set out to make a conversation with him... now all she needed was a subject...
She sighed again, oh she was so hopeless with boys, a hot guy was sitting next to her and even though she had seen more of him then was rather appropriate for strangers (which they were actually) she still could find one little subject to talk about.
While she was working everything out, and then got worked up, john was silently watching her out of the corner of his eye. There was something peculiar about this girl. She was in deep thought and whatever she was thinking about must have been quite a difficult problem, then she probably found a solution for she sighed in relief, only to find another problem to ponder about. She let out another sigh yet this time it obviously wasn't a sign of relief. She groaned and rubbed her forehead. She looked cute that way and John couldn't stop himself from chuckling a bit. This caused her to look at him with confusion in her eye.
"what's so funny?"
"you are actually, though I'm sure it's not intentionally. Oh I don't mean to sound rude. Your obviously pondering very deeply about something and I didn't want to disturb you, but you look kind of cute like tha-"
He shut up immediately, he wasn't supposed to say that last part! Both him and the girl blushed heavily. Mentally he groaned and smacked his head: "Way to go smooth talker! Seriously what was that Tracy?" He was about to open his mouth and try to talk himself out of the situation, but in a quiet voice she soothingly said:
"I was actually thinking about a subject to talk about, seems like you solved that problem though."
He looked back at her in surprise and saw her small smile. She met his eye and both were laughing.
"We haven't been properly introduced I believe. Nice to meet you, my name is Mizuno Ami."
"Pleased to meet you miss, John Glenn Tracy at your service."
"I'm actually glad we were finally able to see each other." Then she thought of something. "oh I almost forgot! Virgil asked me to give you something when we were in a safe enough distance away from Gordon."
John could help but think to himself: "oh were distant enough alright, he's about the leave the atmosphere."
"Now what could my oldest little brother possibly give me, that he has to hide from Gordon?"
He seemed to be on a roll to make her blush. Her cheeks were regaining that rosy colour. He couldn't remember the last time he had fun making a woman blush. And this time it wasn't even on purpose!
"You shall have to wait until we have landed to see them, I am not about to risk you flying against Tokyo tower."
"Oh how low you think of my flying skills."
"Or, how high I think of this gift."
Again they started to laugh and the rest of the flight was spent pleasantly, either conversing or in silence. They felt at ease with each other.
Once arrived in Tokyo they left the airport and took a car towards Ami's 'apartment'. It wasn't a taxi or anything, apparently Jeff had called the filial of his company that was placed in Tokyo and had them prepare a car with chauffeur to wait for the two at the airport.
"Working for your family obviously has its benefits."
"Indeed it does, more then you'd think." She raised one eyebrow and looked the white haired male in the eye."Why do I feel like there's more behind that statement?" John just blushed slightly and averted his eyes.
After a couple of minutes, thank god it wasn't rush hour, they arrived at the apartment building. They didn't meet any neighbours and just entered. In a way Ami was glad, of course she'd studied the profiles and everything but it was safer this way. The less people involved, the better. Inside everything looked exactly the same as the apartment where she used to live with her mother. A sense of nostalgia filled her.
"Right, I'll make us both some tea and then why don't you just wait here while I'll pack my clothes and everything?"
"Seems like a plan to me. In the mean time I'll watch that strange little 'gift' Virgil told you to give me."
"Oh right! It's in a the big envelope in my purse. You can just take it."
She was already in the kitchen while John was feeling a bit off. Looking through a woman's purse wasn't something a man should do in the eye of any Tracy. When he found the envelope he left the purse as fast as possible.
She came and sat next to him on the couch while they watched the pictures together. John laughing and commenting on the originality of the prank, Ami feeling slightly proud yet not telling it was her design.
She went to 'her bedroom' and sent everything out of her sub-space pocket onto the bed. Then she started packing it all away in a suitcase she had found in the closet. The personal stuff she put in a backpack. Her transforming necklace she put on. It filled her with warmth and a feeling of protection. She hadn't been able to wear it for how was she to explain the appearing necklace on the island?
When she was ready she went back to the lounge.
While Ami was packing John contacted Tracy island with his watch. Scott answered the call.
"John, what news?"
"Ms Mizuno is packing and then we'll return to the island. I flew at a very slow rate towards Tokyo. How's Gordon?"
"He called a while ago, said he'd leave in 15 minutes. Think you'll arrive later than him?"
"She's packing her clothes, and afterwards I'll convince her to look for some reading material and things. If that's not enough I'll take her to a tea house or something. Don't worry I know how long it takes to reach base from my bird. I'll make sure not to arrive too soon."
"FAB brother, see you soon"
"Bye Scott"
And he did as he said, when Ami came back it was still too soon, so together they looked through her books to bring something to the island. Ami hid her English books behind an illusion, but did bring them with her.
When that was done, they could leave and still be back later then Gordon, so they calmly left the apartment and went towards the airport.
Chapter 10: done