Chapter 11- Over and Out
Things had been tense for a few days after the episode in front of the store, and Audrey had been afraid to leave the two boys alone together. Heero and Jonathan had appeared to have called some sort of truce, however—at least she figured that since neither of them ever came back from work bloody.
The two boys weren't exactly getting along, but they weren't beating each other up. Still, they enjoyed getting on each others' nerves.
One Saturday morning, Heero had woken up early as usual, only to find that he had nothing to do. After checking his email, he just sat in front of his computer trying to think of something to occupy his time. He couldn't come up with a single thing. It was times like this that he missed the city—and especially the gym. He would figure that there would be some kind of work out equipment on a military base, but after searching twice, he had come to the conclusion that it had been cleaned out.
With a sigh, headed into the living room and turned on the TV. He decided that he would watch the news until Audrey woke up and made breakfast.
After about a half hour however, Audrey never woke up. He looked at the clock and found that it was already 7 o'clock.
"Why does she sleep so late?" He mumbled in irritation.
He lied down on the couch and stared in boredom at the TV. After a few minutes, he was bored to sleep.
About an hour later, Jonathan dragged out of his room. His hair was disheveled, and his face was void of emotion. He had his headphones on and was listening to heavy metal music. He had no idea why he was awake so early, but he just couldn't fall back asleep.
He headed into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He came back out a few minutes later. Usually, he didn't wake up until late on Saturdays—at least when Heero decided to let him sleep late. Therefore, he was disturbed when he did not smell breakfast already cooked and waiting on the table.
He was further disturbed when he noticed that someone had turned the news on.
"Who watches news on a Saturday morning?" He said in a what-is-the-world-coming-to fashion. He walked over to the couch intent on finding the remote and changing the channel. He stopped short when he saw Heero lying fast asleep on the couch.
Jonathan just stared blankly for a few seconds, the heavy metal music blaring in his ears. This would be a perfect opportunity for…something…but what?
Jonathan suddenly got an idea. He looked suspiciously around the room to make sure that no one was nearby all while searching through his music to find the loudest guitar solo he could. He paused it, and slowly pulled the headphones off. He looked at Heero to see any indication that he was awake. Judging that he wasn't, Jonathan slowly slipped the headphones onto Heero's ears.
Heero squirmed at the contact, but he didn't wake up. Sweating a little in anticipation, Jonathan quickly ducked behind the couch and pressed play.
Heero jerked upright at the sound of something screeching in his ears. He looked around frantically while bringing his hands to his ears to block out the noise. He was surprised to find that he had headphones on. He pulled them off and stared at them for a second. Then, narrowing his eyes, he followed the wire to behind the couch.
The second, Heero poked his head above the couch, Jonathan took off at a run toward his room. He forgot, however that the wire was connected to his ipod which was hooked onto the waist of his pants.
Heero noticed this right away and gave the wire a yank. The jerk caused Jonathan to spin a bit and trip, and the headphones came unplugged. While Jonathan was scrambling to correct his footing and make it to the haven of his room, Heero leapt over the back of the couch and tackled him. He pinned Jonathan to the ground. Jonathan struggled for a bit and then gave up on trying to get out of Heero's grip. He knew that he would never be able to outmatch Heero in terms of strength so he decided to play his trump card.
"You know if Audrey came out right now, she would be really mad. You probably woke her up with all that noise you made."
Heero's grip on Jonathan loosened a bit, but not enough for Jonathan to wriggle free. He listened a second for any indication that Audrey was awake. All was silent.
He looked back down at Jonathan trying to figure out what he would do as punishment.
Jonathan stared nervously at the older boy as he seemed to deliberate on something. "What? Don't you like metal?"
Heero looked back down. "Metal? What kind of question is that?"
"The music." Jonathan said realizing that Heero probably had no clue what he was talking about. "You know…was really big in the late 20th and early 21st centuries…AD."
Heero just stared. He thought he recalled having heard Duo talking about listening to metal once, but he'd just figured that he liked listening to machines run. This explanation would certainly make more sense.
Heero was about to reply when his stomach growled. He groaned a bit remembering that he hadn't yet had breakfast. Suddenly, the idea of waking Audrey up didn't sound so bad.
Jonathan finally wriggled free, although Heero hardly noticed. He was about to head off to his room when he remembered that his headphones were still sitting around Heero's neck. "Umm…" He started cautiously. "Can I…have my…headphones?"
Heero looked up at him and stood. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the ceiling in thought. Finally he looked back at Jonathan. "Can you cook?"
"Huh?"
"Can you cook?" He repeated.
"Of course not."
"Hm." Heero said turning away. "No then." He twirled the wire for the headphones around his finger for emphasis.
Jonathan scowled. "Come on!" He made a grab for the headphones, but Heero dodged suavely. "Stop being such an…"
"Cook breakfast and I'll give them back." He said.
At the mention of breakfast, Jonathan's own stomach growled. His shoulders sagged. "I don't know how to cook. I can't even work an oven."
"You can at least try."
"Why don't you?"
Heero stared for a second, and then pivoted on his heel. He strode off toward the kitchen. "Fine, but you're not getting any."
Jonathan stared after him, and then looked toward the room Audrey was sleeping in forlornly. There was no telling when she was waking up, and he was pretty hungry.
He looked back over to Heero who was digging through the fridge. He figured that two people who didn't know how to cook working together would probably do better than two people who didn't know how to cook trying it on their own. And he wanted headphones back too.
With a small groan, he headed over to the kitchen. "Fine I'll help. Can I have them back now?" He held his hand out.
Heero turned, two eggs in each hand. He stared at Jonathan. "What's to keep you from taking them and not helping?"
Jonathan sighed. It did sound like something he would do. He stared dejectedly at his headphones for a second. He couldn't start the day properly without his music. "How about you take the ipod too and just turn it up really loud so I can hear it too." He suggested.
Heero cocked an eyebrow. "And who says I want to listen to that? It sounded like nothing more than a screeching guitar to me."
"You're judging forty years of rock by two seconds worth of a guitar solo. At least give it a try. You might like it." Jonathan insisted.
Heero thought for a second. He was kind of curious. Duo seemed to worship this type of music; he kind of wanted to see what the fuss was about. Also, since Heero had no particular taste or experience with music, he figured he might as well give it a chance.
"Fine." He said and held out his hand.
Jonathan, figuring that he wouldn't be able to get a better deal, quickly handed over the ipod.
Heero plugged it in, and immediately, music started blaring out of the headphones. Even though the speakers were sitting around his neck, it was still really loud. Still balancing his four eggs, he pulled the headphones off and put them on the counter. They could both still hear the music clearly, and Heero found that it wasn't that bad. They both just stood there for a few seconds looking around the kitchen, Jonathan's head bobbing slightly with the beat.
Finally, Jonathan broke the semi-silence. "So uhh…what are you making."
Heero looked down and shrugged. "Eggs?"
Audrey woke up to the sound of bickering in the next room. She groaned and looked at the clock. It wasn't eve nine. "They're at it this early?" She yawned and pulled herself out of bed. She figured she'd better go break them up.
Stretching, she pulled the door open. She was shocked speechless, by the scene before her. Heero and Jonathan were standing over the stove, their backs to her. Neither of them heard her entrance, and their bickering combined with the rock music obscured the sound of her approach. Growing amused, she silently slid into a chair and watched the two.
"Move!" Heero demanded, shoving Jonathan over. "You're in the way."
"You don't need that much room!" Jonathan fussed back.
"I'm not the one hogging the stove." Heero said. "I don't even know why you're here. What are you making anyway?"
"Pancakes!" Jonathan said, offended.
"That doesn't even look like a pancake." Heero said.
"And those don't look like eggs." Jonathan retorted.
"What do you mean they don't look like eggs? These are eggs."
"Well they look gross, and they smell gross too!"
Heero sniffed. Something did smell a little burnt, but he didn't think it was his eggs. "That smell is your 'pancake.' It's burning."
"No it's not." Jonathan said. "it's not even cooked through."
"Pancakes don't take that long to cook." Heero said.
"Oh. Now you're a chef." Audrey could imagine Jonathan's eyes rolling even though she couldn't see it. She had to suppress a giggle.
Heero glared. "Your pancake is burning!"
Jonathan glared back. "Those are your eggs!"
The two boys turned back to stare at their food, their stomachs growling in unison.
"Do you think Audrey will want some?" Jonathan asked after a few seconds.
"She won't want any of that." Heero looked snidely at Jonathan's pancake.
Jonathan scowled and glared out of the corner of his eye. He looked back at his pancake. Now that Heero mentioned it, his pancake shouldn't be taking this long to cook. Maybe the burner wasn't high enough. With a lazy flick of his wrist, he turned the burner all the way up.
A few seconds later, black smoke started to drift up from Jonathan's pancake. Jonathan stared at the smoke for a second not sure what to make of it. Heero saw the smoke out of the corner of his eye and looked over.
"YOUR PANCAKE'S ON FIRE!" He yelled.
"Wha…?"
Heero grabbed the skillet off the stove and, shoving Jonathan out of the way, threw it in the sink. He turned the water on, sending a cloud of steam mixed with smoke in both their faces.
The two boys waved the smoke out of their faces coughing, as they backed away from it.
Heero was about to say 'I told you so,' when the two heard someone laughing. They both turned to see Audrey sitting at the kitchen table trying to hide her laughter.
"Mornin'" She greeted through her giggles.
The two boys stared and crossed their arms simultaneously.
"How long have you been here?" Jonathan asked, sounding betrayed.
She shrugged innocently. "Y'all need some help?"
They just glared at her, causing her to succumb to another fit of giggles.
The weekend wrapped up quickly, and soon the boys were off to start another week of work.
Audrey was alone as usual. It was around noon, and she was bored. She'd finally finished her book—twice. There was nothing on TV. No one was around for her to talk to. She'd already cleaned everything. The laundry and shopping had been done over the weekend.
There was absolutely nothing for her to do.
Suddenly, she got an idea. She got up and went over to the oven as quickly as she could without jarring one of her ribs. She was mostly healed and looked completely healthy, and only a few movements were really painful anymore. She turned the oven on and then started pulling things out of the fridge.
An hour and a half later, she placed a fully-baked pot pie into the fridge. She quickly scribbled down a note and placed it on the kitchen table. After making sure that she'd turned everything off, she grabbed her purse and left the house.
Heero and Jonathan walked in a little before 6 o'clock and were immediately…not met with the smell of supper. They looked at each other with confusion, and Heero walked off to check the bedroom. "Audrey?" He called.
Jonathan had gone straight to the kitchen instead of looking for Audrey. He noticed the note on the table.
"Supper's in the fridge." He read aloud catching Heero's attention. "Be back later. Audrey."
Jonathan put the note back on the table and opened the fridge. "Pot pie!" He exclaimed pulling the whole thing out.
"She…went somewhere?" Heero asked incredulously while reading the note.
"Is she not supposed to?" Jonathan grabbed a plate and knife and started cutting a piece out of the pie.
Heero didn't respond, but just went to get his own plate.
An hour later, the door opened, and Audrey came in bubbling with excitement. Jonathan was in the shower, and Heero, freshly clean, was sitting on the couch.
"I am so hungry." She said making a beeline for the kitchen.
Heero stood and followed her. "Where have you been?" He asked, leaning on the counter.
"Well first, I went to the library." She said taking the piece of pie that they'd left her and sticking it in the microwave. "And then…" She giggled. "I—"
Heero interrupted her. "How did you get there?" He asked, knowing that the library was in town, which was a good way away from their house.
She shrugged. "I walked."
"Walked?" He asked, his temper rising a bit for a reason that he couldn't explain.
"Yeah." She said. She caught the tone of his voice and turned toward him. "You know. Like moving forward or backwards while remaining in a vertical position."
"I know what walking is." He said, scowling. "I just don't know what possessed you to 'walk' from here to town knowing what condition you're in."
"It's not that far." She said. "And it was actually kind of pretty."
"Did it hurt?" He asked.
She halfway shrugged and mumbled something.
"Audrey, how do you expect me to protect you when you keep doing stuff like this?" He asked taking a step forward, crossing his arms, and scowling down at her.
"Since when are you my body guard?" She demanded mimicking his stance.
Jonathan came out of the bathroom and just stood listening to the two argue. Neither of them noticed.
"I never said that." He said not moving in the slightest.
"Well what are you saying?" She asked. "I don't know when I became your responsibility, but I can take care of myself."
"You can take care of yourself." He repeated hotly. "When you got beaten and almost raped in an alleyway, were you able to take care of yourself then?"
Before he registered her movement, his head whipped to the side, a small red handprint left burning on his cheek.
He looked back to Audrey to see her eyes filling with tears. She stared at him for a second before pushing past him and running to their room.
Heero stared at their bedroom door for a few seconds before he noticed Jonathan. Jonathan just stared him, his mouth hanging open. Heero didn't know whether he was surprised at Audrey's outburst or if he'd heard what happened to her. Either way, Heero wasn't concerned with the boy. "Go to your room." He ordered, and for the first time ever, Jonathan obeyed him without question.
Heero strode over to their room and paused with his hand on the knob. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open. Audrey was curled up in her bed, the covers pulled completely over her head. "Go away." She said upon hearing him enter.
He ignored her order and stepped fully into the room, shutting the door softly behind him. He leaned on the door, trying to think of what to say. He knew he'd messed up. "Audrey." He said.
"GO AWAY!" She yelled before whimpering. "Just leave me alone."
He ventured a few steps away from the doorway. He could see her shoulders shaking beneath the covers. "I'm sorry." He said softly. He knew she'd heard him because she instantly went still. "I didn't mean to say that."
"Yes you did." She said her voice muffled both by sobs and by the blankets. "And it's true too."
He walked around the side of the bed and kneeled down.
"Do you think I enjoy it?" She continued. "Well I don't. You know what the worst thing about that night was?" She paused, but only for a second. "I was helpless. I was absolutely helpless to stop it. And I don't need you rubbing that in my face. I don't want to have to rely on someone else having to look after me all the time. I'm not a child!"
"No." Heero agreed, pulling the covers out of her grip so that he could look at her face. "But you do need to be more careful. What would you have done if someone had tried to rob you today or if you passed out while you were walking?"
She stared at him before finally shrugging.
"That's what I mean." He said wiping a stray tear off her cheek without even realizing that he was doing it. "Stuff happens. It happens to you. It happens to me. It happens to everyone, but the least we can do is not welcome it."
She nodded and looked down.
"I didn't mean to blow up at you." He said, looking away also. He'd never been good at apologizing. "I was just…" He trailed off.
"Worried?" She supplied with a sniff.
He thought for a moment. "Yeah." He mumbled in surprise more to himself than to her. He stood up, still with a thoughtful look on his face.
"I got a job." Audrey said suddenly, sitting up and wiping at her face.
"Huh?" He asked looking down at her. He was confused by the sudden change in topic.
"At a little café by the shore." She said. "I'm an assistant chef. It's only a temporary thing though. I can leave whenever I want."
He blinked in surprise before practicality returned. "And how will you get there."
"I can walk." She said.
He shook his head. Hadn't she learned anything?
"Or you could just drop me off on your way to work. I have the morning shift anyway, and I can just walk home after."
He shook his head again. "Do you really have to get a job?" He asked.
"Yes." She said. "I get bored sitting here all day. And about the walking, it's not that far. I could use the exercise…I'll get some mace…no more hospital trips on my account. Promise."
Heero stared at her for a while before sighing. "Be ready by 5:30." He said and headed back into the living room.
Audrey smiled as she watched him walk away.
The next morning they woke up and got ready as usual. They ate breakfast and headed out to the car. Jonathan was about to slide into the passenger's seat when Heero stopped him.
"Get in the back." He said without even looking over.
"What?" Jonathan asked confused. "Why?"
His question was answered by Audrey coming out of the house dressed in her new uniform (which consisted of just black pants and a white button-up shirt). She locked the door and headed toward the jeep.
Jonathan just dejectedly crawled into the back seat. When Audrey got in and they were heading down the road, Jonathan rested his arms on the two front seats and leaned between them. "Where are you going?" He asked Audrey.
She looked back at him while fidgeting with the cuffs of her shirtsleeves. "Work." She said. "At the Seaside Café."
"Oh." Jonathan said and leaned back apparently done with the conversation.
Heero was surprised that Jonathan's questions had lacked sarcasm or arrogance. He figured that it had something to do with him overhearing his and Audrey's argument the night before. He looked in the rearview mirror to see Jonathan staring out the window in boredom.
Audrey gave Heero directions to the café, which, to his satisfaction, wasn't too far into town. Jonathan climbed back into the front seat after Audrey left, and the two boys rode in silence for a few minutes.
Finally, Jonathan broke the silence. "Did…did she really…" He fumbled for a few seconds.
Heero looked over, his face blank, but his eyes swirling with an emotion that Jonathan didn't care to place. "Was she attacked?" Jonathan's eyes were glued to Heero. Heero paused for a minute before answering. "Yes."
"How? Where? Was she hurt bad?"
Heero didn't think that the details were much of Jonathan's business, but he answered anyway. "We were living in a city north of here. She was attacked one night by a drunk man. She was hurt very badly; she still is. That's why we're here. I wanted to let her rest and recuperate. I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak of it around her."
Jonathan nodded, before asking. "Why didn't you protect her?"
The question slightly shocked Heero, but he covered and turned a glare on Jonathan. "I didn't think she needed protection." He said simply. His mind was reeling, however, with resurfacing guilt. Why didn't I protect her? I knew how weak she was. I should have told her not to leave without me. I should have paid more attention. I was careless and she paid for it.
Jonathan took Heero's silence to mean that the conversation was ended, and so he just turned to stare out of the window again.
The rest of the ride was silent.
The next few weeks went by rather quickly. They all three continued their routine of going to work on the weekdays. Their weekends, however, were generally different.
This Saturday, Heero had decided to teach Jonathan to drive. It wasn't going very well.
They were out on an old gravel road some distance away from the town. Audrey was atop a hill with the leftovers from their earlier picnic. She was just enjoying the sunshine and the last bits of summer. She watched in amusement as Jonathan drove jerkily down the road and Heero fussed at him. They had the top down, so she could see all of their exasperated hand motions.
Jonathan's behavior had been steadily improving, and he was actually helpful occasionally. Heero still sometimes had a short temper with the boy though, but it was in more of a playful way.
Audrey laughed as Jonathan suddenly accelerated and then jerked to a stop again. Heero seemed to explain something to him, and Jonathan again began driving down the road, although this time a bit more smoothly.
A few hours later, the two boys trudged up the hill. Audrey smiled when she saw how windblown their hair was. Jonathan's driving skills had improved under Heero's tutelage, although it was advised that he only drive on country roads and not in town and especially not on the highway. The two sat down and helped themselves to leftover cookies.
"At least you stopped jerking everywhere, although you should work on your timing on turns." Heero said in continuation of their earlier conversation.
"I thought he did pretty well." Audrey said. "You didn't wreck at least."
"He did better than you did." Heero said and grabbed another cookie.
Audrey blushed and chuckled nervously in remembering when Heero had taught her to drive.
"Heero taught you too?" Jonathan asked Audrey.
Audrey nodded embarrassedly.
"It was terrible." Heero said laying back in the grass and closing his eyes.
"What did you do?" Jonathan asked.
"I uh…I…well I ran into a ditch."
"On a straight road." Heero added without opening his eyes.
Jonathan fell over laughing, and Audrey blushed more. "It was my first time." She said in defense. "I was nervous. And…and the phone rang."
Jonathan laughed some more.
"Well I got it eventually." Audrey said pouting. "Ooh!" She exclaimed and turned to look at where the sky was turning pink and orange. "The sun's setting!"
Jonathan sobered up and turned to sit beside Audrey. They both looked to where beautiful colors were being cast onto the sea. "Come on Heero!" Audrey said shaking him. "You're gonna miss it!"
Heero cracked his eyes open and glared at her playfully. She wasn't looking at him, however. She was staring at the sunset which, he noticed, was illuminating her already golden hair and highlighting the smooth features of her face. Heero stared for a few moments at the way her curly, golden blonde hair blew slightly in the wind. Finally, he tore his eyes away and sat up. He tried to watch the sunset, but his eyes kept darting over to her. She really was beautiful.
The sun finally dipped below the horizon leaving an orange hue in the sky right above it. Soon, however, even that disappeared and the three were left with only the starlight.
"Well. I guess it's time to go." Audrey said and stood up. She dusted herself off a bit and started picking up all of the things they had brought for their picnic. It was difficult, however since there wasn't much light to see by.
The two boys followed and helped her to clean up. They made their way down the hill with Jonathan holding the ice chest. Heero had an arm around Audrey and was helping her down the hill so she wouldn't fall. She was pretty much fully healed, but he didn't want to take any chances.
They finally made it back to the jeep and headed back home.
That night….
Heero awoke to the sound of someone whimpering. He looked over at Audrey to see that she was thrashing about in her bed. She hadn't had a nightmare in a while. With a sigh, he crawled out of bed and shook her. She immediately snapped awake and looked around.
"It was just a dream?" She mumbled.
Heero nodded and went back to his bed.
"Wait!" She yelled.
Heero groaned. He hoped this wasn't one of those 'I'm scared let me crawl in with you' things.
Suddenly the light clicked on, and he turned to see Audrey sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Sit down." She said, suddenly giggling.
Heero was confused at the sudden change in the situation. He obeyed, wondering if she had finally gone insane.
"I just had the craziest dream, and I have to tell somebody about it."
Heero rolled his eyes and got more comfortable, intent on going back to sleep.
"I'm serious!" She yelled and threw a pillow at him. He just tossed it back and rolled onto his stomach.
"I'm gonna tell you anyway." She said and began replaying her dream in her head. "So for some reason, we all decided that we were gonna go camping. Me, you, and Jonathan being 'we all.' So we rented and RV and hit the road like the happy family we are."
Heero pulled his pillow over his head to try to block out her voice.
"Come on!" Audrey said getting off of her bed and crossing over to his. She wrenched the pillow away and threw it onto her bed. "Listen. This is the only way I'm not going to dream it again."
"Can't you just pretend that I'm listening and let me go back to sleep?" He growled sleepily.
"No." Audrey said as if it were something he should have already known. "I have to have occasional input."
Heero growled and pulled his covers over his head. He'd sleep without a pillow. To his irritation, and slight amazement, he felt the bed shift as Audrey sat beside him.
"You're gonna listen whether you like it or not." She said before she continued. "Well instead of hooking the jeep to the back of the RV, we let Jonathan drive it."
"You let Jonathan drive the jeep after seeing how badly he did today?" Heero asked incredulously, forgetting for a moment that it was just a dream.
"See!" Audrey said excitedly. "Input! You're doing great! Keep it up!"
Heero pulled the covers back a bit to glare at her.
She ignored him and continued. "Well he decides that he's gonna show off, and he speeds off into traffic. And then after a while, we couldn't find him and so we decided that we were going to hit every gift shop we came across to find him."
Heero cocked an eyebrow at the sudden randomness.
"And my dream fast-forwards right here. I know that we went to more than one gift shop looking for him, but I didn't dream us doing it. Anyway we get to a giftshop and right when we walk in, I see Jonathan walk through a wall. And I was like 'oh no! He is dead!' Apparently that had been brought up already, I just don't remember it. So Jonathan was a ghost, and I was the only person that could see him. I don't even think that he could see us."
Heero finally gave up on trying to ignore her and sat up. He crossed his legs and rested his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand in obvious boredom.
Audrey hardly noticed because she was so wrapped up in retelling her dream. "So I dragged you around the store a bit, following his ghost, but he kept disappearing through walls. Well finally, he led us to the door to the supply room. And I figured that that must be where his body was, so we went in there. But it was like…a maze, and the walls were made of cardboard with bricks drawn on them. Well right when we walked in, we saw these weird mutated elves. There were like two feet tall, and we had to fight them because they were mean."
Heero's irritated look started to melt and was replaced by amusement—not with the story, but with how absurd she was.
"The one I was fighting had two stripes of eyeballs going down his chest, and I kept pulling them out and throwing them across the room."
Heero snorted out a laugh. He was too tired to hold it in.
Audrey smiled a bit. "Okay so. We're in the middle of fighting the elves when we both see Jonathan walk by us, open the door, and go back into the gift shop. So we just stopped fighting and followed him. And he completely ignored us until I grabbed him. And so we wanted to know how he was alive again, so he says. 'Well I'd bought these blue shoes before I died, and I knew that if I threw them in the ghost-garbage can, I would become alive again.' And in my dream it made perfect sense. I was like 'Duh! Of course he had to throw his new shoes in the ghost-garbage can!'"
Heero chuckled and wiped his hand across his face.
"So we all get back in the jeep. I guess we just forgot about the RV. But we figured that, since Jonathan was alive again, and ignoring the fact that he had probably wrecked the jeep earlier, we would let him drive. So we're driving on an interstate, and when we take the off ramp, the road starts doing corkscrews and rollercoaster drops. And I was really scared, and that was when you woke me up."
Heero stared at her for a few seconds because of the sudden and non-emotionally-satisfying ending, before stating. "You're weird, and that was a waste of ten minutes of my life."
"My subconscious is weird." Audrey said crawling back into bed and tossing him his pillow back. "I am normal."
Heero snorted before going back to bed.
Monday seemed to start off another uneventful week. They went through their usual morning routine and headed off to work. They got back, ate supper, showered, and got ready for bed.
Audrey was almost asleep before Heero's voice woke her up. The light clicked on, and Audrey looked over to see Heero standing by the door toweling his wet hair.
She sat up and stared at him curiously
Heero shut the door and went to sit on his bed. "I think we're done here." He said.
"Huh?" She asked.
"Jonathan is a functioning citizen. We haven't had any- well any major- problems with him lately and neither has anyone at work. He's cleaned up, and there is nothing more we can do for him."
Audrey stared at him in shock. "You mean…we have to let him go?" She finally asked. She had gotten used to having Jonathan around and was starting to look at him like a little brother.
Heero nodded. "You knew he wasn't going to stay with us forever." Heero frowned at her as if accusing her of not knowing that. Audrey nodded sadly, and he continued. "He hasn't seen his mother in months. We have to send him home. We never planned to stay here long anyway."
"When are we sending him away?" She asked.
"I gave my boss my leave notice already. You can quit at the café whenever you want. We can leave tomorrow."
Audrey stared at him for a few seconds before asking. "Have you told him?"
"No." Heero said standing. "I'm going to go tell him right now."
Audrey slid out of bed and followed him to Jonathan's room. Heero knocked before opening the door. They had stopped using the alarm system a few weeks ago. Jonathan took his headphones off upon seeing them enter. He looked at them worriedly.
"Pack your stuff." Heero said bluntly.
"What?" Jonathan looked shocked.
"We're sending you home tomorrow." Audrey said.
Jonathan just stared. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad. When he had first gotten here, he had wanted nothing more than to go back to where he would be pampered and spoiled. Over the weeks he'd been there, however, he had grown fond of the two. Finally, his brain cleared enough to formulate a word. "Why?" He asked.
"Your mother sent you here to turn you into a respectable person. She wanted you to learn responsibility, self-control, and respect. You have succeeded in acquiring all of these traits. There is no more reason for you to be here, and there is no more reason for us to be here either."
Audrey stood behind Heero staring at Jonathan sadly. "Please don't be mad at us for springing this on you or for excluding you from the decision." She said pleadingly.
Jonathan was about to accuse them of doing exactly that, but the look that Audrey gave him, melted his anger. "Tomorrow huh?" Was all he said.
Heero nodded. "We'll get up early and load everything in the jeep tomorrow morning. We'll pull by your house and drop your stuff off there. Do what you want about work. Call your mother and tell her that we'll be there around 5 AM if you like."
Jonathan nodded, and Heero and Audrey left to go pack.
The next morning at exactly 5 am, they pulled up to a large red-roofed house by the sea.
They stepped out of the jeep and Jonathan pulled his duffel bag out.
"This is your house?" Audrey asked amazed. Heero had already seen the house when he had first picked Jonathan up.
Jonathan nodded and walked toward his house. Heero and Audrey followed silently. Before they even got to the door, a woman ran out and threw her arms around Jonathan. Heero recognized her to be Jonathan's mother.
"My baby!" She said holding Jonathan at arms length and surveying him. "Look at you!" She smiled and hugged him again. Finally, she pulled away and turned to Heero and Audrey. "Thank you so much." She said giving Heero a hug. He just stood there awkwardly until she pulled away. Jonathan chuckled at Heero's expression. Jonathan's mother then turned to Audrey. "I've never met you, but thank you so much for helping him." Audrey smiled and nodded. She had tears in her eyes.
Jonathan's mother then walked back to Heero and started writing a check. Audrey looked at Jonathan and sniffled. Before she could help herself, she threw her arms around him in a sisterly hug. It was the first time she had ever hugged him, and Jonathan was shocked. She took a step back and wiped her eyes. "You be good okay." Jonathan nodded and smiled. "Keep in touch." He nodded again.
She turned and followed Heero back to the jeep. They both waved one last time and then drove away.
They had just reached the outskirts of the town, when Audrey's sniffling became too much for her to contain. She burst into miserable sobs.
Heero looked over at her frowning. Not this again. "Audrey…" He trailed off. He had no clue how to make her stop crying. Cautiously, he reached out a hand and put it on her shoulder.
Her reaction was spontaneous. She wrapped her arms around Heero's waist and buried her face in his shoulder. The jeep swerved, but Heero quickly righted it. He just sat there awkwardly for a few seconds, blushing, before he slowly brought his hand up to rub her back. He remembered her doing that once to him when he was sick, and it was one of the only affectionate motions he was familiar with.
Her sobs died down after a few seconds and she pulled away. Heero was almost sorry for the loss in contact.
"Sorry." She sniffed trying to wipe the remnants of tears from his shirt.
"Don't worry about it." He said, and then suddenly remembering something, he smirked and dug in his pocket. Audrey looked on curiously, as he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her.
Audrey gasped when she read it. It was a check for ten thousand dollars. Her mouth moved up and down, but she couldn't formulate any words. She just stared at the check and then looked over at Heero.
Heero just smirked at her and continued driving.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks to Bethrezen, timi-chan, SylverSecret, MonoxideManda, AngelicRoses, and moogle in paradaisu for reviewing.
Reviews always appreciated.