Chapter: 21/25
Author: Dancho
Over all Rating: R
Pairings: Eventual 3+4, 5+S; Established 13x11, 6x9, DxRxD, 2x1.
Disclaimer: Own nothing… I live in a box and wear a barrel.
Summery: The special ops unit under Colonel Une is busy working as an interstate police force, mostly dealing with criminal organization Romefeller. Things have fallen into such a routine that everyone's begun to ignore the quirks and duplicities and are accepting everything as normal. But with the new recruitment of Quatre Raberba, the former Quatre Raberba Winner, will the unit learn that normal is just a word for someone you don't know very well?
Warning: A little language. 5+S and 6+9 moments. A bit sappy.
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For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. -Book of Common Prayer
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Wufei let out a bored sigh as he stood in the doorway of the hospital room and watched the unconscious man and the woman who was falling asleep at his side. A flash of white caught Wufei's eye and he turned to see his relief, who flashed her ID badge by way of greeting. Wufei nodded in return and the woman took over, guarding Zechs and Noin.
Pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, Wufei stepped a few feet away from the hospital room while searching for a number in his digital phone book. He dialed the number and waited impatiently for the other side to pick up; however, the phone rang almost ten times before Wufei gave up and disconnected the call. He dialed another number, this time from memory, and again no one picked up.
"Damn," Wufei muttered, shoving his phone back into his pocket. He looked over at the agent and returned to the doorway. "Po isn't picking up her desk phone or her cell, so I'm going to the offices to pick her up. Will you be okay by yourself? Or should I call for another agent?"
"I'll be fine… but… Doc's already here."
"She is?"
"Yeah, in room 462, one flight up. I thought you'd be the first to know."
"Thank you," Wufei replied, ignoring the last comment. He turned to go down to the end of the hall to wait for the elevator, but decided it would be lazy of him, so instead he jogged up the stairs to the fourth floor. Finally locating room 462, he checked the nameplate but it was blank.
'The patient was too new to have received one yet. I wonder who it is.' Wufei shrugged, before knocking on the door and walking in. He looked around for Sally, but the only person he saw was one of the hospital nurses, who was checking a few charts. 'Did she go for coffee? If she took the elevator down, I might have missed her.'
Sighing at the injustice of having to go down to the basement, Wufei was about to go, when his curiosity got the better of him. He took a few steps into the room to see who Sally's patient was, and froze, the blood draining from his face.
Sally was lying on the bed, her face slack in sleep, with her hair slightly disheveled and coming out of the neat braids she usually kept it in. Her complexion was slightly paler than usual and she was hooked up to a heart monitor and an IV. Wufei noticed that there were also supplies for a blood transfusion that had possibly already taken place.
"Oh," the nurse gasped, as she turned to see Wufei staring in shock at Sally. "Who are you?"
"Agent Wufei Chang. I'm a… co-worker of hers."
"Ah. Did you come to visit? That's very nice of you," the nurse smiled, and Wufei flushed slightly.
"What's wrong with her? Is she going to be okay?"
"Oh, she's just sleeping. She may have had a slight concussion, so we're going to take some scans in a bit, but her other injuries were some fairly serious cuts in her arms and chest and a twisted ankle that she must have strained further by walking on it. She lost a lot of blood from the cuts, and they were deep enough to need stitches, but she should be better soon, especially with the blood transfusion we gave her."
"I see. Can I sit with her? Just for a little bit."
"All right, but she's tired so, if she wakes up, don't stay too long or stress her out."
"I won't," Wufei nodded, as he sat down by Sally's bed. The nurse left after a minute and shut the door behind her. After watching Sally for a moment, Wufei reached over to the land-line phone next to Sally's bed and dialed Une's number, who picked it up on the second ring.
"Colonel Une."
"Chang here. Are you busy?"
"Is this important?"
"Hn. I just called to report," Wufei explained and Une covered up the mouthpiece to talk with someone else.
"Go ahead," Une sighed, after a minute.
"Maxwell and I found the two heads in the warehouse the informant told us about. She was good on the intelligence. There was a mild scuffle, but neither Maxwell nor I were injured. I took the two heads to the hospital to be checked out and Maxwell took Yuy to their place."
"Yuy? As in a physical person?"
"Yes… I think. Anyway, it's way too long of a story," Wufei sighed. "You have to see it to believe it."
"How are the heads?"
"The man got beaten pretty soundly; almost lost him for a bit, but the woman only has a bump on her head. We weren't out of the lines of protocol… for the most part. Nothing that will get us into trouble or hinder the case, at any rate."
"Good. Have the report to me ASAP. Une out," Une snapped and Wufei was confronted with a dial tone. Wufei hung up his end and looked down at Sally, who was looking back at him.
"How long have you been awake?" Wufei asked.
"Since you came in the room. I was just resting my eyes."
"I see."
"Do you think this Yuy is really Heero?"
"Yes. I know that sounds crazy, but I really do. You have to see this guy to understand, but it's him. Even Maxwell thinks so. I know that might just seem like blind hope or delusion on his part but Maxwell knows Yuy."
"I suppose. Um… Wufei?"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"For being so weak. I held you all up when we were returning."
"No. I was wrong to yell at you. If I had only known you were so beat up… why didn't you say anything? Shut me up? I was wrong to be angry at you. I shouldn't have kept pushing you if you were injured."
"What could you have done? You and Duo had supplies to carry, and Quatre needed more help than I did. My first duty is to my patients. That's you guys. The situation dictated that I take care of it myself as best I could."
"You're so stupid! You almost died and you're worried about Quatre's broken leg! We could have at least stitched you up!"
"Too much time. You needed to get back. Besides, I didn't want to risk getting my cuts dirty if I could get to a hospital first."
"You are the stupidest woman I have ever known. And, at exactly the same time, the strongest."
"Thank you… I think. You've changed."
"Huh?"
"Since I first meet you, I mean. You've grown up, from that frightened boy scrambling through wreckage."
"Po… I… Hum, this is harder than I thought."
"What is it?"
"I… know we've only been working together for maybe two years, but I respect you. And I wanted to know if… you'd be willing to forget the boy, digging through rubble, looking for his wife. Are you willing to look at me as the man I am now?"
"What are you saying?" Sally asked, a confused smile on her face.
"Why is this so hard? I like you, woman! Do I have a chance with you or not!" Wufei finally managed, frowning angrily. Sally bit down on a laugh and pulled herself up to kiss him on the mouth.
"I've been looking at you as the man you are for the past year, Wufei. What took you so long?"
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Zechs woke up. He didn't move or open his eyes like he usually did in the morning. Instead, he lay in his bed, looking at the back of his eye lids, wondering where the hell he was and why he felt like an eighteen-wheeler had parked on top of him. Finally getting bored with the view, he cracked one eye open and then the other one.
He turned his head to the right and looked at the computers and other hospital equipment, which explained where he was and why he felt so terrible. Slowly turning his head the other way, Zechs looked over and saw Noin had fallen asleep, her body twisted in her chair and her head lying on his bed.
He moved his left hand and nudged her a bit, causing her to open her eyes and look at him sleepily. She smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss on the lips, which he tried to return, but she pulled away.
"I'm glad you're awake," she smiled, looking at her lap, where her arms were buried. "I'm sorry."
"I don't understand."
"I wasn't much help today, was I? I was just there while you got the living shit beaten out of you. It's just that… fighting was never my forte."
"It's okay. You make up for it with your brains."
"Thanks."
"How bad am I?"
"Pretty bad, actually. You had some internal damage and a few fractures. I… they almost lost you," Noin whispered.
"Was it really that close?"
"It was really that close."
"I love you," Zechs confessed after a minute of silence. "Marry me?"
"What? Are you serious?" Noin asked, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head in shock.
"Of course, I am."
"YES!" Noin squealed, bouncing out of her seat for a second to kiss Zechs full on the lips. Repeatedly. "YES, Yes, Yes!"
"I… I had… a ring," Zechs finally managed to get out between kisses. "In my pant pocket."
"Your stuff's over there," Noin smiled, nodding to a chair on the other side of the bed. Zechs leaned over and grabbed a small ring box out of his pocket and opened it for Noin to see the beautiful diamond ring. As Noin held up her left hand so he could slip on the ring, Zechs saw the silver handcuffs that adorned her wrists. "What are those?"
"Ah… about that…" Noin began, flushing deeply. She looked at him guiltily, before dropping her hands back into her lap and staring at them. There was a knock at the door, and Zechs looked up to see Wufei standing in the open doorway, knocking on the doorframe.
"Visiting hours are over, Ms. Noin," Wufei reported. "Please finish up and we'll be off."
"We… lost, Zechs. I was unconscious and you were beaten. I'm grateful they took you to hospital," Noin mumbled. "I agreed to go quietly to jail until a judge can be found to assign bail and a court date, if they'd let me wait for you to wake up."
"I… I see," Zechs whispered, looking from Wufei to Noin. "Give me your left hand."
Noin looked at him in surprise, but held up her left hand and he slipped on the engagement ring.
"As soon as you're out on bail and I'm out of this place, we'll be married. I promise."