A/N: I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. Happy Boxing Day!
"Is Une crazy? Seriously, has she gone off the deep end again?"
"Duo, keep your voice down. I don't like it either, but Une has her reasons."
"Quatre, this is crap. The kid doesn't need to be around them again for any reason."
"It won't be like last time."
"No, it'll be worse because Kiri already knows what they did to her. She doesn't need to watch it again."
"Duo, calm down or you'll wake her up. She's resting properly for once and we should let her as long as she can."
There's a sigh. "Sorry, Quat. This whole situation just sucks. I mean, she already knows her parents sold her out. Why does Une want her to confront them again?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe she needs more information to properly convict them. Or maybe she just wants Kiri to have a chance at closure."
Someone, I'm assuming Duo, snorts. "Yeah, right. You know I still don't trust her, right?"
"Whether you trust her or not, Duo, you signed on for this. At least we'll be there with Kiri so if something happens we can stop it before it escalates like last time."
"Yeah, I guess." Duo still sounds annoyed.
I'd try and go back to sleep, but my stomach hurts. I curl up into a tight ball to make it stop. It doesn't help.
"Kiri? What's wrong?"
Oh yeah, Quatre can tell what I'm feeling. I crack my eyes open. "My stomach hurts."
He frowns at me. "When was the last time you ate?"
Umm…when was the last time I ate? "Not since…since before I talked to the Colonel."
"I'll bet that's the problem. What would you like to eat?"
"I don't know." Nothing sounds good. My stomach hurts. I curl up tighter as Quatre picks up the phone. He's talking to Sally about me. The pain in my stomach distracts me from his conversation. I curl up as tight as I can. It still isn't helping much.
Duo comes over and absently brushes my hair away from my face. "Your hair's gettin' long."
"I'm thinking about getting it trimmed." It's not a great distraction, but talking about my hair is still a distraction and I'll try anything to get my mind off of how much my tummy hurts.
Duo grins at me. "Well, maybe we can take care of that later if you're up to it."
I frown at him. "How—?"
"Duo, don't get her hopes up. Sally might not clear her just yet."
I sit up carefully as Quatre comes over. My ribs don't hurt as much as today, but I don't want to move wrong and risk making them hurt again. "Clear me for what?"
"To go out," Duo says matter-of-factly.
I frown. "Out where?"
Quatre rolls his eyes at Duo. "Colonel Une would like us to take you shopping for some clothes."
I blink at him. "Um…I have clothes."
He gives me a gentle smile. "Yes, I know. But…you're going to need something different to wear for a court appearance."
I look down. I knew I would get in trouble for shooting Chase. It was just a matter of time. "I didn't mean to shoot him," I mumble.
Quatre lifts my chin so I look at him. "You're not in trouble. Your parents are being put on trial for child endangerment. Une wants you to be there."
"Do…do I have to?" I whisper. I don't want to see them again.
"Don't worry about it. We'll be there with you and we won't leave you alone with them this time."
I'm not sure that makes me feel any better about it.
"Hey, kid, relax. Why don't you get some breakfast and then we'll have Sally check you out," Duo suggests.
"Um…okay." I suppose I can always hope that Sally won't clear me.
Duo orders me waffles, but not from the hospital cafeteria. He orders them from a waffle house. They're really good, but I'm kind of nervous about the whole 'going to court and seeing my dad and Delia again' thing, so I don't eat very much.
Fortunately, Duo doesn't seem to mind. He just helps himself to the waffles that I can't eat. The bit that I manage to eat helps my stomach to stop hurting.
After we're all done eating, Quatre gets Sally.
She checks my arm. The bullet he grazed my arm with didn't hit me deep enough to need stitches. She says it's healing well, but it's at such an odd spot that I won't be able to look at it without a mirror, so I'll take her word for it. Sally takes her time checking my foot. The stitches are ready to come out, so she grabs a pair of scissors and some tweezers and pulls them out. There's a scar, but I knew there would be.
"This looks really good, Kiri. I want you to keep an eye on it once you start wearing shoes, though. If it looks like it's starting to get infected or if it starts to hurt, let me know straight away. Now let's check your ribs."
Sally gently presses my ribs. They're sore, but definitely not as bad as they have been. She takes me to get x-rays, just to check how well they're really healing. She shows me the scans and the breaks in my ribs. No wonder my ribs hurt. One of them is broken in two places.
She takes me back to my room, where Duo and Quatre are waiting. She turns to them. "Kiri can go out, but you two need to swear that you won't let her get banged up. Her ribs are still healing and it is possible to re-break them if she gets hit just right."
Duo nods. "Yeah, Sally, we've had enough broken ribs to know. Remember that one time when I made 'Fei mad and he tackled me and then those two ribs broke again and punctured my lung?"
Holy crap that must have hurt! I wonder how long it took him to get over that.
Sally frowns at Duo. "Exactly my point, Duo. If you can't be careful with her I'll tell Une that she isn't healed up enough to leave yet."
Quatre looks at me. "She'll be just fine, Sally. We won't let anything happen to her."
She nods. "Just don't make me regret letting you take her."
Quatre gives her a winning smile. "You won't. Come on, Kiri. Let's go shopping."
Not wearing this, I'm not. I'm not going out in public wearing a green pajama top and blue pajama bottoms.
Quatre and Duo head out the door, but I don't move. Quatre pokes his head back in with a frown.
"Are you coming?"
"I'm not going out like this."
He blinks at me. "Oh, right. We'll wait outside while you change."
He shuts the door and I get out some real clothes. Sally helps me get my pants and shoes and socks on because it still hurts to bend over. How am I supposed to try on clothes if I can't get dressed by myself? Can I please just not go?
"Sally?"
"Yes?"
"This isn't going to work."
She frowns at me. "What do you mean?"
I sigh. "How am I supposed to try on clothes when I can't dress myself right now?" I mean, I know Duo's gay and all, but I'm still not about to let him help me get dressed.
"Didn't they tell you? Cathy's meeting you at the mall."
"Really? Is the rest of the circus in town, too?"
Sally laughs at my sudden enthusiasm. "I'm not sure. I do know that when Une mentioned having you show up to your parents' court appearance, Trowa suggested having Cathy take you shopping. He told Cathy you needed a day out and she said she'd be more than glad to take you, so they must not be too far away. Duo and Quatre are really only going as security. Speaking of which, you should get going before they get antsy."
I nod and head out the door. Sally follows me and makes sure that I am safe with Duo and Quatre before heading off to her next patient.
The two agents lead me out the front doors and down to a waiting…limousine? For real?
The driver opens the back door for us and Duo slides in. Quatre helps me get into the low vehicle and, once inside, Duo helps me into a very comfortable seat.
Quatre gives the driver instructions before sliding in next to us. Did I just hear the driver call him 'Master'? Damn. I mean, I knew he was loaded but…
"Are you comfortable, Kiri?" Quatre asks me.
I nod. "Not that this isn't awesome, but isn't it a bit much?"
Duo laughs. "Yeah, maybe. But the ride is smoother than my truck and we didn't want you bounced around. Sally'd kill us."
Quatre shrugs. "Plus this way we have enough room for anything we buy."
I raise an eyebrow. Does he really think we'll buy that much stuff?
Duo just shakes his head with a grin. I'm thinking he's used to Quatre doing this.
We pull up to the mall and Quatre's driver opens the door for us. Quatre gets out and reaches a hand back to help me. And I'm glad he did because I move just the wrong way and my ribs twinge painfully, making me stumble. I can't help but gasp.
"Kiri? Are you alright?"
I nod. "Just need to be more careful, I guess."
Quatre nods as Duo joins us. "Ready for some shoppin' kid?"
I guess so. "Where's Cathy supposed to meet us?"
"There's a fountain in front of the first shop I'd like to take you to," Quatre tells me. "Cathy should be there waiting for us."
The three of us make our way through the mall. I look around me. I've never been to a mall this size before. They even have an ice skating rink. Duo slings an arm over my shoulder as we walk. I think about shrugging it off, but then I see him glaring at some teenagers that are eyeing him funny. I really hope they don't start anything. There are six of them.
"Kiri!"
I turn towards Cathy's voice and see her standing by the fountain, waving at us. I wave back, trying not to wince as I move wrong again. Just for the record, broken ribs suck big time.
Cathy gives me a hug. "Oh, I missed you!"
"I missed you, too."
She holds me at arm's length. "You're talking now?"
I nod and tell her about the surgery as we head into the department store.
"Seems Trowa conveniently forgot to tell me," Cathy says with a wry smile. "Or maybe he just wanted to surprise me. Either way, I'm glad that you're talking."
"Me, too," I admit.
"So, what have you been up to?" Cathy asks as she starts picking outfits for me to try on.
I glance at Quatre and Duo, unsure of how much I'm allowed to tell her. Quatre comes over.
"Cathy, um…what Kiri needs is an outfit to wear for a court appearance. You see, we found out that her parents…well, they sold her and now they're being charged with neglect and child endangerment since it happened while she was still a minor. Colonel Une has requested that Kiri be at the hearing."
"Are you kidding me? Oh, Kiri, I'm so sorry." Cathy grabs me into a tight hug and I yelp. She lets me go quickly as I turn red.
"S-sorry, Cathy. Um…" I feel bad because Cathy looks really hurt.
"Cathy," Quatre interjects softly. "I'm sorry, this is my fault. I left out that Kiri was injured again. She ended up with three broken ribs and they haven't quite healed yet."
She rounds on Quatre. "I thought you were supposed to keep her safe!"
"Cathy, wait…don't blame Quatre." I put a hand on Cathy's arm. "Please. He—"
"Kiri, Quatre has a habit of hurting people he claims to be friends with." I'm surprised at the venom in Cathy's tone.
"But…Cathy, you don't understand." I can't stop the tears from springing to my eyes. "He did protect me. It would have been so much worse if Quatre hadn't been there."
Duo carefully wraps his arms around me and I can feel myself calming down. "Alright you two. I've had enough of this. You two are not going to fight the entire time we're out or I'm taking Kiri and we'll go shopping without your input. Cathy, I understand that you're still mad at what happened during the war but it's over. Trowa has forgiven Quatre so there's no reason for you to keep holding this damn grudge of yours."
Cathy looks down and sighs. "I'm sorry, Quatre. I shouldn't be holding that against you still. I know it was an accident, but…I…Trowa's the only family I have and I almost lost him. I…I'll try to let go and stop blaming you."
"Cathy. It's alright." Quatre's voice is soft as he places a hand on Cathy's arm. "I understand why you've been so upset with me. I never meant to hurt Trowa…or you."
"I know." Cathy gives Quatre a soft smile and he smiles back.
"Good. Can we shop now?" Duo breaks the tender moment and the two roll their eyes at him.
"Only if you tell me what happened. I want to know how Kiri got hurt," Cathy says as Duo lets me go.
"Chase got hold of her again," Quatre tells Cathy. He tells her the details and I'm glad I don't have to tell what happened. I start to look at the different racks of clothing. Duo pretends to shop with me as Quatre and Cathy move to another rack, still talking.
"You okay, kid?" he asks me softly.
"I'm fine, Duo. How did Quatre hurt Trowa?" I've been wondering why Cathy didn't like Quatre, but now I want details.
"That's not really my place to say. Let's just say that something went wrong and Trowa ended up losing his memory. Cathy, well, like she said, Trowa's her only family and she kind of went off the deep end. She yelled at all of us and told us to stay away from him. Fortunately he got his memory back and set her straight. But since Quatre was primarily responsible, he's had to deal with her hatred this whole time. And I'm sure that's been really hard on him because of his empathy."
I look at where Quatre and Cathy are having a discussion over an outfit. Maybe it's just me, but he seems a little more relaxed than he usually is around her. Maybe with his empathy he can tell if she truly forgave him or not.
I turn back to the rack of clothes in front of me. I find a couple of outfits that might work, but I'm not really sure of my size. Hm…I'll just guess, I guess.
"Did you find anything?" I look up and see Cathy coming towards me. Her arms are full of clothes.
I hold up the three outfits I found and she gestures with her head towards the dressing room. "Why don't you try on these to start and then we can look some more, 'kay?"
I nod and follow her to the dressing rooms. "Um…Cathy?"
"Yeah?"
"I…I might need your help." I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks. "This morning I had a hard time getting dressed because of my ribs," I explain quietly.
"No problem. We'll just take the big dressing room at the end so we'll both fit in there."
Well, that's a bit of a relief, even if it is a bit embarrassing that I can't seem to dress myself today.
There are three pairs of the same outfit in different sizes. Cathy tells me to try those on first so we can get the right sizes for everything else. Once my size is determined, I try on about a hundred different outfits. Okay, not really a hundred, but it feels like it.
In the end, Quatre and Cathy decide on three of them. I don't need three outfits, but my protests are ignored. What's the point of talking if everyone ignores you anyway?
I follow Quatre and Cathy to the cashier.
"Oh my gosh! Amanda is that you?"
