*********
Long Lost
Disclaimer: I still don't own GW or any of its characters. I tried, but Evilnmalice outbid me. (Fortunately it didn't pay up, so it doesn't own them either.)
Warnings: None
Pairings: 3x4, 1+C, 2xOC
Archive: Desolation Angels. Previous parts (up til 10 only) can be found at http://www.dreamwater.net/ashura/LongLost.html
*********
Chapter Fourteen: Interaction
*********
"Quatre, you've read that same page twelve times. Please, just put it down. I'm hungry." Trowa flopped onto the sofa Catherine had only recently vacated, throwing his hands in the air. It had always been Trowa's policy, after all, not to just /say/ something if it was possible to use his entire body to express it.
Quatre, stretched out on the floor with one of Duo's copies, just shot him a wry look. "How is it that you stay so scrawny? You must eat twice your body weight in any given day."
Trowa, rather than return fire with one of any number of remarks, merely arched an eyebrow, and Quatre rolled his eyes. "All right, all right. We'll go eat."
"Somebody say food?" Catherine poked her head out of the bathroom door, her hair wrapped in a fluffy white hotel towel. "Don't go without me, okay? I'll just be a minute. I'm starving."
Quatre made an exasperated noise, and Trowa stifled a snicker.
The blonde looked up, eyeing Duo and Heero both suspiciously. "Well? Two is coincidence, three is a conspiracy, or so I'm told. Which is this going to be? Are you coming to?"
Duo, who was playing some noisy video-game on Heero's everpresent computer, just shook his head. "I'll stay here and have a sandwich. Kinda waiting in case I get a call....Heero?"
Heero looked torn. "No, I'll--ow! Duo!" he growled, massaging his leg where his unapologetic roommate had just kicked it. "I'll come with you," he finished lamely.
"Conspiracy," Quatre repeated.
Duo grinned at him. "Definately."
Catherine chose that moment to emerge from the bathroom. Wet hair coiled like rivulets of dark fire around her shoulders, and a black silk shirt clung to damp curves, hanging loose over her jeans. "So where are we going?"
Heero let out a yelp as Duo kicked him again. 'Your mouth was hanging open,' the braided boy mouthed, mimicking the face he claimed the other had been making.
It was probabl y best that these antics were lost on the rest of the room. "We had Italian last night," said Quatre dryly, "which means tonight it's Chinese or more breakfast. Wouldn't want to force Trowa to introduce some variety to his diet, after all."
Catherine shrugged, and Trowa made a face at Quatre behind her back. Heero, efficient as ever, was already tossing them their coats, and Duo made shooing motions with his hands. "Get out. All of you. Go. Leave me to play Planet Blasters in peace, will you?"
"Sure you don't want to come along, Duo?" Quatre asked, tossing Trowa the car keys. Catherine intercepted them mid-flight and shot her brother a glare.
"He's waiting for a girl to call," Heero explained, deadpan, ushering them all out the door.
"Cathy," Trowa was whining, "give me the keys...Quatre was passing them to me..!"
She twirled them on her finger and took off running. "Well I caught 'em! And I've never driven a Jag before...."
Heero wondered what he'd gotten himself into.
*******
Finally, the last eggroll was boxed up for later, a substantial amount of leftovers would be taken back to Duo, all fortune-cookies had been accounted for, and the sated diners left the restaurant, rubbing their bellies in satisfaction.
"I was thinking," Quatre suggested hesitantly, "that we could go for a walk along the waterfront before we head back? I mean, none of us get here all that often, it seems a shame to spend the whole time cooped up in the hotel."
Heero shrugged. "I don't mind," said Catherine, and Trowa just nodded and reached for his lover's hand. The waterfront was really a boardwalk, all but abandoned after dark, that stretched along the half-circle edge of the bay. They scrambled down the rocks, leaving the boardwalk behind, picking their way carefully along the crusty beach.
Heero felt a tug on his elbow as he landed, and turned--it was Catherine, and he thought at first she'd lost her balance, but she shook her head and motioned to the pair of boys ahead of them.
"Drop back a bit," she said softly. "Let them have some time alone."
"Oh," Heero said intelligently, pausing next to her until Trowa and Quatre's shadowed silhouettes disappeared behind the rocks.
"I know it seems like they haven't been apart this whole time," the girl continued, finally beginning light, careful steps along the shore, "and it's true, I guess. But they usually don't see each other for months at a time...they're enjoying themselves, and I'm glad they have a chance to."
"Oh," said Heero again, a step or two behind her--far too conscious of the slender knife-thrower in front of him to pass judgement on the lovelife of his other friends.
She shot a wry, crooked smile over her shoulder at him. "Still, I'm glad you're around to keep me company. Usually I'm trying to stay out of the way by myself."
Heero felt his face get abruptly warmer, and decided he was grateful for the lack of any light but the twinkle of the stars. "I'm sorry--I'm not very good company."
A chuckle, then. "Don't worry, you're here, and that at least means I don't look like I'm talking to myself. Ah--here. Come sit with me." She had found a tall, flat boulder protruding from the side of a bulkhead, and climbed spryly atop it. "Well--ew, it's a bit wet. Just to warn you."
Heero followed her, prepared for the slippery damp of the boulder's surface, shedding his coat and spreading it across like a blanket. "There," he said with a shrug, settling next to her.
Silence fell. Companionable at first, it stretched between them like taut rubber, ever more awkward, waiting for the right moment to snap.
Catherine laughed, light and unashamed. "Now I'm the one who's not very good company."
Heero shook his head, leaning back on his hands. "No, it's me. I'm not good at conversation, I just don't have the knack for it."
Catherine's delicately-arched eyebrow was barely visible in the darkness, but expressed only too clearly in her voice. "It doesn't bother me. I'm used to men who don't say much, Heero. You've met my brother?"
"Hn," Heero conceded.
"That's about right," she nodded, amused.
Silence again--but easier this time, freed from the strain of awkward attempts at conversation. And this time it was Heero who broke it.
"I was wondering--"
She turned her gaze from the water, glanced at him, and he faltered. //Just ask her, Duo said. As if it were something easy. I ought to kill him on principle alone.//
"I wondered--"
She was still looking at him, expectant, glints of light reflected in her grey eyes. He swallowed. //How is it that fighting a war can be so easy compared to asking a girl--//
"Would you go on a date with me sometime?"
It was childish, remedial, and entirely devoid of any sophistication or charm, but a quick glance downward revealed that jumping would not be a nearly sufficient method of self-destruction. Was it possible to simply fall over and die of embarrassment? And if it was, could it please happen /quick/?
A smile quirked the corners of Catherine's lips, visible even in the shadows. "Sure," she said casually. "I'd love to."
Heero's body--the pride of genetic engineering and product of years' worth of intensive training--finally remembered how to breathe.
******
Duo had just beaten the thirty-seventh bonus level of Planet Blasters when the vidphone buzzed to life. A quick check at his watch revealed that it wasn't nearly as late as he'd thought it was--only nine-thirty. He hurried across the room, Heero's laptop beeping protest at being so quickly abandoned. "Hello?"
He suffered a moment of disappointment--the face on the vidscreen belonged not to Akane, the librarian, but Iria Winner. "Hi, Duo. Is Quatre around?"
He shook his head, braid swinging. "Nope. They all went to dinner. I can probably find 'em if it's important."
"No, that's all right." Her blue eyes were ringed by weary shadows, and her entire face looked tired. "It's after three here, I'm heading to bed. But tell him and Relena--I've found something I think they need to see."