~Ok, first of all, I am not a Christian, which makes this story really hard to write. So I'm sorry if I screw up! ~
"Of course I'll come up Heero, but, there must be other Christian Oz officers, what does this Paul have that made his faith his life line? And isn't Duo Catholic?"
"Thanks Sally, Duo? Hmm, I know he wanted to be a priest before the war ever started. He grew up in a Catholic church as an Orphanage. He knows the bible. Him and Paul were exchanging psalms or something"
Sally raised an eyebrow on the Vid-screen.
"Do you believe in God Heero?"
The perfect soldier stiffened. He had no reason to say he did. The idea that some supreme being ruled over Humans seemed ridiculous to the soldier. He had no reason for faith, no time, and most of all. Didn't want to turn into Paul. The thought of him as a scared cat in a storage closet brought an amused smile to his face. He answered Sally truthfully before ending the transmission.
"No"
//Sally has a point however. There have to be more then one Christian officer in Oz. Not all of them must be like Paul. Are they? // striding into the living room, he surveyed the immediate area. Paul and Duo in earnest conversation on one sofa. Quatre sipping a cup of tea on the other. Wufei nowhere in sight, and Trowa reading in the corner. Looking out the large picture window to his immediate left, Heero saw the Chinese boy practicing with his Katana on the lawn. // Surprise surprise//
"Sally is coming in several minutes to give Paul a checkup"
"I assure you that I do not need any medical assistance. You however, need to look to god for life like I have."
Heero sighed. Shaking his head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The trembling lieutenant stood before his C.O. The news that Paul Hartnett had run away with the two pilots had not made the man happy. After reviewing the cell tapes, both General and lieutenant understood that Paul had not exactly fought against either pilot as to his abduction.
"Does Paul still have the level 8 clearance to get into the encrypted messages? And why did we give level 8 clearance to a damn mechanic? But most of all, why did a mechanic go to interrogate the pilot?"
The General's voice was calm, but inside he was seething.
"Uh, with all do respect sir, it was not my fault. After we captured the Gundam pilot, everything was given a level 8 clearances for safety measure. He needed it to get into the hanger and the shop. As for the encrypted messages, we sent them from the battle field telling him what up-grades would help us most so he could put them on the suits he was repairing. And, well, as to the interrogation…."
Here the poor man stopped, fearing to go any farther. The General picked up for him.
"Let me guess, you and your friends chickened out, so you bullied Paul into doing it?"
Nodding miserably, the officer never saw the strike that felled him. General Toscow stood over him, his face beet red with anger.
"Lieutenant Pied! You are to find this deserter and bring him to me. Alive, is that understood."
"A-a-ab-absoluetly sir. But, shouldn't we change the codes for the level 8 clearance"
This awarded Pied a kick to the stomach for his ignorance.
"We can't change the codes until 72 hours after the first change imbecile. The Ships functions need that long to get orientated with level 8! Now find him!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quatre went to open the door for Sally. The kind women had brought her medical bag and a several others were in her van. Tipping a wink to the young Arab, she walked into the kitchen. Setting her bag on the large table, she stood ready for her patient. Too bad it wasn't the other way around.
"Come on Paul! It's just a little checkup"
"NO!!!! I will not betray my faith in god by seeing a doctor!"
"She may be weak women, but her knowledge in medicine is quite large"
Sally walked in to hear the last comment made.
"Why Wufei, I didn't know you cared"
The Chinese boy glared openly at her, then started mumbling under his breath about weakness. Laughing to herself at both the mumbling Pilot and the situation the others were in, Sally smirked. Paul was holding on for dear life to the sofa cushions, while Heero pulled on his legs. Trowa was trying to pry away the fingers with no such luck, and poor Duo was desperately trying to convince Paul that it was all right. Wufei didn't help the situation when he yelled.
"Get your weak Ass of the couch you stupid scared cat! You are worse then a women you weakling!"
"Therefor I am well content with weaknesses, with
insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's
sake; for when I am weak, I am strong"
"I do not care what your ridiculous book says! I don't give a damn about your stupid God! Get off the couch!"
Paul let go. Surprised that he had, Heero went sailing backward to land on the other couch. Paul got up very quickly, standing in front of Wufei without an ounce of fear in him.
"My god is not stupid"
His fists were clenched, ready for a hit, ready to hurt this man as punishment for his insults. But the bible decreed Pacifism. //But I will go against my Bible for the sake of my god! // Wufei smirked at the thought of this weakling actually hitting him. //I could stop his punch before it even got close to me//
"I will not strike you down, for that would be sinking to your own level. Something none could do"
Wufei seemed visibly struck by the pointed barbs. He seethed silently before snarling and leaving the room. Paul sat down hard on one of the sofa. Putting his head in his hands, and crying softly.
"Oh Gosh, my my! What have I done?"
Sally gently pulled Quatre into the kitchen. The other 3 pilots followed, leaving Paul Hartnett to himself in the living room.
"From the look of the boy as he sits now, I really would like to examine him in full. But since he doesn't want to be examined, then I can't do anything."
"Unless we drug him"
"Duo! How can you even think of such a thing!?"
"I'm the Shinigami, I can think of anything."
"Obviously, but how do we do that?"
"Easy, I'll give him a drink now with a bit of nighty-night pills in them and poof, he's out"
"What are we going to tell him when he wakes up?"
"Uh, I'll think of that later."
"Oh, Duo, what are Nighty-night pills?"
"Never mind Q-man."
Paul didn't look up as Duo handed him a cup of warm milk. Nor did he notice anything amiss as he drank the sweet liquid, flavored with lot's of sugar. He leaned against Duo's broad shoulder for a minute, and then was snoring gently. The Shinigami smiled broadly.
Giggling quietly he pushed the sleeping man to the side, where he hit the armrest without a change in composure. Sally entered and ushered the braided man out the room, seating herself at the other man's head.
Wufei entered the kitchen to get a drink, seeing the smug expression on the faces of his friends he shuddered. Duo looked like he had just been into mischief. A look he knew very well from the numerous pranks that had been played on him. But this smile, it was even bigger then the time Nataku had been painted bright pink. With flowers. Purple flowers on a neon pink background, to be precise. Thinking back to the guts it had taken Maxwell to pull such a stunt, he must have done something audacious to have such a smile on know. Curiosity got the better of him, and he asked in a tone that told the others he was just asking, not really wanting to know. He was asking out of boredom. Sure.
"Duo drugged the Christian so Sally could take a look at him"
"Maxwell drugged his pet? What's this 'Christian' going to think when he wakes up?"
They all turned to look at Duo, expecting him to answer with another hair brained scheme.
"Gonna tell him Wufei punched him"
"What! Kasami! I may not be friends with him, but I would not punch him because I felt like it Maxwell!"
"Sure You Would Wufei, You do to me all the time"
"Only because you are a dumb braided baka"
"I resent that"
"Resent it all you like it still is true"
"Nope"
"Yes"
"Nope infinity"
"You are so immature Maxwell"
Turning his back on his so-called 'ally', Wufei didn't see Duo stick his tongue out at him. Heero, however, did and gave the braid a sharp reprimanding tug. Sally decided to enter then. Her eyes were downcast as she sat wearily down. Trowa wordlessly handed her a soda. Looking up at the expectant faces. Sally winced. //this is not going to be easy// she knew.
"Well, I finished. Gave him a complete physical"
"And?"
"Geez, it's not really good"
"Define 'not really'"
"Damn it! It's not fair!"
"Sally! Just tell us instead of procrastinating!"
"Fine! The bruises and scratches on his arms and face are from several beatings. Randomly spaced out. It's what's under the uniform that gets me angry. Paul Hartnett was sexually abused less then a month ago. Several times from what I can tell."
The room was silent. //he was raped. By Oz// duo thought. Too dumbstruck to get angry. Quatre's voice was sub-dude, he sounded like, he was going to cry.
"Why?"
"Who knows Quatre? I don't. Never have I seen such abuse in all my years as a doctor. There are several-"
She didn't get to finish the sentence. Because in the other room, Noin just entered, looking for Sally. And the recently checked out Man let loose a heart-rending scream of pure fear. It came to all the people in the kitchen at once. //Noin doesn't know he's no longer of Oz! He's still in his uniform! Does Noin ever go anywhere without her gun? //