Jaid: Hello all! Especially to all my lovely reviewers! Here is chapter 22, just as I promised. And by the way, gomen for the bad characterization of Sally in the last chapter…I was re-reading it and it was awful! Oh well…And sorry for the typos. I usually write chapters late at night…
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Chapter Twenty – Two
Dorothy slowly drifted back to consciousness, suddenly aware that someone was talking next to her. She decided to keep her eyes closed, even though she recognized the voice as Quatre's. She did have a hard time not smiling, however.
"Dorothy, are you okay? Oh, please answer me!" Quatre struggled to sit up but to no avail. "Dorothy, I love you, please don't be dead. I know I should've said so before…" he grimaced as he landed on his hurt arm in a failed attempt to sit up. "Oh please, please don't be dead. I really do love you Dorothy…"
Dorothy allowed Quatre to ramble on like this for about another five minutes, before opening her eyes and cautiously sit up.
"Oh, my head." she moaned.
"You're alive!" Quatre cried out in relief. "You were so pale, I was sure you were dead."
"No, I'm very much alive." Dorothy told him, then smiled. "I've been awake for the past five minutes."
"What!" Quatre looked angry. "You let me go on for an idiot like that-!" he broke off as Dorothy untied his hands and feet.
"To tell the truth," she admitted, as he sat up. "I quite enjoyed it. I was determined to let it go on for as long as I could, because I know you would never say those things to me when I was awake. You'd become all self-conscious and get all red in the face. And it was really quite nice to be called 'Darling.'" She added, with an impish grin. Quatre blushed.
"Well, I meant it." he muttered. Dorothy put a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her.
"I know." she said. "And I mean this." So saying, she leaned in and kissed him, full on the lips. Quatre's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but he didn't pull away. It was a short sweet kiss, and when they parted, Dorothy smiled again.
"Do you know how long I've wanted to do that?" she asked.
"No." Quatre answered. "Why didn't you?"
"I wasn't sure how you would react." Dorothy admitted. She leaned her forehead against his. "I love you, you know."
"I love you too, Dorothy." Quatre answered. He put his arms around her and the two shared a tight embrace.
The door opened and both stood quickly. Two men entered. The reader would probably recognize them both; the shorter, broad-shouldered man with thinning hair and an unpleasant face was none other than Charles, whereas the taller, dignified man was Armond Traycsant. He smiled cruelly at them, and Quatre protectively shoved Dorothy behind him.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "And what do you want?"
"I am Armond Traycsant. And as for what I want, you will find out soon enough." Armond answered. "If I am not mistaken, you are Deputy Winner, or should I say, Lord Quatre?" He motioned Charles and another man forward. "Bring them to the office."
* * *
Trowa's eyes opened slightly, and he looked at his surroundings in confusion. A half sob reached his ears and he looked to where it had come from.
"M-midii?" he asked weakly. Midii raised her head tiredly.
"Trowa!?" her gray eyes widened. "You're okay." she whispered. "Oh, God, I was so frightened."
"What…? How did I…?"
"Jimmy brought you home." Midii said, standing up. "You lie there, I'm going to make some soup."
* * *
Catherine sat in the chair, sobbing. Armond had told her that he had shot Trowa and that Trowa was dead. Catherine didn't doubt it; Armond had definitely not been lying when he had said it*.
The door opened and Armond, several men and two prisoners were brought in. Catherine's eyes widened.
"Quatre!" she cried standing up and coming over to them.
"Catherine?" he asked confused. Catherine nodded. Dorothy frowned; she didn't like the look Catherine was giving Quatre**.
"Well, since we're all here together, I have some things I need to ask you, Ms. Catalonia."
Dorothy tore her attention away from where Catherine and Quatre were standing and looked at Armond.
"I need the crown jewels. You have them. Shall we make this as painless as possible?" Armond began, but Dorothy cut him off.
"No. Absolute no." she said. "You are not having them. They are going to rebuild our country and I'm not handing them over to a tyrant." Her words startled her. Our country? When did it become my country? she wondered.
Armond sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't end this way." He stood pistol in hand. "I noticed that you and Winner were in a rather, friendly embrace when we interrupted you. Perhaps you would be convinced if…?" He raised the gun and fired.
"NO!" Catherine screamed trying to push Quatre out of the way, but instead fell against him, her eyes glazing over. Quatre gasped and slowly lowered her to the floor.
"Catherine?" he whispered, tears coming into his eyes. Catherine looked up at him, raised a hand to his cheek. Her face was pale and there was blood coming from her mouth.
"I…always…lo-loved you." she whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek.
"Ca-catherine!" Quatre stuttered. Her blue gray eyes rolled back, as her hand fell limply to the ground. Tears spilled down Quatre's cheeks as he held Catherine's still body. Dorothy's mouth was open, and tears were reluctantly coming to her own pale blue eyes. She looked at Traycsant.
"How touching." he said rather flatly. Quatre's head snapped up, anger smoldering in his eyes.
"You killed her." he bit out.
"Yes." Traycsant said easily. "I was going to anyway; but she saved me the trouble. Too bad really." he looked back at Dorothy. "Tom, take them back to the room. I don't think either of them are ready for questioning."
Quatre gently laid Catherine's body on the floor and used her shawl to cover her face. Charles came up behind him to take him back, but Quatre spun around quickly and hit him hard in the gut. Charles grunted and doubled over. Armond, at the same time spun towards him, while Dorothy broke free from Tom.
"Run!" Quatre shouted, kicking the gun from Armond's hand. Dorothy hesitated, then obeyed, shoving her hand right into Tom's nose when he grabbed at her arm. Quatre and Armond both dove for the gun, but Armond was closer and reached it first. Quickly standing, he kicked Quatre in the face and then pointed the gun at him.
"You little bastard." he hissed, uncharacteristically angry. Quatre closed his eyes, feeling that he was going to die soon and wishing that he had just a little more time with Dorothy.
* * *
"Une?" Sally said softly. The woman looked up, eyes blinking sleepily.
"Hmm?" she answered. "Is that Sally?"
"Yes." the doctor said. "I'm here to check on you."
"Oh, all right, I –" Une broke off as their was banging at the door. "Mary, the door!"
"Yes'm." the woman answered.
"Come sit over here." Sally told Une, helping her up and guiding her to the settee. "This won't take-" She was cut off as Mary screamed. Sally jumped up and grabbed her loaded pistol; which she had a habit of carrying with her.
"Stay here!" she ordered Une. Running out to the hall way, she carefully walked towards the front door. The door was open, moonlight pouring in. Mary was slumped against the wall, dead or unconscious; Sally didn't know which. But there was no one else there. Frowning, Sally paused, ears straining for any sound. She was about to turn and go back to Une when she heard something crash in the kitchen. Setting her jaw, she strode forward.
* * *
Zechs and WuFei were just getting their horses out of the Wells' stable, when the shrill scream of a woman sounded.
"That sounded like Mary." WuFei said, his onyx black eyes darting to the direction the scream had come from.
"Mary?" Zechs asked. WuFei shot him another annoyed look.
"Khushrenada's maid." he said.
"Oh."
"I'll go check it out." the Asian man said, mounting and turning his horse's head to that direction.
"Might as well come with you." Zechs muttered, half under his breath.
* * *
"Come on!" Heero urged his black stallion faster. He knew where he was going. Traycsant had obviously been behind the attack; Heero knew the man responsible for kidnapping Quatre by sight only.
Not that Heero was rescuing Quatre for Quatre's sake. He and the blonde deputy had never gotten along that well. He was doing it mostly for Relena's sake. She obviously loved the young man as a friend and a brother, and Heero didn't want anything to cause her more pain. Not this time around.
* * *
Dorothy had stopped running through the streets, aware of how conspicuous it made her. Right now, she was gasping for breath, her skirt stained with mud, tobacco juice, and dirty water. Dorothy stopped walking and leaned against a building for support. Burying her head in her hands, she wept. Traycsant was a cruel man, a man who would be quick to rid himself of his greatest threat. That at the moment was Quatre. Dorothy was fully convinced that she would never see him again.
"Whatcha cryin' for, pretty lady?" a gentle voice filled with concern asked. Dorothy looked up…into the smiling face of Duo Maxwell.
"Duo!" she cried and latched on to him.
"Whoa!" he said in shock. "Hold off there, woman. I'm an engaged man you know."
"Duo!" Dorothy said, this time annoyed. She let go of him to put her slender hands on her hips.
"Ms. Catalonia?" Duo asked. He hastily swiped off his hat. "What are you doing here?"
"You've got to help me." Dorothy told him. "Traycsant has Quatre. I'm sure he's going to kill him. You've got to do something!"
"Okay, okay!" Duo said, holding up his hands. "Come on, lets' go talk to your cousin."
"Trieze?" Dorothy asked. "He's here?"
"You don't get out much do you?" Duo said. Dorothy glared.
"Yeah, he's here. Let's go. He might have a plan."
* * *
Sally had made her way to the kitchen. A shadowy figure was there, doing what Sally couldn't tell.
"Whoever you are," she said. "Put your hands up and don't make any sudden moves. I have a gun and I will shoot if I have too."
The figure straightened and raised it's hands. "I'm not a robber." a voice said.
"I never said you were." Sally answered. "Come out. Slowly, unless you want your brains blown out."
"Okay, okay!" The voice had a slight foreign accent to it, but Sally couldn't place it.
A young man, in his late twenties, or early thirties came out. He was tall, broad-shouldered and dark. Blood stained the side of his face and some of his dark hair was stained with it. A bloody bandage was tied around his hand.
"Oh, it's Dr. Po!" he said cheerfully. Sally lowered the gun.
"Abdul?" she asked.
"Sally!" WuFei entered, worry in his face and voice. When he saw Abdul, he relaxed. "Sally, I think you need to look at Mary."
"Right. Come on Abdul." Sally said. Abdul nodded and walked behind her. She turned and stifled a laugh.
"It's okay to put your hands down now." she told him. "I won't shoot you." Abdul gave her a toothy grin.
"Better safe than sorry." he said.
* * *
A/N: Hmm, should I stop here? Nah, I think I'll go on for just a little longer.
Quatre moaned and shifted his weight. Traycsant hadn't killed him, but he seemed hell-bent on making Quatre wish he were dead. Quatre was on his face; his now raw and bloody back would only hurt more with the weight of his body on it. I hope Dorothy gets help. Quatre thought, before sinking into a restless and un-easy sleep.
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Jaid: See, I'm not totally evil. At least you know Quatre's not dead.
Jad: Jaid, we all know that if you hadn't put that there, all the Quatre fans would be beating on your door with torches and pitchforks, calling for your head!
Jaid: *gulps*
Naga: The thing you have to ask yourself is, would that be such a bad thing?
Jaid: *huge sweatdrop*
Jad: Now that I think about it, no.
Jaid: JAD! I'M YOUR SISTER-IN-LAW FOR PEACE'S SAKE! ***
Jad: *shurgs* So? You're my brother's problem, not mine.
Jaid: faints.
* Armond shot Trowa in a very bad spot and so, for all he knows, Trowa is indeed dead.
** If you remember several chapters back, both Hilde and Catherine were "competitors" for Quatre's affections. Hilde, because she wanted someone she felt she could trust and Catherine because she genuinely loved Quatre. Sad, isn't it?
*** In my story "The Trouble with Wookies…" I'm married to Legolas, who is Jad's older brother (yes, it is a humor fic. Please read and review it! I haven't gotten much response on it so far…)