A Painful Past

Chapter 5

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"Pizza's here!"

Quatre turned around, phone at his ear, finger poised to dial. He smiled at the girl who walked in. She was a fairly tall, with Blond hair and blue eye. She shouldered a pizza box as she walked over to the lounges table.

"Why, Jen. That was thoughtful. I was just getting ready to order one!" Quatre said. He walked over to her and smiled as he took her hand. (They were alone in the room.) He just couldn't keep from smiling whenever she was around. Jen Wagner had been an OZ soldier, as had Hilde, but she finally couldn't stand it and deserted. Quatre found her in one of the barracks during cleaning day, hiding as she had been for the whole week. They became fast friends, but their relationship bloomed into something more.

Just as they were leaning in for a kiss, the lounge door broke open. They quickly dropped hands, but not before Kaylee came in and saw it.

"Oh la la, Quatre!" she said and the two blushed. Jen started putting slices of pizza on plates.

"AWWWW! Kawaii!!! But why are you so secretive? And where are the introductions? I have been getting those all day," Kaylee said.

"I'm Jen Wagner. Nice to meet you."

"Kaylee Love. Likewise."

"Were not secretive, necessarily. It's just better this way," Quatre said.

"Uh huh," Kaylee said, mouth biting on pizza, with the 'Yeah right' gleam in her eye.

"So are you my roommate Jen?"

"Nope. I'm right next to Hilde. We all have our own rooms here. I'm sure you've met Hilde right?"

"Yes," and Kaylee giggled at the memory. Jen gave her a funny look. Just then, Duo breezed in, his sniffing nose, and obviously growling stomach leading him right to the pizza. Heero, Trowa, and Wufei followed, but less open with their hunger.

"I'm going to take Hilde her food," Duo said and left with more food, all of which Hilde wouldn't eat, to be sure. Heero, Trowa, and Wufei just walked out.

"Well! Does nobody eat together around here? Oh well, I need to go find Dr. J anyways." Kaylee said. Quatre and Jen followed her out. As they were passing by the barracks, Kaylee winked at Jen and said, "Didn't you have to go to your room Jen?"

"Well, n-no, I mean y-yes I did."

"Quatre, why don't you walk her there. Just to be safe..." Quatre smiled and they walked off. Shaking her head and still smiling at the good deed she just pulled, Kaylee made her way towards the meeting room.

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"Come in." Kaylee heard when she knocked on the door. Dr. J was sitting in a black leather office chair, and he motioned for her to sit.

" I knew you would still have questions."

"Yes, I do. Such as why you brought me here and what you want with me." It was then Kaylee noticed Robert sitting on a couch against the wall. He had a neutral expression, giving away nothing.

"We never got to finish our little walk so I could explain."

"I'm not moving from this chair. Tell me now."

"Very well, I wasn't going to ask you to move."

'Were, too.' Kaylee thought. This was like having a fight with a sibling. All the were not's and were too's circling their thoughts.

"I asked you here because we need you help."

"YOU need MY help?!?!" Kaylee asked incredulously. "You didn't need it before, so why now?"

"As I told you before, OZ forces are multiplying. Five Gundams are not enough, even with Quatre's guardians, the Mangnac's, helping us. A gundam is ten times the strength of a regular Mobil Suit, but we need more. I asked you here to request your help. Take on new mission. Help us defeat the enemy and save our homes."

"Nice speech, Doc. But did you forget something? YOU TOOK APART MY GUNDAM!" Kaylee was starting to get mad. How DARE he ask her this after what happened last time. He knew she didn't like to fight. And why wasn't Robert speaking up? He knew she didn't like this. She bore her angry eyes into Dr, J's.

"Don't worry about that."

"But I want nothing to do with this stupid war! No more innocent blood!"

"You really have no choice Kaylee. You're fighting for your freedom and home as well as the colonists." This was a low blow, for Dr. J knew what Kaylee's home meant to her. She sighed in resignation. She could never stand up properly to Dr. J, and she couldn't understand why. He smiled.

"Good. You start your retraining tomorrow morning. Better get your rest." She stood up and walked out, slamming the door behind her. She started walking towards the barracks when she heard footsteps running up behind her.

"Kaylee! Wait!" It was Robert. She whirled on him, eyes flashing.

"Why didn't you say anything, you chicken shit!? You can't tell me your afraid of that asshole! You know my feelings on the subject. Why didn't you help me?

"Because I feel he is right. We NEED to fight this oppression, Kaylee."

"Well, fine. THAT'S JUST FINE! It's all fine and dandy till someone DIES!" She stalked away.

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Trowa leaned on his doorway, arms crossed across his chest and looked across the hall at Kaylee who was throwing clothes from her suitcase into draws and slamming them.

"Bad day?"

"It seems I'll be here for a while, so I thought I would unpack," she said sarcastically. She walked to the door, putting a hand on it. "But not willingly," and she slammed the door. Trowa just shook his head and went back to his laptop.