Quatre sighed. She's been out for almost a day, with no signs of reviving, he thought sadly. What's odd is the way that Trowa has been by her side almost constantly. I wonder what's going through his mind right now.
Trowa was startled out of his doze a few hours later, at about three in the morning, by a tap on his shoulder. "Wh-what?" he asked groggily, blinking.
"You need to get some rest," Quatre told him. "It won't do Neri any good if you end up getting sick on us."
"What if she wakes up?"
"Let me check the monitors." Quatre walked over to the many screens that were hooked up to Neri to monitor her vital signs. "If she does wake up, it would be because she can hide things from the computers. I doubt she'll wake up for at least another eight hours."
Trowa stifled a yawn. "I'll take your word for it."
"I'll wake you up if anything changes."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Trowa slowly stood up and stumbled to his quarters, where he rolled onto the bed and fell right asleep. Quatre stayed in the room where Neri lay in a coma, keeping an eye on her and hoping for the best.
The next morning Quatre walked by Neri's window and happened to see something that made him stop dead in his tracks. Trowa was leaning over Neri's still form, gazing at her with a look in his eyes that Quatre could not quite put his finger on. Then he gently caressed one of her cheeks with his finger before turning and leaving the room.
The young pilot was bewildered by this show of affection. I thought he only needed his sister, and that her loss broke him for any other girl…so what's this? Unless...unless he somehow sort of liked her before Catherine's death, and everything that's happened has deepened his feelings for her. I'm confused…I wish I knew what he was thinking. Quatre sighed, then shook his head as he walked into Neri's room.
Five minutes later her heart monitor began to speed up slightly. Quatre looked up at it, then glanced back down to see Neri's hand move. He was about to leave and get Trowa when her hand caught his wrist with a surprisingly strong grip. He stopped moving and turned around to face her.
Neri's eyes flew open. "Wait, Quatre." The expression on her face was odd, yet unreadable.
"What is it?"
"I need to tell you something. Do you remember when you first met me?"
"How could I forget?"
She smiled faintly before continuing. "Remember how I recognized your name?"
"I have always wondered about that."
"I knew your name because...because we're cousins."
Quatre's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. He stepped backwards and would have fallen if the chair had not been there to catch him. "What?"
"Well, second cousins. My mother is your mother's cousin."
"But…how come we had never met before this?"
"Because your parents and mine had a falling out years ago, when we were both about one year old, and haven't spoken since. I overheard my parents speaking about your family one day when I was seven and resolved to find out more about you. Then, not too long ago, I accidentally read an entry in my father's journal about you becoming a Gundam pilot. That's why I wasn't too surprised when you told me your name then."
Quatre was silent for a moment as he let it all sink in. "I'm glad, Neri."
Neri gave him a surprised look. "About what?"
"It's nice to have one of the family fighting with me." He smiled gently. "Hey, how do you feel?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Weak. How long have I been out?"
"About two days."
"Sheesh." She attempted to sit up, then fell back down in exhaustion. Quatre started to get up, but she waved him off. "So…what happened to Libra?"
"Most of it was destroyed by an explosion triggered by Zechs, and Heero took care of the last piece that was falling toward the earth."
"Good. So he caused that expl—" Neri closed her eyes and dropped off to sleep so suddenly that it scared Quatre for a moment. Once he saw that she was still breathing, he relaxed.
Then he thought of something. Oh, no…Trowa wanted to be here when she woke up! What will I tell him? He glanced over at Neri's sleeping form. I just won't tell him that she's already woken up when he comes back. This decision made him feel guilty, but he tried to ignore it.
About half an hour later, around dinnertime, Trowa came back with a tray of food and some drinks. "Quatre? You hungry?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Any signs yet?"
"Her pulse quickened a little while ago, but then settled back down, and she didn't wake up," he lied. I wish he had been here...I really don't like doing this.
"Oh."
They sat there waiting for two hours. Relena, Noin, and Sally all came in to check on Neri, then left after sitting with her for a while. Both pilots were about to get up and leave when Trowa glanced over a Neri one last time and her eyelids fluttered.
"Neri?" he asked, walking around the bed to stand next to her head. Quatre moved over beside him.
Her eyes opened. "Trowa?"
He smiled gently. "Quatre's here too. How are you feeling?"
"Better." She tried to sit up, successfully this time. "Sore. How does Novastar look?"
"Bad, but not as bad as when we found you," the brown-haired pilot told her. Quatre noticed that Trowa had said we and not I, even though it had been Trowa himself who had located her drifting in space. I think he's hiding his feelings from her, he thought to himself.
"Are you fixing her for me?"
He nodded.
"How extensive was the damage?" Neri queried, all business as she tried to fight the feelings welling up inside of her due to Trowa's close proximity.
"The right beam saber handle was crushed, as well as the right arm and a lot of the right machine guns."
"Ouch."
"The cockpit was rather damaged as well."
She whistled. "Thanks for everything, you guys. And I don't mean just the repairs."
"Hey, no problem," Quatre said.
Neri blinked suddenly. "I hate to be a bother, but can one of you get me something to eat? I'm starved."
Trowa left the room after a quick nod.
The young woman turned to Quatre. "That was…unexpected. I thought you would do it."
"Weird." He frowned. Should I tell her? No…if she ever finds out, it'll be either from her own deduction of from Trowa himself.
Neri caught the odd expression on Quatre's face. "Is something wrong?"
He turned to face her, smiling gently. "I'm just glad you're feeling better."
"Thanks." That's not what he was thinking about. I wonder what he's hiding. "You look tired."
"We've been keeping an eye on you almost around the clock ever since Tr--we found you."
She caught the slip, but figured it was a mistake – Trowa did not do that kind of thing. "We?"
"Trowa and I have been looking out for you, and Duo stood a watch or too as well."
A pink tint colored her cheeks. Maybe he does…oh, well. I'm sure he wasn't around all that much. "You guys didn't have to do that."
"We wanted someone to be here when you first woke up."
"People would be amazed to find that the hard-edged Gundam pilots have hearts after all." When Quatre opened his mouth to protest, she continued, "But those are the people who don't know you. Sometimes I even find it hard to believe that someone as sweet as you could fight like that."
Quatre looked away bashfully. The two were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts, when Trowa walked in with a tray of food. Neri's eyes brightened at the sight. Then there was an odd gurgling noise, and she blushed. The two guys laughed.
"You really are hungry," Trowa teased, his normally somber eyes holding a slight twinkle.
"Yeah," she said quickly, wishing to eat as soon as possible. Her wish was soon granted and she dove into the chicken salad with relish.
"Hey, not so fast! You'll make yourself sick," Quatre admonished.
"But it's so good and I'm so hungry!" she exclaimed around a mouthful of lettuce.
They laughed again and left the room to get themselves something to eat. When they returned an hour later Neri was sleeping peacefully, the tray on the bedside table completely devoid of food.
"She looks more relaxed now," Trowa commented softly. "Not like when she was in a coma."
Quatre was surprised at his openness. "I agree."
Trowa set his elbow on the sill and rested his chin on his folded hand as he gazed through the glass at her sleeping form. Quatre headed down the hallway toward the Gundam bay. But curiosity got the better of him and he waited out of sight around a corner.
After about five minutes Trowa straightened and left for his own room. Curiosity satisfied and feeling a little guilty, again, the blond pilot headed for his original destination.
The next morning Neri woke up early, before anyone else was up. She felt good enough to carefully make her way to the mess room after changing without anyone noticing. So, when Duo walked in to get his own breakfast twenty minutes later, he was surprised to see her up. No one besides Quatre and Trowa knew that she had woken up, so seeing her was quite a shock.
"Neri! When did you wake up?"
"Well, late last night for the first time, then went back to sleep--a normal one--and woke up about an hour ago." [No one needs to know about me waking up and talking to Quatre. They can find out about our relationship later, on their own.]
"How are you feeling?" he asked after he had grabbed something to eat and sat down next to her.
"A lot better than last night, thanks. And thanks for keeping an eye on me part of the time."
"How do you know that?"
"Quatre and Trowa were there when I woke up."
"Oh."
"Novastar looks pretty bad, huh?"
"Yeah. I saw the piece that hit you, since it was partly embedded in your Gundam. It was a big 'un. Did you see it before it hit you?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so. I must have been looking to the left when it collided with me. Yeah, I think I was, because there was an explosion that distracted me for a moment," she told him, straining to remember.
"Hey, you take it easy, okay? I know we pilots were trained to be rather tough--though I don't think anyone's as tough as Heero, who snapped a broken bone back in place himself once."
Neri's eyes widened. "He did what?"
"I never told you about that?"
"Uh-uh," she said, shaking her head.
"Well, it was right after Operation Meteor, when we five were sent to Earth." Duo paused for a moment and frowned. "I don't think I ever found out why you weren't part of that."
"Oh, well, it's because I was trained as a backup, just in case the battles started taking place in space, posing a threat to the colonies. They never thought OZ would go that far, however--I mean the Romefeller Foundation. I was a little envious, because then I was itching to go into battle. Anyway, that's why you first met me in space, and not on Earth."
"Oh, I get it."
"Are you going to finish your story?"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry."
"That's okay."
"So, what happened was that Heero was discovered by Zechs on his way through the atmosphere--forcing Heero to go into battle mode, and Zechs managed to pin his Leo model suit onto the Wing Gundam, sending him crashing downward. It injured Heero pretty badly.
"So, Relena found him lying on the beach, unconscious. She had called for help already, but Heero, when he woke up and saw her there, ran off before anyone could figure out who he was and what he was doing there.
"I met him a few days later, where he had Relena at gunpoint. So I ended up shooting him--remember, this was before we all had met and become friends--Relena got mad at me, and I rescued his Gundam from its rocky bed in the sea. Heero had been planning to trigger the self-destruct sequence with missiles, and the explosion knocked him out, 'cause he thought I was taking it or something.
"Anyway, he ended up in a high security medical facility, on one of the higher floors. I planned on getting him out of there, which was pretty easy. When we jumped, though, he barely put out his parachute in time. If he had delayed any longer, he would have killed himself. When he landed, he broke his leg and sprained his arm, I think.
"So, I took him back to my place, and got his Gundam fixed up. Then, I was sitting there one morning minding my own business, when I saw him rolling on the ground, groaning."
"What was he doing?" Neri interjected.
"That's what I was wondering. I asked him multiple times, and he didn't answer. Then I figured out what was going on, and snap! the bone went back into place. Not a pretty picture. He then bandaged it up and walked off with only a slight limp."
"Ouch."
"Yeah. I said to myself, 'Man, that totally grosses me out just thinking about it.' And there I was, seeing him do it right in front of me."
"No, I don't think I could be that tough."
"Me either. But it's a good thing he is that way, because I don't think we would have made it without him."
Then footsteps sounded, and the two turned to see Quatre, Trowa, and Sally walk in. "What are you doing up?" they exclaimed in unison as they spotted Neri sitting there.
"I was hungry," she shrugged.
"You shouldn't be up yet," Sally admonished.
"Really, I feel a lot better."
"You should at least stay rested, for a while," Trowa advised. Quatre saw a line of worry crease his forehead, but stayed silent. [I wonder if Neri has noticed anything yet.]
"Oh, all right," Neri relented. She stood up, having just finished her meal, and slowly walked back to her quarters--not the room she had been lying unconscious in. Entering, she walked over to the two-person sofa, not feeling tired enough to go to bed. Neri sat down and gazed out the window into the sky, remembering when she first heard about Gundams...