"And lo, I was a stranger, and in a strange realm, and no man knew me." – Storm Warning
Faith was brooding again, and she knew it. They had all returned back to the safehouse without a word, even Duo didn't say anything. The whole idea about her not being able to walk made everyone else uncomfortable. Without a word to anyone she had wheeled herself to her room, and silently thanking that she had one on the ground floor. At this moment there was a lot to brood about and most of them weren't happy thoughts.
"If it just rained now it would be perfect," Faith murmured to herself.
The first thought to come to mind was Heero. He still didn't trust her, and she knew that too. It was like trending on thin ice to put it in milder terms. Wufei, she could tell he was shocked and well…
"So help me, if he uses the fact I can't walk to back up his claims that women are weak I'll make his life a living hell," Faith muttered.
It wasn't just their reaction that she was worried about it was that fact she would be more dependent on them. That's what got to her; Faith had been working her whole life to be independent from anyone. Just the thought that she would have to depend on them frustrated her. A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts. Faith turned to see Duo poking his head in.
"Uh, hi… Quatre says dinner's ready. Need any help?"
Faith shook her head, "I'll be fine."
Duo opened the door for her and let her pass. Everyone was already seated and was waiting for her. There was a kind of sinking pit in her stomach as she wheeled in. When she got to the table that sinking feeling was sort of confirmed. They were passing around the food when Heero spoke up.
"Tomorrow morning you better have your things packed," Heero stated.
Faith dished out some salad, "So, where are we going?"
Heero glared at her, "We aren't going anywhere. You on the other hand will be going to the Sank Kingdom."
"Uh? Why?"
"You're a threat to us."
Duo stood up, "Come on Heero! Have a heart; Faith ain't going to do anything to us. She's really nice, uh… when she wants to be."
This time Heero's glare landed on Duo, "Duo, we can't keep her here. She will slow us down and we'll be more likely to get caught."
"It's not her fault," Duo argued, "and besides she doesn't know anyone else. You can't just dump her in the Sank Kingdom. There's nothing on her remember? How's she gonna get into a school?"
Wufei shook his head, "What are we going to do with a weak woman? She can't walk, she's no use to us and Yuy's right she'll just be a burden."
Faith slowly exhaled and listed off different kind of stones in her head until she was sure her temper was in check, "Wufei, first of all I agreed to being a burden, and secondly, I am not weak!"
Wufei studied her, "Then tell me woman, why can't you walk?"
She listed off the elements in order when stones ran out and flexed her hands, "I was born that way."
"Hence women are weak," Wufei finished.
Still flexing her hands, Faith turned her mind towards different kind of wart plants, "Wufei, as far as upper body strength goes, I'm no weakling."
"Is that so woman?"
"Blue sky, green grass. Blue sky, green grass. Damn, why did I have to get mom's temper?" Faith thought to herself. Aloud she answered, "You know, I have a name Wufei. It's Faith, as in, I have faith that you'll call me Faith in the near future."
Everyone else was silent during this whole exchange. Though Duo was ready to defend Faith he noticed that she looked ready to strangle Wufei. Quatre wanted to break things up before things got too out of hand. Heero didn't really care what they were doing. Trowa was watching and it seemed to him that this was going to be a new source of amusement for a while. Though what Wufei and Faith were thinking about each other was unknown, though probably not very flattering. After dinner Faith sat be her self in the living room. Duo came to join her a few minutes later.
"Hi."
Faith looked up, "Hi Duo."
Duo sat down beside her, "What cha doing?"
"Nothing really, just staring out the window," Faith murmured
"Well, what did you do when you were bored back home?"
"Type on the computer and check things out on the Internet."
Duo made a face, "Ugh, another Heero in the making!"
Faith smiled, "Hey! I'm not that bad, at least I give an answer when people ask me something!"
"True, true," Duo, grinned, "Hey, sorry about Wufei, he's always like that."
"It's okay," Faith, answers back, "It's not like I wanted to strangle him or anything."
Duo just laughed, of course he knew better. The night ended peacefully, though Faith could still hear Duo and Quatre arguing with Heero about her fate. It seemed that by the time she fell asleep, he was still was dead set with sending her to the Sank Kingdom.
Sunlight shone through the bedroom window and slowly creped it's way to Faith's bed. Faith woke up and at first didn't recognize the room she was in. It wasn't her bedroom that was for certain. Then she remembered, about Wes' wish, the Gundam pilots and Heero telling her she was going to the Sank Kingdom today. She groaned, the past three days haven't been good ones. Right now she should be helping her father or working on some computer project. After getting change and everything else Faith looked around the room.
"Okay, bags packed, check, bed made, check, everything in order, check. Now let's see… Breakfast might take a while so how about some pull-ups?"
Strolling out of the room she decided to do just that. Wufei wasn't expecting anyone to be in the workout room that morning. So he was in for a surprise to see Faith there doing pull-ups. She paid no attention to him. In fact she seemed to be in deep thought and wasn't keeping count of how many she was doing.
"What are you doing woman?" Wufei asked impatiently.
Faith scowled at him, "What does it look like?"
"But why?"
"I can't wheel myself around if my arms are too weak to do the job idiot!" Faith snapped back, "At least I can wheel myself out of danger."
Wufei growled, "I'm not an idiot!"
"Fine idiot."
"Woman!"
Faith smiled sweetly remembering what Wes told her, "Fine… Wu-man."
Wufei was not happy, "You are becoming annoying."
"I don't know, it sounds like a good name," Faith said thoughtfully.
"Only Maxwell has enough disrespect to call me Wu-man."
Faith snorted, "For someone who's on honor and respect, you sure don't know how to respect people of the opposite sex."
Wufei didn't have any comment for that.
Faith continued, "You really hate being called Wu-man, don't you Wu-man?"
"Woman…" Wufei growled dangerously.
Faith pulled herself up and looked at Wufei, "How about this, I'll respect you, if you respect me. That means you either refer me by my first name or last name, but never call me woman. That's simple, right?"
Wufei thinks for a minute and nodded slowly, "Yes… I think that would be a fair deal."
"Good," Faith nods as she eases herself into her chair.
As she wheeled away Wufei called after her, "Woman!"
Faith whirled around "Wufei-"
"What's your full name?"
Faith blinked, "Faith Haven."
Wufei nodded slowly, "Fine then… Haven."
As Faith left the room Wufei shook his head. He had never met anyone with enough wit to keep him from answering back. Then again that girl was cynical, sarcastic and strangely enough, very smart. Later that morning everyone was sitting around the table eating breakfast when Heero came in with his laptop. He put it where everyone could see the screen and then he hooked it up. Dr. J appeared on the screen just as Heero sat down. Faith shrugged herself, going back to her breakfast.
"Hello everyone," Dr. J nodded, "I'm glad to see you getting along. The other scientists and I are figuring out a way to get Faith back home."
Duo smiled, "That's great!"
Faith nodded, "Thank you."
"Meanwhile, we can take advantage of this," Dr. J continued, "Faith has an unusual talent and intelligence for computers, strategic thinking and problem solving. It has also come to our attention that you pilots need someone to watch you when you're in battles."
Faith shrugged to herself again and reached over to grab a pancake.
"Therefore we're putting Faith in charge of the missions, and they'll be going to her first," Dr. J finished.
Faith stared at him in mid-reach, "What?"
Everyone minus Heero and Trowa yelled, "WHAT?"
"Oh, don't look like a stranded fish Faith," Dr. J smiled, "We know you have the brains to do this job."
Heero stated, "She will put this group in danger, her weakness will get us killed."
"Heero!" Duo shouted, "It's a disability, you'd mind? Anyway, I agree with Heero on not letting Faith, but for a different reason. We can't keep a watch on her. She's gonna get killed doing this."
"There is no way for her to escape if something goes wrong," Quatre points out.
Wufei growled, "I refuse to take orders from this woman!"
Faith muttered under her breath, "Respect Wufei, respect…"
"This wo- Haven should not be allowed to do this," Wufei was still yelling.
"We're not letting her do this without some training of course," Dr. J agreed, "Heero, you teach Faith how to use a gun and see if you can give her or that chair of hers some nasty surprises. Duo, though she can't pilot a Gundam, something like a carrier or shuttle is not impossible. They are supposed to have ramps and they don't need to use of legs. Teach her how to pilot those. Trowa and Quatre set up the computer system that Faith will need to use. The system should have something so that Faith can delete the whole thing if she needs to do so. It needs to be hooked into the Gundams visual system. Wufei, this is asking a lot of you most of all. See if you can teach Faith something about self-defense that only requires her arms to do so. You have your orders. Dr. J out."
With that the screen blanked out. Leaving shocked pilots and Faith who was still reached over to get a now forgotten pancake. Faith pulled her arm back and looked at each of them.
Duo finally spoke up, "Well, I guess Faith isn't leaving after all."
Faith groans and leans right back into the chair. Covering her face with her hands, all of a sudden her life just became a bit more complicated.
Author's Note: Hmm… a bit more complicated is the understatement of the century. Well, thanks Mono for letting me bounce ideas with you. Hehe… when I started this I only got three people telling me who they wanted Faith to be with. Of course, I'm not telling who I've decided. You'll figure that out soon enough. What did you think? Please review and tell me your feelings about this.
