THE BREAK IN CHAPTER 5
Trowa awoke to bright lights and the uncomfortable feeling of things being poked into him and a horrible bed. However, physically healthwise, he felt remarkably better. But where was he? As his eyes came into focus, he realized he was in a hospital room and bed. How?
"You needed help, Trowa. More than I could give. Don't be scared. You'll be fine. Your fever has broken," he heard a familiar voice say, but why was it addressing him?
He looked around to see Vanda at his side with the 4 other guys and her... parents? He stared at them. They were cleaned and fitted with new clothes and looked considerably more healthy looking. "What's going on?" She smiled at him then turned to her parents.
"I think he needs some time alone with the guys to sort things out."
They promptly left. As soon as the door shut behind them he opened his mouth to say something, but only managed the word, "How?"
"It's sorta funny really. She sort of woke up before she usually does, saw you, then us, and for some reason decided to take us in," Duo said in a strange casual manner.
"Her parents needed more convincing though," Quatre said clearly fuming about something.
Trowa looked back and forth noticing the strange grins on their faces.
"She stuffed him in a closet when her parents came home unexpectedly. She thought they wouldn't be home for a couple days because of the weather."
"Why did she stuff him in a closet though?" Trowa managed weakly.
"She thought that if her parents saw me the way I was... dressed at the time that they'd get the wrong idea," Quatre said bitterly.
"Huh?"
"She was fitting me for new clothes at the time okay? And..."
"I get the picture. So how did they find you guys?" Trowa asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well we freaked out when they came in and we were in her room at the time and we all went into hiding when she threw him in a closet, then her mother came back in after they left her room the first time, and because we thought she wasn't coming back we came out of hiding. Anyway, when she came in she saw the two in what looked like an embrace..."
"The first embrace I've ever had that called for measuring tape!" Quatre whined.
It caused a smirk from the other 4. "Anyway when all was explained, eventually she told them that she had you brought here. And well, we have a NEW home now," Duo explained in a far off voice.
Trowa looked perplexed. Surely, they weren't going to take them all in?
"Yeah, we know what your thinking, but we're no longer 'street trash' as some called us. We've got a home now," Heero said with a slight smile.
"And Quatre has a girlfriend!" Duo replied, followed by all of them going " woo-hoo-hoo" and Quatre telling them to shut up as his face turned red.
Trowa felt a slight ache in his heart. "V-vanda?"
"No, Vanda's friend Cherie..."
"Okay guys! Visiting hours are over. He needs his rest. Come on!" came a nurse's voice.
They looked dejected for a moment then said their good byes. After he was finally left alone Trowa pondered why they'd take them all in. One or two of the guys he could see. But all 5? Why?
~~~*~~~
Trowa watched as Vanda slipped under the blankets and began to regard him. Her parents figured that if he'd been sharing a bed with her all this time they might as well continue to until they could buy him his own. She smiled at him and turned out the light. He had over the past weeks come to talk to her more than he had ever talked to anyone in his life. He watched as if spellbound. As if she wasn't real.
"So did you like it?" she asked suddenly as she stared at the ceiling.
"Like what?" Trowa asked confused.
She looked at him with a sly smile. "Did you like watching me undress and redress before and after my showers and stuff every night?"
Trowa couldn't help but blush.
"Well, did you?" she persisted. "Come on! Quatre already 'fessed up! Your turn... did you like it? If you didn't, I understand..." she said her final statement with a hint of melancholy.
Trowa considered his answer. "Well, I didn't HATE it." He looked into her eyes and was forced to let out an embarrassed giggle. "Okay, I liked it... A LOT."
She gave him a smug smile."Good."
Trowa and she laid in silence until the question that had remained persistent in his mind had to finally be answered. "Why did your family take us ALL in? All 5 of us?"
She gave him a hurt glance, then stared at the ceiling as he spoke. "All 5 of you needed a home. A better life..."
"I mean the deeper reason," Trowa ventured.
She laid silent for so long that he thought she'd grown cross or had fallen asleep. "In the wars a couple years ago I had 2 older brothers. Both died in battle. And once..." she stopped when she choked on a sudden lump in her throat. "... once we had seen a child being forced to watch his parents die in front of him..." She took a few deep breaths. "The officer who did it asked us if we wanted him, when we hesitated with our answer he murdered the child too." She finally stopped trying not to cry but when the tears started, her speech stopped.
"I understand. I too watched... people die." Trowa said caught up in his own memories.
She looked over at him and with a sigh turned over and snuggled close to him, burying her face in his chest. Absently, he stroked her soft hair.
"You know this is what I missed most when you were in the hospital..." she said in gasps.
"What?"
She spoke shyly, just barely above a whisper. "Being held by you. Being warm... safe... home," she said the last word in a voice he barely heard.
"I know, it was strangely so cold without you. I couldn't sleep," Trowa replied in an honesty he knew she'd never believe. "Being warm..." he looked around him and then down at the girl falling asleep in his arms, "and home."
He pulled her close as he glanced up and over her out the window. Snow had begun to fall again. Only for the first time in the whole of the winter they had witnessed, with a gentle grace.
