Chapter 5

Spring, Houston – 8:30 PM

Rayne drove rented van in the safehouse driveway. She loved this safehouse for tow reasons. One, because it was close two a neighborhood and a town, and had a VERY large are of forest behind it. And under that are of forest was the hangar for the Gundams. The second reason was because she had lived there as a home during the years of war against the Barton Foundation and the months of peace after that. Tristan Sloan had actually bought the house in AC Year 194, fixed it up, and made the hangar underground. Just in case they ever needed such a secretive hideaway and safehouse for any wars that might pop up. But the safehouse wasn't like many of the others she'd been in. This one really resembled a home, besides the large backroom used for weapon storage and to keep track on the Gundams in the hangar.

There were the sounds of the tires on gravel, then the soft tap of the engine as it died down. She took the keys out of the car, and put a guard over the wheel so no one would be able to steal it – she still wasn't totally sure if she should trust the pilots or not. Tristan hadn't given very thorough details on their past crimes or actions. She couldn't be too careful.

She unlocked all the doors, and jumped out of the van, taking her backpack with her. She opened the car-door at the right side behind hers, and nudged Duo awake. "Come on," she said. "Get up, sleeping beauty." *Oh crud, did I just say that?!* Rayne thought in horror. *Jeez – I better focus on more missions...*

Duo opened his eyes and yawned. *Did she just call me sleeping beauty?!* Duo thought. *Heh, I can say the same for her... She gorgeous* He nodded and slowly got out, followed by Trowa; Quatre and Wufei had gotten out the other way and Heero had been in the passenger seat.

The group trudged up the driveway and to the back. She unlocked the fence and led them to an enormous back yard with the only barriers from it to the woods being a crude wooden fence. There were about six trees in the backyard, and there were three hammocks tied in between them. The hammocks were near the edges of the yard. But more in the middle was a built-in swimming pool with a slide, diving board, and diving posts. The water hitting gently against the sides of the pool made the group even wearier. 

"Nice yard," Duo commented. "How deep is that pool?"

"It's Olympic-sized, but it's deep than an Olympic pool..." Rayne murmured to herself. "Oh, now I remember: Twenty-five feet deep. It starts at four-and-a-half."

"Oh, cool!" Duo exclaimed. "Can I go for a swim?!"

Rayne laughed. "Tomorrow we can all go for a dip," she said. "But right now, I think we'd all like to rest."

There were murmurs of agreement from the pilots. Rayne smiled.

She unlocked the backdoor and they all entered a very spacious living room. There was a set of a black leather loveseat, couch, and La-Z-Boy recliner; along with two mahogany side-tables with coasters. There was a Birdseye chest in the middle of the room, which sat on top of a large maroon rug, that had a candle placed in the middle. At the bottom of the north wall was a row of cabinets, and above those were built-in shelves that held models of animals, figurines of wolves, and some books still in their book-boxes. In the east wall was a fireplace with a few logs in it that looked like it had not been used in a long time, and over the hearth was a mantle, though because they were right next to it they couldn't see what was on top of it. There was also a small bar at the south-west corner of the room with a glass shelf of souvenir shot-glasses above it. But the real treasure there was a sixty-five inch, flat screen TV complete with two woofers in the back corners, and a set of speakers at each top and bottom corner of the room. In a small wooden cabinet at the left side of the TV there was a CD, DVD and VHS player.

"Wow..." Duo breathed, in awe.

Rayne smiled. "It's not that much, you know? I mean, I know it's fancy for a safehouse – but I've been living here for a few years now and people have been giving me a lot of job offers that pay good money. And I need the normal home casualties," she said.

"It's barely eight thirty, so you can go choose your rooms now. Your luggage is at the stairwell. Oh yeah, and if you don't mind – one of you guys is going to have to use my room. Who's it gonna be?" said Rayne.

"Where are you going to sleep?" asked Quatre.

"I'll sleep on this couch. It's comfortable," she responded.

"I'm not sleeping in some woman's room," said Wufei.

"That goes without saying," spat Rayne, glowering at him.

"I'm not taking it," said Heero.

"Neither am I," said Trowa.

"Don't let Duo," Heero told Rayne.

"Okay. Sorry, Quatre-kun, but you're stuck with sleeping in my room," said Rayne.

"Oh, it's alright," said Quatre.

"The small dresser is full of my crap, Quatre," said Rayne. "But you can use the bigger dresser and closet to hold your stuff." Quatre nodded.

"Now," said Rayne, walking into the kitchen. "Go put your stuff away. I'll make dinner. What do you guys like to eat?"

"Maxwell's the human vacuum cleaner," said Wufei. "He'll eat anything we don't like."

"Did I ask for you to tell me Duo's eating habits, Chang?" Rayne growled. "No. I asked what you and your own person want to eat. Because I find it very hard to believe your food favorites are the same as Duo's! So just worry about yourself!" Rayne glowered. "God, you'd think you like Duo the way you've been insulting him all day, Chang." she murmured angrily, looking for a pot inside cabinet.

Wufei and Duo stared at her at the last comment. "W-what?!" the two sputtered.

"You heard me," she growled. She slammed the pot on the counter with a deafening metallic sound. The pilots cringed. "Now, before I get angry – tell me what you want to eat before I make something you'll end up hating and SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR THROATS!!" she yelled. She smiled and faced Heero, Trowa and Quatre. "What would you three like to eat since you're the only ones not trying to destroy me down to my very last nerve?"

"Anything's fine with me," was all Heero said.

"Uh...Stereo," said Quatre, and Trowa nodded. (Side note: Stereo is the equivalent to ditto or 'the same' for those of you who didn't know..heh)

"Alright, spaghetti for you three – sound good?"

The three nodded.

"Now..." Rayne turned icily to Wufei and Duo, who were still staring at her in wide-eyed shock. "What would you children want to eat?"

"I'll have spaghetti, too," said Duo.

"I'll have spaghetti as well," said Wufei.

"Okay...that's what I wanted to hear," Rayne said. "So get out of the kitchen before I make you. Go watch TV or something. The movies and DVDs are in the cabinets along the wall."

"Don't havta tell me twice," said Duo and sped off into the living room.  

Rayne just chuckled quietly and began boiling water in a pot for the noodles of spaghetti while mixing the sauce. She discarded Quatre and Trowa's offers to help her cook with a wave of her hand, telling them that they should be relaxing, and started making the dinner.

"What movie are you all watching?" Rayne asked when Duo walked in to see if the food was almost done.

"Black Hawk Down," said Duo. "It's good for an old war movie – but it would be so much better if it had Gundams!"

Rayne blinked, then burst out laughing.

~~

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