DISCLAIMER – I do not own Gundam Wing.
Chapter Four
Heero catapulted himself up the long stairway in three long strides, rushing to find Duo. The bathroom door was open, and Heero saw Duo on the floor kneeling next to a very wet, very naked, and very not breathing Jinx.
"Heero help!" his friend screamed at him as soon as he saw Heero fling himself around the corner of the doorway and into the bathroom.
Heero pushed Duo out of the way and knelt next to Jinx's face, putting his ear near her mouth to see if she was breathing. Damn, she wasn't. Duo put a towel over her body as Heero pinched her nose and lifted her chin. He put his open mouth over hers and forced air into her lungs.
Duo counted the number of times Heero blew into her mouth. Two, three, four. He saw Heero pause, put his ear near her mouth again, and check if she was still breathing.
Heero sighed with relief and sat back. She was breathing on her own…barely, but she was breathing. "What happened?" he asked Duo.
"I woke up and went downstairs to see where everyone was. I figured Jinx was in the bath cause I could hear her, and so I knocked on the door. She didn't answer, so I called out to her and knocked louder. But she still didn't answer, so I said if she didn't answer I was going to come in if she was ready or not." Duo paused to look at the girl on the floor, who was breathing steadily now. "When I came in, she was under the water. So I screamed for you to come and pulled her out onto the floor."
"Hm." Heero answered. "That's why it was so easy to revive her. She hadn't dead for very long." He brushed the black bangs out of her face. Her hair was apparently black, now that the dye they used to change her hair color was diffused in the water.
Bastard, he heard her say. It's you I taste on my lips.
"That's right," Heero said out loud.
Duo looked at his friend, confused.
Why couldn't you have let me die? she asked.
"Why do you want to die?" he asked back.
Duo was now thoroughly confused. "Hey, look, man. If you want to talk to a sleeping woman, by all means, go for it. I'm going downstairs to get some breakfast." Duo walked away, shaking his head at Heero's weirdness.
I failed, she stated simply.
Because you didn't die in Duo's place? I think it's a success because both of you are alive and well. Much happier ending that way. Besides, you could do a lot of good working with us, he said back to her, with a little bit of a joking tone of voice. Heero needed to be as cheerful as he possibly could be in order to convince her to keep from trying to commit suicide again.
He heard her sigh as she opened her eyes. He'd won. He saw the defeated look in her shining red eyes and knew that she'd given up trying to kill herself, for now. "Hey," he said, taking on a few of Duo's characteristics as he smiled at her, "if I was successful all the times I've tried to commit suicide, I'd be dead five times by now."
She cracked a smile. "I'm cold," she told him.
* * * * * * * *
Quatre called them all to dinner, and the two ex-Gundam pilots and came in, wiping the grease from their hands. They'd been outside, working on that god-forsaken attempt of a shuttle ever since they'd saved Jinx that morning. She came in soon after them. She had been out there with them, watching as they scraped knuckles and swore over the hunk of junk that they were working on. Though Quatre had insisted Heero go to town to get her some more decent clothing, she was content to wear Heero's jeans and Duo's t-shirt.
As they ate, Quatre was glad that she seemed more at ease now, though she often seemed deep in concentration when he glanced over at her. Hearing of her attempt to kill herself that morning had him worried, but somehow Heero had gotten through to her. She was still as silent as Heero or Trowa, but had a warmer look in her eyes. Perhaps she had decided to find her place in life with them, he mused.
The light sounds of clinking forks against china dominated the dinner conversation. Duo was so hungry from working hard that he only opened his mouth to shove more food in it, rather than talk like he normally did. Heero was impassive and eating as normal, and so was Jinx for that matter. Quatre enjoyed the quiet dinner.
"Shut up, Heero!" Jinx screamed at him from across the table as she stood up, knocking her chair over.
Duo paused, a fork full of food halfway between his plate and his mouth. Quatre gasped in surprise.
"I've been answering your questions all day! Where did I train? Who did I work for during the Gundam Wars? How long did I work with OZ?" Jinx mimicked Heero's questions, still yelling at him. "I just want some rest now, you're wearing me out with your constant blabbering." She took a roll with her and stalked up the stairs.
Duo and Quatre both slowly turned and looked at Heero. He had a guilty look on his face, and tried to give a little innocent smile. It didn't quite work the way he had planned.
"Were you bothering her?" Quatre accusingly asked.
Heero looked like a kid with his hand in a cookie jar. "I was just asking her what she remembered about her parents. It was an innocent little question," he tried to explain.
"But she said you'd been talking all day," Duo insisted. "Can you communicate with her mentally?"
Quatre stared with his mouth open. Mental communication?
"Yea," Heero admitted. "She's getting better at controlling it. She says that she doesn't hear other voices all the time anymore, only mine. And it's easier to talk that way, for me."
"Wow," Duo said, mockingly. "Mr. Hm actually feels comfortable having a conversation with someone? And she's a girl, of all people. I think you like her, Heero."
"Shut up, Duo." Heero glared at him and got up from the table, leaving a smirking Duo and confused Quatre behind.
* * * * * * * *
Heero lay on the living room couch, glaring at the cheery starlight coming in through the window. Jinx had locked herself in his room after dinner and no one was able to get in to see her, no matter how Duo pounded on the door. At least she screamed at him to leave her alone – they knew that she wasn't dead in there. Quatre and Duo hadn't spoken to Heero much for the rest of the night, as they finished dinner and sat around before heading to bed. They thought that all of this was his fault. And the longer Heero thought about it, the more he was sure they were right.
He sighed and got off the couch. His bare feet made soft padding sounds on the hardwood floor as he walked closer to the window. Crossing his arms, he leaned his left side up against it, feeling the refreshing cool class against his shirtless shoulder and arm. It helped to calm him down a little.
A noise from the stairs across the room caught his attention. He saw a pair of copper-toned legs as Jinx descended the stairs. She didn't notice him at the window, and she headed straight for the kitchen. Heero figured she must still be hungry from using all her energy during meditation.
She crept quietly and didn't turn on any lights, so as no to disturb any of the sleeping boys in the house. Jinx didn't notice Heero in the window, watching her as she ate some tantalizing leftovers from dinner that evening.
Heero took in the sight of her. She was beautiful. So was Relena, he remembered, but Jinx was beautiful in a completely different way. Jinx had tan skin and black, heavy hair. Wearing Heero's own boxers and tank top, he could see her lean muscles as she moved gracefully around the kitchen. Relena was fair and delicate. Jinx radiated quiet strength and reserved power. He found the sight of her intoxicating.
Jinx was about to go back upstairs, leaving her midnight rendezvous in the kitchen, when she felt something tugging on the back of her mind. It was Heero.
She stopped, with one hand on the banister, and looked around the large room. There he was, leaning against the window and wearing nothing but his dirty jeans. She took her foot off the stair and walked over to him, wanting to apologize for earlier. Unsuccessfully, Jinx tried not to pay too much attention to his defined muscular torso and the way his bangs hung into his eyes giving him an alluring quality.
Jinx stood about a foot in front of him, staring down at the floor between two pair of bare feet. She decided to get this over with. "I'm sorry Hee…"
I'm sorry, Jinx, his voice entered her mind, cutting her off.
This time, she didn't mind. Sorry about what?
Bothering you today, he answered simply. I'm just not used to being so comfortable with someone. Oops, he thought to himself, that was blunt. I guess I got a little carried away.
He was staring down at her, making her vulnerable, as if he could see right through her. Jinx wrapped her arms around herself and finally got the courage to look up at him, for only a moment. I'm sorry too, she thought to him. I should have been more understanding. You were just curious, and I should have been more sensitive to you. She looked past his shoulder out into the gardens. I'm just not used to talking with someone so much, with being so close to someone, Jinx explained.
Neither am I, Heero admitted. I think that is why I bombarded you like I did. A success!, he thought. She had smiled at the term 'bombard'.
Jinx felt uncertainty from him. It sure was easy for the two of them to 'talk'. They didn't have to worry about finding the right words, or whether or not they got the correct meaning across. Telepathic communication eliminated those problems, which gave the two of them a more intimate connection. And now that they were getting better at it, they could communicate what they wanted to, and keep thoughts secret when they wanted to, too. She wondered what the uncertainty was for, as she still looked out of the window past his shoulder.
Heero's chest blocked her view. He had moved to be in front of her, and had taken a half step closer as well. Jinx's heart started beating harder in her ribcage. She was certain he could hear it. Heero ran a finger along her jaw line, and lifted her chin so look into her eyes.
They could both feel each other's nervousness, fear, and anticipation. This whole emotion thing was kind of new to them both. Sure, Heero felt deeply for Duo and the other pilots, just as Jinx was fond of Sally, Noin, and the other Preventors; but this was the first time either of them had admitted to feeling anything close to 'love'. It scared them both, especially since it had come so suddenly.
We're connected, Heero told her, putting his arms around her shoulders in an embrace. To his relief, he felt her arms tighten around his waist, completing the hug.
* * * * * * * *
Jinx lay in Heero's bed, staring up at his ceiling and trying to suppress the feeling of exhilaration that still brewed within her. He had insisted that she remain in his room, and he would take the couch for as long as she stayed with them. She tried to object, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Heero had walked her upstairs to say goodnight. Her lips still tingled from when he gave her a light kiss at the doorway before going back downstairs.
This was all so new to her, as she was sure it was new to Heero too. They were two soldiers, trained to detach themselves from weakening emotions and humanity. But now that war was over, the two had found each other. And Jinx knew in that instant downstairs, she wanted to discover that world of lost emotions with Heero.
She rolled over in his bed, gathering the sheets around her shoulders and breathing in his scent, before softly falling asleep.
* * * * * * * *
Heero was laying flat on his back on the floor, using his folded arms behind his head as a pillow, when the laptop he'd set on the coffee table beeped. He frowned as he sat up, watching the text scroll across the screen.
He paused for a moment considering his options. Then he used one hand to type his answer to Relena Peacecraft.
"Mission Accepted," he muttered under his breath as he sent the message.