Author's Note: It gets a little crazy, but only a little. It's still a bit boring, but I had to do some establishing. Sorry if the characters seem a bit flat, but there will be some serious development soon. Promise.

Disclaimer: Damn the Man, I don't own Gundam Wing

Chapter 2

"But Sister Mary Francis never taught it this way," a freckled face, sixteen-year-old redheaded girl spoke from the back of the class. Roddy gritted her teeth; that had to be the third student that'd said something about the Sister's teaching style.

"Well, I'm using a different method, Bethany." Roddy said through her gritted teeth. It was her third class of the day and already she had a momentous headache. She never thought she'd have such a difficult time adjusting to teaching British Literature. A sigh of relief racked her body as she heard the last bell ring, thank God for forty-five minute classes.

"Okay class, tomorrow we will discuss the first part of Beowulf. Be prepared there might be quiz." Roddy almost yelled at the students that were already packed up and half way out of the door. She stretched her hands high over her head and popped the stiff vertebrae in her back.

"What a day, what a day," she said propping her door open and letting down her hair from its tight bun. She sauntered over to her chair and relaxed before she started working on her lesson plan for the next day. It had been a difficult first day. The students, though they seemed pleasant and eager to learn, were still under the influence of the Sister's teaching style. She figured that she'd win them over in time. She walked around the room, straightening the desks back into the pristine order that they were in before the students arrived. She picked up some of the trash that the students dropped and threw it in the trash; the whole process took about thirty minutes.

She finally got back to her desk and started on her lesson plan, scratching out things that were too early for each of her five classes to start on. Her honors class would be starting on some of the more difficult themes in Beowulf during the next three classes and she hoped to be finished with the epic in the next two weeks. Of course, the honors class was accelerated which meant that Roddy expected more out of them, which meant they would have a quiz the next class period on what they'd read. She knew this wasn't a way to win over her new students with a pop quiz, but she was a teacher and they were here to learn not get along. The rest of her classes would be working on a group project on the different parts of Beowulf and she would notify them all on the next class session.

The sound of the small chime of the clock on the wall behind her alerted her to the time. It was 6:30pm, she'd been there for three and half hours working diligently and from the looks out of her windows it was dark. She sighed and finished marking her places on the lesson plan so that she could turn it into the chair of her department. She quickly shuffled the rest of her things into the satchel and pulled out her keys so that she could lock the door. In addition to her keys, she also pulled out a grocery list, adding the last minute item of dry-erase markers to the list; she figured that since it was so late that she'd just give Mr. Barton his marker back tomorrow.

To her surprise, when she was locking her door she noticed that Barton's room was opened and he was indeed sitting at his desk, working on something and listening to his portable CD player. Since he was here, she might as well give him back his marker now. She crossed the hallway cautiously, making sure that he would be able to see her shadowy figure in the darkness of the hall so as not to scare him; she'd already made enough of a bad impression on him earlier. She knocked on the door gently but he obviously couldn't hear her so she nervously entered the room. She walked to the front of his desk and gingerly called his name. He looked up quickly, his head jerking back in surprise. He removed the earphones from his ears and stared at her blankly; Roddy thought that she could vaguely hear Handel's Hallelujah chorus.

"I brought back your pen," she said offering the pen as a way of peace between the two. He took the small writing utensil and sat it on the desk.

"I said that you could keep it," he stood from his desk and went to sit the marker on the board holder. She cutely held up the small fluorescent yellow sticky-note and smiled.

"It's on my to-do list. Thank you though." There was a strange silence as they both stared at one another; the only sound that was resonating through the quiet room was the muted Hallelujah chorus. Roddy smiled awkwardly and blinked slowly.

"Well, I'm going to head on out, it's getting late," she looked at her watch and it read 7:00pm on the dot. She grabbed her satchel from his desk and started towards the door.

"I'll walk you out." He said to her back, she stopped, her hand carefully poised on the door. This strange man, silent as the grave, surly and rude, was actually offering something nice to her. She turned quickly and noticed that he'd already packed up and was ready to go. How had he done that so fast? Shaking her head in amazement, she led them both out the door, stopping shortly to wait for him to turn off the lights and lock the door.

They walked down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the building in complete silence. It was dark, so pitch dark in the area that they could see the stars twinkle. It wasn't like this in her city apartment; there she couldn't even see the moonlight. She looked up and smiled in childlike amazement.

"The stars are so beautiful, almost makes you wonder," she said, trying to start a conversation.

"You can only look at those beautiful heavens and wonder in His glory. I know when I leave this place at night, I wish I were up there." Barton said quietly. So this man could talk, though silently, and somewhat profound, she'd gotten him to say more than three words in a sentence and that was an accomplishment.

"Do you work late a lot?"

"I used to before the Sister's passing."

"Were you two good friends?"

"You could say that." He continued to stare at the sky, his green eyes shaded by darkness and the glare of the moonlight off the lenses of his glasses. A crunch on the ground behind them made him stiffen instantly. They both turned to see what the sound was but saw nothing.  Yet, as if she were a part of that shadow, as if it engulfed her and swallowed her but regurgitated her when it wanted to, Jina appeared. Her figure and face were as clear as they were in the day, the pale moonlight shining off of her even paler skin. Barton was standing in front of Roddy, as if he were protecting her from some evil; Roddy felt flattered. Jina stepped forward and Trowa took a step backwards. Roddy could see that his eyes were narrowed.

"Roddy, how was your first day?" Jina asked, her voice a bit deeper and huskier than before.

"It was alright, I guess." Roddy started to step forward, feeling somewhat silly for being at shouting distance and trying to carry on a conversation. Trowa, moving a lot faster than Roddy thought he could, stepped in front of her, blocking her every move from Jina as if the smaller woman was harmful. Roddy was sure that she could take her.

"Oh, Barton, hi." Jina said with disregard evident in her tone. Trowa only snarled. Roddy, noticing the tension tried to ignore it and offered Jina a kind smile.

"Heero, Duo and I are all going to a local bar to celebrate the first day. Wanna join?" Jina reached out a hand. Roddy was close to taking the temptation and leaving her silent self-made bodyguard behind, when she felt his gentle but firm hand on her shoulder. In a white flash, the sun disappeared behind a dark cloud of fiery dust. The world seemed to be covered in this thick blanket and people were suffocating and dying from the red filth that was quickly filling their lungs. Not her, not Roddy, she walked without impediment amidst the death and destruction.

"No, I had a harder first day than I think. I'm going to go get some sleep and rework my lesson plan. I'll try to get here early tomorrow. Thank you for offering though." Roddy tried to look normal, but after those mental images it was difficult.

"Suit yourself. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a nice night." Jina's eyes cut to Trowa's then back to Roddy's and she smirked evilly and walked away back into the strange shadows. Roddy tried to clear her head, shaking it slightly and turned towards her car. Trowa followed.

"Thank you for walking me to my car." She said as she put the key into the car door and unlocked it. Trowa was standing dangerously close to her almost to point of making her uncomfortable. She turned and smiled at him, thinking that he'd take the silent hint and turn to walk away; he only stood stationary and stared. His gaze was feral and questioning, almost searching. She felt uneasy, his eyes were asking questions that she couldn't begin to answer and yet she understood the questions. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat from the earlier images and she opened the door forcing Trowa to move away from her.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said stoically. She smiled, closed the door and drove away quickly.