It had now been two months since the incident with Wing Zero. The new computers had come on the day before and Heero was able to come and help install them. Hilde even agreed to come along as well. Heero mentioned it to Relena and she had decided she would meet them there and keep Hilde company while he was busy. She hadn't seen him since that day on the Preventer's ship but she didn't make a big deal about seeing him then because she was there to be with her friend and not with Heero. She also reminded herself that even though she hadn't seen him in two months , Hilde hadn't seen Duo in that same amount of time and would never again. With that perspective on things Relena was able to keep her priorities straight. Hilde and she went for a walk around the entire ship. It was going to be a long time before the new computers were going to be in and there wasn't alot to do there anyway. Relena wasn't really sure how to start a conversation with Hilde as they walked. Even though they had become good friends they really didn't have much in common. She finally thought of something to ask that wouldn't upset her.
"So did Heero tell you that I had some new security systems put in back home?" She asked smiling. It was a starting point at least. Hilde nodded her response.
"Yes he told me Wufei put it in for you. Is it working?" She answered but didn't smile back at Relena. Relena figured she wouldn't smile anyway.
"Yeah, although I'm still having problems with the password." She admitted.
"Well what's the problem with it?" Hilde asked seeing if she might be able to help out. She had some experience with security systems.
"I sometimes will put the wrong code in, yah know if I'm in hurry and hit the wrong button. It starts blinking at me and telling me to put in the second password. But I don't have one of those." She explained. Hilde thought about it for a minute.
"You could try hitting bypass and then reenter that password again and if that doesn't work you can enter a second one if you really want to. But the first way is alot easier to me." She said back. From what Heero had told Relena that was probably the most talking Hilde had done in awhile. She smiled at that.
"Thanks I'll have to try that when I get back. Where'd you learn about that stuff? I mean you even knew the board had a bypass button and everything." She asked her. Hilde didn't answer her but lowered her face instead. Relena noticed and realized it wasn't the best question to ask. She didn't pry anymore.
"So anyway I had two of them installed. One at the office and the other at home." She added now feeling bad.
"They're nice to have and can detect alot of things other then an intruder." Hilde remarked but didn't look back up. There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Did Heero tell you what happened, that they needed to get new computers?" Hilde finally asked. Relena shook her head. Hilde finally looked up when she spoke.
"Wufei was training one of their new guys and the guy completely deleted everything. But luckily they have backups on disks in storage. But all the computers were fried." She said a bit enthusiastically. Or at least more enthusiastic then usual. Relena understood alot of what she had said. She really didn't know much about computers and whenever Heero started talking about them she could never understand the terms he used.
"It's nice to have someone talk about computers and not sound like they're speaking some other language." Relena said back to Hilde. Hilde smiled slightly at that.
"Has Heero ever tried to teach you any of it?" She asked knowing that was who she was talking about. Heero had a laptop at her place and that was usually one of the only things he talked about.
"Not really, he's so busy and I've got alot of things going on now too. Eventually I'll learn that stuff though." Relena answered. They made their way back to the control room where Heero and Wufei were hooking the monitors up on the desktops. Sally was supervising and Quatre was over sitting at one of the desks, reading instructions. Actually he had all of them spread out infront of him and was trying to figure most of them out.
"Why do they always have to have so many pictures on these things?" He asked flipping through them. Sally went over and looked at them as well. Catherine came in with some wires they needed. She handed them to Heero who was behind one of the desks and was having a hard time with the extension cords. Catherine went over to Relena and Hilde.
"When did you get here?" Relena asked Catherine happily.
"We've been here for awhile now." She answered tossing her hair over her shoulder. They were the only ones in the room that weren't working. There were boxes all over the place as well as plastic and little pieces of Styrofoam. Catherine decided to begin cleaning that up. She got a trash bag and shook it open.
"Hey, where do you want these?" Trowa asked Sally, walking into the room with his arms full of more boxed. Sally put her hands to her face.
"Not more boxes. Don't we have enough in here?" She asked rhetorically. He just stood there, still waiting for intructions. Catherine looked over and dropped her garbage bag.
"You put those down right now. You shouldn't be lifting anything heavy. Not in your condition." She ordered him. He didn't really respond to her. Sally took some of the boxes from Trowa and showed him an empty place on the floor where he could put them down. Once he put them down he went over to the desk near Wufei and Heero.
"So how's it going?" He asked leaning over to see what Heero was doing. Heero stood up and gave him a look.
"We're going to need more extension cords that's how it's going. And we didn't order enough as it is. Why don't you get back here and help me connect these things." He replied. Wufei just stood there pointing at more things for Heero to do. Trowa got behind the desks as well.
"Why isn't Wufei helping more?" He asked Heero as he untangled some more wires. Wufei looked over at them.
"Because I had to put up with the guy who made this mess in the first place while you people were all on vacation. So now I point and you work." He said.
"Some of us weren't on vacation." Trowa muttered to himself. Quatre went over with one of the large sheets of instructions in his hands to inspect the work.
"This one wire goes there, not here." He pointed out moving it over. Sally went over to Relena and Hilde who were just enjoying watching everyone else work.
"Did you want us to do anything?" Relena asked Sally.
"Well there isn't much for you to do here. Did you want to start lunch though?" She asked. Relena looked over at Hilde to see what she thought. She nodded in agreement.
"Okay then, we'll break in about fifteen minutes." Sally said to them and they headed out of the room. Catherine decided to go help them with that instead of picking up the garbage. There would be more in there anyway by the time she would get back so it was stupid to start cleaning it up now.
***
Once lunch was made Sally and the guys all came into the break room where everything was. No one really talked much at lunch considering they were all eating. Hilde didn't mind that so much since she knew everyone didn't seem to know what to say around her anyway. At one point Relena asked Heero how it was going with the new computers and he explained it to her but she didn't understand alot of it. While he was talking, Hilde leaned over to Relena and told her she'd explain it to her later. After lunch they went back to the control room and started working again. Relena and Hilde cleaned up everything from lunch and then went to help out with the computers. Heero was surprised how much Hilde actually knew about them. She would point things out that he hadn't even noticed. She was also able to help them out with their extension cord problem and helped Quatre with the directions as well.
"See that's were that part goes but if you put it in backwards it's not going to work. Both ends of that line look the same so you have check the color at the each end." She was telling Sally and Quatre. Sally was impressed with what Hilde was telling them. Later when they were almost done Sally wanted to speak to Heero privately.
"I was thinking about something and I wanted to know what you thought about it." She told him. They were taking the garbage bags to where they wouldn't be in the way.
"What was it you wanted my opinion on"? Heero asked her.
"Well as you know we still haven't gotten anyone new in yet. This last guy didn't even make it past the first day on the job." She was explaining.
"Plus he costs us alot of money and time." He added. Sally nodded in agreement with that.
"I am very impressed with how Hilde has helped us out today with the reinstallment. I thought that maybe she'd like to work with us more often." She said. Heero didn't answer right away, he was obviously thinking about it.
"So you're saying she'd be replacing Duo." He finally answered. Sally looked away from him sadly. They had stopped walking already.
"I don't really want to call it that." She admitted.
"But that's what you're suggesting and that's how she'll take it." He remarked.
"It's obvious that he taught her alot of things that are useful and she won't be able to use them anywhere else." Sally thought outloud. Heero closed his eyes and sighed.
"You can ask her but I wouldn't be surprised if she says no." He warned her. They continued on their way and then headed back to the control room. When they got there, Trowa and Hilde were downloading most of the files. Catherine and Relena were moving desks back in place and Quatre was getting disks out of one of the desks and handing them to Hilde so she could upload them.
"There, finished." Hilde announced a few minutes later. "Now all you have to do is set up your passwords and security grid for the files you don't want accessible. Or at least not easily accessible." She said standing up and off to the side as if feeling she was in their way. Heero went over to see how she did with setting everything up. It all looked okay to him.
"Well it's been a long day." Wufei admitted picking up some folders off one of the desks.
"Yeah, I guess we should get going now." Heero said to Hilde. The both of them as well as Relena and Sally went out of the room and towards their shuttle. Sally leaned over to Heero.
"I need to talk to Hilde now so can you and Relena go somewhere else for a couple of minutes. I don't want to seem as though I'm pressuring her into anything." She told him. He nodded his response and got closer to Relena and took her hand. The two of them detoured once they reached the shuttle. Hilde watched them leave.
"Where are they going?" She asked Sally.
"I needed to ask you something in private." Sally explained. She now had Hilde's undivided attention.
"I wanted to see if you would considering working with us here. Basically we're having a hard time finding anyone else with the skills required and you seem to know what you're doing." She told her. Hilde was quiet for a while and stared at nothing in particular.
"So I would be taking Duo's place then wouldn't I?" She asked back.
"Actually yes you would but I think he'd be okay with that." Sally answered her.
"I don't know if I could do that." She admitted sadly. "I'll have to think about it." She added. Sally was happy that she would at least do that much. Heero was waiting for Sally to let him know when he could come back over.
"I actually enjoyed today." Relena told him. He gave her a slight smile.
"That's because you didn't have to do any of the dirty work." He said back.
"If you didn't like doing it then you wouldn't have agreed to come and help today." She shot back. He had to admit she was right. He looked back at Hilde and Sally talking.
"So do you think she's any better now?" He asked her.
"Yeah, we had a couple of nice conversations. She's starting to act like herself again." She answered. He looked at her again a bit concerned.
"I hope she takes the offer Sally gives her to work here." He remarked. Relena was surprised he would confide in her like that. She usually had to force that kind of information out of him...or someone else. But she knew how he felt anyway.
"It would be good for her. She really enjoys the work. And maybe then you wouldn't feel like you'd have to stay with her so much." She added.
"I don't mind but it is temporary. I knew that from the beginning. The places I live are always temporary." He replied. Sally looked their way and they both went over to her. Hilde had gone to the shuttle already. Sally gave Heero a confident smile. He headed towards the shuttle and they took off shortly after that.
***
By the time they got home it was dark and Hilde went straight to bed. L2 wasn't too far from the Preventer's ship but the whole day had been exhausting. Heero decided he had a couple of things to do before bed. He first called Sally to let her know they had made it there okay and to see how everything had gone before with Hilde. He hadn't asked her on the way home and she didn't offer him any information, which was how things always had been between them. He knew that Hilde probably just figured that if he really wanted to know something, he's find out somehow. He went into the kitchen and got something to eat before heading up for the night. Once he was done he made sure the doors were all locked. He heard something upstairs but couldn't figure out what it was. He headed up to get a better idea.
He cracked the door to Hilde's room. She was sitting at the end of her bed, holding something, and crying. He opened the door all the way and stood there. She looked up quickly at him and then dropped her gaze just as fast.
"I thought you were going to bed." He asked but it sounded more like a statement. She shook her head slowly.
"I can't." She said back. He came in and sat down next to her. She was holding the Preventer's jacket from before.
"Don't you think your giving up too quickly? You just got up here." He pointed out.
"That's not it. I can't be part of the Preventers." She replied. Heero had a feeling that was what she meant.
"I can't replace...him." She spoke softly, sniffing a bit.
"No one is asking you to." Heero answered. "It would just be a nice change."
"Do you think he'd be okay with it then?" She asked him.
"Probably but then again this is something you have to decide on your own." He remarked. She whipped her face with her hands.
"I don't know what to do." She realized. Heero got up from the bed. He knew what she really needed was some time alone.
"You don't have to decide tonight. We'd all like it if you agreed to help but if you don't, that's fine too. Whatever you want to do, the rest of us will be okay with your decision." He said heading for the door.
"Now try to get some sleep." He added.
He went to his room and unpacked his laptop. He knew she had a point and if she didn't join, he wouldn't blame her. He wouldn't want to take Duo's place either. Even staying with Hilde, he didn't consider himself taking his place. This was the only thing he could do. He had felt this mess was kind of his fault. It was his mobile suit afterall. He knew that he really should be watching Relena but she didn't need him right now as much as Hilde needed someone.
And no one else was offering so he took the responsibility himself. He knew Duo would have appreciated it. And besides there had been times when Heero was unable to watch after Relena and Duo stepped in and kept on eye on her for him. Heero had never really shown any appreciation and thought Duo didn't protect Relena as well as he did at the time. But now that he thought about it that was one of those brief moments when Duo was actually serious about his job. Even if Heero had shown any thanks, Duo would have probably just acted like it was no big deal. He realized he did kind of miss him.
Even that day, when Wufei was bossing him around, he had thought of things that Duo probably would have said just to get on Wufei's nerves. He turned off his light and got into bed. He didn't hear Hilde crying so much for the rest of the night.
"So did Heero tell you that I had some new security systems put in back home?" She asked smiling. It was a starting point at least. Hilde nodded her response.
"Yes he told me Wufei put it in for you. Is it working?" She answered but didn't smile back at Relena. Relena figured she wouldn't smile anyway.
"Yeah, although I'm still having problems with the password." She admitted.
"Well what's the problem with it?" Hilde asked seeing if she might be able to help out. She had some experience with security systems.
"I sometimes will put the wrong code in, yah know if I'm in hurry and hit the wrong button. It starts blinking at me and telling me to put in the second password. But I don't have one of those." She explained. Hilde thought about it for a minute.
"You could try hitting bypass and then reenter that password again and if that doesn't work you can enter a second one if you really want to. But the first way is alot easier to me." She said back. From what Heero had told Relena that was probably the most talking Hilde had done in awhile. She smiled at that.
"Thanks I'll have to try that when I get back. Where'd you learn about that stuff? I mean you even knew the board had a bypass button and everything." She asked her. Hilde didn't answer her but lowered her face instead. Relena noticed and realized it wasn't the best question to ask. She didn't pry anymore.
"So anyway I had two of them installed. One at the office and the other at home." She added now feeling bad.
"They're nice to have and can detect alot of things other then an intruder." Hilde remarked but didn't look back up. There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Did Heero tell you what happened, that they needed to get new computers?" Hilde finally asked. Relena shook her head. Hilde finally looked up when she spoke.
"Wufei was training one of their new guys and the guy completely deleted everything. But luckily they have backups on disks in storage. But all the computers were fried." She said a bit enthusiastically. Or at least more enthusiastic then usual. Relena understood alot of what she had said. She really didn't know much about computers and whenever Heero started talking about them she could never understand the terms he used.
"It's nice to have someone talk about computers and not sound like they're speaking some other language." Relena said back to Hilde. Hilde smiled slightly at that.
"Has Heero ever tried to teach you any of it?" She asked knowing that was who she was talking about. Heero had a laptop at her place and that was usually one of the only things he talked about.
"Not really, he's so busy and I've got alot of things going on now too. Eventually I'll learn that stuff though." Relena answered. They made their way back to the control room where Heero and Wufei were hooking the monitors up on the desktops. Sally was supervising and Quatre was over sitting at one of the desks, reading instructions. Actually he had all of them spread out infront of him and was trying to figure most of them out.
"Why do they always have to have so many pictures on these things?" He asked flipping through them. Sally went over and looked at them as well. Catherine came in with some wires they needed. She handed them to Heero who was behind one of the desks and was having a hard time with the extension cords. Catherine went over to Relena and Hilde.
"When did you get here?" Relena asked Catherine happily.
"We've been here for awhile now." She answered tossing her hair over her shoulder. They were the only ones in the room that weren't working. There were boxes all over the place as well as plastic and little pieces of Styrofoam. Catherine decided to begin cleaning that up. She got a trash bag and shook it open.
"Hey, where do you want these?" Trowa asked Sally, walking into the room with his arms full of more boxed. Sally put her hands to her face.
"Not more boxes. Don't we have enough in here?" She asked rhetorically. He just stood there, still waiting for intructions. Catherine looked over and dropped her garbage bag.
"You put those down right now. You shouldn't be lifting anything heavy. Not in your condition." She ordered him. He didn't really respond to her. Sally took some of the boxes from Trowa and showed him an empty place on the floor where he could put them down. Once he put them down he went over to the desk near Wufei and Heero.
"So how's it going?" He asked leaning over to see what Heero was doing. Heero stood up and gave him a look.
"We're going to need more extension cords that's how it's going. And we didn't order enough as it is. Why don't you get back here and help me connect these things." He replied. Wufei just stood there pointing at more things for Heero to do. Trowa got behind the desks as well.
"Why isn't Wufei helping more?" He asked Heero as he untangled some more wires. Wufei looked over at them.
"Because I had to put up with the guy who made this mess in the first place while you people were all on vacation. So now I point and you work." He said.
"Some of us weren't on vacation." Trowa muttered to himself. Quatre went over with one of the large sheets of instructions in his hands to inspect the work.
"This one wire goes there, not here." He pointed out moving it over. Sally went over to Relena and Hilde who were just enjoying watching everyone else work.
"Did you want us to do anything?" Relena asked Sally.
"Well there isn't much for you to do here. Did you want to start lunch though?" She asked. Relena looked over at Hilde to see what she thought. She nodded in agreement.
"Okay then, we'll break in about fifteen minutes." Sally said to them and they headed out of the room. Catherine decided to go help them with that instead of picking up the garbage. There would be more in there anyway by the time she would get back so it was stupid to start cleaning it up now.
***
Once lunch was made Sally and the guys all came into the break room where everything was. No one really talked much at lunch considering they were all eating. Hilde didn't mind that so much since she knew everyone didn't seem to know what to say around her anyway. At one point Relena asked Heero how it was going with the new computers and he explained it to her but she didn't understand alot of it. While he was talking, Hilde leaned over to Relena and told her she'd explain it to her later. After lunch they went back to the control room and started working again. Relena and Hilde cleaned up everything from lunch and then went to help out with the computers. Heero was surprised how much Hilde actually knew about them. She would point things out that he hadn't even noticed. She was also able to help them out with their extension cord problem and helped Quatre with the directions as well.
"See that's were that part goes but if you put it in backwards it's not going to work. Both ends of that line look the same so you have check the color at the each end." She was telling Sally and Quatre. Sally was impressed with what Hilde was telling them. Later when they were almost done Sally wanted to speak to Heero privately.
"I was thinking about something and I wanted to know what you thought about it." She told him. They were taking the garbage bags to where they wouldn't be in the way.
"What was it you wanted my opinion on"? Heero asked her.
"Well as you know we still haven't gotten anyone new in yet. This last guy didn't even make it past the first day on the job." She was explaining.
"Plus he costs us alot of money and time." He added. Sally nodded in agreement with that.
"I am very impressed with how Hilde has helped us out today with the reinstallment. I thought that maybe she'd like to work with us more often." She said. Heero didn't answer right away, he was obviously thinking about it.
"So you're saying she'd be replacing Duo." He finally answered. Sally looked away from him sadly. They had stopped walking already.
"I don't really want to call it that." She admitted.
"But that's what you're suggesting and that's how she'll take it." He remarked.
"It's obvious that he taught her alot of things that are useful and she won't be able to use them anywhere else." Sally thought outloud. Heero closed his eyes and sighed.
"You can ask her but I wouldn't be surprised if she says no." He warned her. They continued on their way and then headed back to the control room. When they got there, Trowa and Hilde were downloading most of the files. Catherine and Relena were moving desks back in place and Quatre was getting disks out of one of the desks and handing them to Hilde so she could upload them.
"There, finished." Hilde announced a few minutes later. "Now all you have to do is set up your passwords and security grid for the files you don't want accessible. Or at least not easily accessible." She said standing up and off to the side as if feeling she was in their way. Heero went over to see how she did with setting everything up. It all looked okay to him.
"Well it's been a long day." Wufei admitted picking up some folders off one of the desks.
"Yeah, I guess we should get going now." Heero said to Hilde. The both of them as well as Relena and Sally went out of the room and towards their shuttle. Sally leaned over to Heero.
"I need to talk to Hilde now so can you and Relena go somewhere else for a couple of minutes. I don't want to seem as though I'm pressuring her into anything." She told him. He nodded his response and got closer to Relena and took her hand. The two of them detoured once they reached the shuttle. Hilde watched them leave.
"Where are they going?" She asked Sally.
"I needed to ask you something in private." Sally explained. She now had Hilde's undivided attention.
"I wanted to see if you would considering working with us here. Basically we're having a hard time finding anyone else with the skills required and you seem to know what you're doing." She told her. Hilde was quiet for a while and stared at nothing in particular.
"So I would be taking Duo's place then wouldn't I?" She asked back.
"Actually yes you would but I think he'd be okay with that." Sally answered her.
"I don't know if I could do that." She admitted sadly. "I'll have to think about it." She added. Sally was happy that she would at least do that much. Heero was waiting for Sally to let him know when he could come back over.
"I actually enjoyed today." Relena told him. He gave her a slight smile.
"That's because you didn't have to do any of the dirty work." He said back.
"If you didn't like doing it then you wouldn't have agreed to come and help today." She shot back. He had to admit she was right. He looked back at Hilde and Sally talking.
"So do you think she's any better now?" He asked her.
"Yeah, we had a couple of nice conversations. She's starting to act like herself again." She answered. He looked at her again a bit concerned.
"I hope she takes the offer Sally gives her to work here." He remarked. Relena was surprised he would confide in her like that. She usually had to force that kind of information out of him...or someone else. But she knew how he felt anyway.
"It would be good for her. She really enjoys the work. And maybe then you wouldn't feel like you'd have to stay with her so much." She added.
"I don't mind but it is temporary. I knew that from the beginning. The places I live are always temporary." He replied. Sally looked their way and they both went over to her. Hilde had gone to the shuttle already. Sally gave Heero a confident smile. He headed towards the shuttle and they took off shortly after that.
***
By the time they got home it was dark and Hilde went straight to bed. L2 wasn't too far from the Preventer's ship but the whole day had been exhausting. Heero decided he had a couple of things to do before bed. He first called Sally to let her know they had made it there okay and to see how everything had gone before with Hilde. He hadn't asked her on the way home and she didn't offer him any information, which was how things always had been between them. He knew that Hilde probably just figured that if he really wanted to know something, he's find out somehow. He went into the kitchen and got something to eat before heading up for the night. Once he was done he made sure the doors were all locked. He heard something upstairs but couldn't figure out what it was. He headed up to get a better idea.
He cracked the door to Hilde's room. She was sitting at the end of her bed, holding something, and crying. He opened the door all the way and stood there. She looked up quickly at him and then dropped her gaze just as fast.
"I thought you were going to bed." He asked but it sounded more like a statement. She shook her head slowly.
"I can't." She said back. He came in and sat down next to her. She was holding the Preventer's jacket from before.
"Don't you think your giving up too quickly? You just got up here." He pointed out.
"That's not it. I can't be part of the Preventers." She replied. Heero had a feeling that was what she meant.
"I can't replace...him." She spoke softly, sniffing a bit.
"No one is asking you to." Heero answered. "It would just be a nice change."
"Do you think he'd be okay with it then?" She asked him.
"Probably but then again this is something you have to decide on your own." He remarked. She whipped her face with her hands.
"I don't know what to do." She realized. Heero got up from the bed. He knew what she really needed was some time alone.
"You don't have to decide tonight. We'd all like it if you agreed to help but if you don't, that's fine too. Whatever you want to do, the rest of us will be okay with your decision." He said heading for the door.
"Now try to get some sleep." He added.
He went to his room and unpacked his laptop. He knew she had a point and if she didn't join, he wouldn't blame her. He wouldn't want to take Duo's place either. Even staying with Hilde, he didn't consider himself taking his place. This was the only thing he could do. He had felt this mess was kind of his fault. It was his mobile suit afterall. He knew that he really should be watching Relena but she didn't need him right now as much as Hilde needed someone.
And no one else was offering so he took the responsibility himself. He knew Duo would have appreciated it. And besides there had been times when Heero was unable to watch after Relena and Duo stepped in and kept on eye on her for him. Heero had never really shown any appreciation and thought Duo didn't protect Relena as well as he did at the time. But now that he thought about it that was one of those brief moments when Duo was actually serious about his job. Even if Heero had shown any thanks, Duo would have probably just acted like it was no big deal. He realized he did kind of miss him.
Even that day, when Wufei was bossing him around, he had thought of things that Duo probably would have said just to get on Wufei's nerves. He turned off his light and got into bed. He didn't hear Hilde crying so much for the rest of the night.