Disclaimer: Even after all this, I don't own the Gundam boys. Just a pretty calendar and some action figures. ;)
AN: Oh, how exciting, ne? Another one. I just can't stop. Sad, isn't it? Hope you like it, please let me know, and thanks for reading!
Also, this is the 4th story in this Lost Girl series-thing, so if you're confused or something you might want to try reading the other ones first. I think it might help. ;)
Watching You
Part 1
"We need help! *Now*!"
Heero's voice rang out through the hangar as the bay doors thudded shut on the outside world, shutting out the stars and leaving me staring at the tattered shells of Wing, Shenlong, and Heavyarms. Heavyarms was obviously out of bullets, and had taken hits to the right side. There were burn marks scarring the paint – there were scorch marks on all three suits. Wing had taken a hit to the left aft booster, and Shenlong was in shambles. One arm looked completely inoperable, the other a mangled mess of melted plating and wire. The area around the cockpit was charred… I automatically began mentally ticking off the parts I would need, the time it would take to complete the repairs –
No time for that – my eyes fell from the battle-ravaged suits to the figure making his way towards me, his brown hair mussed with sweat and his face dirty, but his blue eyes still burning brightly. The figure that was dragging another figure with it, half-carrying the unconscious boy slumped against his side as if he were dead –
It was Wufei.
I shot over to Heero, sliding under Wufei's other shoulder, wrapping his other arm around my neck and helping Heero drag him closer towards the center of the bay.
I could feel blood soaking into my clothes.
I stole a glance down at his face: his cheek was marred with a deep gash, his hair had come loose and hung matted around his pale face.
Something in my stomach dropped.
We approached my workspace, just in front of the ladder that led up to the stairs that would take us to the house –
I stopped. Heero noticed it and stopped an instant later, his eyes swiveling around to meet mine.
"What is it?" he asked shortly. His voice had the cover of calm, but beneath that it was tight and worried.
"We can't take him upstairs," I said. "It would only do more damage. We'll have to make him a bed down here. The less we move him, the better." I was amazed at how calm, how commanding my voice sounded, when my insides were shaking enough to topple me over.
A beat.
"You're right," Heero said curtly, and with him I bent down to lay the unconscious Chinese pilot on the floor.
I heard noise above us – I looked up to see Quatre and Duo scrambling down the ladder, jumping off the last few rungs to thud onto the floor, both looking frantic and worried.
"What happened?" Quatre asked, gasping for breath, his eyes flickering from Heero to the boy on the floor.
"We were ambushed," came the curt reply. There was disgust beneath that. "He took the worst of it," he said, nodding to Wufei, "but Trowa took more hits than I did. We need to get him out of Heavyarms."
And he turned and began walking swiftly back towards the red suit, intent on his mission to extract the banged pilot from its cockpit.
"I'll help!" Duo stole a last glance at Wufei before bounding after the green tank top.
"We need to call Sally," Quatre said, his voice just as tight as Heero's, and his worry was nearly tangible.
It was only making my worry worse.
I nodded. "Yeah. But first we need to take care of this before he goes into shock."
Quatre blinked as I fell to my knees beside Wufei; I didn't like how the very edges of the floor beneath his body were beginning to turn a rusty red…
Gingerly I lifted his shirt, pulling the blood-soaked garment off his limp body…
His midsection was mottled with bruises – two long contusions ran down his torso where his suit restraints had held him in place. I couldn't see any major cuts here – it had to be on his back.
"God…" I whispered. I ran my hands down his chest, trying to ignore the heat pooling in my face, knowing that I was only trying to check his ribcage –
"He's got broken ribs," I grimaced, feeling the cracked bones beneath my hands. "We can't move him – it might make them worse, or puncture a lung… And he's bleeding from somewhere, it must be his back – "
"I'll get sheets and the med kits," Quatre said before scrambling back up the ladder. I could hear his footsteps pounding up the stairs as he ran to get the supplies.
I had to check his back. But I didn't want to move him. Fat lot of good keeping his ribs in place will do if he bleeds to death! I reprimanded myself, and as carefully as I could I lifted him onto his side.
There was a huge cut down his back, running from nearly his shoulder blades to his midsection. I could feel my eyes widen with shock – what the hell had given him *that*?! Miraculously it wasn't bleeding much anymore, but I didn't want to take any chances. I glanced around for something… Nothing. I pulled off my sweatshirt, left in my tank top now, and pressed it against his back, laying him down once more and piling the hood beneath his head. Hopefully it would do to slow the bleeding until Quatre came back with proper bandages.
Momentarily satisfied, I moved to Wufei's arms and face, confirming that his arms were fine except for the bruises and a few cuts that were already beginning to scab over. But those would need to be cleaned.
I turned to the cut on his cheek – the blood had slowed but not stopped; there was nothing to cover it with… Yes there was. The arm of my sweatshirt was sticking out from beneath his body; I pulled it up to his face and pressed the sleeve against his cheek to slow the bleeding there. As I held the cloth there, I inspected the rest of his face and his head. There was a nasty bruise forming on one temple, and a few more cuts, but nothing else that looked very serious.
Thank God.
I looked up as I heard shuffling – Heero and Duo were bringing Trowa. The tall pilot was conscious but he didn't look very coherent; the light caught his eyes and I could see they were clouded, confused.
I felt a chill run through me, never having expected to see an expression like that in Trowa's eyes.
"Set him down here," I commanded, pointing with my free hand to the floor beside me; the two boys complied and Trowa allowed himself to be lowered to the floor by his comrades. He blinked at me as I made a quick visual inspection: he didn't look as bad, his temple was cut, he had another small cut near the hairline, but there wasn't much blood and he was obviously still conscious. I couldn't tell the condition of his arms or torso with those long sleeves, however.
"Take off your shirt," I commanded, now aware of how tight my own voice had become.
He blinked at me, but a second later Heero had reached over and peeled the turtleneck off the tall boy, exposing his bruised chest and arms.
I nodded. "Is anything broken?" I asked, directing my voice towards Heero as I glanced back down at Wufei's cheek, checking to see if the bleeding had stopped yet. It had ebbed to a slow, oozing flow and I gently peeled my bloodstained sweatshirt away to let it close up.
"No," came Heero's reply.
"Hey, since when are you two doctors?" Duo's voice rang out loudly, his anger and fear translating into annoyance as he crouched before Trowa, glancing at me.
"We're not," I replied. "But we're doing the best we can. We can use common sense, you know – "
"Here!"
I hadn't even heard Quatre return; he was standing on the platform above us, arms piled high with blankets and medical kits. Duo pushed himself off the ground, going over to catch the items and Quatre tossed them down to him.
"Lay the blankets down over here," I commanded, pointing to a spot just beside where Wufei lay now. I didn't want to have to move him far. Duo, amazingly, complied without a word as Quatre climbed down the ladder with the last of the medical supplies. I grabbed for the bandages, already starting to unroll them as I glanced back up at Quatre.
"We need hot water."
"Right."
And he was gone again, running for the water tanks that lay just around the corner. While he was gone I began cutting the gauze into strips long enough to cover the wound on Wufei's back. Although there were noises all around – Duo laying the bedding, running water in the background, the scissors in my hands cutting the bandages – my world seemed entirely silent. It was eerie, but I didn't have time to think about it, and concentrated on cutting the gauze as evenly as I could.
"Here."
I looked up, again not even aware that Quatre had returned. He set the steaming bucket down beside me and fell to his knees. "How can I help?"
I pointed to Wufei, setting down the bandages and picking up a sponge from one of the med kits. "Help me turn him on his side. I need to clean off his back."
Quatre complied, remaining silent but his eyes showed clearly the worry that he wasn't voicing. I swiftly washed Wufei's back, avoiding the actual cut but removing the dried blood from around it as best I could. Once I'd finished, I threw the sponge in the bucket and laid the gauze across the gash, taping it firmly in place. When I was done, Quatre slowly lowered the boy back down as I dunked my hands in the water, washing the blood away.
"Okay," I sighed, looking back to Wufei, then turning to Quatre. "Clean those cuts off and then we'll tape his ribs."
Quatre nodded and set to work.
I looked up at Heero and Trowa.
Heero himself was not unharmed – he was covered with sweat that mingled with blood from the few cuts he had on his arms and face, but he looked to be the least injured of the three. And, obviously, he was *Heero Yuy*, it wasn't as if he would've said anything…
"Heero," I said firmly, leaving no room for argument – or trying not to, anyway, "are you all right?"
He looked at me, his clear blue eyes emotionless once more, the cover pulled back down so soon already. "I'm fine."
"All right, then help me bandage Trowa."
The tall pilot, still mute, merely blinked at me as I washed the cuts on his face before Heero bandaged them with a curt, almost professional air.
"Hey, what'cha need me to do?" Duo had finished, and was leaning down, hands on his thighs, peering down at me as his braid swung down, brushing the ground.
"Call Sally," I commanded, pointing to the laptop on my workbench.
"Hai!" he quipped, and bounded over to my workspace, tapping the computer on.
I turned my attention back to the brown-haired boy before me. He still hadn't said a word, and his eyes were still clouded. That bothered me.
"Trowa, can you hear me?" I asked softy, peering into his emerald eyes, searching for a hint of cognizance.
He blinked, then nodded slowly.
I sighed as the relief washed over me. Thank God. "Good," I smiled. "You probably just have a concussion; I'm going to have Heero take you upstairs to bed, all right?" I asked, glancing up at Heero. He made no indication that he wouldn't comply.
Trowa nodded again.
"All right." I looked up at Heero. "And you, take a shower and get back down here. I'm still going to check you over."
He stared at me for a second, eyes still emotionless, and then looked away. "Fine."
He stood, supporting Trowa as he did so, and helped the taller pilot up the ladder, leading him up the stairs to the house above.
I sighed, blinking a few times before turning back to Quatre. He had finished cleaning Wufei's arms and face, and was beginning to wrap gauze around the worst cuts on the boy's slender arms. I scooted back over to check the pale cheek; the bleeding had completely stopped, and I grabbed another piece of gauze, pressing it gently to the cut and taping it in place.
"We still need to bandage his ribs," I said softly, looking to Quatre. He looked up at me, and this time there was something in those green eyes that I couldn't read.
"Oi! I'm leaving!" Duo came bounding out of my workstation, hopping from one foot to the other as he glanced down at us. "Sally says she can come but she has no way to get here. Their base was hit last week and they're still short on transportation."
A real doctor. Wufei, if not Trowa, needed one. I was doing the best I could but –
But I was only bandaging. That wasn't going to be enough.
"Okay. How long?" I asked.
He grimaced. "Ten hours. Five there and five back."
"*Ten*?" Quatre repeated in surprise, before I could.
Duo nodded. "Hai."
"Fine," I said, "Go then, and hurry."
He snapped a quick salute and ran for one of the smaller carries.
One more thing. "Be careful!" I called after him; he stopped for an instant and tossed a look back at me.
"Always," he said, winking and turning, hopping into the cockpit. Within two minutes, he was gone, the bay doors sliding shut on the night once more.
