Chapter 20 - Actions and Words
Ashley attacked Duo relentlessly. He managed to blocked all her attacks and grab the arms of the rampaging mecha.
"You have to attack!!!" Heero yelled out to Duo.
Ashley never knew what was happening. All the past memories kept coming. Old friends, betrayal and her father's funeral. It never stopped.
An image showed over the monitors in all the gundams of Ashley grasping her head in pain followed by screams. Kim and Steph could only watch their best friend slip away from them. Tears stung the back of Kim's eyes as she watch the scene but kept them at bay.
"Ashley!!! Stop it!!" Duo yelled.
"Just take control." he said in a calm, stern voice as he tried to reason with the panicking girl.
"I can't! Make it stop!!!!" she yelled in a desperate voice.
Then Duo's face replaced all the others. "Please Ashley. Try for me."
"I...I just can't"
"Please..." Duo said becoming more desperate. "...If you don't you'll die!" the thought scared him to the point that he his eyes started to water.
"Please Ashley PLEASE!!! I care for you too much to let this happen to you!" he shouted.
"Really?!" Ashley looked at the monitor, smiled and passed out as 04 stopped moving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley woke up a few days later. She sat up in bed and held he aching head to find that it was bandaged. She looked around the plain room to find herself in a hospital bed. A knock came from the door and Duo poked his head into the room.
"Hi!!!" he said cheerfully.
"Oh, Hi." she said and flopped back down onto the bed. He handed her a bouquet of daisies, sunflowers and lilies. She smiled up at him.
"How are you feeling?" Duo asked.
"Good I guess. Got a headache but I'm not dead...thanks to you." Ashley said.
"Duo?"
"Yah?" he asked as he looked up at the fair girl.
"Did you mean what you said???"
" I never lie." Duo replied with a smile.
"Oh." Ashley said and looked at the flowers.
"I didn't think people really cared for me that mu..." Ashley was cut off as Duo put his finger to her lips. Ashley looked to him blinking.
" I was really worried." Duo said frowning.
Ashley could remember the terror in Duo's eyes. He really did care. He care so much that he couldn't put it into words.
"Well...I better let you rest." Duo said as he pushed back his chair and stood up. Ashley's hand quickly reached out and grasped Duo's arm. " Please don't go...I don't want to be alone."
Duo looked into her hopeful eyes and smiled as he sat down once again.
"Well..." Kim said as she watched from the door.
"About time." Steph said and crossed her arms.
"She'll be out of here tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest." Heero informed them.
"That's great." Kim said
"Yah! Tomorrow's Christmas eve." Steph clapped and went to the kitchen to get some cookies.
"I'll finally find out what you got me." Kim giggled and lightly punched Heero in the arm. He looked at her and raised an eye brow. She ginned sheepishly and shrugged. He grinned and puncher her back.
"Ouch. That hurt." Kim said and rubbed her arm. Heero shrugged back, Kim glared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good morning everyone!!" a cheerful Ashley said still pale in the face.
"Nice to see you up and around." Trowa remarked.
"Yah, nice to see you up." Duo said and looked at Trowa. Ashley smiled.
"Hey Ash." Kim whispered in her ear when they were away from the boys.
"Yah?" Ashley whispered back.
"It's Christmas eve." Kim said and looked at her evilly.
"It is." Ashley said when she realized what she was getting at.
"2?" Kim asked.
"It's a date." Ashley said as the two gave each other high fives.
They had the day off so the decided to decorate. A huge tree was set up in the living room and decorated with shining tinsel, lights and pretty glass balls.
"Wu-fei?" Kim asked as she looked down at him from the top of a latter.
"Yah?"
"Can you hand me those lights???"
"Sure" he said and let go of the latter and went to go get them.
"Be careful. Don't fall or Heero will have my head. He put me on strict orders to keep an eye on you." Wu-fei said sternly. Kim giggled and nodded.
Ashley bounded into the room sporting a red, fuzzy Santa hat. It was great having her back to her old self even though she still wasn't in perfect shape.
Heero and Quatre were upstairs getting the remaining decorations.
"This it???"
"Yah, that's all."
"I can't remember the last time O had a Christmas like this." Heero said. Quatre looked at him and sent him one of those happy, sweet smiled.
"Yah, it's nice to spend it with your friends." Heero nodded in agreement and smiled. He did that more often these days.
"How about you and Steph?" he asked
"Well, I like her...a lot. You know that."
"Then tell her." Heero said. "You might surprise yourself."
"Maybe." Quatre said and looked to the floor.
Then Quatre slipped and fell down the stairs. Everyone just looked in silence.
"Uhhh...You ok?" sally asked.
"Fine." Quatre said and rubbed his bum. "Ouch." he complained.
"Ohhh. You poor baby. Want me to kiss it better??" Steph cooed, partially serious.
"N..no! It's not necessary!" Quatre said, flustered.
Everyone erupted into laughter and Quatre blushed with embarrassment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The girls were told to go to bed early. They obeyed reluctantly and went upstairs. The guys were going to put everything under the tree and go to bed themselves. The girls set their alarms for 2 am and wend to sleep.
At exactly 2, Kim and Ashley met in the hall and walked to the top of the stairs. They eyed the banister and grinned.
"Yah hoooo!!!!" Ashley said in a hushed tone.
"Yippieeeeeeeeeee." Kim said as they both slid down the rail.
They looked at the presents, each other and broke out into a sprint. They practically dived into the tree.
"Hey Ash!! This one's for you!!" Kim sang out and tossed it to her as they began to unwrap their presents.
The noise they were making woke Wu-fei and he them woke up the others. They were caught.
There was a large pile of paper forming around the two girls. Trowa flicked the light switch just as the two of them jumped out of the mountain of paper waving Heero and Duo's gifts in the air.
"Muahahahahaha.' Ashley cackled. 'It's all mine!"
"Yes!! Finally. Gees, he hid it well enough. It's like they expected us to sneak down."
'We did." they said at the same time in cold voices. They walked up to them and snatched the boxes from their hands.
"What? We were curious." Kim said and shrugged as Heero took th package from her.
"Haven't you heard that curiosity killed the cat???" Duo growled and took the gift from her too.
"Why don't we just open them now??" Quatre suggested.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt." the boys said.
"But you open THESE last!" they added.
"Well, in that case, you open ours last." the girls said.
Everyone was almost finished opening their presents. The girls got everything from chocolates to wall scrolls. Even their parents sent them something.
"Now you can open them." Duo smiled.
"Yay!!!!" Ashley and Kim yelled as they jumped up in excitement.
They hurriedly unwrapped the small boxes. They smiled from ear to ear when they lifted the delicate necklaces out of their boxes.
"Wow!!!!" Ashley said and gave him a huge hug. Duo's eyes widened and started to breath with short gasps.
"Ash? I can't breath."
"Oh, sorry." Ashley said sheepishly.
"Thanks!!!!!!" Kim said and knocked Heero over.
"Can you put it on for me????" she asked and turned back on to him. She held her hair out of the way and Heero did it up for her.
"Thanks. I'll never take it off." she said and looked at him.
Duo put Ashley's on her and smiled.
"Here!!!!" Kim said and tossed Heero a package wrapped in pretty gold paper. He opened it carefully.
"What?!" Heero said when he held up the water squirter in disgust.
" Like it?" Kim said trying to force back laughter.
"Um...yah." he said. Then she couldn't hold back the laughter any more and let it all out. Heero looked confused.
"Nah, here's the rel one.' Kim said when she got herself under control. His face lit up when he saw the gun. He grabbed it out of the box and ran off to play with his new toy (gun).
Duo threw away the last of the wrapping paper.
"LIQUOR!!!" Duo shouted and hugged the bottles.
"I want some of that later." Ashley teased.
"Maybe." he said and held the small bottles that had Big Bubba written on the label.
"You better." Ashley pressed on.
"Well see." he continued to tease her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone ran upstairs to get changed. The girls put on new clothes and met the boys in the dining room for breakfast. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Sally talking on the phone and Wu-fei looking at her with concern written all over his face.
"Yes, we'll be there in 10." she said and hung up.
"What's going on???" Ashley asked.
"We have to leave right away and go find Miss. Relena. They're threatening to kill her." Sally said in a grim tone.
Ashley attacked Duo relentlessly. He managed to blocked all her attacks and grab the arms of the rampaging mecha.
"You have to attack!!!" Heero yelled out to Duo.
Ashley never knew what was happening. All the past memories kept coming. Old friends, betrayal and her father's funeral. It never stopped.
An image showed over the monitors in all the gundams of Ashley grasping her head in pain followed by screams. Kim and Steph could only watch their best friend slip away from them. Tears stung the back of Kim's eyes as she watch the scene but kept them at bay.
"Ashley!!! Stop it!!" Duo yelled.
"Just take control." he said in a calm, stern voice as he tried to reason with the panicking girl.
"I can't! Make it stop!!!!" she yelled in a desperate voice.
Then Duo's face replaced all the others. "Please Ashley. Try for me."
"I...I just can't"
"Please..." Duo said becoming more desperate. "...If you don't you'll die!" the thought scared him to the point that he his eyes started to water.
"Please Ashley PLEASE!!! I care for you too much to let this happen to you!" he shouted.
"Really?!" Ashley looked at the monitor, smiled and passed out as 04 stopped moving.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashley woke up a few days later. She sat up in bed and held he aching head to find that it was bandaged. She looked around the plain room to find herself in a hospital bed. A knock came from the door and Duo poked his head into the room.
"Hi!!!" he said cheerfully.
"Oh, Hi." she said and flopped back down onto the bed. He handed her a bouquet of daisies, sunflowers and lilies. She smiled up at him.
"How are you feeling?" Duo asked.
"Good I guess. Got a headache but I'm not dead...thanks to you." Ashley said.
"Duo?"
"Yah?" he asked as he looked up at the fair girl.
"Did you mean what you said???"
" I never lie." Duo replied with a smile.
"Oh." Ashley said and looked at the flowers.
"I didn't think people really cared for me that mu..." Ashley was cut off as Duo put his finger to her lips. Ashley looked to him blinking.
" I was really worried." Duo said frowning.
Ashley could remember the terror in Duo's eyes. He really did care. He care so much that he couldn't put it into words.
"Well...I better let you rest." Duo said as he pushed back his chair and stood up. Ashley's hand quickly reached out and grasped Duo's arm. " Please don't go...I don't want to be alone."
Duo looked into her hopeful eyes and smiled as he sat down once again.
"Well..." Kim said as she watched from the door.
"About time." Steph said and crossed her arms.
"She'll be out of here tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest." Heero informed them.
"That's great." Kim said
"Yah! Tomorrow's Christmas eve." Steph clapped and went to the kitchen to get some cookies.
"I'll finally find out what you got me." Kim giggled and lightly punched Heero in the arm. He looked at her and raised an eye brow. She ginned sheepishly and shrugged. He grinned and puncher her back.
"Ouch. That hurt." Kim said and rubbed her arm. Heero shrugged back, Kim glared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good morning everyone!!" a cheerful Ashley said still pale in the face.
"Nice to see you up and around." Trowa remarked.
"Yah, nice to see you up." Duo said and looked at Trowa. Ashley smiled.
"Hey Ash." Kim whispered in her ear when they were away from the boys.
"Yah?" Ashley whispered back.
"It's Christmas eve." Kim said and looked at her evilly.
"It is." Ashley said when she realized what she was getting at.
"2?" Kim asked.
"It's a date." Ashley said as the two gave each other high fives.
They had the day off so the decided to decorate. A huge tree was set up in the living room and decorated with shining tinsel, lights and pretty glass balls.
"Wu-fei?" Kim asked as she looked down at him from the top of a latter.
"Yah?"
"Can you hand me those lights???"
"Sure" he said and let go of the latter and went to go get them.
"Be careful. Don't fall or Heero will have my head. He put me on strict orders to keep an eye on you." Wu-fei said sternly. Kim giggled and nodded.
Ashley bounded into the room sporting a red, fuzzy Santa hat. It was great having her back to her old self even though she still wasn't in perfect shape.
Heero and Quatre were upstairs getting the remaining decorations.
"This it???"
"Yah, that's all."
"I can't remember the last time O had a Christmas like this." Heero said. Quatre looked at him and sent him one of those happy, sweet smiled.
"Yah, it's nice to spend it with your friends." Heero nodded in agreement and smiled. He did that more often these days.
"How about you and Steph?" he asked
"Well, I like her...a lot. You know that."
"Then tell her." Heero said. "You might surprise yourself."
"Maybe." Quatre said and looked to the floor.
Then Quatre slipped and fell down the stairs. Everyone just looked in silence.
"Uhhh...You ok?" sally asked.
"Fine." Quatre said and rubbed his bum. "Ouch." he complained.
"Ohhh. You poor baby. Want me to kiss it better??" Steph cooed, partially serious.
"N..no! It's not necessary!" Quatre said, flustered.
Everyone erupted into laughter and Quatre blushed with embarrassment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The girls were told to go to bed early. They obeyed reluctantly and went upstairs. The guys were going to put everything under the tree and go to bed themselves. The girls set their alarms for 2 am and wend to sleep.
At exactly 2, Kim and Ashley met in the hall and walked to the top of the stairs. They eyed the banister and grinned.
"Yah hoooo!!!!" Ashley said in a hushed tone.
"Yippieeeeeeeeeee." Kim said as they both slid down the rail.
They looked at the presents, each other and broke out into a sprint. They practically dived into the tree.
"Hey Ash!! This one's for you!!" Kim sang out and tossed it to her as they began to unwrap their presents.
The noise they were making woke Wu-fei and he them woke up the others. They were caught.
There was a large pile of paper forming around the two girls. Trowa flicked the light switch just as the two of them jumped out of the mountain of paper waving Heero and Duo's gifts in the air.
"Muahahahahaha.' Ashley cackled. 'It's all mine!"
"Yes!! Finally. Gees, he hid it well enough. It's like they expected us to sneak down."
'We did." they said at the same time in cold voices. They walked up to them and snatched the boxes from their hands.
"What? We were curious." Kim said and shrugged as Heero took th package from her.
"Haven't you heard that curiosity killed the cat???" Duo growled and took the gift from her too.
"Why don't we just open them now??" Quatre suggested.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt." the boys said.
"But you open THESE last!" they added.
"Well, in that case, you open ours last." the girls said.
Everyone was almost finished opening their presents. The girls got everything from chocolates to wall scrolls. Even their parents sent them something.
"Now you can open them." Duo smiled.
"Yay!!!!" Ashley and Kim yelled as they jumped up in excitement.
They hurriedly unwrapped the small boxes. They smiled from ear to ear when they lifted the delicate necklaces out of their boxes.
"Wow!!!!" Ashley said and gave him a huge hug. Duo's eyes widened and started to breath with short gasps.
"Ash? I can't breath."
"Oh, sorry." Ashley said sheepishly.
"Thanks!!!!!!" Kim said and knocked Heero over.
"Can you put it on for me????" she asked and turned back on to him. She held her hair out of the way and Heero did it up for her.
"Thanks. I'll never take it off." she said and looked at him.
Duo put Ashley's on her and smiled.
"Here!!!!" Kim said and tossed Heero a package wrapped in pretty gold paper. He opened it carefully.
"What?!" Heero said when he held up the water squirter in disgust.
" Like it?" Kim said trying to force back laughter.
"Um...yah." he said. Then she couldn't hold back the laughter any more and let it all out. Heero looked confused.
"Nah, here's the rel one.' Kim said when she got herself under control. His face lit up when he saw the gun. He grabbed it out of the box and ran off to play with his new toy (gun).
Duo threw away the last of the wrapping paper.
"LIQUOR!!!" Duo shouted and hugged the bottles.
"I want some of that later." Ashley teased.
"Maybe." he said and held the small bottles that had Big Bubba written on the label.
"You better." Ashley pressed on.
"Well see." he continued to tease her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone ran upstairs to get changed. The girls put on new clothes and met the boys in the dining room for breakfast. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they saw Sally talking on the phone and Wu-fei looking at her with concern written all over his face.
"Yes, we'll be there in 10." she said and hung up.
"What's going on???" Ashley asked.
"We have to leave right away and go find Miss. Relena. They're threatening to kill her." Sally said in a grim tone.
