Chapter 22 - The End?????

It had been a couple of hours since the colony had blown up. Kim was in the hospital and Heero sat in a chair by her bedside ever since they had returned. Wu-fei was with Sally at HQ. They got a message from Heero, he wanted them to run a full scan for Relens. Heero had a funny feeling that she was still alive. Quatre and Steph were with Trowa. She was teaching them how to put someone in a headlock so that all the blood to the brain would cease (don't ask why, that's just Steph). Ashley and Duo had just came back from visiting Kim. They walked down the corridor ro the elevator to go to the bottom floor.

When the doory closed Dup looked at Ashley's arm. The blood still leaked from the wound. Ashley looked to him with her pale face.

"What???" she asked quickly.

"You're bleeding." he said and stepped towards her. He took her arm and examined it closely.

"Ah, it's nothing. Just a little scratch." she lied.

"It's a bullet wound." his cobalt blue eyes looked at Ashley with concern.

"Ah...ok a big scratch."

Duo looked back at the wound as he then tore off the sleeve of her suit to get a better look at it. He wiped a bit of blood away with his thumb.

"OUCH!!!!" Ashley shouted. And smacked Duo in the shoulder. "Take it easy!"

"Sorry."
Duo looked to Ashley's arm once agin. He seen the wound to be about half an inch deep.

"It has to come out."

Ashley looked to duo laughing.
"Yah, tell me something I don't know."

Duo let go of her arm and pulled out a pocked knife. Ashley's eyes widened.

"What?! Oh no you don't" Ashley shook her head.

"It has to come out Ash." Duo protested as he took her arm once more gently.

"I'll be gentle. I promise."

Ashley let her shoulders relax and out her full trust into Duo. She bit her tongue and nodded.
"Uh....Ok."

Her hand began to shake with fright as Duo held the knife to her wound.

"Ready?" he asked.

Ashley nodded and closed her eyes.

A loud moan of pain escaped from her pursed lips as the tip of the knife drove into the wound. Duo looked up at Ashley and then back to the wound. He wanted to be gentle but it just had to come out. The two leaned against the corner as Duo helped her. The pain was so intense for Ashley that she let out a scream when Duo dug his fingers into the wound, gripped the bullet and pulled it out. He let the bloody bullet fall to the floor.
Ashley held her arm and leaned her face into the corner. He body shook from the pain. Duo noticed her pain filled and scared expression. He took out a bandana from his pocket and folded it once then twice. He tied it around her arm to stop the bleeding.

"There...Doctor Duo says everything will be okay." Duo grinned at Ashley reassuringly and gave her a thumbs up followed by a wink. Ashley looked at the bandana on her arm and smiled at Duo. Duo leaned in and hugged her for comfort.

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Kim's eyes opened up and she peered out the window form where she lay on the hospital bed. She watch the clouds in the blue sky pass slowly overhead, it seemed like a nice day. Kim felt a piercing pain in her hand. She flinched and looked at it to realize that there was an IV in her hand. She sighed and look around the white room until her eyes fell upon the sleeping figure of Heero. His head was tiled to the side and his jacket was over him. A smile crossed her lips. He looked so cute when he slept but there was no doubt in her mind that he was dreaming about death and destruction.

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Dr. J looked at the computer screen with his index finger to his lips.

"She's still alive."

Wu fei stood next to him as he stared at the screen. It displayed Relena's picture along with all of her stats.

"How's that possible?"

"It's simple knowledge my boy. She mush have know Duo and Heero were to plant a bomb therefore after she captured Kim and Ashley she escaped."

Dr. J got up and walked back and forth in from of the computer console, holding one arm to his back and the other to his face.

We fei frowned.

"What made Relena switch sides so suddenly? What made her snap but most of all, what was she after now?"

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Quatre looked at Steph and blushed. He'd been trying to tell her how he felt for a while but he could never get the courage to. He looked away and began to ponder on his problem not for the first time.

" Do you really think Relena survived?" Steph asked to herself out loud.

Quatre frowned. "Maybe. But All I'm worried about is you."

Steph smiled at the blushing boy. Then an evil smile came across her face and she poked him.

"I knew it." she said in a know it all voice.

"Knew what?" Quatre asked a bit flustered.

"You love me." she said and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Actually she had known for a while but since Quatre would never out right and tell her she decided to drag it out of him.

"How did you know?" Quatre asked without thinking. Then the boy blushed eight shades of red and covered his mouth with his hands.

"I told you. I knew it!" Steph laughed. Then she paused for a moment to think.
"It's flying tackle glomp time." she shouted and jumped on Quatre and started making out with him. It wasn't long before Quatre stopped struggling and just went with it.