Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!
Chapter Fifteen
"Samantha"
By Magic and Little Fairy From Nam
There was something so wrong with someone being able to eat, what seemed to Trinity, a full side of cow, six potatoes, three bananas, and two pieces of apple pie (not to mention the three glasses of cider that were downed), and then still go to the fridge seconds after the table was cleared. Samantha seemed to be sharing her thoughts as well; the two girls eyed the braided pilot wearily as he rummaged around for something to munch on and held up a bag of chips with a smile.
"What?" He inquired of their horrified stares. Shrugging, the blue eyed one flopped down on the couch next to Heero, who refused the chips he was offered with a grunt, and chomped noisily on the cheesy goodness. "It's not like Hannah never finished off anything like that."
Trinity glanced at the lean, fourth-grade-ish figure of her friend (who, at the moment, was going by the name of Samantha) and realized that in this case looks were very deceiving; even though she was 15 years old, her blonde friend looked as if she was still in elementary school because of her stick-figure and short stature, but Trinity had witnessed how much noodles Hannah could down in one sitting and then go for about a quart of ice cream afterwards.
Samantha was also glancing down at herself in wonder. "You mean, I eat like he does, and I still look like this?!"
Trinity laughed and then nodded as she went over to sit on the floor in front of Tina's television. Though they had arrived only a few hours before, she was feeling slightly better about staying at Tina's house. Though she still felt a bit like a burden to the guys, she realized that it wasn't so bad at the house. Not only was it quite spacious on the inside, had comfy beds, a hot tub, and a huge kitchen (which, if Hannah would have been present in her true form, she would have never of left), but their hostess was an excellent cook. There was nothing like good food to follow up a cliche escape and stealthy walk through the colony. Except for maybe a massage and orgasmic ice cream.
Trinity made a mental note to get some ice cream the next day as Samantha took a seat next to her; the two glanced up at the TV just in time to catch another news report on their escape from the hospital and more information on the bounty placed on their heads.
With a small cough, Samantha turned her head towards Trinity and asked loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear, "So, what exactly is up with you guys anyway? What happened with this Nadir guy and why are their prices on your heads?"
"Eh..." Trinity's heart leapt from her chest. Gaging and coughing noises from behind her told her that Duo had choked on a chip and was attempting to dislodge it from his throat. The others in the room seemed to feel the tension in the air as well.
"Well, look at the time." It was about eight o'clock. "Time for me to hit the sack." Tina hopped to her feet and gave them all a smile. "Bye now! See you all in the morning." She speed from the room as if all hell was going to be unleashed upon them all.
"Eh..." Trinity repeated as it seemed the only thing that would come out of her mouth. She hadn't even told the guys what had happened that night with Nadir. It seemed as if her wounded leg was throbbing even more than usual; she couldn't start to grasp what was going on.
Quatre came to her rescue though as he explained, "I don't think it would be best to speak about that at the moment."
"In other words," Wufei snarled from the chair he was sitting straight up in, "I don't think that we need to tell you what's going on. Who knows who you might run off and blab all of our secrets to." He snorted with disgust. "You two girls really are becoming quite a problem to look after."
"Now, Wufei-!" Quatre started to scold as he stood up from the couch where he sat on Heero's other side.
"Wufei may have spoken some truth, Quatre," Heero declared. "Sam doesn't know anything about us five, and we should probably leave it that way for the moment until things cool down a bit." He gave Trinity a purposeful stare as if daring her to inform her friend of what was going on.
Trinity though, didn't require the stare to make up her mind. She wasn't ready to explain everything yet; she would rather have all of her toenails ripped out of her feet one by one with a pliers than replay what had been going on during the past few months at the moment. She had attempted to jolt Sam's memories with funny stories about what her and Hannah had done, but nothing about Nadir or the war had ever popped into their conversations. "Eh..." She glanced apologetically at Samantha.
"Fine. FINE." Samantha stood up. Trinity hunched her shoulders a bit and winced; it seemed as if even though Sam couldn't remember who Hannah, her real self was, she still kept her temperament. "If you all just want to leave me out in the dark then FINE. So be it. But," she stated, her eyes meeting everyone's in the room, "I'm not going to deal with this quietly."
Trinity winced as she saw the evil smirk that played on Samantha's lips; she wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to figure out what Sam was thinking of doing to them all until she found out what was going on. For a moment she wondered if telling her about it all would be less painful than what was to come (even Trin gets to have a correct thought once or twice).
As the blonde stomped angrily from the room, the other six waited for the first one to break the silence. It so happened that the silence breaker was Sam's door slamming loudly from the upper floor; after the silence had officially been heard, Quatre cleared his throat.
"I think we did the right thing."
"I think we did the stupid thing," Duo grumbled as he tossed a chip into his mouth.
Trinity had finally found her voice, turned to Duo, and opened her mouth to speak.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. 'Thank you, Captain Obvious'," Duo quoted as he chucked a chip at the brunettes forehead. "Well, you seem to be rather quiet about this whole thing, Trowa."
"I think we should have told her. It could of helped her to remember parts of what happened," the banged pilot admitted his opinion as he straightened his legs, slid off of the arm of the chair, and wandered into the kitchen.
"Oh," Duo remarked smartly and popped another chip into his mouth. "Welsh, dere's noshin' we cun du 'bout ish now." He swallowed and popped his head up over the back of the couch to look into the kitchen. "Sheesh, Tro. Are you hungry already?" Trinity stifled a mocking laugh.
"Coffee," came the one-word reply. Silence enveloped the room once again. One by one, everyone left to go off and do something or other besides Duo who was bent on finishing the whole bag of chips and watching TV. Soon, the smells of caffeine began to waft about the house.
***
Something smelled really good. Coffee was obviously being brewed in the kitchen and Samantha was as hungry for caffeine as rabid bitch out for flesh. She sat up in her green bed that Tina had appointed as hers and walked across the squishy carpeted floor to the door. Opening it just a crack so she could check to make sure that no one was in her way on her sprint to the kitchen, she peered with her light blue eyes out onto the upstairs hallway. No one. With a quiet thanks to the Caffeine gods, she sprinted down the stairs, skid across the slick wood floor, and came face to face with the tall, gangly (yet Rambo - have you seen him in Endless Waltz?!) Trowa who was sitting at the island in the kitchen, sipping his coffee out of a green mug.
"Is it done yet?" Samantha inquired sharply; she still wasn't in a very good mood after being refused a past and her plans for revenge were just beginning to form in her head (had she been Hannah, she would already have the plans and have executed them - but, as we know, Hannah is a pro).
"No," Trowa put simply as he took another sip of what Sam realized was just water.
"When's it going to be done?"
Trowa just shrugged and took another sip; he knew better than to tamper with Hannah when she was angry and figured that Sam couldn't be that much different. She was, after all, just like Hannah without a memory.
"Don't you ever talk?" Samantha was getting desperate for someone to say something, anything to her. She was tired of everyone avoiding explaining things to her, and then this magic-haired fella has to come along and not bother saying anything!
Trowa just kept drinking.
"Come on! Just say something!! Gal, you're probably to dumb to talk," Samantha ridiculed. She looked the boy up and down, stopping on his pants, or lack of them (the fact that they're tight---not that he didn't have any on - I mean, come on, can anyone see Trowa sitting naked, sipping out of a coffee mug in a ...nevermind). "Can your pants get any tighter?"
To Sam's complete amazement, Trowa blushed slightly, turned towards her, and asked,"My... pants?"
"Look at them! Can you feel anything below your waist?!" She pointed right at his tight jeans and shook her head in a confused manner.
He blushed even redder, but nodded towards the coffee machine. "The coffee should be ready now. The ready light is on."
"Don't try to change the subject on me, mister! I -- Oooo! Caffeine!" The blonde sprinted over to the pot and started rummaging through the cabinets in search of another mug.
"Third one to the right from the one over the sink," Trowa informed her as he too stood up and got out the sugar and creamer.
"Uh- thanks," Hannah grabbed another green one from the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee. "You know," she said lightly, almost ashamed for her comments earlier, "I hate coffee."
Trowa's face didn't actually smile, but Sam could swear that the corners of his mouth were twitching. "In fact," she continued, "It's just that the nurses, even on threat of death, wouldn't give me anything with caffeine in it. Odd isn't it. I really don't know why I need caffeine...I just do."
"Hannah was always craving caffeine too," Trowa stated as he handed her the sugar and a spoon.
"Oh." Sam avoided looking up at the tall boy in front of her; she could almost swear she was blushing a bit. Why was she doing that? She could feel his green eyes burning into the top of her head. "Uh..." She felt like she had just acquired Trinity's vocabulary at the moment; it's just that she had suddenly realized how very attractive he was. The fact that his eyes were green didn't hurt either. "Eh...."
"Yes?" Trowa looked away from the blonde for a moment to stir in the creamer to his coffee.
"Were you and Hannah, I mean me, well, good friends? It's just, you always seem to be, oh I don't know, understanding. Or something," Sam managed to choke out.
"You saved my life," Trowa's eyes seemed to be laughing for him.
"Oh. Good for me!" Sam laughed nervously as she stirred in the huge spoonful of sugar she had just added.
It was then that she heard a snort from the living room and found Duo staring at the two caffeine addicts from over the back side of the couch, his face contorted in the most amused smile Sam and Trowa had ever seen. His ears had perked up to the subject about pants (who wouldn't?), and he had been listening in since then.
"You know, it's impolite to eavesdrop on conversations," Samantha growled as Duo flipped a nonchalant wave at the two and turned back to the TV, his braid hanging over the backside of the couch.
Sam's blue eyes landed on the braid and then it hit her; it was so obvious! Why hadn't she seen this one before! Quickly, she grabbed the meat knife from the wooden block it resided in and stalked up slowly and quietly behind her prey. It was such a perfect time to do it too. "How lucky could I have gotten?' She thought as she reached the pilot and took a hold of his fifth appendage (his braid - no sick thinking here!).
Schling! Duo's scream of anger rang through the house.
"Oh well, hair grows back, you know!" Samantha informed Duo as he jumped off the couch and whirled around to face her, his face a mixture of rage. His hair now rested loosely around his shoulders as the other lengths of it resided in Samantha's hand. She flicked the braid to and fro mockingly in her hand.
Duo speedily snatched the braid from her hands and opened his mouth as if to say something but then thought better of it and snapped it shut as he realized the others were pounding down the stairs. His face, which had been red, turned a shade of white at the teasing he knew he was going to receive if they found him like this. He bounded over the couch, slid to the front door, and took off down the street into the night.
At the sight of Duo scrambling out to the door, Samantha burst out into uncontrollable laughter. The others had just made it to the room as she got control of herself once again. Quatre leapt to the front of the group and inquired, "What in the world happened?!"
Sam shot a look over at Trowa who was cleaning up his coffee that he had spilled all over the counter at his surprise and attempt not the laugh at the past occurrence; he gave her a small nod and she shrugged, "I haven't a clue. Maybe he ran out of chips and ran out to get more."
She strutted out of the room and back up to her bedroom as the others watched her with worry on their faces. When she reached the safe haven of her room, she chuckled a bit to herself and said, "One down, four more to go."
***
Trinity's eyes narrowed as she starred with unwavering resistance into the black orbs in front of her. 'I am a wall,' she thought, 'there is no way that he is going to get me to give in this time! Bricks. Sturdy, strong fastness, cement stuff. Beeee the wall.' "I was in the living room FIRST. It was MY idea to watch a movie, and therefore the movie that I want to watch is going to be WATCHED!"
"There is absolutely NO way that I am going to sit here while you watch anime! It's just a bunch of pretty boys running around pretending to be manly," Wufei spat back in her face.
"And grunting," Quatre added from over on the couch where he was reading a magazine.
"Fine then. Don't sit here," Trinity quipped over her shoulder as she knelt by the movie player and attempted to find the button to turn it on. "You'd do us all a favor that way."
Wufei's mouth hung open for a second before he took action and pulled Trinity away from the TV; she sprang to her feet and glared into his face. They stared at each other for a few moments when the other three in the room were bathed in a welcomed silence. It took a few more seconds after that before Wufei declared the obvious.
"We're not getting anywhere like this."
"No, Wuf-ee, we're not."
The Chinese pilot's right eyebrow twitched at the nick-name. "So, we're are going to have to fight like men - if that's possible for someone like you - to see who has the rights to the television."
"Bring. It. On," Trinity growled through clenched teeth, ready to spring on the boy in white at any second and wondering whether or not Hannah's change sock was in a reachable position; unfortunately she had no clue where the weapon was at the moment.
Heero held up his index finger from where he was positioned at the island in the kitchen to show he had an idea. His fingers kept typing away on the laptop in front of him as he reveled his thoughts to the two. "If you want to battle it out like men, do it that way me and Zech's settled an argument once."
Wufei scoffed at the idea. "Mobile suit combat?"
"Rock-Paper-Scissors," pilot 01 informed him with a straight face.
A tiny bead of sweat dripped down the side of Wufei's face as Quatre burst into a small fit of giggles along with Trinity. Trowa smirked a bit as he finished off his second cup of coffee with a long gulp and then set down the mug on the glass table. "Or you could tumb wrestle for it as well."
"I'm a tumb wrestling champ!" Trinity declared as she thrust out her fist towards Wufei, thumb raised, and assumed the ass-kicking stance. Wufei looked from her hand, back up to her face, then towards Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and then back at her fist.
"This is ludicrous." He turned on his heels and headed out of the livingroom via the kitchen mumbling things about conspiracies and how a true man wouldn't be caught dead playing rock-paper-scissors.
A huge grin spread over Trinity's face. "Scared, are we?! Running out on a challenge, Wu-wu!?! I thought you were a man!" Steam could be seen rising from Wufei's head as he finally exited into the hall practically shaking with anger; Trinity took this time to go into a overly loud rendition of "We are the Champions" before finally sitting on the floor and popping in the video.
It took until the point in the video where the guy was thinking that he wasn't good enough for the girl (for the second time) because he had committed murder, so without explaining why he had broken up with the girl who immediately ran off, got captured, and was now being rape-kissed by the immensely sexy villain who was actually the main guy's long lost brother (twice removed) until Heero glanced up from his computer and over at the group in the living room. Trinity and Quatre were sitting inches away from the TV screen, both obviously immersed in the movie, while Trowa snored lightly from his horizontal nap position on the couch.
"It's quiet," the brown haired pilot informed the others.
"Uh-huh. That's nice, Heero," Trinity returned, not taking her eyes off the screen as the hero burst into vision and whisked off the girl out of the evil minion's clutches.
"Too quiet."
"Not with you talking it isn't," she said bluntly.
Heero sighed; being subtle was obviously not going to work in this situation. "I mean that someone should go up and check on how Sam is doing." Both Quatre and Trinity pointed right at Trowa who just kept on snoozing comfortably on the couch.
Heero coughed loudly, and the two turned around to realize that their friend wasn't exactly conscious.
"You go do it," Trinity ordered Quatre as she turned her pointing finger towards the blonde.
Quatre just shook his head. "You've already seen this. You've been quoting it all the way through. In Japanese. And you don't even know that language."
Trinity let out a sigh of resignation and stood up slowly only to find that both of her feet had lost the feeling in them. She growled as she stumbled drunkenly over to the doorway and into the hall, taking the blanket she had been wrapped up in before with her. She entered the dark hallway, trudged up the stairs, and was going to start looking for her in their room but was interrupted by a noise in one of the guys' rooms across the hallway. She crept stealthily (for someone with no feeling in their feet) around the corner and slid through the doorway. The room was obviously shared between Duo and Quatre as on one side everything was folded up nicely while the other side appeared to have some strange regurgitating disease. The only light that lit the room was created by the bathroom where the shadow of someone was moving around in there. Trinity quietly walked over to the door, wondering if Wufei also shared the room with the two others or if Duo was back.
She soon found out that neither was correct; it was in fact Samantha, standing hunched over a contact lens case, dropping some red food dye into the liquid solution. 'Well, someone is going to look a wee-bit possessed when morning runs around,' Trinity thought with a smirk and she started creeping her way back out of the room.
Whether she breathed like a water buffalo or Sam had felt her gaze, Trinity didn't ever know. Either way, Sam had figured out Trinity or someone else had been there and moments before Trinity could duck fully behind the door again, she was hit squarely on the forehead with a solid, heavy, and very hard object with a lot of torque. Out of surprise and pain, Trinity fell over onto her back and before she could utter a word, a sock was rammed in her mouth and covered in duct tape. Soon her arms and legs were firmly covered in layers of duct tape as well.
"Sorry to do this, but ya know what? You scared the SHIT out of me when you pounced on me at the hospital!!" Sam declared quietly and evilly into Trinity's ear. "This should teach you a lesson."
Sam grabbed Trinity's belt and heaved her into the boys' bathtub. It wasn't exactly the easiest process as Trinity kept flinging her ungodly long limbs everywhere, and she was quiet a large package to move for the smaller Sam, but the blonde worked her magic once again (she does have her ways). In about five minutes, Trinity had been flung into the small, porcelain tub. "Now, don't say a word about this to anyone okay?" Sam laughed as Trinity's eyes flashed with anger and tried to scream, but the sock served its function and all that could be heard were small whining noises.
Samantha leaned down and tied Trinity's feet securely to the water spout so that there was no way the brunette could struggle to her feet without untying her feet first (which would prove to be very complicated as her arms were bound behind her back). "That's a good girl. You might want to take a nap 'cause believe me, you're gonna be here for a LONG time. Ciao." Sam grabbed the shower curtain and slid it shut.
Trinity tried to get her bonds undone, but it was obviously hopeless. She would just had to wait until somebody found her. 'Great, I'm going to be here forever,' she thought. Suddenly a horrible possibility hit her.
'What if this is Duo's sock!!!'
***
Heero woke up and the first thought that entered his mind had to be something like 'food' (He really isn't that different from a normal person, ya know). He slowly sat up, rubbed his eyes clear, and walked to the kitchen, clad sexily in the usual: spandex and a green tank top. No one else was up besides Trowa, who was once again making a pot of coffee over in the corner of the counter. He slowly approached the pancakes that lay out on the table for him and the others and mumbled a thanks to Trowa in the kitchen.
Trowa had been just adding some cream when he actually thought he heard Heero thank him. In surprise of how tired his friend must be, Trowa turned around and looked at the pilot. His eyes leapt out of their sockets as he saw what Sam had done to him. He had known that the blonde had been plotting ways of revenge against the other pilots, but he hadn't thought that she would have gone into different shades of pink to do so. He couldn't hold out his composure any longer.
The sound of Trowa's never before heard laughter brought Quatre, comb in hand, and Duo, who had returned late that night with a new braid a la extensions - toothbrush in mouth, into the kitchen. Quatre tried to politely stifle a laugh by disguising it with a cough at first, but that didn't work. The blonde pilot was soon leaning against the fridge laughing harder than ever. Duo just burst out laughing and ended up spraying everyone in flecks of toothpaste bubbles. Wufei, who entered moments later, just starred in shock at the brightness before him.
Sam nonchalantly walked in through the door and spied her great masterpiece. "That's a great color on you," she praised as handed him her mirror. Heero's face went blank. "It really is you, Heero. You know.... you do have at least fifteen minutes before that stuff becomes permanent. You just might want to take a second shower today."
Heero ran from the room with super hero speed and soon the sounds of his shower could be heard in the kitchen. The others made themselves calm down as much as possible before they gathered around the island for breakfast; it wasn't everyday that you got to see Heero with bright magenta hair though, and they were all cursing themselves for not randomly brining their cameras to breakfast. Trowa sat down next to Quatre, and the blonde turned to thank his pointy haired friend for breakfast. For the second time, Trowa's eyes leapt from their sockets. He almost laughed, caught himself, and let out a giggle instead.
Quatre's face went white. "What did she do to me?"
"You're eyes are red."
"My - what?"
"They're red."
Duo leaned across the table and ended up showering them in pancakes this time instead of toothpaste as he went into a laughing fit. "You look like a little devil, Quat."
Wufei, who had found himself laughing histarically at Heero's pink hair, found that Quatre's prank wasn't as up to par as the first one was. "What happened, Sam? Run out of ideas? Red eyes aren't exactly a harsh punishment as apposed to pink hair."
The blonde simply smiled and explained. "Well, you see, Quatre really didn't do anything horrible at all, even though he supported not telling me. Heero, on the other hand pretty much made the idea of not informing me written in ink, so he got it worse. I overheard Trowa saying he believed you should have told me, so I didn't do anything to him."
"And Duo?" Wufei looked over at the braided pilot as if Christmas had come early as he waited to find out what she had done to pilot 02.
"Already got him," Sam replied with a grin. "You missed it though. I've never seen a man run so fast. Well, perhaps Heero just now."
Suddenly at thought hit Wufei. 'What has she done to me?' He reached across the table to grab the mirror away from Quatre who was having quite an amusing time with his new contacts. He glanced in with a wince and then straightened up again. Everything seemed in order; nothing was out of place. He let out an inner sigh of relief and put the mirror down on the table.
"Hey, Wu-wu, could you go grab me the milk from the fridge?" Duo inquired.
"After that, why the hell should I?" Wufei asked, his temper rising.
Quatre, who had picked up the mirror and was again musing about how very evil he looked with red eyes and wondering if that would give him an advantage in battle, reminded, "Because it's right behind you, and I would like some too if you please, Wufei."
Mumbling something about the injustices of breakfast, Wufei turned around in his seat and opened the steal fridge to grab out the milk. At that exact moment, the back of his head was visible to everyone at the table, and Wufei's eyes widened as everyone, including Trowa, broke out in hysterical laughter.
"What did that damned woman do?!" He screamed as he spun around and faced the group, but the others could not answer him for another five minutes until their initial shock had worn off.
"She got you good," was all that Duo could spit out before returning to his fit of giggles and disappearing over the edge of the table as he double over with laughter.
Quatre suddenly got a strangely plastered sympathetic look on his face, and he ordered Wufei with, "Just, ah, reach up and touch the back of your head."
Wufei's fingers gingerly touched the hair on the back of his head. His face went white as patches of shaved scalp met his finger tips. "What shape did she shave into my head?" He inquired, oddly composed for the second.
"The female sign," Heero told him from behind him as the he poked Wufei's head with one hand and dried off his now normally tinted brown hair with a towel in the other.
Wufei's eyes seemed to have gone completely blank.
"You know, the one with the circle and then the plus like sign hanging on the bottom," Heero informed him as if he was reading the weather forecast for the day.
"She wont get me, oh no, not going to be beaten by a woman, and especially not that woman. This isn't the last that she's heard from me, oh no, I'm going to..." Wufei had stood up out of his seat at the table and was seemingly walking out of the room in a daze. A good long pause later "This is INJUSTICE!" echoed through the house, shaking the pans that hung from the ceiling in the kitchen.
Duo had finally found his control and popped his head up above the table again. "Where is she? I've got to congratulate her about this," Duo said, looking around the room, but the infamous Sam was no where to be found. The others shared confused looks as Tina entered the room and sat down at the table with everyone else.
"Did I miss something?" She asked the four as she stabbed a pancake with her fork.
Heero shook his head and sat down next to Quatre. "Nothing at all."
***
Samantha was skipping with glee. Not just skipping. Skipping and humming with glee. She found it hard to hum "wow, yeah, wow, yeah, wow, wow, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah" though, so every once and awhile, her humming would turn into singing, the singing into dancing, and then the dancing right back into an oddly spunky skip. She had gotten Wufei good and all the modesty in the world couldn't have stopped her from admitting it: she was a god.
A smile crept up over her lips. She was quite sure that when she returned that they were all going to be more than eager to tell her the history that she so longed to here. Or kill her. She was quite sure that they wouldn't actually go as far as killing her though (well, you never DID know about the one in spandex), but so far her plan had gone over perfectly so why shouldn't the end part? All that was left was to let them all cool down a little bit so she wouldn't get shot when she returned. Then ask them politely with a little threat of 'this is just the beginning' on the side to share their story with her, and then all she had to do was listen in on the past.
She had to admit that she wasn't really keen on the idea of walking around the neighborhood for a few hours though. Even though it was the complete model of suburbia, the fact that she was wanted by the police for interrogation on the location of the boys and Trinity wasn't a good thing to have breathing down your neck all the time. That, and the sun was out. She burned really easily and didn't really feel like turning into a lobster. Just yet that is.
'This figures,' she thought a few seconds later. ' I leave the house and what happens? I have to use the restroom.' "Thank you God, for a bladder the size of Lake Michigan. On the map! There has got to be a gas station around here somewhere. They haven't had enough time to cool off yet." She shuddered to think of what would happen if she returned only half an hour later and then pondered on whether or not they had found Trinity.
The sun was right above her head before she finally reached a gas station and headed in which meant that it had to be about noon and that she had been walking around for two hours or so looking for a bathroom. The man at the desk was a little on the portly side and had a very disgruntled look about him. When Samantha asked for the key to the bathroom, the man just scratched his six o'clock shadow scruff on his face and shrugged.
"The woman's bathroom is out of order. Sorry, you're going to have to hold it until you find the next station."
Sam leapt forward and grabbed the greasy man by his white tee-shirt's collar. "YOU WILL GIVE ME THE KEY TO THE MAN'S BATHROOM OR I WILL RIP OUT YOUR NOSE HAIRS. One. By. One."
The man didn't seem a bit altered by this behavior, and he replied calmly, "The bathrooms are only for payin' customers." He pointed to a sign written in sharpy right behind him.
"But I haven't got any money!" Sam said with fear. She couldn't take another two hour walk back to the house without going to the bathroom.
She scuttled around the floor for something, anything! And then she found it. A quarter glittered on the floor over by the ice cream across the way. Tears filled her eyes as she thought she could burst with happiness as she scrambled over to the quarter. She scooped up the coin, grabbed the smallest piece of candy she could find, rang it up on the cash register herself, got herself the change, and grabbed the key off of the hook behind the man with the speed of a wombat with a fire under its tail. (Honest question: Do wombats have tails?)
Three minutes later she emerged from the bathroom. "I have found nirvana," she mumbled joyfully to herself as she approached the counter. There were now two men talking to the man at the counter; all three of them seemed very engaged in the conversation, and, over come with curiosity, Sam decided to eavesdrop for just a minute. She dove down the cereal isle and ducked down behind a box of Lucky Charms.
One of the unknown men were the first to speak. "You're sure that it's her in the bathroom?"
"Wha' do ya take me for? An idiot? I saw her. Payed for a Tootsie roll with a quarter she found on the floor and took off into the men's over there," the clerk paused, and Sam guessed he was pointing towards the bathroom.
"Well, we'll just see," the second man said and footsteps sounded in the next isle as one of the men had taken off towards the restrooms.
"You are sure that it was Hannah Date?" The first man inquired for a second time.
"Now listen here. I saw her picture on TV and everything. Never did forget a face, I didn'. She is in there, mark my words! Now where is my reward for giving information?!"
"You'll get your reward when we find the girl."
'Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!' Sam thought as she peaked over to see whether or not the second man was coming back from the bathroom. He was still waiting by the side of the door, obviously not wanting to interrupt her from doing her business in the bathroom. 'Well, at least he was the decency to wait,' she thought as she looked towards the door. If only she could get there without them seeing her leave. Or hearing her leave for that matter. The door was equipped with a bell above it so it would sound if she opened it up.
It was then that she spotted a car driving up to the door. A teenage boy hopped out of the red mobile and paused for a second to lock his car door.
"It's now or never," Sam told herself. She grabbed the closest box of cereal and hid her face behind it as she emerged from the isle and reached the door just as the youth entered. She pushed her way passed him and chucked the box of cereal into his confused arms.
"Hey! You forgot this!" The guy called after her as she sped through the parking lot as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Merry Christmas!" She yelled back at him as she turned around the corner and glanced over her shoulder to see if the other two men were following her, but either they hadn't made the connection and were still waiting for her by the bathroom or they were even slower than her. She let out a sigh of relief as she continued on her way back to the house, this time careful to take the alleyways and stay off of main streets on her journey back.
***
She was hungry; she was thirsty; she couldn't feel her feet which had been hanging higher than her legs for the past however many hours. Trinity was already in a foul mood when Duo decided that it was time for him to take a shower. Unfortunately for her, he had a habit (as most normal people do) not to glance in the shower to make sure that there wasn't a random person lying on the bottom, so when he entered the bathroom to take his shower, he turned on the water before noticing that Trinity was lying there.
'I'm going to kill him. Slowly. And very, very painfully. It's going to involve cutting off his most favorite body parts and limbs and hanging them in front of him so he can gaze at them as he dies. Did I mention that he's going to do so sloooowly?' The brunette mused to herself as water dripped down her back and soaked her clothing. It was then that she heard the characteristic sounds of someone slipping out of their clothing, and her eyes widened. She could see his shadow on the shower curtain caused by the lights on the other side as he was apparently taking off his shirt.
'This could get awkward.'
"Duo, you can you toss me my toothbrush?" Quatre called from outside the bathroom door.
"Sure. Where is it?" Duo answered from, what seemed to Trinity, just inches away from her.
There was a pause as Quatre seemed to be thinking about it. "It's not on the sink?"
Duo's silhouette had removed his pants and was just now taking off his boxers; Trinity felt herself blush slightly and moved her eyes away from the curtain to stare off at the shampoo bottle. Right next to the bottle though, she found herself eye-to-bristle with a yellow toothbrush.\
"Nah! It's not here!"
"Then it's in the shower!" Quatre called over the sounds of the shower.
"Oh, alright!" Duo called back. "Just let me throw on a towel first!"
Trinity released a sigh of relief as she glanced back and saw Duo's silhouette pull a towel around his waist. It wasn't until a few days after the fact that she had realized she could have just closed her eyes if he hadn't put anything on, but at the moment she was certainly happy that there were towels in the world.
Right as Trinity was wondering what a nun would say if she asked to donate to the Towel Help Fund, Duo flung back the shower curtain and the two came face to face. He seemed a bit stunned by the fact that one of his friends, non the less a girl, as laying tied down and soaking wet in his shower. Then, after working its way through the mess of hair on his head, the thought hit brain cells.
"You know, we had all just guessed that you had been in on the pranks with Sam and had taken off with her." A very pleased grin was spreading across his face. "But I must admit. This is the best way to end this most amusing day."
Trinity's brown eyes shot daggers at Duo's head.
"How long have you been in here anyway?" Duo inquired through his laughter as he turned off the shower and then ripped off the duck tape from her mouth. After removing the sock he found also residing in Trinity's mouth, he got started with untying her legs from the water spout so that she couldn't hit him just yet for soaking her as he was sure she would try if he untied her arms first.
Trinity took a few seconds to wet her mouth with spit as the sock had worked like a sponge and then spoke in a very raspy voice, "I don't know. Ever since they sent me up here to check on her."
"When was that?"
"Last night before you got back."
"I'd have to say around twenty hours then," Duo informed her with a snicker just as he finished untying her ankles.
Trinity's temper surged. "Where is she?! I'll kill her!!"
"You're going to have to take a number and wait in line then." He helped her sit up. "Now, if you swear you wont hit me for turning the shower on, then-"
"Yeah, Mister I can't see right in front of my fac-"
"I could just leave you in here you understand. Retie your feet to the spout and then find some duct tape..." He threatened.
Her eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."
He flashed his white teeth in a huge grin. "Oh. Is that so?"
"Fine. I wont HIT you."
"You wont hurt me," he paused, then added, "or my hair in anyway, shape, or form."
"What about your clothing?"
"Or my belongings."
"Does this include sexual organs?"
"This most definitely includes those," he assured her.
She scoffed. "Talk about taking all the fun out of life." Duo just shook his head, but his goofy smile remained. "And would you please hurry up and either let me out or put some clothing on?" Her face became a bit flushed though she fought hard to keep back the red blush. "No one wants Duo in nothing but a towel."
"Is that so?" Braidy-boy swiftly grabbed the shower curtain and slid it shut again, leaving Trinity behind it all alone.
"Don't you dare leave me here!" Trinity screamed at him in her dry voice.
"Then take that back," he said simply.
Trinity thought about her position for a second and then recited, "Fine. It's not true."
"What's not true?" Duo opened the shower curtain once more and smiled sadistically at her.
"Everyone wants to see Duo in nothing but a towel," Trinity forced out through gritted teeth. "As long as it's not just a strategically placed hand towel!!" She added.
"That'll have to do I suppose." He leaned down and untied her hands from behind her back.
After being released, Trinity could have scattered flowers and joy all over the world; she felt as if she had just won the lottery, fallen madly in love, and blown up something very big all in one day. She was so happy she completely forgot that she had just been planning to kill Samantha, and the brunette gingerly pulled her aching body out of the bathtub and next to the nearly-naked Duo.
So she stood there dripping onto the floor a bit before inquiring, "Can I have a towel at least, since it is your fault that I'm soaking? Sheesh, this IS my only outfit you know. It's not like I grabbed a bunch of shirts the last time I was home as I was busy fighting off a deranged soldier."
"Duo? Did you die in there? I thought a mission like "find the toothbrush" would be easy enough for pilot 02, but I guess I was wrong!" Quatre yelled from the other side.
"Be right there, Quatre!!" Duo yelled at the door, then turned to Trinity. "This is the only towel," Duo said as he leaned into the shower to turn on the water once again and grabbed the yellow toothbrush. He slide the shower curtain shut as he turned to look over at the humorous sight of the soaking Trinity. "So you're just going to have to walk out in front of everyone all wet and put up with them laughing at you for a bit. That's what we have all gone through so fa- hey, what are you doing?!"
Trinity was busying herself by picking up some of Duo's clothes off of the floor. "Are some of these clean?" She asked him, holding up two handfuls of random clothes. "And how in the world do you all have so many outfits?! You run around with us, and me and Hannah, I mean Samantha, only have one outfit each!!"
Duo just shrugged. "Quatre usually goes out and buys us a bunch of clothes the first chance he gets." He leaned in close to her ear to whisper,"He has this thing against wearing underwear more than one day in a row. Kinda a neat freak if you know what I mean."
Trinity blinked. "Duo, dear, there are just some things that people don't need to hear. That would be one of them. Now, which ones are clean?"
"This...and this...and this...oh, this too," Duo grabbed at what seemed to Trinity, just random pieces of clothing. "These are clean." And to the doubtful look Trinity gave him, "I swear! They're clean! You can wear them if you want."
"Merci buckets," Trinity grumbled. "Okay, now." She turned off the water. "Hop in the shower, Duo."
He raised his eyebrows at her.
"WITH THE TOWEL ON!! You'll understand in a second." The pilot complied and once he got in, Trinity whisked the curtain shut. "Okay, now chuck the towel to me over the top."
"I still--"
"I swear it'll make sense in a second." The towel came flying over the side and landed on Trinity's head. "There, now..." She reached in the shower without looking and turned on the shower full force.
"AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYE!! That's cold!"
"There. I've had my little bit of revenge," the girl smirked to herself as she slipped off her shirt. "Now, don't you dare look. I'm going to change over here."
"Not that anyone would want to see Trinity Renada in nothing but a towel," Duo quipped from the other side of the curtain.
Trinity had finished undressing besides her underwear (there was no way that she was going to wear a pair of Duo's boxers, even if he said they were clean. That was just too creepy); she then toweled herself dry with the towel, and preceded in jumping into black button up shirt and a pair of khaki pants Duo had told her were clean. "Aight. I'm off. Thanks for the clothes." She then started exiting the bathroom when an idea hit her.
"Hmmm...." She mused evilly as she glanced around at the stack of clothing on the floor and began to throw all of the dirty and clean clothes out of the bathroom door and right at a very confused Quatre.
"Oh yeah, and Trinity, hand Quatre his toothbrush would you?" Duo asked from in the shower.
"Yeah. Whatever you say." Trinity had finished removing all of the clothing from the bathroom and then picked up the toothbrush and the towel. She handed both to the very confused blonde pilot and shut the bathroom door. "Don't give him anything, k?"
Quatre nodded to show he understood what she was getting at and then opened his mouth to ask why she had been in the bathroom, but she held her hand up as a signal to stop.
"Sam."
"Oh."
"Yep."
Just then, both Quatre, Trinity, and the rest of the household heard the tell-tale sounds of someone walking in through the front door. "I'm back!" Samantha yelled from below on the main floor.
It was sort of a free for all as everyone (but Duo who was in the shower) charged towards the blonde for the first chance to scream at her, but the blonde just shook her head and looked at them all very seriously which was very odd to see. A completely serious Hannah was about as rare as a smiling Trowa.
Heero had been the first one to reach her and so was the first one to ask, "What is it?"
"I'll tell you as long as you all," Sam's blue eyes looked at each of the others in turn, "swear to let me in on everything."
"How do we know that this isn't just a trick?" Wufei asked from where he was leaning against the wall.
"It's not, okay! This is serious!" One of Sam's eyebrows raised half an inch though, and she had to fight the urge to ask Wufei how he had regrown the hair that she had shaved off so quickly.
"I'll tell you," Trinity told her. "I guess I did a lot of thinking - "Wufei snorted "-- in the shower. Okay. I'll tell you." She held her composure for one more second before, "BUT DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO LEAVE ME IN THE SHOWER FOR 20 HOURS!?!?!"
"You mean they just found you!?" Samantha burst into a fit of giggles, and was immediately followed by Trinity. Blonde and brunette both had to admit that it was pretty funny.
"What did you do to Wufei by the way? I missed it!" Trinity looked very disappointed as she glanced towards the Chinese pilot.
Sam smiled evilly. "Oh, don't worry. A picture's worth a thousand words." The blonde blinked. "Wow. Deja vu. Have I -"
"You were saying that there was something very serious that happened while you were out?" Quatre asked coaxingly.
The blonde came back to reality and looked towards Quatre. "Oh yeah!" She then went into her story about the men at the gas sation and how they might have seen her.
"Did they follow you back?" Trowa inquired.
"No."
"Are you certain no one followed you back?" Heero asked again for good measure.
"YES. There was no one behind me all the way, and the guys never even made it out of the parking lot. It's okay. I lost 'em before I left the station."
"Well, then at worst the enemy knows that we're still on the colony," Quatre put in with a sigh of relief.
Wufei glowered at Sam though. "Not that any of this would have happened if this stupid woman hadn't -"
"I still have some of that pink dye left, you know!" Sam threatened and Trinity nodded; Wufei clamped his mouth shut. "So, about what happened to all of us before I, uh, lost my memory."
Everyone glanced towards Trinity, and Quatre motioned the group towards the kitchen where they could eat and sit as he knew this was going to take awhile. "Well," the brunette began, "once upon a time, a girl by the name of Trinity Renada had a crack pot for a step-brother, and he..."
***
"You're positive that they're living there?" The young woman asked the soldier who sat in front of her. "We can't make any...mistakes. That could result in unhealthy consequences for you, I am afraid." She aimed the hand gun that had been laying on the desk in front of her nonchalantly at his head to make sure the point she was trying to make was clear.
The man gulped; he really hated to be in the same room her. Something about her just made his blood freeze. Perhaps it was the fact she was holding a gun to his head. "I'm sure. My assistant and I followed her from the station to the house without her detecting us." He produced a photograph of a very ordinary looking split-level home from out of his pocket. "We waited to see that the young lady in question, Trinity, was at the house with the five boys. All seven of them are staying there with this woman." This time he placed a different picture on the table in front of the brunette girl.
"'Tina Rudevic'," she read out loud to herself. "Hmmm. I thought they would of least have left the colony. Then again, that would have been the predictable thing to do, so I suppose it makes sense that they stayed, doesn't it?" She wasn't really asking him a question, but rather musing to herself aloud. "Good work. Dismissed."
'Thank goodness', the henchman thought as he slipped from the room. Whenever he saw her he felt as if she was going to suck out his soul through his mouth. Maybe it was the fact that she had been known to kill her soldiers just because she was bored at the time, or maybe it was because someone that young shouldn't be running a war. 'Either way', he thought as he shivered, 'I'm glad we found that damn blonde girl. Who ever heard of hiding behind a box of Honey Nut Chex cereal?'
***
A/N: Howdy! Magic here (not to be Captain Obvious), but I would just like to apologize for the long delay on the most recent chapters, including this one. I'll be trying to write more often and hope to post things in two week intervals (if not in shorter ones!!) as apposed to months in between chapters. This would have been written earlier, but I was on a trip without a computer or anything for three weeks and didn't have a chance to write it! SOOOOOOORRY! You love me though...so you can review and keep reading!!! Merci buckets for the support!!