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TuttiFruttiJudi - Yup, another chapter! ^^ Well, only some women eat weird things when they're pregnant. My mother ate normal foods when she was pregnant with my little sister, but my aunt…that was some weird things she was eating. Trust me, you don't want to know. Anyways, I'm writing as fast as I can - in between my other projects and taking care of my university fees - and typing as much as I can as well. You think this is the best? *blushes* Thanks!
When All Is Lost…
Chapter Ten
Sunlight streamed in through the Venetian blinds, the roll of thunder off in the distance. The faint twitter of a bird made Quatre stir. He burrowed in deeper beneath the blankets and closer to Jess. A few moments later, he opened his eyes and blinked owlishly. He didn't even bother to look at the clock; he always seemed to wake up around seven in the morning, give or take a couple of minutes.
When a gentle snore came from beside him, he looked over to see Jess still sleeping, her hair spilling over her face in whorls. Slowly, he moved it aside, tucking it behind her neck. Jess' mouth was wide open as she snored, a bit of drool coming from the side of her mouth.
Propping himself up on his elbow, he looked at her sleeping face. Her lashes seemed darker in the shade, almost sooty, while her skin seemed to glow. He didn't move as she shifted suddenly, mumbling about something while an arm draped itself across her face and the other one went over her stomach. The gentle nasal snore continued on again.
He couldn't stop the smile from coming to his face. Jess was far too stubborn, to the point of pigheadedness; she could be extremely outspoken and a quiet intellectual; she could cut loose and make him relax; and she snored and drooled in undisturbed sleep. There was no one else he would rather be with.
A brief shudder ran through him as he briefly recalled Naomi Knight; that was a disaster the moment he stepped into the room. It did annoy him a bit that his father had even conceived such a match for him. There was little he would miss of the Winner name. His sisters would stay in touch with him and he had Jess. In a manner, his father had set him free with that ultimatum.
A crack of lightning followed by another roll of thunder came from outside. He glanced at the window; he hadn't even noticed the sky had darkened again. When he felt Jess stir beside him, he looked back to find her gazing at him.
"Morning," she smiled. "Was that thunder I heard?"
"It was. It's probably just another storm heading through."
"Mmmm, rainy day weather; perfect for staying in bed."
"It is," he chuckled as he lay down. "In a nice warm bed."
Jess chuckled as she moved in closer, cuddling with him. "I didn't wake you up in the middle of the night, did I?"
"No," he slid an arm over her waist. "Why?"
"I tend to be a tosser. And when I…'toss', limbs get thrown out." She chewed slightly on her lip. "I may have punched or kicked you."
"You didn't but you snore."
"I do not snore!" she spluttered.
"And drool." An amused smile came to his face.
Jess' face went red as she wiped the side of her mouth. "Well, that I do. But I don't snore!"
"OK. But it was kind of cute, you just lying there," he mimicked the pose she had been in a few minutes earlier.
"Great, that must have been attractive sight." She grumbled.
"Oh it was. I was just thinking "Would she slap me if I kissed her?" right before you woke up."
"Joker," Jess grinned as she poked him in the side.
Quatre giggled and twisted away slightly. Jess stared at him for a moment before she looked at her finger, as if it were gold, and looked back at Quatre with a gleam in her eye.
"Oh no you don't," he warned in a straight voice, as he tried to scoot away.
"Oh really?" her hand darted in, reaping yet another giggle.
"Don't do anything hasty," he said, with the remnants of the laugh in his voice.
"Like this?" she said innocently as she poked his side once more. "And this? Or this?"
Quatre squealed with laughter, squirming as Jess poked him just below the ribs. He convulsed and twisted, bunching up the blanket around their feet as he tried to escape her fingers. After a few moments, Jess stopped, allowing Quatre to catch his breath once more.
"You look a bit winded there, Q-kun." A devilish smirk was plastered to her face.
Quatre didn't say anything as he wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his back, taking her with him. She gave a shriek of surprise and delight as she glared down at him with amusement.
"Oh yes, very funny; you can let go of me now." She said in a tone that said the exact opposite.
Quatre shook his head, not saying anything. Jess looked at him as the beginnings of another smile crept to his face. A few minutes later she chuckled as she rested her head on his shoulder, and started running her fingers through his hair.
"All right then, truce." She murmured.
"I agree; you might develop a habit of winning." He replied.
Quatre chuckled as Jess gave a satisfied sounding noise. He relaxed his hold on her waist a bit, but still held on. A few minutes later, after another crack of lightning and rumble of thunder, Jess reached over and turned on the clock radio. The reception wasn't that good; the already garbled voice had to hear through the static. Quatre could see Jess' ears move up slightly as she strained to hear what was being said. A few moments later, she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder once more, running her fingers through his hair. Closing his eyes, Quatre took a deep breath; he had never thought it would feel so right to just hold someone in his arms.
"Heavy rainfall has occurred in the north-" the radio signal came to life before it died again. But it flared up a few moments later. "-ities of Changchun, Shungliao, Shenyang-" the radio sputtered. "-sidents are advised to evacuate immediately-" it sputtered again. "-ue to regional flooding." The signal was lost once more.
Quatre's brow furrowed as he frowned. That hadn't sounded too good.
"Is something wrong? Are we in one of those cities?" Jess asked as she lifted her head slightly to look at him.
"We're forty five minutes outside of Shungliao. And the river is about ten minutes from here." Quatre stared at the ceiling before he eased himself out from underneath Jess.
"Just be careful out there, all right?" Jess said as she sat up in the bed.
"I will be. We might be able to leave, if the rain hasn't been that bad. Wufei left the truck here." Quatre paused. "Wufei and Duo will probably be in Nenjiang if the flooding is really bad." He started for the front door.
"Where were they coming from?" Jess asked as she grabbed her crutches and started after him.
"Probably from Blagoveshchensk." Quatre said as he pulled on a pair of boots; judging from the size, these must have been Duo's.
"Ah, Russian border city, right?"
"Yes; the same one we passed through the first time," Quatre said as he shrugged on the coat; again Duo's but it fit him a bit better in the shoulders. He really had been growing. "I'll take the truck so I should be back in fifteen minutes."
"OK," Jess paused for a moment. "I'm getting that bad feeling again. I'm giving you half an hour, all right?"
"Half an hour. I'll be back as soon as I can." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and stepped out into the lashing rain.
Quatre leaned forward as he hurried out to the garage and opened the door. He got into the truck and drove it out before he got to close the garage door. He turned on the heater as he drove down the road, trying to stop the chill from steeling in his bones. The windshield wipers were swishing across the glass; it did help somewhat to improve the visibility. He was amazed that the road was still holding together under these punishing conditions; it was just a dirt road with a bit of gravel spread overtop for traction.
"So far, so good," He murmured. "Just hope the river didn't flood too much."
So far, everything was going fine. It was only after twenty minutes of driving that he encountered the problem. He had just turned around the bend to go down the hill, with the tree branches dipping down with the force of the wind, when he slammed on the brakes hard, the front wheels just over the top of the hill. Just down below, the river ran over the road; the muddy rushing waters created a roar that cold be heard over the rain, wind and thunder.
"I never did like this curve," he muttered, he watched the river. "And this is the only road to Shungliao."
He rested his head against the steering wheel before he shifted the gears into reverse and tried to back up. After a few minutes he frowned, as the truck didn't move backwards. He gave the engine more gas and floored it, trying to get the truck to move. He stopped after a few moments to notice something; it seemed to be moving forward slightly. He groaned before he opened the door and got out. The truck was sliding forward slowly down towards the river. With muffled curse, he walked to the back to find the wheels sinking into the ground.
Quickly, he made his way to the middle of the back, searching for the winch. The ground was becoming more slippery and muddy with each step. When he found it he grabbed the metal hook and ran to the tree, slipping down into mud puddles a few times. He wrapped the line around the tree, making the hook was attached securely to the line. A few more meeting with the puddles on his way back and he made it to the winch. He started it and watched as the truck stopped it slow descent and was pulled back up the hill. When the winch stopped and the truck was safely on the top of the hill, he wound up the extra line and got in the truck.
When he managed to turn the truck around, the drive back was just as bad, if not worse. The road was completely soaked and had becoming like muddy mire. But when he finally made it back, and stepped outside to open the garage door, he looked at the truck. The side was spattered with mud and the burlap cover for the top was soaked through and he wouldn't be surprised if the engine would need a look over. Once he parked the truck in the garage and closed the door, he walked back to the house, pausing on the porch. Even he was covered with mud, almost from head to toe; though it was Duo's jacket and boots that took the brunt of the mess. He opened the door, glad to just be back.
"Quatre?"
He looked up to see Jess standing in entranceway to the living room, a questioning expression in her eyes. He nodded his head. "The river flooded onto the road. It's pretty bad out there."
Jess' eyes travelled over him. "I drew you a hot bath."
"You didn't have to," he murmured wearily as he took off the boots with a wet squelch.
"I know. But I saw the rain get harder and I figured there would be mud." Jess arched an eyebrow. "Don't you want to scrub that all off?"
"Hm, wonderful foresight you have there," he said. "Thank you."
Jess waved her hand in dismissal. "I'll be in the living room reading if you need me."
Quatre's feet made squishing sounds as he walked down the hallway to the bathroom. Once he opened the door, he stood there with a slightly amazed look on his face. The tiled bath was filled with hot water, gentle curls of steam rising from the surface. The delicate scent of lavender and ylang-ylang filled the room, while the candles added a soft glow in the dimmed room.
He closed the door, before he stripped eagerly and got into the tub. The water was hot enough to cause tingles but not so hot as to be uncomfortable. He leaned back against the cool wall of the tub and closed his eyes as the tenseness dissipated from his shoulders. Perhaps being stuck here was good thing. Since Wufei left yesterday, this had been the first time in a very long while that he had been alone with Jess. And there probably wouldn't be another chance like this in a long while. He could do something special for just the two of them. Sliding down until his nose was at the water, he took a deep breath. He'd get around to it later on today…or tomorrow…or whenever; just so long as it was after this bath.
Layers of strawberries, ice cream, sliced peaches with a topping of whipped cream sat in the short fluted glass. It was the perfect desert to accompany the meal. Quatre placed the two glasses in the freezer before he wiped the sticky remnants of the ice cream from his hands. So far, a week of constant rain and being stuck in the house had done very little to alleviate the tense air that had descended over the house.
Day one hadn't been so bad, they played games; board games, cards games and made up a few of their own.
Day two they had simply read. They had managed to read every single book in the house.
Day three, Jess has decided to ditch the crutches and use a cane. He's watched as she walked all through the house, using the cane for her slightly weaker left side. That had been the best day so far. She'd looked so happy to finally be rid of those cumbersome crutches.
Day four, they had found some lined paper and decided to write something. They'd written short stories, poems, anything they could crank out. And then they'd read each other's work.
Day five had proved to be the worst. They had run out of ideas. And sitting in the living room, bored out of your mind, and trying to think of something when someone made a very annoying and distracting sound wasn't a very good combination.
Quatre watched as Jess drummed her fingernails against the glass surface of the coffee table. She had been doing that for awhile now and it was extremely infuriating. He watched as her fingers rose, poised gracefully in the air before they came crashing down, in a sweeping "tic-tic-tic-tic-tic" sound.
"For the love of Allah, would you please stop that!" he snapped as he shifted from his seat. "You've being doing it for the past forty-five minutes and it's driving me nuts! Not to mention it's distracting!"
Jess glared at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. You sitting there, with your tongue sticking out of your mouth and moving around isn't exactly thought provoking. Well, for you at least."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.
"You tell me genius; it was your idea to think of something to do!"
"Better than just sitting there and doing nothing!"
"Which we're doing now; brilliant idea you had there!"
"At least I tried. You were sitting here, staring off into space like your mind had gone vapid!"
"My mind went vapid?!" Jess gave a brief laugh of disbelief. "And what am I supposed to think, watching you with your tongue doing things like this?" she stuck her tongue out ludicrously, waggling it around.
"Very mature," he frowned, crossing his arms.
"I'll be bloody well immature if I want to be!" Jess snapped. "I don't need this piss ass attitude from you!" she rose and stormed off.
"Fine!" he yelled after her before he sunk down in the seat, brooding.
Quatre shook his head as he brushed away the recollections of yesterday. It all seemed so silly now in retrospect. Jess was being overly polite today and avoiding him. A nice dinner would help to clear the air and relieve some of the boredom of being stuck in this house for one more day. He looked over the set table one last time before he lit the candles and dimmed the lights. Then he fixed his slacks and white shirt before he started down the hallway; surely Wufei wouldn't mind that much if he borrowed some clothes and shoes. He walked down to Jess' door and knocked.
"Jess? Are you in there?"
"Yes," she replied. "One moment."
Quatre rocked slightly on his heels, waiting for Jess to come to the door. When she opened it, he stopped rocking, staring at her. Jess' hair was arranged into a stylish bun, with loose strands framing her oval face. A bright red Chinese top stood out in the low light, the black embroidered flowers stark and intricate. She had on a pair of black pants that hugged her hips slightly, and soft kid slippers on her feet.
"You…" he stopped for a moment, still looking at her. "You look..."
A slight flush spread across her cheeks. "Were you going to ask me if I wanted dinner?"
"Yeah," he replied, still looking at her.
Jess giggled as she swung her cane. "Then let's go."
Quatre turned, offering her his arm. She took it and they started down the hallway together. Quatre glanced down at her legs; her walk was more fluid now and eased. Not as jerky and awkward as it had been when she first started using the crutch. A week of moving around the house had done wonders.
"Oh my," Jess'' words were a breath as they walked into the kitchen.
A surge of pleasure and pride ran through Quatre; he'd taken great pains with setting up this table. From the candles to the folded napkins, silverware - that Wufei had buried away somewhere in the basement, in desperate need of polishing - the bottle of wine - that he found while looking for the silverware - the handmade salad dressing and the fresh flowers. He had to sneak out during one of the brief periods when the rain stopped and pick them; he was amazed that some of the flowers had even managed to survive. And it all glowed slightly and looked wonderful in the candlelight.
He smiled as he helped her into her seat. "Tonight's menu is a tossed green salad with berry vinaigrette. The main course is roast chicken breast on a bed of angel hair pasta with a creamy sauce. Dessert is a strawberry-peach parfait. Tonight's wine is a merlot from California."
"It all sounds wonderful," she smiled as she looked around. "You did a lot of work."
Quatre shrugged slightly as he placed the salad in front of her. "It was worth it."
Jess' face flushed again. "And there's even croutons," She picked up the salad fork and promptly popped one in her mouth. "Mm, just a hint of garlic."
"I'm glad you like it." Quatre said as he started on his own salad.
For a few minutes, there was nothing but the quiet sounds of eating. Once they finished, Quatre cleared away the plates and brought over two covered plates. He removed the covers with a flourish. Jess' eyes widened slightly.
"You made this?!" she asked in amazement.
"From scratch," Quatre said as he uncorked the bottle and poured the wine into the glasses. "Everything was there."
"Wow," she took a bite. "Oh my God, this is amazing; this is the best chicken I have ever eaten!"
"Thanks," he said blushing slightly at her enthusiastic praise. "It wasn't that hard." He sat back down.
"I have to get you to teach me how to cook," Jess murmured before she ate another bite. "Quatre, I didn't mean to snap at you yesterday. I…well, I was bored and kind of irritable from being stuck in the house for a week."
"As was I; I'm used to always doing something or knowing I have something to do. I don't deal to well with boredom."
"And when you know there isn't anything else you can do…" Jess shrugged. "At least we realized it. And this dinner does help."
"I thought it would," Quatre took a sip of wine.
"I still can't believe that you did all of this. It's so elaborate."
"Well, I suppose I have boarding school to thank for that," Quatre mused. "We had to learn about all of this stuff and every Friday there was a formal dinner."
Jess made a face. "That sounds incredibly dry."
"It was…unless you enjoyed watched the politics of students trying to climb the social ladder. That definitely wasn't the place for me."
"Me, I hated private school. I was there for a year before I went back to public school. Everything had a pretentious air to it, like they tried to hard to be genteel."
"And it seemed somewhat fake. Especially when you had to work with people who thought they were better than you."
"Phonies who hid behind it."
"Etiquette as a shield," Quatre shook his head. "It was meant as a common courtesy, but human nature twisted it; especially teenagers. They use the courtesy to inflict hurt on others."
"No one said high school was pretty. And people tend to hurt others from some of their own insecurities." Jess paused as she took a sip of wine. "But it does seem odd."
"It does. They do stress individuality but everyone ends up in a group, part of the greater hierarchal system that divides and conquers."
"That's why I'm glad I switched back to public school; it's not so bad there; less politics because many people didn't care about that stuff. I think that the whole private school thing was some what two-faced; they presented this cultured exterior that encouraged everyone to come. But when you got in there, it was just down right vicious."
"Boarding school was somewhat two-faced, but it did have an excellent music program."
"You know I haven't heard you play. It's the violin right?"
Quatre nodded his head. "I can play for you sometime. We should play together sometime; you're very good on the piano."
"Thanks. I started playing it when I was thirteen. It can be touch but I enjoy playing it."
"It shows. You play with such ease." He glanced down to see her empty plate. "Done?"
"Hm? Oh, yes," she watched as he cleared away their empty plates. "The first songs I learned to play were 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and 'Chopsticks'."
"Why did you start playing the piano?" Quatre asked from the fridge.
Jess shrugged slightly. "By chance I suppose. Father told me not to touch the piano unless he was there. And he and Mother had gone out one day and I was bored. I figured there was no way he'd know if I had touched it at all. But I was having so much fun that I never realized they came back home and I was caught red handed."
"That must have been a sight," Quatre laughed quietly as he came back with the parfaits. "You sitting there trying to look innocent,"
"Oh no, that trick wouldn't work this time. I looked guilty all right. I mean I was banging away on the keys when Father decided to say something." Jess laughed softly and shook her head. "There's nothing I could say but the truth unless I wanted to tell a rather bold faced lie."
"I don't think Noel would have liked that very much." Quatre mused. "So he came in when you were banging away on the keys?"
"Yeah; I remember sitting there thinking I was in for the punishment of a lifetime. But Mother simply went to the kitchen to start dinner and Father sat beside me and asked me to play some more. I was so relieved that I couldn't play." Jess' lips curved into a smile as she rubbed her finger against it, thinking.
"He made you practice, didn't he?" Quatre asked suddenly; it seemed like something Noel would do.
"Yup. Every day before I decided suffering a music teacher would be better; it was almost like musical boot camp for slacker musicians."
"With Noel, I don't think I want to imagine that." Quatre watched as she finally took a bite of the parfait; even he wasn't sure how it had turned out. "How is it?" he asked, taking a bite of his own.
"Mm! This is delicious!" she closed her eyes, savouring the flavours before she swallowed. "You have to teach me how to make things like this!"
"That I can do…so long as it doesn't end up like the pancakes." He chuckled.
Jess' face flushed. "Let's never speak of those poor lumpy pancakes again."
"You never told me they were lumpy!" Quatre looked at her in disbelief and amusement. "Were they really lumpy?"
"Yes," Jess' face was red with embarrassment but she was smiling. "I'm not that culinary inclined, if you couldn't tell."
Quatre simply coughed politely as he continued to eat his parfait.
"Wise choice," Jess said with an amused look in her eye. "How did you start playing the violin?"
"I started when I was five," Quatre said after another quick bite. "Iria took me to a music store with her and I was playing with a whole bunch of instruments while she picked one of hers. She was in band, and needed an oboe. I was wandering around, trying a few things when I saw the violin. I picked it up along with the bow and made a huge racket in the store. But I had fun and threw a tantrum until Iria bought it for me."
Jess chuckled. "Aw, that's so cute. You must have been adorable when you threw a tantrum."
"Iria didn't think so. But I went home with the violin and the instruction book. Father was a bit hesitant about it, but he got me a teacher anyways."
"Hm, just out of curiosity, what did happen to him?" Jess paused. "Just out of curiosity…"
Quatre didn't say anything for a moment. "Samuel tried to have him killed…it didn't work. He was paralyzed from the waist down. I haven't talked to any one of my sisters for awhile now, so I don't know how he's doing."
Jess regarded her dessert. "I feel like I should say I'm sorry, but I can't. It would be nothing more than fake pity."
Quatre shrugged. "You don't have to. I did try to warn him about Samuel and Une, but he wouldn't listen to me."
Quatre stared at his on dessert now, not saying anything more. When he saw Jess' hand reach across and grasp his, he looked up.
"At least you haven't given up on him. Some people would stop caring and simply walk out." Jess smiled. "That, I admire."
Quatre simply nodded as he picked up his spoon once more. Jess stroked his hand with her fingers before she returned back to her dessert. They finished off in silence. After Quatre deposited the last of their meal in the sink, Jess looked at him, holding up the wine bottle, her head tilted towards the living room with an arched eyebrow. Quatre chuckled as he nodded and picked up the glasses. They walked into living room, settling down on the couch. Jess rested against Quatre's side as they stretched out together on the couch.
"That was a wonderful dinner," Jess murmured, contemplating her glass. "Thank you."
Quatre kissed her temple gently. "I wasn't expecting you to dress up. You did look rather…" he paused trying to think of the right word. "Breathtaking."
"That was the desired effect," Jess paused, taking a sip of wine before she reached over and placed her glass on the coffee table. "I decided to be prepared. I knew something was cooking."
He chuckled at her double entendre as he placed his glass on the table. "You remember that morning when you woke up and I was looking at you?"
"Yes. Why?"
"I was thinking how there is no one else I'd rather be with," he whispered into her ear.
Jess linked her fingers in his as she tilted her head back slightly. Quatre gazed down into her brown eyes, seeing the flashes of indigo in their depths. It was quite easy to get lost looking in Jess' eyes. They were like pools that drew a person in and ensnared them completely.
"Quatre," she said softly.
"Yes?"
"When we're like this, it doesn't matter if we've argued or what we might have said. I…feel safe in your arms, like this is where I'm supposed to be." She leaned in a bit closer, bringing their lips closer together.
"Then I'd be a fool to let go." He murmured as he kissed her.
