Chapter 4: Panic

A knock sounded from the door. Priss looked up from where she was getting dressed and yelled out, "Who is it?"

"Leon"

Priss froze for a second as she thought about what to do. Finally she answered, "Come in." Leon opened the door slowly and walked in, his eyes widening as he saw that Priss was barely dressed. She pulled her pants on and said without turning to look at him, "What is it?"

Leon was blushing now and floundered a little before answering, "I just wanted to make sure you were ok and everything, and that you weren't... weren't mad at me."

Priss waited for a while before answering. She picked up some bandages from the bed and turned to face him, making him blush harder as she was wearing nothing from the waist up. "Help me with this, will you" she said briefly. He walked towards her and took the offered bandages, taping one end to her side and starting to wrap them around. He paused when he was about to cover her scars, staring at them. She looked down at him, expression unreadable, as he slowly continued with the wrapping, guiltily avoiding the sight of the puckered white marks. He finally taped off the end and stood up.

"So, are you, ok I mean."

"Yeah," she answered, looking away from him and walking over to where she had left her shirt. She picked it up and was about to bring it over her head but stopped with her arms out in front. She tried to bring them up higher but the stretch was still too painful, she had been having to have Kail help her with all sorts of things she would have preferred not to but Leon was the only one here now. She looked at the ground and sighed, "Can you help me?" she asked in a resigned tone.

Leon closed the gap between them and took the black sleeveless shirt from her hands. He stood behind her and brought it above her head, bringing it gently down, wincing even as she winced when it stretched over her still swollen rib cage. He did, however, not stand back when he was done. He kept his powerful arms gently wrapped around her waist and she swiftly turned to regard him, surprise in her eyes.

Priss turned around, still held fast in Leon's grasp, staring decidedly at his neck. "Priss..." he breathed, "you know I'm sorry."

"I know" she answered in a small voice.

"Then why won't you look at me dammit!" Leon's voice rose and his arms tightened, "You haven't once looked me in the eyes since..." he broke off. "You never forgave me." his voice lowering again. "You know I'm sorry."

Priss continued to stare at his neck and waited a long time before answering, "I forgave you" she said. "It was an accident. A stupid accident." Leon sighed as he realized the truth. He hadn't left Tokyo out of guilt, he had left because he was too afraid she wouldn't forgive him. And because he ran away, she didn't forgive him. He whispered in her ear, "I love you Priss, and I would never do anything to hurt you." He inwardly winced as the hypocrisy of that statement hit him. "Intentionally, I mean."

Priss leaned in against his chest and took a deep breath, "I know Leon, I know." They stood for a while, no one really knowing what to say or where to begin. Being shot by the person you love is not exactly an easy thing to get over, and neither is shooting an innocent. Leon finally said, "Priss, I love you and I always will. You know that. You know that."

"So you've said." she answered, still not knowing what to say.

"And I'm more sorry than you could ever know." He said, still quiet. He leaned over, bringing his face closer and closer towards hers until they're lips were a fingers breadth apart. Priss brought her eyes up, focusing now on his cheekbones. With what appeared to be a great effort, she tore her eyes up to gaze into his. She looked at him and then, no matter how hard she tried, all the anger and sorrow she had never dealt with came out and her eyes brimmed with salty liquid.

Leon was surprised by this, he had never once seen Priss cry, but now a solitary tear was running down her cheek as she stared him with a tight expression straight in the eye. Silently she stared at him, tears running down her cheeks. Leon reached out and took her in his arms, cradling her gently against his chest as her tears ran into his shirt. "Why, Priss?" he whispered to her, "Why won't you forgive me?" He rocked slowly back and forth.

Priss sniffed before answering, "You abandoned me. How can you love me so much if you would run away. I finally let myself trust you and then you abandoned me." her voice was growing stronger with each word, "How could you run away like that?" she asked.

"I was afraid. I didn't want to, but I thought that was what you wanted. I didn't want to and I promise I never will again. Never" he replied. He wasn't going to run away now. He leaned over and kissed her gently, pressing his lips against hers and tasting the bitter saltiness of her tears. Priss was startled at first, but then fell into it. An irrational thought crossed her mind, //I'm dreaming again. This is just another one of those dreams. I'll fall deeper and deeper and then I'll wake up, still in my bed. What the hell.// She moved her hands up his back to run her fingers through his hair. Priss opened her mouth and pushed her tongue into his mouth, massaging his. He responded enthusiastically, thinking this was how he could finally get her to forgive him. To show her that he wasn't afraid, that he still loved her and still wanted her. He would have to show her.

---

Priss woke up with a start. She blinked a few times to clear her vision and looked around. Same old trailer, same old mess, same old Leon. Leon! He was snoring peacefully, sleeping next to her. That's right, he had been here a while now. He had stayed for two days. Kail had come and gone. Everything came back to her and she started to sweat as she realized what this could mean. She roughly grabbed Leon's shoulder and shook it, trying to wake him. After a while of this and her shouting his name he eventually stirred and looked at her, bleary eyed. "What is it?" he asked, trying to stay awake for the answer.

"Get out" Priss answered harshly, "Get your damn clothes and get out!"

"Wha-" Leon looked confused, he thought he had proven to her how much he loved her. He didn't want to leave.

"GET OUT NOW!" she screamed, furious now. She struggled out of bed, trying to remove the twisting covers and reaching for her clothes, ignoring the pain every jerky movement caused her. She picked up the various items of Leon's clothes from the floor and tossed them to him one by one while he struggled to pull them on, confusion plain on his face. Finally he had his pants on and was holding his shirt in his hands when Priss, holding all of her clothes with some of them on, turned to him and screamed, "NOW GO!"

"Priss-" Leon started, moving towards her, before he was cut off by Priss again,

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOME!" and an upraised hand made it look as if she was about ready to club him to death. He tried to stay calm but failed miserably,

"WHAT FOR?" he shouted back at her, his anger rising.

Priss bowed her head and stared fixedly at the ground. "Just get out" she said more quietly, pleading. "Just get out" she reiterated, stronger now. "Please."

Leon was startled and felt the anger run out of him. He'd never heard Priss say please to anyone, especially not him. With a resigned sigh he turned and walked out of the door, pulling on his shirt and jacket as he walked.

Priss sat on her bed, nervously chewing on her fingernails. She pulled her hand away suddenly, staring at it. She hadn't chewed her fingers since she was six years old. She put her hand in her lap and continued to think nervously, her thoughts racing. They hadn't used protection. She could be pregnant. And it was to late to use any morning after type contraception. You had to administer anything within twelve hours. It had been way more than that. What could she do? What if she was pregnant? No, she couldn't be. Lightning doesn't strike twice. But could it? As callous as she may seem, Priss didn't think she could get an abortion. She couldn't handle the physiological implications of it. She couldn't kill a child. Shit. What if she was? There had been plenty of opportunity for it, and she knew this was a good time of the month for it. Shit.

---

Leon sat at his tiny desk with his head lying on his folded arms. A wad of coffee-stained paper lay beneath him. He groaned and shifted slightly as his partner, Dailey Wong poked and prodded his shoulder. "Come on, Leon- poo, its time to get up and do a little thing we like to call police work,"

Leon's head shot up at the remark but the action caused searing lights to flash before the poor detective's eyes and a roar of noise to course through his aching brain. "I told you never to call me that Wong!" he coarsely whispered, wincing at how loud his own voice sounded in his ears.

"Well I had to wake you up somehow" Dailey responded calmly. He leaned in for a closer inspection of Leon's face and pulled back the lid of one bloodshot eye. "Stay up a little late drinking last night, did we?" he said in a heartlessly loud voice. Leon blinked out the light and resisted the urge to puke in Dailey's face.

"Go...away" he said quietly in a threatening voice, "I had to drag my ass all the way over here and I can not deal with your tricks Wong!" With that he slumped his head back onto his trembling arms.

"Your not still moping about this thing with that woman, are you?" Dailey said in a disgusted voice.

"Priss, her name is Priss, is that so hard?" Leon said angrily, still buried in his arms. "And I'm not moping!" he added. Dailey nodded his head sagely,

"Of course not" he said with huge sarcasm, "just let her go and get on with your life. Your killing yourself drinking yourself to sleep like this. What is it about you that makes you immediately think 'problem - where's the scotch'. It makes no sense!" Leon just groaned in response. "Come on," Dailey said, "the chief wants to talk to us"

Leon staggered to his feet and stumbled bleary eyed towards the door. The two of them slowly walked outside and down the hall. Leon took a deep broth and leaned against the wall for a minute, "Wong..." he began very quietly, making Dailey lean in to hear, "GET ME SOME DAMN COFFEE!" he yelled, startling his poor partner out of his skin and following with a glare that sent Dailey running towards the coffee machine. The machine that had only been recently been fixed from the last time Leon didn't have any coffee.

"Oh Leon-poo!" Leon winced as he heard a high-pitched, childish voice call out to him, "What did you do to Priss?" Nene demanded as she ran down the corridor to him, "She's not answering her phone, and," she paused, leaning closer and whispering in a conspiratorial voice, "she isn't coming on any missions. What did you do?" Leon thought about exactly what he could say to make Nene leave him alone. Eventually he gave up and just growled a low, menacing growl. Nene's eyes widened in surprise, and, after a moment's shock, she slowly turned and walked away. Leon reached the peak of his frustration, and yelled out in a booming voice, "WILL EVERYONE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Heads turned throughout the floor and everyone just stared at the fuming Leon as he stalked back to his office, wordlessly snatching the offered coffee from Dailey's hand and downing it in a gulp.

---

Sylia Stingray tread carefully as she walked up to the beaten old trailer and topped as she reached the door. She stared at the spray painted 'PRISS' in huge red letters across the side. She wondered if Priss was even home. Finally she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Sylia straightened her jacket and waited for an answer. She knocked again, harder this time. She had a gut feeling Priss was in the trailer and Sylia wasn't taking no for an answer. She raised her voice and shouted out, "Priss, I know you're in there so come and open this door." She waited patiently until she heard the answer,

"Get away from here Sylia!"

"Not until I know why you didn't answer the phone!" Sylia responded defiantly, sensing the singer's bad mood. She heard Priss pound over and jerk the door open, almost detaching it from its hinges.

"I don't want to go on anymore of your stupid missions, Sylia," Priss sneered, "I'm not your little puppet! So you can keep your God damned money!"

Priss sat broken hearted in her trailer. What was happening to her? She'd never done anything like that to Sylia, not Sylia. What was wrong with her? She just spent all day moping around her trailer, refusing to talk to Leon, barely talking to Kail. All the stress of everything that had happened lately suddenly weighed down her shoulders. Priss felt her head begin to spin in emotional turmoil and she felt incredibly dizzy. She let her face drop into her ands and closed her eyes, but the dizziness was still there. Her breathing increased, and panic gripped her heart. Her chest tightened and she broke out in a cold sweat. Priss lurched to her feet, holding her head and trying to keep her balance as bright colours flashed and wavered across her field of vision. She felt overwhelmed and fell to her knees, the colours spinning. She couldn't catch her breath now, she panted heavily and her heart pounded. Adrenaline coursed through her body as she tried to stand but couldn't. Her whole body trembled violently. She couldn't see anything except the colours, all the colours spinning. Her thoughts couldn't focus on anything and her mid raced, panicked, as black edged in on her vision. The black swarmed, flowing like a blanket. And then she knew nothing.