Title: Exercising an Option
Author: Gina Lin Genre: Romance, Action, Suspense Series: Gundam Wing Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Citrus, Violence, Language Pairings: 13x6, 1x2, 3x4, 5xS Archived: S_E Updates, FF.net. GWFF
Epilogue
One year later....
"Are you sure you're up to this?" asked Mil, as he and Treize pulled up to the stark looking institutional complex surrounded by iron gates. The park- like landscaping did not detract from the bleak functional aspect of the architecture.
"I owe her that much, at least," said the ginger-haired man, getting out of the car and pulling his fur-lined coat closely around him against the cutting November winds. Snow was sparsely frosting the ground and the trees were barren and gray. Only the stately pines retained their color amongst the stark blacks and whites of a winter landscape.
"I'll come with you," said Milliard, buttoning his gray wool trenchcoat against the harsh northern winds so common this time of year.
"What do her doctors say?" he asked Treize as they walked inside.
"She has large gaps of memory caused by sudden blood loss to the brain," explained Treize. "Ironically, she believes that we're still the closest of friends and she is my loyal employee who had a terrible accident. She doesn't remember Marron, Reynaud or any of the other terrorists."
"I remember she was excused from giving her deposition by the FBI. In a strange way, it's probably for the best."
"I believe so, Mil. Her room is very nice, and someday, perhaps she can function in the real world."
"She's still recovering physically, also?"
"Yes, some minor paralysis on the left side," said Treize. They briefly checked in at the nurse's station and the nurse smiled at Treize's familiar face.
"She's looking forward to your visit," said the nurse, a round faced maternal-looking woman. "Thank you so much for the lovely flowers, she really does appreciate them, and all the other small gifts."
"It's nothing," said Treize. "This is my companion, Milliard. He's also a friend of Une's."
"Oh, I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you. Poor thing, she doesn't get any other visitors. Such a lovely woman too."
"I know," said Treize. "Perhaps we can make that up to her, Joyce," he said, looking at the nametag on the woman's uniform.
"You take all the time you want," said Joyce. "I heard the doctors say that one day, she'll be ready for an outing."
"Oh, really?" asked Treize. "That's wonderful news."
They turned to walk down the polished hallways.
"Here it is," said Treize. He knocked.
"Come in!" said Une. She was sitting up in her wheelchair, wearing a red velour dressing gown, her hair in loose honey curls around her shoulders.
"Treize!" she said, holding out her right hand. Treize took it warmly and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. A faint blush stained Une's cheeks.
"Always such a gentleman," she murmured.
"Mil has come with me, may he come in?" asked Treize.
"Of course," she said, smiling. "I'm so happy to have another visitor."
Mil came into the room. "Une, how lovely to see you up and doing so well," he said, and came over and took her offered hand.
"Yes, I'm recovering from my accident slowly but surely," she said. "Perhaps someday, I can go home."
"You know that when that day comes, you can come and stay with me," said Treize. "For as long as you want."
"I know," she said, lowering her gaze. "I'm so fortunate to have such a wonderful friend."
"You were always loyal and that should not go unrewarded," said Treize softly.
"Would you like me to take you to the sun room for a change of scenery?" asked Treize. "I'm afraid it's too cold to venture outdoors, but at least we can enjoy this winter sunshine while it lasts."
"I'd love to," said Une. "Perhaps you can read to me again. I so enjoy that."
"My pleasure," said Treize, smiling down at her. "My lady, your carriage awaits!" he said with a flourish, taking the handles of her wheelchair.
She laughed. "As long as the clock doesn't strike midnight and it becomes a pumpkin again, we'll be fine, my dear Treize."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"All right children, that's enough for today," said Wufei, folding his arms and surveying his last class.
"Sensei?" asked a small blond boy with wire rimmed glasses in the front of the class, raising his hand.
"What is it, Tyler?"
"I need to stay here until my mom can come pick me up. She had to take my sister to ballet today."
"All right, Tyler, I have to stay late anyway," said Wufei. "The rest of you are dismissed."
Suddenly a room full of attentive, quiet children dressed in white erupted into shouting, laughter and roughhousing as they went to collect their assorted backpacks and change into street clothes in the locker rooms.
"Come on Tyler," said Matt, who was trying to pull on his sneaker without untying it. "I'll show you something cool."
"What?" said Tyler, looking at the other boy curiously.
"My dad has a cool sword in his office. It's in a case with a lock on it, we can't touch it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and he killed this really bad guy with it!"
"Really?"
"I heard him and my mom talking about it once."
"Cool!"
"Yeah, he won't mind if we look at it."
They went inside the office. "Dad, Tyler wants to look at your sword."
"All right," said Wufei, looking at some papers on his desk and glancing over the top of his reading glasses at the two boys.
"Did you really kill a guy with it, Sensei?" asked Tyler, looking at the case.
"Is that what Matt told you?" asked Wufei, setting down a sheaf of papers.
"Yeah," said the boy.
"It's true that once I used that sword to defend myself and a good friend of mine."
"Wow," breathed Tyler.
"That's why it's there, to remind me of that."
"I bet it was cool, Sensei!" said Tyler, almost pressing his snubby freckled nose against the glass.
"It was quite awful, to be honest," said Wufei seriously. "I hope I never have to do anything like that again."
The boy looked at him and nodded. "But you weren't scared, were you, Sensei?"
"My friend and I were very scared, Tyler, but we did what we had to do to stay alive. That is what makes a person brave."
The two boys nodded. "Come on Ty," said Matt suddenly. "I'll race you to the locker room. Last one there has to sniff Vince Gardner's socks. He hasn't taken them home for two weeks!"
"Nasty!" said Tyler. Matt turned and took off running.
"Hey, no fair, you cheated!" protested Tyler as he ran hot on Matt's heels.
Wufei smiled as he heard familiar footsteps in the hallway. He took off his glasses and set them on the desk, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Well, Sensei, how was class today?" asked Sally, coming into the office.
"Not bad, I think a few of the older students will do well at tournament in a few months."
She leaned over the desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asked, putting his glasses back on and picking up the next paper.
"What are those?" she asked him, ignoring his question.
"New applications," he said. "I just hope we have enough room in the schedule to accommodate all the new students."
"Can Trowa take on more students?" she asked.
"Perhaps a few," he said, frowning a bit. "I may have to look around for a new instructor."
"I do wish I could help out," Sally said. "But, I'm in no condition for high kicks, I'm afraid. I haven't even seen my feet in 2 months."
"We'll find someone," he said, reaching over and placing a hand briefly on the roundness of her stomach.
"Ready to go home?" she said. "I'm starving and my feet are killing me."
"We're waiting for Tyler's mom to pick up his sister from ballet," said Wufei.
"Ah, I see," said Sally. "Well, then, I'm going to plant my rather large self on the sofa here and hope I can get back up later."
"I'll bring in a block and tackle," said Wufei, arching an eyebrow at her and grinning.
"Not funny," she said, mock pouting at him.
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't resist."
"The least you could do is come over here and rub my feet," she said. "After all, this is all your fault."
"I'm sure I'll be hearing that again," he said, taking off his glasses again and coming to sit beside her on the sofa in his office.
"Duo and Heero are still coming next week, aren't they?" asked Sally, sighing as talented fingers plied her feet.
"As far as a I know," said Wufei. "Heero has some business he needs to do here in LA."
"It'll be nice to see them again," said Sally.
"Do you miss Montana?" asked Wufei, taking her other foot and rubbing it.
"Not really," said Sally. "Just my friends, sometimes."
"Noin said she'd come after the baby is born," she continued. "She's going to help me take care of Matt so you can be here at the dojo."
"I still intend to be around," said Wufei. "After all, I think getting to know our new son is more important than shuffling papers. Quatre said he'd help out with some of the office work for a while."
"You don't think Matt will be jealous of his little brother, do you?" asked Sally, rubbing her belly.
"Matt is a great kid," said Wufei. "And he has no reason to be jealous. I love both my sons."
"Have I told you lately what a nice man you are?" asked Sally.
"No, not nearly enough," he said, taking her hand and kissing it.
"Sensei!" came Tyler's voice through the door of the office after a short knock. "My mom's here!"
"Good-bye Tyler," said Sally.
"Good-bye Mrs. Chang!" said Tyler.
"Good-bye," said Wufei, as Matt came in the office.
"Mom, are we gonna go home now? I'm hungry and I'll miss Digimon if we don't go home now!"
"No one ever starved to death in 15 minutes, Matt," said Sally, as Wufei helped her off of the sofa. "And we'll try to get home in time for Digimon."
"Hey Dad, can Tyler come over and play tomorrow after school?" asked Matt.
"If it's all right with his mother, of course," said Wufei.
"Cool, I'll call him and ask tonight," said Matt.
"After you do your homework," said Wufei.
"Ah, Da-add," said Matt. "That sucks!"
"You know the rules," said Wufei. "Homework first, then phone calls to friends and goofing off."
"Okay," said Matt reluctantly. "Homework first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is that him?" asked Hastings, pulling back the sheet in the morgue.
"Yeah, as good as I can tell," said Slim, held between two deputies with his legs and hands cuffed. "I only saw Reynaud in person once."
"Thank you," said Morris, "We'll be sure that your cooperation will be noted in our report."
"Thanks," mumbled the lank-haired blond, shifting uncomfortably in his orange prison coveralls.
"So, what happened to him?" asked Slim. "I thought he was some sort of untouchable the way that Marron always talked."
"No one knows," said Morris. "The body was found alongside the runway at Orly, the Paris International Airport. We know he'd tried to purchase a ticket to Buenos Aires the night before with a false passport and that's all."
"Probably just pissed off the wrong guy," shrugged Hastings. "Law of the jungle is that no matter how bad ass you think you are, there's always a badder ass out there."
"Tell me about it," said Slim.
"You may take the prisoner now," said Hastings to the armed guards. One of the guards nodded and they led Slim out of the room.
"Well, I guess we can close that file," said Morris, stretching her long arms over her head.
"Yeah, a few people going to rest easier tonight knowing this asshole is worm food," said Hastings, motioning to the attendant to put the body back in it's cooler.
"Nice epitaph," said Morris sarcastically, sliding her shoulder holster back into place as they left the morgue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is that the phone ringing?" asked Quatre sleepily.
"You answer it," said Trowa, swallowing dryly. "It's on your side."
"I knew you were going to say that."
"Hey, I didn't put the phone there."
"I bet its Wufei!" said Quatre. "Who else would be calling us at 4:00 in the morning?" He switched on the bedside lamp.
"An insomniac obscene phone caller?"
"Ha ha," said Quatre, picking up the phone. "Hello?"
"Really, that's great news, Wufei,!" said Quatre after a few minutes.
"All right, take care, we'll see you in a few hours. Good-bye now."
"They had the kid, right?" asked Trowa, rolling back over and punching his pillow.
"Yes, a week early, but everything's fine. Boy, named Evan. But we knew that."
"Good, can I go back to sleep now?"
"Don't you want to know how much the baby weighs and all that?" asked Quatre.
"He's going to weigh the same in 3 or 4 hours, I bet," said Trowa dryly. "I can handle the suspense."
"You're so unsentimental sometimes," said Quatre, turning off the bedside light.
"Yes, especially at four in the morning."
"Go back to sleep."
"Yes, dear."
The End
Author: Gina Lin Genre: Romance, Action, Suspense Series: Gundam Wing Warnings: AU, Yaoi, Citrus, Violence, Language Pairings: 13x6, 1x2, 3x4, 5xS Archived: S_E Updates, FF.net. GWFF
Epilogue
One year later....
"Are you sure you're up to this?" asked Mil, as he and Treize pulled up to the stark looking institutional complex surrounded by iron gates. The park- like landscaping did not detract from the bleak functional aspect of the architecture.
"I owe her that much, at least," said the ginger-haired man, getting out of the car and pulling his fur-lined coat closely around him against the cutting November winds. Snow was sparsely frosting the ground and the trees were barren and gray. Only the stately pines retained their color amongst the stark blacks and whites of a winter landscape.
"I'll come with you," said Milliard, buttoning his gray wool trenchcoat against the harsh northern winds so common this time of year.
"What do her doctors say?" he asked Treize as they walked inside.
"She has large gaps of memory caused by sudden blood loss to the brain," explained Treize. "Ironically, she believes that we're still the closest of friends and she is my loyal employee who had a terrible accident. She doesn't remember Marron, Reynaud or any of the other terrorists."
"I remember she was excused from giving her deposition by the FBI. In a strange way, it's probably for the best."
"I believe so, Mil. Her room is very nice, and someday, perhaps she can function in the real world."
"She's still recovering physically, also?"
"Yes, some minor paralysis on the left side," said Treize. They briefly checked in at the nurse's station and the nurse smiled at Treize's familiar face.
"She's looking forward to your visit," said the nurse, a round faced maternal-looking woman. "Thank you so much for the lovely flowers, she really does appreciate them, and all the other small gifts."
"It's nothing," said Treize. "This is my companion, Milliard. He's also a friend of Une's."
"Oh, I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you. Poor thing, she doesn't get any other visitors. Such a lovely woman too."
"I know," said Treize. "Perhaps we can make that up to her, Joyce," he said, looking at the nametag on the woman's uniform.
"You take all the time you want," said Joyce. "I heard the doctors say that one day, she'll be ready for an outing."
"Oh, really?" asked Treize. "That's wonderful news."
They turned to walk down the polished hallways.
"Here it is," said Treize. He knocked.
"Come in!" said Une. She was sitting up in her wheelchair, wearing a red velour dressing gown, her hair in loose honey curls around her shoulders.
"Treize!" she said, holding out her right hand. Treize took it warmly and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. A faint blush stained Une's cheeks.
"Always such a gentleman," she murmured.
"Mil has come with me, may he come in?" asked Treize.
"Of course," she said, smiling. "I'm so happy to have another visitor."
Mil came into the room. "Une, how lovely to see you up and doing so well," he said, and came over and took her offered hand.
"Yes, I'm recovering from my accident slowly but surely," she said. "Perhaps someday, I can go home."
"You know that when that day comes, you can come and stay with me," said Treize. "For as long as you want."
"I know," she said, lowering her gaze. "I'm so fortunate to have such a wonderful friend."
"You were always loyal and that should not go unrewarded," said Treize softly.
"Would you like me to take you to the sun room for a change of scenery?" asked Treize. "I'm afraid it's too cold to venture outdoors, but at least we can enjoy this winter sunshine while it lasts."
"I'd love to," said Une. "Perhaps you can read to me again. I so enjoy that."
"My pleasure," said Treize, smiling down at her. "My lady, your carriage awaits!" he said with a flourish, taking the handles of her wheelchair.
She laughed. "As long as the clock doesn't strike midnight and it becomes a pumpkin again, we'll be fine, my dear Treize."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"All right children, that's enough for today," said Wufei, folding his arms and surveying his last class.
"Sensei?" asked a small blond boy with wire rimmed glasses in the front of the class, raising his hand.
"What is it, Tyler?"
"I need to stay here until my mom can come pick me up. She had to take my sister to ballet today."
"All right, Tyler, I have to stay late anyway," said Wufei. "The rest of you are dismissed."
Suddenly a room full of attentive, quiet children dressed in white erupted into shouting, laughter and roughhousing as they went to collect their assorted backpacks and change into street clothes in the locker rooms.
"Come on Tyler," said Matt, who was trying to pull on his sneaker without untying it. "I'll show you something cool."
"What?" said Tyler, looking at the other boy curiously.
"My dad has a cool sword in his office. It's in a case with a lock on it, we can't touch it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and he killed this really bad guy with it!"
"Really?"
"I heard him and my mom talking about it once."
"Cool!"
"Yeah, he won't mind if we look at it."
They went inside the office. "Dad, Tyler wants to look at your sword."
"All right," said Wufei, looking at some papers on his desk and glancing over the top of his reading glasses at the two boys.
"Did you really kill a guy with it, Sensei?" asked Tyler, looking at the case.
"Is that what Matt told you?" asked Wufei, setting down a sheaf of papers.
"Yeah," said the boy.
"It's true that once I used that sword to defend myself and a good friend of mine."
"Wow," breathed Tyler.
"That's why it's there, to remind me of that."
"I bet it was cool, Sensei!" said Tyler, almost pressing his snubby freckled nose against the glass.
"It was quite awful, to be honest," said Wufei seriously. "I hope I never have to do anything like that again."
The boy looked at him and nodded. "But you weren't scared, were you, Sensei?"
"My friend and I were very scared, Tyler, but we did what we had to do to stay alive. That is what makes a person brave."
The two boys nodded. "Come on Ty," said Matt suddenly. "I'll race you to the locker room. Last one there has to sniff Vince Gardner's socks. He hasn't taken them home for two weeks!"
"Nasty!" said Tyler. Matt turned and took off running.
"Hey, no fair, you cheated!" protested Tyler as he ran hot on Matt's heels.
Wufei smiled as he heard familiar footsteps in the hallway. He took off his glasses and set them on the desk, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Well, Sensei, how was class today?" asked Sally, coming into the office.
"Not bad, I think a few of the older students will do well at tournament in a few months."
She leaned over the desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asked, putting his glasses back on and picking up the next paper.
"What are those?" she asked him, ignoring his question.
"New applications," he said. "I just hope we have enough room in the schedule to accommodate all the new students."
"Can Trowa take on more students?" she asked.
"Perhaps a few," he said, frowning a bit. "I may have to look around for a new instructor."
"I do wish I could help out," Sally said. "But, I'm in no condition for high kicks, I'm afraid. I haven't even seen my feet in 2 months."
"We'll find someone," he said, reaching over and placing a hand briefly on the roundness of her stomach.
"Ready to go home?" she said. "I'm starving and my feet are killing me."
"We're waiting for Tyler's mom to pick up his sister from ballet," said Wufei.
"Ah, I see," said Sally. "Well, then, I'm going to plant my rather large self on the sofa here and hope I can get back up later."
"I'll bring in a block and tackle," said Wufei, arching an eyebrow at her and grinning.
"Not funny," she said, mock pouting at him.
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't resist."
"The least you could do is come over here and rub my feet," she said. "After all, this is all your fault."
"I'm sure I'll be hearing that again," he said, taking off his glasses again and coming to sit beside her on the sofa in his office.
"Duo and Heero are still coming next week, aren't they?" asked Sally, sighing as talented fingers plied her feet.
"As far as a I know," said Wufei. "Heero has some business he needs to do here in LA."
"It'll be nice to see them again," said Sally.
"Do you miss Montana?" asked Wufei, taking her other foot and rubbing it.
"Not really," said Sally. "Just my friends, sometimes."
"Noin said she'd come after the baby is born," she continued. "She's going to help me take care of Matt so you can be here at the dojo."
"I still intend to be around," said Wufei. "After all, I think getting to know our new son is more important than shuffling papers. Quatre said he'd help out with some of the office work for a while."
"You don't think Matt will be jealous of his little brother, do you?" asked Sally, rubbing her belly.
"Matt is a great kid," said Wufei. "And he has no reason to be jealous. I love both my sons."
"Have I told you lately what a nice man you are?" asked Sally.
"No, not nearly enough," he said, taking her hand and kissing it.
"Sensei!" came Tyler's voice through the door of the office after a short knock. "My mom's here!"
"Good-bye Tyler," said Sally.
"Good-bye Mrs. Chang!" said Tyler.
"Good-bye," said Wufei, as Matt came in the office.
"Mom, are we gonna go home now? I'm hungry and I'll miss Digimon if we don't go home now!"
"No one ever starved to death in 15 minutes, Matt," said Sally, as Wufei helped her off of the sofa. "And we'll try to get home in time for Digimon."
"Hey Dad, can Tyler come over and play tomorrow after school?" asked Matt.
"If it's all right with his mother, of course," said Wufei.
"Cool, I'll call him and ask tonight," said Matt.
"After you do your homework," said Wufei.
"Ah, Da-add," said Matt. "That sucks!"
"You know the rules," said Wufei. "Homework first, then phone calls to friends and goofing off."
"Okay," said Matt reluctantly. "Homework first."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is that him?" asked Hastings, pulling back the sheet in the morgue.
"Yeah, as good as I can tell," said Slim, held between two deputies with his legs and hands cuffed. "I only saw Reynaud in person once."
"Thank you," said Morris, "We'll be sure that your cooperation will be noted in our report."
"Thanks," mumbled the lank-haired blond, shifting uncomfortably in his orange prison coveralls.
"So, what happened to him?" asked Slim. "I thought he was some sort of untouchable the way that Marron always talked."
"No one knows," said Morris. "The body was found alongside the runway at Orly, the Paris International Airport. We know he'd tried to purchase a ticket to Buenos Aires the night before with a false passport and that's all."
"Probably just pissed off the wrong guy," shrugged Hastings. "Law of the jungle is that no matter how bad ass you think you are, there's always a badder ass out there."
"Tell me about it," said Slim.
"You may take the prisoner now," said Hastings to the armed guards. One of the guards nodded and they led Slim out of the room.
"Well, I guess we can close that file," said Morris, stretching her long arms over her head.
"Yeah, a few people going to rest easier tonight knowing this asshole is worm food," said Hastings, motioning to the attendant to put the body back in it's cooler.
"Nice epitaph," said Morris sarcastically, sliding her shoulder holster back into place as they left the morgue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is that the phone ringing?" asked Quatre sleepily.
"You answer it," said Trowa, swallowing dryly. "It's on your side."
"I knew you were going to say that."
"Hey, I didn't put the phone there."
"I bet its Wufei!" said Quatre. "Who else would be calling us at 4:00 in the morning?" He switched on the bedside lamp.
"An insomniac obscene phone caller?"
"Ha ha," said Quatre, picking up the phone. "Hello?"
"Really, that's great news, Wufei,!" said Quatre after a few minutes.
"All right, take care, we'll see you in a few hours. Good-bye now."
"They had the kid, right?" asked Trowa, rolling back over and punching his pillow.
"Yes, a week early, but everything's fine. Boy, named Evan. But we knew that."
"Good, can I go back to sleep now?"
"Don't you want to know how much the baby weighs and all that?" asked Quatre.
"He's going to weigh the same in 3 or 4 hours, I bet," said Trowa dryly. "I can handle the suspense."
"You're so unsentimental sometimes," said Quatre, turning off the bedside light.
"Yes, especially at four in the morning."
"Go back to sleep."
"Yes, dear."
The End