1.1 Chapter Two: So They Were Here All Along

Gabi showed Heero to the loft of her and Jenn's townhouse. "You can stay here until Chase gets back. I don't like not telling her, it doesn't seem fair."

Heero put his bag down and sat on the edge of the bed. "I promise it's necessary, Anna. Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do. I miss being married."

She smiled. "Yeah. So do I."

Heero paused. "Anna?"

"Hmm?"

"There's something I need you to go ahead and do for me." He said cautiously.

"What's that?" she asked, puzzled.

"You know that computer company that's been on the rise?" he questioned.

"You mean Luck Inc.? Heck yeah. They're taking over the stock market. Their products are selling like wildfire! And everything is really inexpensive. All my students have palm planners or music players from them. I even bought a hand-held organizer myself. Those people are going to undersell themselves into bankruptcy." She replied.

"Do you know the name of the man that owns the company?" Heero asked.

She thought for a minute. "I know its Lucky something… Oh! That's it. Lucky Vincent. Lucky indeed, the man's rolling in money."

"You studied names and meanings, didn't you? Think about what those names mean. In the morning, I need you to go to Luck Inc. Headquarters in New York and talk to Mr. Vincent yourself." Heero said.

"Tomorrow morning?! Heero, I can't do that! It's Friday tomorrow and I've got two classes to teach." She exclaimed.

"What classes?"

"I've got a tenth grade composition and a ninth grade health class. I can't miss them." She sighed.

"I'll go and teach them for you."

She blinked. "Say what?"

"I'll teach them for you. I know plenty about health and broken bones. I'll make it a mostly grammar day. Trust me. You need to go." He insisted. "It's just for one day, Anna."

"Heero…"

"Just think about what the name means, and go in the morning. I've already got your ticket. You'll be back by dinner."

She relented. "All right. I said I'd do it. Good night, Heero." She leaned over and hugged him. "It really is good to see you again in one piece."

"You too, Anna."

"Night."

"Good night."

She smiled softly to herself on the stairs as she heard the sound of typing from the loft.

She lay in bed that night staring at the ceiling, trying to think of what the name meant. She knew lucky meant fortune, or fortunate. She just couldn't think of what Vincent meant. And she knew they had to go together. She rolled over and stared at a wall scroll that Jenn had drawn. It was actually of the five boys when they'd been younger. She kept it on her closet door for a keepsake. She nearly bore holes in the pencil image of them, trying to think. Vincent, Vincent, Vincent, what did Vincent mean? She thought she was going to go crazy.

Finally, in desperation, she got up, turned the surviving lamp on, and headed out into the hall. She passed the stairs to the loft, passed the bathroom, and went down the hall to the master bedroom. They'd made the master bedroom their office because Jenn needed so much space for her drawings, and they both needed their own computers and laptops. So the space had been good, and since there were two bedrooms at the other end of the hall, why use only one?

She sat at her desk and shuffled some of her manuscript papers around. After she found the mouse she logged into the Internet. She pulled up a site about names and searched for Vincent.

It read:

Vincent –Latin- meaning conqueror or victor –male.

She sighed. No light bulbs were flashing, and it wasn't helpful. She logged off and went back to her room. She paced, and then sat on the bed.

"Vincent means victor. A victor is someone who triumphs. Someone who wins. A winner. Someone, who is stro," she cut herself off as the light bulb came on, and then exploded.

"A winner. He's a winner! Fortunate Winner! Four Winner! Quatre- Raberba Winner!" She laughed out loud. "Quatre's been taking over the stock market for six month's and we didn't even know it."

She fell asleep easily. Maybe, just maybe, all the pain was worth waiting for what came after.

In the morning, she went downstairs to find Heero already dressed and drinking coffee. She smiled sweetly at him and plopped a pile of books on the counter. He arched an eyebrow at her from his perch on a barstool.

"Morning, Heero-chan." She chirped.

"Morning, Anna. What is that?"

"That, boyo, is what I teach. The yellow folder is my health class's graded tests; you'll need to hand that back. I called the principal to alert her to the fact you'll be my sub. You'll need to give the definitions of all thirty words in the blue folder to my composition class and assign them the feeling essay I want due next Monday. Assign the health class the worksheet in the green folder, and warn them about the Wednesday quiz that I'm giving next week and tell them not to leave gum under the desks. Oh, and Heero? Be a good example. I don't allow weapons in my classroom." She replied cheerfully.

He looked at her skeptically. "You do this everyday?"

"Hai! And I love it. Oh, and don't let Trent and Austin sit together in composition, they'll raise Cain if you do." She added.

"Why are you teaching and not practicing medicine?" he asked quietly.

"Because Chase and I were considering moving and I didn't want to go through all that paperwork."

"All right. You figured it out?" he asked.

"Of course. I'm packed and ready to go." She beamed.

He smiled. "Naturally. Your plane leaves at nine. I'll see you tonight, then."

She grabbed her bag and headed out the door. "See you! Heero? I want all fifty of my students alive when I get back!"

And she was gone.

Heero stirred his coffee and looked at the clock. She forgot to tell him what time her classes were.

(A.n. I got a little crazy with it, gomen! Anna's in New York? Heero's teaching high school? Quatre's ruling the American stock market? I must be crazy! *grin* Enjoy)

Jenny turned over lazily in her bed as her alarm blared country music in her ear. "Just ten more minutes," she mumbled as she pressed the snooze button.

"It's a red letter day."

Jenny looked up and saw Duo dressed and standing over her bed. "What?" It was too early for this.

"The alarm clock is in one piece," the braided man said with a grin.

The younger woman growled something inaudible. "Anna-chan told me to stop because they cost too much after I run through several of them in one week."

Duo made a face, and then grinned. "Same 'ol Chase, ne?"

"No." She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, placing her chin on them. "Let me get this strait: There's a group coming to take over our world to get to yours. They call themselves OWN and are basically a bunch of kid assassins?"

Duo nodded.

Chase rolled her eyes. "I'm an artist, not a pilot!" she groaned.

"Then why did I see a license for piloting when I went through your wallet?"

Jenny sat strait up. "You WHAT?!"

Duo grinned. "Well I was bored," he sulked. "And it was late so I figured I needed to do SOMETHING since you seemed so out of it after that party."

"I got my pilot's license when I was seventeen. My dad taught me."

"Cool. Actually, it couldn't have been that difficult to learn. You knew how to pilot a Gundam."

"They're very different." She sighed. "Duo, would you go get me some hot tea from downstairs in the lobby?"

"Don't you drink any coffee yet?"

"Nope. Anna has hand NO effect on me in that region."

Duo gave a lopsided grin. "'Kay. Be right back, then."

Jenny nodded. She stood and grabbed her sweatshirt from the floor she had thrown in on. "I gotta call Gabi," she muttered as she picked up the phone and dialed the townhouse.