DISCLAIMERS: You know the drill, so should I still say it?

The Perfect Life

By Stardust

Chapter 11

"I want out. I refuse to stay in this bed any longer." Nasha ranted. She had been stuck in that small white room for one too many days for her liking. "It was a single bullet, not that much harm done."

"You, young lady, will stay in that bed until the doctor says otherwise." Ataka ordered her gently. "And if you try to snick out like yesterday I will make sure that your stay in this lovely, small, white room is prolonged."

"Not fair," Nasha pouted slightly and crossed her arms, "you only say that because you can move with out everybody blowing the roof off if you even think about moving."

"Mommy is being bad." Nick stated from the door, his arms full of junk food.

"Nick is right, mommy is being very bad," Hilde laughed at Nasha's face, happy that her friend was feeling better. The image of Nashada, lying pale and unmoving in the small hospital bed would forever stay in her mind. For a second after entering the room the German girl had thought that her friend was dead but the steady, if disconcerting, sound of the machines attached to her friend's body comforted her troubled mind.

"Mommy apparently isn't the only one that has been bad, what do you plan to do with all of that junk food, young man? Which responsible," Here she placed special emphasis, "adult allowed you to buy it?" Nasha looked from Nicky to Hilde with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh, come on, Nasha, the hospital food looked horrible, not even Duo would eat it. This was the only other alternative." Hilde sat on a chair close to Nasha's bed at the same time she relieved Nicky of a bag of potato chips.

"Now, Miss Hilde, the food here isn't that bad." A man with salt and pepper hair stated from the doorframe. In his hands was a chart that held all of Nashada's information. "Or else Miss Nashada wouldn't have made such a good recovery."

"I don't define a good recovery as being stuck in here for four days, not that I don't like the company, but I am ..." Nasha had always had a gift for words, weather writing them or reading them, as had been expected of Relena Peacecraft but now she found that the only term that could express her frustration wasn't something witty or stylish but a teenage expression, "going nuts here."

"Well, then my news will be fully welcomed by this impatient patient." The doctor chuckled at his rhyme. It reminded Nasha of Santa Claus. "You will be released tomorrow but, and I want to make it clear, no strenuous activities for at least another week. Try to keep any pressure or weight away from the injured shoulder. I will give Mr. Ko your medication along with the responsibility of seeing that his granddaughter takes it regularly. If anything abnormal happens don't," At this he cast a look at Hilde and Ataka, "I really mean, don't hesitate to bring her back in." They both nodded so the doctor was on his way again.

"Wonder what is happening with the world?" Hilde got up from her chair to turn on the small TV that sat at the corner of the room. "We have all been so caught up with you that we kind of forgot about the rest of the world."

At this Nasha pouted again. When she was about to speak her words died on her throat while her mouth froze half opened.

"... true, the government can not be the same without Miss Darlan. Even after almost two years from her disappearance the people feel that they cannot trust the government. In turn, the government is splitting up even more without the Vice Foreign Minister there to regulate and bring everyone together. Her disappearance might very well mark the beginning of the end of our current peace. But on to our other stories..."

Hilde quickly changed the channel but all color had drained from her face. She missed Relena terribly and wouldn't, couldn't, believe that she was dead. But ever since she had meet Nashada she had been able to push Relena's absence to the back of her mind. Now the news broadcast had brought forth the memories of her lost friend. It made her feel not only saddened by Relena's absence but guilty as well, since she had tried to forget about her. Relena had been the closest thing that to a sister she had ever had.

o o o o o o o

Two days later...

"Where is Nasha? We need to get going." Cathy asked the others as they were making their way out of the temple.

"I think she wanted to say bye to Nick before leaving." Hilde told them while she put one of her bags on her shoulders.

"NNNOOOO!!!" They all heard the shout that came from the back of the temple but assumed that it was simply Nick who refused to be parted from his 'mother'. Then a shot was heard. They turned to look at each other before sprinting to the source of the sound. What they found didn't lift their spirits but burdened them even farther. There in the bloody ground was Atakayama Ko whose side was bleeding heavily. Nick cradled the priest's head and hugged the old man's shoulders desperately.

A couple of feet away from the pair stood Nasha, unarmed, fighting a group of men who wore the dark uniform of the organization whose base they had destroyed less than a week ago. All of this assessment took only moments. In seconds, they were at Nashada's side helping her fight off the soldiers. But they had underestimated the single mindedness of these soldiers. They all were prepared to die as long as they could destroy the Gundam pilots as well as avenge their fallen comrades.

Hilde stood on Nasha's left fighting off soldiers while at the same time trying to keep an eye on her injured friend. Her watching cost her a gash on her right arm a few minutes into the fight, which hampered her movements for the rest of the struggle. Heero gave up trying to defeat their enemy in hand-to-hand combat. He pulled out a gun from the waistline of his jeans and started shooting the soldiers. After that the fight ended quickly with the enemy soldiers retreating. The P.E.T. would have given chase if it weren't for the old injured priest that laid in the ground.

As soon as Nasha knocked out her last attacker she went to the old man, leaving the rest of the team to deal with the small remaining group of the enemy.

"Nicky, you have to let grandpa go so that mommy can help him." She held onto him after she pulled him away from her mentor. She set him in the ground, glad that he was alive and well. Then she turned to Ataka to examine his wound.

It wasn't a deadly injury but she was still worried about the blood coming out of the wound. 'Too much blood' She thought while she watched a small river of blood make its way down the old man's chest. A moment later she snapped into action. Remembering basic training at the Preventers she tore a piece of her shirt before putting it on top of the wound and applying pressure.

Before long, Sally arrived at her side, taking over for Nasha. Nasha knew that she couldn't help Sally anymore than she could help build a bomb but she felt so useless just standing there doing nothing. She jumped slightly when a hand lightly squeezed her shoulder.

"It's ok, Nasha. He will be fine. Sally is a great doctor and the ambulance is coming. Don't worry, everything is ok." Hilde told her soothingly before pulling her into a hug.

"I know but I can't help it... He did it to protect me. I hadn't seen them. I was too busy saying good-bye to Nicky. All of the sudden he just... he pushed me away. Next thing I know he is bleeding and the soldiers were rushing to wards us and all I could think about was protecting Nicky." Nasha was near tears and hated herself for it. She needed to be strong for Ataka, for Nicky... oh, God! "Nicky, where is he? Where is he? I can't believe I forgot about him...!"

"Hey, sweetie, calm down, he is with the guys." Cathy pointed to where Duo and Quatre were talking with Nicky while Heero, Trowa, and Wufei stood as kind of guards incase a second attack came.

"Sorry it's just that... this is too much." A small sigh escaped Nasha. Her shoulder was reminding her that her injury had yet to heal completely and that it had disliked the resent stress it had just been put thru. She turned towards Hilde intent on telling her to help get everyone organized so that they could follow the ambulance to the hospital when she noticed blood staining Hilde's sleeve. "Hilde, what happened?!"

"What?" Hilde looked at her injured arm and shrugged. "It was just a scratch. I got kind of distracted..." Hilde looked everywhere but at Nasha who was practically glaring at her. "Okay, okay, I was worried that with your hurt shoulder you might need help and was keeping an eye on you when I got this."

"Silly Hilde, my shoulder is sore but it doesn't hurt anymore." Nasha frowned at her friend's cut. Without asking for permission she raised the torn sleeve to see the wound. "You call this a scratch?" She shaked her head at her friend and looked at the somewhat deep laceration. Bending her head Nasha ripped a strip of fabric from her shirt. "Here this will help stop the bleeding until we can get to the hospital." Nasha gave Hilde a smile and turned to see that the paramedics had arrived, treated Ataka, and by now had him in a stretcher. Sally walked towards them whipping blood of her hands.

"He will be fine. He lost a lot of blood but the bullet didn't pierce any vital organs so he will be fine." Sally put an arm around Nasha and guided her towards the front of the temple. Everyone followed them slowly, still unsure if the last fifteen minutes had really happened, it certainly didn't feel like it had.

o o o o o o o

As they sat quietly in the waiting room, Heero thought. He thought about the attack and what it would mean for the Preventers. He thought about the old man that had been so kind to all of them and wondered if Ataka would be all right. But mainly, he thought about Relena. He had no idea why but something had made him remember her.

Strangely he had recalled a single memory, the day in the harbor when Duo had shot him. He could remember so clearly thinking that he would be unable to complete his mission. He felt the second shot imbed it self in his body and prepared himself for the following one... Only it never came. There standing in front of him, blocking him from farther harm was his biggest obstacle since his mission started. Her hair was blowing like a banner caught in the wind. She stood there unafraid chastising Duo for hurting him. For a second he knew his eyes showed his confusion, he had threatened to end her life but she was saving his, what kind of person would do that? But as soon as he saw her turn towards him his eyes were once again blank. She knelt down besides him and checked his injuries. When she ripped a piece of her dress to bandage his wounds, his eyes widened ever so slightly. Dr. J had never taught him how to react to this kind of situation, so he fell back to his fail-safe method, stoicism.

Thinking back now, he realized that in that moment he had started to understand that she was different from everyone else. But for some other reason the memory kept jumping at him. His subconscious was telling him something only he couldn't understand what it was trying to say. He was starting to get frustrated. He looked around the room at the people in his team. But more to the point, his friends, not that he would tell any of them that he actually considered them as such. Everyone was either staring into space or whispering with another. Alarms exploded in his head when he saw Duo sitting still with his mouth closed. That was not possible, Duo was never quiet AND still, something was wrong. Heero frowned. He did not like what he was seeing. Hilde sat on Duo's right side and was reading a magazine but one of her hands was held by Duo. That too was odd, Hilde was not one to sit quietly, and especially when she had the chance to talk to, not listen to, Duo. To Duo's left Nashada sat staring at some point in the wall in front of her. One of her anxious hands kept playing with the torn edge of her shirt...

Suddenly old and recent memorize mixed so that the two images overlapped. Relena ripping a strip of her dress and Nasha ripping a strip of her shirt. The body movements, the order of action, the way the strip was ripped... Too much, too alike, his mind kept repeating like a mantra. His heart started beating faster as the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. Dr. J's voice echoed in his head saying 'Coincidences in large quantities are not coincidences but facts'. Now that he thought about it, he had been so set that Relena was out there somewhere that he had never considered the fact that she could be right under his nose. But now everything added up. Her reaction to his Gundam's name, her little speech in the enemy base, her blood being the same as Zechs', and now her actions while tending to Hilde. It was too much, too many coincidences, for it to not be true. He felt his face go pale with the implications of his thoughts. And his mind refused to completely process the thought. He looked at Nasha and saw what he had never paid attention to before. The shape of her face, her barely-showing cheekbones, the fine aristocratic nose, the shape of her lips and eyes and her height, they were all the same. After two years of looking for her he had finally found her, she was sitting in front of him and had been for the better part of two months now...

o o o o o o o

Don't cry, the chapter has ended, but I have good news... Chapter 12 is already up. I figured that since I hadn't written in so long I would treat all of my readers to a double chapter. Please, review.