"Good morning, boys," said Maggie through a yawn as she entered the kitchen. Trowa was sitting with his nose in the newspaper, and Kat was at his laptop, drinking his customary cup of tea.
Trowa swallowed nervously and answered, "Good morning, Maggie."
She smiled brightly at him. He had almost flinched as she passed. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said with a cocky grin.
Kat suppressed a chuckle. Maggie turned to watch his reaction as Bridget walked in. He stared for a moment, realized he was staring, blushed, and dropped his eyes hurriedly to the laptop. Maggie and Trowa exchanged amused looks, and they both agreed silently that all was forgiven.
Maggie wandered over to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. "Have either of you boys seen Julie?" she asked as she poured herself a glass.
"Do you EVER stop drinking milk?" asked Trowa as she downed the glass in one swallow and poured again.
Her only response was, "Mooooooo."
"Anyway," said Kat," no, I haven't seen Julie. Come to think of it, though," his face grew thoughtful, "I haven't seen Duo, eith-"
Maggie shot up off of the stool she was sitting on, tearing for the staircase. Bridget was after her instantly.
The boys sat in stunned astonishment for a moment. Upon hearing hysterical laughter from the direction of Duo's room, they exchanged looks and duplicated the girls' earlier dash for the stairs.
When they got there, Maggie and Bridget were holding onto both the wall and each other for support, gasping for breath. The boys moved to see what was so funny.
Feathers.
Yes, feathers. Apparently Duo had feather pillows, because they were EVERYWHERE. On the furniture, on the floor, and on Julie and Duo. The last two were sprawled across the floor almost comically. They looked like they had just passed out, Julie first. Why Julie first? Well, because Duo's arm was slung across her stomach, of course.
After the other four calmed themselves, Maggie wiped her eyes and said, "Well, now what?"
Quatre was the only one capable of answering. "Considering the statistics," he mocked, "it's hypothetically impossible to wake those two. So I say...."
"We go eat," interjected Trowa through a yawn, "because I'm starving."
This seemed to be funny to Bridget and Maggie, who exchanged grins and screeched, "FRENCH TOAST!"
Then Maggie was off, heading for the stairs.
"What, she cooks?" asked Trowa blankly at the same time Quatre questioned, "French toast?"
"I ATTEMPT IT!" Maggie bellowed from the bottom of the staircase.
Bridget smothered a giggle as she tried to explain and go down the stairs at the same time.
"At Maggie's house, the smoke alarm is so sensitive that opening the oven with nothing in it makes it go off... so we haven't sufficiently tested her skills yet."
"Oh."
Maggie stuck her head out the kitchen door and placed a laptop, a newspaper, and a new cup of tea for Kat on the floor. "B, come help. You two, stay OUT."
Bridget gave a mock salute, which Maggie returned. Maggie went back into the kitchen, and she leaned over to the boys.
"Kamikaze, here I come," she muttered... then, "Wish me luck, guys."
"Good luck," they said, and watched as Bridget squared her shoulders and pushed her way through the swinging door.
About a half hour later, they were all eating... free of mishaps, thank God.
"Shouldn't we save some for Julie and Duo?" asked Bridget as the two boys reached for the last pieces.
"They snooze, they lose," said Maggie around a mouthful of food.
"Oh," said Bridget. "Ok."
They heard the front door slam, and Heero came in a few seconds later.
"G'Morning, Heero!" chirped Maggie.
Heero froze and slowly turned to stare at her. "What?"
Maggie smiled brightly and reached for her glass of milk. "Good morning!!!!"
Heero nodded almost imperceptibly and raised an eyebrow at the remnants of food on the table.
"Breakfast," explained Trowa, wiping off his mouth with a napkin.
"French toast," Kat clarified.
"We would have left you some, but you weren't here, and we weren't sure if you were coming back," added Bridget, putting down her knife and fork almost apologetically.
Heero grunted something under his breath, presumably to himself, too fast for most.
Maggie waved her hand expressively, like the true Italian she was. "It's almost 11, why?"
Heero's head jerked around to stare at her. "You under- I can- what the..."
Maggie shrugged. "Owatta ka?" she asked calmly.
Heero glared at her, said, "Hai," and left quickly, embarrassed that she had made him express surprise so obviously.
"Baka," Maggie chuckled, then turned to find her friends looking at her suspiciously.
"Subtitles for the guys, Mags?" asked Bridget.
"Well, he muttered, 'Nanji desuka?' ( What time is it?) So I told him what time it was, and he started sputtering off on how did I understand what that meant, and I asked him if he was done, and he said yes and left. Then I called him an idiot."
"Oh," was the best Trowa could manage.
Maggie stood. "Well, then, what are we doing today?"
"Training?" suggested Kat.
"Training? For what?" asked Bridget suspiciously.
"Well, you're not exactly in OZ's good favor right now...."
"Ooh, training! Come on, Kat, leave Jules and Duo a note and let's go!" said Maggie, jumping up and down. Then she stopped. "Excuse me, I was having a Julie moment."
Julie woke up to a slight weight on her hip. At first she thought illogically that it was her dog, Fred, but soon realized two things.
A) Fred had fur.
B) WAY too light to be Fred.
"What the hell?" she murmured dazedly, still 99% asleep. It slowly registered in her sleep clogged mind that it was someone's arm... and about another 5 seconds before she put two and two together and reached the conclusion that yes, it did equal four, and yes, the arm belonged to one Duo Maxwell.
Her eyes flew open, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she took in the scene around her.
~We're still dressed, thank Go- wait, what am I saying? I'm GLAD? Damn it!~
She pounded her fist on the rug, immediately feeling foolish. She abruptly sat up, letting Duo's arm fall.
Her movement woke Duo, who opened his eyes to see Julie surveying the damage done to his room as she idly picked feathers from her hair. He reached toward her and pulled a feather from behind her ear. She jumped and turned to see Duo grinning roguishly at her.
"Morning, sunshine," he said, with his arms behind his head, in response to her angered glare.
"Morning, bitch," she responded, still looking around the room in slight astonishment.
"I'll take that as a compliment, coming from you," he countered, sitting up. Then he let out a low whistle.
"Damn."
"Yeah."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. It was starting to become uncomfortable when their stomachs growled, both audibly and simultaneously.
They laughed together and headed down to the kitchen, discomfort forgotten.
"Hey, a note," said Julie, upon seeing the paper on the kitchen table.
Dear Julie and Duo,
Kat here. We didn't want to wake you... by the looks of things, you had QUITE a time. As long as the feathers stay in YOUR room, Duo, I don't mind them. Anyway, good luck finding something to eat, you two... I've been informed that neither of you can cook anything edible, and most of my staff has vacation for the summer, from May to September. After that... well, Trowa, Maggie, Bridget, and I will be pretty much all over the place today, so... I don't care where you go or what you do [Quatre, don't tell them THAT! - M/B] as long as you're out of my house... so it stays in one piece.
-Quatre.
PS Don't do anything stupid, we're not bailing you out.
- QRW, MM, BC, TW
"Damn, there go my plans for the day," said Julie with a chuckle. Duo nodded with a smile.
"Well, then, new plan?"
"Yeah, ok. How about Plan B?"
"Ice cream for breakfast?"
"No, Duo, that was plan C. Plan B was taking DeathScythe and flying it to the nearest McDonald's drive through."
Duo laughed maniacally. "I've always wanted to do that.... but then we'd have to destroy a perfectly good McDonald's."
Julie nodded with resignation. "Sad, yet true. Besides, it's already time for lunch."
Duo glanced at the clock. "Wow, you're right."
"So, now we go to plan D: Ice cream for LUNCH."
"Good one."
They went over to the freezer and Duo yanked it open. "Hmmm.... let's see... not the broccoli, please.... Ah-HA! Success!"
Duo came out triumphant with two pints of chocolate marshmallow ice cream.
"Good?"
"My fave!" said Julie as she shoved him out of the way and opened the bottom door of the fridge. "Duo, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the sprinkles."
"Mission... accepted.... but I ain't laughing like Heero... he scares me with that."
Julie laughed as she pulled out ice cream toppings.
When they finished their monstrous ice creams, there was enough sugar in them to make even hardened sugar worshipers such as themselves SUPER hyper.
(Translation: It's like being drunk, only without a hangover. You just feel very drained and tend to sleep a lot afterwards.)
"What are we going to do NOW?" asked Duo impatiently, braid bouncing as he jumped around.
"I dunno!" answered Julie.
"Let's go flying. I'm bored," announced Duo.
"Ok!" Julie squealed.
Julie laughed as Duo tried unsuccessfully to buckle them in, swearing all the while. She tried to help, but in their sugared state all she did was make it worse.
"Stay still!" he ordered.
"Ok!" she said, stiffening immediately. Then she giggled as Duo reached around her to find the other buckle.
"Hey, that tickles!"
Duo's smile grew. "What, THIS?" he said, doing it again.
"Yes, that! Stop.... Duo!" She started gasping in between giggles.
"Ooh, Julie's TICKLISH!" he said, moving to her sides. She squirmed, trying move away in the small cockpit, thankful Duo had had so much trouble with the buckles... because if he hadn't, she never would have escaped.
Duo was relentless in his attack of her sides and ribs. "I found a weakness, I found a weakness... ow!"
Julie grabbed Duo's braid and smiled sweetly. "Want me to find your weakness?"
"I don't have any," Duo lied. With Julie on his lap, he was feeling very weak indeed.
"Oh, REALLY," she remarked, brushing his nose with the end of the braid.
Julie kept her hold on Duo's braid and turned so she was facing him. "Are you SURE?"
"Yes."
"You have no weaknesses."
"None."
"Yes, you do."
"Nope."
Julie leaned really close to him and whispered, "Yup."
Duo swallowed. "Yup," he agreed finally, before leaning forward about five centimeters and catching her lips with his own.
Julie smiled as they kissed, glad things had gone the way she had wanted them to.
About a half hour later, Maggie and Bridget stumbled into the kitchen. They hadn't let the boys see it, but they were exhausted.
"I wonder where Julie and Duo went," remarked Bridget as she gulped water gratefully.
"Well, their note says they went flying, but.... I saw DeathScythe as we came in," Maggie frowned.
Bridget's face gradually lightened as she realized the obvious truth. She got up, looked at the calendar, then grinned.
"Magggiieeeee."
"What?"
"They're making out."
Maggie spit her drink back into her glass. "Oh, loads of mental images with THAT statement that I don't need. So?"
"Sooo... it's been a week and a half since we got here. You only gave them a week. You owe me 10 bucks!"
"What? I do not!"
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
Trowa walked into the middle of this, frowned, then announced, "I'm going to work, girls. See you later."
The two turned to him, said, " Bye, Trowa!" simultaneously, then went back to bickering.
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- Work? Hey, Trowa, wait up!" cried Maggie, snatching Bridget's wrist and hauling her along as Bridget complained loudly, "Maggie, NO! Not the circus! ANYTHING but the circus!"
Quatre, having a discussion with Rashid, heard Bridget's plea and hurriedly said, "Excuse me for a moment." Then he booked it for the front door.
"THIS should be an interesting summer," sighed Rashid with a smile.
Kat got outside in time to hear, "Maggie, I am not- KAT! HELP ME!"
Kat jogged over. "What's going on?"
"Well," started Trowa, "I think Maggie wants to come to work with me, and wants Bridget to come, too, and for some reason she doesn't want to go."
Maggie snickered. "SURE she does. DON'T you, Bridget?"
Bridget shrunk away, forgetting Maggie's hand on her wrist. "Ow, Mags, that hurts! No, I am NOT going!"
"What's wrong, Bridget?" asked Kat gently.
"I'mafraidofclowns," she muttered.
"You're WHAT?" asked Trowa incredulously, not believing what he was hearing.
Maggie cackled. "You heard her. She's afraid!!!"
Bridget wrenched her wrist out of Maggie's grip and smacked her arm. "Stop! So what if I am? I had a traumatized childhood!"
"Suuuuurrrrreeeeee. Ok. You didn't KNOW me when we were kids!"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT AND YOU KNOW IT!!! YOU KNOW THE CLOWN STORIES!"
"Ohhhhhhh. You mean Pennywise?"
"DON'T SAY HIS NAME!"
"Ok, You- Know- Who?"
"Now you're being stupid."
"Ok, ok. Would you like me to TELL them why?"
"Sure, go ahead, fine, do whatever you want," she said, pouting.
"It's Stephen King, one of the scariest horror writers ever. He wrote a story about a clown
who ate small children, and Bridget over there saw the movie version..."
"He didn't just EAT them! He mutilated them, ripped off their limbs, bit their..."
"Bridget, don't dwell."
"Sorry."
"Well, anyway, that's why she doesn't want to go. Hey!"
~Uh-oh.~
"Kat, why don't you come with us!?"
~Damn, I knew that bribe was coming.~
"What? Well... I'll go if Bridget does," Kat said, seeing the look on Trowa and Maggie's faces.
~Shit. I knew they would do this to me. Go to the circus with Kat, stay home with him, and have Maggie mad at me. Go, stay, go, stay, go, stay.... I hate you, Maggie.~
"You always make my life so difficult. Fine! I'll go, but YOU OWE ME."
"Okay," she shrugged, never dreaming she'd be called upon to answer that favor later.
"Trowa!"
Trowa hopped out of the car and hugged his sister Catherine. "Hi, Cathy."
Bridget and Maggie exchanged looks as Catherine asked the standard older sister questions: Where were you? who were you with? do you have to stay at Kat's? can't you stay here?
Bridget's look clearly said, ~What the hell?~
Maggie mouthed, "How would you describe her?"
Bridget shrugged, then almost lost it as a thoughtful looking Maggie answered her own question silently. "Oh! Scary beyond all reason!"
"Yzma."
"Yeah... only younger."
"Oh, definitely."
Cathy finally realized the two girls were there and stopped her inquisition long enough to inquire, "Who are they?"
~And she's full of tact, too.~
Trowa shrugged. "This is Maggie, and this is Bridget. They staying at Kat's house, too. We rescued them as one of our missions, and they are staying with us for safety's sake."
"So why are they HERE?"
Bridget started to open her mouth to say, "Trowa says it's part of my therapy," but at a glare from Maggie, decided against it.
Kat decided to step in, practically seeing the steam coming from Maggie's ears. "They wanted to come," he said simply.
Cathy glared at him. "And remind me why YOU'RE here?"
"Ok, excuse us for a second," said Trowa quickly, grabbing Cathy's arm and hauling her back toward one of the tents.
As soon as they were gone, Maggie let loose. "Who the hell does she think she IS? I can't believe her! If my younger brother brought people to visit, I'd at LEAST be cordial!"
Kat and Bridget tried to soothe her, but she quickly calmed on her own. "I want to know what he's saying," she said over her shoulder as she stealthily followed the path Trowa and Cathy had taken. Kat and Bridget let her go, admittedly curious themselves.
Maggie snuck around behind the tent, listening carefully to the heated voices inside.
"You are NOT ruining this this time for me, Catherine! These people are my FRIENDS. They CARE about me. I know you do, too, but my world can not revolve around you alone!"
Maggie smothered a giggle at the shocked look on Cathy's face.
"But.... we're FAMILY, Trowa!"
"They are my family, too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get ready."
Trowa swallowed nervously and answered, "Good morning, Maggie."
She smiled brightly at him. He had almost flinched as she passed. "I'm not going to hurt you," she said with a cocky grin.
Kat suppressed a chuckle. Maggie turned to watch his reaction as Bridget walked in. He stared for a moment, realized he was staring, blushed, and dropped his eyes hurriedly to the laptop. Maggie and Trowa exchanged amused looks, and they both agreed silently that all was forgiven.
Maggie wandered over to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. "Have either of you boys seen Julie?" she asked as she poured herself a glass.
"Do you EVER stop drinking milk?" asked Trowa as she downed the glass in one swallow and poured again.
Her only response was, "Mooooooo."
"Anyway," said Kat," no, I haven't seen Julie. Come to think of it, though," his face grew thoughtful, "I haven't seen Duo, eith-"
Maggie shot up off of the stool she was sitting on, tearing for the staircase. Bridget was after her instantly.
The boys sat in stunned astonishment for a moment. Upon hearing hysterical laughter from the direction of Duo's room, they exchanged looks and duplicated the girls' earlier dash for the stairs.
When they got there, Maggie and Bridget were holding onto both the wall and each other for support, gasping for breath. The boys moved to see what was so funny.
Feathers.
Yes, feathers. Apparently Duo had feather pillows, because they were EVERYWHERE. On the furniture, on the floor, and on Julie and Duo. The last two were sprawled across the floor almost comically. They looked like they had just passed out, Julie first. Why Julie first? Well, because Duo's arm was slung across her stomach, of course.
After the other four calmed themselves, Maggie wiped her eyes and said, "Well, now what?"
Quatre was the only one capable of answering. "Considering the statistics," he mocked, "it's hypothetically impossible to wake those two. So I say...."
"We go eat," interjected Trowa through a yawn, "because I'm starving."
This seemed to be funny to Bridget and Maggie, who exchanged grins and screeched, "FRENCH TOAST!"
Then Maggie was off, heading for the stairs.
"What, she cooks?" asked Trowa blankly at the same time Quatre questioned, "French toast?"
"I ATTEMPT IT!" Maggie bellowed from the bottom of the staircase.
Bridget smothered a giggle as she tried to explain and go down the stairs at the same time.
"At Maggie's house, the smoke alarm is so sensitive that opening the oven with nothing in it makes it go off... so we haven't sufficiently tested her skills yet."
"Oh."
Maggie stuck her head out the kitchen door and placed a laptop, a newspaper, and a new cup of tea for Kat on the floor. "B, come help. You two, stay OUT."
Bridget gave a mock salute, which Maggie returned. Maggie went back into the kitchen, and she leaned over to the boys.
"Kamikaze, here I come," she muttered... then, "Wish me luck, guys."
"Good luck," they said, and watched as Bridget squared her shoulders and pushed her way through the swinging door.
About a half hour later, they were all eating... free of mishaps, thank God.
"Shouldn't we save some for Julie and Duo?" asked Bridget as the two boys reached for the last pieces.
"They snooze, they lose," said Maggie around a mouthful of food.
"Oh," said Bridget. "Ok."
They heard the front door slam, and Heero came in a few seconds later.
"G'Morning, Heero!" chirped Maggie.
Heero froze and slowly turned to stare at her. "What?"
Maggie smiled brightly and reached for her glass of milk. "Good morning!!!!"
Heero nodded almost imperceptibly and raised an eyebrow at the remnants of food on the table.
"Breakfast," explained Trowa, wiping off his mouth with a napkin.
"French toast," Kat clarified.
"We would have left you some, but you weren't here, and we weren't sure if you were coming back," added Bridget, putting down her knife and fork almost apologetically.
Heero grunted something under his breath, presumably to himself, too fast for most.
Maggie waved her hand expressively, like the true Italian she was. "It's almost 11, why?"
Heero's head jerked around to stare at her. "You under- I can- what the..."
Maggie shrugged. "Owatta ka?" she asked calmly.
Heero glared at her, said, "Hai," and left quickly, embarrassed that she had made him express surprise so obviously.
"Baka," Maggie chuckled, then turned to find her friends looking at her suspiciously.
"Subtitles for the guys, Mags?" asked Bridget.
"Well, he muttered, 'Nanji desuka?' ( What time is it?) So I told him what time it was, and he started sputtering off on how did I understand what that meant, and I asked him if he was done, and he said yes and left. Then I called him an idiot."
"Oh," was the best Trowa could manage.
Maggie stood. "Well, then, what are we doing today?"
"Training?" suggested Kat.
"Training? For what?" asked Bridget suspiciously.
"Well, you're not exactly in OZ's good favor right now...."
"Ooh, training! Come on, Kat, leave Jules and Duo a note and let's go!" said Maggie, jumping up and down. Then she stopped. "Excuse me, I was having a Julie moment."
Julie woke up to a slight weight on her hip. At first she thought illogically that it was her dog, Fred, but soon realized two things.
A) Fred had fur.
B) WAY too light to be Fred.
"What the hell?" she murmured dazedly, still 99% asleep. It slowly registered in her sleep clogged mind that it was someone's arm... and about another 5 seconds before she put two and two together and reached the conclusion that yes, it did equal four, and yes, the arm belonged to one Duo Maxwell.
Her eyes flew open, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she took in the scene around her.
~We're still dressed, thank Go- wait, what am I saying? I'm GLAD? Damn it!~
She pounded her fist on the rug, immediately feeling foolish. She abruptly sat up, letting Duo's arm fall.
Her movement woke Duo, who opened his eyes to see Julie surveying the damage done to his room as she idly picked feathers from her hair. He reached toward her and pulled a feather from behind her ear. She jumped and turned to see Duo grinning roguishly at her.
"Morning, sunshine," he said, with his arms behind his head, in response to her angered glare.
"Morning, bitch," she responded, still looking around the room in slight astonishment.
"I'll take that as a compliment, coming from you," he countered, sitting up. Then he let out a low whistle.
"Damn."
"Yeah."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. It was starting to become uncomfortable when their stomachs growled, both audibly and simultaneously.
They laughed together and headed down to the kitchen, discomfort forgotten.
"Hey, a note," said Julie, upon seeing the paper on the kitchen table.
Dear Julie and Duo,
Kat here. We didn't want to wake you... by the looks of things, you had QUITE a time. As long as the feathers stay in YOUR room, Duo, I don't mind them. Anyway, good luck finding something to eat, you two... I've been informed that neither of you can cook anything edible, and most of my staff has vacation for the summer, from May to September. After that... well, Trowa, Maggie, Bridget, and I will be pretty much all over the place today, so... I don't care where you go or what you do [Quatre, don't tell them THAT! - M/B] as long as you're out of my house... so it stays in one piece.
-Quatre.
PS Don't do anything stupid, we're not bailing you out.
- QRW, MM, BC, TW
"Damn, there go my plans for the day," said Julie with a chuckle. Duo nodded with a smile.
"Well, then, new plan?"
"Yeah, ok. How about Plan B?"
"Ice cream for breakfast?"
"No, Duo, that was plan C. Plan B was taking DeathScythe and flying it to the nearest McDonald's drive through."
Duo laughed maniacally. "I've always wanted to do that.... but then we'd have to destroy a perfectly good McDonald's."
Julie nodded with resignation. "Sad, yet true. Besides, it's already time for lunch."
Duo glanced at the clock. "Wow, you're right."
"So, now we go to plan D: Ice cream for LUNCH."
"Good one."
They went over to the freezer and Duo yanked it open. "Hmmm.... let's see... not the broccoli, please.... Ah-HA! Success!"
Duo came out triumphant with two pints of chocolate marshmallow ice cream.
"Good?"
"My fave!" said Julie as she shoved him out of the way and opened the bottom door of the fridge. "Duo, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the sprinkles."
"Mission... accepted.... but I ain't laughing like Heero... he scares me with that."
Julie laughed as she pulled out ice cream toppings.
When they finished their monstrous ice creams, there was enough sugar in them to make even hardened sugar worshipers such as themselves SUPER hyper.
(Translation: It's like being drunk, only without a hangover. You just feel very drained and tend to sleep a lot afterwards.)
"What are we going to do NOW?" asked Duo impatiently, braid bouncing as he jumped around.
"I dunno!" answered Julie.
"Let's go flying. I'm bored," announced Duo.
"Ok!" Julie squealed.
Julie laughed as Duo tried unsuccessfully to buckle them in, swearing all the while. She tried to help, but in their sugared state all she did was make it worse.
"Stay still!" he ordered.
"Ok!" she said, stiffening immediately. Then she giggled as Duo reached around her to find the other buckle.
"Hey, that tickles!"
Duo's smile grew. "What, THIS?" he said, doing it again.
"Yes, that! Stop.... Duo!" She started gasping in between giggles.
"Ooh, Julie's TICKLISH!" he said, moving to her sides. She squirmed, trying move away in the small cockpit, thankful Duo had had so much trouble with the buckles... because if he hadn't, she never would have escaped.
Duo was relentless in his attack of her sides and ribs. "I found a weakness, I found a weakness... ow!"
Julie grabbed Duo's braid and smiled sweetly. "Want me to find your weakness?"
"I don't have any," Duo lied. With Julie on his lap, he was feeling very weak indeed.
"Oh, REALLY," she remarked, brushing his nose with the end of the braid.
Julie kept her hold on Duo's braid and turned so she was facing him. "Are you SURE?"
"Yes."
"You have no weaknesses."
"None."
"Yes, you do."
"Nope."
Julie leaned really close to him and whispered, "Yup."
Duo swallowed. "Yup," he agreed finally, before leaning forward about five centimeters and catching her lips with his own.
Julie smiled as they kissed, glad things had gone the way she had wanted them to.
About a half hour later, Maggie and Bridget stumbled into the kitchen. They hadn't let the boys see it, but they were exhausted.
"I wonder where Julie and Duo went," remarked Bridget as she gulped water gratefully.
"Well, their note says they went flying, but.... I saw DeathScythe as we came in," Maggie frowned.
Bridget's face gradually lightened as she realized the obvious truth. She got up, looked at the calendar, then grinned.
"Magggiieeeee."
"What?"
"They're making out."
Maggie spit her drink back into her glass. "Oh, loads of mental images with THAT statement that I don't need. So?"
"Sooo... it's been a week and a half since we got here. You only gave them a week. You owe me 10 bucks!"
"What? I do not!"
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
Trowa walked into the middle of this, frowned, then announced, "I'm going to work, girls. See you later."
The two turned to him, said, " Bye, Trowa!" simultaneously, then went back to bickering.
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- uh."
"Ya- huh."
"Na- Work? Hey, Trowa, wait up!" cried Maggie, snatching Bridget's wrist and hauling her along as Bridget complained loudly, "Maggie, NO! Not the circus! ANYTHING but the circus!"
Quatre, having a discussion with Rashid, heard Bridget's plea and hurriedly said, "Excuse me for a moment." Then he booked it for the front door.
"THIS should be an interesting summer," sighed Rashid with a smile.
Kat got outside in time to hear, "Maggie, I am not- KAT! HELP ME!"
Kat jogged over. "What's going on?"
"Well," started Trowa, "I think Maggie wants to come to work with me, and wants Bridget to come, too, and for some reason she doesn't want to go."
Maggie snickered. "SURE she does. DON'T you, Bridget?"
Bridget shrunk away, forgetting Maggie's hand on her wrist. "Ow, Mags, that hurts! No, I am NOT going!"
"What's wrong, Bridget?" asked Kat gently.
"I'mafraidofclowns," she muttered.
"You're WHAT?" asked Trowa incredulously, not believing what he was hearing.
Maggie cackled. "You heard her. She's afraid!!!"
Bridget wrenched her wrist out of Maggie's grip and smacked her arm. "Stop! So what if I am? I had a traumatized childhood!"
"Suuuuurrrrreeeeee. Ok. You didn't KNOW me when we were kids!"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT AND YOU KNOW IT!!! YOU KNOW THE CLOWN STORIES!"
"Ohhhhhhh. You mean Pennywise?"
"DON'T SAY HIS NAME!"
"Ok, You- Know- Who?"
"Now you're being stupid."
"Ok, ok. Would you like me to TELL them why?"
"Sure, go ahead, fine, do whatever you want," she said, pouting.
"It's Stephen King, one of the scariest horror writers ever. He wrote a story about a clown
who ate small children, and Bridget over there saw the movie version..."
"He didn't just EAT them! He mutilated them, ripped off their limbs, bit their..."
"Bridget, don't dwell."
"Sorry."
"Well, anyway, that's why she doesn't want to go. Hey!"
~Uh-oh.~
"Kat, why don't you come with us!?"
~Damn, I knew that bribe was coming.~
"What? Well... I'll go if Bridget does," Kat said, seeing the look on Trowa and Maggie's faces.
~Shit. I knew they would do this to me. Go to the circus with Kat, stay home with him, and have Maggie mad at me. Go, stay, go, stay, go, stay.... I hate you, Maggie.~
"You always make my life so difficult. Fine! I'll go, but YOU OWE ME."
"Okay," she shrugged, never dreaming she'd be called upon to answer that favor later.
"Trowa!"
Trowa hopped out of the car and hugged his sister Catherine. "Hi, Cathy."
Bridget and Maggie exchanged looks as Catherine asked the standard older sister questions: Where were you? who were you with? do you have to stay at Kat's? can't you stay here?
Bridget's look clearly said, ~What the hell?~
Maggie mouthed, "How would you describe her?"
Bridget shrugged, then almost lost it as a thoughtful looking Maggie answered her own question silently. "Oh! Scary beyond all reason!"
"Yzma."
"Yeah... only younger."
"Oh, definitely."
Cathy finally realized the two girls were there and stopped her inquisition long enough to inquire, "Who are they?"
~And she's full of tact, too.~
Trowa shrugged. "This is Maggie, and this is Bridget. They staying at Kat's house, too. We rescued them as one of our missions, and they are staying with us for safety's sake."
"So why are they HERE?"
Bridget started to open her mouth to say, "Trowa says it's part of my therapy," but at a glare from Maggie, decided against it.
Kat decided to step in, practically seeing the steam coming from Maggie's ears. "They wanted to come," he said simply.
Cathy glared at him. "And remind me why YOU'RE here?"
"Ok, excuse us for a second," said Trowa quickly, grabbing Cathy's arm and hauling her back toward one of the tents.
As soon as they were gone, Maggie let loose. "Who the hell does she think she IS? I can't believe her! If my younger brother brought people to visit, I'd at LEAST be cordial!"
Kat and Bridget tried to soothe her, but she quickly calmed on her own. "I want to know what he's saying," she said over her shoulder as she stealthily followed the path Trowa and Cathy had taken. Kat and Bridget let her go, admittedly curious themselves.
Maggie snuck around behind the tent, listening carefully to the heated voices inside.
"You are NOT ruining this this time for me, Catherine! These people are my FRIENDS. They CARE about me. I know you do, too, but my world can not revolve around you alone!"
Maggie smothered a giggle at the shocked look on Cathy's face.
"But.... we're FAMILY, Trowa!"
"They are my family, too. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get ready."