"I can't TAKE this anymore!" Maggie's hand slamming on the table caused Duo to jerk his head up, blinking sleep out of his eyes.
"Jeez, Mag, take a chill pill," he yawned. "I was sleeping!"
"Looks like your girlfriend still is, Maxwell," she retorted, shooting a pointed look at Julie, who was sleeping on Duo's shoulder.
"This is getting ridiculous, guys. Bridget and Kat are constantly avoiding each other. Bridget even mentioned leaving once... thank GOD I was there to talk her out of THAT one."
Relena leaned forward. "Seems to me we have a GIANT case of UST."
Heero frowned when Maggie laughed, nodding. "UST?"
Maggie's grin grew wider, which Trowa, standing against the wall, was glad to see. She had been so worried about Bridget and Kat for the past two weeks, she was hardly eating or sleeping. Neither was Bridget.
"Unresolved Sexual Tension, Heero," Duo said in a worldly tone.
"How do YOU know, Maxwell? Not like you've ever had to deal with it," muttered Julie, eyes fluttering open.
He smirked at her. "Hey, I had to deal with it for a week!"
"You're lucky that I decided to take matters into my OWN hands."
"ENOUGH!"
The two looked at Maggie like a pair of guilty children.
"I am NOT here to talk about your sex life, thank you very much...and I NEVER WILL."
"Thank God," muttered Trowa in assent.
Suddenly the door opened. "Hey, Maggie?" asked a soft voice.
Maggie looked up quickly. "Oh! Hey, B, what's up?"
Relena quickly had to put on her political face mask to cover her shock. Bridget looked terrible. Her face was puffy and there were dark circles under her eyes that were barely covered by makeup.
"Will you spar with me?"
Wufei went to open his mouth, then thought better of it and closed it again.
"Sure, Bridget, but I'd like Wufei to watch, if that's ok with you?"
"Yeah, ok."
"Give me ten minutes?"
"Sure, meet you outside."
The door closed, and Maggie sank into a chair, head in her hands. A fluent chain of cursing came from under her hair.
"Mags?"
She lifted her head wearily to look at Julie.
"What's wrong?"
"She's not ready to spar! She's had about 5 hours of sleep, I'm fighting her to eat, it's not good!"
Trowa spoke up from the corner angrily. "Oh, and YOU can spar?"
She spun on him. "What?"
Trowa refused to back down as the others watched, fascinated. "You don't eat, either, and you spend the hours you SHOULD be sleeping watching to make sure Bridget does! You're less fit to spar than she is!"
Maggie glared at him and took a step forward, swaying on her feet slightly. No one saw it, however. "Don't EVER insinuate that I am less than healthy, Barton, or you won't live to regret it," she said in a dangerously low voice.
"I'm not insinuating... I'm TELLING you you're less than healthy."
Maggie simply balled up her fist. "I'm warning you, Trowa..."
"YOU'RE warning ME?"
Boom. Maggie uppercutted him in the jaw and brushed past him to go fight Bridget. Wufei and Relena helped Trowa to his feet, and he was instantly out the door and after Maggie. Wufei followed.
"Ready, Maggie?" asked Bridget as she saw Maggie storm out of the house.
"Yeah, Bridget, let's go."
They had only been sparring for a few moments when Wufei and Trowa came out, striding toward them quickly. Wufei seemed to be trying to slow Trowa down, to no effect. Maggie and Bridget ignored them. Bridget lashed out with a foot half heartedly, a move Maggie blocked 100% of the time. This time, however, it caught Maggie squarely in the stomach, and she went down. Bridget hurried to her side, knowing something was wrong. Trowa came running, while Wufei turned around and quickly moved back to the house.
"Maggie, you baka, why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well!?"
Maggie tried to push herself up on her elbows with little success. "I feel fine," she said, words slightly slurred.
"Yeah, right," said Bridget, not feeling too well herself. She tried to help Maggie to her feet, which ended with them both on the ground.
"Oh, yeah, THIS worked well," Maggie said sarcastically. Suddenly she was in someone's arms. "What the he- Ok, I'm REALLY high... Trowa, put me down!"
Trowa smirked at her. "Oh, yeah, right. We saw how well you and Bridget managed to stand up, let alone walk."
"We?"
Maggie heard Bridget's weak voice say, "Let me go," and her eyes widened.
"Oh, Trowa, PLEASE don't tell me Kat is the "we" you were talking about."
Trowa shook his head. "I'm not going to lie to make you feel better, sorry. You'd just kill me later for lying, anyway."
"Point," Maggie said, eyes drifting shut.
"Are you ok?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah... just a little dizzy...and if you say I told you so, I swear to God..."
"Kat?"
"Yes, Bridget?" he answered after a short, uncomfortable silence.
"I'm sorry."
Kat's eyebrows rose. Bridget's eyes were tightly shut, her face turned into his vest.
"It's ok, Bridget, really," he answered as he and Trowa started up the steps of the house. Relena met them in the entryway. "Dr. Bayth is on her way, Kat."
"Oh, no!" said Maggie. "I don't think so!"
Trowa gave her a sarcastic look that she could feel rather than see, since her eyes were closed. "What are you going to do about it? It's not like you have much strength to begin with at the moment," he pointed out.
"You just wait till tomorrow, Barton," she insisted. "You'll wish you never said that."
At this point, Trowa was laying her down on her bed upstairs, and Kat was doing to same for Bridget. Suddenly Maggie frowned.
"What?" asked Trowa suspiciously.
Maggie reached up and touched the bottom of his jaw. "Sorry," she whispered. It was starting to swell from her earlier punch.
"It... It's ok, Maggie. Kat, I'm going downstairs to wait for Dr. Bayth," he said, quickly leaving.
Kat sighed as Bridget giggled at Trowa's obvious discomfiture. Kat quickly knelt and pulled off Bridget's boots. "There," he said, pulling the covers over her. He followed Bridget's line of sight to Maggie, who seemed to be passed out on the top of her bed.
"Patient #2," he sighed with a smile, moving over to loosen Maggie's boots.
Without opening her eyes, Maggie muttered," "Shut up Kat... I am NOT a patient, and tomorrow I'm gonna be fine, ok?"
"Right," he said as he moved her legs to cover her with the sheet. "You just keep telling yourself that."
"I will," she insisted, eyes opening for a second to glare at him, then closing as she picked up her teddy bear. She had bought it because it looked like her bear from home. He was named, appropriately, 'Mr. Bear.'
Kat turned to frown at Bridget. "Don't you have a stuffed animal?"
"No, I- Kat, where are you going?"
"I'll be back in a minute... just lie still, ok?"
"Sure thing, Quatre Raberba Winner," she said in a sing song voice that made him shiver.
~Oh, no, you don't,~ his mind reprimanded. ~She's sick. Besides, you saw her reaction the last time. FORGET. IT.~
He finally found what he was looking for in a closet. He went back with the object held behind him. He froze in the doorway, though, at the sound of singing coming from the inside. He blinked in surprise as he realized the voice was Bridget's. ~Wow.~
He waited until the song was over to whisper, "Bridget?"
She looked up. "Hey, Kat... what's behind your back?"
He smiled. "A present for you." Bridget looked confused.
"A present? For what?"
~Man, she is OUT of it.~ " Because you didn't threaten Trowa or my life, unlike..."
"Her," Bridget finished triumphantly, pointing at the passed out Maggie.
"And... because I'm sorry," Kat said softly.
Bridget looked solemn. "Well, then, that's that. So, what's my present?"
Kat laughed; she had said it with the earnestness of a child on her birthday. "Here." He took from behind his back a stuffed penguin.
"Ooh!" Bridget's face lit up as she took it. She hugged at and smiled at him. "Thank you for the Quatre-Penguin," she said.
Kat laughed. "What, are you naming it after me?" he asked.
"Yup," she answered as she reached up to unbraid one of her pigtails.
"Here, I'll do it," Kat offered.
"Sure, thanks," Bridget said, moving over on the bed so he could sit behind her.
"Hey, Bridget?"
"Yeah?"
"What were you singing when I came in?" he ventured.
"Huh? Oh, that? That's 'White Reflection.' I was singing it in Japanese to help Mags sleep... she's used to it... but I could sing it in English if you like."
"Yes, please."
I feel your love reflection
Far away painted in your eyes
as you gaze back at me
Never ending story…
The wings of courage you gave to me, I spread them open in my heart; Their fluttering seems to shake off the sadness and painful scars…
Ah, I want to feel the pain of the pulsing,
The shining of the irreplaceable --- of irreplaceable love
I feel your love reflection
Pile up the dreams ever thickly
The young ones who desire each other --- fearless of making mistakes!
I feel your love reflection
Far away painted in your eyes
as you gaze back at me
Never ending story…
I want to softly communicate to your bare skin the feelings that are spilling over,
As if hugging close the strength to become gentle…
Ah, I just want to nobly and lithely
overcome this unstable age --- these unstable days…
I feel your love reflection
The truth of our acceptance of each other
Kiss me --- and there's nothing else that I'll need!
I feel your love reflection
Believe in the passion that will not give up
Our piercing through the eternal battle
Never ending story…
I feel your love reflection
Pile up the dreams ever thickly
The young ones who desire each other --- fearless of making mistakes! I feel your love reflection
Far away painted in your eyes
as you gaze back at me
Kat had finished unbraiding and brushing her hair and just sat listening to her, barely breathing. She finished and realized this, turning around to take her hand. "Kat?"
He slowly opened his eyes and whispered, "What?"
Bridget kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She turned back around and leaned backwards, resting her head on his shoulder.
~This isn't fair.~
"Quatre," she said, playing with his hand as she looked up at him and moved closer.
"Don't do that," he muttered softly.
"Oookkkkk," she said, hugging the penguin close and closing her eyes softly. Soon she fell asleep.
~Allah, this is NOT funny.~ "Why am I being tortured?" he asked the ceiling. Bridget sighed contentedly in her sleep. He looked down and smiled. She looked so pretty with her hair down.
~Definitely NOT fair,~ he decided.
"Quatre?" asked an amused voice. His head shot up and he blushed furiously at the sight of Dr. Bayth and Rashid in the doorway.
"Doyouneedmetostaycauseifyoudon'tIthinkI'mgonnagonow," he said in a rush, easing out from behind Bridget.
She made a sound in her throat and her eyes fluttered open. "Kat?"
"Shh. Dr. Bayth is here. I'm going to let her look at you in peace. I'll come back to visit you later, ok?"
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise."
"Ok, Quatre. Bye."
"Bye," he said... and Rashid noted the involuntary shiver that went through him before he left.
"Nice to see he has the same hormones as any 15 year old boy might," chuckled Dr. Bayth as she went to close the door.
After a swift examination, Dr. Bayth confirmed their suspicion. "You girls are very lucky it's not worse. How long have you been sick.. and be truthful," she aimed at a squirming Maggie.
"Only two weeks," said Bridget.
"Maggie?"
"Amonthandahalf."
"Maggie!"
"Oh. leave me alone, it was just a cold."
"Well, cold or no, it did its job. A month of bedrest, and take your medicine."
"A MONTH?!"
"Maggie."
"Yes, Dr. Bayth," she muttered.
~*~ Meanwhile ~*~
Kat went downstairs at a run, pausing only to glare at Trowa, whose was lounging on the couch. "Chicken," he spat as he went past him, out the glass doors, and into the pool... fully clothed.
Dr. Bayth came down to find a dripping Kat yelling at Trowa. "It's just not fair! Shut up, Trowa! Why don't YOU go up there while MAGGIE'S sick and see how long you last!"
"With this reminder?" Trowa pointed to his jaw. "Uh-uh. Not until I have to-"
"Trrrroooooooowwwaaaa," came a voice from upstairs. Kat snickered at the horrified look on Trowa's face.
"Maggie's calling you," he said pointedly.
"No. Way."
"Trowa... come here for a sec... I need to ask you somtin..."
Kat pushed him to the stairwell. "Go."
"Jeez, Mag, take a chill pill," he yawned. "I was sleeping!"
"Looks like your girlfriend still is, Maxwell," she retorted, shooting a pointed look at Julie, who was sleeping on Duo's shoulder.
"This is getting ridiculous, guys. Bridget and Kat are constantly avoiding each other. Bridget even mentioned leaving once... thank GOD I was there to talk her out of THAT one."
Relena leaned forward. "Seems to me we have a GIANT case of UST."
Heero frowned when Maggie laughed, nodding. "UST?"
Maggie's grin grew wider, which Trowa, standing against the wall, was glad to see. She had been so worried about Bridget and Kat for the past two weeks, she was hardly eating or sleeping. Neither was Bridget.
"Unresolved Sexual Tension, Heero," Duo said in a worldly tone.
"How do YOU know, Maxwell? Not like you've ever had to deal with it," muttered Julie, eyes fluttering open.
He smirked at her. "Hey, I had to deal with it for a week!"
"You're lucky that I decided to take matters into my OWN hands."
"ENOUGH!"
The two looked at Maggie like a pair of guilty children.
"I am NOT here to talk about your sex life, thank you very much...and I NEVER WILL."
"Thank God," muttered Trowa in assent.
Suddenly the door opened. "Hey, Maggie?" asked a soft voice.
Maggie looked up quickly. "Oh! Hey, B, what's up?"
Relena quickly had to put on her political face mask to cover her shock. Bridget looked terrible. Her face was puffy and there were dark circles under her eyes that were barely covered by makeup.
"Will you spar with me?"
Wufei went to open his mouth, then thought better of it and closed it again.
"Sure, Bridget, but I'd like Wufei to watch, if that's ok with you?"
"Yeah, ok."
"Give me ten minutes?"
"Sure, meet you outside."
The door closed, and Maggie sank into a chair, head in her hands. A fluent chain of cursing came from under her hair.
"Mags?"
She lifted her head wearily to look at Julie.
"What's wrong?"
"She's not ready to spar! She's had about 5 hours of sleep, I'm fighting her to eat, it's not good!"
Trowa spoke up from the corner angrily. "Oh, and YOU can spar?"
She spun on him. "What?"
Trowa refused to back down as the others watched, fascinated. "You don't eat, either, and you spend the hours you SHOULD be sleeping watching to make sure Bridget does! You're less fit to spar than she is!"
Maggie glared at him and took a step forward, swaying on her feet slightly. No one saw it, however. "Don't EVER insinuate that I am less than healthy, Barton, or you won't live to regret it," she said in a dangerously low voice.
"I'm not insinuating... I'm TELLING you you're less than healthy."
Maggie simply balled up her fist. "I'm warning you, Trowa..."
"YOU'RE warning ME?"
Boom. Maggie uppercutted him in the jaw and brushed past him to go fight Bridget. Wufei and Relena helped Trowa to his feet, and he was instantly out the door and after Maggie. Wufei followed.
"Ready, Maggie?" asked Bridget as she saw Maggie storm out of the house.
"Yeah, Bridget, let's go."
They had only been sparring for a few moments when Wufei and Trowa came out, striding toward them quickly. Wufei seemed to be trying to slow Trowa down, to no effect. Maggie and Bridget ignored them. Bridget lashed out with a foot half heartedly, a move Maggie blocked 100% of the time. This time, however, it caught Maggie squarely in the stomach, and she went down. Bridget hurried to her side, knowing something was wrong. Trowa came running, while Wufei turned around and quickly moved back to the house.
"Maggie, you baka, why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well!?"
Maggie tried to push herself up on her elbows with little success. "I feel fine," she said, words slightly slurred.
"Yeah, right," said Bridget, not feeling too well herself. She tried to help Maggie to her feet, which ended with them both on the ground.
"Oh, yeah, THIS worked well," Maggie said sarcastically. Suddenly she was in someone's arms. "What the he- Ok, I'm REALLY high... Trowa, put me down!"
Trowa smirked at her. "Oh, yeah, right. We saw how well you and Bridget managed to stand up, let alone walk."
"We?"
Maggie heard Bridget's weak voice say, "Let me go," and her eyes widened.
"Oh, Trowa, PLEASE don't tell me Kat is the "we" you were talking about."
Trowa shook his head. "I'm not going to lie to make you feel better, sorry. You'd just kill me later for lying, anyway."
"Point," Maggie said, eyes drifting shut.
"Are you ok?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah... just a little dizzy...and if you say I told you so, I swear to God..."
"Kat?"
"Yes, Bridget?" he answered after a short, uncomfortable silence.
"I'm sorry."
Kat's eyebrows rose. Bridget's eyes were tightly shut, her face turned into his vest.
"It's ok, Bridget, really," he answered as he and Trowa started up the steps of the house. Relena met them in the entryway. "Dr. Bayth is on her way, Kat."
"Oh, no!" said Maggie. "I don't think so!"
Trowa gave her a sarcastic look that she could feel rather than see, since her eyes were closed. "What are you going to do about it? It's not like you have much strength to begin with at the moment," he pointed out.
"You just wait till tomorrow, Barton," she insisted. "You'll wish you never said that."
At this point, Trowa was laying her down on her bed upstairs, and Kat was doing to same for Bridget. Suddenly Maggie frowned.
"What?" asked Trowa suspiciously.
Maggie reached up and touched the bottom of his jaw. "Sorry," she whispered. It was starting to swell from her earlier punch.
"It... It's ok, Maggie. Kat, I'm going downstairs to wait for Dr. Bayth," he said, quickly leaving.
Kat sighed as Bridget giggled at Trowa's obvious discomfiture. Kat quickly knelt and pulled off Bridget's boots. "There," he said, pulling the covers over her. He followed Bridget's line of sight to Maggie, who seemed to be passed out on the top of her bed.
"Patient #2," he sighed with a smile, moving over to loosen Maggie's boots.
Without opening her eyes, Maggie muttered," "Shut up Kat... I am NOT a patient, and tomorrow I'm gonna be fine, ok?"
"Right," he said as he moved her legs to cover her with the sheet. "You just keep telling yourself that."
"I will," she insisted, eyes opening for a second to glare at him, then closing as she picked up her teddy bear. She had bought it because it looked like her bear from home. He was named, appropriately, 'Mr. Bear.'
Kat turned to frown at Bridget. "Don't you have a stuffed animal?"
"No, I- Kat, where are you going?"
"I'll be back in a minute... just lie still, ok?"
"Sure thing, Quatre Raberba Winner," she said in a sing song voice that made him shiver.
~Oh, no, you don't,~ his mind reprimanded. ~She's sick. Besides, you saw her reaction the last time. FORGET. IT.~
He finally found what he was looking for in a closet. He went back with the object held behind him. He froze in the doorway, though, at the sound of singing coming from the inside. He blinked in surprise as he realized the voice was Bridget's. ~Wow.~
He waited until the song was over to whisper, "Bridget?"
She looked up. "Hey, Kat... what's behind your back?"
He smiled. "A present for you." Bridget looked confused.
"A present? For what?"
~Man, she is OUT of it.~ " Because you didn't threaten Trowa or my life, unlike..."
"Her," Bridget finished triumphantly, pointing at the passed out Maggie.
"And... because I'm sorry," Kat said softly.
Bridget looked solemn. "Well, then, that's that. So, what's my present?"
Kat laughed; she had said it with the earnestness of a child on her birthday. "Here." He took from behind his back a stuffed penguin.
"Ooh!" Bridget's face lit up as she took it. She hugged at and smiled at him. "Thank you for the Quatre-Penguin," she said.
Kat laughed. "What, are you naming it after me?" he asked.
"Yup," she answered as she reached up to unbraid one of her pigtails.
"Here, I'll do it," Kat offered.
"Sure, thanks," Bridget said, moving over on the bed so he could sit behind her.
"Hey, Bridget?"
"Yeah?"
"What were you singing when I came in?" he ventured.
"Huh? Oh, that? That's 'White Reflection.' I was singing it in Japanese to help Mags sleep... she's used to it... but I could sing it in English if you like."
"Yes, please."
I feel your love reflection
Far away painted in your eyes
as you gaze back at me
Never ending story…
The wings of courage you gave to me, I spread them open in my heart; Their fluttering seems to shake off the sadness and painful scars…
Ah, I want to feel the pain of the pulsing,
The shining of the irreplaceable --- of irreplaceable love
I feel your love reflection
Pile up the dreams ever thickly
The young ones who desire each other --- fearless of making mistakes!
I feel your love reflection
Far away painted in your eyes
as you gaze back at me
Never ending story…
I want to softly communicate to your bare skin the feelings that are spilling over,
As if hugging close the strength to become gentle…
Ah, I just want to nobly and lithely
overcome this unstable age --- these unstable days…
I feel your love reflection
The truth of our acceptance of each other
Kiss me --- and there's nothing else that I'll need!
I feel your love reflection
Believe in the passion that will not give up
Our piercing through the eternal battle
Never ending story…
I feel your love reflection
Pile up the dreams ever thickly
The young ones who desire each other --- fearless of making mistakes! I feel your love reflection
Far away painted in your eyes
as you gaze back at me
Kat had finished unbraiding and brushing her hair and just sat listening to her, barely breathing. She finished and realized this, turning around to take her hand. "Kat?"
He slowly opened his eyes and whispered, "What?"
Bridget kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She turned back around and leaned backwards, resting her head on his shoulder.
~This isn't fair.~
"Quatre," she said, playing with his hand as she looked up at him and moved closer.
"Don't do that," he muttered softly.
"Oookkkkk," she said, hugging the penguin close and closing her eyes softly. Soon she fell asleep.
~Allah, this is NOT funny.~ "Why am I being tortured?" he asked the ceiling. Bridget sighed contentedly in her sleep. He looked down and smiled. She looked so pretty with her hair down.
~Definitely NOT fair,~ he decided.
"Quatre?" asked an amused voice. His head shot up and he blushed furiously at the sight of Dr. Bayth and Rashid in the doorway.
"Doyouneedmetostaycauseifyoudon'tIthinkI'mgonnagonow," he said in a rush, easing out from behind Bridget.
She made a sound in her throat and her eyes fluttered open. "Kat?"
"Shh. Dr. Bayth is here. I'm going to let her look at you in peace. I'll come back to visit you later, ok?"
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise."
"Ok, Quatre. Bye."
"Bye," he said... and Rashid noted the involuntary shiver that went through him before he left.
"Nice to see he has the same hormones as any 15 year old boy might," chuckled Dr. Bayth as she went to close the door.
After a swift examination, Dr. Bayth confirmed their suspicion. "You girls are very lucky it's not worse. How long have you been sick.. and be truthful," she aimed at a squirming Maggie.
"Only two weeks," said Bridget.
"Maggie?"
"Amonthandahalf."
"Maggie!"
"Oh. leave me alone, it was just a cold."
"Well, cold or no, it did its job. A month of bedrest, and take your medicine."
"A MONTH?!"
"Maggie."
"Yes, Dr. Bayth," she muttered.
~*~ Meanwhile ~*~
Kat went downstairs at a run, pausing only to glare at Trowa, whose was lounging on the couch. "Chicken," he spat as he went past him, out the glass doors, and into the pool... fully clothed.
Dr. Bayth came down to find a dripping Kat yelling at Trowa. "It's just not fair! Shut up, Trowa! Why don't YOU go up there while MAGGIE'S sick and see how long you last!"
"With this reminder?" Trowa pointed to his jaw. "Uh-uh. Not until I have to-"
"Trrrroooooooowwwaaaa," came a voice from upstairs. Kat snickered at the horrified look on Trowa's face.
"Maggie's calling you," he said pointedly.
"No. Way."
"Trowa... come here for a sec... I need to ask you somtin..."
Kat pushed him to the stairwell. "Go."