I'm back! I'm not dead... I think... Anywho, I just thought I'd give a little update on where the story is right now...
Alley has moved in and they're all in a big house on X381999, which, for everyone who hasn't watched Endless Waltz, is one of the newer colonies. It's been several months since we met Alley. And beware, there's a few warm fuzzies in this chapter...
I also just want to say, this story is my spare time fic and it's a way of including all my friends in my writing, ie, more original characters will be appearing.
This is also a makeup chapter for all the short chapters in my other fics. I had to break it off because it is twenty-five pages in Microsoft Word, so part 2 will be coming sometime...
In the meantime, enjoy
A Summer of Love
Part 1 A Summer of Love
JUNE 17th, SOME YEAR, SOME HOUR, SOME MINUTE
Heero and Relena were enjoying a nice dinner at a nice restaurant, for the first time in several months, without any shouting. Heero's palms were sweating in his lap, and Relena still had no clue what the whole deal was. She was as perplexed as Heero had been when he had confronted his friends several days before with a very, very difficult question.
SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE
It was Wednesday night, the guys alone night, or the girls-go-out-somewhere-and-don't-come-back-until-midnight night. Heero walked into the kitchen and swiped a beer from the fridge. He didn't generally drink alcoholic beverages, but tonight, he had a problem. Unfortunately, the guys were the only ones around to ask, but he supposed that they might sympathize with him more.
No one said anything. Rather, Duo raised his eyebrows as Heero took a sip of beer, grimaced and chugged the rest back. Everyone at the table looked at him expectantly.
"Er… Guys, I have a problem…"
"And I suggest AA… or something like that…" Duo was his usual smart-alec self.
"No… bigger than that," Heero felt himself go red.
"You didn't get Relena pregnant, did you?" Quatre's eyes widened to the diameter of dinner plates.
"No, nothing like that," Heero searched for words. "It's just, I don't know how I should propose to Relena."
There was absolute silence in the kitchen. It was kind of eerie, really, the way they all just sat there and stared at him.
"Are you serious?" Duo asked, carefully putting his mug down so that he didn't drop it.
"Yeah… I mean… although we don't get along really well all the time…"
There was a snort of laughter from somewhere in the room and a whisper, 'biggest understatement of the year, that one.'
"And – and I still love her… a lot…"
Trowa came to his rescue, "Just ask. Take her out to a nice dinner, make sure you pay the whole bill, and pop the question."
"O – okay…" Heero didn't really like the way Trowa had said 'pop the question'.
Now he was here, with the woman he loved the most sitting right across from him. And she didn't even know it. He sighed inwardly and took a sip of water.
"So, Heero, why are we here? You haven't really answered my questions," Relena gave Heero a critical look. "Did you do something really bad that you want me to forgive you for?"
"N – No." Now was the opportune moment, but it was so hard to say it. "Relena, if I – If I asked you to marry me, would you say yes?"
Her eyes lit up almost instantly, "I suppose I could. So, yes, I'll marry you."
That was a relief. She had been able to get the point without him having to say anything.
Heero smiled at her and pulled a small box out of his pocket.
"Then you'll need this," he said casually as he handed it across the table.
She pushed the lid up gently and pulled out a plain gold ring, engraved on the inside with the simple message, 'I love you'. She slid it onto her finger and admired it in the candlelight.
"Thank you," was all that she said, but he knew she meant it with all her heart.
Then, the moment was almost ruined as a resounding 'awww' echoed from all the far reaches of the restaurant. Heero blushed and looked down at his lap, but secretly, he wasn't embarrassed at all. Why shouldn't it be this way?
Relena merely smiled around at all of them and went back to eating her dinner. Her cheeks, however, flushed slightly and a foolish grin crept secretly onto her face. But she was happy, and that was all that counted, right?
Relena was unusually quiet for the next week. There was no shouting, nobody ran away from her, so, naturally, everyone was terrified. Everyone except Heero, that is. This, of course, made it almost unbearably frightening, considering he was the one that was usually running the fastest. (Except Wu Fei, when Hilde was in exceptional need of an arm to cling onto.) The girls eventually accepted this as a good thing, and settled back into the regular routine of life. The boys took it a little harder and avoided Relena for the whole week instead of just two or three days. Life settled down, that much was true, but there was still a strange aura that hung around Heero and Relena. It was like, well, Relena didn't have constant PMS anymore.
Then, after it finally seemed that the dust had settled, Yoshiko decided to kick it up a notch. It was a Tuesday morning, and she wasn't her usual grumpy self. Instead, she skipped into the kitchen, grabbed a slice of bread, ate it in one or two bites and bounced to the door. Everyone followed her in awe, slightly afraid of this new happy virus that seemed to be spreading to the most sinister members of their household. Before she turned to go out the door, she reached up and gave Duo a kiss. It wasn't just any peck on the cheek, as she usually did before she left for work. This, my friends, was a full, on the lips kiss, like young couples kiss goodnight on the doorstep before parting ways (in the movies at least). Then, she turned and skipped out the door, calling back a 'Goodbye!' in the most cheerful of voices.
As the door closed behind her, everyone turned to stare, dumbstruck, at Duo.
"Did she do something bad lately?" Quatre asked.
Duo just stood there, staring at the door. She hadn't kissed him like that since – since they were seventeen. Seventeen was five years ago, before she'd gotten mad at him for going out with Hilde and stormed off for three years. If he had been able to speak, he would have answered Quatre's question without any hesitation. That was not the kiss of a woman trying to hide something. Love was in the air again. That made him happy.
"Where does she work anyway?" Wu Fei asked, naively changing the subject, unaware of what seemed to be happening. (Don't ask me how he could be unaware, but he is.)
"Right now, I think she's recruiting new Preventors," Trowa answered.
"Then maybe she could explain why most of the new recruits in my department are either female or gay."
Wu Fei confronted Yoshiko at supper that night.
Her answer was simple. "I don't hire people who do nothing but stare at my chest through the whole interview."
Duo stiffened aggressively, but she shot him a look that said 'I can handle myself'.
"That would explain it. But we can't have all females, we need guys – that aren't gay."
"Tell the other people who are recruiting. That's not my problem."
"But-"
"Don't mess with me. Some guy was hitting on me at lunch today, and when I told him off, he just tried to come onto me."
Duo's arm crept protectively around her shoulders.
"I socked him one in the face. I don't think I should go back to that diner any time soon."
Wu Fei sighed and looked at her flatly, "I think you take offense to too much. Hiring all females could get you fired for being sexist."
"I told them I want to be transferred, but no one listens to me. Maybe you should complain that I should be transferred."
"If I complain, then it would sound like you're doing a really bad job and I want them to fire you."
Sensing the conversation was going no where, Relena stepped in. "I could talk to Une or Sally, and they could get you transferred."
"Then it seems like I'm using my connections to do things other people can't do. I wouldn't be really well liked," Yoshiko leaned back in her chair and stared into the light that hung over the table, "although, I'm sure people hate me as it is."
"People don't hate you as such," Wu Fei explained, "they just are kinda annoyed that you are only hiring females and gay guys."
She sighed and picked up her fork, stabbing a piece of meat repeatedly. Wu Fei took the hint and shut up. He didn't want to get on the wrong side of her when she'd had a bad day.
"So," Clare said brightly, obviously about to change the subject, "how are the wedding plans coming?"
Heero and Relena stared flatly at her.
"We haven't even decided on a date for the wedding yet, and you're asking how the wedding plans are?" they said in perfect, toneless unison.
Clare suddenly looked uncomfortable, stood up, and began to clear the table.
"Um, Clare?" Trowa pulled her back into her seat. "We haven't started yet."
"Right."
The rest of the meal was silent, punctuated only by Yoshiko's random displays of anger, in the form of stabbing a knife into the nearest piece of food.
That night, Duo walked out of his room to get a midnight snack when he heard Yoshiko sobbing in her room. He gently opened the door, careful to make as little noise as possible. Yoshiko's face was hidden in her pillow and her shoulders shook with her sobs. Her hands clenched and unclenched and he noticed that in her left hand, she held her pager, which she clenched tighter and tighter each time. He sat down beside her on the bed and gently pried the pager out of her hand before she crushed it. She made no sign of acknowledgement, but continued to sob.
He turned the bedside lamp on so he could read the message that was on the screen. Then he understood why she was so upset. It was a notice saying that she had been laid off, and she was to come into work the next day to clean out her desk. Even worse, there was the name of the person who was to replace her. A new employee, by the name of Alley Jamesson. (AN: Yes that is the same Alley that is Trowa's girlfriend, and yes I know I didn't put her last name into the last chapter.)
He gently stroked Yoshiko's hair until she stopped shaking. She lifted her head from the pillow and sat up slowly. Her breath came in gasps, but she seemed to be all right otherwise. She looked tearfully at Duo, and then leaned forward and hugged him tightly. He felt her fists clench behind his back. He put the pager on the bedside table and put his arms around her. He rocked her back and forth gently for a long time until she drifted off to sleep, and he fell asleep beside her.
The next morning, Alley was all smiles as she went on about her new job. It was just a desk job for now, but she was convinced she was going to like it – because it meant she got money. She didn't appear to notice the fierce glares Yoshiko was sending her way all through breakfast.
"They say that I'm replacing someone else. I feel sorry for them, but I guess they weren't doing their best."
At that point, Yoshiko got up rather hastily and announced that she was leaving for work.
"But you don't have to be there for two hours at least," Alley pointed out, "I hoped we could go together."
"I have things I need to do," Yoshiko managed to grate out before she left the room.
Duo followed her out. As Yoshiko jammed her feet into her shoes and forcefully pulled her jacket on, he tried to reassure her.
"It's not like Alley knows that she's replacing you," he ventured.
"'Maybe they weren't doing their best'," she mimicked Alley. "I did my best, but they won't listen when I try to explain."
"What happened last night? Why did they call you at home, and that late at night?"
"Maybe so I could go in early and avoid the shame of being seen leaving with all my stuff," she snapped, and Duo saw tears well in her eyes. He tried to give her a hug, but she avoided him and stormed out the door, slamming it in his face. He noticed that she wasn't wearing her uniform jacket.
"What was that all about?" Wu Fei asked, walking into the room.
Duo looked at him, "I don't think I should tell you, considering she's really mad at you from last night."
"I didn't mean it. I think it's perfectly okay. Other people hire guys, she just happens to have an aversion to some guys."
"Well you could have said that. She's having a really rough time right now, you know."
"I kinda figured from the door slamming bit, and why are you so snappish right now?" He looked at Duo warily. "What's wrong with you?"
Duo sighed and beckoned Wu Fei to follow him to a more secluded part of the house where they wouldn't be overheard. "I'll tell you, but you can't tell her that you know, because then I'd be dead meat."
"Okay…"
Duo told him what had happened the previous night. Wu Fei nodded in understanding.
"I can't believe they fired her. She's been a Preventor since the war against the Barton foundation and they just fired her."
"Yeah, and you wanna know who's taking her place?"
"Who?"
"Alley."
"Are you serious? That's why Yoshiko was giving her looks that could have reduced even Zechs to a whimpering something-or-other."
"Zechs? Are you sure? I would think that someone who has that much ice in his veins would be able to withstand such looks."
"Yoshiko has a rather fiery personality."
"Tell me about it. When we first met – we were six or so – she decked me because she was afraid I would tell someone where she was living."
"Ouch… Your girlfriends have a habit of doing that… different reasons, same reaction."
"Don't remind me."
They sat in silence for awhile before Wu Fei glanced at his watch.
"I've got to get going. I'm supposed to get to work early today. Early meeting, you know."
"Mm hmm, sure," Duo knew where he was going and he wasn't quite in the mood to stop him. If Yoshiko wanted to maul Duo when she got home, he deserved it.
Wu Fei walked away and Duo heard the door slam in the distance. A swear drifted in through an open window as Wu Fei apparently discovered that Yoshiko had made off with his car. Duo found the window and watched as Wu Fei shrugged and headed towards the nearby bus stop. He leaned on the windowsill until a bus came and Wu Fei disappeared into the doors.
Duo sighed and tried to find a bright side to the whole 'Yoshiko-losing-her-job' thing. After squeezing his eyes shut and calling upon his limited powers of imagination, he realized that, as he too was unemployed, the two of them could spend more time together. He smiled and walked back to the kitchen to help Clare wash the dishes before she disappeared to wherever it was that she worked.
Wu Fei walked into the office building, navigating carefully through the dark hallways until he found a door with a light shining from under it. A number of banging sounds and noises of frustration emanated from somewhere behind it, so he figured he was at the right place. He had never been to Yoshiko's office before, but the whole 'Knock or Die' sign on the door seemed about right. He raised his hand to knock, but the loud noises continued, so he just opened the door.
Yoshiko stood with her back to him, knee deep in paper shreds in the middle of the room, stray desk drawers scattered over the floor and a big box full of personal possessions and other important stuff. (At least Wu Fei assumed it was, as the large black felt pen letters on the side suggested it.) She seemed to be about done the banging and such, as she heaved a huge sigh and sat down on the mound of paper shreds in a dejected manner.
"You know, you're gonna have to clean that up before you go," Wu Fei said to her slouched back.
She jumped and turned her head until she could see who it was.
"Oh. It's you. I just want to be alone for awhile."
"Alley's gonna be here to move in just under a half an hour," he said, leaning against the doorframe. He handed her the sign, which he had taken off the door.
"Thanks," she took the sign, stood up and shoved it into her box. Then, she grabbed a plastic garbage bag from the corner and began to shove paper shreds into it.
"What did you shred anyway?"
"Just some important documents that took me two hours to finish and then they wouldn't even look at them," she finished stuffing the bag full, tied the top shut and tossed it at Wu Fei. "Put that by the rest of the garbage for me, will you?"
He complied, returning moments later as she put the desk drawers back into their proper places.
"And why did you have to take my car?"
"Because my car won't fit a lot of my crap. Especially since I'm taking my plant home." She gestured to a rather large plant that looked like it was a cross between a fern and a spider plant.
"What is that thing?"
"I dunno. Just something that I found in a plant shop for cheap. His name's Bob."
"You name your plants."
"Uh huh."
"And you called him Bob."
"Yup. And you called Bob a him."
"Shush."
"You named your plant too."
"Yup."
Yoshiko looked across the room at him and grinned. "Glad to see I'm not the only insane one in the family."
Wu Fei smiled too, and said, "Look. I'll take your stuff home in my car and you can phone Duo and ask him to bring your car, or take the bus or something, because I've got some crap I've got to bring home tonight too. Capeesh?"
"Yeah, sure," she smiled, "I'm going to the park, you know, the one down the street."
Wu Fei nodded and watched as she slowly made her way to the door of the room and out into the hallway.
"Oh," she turned as she stepped out the door, "my car keys are in the left pocket of my other jacket – y'know the Preventors one?"
"Oh – okay."
She stuck her hands in her pockets and walked down the hallway. Wu Fei watched his friend until the stairwell door slammed shut after her, cutting off his view of her retreating back.
He leaned against the wall for a moment, musing aloud, "Why do I work still work here, anyway? This organization has become more of a police service, helping with small crimes, ever since the war against the Barton Foundation."
He shrugged and stood up, straightening the room up a bit before picking up Yoshiko's box of random stuff and leaving for his own office.
As the door shut behind him, the rising sun's rays illuminated a picture hanging crookedly on the wall, its glass shattered.
Duo was wandering in a lost manner through the house as various people got ready to go to their various jobs, when the telephone rang. He waited for several rings before realizing he was the only one who would pick it up.
"Yellow?"
"Orange," a familiar voice crackled through the line.
"Hello, Wu Fei. How's 'Shiko doin'?"
"Got a new nickname for her, huh?"
"I used to call her that when we were dating for the first time."
"I see. But you should probably go talk to her."
"Go? Where is she? Isn't she there?"
"She left awhile ago. Said she was going down to the park that's down the road from the office."
"I see, but how do I get there? If you haven't noticed, I don't have a car."
"Take hers."
"Are you JOKING?" That was the final proof Duo had been looking for to prove that his friend was insane. "She kills anyone who so much as touches it."
"I think it'll be alright this time. She told me where her keys are as she walked out the door. If that's not a hint that she wants you to come, I don't know what is."
"Okay, so where are the keys?"
"Left pocket. Uniform jacket."
"'Kay. Bye."
He hung up and smiled. The realization had just hit him. If Yoshiko was unemployed, and he was too, then they'd have a lot of time together. He left the house a very happy person.
Yoshiko sat on a park bench staring placidly out at the small lake in the middle of the park, her eyes following the occasional spurts of water from the fountain in the center. She didn't seem to notice that she was giggling insanely to herself, or that people were giving her the strangest looks. What she was thinking of was the irony of her situation. The irony that the night that Wu Fei brought up that Yoshiko could get fired for sexism, she got a message saying that she'd been fired, and that the one person, out of all the people who applied, Alley was the one who got the job. She finally stopped giggling, and instead turned her concentration to glaring at the ducks as they waddled by.
The wind started to pick up, and her hair, which she had neglected to tie back that morning, blew every which way across her face. She tried in vain to fix it but gave up in frustration as the wind only blew harder, as if in defiance to her attempts. She scowled down at the ground, tried, and failed to stem tears that had begun to flow from her eyes again. She sniffled furiously and rested her head on her arms, which she placed on her knees.
Suddenly, hearing footsteps near her, she looked up to see Duo standing in front of her, smiling gently, his braid swaying slightly behind him in the wind. He sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. She smiled and leaned into him, trying to let go of her problems for the time being. They sat there for a long time as Yoshiko tried to get a handle on her sniffles.
Then, as a new wave of tears hit Yoshiko, Duo said randomly, "Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?"
Then, the giggles came. Now, giggles are sometimes worse than sniffles, because sniffles can be solved with a pack of Kleenex, but giggles go until they stop.
"How many times have you watched that movie?" Yoshiko asked, gasping for air between words as tears of mirth rolled down her cheeks. (That movie being, for those of you who don't know, Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail.)
Duo began counting on his fingers, but gave up after he reached fifteen. He shrugged and offered her a Popsicle from his pocket. (It's in a wrapper, don't worry) It was rather sticky, having melted on the way, but it was cherry, Yoshiko's favourite. She licked it meekly, sniffling slightly.
"So," Duo said hesitantly, "I figured, now that you're – er – without a job, and I am too, we could, you know, spend some more time together."
Yoshiko looked at him thoughtfully and said, "I think I could manage that." Before he could stop her, she planted a sticky kiss on his mouth.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that," he muttered, wiping his mouth. Yoshiko knew he hated cherry (mainly because it was pink) and obviously did it to piss him off.
She shrugged and returned to licking the Popsicle. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.
"How did you get here?" she asked.
"I took your car," he replied. "Wu Fei figured you wouldn't mind, considering you told him where the keys were."
"So I did."
"Let's go to a movie."
"Okay, you got any money?" Yoshiko finished licking the popsicle stick and threw it into the nearby garbage can.
"Nope. You?"
"I've got five cents, but I'm pretty sure that won't buy one movie ticket, let alone two."
"How about we go for a drive?"
"Where?"
"Somewhere quiet, peaceful, full of trees."
"Sounds good."
Duo smiled at her and helped her up. The couple walked to Yoshiko's car and was gone.
EARLIER THAT DAY – ROUGHLY 10:00 AMAlley's car screeched into the parking lot of the office building where she would be starting her new job. She saw Wu Fei's car there and briefly wondered, considering she knew that he had taken the bus. However, she shrugged it off and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Getting out of the car, she pulled out a map of the office building, trying to figure out where she was supposed to be. Her new office was on the second floor, overlooking the road on the other side of the building from the parking lot. She took a deep breath, locked the car and walked into the building. The hallways were dark – she guessed that most people didn't get to work right on time – so she had to tread carefully until she got to the upstairs hallway, where a light shone from one of the offices.
"Hello?" She called hesitantly, listening to her voice echo through the empty hallway.
Wu Fei's head appeared from inside the illuminated room. "Hey, Alley!" He called, waving.
Alley smiled and walked toward him. As she neared where his office was, he jerked a thumb toward the neighbouring room. "There's your new office," he told her, handing her a pile of paper. "Get started."
She took the pile and nearly fell over from the weight. "How am I supposed to open the door with all this stuff?" She asked, panting as she hefted the papers up to balance on her hip.
Wu Fei gave a sigh of fake exasperation and came out of his office, unlocked the office door and pushed the door open. After doing so, he walked back into his office and shut the door behind him
"Thanks," Alley trailed off, staring at the closed door. Everyone seemed so frigid toward her lately. She stood still for a moment before shrugging and walking into her new office, flicking the light switch on with her shoulder.
The room was in almost complete disarray. Little forgotten shreds of paper littered the floor and everything looked like it had been carelessly thrown back together. Alley sighed. No wonder this person was fired, she thought, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and setting the paper down on top of the desk. Her arms finally free, she looked around at the walls. Forgotten pictures hung crookedly from nails that were half worked out of the plaster. She walked around and straightened them, seeing that most held awards with signatures that she couldn't read. However, when she reached the last little section of pictures – this time photographs – she stopped and stared.
The big one in the center was hidden behind glass cracked in a spider web, as though someone had smashed it with a fist, but she managed to get most of the shattered glass out of the frame. Behind the glass was a picture that she had seen hanging on the wall at home. It was a faded photograph of six people – five young men and a woman. The woman's face grinned back at her, surrounded by short, straight black hair. Her eyes were black and glittered in a cool, angry sort of way, in the same way that they also showed happiness. She stood in the center, next to a man with a long braid… Alley's eyes widened as it hit her that these were her friends as they must have been a year or two after the war. She also noticed that the spider web cracks had seemed to originate from where Yoshiko and Duo stood. This must have been Yoshiko's office! Alley thought with horror. I've replaced HER. She looked frantically at the pictures surrounding the large one, as if to find something to prove her wrong, but she saw pictures of Duo, Trowa, Heero, Quatre, Wu Fei and some people she didn't know.
"Damn, I'm stupid," she said aloud, making her way to her chair and sinking into the threadbare cushions. "I didn't realize – even when Yoshiko was so distant this morning."
She sighed and glanced across the room at the photos again. "Damn," she repeated.
"Glad to see you understand," a familiar voice rang out from the doorway.
"I feel so stupid," she told Wu Fei plaintively. "How am I supposed to face her now?"
"Like you always do. Don't pity her, but don't talk like nothing happened at all," Wu Fei advised, leaning against the doorframe, crossing his arms in a thoughtful manner. "Although, Duo will probably get her calmed down enough for her to be at least civil tonight."
Alley nodded miserably as he gestured to the paperwork, indicating that she should get started.
She heaved one last sigh as the door clicked shut behind Wu Fei leaving her alone. Pulling the paperwork toward her, she saw blank spaces and lines demanding signatures. Five thousand five hundred and fifty sheets of paper in total, numbered for her convenience.
Screams echoed through the halls of the building, puzzling people who were just arriving.
FIVE O'CLOCK THAT EVENING – YOSHIKO AND DUO HAVE DISAPPEARED SOMEWHERE, RELENA IS HOME AND WAITING FOR EVERYONE ELSE…
Relena leaned back into the soft leather cushions of the couch, stretched and sighed. It was good to be home alone, even if Duo had left a message on the answering machine saying that he and Yoshiko would be back around four o'clock and hadn't appeared yet. Then she remembered that she had come home early to start organizing the wedding – which she had decided would take place on August the fifth. She hadn't consulted Heero, but she was sure he'd agree, even if it took a little persuasion… That gave them roughly a month and a half – not that long, but most likely long enough. Lifting a sheet of paper up, she sighed again. So much to do… and so few people to help. It was hard to plan a wedding when your fiancé wasn't around, much less any of the other people who were going to be involved. All she knew was that she didn't want peach as a colour, as that seemed to be used at a lot of weddings she had seen… not a lot, as things stood. She didn't know who would be her maid of honour, as picking any one of her friends above the rest seemed unfair, and she was still working on how she'd get Yoshiko into a dress. Life was so damn complicated.
Suddenly, she sat up straight and looked down at the table, watching all the pieces come together. Maroon and white. Two tiered cake – not three. Une would be the maid of honour as she had saved Relena and Marie-Maya's life that one time. However, in spite of it all, she still didn't know how to get Yoshiko into a dress.
She sank back again after writing her choices down and snuggled into the cushions on the couch, a little more relieved than she had been five minutes ago. Now, where were Yoshiko and Duo?
SOMEWHERE ON THE COLONY WHERE THERE ARE TREES AND IT'S SECLUDED… I.E. NO INTERRUPTIONS
The car sat behind Duo and Yoshiko, as they lay side by side on a small hill, staring up at nothing in particular. Their hands were clasped together in between them and both were smiling – once again, at nothing in particular.
"Thanks," Yoshiko said softly, giving Duo's hand a squeeze.
"No problem." It was scary how he knew exactly what she was talking about, as he generally was clueless about this sort of thing.
Suddenly, Yoshiko rolled onto her side to face him, letting go of his hand to signal that he should do the same.
"What?" He asked, rolling over.
She grinned impishly and pushed herself forward to kiss him. She sat up and stretched, still grinning. Duo sat up as well, this time, completely confused and feeling very much in the dark. Yoshiko turned, sliding her feet beneath her, and sat still for a minute, before propelling herself forward toward him, pushing him down on the grass again. She knelt over top of him, looking down at him, smiling.
"Shall we?" She asked, cocking her head to the side, making her hair tumble over one shoulder.
It was amazing, that feeling of understanding that Duo got when she said something like that. He shrugged, reaching up and pulling her down.
They lay in the grass for quite some time, most of the time kissing, some of it spent giggling breathlessly. Finally, they ran out of energy and just lay there, holding each other and smiling.
Duo grinned and glanced at his watch in the best way he could, due to the obstructing position of his girlfriend. "Oops," he said, reading the time to be about five thirty…
"Oops what?" Yoshiko pushed herself away from him slightly so she could look him in the eye.
"We said we'd be home an hour and a half ago… Poor Relena is probably at her wits' end trying to organize her wedding."
"Yeah, we should probably go – not because of Relena, but because I really want supper, and Clare doesn't like to wait. She cooks when she wants food, not when everyone is present, and seeing as neither of us can cook very well…" She trailed off and sat up, stretching.
Duo sat up as well and brushed the grass off his clothing. He tried and failed to stand up, so collapsing, laughing, to the ground again. Yoshiko laughed too, tried and succeeded to get up, and hauled Duo to his feet. Smiling broadly, they climbed back into the car and headed for home.
The group sitting at the table didn't even look up as Yoshiko and Duo entered the room sheepishly in the middle of supper.
"We're fashionably late," Duo countered as Clare told them that they had arrived 'at an unreasonable point of time after the time at which they should have been home'.
"So, where've YOU been?" Relena asked slyly, taking a sip of diet coke ("Why do you drink that stuff anyway?" Yoshiko asked. "There's not nearly enough sugar to make it satisfying.") "The message you left said that you'd be home around four. It is nearly half past six. Four was two and a half hours ago."
"Well," Duo faltered, trying desperately to think on his feet. "We had to make a – a detour."
"And where did this detour happen to take you?" Clare grinned from behind her soupspoon.
"Wouldn't you just like to know," Duo said stubbornly, his voice a couple of octaves higher than usual.
"Oh HO," Heero leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and giving them a suspicious look.
"Hey, Yoshiko," Trowa joined in, "weren't you wearing lipstick when you left? And I seem to remember your hair being up and having some semblance of order this morning. Now it's down and looks like it is overdue for an appointment with a brush."
Yoshiko unconsciously ran her fingers through her hair. She felt heat rise in her face and she knew that she was probably bright red right about then.
"Aw," Clare stuck her tongue out at Yoshiko. "We're just joking. Come eat."
Alley was unusually quiet and every time that Yoshiko addressed her, she shrank back a little. Of course, Yoshiko's tone was less than friendly, even though she only said stuff like, 'Pass the salt' or 'I need a napkin'.
Heero, sensing the tension between the two, spoke up. "What is up with you two?" It was not the most tactful line, but it worked.
Yoshiko looked up at him, her eyes narrowed in a 'why the heck do YOU want to know?' manner.
Alley looked nervous, as though Yoshiko would attack her if she said anything. "Well," she began tentatively, shooting sideways glances at Duo's girlfriend, "it's – it's-"
Yoshiko rolled her eyes and cut in. "Oh, it's just that SOMEONE stole my job."
"I didn't steal it!" Alley exclaimed indignantly, forgetting her fear for a moment.
Yoshiko didn't look convinced.
"They only told me I was replacing someone," Alley continued. "They didn't tell me the name. It's not like I can do anything now. Besides, maybe it's your own fault that you got fired."
That did it. She had gone too far. Yoshiko stood up, her eyes dangerous. She slammed her hands down on the table. "How would you know," she began menacingly as Alley shrunk back again, "how it feels to be in that position? I did my job perfectly well. Besides, I only took that job because I was bored. They didn't have to fire me."
Wu Fei sighed, got up, walked around the table, and, placing his hands firmly on Yoshiko's shoulders, pushed her back into her seat. "Calm down," he ordered. "She didn't know, and you've got to let this go."
Yoshiko growled and tried to get up again, but, when the pressure on her shoulders kept her in her chair, subsided and was properly miffed for the rest of the meal.
Yoshiko skipped dessert (SHOCK) and lay in her room that night throwing a rubber ball in the air and catching it over and over. As the ball hitting her hand and the ceiling, which, coincidentally, happened to be Alley's floor, formed a rhythm, she began to hum a song that she had written several years before, when she was mad at Duo. It worked very well for this occasion too, she found, and it helped her get her stress out.
Suddenly, a knock on her door made her lose her concentration and drop the ball. It bounced softly on the carpet into the corner where it rolled against the wall and stopped. She sat up and slid off the bed, padding quietly on the carpet to the door. She yanked it open, prepared to scowl at whoever it was, but as she was presented with a piece of peach pie – her favourite – she decided to revise her plans. Behind the peach pie stood Duo, who smiled comfortingly at her. She invited him in and they sat on her bed together, not talking, as she ate her pie. He put an arm around her shoulders, knowing full well how she was feeling and what she had been doing for the past hour and a half, as the thumping of the ball against the ceiling had carried to many parts of the house.
"I'll get over it, I suppose," she said, her mouth full.
"Yeah, you'll be fine," Duo agreed with her, having learned from prior experiences just what she could be like in situations like this.
Yoshiko swallowed her last mouthful and leaned in against Duo. "I'm still mad at her," she said, frowning.
"I know," Duo replied, looking pointedly at the rubber ball that lay forgotten in the corner.
"I mean," Yoshiko continued, looking at her feet, "she didn't have to say all that stuff. Maybe I shouldn't have got so mad at her, but she didn't have to say all that stuff."
"You're repeating yourself," Duo informed her, moving his arm down so that it encircled her waist. "I do know what you mean, though. But I think you both got a little carried away, so can you please just be friends with her again? It gets really hard to live in a house that's already really full when two of the members are fighting. Besides, you and Hilde already have a little misunderstanding between you and that's difficult as it is."
Yoshiko sighed. "I know," she pouted, "but it's so hard."
Duo smiled down at her and kissed her forehead. "Let's go downstairs. They were just getting ready to play a game of some sort. Why don't we see if you can't be civil for a little while?"
Yoshiko nodded and stood up. She began to walk toward the door, but stopped, her hand halfway in its journey to the doorknob, and turned toward him, smiling. She dropped her hand and walked back. Wrapping her arms around him, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss.
"Thanks," she whispered, leaning her head on his chest.
"No problem," he replied, hugging her back. "Now let's go down. I don't want to miss the Pictionary showdown between Quatre and Heero. They're still continuing it from last week."
Yoshiko giggled, thinking of the previous game night.
THE PREVIOUS GAME NIGHT
"DIE STICK MAN!" Quatre screamed, stabbing his pencil into the pad of paper on which Heero had been drawing for his team for Pictionary. On it was a stick man, which was grinning insanely.
"Quatre," Trowa said, grabbing Quatre's wrist and pulling him gently back into his chair, "it's not the stick man's fault that we lost the round."
Quatre glared menacingly at Heero, who was brandishing a sharpened pencil and laughing maniacally.
Relena and Clare, sensing disaster, hurriedly put away the game while Quatre and Heero were preoccupied.
"That's enough Pictionary for one night," Clare said nervously as Quatre turned his glare on her and Heero stopped laughing to growl at her.
BACK TO PRESENT TIME
Just as Duo and Yoshiko arrived in the living room, they saw Clare and Relena trying to pull their respective boyfriend and fiancée away from each other. Lying on the floor were many little slips of paper, all covered with drawings of stick men, all of which had been impaled by little pieces of lead from a mechanical pencil.
"Well, glad to see I'm not the only violent person in the house tonight," Yoshiko remarked, drawing gazes to where she and Duo stood in the doorway.
"Glad you could make it," Trowa remarked, smiling amiably.
Alley smiled forcibly next to him, looking as though she was ready to run for it if Yoshiko's temper should be fueled at all.
Quatre and Heero, with one last fiery glare at one another, stood up and walked to opposite sides of the room, facing away from each other.
Wu Fei wrestled in vain with Hilde for several minutes before finally giving up and sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room with Hilde leaning against him. He seemed puzzled for some reason. Why is Hilde giving up so easily lately? He asked himself. She's usually hanging off me and cutting off the circulation to various parts of my body…
Silence reigned for a while as everyone frantically wracked his or her brain for something to say that wouldn't sound completely dumb in the present situation.
Finally, Relena put her hands together decisively. "Now that everyone is together," she began, looking around, "I thought I should share what I decided about the wedding today. Without Help." She said the last bit forcefully, looking accusingly at Yoshiko and Heero, who shrank away from the wrath of the queen. "Please, sit."
Duo sat down cross-legged where he was and Yoshiko flopped into his lap, grinning up at him. He smiled back and put his arms around her. Everyone looked suspiciously at the pair as each person took a seat around the room.
"Now I KNOW something's wrong," Trowa said accusingly. "Generally, if Yoshi wanted that spot, she'd have kicked your ass out of it. This is just weird."
Quatre nodded in solemn agreement.
"There's nothing wrong with it," Heero said unexpectedly, shooting a sly glance at his fiancée, who returned it with a secretive smile.
Quatre opened his mouth to speak again, but Relena cut him off. "Back to the wedding plans. I decided on having maroon and white as the colours for everything because peach was too – too not quite the style I want, black was too depressing- don't give me that look, Yoshiko."
Yoshiko was giving Relena her best 'You are so dead' look, gesturing to her completely black outfit.
Relena only rolled her eyes and continued, "I also decided that Lady Une will be my maid of honour."
At this statement, the other three women in the room looked rather put out.
"She saved my life. I doubt any of you can speak for the same."
The other three women in the room nodded in reluctant agreement.
"Getting on with it, the cake will only have two tiers. NOT three."
Heero pouted for a minute and Yoshiko giggled silently. Just the week before, he and Relena had been having an argument over this very fact. Heero had said that leftover cake would be good. Relena had given him her death glare and said coldly that two layers would be quite enough.
"All women involved will wear dresses," Relena said, looking chillingly at Yoshiko, who glared back menacingly.
"Can I be counted as a man?" Yoshiko asked, her eyes not leaving Relena's.
"No."
"Damn it."
The room was silent for a moment as Yoshiko pouted and Duo patted her gingerly on the head.
"So," Heero finally said. "Who are your bridesmaids? Or haven't you decided yet?"
"Well, there are four other women in the household, so I figured I'd do things the easy way."
'Yeah, but there's four other men and if one of them is going to be best man…" Heero trailed off, looking exasperatedly at Relena.
"Zechs is coming into town for the wedding. I can ask him if you like," Relena said expectantly to Heero in a tone of voice that suggested refusal was futile.
"Okay," Heero answered, his voice heavy with defeat.
"So," Wu Fei looked around from couple to couple as they had gathered in the room. Currently, Yoshiko was still pouting and Duo had given up on his efforts to console her, rather resting his chin on her head and rocking impatiently from side to side. Alley and Trowa merely sat side by side, Alley picking at the rug and Trowa drumming his fingers silently on his knee. Clare was sitting behind Quatre, ready to grab him if he decided to make a leap at his newly proclaimed archenemy, Heero. Heero and Relena had nabbed the couch on the opposite side of the room from Clare and Quatre and Heero had finally worked up the courage to put his arm around his fiancée, who didn't seem to be resisting.
"So," Wu Fei said again, "who's – who's gonna be best man?"
Heero looked unprepared to say anything, but as he said it, he looked a little bit guilty. "Duo."
Duo looked delighted while the other men shot begrudging looks toward both him and Heero. However, everyone had been expecting the choice, so the glares were just out of habit more than anything else.
"When are we all off on the same day?" Relena asked, inspecting her nails whilst looking out of the corner of her eye at the rest of the people in the room.
Quatre stood up with a groan and disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing several seconds later with calendar in hand. He stood in the doorway of the kitchen inspecting said calendar silently, finally coming up with a conclusion.
"Friday," he announced, looking up triumphantly. Then, his look of triumph turned to that of despair. "Oh no," he whimpered. "Yoshi has to work…"
Every person in the room gave him a look.
"I'm unemployed, idiot," Yoshiko hissed.
Quatre laughed nervously. "Oh yeah. No one crossed out the times on the calendar," he explained sheepishly.
"Whatever, it's not like I care," Yoshiko said bitterly, leaning back against Duo, who hugged her tighter.
Relena gave Yoshiko a warning glare and turned back to the rest of the group. "Friday it is," she said decidedly.
"Gotcha," Duo grinned and pushed Yoshiko off his lap. He got up and stretched, smiling brightly down at his girlfriend, who gave him a death glare from where she sat in an undignified manner on the carpet. He shuffled out of the room, beckoning Yoshiko to follow, his motion so small that only she noticed.
Yoshiko stood up and stretched as well, following Duo out of the room.
"Oh HO," Heero said loudly in a teasing tone of voice. Yoshiko turned and stuck her tongue out at him as she left the room.
"Actually, some privacy sounds kind of nice," Relena remarked, also standing up and making her way to the door, looking meaningfully back at Heero. He nodded discreetly and followed her out. Clare and Alley exchanged knowing glances as Trowa and Quatre looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
Finally, the rest of the group dispersed to different parts of the house.
LATER THAT EVENING
Alley sat on the couch facing the lower hallway that held in it the doors to the bedrooms of Duo, Yoshiko, Heero, Relena and Wu Fei. She had been reading, but some flicker of motion from the doorway to Yoshiko's room caught her attention. She looked up, but whatever had been moving was gone now. She shook her head and went back to her book. A sudden weight on the couch beside her made her look up again. Trowa put his arm across the back of the couch and smiled at her.
"Whatcha reading?" he asked in the tone of a child who could become very annoying if one let him keep asking questions.
"Great Expectations," she replied, holding up the book so that he could see the cover.
"Ah. Where do you suppose the others have got to?"
"Dunno."
Suddenly, she saw something move again. She looked up to see Duo and Yoshiko in the doorway to one of their bedrooms. They were kissing.
Alley raised an eyebrow and Trowa started laughing.
"Hey guys," he called, "get a room will ya?"
They stopped and Yoshiko turned around, sticking her tongue out at Trowa. "You're just jealous," she yelled back. Duo rolled his eyes and they disappeared through the doorway.
"Those two," Trowa shook his head and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "I swear, it's like they just turned seventeen again."
"Maybe they did," Alley offered thoughtfully.
"That's physically, virtually and ergonomically impossible."
"Ergonomically?"
"Well… whatever," Trowa continued to gaze uneasily at the ceiling.
"What I'm saying is, maybe they're falling in love again," Alley said, resting her elbows on her knees and placing her chin on her hands.
"Yeah, that could be it," Trowa nodded wonderingly.
Alley suddenly realized that Trowa's arm had dropped from being across the back of the couch to being around her shoulders. She felt her face grow red as his arm tightened and pulled her closer to him. He looked down at her.
"Gotcha," he said, his eyes twinkling mischievously.
She looked up, confused. He leaned down and kissed her firmly. Alley's eyes darted back and forth until she was sure no one was watching and closed.
Wu Fei walked along the hallway, shaking his head as he passed first Heero and Relena and then Duo and Yoshiko, both couples in the middle of something that he decided not to disturb. He was feeling rather gloomy and the fact that everyone in the house was, well, busy did nothing to help his mood. He finally gave up looking for people as he saw Alley and Trowa in the middle of the same sort of thing. Putting his boredom aside, he decided he wouldn't even look for Clare and Quatre, considering the poor luck he'd had with the others. He only hoped that luck was with him and Hilde was doing something that would hinder her from spoiling his mood further. Alas, he had no such luck.
"Hey!" her voice echoed cheerfully down the hallway as she skipped up beside him and linked arms with him. "Whatcha doing?" She smiled up at him brightly.
"N-not too much," he responded, trying hard to keep from doing something he'd regret later.
"Let's do something," she suggested. Wu Fei looked frantically around at the people who, up until the current moment had been busy. They just shrugged apologies and tried hard to keep from laughing.
Wu Fei sighed softly and caved. "What do you want to do?" he asked, his tone that of a man defeated.
Hilde smiled with a contented giggle. "I dunno," she said, looking brightly up at him, "we could go for a walk or something. The hallways seem to be getting more and more crowded." On the last word she turned and gave a hard glare toward the other two couples.
Yoshiko glared coolly back and shrugged indifferently. Hilde rolled her eyes and walked away, dragging Wu Fei with her.
"Those two somehow go well together," Yoshiko remarked, watching them disappear around the corner.
"Yeah, they do," Duo replied, leaning back against the doorframe. "There's just a sort of chemistry there. Hilde really isn't a bad person, she just gets carried away sometimes."
"Yeah," Yoshiko nodded, frowning, "but then again, so do I. Maybe I should drop my stupid little grudges and try to get along."
"Now there's a novel idea," Duo said teasingly, grinning as Yoshiko glared at him.
"I'm serious though. It's been, what, five, six years now?" Yoshiko crossed her arms and stared down at her black-socked feet.
Duo shrugged and pulled her towards him into a hug. "I dunno, but I'm glad I'm stuck with you."
"Thanks," she mumbled into his shirt, "I'm not sure whether or not that was a compliment, or just sarcasm, but I'll take it in the positive."
"Any time."
Yoshiko didn't get much sleep that night. What Duo had said made her happy – so happy, in fact, that she couldn't stop thinking about it, and not being able to stop thinking about it inhibited her body's ability to shut itself down for the night. Many times, she found herself staring out her window at the streetlights and wondering. She didn't wonder about anything in particular, she just let her thoughts wander and pull different things to the surface.
Several times during the night, she heard a strange sound outside her door, as though someone was unsuccessfully trying to push thumb tacks into the wall and stifling cries of pain as his thumb throbbed with failed effort.
Finally, she drifted to sleep, planning to start her new resolution to forgive Alley and Hilde, foremost Hilde, the next morning.
The next morning came and Yoshiko was up with the sun, more out of habit than anything, and unable to sleep. She didn't feel particularly forgiving, or particularly alive, for that matter. However, she somehow found enough inner strength to drag herself out of bed, into a housecoat and out the door into the hallway, where she promptly ran into something.
She looked up wearily to see Duo smiling down at her.
"Gooood morning," he chirruped brightly.
"Mrffrnfrng," was all Yoshiko managed to get out.
"You don't look particularly alive this morning. Did you die and get reanimated as a zombie last night?"
"Mfrng," she mumbled in reply.
"I see." He leaned down and kissed her.
That cheered her up a little.
Someone standing farther down the hall cleared his throat. "Didn't you see the signs?" Wu Fei asked, glowering at the pair.
"What sign- oh," Duo looked around and realized that the whole hallway was plastered with large signs that read 'NO SNOGGING IN THE HALLWAY ON PAIN OF DEATH'.
"Do you want do die?" Wu Fei hissed menacingly.
"I don't, but I think its too late for 'Shiko. She died last night and was reanimated as a zombie. Why are there signs, anyway?"
"Hilde," was Wu Fei's gloomy reply.
"I'm not dead yet," Yoshiko yawned.
"SHE LIVES!"
"Are you even listening to me?" Wu Fei asked, giving Duo a bland look.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Duo grinned at his friend and he and Yoshiko began to walk toward the kitchen – or rather, he walked and carried/dragged Yoshiko along with him.
Wu Fei rolled his eyes and followed, sighing loudly in mock despair.
As they walked into the kitchen, Clare looked up from where she sat at the kitchen table eating toast and doing a crossword puzzle. She looked more tired than usual and seemed rather distracted, more often than not missing her mouth with her toast.
"Are you okay?" Duo asked her, worried by the lack of order that surrounded the usually impeccable control freak, as he set Yoshiko onto a chair and tried to keep her from falling over.
"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Clare muttered, focussing on her toast and finally getting it into her mouth.
"Seems to be a trend here," Wu Fei remarked, watching as Duo gently molded Yoshiko's hands around a coffee cup and helped her as she took a sip.
"Yeah, what's with that anyway?" Relena yawned, walking into the kitchen in a bathrobe and slippers.
Everyone in the kitchen, who was capable of doing so, shrugged and went about getting breakfast.
By the time the whole household was at the table, the caffeine had kicked in and Yoshiko was capable of semi-coherent thought. As a plus, she was able to sit up straight on her own – a good accomplishment, as Duo was tired of constantly adjusting his girlfriend's position on her chair in order to keep her from falling off.
"It's Friday today," Relena said around a mouthful of toast.
"And?" Yoshiko replied sleepily, slurring the words slightly, taking another swig from her coffee cup.
"We're going shopping," the queen responded in a matter-of-fact tone.
"For what?" Yoshiko yawned, accepting the bowl of cereal that Trowa offered her.
Relena gave her a flat stare. "Wedding stuff," she growled. "Weren't you listening at all last night?"
"I thought it was Wednesday yesterday?" Yoshiko replied lamely.
Relena glared fiercely at her for a minute before taking a drink of orange juice.
"Sorry," Yoshiko muttered, curling up into a ball and cradling her coffee mug next to her chest.
"Let's all calm down here," Duo said, smiling at everyone around the table. "Granted, most of us didn't get much sleep, but we should be able to get our tempers under control if we have to all go shopping together."
"And why are you so wide awake this morning?" Quatre growled suspiciously, his hands already shaking from a caffeine overdose.
"I happened to go to bed at a reasonable hour."
"I went to bed a reasonable hour, but I couldn't get any bloody sleep anyway."
"You know what?" Duo asked cheerily.
"What?" Quatre grumbled.
"I wrote a song for you and I'm gonna play it on the tiniest violin in the world." He lifted his hands as if playing a tiny violin and proceeded to utter a series of screeching sounds that sounded eerily like a squeaky violin. Quatre glared at him and chucked the newspaper across the table at Duo. (I just had to say, I actually do the tiny violin thing… so it's not as if it's something I made up spontaneously.)
"Duo," Clare said.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"Yes ma'am."
It was silent for awhile. Then the silence was shattered by a loud snore from Yoshiko's direction. Duo glanced down at her as she fell sideways to rest on his shoulder. He smiled and slid his arm around her shoulders. Miraculously, her coffee mug was still upright.
"What's up with her?" Trowa asked, his voice rather chipper.
"I don't really know," Duo answered, lifting up one of her arms and watching it flop back down when he let go. "I think she had one of her insomniac spells last night." He sighed and gently pried the coffee cup out of her hands before the miracle wore off and she spilled it.
"She still has those?" said Heero, washing down a bite of toast with coffee.
"On occasion. Although, she hasn't had one for several years."
Duo and Heero exchanged a 'look'. No one asked what it was about, because the 'look' was a sacred thing between the two of them that meant 'I know something the rest of you don't know and I'm not gonna tell'.
"So," Relena changed the subject, "are we going to be able to get Yoshiko awake enough to come with us?"
"Maybe we should let her sleep it off. If she doesn't wake up by this afternoon, then I guess she'll have no say in anything," Duo suggested, gently picking Yoshiko up and heading toward the doorway.
Relena nodded grudgingly and Duo left to put Yoshiko back to bed.
"Anyone sensing a fall headed their way?" Heero said absently.
"Whadda ya mean?" Clare asked blearily. "They seem to be getting along alright to me."
"I mean a fall back into love, baka," Heero rebuked her and then continued to eat breakfast.
"Ah."
Breakfast ran the rest of its course in a thoughtful silence as all the people at the table contemplated the future of Duo and Yoshiko's relationship.
Around noon, Yoshiko opened her eyes wearily to the ceiling of her bedroom, and found herself curled into a tight ball beneath the sheets on her bed. Light streamed through her windows, the flimsy curtains not doing much to lessen the intensity of it. Artificial sunlight though it was (as it would have been hard to put the colony into the exact orbit it needed to get real sunlight), it was no less harsh on the waking eyes than the genuine article. She sat up and stretched, yawning widely. She felt no refreshment at all, rather feeling sleep deprived and downright lousy. She could have sworn she'd gotten out of bed earlier, but her memory could find no solid proof to back the thought up, so she tossed it as a dream, or a rogue figment of imagination.
She somehow managed to shuffle to her closet and put on a terribly mismatched outfit. When she got to the kitchen, the rest of the household was sitting at the table finishing what seemed to be lunch. After wondering briefly why she didn't feel hungry, Yoshiko shrugged and accepted it as that she was too tired to be hungry.
"She surfaces," Duo heralded her as she shuffled over to the seat beside him, abruptly collapsing on his shoulder as she sat down.
"Or not," Trowa added, with some amusement.
"We can get her caffeine on the way," Relena said impatiently, briskly clearing the table. "Let's go, already."
"I think I better go and get her into something a little more… tasteful," Clare grinned and, shrugging an apology to Relena, hauled Yoshiko off Duo's shoulder and back to her bedroom.
They finally got out of the house, managing to fit into two vehicles, and were soon speeding toward the nearest Starbucks. Once there, Duo leaped out of the car and ran inside, armed with a ten-dollar bill from Heero's pocket.
After waiting in line for twenty-five minutes, Duo reached the till, which was currently manned by a very frazzled looking young woman.
"May I take your order?" she asked faintly.
"Um… I'll take a venti espresso," Duo replied, feeling immensely sorry for the girl, who was obviously overdue for a break.
"Sir," she blinked at him in disbelief, "you do know that espresso is very strong coffee, usually taken in small shots, don't you?"
"Very much so," he told her, "and, believe me, I'm gonna need it."
She gave him a weary look, but gave it up. "Anything else?"
Duo thought for a moment. "Room for cream."
A ten minute wait and twenty-three packets of sugar later, Duo climbed back into the car and pressed the cup of coffee into Yoshiko's hands.
"We're going to regret this later, aren't we?" Wu Fei asked from the driver's seat.
"Probably," Duo nodded, clicking his seat belt together.
LATER THAT DAY – AT THE FIFTH WEDDING CLOTHING STORE
"So, any revelations, epiphanies, or overall decisions on what colour of wedding dress I should get?" Relena asked, exasperated, as she came out of the dressing room for the thirty-fourth time that day.
Duo looked at her critically. "I've gotta go with off-white," he said.
"No, it really has to be white," Alley countered.
"I REALLY think it should be off-white," Duo told her firmly.
"What do you know about wedding dresses?" asked Alley cynically. "You're a guy."
Duo glared at her. "Come on guys, back me up. Off-white looks better."
Everyone else gave him fatigued looks and remained where they sat on various chairs and steps around the dressing rooms.
Duo sighed and gave Alley his best evil eye.
"White," she said sharply.
"Off-white."
"White"
"Off-white."
"WHITE."
"OFF-WHITE."
"WHITE!"
"OFF-WHITE!"
Then, just as the violence was about to start, a man appeared from the back, dressed in a pristine black suit. He walked, unfazed, to the quarreling pair and, picking them both up by the scruff of the neck, took them to the door and dropped them outside the store. Then, silently, he disappeared into the back again.
The group that remained inside the store exchanged bemused looks and turned back to Relena.
"White, then, I guess," she said, throwing her arms up in disgust. "When we go shopping for bridesmaids' dresses, it'll just be the girls, okay?"
The group gave a communal nod and Relena vanished into the dressing room to take off the dress. She'd at least decided on the design before this, and for that, they were grateful.
"Um…" Trowa said suddenly, "Where's Yoshi?"
They all looked around frantically until they heard a voice from the back room.
"Sowhaddayoudohere?Areyouafulltimeworkerorjustparttime?Whydidyouwannaworkhere?…"
Immediately, a voice responded in a very strained tone. "Please just leave me alone."
The voices became louder and a very peevish looking salesman appeared, followed by a very hyper Yoshiko.
"What is wrong with this girl?" he asked despairingly as he saw the others standing in awestruck amusement. He ran tearfully to the nearest person, who happened to be Wu Fei, and fell to his knees, wringing Wu Fei's hands in extreme desperation. "Get her away from me!"
"Sorry, sir," Wu Fei responded. "She just OD'd on caffeine." Pulling his hands out of the salesman's, he walked over to where Yoshiko stood, vibrating happily, and marched her out of the store to where her irritated boyfriend stood, fuming.
At that moment, Relena exited the change room and walked with her dress to the counter. The salesman calmed himself, walked to the sales desk, and took her purchase with evidently forced calm.
Relena met the rest of them outside the store, where everyone was trying to restore a normal sense of awareness to Yoshiko.
"Okay," Relena said, as they walked to the cars, "I am never taking everyone shopping at the same time again."
"Okay," Alley and Duo replied at the same time, glaring fiercely at one another.
Yoshiko just bounced joyfully along beside Duo, chatting nonstop to herself about cardboard boxes.
TBC…