Chapter 23
Reena's eyelids flickered, then opened. "Ugh..." she moaned, dizzy and nauseous.
"Shh...It's okay. Stay still, Reena-chan," a voice comforted.
"Jake! Jake!" There was another voice.
"She's okay! I've found her!"
Footsteps, then, "Oh, the poor thing! Look at her!"
"Yes, I know...But she'll be safe now."
Reena tried to focus on the speakers, but couldn't quite succeed. "Who...who are...you?"
she murmured, not quite awake yet.
"Friends, Reena-chan. Don't worry, you'll be fine now."
"But...Aelis..."
"Aelis? Jake, what does she mean?"
"I don't know...Let's wait until we ask Lady Une."
Reena felt herself lifted. "It's going to be okay," a voice soothed. "Everything's going
to be okay now."
"Everything's going to be okay..." Reena thought to herself sleepily, and tried to
smile. "That's right...We'll get Aelis back; that pervert of a Colonel won't be able to
touch her. Jerry, oh Jerry, wait just a little longer. I'm coming back..."
at the same time...
"Jerry! You're up!" Giselle greeted cheerfully when she came to check up on him.
She frowned. "Hey, what's with the goofy look on your face?"
"Reena! She's okay!"
"Huh?"
Jerry grinned. "I just know it. She's in good hands now. She's coming back!"
Giselle shook her head. Poor guy! she thought. That knock on the head must have really
damaged his sanity! "Jerry-" she started to say, but a commotion behind her cut her off.
"Giselle! Giselle!"
"Clare? What is it?"
Clare dashed in front of her, bouncing and grinning like an idiot. "Guess what!
Mariemaia and Jake have finally arrived, and they've found Reena!"
"WHAT?! How?!"
"I dunno, but she's back! That's all that counts, right?"
"WOO-HOO!"
Both girls jumped at the shriek of joy behind them, then quickly leaped to the side as a
blur came crashing past them...literally. Jerry hadn't known just how dizzy he was, and
evidently, he had learned the hard way.
Giselle winced. "Ow...That had to hurt..."
But regardless, it certainly hadn't affected Jerry much. Scrambling to his feet, he
raced down the hallway.
The girls stared at his receding figure, then shrugged. "Er...why don't we go join him?"
Clare suggested, and they followed.
elsewhere...
"Back off everyone! Come on, move it! Give them some air!" Lady Une tried to say
severely, but not quite succeeding. "Really! This isn't helping!" she said, exasperated.
Her words had little impact. Noin was crying with relief; Zechs couldn't stop smiling;
everyone else was impossibly cheerful. Eva and Thomas especially were ecstatic, and even
Heero was smiling. Unfortunately, they were also forming a very effective roadblock for
the somewhat exasperated Preventer doctors, who were impatiently waiting to take Reena to
the infirmary.
Mariemaia laughed at her mother's frustration. "Relax, Mother. It's been awhile since
they've had good news," she chuckled, but went to clear the way for her husband Jake, who
was carrying the sleeping Reena. "Come on, she has a point. Reena needs medical
attention, and she can't do it if you're all mobbing her!"
No sooner had she said those words, a blurred shape came racing by her, nearly running
her over. Next thing she and her surprised husband knew, Reena had been plucked out from
Jake's arms.
"Reena! Reena, speak to me! Reena, tell me that you're okay!" Jerry said
frantically, looking down at his girlfriend's pale face. "Jerry!" Lady Une started to
scold, but Mariemaia shook her head. "Leave him, Mother. He needs to make sure the love of
his life is okay."
Reena opened her eyes. "Jerry..." she whispered, her eyes filling. "I'm...I'm okay..."
"Reena," he said, his voice broken. "Oh baby, welcome back. I'm so sorry...that
I couldn't protect you."
"It wasn't your fault; it was mine. Oh Jerry, I...I'm so sorry I worried you!"
and she started to cry. "Jerry, I love you."
"I love you too, Reena," Jerry said, also tearing up. "Reena..."
"Ahem."
Jerry looked up, embarrassed. "I'm afraid you'll have to share your affections later, but
for now, Reena needs to be examined," Jake said kindly, taking back Reena.
Reena protested. "It's okay, I can walk-oops!" she finished, her knees buckling under her.
Jake laughed. "Or...not..." she said sheepishly, and allowed herself to be carried away.
a few minutes later...
"I see..." Mariemaia said quietly, nodding her head. "So that's what she meant
by Aelis. That means Aelis is in the hands of the Neo-Rommefeller, and Geoffry is
missing?"
Lady Une nodded wearily. "That is correct. I've already shown you the messages Colonel
Nicolae sent her; needless to say, we are not very optimistic about her situation."
"Nicolae..." Jake murmured, worried. "You know, that name concerns me a little.
Mariemaia and I COMBED the colonies in our searches, but we never found that name. He's
clearly a high-ranking officer; I wonder how many others there are that we don't know
about..."
"This is war. We won't always find out everything," Mariemaia said tiredly. "But
I still feel like a failure..."
"Don't feel that way," Lady Une said. "You tried your best. You both did. You
found Reena, and since we're on that subject, how DID you find her?"
"Aelis is a clever girl. It appeared that she had taken a shuttle to some
location, then took a taxi to the rendezvous point. We found the shuttle, actually. While
she had activated the shuttle's cloaking technology so she couldn't be found, once she
got in the cab, she activated a small tracer. About a mile from the site, she disabled it.
While we were on our way to Preventer headquarters, we picked up the signal. We stopped
first where she had first activated it, recognized the shuttle as government property, and
followed the trail. In fact, when we first reached the dead end, we were confused, but
then we realized that the only real landmark within a mile radius was the Lake Victoria
Base, so we went there, and found her."
"Lake Victoria Base..." Lady Une said to herself.
Jake frowned. "But I'm still confused about that. Why the Base?"
"Jake...Mariemaia...I don't know the details, but it seems like Nicolae has a
personal grudge against both Preventers Wind and Fire, but they refuse to tell me what it
is."
"Could they have been classmates? I'll check..." and Mariemaia ran a listing.
"No match..." she read. "Is it an alias?"
"Could be. Who knows?" Lady Une said, throwing up her hands. "The only thing we
know about Nicolae is that he's ruthless and perverted. That's it."
"Well then, our next mission is obvious," Jake said, his eyes glinting. "We find
out who this guy is, and then," and he snapped his fingers, "he's gone."
elsewhere...
"Out! Family only!"
"But...but..."
"No buts! Out!" and Reiming slammed the door in Jerry's face. "Hey, I'm her
fiancee!" he shouted through the door.
"And I'm the unofficial doctor, and I say family only!" came the response. Jerry
sighed, and began to sulk. "No fair..."
Thomas laughed. "Deal with it, Bro. You'll have the rest of your lives together when
she's a Maxwell, but for now, she's a Merquise, and don't think Zechs-jiisan is going to
let you forget that!"
"Yeah yeah...I know I know. Don't rub it in," he grumbled.
inside...
"Well?" Zechs demanded. "How is she?"
"Healthy enough, considering what she's been through. Not undernourished; not
dehydrated; fairly clean...in fact, she's even wearing some extremely nice clothes,"
Reiming added, glancing at the pile of clothes on the floor. A nurse came forward to
throw the clothes out, but Reiming stopped her. "No, not yet. I want to examine these a
bit first," she said.
Noin frowned. "Why?"
Reiming picked up a sweater. "There's a tag in here...it says 'Sasha R. W.' Would have
been better if it had been a LAST name, but it's better than nothing."
"Do you think you could possibly ID it?"
"Won't hurt to give it a try. And somehow, I don't think any of this fits.
Judging from what we know of Nicolae's character, he wouldn't have treated her so well.
She hasn't lost any weight, and she's wearing extremely expensive brand name clothes. It
doesn't fit. She's clearly been abused. There are signs of bruising on her breasts, and
well, her hymen is no longer intact, but we had already expected that..."
Noin and Zechs both closed their eyes briefly at the mention of the rape. Reiming sighed
sympathetically. "I don't know how much comfort this is, but we've tested her for STD's.
She doesn't seem to have any."
"That's...good..." Zechs forced out, then turned away. "Excuse me," he said in a
husky voice, and abruptly went into the next room, where Reena was.
Noin stared at her husband's back. "Oh Zechs..." she sighed.
In the next room, Zechs looked down sadly at his daughter's sleeping form. His gaze then
traveled to the IV in her arm, and the various machines monitoring her vital signs.
He hesitantly reached out to stroke her face. "My little girl..." he murmured, caressing
her cheek. "Why did you have to get involved in this?"
"...Daddy?"
"Reena!"
"Daddy...I'm sorry," Reena said quietly, ashamed. "I messed everything up..."
"Actually, you didn't. You did quite well," he said wryly. "Your disk provided the
most information, which is ironic..."
Reena tried to smile, but then said, "Then why did the mission mess up?"
"We don't know, sweetie. But we know that it wasn't your fault, or Giselle's.
The alarms sounded from the outside."
"...You blame Jerry, don't you?"
Zechs sighed. "Reena...I know you're no longer a little girl anymore. You've grown up.
You'll be married soon. But you have to understand, I'm your father. I will always see
you as my little Reena. I can still remember the day you were born. You looked just like
your aunt, and I held you in my arms just like I had done with your Aunt Relena. Your
aunt can vouch for this: I've always been extremely protective of her. It took me many
years to come to accept the fact that she had fallen in love, just like you have. I felt
unnecessary. Now, it's the same with you. You look just like her, but you're not my
sister, you're my dear daughter. And now, you're going to leave me too..."
"Daddy..."
"Wait, I'm almost done. Your Uncle Heero and I used to hate each other. It was
hard for me to accept him, but I did anyway. I entrusted my baby sister to him to love
and protect, and he hasn't disappointed me. Now it's the same with you, only I've watched
Jerry grow up, which is more than I can say for your uncle. I've seen him grow from a
mischievous little boy to a true man, and though I don't like to admit it, I like him. I
know he loves you, and when the time comes, I will let take over as your protector, even
though I know he's already been doing that all his life. And you know what? Just as your
Uncle Heero has loved and protected your Aunt Relena, I know that Jerry will be equally
successful. Jerry hasn't disappointed me yet, and I don't think he ever will. I...I don't
blame him for what happened. Who is there to blame? He and Geoffry were both out there,
doing their jobs. If anything, us parents deserve the blame. We underestimated the
Neo-Rommefeller's arsenal of weapons, and we didn't prepare them well enough. But no, I
don't blame Jerry."
Reena smiled. "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot to me."
Zechs smiled and kissed her forehead. "Now, young lady, your mother will be coming in to
see you later, but for now, you get some rest, you hear?"
Reena groaned. "Dad...I'm not five years old anymore..." she whined. Zechs just laughed.
"What did I just tell you? I'll always see you as my little girl."
"Goody..."
"Good night, Reena."
"Night Dad. It's good to be back," she said, sounding more like her old self.
Zechs smiled at his daughter lovingly. "I know...Sweet dreams," he said, and switched off
the light.
Reena's eyelids flickered, then opened. "Ugh..." she moaned, dizzy and nauseous.
"Shh...It's okay. Stay still, Reena-chan," a voice comforted.
"Jake! Jake!" There was another voice.
"She's okay! I've found her!"
Footsteps, then, "Oh, the poor thing! Look at her!"
"Yes, I know...But she'll be safe now."
Reena tried to focus on the speakers, but couldn't quite succeed. "Who...who are...you?"
she murmured, not quite awake yet.
"Friends, Reena-chan. Don't worry, you'll be fine now."
"But...Aelis..."
"Aelis? Jake, what does she mean?"
"I don't know...Let's wait until we ask Lady Une."
Reena felt herself lifted. "It's going to be okay," a voice soothed. "Everything's going
to be okay now."
"Everything's going to be okay..." Reena thought to herself sleepily, and tried to
smile. "That's right...We'll get Aelis back; that pervert of a Colonel won't be able to
touch her. Jerry, oh Jerry, wait just a little longer. I'm coming back..."
at the same time...
"Jerry! You're up!" Giselle greeted cheerfully when she came to check up on him.
She frowned. "Hey, what's with the goofy look on your face?"
"Reena! She's okay!"
"Huh?"
Jerry grinned. "I just know it. She's in good hands now. She's coming back!"
Giselle shook her head. Poor guy! she thought. That knock on the head must have really
damaged his sanity! "Jerry-" she started to say, but a commotion behind her cut her off.
"Giselle! Giselle!"
"Clare? What is it?"
Clare dashed in front of her, bouncing and grinning like an idiot. "Guess what!
Mariemaia and Jake have finally arrived, and they've found Reena!"
"WHAT?! How?!"
"I dunno, but she's back! That's all that counts, right?"
"WOO-HOO!"
Both girls jumped at the shriek of joy behind them, then quickly leaped to the side as a
blur came crashing past them...literally. Jerry hadn't known just how dizzy he was, and
evidently, he had learned the hard way.
Giselle winced. "Ow...That had to hurt..."
But regardless, it certainly hadn't affected Jerry much. Scrambling to his feet, he
raced down the hallway.
The girls stared at his receding figure, then shrugged. "Er...why don't we go join him?"
Clare suggested, and they followed.
elsewhere...
"Back off everyone! Come on, move it! Give them some air!" Lady Une tried to say
severely, but not quite succeeding. "Really! This isn't helping!" she said, exasperated.
Her words had little impact. Noin was crying with relief; Zechs couldn't stop smiling;
everyone else was impossibly cheerful. Eva and Thomas especially were ecstatic, and even
Heero was smiling. Unfortunately, they were also forming a very effective roadblock for
the somewhat exasperated Preventer doctors, who were impatiently waiting to take Reena to
the infirmary.
Mariemaia laughed at her mother's frustration. "Relax, Mother. It's been awhile since
they've had good news," she chuckled, but went to clear the way for her husband Jake, who
was carrying the sleeping Reena. "Come on, she has a point. Reena needs medical
attention, and she can't do it if you're all mobbing her!"
No sooner had she said those words, a blurred shape came racing by her, nearly running
her over. Next thing she and her surprised husband knew, Reena had been plucked out from
Jake's arms.
"Reena! Reena, speak to me! Reena, tell me that you're okay!" Jerry said
frantically, looking down at his girlfriend's pale face. "Jerry!" Lady Une started to
scold, but Mariemaia shook her head. "Leave him, Mother. He needs to make sure the love of
his life is okay."
Reena opened her eyes. "Jerry..." she whispered, her eyes filling. "I'm...I'm okay..."
"Reena," he said, his voice broken. "Oh baby, welcome back. I'm so sorry...that
I couldn't protect you."
"It wasn't your fault; it was mine. Oh Jerry, I...I'm so sorry I worried you!"
and she started to cry. "Jerry, I love you."
"I love you too, Reena," Jerry said, also tearing up. "Reena..."
"Ahem."
Jerry looked up, embarrassed. "I'm afraid you'll have to share your affections later, but
for now, Reena needs to be examined," Jake said kindly, taking back Reena.
Reena protested. "It's okay, I can walk-oops!" she finished, her knees buckling under her.
Jake laughed. "Or...not..." she said sheepishly, and allowed herself to be carried away.
a few minutes later...
"I see..." Mariemaia said quietly, nodding her head. "So that's what she meant
by Aelis. That means Aelis is in the hands of the Neo-Rommefeller, and Geoffry is
missing?"
Lady Une nodded wearily. "That is correct. I've already shown you the messages Colonel
Nicolae sent her; needless to say, we are not very optimistic about her situation."
"Nicolae..." Jake murmured, worried. "You know, that name concerns me a little.
Mariemaia and I COMBED the colonies in our searches, but we never found that name. He's
clearly a high-ranking officer; I wonder how many others there are that we don't know
about..."
"This is war. We won't always find out everything," Mariemaia said tiredly. "But
I still feel like a failure..."
"Don't feel that way," Lady Une said. "You tried your best. You both did. You
found Reena, and since we're on that subject, how DID you find her?"
"Aelis is a clever girl. It appeared that she had taken a shuttle to some
location, then took a taxi to the rendezvous point. We found the shuttle, actually. While
she had activated the shuttle's cloaking technology so she couldn't be found, once she
got in the cab, she activated a small tracer. About a mile from the site, she disabled it.
While we were on our way to Preventer headquarters, we picked up the signal. We stopped
first where she had first activated it, recognized the shuttle as government property, and
followed the trail. In fact, when we first reached the dead end, we were confused, but
then we realized that the only real landmark within a mile radius was the Lake Victoria
Base, so we went there, and found her."
"Lake Victoria Base..." Lady Une said to herself.
Jake frowned. "But I'm still confused about that. Why the Base?"
"Jake...Mariemaia...I don't know the details, but it seems like Nicolae has a
personal grudge against both Preventers Wind and Fire, but they refuse to tell me what it
is."
"Could they have been classmates? I'll check..." and Mariemaia ran a listing.
"No match..." she read. "Is it an alias?"
"Could be. Who knows?" Lady Une said, throwing up her hands. "The only thing we
know about Nicolae is that he's ruthless and perverted. That's it."
"Well then, our next mission is obvious," Jake said, his eyes glinting. "We find
out who this guy is, and then," and he snapped his fingers, "he's gone."
elsewhere...
"Out! Family only!"
"But...but..."
"No buts! Out!" and Reiming slammed the door in Jerry's face. "Hey, I'm her
fiancee!" he shouted through the door.
"And I'm the unofficial doctor, and I say family only!" came the response. Jerry
sighed, and began to sulk. "No fair..."
Thomas laughed. "Deal with it, Bro. You'll have the rest of your lives together when
she's a Maxwell, but for now, she's a Merquise, and don't think Zechs-jiisan is going to
let you forget that!"
"Yeah yeah...I know I know. Don't rub it in," he grumbled.
inside...
"Well?" Zechs demanded. "How is she?"
"Healthy enough, considering what she's been through. Not undernourished; not
dehydrated; fairly clean...in fact, she's even wearing some extremely nice clothes,"
Reiming added, glancing at the pile of clothes on the floor. A nurse came forward to
throw the clothes out, but Reiming stopped her. "No, not yet. I want to examine these a
bit first," she said.
Noin frowned. "Why?"
Reiming picked up a sweater. "There's a tag in here...it says 'Sasha R. W.' Would have
been better if it had been a LAST name, but it's better than nothing."
"Do you think you could possibly ID it?"
"Won't hurt to give it a try. And somehow, I don't think any of this fits.
Judging from what we know of Nicolae's character, he wouldn't have treated her so well.
She hasn't lost any weight, and she's wearing extremely expensive brand name clothes. It
doesn't fit. She's clearly been abused. There are signs of bruising on her breasts, and
well, her hymen is no longer intact, but we had already expected that..."
Noin and Zechs both closed their eyes briefly at the mention of the rape. Reiming sighed
sympathetically. "I don't know how much comfort this is, but we've tested her for STD's.
She doesn't seem to have any."
"That's...good..." Zechs forced out, then turned away. "Excuse me," he said in a
husky voice, and abruptly went into the next room, where Reena was.
Noin stared at her husband's back. "Oh Zechs..." she sighed.
In the next room, Zechs looked down sadly at his daughter's sleeping form. His gaze then
traveled to the IV in her arm, and the various machines monitoring her vital signs.
He hesitantly reached out to stroke her face. "My little girl..." he murmured, caressing
her cheek. "Why did you have to get involved in this?"
"...Daddy?"
"Reena!"
"Daddy...I'm sorry," Reena said quietly, ashamed. "I messed everything up..."
"Actually, you didn't. You did quite well," he said wryly. "Your disk provided the
most information, which is ironic..."
Reena tried to smile, but then said, "Then why did the mission mess up?"
"We don't know, sweetie. But we know that it wasn't your fault, or Giselle's.
The alarms sounded from the outside."
"...You blame Jerry, don't you?"
Zechs sighed. "Reena...I know you're no longer a little girl anymore. You've grown up.
You'll be married soon. But you have to understand, I'm your father. I will always see
you as my little Reena. I can still remember the day you were born. You looked just like
your aunt, and I held you in my arms just like I had done with your Aunt Relena. Your
aunt can vouch for this: I've always been extremely protective of her. It took me many
years to come to accept the fact that she had fallen in love, just like you have. I felt
unnecessary. Now, it's the same with you. You look just like her, but you're not my
sister, you're my dear daughter. And now, you're going to leave me too..."
"Daddy..."
"Wait, I'm almost done. Your Uncle Heero and I used to hate each other. It was
hard for me to accept him, but I did anyway. I entrusted my baby sister to him to love
and protect, and he hasn't disappointed me. Now it's the same with you, only I've watched
Jerry grow up, which is more than I can say for your uncle. I've seen him grow from a
mischievous little boy to a true man, and though I don't like to admit it, I like him. I
know he loves you, and when the time comes, I will let take over as your protector, even
though I know he's already been doing that all his life. And you know what? Just as your
Uncle Heero has loved and protected your Aunt Relena, I know that Jerry will be equally
successful. Jerry hasn't disappointed me yet, and I don't think he ever will. I...I don't
blame him for what happened. Who is there to blame? He and Geoffry were both out there,
doing their jobs. If anything, us parents deserve the blame. We underestimated the
Neo-Rommefeller's arsenal of weapons, and we didn't prepare them well enough. But no, I
don't blame Jerry."
Reena smiled. "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot to me."
Zechs smiled and kissed her forehead. "Now, young lady, your mother will be coming in to
see you later, but for now, you get some rest, you hear?"
Reena groaned. "Dad...I'm not five years old anymore..." she whined. Zechs just laughed.
"What did I just tell you? I'll always see you as my little girl."
"Goody..."
"Good night, Reena."
"Night Dad. It's good to be back," she said, sounding more like her old self.
Zechs smiled at his daughter lovingly. "I know...Sweet dreams," he said, and switched off
the light.
