Warnings: none for this chapter Disclaimer: not mine

***sorry it took so long for me to update, I know you all must hate me, but school has been a drag and I haven't had much inspiration until now, though how long it will last I really have no idea.**** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6: The plunge

I was on the bridge, it wasn't much further now, I could see the weak section calling to me. Begging me to just break it already so it didn't have to go through the agony of doing it itself.

I was there. I was at the spot. When all of a sudden, just as I was starting to "trip" into the weak section I felt a hand reach out to me, "Watch out Heero!" I heard Trowa call as I twisted out of his reach.

The wood broke so easily from my weight. I saw Trowa's face change from one of passiveness to one of complete shock and horror. For a minute I felt bad for him, knowing I was the reason he lost his composure so completely.

Its better this way Trowa, don't look so sad, this is just the beginning...

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The decent to the bottom seemed to last forever. Everyone always says you know your dying when your life flashes before your eyes. Well I thought I was going to die but the only thing that flashed before my eyes was rock.

After I had straightened myself, feet first hands over my head, I closed my eyes and waited to hit the water, dreading the outcome. My feet hit first, slamming into the water, followed by the rest of my body. Surprisingly I didn't die. My legs hurt like hell from the impact though, so I used my arms to guide me to the bank where I would be meeting Commander Blake.

The man was already waiting there when I finally reached the shore.

"I told you that you wouldn't die. Why do people never believe me?" He said while getting up from his seat on a nearby rock.

"Yeah, but my legs hurt like hell."

"But you're not dead, and I don't think they are broken, so quite complaining." He walked over to me and leaned down to help me up, supporting my weight when I was standing and lead me to the rock he had just been sitting on.

"I'll let you rest a little while we wait for our ride, and I'll update you on the current situation. Duo is holding a big party at his club in a few days time. I know you haven't had many opportunities to go to any clubs since the one you went to with Trowa, so you will be going to one tomorrow night to get the feel of being in one alone. You will need to talk and dance with people in the club. Have a few beers first, it will loosen you up a bit and help you out, just try not to get too drunk. I will have men on standby ready to intervene if anything wrong should happen. However, don't think about them because you won't have them at Duo's." Commander Blake looked up as he heard footsteps making their way over to our general direction. Two men I had never seen before walked out of the brush.

"Commander Blake, the ORV is ready."

"Thank you, Tyler. Well Heero, we better be going!" I was surprised that Commander Blake was the one who helped me stand again and guided me to the ORV. I would have thought that he would have one of the other men help me out.

The ORV actually wasn't all that far away. A little dirt road ran along the river and the ORV was parked in the middle of it. I hobbled my way into the back seat and the two men who had come to find us got in on either side of me. Commander Blake climbed into the front passenger seat, and a woman I had also never seen before gave him a quick nod before starting the engine and pulling away.

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The ride lasted about 30 minutes. We left the farm and headed east to a motel a few miles down the road.

"Heero, you will be staying here until your mission at Duo's. Tyler and Samuel here will be staying with you. I must go back to The Farm and inform everyone of your tragic death. I will be back tomorrow with your outfit for the club. The doctor will be here shortly to see if you acquired any injuries during the fall. Get some rest tonight, tomorrow will be a long day." Commander Blake nodded his head to signify he was done and walked out of the motel room.

The room had two double beds separated by a night table with a lamp, a TV was on the wall across from the beds on top of a dresser, a table and two chairs sat by the window next to the door, and the bathroom was in the back corner.

"Heero, you pick which bed you want, Samuel and I will switch off on the other bed."

I picked the bed closest to the bathroom. Usually I go for the one closest to the door, but I didn't want to have to sleep near whichever of my guards was up, and also thought it would be better for them if they just had to fall into a bed, instead of walking in the dark to the farther bed. I laid down on the bed I had picked and turned the TV on to help pass the time while I waited for the Doctor to arrive.

I didn't need to wait long. After about 20 minutes of sitting in the room watching people try to figure out a way of making a square filter fit into a circular one in Apollo 13 there was a knock on the door. Tyler got up from his seat at one of the chairs opposite of Samuel and walked to the door to look through the peep hole. Obviously the man on the other end met Tyler's approval because he opened the door to let him in. The man stepped in and looked over to my direction.

"Heero?" he asked.

I nodded my head in response and he made his way over, taking a seat on the edge of the bed while putting the case he brought with him on the bed and opening it. While he was getting organized he talked to me.

"How are you feeling? Are you feeling any pain?"

"Just in my feet and legs" I replied.

"OK, let's have a look then." I had taken my shoes off when I had come into the hotel room so all I had to do was take my socks off. The doctor ran his hands along my legs checking for any unusual bumps and looking for scrapes and bruises.

"Everything looks and feels like its ok, you're just sore from the impact. Keep ice on your legs and get some rest and you should fell better tomorrow."

"Thank you Doctor."

The doctor closed his unused case and stood up from the bed.

"If the pain continues or you feel anything usual, just give me a call." He said handing me his card.

"Thanks."

The doctor turned and headed for the door, nodding to both Samuel and Tyler as he opened the door and left. Tyler who had left in the middle of the checkup walked over to me with a few bags of ice he had made using ice from the ice machine and a few plastic baggies.

"Here, put these on your legs like the doctor said to do." He said handing them to me.

I took them out of his hands and laid them on my legs, they were cold, but they also numbed my legs so I couldn't tell the difference between the cold and the pain.

"Thanks."

I stretched out fully on the bed, resting my head on one of the two pillows, with the ice on my legs in an attempt to try and get some sleep. The TV was still on and Tyler and Samuel were at the table playing cards.

I closed my eyes and just listened to the noises around me, letting them lull me into sleep.

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The next morning arrived too quickly. The ice had melted and I was surrounded in watery plastic baggies. Some had not been sealed completely, evidence of this was revealed from the empty bags and wet spots on the sheets. My legs were still sore, but they hurt a lot less than they had the day before. I looked over to the digital clock on the night table. The time read 6:40 a.m. Tyler was in one of the chairs with the lamp on reading a book. When he heard me shifting on the bed he looked up from the book to me.

"Good morning!" He said.

"Hn." I replied. It was way too early in the morning for me to be making conversation. I climbed out of the bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. And get ready for the day.

The bathroom was small, containing a toilet, sink and shower. I stripped and dumped my clothes into a pile in the middle of the floor and stepped into the shower. I turned the water on but did not add much heat. I find it much more effective to take a cold shower in the morning to wake me up then to be comfortable in the shower by taking a hot, warm one. I used the shampoo and conditioner provided by the motel and washed my hair and then used the soap to wash the rest of me.

When I was done washing myself I turned the shower off and wrapped myself in a towel to brush my teeth. Either the motel provided toothbrushes or Commander Blake had ordered that there be some because there were three new toothbrushes sitting on the side of the sink. I picked the blue one and open its wrapper. After brushing my teeth and running the towel through my hair one more time I put my clothes back on and stepped out into the room. Samuel had woken up and turned the TV on to watch the news.

I walked back over to my bed and sat down.

"Commander Blake called while you were taking a shower; he said he will be here by 7:30."

I looked over to the clock to see that it read 7:05. I leaned back on my bed and watched the news until his arrival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sorry again for the wait. I hope to get the next one up soon, I have an idea already in my head and I want to get it out before I forget it or lose the inspiration. So hopefully something will be up in the next week or two!