After Koji part 2: Picking up the Pieces

Ken was very protective of his little swan. As he and Jun had dinner, they avoided talking about Koji. Instead, they kept the topic of conversation light. Ken knew that she needed him in order to heal from these emotional wounds. He needed her, too, although he was not willing to admit it. Why else did he spend every spare moment at the Snack J running up an enormous tab?

"Hey Jun, what do you have planned tomorrow?" He asked as he tipped his glass up for a drink.

"Oh, I don't know...I need to catch up on cleaning the snack," she sighed," You know how Jinpei avoids cleaning when I'm not around." She ran her fingers along her glass, making condensation beads of water puddle on the table." Why do you ask?"

"I was just hoping to try out that new Chinese restaurant down the street," Ken's glass slipped out of his hands as he placed it down.

"OH SH...I'm sorry!" He clumsily wiped the spilled water off of himself and reached to wipe it off of Jun's shirt as well. As he realized what he was doing, he turned his head and blushed. "Here...I'll let...you...do it..." He handed her his napkin.

Jun smirked and grabbed the napkin from Ken." It's ok, I didn't get that wet...you're the one who is soaked…"

Biting her lip, she finally couldn't help herself, and burst into giggles.

Ken's big baby blue eyes widened in surprise, and then he joined in with his own hearty chuckle.

"I guess I'm not as coordinated as I thought..."He continued.

As the laughter faded, Jun stood up. "I guess I need to head for home, Jinpei'll be worried about me."

"Jun, about tomorrow, do you want to get together for lunch?"

"Sure...and..."She leaned in and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek," thanks for cheering me up, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

After taking her home, he returned to the air field and slipped into bed. He felt good (if not a little awkward) about the evening's events. Something still bothered him though. Joe. The condor had been a little too rough on Jun. Joe needs a little man-to man discussion on the way to handle Jun. He stretched and yawned. I'll take care of it in the morning...

The next morning, Ken found Joe at the race track, tinkering with his car.

Joe glanced up from under the hood of his car and noticed the furrowed brow of the Eagle.

"What'd I do now? He proclaimed in his ever sarcastic tone.

"You want to explain what happened yesterday between you and Jun?" Ken scowled.

Joe came out from under the hood, wiped off his wrench with a greasy hand towel, and stared directly into the eagle's eyes.

"She needed someone to bring her out of her ridiculous pouting episode...hey, it worked didn't it?" The Condor stiffened as if to challenge the Eagle's authority.

"You know hitting her like that was uncalled for...she's not one of Katse's goons! And besides that, I had the situation under control...you didn't have the authority to discipline her with me there...I'm the commanding officer."

"Oh...so that's what this is about? Did I bruise your fragile little ego? Or make you feel inferior for handling your third with 'kid-gloves' in front of the others just because you're sweet on her?" Joe sneered he continued to challenge Ken.

"That's IT!" Ken dove headlong at Joe and punched him square in the jaw. Joe's face hardened even more into a "condor-esque" scowl as he returned the favor. He almost seemed satisfied that he got a rise out of Ken. The noisy brawl gathered a crowd of onlookers from around the racetrack.

Later that morning, Ken iced his bruises in front of his bathroom mirror at his shack. Man, that guy packs quite a punch! OW! He grimaced as his stinging jaw line swelled.

Jun hummed softly to herself as she entered Ken's doorway.

Ken heard the faint humming getting gradually louder and realized it was lunchtime. He removed the bag of ice to see exactly how bad the damage was...it looked like he had a bad case of the mumps.

"Ken, where are you?"

"I'll be out in a sec..." Ken panicked...How am I gonna explain this one?

"Y'know , I think I'll be able to eat something today...Ohhhhh...what happened to your face?" she gasped and immediately rushed towards him.

"I...I tripped and my jaw hit my airplane propeller?" Oh, come on, Washio, you can do better than that...he hoped she'd just let it go, but this was Juney he was dealing with...

"Is that the best excuse you could come up with? Don't tell me, you and Joe got into it again, what was it this time?" Nothing got by her. She frowned in disapproval.

"It doesn't matter, it's settled anyway..."He looked down, suddenly his feet became really interesting...

She arched an eyebrow at Ken, she felt sure she could make him talk." Well, let's just go eat, I'm starved." She knew she'd weasel the details out of him in time...

They went to the little Chinese restaurant Ken had suggested and sat in a corner booth.

"Y'know Joe has a race tomorrow, are you going?" Jun tested the waters...

Ken avoided her steady gaze. "I don't know, I have some packages to deliver..."

She frowned as she began to dig for the juicy details, "Y'know, Ken,..."

Suddenly, their wristbands lit up..."Well, there goes lunch..." They both sighed as they headed for the door. Ken's sigh was in relief; Jun's was in response to the wristband's bad timing.

Just when I was about to start Ken's interrogation...

The team gathered at Dr. Nambu's house.

"What is it this time, Doc?" Joe leaned in his familiar position against the wall. He had noticeable bumps and bruises matching his commander's bruises. No one commented on them this time. They had grown accustomed to Joe and Ken's competitive sparring.

"I'd like you to check the area around the Prime Minister's mansion..."Nambu explained, "We believe there are some strange activities happening near the site."

"That's where sis blew up Koji, right?" Jinpei always blurted out things without thinking. Ryu covered Jinpei's mouth with his hand, but Jun was already scurrying out the back door.

Ken moved to follow her, but Joe intervened.

"What are you going to do? Hit her again?" Ken balled up his fists.

"Cool it, Ken, I'm just going to talk to her this time." Joe scowled at his commanding officer, turned on his heels and stomped out to join Jun on the poppy-covered hill.

"Hey Juney, you comin' with us, or what?" Joe wasn't well known for his tact. He stood behind her, chewing on one of his feather shuriken.

"No, you guys go ahead, I just can't..."She kept her back to him. She couldn't bear to look him in the face. Joe can sometimes be so insensitive...Her head lowered as she covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

"I know how you feel...just look at me...I'm a 'Gallactor Girl' magnet...I fall for 'em, and then... they get killed." He tossed the shuriken down. It stuck hard into the ground.

He shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to the other. Then his demeanor softened a bit as he crouched down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

Jun heard an uncomfortable gulp as he continued to speak."Uh, one more thing, about the way I treated you the other day...I um, apologize."

Jun looked up in surprise; she knew how difficult it was for Joe to swallow his pride.

"Don't worry about it, Joe, it's in the past." She turned towards him and gave a half-hearted smile.

"Well, I thought I should explain why I lost my temper and struck you like I did..."Joe took a deep breath." I saw myself in you that day, a weakness that I didn't like. I fell apart when Lucy died, maybe not to the extent you did, but...I was angrier with myself than you, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"You know you can talk to me any time you want, Joe, I'm always here for you."Jun smiled another weak smile and looked him directly into his steel blue eyes. She knew this made him uneasy, and she liked to push his emotional boundaries.

"I know, Juney, I know..." She watched his Adam's apple slide up, then down, as he swallowed hard. He reached down to pick up his shuriken.

"If we keep falling for Gallactors, do you suppose we'll all end up as five old farts living together in an old folks' home?" He grinned mischievously.

Jun giggled. Joe always knew how to make her laugh.

"Would that be so bad?" A familiar voice came from behind them. They turned around to see Ken, Jinpei and Ryu at the top of the hill.

"Only if you guys give me your extra jello."Ryu grinned and rubbed his stomach. They all laughed.

"C'mon, we have work to do..." Joe helped Jun up and put his arm around her as they left for the patrol.