A Daughter's Will

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of it's characters. Only what I create with my twisted mind is mine.

A/N: So, here's Chapter 6. Sorry that it took me so long to get this out. I didn't mean to. But, as always, my internet connection has to be cut off for some stupid reason or another. On the plus side, I still have all of my documents intact, so there's no retyping needed. :) Anywho, just go on and R&R and I'll see you next chapter. ;D

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Theo glanced over to the passenger side of his car at Elysia. There had been an unusual, and somewhat awkward, silence between the two, since they'd left the hospital. He hadn't expected a a big conversation on the way back, since she was hospitalized and most likely tired. But he didn't think it'd be so quiet. Or feel so empty and .. almost tense.

Right now, Elysia was staring out the window, seeming to avoid him. Although, he brushed that thought off quickly. Why would she not want to talk to him, of all people?

After thinking it through, he decided to say something and break the silence. "Are you all right?"

Elysia nearly jumped at the sound of his voice. She'd been so deep in thought that she didn't realize that this was the first time she'd heard Theo's voice all night.

She looked slowly over to him and smiled weakly. "I'm just... tired," she said, slightly lying. She felt very nauseous and cold, but she didn't want to let Theo catch on to her being pregnant. Now wasn't a good time for that.

She stared at Theo as he drove, her eyes slowly trailing over his every feature. She was so surprised by his appearance. His deep emerald green eyes had grown smaller, and looked worn. His face was just as tired looking, his smile seeming to be hard to make, almost forced.

She debated asking how work was treating him.

Theo, in the meantime, had gone back to focus on driving. He didn't like how it got quiet again, but he didn't know what to do to fix it. He wondered if he should have perhaps went to work anyways. But then he remembered just how much he didn't want to go.

It hadn't been easy to get the night off from work at the factory, as he expected. But upon telling his boss the reason why, he seemed more lenient. Not sympathetic, but understanding.

Theo had wanted to take Elysia somewhere else, like a hotel or his apartment, somwhere safe and secure, but the pilots made it clear that he should go straight to Heero's apartment.

Not that the apartment where Heero and Elysia lived in for the past year wasn't safe. It was just unnerving to him to go straight home after an unusual occurrence at the party of the year where people have died.

If he had been Elysia, he would have went straight to a realtor's office right away. He wouldn't have felt safe anymore.

Although, he hadn't felt safe since the other night where the man had called him by his name. He still hadn't told anyone about the incident, but it bothered him a lot.

Furthermore, his boss hadn't made any statements about it, even though the man implied he could do something to Theo regarding his job.

Theo sighed, pushing all of this from his mind. All he wanted was to do everything he could to make Elysia comfortable, safe, and happy.

Elysia had looked up at him when he sighed, and frowned. Was he okay?

"How about you, green eyes?" she asked, concerned, breaking the silence. "You look wiped out."

Theo smiled and gave a laugh. "Yeah, well, work's been killing me. My first day off in weeks and it all caught up with me today." He glanced over at her and winked. "I'll be fine. Nothing to worry about here."

Elysia smiled back faintly as she wrapped her hands in his. She looked back out the car window in time to see that they had come to her street now. She held back the uneasiness at being home so soon after what happened. Especially since Heero wasn't home tonight. She never liked being alone in the apartment.

As Theo pulled to a stop in front of the complex, he squeezed her hand and asked, "Would you like me to walk you in or carry you?" He smiled a bit, hoping that making light of the situation would help calm her down.

Elysia smiled back, but shook her head. "No, that's okay.You've already done enough." She unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "I'll be fine from here. Thank you."

She then got out of the car as quickly as she could, before he could protest.

She didn't want to wear him out any more than he already was, and also risk him finding out about the baby.

She walked briskly through the apartment buildings along the pathways, making her way to the apartment she'd shared with her father.

She tried to fight her feelings of discomfort as she went up the staircase leading to her home. She'd turn down Theo's offer to walk her, but she still didn't want to walk alone tonight. She wished her father didn't have to work. It would've made the situation a lot better. She sighed and continued walking...

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Theo watched Elysia as she quickly walked away from his car, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. He tried to hold back the hurt he felt at her leaving him as soon as she could.

He told himself that she was just tired and perhaps wanted to be alone, after having the attention of the news reporters, Preventers', the former pilots, their children, and just about anyone else in the world.

But deep down, he felt that she was avoiding him for some reason. She hadn't spoken much at all since the party, and he was starting to believe it was something more than her just being in shock over the whole situation. She was a lot stronger than that.

Unless, she was more troubled by what happened than she let on. There was that possibilty. Maybe she was afraid to say anything.

He stared at the apartment complex as he watched Elysia disappear from his view. It was so dark where she was at, the lights by the walkway burned out. He wondered how she could just walk by so easily, the dark not really getting to her, like it would him.

He wasn't really fond of the dark. Never was. Not since that night when his mother...

He sighed and glanced to his watch to see the time. As late as it was, he didn't feel right just dropping Elysia off and then leaving right away. He didn't like that she didn't want to be walked. It just wasn't like Elysia to turn down any offers to spend more time with him. Especially when they hadn't seen each other in a long time.

He wondered if he'd done something wrong.

Theo looked back to the apartment complex, and frowned when he thought he saw a flash of light in the window of Heero and Elysia's apartment.

Did she already get inside? That was quick.

He stared at the window a little longer, and made a face, when he saw nothing but black. He was probably just seeing things But, then again, it wouldn't hurt to be sure if Elysia was okay...

Although, she was really in a rush to go.

He debated a little more on what to do. I can't just leave her alone... Jacob, Shane, and all our dads would all be pissed at me if I did...

He looked up at the window again, his hand touching the keys that were still in the ignition. He thought a few seconds longer, then yanked them out. He just didn't feel right leaving her. And something just didn't feel right.

He opened the car door and got out, being sure to lock his car door before shutting it. Even though his car was a piece of junk, there were still people out there who would take it just for the parts. And he needed the damn thing.

I hope she doesn'tget mad at me for worrying so much... I just have to be sure...

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Elysia let out a sigh of relief as she opened the door that lead to the inside of her building which was conveniently located by the entrance to her apartment. She really was lucky that she didn't have to walk down the long, dimly lit hallway that her neighbors had to. Her apartment was the first one on the right.

She pulled out her key and inserted it into the keyhole, slightly surprised by how the door swung open easily. She frowned slightly, but shrugged it off, attributing it to her just being tired.

She instinctively reached out with her right hand to flip the light switch on as she closed the door behind her. When the lights didn't come on, she made a face in annoyance.

Was it her turn to pay the power bill? Did she forget again? She was going to have to call in the morning now, and have another argument with the electric company.

She wandered down the short hallway into the living room, tripping on things here or there, her only light source coming from the moon shining through the sliding glass door on the other side of the room.

She turned left, slightly used to walking in the dark from all the morning sickness she'd been having, and pretty much knowing the layout of the apartment like the back of her hand.

She opened the door to her room and turned to the left, quickly flopping down onto her bed.

Ahhh... This is so nice and comfortable after that stiff, cold hospital bed, she thought happily.

She reached over blindly with her right hand to grab the framed picture she had of her birthday, the last one of her mother with her, to do her routine bedtime ritual of her filling her mother in on how her day was.

It was silly, and at times she felt stupid for doing it, but she wanted to tell her mom things anyways, just in case she was listening.

When her hand touched nothing, she frowned and felt around her bedside dresser some more. She gasped out in pain as something sharp sliced and slipped into her fingers. She sat up quickly, holding her injured hand and looked to the dresser or see what it was that cut her.

She froze when she saw that the top of her dresser was cleared off, except for the broken pieces of glass. She glanced down to the floor in front of the dresser, trying to ignore the feeling of dread creeping into her.

She inwardly groaned when she saw that the picture frame had fallen and was smashed to pieces.She reached down to pick up the picture, wondering how on earth and the colonies the picture could have fallen and break the way it did.

That was when she noticed the rest of her room.

Everything was either broken, or thrown on the floor. Her clothes were scattered here or there, her dresser's drawers pulled out and thrown, broken pieces of them all over the carpet. Her entire room had been ransacked.

And then it sank in. The door had swung easily, because it was already open. And the lights were out because...

Her eyes widened as she realized she had to get out and fast. She shoved the picture into her pocket and opened her bedroom door, running as fast as she could.

As she neared the front door, she heard it. The unmistakable sound of footsteps crunching on all the things thrown on the floor.

She tried to get away, but the person grabbed her from behind and roughly yanked her backwards. She let out a scream as she fell back on the floor.

The person slapped her across the face and shoved her against the nearby wall. "Stay quiet or die," a man's deep voice hissed in her ear.

She whimpered at the hot pain on her cheek, trying to figure out a way to get out of this.

The man slammed her against the wall again. "I said be quiet!"

She felt one of his arms leave her body, and heard a noise as though he were reaching into something, like his pants, or a jacket.

She cried out as she felt the cool, sharp blade of a knife touch her neck. She was starting to think she wasn't going to get out of this alive.

"Where are they!" the man demanded, shaking her a bit with his other hand.

Elysia tried to hold back her tears as she asked confusedly, "Where's what?"

The man slammed her again and pushed the knife harder into her neck. "You know what I'm talking about! Where are the tapes! And the pictures!" He pushed her again.

Elysia held back her screams of pain as well as she could, and shook her head, the tears spilling out. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man snarled angrily and harshly pulled her off of the wall, swinging her around so that she was facing the living room. He wrapped his arm around her tightly and placed the knife back on her neck. "Tell me where they are!" he shouted again, pressing the knife harder.

She cried some more, not knowing what he was talking about, but desperately searching the farthest reaches of her mind, trying to remember, something, anything, that would get him off of her.

"Damn it! You're useless!" he yelled.
She closed her eyes tearfully, frantically thinking of something to do. She waited for him to do what he wanted, holding back her sobs.

Instead, she heard the man grunt, almost as if he were in pain. She opened her eyes in time to see Theo, who was standing on the other side of the couch in the living room, throw a knife at the man holding her.

She flinched as she not only felt and heard the knife go through the man's body, but because the man's grip on the knife had loosened and his hand fell, still managing to cut her neck.

She struggled to catch her breath as she fell with the man to the floor, hitting it pretty hard. She quickly wrestled herself out of his grasp and crawled away from him, staring at his body in shock.

Theo had managed to get one knife in the man's throat and the other right in his chest. The blood was already pouring out on the carpet.

As she struggled to take in what just happned, Theo rushed over to her side and bent down to pick her up. "Are you okay! Did he hurt you!" he asked worriedly.

Elysia just continued to stare at the man's body on the floor. He was just alive a second ago... I.. How did... Is he really dead? Did Theo just kill someone?... Theo... killed...

Theo then noticed the cut on her neck. His breath drew in sharply and he reached out to her. "Oh, Elysia... You're bleeding..." He looked at her, upset that he didn't help her in time.

Elysia slowly looked down to her shirt where she saw her own blood dripping on it. She looked up at Theo's face, concern and pain etched in his eyes, and frowned slightly. "I-I... what do we do now?"

Theo stared at her confusedly, not getting how she was acting. Was she in shock?

He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her away from the man's body. "I'm going to go call the police right now. I'll go get you a wet towel for your neck, so you sit here and..." He trailed off when he realized that she'd be staring at the man if she sat on the couch.

He glanced around, distraught and not knowing how to handle this. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialling 911 as he put an arm protectively around Elysia's shoulder and steered her away from the person he killed, having her face something less tramuatic.

He sighed as a dispatcher answered the phone. He looked down as he began talking.

"Hello?... Yeah, I'd like to report a robbery and... murder..."

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"Shane, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't put the baby on the bed and then leave him alone!" Jade grabbed her pride and joy off the bed she shared with her husband of eight months and stomped out of the room towards the kitchen.

Shane had just grabbed a piece of reheated pizza out of the microwave and taken a big bite out of it. He watched as Jade walked closer to him in what he assumed was her "threatening" walk and gave a shrug. "I don't really keep track of things like that," he answered unperturbedly, crumbs flying out of his mouth as he continued to chew.

Jade let out a growl of frustration and fixed on Shane one of her worse glares. "Shane," she said an ominous, but calm voice," do you not care for the life of our firstborn child?"

Shane studied her expression for a while, secretly amused by her behavior, and gave a second shrug. "Yeah, I guess I care for the lil' bugger." He bent over a bit to get to his son's level and inched a bit closer to where he was being held by Jade. Shane waved at him and made faces, hoping his son would laugh like he always did. "Huh, Brandon? Doesn't daddy care about you?"

Right on cue, Brandon giggled and clapped his hands.

Shane looked up to Jade, smiling, and pointed to the baby. "See? He knows I love him sometimes."

Jade rolled her eyes and lifted the baby higher to get him out of Shane's eyesight. "That's not the point I was trying to make, Maxwell." She brushed back a strand of her ebony hair from her face that Brandon was pulling on and shifted her weight to her other leg. "I was trying to tell you that if you love your son like you say you do, then you wouldn't be leaving him in dangerous places."

Shane blinked and then raised an eyebrow. "What's so dangerous about our bed?"

Jade gave another cry of anger, this one tinged with annoyance, and turned around towards the nearby couch. "Our bed, in case you haven't noticed, is three feet high off the ground."

Shane stared at her blankly. "So?" he asked.

Jade set Brandon down on the floor, nestling him between two couch cushions, and walked back over to Shane. "So?" she repeated back at him angrily. "So, our son can fall off the bed and cause serious harm to his tiny little body!"

Shane shook his head and took another bite of his pizza. "Honey, we have a king sized bed. It's impossible for the baby to just go and roll off the edge. He's got a good couple of feet to go." He shoved the rest of the pizza slice into his mouth, chewing noisily.

Jade looked at him, disgusted, and put her hands on her hips, shaking her head. "No, Shane. He can always crawl on over that way."

Shane frowned and looked to Brandon, who was happily chewing on his hand, still snuggled in the two cushions. "Brandon can't even hold himself up yet. How the hell is he going to crawl off the bed?"

Jade narrowed her eyes at Shane. "He..." She paused, when she couldn't think of something. "I mean... " She stepped back, slowly realizing that he was right, but not wanting to admit it. She looked to Shane and motioned around lamely with her hands. "Well, eventually-"

Shane raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to give up. "Jade, just say it."

Jade sighed in defeat and walked out. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You win. Just... don't do it again."

Shane walked over to the couch and jumped over it, landing nicely in a sitting position. "Sure, hon. I won't." He reached down and picked up Brandon. "Right, kiddo?"

Brandon gurgled back.

Shane smiled, and then looked back up to Jade as she walked back into the room. "Forget something?"

Jade stared at him expectantly. "How long have you known?"

Shane frowned in confusion and raised his hands up. "Known what?"

Jade raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "You know what I'm talking about."

Shane stared at her blankly, still not catching what she was implying. "Um... no. What is it we're talking about?" He looked to his fingers and licked off some sauce that had gotten on them, silently enjoying the look of horror on Jade's face from his eating habits.

She sighed and walked back into their room, and returned a few minutes later with a basket in her hands. Inside was an assortment of baby items, rattles, bibs, towels, and other newborn neccessities. She raised it at him, expectantly.

Shane merely shrugged and looked back to Brandon, who still hadn't moved from his spot. "Oh, that." He leaned down to pick his son up and cradled him in his arms, Brandon starting to close his eyes sleepily. "Yeah, I read it on Elysia's charts."

Jade's jaw dropped and she stared at him in shock, more from her not even thinking to cover that part up, than him accidentally finding out from doing his job investigating. "I... you..." Her eyes widened some more when a thought hit her. "You didn't tell anybody else, did you?"

Shane shrugged again as he gazed lovingly at his now sleeping child. This was really starting to be amusing. "Of course not. It's not my business to tell." He stood up to walk Brandon over to his room to lay him down in his crib. "Although, I was pretty close to spilling the beans during the interview." He glanced back at Jade from the hallway. "Good thing I caught myself beforehand. That would have been a sucky situation." He turned and continued on his way.

Jade rolled her eyes as she walked over to the couch, leaning down to pick up the couch cushions. "Among many other things." She shook them a little and patted them down, and then set them neatly back onto the couch. She watched the hallway entryway for Shane. "But you know what you have to do now, right?" she called out to him.

"What?" he shouted back.

She put her hands on her hips, irritated by his shouting, wondering how on earth and the colonies that the baby was still asleep after that. "You're not going to say another word about it to anybody."

Shane poked his head in the doorway for a quick second," Why would I do that?" He then ducked back, Jade assuming he was back in Brandon's room.

"Because you're Shane Maxwell, biggest mouth of the universe," she replied back.

Shane, not missing a beat, said back," That's not the only big thing I've got."

Jade closed her eyes in annoyance and shook her head. "You really are full of yourself, you know that?"

Shane returned and stopped in he doorway, leaning against the frame. "So I've been told my entire life." He watched her, amused, for a few minutes, before losing his smile. He looked her in her crystal blue eyes and sighed. "This is going to be a lot harder now."

Jade frowned confusedly. "What? The situation with Elysia?"

Shane nodded. "It's one thing to protect her. It's a whole other issue when you put a fetus into play." He looked down at the floor, kicking it with his foot absentmindedly. "I'm worried that we're not going to be able to ... That... " He looked up again. "That somewhere along the line, she's not going to make it... Because of all this bullshit going on."

What was left of Jade's anger melted away when she saw the worry and fear in her husband's eyes. She reached out her arms to him as she walked over. "Don't worry about that, right now, babe. There's nothing happening right now to cause us to freak out. Everything's fine. We just have to figure out the whole New Year's Party thing... After that, we're good. We'll have the bad guys."

Shane smiled as they hugged, falling in love with her all over again. Jade always knew the right things to say to him. He pulled back to look at her and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "Thanks, hon."

Jade nodded slightly as she hugged him tighter.

The moment between the two lasted for a mere twenty seconds, before the harsh ringing of Shane's cell phone caused the to jump and interrupted them.

He sighed and pulled away regretfully, reaching into his pocket, disgruntled. He frowned as he saw Heero's house number flass on the outside screen. He flipped open his phone, being sure to pull on Jade's hand, so that she couldn't take off and leave him hanging. He still wanted to at least hold her.

"Hello?" he asked, wondering why Heero would be calling. I thought he had work tonight... Why's he calling me and so late?

"Shane," Theo's tired voice replied back.

Shane frowned even more as his memory kicked in and he remembered that Theo was the one who was supposed to take Elysia home from the hospital. "Yeah, waht's up?"

"I'm going to need you to come over here right away." Theo didn't sound too happy.

Shane frowned, disturbed by Theo's voice. "Why? What's going on? Did something happen?"

Jade watched the expression on Shane's face as Theo filled him in. She suddenly felt worse, becuase of her just reassuring Shane that everything was okay. Clearly, that had changed.

As Shane finished off the conversation, she pulled away and wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes never leaving his face. This was all we needed right now... Damn it.. Just as things were getting a bit more tolerable...

Shane hung up his phone, looking to Jade exasperatedly. He shoved the cell phone back into his pocket as he said, "Apparently, Heero's apartment was in the process of being robbed when Elysia got home."

Jade's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, my god... Are they okay?"

Shane gave a shrug. "Theo really didn't get too far into detail.At any rate-," he turned to his right towards the front door. "I guess I'll have to get going now." He walked over to the closet by the doorway to grab a jacket.

Jade made a face as she turned to watch him. "Shane, I... " She stopped, not knowing what to say to him. What could she say? She had just made herself out to be a liar.

Shane seemed to catch how she was feeling and walked over to her quickly, leaning down to kiss her again, this time on the lips. "Don't let it get to you, babe. You didn't know. And technically you were right for a while there." He swung his jacket behind him as he put it on. "I'll call you to let you know when I'm on my way home, all right?"

Jade crossed her arms and nodded, watching as Shane walked to the front door, grabbing his key sthat were hanging on a nail next to it. "Be careful, Shane."

He waved a hand at her reassuringly as he walked out. "When am I not careful?"

Jade couldn't resist saying something back, especially since it'd lighten the mood some. "When you're taking care of our son an putting him on our bed unattended."

She smiled a bit as she heard him laugh, before the door shut, cutting him off. At least she got him to do that much. She stood silently for a few more minutes, before letting out a big sigh. There was nothing more she could do for the night. But now she was alone.

She glanced back to the hallway, and then remembered that the baby had just went to sleep. She wouldn't have to sleep alone tonight. She'd just take the baby out of the crib and snuggle with him. She just couldn't lay in that big bed by herself.

She went to lock the front door and then wandered to Brandon's room.

Please, Shane, stay alive. We need you at home. I don't know what I'd do without you here by my side.

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Jennifer was practically beating herself up. She hadn't thought to go to the hospital first. It didn't occur to her that Elysia might still be there.

Of course, halfway to the nearest hospital, she realized that she had no clue where Elysia might be at. She hadn't watched enough of the new report to know. Or couldn't remember. At any rate, she wasted 20 minutes driving.

Now, she was on her way to Heero's apartment. She figured that someone had to be home, and if not, she would just go to Theo's place. She had to go see Elysia and make sure everything was okay. She bit back the feeling of resentment that nobody thought to call her at all the whole day to let her know what had happened. But she decided to let it slide, since they may have just assumed she would find out by waching the t.v., or by someone else calling,

She tapped her steering wheel impatiently at each red light she came to. She didn't understand why she was so anxious, but shrugged it off anyways. It was just an adrenaline rush from the news report.

As she came closer to the apartment complex that Heero and Elysia lived at, she noticed flashing red and blue lights. She frowned in confusion as she slowly pulled to a stop behind a couple of parked police cars. She turned her engine off and quickly got out, hoping that this whole mess had nothing to do with Heero or Elysia.

"Excuse me, officer?" she said loudly to the neaerst policeman she saw, having to shout above the noise.

The officer glanced at her and looked away, waving a hand dismissively at her. "You need to get back in your car, miss, and go home. There's nothing for you to see here."

Jennifer made a face and walked over to him. "I'm sorry, sir, but my friend lives in that apartment complex, and I'm just wondering if... well, nothing happened, right?"

The officer didn't even look at her as he continued to stand in place, looking to be doing absolutely nothing. "I can't release any information to you on this matter. Now, please leave, and have your friend call you tomorrow."

Jennifer glared at the officer and crossed her arms angrily. "Look, I just need to know-"

"And I just need you to leave." The officer turned to face her now and glared right back.

Jennifer stood her ground, not at all threatened by the short, heavy-set man. She raised an eyebrow at him and prepared to argue some more, when a familiar voice called out,"Jen! What's going on?"

Jennifer turned to the side and saw Caterina running over, Jacob lagging behind her. She looked to Jennfier worriedly as she drew close and pulled her jacket tighter around herself.

Jennifer shrugged and motioned to the officer." I don't know I just got here and nobody's telling me what happened..." She paused when she realized this was the first time she'd seen or talked to anybody since New Year's Eve. She shivered as her body suddenly acknowledged it was cold outside. "Why are you guys here?"

Caterina pointed lamely to Jacob. "It was his day off, but he wanted to stop by and make sure Elysia got home safe." She glanced around at the mass array of rescue crews and sighed dejectedly. "It appears we were wrong... It's going to be the last day off he has in a while." She looked down a bit at that last part.

Did Caterina just look upset?

Jennnifer didn't know what to make of this and looked away.This was when she saw Theo coming down one of the apartments complex's walkways, his arm around Elysia, who had a blanket thrown over her shoulders and was holding something on her neck. They were flanked by two officers, who were obviously escorting them.

Jennifer took a couple of steps in their direction, waving to get their attention. "Theo! What happened?" She ran over to them, as Elysia was taken to a nearby ambulance, Theo stopping and standing still.

He looked to Jennifer confusedly as she stopped in front of him to catch her breath. "What are you doing here, Jen? Did someone tell you-"

Jennifer shook her head quickly. " I just found out about what happend at the party, and I was on my way to see if everything was okay. And then I see the police and eveything, and I got worried..." She looked to Elysia, who was being examined by a paramedic. "Whar happened?"

Theo sighed and shoved his hands in his pocket, in an attempt to keep them warm. "The apartment was robbed. Elysia went in, unaware that the robber was still in there. She tried to get away, but he attacked her..." He let out another long sigh and looked down. "I managed to get there in time to save her."

Jennifer tried to take this in calmly, as she looked at Theo in shock. "What happened to the robber?"

He motioned to a pair of paramedics, who were just coming down the walkway, wheeling a gurney that had someone on top of it, but a white sheet pulled over. Jennifer stared at the sheet covered body and tried to ignore the fear that had risen in her body. She glanced to Theo worriedly, at a loss for words.

He merely nodded, seeming to understand her reaction. "I know... Elyisa's more shaken up by the fact that I killed someone, than her almost getting killed..." He looked Jennifer in the eyes as he said with a dark overtone," I had to... It was either him or her... I wasn't about to let someone hurt her."

Jennifer tried to hold back the bit of tears that sprang up at her almost brother's words. "Oh, Theo... What are you going to do now?"

Before he could say anything, Jacob and Caterina came walking up. Jacob looked to Theo, seeming to be angry. "What happened, Barton?"

As Theo explained the situation to Jacob, Jennifer turned her attention to Elusia, who was still sitting in the ambulance. It appeared that the paramedics were giving her stitches. But she seemed unfazed by the needle going in and out of her neck. She was staring blankly out towards Theo.

Jennifer couldn't imagine what Elysia was going through at the moment. It was almost as if the torture at the orphanage was just a warm-up for what was in store for Elysia. Who could be doing such awful things to her?

Jennifer was stirred from her reverie as she heard Heero yelling out for Elysia. She looked over in time to see him running up to the group, Shane appearing out of nowhere behind him.

As they joined the group, Jennifer noticed Caterina standing off to the side, almost in her own world. She watched her silently, not knowing what to make of her longtime friend's actions.She was really acting weird lately. What was going on with her?

Jennifer crossed her arms, the cold getting to her even more, and turned back into the conversation at hand.

Jacob was now finishing off explaining to Heero and Shane what was going on. "...It appears that these guys aren't holding back."

The four men nodded their agreement and shuffled uncomfortably.

Shane looked up to Theo as he kicked the pavement with his steel toed boots. "All right, you know what this means now." He looked to Heero for backup as he added," Elysia's going to have to stay at Theo's place for a while, until you find a new place to stay."

Theo looked up quickly, about to object, when he hesitated, and then shook his head. "Yeah.. Sure, " he mumbled. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced away at Elysia.

Shane raised an eyebrow at him. "Is there a problem, Theo?"

Theo looked back and shook his head quickly. "No... No problem."

Jennifer frowned, as Theo was obviously lying. Why is he objecting to Elysia staying with him? That's not like him at all.

Shane coninuted on with his plan," Jacob, you already know your mission status. I suggest you pack your things and get ready to move in."

Jacob nodded his agreement. "I'm already planning to have Cat take some of my stuff over while I' m with Elysia."

Caterina heard this part and broke her unusual silence. "What? I didn't know about this."

Jacob let out a breath slowly as he looked to Caterina. "Sweetie, I have to stay with Elysia at all times. You know that. I need you to do me a favor and get my things. I can't leave her side at all."

Caterina, surprisingly, said nothing more. She looked away, and crossed her arms. "What about the car, Jacob? Are you driving it to the hospital?"

Jacob shook his head. "No, you drive it back to Jennifer's house and stay there with her. I don't want you alone at all. You'll be safe at her place."

Caterina obviously didn't like his answer, but said nothing else.

Jacob looked to Shane. "I'm going to go over to be with Elysia now, all right?"

Shane nodded and continued discussing the artinerary for the night.

Jacob walked away, hugging Caterina as he walked by her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Be careful... I love you," he said softly, as he left.

Jennifer noticed Caterina's expression as he did this. It was almost as if she was...

She looked away, not wanting to get too involved with the other's lives. She just wanted to go home and sleep now.

Shane was still talking. "Heero, you're going to have to stay here with Theo and talk with the police. You're going to have to fill out a report, as well as list what was taken. Theo has to give his statement. Then you guys can go back to the hospital."

"What about you?" Theo asked.

Shane shrugged and smiled a bit. "Well, I get to have the fun of looking over all the reports and crime scene and stay up all night, trying to determine what happened here, why, and who did it." He ran a hand through his slightly long brown hair, looking away. "Hopefuly, that guy Dorothy caught earlier today may give us some more information."

He looked around at everybody and clapped his hands together loudly, causing the majority of them to jump. "Well! Let's get going, guys!" He walked away and began a conversation with a nearby police officer.

Heero and Theo followed suit and walked away together to talk to Elysia before the ambulance took her away.

Jennifer watched everybody silently and looked to Caterina, who was still eerily quiet. "Cat?"

Caterina looked to Jennifer, and wiped her eyes quickly. "Yeah, I know. Let's get going, before someone sees us and decides to follow us home."

She puuled out a set of keys and walked away quickly to where she and Jacob had parked his car.
Jennifer tried to hold in her surprise at seeing Caterina cry and walked over to her car. What's wrong with her? And Theo? Why are they acting so ...different?

She shook her head and tried to ignore it. Now was not the time for family drama.

She opened her car door and got inside. She waited for Caterina to signal she was ready to leave, and then turned on her car, backing away from the mess around the apartment.

It appeared that she'd missed out on more than just a simple party.

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