A Daugher'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: As a reward for all of you who had to wait, here's a SECOND chapter for you to read. Yay. :D Now, just R&R and you'll be seeing more of these. Bye for now!

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Caterina wandered the busy streets of the business district in the Sank kingdom sadly, a bit depressed from the previous night's events. She'd spent the entire night at Jennifer's place, not quite getting any sleep out of fear of what may happen to her or Jacob on his way to the hospital. She had spent the night on one of Jennifer's old armchairs, not wanting to sleep on the floor. Jennifer had slept a few feet away on her couch, both girls afraid to sleep in any room in the large house alone. She hated how she sat in Jennifer's living room, jumping at every creak and random noise that happened. The wind blowing and the occasional plane flying over didn't help. The noise was unbearably loud in the middle of the forest area where Jennifer's house was located..

It was getting to be a hard week, and it was starting to become clear that the rest of the year wasn't going to go well. It was already off to a bad start, and she was afraid it'd get worse.

She swung her expensive designer purse lazily as she walked along, not really caring anymore if she ruined her nice stuff.

What's the point? It's going to fall apart at some point anyways. And it's not going to help me with my life's problems.

She looked up at the sky, the towering buildings blocking most of her view. She sighed, feeling a sense of helplessness. It really felt like she'd hit rock bottom.

She understood Jacob's positon, his job. She got that he was obligated to watch Elysia. It wasn't a matter of babysitting. Her life was in jeopardy, and it was apparent that whoever was after her, was shady and dangerous.

She got that his job came first, and that everything he did was for the good of the world. That and it was pretty much the way he paid for things.

But she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Elysia. And of the rest of her bridal party. Most of her bridesmaids were either happilly married, or were in deep, fulfilling relationhsips. It bothered her that she couldn't have a normal relationship with Jacob, like everybody else did.

He was her fiance, but it felt like he was just a elementary school crush. She knew he loved her, but there were times, like when he was off on his missions for weeks at a time, when she doubted it. It was hard to stand by and watch him leave, knowing that each mission may be his last, while she then in turn continued to plan their wedding as if nothing was wrong.

And the whole situation with Elysia... It wasn't enough that Caterina was already a bit fearful of getting caught in any of the riots, or random acts of violence by the protesters. Now she had to deal with the knowledge that someone was out to hurt the former pilots or their families. Just hearing that her mother was attacked in her own office, was enough for Caterina to just want to go run away and hide out in a cave somewhere. She didn't want to have to worry about her parents any more than she already was. She didn't want to have to think about her loved ones dying or...

It was starting to be too much for her. She was beginning to think she couldn't handle all the pressure.

She sighed again as she passed a newpaper stand, wondering what on earth and the colonies she was going to do to get out of this rut.

She took a couple more steps, before pausing, as she processed what she just saw on the front pages of all of the newpapers at the stand.

She walked back to get a better look, hoping against hope that she was just seeing things.

Her eyes widened at the mass display in front of her and what she really was seeing. She grabbed the first paper she saw and read the headlines and everything else on the front.

She then let out the loudest shriek she'd ever done in her life, one that rivaled even her childhood days.

Why did she always have to be punished in her life?

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"So, Jacob's planning a surprise for Cat, but hasn't told you what it is?" Elizabeth asked Jennifer, her soft voice ringing with her confusion.

Jennifer gave a little laugh and nodded, as the pair walked down one of the sidewalks of the Sank Kingdom Plaza. "I'm almost afraid to ask him, after I finish this task for him."

Elizabeth tapped her chin thoughtfully with her pointer finger. "Well, it's kind of odd for him to ask you to find Caterina's wedding dress for her."

Jennifer nodded some more in agreement. "Yeah, I thought so too. I'm trying to figure out what he's planning, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to do a few more errands for him, in order to get more pieces to the puzzle." She smirked at she wondered what else Jacob had in store for her. "Of course, considering he's not planning anything crazy or weird. Otherwise, I'll never get what it is."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I bet it's a surprise wedding!"

Jennifer frowned slightly and looked to Elizabeth in shock. "Nah! Why would he do that? He knows how much work Caterina's put into planning the wedding. Why would he take away the satisfaction?... I think he just wants to get her her dream dress and.. like... " She motioned around with her hands."A nice fancy honeymoon, or something..." She trailed off, realizing how lame she probably sounded. There was really no rational idea as to what Jacob was planning for Caterina.

She stopped walking when she saw that they had made it to the dress shop she'd wanted to go into. "Ah! Here we are!"

Elizabeth giggled as she opened the door. "I wonder what Caterina likes, and if we'll even find it here?"

Jennifer looked down to her purse as her phone began to ring. She recognized the ringtone and smiled at Elizabeth. "Speak of the devil..." She fished her cell phone out of her small pink bag and flipped it open. "Hey, Cat! What are you up to?"

"Jen! Have you seen today's papers yet!" Caterina's voice screamed.

Jennifer flinched a little as she pulled the phone a couple inches away from her ear. "No, why? Is there something I'm supposed to see?"

She looked to Elizabeth, who was still standing in the shop's doorway, questioningly and mouthed the word "newspaper". Elizabeth shrugged and shook her head.

"If there wasn't anything for you to look at, then why would I call you!"

Jennifer made a face, not knowing what to say to that. "Well, what's wrong?"

She turned towards the street and froze when she saw Caterina turn a nearby corner a couple shops away.She turned around quickly and motioned for Elizabeth to get inside the store.

When Elizabeth stared at her confusedly, she pointed to Caterina, who was so busy with her phone, that she hadn't noticed the two girls.

They ran in the store and went towards the back to hide, hoping that Caterina hadn't seen them.

Caterina, in the meantime, had answered Jennifer's question, a bit hysterically. "What's wrong! What's wrong? I can't even begin to tell you what's wrong! The best thing I can say is for you to grab the nearest paper and see for yourself!"

Jennifer rolled her eyes and glanced around the shop. She noticed a stack of newspapers on a chair by the dressing rooms. "Hold on, while I go find a place to buy one..." She snapped her fingers at Elizabeth to get her attention, and then motioned at the papers.

Elizabeth nodded and quickly got the newpapers for her. She handed it to Jennifer, before grabbing a copy for herself. She sat down in another chair and glanced at the front page. Her eyes widened in shock, as Jennifer saw for herself what all the fuss was about. "Oh, my..."

"Do you see!" Caterina shrieked.

Jennifer nodded, despite the fact that Caterina couldn't see her. "Oh, no, Cat..."

The front page of the Sank Kingdom Daily News blared the headline "Winner daughter caught in another sex scandal!".

Underneath the headline was a picture of Caterina wrapped in just a bedsheet, Jacob next to her, and what appeared to be the blurred images of...

"Cat, was this last year when... ?" Jennifer looked up from the horrible image in time to see Caterina on her way to walk in the shop. She panicked as she didn't want Caterina to see them and ask questions, and ran to the dressing rooms, yanking and dragging Elizabeth with her. She dove into the first dressing room on her right and pressed herself into the corner, praying she hadn't been seen.

All she had to do was talk low on the phone, so that Caterina didn't hear her.

"It looks like it, Jen." Caterina had answered sadly. "I don't even know how they got on his property and saw this... But now... As if the thing with my mom isn't bad enough, but they have to overshadow her attack with this and..." She trailed off, worry in her voice.

Jennifer watched as Elizabeth peeked out from behind the curtain to see where Caterina was at. She looked back at Jennifer and shook her head and motioned for her to come take a look.

Jennifer slowly got up and walked over, wondering what Caterina was doing. "Cat, this means that people could've seen Elysia... That's not good."

She frowned when she saw Caterina looking at the dresses in the front of the shop, fingering the lacy material half heartedly. "I know.. I wonder..." She trailed off and suddenly got quiet.

Jennifer frowned some more and took another peek from behind the curtain. "Cat? Are you okay?"

She saw Caterina seeming to be frozen in place, staring at something on the wall. Jennifer leaned out a bit to see what it was she was looking at.

"Jen... I'm going to have to call you back.." Caterina said slowly. She hung up the phone before Jennifer could say anything and reached up to touch a dress that was hanging on the wall.

Jennifer stared in confusioin, and closed her phone, wondering what got Caterina to be so quiet.

A saleswoman walked over to Caterina, asking rather loudly, "See something you like, miss?"

Caterina turned around slowly to face the woman and said, somewhat in awe," Um... yeah... Do you have this in my size?" She pulled the dress off the wall and gently handed it to the saleswoman as if it were a fragile ancient artifact.

The saleswoman examined the dress and asked, "What's your dress size?"

"Six," Caterina answered.

The saleswoman looked to the tag on the dress and smiled. "Well, it appears that this one is a six. And I believe it's the last one in this style." She smiled at Caterina. "Would you like to try it on?"

Jennifer and Elizabeth watched as Caterina hesitated. They looked at each other in confusion, not believing her behavior.

The saleswoman didn't wait for answer and began to usher Caterina to the back. "Come, now, you must try it on!"

Jennifer and Elizabeth watched in shock as Caterina allowed herself to be pushed towards the back. Then they remembered that they weren't supposed to be seen, and quickly ducked back behind the curtain.

They listened nervously as the salewoman lead Caterina to the back.

"Now, you don't have to buy it. You're just trying it on."

Caterina merely said a," Mmhmm."

The saleswoman went on. "Here, now, let me help you get out of those clothes...:

There was a bit of rustling and some grunting on the saleswoman's part.

After a long silence, the woman was heard shouting, "Aha! How lovely! Just beautiful, I'm telling you! Beautiful!"

Jennifer and Elizabeth couldn't hold back their curiosity and peeked out a bit from behind the curtains. Their breaths drew in sharply at the sight of Caterina.

The dress she had chosen was a slinky silk, light cream colored lace dress. The top was cut sweetheart style, two lace straps reaching across her shoulders and onto the back. The bottom flowed out ever so slowly past her waist and trailed on the floor as if it were water. Here or there was a bead that sparkled in the light. It was a beautiful dress, and on Caterina...

Caterina had been admiring herself in the dressing room mirrors, smiling to herself happily. She turned this way and that, looking at the dress, surprisingly, and not herself, from all angles.

Suddenly, her face fell, and she looked down. She shook her head and looked up to the saleswoman, "I'm sorry.. I can't.. I need to go.."

She quickly gathered up her clothes and went to take the dress off.

Jennifer and Elizabeth jumped back behind the curtains, before she could catch a glimpse of them. They sat down on the installed benches in the small room and looked to each other confusedly.

They both had never seen Caterina act like this before. It was almost as if she were another person. Where was the strong and confident girl they were used to?

They heard the saleswoman protest a bit as Caterina walked out quickly from the dressing room, the jingle of the little bells on the top of the door, signaling her exit.

They glanced to each other, and then opened the little curtain to the room, peering out to the front of the shop.

The saleswoman was shaking out the dress and just about ready to put it on back on the hanger.

Jennifer looked back to Elizabeth next to her and smiled. Despite what had just unusally happened, Caterina had done them a favor.

Elizabeth stared at her, not sure what Jennifer was smiling about. "What?" she asked, still having quite not gotten over Caterina's reaction to the dress

Jennifer stepped out of the room, slinging her purse over her shoulder. "Don't you see?"

Elizabeth followed confusedly, crossing her arms over her small chest. "No..."

Jennifer shrugged this off and walked over to the saleswoman. "Excuse me, ma'am? I'd like to buy that dress!"

The saleswoman jumped at Jennifer's voice, apparently never noticing that she and Elizabeth were in the shop too, and looked to her in surprise. "You mean this dress?" she asked, lifting up the hanger she was holding.

Jennfier nodded. "Mmhmm. Yep. That's the one!"

The woman glanced to Jennifer, and then the dress, and back to Jennifer, seeming to find it a bit of a dilemma. Obviously, she wanted to make a sale, but she was torn, because of how she'd seen Caterina's love for the dress.

Jennifer saw this right away as she walked closer to the woman and waved her hand at her. "Oh, no. It's not what you think." She motioned to Elizabeth behind her. "You see, we're doing a favor for that girl's soon to be husband. And... well, it'd be really good for us to get her this dress, since.. well, you saw how she was."

Elizabeth merely nodded in agreement with Jennifer, as the saleswoman looked to the two of them, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"And how do I know this is true? I mean, even though I can't find any other reason for you to purchase this dress, outside of being a cruel person, I still find your story hard to believe." The woman crossed her arms and waited.

Jennifer didn't even blink as she replied, "That girl was Caterina Winner. You know, the one who's about to marry Jacob Peacecraft. She's been so busy planning her wedding that she never got her wedding dress. By chance, we came here just as she did and happen to see her admiring this dress. Obviously she liked it, so we thought we'd get it for her, since she just took off."

The woman stared at the two silently for a couple minutes, and then shook her head. "That couldn't have been a Winner. Why would she be in my little shop of all places? She could fly to Paris, or Milan for the best of the best wedding gowns!"

Jennifer opened her mouth to say something, then closed it when she realized she didn't have anything to say. She looked up thoughtfully and crossed her arms. "You know, that's a really good question." She turned to Elizabeth. "Why did Caterina come in here?"

Elizabeth shrugged this off as she walked closer to the woman. "Beats me... At any rate," she handed the woman the newspaper they had read earlier. "If you look at that picture, I think you can see that we're telling the truth."

The woman glanced down at the paper, her eyes skimming over the words. She covered her mouth in shock as she got to the picture. "Oh, my..." she gasped as she looked up at Jennifer and Elizabeth.

Jennifer smirked in satisfaction, proud of Elizabeth's quick thinking, and gestured to the dress in the woman's hands. "So, do we have a deal?"

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Elysia let out a sigh and looked down to her lap as she sat in her newest hospital bed, waiting for word on what to do next. Her neck was bandaged, and a bit sore, the long thin cut on her neck not life threatening, since it wasn't deep enough to have done any damage. She was told that there'd be no scarring, but she highly doubted that. She'd been beaten enough in the orphanage to know what would stay and what wouldn't.

She thought back to the night before, when she had been sitting in the ambulance as the paramedics stitched up her neck. They had been the ones to tell her she was lucky the knife hadn't gone any deeper and that she'd be okay.

Physically anyways. Her mental health was the thing in question. Not to her, though. She felt fine. Shaken up a bit, yeah, but not ... Not like how her father and everbody else thought she'd be like. Or was. Apparently her silence was a sign of mass tramua or something.

She just didn't want to talk about the situation, nor accidentally let it slip that she was carrying a baby. Oh, the pandemonium that would erupt if that came out. It was bad enough just with everybody smothering her right now. If they knew about the baby, things would be so much more harder to do. She was pretty sure she couldn't even go to work at the orphanage without having someone walking her in, holding her hand.

It wasn't that she didn't appreciate their concerns and worries. She understood why her father, the other pilots, her uncle, Jacob, and Theo were getting overprotective of her. It was a tough situation, considering the circumstances, but she felt they were overdoing it.

Nobody knew who she was, nor that she even existed. The orphanage didn't even have her in their database. She honestly felt that the New Year's Party was an accident. Well, in her case, that is.

And the robbery was just an unusual coincidence. The man was asking her for something, as if she knew what he was talking about. It had to have been another case of mistaken identity.

She was irritated by all the drama going on. It was all just a bunch of coincidences and accidents. She was perfectly fine and safe. She was getting sick of all the attention and the worry and not being able to go somewhere as simple as the bathroom without someone following two inches behind.

Since the orphanage, she'd been independent. It was the one decent thing she'd learn from the place. Being the only girl for a long time, as well as being isolated from the rest of the children taught her to rely on nobody else but herself. She'd gotten by well, doing things on her own terms and time. She didn't really have to worry about anything much, outside of the torture the other kids and nuns did to her.

And now she was having to rely on not only her father, but just about every other male she knew, plus Jade. It was something she was just not getting quite a firm grasp on.

She looked to the side of her bed to Jacob, who hadn't moved from his seat. He looked so stern and serious, like the old statues the Sank Kingdom had of her ancestors. His arms never uncrossed themselves, nor did his gaze never quite leave her. It was a bit unnerving, coupled with his silence.

She hadn't known what to do in this long awkward moment, as she didn't want to set him off, or do something she wasn't supposed to.

But now she wondered...

"How long are you going to stay there?" she asked, breaking the fairly tense silence.

"As long as I need to," he answered, short and crisp, like the solider his father raised him to be.

Elysia made a face and moved in her bed to get a better look at him. "And how long will that be?"

His face seemed to stay perfectly still as he gazed intently into her eyes and answered," Until my mission is complete. And, hopefully, ends when my dad says so, and not when you're killed."

Elysia bit her lip, a bit taken aback from his answer. Did he have to put it like that?

She continued to look back at Jacob as his eyes watched her, He seeming to wait for more questions from her. She decided to keep them coming, since it appeared he'd have to deal with her 24/7. Might as well begin the torture as soon as possible."So, you're going to have to follow me everywhere I go?"

He gave a quick nod. "Yes."

She leaned forward in her bed. "Like when I go to work? Or sleep in my bed? Or even the bathroom?"

Jacob broke his statue pose and leaned forward as well, ticking his answers off on his fingers. "Yes, I'll be escorting you and hanging around about two feet from you, sort of, since your door will be open and I can just peek in, and I'll have to check the bathroom first before you enter, and then you do your thing, while I guard the outside, until you're done." He gave a smile that seemed to mock her.

Elysia, though unhappy with his answer, didn't let it get to her. She put on fake confusion and loked up thoughtfully."But what do I do when you have to go the bathroom or take a shower or something? You can't honestly be near me every waking moment."

Jacob frowned at her and leaned in closer so that nobody else could hear him," Why are you asking me this? It's a huge risk for me to answer that here, since anybody could be listening. Anybody! Do you want you and your child to be hurt?"

Just as he said the last part, he jumped back, and covered his mouth, hoping she hadn't caught what he said, feeling like an idiot for letting it slip out.

No such luck.

Elysia was staring at him in shock, her mouth wide open. Her eyes were big and she was gasping for air. She pointed to him with her right hand as she sputtered out," H-h-how did you know! Who told you!"

Jacob, surprisingly, was acting just as shocked as she was. He kept his hands over his mouth and shook his head.

Elysia crawled over on her bed and practically lunged at her cousin. "Tell me!" she demanded, shaking him by the shoulders.

He brought his hands down and said to her fearfully," I r-read it on your ch-charts... Shane had given me them to read a-a-and... " He stopped when she took her hands off of him and stared at him terrified.

"Shane gave them to you! He knows!" She was shrieking now, out of complete horror.

Jacob nodded meekly, fearing his cousin for the first time.

Elysia stayed on her bed, stunned by the news. How could she had been so stupid as to think that this would remain a secret? Of course Shane would know, since he was the one in charge of the investigation. And Jacob would have found out eventually, since he was the one guarding her and would need to know her medical condition. And her father and the rest of the pilots as well as...

Her eyes widened even more as she looked to Jacob panickedly. "My father...? And your father...? And... Theo!"

He nodded two times and then shook his head. "Everybody knows except him. We all felt it wasn't our place to say anything. We assumed you'd be the one willing to tell him. Jade had already informed us how you didn't even know until yesterday, and still hadn't mentioned it to him. So, we didn't say anything to him." He paused and waited for her to say more. He hadn't intended to stress her out more.

Elysia instead sank back into her bed, staring off blankly as she took this all in. "What am I going to do?" she mumbled to herself. "I... I really thought I'd have more time to think about this and what to do and... within a matter of hours, half of the people I know found out..." She looked up to Jacob quickly, her deep azure eyes flashing. "You'll say nothing to Theo about this! Nothing!"

Jacob nodded, moving his hands up and down, hoping to calm her. "Of, course. No problem." He actually inched his chair back as he said this, his cousin's intense gaze starting to freak him out.

She narrowed her eyes and said in a low tone," And nothing to Caterina, either!"

Jacob sat up in his chair and stared and stared at Elysia, a bit defensive. "Hey, why not? She should know like the rest of us."

Elysia shook her head. "She talks to Theo every week and is a bit bad at keeping secrets as we all know." Jacob opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. "Remember your engagement? And her Christmas present for you? And how she just couldn't resist telling us about your birthmark you-know-where, and what you told her on your two-month anniversary?"

Jacob frowned at the last part. "She told you that?"

Elysia nodded. "All of it, including that ridiculous love song." She crossed her arms triumphantly, as Jacob processed this.

He looked to her, a bit upset. "She... I..." He made a face. "Not even a hint?"

"Not a word!"

Before he could say more, the door to the room opened.

Jacob jumped up quickly, ready to attack, but softened his stance when he saw that it was only Heero. "Hello there, sir," he said, bowing.

Heero nodded slightly to him and walked over to Elysia. "We've got the plans and arrangements ready."

Jacob turned and sat back in his chair. "Oh? And they are...?"

Heero sat next to Elysia on her bed and gave her a hug before answering. "She'll be staying with Theo for the next couple of months, until I'm done packing our things and find a new apartment for us to stay. When that happens, we'll be slowy moving our stuff out. That way, if anybody is watching us, they won't see that we're leaving until the last day. If we sneak a couple of things in our cars every now and then, they won't catch on, until we're gone for good." He looked to Elysia and sighed. "You won't be able to leave Theo's place right away, though. We'll have to sneak you away. Probably take you out like a normal day and then take you somewhere where we can't be seen, and then have someone drive you to our new home... I really don't know how long this will take, so I have to be sure that you're okay with all of this."

Elysia gave a shrug and pulled her blanket up over her arms. "I really don't have a chioce."

Heero sighed and pulled her close. "I know, sweetie, but I had to make sure that you were okay with living with Theo for the next few months. Moving in with your boyfriend is such a big thing as it is, but you have the added weight of your life being in danger... It's going to be a tense time."

Elysia was about to shrug again when she realized what he said. She couldn't live with Theo right now. She hadn't told him about the baby and being right there with him every day...

She looked to Jacob, who had managed to read her expression and know what she was thinking. He smiled reassuringly and looked to Heero. "She's fine with that, uncle. I'm going to be around her all day, every day, so there won't be any problems. Nobody will be able to talk to her or even see her, if I have anything to do with it." He emphasised the last part for her, hoping she caught what he said.

She had, and nodded in agreement with him. She looked to Heero and gave a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine with that.

Heero smiled back and stood up. "Great. I'll go tell the guys and let them know the plans are underway. " He walked out the foor, closing it quietly behind him.

Elysia leaned back in her bed frustrtedly and looked to Jacob. "That's all I needed right now, Jakey."

He narrowed his eyes at her, even though he was smiling a bit. "Don't call me that."

Elysia snorted. "Get used to if. We have a whole three months together plus however much longer it takes until I'm free again." She crossed her arms and smiled evily at him. "I'm going to make your life a living hell."

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Theo kicked a can away angrily as he wandered the factory grounds "watching" for intruders. It was nights like these that made him wonder why he left the circus. It was so damn slow and boring. He might as well have stayed at the hospital with Elysia. At least he'd be with someone he liked.

There was nobody else at the factory, except for him and a handful of other security guards. They were younger, more inexperienced, though. He wanted to beat the head guard for placing the rookies on the night shift. He hated pulling more than his own weight.Granted, nothing was happening tonight anyways. But the point was still there. He shouldn't have to be the factory's sole protector.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a man's gruff voice call out his name from somewhere behind him.

He turned around towards one of the exits in the factory to see his boss standing in the doorway.

He looked at him in surprise, wondering why the factory owner was there and so late at night. He usually left in the afternoon, came back for a few hours, and then left. This was a rare sight.

Theo gave a slight wave as he walked over to the owner, hoping that nothing was wrong. He would really hate himself if the owner did his job better than him and knew it.

"Hey, there, sir," he said casually and respectfully, as he approached him. "What brings you here at this hour?"

The much older man smiled a bit, causing Theo to grow a tad wary, since he hardly did that, and motioned for Theo to walk inside. "C'mon, then. Get out of the cold, Barton. Snow's for penguins and polar bears, not humans."

Theo grew even more suspicious of the owner's actions, not understanding his unusually upbeat behavior.

He stepped inside and shook his jacket off a bit, dusting off what little snow had landed on him during his perimeter walk, as the owner shut the exit door.

"I want to have a word with you, my boy," he said as he stepped in front of Theo and began to walk down the hallway.

Theo stood still for a second as he tried to figure out what it was his boss could possibly want to tell him. He froze when he remembered the other night. Had the man in the car followed through on his threat?

The owner had noticed Theo wasn't behind him, and stopped, looking back at him. "Well, what are you doing just standing there, Barton? C'mon and walk with me. This won't take long. I promise."

Theo, not comforted by his words, nodded a little and started walking over towards the owner. "Sorry, sir. I was trying to get used to the heat. The transition from really cold to really hot threw me off." He was lying, as it was just as cold inside. The heaters had never been fixed, except for the upper floors, where, coincidentally, the owner and the executives' offices were. Any possible heat would have been from the owner's robust body and breath.

He didn't seem to notice, however, and nodded. Apparently his body temperature remained the same, wherever he went. "Ah, yes, how easily I forget where you just were. At any rate, come along. I want to let you know something important." Theo jogged a little to catch up to his boss, and steadied his pace next to the slightly shorter man. "Oh? What's going on? Nothing bad, I hope?"

He was lying again. If he could leave this job without having to quit or be fired, he'd be happy. Then he'd get some bonus cash for the factory closing down and the likes. Oh, what a wonderful day that'd be.

The owner gave a chuckle and shook his head. "Oh, no, Theo, nothing bad at all." He paused as they turned a corner. "I just wanted to discuss with you something. You see, an old business associate of mine is thinking of purchasing the factory. I've known him for many years. In fact, he was the one who was originally set to own this place. But, he fell in a rut, and couldn't afford to pay. So, I offered to buy it for him and take care of it, while he went to get back on his feet. It's been a couple years, since that happened, but now..." He stopped again as they turned another corner, then continued," He's ready to make good on our deal. But the man's been kind enough to allow me to be co-owner. So, we'll be working together, as we had originally intended. He just needs to check out a few things here or there, fill out some forms and checks, and then he'll be hanging around here just as much as I am. But, he'll be here at night."

He stopped walking to look at Theo next to him, who was frowning in confusion. "We figured it'd be a good idea to have each other watching over the factory both day and night, in case something were to happen and either of us needed to be contacted." He studied Theo's expression, clearly getting why Theo had no clue where he was heading. He reached out and clapped Theo's shoulder, smiling reassuringly. "That's where you come in, my boy. You see, since I won't be here at night most of the time, as well as the rest of the staff, you're next in line to be in charge. So, you'll be needing to talk to him and interact on a daily, er, nightly basis." His smiled widened a bit.

Theo, a bit unnerved, smiled back weakly. "Oh," was all he managed to say.

The owner snorted and turned away and began to walk again. " So, I'm letting you know ahead of time about this. You'll be meeting him when he's actually around to talk to. And, hopefully, after that, you two can start discussing the night routines and such." He turned another corner, with Theo trailing behind and stopped as they got to another exit from the building. He waited in front of it patiently as Theo caught up to him and reached out an arm to rest on the long handle. "So, what do ya' say? Ready to take on this new job?"

The just stood there and gave a shrug. "Yes, sir."

Do I really have a choice?

The owner smiled warmly at Theo as he opened the door, ignoring Theo's lack of enthusiasm. "Good to hear! I'll let him know how eager you are to meet him. Maybe that'll cause him to come over sooner." He stepped back to allow enough space between him and the doorway to allow Theo to walk through. "Back to work, my boy! Have fun chasing those penguins!"

Theo allowed himself a little laugh, so as not to offend his boss, and walked out the door. "Thank you, sir," he said as he steppd back in to the slightly cooler outdoors, turning up his jacket collar to keep every inch of himself warm.

"No problem, Barton," the owner called out as he waved at Theo from the doorway.

Theo glanced around at his surroundings to verify where he'd ended up, and did a quick mental draft of where he'd go to continue on his route.

As he heard the door shut to the factory and the see light go away to leave him in the dark night, he looked up to the sky, wondering what the hell he'd just gotten himself into.


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