Chapter 25

Catherine knocked on Trowa's door. "Trowa, we need to talk."

The door opened and Trowa came out, fully dressed this time. "What do you want to know?" He knew she would badger him until he told her so he figured it would be easier if he just cut to the chase and let her ask her questions.

"Have you seen her back? It's…it's…"

"A mess?"

"YES! How did that happen?"

"We think she was whipped."

"You THINK? You don't even know?" Cathy shrieked.

"Keep it down, Cathy! In case you didn't notice she's not overly talkative. We don't even know her name."

That shut Cathy up. She was too surprised to do anything but stare at Trowa.

"You have to be patient with her, Cathy. You can't try to force her to talk like you did with me. You can encourage her to talk, but do not expect her to. And under no circumstances are you to withhold food from her. If she wants to eat at midnight, let her. I don't think she's a picky eater, but if she doesn't like what you've made, let her have something different."

"I'm not going to let her starve!" Cathy told him indignantly.

"Cathy, I know you won't." Trowa ran a hand through his bangs. This wasn't going well. "She's just going to need a lot of patience. If you even frown around her she thinks she's in trouble."

"Just where did you find her?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Cathy opened it to find the Manager.

"Good morning, Catherine."

"Good morning, Manager. Please come in." She stepped aside so he could enter.

"Trowa, good to see you," the Manager greeted the agent with a hand shake. "How are things?"

"Okay, I guess. I've got a couple more cases to finish up and then I can come back to the circus. I'll still be on the Preventer's consult list, but they'll only call me up when they absolutely have to. I've made it clear that I want to leave that life behind as much as possible."

The Manager nodded. "Good."

"Would you like anything, Manager? A drink or something to eat?"

"No thank you, Cathy. Trowa, what's this I hear about Cathy watching someone for you?"

Trowa sighed. This wasn't going to be easy to explain. "I think you should sit down."

The three of them sat at the small table in the kitchen.

"Why so serious, Trowa? Surely it can't be that bad. I seem to remember a young man who wasn't afraid of anything and here he is grown up and afraid to ask a favor."

Trowa was about to start explaining the girl when he saw the girl come out of the bathroom. She looked like she wasn't sure if she was interrupting something. Trowa tapped Cathy's arm and tipped his head towards the girl.

Cathy looked at the girl and gave her a gentle smile. "Are you ready for me to help you?"

The girl nodded but didn't come any closer. Trowa wondered if it was due to the Manager being there or because of all the screwing up he'd done that morning.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. We'll be right back."

Heero showed Chase to the girl's hospital room. He put a finger to his lips to tell the man to be quiet before inching the door open.

"She's asleep. Don't wake her," he cautioned as he stepped aside just enough for the lawyer to look in.

Chase nodded and looked into the room. It was fairly dark, but he could see the figure on the bed. The blankets made the girl a shapeless lump, but her black hair was clearly visible. There were wires and tubes leading from several machines under the blankets.

"I'm fairly positive that's Amanda," Chase told Heero. "When she is feeling better, can we set up another meeting?"

"I don't see a problem with—" Heero was cut off as the heart monitor flat-lined and alarms on the machines started blaring.

"I'm sorry," Heero said as he ushered Chase out of the room and Sally ran in. "This is not a good time. I'll contact you if she is able to have visitors."

"See that you do," Chase told Heero. If the girl died, it would solve his problem of having a witness, but it certainly wouldn't please Decart. He still expected the girl to be delivered, trained and obedient, and Chase's time was running out.

Chase left and Heero went back into the girl's room. Mission accomplished.

Wufei waited for the signal. He could hear Heero. Almost time. He kept his breathing steady. It was sweltering under here. He was going to kill Yuy when this was over. There it was, the signal. Wufei tripped the monitor. Alarms blared and Wufei held as still as possible.

The blankets were ripped off of him and he looked up at Sally.

"What on Earth? Wufei?"

Wufei sat up. "It was Heero's idea. Where is he? I want to kill him."

"He's out with Chase, likely trying to keep him from confiscating the girl's body," Sally told him.

The door opened and Heero sauntered in.

"Well?" Wufei demanded as he pulled his hair back into a ponytail.

"He bought it."

"What, exactly, were you trying to accomplish?" Sally asked.

"Two things. Number one, Chase believes the girl is sick and possibly dying. He'll leave us alone for a while."

"And number two?"

"He's definitely seen her before, at least enough to know her hair is black and about shoulder length."

Wufei nodded. "I'm glad it worked, Heero. And if you tell anyone that I posed as the girl, torture will be a blessing compared to what I do to you."

Heero felt the corner of his mouth twitch, but kept his expression neutral. "Hn."

Cathy led the girl into her bedroom. "There's more room in here than the bathroom," she explained. "Do you have any ointment or anything I need to put on this before the bandages go on?"

The girl started to shake her head 'No' but then stopped and dug around in one of the bags. She pulled out an envelope and held it out to Cathy, who took it carefully, so as not to startle the girl. Cathy pulled out a slip of paper and read:

"Catherine,
Thank you so much for agreeing to help us out. I'm sure Trowa has explained everything to you, so I won't waste paper here. The girl doesn't speak, but she will communicate by writing. Her right shoulder will need to remain in the brace for a couple of weeks and her diet will need a nutrient supplement. I've enclosed a recipe for a shake that will help fill the holes. She can start to add solid foods to her diet. She has the medications she needs and on the reverse of the recipe is the schedule for them. Just so you're aware, she's been having nightmares and one of her pills is a sleep aid that should keep them at bay.

I've also enclosed some money to help pay for things the girl needs. If you need more, contact either me or Trowa and we will get it to you. If you run into any problems, you can contact me at the number listed below. It's secure, but it would be best to talk about the girl in code, just to be safe. Do not hesitate to call.

Thanks again,
Sally."

Cathy quickly scanned the letter again before slipping it back into the envelope, noting several large bills tucked inside. She didn't need the money. She would send it back with Trowa.

She looked up at the girl and smiled. "Well, let's get you patched up and go out to have a chat with Trowa. I want you to meet the Manager as well, since you'll be staying with me for a while and he likes to know what's going on."

Cathy started bandaging the girl's back while she talked. The girl didn't move or respond.

"The circus is like a big family and what affects one member affects everyone. I don't like the idea of leaving you in the trailer all day alone so maybe we can find an easy job for you to do until you're healed up a bit. Maybe you can help feed the animals or make popcorn or something. Would you like that?" Cathy didn't see any point in waiting for the girl to answer. She hadn't so far and Trowa had said she wasn't likely to talk any time soon. "You know, when Trowa started here his job was to stand there while I threw knives at him. You could do that if you'd prefer. But if that doesn't appeal to you maybe you can help backstage cleaning costumes or something. No matter what you pick there will be someone to help you so it doesn't matter if you decide not to talk any time soon. There we go. All done, dear."

Catherine put away the first aid kit while the girl slipped her shirt back on. Cathy watched as the girl struggled to put her shoulder brace back on. She was about to offer to help when the girl got it in place. Cathy led the way back out. Trowa still owed her an explanation.

Trowa watched Cathy take the girl to the back bedroom. He wondered if this was a good idea. It wasn't that Cathy wouldn't take good care of her, but the circus was far away from Preventer headquarters. If she got sick again Sally wouldn't be able to get to her. He'd have to mail Cathy some fake identification so she could take the girl to the hospital if it became necessary.

"What occupies your mind?"

Trowa looked at the Manager. "I'm not so sure this was a good idea. This girl is going to be a handful, even if she isn't one on purpose."

"What do you mean?"

"The situation we found her in was traumatic for us. I can't begin to imagine everything she's gone through. The nightmares alone are likely to keep Cathy up at night. Maybe I should take her back."

The Manager thought about this. Trowa knew that the circus couldn't afford to take dead weight on tour. If they were at the training grounds for the off season, it wouldn't be a problem. But bringing someone with no training, who would be a distraction for his star attraction was not ideal, to put it mildly.

Both men looked up as Cathy came out of the back room, followed by the girl.

For the Manager, it was the first time he was able to get a really good look at the girl. He didn't miss how thin she was or how her clothes were too large for her tiny frame. He didn't miss the black eyes, the healing split lip, or the bruises that made it difficult to tell what color her skin really was. He certainly didn't miss the look in her eyes. His job was to bring delight to children. This girl broke his heart. There was no reason for anyone to end up like that. He decided that he would allow her to seek sanctuary with the circus even if she wasn't capable of pulling her weight.

Cathy sat at the table. "Trowa, I think you owe me an explanation."

The girl hadn't followed her, so Cathy motioned to the empty seat and the girl silently walked over and occupied the chair.

"Don't make it sound like I intentionally didn't tell you what was going on. It was four in the morning and I'd been driving for seven hours. I couldn't put a coherent thought together and it wouldn't have made sense."

"Well, it's not four in the morning anymore. Tell me now."

Trowa didn't want to. He didn't want to think about it and he didn't want to trigger anything in the girl by bringing it up. Maybe he could stall a little longer.

He looked at the girl. "Are you hungry?"

The girl gave him a tiny nod and Trowa jumped up. He made her some hot cereal, unaware that the Manager and Cathy were taking the opportunity to get a closer look at the girl's injuries. Had he noticed, he would have told them off, but he was too busy making hot chocolate as a treat for the girl to have until the cereal was done. He gave the girl the hot chocolate with a small smile and hoped he hadn't made it too hot. He knew she hadn't been given much food and worried that she would make herself sick by downing it too quickly. He glanced at her as he stirred the cereal. She was sipping at it, which was a relief. He hoped she understood that they weren't going to deprive her of food. He turned the stove off and got out a bowl and a spoon. Part of him wished the cereal took longer to make while another part of him wanted to get the explanation over with.

"Trowa quit stalling. What's going on?"

"Alright, Cathy." Trowa looked at the girl. "If you don't want to hear this, you can go into the other room, okay?"

She nodded.

"I mean it. If you feel uncomfortable at all you just get up and leave, okay?"

Trowa wanted to make sure she understood that she wasn't expected to sit there and listen to this if she didn't want to. She nodded again and Trowa looked at her until she occupied herself with her breakfast.

Trowa nodded and took a deep breath. She was an adult, he reminded himself. She was capable of making her own decisions.

"I'm not sure where to start with this. For the past year the Preventers have been trying to break up a human trafficking ring. It started out with a lead to one organization but there have been so many twists in this case that thinking about it makes my head spin. About a month ago we got a lead on a potential base for one of the higher ups, a man called Decart. So we followed it and up until just over a week ago all our leads turned out to be dead ends.

"Then we got a break. One of them slipped up during an interrogation and we got the location we'd been looking for. When we got the go-ahead for the raid, it…didn't go quite as we thought it would."

Trowa noticed the girl put down her spoon and set her hands in her lap as she stared at the table. Trowa grabbed the abandoned bowl and went over to the sink to clean the dishes.

Cathy looked expectantly at Trowa. He was obviously trying to avoid the subject. She wished he would just spit it out and get it over with.

"Trowa?" Cathy prompted as the Manager gave Trowa an odd look.

Trowa closed his eyes. "Shit, Catherine. Do you have any idea what we found? The attic was full of boxes and inside the boxes…"

Trowa took a breath, trying to keep from puking at the memories. It wasn't working. He didn't want to flash again. He took a few more deep breaths, focusing on not getting sick before choking out, "Pieces, Cathy. Pieces of girls. All sorted into different boxes by age and what piece it was, all in different states of decay. It was horrific. And the forensics team placed the girls between the ages of three and twenty-one."

"Oh, Trowa…who could do such a thing?" Cathy breathed out, not believing what he'd just said. But Trowa wasn't the type to exaggerate.

"A monster by the name of Chase. He's—" Trowa's explanation was interrupted by a kitchen chair scraping on the floor. He turned in time to see the girl race into the bathroom and slam the door. The sound of violent retching reached them.

Trowa dropped into his chair with a groan and dropped his head into his hands. He'd done it now.