Chapter 73

"Okay, Kiri. This looks really good." Sally pulled the flashlight and mirror out of Kiri's mouth. "So have you thought about what you'd like to say first?"

Kiri nodded.

"Well, go ahead and say it," Sally said with a smile.

"Thank you," Kiri said. She smiled. "Thank you, Sally."

Kiri's voice was soft and a little raspy, but Sally suspected that the raspiness would go away with time.

"You're very welcome, Kiri. Now, I don't want you to try and talk too loudly or too much. You need to work up to it okay?" Sally didn't want her to overdo it and risk hurting herself again.

Kiri nodded.

"Good. Let me know if your throat starts to bother you at all. And stick with softer foods for a few more days just to be on the safe side."

"Okay." Kiri leaned back and got comfortable on the bed.

Sally let Duo back into the room and left to do her rounds.

"Hey kid, how ya feelin'?"

"Better."

Duo performed an exaggerated double take. "It speaks!"

Duo grabbed his chest and fell to the floor, pretending to have heart attack. He twitched around for a minute before playing dead and then grinned up at Kiri from the floor. She rolled her eyes at him and he got up.

"So, inquiring minds want to know: how does it feel to be able to talk again?"

Kiri fidgeted. "Well…I…I'm still a little scared to talk," she admitted.

Duo frowned. "Why is that?"

He thought they'd earned her trust. He didn't understand why she was still afraid.

Kiri bit her lip. "Because if Perdu…um, Chase, finds out that I talked without his permission, he'll…"

"You don't need that bastard's permission to do anything," Duo interrupted. "We're going to get him. I promise you that and Duo Maxwell doesn't lie." They'd gotten Kiri away from that madman and Duo wasn't going to let him continue to control her through the fear of what he might manage to do to her, assuming that he ever got anywhere near her again.

Kiri sighed. "You wouldn't understand," she said softly and turned over onto her side facing away from him.

Was she right? Was there something that they still didn't know about? If she shut down, they'd never get it out of her.

"Hey Kiri…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset," he told her quietly. He hoped that she wouldn't stay upset with him. He liked being able to joke around with her. It helped him to forget his failure on L2 to think that they were making progress with Kiri's recovery.

"I know," Kiri whispered, but she kept her back to him.

Duo wondered if there was anything he could tell her to make her feel safer.

Kiri muttered something.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

Kiri sighed. "I said if he found me once, he can find me again."

Duo wasn't really sure how to respond to that. "Look, Kiri—"

"Duo," Kiri interrupted, "Sally said I'm not supposed to talk too much right now." She buried her face into her pillow.

Duo couldn't believe she was shutting him out like that. "Now just one second!"

Duo grabbed her shoulder and carefully, but firmly, made her turn over and look at him. The look on her face immediately made him feel awful.

"Aw, hey, don't cry," he soothed. "Come here."

He carefully wrapped his arms around her and she cried into his shoulder.

"Okay, okay…everything's gonna be okay." Duo wasn't sure how long Kiri would stay upset but he wasn't about to let her go. She needed to be comforted and he wanted her to feel safe but he wasn't sure how to make that happen.

A soft knock on the door made Kiri jump slightly.

"Who is it?" Duo asked, knowing that it was likely one of the guys.

"Quatre."

"Come in."

Quatre came in and secured the door before moving closer to the bed. He frowned.

"What's going on, Duo?" He could tell Kiri was upset before he came in. The only way to fix it was to find out why.

"She's scared that Chase'll find out she's here and hurt her for talkin' to us."

"Oh Kiri…" Quatre reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I told you before that we'll do everything we can to keep you safe. That's not going to change now." He wanted her to feel safe and it bothered him that nothing they did was able to make that happen for her. She was still scared and understandably so, but he wanted to take that away from her so she could move on with her life. She deserved that much from them.

Kiri nodded and her crying slowed.

A knock on the door drew Quatre away from the bed. He opened it to find Heero standing there, looking grim. Quatre looked over his shoulder at Kiri, who was still in Duo's embrace.

"Let's talk in the hall," Quatre said softly. Once the door to Kiri's room was shut, he asked, "What's going on?"

"The Colonel wants to speak to Kiri. Make sure she is ready for her arrival."

"Does she have to come today?"

Heero raised an eyebrow. "The Colonel is a busy woman. Why can't she come today?"

"Kiri's upset."

"So?"

Quatre rolled his eyes. "She isn't up for an interrogation, Heero. Besides, Sally's orders are that she not speak too much today. It will be better to wait until tomorrow so that Une's conversation isn't cut short by Kiri's current health restrictions."

Heero nodded. "I will pass that along to her." His manner softened. "What has her upset today?"

"Apparently she thinks Chase will hurt her if she talks to us."

"She's told us things before."

"She's written things before. I think she may have seen that as a loophole in the order not to talk to anyone. She may be regretting going through with that surgery."

"Is she going to be okay?"

It was Quatre's turn to nod. "I'm sure that once she realizes that Chase can't get her here she'll be able to relax."

"I will pass this information on to the Colonel. It may affect her conversation with Kiri tomorrow."

"Thank you, Heero."

Heero turned to leave and Quatre returned to Kiri's room.

Duo held Kiri for a minute after Quatre left before asking, "Ya okay?"

Kiri nodded. Duo decided it was safe to let her go and brushed an errant tear from her cheek.

"He won't get away with this," Duo promised. "I want you to stop worrying about him. That's our job, got it?"

Kiri nodded again.

Duo grinned. "All right. Have you had lunch yet?"

"No."

"Are ya hungry?"

Kiri shrugged.

"Hm…well…um…" Duo scratched the back of his head. He'd hoped that Kiri would be a little more communicative now that she could talk.

Quatre came back in. He could tell that she had calmed a little, but was still upset. "Kiri, are you okay?"

Kiri nodded. Quatre knew she wasn't being entirely honest.

"Heero said that Colonel Une wants to speak to you. I asked him to have her speak to you tomorrow." Quatre watched her reaction closely. If she got too worked up, Sally would want to know about it.

"Thank you," Kiri said. She sounded so miserable that even Duo didn't miss it.

"We already got her Kiri's statement. What more could she want?" Duo demanded.

"She wants…" Kiri started softly. "She wants me to confront my parents. She thinks…she thinks they might tell me stuff that they won't tell you guys."

Kiri shut her eyes. Duo and Quatre shared a look over Kiri's head. They had both hoped Une would change her mind after Catherine talked to her, especially since it hadn't been discussed since Cathy reamed her out.

"That makes sense, I guess. I'm going to talk to her about it." Quatre knew Une wouldn't abandon that plan, but he was still going to try one more time. Even if she still insisted on continuing with the plan, perhaps he could change the parameters a bit. And he wanted Kiri to know that she wasn't the only one upset about the decision. "I don't like the idea of sending you in there alone. They obviously aren't overly concerned for your welfare. They could try something again."

Kiri nodded. Quatre could feel how upset she was. It was making him sick to his stomach.

"Don't stress, okay? We'll get it figured out," Duo told her. "For now, why don't you relax? Quat, can you watch her for a bit? I wanna go get something to eat and Kiri says she's not hungry."

"Why don't you just order from the cafeteria?"

"One, I don't like their food. And two, they don't have what I wanna eat. It won't take me long." Duo didn't think he should have had to explain that to Quatre. He knew that Duo didn't do hospital food.

Quatre rolled his eyes. "That's fine, Duo." He didn't mind watching Kiri, but he didn't want to delay his discussion with Colonel Une. He knew how stubborn she was and it was probably going to take a long time to convince her to let him go in with Kiri.

Duo grinned. "I'll be back before ya know it."

Quatre turned to Kiri once Duo was gone. "Would you like to watch a movie?" He knew a distraction would help her to remain calm.

"Sure."

There wasn't much of a selection, but they finally settled on a movie. Kiri didn't say anything else and Quatre didn't push her to. In addition to not wanting to upset her again, he knew she was still recovering from her surgery and he didn't want her to overdo it.

Duo got back from dinner and Quatre left.

"Do you want something to eat?" Duo asked.

Kiri shook her head. "I don't feel like eating."

"You're sure? Not even ice cream or something?"

Kiri shook her head again.

"Okay," Duo said, turning his attention to the movie on the television. He decided not to push it, but when Wufei got there, he mentioned that she hadn't eaten yet and also told him that she'd been upset and not to push her.

Wufei asked if she wanted to eat and she shook her head. He took Duo's advice and left her to herself. After a while he thought he should ask if she was hungry enough to eat yet but when he looked over at her, she'd fallen asleep.

Quatre went straight to Colonel Une's office as soon as Duo got back.

"Agent Winner, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Une asked as she gestured for him to sit.

Quatre didn't sit. "You need to call this mission off."

Une raised an eyebrow. "Why would that be?"

"This isn't right! We can't use Kiri as bait. She isn't trained and she isn't in any condition to be doing our job!"

"Please calm down, Agent Winner. I understand your concern. However, Kiri has been asked to agree to help us. I will be confirming her cooperation tomorrow morning. She will know what is expected of her."

"Will she? Really? Will you make sure she realizes that things might not go the way we want them to? Will she know that they might tell her things she's not ready to hear? This could hurt her in ways that we haven't really taken the time to consider. I have a bad feeling about this whole thing and I do not agree with it."

Une sighed. "Quatre…I understand all of this. But we need the information more than we need to keep Kiri hidden."

Quatre started to protest again but Colonel Une cut him off.

"If we can get the information we need we can stop this. Not just for Kiri but for every girl that might become their next victims. I feel like the end justifies the means in this case and we will proceed as planned."

Quatre closed his eyes and got himself centered before he blew up at his commanding officer. "Colonel Une…if we cannot put a stop to this mission can I at least request permission to escort Kiri inside and make sure the situation is acceptable before leaving her on her own?"

Colonel Une could tell how angry Quatre was so she considered his request. It was not unreasonable. "That would be acceptable. But you shouldn't go in as an agent or it will blow the whole thing. You will need to come up with a viable cover story, especially since you are so well known. It will not come as a surprise to them who you are unless you plan to wear a disguise. And a disguise might very well give everything away if it isn't executed well."

"Understood. Thank you for your time, Colonel." Quatre left without another word.

Colonel Une let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She was glad that she wasn't on the losing side of the Sandrock pilot's temper very often. Growing up had changed him in many ways. For one thing, he was scarier than he used to be.