Customs was a bitch- until Wufei flashed his Preventors' badge, and then it was smooth sailing. Onto a spaceplane bound for his colony, arriving just before the workday there began. It would've be a long flight anyway, but Wumei's suddenly conviction that she was being kidnapped by a corrupt cop bent on using her for his own deviant pleasure make it seem interminable. She paced the aisle until the flight attendants asked her to sit down while they served lunch. She fidgeted in her seat, toying with the fan, overhead light, and seatbelt buckle. In an effort to quiet her, Wufei purchased the overpriced headphones being offered, and she spent the next four hours surfing the 'radio' and channel surfing the television embedded into the back of the seat in front of hers. Trying to ignore her restlessness, Wufei buried his nose in a cheap forensic mystery he picked up in the spaceport. He had offered to get her something, but Wumei had only glared at the teen-oriented magazine he held up. Now he wished he had forced her to get something; perhaps a romance novel would have kept her distracted enough to sit still.

When she finally curled up against the window to sleep after their roast chicken dinners, Wufei carefully extricated himself from his seat and moved to the back of the cabin. He leaned against the wall next to the bathrooms, elbow resting on someone's suitcase, and dug out his cell phone and a credit card. A quick swipe awoke the little-used panel in the wall, which invited him to plug his phone in and select a calling area. Mechanically, he dialed. His Beijing-synched watch told him it was nearly nine in the evening; on the colony it would be...

"Po, Investigative. How may I help you?"

"Po, it's Chang."

Sally's voice changed from routine to surprise. "Wufei?"

"Woman, why are you at the office at five in the morning?"

"Why am I? Well, you wouldn't know, would you? I've been up all night booking Fred Hammerstein!"

Wufei blinked, turning his back on the cabin so his voice wouldn't carry as far. "What happened?"

"Is this a secure line? You know I can't tell you that if you're not on a landline, Wufei."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, tell me later." 'I'll get an earful from her and the chief for missing this one...' "I have a favor to ask you."

"It better be good. I'm not really inclined to be bighearted at the moment. Especially without my coffee..."

Wufei counted to five, refusing to take the bait that sheepish tone dangled before him. "I'm bringing a guest back with me. And she needs a place to stay."

"She?" Now Sally was interested. "She, who?"

"Family."

Sally sounded surprised. "I didn't know you had family on Earth, 'Fei."

He ignored the nickname. "She's young and I don't think she'd be... comfortable spending the night with a bachelor like me." More importantly, what would it look like if he disappeared to Earth and suddenly came back with a fifteen-year-old girl to live with him? They launched internal investigations for less these days...

"Futon at the cleaners, eh?" the fond smirk was in her voice.

"Can you do it or not, Po?"

"I wasn't expecting company, Wufei..." she sounded doubtful.

Here it was- the part he had known was coming, the word that still galled him to say, especially to her. "Please?"

Seriousness returned to Sally. "For you, yes."

Relief washed over him. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"That wasn't so hard to say, now, was it?"

"That's enough, Po," he growled.

Even without full video features, he could hear her smiling. "When does the flight get in?"

When Wufei returned to his seat, he found himself yawning. Despite the heinous charge to his credit card, he would now be able to get some sleep without torturing himself about the coming day. He buckled himself in and glanced at the young girl beside him, who had fallen asleep watching the lights flash on the spaceplane's wings. Shaking his head, he reached across to pull the shade down. Baka onna.

I'm posting, I'm posting! I'm good!