Love You To Death, Chapter Four.
Part II: Forever By Your Side.
Meg smiled happily at Jo, as they walked down the trailer's short hallway. They were about to leave, to go on their first date! Meg was quite happy with what she was wearing; she thought it looked good. She was wearing a pair of black yoga pants, which clung tightly to her, showing off every curve. Then she had put on a white sleeveless shirt, which came down to her belly-button. Over that, went another sleeveless shirt, this one black. It stopped a few inches above the white one, and the contrast was nice. Her red hair was straight down her back; she decided against her cowboy hat today.
Jo was wearing something that Meg owned; Meg had insisted on dressing her up. Jo wore a pair of jean short shorts that hugged her tightly, and a light green shirt that hung off her right shoulder. It fell loosely down her right side, and was snug against her left. Her black bra-strap was visible, but it didn't bother her.
"Jo, you're so pretty!" Meg said, taking her hand. Jo threaded her fingers between Meg's, absent-mindedly.
"That's your opinion." Jo said softly. Meg stopped, turning and stepping in front of Jo.
"You are." She said, reaching up and kissing Jo on the cheek. "Get used to it."
Jo smiled, and they continued walking.
"So we're going shopping instead?" Jo asked.
Meg nodded. "Yeah! And I have a few other ideas, too!" She said.
"Like what?" Jo asked, slightly curious despite herself.
"Mmmm it's a secret!" Meg exclaimed, laughing.
Jo shrugged. "That's fine, I'll find out soon anyway."
Meg grinned widely. "Yeah, you will!" She said. "Now come on, let's get to the mall!"
They left the trailer, Meg bidding goodbye to Amy, and telling her to tell Sei that they had left.
"So," Meg said, "What do you think about this whole week off work thing?"
Jo sighed softly. "I don't know." She said. "I kind of want to fight." She said.
Meg hummed. "Soon." She said. "But for now, you're just gonna have to pretend to enjoy your time with me!"
Jo tilted her head back, and looked to the sun. It was high in the sky, and her pupils dilated as she looked at it.
"You know I love every second with you, Meg."
Meg smiled, and clasped Jo's hand tighter. "You better!"
Soon, their steps brought them to the mall. Meg grinned at the refreshingly cold blast of air from the air conditioning system, a contrast to the hot sun outside.
"Ahh, I'm so excited!" Meg said, tugging on Jo's hand. "Where should we go first?"
Jo gave her a blank look. "You are surely more knowledgeable in this aspect, you cannot defer to me."
Meg laughed. "It was rhetorical, but I guess that answer is suitable enough!"
Jo picked up the pace, matching Meg's excited steps.
"So where are we going, then?"
Meg pointed down the wide corridor, which was filled with wandering people.
"Down at the end here is a store that sells a lot of the clothes I like, I wanna see if you like anything from it."
Jo nodded. "Okay."
Meg threaded her way through the crowd, and Jo followed effortlessly. A few short seconds later, and Jo found herself standing outside of a store called StateSide. Meg walked in, releasing Jo's hand, and Jo followed.
"This place has a huge variety of clothing, and you should be able to find something interesting here." She said. "If not, there's another place we can go to."
Jo nodded, but said nothing. She wasn't really sure what to do, and was waiting on Meg to show her the ropes.
"Come over to this aisle." Meg said, moving over a few rows. "We will start off with jeans."
Jo followed, and Meg immediately began sizing her up, grabbing things off shelves.
"There are two different styles of jeans here, skinny, and regular form-fitting." Meg instructed. "Go take these two to the change room, see how each fits, and come out and show me."
Jo did as she was told, taking the jeans. She followed Meg to the back of the store, and a store attendant opened a change room for her.
Once inside, Jo took off her shorts, then her shoes, and slid into the first pair of jeans. These ones were the regular fitting ones, and didn't feel too bad. They were of a dark navy blue color. She buttoned them up, and pulled up the zipper, before turning to look in the mirror. They weren't bad, she thought.
She turned around and opened the door. Meg was waiting, and eyed her up and down, nodding slowly.
"How do they fit?"
Jo shrugged, but lifted her shirt to show her waist. Meg took a step forward, and reached out. She slipped a finger in the belt loop of the jeans, and gave it a tug.
"Maybe a size smaller." She said, noting the gap.
"Okay, now the other ones."
Jo nodded, and closed the door. She quickly changed out of the jeans, and hung them on a hook on the back of the door.
The next pair were a little more difficult to slip into, and it took a bit of effort. Jo wasn't used to such tight pants, and it took a minute to get into them. When she finally did though, she wasn't sure what to think.
'Ah, I'll let Meg decide.' She thought. She took one last look at them. They were a dark dark blue, with light, faded spots on the thighs and shins, as well as the ass and down the legs. The faded spots had a multitude of rips and wide tears in them, showing off lots of skin.
When Jo open the door, Meg whistled appreciatively. "Now those look good, Jo." She said, nodding. "Okay, we will get those!"
"Do I change back into my other ones?"
"Nah, keep 'em on. I like them!" Meg said. Jo nodded, and picked up the other pair of pants, as well as her shorts.
"Okay, you go wait over by the cashier, I'm going to go grab a size smaller in these jeans." Meg said, taking the other pair from her.
Jo said nothing; she walked over to the cashier with the price tag from her current jeans in her hand.
A minute later, Meg was by her side with another pair of jeans.
"I also grabbed a dark red shirt that I think would look good on you." She said. Jo nodded, and reached for her card.
Meg caught the motion, and stopped her hand. "My gift."
Jo put the price tag down on the counter. "Aren't I supposed to pay for everything, given that I'm taking YOU on the date?" She asked.
The girl operating the til gave them a surprised look, but said nothing as she rang through the clothes.
"W-well...This time we're gonna bend the rules a bit." Meg said. "Don't worry about it!"
Jo hummed. "Fine."
Meg happily paid for the clothes, glad that she was doing something for Jo for once.
"Did you want to look around some more?" Meg asked her. Jo shook her head.
"No, let's go look at those other stores you were talking about."
Meg nodded happily. "After that we have another stop to make!"
"And that is?"
"You'll see!"
"They've been gone for a few hours." Sei said, looking out the window. "Think they ran into any trouble?"
Amy lauighed. "Given that they're two female teenagers gone out shopping? It's expected of them to take a while. And yes, they probably did encounter trouble. Meg's too enticing NOT to hit on, and Jo won't take lightly to any of that. Granted, you would have heard from them by now if it were anything serious."
Sei was quiet for a moment. "That's true." She said. "I don't know why I'm so anxious tonight though." She said. "These streets don't have anything that would be trouble for Jo, and Meg has been out by herself countless times at night."
Amy looked up from her computer. "She has?" She asked, interestedly. "I didn't know that!"
"Well, she hasn't the last night or so, but all last week she used to slip out at night, and not come back until the early morning."
Amy grinned. "Think she was up to no good? Being a deviant?"
Sei shook her head. "Unlikely." She moved over to the counter, and reached up to the cupboards. She pulled down two mugs, and looked at Amy.
"You want any coffee?" Sei asked. Amy looked up at her from her computer screen.
"Sure. Three milk, three sugar."
Sei got down a third mug, and poured out coffee into all three of them.
"Take this to Leo while I make yours." Sei instructed.
Amy got up, fingers of her left hand finding the control and alt buttons on her keyboard, while her right hand flew across the row of numbers along the top of her keyboard, keying in her six digit password. Immediately, her computer screen went blank, then a picture of a lock appeared on the screen. All this was done before she had even fully stood from her seat.
Sei raised an eyebrow at the curious behaviour as she passed the young girl a cup.
"Can't trust anyone, can you?"
Amy looked at her questioningly. "What?" She asked. She looked over her shoulder, pigtails flopping about her shoulders. "Oh, that. Force of habit so strong, I regularly do it to other people's computers, and for a second, I'm thoroughly confused when nothing happens."
Sei smiled. "Let me know how Leo is doing."
Amy straightened her sweater with one hand, making sure it came down past her shorts, then nodded.
"Okay, will do."
Amy slowly left the kitchen, and Sei returned to looking out the window.
"Hope the kids are alright..."
Amy knocked on the door twice, before pushing it open.
"Leo?" She called. She entered, then immediately squeezed her eyes closed as she was blinded by a bright welding flash.
"Hey Leo! Unprotected eyes here!" She yelled. A second later, and the blue light assaulting her eyes even through her closed lids stopped. She opened them, and bright spots of light swirled in her vision. She blinked a few times, and they slowly started to fade.
"Be right there, Amy." Leo said. He reached over and shut off the welding machine, carefully hanging up his equipment. He got up, and hopped down from the work platform he was on.
"What do you got for me? Coffee?"
"Courtesy of Sei." Amy said, handing it to him. "Wow, it's chilly in this bay! Why's the temperature so low?"
Leo shook his head, then took a sip of coffee. "It's actually not. It's just that theres a lot of metal in here, it's fairly dark, its a lot of open space, and the walls lead directly to the outside. No insulation, and lots of air circulation for exhaust." He said. "Without sun exposure, it tends to get nice and cool in here."
"Working in here in winter must suck."
"On the contrary, there is a gas heater installed for just such occasions."
Amy looked around, then spotted it nestled in the corner. "Oh, okay. I see."
Leo nodded, once again sipping some coffee.
"Sei say anything?"
"Just wants me to tell her how you're doing."
Leo half turned, and looked back at where he was working.
"Well, Django is getting old as far as technology goes, so the only available turbos available for an upgrade require a separate supporting bracket to be custom fabricated. That's what I'm working on now."
Amy looked up at Django, whose engine bay doors were wide open.
"How's the wiring and ECM doing?" She asked curiously.
"I always replace any wiring in the area I'm working in, so that's okay. I have no idea about the engine control module though, Jo has everything set so that anything that can be done manually, she can do."
"Where's the module at? I kinda wanna take a look at what parameters it's running for its' various conditions."
"Behind the pilot seat."
Amy nodded, and looked up at Django. "Mind if I go download a copy?"
"Be my guest." Leo said. "Just don't touch any buttons that you aren't sure of." He said with a laugh. Amy grinned, and headed toward the catwalk stairs, her coffee forgotten. She began climbing the stairs, and when she reached the catwalk, she walked carefully along it until she was a few feet over Django's open cab.
Looking over the edge of the railing, she could see Leo watching her intently from the corner of her eye. If she jumped the railing, it was probably only a four foot drop into the cockpit. If she somehow missed, though, it was a long, far plummet to the ground.
She gathered all the strength in her legs, then jumped up, pulling herself over the rail. She hung in the air for a moment, her bodys' upward momentum ceasing as gravity began to pull her down. She kicked her legs out, and leaned back slightly, as she got the unfamiliar feeling of butterflies in her stomach. She began free-falling, but it was cut short as she landed squarely in the pilots seat, legs splayed, hands roughly near the controls. She giggled, and leaned back in the seat. The seat was well worn, faded but comfortable, even as it hugged her in unfamiliar ways. The seat was worn to Jo's body, not hers. She properly positioned her hands on the controls, and looked at the panel of lights, screens, and dials laid out in front of her from her left side, all the way to her right side. She tilted her head back, and looked at the roof of the trailer. If the cockpit were closed, she would see more dials.
"Can I turn it on?" She yelled, leaning forward slightly to peek over the open edge of the cockpit.
"Yeah, but don't try to crank the engines, I have a lot of parts and tools up there that would be rattled around and possibly sucked in to the block."
Amy nodded, and turned the key. The center console lit up, and the seat slid forward. Amy yelped at the unexpected movement, and cringed as a roll bar came down over top of her.
"You okay, Amy?" Leo asked.
Amy waited until all the movement stopped, then opened her eyes. She wasn't big enough to have the roll cage press her against the seat, and she had some wiggle room.
"I'm fine," She yelled. "But the seat movement surprised me, that's all."
Leo laughed, and Amy ignored him. She looked at the center console, and a blinking blue message on the main screen caught her attention.
Close cockpit? Yes No.
Amy saw boxes around the confirmation and declination, and looked around for a keyboard. She found one to her right, and pressed the tab button, but nothing happened. She pressed enter; nothing still.
Bewildered, she slowly reached out, and touched the blinking No. button. It flashed orange, and then the message disappeared. She grinned. This was seriously cool.
She looked around the cockpit some more, then focused back on the touchscreen in front of her. It was a shade of light blue, and completely blank.
"How do I...?" She murmured softly to herself. She reached out and touched it again. A box formed, and filled with options. She quickly scanned them, and picked 'Control Interface'.
Using a finger to quicky scroll through the options, she looked, but did not change. This was Jo's baby, and furthermore, any unexpected changes, no matter how insignificant they seemed, could adversely affect her in battle.
"I wonder what kind of horribly outdated algorithms this thing uses." She said. "I doubt Jo ever connected this thing to the internet to get service upgrades for this version. I wonder what kind of platform it operates on?"
She quickly brought up the Run menu, and typed in SysVer for system version. The information that displayed on the screen made her shake her head.
"Leo, this thing is outdated as hell!"
Leo chuckled. "Not my area of expertise!" He said.
Amy sighed. "Can you call Sei and tell her to bring my laptop to me?"
"It's right here." Sei's sultry voice came from above her, and Amy looked up to see Sei leaning on the railing of the catwalk.
"You're a little small for that seat, don't you think?" Sei asked jokingly, leaning over the rail as far as she could, laptop in her outstretched hand. Amy stood up on the seat, with some difficulty, and reached up. She couldn't quite reach the laptop, but caught it when Sei let it drop from her fingertips.
"I need room to work." Amy said, sitting down and setting the laptop aside for the moment. She leaned forward to the touch screen, and swiftly navigated her way around. She knew the rollbar was set to automatically engage when the key was off, but somewhere in here...
Amy grinned when she found the command to deactivate it, and a second later, it retracted out of her way.
"Perfect!" She got up, and turned around, pulling the seat forward. The computer was nestled into a tray right behind the seat, and Amy pulled a cord out from it. She put the seat back into position, and turned around, sitting back down. She grabbed her laptop, and plugged the ethernet cord into the back of it. She flipped it open, and powered it on. A quick password key-in, and her computer was already scanning Django. While that ran, she turned back to the touch-screen.
"I need to run diagnostics to see what kind of algorithm it's running for its combat parameters." She mumbled to herself. She brought up a diagram of the console layout, and located the plugins. She reached under the console, and ran her fingers along underneath, searching for...
There! Her fingers located a small break in the panelling, and she pressed it. With a click, the panel dropped down and revealed an ethernet cord, and a USB port.
She pulled out the ethernet cord, and plugged it into her laptop, right next to the one for the main computer.
She waited a moment for her laptop to assert itself as the master hard drive, and assign Django as the slave, then opened a command prompt. She quickly looked for the section of coding responsible for the battle-ready algorithm coding, then switched back to the main computer. She opened the Internet, and looked for information concerning Django's system version, to see if anything of interest came up. She also wanted to know what kinds of updates were available. They might contain fixes for the out-dated operating algorithms and save her from having to write them herself.
A few seconds later, her laptop flashed. She maximized the screen, and was surprised at the modest number of updates available for such an old model. Then again, it was kind of obsolete...
She began downloading them, then looked back to see the progress of her algorithm finding. Her search had returned about eighty algorithms dedicated to creating and assigning parameters to the main computer for processing information fed to it by various sensors and control systems. They all had to do with various levels of damage and incapacitatiion, as well as defining when to enter 'Limp home mode', which took absolutely everything that was unnecessary offline, and focused solely on fleeing battle and preserving the unit.
'There's so much unnecessary code in here...' Amy thought. 'I should fix a few of these...'
She confirmed the download for sixteen GB of updates, ugrades, and patches, then opened up a notepad on her laptop. She would write substitute code on here, then upload it to the main computer. After this, she wanted to see if she could increase mobility performance as far as aquiring targets, recognizing input, and movement were concerned.
She had done some research on the "Django" unit, production code M-LRS430-MM. They had originally been produced as fast-attack, infantry support type units. They were classified as medium to long range shooters, moderate mobility. They had been shipped from factory with a sniper-type rifle equipped, as well as a light duty assault rifle. Hence, the medium to long range classification. Amy was sure she could speed up target aquisition as well as overall processing speeds through some updating, as well as reconfiguring the craft for Jo's close combat fighting style, and close range weapons. Something she doubted anyone had bothered to do, even if they had the technical skill to do so.
Fingers flying over the keyboard, ethernet cords draped over her shoulders, snaking between her legs, a small smile crossed over Amy's face as she snuggled deeper into the worn seat.
Meg smiled at Jo, and couldn't believe her eyes. Jo was beautiful before, but now...
"You look good, Jo!" Meg said. Jo blinked. "I certainly feel different." She said.
Meg walked over to the counter, and pulled out her card. "It's not even that big of a change, but wow is it sexy!"
Jo turned, and looked at herself in the full mirror. The tips of her messy white hair had been dyed blood red, and the way it complimented her eyes was unnerving.
Meg had dressed her in those ripped, eye-catching jeans, and a black tight fitting T-shirt complimented her figure. A dark red T-shirt of the same size and length went over top the black one. Both had slashes in them; some slashes in the red shirt showed the black shirt underneath, while some matched up with slashes in the black shirt to show skin. A black leather choker was around her throat.
"D-do I...look good?" Jo asked, wondering for the first time why she cared so much. It was a long way from the plain over-sized T-shirts she was used to. Perhaps it was because Meg had paid for it all...
"You look gooder than good!" Meg said.
Jo tore her gaze away from herself, and focused her dark red eyes on Meg. "Is gooder a word?" She asked softly.
Meg found herself unable to breathe, captured by Jo's intense gaze. "Uhh...I don't know..." Meg said. "We should uh...leave now."
The hairstylist at the counter snickered as she swiped Meg's card through the reader. It approved instantly, and she handed it back to Meg.
"Have a good night." She said, winking at Meg.
Meg nodded, and took Jo's hand. 'Oh, I hope we have a good night. I gotta say, dressed like that, Jo could read me an end user licence agreement, and she would have my undivided attention, and eternal carnal desire.'
They walked out of the shop, and Meg looked at her cellphone. "Oh, hey, we've been out for a while. Want to wander back home?" She asked. Jo took the bag of clothes from her, and nodded. "Might as well."
Meg smiled happily at her. "I had fun with you today!" Jo looked at her, and squeezed her hand. "I also enjoyed our day together."
Meg smiled happily, and they walked toward the exit.
"We should go out together more often!" Meg said, pushing open the door. Jo walked through it, and Meg paused, holding the door open for another couple. They thanked her, and ducked inside the door. Meg let it go, and continued walking. The sun was beginning to set, and they walked slowly, heads down to avoid the bright glare.
"Jo?" Meg asked softly, rubbing her thumb over Jo's finger.
"Yes, Meg?"
"You would...never throw me away for anyone else...or even to be by yourself, would you?"
Jo's eyes narrowed, and she glared daggers at the cracked pavement beneath her feet.
"Never. Why would you think that?"
"Well, I'm not that great of a fighter, and you could do so much better without me tagging along, an-"
Jo cut her off. "I would be nothing without you. It's not all about fighting, and that's not all that matters. You matter, Meg. To me, you matter more than anything or anyone."
Meg sidled closer, and leaned her head on Jo's shoulder. Jo moved her arm so it was around Meg's shoulders, holding her close.
"I'm glad to hear it, Jo."
Jo looked up, and leveled her gaze at the sinking sun. "No matter where I go, you will be with me. You will never be without me, and no matter where you wander in your lifetime, I'll be by your side, holding your hand and protecting you from everything."
Sei looked up as the door opened. She greeted Meg as she walked through the door, and looked back down to her paperwork. Something in her peripheral vision made her look back up, and when she did, she started slightly, before realizing that she was looking at Jo.
"That's quite the makeover." Sei said, nodding in greeting to Jo.
"All Meg's brilliant idea." Jo said, removing her shoes.
"Of course. I would expect nothing less. It looks good though, however surprising it may be."
Meg squealed. "I know, right!"
Sei smiled, and resumed her paperwork.
"Leo and Amy are working on Django, in case you need either of them."
Meg poked her head out of the refrigerator, and looked at Sei, puzzled. "What could Amy possibly do to Django?"
"She's running checks on all the electrical systems, as well as something else...diagnostic something-or-other. Either way, she's expecting big gains from her work, so try not to disturb her."
Meg nodded. "I'll be in my room, reading." She said. She straightened up, and closed the refrigerator. Water bottle in hand, she walked toward her room.
Jo took her place at the fridge, opening it up and looking inside.
Sei tolerated the rustling for a few minutes, before smiling. "Looking for something in particular?"
Jo straightened up, running her fingers through her hair. "Not sure what I want." She said. "Hoping something would interest me."
Sei got up from the table, as Jo sat down. "Want me to make you something?"
Jo shrugged lightly. "Are you having anything?"
"Just coffee."
"Okay, I'll have some too."
Sei poured herself another cup, then Jo's. She turned and set them both on the table, then retrieved the milk and sugar, setting them down on the table for Jo.
"So, how are you handling the laid back couple of days we've had?" Sei asked, reaching into the cupboard.
Jo poured some milk into her coffee, and dissolved two cubes of sugar into it.
"Better than I thought I would." Jo said. "I like fighting. It's annoying that I can't right now, but Meg keeps my mind off it most of the time."
Sei sat down, and set a plate of cookies on the table between them.
"How is the relationship between you two going, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I fear Meg would be in a better position to understand all of this and give you an appropriate answer, but...I'm happy. I like where we are at."
"Was tonight a little date for you girls?"
Jo took a sip of coffee, and stared at the plate of cookies, looking but not seeing. All she could see in her mind was Meg's smiling face.
"It was, yeah. Our first real date."
"How did you like it?"
Jo raised her dark eyes to meet Sei's and Sei couldn't stop a shiver from passing through her body. Jo's eyes were...intimidating, ferocious, seductive, and breath-taking...it was almost impossible to look away. Sei had almost forgotten that she had asked a question, when Jo opened her mouth to reply.
"It was nice. I feel like we're getting closer. Closer than we were before, if that's even possible."
Sei smiled slightly. "It sure seems like you're bonding even tighter than ever." She said. "How are things on the, ah...physical...side of the relationship?"
Jo's gaze hardened, and her pupils narrowed. For a second, Sei thought she had crossed a line, but Jo merely glared, as if offended by some memory.
"We...haven't done anything serious. Fooled around, yeah, but, ironically enough, we haven't even kissed each other on the lips yet."
Sei raised an eyebrow. "That's...different." She said slowly.
"Guess we're just too busy kissing other places." Jo said, smirking at Sei's surprised throat-clearing.
"Wow, that's...a vivid image." Sei said, wondering how to phrase her thoughts. She wasn't prone to girly talk about such subjects, and certainly not about her fellow team members, but part of her was glad Jo was opening up. She decided to see just how talkative Jo would be.
"Anything else you feel like talking about? Or can I just ask questions until you don't feel like answering them anymore?"
Jo reached out, and snagged a cookie, taking a bite out of it. "Ask away." She said. "I like talking to you."
Sei leaned back, and stared at Jo, tilting her head to the side a bit. The answer was puzzling, but perhaps there was some simple logic behind her answer. Out of the three possible people to talk to, not counting Meg, Sei could see that it was an easy choice to pick her. Leo was a guy, and more like an aquaintance, than a friend, and Amy was far too young to understand anything. If she did understand anything, then it was unlikely that she would hold a serious conversation with Jo without resorting to prodding and teasing.
"And why is it that you like to talk to me?" Sei asked.
Jo looked at her with a level gaze. "You're smart. You actually listen. And I think you know so much more about everything than you let on."
Sei was taken aback. "Well, thank you for your confidence, Jo. I'll do my best to live up to your expectations."
Jo said nothing, but Sei was already deep in thought. Both were silent for a moment, before Sei resumed her questioning.
"And how come you haven't...you know...kissed her? From the sounds of it, you both have had multiple opportunities."
Jo leaned back and looked at the ceiling, her half-eaten cookie forgotten in her fingers.
"It just hasn't felt right." She said. Sei's eyebrow raised slightly. "It doesn't feel right to kiss Meg?" She asked, unclear of Jo's answer.
"Not...not right, but...the right time hasn't come along. It's one of those things that can't be rushed, and everything has to be perfect. I don't know how to really bring it about, and she hasn't done it, so clearly it should wait."
Sei smiled, and reached over, taking Jo's cookie. She popped it into her mouth, and chewed slowly. Jo stared at her, unblinking, as Sei took her time, following it with a sip of coffee.
"I think you're over-thinking it." She said. "Sure, there's a time and a place for a first kiss, but it isn't something that has to have a million and one factors come into play and fall into place. If it feels right, just do it. I can guarantee she will like it, and remember it regardless of anything you're worrying about."
"Are you sure?" Jo asked.
"I'm positive. It's a wonderful experience, and I'm surprised you two have waited as long as you have. Anticipation can be a useful tool, but don't overdo it. She may end up thinking you don't want to kiss her at all."
Jo frowned, taking a sip of coffee. "Well that isn't right."
Sei smiled at the young girl. "I have a feeling you two will get it all sorted out. Don't worry about anything. I've never seen anyone closer than you two. You were destined for each other. I don't think one could live without the other. A bond that strong is rare; be glad for what you have."
Jo smirked. "Every day I am thankful for a friend as good as Meg."
Sei smiled at her. "You should also be thankful for every moment you can be by her side, without the threat of war casting its dark shadows upon you."
Jo nodded, and stood. She took another sip of coffee, then set the cup down. "I'm going to go see her." She said. "It was nice to talk to you, Sei. We should talk again sometime."
Sei nodded to Jo. "And you as well, I liked our conversation."
Jo walked out of the kitchen, toward Meg's room. When she reached the door, she knocked softly. Sei's words would not rest in her mind; they bothered her. The war that she had once thrived on, was beginning to make her fear. Fear that it would take Meg away from her. Something she could not live with. Her stomach writhed in an unpleasant fashion, as Meg called out for her to enter.
Jo turned the handle, and pushed the door inward. Her eyes immediately sought out Meg, and found her laying on her bed with a pillow propping her head against the wall. There was a book in her hand, yet Meg's eyes were on Jo.
"Hi Jo." Meg smiled. She patted the bed beside her, straightening up so her back was against the wall. "Come join me."
Jo strode forward until she could climb into bed, and did so, laying down beside Meg with her head on Meg's lap.
Meg slowly began to stroke Jo's hair, gently scratching her head at times, before continuing her slow petting.
"No horror movies to watch today?" Meg asked jokingly, turning a page.
Jo made a humming noise in her throat, eyes closed. "Nothing could be better than being by your side." She whispered. Meg blushed, and continued stroking Jo's hair.
An hour passed in silence; only the slow, methodical sound of turning pages breaking the quiet.
Meg thought Jo had fallen asleep, and set her book down. She smiled down at Jo's face, slowly tracing her jaw, lips, nose and delicate eyebrows with a fingertip.
As her finger once more passed lightly over Jo's lips, Jo kissed her finger. Meg pulled away quickly, blushing.
"D-did I wake you?"
Jo smiled, and slowly sat up, stretching. She opened her eyes, and fixed her piercing red gaze on Meg's liquid blue orbs. "I was never asleep." She whispered. "I was thinking."
"O-of?" Meg asked.
Jo leaned forward, and flipped her leg over Meg's waist, straddling her. She took Meg in her arms, one around her shoulders, the other supporting her neck.
Meg's eyes widened, but Jo never hesitated. She leaned down, and gently pressed her lips against Meg's, feeling the girl immediately respond. Meg kissed her back, and Jo lost herself in the feeling of kissing Meg. It was everything she had dreamed it would be, and more. It was soft, and loving; it was slow, and wanting. It was perfect, and it set her heart racing.
Jo pulled away slowly, licking her lips. Her dark eyes found Meg's very happy blue ones.
"I was thinking of kissing the most beautiful girl in the world."
A/N: Part II: Forever By Your Side, is complete. As always, reviews are appreciated. This plot is winding down, and I look forward to those who follow this story to the end. Thanks again!