The Long Road Ahead

Act I

Episode IV

Home Safe

Both Tessa Testarossa and David Reed shambled into the dark house. Their steps were weak. Their heads hung low as if in defeat. Tessa turned her head and looked out the door at the long dirt road they drove up to reach this house. According to David it would be the safest place for them as they waited for Mithril assistance. She could now see why. It was out of the way, tucked behind lush green rolling hills. Even the road leading to it was hard to spot. Around the house was a wall of trees. These often acted as a windbreak for other houses like it. Tessa then turned her head around. Behind her she heard the heavy door close with a mechanical click. In front of her was pure darkness. Not a single light was on in the entire house. She felt a firm hand grab her wrist and lead her along. It was David. He softly pulled her along, not tugging but guiding.

Tessa still had one hand pressed against her gut. It ached unbelievably to her. And her ribs still hurt, she thought they might broken. Her eyes were heavy and her head throbbed. She still didn't know the full extent on how David was holding up. Although he was able to drive them to his safe house she noticed the cut on the back of his head had bleed for a while as they were escaping in the pickup. His head would occasionally nod off to one side and his breathing was heavy. David was doing just as well if not worse than she was. He finally let go a few meters into the house.

David flipped on a number of lights in the house. Warm light filled the home revealing a spacious dwelling. Even though David said it was a safe house, to Tessa it looked no different from a regular home. There was a kitchen fully stocked with dishes and food, a living room with a large TV and couches all around. David even had a huge shelf full of movies. And just around the corner Tessa spotted a fully adorned bathroom, fully equipped with a shower. The sight of the shower almost made Teletha faint. She could nearly feel the hot water on her skin. Her eyes began to roll to the back of head at just the thought. Looking back at David she saw him slowly shuffle over to a small blue computer panel on the wall. His fingers graced over it, pressing a few bright buttons. There was a beep of acknowledgment from the panel. Tessa saw all the lights outside switch off through the windows. The alarms were armed.

Wearily he turned to her, head just barely tilted to one side. "W-W-We're here." He uttered as a hand reach to the back of his head. His fingers gingerly touched the place where his cut was. David's face grimaced. "Make yourself at home."

Tessa wasted no time and dropped herself into the couch. It was soft. It felt like she had landed on a cloud. Her body sunk in just the right amount for her to let out a sigh of pleasure. As the muscles in her torso moved, another ache shot through her body. Her ribs began to bother her once more. "Ouch!" She whined, fingers digging into her light red shirt, trying to massage the pain away.

"Are you going to be alright?" David murmured quietly from where he stood. He slowly inched across the living room towards where Tessa sat.

"My…My side hurts." Tessa complained, face still wincing. Her fingers were still working at the muscles.

David let out a long, pained breath. Neither of them faired very well earlier today. He lifted his hand to his forehead giving it a rub. "Want me to look at it?" He questioned bluntly. The words he spoke were sluggish and drawn out. He was having trouble staying awake. "I'd rather not deliver you back to your people too broken." His eyes looked at Tessa as if she was some fragile glass doll.

Tessa shook her head and began to speak. "I-I think I'll be…" When she attempted to sit up the same pain from her side shot through her body, stopping her words of denial cold. "…Actually…Just take a look. Make sure it isn't broken or something."

He made his way toward her, taking a seat right next to her on the couch. "Move your hand please." David's voice was caring and friendly.

She obeyed, laying her hand down on the soft fabric of the sofa. She watched cautiously as he moved his hands toward her side. He gripped a little bit of her shirt and pulled it up just a little to see the place where she said the pain came from. David was tilting his head, trying to get a better look. "You're hands are cold." Tessa grunted, squirming on the couch. She felt his hands on her side as he looked at the place where the man had kicked her.

"Stop it." David replied quickly. "Stop moving." He ran his thumb across the black and purple bruise, pressing on it just a little bit.

"Ouch!" Tessa snapped back in reaction. "That hurts, David!" The young woman began to fidget some more.

David retracted his hands from her side, flicking her light red shirt down back over her side. "You'll live." He stated with a small grin coming over his face. He leaned back and set his elbows on his knees, back slouching over. David still was looking at Tessa who say next to him.

"Nothing broken?"

He shook his head. "Not that I can tell, no. If it was broken I think you'd be in a lot more pain. You'll have a nice bruise for a while though."

Tessa let out a short sigh of relief. "An embarrassing bruise I can deal with."

"You're lucky too." David began, chuckling a bit to himself. "I'm no doctor. I know a little bit, but not enough to fix a broken bone. Let's just count our blessing that we are still in one piece and aren't full of holes, yeah?"

Leaning forward, Teletha spoke. "What about you?" She asked, reaching out to get ahold of his shoulder and give it a comforting squeeze. "How are you holding up?" Noticing David's posture she could tell the lack of sleep was getting to him.

Wearily he switched his eyes to her. "I'll survive." David tried to make himself sound as positive as possible. "I don't think I'll be clocking out yet, Tessa."

"Still on duty, huh?" She said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

David smirked, propping up a little at the joke. "Still on duty protecting your hide! But I think now we may be even."

Tessa fell silent briefly, but she was still happy with cheering up David even that small amount. "You know…" She started again "…I'm sorry I'm not much of a help."

"What do you mean by that?"

She moved a little where she sat. "I really don't like not being able to be active while other people are risking their own skin for me." Tessa admitted finally. "I always want to help, David. I mean I try. But sometimes, I just can't no matter how hard I go after it. I just don't like being told I'm no help. I don't like thinking it either." Tessa's inferiority complex began to come out.

"So what if you can't help me?" David replied. "It's not like you asked to be in this position. It's not your fault."

"I know, but sometimes I feel like I'm just…Useless…"

David didn't have an immediate response to that. He seemed sort of stunned about how personal Tessa was getting in sharing her feelings about herself. "I-I'm sure you're not useless." Was the only thing he could utter.

Of course, Tessa knew this. You couldn't be useless and still be a submarine captain for Mithril. She had use, she knew it. But it was in these situations she felt like she needed to prove herself to everyone. Tessa began to speak again. "I just don't like sitting on the sidelines and not being able to really do anything."

With a brief nod and a half grin David could she where Tessa was coming from with her feelings. "That's nothing to be ashamed of though…"

"Yes it is!" She shouted, interrupting what David was about to say. She watched as his head pulled back in surprise. "You wouldn't understand how it feels to sometimes just have to stand there and watch!"

David coughed a little bit. His eyes darted away. He didn't say anything but shut his mouth tightly.

"Oh…" Tessa stammered quickly, realizing she had lost her temper and yelled at him. "…Mr. Reed…I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell…I just-."

He shook his head and sighed. David looked back at Tessa and shrugged. "You're fine…But I wouldn't assume that all the time. You can't read a book by its cover every time, Tessa. One person can't do everything you know."

"I know David. I'm really sorry." Tessa pleaded sheepishly. "My actions weren't acceptable from someone like me."

"Alright-Alright, I forgive you." David couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at the strange formality of how she spoke. "Don't be so down on yourself, Tess. You had a right to get angry."

Tessa quickly attempted to switch the topic of the conversation off of her, but David got to it first. Yet the thought crept into her mind that David had just called her "Tess."

"How about you go take yourself that shower you want so badly." David said with a smile, picking himself up off the couch.

The idea made Tessa's heart light up with joy. She had been craving one since the day before.

He pointed around the corner to the bathroom. "You go on ahead." He stated. "There should be towels you can use already in there. You might need to deal with my shampoo, but don't this that's big on our list of worries." Like the many times before it he held out a helping hand to Tessa who was still sitting on the couch.

Even just the mention of a hot shower made Tessa feel better. She took his hand and he pulled her up off the couch.

David let go, putting his hands in his pockets. "Take as much time as you want, Tessa."

"You sure know just what to say to make a girl happy, Davy." Tessa joked, poking fun at him by switching his name up.

"Ha! Yeah, right, sure." David replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He too noticed that she called him "Davy" but decided not to make a big deal of it. "There is a robe in there you can use. It should be clean, I don't wear it. Just don't make too much of a mess."

Tessa began to back away toward the bathroom. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

He turned his head from side to side, looking about the house. His eyes met a large gun-safe in the corner of the room. "There is some stuff I need to check up on. I want to make sure this place is locked up tight. You can never be too careful. Don't worry, I'm not going to bust open the bathroom door." He teased.

"If you did that I'd kill you David." Tessa barked as she shut the bathroom door behind her.

David let out another laugh. "Yeah, I wouldn't doubt it."

The bed on which Tessa now lay was heavenly. It was ungodly soft. Just like the couch she felt like she was on a cloud. She rubbed her face into the white pillow. Gray hair still damp she could feel the moisture it left on the pillow. It felt amazing. Even just being on the bed seemed to immediately recharge her batteries. Tessa didn't even bother to change out of the robe. The bed was simply too tempting. Running her fingers up and down the blanket she felt the smooth fabrics of the top thick blanket. It wasn't anything special. A faint tan colored comforter with a few designs sewn into it was all it was. Teletha let out a coo of happiness. She didn't wish to move. In fact she didn't want to. What was more on her mind was simply perhaps just dozing off right then and there. But she couldn't sleep just yet. There were a few things she had yet to finish before returning to the little slice of heaven she had just found and winking out for the night. Ever so slowly, enjoying each little moment, she pulled herself away from the bed and dressed herself with small white shirt and a pair of athletic short she had found from rummaging through the room's dresser.

Bringing one hand up to her head, she ran her slender fingers through her damp hair. Tessa didn't need to make her hair up. There wasn't any point. She'd just be going right back to sleep soon anyway. But even so she ran her fingers through her gray over and over, smoothing it out and making it look at least somewhat tidy. Teletha even forgot that David was in the house with her. The combination of the long hot shower and the bed she had claimed made her forget all about him. But her side still hurt. She couldn't get away from that, yet she her mind began to ignore and cope with the constant dull pain that ached in her side.

Tessa exited the room. She wiggled her toes, the carpet was soft too. It was like this house was made out of things to make someone feels as comfortable as possible. The feeling of the soft carpet on her feet brought a content smile to her face. Traipsing down the hallway that led back to the main room she notice something built into the wall.

It was a small set of rectangular shelves. They had been built into the wall like little cubby holes. But, there was nothing in them. Dust filled a majority of the spots where pictures of family and friends might be if this were a regular home. They were empty, all of them were vacant. All of them were vacant except one. Secure in a little picture frame decorated with colored dry macaroni and string was the same picture from the car. It was David and his little sister. Tessa reached for it. Gingerly she grasped it in her fingers, lifting it up off the shelf careful not to damage the colorful decorations that adorned the frame. David's little sister must've decorated it. She began to feel light. It was strange that there weren't any other pictures. Teletha felt a strange bittersweet feeling crawl into her heart. It was either David simply didn't want to see any other pictures he had, or perhaps he simply didn't have any. Even if it was just a photograph Tessa knew that this image meant something great to him. She set the picture back on the shelf and walked away with a warm smile.

"David?" Tessa peeped as she turned the corner into the darkened main room. "David, you still awake?" She turned the corner and got her answer. Across from the large TV sat David in the couch. He wasn't watching the television, instead he had flipped open his laptop, using the soft blue-white light from it to flip through a worn notebook. It was the same notebook from his backpack he had in his car. He still didn't notice her as she walked into the room.

Teletha inched closer; her bare feet made no noise as she walked on the carpet. She still couldn't make out what was written in the notebook, Tessa could only make out a few pieces of paper that were taped in and a rainbow array of colors on the page David was currently reading. She then noticed his face. It was strange, like an odd longing, but happy at the same time. But Tessa finally spoke up. This time she got his attention. "David?" She whispered, attempting not to startle him "David, I'm done showering."

In a frightened shock David slammed closed both the notebook and the computer, and in one action he plunged that notebook back into his backpack. David took a few moments to calm down. He turned his head to Tessa with one long exhale. "Oh…Oh, Hello Ms. Testarossa." He chuckled, catching his breath from her startling him.

A grin crept across her face. "I hope I didn't startle you too badly Mr. Reed." She purred, returning the same formality. "I didn't want to impose on what you were reading."

Still trying to catch his breath David shook his head. "Y-Y-Your fine." He stuttered.

"Did I bother you?"

David shook his head again. "No-No-No. I needed to take a break anyway." He scooted over on the couch. "Here, sit down."

"Thanks." Tessa said quickly, dropping her body onto the soft sofa. "But it seemed like you were enjoying what you were reading."

The man glanced at the backpack at his feet. "Yeah…Yeah I was."

"Mind if I ask what you were reading?"

David's face turned to Tessa, a nervous look in his eyes. "It's…Well…" He was having trouble forming an explanation.

Tessa could tell he didn't want to share. "It's private?" She said, finishing his sentence.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that, Tessa."

She grinned and nodded. "That's ok. I won't ask anymore. I get that people have private things they want to keep to themselves." Tessa wiggled backward on the couch.

"T-Thanks…" David began quietly, still a little nervous from having Tessa watching him as he looked through his notebook. "…Did you enjoy your shower?"

"Of course, Mr. Reed." Tessa cooed, her thoughts drifting back to the hot water on her skin. "It was lovely. Thank you for letting me use it."

"Good…" David said cheerfully. "…A happy guest is, well…A good guest, I guess."

"If I may ask when do you plan on sleeping, David? It looks like your running on fumes." Raising one hand she poked him playfully in the shoulder. Tessa watched as he swayed wearily at her light touch. "You can't just give up sleeping all together."

David snickered. "I'll sleep tonight. I promise you. Don't worry about that."

"Good!" She snapped back, with an evil, yet friendly, smirk.

"If not, I'll just give you the gun and you can protect me while I doze off for a few." He snapped right back, obviously joking. "But in all seriousness, we should be fine. I'll get some rest tonight."

Tessa didn't let the conversation sputter out. "Say David?"

"Hmm?"

"What's with those shelves in the hallway?"

"What about them? I hope they aren't broken."

She leaned up from where she sat, coming eye level with the young man. "No, I mean why are they so empty?"

David raised a single eyebrow. "Is that a serious question, or are you just troubled by my sense of interior design?" He couldn't help but put in a little quip at the end.

Teletha giggled merrily. "No, it was a serious question."

"Well it's not all empty, Tess."

There is was he called her "Tess" again. "I saw that picture of you and your sister there. Did she make that frame?"

Nodding, David replied. "Yes, indeed she did. She made it for me to take with me when I left home after school."

"Why don't you have any other pictures?"

He could only shrug. "I guess I just don't have anything worthwhile to fill them with."

Tessa gave a half-smile in disbelief. "Oh, I don't believe that's true."

David shrugged again. "Believe what you want, Tessa. But ever since I left home I don't exactly have time to go out with friends. I'm usually working; I can't exactly take some days off with what I'm doing. And when I do get time to relax I'm often a good distance away from my friends. Not saying we don't talk every once and a while, of course."

That sounded awfully familiar to Tessa's work back at Mithril. But even she had some time to herself. "Don't you have any family photos?" Teletha questioned before slapping her hand over her mouth. She knew David's mother left their family after his sister was born.

The young man didn't seem to notice her slip up. "Our mother wasn't around…As you know. Our father tried his best. But when you work in R&D with some Arm Slave developers, I guess perhaps your kids come second." David tilted his head, even he was confused by the concept.

"Arm Slaves?" Tessa questioned. She had known some of the R&D people back at Mithril who worked on their M9s. But she didn't exactly know many people who truly worked on them outside of her organization. "He must've been pretty smart to do something like that."

"Yeah, crazy right?" David replied humorously. "I wouldn't know about smart. But he was pretty damn good and lucky. He actually got my little sister addicted to them. She was the smart one. Way smarter than I was at that age. You could say working with Arm Slaves sort of runs in the family."

"Why, do you ever work with them, David?" She jeered playfully.

David didn't say anything. He could only smile mischievously.

Tessa's mind perked a little bit at the reaction. "David, answer me!" She gave him a playful jab in the ribs.

"Ok-Ok…" He began "…My first job after I left school, the one before this one. There I learned how to work with them. I wasn't as good as some of the experts out there, but I could hold my own. To be completely honest though, I much rather prefer my own two physical feet firmly placed on the ground."

"So you're an AS pilot?"

"If you want to put a name to it, then sure. Keep in mind I only 'learned.' I never actually got into any real situation with one. But the skill can come in handy when you least expect it."

"Where did you learn that skill then, David?" It was another attempt at Tessa to get a little information about who David worked or works for.

"Ha, I'm still not going to tell you…Nice try."

Teletha let out a huff of air. A number of gray hairs swung down in front of her face. She quickly pushed them away with her fingers. "Then why do you do…whatever it is you do…if you can't tell people?" There was a short pause. For a moment Tessa didn't even know if she was going to get an answer for that.

David had to think a moment before answering. "Sometimes you just have to."

"Just have to?" Tessa didn't understand what he meant.

"Even if you want to tell someone what you do, sometimes you just can't tell people…"

Tessa opened her mouth with a prolonged "Oh…." It was like her not being able to tell someone she worked for Mithril. Although he knew she was a member, David still didn't know what she did for the organization.

David continued on. "…sometime you just have to have a personal responsibility to yourself. If that means not telling people what you do, I guess that's what it means. Have I wanted to tell someone what I'm doing? Of course I have!"

"But life isn't fair like that." Tessa said, giving her input.

"Exactly!" David began nodding to himself. "In addition, I don't think some people will be happy with what I've done for a living."

"Protecting people isn't such a bad thing."

He chuckled. "True…That isn't all I do you know. Hurting people isn't something I'd like to make a habit of, much less telling people I do it straight-up."

Giggling, Tessa bowed her head in agreement. "I assume so. You sound like you have everything pretty well understood."

"I like to follow my own path, make my own choices. While you need a job at points to put you in the right place, you can always be independent…But…For me the rewards of finishing out my job will out balance what I'm going to do to finish it. I know what I'm doing."

"Will you see your sister once you finish getting me back to my people?" Teletha replied questioningly.

A strange grin began to beam on David's face. "Actually yes…yes I will…Once I'm done getting you back to Mithril, I'm going to get my sister back from the people she is with now. You might say getting her back home is the real job."

Tessa leaned a little closer to him on the couch, giving him a little rub on the back. "You'd do anything for that little girl. That shows a lot. You're a good older brother, you know that?"

The smile on David's face faded a bit at Tessa's comment. "I've tried to be…I've sure tried to be."

"You'll have to tell me when you get back to her." Teletha Testarossa's smile began to shine. "Hopefully we can keep in touch once this is all over, David. You've been a good friend to me."

"Friend, huh?"

She gave him another jab in the side. "Yes, Davy. I think we've come this far that I can call you a friend."

"U-Uh…T-Thank you. It means a lot. I'll be sure to let my sister know about you, Tess. If we ever run into each other again once this is all said done and you still want to talk to me, I'll be sure to have her with along."

In one smooth movement, Tessa wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. She held it there for a moment. Her arms gave him a tender squeeze. David tensed up a bit at her touch, she could feel it through his clothing, yet she didn't care. "That sounds wonderful. You're welcome, David." She uttered softly, releasing her arm lock on him and leaning back. But, Tessa had doubts that they would get the chance to meet up again after this.

As Tessa moved away David reached down near the edge of the sofa, pulling up her suitcase. He set it before the young woman. There seemed to be a little extra spring in his actions now. "How about we go on with contacting your people? If we get it done now, and they are somewhere nearby, maybe they'll get here in a few hours."

Tessa eyes lit up. Finally, she was going home.

Author's Notes:

Here is episode four for you guys. I hoped you enjoyed it!

As you can see, we are slowly but surely getting to know David, even if it's just a few details at a time.

This chapter might be my final update for a good few days. (I know I said that last time, yet I thought I'd be nice today). I have some stuff to do and won't exactly have time to work through the next couple episodes making sure they are ready to be posted. But don't worry; I'll soon be back to it.

Be sure to stick around, because if you haven't already guessed, the next chapter is going to be pretty fun!

Anyways, please review. I'd love to hear what you think about this story!

Thanks for reading this far, it means a ton,

Mr-Watch

P.S – I've updated the cover image for the story. I hope you like it. And as always PM me if you find any errors. (Also feel free to PM me if you have any questions or simply wish to strike up conversation. I'm always up for meeting new people).