A/N: So. This is ridiculously overdue. I actually looked at the "updated" date on my own fic and was horrified. If anyone is still reading this, god bless you. People like you are what keep this community alive.
Anyways, that said, I'm happy to say that I finally made the push past massive writers block and the excuse of not having enough time to write. It took from 1:30am until 3:12, but this chapter is done, and the next one is on the way.
Please read and review, it would be a comfort of some sort to know people are still reading this!
-picimadar
When You Run Among Shadows
Chapter 6: Query
A car rolled down the street, turning a short corner and continuing away. Somewhere down the same street, a woman could be heard hollering a hearty "good-bye!" as another car drove off. Next door, someone was fixing some plumbing; clanging, groaning metal and curses could be heard over the sound of gushing water.
None of these noises, however, were the reason Wufei was now only half asleep.
Two tiny feet slowly paced the hardwood hallway floor, and with each half-pass nearest to his door, a light rapping would follow. After the third pass, Wufei opened his eyes and threw back the covers. Stepping out of bed, he grabbed yesterday's tee shirt of the floor, pulled it on and opened the door.
Mai stood in front of him, fist raised, ready to tap the door yet again. After losing her look of surprise, a she donned a bright smile and held her hands up, one elbow pressing a stuffed animal to her side. "Daddy!" she shouted, running the two short steps to Wufei's feet and clutching ahold of his leg, "mom's makin' breakfast! 'Nanimal pancakes!"
Wufei looked down at the child, seemingly weighing his options, before squatting down and taking hold of her under the arms, holding her close to his chest for a moment before propping her on his hip and heading to the kitchen. "She sent you to wake me up, hmm?" He asked Mai, watching as she enjoyed her 'bird's-eye-view' of the house, her head pressed against his shoulder.
"Mm-hmm!" She said emphatically, lifting her head to look at him, "but mamma told me to be careful, because when you sleep you turn into a angry dragon, and nobody wants to wake up a angry dragon! Is that true, daddy?"
Wufei considered how to answer her question, wondering if there was ever a time he would have believed such a thing. Was I ever a child, like this? Were we ever really children at all?
Before he had thought of a good answer, they had reached the kitchen, where Mingmei was already behind the stove, working away on breakfast. Mai squirmed and Wufei put her down gently, and as she ran into the kitchen he crossed the dining room and headed to the front door. Turning the latch and opening it, Wufei took in the mid-morning sunlight and the smell of autumn steeped in the air. He stepped outside and walked down the driveway, waving cordially to a jogging neighbor and grabbing his copy of the paper from the pavement before heading back inside.
For some reason, today, none of this quite agreed with him. When did I become so suburban? When did this become normal? He thought, reopening the door and sitting down at his kitchen table. Snapping open his paper, he started reading about some local news.
"No, it's okay, you go ahead and wait there while I make everything, honey," Ming said, speaking loud enough that he could have heard her from anywhere in the house. Sighing heavily, Wufei stood up and walked into the kitchen. "What do you need me to-"
"Set the table," Mingmei replied shortly, pointing to the dish cabinet while still facing away from him. Wufei cocked an eyebrow but said nothing as he pulled several plates out of the cupboard and took them back to the kitchen table. He decided attempting some conversation was better than the allowing the aggravated silence.
"So it turns out they approved that funding for the Terraformation Project," he started, looking over his shoulder into the kitchen. Walking back in, he leaned against the doorframe and stared at his wife. He was well within her peripheral vision; he knew she could see him. What is this woman's problem today? he asked himself, walking around behind her and peering over her shoulder at the breakfast she was making. Ming abruptly shouldered him out of the way, carrying the hot pan into the dining room and calling Mai to the table. Wufei rolled his eyes and followed.
The three sat down at the table, Mai bouncing and delighted about her ''nanimal'-shaped pancakes and favorite fruits. After asking if she could watch some cartoons, Mai excused herself, carried her little plate and plastic knife and fork into the den, and turned on her favorite show.
The two stared after her, disbelieving looks on their faces as they heard her giggle and change the channels. After a short, breathy laugh, Ming looked back to Wufei, shaking her head. "Do you remember when we found her, Wufei?"
He looked at her, matching her gaze as the memory of that day came back to him. It had been years ago, a few months after Mariemaia had been deposed and some order had been brought back to the world. Wufei had gotten his job in the Preventers and his life was running fairly smoothly. "You showed up at my work and scared the crap out of Sally," he said, grabbing his utensils and cutting into his pancakes. "She thought you were having an episode."
"Well can you blame me? I'd been looking for her for two years," she replied, her voice dropping lower at the memory of that time. Two years of looking for a child she wasn't even sure had lived through the destruction of their home colony, and after finally finding her records, learning that she had, indeed, been saved. "It's still a miracle we found those papers. If she'd been born even six months earlier…"
"Her birth certificate wouldn't have been registered," Wufei completed her sentence. "We were lucky she was in the database by then. We were lucky she got sick, I suppose."
As a baby, Mai had been very ill. Born premature, she hadn't had the lung strength as an infant to live a healthy life, and had needed a transfer to a specialty hospital on Earth to treat her condition. Had she not had that transfer, she'd be dead, they both thought, examining their breakfasts while mulling over the gravity of the circumstances, even if they were in the past.
"Remember when we saw her, in that hospital?" Ming asked, a slight smile lighting her face as she looked at him again.
"Of course," he replied. Mai had been sick, pale, covered in wires and tubes. By the time they arrived, she was recovering, but had come close to death. Even that sick, she had looked beautiful to them. "That damn nurse wouldn't leave us alone. Kept asking us for identification, made us put on those ridiculous haz-mat suits just to hold her.."
"I can't believe everything we had to go through just to get custody of her. I wish we'd at least had the same last name…" Ming continued, tilting her head away from him. Wufei let out an offended grunt.
"You regret marrying me? We had a deal, this was your idea," he retorted, pointing his fork at her.
"I don't know. Do you remember what the date was, the day we found her?" She asked carefully, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.
Looking at his watch, Wufei suddenly realized two things. The first was what he had forgotten. The second was that he was trapped. Slowly looking back at her, he replied, "It was October 17, 197. Three years ago, today."
Mingmei stood up and deftly slapped him in the back of the head before storming down the bedroom corridor. "And that would be why you're doing the dishes."
Amelie Hart was, in the opinion of her mousy secretary, was an interesting woman. Stephanie had met her clientele over the past few months. They ranged from actors and musicians to office workers and even Relena Darlian herself. Stephanie could hardly contain her nerves, thinking about such a distinguished and famous lady visiting her office. She had idolized the Foreign Minister for years; the two had even attended the same boarding school in New Port City once. Relena obviously didn't remember her, but Stephanie wasn't offended; she realized it must be difficult being so popular and loved.
Which brought her back to Amelie. There was something about the exotic, driven woman that Stephanie simply couldn't understand. Her clients loved her; even Miss Relena conversed with her as though they had known each other for years. Dr. Hart would disappear for days on end, cancelling appointments at the last minute with no excuse. Her clients forgave her with ease, and continued to give her glowing reviews, and Stephanie was paid for being on schedule regardless, so she didn't necessarily mind, but it kept bringing back the question: Where did she go?
Stephanie was only a secretary. She knew it was none of her business, but she was curious. Sometimes Amelie would return from her "vacations" in a furious mood, eyes blazing like someone had earned themselves a personal vendetta. Those times were the ones where a lot of doors were slammed and phones answered in strange tongues Stephanie had never heard.
Other times, the dark-haired woman would come in looking like she had been dragged through the depths of hell. Unexplained bandages, bruises, aches, dark circles lining her eyes and many cups of coffee were commonplace, and her clients often joked that she must be a street fighter in her spare time. These jokes were often answered with retorts that if that were the case, they simply needed to pay Amelie more, and the subject was promptly dropped.
The questions kept coming, but there were just no satisfying answers for them. Stephanie sighed, as the phone rang for what must have been the hundredth time that day, picking it up and answering with her usual "Dr. Hart's office, how may I help you?"
"Hello Miss Durand, it's Relena Darlian." Stephanie immediately sat up straighter and grabbed her notepad. To miss anything important would be a disgrace to this fine woman. "I'm running a few minutes late, a meeting ran longer than I expected. Can you tell Dr. Hart I'll be there in about fifteen minutes?"
Stephanie cleared her throat and desperately tried not to stutter. "Y-yes, Miss Darlian, I'll let her know right away. I'm sorry but I wasn't aware you had an appointment booked today. Is the doctor expecting you?"
"Yes dear, she is, she called me to let me know she'd had a cancellation," Relena replied patiently, knowing the continually startled woman meant well.
"Oh-oh-okay, Miss Darlian, I'll see you in a bit then," was all Stephanie could think to say, hanging up the phone and reaching for her water bottle. After what seemed like seventeen seconds, Relena walked through the doors in person, her bodyguard Officer Barton and a petite woman Stephanie had never seen before following her. Relena looked to the reception desk and smiled, raising a hand in a brief wave before walking towards her doctor's office. She turned back briefly to look inquisitively at what must have been her friend. The women's eyes met, and the raven-haired girl waved Relena off while taking a seat next to Trowa on one of the soft leather couches.
Relena entered the office, shrugged off her light white wool jacket, undid the buttons on her lavender blazer, walked over to the all-too-comfortable "client chair" and collapsed, breathing a sigh of relief as she slouched down into the cushioned bliss.
"One of those sorts of days, hmm?" Middie said, amused, as she looked over the top of her glasses at the rapidly disintegrating woman in front of her. "You need a coffee, or was that more of a "gin and tonic" kind of sigh?"
Relena almost laughed, lifting her chin off her chest to look at her friend. "Trust me, there's not enough liquor in the world to self-medicate for others' stupidity."
Middie laughed. "I know a few people who would disagree. What happened? I read this morning you made some progress with the Terraformation Project funding. What went wrong?"
Relena sighed again, sitting up and straightening her clothes before looking the other woman eye-to-eye. "This isn't about that… Is your room secured?"
Middie nodded. "As if it'd be anything else. Trust me, hun, the day someone gets in here who isn't me or someone I let in, I'd know."
"Perfect," Relena replied. "It's about us." Middie immediately understood exactly what she meant by "us"; she sat up and leaned closer so they could keep their voices lower. "Jude called me this morning and told me there's been another disturbance on his colony. There were weapons… it's the third time this month."
Middie nodded her head; she had read the reports. "How many casualties?"
"Sixteen. Mostly civilian."
The two women sat silently for a few moments, saddened and gravely considering the news. Middie was the first to speak again.
"Relena, I know that this seems like a huge deal right now-" The blonde woman shot her a glare to kill, "- and it is. But Jude can handle it." Relena looked away, rolling her eyes. "Right now, we're on the clock. What I'm interested in is you. What happened to you this week? You like like crap."
"Oh, thank you, I've been trying all month for a compliment like that. Now I feel on top of the world," Relena replied sarcastically. "What do you want me to say? I'm exhausted. I can't sleep. My job is killing me. I feel like the senators are just trying to make my life harder now. Even before they nominated me, I felt like I had so many expectations depending on me. They made me queen of the world. I'm still working with some of the same people who expected Mariemaia to kill me, and now I have to impress them or risk losing everything."
"I hear a lot of stuff about everyone else. You're paying me to listen to things about you. Why can't you sleep?"
"I'm stressed out!" the Minister shouted, clasping her hands to her face and rubbing her eyes. "All I can think about is what's going on up there. How can we handle this when no one even knows? How can we keep this secret? People are dying!" she added, pushing herself up out of her chair and moving toward the bookcases lining the back wall.
"People are dying," she repeated, her fingers stroking the bindings of the familiar titles, "people are dying and I can't do a thing about it. This is my job. I'm supposed to protect people. To keep the peace. To keep things like this from happening. I'm failing at the one thing I'm supposed to do with my life." Relena turned back towards Middie, tears threatening to fall down her face. "I feel completely useless," she said, finally letting loose a sob and turning her back on her audience.
Middie sat and stared for a moment before getting up and putting an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Relena, come here," she said gently, pulling the woman into a hug. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault. You're not personally responsible for the actions and thoughts of everyone else! To think that way is just ridiculous and, as your doctor speaking, very unhealthy and unwise." Middie released the woman, pushing some hair off her face and wiping the tears from her cheeks. "You're not in this alone, Relena. We're going to figure this out. Trust me, Mingmei and I will meet with some others and come up with something. In the meantime, you need to just figure out you. We need to just figure out you. Okay?"
Relena nodded. "I'm trying, Middie, I really am. But every time I think about how this happened, I… " she trailed off, casting her eyes to the floor. Middie understood the woman's pain.
"Lena, go home. Take a few days off. Read a book, play the "delete game" on your computer, watch a movie, hang out with someone." Relena looked at her incredulously, gathering up her coat and bag.
"And no "buts"! It's the doctor's orders!" She called as Relena ducked out the door.
Hilde and Trowa sat quietly in the waiting room, Stephanie's quiet occasional typing or her answering the phone being the only noises they heard for a while. Hilde picked up a magazine and began to try to read; something about the newest popular nail-polish colours was splashed on the main spread.
"I don't understand how anyone could read about such pointless crap at a time like this," she muttered mostly to herself, tossing the magazine back down on the table. Trowa looked over at her, half smiling.
"Everyone can use a good distraction every now and again," he said, propping his one foot up on the table.
"Oh, yeah?" Hilde asked, surprised the generally stoic man was engaging. She decided to push her luck. "So, what does Trowa Barton use as a distraction, hmm?"
Trowa gave her another sidelong glance. "Why do you want to know?"
Hilde gave him a pained look and turned away from him. "I can't figure out what to say to Duo," she replied quietly, staring at the floor. "Everything I seem to say about what happened just makes him mad. I feel like we just fight all the time… I guess that's why I'm here. If I can't make him happy, I wish I could at least distract him."
Trowa sat silently for a minute, considering what to say. Finally, he turned towards her. "Hilde," he started, "nothing that happened was your fault. Duo is the way he is because he choses to be. You can't do anything about that. There's no sense worrying about it. He acts the way he does because he won't act on how he feels. He won't act on how he feels because he feels angry with Heero, and he can't take it out on the bastard because he disappeared."
Hilde took a moment to absorb what Trowa had said. "I guess I never thought of it that way," she replied. "Trowa, do you think we're ever going to find him?" she asked.
Trowa was about to answer when Relena stepped out of Dr. Hart's office, bidding a hasty good-bye to Stephanie and walking past him with the same frazzled look on her face she always had post-therapy.
Trowa nodded to Hilde, shooting her an apologetic look before quickly following after his charge. Hilde sat, her eyes drifting to the star-struck secretary, and giggled at the awed look on the girl's face.
"You're Hilde Maxwell, correct?" a brunette woman called to her from the doorway Relena had come from. Hilde nodded, standing up. "Follow me, if you please," Amelie Hart asked amiably, leading the way back into her office. Hilde took a deep breath and followed, closing the door behind her.
