Waking Up In Vegas
Chapter Twenty Nine
The sun had just turned the sky into a dark, soft medley of orange and purple when the black Navigator pulled up on the main road of Cool Water, Tennessee.
All of the stores were close to closing for the night. Emily was enjoying her off shift and was sitting in Sylvia's. Sylvia's was the town cafe. Their diner; it was pretty much the only restaurant in town, but Sylvia Noventa made up for that by making a little of everything. She did pizzas and soups, pastas, salads, sandwiches, hamburgers. She'd even tried her hand a few times at exotic dishes.
"Oh.... wow....." Dorothy, who had worked for Sylvia for about three months now, stopped still. Her hand, pouring Emily some more sweet tea, moved through the motions, almost missing the glass and splattering some of the amber liquid on the table.
"Hey!" Emily scolded her, jerking her hand away from the glass and correcting Dorothy by tilting the pitcher back upright. "What's with you, Dotty?"
"He.... he's like a night in shining armour..." Dorothy sighed.
Emily, bewildered, followed Dorothy's gray gaze, and stopped still as well. "Oh, my..."
He was out of the Navigator, the lights outside the diner playing in his messy chocolate hair. His skin had an golden complexion, his eyes just screaming "I'm Asian!". And that body... wow.... a black long sleeve Tshirt stretched tight across broad shoulders, fitting down muscled arms and a toned midsection. It was tucked into slightly baggy camouflage cargo pants secured with a black belt. He wore work boots, and the silver glint on his chest was clearly a set of dog tags. He was opening the passenger door. A woman dressed smartly in a cerulean billowing blouse and pin straight black slacks stepped out. Her long honey blonde hair was left down, flowing in the faint breeze.
He took her hand, lead her into the diner.
"Damn," Emily muttered. "Hot ones are always taken."
"You are too, hon," Sylvia said from behind her, startling Emily into remembered that yeah, she had a pretty hot guy herself.
"Oh, my god..." Dorothy whispered as she finally saw the woman he was with up close. How the hell had Relena Darlian ended up here? And that could only mean... Heero YUY!!!!
Ben Rowdy looked up from the coffee he was having at the bar and nearly laughed.
"Well if it ain't Barbie and GI Joe."
"Shut up, Ben," another man shouted across the diner. "Can't y'tell he's a soldier? Y'owe him respect."
Ben shut up... more from the cold glare from said soldier. The blond woman sent the other man a sweet, 'thank you' smile, but they slipped into a booth.
"What can I get you two, darlings?" Sylvia asked, slidding up to them, her pen and paper out.
"Just a water please," the woman replied. "Lemon, with it, if I can."
"Sure, sugar. And you?"
"Coffee. Black."
"Of course. Anything else?"
"Yes," the woman said. "We're looking for a friend of ours who was supposed to be in this town."
"Quatre," the man informed.
Sylvia shrugged. "Don't know anyone by that name, sorry. I'll be right back with those drinks."
"Quatre?" Emily piped in. "As in the one staying with the Bartons?"
Two pairs of eyes landed on her... one sky blue, the other darkest sapphire.
"You know him?" The woman asked. Emily gulped. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut. Who was this?
"Um... sort of. Not really. But Trowa and the other's are all in Nashville at the moment. The adoption papers came through."
The two both blinked at her like she'd grown another head.
"Oh!" Sylvia gasped. "Duo and Wufei are finally bringing that girl home? I'm so happy for them!"
The two... Barbie and GI Joe sighed in relief.
"Knowing them, they'll all go out to eat or something to celebrate, so it may be several hours before they come back."
"Thank you," the woman said.
"Ya'll welcome to wait here on them," Sylvia added.
"Cecilia and Howard are home," Emily said. "You could go ask them when they'll be home."
"Cecilia and Howard?" The woman asked, blinking.
"Duo's parents," Sylvia added. "Just take the road straight on through town, then turn onto Valley drive. Trowa's place is right up front, but go less than a quarter mile and to the right there's Cecilia's driveway."
"Thank you," the woman smiled. "We'll go right as soon as we've finished our drinks. Thank you."
The man just glared right through Emily, as if he could see down into her soul. She shivered. Just who was he?
Emily gulped down her tea and left the money on the table, then left quickly.
Sei met her right outside the diner.
"Pictures don't do him justice," her cousin admitted.
"Who was that?" Emily demanded.
"That," Sei Lovecraft said, "... was Senator Darlian's daughter, Relena. And her bodyguard... the only living pilot of the WING ZERO... Heero Yuy."
~*~*~*~
Quatre observed the woman as they all climbed back into the Explorer, now set with a few bags of things, and one extra passenger. Megan was chattering away in fluent Spanish into a bluetooth device as she climbed into her Volvo and pulled away from the orphanage.
"She didn't look Latina," he mused.
"Pardon?" Trowa asked.
"Megan. She didn't look Hispanic, but she spoke Spanish quite well. And in a familiar way."
"Ah," Trowa said. "Her husband, Alejandro, is the cause for that. She tells us that's actually how they got together; he and a friend offered to help her with a project she had to do for Spanish in college."
"Ah. Well, that makes sense then."
Trowa smirked. "You should hear their kids. Cute as buttons, but Zoe and Zander are still young and they often use such a mix-matched language it's hard to understand them. Especially when you don't speak a lick of Spanish."
Quatre chuckled. "I speak Spanish, French, Italian, and a smattering of Japanese."
Trowa blinked. "Japanese? I can understand the others, but where does the Japanese come in?"
"My friend, Heero? His father was in the Army, and his mother was a Japanese nurse at one of the bases Heero's father was stationed on. Odin Lowe and Yukimi Yuy. Yuki passed when Heero was about six, but Japanese was predominately his first language. I decided a few years ago to learn Japanese so I could understand when he was talking in it to his adopted sister and I was left out of the loop."
"Ah, that explains that," Trowa replied, following the silver Volvo as it pulled into a modest middle class house in a nice suburb.
"Beautiful house," Quatre observed. It had a distinct Victorian feeling to it, situated on a corner, double lot.
"Duo's work," Wufei admitted, pulling Meilan from the car.
"Ali wanted it as a Christmas present for Meg. And I wanted to give her something for recommending Miss Lakes to us." Duo added.
"It worked out well, as it turned out to be finished building just in time for the twins to come along."
"Twins?" Quatre asked, but the answer was lost amid war whoops. A young sandy blond haired man rocketed through the door after two little whirlwinds, screaming 'mama' at the top of their lungs. Megan got out of the car just in time to scoop both bundles up, settling one on each hip.
"You think my family is crazy?" Trowa whispered into Quatre's ear as Delana's bright colored jeep pulled up next to the curb. "You haven't seen my family at a party yet."
Two women got out of the jeep. Cathy, Quatre noted, was wearing a short denim skirt and a black and gold T-shirt. She had gone slightly heavy on the make-up, but it all served to make her look even more attractive. Delana, however... Quatre almost did a double take. He'd only ever seen her in her work clothes, either a flannel shirt or a T-shirt, and jeans. He'd never seen her clean and well dressed. She was a knock-out... and it all served to make her look less like Duo. Her hair was left down, and he noted it had a heavy wave to it, just shy of being curly. Her violet-blue eyes were set off with lavender eyeshadow that matched perfectly to the silvery trim and design on her black shirt. Her jeans were slimming and just barely showed the toe of her high-heeled boots.
"Well if it ain't the prettiest lady in Tennessee," The sandy blond haired man laughed, seeing Delana. He snatche dher around the waist, twirling her around in the air.
"Ashley's gonna kill you if she hears that, Jus." Cathy said.
"Ashley ain't got nothin' on me, babe," Delana laughed, wriggling away from Justin to run and glomp her girlfriend. Trowa blinked at the sight. He still had that feeling that something was different, though he couldn't place it. The actions were the same as he'd seen millions of times before, only now they seemed to flow a bit more; more natural and intimate, he thought. He was jerked out of his thoughts when another car pulled up. It was a sleek and beautiful Ferrari in smiley face yellow.
"Victoria," Duo called at the slender woman who slipped from the driver's seat. Her hair, a dark brown with a mahogany red sheen to it, was slicked back and up into a ponytail, where it fell in a mass of tightly permed curls. Eyes the color of warm chocolate and skin just a shade darker than peach. Her clothes were prim and pressed to perfection, a burnt rust color skirt suit. The skirt ended high on her thighs, almost barely modest enough for work.
"Duo," she said in return, letting the man, shorter than her due to the heels on her shoes pull her into a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you."
"We owe it to you," Duo replied, letting her go. "You've got to tell us how you managed to kick Boothe's ass once and for all."
She laughed. "I didn't do anything. Turns out he hung his own rope, as it were. He assaulted someone in New York."
Wufei's eyes snapped up. "Pardon?"
Victoria laughed. "It's funny as hell. He popped the shit out of a guy coming from a Gala to support an AIDS research fund. Apparently the guy was gay... and to make it even better... it was the Vice-Prez of the medical lab behind the fund."
Duo blinked, then burst out laughing. "Man. That's karma for you. Please tell me the dude slapped him with all the law would allow?"
The woman nodded. "Of course. The board is considering revoking Boothe's license. The lawyer forced to take over the case took one look at the past arguments and gave up! He said there was no reason Boothe should have been contesting the adoption in the first place."
Duo smiled, a genuine smile. "I'm so glad it's over. For her sake as well as ours," he said, casting a glance to his husband and the little girl... their little girl.
Victoria's smile dimmed a bit, but it seemed more genuine to Duo. "I'm sorry," she said. "At first... I only took this case for the publicity. For the chance to say I'd done something good pro bono. Just like all hot-shot self-centered lawyers. But that's not the case anymore. I ended up doing it because I wanted to help you. You and Wufei... and that little girl... you're all very good people. Much better people than I am, really. And I really have learned alot from you, you know? Like learning to recognize love."
"Tori!" Megan exclaimed, coming over, her daughter balanced on her hip. The lights on the street cast a eiry light over them all. "Where's Adam?"
The red-head frowned. "We broke up."
"Again?" Megan asked. Truthfully, there were few people who didn't know Tori's on-again/off-again relationship.
Tori shrugged. "For good. We were always better as friends than lovers, y'know? It just took me way too long to realize it."
Megan nodded, but still didn't smile.
"Hey! Are you all going to stand in the yard congregating or are you going to come in? Ali's got the grill ready and is just putting the meat on." Everyone turned to the front door and the petite little woman standing there. Her hair was black, her eyes a hazel brown, and her hands were on her hips.
"Ashley!" Delana laughed. "Your boyfriend called me the prettiest girl in the state!"
Ashley raised a shoulder in a shrug. "Oh, well. It's him sleeping on the couch!"
Tori and Megan walked up closer to where people were gathering at the door. "Cathy?" Tori asked, noting the woman. "I thought you were going to be in Europe for another month or two. With that cute lawyer from Huntsville?"
"Yeah. He got a little too 'cute' with the hotel housekeeper," Cathy said.
Tori immediately looked the other woman over. Hm. She seemed to be taking it pretty well. Was she already on the rebound? Already have someone else?
Quatre's head was spinning. There were *way* too many people around him. Way too many plot-lines to follow. Quatre had always prided himself on having tact and being intelligent when meeting with other CEO's and in boardrooms. But this as something different. These people were all friends. They weren't hiding things or playing games. They were all different... but honest. They were *family*.
He missed his family. Scratch that. He missed Iria. Iria was his only real family. Out of all his sisters, of his father... only Iria was considered family. For a breif moment, before he was seamlessly swept into the cyclone of conversation and activity inside the house...for a brief moment he felt guilty for leaving Iria in New York alone.
But then it was gone. Iria had wanted him to have fun. Iria had wanted him to live a little.
And for once in his life... Quatre felt alive.