Three days had gone by in a blur. No one in the village knew Serenity, or at least, no one would admit to knowing
her. In that week, the girl had returned to almost unbelievable vitality and health. She could speak broken
English, although she didn't know enough words for it be particularly useful. Almost everything she saw either
terrified or enthralled her, like a little child who had never tasted candy.
Ami, Rei and Mamoru did all they could not to draw attention to the fact the girl's life-threatening injuries had
all but vanished in a week. Since most of the villagers hadn't seen her on the first day back, few knew that she
had a scarring hole on her abdomen at the time. That scar was completely gone now, but Ami left the bandage on so
no one would know that. Alejandro had not reappeared in those three days, but one of the other villagers had told
them he went back to the big city, which was only a few days boat ride away.
Up until tonight, they had not seriously discussed Serenity, but focused instead on finding her family. But three fruitless days of searching put things into prespective.
"Our flight leaves in four days." Ami frowned, looking over at her desk in the hotel, where fragments of the
ceramics they'd collected were laid out on in bubblewrap. "We need to discuss what to do about..." she gave a
pointed glance over to Serenity who was asleep on one of the beds. The insects outside were making a low thin
chatter, giving the evening a pleasant warmth.
Mamoru gave a noncommittant shrug, sitting next to the sleeping girl. After a bit of a circus, Rei and Ami had
convinced Serenity to take a shower with them. With no dirt to hide her features, it had become obvious that she
was both older than they had first assumed, and much more beautiful. Her eyes had stopped darkening past cerulean
blue, and her hair was taking on more hue each day she spent in the sun. Right now it was the pale blonde of a
newborn. "She's obviously not related to anyone here, we've been through most of the town with her and nobody
recognizes her. If we give her to the local authorities, she'll eventually be outed for what she is."
"What is she, anyways?" Rei was leaning back against Ami's hotel bed, braiding her long black hair. It had taken
her hours to get all the dirt and sweat out of it after leaving the jungle, and now she was nursing it like a baby.
Mamoru shrugged again. "She's a liability. Or a gold mine. Or a time bomb. Whatever. The longer we stay around her, the worse off we'll be."
Rei rolled her eyes. "Selfish as usual. She isn't a stray dog we just need to put into a shelter, she's-"
"Some sort of alien-mutant zombie thing that none of us really know anything about." Mamoru said. "You can't just
put someone like that into a foster family, or give them over the authorities. It would end like a horror movie.
Liability, like I said."
Ami pursed her lips and frowned. "Rei could bring her with her back to Japan."
"Brilliantly terrible idea," Mamoru said.
"I don't think its a terrible idea," Rei said. "She is comfortable and familiar with me, and she does speak at
least some English now."
"Yeah, like a mentally-damaged toddler."
"I'm sure you could fluently speak a foreign language in five days." Rei gave him a pointed look. "Look, she's got
no one here. And no where else to go," Rei tied off her braid, tossing it over her shoulder. "I don't like it much
either, but we don't have limitless options. We've already established that we can't put her into the system, and we can't abandon her here to fend for herself."
"Which brings up another point," Ami said. "How are we going to get her out of the country with no legal papers?"
"And now we agree this is a terrible idea," Mamoru said.
"Our flight back to America is on a private jet, I doubt they'd ask too many questions. I could pretend she was
you, Rei." Ami offered. Mamoru groaned.
"Then what, we smuggle her out of the country back with one of us, and feed and house her like a pet. This is
sounding more and more like the stray pet analogy was accurate."
"She'll improve at English with time, or she'll find someone who speaks her language," Ami said. "Then she can find employment and take care of herself." Mamoru gave her a flat look.
Serenity rolled over and slung an arm over his leg. He looked down at the offending limb, but didn't move it.
"I still say we sell her to the highest bidder," Mamoru had a wicked smirk.
"Your mother would be ashamed of you," Ami said, in her casual conversational tone. Mamoru's eyes darkened and his
muscles tensed at the insult, but he didn't say anything. Rei shifted uneasily in her spot, unsure if Ami was being fascitious or truly meant the barb. "She's probably scared, lonely and missing her family," Ami cast a soft glance at the blonde girl.
"God this is such a mess. Fine, so she comes back to America with us, if she can survive the flight without giving
herself a coronary. We dye her hair black and pretend she's Rei. Don't you think they'll catch on when they realize she can't speak English? Rei is a cultural anthropologist."
"Rei is also a native to Japan. English is not her first language. I don't think anyone would question it if 'Rei'
had difficulty speaking English," Ami argued.
Rei made a rude noise. "I take offense to that. And they might buy it initially, but for a full transcontinental
flight? You'll have to pray nobody on board speaks Japanese."
"Even if they did, we can just keep them away from Serenity."
"When did we become charity case workers?" Mamoru had covered his eyes with his hands. "Do either of you know how
expensive it is to have another person in your life?" He looked at both women's blank stares. "Of course not.
You're on the receiving end as females."
Rei flipped Mamoru the bird. Ami stayed silent.
"Its very expensive to feed, clothe and house someone else. I've had enough girlfriends to know."
Rei let out a bark of a laugh at his last sentence, not bothering to hide her disbelief as she wiped a fake tear
from her eyes. "So have I," she said. "It isn't THAT expensive."
He considered the dark-haired girl. "I didn't know you swung that way."
"I never said I did." She fluffed up the pillow behind her, her smiling face unreadable.
"Let's skip right over the fact you basically just admitted you do," he said. Serenity took the pause to let out a
loud snore. He glared at her "its rude to interrupt."
"You mean like you did earlier?" Rei gave him a pleased smile when he glowered at her.
"Who takes her in, you or I?" He glanced at Ami. Ami suddenly looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.
"I live with my mother in a studio apartment...and I don't come home from the hospital every day." Ami said, quiet
enough that they both had to strain to hear.
"No."
"Mamoru..." Rei said, Ami had a look on her face that said she was on the same side as Rei.
"No," he said again. "Fat bloddy chance. I won't do it."
"She's got no one else right now. We are the only three people she trusts, and likely the only ones who know about
her unique...ability." Ami let out a small sigh. "I would take her in if I could but..."
"To experiment on her," Rei mumbled.
"You're can't be serious right now," Mamoru slapped a hand to his forehead. "You want me, the one person here with
a drop of sanity," he gave both other women pointed glares "to take in the girl who I have NO desire to sneak out
of Colombia in the first place."
"If you can't afford it I would be more than happy to reimburse you financially," Ami said. "I make enough money
from my work to live in a larger place on my own, I just choose to live with my mother for personal reasons, so I
can afford to help you if you need it..."
"I don't need money." He pulled a hand through his raven locks, letting out a frustrated noise.
"I can visit and help her adjust as well," Ami said. "I can teach her more English until she's fluent, or hire her
a tutor."
Mamoru froze as Serenity's hand flopped over a very personal spot on his lap. This time, he lifted her arm and
moved it back to her side.
"This is just such a huge mess. I want nothing to do with this girl."
"Fate works in mysterious ways," Rei intoned, putting on her best mystic face.
He threw a room card key at her head. She dodged it with ease and picked it up off the sheets and moved it to the
nightstand.
"You may be the cultural expert here, but this isn't fate or some religious experience. This is a..." he glanced at Serenity with an angry look, not sure what to say. "...mostly probably human person whose life we are deciding for her."
"You're right," Ami said. He tried to hide his surprise that someone was finally agreeing with him. "We should talk to Serenity tomorrow to see what she wants to do."
"We can barely convince her to go up a staircase or use an elevator. This is a girl who almost had a stroke when we turned on the bedside lamp." Mamoru frowned. "I don't think we're going to be able to have a real...discussion with her about what she wants. Wherever she's from, its obviously some third world hole in the sand."
"We'll try." Ami pressed.
"Can't hurt," Rei said.
Mamoru fell back onto the bed, uncaring that Serenity shifted and almost woke up when he did. Instead of waking,
she nestled up to his side much like she had to Ami. "We're going to need a map, and a lot of pictures." he said,
hit by a sudden wave of fatigue. They had walked most of the village in the last three days, and that was no small
feat. It was no wonder Serenity had passed out as soon as they returned to the hotel room.
"I have a map," Rei said, rifling through the purse she had carelessly tossed onto the night stand. "And Ami can
draw extremely well." Ami blushed and stuttered a the compliment, never having been one to handle praise well.
"My father was a painter," she said.
"Let's do it after lunch tomorrow," Rei set the map on the table.
"I guess its decided then." Mamoru closed his eyes and let sleep win.
AN: Yeah um...I wasn't lying about feeling guilty for not posting something for such a long a time. Two chapters,
one night. Also...plug plug plug ( .com)- my website is having a valentines event soon. Awful person,
who me? I proclaim that any reviewers get cookies and praise and love for life. 3