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Also thanks to Cynthia Joy Finnegan for the review. And no, Quatre isn't getting it easy. Just wait till next chapter...

We Were Promised Jetpacks

Too Young To Fight It

She waved cheerfully at the town car as it pulled away. Her grin remained glued in place up until the moment the car turned the corner, when it promptly dropped into a frown.

She was exhausted. It was as simple as that. Her feet burned, her back ached, and her face throbbed from smiling for the last two hours. The only thing she wanted to do was take a nice long shower and go to sleep, hopefully forgetting about her awful day somewhere between.

She pushed into the store and immediately kicked off the offending high heels, right there in the doorway. Her feet trudged forward before she paused and looked back at the shoes. Locke wouldn't be happy if she left them there. It took a long moment of consideration in which she weighed the effort it would take to turn and bend over with the lecture and screams she would receive from the old man. Letting out a sigh, she gave in and scooped them up.

Her exhausted limbs dragged her past the bead curtain, down the hallway, and into the kitchen where she immediately collapsed in a chair. Her arms pillowed her head on the table. With a deep breath she closed her eyes, content to feel her muscles unwind for the time being. However, her peace wasn't to last.

"So the beast returns," a voice spoke from the doorway.

Alice chose to ignore it.

Apparently the voice didn't care for being brushed off and came to stand on the other side of the table. With a loud smack, something slammed against the table, shaking her from her relaxed position.

Her eyes popped open and glared at Duo. He returned the look with a cheeky smirk.

"So you going to apologize for being a bitch earlier?"

And that, my friends, was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

Before she knew what was happening, tears stung her eyes and poured down her cheeks. Her hands flew to her face, but it was too late. Duo looked horrified, shocked, and dumbfounded all at once.

She opened her mouth to say something, but only succeeded in letting out a sob. He took a step forward, hand reaching out. The chair made a loud clatter as she knocked it over in her hurry to stand.

"Ali—" She bolted out of the room before he could finish.

Alice sat on the back porch, trying to put an end to her never ending flow of tears. She was failing. Badly. It was as if a dam had broken and nothing was going to stop it until the river had run dry. For clarification, she was the river. And she'd like to point out that she was pretty sure that her body should have run out of liquid about ten minutes ago. But, no.

Behind her, the door creaked open. She flinched and pointedly looked down and to the side in an effort to hide her tear stained cheeks. Someone settled down on the step beside her. Alice held in a groan. The last person she wanted to see, much less talk to, was Duo. Her mental state was not prepared to deal with his temperament.

However, moments past, and the person didn't let out as much of a whisper. No longer able to take the suspense, she peeked through her hair.

She shouldn't have been surprised really. She had been wrong about pretty much everything that day, so why should this have been any different?

Sitting next to her was Trowa. He leaned forward from the waist and rested his elbow on his knees, fingers laced together so he could lean his mouth upon them. The pose suited him so well, Alice couldn't help staring.

It had never been more apparent that he was everything she wasn't.

Right then, he embodied cool, quiet, calm collectedness. He was steady. He was a rock on which the waves of life crashed, but didn't move.

She, however, was a pebble, easily swept away and unable to stand up to even the force of her own emotions. She was fiery, passionate, loud, and scatter-brained. How pathetic she must look in his eyes.

A new wave of tears stung her eyes.

Of course that was the moment Trowa decided to look her way.

She 'eeped' and hid her face in shame. Her cheeks burned. She wanted more than anything for the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

And then something cold landed in her lap.

She cracked her eyes open. Ice cream?

A moment later a spoon followed the tub.

Without another thought, she tore open the lid and dipped the spoon in. The first bite melted in her mouth, the coldness acting like a bucket of water on her flaming emotions. Her eyes slipped closed in pure bliss.

Time passed with her eating spoonful after spoonful of the delicious sweet. She didn't try to speak until she was sure the attempt wouldn't end in a wave of tears or sobs.

"How'd you know chocolate was my favorite?" she asked in a small voice, still not daring to turn and face the boy.

"Lucky guess."

She bobbed her head robotically. Suddenly a thought hit her.

"Oh god," she cried, face flushing with embarrassment, "here I am pigging out on your ice cream and I didn't even ask if you wanted some!"

So upset by this prospect, she forgot all about hiding her face and turned to shove the ice cream at Trowa.

"I'm so sorry!"

Trowa stared at her with wide eyes, startled by her mood swing. Finally, he shook his head. "I got it for you."

Alice was rendered speechless. For me?

"Then we'll share it," she declared firmly, leaving no room for objections. She scooted closer and held out the spoon.

He took it, and their hands brushed. Suddenly, she remembered why they were sitting on the back porch in the first place, and her mortification returned ten-fold. She averted her eyes, unable to meet his then.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Alice turned to him, dumbfounded. "Why?" Why would he care?

Trowa passed her the spoon. "It helps," he said simply. Alice couldn't argue with that, but still she was reluctant.

"I'm a good listener." He waited for her to meet his eyes before he added: "It's because I'm quiet."

Alice blinked, shocked. Did he just make a joke?

Bright, bubbly laughter erupted from her lips. She found herself bending at the waist, hands clutching her sides, overcome by the emotion. The tears on her face were no longer those of sadness or stress. They were pure happiness.

Eventfully, her mirth faded to chuckles. "You're a lot funny than I gave you credit for Trowa," she said, wiping away her tears then without shame. He gave her a small smile, and she felt something in her melt.

Suddenly feeling a need to change the subject, she motioned to the ice cream. "Where'd you learn how to deal with overly emotional girls so well?"

"Catherine."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Girlfriend?"

He shook his head. "No, more like an older sister." She let out a small sigh without understanding why.

"That certainly explains it, then." He made a sound of agreement.

Moments passed with the two simply eating ice cream in silence. The night was quiet and cool, and the small alleyway was abandoned. A lone black cat wandered between trash cans. Alice followed its progress, slowly working up the courage to speak. It was only when it disappeared behind a corner and didn't return that she finally spoke up.

"Ever have a shitty—and I mean really shitty—day? A day when everything that goes wrong is your own fault? A day when you screw up in every way possible? A day when absolutely everything goes wrong?" She sighed. "I had one of those days."

When Trowa didn't say anything, she just continued her monologue. "And you know what?" She let out a bitter laugh. "One good thing did happen to me today. I think I was asked on a date, but was too upset about being blackmailed into going that I didn't even enjoy it."

"What?" She could feel Trowa's stare boring into her all of a sudden.

"Yeah, ridiculous right? I mean, it was the first time anyone had ever asked me to do anything as simple as get coffee. It wasn't even that big of a deal. But it—it was my first date…that I remember at least. I should have at least had fun, right?"

"Who?"

Alice blinked and then flushed. "Um, I hope this doesn't come out weird or anything, but Luke and I had a meeting this morning. There's this wealthy guy who wants to rebuild Sector Six, but then where will Luke and all the others go? We had to do something. Officially, we were there for our 'informed opinions and unique perspective'." She drew quotes in the air with her fingers. "The entire thing was a disaster. I was late, a complete mess, sweaty, and overall as non-professional as possible. But…the guy asked me to coffee after to talk more." Her expression darkened. "Luke threatened me into agreeing, throwing the responsibility of singlehandedly getting this guy on our side on me, the ass. So, yeah," she finished lamely.

She peeked over at Trowa only to find his expression dark. "You okay, Trowa?"

He ignored her question. "And you're okay with him using you that way?"

Alice blinked before her face twisted into an expression of irritation. "Hell no! That's why I was so pissed the entire time! There's nothing more I hate than being forced into doing something. I'm going to kill Luke!"

Trowa's face relaxed. "Good. No one deserves to take advantage of you, remember that."

A soft smile appeared on her face. "Thanks, Trowa. I appreciate that."

Their gazes remained locked. She had never really noticed just how green his eyes were. They were a deep forest green. But they were warm. Warm and inviting…

She jumped to her feet. "Well, it sure is late," she said lamely with an awkward little laugh. Trowa gazed up at her for a moment, and she began to fidget anxiously under his intense stare. He then followed her example with exponentially more grace.

She started for the door and then pulled away.

"I sent Duo home," he said, sensing the reason behind the hesitation.

"Oh." She wondered how he knew that when she hadn't even figured it out. But he was right. She really didn't want to see Duo—not that night at least.

They entered and traversed the house silently, Alice leading the way to the front door, a subtle hint to Trowa for him to leave.

She didn't really know why she felt so awkward all of a sudden, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything after what happened outside. On that note, what exactly did happen outside? A staring contest? She mentally groaned. This was all too much for one day.

Alice held the front door open for Trowa. With a nod, he passed her, while she could do nothing but stare on mutely.

It was only when his feet hit the stone pavement of the street did she finally find her voice. "Trowa, wait."

He turned to look at her over his shoulder. She couldn't make out his expression in the darkness and for some reason that made her next words easier to say.

"Thanks…for the ice cream and, you know, everything else." Could she sound any lamer? "And…well, I wanted you to know, it's not because you're quiet."

She felt more than saw him raising an eyebrow at her, so she clarified. "You're not a good listener because you're quiet. I don't know if you've ever been told this before, but…you're really good at understanding people, you know?"

His figure seemed frozen in place, and she became worried she had said something wrong.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke. "No, no one has ever told me that."

A large smile spread across her face. "I'm glad I was the first, then."

She imagined him smiling back at her.