AN: Welcome my friends. Enjoy this installment.

Disclaimers:I own nothing of this.

CHAPTER 13

Meanwhile, back on the island.

Melissa Mao stood watching the waves as they beat the shore into submission and wondered why they bothered. The shore never changed, it was always there. The water may have taken some sand back into the ocean, but it always brought some back.

She turned at the soft sound of footsteps behind her, knowing it was Teletha. Even nine months pregnant the girl had a purposeful step. Melissa turned and caught her by the shoulders seconds before she missed a step and fell.

"Sheesh, Tessa, please be careful!" She jokingly admonished out of habit before she realized what she was doing. When the girl shyly smiled up at her with happiness she wanted to kick herself. The tear stains on her friend's cheeks were her fault; again. She had snapped at Tessa an hour ago when the blond had tried to get her to eat lunch with herself and Chidori. Now, of course, Mao felt like a gui dan – turtle egg.

"No," Teletha said as she stood up, straightening her back and a frown marring her oval face.

"What?"

"I said no," she replied before shoving the stunned older woman into a seat that was behind her. "I am sick and tired of you acting like I'm a pariah!" Melissa had started to stand up when Tessa said this, stunning her into sitting down again. She blinked at her friend and commanding officer with confusion

"Okay, I know I haven't had anything to drink since before the men left; but I don't know what you are talking about," although that was a lie. Melissa knew quite well. She just didn't want to have this conversation.

"Lying to me is a mistake." The blond Whispered girl said. She sat down across from the Sergeant Major and motioned with her left hand. Three guards appeared and closed the glass door to the balcony; then stood before the doors, albeit with their backs to it. Melissa knew they could still hear them, but it was clear they were there to keep her from leaving. No one thought she'd jump off the balcony.

"Don't bother pretending to think about it, Melissa. You won't commit suicide. It would please your mother too much." Melissa's head snapped to the young Captain with wide eyes. Tessa had never used her past to hurt her, or manipulate her.

"Fine, how may I help you Captain?" Melissa tried military formality.

"You can get off your high horse," was the response.

"Easy for you to say, Captain!" Snarled the dark haired woman. "You didn't rape Weber!" She shouted.

"Didn't I?" Teletha asked calmly. Melissa's mouth closed on the next thing she'd been about to say.

"What?"

"I am his commanding officer; I should have made sure the two of us were separated in locked rooms." Melissa swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"You weren't in control," she said in her friend's defense.

"Well then, Weber raped me." Tessa said with the same calm detachment from a second before. "He surely has more control over himself because of his training so should have been able to resist having sex with me." Teletha nodded her head and began to rise, as if that settled the argument.

"Don't! For all that he seems to be interested only in sex, if he could have prevented it he would have!" Mao said vehemently. Tessa sat back down and looked at Melissa with confusion.

"Then please tell me how you raped Clouseau?" She asked her friend. "And how is it that he, who was not under the influence of the gas, didn't rape you?"

Melissa sat there with her mouth opened, staring at the girl.

Inside, Teletha was quivering with anxiety. The new counselors had made it clear that the Sergeant Major wasn't dealing with her rage and grief. She and Kaname had decided that she needed to be confronted. After several days of discussions Kaname and the counselors had convinced Teletha she needed to be the one to do it.

After she had thought it about she realized they were right. She was the one taking the most abuse from her friend and she knew it was due to her feelings for Weber. Now she waited with seeming patience for Melissa to react. Her counselor had brought up these points already, but it was felt that hearing them from another 'victim' might force her to look at it differently.

"Tessa?" She asked with confusion.

"I can't answer that for you," Tessa said emotionlessly. She relied on her training and upbringing to keep her own tears from welling up when her friend began to cry silently.

Melissa stood abruptly and went to the doors. Pulling on the knobs to open it she screeched when the doors wouldn't open. She banged on the wood and shouted to be let in. The guards ignored her. She started to hit the glass with her fist when Tessa grabbed her hand.

"Answer the question, Melissa" She said. This time she said it with compassion. The black haired woman shook her head in denial. "Answer it," Teletha said again.

"I can't!" Melissa shouted in exasperation.

"Why?"

"Ben wouldn't hurt me!" She cried out. Tessa moved them back to the chairs, this time sitting next to Melissa while holding her hand.

"He wouldn't!" Melissa insisted. Tessa nodded to show she agreed. One of the reasons she had recruited him at the same time she had recruited Melissa was his personal honor.

"Then he didn't rape you?"

"Never!" She insisted.

"Then explain to me how neither I nor Major Weber are responsible for our actions, but you are?" Tessa asked her softly.

Melissa snapped her mouth shut and jumped from the chair again. She began to pace the space of the balcony with quick steps in her agitation.

"I can't." Melissa finally admitted after five minutes of pacing. She collapsed into the chair across from Teletha in despair. She knew the counselor she had been forced to speak with had tried to get her to see this exact point. Melissa closed her eyes as the tears once again spilled down her cheeks. "I need a drink." The woman sobbed.

"No, after all these years, I finally get you steadily sober; you're staying that way," Tessa said with such Weber like wit. It caused Melissa to open her eyes with surprise. Teletha Testarossa hardly ever spoke to her like that. She was usually polite. That she could hear Weber's influence in her voice struck another chord of pain with her.

"Fine, I wasn't responsible for what happened between me and Ben. Did you have to steal his heart?" Melissa said with a vengeance. "The gas took my will, and you took him from me!" She cried out, letting Tessa have it with both barrels. Yet Testarossa lifted her chin and her blue eyes turned to chips of ice.

"No. You gave him up!" She spat back. "If you hadn't been so hell bent on hurting both of us he wouldn't have even thought of me in that fashion!" Melissa's brown eyes flashed in anger before her head reeled back as if slapped.

"If you hadn't been wallowing in your own self pity, your own guilt; we wouldn't have turned to one another for comfort. If you had wanted more from him then you should have made the effort it took to get past it!" Teletha answered with her own blast of anger.

"Not once before he went on this mission did you even try to speak to him without accusing him of something." Now Teletha had forgotten her own calm and was letting her own hurt out; which was part of what the counselors' had wanted when they encouraged this confrontation.

"You couldn't even speak civilly to me!" She spat. "Yes, it hurt you that Kurz and I had sex. It hurt Kurz that you and Clouseau had sex!"

Melissa tried to speak, but could find no words.

"I'm sorry you feel betrayed, Melissa. I am; but you can blame no one but yourself for Kurz and I becoming a couple." Teletha sat back in her seat breathing heavily for a second before continuing.

"I'm glad we are, though. I'm not sorry about that in the least!" She finished, surprising herself with the truth of it. Weber had managed to make himself important to her in the few months they had been on the island.

Melissa stared at the younger woman for a long moment before swallowing her shock. Somehow this girl kept surprising her. Every time she thought she had a handle on how to treat her, she proved the older woman wrong.

"You could have turned him away," Mao said nastily. Tessa nodded.

"I could have; but he didn't deserve the way you were treating him anymore than I do."

"I didn't mean it, any of it," Melissa said almost too softly to be heard.

"One thing I have learned being in the military most of my life; just like you have been Mao. Alcohol doesn't make you do or say anything you don't want to."

Once more Melissa's head reeled as if slapped. There was a constriction in her chest as her breath caught. Teletha stood up slowly, a slight grimace on her face as she held her round belly.

"I know you are hurting, Melissa." Teletha said gently as she moved toward the door. "But it isn't our fault any more than it is yours." She knocked on the door before finishing her statement. "I don't expect you to actually get over it anymore than the rest of us will; but try moving forward and getting through it." She went through the doors the guards opened and made her way down the hall.

Melissa turned her brown eyes back to the waves on the shore. The water rolled in on gentle hillocks before breaking up to crash upon the sand with white foam. She wasn't sure when she started crying, but when Kaname wrapped her lithe arms around the her shoulders and pulled her to her own chest she realized she had been sobbing uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, so sorry." She could hear herself whimpering with each breath. She felt another set of feminine arms wrap around her and smelled Teletha's bath soap. She reached up her hands and grasped the arms tightly enough to bruise, but her crying became even more jagged.

"Let it out," she heard Teletha and Kaname whispering as she sobbed brokenly. Behind her the guards that were always on duty gave each other looks of relief. They knew their Sergeant Major wasn't one to feel sorry for herself and this breakdown was past due. The men and women on the security team would be able to relax just a little now that they didn't have to worry about her acting out of character to harm herself.

Fourteen days later

Kaname Chidori stood in the shower in her room and looked at the roundness of her belly. Part of her felt saddened that she wasn't thin and lithe yet most of her was excited. True, neither she nor Sousuke had discussed even marriage let alone a child; yet he was fiercely determined to make a good father. She smiled slightly when she thought about the conversation they'd had the night before. She knew it was mid morning where he was, that he should have been working on any number of other things; but he made time to call her an hour before she went to bed every day. He wanted to know if she thought they should move into a larger apartment when they got back to Tokyo, could Al Jr be trusted to help take care of their son. She argued it was a girl, and he simply said of course. She had laughed lightly since she could actually hear humor in his voice. He was being silly when he said it and it warmed her to the core to know she had done that. She had given him something to be silly about. A chance to be real, when he hadn't had that chance before.

She finished washing up and carefully left the shower, wrapping herself in a soft terry cloth robe before very carefully drying her hair. Gone were the days of bending over to wrap it in a towel before dressing. Now she had to dry it right away. She sighed when one of the nurses came in and took the dryer from her hands.

"Sit." the woman said, pointing to the chair in front of her vanity. Kaname sat but stuck her tongue out at the nurse who simply stuck hers out in return. It was a daily ritual that comforted the young girl. Kaname knew that KRD had given her family in the States all the pertinent information about what was going on. She had even received a letter from her sister. It hadn't been encouraging.

She had promised Sousuke that she wouldn't fight the medical staff when it came to their care of her. The look on his face when she had complained about having to have a nurse help her dry her hair and dress had stopped her cold. His very real fear for her and the baby had made her cry.

"Now, don't ye go thinkin' about yer man!" The Scottish woman admonished gently. "Ye don need ta be crying this early in the morn'."

Kaname gave a soft laugh as her hair was finally dried.

"Hai!" She said with a mock salute.

"Well now, if thas how yer feeling!" The nurse joked before pulling a bag out of the closet. It wasn't a bag that Kaname recognized. She got a suspicious look on her face. Making the nurse laugh again.

"Yer man does think of ye!" She said heartily, pulling out a perfect copy of a Mithril dress uniform. Kaname smiled and then broke into a fit of giggles.

"Did he really get you to buy that for me?" She asked the woman.

"Well, no," she admitted. "That would be Mr Killroy what did that. For a day just like today," she said slyly. Kaname narrowed her brown eyes at the woman for a second then her eyes widened with joy as she realized that meant the crew was coming home.

Two doors down on the other side of the hall Teletha was having the same reaction. It was her uniform but meant to fit her rounded stomach. Kurz was coming home! She wanted to jump and dance but the nurse wouldn't let her.

She had promised Kurz she would take better care of herself and the baby. She had actually kept her promise despite the stress she had been through with Mao over the last month. Things were better now that Melissa had started to come to terms with what had happened. She had even admitted she was happy for Teletha and Kurz.

"I may have pushed him away," she had said one night as the girls were watching the rising stars. "But even I can see he's happier with you than he would have been with me." Teletha had squeezed her friend's hand in gratitude. She had never known she could actually care for someone as much as she did the older man. Granted, he wasn't that much older than she was; but still it surprised her. She had missed him this last month.

When she exited her room and saw Kaname dressed in the same uniform she grinned happily. So there was to be a theme today. Neither were surprised to see Mao in her own dress uniform; although it didn't have a skirt. The older woman gave a humorous smirk when she saw their matching outfits. Shaking her head she pointed to the wheelchairs that were waiting for them. Both girls pouted but sat; they knew how long that walk was going to be.

Kaname, Teletha and Melissa stood on the concrete pier under the noon sun. There were a dozen guards that could be seen standing watch with them as they waited for the Tuatha to break surface and dock. Both the raven haired and blond haired beauties were refusing to seat themselves in the wheelchairs despite how heavily pregnant they were.

Sergeant Major Mao stood with her back straight even if she wasn't quite at attention. The older woman stood close to the two girls even though she was clearly uncomfortable. Behind her eyes it could be seen how she felt about herself.

There was a sudden cheer as the stealth submarine broke the surface with hardly a sound. She was a beautiful sight in dark blues and grays. The rounded nose split the water silently as it slid through to reach the pier.

Once the ship was still crew members boiled out of the hatch behind the tower to get the Whisper created ship moored. The men and women of Mithril had the submarine moored in record time. Before the gangplank was extended the forward bay was opened and the Arm Slaves were brought out for inspection.

Each pilot joined the crew after lining up in formation. All three women standing on the pier searched the faces for three special men; who seemed to not be there.

Richard Mardukas called the crew to attention before turning his attention to the shore.

"Urzu 1, Urzu 6, Urzu 7," he paused for a second. "Fall in!"

The three AS' with Lambda drivers decloaked and landed in tandem before the three ladies on the pier, the Arbalest in the center. The pilots exited their machines and landed lightly in front of the three. Where the rest of the crew had maintained a serious expression on their faces for the grouping, these three didn't hide their smiles and joy at being home.

"Captain Testarossa, your crew awaits your inspection!" Richard Mardukas announced from the Tuatha's air strip. The heavily pregnant woman looked at the crew from her place on the pier, looked at Kurz's smiling face and smiled herself. Her entire face lit up with joy as she responded.

"Hang the inspection, send them to liberty!" There were wide eyes all aboard the ship until they saw their Captain throw herself; as best she could, into a laughing Major Weber's arms. When her movement was followed by their Kaname being swooped up by Sergeant Sagara and even the newly made Lieutenant Commander Clouseau grabbing Sergeant Major Mao and pulling her into a bear hug – there was a roar of approval from the ship.

Richard Mardukas didn't even try to speak over the roar, simply gave a hand signal for all to be dismissed. He himself was smiling with relief. He was grateful that Testarossa was doing well. He was also relieved that Ms Chidori seemed to be doing well. He knew being separated from her had caused the young Major stress. Urzu Squad 1 had pushed harder than anyone to find the traitor and bring his organization down. He hoped that Mithril would now have time to truly rest and recover without AMALGAM pulling strings behind the scenes.

Teletha Testarossa turned to face the ship as she heard the gangplank clattering. The crew were quick to get off the submarine with all of them having liberty for at least seventy two hours. It may have been unheard of; but Teletha had discussed it at length with Mardukas. The time it had taken to find and destroy the center of AMALGAM had taken it's toll on her crew; they deserved to be rewarded.

She raised her arm in a salute she kept until the last crew member had disembarked. Once they were all gone she was unsurprised when Kurz picked her up and carried her to the nearest wheelchair.

"I won't break you know," she said sardonically. He shook his head and squatted before her, his hands on the armrests of the chari.

"I have no doubt about that," he answered with his typical grin. "But watching you stand there made me tired and my back hurt, so you're sitting for a while." Teletha surprised herself with the laugh that bubbled up.

"I missed you Mr. Weber," she said while she laughed. He gave her his sunny smile before leaning up to kiss her lightly.

"I missed you too, Captain." The young man said with affection before moving to push the chair back to the house. Sousuke and and Kaname were waiting for the couple and were quickly in an animated conversation. Belfangan watched Melissa's face as the four younger people headed up the long road.

"You look better," he said before tugging her left arm to get her to walk. She heard a slight hiss from him and her eyes narrowed as she stopped to look at him.

"What was that?" She demanded and she sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I was injured, it's healing," he said shortly and the Sergeant Major growled. "Melissa!" He said before she could get too worked up. "I will live," he said. She let out a breath in a huff before leaning against the railing on the pier.

"Tell me something," she said angrily.

"What would you like to know?" He asked lightly, he was afraid he knew what she was going to ask.

"Why would you put yourself at risk just to have sex with me?" His brown eyes darkened in a way she had never seen before, and once again he took her left hand in his right.

"For as long as I've known you, Melissa Mao, I have wanted you." He answered. He was as honest as he could hope to be, as transparent as he knew how to be.

"Ten years?" She asked dubiously. He nodded solemnly. "You never…" she stopped and looked away.

"You were always angry," he said. She smiled at the understatement. She had been out to get herself killed. Somehow prove she was better than the boy her parents never had. Her relationship with Ben and McAllister had kept her sane when she was kicked out of the United States Marine Corp.

"You could have said something in Kowloon!" She blurted, then was chagrined when he laughed softly.

"You would have decked me, Mao." He shook his head. "We didn't see each other often enough after that for me to press for anything more than buddies -" he sighed and looked up the road to the house that overlooked the bay.

"When I realized you had been hit by that gas…" he shook his head. "My first thought was to get you to a safer place; but you were already too far gone to move." He moved to her left side to lean against the railing beside her.

"You were so out of it, you didn't see me and then started to shout out to someone on the street." The African man took as deep a breath as he could with his chest wound before releasing it slowly.

"I had to stop you, and when I did …" now he grinned as he remembered the way she had taken him down. "You kissed me like you meant it, Melissa. I knew you weren't in control; but I wanted you and I was able to convince myself you really wanted me."

"The doctors said you didn't get hit with the gas," she said with a frown.

"I didn't get hit with it the way you did, no." He admitted. "But when I was back on the Tuatha with my injury they noticed some anomalies in my blood work. Once it was compared to Sagara and Weber's the realized that I had gotten enough to loosen my control."

Belfangan Clouseau looked down at their joined hands. She hadn't pulled away from him, that was good. No one on the ship in med bay had been more surprised by those findings than he himself. The doctors had shaken their heads when they realized that it had affected him so differently.

"So, you really weren't in control either?" She asked, almost hopefully. He looked up into her pale face and brown eyes. She did look better, her natural color was almost back and she didn't look like she was going to waste away into nothingness. She didn't sound completely like herself and he could see traces of tears on her cheeks; but that was a good thing. It meant she was healing.

"I'd be lying if I said no, but I can't say yes either," he admitted. "How much do you remember?" He asked her. Her blush answered the question for him.

"I know I could have prevented what happened. I could have done it without hurting you. I just didn't want to. Was that the remnants of the gas I inhaled that clung to you, or were floating on the air? I don't know," his shoulders drooped when she took her hand from his to walk away from him.

"If I had asked, instead of quite literally pouncing you, what would you have said?" She had moved in front of him to ask the question. There was no one near to hear them, but he knew why she was so quiet.

"God yes," he answered. She rewarded him with a searing kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her slight body into his heavier one as she wound her arms around his neck.

They held like that for several moments before breaking the kiss.

"I'm glad I'm not pregnant," Mao said with an almost normal mischievous grin.

"Why?" He asked warily.

"'Cause now I get to fuck you…" he put his finger on her lips and shook his head.

"Make love." He said in response to her confused look. The smile she gave him was real and she kissed him again.

The two broke apart and looked towards the road when they heard a mechanical throat clearing. It was Jr with a wheelchair.

"Ms. Mao, Mr. Clouseau. My apologies for interrupting, but Mr. Sagara said Mr. Clouseau would need the chair due to his injuries." Mao turned and looked at the black man with an accusation.

"He's being over protective. You know how he gets!" She pointed to the chair and he moved as quickly as he could to get in it.

August 2nd

Two young men stood side by side holding tiny bundles of blankets. One set of dark brown eyes and one set of deep blue eyes fixed on the small faces those blankets held.

"Hey you two," an amused smokey voice said from behind them. "We'd like to see them sometime today." Melissa and Ben laughed as Sousuke and Kurz turned their heads and blushed with remembrance. No one had been allowed to be in the room with the girls when they delivered due to small complications. Both mercenaries had spent twelve hours between pacing and sitting staring at the door into the delivery room. Even the usually calm and put together Sagara was disheveled.

Kurz Weber, now twenty-six lifted his arms to show his son to his friends. The tiny body was pink from it's recent bath. He had very light peach fuzz on his head and his eyes were scrunched closed. He wasn't crying, but Weber held him as if he might start at any second.

Sousuke was a little more assured as he held his daughter. Her skin was light tan, close to her mother's. Her blue eyes were open and she was looking up at her father's face as if she already knew he would end the world for her.

Clouseau and Mao were careful not to disturb the infants. Melissa looked up at Weber and realized he was watching her warily. She blinked her own brown eyes and gave her friend a brilliant smile.

"You did good, soldier," she said with mock harshness. "He's perfect." She said softly before leaning in and kissing his cheek. "I'm proud of you." She said softly.

"For getting Teletha pregnant?" He asked with his usual humor. She shook her head as she answered.

"For being man enough to know you loved her," she answered. His blue eyes widened slightly before he nodded.

"Thank you, Melissa." He responded before returning the kiss on the cheek.

As Sousuke and Clouseau spoke softly over his daughter Melissa realized she didn't know their names.

"Weber, Sagara. What are their names?" This caused an amusing look on their faces.

"You don't have any ideas do you?" Clouseau asked with a laugh.

"I wanted to call her Haru," Sousuke said, and it was clear he was confused as to why Kaname disagreed with him. "Kana wishes to call her Suzume."

"Well, I can see the dilemma." Clouseau said with a smile. "Better to go with what she wants on this one, though." He advised the younger man.

"I supposed I could always use Haru as a nickname," Sousuke said with frustration, which had the other three laughing softly.

"Weber?" Clouseau asked.

"I hadn't thought of a name." He admitted. "I was so worried about Teletha, I didn't even think of it." He grinned sheepishly. "She says we're calling him Carl Mallory," then he shrugged. "I'm okay with that."

A nurse called the group into the room with the girls.

"They're resting now, doing fine. Both of them Mr. Weber," she said sternly to the worried man. "They're asking for the children though, so…" All four adults smiled and walked into the room to introduce the small one's to their mothers.

AN: If you couldn't tell from the chapter title this is the last chapter of FMP ONE SHOT. I hope you enjoyed the ride with me. I may come back to FMP at a later date.