Joel examined his foster mother while she lay on the couch. Sally was wiping her forehead off with a damp cloth. Wufei stood next to his son and daughter and glared at her. Trowa, Midii and Indigo sat around in a little circle while they watched Trowa and Indigo play chess.
"Check," Indigo said. "You’d better move your king dad."
"I have a better idea," He said. "I’m going to take out your Queen."
"That wouldn’t be smart," Indigo warned him. " My rook could get you then and put you in checkmate." Indigo pointed at the pieces on the board.
"You’re right," Trowa murmured. He moved his king to the right.
"Damn," said Indigo. "I was hoping you wouldn’t catch that, then I would have you in checkmate in two moves."
"I know that," Trowa smirked. "Quatre uses that one on me all the time. Usually I don’t catch it though."
Indigo snorted and glided her queen to safety, there wasn’t much else she could do.
"Will you two knock it off?" Joel growled. He looked back at his two mothers.
"Party pooper." Indigo whined. She moved her knight. "Checkmate," She said. Trowa jumped and searched over the pieces on the board. "How did that happen?" He wondered. "I didn’t even see the knight coming up like that." He knocked over his king and sighed.
"How did you beat me? Quatre’s the only one who’s ever been able to beat me!"
"Quatre’s the only one?" Indigo asked with disbelief.
"Well I don’t know too many people." Trowa said defensively. "Heero and Wufei won’t play and Duo’s too dumb. Midii plays occasionally but I always beat her…"
Midii glared at him with a slightly amused expression. Indigo laughed when a sudden gasp from Joel caught her attention.
"She’s waking up!" Sally cried. She stood over the woman and Joel joined her.
"Mrs. Matthews?" Sally asked. She waved her hand in front of the woman’s face. Amanda Matthews gasped and jumped a bit.
"Joel!" She cried. She reached up and hugger her foster son.
"How did you get back here? Did they hurt you?" She cried.
"No mother, they wouldn’t hurt me if I asked them to."
"What are you talking about Joel?" Amanda almost laughed.
"Mom, these are uh…my real parents, as I said before."
"What happened?" Amanda was suddenly confused.
"You passed out," Sally answered for her with a smile.
"Oh,"
"Where’d you get that gun mom?" Joel asked.
"Your father,"
"Foster father," Wufei butted in.
"Foster father," Amanda growled. "He bought it not long after you disappeared."
"Oh, where is he anyway? On another business trip?"
Amanda bit her lip and Joel could tell she was trying to contain her tears. "Mom?"
"He…he committed suicide," She started to bawl. The group gasped once again and Joel started to shake. "Su…suicide? It was because of me wasn’t it mom?"
Amanda tried to stop crying long enough to explain.
"It was everything son, he had a drug problem, an alcohol problem, he lost his job, he lost you…" She broke off and her voice was shaking. Joel dropped down onto the couch and stared at nothing. His Father came over and gave him a sympathetic look. But he hadn’t been a parent in fourteen years so he had no idea what to say. Jasmine sat beside him and rubbed his back.
"I’m sorry," She said.
Joel nodded and just kept staring.
Amanda instantly went to comfort her foster son. Wufei glared at him but Sally told him to back off. They stayed for another day at Joel’s house. Amanda kept her mind off things by cooking, cleaning and yelling at people. But on their second full day there they had to go if they wanted to make it to Jasmine’s in time. Amanda made Joel promise to write every day and call constantly. Jasmine figured it would never happen and Amanda would go nuts, but she kept her opinions to herself. Joel let out a heavy sigh of relief once they had gotten out of sight of Amanda and Joel’s house.
"I couldn’t stand to be around that depressing place any longer." Joel sighed.
"You look like you feel better," Indigo smiled.
"I do," Joel replied. "I was never that close to my d…" He looked at Wufei’s glaring expression. "Foster dad," He corrected himself.
Wufei smiled and nodded his approval. Sally just groaned and sat back in the seat. Midii started to talk to Indigo because Trowa was driving.
"I hope Jasmine’s parents are a bit better than Joel’s and Indigo’s were." Midii said.
"They probably barely noticed I was gone." Jasmine laughed.
Wufei put an angry expression on his face at the idea that people would not notice that his daughter was missing. What kind of people were they? They drove to the shuttle in almost complete chaos. Everyone was either talking or yelling. At least everyone but Trowa, who was busy driving.
They got to the shuttle and inside it became twice as noisy. It blasted off into space and towards colony L2.
Helen stood in front of the stove, it was a very familiar position for her. She cooked French toast while Erin talked continuously. Hilde and Anne were laughing about how they sent both of Helen’s fathers on an errand.
"It will be good for you," Hilde had assured Duo. "Just get along with him for the rest of the day, OK?"
Duo, being the softie that he is, reluctantly agreed to try and be nice to the foster father.
Erin was talking to Helen in the kitchen. "Did you really get to blow stuff up?" She asked.
"Yes," Helen laughed.
"Did your Mommy and Daddy get to blow stuff up?"
"Yup, they’ve blown up more than I have."
"Have you ever killed anybody?"
Helen gulped. "Yes," She said quietly.
Erin gasped loudly and dramatically. "Why?"
"Because I’m in a war, people die in wars."
"Will you die?" Erin whimpered.
"Of course not Erin," Helen smiled encouragingly. "I’m to good to die." She turned around and did a James Bond pose. Erin laughed at her. Then she demanded her French toast.
"You know," Helen said matter-of-factly, "I missed making French toast for you."
"Really?"
"Really,"
Erin smiled as Helen dropped toast in front of her. Then she sat down beside her and had some as well.
"You’re going to leave again aren’t you Helen?" Erin asked as she played with her fork.
"Yes," Helen sighed. "But I’ll come back to visit you as soon as I can, I promise."
Erin smiled and seemed to feel better but she didn’t say anything.
Just then Duo came barging in with Rob close behind. They were arguing about something. Hilde and Anne looked up as they came in and started to laugh.
"Did you have fun. Duo?" Hilde chuckled.
"No," Duo pouted. Hilde laughed even louder and began to make plans in her head to send him out with Rob again. But she knew they didn’t have time. They had to leave that afternoon.
"Hi Dads!" Helen called from the kitchen. "Do you want some breakfast?"
"Helen, you cook?" Duo cried.
"Of course I do," Helen smirked.
"If I had known that sooner I would have gotten you to cook instead of eating that gross cafeteria food."
"You don’t know anything about your daughter," Rob hissed.
"Oh, and I’m sure you know EVERYTHING! Right?" Duo snapped back.
"You probably don’t even know her favorite color." Rob snarled.
"How is that important?"
"Well what is important?"
Duo thought for a moment. "You don’t even know the name of her Gundam!"
"That’s not important either."
"Excuse me," Helen said to her sister. "It’s blood red and the Tyrant!"
Both Father’s looked up and growled. Hilde decided to head off any carnage and stood up. "We really do have to go soon. We have to be back at the base by tonight and Noin will kill us if we’re late."
"I thought you didn’t tell Noin you were leaving." Helen smirked evilly.
"We didn’t," Duo said, "That’s why she’s going to kill us."
Helen laughed and finished her toast.
"So what time are we leaving."
"Now," Said Duo,
"Noon," Hilde said at the same time.
"Noon it is," Helen smiled.
"This seems really familiar." Jason joked as he fixed his tie. They were all getting ready to go to Alexis’ party. David, for some reason, was really conscious of his appearance. Jason knew it was because of Alexis even though David insisted it wasn’t.
They left at eight to go there and even though it was just down the street it was more stylish to take the car. By the time they were entering the door David was a nervous wreck. None of his parents could figure out why, but Jason was sure he knew why. Alexis was going to be there. And they were going to find her and sneak out and do ‘something else’. Jason chuckled as the thoughts ran through his head. David waddled into the door and looked nervously around the room for Alexis. He found her in a corner talking to another girl.
"Come on loverboy, let’s go!" Jason grabbed David and started to drag him towards Alexis.
"No wait! What are you doing?" David cried as Jason continued to pull him. They got to Alexis and Jason tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around and smiled brightly. David nearly passed out.
She was absolutely gorgeous! And Alexis was not the type that you would think looked good in a dress; but she did. She had on a scarlet sleeveless and strapless dress with similar colored shoes and a velvet black choker. Her hair was styled and she had an air of elegance around her.
"Hi guys!" She said brightly. Her friend greeted them and then disappeared into the mob of nicely dressed people.
"H…hi Alex," David stuttered. Alexis chuckled and grabbed his arm.
"I’m glad you guys are finally here," She said as she pulled David away. Jason followed behind them; grinning from ear to ear.
"This place was getting so boring." Alexis chirped. She pulled them out of the large room and into an empty hall.
"I’m going up to my room to change and then we can go OK?" Alexis said as she dashed up the stairs.
"OK," David said softly. Jason gave him a mischievous look and elbowed David lightly in the ribs.
"What?" David asked. Jason just kept on smiling. Alexis came down a minute later in the expected jeans and tee shirt. She grabbed them both again and took them outside. They didn’t go far. There was a park close by so they went there and sat under a tree. Alexis flopped down beside David and leaned against his shoulder. David blushed several shades of red before stopping at on shade that was bright enough to light the entire colony.
"You have to leave soon don’t you?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah," David replied. "I have to go tomorrow afternoon to go back to the base."
Alexis pouted and then sighed.
"Promise me you won’t get yourself killed Ok?"
"I promise."
Jasmine let herself into her home on L2 and looked around. The house was as noisy as ever and people were running in all directions.
"What’s going on?" Joel whispered to Jasmine. "Probably a birthday, but I was never really all that good with dates."
A guy a bit older than Jasmine stopped as he hurried past. "Jasmine!" He cried excitedly. "Where on earth have you been? We’ve been looking for you everywhere."
Jasmine grinned at the boy. "I’ve been around Neil, what’s going on?"
He shook his head. "Mom’s in a panic, it’s Marco’s birthday today and everything is going wrong."
"Its his birthday already?"
"Yep, I hope you got him something or else he’ll be really upset."
Jasmine shook her head. "I’ve been really busy Neil,"
"Doing what?"
"Never mind, I’ll explain it to you later."
He shrugged. "Who are all these people?" He asked. Nodding his head towards Indigo, Joel, Midii, Trowa, Wufei and Sally.
Jasmine grinned and started to introduce everyone. "This is Indigo and her parents Trowa and Midii. And these people are my family. My twin brother Joel, my Mother Sally and my father, Wufei"
"Wait a minute," Neil scratched his head. "Does that mean…"
"I’m adopted? Yup,"
"Damn, I always did think you didn’t look like the rest of us." HE grinned. "Oh well, it doesn’t matter. "It’s good to have you back though. I’ll find mom and tell her you’ve decided to come back."
Joel turned to his sister. "It’s like you never left."
"They’re a very busy family. And it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve run off without telling them. But I don’t think I’ve ever been gone for six months before…" She started to think.
"Jasmine! Oh I was starting to get worried about you!" A tall woman rushed over and hugged Jasmine tightly.
"Mama!" She smiled and returned her hug. "Mama, I’d like you to meet, Wufei and Sally, my real parents."
The woman stopped right there and looked from Jasmine to the Changs. "They do look like you dear, but how…?"
"It’s a long story." Jasmine smiled. "I’ll only be here until tomorrow though."
"Why?"
"I have to get back to where I went before."
"Where was that?"
"Space," Jasmine said simply.
Her mother choked on the words. "What were you doing out there?"
"Fighting in mobile suits with my friends."
"Is this some sort of new trend?" Her mother wondered.
Jasmine shook her head and turned to her parents. "This is my foster mother." She said, careful to say ‘foster’ for her father’s sake. "Her name is Mary. My foster father is Dave."
Sally extended her hand. "Its very nice to meet you Mary. Thank you for taking care of our daughter for the last fourteen years."
"Yes," Wufei interrupted. "We can take over from here."
Jasmine chuckled and offered to give them a tour of the house while she introduced everyone else.
Her family was generally easygoing and charming and while Wufei hated everyone on sight, he was softening a bit. They spent the night there and the got ready to leave at around noon the next day.
"I’ll miss you, sweetheart." Mary hugged her daughter.
"Don’t get into too much trouble." Dave added.
"I won’t, don’t worry about me."
"It was very nice meeting you all," Mary said politely. "I hope we’ll see you again."
Wufei grumbled but everyone else agreed. They had a small lunch before they left and as soon as they were in the car heading towards the shuttle again Wufei was already complaining about how rude they had been.
"Its like she was REALLY their daughter. They didn’t even show any respect for the true parents."
Sally chuckled as she listened to Wufei’s rantings.
"I didn’t like the way Neil looked at me," Joel said. "I think he hated me on sight."
"Of course he did!" Wufei cried. "No respect! No respect at all!"
Jasmine rolled her eyes and started up a conversation with Indigo. It was a poor attempt to block out all the arguing.
David was saying goodbye to his foster family when there was a knock on the door.
"I’ll get it," Jason offered. He darted for the front door and opened it without hesitation.
"Alexis!" He said loudly, so David would hear. "What brings you here."
"I came to say goodbye." She said sadly. "Where is David."
Jason smirked. "Don’t worry Alex! I won’t let him get killed. But I guess you still want to say goodbye. I’ll go get him."
"Thank you." But Jason was already halfway down the hall.
"David!" Jason sang as he entered the dining room. "Alexis is here." Jason could have sworn he saw David’s eyes light up as he said it, but David didn’t reveal his excitement to his parents. "Excuse me," He said, turning to them. He turned again and left the dining room to see Alexis. It took all his will power not to run to the door. Jason smiled and snuck around the other way to spy on him.
"Alexis!" David cried as he neared the door. Alexis smiled brightly as he came.
"I’m glad you haven’t left yet David. I was afraid I wouldn’t catch you on time."
David grinned. "I would have stopped by your house anyway."
Alexis threw her arms around David’s neck. "Don’t you dare die on me!" She half-laughed half-cried.
David smiled with concern and hugged her back. "There’s no way I’d do that."
Jason drew closer to them and waited for what he knew was next. He suddenly became aware of another person behind him. He looked around and saw Dorothy watching with him.
"So that’s Alexis," She grinned evilly. Jason nodded and turned back to watch. They soon were joined by Quatre and David’s foster parents.
David was prying Alexis’ arms from around him and as he did so he was leaning forward. They came together for a passionate kiss. Jason resisted the urge to whistle. Quatre, Anita and Fredrick were shocked.
"Why I had no idea," Anita gasped.
"He could have done better," Dorothy pointed out. "That is one lucky girl to have my son!"
"I completely agree," Fredrick smiled.
The kiss had ended and now David was simply holding Alexis in his arms.
"That’s so cute," Anita sighed. "I need a picture." And she jumped up top find her camera.
Dorothy turned to her husband. "We’d better go and save David the embarrassment of a picture. Quatre instantly agreed.
