Noin was wandering through the halls, trying to find the Gundam pilots and former Gundam pilots for a well-needed meeting. She had found most of the former Gundam pilots, but the kids were harder to find. Indigo was still in bed, she wouldn’t be ready for the next mission in time anyway, and Joel seemed to have disappeared into thin air. The only new Gundam pilot she had managed to find was David.
After informing David of the meeting, and asking him to find Joel, she was off to find the others.
She saw Heero stalking down the hallway and stopped him. "Heero! Have you seen any of the kids?" She called.
Heero looked up and glared at her for a moment. "I saw Helen, Jasmine and Jason heading towards the gym." He answered.
Noin nodded in thanks and headed towards the gym at an increased pace. As she entered she stopped and looked at the teens for a moment before she grinned. The kids seemed to be setting up an obstacle course of some sort.
They had already put in a fire pit, a huge hole, a pool, and had somehow managed to convince a few other Preventors stationed at the base to fight them.
She stood to the side and watched for a moment, deciding that she wanted to see this first.
Jasmine smirked to herself as she watched Helen and Jason dragging the last obstacle, the two nervous Preventors, to their positions. She wanted to see this race.
"I’m going finish this, Jason. There’s no way you’re beating me." Helen smirked at him as she pushed one of the Preventors into place.
"We’ll see about that," Jason chuckled back, as he headed for his water to get ready for the race.
Helen only laughed at him and shook her head as she followed and went to pull off her shoes.
"Hey Helen," Jason called as he grabbed his water and took a swig.
"What?" Helen asked, glaring, expecting him to make some comment about her ass. But she did her best to ignore these thoughts and she bent over anyway to undo her shoes.
"What do ya say we make this final race a bit more interesting, hun?"
"What do you mean?" Helen eyed him suspiciously.
"I mean a bet."
"It depends on the terms," Helen shrugged.
Jason grinned at this. "Well, if you win, you can uh…"
"Dress up your Gundam any way I want?" Helen asked hopefully.
Jason nearly choked. Like all other Gundam pilots, he had a serious attachment to his Gundam, Morpha. Finally, he grit his teeth and growled, "Fine…" Then his face brightened, "But if I win…"
Helen didn’t like the mischievous smirk on his face.
"I get a kiss from you…"
"What!?!?!?"
"For as long as I want…"
"WHAT!?!?!?"
"With tongue!"
"WHAT!?!?!?"
Helen ground her teeth in anger. "If you think that I would even consider…"
"Hold on Helen!" Jason laughed, "Why would it even be a big deal? I thought you were going to win." He chuckled.
"Of course I am!" Helen cried angrily.
"Then what’s the problem?" Jasmine chimed.
Helen turned on her. "Jasmine! You’re supposed to be on my side!"
"What do you mean? I’m am on your side. I honestly think you can beat him, and I would love to see the disappointment on his face when he loses so badly to you."
Helen smiled at this. "Ah yes, I can already see Morpha in a bright, pink thong."
"A THONG!" Jason cried.
Helen chuckled and nodded happily. "Let’s see how the enemies deal with fighting a show-girl Gundam!"
Jason’s hands curled into tight balls at his sides but he forced his devilish grin back onto his face.
"I guess it’ll be worth it to taste you again, Helen." He smirked.
Helen’s face turned red both with rage and embarrassment. "That’s it Yuy! You’re so on!" She cried.
"Wonderful baby, I’ll be looking forward to my kiss."
"Keep dreaming…" Helen snarled She took her place on the starting line as a signal to Jasmine, the appointed referee, that she was ready to start. Jason followed suit, and blew her a kiss just as Jasmine sounded the starting bell.
The momentary distraction gave Helen a head start and she shot off towards the first obstacle like a bullet.
She heard Jason curse to himself as he took off after her. Helen smirked and hurried towards the gap, which was the first obstacle.
Helen did a few agile flips to gain momentum and then easily leapt over the hole, then she ran down the next short stretch to where the nervous Preventor was waiting. She attacked him and disabled him quickly with a swift kick to his head.
Jason was right behind her. He had crossed the gap by grabbing onto the overhang and then beaten up his Preventor just as easily. But by the time he was finished with his fight, Helen was way ahead of him. But Jason wasn’t ready to give up just yet; not if it meant a kiss from Helen.
He caught up to her at the swimming pool and dove in, his robust frame shimmering under the surface. As he broke the water’s surface, he immediately started swimming as fast as he could manage. And since he had more upper body strength than Helen did, it was easy to gain the lead. He got to the end and pulled himself out of the water and made a mad dash for the fire pit.
Helen growled as she saw Jason get out of the pool first and ran off. She got out as well, her heavy and wet clothes slowing her down a bit. But that didn’t matter, she would not allow Jason Yuy to beat her, no matter what.
She leapt across the fire pit and was neck to neck with Jason for a moment, before finally pulling away.
The final obstacle was a rock-climbing wall leading up to a platform, after which there was a 200-meter dash to the finish line. But however close they were to finishing, it was still anyone’s game.
Helen pulled ahead and grabbed onto the wall first and started climbing. Jason was only steps behind her. Halfway up, Jason’s upper body strength again came into play, giving him an advantage. Helen figured that it would happen that way, but she still had the final stretch to get ahead of Jason. Helen knew for a fact that she was much faster than he was. She saw that Jason was almost to the top, and she picked up speed and soon started gaining on him.
Jason realized this and moved faster as well. But luck was not with him, and his footing broke away and gave him a momentary disadvantage as he tried to find some more footing.
"Shit," He cursed as he grabbed a few holds and pulled himself up. When he finally reached the top, Helen was way ahead of him.
Jason rolled up to the top and scrambled after Helen, but it looked like she was too far ahead to catch up with; Helen had won. But still, he had to make it a good race. He put all his weight into the final 200 meters and found himself catching up with Helen.
Helen couldn’t spare a glance behind her, but she knew that Jason was catching up.
‘No way am I letting that pervert stick his tongue in my mouth.’ she thought angrily to herself as she tried as hard as she could to run faster. But her legs already seemed like jelly from pushing herself too hard without a proper warm-up. Just ten more meters to go and she was home free; she was almost to the finish line. But unfortunately, Jason was too. Soon they were right next to each other.
The results of the race were decided in the last two meters of the race.
Jason somehow managed to pull ahead of Helen and crossed the line milliseconds before she did. But even still, it was obvious who had won.
Helen slowed as she ran over to a wall and leaned against it, letting the reality of her loss soak in. Finally, anger consumed her and she slammed her fist into the wall.
"DAMMIT!" She screamed. She looked at her now scratched knuckles as they started to bleed and silently seethed to herself.
"Hey Helen," Jason came up to her, "I believe you owe me a little something." He smirked that annoying little smirk of his and took her hand. "What did you do?" He asked, looking at her bleeding knuckles. A grin crossed his face and he kissed them softly.
Helen caught herself from gasping and pulled her hand away.
"That wasn’t part of the deal," She snarled.
"Hun? You mean you’re actually going through with it? Wow, I thought for sure you would punch me and storm off."
"Who says I won’t?"
"Come on Helen, you can’t do that! A bet is a bet!"
"I know, and I never back down from bets." Helen snapped, "So get it over with."
Jason grinned and stepped forward, wrapping his arms lightly around her waist. But instead of getting it over worth, he decided to savor the moment. Helen looked so damn cute when she was angry, and wet, and out of breath.
Her wet hair hung in her face and stuck to her forehead. Her braid drooped and was dripping on the floor. Her clothes clung to all her curves, and with her face red with exhaustion and rage, she was almost impossible to resist. Jason couldn’t help but wonder if she thought the same things about him. He knew that his normally spiky hair had gone flat and stuck to his forehead as well, and his wet, white muscle shirt stuck to him and had gone transparent, showing off his muscles. He wished that Helen had been wearing a white T-shirt.
As he pulled Helen closer to him, he felt her tense and she shut her eyes tightly. Jason grinned and finally decided that he couldn’t take it anymore and he leaned down and captured her lips.
He went slowly at first, because he was afraid Helen might try and bite him, but then he became more confident and gently forced open her mouth. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and smiled to himself, enjoying the sensation.
Helen was not having as much fun as Jason was. She stood very tense and waited for it to be over, but she still allowed Jason to use his tongue. That was part of the deal, after all. But she refused to kiss him back, no matter how much she wanted to. She had to resist every muscle in her body to keep herself from throwing her arms around him. Of course only part of her wanted to do that, but the rest of her was screaming in hatred for the boy holding her.
She was standing stiffly, wishing that it would be over when Jason pulled a dirty trick. He started to lean her backwards so far that she almost lost her balance and by instinct shot her arms around him to keep herself from falling over. She immediately regretted it. She could feel Jason smirking to himself at his success. Screaming at him in her mind, she started to think of how long it had been. Why isn’t he stopping yet? She asked herself. Why is this taking so long?
That was when Jason finally managed to push her tongue up, forcing her into participating in the kiss. He tangled his fingers into her damp hair and crushed her against him, making the kiss deeper. His tongue explored her mouth greedily, trying to take it all in at once and enjoying the minty taste in her mouth. Finally, when he felt that they both needed air, he pulled away, leaving Helen gasping for breath, still in his arms.
Jason grinned at her and waited for her to catch her breath. It took longer for her because of he shock and because she hadn’t expected the kiss to last that long. She made no move to pull away from his embrace; instead she fell against his chest.
"I…hate…you…" She gasped.
"I know," Jason chuckled. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and dashed off, not wanting to face Shinigami Junior at the moment. She would be pissed as soon as she regained her composure, and he didn’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity.
As he reached the door to the gymnasium, Noin stopped him. He looked at her for a moment, stunned. He hadn’t even realized she had come in.
"Hey Aunt Noin," He attempted a smile, "W-were you here for the whole thing…?"
She smirked and nodded. "I honestly didn’t think Helen would lose. Too bad, I wouldn’t mind seeing Morpha in a thong."
Jason only stared at her, wondering what she wanted.
"Anyway," Noin said, remembering why she had come to find them in the first place, "We have a meeting in an hour, so be showered and ready for then."
"Another meeting, already?" Jason whined.
"Yeas already," Noin rolled her eyes, "We need to strike fast and catch the enemy off guard."
"Whatever," Jason sighed as he left the gym and headed for his room to shower and change. Noin watched him leave with a devious grin on her face and then walked over to Jasmine, who was looking at the pictures on her digital camera.
"You got pictures?" Noin sighed.
Jasmine grinned mischievously and nodded. "This is going to be so great!" Jasmine squealed happily. Then she looked at Noin and smiled. "Another meeting and another mission so soon, hun?"
"You heard," Noin chuckled.
"Yeah I heard, and I’ll be there. And don’t worry about Helen, I’ll tell her too."
"Thanks Jazz," Noin said gratefully. She was happy she wouldn’t have to put up with the fuming Helen, who was currently taking out her frustrations on the poor Preventors who had already been beaten up during the race. After casting one last smirk at Helen and Jasmine, Noin left the room to prepare for their meeting later.
"Hey Helen!" Jasmine called to her enraged friend after Noin had left.
"What?" Helen snarled, not bothering to look up from where she was pounding the snot out of some poor rookie Preventor.
"Go take a shower, you stink, we need to be in the conference room in an hour for a meeting."
"Another meeting?" Helen whined. She threw the Preventor away half-heartedly and sighed, her face still red with rage. She stormed past Jasmine and out of the gym, fuming all the way back too her quarters and into her room. She gratefully welcomed the warm caress of the water as she stepped into the shower and let her frustration melt away.
By the time she was finished she felt a lot better and got changed quickly into baggy dark blue jeans, a tight, dark T-shirt, and her favorite long black trench coat. In her clothes, she truly looked the part of Shinigami Junior.
Smiling at her ensemble, she swiftly put her hair into a loose braid and decided against blow-drying it. It would take too much time. She headed out for the conference room from there. While on her way, she silently mused about having another meeting so soon after their last mission. She hadn’t even had a chance to see Indigo yet.
The conference room was almost full by the time Jason arrived. It looked like the only people absent were Indigo, Gary and Noin.
Jason glanced over at Helen, who was settled on a sofa between her parents, and winked at her.
Helen caught this, and only glared back. Jason received a similar glare from Duo, who seemed to have caught on that something was up between them. Jason knew for sure that Helen would not have gone and told him, Duo just had a Gundam pilot’s instincts, as well as a father’s instincts about those sort of things.
Jason shrugged off the threatening looks and sat down beside his father and David. Everyone else was scattered throughout the room. Even Midii had pried herself from her daughter’s side to attend and was now being held in Trowa’s protective grasp.
Noin entered a few moments later and joined Zechs at the front of the room.
"I have good news everyone." She smiled. "This meeting won’t go on for too long…" There were cheers from around the room, mainly from Duo and Jason. Noin continued, "But we have a few matters to clear up before you guys can get back to your normal schedule. I know it has only been a few hours since you guys returned from you last mission, but I felt it necessary to make sure everyone was clear on what was happening. First of all, for those of you who have not had time yet to see Indigo,"
"Shame on all of you," Trowa hissed with a faint hint of a smile.
"She’s doing just fine, and according to Sally’s report, she’ll be back to her regular training schedule in a matter of a week. And I’m sure you’ll all be happy to hear that the mission was a complete success. The data retrieved from that database was extremely valuable to us. But we need to act quickly. Since our latest attack, this war will soon be in the public’s view. It is incredible that it is not already. We had a great deal of trouble covering up the incident in Houston."
Jason gulped at the memory of the attack that had killed his foster mother and who knew how many of his friends. Noin quickly changed the subject.
"The data retrieved included information on mobile suits and infantry the enemy has, as well as locations of bases, the names of leaders, and even battle strategies." Noin went on to explain in further detail what they had found out and the basic outline of their next attack. "We plan to go straight for the spine of this organization. The sooner we destroy this threat, the better. I’ll have the arrangements for intelligence and such at a later date." She finished by handing out folders to everyone. "I’ll expect you all to have studied these before our next meeting when we can plan out a proper battle strategy."
After that, they were all dismissed and they headed in their own separate directions. Helen headed straight for her dorm room, as did David and Jasmine. Jason decided he needed a snack and went towards the cafeteria, Duo trailing behind him. Uh oh, Jason thought, looks like I’m in for a lecture. But he paid no attention to Duo, or tried not to. He knew he would have to face the wrath of Shinigami sooner or later, might as well get it over with…
"Indy?" There was a soft knock on Indigo’s door. She carefully peeled her eyes open. "Come in," She called weakly. She wondered who was coming to visit her. She smiled when she saw Joel creep into the room, closing the door silently behind him.
"I was expecting you to be my mom, or someone." Indigo admitted, her French accent incredibly obvious, despite her obvious pain.
Joel grinned at her. "I know, I convinced them to leave me alone with you for a while. Trowa had to drag your mother away, I think he likes me because I went back for you or something."
"And I really appreciate it Joel, merci."
Joel blushed and sat down on the chair next to her bed. "I just wanted to make sure you’re all right." He said. "I was worried about you."
Indigo grinned and lay back down against her pillow. "I was scared over there, Joel." She admitted. "More scared than I let on. I was…terrified."
"I bet you were," Joel sighed.
"No! You don’t get it! You’ve never been captured and held by the enemy. I thought for sure we had lost, that I…that I had failed. That millions of people were going to die and I could do nothing." She sighed.
Joel chuckled at this, "Indy, you were the one who saved our asses back there. And everyone’s really impressed at how you handled interrogation."
"Hmm," She replied sadly.
Joel sat back and stared up at the ceiling, as if deep in thought. Indigo studied his face carefully. It looked as if something was bothering him. But Indigo felt she knew Joel well enough that he wasn’t going to tell her what it was unless he wanted to. After all, after training with him and the others for so long and needing to trust them with her very life, she had made it her duty to develop a close relationship with all of them. Joel, however, had completely surprised her when she had learned that he had disobeyed orders and logic to go back for her.
"Indy," Joel spoke suddenly, "When they, attacked you…in that cell…they didn’t…you know…?"
"What? Rape me?" Indigo threw her head back and laughed at the awkward question.
"No, Joel, they didn’t."
Joel eventually smiled as well, his ears turning slightly pink. "Good," He said simply, "Good…"
Indigo chuckled and snuggled down into the sheets. "Joel?"
"Hm?"
"Why did you come back for me? I mean, why didn’t you wait like you were supposed to?"
"Because Indy…you would have done the same for me…"
"Is that so? Well, the others didn’t seem too eager to go flying back towards an enemy base."
Joel sighed and looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "I was…worried about you Indigo…" He said, blushing again.
"Worried that they were taking advantage of me?"
"Yes, partially,"
"And…?"
"And I wouldn’t have been able to stand it if they had been. I care about you Indy, I care about all of you guys, even if it doesn’t seem like it sometimes."
"Aw Joel, you’re just a big softy." She sighed. "Joel?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you staying?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean tonight, are you going to stay with me, please? I don’t want to be alone. And I don’t want to put up with my mom’s babbling. She’s so silly…"
"Indy please stop babbling, I’ll stay if you want, Indy."
"Thanks Joel. You know, you can’t begin to understand how grateful I am for you rescuing me. It was scary in there, in the dark, with all those big men. They were all attacking me at once and…" Joel noticed the tears that were threatening to spill down her face. He gently reached over and brushed them away. "Indy…" He said softly. "I won’t ever let anything happen to you."
"Promise?" She sniffled.
"I promise," he smiled. But inwardly, he was shocked to see that Indigo really had been frightened beyond words. He didn’t know if he would be able to endure that kind of torture the way she had. She truly had a strength that was to be admired. But there was also a vulnerability there that made her seem so helpless. Sitting there next to her, listening to her crying, and not being able to do anything about it, made Joel feel weak and useless. He wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort her. He looked down at her, she was clinging to his hand, which she had grabbed when he wiped away her tears, and was weeping silently.
Filled with compassion, Joel leaned over and stroked her face gently. "I won’t ever let anything happen to you," He repeated, "Ever," He pushed her fine hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. It seemed like she was calming down a bit, and the sniffling slowed. Indigo brought up her other hand and clasped his wrist in it as well. She pulled his hand over to cup her face and snuggled into its caress.
Finally unable to bear her pain and his inability to heal it, he did the only thing his mind could come up with. And something he had unconsciously wanted to do since that day he had held her tightly in his arms. He tilted her face up again and slowly leaned over her. Their lips quickly met, and although brief, the happiness between the two of them was unmistakable. Could it be that she had been longing for the same thing?
Indigo was surprised at Joel’s sudden move, but also surprisingly content with it. She let out a little gasp when their lips met so suddenly and unexpectedly, but then quickly gave in to the relief and comfort he was offering her. She felt his thumb running smoothly over her face, his fingers tangling in her hair and finally his entire hand fitting nicely into the nook of her neck, bringing them both closer together. Indigo felt herself being pulled into complete bliss and allowed her delicate hands to dart to his shoulders, where they rested.
The kiss broke swiftly, and Joel pulled back and looked deeply into her eyes. "I’m sorry," He muttered, as if shocked with his own actions. Indigo was shocked too, shocked that he thought she hadn’t actually enjoyed that!
Joel started to leave when Indigo stopped him by firmly grabbing his arm. He stepped and turned around.
"Joel you jerk!" She snapped.
"I’m sorry," He repeated, "I-I didn’t mean to, I mean, I should’ve asked…" "You said you were going to stay with me." She said softly, causing a look of shock to wash over his face.
"Y-you mean…?"
She smiled and gently pulled him down onto the bed. He sat don next to her and looked at her for a long time before her finally smiled. Indigo was now apparently ignoring him and had pulled her head onto his lap to sleep, not that Joel minded.
Once he knew for sure that she was asleep, he shifted her so he could slide down onto the bed next to her and then pulled her onto his chest instead. Although he did wrap an arm around her to keep her close to him, he didn’t dare go under the covers with her. He knew that that would be one step too far. But he was content to just lie there and think about the day’s events and what it was like to hold Indigo in his arms.
"Aww, would you look at that?" A cheery woman’s voice woke Joel from his slumber first before Indigo could even stir.
Joel looked up at the woman’s face. She had glossy ice blue eyes and red-brown hair. Her build was thin but muscular and curvy, and although she was somewhere in her early forties, she had managed to pull off her cropped off, tight yellow tank top and tight blue jeans outfit and looked surprisingly good in it.
On her face was a wry grin and she looked down at the two sleeping teens. Joel jumped upon seeing her, causing Indigo to moan and start to wake up. Joel thought for moment, he was sure he knew the strange woman from somewhere, but where?
"Wouldn’t Trowa be interested to see this?" She chuckled.
Joel’s eyes widened in fear. He knew that even Trowa could get dangerous when angry, just like any of the Gundam pilots. And sleeping in the same bed as a Gundam pilot’s daughter was a sure way to get a Gundam pilot angry.
"Don’t worry kid, I won’t tell, I promise." She winked.
"W-who are you?" Joel asked, sitting up. That was when Indigo finally woke up and began to wipe the sleep out of her eyes.
"I’m not surprised you don’t remember me. It’s been a while since I’ve been down to the Preventors base." She sighed.
Indigo gasped in shock suddenly when she finally looked up at the woman standing in her infirmary room.
"A-Aunt Cathy!"
