“A-Aunt Cathy!” Indigo stared at the woman in her room for a long time. “How…? When…? What…?” Indigo sputtered. “Oh God…” She turned over and buried her face in her pillow. “This is bad…”
“Relax, will ya?” Catherine sighed. She put her hands on her hips and cast an amused glance at the two kids.
“You’re Trowa’s sister, right?” Joel asked, still dazed and confused.
Catherine smiled and nodded. “I’m Catherine Bloom. What exactly are you guys doing?”
“It’s not what it looks like.” Indigo declared from where she was still hiding in her pillow.
“It better not be,” Catherine chuckled, “Or Trowa would have a fit.”
“You won’t tell him, will you Aunt Cathy?”
“No, I won’t. I promise.”
“Good…now Joel, get outta here!” She pushed Joel as hard as she could manage off the bed. She wasn’t strong enough yet to actually push him, but he got off anyway and stretched his tight muscles.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Indigo wondered as she forced herself to sit up.
“I hopped on a shuttle as soon as Trowa told me what happened. It was a good excuse for a visit. I haven’t seen you in a while.” She winked again at them.
“Now I suggest you get some rest and you,” She pointed at Joel, “Get outta here. Trowa and Midii will be down here any minute!”
“Yeah sure,” Joel sighed; he cast a nervous glance in Catherine’s direction and then headed out the door.
Catherine nodded proudly.
“Well kid, how are you doing?”
“Fine, I guess.” Indigo sighed. She sat up in her bed and stared blankly at the wall. How embarrassing, being caught in bed with a guy by your Aunt!
“Well, it looked like you were better than OK to me.” Catherine chuckled.
“Aunt Cathy…” Indigo warned.
“Yeah, yeah, sure. I won’t say anything, carnie’s honor.”
Indigo snickered.
“You won’t say anything about what?” Came a quiet voice from behind them. Catherine only chuckled. “Trowa!” She threw her arms around her brother’s neck. Trowa just stood there with a blank expression on his face.
“Hi daddy,” Indigo said quietly.
“Indigo!” Midii said excitedly. “Are you feeling better?”
Indigo nodded.
“Good,”
“What were you two talking about?” Trowa asked once Catherine had let go of him.
“Oh nothing,” Catherine said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Just girl stuff, you know.”
Trowa raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing.
“What are you doing here, Cathy?” Midii wondered.
“What do you think I’m doing here? I came to see my niece! Oh, and Trowa, I brought someone along.”
“What?” Trowa said evenly.
“I said I brought someone along.” She gasped, “Oh Trowa! You have to meet him! He reminds me so much of you when you were his age. Except…well, he talks a bit more…a lot more.”
Trowa raised another eyebrow at Catherine.
“OK, OK! So he’s nothing like you, except that he took your old job.”
“You brought a circus clown to the Preventor base?” Indigo asked, even she was shocked at her Aunt’s spontaneous move.
Catherine nodded happily. “You’ll love him to death!’
Towa grumbled something under his breath.
“What was that, Trowa?”
“Catherine, why would you bring him here? No one is supposed to know this location. He could be a spy!”
“I don’t think so Trowa, he didn’t really want to come.”
“Then why did you bring him?”
“He wants to become a Preventor.”
“Then why didn’t he want to come?”
“He thought that it wouldn’t be appropriate, but convinced him that it was OK. So be nice!”
Trowa grumbled again and Midii giggled. “I hope Noin knows about this.”
“Of course she does! I talked to her on the way here. I must say she wasn’t very happy, but she’ll get over it.”
Trowa groaned and rolled his eyes. “This is going to be a long day.”
Jason groaned, knowing that he was going to get chewed out for something by Duo. And although Duo was the most easy-going of all the former Gundam pilots, he was still a pain to deal with when he was mad. And Duo looked more than just a little upset.
What did he do? Could he possibly know about the bet he made with Helen already? He was sure Duo wouldn’t find out about that until Jasmine released the pictures she got.
Finally, suspense was killing him and he stopped and waited for Duo to approach him.
“Well?” He sighed.
“Well what?” Duo put on a false look of confusion.
“What do you want?”
“What do you mean? I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Exactly, now what about?”
Duo grinned; it was the very same grin that Duo wore whenever he was up to something. Jason gulped.
“Helen,”
Great,
Duo pulled out one of the pictures Jasmine had taken and handed t to him. Jason groaned. “That sneaky little…she used a digital camera!”
Duo’s face had changed from devilish to angry. “I know I was Ok with this at first, but it’s getting out of hand Jason.” Duo growled.
Jason had never been afraid of Duo before that moment. Jason gulped again.
“I just wanted to warn you, Jason, try something like that again and you’ll have me and Helen to deal with.”
Jason nodded.
“And on a lighter note,” Duo’s grin returned to his face, “Dinner is soon, and you’d better find a spot far away from Helen, unless you wanna get hurt.” He chuckled and started to walk off.
Jason sighed, glad to have survived his encounter with ‘the angry father’ and headed in the other direction. It looked like he now had two Maxwells to deal with. This wasn’t going to be any fun.
“I can’t believe he did that!” Helen fumed. She was till upset about Jason’s sneaky bet.
“Calm down, Helen.” Jasmine sighed. She watched as her friend furiously pounded the punching bag.
Noin had ordered Helen to cool off in the gym, and Jasmine decided to keep an eye on her, in case she got some camera opportunities.
Jasmine stood at the side of the gym, and was still watching when David came in.
“Hey David,” Jasmine grinned, not taking her eyes off Helen.
“Hi guys,” David said. He looked at Helen. “What’s with her?” He asked.
Jasmine was just about to answer when the door flung open again.
Noin marched in, followed closely by a boy their age. He had a shock of messy, auburn hair in a mushroom cut. And somehow he had managed to still look good even though he probably hadn’t brushed his hair in ages. His eyes were a watery brown color, and he was dressed casual in blue jeans and an oversized red T-shirt.
The guy was talking eagerly to Noin, and didn’t seem to notice the other teens in the room.
When Noin saw them there, she sighed with relief. “There you guys are!” She said happily. The guy stopped talking and looked up momentarily at the others. They were all looking at him, except for Helen, who was busy punching the bag.
“Guys, I would like you to meet…”
“Seth, Seth Hamilton.” Said the guy with a smile.
“Yes, this is Seth Hamilton. He came along with Catherine. Why don’t you guys show him around?”
“Uh…” David started.
“Thanks!” And Noin was out the door.
“Hey! Wait a second! Miss Noin!” Seth called after her, but Noin didn’t hear him, or pretended not to hear him.
“I think that’s a nice way for Noin to say, ‘keep an eye on him’.” Helen snickered.
Jasmine cast a sideways smirk at her friend. She wasn’t aware that Helen was paying attention.
“Don’t mind them,” David said, offering his hand to the other boy. “My name is David Winner.”
“Hi!” Seth smiled. “Are uh…you guys all Preventors?” He asked.
“Yeah,” David answered, “Why?”
“Wow, I just didn’t think that you could become a Preventor this young.”
“We had…special circumstances.” Jasmine winked.
“What were they?” Seth asked curiously.
“Our parents!” Jasmine laughed.
Helen chuckled as well, and Seth was confused. David only rolled his eyes.
“Are you trying to become a Preventor?” David asked.
“Yeah, I want to.” Seth answered, “But right now I’m stuck at the circus.”
“The circus? Is that how you know Catherine?” David wondered.
“Yeah,” Seth grinned, “She throws knives at me.”
“That’s what Trowa used to do.” Helen remarked as she thought about the last time that she had seen Trowa’s sister.
Seth only nodded again. “So…what do you guys do around here?”
Helen and Jasmine looked at each other and smirked. “We’ll show you.”
They started out the door, and Jasmine grabbed Seth’s hand as they left. David watched the girls with mild amusement, and then decided it was time he got back to work.
“This is an outrage!” Commander Norris screamed. “How could those little brats possibly destroy our entire intelligence base?” Somehow, the sewer turkey had gotten off the base before the explosion.
The officers under him shrank back as they listened to their commander’s furies. Commander Norris was not a very pleasant person to be around when he was angry.
“There is some good news sir,” One young man spoke up.
“And what is that?”
“It’s about the decoy…”
Norris smirked to himself; “They took the bait…?” He started to laugh. “Oh yes, this will be a lot of fun. I will have my revenge on those brats.”
“ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS OF THE PREVENTOR GUNDAM GROUP. PLEASE REPORT TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM IMMEDIATELY. I REPEAT, PLEASE REPORT TO THE CONFERENCE ROOM IMMEDIATELY”
The announcement echoed through the cold walls of the Preventor base. Jasmine and Helen were busy showing Seth the cafeteria when it came on.
“Wow,” Helen chuckled. “Noin is getting smarter.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine agreed, “Who would have thought that she’d use the PA system.”
“Sorry Seth, we’ll have to cut the tour short.” Helen apologized. The two started to run off.
“Wait a second!” Seth called after them. “You guys are part of the Gundam team?”
But the girls were already out of sight. Seth sighed as he watched them leave. He would have to figure out how to get around the base on his own. He smirked as he stared at the retreating figure of one particular raven-haired vixen. That Jasmine was very cute indeed. He was glad he finally let Catherine talk him into going with her.
“OK everyone, I see my little announcement has worked.” Noin smiled as the last few people filed into the conference room and found places to sit around the large, oak table.
“We’ve been analyzing the data from the device the kids brought over,” Noin started as everyone found their seats. “And I must say, it’s very thorough. They had everything from battle strategies to new mobile suit models on that database. After a lot of planning, Zechs, Heero and I, have been able to come up with a plan. If we strike fast, we may be able to catch them off guard.”
Jason spoke up, “Aunt Noin, don’t you think this is a little too easy?”
“What exactly do you mean?” Noin raised an eyebrow at him; “We had to go through a lot of trouble to get that database.”
“I know but…why would they put all that information on one database? If anyone got through their security, like we did, they would be ruined. Do really think they would be stupid enough to put everything on one database?”
“Are you suggesting that this could be a trap?” Noin asked with a hint of amusement.
“I dunno,” Jason sighed, “Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Jason, stop trying to sound like you know what you’re doing.” Helen snorted. “If this really is our chance to finally destroy these guys, then count me in.”
“Good,” Noin nodded. “Are there any other objections before we continue?”
There were none. Jason grumbled something and sank deeper into his chair.
“Now, we’ll go over what we’ve found and then we can discuss possible battle strategies.”
Most people groaned. All of that meant a long, boring lecture about battle plans. “At this rate, we’ll be here for hours.” Joel sighed bitterly.
“Yeah, I’m jealous of Indigo, she gets to sit this out.” Helen agreed.
She sighed and leaned against her hand as she tried to listen to Noin.
“What are they doing in there?” Seth wondered as he stared at the door to the conference room.
“I don’t know,” Catherine shrugged, “But they might just be in there for hours.”
“Is that all they do? The Preventors, I mean; do they just sit around in boring meetings all day?” Catherine shrugged again, “How should I know? Hey! Why don’t we get something to eat while they’re in there?”
“OK, I guess.” Seth sighed, He reluctantly followed Catherine down to the cafeteria.
“Sixty-seven bottles of beer on the wall, sixty-seven bottle of beer. You take one down and pass it around, sixty-six bottles of beer on the wall…” Indigo had sung that annoying song, both ways, (The way back up goes: no bottles of beer on the wall, no bottles of beer. You barf one up and bottle it up, one bottle of beer on the wall…etc.) three times already. It was so boring just sitting in her room all day. She wouldn’t even mind listening to another one of Noin’s lectures at this point. There was absolutely nothing to do when you were confined to a hospital bed and everyone who ever came to visit you was in a meeting. She hoped they didn’t plan an attack too soon or she would have to be left out. She hated feeling useless. She really wished someone would come and visit her.
If she were able to move without experiencing an incredible amount of pain, she would have been wandering around.
Indigo finally got tired of the song, so she began to count the ceiling tiles in her room. That took her about an hour. There were one hundred and seven.
Just as she was finishing counting the visible tiles on the floor, there was a soft knock at her door.
“Come in!” She cried happily. She smiled as Joel opened the door and stepped in.
“Hey Joel, how was the meeting?” She asked with a touch of sarcasm.
“Boring, as usual.” Joel sighed. He sat down in the chair next to her bed.
“Did you guys plan an attack without me?” She pouted.
“Afraid so, the stuff on that database was incredible. It’s a good thing we got it. It had everything about the enemy on there.”
“Good,” Indigo smiled. She relaxed on her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. At least she hadn’t been reduced to naming all the ceiling tiles. She had done that once. Her mother…foster-mother had gotten really annoyed because Indigo kept talking about ‘George and Josephine’, and the woman had no clue what Indigo meant.
“We’ve planned an attack in three days time.” Joel told her.
“So soon? That means I won’t get to fight.”
“Nope,” Joel chuckled, “In your condition, you wouldn’t be able to do much for weeks, and then it may be too late.”
Indigo sighed, “Are you guys going to be OK with just the five of you, then?”
“I hope so,”
“So you’re not sure? What’s her plan?”
“Basically, just to launch an all-out attack on certain weak spots of their defense with the help of some of our mobile dolls. Not that interesting. We’ve all been split up to attack different key bases.”
“Not even teams, I guess, who’s going alone?”
“No one, we’re split in two. It’ll be me, Helen and Jason, and David and Jasmine. We’re attacking the two main bases while a few other Preventors will be attacking others.”
“Hm, I wish I could be out there with you. I’m already bored out of my skull sitting here in this room all day.”
“Aw, poor Indy,” Joel teased.
“Be quiet Joel!” Indigo snapped, “It’s not funny! I was just about to start naming ceiling tiles!”
Joel stopped laughing and looked at her curiously, “Hun?”
“Never mind,” Indigo sighed.
“Well…” Joel started, grinning mischievously. “Maybe I can arrange to take you for a walk.”
“A walk? Joel! You’re mom told me I had to stay in bed until it didn’t hurt to move anymore!”
“She’ll never know.” Joel smirked. “I’ll be right back.” He turned and dashed out the door.
“Joel!” Indigo called after him, but he was already gone. Indigo sighed and sank deeper into her pillow, waiting for him to come back.
Just like he promised, Joel was back in five minutes flat, pushing a wheelchair.
“You’re going to take me out in that?” Indigo questioned.
“Sure, why not? Come on, I’ll help you in.”
“I’m going to get in so much trouble.”
“Relax, if anyone sees us, just say you were kidnapped.”
Indigo sighed but didn’t protest as Joel picked her up out of the bed.
“Ow, ow, ow….” She whined and pain shot through her ribs.
“You OK?” Joel asked with unnecessary concern. Indigo bit her lip and nodded. “Just hurts a little.”
Joel frowned and placed her in the wheelchair. She eased into the chair and managed to get her legs up onto the footrests.
Joel pushed her out of the door, checking in all directions before he dashed from one hall to another.
Indigo giggled at his stealthy manner. They didn’t encounter anyone in the halls, and Joel took her right to the rec. area, where there were gardens and a basketball net, and things they could use for entertainment. However, it was a lot different from the gym. It resembled a park on Earth.
“Wow, I haven’t been here in a while.” Indigo commented. She rubbed the aching spot under her head bandages and smiled up at Joel.
Joel did nothing until they were parked safely under a tall willow tree.
Joel flopped down into the grass next to her and looked around the recreation area. It was amazing how something artificial could look so great.
“I’ve always liked this place. It reminds me of the Earth.”
“Yeah,” Joel agreed. He looked at her and asked, “Are you OK?”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, I just realized that you still have all those bandages on you.”
“Yeah, and they itch like hell. And my muscles are going stiff from all the bruises.”
Joel’s face darkened. “I can’t believe what thy did to you.” He growled.
“Cool it Joel,” Indigo said, “I’ll be fine in a while. It’s just the broken ribs that really bother me. You’re mother’s a miracle worker. I wouldn’t be surprised if I could walk all by myself by next week.”
“But until then,” Joel added, “I guess you’re stuck. Would you mind if I kidnapped you again tomorrow?”
“Is that your idea of asking me out on a date?”
“Mmmm…maybe…”
Indigo laughed. “Well I suppose I could handle being kidnapped again. That is, if you’re up to it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Next time I may not go so easily.”
“Hn, we’ll see,” Joel grinned and moved loser to her. Her brought her face down to his and kissed her deeply, leaving her speechless.
Joel pulled away and smirked. “See, I have a secret weapon.”
Indigo blinked for a moment, before she finally came back to reality because of Joel’s triumphant laugh.
“Hey! No fair!” She squawked. Indigo smacked him across the back of his head playfully. Joel dodged it and kept laughing. Indigo attempted to lean forward and reach him so she could hit him again, but instead she fell out of the wheel chair.
“Ah!” She landed with a thud on the ground and moaned. “Ow…” She hissed and grabbed at her stomach and the broken ribs.
“Indy! Are you OK?” Joel cried. He dashed over to her sighed and hovered over her.
“You made me fall out of my chair!” She choked through her laughter. She finally managed to swat Joel, and then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her.
Joel didn’t object at all as he returned her kiss. He kept his hands planted firmly on the ground on either side of her body and slowly pushed her head back down to the ground. He was being careful to be gentle with her. He didn’t want to hurt her since she was in that condition.
But Indigo didn’t seem to be in any kind of pain, so he jut kept on with the lip action.
Wufei sat cross-legged in the rec. area as he meditated. He was so deep in concentration that by some miracle he didn’t noticed Joel and Indigo come in and sit under the willow tree that was just across the stream from where he sat.
When he was finally finished with his meditations, he stood up and caught a glimpse of something through the long, vine-like branches of the willow tree. He studied close and saw that it was two people; and one of them resembled his son.
Curious, Wufei headed across the stream and approached the tree. He stopped in horror when he saw his son there. But it wasn’t seeing him there that bothered him. If Joel had been doing something respectable, Wufei would have left him alone. However, he was there with the Barton girl, and he was…kissing her!
Wufei was not at all happy at catching his only son in a make-out session with the daughter of a fellow comrade. He was determined to put an end to it.
Wufei stormed up to the couple and stopped in front of them. “What are you doing, boy?” He growled.
Joel jumped and looked up and then his mouth fell open in shock. “D-dad?”
Wufei raised his eyebrow at the boy and looked the two over.
Indigo was also staring at him, her mouth was wide open in shock and she was completely speechless.
“How dare you dishonor your family this way!” Wufei cried. “What were you thinking?”
“Dad, I can explain I…”
“And you, girl…you will not get away with this either. This is no time for teenaged stupidity! We’re in a war!”
“Hey, I was kidnapped!” Indigo protested.
“Joel, put her back in that chair this instant!” Wufei bellowed.
Joel nodded, “Yes, sir,” He said solemnly. He stood up and carefully gathered Indigo into his arms and put her back in the chair.
This is not good, Joel thought, I’ve never seen him this angry. What’s wrong with a little fun anyway?
Indigo was in total shock as Joel placed her back in the chair.
“I can’t believe you would act like…like this, after what we were just discussing. You should be preparing for our next battle. Now, instead, you choose to embarrass our family by…”
“Embarrass? Is that what I did?” Joel snapped.
Wufei’s left eyebrow began to twitch. “Take her back to her room. She was not supposed to leave.” Wufei sighed, “I’ll talk to you later.”
Joel nodded and pushed Indigo back towards her room. Wufei watched them go with a murderous glare.
“Tell me the truth, Joel, how much shit are we in?” Indigo asked as Joel picked her up and slowly eased her into her bed.
“Deep shit,” Joel replied. He pulled the blankets over her again.
“Do you think he’ll tell my parents?”
“No, he’s not likely to go and rat people out. He has too much pride for that. He’d rather deal with us himself.”
“Oh great,” Indigo moaned. “What do you think he’ll do then?”
“I dunno,” Joel shrugged, “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
Indigo sighed and sank under her covers. “Good luck,” she whispered as he started to leave.
“You too,” He smiled back and then disappeared out of her room.
David and Jason were unusually silent as they entered the cafeteria. They found a spot in a corner and sat down without a word to each other. Jason was scratching his chin when David let out a deep sigh.
Jason looked up at David and asked, “What’s up? Is something wrong, Dave?”
“Nothing,” David replied, sounding slightly shocked, “Why would you ask?”
“Well, because of that sigh, David. Come on, tell me what’s wrong.”
“It’s nothing, David replied, “It’s just that…”
“What?”
“Never mind…” David rested his chin on his palm and stared off into space.
“Hello-oo, are in you in there, Davie-boy?” Jason waved his hand in front of David’s face. David didn’t respond. Jason suddenly started grinning like a maniac. “Oh, I see…”
“Hun? See what?” David asked, snapping his head up from his palm.
“You can’t hide anything from me!” Jason laughed, “You were thinking about that little redhead. Alexis, right? Come on David! Fess, up, you were!”
“I was not,” David replied indignantly. “I was just…”
“Hoping you would live long enough to see her again?” Jason asked, his grin faded and his expression soon matched David’s thoughtful face.
“Something like that. Do you think these guys will attack the colonies, Jason?”
“Oh, you were worried about her. Nice to know you weren’t being completely selfish. But I don’t think you have to worry about that, Davie-boy. They won’t have a chance to attack any of the colonies. We’re going to blow them away.”
“Yeah but…the base Jasmine and I are attacking is pretty close to our colony, what if…what if the battle gets too close?”
Jason frowned, “Stop worrying so much, Davie. Your girlfriend will be fine. You just need to concentrate on our next mission. Once these Neo Zion guys are gone, we can all go wherever we want and visit our friends and families.”
“Yeah but…I was just thinking about what you said in there.”
“What, about this being a trap? You shouldn’t listen to me so much, Dave. Now you’ve just got my concerns on your shoulders.”
“So you still believe it?”
“Yeah, it just all seemed too easy.”
“But if it is a trap, then they could very well invade the colonies. Or even…destroy them.”
“Hun? Man, you really are hung up on that chick, aren’t ya?” Jason chuckled a bit.
David cast Jason an amused glare. “Oh, and what about you and Helen?”
“Me and Helen? There’s nothing between us.”
“No, but you wish there was…” Jason laughed again, this time loudly. “Yeah, but how could I not? I mean she’s so hot. Perfect body, nice hair, great personality…” He started to draw out her shape in the air with his hands.
“I hope you’re talking about me.”
Both boys jumped and looked up at the woman standing next to their table.
“Hi Catherine!” David smiled at the woman.
“Catherine? When did you get here?” Jason wondered.
“Oh, a few hours ago. I came to see Indy.” Catherine replied.
“Where’s Seth?” David asked.
“Who?”
“The guy I brought down with me. He’s, coming this way! Hey Seth!” Catherine waved to the auburn-haired young man and he headed over to them.
“Seth, this is Jason and David.”
“David and I have met.” Seth replied.
“Are you a spy?” Jason eyed him suspiciously.
“Why does everyone ask me that?” Seth whined.
“He’s not a spy,” Catherine sighed. “He works with me at the circus. I convinced him to come along because he’s thinking about joining the Preventors.”
“Oh, sorry,” Jason apologized, “But we are in the middle of a war.”
“So I’ve heard.” Seth replied.
“Yeah,” David sighed, “And between Indigo being out of commission and Jason’s theories about a trap, I don’t know how we’re going to make it through this alive.”
Jason snorted and Catherine and Seth sat down at the table.
“What’s this about a trap?” Catherine asked.
“Jason thinks that the database we recovered from that base was a set-up.” David explained.
”I can speak for myself, you know.” Jason growled. The others ignored him.
“The one that Indigo got herself beat up over to get it?” Catherine gasped. “I sure hope it’s not a trap.”
“Me too,” David agreed, “If it is, then we’re all screwed.”
“Hn, sounds like pretty serious stuff here.” Seth observed. “But it’s very depressing. I don’t want to think about anybody blowing up the colonies at the moment. That’s where my little sister and my dad are.”
Catherine gave Seth a sympathetic look.
“Why aren’t you there with them?” David wondered.
“My mom died a long time ago, and my dad has a bit of trouble keeping a job. I joined the circus to get them some money. They’re the only family I have left, and I’d do anything in my power to protect them. That’s part of the reason why I want to join the Preventors.”
“Let me guess,” Jason chuckled, “The other reason is that it’s irresistible to the chicks.”
“How’d you guess?” Seth asked, wide-eyed. He laughed as well, and Catherine and David sighed.
“Yeah, being a Preventor impresses all the girls, except of course, Helen.” David smirked.
“It would if she weren’t one too!” Jason protested.
“Whoa, you’ve got a thing for Helen?” Seth asked.
“Duo’s daughter?” Catherine added.
“As I was saying to David earlier, how could I not!”
“So you weren’t talking about me…” Catherine teased.
“Not today, Cathy.” Jason laughed.
“Helen seemed nice enough…” Seth said.
“You met her too?” Jason asked.
“Yeah,” Seth replied. “But let me tell you, Jasmine was a lot hotter.”
“I’m leaving,” Catherine announced suddenly. “I don’t want to interrupt the guy talk.” She quickly rushed off. The guys hardly seemed to notice her.
“Jazz?” Jason howled, “You like Jazz?”
“To steal your words, how could I not? She has curves that would put an hourglass to shame.”
“And legs that go on forever.” Jason agreed.
David looked at them in disbelief. “Alexis isn’t that curvy,” David admitted, “But she’s very…”
“Cute,” Jason cut in. “Alexis is cute, man.”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh right, sorry man. I swear, I wasn’t checking her out or nothing…”
David glared at Jason for a moment but stopped when Jason resumed his conversation with Seth. David sighed and rested his head on the table. He didn’t really care much to get into the conversation, so he just listened to them talk about the girls he had come to know as friends and comrades. David couldn’t help but feel it was a little disrespectful.
Wufei caught Joel in the hallway just after he left Indigo’s room.
“So,” Joel sighed, “What are you planning to do?”
“You must regain your honor.” Wufei answered,
“How?”
“I’ll show you.” Wufei turned and headed down the hallway. Joel watched him for a moment before he reluctantly followed.
Wufei took him to the gym, and led him over to the separate, enclosed area used for martial arts.
“You must defeat me for you honor.”
“What?” Joel gasped. “I-I can’t beat you…”
“Not with that attitude you won’t.” Wufei snorted, now choose a weapon.” Wufei took his large knife off the shelf on he wall and watched as Joel chose a long, thin sword.
“What will happen if I lose?” Joel asked as he took the starting position.
“If you care anything about your honor, you will not lose.”
“Please, just humor me.” Joel begged.
“I suppose I may have to discuss that with Trowa.”
Joel gulped, he didn’t want to get Indigo involved. He nodded and raised his sword, ready to battle.
Wufei pulled the first move and lunged at Joel. Joel narrowly avoided getting a haircut. He swiped at his father’s back, but Wufei was too quick. He turned and metal scraped against metal as their weapons clashed.
Wufei smirked as they both pulled back and lunged again. They exchanged blows a few times before Joel finally caught an opening and stopped his sword millimeters from his father’s neck.
Wufei smiled and stood up. He bowed at his son and went to return the machete to its place.
Joel remained in his final position while he caught his breath and watched his father.
“Well done,” Wufei said to him. “You may have your honor back.”
“You gave it to me!” Joel snapped. Wufei stopped and listened. “You let me win,” He panted, he stood up straight again and glared at his father from across the room.
Wufei only smirked a bit and then left the room. Joel narrowed his eyes and placed the sword back to its place.
