Jeff sighed and tapped his foot impatiently. "Helen! What is taking so long?" He complained.
"I have to find clothes that aren’t dirty! That laundry woman hasn’t come by in weeks."
~
Helen heard Jeff grumble from the other side of the door. She rolled her eyes and dug through the clothes on the floor, trying to find something that was hers.
"Fine, I’ll be right back…" Jeff called to her suddenly.
"What? Where are you going?"
"I uh…" He laughed, "I kinda left my money back in my room. I’ll be right back."
Helen chuckled as Jeff dashed off. "Aha!" She cried triumphantly. "I found them." She held up her favourite jeans and started digging around for a shirt.
It took Jeff nearly twenty minutes to find his money and when he finally got back he was panting.
"Ready?" He asked.
Helen nodded and rolled her eyes at him. "I’ll race ya to the exit," she grinned.
"What? No! Helen…!" Jeff groaned and ran after her.
~~~
Saber peered around both corners before he headed for the conference room. Even though he was now an official Preventor pilot, the room was still restricted to him. He would have to be careful not to get caught; he didn’t want to arouse any suspicion.
He heard someone leaving the room just as he arrived. He took his opportunity and dashed inside silently. He looked around; making sure no one was coming and then went to work. He figured that under the chairs and table would be a good place to start.
When he finished there, he decided to go for the screen at the end of the room. He was just reaching for it when the door swung open.
"Saber Trong?"
Saber spun around and saw Noin standing in the doorway. He blinked at her and tried to come up with an excuse.
"What are you doing in here? You know this room is off limits to you!" Noin snapped.
"Yes, I know, I’m very sorry, Miss Noin." He said respectfully. "I just wanted to take a look. I’ll leave now." He bowed and then walked out of the room, his head held high.
Noin was stunned for a moment. What could Saber have possibly found interesting in the conference room? Grumbling under her breath, she headed back for her office to get some work done. She passed Wufei and Heero on her way. "Hey guys," She said, her voice strained.
Wufei looked at her and Heero nodded before they continued on their way.
~~~
"I’m going to die…"
"You? You’re just going to be in a lot of trouble! I’m the one who’s going to die!"
Jasmine gulped anyway and clutched at Seth’s arm.
"Are you sure we have to tell him?" Seth asked anxiously.
Jasmine nodded mutely and continued down the hall.
"Can’t we wait until we absolutely have to?"
"That will just make it worse." They made their way to the conference room. Noin had told them that Wufei had just left when they came looking for him.
"This is it," Jasmine took a deep breath and opened the door. "Daddy…?"
Wufei was talking to Heero, looking at a map of the Middle East.
Both men looked up at the two teens. "Um…I’m sorry Heero, can I talk to my father alone for a minute?" Jasmine stuttered.
Heero blinked, and then nodded. He left, casting a strange look in Seth’s direction. They ignored it. Instead, both were too worried about what Wufei was going to say, or rather, do.
"Dad," Jasmine started. "There’s something really important I need to tell you."
Wufei raised his eyebrow at her, but said nothing. "Um…maybe you should sit down." She suggested. It would give them more time to run.
Wufei obliged. "What do you want?" He asked.
"Uh, I’m uh," She was crying and she knew it.
Wufei noticed it too, "Jasmine?"
"Daddy, I’m pregnant."
At first she wasn’t sure if he had heard her.
"Dad…? Did you hear me?"
Wufei clenched his eyes shut. They could both feel his anger rising. "I heard you…" He hissed. He stood up slowly and clenched his fists so tightly they shook.
Jasmine had never seen him so angry. He couldn’t even speak! But that didn’t last. The reality hit him with force. "You’re WHAT?"
His next movement was so quick that neither could do anything to counter it. In seconds, Seth was pinned against the wall with a machete pressed against his throat.
"You…you would dare to soil my daughter?" He put more pressure on the knife; Seth was as pale as a ghost. "And yet you still have the nerve to come and face me?"
"Uh…Wufei…?" Seth stuttered.
"Dad!" Jasmine gasped. She grabbed his hand and tried to pull the weapon away from her boyfriend’s throat.
"Please dad, don’t freak out…I…"
"Freak out!" Wufei bellowed. "You just came in her and told me that you, you, are going to have a child, and you tell me not to freak out? I’m telling you, woman; you are an irresponsible slut. Do you know what it takes to raise a child? You are too young; you are too immature to take care of a baby! You would kill it in a week! You’re not fit to raise a goldfish!"
The words cut Jasmine deeply. But she swallowed up her hurt and stared her father in the eyes. "I’m not fit?" She hissed, her voice growing tense. "What about you? What could you possibly know about raising kids? You abandoned me when I was two years old! And I doubt that even before that you paid any attention to me! You’re a selfish bastard!" She broke down into tears. Wufei was too shocked for a moment to say anything. Seth stood back and watched, unsure of what to do.
"How dare you say such a thing to your father."
"How are you a father? You were never there!"
"So now this is my fault?" Wufei roared. "This is his fault!" He pointed accusingly at Seth.
"Whoa! Come on Wufei, be reasonable…" Seth didn’t have time to finish his sentence because Wufei slammed his fist into the side of his head and knocked him out.
"Seth!" Jasmine cried. She tried to go to him and help him, but Wufei grabbed her wrist roughly and pulled her towards the door.
"Let go of me!" She shrieked. She tried to break free, but he was too strong.
As they made their way through the halls, Sally heard the commotion and found hem.
"Wufei…? What are you doing?"
Wufei didn’t answer; he just kept dragging his daughter through the corridors and into the dorms. Sally frowned and ran after them.
Wufei’s face was set in a glare as he pulled her to a single dorm room and threw her inside. He glared at her for a moment before he slammed the door closed and locked her in.
"Wufei…" Sally growled when he turned around.
"Did you know about this, woman?" He shot. Sally sighed, "I have a name, you know. I thought we had discussed this ‘woman’ thing."
"Answer me, onna!"
"Yes," She said bitterly, "I did. I gave her the test that determined it."
"And you said nothing?"
"She wanted to tell you herself," Sally said softly. "She knew how you would react, and still she didn’t hide behind me. She’s just as proud as you are, Wufei Chang."
Wufei’s eyes narrowed and his eyebrow twitched.
"You weren’t much older than she was…"
"I know that!" Wufei cut her off. "That’s the problem."
"What, that she’s too much like you?" Sally laughed. "I know you’re angry, and disappointed, Wufei, and so am I, but there’s nothing you can do."
"There’s abortion," He snapped.
"Wufei…you know you would never, and could never force her to do that."
Wufei nodded, "I know…but I cannot forgive her."
Sally sighed, "You have to talk to her Wufei." She said firmly.
"No!" He bellowed. He stormed off angrily. Sally sighed and looked at the door to the room Jasmine was in. She debated about going in there, but that was something Wufei had to do. She knew Jasmine would wait until Wufei came; she would make no attempt to leave without his permission.
Grumbling about both of their frustrating pride, she headed out to look for Seth. She was afraid to see what kind of shape he was in.
~~~
"Isn’t this fun!" Helen cried as they rode the Ferris wheel for the eighth time that day.
"Yeah," Jeff agreed, his face turning green. He didn’t know how Helen could handle so many rides in such a short time. Not to mention she had eaten at least four candy apples.
"Are you sure you’re going to be up for ice cream afterwards?" He wondered.
"Oh yeah! Let’s go!" She hopped off the ride and waited impatiently for Jeff.
"What’s taking so long?" She snapped. Jeff winced but forced a smile. "Don’t want to fall, now do I?"
She rolled her eyes and led him towards the ice cram parlour.
~~~
"Seth, are you in here?" Sally asked nervously as she entered the conference room. She looked beside the door and gasped. Seth lay on the floor. He looked like he was just coming to.
"Seth! Are you alright?"
Seth opened his eyes and rubbed his head. "Peachy," He answered. He sat up with Sally’s help and looked around.
"What happened?"
Sally smiled, "I think Wufei knocked you out. Jasmine is currently locked up in a dorm room while he fumes."
"Is she OK?" He asked hurriedly. He didn’t know why Wufei would harm his own daughter, but the irritable Chinese pilot had been abnormally upset.
"She’s just fine," Sally chuckled. "Only a little upset. Come on, I’ll take a look at that nasty cut." Seth nodded and followed Sally down to the infirmary, but his thoughts were on only his girlfriend.
~~~
"How can you eat all that without throwing up?" Jeff asked in awe.
"I’m not bulimic you know!" Helen snarled. Jeff shrank back. "That wasn’t what I meant."
"Well what did you mean?"
"I just meant that…well…you’ve been eating a lot of sugar. Doesn’t that usually make people sick?"
Helen glared at him. "What are you saying, that I’m getting fat? Is that it?"
"No! Just forget it… you’re anything but fat."
Helen snorted and turned back to her ice cream. "We’ll have to hurry if we want to catch that play." She said.
"Yeah," Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realised dating Helen would be so much work. He hoped that the play would cool her off a little bit so she wouldn’t bite his tongue off when he kissed her goodnight. Jeff couldn’t help but grin at the thought.
~~~
Wufei paced back in front of the dorm room here his daughter was. He hated to admit it, but his wife was right. He needed to talk to her. Finally, he flung the door open and looked right at Jasmine. She only looked up momentarily and then turned back to glaring at her feet.
She sat on the bed against the wall, hugging her legs to her chest.
Wufei closed the door and approached her slowly. He could see her shaking. He cursed himself for being such a bad father. He had no idea what to say to her.
He sat down on the bed next to her and thought. "I’m sorry," He said finally. He had to force himself to say it, but he truly meant it. He put his hand on her shoulder lightly.
Jasmine blinked back a few tears and her head shot up to look at him.
"I overreacted," He continued.
Jasmine didn’t know what to say. "I’m sorry too."
Wufei nodded. "But I’m still angry." He warned, "And I don’t regret what I did to your good-for-nothing boyfriend either."
Jasmine’s eyes narrowed. "You can’t put all the blame on him you know, dad. It’s partly my fault as well."
Wufei didn’t like the idea that his daughter was the one to blame, even if it was only a little bit. As a father, he wanted to believe his child was perfect.
"And I should not have called you what I did." He continued. "It was dishonourable of me."
"Yes it was," Jasmine agreed. She fell against him and sighed deeply. "I didn’t want this to happen daddy. I just…I didn’t think of what could happen."
Wufei sat and listened quietly.
"But I’m not going to run away." She stated firmly. "I’m going to do everything I can for him."
"Him?’
"The baby," She nodded.
"How do you know it’s a boy?"
She shrugged. "I just do." She looked up and smiled at him. "That’s a good sign, isn’t it daddy? You tell me, I wasn’t raised with the Chinese culture."
Wufei smiled ever so slightly at Jasmine. "It is a good sign," He said. He kissed her forehead and stood up and left without another word.
Jasmine was more than just a little confused. Had her father actually just shown affection for her? That wasn’t like him at all. She smiled anyway; it looked like things might just turn out okay.
~~~
Cassius replayed the tape for the third time and still she howled with laughter. She rewound the part where the cute little Chinese guy knocked out the redhead with the bad haircut again and again. "Go little guy," She snorted. She never would have guessed the Gundam pilots could be so entertaining. It was better than a soap opera!
"Oh!" She roared as the redhead fell to the ground. She then rewound it and watched 05 snap and scream at his daughter. "Oh, how shameful of you, to call your daughter such things!" She waved her finger accusingly at the screen. She watched it all the way through and was in pain from laughing so hard. When it stopped she rewound it and watched it again.
~~~
Helen had seen Romeo and Juliet many times before, but never live. The outdoor theatre seemed like a great way to relax after the busy events of the day. She grinned when she saw that she wearing Jeff out. She wondered how much more abuse he could take.
They were in the same park Jeff had taken her to before, and the fireflies were already coming out as the players took their positions. Helen sighed and leaned against Jeff as the show started.
"Two households, both alike in dignity. In fair Verona where we lay our scene…"
Jeff smirked and wrapped his arm around Helen’s shoulders as he tried to make sense of what was going on. What did it matter? He knew the play; two enemies fall in love and everyone dies. He started to wonder if it was a good play to take her to. He shrugged it off; it was too late now. Besides, he wasn’t paying attention to it anyway. Helen was a lot more interesting.
~~
"That was fun," Helen smiled as they returned to the base. Jeff insisted on walking her back to her room. They stopped in front of her room.
"Goodnight, Jeff." She turned to open her door.
"Hold on second!" Jeff stopped her.
"What?"
"Didn’t you forget something?"
"What?" Helen was confused.
Jeff grinned, "My kiss…"
"You’re as bad as Jason!" Helen accused.
Jeff only smirked and made her forget any further comment she was going to make. He pressed his lips against hers eagerly. He was surprised that Helen didn’t even protest. He pressed her against the wall rested his hands on her hips. Helen brought her hands up to his shoulders and returned his kiss. Jeff pushed his tongue inside her mouth and explored excitedly. He was really getting into it when Helen suddenly pulled back.
"Goodnight," She smirked and let herself into her room.
"What the…?" Jeff was confused as to why she left so suddenly until he looked down. "Holy shit! Down boy!" He glared at the door to Helen’s room in mock anger. "Friggin tease," He growled before he left.
