Helen didn’t exactly get the welcome home she expected as she, Indigo, and Jason returned to the base with Carol.
The hanger door slammed open quickly and Jasmine dashed in, smiling broadly. But she stopped suddenly when she realised that there were only four people on the shuttle.
"Oh, it’s you guys," She frowned.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Jason asked, insulted.
"I was hoping you were Seth," Jasmine admitted.
Helen rolled her eyes and started for the exit.
"It may be a while before the rest of them get here." Helen said. "Someone come get me when my dad arrives." She slowly made her way towards the exit of the hanger.
"Hey! Hold on a minute, Helen! Where are you going?" Jason cried as he ran after her.
"I’m going to get some well-earned sleep!" She hissed as she flung open the door. Jason quickly ran after her, and the door slammed behind him.
"Whoa, he’s got it so bad for her," Jasmine chuckled. Indigo also smiled.
Carol just looked at the other two girls blankly. "I don’t think I get it…" She started.
Jasmine’s head suddenly snapped up and she stared at the young blonde teen. "Who are you?" She asked a little rudely.
"Oh! I’m sorry, my name is Carol. Indigo, Jason and Helen were kind enough to give me a ride here."
"Y-you’re a civilian?" Jasmine asked cautiously.
"Well, yes, I guess so…"
Jasmine turned to Indigo, "Are you going to tell Noin, or should I?"
"We already went through this," The French girl said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Jason was the one who insisted we take her, so he can explain everything to Noin."
"Great, except for one problem…"
"Yes…?"
"Jason just ran out the door!"
"Oh yes…that is a problem…"
"Um…is there a problem with me staying here?" Carol asked nervously. She really didn’t want to get on the bad side of the Preventors.
"No, not at all!" Indigo said cheerfully. "It just may take some explaining as to why we brought a complete stranger home with us."
"Home? You guys live here?"
"For all but six months of the last two years." Jasmine sighed. "Come on Carol, we’ll show you around until the rest of them get back."
~
It was only another two hours until the next shuttle arrived at the base. Brittney was the first to appear. "You’re here!" She cried happily. "Where’s Jason?" "Whoa, chill out! Where’s Seth!" Jasmine snapped back. "Oh, he’s on the shuttle," Brittney replied absently, "But where is Jason?" "Um…he’s with Helen somewhere." Indigo told her. "Are there still more coming?" "Wait a second…Jason’s with Helen?" "Yes…" Brittney’s face darkened considerably and she stormed out of the hanger. "If you see Helen, tell her that her dad is here!" Indigo called after her quickly. "Who was that?" Carol wondered. "Brittney, Jason’s self-appointed girlfriend." Jasmine sighed, she watched as the next person emerged from the shuttle, talking with David. Her face lit up. "SETH!" The auburn-haired teen looked up and grinned. "Jazz! Long time," Jasmine jumped into his arms and kissed him firmly, David blushed and left them alone. He slowly made his way over to Indigo and Carol. "Finally, someone reasonable." Indigo sighed, "Is everyone here now? Or are we still waiting for people?" "Nope, we ran into the others on our way out. Everyone’s here."
"Great,"
"Who is this?" David wondered as he studied Carol.
"This is Carol. Apparently her father is a Preventor, but we haven’t seen him yet."
"He’s probably out, but I can wait." Carol said, smiling.
"Oh, was he expecting you?"
"He doesn’t even know I exist."
~~~
"Leave me alone, Jason." Helen hissed as she let herself into her room. Jason frowned but was not deterred. He could tell why she wanted him to go. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She was finally letting her mind dwell on what had happened to her.
"Helen come on, just talk to me," He begged as he followed Helen into her room.
"No!" She cried as she flung herself onto her bed. Jason dwelled in the doorway for a moment before he approached her. Helen gripped her pillow tightly and turned so he couldn’t see her face.
"Go away," Her voice was shaking.
"No," He said bluntly. He sat down on the edge of her bed and let his hand rest on her shoulder. Helen flinched, but didn’t dare move to push him away. She shuddered; she could still feel Jeff’s hands running over her body, she could see his lust every time she closed her eyes. Her body still reeked of his scent.
"It’s OK to cry," Jason told her softly.
"I’m not crying!" She said bitterly. Jason knew better. "Helen, whatever he did to you in here, it’s over now. You’re safe…"
"No I’m not! Don’t you see? I’ll never be able to forget what happened. Dammit! And I’m a soldier. I can’t believe I let that happen to me!" Jason was taken aback, "Helen, it’s not your fault."
"Yes it is! I should have been able to stop him!" Now she really did start to cry. Her shoulders shook and she sniffled in an attempt to stop herself.
"Helen…come on, look at me," Jason whined. He turned her over and brushed away the hair that was sticking to her face from the tears. He was surprised when Helen finally let go of her pride and flung her arms around him. He stroked her hair gently as she cried into his shoulder. She lost complete control over herself and her emotions came flooding out. She never realized how much she was in need of a good cry.
Eventually her sobs subsided and she let her head rest against Jason’s strong shoulder. For once he wasn’t exactly enjoying holding Helen in his arms, and his face lacked its usual triumphant grin when he found himself in such a situation. Instead, he stared worriedly at her, trying to figure out how he could help her. He hated seeing her in so much pain.
Finally, Helen pushed herself up and dried her eyes.
"You OK now?" Jason asked. Helen shook her head slowly.
"OK…" He wrapped his arm around her shoulders again and hugged her tightly. He never wanted to let her go, for fear that if he did, it would happen to her again.
Helen, surprisingly, didn’t protest. She fell against his chest and closed her eyes. She was exhausted from the last few days, and from crying. In a few minutes Jason realized that she had fallen asleep. He shifted her slightly so he could lie down with her. He sank down against the pillow and shut his eyes as well. He was just drifting off to sleep when he heard someone coming down the hallway.
He moaned and turned on his side and buried his face between Helen’s shoulder blades, trying to ignore the noise the person was making. But he had no such luck.
He was jolted awake when the door slammed open, crashing against the wall.
"Jason! What the hell do you think you are doing?" Jason blinked and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He saw a very angry redhead standing in the doorway.
"Brit?" He asked sleepily. Helen shifted next to him and also opened her eyes.
"You jerk!" She hissed, "How could you do this to me?"
"What are you talking about Brit?" Jason asked.
"You told me you were over her." Brittney continued. He could see just how upset she was. Her eyes were nearly glowing red with rage.
"Hey, relax Brit, I have a right to comfort my friends. Do you even care what happened to her?" He narrowed his eyes at her as he stood up.
Helen blinked in confusion at the couple.
"Jason, you and I are going to have a talk," Brittney told him firmly. She walked up to Jason and grabbed his arm, and then stormed off again.
"Oh, and Helen, your father’s here." She spat as she slammed the door closed behind her.
That was strange, Helen thought. It took a few moments for her sleepy brain to register Brittney’s last words, though. "Oh! My dad!" She finally smiled as she ran for the hanger.
~~~
Indigo introduced Carol to everyone as they got off the shuttle. Carol smiled politely to each of them and waited patiently as just about everyone questioned her presence. Some were ruder about it than others. Especially Indigo’s boyfriend, Joel. Carol immediately wondered how she could stand him.
She glanced towards the shuttle as the last of the people came off. Her eyes widened when she saw a certain man emerge. She opened her mouth to say something to Indigo when Helen let herself in, followed by another blue-haired woman.
Helen ran over to the man that was of interest to her, and hugged him tightly. The woman also walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Excuse me," She said softly as she walked towards them. Indigo looked up. "Hold on a second, Carol! Where are you going?"
Most of the people had emptied out of the hanger by now, and only Jasmine, Seth, Indigo, Joel, Helen and her parents were around to witness what happened next.
"Umm excuse me…" Carol waked up to the family.
Helen looked at her and managed a weak smile. "Oh, you’re still here. Did you manage to find your father yet?"
"Actually, yes…" Carol answered shakily. She offered no further explanation as she pushed past Hilde and Helen and held her hand out to Duo.
"I’m sorry to bother you sir but uh…I think you’re my father." Duo blinked at her, completely dumbfounded.
"What…?" Helen asked. "But…he’s my father."
"Yeah, I caught that." Carol said. She quickly provided a picture of her mother in her younger years. "Do you remember this woman?"
Duo took the picture and studied it carefully; still unsure of what he should be saying. Hilde and Helen both were speechless.
As his memory returned Duo’s eyes widened and he looked at Carol. "Holy shit!"
"Duo…?" Hilde squeaked. "She’s wrong, right? Please tell me she’s wrong." Her expression immediately changed from confused to just plain mad. She narrowed her eyes at her husband and waited for his explanation.
"Well um…not exactly."
"WHAT!!!!"
Duo winced. "OK, babe…I can explain…"
"I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU, DUO MAXWELL! HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN! HOW COULD YOU? YOU…YOU CHEATED ON ME, DIDN’T YOU!?!?!?"
Duo’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. He’d never seen his wife so angry before in his life. "Well…not exactly. You remember that time when we were divorced for a while. You know, after we first learned that me might have to send Helen away?"
"We were only split up for six months!!"
"Oh come on, you can’t tell me you didn’t see other people during that time."
"I did not! I missed you every single day." She pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Helen gawked at her parents and looked around the hanger. Indy, Joel, Jasmine and Seth were all staring.
"Jasmine…" She said quietly, "Jasmine!"
Jasmine was brought out of her trance and looked at the other girl.
"Camera," Helen said quietly, "Where is your camera? Quick!"
"Oh shit! How could I have forgotten?" She ran to the corner of the hanger and started to dig through things as Duo and Hilde continued to argue.
"Where is it? Where is it!" She cried frantically. The other teens, save for Carol, ran over to help her.
Finally, she cried out triumphantly and held up the mall video camera. She immediately started to film what was happening. "Helen! This is so great! How is Duo gonna get out of this one? Helen, get back in the picture!"
"I missed you too babe…" Duo was saying, "But I was so lonely and you still weren’t answering my phone calls and you wouldn’t let me see my kid…"
"So you decided you’d make another one?"
"What? No! That’s not it at all, babe!"
"Who was she Duo? A stripper? A prostitute maybe?"
"Hilde, you know I would never go to some whore to replace you."
"Replace me? Is that what you did?"
"Well, yeah…kinda…"
Helen swore she could see steam coming out of Hilde’s ears.
"How could you…?" Hilde’s voice cracked and she started to cry.
"Hilde…come on, it’s not like I did anything wrong." He tried to give her a hug.
"Didn’t do anything wrong!" She jerked away from him. "Oh, don’t you dare try and come near me, Duo Maxwell! Your brains will be splattered over the walls so fast…!"
"Whoa, Hilde, come on, we were divorced for crying out loud!" Hilde pulled away from him and stormed out of the hanger, the sound of the door echoing behind her.
Suddenly, the room was dead quiet.
Duo turned his head and looked at his daughter. "Helen, what did I do wrong?" He whined.
"A lot of things dad." Helen said as she glared at him. No one noticed Carol in the corner, shaking. Helen walked up to him and slapped him across the face.
"What was that for?!"
"Didn’t do anything wrong my ass! I suggest you go over there and get on your knees and beg for forgiveness. From the looks of things, she might just splatter your brains on the wall."
Duo gulped loudly but nodded and slowly went after his wife.
"Helen! That was brilliant! With the little slap at the end! Oh wow, he is so in for it!" Jasmine laughed once he was gone.
Helen smirked and watched as her father left. She was going to reply to Jasmine’s remark when she heard a sob and a shudder from behind her. She looked over and saw Carol shaking with tears.
"Um, uh oh…" Jasmine said quietly. Helen tried to go and talk to her, but Carol ran past her and out of the hanger.
"Carol, wait!" Helen begged. But it was too late. The argument had taken its toll on her. "Shit," Helen cursed. It looked like she wouldn’t be getting any sleep for another night. Why did everything always have to happen to her?
~~~
It was Saber who first discovered Carol’s hiding spot. She was sitting huddled in a corner between the prisoner’s cells and the boys’ dorms.
Saber stopped and studied the blonde figure, unsure of what to do. Finally, Carol noticed he was there and looked up at him. She forced her tears to stop and glared at him. "What do you want?"
"Carol, right?" Saber asked. He remembered being introduced to her by Indigo.
She nodded.
"Are you hurt?" He asked. He wasn’t used to coming across crying girls.
"Huh?" She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "No, I guess not…" she sighed. "Can you just leave me alone, please?"
"Not have a good encounter with your father?"
"Hardly, it was more his wife though. Dammit! I should have known it would end up like this! After all, they already have a daughter! Why would they want some illegitimate brat?" She stood up and slammed her fist into the wall. "Ow," She whined as she rubbed her now sore knuckles.
"Who is your father?" Saber wondered. He knew it was none of his business, but he was extremely curious.
"Duo Maxwell."
Saber’s eyes nearly popped out of his head, but he quickly contained his shock. "So then you are Instructor Helen’s sister?"
"I never thought about that…" Carol admitted, "but I guess so."
Saber just nodded, "Interesting…" He mused.
"Interesting? Interesting! It’s not interesting! I shouldn’t even exist!"
"Is that what they said?"
"No, but…I know that’s what they were thinking."
"I suggest you go talk to them." Saber said. "Find out,"
"Huh? But…what would I say?"
"Don’t ask me," Saber said with a shrug. "I’m terrible with people." He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off.
Carol watched him curiously, her eyes still glistening with tears. He had a point but how could she ever get the courage to talk to them? She saw how they’d reacted to her news. She slowly slid down the wall and hugged her knees. She rested her head on her knees and lost herself in thought.
~~
"Please babe, just let me in so can talk to you." Duo begged as he sat outside the door to their room.
"You can talk out there," Hilde said, "But I can’t guarantee I’ll listen."
"Hilde! I’m going to talk until I’m blue in the face!"
"So what?"
Duo groaned and banged his head on the wall. "Hilde! PLEASE! I said I was sorry!"
"Sorry doesn’t cut it, Duo!"
Duo sighed deeply, "I know it doesn’t babe, I wish you could know how horrible I feel. I love you, Hilde Maxwell, and I never meant to hurt you."
There was silence on the other side of the door. Duo took it as a sign and continued. "You wouldn’t believe how horrible I felt after it happened. It was one night and I talked to Doris right afterwards. I told her how much I loved you, and she understood. That’s probably why she never told me about Carol; she didn’t want to ruin our relationship because of one stupid mistake. I’m really, really sorry, babe."
He sat up suddenly when he heard the door lock click and Hilde slowly opened the door.
"Her name was Doris?" She said weakly.
Duo grinned broadly and grabbed her and kissed her firmly. "I knew you would come to your senses."
Hilde giggled as he picked her up, kicking the door closed behind him. He carried her across the room and dropped her on the bed. "Now let me show you just how I feel about you."
