"So where did you go yesterday, Helen?" Carol wondered as she helped her sister clean out the Hell’s Angel. Helen didn’t answer; her expression was set in stone.
"Helen…? What did Jason say to you anyway? Hello? Are you going to talk to me?"
"Carol will you knock it off!" Helen snapped.
Carol drew back, "Gee, sorry," She mumbled, she turned back to what she was doing.
Helen sighed, "Listen, Carol, I just don’t want to talk about it, OK?"
"That bad huh?" Carol smirked. Helen didn’t answer her once again.
~~
Cheryl stepped into the hanger slowly and took a deep breath. She saw the Gundam looming in front of her. "I can’t believe I’m doing this…" She sighed. "Just think of Brittney," She told herself, "Think of…" She paused when she heard voices. She looked up and saw Carol and Helen working on the Hell’s Angel. She cursed and thought fast, "Hey girls!" She called.
The two Maxwells peered over the edge and waited for her to continue. "Could you do me a favour?"
"Sure…" Helen answered uncertainly. "What do you need?"
"Well, uh…there’s some uh…problems with the new rookies and uh…"
"You want me to train rookies again?" Helen snorted, "Not a chance in hell."
"No, no! I just need you to go help get the gym set up and organised before Sasha brings in the next group. I’d do it myself but I have some work to do for Noin."
Helen groaned, "Fine," She started to make her way down. "You finish cleaning this thing out, Carol." She said to her sister.
"The simulator was just moved in there two. I guess Carol is almost ready to start on it, isn’t she?"
Helen stopped and scratched her chin, "That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Come on Carol, we’ll clean later."
"Yay!" Carol cheered. She quickly scrambled after her sister. "So I get to use the simulator!" She asked excitedly as she hurried out of the hanger after Helen.
Cheryl waited until she could not longer hear their voices before she even dared to take a step towards the Gundam.
She was shaking as she pulled herself up and slowly made her way to the cockpit. She nearly fell twice; it seemed like all her strength had drained away. She eventually managed to sit in the pilot’s seat and grip the controls.
She started up the Gundam and opened the hanger doors. After checking to make sure no one was coming after her, she blasted out of the hanger and headed for the rendezvous point she’d set up with Cassius.
"In just a few hours you’ll have her back and this whole thing will be over." Cheryl promised herself. She clenched her hands even more tightly and shut her eyes for a second. All she wanted was her daughter back; the Preventors would forgive her for that, wouldn’t they?
~~~
"Ooh! What about this one Davie?" Alexis asked, showing him a dress in a bridal magazine.
"It’s a little…revealing, don’t ya think, Lex?"
Alexis giggled, "David! Don’t worry about that, it’s going to be our wedding remember? We should wear whatever we want to."
"Yeah but…there are going to be people there…crazy politicians and business people…"
"Oh alright!" Alexis sighed, "I didn’t like it that much anyway." She turned the page and looked at a few more. "How about this one?"
It was then that Jasmine interrupted, letting herself into the couple’s room.
"Jazz, what are you doing in here?" David asked.
"Hey come on! It’s not like you two were doing something dirty." She winked.
David turned bright red while Alexis giggled. "Well I’m glad you’re here, Jasmine, David isn’t much help when it comes to picking out wedding dresses."
"Ooh! I would love to help!" Jasmine squealed; she flopped down on the bed next to Alexis and snatched the magazine. "Hey, how about this one?" She asked, she opened the book to the very same dress Alexis had been looking at.
"David doesn’t like that one." Alexis frowned.
"Why not?" Jasmine looked at David in shock. "This is exactly what I would choose."
David just snorted and muttered something under his breath. He was busy making the guest list. Although he and Alexis decided to set the date after the war was over, she couldn’t wait to start making preparations.
"You know," Jasmine said matter-of-factly, "This style would be very slimming on you, and it’ll make you seem taller"
"Really? You think so?"
"Darling, I know so."
David groaned and rolled his eyes. He really needed to get away. He stood up and snuck out of the room, leaving the two girls to chat.
As he left he nearly ran right into Seth.
"Oh, hey Dave, is Jazz in there?" He asked, peering over David’s shoulder.
"Yeah, but I don’t think you want to go in there right now."
"Why not?"
"Alexis has her helping her pick out a wedding dress."
Seth paled, "Oh man, thanks for warning me Dave. You know, ever since she heard about your engagement, Jasmine’s been bothering me."
"Really? And you don’t want to?"
"I don’t know anymore…" Seth sighed, "It would make sense, I mean, we almost had a kid together…"
David frowned. He knew how much that incident still bothered both of them.
"I guess I’m just worried something like that will happen again."
"Don’t worry about that," David smiled encouragingly. "Jasmine loves you,"
"Yeah, I know…"
"But hey! I really gotta get out of here before those two figure out I’ve left. I’ll see ya later, OK?"
"Alright, bye Dave."
~~~
"Hey Sasha," Helen greeted the squat Russian man as she entered the gym. Sasha looked up and smiled at her. "Ah! Miss Maxwell, how nice of you to drop by."
"Yes, well, Cheryl told me you needed some help with the rookies."
"Rookies? Oh yes the rookies! They have just been sent off to orientation. It’s all taken care of."
"Really?" Helen asked curiously. "Well then I guess we’ll just go use the simulator. See ya later Sasha."
"Good bye Helen," Sasha waved.
"Hurry up Carol, I’ll show you how to work the MS simulator."
"OK!" Carol smiled as she ran after her sister, and nearly ran into someone in the process.
She stopped and looked up to see who it was.
"Oh! Jason!"
The older teen looked down at her in shock. "Carol? What are you doing down here? I thought for sure you’d be in the hanger with Helen."
"Yeah well, we were going to use the simulator."
"Oh…"
"Hey Jason, what happened yesterday?" Carol wondered.
"Why? Did she say anything to you?" Jason asked urgently.
"N-no, but…she’s been acting really weird lately, ever since you called her away."
Jason sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Figures…" He muttered. "Where is she now?"
"Well…" Carol looked around, "She was right in front of me, I guess she is wherever the simulator is."
"OK, um…Carol? Can you do me a huge favour and uh…"
"Disappear for a while?" Carol cut in.
"Yeah…"
"No problem, Jason," she winked, "I think I’ll go make some lunch. Feel free to drop by if you get hungry," She sang as she turned to leave.
"Thanks Carol! You’re a pal!" Jason called after her as she walked away.
He quickly headed for a small room adjoining to the gym and let himself in. Helen was half concealed in the simulator capsule, and it appeared that she was getting it ready for Carol’s use.
"OK Carol, come over here and I’ll show you how this thing works." Helen called.
Jason smiled and stepped up behind her and gently encircled his hands around her waist. Helen quickly shot up straight and froze. Jason pulled her in close and rested his chin on her shoulder. "You’ve been avoiding me, babe." He whispered.
Helen quickly pushed him away and turned to glare at him. "What are you doing here, Jason?"
"What do you think I’m doing here? I’ve come to get my response."
"Response to what?" Helen hissed.
"What do you think?"
"I don’t know what to think anymore, Jason!" Helen spat.
Jason frowned, "You know what I’m talking about, Helen." He told her.
"And what if I don’t? Why don’t you say it, Jason? Get it all out in the open!"
Jason could see just how angry she was, but he didn’t understand why. He arms were waving wildly as she emphasised her words. Her face was red with fury and her eyes were deep fiery pools of violet. But there was something else: she looked almost hopeless.
"Helen…"
She stopped flailing about and glared at him.
"I’m in love with you Helen," He said firmly, "And there’s nothing you can do about it."
"Oh no you’re not," Helen shook her finger at him. "You don’t know what you’re talking about!"
"How would you know Helen?" Jason asked calmly.
"You’re seventeen years old, Jason! You don’t even know what love means!"
"And what if I do?"
"Well, if you’re so enlightened, why don’t you explain to the rest of us?"
"Helen…" Jason sighed,
"Don’t you ‘Helen’ me! You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Jason Yuy. You should just leave me alone, for your own good."
Jason cocked his head to the side and stared at her.
"What?"
"I’m not sure if you’re threatening me, or if you’re trying to protect yourself."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"What are you hiding from me, Helen?"
Helen only snorted and attempted to make her way past him. Jason grabbed her around the waist and stopped her. "This is more than just that thing with Jeff, isn’t it babe?"
"Don’t! Don’t…call me that," It almost sounded as if she as begging. "Please, just…don’t."
Jason studied her for a long time. Helen kept her head unusually low; she couldn’t even meet his gaze.
"Hey," He pulled her against his chest and was surprised when she fell against him. "What happened to you?"
Helen clutched his shirt and started to shake with tears. Jason was extremely confused. He’d never, ever seen Helen cry without a good reason, and even with a reason it was still very rare.
"Helen? What’s wrong?"
"You don’t understand," She stuttered, "You don’t understand what happened the last time someone said that to me."
"Who? Jeff?"
Helen shook her head. "Before that, before you even…"
"You know I would never, ever hurt you." Jason told her.
Helen straightened herself out and looked at him with tear-stained eyes. "How do I know that, Jason?"
Jason didn’t know exactly ho to answer that, so he did the only thing he knew of to show her how he felt. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead softly. Helen didn’t protest, so he continued. His lips moved down the side of her face and around the back of her neck in a trail of butterfly kisses. "I can’t hurt you Helen, I love you so much…" He moved down her shoulder and then back up the slender curve of her throat. Her head titled instinctively to give him greater access.
Jason covered her face with kisses, but didn’t go near her lips; he didn’t dare.
Helen didn’t want to admit she was enjoying being in his arms, that she actually felt safe with him. But she didn’t want to. She was using everything she had to fight him, and was failing miserably. Jason stopped kissing her and just held her close. Helen tried to use that time to compose herself, but Jason didn’t leave her with enough of it.
"Are you going to tell me about it?"
"No way,"
Jason laughed, "I didn’t think so," He gently took her hand and pulled her through another door leading out into the hallway. "Come with me,"
Helen blinked at him, "Jason? Where are you going?"
"Shh," He pressed his finger against her lips. "Come on, I’m going to make you feel better."
"Why do I think that your definition of making me feel better and mine are two completely different things?"
"Because they are," Jason shrugged, "But they’ll both work, trust me."
"No,"
"No?"
"I don’t trust you, Jason."
"Oh well,"
Helen felt his grip on her wrist tighten and he pulled her through the halls.
She wondered where he was taking her. Soon though, she realised they were on their way to the small, private gym where Helen did most of her private training.
"When was the last time you came down here?" Helen wondered. She never really saw him doing training on his own time.
"A very long time ago," Jason answered with a smile.
"What are you doing?"
"Well…I figure you have a lot of frustration you need to vent…" He ran into the center of the small gym and smiled, "And since you seem to really enjoy taking it out on me…" He spread his arms out and grinned widely, "Give it your best shot."
"You’re serious?" Helen raised her eyebrow at him. "You’re actually going to let me beat the shit outta you?"
"Well, I didn’t say I wasn’t going to fight back…"
"You better fight," Helen warned, "Otherwise it’s no fun winning." She paused, "And NO bets this time,"
Jason laughed.
~~~
Indigo bent over the notes Noin had made so far for their mission. There were a lot of holes, but that was her job: to fill in the holes. From the looks of the war so far it didn’t seem like they were ever going to get the Matatara Foundation under control. She sighed and tried to keep her mind on her work.
"You’re going to get grey hair doing that,"
Indigo sighed and looked behind her, knowing exactly who she was going to see.
"Joel," she smiled, "So good of you to volunteer to help."
"Help? I never said I would help." He took a step towards her.
"You’re so useless!" She accused.
Joel laughed and pulled hey away from the desk. "You spend too much time working." He complained.
"And you spend too much time not working."
"Oh?" He leaned forward and captured her lips. Indigo giggled and fell onto the desktop as she brought her arms around him.
"What’s gotten into you?" Indy asked.
"Hey I haven’t actually been able to spend time with you in weeks. Can’t I even get a little love from my girlfriend?"
Indigo didn’t answer; instead she kissed him again and laughed. "OK, you win…" She wrapped her legs around him and brought him closer.
Joel was just getting into it when…
"Hello!"
He jumped away from Indigo and glared at the person who had just walked into the room. It was Carol.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Joel hissed.
Indigo looked at the younger girl and blushed. "Oh, Carol…what brings you here?" Carol looked at the couple and chuckled, "Did I interrupt something?"
"Yes…"
"No! Not at all!" Indigo cut Joel off.
"Oh, well…Helen ditched me again so I was just trying to find something to do."
"She ditched you again huh?" Joel started, "Well it’s no surprise."
"Joel!"
Carol glared at the Asian teen. "Why don’t you like me?"
"Why should I like you?" Joel retorted. Indigo’s eyes widened at her boyfriend. "Don’t listen to him Carol," Indy told her, "He’s very rude sometimes."
"Oh no, it’s alright," Carol assured her. "I can handle it. After all, not everyone can like me. I just wish he’d give me a chance."
"I know,"
Joel looked from one girl to the other, "Are you two ganging up on me?"
"And what if we are?"
"Indy!"
"Well she shouldn’t be here anyway! Who gave her the right to just show up here and but in on our lives?" Joel raved.
Carol took a few deep breaths, trying not to freak out on anyone. But Joel continued complaining. "JOEL!" She screamed, "I may not be a legitimate part of any family, but I have every right to be here! So I suggest you SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!"
"You do not!" Joel growled, "Why don’t just crawl back into the sewer you came form?"
*SMACK*
Indigo’s mouth fell open when she saw Carol punch Joel square in the jaw. He recoiled from her and his hand flew to the wound on his chin. He was bleeding. Carol didn’t even wait for him to say anything before she stormed out again.
"Wow, and I used to think she was just so impossibly nice…"
