Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Ed n Duo's Greatest Adventure ❯ Chapter 21 ( Chapter 21 )

Ed and Trowa's Bogus Journey

Chapter 5

By Devon Masterson-Bond

Aoi37@hotmail.com

"I'm hungry," Ed mumbled as she stretched and flexed then flinched in pain. She looked around disoriented for a moment while holding her shoulder gingerly. She was in as small room with her arm bandaged up surrounded by five sleeping top ranking Preventers. She had to get out of there. She lifted the comforter and prepared to slip out.

"Don't even think about it," Duo warned. "None of us are asleep." As if on cue they all sat up and looked at her with various degrees of concern.

"How do you feel, Ed?" Quatre asked as he moved to her bedside. He noted that Trowa kept his distance and frowned.

"I'm fine," she answered. "How is the baby? Is it…"
"The kid is a survivor like it's parents," Duo interjected.

"Who did this to you?" Wufei asked crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ed said lowly.

"What?" Duo asked. "You scared us half to death and…"

"Can I speak to Ed alone?" Trowa asked.

The guys nodded and exited the room. Ed lay back in the bed and sighed as silence stood in between them. She did not want to be there, it hurt too much. "Before you say anything, I don't want to talk about it with you either. I was stupid and I ran into a bullet, okay."

Trowa raised an eyebrow and frowned. "What happened to you?"

"I told you I didn't want to talk about it," she repeated.

Trowa shook his head. He was at a lost. He did not know how to approach her or what to say. All he knew that he was in bad place and there was no mission or assassin attempt that was going to fix it. "You're different."

Ed's eyes narrowed. He was right and she hated what she was becoming because of him. "Losing someone you love does that to you," she commented as she pushed back the covers.

"Ed, I'm sorry."

She paused for a moment. She could feel her heart beating fast and her face flushing. "Why are you doing this?" she asked. "You didn't seem to care while you were in Paris."

Trowa flinched. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," she replied. "We weren't together anymore. You don't owe me anything."

"I still love you."

Ed shut her eyes and looked away. "Please leave."

"Ed?" he asked moving forward. He had to make sure she understood that his intentions were true. He touched her shoulders.

"Don't touch me," she murmured pulling away. "Leave now."

"I'll be outside," he sighed then left the room just as Quatre came inside with a tray.

From the look that Trowa was not wearing on his face, the blonde could tell that things were not going well. Now it was his turn. "I brought you something to drink...Sunny," he said lowly.

Ed quickly turned around. "How did you find out?"

"Sylvia," he answered placing the tray on the bed. "She was worried when she heard that you had been shot and told me everything."

"Do the others know?" she asked sinking on the bed.

"Just me," Quatre replied.

"Are you going to tell them?"

"No unless you give me a reason to," he countered sitting beside her.

"You're blackmailing me?"

"In a way," he smiled, "all I ask is that you stay around until you have the baby and then move from there. I want you have time to think about everything and be safe. The both of you need time."

Ed narrowed her eyes. "Ed..I don't like this proposition."

Quatre's eyes softened. "I know," he commented, "but I already lost one woman that is important to me. I don't need you running off as well, and you need to deal with this. The baby is Trowa's as well he will want to be a part of his/her life."

"No match making."

"I won't encourage anything," he agreed as he began to grin.

"And you have to patch things up with Faye," Ed added.

"I have Rashid working on that now," he commented then stood. "Now eat and get some rest. I'm going to be away for a couple of days on a personal mission. I'll tell the others you'll be staying around for while." He smiled then kissed her on the forehead just before leaving the room.

"Good luck." She smiled for the first time since she had been brought to the safe house.

"How is she?" Trowa asked as Quatre shut the door behind him.

"Fine, but she's going to need sometime," he answered. "I bought you six months, Trowa. I promised that I would not encourage anything, but I never promised not to manipulate. Use your time well." He grinned. Finally, something was starting to look up. Now all he needed was to get his life straight and everything would be perfect, or close enough.

"Quatre," Trowa called as he watched his friend walk away, "thank you."

"You both deserve to be happy," Quatre replied. "Tell the others I'll be back in a couple of days."

%%%

"I don't play with people who don't trust me," Faye commented as she was being lead down the hall. A silk blind fold was wrapped around her eyes while she journeyed to the secret play spot.

"Mr. Maverick, wishes his personal apartment to remain anonymous," the man answered. "Once you arrive you are to…"

"Yeah I know. I'm not supposed to disclose anything. Geez, you'd think I tell someone," she interrupted as she stumbled a bit.

The man held her carefully. "To the highest bidder no less."
"I resent that," she said defensively. "Though true."

"Ms. Valentine, you were chosen to participate for your skill, not your ethics," he replied. "We know you recognize a good thing when you see it."

"I'm not sure anymore," she replied sadly as she thought about Quatre. She was starting to think it had been the wrong thing to do…leaving him.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing, just hurry up so I can claim my winnings and leave."

"You're quite sure you can beat Mr. Maverick?" he asked. "You do realize that you will be searched and you will have to remove everything and only wear the clothes issued to you."

Faye stopped and pulled her arm away. "Hey! That was not part of the deal. Tell your pervert boss that I am not dropping a stitch of clothing." Her hands quickly moved toward the blind fold when the man placed his over hers.

"Not even for a chance at half of his fortune?" the man asked. "A woman of your taste could live very well for the rest of her life. Think about it."

She was in a situation now that she was on her own. She couldn't hustle for the rest of her life and it would be hard to be on the run with a child on her back. There was no running back to Quatre especially after losing Rashid two days ago. Quatre probably hated her now and what if he was…killed. She would be on her own anyway. Why did he have to put her in the position? They were supposed to have fun, not fall in love and be committed. At least she wasn't, that was the trap for him and she was the one that fell in it. "Fine, I'll do it, but get out of line and there's no telling what a lady like me could do," she answered in a tone that was equally threatening as it was sexy. "Let's go."

"It's not far just the end of this hall," he commented as he ushered her on.

Thirty-five minutes later, Faye entered a dark room with a table set up. A single lamp hung from a void above her, showing nothing but oblivion to anything outside of its luminescence. A pair of pale hands floated in the darkness shuffling the cards over and over as if trying to pass the time. Once she reached the table and sat down, the hands stopped and placed the deck on the table. "Mr. Maverick wishes you to inspect the deck so that there is no distrust between you," the man who brought her there said.

"Mr. Maverick doesn't have a mouth?" she asked taking the cards.

"At this point, Mr. Maverick wishes to remain anonymous in every way."

"Well what is your name at least?"

"My name is Ahmed."

"Ahmed, huh?" she thought looking around while shuffling the cards. "What are we playing?"

"A high stakes game, simply cutting the deck. High card wins half of Mr. Maverick's fortune an excess of 100 billion U.S. dollars."

"What does he get if he wins?" she asked suspiciously.

"I get you, Faye," Quatre replied standing up.

"I knew it," Faye said standing as well. "Quatre…"

"You told me, you would answer me when I came back for you," he interrupted as he took her hand. "But before you answer, I have to tell you something first. I still have to go, but I am doing it for the ideals that I believe in and for you. If I don't my enemies will come after you and I can't lose you Faye that way."

Faye closed her eyes as she felt his arms surround her. She wanted to say yes, she really did, but too much had happened to her to just give into her emotions. "Time to see if I really am lucky. For once in my life I want to be lucky." She pulled away from Quatre. "I accept the terms of the game. I win, I get half of your fortune, you win the answer is yes I will marry you. I shuffled, you cut first."

Quatre nodded. He could not expect her to change. He would have to just hope that his luck would hold out. He placed his hand on the deck and picked up a stack of cards then looked at the outcome. "Your turn," he said simply his face betraying nothing about his choice.

"That doesn't look good," she thought as she cut the rest of the deck and looked at her card. Queen of hearts. Her heart sank. She knew there was only an 8/52 chance that he could have beaten her and he did not have the most confident of looks on his face. Regret started to settle in her soul. Regret for being ruled by odds and chance. Her happiness was most likely thrown away because she did not have faith to follow her heart. She had to leave it up to the game to decide for her. "Queen of hearts," she said sadly showing her card. "It's time to pay up, Mr. Winner."

"Not so fast…Mrs. Winner. King of hearts beats your queen," he replied smiling.

Faye looked up in surprise then coughed. "You won me fair and square. I would appreciate it if you didn't gloat about it."

"I won't," he agreed as he pulled her to him and kissed her.

"This is the first time, I didn't mind losing," she smirked as he held her.

"Don't put me through that again," he commented before holding her tighter.

"I won't…at least not any time soon," she amended.

"You're mine forever, I won't worry about it," he replied then kissed her lightly. "Before I forget there's something I have to tell you…we found Ed."

© 2003 Devon Masterson-Bond
Another Bond Girl Blue Production.

Let's be real here… we all know that I don't own these characters or you would be watching this instead of reading it [with the exception of manga of course]. I just do this for kicks and wiggles [yes, I know the real expression, and this is mine] anywho don't sue me, hire me instead;p