Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Always There For You ❯ 17 ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. Take your lawsuits away from me! ((>.<))

Always There For You Chapter 17:

Rain sat on the floor, hugging her knees. The cordless phone lay on the floor beside her, long forgotten. Her entire body was trembling as she tried to control her quiet sobs. Huddled into herself, Rain refused to move from the hallway until she heard the sound of someone ringing the doorbell.

Shakily, Rain got to her feet and walked down the hallway to the carpeted staircase. Looking out the window above the front door from the stairs, Rain could see Derek's jeep parked in the driveway. She walked down the stairs in silence; feeling as if she made too much noise, someone might jump out from the shadows and grab her.

The young girl held her breath and looked out the peephole. Derek stood on the porch looking disheveled and extremely nervous. Without a thought, Rain threw the door open and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest.

Derek slowly hugged the girl protectively to himself as he surveyed the front yard.

"We need to get out of here..." Derek said, looking off into the shadows beside the house. The two teenagers parted and made a mad dash for the jeep that was still running. As soon as both teens were strapped in, Derek floored it and zoomed away from the house.

"Where are we going?" Rain asked, finally calming down the slightest bit. She stared blankly out at the dark road in front of them.

"Preventors Building. It's the safest place I can think of." Derek said, not taking his eyes from the road.

Rain turned to look at him. It was the first time she noticed how frightened he was. His eyes were narrowed, his entire face holding a grim look. Studying him closely, Rain could tell Derek had wasted no time coming to get her. His hair was sticking up in several places and he was dressed in his sleeping attire of soccer shorts, and a t-shirt.

"Where are your shoes...?" Rain mumbled. She had been in such a daze; the most random thing seemed the most vital.

"I forgot them." Derek answered. He stole a glance at her before turning onto the highway.

"Why?" Rain asked with wide, haunted eyes.

"I guess I didn't think about it-as soon as I knew Shelly was back, I took off...I don't remember anything before I was on your porch." Derek said, running a shaky hand through his hair.

"Oh." Rain said simply. She looked down to see her hands wringing themselves in her lap.

"You had gone silent...and then you didn't answer the door. I thought..." Derek gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"I'm sorry. I dropped the phone..." Rain said softly, still looking at her lap.

They had reached the parking garage. Derek turned the jeep off and stared at the steering wheel.

"I'm glad you were OK." The boy said without looking up.

"We should go inside. I will feel safer there." Rain said. Derek nodded and got out of the jeep. Grasping Derek's hand in hers, Rain walked onto the elevator.

"We can wait in my dad's office. Our parents have to check in there before they go home...mission protocol." Derek said as the elevator doors opened and the pair came up to a thick, locked, glass door.

Pushing a button beside the door, Rain stated her name. A buzz sounded and the door swung open automatically. The pair of teens walked down the red-light hallway and stopped upon another door.

At that door, a handprint was required. Derek pressed his palm to the screen and the thick, steel door slowly opened. Inside was another elevator leading to the secure offices in basement level where their parents worked.

The Peventor's HQ building was set up like any office building on top. But, on the underground level, it was more like a fortress. It was only reachable through a double set of specially designed doors and a hidden elevator.

After several seconds, the elevator stopped and the door opened. Rain and Derek went through another security door before they entered the hallway the offices were located on.

The entire hallway was dark and eerie. The only illumination was from a series of red emergency lights lining the floor and ceiling. Feeling blindly with her left hand, Rain switched on the lights, her right hand still clasped tightly with Derek's.

The teen blinked as the fluorescent lights kicked on. Her vision was overwhelmed with the sudden brightness.

Wordlessly, Derek walked to the first door on the right and opened it by entering a code in the box beside the doorknob. Flicking on the lights, he led Rain inside.

The teenaged girl surveyed the room. It was nearly a replica of her father's office except for the various decorations and papers scattered across the desk.

Derek let go of Rain's hand and opened a closet, sifting through it while Rain looked at various pictures around the room. She had been in that office many times, but the decorations changed constantly. Duo had always been switching around pictures and posters it seemed.

"My parents called me not long before...you called. They had said their shuttle was delayed. They won't be back for several hours." Derek said, pulling a pillow, a polar fleece blanket, and a sleeping bag out from the closet.

"Why didn't my parents tell me?" Rain said flatly as she studied a picture of Derek's parents.

"Your parents had left you a message. I guess you never checked them when you got home. I was told remind you to check if you called." Derek stated as he laid the sleeping bag out on the floor and unzipped it.

"Does your dad always keep that in the office?" Rain asked, looking at Derek from across the room.

"He's had to pull a few all-nighters." Derek replied as he spread out the polar fleece blanket on top of the sleeping bag, using the thicker sleeping bag as padding.

"Oh."

Neither Rain nor Derek had spoken about what had happened. They were both severely freaked out, but they had distracted themselves by keeping their minds centered on finding safety. After that, they simply tried not to think of much.

"We should sleep. I'm dead tired and you look like it." Derek said, studying Rain's face.

Rain nodded and sat down on the sleeping bag. Derek stepped over to the desk and turned on the dim desk lamp as a night light. He then walked over to switch off the overhead lights.

Silently, Derek sat down beside Rain and laid his head on the pillow. She laid down beside him as he pulled the blanket over the both of them.

With safety secured, Rain was forced to remember why they were there. Her eyes welled up with tears and she began to shake with sobs.

"Why are you crying? We're safe here." Derek said softly as he wrapped an arm around Rain. She buried her face in his chest and clung to him.

"I don't know!" Rain said shakily as she continued to cry.

"It's OK. You're probably still shaken up.... I was scared too." Derek said as he ruffled Rain's hair. He continued to stroke her hair until her sobs ceased.

"Thank you for coming to get me..." Rain whispered, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'll always be there for you Rain." Derek said, kissing her forehead. Rain smiled sleepily and snuggled closer, closing her heavy eyelids.

The pair of teens held each other closely, trying to comfort one another and feel secure as they attempted sleep. It was a long time before either of them dozed off, content in each other's arms.

*****

Several hours later, near 10 am, Derek and Rain looked up as the door to Duo's office was thrown open. With gun leveled, Duo stared in bewilderment at the two teens. His eyebrows shot up and he slowly lowered his gun.

"Found who left the lights on." Duo called over his shoulder. He looked back at the teens, curiosity and concern getting the better of him.

Rain and Derek stared at Duo curiously as they went back to sipping their coffees. They had awoken two hours before and had been discussing how to talk to their parents when they arrived.

Heero ran into the room followed by Relena, Hilde, Wufei, and Sally. They all seemed surprised to find Derek and Rain there.

"We thought someone had broken in somehow when we found all the hall lights on." Hilde said, blowing her bangs out of her face.

"What's wrong?" Heero asked, narrowing his eyes at Derek and Rain. He, like the rest of his comrades, was exhausted. They had barely slept in the previous 24 hours. However, all of them were full of adrenaline, knowing that something was amiss.

"Derek brought me here...we thought it would be safer." Rain began, lowering her paper cup.

"Safer?" Relena prompted.

"Shelly came back. He came to our house-I woke up when he broke my bedroom window with a rock. It had a note saying he knows who I am... After I thought he was gone I called Derek and here we are." Rain said, frowning deeply. She remained calm, in spite of the fear and sorrow rising inside of her.

"What the fuck!?" Duo cursed. He seemed to have expressed how the rest of his comrades felt at that moment.

"Why would he come after you?" Heero asked. He could tell that Rain was withholding something.

The teen was unnerved by her father's all-knowing glower. She fidgeted in her seat on the couch and chewed on her lip for several seconds as she stared at the floor.

"Rain, why would he come after you?" Heero repeated.

"I...knew him before the rescue mission." Rain finally said. She looked into her father's eyes with sorrow in her own.

"How did you know him?" Heero asked, his gaze never wavering.

"He was Coach Shelly." Rain replied.

"The swimming coach who tried to molest one of the girls on your swim team?" Heero asked, his eyes widened in shock.

"Yes." Rain said flatly, trying to keep her courage from slowly dissipating under her father's hard stare.

"Why didn't you tell us that you already knew him?" Hilde asked when Heero had not spoken.

Rain did not shift her gaze from her father's. Guilt was welling up inside of her stomach. When she looked at her father, she could see the concern burning in his eyes. It killed her to have kept such a secret from him.

"I didn't want you to know..." Rain began, her voice becoming softer with each word.

"Why not?" Relena prompted that time.

"I didn't want you to know that I was the girl." Rain said, her voice barely a whisper.

"What!?" Duo said, his jaw dropping. He was the only person in the room who openly voiced his shock.

The room was filled with a heavy silence for what felt like eternity to Rain. Her stomach was twisting up more and more with each passing second. She felt that if someone did not speak soon, she would go insane.

"Should we leave you alone to talk?" Duo asked after a long time. Neither Heero nor Rain responded.

"Right...Well, we will go wander around, maybe get some food upstairs." Duo said, ushering the others out of the room. Derek stood from his seat beside Rain and walked out the door behind his father.

"If you need us, we will be around." Derek said, closing the door behind himself.

With the room empty except for Rain and Heero, the tension between the two grew.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Heero said, his gaze showing his sorrow.

"I...I don't know. I guess I thought that you would be disappointed in me." Rain said, looking down at the ground.

"Why would you think that?" Heero asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Because I had nearly been... I thought you would not understand or think I was stupid for not being able to prevent it."

"I would never think that about you... What I don't understand is how I never found out about it. The school should have told me if you were the one who pressed charges." Heero said, sitting down on his knees in front of Rain.

"I asked them not to tell you...I said I would." Rain said quietly, looking up at her father again with tear-filled eyes.

"Will you tell me now?" Heero asked softly, not wanting to disturb his daughter's already upset state. The girl nodded her head slowly. She took in a shaky breath and tried to gather her thoughts.

"I...went to talk to the coach in his office and he...pushed me down on the desk. I tried so hard to get away from him..." Rain paused to swallow back the sob rising in her throat. It was only the second time she had told anyone about her traumatic experience. And somehow, telling her father was the hardest.

"He had managed to get almost all my clothes off when Jack came in... When he saw what was going on, he attacked Shelly. Got him off of me and we ran..." Rain paused to draw in another shaky breath. She could not bring herself to look at her father while she told him her story.

"We went to Jack's house...and when I had calmed down a bit, we called the police... The next day, we had a meeting with the school officials. The police had gotten enough evidence and...with Jack as my witness, Shelly was arrested. I never knew what had happened to him..." Rain trailed off.

"You and Jack have kept it a secret all this time?" Heero asked.

"Derek found out on the rescue mission. I'm sorry I didn't tell you...I felt so...ashamed." Rain looked up at her father and began to cry.

"Don't cry. You didn't do anything wrong. And...I understand why you didn't tell me." Heero said. He rose from his seat on the floor and hugged his daughter to himself.

The young girl continued to cry in her father's comforting embrace. She was relieved to have finally told him the truth. However, the pain from the experience and the fear of what was to come would not leave her.

"I'm scared...he said he knew I was the one who took Mommy away from him..." Rain mumbled into her father's shoulder.

"Don't worry. If he comes near either of you again, I'll kill him." Heero looked over Rain's shoulder at the wall with so much malice in his gaze, it would not have been surprising if the wall had suddenly erupted into flames.

"I'll kill him." Heero repeated quietly.

To Be Continued...

-End of Chapter 17-

Author's Notes:

Sorry that was so short. But, I thought that would be a nice, dramatic place to stop. Please review, it fuels my inspiration. I promise the next chapter will be out soon. I have a job now so, I usually write when I get home from work. It seems I have the most creativity when I'm tired...strange.

Anyway, please review. I adore you all my faithful readers!

-AlyRain