Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Because of You ❯ Moving On ( Chapter 10 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Supurrkitty 
Quatre learns something new about Demetri, but when he tries to confront her, she switches the conversation around.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.03.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 216 | Status: Completed
Quatre learns something new about Demetri, but when he tries to confront her, she switches the conversation around.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.03.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 216 | Status: Completed
Title: Because of You
Author: Supurrkitty
Disclaimer: I do not own any Gundam wing characters, never have, never will, and that's it!
A/N: Oh yeah, tenth chapter, baby! I think this is my longest story ever! Hooray! Thanks for all the support of my reviewers, you really don't know how much it means to me...*cries* these are happy tears!
Moving on
" Demetri, you better be careful..." Quatre warned, looking worried as she checked the cinch on Clover one last time.
" Don't worry, Quatre." Demetri smiled at him, " besides, this is a covered arena. The rain hasn't even touched it."
" That's good," Quatre smiled back, " But, still, be careful."
Demetri looked at Clover and patted his neck. Then, she checked his tie on the trailer and walked over to Quatre. She wrapped her arms around him in an embrace.
" That's really annoying, you know." Demetri laughed, then looked back up at him, " But, thanks for caring..."
Demetri turned her head to the arena as she heard the speaker come to life. She untied clover and slipped the bridle into his mouth. She threw the reins over his head and mounted in one, swift movement.
" Now, you can go watch from the bleachers, I believe Blake and Lee are near the front." She winked at him from the top of the horse, " Wish me luck!"
Then, she rode off towards the competitor's area.
Quatre smiled and shook his head, walking towards the bleachers. There were a few puddles on the ground from the rain, but it was only drizzling now. They still hadn't seen the sun in days, though. Quatre looked down at his muddy feet and suddenly became glad of his attire. He had worn some jeans, a t-shirt, and some sneakers. Now, incredibly dirty sneakers.
Lee waving his arms in the air like an idiot caught his eye and he headed over to him and Blake.
' Great, try to take a break from one Duo, and you get another...' Quatre thought, ' Well, at least Blake's here to even things out.'
" Hey guys," Quatre smiled before taking a seat next to the two.
" Hey Q-boy," Lee smiled
" Q-boy..?" Quatre mumbled
" Heard you finally pulled a move on my little sister." Lee grinned from ear to ear.
" Well..." Quatre coughed and looked away, " Yeah...sort of..."
" Aww, don't worry short stuff, I won't give ya hell!" Lee slapped him on the back, " I'm glad it was you rather than someone like Brody again."
Quatre was watching all the people swarming in the warm-up arena on their horses, but looked over at Lee after hearing him.
" Again?" He asked, curious.
" Er...she hasn't talked to you...Eh, did I say again? Naw, I meant to say ' I'm glad it was you rather than someone like Brody' Yup!" Lee nodded.
" You should talk to Demetri, " Blake suggested calmly.
" Err..." Quatre leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, continuing to watch the riders. He could guess what Lee was talking about, but he didn't want to accept it.
Then, the announcer came back on and announced the first runners. There weren't many there that day because of the rain and the fact that it was a Tuesday night. Demetri would be third to run.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Demetri trotted out of the arena, happy with Clover's warm-up. She heard that she was third on the list to run, so she went toward the gate. Other riders, mostly girls, were sitting, their horses prancing in place with excitement. A few of the girls looked nervous, but most were used to this.
' Well,' Demetri thought to herself with a smile, ' doesn't look like I'll have much trouble grabbing the money...'
Demetri had decided to get her money's worth with this run and sign up for Jackpot barrels, instead of just time. If she got the best run, she would get the money collected. And, judging by the small turnout, it wouldn't be that much.
" So, how do you like the mare? She gonna give you a good run?" Demetri heard a familiar, yet unwelcome voice.
" We'll find out," Came an annoyingly saucy voice.
Demetri looked over to just next to the gate. There was a woman on the very same black mare that Demetri rode before. The woman had strawberry blond, strait hair with dark streaks. Both her and her saddle had silver scattered around. She had a perfect, clean felt hat on. Demetri remembered that she just had her dark hair braided messily.
Next to the woman on the horse, was Brody, hanging over the rail, smiling up at the pretty girl. He was wearing his usual cowboy gear and stupid look on his face.
The announcer came back on and announced the first run's time. 16.4. Demetri didn't even notice that they had started. Then, they announced the next run and Demetri noticed the girl with Brody got ready to go, giving Brody a kiss before she left. Demetri shuddered.
Brody watched the girl go, then went over to Demetri.
' Did he notice me?' Demetri panicked to herself.
" Jealous, are we?" Brody grinned at Demetri.
" Yeah," Demetri smiled towards the arena, " she's riding a good horse."
Brody gave a low growl and patted Clover, who snorted at him.
" It'll get her farther than you riding this stallion." Brody snorted.
" You've never even seen this boy run. How do you know?" Demetri asked defensively.
" Cause I know the rider REAL well..." Brody laughed.
" Nice run, Ashley." Came the announcer, " 15.7. Real nice run!"
Brody looked at Demetri expectantly. Demetri glared back and got ready for her run.
" Next up, Demetri Roswald. Long time, no see, Dusty."
Demetri waved to the familiar announcer and went into the arena as whispers erupted among the crowd. She had been going to this same arena for barrel practices since she first started. And, there was always the same family announcing. Demetri noticed that their daughter, who was seven years older than her, had now taken over as announcer.
Demetri looked to the Bleachers and saw Blake, Lee, and Quatre. Quatre still looked a little worried, but supported her right along with her brothers. Demetri smiled and waved at him before she turned her attention to the barrels. She kicked Clover and he took off like a rocket. Demetri was a little surprised by his speed in the arena for his first time, but kept her concentration. It was perfect. The arena was, her balance was, her horse was, the distance and speed was. And, with all those factors in place, they swiftly blew through those three barrels.
True to her name, Dusty raised hell for the arena dirt on every turn.
Back on the bleachers, Quatre felt close to panic. He had lost sight of Demetri after the first barrel. There was so much dust that he didn't see her until her and Clover blasted through the wall of dust and bounded past the timer.
" Woah..." They heard the announcer as Demetri pulled her horse to a quick stop. " Err, um..." The announcer sniffed as if she were crying, " 15.2...Let us breath, Dusty...Let us breath..."
Cheers came from the bleachers, but not just from the three guys. More people seemed to be touched by her sudden, strong return. After all, before the incident, she was their hometown hero in the finals.
Demetri smiled at the crowd, tears in her eyes. Unlike Brody had made her feel, they were not ashamed of her after the tragedy at the finals. They supported her comeback and if she hadn't made this run, she would have let them down.
" So may familiar faces..." She thought to herself as she finally studied the faces better. A lot of the riders smiled at her and congratulated her, too. Many of them she had grown up around and, for some of the younger ones, she had even babysat some. She looked back over to Brody and Ashley. Ashley looked a little angry and Brody pretended to not notice her.
Demetri smiled to herself as she took Clover back to her trailer, away from the noise. She un-tacked him, gave him some oats and tied him to the side of the trailer.
" One run for tonight will be good," She spoke to Clover, " You did great, boy!"
" You did great, too!" Lee said from behind her, making her jump.
" Yeah, looks like Dusty's back." Blake smiled at her.
" You think?" Demetri asked, turning towards them.
" The whole crowd seems to think so," Quatre smiled at her, " They love you."
Demetri smiled at Quatre and went and gave him a big hug. The sun was completely down now, making it hard to see where the clouds were. The drizzling from before was starting to turn into a pouring.
" Oh dear," Demetri said, looking over at Clover. " We better get him in the trailer..."
" Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it." Blake said
" We will?" Lee looked over at Blake.
" Thanks guys." Demetri smiled at the two, then looked back to Quatre. " C'mon, I'll show you around here. It's an old hangout place for me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Demetri," Quatre stopped her after they had walked around a bit and said hello to some of Demetri's old acquaintances. He stopped walking just by some of the cow pens, which currently only had a few scraggly looking roping steers in it.
" What is it?" Demetri smiled at him as she turned around. It was dark and the rain kept it's steady flow, which they were standing under. Neither one really seemed to mind or take notice.
" I was...I mean, well, I was talking with your brothers earlier and a certain subject came up." Quatre cleared his throat, " Lee was kind of weird about it, but Blake told me to talk to you..."
" Blake did?" Demetri chuckled, " Well then, whatever it is, it must be pretty bad, so I'd rather not talk about it at the moment."
" What?" Quatre blinked, then took a step forward, touching her arm, " But, Demetri, I would gladly listen any time..."
" What about you, Quatre?" Demetri asked, suddenly.
" What do you mean?" Quatre asked.
" Well, I figure I let you in on a load of my past, you return the favor to me." Demetri said, " You're so focused on helping others, you don't realize you need help yourself."
" Well, I suppose some of that might be true..." Quatre shook his head.
" Truth is, I don't know that much about you, Quatre. I know what kind of person you are, I know one of your friends, but I don't know how you came to be who you are. If you've got a billionaire corporation that you can live off of for the rest of your life and you don't have a goal or dream, why did you come to the University? And how did you come to make friends with Duo?" Demetri sighed, and looked up at Quatre with teary eyes, " Quatre, I want to know why you get that glazed look in your eyes whenever we talk about the war. Why won't you talk to me?"
" Demetri..." Quatre looked at her then looked away, " I...you don't need my worries on your shoulders right now..."
" Nor do you mine." Demetri gasped out, close to tears, " If it's that bad that you can't talk to me, maybe..."
" Don't!" Quatre snapped " Don't say it. That is just the reason why I don't tell you more..."
" But, Quatre..." Demetri took a step closer at which point he backed up.
" I didn't want to lose you to my past," Quatre said, " I was being selfish...I know what would happen if you knew that..."
There was a large silence that loomed on the humid air and rain.
" Knew what, Quatre?" Demetri stepped forward again.
" Knew that..." Quatre looked back up at Demetri, " Forget it."
Quatre turned around and took some steps away, before stopping.
" Believe me, you are much better off never knowing me in the first place, " Quatre looked towards the clouds, " I don't know why I thought..."
Quatre was interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around him from behind. Demetri leaned against Quatre's back and buried her face in his wet shirt. Quatre could feel her shallow breathing and fast heart-beat against his back.
" Don't..." She whispered in a shaky voice, " I know you don't want me to say it, so please...don't do it..."
Quatre could tell she started to cry, she was shuddering against him. He didn't turn around, but just stood there, the rain beating against his upturned face. He just felt Demetri and listened to her unsteady breath. There was no greater comfort than he had ever felt, but it didn't take away the pain of what had happened before.
" This pain, it will never go away," Demetri whispered to him, " But, you can learn to live with it, to build your life around it...and be happy...That's what you taught me."
" ..." Quatre sighed, almost angrily, " I don't deserve..."
" Yes, you do." Demetri hugged him tighter, " You deserve every bit of happiness, you're human..."
" Some don't think so..." Quatre said, " I'm not so sure myself..."
" You dream..." Demetri whispered, as if it were her last chance.
" You don't know what I did..." Quatre whispered back and slipped from her grasp.
" Quatre! Please..." Demetri grasped at his shirt, making him stop.
Quatre couldn't seem to get past the lump in his throat to speak and his legs seemed to be failing him. Something made him stay there. It wasn't Demetri's weak hold on his shirt, and it wasn't the sticky mud on the ground. Something tugged deeply at his heart, anchoring him to his spot. Something about the way Demetri was crying. It was something he couldn't seem to identify, but accepted none-the-less.
" Quatre..." There was something different in her voice. She had given up. " Qua..."
Quatre felt her hands shaking against his back and knew there was something wrong. He turned around just in time to steady her on her feet. Her eyes seemed to glaze over before they shut and she collapsed against Quatre. Quatre grabbed her and held her against him, panicked.
" Demetri!?" Quatre shook her slightly. She sighed and continued to cry. " What's wrong? What's going on?"
" It's..." Demetri tried to steady herself, " Nothing...a cold..."
Quatre had no free hands, so he pressed her head against his neck to feel her temperature.
" Demetri, you've been sick on and off for a while. You're burning up." Quatre looked down at her, " You need to go to the hospital."
" No!" Demetri jerked away slightly, " Just, no...I hate the hospital...you understand..."
" Okay," Quatre said after contemplating the situation further.
" I want to leave." Demetri cried.
" Me too," Quatre said, kissing the top of her head.
A/N- Whoa, that took way too long! So, what do you think? I like that last scene a lot. Now we can deal with Quatre's problems more.
In the next chapter: They go on their summer trip, a much needed vacation. Will they meet any of the others there? Will Quatre talk to Demetri finally? Their relationship will take some dramatic turns.
Author: Supurrkitty
Disclaimer: I do not own any Gundam wing characters, never have, never will, and that's it!
A/N: Oh yeah, tenth chapter, baby! I think this is my longest story ever! Hooray! Thanks for all the support of my reviewers, you really don't know how much it means to me...*cries* these are happy tears!
Moving on
" Demetri, you better be careful..." Quatre warned, looking worried as she checked the cinch on Clover one last time.
" Don't worry, Quatre." Demetri smiled at him, " besides, this is a covered arena. The rain hasn't even touched it."
" That's good," Quatre smiled back, " But, still, be careful."
Demetri looked at Clover and patted his neck. Then, she checked his tie on the trailer and walked over to Quatre. She wrapped her arms around him in an embrace.
" That's really annoying, you know." Demetri laughed, then looked back up at him, " But, thanks for caring..."
Demetri turned her head to the arena as she heard the speaker come to life. She untied clover and slipped the bridle into his mouth. She threw the reins over his head and mounted in one, swift movement.
" Now, you can go watch from the bleachers, I believe Blake and Lee are near the front." She winked at him from the top of the horse, " Wish me luck!"
Then, she rode off towards the competitor's area.
Quatre smiled and shook his head, walking towards the bleachers. There were a few puddles on the ground from the rain, but it was only drizzling now. They still hadn't seen the sun in days, though. Quatre looked down at his muddy feet and suddenly became glad of his attire. He had worn some jeans, a t-shirt, and some sneakers. Now, incredibly dirty sneakers.
Lee waving his arms in the air like an idiot caught his eye and he headed over to him and Blake.
' Great, try to take a break from one Duo, and you get another...' Quatre thought, ' Well, at least Blake's here to even things out.'
" Hey guys," Quatre smiled before taking a seat next to the two.
" Hey Q-boy," Lee smiled
" Q-boy..?" Quatre mumbled
" Heard you finally pulled a move on my little sister." Lee grinned from ear to ear.
" Well..." Quatre coughed and looked away, " Yeah...sort of..."
" Aww, don't worry short stuff, I won't give ya hell!" Lee slapped him on the back, " I'm glad it was you rather than someone like Brody again."
Quatre was watching all the people swarming in the warm-up arena on their horses, but looked over at Lee after hearing him.
" Again?" He asked, curious.
" Er...she hasn't talked to you...Eh, did I say again? Naw, I meant to say ' I'm glad it was you rather than someone like Brody' Yup!" Lee nodded.
" You should talk to Demetri, " Blake suggested calmly.
" Err..." Quatre leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, continuing to watch the riders. He could guess what Lee was talking about, but he didn't want to accept it.
Then, the announcer came back on and announced the first runners. There weren't many there that day because of the rain and the fact that it was a Tuesday night. Demetri would be third to run.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Demetri trotted out of the arena, happy with Clover's warm-up. She heard that she was third on the list to run, so she went toward the gate. Other riders, mostly girls, were sitting, their horses prancing in place with excitement. A few of the girls looked nervous, but most were used to this.
' Well,' Demetri thought to herself with a smile, ' doesn't look like I'll have much trouble grabbing the money...'
Demetri had decided to get her money's worth with this run and sign up for Jackpot barrels, instead of just time. If she got the best run, she would get the money collected. And, judging by the small turnout, it wouldn't be that much.
" So, how do you like the mare? She gonna give you a good run?" Demetri heard a familiar, yet unwelcome voice.
" We'll find out," Came an annoyingly saucy voice.
Demetri looked over to just next to the gate. There was a woman on the very same black mare that Demetri rode before. The woman had strawberry blond, strait hair with dark streaks. Both her and her saddle had silver scattered around. She had a perfect, clean felt hat on. Demetri remembered that she just had her dark hair braided messily.
Next to the woman on the horse, was Brody, hanging over the rail, smiling up at the pretty girl. He was wearing his usual cowboy gear and stupid look on his face.
The announcer came back on and announced the first run's time. 16.4. Demetri didn't even notice that they had started. Then, they announced the next run and Demetri noticed the girl with Brody got ready to go, giving Brody a kiss before she left. Demetri shuddered.
Brody watched the girl go, then went over to Demetri.
' Did he notice me?' Demetri panicked to herself.
" Jealous, are we?" Brody grinned at Demetri.
" Yeah," Demetri smiled towards the arena, " she's riding a good horse."
Brody gave a low growl and patted Clover, who snorted at him.
" It'll get her farther than you riding this stallion." Brody snorted.
" You've never even seen this boy run. How do you know?" Demetri asked defensively.
" Cause I know the rider REAL well..." Brody laughed.
" Nice run, Ashley." Came the announcer, " 15.7. Real nice run!"
Brody looked at Demetri expectantly. Demetri glared back and got ready for her run.
" Next up, Demetri Roswald. Long time, no see, Dusty."
Demetri waved to the familiar announcer and went into the arena as whispers erupted among the crowd. She had been going to this same arena for barrel practices since she first started. And, there was always the same family announcing. Demetri noticed that their daughter, who was seven years older than her, had now taken over as announcer.
Demetri looked to the Bleachers and saw Blake, Lee, and Quatre. Quatre still looked a little worried, but supported her right along with her brothers. Demetri smiled and waved at him before she turned her attention to the barrels. She kicked Clover and he took off like a rocket. Demetri was a little surprised by his speed in the arena for his first time, but kept her concentration. It was perfect. The arena was, her balance was, her horse was, the distance and speed was. And, with all those factors in place, they swiftly blew through those three barrels.
True to her name, Dusty raised hell for the arena dirt on every turn.
Back on the bleachers, Quatre felt close to panic. He had lost sight of Demetri after the first barrel. There was so much dust that he didn't see her until her and Clover blasted through the wall of dust and bounded past the timer.
" Woah..." They heard the announcer as Demetri pulled her horse to a quick stop. " Err, um..." The announcer sniffed as if she were crying, " 15.2...Let us breath, Dusty...Let us breath..."
Cheers came from the bleachers, but not just from the three guys. More people seemed to be touched by her sudden, strong return. After all, before the incident, she was their hometown hero in the finals.
Demetri smiled at the crowd, tears in her eyes. Unlike Brody had made her feel, they were not ashamed of her after the tragedy at the finals. They supported her comeback and if she hadn't made this run, she would have let them down.
" So may familiar faces..." She thought to herself as she finally studied the faces better. A lot of the riders smiled at her and congratulated her, too. Many of them she had grown up around and, for some of the younger ones, she had even babysat some. She looked back over to Brody and Ashley. Ashley looked a little angry and Brody pretended to not notice her.
Demetri smiled to herself as she took Clover back to her trailer, away from the noise. She un-tacked him, gave him some oats and tied him to the side of the trailer.
" One run for tonight will be good," She spoke to Clover, " You did great, boy!"
" You did great, too!" Lee said from behind her, making her jump.
" Yeah, looks like Dusty's back." Blake smiled at her.
" You think?" Demetri asked, turning towards them.
" The whole crowd seems to think so," Quatre smiled at her, " They love you."
Demetri smiled at Quatre and went and gave him a big hug. The sun was completely down now, making it hard to see where the clouds were. The drizzling from before was starting to turn into a pouring.
" Oh dear," Demetri said, looking over at Clover. " We better get him in the trailer..."
" Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it." Blake said
" We will?" Lee looked over at Blake.
" Thanks guys." Demetri smiled at the two, then looked back to Quatre. " C'mon, I'll show you around here. It's an old hangout place for me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Demetri," Quatre stopped her after they had walked around a bit and said hello to some of Demetri's old acquaintances. He stopped walking just by some of the cow pens, which currently only had a few scraggly looking roping steers in it.
" What is it?" Demetri smiled at him as she turned around. It was dark and the rain kept it's steady flow, which they were standing under. Neither one really seemed to mind or take notice.
" I was...I mean, well, I was talking with your brothers earlier and a certain subject came up." Quatre cleared his throat, " Lee was kind of weird about it, but Blake told me to talk to you..."
" Blake did?" Demetri chuckled, " Well then, whatever it is, it must be pretty bad, so I'd rather not talk about it at the moment."
" What?" Quatre blinked, then took a step forward, touching her arm, " But, Demetri, I would gladly listen any time..."
" What about you, Quatre?" Demetri asked, suddenly.
" What do you mean?" Quatre asked.
" Well, I figure I let you in on a load of my past, you return the favor to me." Demetri said, " You're so focused on helping others, you don't realize you need help yourself."
" Well, I suppose some of that might be true..." Quatre shook his head.
" Truth is, I don't know that much about you, Quatre. I know what kind of person you are, I know one of your friends, but I don't know how you came to be who you are. If you've got a billionaire corporation that you can live off of for the rest of your life and you don't have a goal or dream, why did you come to the University? And how did you come to make friends with Duo?" Demetri sighed, and looked up at Quatre with teary eyes, " Quatre, I want to know why you get that glazed look in your eyes whenever we talk about the war. Why won't you talk to me?"
" Demetri..." Quatre looked at her then looked away, " I...you don't need my worries on your shoulders right now..."
" Nor do you mine." Demetri gasped out, close to tears, " If it's that bad that you can't talk to me, maybe..."
" Don't!" Quatre snapped " Don't say it. That is just the reason why I don't tell you more..."
" But, Quatre..." Demetri took a step closer at which point he backed up.
" I didn't want to lose you to my past," Quatre said, " I was being selfish...I know what would happen if you knew that..."
There was a large silence that loomed on the humid air and rain.
" Knew what, Quatre?" Demetri stepped forward again.
" Knew that..." Quatre looked back up at Demetri, " Forget it."
Quatre turned around and took some steps away, before stopping.
" Believe me, you are much better off never knowing me in the first place, " Quatre looked towards the clouds, " I don't know why I thought..."
Quatre was interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around him from behind. Demetri leaned against Quatre's back and buried her face in his wet shirt. Quatre could feel her shallow breathing and fast heart-beat against his back.
" Don't..." She whispered in a shaky voice, " I know you don't want me to say it, so please...don't do it..."
Quatre could tell she started to cry, she was shuddering against him. He didn't turn around, but just stood there, the rain beating against his upturned face. He just felt Demetri and listened to her unsteady breath. There was no greater comfort than he had ever felt, but it didn't take away the pain of what had happened before.
" This pain, it will never go away," Demetri whispered to him, " But, you can learn to live with it, to build your life around it...and be happy...That's what you taught me."
" ..." Quatre sighed, almost angrily, " I don't deserve..."
" Yes, you do." Demetri hugged him tighter, " You deserve every bit of happiness, you're human..."
" Some don't think so..." Quatre said, " I'm not so sure myself..."
" You dream..." Demetri whispered, as if it were her last chance.
" You don't know what I did..." Quatre whispered back and slipped from her grasp.
" Quatre! Please..." Demetri grasped at his shirt, making him stop.
Quatre couldn't seem to get past the lump in his throat to speak and his legs seemed to be failing him. Something made him stay there. It wasn't Demetri's weak hold on his shirt, and it wasn't the sticky mud on the ground. Something tugged deeply at his heart, anchoring him to his spot. Something about the way Demetri was crying. It was something he couldn't seem to identify, but accepted none-the-less.
" Quatre..." There was something different in her voice. She had given up. " Qua..."
Quatre felt her hands shaking against his back and knew there was something wrong. He turned around just in time to steady her on her feet. Her eyes seemed to glaze over before they shut and she collapsed against Quatre. Quatre grabbed her and held her against him, panicked.
" Demetri!?" Quatre shook her slightly. She sighed and continued to cry. " What's wrong? What's going on?"
" It's..." Demetri tried to steady herself, " Nothing...a cold..."
Quatre had no free hands, so he pressed her head against his neck to feel her temperature.
" Demetri, you've been sick on and off for a while. You're burning up." Quatre looked down at her, " You need to go to the hospital."
" No!" Demetri jerked away slightly, " Just, no...I hate the hospital...you understand..."
" Okay," Quatre said after contemplating the situation further.
" I want to leave." Demetri cried.
" Me too," Quatre said, kissing the top of her head.
A/N- Whoa, that took way too long! So, what do you think? I like that last scene a lot. Now we can deal with Quatre's problems more.
In the next chapter: They go on their summer trip, a much needed vacation. Will they meet any of the others there? Will Quatre talk to Demetri finally? Their relationship will take some dramatic turns.