Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 32 - ( Chapter 32 )

— 32 —

February 6, A.C. 205. Base. 1 pm

"Hi, little brother..."

Quatre snorted slightly. "Can you not call me that?"

"What?" she protested. "You are!"

"That's entirely beside the point."

"How do you even know who I am?"

"Kiley?" Quatre asked, realizing that the voice wasn't quite right.

"No, this is Emily."

Quatre started laughing to himself, looking at his watch.

"What?" she protested. "What's funny?"

"Kiley and Richard are going with...Clark? Kiley's husband is Clark, right?"

"Carl," Emily returned in amusement.

Quatre flinched appreciatively, then realized they were on the phone and she couldn't see it. "Oops."

Emily sniggered at that. "I don't think there is a Clark, Superman."

"Hahaha," Quatre retorted. "I remember liking your husband, does that count?"

She laughed again.

"Anyway," he shook his head. "Emi...Kiley and Richard are coming into town tonight. I guess Carl has a conference that'll go until Wednesday and she wants to come spend time with me."

"Damn it, she beat me to it," Emily muttered.

"If you're flicking me shit for nearly saying you were coming to Inado..."

Emily laughed again. "Actually, I just got bored and decided to bless you."

"So kind," Quatre returned in a mock thankful voice.

His sister laughed even more, then sighed a happy sigh. "What are you doing? Are you busy?"

"No, I'm just kinda collapsed in my room. I'm a little hung over yet."

"Oh really now?" Emily demanded wryly. "And you didn't buy any Bloody Mary mix?"

"I had two packets, sister-dear," Quatre retorted dryly.

Emily fell silent.

"Yeah, we went out last night," Quatre explained. "Well, I took Simone to Sins..."

"Wait, what?"

"Sins? It's a club thing over here...properly, it's Seven Deadly Sins..."

"You go there?" she demanded, almost aghast.

"All the time," he agreed in amusement. "All you'll have really heard about is the back rooms, I bet you."

"The orgy room and the raver room? That's so wrong..."

"I took my girl to the buffet, then we danced in the bar," Quatre cut her off. "Sins has a flavor for just about every vice. Buffet, gambling, fashion shows...orgy rooms...strippers...I don't remember what all, but the club is usually packed and the music is always good."

"You should do a commercial for them," she noted wryly. "A name like yours..."

Quatre laughed wickedly. "Emily, they don't need my name. Everyone in Inado knows about it, and I'm sure in any direction for a hundred miles. Obviously, you're in the colonies and you know about it. My name would just throw in moral issues and my gazillions sisters."

"Hahaha," she retorted.

Quatre sniggered again.

"Em? You ready to go?"

Quatre tilted his head at the voice in her background.

"Right now?" Emily protested.

"I can...wait," he suggested hesitantly.

"No, it's fine...Quatre?"

"Hm?"

"We're heading in to town," Emily explained. "I'm gonna have to let you go."

"All right," he reassured her easily. "On week days I'm not entirely available from six-thirty to five...weekends I don't generally wake up until nine."

"All right," she agreed. "Later."

"Bye," he returned as the line went dead. He grinned slightly to himself, rolling over on his mattress.

It wasn't going to work...he needed another packet.

He groaned to himself and moved tiredly into the living area where Chai and Jor were curled together on the couch.

"What's up?" Jordan muttered, blinking at him.

"Too much to drink," Quatre explained.

"Sit down," Jordan ordered, crawling from under his wife. "Sit..." he repeated, shoving Quatre lightly toward the couch. "You're not going to puke again, are you?"

"No...I didn't have that much," Quatre returned.

"We need to get Simone something for driving our drunk asses home," Chai noted, moving to curl into Quatre's arms when he sat down.

Quatre blinked at her, but didn't let her realize he was startled.

"We also need to go get the rest of the cars," Jordan agreed, running the water. "You think she was upset with us?"

"I blacked out around when Trowa disappeared," Quatre returned. "I sort of remember him leaving, but..."

Chai started giggling wickedly.

"You might want to talk to your girl sooner than later, huh?" Jordan suggested in his own amusement. "I hate to say it, but you were being an ass."

Quatre felt suddenly and extremely ill.

Jordan laughed a little more...and hit some buttons on the vid.

"Maxwell?" the female sounded startled.

"I need Moreau at my house in five minutes," Jordan returned with authority.

"Yes, Sir," the woman replied, turning away from the machine as she started yelling.

"Jordan!" Quatre protested, trying to scramble from under Chai.

"Oh hush," Jordan returned, offering him a glass. "Drink this. You'll want to be recovered from it before she gets here."

"Was it...bad?" he asked, heading toward the bathroom.

"I thought it was funny," Jordan shrugged. "I'm not sure about the girlie, though."

Quatre squeezed his eyes shut tight, then moved into the bathroom.

He was wrong. He was going to puke again.

- -

February 6, A.C. 205. Base. 1:05 pm

Simone moved curiously into Jordan's house, studying her superior's expression uncertainly. She'd never been hunted down and yelled at to get her ass to her superior's like that before. Actually, Jordan hadn't ever had her summoned before, and she wasn't so sure she hadn't done something wrong.

"Morning," Chai greeted her happily from where she was curled up in the corner of the couch.

"Sleep well?" Jordan asked her casually.

Simone focused on him in confusion again. "You needed me?" she returned, saluting him.

He winked at her. "Last night...was bad, huh?"

Actually, Simone'd had a lot of fun. Driving Yuy's SUV on top of that had been a blast. The thing had feather-light steering and just seemed like a stallion. Even stopping to let them puke once or twice hadn't ruined her enjoyment of the drive...and that was after the familiar company of the dancing.

The group of them were so intertwined with each other that almost everything they'd said had been an inside joke

"Thank you for driving us home," he added, hugging her very briefly. "We wouldn't have gotten that bad if you hadn't noted that you weren't drinking and could drive us. I want to apologize for that."

"For...what?" Simone asked blankly.

"Our drunken stupidity," Chai returned happily.

Simone blinked at the brunette a moment, then smiled slightly at Jordan.

"Simone?" Quatre sounded uncertain.

The blond perked up slightly, then frowned slightly at Jordan.

"I just wanted to apologize," he reassured her. "I figured the fastest way was to get you out of whatever shit they might have you busy with, and I have rank...ha!"

Simone giggled wickedly at that and moved around him to hug her boy.

"Come on," Quatre muttered, not letting her kiss him as he led her toward his bedroom.

The girl's heart skipped a beat or three.

He wasn't going to break up with her, was he? She thought they were having fun...

He shut the door behind them with his hands in his pockets, moving to slump onto his bed without looking at her.

"What?" she asked, her heart beating even more wildly.

He looked up to her sharply, blinking a moment. He considered her eyes in confusion before tilting his head slightly. "Did I...do...something...last night?"

"Like what?" she asked, moving to sit next to him and grab his wrist.

"Inappropriate?" he returned.

She sniggered slightly at that. "You were a little drunk...you kissed a bit sloppy, but..."

"Was I...being an ass?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah, you were telling Elisha that Trowa probably wasn't that good in bed," she agreed, smirking slightly as she considered his expression.

Quatre blinked at her in consternation a moment, then moved across the room to throw the door open...as both Chai and Jordan broke into wicked giggles on the couch.

"You asshole!" Quatre half-shouted, darting forward to smack him upside the head...and jump back before he could get grabbed.

Jordan decided it wasn't worth pursuing the matter as Chai buried her face in a pillow, still giggling.

"He told me I was being an ass last night and should probably apologize to you for it," Quatre noted to his girl, turning back to his bedroom door as Jordan laughed harder. "I was all worried I'd tried to talk you into bed or something...I don't remember much of what happened after Trowa left."

"Or that's the moment in it all that you remember," Chai hazarded, looking up to him with a grin. "Fortunately, Elisha could tell you were just fucking with him and didn't take you seriously."

"Who is Elisha?" Jordan asked blankly.

"That chick Trowa was dancing with all night? The one you bought about four extra drinks for?"

Jordan blinked at her blankly.

"Wow," Simone noted, looking to Chai. "He wasn't kidding when he said it went bad, was he?"

"Not in the slightest," she agreed with a grin. "From what I've gathered, he blanked out around when we all went pee and the bartender finally cut us off."

Simone giggled at that, remembering all of their stunned looks as the man had passed them bottles of water and walked away.

"When did that happen?" Quatre asked blankly.

"Before you started being an ass to Trowa," Chai noted, grinning at him. "A good while before, actually."

There was a tap on the door, and they all looked up to see Trowa leading the woman in question through the doors.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest you don't want breakfast," Chai noted, smiling at the girl.

"I'm not terribly hungry, no," Elisha returned, smiling at her before looking to Quatre.

Quatre grinned wickedly at her as Trowa gave him an extremely dirty look.

"Good morning, Elisha," Simone noted happily, moving around to Quatre's side.

"Holy shit, you're a soldier?" the woman asked blankly, noting her uniform. She looked around to Chai.

"I'm the wife of a lieutenant general," Chai explained happily.

Those words processed after a moment before she focused on Jordan.

"Good afternoon," Jordan noted, studying her eyes. "I'm not the only one. All five of us guys are."

The girl looked back to Trowa in amazement.

"Did you have to?" Trowa asked, giving him an annoyed look.

"Of course I did," Jordan noted, bouncing up happily. "We have more Bloody Mary if you need it," he added to the female. "Or can I get you something to drink?"

- -

February 6, A.C. 205. Base. 4 pm

Duty moved curiously up to the window of the car that had just pulled in. "How can I help you?"

"We're here to see...uh...Lieutenant General Winner," the woman noted. "He's expecting us."

"Is he?" Duty asked, startled. "He hadn't said anything to me...do you have your guest pass?"

"What?" the woman asked.

"Why would he say anything to you?" a teenage boy asked from the back seat.

Eastland looked the kid up and down, noting a definite resemblance to the general in question. "Because he's my friend," Duty retorted.

"I'm his sister Kiley," the woman said, "this is my husband, Carl Baen."

"All right, Miss Kiley," Duty noted, stepping back. "Come pull up in this parking lot and I'll call the good general and let him know he forgot to mention something to me."

Kiley smiled slightly at that as he turned into the guard hut. Quatre had been muttering about his family coming to visit him one afternoon, or Duty would have asked them to turn around and leave. The car moved smoothly into the lot, and Duty picked up his phone, dialing the number for the man's cell.

"Yes?" Quatre asked curiously.

"General Winner?"

"Lieutenant general," Quatre corrected darkly.

Duty sniggered. "There's this pretty little blond lady here with two men. One looks remarkably like you."

"Kiley?" Quatre asked blankly. "She's already here? I told her to call me first."

"Ah, that explains it, then. I'll give them the directions to your place."

"All right, thanks, Duty. I'll get you something."

Duty laughed appreciatively at that, hanging the phone back up. He met with the woman on the path to the hut, and her expression was worried. "All right, Winner said you're supposed to be here...but when you have to enter a base, calling before you show up is a great idea."

She gave him an embarrassed sort of annoyed look.

"You'll want to take this road here," Duty added, pointing at the road. "All the houses look the same, so you'll want to hit the one before the monster SUV..."

It didn't take them too long to find the appropriate house, and by the time they were parked, Quatre was moving down the stairs with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Uncle Quatre," Richard greeted, bouncing around to hug him briefly.

"Hello, Dick," Quatre returned.

Richard smacked him in the arm as he started laughing, then the younger male's eyes went huge. "I'm sorry!"

"What?" Quatre asked, still smiling as Carl took his hand. "What's wrong?"

"That was...I..."

"We taught him not to hit," Kiley said wryly.

"Mm, then you'll want to steer clear of that little brunette," Quatre suggesting, turning to point at Chai over his shoulder.

"Whatever!" Chai retorted happily.

"Hi, little brother," Kiley muttered quietly, pulling him into a hug.

"Hi, old woman," Quatre retorted.

She smacked him.

He snickered, but decided not to point it out and turned so Chai moved up to his side. "This is Chai Maxwell," he introduced her. "She's the one that made the Prozac go away."

"You're horrible," Chai muttered, elbowing him lightly.

"She's also his wife," he added, indicating Jordan as he moved from the house as well. "The rest of them will end up here eventually, Chai's the only one who feeds us, without her we'd all be skin and bones..."

"Or something," Chai agreed wryly.

"I'm Kiley," Kiley noted with a grin, shaking the woman's hand. "This is my husband Carl, and that's our son, Richard."

Richard, however, was staring into Chai's face with a sort of bemused expression.

"She's married, Richard," Quatre teased in Italian.

"To me," Jordan agreed, strolling down the stairs to look the boy over interest.

"Yours, too," Richard returned, focusing on his eyes.

"Richard," Kiley hissed.

"They're purple!" Richard protested at her.

Chai laughed, offering him a hand. "Nice to meet you."

He blushed, looking down as he shook it.

"We get it often enough," Chai reassured the slightly embarrassed woman. "Jordan actually had a soldier in Vietnam all but beg him for a picture."

"Hi," Jordan added, offering his hand to the woman. "How was the flight?"

"Easy, actually," she returned as he shook hands with her husband and son.

"Let's go inside," Chai suggested. "I can make some tea."

"Kiley," Quatre muttered as they all followed, "look." He raised the necklace with the magnet on it for her inspection.

"Why does it have a magnet on it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "New fashion trend?"

"But only for the empaths," Quatre reassured her happily, letting it fall again. "There's a field created...that's a gundanium chain. The two together interrupt the empathy, so I can be...normal..."

"As normal as you get, anyway," Jordan noted happily, moving aside as they all passed to shut the door. "Should I call the crew?"

"Dinner will be done in about an hour," Chai agreed, moving toward the kitchen as Richard looked the living room over with interest.

"Should I just make it us?" Jor asked Quatre. "Or should I..."

Quatre bit his lip as he debated about that one. He wasn't so sure he wanted to introduce Simone to his sister yet...

"His girlfriend needs to come," Richard noted happily to Jordan. "Mom will die if she doesn't get to meet her."

"Richard!" Kiley protested at him.

The boy grinned wickedly, shying away backwards.

"I don't care if Trent or Max show up," Quatre added. "Or Riley, actually...and Danielle, as long as Wufei's okay with it."

"I think he growed up," Jordan reassured his friend, moving toward the kitchen.

"I'm not so sure," Quatre returned happily, gesturing toward the couches. "Please, have a seat."