Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 47 - ( Chapter 47 )

— 47 —

February 25, A.C. 205. Base. 9am

“How do you say…” Alek started, then frowned as he looked around to Mario. “You said…earlier,” he noted.

“What were we talking about?” Mario asked him curiously.

Alek frowned, thinking back over the earlier portion of the day.

“I’m gonna head back to my place,” Raul noted, glancing at his watch. “It shouldn’t take me too long.”

“What are you doing?” Xane asked, tilting his head at his friend.

“He’s gonna go play his flute, huh?” Judas asked him happily in German.

Xane rolled his eyes as Alek started laughing.

“Don’t do that,” Mario snapped at the man.

“What?” Judas asked, startled by the command in the tone.

“Don’t be speaking German at him when I’m trying to teach him English,” Mario’s tone was annoyed. “It’s too easy to fall into it instead of figuring everything else out.”

“Hm, and Yuy outranks Maxwell,” Xane noted, looking to his comrades. “That means he outranks us.”

“Damn,” Judas muttered, then shrugged and looked to Alek again.

“I’ll be back later,” Raul noted, rolling his eyes at the guys.

As far as he could figure, he’d waited too long, but Juan should be on his island. He’d have to say something about getting a phone line set up and timing…the fact that he was calling at all should thrill the man anyway.

He moved into his car, and it only took him a few minutes to get from Judas’ apartment to his own. He moved into the place silently, pulling a can from his fridge as he turned to his vid and typed in the access code he got to use because Maxwell was special, then typed the first numbers in from memory as he opened his phone to check the ending.

Instead of ringing, the line started playing a song that Juan’d had blasting in his car several times.

Raul grinned slightly, leaning his weight against his right arm beside the vid screen.

Juan’s expression was confused as he first appeared, and then his eyes instantly brightened. “Raul!”

“Wow, you remember me?” Raul teased, grinning as he stood straighter. “I thought you’d have forgotten about me.”

“I thought you didn’t want to bother,” Juan noted, his expression faltering a moment.

“It took me a while to get them to set up the line,” Raul noted, rolling his eyes. “And then I had to wait until a time I think you’re normally home…you’re not busy are you?”

“No! Of course not! Here…let me call back,” the guy looked pleased again. “You can tell me how the states are treating you!” he laughed a bit, bouncing slightly. “What’s the number?”

- -

February 25, A.C. 205. Base. 12pm

Jordan looked up to Raul with raised eyebrows as Xane slid in next to their superior.

“Huh…” Raul considered playing innocent, then decided it wouldn’t be worth the effort. “What?”

“What?” Jordan repeated levelly.

“What did you do?” Riley asked as she and Danielle looked up at the males. “He’s been grumpy.”

“He’s fighting with Chai or something,” Xane noted as Judas sat next to Danielle. “That’d make any man grumpy.”

Jordan gave him a look as Raul turned to gather a chair from a near-by table.

“What?” Xane asked curiously.

“Where is Alek, speaking of,” Jordan looked back to Judas.

“We were speaking about him?” Riley asked blankly, blinking at the man.

He leveled her with a look.

She started eating her food again.

“Alek says ‘what’ as an initial response to anything he says,” Xane noted happily. “Doesn’t matter if he perfectly understands it or not.”

“Ah,” Riley nodded, then tilted her head at Judas.

“Mario’s taking him to lunch in town,” Judas explained, shrugging himself as he started picking at the plate of food that had been ordered for him. “We’ve been ordered not to speak German to him when Mario’s around.”

“Damn,” Danielle muttered, blinking at him before looking to Xane.

“Hm?” Xane asked from where he also had started picking at his food.

“What’s up with you? You’re not eating.”

“I’m eating,” he retorted, gesturing at his plate like there was a visible difference from when he’d sat.

“Sure,” Danielle agreed, looking to Raul. “What did you do?”

“What do you think I did?” Raul returned easily.

“I think you did something that you probably shouldn’t have,” she returned. “Something with questionable legality that Jor doesn’t entirely approve of, but you used his resources.”

“He called Juan Tsai,” Jordan noted, leveling Raul with a look.

“Why the hell for?” Xane asked him blankly.

“Sorry, Chris,” Raul retorted, giving him a look. “Didn’t mean to bug you.”

The group focused on Xane, who rolled his eyes and looked away.

“I told him I would and he’ll call me,” Raul noted. “The guy doesn’t have any real friends and he’s not that bad to hang out with…he’s really damn impressionable, too, so if I can get my hooks in him properly he’ll level off his black-market shit.”

“Or something,” Jordan agreed darkly.

“We talked for two minutes on Jor’s penny,” Raul added to the females, “then he called me back and we talked for a half hour.”

“He lives in Taiwan, doesn’t he?” Riley asked curiously. “Isn’t the long-distance hell?”

“I suppose,” Raul shrugged. “What harm does it do me to talk to him, really?”

“Oh, I dunno, something about him calling the base sets up red flags,” Jordan noted dryly. “At some point your conversations will get tapped, and if whatever you’re saying sounds even remotely illegal they’ll set up a fucking inquisition to make sure you’re not breaking the law.”

Raul blinked at him, then shrugged and looked down to his plate.

It seemed about time to give the man his cell phone number instead of the vid…or find some way to make other arrangements.

- -

February 25, A.C. 205. Base. 5pm

“So?” Chance asked curiously, resting his weight against Une’s desk as he watched her flip through a file by the window.

“So…what?” she returned, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“So have you decided,” he explained, tilting his head slightly. “You said that house’d be empty in a week and he could have it.”

“What if we’re relocating?” she snapped, turning to look at him. “Why should you settle down when we cold move at any time?”

“Because I’m not moving,” Chance gave her a curious look. “And without me, you’d be hard-pressed to get the others to move with you.”

“You can’t stay if I leave,” she protested, turning on him. “If I leave, you have to come with me.”

“No, actually,” Chance returned. “I’m a free-agent…we all are. Actually, I think at this point that if we put in for the rank upgrade we cold all be generals.”

“That’s a scary thought,” she muttered, turning back to the file. “Yes.”

“What?” he asked blankly.

“That house will be free in two weeks and they can move in it,” she returned, looking back to him again.

He gave her a very long and very level look.

She shrugged and went back to her task.

“Some days I hate you,” Chance informed her, pushing away from the desk. “You want to come to our place for supper tonight?”

“Sure,” she returned pleasantly, turning to smile at him.

He grinned at her, then turned. “I’ll make sure my wife is all right with it,” he noted. “I’ll call you or send a runner once I get the final word.”

“All right,” she agreed happily. “Later.”

Chance left the room.

- -

February 25, A.C. 205. Base. 9pm

Jordan started laughing hard as Une gave him an almost real disbelieving look.

“You’re horrible!” Chai protested, hitting at her husband in protest, which made him laugh harder.

Quatre slammed his palm to his forehead and Chance had been laughing since he’d realized what his friend had been saying. Trowa had his palm against his forehead and Wufei was laughing just as hard as Chance.

“Oh wow…just…wow,” Shin muttered, running a hand down her face.

Jordan laughed even harder.

“I so disown you all,” Une noted, rising to her feet.

“Hey!” Chance protested, though he was still laughing.

Une grinned at them, then sighed and shook her head. “I do have to go...you get that house across the street,” she added to Trowa and Wufei, pointing out the window. “The family in there is moving to Panama in a week, there will be a week of revamp to make sure it’s still stable and what have you, then you can move in.”

Wufei and Trowa both blinked at her, sobering in amazement.

“Didn’t you tell them?” she demanded of Chance.

Chance laughed even more as they all looked at him. “I kinda forgot…it’s only been a couple hours.”

“Holy shit, really?” Trowa asked, looking back to the woman.

“I received your request,” she noted, tilting her head at them. “And now I’m assuming it was forged by Mr. Legal, there,” she pointed at Chance and rolled her eyes. “Don’t you remember turning it into me at one this afternoon? I was out of my office at the time, but who else would have set it on my desk?”

They grinned innocently at her.

She rolled her eyes again, smacked Chance lightly upside the head, then winked at Jordan. “Be good, boys. I’ll see you in the morning or something.”

“Or something,” Jor agreed.

“Oi, Une,” Quatre muttered.

She stopped and turned to look at him.

“We’re all going to need a week off around Easter.”

She raised her eyebrow at him.

“I invited them with me to go to L-4 and meet my family,” he explained, studying her expression. “I’ve done roped them into it, so we’ll need the time off.”

She sighed heavily, shaking her head at him, then turned and left the office.

“Does that mean you don’t get it?” Shin asked in concern, looking to the man.

“That means she’s going to have to work on getting it for us and that will make people irritated with her,” Chance noted, pursing his lips. “I guess it’s time to rally the troops, huh? I’ll schedule another officer’s club and we can own some ass.”

Shin turned to give him a very level look.

He grinned innocently at her.

“Some days I can’t believe I married you,” she informed him.

“But, Mom,” Chip muttered, bouncing slightly where he was sitting. “He gave you that really big rock.”

Chai started laughing wickedly as Shin grinned back at her child.

Chip was very proud of himself.

“Oh geeze,” Jordan muttered, smacking his palm to his forehead as Chance started laughing himself.

“I guess some things breed true,” Quatre noted to Wufei.

“More’s the pity,” Wufei conceded.

Shin started laughing.

- -

February 25, A.C. 205. Base. 11pm

Considering that they’d never actually gotten into a fight before, Jordan wasn’t entirely sure how to go about apologizing to the woman. He wasn’t sure if it was necessary, or even if she was over it. He’d been in other fights, and he knew make-up sex could be quite satisfying, but that wasn’t the point of his relationship with his dark-haired wife.

“Hm?” she muttered as he shut the door behind them, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m an asshole,” he returned, moving to sit on the end of the bed.

She cocked her head to the side slightly as she pulled her shirt off. “And…why are you thinking that?”

“Because I have this wife,” he returned, pulling his own shirt off as he started kicking off his shoes. “She’s this wonderful woman who I’ve been fucking up with.”

“Not the last two nights,” she retorted, turning into the bathroom.

“I’m sorry,” he said seriously, studying her as she started brushing her teeth. “And you know,” he added, moving to lean against the bathroom door. “I grew up in a worse place than Angels…at least when I was little. That part of L-2 had been royally screwed over, under, around and through so many times it couldn’t tell it’s head from it’s ass. I told you how I got my first name, didn’t I?” he asked, studying her seriously.

She nodded, looking down.

“I didn’t mature in the same situation as you,” he said quietly, looking toward the shower. “I would have, and probably would have been as worthless as Traumer, but my life was changed. I had to grow up damn fast,” he met her eyes. “And in doing that, I realized that life is too short…it could end too quickly to spend any time pissed because I didn’t get my way. I’m not saying I don’t get pissed if I don’t, I am human, but when it gets to the things that really matter…serious emotional shit…I’m going to do every damn thing I possibly can for you…asking me to wait to become a father isn’t exactly that hard. When we finally have a baby, it’s going to be different…you know? We’ll be taking care of ‘im, dealing with ‘s school stuff…and then more…I mean, I don’t know about you, but I want more than one…” as he said it, he looked away.

She smiled slightly at that. “Our boys at soccer and our girls with me to the salon?”

He smiled, meeting her eyes and nodding.

She sighed, turning to move into his arms. “Don’t beat yourself up about that, okay?” she asked, resting her head on his shoulder. “I was imagining you walking out of the room on me when I said it, or telling me that I was stupid…like my father or something. I know you’re not like that, but when I panic that’s where my mind goes…okay?” She pulled back to study his eyes. “Are you really okay with waiting?”

“You’re my wife,” he returned, studying her. “I’m your husband…for better or worse until death do us part…I’d bring you the moon if you wanted it…you want your own country? I can get it, don’t know how long I’d hold it, but I could get you your own country…”

She smiled at that, studying his eyes.

“When you’re ready, I’m ready,” he noted, kissing her lightly. “And until you’re ready, I can wait…shit, Chai, how long did it take until we even had sex, huh? We can keep practicing, we’ll get it perfect some time…”

She laughed at that and shoved him from the room, her eyes were amused as she rolled them…and shut the bathroom door in his face.

He grinned, leaning against the wall beside it. “I seriously have to piss,” he noted. “Which means you seriously need to hurry up.”

“Oh, hush, there are two bathrooms in this house,” she retorted…and flicked on the fan.

Jordan shoved away from the wall, rolled his eyes, then moved into the kitchen…to see Quatre pushing away from the breakfast bar from the kitchen side…with very wide eyes.

“You did not,” Jordan protested, staring at him in disbelief. “You did not…”

Quatre didn’t have his necklace on.

“I didn’t think it’d matter,” Quatre retorted, stepping back.

It was an old thing that had more to do with the fact that Jordan’d smack people for a positive answer to that particular question than with actual guilt…

Jordan knew he couldn’t reach the blond, and while he wanted the little gratification a smack would get, he didn’t feel like exerting himself to achieve it. He glowered at Quatre, realizing that his annoyance was obvious to the other…and smacked the counter hard on the side.

Quatre flinched, stepping back.

“I have to pee, so I’m going this way,” Jor informed him in annoyance, starting away. “Then we can talk.”

“We don’t have to, really,” Quatre noted dryly, digging into the fridge. “You two were freaking me out the last couple days.”

“Um, married people argue,” Jor noted, glancing at him before moving into the bathroom and closing the door. He went about his business quickly before stepping back into the hall and crossing his arms and looking at his friend.

“You yelled at her,” Quatre retorted, giving him a disbelieving sort of look. “I haven’t heard you yell in like…a year!”

“She was annoyed at me for not being mad at her,” Jordan retorted, staring at him in disbelief. “That made me mad…it was beyond stupid and by far not the maturist argument I’ve ever gotten into…but…really!”

Quatre blinked at him.

Jordan sighed, moving around to lean against the counter as he thought. Chance had pulled him aside the day the stupidity had started and explained that Quatre had warned them all what was up. Chance knew what the problem was, but didn’t have any useful advice on the matter…and now that it seemed to have been resolved, it wasn’t something to keep entirely to himself.

“Hm?” Quatre asked, opening the pop he’d dug out and moving back to the counter to study his friend.

“She doesn’t think she’s ready to have a baby,” he explained, raising his eyes to the other’s.

Quatre blinked at him.

Jordan shrugged, looking down again. “I told her it was fine and I could wait and she got pissed because she’d worked herself up all morning about it…”

“Oh,” Quatre muttered, understanding everything he’d overheard over the past few days. “I see.”

“Yeah,” Jor agreed, then sighed and shrugged, pushing away from the counter. “Night.”

“You two making up?” Quatre asked wryly.

“Call Simone over,” Jor suggested, smirking a quirky little smirk at his friend as he headed toward the bedroom.

“Hahaha,” Quatre retorted, then sighed and started looking around. “I have ten minutes, don’t I?”

Jordan started laughing wickedly and slid back into the bedroom.

“What are you chuckling at?” Chai demanded, turning her amethyst eyes onto his.

“I was talking to Quatre,” Jor shrugged. “He asked if he had ten minutes.”

She snorted at him, moving to drop on the bed and pull off her pants. “Turn off the light, Jordan.”