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"Lasting Impressions"Written By: Dragonmistress_7 Disclaimer: I don't own the Gundam Wing Boys.
Lasting Impressions Chapter 5
"They're right," Hilde said from her seat at the small table. "You both are. Nobody in their right mind would let that pair onto this ship after seeing what we saw, at least not without some serous interrogation." Heero looked pointedly at Duo, who shrugged. "They're okay." Heero shrugged in turn. "Okay." And that was the end of it, as far as he was concerned. "Mmm hmm, crazy as hell," was all Hilde said. "I'm told that, from time to time, usually by Quatre," Trowa said from the doorway, only catching this last statement. "How far to that doctor?" "She serves on a gods-forsaken little outpost, a satellite of the main post, really, not far from here. You've been asleep for about six hours. So, about two more hours, if we push it." Heero said. "Duo will do the best he can until then. Are either of you hungry, thirsty?" "Quatre's still asleep, but I could use something to eat, if you don't mind," Trowa replied. While Heero concentrated on helping Trowa in the kitchen, Duo went to check on his other patient. Quatre looked peacefully and deeply asleep when he entered the room. "Neat trick," Duo commented blandly as he picked up some fresh gauze. "It won't work on me, though. You might as well let me have a look. What would that doctor say if you came in her office with bandages that old?" "Do you know this doctor?" Quatre asked clearly, abandoning his pretense of sleep. "Nope. Never met her. Heero thinks the world of her, though," Duo replied. Quatre leveled his gaze on the Healer, trying to judge how old he was. He looked to be about his own age, but one moment he would act so much older, and the next, so much younger, that it really was hard to tell. "That would hardly serve as a recommendation. Your captain seems willing to believe in the good in all creatures." "He's not a fool," Duo said calmly as he tended the wound. "He doesn't trust you. He won't, unless you earn it. And good luck earning it. You're only here because I said it's okay." "Then his trust in you seems misplaced. I mean you no harm, but you have no way of knowing that. I'm not a good person. I- " Quatre's reasonable, quiet tone faltered for the first time. "I didn't help any of those people. I might have saved some of them, if I'd tried, but…I didn't try. I didn't help anybody else." "I know," Duo said, in the same unruffled tone. "I didn't expect that you had." Quatre saw the worst in himself, and expected others to see it, too. Quatre was thinking that he didn't know what to make of any of these humans. "How did you earn your captain's trust, if it's so difficult?" "Hmm? Oh, I haven't. To him, I'm just another instrument. His control panel can tell him how fast he's going, how far he's gone, and how hot the nearest star is, and I can tell him about people. He trusts instruments. He trusts facts." There was no trace of emotion in Duo's voice, no sign that anything bothered him or ever could. "But his control panel gives him numbers; with no room for…error, deliberate or otherwise. Doesn't he see the difference?" Quatre asked. "I told him I don't lie," Duo replied, gathering up the old bandages and disposing of them. He turned to leave. "And do you?" Quatre asked, lying back down on the bunk, his eyebrows raised. Duo stopped in the doorway and looked back. His mind told him that there was no right or wrong answer to that, and so he went with the one that fit this new role. He snorted softly, and then smirked. "Of course not."
"A patient? And here I'd thought you come to your senses, Heero, and were coming to beg me to take you back," she said, embracing Heero and kissing him on the cheek. "Sally," he acknowledged. "If I ever go back to women, you'll be the first person I call." "I'm Sally Po," she said, turning to introduce herself to the others. "Now let's have a look at you two." She went first to Trowa, looked him over carefully, and pronounced him to be exhausted, and gave him a brace for a sprained wrist and a sedative. Quatre turned out to be a bit more difficult. Despite
the difference washing the blood off of him had made, he still had
Sally brought out a small machine, vaguely gun-shaped, and used it to seal the smaller cuts. She gave Quatre a muscle relaxant and a sedative, and then began piecing together the flesh of the side wound and closing it, as much as possible. The whole time she worked, Sally talked. She talked to Duo, Quatre, and occasionally even Trowa, who could hardly sit up in his chair, but still insisted that he wouldn't lay down until she had finished with Quatre. Mostly, she told them about Heero when he was younger. Apparently, she'd known him since he was a young teenager, and they'd been dating until he'd decided he preferred men. She'd remained his friend, but never let him live it down. "All the good ones are taken or gay," she lamented. She looked up at the men in the room, as if in question. "Taken," Duo said, smiling. "Both," Quatre said drowsily, then winced. "Ouch." "I'm sorry. But if it makes you feel any better, you won't remember it later," Sally said cheerfully. "Duo, wasn't it? Could you come hold this for a second?" Quatre's surgery turned out to be complicated and time-consuming, and Sally and Duo were both exhausted by the time it was over. Though they smiled so proudly when Sally announced that she didn't think there would be much of a scar that Heero could hardly tell. He sent both of them to rest immediately, while he and Hilde tried to talk a technician into working on the navigation system. It took some convincing, but at last the old man said he'd have a look. Not that it did them much good. The old man shook his head. "There's not much I can do. The scanner you salvaged is better than anything I have here, and as for the rest, I can tweak what you have rigged, but it'd take weeks to rebuild it from scratch, and longer than that to convince somebody to ship a new system. Your best bet is to use what you've got until you get to Earth, and get it replaced there. Don't go further than Earth. The next place I can think of you could get it done is Ansirii, but it won't last that long. Besides, I'd rather take a beating than wind up there. They may look nice and kiss up, but when they pat you on the back, they're looking for a place to put a knife." As the technician began tinkering Heero thanked him and walked with Hilde back toward the medical wing. "You are aware of Trowa's planetary origin, are you not?" Hilde asked. "I am," Heero replied. "As I am aware of Quatre's. Believe it or not, Hilde, I am still in control of this situation." "The navigation system is shot; three of the five occupants of the shuttle are asleep in the medical wing, two of them strangers and admitted murderers, and one of a race that has a reputation for being back-stabbers. Hmm. Did you ever think of letting somebody else control the situation, Heero?" "I appreciate your confidence, Hilde." he deadpanned. "Looks like we're stuck for a while, at least until everybody wakes up and the tech gets finished. Let's check in medical, and then, I want you to do me a favor." "What kind of favor?" Hilde asked suspiciously. "The kind where you get to go shopping, but I pay for it," Heero replied with a small smile, knowing that would get her. "Oooh, the best kind! It's a deal," she exclaimed. They found everyone still sleeping except Sally, who proclaimed herself quite refreshed with just a nap and was checking on her patients. "I have to fill out some paperwork, you know," she told Heero. "I'll need their names and such." Heero and Hilde looked at each other, remembering that Quatre had been very insistent that this all be kept completely private, even from the doctor, saying there were ways to get into the doctor's files, patient privacy or no. "Jane and Sarah Smith, ages nine and ten-," Hilde began, but Sally snorted and waved her hand a few times in dismissal. "Never mind. I should have known. I'll fill it out myself." "Good, we have some shopping to do," Heero said. Sally's eyebrows raised. "You want to go shopping? Hilde, hold him down. We have to check for signs that an alien parasite has invaded his body." Heero glared at her. "I'm getting Duo a wedding present. He's supposed to get married next month." Both women looked at him in surprise and confusion. "But, I thought-" Sally began. "So did I," Hilde admitted. She shook her head. "But anyway, you're only getting Duo something, not both of them?" "I don't know the bride," Heero replied shortly. "Are we going or not?" Hilde exchanged a look of understanding with Sally and nodded. "We're going. Take good care of these guys while we're gone."
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