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"Rescues"Written By: Honor Disclaimer: Despite my best attempts, I have not
managed to steal the boys. I’ll let you know when I succeed.
Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries Rating: R (I think, I really don’t have a
good grasp on the rating system) Spoilers: nada Warnings: TWT, EWWT (I’m acting like the
war lasts a year and a half and Eternal Waltz doesn’t happen)
Lemon, some angst, violence, language, romance Pairings: 3x4 established, working on 5xOMC (anyone
remember Jamie?) and a 1x2 Author’s Mad Ranting: //thought// <<com or phone>> *emphasized* ~flashback~
"Rescues " Chapter One: Inconceivable
“That’s what I said! But that’s why we have all the extra security. It was a damn pain getting inside the building this morning. Those soldiers are paranoid.” Jamie made sure her eyes didn’t stray from the clipboard in front of her nose even though the two doctors talking right next to her were too busy moaning and complaining to notice her, or anyone else for that matter. They probably wouldn’t have thought much about it if they had noticed her. She was just an intern, one of many in the hospital. In a little over six months she would have completed this course of the training and then she would be a doctor. At the tender age of seventeen, it was a little hard to swallow, but…//there are advantages, I guess, in growing up with mercs. Accelerated learning, for instance.// Casually she tucked the clipboard back into place on the wall and headed away from the nurse’s station. So there was a Gundam pilot in their midst, eh? Now this she had to see. For over a year now she had been keeping track of the Gundams. At times, it had seemed like they lost their focus, unsure of whom they needed to fight. They could hardly be blamed for that, she had rather shared their confusion. But they were going strong again now, fighting against OZ. It was the wrong time for them to lose anyone of the five. Two marines were standing guard just outside the room where the infamous Gundam Pilot was supposed to be. She didn’t even have to look up the room number to know where he was. They braced and glared at her as she tried to enter the room. “No one allowed past this point, ma’am.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “There was movement on the monitors. I’ve come to see if he needs more sedatives.” They hesitated at this, glancing at each other. But since she was in a white doctor’s coat, and being reasonable, they let her pass with a curt nod. She nodded back, smiling faintly, and sailed through the doorway. The teenager on the bed was practically covered in white bandages and sheets. She could barely make out blond hair and pale skin. This, then, was Pilot 04. Carefully she kept her face blank as she moved to the bed, taking his chart and reading it. Multitude of contusions, concussion, fractured leg and sprained wrist, some bruising of the abdominal region—nothing life threatening. His major problem was the guards surrounding the hospital. She checked his pulse next, eyes on his face. //You’re my age. You’re fighting a war that no one else quite dares to. Is there anyone out there who cares where you are?// She covered him up before walking back out of the room. “He’s fine,” she told the guards. “False alarm. I’ll come back in a few hours to check on him again.” “Understood, ma’am.” As she walked away, her brows lowered and set in determination. //You’re in trouble now, pilot, but I’ll get you out of it. And soon.// + It took nearly a full day of preparations, and some switching of schedules (not hard to do since very few people actually *wanted* to work the night shift) but she was finally ready. Jamie went into the security room first, smiling in greeting at the lone security guard. “Hi Bob.” “Oh, hey Jamie.” His slightly chubby face lit up in a brief smile. “Be a doll and sit and watch these things for me, would ya? The guys all deserted me before I could get something to eat.” “That’s what I’m here for,” she caroled cheerfully. “Go right ahead.” “You *are* a doll!” he grinned back, levering his bulky frame out of the chair with a squeak of protest. Jamie relaxed into the closest chair and watched as the door closed behind the security guard. Then she dove for the computer and inputted the floppy drive. She pulled up the program (referred to in loving terms as Garibaldi) and started to install it. The program was brilliant, even if she did say so herself. It wormed itself into the video feed and copied a certain image and then fed it through on a loop. The brilliant thing was when the duplicity was discovered—then the program would erase itself and all tracks of its existence. Program downloaded, she ejected the disk and erased all history that she had ever tampered with the computer. She sat back, crossed her legs, and checked her watch. //He should be back right about…now.// The door clicked open behind her. “Thanks, Jamie.” “No problem, Bob. I’ll see you later, alright?” “Sure thing.” Jamie walked with purpose down the hallway. //One down, two to go.// Even as she went about her normal rounds, she was mentally going through the preparations she had made. A recently bought minivan was parked outside, one of the pilot seats removed and a mattress put into its place for Pilot 04 to rest on. There were supplies in the very back of the minivan, enough to get both of them through a week. She was on vacation for four days as soon as she was off shift. Which would be…she glanced at her wristwatch again. Shoot, she only had an hour before she was supposed to get off. //Time to get moving.// At the mini-lab at the end of the hallway was Jamie’s target. Slipping inside, she sat out several smoke bombs on a timer. They were set right under the smoke alarms, and of course would set off the alarms for the entire floor. She was cackling under her breath as she set them up. //I am a BAAAAD girl.// Exiting the room, she continued her rounds as if nothing at all was out of the ordinary. Five minutes later, fire alarms started blaring as smoke billowed out into the hallway. Nurses and doctors started yelling orders, grabbing patients and rolling them quickly to the opposite side of the building and into ICU, the only room large enough to hold everyone. Jamie of course assisted in this effort, wincing at the loud alarm resonating unpleasantly in her head. It took fifteen minutes for things to be sorted out, after a fashion. The ‘fire’ was put out by the sprinklers in the ceiling (actually, the smoke bombs had self detonated once they were empty, leaving the smoke to clear out by itself) and arson investigators were called in. Doctors were all over the place, settling down patients and answering a myriad of questions. Jamie calmly went into ICU, past the two burly guards from earlier—who looked rather hassled, in her professional opinion—and began checking up on patients. Most were a little upset at the sudden commotion, except for those people under such heavy sedation that they couldn’t wake up. Like a certain Gundam Pilot. She reached the furthest corner of the room, and looked around casually as she approached the bed. No one was looking at her. Most were falling back asleep already. The rest were fussing at nurses and each other. Whipping out a can of charcoal from her coat, she applied it with dexterity to the locks of visible blond hair. Within moments it looked dark. She fit an oxygen mask over his face, then a heavy blanket over his body to help disguise the rest of his form. At first glance…this wasn’t the pilot anyone was supposed to guard. Lifting up the brakes on the gurney, she casually started to roll it out. “Ma’am? Orders are not to let anyone leave the room.” She looked up in (fake) surprise at the guard. “He’s having trouble with breathing. I need to move him down a floor, away from the smoke.” After a glance towards the bed’s occupant, they started to confer with each other. “It should be alright. It’s not the pilot.” The older of the two shrugged. “Go ahead, ma’am.” “Thank you.” With a professional smile she walked to the elevators and pushed the down button. After a tense moment of waiting //please don’t anyone question what I’m doing// the door swished open. She rolled her ‘patient’ inside, and quickly stabbed the doors shut, then the button for level one. While they moved she looked at the pilot. He was still breathing alright, and out cold. The oxygen mask was removed, as well as the hospital ID around his wrist, which she slipped into her white coat pocket. Just to be on the safe side, she drew the sheet up over his head. //Let them think I’m just taking him to the morgue.// *ding* With a calmness she didn’t entirely feel, she pushed him out of the elevator and toward the back entrance. Quickly she checked the outside. The parking lot was deserted, and she knew the back cameras were on the same feedback loop that the ICU room was in. With the coast clear, she pushed him out of the hospital and toward the van, parked conveniently close. “Okay, cutie, let’s get you inside, alright?” She yanked open the side door, then turned down the covers on the mattress inside. Turning back, she grabbed him around the shoulders and sat him up. //Oh man, he’s completely dead weight. Argh, this is going to kill my back.// With a heave around his waist, she pulled him off the gurney and halfway into the van. “You’re…*pant*…MUCH heavier…*grunt*…than you look.” Finally she had him inside, and decently covered. “You’re going to pay for any sessions I might need for a chiropractor, got that?” “…” “Just so we understand each other.” With a final check to make sure the IV was working properly, she climbed back out of the van. The door was slammed back into place, and the gurney shoved into a supply closet on the ground floor. Very casually she walked back to her van, climbed in and backed out of the parking lot. //I wonder how long it will take before they realize he’s gone…// + It took roughly four and a half hours, with one stop for gas, to go to Jamie’s hideaway. Her uncle actually owned the cabin, or had before he died. Everyone in the family used it for vacations and such. Since it was in the dead of winter, she doubted anyone was going to suddenly show up in the middle of the Mountains of Mourning. Barring herself, of course. The only road to the cabin was dirt, and rather washed out by a recent downpour. Jamie had to drive very slowly to avoid jostling her patient. When they finally did pull up in front of the cabin, she was worn out. //I’ve been up for what? Nineteen hours? I want *sleep* dangit!// She turned to glare at her patient. “Unfortunately, I have to get you inside first. My back is REALLY going to hate me tomorrow.” Huffing and puffing—almost hard enough to knock the van over, if not blow the house down—she carried the blond into the cabin and lowered him as gently as she could manage onto the mattress. It would have been a much easier task if she wasn’t over three inches shorter than he was. //Sometimes I really hate being short.// “Right. Now for security.” A basic perimeter security was easy to set up. It just took an hour, then she came back in, carrying the must-have-for-tonight-supplies, unrolled a sleeping bag near the side of the only bed in the cabin, and collapsed on it. “It’s probably a bad sign when the floor feels comfy…’night, cutie pie.” The sandman didn’t even have a chance to find his bag of sand before she was fast asleep. + It was the groan that woke her up. Groggily she lifted her head, yawning and shoving her tangle brown hair out of her eyes. “…did the flyin’ monkeys take over yet?” “Where…?” //Oh yeah. Blondie.// A little more alert, she rolled up to her knees. The teenager was awake now, and looking around in absolute confusion. And although he looked cute when he was confused, it wasn’t nice for her to sit there and gawk at him. He was fun to gawk at, though. //I’m really tired if I’m thinking in circles…// “Hi. I’m Jamie. You’re up in the mountains where the Big Bad Wolf—otherwise known as OZ—can’t find you.” He blinked at her, revealing large aquamarine blue eyes. “You know who I am?” “Er…kinda? According to your chart, you’re Gundam Pilot 04. Your Gundam is the black and gold one, with the kamis, right?” “…yes.” “I don’t know your real name,” she continued with a charming smile. “And you don’t have to tell me it, if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. Are you hungry? Thirsty?” He blinked again. The poor kid was still out of focus, somewhere between La-la land and Reality, no doubt. The sedatives he had been on were strong enough to take out a herd of elephants. It was frankly a surprise that he had woken up this quickly. “A glass of water would be much appreciated.” “Sure thing. Sit tight.” As she went out of the room and into the kitchen, she rolled his words through her mind. //He reeks of money and class. The way he speaks, and the politeness of the words…just who did I yank out of the hospital?// Filling up a glass she went back in. “Let’s prop you up a bit, okay? We’re going to do this nice and slow because you have some major bruising in your abdominal area. It’s frankly going to hurt if you sit up at all.” He nodded in understanding. With hands on both shoulders, she eased him up into a semi-sitting position, stuffing her pillow behind him. She caught a whiff of him as he moved, and had to stop herself from taking another deep breath of his hair. Something about a man’s smell was just so enticing to the female senses. He was breathing heavily, but gave her a grateful smile once she had him settled. //Tougher than you look, blondie, I’ll give you that. Most men in this condition would be screaming bloody murder.// Bending down, she retrieved the glass of water and held it steady as he drained it. “Another?” “No, thank you. How can you be sure that OZ doesn’t know where we are?” “Well, they don’t know I took you. And…tell you what, I’ll just outline how I got you out, okay? It’s easier than playing twenty questions. First, I inserted a program into the security cameras to feedloop the area that I knew you would be in and the parking lot. That program is set to erase itself once the alarm goes up that you’re missing. Then I put a couple of smoke bombs in the area of the hallway you were in. When they went off, we moved everyone into ICU. I waited until things died down, then I moved you out and into my van.” “Wait.” He held up hand, brow furrowed a bit as he followed this. “What do you mean ‘you moved me out’? I’m highly recognizable.” With a grin she reached up and rubbed some of the charcoal still in his hair onto her fingers. He stared at them in dawning understanding. “Those two guards at the door can honestly say that a sixteen year old male with blond hair did *not* pass them at any point.” “…but a sixteen year old male with dark hair did,” he murmured with a growing smile. “Brilliant. You’re very good at rescues, Miss Jamie.” She shrugged. Damn but it was easy to like the guy. He just had a way of putting people at ease. “I lived with mercs most of my life. You pick up stuff. And don’t call me ‘miss’ I can’t be much older than you are.” “Alright. I’m Quatre,” he held up a hand, eyes twinkling. “Glad to meet you.” She took the hand, shaking it gently. “And you. Is there anyone I should contact? Someone who wants to know where you are?” Quatre nodded firmly. “Yes. Several people, but just contacting one of them will be perfect. Do you have a vidphone or laptop here?” “Never leave home without it,” she declared happily. //So you do have people looking out for you. Good.// Turning around, she started rummaging through her backpack before pulling out her laptop. “Here.” Quatre grimaced. “I’m afraid that you’re going to have to punch in the code.” In demonstration, he raised his good hand for her to see. It was shaking badly. “Erk. Right. The comm number?” “TRB4152.” Jamie punched it in. A moment later a second screen popped up. <<Confirmation password required.>> She cocked a brow at Quatre. “Peek-a-boo.” Jamie did a double take. “You don’t by any chance know what Babylon 5 is, do you?” Quatre blinked, then chuckled. “A friend of mine corrupted me.” “I thought I was the only one…” She typed in the password, then dropped back to the floor. This was Quatre’s call, not hers. <<Quatre!>> A smooth baritone cried in relief. <<Where are you, are you alright?>> “Shh. Easy, lover. I’m fine.” Jamie’s eyes shot wide. //LOVER?!// Quatre gave her a glance when Jamie choked slightly. <<Who’s with you?>> “My rescuer. Jamie, come up here.” When Jamie was within view, she nodded to the //ohmigod he’s gorgeous!// brunette on the other side of the screen. “This is Trowa. Trowa, this is Jamie.” “Hot damn,” Jamie whispered. “Man, Quatre, you sure know how to pick ‘em.” “*I* rather like him,” Quatre agreed dryly. <<If you two could focus?>> Trowa was peering at the injuries he could see, and his face was growing darker by the minute. <<Status?>> “His right leg is fractured, left wrist badly sprained, slight concussion and severe bruising in his abdominal area,” Jamie replied promptly. “Respiration and heart rate normal with no blood clots or internal bleeding which is something of a miracle. He should be back on his feet in three weeks.” They were both staring at her now. “Jamie…just what are you?” “Intern,” she replied promptly. “Give me six months, and I’ll be a surgeon.” <<…then you rescued him out of a hospital.>> //Sexy and sharp…yup, blondie sure knows how to pick ‘em.// “That’s right. This isn’t a very secure line…how should I tell you where we are?” <<A moment.>> Trowa disappeared from view. “Who’s he going to get? Or is it a ‘what’?” “Heero, probably.” Quatre leaned back, eyes sliding closed. He was draining quickly of energy. Jamie reached up and set her hand on his forehead. “Hm. Slight fever. After this, you need to sleep for a few days.” “I’ll not argue against that.” <<Hey Cat!>> “Duo?” Quatre blinked his eyes open. Jamie looked at the screen, head cocking a little at the new person on the screen. This boy //are all of Quatre’s friends hot?!// had chestnut hair and brilliant violet eyes. Jamie started wondering if he was single…. <<The one and only! Whazup?>> “We need a way to secure this laptop so Jamie can give you directions.” <<Nah, Tro told me that. I meant how are you?>> “Fine.” Duo shook his head despairingly. <<In other words, you ain’t dead yet.>> “…that’s Heero’s definition of ‘fine’,” Quatre retorted with a roll of his eyes. “He’ll live,” Jamie assured him. <<Hey, pretty lady! You’ve got to be Jamie.>> At her nod, his grin went impish. <<So did you rescue Blondie because he’s cute or just because you were feeling charit—hey, Tro, that’s not funny man. Put that gun down before you shoot your eye out.>> “Duo, it wouldn’t be a good idea to tease Trowa just now.” Duo didn’t seem to be too terribly worried about the gun pointed at his head. <<Yeah, no kiddin’. Okay, I’m sending a program along that will encode your messages, as well as my email address. Just send directions there, okay?>> Jamie nodded. “Can do. And don’t worry about him, alright?” Trowa came back into view, making Duo twist to the side to make room for both of them. It looked like they were in the cockpit of a mobile sui--//oh hell, of course! Quatre probably called Trowa where he knew he could reach him, in his Gundam. I’m so slow right now…gimme sleep!// <<Quatre, I don’t have to tell you to rest do I?>> “I’ll be good,” Quatre promised. There was a layer of affection under the words. “And don’t kill yourself getting here, either. Jamie told me how she got me out. It should take a while for them to put everything together.” <<Understood. Barton, out.>> The screen went blank, and all of Quatre’s energy went with it. Jamie caught the laptop and sat it on the floor. “Anything you want? Or just sleep?” “Sleep,” Quatre muttered with a yawn. “Okay.” She eased the pillow out, then lowered him down again. “I’ll know if someone gets within a mile of this place, so rest easy.” Quatre barely managed a nod before he was dead to the world. Thankful for that, she loaded the program Duo had sent and shot off a quick message, listing their whereabouts. With that sent off, she curled right back into her sleeping bag and joined Quatre in Never-never land. ~*~*~*~
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