|
"That Which Mends"Written By: SkyLark Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or its characters. I just love playing with them. Pairings: 2x1x2, past 2xOC, 5xOC, 3x4 Warnings: Angst, Violence, Sap, Lemons/Limes, AU Archives: http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/SkyLark/gwSkyLark.htm
and http://www.mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html Summary: Heero is a straight A student studying Psychology and finds his world turned upside down when he attends a Frat party.
"That Which Mends" [All of fate's a chance -Lyrics to 'All In Love Is Fair' performed by Stevie Wonder] Chapter 27
Heero was whistling on his way through the empty entryway as he walked to the elevator of the federal building with a freshly brewed cup of coffee from the nearby shop in his hand. Catching himself in making the cheerful sound, he stopped mid-song to blink widely in surprise since he was never one to whistle.
And Yuy also realized that was actually looking forward to returning to the Preventers floor to get back on the case.
Looking through the different profiles and layouts of dozens upon dozens of organizations with a cause was a thrilling thing for an up-and-coming psychiatrist like himself. It was an enlightening challenge and the doors that this opportunity were opening to him in the world of behavioral studies were astounding.
The whole ride to the seventh floor, all the scholar could think of was opening the files that were locked away in his desk to hit the ground running.
Only half aware that the elevator had reached his destination until the doors opened once more, his mind was still going over where he wanted to pick back up when he came to an abrupt halt at what was awaiting him around the elevator column.
His fists clenched at his sides, Wufei Chang was as rigid as stone as he stood alongside Anna, while Maxwell, Barton and Winner stood a few feet before them, keeping their focus on the team leader in what could only be assessed as a standoff between them and him.
And though the bell of the elevator would have announced his arrival, none of the Preventers so much as glanced back at the wide-eyed intern.
"You have no right to order me into a counseling session," Agent Wolf growled, the words directed at Agent Scythe in particular. "This goes against everything you preach about not getting involved in other people's lives, Maxwell. And you're a damned hypocrite for even suggesting this, since you were as dead set against having a shrink here in the first place for this very reason."
Wincing at the word, 'shrink' for its negative connotation, Yuy cleared his throat and raised a hand to interject meekly, "Well, I prefer the term 'counselor,' since that is the correct title and..." He cut himself off with a gulp when his friends looked his way and the tension only continued to grow.
"Of everyone here, I know what you're going through, Chang," Agent Night reassured. "I was against seeing anyone about my issues and kept a lot of stuff bottled up, too. But there actually has been a lot of good that's coming out of this for me since talking with Heero. You really need to give it chance."
Duo drew a deep breath, nodding, "I know this intervention is hypocritical and typically, yes, I stay out of other people's businesses when it means leaving well enough alone. But you're no longer well enough to leave this alone. I can't sit back anymore when Anna is involved and runs the risk of being hurt-"
"That was an accident!" Downs cried with sheer horror on her face. Shaking her head vehemently as her eyes misted over when her lover's stricken, paling face turned towards her, she insisted, "Wufei I had nothing to do with this, I swear!"
Rock was fast to step towards them as he held a hand up, urging, "We all know that this was an accident, Wufei. But the fact that anything happened is proof that you're not coping. And Anna didn't have a clue about any of this."
Braided head shaking side-to-side, Maxwell informed, "It was my idea. Trowa and Quatre happened to agree that you need help. Yes, we know that the very last thing you would ever do is hurt Anna, but if something terrible that was beyond your control were to happen to her-"
Her blue eyes narrowing into a fierce glare that she shot Scythe, Fire hissed, "Don't you fucking dare use me as leverage in this, Duo. It's not fair." "It is when we love and want to protect you, too," Duo snapped with a little more bite than he had intended, causing him to grimace at the sound of it. He frowned deeply as he locked gazes with his former lover and said, "Just tell me you don't believe that he needs this and we'll permanently back off on this."
What ire Chang had faded completely away at that point. Smiling sadly, he cupped the side of her face, brushed away a tear from her cheek and whispered sincerely, "It's okay, Anna." His shoulders sagging and a long expression on his face, he turned to face his teammates in defeat. "You win," he sighed deeply, "I'll meet with Heero."
This might have been a victory, but Duo, Trowa and Quatre shifted uncomfortably and had the respect not to see their team leader's relenting as something to be celebrated.
If anything, they appeared all the more saddened to have had to go to such measures in looking out for him. However, their tense bodies relaxed in relief over there not being more of a fight.
Unsure of how else to react, Yuy held up both arms as he said, "Uh... I'd just like it to go on record that I also had absolutely no idea about any of this."
"Of course," Heero quickly replied with a firm nod. Gesturing for the agent to follow him, he led the way to his office at the far end of the floor beyond the rec area.
Sniffling, Downs clung onto Chang fast. "I blank you," she breathed by his ear.
In a rare showing of public affection, the team leader held a kiss against her temple and replied in kind, "I blank you, too." Winking when they broke apart, he fell in step behind the counselor and they walked beyond earshot of the others.
Very slowly, Maxwell approached the weapons expert as he frowned, "Annie. I-"
A hard smack across his face when he was within arms reach silenced him in the middle of his apology as his head reeled to the right from the force of the blow. The sharp crack from the hit was loud enough to fill the floor as Barton and Winner winced and blinked widely at the sight of it.
Glaring at her stunned teammate, Downs stalked the last couple of steps between then and ground out through her teeth slowly, "Don't... you... *ever* use me as leverage against him again. Do you understand me?"
His senses returning to him as he looked back at her with a reddening left cheek, Duo swallowed hard. It wasn't the smack that pained him nearly as much as the fact that he had actually angered Anna enough to strike him... that he might have knocked any feeling towards him down a few pegs for his actions regardless of his motive.
On the brink of fending off the sting in his violet eyes, he nodded and replied in little more than a whisper, "Understood."
Unable to go on another second with her being mad at him, he murmured, "It was the only way Fei would go through with this. I swear, if there was any other option, I would have taken it. Please don't stay angry with me-"
"Bastard," she whispered, a sad grin curling her lips, "you know I can't stay mad at you for long. He does need this. I get that. Just promise me you won't put me between you and Wufei like that and I'll move on without another thought of it."
Without hesitating as he hugged her back desperately, Scythe breathed by her ear, "I promise."
Content in knowing that he meant it, Fire sighed and held him all the tighter as she closed her eyes while Night and Rock closed in to reconcile with her as well.
Stepping back from the long window beside the doorway of her closed office, Lady Une chuckled and shook her head in amusement.
Tempted as she had been on several occasions to step in on the meeting that she had overheard, she was happy that she had given her agents the space they needed to sort out the matter at hand on their own... as they had worked out every other challenge between them in the past.
Meanwhile, a very unprepared Heero was anxiously sifting through the drawers of his desk for a fresh notepad and pen. Sitting on the patient couch, Wufei snorted quietly to himself as he watched the scholar showing some nerves over their impromptu session. "You know I don't bite, right?" he smirked.
Yuy gathered up the empty book he was searching for with a forced bark of a laugh. "Yes, but I'm not exactly used to working under these circumstances," he shrugged. "Duo might be able to fly by the seat of his pants with whatever is thrown at him but I'm a planner and don't like chaos of any sort."
"I can relate to that," Agent Wolf shrugged distractedly as he looked at the closed door a few feet ahead of him. "And I just learned that apparently I'm not a fan of surprise interventions like the one I just walked into." Pen and pad in hand, Heero closed the drawer he'd recovered them from and righted himself.
"Wufei, you're not obligated to be here," he assured as he rounded his desk and took to the leather chair across from his visitor. "If you're really here because you want to be, I'm more than happy to listen and offer whatever help I can. But no good is going to come out of this if you're only here because you feel pressured into it."
Encouraged by that, Yuy tapped the edge of his notebook with the butt of his pen, the intern felt obligated to comment, "I know Duo had good intentions in calling for that meeting, but in the end it's up to you how we spend out time. We could sit in here for an hour and discuss the weather and leave without the others being any the wiser."
Sitting back in the couch, Wufei's eyebrows went up as his growing eyes blinked. Oh, the counselor knew then and there that he had won the game with his offer.
For a second, Chang considered taking it up, but shook his head and sighed deeply, "No. I've been burying my problems for a long time and it isn't solving anything. And if you could win Trowa over after the couple of sessions you've had with him, I suppose it would only be fair for me to try this."
Impressed by his friend's choice, Heero grinned, "Okay. In that case, then, I would rather not have you go into anything too challenging to discuss right out of the gates since the circumstances of being here are... unique to say the least. You should save the more difficult things for when you're ready."
Physically falling at ease, Wufei nodded firmly. He smiled, "I appreciate that. Thank you."
Shell-shocked, the Preventer stared at him as though he had shot him. "Wow... that is personal and upsetting, alright," he muttered. Bitter as that pill was to swallow, he took a deep breath and stated softly, "But... I understand why you have to ask that." Dropping his gaze to the floor at his feet, Chang informed, "I was having a pretty intense nightmare and came out of it swinging and Anna got caught up in it before I came fully to. She's currently wearing makeup to cover the bruise I made so that no one outside of our team would notice it."
Shoulders squaring and his head lifting again so that he could set his intense stare back onto the counselor, he decreed, "And no, I never have harmed Anna in any way, nor would I ever. That's a very touchy subject for me, in particular because I've always been against abuse towards girls and women. Aside from my own strong opposition to that, my father would kill me if I ever willingly laid a hand on one to strike her." Exasperated, he threw his arms overhead, shouting, "Christ, I spent a night in jail for this very thing! So, it would never-!"
Realizing he had trapped himself into a corner he had no way of evading without explanation, Wolf laughed quietly, "Yea. It's not exactly one of my proudest moments, so I tend to not bring it up."
His dark eyes lost their focus as he lost himself to his memory, sharing, "A few of my classmates and I were out celebrating senior week when I noticed a couple arguing across the room of the bar we were at."
Eyes narrowing, he went on with the hint of a growl, "Around the time I was about to look away, I saw the boyfriend- who was twice my size and age- knock his girlfriend off her stool with a backhand that was loud enough my friends and I could hear it over the noise of the crowd. Then he picked her up and started hitting her over and over again while slamming her face into the wall a few times."
With a shudder, Wufei's eyes narrowed at his mind's image of the scene. "I know I have a short fuse, but something like that sends me so far over the edge that the next second all I can see is red. I flew across the way to punch the son of a bitch off his own stool, hauled him back to his feet and proceeded to pound him the same way he went after that young woman as I yelled; 'how the hell do you like it.'"
A rueful smirk on his lips, he snickered, "I probably would have done more than break the ribs and collar bone I had if I hadn't been knocked out by having a pool cue cracked across the back of my head by his girlfriend. According to my classmates, she was bloodied and screaming about how much she loved that prick as he collapsed on the floor. A couple hours later, I came to in my cell for the evening." [1]
Heero closed his hanging jaw and murmured, "Holy shit. What happened then?"
Chang answered, "My parents posted bail first thing in the morning. Though they weren't exactly thrilled over my being arrested, they didn't give me any grief over it when my friends, along with several other witnesses, told them what had happened. No charges were going to be made against me with so many people saying how that prick had it coming and the officers let me off with a warning."
"Good," Yuy chuckled, his pen flying over
the top page of his pad feverishly as he jotted down a few notes.
"Though I'm not supposed to condone violence, I hope that asshole
spent long enough recovering to think about what he did to deserve
the beating you gave him. Unfortunately for his girlfriend at the
time, she displayed every symptom of a person used to being abused.
I hope she's gotten away from that since then."
"Were you aware of Anna's abusive history before you started dating? If so, do you think that was something that drew you towards her since you have such an urge to protect people like her?" he questioned. The Preventer nodded, "I did know about it before
hand since it came out during a case we were on where kids from the
streets were being collected to be exploited, abused and neglected
in the most horrendous of conditions. The mission was one of Anna's
first with the organization and she lost a lot of sleep working as
many hours as she could until we solved it and brought every one of
the victims to safety and had their captors behind bars."
Yuy grinned, keeping to himself how amusing it was to him that the Chinese agent seemed to have forgotten that they were in session. His questions were being answered without reluctance and their discussion hadn't hit a rough patch yet. If it all continued with such ease, he just might be see more of the officer for meetings like this.
A more stable bridge of trust between them was being built and the scholar wasn't about to test how much weight it could hold up. He needed to keep his promise by not mentioning anything that Chang wasn't putting out there on his own.
Up until this time with him, Heero already respected Agent Wolf. Getting to know him even more now, he had come to really like him as a person and hoped that maybe this was the opening he needed to seek the help he still needed.
Wufei's mouth stretched into a wistful smile as his eyes let go of their focus again. "That's... been our thing for a while now..."
~ ~ ~ ~
[Flashback]
It was going on nearly two months since the mission that had changed everything for the Preventers had transpired and the agents decided to have their first night out together in an effort to reclaim some sense of normalcy in their lives.
"To getting the band back together!" Duo toasted over the noise of the packed bar, a shot glass cup in his elevated hand and a wide grin on his face. "It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to keep us down!"
Yes, they no longer had Meiran to join them at their round table, but all of the officers knew she would have wanted this... for them to carry on and celebrate what they had as opposed to go on in mourning.
For the first time since her passing, they were all able to smile as they raised their glasses and cheered, "To getting the band back together!"
"That and everything else," Trowa laughed, one of his eyes closed in a wince.
Snickering, Duo shook his braided head. "Aw, you guys are becoming lightweights," he teased, the only one who truly hadn't displayed any reaction to the piercingly mint shot.
Unbeknownst to him since he had turned away to wave down the waitress to order another round of drinks, he missed Anna's concerned frown when she turned towards him.
Over the last few weeks, the redhead had been growing worried for Scythe. He was developing quite the pattern of late night ventures out. And though he continued to pay regular visits to hang out with her and see if she needed anything, there was a definite shift in the dynamic of their relationship.
Watching her watch Maxwell, their team leader mulled over the same discoveries that he had observed for the last couple of months. Duo and Anna had been tied at the hip from the day they first met, enough so that it had confused Wolf into thinking that their arrangement was born out of genuine love. And it was...
...it just wasn't the same as the love that Chang knew he felt for the weapons expert.
The weeks leading up to this outing had been filled with grief, bitterness and coping that had taken up every bit of Wufei's world. At least, that was until he had a new purpose in assisting Anna with her recovery. Had it not been for that mission, he might not have survived his guilt and anger.
What time he was able to spend with the weapons expert only solidified his attraction and admiration of her. The big difference in those feelings now was that he wasn't pushing those feelings to the a side, as he always did over the years that they knew one another.
Everything had been centered around Chang's work and his duty. He didn't have room for anything else.
At least that was what he had thought before Downs was nearly killed by a bullet that was meant for him. Meiran's death had also proven to be an eye-opening reminder of how short life really was.
For perhaps the first time ever, Wufei was going to put the his heart first. As scary as that was, he was going to follow through with his emotions and not look back.
...tonight.
TBC
[1] Aside from the losing conciseness when he as hit by the pool cue or winding up in jail for the night, this actually happened to my husband, Shon long before we met. |
