No Time For Secrets
Part 4
"Honestly! I just can't believe it!" A paramedic had a huge grin plastered on his face as he escorted the gurney carrying a small girl into
the emergency room.
Joe Asakura rushed towards what he assumed would be the first of many small patients. "What's her condition? How many more should
we prepare for?"
"Actually, doc," the rescue worker still looked incredulous. "She's the only one that got really banged up, and all she has is a clean
fracture of her right humerus. There will be a few coming down for treatment of scrapes and a couple might need radiology or stitches,
but that's about it. The others are getting checked in and then right back out through triage upstairs."
"How on earth did *that* happen? We got an alert that a school bus was in some kind of accident." Joe continued to examine the girl,
who simply smiled at him, but winced in pain as he tested to see if the bone had fallen back into place naturally, luckily it had.
"Apparently, this little lady saved the day. When we got there, the bus and the run away empty truck that hit it were on fire; the bus
driver was a bit dazed, she and all the kids were up in the yard of a church. Witnesses told us that this little 7 year-old pulled everyone
that couldn't move fast enough to suit her out of the bus before it blew up. They said she would have been fine, too, expect the
concussion of the gas tank explosion threw her into a low brick wall in front of the church. Guess the angels were watching out for one
of their own, doc!" The man simply couldn't stop grinning and didn't care if it made him look ridiculous.
The man smiled as he fondly brushed her strawberry-blond bangs out of her ice-blue eyes. "Is that what happened, honey?" he asked
solicitously.
"Yes, sir," She smiled sweetly at the paramedic. "But I'm not an angel, I just had a chance to help my friends, that's all. No big deal."
"I'm afraid I have to disagree," the paramedic laughed. "You are quite the little heroine! If you hadn't done that, I think some of those
kids wouldn't have survived and the doc here would sure have a bunch more patients to care for!" The girl blushed a little at the praise,
but just kept smiling.
"Well, I'm honored to have a real live heroine in my care today!" Joe nodded in respect of her actions, relieved to hear there was no
impending flood of severely wounded children after all.
Asakura loved kids and it horrified him to see some of the things that brought them to his care. Some were victims of child abuse, a
barbaric behavior pattern that should have died out centuries ago yet lived on. Others were simply injured playing sports. But those hurt
in vehicular accidents bothered him the most since the incidents usually could have been avoided or minimized by the use of proper
safety restraints. When the damage was the result of a driver being intoxicated or otherwise mentally incapacitated, it made him furious.
Sadly, who could avoid a truck with no driver?
"So, little heroine, what's your name? I'm sure your parents will want to come see you as soon as possible. And of course they'll need it
for the news reports," he added with a wink.
For the first time, the youngster looked down sadly, a little frown furrowing her brow. "I don't have any parents, sir, they died in the war
and I had amnesia and don't remember them at all, but I *wish* I did. I'm an orphan. My name is Laurel but I don't have a real last
name yet, no one's adopted me. I've lived at the Springfield Orphanage for as long as I can remember, you probably need to call them."
This bit of information threw Joe for a loop as well as the sudden change in her previously sunny disposition. He decided to try to cheer
her up as quickly as possible. "Ah, I'm sorry, Laurel, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. After all, I'm a doctor and that's what I'm
*not* supposed to do!" He gave her a big smile. "I'm Dr. Asakura, but you can call me 'Dr. Joe', how's that sound?"
"Oh, that's a nice name!" she beamed again. "I like the name 'Joe', it reminds me of one of my favorite characters on TV."
So," Joe grinned conspiratorially. "Do you know what your name means?" He'd always been fascinated with the power of names and
had unintentionally memorized the meanings of quite a few.
"I think so. The lady at the orphanage said I was wearing a bracelet that said 'Laurel' when I was found. She looked up what it meant
and told me it meant champion or winner. Someday I think my last name will be 'Winner', too!" She grinned.
The doctor suddenly recalled meeting the unusual blond teenager who was the heir to one of the largest fortunes in the solar system. He
thought it was a shame she couldn't indeed be adopted by the Winner teen, but he was too young. Yes, if she could take the Winner
name she would have a happier life, living in luxury with the best tutors and opportunities possible. Dismissing that unproductive thought,
he turned his attention back to the girl.
"Terrific! Now, Laurel, we'll get you comfortable in a room and see about getting some calls made and I'm sure someone will be here
for you soon. In the meantime, this is my fiancée, Nurse Mitsu, she'll help you get ready to have that arm X-rayed before we put a cast
on it." Joe was doing his best to contain his disbelief that this young girl had saved so many lives all on her own.
"Okay," Laurel smiled. "'Mitsu' is a pretty name, too! And if she's your girl friend she must be really nice!" Turning her head a bit, Laurel
sent a sunny smile over to the nurse.
"Actually, I like 'fiancée' better, since it'll be 'wife' in two weeks," the nurse giggled. "And you can call me 'Mitsu-san' if you like. I'm
from Japan, so we usually add an ending to our names. Ordinarily, I'd call a sweet young lady like yourself 'Laurel-chan', but that's
reserved for little children and special friends. But you are an important heroine, so I guess I should use an important ending like
'Laurel-sama'! What do you think?"
Mitsu was making the petite girl at ease as she helped her change out of her fire-damaged clothing and into a children's hospital gown
that was still several sizes too large. She carefully looked for burns and other injuries while helping her change, but the child was
remarkably undamaged other than the arm.
"Oh, Mitsu-san," she stumbled a bit on the honorific, but pulled it off quite nicely. "Can you call me 'Laurel-chan'? I really liked the part
about it being for special friends much more than the important people stuff. I'm not important, I was just lucky to be able to help, that's
all." The child steadfastly refused to accept her new status as a heroine with the same happy grin as she had when she came in.
"All right, Laurel-chan it is, my new special friend!" Mitsu smiled warmly at this darling, humble little miracle worker. She wondered how
such a sweet child had gone over a year or more without being adopted. With that thought in mind, she resolved to discuss the
possibility of starting a family sooner than planned by adopting this little ray of sunshine when she had a chance to talk with Joe later.
Quatre peered out of the office curiously at the noise down the hall. He had been dreading the onrush of injured children that hadn't
happened yet, and wished again that his sister Iria was on Earth instead of out in the colonies.
"Little One," a deep voice rumbled with amusement as a warm hand rested on the blonde's shoulder. "Why don't you go see if they need
any help, hm?"
"You really think I should, Trowa?" Quatre seemed quite surprised and pleased at the very suggestion that he could be of assistance.
"Certainly. It's better than giving yourself neck strain staring out the door." His lover's emerald eyes held signs of withheld laughter and
deep affection.
"Okay!" Quatre cheerily stated, heading out to see what was going on.
"Good," Wufei commented dryly. "I was beginning to think he'd stand there for the rest of the day. I wonder if Sally needs my help," he
mused.
"Doubt it, Wufei," Heero spoke up unexpectedly. "She'd radio you in a heartbeat if she needed you." Heero winced internally at his
choice of words and resumed worrying about another heart far more precious to him than his own.
After awhile, Quatre returned with surprising news. He gave the others a quick run down on why they weren't suddenly inundated with
injured children, admiration for the young heroine as everyone was calling her clear in his eyes. "Laurel's getting a cast put on her arm
right now, Joe told me. When she gets back, I think I'll go say hello to her. It's too bad she's a war orphan; it seems like everywhere we
go we are surrounded by reminders of that horrible event. Damnit! I wish we could have put an end to it faster!"
Three sets of eyes flashed up at Quatre's atypical use of profanity. But one look at the now serious aquamarine eyes reminded his fellow
ex-Gundam pilots how much he had hated the killing and all of the destruction the war had caused.
"We agree, Quatre," Wufei stated in a tone both serious and resigned at the same time. "Based on your fact-finding mission, I'm sure
that Sally will rejoin us soon."
At almost the moment these words were spoken, a very relieved Preventer doctor was making her way back to them. She intercepted
the gurney with the heroine everyone was so happy about and followed the girl to her room. "Hi! I'm Dr. Sally Po and I hear you were
really brave today!" she praised the youngster.
Having heard that remark, or something close to it, a few times too many, Laurel just smiled. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Sally! But just call
me Laurel, please. How come you have on a fancy uniform when all the other doctors get to wear those floppy white coats instead? Are
you in charge of them or something?"
Wufei heard Sally's gentle laughter from down the hall, and rose to go and join her.
"No, sweetie," Sally continued to chuckle. "I work with the Preventers and this is one of their uniforms. I'm here because a special friend
of mine is here for an operation, that's all. Oh, here comes my partner, would you like to meet him?"
"Sure!" the girl glowed. She seemed much more at ease just meeting people than being the center of attention because of the bus
incident.
"Great! Here he is," Sally reached out a hand for Wufei as she pulled him into the door. "Laurel, I'd like you to meet Chang---" she was
cut off as Wufei came into view.
"You're here!" Laurel bubbled happily. "Mr. Woo Fay, right?" she smiled at him.
Wufei and Sally both were taken aback by her apparent recognition of him, they exchanged a confused glance.
"I am, sorry, miss, but I don't believe we've met before. How is it you know my name? Also, it's pronounced 'Wufei', Chang is my
family's name." Wufei was always a bit uneasy around children, not having much contact with them even as a child himself. This
discomfort was something he disliked, however, and hoped to overcome.
"Oh, that's okay, Mr. Wu-uh-fei," she did her best with the name. "I don't think I said that right. I'm sorry," she frowned to herself.
"No, no, that's quite all right," Wufei interjected, not wanting the more important question of how she knew him to be lost over name
pronunciation. "Now, why do you think we've met before?"
"Oh, we haven't! But I *was* expecting you, though," she would have said
more, but just then Quatre came to the door causing another startling outburst from the happy girl.
"Quatre-daddy! You're here, too! Hurray!" She reached her left hand up to him as if automatically expecting a hug.
"Nani?!?" Quatre looked startled to say the least. "I'm sorry, but *I'm* not your daddy. I think I'm a little young to have a daughter as
grown up as you are and I dare say I'd remember a pretty face like yours anywhere!" Blushing, he tried to cover his shock at the
pronouncement of fatherhood while Sally chuckled quietly next to Wufei.
Quatre was beside himself in confusion at being assigned fatherhood without his knowledge.
"Honestly! I just can't believe it!" A paramedic had a huge grin plastered on his face as he escorted the gurney carrying a small girl into
the emergency room.
Joe Asakura rushed towards what he assumed would be the first of many small patients. "What's her condition? How many more should
we prepare for?"
"Actually, doc," the rescue worker still looked incredulous. "She's the only one that got really banged up, and all she has is a clean
fracture of her right humerus. There will be a few coming down for treatment of scrapes and a couple might need radiology or stitches,
but that's about it. The others are getting checked in and then right back out through triage upstairs."
"How on earth did *that* happen? We got an alert that a school bus was in some kind of accident." Joe continued to examine the girl,
who simply smiled at him, but winced in pain as he tested to see if the bone had fallen back into place naturally, luckily it had.
"Apparently, this little lady saved the day. When we got there, the bus and the run away empty truck that hit it were on fire; the bus
driver was a bit dazed, she and all the kids were up in the yard of a church. Witnesses told us that this little 7 year-old pulled everyone
that couldn't move fast enough to suit her out of the bus before it blew up. They said she would have been fine, too, expect the
concussion of the gas tank explosion threw her into a low brick wall in front of the church. Guess the angels were watching out for one
of their own, doc!" The man simply couldn't stop grinning and didn't care if it made him look ridiculous.
The man smiled as he fondly brushed her strawberry-blond bangs out of her ice-blue eyes. "Is that what happened, honey?" he asked
solicitously.
"Yes, sir," She smiled sweetly at the paramedic. "But I'm not an angel, I just had a chance to help my friends, that's all. No big deal."
"I'm afraid I have to disagree," the paramedic laughed. "You are quite the little heroine! If you hadn't done that, I think some of those
kids wouldn't have survived and the doc here would sure have a bunch more patients to care for!" The girl blushed a little at the praise,
but just kept smiling.
"Well, I'm honored to have a real live heroine in my care today!" Joe nodded in respect of her actions, relieved to hear there was no
impending flood of severely wounded children after all.
Asakura loved kids and it horrified him to see some of the things that brought them to his care. Some were victims of child abuse, a
barbaric behavior pattern that should have died out centuries ago yet lived on. Others were simply injured playing sports. But those hurt
in vehicular accidents bothered him the most since the incidents usually could have been avoided or minimized by the use of proper
safety restraints. When the damage was the result of a driver being intoxicated or otherwise mentally incapacitated, it made him furious.
Sadly, who could avoid a truck with no driver?
"So, little heroine, what's your name? I'm sure your parents will want to come see you as soon as possible. And of course they'll need it
for the news reports," he added with a wink.
For the first time, the youngster looked down sadly, a little frown furrowing her brow. "I don't have any parents, sir, they died in the war
and I had amnesia and don't remember them at all, but I *wish* I did. I'm an orphan. My name is Laurel but I don't have a real last
name yet, no one's adopted me. I've lived at the Springfield Orphanage for as long as I can remember, you probably need to call them."
This bit of information threw Joe for a loop as well as the sudden change in her previously sunny disposition. He decided to try to cheer
her up as quickly as possible. "Ah, I'm sorry, Laurel, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. After all, I'm a doctor and that's what I'm
*not* supposed to do!" He gave her a big smile. "I'm Dr. Asakura, but you can call me 'Dr. Joe', how's that sound?"
"Oh, that's a nice name!" she beamed again. "I like the name 'Joe', it reminds me of one of my favorite characters on TV."
So," Joe grinned conspiratorially. "Do you know what your name means?" He'd always been fascinated with the power of names and
had unintentionally memorized the meanings of quite a few.
"I think so. The lady at the orphanage said I was wearing a bracelet that said 'Laurel' when I was found. She looked up what it meant
and told me it meant champion or winner. Someday I think my last name will be 'Winner', too!" She grinned.
The doctor suddenly recalled meeting the unusual blond teenager who was the heir to one of the largest fortunes in the solar system. He
thought it was a shame she couldn't indeed be adopted by the Winner teen, but he was too young. Yes, if she could take the Winner
name she would have a happier life, living in luxury with the best tutors and opportunities possible. Dismissing that unproductive thought,
he turned his attention back to the girl.
"Terrific! Now, Laurel, we'll get you comfortable in a room and see about getting some calls made and I'm sure someone will be here
for you soon. In the meantime, this is my fiancée, Nurse Mitsu, she'll help you get ready to have that arm X-rayed before we put a cast
on it." Joe was doing his best to contain his disbelief that this young girl had saved so many lives all on her own.
"Okay," Laurel smiled. "'Mitsu' is a pretty name, too! And if she's your girl friend she must be really nice!" Turning her head a bit, Laurel
sent a sunny smile over to the nurse.
"Actually, I like 'fiancée' better, since it'll be 'wife' in two weeks," the nurse giggled. "And you can call me 'Mitsu-san' if you like. I'm
from Japan, so we usually add an ending to our names. Ordinarily, I'd call a sweet young lady like yourself 'Laurel-chan', but that's
reserved for little children and special friends. But you are an important heroine, so I guess I should use an important ending like
'Laurel-sama'! What do you think?"
Mitsu was making the petite girl at ease as she helped her change out of her fire-damaged clothing and into a children's hospital gown
that was still several sizes too large. She carefully looked for burns and other injuries while helping her change, but the child was
remarkably undamaged other than the arm.
"Oh, Mitsu-san," she stumbled a bit on the honorific, but pulled it off quite nicely. "Can you call me 'Laurel-chan'? I really liked the part
about it being for special friends much more than the important people stuff. I'm not important, I was just lucky to be able to help, that's
all." The child steadfastly refused to accept her new status as a heroine with the same happy grin as she had when she came in.
"All right, Laurel-chan it is, my new special friend!" Mitsu smiled warmly at this darling, humble little miracle worker. She wondered how
such a sweet child had gone over a year or more without being adopted. With that thought in mind, she resolved to discuss the
possibility of starting a family sooner than planned by adopting this little ray of sunshine when she had a chance to talk with Joe later.
Quatre peered out of the office curiously at the noise down the hall. He had been dreading the onrush of injured children that hadn't
happened yet, and wished again that his sister Iria was on Earth instead of out in the colonies.
"Little One," a deep voice rumbled with amusement as a warm hand rested on the blonde's shoulder. "Why don't you go see if they need
any help, hm?"
"You really think I should, Trowa?" Quatre seemed quite surprised and pleased at the very suggestion that he could be of assistance.
"Certainly. It's better than giving yourself neck strain staring out the door." His lover's emerald eyes held signs of withheld laughter and
deep affection.
"Okay!" Quatre cheerily stated, heading out to see what was going on.
"Good," Wufei commented dryly. "I was beginning to think he'd stand there for the rest of the day. I wonder if Sally needs my help," he
mused.
"Doubt it, Wufei," Heero spoke up unexpectedly. "She'd radio you in a heartbeat if she needed you." Heero winced internally at his
choice of words and resumed worrying about another heart far more precious to him than his own.
After awhile, Quatre returned with surprising news. He gave the others a quick run down on why they weren't suddenly inundated with
injured children, admiration for the young heroine as everyone was calling her clear in his eyes. "Laurel's getting a cast put on her arm
right now, Joe told me. When she gets back, I think I'll go say hello to her. It's too bad she's a war orphan; it seems like everywhere we
go we are surrounded by reminders of that horrible event. Damnit! I wish we could have put an end to it faster!"
Three sets of eyes flashed up at Quatre's atypical use of profanity. But one look at the now serious aquamarine eyes reminded his fellow
ex-Gundam pilots how much he had hated the killing and all of the destruction the war had caused.
"We agree, Quatre," Wufei stated in a tone both serious and resigned at the same time. "Based on your fact-finding mission, I'm sure
that Sally will rejoin us soon."
At almost the moment these words were spoken, a very relieved Preventer doctor was making her way back to them. She intercepted
the gurney with the heroine everyone was so happy about and followed the girl to her room. "Hi! I'm Dr. Sally Po and I hear you were
really brave today!" she praised the youngster.
Having heard that remark, or something close to it, a few times too many, Laurel just smiled. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Sally! But just call
me Laurel, please. How come you have on a fancy uniform when all the other doctors get to wear those floppy white coats instead? Are
you in charge of them or something?"
Wufei heard Sally's gentle laughter from down the hall, and rose to go and join her.
"No, sweetie," Sally continued to chuckle. "I work with the Preventers and this is one of their uniforms. I'm here because a special friend
of mine is here for an operation, that's all. Oh, here comes my partner, would you like to meet him?"
"Sure!" the girl glowed. She seemed much more at ease just meeting people than being the center of attention because of the bus
incident.
"Great! Here he is," Sally reached out a hand for Wufei as she pulled him into the door. "Laurel, I'd like you to meet Chang---" she was
cut off as Wufei came into view.
"You're here!" Laurel bubbled happily. "Mr. Woo Fay, right?" she smiled at him.
Wufei and Sally both were taken aback by her apparent recognition of him, they exchanged a confused glance.
"I am, sorry, miss, but I don't believe we've met before. How is it you know my name? Also, it's pronounced 'Wufei', Chang is my
family's name." Wufei was always a bit uneasy around children, not having much contact with them even as a child himself. This
discomfort was something he disliked, however, and hoped to overcome.
"Oh, that's okay, Mr. Wu-uh-fei," she did her best with the name. "I don't think I said that right. I'm sorry," she frowned to herself.
"No, no, that's quite all right," Wufei interjected, not wanting the more important question of how she knew him to be lost over name
pronunciation. "Now, why do you think we've met before?"
"Oh, we haven't! But I *was* expecting you, though," she would have said
more, but just then Quatre came to the door causing another startling outburst from the happy girl.
"Quatre-daddy! You're here, too! Hurray!" She reached her left hand up to him as if automatically expecting a hug.
"Nani?!?" Quatre looked startled to say the least. "I'm sorry, but *I'm* not your daddy. I think I'm a little young to have a daughter as
grown up as you are and I dare say I'd remember a pretty face like yours anywhere!" Blushing, he tried to cover his shock at the
pronouncement of fatherhood while Sally chuckled quietly next to Wufei.
Quatre was beside himself in confusion at being assigned fatherhood without his knowledge.
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