Racing With Secrets
Part 15
Duo's hospital stay was increased by a week after the incident with Jack Ryuzouji.
All of the other pilots as well as Gene Starwind and most of the cardiac care team were furious with the police officer for pulling such a
stupid stunt. Official complaints were lodged, but nothing came of any of them. Worse yet, Heero had already been placed in solitary
confinement in a maximum security prison with no visitors allowed. The bail hearing was scheduled for two weeks after the arrest since
the first week had been spent in the hospital anyway. Quatre's lawyers were livid and it was no surprise when Wufei had suggested they
simply rely on their old methods and "extricate" their friend from this injustice. Only Sally Po had been able to convince him that doing so
would only make things much worse for everyone and to drop the idea.
But while Duo was to stay longer, Laurel was given clearance to leave and be transferred to Quatre's estate where Dr. Akheem could
take care of her. This was where Duo would end up as well, but not until they were absolutely certain he had stabilized physically.
Mentally, however, Duo Maxwell was in pure Hell.
Against his preferences, Gene Starwind finally agreed to go back to Tokyo. He would rather have stayed, knowing Duo was in more
danger now than he had been before Heero was taken away, but it just wasn't possible.
Word came that Sally was needed back with the Preventers, but Wufei was on medical leave until his arm was out of the cast. Wufei
considered staying with his friends, but decided to go back with Sally for the time being at least.
Sally and Wufei went to tell the others in Laurel's room that they had to leave.
"That's nice for you, Mr. Wufei," Laurel smiled sweetly. "At least you'll have Dr. Sally to keep you company while you get better."
"Mmh," Wufei contentedly wrapped an arm around the woman's waist and brushed a kiss against her cheek. Suddenly a look of
concern crossed his face, and he kneeled down in front of Laurel. "Can you tell me if Heero will be stay in prison for what he did?"
Sally Po's blissful expression vanished, as did the girl's prospective adoptive fathers' smiles. "Yes, sweetheart," Quatre asked nervously.
"Do you know anything about what will happen to Heero?"
A deep frown crossed her face, "I'm sorry Quatre-daddy, I didn't dream anything about that before I, uh, um, well I hope he doesn't, it
would make Mr. Duo very sad wouldn't it?"
"Yes, angel," Trowa added. "I believe Duo may not be so happy even with a new heart if he can't be with Heero. But, Laurel, why did
you hesitate like that when you answered?"
"Well, Trowa-daddy," her eyes misted over and her voice choked. "Ever since I had the real bad fever, my dreams have been
messed-up. I mean, I always used to dream in color and everything, but since then if I have any dreams at all they are all dark, just black
and white and no colors. I can't make anything change and they are so strange I don't recognize most of them." She looked up into his
emerald eyes begging for him to help her understand what had happened to her. This revelation that perhaps the child had suffered some
limited brain damage which had destroyed the gift of clairvoyance she treasured so much was shocking to all of them.
"Laurel," Trowa gently hugged her trying to take away some of the fear without allowing her to sense his own. "Perhaps that is only
temporary, like the casts you are wearing. Maybe your dreams will heal, too, and it will be okay again."
Quatre stared down at the girl he considered his child still shocked that she'd never confided in them about this secret change which
obviously upset her so very much. "Darling, you know we love you very much and even if your dreams don't change back, maybe we
can help you to accept them the way they are now." He offered a gentle hug of his own.
Trowa agreed with his fiancé. "You're right as always, Little---wait. If we adopt a child, you wont be the 'little one' any more, will you?"
"True. Another advantage to adding Laurel to our family, ne?" Quatre smirked hoping Laurel would be distracted by this silly little
conversation; sadly, it didn't work.
"Well," Sally interrupted, "I'm sure the three of you will be quite content. I'm worried about how Duo will react when he finds out Heero
was placed in solitary confinement in prison, not just jail. That kind of stress is definitely contraindicated for someone recovering from a
heart transplant. I pray it will be something we can deal with *before* he finds out."
"No, Sally," Quatre looked down sadly. "I don't think my uchuu no kokoro or Laurel's clairvoyance are needed to answer *that*. Duo
already knows Heero's been locked up, the degree of severity and whether they will allow him to visit, however, will make all the
difference. I'm concerned for Duo's mental health which is deteriorating rapidly and once he gets his strength back I'm afraid that the
original 'Shinigami' may go on the rampage if he isn't already lost in deep depression."
"We're going to have a hard time helping *both* of them through this ordeal." Sally Po looked at the three men and the child, realizing
what a tight-knit family they'd become and fearing the loss of Heero's freedom could destroy it. "No, there were too many deadly
secrets revealed already. We can't keep these things secret any more, from either of them. It will only do more harm than good." She
hugged Wufei tightly for reassurance.
"Sally's right," Wufei added, "There is no time for secrets any longer. We must handle what happens openly with Duo and hope for a
miracle to get Heero out of prison as quickly as possible or we'll lose them both---again."
The only sound in the room was that of a seven year-old girl, crying harder than she had ever cried in her life.
Author's Notes:
1. Strangely enough, this fic is dedicated to Nicholas Cage. See, Nic? I promised you a good chase, heist, action, crash-and-burn story;
like it? (^_~) !
2. Thanks to all those readers who have told me they like my fics! I've been asked by several folks to set up an alert system when
something of mine is available, so please feel free to sign up at EnigmaFanficUpdates-subscribe@egroups.com!
Here's all those extra important notes for you as promised!
3. Major change in Muse credits here, Calliope, Greek Muse of Epics is now taking over for the full Arc as a unit. This story, of course
was Melpomene's fault since almost killing Heero in a plane crash is pretty tragic, not to mention the poor dead girl in Helsinki who
never even got a name!
4. Guest Stars!!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have guest stars again! And, boy-howdy do we have a lot of them! First our real
people: Lauren (my daughter) as Laurel and my darling Demon Child as Nurse Mitsu. Now the anime: Let's break them down by show,
shall we? No racing story would be complete without the original racer, "Speed Racer"! We have his brother Rex (aka Racer X) as our
jet pilot and Trixie as his co-pilot. Condor Joe Asakura from "Gatchaman" is back; and I sneak in yet another new "Gatchaman"
reference, too, did you see it? From "Outlaw Star" we have the number one space cowboy, Gene Starwind as our ever helpful volunteer
hostage and Aisha & Harry MacDougall as doctors for Laurel in the VIP ward. For heart surgery, there's a brief reappearance of
Limone from "Wedding Peach". But the hot new character to watch is none other than Junpei Ryuzouji of "Those Who Hunt Elves" as
Heero's over-zealous cop/jailer! Gee, were there any others? You tell me (^_~) ! Oh, and who spotted the TV/movie references
?
5. C & C's always welcome at EclecticAnimeFan@aol.com !
[[[ Wow, it's done! For now at least [PATENTED EVIL LAUGHTER]!
So, let me double-check things---Heero is in prison (don't flame me yet! wait for the next Book!); Duo is experiencing complications
due to what happened to Heero, both physical and mental (ooh, doesn't that bring lots of angsty ideas to mind?); Sally is leaving to go
back on duty (doesn't seem important, does it? [HEHEHEHEH] ); our little clairvoyant has lost her powers due to apparent brain
damage (is she of any use any longer?); and Quatre and Trowa plan to live happily ever after (but is it ever that easy?).
My, my, my. So many issues, so many opportunities! Just to let you know, Book 4 of the "Secrets" arc is entitled "Unexpected Secrets"
and is in progress. Feel free to make suggestions for what you'd like to see happen, but no guarantees it will go that way . As for not killing anyone else, um, no promises there either; as Duo would say, "I run, I hide, but I don't lie!" Well, I'm
sorta like that except I tend to fail to hide when I should and I've been known to lie (like when my daughter cooks something really
terrible but I tell her it tastes good anyway).
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