Author's Note: This fits with chapters forty one and forty two of Witness.
Diary of a Protected Witness Part 31
A Stitch in Time
Man, sometimes my life just sucks!
Oh, wait--isn't that how I started this whole journal thing? Pretty damn close anyway. Guess I need a new line.
But honestly, it fits.
I was on a wonderful high after a night of fucking Heero Yuy and then a morning of him returning the favor--right up until I found out the real definition of "beach glass."
Yeah, I'd begged, pleaded, cajoled and coerced Heero into taking me down to the beach. Not that he could resist my pouty lips, big sad eyes, and the extra-short cutoffs I'd made for the occasion.
I really loved how he broke down whenever I turned on the charm. While I knew he'd never back down on the big stuff--like security and protecting me--when it came to the little things, he just about bent over backwards to please me.
It had started with that silly cd player, if you think about it. He didn't buy it just to keep me busy or keep my music off the radio; he bought it because he knew I'd enjoy it, too. I think he might've had a crush on me even then.
Well, actually, he admitted to being attracted from the moment he'd had me sprawled over the hood of the car. But I think that cd player was the first gesture I could actually recognize as "affectionate."
Sweet, huh? I think so.
At any rate, Heero took me to the beach and it was truly awesome. The sand just stretched on forever--and the water was so wild and sparkly with foam! It was something you'd have to see to believe. And since it was my first time at the ocean, I just soaked it all in--the sand and seaweed.
It was as much fun as the lake had been, even without sex. Heero insisted the sand would make beach sex pretty uncomfortable, and he might've been right. But having a little seaweed fight and a race along the shore was a total blast!
The little fucker was fast; I gotta admit. If there hadn't been trashcans and fences to slow him down on our chase down the alleys of Sanc, he might've caught me that time, too. This time, he did it pretty easily, and I fell laughing on the soft sand, pinned under his weight.
What? You think I'd mind being pinned under Heero Yuy? Ever?
Of course, stuffing seaweed in my mouth did not endear him to me. But I deserved it; and let it not be said that Duo Maxwell can't take a joke.
While he retrieved the stuff I'd dropped when the chase began, I played in the waves.
That damn water was cold! Just about froze my legs before I'd even gotten knee-deep. But I could still feel the soft, rippled pattern of the sand under my feet, and the brush of seaweed on my calves. What a weird feeling!
As I got in up to my thighs, a cold wave slapped the backs of my legs and made me stumble a bit.
"Careful--" Heero called out. "It's not like the lake."
"No--it's colder!" I agreed.
And it was harder to stand still in, even as I teased Heero about coming out to warm me up.
"Not likely."
I pouted, but he wasn't falling for it that time.
"What if a fish bites me? Or a shark? Would ya come out here then?" I smirked as I said it, knowing any shark brave enough to threaten me would face the wrath of Detective Heero Yuy.
I'd pity that shark.
But when I made a crack about a shark eating a witness--like a dog eating your homework, Heero's forehead creased with worry. "Why don't you come out now?"
I was about to do it, too. Cathy and Chang had appeared a bit further up the beach, and Heero had me convinced to come out of the water, when I put a foot down and felt pain just lance through it.
I jerked my foot back. "Shit--ow!" And when I grabbed onto it with both hands, I went over backwards, getting a mouthful of salty, icy water for my trouble, and ending up soaked to the skin.
The next thing I knew, Heero was there, standing me up and looking half concerned and half angry. "That is e-nough! Considering your situation, pretending to be shark bitten is in very poor taste!"
"N-not k-k-kidding!" I managed through my chattering teeth, wondering if that was exactly what had happened. The stabbing agony in my foot seemed to travel all the way to my knee, and I wasn't sure where or how I was injured. A shark seemed as likely an answer as any.
"Oh my God!" Heero scooped me up in his arms, his face going white as he looked down at my leg.
I wanted to ask him what was wrong, since I couldn't see past my knees, the way he had me cradled in his arms. But I was shivering too hard to unclench my jaw, and then he was striding quickly out of the water, and setting me gently down so he could examine my wound.
Then Cathy and Wufei were there, both looking worried as hell. "What happened?"
"S-stepped on somethin'," was the best I could manage between my trembling lips.
"Broken bottle," Heero announced.
"Hold him," Wufei said curtly, and I found myself being hugged from behind by my boyfriend.
"What're you gonna--hey! Ow! Fuck!" I yelped, as Chang unceremoniously yanked the glass from my foot.
It fuckin' hurt like a sonofabitch!
And then Cathy was handing Chang something out of her purse that turned out to be a freakin' maxi pad, and I about died. "Ew! Chang--no!"
But in spite of my protests, he pressed the damn thing against my cut, holding pressure on it. I dunno if it was the pain or the thought of the sanitary napkin that made me squirm more. Girl stuff!
As Heero scooped me up again, while Wufei kept pressure on the wound, I caught a glimpse of his tense, pale face. "Not your fault," I told him.
Of course he blamed himself, babbling about how he should've made me wear shoes, or kept me out of the water. But I tried to get it through his thick skull that shit happens, and sometimes there's no one to blame.
This was part of the reason I'd left that note with Howard. I knew that if anything bad happened to me, Heero would find a way to make it his own fault. Hell, even if I suddenly dropped dead from a brain aneurism, he'd think there was something he should have thought of to prevent it. Talk about an overdeveloped sense of responsibility!
Anyhow, before I knew it, I was stripped and bundled up in a blanket on the couch, my foot elevated. I didn't complain too much, since I got to be curled up in Heero's warm arms--but when they started talking about stitches, I very nearly panicked.
"I don't need stitches, 'Ro! Tell her!"
"Looked pretty deep to me. I think it's a good idea."
"Aw, fuck."
Yeah, I was seriously outvoted on that one. And after double-padding my foot and doing it up with duct tape, Chang took Catherine off to the local vet clinic to get needles and shit for stitching me up.
It was gonna hurt like hell--I just knew it!
It seemed like no time at all before they got back. I think I might've been hoping they'd get lost, or stop to make out somewhere; but no such luck.
On the plus side, Cathy took my idea for how to numb the pain seriously, and brought me some scotch. I managed to get pleasantly buzzed while she and Wufei readied their torture implements, and Heero fussed over me.
Then Cathy came back in, and I sort of burrowed up against Heero's chest, trying to relax and get it all over with.
Don't ever tell her, but I hardly felt a thing. Catherine was damned good with that needle and thread, I gotta say. And she was calm, cool and collected throughout the whole crisis. A girl like that is pretty hard to find. And I said as much to Chang, when she'd gone out to the kitchen again.
"Hey, Chang--y'know Cathy's a little like family."
"Your point?"
"Just--don't fuck with her, okay?" I was suddenly feeling a little brotherly towards her, the way Trowa always had--and I wanted Wufei to know I wouldn't tolerate it if he messed with her emotions.
"Unlike you, Maxwell--I don't fuck with people," he growled back.
"I'm just sayin'--"
"And I'm saying--I'm not like you and your kind!"
Well, had I stepped on a land mine, or what? Kinda felt like I might lose the use of my other foot at this rate.
"My kind?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Criminals--street punks--gangs--"
I could almost hear the word "gays" on the end of that sentence.
"We're back to that? Jesus, Chang--isn't it about time you told me what the fuck your beef with me is?"
If I'd known his answer, I don't think even the scotch would've given me the guts to ask that question.
"Meilan was my childhood sweetheart," he began.
I don't think I heard another word he said after her name. Meilan. How many girls could there be with a name like that?
She'd been a pretty little Chinese girl, with eyes as dark and sparkling as Chang's, and absolutely gleaming black hair. When Solo and I bumped into her in Chinatown, even I'd had a passing thought that she was kind of cute. We apologized and helped gather up the fruit she'd spilled, laughing over the incident, and sending her on her way. I never expected to see her again.
But I did. About a week later, Solo decided to check out the farmer's market again--gave me some bullshit line about how getting some fresh fruit for the younger kids was a good idea. I offered to "liberate" some, via the usual slight of hand method; but he wanted to "browse". I guess I shoulda known he wasn't browsing for the same thing I was.
Sure enough, after we'd split up to cover more ground, I found him chatting up the same pretty girl from the week before. He claimed on the way back to our hideout that he wanted to find an "in" with the Chinese merchants in the area. Said he thought maybe Meilan could teach him a little Mandarin and introduce him around.
And I fuckin' fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
Imagine my surprise when less than a month later, after I got to wondering about the amount of time Solo was spending away from the gang--and me--I followed him downtown and watched him slip into the shadows between two buildings and take that same pretty girl into his arms and kiss the living daylights out of her.
It still made me sick to think of it. I could still feel the same lurch of my stomach, and the tearing pain in my chest. It didn't hurt any less to think of it now than it did the day it happened.
Funny how trauma works that way. I could look back on the memory of Zechs' death and relive the absolute shock and horror I felt at that time, too. Some things just never, ever fade--no matter how much time passes.
The next thing I knew, I was blurting out her name. "M-meilan? You said her name was--Meilan?"
"Yes. Long Meilan--and before she was swept off her feet by a piece of street trash, she was my fianc¨Ĥe."
Holy fucking shit!
I had to put some space between me and Wufei while I dealt with that revelation. I babbled something to him and Yuy about needing to use the bathroom and just about hopped my way down the hall to get away from them.
Not that it worked. When I finally reached my refuge, Heero forced his way in with me, clearly knowing there was something very, very wrong with the way I was acting.
He closed and locked the door behind us, and when he turned around, the look on his face scared the living shit out of me.
"You know something about Meilan's death, don't you?"
OWARI
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