Lying on top of the blue sports car, Wufei tried to ignore the throbbing of his nose while holding the now very bloody tissue in hopes of stopping the bleeding.
As his body absorbed the sun's warmth, he looked back down at the beach. 'Maybe I can see Sally from here,' he thought as he gazed down.
There were children making sand castles, Teens playing volleyball, and some women sunbathing. One woman in particular captured his attention; she was in a very revealing bikini.
It reminded him of when he had first spotted Hilde in her bright yellow two-piece that was so hard not to notice. He had been so focused on her slim and lovely form that he hadn't been watching where he was going and tripped over an abandoned sand castle.
Pulling his gaze off the woman on the beach he looked over to where Hilde was now trying to find some thing to clean him with.
Blushing, he decided it was best she never know why he had tripped.
Trying to not notice how his jacket left her legs in open view, Wufei looked around for some thing else to watch.
"Here it is!" With that exclamation, Hilde came out of her car and was standing in front of Wufei, holding a first aid kit and a cup from Wendy's.
Handing him the cup, she explained "I already drank the pop, but there's still some ice." Gently moving his hand away from his nose she placed the cup on the brig of Wufei's nose.
Forcing himself not to wince, Wufei admitted that the cold seeping from the cup was soothing, even if any pressure did cause some pain.
"I'm rather surprised there was any ice left, I mean with it being so sunny out to day I had expected it to be melted by now!" Hilde's light-hearted chatter kept Wufei from focusing too much on what she was doing.
Keeping his mind on her voice and words made it easier to ignore the pain shooting from his nose as she cleaned up the blood with bottled water and some white cloth. "Anyway, you should be fine. It hurts like crazy now, and will any time you touch it, but in a couple of weeks you'll be A-Okay." Looking down into her smiling face, Wufei couldn't help but smile back.
"Done!" Hilde said as she put the lid back on the bottle of water.
"Umm" She glanced down and blushed a little. "Could you wait here?" Hilde looked back up. "I have some clothes in Hannah that I'd like to change into before I give back your jacket" She finished, tugging at the bottom of the jacket again.
Nodding, Wufei watched as she climbed into her car and shut the door. The tinted windows gave her some privacy.
'If she keeps that up ol' dependable Hannah will lose her front bumper ' Wufei thought, seeing how much the car was shaking with Hilde's movements.
Looking back down at the beach, he gave it his full attention.
Not much had changed since that last time he was watching. The group of kids playing volleyball was smaller, and now there was an old man playing catch with his dog.
Looking to the edge of the beach, where the waves were crashing up and down on the shore he saw two figures. The couple standing in the middle of the crashing waves were kissing, and, oddly enough, they looked familiar.
At this distance Wufei couldn't make out the features of their faces or any details but he couldn't shake the feeling he knew them both.
"Oh..." Looking down, he saw that Hilde was back. Standing beside the car in a light green T-shirt and jeans, she was watching the couple too. "They're cute, huh?"
Hearing the soft wistfulness to her voice, Wufei wondered if she was missing her boyfriend. 'And why does that bother you?' He asked himself when a feeling he couldn't place rose up in his chest.
Getting off of the car, Wufei stood beside Hilde. "They shouldn't display such feelings in a public place," he muttered, turning his back to the still kissing couple.
Looking at Wufei, Hilde's eyes lost a dazed look as though awaking from a daydream and grew wide. "What's wrong with kissing someone in front of others?" she demanded to know.
Wufei shrugged. He hadn't even meant to say the thought out loud. "It's not appropriate behavior."
Hilde shook her head "Why? Why is it inappropriate? Would you say it's wrong for a mother to kiss her child?"
Not believing that he was having this conversation, but not going to back down, he answered, "Of course a mother can kiss her child. That's different!"
"How? If a mother loves her child and can kiss him in front of others why shouldn't a man and woman who love each other kiss as well?"
"Because it's a different kind of love! " A honking noise interrupted him in-mid sentence. Looking up, he saw that Sally's jeep was moving out of its parking space.
"Wufei, we have to go!" Sally shouted out of her window.
With out any hesitation, Wufei jogged to the jeep and hopped in before it went screeching out of the parking lot.
Standng in the parking lot, Hilde wondered what had happened as she held Wufei's jacket in her arms. "Who was that woman?" she asked out loud.
"What woman?" Duo's familiar voice asked back.
Jumping at the unexpected sound Hilde looked at her friend, he was soaked up to the knees and breathless. "No one you'd know" she replied as the image of a woman with light brown hair came to mind.
The sun had been shining in Hilde's face when she looked in that direction so the other woman's face had been unclear.
"Look, I need a ride to Preventers HQ. Mind giving me a lift?" Duo asked.
Thoughts of torturing Duo forgotten, Hilde nodded and opened the driver's door. "Hop in" she said, tossing the jacket into the back seat.