Sally rolled her eyes. "Wufei the great woman-scorning, manly man has been felled by a mere stomach flu?"
Une nodded and folded her hands on top of her desk. "Apparently. He called in earlier, and he really did sound terrible."
Sally shook her head in disbelief, her hair twists swinging against her shoulders. "And he admitted it? Did you get him on tape?"
Une grinned. "Yes, actually, but," her expression grew solemn, "you'll need to be assigned a new partner for your next mission."
"Have anyone in mind?"
"Mmm-hmm. In fact, I already called him in. Sally," she gestured to the doorway behind the blonde, "meet your temporary partner."
Sally turned and was greeted by a wide grin, mischievous eyes, and a meter-long braid, all worn by a tall man in black.
"Hiya, Sally!"
Sally considered sighing, moaning, or running in feat before dismissing them as too melodramatic. Instead, she forced a smile and replied, somewhat apprehensively, "Duo, it's..." she paused, weighing her words carefully, "it's been awhile."
"Duo, why did you drag me here?" Sally spread her arms to indicate the coffee shop they sat in and took a sip of the steaming latte situated in front of her.
Her braided companion shrugged. "It's better than a strippers' club or a nude beach, isn't it?"
Sally choked on a mouthful of coffee. Duo leaned across the table and patted her on the back, until she recovered and glared at him. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
Duo sighed and settled back into his seat. "I know. Can't I tease?" Sally shook her head, and Duo repeated his sigh. "You're getting as bad as Wufei."
Sally opened her mouth to protest, and Duo held up a hand, forestalling a tongue-lashing. "We've never worked directly together, so we should get to know one another. And from your reaction to my little joke, you've been listening to Wufei's opinion of me. I'm really not as annoying as he makes me out to be. In fact, I'm not as bad as I used to be."
Sally's scowl disappeared. "All right. But what is there that I don't know about you?"
"I'm sure there's something. Like where I grew up. You didn't know I grew up in a church, did you? No, well, you see I was a street rat for the longest time..."
"...and then he told me about a man down on Earth named Howard. And you know what happened after that."
Sally brushed a strand of hair that had freed itself from her twists off her forehead and glanced up into the cloudless sky. She and Duo had retreated from the coffee shop to a nearby park as the day- and Duo's long-winded account of his life- had worn on.
Now Sally commented. "So your life's been one big adventure."
Duo nodded. "Yeah, but what about you? How'd you become an Alliance doctor?"
Sally fingered the end of one twist. "I ran away from home."
"And you didn't join the circus? C'mon, Sal, you can do better than that!"
Sally didn't react to Duo's jest, and his comically incredulous expression vanished. "Want to talk about it?"
Sally tucked another errant blonde strand behind her ear and peered at him out of the corner of her eye.
He honestly seemed interested- or at least willing to listen, and talking about problems helped more often than not. Not that her past was a problem; it was just buried so deep within her mind that it was beginning to bother her at odd hours of the day, interrupting her work and dissolving her concentration.
One particular revelation she had had during various points in her life was recurring more often recently, and she realized that she would have to either take her usual course of action towards it or find a new plan. As it was, her mind was drawing a blank towards new ideas. Perhaps Duo would have a suggestion...
"Yoohoo, Sally! Wakey-wakey!"
Sally snapped out of her contemplation and grabbed the hand Duo was waving in front of her face, dragging him over to a bench set in the shade of a large oak. Not even waiting for Duo to sit, she blurted, "I think I'm going to resign from the Preventers."
Duo raised an eyebrow. "Does this have something to do with me being your temporary partner?"
Sally hurriedly shook her head. "No, no, it's not that. It's just.... I don't know. I don't fit in anymore." That was a lame excuse, and both Sally and Duo knew it. Anticipating his question, she explained, "Everyone that works there now... they're young. Some of them weren't even old enough to be considered for the military during the war. Surrounded by all those babies, I feel old and worthless."
Duo placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're not old." Sally frowned slightly, and Duo quickly added, "Not worthless either. You just need to find your purpose in life again."
Sally slumped and sighed. "I don't think I've ever had a purpose. This isn't the first time I've grown tired with what I do. I joined the Alliance because I was tired of my regular, old, boring life. I thought I'd found a purpose patching people up, but that grew old really fast.
"Then after OZ took over, I kept busy with helping Noin unite you guys and everything. And I was busy for the first couple years with the Preventers, but now it's become uninteresting and routine."
Duo had stretched out his legs at some point during her story and now, in his semi-reclined position, he commented, "You look really strange from this spot. You know, maybe you should sit like this or take up a hobby. Maybe spend more time around me. I'm new and interesting."
The corners of Sally's lips twitched upwards. "I have hobbies, but no matter how cliche it sounds, I want to have a family before I'm too old to have one."
Duo pulled himself upright. "So get Wufei to marry you and-"
"What?! No matter what you and the rest of the world thinks, I do not care for Wufei like that."
The look on Duo's face clearly indicated that he did not believe her. "Oh, really?"
Sally nodded. "Yes! Besides, Wufei's seeing someone."
That surprised Duo beyond the capacity of speech.
Sally took the opportunity to stand and stretch. "I'm going to get something for dinner. Do you want to come along?"
"Sure!" Duo jumped up and practically carried her to the nearest restaurant.
Sally rolled from her back on to her side and propped her head on one hand, glancing at Duo who was lying next to her. Instead of dining at a restaurant, Duo had managed to convince her- or rather begged and pleaded until she crumbled- that a picnic would be better.
Light conversation had passed between them while they ate, but now Sally felt the need to continue their conversation from earlier. "Why did you think Wufei and I are a couple?"
Duo craned his neck back to look up at her. Finding this uncomfortable, he sat up. "You two are attached at the hip most of the time. You eat together, you work together, you spend your days off together. Hell, you might even bathe together for all I know!" At each addition to his list, Duo yanked a handful of grass out of the ground.
Sally noticed this and grinned. "Jealous, Duo?"
A bewildered look crossed his features. "Wha-? Oh." He dropped his gaze to the vegetation gathered in his fist. "Um, this is a... bouquet for you."
Sally accepted the strangest bouquet she had ever seen with a laugh. "Next time, try to get some dandelions or some other weed to add color."
Duo nodded. "The lady's preference for fast-growing weeds duly noted."
Sally set the grassy bouquet on the ground at her side. "What about that girl? Heidi, Helga..."
"Hilde," Duo supplied. "What about her?"
"You two seem pretty close."
Duo's eyes widened at what Sally was suggesting. "She's just a friend! Besides like Wu-man, she's seeing somebody. Some Chinese guy. She has him over today because he's sick- Wait! You don't think she and Wufei are...?" Duo trailed off, not exactly sure how to describe a relationship between his friend and the arrogant Preventer.
Sally's shoulders shook as she tried to suppress her laughter and failed. "That is so bizarre. We'll have to ask them how it happened."
Duo nodded in agreement and abruptly rolled to his feet. Holding out a hand towards her, he made a poor imitation of a bow. "Since our supposed significant others are dating each other, does the lady wish to follow their example?"
Sally arched an eyebrow. "Are you asking me out?"
Duo shrugged. "I guess you could say that."
Sally placed her hand in his and allowed herself to be hefted to her feet. "All right, but our relationship has to remain professional on the mission. Think you can handle that?"
"No problem. Hey, wanna drop in on Hilde and Wu-man?"
"I don't think that'd be a good idea. I'm sure Hilde kicked you out of the house for a reason, and I know that sick or not, Wufei will not hesitate to run after you threatening you with a haircut. I don't want to spend our first date being chased by an angry man with a sword."
Duo chuckled. "Point taken. Okay, then, what's your opinion on being chased by a braided man who has every intention of tickling you?"
Sally tilted her head and appeared to mull over it for a minute. Finally, she grinned. "I don't think he can catch me." The second the last word left her lips, she took off.
Duo exclaimed a protest and, rising to her challenge, pounded after her.