Editer: West Wind
Pairings:1x9, 6x9, 5xS, and maybe more later.
*L4 199 AC-three years after the series ends*
Looking over at Noin through the darkness, Heero weighed her words. "Are you sure, this is a very risky plan."
Noin nodded, "I don't have enough time to do it any other way." Lowering her head, Noin struggled to get her emotions under control before pleading, "This is the only way to get Zechs back alive. Please, will you help me?"
Heero studied Noin, she looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her hair was tangled, and he had the impression that she had only ran her fingers through it instead of combing it. 'And just how much worse are you, Zechs?' Heero silently asked of his old nemeses in his mind. Standing up, Heero walked over to where Noin sat on a crate in the condemned building.
"I'll help," he said quietly handing her a handkerchief.
Saying nothing, Noin took the offered white garment and wiped her eyes. A few tears had trickled down her chin before she was aware she had been crying. Squiring her shoulders, she stood up straight. 'Get a grip!' Noin told herself. "I'll meet with you tomorrow morning 5:00 A.M. outside of the Winner shopping center," she said to Heero, who was now heading for the hole in the wall that he had entered through.
Heero checked for anyone passing by before he responded. "I'll be there."
Heero waved for her to come to the hole, and Noin stealthily came forward to his side. Looking out herself, she saw that it was clear and discreetly left. Making sure that there was nothing to tell of his meeting with the secret agent of Preventers, Heero too covertly left wondering what the next day held for him.
"Winner shopping center," Heero ordered the taxi driver as he entered the cab and sat down.
The taxi driver was an old man covered in tattoos. Moving the rearview mirror, he muttered a "Sure bud" and pealed out away from the curb.
Heero was thrown off balance and hit the other side of the cab door with his shoulder. Letting out a grunt of pain, he tried to sit up and put on his seat belt. The taxi car went rushing around a corner sending Heero to the left side of the cab. Another corner, he fell to the right.
"Slower!" he shouted finally sitting up with his belt on.
"Sure, sure," the driver shouted over the roar of the car, but he didn't slow down.
Looking up to yell at the driver, Heero saw a red building become larger as it seemed to come at them.
'No, we're coming at it,' he thought before the yellow cab hit the building and things went black for him.
"Poor deary," Noin heard the elderly lady's voice through a haze.
"How long do you think she's been sitting there?" another voice this one belonging to a man asked.
"Goodness, I'd say since this morning," the lady's voice spoke again.
"Who is she here for?" the man questioned.
"Her husband, a Mr. Lowe, I heard the Doctor say," the woman said as Noin opened her eyes and saw a bright pink skirt move in the chair across from herself .
'What kind of name is Lowe?' Noin asked of her still fuzzy mind.
"She wept for an hour before falling asleep, the poor thing," said the lady's voice coming from the skirt.
The smell of medicine and floor cleaners engulfed Noin's nose and turned her stomach. Sitting up, she looked around and saw she was in a hospital waiting room.
'Lowe...maybe it's Asian.'Stretching in the cushioned chair she rubbed her neck. "Lowe!" she nearly shouted as the last four days, starting with Zechs' disappearance, came back to her. Blue eyes wide, Noin looked around franticly for a doctor to question.
"There, there. Calm your self, Luv." The woman in the bright pink skirt was standing in front of Noin. The elderly woman's wrinkled hand was resting on hers. "The doctor was here a few minutes ago and said she'd be back after doing her rounds," the woman said as Noin realized she must look like a wreck.
"Thank you," Noin said licking her chapped lips, she could really use some coffee.
With a final pat, the pink skirted woman went back to her seat.
As the conversation came back to her, Noin started to piece it together. 'She thought I was crying over Heero,' remembering the way she had been upset after hearing about the wreck Heero had been in on his way to meet her. 'Best they think that way,' she decided feeling a bit of guilt for balling over Zechs so much and how things were ruined for Zechs' rescue without any real thought to Heero's condition.
Glancing around, Noin spotted a group of nurses a few feet away. Getting up, Noin went to speak with them.
"Excuse me, do you know where H-," Noin stopped herself from saying Heero Yuy. Correcting herself, she used the name that she and Heero had agreed upon for their mission. "Oden Lowe is? He was brought in from a car wreck."
A pretty red head nodded, "Yes, Mrs. Lowe, he's in room thirty-seven B. Doctor Winner said you could see him, but he's not awake yet."
"Oh, thank you," Noin was still not use to answering by her code name.
Her puzzled look must have given the young nurse the wrong impression.
"Would you like me to go with you? I know it can be scary sometimes...," she left the offer hanging in the air.
"No... No, that's all right, just point me in the right direction," Noin responded glancing around.
After getting the directions, Noin headed for Heero's room, expecting the worst but hoping for the best.
Sally had once told her how Heero was able to escape a Fedy controlled hospital while under arrest, even if Duo had helped. And from Duo, she had learned how Heero fixed his own broken leg.
'Perhaps there is still hope,' she thought finding the door with 37B on it. Taking in a deep a breath Noin entered.