Homecoming

Email: profiler120@hotmail.com

Complete fluff.. it’s about Lt. Nichol, Treize & Une.

She felt awful… something a kin to road kill. But the urge to leave the uncomfortable bed overpowered every body ache and strain she was currently experiencing. She looked around the oddly decorated room everything was white… There was no mistaking the environment, a hospital, apparently a civilian facility. How had she gotten there? The last thing she remembered was being left for dead on the cold floor of the Space Fortress Barge. She idly wondered what had become of Tubarov…

She removed the annoying oxygen mask from her face, finding it was making her irritable and threw it away to the side, and contemplated ripping out the IV in her arm. How she hated those things, she’d always wondered what it was like to have one… now she knew.

Her torrent remembrance was cut short by the entrance of a white clad female, apparently a nurse.

"Hi," the woman greeted, her sandy white bangs obstructing her face slightly. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine," she replied, a ragged whisper of a reply. "Where am I?"

"You are in a hospital, you were admitted two days ago, by a… a solider, I didn’t get his name. "

She blinked, moving her hand to her chest where the bullet had pierced her, and sighed. It didn’t hurt ; surprisingly she’d expected more pain. "How long have I been out?"

"I don’t know… we weren’t given any information on your previous condition. Would you like some water, or something to drink?"

She nodded no. "I’m fine thank you, may I phone call?"

"Certainly," she motioned toward the phone next to her bed, Lady Une reached for it, but before she’d grasped her slender hand around the phone the door swung open quietly. A head peaked inside, Lady Une immediately recognized the man.

"Lt. Nichol," she called out softly. Why’s he here?

He stepped inside and approached the edge of her beside, in his hand a small-planted flower, with large white blooms.

"I came to see if you were all right… I hadn’t expected you to be awake Ma’am,"

She half nodded, tired, but direly wishing to be removed from this hospital.

"Do you know how I got here?" she asked.

He nodded. "Of course Ma’am, I brought you. The leader of White Fang, Miliardo Pacecraft, destroyed the space fortress barge where you’d been held in sickbay two days ago. I and eighteen others were the sole survivors, we brought you back here, where you were admitted to this hospital,"

"Why?"

"Because, you’re needed by His Excellency… the sovereign of the entire world nation, he’d need his aide right? And besides, you’ve got the be the most important member of the Treize Faction, Colonel Lady Une,"

"White Fang? World Sovereign?" she shook her head in confusion. She’d been out too long, she was too far behind she needed to get back to work. She needed to be there for Mr. Treize! "Where are my clothes, I want out of here,"

His eyebrows shot up in shock. "But Ma’am-"

"Go get them!" she ordered momentarily glaring. "I need to return,"

He hesitated a moment before following her orders. How exactly was she planning on getting out of here? He wondered. He brought her the familiar Oz uniform and left the room. She forced herself up, out of the bed, willing her tired, weakened limbs to move as she shed the flimsy hospital gown, pulling out the IV’s and other needles and machines attached to her. She slipped into her uniform, leaving her hair to fall about her shoulders, and the symbolist glasses missing from her warm auburn eyes. She swung open the door of her hospital room, outside Lt. Nichol stood guard waiting, a nurse seeing her up immediately approached her, preparing to shuffle her back to bed.

"My name is Colonel Une, as of now I’m being transferred to a military facility, this is my official escort Lt. Nichol, you may contact the Westbrook Medical Facility to confirm," she said and without another word, looked at Nichol to escort her out. Which he promptly tended to, but was halted by the nurse.

"Aren’t you going to take your flowers?" she came back with a large bouquet of roses and the plant from Lt Nichol. Who on earth brought me roses?! She wondered staring in shock at the huge amount of flowers. Lt. Nichol carried them for her and they proceeded toward the exit. Once tucked away inside the elevator she leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes, relieved she was finally leaving here. She had little tolerance for the hospital environment…

Clenched in her fingers was the white enveloped card she’d plucked away from the bouquet in the hall. The pasty white envelope revealed nothing with only her name printed on the front. ‘Anne’. Are these from Mr. Treize? Did he bring me the beautiful roses? Her heart soared at the thought, how she missed him. She remembered the last time they’d spoken, she’d told him then, in so many words her longing to see him. The chime of the elevator doors woke her from her reverie; stepping out over the threshold into the parking garage she realized how hungry she was. Lt. Nichol escorted her silently to his car, opening the door for her. She slid into the seat obligingly and waited. He hopped into the car himself and drove off.

He didn’t say anything; unsure of what to say… she on the other hand enjoyed the silence, her fingers absently toying with the tiny envelope still in her fingers. She slipped the top flap of the envelope upwards and pulled out the tiny card.

Across from her Lt. Nichol glanced over at her, he couldn’t read the card but he immediately recognized the name at the bottom as he glimpsed it. ‘Treize’. So I was right, the roses were from Treize… he thought to himself. Not that it was any of my business, it was his lady he could do what he wanted. Personally I wouldn’t want my lady to have her job, that’s crazy. It’s way to dangerous… and yet neither of them seem to care about that. He shook his head as though to clear the thoughts from his mind. He didn’t understand the relationship between the two, but he knew what he did understand. That look in her eyes, he’d seen it before when Treize was mentioned. The immediate softening of her entire face, she seemed completely relaxed, it usually only lasted a moment, her guard didn’t slip that often, but when it did... It suggested there was a lot more no one knew about behind the iron Colonel Une.

She looked up wearily as the car pulled into the parking lot of the medical building, she sighed. Perfect, I can call Marlette from here! She thought thinking about her secretary, one of her few friends. The only person besides Treize she spent time with… little time with her as she was usually by his side, but when he was away they spent a lot of time in the office together. He parked the car and she removed herself, and came around to take her flowers from him, not expecting him to escort her any further than he had already.

Back at Northwest Hospital, where Lady Une had just walked out, the towering Treize Kushrenada stepped out the elevator, drawing appreciative stares from the nurses nearby. He walked to her room, eager to see her, eager to know if she had come back to him yet, only to find her bed vacant. He turned on his heel and nearly walked straight into the nurse who entered behind him.

"Where is the-"

"Ah, she was your lady?" the sandy haired nurse questioned walking further into the room. "Strong woman never met anyone like her. I came in, she was awake, asked to make to a phone call, only she was interrupted by a young man in a uniform. I left, came back he was gone; she was just sitting there staring at her IV. I left again when the young man returned, a few minutes later I see her emerge from my spot at the nurses station. She identified herself as Colonel Une saying she was being transferred to a military facility… I shrugged, not knowing what to say. She pointed to the man with her and identified him as her official escort, he was in uniform so…"

"Did she tell you his name?"

"Oh yes, I remember, she called him Lt. Nichol,"

"Really…"

"Umm hmmm, she almost walked out without the beautiful flowers you brought her, I don’t think she even seem them before I brought them to her as she was walking to the elevator… Strong lady, she acted as though she hadn’t just woken from a coma… strong lady," she repeated shaking her head as she walked out.

He followed her. "What medical building?"

She stopped and thought a moment. "It was… Westbrook!"

He nodded thanking her before walking back to the elevator. Where are you headed Lady? He wondered not believing for a moment she’d check herself in for more than a minute at any medical facility. So she must have had him take her there to call someone… Marlette! Anne’s secretary… so that’s what she was up to, he concluded. She wouldn’t call him, of that he was certain, she’d come to him, but wouldn’t call him.

"Are you sure you don’t want an escort inside, you’re feeling all right?"

"Why are you so concerned about my health?" she asked, stepping back from him, the softly spoken question hanging between them.

"I’m truly sorry for what happened at Barge Ma’am… I realize I was wrong… wrong about everything. But His Excellency is right, and you are his direct representative, you must be returned to him. It would have been dishonorable for me not to return you to him, instead of letting us all die at Barge… "

"I do not understand what brought about this sudden change, I do not even understand what is going on right now… Who is White Fang?" she asked as she turned away from him, beginning the seemingly endless walk to the building doors. He gathered her flowers and followed her.

"White Fang is a group of colony rebels, heavily armed rebels. Duke Dermail ordered the construction of a large battleship called ‘The Libra’; White Fang captured the Libra and are using it as their base. Their leader is Miliardo Pacecraft, who has declared war on Earth, and has demanded that Treize destroy the Earth or he would do so himself. Well, in so many words,"

She nodded. "What about Treize becoming World Sovereign?"

"Duke Dermail, before his death made Relena Pacecraft the former head of the Cinq Kingdom chief representative of Romefeller, and then crowned her ‘Queen of the World’. Relena proclaimed a World Nation and began leading to Earth to peace, but days ago Treize Kushrenada relieved her of her representative position and she resigned as Queen. He’s become the leader of Romefeller and is leading the World Nation’s fight against White Fang,"

She nodded. "Oh," she said, still not understanding. Not understanding why Treize had taken this path, but expecting she’d get an answer from him when they next spoke. "And that is all?"

He thought a moment, had he left anything out? "I think so," he said uncertainly, as the two reached the cement patio, and feet away from them stood the sliding mechanical doors.

Nichol noted the sleek, silver Mercedes as it pulled into the Westbrook Medical Building parking lot, before looking back to the lady before him, but something about the car drew his attention, only it had vanished into the myriad of cars in the lot. He brushed off the feeling and turned back to the lady who was staring out into the setting sky, her eyes narrowed in deep thought.

Treize stepped out of his car, pulling his keys from the ignition and palming them tightly in his gloved hand as he began to walk forward down the lot toward the doors. His gaze centered squarely on the two people standing out front, one of them his lovely Lady Une. From where he stood, at a distance, she looked quite disconcerted, her uniform jacket only sitting on her shoulders her hands across her chest, not in the sleeves. Her hair fallen down around her shoulders and not back away from her face; he guessed she’d had nothing else to change into. There seemed to be an uncomfortable pause between the two standing there, she was turned away, her gaze concentrated absently on the setting sun, and him standing awkwardly next to her holding a bunch of flowers.

Lt. Nichol was the first to notice his approach but did nothing to warn the Lady who continued to stand facing the opposite direction. She did however turn at hearing his footfalls, at first a mild glance to see who had approached, only to realize who was standing before her. He regarded her silently, staring at her, she looked tired and weary, too tired to care about her slightly unkempt appearance. Her glossy eyes seemed to shimmer, and he wondered if perhaps she were about to collapse on him. He turned to Nichol.

"Thank you for returning her to me, I’ll take those for her," he took the flowers from him. Nichol saluted and turned to go.

"Thank you," Lady Une called out to him as he walked away he turned and smiled.

Treize watched his retreating back a minute before looking back to Lady Une. She followed him silently back to his car, settling comfortably in the front seat. Lost in familiarity and contentment, her she allowed her exhaustion to claim her. She was home again.

Treize looked over at her, sound asleep, her head turned toward him. He smiled… for now she was his, and she was safe.