Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam wing or any of the characters…but I do own Renée, Trent, Melody, General Lee, Calvin, Jacob, and all the other people that aren’t the original GW characters (you know what I mean).

 

Procrastination

Lady Minya

 

Chapter 1: The Introduction

 

 

 

            Renée sighed as she sat on the bench…looking out into the clear blue sky.  “Great…My break ends in thirty minutes.  Same shit everyday. Get up, go to work, break, go back to work, curse out another customer, then I go home.”

 

 She put her left leg over her right, her left elbow on her knee, and rested her chin into her hand.  Four eight-year-olds ran by chasing a little puppy.  “Hey he has my doll.  Let go!” one of the little girls shouted…followed by boys her age…all in laughter.  Renée smiled.

‘That’s just so cute’, she thought to herself.  Lost in thought, she didn’t notice one of them come towards her. 

 

“Hey Ash,” Melody said cheerfully.   Still in a daze, Renée slowly turned her head towards the voice, all knowing too well whom it was.  ‘Only Melody would shorten my middle name.’  “Ash!” Melody shouted, this time waving her hands in front of Renee’s face.  She blinked hers eyes and gave the girl her full attention. 

“And how may I help you, Melody,” Renée asked.

 “Can you take me to the circus later?  My mother won’t be home until tomorrow morning and my dad went to one of the colonies.”  Renée looked at Melody as if she were crazy.

 “Where’s you’re brother?  He’s old enough to take you,” she replied.  “Well, it depends on which one you’re talkin’ about, Ash.  Jake, or Trent.”  Renée looked at Melody questioningly. 

 

“Well obviously Jake.  Why would I recommend Trent?”

Melody placed her hands on the bench and looked at her friend with a playful smile.  “’Cause he’s in lov-… I mean ‘cause you like him.  That’s why.”

Renée raised an eyebrow.  ”What were you about to say, Mel? “  Melody giggled slightly and leaned on her right shoulder.  “I promise to tell you if you only promise to take me later?”  Renée gave it a thought.  Now that she mentioned Trent…’ 

 

“Ummm…no.  Sorry kiddo.  Go and ask your big bro, since you brought him up.  I’m sure he’d enjoy spending time with his little sister,” Renée replied.  Melody grabbed her right shoulder and tugged.  “Noo!  I want you to take me.  Besides, Trent is on duty or something with his stupid Preventers job.  He never has time for me.” 

 

That, Renée knew.  He never has time for anybody.  Hell, he doesn’t even have time for a descent relationship.   Memories of his past relationship with a roommate came into mind.  Whenever he’d call their dorm and tell her that he’d take her to the movies in two hours, Desaunya would be so excited.  But then two hours would come and go.  He would call in and say that he was called in for something important.  She’d go nuts.  Every-now-and-then, Desaunya wouldn’t mind…she understood.  But, it got annoying.  And when it came to quality time…always kicking Renée out, it wouldn’t be enough or they’d be interrupted.  When she finally gave up, he was finally given a smaller job…paperwork.  And the break-up broke his heart.

 

‘Damn Trent, how could you pass up cinnamon for paper? She also remembered when she ran into him and Melody at the fair.  Mel told her everything while Trent just looked away.  ‘Gee Trent.  Desaunya is a rare gem…you said so yourself.  But you just left it to fall overboard and sink to the bottom of the ocean, and decided to save the merchandise.  What can paper do that she can’t?”  She remembered how Trent turned and looked at her, with such sadness and pain.  His beautiful hazel eyes and dark brown hair that would normally be in ponytail…but was let loose.  And as the breeze blew, it would gently move, as if it wanted to fly away.    ‘Damn he’s gorgeous.  His eyes, his...caramel skin tone…Mm…tasty.  And his body…whoa, I could go on for hours…   “Paper can’t give me what she gave me.  She was…” He never finished.

 

“Ash! You’re not answering me!” “Please!  I want you to take me.  Jake might go with his friends and they always bother me...besides, I can’t seem to find him anywhere.  And I really don’t care.  So I was thinking maybe you could take me since you never bring anybody along.”  Renée sighed and looked at Melody.  “He’s your brother and you don’t care where he is?  He’s fourteen years old, and that’s not good.  I’ll take you, but I need to know where he is first.”  “He’s probably at one of his friends house…but he hasn’t been home since two days ago.” 

 

Renée began to get a little worried.  That’s strange.  As much as she bugs them, he wouldn’t run off like that…especially if their mom and pops were on duty.  Hmm, something’s not right.’  “If he’s not around, then who stays at home with you?”  “I ‘m there with Desaunya.  She decided to stay with me since everybody’s out.” 

“Why is that?”  “It looks like she wants to talk to my brother about something.  But she wouldn’t tell me.  And I don’t want her to take me to the circus.”

 ‘Sounds reasonable.’    “Fine.  I’ll take you tomorrow around 2:00, okay?” 

“Yay!  Thank you a whole bunch Rena.”  Melody gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.  “ I’m gonna go and tell her right now.”  Renée sat straight up and looked at Melody a bit surprised.  “But what about your friends?  I’m sure you could tell her later?” “Yeah, but I don’t wanna chase a dog around for a doll that’s not even mine.”  Renée sighed.  “Alrighty then… be careful, Mel.  I’ll call later.”

 

 “I will Ash.  See ya!”  Melody gave a little wave and ran off.

Renée sat back on the bench and rested her arms on the top of it.  The circus here on earth.  Wow. This will be amazing.  Maybe I’ll even get to finally see Trowa Barton.  Hooray.  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

           

 

“Maybe we should go inside of the café and talk about this, Duo.  I don’t think it’s a good idea to sit out here and talk in such an open and public place,” Quatre said as he stood up.  Renée’s eyes flew open and she sat up straight.  Quatre and…Duo?  Here on earth?  But why?  She looked around, looking for the direction of their voices and realized that they were two benches to the left of her.  ‘Hn.  None of my business.  Knowing them, it’s probably something big.’  She shook her head and got up to walk across the street, back to her job…The Cherry Oak Café.

           

 

“Hey Renée…you’re two minutes late,” her co-worker stated as she took her position behind the register.  “Two minutes, and you’re complaining.  You’re lucky it wasn’t fifteen minutes like the last time.”  She grabbed the apron that was behind her and put it on as if she were sick and tired of the job.  Damien then walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.  “Yeah well don’t do it on my break time.  Do it on someone else’s.”  She turned towards him and gave him a mischievous look.  “Oh but you’re break is right after mine and you’re the only person I’m able to do it to.”  “Don’t look at me that way, Ashley (stressing the name).  It’s annoying and…”  “And it turns you on.  And again, you complain about me being two minutes late while you’re wasting two more minutes of your precious break chatting with me.  You could’ve been out the door, enjoying you’re break.  So don’t complain when I take extra time, tomorrow.” 

 

Standing behind her, Damien grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close.  “You do that and you’ll be sorry,” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers up and down her spine.  “You’re nothing but all talk and no action, Damien,” she replied.  She walked out of his grasp and started towards the nearest empty register.  “Whatever you say, Ashley.”  “And  ‘Renée’ is my given name.  I’d like for you to get used to it… and stop calling me by my middle name, you horny duck.” 

           

 

Quatre and Duo walked into the café and took a booth to the far left of the café shop, near a window.  “Really Quatre.  Did you have to pick such a fancy café to sit and talk?  There’s always your local donut shop,” Duo remarked.  “Yes Duo.  Besides, there’s hardly anybody here than at your local donut shop,” he answered sarcastically. 

 

“But just look around.  I mean it looks more like an expensive business building than a café shop to me.”  “Whatever Duo.  Now look.  We need to know who has the codes before General Lee Mao-Chung does.  If he gets his hands on them, then the earth and outer space will be put into chaos.”  “Yeah, I know what you mean.  But what does Relena have to do with it?”  “Well, he plans on being in control of both the earth and outer space.  So he wants her to step down from her position…or more like hand it over to him.  But if she refuses or if we interfere, then that’s where the codes come in.” 

 

Duo folded his hands and placed them onto the cherry-oak table.  Quatre pulled out his laptop and turned it on.  “Right now, all we have is the entry codes into only three of the six facilities that he has.  And so far, we have no idea on what’s in either one of them,” Quatre said as he looked over the top of his computer.  He noticed that Duo was looking around at his surroundings.  Behind both of them, on top of the booth, were small curtains, for their privacy.  Along the sidewalls of the café, there were booths all the same, dark green booths, with cherry-oak tables.  And small green and burgundy curtains on top of the booths just above their heads.  Business type.  In the middle were round tables each with five chairs.  And along the counter were single chairs.  All cherry oak, just like everything else.  So that’s where the name came from?’ 

 

“Well I do guess this is a bit fancy, but it’s definitely better than your local donut shop,” Quatre replied.  “Sure, whatever.”

           

 

“Hey Renée, I want you to take Jan’s place and be a waitress for the rest of the day,” Montavious, her boss said coming in from the office, which was towards the back of the café.  She rolled her eyes and walked away from the counter.  “Sure thing, boss,” was her reply. 

 

“Great, now you can go over there and serve those two gorgeous guys while I go and sit at the counter and relax,” Jan replied as they swapped aprons.  “Ha, very funny.” 

“Oh and you have to get the order from that couple over there as well.”  Jan pointed out two people sitting in the booth exactly opposite the two guys Jan pointed out earlier. 

 

“Great.  Now I have to do cross-country.”

There was much more service at the register than taking ‘sit-in’ orders.  She decided to walk over to the couple and take their order. 

“Hello.  My name is Renée and I’ll be you’re waitress for today.  May I please take your order?”  The blonde women looked up at her and smiled. 

 

“Oh we’d both like today’s special, one with no turkey, two medium collotta’s, and two glazed donuts.”  Renée wrote it down and read back their order.  “Okay so that’s two California-style sandwiches, one with no turkey, two medium coolatta’s and two glazed donut’s.”  “Yes,” they both replied.  “Okay.  I will be back shortly.”  She turned and headed towards the kitchen. 

 

“Randy, you have an order…and take your time.” 

Randy shook his head at the dark brown-hair girl on the other side of the counter. “No problem,” Randy replied as he smiled at his friend from his side of the counter.

           

“Hey Duo, you hungry,” Quatre asked.  “Yeah.  Let’s take a small break and get a bite.  I’m starving.” 

“Do we go up and order or do we wait for a waitress,” Quatre asked unknowingly. 

“Well you’re the one who picked the place, so I‘m surprised that you don’t know.”  As Quatre was about to get up, Renée walked out from the kitchen.  Duo sat up straight and stared.  She wore khaki pants that fit around the top and was slightly baggy from the thighs down, with a deep orange T-shirt.  She had hair that came just above the middle of her back and it was layered.  Her sneakers were a light shade of gray and had a slight touch of orange to the sides.  The right side of her hair was placed neatly behind her ear and her bangs came just above the middle of her eyes, which are light brown.  Her outfit went well with her skin complexion: caramel.

           

“Excuse me miss,” Quatre called out.  Renée turned her attention towards the voice that was calling her.  When she turned her head to her left she saw who it was.  Oh my god.  It’s Quatre and Duo.  What the hell are they doing here in such a place like this?’  She walked over towards them and gave them a smile.  “How can I help you?” 

“Umm, I’d like a glass of orange juice and two apple croissants,” Quatre replied.  “And you,” she said turning towards Duo.  “Let’s see, how ‘bout a hero sandwich and a coke,” he replied.  Renée looked at him and gave him a little smile.  “Oh sure, if you were at your nearest bodega, but you’re not.  But you can have today’s special if you like.” 

 

Duo gave her a cute smirk. “And what’s that?”  “A California-style sandwich which has turkey, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, hallipiño peppers, mayo, and shredded carrots.” 

“Sounds good.  I’ll take it, with a glass of water on the side, along with the coke,” Duo replied.  “Sure. No problem.  Oh and by the way, my name is Renée and I’ll be your waitress for today.”  She turned around walked towards the kitchen, again. 

“She’s beautiful,” Quatre replied, as they watched her disappear into the kitchen. 

           

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile: At Colony CX-083549; L-3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

”General Lee, we have confirmation of only one person knowing what you need,” Colonel Blaine replied from the General’s office door.  The General slowly turned from the window he was looking out of and gave his full attention to a young man with honey blonde hair and green eyes...with a very built figure.  One of his best.  The colonel straightened his position and continued.  “Her name is Alaya Dean-Brown.  She’s married with three children, and is currently in outer space on official business, sir.”  Lee cocked an eyebrow. 

 

“What kind of business, Colonel?” 

 

“She’s a preventer, sir.”  Looking very interested,

the General walked over to his desk and took a seat. 

Resting his elbows on his desk, he folded his hands and rested his chin on them. 

“A preventer, colonel?”  “Yes sir.”  “So you’re telling me that a preventer knows the access and abort codes to those missiles?”  Colonel Blaine swallowed hard before answering.  “Yes, sir.” 

 

He knew that the general didn’t like the fact that they had what he wanted and that he didn’t like sloppy jobs.  The general sat back in his chair and rested his chin in his right hand, looking as if he were thinking about something very deeply.  “Well colonel, we can have her give me a call and be so kind to tell me, or we can be…very creative.” 

 

“General?” 

 

“What is her current assignment, colonel?” 

 

“Right now, she’s inspecting the areas between colony cluster L3 and four, sir.”  The general looked a bit agitated.  “If she gets anywhere near the lunar base, I will have your head posted outside of my office, colonel.” 

 

“General, she has another working as a preventer.  He’s twenty-two years old.  His name is Trent Dean-Brown and he is currently heading back to earth.  Their middle son is suspected to be on board with her.”

The General thought about this.  I don’t like using children as a target…or as bait.  Cowardly.  Hm…what is that boy doing out here with her?  That could be a problem?’ 

 

“Colonel, see if you could contact her as soon as possible.” 

 

“Sir.” 

The colonel saluted, and walked out of the general’s office. 

 

“So we have a preventer involved already.  Mr. Brown, a preveneter?  Now couldn’t you find someone else’s life to waste?” 

 

The general smiled and turned his chair to face the window that was behind him.  “If she dies, at least we still have the girl.  Trent, we’ll deal with along with the rest if they interfere.  And as for her middle child, we’ll have to see what he knows.”

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On Earth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Renée walked out of the kitchen with the couple’s orders. 

“All you have to do is pay up front.”

 

 “Thank you very much, young lady,” the man said.  She gave them a smile and walked towards the counter. 

 

“Jan, I need to talk to you.”  Jan gave her customer their change and turned annoyingly to Renée. 

 

“What now Rey?”

 

‘Rey?  Where’d she come up with that one?

 

“I know those two over there,” she replied, pointing over at Quatre and Duo. 

 

“And your point?” 

 

“It’s not like how everybody else knows them as ‘the gundam pilots’, but I know a little more.” 

 

Jan looked at her suspiciously.  “A little more like what?”  Renée glared at her.  “Not like that stupid!  More like their past.  Things that they haven’t told anyone else or things that they don’t know about themselves…things they should know about themselves.” 

 

“Well miss ‘Eye Spy’, if you want to get involved with the Almighty 5, then go and tell them whatever it is they need to know.” 

 

“Yeah, sure.  I’ll go over there and tell them what their parents never told them and then they’d thank me gladly for letting them know.  Oh, no.  They’ll look at me as if I were crazy then ask me where I got that kind of information, and then they’d…” 

 

“Okay then the truth, or don’t say anything at all.”  Jan placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder and sighed. 

 

“It seems to me like you know a lot, and whatever it is could possibly get you into trouble.  Or how ‘bout you don’t tell them at all, hmm?”  Renée looked at the cherry-oak counter.  ‘What the hell am I going to do?

 

 “Look girlfriend, I have five customers, so scat.”  Renée smiled at her friend and walked towards the table to where the couples were seated.  “Oooo, money.  They left me a twenty-dollar tip?  That’s a new one.” 

 

Renée smiled and put the money in her pocket and began to clean the table, when her other two customers were calling to her. 

 

“Hey, Renée.  How long does it take to make one lousy sandwich,” Duo said looking a bit annoyed.  His stomach was growling and it was driving both him and Quatre crazy.  Renée stopped what she was doing, threw the rag onto the table and turned around with an attitude. 

 

“David, come clean this table please, while I go and have a friendly chat with another customer.”  Jan looked up from making a cappuccino, David dropped the dish tray on the floor, causing a loud crash, drawing attention, and Randy came out of the kitchen.  Quatre looked around at what was going on. 

 

“Um, Duo…what just happened here?”  Duo looked at Jan, then David, then Randy.  Then he turned his attention to an agitated looking Renée.  “Hey look, if I called out to you in a wrong way, I’m sorry, but…”  “Sorry?  You’re sorry, Duo?  Is that all you have to say.  Sorry.  First you ask for a bodega sandwich, then you wanna rush me?  Let me tell you how this works.  You call waitress, waitress takes order.  Waitress delivers order.  Waitress waits for order to finish.  We also deliver orders that are called in.  Most of which were ordered before yours.  If Quatre here can wait patiently, why can’t you?” 

 

She placed her hands on the table and gave Duo an icy stare. 

 

“Well I’m sorry for rushing you, if that’s what call it.  But you don’t have to respond with an attitude…” Renée clenched her fists and took a deep breath.  I admit I have an attitude…because I’m always stuck with Melody, not that I don’t mind…but I have no time to myself.  School’s out for the summer and I need a vacation! 

 

Seeing this Randy decided to intervene. 

 

“Hey Rey, I’ll put the phone orders aside and do theirs right away, okay?”  Renée glared at Duo then softened her look.  She looked down at the floor and tried her best to give a smile. 

 

“Uh-oh, she’s gonna blow,” David said aloud. 

 

Renée gave-in and smiled at his remark.  She looked and placed a hand on Duo’s head and smiled. 

 

“Getting friendly Rey?” Jan called from behind the counter. 

 

She bent down to Duo’s ear level and whispered into his ear. 

 

“Next time I’ll cut your braid off, Maxwell.” 

 

He turned and looked at her suspiciously. 

 

“How did you know my last name?”  He asked. 

 

She gave him a mischievous smile and leaned closer. 

 

“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out.” 

 

When she stood to walk away, she noticed how everyone was still watching. 

 

“All right, get to work everyone.  Nothing happened.  No yelling…I’m okay,” Renée said as she walked towards Randy. 

 

“Get their food so I can rest a bit, hn?”

 

“Sure, no problem,” he replied with a smile.

           

“How’d she know our name Duo?” 

 

Duo had a serious look on his face. 

 

“I don’t know, but I’m bound to find out as soon as she comes back.” 

 

Quatre gave it some thought.  “What if she just knows us because of who we are?”  

 

Duo looked at him with a weird look on his face.  “Nah- I don’t know.  There’s something about the way she said it…and her body language that gets me suspicious; like she knows something.”

 

 Quatre gave him a smile. 

 

“You’ve only been here for forty-five minutes and already Duo…She’s getting to you isn’t she?” 

 

“Huh, me?  No way.  What’s a little argument got to do with anything.” 

 

‘Well, maybe a little.  But we have no time for that.’ 

Duo smiled to himself and looked down at the table.  

 

“Don’t fall too hard buddy.  We’ve got work to do,” Quatre said in a serious tone. 

 

“Yeah…right.”