The Laws of Gravity:

Chapter 5

By Tenshu

Catherine got out of bed, and looked at her cat clock that hung over the headboard of her bed.

"A quarter after eight," she murmured, walking towards the kitchen to make some cappuccino from her coffee-making machine. She turned on her radio to listen to the news, which was part of her morning routine, and listened to the commercial.

"Have you been unfaithful to a close friend? Is it the other way around? Call Madame Lauren (AN: Pronounced Lure-ren, like the clothes designer "Ralph Lauren".) For some extra guidance…" Catherine spat out her coffee, the words "unfaithful to a close friend" haunting her conscience. She turned off the radio, thinking that it wasn’t important anyway to listen to the morning news. Besides, she had a day of spending some quality time with her little brother to look forward to.

"Let me give Trowa a ring now," Catherine thought aloud to herself. She placed her coffee mug onto the counter, and walked over to the entrance of the kitchen where the phone was hanging. Catherine took the phone off its hook, and dialed Trowa’s number deftly.

"Hello?"

"Hey Trowa, about today…I just wanted to say that I’m glad you got over that dumb car of yours. Now that you look back on it, it was pretty stupid to get mad over it." There was a long pause before Catherine continued.

"So," she said uneasily, thinking she might have angered Trowa, "what are we going to do at twelve? I heard that a movie with Ryoko Hirosue was going to come out some time soon." Trowa cleared his throat.

"Actually, I decided we should go another time." Catherine’s eyebrows drew together, getting angry.

"I don’t see why we have to reschedule." Trowa paused for a minute.

"Dorothy and I decided to go to the movies today," he said quietly and stiffly. Catherine gasped.

"I knew the little snake had something to do with this."

"What happened."

"Why are you demanding me to tell you?"

"I asked."

"No you didn’t, you demanded me to tell you."

"Look Cathy, let’s not argue again…"

"Why are you holding me responsible for us arguing now?" Before Trowa could respond, Catherine slammed the phone onto the receiver.

"Two can play at this game, Dorothy. It was a big mistake to drag my brother into this."

Sally twitched violently, coughing up blood, which began to drip down the side of her mouth. Noin took out her handkerchief from her shirt pocket, and wiped her best friend’s ashen face, wiping off the blood.

"Sally, please pull through." Hilde turned her back on the group of people surrounding Sally, when something caught her eye. There was two-dollar bill just lying there. Hilde walked over to it, which was lying in the small entrance of the narrow hallway, and bent over.

"Just an ordinary two dollar bill." She lifted it up to the light. There were words, which were suddenly visible on the bill, and Hilde assumed that it was secretly decoded. Hilde read:

Dermail 0 25 82

Hilde shoved the bill into her pocket. She’ll think about this on her own. She didn’t want everyone to worry over another subject other than why they were here.

Sally twitched again, more blood coming up from coughing violently. Duo looked on sadly, his hand over her slender one. Wufei stared into space, lines of concentration crinkling on his forehead.

‘Morphine alone cannot do this much damage,’ he thought, ‘it must be something else.’ Suddenly, Sally’s eyes just flew open. Duo and Wufei jumped aback; the sudden movement of Sally’s eyes was unexpected. Even Noin, who stood behind the couch looking down at Sally, was caught by surprise.

"What the hell just happened?" Sally’s eyes fluttered like butterfly wings, before they could actually stay open. She opened her mouth to talk, but instead blood came oozing out of its sides. Noin called over Hilde.

"Hilde! Bring in a rag, quick!" Hilde, who was sitting at the kitchen table, sprung to her feet and grabbed a dishrag off the table.

"Coming!" she yelled, trying to maintain herself from falling in her high heel sandals. Hilde handed Noin the dishrag, and watched on as Noin wiped Sally’s face once more.

"What the hell happened?" Wufei asked firmly, directing the question at Sally. Sally inhaled through her mouth, her throat badly swollen, as she prepared herself to speak.

"I was talking to Hilde," she said in a wheezing voice, "when something got caught in my throat, possibly from my sandwich."

"Where’s the sandwich now?" Hilde brought up, kneeling down on her knees.

"Shouldn’t it," Sally coughed, this time there was no blood, "be laying over here somewhere?" Wufei shook his head in disapproval.

"Nothing abnormal when we had arrived."

‘We?’ Noin thought, ‘it was I who had to encourage you to come…’ A smirk was plastered on Sally’s lips.

"It’s funny though, how whoever done this hasn’t found what he or she was looking for." Duo looked puzzled.

"Whaddaya mean?" Sally chuckled.

"It appears that I don’t have…"

Heero, typing furiously on his laptop, tapped the keys "Ctrl+Enter", sending his letter through. He had sent Trowa an e-mail that wouldn’t be so pleasant, once received. Trowa had given him, Heero, a rigged floppy disk with no information that he needed to complete his mission. First of all, before finding Mariemeia’s mother, a.k.a. Leia Barton, grave, he must first track down Relena. He knew it would be a long shot, because everything he did was, and anyway he had some things on his mind that he wanted to get off his chest. Sunlight crept through the curtain-drawn window, bringing in a certain cheerfulness. Not to Heero of course, because it wouldn’t make him a difference if he had won the lottery or not, but to the subtle ways of the small apartment. This place he was staying at, partly dilapidated from what happened in AC 196, the apartment building was completely deserted. No one probably knew that it had still existed, therefore Heero had sought inhabitance there. It was hard to fill up on food supply, so most of the time he would feed off of nothing. Heero got up from the worn out wooden chair, and walked out the open exit door of the apartment. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and a gentle summer breeze rolled across the vacant savannas. It felt as if to Heero that he was the only person inhabiting this God forsaken place. However, being excluded from the world was nothing bad to him. It was more of a vacation, than anything. If it were only possible to accomplish, he would say that this was his secret getaway of escaping the so-called world. Escaping civilization. Escaping her. Escaping Relena. Escaping everything he had come to know. Heero picked up a small pebble, inspecting it with his hand and his intense Prussian eyes, and threw it as far as he could enable himself to. Heero walked over to his space shuttle, which was perched up high onto a rocky cliff, and began to climb up towards it. It had only taken him a matter of seconds to reach it, yanking the space suit, which was wedged in between two rocks. He climbed into the space suit, and easily opened the door to the space shuttle.

"Hold it right there, mister." Heero froze. A woman with emerald green eyes, and long raven hair, was leaning against the backdoor of the shuttle back into the shadows.

"Hand over the disk, and nobody will get hurt."

"Konnichiwa minna-san!" Autumn Rose cheered, pulling on Relena’s apron. Relena sat down a plate of cookies.

"Good afternoon to you too." Then Relena placed her hands on her hips.

"Aki, how many times do I have to tell you to not come out until you change out of your pajamas?" Autumn Rose looked down at her fuzzy blue slippers with a sad expression on her face. The kitchen, which was attached to the dining room area, had yellow tiled floors with small blue flowers on them. The yellow curtains were drawn back, to show off the sun’s glow this afternoon. The walls were all white, not even the slightest trace of dust on them. Relena, whose green summer dress and apron was smudged with a black tinge to it after trying to make a cake earlier that morning, wasn’t in too good of a mood. Relena turned Autumn Rose by her shoulders, making her face the exit.

"Now come back after you finish getting dressed."

"But mommy, I can’t get dressed by myself," the little girl whined. Relena sighed.

"You’re a big girl now, you can get dressed without mommy’s help."

"I’m three for the love of God." Relena took off her white apron, folded it, and sat it beside the plate of cookies on the counter.

"Don’t give me back talk, Aki. But this time, I’ll help you get dressed." Relena pushed the little girl gently, letting her know to start walking, and the two walked down the wide corridor of the boarding house. Relena looked up at the ornaments, which were hanging on the walls. There was a winged horse, a baby angel, and even glass china with painted dancing bears. The list could go on forever, because there were so many lovely and etiquette things on those walls. When they had finally reached the room, Relena closed the door.

"Now, since I’m dressing you, I’m going to dress you in what I want you to wear." Relena walked over to a wooden dresser painted pink, and opened the first drawer.

"This will do nicely," she commented to herself, holding the sky blue dress in the air. There was white lace at the collar part, with little red, pink, blue, green, and yellow flowers sewed on it.

"Yeah!" Autumn Rose cheered, taking the dress from her mother. Relena told Autumn Rose to take off her blue nightgown, and to put on her dress. Relena handed her daughter a clean pair of underwear, and at no time at all Autumn Rose was dressed. Relena took out a comb from the same drawer of the dresser, and instructed Autumn Rose to sit down on the bed. Relena sat behind her, and began to comb the long wispy hair.

"I wanna pigtail!" she cried, getting energetic. Relena nodded silently, taking out a ribbon from her dress pocket. After braiding and wrapping the ribbon at the end of the pigtail, Relena got up.

Heero drew out his gun. The woman grinned maliciously.

"Are you challenging me?" Heero didn’t answer; the finger over the trigger not even quivering.

"Hand over the floppy disk," the woman demanded curtly, edging closer to a still Heero. Heero took out the floppy disk from a front pocket of his space suit.

"If you’re looking for any information on Leia Barton you won’t find it here." Heero tossed the disk at her.

"Nani?! No, I won’t believe you. This is all a trap." Heero smirked slightly.

"Maybe it is." Heero pulled the trigger. The woman ducked the bullet, looking over her shoulders as broken fragments of aluminum fell from one of the shuttle’s walls.

"Cheap shot," she commented coolly, standing back up.

"My turn." She quickly pulled the trigger of her silver gun. Heero shifted to the right, the left sleeve of his space suit getting torn in the process. Heero looked at his arm, then up at her.

"Who are you?" She started to chuckle.

"I was waiting for that question. I’m working with Midii Une. Just tell Nanashi, he’ll know." Heero, who was utterly puzzled but did not show it, quirked an eyebrow slightly.

"Nanashi?"

"Trowa. Trowa Barton." And with that, she had left from where she had come from.

Margo, Duo and Hilde’s maid thrashed herself into the door, the door finally giving way.

"Miser, mademoiselle, where are you two?" There was no reply.

"Good," she said, her French accent gone. Margo took out a walkie-talkie and muttered.

"Metal Urn here, do you read me? Over," There was static before an answer.

"Red Vase here. The sheep has left the barnyard, over." Margo nodded.

"Well, don’t let it stray too far you hear? Over." Margo turned off the walkie-talkie and slipped back into her coat pocket. She slowly walked over to the kitchen table and lifted the duster. There, lay entangled in it’s many feathers, was a slip of paper with an address written in an untidy scroll.

"I knew it would still be there. When it comes to cleaning, you can count on Duo and Hilde on not to do it." Margo placed the piece of paper behind her ear. Margo placed the duster back down, and turned to walk out the door. She closed the door behind herself, and walked up to a red Boxster Porsche and got in to sit in the driver’s seat.

"Just a few more days, Nanashi."

Relena walked down the corridor of the boarding house, her mind running wild. There were so many things she had in mind that bothered her so much that she thought her head would tear into shreds. She thought about life back home. She could smell the warm brewed coffee sitting in her office; the mug now never to be drank out of. Relena thought about her friends, and her so-called brother.

"Relena." Relena looked up and saw Lady Une.

"Oh, hello Miss Une, haven’t seen you in a long time." Relena never felt so uneasy in her life. Lady Une smiled weakly.

"I’m sorry I can’t stay too long, but I need to have a talk with you." Relena nodded wordlessly pointing to a closed door. Lady Une walked ahead of Relena and opened the door. Lady Une walked in, followed by Relena. Lady Une sat down in a wooden chair, Relena sitting in a similar chair across from her. Lady Une cleared her throat.

"What I wanted to talk to you about was Mr. Khushrenada…Did he rape you? Or do you think he did?"

"Listen Miss Une, if I wasn’t sure who did this to me I’d be a whole lot better, in some ways than none." Lady Une shifted in her chair.

"What do you mean?"

"Then I wouldn’t have to go through this. And my daughter will not have to be part of this drama. Not that I care about everyone’s point of view about me, but I just might have been looked upon more nicely and just might still have my job. All I really want is to live a happy life, if it wasn’t for him that wish just might have been granted."

"You’re not the only one being affected by this, Relena. I’m being questioned as well as you…To the point of which I’m being called Mr. Khushrenada’s mistress."

"You just don’t understand, do you Miss Une? The only way you’d understand it is if someone does it to you." Lady Une turned beet red.

"Relena, I didn’t say…"

"If you came here to complain about your own problems, I’ll have to ask you to leave."

"That’s not what I’m here for…What I’m here for is to ask you what happened during the time of the rape." Relena chuckled.

"What always happen when a man and a woman get together and comes forth a child? It wasn’t any different than how you were taught about it in school." Lady Une shook her head, her impatience evident on her face.

"What did he say, what made it come to that point?" Relena thought for a moment.

"If I tell you, I’d tear every shred of woman in me."

"Well that’s because you’re not a woman, you’re a girl."

Dorothy carefully applied the red lipstick over her lips, before placing it back inside of her leather purse.

"It’s a wonder how I convinced Trowa to tag along," she thought maliciously, walking out the bathroom door.

"It’s like killing two birds with one stone…All I need is Trowa to serve as the purposes of the stone, and throw him at Quatre and Catherine. Now that’s an analogy to write down." Dorothy straightened out her black dress. Just then, the doorbell had rung. Dorothy strolled down the hall, her black heels sounding like hooves, and opened the door.

"How are you Trow-a…" Dorothy blinked.

"Catherine?"

‘Ugh, damn her, she just had to ruin the whole plan,’ Dorothy thought bitterly.

"You got some attire there, Dorothy, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were expecting a date with someone." Dorothy snorted.

"Well Cathy, it appears that I could look good with or without a date."

"Most of the time without." Dorothy ignored her, focusing her attention on Trowa.

"So, Trowa, what do you have in mind?" Trowa, who was apparently freaked out by the two girls’ behavior, shrugged.

"All right then, so we’ll stick to the original plan of going to the movies." Catherine nodded her head justly, and walked ahead of everyone towards the car. Trowa walked around the car and sat in front. Catherine opened the door to the passenger’s seat when…

"Where the hell did you come from?!" Catherine stared with pure hatred at Dorothy who had somehow squeezed her way into sitting down in the passenger’s seat.

"Well of course, Miss Bloom, it did take me a while to squeeze by, considering that your job at the circus isn’t helping you to lose a single ounce." Trowa heaved a sigh.

"Why won’t you just sit in the back seat for now, Cathy," Trowa said quietly, starting up the car. Catherine abided to Trowa’s philosophy, just to be on the safe side. She didn’t want to lose her cool over some "ex-best friend". And anyways, Trowa would never go for the clingy type, including Dorothy. Trowa sighed in a quiet relief and hit the gas pedal.

"So, what movie are we gonna see, huh Trowa?" Dorothy turned to Trowa to wait for him to answer. He shrugged.

"No, really, what are we going to see, Trowa?"

"Don’t torture him, maybe he just doesn’t feel like talking to you," Catherine stated from the back seat.

"Well he’s gotta talk someday, and anyways, I asked Trowa. Am I torturing you Trowa?" Trowa pulled over the car.

"Can we at least make it to where we have to go before the fists fly?"

"Wow, that’s the most you’d ever said to me besides the time I almost killed Quatre."

"I told you that you were annoying him." Dorothy turned around in her seat.

"Do you ever shut up? Maybe even for a little while?" Catherine turned crimson.

"How about you, Dorothy?!" Dorothy got out the car, putting her hair in a bun and taking off her jumbo silver earrings.

"Why won’t we settle this out? Like real women." Catherine got out the car as well.

"You’re on."

"Miss Une, I’ll have to ask you to leave…"

"But Miss Relena…"

"Now." Lady Une got up from her seat.

"Good day Miss Relena," she bowed, before exiting. Relena sat there, letting Lady Une’s words sink in thoroughly. Then she turned to look outside of the room, and to look at the hallway. If this is a boarding house, where are all the tenants? Relena gripped her dress tightly, the fabric clutched tightly between her fingers. She was going to cry, she just knew it. Her parents always said never hold back on tears. In this case, this was the best solution to make her feel better.

"Mommy, where are you?" Autumn Rose pushed an open door to give her better access to the garden.

"Mommy?" The afternoon sun beat down on her face with no mercy. The little girl edged towards a tall, looming tree, which would serve well for her purposes of shade. Autumn Rose had finally reached the tree when she heard a twig snap. She was expecting Relena to be there, but it wasn’t her. It was someone else. Autumn Rose backed up against the tall tree. The figure edged closer; it’s deep blue eyes hard; and cold.

"It seems that I don’t have the keys to Lady Une’s office down in Preventers HQ." Duo raised his eyebrows.

"What would they need that for?" Wufei sighed.

"Obviously, Maxwell, they have to something to do in her office…Perhaps a hidden object of some sort."

"Maybe even a combination lock." Everyone turned to stare at Hilde.

‘Uh-oh. I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth.’

"Just a suggestion, it is a possibility after all." Wufei scowled.

"What are you trying to pull, woman?" Duo stood in front of Hilde.

"What’s your problem, Wufei?" Wufei took a step forward, still staring at Hilde.

"You must know something that we all don’t, so why not tell us?"

"Hilde doesn’t know any more than we do…"

"Let the woman speak for herself." Hilde palms became sweaty.

"I said, Wufei, that it was nothing more but a suggestion." Wufei snorted rudely, turning his back to her.

"Keep a close eye on her Maxwell, that’s all I have to say." Duo turned to look at Hilde. He could automatically tell that Hilde felt uneasy.

"Hilde babe, are you all right?" Hilde nodded, shrugging.

"I guess it’s the heels." Duo grinned mischievously.

"Or it could be those tight pants you’re wearing." The smirk on Duo’s face was enough for Hilde to plummet him through a window, eighty stories high.

‘At least he’s noticing me,’ she thought. Wufei turned to Noin.

"Aren’t you suppose to be the one with Lady Une’s keys, Onna?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me onna? My name is Noin, damn it!" Wufei arched an eyebrow.

"All right then, ‘Noin-Damn-It’, or whatever your name is, aren’t you suppose to have the keys to Lady Une’s office?" Noin frowned slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable under Wufei’s tense gaze.

"Does it matter?" She snapped curtly, "the point is that whoever this person is, they’re after blood. And to stop this person, we must find out who’s blood they want," she explained, trying to move onto another subject. Wufei easily saw through this, because he started to give off his "noble" sort of chuckle, the one that let’s you know he’s on to something.

"So you know what this person wants, do you Onna?" Noin stomped towards Wufei, standing only inches away from his face, and in a low whisper she said, "this is none of your business, kid, so why won’t you stay out of this? It’ll save you and I the trouble." This caught Hilde’s attention. From her angle it looked like Noin was whispering some sweet love talk to Wufei from the way she was so close to his face. She tugged on Duo’s sleeve roughly, Duo turning around with a huge gaping jaw. Sally was quick on seeing this too, lifting her head slightly off the armrest of the couch.

"…Do I make myself clear, buddy?" Noin whispered to Wufei in a hoarse sort of voice, her finger poking into his chest. Wufei smirked.

"Whatever you say…N-Noin…Damn, I am not use to calling you by your name…" Noin knew that Wufei was trying to be sarcastic, so she just brushed the matter aside. Then she began to wonder why everyone was staring at her so strangely, excluding Wufei, for he was getting the same treatment. Sally stumbled to her feet weakly, grabbing a hold on her forehead firmly.

"What was that all about?" She said, walking slowly to a nearby cabinet for her first aid kit.

"Nothing," Wufei shrugged, trying to ignore Duo’s expression transfixed on his face.

"Whatever."

Trowa grabbed Catherine back, her limbs flying madly at Dorothy who taunted her. Dorothy loved every minute of this.

"Looks like Trowa’s on my side, eh?" She shouted at Catherine. Catherine shoved Trowa from her arms, and launched herself at Dorothy. She knocked Dorothy over, Dorothy hitting her head against a garbage can. The stitches, which were still in Dorothy’s head, gave way, making her bleed in the back of her head. Seeing her blonde hair bloodied, Dorothy got up quickly and slapped Catherine across her face. Catherine was about to throw a punch at Dorothy in return, but Trowa, once more had come out of nowhere, shoving Catherine into a brick wall.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" He spoke lowly to her, pinning her against the wall. Catherine’s face twisted up in anger.

"Can’t you see she’s just trying to use you Trowa? The only reason why she had called you in the first place was to make Quatre jealous." Trowa loosened his grip on her.

"Look, Cathy…Don’t worry about me. Thinking that I would fall for Dorothy is utterly foolish of you." Trowa always had a way of making Catherine feel even more ridiculous than she had already felt. She nodded slowly, and Trowa let her go. Dorothy had her hands on her hip.

"Game over?" She said in Catherine’s direction.

"We’re going back home," Trowa answered.

"Get back in the car."

The ride back home was quiet and peaceful, which pleased Trowa very much. He pulled up in front of Dorothy’s driveway, and got out of the car. Catherine looked confuse.

"I’m going to walk her inside," he answered knowingly, reading her expression. "It’ll only take five minutes." Dorothy got out of the backseat, and followed Trowa to her back lawn. The sun was beginning to set, and the night air began to take its affect, just like every other summer night. Dorothy opened the back door, and turned to look at Trowa. She smiled softly.

"Thanks for trying," she said sweetly, tip toeing and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Tell Catherine it was fun too." Trowa sighed, knowing exactly what Dorothy meant by this.

"Bye," she said, giving him a little wave.

"Bye."

Quatre leaned back in his leather chair, his arms behind his head. ‘Just another frustrating day at the office,’ he thought numbly to himself. He looked to his right, and scornfully turned to look down at the floor. It was a picture of Dorothy, and it had only gotten him madder. What was he thinking, kissing Catherine like that? His whole life this summer was like one, big roller coaster ride that’s gotten stuck upside down. He scratched his head, trying to think of something, anything, that he could do to undo this "sin".

"Why am I so determined anyway?" Quatre mumbled, "Dorothy would be too stubborn to listen to any of my explanations, I whetherwise give up on her." His eyelids began to grow heavy. He reached out for some coffee, but his mug was empty. He slowly fell asleep.

Who ever this man was, he was equipped with a gun, and pointing it straight at her. Autumn Rose backed into the tree, and found herself cornered. The man advanced, his finger edging slowly to the trigger.

~BANG~

Autumn Rose fell to the ground. The banging noise coming from a distant gunshot was making an awful, thunderous sound. Relena ran towards the tree, where her daughter was covering her ears.

"Are you all right?" Relena asked, shoving her gun into her right pocket. The man got up, making Relena gasp.

"Heero?" She nearly cried, tears threatening to spill. A feeling of guilt flushed over her, as if her mind was telling her body to hide itself. The way Heero just stared at her, the bullet wound on his back bleeding, and his eyes staring at her with an unknown expression. Was he mad at her? She didn’t really know. She grabbed her daughter into her arms, Heero’s gaze following.

"I’m so sorry, Heero," she said, teary eyed, "please…forgive me." Autumn Rose clung to Relena’s apron for dear life, panting heavily from fear. She burrowed her face into Relena’s warmth, Relena clinging onto her even more tightly. Her face darkened.

"Don’t you ever try to do that again, Heero." Heero couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was going to draw out his second gun, and just kill both of them at the same time. But something couldn’t bring himself to do that. Relena’s mother came rushing outside, being followed by several other people dressed in uniform.

"Relena," she panted, "are you okay? I heard gunshots and called police immediately…And who is this?"

"He tried to Autumn Rose…By blocking the bullet, but he got shot in the back. He needs medical attention," she lied. She couldn’t send Heero off to prison; no matter how many crazy things he did or at least tried to do. Heero frowned slightly as the police officers escorted him, along with Relena, her daughter, and Miss Darlian, to the house where a crowd had begun to form.

"Why’d you lied?" Relena smiled down at Heero, who lay in one of the bedrooms of the boarding house.

"Why hadn’t you killed me while you had the chance?" Heero turned his head, not looking at Relena. Relena smiled again, but her smile quickly faded.

"Heero, why were you going to kill her? Don’t you know she means the world to me?" She sat down on his bed.

"Lighter on your shoulders," he said curtly. Relena shook her head.

"You would’ve had to kill me, too…Would you have done that, Heero?" Heero groaned.

"You ask too many questions," he complained softly, seeming out of character. The shadows of those outside the room, in the corridors, danced on the walls of the tiny room. The foggy summer night sky made the tension grow thicker everywhere she went. Those three words she had waited for, to say to Heero, got caught in her throat.

‘How could I be ashamed to tell him?’ she thought. She had already known the answer. ‘Because deep inside you know how hurt he must feel about you and Treize.’ She must have been thinking for a long, since Heero had already fallen into sweet slumber. She removed some of the auburn locks from his face, and sat there and stared for a moment. Her heart was banging against her ribcage wildly. After all these years, here he is, right in front of her, and she still couldn’t get her words right. She silently got off of his bed, and turned off the lights. She’d better tuck the little one in bed now, it’s probably way passed her curfew by now.