Honor and Justice

Chapter Three

By Aryn

As Mei walked towards her room, a new sense of security came over her. For once in the past three years, she felt like she actually stood a chance against OZ.

<Who knows, maybe I can stand chance.> she thought to herself as she opened the door to her quarters. Hana was sitting in one of the large chairs, looking at a picture book with her teddy bear beside her.

"Why are you still awake?" Mei asked her gently.

"It's not bed time yet Mom." she answered, jumping down from the chair and running over to her mother. Mei picked her up and looked at her watch. It was, in fact, not bedtime yet. The little girl still had an hour left.

"Well, it feels like bed time." Mei told her. "I can never tell what time it is in space."

"I like space." Hana said enthusiastically. "I like watching the stars."

Mei looked out the small window and gazed at the stars. They were relaxing to look at. She remembered the large windows in the conference room and the view that they had.

"Hey, want to watch to stars out a bigger window?" she asked the little girl.

"Yeah!" Hana said, struggling to get down. Mei let her down and watched as the girl excitedly grabbed her teddy bear and ran back over to her mother and grabbed her hand.

Mei laughed at the sheer energy of her child and how the smallest things seemed to bring the most joy. She had been the same way when Deshi was alive. He could have made anything exciting. The loss of her husband pricked her heart again as she stared down at Hana. The little girl reminded her so much of him.

"Let's go Mommy." she said pulling Mei towards the door. Mei picked the girl up, kissed her on the cheek and headed towards the conference room.

______________________________

Hana had fallen asleep after thirty minutes of star gazing. Mei leaned back in one of the chairs and cradled the girl against her. Mei was about to slip into sleep when she heard someone knock softly on the door. Turning around and trying not to wake Hana, Mei saw that it was Arys.

"Hi." Mei said.

"Hey." Arys replied, stepping into the room.

"There isn't a meeting in here, is there? I can leave." Mei told her.

"No, no meeting. I just saw someone in here and was curious. Do you mind if I join you?"

"No, not all."

Arys walked over to the window and sat down next Mei, regarding the stars thoughtfully.

"You're married to Heero Yuy, right?" Mei asked.

"Yes I am. I want to apologize for him, but he just doesn't talk. I know he comes off as very imposing, but he's a good person."

"I know someone like that." Mei responded, smirking. "A certain Chinese man that I traveled with on my way here."

"Yes, there are similarities between the two." Arys agreed. "So this is your daughter?"

"Yes, this is Hana." Mei said, fondly looking down at her.

"Wufei said you had a child, but of course that was all he said."

"And what else did he tell you about me?"

"Just that you've been fighting OZ on your own for the past three years. I'm sure you know, he's not big on words either."

"So what would you like to know?" Mei asked sincerely.

Arys was thoughtful for a moment and her gaze came to rest on the sleeping child. "What's it like being a mother?"

"Tiring." Mei answered with a smile. "But rewarding. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Hana has been my only tie to sanity. There's nothing worse than losing your spouse. There's no pain to even match it. But when you have a child that is dependent on you, you ignore the pain long enough to carry on. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for this little girl. May I ask you a question, Arys?"

"Of course."

"What's it's like to married?" Mei asked. Arys was taken slightly aback by the question. Mei had been married before, so why was the question asked? She knew what marriage like.

"Well, it's..." she searched for the right word to describe her marriage to Heero, "a lot of things. It's exciting, and adventurous. But it's also comforting and safe. It's like living with your best friend, only better."

Mei nodded knowingly. "Treasure your time with your husband. You're not guaranteed years of marriage." Mei looked over at the American. "But you have a good marriage. I can see that just by the way he looks at you."

"What was your husband's name?" Arys ventured.

Mei's look got distant as she stared out the window. "Ling Deshi. He was the most gentle man you would ever met. Kind and loving, yet always ready to defend when the need arose."

"I'm sorry you lost him." Arys said quietly.

"Me too." Mei whispered. She directed her attention from the stars to the reflections in the glass and saw someone standing by the door, watching them.

"Arys, I believe someone is looking for you." Mei said, smirking slightly.

Arys turned around and saw Heero standing at the door, arms crossed and listening to the conversation. Mei watched as a knowing smile spread across Arys' face.

"How long have you been there?" Arys asked.

"Long enough to hear about Ling Deshi." he responded, not moving.

"Well, I'm need to put Hana to bed, so good night Arys. I appreciated our talk." Mei said, carefully getting up so she didn't disturb the sleeping child. "Good night Heero." she said, walking past the Japanese boy.

"Good night." he replied. "Wufei was looking for you."

"What did he want?" Mei asked him.

"Don't know."

"Thanks." she said before heading back to her quarters.

Heero walked into the conference room and took Mei's vacated chair. Arys reached over to lay a hand on his arm but he quickly stood back up again. Reaching on the chair, he grabbed the offending object. Arys stifled a laugh as Heero held a teddy bear. With a slight shake of his head, he sat back down. Heero reached over and took Arys' hand in his.

"What do you think of her?" he asked point blank.

"I like her." Arys told him, staring at the stars. She expected Heero to say something more, but he remained strangely quiet. Glancing over at him, she saw him staring down at the teddy bear with an intense look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Do you want children?"

"Well, yes, in time." she answered. Heero continued to stare at the bear. "Don't you want children?"

"Yes, I do, but..." Heero trailed off.

Arys squeezed his hand. "But what?"

"You've seen everything I've done." he told her, finally turning to look at her. "What kind of father do you think I would make?"

Arys broke into a gentle smile. "A very good one."

Heero held her gaze for a moment, searching her eyes for signs of doubt. Finally he came to the conclusion that she meant what she said. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Aishiteru, Heero." Arys whispered to him.

"Aishiteru." he responded.

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Quatre walked out of the bedroom, running a hand through his damp hair. Nari was in her usual place, on the couch, reading a book. He sat down next to her, trying not to disturb her. But as soon as he walked over to the couch, Nari closed the book and regarded her husband quietly. She knew the look on his face all to well.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Why do certain things happen to a person?" he asked her, staring off into space.

"You can never ask yourself why, Quatre. That one little word can drive you insane while you look for the answer."

"Have you ever noticed that the most tragic things always seem to happen to the nicest people?"

"No, I think tragic things happen to everyone. How they react to those circumstances is what makes them good or bad."

Quatre thought about it for a minute and smiled at his wife. Nari was thankful to see the worried look disappear.

"How did you get so wise?" he asked, jokingly.

"I read too much." she replied.

Quatre leaned forward and briefly kissed her on the lips. Nari moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I can't imagine my life without you." she told him. Quatre's arm tightened around her.

"I can't even begin to imagine my life without you, even though I know it's a possibility."

"Just like it's a possibility we could both lose our lives on the battlefield." Nari said to him.

"So why are we doing this? Why do we risk our lives like this?"

"Because we've survived this long, we must be doing something right." Nari could feel Quatre laugh softly beneath her.

"What were you reading?" he asked, attempting to chance the somber subject matter.

"Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen."

"Are you enjoying it?"

"No, not at all." she sighed.

Quatre brushed a few stands of her red-gold hair off her forehead, laying his cheek against it.

"I love you." he told her, squeezing her gently.

"I love you too." she replied, settling into his embrace.