Oh, I'm having a
guilt trip here. I've just failed an algebra quiz and instead of studying...I'm
writing sequels. Oi, oi, oi...
Disclaimers: Sadly, they still
aren't mine. I have nothing because I spent my money on some marzipan, which is
cooling in the fridge. (and if you think I'm splitting with my marzipan, yer
dang nutty! ^_~)
Notes: Read "After Hours" first! It won't take
long, and this will probably make much more sense if you do. I didn't do any
universe jumping, so we're still in post-Endless Waltz time
here...
Warnings: The usual. Spell-checked, not beta-read. It's a
sequel, so I hope it doesn't suck too much compared to the
original...
Much shocked thanks goes out to all the people who
glomped onto "After Hours" and demanded more. I would ~not~ be writing this
right now if you all hadn't praised the previous fic to high heaven and ordered
sequels. Domo
arigatou!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This
night is mine
It's only you and I
Tomorrow is a long time
away,
This night can last forever."
--Billy Joel, "This
Night"
Three...two...one...
"INJUSTICE!!!"
Wufei
stormed out of his office, katana in one hand, take-out Chinese box full of
pepper steak in the other. He scanned the room full of Preventers, grumbling
more curses. No one paid him any heed. The office was about to close; there was
no time to put up with a crabby Wufei.
"Where is that weakling
onna?" he muttered to himself. "Where? Where? Where?"
Aha!
Sitting in the far corner, filing her nails!
Wufei slammed his
pepper steak down onto an innocent bystander's desk and stomped through the main
office area, intent on murder. Sally looked up as he approached, and smiled
sweetly.
"Good evening, Wufei!" she greeted. She brushed her
nails against her uniform jacket and stood, still smiling beautifully. "How may
I--" her sentence was cut off by the katana blade that was suddenly pressed
against her throat.
"My office..." Wufei growled through clenched
teeth, "is covered...in...~floral wallpaper~! It was ~not~ covered in
this...trash...when I left to pick up my dinner. Why do I think ~you~ have
something to do with it, onna?"
"My name..." she managed to get
out, "is SALLY."
Wufei rolled his eyes and removed the katana.
Sally glared at him, and rubbed her throat where the blade had been. "What are
~you~ so angry about, anyway?" she asked, once she had regained her breath. "You
brought it on yourself, after all."
"How?"
"My
computer, baka," Sally said, stuffing her file into a back pocket. "The one you
oh-so-graciously stole from me yesterday, after you chucked ~yours~ out the
window."
"How did my office get wallpapered in half an hour?"
Wufei asked in an almost-civil tone.
"You'd be
surprised."
"Maxwell?"
"Yup," she confirmed. "Now
if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." And with that, Sally shoved right past
Wufei, heading for her barren desk.
"Onna!" he called after her.
Sally stopped and turned to face him, impatience written all over her face.
"Headquarters is getting ready to shut down for the night," he pointed out
calmly. "And as you just said, you don't have a computer. Just ~what~ are you
planning to do?"
Sally opened her mouth to answer and then
realized that she had nothing to do...except maybe put some water in the vase
for the daisy. "Count cracks in the wall."
"Baka onna," Wufei
grumbled and shook his head. "Did you bring your coat today?" Sally glowered at
him. "Good. Get it. We're leaving."
"Oh? Where are we going?" she
asked, hiding her surprise. Wufei was acting almost human again. Surely that was
one of the signs of the end of the world...
"Out. To the coffee
store," he answered over his shoulder as he strolled back to his office. "Meet
me at the stairwell," he ordered and his door clicked shut.
Sally exchanged a glance with the bystander who had been helping
himself to Wufei's forgotten pepper steak. In synchronization, they shrugged,
and then he turned back to his free dinner, and she made her way to the coat
rack.
"Why do I put up with him?" she moaned to herself. "Why,
oh, why, oh, why?"
But she knew the answer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This isn't a coffee
store."
"Really, onna?"
"When people say we're
going to a coffee store, I want to go to the coffee store."
"You
have something against the park?"
"Yes! It's not a coffee
store!"
Wufei sighed, shook his head and held up two styrofoam
cups. "Mocha or hazelnut?"
Sally allowed herself to gape. She had
known Wufei to be a talented martial artist, a foul-mouthed little pilot, and a
justice freak, but a magician too?? "Nani?"
"The cappuccino. Do
you want the mocha, or the hazelnut?"
It was on the tip of
Sally's tongue to ask just ~where in the hell~ Wufei had procured up cappuccino,
but she didn't. All she'd get for her trouble was another patented Wufei speech
about "baka onnas", and she got enough of those from him as it
was!
Besides, it was free coffee. "Mocha."
He
handed her the cup, which she accepted with quickly chilling fingers. "Why are
we here, Chang?" she asked in between sips.
"Watch the gazebo,
onna."
Sally squinted at the little building set in the middle of
the park that had been surrounded by "CAUTION" tape. From what she could see,
the gazebo was chalked full of twisted and bent wire, and not much
else.
"What am I looking at?"
Wufei eyed her over
the styrofoam. "Are you ever quiet?"
"Nope. One of my best
traits!"
"Hmph," Wufei snorted. "I'll
bet."
"Excuse--"
"WATCH," he
ordered.
Sally decided to comply. Maybe it would keep her mind
off the fact that she couldn't feel her toes or that she had forgotten to water
the daisy...
Sally's eyes lit up and her face broke into an
enormous grin as the lights in the gazebo flickered on. The bare wire outlines
suddenly became vividly colored outlines of people, dancing against the backdrop
of the night. "Oh," she breathed in awe. "It's like...a starlit
gazebo!"
Wufei turned to her, an eyebrow raised in amusement.
"'Starlit gazebo', onna?"
Sally felt her face flush red and she
shrugged. "Poetry isn't my forte," she admitted
quietly.
"It's...original."
"Thanks," she said
with a hint of sarcasm. Wufei chuckled and turned back to the
gazebo.
They continued to stare at the colorful display, their
silence being broken by the occasional sip of cappuccino. Sally's gaze remained
fixed on the blue and purple Victorian-looking couple, locked in an
embrace...back and forth...back and forth...No matter where they danced, they
never parted.
"Dance with me, onna?"
Sally turned
to Wufei, her face crinkling in confusion at his outstretched hand.
"Nani??"
"Dance with me?" he repeated.
Sally
blinked. And blinked. And blinked. Wufei sighed and grabbed her hand, pulling
her close. Sally's coffee slipped through her numb fingers and splattered onto
the ground. "Ano...Wufei..."
"Silence, onna," he said
quietly.
They slowly began to sway in time to some unheard waltz,
neither of them completely sure what they were doing, but both trusting in each
other. Sally leaned in closer (for warmth, she told herself), and let her head
rest against the soft leather of Wufei's jacket. Wufei didn't even flinch.
Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, embracing her
tightly.
This is right, she told herself. This is right...if it
isn't...well, then I'm sure those Apocalypse Horsemen are on their merry
way...
And on they danced, spinning and twirling through the
park, but never breaking their embrace, just like the
Victorians...
"Onna..." Wufei whispered in her hair. "I must tell
you something..."
And it clicked. The insults, the sudden
switches between "Evil" Chang and "Sweet" Wufei, the flowers, the jibes, the
arguments...
She ~was~ a baka onna!
"I know," she
replied. "I know. I love you too."
Wufei suddenly stopped in
mid-stride. Sally pulled back from him, confused at his own confused expression.
"I ~was~ going to say that I planned to return your computer in the morning, but
I suppose--"
Sally cut him off with a playful smack. Wufei smiled
that darling rare smile and pulled her close again, still swaying in time to the
silent melody.
Slowly, almost shyly, their lips met in a tender
kiss.
~*~*~*~*~
The bystander from the Preventer's
headquarters lowered his binoculars and smirked. "About damn time," he muttered,
and stretched. He'd have to leave a thank-you note in Wu-man's office...both for
the free dinner and for having these handy night-vision binoculars stored in his
desk.
He grinned and shook his head. It was getting late, and
Hilde ~always~ had a fit when he was late. Besides, if he were caught in the
darkened office of his ol' cranky buddy, peeping out the window at the lovesick
dope, he'd have some explaining to do.
"Ah, Fei-chan...You are so
going to owe me...after you kill me for the wall, of course."
With one last stretch to remove the crick in his neck, he stood
and headed for the door, chestnut braid swinging in his wake.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, there's the (cheesy) sequel.
Maybe one day, Wu-bear and Sally may get some necking in or something...Well,
I'm off to flunk more algebra! ^_~V
If you want peace and
happiness this holiday season...avoid
Wal-Mart.
