by

28-Jul-2000

Category: Friendship, Slight Angst
Rating: PG
Pairings: 4+3
Warnings: None other than minor bad language
Feedback: C&C
Notes: Believe it or not, kind of a follow-up to my bizarro story, 'Resurrection of T. Barton'.
Reading key:
'--denotes thought--'

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters belongs to Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and are only being used for non profit entertainment purposes.

Unforgotten Friends by babaca

The only light that could be found in the room known as Quatre's study was the glow from a computer screen as Trowa Barton read his e-mail. One piece of mail seemed of particular interest to him. As he read it, a big smile appeared on his face. 'This is great! I have to go!' He shut down the computer and sought out Quatre.

"Quatre, do you have anything planned for tonight? Any Winner business thing?" Trowa asked as he found Quatre in the solarium.

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

"There is someone that I would like for you to meet and they will only be around tonight," Trowa said, with a hint of excitement in his voice.

This got Quatre's attention. Trowa was seldom this excited about anything. "Who?"

"Just someone. Do you want to come? Can you be ready in an hour?" Trowa asked, with a sly smile.

Quatre beamed back at him, "Sure I can be ready."

Well, Quatre hadn't expected Trowa to take him to a bar. And not just any bar. This place was rather scary. No self-respecting person would be caught dead in an establishment like this. Quatre began to seriously wonder who this mystery person was. 'I wonder if it's one of his mercenary acquaintances.' Then he quickly dispelled the thought. Trowa had never talked glowingly about anyone from his mercenary past.

So he looked up at his koibito and saw the bemused look in Trowa's eye. He followed the tall boy's line of vision.

Quatre saw two people sitting at the bar. One was a man with a deer caught in the headlights look. He was quickly trying to finish his drink and map out an escape route. The other person whose back was to Quatre seemed to be talking merrily, oblivious to his companion's distress. Finally the trapped man excused himself and all but ran out of the bar. Trowa, sporting a big smile, walked towards the person who was still sitting at the bar.

Quatre could do nothing but follow and observe. The person was dressed in drab green overalls. They had long wavy hair being held in a loose ponytail.

Trowa tapped the shoulder of the drinking person.

They turned around saying, "Look buddy, I don't need no troub-- BARTON!"

"Hello, Captain Mel," Trowa smiled, "And it's Trowa, remember?"

Mel jumped up from the bar. Although she was a foot shorter than Trowa, she picked him up in a bear hug and briefly swung him around the room before putting him down.

Quatre blinked. 'This was Mel?' Trowa had told him all about the benevolent captain who picked him up when he was floating in space, but he hadn't expected this. Here was a rather petite looking woman picking Trowa up like he was a little kid. 'Why hadn't Trowa ever mention that she was a woman?' He was also rather surprised that Trowa took to being manhandled with good cheer.

Mel took noticed of the pretty blonde with Trowa. "I'm sorry, lad. I wasn't expecting to ever see this guy again. I'm Mel," she said as she put out her hand.

"I'm Quatre," he smiled, with a hint of a grimace, as his hand was being crushed in the tight grip. "I'm Trowa's friend."

She spied the blush on Trowa's face and couldn't resist, "Ah, I dare say you're more than friends, but I won't embarrass young Trowa here. Let me buy you a drink! Hell, now that we have a nice threesome here, let's get a table!"

She laughed when she saw both boys blush. "Sorry, I guess Trowa didn't tell you I pretty much say whatever's on my mind! Even the hentai thoughts!" Their faces got even redder. "Damn boys, I'm just teasing you. What will you have?"

Quatre laughed nervously. 'Now I know why that other guy left in such a hurry.' "I don't drink."

"You don't drink? What are you a Muslim or something?"

"Yes."

Mel did a double take. "I was just joking, Quatre. But if I offended, I'm sorry. Why don't you let me buy you a soda. Bart--, er, I mean Trowa? What about you?"

"I'll have whatever you're having."

"Brave boy. Barkeep, two boilermakers and a virgin rum and coke and keep it virgin!" She located a table and they all sat down.

"Trowa, how the hell did you know where to find me?"

"Bill sent me some e-mail with your itinerary down to what bar you would be at."

"Ah that Bill. Whatta guy."

Trowa admonished, "You know Mel, if you ever bothered to read your e-mail, I've written to you several times over the years."

"Trowa, you know I hate that electronic crap. That's what I kept Bill around for," she said before her face betrayed a little sadness, "I still feel bad that I had to let him go."

"Why did you have to do that, Mel?" asked Quatre.

"Well, my business was essentially to gather the scrap metal from the space junk created from mobile suit fighting. I would also pick up the occasional corpse floating in space. In that racket, only one of those ever came back from the dead," she said, as she smiled at Trowa. "Now that the war is over, there isn't much by way of space junk. It's all been cleaned up. So work is pretty slow. I could barely afford to feed myself much less support a crew of two. Thus Bill had to go. I felt horrible. He's married with what seems like a million rugrats, although it's only four kids. If I don't find work soon, I'll probably have to sell my ship and get a landlubber job of some sort."

She saw the somber looks on the young men, so she hurriedly said, "Don't go worrying about me none. I'm like the proverbial cat. I always land on my feet. And remember peace is a good thing, even if war was more profitable to me," she laughed. She reached over and pushed Trowa's bangs away from his face. "So Trowa, what have you been up to laddie?"

Trowa smiled. "Oh you know, got my memory back, fought in the war. I sometimes work in the circus with my sister and I sometimes work for the Preventers."

Mel waited for more words to come, but they didn't. She smiled, "I see you're still as chatty as ever, friend."

Quatre laughed.

Mel turned her soft brown eyes towards the laughing blonde. "Tell me that you are at least a little more verbose, Quatre."

"What would you like to know Mel?"

Mel thought about it for a moment. For all her bluster, only one question truly came to mind. "Is Trowa happy?"

Quatre's smile was so bright it lit up the room, "I sure hope so."

Trowa's face turned a brighter shade of red. "Yes, Mel. I am happy," he murmured.

"That's all I needed to know."

"What about you?" Trowa asked.

"I'm ... comfortable. I do what I want to do, when I want to do it. I get to fly my ship although I have no where to fly to. I have a few gentleman callers who make me happy in certain ports. Life is just fine."

"I'm glad," Trowa smiled.

"Now if I can just figure out why folks feel a need to run for the hills when I enter a bar ..." she laughed.

"I guess that's just one of life's great mysteries," Trowa laughed with her.

"Look laddies, I hate to break up a good party, but I need to get back to my ship and get it ready to ship out. I did find someone who needs some supplies sent to another colony. Oh, but you're welcomed to come along. You can show your sweetie your old quarters. Whatta ya say?"

Trowa smiled, "Sure. I think Quatre would enjoy seeing your ship."

"Yes, I would," Quatre agreed.

"Excellent, let's go!" She said after paying the tab. The space port was not very far from the bar. Trowa stood for a moment to look at the outside of the ship that was his brief home of thirty days. 'Why did I think the ship was bigger?' was his unbidden thought.

Once inside, Mel gave them the grand tour. When they got to the room that was Trowa's, Mel graciously excused herself.

"Ah, I know you probably want to make out like bunnies in here," she laughed. "So I'll leave you to it. Just meet me at the control room, when they were through." Mel left the room.

"Well, what do you think of Mel?" Trowa smiled.

Quatre thought for a second. "I like her, Trowa. She's quite a character."

"Isn't she? Is there something we could do to help her and Bill? Is there some Winner enterprise that can use them?"

"I guess so. But will she accept our help? She seems pretty proud," Quatre replied seriously.

"I guess we won't know until we've tried. I feel I have to help her. She did save my life," Trowa remarked equally as serious.

"I'll see what I can do."

Mel was sitting in her captain's chair on the control room. She hated the conflicting feelings she was having. On one hand, she was thrilled to see Trowa, healthy and happy. On the other, she was sad because she knew he would be leaving and out of her life. 'Well, maybe I should master that damned e-mail thing,' she ruefully smiled to herself.

The boys arrived on the deck minutes later. "Wow, that was quick!" she smiled. 'I'm just too evil. I know they wouldn't be doing anything fun in there, I just love looking at beautiful boys blush.'

"Mel," Trowa said ignoring her statement, but unable to control his blush, "I know you like to keep to schedules, but the next time you're around, come see us."

"I'll try. Let me show you out." Once they made their way outside of the ship, Mel turned to smile at Trowa. She grabbed him in a bearhug and swung him around again. "Take care, my friend. Keep sending me e-mail, maybe one day I'll figure the damn fool thing out!"

"You take care too, Mel." Trowa smiled at her.

"Quatre," Mel said as she walked up to the blonde.

"Yes?"

"You're family now too," she said as she grabbed the smaller boy in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground. "So you make sure you keep Trowa here happy, okay?"

"Aye aye, Captain," Quatre laughed, although it was a bit difficult to do. For a petite woman she was pretty damn strong, he could just barely breathe.

"Until next time, friends," Mel said as she walked back to her ship.

Once inside her ship, she walked back to the control room, flipped on the outside camera and saw Trowa and Quatre leave. She sighed briefly as they left the camera's view. She turned to the console in front of her and pushed a few buttons.

EMAIL SYSTEM...

DO YOU WISH TO READ MAIL?

Y-E-S [enter]

YOU HAVE 320 MESSAGES.

She sighed again. And punched a few more buttons.

SEARCH NAME TROWA BARTON...

YOU HAVE 75 MESSAGES FROM TROWA BARTON... DO YOU WISH TO READ THEM?

Y-E-S [enter]

DO YOU WANT TO READ THEM TEXT ONLY OR VIEW VIDEO MAIL?

Videomail [enter].

STARTING FIRST MESSAGE ...

A shy, slightly unsure young man with bangs way too long appeared on the screen. He seemed hesitant to talk but he was forcing himself to.

"Hello, Captain Mel. You asked me to tell you what the T in my name stood for when I found out. I tried contacting you but only got Bill. I'm sure he's told you by now, but I figured you'd still like to hear it from me. My name is Trowa ... I still don't remember much, but a girl who says she's my sister recognized me in the street. She works at a circus and apparently so did I. I'll keep this message short. Write me back if you want, but I remember you telling Bill you don't like e-mail. So I guess I'll have to write to Bill if you are ever going to know what's going on with me. Goodbye Captain. Hope to see you again someday. Trowa."

Mel sat there for a moment with tears in her eyes. 'Wow he looked so lost. I'm glad he's happy and loved now.'