DISCLAIMER: GW owned by someone that isn’t me.  I am SO SORRY to everyone who reads this for getting this out so late.  Aside from the writers block, I just got my 1st round offer to university! (Computer Science, would you believe? Watch me blow up all the computer labs! I’m that BAD! ^_^)  I’ll TRY t oget Chapter three out much faster…hopefully!!!! Please enjoy!

Joy to My Life

Chapter 2: Powers Revealed, Lets Run Away Now!

By: J.B. Santiago

  - Florence, Earth – Real Time -

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

Bethany opened one eye to stare at the vid-phone that had so cruelly woken her up from her slumber.  Half her face still hidden by her pillow, she hit the ‘busy’ button on the vid-phone, grumbled about rude night callers and turned her back to the machine; placing the pillow over her head.  She was drifting into slumberland when it started again.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

Giving a frustrating growl, she threw her pillow at the vid-phone knocking it off her nightstand.  The beeping stopped and Bethany sighed happily.  Grabbing another pillow she hugged it to her, eyes already sleeping.

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

Bethany gave an uncharacteristic yell before throwing off all her blankets and pillows, getting on all fours, groping for the stupid vid-phone.

“What?!”

“Bethany?  Sorry about calling so late but I think you should watch the news right now.” Sally said in a no nonsense voice.

“Sally?  Wha? …Ok, just a minute…” Bethany said, flushing slightly at being so rude to Sally.  She felt around the floor for the remote control that had also been knocked down when she threw the pillow at the vid-phone.  Pointing to the wall opposite her, a wooden panel moved to reveal a large screen TV, it turned on to reveal the home-shopping network.  “Sally, what am I looking for?” asked Bethany as she quickly flipped channels.  Sally was about to reply when Bethany whispered, “Oh my…” The screen showed a reporter standing in front of a building ablaze, while fire fighters were fighting a futile battle against the flames.

“It’s Luxemburg Hall.  It blew up at 12:35am.  Wufei and I were situated outside the gates.  We didn’t detect anything.  No heat signals, no traces of explosives, nothing.  I think mag - ” Sally stopped short from saying ‘magical’, “ I think something other than your normal terrorist group was responsible for this.”

Bethany stared shell-shocked at the screen.  She shook her head, “Survivors.  Have there been any survivors?”

Sally grimaced.  “None, yet.  I called to tell you that I think you and Dorothy could be in danger.  Whoever did this is obviously someone the Preventers can’t stop.”

“This is impossible!  The Darkness has been defeated!  There can’t possibly be anything that would have known about the Greater Council!  I-I…” Bethany felt at a loss for words.  This could not be happening!  Hadn’t the Darkness been defeated?  The Greater Council gone…William, Myra, Veronica – hell, even Alessio!  Bethany shook her head again at Sally.  “You didn’t detect anything?  No traces of human involvement?”

Sally was about to reply when everything went black.  Bethany stared at her TV, which had turned off as well.  The only light now entering the room was from the moon shining through the balcony windows.  A blackout?  Her house got its power from the two huge generators located near the servant’s quarters about fifty metres away from the main house.  She had gotten the generators because she couldn’t afford to have blackouts when she had an underground base to take care of - Generators that had been replaced a week ago.  Bethany turned on the small torch she kept under her pillow – a habit from years of being afraid of the dark.  She quickly tried the light switches in her room and in the hallway.  Finding none of them working, she knocked loudly on Dorothy’s room, fighting the urge to yell out her cousin’s name as the dark shadows in the hall seemed to move on their on accord.  A heavy hand landed on her shoulder and she forgot all about her calm/cool façade and screamed blue murder.  Dorothy’s door opened and she tumbled backwards into Quatre who had opened the door.

Scrambling behind Quatre she pointed her torch at the figure that had touched her shoulder.

“T-Trowa!  Oh!  It’s just you!”  Bethany let out a loud sigh and giggled in relief.

“I heard screaming,” said Heero behind Trowa.  He was holding a protective arm out in front of Relena who was sleepy eyed but still concerned.  Next to her stood Catherine and Midii all looking at Bethany expectantly.

“Are you ok, Bethany?” asked Quatre, worried at how jittery Dorothy’s cousin seemed.

“Please tell me Bethany, that you woke us all up for a good reason?” said Dorothy, who was wrapping her robe around her thin nightgown.

The thumping in her heart had gone down enough for Bethany to retort back, “Hey!  I didn’t wake up Trowa!  He was already awake when I knocked on your door!”

Everyone looked at Trowa who just shrugged and said, “I couldn’t sleep.  I was going to the kitchen.”

They all turned to look at Bethany now.  “Oh.”  She laughed nervously, the light from the torch moving up and down.

“Why are you carrying a torch anyway, Bethany?  Aren’t the lights working?” asked Relena.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you!” Bethany said.

“You woke us all up to tell us that the lights aren’t working at one in the morning?”  Dorothy raised an eyebrow, giving her younger cousin a ‘are-you-mad-to-interrupt-my-sleep-for-THAT?’ look.

Bethany shook her head vigorously.  “Not just that!  Luxemburg Hall has been destroyed.  Sally called me just now; she says a human terrorist group couldn’t have done this.  There was nothing on radar or anything!  She was going to tell me more but the power went out.  I don’t think these two things were a coincidence, Dorothy!”

Silence descended on the group, before Dorothy asked, “Were there any survivors?”

Bethany shook her head. “Sally said they hadn’t found any yet.  Dorothy, think about it – An attack on the members of the Greater Council! No traces of human involvement!  I think we’ll be targeted next.” the fear clearly evident on Bethany’s face.

Dorothy nodded quickly, “I think it would be best if we move to another location.  Bethany, where are the switches for the emergency lights?”

“Their downstairs in the hall closet.  I’ll go turn them on.”  With that, Bethany rushed down the semi-spiralling stairs, the light from her torch disappearing into the dark.

The only light now shining in the hallway came from the moon through the massive arch windows right at the end of the hallway.  “Everyone grab only the essential things, we need to get out of here fast.”

Everyone nodded, all scrambling back into their rooms trying to get as much of their belongings in the dark. 

“Ouch!”  Bethany hopped on one foot, holding her other shin, which she had just hit the table leg with.  ‘Sheesh, even with a torch, you still bump into things!’ she chastised herself silently before continuing down the long hall to the closet beneath the staircase.  The closet door opened with ease as she stepped into it.  She pushed past a couple of stacked boxes, to reach the back wall.  The torchlight shone on a number of switches and levers.  The emergency light system had to be turned on manually since it had its own small generator.  Bethany hoped it still worked; she hadn’t tested it in almost a year.  Turning half of the colourful switches and pulling all the levers up or down; a small whirring sounded and a dim orange light brightened the closet.  Smiling happily, she stepped out of the closet observing that the hall was now dimly lit as well as the staircase, which had a dim light at the base of each step.  She grabbed onto the railing of the stairs and was about to run upstairs when a gloved hand snatched its way around her mouth, forcefully pulling her back.  The intoxicating fumes of chloroform emanating from the gloved hand caused Bethany to fall into unconsciousness but not before she saw a glimpse of someone in front of her, one thought running through her mind as her mind shut down, ‘You!’

Relena ignored the throbbing headache that had unexpectedly come back again.  She saw Dorothy frown, staring at the staircase where Bethany had gone down to turn on the lights.  Quatre gave her a concerned look, squeezing her hand in comfort. 

“Should we go downstairs?  Maybe Bethany’s waiting for us there.” Said Relena, gripping Heero’s hand more for balance since the headache was making her feel nauseous. 

Dorothy nodded curtly.  “Yes, I think we should go now.” 

The gang headed down the dimly lit stairs, finding themselves in the foyer; no trace of Bethany anywhere.

“Bethany?  Bethany!?” Dorothy called out, “Bethany, come on.  This is no time to be playing games.” She said it haughtily but Relena could hear the nervousness in Dorothy’s voice.

“Bethany’s…detained at the moment.” Said a voice behind them, near the hall closet.  Everyone turned quickly to the voice, to see a tall, olive-skinned, slicked black hair man leaning against the staircase.

“Alessio.” Dorothy spit out the name in disbelief, “Where’s my cousin?”

Alessio smirked.  A dark energy emitting from him, making the surroundings around him darkened into blackness.  “Dorothy, Dorothy, Dorothy.  Think of this as an…exchange.  My brother’s life in exchange for your cousins.”

The Black power was beginning to suffocate Relena.  She could see Dorothy cringing ever so slightly.  Quatre seemed pained as well.  She stole a glance at Heero and Trowa – Heero had his hand poised to grab his gun, while Trowa hadn’t moved at all.  Relena’s eyes widened, as she realised no of them could move at all.

“Alessio.  I want my cousin here. NOW.”  Dorothy gritted her teeth together.  A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face, as she tried to move any part of her body without succeeding.

Alessio pushed off from the staircase, straightening as he sneered in their direction.  He ignored Dorothy, looking past her at Heero. “Don’t even bother with the gun, Mr Yuy.  Even if you could move, you’d never be able to hit me.”  He laughed cruelly, walking towards them until he was inches away from Dorothy’s face.  “I’m going to enjoy this…” He crudely caressed her face, a leer etched on his own before he shot out an arm in the direction of Quatre, a black beam of energy shooting out, engulfing Quatre.

Dorothy felt as if a hundred knives had just been plunged into her body, the pain so all encompassing she couldn’t even scream – the only thing holding her up was that the Black power.

Alessio stared in disbelief at the man beside him.  He hadn’t even flinched.  Quatre stared defiantly at Alessio – he hadn’t felt anything, “Stop this insanity, Alessio.  You don’t know what your doing.”

Alessio shook his head.  “No!  No! Not possible!”  He glared at Quatre then at Dorothy who had her eyes closed.  “I guess I’ll just kill you now, then!”  He shot more Black energy at Dorothy who didn’t even open her eyes.

A loud yell of pain and Quatre fell to the floor, the amount of energy coursing through him causing him to fall.  Blood slowly seeped from numerous cuts and gashes that had suddenly appeared all over his body.

“Quatre!” Relena tried unsuccessfully to move, as did Catherine and Midii.  Trowa had moved slightly forward but was still too far to check on the fallen Quatre.  Heero had a hold of his gun but he couldn’t take it out of the holster.

“What the?!” Alessio gave a confused look at Quatre and then at Dorothy who still had her eyes closed.  He stepped back surveying the scene before him.  A knowing look dawned on his face and he shot at Quatre again, watching knowingly as Dorothy fell to her knees screaming.

He sneered.  “Hmmm…This is for my brother!”  He gathered a large amount of Black energy into his hands raising it above his head, aiming it at the fallen bodies of Dorothy and Quatre when Dorothy opened her eyes.  He stared into her eyes.  Her red eyes.  Then everything went red.  The ball of Black energy dissipated, as Alessio shielded himself from the Red energy.  He blinked a few times, feeling the Red energy dissolve into the air after a few intense moments.  A red afterimages still blinded his eyes but he could see clearly enough.  The group of seven that had been in front of him just moments ago were gone.  Disappeared.  Vanished.

“Ma va funculo!”

********************

  - Milan, Earth – Real Time -

Duo snored loudly in time with the grandfather clock down the corridor of Bethany’s penthouse apartment.  Hilde snuggled closer to her naked husband, also sleeping soundly.  A loud BOOM and CRASH sounded and Duo shot up from his comfortable sleeping position, sending Hilde flying onto the floor.

“I want fries with that!” Duo mumbled, rubbing the sleep form his eyes.  “Hilde?  Hilde-babe?  Where are you?”

Hilde rubbed her bruised head.  “Ugh.  What was that for?  I thought you loved what we did tonight.”  She glared then gave a come hither look at her husband.

Duo gave her an all too cute look and joined her on the floor.  “Hold that thought, I think I heard something in the other room.”  He lifted her up, placing her on the bed before heading towards the door.

“Ahh, Duo-honey, don’t you think you should put some clothes on first?” Hilde looked up and down Duo raising an eyebrow.  “Only I’m allowed to see you like that.”

Duo grinned sheepishly before finding his boxers thrown over a lamp and putting them on.  He opened the bedroom door slowly giving a thumbs-up to Hilde before disappearing fully into the corridor.  Hilde hastily put on Duo’s shirt and her underwear, making her way to the door to join her husband.

“ARGHH!”  Duo almost took a swipe at Hilde with a vase when she tapped him on the shoulder.  “Hilde!”

Hilde giggled at Duo’s exasperated expression.  “You were taking too long!”  She giggled again.  “Come on.  Lets find out what that noise was.”  She grabbed Duo’s hand leading them through the rooms of the apartment, turning on the lights in each room.  They reached the lounge room, which looked like it had been hit by a tornado.

“What the - ”

“Owww…” A voice said from behind an upside down couch.

Duo picked up a fallen chair and headed towards the couch.  He almost dropped the chair on his foot when he saw who it was.

“Heero?!”

         **********************

  - Subspace – Real Time -

BANG.  The cell door slammed shut, leaving its prisoner completely in the dark.  Bethany gingerly raised a bloody hand to her face.  Alessio had literally thrown her about with his other Black Council cronies.  Minutes past as her body began to slowly heal its self.  She reluctantly got up from the position she had landed in when they had finally gotten tired of abusing her and had thrown her into this dank, dark cell.  Her body still ached but in half an hour she would be as good as new.  She smiled wryly to herself, looking around the cell, for some semblance of light.  Finding none she stood up, one hand on the wall and walked around the cell.  After doing a complete tour of the cell, she sat down, leaning on the wall opposite the door and waited.  After minutes of silence, she got up and walked to the door, her eyes adjusted to no light. 

“Ummm…Hello?  If there’s anyone guarding the door, I hope you won’t mind me singing!”  Bethany knocked on the door, placing her forehead to the cold metal surface.  Shrugging, she started to belt out a cappella of the opera piece ‘Time to Say Goodbye’.  Finishing the song with a flourish, she placed her ear towards the door.  “You didn’t like that?  Ok, how about this one!”

Bethany cleared her throat before singing ‘Respect’.  She hit the door every time she had to spell respect.  After finishing she again placed her ear to the door.  Sighing, Bethany nodded in the dark.  “Ok.  Not an R&B fan.  I know!  Everyone’s a Celine Dion fan!”  She hummed the start before wailing out ‘All By Myself’.  Just as she was about to wail the second verse, the door swung open to reveal a very annoyed looking Steven Locandro.

“SHUT UP!  Do you know that you’re TONE DEAF!”

Bethany squinted at Steven, her eyes adjusting to the sudden burst of light, no matter how dim.  She smiled innocently at him.  “I know.”

He glared at her before slamming the door in her face.  From behind the door, Bethany heard him yell, “One more WORD from you and I’ll break so many bones, you’ll need a MONTH to heal!”

Bethany huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.  “Rude.”  She muttered before an evil smile spread across her face. ‘No words… hmmm…”

Steven gritted his teeth as sounds like ‘la’ ‘ba’ ‘na’ wailed in the cell.  ‘Little bitch,’ he thought, about to open the cell and break every single bone in Bethany’s body when a terse voice barked out his name.  Turning quickly to his superior he, saluted Alessio Luciano.

“Bring the girl to my father.”  With that message, Alessio disappeared in a shroud of Blackness.

‘Lucky butana.’ Steven thought, opening the cell door and dragging Bethany towards the upper levels of the fortress, digging his hands and fingers harder than necessary into her skin.

The journey up was uneventful except when Bethany ‘accidentally’ tripped and kicked Steven in the shins.  They arrived later than expected to the room of the Head of Black; Bethany sporting a rather deep gash across the forehead, which was healing very slowly.  Steven gave a curt bow to his leader before closing the double doors shut.  Bethany took in her surroundings from her seat in a plush, black leather chair.  The room was expansive, a wall to floor window making the place bigger than it already was.  The place was dark, the only light coming from a hanging bulb in the centre of the room.  She was rather surprised to see the outline of a few plants in the corners of the room.  In front of her was a large, dark brown oak table, with a remote control the only thing decorating the top of it.  She stared at the high-backed swivel chair opposite her, waiting to face the leader.

The chair slowly circled to face her to reveal one face she hadn’t been expecting.

“M-Mario?!  You’re dead!”

         ***********************

Meanwhile, back in Milan…

Hilde lifted up one of the sofas, giving a little ‘oompf’ as she moved the heavy seat.  “Catherine?!  Duo help me with Cathie!”

Duo let go of Heero’s hand, making him fall backwards again.  “Oops!  Sorry Hee-man!”  He helped Heero up who started going through the wreck for Relena.

“Trowa?!” Hilde shook her head, “Why do I sound surprised?” She muttered to herself as Trowa silently walked over to Cathie to see if she was ok.

Midii stood up shakily, leaning on a broken coffee table, trying to get her bearings.  Hilde looked at her confused before clicking her fingers together and exclaiming, “You’re the girl who just up and left from the hospital!”

Midii blushed profusely, nodding once.

“Hilde meet Midii Une, Midii meet Hilde Maxwell.”  Said Catherine groggily behind them where she was using Trowa as a crutch; blood was slowly dribbling out of a cut on her right leg.  The two girls forgetting the awkwardness rushed towards Catherine, Midii ripping her jumper sleeve off, to use as a wrap around Catherine’s legs to stop the bleeding.

“Relena.”  Heero picked up a dazed but not hurt Vice Foreign Minister from the floor of the lounge room, where she was centimetres from hitting the French windows.

Observing who was in the room, Relena whispered, “Where’s Dorothy and Quatre?”

Silence greeted her as everyone looked at one another.

“H-here…” Everyone turned in relief to see Quatre standing in the doorway carrying an unconscious Dorothy.  He unsteadily walked towards them, Duo quickly turning over a couch so Quatre could put Dorothy down.  He carefully placed Dorothy on the couch, before falling heavily to his knees, resting his chin on the edge of the couch and closed his eyes.

Hilde and Duo stared at the room and its haphazard guests.  “You guys look like hell!  Is someone going to explain what the hell just happened to turn this room into ground zero or do I really not want to know?”

“The Greater Council got blown up, Sally warned Bethany then Alessio kidnapped Bethany and was trying to kill Dorothy and Quatre but then Dorothy started to glow red and we all ended up here.”  Relena answered, condensing everything neatly.

The married couple stood dumbfounded at Relena, before Hilde nodded.  “Ok, then.  So what’s the plan?”

Dorothy coughed, making everyone look worriedly at her.  She tried to sit up but her head wouldn’t allow it so she just turned her head to the side to come face to face with Quatre.  ‘Quatre…Quatre are you ok?’

Quatre nodded, helping her sit up so they both sat on the couch now.  Her eyes had no traces of red in them, as she dizzily gazed around the room.  She saw Catherine being held up by Trowa and pointed at her leg.  “You’re bleeding.”  She whispered dazed; her hand she was pointing with suddenly glowed red, shooting energy at Catherine’s wounded leg.  A collective gasp sounded, as Catherine stared at her now healed leg, good as new. 

Dorothy stared in surprise at her hand, “What? H-how - ” Then everything that had just happened that night came flooding back to her.  Her eyes getting a steely look to them, as she straightened and stood up with Quatre who was holding her hand protectively.  “Bethany.  That bastard took Bethany.  We need to find her now.”

“Whoa! Whoa! Could someone please explain to me – in detail – what is going on!?” Duo exclaimed flailing his arms wildly to get everyone’s attention.

Dorothy stared at Duo for a few minutes before nodding slowly.  “It seems that the Black Council has somehow tapped into the old powers.  Alessio tried to kill me with the Black power but it seems that it has only awakened the Red power in me.” She paused, pointing again to Catherine. “I need to get to Luxemburg Hall; that’s where it started; my best chance is to start there.”  She looked at everyone else, “My best guess is that the Black Council are readying themselves to take over the world.  I know how clichéd this all sounds but it would be wise if you all get as far away from Europe as you can.”  Dorothy felt Quatre squeeze her hand tighter.  He would be coming with her, no matter what.

“Dorothy, no!  You can’t fight this yourself!  I’ll-I’ll help.” Relena looked at Heero’s shocked face then to Dorothy’s equally astonished one.

“Miss Relena, this is not the time to be brave.  This is one battle none of you have fought - ”

“Neither have you, Dorothy.  Besides, it’s always good to have an ally.” Relena cut in.

Hilde asked questioningly, “Ally?  Relena, if what Dorothy’s saying is right then we’d be up against something that can’t be destroyed with a mobile suit or negotiated in a conference.”

Relena smiled sadly, “I have the Green power.  Bethany found out when – when we went through time.” She fidgeted slightly under the astonished gaze of everyone in the room.

‘This is going to be a long night,’ thought Duo as everyone began shooting questions to Relena and Dorothy.

         ********************

The man in front of her laughed.  “Hn.  My son and I did have startling similarities.”  He leaned forward his hands clasped together in front of him.  “Miss Bethany, lets get down to business shall we?”  He sneered at Bethany; still shocked at who was in front of her.

Bethany blinked a few times, clearing her throat in the process, “What do you want with me?”  She didn’t like the way he was staring at her – like she was fresh meat and he was the lion about to devour it.  This man, Mario Luciano Sr had actually been one of her grandfather’s friends, before they had moved to Hawaii after Bethany’s parents had died.  Her grandfather had had a falling out with Mario over certain policies for Romefeller and had lost touch ever since but Bethany remembered him, a hunched over man, scars running all over his face, sun wrinkled skin and faded eyes.  Nothing at all like what he had turned into now.

Mario just smiled at her, he unclasped his hands, tapping the table with his right hand and lifting the remote control with his left.  “I know what you did.”  He said, pointing the remote at the wall beside them.  It slid open revealing a rippling pool of black colour replacing the wall.  The pool suddenly stopped rippling to reveal images rapidly being shown to show a film.  Bethany couldn’t stop a gasp as she saw herself, Sally and Hilde in the control room under her home, listening to the news of the Vice Foreign Ministers death in the Peace Summit Talks.  Then she saw herself enter another room, with Sally and Hilde staying in the control room.  A few minutes later she and Relena blasted into the control room, making the room look like a tornado hit it.

She turned back to Mario.  What was she supposed to say?  How the hell did they get that?  There were no surveillance cameras in the control room.  Bethany stopped herself from banging her head against the desk.  Of course!  These people were part of the Black Council.  They could get into anything.  She assessed her current dilemma. ‘This is bad.  So very, very bad.  What would Dorothy do in this situation?  Oh crap, I’m so dead.’  Bethany groaned.  “Mr Luciano.  I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She gripped the chair she was sitting on, to prevent herself from fidgeting.  ‘Yeah, lets play dumb, that’ll really help you.’  A part of her thought sarcastically.  Great even her mind was deserting her.

Mario banged his fist into the table, causing Black energy to radiate out of it and shake the table and the floor underneath it.  “Miss Bethany,” he hissed, “you will either build that time machine for me or I will kill your family and all your hapless friends.”  The black energy subsided, as he began to control his anger again.

Bethany almost felt relieved.  He had finally told her why she was here.  At least with that she could argue more effectively. “Build you,” she pointed at him, defiantly her mind beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel, “a deranged, delusional monster – a time machine?  Do you really think I would be able to trust you to keep your word?  How do I know you wont just kill them all after I build you the machine?  I’m not some dumb blonde, Mr Luciano.”

“Are you willing to sacrifice your family to prove that I’m not bluffing?”  Mario raised an eyebrow.  “Maybe this will change your mind.”  He waved his hand at the pool, which rippled before showing Bethany her grandfather.  He was laying down on his bed with Steven Locandro standing over him.  Her grandfather didn’t seem to notice the tall man standing over him.

Bethany whispered to herself, “Can’t he see him?”

“No he can’t.  Your grandfather was a great man.” Mario sniggered as he talked to the pool. “Steven, kill him.”

Bethany eyes widened in horror as she saw Steven plunge his hand into her grandfather’s heart.  The old man grabbed his left chest, oblivious to the hand squeezing his heart.  “STOP!  STOP IT!  You’re killing him!”

Mario murmured ‘stop’ to Steven, who kept his hand just a little bit longer in the old man’s chest.  Bethany watched as her grandfather wheezed and coughed, her grandmother running in to see what was the matter.  Mario waved his hand and the pool rippled into Blackness again.  “Now, either you build me this machine or everyone you love will die sooner than they have to.”

Bethany nodded slowly, still facing the pool.  She blinked the tears away.  This bastard was going to get the satisfaction of seeing her cry.  “I want to see my family every day – ALIVE – or I wont make the machine.”

Mario nodded, smiling.  “Sure, sure.  I will make sure the viewing pools are placed in the lab you will be working in.  I wouldn’t want my genius engineer to not be working.”  The door opened to reveal another member of the Black council.  He motioned to the man and he roughly picked up Bethany by the arms and began dragging her back to her cell.  As she neared the door, Mario called out to her, “It was nice doing business with you.”

         ***********************

Person who is so busy because Uni starts too soon and is NOT ready for it!!!:

Hmm….Is this going too fast?  I don’t know, I feel like I’m missing a paragraph or so somewhere.  Oh! I would also LOVE to thank all the people who have reviewed this fic and TCoL (mama-sama and blue eyes you are TOO KIND!).  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! To everyone for giving such – umm there isn’t really a word to describe it, since GOOD doesn’t cover it! Reviews! ^_^ I’m babbling aimlessly now…hehe…sorry! A big THANK YOU to my beta-reader ANNE!!  Without her, this would be a really lousy fic! I’m sorry for not e-mailing you sooner Anne! ^__^ please forgive! Ok I’ll stop now! Oh and as always, if you can please R&R, C&C or e-mail and FLAMES!