Hilde was lost. Again. One would suppose that after being lost the first fifty million times she would stop or grow tired of it. But she was still willingly losing herself. So here she was, on a perfectly good Saturday afternoon with a free schedule, curled up on the couch with a thick paperback novel. It was actually a really fascinating one this time. Unlike the usual boy meets girl, girl has problem, they break up, ten chapters later they fall into each other’s arms and declare their undying love fore each other, this one actually had a plot. To be completely honest it was more of a mystery than a romance but it still had her so submerged that she didn’t hear the doorbell ring.

The doorbell was on its fifth chime when she glanced up with the intent of turning the page but heard the loud chime. She was on her feet and turning the doorknob in five seconds flat. A friendly appearing blond smiled at her as he held out a metal clipboard.

"Delivery miss…"

"I didn’t order anything." She quickly interrupted determined not to pay for a wrong address.

"It’s from an address in Alaska, miss. It’s prepaid." She relaxed at the word ‘prepaid’ and willingly took the clipboard. A large rectangular cardboard box was deposited in her arms after he retrieved the clipboard, complete with a document bearing her signature. He gave her one last smile before turning and carefully climbing down her rickety and slippery steps.

She flinched remembering how she had discovered that the words, ‘walk on the left side’, left by her hasty landlord were to be taken literally. It had been four months and he hadn’t even slapped a fresh coat of paint on the decaying wood. Not she really expected it. But it still would have been a nice surprise.

Her right foot pushed the door shut as she slid the package on her less than decent kitchen table. It wasn’t as if she had another table, but the sound of the kitchen table had a nice ring to it. Although, it had once been nicknamed the kitchen doughnut by best friend. Schbeiker suspected it the name originated due to the large hole straight through the center of the oak surface, but it could have something to do with one afternoon when she got stuck in the hole.

The stepladder was a good two feet away from the edge of the table when Relena ‘accidentally’ misjudged the distance and knocked Hilde’s feet out from underneath her. Her bottom landed on the wood tabletop as the legs let out a loud groan of protest. Relena later informed her that her arms wriggled like a ‘fish out of water’ as they attempted to grip anything that would stop her downward slide. Unsuccessful.

The end results: Hilde: 0, Table: 1.

Relena got a good laugh and a few pictures before she tried to help the petite German out of the table. Unfortunately, however she failed. Of course, Hilde was positive the laughter racking the Vice Foreign Minister’s body might have had something to do with that. So of course she had call her ‘friend’ Heero for help.

End result: Heero: 1, Table: 0 and a few bullet-holes, Hilde: suspiciously wet pants.

It was scary! Especially, considering that the glaring teenager had a gun and wasn’t afraid to use it on her or the table. She still wasn’t sure if Heero had really good or really bad aim, considering that the last bullet was only a few centimeters from her ankle she wasn’t sure which one she’d rather he have. Thankfully after the third bullet the table conceded and released the angry German.

But due to the same circumstances that forced her to pick the rejected table off of the side of the road she kept the table.

The bullets were still there.

Heero was banned from her house.

The table was still on punishment… it was permanently grounded.

A few dollies had taken up residence in strategic locations on the oak antique.

It was an antique, because as soon as she found an affordable replacement that table was history. Too many bad memories… But something close to a miracle occurred that day. When Heero Yuy first entered that door and glanced down at the helpless female stuck in a cage of stubborn oak carvings, a smile lit up his face, if only for a minute. Maybe the rapidly increasing volume of curses in a foreign tongue, the cat that was lying opposite of Hilde’s face just staring into her bright blue eyes, the leaking roof that had formed a puddle, or to quote Hilde "a blasted verdamnt ocean!!!!!!!", or the hiccup that escaped unbidden from her lips right as she noticed Heero and stopped yelling.

Either way, she was not a happy camper.

The telephone crashed her train of thought into a huge wall known by many as reality. After the fifth ring and Hilde still didn’t pick up the answering machine, a Christmas gift from Relena picked up. After the annoying beep the usually calm and soothing voice of the librarian carried to the girl studying the package.

"Hilde Schbeiker! This is the fifth call this week and it’s only Tuesday! If I don’t get that book and the rest of them back I’ll personally see to it that Antonio stops by! And he will return with the books in perfect condition, however I doubt your house will be close to it." A faint click followed her threat as she hung up. A few minutes later the phone rang again.

"By the way… your overdue fine is… Maybe you should sit down if your listening to this…" The voice was cut off as Hilde hit the mute button on the answering machine.

"There’s only so much one girl can handle per day." She reasoned.

However, little did she know that overdue book fines were soon going to be the least of her problems, even if an thug named Antonio was included in the picture.

O.N. Yeah, yeah. I know Changing the Devil, but this just came to me and I think it’s rather amusing. Don’t get your hopes up though. I’m going to focus on Changing the Devil for at least three more chapters before I get started on this fic. No, to any of my curious readers out there. I do not have a table with a huge hole in it. That was inspired by a Home Improvement episode where Tim used a powered up sander on a table and it left a huge hole. In the table and the floor. So, see ya soon with the fourth, it’s the fourth right?, chapter of Changing the Devil.