beta reader: mechante-fille
genre: post-war cannon
parings: (eventual 3x4, 1x2), 5+all
warnings: none

Archivist's note: t-shirt has made a beautiful poster to go with her story. You can see the artwork here.

Nakodo Shimei
by t-shirt

DUCK!

It is not a wise idea to goad Heero Yuy. I was reminded of this fact when my mouth managed to once again betray me, forcing me to either duck as my mind had screamed in warning or take a basketball in the head at warp seven. He did give me some warning, using a rebound shot off the pavement to bank the ball into the backboard where it bounced solidly into the tattered net. I'm still not quite sure exactly how we found ourselves at the Second Street neighborhood goal post on the outer quarter of L2, but I never really stopped to question it. It seemed natural that Heero would turn up sooner or later.

"Hey!" I groused at him. "You wanna leave my head where it is!" But he looked entirely unconcerned with my ranting. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd say his expression was downright smug.

"You're down by two," he replied unrepentantly as he retrieved the ball. I should have seen it coming; I did see it coming, but too late to counter when he suddenly side stepped, spun and did that sweet little move where he jumps his entire height off the ground and shoots nothing but net. I can never hear him when he hits the ground on that one. "Make that three" he grinned. Well, he'd found a way to shut me up for a second.

"Two fly boy" I corrected him snatching the ball away before he could get his grubby hands on it again. "That last one doesn't count. It was my lead in" I reminded him taking a shot but I was off balance because the SOB is just as good at blocking as he is at shooting. Bounced me with his shoulder the cheat. No way I was going to let him get away with that shit, but when I dove for the ball he was right on it and we ended up going down in a tumbling heap. This was pretty much the scene, Heero and I, scratching and clawing and wrestling and laughing our asses off fighting over the basketball, when a familiar yet oddly intoned greeting came to our ears.

"Duo?"

We stopped. We were hopelessly tangled up in a sweaty, dirty, scruffy knot in the middle of a parking lot in the dimming evening light but all the determination to win the ball just kind of bled away at the sound of Quatre's mild amusement.

"Quatre!" I barked suddenly grasping the full impact of the moment. I hadn't seen the blonde boy since the end of the war. We still kept in touch through e-mail and the occasional vid call but I hadn't actually seen him face to face in over three months. "Hey man!" I grinned untangling myself from Heero so we could both stand up.

"Heero?" he chuckled sounding as surprised as I had felt when I found the Japanese boy on my street corner the day before.

"Hello Quatre," Heero greeted nodding politely as he tucked the ball under one arm and took that stance I got so used to during the war. The one that seems radiate a five-foot parameter force field around him. Standoffish doesn't really describe it but it's the closest I can get. I hadn't seen it in awhile and I can't say I liked how it felt.

"It's good to see you," I breathed still trying to catch my breath. I know the smile on my face must have seemed a little dopey but I was still pumped up from the game. "What brings you to L2?"

"The relief and restoration effort," he smiled though it seemed a bare shadow of the bright sunshine that had once radiated from him. Upon closer inspection he looked... really tired. "We've come for an assessment of the damage," he explained.

"You should've told me," I scolded him playfully.

"I didn't think I'd have time to get away, but..." he paused, his blue/green eyes darting from me to Heero and back again. "Am I interrupting?" he asked cautiously.

"Of course not!" I scoffed. I couldn't help glancing back at Heero to see his reaction as I cupped an arm around Quatre's shoulder and headed him out of the parking lot. Heero didn't seem put out about the company so I went with it. "Why don't you come back to the house with us? I'll make some tea and we can visit." He too, gave into the need to look to our silent companion before he relaxed into that soft, almost sad little smile again and nodded.

Hilde was still working when we got back. I hadn't been thrilled about working with her after all was said and done. For some reason the girl had developed some kind of mentor complex about me during the war and now everything she did appeared to have some basis in her need for my approval. I suppose she needed guidance and since I was willing to give it she'd just naturally latched onto me, but honestly. What she needed was a boyfriend to dote over and that was definitely not me.

"Hey Hilde," I smiled casually when we entered. I saw her look to our current houseguest with her usual curious congeniality, her expression brightening somewhat when Quatre stepped in behind him. "Have you ever met Quatre?" I asked heading for the stove while our guests moved to take seats at the small, foldable metal table where we ate.

"I don't believe so," Quatre smiled in his eloquent way pausing before sitting to offer her his hand. "I'm Quatre Rabarba Winner," he intoned amiably, softly touching her outstretched fingers and I swear to the gods the girl blushed. I guess after my rather, ahem, brash company, Quatre was a bit like a polished gem.

"Of course," she replied after a moment retrieving her hand slowly. "You've done so much to help the people since the end of the war," she smiled. It was nice to hear some of the respect and admiration most of the population felt being put into words for him. He deserved whatever praise was offered that's for sure. The guy never even slowed down after that last battle. He and Relena had teamed up and were blazing a trail no one was likely to miss in their efforts to settle the peace and restore the colonies and Earth.

"How's the effort going anyway?" I asked busying myself with making the tea. Hilde kept some around to have with her morning paper but I rarely drank the stuff.

"Slow," he breathed through a sigh that spoke of long days and sleepless nights. It made my stomach hurt for him even though I had to disagree.

"You're already reconstructing on Earth, right?" I pointed out dumping the tea in the basket of the percolator. Why couldn't she just use the little bags?

"Yes," he sighed again. "And on L4, but there's still so much to see to."

"It's only been three months, Quat," I snorted softly. "You're doing an amazing job. Give it time." Why in the hell are their two pots to one of these things? Which one goes where?

"I suppose," he sighed again.

"How's Relena holding up?" I asked. I couldn't help noting the almost imperceptible reaction in Heero's eyes at the mention of the Princess's name. It's still a mystery to me why they never hooked up. She sure made it clear enough she was interested, but after Heero just walked away into the bustling streets of Tokyo, whatever might have been between them just seemed to nod out. No one spoke of it anyway.

"Relentless," he half chuckled. "She's been a driving force for us all."

"Seems that single minded determination of hers has paid off then." I laughed lightly because that's all the present situation would allow. Quatre appeared less than enthused about just about anything we spoke of and Heero pretty much abandoned any active role in the conversation early on. Hilde knew little about the subject matter and, as always, waited for my lead before commenting. By the time the visit was over, what little joy I had found in Heero's reappearance had been squashed mercilessly under the heel of the collective depression. Quatre left us with the same heavy sigh and dimly lit expression he'd arrived with, though he did seem a tad less stressed out.

It wasn't until almost two weeks later when Heero, Hilde and I decided to visit Trowa at the circus during a business trip to Earth that it started to sink in just what was going on. Hilde had perked up the moment I mentioned the green-eyed acrobat, her melancholy mood suddenly shifting to one of delighted anticipation as the day of our visit approached. Catherine was less than happy to see us, of course, but then she'd claimed full rights over Trowa a long time ago. You'd think she'd be happier about how things turned out but she was as snippy and possessive as ever. It made me wonder if she'd loosen up a little if Trowa finally broke down and peeled her out of that skintight costume she wears. From the look of the pucker in her face he hadn't even come close. However, he himself did seem somewhat... amused... by our presence.

"Hey Trowa!" I beamed genuinely glad to see him even if he couldn't manage more than half a smile.

"What're you doing here?" Straight to the point, this one, but seeing as how he wasn't looking at me I paused. When Heero declined to respond with more than a faint smile of his own I decided maybe it was going be up to me after all.

"We were in the neighborhood," I informed him as brightly as one can to someone who is scowling at the bubbling girl at your side. "You remember Hilde?" I sighed unable to hold off the rolling of the eyes when she pushed past me eagerly in spite of his icy gaze.

"Hi Trowa!" she squeaked already blushing furiously; her face flushed and her adoring expression kind of made me want to hurl. Things went downhill from there. Luckily, Catherine made sure our visit was kept short by finding somewhere else for Trowa to be. He barely got to ask about Quatre and Wufei, how things were going in the Colonies and if Quatre and Relena had settled on a base of operations yet before he was desperately needed elsewhere. Hilde wilted the moment he left us and has yet to shake the bitter resentment for Catherine's interference.

My revelation perplexed me. I couldn't figure it out. We'd all come so far and given so much. We deserved this peace. We'd earned the right to some little slice of happiness but for the life of me I couldn't see any one of us actually enjoying ourselves. I decided to broach the subject with my unlikely tag along that evening after we'd retired to our room.

"Are you happy Heero?"

".........What?"

Ok. So maybe that was a little vague.

"Since the war's over," I tried to clarify making us both one of the hot ciders that were complimentary in this hotel. He just sat down and stared at me. I sighed. "Come on man," I half whined wishing he'd just get it for once. "I mean, is it just me or is everyone we know completely miserable?" I handed him his mug before curling up in the other corner of the couch.

He was quiet for a long moment before he asked "Are you miserable?"

I snorted "No," and laughed. I don't think it was the reaction he'd been expecting. "It's only been three months," I reminded him blowing gently over my mug to cool it before taking a sip. "Hell, I don't even know what I want to do yet," I confessed.

"What about Hilde?" he asked evenly tasting his own drink.

"Shit," I retorted. "Do ya think she could have been any more obvious today?" I chuckled.

"She seemed happy enough when Trowa was around," he replied and for a moment I thought I caught the glimmer of a smile but he took another drink and it was gone.

"Prick," I laughed. Heero's a very subtle guy but I'm not that thick. I know when I'm being mocked and he finally gave into the chuckle. "I'm serious though," I persisted. "Even Wufei. He called me last month looking for information on the docking net for a case he and Sally were working on and even he seemed more irritated than usual." Heero paused in his drinking to look at me and cock a brow. Damn but he can be exasperating! "You know what I mean asshole!" I groused slapping at him with a pillow that just grazed so as not to spill his cider.

"Maybe they just need to get laid," he laughed and my ears rang when my jaw hit the floor.

"HEERO!" I gasped caught utterly off balance by the uncharacteristic remark. Peace had awakened something inside the perfect soldier. Something not altogether unwelcome. It showed in his smile and the almost giddy laugher spilling from him as he fought to keep me from pinching his ass with my toes. I had almost succeeded when it hit me and I froze so solid he paused to consider me. "That's it," I breathed letting the plan form in my mind. A huge grin spreading across my face as the mission lit that old fire in my eyes.

"What's... it?" he asked cautiously not daring to move more than his mouth to speak.

"They're lonely," I replied hoping it would be enough of an explanation for him to get the idea. Apparently it was more than enough because he very purposely pushed my feet away, sat his mug down and got up. "Heero!" I called going after him but he hurried toward his bed. "Oh come on!" I whined dancing in front of him.

"Move," he ordered sternly.

"What harm can it do?" I persisted, grinning madly in spite of the solid scowl on his face. "They're all already miserable," I argued.

"I am not a nakodo," he stated quiet clearly. It took me a minute to pull the meaning of the word out the Japanese file in my head but when I did I couldn't help the maniac grin. He got it! He really got it!

"Nakodo Shimei!" I crowed and I swear to the gods his eyes did that shudder thing like a camera lens when it takes a picture. I faltered and stepped back. He's... scary when he gets like that. It took me a second to regroup. "You don't have to play matchmaker," I assured him. "Just run interference for me." I grinned hopefully but from the look in his eyes he wasn't buying it. It was beginning to look like 'Mission Matchmaker' was going to be a memory before it was born. I couldn't help the deep sigh when he dismissed me altogether and stepped to move around me. "Why are you here?" I heard myself ask. I couldn't make myself look at him and from what I could see out of my peripheral view he was having the same problem. I hadn't asked him that even once since his unexplained arrival over two weeks prior. It didn't really matter, he was here and he wanted to hang out for awhile. His reasons were his own but at that moment, I wanted to know. There was a time of silence that followed in which I thought perhaps he wouldn't answer but then he replied very softly.

"To decide my path."

It was an... unsatisfying answer at best. "Do they deserve any less than to find their own paths?" I asked finally finding the courage to turn to face him, though all I could see was the side of his face as he gazed intently at nothing at all.

"It's none of my business," he stated.

"The welfare of our family and friends is precisely our business!" I found myself half growling. This damned... detachment of his has always infuriated me. I cannot understand how the guy can offer up his life for the sake of a multitude of strangers yet he can't bring himself to intervene on his own friend's behalf. "What the hell are you afraid of?!" I heard my voice rising, unsure exactly why my temper was up. "You think just cause you let your chance pass they shouldn't get one!?" I probably should have shut up at that point because his head snapped around and the look in his eyes was a definite warning but I've never been one to back down once the challenge is made. "I've seen you face down some serious shit!" I growled. "I never thought you'd just walk away and not even tell her!" What the hell was I talking about? And why wasn't I shutting up in the face of his mounting fury? "But you did man! If that's not just cowardly..." It was at this moment that he snapped and I found myself slammed against the wall of the hotel room gasping for air and apologizing profusely. "..s..sorry man.. calm down," I rasped through the strangle hold he had on me and thankfully his grip loosened but I could see the edge of some tightly controlled emotion wavering in his eyes. Log that one away. Leave the Relena issue alone. I was well prepared to drop the entire idea and see if I could get out with my ass intact when he shocked me by asking...

"Why?"

I blinked. Ummm...

"Why did you push me?" he went on and I felt that old familiar warmth in my chest. It's a little like watching a child hold a puppy for the fist time.

"Because I care," I told him simply and he released me completely. It is at times like this that I feel the overpowering urge to take him in my arms and hug him because I get the feeling he has never known what that sort of comfort feels like. "That's what people who care about each other do," I informed him. "If you're unhappy they try to help you change it." I could see the argument in his eyes and decided to save him the effort of speaking by adding with a warm smile, "Even when your not sure you want it."

"I don't see how finding them a mate will help," he said and I just about cracked a tooth grinning so hard. I had him! Yes!

"Can't hurt!" I quipped happily dancing around him so I wasn't against the wall anymore. I didn't miss the long suffering sigh or the slight roll of his eyes in the process but I was having too much fun going over mission parameters in my head to give it much thought.

"I assume you have a plan," he ground out plopping down on the edge of his bed.

"We should start with Trowa since we're already here," I suggested.

"Catherine," he deadpanned falling back onto the bed.

"Gods I hope not!" I retorted sitting Indian style on my own bunk. No way I could lay down now. There was too much to think about. "That woman's got a rolling pin with her name on it in her future. No," I said thoughtfully. "But we need to see how Trowa feels about her before we bring Hilde into the equation."

"Hilde?!?!" he barked bolting upright with the most adorably incredulous look on his face. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me. "But he hates her!" he reasoned.

"He doesn't hate her," I argued. "He just doesn't know her. And she's totally hot for him so it's as good a place to start as any." He was staring at me. "What?" Another little laugh found its way out of my throat when he shook his head and turned to burrow down into his covers without another word. "Heero?" I called as I turned out the lights and got a noncommittal grunt in response. "You're my partner on this right?" I wanted the commitment. What I got was something akin to a bear growling in its sleep. "Heero?" It was most gratifying to hear his grumbled but clearly spoken..

"Ninmu ryokai".

I regretted pulling him in on my little hair brained mission to see to it that our friends found the happiness they'd all worked so hard for when I saw that same guarded expression he always wore during the war the next morning.

"Jesus Heero," I exclaimed feeling the pain of my self inflicted wound every time I glanced over at him. "Lighten up," I smiled. "We're not trying to blow their communications net." I chuckled but it went over like a lead balloon. We were already at the fair grounds, though it was late morning and no shows were scheduled until late afternoon. Still, a circus is never idle so we were forced to weave our way through the bustling workers and practicing performers in our search for the target. Heero seemed less than amused.

"A mission without guidelines is doomed to failure," he grumbled side stepping a little man no more then two feet tall who just happened to roll across our path when his acrobatic group lost their grip on him.

"Recon," I clarified. Ya know, I never realized clowns practice in full make up, but it was an after thought while I chuckled at their attempt to 'save' the little poodle barking at the top of a loose ladder. "You just keep Trowa busy while I have a little chat with the Warden." He seemed to settle into some groove now that he knew what his duties were and moved on while I located our target. Or rather, Catherine's target seeing as how she was the one throwing knives at him at the moment. It's just a little creepy to see that empty expression in his eyes while he's standing there staring at the point of a knife. It bothered me on a level I hadn't expected that he was still capable of achieving that depth of... despondency? Detachment?

We paused to watch while they finished out their session, but from the depth of the knives when they hit the board, Catherine was well aware of our presence and she took her dear sweet time. If Trowa knew we were there he made no indication of it. Actually, I'd say he was totally cut off from the world around him if I didn't know better. The reality was he was a Gundam Pilot and could probably have given you my pulse rate when he was as focused as he appeared to be at that moment.

As much as it obviously annoyed her, Catherine finally ran out of knives and was forced to acknowledge our presence. The icy glare she offered in greeting wavered under the artic breeze coming from Heero's cold blue eyes however, and I couldn't help but grin. Game, set and match. She never stood a chance and turned quickly away to go retrieve her knives. Trowa wasted no time coming over to greet us with something more akin to curiosity in his expression and it became painfully obvious that if left to their own devices he and Heero would probably starve to death waiting for the other to speak. However, Catherine took care of that problem.

"Why are you here?" she demanded stepping up close to Towa's side. I made it a point to study his reactions to the girl and noted that her closeness didn't appear to bother him.

"We thought we'd treat you to lunch," I smiled flashing a particularly comely expression her way.

"We have work to do," was her reply but Trowa was never one to follow the crowd.

"Where to?" he asked ignoring the girls blatant scoff of disapproval.

"I don't know," I replied. "Do you have any preferences?" I asked Catherine in particular. The fact that I'd included her even when she obviously had no interest in accompanying us took her off guard so I used the moment to once again offer her a warm and, I hoped, inviting smile. She blushed softly so I think I got it right. It took less than a second for her to regain her balance however, and her gray eyes lost all semblance of warmth.

"You want to take him away again," she suddenly accused and that is when Heero decided to completely abandon me and turned away. Great.

"Actually I was more concerned..." I began but was distracted when I caught Heero out of the corner of my eye picking up a katana that was leaning against a practicing sword swallowers case. Trowa was watching him rather intently as well and I almost cracked a smile as I realized he was doing just what I'd asked him to by taking Trowa's focus off me. I needed to see his true reactions and the only way to do that was to catch him by surprise. "...with taking you away," I finished more confidently. The comment got our young gymnasts attention but the fact that Heero had suddenly done this little spin/slice move as if testing the blade and five seconds later the case fell neatly in two seemed to amuse him more. Catherine on the other hand was... less than amused.

"Are you insane?" she snipped moving a step away from me but I managed to smile at her and examine Trowa's mild interest in our conversation at the same time. It seemed Heero's resultant reprimand for having severed the swordsman's case was minutely more entertaining. "You're not honestly asking me for a date?!" the girl asked incredulously.

"Well," I smiled chuckling lightly as if it were due to our confrontation but in all honesty, I couldn't help laughing at how Heero was winning the argument without ever speaking a word. He just stood there with the sword in his hand and the guy, who stood a good head and a half taller than him, slowly shrank back until he was apologizing for yelling at him.

"Honestly Trowa!" she interrupted heatedly. "Couldn't you choose friends with more manners!?" she huffed turning on her heal to storm away.

"She's not so cold when you're not a Gundam Pilot," Trowa deadpanned still watching Heero.

"Oh," I replied doing my best to sound injured instead of amused as I watched Heero return the performer's sword and accept his apology with a curt nod. The guy couldn't get away fast enough. Having Heero around again certainly never left a dull moment. "I thought maybe she was already involved," I probed.

"She is," he said and my heart sank a little. It wasn't like I didn't like the girl but she seemed entirely wrong for Trowa and he certainly wasn't happy if that was the case. No one with that emptiness in their eyes is whole. He altered my next line by adding "They don't like to advertise."

"And you're ok with it?" I asked instead.

"I doubt she'd keep seeing him if I didn't approve," he snorted. "She's pretty big on this sibling idea of hers."

I smiled and visibly relaxed as Heero rejoined us. "So you really have a family now huh?" I said offering my Japanese partner a small smile of gratitude. His expression was nonplused at best.

"I don't mind," Trowa said while he and Heero did that telepathic thing they do with their eyes that I am never privy to but I got the feeling he was commending Heero for some unknown reason or deed. Maybe he didn't care for the swordsman or something. I wouldn't know, I don't really speak eyelash all that well. "It's nice to have a sister," he said then and clinched the deal. There was nothing between him and Catherine that would stand in the way of his getting to know Hilde better.

I worked on him over lunch and with Heero's help managed to gain his interest in a visit to outer space. The vacation idea was quickly squashed and his helping out on the Candon job I had coming up didn't go over too well either, but when Heero mentioned that we would be on L4 the following month to attend a public awareness ball that Quatre and Relena were throwing, he agreed to accompany us. I hadn't realized he was so interested in the rebuilding effort but he ended up asking more questions on the subject than I'd ever known him to voice at once before. It made me wonder if he'd chosen the right path after the war. Perhaps he would have been happier helping to put right some of the damage the war had caused. It was a consideration. We left him with a promise to meet on L4 for the Gala and I started working on phase two of Mission Matchmaker.

Chang Wufei.

Chapter 2

Chang Wufei.

Ouch. What more can I say? The guy is just a freaking nightmare when it comes to socializing. And women? Dear lord. We had our work cut out for us that's for sure. He was currently engrossed in a seismic exercise designed to measure the effects of underground detonations on a fissure buried in the Qinghai region of China. I wasn't going to get away with the 'we were in the neighborhood' excuse this time. Heero managed to pull together a reasonable tale involving a possible gundanium ore refinery in the X29994 resource satellite belt near L4. It was enough to explain our presence even if it was nothing more than a vague suspicion Heero had. The legitimacy was there, which was what had prompted him to use the excuse since Wufei would no doubt check into the information we gave him very thoroughly.

I had a sneaky suspicion that the source of his irritation when he'd called me was due to the close proximity of a certain blonde doctor that was currently his closest friend and partner. Just the thought of him alone out there in the middle of nowhere with her without the slightest clue of how to approach her on an intimate level made me want to shake my head and laugh. The poor guy had to be frustrated as hell, so once we'd put Hilde on a shuttle back to L2 we packed our raw nerve and determination and headed east.

We decided to spend the night in their camp since it had taken us most of the day to hike out to the work site. Sally seemed overjoyed, even relieved, to have us stay and Wufei dove head first into researching Heero's claims. Apparently, recording tremors was not all that exciting. The tension between the two of them was thick and uncomfortable. I could tell they'd been sniping at each other and were holding their tongues because of our presence. We needed to find a way to ease the tension or this little union wouldn't stand a chance, but what to do?

Wufei was obviously more than a little interested in investigating the refinery and Sally had no objections to calling it quits on their current assignment but the idea was to get them both to L4 intact and willing to dance with each other. It struck me that Sally was quite a bit older than him but he was mature for his age in most respects. Hell, he'd been married and a widower before the age of fifteen. Not to mention that whole Gundam Pilot/terrorist/soldier thing. They had a lot in common and they obviously cared for each other so it seemed reasonable that they might stand a chance together if given a push in the right direction. It was worth a shot.

It was late evening and we found ourselves sitting around the campfire drinking a cup of after dinner coffee while we listened to Wufei grouse about the poor satellite reception he got out here for his lap top when I decided to make an effort to lighten things up a bit and went searching for my music in my bag. Thanks to that modern technology that our Chinese friend was so heatedly cursing about in; I think it was Mandarin; it was hard to tell with him growling like that I was able to provide a subtle change of mood. I've been told I have a rather eclectic taste when it comes to music and Podely, my palm sized player and storage device, was well equipped for just about any occasion. I set it up beside me, the tiny speakers thrumming to life with the rich, soothing sounds of some of the best smooth jazz I had ever downloaded and offered my companions a warm smile as I relaxed back and tucked my hands behind my head in the hope that they would follow suit.

"That's nice." Sally smiled visibly relaxing right along with me. I always liked Sally. She's like.. one of the guys, ya know? There's nothing prissy or artificial about the woman, which, in my mind, made her a pretty good prospect for Wufei.

"It's distracting," Wufei commented dryly stabbing at his keyboard.

"Broken Wings," Heero said softly, slipping down along the pack he was leaning against until he was laid back as casual as you please and I gaped openly at him.

"You know it?" I asked softly totally confounded that he knew the song.

"Melissa Forbes," he confirmed turning his eyes slowly up to regard me and if for only a moment I felt as if I were looking into the night sky.

"Its so sad." Sally sighed letting the crackle of the fire and the soothing notes of Melissa's thick tone wash over her until she was inspired to turn her gaze upward and take in the splendor of the distant stars. Wufei had stopped his incessant tacking on his laptop to listen more closely, the lines around his eyes fading until he once again resembled the seventeen year old he was.

"It's beautiful," he finally interjected giving up on the research and setting his equipment aside.

"Yes," Heero intoned, but the sound of his voice was not something I'd ever heard from him before. It was bass and throaty and I felt it in my spine when he added, "It is," and blushed right down to the roots of my hair for some reason. I'm not sure if it was the complement on my choice of music or the fact that he'd been looking at me when he'd said it, but it left me feeling very warm and oddly embarrassed so I just closed my eyes and laid back to listen. I couldn't shake the feeling that he was still watching me though, so it was a great relief when Sally spoke again.

"Do you miss being out there, Wufei?" she asked still gazing at the open sky.

It wasn't perhaps the most sensitive thing for her to ask, I suppose, but she tended to be on the blunt side of things most of the time. Wufei knew this about her and didn't appear to take her forwardness the wrong way. Still, he took a long moment to pause and gaze up into the darkness before he answered with a simple...

"Yes".

"Then go back," Heero deadpanned. My wasn't he wordy tonight! The last thing I wanted was to remind the guy of what he'd lost. He was supposed to be moving on into the future here!

"I wouldn't mind working offplanet for awhile," Sally commented. Well that sounded... promising. And that starry-eyed expression on her face was giving me hope that things might work out after all. Until Wufei made a sudden and hasty retreat.

"If you'll excuse me," he breathed quickly and was suddenly ducking into his tent. What the hell?

"There's nothing for him to go back to," Sally sighed softly. I could feel the pain in her voice, see the compassion in her eyes and knew beyond the shadow of a doubt the woman cared deeply for her partner.

"Way to go He-man," I scolded my own partner, adding a token poke in the ribs with the toe of my boot as punishment but he only chuckled softly then sobered and gazed into the sky himself.

"Sometimes it's necessary to visit the past before you can find the future," he said and my spine did that tingly thing again. Sometimes I got the feeling maybe he was the one that got it and I was the one that was clueless.

"Yes," Sally replied with some note of finality in her voice that made it no surprise when she rose to retire. "But his past doesn't exist anymore," she reminded us before offering a sad little smile and returning to her tent.

"Maybe I should've played eighties pop," I sighed as the music changed to Jeff Smith's `Dance with You All Night` and let the sultry notes of the guitar and sax sooth my aches and pains just laying back to enjoy the cool evening air. It was some time before Heero spoke again and I found myself set off balance again by words I never thought I'd hear him speak.

"Duo? Do you ever look at the Moon when you're on Earth?"

There was a time when I would have pulled off a fingernail to know that he was able to enjoy such things. I always wondered if he ever stopped long enough to notice. "Uh... yea, of course," I stammered feeling oddly warm inside again. This peace thing was apparently really good for him. It made me happy to think so.

"Look," he said suddenly reaching out to draw me over so I could see where he was pointing. "You can see L2 from here," he observed and sure enough there it was, a bright silver reflection in the ink black sky. It was funny, but I hadn't noticed.

"Hey," I smiled laying my head beside his in this sort of comfortable up-side-down position that put our ears next to each other as we rested head to head on the warm Earth. "You can see Citus A too," I grinned though the nebula was less than a spec in the sky. Man, but it was so clear that night. It was nothing like being in outer space but that only seemed to make it all the more enchanting. We laid there for hours mapping out the heavens and arguing over which of the faint dots were actually M17 or the Blackeye Galaxy while Podely sang its soft songs and finally lulled us to sleep.

When I woke to the brightening morning sky it was to find myself in that same position, my head and Heero's resting together where we had apparently reached out to one another in the night for warmth. I was struck with the knowledge that he smelled sort of sweet. Like... its hard to describe but... warm linen? Or fresh cut sweet hay on a hot summer day. Shit, never mind, he just smelled sweet somehow. He also had wrapped his arm up and around and entangled my shoulders in it. I was aware that I had done the same and began to work myself free of the embarrassing position before he woke up but I only managed to cause him to stir and just about swallowed my tongue when he moved in to snuggle me in his sleep. My reaction served to wake him, however, which gave me my out and I took it quickly finding myself suddenly jerked right back off my feet when I tried to stand and found my braid was still clutched in Heero's hand.

"Sorry," he stammered looking as mortified as I felt as he did his best to move quickly away from me. I just lay there on my back winded and trying to get a grip on my hammering heart.

"S'ok," I returned rolling away as well. "We leaving early?" I asked needlessly but I was feeling unreasonably nervous.

"Yea," he barked back managing to not look at me and not offend me at the same time as he hurriedly gathered his things.

"K," I nodded, stupidly in my opinion. "I'll, umm, go wake Wufei." It seemed the logical thing to do.

Wufei was not happy to be roused at the break of day and I thought Sally was going to drown me in my coffee but we made it out of there in record time. They stayed behind to finish up the work they'd been doing and agreed to meet us on L2 in two weeks time. In the mean time, Heero was expected to gather whatever information he could on the possible refinery that probably didn't exist and I had to try to teach Hilde the fine art of discretion without her catching on. It crossed my mind to offer to trade tasks with Heero but I'm pretty sure he would have hurt me so I kept my big mouth shut.

Over the next two weeks Heero managed to make himself pretty scarce running off for days at a time, to do his job he claimed, but I still think he just didn't want to be anywhere near Hilde while I was working with her, the coward. Hell, after the second day I didn't want to be there! I started by mentioning Trowa as often as possible hoping to desensitize her to the subject but it only seemed to annoy her and send her off into huffy rants about Catherine and her overbearing posture where he was concerned. The worse part was that by the end of the first week I was getting the feeling the only thing the girl actually felt for him was some sort of school girl crush because nothing she said was based on any reality. I continually had to remind her that he was a mercenary and a soldier but she'd just sigh that dreamy sigh and go on about how great he looks in spandex and gloves. Now, whereas I couldn't argue the point it was becoming painfully clear that all she could see was glitter and gluteus maximums and that is just not what Trowa Barton is all about. I was getting desperate and was more than glad that Heero had returned late into the second week. It was a long shot but he'd spent more time with Trowa than any of the rest of us so I figured maybe he'd have something more to offer.

"Hey man," I called amiably as I strode into the yard where Heero was tinkering with an old Leo ion drive. "You busy?"

"No," he replied pushing himself out from under the bulk of the equipment. His face was smudged with grease and he was wearing that same kind of green tank top he'd worn so much during the war and I couldn't help but smile. He really did look kind of ridiculous sitting there on the ground in the middle of my junkyard like that. Weird thing is, six months ago he'd have told me to get lost and never stopped working. "What's the matter?" he asked wiping his hands as he got up.

"We might need a new angle," I sighed. I could see Hilde moving around in the kitchen inside as she cleaned up after dinner and paused to consider her for a moment.

"You were right about her interest in Trowa," he said supportively leaning beside me against the drive he'd been working on.

"Yea," I snorted. "But I can't seem to get her past the beef cake and glamour."

"She just doesn't know him that well yet," he countered.

"What do you think he'd like in a girl?" I asked.

"Why are you asking me?" he retorted.

"Well," I reasoned pulling one leg up and pushing back to sit on the drive so I could face him, "you know him better than I do."

"I know he prefers KL32 Mags to Sidney Rockets," he chuckled flashing what I can only describe as a smart ass look from under his bangs. "But I have no idea what he might like in a woman," he stated flatly but I could hear the teasing under the tone.

"You are mocking me," I sighed trying not to grin and failing.

"Why don't you just give it a rest and see if having Sally around helps when she and Wufei arrive?" he suggested.

Sounded like a plan to me. I was exhausted just thinking about it so I nodded and turned my attention to other things. "What're you doing anyway?" I asked checking out the drive a little closer now that my mind was clearing a bit.

"There's a housing for this drive in the back lot," he reminded me. The old suit had been there since before the war actually. I'd never even looked twice at the empty hull but I recalled it now that he'd mentioned it. "It should be useful on the Candon job," he explained. "We might need the mobility."

"No shit?" I replied bending down to get a better look at his repairs. I hadn't considered it and it wasn't really necessary but it would be nice to know it was available. "That was really cool of yo.." I began but when I turned back to look at him he was smiling and I kind of lost track of what I was saying. I can't say I'd ever seen him smile like that before. Peace looked really damn good on him.

"You wanna help?" he asked letting the smile quirk into that little smirk he's so good at and I felt myself blushing for no reason again and looked away.

"Sure. You got a fusion torch out here?"

"In the tool box."

"What the hell di'ju do to the wiring harness? Christ..." I grumbled examining the jumble of colored wire.

"I had to bypass a few circuits," he chuckled and we crawled under the assembly together. The next thing I knew it was dawn and Hilde was growling about us staying up all night working and I was sorry the day cycle had rolled around. It had been a lot of fun to work with Heero again even though we'd argued over everything from how to wire a hydraulic control panel relay to what color my eyes are. They are violet, not purple. I think he's color blind.

"You're both filthy," Hilde was grousing while we pulled our aching bodies out from under the machinery. "I've already made breakfast," she added huffily. "Again," she added taking that 'uh huh, that's right' stance women seem to be born knowing how to do.

"Sorry." I chuckled for no good reason but the silly grin on Heero's face was making me feel a bit giddy. Gods, I was so tired all of a sudden. "I'll make dinner tonight," I promised.

"You'll have to," she told me. "I'm going to visit Marcus tonight, remember?"

"O shit, that's right," I replied ignoring the rolling of her eyes and choosing to answer Heero's questioning glance instead. "Her brother," I explained. "He lives in the central band in the K section on the other side. She won't be back until tomorrow."

"I could make something," he offered.

"Naw man, you're a guest," I countered.

"Is that all I am?" he asked and just about knocked me right back off my feet with the question.

"Um.. I.. uh.. wh.." shit.

"Of course not," Hilde came to my rescue and saved me from choking on my foot. The last thing I wanted to do was offend him but I seriously didn't know how to answer. "You're family," she smiled just as effortlessly as you please and I suddenly felt like a total moron. "Come on," she went on curling her hand into the crick of his arm and leading him away into the house. "I'll show you what we have in the kitchen," she was saying to him but her eyes were glancing back at me with this oddly affectionate reprimand. "You might want to go shopping though..." I used my rag to wipe the fried egg off my face and followed but I couldn't shake the feeling I'd just missed something pretty important.

We decided to shower before we ate, or rather, Hilde insisted that we shower before we ate since we were both covered in dirt and grease, so I went to clean up first while she helped him make a grocery list. I just about fell on my ass when I opened the door and ran head long into Heero. He'd stripped to his boxers and had a towel draped over one shoulder and I bounced off his chest like I'd run into a brick frigging wall! By all that's holy, I swear the guy's got the same density as cobalt steel.

"Geez man," I groused regaining my balance. "Warn a guy, will'ya?"

"Next time," he grinned and it made me just want to smack him.

"You might wanna wait ten minutes for the water to heat back up," I told him moving toward the door but he apparently had no intention of making way so I was forced to squeeze by him in the narrow doorway sucking in as far as I could so as not to mall him on my way out.

"You should get some sleep," he advised turning sideways now that I was outside, the prick. "Blood shot doesn't really go with violet," He smiled then closed the door in my face and I was left staring dumbstruck at the steel gray panel. Well shit. Maybe the problem here wasn't so much that he was color blind as he was just an ass!

"Prick," I chuckled out loud, and turned my attention to finishing my morning duties so I could go the hell to bed, where I slept for over twelve hours. I'm not really sure if it was the thick aroma of grilled chicken or my bladder trying to crawl away and relieve itself that woke me, but the bladder won the toss on where was I headed first. I didn't bother putting on anymore clothes than the white pj bottoms I always sleep in since I knew Hilde would have already left and just wandered through the hall letting my nose lead my watering mouth to wherever that delicious aroma was coming from. It felt so odd having slept through the day like that. The fact that it was now dusk and Heero hadn't bothered to turn on any of the lights yet gave the entire situation a surreal air that left me feeling off balance and unfocused. I must've stood for a full ten seconds staring into the empty kitchen before I realized he was in the living room.

"Hey," I called softly as I padded quietly along because anything more would have seemed intrusive in the low light and oddly placating scene in my living room. He looked up at me, up because he was sitting on the floor leaning back against the couch. There were two plates of something that smelled decadently delicious on the coffee table in front of him and the vid was on but the sound was turned down almost inaudibly. My mouth suddenly felt like someone had poured sand down my throat and I felt the sudden urge to go find a shirt when I noticed he was wearing this deep blue, silky looking button up. It hung open, baring his chest and stomach and it took me a second to identify it as his silk pj's, but he was still one up on me since I wasn't wearing a shirt at all. I don't know if it bothered him but he definitely noticed because I saw his eyes look me over and ended up crossing my arms over my chest.

"What's all this?" I managed to push past the fleshy lump my tongue had suddenly become.

"Chicken Curry," he smiled lifting his hand to display the chopsticks expertly clutched in his fingers as he smirked, "Asian style."

It was then that I noticed the pillows he was sitting on and the pile meant for me along the adjoining edge of the table. It was so simply elegant. The mismatched salt and peppershakers. Paper napkins folded like linen. A stubby emergency candle burning under the overturned transparent iris of an Aries.

"You did all this?" I asked forgetting my shyness in favor of more pertinent subjects. Like plopping my skinny ass down on those pillows and putting that Curry behind my ribs were it belonged.

"I can cook," he retorted dryly opening my chopsticks and handing them to me.

"I know that," I retorted. "But all this," I said motioning to the candle and napkins and, I finally realized, the video taped fireplace on the vid screen.

"You disapprove?" he asked. It is a very eerie feeling to hear uncertain expectation in Heero Yuy's voice. If I wasn't totally off balance before, that sure as hell rocked my axis.

"Naw man it's nice but..."

"Isn't that reason enough?" he cut me off.

I sat there staring at him like some kind of total spaz but the inside of my head was suddenly moving too fast for me to keep up. I think he could tell because he looked way too smug smirking at me as he stabbed a piece of chicken and brought it to his lips and suddenly everything was moving in super-slow-mo. I swear my brain took in the moment frame by frame so it could torture me with it in minuet detail at a later time. I am not unaware of my attraction. It's just that whenever it bubbles up to the point I can't ignore it, like when he gently parted his lips and took that bit of chicken between his teeth. Gods, I could see the tip of his tongue coming up to taste the spiced sauce. Shit... where was I? O yea, anyhow it never fails that when one of these moments catches me off guard, a vision of Heero and Relena dancing together on some puffy pink cloud meanders along and melts whatever dream my mind was trying to form.

"What about Relena?" I heard myself say and found my eyes were now studying my dinner.

"What?" he replied and I found my chest constricted with the sound of it. Why did he sound hurt?

"She deserves a shot at this too," I told him hoping for once I wasn't stepping over a line that would get me nailed to the wall praying for mercy.

"I don't think she's really interested in a companion," he replied dejectedly. It was amazing how quickly the wind had just vanished from his sails. I can't say it didn't hurt, it always does; but like it or not he deserved a shot at this as well.

"You haven't exactly given her a chance," I reminded him gently bracing for the inevitable explosion my meddling usually gains, but it never came. What was left of his earlier mood bled away with a huge sigh of frustrated defeat as he dropped his chopsticks into his half eaten plate and sat back.

He was quiet for a very long time just staring at nothing, thinking, and I let him. This wasn't a subject that usually garnished good results between us so it was necessary to tread cautiously. "What would you do?" he finally asked.

"You might start by not treating her like an infectious decease," I snorted softly. "That kind of relationship demands a touch of the physical ya know? You gotta stop acting like you're gonna shatter if she holds your hand." I felt my heart skip a beat when his eyes turned to look at my hand as I stirred my rice absently.

"Have you ever..?" he asked leaving the question open and for a moment I felt my face flame at the implication, but he couldn't possibly have been asking that!

"Sure," I stammered setting my chopsticks down. "Sister Helen used to hold my hand all the time." Christ, he'd looked like he'd swallowed a whale there for a second.

"Was it... nice?" he inquired almost shyly and my damn pulse did that tumble down the hill thing again. We were treading on dangerous ground for me but I wasn't going to bail on him now. He needed this.

"Yea, it was," I smiled offering him my hand in the hope that it might encourage him to be more open with his touch. I could not begin to tell you all the feelings that flooded through me when he took me up on the offer. I almost wanted to pull back and retract the offer. My hands. They're not pretty, they're not soft and they sure as hell aren't feminine. They're calloused and scarred and looked knobby and broken resting in the warm cradle of his palm but... it felt good. Really good. So good, in fact, that I became aware of the fact that I was trembling too late, and when I glanced up to see if he'd noticed the look in his eyes just about knocked me senseless. I ended up spilling my drink I jerked away so hard.

"Ah shit sorry!" I grimaced moving as quickly as I could to keep the tea from drenching the carpet. "Sorry... my fault," I muttered sopping up the spill with my napkin.

"Duo."

"I got it. Hand me your napkin."

"I am not in love with Relena Peacecraft," he said evenly holding the napkin out to me but all I could manage was to stare past it into his eyes.

"What?" I asked intelligently.

"Not the way you think I am," he went on and I'm afraid I blinked at him. "Not the way she wants me to be," he concluded covering my hand with his napkin and I finally snapped out of it and let him help me finish cleaning up the spill.

I swallowed the first few things that tried to crawl out of my throat. I had been so sure. We all had but Heero wasn't someone that would speak of things like that lightly. He knows himself better than most people know their own names, so if he said he wasn't in love with Relena, I had no reason to doubt him. Still...

"But... I thought..."

"You thought wrong," he half whispered and I was suddenly aware of the fact that he was... very close. I couldn't think. His hand was on mine, the napkins bunched up under our fingers, his grip firm. The warmth of his cheek was so close to mine I found myself growing dizzy from the rush of elation gurgling inside me, my mind grasping desperately for something tangible to latch onto.

"Quatre," I heard myself breathe.

"What?" he grumbled sitting back suddenly.

"Quatre and Relena," I said clinging to the only thought that had presented itself and he... growled. He laid his head back on the couch and just growled. "No wait," I persisted. "It makes sense right? If you're really not in love with her then he'd be the next best choice." Why did I get the feeling he wasn't really listening to me? "They come from the same station right?" I persisted growing fonder of the idea as I spoke. "They're both into politics and come from old money. Come on man."

It took him a long moment but he finally lifted his head and gave me this little noncommittal nod and picked up his chopsticks. We spent the rest of the evening talking over the possibilities of a union between our two politician friends. Or, well, I talked while he grunted appropriately and ate his rice one grain at a time. We ended up sleeping there in the living room, me on the couch and him on the floor on the pillows he'd piled up for us to sit on. I don't think either of us slept more than a couple of hours because of our long day nap, but it was enough to get our nights and days switched back around. I woke before dawn to find him missing again but that was nothing uncommon lately. Especially when he knew I was going to be dealing with Hilde so I tugged on my bootstraps, gathered my determination and started formulating a plan to off load the entire thing on Sally the moment she arrived. The fact that Heero was not in love with Relena was of no consequence. Really, it wasn't.

Chapter 3

Wufei and Sally arrived two days later and were a welcome sight in spite of the fact that they didn't seem to be able to co-exist in the same room without sniping at one another. I hate to say it but Sally was instigating most of it. The woman just seemed to have it in for him for some reason and he was near the end of his patience from what I could see. When she started in on him about the way he was making his toast I figured it might be a good idea to put some distance between them for a while and suggested the girls go shopping for the afternoon. I knew from Sally's eagerness and Hilde's excitement at being able to show off all her favorite haunts, not to mention the relieved gratitude in Wufei's eyes, that I'd done the right thing. I needed to find out what Sally's deal was before I could hit her up for advice on how to chill Hilde out when it came to Trowa.

Wufei had physically relaxed the moment they were gone, settling himself in the living room with the paper and a cup of hot tea. I couldn't recall seeing him read so much during the war and paused a moment to assimilate the fact that he apparently uses reading glasses.

"Is there something you need?" he asked without lifting his eyes from the print.

"How the hell do you aim without your glasses?" I asked, stunned by the very idea that anyone could perform with his accuracy without being able to see clearly.

"I only use them for reading" he replied evenly.

"Oh," I nodded, helping myself to a seat in the armchair. "Heero left some files for you to look over," I informed him, and he finally looked up from his paper.

"Where are they?" he asked, setting it aside.

"On the house system in my office," I replied. "I can download them to your laptop if you want."

"I'll get it," he said, getting up to do just that.

"So what's Sally's problem?" I hedged.

"I have no idea," he sighed. I followed as far as the guest room door and watched while he pulled his laptop out of his bag. "Maybe she just needs to get laid," he commented as he brushed by me and I swear I heard the distinct ringing of a bell. Two seconds later I was trying not to choke to death as I followed him into my office. Holy geez!

"Are you set up for networking?" he asked just as if he hadn't just turned my brain inside out.

"Uh.. yea," I grunted. I left the connection cable jacked in these days because Heero was on and off the system so much. It only took Wufei a minute to start the transfer.

"Has she mentioned the ball?" I asked after a time while we looked over the files he was downloading.

He paused for a long moment then turned slowly to gaze at me with the most adorably lost expression in his eyes and I almost laughed out loud. Almost.

"On L4," I prompted but all I got was one elegantly raised brow. Wufei has this way of moving that kind of makes him look like some artistic god got out his paints and brushed his features into life. I knew if he'd just loosen up and find that calm, peaceful center he'd have to beat the women off with a stick. I was certain he could make Sally happy.

"The public awareness ball Quatre and Relena are throwing?" I explained and finally seemed to spark some memory.

"No," he intoned turning his attention back to his work.

Sigh.

"Why don't you two come with us?" I suggested as nonchalantly as I could manage.

"We have work to do," he replied.

"Yea, but Quatre would appreciate the support." Working on his sense of responsibility wasn't perhaps the noblest thing I've ever done but I was getting desperate. "Besides," I added hopefully, "I bet Sally would love it if you took her." I couldn't help watching him closely out of the corner of my eye to see his reaction but all he said was...

"She will go if she wants to."

Christ! "Yea," I half grumbled, plopping down in my favorite chair and kicking it back against the counter on two legs. "But she'd probably like it if you went with her."

"She worries too much," he replied, unhooking his laptop before standing to leave.

"Well that's just 'cause she cares about ya, man," I shot quickly at his back. He paused but didn't say anything before he moved off down the hall and went into his room. "He's as pig headed as Heero," I sighed to myself, dropping my head in my hands so I could scrub the fatigue out of my face. This wasn't going as well as I'd hoped. Maybe I'd have better luck with Sally.

Things were looking a bit better when the girls returned, as they were both in bright spirits and giddy as hell. It made me smile just to be around them and the best part was Sally seemed as relaxed as she ever had. Even Hilde appeared content and offered to make dinner without asking me or probing me for the menu! Sally offered to help, then they were off and running on a steady commentary about their day at the mall, the park, their luncheon at the café by the huge central fountain in Commerce Park and the subsequent hilarity when some poor schmuck pissed his girlfriend off and got pushed in. I was laughing right along with them before long and suddenly found myself having a great time making the salad while they bounced around in this oddly choreographed dance that was quickly bringing about the makings of a very nice dinner. It was fun. They were really good together and it made me feel happy that Hilde had found a new friend. It seemed like a good time to broach the subject of her current crush and see how this new mood would change her perspective. They were talking about cutlery and the proper use of a spatula so I nabbed the closest thing I could to Trowa's profession.

"A spatula is a spatula," I interjected pulling one of the long carrots from the bunch beside me. "But a good knife is priceless," I told them demonstrating by quickly chopping the vegetable in true chef's style. "At lest that's what Trowa says," I added, bringing his name into the conversation.

"I would think he would," Sally snorted.

"Catherine's the one that throws them at him," Hilde snipped loosing some of her gaiety.

"Yes, but as the target, I imagine he's pretty particular about what's being thrown at him," Sally chuckled offering Hilde a piece of the beef she was cooking.

"He should tell her to mind her own business," my roommate groused, accepting the tidbit from Sally's fingers.

"Do I detect a note of dissatisfaction?" Sally grinned.

"She's hot for him," I chuckled then laughed out loud as Hilde turned six shades of purple and threw a piece of potato at me. I was preparing to retaliate with my arsenal of carrots until Sally dropped the line...

"I thought he was gay?" and the entire room froze.

"What?"

"He's what?" Hilde joined me on the crestfallen wagon of disbelievers.

"Why would you say that?" I asked.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Just a feeling a guess.'

"Well he's not," Hilde stated defiantly.

"Not everyone is heterosexual," Sally countered.

"Well," Hilde countered sounding impatiently offended by the notion as she insisted, "He is." I've got to admit it was rocking my world a little, too. Trowa? Gay? The notion had never crossed my mind. I mean I like Hee.. guys, but no one knows that but me so could it be possible? I'd certainly never noticed anything that would make me think so. It'd sure put the kibosh on Hilde's aspirations if it were true. Hell maybe I should ask him out.................. ok... maybe not.

"Wanting him to be het isn't going to make it so," Sally was saying.

"No one that good looking and brave could be a homo," Hilde countered.

"Excuse me?" I heard myself snap. Damn it! Shut UP Maxwell!!!

"Who's a homo?" Wufei asked walking in at just that moment and inadvertently saving me from foot in mouth disease, but I didn't miss the sly little glance Sally tossed my way.

"No one," Hilde sighed.

"Trowa," Sally sniggered.

"I thought he was dating Catherine," Wufei commented.

"Naw," I interjected avoiding Sally's gaze. "She's a little too sisterly for him. Hilde here's the one that wants to gain his affections," I said turning the focus of the conversation back on my flailing roomy.

"That would be a futile effort if he's gay," Wufei reasoned, checking out what Sally was cooking.

"He's not gay," Hilde maintained.

"You sound as though you disapprove," Wufei commented.

"No," the girl shrugged. "I just don't think he is."

"You mean you don't want him to be," Sally chuckled again, offering Wufei a bit of beef this time.

"I think I could tell if he were a homo," Hilde grumbled.

"There is nothing wrong with being homosexual," Wufei interjected, taking a seat at the table with me and I couldn't help grinning at him.

"I didn't say there was," my roommate countered defensively. "But he doesn't act like one so..."

"He doesn't act like one?" Sally laughed. "You talk like gay's are a separate race," she chuckled tolerantly, which was good 'cause I was finding her attitude kind of offensive and it took the edge off.

"I didn't mean it like that," Hilde sighed. "But you know how they are," she added, squashing any sympathy the first comment had gained her.

"You might be very surprised by the sexuality of those around you," Sally intoned very evenly managing to grace me with this little sidelong glance that made me feel as though I'd been turned inside out. Well shit. The woman was quick, I'll give her that.

"Well I'm not going to give up," Hilde retorted. "I don't think he's any more gay than... Duo is," she proclaimed tossing a hand in my direction, and if it hadn't been for Sally's sudden and uncontrollable coughing fit they all would have seen my cheeks catch fire. I used the cover to beat a hasty retreat and got the hell out of there before I said something very wrong. I had intended on holing up in my room for a bit, but when I got there it was to find Heero asleep in my bed. Hn.

"Hey... Heero?" I called softly, wondering when he'd gotten back as I brushed his shoulder lightly to wake him.

"Hmm Duo?" he groaned, fumbling to snag my hand. "What time is it?"

"Four..."

"Thirty," he finished, nodding groggily, and I couldn't help but smile at his sleep tousled self. The image had distracted me momentarily, but the fact that he hadn't released my hand yet was starting to send a heat wave up my arm and make me squirm, so I wrenched it free and sat on the bed beside him.

"How long have you been back?" I asked.

"Few hours," he replied waking a bit more.

"Uh... why're you in my bed?"

"Wufei was in the guest room," he explained, and I felt a little of the discomfort bleed away and nodded. "I'll take the couch while they're here," he offered.

"Actually I let Sally have this room," I informed him. "Well, I couldn't ask them to share a bed," I explained when he cocked a brow at me.

"I can go to a hotel then," he sighed covering his eyes with one arm. He looked dead tired. I had to wonder if he'd slept much at all since he'd left.

"We can share the couch if you want," I offered and he was back to quirking that brow again. "It folds out into a bed," I informed him and felt the bands tighten in my stomach as I realized what I'd just done. My first instinct was to pull away and get out of there when he drifted back under the blanket of sleep and absently brushed his hand down my arm until he was holding my hand again but I couldn't make myself move. He was just dreaming and needed a hand to hold. He was tired and had just come home from a long trip. He just wanted some sort of comfort and didn't know how it would affect me. He was just... so damn beautiful. I knew I would feel guilty as hell later, but I sat there and let him hold my hand and loved every single second of it. It seemed like no more than a moment had passed when I heard Hilde calling out that dinner was ready and I was forced to abandon the moment. If I had realized what a lasting impression it was going to leave maybe I wouldn't have allowed myself that moment. Maybe. But it was so sweet I still had a hard time slipping away. I was still fighting off a rather insistent warm fuzzy as I walked out the door, but froze when I heard him call my name.

"Duo?"

"You're awake?" I stammered, wondering if he'd been aware of my transgression at all.

"I'm hungry," he grunted, pulling himself up out of my bed. It was at that moment that Sally once again made it clear they were ready to eat by singing my name at the top of her lungs.

"It would appear you have impeccable timing," I grinned at him as Hilde chimed in and sang my name with Sally again. "We're coming already!" I called back.

"We?" they replied in unison.

Dinner was a happy affair for the most part. With Hilde around taking Sally's focus off of Wufei, things were downright pleasant and the best part was that having Sally around gave Hilde someone else to follow around. It would seem the two girls had bonded during their afternoon out together. I was glad because that meant that Sally shouldn't have any problems worrying over Hilde with me. I was a little apprehensive about diving into the Trowa issue again and decided to take a different tack. Somehow they had gotten on the subject of a magazine article and were twittering over how hot the guy in the movie was. It gave me an opening.

"How can you just ogle him like that?" I asked over my plate of beef stroganoff. "He might be a total asshole, for all you know."

"Who cares," Sally chortled.

"He's probably got a girlfriend or a wife," I persisted.

"I don't care if he's got a boyfriend," she smirked and I almost dropped my fork. "It's not like I want to take him home," she chuckled. It was becoming clear that she bore the same ability as Heero to make me just want to smack the shit out of her.

"Yea," Hilde interjected. "He's just so dreamy," she sighed picking up the magazine to gaze at.

"He wouldn't be so dreamy if he turned out to be a letch," I deadpanned.

"Stop messing with the dream Maxwell," Sally scolded and even Wufei sniggered.

"Nightmare is more likely," our Chinese friend opined glancing at the guy's picture on the page.

"Being pretty doesn't make the man a masher," Sally grumbled. This conversation wasn't exactly going where I'd hoped it would.

"It does when he's using it to manipulate others," Wufei countered.

Uh oh.

"He's an actor Chang," Sally snipped back. "That's his job".

"A job he chose willingly," he retorted and I knew we were in trouble when I saw that glint in the depths of those black eyes of his and turned my best pleading gaze on Heero hoping that he'd bail me out as Wufei went for the throat. "A pretty cover doesn't make the book worth reading," he intoned flatly and then Sally's eyes were flashing but Heero had gotten the message.

"Being beautiful doesn't mean there's nothing worthy inside either," he said and the room went strangely still. It's odd, maybe because he speaks so little, but when he does people listen. "Sometimes," he went on, turning to hold my eyes for a moment. "What's inside is so brilliant anything less than a beautiful binding would seem ...sacrilegious." It felt like a very long time before anyone spoke again and when Sally did it was a bit like someone had slapped me with a cold fish.

"There ya see?" she grinned triumphantly. They said more. I recall the conversation meandered from there but where it ended up, your guess is as good as mine, because I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said and the fact that he'd been looking at me when he'd said it. I decided right then that he could have the couch and I'd sleep on the floor because there was no way I was going to be able to share a bed with him. It took a full two days to cut back the vines of hope that had sprouted when that little seed in my heart drank in those words and turned them into what I wanted to hear. He was doing his job, nothing more, and after some time had passed and those visions of him and Relena danced across my mind a couple of times, I was feeling pretty foolish. He had said he didn't love her, but she definitely cared for him so the possibility of his feelings changing was still there. That was something I hadn't really thought too far into. If she was still hung up on Heero it was going to be difficult to get her to look at Quatre. It was time to move on to phase 3 of my mission.

I waited for a Sunday when I knew both she and Quatre would be taking some time off. Everyone needs a moment to take a breath, even those two, and Sunday afternoon was their usual rest and relaxation period. I knew this because it was during these times that Quatre usually found time to call me, but I didn't wait for him this time. It was necessary to catch him before the morning meetings were over so I could put my plan into action. My timing was perfect, if I do say so myself, as they were just coming out of the last meeting for the day when I called. I made sure Heero was no where to be seen so as not to get her started on that little fantasy and did my best to act as normal as possible. She's never been one to speak to me for long periods of time. I think my casual manor offends something in her base upbringing, so it wasn't long before she politely excused herself and I was free to prod Quatre a little.

"She looks tired," I commented once she was gone.

"It's no wonder" Quatre sighed. "I've never known anyone so single-mindedly stubborn," he chuckled. It was promising to hear the affection and respect in his tone.

"Workin' ya hard is she?" I laughed.

"To say the least," he returned. "But it's good. Things are rolling now so it should start to get a little easier," he told me.

"The ball should help."

"Yes," he agreed. "The more public awareness the more help we should get from the citizens. There's just so much to be done," he added sounding very tired again.

"You ok man?" I asked genuinely concerned. It made my heart hurt to see his eyes so dim.

"Just tired," he sighed.

"Sounds like you two need a break," I smiled and though it worked into my plan, I meant it sincerely. I could hear the weight of the world in his tone.

"Maybe after the ball," he commented distantly. He was obviously thinking on something pretty hard but I had no clue what it might be. Meetings, no doubt.

"Why not take a mini vacation this afternoon?" Ok. So I'm shameless. Bite me. He needed some 'me' time.

"What do you mean?" he asked half-heartedly.

"Grab Relena and go have some fun," I suggested.

"Oh, I don't think..." he began but I cut him off.

"Take her to a play or the opera or something," I encouraged. "You guys both like the same stuff. I'm sure you could find something relaxing to do. It'll be fun."

"The London Symphony is in town," he sighed though he didn't seem more than mildly interested. At least he was considering it.

"There ya go!" I enthused. "It'll be good for you both."

"I'll ask her," he sighed again and it just made me wish I could reach through the vid and give him a hug. Sometimes I felt like a real ass for not playing a bigger role in the clean up effort but in all honesty, I'd really suck at the job so it was better to leave it to those with the aptitude for it. He was quiet for a long moment and I was taken by the fact that he was absently playing with his pen and had that distant fog in his eyes again when he quietly asked...

"Have you heard from Trowa... or Wufei?"

"Wufei's here now," I told him. "Along with Sally. They're into this investigation with Heero. You wanna talk to him?"

"No," he sighed again, shaking his head. "Just tell them I said hi. I should go now and see when the next show starts."

"Um... ok man," I acquiesced but I got the feeling I wasn't quiet up to snuff on the tail end of this conversation. "Have a good time," I added hoping he wouldn't just abandon the idea once we hung up. He nodded and offered me that sad little smile and then he was gone and I felt like I had hopelessly failed him in some way.

"You think she'll go?" I asked Heero since he was lingering in the doorway where I couldn't see him.

"Maybe," he replied coming on into the room.

"It really doesn't bother you?" I had to ask.

"No."

"She'd be yours for the taking, ya know?" I felt compelled to remind him.

"She's not the one I want," he said softly and I'll be damned if my chest didn't flutter like a preteen schoolgirl. I was just about to ask him who it was he did want, since that comment implied there was someone, but it would have been hard to get over Sally's bellowing when she chased Wufei down the hall.

"I said I could do it, Chang!"

"Heero," Wufei sighed doing his best to ignore his partner altogether. "Would you mind having a look at the encryption on some files for me?"

"You are such an ass!" Sally growled. "I told you I could handle it!"

"Yes, but he can do it twice as fast," Wufei replied evenly.

"Sure," Heero smirked.

"Damn pig headed men!" the woman snarled, turning on her heel to storm off back down the hall.

"Thank you," Wufei sighed and I ended up chuckling with Heero because the words held more meaning than simple gratitude for his technical services.

The fact that Heero had implied there was someone he'd like to get closer to had not evaded me however, and I felt it starting to sink in once they had left me alone. I couldn't help but wonder who it might be. There wasn't a soul on Earth or in space that I could think of who he had ever shown an interest in other than Relena, and it appeared we had all been dead wrong about his feelings for her. So, Heero was in love. My heart hurt but I couldn't help grinning a little at the thought that he might find that kind of happiness. Whoever it was, they were the luckiest person alive, that's for sure.

Chapter 4

The mission ended up having to take a backseat to the job for a while after that. Wufei was intent on pursuing the investigation, which, from what I could tell, was going pretty much nowhere. On the dark side this was causing Wufei undue stress and frustration, but on the light, Sally seemed to be having a blast hanging out with Hilde. I figured once the investigation petered out Wufei would calm a little and come around on his own. In the mean time it was time to get down to the business at hand.

Elmer Wallace Candon had been a scholar and professor and one of the few notable personages during the natal years of after colony history who valued the written word. It was his determination to preserve the printed treasures of mankind that had led to the construction of the Sanctum. It is essentially a storage facility that was created to house the wealth of Earth's parchment bound thoughts. There was a time during the early years when books were in danger of being irretrievably eradicated from existence altogether. The logic was that they are heavy and cumbersome and it was just so easy to transfer the words onto disk or hard drive, a much more practical storage device by far, but good old Elmer had a thing for the feel and weight of the books in his hand and refused to allow their annihilation. And I whole-heartedly agree with him. That was the main reason I agreed to take on the job of moving the immense vessel to its new home nestled in a comfortable orbit around the X1999 colony. There it was destined to be reopened and eventually have its contents archived on those disks, but the works themselves were to be preserved in what would become the largest library ever known to mankind.

The tricky part was that it was roughly the size of a small moon and equipped with manual engines instead of the ion drives that were currently the standard in such large ships. The job was going to take an enormous amount of raw fuel and the best pilots man could muster. Not to sound conceited, but I had the pilot role covered. Between Heero and I there was nothing we couldn't manage to fly, but it would take time. Those old engines don't move things around with the greatest of ease. That is, if they actually still worked and if we had enough fuel. That would be our first step on this job. To get the fuel in the gas tank, which just happened to be separated by a few hundred thousand miles. It was really just dumb luck that had supplied the fuel we would need. A forgotten dump station in the R29 sector had simply been overlooked for decades, but I'd run across it during the war looking for a hiding place for Deathscythe.

Wufei and Sally accompanied us. We would be passing close to the satellite belt where Heero and Wufei's investigation was centered, so there would be an opportunity for some physical recon. It became apparent just how useful that Leo my partner had suggested we put back together would be when we started discussing the tasks at hand, so we packed it in a shuttle and set off for the R29 sector roughly a week before we were due at Quatre and Relena's ball. With a little luck, the Sanctum would be safely circling X1999 in four days' time and we'd all be free to pursue more entertaining activities.

"It's in there?" Wufei deadpanned gazing blankly at the ruined dump station. Well, I guess it did more resemble a huge kaleidoscope of floating space debris when I stopped to really look at it.

"You actually flew your Gundam into that mess?" Sally inquired sounding a tad breath taken by the idea.

"Yea. Why?" I replied. It wasn't all that bad. At least I didn't think so until Heero suddenly brought our shuttle to a standstill and just stood with the others staring at the swirling hunks of broken asteroid and sections of busted ships dancing their endless waltz among the stars. "What?"

"You can't be serious," Sally snorted.

"Oh, come on," I grumbled taking the co pilots seat. "It's not so bad."

"It's not impossible," Wufei commented making me grin for a moment until he added, "But that doesn't make it intelligent."

"Fine," I sighed seeing there was no way to win this argument. "I'll take the pod in then. All it needs is a shove and it'll be clear," I reasoned heading for the cargo bay hatch.

"I'm coming with you," Heero stated getting up to follow and I paused to look back at him. The look in his eyes told me without words that he meant to come whether I liked it or not so I just nodded and kept moving. It really wasn't that hard. We were in and out in less then four hours even with the shift in the lateral vortex. It's a bit like swimming in a huge school of fish only the fish don't exactly know where they're going and tend to crash into one another now and then. All you've got to do is stay three steps ahead of them and you're golden. It felt strange to hear Sally's war cry when we finally emerged. It really wasn't that big of a deal.

"Jesus, calm down woman," I chuckled. "We're not home yet," I reminded her.

"Home my ass!" she laughed back. "That was some damn fine piloting, fly boy!"

"Like slidin' on ice," I returned feeing unreasonably good about myself all of a sudden.

"Damn fine," Heero interjected softly and I about lost my grip on the yoke jerking to look at him but he'd already looked away.

"Very well executed," Wufei sighed sounding bored with the entire situation. "Now if you'd hurry up and lock down the tow lines we can be on our way."

"Asshole," Sally sighed and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Better watch it Fei," I chided. "I think she's got'cher number."

"Yea," she returned. "He's a single entity of five, like the rest of you," she laughed.

The comment was said in jest but it touched me somehow on a much deeper level than I would have expected. Sometimes, when things were quiet and all felt right with the world I found myself acutely attuned to the other pilots in some way. There is something about us that sets us apart. Maybe it was just that we all ended up in the cockpit of a Gundam at a ridiculously young age, or the fact that we all, in some way, fought for a common goal. Whatever it was, it felt like her words rang true. We were a single entity of five. I liked the idea.

"Time to lock and load, ladies," I quipped readying our cargo for the tether lines.

Wufei's shot with the tether line was perfect and it was soon secured so we could be on our way. The Sanctum was a twelve hour trip even with the shuttle's state of the art thrusters, which left plenty of time for more... devious activities. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get Sally and Wufei into closer quarters.

"Who's lame-brained idea was this again?" Sally groused squeezing by me in the tight crevices between the equipment in the cargo bay.

"Maxwell," Wufei grumbled.

Heero was near enough to smirk at me and almost made me laugh out loud, but I was a little busy trying to maneuver Sally into a position that would inadvertently put her in full body contact with Wufei.

"You in position, yet?" I called peering over my shoulder so I could gage the right moment to act. Sally was squeezing through the narrow passage between the crated sections of the mobile utility lift and some boxes of a homemade nitrate carbon compound I cooked up for blasting the Sanctum free of its ancient housing. There wasn't a lot of room to move around in there, but I had insisted we could save a lot of time if we prepped the equipment ahead of time.

"Almost," Heero smiled quietly. I think he was getting a kick out of what I was about to do. I waited until Sally was slipping between Wufei and the aft section of the utility lift to pull the pin on the harness that was securing my end of the catwalk. Things didn't end up quite the way I had planned. The idea had been to pin Wufei and Sally together in the tight area at the other end, which essentially succeeded. They were indeed trapped face to face with little more than an inch between their snarling faces. What I had not anticipated, however, was that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and somehow Heero and I ended up in very much the same predicament.

"MAXWELL!!" Wufei shouted angrily.

"Shut up!" Sally retorted turning her face from his so he wasn't screaming up her nose.

"What the hell happened!?" Wufei growled.

"Well obviously something gave way!" she snapped back.

"Get us the hell out of here!" he demanded.

"Will you shut the hell up!" she snarled.

"Well" I sighed feeling unbelievably awkward having Heero pressed up against my chest, his face no more than an inch from mine making that smart ass smirk of his that much harder to bear. "That didn't work out too well," I observed dryly grimacing at both the volume level and colorful content of our guests' vocal battle.

"Works for me," Heero grinned.

Um. ......Ever seen one of those cartoon characters shake their head insanely trying to clear it? You know, they make that funny sound like uh uh uh uh uh.. My brain was doing that about this point.

"MAXWELL! YOU FIND SOME WAY TO GET US THE HELL OUT OF THIS! NOW!!" Wufei suddenly roared.

"Any ideas?" I asked my amused partner but he only shook his head and managed to look flagrantly pleased. "Maybe I can hit the gravity controls" I sighed. It took a good deal of concentration to aim with our companions bellowing at each other like that but I managed to miss the switch with the pin by a good inch anyway. "Shit".

"I thought this was what you wanted?" Heero commented under the din of their temper.

"I didn't want them trying to kill each other over it," I mumbled. Gods, I had to get out of this. Having him this close, so close... I could feel his entire body lying along mine. His heat seeping through my clothes... the scent of his skin... damn...

"Are you alright?" he asked softly and it suddenly became imperative that we get out of this situation very quickly or my body was going to embarrass me beyond comprehension.

"I don't like feeling trapped," I told him mercilessly crushing the rising heat inside me and he suddenly looked very... sad.

"Alright," he nodded producing another pin from the catwalk to throw at the gravity switch.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed. "Whadju do!?" I growled under my breath glancing back at where Sally and Wufei had all but sulled up and done their best to turn away from each other.

"You asked me to help," he replied sounding not one iota remorseful.

"Yea, but I had it under control!" I groused. "If you hadn't butted in.." he ignored my ranting and hit the grav control without hardly trying and we were all suddenly drifting free. I didn't get much of a chance to scold him after that since he decided to beat a hasty trail back into the cabin of the ship. What the hell?

"That is the last time I listen to one of your hair-brained ideas!" Sally snapped as she glided by.

"It wasn't his fault," Wufei retorted.

"And you were no damn help at all!" she growled. "One of these days you're gonna hafta learn to control that temper, Chang..."

"Do not call me 'Chang, onna!"

"Anger management! That's what you need!"

They kept at it until I finally lost track as they got deeper into the cabin of the ship and I just floated there trying to sort out everything that had happened. It was so odd, ya know? But if I didn't know better I'd swear Heero was... flirting with me. I had to shake a few cobwebs loose on that one. Damn. Get a grip Maxwell. I was seriously starting to loose it.

The remainder of the trip out to the Sanctum was... long. Wufei and Sally never did manage to get back on a friendly level and Heero reverted back to a distant posture that reminded me way too much of our war days. I didn't really know what to do since everything I was trying kept backfiring on me and causing more damage than good. It was starting to feel like the entire idea had been a mistake, until Quatre called and suddenly the whole universe was a brighter place.

"Hello Duo," he beamed into the vid phone looking very much improved since our last conversation. Just seeing him smile like that, a true honest smile that came right from his toes, made it impossible not to feel happy myself. Perhaps things had gone well with Relena after all? "How is your trip going?" he asked energetically plopping down in his desk chair and picking up his teacup.

"Fine. Well, we're ahead of schedule," I amended recalling my shipmates' less than amiable demeanors. "How are things with you and Relena?" I asked hopefully.

"Great! The ball is all set. We've received most of the RSVP's back with wonderful results" he smiled. Damn. I could get used to this.

"That's great Quat," I returned. "You seem in better spirits," I was compelled to point out. "Did you guys have a good time at the symphony?"

"Oh yes, it was wonderful," he giggled. I mean, he giggled. You know? Like he he he? Weird. "Thank you for suggesting it. It actually encouraged me to set some time aside to play some music," he gushed and I was tempted to back away from the screen so I didn't get anything on me. "Perhaps Trowa will have some time to play with me when he arrives," he sighed.

"Oh?" I grinned. Man, he's just contagious when he gets like this.

"Yes!" he nodded happily, his thick blonde bangs shaking about in the light and I almost laughed at the silly image he presented. "He'll be here day after tomorrow," he confirmed.

"That's great. I was a little afraid he wouldn't make it."

"He called a couple of days ago," Quatre sighed again then paused and looked aside at someone coming in and I heard Relena's voice ask if it was Heero on the vid. She stepped up beside him while he informed her it was me and I was graced with that tolerant little smile she always wears just before she asks...

"Is Heero with you?"

"He's around here somewhere," I replied. "You're lookin' good," I smiled and meant it. She was growing into quite a lovely young woman.

"Thank you." Ya know, as nice as I try to be to Her Highness, I always just seem to rub her fur the wrong way somehow. I don't get it. It didn't escape me that if she was asking about Heero right there in front of Quatre, things couldn't be as on track as I'd hoped.

"Hang on," I said switching to the infrared scanners to get a location on my wayward partner, but I needn't have bothered as he walked into the cockpit while I was looking. "Hey, Heero. Look who wants to say hi," I grinned.

"Hello Relena," he greeted but the sound of it was cold. I always thought that tone he took with her was nervous tension or something, but now it felt more like not so subtle rejection.

"Heero," she breathed, her smile relaxing as stars began to sparkle in her deep blue eyes. No. Things could not be going as well with Quatre as I thought. "How are you?"

"Well," he replied taking a place at my back. I was acutely aware of his hand coming to rest on the back of my chair, mostly because it was on the opposite side as he was which meant he'd essentially put his arm around me. "Yourself?" he returned politely.

"It will be lovely to see you again," she smiled.

"We look forward to attending," he returned.

"We?" she asked looking a bit stricken for a moment.

"Duo and I."

"Oh, yes. Of course," she chuckled gracefully but I could see the relief in her eyes.

"Will Wufei and Sally be tagging along as well?" Quatre asked.

"I'm working on 'em," I grinned.

"That depends entirely on what we find in the satellite belt," Wufei commented following his partner into the control room.

"Hello Wufei," Quatre beamed.

"Your looking well, Winner," Wufei chuckled. He was no more immune to our blonde friend's good humor than the rest of us.

"Thank you," Quatre blushed softly.

"When will you arrive?" Relena wanted to know.

"In three days time, if all goes well," I informed them.

"Have you decided where you will be staying?" she asked. "I would be very happy if you would consider the Peacecraft Manor."

"I assumed Quatre was expecting us," Heero replied. The disappointment in her eyes coupled with the icy finality in his tone quickened the tension in the group ten fold. It took Quatre several seconds before he recovered and nervously agreed.

"Of course. My home is yours. You all know that," he smiled offering Relena a sympathetic glance in the process.

"Well," she sighed suddenly brushing it all away. "We'll have plenty of time to visit. I'll be saving you a dance," she told Heero, her tone one of blatant invitation but he only offered her a curt nod in return.

"I meant to ask you before," Sally interjected. "Would it be alright to bring along a friend?"

Excuse me?

"Of course" Quatre smiled. "The more the merrier. It is an effort to increase public awareness, after all."

"Great," she grinned looking much too happy with herself and my mind spun off into Never Never Land trying to figure out who in the hell this 'friend' could be. Was she involved with someone already? Or was it really just a friend type friend? There wasn't much I could do about it but it sure made me wish these people would stop messing with the mission parameters! The damn dump station debris field was less chaotic than this shit!

Sanctorium.

Impressive doesn't even come close. The thing was frigging huge! I knew that it had taken like seventy years to fill it with everything from the ancient classics to the new wave fad magazines that were so popular back then, but I hadn't truly been prepared for the sheer size of the thing. It was the size of a damn colony! I was thanking all the gods and their makers that all we had to do was get it started in the right direction and hold the course until we got within a hundred miles because it would have taken every ounce of solid fuel ever created to move the thing otherwise. The fact that it was encrusted into the side of a mammoth asteroid, tethered there by a massive scaffold structure that must have housed the caretakers at one time, only added to the enormity of it all. All we wanted was the Sanctum itself however so the asteroid and its ancient lattice work had to go. First step in 'operation get'er goin'? Blast that baby free! Yea!

"What the hell is he grinning about?" Sally asked while helping to guide the fully assembled utility lift off the shuttle.

"I don't know," Wufei relied. "But I don't like it," he added glancing sideways at me.

"What?" I grinned what I hoped was an innocent grin but I think it probably came across more like... impish. I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I really like blowing stuff up.

Heero just laughed and stepped between us with the foot of the large mobile suit style loader. It was no where near the size of a military suit, standing only thirty feet tall, its cockpit open to the air much like the old tread style work machines of the past but it was still impressive in its own right.

"Do not encourage him, Yuy!" Sally shouted.

"Oh com'on Sal Baby! Live a little!" I sang back and tossed a blind cap out onto the empty deck. The resultant CRACK echoed nicely in the massive bay and sent them both diving for cover and I just about laughed my skinny ass right off!

"That is not funny Maxwell!!" Wufei growled.

"Yea it was," Heero laughed down from his perch. I think if he hadn't been sitting in a very large and dangerous machine, Wufei might have tackled him.

"Let it go Chang," Sally chuckled brushing herself off.

"I'm going to get the Leo," Wufei grumbled and turned away back into the ship.

"You better be gone when he comes back out," she chortled at me.

"With the wind," I smiled and did my disappearing act. I had charges to set.

It took me six frigging hours to prep all the internal stress points! I wondered how Wufei was doing on the outer while I was sweating my ass off squirming around in a crawl space not fit for a rat. At lest the hull integrity hadn't been compromised. We had atmosphere; that made things a lot easier than they would have been had we been forced to wear pressure suits, but the place reeked of ages gone by. I was reminded of those old movies where the puff of misty air rises up from the inside of the ancient tomb giving the impression you're breathing the very same air the ancients had, only in this case, we really were. I was working on the last couple of detonators when I got Heero's confirmation call.

"02 acknowledge."

I almost laughed. "Right here soldier boy," I replied shaking my head. Once the soldier... "Wufei done?"

"Affir... .......Yes.. Status?"

Well, he was trying anyway. "One more to go," I informed him. "He still on the outside?"

"Yes. Two hundred meters port of the Hapsenburg Bridge." I smiled where he couldn't see it anyway. The man is meticulous.

"Tell him to hold his position," I told him lying back so I could pull the diagrams of the Sanctum out of my many-pocketed attire. I'd always loved wearing this shit during the war. I could live for weeks just on what I had stowed in my pants.

"Is there a problem?" I heard Sally ask.

"I'm thinking we might want to lay that extra charge on fifth tier support after all," I informed them looking over the plan again.

"We went over this already," she replied.

"Yea, but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced there's a natural iron ore vain in that hunk of granite," I explained. Again. "The engineers might have taped into it. If that's the case..."

"We'll never break free by only blowing the stress points," Heero finished for me.

"Yea," I grinned.

"0 fi.... Chang?" I heard him calling and stuffed my diagrams back in my pocket with smug satisfaction. We had the load so there was no good reason to chintz the job. Better safe than sorry I always say. Besides, the fireworks would be fantastic!

I would never have imagined that my fail-safe plan would result in one of my best friends dangling on the end of a tether line in a dying Leo five hundred thousand miles from nowhere, but that's just what happened. I think I mentioned my little pyrotechnic cache is homemade? Yea well, that means they're not only a little more... potent than the regulated stuff, but less stable as well. Wufei knows this but it didn't save him from getting that Leo's left leg blow off. It was only by the grace of very quick reflexes and some of the most intense training known to man that he managed to launch a line and tie off before he was hurdled into deep space, never to be see again. Now, the bright side here was that he was alive and stationary but, the dark had him out there in a damaged suit that was quickly loosing power and life support and we didn't have another one to go after him with.

"I'm going!"

"You cannot make that trek in a fucking pressure suite Duo!" Sally shouted back.

"You got a better idea!?" I snapped already shedding my clothes.

"Just calm the hell down and we'll think of something!" she insisted but I was working faster than she was talking and already had my suit halfway on before Heero could speak.

"You won't make it," he said evenly and I froze 'cause if he said it, it had to be true. I was completely lost. There was no way in hell I was about to let Wufei die out there.

"Heero," I heard myself cry softly. It was a pleading, desperate sound if I'd ever heard one but I couldn't help it. We had to save him.

"We'll need a quarter charge," he half smiled and I just about snatched him up and kissed him.

"What?!" Sally was gasping but I was already moving to cut the load in one of the charges. "What're you gonna do?!" I could tell she was as scared for her partner as we were but her sensibilities were warning her of further losses. She didn't want us to get in trouble too but that's the difference between a normal soldier and... us.

"You done?" Heero called.

"Locked and loaded," I grinned tossing him one of the quarter charges I'd prepared. He was already in his suit by the time I was done and helped me lock down my helmet.

"You're both insane," Sally groused, but she too, was already in motion having worked out what Heero had in mind. "I'm on channel fourteen," she called taking her station at the communications relay. Our suits didn't have enough range to contact Wufei this far away so we'd need her help and she fell into her role admirably. "Chang?" she called to him, letting him hear her voice, letting him know that help was on the way even as we disappeared into the bowels of the Sanctum.

Pressure suits are not meant to be used in gravity, nor are they meant to be used in an atmosphere. By the time we'd managed to stumble and crawl our way onto the Hapsenberg Bridge we were exhausted and dripping with sweat from hefting the heavy suits around. My glass was all fogged up on the outside and I kept having to wipe it clean. It made for a couple of damn scary moments when it came time to set the charges, but we managed it in record time and before long, the side of the bride that was barring us from our friend was nothing but a memory. We picked up Wufei's com link the moment the thick metal walls were no longer interfering with the reception.

"Duo!? Yuy!?" he was calling and I wanted to knock him in the damn head for wasting his air on something so stupid!

"Shut up Fei!" I shouted. "You wanna breathe or what?!"

"Duo! You asshole! What the hell do you...?"

"Shut up if you want to live," Heero intoned dryly but it sufficed to silence our irate rescuee. All we had to do now was get him back to the hull intact and before he ran out of air. No problem. We could hear him talking softly to Sally, assuring her everything was alright as we reeled him in but we couldn't here her this far out. We had finally gotten him down and mostly inside the adjoining maintenance hatch when it happened and I felt my heart stop beating. Heero had unhooked to move to the opposite side and guide his descent and had somehow lost his grip and just... floated away.

"HEERO!" I shouted over the sudden roar of my own blood rushing in my ears. There was no thought involved when I pushed off and started after him. Only that if he was going out there somewhere, I was going with him but it was not to be. I recall screaming in a rage so harshly I tasted blood in my throat when the hand of the Leo closed around me halting my flight. Wufei was shouting something but all my mind could comprehend was that little dot out there that was Heero getting further and further away.

"HEERO!! Let fucking go! HEERO!"

"I don't know!" I heard Wufei yelling frantically. "He's hysterical! ...No... there's nothing you can do."

"HEERO! DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING LEAVE ME!"

Oh dear gods no.

I cannot recall ever being as stupefied as I was in the moment I saw him pull that quarter charge from his pouch. Half of me wanted to scream for him to stop while the other half was cheering his brave ingenuity.

"Tell Sally to prep medical," I told Wufei evenly.

"By the gods," I heard him whisper then I forgot him and everything else other than Heero as I watched him set the charge and drift it out behind him. He was looking straight at me when it went off but I couldn't see the pain in his eyes when the shock wave hit. He was unconscious when he landed in my arms. I had hoped to never feel that kind of fear again, but he was alive. The next ten minutes were the longest of my young life while we waited for Sally to shut the outer doors and pressurize the maintenance bay. I had worked it all out in my head while I sat there counting the breaths he took. Watching his pulse throb softly under the skin of his temple, just trying to reassure myself that he was really alive. We would take him back to medical as fast as we could and make damn sure he stayed that way.

"It's ok man," I whispered to him "You did it. You're back," I told him even though he couldn't hear. I should have known Sally would be on top of things, though. She was there with a full med kit in her hands before I could get our suits off.

"Lay him down" she ordered taking full charge under the circumstances and I let her. This was her specialty, not mine. "Tilt his head," was the next order and I did as I was told. Wufei watched on while she checked his eyes and listened to his heart. There was a quick examination of his ribs and back and what I presumed was a search for signs of internal injuries. "Nothing seems broken," she informed us but I was so keyed up all I could do was sit there and wait for the next command. I hadn't expected it to be directed at me. "Breath Maxwell," she said evenly, so I did. I'm not sure when I'd stopped. "We need to get him back to medical," she told us.

"Is it ok to move him?" I asked doubtfully. I wouldn't chance hurting him anymore.

"Under the circumstances I don't see where we have much choice," she replied. "Wufei?"

"NO!" I snapped all but diving between my fallen partner and hers. "Leave him here for a minute," I insisted then turned my full attention on Heero. "Hey man," I called patting his face softly. "Wake up sleeping beauty," I know they were watching but I couldn't make myself care. "Come on Heero... You gotta wake up and tell us where it hurts man," I choked then shut up because boys do not cry.

"Al'ovr," he groaned and I felt the life rush back into my veins.

"Heero! Hey! That's it. Come all the way around. We need a status here, buddy." Ok. So maybe men do. At least in that moment I couldn't stop my eyes from welling up with joy when he grunted...

"Clear"

"Welcome back," Sally grinned down at him.

"For a minute there we thought you were going to leave us for good," Wufei smirked.

I realized that Heero's hand was in mine then because he squeezed it tight when he looked me dead in the eye and replied, "Never."

"If we're all done cultivating the stock of warm fuzzies," Sally intoned amusedly, "I think its time we get this ball rolling." Then she was packing up her kit and heading back the way she'd come. "I do not intend to be the only maiden to miss the ball," she smirked turning on her heal and gliding away.

"K'so onna," Wufei chuckled rising to help me help Heero to his feet. He moved like he was in some serious pain but he stood on his own and hobbled with minimal help, which I ended up supplying since he ended up draped over my shoulders. The gods of discord apparently got bored with messing with us after that because the rest of the launch went as smooth as silk. Wufei and I had the fuel tanks installed and ready for burn in less than four hours and Sally only had to threaten Heero twice to shut up and let us handle it before we blew the holy hell out of the support structure and cheered like a bunch of high schoolers when the bohemian Sanctum drifted free. A short countdown and a twenty-minute burn later set us off at top speed en route to Colony X1999 and there was nothing more to do but wait for deceleration. In a day and half we'd be on the outside of this little nightmare and on our way to the dance. In the mean time I've got to admit I ...really needed a nap.

"Hey," I smiled though I knew it was wan due to the eminent exhaustion of too many hours with no sleep and some deep emotional overload, but I was never going to get any sleep without checking up on Heero first. He was lying on the only bed in medical, the only bed on the shuttle for that matter, looking very relaxed. "How ya feeling?" I inquired setting the container of juice I'd brought along for him on the utility table.

"Sore" he confessed but he was smiling at me so I didn't figure it was anything to be overly concerned with.

"That was pretty...." I started to chuckle but he cut me off with...

"Stupid," and I laughed out right.

"Brave," I amended loosing the touch of humor. His lips parted, as if to say something more, but the words wouldn't come. I ended up sitting on the edge of the bed with his hand in mine instead. I guess sometimes words just don't cut it.

"You should get some sleep," he advised gently but I only half heard it because my mind was playing along the edge of our hands where his thumb was softly brushing my skin. It became pretty clear he was right when I snapped to the fact that I was also starring numbly at the caress and hadn't even realized it. How long had it been since we'd slept? Almost two days? Gods but time does fly.

"Man," I yawned trying to shake off the suddenly overwhelming fatigue but my eyes refused to remain open.

"Sleep," he coaxed. It didn't take much. Just a nudge and softly spoken suggestion and I felt myself being folded into a warmth so comfortable I was gone to the Bahamas in 0.002 seconds flat.

Chapter 5

I don't usually dream but I did then. Crazy as it sounds, my mind came up with this vision of Heero and me on some beach somewhere, just the two of us playing in the warm waves. He was so beautiful splashing around, showing off for me. For me. That's what finally brought me back. I never was any good with pipe dreams.

It was very surreal to wake and find myself still deep in the vision. The reality of having Heero literally wrapped all over me brought me fully awake with a start. Shit! What the hell?! When had I....? And how did he..? Aw damn! Get away! Far away! Before he wakes up but how do you untangle yourself from a sleeping soldier without waking him?! Then the unthinkable happened and he stirred. It must have been the hammering of my heart that roused him because I hadn't moved a muscle, yet he was tightening his hold, snuggling up to my back, his hands sliding further around my chest, fingers gripping, his chest and stomach so damn hot against my back and hips. Holy Mary Mother of God. I distinctly remember the room spinning out of control and wondering vaguely who set off the spare charges in the hold.

"Hmm Duo," he groaned but before my mind could fully implode another voice was calling my name and I shot out of that bed faster than I have ever moved in my life. I was standing there panting like a racehorse, probably white as a sheet, starring into the shocked face of my groggy-eyed partner when Sally rounded the corner.

"Duo?" she questioned in concern and I, feeling my face flame beyond words, ducked my head and just ran. "Duo!?" she called again but Uh, uh! No way! I had to get away. Far away. Away from her. Away from Heero. Someplace where I could think. Somewhere where I could get this back under control. Of course there wasn't anywhere other than the interior of the Sanctum so that's where I ended up and I didn't stop until I was buried deep inside the enormous vessel. I thought I could do this. I thought I could just be his friend and everything would be ok but... damn! No. I could do this. I had to. And it would be ok. I just had to make sure something like that never happened again. I'd get this back under control, put it back in its box and stay by his side as long as he would let me. Don't get the wrong idea; it took several hours and four dime-store novels for me to come to that conclusion. I was coming to a point where I almost felt as if I could rejoin the others when I heard the tell tale sound of someone moving around in the vast infrastructure. It turned out to be Wufei.

"Maxwell?" He called, knowing by instinct alone that I was curled up in the alcove near the end of a long line of bookshelves because he sure couldn't see me in the dim light. I had been reading by the light of one of my flashlights, but the batteries had run down long ago. Perhaps it was the open grating on the shelf nearest me that had given my position away.

"Here," I called softly back to him, but I had no ambition to move just yet so he was forced to come to me.

"We will be approaching X1999 soon," he was saying, but his words were as cautious as his steps. Man. I must have really scared them.

"Yea," I groaned forcing my numb legs to unfold and support me. "I know. I was just headed back."

"Are you... alright?" he asked hesitantly. "Sally was worried," he added quickly, but ya know? The flush on his cheeks was telling me a lot more than he was and I couldn't help but grin at him.

"Just peachy," I told him flashing my brightest smile, but he wasn't buying it and it died pretty quick.

"This place is ridiculously massive," he grumbled letting it go for me and I was eternally grateful.

"I could spend the rest of my life just trying to read my way out of this one hallway," I chuckled.

"We should rejoin the others," he commented.

"We've got some time," I shrugged mostly because I wasn't really ready to go back yet. Besides, it seemed a waste not to check out the Sanctum now that we were there. "Let's have a look around. This place is pretty amazing," I observed looking for a light control. It took us several minutes to find the panel of multiple switches but once we did the place just seemed to come alive. Jumping Josephites! We'd hit the mother load! Somehow I'd managed to lead us into the central chamber of the vessel where there appeared to have been a massive atrium at some point. There were full-grown trees in there! They were dead, of course, but their trunks remained; each laden with the decaying stalks of what had once been huge vines reaching upward into the domed ceiling and the remains of long untended flower gardens lay all along the boarders. I almost fell over backwards getting a good look at the vast tile mosaic encrusted above us. There were creatures of every imaginable size, shape and color pieced together there. Images of people, young and old. Some sitting under trees reading while others battled huge whales or fearsome creatures. I was so caught up in the moment, I hardly noticed Wufei wandering off until my eyes could no longer resist the temptation his visage proposed. I hadn't seen the true beauty of this place. Not until I saw it through Wufei's eyes.

He wasn't looking at the decaying garden or the resplendent art it contained. His eyes were trained unflinchingly on the endless shelves of books that lined the walls. They just seemed to go on forever. There were so many just in this one chamber alone and it actually represented only a fraction of the wealth that was stored here. I watched him walking out into the center of the room, the light streaming down through the rain of dust displaced from the lights when we'd turned them on, and understood something I hadn't. It was there in his expression, in the renewed sparkle of his black diamond eyes. True happiness is obtaining that one thing that your heart desires; however, that one thing isn't necessarily a person. I knew in that moment, Wufei had found what he needed. He'd come home.

He and Heero made a quick run into the satellite belt when we got close enough and ended up only confirming what Heero and I already knew. There was no refinery. Just the hollowed out shell of one that had been destroyed during the war.

It came as no surprise to me when Wufei announced that he would be turning in his badge. Une wouldn't accept it, of course; she'd refused to deactivate any one of us. The citizens of X1999 were only too happy to have his help and from the way he was behaving that was a very good thing 'cause he wasn't about to turn his new treasure over to anyone else.

Sally took the blow like a real trooper. The woman was just so happy for him she couldn't seem to work up to being upset over loosing her partner. The find had given him a new lease on life and put the zeal back in his step, and for once he and Sally were getting along!

We left X1999 right on schedule, taking a commercial flight instead of a private shuttle mostly so we didn't have to worry with piloting and could rest. It was good to see our companions relaxing together. They were in the seats three rows up and to our right and I kept seeing Sally toss her head back and laugh while Wufei glared and knew he'd been showing her something about his new job again. Maybe someday, down the road a bit when he was more settled, they would find they needed more from each other. There was no hurry to hook Wufei up now, that's for sure. He was happier than I'd ever seen him. I wish I could've said the same for Heero.

He was just plain cranky.

"You want a pillow?" I hedged cautiously. He'd been a bit... prickly, since our little nap. It was weighing on my mind pretty heavy that I might have damaged something permanently between us.

"Hn," he grunted and I found myself sighing again. That was getting to be a habit I needed to break. I gave him the pillow and watched while he stuffed it under his head and curled up against the window. I know he wasn't sleeping, but he appeared to not want to talk to me at all. I considered trying to explain. It crossed my mind that perhaps if he understood, things might be better but the fear that he'd turn away altogether held my tongue. There's nothing quite like telling a guy you'd like to polish his knob to get you the cold shoulder. Of course, it was more than that, but that's usually the part other guys have the biggest problem with. I had no clue what to do now, so I ended up sighing again and keeping my big mouth shut.

It was another half hour before the all clear chimed and we were allowed to leave our seats. I had opted for separate cabins for obvious reasons and found myself less than enthralled when Heero continued to pretend he was asleep as I prepared to retreat. The ache in my chest was becoming cumbersome at this point. I needed to know we were going to be all right but I still had no clue how to put this behind us. There seemed to be only one word that kept surfacing in my mind and I found myself softly uttering my apology to his mock sleeping form before I left for my cabin.

It was nice to lie down even if the cot was hard and tiny. It had a pillow and a blanket so it beat a lot of places I'd found myself sleeping in my life, only sleep was an elusive commodity right about then and we were still a day and a half out. It was shaping up to be a long damn trip. I thought about a lot of things lying there. Heero. Sally and her mystery `friend`. Wufei's expression when he got a look at the heart's blood of the Sanctum. Quatre's bright smile and Trowa's empty eyes. And Heero. It all kept coming back around to him in the end. Wufei had found his home. Quatre had somehow rekindled his bright light. Trowa was still searching, but I had no clue how to help Heero. He'd implied there was someone he cared for once. Perhaps it was time to do a little digging and find out who it was. At least then maybe I could be of some use to him. Maybe I could help this person see what a great and wonderful gift they had obtained. Maybe, in some way, I could make him happy.

"Duo?"

Shit. What the hell was wrong with my eyes?! "Yea... just a sec" I called scrambling around for a tissue. Damn it.

"I didn't wake you did I?" he asked hesitantly.

"No... I was just..." Ok, so I had no idea what to say after that but it became unnecessary once I'd opened the door to finish the lie. "Hey, what's up?" I smiled moving to straighten the covers on the bed so he could sit if he wanted.

"Duo," he said again and the tone of it kind of scared me. He obviously wanted to say something he felt was fairly important. I'm afraid my fingers went numb and my knees suddenly didn't have the strength to bear my weight. I found my ass on the edge of the cot before my eyes had turned to fully regard him.

"Is something wrong?" Damn it. Who put the gold fish in my drink?

It took him a moment to get started. When he did, it was necessary for him to start with my name again. "Duo, you know that, no matter what happens... I will always be your friend?"

Shit. I couldn't breathe. Had he figured it out? And if he had, was he really ok with it? Could he really forgive me for loving him like I do? There was one thing I knew beyond the shadows of my doubt. His words were sincere and it meant the world to me. Still, all I managed was a small nod that he returned, and then he was gone and I suddenly felt a hell of a lot better! As a matter of fact, I was having a hard time not singing at the top of my lungs. We were ok. That's all that mattered. I couldn't stop grinning as I piled back onto my little hard cot then I passed out and slept like a rock until the approach signals chimed.

Heero seemed in much better spirits as well during docking. We ended up chatting non-stop about Wufei and the ball and his attempt to blow himself up and a dozen other things that just came up. I was almost sad when the all clear sounded for disembarking, but Quatre's shining smile soon changed that.

"Duo! Duo! Over here!" he called waving like mad and grinning like a loon and there was Trowa standing quietly behind him; his hands in his pockets looking as smug as one of his big cats just after a feed.

"Hey Quat!" I grinned snatching him up in a tight hug. Then I just had to push him back to arms length and get a better look at him. "Man," I couldn't help but exclaim. "You look... positively radiant!" And he did. I'd never seen him shine so bright.

"Trowa's been helping with the final arrangements," he beamed back at his companion. I took one look at him and then had to take another. His eyes were anything but empty. They shone actually. I don't think I'd ever seen that much warmth in their emerald depths before. He was almost vibrating under that cool exterior. What the hell had happened?

"Helping?" I hedged wanting to get a better grip on things but that stupid smirk of his never did much for me in the way of communication. Heero appeared to have gained a wealth of information from it however, and laughed out loud as he hurried us along, and I mean to tell you! I have never in my life ever heard Chang Wufei talk so much before. The guy was like the never-ending sentence all of a sudden. He and Quatre got started on the Sanctum and the next thing we knew we were at the Winner Estate being welcomed by the house staff. You got that part right? The house had a frigging staff!

Eloise, Carmen and Jana, the maids I would later come to know worked as the upstairs, downstairs and guesthouse caretakers. Daunk[1], the gardener as near as I could tell, and a massive man in his own right. Young Tom was a steward, for lack of a better word. Julian the cook, pardon me, chef; and Butch, the chauffer. I called him Butch because I couldn't possibly have pronounced his given name, but to be honest, I don't think he was the slightest bit amused by my practicality. Go figure. They were all lined up when we arrived like they were getting ready to present us all with the Medal of Honor just for gracing their home with our presence. Most of them even bowed their heads as we passed. 'Cept Daunk; or maybe it was just that his head was so much higher than mine it just didn't show.

Trowa never even batted an eye, and Quatre didn't seem to notice them at all, but I was about to give myself whiplash returning the gesture when Jana tilted her head up and smiled that smile all guys like me fear. It was short lived though and I saw her expression shift from comely to shocked to scared shitless all in the half a second it took for her to drop her eyes again. I didn't have to look to know what had frightened the poor girl.

"Stop glaring," I whispered low, hiding the chuckle that was bubbling up in my throat. "You're scaring the help." Heero didn't reply, but I could feel his presence close behind me. We were given a short introduction and the spiel on how they were 'so glad' to offer their services, then were finally shown to our rooms so we could 'freshen up' after our trip. I had to wonder why Heero and I had been put in the same room. I suppose it was just habit dating back to our safe house days, but in this big house it seemed unnecessary. There were two beds though, so I wasn't going to complain.

Freshening up sounded like a pretty damn good idea when I stopped to think about it, but once I stepped into the spa our host considered a bathroom, I knew I was never going to convince that little kid in my head that a quick splash in the sink would do.

"Uh... Heero?"

"Hm?" he answered not bothering to look up from where he was rummaging around in his bag.

"Mind if I take a shower first?"

"Go ahead."

"K," I grinned, turning back to gaze at the sparkling expanse of pure indulgence before me. "See ya later then," I commented and was aware of his head snapping up and the oddly amused expression that graced his features before I was lost to the sinful pleasure of unadulterated opulence.

This place had everything! Three sinks. Who the hell needs three damn sinks? The shower was open to the room. No curtain or doors or even a ledge to keep the water in. The floor just dipped slightly tapering down to the drain and seven different showerheads! All of them with a multitude of options for everything from mist to pressure washer. I could've stripped paint with the big one. Off to the left was this little closet looking thing with a glass door that turned out to be a steam room and to the right was the coup de grâce. A full service Jacuzzi built for two. I was so giddy I didn't know where to start! The sauna. Yea. Get sweaty before ya get clean right?

I set the timer for fifteen minutes and cranked that baby up as hot as it would get. It was like heaven on Earth. Or maybe a little slice of the decadent pleasures of hell. I might have fallen asleep lying there in the thick fog that rolled off the lava rocks in the bin on the wall if it hadn't been for the timer going off. I didn't want to move but staying in one of those things too long isn't good for you so I forced my limpid ass to get up and headed for the shower.

There were frigging cabinets in the walls of the thing. Curiosity got the better of me once I'd satisfied myself with playing with the showerheads and I opened the first one to find an assortment of liquid soaps. The blue stuff was just vile. Smelled like something I once saw a cat throw up. The green reminded me of a street walker I knew as a child and the reddish-pink stuff had taurine in it. I'm sorry, but anything made out of bull urine isn't coming anywhere near my body. I finally settled on the amber blush. It was a soft, sweet scent that reminded me of the sun in Heero's hair. Like that morning we'd woken together in the wilderness of China and it made me feel kind of warm all over when I washed with it.