Disclaimer: blah blah, I down own the characters, blah blah, bandai does, blah blah blah...

Author's b.s.: this is a more serious story compared to some of my earlier works, which are more centered on comedy. But the reasoning behind this radical new idea is because frankly, "Sometimes life doesn't have a punch line."- Fred "Piro" Gallagher, Megatokyo ============================================================================ =========

Dorothy twisted and turned in her bed, plagued with memories. It had been 4 years since that day on Libra. Quatre had not only make her see that she was really wearing a mask; but that she wore it so much it had become a part of her. And in her denial, she ran him through.

Some of his words echoed through her crowded mind every day. They haunted her because she refused to accept them. He had told her that inside, she was kinder than he was, and that even though years of war, death, and fighting had turned her heart cold and dark, she was still a beautiful person. She would think to herself she would think: but why?

But that was the worst part, he loved her. Every single flaw, from her thirst for combat to her odd eyebrows. It drove her crazy, because although she couldn't bring herself to admit it, she loved him back. He was the only person who saw past the mask and into the real Dorothy Catalonia. He knew how she felt and wanted to help her. She put up her emotional barriers and when he broke through them, she tried to kill him.

Dorothy felt horrible that morning; she had yet another dream about Quatre and Libra. "Definitely not a good way to start such a big day" she said to herself. After she got dressed and ate, she went downstairs to the parking garage to take her banana-yellow Lamborghini to the emergency earth-colony senate session that was called last night

As she entered her underground garage, She held down the "unlock button" and the driver door opened. A split second later, the engine self-started and revved. Its onboard computer set up an uplink to the auto-service satellite 430 miles up. It received weather information on its location, verified by the onboard G.P.S., and cross-referenced it with Dorothy's personal preferences. The sunroof opened, and the windows came down. The stereo activated, and the volume and disk settings resumed to its pre-shutoff state. The computer also made an uplink to her palm-pilot, read her emergency meeting, and by the time Dorothy reached her car, it had already come up with traffic reports and directions through the least congested highway

Dorothy didn't notice any of it though. The inside of her head was as if it was awash with napalm. Her feelings were fighting her stubborn will, viciously vying for control, precariously perched upon the thin line between love and hate.

The drive and meeting itself was uneventful. The most part of it at least. Before the final word was said and the gavel struck the wood, the grand wooden doors burst open, and the only missing council member stepped in. unsurprisingly, it was Quatre. Always needs the dramatic entrance she thought. Quatre marched up to the speaker's podium and slammed the papers upon his podium. The speaker of the house, Claudius Burrows, took a look at the papers then set down his gavel.

"I'm afraid to inform you that the council meeting will convene at some later time. A new, very worrying issue has just come to my attention." Dorothy sat up. She was interested in what this was about. "According to these lunar survey documents and exploration logs conducted by the Winner Corporation, it appears that there is a factory on the far side of the moon that happens to be producing large amounts of mobile suits in direct violation of the demilitarization treaty of A.C. 196."

Quatre stepped up and took hold of the microphone. "Our current Examinations say they it is run by a major company and is using the facility to produce suits for sale on the underground markets." he said. Dorothy's eyes widened. They had found out about the plan. There had been rumors about a factory on luna still producing mobile suits for the Denza Corp. that were sold on the black market for huge prices. Dorothy's family Corp. had invested substantial abounds of money in the Denza Corporation. If the earth/colony senate found and proved the base existed and was running under the flag of the Denza corp, they, and all the companies that invested in it would go down in political flames. I have to do something, NOW Dorothy thought to herself.

She stood up, feigning outrage. "This is ridiculous. We have nothing solid not counting Mr. Winner's reports that, I dare say can be easily mistaken." Quatre seemed to be caught off guard. "Are you questioning the validity of my sources?" He shot back. "If something this big somehow managed not to be detected by the Preventor army, then the money made from this would surely be detected by the monitoring division of the ministry of commerce." Quatre smiled. "Obviously the company running the operation has enough influence to have an agent working in the ministry of commerce as part of their laundering scheme." Dorothy was about to open her mouth to verbally impale Quatre with her sharp tongue when Burrows shut her up with his gavel. "I have an idea." he said, "I agree with Miss Catalonia with the possibility of those reports. I suggest to both of you, simply go to on a senate supported expedition consisting of you two to investigate the matter. We could re-convene to find another idea, but in light of the massive new year's celebration that is coming up in two weeks, that takes away precious time that we don't have. I will arrange the plans with the military. In maybe a day's time, you will be picked up and will depart for luna. I will contact you again later to give you additional information after I get this thing set up.

2 minutes later

Burrows set his gavel on its stand on his desk and sat down. his chair creaked and he sighed. he said, internally. the Quatre/Dorothy situation as not going to go anywhere unless someone had to get involved. He had known both since they were in diapers. He was the only friend both their families shared. He could see right through their little phsaad's. Their feelings for each other had to come out sometime before they couldn't come out at all. Hopefully his hasty decision would uncover the mysteries of this "factory" and finally get those two to admit their love. If the his plan failed, he could not only end up killing both of them but maybe starting another bloody war. 'I hope im right, If this doesn't work I might end up starting another bloody war.' He thought. His chair creaked more as he leaned back in it.