Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, or any Gundams. Robots that big haven't been invented yet.

It's my birthday! So here's a present for you! Kinda backwards, I know, but I think it works. There's a bit of a back and forth thing going on here, so bear with me through all the scene changes. doesn't like to space my story like I do in my word processor.

10-56A

Chapter 4: Where did you go?

"If you didn't find him in all these years prior, what makes you think you'll be able to track him down now?" Trowa asked Heero as he watched him going through records.

"Because I didn't know where to look before now, I was merely doing a general search of where I thought he might be. Now I have a definite idea." Heero said distractedly over his shoulder. He had Duo's papers that he'd just filled out set beside his computer as he searched.

0000

"You gave them false information, right?" Kitty demanded as they pulled up in front of the apartment they shared.

"Of course I did. I may be high, but I'm not stupid." Duo sneered at her as he got out of the car.

0000

"Damn." Heero had known it'd been a long shot, but it had been worth a try.

"You didn't actually think he'd…" Trowa started to say.

"I know." Heero snapped back as he trashed that search and started a fresh one.

0000

"We still have a problem though." Duo admitted to Kitty as they climbed the stairs and she let them inside.

"Oh? What's that?" Kitty shut the door behind her with more force than necessary.

"Well, remember how I told you I don't like to talk about my past?" Duo turned away from her, avoiding eye contact. He hid the gesture by starting to change out of his cloths into his work uniform.

0000

"Now that I know what kind of lifestyle he leads I know where to start looking for the trail." Heero typed fast as he bypassed all the previous sections he'd looked into. He was surprised that Duo had turned up in this city, it made things a lot easier. Before now he'd had all of Earth and Space to look through, now it was just a matter of checking the part of town he normally wouldn't have looked at with Duo in mind.

"Where were you looking before?" Trowa asked, not bothering to tell Heero that he was using his phone as they spoke to contact Quatre and Wu Fei.

"I was looking for him by trying to figure out what type of job he would choose. It was pretty obvious he wouldn't buy a house or rent an apartment with his real name." Heero tossed over his shoulder. "But none of my previous searches gave me results."

0000

"So, what does that mean? Do we need to move? Do I need to get us papers?" Kitty put her arm across his doorframe, blocking him in. Not that he couldn't knock her aside easily, but it was a bit distracting to have someone blocking his only exit while he was changing.

"Well, that guy, the one whose office you found me in? That was Heero Yuy." Duo explained while pulling on his polo and exchanging his jeans for khakis.

"Your war buddy? So?" Kitty slouched, her dirty shirt bunching up at her back as she rubbed her eyes. He'd had her attention, now he'd lost it again.

"So I have a feeling he's not going to give up just because we gave him the slip." Duo searched for clean socks and a few pills to pop to get him through the day while Kitty continued to slip closer and closer to the floor.

"And this means what to me? He's just a Preventor, big whop."

"It means that we have an ex Gundam pilot searching for us now. One who is very stubborn and the only one I know who can out hack me." Duo stood over her, pills tucked in his cheek, waiting for water so they could start their journey into his blood stream.

"Shit." Kitty slurred from the ground. She was now sitting in his door frame, and she still didn't looked as worried as Duo knew they needed to be.

0000

"Did you check computer stores? Big companies? You know I have a list of some of the alias' he used to use." Trowa asked as windows pulled up on Heero's computer in quick succession before he dismissed them.

"I know what names he used, I already ran those. But I don't think he'd still use the same ones." Heero growled. He was growing more and more frustrated by the minute.

"What if he's not working with computers?" Trowa asked in a quiet voice, hoping to inspire patience in his friend.

"Then I don't know." Heero barked back and his hands stopped moving on his keyboard. His shoulders slumped. "And I just lost him again."

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"Come on, time for sleep." Duo bent down and helped Kitty up, guiding her towards her bedroom and waiting bed. He helped her out of her pants and into bed. She'd change her top when she woke up. "I'm going to work now, I'll bring home dinner."

"Ok." Kitty whispered to her pillow as she curled up under her covers. Duo sighed heavily. The bags under her eyes were getting worse and she was skinnier than ever. Duo blew his bangs out of his face and left for work.

0000

"This is useless. Duo was always the best at hiding and blending in. I'll never find him, not without a clue." Heero growled.

"We'll find him." Trowa spoke with confidence. But looking at Heero, he felt his own hopes dieing anew. "You saw him today? Where?"

"Here. Ember's team… Well, I was there too… but they found him on top of…" Heero was finding it hard to say, as if it'd never happened.

"You found him…" Trowa started the sentence again for him and Heero could tell he was just worrying Trowa more.

"We found him on the ledge of the sixteenth story of a building downtown." Heero just spat it out, inwardly cringing at how it sounded coming out of his mouth. He looked up to see Trowa staring at him unbelievingly. "We brought him back here and called his emergency contact. She came and got him and they left."

0000

"Hey Paden?" A hearty voice called from the back of the Animal Shelter Duo worked at. "That you?"

"Yeah it's me." Duo Paden, the name he worked under. A nice history of a good family, previous jobs and no record from the war to follow him around.

"Will you watch the front?" Dagston asked as he peeked out from his office. "I have some paperwork and it's not gonna wait."

"Sure I got it." Duo smiled brightly as he punched into the time clock and then took his place behind the main counter as a couple walked in. He felt great, his pills were kicking in and someone was going to get adopted. Life was awesome. And bright. And colorful. It was just awesome.

0000

"That's not the worst of it." Heero admitted as she stared down at his hands. Trowa was on one knee next to his chair now.

"What is it?" Trowa asked, now glad that he'd sent a message to Wu Fei who worked for the Preventors as well and was on his way.

"The woman who came to get him. The one he lives with. Kitty Phillips." Heero started and took a few deep breaths before he pushed on. "She's his drug dealer."

Trowa stared at him as if Heero had just punched him for no apparent reason. "Drug dealer?"

"He was high Trowa. He kept forgetting where he was, kept asking when I'd gotten there. I was sitting across from him the whole time." Heero felt like the whole building was crashing down around him as he relieved it all over in his head. He shouldn't have let Duo go, shouldn't have smudged those reports.

"If he was high and about to commit suicide, why did you let him walk out of here, Heero? Why didn't you get him to the hospital and up to psyche?" Trowa asked calmly, trying not to sound accusatory.

"I couldn't" Heero looked up at him for the first time in minutes. "I couldn't send him there Trowa, I couldn't. Do you know what would have happened to him! With his background? Do you know what they would have done the moment they found out he was abusing drugs and suicidal?"

"Yes I do." Trowa replied calmly. "They would have tried to help him."

"They would have locked him away, Trowa. Forever. It's what they'd do with any of us. No one can afford to have a Gundam Pilot running around with no self control. Imagine what he could have done had he had a flash back of the war." Heero snapped at Trowa, panic and a need for Trowa to understand making his voice strained and higher than it should have been.

"He is right, you know." Wu Fei said from the door.

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Duo waved goodbye to the happy couple with the female retriever. She'd been beautiful and had deserved a good home. And now she had one. The world was wonderful. Now if he could just get some kids in here, they could all play with puppies. Playing with puppies was the best!

He didn't even care that on his best days Dagston probably thought he was "special", it was worth it to see puppies go home with happy kids. It was awesome. And it meant everything would be alright with the world. If only everyone could feel that free and happy with an animal. A new pet showed people their true selves, caring for another life always brought out the best in people.

Ok, well maybe not everyone. They got abused pets in here all the time, and that was just sad. Sad and pathetic, that someone needed to kick a poor, helpless creature to feel better about themselves.

They didn't deserve pets. Or cake! He would make sure those people never got another animal, or piece of cake, ever again! They just took advantage of what they were given and it was wrong.

"Paden." a voice snapped behind him and Duo turned to see Dagston standing behind him. "Time to feed everyone."

"Ok." Duo smiled bright and went to the back to start serving everyone lunch, which would lead right into cleaning up after everyone. A necessary part of life and part of the job. He didn't mind. It paid enough for him to stay with Kitty.

Come to think of it, that dog had the same color fur as Kitty's hair.

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"Wu Fei?" Trowa stood and gave his friend a stern look.

"What Yuy is saying is true. I'm not going to help you lie to him just to make him feel better. That is precisely what would have happened to Maxwell if he'd been handed over to a psyche ward." Wu Fei joined their private meeting in Heero's office.

"Regardless, why did you let Duo go Heero?" Trowa asked again.

"I didn't, that woman took him. Kitty Phillips. They escaped together." Heero explained how it had happened and felt embarrassed as they both gave him condescending looks. "He didn't look like he was about to… he was still high when… I… I give up." Heero held out his hands as if to push his words away and slumped back into his chair. He was tired of explaining himself.

"Have you checked with Agent Easton to see if you were able to get the plates of the car they left in?" Wu Fei asked.

"No." Heero muttered.

"I will check that." Wu Fei dismissed himself and left Heero alone with Trowa again.

"I just wanted to help him." Heero whispered to Trowa, everything unraveling before his eyes.

"I know. I want the same thing, friend. But we'll need to find him before we can help him." Trowa smiled gently. "I'll help you look. There must be some way to find him. If not him, then maybe we can find this Kitty Phillips he's taken up with."

Heero nodded, barely hearing him. Instead, memories plagued him. Maybe if he hadn't failed as a friend, none of this would have happened anyway. It'd been his fault, all these years Duo had suffered for his mistakes, his short comings. And he hadn't known, he'd thought Duo was doing fine, that he'd merely been avoiding all of them but living happily. But that thought was cut short as he heard Trowa's words in his head and finally understood them.

"What did you say?" Heero suddenly sat up.

"I said maybe we could try looking for the woman instead, Kitty Phillips?" Trowa repeated himself, surprised at the look on Heero's face.

"You're right, that's it." Heero nodded, his voice low. He looked lost in thought before he whipped back around to his computer, "She's the key!"