ATE: Here I go again, taking a long time to update this story. I finally finished this one under the strict eyes and supervision of my Editoress (if any of you have read my Xenosaga series so far, you should know about her). She literally kept telling me to keep writing whenever I got distracted or side-tracked (yesterday and today). Hopefully, if you're reading this Editoress, I have a feeling that you're laughing as I type this introduction up and will most likely comment on it eventually. And hopefully you'll be satisfied with this chap (despite having a bit of a preview of it before I started finishing it in your almighty presence). As for camp, one word to describe my whole week there: Torture. I was constantly going up and down steep hills so many times in one day and it didn't help that our camping area was up the hill while the shower house was all the way down the very long hike of a hill. Enough about me ranting here. Go and read this chap!

Declaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Daily Grind. I only own Rhea.

PS: Hopefully none of the Gundam Wing characters are OOC here. If they are, please tell me.

Chapter 6

I was extremely embarrassed and horrified of my predicament. Here I was being carried bridal style by Duo as he made his way down the short hallway. The hallway took a turn to the right and he immediately stopped in front of the first door on the left. I was confused. Why did he stop here?

"See this door, Rhea? This leads to my room." Duo said.

"So why are you telling me this?" I asked, looking at him.

"Oh, I think you can figure out a few good reasons." He smirked as he gazed down at me.

I gasped at what he said but then narrowed my eyes.

"Pervert!"

"You said it, not me." Duo started walking down the hallway. "And I wasn't implying that."

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment because of my stupidity and I wanted to hide under a rock. Sadly, no rock (although it wasn't like I would be capable of hiding under one), but I did find something. My face got warmer when I realized what I was going to do. I buried my face into Duo's chest, shutting my eyes tightly as my blushing got worse. I felt him vibrate as he laughed.

"I know you're blushing, but you do realize that'll only make it worse."

"I'm only doing this to hide my face!" I said, my voice slightly muffled by Duo's shirt.

"I prefer seeing your face instead of you hiding it." He told me. "C'mon! Show your face! Don't you want to see where we're going?" Reluctantly, I pulled my face away from Duo's chest before lifting it up, only to see him smiling warmly at me. "There's the face of my fair maiden."

I blushed as I tilted my head downwards to look at the floor, but I had a small smile while I did this. I turned my head in the direction we were going to see us approaching a grand staircase.

"Wait! Where are we going?" I asked.

"To introduce you to the others."

"But I already know them."

"You may know who they are, but have you met them in person?"

"No."

"My point exactly!"

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs Duo carried me over to a set of double wooden doors. He shifted me a bit in his arms in an attempt to open one of the doors, but he wasn't able to get a hand free without dropping me. This lead him to resort to using his feet.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" Duo called as he knocked on the door with his foot (in other words, kicking it lightly). "A little help would be appreciated!"

If this had been an anime (no pun) and I had been watching it at home on TV I would've laughed, but at this time I didn't. It was quiet for awhile before the door opened, revealing a boy the same age as Duo with dark brown hair and Prussian blue eyes, wearing a green tank top and black spandex shorts. I knew right away who it was.

"Heero, buddy! Thanks for opening the door!" Duo said cheerfully.

"Hn." Was all the perfect soldier said before walking off, leaving the door open so we could come in.

Duo carried me into the room and I saw that the other Gundam pilots were inside. I could see Heero sitting on a couch that was facing the doors that we came through with a laptop on his lap as he typed furiously at the keys. I couldn't believe the speed he was typing at. Was it even humanly possible? Anyways, I spotted Trowa sitting next to Quatre on another couch to my left, the latter holding a cup that I assumed had tea in it (if the tray and pot on the coffee table in the middle of the three couches wasn't proof enough). And last but not least was Wufei leaning against the wall nearby with his arms crossed over his chest. Overall, they (minus Heero) were staring at me from where they were in the room, causing me to feel a little uneasy from the attention. And it didn't help that the Chinese boy was giving me a look that seemed to say 'I'm more superior than you.' I gulped. Yep, definitely.

"Let me introduce you to everyone! You already know Heero, since he answered the door. The two over on the couch are Trowa and Quatre, and the brooding guy leaning against the wall is Wuffles."

"Don't call me that, Maxwell!" Wufei snapping.

I knew that Duo heard what Wufei said, but it was obvious that he was ignoring him. I had a feeling I would be sweatdropping right now. Anyways, Duo started carrying me over to the couch that wasn't occupied and I was surprise (and happy to the point that I thought I heard the heavenly chorus in my head) when he placed me on it before sitting down next to me (on my left) instead of having to hold me. That was until he decided to draped his arm around my shoulder, causing me to blush. Dammit…

"I'm Rhea." I managed to say without stuttering. I looked around at the other pilots before my eyes widened in realization! "Wait a minute! I've seen you all before! I saw Trowa in the park playing the flute- by the way you play nice." I got a nod from Trowa, letting me know he acknowledged the compliment. "I also saw Wufei at the movie theater, and…" I trailed off when I looked at Heero and Quatre. "Uh…I didn't see Heero or Quatre."

"Actually, you did see me." Quatre said.

"I did? When and where?" I was confused. What did Quatre…

"It was at the Daily Grind. I was the one reading the newspaper."

"Oh ye-" I stopped myself when I realized what the blonde said and I could feel my face heat up even more. "Oh crap…!" I groaned. I could see that Quatre was blushing but it was barely noticeable.

"Baka onna…"

My head whipped in Wufei's direction and I narrowed my eyes. I even felt my eye twitch slightly.

"What did you call me?" I asked, my voice sounding low.

"I called you-"

"Did you call me 'baka onna'?" I shot out of my seat and I heard Duo give off a complaint about me getting up (and the fact that he liked his arm being around my shoulders), but it was short lived.

"Wait! You know what he said?" Duo asked me.

"Of course I do! He just called me a 'stupid woman'!"

"What?"

"Well, it's true. Women are weak."

That's it! The next thing I knew I rammed my fist into Wufei's face and watched as he fell to the floor. Now before you start to worry I had in fact used my good arm (the one that wasn't in the stupid cast) when pulling off this feat. Let me say right now, it felt good.

"Weren't you ever told 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? How do you like me now?"

"Okay, Rhea! That's enough excitement for now!" Duo exclaimed worriedly as I felt a pair of arms hold me back. "We don't need to break the other arm too!"

"Indeed." I heard Heero said. Wow! That's got to be the first thing I've heard him say all day besides 'hn'.

"So, Rhea. Do you like music?"

I turned my head to face Quatre, who was standing up from the couch he had been sitting on when I last saw him, my anger towards Wufei forgotten at the moment.

"Of course I like music. I listen to almost any kind of music." I said. "Why?"

"I was wondering if you would like to come with me and Trowa to the music room." Quatre offered. "You know, to listen and relax."

"Sure I would! I'll come!" I was about to follow Quatre and Trowa out the door when I remembered something. The fact that the arms that had been holding me back and- "Duo! Put me down now!"

You guessed it; Duo had in fact picked me up and was carrying me bridal style as he went out the door. Again. And right when I thought that he wouldn't do it anymore!

"How 'bout no." Duo said as he moved up the staircase.

"What?"

"Consider it punishment for what you did a few minutes ago."

"Is this because I punched Wufei in the face?" I asked.

"Nope!"

"Then what?"

"For snapping at me."

"Oh, come on! You've got to be kidding! That isn't fair!"

"Now, Rhea. What did I tell you about fairness?"

"…Dammit…" I groaned, hanging my head in shame.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you?"

"…Nothing, Duo…"

I was so distracted in my thoughts (with all the embarrassing things I'm going through right now, you might already have an idea of what I'm thinking) that I didn't realize that we reached the music room until I heard the sound of a door closing behind us. I looked around the room and was surprised at the size of it. I spotted a grand piano near the window that allowed the sunlight to come in, along with a few violin cases (yes there was more than one), flutes, cellos leaning again stands (of course), and many other instruments that I couldn't began to describe or that I didn't know what they are (seriously, I'm surprised by the number he has of everything here. Was Quatre trying to create his own symphony orchestra or something?)! Talk about an overwhelming amount of musical instruments. I was pulled away from my thoughts on the many instruments when Duo started moving again and I saw that he was carrying me over to on of the couches (I forgot to mention those, there are about three of them by the way) before sitting down with me-

'Dear god! When will the torture end?' I thought pitifully as my face heated up to 100 degrees (to me). Now I bet you're wondering why I thought this. That would be because I was being forced to sit in Duo's lap! Of all the times he could have chosen to do this he just had to do it in front of the guys, or in this case Quatre and Trowa. Scratch that! The fact that he was even doing this in the first place was embarrassing! Why did he have to torture me like this? With the way things are going, he'll look for any excuse to supposedly 'punish' me (I use the term loosely, very, very loosely). How long will this- 'Oh hell no!' As you guessed Duo did something again…wrapping his arms around my waist! There was no hope of trying to escape now! I really wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

"Any requests, Rhea?" Quatre asked as he and Trowa picked up a violin and flute respectfully.

"You want me to choose?" I asked, completely surprised at the idea.

"Of course! You are a guest here."

"Uh…um…anything's fine."

"It's good to know you're not picky." Trowa said.

"I can't believe it!" Duo exclaimed. "You actually got Trowa to say something today!"

Okay. I'm going to try and ignore Duo…who am I kidding? That isn't going to work because of the fact that I'm sitting on his lap! There's my idea thrown out the window. Anyways, I watched as Quatre and Trowa got their instruments ready before beautiful music started flowing from the objects they held in their hands (AN: I'm not going to say what they're playing, so I'm leaving that to everyone's imagination). I was so absorbed in listening to the two pilots play that I felt myself relax and foudn myself leaning back against Duo. My thoughts started to drift until they settled on my memory of Mom and Dad and the time I spent with them before… Before Dad…and Mom…

"What's wrong, Rhea?"

I turned to look at Duo and could see the concern in his eyes. And speaking about eyes I realized that I had been crying.

"It's nothing." I lied, trying to convince him that nothing was wrong. "It's just the music's really pretty, that's all."

"Okay."

I returned to watching the guys play as I tried to hide what I was really feeling. What was wrong with me? I thought I was done crying for both Mom and Dad's death. Dad died about a year ago and Mom's death was only a few days recent. I could understand crying for her, but crying for Dad? I didn't get it! It feels as if they just both died a few minutes ago at the same time. I told myself I had to be strong for both of them, but it was starting to become harder than I thought.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I was back in the room I had slept in while staying in Quatre's mansion (despite having been asleep most of my stay). Let me summarize the things that happened that you all missed. It was after being in the music room listening to Quatre and Trowa play that we had dinner (and the fact that Duo carried me around everywhere), which had been awkwardly quiet at some points and Wufei glaring at me most of the time (most likely because I punched him). Afterwards Quatre was kind enough to lend me a pair of Pjs for me to sleep in (they were a little baggy but they still fit) and I was really grateful to him for that. That's everything in a nutshell. Did I mentioned Duo carried me around everywhere? I did? Oh well, I mentioned it twice then.

So now you know what happened since then. And here I am by myself in my room. That's right! Duo wasn't with me (which I was really grateful about) and went to sleep in his own room. I turned the light off on the lamp sitting on the nightstand before getting settled in my bed, leaving my room dark. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to take me, but an hour later…

BBBOOOOOOOMMMM!

I shot up in an upright position, my eyes widened in fear. I could feel my heart hammering against my ribcage and my body started trembling. The room suddenly flashed before I heard the loud booming sound of thunder, causing me to jump and my breathing to become rapid.

"Mom…Dad…" I whimpered quietly, my eyes shut tight in fear.

I was alone and scared inside this dark room. I'm starting to wish Duo hadn't left… I lifted my head up to look at my door and I remembered what he told me when showing me where his room was. Should I go? It would be a lot better than being alone. I pulled the covers away from me before getting out of my bed, my movements slow and unsure. I had managed to reach the door before slowly opening it and looking down the hallway that seemed to be longer than it really was. It seemed to stretched on for miles and made me feel intimidated. I gulped before I started walking down the hallway, the lightning and thunder occasionally going off causing me to jump and it took all my willpower to resist screaming. After what felt like hours I found myself standing outside the door to Duo's room, staring at it as I suddenly started to have second thoughts. What if he was asleep and got angry at me for waking him up? What if…?

'Stop thinking like that, Rhea!' I thought to myself. 'You don't know that.'

I lifted up a shaky hand in order to grasp the doorknob. Okay, now to open it. I slowly turned the knob before cracking the door open in order to peek inside. As best as I could in the dark I was able to make out Duo's sleeping form on his bed. So he was asleep. Should I go inside? I slowly opened the door and walked in before closing it behind me. I tried to be as quiet as I could as I slowly made my way over to the bed and it wasn't until I was a few feet away from it that I started to hesitate, feeling unsure about what I was about to do.

'I…' I shut my eyes tightly as my body shook. 'I-I can't…! I can't do it…!'

"Rhea?"

My eyes shot open and my breath caught in my throat when I saw Duo gazing back at me with a confused look. It seemed liked I couldn't talk. I watched as he moved around until he sat on the side of his bed looking at me. From what I was able to make out I could see that he wore a tank top and sweatpants.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"I… I…" I tried to say.

BBBOOOOOOOMMMM!

I cried out in fright before crouching on the floor in front of Duo. Not only was I shaking uncontrollably but I started crying as well. I felt him wrap his arms around me before pulling me up from the floor, having me sit in his lap as he sat on his bed. He held me close while letting me cry into his chest. Normally I would've been blushing like crazy with the position I was in, but this was a different case.

"What's wrong, Rhea? You're shaking like crazy."

"I'm…I'm scared of thunder…" I whimpered as I continued to cry. "I'm scared…"

"You have astraphobia?" I felt Duo's hold tighten slightly around me before placing a hand on the back of my head. All I could do was nod my head since I didn't trust my own voice yet. "Why are you scared?"

"I…it happened when I was little…and I was on a camping trip with Mom and Dad… It had been the second one I'd been on at that time… It was dark when it started raining and we were running back to our camp…and I got separated from them… I tried looking for them, but I only got more lost in the woods…and I was so scared… There was a thunderstorm…it lasted all night… It seemed like I was out there forever until they found me… They found me under a tree that had been…it was stroke multiple times by lightning… We didn't know about the thunderstorm since we forgot to watch the weather channel… I was so scared… I was so scared…"

"It's okay, Rhea. It's okay." I heard him whisper to me reassuringly. "You can stay here tonight. Would you like?"

He was offering to let me stay with him tonight? I was about to voice my answer but I settled with nodding instead. That was all Duo needed to know before pulling away a bit and helping me to stand up from the bed. He helped in getting me into bed before getting in as well and we found ourselves facing each other as we lay on our side. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him, causing me to be surrounded in warmth. The sound of thunder suddenly went off and I found myself clinging to Duo with only my right hand as I started trembling again with my eyes shut tightly.

"It's okay, Rhea… You're safe… I'll protect you…"

I opened my eyes, surprised by what Duo said and lifted my head up to look at him.

"Really? You will?" I asked quietly.

I was surprised when Duo placed a kiss on my forehead before placing a hand behind my head and pulled it closer to his chest.

"Yeah… I promise… Anything for the fair maiden…" I heard him let out a sigh in content as he held me. "You know what's good about living in a space colony?"

"What?"

"There aren't any thunderstorms. Sure there's rain, but no thunderstorms."

I couldn't help but laugh quietly because of that.

"I'm looking forward to going then… Thank you, Duo…"

"Anytime, fair maiden. Anytime."

My eyes drooped closed as the warmth around me helped to lull me to sleep. I felt safe in Duo's arms and I knew that I would always feel like this. I guess I'm glad that he was there for me despite all the things he does that make me feel embarrassed. I was so happy that I felt tears start to fall from my eyes. The last thing I was aware of was Duo shifting around a bit before lightly kissing my tears away before I fell asleep.

ATE: That it for chap 6. I hope everybody liked it. Okay, I wanna state something right now. I've noticed that there have been a lot of people favoriting this story and putting it on their Story Alerts, but what I'm trying to say is that no one has review chap 4 or 5, despite all the hits to those chaps. Usually I would've waited to have a least 1 review before posting the next chap, but since that hasn't been happening lately, that actually make me worried. I don't know how much I need to emphasis on the fact of people not reviewing, and if I've offended someone by stating this, I'm say right now that I'm sorry.

But yes, please, please, please remember to review. And as you've all noticed in at the end of each chap of this story so far that I've stated that anyone's more than welcome to give me ideas for any future chaps of this story and I will give credit to those who give out any ideas. Just place your idea(s) in your review.

PS: Also, ever since 3 days ago, I've been thinking of changing Estelle's name to Rhea. So I'll start a poll here if anyone wants me to do this. What do any of you think?