Warnings: Language. Some violence.

AN: Day 4, evening. Mission, then back to cabin. (Edited March 07)

AN2: I tend to toss these revised chapters up on my yahoogroup well before they get here, just in case people are impatient. And I suggest at least skimming parts you read on the first revision, as this one I'm doing now is adding things to just about every chapter, not to mention at least one completely new chapter.

A Successful Night
"Testing, testing. All present and accounted for?" Quatre asks, his voice somewhat hollow and tinny through the earpiece.

"Affirmative." Heero's answer comes from beside me and echoes through the earpiece in my ear, making him sound strange.

"Ditto." Trowa's answer is softer and seems thin, like the wind has caught his voice and carried half of it away.

"Bright and clear like a rainy day." I scowl mentally at Ara who backs away sheepishly, but not too sheepishly.

I know that he's just trying to be helpful. If left to my own devices at this moment in time I probably would have grunted something, and that isn't exactly encouraging for the others, not since they know how I usually am.

Predictably 'my' answer brings silence from the others. They're probably wondering what's wrong with me, or how on earth I can be so chipper in a moment like this, or some combination of the two.

If only they knew, huh?

Heero turns to me with an unreadable look on his face. I couldn't explain where that came from even if I had to so I just stick my tongue out at him and go back to straightening the gloves. A soft hum begins in my mind but it shouldn't get any louder that that. There are some rules among us that aren't often broken, and fucking with a mission is one of them.

"Okay. Looks like we're ready. Remember positions, maintain radio silence unless necessary, keep out of sight. We have 20 minutes, give or take, before the next round on the guard's rotation begins. Let's go."

Rock and roll.

Shut up!

Heero glances over at me with a questioning look on his face.

What? Did I say that out loud?

I don't think so.

"You ready?" he mouths.

I nod to him, not trusting what will come out if I open my mouth, and slowly let out the breath that had been held without my quite realizing.

He nods back and I follow as he moves silently through the snow. Any crunch his boots might have made is covered by the soft whisper of the wind through the still full trees. The wildlife around us seems unmindful of our presence. We all find this peaceful and I try to internalize that, knowing that the mission and everything that comes with it will soon overshadow this peace.

Quatre's soft voice breaks through my thoughts, grounding me back in reality. "Guard One moving out of sector A and into sector B. Out."

That's all it takes for the nervousness of the moment to vanish, replaced by a calm and almost serene sense of purpose that will be boosted by adrenaline and uncertainty and fear. This is one of the few times that my mind is almost completely silent, and while I don't enjoy the circumstance I do enjoy the quiet.

Of course, once everything is said and done, all's clear, dangers gone, my mind is anything but quiet. It seems to roar up louder than before to make up for the quiet time. I keep telling myself I'll find a mute button one day, but…

Time to focus on the mission.

"Good job," Heero tells me.

I look up from the journal, blinking to focus on his face, a bit thankful to escape the clamor and confusion that seems to come with the 'conversations'. I'm only glad that it's just basically the 5 of us in here because it's already crowded enough with that. I really would lose my mind if there were more. Say 25 or 26. Just the thought makes me wince.

Oh, yeah, right. Heero said something. Sounded good, too.

"What?" I hope my voice isn't as thick as it is in my head.

"Good job, what you did," he says. I study his back, the only part of him we can really see with him working at the desk on his laptop.

We should get a laptop.

We have a laptop.

I have a laptop.

People, we all have something. We don't need anything else.

No, I mean, we should get a laptop, or bring one of the laptops we have. Make journals all nice and neat and easier.

No.

It sure would be nice.

Yeah, it would.

I'd have to get a bigger bag or something, and that's just a hassle.

I hate typing anyway, so blah.

It would be more efficient, and less noticeable than this journal.

Well, Aus does have a point there.

It's Austin if you please.

Besides, Sandra says that the journal is very important for us. It allows us to express ourselves individually, in our own handwriting and such. An outlet to show who we are.

Besides, Ara wouldn't have anywhere to draw his flowers and unicorns if we used a laptop.

Fuck you. I'll have you know-

Hey. Let's not make any major changes any time soon. Maybe one day in the future, not right now.

Yo! Pay attention! Heero's talking again.

Oh. Damn, I hope we didn't miss anything important.

I blink, trying to focus my attention on his voice. "-but you proved that you could pull it together. Even if you were a bit moody. Just keep it up for tomorrow. Get some sleep. That seemed to do you some good today."

I hm acknowledgement and wait to see if he has anything else to say. But no, he remains silent, all except the light tap tap tap on his laptop.

I look back down to the journal. The writing starts again.

Bailey: Did Mr. Perfect Soldier just compliment us?

Ara: I think he did.

Austin: Probably would have been better if we had been paying attention.

Duo: Can't blame that on me.

Meyer: I can blame everything on you. Just give me a chance.

Bailey: Sleep, hah! You cried your bloody eyes out, made a real mess when you did wake up from the nap. I'm surprised they didn't notice.

Meyer: hmmmmmm that seems like something I'd be saying. Are you stealing my thoughts?

Bailey: Don't be ridiculous.

Meyer: You're a thought stealer! EEE! HEY! ARA! Quick, draw me some unicorns!

Ara: ---what?

Meyer: unicorns! Protect me! Oh, best give them some machine guns, on account of the horn being a totally lame thing that's like a glorified head butt.

Duo: All right, I think that's enough of the journal for tonight---

Meyer: Nonono! Unicorns-.

Duo: No unicorns. Or leprechauns. Or purple monkeys.

Meyer: You're a meaniehead.

Duo: And on that pleasant note. Bailey? Wash hair tomorrow morning or tonight?

Bailey: Um. Hm. I think tomorrow morning, give it some time to dry before we go of course, but no one wants to sleep in a bed with that much damp hair.

Meyer: Wanna ask Heero?

Duo: Absolutely not.

Ara: Mmm.

Meyer: Ara's a-

Austin: Enough. Journal done. We sleep now.

The journal is being closed and placed aside, the lamp switched off, the only illumination in the room the eerie glow of the laptop screen.

…Toby.

Meyer reaches across the bed and pulls Toby out from underneath the other pillow, dragging it against his chest. There's a triumphant little 'mwhaha, my Toby' somewhere ein the back of my mind.

I'm aware but unable to care that Heero is watching this from the screen of the laptop. Hadn't realized from the other position that he could see us with the way he'd been sitting.

Meyer mumbles something that I hope is a good night and our eyes close. As I let myself begin to slide off into what I can only hope is peaceful oblivion Heero joins us. Seems he's decided to follow our good example and get himself some sleep. Or maybe he decided to be nice and stop typing so we could get some sleep. Or maybe Meyer bitched at him about typing so we could get some sleep.

I smile faintly at that as I feel Meyer shift slightly.

Sometimes I can't help but like that kid, not that I'd ever tell him.

Ha ha, just told me.

Go to sleep, Mey.

Can I stay out?

I settle back some more, letting Meyer have his chance to snuggle with Toby.

I'm just about gone myself when I feel him shift a bit, looking up at the ceiling before closing his eyes, and then unexpectedly he gives a little wriggle and scoot towards the center of the bed. And then- suddenly we're cuddled right up next to Heero so that he's a solid, firm heat against our side.

Even in my dazed and distant place I can feel Heero's start of surprise, but I can't make out whatever it is Meyer mumbles out. Must be acceptable though, since Heero relaxes into the bed again.

I'm tempted to step in and put a stop to this, but I decide it's not really my place to make this decision. Whatever this is, it's between Meyer and Heero. And hopefully they'll leave me out of it.