"Um… guys maybe I should just hear him out? You know, adult-like and everything." I didn't like the look passing between Relena and Quatre, nothing good ever came out of looks like that.

"C'mon Duo." Relena said grabbing my arm. "Let's get going shall we?" she turned to Quatre, "Come on Quatre, Trowa and Wufei will keep Heero occupied for a little while."

"Of course." He smiled.

"God help me…" I looked skyward.

We slipped through the "secret passage" in Relena's wall. It wasn't much of a secret, especially not from Heero, he was the one who'd ordered the thing to be installed. It dumped us out on the 2nd floor landing. Relena tugged me along to my room, where I collected my duffel and threw on a new shirt before we headed down to the garage.

"I'll drive." Quatre offered as we slid into the sedan, Relena in her usual seat in back and I riding shotgun next to Quat.

"Where are we going?" I asked

"I've…" Quatre blushed, "I've got a small place, about an hour from here. It's listed under an alias, and I bought it in cash. Someone like Heero'd find it eventually I'm sure, but it'd take a little digging. Maybe enough time for you to recover a bit, and to think about… things."

"What do I need to think about?" I asked, turning to look at Quatre

"Whether you really want to take him back or not."

"Take back?" I snorted "Heero was never mine to begin with."

Relena sat silently in the back seat, but I could feel her eyes on me. Her hand reached forward to squeeze my shoulder, I cupped my hand over hers. I didn't have to look to know the worried look on her face.

"Don't frown like that Princess." I said turning my head to stare out the window, "It'll give you wrinkles."

"Duo, if this… plan of mine is going to hurt you."

"No." I said, giving her hand a squeeze, "I think I'm grateful not to have face him again so soon. I think it's better I run and hide… than say something I'll regret later."

Relena nodded, gave my shoulder a final squeeze and then sat back.

We drove in silence, heading for a small fishing town along the coast.

"How long till we get there?" I asked

"I'd say about ½ an hour, why?"

"Just wondered." I fumbled under the dashboard and pulled out a small tracking device, switching it off before dropping it in the cup holder.

I could feel Relena glaring, "Are ALL my cars tracked Duo Maxwell?"

I glanced at her sheepishly, "Yes."

She huffed, "You don't have to do that."

I grinned, "It makes it easier for the guys when I'm not around."

She shook her head. Quatre grinned.

Several minutes later we arrived. The house was a little A-frame set back in the woods. Quaint, cottage looking,

"You got someone who maintains this place?" I asked

"Mrs. Greirson, she lives in the village. Every two weeks, or after a storm, she comes out to clean the place, she keeps me updated on its maintenance."

"What made you buy it?"

Quatre's blush was back

"It… was a present… to Trowa." He said quietly, "He's always talked about wanting a small place, somewhere secluded, next to nature. Someplace, where we could just be ourselves. Get out of 'the circus' as he calls it."

"I'd say this is it." I grinned, looking around the homey place.

Quatre nodded, "We call it 'the bungalow'."

"It's beautiful Quatre." Relena smiled, poking around the kitchen.

"Ah, right. In the village here I'm just 'Alex'. We should probably think of another name for you as well Relena."

"Rachael." She said quickly

Quatre raised an eyebrow

"It was my adoptive mother's name." (1)

I looked at Quatre, "What do you call Trowa?"

"Troy."

I pointed to myself, "Do I get a nickname?"

Quatre nodded, "It's probably best, people might recognize the name Duo Maxwell from the OZ footage during the war."

I grimaced at the reminder of my epic-screw-up, but nodded.

"I'll be Mathew then."

"Why Mathew?" Relena asked

"It was Father Maxwell's name." I said quietly (2)

The others smiled,

"Come on." Quatre said, tugging at my sleeve, "We need to stock up on food and I'll show you around the village. Oh, and introduce you to Mrs. Greirson so you two won't startle each other when she shows up to clean next week."

"You won't be staying then?" I asked, a little disappointed, I already knew the answer. Relena's sudden absence would cause too much of an uproar, if it hadn't already, and Quatre had his father's company to run.

"Wufei's volunteered to come stay with you." Relena said quietly, looking a little guilty

"Wufei did?"

She nodded, brightening as she saw my smile

"He said he had some vacation time to use up anyway."

"That's awesome!" I cheered, "Me and Fei'll have all sorts of fun."

"Don't knock my hide-a-way down please." Quatre laughed, leading the way down a shaded trail that took us straight to the heart of the village.

The town was just like the house, quaint, like something out of a history book. I smiled and skipped behind 'Alex' and 'Rachael'.

We spent the afternoon exploring and I met Mrs. Greirson, she reminded me a lot of Sister Helen, we took to each other right away. She had a grandson about the same age as some of the kids from the orphanage. He tagged along with us as we continued our tour of the village."

Early evening, groceries in tow, we dropped Billy Greirson back at his grandmother's house, I promised to visit again soon.

Then made our way back to the 'bungalow'. We ate dinner out on the veranda beneath several strings of tiki-lights before Quatre and Relena decided they had better be going before Trowa and the others began to worry.

"Wufei will be here tomorrow." Quatre smiled giving me a quick hug before heading to the car.

Relena looked at me sadly,

"I'm sorry about all this Duo, if I'm meddling again…"

"You're not Lena. Really. I'm grateful for the break, and I've already made a couple friends. Maybe it'll be nice to hang out dirt side for a while. Space gets lonely sometimes, you know? Take care of yourself now. I don't really like the idea of you and Quatre going off by yourselves."

"Quatre can more than handle himself." Relena smirked, "He's a Gundam pilot too you know."

"I know."

"And you said yourself I was improving." She smiled, giving me a playful punch in the shoulder,

"Right right, you are, you are." I laughed

"I'll see you later Duo." She went up on her tip-toes to kiss my cheek, then hurried after Quatre.

I sighed as I watched them drive away, then slumped back inside to unpack.

****R****

"I really hate leaving him." I said softly

"He'll be alright. He just needs to take it easy. And he'll have Wufei to look after him."

I nodded, "Of course, you're right." I twiddled with my hair. "Do you think I'm meddling too much?"

Quatre laughed, "I think we all are. But I think… time… is what's best for Duo right now."

"Funny how time seems to be at the core of everything. Eight years, and now Heero's finally back, and we're forcing more time on Duo to decide if he wants that or not? Somehow it all seems so messed up."

Quatre laughed humorlessly "I doubt there's anything about any of us that isn't 'messed up', and you're just guilty by association."

I smiled grimly, "Maybe." I sighed, "poor Duo."

We returned to the palace in silence. The relief on Trowa's face that minute we walked through the door was obvious. Quatre strode quietly into his arms.

Heero was fuming.

"Where's Maxwell."

"Safely away from you." I snapped, "He's got a lot to think about."

"I need to talk to him."

"Tough beans Heero Yuy." I glared, shoving my closed fist at him, he glanced at me warily before offering a palm. I dropped the inactive tracker into his hand and turned on my heel, leaving the room.

"Relena." He growled, stalking after me. I caught Wufei's eye as I led Heero into my office. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it was for you and Quatre to go driving around without some kind of security monitoring on you?"

"Oh give it a rest Heero!" I yelled, stomping farther away from the trio in the foyer. I wondered idly if Heero realized I was manipulating him into arguing with me. But it didn't matter, it wouldn't take long for Wufei to slip out and go to join Duo, even if Heero figured it out right now, Wufei was probably already gone.

I thanked the gods the opportunity for Wufei to depart had presented itself so quickly. I didn't like the idea of leaving Duo by himself.

Dumb I know, considering he was a deep-space delivery boy who floated alone weeks at a time, and did just fine. But the wounds in his heart had just been reopened, a small part of myself worried he might hurt himself again.

Ah! I needed to focus on fighting with Heero right now, not that that was hard, I was still furious with the man. The longer I could keep him busy, the better.

*****************************************************************

& (2) - NO IDEA on these names. I totally just made them up.

Also, I'm not sure that an A-frame actually COUNTS as a bungalow, which is usually a one story building, but if you consider the second floor to be 'in the roof' it doesn't count as a story and so it's still a single level house.

Yeah-yeah, REALLY LOOSE definition there. I don't care. I LOVE A-frame houses (they're SOOO CUTE!) and I love using the term 'bungalow' to describe a romantic hideout, and it's MY story, so back off!

XD