I guess it hasn't been as long of a wait as it usually is, though I did want to get this chapter out before the semester started, oh well, but at least I was able to work on it with classes any everything.

Enjoy.

Chapter 10

Quatre was finally able to get away from his sister and her friends and made his way to his office with Rashid. It's not like he didn't want to spend time with his sister, but there were things that needed to be taken care of as soon as he could. As soon as they were in his office, Rashid went to close the door, but Quatre told him not to, saying it was alright to leave it open. He didn't expect his sister and her friends to come upstairs anytime soon.

"So, how did the meeting go, Master Quatre?" Rashid asked, getting right down to business. "What was it that Miss Noin had to talk to all of you about the Gundams?"

"We've all come to a decision, as to what to do with the Gundams, now that the war is over." Quatre explained. "Rashid, I'm going to need your help."

"Anything, Master Quatre." Rashid stated.

"The guys are going to be stopping by, whenever they get the chance, to drop off their Gundams." Quatre explained. "Rashid, if you could…"

"Keep Serena and her friends busy when they get here?" Rashid asked, finishing Quatre's thought for him.

"If you could?" Quatre asked.

"Of course, Master Quatre, but…" Rashid agreed, but was interrupted by Quatre when Rashid tried to point something out, but Quatre had an idea as to what Rashid wanted to say.

"I don't want them to know, especially Serena." Quatre said.

"But, she is your sister, Master Quatre, she at least should know. You don't have to tell her friends, but Serena has a right to know. She is your family, is she not?" Rashid pointed out.

"I know, but I'd prefer her not to know." Quatre said.

"Just keep in mind, Master Quatre; you can only protect her for so long. She may end up finding out on her own." Rashid pointed out.

"I know." Quatre agreed.

With that said, they got to work planning. Planning what to do when the others got there and what to do and how to handle things so Serena and her friends didn't notice anything. After some time, Rashid left to go and take care of things in the hanger as well as to inform the other Maganac's that were there of that they needed to do and what needed to be done.

Not to long after Rashid left, only about, maybe find minutes, if Quatre had to guess, he could feel Serena flying up the stairs, emotions raging. Quatre looked up just in time to see his twin sister fly by his office door. Quatre dropped what was in his hand on his desk and ran to the open doorway to his office. He got there just in time to see his sister run into her room and closed the door.

"Serena?" Quatre softly mumbled as he saw his sister's door close.

Quatre stood there in the doorway to his office for a moment or two. In a way he was mentally sifting through his sister's emotions he felt from her as she ran by. After trying to sift through the emotions he felt from his sister, he gave up trying since they were all to jumbled together. With that decision made he walked up to his sister's room and knocked on the door. But she didn't answer, so he tried knocking again, but again with no answer. With a sigh, he figured he was going to have to try a different approach.

"Serena?" Quatre tried calling throw the door. He still didn't get an answer. So, with a sigh, he tried again, "Serena, I know you're in there, and I know that something is bothering you." Still no answer, he was about to try a new tactic when the door opened to a small crack and Quatre could hear someone walking away from it. He took this as an invitation to enter the room, even though it seemed to be a rather reluctant invitation.

When Quatre walked in, he noticed his sister was sitting on her bed, her gaze anywhere but on him. Even when Quatre closed the door, she didn't turn to look at him. This just caused Quatre to sigh again.

"What's the matter?" Quatre asked, as he walked over to his sister. She still refused to look his way. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Quatre asked, sitting down next to his sister on her bed. This didn't get the reaction that Quatre was hoping for. Serena ended up slightly turning her head away from Quatre. Quatre reached out and placed his hand on hers, which was on her lap. This caused Serena to look at her brother. The sad expression on her face surprised him, and yet, it didn't surprise him. It surprised him because he didn't expect such a sad expression on her face and didn't surprise him because of the emotions he felt earlier.

"What is it?" Quatre asked now that he had her attention. Though he didn't have it for long, as the question caused her to look at the floor. Quatre could still feel the same emotions from his sister, but there was on other there now. So, Quatre slightly squeezed his sister's hand, giving her silent encouragement. He could feel that she wanted to tell him, but just couldn't figure out how to put it into words. "Is it something your friends said?" Quatre asked, trying to give his sister a starting point.

"It wasn't what they said, technically." Serena replied, with slight hesitation.

"If they didn't say anything, then, did they do something?" Quatre asked, though he seemed to doubt this. The feeling he got from the two that were introduced as his sisters friends, seemed to really care for her, and seemed somewhat protective of her.

"Well…not really." Serena finally replied after a moment, not really sure hot to say what she felt.

"What happened, then?" Quatre asked, trying his best not to sound nosey.

Quatre gave Serena some time as silence reined for a few moments. Quatre could tell that his sister was trying to find the right words to say what she wanted to say, and Quatre was going to give her all the time she needed.

"It wasn't what they said, or what they did." Serena started to explain. "It was more of the lack of what they did."

"'Lack of'?" Quatre questioned, not quite understanding what his sister was getting at.

"I told them something…something big…and they didn't even react to it. No reaction what so ever." Serena explained. "I couldn't take the silence, so I ran up here. I don't think they liked what I had to say."

"What did you tell them?" Quatre asked.

"I…I told them…what we are…what all thirty of us are." Serena answered, at the same time, trying not to cry. She didn't want to make her brother worry any more then he already was.

"That we're test tube babies?" Quatre guessed, trying to make sure that he was thinking of the right thing.

"Y…Yeah." Serena replied with a slight sniff. "What if…what if they didn't react to it because…because they…they think badly of me now?" Serena tried not to break down into tears at that thought, after all, it was that thought that made her take off up to her room.

"It was probably a misunderstanding." Quatre said, trying to cheer his sister up. "I can tell that they are people that truly care about you."

"I know but…" Serena said, hesitating for a moment, "…but that was before they knew, before I told them. It was before they knew I was related to you."

"Well, maybe they didn't react because they don't care how you were born, naturally or not, test tube or not." Quatre said, trying to reason out a possibility as to why things happened the way they did, as well as try to cheer up his sister, he just hoped he wasn't wrong.

"But…" Serena tried to argue but was cut off by Quatre.

"I told Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei how I was born, that I was a test tube baby and that all thirty of us were." Quatre explained, also making sure that Serena didn't interrupt him during this explanation. "Granted, Duo being Duo, would of course, have to say something about it, but the others, they didn't say or do anything because they didn't care." Quatre paused to make sure that he had his sister's attention, and he did, so he continued, "We are who we are, Serena, nothing can change that, and nothing can replace us."

"I know that, you know that…" Serena started to say after a moment of silence. "…But what if they don't realize that? What if they don't want to realize that?"

"How about we go and find out?" Quatre suggested.

"But…" Serena tried to protest, but was cut off as Quatre stood up.

"No more 'what if's', let's go back downstairs and find out what they thing about it." Quatre said, turning to face his sister. Quatre continued as he saw the protesting look still on her face, "Don't worry, we'll go and ask them together."

"You can go and ask them Quatre; I don't feel like it at the moment." Serena said, as she turned to look away from her brother.

Quatre was about to grab his sister's hand and force her to stand, but he just stopped before he did anything. The look on his sister's face and in her eyes told him, as she turned away, of something else. And the feeling he was now getting from her agreed with what he saw. The feeling he was getting from her now was a combination of what he felt from her when she first got their combined with the sadness he felt from her when her friends had a lack of reaction to what she told them.

A thought hit Quatre to all of this, what if there was more to this that the three of them were letting on too, and if there was, he was going to find out what it was.

"Alright, I'll go and talk to them." Quatre said, trying to reassure his sister before he left her room. "Don't worry, everything will be fine." With that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Once Quatre closed his sister's bedroom door, he looked at it and sighed. He knew from experience that things were never easy or simple, but he got this sinking feeling that whatever was going on, that involved his twin sister that made her so upset, on both accounts, the reason she was here, which he still didn't know about, and the resent upset with her two friends downstairs. But the sinking feeling that he was getting that told him that whatever was going on, was just plain messed up. With another sigh, he made his way downstairs to talk to his sister's two friends.

Once he got downstairs though, the sight that greeted him slightly surprised him. He found Rashid and the blond girl, Amara, having a starring contest. The other girl, Michelle, looked a little defeated sitting on the armrest of the couch, as if she resigned herself to having to wait for the starring contest to end.

Quatre made his way over to Michelle, since it looked like he wasn't going to get anything out of Rashid or Amara, much less get at least one of their attention. Once he got close enough to the starring pair, he noticed it was more like a glaring match than a starring contest. Now this made him wonder what had happened to make the two glare at each other so fiercely.

"What happened?" Quatre asked of Michelle once he was standing near her, once again looking over at the glaring pair.

"He came into the room when Serena was just about finished bolting up the stairs." Michelle replied, also looking over at the glaring pair.

"So, he heard what the three of you were talking about?" Quatre asked, taking a wild guess as to what happened.

"Not exactly." Michelle replied, a little hesitant, "We would've gone after Serena, but he wouldn't let us pass."

"I see." Quatre said, closing his eyes, getting the picture. "You should know that Rashid is very protective of us. He is the same as the thirty of us."

"Wait, how did you know…?" Michelle started to ask in surprise. How did he know what they were talking about? It wasn't the first question that popped in her mind when he said that, but the second question seemed to be more important one at the moment.

"Serena told me." Quatre simply answered, as if it should've been the most obvious answer. "Though it did take some time to get the explanation out of her after she ran into her room." Quatre added as an afterthought.

"So, he's a test tube baby too?" Michelle now asked the first question that came to her mind.

"Yes, he is." Quatre simply replied, looking at Michelle now. "It was Rashid that taught me that we test tube babies are our own people, that we are unique, that we are just like every other person." Quatre stopped in his explanation for a moment to carefully watch Michelle for any kind of reaction. All he noticed is that he had her full attention and was rather interesting in what he had to say and was waiting for him to continue. "You see, before I met Rashid, my view on the world and life was very different than what it is now. I thought that since the thirty of us were test tube babies that we were created for the convenience of our father and our family, and that we could be disposed of whenever our father chose. Rashid showed me otherwise."

"Is that why he's protective of you?" Michelle asked, once she realized Quatre was done.

"Well, I wanted to help him out with something, and I helped out the best I could. Because of that, I guess you could say, I ended up gaining his respect." Quatre explained.

"I see." Michelle said, looking back over at the starring/glaring contest that both Rashid and Amara were having. Though, this time, she was more looking at Rashid then the pair themselves.

"Now, back to the actual problem at hand." Quatre said, getting down to business, and speaking after letting some silence to reign so Michelle could have some time to think over what he had said and to process it.

"You mean Serena." Michelle said, looking over at the stairs that she had ran up. Though what she said wasn't a question, it was meant to be a statement, an observation.

"Yes." Quatre said, in a way to show that she was right in her thinking.

"We didn't mean to upset her. It's just that we didn't expect her to tell us something like that." Michelle explained, after a sigh.

"And?" Quatre pressed, trying to find out what they truly think about all of this, but without having to actually come out and say it.

"We really don't care how she was born. She was the one that taught us that there are some things that are worth protecting and caring for." Michelle explained.

"Rashid." Quatre called out, hoping that he had been listening to what the two of them had been talking about.

"I heard." Rashid replied, not taking his eyes off of Amara, nor had his glaring match with her lighted one bit, though, it didn't get worse either. But you did get the idea that he wasn't going to budge.

"Now that you know for sure that we aren't going to harm Serena in any way, then why won't you let us pass?" Amara all but yelled, starting to get frustrated. She had thought that they had made some progress.

Rashid didn't say a word in reply. All he did was the look in his eyes had changed. The glaring look he was giving her had now changed to a disapproving one.

Quatre sighed at this. It would seem that Rashid wasn't going to answer and perhaps, explain. It would seem that he was going to have to do so instead.

"I can guess as to the reason why Rashid still will not let you pass." Quatre stated.

"And that would be?" Michelle asked, seeing that Amara was getting into a bad mood quickly.

"There was a reason Serena came looking for me in the first place." Quatre started to explain.

"There has to be a reason to come and visit family?" Amara asked, frustrated, while trying not to yell.

Rashid's glare was starting to work its way back at Amara's comment.

"You see," Quatre continued, as if he didn't hear Amara's question, "Serena came to me rather upset. I still haven't been able to get out of her as to what happened. But something happened down on Earth that upset her."

"What?" Amara all but shouted, her attention turning from Rashid to Quatre.

"So, that's what she's been hiding." Michelle stated, remembering the sad song Serena played with her violin.

"So, she wouldn't tell the two of you either." Quatre stated, trying not to sigh at the revelation. If she wouldn't talk to two of her friends about what happened then he was probably going to be the only one to be able to get it out of her.

"Michelle, we're leaving!" Amara declared, as she left her spot by Rashid and started heading for the door.

"Oh?" Michelle questioned, in an intrigued manner, as she watched Amara head for the door.

"So soon?" Quatre asked, as he too watched Amara head for the door.

Amara paused halfway to her destination, but didn't bother to turn around as she spoke, "I just remembered something that we need to do back on Earth."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot about that." Michelle said, as she got the hint as to what Amara was up to.

"Are you sure? I'm sure Serena would prefer to hear it from the two of you instead of me." Quatre pointed out, referring to the point of their conversation.

"Sorry, but we need to be somewhere." Amara said, as she started on her way to the door again.

"Besides, Serena isn't one to hold a grudge." Michelle pointed out as she went to follow Amara to the door.

"Kitten will be fine. She just needs some time to sort through everything." Amara said from the doorway, waiting for Michelle to catch up with her.

"If you're sure that you must leave…" Quatre started to ask, not too sure if them leaving without talking to Serena first was such a good idea.

"Yes, and we really should get going." Michelle answered, as she joined Amara in the doorway. "Don't worry; we'll be back at some point." Michelle reassured.

And with that, the two were out the door and gone.

"I suppose there's no choice then." Quatre said with a sigh.

"Master Quatre, if there is anything I can do to help." Rashid offered.

"It's alright, Rashid, I can handle it, but thank you." Quatre said, as he made his way back upstairs.

Hmm…8 pages, I say that's pretty good. Didn't expect it to be that long though. I knew where I wanted to leave this chapter, so I just worked until I got to that point. I hope you all enjoyed it.