A/N: Quick note, it looks like the last couple of sentences got left off the last chapter. Sorry about that. I went in and added them, so hopefully it's fixed now. Be aware that Nanowrimo begins in half an hour (for me). So there is a chance that I won't be able to update very much this month. It depends on whether or not my muse will let me work on my fics along with my novel(s) in progress.


Duo looked at Heero, who shrugged and let Quatre go. Duo warily let Quatre go.

Quatre sank onto the couch. "I'm sorry I snapped," he said quietly. "Heero, can you please check to make sure I didn't pop my stitches again?"

"Duo, go check the pizzas," Heero said and then waited until Duo was out of the room before checking Quatre's injuries. "Your stitches held, but you should really stop doing things like that for a few days."

"I'm really sorry, Heero," Quatre said.

"Don't be. Trowa's been asking for it. I guess he wasn't as over Relena as he said he was."

Quatre sighed. "I guess not. It doesn't fix anything, though. If anything, it makes it worse. How do you feel about the whole thing?"

Heero thought about that for a moment before answering. "I appreciate that he kept his feelings to himself while Relena and I were together but as we are currently broken up…I guess it doesn't really matter if I approve. I don't own Relena. And after the way I treated her…I don't really deserve her, either."

Duo came back into the living room. "You gonna live, Quatre?"

Quatre nodded.

"Great. The pizza's done."

Heero went into the kitchen.

"Do you want me to get Trowa?" Quatre asked.

"Are you suicidal?" Duo asked. "Let him starve."

Duo followed Heero into the kitchen but Quatre decided to talk to Trowa. He knocked softly on the guest room door.

The door jerked open and Quatre found himself staring into Trowa's angry face. "What do you want?"

"The pizza's ready. And…I wanted to say…I'm sorry for attacking you like that. I shouldn't have."

Trowa didn't say anything. He just pushed past Quatre and headed for the kitchen. Quatre sighed and went into the guest room, shutting the door behind him. He sat on the bed. He wasn't hungry and he didn't feel like being around the others right now. His life was literally falling apart and he couldn't fix it. Rashid was gone. Relena had been taken hostage. His friends were putting themselves in danger to keep him safe. Trowa hated him. Quatre didn't know how to make any of it better.

A knock on the door made Quatre jump.

"Quatre?"

"C-come in, Heero."

Heero entered the room with a plate of pizza. "You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry right now. I'll eat later."

Heero frowned. "When was the last time you ate?"

"I had breakfast."

"You had three bites. When was the last time you actually ate?"

Quatre shrugged. "I guess…the night before my home was attacked," he admitted.

Heero shoved the plate of pizza into his hands. "You will eat that."

Quatre stared at the pizza. His vision blurred with tears that were threatening to fall. "I really can't right now, Heero. I promise to eat later."

"We need you in top form, Quatre. We won't be able to get Relena and Wufei back without you."

"That isn't true. You guys are more than capable of doing this without me," Quatre mumbled.

"Quatre I know that you blame yourself for recent events. However that is no reason to allow yourself to wallow in self-pity. I expect you to eat and do whatever is necessary to be ready to go as soon as we can find a viable lead." Heero's no-nonsense tone prompted Quatre to nod. "Good. You don't have to eat more than what I brought you if you don't want, but I expect you to at least eat those two pieces."

Again Quatre nodded and Heero left him alone.

Quatre attempted a bite of the pizza but it was tasteless in his mouth. He wanted to spit it out but he forced himself to swallow. He set the pizza on the dresser and curled up on the bed. His stomach hurt. His back hurt. His arm hurt. His ribs hurt. His heart hurt. His soul hurt.

Who was doing this? Why were they doing it? What did they want? The questions swirled around in Quatre's mind until he fell into an uneasy sleep.


Out in the kitchen Duo and Trowa were glaring at each other across the table.

"Cut it out, you two," Heero said as he returned to the kitchen and picked out some pizza for himself.

"How's Quatre doing?" Duo asked.

Heero waited until he'd swallowed his bite of pizza before answering. "He's grieving."

Duo could tell that Trowa was about to make a snide remark. "Just shut it, Barton. I don't wanna hear it."

Trowa pretended that he wasn't about to say anything by taking another bite of pizza.

"We need to work up a plan of attack," Heero said after finishing his pizza.

"How are we gonna do that when we don't even know what we're up against?" Duo asked. "We don't know where these guys are or what they want or how big their attack force is. And I still wanna know why they targeted Quatre and Wufei but didn't even try to get the rest of us in on this little scheme of theirs."

"That does seem fishy," Heero agreed. "We should have Quatre check his messages. Maybe they've sent him another one."

"And if not, maybe he can just respond to the one he already got and see if anything comes out of it," Duo said before taking another bite of pizza.

"Why didn't we think of that before?" Heero asked. "It's so simple!" He went into the guest room.

"Quatre? Quatre wake up." Heero gently shook Quatre's shoulder, aware of the blonde's injuries.

Quatre mumbled something but Heero couldn't understand it.

"Quatre wake up."

Quatre gasped and jerked awake.

Heero jumped back out of reflex. He knew the kinds of dreams he had and if his hunch was correct, keeping his distance from any recently awoken comrades would keep him from getting a black eye or a broken nose.

"Sorry, Heero." Quatre sat up, grimacing as he did so.

"Are your injuries bothering you?"

Quatre shrugged. "Everything hurts. I've been pushing myself pretty hard recently."

Heero noticed the uneaten pizza. "And on an empty stomach. You promised you would eat that."

"I will. I just…" Quatre sighed. "Heero I appreciate everything you've done for me but I just need time. Rashid's death is really hard for me to deal with."

Heero sat next to Quatre on the bed. "I understand that but time is a luxury we don't have right now. Can you push your feelings aside until we complete this mission?"

Quatre looked down. "I don't know, Heero."

"Try."

Quatre swallowed at Heero's harsh tone. The Wing Pilot was clearly fed up with Quatre's inability to silence his emotions.

"Lay off him, Heero." Duo walked in with his arms crossed. "Quatre will be able to do what he needs to do. He's never let us down before and he's not about to start, right?"

Quatre nodded, grateful that at least one of the others seemed to be on his side.

"Great, so we wanted to check out that message Wufei sent you. D'you want to bring it up or should we just hack your account?" Duo asked with a smirk.

"I'll bring it up. The password is set to lock up after two false logons." Quatre got up off the bed and grabbed his pizza before going out to the living room. "Can I use your computer, Heero?"

Heero nodded and Quatre logged onto his account. He handed the computer to Heero then went into the kitchen to warm up his pizza in the microwave.

Trowa silently watched Quatre but looked away as Duo swore.

"If this is from Wufei, I'm princess of the moon."