Duo woke up feeling rather sour the day after Christmas. The atmosphere was still tainted with Heero's harsh statements to Relena. Yesterday's gift exchange had helped to lighten the mood – especially Duo's gift to Wu Fei ("Duo, you've put my nametag on your gift to Quatre." "Naw, that one's for you, Wu." "Nani!? Injustice!") – but it wasn't enough to mask Relena's obvious depression. Duo had just wanted to throw his arms around her and tell her she would be better off with him than with Heero anyway, but he knew it would only complicate the situation, and besides, Relena couldn't like him anyway.

Duo stepped into the bathroom and washed himself up. Today promised to be an interesting day. Since Relena wasn't going to be in meetings today, she wanted to spend it with her friends. Milliardo would have nothing of it and insisted she take bodyguards; she had simply laughed at him and reminded him whom she was going into town with.

Duo finished brushing his teeth and spat into the sink. He went to his suitcase and glanced inside, looking for something casual to wear. After little deliberation, he grabbed a black T-Shirt and some black slacks. Duo hated denim.

He promptly dressed himself, slipped on his minister's collar and a pair of shoes, and exited toward the dining room to meet the others for breakfast.

As he sat down, he noticed he wasn't the only one who was still in a rotten mood from yesterday. Quatre seemed to be the worst of all; even his usually cheerful style of dress was out of order. Instead of his customary pastels and vivid colours, he was wearing a greyish shirt. Wu Fei even seemed to be in a bad mood, but that might be attributed to the fact that he had received a pink shirt for Christmas. Speaking of which…He's wearing it!? No way!

"Hey…uhh…Wu Fei…you're wearing the shirt I gave you."

Wu Fei grumbled audibly. "I was tricked into it by that woman over there." He nodded his head toward Relena. "But don't get used to it, Maxwell, you baka. I don't wear girly shirts like Quatre!"

"Yeah." Duo didn't even feel like laughing when he saw Relena, and he definitely wondered how she had managed to "trick" Wu Fei into wearing a pink shirt. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. She had visible bags under her eyes, and her whole countenance was glum. She didn't even look like she had bothered herself too much with the outfit she was wearing. "Morning, Relena. You look great." he lied with a smile.

"Morning, Duo." She turned to him and forced a smile back. "Take a seat, it's almost ready, I think."

Duo sat down and scanned the faces at the table. Heero was still missing. He thought about asking about it, but he decided it would be better it he didn't.

"Heero's meeting us in town, Duo." Quatre told him. Duo was a bit startled by the fact that Quatre had known that he was wondering where Heero was, but his attention was quickly filched by the aroma of freshly baked pancakes coming from the kitchen. After all, the meagre breakfasts he whipped up for himself back on L2 – mostly cereal or oatmeal – were nothing compared to a genuine freshly baked meal.

There wasn't a terrible lot of conversation during breakfast. Everyone's mind seemed to be on one thing, and no one was going to bring it up. Still, everyone generally enjoyed the food, and everyone's mood was fairly alleviated by the meal (excepting Wu Fei, who was terribly angry at having to wear a pink shirt with vest ruffles).

After the breakfast, everyone prepared for the scheduled outing. Relena refused to have one of her butlers drive; she reminded them that she had given them all the day off and that they weren't due back until 1930 that night. She was, after all, going into town with four perfectly capable drivers. Duo's heart took an ephemeral leap, as he was about to volunteer to drive Relena into town. It was then he remembered that he had no car.

"I'll be happy to take you all in my car," Quatre told the group. "It seats five, so we'll all fit nicely. I'll drive, and Relena can sit up front with me."

"There is no way in hell I am sitting next to Duo," Wu Fei said.

Duo was beginning to get a bit jealous of Quatre and all the time he seemed to spend with Relena. Every time she was unhappy, it seemed to be Quatre who got to console her. Now, he got to sit next to her in the car…

Come off it, Maxwell, he told himself. Don't be so damn jealous all of the time. It's not like she's your girl anyway.

They all went out to the massive driveway and piled in Quatre's car. Duo got the window seat behind Quatre, with Wu Fei on the other side and an extremely unfortunate Trowa in the middle.

Quatre eased out of the driveway and headed out toward town.

"Uhm…Quatre?"

"Yeah, Relena?"

"Town's the other way."

Quatre blushed and made a U-turn. Everyone chuckled a bit; Wu Fei guffawed loudly and made an inappropriate comment about Quatre having the mind of a woman, at which point everyone ceased laughing a glared at him. He quickly stopped laughing himself and put on an expression that seemed to say, "What did I do?"

The remainder of the short excursion was endured mostly in silence. A few comments here and there about the environment were made, but for the most part, nothing that would be considered conversation was made. At last, Quatre entered town and found his way to the V.I.P. parking lot in which he deposited his car. He was also the first to speak up.

"Alright, there are five of us. Heero's supposed to meet us up here later, so that'll make six. If we plan on splitting up, we need to meet for lunch at about noon and then back here around 1900. We also need to go in groups of two."

Heero pulled up next to the group, parked, and hopped out of his car. He nodded in their direction but didn't make any eye contact.

"Okay," Quatre continued, "I'm headed to the clothing outlet! Who's with me?"

"Hell no!" Wu Fei interjected. "I'm headed…elsewhere. And not with Duo, either."

"Aww, that hurts, Wu." Now's my chance! "I guess I'll go with Re—"

Duo was cut off by Relena herself. "I suppose Heero and I will go into town together." She looked toward Heero, who looked back at her and nodded. Duo was crestfallen.

"Alright then," Quatre acknowledged, "Let's meet…say, at Migii Kobe at noon." Relena and Heero started off.

"Then I'm with Trowa!" Wu Fei shuddered at the thought of being stuck with Quatre in fashion retail all day, and he almost felt sorry for Duo. Certainly not enough to rescue him from his plight by inviting that annoying son-of-a-bitch along with him, but he still almost felt sorry for him. "Come on, Trowa. Let's go find something." He took off hurriedly with Trowa in tow before Quatre invited them to come along too.

"Well, then I guess it's you and me, Duo!" Quatre said with a cheery smile.

"Yeah. I guess." Duo was still a bit disappointed at missing his chance, but Quatre was a good buddy, and he figured they would have a good time. Little did he know what Quatre had planned…

It seemed like years to Duo, but finally, after trying on what seemed like every outfit in the store, noon finally came around and he was freed. "Hey, Quatre…it's time for lunch!" he groaned as Quatre shoved another outfit into his arms.

"Just this last one, ne?"

"I would, I mean, I'm having a whole lot of fun, but I don't want to keep the others waiting, ya know?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine, Duo! If you're having fun I'm sure they wouldn't mind anyways." It was at that moment that Wu Fei walked past the shop outside and sniggered at Duo.

"Lunchtime, Maxwell! Or would you rather try on some more pretty clothes? Bwahahahahahahaha!" He waited for an answer.

"I wouldn't be talking, Wu." Duo smiled facetiously as Wu Fei turned a very peculiar shade only describable as cerise, but he silently made a mental note to thank his Chinese friend later for rescuing him.

"Oh, Wu, you're such a spoilsport," Quatre grumbled. He picked up his bags, handed Duo his own, and walked out to the sidewalk. "I thought you guys were in such a big hurry!" he whined. "Come on, we'll be late to Migii Kobe."

Trowa appeared on the sidewalk behind Wu Fei, completely engrossed by the latest issue of Lions, Tigers, and Bears. "I'm coming, guys. Sorry to hold you up. Di you get your order, Wu Fei?"

Again, Wu Fei became an irregular reddish shade and muttered something about a delivery and why Trowa should keep his mouth shut and at least he wasn't wearing girly clothes like Duo.

"Yeah you are, Wu."

"Injustice!"

When they arrived at the restaurant, they found that Heero and Relena hadn't arrived yet. Quatre politely requested a table for six. The waitress showed them to their place, and they sat down to wait for Heero and Relena.

"I say we order without those two," Wu Fei told the others. "I'm hungry and they probably are having too much fun to come join us, and it's just like an on'na to forget anyhow."

"Well, it would certainly be more considerate to wait for them," Quatre answered. "I'm sure they'll show up." He checked his watch. "It's only five after."

"I say we wait, too," said Duo. But I hope they're not having fun…

Abruptly, Relena burst into the restaurant, her eyes full of tears. Duo instantly regretted his fancy upon seeing her so miserable. She gazed around the restaurant, and, upon seeing the guys, rushed over to their table. Duo immediately got up from his seat, hurried over to her, and grabbed her in his arms. She collapsed against his shoulder and sobbed louder. "Relena…Relena…it's okay, it's alright…" Duo wanted to lift her face up to his and kiss her gently, reassuring her that he was there to protect her; he knew he couldn't

"What the hell happened!?" Wu Fei yelled, livid. It was one thing to put a woman in her place, but it was another to take advantage of her. Although he was extremely angry and rather embarrassed at having Relena cry in public, she hadn't even cried this hard when Heero had blown her off on Christmas day. He knew someone must have done something really bad to her.

Quatre was the first to put the pieces together. He looked at the ground and softly pronounced, "Heero's not here." Trowa immediately realized what Quatre meant, but it took the other two longer to figure it out.

"He certainly isn't in trouble, is he?" asked Wu Fei. Then, remembering what had happened the last time Relena had cried so hard, it hit him like a brick. "That bastard! In public, too!" He had gone too far this time.

Relena had clamed down slightly, comforted by Duo's gentle embrace, but Duo had yet to realize what the other three had. "Relena…where's Heero?" he softly asked her. She resumed her fit of tears, and Duo mentally kicked himself. You idiot, Maxwell. You damn idiot. "Shh…I'm sorry, Relena. I'm sorry." He leaned his head down and quietly kissed the top of hers. "Everything's gonna be okay, I promise."

Relena lifted her head up from Duo's should and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Duo…I…I gotta go…home."