"Dammit!" Duo switched the television off and disgustedly threw the remote on the floor. Now I'm involved in this crap. It was all he could do to prevent himself from marching into Heero's room and strangling him (or at least trying to…when he thought about it, it would be pretty tough to even get out of there without having every bone broken in his body if he decided to threaten Heero's life). Everyone had taken it differently. Wu Fei had to be sedated to prevent him from killing Heero (he was currently deep in anger-managing meditation); the cameras had caught him with the crying Relena. Quatre had held in his emotions on the subject until they had returned to the Peacecraft mansion. He retired to his room and silently cried himself to sleep. Trowa didn't show any outward emotion, but he had locked himself in his room, and he wasn't coming out.

Relena, of course, was taking it the hardest. On the ride home from town, she had sat in the back of the car with Duo, crying on his shoulder and ruining his new…ochre…silk shirt (à la Quatre). Wu Fei was angry that the press had caught him on tape with a crying on'na, but he was absolutely infuriated with Heero. Quatre had let Trowa drive; he was simply too melancholy to trust himself with four other people's lives.

Milliardo had been standing in the entryway when they had pulled up. "It's on TV. And it's really bad."

Less than half an hour had passed since, but Duo had seen enough on the news to nauseate him thoroughly. It was all exactly as Relena had told him amid her perpetual tears. Evidently some reporter for the World News Association had run into Heero and Relena on the street. She had stopped the pair to ask a few question about the wedding, and Heero had turned to the camera and plainly said, "What makes you think there's gonna even be a wedding?" He had then walked off and left Relena to explain.

The interviewer had bombarded her with stupid questions ("Is the relationship between you and Mr. Yuy still satisfactory? What was he talking about? Has Mr. Yuy found someone else? What are you planning to do about this? Do you consider this a major setback in your personal life?"). Duo could see by the look in her eyes on the television that she was not only flustered, but also heartbroken. She had immediately begun to cry and ran toward the restaurant. The reporter followed her in, and the last thing that was televised was a very angry-looking Wu Fei in a pink shirt rushing toward the camerawoman who was trying to focus on Duo holding Relena in the background. After the footage was cut, the news anchors had come on. "A serious relationship between Supreme Consul Relena Peacecraft and the young man shown in the recording, known as Duo Maxwell, is as of yet unconfirmed. However, insiders suggest that he and Ms. Peacecraft may indeed have a significant romantic relation. At this point, Duo had shut off the TV.

"Dammit!" he cursed again, slamming his fist into the night table. Now he knew what is was like to be preyed on by an insatiable media. Now he knew how it must feel to have a ravenous media prying into every part of your personal life and twisting it to their proper desires. Now, he was a part of it.

His thoughts reverted to Relena. He knew that no matter how bad things were for him he could never imagine how bad she must feel. Being the Supreme Consul of the New World Peace Order, she had a hectic enough life as it was, without Heero complicating her personal life, too. Again, Duo had to stifle the urge to run into Heero's room and choke him to death.

And Duo knew the media was going to portray Heero as the victim. They were going to make Relena out to be having an affair with him, deceiving poor, naïve, innocent Heero. What had Heero done anyway? He was just trying to plan his wedding and life as quiet a life as possible, being the fiancé of one of the most important women in the world. But Heero just wasn't exciting enough for Relena. And that's where I come in… Duo thought. You just can't be the friend of a very important woman anymore without being a target of the media.

He wanted to leave it all and go right back to L2, but he couldn't leave Relena here all alone. True, if he had ever had any morsel of a chance of having a relationship with Relena, it was ruined now, but he still loved her, and if he just left, it would make it worse. Of course, he shuddered at the thought of what the media would do when they found out that Duo was staying at the Peacecraft's estate…

He was contemplating tramping up to the media office and strangling the anchormen – they would certainly be easier to strangle than Heero – when there came a knock on his door.

"Come in." He was almost hoping it would be Heero, so he could strangle him. The door opened, but it wasn't Heero standing in his doorway.

"Hi."

"Oh, hey, Quatre. What's up?"

A puffy-eyed Quatre stepped in the room and took a seat next to Duo on the bed. "This is pretty bad for you, huh?"

"Eh, I've had worse. Don't worry about it."

"Duo…the entire world is now going to think that you are having an affair with Relena. It might not seem bad to you, but this is going to be top news for a while. They aren't going to just let this one go. This is really serious. News doesn't get much bigger than this."

"Aw, I can take care of myself. I'm really more worried about Relena than anything else. I mean, in addition to the normal stress from her job and this crap Heero is giving her, she's gotta deal with this now. That's too much for anyone. Even Wu Fei couldn't put up with this."

"It certainly must be intense for her," Quatre said with a soft smile. "It's very kind of you to be so thoughtful of her when you have yourself to think about."

"Hey, I already told you I could take care of myself. You don't seem to be taking this too well yourself."

"Well…" Quatre looked toward the floor. "I just don't understand Heero. After all this planning, all this time, even after the public announcement, he's said nothing about not wanting to get married. But now that the wedding is so close, he's being absolutely cold-blooded in his actions toward Relena. I don't understand how anyone could be that malicious! He doesn't even explain. He just basically says, 'It's over.' Even on TV!"

Duo's eyes narrowed and his hands clenched into fists. "Yeah. I can't believe him either. When I see that miserable look in Relena's eyes, I can't believe he would readily hurt her so much. Dammit! If there were just some way I could take away all that pain…"

Quatre looked back up. "You love her, don't you, Duo?"

Duo was taken aback by Quatre's question. "Er…what!?"

"You love Relena, don't you? It's kind of obvious, to me at least. What I mean to say is, you always seem to…"

"I have no idea what you're taking about," Duo interrupted him.

"Duo…"

"Man, I can't believe it. You too, huh? I guess a guy can't just be a girl's friend anymore, huh? What about you, Quatre? Are you saying this because you love her?" Duo yelled at Quatre.

Quatre looked away again. "Duo…you can tell me whatever you want to, but I know the truth."

"Yeah, well, you know what, Quatre? You can get the hell out of here right now."

Quatre sighed and despondently raised himself from his seat on the bed. "Duo…"

"Leave, Quatre. Go talk to your WNA friends."

"I'm leaving, Duo. I just want to advise you a little bit. It might not be wise to keep your emotions veiled. You never know, after all, when she will need you."

"Get the hell outta here!" Duo screamed, and Quatre stepped out the door, closing it behind him. Duo slammed his fist into his pillow as Quatre left the room.

Quatre knew.

OK, so what if he knows? It's not like anyone else could possibly know. Quatre would never tell anyone else anyway. But still, why the hell did he bring it up? And how did he find out? What if he tells Relena? No – he wants me to. Gee, I always thought that Quatre was smarter than that. He's gotta know how brainless that would be…

Relena's got Heero. He might be acting like a jackass lately, but that's not ever going to change her feelings for him. She loves him, and she always will. She'll never love me. She's like, ordained to be with him or something.

Anyway, he's better known than I am, he's much richer than I am, and he's probably more attractive to her than I am. On top of all that, they've been in a relationship for years. There's no way I even have a chance with her at all. What the hell is Quatre's problem? He should know exactly how she feels! She probably pours her heart out to him…

Holy crap.

Duo jumped off of his bead and rushed out of his room into the hallway. He thought frantically about which room was Quatre's. He took a wild guess and swung open the door. Sure enough, Quatre was sitting in a chair staring out his balcony. He turned toward Duo, a bit startled.

"Quatre…what did you mean when you said I never know when she will need me?"