Elise sat on her bed, trying to concentrate on the new novel she had bought and was trying to read. However, her thoughts kept wandering over to the Ball earlier that night. After Duo had told her he had a crush on her still, Quatre had interrupted saying that he was saving the last dance for her.

"I never did get to dance with Duo." Ellie sighed to herself. She closed her book, realizing that it was pointless to even try to concentrate. Hugging her pillow, Ellie let the thought and memories come flooding in at will.

"I wonder why I feel so…happy about knowing that Duo actually likes me… I mean, a few years ago I would have probably gagged, and then tried to kill him…" Ellie was too busy contemplating this to notice Quatre standing at her door.

"Ellie? can I come in?" Quatre's voice startled her from her thoughts.

"Oh Quatre! Sure, why not." She said with a smile. Quatre looked at her pajama's.

"Comfy are we?"

"Why yes oh masterful Quatre, You, the best host in world, has overcome the basic rules of politeness and made my accommodations exquisite." Ellie sarcastically said with a curtsy. (which was hard seeing as she was sitting on her bed) Quatre smirked as he walked in and sat beside her on the bed.

"So, what do you think of the guys?"

"um…" She didn't want to let on that she had feelings for Duo, even though she thought Quatre probably knew. "They were nice, Sally was very pretty, and it was great to see Trowa again." Quatre smiled evilly.

"and what about the others? Did you like them as much?"

"Damn! He knows! Um…ok don't let on Ellie just don't let on" Ellie thought frantically to herself. "Uh… Heero was a little quiet…"

"But then he always is." Quatre interrupted.

"um…Wufei was nice, didn't he used to be sexist?" Ellie said trying to get Quatre off the subject.

"Yes, but Sally's turned that around." Quatre's evil grin grew wider.

"Good for her, you know I hate sexist people. It bugs me so mu.."

"What about Duo?" Quatre interrupted.

"Duo? He's… nice" Ellie said weakly.

"You like him don't you. I saw you out on the balcony." She was defeated.

"Fine, yes I do I like him very much." Ellie said with a sigh, no turning back now.

"He likes you too you know."

"I know."

"Ah…so what are you going to do about it?" Ellie looked up at Quatre startled.

"What…what are you getting at?" She asked looking into his eyes.

"oh well you know…you like him, he likes you…should be simple right?" Quatre shrugged.

"Ah…I see. So you want me to waltz up to him, profess my love, and say 'Yo Duo! Wanna get married?' sorry quatre, it doesn't work that way." Ellie said sarcastically.

"why not?" Quatre asked countering her gaze.

"uh…" Ellie never thought of that. Why not? Why can't it work that way?

"it just doesn't. besides, I don't want to commit now, marriage is so boring. The most I would want is a date."

"Why don't you ask him. You of all people Ellie shouldn't be a traditionalist and wait for him to ask you."

"uh…well, Why can't he do it? He seems confident enough. If he likes me so much why can't he do it?" Ellie covered. She wasn't a traditionalist. She just…would rather he do the dirty work.

"He's not THAT confident Ellie. Frankly, I think the thought of asking you out frightens him. You know you're stronger mentally, you can take the "fear" of asking him out. So why don't you do it?"

"damn, Quatre's surrounded me…" Ellie thought to herself.

"hmm…well, I guess I could.." She said unsurely. "Well, why not?" She said with more confidence and a smile. "but uh, Quatre? where would we go? we're in the middle of nowhere when it come to movie theaters and restaurants."

"oh yeah…well you could always go on a picnic?" Quatre said shrugging as he stood up.

Ellie thought about that. "hmm…good idea Quatre! I'll ask him tomorrow."

"Now THAT'S my confident little cousin. Trust me, rejection in his case, is NOT an option. Goodnight." Quatre left closing the door.

"hmmm…tomorrow I'm going on a picnic with Duo…hehehe maaarvelous!" Ellie turned off her light and went to sleep.

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The next day Elise was up early to mentally prepare herself for the "asking out" she had never done this before, so she stood in front of a mirror, like she'd seen in the movies, practicing what she would say.

"Hey Duo, you're looking sexy, want to come on a little "adventure" with me?" Ellie said staring cockily into the mirror.

"no! no! Too much cheese." Ellie mentally scolded herself.

"Hello duo, want to come on a picnic with me? I'm sure it would be fun." Ellie said dropping her voice to a low sexy tone and flipping her hair.

"NO! not me! It's not me. He likes me for me, so um… I gotta be Ellie, not anybody else. Just me." Ellie looked at her watch. "SHIT! I better go make that basket now or I won't have time!" Ellie ran down to the kitchen and packed a massive lunch into a wicker picnic basket. Leaving it on the table, she went in search for Duo, So she could do one of the toughest things she's ever done, ask him out. She found him sitting on the stairs in the east part of the mansion. All her practicing went out of her head as she saw his face looking gloomily down at the floor.

"Um…Hey Duo. Why so down?" She asked cocking her head to the side. Duo looked up, when he realized it was her his eyes brightened.

"Nothing important." He said standing up.

"Oh, ok. Um, Duo? I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come on a picnic with me? I know how much you like to eat, and I packed a huge lunch. So how 'bout it?" She looked at the ground and waited for his answer.

"Why not?" He said smiling. Ellie looked up at him and smiled.

"Sure! I'll go get the basket and…"

"Uh Ellie, You do know it's raining outside right?" Duo interrupted her.

"Uh…raining?" Ellie said looking at him trying to see if it was a joke.

"yeah. Here I'll show you." Duo took her hand and lead her to a window. When Ellie looked out she saw that it was pouring. She swore under her breath. Looking back out at the rain, she started to feel her eyes welling up. She had never cried over something as silly as rain, in fact she loved the rain, but for some reason, the rain seemed to signify the end for her.

"Oh Duo!" She turned and buried her face in his shirt as she let go of her tears. Duo was surprised. He'd never seen a girl cry about the rain before.

"uh Ellie? " He whispered at her shaking form.

"It's all ruined! My whole picnic is ruined!" She wailed. Duo put his arm around her. Ellie felt so safe in his arms, and he smelled so good that she forgot about the rain.

"We, can always have a picnic inside." Duo said stroking her hair. Ellie looked up. She had never thought of that.

"oh." She felt so foolish, crying over the rain.

"Sure we can. In the library, I know you love to hang out there." Duo said with a smile as he wiped away one of her stray tears with his finger.

"ok," Ellie looked down at her feet. "I feel so dumb about crying over this, I never usually do. I just was so disappointed. I had planned everything out, and then it had to rain."

Duo took her hand. "Don't feel stupid, It sucks that it's raining, and I would be pretty upset too if I planned an entire picnic and it got rained out."

"yeah, I guess so." Ellie looked up and smiled. "Let's go have a picnic then!" They ran off to the kitchen and Duo carried the basket to the library.

"How much did you pack? Damn this is heavy." Duo said as he dropped the basket on the table in the library.

"I told you I pack big lunches." Ellie smiled. It was all going to plan. They unpacked the food, and chowed down.

"This is delicious! How'd you learn how to cook like this?" Duo said in between mouthfuls of food.

"I dunno, I picked it up here and there I guess." Ellie shrugged. She was glad he was enjoying it. When they finished, they packed up and sat on the floor.

"That was fun. I've never had a picnic inside before." Ellie said looking over at duo who was lying on his back.

"Really? You've never had a picnic inside before? You need to live a little Ellie!" Duo said looking up at her.

"Hey! I do live a lot! I bet I've done more than you have!" Ellie said throwing a pillow at him.

"Yeah well I'm sure you have." Duo said sarcastically. "But I'm also sure, that I can think of crazier things to do than you can."

"Yeah right Duo, Like you can think." Ellie said with an evil smirk.

"Come here!" Duo jumped up at her and Ellie dodged him giggling. She ran behind the chair, trying to keep it in between her and a smirking Duo.

"Poor, poor Duo, can't think of a good comeback so he has to resort to violence." Ellie said sarcastically shaking her head. Duo made a lunge for her but she dodged it and headed for the door.

"You can run but you can't hide!" Duo yelled as he jumped up on the table and ran along beside her, trying to get to the door before she did. He beat her and stood with his arms outstretched blocking the door. Ellie was running so fast she couldn't stop and collided right into Duo. They fell to the floor laughing as Duo clamped his arms around her.

"Now you'll never get away." He said touching his nose to hers.

"Who would ever say I wanted to?" Ellie smiled. Duo leaned in and kissed her. When he pulled away he smirked evilly at Ellie.

"We gotta do this again sometime" He said smiling.

"Yeah, sounds like fun." Ellie smiled back.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Both Ellie and Duo jumped. They stood and Duo opened the door. It was Quatre's butler.

"Master Quatre requests both your presence's at the moment." Duo and Ellie looked at each other and smiled.

"Sure whatever the master wants." Duo said sarcastically and they both followed the butler to Quatre's sitting room.

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