Disclaimer: Somewhere I got the idea in my head that I owned all the copyrights to Gundam, but I was sadly mistaken.

**:Song Lyrics; 'Can't get you off my mind' by Lenny Kravitz


Back to You
Chapter 5

Duo walked out of the bathroom and headed straight for the wall calendar tacked to the wall next to his bed. The fluffy blue towel hung loosely on his hips, his long hair dripping water along his path. He smiled as he remembered the way Hilde would yell at him for ruining the hard wood floor of the bedroom by letting his hair air dry instead of using the blow dryer like 'normal' people. She'd stand in the doorway, hands on her hips, eyes ablaze and her cheeks pink with anger, but he always turned her his patented puppy eyes and she'd end up throwing her hands in the air and walking away, muttering to herself.

Picking up the black marker on the nightstand, Duo put a huge X through the previous day. So far, Hilde had been on Venus for nearly two months. The smile partly died from his face as he thought about the past two months. The longer she stayed on Venus, the dimmer his hope grew that she would return to him. His eyes lingered over the calendar, noticing the day was circled. Tonight would be their weekly call; Duo's credits this time. He looked forward to these marathon conversations they had every Monday night.

Moving away from the calendar, Duo tossed the towel into the clothes hamper and made his way to the dresser. He quickly pulled out a pair of black boxer shorts followed by a pair of black jeans and slipped them on. Before moving to the closet to grab his shirt, Duo headed over to the CD player and pushed the play button, not caring what CD was loaded. Music filled the room as Duo began to braid his hair.

*Life is just a lonely highway
I'm out here on the open road
I'm old enough to see behind me
But young enough to feel my soul
I don't wanna lose you baby
And I don't wanna be alone
Don't wanna live my days without you
But for now I've got to be without you*

'Talk about your coincidence.' Duo thought as he placed the rubber band at the end of his long braid. Swing the heavy braid back over his shoulder; he made his way to the closet, singing along to the lyrics.

*I've got a pocket full of money
And pocket full of keys that have no bounds
But then I think of lovin'
And I just can't get you off of my mind

Babe can't you see
That this is killing me
I don't want to push you baby
And I don't want you to be told
It's just that I can't breathe without you
Feel like I'm gonna lose control*

Tugging the red turtleneck off the hanger, Duo smirked as he listened to the words he was singing. He wondered if the songwriter knew how close to home those lyrics landed when they put pen to paper. While the chorus rang out in the background, Duo pulled the shirt over his head and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. He didn't want to push Hilde into making a decision, but he needed to know, if she was ever coming back to him. The little patience he had was hanging by a thread.

*Am I a fool to think that there's a little hope
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Tell me baby, yeah
What are the rules the reasons and the do's and don'ts
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Tell me baby tell me baby, yeah
What do you feel inside? *

Switching off the music, Duo grabbed his jacket from the behind the door and headed downstairs; greeted by the smell of fresh brewed coffee. 'Thank god for technology. Who ever invented a timer on coffee makers should be made king of the world.' Grabbing a cup down from the shelf, Duo poured himself a cup. As he took his first taste of the strong coffee, a knock at the back door grabbed his attention. "Come on in, Howard. It's open."

Howard strolled into the kitchen; sunglasses still perched on his nose, his awful Hawaiian shirt screaming loudly in the neutral colored kitchen. Under his arms was tucked a signature pink, orange and white box.

"Trade you a doughnut for a cup of coffee."

"You've got a deal!" Duo pulled down another cup from the shelf. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

Howard took a bite of the plain glazed doughnut as Duo handed him the coffee.
"We have that huge shipment to deliver around 11:00am and a couple of conference calls after that. Why you got a hot date tonight or something?"

Flashing Howard a huge smile, Duo laughed. "Of course I do. It's Monday, remember?" Duo reached into the box and pulled out a powder-sugared doughnut.

"So when's that girl coming home?"
"I plan on asking her tonight." Duo answered before he stuffed the rest of the pastry in his mouth.

Howard pushed away from the counter. "You ready for some hard work?"

"Not really, but someone's got to pay the bills." Grabbing another doughnut out of the box, Duo followed Howard out of the house and toward the scarp yard.

****************

'It's only 2:00pm. Could the day go any slower?'

Hilde rubbed her temples as she stared at the computer screen. The notes she had been working on had started to run together. Turning away from the screen, she lounged back in the office chair, closing her eyes, trying to fight the headache forming at the back of her eyes.

It had only been two months since she moved to Venus and she still wasn't sure if she regretted the move or not. She hadn't learned anything more about herself, except the fact she hated living alone. Every once and while she could swear she could hear Duo's laughter coming from the living room, but she knew it was her mind playing tricks on her.

But she had learned a lot about politics, most of the things would never be found in college textbooks or discovered with internships. Working for the Minister of Interspatial Affairs was turning out to be one hassle of a job. The arrogant man would shun her ideas in office meetings, but pass of her ideas later as his own. After the third time that happened, Hilde learned to keep her ideas and opinions to herself. While Minister Richview had 'closed door' meetings with the newest intern, Hilde found herself preparing his speeches and doing all of his work. At times, she felt she was the one negotiating with disputing factions, since she was the one who wrote out the 'Plans of Action'. The man was the walking definition of the word 'sloth'.

Sighing in disgust, she allowed her head to roll to the side. Opening her eyes, she smiled at the gold star that sat on the calendar. 'Today's Monday!' While most people dreaded Mondays, Hilde found them to be her favorite day of the week. Counting the three-hour time change in her head, Hilde realized that it was only 11:00am on L2. Meaning Duo was out and about in the scrap yard trying to dictate orders to the workers. She giggled. Duo had never been good at job assignments with shipments; thank god Howard was there to help him out.

Hilde pushed away from her desk and headed over to the community coffee machine. Pouring herself a glass of the fresh coffee, she thought back to the times when she was the happiest. College was great, she had been able to meet and make new friends and learn at a prestigious university. But her happiest times we all on L2, with Duo. Lately, she had been thinking about going back and trying to find a job there, to be closer to him. But part of her pride wouldn't let her. She nursed the cup of coffee as she strolled back to her desk. Setting it down beside the computer, she turned her attention back to her work.

"Schbeiker!"

The sudden interruption caused Hilde to turn toward the communication link, knocking over her cup of coffee in the process. "Yes, sir." She stated as she picked up a napkin, desperately trying to clean up the coffee that sat in her lap.

"Have you finished the notes for the meeting with the delegate from the Nova sector yet?"

Biting her tongue, Hilde tried to sound as polite as possible. "Not yet, sir. But it will be done by the end of the day."

"It better be on my desk within the hour."

Hilde's nails dung into her hands as she answered him. "Yes, sir."

The communication link went dead. Sighing, she threw the napkin in her trashcan, glared at the stain in her skirt and turned back to her computer counting the hours until 9:00pm.

****************

Duo stood on the pile of scrap metal, dictating orders to the best of his ability. Through the walkie-talkies, he was able to maintain contact with all the men in the yard.

So far, things were moving like clockwork. The transport arrived at 11:00am, and the team was ready and waiting to load the order. The GWR Corp. was one of their best customers, so everybody made sure that they gave 120%, knowing if the got the order out earlier than expected there would be bonuses in their next paychecks.

He glanced down at his clipboard, looking over the order notes that Howard had prepared earlier this morning. Duo chuckled as he scanned over the notes again. They were nearly the same exact notes that Hilde prepared before big orders. Duo wondered if Howard had a copy of all the order notes Hilde had ever made hidden somewhere in his office.

"How are things moving down there, Howard?"
"We've got about 45% already loaded. As normal, we are ahead of schedule by 15%."
"That's music to my ears." Duo grinned as he broke the link with Howard and switched the channel to talk to the foreman on the retrieval side. "Hey Riley, how's it going on your end?"
"Well, since I told the guys you were buying the first round, they've really stepped up the pace."
"Hey! I don't remember mentioning that!"

Laughter cut across the walkie-talkie. "No, you didn't. But it has been a great motivator for..." The yard was filled with an eerie noise, one that hadn't been heard before.

"Riley, What the hell is going on?"
"The main magnet is losing power! We're trying to switch it over to the secondary power conduit now!"

Duo took off running. In all the years, they had been in business; there had never had any mechanical failures or injuries. Hoping from pile to pile of scrap metal, Duo finally made it over to the area where Riley's men were stationed.

Clamping his hands around his mouth, Duo screamed at the top of his lungs. "Everybody, get out of the area, NOW!" From his perch above, he watched as the workers scattered, running away from the huge magnetic crane and the debris that was barely hanging from it. The only person who stayed behind was Riley, trying desperately to change the power source.

"Duo, it's no good. I can't get it done fast enough!"
"I don't care, Riley. Just get your ass out of the way!"

Riley ran from the crane, motioning for the workers to continue to move farther away from the site. A breathless voice cracked over the radio. "Everybody's out of the way, Duo."

"Any injuries?"
"None."

The noise of shifting metal alerted them that the power had finally been cut to the main magnet. Duo watched as tons of metal came crashing back down to the yard floor. The impact of the metal caused the pile of scrap that he was standing on to shift and become unstable. Parts and piece of metal began to shift forward, throwing Duo off balance.

"Riley, get everyone out of the way of Pile A5. It's become unstable."
"Duo, get down from there!"

He quickly turned and walked gingerly across the shifting metal. As he got closer to stable pile, the pile started to break away from under his feet. Duo tried to push himself off the pile, but his foot became lodged in a soft spot in the pile. The workers watched in horror as the pile of scrap gave way under their boss's feet and he fell toward the ground, under a wave of scrap metal.

****************

Hilde sighed as she looked at the clock. '4:00pm.' She was over her deadline by an hour. She finished placing the notes into sheet protectors, knowing that the Minister would get something on them otherwise. Snapping the binder's rings into place, Hilde made her way to his office. Of course, the door was shut. She knocked loudly and nearly screamed through the door.

"It's Schbeiker, sir. I have completed the notes on the meeting with the delegate from the Nova sector."

She didn't need to put her ear to the door to hear the ensuing conversation on the other side. They were being loud enough for the whole office to hear. Hilde tried to ignore them, but when Rachel's whiny voice made reference to her bra hanging from the ceiling fan, she couldn't help but laugh. Maybe one day, she should call up Richview's wife and tell her to stop by about 3:30 in the afternoon.

Hilde nearly fell into the office as the door she was standing next to was thrown open. The Minister was still tucking in his shirt as he glared down at her. She held the binder out to him and had her arm nearly ripped out of its socket when he snatched it away from her. He grunted at her, as a dismissal, and headed back into his office, slamming the door behind him. Hilde raised her middle finger to the door, hoping to vent some of her frustration. She had the extreme urge to punch something all of a sudden.

Pushing her shoulders up straight, she headed down the corridor back to her cubical. Flouncing down in her chair, Hilde laid her head on the desk praying that the next hour would fly by.

"Hilde, there's a long distance phone call for you." Marie's sweet voice came across the intercom. Her brows came together as a puzzled look crossed her face.

"Who's the call from, Marie?"
"Some guy calling himself Howard."

A genuine smile lit up on Hilde's face. 'He's probably having problems with the order notes I sent him.' She giggled as she pictured both Duo and Howard trying to figure out her shorthand. "Sure Marie, go a head and patch him back here."

Hilde turned to face the screen as it lit up, Howard's face appearing before her. "So what's it this time? Unable to decipher my shorthand, or are you running behind on the GWR shipment and need some ideas on how..." The rest of her questions died on her lips as she took her first good look at Howard.

He wasn't sitting at his desk in the office. The décor was too bright to be their offices. But the thing that actually grabbed her attention was Howard's eyes. For the first time since they met, Howard wasn't wearing his sunglasses.

"Howard?"

Howard ran his hands over his face before turning he attention back to the vid-screen. "Hilde, there's been an accident."

Her hands shot up to cover the gasp that escaped her mouth. Tears started to fall down her cheeks. "Duo?"

Howard tucked one hand behind his neck, as if trying to find the right words. "The main magnet crane lost power in the process of moving a load. Riley tried to bring the auxiliary power online, but it didn't work. Duo had run over to the site and was dictating orders from one of the nearby piles. When the power finally gave out, the load fell, causing a couple of the nearby piles to become unstable. Duo was standing on one of those piles and..."

"Howard, where is Duo? Is he alright? TELL ME!" Hilde grabbed the sides of the vid-screen, holding on for support as her body shook with silent sobs.

Howard looked at the heartbroken girl on the other side of the screen. "He's been brought to St. Michael's hospital on L2. They still have him back in the ER. They are worried about some internal bleeding, and collapsed lungs." He paused and deeply sighed before continuing. "The doctors haven't been able to give me an update on his condition yet."

Hilde felt the breath catch in her chest. Duo was hurt, bad from the way that Howard was describing things. Images of Duo, carefree and laughing, assaulted her as she tried to regain her composure. "I'm catching the next available shuttle to L2. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Do you want me to send one of the guys to pick you up?"
"No. Have them finish the order and then send them home for the day. Close the shop for tomorrow, but let the guys know, they'll get paid."
"Alright, Hilde."

She watched as the vid-screen went blank. Grabbing her purse and jacket, Hilde ran out of her cubical and headed toward Richview's office. The door was open so she walked inside.

"Minister Richview, there's been an emergency and I'm afraid that I have to take a couple of personal days."

Richview stuck his hand in the air, a silent command for her to wait until he was finished. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him review the notes she had written. Finally, he looked up at her. "What's this about needing personal days?"

"A friend of mine has been injured in an accident and it's important that I get to L2 as soon as possible."
"A friend? Not a member of your immediate family or your spouse?"
"No, sir. But he's the most important person in the world to me."

He chuckled. "So it's a male friend." His eyes roamed over her. "Sorry, Schbeiker, but you haven't cleared these personal days with me before hand. And who knows that you aren't leaving here to go have a mini-vacation with your 'friend'." He suggestively added.

Hilde stared at him in utter shock that was becoming clouded with rage. "Fine. I won't take personal days, but I am still going." She turned on her heel and started out of his office.

A hand shot out and grabbed her upper arm before she had crossed the threshold. "If you leave this office, you can consider yourself fired."

He had thrown the ultimatum directly in her face. Her job or Duo. Without a second thought she pulled herself from his grasp and smiled. "Fine. I quit!"

Hilde watched his jaw slacken before she calmly walked out of the office. She headed over to her desk, pulling down only the few personal touches she had added to her workspace. Grabbing the nearby empty recycling box, Hilde put everything into the box. She turned to find Richview standing in her way, the rest of the office gathered around behind him to watch the confrontation.

"Don't expect any glowing letters of recommendations from me." He shot at her.

She let his cheap shot at an insult roll of her back. Hilde smirked as she ducked under his arm and slipped passed him. "Don't expect to last another 6 months in office without me."

Richview's face turned a purplish-red color before he stalked off to his office. As his door slammed shut, the office was filled with the sound of applause. Hilde smiled as she realized she was free. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest. After three years, she was still the same person. Hilde hadn't needed to find herself after all; she just needed to be reminded of whom she really was.

With her box tucked under her arm, Hilde headed out of the office. When she reached the main door to the office, she paused at Marie's desk. "Before, I go, Minister Richview asked me to call his wife and set up a private meeting in his office at 3:30pm tomorrow. Since, I'm in a hurry, do you mind placing the call?"

Marie gave her an innocent look that was completely destroyed by the devilish turn of her lips. "I'll make sure she gets the message. Good Luck, Hilde." Though her friend hadn't heard her wishes. Hilde was already stepping into the elevator.