THE BREAK IN CHAPTER 4

Fortunately, their getting out before dawn worked out better. That night had also been one of the worst in the their history of winters for snow and storms. Snow was piled high, nearly up to their thighs. They knew they'd have to go back that night. They couldn't stay out in the current conditions either. They could hang out in grocery stores and libraries, and the like until it was time. The temperatures were still in the zeros, so because of the winds and the amount of snow and temperatures that the girl would still be there. They also knew her parents wouldn't be for the same reasons. They formulated a plan to get in that night and were successful.

None of them had realized how much they yearned for a home until then. A real home. A warm place to come to. As the weeks passed things got easier for them. To evade the girl, to let sleep find them, and the cat got used to them. Getting in and out on time did as well, as the conditions outside became more bearable when the snow started to melt. That house was starting to feel like a home to them. They had even gotten brave enough to wash at the sink in the bath, and raid the fridge for little ,tiny morsels of food that they didn't think would be missed.

But because the family was home for several days during Christmas and New Years, they had to sleep out in the cold and the snow. On those long nights all thoughts would turn to that house and the girl inside it that in a sense they felt responsible for, to protect even though they themselves were invaders. They had learned her moods, habits, name and age. It really unnerved them when she had a friend over. A friend that Quatre found himself infatuated with. She had a shy charm and had the air he was told his mother had. But while Quatre became infatuated with the friend, Trowa seemed entranced by the girl Vanda herself. He longed for the night which was when he could hold her and for that brief time call her his. Maybe not in the truest sense, but it seemed strange to them. It was the first time Trowa had ever seemed to openly long for ANYONE or ANYTHING.

Sometimes he wished she'd wake up just so he could hear her say something directly to him, not just listen to the bits and pieces she would say out loud to herself. In fact, in some ways they ALL wished she would. She could do nothing more than have them arrested, or let them stay- let them be free to wash and eat.

Perhaps it was inevitable what happened a month later. They all knew it would eventually. Perhaps the circumstances it happened in was fated. They had expected screaming, shouting- not what happened.

All but Trowa had awakened at the usual time that morning, but found when they looked outside endless fields of white. Ice covering EVERYTHING and an extremely low visibility factor storm raged on outside.

"We can't go out in that," Duo said looking on distastefully.

"We'll die out there if we do. Your right Duo, we can't," Heero replied.

Quatre looked on as well. "What about Trowa? I mean I'm better now, but he's still real sick. We can hide easily but he can't. He's even too weak to wake up when we do and leave hurriedly. I've had to help him out of the bed the last couple days. What are we going to do?"

Heero looked out the window worried as a spray of snow hit the window- a threat to any fool who dared venture out in it. "That's a good question. What ARE we going to do?"

~~~*~~~

Vanda awoke to an unusual warmth. It was a warmth she had come to get used to at night, but was always gone before now. She laid still for a moment, then turned over on her back and stretched then suddenly stopped with a jolt. She felt a weight of something around her. Eyes wide she looked down in the direction of the weight. There was an arm around her. She turned her wide eyed gaze to her side and gasped in a mixture of fear and shock. Sleeping beside her was a man. Well not really a man, a boy to be exact. Not much older than herself she guessed. Almost a man. She sat up and delicately slid out between the covers bringing a hand to her mouth. She was scared, angry-shocked.

She watched him rustle a little in the blankets then settle down. She began to reach out to touch him but stopped. She saw how pale he was. The dark circles under his eyes. How starvingly thin his handsome face seemed and the muscular arms as well. Suddenly, all fear, shock and anger melted away. He was sick. She could tell. Also by the hollows in his face and how his boney frame was undernourished. She knew she should wake him. Tell him to leave. She should be screaming and yelling. Calling the police. But something in her was preventing her from those actions. Something was telling her to accept him. To leave him be.

She went about her room casting wary glances at the form in her bed. She allowed herself the liberty in thought by thinking it was a beautiful form in her bed. He was sweating and twisting and turning about in a restless sleep. At some point she had looked out the window and saw the storm that raged on. There was no way ANYTHING human could survive in THAT. That made up her mind on one point. This guy was staying for the time being.

In the corner on his side of the bed she spotted some unfamiliar clothing. Carefully, she walked over and picked up the garments for examination. The coat, the shirt, the jeans- all of it was old and worn out. This kid obviously hadn't a home. He was a guy from the streets. A guy up for the grabs to ANY family who'd take him. But what in heaven's name brought him here?

She shook her head and gathered up her robe, laying his clothes on the bed. She slipped the robe on and watched him some more. He seemed cold, yet he was sweating. He was mumbling something in his sleep. 'This guy needs help.' She looked at the face. 'And love. Someone needs to care about him or he'll die.' She didn't know how she knew it, but she did. She gathered up his clothes again and quietly left the room. She should wash them if he was going to be staying. As she walked in to the hall she thought she heard voices. Rounding the corner, she looked inside a guest room. For some reason it didn't surprise her to find 4 other boys there.

"What about Trowa?" she heard the blond boy ask them.

She listened carefully making assumptions about them. She only hoped she was right. All of them needed a family. 'Plus they'd be good for this household too. The war had taken so many lives. So many...'

Padding away silently after a few minutes to go downstairs she decided 3 things: 1.to call into work to find out if they had enough sense to cancel and if not to call off, 2.Cook these guys some breakfast, 3.Call an ambulance. Somehow she knew that the one called Trowa needed medical care. Immediate medical care.

She heard one of them shout," Oh my God! She's seen us!" and heard them run to the stairway. She looked up and saw 4 boys gaping at her with big eyes filled with fear.

"Go wash up. I'll cook you some breakfast. There's no way ANY of you are going out in that storm." She indicated outside.

"What about our friend? He needs help," the one with the braid said.

"I know, and I'll get him some. Now go wash up."