Seaside Laboratory

Sally Po finished her briefing, but her audience remained silent for a moment before Quatre blurted. "I don't like this!"

Duo silently agreed, and not because he wasn't in the first wave of gundams to take on the Coalition forces. He didn't mind going in to sweep up the remains with his scythe when the battle was wearing this. Colonel Nelson's plan just didn't feel right.

"I do not believe Prince Miliardo would split our force," said Wufei. "He would strike with full strength to crush them immediately."

Sally sighed. "I agree, Wufei, but Prince Miliardo is not here."

"He didn't get capture by the enemy, did he?" asked Trowa. They all looked to Duo for an answer.

"Hey! I have nothing to do with his disappearance." He threw up his hands. "Last time I saw them.."

"All right," interrupted Sally. "We don't' need to hear that story again. We may not know where he is, but we do know that when he returns, he will not be pleased."

"That is putting it mildly," said Heero. "And Noin is going to detonate when she finds out Nelson planned this attack. I don't believe she would split us up either."

"We all have to follow orders," stated Sally as she stood. "I suggest you guys get some rest. Tomorrow you will need to be wide awake."

They watched her go, then Heero said, "I can pay a visit to Relena, and while I am there I will introduce Nelson to my gun."

Duo chuckled. "You mean you would actually go to Relena?"

Heero bit his lip as he rethought his options, then said, "Maybe it's not such a good idea."

"If I had to choose between being friend by a beam cannon tomorrow and putting myself in Relena's hands for the afternoon just to avoid it…" Trow let the sentence hang, but everyone knew the conclusion.

Quatre stood. "Dorothy is expecting me tonight."

"Beam cannon or Dot?" asked Trowa.

They all responded, including Quatre, "Beam cannon."

He was still laughing as he left. Poor Quatre.

Heero looked at Trowa. "No Catherine tonight?"

"The circus is out of town."

"A pity," remarked Heero.

"Very much so," returned Trowa. Although Trowa was disappointed that the emergency kept him from performing, he wasn't too disappointed to be kept away from Catherine Bloom. Duo thought his relationship with her was even more bizarre than Quatre's with Dorothy. Either way, they both were lead around by women.

Wufei stood. "I have better things to do than sit around and talk about women."

When he had gone, Trowa and Heero laughed again. They all knew Wufei was probably going to find Sally on some ridiculous excuse of needing a review of the plans. Although they went through a lot to keep their relationship a secret, Seaside Lab was not so big a place that they could hide their private moments together. Duo had even seen them huddled together in the shadow of the Altron gundam. So Miss Po, is that appropriate?

He sighed sadly and lowered his head. What did it matter? Trynity was gone, and it seemed for good now. In the two days he had been back, Sally wouldn't hear of his search, and he knew it had to be put on hold until after this nasty business with Coalition. That was plenty of time for her to return to L10 and she might as well be on the other side of the universe. He might never see her again, and that was far worse than the possibility that tomorrow's mission might be doomed to failure.

Heero sat beside him after Trowa left. "You aren't worried about tomorrow, are you?"

Duo shook his head.

They sat together in silence for a few minutes before Heero spoke again. "You got it bad."

"Why me?" wondered Duo out loud. "Why her? Damn, but she was obnoxious! She wasn't even pretty."

"I don't know about that," commented Heero. "I never gave her a second look until the Stardust Ball. But now that I think about it, those crooked glasses were hiding some damn pretty eyes, and that smile…"

Duo laughed. "A killer smile. A guy could die for that."

Heero put his hand on his shoulder. "You could, Duo, if you don't concentrate tomorrow. As for Trynity Stryfe, when she gets over her little hissy fit, she will come slinking back here."

"What makes you so sure?"

Heero shrugged. "We are her family, aren't we?" With that, he left.

Duo also left the hanger to go for a walk on the beach, and he stopped to look at the bright, full moon. He had stood there in the sand for a long time staring up at the sky, knowing in his heart that Trynity was up there in space somewhere. Tomorrow was just a little delay before he could search for her again. No one was going to stop him. He would find Trynity Stryfe and bring her back to her new family.

"Duo?"

He turned to see Hilde standing a few feet behind him. She was holding a blanket in her arms. "What do you want?"

She shifted her feet. "I know that you are going on a mission tomorrow. Dorothy told me."

"What business is it of yours?"

She tossed the blanket so that it spread out on the sand then went to him to put her arms around him. "Duo, can't you forgive me, just a little?" She raised her face to his. "You are going to be in a lot of danger tomorrow. We might not see each other again."

"And I would consider that a bad thing?" Did she think he would kiss her?

Hilde put her hand on his cheek and rubbed her body up against him. "I would, Duo." Her fingers slid into his hair and she was pulling his head down to hers.

"Hey! Back off! Stop messing with my hair." He jerked her hand away and shoved her back.

Hilde put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot in the sand. "Why must you be so stubborn? It's not like we haven't done this before! Plenty of times!"

"You don't get it, Hilde! Get lost!"

"Is it because of Quatre?"

"Why should I care what you did with him?" Duo started to walk away. He wished she would just leave! She was spoiling his thoughts of Trynity, and making him feel lower than a dog for taking advantage of Hilde when he didn't have any feelings for her. This beach belonged to him and Trynity, and his memories should be of him and that prickly thistle girl. She had showed him a side to her that no one else had seen. He had fallen like a dead weight for her on this beach. Now he had Hilde nagging at him, reminding him that they had done the blanket hustle more than a few times. That was definitely an unpleasant memory.

"You're jealous!" Hilde was laughing.

Duo stopped. He might have to beat her senseless to get it through her head. "No, Hilde, I am not jealous." He looked at her face. "Listen! Clean out your ears! Look at me and listen to my words. I will even speak slowly so that you understand. I am not jealous. We had some fun, Hilde, but I have moved on. I'm not taking a step back to be with you. We are through. Over. Done. Finished. Washed up."

Hilde stared at him for a moment in silence, then said, "I did bring the blanket. Why let it go to waste?"

Duo threw up his hands and walked away. Women were exasperating!

She chased after him and caught him by the door to the hanger. "You aren't crying over Trynity Stryfe, are you? What do you think you owe her, anyway?"

"Owe her?" Duo poked Hilde in the middle of her forehead as he spoke to her now. "You don't get it, Hilde! You don't want to get it! What I feel for her, I never felt for you."

She stared at him blankly, then she seemed to understand, and he saw big, fat tears in her eyes. He hated it when she cried! Quickly he keyed in his code on the door of the hanger. "You never cared about me!"

"Nope!" The door didn't move. Duo tried his code again.

"After all we have been to each other, how could you do this to me?" She was sobbing hysterically.

Duo pounded on the door. "Hey, let me in!"

Hilde grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him around. "I hope you never find her! Better yet, I hope that when you do, she's already 'moved on' and treats you like you have treated me!"

The door slid open and Duo fell inside. It quickly shut, leaving Hilde swearing at him on the other side. Duo looked up to see Trowa and Heero standing over him, not bothering to hide their mischievous grins.

"That was cruel," he told them gruffly as Trowa pulled him to his feet.

"And very ugly," added Heero.

"But amusing," said Trowa.

Duo chuckled. "I suppose so! But I think I finally got through to her."

Trowa flipped on the microphone outside the door, which they had used to eavesdrop on him. They could hear Hilde.

"Duo, come back out. Please! I forgive you!"

"Crap!" Duo stomped away as Heero and Trowa laughed. He found Howard, Professor G and Sam near the Deathscythe. "Hey guys, what's up?"

Sam cut him off from his gundam. "You are not getting one step closer until tomorrow."

Howard laughed. "What he is trying to say, Duo, is that Deathscythe is ready for combat."

Duo tried to reach around Sam to touch it, but the technician slapped his hand. "Testy!" He jumped up on some supply boxes and stretched out. "I think I will stay here tonight."

Sam raised a brow. "I have no intention of falling asleep while you are down here."

Howard snorted. "Duo won't do anything. Go get some rest, Sam, and I will keep an eye on our young pilot."

Same reluctantly obeyed, but not without shooting Duo one last warning scowl before stomping away. Duo laced his hands behind his head and stared up at his gundam.

"Hey, Howard, you know how they consider ships as "she". Well, do you think gundams are shes or hes?"

Howard snickered. "I am sure I don't know. What do you think?"

Duo glanced at him. "Between you and me, I think Sandrock is a she."

Professor G snorted with laughter.

"And Altron, I am quite sure is a he." He looked across the hanger at Wufei's gundam. He caught a movement in the shadows and smiled. Wufei and Sally Po! He would have to check out what was so interesting in those shadows some time.

"Wing and Heavyarms are hes."

Howard cleared his throat. "Seems as though you have it figured out. What have you decided about your own?"

"Well, it must be a he, but the more I find out about women, the more I am thinking he might be a she."

"Thinking about a particular woman?" asked Howard although he was not really paying much attention.

"That sharp-tongued Trynity Stryfe."

"Hmm."

"She cut me in half, just like Deathscythe does my enemies."

"You seem to be in one piece," remarked Professor G. "If you aren't, perhaps you had better get it together before tomorrow."

"Hey, don't worry about me!" Duo stared up at his gundam. "I would never do anything to endanger the mission or Deathscythe." And that is why Duo thought his gundam was like Trynity. His strongest feelings had always been for his gundam, but closing his eyes now, he saw Trynity's face after he had kissed her, felt that skip of his heart when he looked into her eyes.

There were things more important than Deathscythe Hell.