I want to send a BIG THANK YOU out to my beta reader Shadowess. You're Great!!

diane: She will play a big part in this chapter. Just what, I will not say. You will have to read to find out, or email me. *big grin*

Kyra: Thanks for reading. I got my beta-reader. If you have a dislike for Relena now, wait till you read this.

Chiizu: I am sorry it took so long but I have had some delays. Right now I have hurricane lili breathing down your necks. Hope you like.

Moonlit Eyes 1x2x1: I am so happy you waited. I will try to get the chapters out faster.

And without any further delays, on to the story. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He stiffly got up to answer the door already knowing who was on the other side. Calming himself down as much as he could, he opened the door and was greeted by the sickly smiling face of none other than Relena Peacecraft.

"I have finally found you Heeroooo!" Relena latched onto Heero the second the door was open enough for her to get through. She either did not notice how tense Heero was, and the fact that he was not responding to her at all, or she choose to ignore it.

When Heero was finally able to pry her off of him, he noticed that Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei were standing in the hall looking angry, pleading, and apologetic. He could tell that they had tried to stop her, but he knew that no one could stop the pink loco when she wanted to talk to someone.

He tried to use his coldest tone of voice towards her as he spoke. "What are you doing here Relena?"

She batted her eyelashes at him in an attempt to persuade him to let her into his room with him.

"Why Heero, what do you mean? I am here to be by your side where I belong. What else would I possibly be doing here?"

At that moment, Heero was really wishing she was a guy so he could hit her. 'What is it going to take for her to see that I do not feel for her what she thinks she feels for me?' He heard Duo moving around on the bed and got an idea.

He smirk down at her and moved aside so she could follow him in his room. His smirk widened when he saw her hopeful express and wondering eyes. He walked straight towards the bed not looking back to see if Relena was following. He knew she was, and he also knew that she would be so focused on him that she would fail to see Duo on the bed until she was right next to it.

As he got closer to the bed, he noticed the confusion on Duo's face. He just smiled and winked at him. He smiled even more when Duo relaxed and smiled back. When he reached the bed, he slid under the covers with Duo and wrapped his arms around him.

They both looked at the "Queen of the World" to see her reaction. They saw disbelief and anger. "Heero, what is going on here? What are you doing cuddling with that disgraceful rat? I demand you kick that out of your bed and onto the floor were he belongs."

Relena thought she had won when she saw Duo's happy smile falter. He started to actually get out of the bed when a pair of strong arms pulled him back and held him tight. Duo looked at Heero but Heero was too busy glaring at Relena to look at him. He felt a little better that Heero was holding him in front of Relena, but what she said to him had him thinking that maybe she was right and he did not belong in the same bed as Heero.

Heero, on the other hand, was thinking nothing or the sort.

"Watch your place Relena. This is not your house, this is not your room, this is not your bed, and I am not yours so you have no right to tell me what I should and should not do. I will live my life as I see fit." His voice could have cooled hell. He wanted to get his point across as bluntly as possible.

He could see her bottom lip start to tremble and your eyes start to tear up. With a shaky voice, she tried to reason with him.

"Heero, I know you don't mean that. You must be confused right now. I will overlook this and forgive you if you leave with me now." Once again your eyes were full of hope.

And once again, that hope was crushed.

"Relena, I do not want to hurt you but I need you to see that I do NOT care for you as you care for me. My heart lies with Duo and only Duo. It always will no matter what. I think that it is time for you to leave now."

Before she left, she shot one last hopeful look at Heero. At seeing he was serious and not going to back down, she slumped in defeat. She shot Duo a calculated look before leaving them alone.

When the door shut, Heero sighed in relaxation/aggravation. There was the barest of a smile upon his lips as he turned his attention to the still quiet Duo. His face lost all signs of happiness when he saw Duo.

Duo was still thinking about what Relena had said about him. He knew he should not listen to her but the major problem about hearing the same thing over and over again is that after a while you actually start to believe it.* He sat laxly in Heero's arms, not holding him back as he had been just a short time early that morning. His head was downcast not wanting to look Heero in the eye. He was afraid of what he might see.

'After all the things he said about me to Relena, and I still doubt he is truly mine. How pathetic can I be?' When he noticed that the arms around him were not loosening, he gave up the battle with himself and returned the embrace. Duo let out a melodious sigh when his love tightened his hold on him.

"Heero, we need to talk with you for a moment. Could you step out in the hall?" Quatre's worried voice told him they had bad news for him.

"You can say what needs to be said right here." 'I am not leaving Duo right now.'

The blonde pilot was looking nervously between Heero and Duo. 'Oh Allah. Will they ever get a break?' He could not seem to find his voice at the moment. Luckily for him, his lover seemed to understand and took over.

"Heero, we have a mission. Wufei, you, and I are to destroy a mobile doll factory. We are to leave in half an hour. Total time, including prep and travel, should take no more than 14 hours."

Duo's first instinct was to cry, but he had done enough of that for the time being. His second thought was to plead with Heero not to go, but he knew he could not do that either. Wufei and Trowa had to go as well. It would not be fair for him to beg his partner to stay when Quatre could not. He knew what he had to do, but that did not mean, by any terms, he had to like it.

"Heero, it's okay. We need to remember that we are still fighting a war here. The world will not stop just because I want it to. Quatre will be here with me. All I want is for you, all of you, to come back safely. Don't take unnecessary risks."

Those once cold cobalt orbs now showed deep concern and pride for his loved one.

"Are you sure about that itooshi?" A determined "yes" made his love for the braided boy in his arms swell to unimaginable heights. He tilted his head so his lips could claim the others in a tender kiss.

The affectionate moment was shattered by a very loud rumble of a hungry stomach. The owner of said stomach blushed and looked around sheepishly.

"Um sorry guys. I guess I'm getin' my strength back. Is breakfast ready?"

The others laughed at the site Duo made at that moment. Only someone like him could smooth a tense situation like that, conscience of it or not. With the dread now mostly gone, Quatre was able to find his voice.

"Actually, we were on our way to eat when we were interrupted. Why don't you and Heero get changed and come eat with us?"

Duo laughed happily while dragging Heero to the nearest access of clothes. After a quick bathroom visit and a change of clothes, there all headed downstairs to eat breakfast. Relena's sudden appearance was not forgotten, but it was pushed out of everyone's mind for the time being.

A large breakfast was waiting for them in the dinning room. A loud rumble was heard and everyone looked at Duo in amusement, but was shocked silent when they saw him staring wide-eyed at Wing's pilot. Heero was a healthy shade of pink and refused to look at anything but the floor in front of him.

The shock evaporated by an unlikely source. "Yuy, I think you need to do that more often. Just look at the look on Maxwell's face." Wufei's comment was followed by unrestrained laughter.

Now it was Duo's turn to blush while Heero smirked at him. He just smiled sheepishly at his dark haired love and sat at the table to eat. His mouth began to water at all the delicious looking food.

The softhearted blonde giggled at the look on his friends face. "Duo, you are supposed to eat it, not drool all over it." He giggled even harder when the cheerful jester nodded his head vigorously and began to devourer the food before him.

All throughout the meal, the newly formed couple would steal glances at each other. The others were completely aware of the fact, but formed a silence agreement that no one would say anything about it, mainly because they all found the scene very endearing.

The others watched as the two would try to tease the other with a piece of food. First, Heero would stick a good-sized piece of sausage in his mouth. Then, he would slowly pull it out only to violently bite off the end. Every time he would bite, Duo would shiver.

Not one to be outdone, especially when it came to food, Duo was having his own fun. He had extra syrup on his pancakes and made sure that every time he took a bite he had to lick his mouth and fork completely clean of the rich liquid.

By the end of the meal, Heero was ready to throw Duo over his shoulder and carry him off somewhere to have his way with him. The others were ready to lock them in a closet and not let them out exhaust each other. Though, that was not to be, since they were due to leave in a few minutes for their mission.

They loaded a car from the garage with the necessary equipment. The couples were a little reluctant to part with each other. Heero wanted to make it as easy as possible.

"Duo-kun, I want you to listen and obey Quatre. I do not want to return only to find you sick again."

Duo felt his heart swell with love for the beauty in front of him. 'What God am I going to have to repay for sending you to me?'

"Don't worry Hee-chan. I promise to be a good boy."

"Guys, I am sorry to push you four but we need to go. Winner, Maxwell, take care. If Treize makes it back before we do, please info him of what is going on for me."

"Sure Fei. I will tell Treize that you are playing with your gundam again." Duo had to duck behind Quatre in order to flee from the enraged pilot of Shenlong. "I'm kiddin' Fei." Wufei made some low comment about cutting off Duo's braid then climbed in the drivers seat.

"I am leaving in twenty seconds with or without you. Now, move it." Knowing he was serious, Trowa and Heero got in the car. They watched the house and their loved ones until they vanished from sight. Everyone had the same thing on his mind, "Be careful."

Quatre and Duo watched until the car was out of sight before moving back inside. Only a few minutes after returning, a servant rushed to them asking what room should they prepare for Ms. Peacecraft. Quatre looked confused while Duo looked pale.

"What do you mean? Ms. Relena left over half an hour ago?" When the older women shook her head as a negative, Quatre began to feel worried and uneasy.

"She is in the study as we speak. She asked me to prepare a room for her. I just wanted to know which one you would prefer her in." The older lady was starting to think she had done something wrong. The two young men were looking quite upset with the news.

As expected, Quatre was the first to recover. "Oh um, any available room would be fine. Preferably an available room as far way from ours as possible."

The older women giggled and smiled in understanding. "Yes sir. Oh I almost forgot. She wanted you all to have tea with her when you were able. I do not think she knows it is just the two of you left." She left to finish her work.

"Quatre! What am I gonna do? She hates me! She doesn't want to have tea with me!" Duo was almost panicking by this point. 'The last thing I need right now is the queen of crap getting in my face.'

"Come on Duo. I know you do not want to face her but you need to. We need to tell her that the others are gone at least. I will not let her trash you. Maybe she finally realized she does not have a chance in hell with Heero." He hated to see his friends troubled.

He sighed in defeat. "Okay Q. Lets get this over with." Together they went to the study to face Relena. They hesitated at the door before entering. They found her sitting on the couch drinking tea.

She looked up at them and gave a sad smile and forced greeting. "Where are the others?"

Quatre realized he would have to do most of the talking. "They had a mission and are not due back for a day or more." 'So maybe I exaggerated a little. It is for a good cause.'

At first she looked disappointed, but she soon cheered up. "Well, in that case will you two join me for some tea? I think I owe you an apology Duo."

Shocked faces were her only response. She kind of laughed softly. Duo got a chill when she did but pushed it away. 'After all, it is not every day that the mighty Relena apologizes for something to a street kid like me.' He wanted to hear what she had to say.

He sat down and picked up a cup of tea from the platter on the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Quatre do the same. For some reason, she would not look either in the eye. Instead she looked downcast where her bangs covered the upper part of her face. Every internal alarm he had was going off. They were all saying the same thing, run. But, he chose to ignore them. He played it off as being in the company of Relena. 'Calm down. What can she do to you?'

Absently, he drank his tea and concentrated mainly on what she had to say. "First of all, I want to say I'm sorry for being as much trouble as I have been. You all must think me a fool. Well, that is in the past. My eyes are wide open. Before, I did not see what was right in front of me. Now, I can see what is best for everyone. pause Why Duo, you and Quatre do not look so well. Are you starting to feel the effects so soon? They told me it would work fast but not that fast. I am pleasantly surprised."

She put down her cup and for the first time since they started talking, she looked up. Her pupils were solid white and the blues around them were brighter than normal.* She walked over to the sluggish Duo and took his cup from him. She paid Quatre no attention, even when his cup fell to the floor from lax fingers.

She brought one hand up to caress his face while the other sat on his knee ever so slowly moving up. Her voice was no long hers. "We meet again beautiful Duo. I told you that you were mine, and I always get what I want. Soon we will be together little bishounen."

"Zechs?"

About midway through Relena's speech, Duo started to feel rather lightheaded. Her words were starting to not make much sense. He was aware that slowly her voice was becoming deeper and more masculine. He knew that voice, but his mind was so hazy he could not place it.

He was only vaguely aware of his cup being taken from his unresponsive hands or Quatre's falling completely from his. He did feel a hand on his cheek and knee. The last few sentences sank in with a bang. A cold sense of dread hit him full force. Now, he was certain whose voice that was.

"Zechs?" He knew no more. The strong arms of Morpheus had him and were not letting go. * A void of darkness was what waited for him.

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* If any of you have ever taken a psychology course, they show you how true that statement is.

* In case you have not figured it out by now, that is what happens when Zechs gets in their heads.

*Morpheus is the Greek God of dreams. We could call him Sandman.

Please review. Thanks for reading. Email me if you have any questions or comments.