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Dream Keeper: Well folks, standard yada. I do not own Gundam Wing. *Sniffs* I wish I did but I don't. The G-boys and girls belong to their respectable owners. I am just using them for this twisted fic. I promise to return them, only slightly worse for the wear when we're through with them.

Christa: Okay, here is the next chapter. We got tired of waiting on y'all so we gave up. We hope you enjoy it. Don't know how long it's gunna be or how good. We're having a bad day so there's not telling who we're gunna kill! *evil laugh* Anywho, ON WITH THE FIC!

Dream Keeper: Oh, and we have no idea how to describe skating (nor do we know anything about it really!) and we're terrible about high wire scenes, so please! No killie!

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Alex woke up to the sun shining through the blinds right into her eyes. With a groan she rolled over and tried to pull the covers over her head. They were snatched away quickly and she groped blindly for them, trying in vain to recover her lost warmth.

"Sorry, I don't think so. We've got plenty of stuff to do today and it's too nice a day to sleep in," Trowa said in a cheery voice.

"I so wish I could kill you," she muttered into her pillow. The words were garbled, but he understood the intent behind them.

"You'll have to get out of bed before you can do that sunshine. Get up." With that he walked away. taking her blanket with him. She contemplated crawling into his bed for a moment but dismissed the idea quickly. People would get the wrong idea _again_ and she didn't want to deal with it. So that meant dragging her lazy bones out of bed.

"God I wish it was raining."

~*~

Half an hour later she was outside helping to set up for that night's performance. They were trying out two new acts and she was in one of them so she had double the work to do. Not only did she have to practice and help Trowa feed the animals, but Cathy wanted her to play target again. On top of that, Jamal was coming by again after the show.

The work never ends around here but I guess that's what makes it fun, she thought as she rigged the tightrope. Out of habit she double-checked EVERY wire to make sure none were loose or frayed. She'd do it again right before the show, just in case. No need to take chances when simple caution will keep accidents from happening, she thought.

"Hey, Alex, come play target, will you?" Cathy shouted to her over the noise of the tent.

"Sure thing Cathy," she shouted back. On her way over to her though a cocky young man came up behind her and put his arms around her, his hands landing perfectly on her breasts.

"Want to go out with me tonight?" he asked slyly before her fist smashed into his mouth. He stepped back a pace or two, releasing her and she took the opportunity to introduce his nose to the heel of her hand, breaking it instantly. He fell to the ground crying out in pain. He went still when she stepped forward and placed her foot very precariously between his legs and put a little of her weight on that foot.

"You might try being a gentleman next time you try to get any girl to go out with you. It might get you better results, and you should try to learn some manners. Some girls don't appreciate being fondled. This was just a warning by the way. You'll get worse if you ever touch me again. Got it?" She leaned a little more weight on her foot and he readily agreed. Alex nodded and started to walk away.

The young man struggled to his feet, with the aid of two of his friends and shouted after her, "Why should anyone treat you like a lady? Aren't you just a little hussy like the rest of 'em? You're probably even sleeping with that guy you're living with. What's his name, the freak that doesn't talk? Or are you one of his byblows? I'm sure he's got several and you look an awful lot like him. Or did your family just not want you because you're such a freak, like him? Do they hate you just for living?"

Alex lost all of her control and jumped at him. A very rough fistfight followed that involved several people and lasted for a few minutes despite the fact that several adults tried to break up the melee. Trowa finally waded in to fish out his charge and put an efficient stop to the fight.

"What is going on here?!" he demanded, his voice dangerously calm, his eyes flashing.

Alex met his hard stare and refused to look away as she answered. "What the hell does it look like, Trowa? It's a fistfight. I'd appreciate it if you would unhand me so I can get back to teaching this pond scum a lesson!" Trowa looked at them for the first time since he'd come and his eyes widened in surprise. All three men were bleeding from various injuries ranging from split lips, to broken noses. One of them was even clutching his wrist, which was hanging at an odd angle.

"I don't think so. You've done more harm to them than they have to you. Who was helping you?" he asked, knowing she couldn't have done that much damage on her own.

"I didn't have any help."

"What is the meaning of this?!" the manager yelled as he came running up. When he caught sight of the men he stopped dead in his tracks. "Who did this?" he demanded. All three pointed to Alex. "Alex, what in gods name gave you the right to do this?!"

Alex said nothing for a moment as she matched him glare for glare. Finally the manager looked away and she spat at her opponents' feet. "I'm nobody's byblow," she growled as she stalked off.

The manager's mouth dropped open when he understood exactly what had been meant. It nearly touched the ground when other members of the circus told him exactly what had happened. Trowa left when he started yelling at the young men, saying something about them never working at the circus again.

Trowa found Alex sitting outside the trailer in the shade of a nearby tree, with her head buried in her hands. "Are you okay?" he asked her. When she looked up her eyes held a strange light to them and when she spoke her voice was painfully under control.

"What do you want?"

"I came to find out if you were okay," he said simply.

"Oh, so you're not going to tell me that fighting is wrong, and that I shouldn't have been doing it? You're not going to tell me that I'm not allowed to go anywhere because I beat up some innocent jerks? You're not going to tell me that I'm going to be fired?" her voice lowered to a mere whisper and she asked, "You're not going to tell me to leave?"

Trowa fought back the urge to laugh and sat down beside her. "From your first questions, I take it you talked to Happy?" She nodded and he continued. "I can understand part of the reason you did what you did, for them calling you a bastard, but you shouldn't fight anyway." He held up his hand to forestall any arguments. "You're not in trouble and I couldn't punish you even if I wanted to. You're your own person and you will do what you think is right at the time. I don't ask any more then that you think about your actions from now on before you do something.

"I don't think you're going to be fired. The manager looked more upset with those guys than the fact that you were fighting. Actually, he even let me back into the circus when I nearly destroyed it."

"I remember," she said softly.

"You were there? Hmm. interesting. Anyway, so he won't fire you."

"You're still going to kick me out though, aren't you," she stated more than asked. She looked away, towards the bustling people setting up for the night's show.

"No, I'm not. I have no reason to do that, nor have you ever given me reason."

"Are you serious?" she asked, daring to hope he wasn't playing with her.

"Have I ever lied to you?" he asked her.

She looked at him again, her eyes searching his for an answer. "No, you haven't," she said finally. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You should know by now that we owe you everything."

"I should hope that's not the only reason you're letting me stay," she said bitterly.

"No, I'm doing it out of kindness and because I want to. You're an enchanting girl when you want to be. You just need to learn to live a normal life where you don't have people shooting at you or betraying you whenever you turn around."

"I think I am learning how to trust again. I hope you'll forgive me if I still seem a little distant."

"It's fine," he assured her. "Ask Cathy. I was the same way."

Alex laughed for a moment. "I never thought I'd hear you willingly admit that." Then she sobered again. "They were right you know."

"Right about what?" he asked, unsure of what she meant. "You're not anyone's byblow and you know it."

"No, that's not all they said. They accused me of only being here because my family hated me because I acted like you, and because they just plain hate me. They hate me just for living."

"Like me?" he asked, slightly hurt.

"Not like you," she corrected. "Like you used to."

Trowa tried to think of something to say to her to comfort her, but he couldn't think of a single thing to say. "You are here because they hate you right now, but you have to remember that they really don't have grounds to."

"After what I said to them? Maybe most of them don't have grounds to hate me, but Heero? After all I said to him?"

"I think Heero would forgive you if he understood what you are doing. Personally the reason I think he held you at arms length is because you remind him so much of all of us when we were younger. He's afraid to let you got close to anyone because he remembers exactly how hard it was to live from day to day on a mi-," Alex put her hands over his lips and gave him a warning look.

"Be careful what you say," she told him as she stood up and stretched.

"Where are you going?" he asked, surprised at her sudden mood swing. One minute she was sad and looked, to him at least, like she was on the verge of tears, and the next she was perky and happy. "And what is up with the sudden mood swing?"

She turned back around and looked at him. "Cathy needed a target and I walked off without complying. Now I'm going back to help her and to beg for mercy," she said simply before turning around again and starting to walk off.

"And the mood swing?" he prompted.

"It's my defense, Trowa. If I can't handle something at a specific point in time, I pretend it never happened," she told him without turning around. "It's worked for me this long. I can handle being sub-human for a little longer if it means saving everyone. Just let me deal with my problems in my own way." Before he could reply she took of at a run, headed for the tent where she'd last seen Cathy.

~*~

Trowa looked out the window of the trailer an hour later to catch a glimpse of Alex walking towards the door. Something looked wrong, but he couldn't place it until she walked in. Her face was frozen in a calm mask, but behind it pain raged and anger seethed. A bloody rag was clutched to her shoulder and from between her fingers peeked-

"Damn! Alex, what happened?!" Trowa cried, leaping up from his place at the table and rushing over towards her. Gently he steered her towards the bathroom and bade her to sit down on the rim of the bathtub. Carefully he pulled the bloody rag away from the wound and looked at it.

"Cathy hit me, what the hell does it look like?" she growled.

"What's going on?" Quatre asked, coming out from the bedroom as soon as he was sure that Alex hadn't brought anyone else with her. "Oh my god!" he said, coming over to her. Trowa, who needed room to work, frowned at him and he backed out of the bathroom. "What happened?" he asked. He was forced to wait for an answer because right then Trowa grasped the hilt of the knife buried in Alex's shoulder and pulled it from the wound.

Alex, who'd been doing quite well to hold off the pain, screamed as the knife was pulled from her shoulder and slumped forward, gasping for breath. Blood poured forth from her shoulder and Trowa was quick to apply pressure to it.

"Oh, fuck! She is never using me as a dummy again!" Alex swore as she blinked back tears. "Ouch. Shit, this hurts." Trowa, for once, saw fit to ignore her cursing.

The door of the trailer banged open and shut again and before anyone could react Cathy came running towards them. "Alex, I am so sorry I-," her words were choked off when she caught sight of Quatre standing there. Her eyes became wide with shock and she tried to run from the trailer but Quatre was quicker. He reached out and, just before she reached the door, grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth.

"It's okay Catherine. Please calm down. I know I'm not your favorite person in the world, but you have to stay quiet, okay?" he asked as he lead her over to chair. "I'm going to let go now, but if you scream, we're going to have to gag you. Understand?" Cathy nodded and Quatre slowly took his hand away from her mouth.

"Trowa, what in gods name is going on here? I thought he was dead?" A yelp of pain met her ears and the sound of ripping cloth. "What's going on in there?"

"Tie it a little more gently, please!" Alex snapped when Trowa tightened the bandage too quickly.

"Sorry," he replied as he tied it off and stepped out of the bathroom. "To answer your question, Cathy, some people were trying to kill Quatre and we deemed it necessary to let everyone think he was dead while we work on finding out who his would be killer is."

Alex immerged from the bathroom then and Cathy started apologizing like a mad woman. Alex finally held up a hand, bringing her mad gibbering to a stop. "What's done is done, Cathy. I'm a little annoyed to have a hole in me today of all days, but I guess that's life. I'll just have to be extra careful tonight and if it hurts too bad I'll tell someone so they can take my place," she said when she received a glare from Trowa. "Just why the hell did you feel inclined to skewer me with a knife anyway?" she felt she had the right to ask.

"I didn't mean to, I swear. You just got this really odd look in your eyes like you wanted to die, or were thinking about your own death, or something. It scared me and the knife slipped when I threw it. I should have learned the first time not to loose concentration, but I guess hurting Trowa didn't teach me anything."

"Oh, I guess I won't let my mind wander anymore when I'm mad then. Okay," Alex said as she walked over to one of the cabinets and tried to reach the aspirin. She couldn't reach it and she couldn't stretch well to get it, so Trowa went over and helped her. "Damn, this is annoying," she complained after swallowing the pills.

"Language," Trowa reminded her.

"Be nice to me today. I deserve a little bit of respite. I _hurt_ and not just from Cathy."

"Part of that's your own fault," Trowa reminded her, but resigned himself to let her curse at least for the rest of the day.

"You know, I'm starting to think you people are bad luck," Alex joked, trying to do anything to keep from thinking about the pain in her arm. "Every time I seem to heal up and I get around you, I always end up with another hole in me."

"Alex, I said I was sorry," Cathy apologized again.

"Cathy, let it alone. I'm making bad jokes to keep from gritting my teeth until they crack. Give me some time until the drugs kick in and then I'll be fine," she assured the older woman.

"You're taking this way too lightly," Quatre admonished. "How exactly do you expect to perform on the high wire tonight? And all the tumbling you do every show?"

"Well, today's the last show until we go to earth, yes?" Alex asked, looking at the other two performers. Both nodded and she continued, "And it'll take about three days to pack and we don't start showing for another week or so, yes?" Again they nodded. "So I'll perform tonight and then take time off to heal. The people here are expecting me to perform and they'll be disappointed if I don't."

"But you have to take care of yourself!" Quatre exclaimed.

"Quatre, it doesn't make much difference," Alex reminded him gently. "Besides, you can't stop me, Happy. You're dead."

Quatre's mouth dropped open at the same time Cathy said, "Happy? This is your hamster?!"

Trowa sighed and nodded. "I'm afraid it is. Pretty scruffy looking isn't it? But hey, it does tricks. If you ask him nicely he can even make dinner. How many other hamsters do you know that can do that?" Quatre pretended to pout and Cathy couldn't help but laugh.

"And how did this come about, prey tell?"

"He woke me up in a way-to-freaking-happy mood on a way-too-sunshiny-day with way-too-peaceful-music playing. Not to mention he was wearing a smile to boot," Alex explained. "So you're going to keep this a secret, right?"

"I guess I have to if your looking for his would be killer," Cathy confirmed.

"Good," Trowa said happily. "That's one less thing to worry about. You can help take care of him from now on."

~*~

Jamal came by the circus just as the high wire act was getting under way. All of the workers knew him by now so they let him in without buying a ticket. He took a seat in the front row and smiled as he saw Alex come out into the arena. She seemed to be holding herself a little differently, but he passed it off as her performing attitude.

Alex was up on the high wire before she thought about anything. She'd done the normal performance with Trowa and Cathy a million times before in practice. This was just another practice, but with people and a little twist to it. She didn't think about anything as she went through the routine, letting her body work on auto pilot. All too soon Trowa and Cathy left the wire to let her do her new act.

Alex brought her mind back from the oblivion it had been in and instantly felt the searing pain in her shoulder. She'd promised Trowa that she'd switch with someone else if it hurt too badly, but no one else knew her act. Roughly she shoved the pain away into a small corner of her mind to be ignored until the end of the show. Then she set about doing very fast paced tumbling.

Her body was as tense as a wire as she performed, remembering that she was _not_ attached to a safely wire. It could get tangled around her neck and kill her if she fell. It was risky either way, but she knew she was an adrenaline junky at heart, loving every minute of her terror.

She was just completing a summersault and getting up from it when the wire started vibrating oddly. Too late she realized that she'd already committed herself to her next jump and could not save herself from it. The backflip was completed smoothly, for which she thanked god, but as her feet landed the wire jerked violently and her feet slipped from it, causing her to fall backwards over one side.

She turned it into something like a swimmers back-dive before she reached out, making sure not to look desperate, and snagged the wire, and flipped over it, gaining momentum with every circle she completed. The high wire snapped completely and the line went entirely slack.

The crowd gasped and a few women screamed as she plummeted towards the ground. Alex knew she was in trouble, but ignored the side of her that wanted to panic. Instead, she gripped the line as tightly as she could, knowing she would stop about half way down, having been towards one side. When the line jerked taunt she let go, did a triple flip, and came to rest gracefully on her feet. Quickly she bowed and put a shaky smile on her face, knowing the crowd would expect it.

The crowd applauded, thinking it was part of the show, and the lights went black as crewmen swarmed the ring to dismantle the trapeze. They didn't go out quickly enough, though, for her to miss the horrified look on Jamal's face. Alex didn't have time to worry about it because the pain she'd shoved aside came back four fold and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out as she was led away by Cathy and Trowa.

Once they were outside and away from everyone else she let loose a stream of curses that would have shaved the varnish off of walls. It was so unbelievably descriptive that even Trowa ended up blushing. That in itself was one mean feat seeing as he'd been a soldier once.

"Sit down, we'll see what we can do about this," Trowa said, his voice shaking with suppressed anger.

"Cathy, go get Doc," Alex instructed, knowing she was going to scream and cry, yet wanting to save Cathy the pain. Cathy nodded, seeing her out, and left at a run. Alex then resumed describing the many very painful things she was going to do to the crewmen who'd set up the wire.

"Alex, oh my god, are you okay? What the _hell_ happened? You nearly scared me to death! Are you hurt?!" Jamal asked franticly as he ran up, blushing when he realized exactly what she was saying.

". and then I'm going to castrate them, or maybe unman them wholly. no, I'm not okay," she answered curtly. "Then I'm going to feed their dicks to the dogs! Then I'll remove their fingers one by one, _without_ using novocaine- ," she stopped and screamed as Trowa finally finished unwinding the bandage. It had stuck to her skin because of the dried blood. "Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck this _HURTS_!" she yelled.

Jamal's face went white as a sheet and he managed to stutter, "What happened to you?" Trowa thought it would be better if he didn't say anything since at the moment all he wanted to do was beat some sense into the young girl in front of him.

"Cathy skewered me earlier when I was playing dummy for her," Alex said through gritted teeth. Doc arrived right then, took one look at the wound, and gave her _the glare_. The one that said, 'you are dead after I find out how this happened.' "Oh, shut up!" Alex snapped, not even waiting for him to say it.

Cathy explained everything hurriedly as the doctor re-stitched her wound after pulling out the job Trowa had done. Alex sat there bearing the pain until it became too much for her to handle and the blessedness of unconsciousness washed over her.

~*~

When Alex came around she was lying on Trowa's bed and it was already morning. She sat up quickly in shock, wincing as the new stitches in her shoulder pulled.

I am so not _EVER_ playing dummy again, Alex thought as she looked around the room. To her pure amazement she saw Jamal slumped over, asleep in a chair next to the bed. She looked down and saw that she was dressed in only a nightgown, whereas the night before she'd been in her costume.

She got out of bed and sneaked out of the room as silently as a cat after putting a blanket over Jamal's shoulders. Trowa was in the kitchen cooking when she immerged and immediately she leveled him with a glare.

"What is he still doing here?" she asked.

"The last train left and I couldn't take him home last night because cops were crawling all over the place so I couldn't leave. I had hacking to do."

"What do you mean?" she asked, curious in spite of herself.

"You didn't have a file in the Hall of Records. I had to make one for you really quick before they came in asking about you," he told her, his voice betraying little of the worry he felt. If he'd been caught hacking there would have been hell to pay, not to mention Alex would have to explain herself. somehow. As an afterthought he added, "You know, next time you decide to go gallivanting around, you need a file."

"Watch what you say!" Alex hissed, throwing a nervous glance back towards the bedroom. "What happened to Happy?" she asked, realizing that was the important question.

"I sent Happy to stay with Cathy for a while," he said as he took the bacon out of the pan and started making gravy. He barely caught Alex's knowing smile and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," she said, her mood brightening quickly.

"What?" Trowa asked again perplexed at her smugness. "You look like a cat who's just gotten a pitcher of cream."

"Nothing, I said," Alex replied, her grin widening.

Trowa took in her grin at the topic of discussion and put two and two together. "Oh. Oh! Those two?" he asked. If it was possible, the look on her face turned even smugger and he had to laugh. "You mean. Those two?"

Alex joined his laughter and nodded. "It doesn't seem very likely, does it? Especially after the times he stole you from her."

"I know. I never would have suspected," he told her. "Get out the plates while I run over and tell Cathy to come get breakfast.

"No!" she said hastily. Trowa looked at her, waiting for an explanation. "Well you see, um. He told me once when I was staying with him that you'd. um. interrupted them at a very inconvenient time." She coughed and both of the turned red.

"I guess we shall not complete that mistake," he said when he finally got his blushing under control. "You know, I don't think I ever felt more like an awkward teenager in my life until you came around."

"Sorry, Uncle Trowa. That's just the way life goes." He finished setting the food on the table before disappearing into the bathroom. "Wake Jamal up," he said from within.

Alex looked down at herself and felt the heat rising into her cheeks again. All she was wearing was a nightgown. that didn't even reach down to her knees! Oh well, she thought as she entered the bedroom and got her bag, I can change before I wake him up.

She cast one last glance over her shoulder to assure herself that he was asleep before she pulled off her nightshirt and slipped on a pair of jeans. She had just taken off her bra to change it when she heard a surprised yelp from behind her. She suppressed the instinct to spin around, instead opting to finish changing and pull on a shirt with as much dignity as she could muster. When she turned around she could see Jamal was turning a beautiful shade of fuchsia.

"I'm sorry," she said hurriedly, knowing how embarrassed he must be. "I thought you were still asleep and Uncle Trowa is in the bathroom." She let the sentence trail off, suddenly aware that if she blushed any deeper a shade of red, she'd turn purple.

I am sooooooooo going to kill Trowa, she thought. I _know_ he had to have planned this!

"It's okay, I didn't see much," he told her.

"Anyway," she said, politely forgetting the awkward moment had ever happened. "Breakfast is ready whenever you are."

"Okay," he said as he stood up and followed her out into the kitchen. Trowa had just taken a tray of biscuits out of the oven and set them out on the table.

"Dig in," he told them. He marked the way Jamal was moving and how uncomfortable he seemed and smirked. He hadn't meant for Alex to be caught dressing, but it was having a funny outcome. Jamal must have noticed his scrutiny because he leveled a glare at him that would have melted steel. Trowa just shook his head and pretended not to notice.

"So what are we doing today?" he asked. "You're _not_ working at all until your shoulder heals and I have the day off so I am not working either."

Alex gracefully arched one eyebrow and asked, "Because you have the day off or because you don't want to?"

"Both," Trowa told her truthfully. "Though if it wasn't my day off I'd be out there right now." She made a comical face of distaste but her eyes sought his, showing him she wanted to talk about it later. "So what do you want to do?" he asked, holding her eyes a split second longer to show he understood. Jamal remained oblivious to their silent communication. "We could always go swimming."

"NO!" Alex yelped, terror coming into her eyes.

"Maybe I should leave," Jamal said, suddenly feeling as if he didn't belong.

"No, you're invited if you want," Trowa graciously extended the invitation. Jamal just nodded and sat back down. "Now what was that Alex? I don't believe the other half of the colony heard you."

"No, no swimming!" Alex said desperately.

"If you don't have a bathing suit, we could get one for you real quick as long as you don't take two hours." He marked that Jamal politely covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smile.

"No, that's perfectly okay," Alex assured him hurriedly. An instant later her eyes shown. "What about ice skating?"

"Ice skating?" both men asked simultaneously. Neither could believe that such a tomboy would want to do something so girly.

"What's wrong with that? It's fun and it's colder than a swimming pool would be." She knew that it was going to be almost unbearably hot in the colony again. The air coolers needed repairs _again_ and only one or two could be running at a time.

"Sounds good to me," Jamal said carefully. "But I'm saying now that I hold no illusions as to how well I skate on any surface."

"I've only been ice skating once, but I'll give it another go," Trowa agreed.

"Cool!" Alex said, her eyes light up like a child's. "When do we leave?"

~*~

Two hours later all three of them were lacing up their skates and getting ready to hit the ice. The rink was theirs alone because most people were either in their houses with the AC turned way up, at church, or at one of the many pools. No one had even thought to go to the ice rink.

"Dang, my laces broke," Alex said as she held up the frayed end left in her hand. "I'll be right back." It didn't take her long to get the skates off and get them replaced. As she was walking away the cashier stopped her.

"Ma'am? Ma'am!" the cashier called.

"Um, yes?" Alex asked, wondering if she'd done something wrong already.

"Could you give these to your father and your husband?" she asked, handing her stickers that they were supposed to wear on their shirts. "It's a mandatory thing," she explained.

"Oh, all right. Thank you," she said as she walked away. By the time she approached Trowa and Jamal she was giggling loudly.

"What's so funny?" Jamal asked, wondering if he'd spilled something on his shirt.

"Its what the lady said when she handed these to me," Alex told them, handing them the stickers. "She asked me to give them to my father and husband."

Trowa laughed outright but Jamal was so shocked that all he could do was blink. Alex already had her skates on by the time that he had recovered his composure.

"Shall we?" she asked and he nodded, looking dubiously at the ice.

"Remind me why I'm doing this?" Jamal said as he slipped out onto the ice. and fell smack on his butt.

Alex laughed and helped him up saying, "Because Trowa invited you along and you agreed."

"Oh, yeah. Remind me next time to stick to swimming." He tried skating away by himself then, but ended up exactly where he'd started. As Alex helped him up again Trowa skated past them and made a face at them.

"Do you need help?" Alex asked, unsure whether to chase after her uncle or not.

"For once I am going to sacrifice my pride and say yes, please help me?" Jamal said, with mock humility. They made it around the rink three times before he got the hang of it and started skating on his own. Alex was a bit sad to let go of him, but she was glad he could skate without her having to hold him up. Her shoulder was throbbing from the exertion.

"Well, at least I can have some fun now," she said to herself as she took off on a warm-up run around the rink. She did several laps, overtaking the others twice, before she sank down into the routines that she'd taught herself years ago. First it was just silly things like skating backwards or axles, which left the men's mouths hanging open, but soon she progressed into more advanced moves.

She did one more lap around the rink, gaining speed, before she jumped into the air and executed a triple axle. She still had enough momentum to complete two more before she slowed down and went down into an almost sitting position, spinning all the while. (don't know what to call it! Agh!)

She went on to do a number of moves that the men had only seen the pros attempt before she came to a halt, her arms out to her sides, breathing heavily. Only when applause erupted did she even seem to realize what she'd been doing.

Alex blinked and looked at the small group of people who'd gathered to watch her skate. She hadn't realized she'd been showing off until she'd already finished. When she looked around for Jamal and Trowa she couldn't find them until the looked towards the opposite side of the rink. They were standing with the crowd, both wearing nearly identical expressions of shock.

Alex blushed heavily as she skated over to them. The cashier came running out from behind the counter to intercept her. "Ma'am, everyone here has been asking if you'd give them a sample of what you'd do with music."

"What?" Alex asked, not sure what she meant.

"They want me to put an overhead song on and have you skate to it," the woman explained, excitement evident in her voice.

Alex looked to her companion for help but both of them shrugged, indicating for her to do what she wanted. Reluctantly Alex agreed and stepped back out onto the ice. The woman put in some kind of really upbeat CD and she had to wait a moment to start so she could pick up the beat. It didn't take long and before people had time to get board, she started to skate.

Alex put all of her heart into her performance, not even noticing what she was doing until she heard a gasp from the crowd. She found herself pulling off Trowa's famous triple _flip_ in the air, on _skates_! She almost panicked, but remembered just in time that she could just let go. She did and her body finished the move flawlessly. In fact, it finished a lot of gymnastics moves flawlessly as she skated. Somehow she even managed to do a cartwheel.

By the time she came to rest before her audience everyone was silent. Then the applause started and she bowed respectfully before stepping off the ice. Jamal and Trowa were sitting on the benches next to the rink, their eyes following her every move. She thought they were happy with her until Trowa glared daggers at her.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" he demanded, getting to his feet so he could look down at her. "You could have seriously hurt yourself!"

"What do you mean?" she asked, not sure what had brought about his sudden change in mood. Trowa said nothing, pointed testily at her shoulder. She looked down and discovered a dot of blood about the size of a quarter gracing her shoulder. "Damn!" she swore as she plopped down on the bench and moved the shoulder of her shirt out of the way. The wound didn't hurt anymore, probably because it was numb, but any time she worked it too much it bled.

"Maybe we should get you an arm splint so you _won't_ move your arm," Jamal suggested. His voice was colored with disapproval, but he tried to keep the words themselves light. Alex merely rolled her eyes and lifted the bandages a small amount to see if she'd ripped any more stitches. Amazingly enough she hadn't.

"That won't do me any good and you know it," she told him flat out, ending the discussion. Someone off to their right coughed politely and all three of them looked up. A tall, thin man was standing there gazing at them with excitement written clearly on his face.

"Hello my dear," he said kindly. "Could you tell me exactly what it was you were doing out there?"

Alex's eyes took on a wary look. "I'm not sure what you mean. If I broke any of the rules, I'm very sorry. It won't happen again, I can assure you. I didn't mean to show off, but everyone wanted me to so." she let the sentence trail off, leaving him an opening.

"No, that's not what I mean at all." His eyes blinked rapidly as they seemed to drink everything in that was going on around him. They seemed to catch nothing, but Alex somehow knew that in reality they _missed_ nothing. She also noted that he had a pleasant British accent. "I mean, what do you call those moves you were doing out there? I've never seen many of them and I have been around the rink long enough to know."

"I'm not exactly sure. I don't even know what I did, to tell the truth," she admitted. "I just skated, I didn't pay any attention to what I did. I have a feeling that if I did pay attention, I'd botch it worse than a beginner."

"You don't have a clue what you were doing?!" the man asked, his mouth going slack.

Trowa cleared his throat and said as politely as he could, "And you are sir?"

"Oh, goodness me. I'm terribly sorry. With all the excitement I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Myron Burris." He held out his hand and Trowa took it, shaking it once before he dropped it.

"Trowa Barton," he replied.

"I'm Jamal Swift," the younger man said politely shaking the older man's hand when it was offered.

"And you are, my lady?" he asked, turning to her again. He leaned forward in his excitement and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Alex," she replied.

"Alex.?"

"Just Alex," she told him.

"Come now, my dear girl. You must have a last name to go with that."

Alex shifted uncomfortably on the bench and shook her head minutely, replying, "Not one that matters now."

"I'm not sure I understand," the man prompted.

"You know, if a lady said something as insignificant as a name wasn't important, then a gentleman would politely disengage from the subject, yes?" Jamal stated. The implied insult stuck the man like a needle.

"Yes, of course."

"No, its fine Jamal. I don't care," Alex told him as she got up and settled her hand comfortably on his arm in a gesture of good will. "It's just a name." She walked over to the railing surrounding the rink and leaned against it. "I'm an orphan, Mr. Burris," she told him as straightforward as she could.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I really shouldn't have pried into your business," he apologized, seeming genuinely flustered.

"No, you shouldn't have," Trowa agreed, earning himself a warning glare from his charge.

"So where did you learn to skate like that?" Myron asked, changing the subject as tactfully as he could. "I mean, who did you study under?"

Alex turned to look at him, a quizzical look on her face. "Study under? I never studied under anyone."

"What? You must be joking. A skater with even half your talent would have had to study under a master, or even an Olympian. Tell me who it was child."

"I'm not lying," she told him, letting her see her annoyance. "I didn't study under anyone. It wasn't possible when I was younger, and it won't be possible now."

"Good heavens, please stop with the riddles. Why is it not possible?"

Alex sighed and wondered vaguely if the conversation was even worth the effort. "I lived in New York, New York in what used to be America before the E-sun came about. I lived in Queens, New York actually, though most people referred to it as the burrow. I can't do it now because I'm traveling with the circus. That actually probably explains most of what I did out there."

"Queens?!" the man squeaked, turning a few heads momentarily. In some perverse corner of her mind, Alex had to wonder which man's jaw was dragging lowest on the ground at the moment.

"Yes, now do you see exactly why it was impossible for me to study under anyone? I just spent all my free time sneaking into rinks or using the new lake that they dug a few years back."

"Fascinating," Myron said, more than a little uncomfortable now with the woman who was standing before him.

"Not really. You just learn to spend every moment you have doing the things you love there, because you never know when you're going to die." She shrugged uncaringly and went back to watching the amateurs.

"And exactly how old _are_ you, ma'am?"

"How old do I look?" she asked wondering how far off this man would be.

"Mid to late twenties," he said delicately.

"No, no, no. Sorry to disappoint you, I'm only sixteen."

"Sixteen?!" he yelped, again drawing the eyes of anyone near.

"Yes, is there something wrong with that?" God, where did this guy come from, she wondered.

"Young lady, I'm begging you. Please come with me and train at the Olympian gym to participate in the ESUN Olympics next year," the man said hurriedly. "I'm a talent agent and I have to admit. In all of my fifty-four years I have never once seen anyone with as much talent as you have. We could whip you into a gold medallist in no time!"

Alex stopped watching the skaters and looked at him. Her scrutiny evidently made him very uncomfortable because he shifted restlessly from foot to foot. Finally she turned back away from him and said, "I'm sorry. I don't have that much of my time to waste."

"Waste? Waste you say?!" he demanded angrily, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around. She winced as his thumb dug into her wound but he evidently took it as a sign of fear because he started to raise his voice. "You have more raw talent than any other three contestants combined and you call training it a waste? _Not_ training it is the waste young lady!" he yelled. Jamal and Trowa were instantly there, pulling him off of her.

"Don't you dare touch her again or so help me I will-," Jamal started to say but Alex placed a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay Jamal. He doesn't own me so he can't make me do anything. Don't soil your hands on something that's below you like that." The man sputtered in shock when he was released from the other men's hands. "Just what is the name of your company sir?" she asked.

"Roxtan talent agency," he told her curtly. "Though if you think we're taking you on now, you're sorely mistaken."

"No, sir," she told him flat out. "I have no illusions about your company taking me. If I wanted, I could have any number of other companies at my feet begging me to sign with them just like you were less than a moment ago. Now, if you'll excuse us, I believe my friends still have plenty of time to skate before the session closes." Myron didn't even dignify her rudeness with an answer. Instead he straightened his jacket and walked off.

~*~

"So why wouldn't you sign with him?" Jamal wanted to know later after he and Trowa had gotten their fill of falling. "I mean, besides the fact that he's a pompous jerk?"

"To tell the truth, I knew he was from the beginning. He wouldn't meet my eye like a decent guy would. I didn't sign because I don't want to perform in front of all those people. It's one thing in the circus. You don't get criticized too badly there, but on the ice?" She shuddered for affect. "No thank you!"

"Yeah, I guess I see what you mean," he said. "But it would have been major cool."

"You also have to remember, fame isn't everything," Trowa chided gently. They were all walking down a street in the park after having gotten (and finished) ice-cream cones. The path they were walking intercepted a small, but deep, stream that many people were playing in and both he and Jamal seemed to get the same idea at the same time.

"So, Alex, do you have a watch or anything valuable on you?" Jamal asked as casually as he could. He received an odd look, but she did decide to answer.

"No, why?"

"Good!" he and Trowa shouted at the same time as they picked her up and tossed her over the side of the bridge. It was only a few feet to the water, but the water itself was 6 ½ feet deep at its worse, giving her plenty of space before she'd hit bottom.

Alex came up sputtering and splashing around, yelling at them incoherently. Both guys laughed at her until her splashing became wilder and her screams more terrified. Instantly both of them went over the side of the bridge and into the water to save her. She clung to them desperately as they drug her to shore.

"Why the heck didn't you tell us you couldn't swim?" Trowa asked as he willed his heart to stop racing and to kindly get out of his throat.

"Because I didn't know you were going to throw me in," she said angrily.

"God, you ice skated on a frozen lake, but you can't swim? How much sense does that make?" Jamal mused as he wrung water out of his shirt.

"A whole lot of sense for me," she said. When both of them looked at her she grinned sheepishly and said, "I'm an adrenaline junky. I can't help it."

"Oh," was the only reply she got.

The three spent the next hour lying in the "sun" to dry in the heat. They didn't feel like walking home wet and the shade of the trees with long grass to boot was too much to pass up.

Just as they started to leave Alex spotted someone that looked vaguely familiar to her. When finally she placed the face, she grabbed Jamal's hand and told him to keep Trowa distracted. Then she ran over to the woman she'd seen.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Alex said politely. Quick as a snake she grabbed the woman's sunglasses out of her pocket before she could notice.

"Yes?" the woman asked.

"I'm sorry, but my uncle saw you drop these and he wanted me to give them to you," she explained as she held up the sunglasses, pointing Trowa out. The woman's face froze as she caught sight of Alex's uncle and she stood stock-still.

"What's his name?" the woman asked.

"Trowa, but I believe someone called him Nanashii once. (Did I spell that right?!?!?!) I'm not sure what it means," she lied, "But I guess it meant something to him."

The woman looked at her, a mixture of emotions playing across her face. The tension in the air was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife. Somehow everyone else around them remained oblivious to the feelings that waged a war inside the delicate woman.

"I can introduce you to him," Alex offered graciously. The woman nodded, as if in a trance, and followed.

"Trowa!" Alex called as she came closer. Trowa looked up and for the first time in her whole life, Alex thought her uncle was going to faint. Only Jamal's hand shooting out and steadying him kept Trowa from falling.

"M- Midii?!" he gasped.

"Nanashii," she whispered, silent tears coursing down her cheeks. Even so many years later Trowa could not help but be captivated by her beauty. She stood only a few inches shorter than him, coming to about 5'7". Her beautiful blond hair still looked like the finest silk and her figure had only improved with age.

She had been cute as a little girl. She was radiant as a woman. Her face was flawless as far as he was concerned. She had high cheekbones, accented by the rosy color they had acquired in the sun. Her lips looked like an artist had made them. But still, all her features paled in comparison to her eyes, her beautiful gray eyes. Trowa knew he could spend forever falling into their bottomless depths and never get tired of drowning in them.

Midii also was caught off guard by his appearance. He had grown taller, as little boys were wont to do, and he had gotten more muscular. She knew that he would inevitably have more scars than the last time they'd met so many years ago, but she couldn't help but sigh at the thought of such a perfect body being damaged at all.

His hair was longer and he still seemed to have a quiet air about him, but she got the biggest surprise of her life when she looked into his emerald eyes. Instead of being void like they had been, they were brimming with happiness; happiness that was only minutely incomplete because of his loss of her.

"Midii?" he said again, unable to gather a coherent thought.

"So you've finally found your name," Midii said, a smile creeping over her face.

Jamal leaned over to Alex and whispered, "What the heck is going on here?"

"You wouldn't understand if I told you," she whispered back as she took his hand and led him away. Once they were a respectable distance away from the two adults she smiled at him and let go of his hand. "So what now?"

"Why wouldn't I be able to understand?" he questioned, not able to fathom why she wouldn't tell him something. Alex's face became unreadable as she looked at him. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Jamal motioned to the tree they were standing near and said, "Do you want to sit down?" When she nodded he took a seat on the grass, leaning up against the tree. It was so tiny that it could only support him so Alex had to look around for a place to sit.

Her face suddenly lost its eerie expression, shifting to one of pure mirth. Before Jamal could protest she was lying on the ground with her head in his lap. He blinked in surprise and couldn't help but smile at the adorable expression on her face. It was a look of pure pleasure mixed with uncertainty.

"Now, what were we talking about?" she asked him.

Jamal knew that she didn't feel very inclined to talk about her secrets from their many conversations so he decided to talk about something different to save her feelings. "So you're really from Queens?" he asked, remembering how shocked he'd been. He'd always heard that anyone from Queens was mean spirited, spiteful, ruthless, without manners, and horribly lacking in honor. That's one quality she possesses more than most, he thought.

"Yeah. I lived there for a while," she said carefully. "Why?"

"I always heard that it was a really rough place. I haven't seen you with any scars," he told her truthfully.

"Well, I didn't live there my whole life," she told him. "Just for the last couple of years. As for scars, you haven't seen my body. Maybe I just choose not to wear clothes that flaunt them."

Jamal blushed deeply and coughed to hide his discomfort, shifting his hips as he did. She evidently noticed his discomfort because she said, "Sorry. I forgot about that."

"Um. yeah," he said. His voice sounded strained to his own ears so how, he wondered, did it sound to Alex. He found out soon enough because her eyes widened and she sat up quickly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I was. er. that is. um." She stopped stammering and looked away. Jamal took the opportunity to force his raging hormones into submission.

"It's okay. I'm just not used to waking up to beautiful women undressing in front of me." Oh god! I must sound like an idiot, he thought as he watched her trying to get comfortable.

"Well, I wouldn't say anything about beautiful," she told him, "But I'll believe you when you say that. Though, you do realize you could have any number of girls doing just that every morning."

Jamal could almost always tell when someone was fishing for a complement and this didn't sound like one at all. It sounded to him like outright disbelief of the facts that he knew were true. "I probably could," he agreed carefully, "but then why would I want to? Every other girl I've ever met has been self centered and mean spirited. You're the first one I've met that cares more about other people than herself."

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying not to become alarmed. He can't possibly know about my mission, she assured herself.

"Well, its kinda obvious," he told her. "I mean, no horrid person could like kids and you seem to like them more than most people. I saw you teaching that little girl how to skate. You didn't let her fall once, even though it meant you had to take a spill. You're a really good person. And I saw how you put yourself on the line for Trowa. You could have made a complete fool of yourself but you decided to sacrifice your pride in order to get those two together.

"If that's not enough to prove it, look at your performance last night. Instead of calling off your new act that you'd announced just the day before, you went ahead and did it anyway, even though you were injured. The only time I've really ever seen you be selfish is when you're thinking about how best to castrate someone," he joked, trying to lighten the mood. He'd meant to tell her those things as a fact, but they were coming out sounding like more.

"I'm really not that great," Alex said. "If you knew me, you'd know that."

"Well, I can't say I know you very well, but I can say that I still want to know you. You are that great to me, Alex. You're beautiful, you're funny, you're passionate about things you love, and I love that about you. I love _you_." Before he could loose his nerve Jamal claimed her lips in a kiss that drove all other thoughts from his mind.

When the kiss broke both of them stared at each other, neither sure of what to say. They were saved the trouble because Trowa walked up then and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Well, I think we've had enough fun for one day. You're father will get mad if we don't return you to him soon so we'd better get going," he told them happily. "Do you want a ride home?"

"No, thanks. I'll take the train," Jamal told him as he climbed to his feet before helping Alex up.

"You sure?" Trowa felt inclined to ask.

"Yeah. I'll see you later, Alex," he said, giving her a quick kiss. "Thank you for taking me along," he said to Trowa before he left.

"Any time," Trowa said to his retreating back. "Let's get home," he said to Alex.

~*~

"Did you know she was going to be there today?" Trowa asked as soon as they were safe inside the trailer.

"I didn't have any idea that she would be there until I saw her there," Alex told him truthfully.

"You didn't? You're absolutely sure?" he demanded.

"No, Trowa, I just saw her there and I decided to reunite you two. Did I do something wrong?" she asked, unsure of why he was acting so strange.

"I'm just worried because she used to be a spy."

"What's that got to do with anything?" she asked.

"She got my entire adopted family killed once. I'm just having a hard time trusting her. I mean, my heart is telling me to, but my brain is telling me to run as fast and as far as I can in the other direction," he admitted.

"Gods, your smitten already?" Her voice held the flavor of laughter when she thought about her Uncle Trowa, brought to his knees by a delicate woman with one blow.

"I'm not sure," he told her, burying his face in his hands. "I can't seem to make my brain and my heart sort things out. I just don't know what to do."

"Well," Alex said as she got up from the table. "I only have one thing to tell you."

"And what would that be?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Act on your emotions. Sometimes you'll be right, and other times you'll be wrong. But isn't love worth the risk?" She smiled at him and turned towards the door.

"You know, Heero said something like that to me once."

Alex stopped dead in her tracks and willed her heart to stay out of the matter. "Really. That's interesting."

"Where are you going?" he asked when she opened the door.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a while. Is Cathy taking care of Happy?"

"Yeah."

"Good." With that she walked out into the warm evening air and closed the door behind her, not even knowing that she was living her last few minutes of peace.

~*~

Alex had just exited the grocery store after buying a pop when she heard angry voices yelling somewhere nearby. Against her better judgement she poked her head around the corner to see what was happening and was just in time to see a man strike a woman and grab her purse.

Without thinking Alex leaped out of the darkness where she'd been and rammed the guy into the wall with her shoulder. Then she hit him just right behind the neck, causing him to black out. Quickly Alex picked up the purse and hurried over to the woman.

"Are you okay?" she asked, worry flavoring her voice.

The older woman touched her cheek gingerly but nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you for helping me," she told Alex, almost as if she wasn't used to getting help.

"No problem. Do you know him?"

"Not really. I guess he lives in my neighborhood."

"Well that's not good at all. Are you going to press charges?"

"No, I'm fine. No one would believe me anyway."

"Why?" Alex asked, perplexed at the woman's attitude. She was sure that with her angelic face and her raven black hair that she could get anyone to do anything if she just asked.

"Because. because my dad was one of the dealers busted in that narc case about three weeks ago," she admitted after an unsteady pause. "I think he was one of the buyers. They're all coming around the house now, thinking I might deal with them."

"And you won't," Alex said, making sure she had the situation right.

"No, I won't. I didn't approve of my father doing it either, but I didn't have any choice but to live with him. He said he didn't have enough money to send me to college, and I couldn't get a job because of who he was." tears started streaming down the woman's face. "I'm going to loose my house soon."

Alex thought quickly to try and come up with something to help the woman. Her mind lit upon a number of possibilities, but all seemed worse than the last until she finally had a very bright idea.

"Do you like traveling?"

"I don't know," the woman sniffed. "I've never been off the colony."

"That's okay. Can you take care of animals really well and work hard?"

"I don't know about animals, but I'll take any job I can get."

"Okay, I may know someone who could use you. I work at the circus and we're a little under staffed right now. I'm sure that the Manager would take you on in a heartbeat and then you'd be away from creeps like him." She jerked her head in the direction of the human garbage. "And, if you're looking for a boyfriend there are plenty of bachelors."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," Alex assured her. "I'm Alex by the way. What's your name?"

"Teresa," the girl responded.

"Okay, Teresa. How about I walk you home to make sure you don't get mugged and I'll give you the address where we are right now. You'll have to drop by soon, though. We're leaving the colony in about two days."

"Okay, thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you," Teresa stammered.

"Don't worry about it. I know how it is to be down on your luck."

"Really? But you're so young!" Teresa exclaimed as they walked towards her house. Alex just laughed and shook her head. There was no doubt in her mind that she'd fit right in at the circus.

~*~

When Alex left the house it was past nine and she knew she had to hurry home or Trowa would start looking for her. Knowing this she broke into a jog and was so centered on getting back that she didn't even see the person in the shadows stick a foot out in front of her. She tripped over it and went sprawling, landing face first on the pavement.

"Ouch! Shit that hurt! Watch it!" she yelled indignantly, dragging herself to her feet. She looked around and realized she'd taken the shortcut through the upper district of the colony and immediately regretted it. Nobody good hung out in these neighborhoods after dark.

"Why don't you watch it yourself, bitch," someone snapped. Alex recognized the voice and went cold.

"You don't belong here, trailer trash," someone else said and spat in Alex's face. Alex quickly wiped it away, knowing she could get a disease that way, and there was no telling what the girl might be carrying.

"Yeah, and come to think of it, haven you been handing out with Jamal Swift lately? Why the hell is he hanging out with you? What do you have that we don't?" a third wined.

"The better question is, what does she give that we don't?" the first said, hoping to provoke her into a fight.

"I don't have time for this," Alex muttered angrily as she started towards the end of the street.

"Oh, but we do, and what we say goes," the ringleader said. "We don't appreciate little wenches like you stealing our guys. There are few enough good looking ones as it is, and Jamal has money to boot! You'd better give him up if you know what's good for you."

"Sorry," Alex said, "I don't happen to carry him around in my shirt pocket so you'll have to try back later."

"You know what she meant!" the second girl snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry but Jamal makes his own choices. If he doesn't like you, I'd look in the mirror to see how I could change. I'd say you should all start with a crash course in manners," Alex snapped, tiring quickly of their game. "Now if you excuse me, I'm expected at home."

"At home? I've heard that you don't really have a home. Nobody wants someone like you," the third girl sneered."

"Well, then you must have a short term memory. Wasn't it your friend who was just demanding I dump Jamal?"

"Why you-," she screamed as she leaped at Alex. Her two friends joined her a split second later and Alex had no choice but to fight, though she knew she had to be careful how hard she hit them. They had money, and she didn't. People with money made the rules. People with money had power.

I'm in trouble, was Alex's last coherent thought until the police arrived to break up the melee.

~*~

Trowa was pacing the kitchen when he looked at the clock. It was already past ten and there was still no sign of Alex. When the phone finally rang he picked it up quickly and pressed it to his ear.

"Hello? Alex? Where are you?" he demanded.

"I'm down at the police station," she said angrily.

"WHAT?!?!" Trowa yelled, his body suddenly going as taunt as a wire from the strength of his anger. "What in God's name are you doing there?!"

"I was taking this woman home and I cut across the upper section of town and I got jumped. I swear to god that I didn't start the fight," she was quick to assure him.

"And what's going on?"

"Well, since I didn't throw the first punch the police can't let the other girls press charges, but its going on my record until I'm eighteen. This is basically my first, last, and only warning. If it happens again I stand a good change of winding up in Juvie."

"Damn," Trowa swore into the phone.

"Sorry I couldn't call you sooner, but I've been having a nice little chat with an officer for the past half hour. They're releasing me so I'll see you when I get home."

Trowa heard someone speaking to her in the background but ignored it. "No, I'll come and pick you up."

"Good, because I've just been informed that I have to be released into my guardian's custody."

"Oh," Trowa said, realizing that he wasn't _legally_ her guardian. "See you when I get there."

"Okay, bye Trowa."

"Bye," he said. After he hung up the phone he rubbed his eyes and suddenly realized just how much he wanted to sleep. "This is going to be a long night."

~*~

"I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience, Trowa," Alex apologized again.

"For the last time, don't worry about it. You didn't start the fight you just finished it. All I'm saying is that you need to learn when to fight like you're in Queens and when not to. Look, I'm beat. Lets just go inside so I can get some sleep.

"Sure thing," Alex said as she followed him inside. Sleep was the last thing on her mind and she knew it, but she also knew how worn out Trowa must be after having argued with the police chief for an hour. He wasn't her guardian on paper so they'd been, to say the least, _VERY_ reluctant to release her to him.

"See you in the morning," he said as he crawled into his bed fully dressed and turned out the light.

"Yeah, see you in the morning," Alex replied as she lay down and waited for sleep to claim her.

~*~

When morning arrived Alex got up, having slept only a few hours, and made breakfast. Trowa got up a while later, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and went out to help the others pack. Alex didn't get to do anything but feed the animals. She was banned from working and the Manager had sworn that if he saw her lifting so much as a pillow he'd throw her out of the circus.

"Man, I've got nothing to do!" Alex said to the empty trailer. Quatre was over at Cathy's, it being her day off, and she wasn't about to disturb them. She had a feeling that their relationship was progressing swiftly.

A sharp rap on the door made her get up off the couch and run to the door. When she opened it she was surprised to see Jamal standing there. "Jamal, what are you doing here? It's Monday, shouldn't you be at school? Or are you home schooled?"

"I'm skipping school today," he growled. "Can I come in?"

"Not with that attitude," Alex snapped back.

Jamal made a visible bid for his temper and as soon as he had his voice under control he asked, "May I please come in?"

"Sure." She moved out of the way to allow him to enter the trailer. Once he was inside she leaned against the door, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at him for the longest time before she asked, "Why are you here?"

"It's my father," Jamal said, sinking down onto the couch. "I was talking to him this morning and he demanded that I leave you and start looking for someone with money to marry so he can expand the company. We got into a big fight over it and I waked out."

"What's this really about?" Alex asked, knowing that couldn't be all.

"I'm not going back," he told her.

"Why not?" She asked, trying to get the whole story.

"He. the things he said were way out of line. He had no right to call you the things he did! He wouldn't even meet you before he formed his opinions of you! I mean, he called you a hussy for crying out loud!"

"Calm down, Jamal. Think about this logically. What are you going to do if you don't go back? Were are you going to stay?"

"I'll join the circus," he told her. "I thought about it all the way here and I think I'd do fine. I'm really athletic so I can probably do some of the tumbling and a lot of the heavy lifting and stuff and-,"

"No," Alex cut him off. "I can tell you right now that you're not cut out for the circus. It's a lifelong commitment. You can't just take it up and then leave when you get tired of it."

"I know that! But if it's the only way I'll be close to you then it's worth any effort," he explained.

"Then maybe you shouldn't get close to me. I'm not going to get in the way of your relationship with your father. I've seen too many families break up because of stupid stuff like this and I won't be the cause of it."

"But Alex-,"

"No. Just tell your father that you won't marry anyone until you're ready and to get off your case, then drop it. Just refuse to speak about it. Then you can avoid further arguments."

"What about you?" he demanded. "What do you think?"

"What I think doesn't matter," she replied.

"What happened to you? Yesterday you were all fun and loving and today you're all cold and." he stopped himself before he could say anything he'd regret. Alex mentally commended him, but she knew what she had to do.

"Maybe it's the fact that I don't appreciate the fact that you're flaunting our relationship in front of all those girls that are so in love with you. I don't appreciate them jumping me or getting taken in by the police because of it. If you hadn't teased them with it, I wouldn't have that on my record!"

"So you got in one measly fight? So what?"

"Jamal, I think you'd better leave. Don't come back unless you can behave like the gentleman I know you can be," Alex said coolly.

"You're telling me to leave now? Maybe I was wrong about you," Jamal snapped as he stood up and strode towards her. "Tell me, did you ever love me or did you just want my money like all the rest of them?"

"I do love you, Jamal, but right now I want you to leave because both our tempers are short and I'm tired of fighting right now."

"Maybe he was right," Jamal said after she stepped out from in front of the door so he could open it.

"Right about what?" Alex asked, curious in spite of herself.

"I was crazy. I could have any girl I want, and I told him the only girl I wanted to marry was you. I was wrong. I'll see you around." With that he stepped out the door and strode away from the circus. Alex just stayed rooted to the floor for the longest time. Then a wave of nausea hit her and she was forced to spend the longest time in the bathroom.

"Alex, are you okay?" Quatre asked when he got the chance to sneak into the trailer. He found her offering the contents of her stomach, or lack there of, to the porcelain gods. "I thought this stopped!" he yelled, rushing to put a damp cloth on the back of her neck.

"It did for a while," she told him as she wiped her mouth on a towel.

"The why is it back now?" Quatre asked desperately.

"Jamal and I broke up."

"I'm sorry to hear that but what has it got to do with anything?"

"He was what was sustaining me, Quatre. I didn't understand why those crazy doctors told me not to fall in love until now. Love transcends time. As long as I was accepted, death was held off longer, but it would still come. As long as I was loved, I would live. Time would have to accept me. Now I've driven him away."

"How?!"

"I'm not exactly sure. We had a fight and he's really hurt. But he's supposed to marry someone else! I couldn't lead him on like that!" she sobbed.

Quatre was quick to offer her a shoulder when it became clear that her stomach had decided to settle down. "Who?" he asked.

"I don't know. I think her name was, I mean is, Angel. Angel A Swift."

"A?" Quatre asked.

"I think I asked her once and she told me it stood for Alexandria."

"Alexandria?" Quatre asked.

"Yes," she said. Then she froze as a memory surfaced that she'd long since buried. "Oh my god. _Oh_my_god_!" she said, pulling away from her uncle. "I've got to go after him!"

"What do you mean?" Quatre demanded, making her look at him.

"I remember when he was over for Christmas he was always slipping up and calling. He was always calling her Alex."

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Dream Keeper: Sorry it took so long to get this up. We were issued a challenge fic too that we had to complete. It's a one shot it you feel like reading it. Matters of the Heart.

Christa: *makes a face* I didn't like that fic one bit! Anywho, its like one in the morning so we're going to post this and get to sleep. Don't know when the next update is.

Dream Keeper: Yeah, we're having to learn HTML, hold down 3 summer jobs, (baby sitting, house cleaing, farmers market), do chores, and write all that he same time. Life is HELL!!!!!!

Christa: Anyway, don't forget to R&R which mean read AND REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you.

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