My head slammed down on the steering wheel. Duo was thrown from the backseat and flew out of the front window. I fought to stay conscious as I heard men running around us, surrounding us, trapping us. I raised my head; the throbbing was so intense I almost threw up, but I forced myself to focus on Duo. He laid lifeless on the ground.

-Chapter 4

I don't know how long we had been driving; all I knew was that I had arrived at the apartment early that morning, now I awoke to find that the sun was setting behind us. Poor Duo had been driving the entire time. I looked around to see if I could figure out where we were, but there was nothing, nothing but the road in front of us, and dirt to either side for what seemed to be endless miles.

After about another hour of driving we pulled off to the side of the road. I watched in surprise as Duo crawled off the bike and extended his hand to help me down. Why had we stopped? Once I was off I felt my knees wobble as the blood in my legs awoke. Duo rubbed a layer of dirt from his face, only to uncover another, and grabbed the handles of the bike and slowly began to push it forward, walking along side of it. Confused I silently followed until he began to explain.

His head tilted up at the lights less than a mile ahead. "Hotel. We are going to stop there." Before I could ask, he answered my question, "We're going in quiet, so we can discretely use a room." He placed emphasis on the word and my mouth formed a small "oh" in understanding. I frowned as he limped on towards the neon lights that flashed vacancy, well, it flashed five of the seven letters.

We paused a few yards away so Duo could scout the place. There were only two vehicles in the lot facing a row of about 20 rooms. He slowly began to push the bike and we cautiously made our way around to the back of the long building. There wasn't much there besides a dumpster that was partially fenced in. After a pause, Duo headed towards it and I curiously watched as he rested the bike on its kick stand and then headed towards the building.

"Wait here." He stated before walking around to the front of the building. Nervously I fidgeted with the straps of my tang top while my eyes scanned for every cricket chirp or rustle I heard. I jumped when I heard Duo and saw his head peering around the corner of the building. He waved me forward and I felt like a fool running to him. He quickly ushered me into a room and closed the door behind us. The room glowed from the Vacancy sign outside of our window. I squinted my eyes and could make out gaudy lamps with beads and two double beds. The room smelt stale, and there was a blanket of dust covering everything.

"Wait here, be right back." Duo went to open the door but paused. "Keep the lights off." He sheepishly added, afraid he was insulting my intelligence and I smiled and nodded showing no offense was taken. Duo then poked his head out the door before slipping out. Within a minute the door was open again and he was pushing the motorcycle into the room.

"Ah, home sweet home" he sighed. I didn't know if he was serious or not, and the fact that he had a motorcycle in the room made me decide not to bother asking. He put down the bike's stand, closed and bolted the door and then looked at the chain lock.

"I think we can do better than this." He let go of the chain and it dropped and clattered against the closed door. I watched him as he grabbed a wooden chair and pushed it under the door handle. "That's somewhat better." I continued watching him as he limped about the room, like someone who hadn't put his one shoe on, checking and securing all the windows and anything else he thought that needed to be taken care of.

He favored his right leg as he made his way over to the bed. "Where's the bag?"

"Oh." I had forgotten about it. I pulled off the bag's straps from around my shoulders. I handed it to him and felt naked with its weight gone from my back.

"Thank you very much darlin." He flashed me a cheesy smile while he placed the bag on a bed and opened it. He pulled out a clean black shirt, the exact same kind he had been wearing earlier. Next, he removed a wad of cash. I had to stop my mouth from dropping open. God that was a lot of money, yet he had been staying in that apartment building. He took a few bills out of it and placed them in his pants pocket while he put the rest of the money back in the bag.

Carefully, he pulled the jacket off himself and rested it on the bed. I knew the jacket must have had blood on it because his bandages were bloody, but I couldn't see the blood due to the material being black. Perhaps that was the reason behind the almost morbid all black attire he wore. He continued to dig through the bag and removed a small handgun. I wasn't surprised; of course he would have a gun with him. Next, he opened the gun's cartridge and then dug in his bag and took out another cartridge. He loaded the gun and with a satisfying click, closed it and placed it under the bed's pillow. He removed the gun he had in the back of his waistband and after checking it over he put it back. Then, as if he had pulled a new face out of the bag as well, he changed the slightly pained expression on his face into a happy bubbly boy with a huge grin.

Easing himself onto the bed he crossed his right leg over his left so that he could look at his injured ankle. He pulled his pant leg up and slowly removed his boot and sock. His ankle was swollen and discolored like a bruised peach. He muttered something under his breath having to do with a 'damn chair'. Taking the first aid kit out of the bag he removed bandages from it and expertly wrapped the cloth material around his ankle. After making sure it was tight enough he put his sock back on, which had proven to be a difficult task since it refused to fit over the layers of bandages, he then placed his loosely laced boot back on.

"Well babe, I need some rest. Don't leave the room while I'm asleep. Stay away from the windows and don't answer the phone or door for anyone. I'll be up in two hours." I nodded my head yes, feeling shy and lacking words. He slowly laid down on the bed closest to the door, and not bothering to pull down the covers he closed his eyes and welcomed the well overdue sleep.

I had slept so long on the motorcycle that now I found myself bored and restless, so I wandered around the room. Soon I gave up on any form of entertainment, and sat down on the bed across from Duo's. How strange it was, I had only met him two times before this, and those meetings were both very brief, with very few words exchanged. Now here we were running away from OZ together, staying in a cheap motel room. Well, at least we didn't have to share a bed.

I frowned when I noticed his face. The smile that usually graced it was gone and now he looked so aged and sad in his sleep. Was that Duo's true self? Too old for his age, and too tired even in sleep? Was it the same for Heero?

Two hours later, just as he had said, he woke up. He slowly eased off the bed and his smile immediately covered his face once again. Even though he was hiding it, I could tell his injuries were bothering him.

"Duo?" I stood up from the chair I had been dozing in. "Don't your bandages need to be changed?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, probably." He walked over to the duffel bag and took out the first aid kit again. Sitting back down on the bed, he slowly peeled off his shirt. I walked over to him to help remove it. Once it was over his head and his bare skin was visible I held my breath. It was as if he wore a blanket of scars, large and small markings were scattered all over his body.

With a subtle head nod he thanked me. He was so shy while his past was visible to me. He unraveled the bandages and I acted as if there were nothing wrong. But then I released a gasp. His skin was so discolored underneath the bandages. His side was the sickly colors of yellow and purple. They swirled and formed blotches together. It reminded me of when I was a child and would mix my ice cream together, making the colors crash into an ugly mess of different shades. At least the gashes had stopped bleeding, I tried to think positively.

"It's okay. I've just got a broken rib. That's why I'm bruised, nothin' ta worry about." When I didn't say anything, he grabbed my one hand so that I'd look at his face. He flashed me a brilliant and sincere smile. "Really Relena, I'm perfectly fine. Trust me, this is like a paper cut." I couldn't believe he compared this to a paper cut, but I gave him a smile.

"Okay. Well, let's change the bandages then."

We were back on the road shortly after. My guess was that it was around noon. Duo turned his head slightly to face me. "We're gonna have to get new transportation as soon as possible. We'll get some food too."

God was I hungry. I didn't want to say anything, but at the mention of food I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, me too." Duo added, noticing.

An hour later, I felt like I was going to keel over, Duo pulled into a small town. He slowed down as we made our way through the almost deserted street. When he saw a mini mart, he pulled over and stopped. I got off the bike and questioned if my butt still existed.

"Get some bottled water and a few bottles of soda. I'm gonna need the caffeine, and whatever food you want. Try not to get too much, we have to play it low. I'm gonna stand by the door and keep an eye on things." He gave me some bills.

I nodded my head and strolled into the store. The door's bell jingled a friendly but annoying tune as I entered, Duo behind me. The man at the register gave a small wave at us. I smiled at him, grabbed a shopping basket, and walked over to the fridge. Duo stood by a magazine rack next to the door and pretended to be looking at the fishing magazines.

I grabbed a couple of waters and sodas and then browsed the food selection. After making my choices I brought them to the register.

"Will that be all ma'am?"

"Yes." I hoped the stress I felt didn't break through as he rang me up.

"Have a good day."

"You too." I grabbed the bag he placed everything in and walked passed Duo and out the door, Duo following after me. That was easy enough.

"Alright, now for new transportation." Duo turned to me. "Do you still have some money?" I nodded my head yes. "Okay, go across the street there" he pointed to a friendly ice cream shop, "and get some ice cream for yourself. I'm gonna browse around here. When I walk in front of the shop come out and follow me. Watch for me. Here." He slowly turned me and put my back against the store's brick wall. He raised his left arm so that it rested against the wall beside my head, blocking me off from everything. He quickly removed the gun from his back waistband with his other hand and slid it into mine.

"Put it in your waistband, make sure you keep it covered. Just in case something happens while I'm gone. Okay, do you know what to do?"

"Yes." I hid the gun but didn't share my minimal gun experience.

"Okay then." He turned to leave.

"Duo." He stopped and looked at me. I wanted to tell him to be careful, but how stupid and pointless would that be? "I wouldn't mind a convertible."

He grinned. "I'll see what I can do." He turned and made his way down the street as I walked across it and entered the ice cream shop.

The gun in my waistband was so uncomfortable, it was almost unbearable. How could he stand it? Trying to ignore it, I glanced down at the glass counter and examined the choices of ice cream that were displayed.

Fifteen minutes later, I saw him through the large glass window. Casually, I got up from the small circular table for two, at least I hope it was casual, and I walked out. I walked a little bit to meet him beside a postal box.

"Okay, I found a car in someone's backyard. No one's home and no one seems to be around. The cars got enough gas in it. Ice cream."

"What?"

"Your ice cream's dripping." He pointed at the ice cream that was about to drip on my fingers.

"Oh." I quickly licked the sides of the cone.

"The house is on the edge of town, so the yard runs back into a vacant field, which edges against a road. I can start the car; you'll have to drive it to the road. Go down about ten miles and I'll meet ya."

"Wait, what?" I held up my free hand to signal for him to stop. "You want me to steal the car? No way!" What was he thinking? No, he wasn't thinking, that was the problem.

"Look, we can't leave the bike, it'll be a dead giveaway that we were here, which means they'll be able to connect us to the car we steal easily. I'm gonna have to ditch the bike, so you'll have to drive the car out of here."

I stared at him in disbelief. No way! I couldn't steal a car!

Ten minutes later I found myself sitting in the driver's seat of a station wagon Duo had hot-wired; he made it look so easy, that or it really was that easy for him. He shut my door and leaned on it while he put his head through the window.

"Aww, I know you're upset that I didn't get you a convertible, but this car suits you well." I shot him a death glare, which just caused him to laugh. I guess I need to work on that. "Okay Relena, just drive straight to the road. Turn right on it and go down about ten miles. Pull over and wait for me, I'll be there as soon as possible. Keep the car running. If anyone stops you or asks if there's something wrong, tell them you simply had to pull over to grab your water bottle, okay?"

"Yeah, everything is okay. I'm just stealing a station wagon!" I said it sarcastically in a cheery voice, with a smile plastered on my face. Duo laughed yet again at me.

"That's my girl." He pushed off the door. "You have the gun?" I nodded my head yes. "Okay then, I'll see you in a bit." I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he snuck out the backyard, backpack slung over his one shoulder. I could just see the headlines; 'Relena Peacecraft Steals Family Station Wagon'. Ugh. I put the car in drive and drove to the road. I kept glancing in my review mirror, waiting to see a pregnant woman with a shotgun chasing after me, but there was no one there. I turned right onto the road and with every mile I slowly released my breath.

I waited for Duo. It was so hot in the car, the sun was scorching. I heard a motor so I looked back to see if it was Duo, it wasn't. Panic quickly rose in me. What do I do? What do I do? The car got closer. Shit! Where was Duo? As the car reached me it began to slow down. I smiled as best I could and waved him on. The driver waved back at me and continued on his way. I sank into the seat as the panic left me. I couldn't handle this.

I heard another engine approaching. God please let this be Duo. I glanced in the rear-view mirror and almost jumped out of the car when I saw that it was him. He slowly drove passed me on the motorcycle and waved me on to follow. Okay, I could do that. I put the car in drive.

When we reached a small wooded area with a pond, Duo motioned for me to stop. I pulled over and parked the car along the side of the road as Duo turned off the motorcycle and got off. Pushing it by the handlebars, I watched him disappear into the woods.

A few minutes later he exited the woods without the bike and walked over to the car. I noticed that his boots were coated in mud. He opened my door, and assuming he intended to drive, I slid across the hot leather seat to the passenger's side. He put the bag down on the seat and opened it.

"Any problems?"

"No. Someone passed by, but that was it." He removed black electrical tape from the bag that was beginning to seem magical each time he removed something from it. Was he prepared for everything? He took it and walked to the front and back of the car and changed some of the letters and numbers of the license plate. Very clever of him, I thought as he got in the car. He tossed the bag into the back seat next to the groceries and then pulled the car back onto the road.

And so, our journey continued.