Disclaimer: Sigh… I don't own it. Just the plot of the story.

I woke up to the sun shining bright in my eyes. Once I had stretched and looked around, I could see everyone else was awake, except for Anita. I had to get up to get dressed, and tried to make myself presentable. Apparently it had been decided that Quatre and Anita would stay behind. Quatre for backup and Anita, well, because she had no use anyway.

"I didn't want to go on this dumb trip anyway," Anita grumbled in indignation.

"Why are we staying here?" Quatre asked, eyeing Anita a little nervously.

"You won't stay here exactly. You'll be about a mile or two away from the mansion that Veronica is at," Heero supplied. "So if anything happens, we have someone to come in."

"What could possibly happen?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Trowa answered from just behind me. I jumped. God, did he always have to do that? Weirdo. "But it is better to be prepared for anything."

"Okay." I was starting to get really nervous. How was Lola? What was going to happen? What was I suppose to say to Veronica when we got there? What would she say? But most importantly what were they going to do?

"Duo will stay at the door, while Trowa, Grace, Tatum and I will make our way to Veronica," Heero continued giving me the brief like I was some soldier in formation. "Then we'll question her, and if all goes well, we will find out how to delete this threat to our identities."

"What do you mean?" Anita asked. "Threat to your identities?"

"No one is to know who we are. That is our accepted rule. Those who do know are sworn to secrecy, or…" Heero replied.

"Why?"

"We just wanted to be normal people after the war. We wanted to go on with our lives. We discovered this would be much easier with our identities as former pilots hidden," Quatre replied sadly. "Being normal is very hard anyway, we didn't need people to know about our part in the war."

"So now, we're gonna make sure your friend doesn't talk, and find out who told her," Duo supplied. "And make sure they don't talk either. Then I'm going home to Hilde and my scrap yard and taking a long nap." He sighed and closed his eyes, pleasing himself with the thought.

Quatre glanced at Duo and then shrugged. "Basically, that's what we're doing. Nothing grand or anything. So you don't have to worry." He sounded tired. All of them did. Or bored. They had probably done this several times. Well at least they knew what they were doing.

We had started off, crunching our way through the underbrush in the woods. It had occurred to me that we were taking our time traveling 250 miles. Then I just figured it gave me more time to think about my situation and what was going on. Maybe they did that on purpose.

"Who else knows who you are?" I asked while we were walking along. They never mentioned anything about the other people who knew their identities, but there had to be more.

"Well, there is Relena…and Dorothy, but we don't see her much," Duo answered.

"Who's Relena?" I asked, probably sounding dumb.

"Relena Peacecraft Darlian," he replied simply. I was surprised. These people knew the Vice Foreign Minister? Who else did they know?

"Then there is everyone else who knew us during the war," Trowa supplied. "Catherine, Noin…and there are others."

"I still find it hard to believe you people were pilots," Anita said.

"So do we sometimes," Trowa replied. Wow. That's a lot of talking for him.

"Were you all friends during the war?" Grace asked, finally speaking up.

"You could say that," Duo replied. "It seems I don't remember being very close them during the war. As I recall I was shot a few times. But I think we always generally liked each other. We don't talk to each other much now. This is the first time I've seen Wufei since that Christmas incident. But Quatre likes to keep in touch and that's nice."

"Well, it's good to know that you all are still alive sometimes," Quatre wryly answered.

"What are you all doing now anyway, if you're not soldiers anymore?" Grace wondered.

"Well, I've been working with Relena and the colonies on peace negotiations…" Quatre offered. Wow, this guy was higher up than I thought. "And lets see, Trowa is still a clown in the circus." A CLOWN?! Trowa? Why don't I see that? "What have you been up to Heero?" Quatre asked. "I haven't really heard from you much for a while."

Heero frowned. Well, more so than usual. "Not much," he finally replied. "I finished school."

"That's good," Duo said. "I never got the heart to go back myself. I've been working with Hilde on the scrap yard. And didn't Wufei say that he was still a Preventer."

"A Preventer?" I choked. I'd heard about that job. That had to be dangerous. No wonder Wufei seemed so moody. Then there was the fact he just helped a girl give birth. I don't think that made him any happier.

"Yeah, I haven't really seen these guys together for years," Duo said. "And I only saw Relena and Noin once or twice. That's life I guess," he continued a little sadly. Then he brightened up and said, "Well now that we've rehashed all of our old memories, how about you?"

"Well," Anita started, but I interrupted her.

"We're all acquaintances from school. Veronica and I were best friends, and Lola and Grace were our friends too. Anita went to another school, but she was friends with Veronica and I knew her." I hoped this would explain everything and we wouldn't have to bring up anymore unpleasant history. Apparently not, because then Quatre asked about Veronica.

"Why don't you like her anymore?"

I sighed. I was so hoping we wouldn't have to bring this up. How was I to go about this?

"Hmm," I started. I sighed and continued, "I had moved to town from Mars. My family was apart of the early terraforming project. I met Veronica. We hit it off. Veronica and I came from troubled homes. My father was not very friendly to say the least, and her stepfather was a little too friendly. If you see where I'm going with this. Anyway we were supposed to run away together. Start new lives. God, we were so naïve. We thought that we could build new futures at the age of fourteen." I sighed again and went on.

"Well, anyway. She left without me. I felt so betrayed and hurt that I've basically hated her ever since. I guess she just needed to get away quicker than I did. I would have taken her back if she had returned. In a week, a year even. But she never came back. She didn't return until about five months ago, then she send me a package, and you know the rest."

"What happened to your parents?" Quatre asked.

"Well, Mom died of cancer a little over a year ago. And I don't ever talk to Dad. He could be dead too for all I know…or care." They all looked a bit shocked at this. I suppose I was a bit hostile towards my father, but who wouldn't be?

"Well, I guess we won't bring up anyone else's parents," Duo mumbled uncomfortably.
"Actually I never knew my parents. I was adopted," Anita said. "But I liked my adoptive parents. I just hade to move out at eighteen. I call them every Saturday."

"I never knew that…" I muttered. How much do these people keep from me anyway?

"My mother died when I was young, and I never really knew my father," Grace supplied. This I knew. Although I never really knew all that much about them. "And Lola's parents live back in Kansas or wherever. They don't like to talk to her, since she got pregnant. It's sad really."

Now that we have all reminisced on memories I would have rather left forgotten, we didn't say much. Quatre and Grace seemed to talk to each other behind us. And Duo tended to hum while he was walking. But other than that, the rest of us were silent.

A little while later…

We stopped. Quatre and Anita sat down, preparing themselves for the wait and I leaned against a tree. It occurred to me then that Heero might not even know where he was going. What directions were they going off of anyway?

Once we parted ways, we started going faster. Heero and Duo were leading the way, while Trowa brought up the back. I think they did this on purpose now, to protect us. How sweet.

Grace just marched forward, not looking around at all, which was strange for her, because normally she would take in everything. Grace was a poet; she loved the beauty of the woods, and things like that. She loved to paint. Usually we would paint with each other. It was fun. Grace had gotten me to appreciate the arts. But now, she just stared ahead like a porcelain doll. This worried me, and I made sure to keep an eye one her.

When we arrived at the mansion, it awed me by its sheer size. I could easily conceive a hundred rooms in this palace. And it was gorgeous. It was three stories, made of brick and what I think was marble. I couldn't understand why such a beautiful building would be hidden in the woods.

We walked up to the door. Did he honestly think we could just knock on the door and be invited in? Apparently he did, because Duo hid behind a bush, and Heero motioned to knock on the door. But before he did, Trowa stepped in front of Grace and I. Then he whispered, "We don't have any weapons, so it will be hand-to-hand combat if they're aggressive."

Grace's eyes closed tight at this. Please, please say that didn't mean what I had thought it did.

Heero knocked loudly on the door. We stood there for a few moments, waiting for sounds inside the house. Duo grumbled something from the bushes, and Heero growled at him to shut up.

Then the door opened. Standing there was a tall man, dark tux and white hair. The butler. And he looked…snooty. A look of contempt came over his face and he asked in what I'm sure was a fake British accent, "Hello. Your business with Mr. Campbell is?" Who was Mr. Campbell?

"We have a meeting with him," Heero replied sounding very serious. We had a meeting with him? And this was not mentioned to me, why?

The butler looked appeased with this answer and then asked, "Name?"

"Heero Yuy."

"And your friends are?" he asked after that.

"Tatum Waslo, Grace Newman, and Trowa Barton," Heero replied low. " I believe I mentioned them in my message to your employer." From here it looked like the butler was slightly scared. Heero must be pretty menacing when he wants to be. The butler let us in, and we made our way to Mr. Campbell.

About an hour later…

I would bore you with details about this guy's mansion, but lets put it this way. If there were any possible way for me to steal a mansion out in the middle of the woods, I would have. This guy had great taste, and there were windows everywhere just flooding the place in stunning sunlight. All of the windows had a view of a beautiful rose garden that I'm sure you could get lost in. I wanted this house. And I would have enjoyed it more if a mean, irate butler wasn't heading the tour.

We were led outside to a veranda. It was intricately designed and the table we were situated at was topped with glass. The table was set up for tea with small china cups with tiny flower patterns.

Ah, hell. I said I wouldn't bore you with details.

There was steaming hot tea in the cups, and I thought it was strange that they would already have it out for us, but at the moment I wasn't in the mood to think about things thoroughly.

We all situated ourselves at the table as suggested, and we were then informed that Mr. Campbell would be with us shortly. If you could call an hour short.

I sat there staring at my tea. Heero and Trowa did as I did, just not at their tea. They seemed to be surveying the area. Yet again I was hit by the fact that they were soldier boys. Grace had gulped her tea down, and was looking at the pot hungrily. I decided to take a sip. It tasted bitter, and I considered adding sugar, but then I remembered I didn't like tea all that much anyway, so the whole exercise would be pointless.

We stayed that way for a bit longer, and then a kindly looking old man came up to us. At first I thought he was the gardener or a servant. He wasn't wearing anything fancy, and was covered in dirt. But then he introduced himself as Mr. Campbell.

"You look just as I thought you would," he said with a smile. "Older, dirtier, but the same." This was our stalker? He looked like my sweet, senile grandpa, but without the purple bathrobe. A little nutty, (you might have to worry about him putting sugar in the salt shaker) but hardly dangerous.

"I suppose you would like to speak to Veronica?" he asked.

"Yes," Trowa replied. Why was he the one talking? We wouldn't want to give this guy the wrong impression.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"I actually don't know…I told her you would be here, but she doesn't seem to have come to visit as I requested. It is unlike her to miss appointments." He said this with a slight frown, looking genuinely concerned. I wondered over what his relationship with Veronica was, but ignored the nagging feeling I felt in the back of my chest.

Whatever he felt about Veronica left my head once he sat down.

"I imagine you would like to know about the documents Veronica sent you. There is actually very little I could tell you about them. Only the bits that Veronica told me about. I am told that much of it was collected by a group of scientists. From what Veronica told me, the Gundam pilots had been chosen, but the creators hadn't been sure if they should entrust their inventions to these young men." He paused in thought. He looked Heero and Trowa over. "Which I see there are only two here today. Where are the others?"

"With friends," was Heero's simple answer. I wasn't going to get involved in this anymore than I had to, so I kept my trap shut, and it seemed that no one else was going to give away any more information because they didn't elaborate.

He took this as a decent answer, and continued. "So they studied you, found out every thing that they could about you. I don't know if they are dead or not. But there research remains. This data was given to a young officer. He was to hide it and make sure it didn't see the light of day until specified. That officer was my son. My son was very much in love with a young girl when this task was given to him. That young girl was Veronica." He sighed, seeming as if he was floating off to his own world. I found myself feeling sorry for him with no reason at all. He hadn't told us anything particularly sad. Then he returned to the real world.

"Then my son died, but before he did, he made us promise to keep this box of things until the specified date. Unfortunately we never did find out the specified date. So we waited until we were ready to complete his task. Unfortunately, by the time that happened, we were being targeted. Outside sources had discovered we had something on the Gundams. So far Veronica and I are sure they don't know what it is, but we didn't want to take our chances at the time. So we agreed to send it to an undisclosed location, and Veronica would contact the pilots so they could acquire their records." He sighed and took a drink of the tea in front of him. His nose scrunched up. "That new butler…has no idea how to make tea," he muttered. "It was this bad this morning."

"Well, obviously Veronica chose you," he said to me, returning to the subject at hand. "She sent you the box," he gestured to me, " and sent you the letter," he continued motioning to Trowa and Heero. "You were only to retrieve the information and leave, but apparently you got caught and seemed to have involved your friends here. I am terribly sorry for any inconvenience."

"Well, that explains a lot, but why us?" I asked. Why did Veronica send us the package and not some other dopes with nothing better to do?

"Veronica never enlightened me on that. I assume it was because she didn't think you would be suspected with such items. But as for that, I don't know."

Silence followed this last statement. So the guys knew where the information came from, and why he had it. But why were we sent it? Why did Veronica feel I just had to be involved with this? We sat there in our silence, no one knowing what to say. I suppose it was a lot to swallow in a few days time. Soon Heero spoke up.

"I think we found what we came for…we can go home now." I think he was directing this towards us, but he hadn't looked in our direction, so he could have been talking to Mr. Campbell. "We wish you a good day."

"I find it terribly sad such young people had to get involved in the war. Gundam pilots no less." He looked so horribly heartbreaking when he said this, I thought he would cry. "I hope your lives are much more pleasant than they have been. Goodbye."

He then shook Heero and Trowa's hands and turned towards Grace and I. "I also wish you two the best of luck." We nodded in acknowledgement, not knowing what to say to him. As we made our way to the door, he caught us.

"I would go through the garden if I were you, it is much more pleasant than that old house, and much quicker."

"Thank you," Trowa replied, and we made our way off.

That was until Mr. Campbell fell face flat on the grass.

I had never seen a dead body before then, and I had never wished to see another one afterward. Apparently Heero and Trowa had dealt with this kind of thing before, because both were oddly calm, and had things under control in minutes. We were there a few moments when Heero had discerned that Mr. Campbell was indeed dead, and I could freak out with no guilt.

We moved Mr. Campbell to the house, not wanting to leave him outside. Trowa was muttering something about crime scenes and Preventers to Heero. Grace and I just stayed back. I myself hoping not to touch a dead person, and Grace because she didn't want to be in the way. She seemed oddly calm also. Grace was quiet, but not normally when it was serious. She had gotten just as hysterical as I had when we found out that Lola was pregnant.

We were standing around in the hallway as Heero and Trowa debated what to do with the body. What were we going to tell the others? I didn't even know how to begin to describe the feelings that were taking over. Fear, terror, sadness? I didn't know.

We stayed in the hallway for a while Heero and Trowa discussing the dead man.

"It was poisoning I think," Heero said.

"But who did it, and what was it in?" Trowa asked.

"I'm not sure. Apparently Mr. Campbell was not the real problem though," he supplied thoughtfully.

"It was the butler," I growled with conviction. "I just know it."

"What makes you say that?" Trowa asked.

"He seems to be the only one here, besides Mr. Campbell. God I don't even know his first name…Plus the guy was weird and freaky."

"Well that doesn't mean he really did it, but it is very likely. Whoever did it could be anywhere. Poison's not one of those things we can track until we get test results," Trowa amended.

"Which means we need to call the Preventers," Heero stated. Heero seemingly went to call, and came back a few minutes later, with a deep frown on his face. He looked at Trowa with a we-can't-tell-them look, but continued to tell him out loud.

"I found the phone, but the Preventers won't be able to make it here for at least two hours."
"So it looks like we will have to sit and wait," Trowa sighed. "Did you inform Duo and Quatre of this?"

"Yes. They're waiting for my call. We'll have to make a few plans. Best way to remove the body, you know the drill."

I sighed, and Grace moved to sit on the floor, as far away from Mr. Campbell as she could but still stay in sight.

Trowa leaned against the wall. Looking as calm as ever. I was about to throw up and have a nervous breakdown, and he looked like he was on a particularly boring cruise ship.

How did he do it?

Being nervous, I did what I do naturally. I started to pace. I looked around at a few of the paintings on the wall, not really paying attention to any of them. But I stopped at one. It was a woman hanging from a tree. Her eyes were blank and her tongue was hanging out just slightly. She looked so strange and disgusting. That did it for me.

I threw up, right there on the floor. All over his expensive Persian carpet.

Trowa and Heero rushed over at the sound. Both grimaced at the smell of my vomit. Grace just stared at the picture sadly, not saying anything.

"Just like my mother," Grace whispered after a while, wringing her hands nervously. She was looking around the room at nothing in specific. I was starting to think she was going to get hysterical.

"What?" I hissed back. I was trying to be quiet. We didn't know who was listening. What did she mean? Just like her mother?

Heero and Trowa had stopped to listen. Trowa regarding us with his blank eyes and Heero not looking our way, but obviously listening.

"I never told you in the beginning," Grace said sadly, "Because I wasn't sure if you would understand. But then you never asked about my parents, so I didn't think you ever would. It was sort of a relief. Then I wouldn't have to tell you my father left. I lived with my mother alone for so long, I forgot I had a father. I was just her and me. We were each other's world. So I didn't tell you about my father."

What was she talking about?

"You didn't tell us much about your mother either," I said. "You never said what happened to her."

"I'm getting to that," she replied. She had our full attention now. All three of us were looking at her now. She looked slightly uncomfortable, but beautiful all the same. "I remember walking through the house trying to find my mother one day, but she couldn't hear me call for her. Or that's what I thought. I found our cat by the chair. When I picked Kitty up, she pounced off. I went looking for her then. She had run towards mother's bedroom. I got on my knees to look for her under the bed. That was her favorite place to hide. But when I looked down there, she wasn't under the bed. And then I saw the toilet paper. And I thought maybe she went to the bathroom and she was playing with it as she always did." Grace then took a shaky breath. She trembled but continued.

"I crawled into the room, following the cat. Then I noticed something brush my face. At first I tried to brush it away. But then I noticed it was hard and cold. I looked over and I screamed and screamed and screamed until I wasn't sure if I was screaming out loud anymore. It was my mother's foot. She hung herself in our bathroom."

My mouth was gaping. I couldn't tell the other's expressions in the darkness, but then someone said, "I'm sorry." Maybe it was me. I never knew.

"You know what makes me sad now though?" she asked, knowing she wasn't going to get an answer. "It's not the fact she killed herself. I can accept that, now." We all stood not moving or saying a thing. "I can remember the exact shade of purple her lips were while hanging there," she whispered with a tear, "but I can't remember the color of her eyes. Where they blue or green? I don't know anymore. I wish I did." It was then she broke down in sobs. It was then it just occurred to me.

I had never seen Grace cry. I had seen her concerned, upset, even livid, but I had never seen her cry.

My poor broken Grace.

I held her there in the darkness, while Heero and Trowa figured out exactly what we were going to do now that the man was dead, and there was a true madman on the loose.

Sorry if this chapter was a long time coming...I'm a slacker...What can I say?