Disclaimer: Don't own. And I'm finally done. Don't know why it took me so long. But I hope I did a good job. Please tell me. I won't ever write again if it is that bad. No need to torture you.

Sitting in the hallway, I had time to think. Grace was hiccupping in the corner softly while Trowa and Heero were talking quietly trying not to disturb us. But I still heard them whispering.

"Do you think it was suicide?" one of them asked.

"No, I don't think someone that had just poisoned himself would have acted the way he did."

"Where do you think the poison came from?"

They kept on like this, but I couldn't pay attention, my nerves were a mess, and my eyes were heavy with sleep. I look back now, and I'm not surprised I dozed off, my eyes closing and sleep taking me with no reserve. I'm not even sure how long I slept, but I do know when I woke up, there were six people surrounding me instead of the initial three.

I'm not sure how long they were there, but Anita was stiff looking, not taking her eyes off Mr. Campbell's body on the floor, and Grace was looking green about the gills. Duo was sitting against the wall across the hall, his head leaning back, making him look asleep. Quatre was against the wall beside Grace, head in hands, pondering God knows what. Heero and Trowa hadn't seemed to change their position, and were still conversing with each other.

Heero noticed my eyes upon him and stated, "We have a problem."

"Problem? What kind of problem?" Anita asked frantically.

"The Preventers won't come," he replied.

"What do you mean they won't come?" Duo's head snapped up. "It's their job, this is what they live for! Why the fuck won't they come?"

"Lady Une says she's stretched as thin and she can safely allow without sending anyone in to help us. She can't spare anyone. We're on our own," Trowa answered.

"Holy shit," Anita growled. "This is just great! We hike God only knows how far, and wait forever just to find some dead guy, and now we have to deal with it? What the hell are we suppose to do?"

"Well, there is always the local police," Quatre suggested.

"Not likely," Trowa replied. "What will we tell them? We visited some old man and he fell over dead?"

"The truth never hurt anyone," I said.

"It wouldn't pass," Trowa said to me. "Old, wealthy men don't die of poisoning everyday. We would appear suspicious."

"So what do we do? Where do we go? We can't just bury him in the back yard and go…" Anita began. "Or could we?"

"That's sick," I said. "What the hell are you thinking!?"

"Hey, so far I'm the only one who's come up with something!"

"Do you think Relena could get someone to help us?" Duo asked.

"She has enough on her mind," Heero replied.

"Well, we could look for Mr. Butler Man," Grace replied.

"Well, at least that's something," Quatre agreed. We can split up and search a few rooms. If we turn up empty…"

"We'll have a hell of a lot more work to do," Duo moaned.

"But it's better than just sitting around," Trowa said.

"Yeah, but what do we do with him?" Duo asked, motioning towards Mr. Campbell's body.

"Leave him, he's not going anywhere," Heero replied.

Wandering around the mansion I was amazed at the difference the situation could make on the aura of a house. Earlier the mansion seemed friendly and amazing, but after Mr. Campbell died, it just seemed creepy. Shadows became monstrous killers waiting in the dark with machetes and psychopaths waving their guns. I couldn't walk past a corner without grasping at Grace's arm. I imagine Heero found me rather annoying also, but he just ignored me while we wandered around the house. We had split into three groups. Grace, Heero, and I were in one group. Trowa and Quatre went off towards a dark hallway, and Duo and Anita headed off into the other direction. The boys decided we were far too delicate to travel by our selves, so they wouldn't allow us to go off alone.

My humble group ascended the staircase. The upstairs portion of the house was very…stony. There was a multitude of marble and granite. Oddly enough there were statues…naked statues, which Grace couldn't help but blush at when she walked past. A small cleaner robot zoomed past us in the hallway, making Grace jump.

"I wish we had one of those," she muttered.

"Well, the next time were billionaires, we'll think about it," I replied.

Heero appeared to be very engrossed in what he was doing, and he disregarded us mostly. Every room we entered, he turned on the light, many exposing an empty room. Mr. Campbell may have put on a show of having a huge, beautiful house, but that was about all it was, a show.

We came upon one of the few rooms with actual furnishings, the lights clicked on and we entered. We didn't notice him until he spoke to us.

"Well, I do suppose you think you're clever."

"Who are you?" Heero asked.

"Grant. That's all you'll need to know."

No one said anything. The butler who greeted us at the door slowly rose from his seat and turned to look at us. "So, you have it all figured out do you?"

"We never said that," Heero replied.

"Of course not, but you were probably secretly thinking it. Just so you know, you have no idea."

"I have no idea…" Heero started, but the old man interrupted him.

"Just SHUT up and let me talk, alright?" He demanded, a slightly maniacal look to his eyes. "You see, you were here for all of an hour maybe two before that old fart keeled over, so you don't even have half and inkling. All the trouble I went through…" he said this so mournfully, as if we should feel sorry for him. "You weren't supposed to show up for another day. Dear God, you probably didn't know his name for more than two days. And of course you take it upon yourselves come here and ask him questions. If only you could have left well enough alone." Grant said all of this with an air of annoyance.

"We still don't know what you're talking about," Heero muttered.

"Of course you don't. Why would you? You might be a Gundam pilot, but that doesn't make you omnipresent."

"Would you care to explain then?" Heero growled in a low tone that even had me freaked out. What in hell were we dealing with?

"Oh, why not? It's not like it'll matter anyway."

He eyed all of us, as if judging our weight. Then he spoke in his nasal tone again. "You see, Mr. Victor Campbell was to be the rally point for you're little get together, but he was suppose to be dead by the time you got here. Unfortunately, he wasn't. You were to come to an empty house, with no answers. And I was to walk a way with nothing short of a massive fortune. Of course I took care of your little friend a long time ago. What was her name? Vanessa? Victoria? No."

"Veronica," I barely breathed out.

"Ah, yes. Veronica. Such an annoying brat she was." Was. Oh God.

He gave a disgusted sigh, and continued. "You were to come to an empty house, and a dead millionaire. And leave with your questions unanswered but none the worse for wear. But you came too soon, and you know the rest. Now here we are, crossing paths, but I have no intention leaving you unfulfilled. I was going to let you live before, but now, well, that's out of the question."

"How do you know we won't kill you?" Heero fixed him with his eyes.

"Young man, I saw you when you came in, you have no weapons, and Mr. Campbell himself was a pacifist. Unless you raided the kitchen and have butter knives up your sleeves, I have you quite out armed."

"I don't need weapons to hurt you…" Heero quickly moved to attack the man, but was halted when he pulled out his weapon. A shiny handgun with a silencer looming on it.

"Oh, but you won't do much good without them, will you?"

Heero stopped mid-swing, mid-whatever it was he was planning on doing. Even if Heero did have a weapon, Grace and I didn't.

"Now just stand there like a good little boy."

Did he have to be so patronizing?

"Now, now, what shall I do with the three of you, and where is your other friend?"

It was then that Grace started to breathe erratically.

"Oh, you drank the tea. But not quite enough, it won't kill you instantly. Pity. Well, I suppose I should just do you a favor." His arm swung towards Grace and two shots rang out as someone screamed in terror.

The scream was from me. One shot was from Grant, and the other was from Quatre who had just entered form the doorway. Quatre's bullet had gone straight through the butler's temple, killing him instantly as the autopsies later reported. Grant's bullet had hit Grace in the stomach, not enough to kill her. And she lived for a little while. For all it was worth.

By the time my mind had assessed what had happened, blood was spewing forth from Grace's abdomen. I dropped to the floor beside her.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God. Holy shit." I panted between breaths. "What do we do? What do we do?" I was clearly panicking. Each word I said came out in a slightly higher pitch. No one answered me. Probably because we all knew, if the bullet hadn't killed her, the poison from the tea surely would.

Oh God, I had drunk the tea too. That's why I vomited.

I crawled to her, unable to cry, unable to do anything besides place my hands over her stomach as if there was something I could do to stop the inevitable. "You can't die, you just can't," I almost sobbed. Except there were no tears. I just couldn't believe.

She moaned, a half cry, half howl. Trowa and Heero just stood, staring, there was nothing they could do. Quatre sat against the wall, head in hands.

"Who will teach me poetry? Who will paint with me? Who will stay up late at night talking to me, and get up ungodly early in the morning by responsibility alone? You can't die. There is so much to do now. You can see space now, like you always wanted too…"

"Lola could do that with you…" she whispered.

"But I wouldn't be the same…" I pleaded. "Not without you."

"It'll be okay…" she said.

"It will never be okay…" I sobbed.

I kissed her forehead. She started to shiver and her lips were turning that blue color that isn't really blue. I couldn't even see my hand anymore on her stomach; it was so completely covered in blood. Like it was fading away. I don't think her heart was beating by that time anymore, but I'm didn't check so I can't be sure. And the memory eludes me now.

She stopped breathing though. I can remember that so clearly.

She was dead. I just knew it in my heart. They didn't have to tell me. They didn't have to pry her from my arms. They didn't have to hold me, whispering it would be okay. It will never be okay. I knew it, just as sure as I knew my name. And the tears I had tried so hard to keep back kept coming, and I could feel my nose starting to run, but I didn't care anymore.

Nothing could touch me now.

By the time we returned to the house, things regarding the butler Grant had been taken care of by some woman named Une who worked with the Preventers. Apparently they decided to show up after an innocent civilian was killed. None of us could bring ourselves to tell Lola, she looked deflated after having the baby, but once Heero broke the news, Lola slowly walked up the stairs and locked herself in her room. She never did want anyone to see her cry.

I held the baby while Lola was up stairs. She didn't have a name yet, but she was beautiful. Well, as beautiful as newborns got. She was so small. I guess it's clichéd, but it was so hard to believe there was an actual person in there. Wufei had called the hospital the day after, they came and checked up on the baby, made sure she was doing well, and allowed mother and child to stay at home for rest.

Once Lola came back down a few hours later, the rest of us had settled ourselves into the kitchen, many of us eating for no reason at all. She lifted the baby from her bassinet, cooing at her in a broken tone.

"I think I've got a name," she announced.

"Really?" Anita asked. "What is it?"

"Anais."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Grace."

"That's perfect," Wufei told her. He patted her on the shoulder and walked out of the room.

We buried Grace in the old cemetery her mother was buried in, but not beside her mother. Her mother had been buried between her parents and some thirty-five year old man who died twenty years ago. Grace's grave was about twenty yards from there, on the outskirts of the graveyard. It looked very lonely, and the flowers didn't help much, especially once they wilted. Grace's father actually attended the funeral, which was very much a surprise to us. He cried the way most men do, silently, behind their hands. I only got to speak to the man once, but he seemed nice, almost shy.

Two of the Gundam pilots actually came to the funeral, and not the ones we secretly thought would. Trowa and Wufei stood beside a tall brunette woman that looked extremely uncomfortable. They whispered their condolences and told us why the others couldn't, or just didn't come. The girl, who introduced herself as Trowa's sister, seemed much more familiar once I got a good look at her.

I brought myself to visit Veronica's grave. As much as I hadn't liked her after she left, I felt a terrible sense of confusion. Tinged with a bit of guilt. We never did figure out what really happened. The only people who would know are dead now.

Anyway, Lola didn't bring the baby, because she just couldn't imagine bringing Anais to a funeral. Anita came with some guy in a navy sweater that looked like my great-grandmother could have knit it. Apparently she had been engaged for the last four months and didn't find the need to tell the rest of us. Why did we keep so many secrets from each other? I, of course, came alone, and spent most of my time talking to Lola, and at times Anita. I couldn't bring myself to cry, but I was grieving all the same.

Back at the house, people gathered with mounds of food, and talked like they knew her. Anita cried in a corner while her fiancé tried to console her. Lola disappeared into the kitchen, probably entertaining questions about Anais who was actually quite an attractive baby. And I, well I wandered around the house as if I had a purpose. We would have to leave in a few days. The bank was fully prepared to foreclose on the house because once Grace died, only Lola and I were left to pay for the bills, and Lola had a baby to take care of, so she wouldn't be much help financially. I suppose I was saying my last goodbyes, our dream of being independent was dying. Lola was going to move in with her parents, who extended me a welcome also, if need be. The lure of their only grandchild was too much for them to deny, even if she had been conceived in sin. But I didn't think that I could do it.

Anthony, a guy I knew from work, invited me to stay with him for a while, just until I figured out what I was going to do. I was tempted to take him up on the offer.

But then Trowa and Wufei walked over to me.

"We heard about your trouble, with the house and all," Trowa said softly, as if he didn't know quite what to say to me. "And Quatre, being who he is, decided to pay it off for you."

"What…" I was stunned; I didn't know what to say.

"Well, it's suppose to be from all of us, but let's be frank, only Quatre could actually afford something like this," Wufei wryly replied with a roll of his eyes.

And that's when I burst into tears and flung myself at someone's chest. I'm not sure who's it was now, but he smelled of laundry. That bright smell that clothes give off after coming out of the dryer.

Everyone went home, and Lola and I were free to roam around the house that was now ours. Really ours. If only…if only Grace could have been here for this.

She calls me. She's been dead for months now, but she still owns my thoughts. I sometimes see her around the corner. Just a glimpse of her golden hair. She is humming and baking as she always did before. Sometimes, I can even smell her. Every time this happens, I just pause. I breathe the air. I listen to her song. But when I think I see her, I close my eyes. She fades away every time, and I cannot bear to see that. I am left alone. Alone with the golden light by the corner. I died that day. A little death. So small, no one noticed. No one notices I'm dead today. I would tell someone, but Anita is already gone. And I don't want to worry Lola. Besides, I'm not sure they would understand.

It was weird at times, I did things I didn't even realize that I was doing. Once I chopped up five onions and didn't even notice until I started sliding them into the pan that the recipe only called for half an onion. Another time I drove for twenty minutes and didn't even realize I had no idea where I was going until I stopped the car in the middle of what looked like a pasture. It's there that I finished my crying. I was done. I cried like I was laughing, and if someone had come by, they probably would have thought that was what I was doing.

Which brings us up to the present. It's been a year now. I have been dating Anthony for about half a year. He moved in with us a few weeks ago, and I think he might ask me to marry him. I'm scared, but in a good way. I'll definitely say yes if he does. He reminds me of Grace in a way. Except he can't cook worth shit.

Lola is doing fine, but can't seem to find a date. Anais had become the spoiled monster we had dreaded but secretly knew she would become. She is just now walking and is incredibly enthralled with the reach her new stance allows her. Lola's been dealing with Michael, Anais's father, and as come to an agreement with him, but they still don't seem to be on good terms.

I've been taking classes at the college here, (yes I was accepted) and have been working towards getting my generals covered, but I think I might go into English. I have that poem memorized now. "Do not go gentle into that good night-rage, rage against the dying of the light." Not that it'll do me much good now, but it's a good poem.

I haven't seen the Gundam pilots much, except for a few times. I saw Trowa passing by on the sidewalk while shopping with Anthony. We talked for a few moments, but Trowa had to meet some one. And of course we saw Quatre on T.V. but never in person. We never got to thank him for the house. Once I thought I saw Duo, but it might have been someone else. And I've only ever seen Wufei a few times after the funeral. Heero I never saw again, but I think I heard something about him getting a engaged. I can't for the life of me remember who, actually, I don't think Trowa said. Anyway, we've all gone and done other things. On to other acts in one long play. Remember when I told you that people could be bit players on the stage. Well the Gundam pilots were bit players on the stage of my life, but it was a memorable act.

I am soooooo done. Sigh. Hopefully that wasn't too depressing, I just wanted to write something different.