Chapter 4 - Epilogue

At promptly eight o'clock in the morning, Trowa woke to his alarm clock, noisily screaming its urgent message in his ear. On most other days, the young Gundam pilot would have simply fisted the snooze button and rolled over to sleep an extra half-hour. Yet today was an extra special day on which each pilot was to receive new assignments. He pulled back his blanket, silently hoping that this mission would send him somewhere just as cold as here, and more importantly, somewhere further away from *him.*

He picked out his favorite outfit, a blue long sleeved shirt and snug white pants, and dressed. After carefully arranging his bangs in their usual swoop forward, he left his room for the living room, where the five pilots traditionally met before they received their orders.

Trowa glanced around the room, saying nothing to Heero or Wufei, who were already waiting and who said nothing back, and sat gracefully on the window sill. As the minutes passed, he stared out the window, watching the falling snow which seemed exceptionally fluffy. Finally, Heero raised his head and 'humf'ed.

"I'll go," Trowa stated, and headed down the hall. He hesitated momentarily at Quatre's door, which he instinctively had reached for first, then turned towards Duo's room instead. He knocked lightly and with no answer, opened the door halfway and peered inside. The sight he met drained his face of color, but his expression remained stoic as normal.

Unsure what to do, and absolutely taken by surprise, Trowa whipped the door shut and leaned his weight against it. For a few moments he stood there in a daze, but was sharply brought back by a yawn from inside Duo's room.

"Hey, Duo," he heard through the door, "wake up. We slept too late. Our new assignments, remember?"

"Alright, alright," a tired voice flowed past the door. "I'm up."

"He he, no you're not! Now get up! I'll be right back, I have to get into my room really quick."

Moved by Quatre's announcement, Trowa started his walk back down the hall, his face smooth, but his stomach doing summersaults. He stopped halfway and turned as Quatre, bare-chested in only his light blue night pants, quietly opened and shut Duo's door behind him. He paused for a few moments as their eyes met, their faces both calmly scrutinizing the other's.

Turning his head with a blank expression, Quatre broke their gaze and continued silently into his own room.

Left only to now return to the living room, Trowa did so, trying his hardest to keep his face smooth.

"What's wrong?" Heero questioned, calmly leaning against the window.

"Nothing," he lied and, seemingly unmoved, sat down on the sofa and crossed his legs to wait for Quatre and Duo.