. Though she disliked the girl, Quinn knew she couldn't just leave her. As soon as Tabby'd been pulled out, Quinn saw she was barely clinging to life. It wouldn't be long now before.She let the thought trail off. "Tabitha.What happened to you? Weren't you back there.with Jonya and the others?" Tabby weakly shook her head. "Wrong place, wrong time. I was (she gave a gasp of pain).in the back.and when I came.out.it was.too late. Oh god.it hurts. Can't you make the pain go away?" Quinn felt a sudden remorse overtake her. "Hush. Your pain will be gone soon enough." "Good.That's good." Both were silent for a minute or two until Tabby caught Quinn's attention. "You know, Popsicle.you're not so bad when you actually try. For a stone- cold Goth, that is." She hesitated but brought a smirk to her lips. "Neither are you. For a preppy, perky blonde." Tabby chuckled weakly. "Touché," Jonya and Kite came through the blown-out door. "Quinn? You ok.?" Kite let her voice trail off. "Tabby...What.How..?" Quinn inhaled. "She wasn't sitting down when the plane hit and was thrown up here from the back." Both women grimaced. "We've been sitting here.trading insults, but..I think it'd help..if someone actually checked to.see if anything's broken or.crushed." Tabby forced the words out. Kite looked at Quinn, who gave a small sigh. Kite then looked to Tabby. "There's not much I can do to help.You took a bad hit." Tabby nodded. "When I..die.Will you bury me somewhere? Don't leave me here.I don't want to be tied to this place for eternity." "Don't say that," Jonya muttered. "You'll be....we'll get you...well, you'll be safe when we get to Swnsea." "God, I hope so...but if I'm not...please, honor that wish." Tabby was insistent. Jonya looked fiercely proud. "You have my word." "--And mine," said Kite. Quinn nodded. "Mine as well." They heard the pilots coming their way, but none of them stood, none of them raised their bowed heads from the fading light in their friend's eyes. Kite choked back a sob.

"Day in, day out, she waits for you,

Sprit for her guide,

Careful how you look at her,

Her soul will never hide,

So as the sunsets upon a weary shore,

Go in peace, with our promises

And trouble never more."

Jonya let the poetry hang on her lips, whispering out every word with more pain, more thundering sorrow, than anyone thought she felt, for her face was a stone mask.

Tabby's pale lips formed her last smile, "Thanks Jon.thanks for everything."

Kite let a sob escape her mouth, and leaned back, squeezing her eyes closed, tears dribbling down her face.

Quinn's icy eyes softened, and she shifted her weight back onto her heels.

"Amazing Grace," she whispered, and the other two girls stared at her a moment, before finishing the verse with her, their voices almost angelic, piercing the night air.

"How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now, am found.

Was blind, but now I see."

Quatre bent down, and, with Quinn's help, they lifted Tabby and carried her through the thickly wooded forest, to the sea lapping hungrily at the pale shore. There was a small motor boat waiting for them.

"Who.?" whispered Jonya, looking to Quinn, who nodded and she carried Tabby's body below deck.

It was a long way from the cove to the little town outside of liver pool, almost to Anglesey Island, and the water was dark and choppy in the fall, but when the dark towers and stained glass windows of Quinn's castle home came into view, even the seasickness was worth it. "Wow," muttered Quatre. "Nice house." Duo threw up his hands in exasperation. "Sheesh. This from YOU, who's the Bill Gates of Arabia." "Just because someone is rich doesn't make them any better or worse, Duo" chided Quatre. "Yeah, but it's definitely more fun." Quatre sighed. "I don't even need all of it.the money, I mean. I'd much rather--" "--Give it to me." Duo snorted. "Dude, you have GOT to learn how to blow some of that cash. Best way is to lend me some." "I already lent you A LOT of money in the past.Which you have yet to pay back, by the way." "So? I'll pay up this time, I swear." "Right." Wufei ignored the pounding of his head. "Maxwell, while you might enjoy hearing your own voice some of us do NOT. Shut. Up." Duo rolled his eyes. "Tactless, you are. Somebody's a little cranky," "I heard that." Snapped Wufei. The relief was practically audible when everyone stepped out of the boat. "I thought we'd be stuck in that hunk of junk FOREVER." Jonya grumbled. "Thank god somebody created land." Kite grinned. "Ditto." An airplane-like sound could now be heard, and the six people looked up to see Wing Zero. "Figures," muttered Duo. "He's ALWAYS gotta make an entrance." "And YOU don't?" asked Quinn. Duo just laughed. "So, Dr. Quinn. What's happening out in the West?" She glared at him. He hid behind Kite and said, in a stage whisper: "If we're very quiet, and don't panic, it might not attack us." Heero felt a twig snap beneath his feet as he jumped out of Wing Zero. Going over to where everyone else was standing, he waited for someone (most likely to be Duo) to start talking. "So, Perfect Soldier, have you saved the world yet? Met Superman? Seen the Batcave? Done anything I'd actually care to hear about?" Predictable as always. "Hn." Was his reply. "Okay, I guess not. Ladies, meet Heero Yuy, otherwise known as The Perfect Soldier. Heero, this is Jonya Windy and Kite De La Luz." Quinn folded her arms over her chest and shot Jonya a look of exasperation. Jonya's eyes flickered over to where 01 was standing, clearing her throat. "And that's--" "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," interjected Duo. Quinn stepped forward. "Bastard," she hissed to 02. "Quinn Grant." Heero nodded. "It's a pleasure." He muttered. She stepped back, taking in the person standing in front of her. He's just like me, she realized. No family, no desire to feel emotions like happiness.love, anything like that. Masked. Silent, stalwart workaholic. Someone I could actually tolerate for more than an hour. Terrific. Duo peered closely at the two. "OMG. You could be clones.if one of you were the opposite gender. You guys have the whole death glares and the same anti- social personality..This is TOO freaky." Both turned, giving Duo the trademark Glare of Death. He winced. "WHY d'you HAVE to look at me like that, huh?? Geez!" "Shut up," Quinn commanded. "And come inside.all of you." There was a servant waiting for her at the door. "Good t' see ye, ma'am," said he, with a voice heavily accented. Quinn frowned. "Save the pleasantries, Ackley, no one's in the mood. Jonya and Kite know their way around; you remember them, don't you? The Pilots.give them a tour or something, show them wherever they need to go and meet me in the library in a.half-hour." Ackley nodded. "Top o' the mornin' to ye, then. Me name's Ackley; you lot follow me, this house is right big, it is, so ye've got to step rightly.This 'ere's the main staircase.." Quinn rubbed at her temples. "And just where is Jeeves, anyway? What the hell do I pay him for if not to answer that stupid door and deal with all that rubbish--?" "Mistress Grant, for the umpteenth time my job here is not rubbish, and if you must know I was upstairs instructing the maid to actually do her work instead of shirking her duties like she INSISTS upon doing. What brings you back to Swansea? Work I suppose, of that disastrous nature." "Jeeves, you haven't changed a bit. Still as stiff-collared as ever.and still running the show. You'll remember these two? (Gesturing to Jon and Kite) We've had a bit of a hard time dealing with a few matters lately and we need to do some work." He looked solemn. "Lovely to see you again. And as for the work it can be done accordingly.all in good time. Madam, dinner will be served promptly at seven and no later. Please insure that your.friends are punctual. And that everything is in pristine order." "All in good time, Jeeves," she mocked. "And if anyone comes wanting to see me tell them I'm--" "Dead, Madam?" "Yes, tell them I'm dead. That should work." Jonya looked to Kite. "Nobody'll ever believe that...Quinn's harder to kill than Saddam Hussein." The two girls turned to face the dour butler.

"Jeeves," Jonya said quietly, "there's someone that needs to be taken care of in the boat." she stopped, and Kite looked away.

"Please," she continued, "put her somewhere dry and clean.so we can.bury her."

Jeeves looked down at his mistress's two friends, "It shall be as you wish, Ladies."

"Thank you, Jeeves," whispered Kite, and both girls went to their respective rooms. *** "Now these are your rooms, an' if summat isn't to your likin' than all you've to do is tell Jeeves, E's the head of this place. Or you kin take your chances with the Madam, but you might not get so far wit her." "Tell me about it," muttered Duo to Quatre, who nodded. "You kin choose whichever one you want, no one's bound to care. Except the room on the end o' the hall, that's 'ers. " (Nobody had to guess who he meant by 'her'.) "Now the li-bary is over this 'ere way, down these stairs and to yer left. 'Bout a hundred thousand books in there, I'd say. Very big. And you lot have got about ten minutes left to decide who's sleepin' where, then Madam wants to see ye in the library. Summat about work, she said. I'll be off now, so Cheerio!" Trowa looked after Ackley. "What a strange little man," he muttered. "I'll say," Duo piped in. "Holy crap this house is big. It's like the time I got lost in one of Quatre's houses just because I didn't want to listen to him and Rashid catch up on how the Stock Market was doing. Only this time it's like being in La Femme Nikita and Dracula combined. The spooky castle, Quinn's violent personality.." He stopped talking only when realizing that nobody was really listening. Trowa and Heero were "having a conversation" about the best way to hack into a computer, (if you consider conversation as one person saying a full sentence and then 'Hn."). Wufei made the comment that he was taking THIS room (standing in front of the door), and if anyone else wanted it then they'd have to come through him, a kitana, and a certain Gundam named Nataku before he'd even CONSIDER giving it up to ANYONE. Duo chose the room farthest from Wufei's. Quatre got the one across the hall from Trowa, who was beside an empty room. Wufei had the room beside Quinn's (and had only realized it AFTER his spiel about how he'd NEVER give up the room), and Heero walked into a room at random, not really caring. *** Kite frowned as Jonya settled into an over stuffed red velvet chair, surrounded by shelves and shelves of ancient books.

Kite rested a narrow hand on Jonya's shoulder, "As soon as Wufei gets here you two'll go straight to the infirmary, ok? He's probably got a couple of cracked ribs, with all that buffeting about he got."

Jonya gave here a weak smile. "Actually, how about I go now and he can find his OWN way there. He'll just rant the entire way about how I'm weak."

Kite smirked, "Not if you take Jeeves with you. Between a stiff-collared British butler and a justice obsessed Chinaman.hoo boy."

Jonya snickered. "That's a match I'd like to see."

Quinn, who was slowly sinking into a cream-colored sofa gave a laugh. "Jeeves can rule-ify anybody out of their minds, I know, I lived with him for ten years."

Jonya shuddered, "Oh. Scary."

Kite smiled, "and here come our heroes now!"

The French door to the awesome library creaked open and five irritable pilots walked in. Jonya stood, and with a pointed look from Kite, started.

"Wufei, we've got to go get patched up, you and I both can afford to miss this little pow-wow."

Quinn rolled her icy eyes, "Do you always call meetings Pow-Wows? It pisses me off."

Jonya gave her a smile so cheesy; you could cut it with a knife.

Wufei nobbled his ribcage about a bit, and then nodded. "Alright, Onna, just speak quietly if you must speak at all."

Jonya rolled her eyes. "Geez, you'd ever know I saved this @$$ hole's life, would you?"

Wufei, beginning to protest, followed her out the door, and down a light paneled wall.

Quinn glared at the remaining four pilots, "Back to business." "I hope she doesn't give us a test on this material." kidded Duo. Trowa shot him an exasperated look. "This isn't elementary school." "Sheesh. Did you all forget to take chill pills this morning or something? Everyone's been pissy all day." In the midst of this conversation Kite turned to her friend. "I'm going to log on and see what I can find about your man on the web. Maybe we can track him down or steal info.something like that, anyway, I'll see what I can do." Quinn nodded. "Now all I've gotta do is get these clowns to SHUT UP and we'll be ok." The Pilots turned their attention back to Quinn. "Well, thanks for joining us. Now that you're actually listening I'm going to tell you what we, Kite, Jon, and I have been doing for the last few weeks." Duo raised his hand, but she didn't even spare a glance. "Somewhere in Europe is a spy who's set up a VERY large network all across the world. And if you're smart enough to guess, he does work for OZ. I hunted down his partner a couple of weeks ago to see what he could tell me." Trowa cut in. "And?" "He wasn't of any use. I had to kill him." "Ah. Continue." "We only know the identity of the one man: the dead one. This doesn't help us much. All we know about his partner is that he once lived on L3. Don't know his name, description, anything. But from what the Guild has found out he's after a) the Gundams--" The Pilots gave disapproving snorts. "Or b) world domination. Sounds fun, eh? And the Guild is in an.awkward position. This guy deals heavily in weapons and intelligence.he's also very good at blackmail." Kite was forced to interrupt. "Hey, Quinn, your computer is spewing weird symbols at me.What's the deal?" Quinn blew out a deep breath. "YOU talk to them while I see what the hell's wrong with my laptop. And I just bought the thing like six months or so ago. Piece of shit." She took a seat behind the computer screen and started entering codes and numbers furiously into the memory. "A spike." She hissed. "Probably our buddy now." Heero spoke up. "Can you trace it?" "If you'd give me a second then I could TELL you." "Going from London.Greece, Islamabad, New Delhi, Severnaya, Tokyo, Phoenix, Kansas City." "Attention motorists: I pay top dollar for Jayhawk roadkill," whispered Duo. Quatre snickered. "Georgia, Raleigh, D.C.New York.Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan.Ah ha! Well if our friend wants to play in the big leagues then let's give him what he wants, shall we?" Quinn gave an evil laugh and entered more figures into her computer. "I'm frightened." Said Duo. A few minutes passed and the click of the keys was cut off by a loud shout. "YES! I am bullet proof!" Quinn yelled, punching a fist in the air. "Am I the only SANE person here?" Quatre cocked an eyebrow. Kite went around to where her friend was sitting. "Encryption in process..Sweeet." Heero also went over to see what Quinn had accomplished. "I'll set up the spike." She gave him a Look. "No, you won't. I learned how to do this when I was seven years old and I KNOW I don't need your help. So just because I'm a woman and you can't sit on your hands for five minutes doesn't mean I'm going to let you run the show." He shrugged. "Whatever you say."

SEND SPIKE.

Quinn's fingers flew over the keys. Heero was watching over her shoulder. "Tracking program, Abadi virus--" "Thanks, Mom, I'll be sure to bring everything I need to school today." Quinn snarled. "Will you shove off?" ENTER PASSWORD said the screen. Quinn thought for a moment, and then typed in a response.

INCORRECT

She began putting down everything she could think of. After a few minutes or so she gave a sigh. "Read this and see what you think." He gave a snicker. "What happened to "Leave me the hell alone!"? "Screw you," she retorted. "Just read the damn thing."

I drive men mad

For love of me,

Easily beaten,

Never free

"Gold," he replied. She typed it in and pressed enter.

CORRECT. NOW ACCESSING FILES. STARTING SEARCH.

She made a face. "Don't you say a WORD." "Wasn't gonna," he muttered. Quinn couldn't resist typing in a last message.

SAYANARA. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, PRAT.

"Women really do have a thing for revenge, don't they?" mused Duo. "Duo, do you know ANY women at all?" Quatre asked. Jonya and Wufei came back in, all bandaged up and looking extremely worn out. "What would really be nice is if ya'll didn't need me so I could go upstairs for some sleep," Jonya groaned. "But let's face facts; that'll NEVER happen." "It may indeed, J. If I put someone to work on cracking the codes to the info then we could all go downstairs, and wait. Sounds fun, eh?" "You mean.? I could actually relax and...NOT WORK?!" "Perfect Soldier can work w/ the laptop, since he's practically clamoring to ruin somebody's hard drive, Duo and.you (she pointed to Quatre) can watch, or go unpack.and Justice-Boy can work with the laptop crew. I'm going to talk to Jeeves before he fixes meatloaf for dinner. Maybe I can order pizza if we're lucky." Quinn gave a sigh of impatience, motioning to Kite. "I can't remember their names for the life of me so I'm pulling this off the top of my head." She muttered. "Just go with it." Kite laughed. "You," she pointed to Duo. "Can go upstairs with Quatre and unpack." He gave a whoop of delight. "FREEDOM!" Quatre paused. "You're sure.I mean, can we help, or something?" "No. Now beat it." barked Quinn. He gave a mocking salute. "You can count on me, mon Capitan." "I'm going to bed." Called Jonya over her shoulder. Kite and Quinn went off to talk to Jeeves, leaving Heero, Wufei, and Trowa staring at the computer screen. Wufei gave a snit of disapproval. "Did you SEE that onna?" "Which one?" asked Trowa dryly. "The Goth. Ordering us about as if she were the boss. Someone should really put her in line," he complained. "Its priority one on our to-do list," Trowa muttered. "Wufei, I note the fact that you're still where she TOLD you to be," Heero said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Yuy, but down here is quiet, Maxwell-free, and that means for once, I'm not developing a headache. Justice has finally smiled upon us." "Hn," the 'Perfect Soldier' replied, and went back to work. "How does it look?" Trowa queried. "I'll need a day or two. This can be simply fixed, however." "I suppose you don't need my assistance?" "Most likely not." Trowa shrugged. "I'm going upstairs. Best of luck," "You'll need it.after all; 'Shinigami' never stops talking." "Not a problem. I have a gun."