"Must be important if you couldn't sleep," Quatre laughed softly. Heero of course didn't even smile.

"I talked to Sally."

"Oh?" Quatre suddenly felt a chill, "something wrong?"

"You tell me," Heero took a step closer to Quatre, "how is Trowa doing?"

"H-he's doing much better.." the blonde felt himself tripping over his own words, he didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Funny, cause that's not what I heard," Heero took another step, "Quatre, do you honestly think he's going to get any better just lying in that bed everyday?" A great silence preceded the comment. Quatre closed the laundry room door and turned on the light bulb swinging above their heads. It's dim light filled the space and cast strange shadows on the boys faces.

"Straight forward," Quatre said, "what did you talk about and what do you want? No head games or forced conversation." Heero was a bit surprised at the meek pilot's boldness, but he dared not to show it in his face.

"She knows a place where-"

"I know she does," Quatre interrupted, "let me save you the trouble. She told me all about it, and Trowa isn't going. Good night." Quatre promptly turned around continued with the laundry.

"Look," Heero raised his voice, "in this group I am the leader-"

"Self proclaimed leader-"

"Doesn't matter, I make all the damn decision around here and I've made a decision. I told Sally to come back here after her next mission and to take Trowa with her. Good night!"

"You can't do this!" Quatre screamed, "what gives you the right to control someone's life like this?"

"It's risky keeping him here, for him and for us, we have to do what's right!"

"We can't keep sacrificing him! On that ship, I watched him get torn apart, I watched him give up everything to protect us, I'm not going to let him suffer again!" Hot tears were rolling down Quatre's face, which was burning red in anger. Heero on the other hand, though he was yelling, was very composed.

"He knew it was the right thing to do then, and I'm sure he knows it's the right thing to do now."

"Have you seen him lately?" Quatre asked, "I don't think you've even looked at him since we've gotten back. Go, go into our room and tell me that's a person you want to abandon."

"We're not abandoning him-"

"He's out friend! My God Heero, you've lived with him, eaten with him, fought with him slept beside him and you're this ready just to abandon him?"

"I said we're not abandoning him, he'll be in a hospital-"

"Yeah, probably in like Siberia or some third world country for all we know!"

"I swear Quatre, if you keep interrupting me-"

"But God forbid you actually care. He's fine here and he's going to stay here!" Quatre threw open the door of the laundry room in an effort to leave, but Heero grabbed onto his arm and twisted him back.

"What's wrong with you?" Heero growled, "why do you feel such a need to disobey me?"

"Disobey?" Quatre almost laughed, "am I a child or something? If I had never disobeyed you, Trowa would be dead! And if I don't disobey you now, he will die! Now let go of me!" Quatre pulled his arm free and darted out of the laundry room. Heero followed and quickly caught up, this time grabbing Quatre by both arms and pulling him close so that they were face to face.

"He's going Quatre, and there's nothing you can do about it. Do you understand me?"

"Fuck off, Heero." Quatre wasn't too sure what happened next. Everything went black and the side of his face was burning. All he knew was that he was on the ground and that he was in great pain.

"What the hell is going on!" Came Wufei's distant voice. Quatre felt arms pull him up from the ground. Dazed, he opened his eyes and saw the blurry outline of Wufei.

"My-my glasses?" Quatre asked, touching his face.

"Here," Wufei slipped them back on, "now, what are you two fighting about? I hear screaming, and when I come out to see what it is I find Heero pummeling you."

"I hit him once!" Heero tried to defend himself.

"That's enough you fucking pig!" It was Duo, sitting on top of the stairs. "I heard the arguing too, and I have a pretty good idea what it was about."

"Well, since everyone knows what's going on here, would anyone like to fill me in?" Wufei asked, crossing his arms.

"Ask him," Quatre said, pointing to Heero. Wufei shifted his dark eyes.

"Well, what is it Heero?"

"We'll talk about this in the morning," Heero replied, "everyone go back to bed."

"Let's go back to your room," Wufei said quietly to Quatre, "I'll clean you up in the bathroom and we can talk about it there." Quatre nodded.

"I'm coming too," Duo bounded down the stairs. Heero just sighed and climbed back onto the couch.

"Ow!" Quatre winced at the pain. Wufei drew back the warm washrag and waited for the blonde's okay to continue.

"I can't believe he did that to you," Duo said angrily, "I know he can be an ass at times, but, man, there's no excuse for this!" Quatre looked at himself in the mirror. He was already developing a black eye and there was blood trickling from a cut of the side of his head.

"He said he hit me once, I don't know if I believe that."

"I know what I saw," Wufei said grimly, "I almost thought he was trying to kill you."

"He was so angry with me," Quatre sighed, "I was just trying to do what I thought was right. Ow!"

"Sending Trowa away isn't right, I can tell you that much," Wufei said, dabbing up more blood, "I don't know what's come over him."

"Tell me about it," Duo added, "I've gotten on his nerves more than once in the past and he's never hit me.."

"Hush up for a sec," the three boys were quiet as they heard Trowa groan in his sleep from the bedroom. "Duo, close the door, I don't want us to wake him up."

"You know," Wufei said picking up some hydrogen peroxide, "you could just go with him. Find an apartment somewhere close by and visit him. That would be so bad would it?"

"Heero wouldn't allow that," Duo grumbled, "he's pissed as it is that you," looking at Quatre, "spend all your time with Trowa."

"Why should he even care," Quatre said to himself darkly. Duo continued.

"Well, to make things worse he said that you," looking at Wufei, "and him got the latest mission, and says all of us have to go along."

"So that's what that was about.." Wufei said softly.

"What was what about? Ouch! Fei, be careful!"

"Sorry!" Wufei drew the peroxide back, "Sorry about that. Yeah, we did get a mission, but I didn't hear too much about it. Heero kept most of the information to himself and got pretty pissed when I tried to ask him anything about it. I think he knew what it all meant.."

"I sometimes wonder about Heero," said Quatre, "it's seems at times that he does actually care about Trowa, then at other times...it's like he can't make up his mind."

"I'm sure he does care," Wufei cooed, "it's just that, you know Heero isn't a very emotional person."

"Amen to that!" Duo grunted.

"He probably thinks that emotions will make him weak and therefore not a good leader, which is what he wants to be. This is all just very, very trying on him."

"Wufei," Quatre said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, "it's nice of you to stand up for him, but this experience has been very trying on all of us."

"Especially you Quatre."

"I suppose so. That's why I think it's best that we both go, just get out of here and out of his and everyone's way."

"Quatre!" Duo sat up in shock, "what are you saying? You're not going to let him take Trowa away are you?"

"No, oh no! I couldn't do that. I meant, leave and go somewhere safe. I was thinking about contacting Trowa's sister. She's very sweet and I'm sure she'll let us stay. Only problem is she doesn't know about what happened, and I'd hate to break the news to her. I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"When are you planning to do this?" Wufei asked.

"As soon as I can, I'm not sure when Sally's coming back." The conversation soon died after that. After Wufei finished cleaning up Quatre's wound they all said good night and went to bed in their respective rooms. Quatre slept very heavily. It had been a long night, and though his mind was racked with worry, he could not fight his drooping eyelids.

Heero was much smaller than Trowa, yet somehow found the strength to life him from his bed and carry him out to the dewy grass yard just outside his and Quatre's room. It was just before sun break in the very early morning. Heero sat down then rested his friend against his chest, then draped the both of them in a warm blanket. The two naturally sat in silence, awake and aware of the other. Trowa made no noise as he sat and watched the sun rise, but eventually Heero felt the need for discussion.

"You're very noble," he began, "what you did back on that ship, the way you sacrificed yourself, you deserve what any true hero deserves. We're all alive because you were willing to give you life. That's what makes this all so hard." Heero stopped for a moment to calm himself and the tears he felt in his eyes.

"You know you're my friend. You're one of my greatest friends and one of the greatest soldiers I have ever fought with. I will admit it pains me to have to do this, but you know I don't have much choice. Quatre is falling apart at the seams; he doesn't eat or sleep anymore. We have this mission coming up that we're all needed to go on, and I can't leave you alone, what if we all died? What if the house is attacked while we're gone? It's not just a risk to us, Trowa, I want to protect you too." Heero struggled for a moment to find more words but nothing came. So he watched the sunrise. The reds and pinks bled into the violet night sky. The stars faded, save for the shimmering Venus above the horizon. The sun burst triumphantly, flaming orange that burned and melted away the night. It was amazing.