A/N: I'm back! Yeah, English coursework and stuffs…

Okay, so another fairly slow chapter, but the pace DOES pick up! I promise! There's quite a lot of fluff, minimal plot, but it's cute.

Tricia: Thank you! Please keep reading!

Dot: Yeah, it was fairly unrealistic, wasn't it? But it had to be done. Besides which, the public will have to take them seriously with what they do next, which is – but no. That's next chapter!

So, disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, never will, and the pretty lyrics are from the song "She will be loved" by Maroon 5.

Chapter 8

"Morning Sally." Catherine looked peaked and tired. She had had little sleep since her brother's disappearance, and continued to cry in worry during the nights. Now, her pallor had yet another reason. She had to deliver reports to General Chang, and things weren't looking good.

"Hello Cathy." Sally Po smiled from behind her long and loose hair, her eyes trying to hide the pity for Cathy's disheveled appearance.

"Erm...how is General Chang doing?" Cathy looked nervously into the office around the corner.

"Not good." Sally grimaced. "Why? You don't have reports for him, do you?" Cathy nodded, holding out the manila files.

"They're bad." Cathy flinched in anticipation of the General's anger.

"Uh, I think it's better if you let me handle them." Sally took the files. "Stand down awhile, and I'll relay your orders to you." Cathy nodded, and set off sharpish down the corridors.

Good move! thought Sally, as merely flicking through the file, she knew the interruption of the night before was still completely unsolved. Gathering her nerves, Sally knocked on the General's door, and after a moment, opened the door and walked in.

"Mr. Wufei?" She called.

"If it's not good, Sally, I don't want to hear it!" came the snarl from beyond the desk.

"I'm sorry sir, I'll just leave the reports here then." backing away, Sally placed them on top of a filing cabinet and tried to run as fast as possible.

"How, Sally?" she gulped, and turned. "How could I be shown as so incompetent, so weak!" His voice rose, and Sally could see his fists clench. "This shall not go unavenged!" Wufei stood then, and his Asian brow held a fierce scowl. "I will hunt them down! Every last one! They have brought war on themselves! I-" Suddenly, he froze, making Sally jump more than his rant. And then, slowly, slowly, and not at all comfortingly, he laughed. It was cruel, cold, but it seemed to please him.

"Ah, I have lacked a challenge in too long!" He sighed, a terrible smile still on his lips. "Tell the troops to stand down. Defend the base. Stop searching for the rebels, and prepare for attack. But attempt to be subtle."

"Sir?" Replied Sally, now both frightened and thoroughly confused.

"I don't need to declare war. They did. And they'll come to us."

From the morning after, Treize, Zechs and Quatre were heroes of the rebel cause. Everyone hailed them in the corridors, those who had regarded them as lightweights now respected them, and Duo and Trowa cracked up whenever they walked into the room. Seeing them both enter the kitchen trying to contain their sniggers, Quatre rolled his eyes, and reached to get some spare pancake batter out of the fridge.

"Hey Q, don't worry about the pancakes." The gleam in Duo's eye gave away his good pretences. "I Butt you get tired of cooking them!" and both started laughing again.

"I'm sorry!" smiled Trowa, looking a little sheepish "I guess that's tired now." Quatre sighed and shook is head in mock sufferance, and then smiled back.

"You know, you should smile more." He replied. "It makes your eyes sparkle."

"Thank you." Trowa coloured, but remained happy, an oddly light feeling in the pit of his stomach, as the head chef turned away to hide his own blush.

"Yo, what'cha doing out here?" At the sound of his friend's voice, Treize clutched Leia's locket in his hand, to hide it from Zechs's view.

"Trying to get away from the screaming fangirls." He turned and grinned as Zechs came and sat next to him, out in the dappled light beneath the forest canopy.

"Don't get impatient on me now, Treize." Zechs smiled, nodding to the locket in his hand. "We'll both get the Alliance, in our own time."

"Yeah..." Treize gazed off again into the distance. "I'm just worried."

"Agreed. It hasn't exactly gone to plan so far, has it?" Snorted Zechs.

"What do we do with Trowa and Duo?" Treize broke his stare into the leaves and turned to face Zechs. "I mean, I like them...but we can't keep them here indefinitely, and they are still Alliance soldiers."

"The only options are to keep them captive, or release them. There is always the hostage option..."

"No. Killing them would cause more problems than it would solve. Keeping them captive risks their espionage and eventual escapes, and releasing them risks their betraying us, if they know more than we think they do."

"Mmmmm. So. Decision time."

"I don't know. If he has cute buns, sixteen isn't too young!" Noin giggled girlishly, giving away her age. Une snorted in reply, as they watched Duo from the other side of the dining hall.

"Cute buns he has indeed." sniggered Une. "Although his lanky friend has the most amazing eyes."

"Oh, Trowa Barton!" pronounced Noin melodramatically. "We drown in the green seas of your eyes!" She had just enough time to swoon before both broke out in peals of laughter.

"Hey, Noin." Zechs came up behind them both. "And you, Une, we need a quick referendum in the operations room."

"Okay!" Noin smiled at Zechs, giving her best grin. Heart beating, Zechs tried to keep the familiar flush from his face. "What?" She asked, realising he had been staring at her.

"Oh, nothing." He looked away, embarrassed. "I just like your smile, that's all."

"Aww, you're so cute!" leaning forward, Noin tweaked his cheek. "I'll see you both up there!" As she walked of, Zechs sighed in the peculiar manner only the lovelorn can.

"She has no idea, does she?" Zechs turned to Une, his only female confidante.

"None at all." Replied Une, with a conciliatory pat on the back, before she ran off after Noin.

And so it was decided. Trowa and Duo were to return to the Alliance, a tactical decision after the meeting of that day. This way, they would release them with minimal information about the URA, and uphold a fair image in the public eye a the same time. Also, it would coincide with one of their first operations, a sabotage attack on a large power plant, owned exclusively by the Alliance.

"So you're leaving, then." It was a statement rather than a question. Quatre's eyes were afraid and round as he looked up at the taller boy. Somehow, they made Trowa want to cry, and he turned away, unwilling to show his weakness.

"It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise that moves us along/My heart is full and my door's always open, you can come anytime you want."

"Yeah. I've got to go back to the Alliance. I think we leave tomorrow."

"I understand." Those shimmering blue eyes were now downcast, as Quatre turned away from Trowa and tried to seem busy.

"I guess-" Turning abruptly back, Quatre faced Trowa again. "I guess, maybe...when this is all over...the war I mean - I suppose, maybe we could meet again?"

"I don't mind spending every day/Out on your corner in the pouring rain /Look for the girl with the broken smile/ask her if she wants to stay awhile".

When the war is over... Trowa had never known existence without war. It had always been there, always been the thing that defined his life. But somehow...if a meeting with Quatre were to end his war...maybe it wouldn't be so bad, that change.

"Yes. Yeah, I think we should." Trowa smiled shyly, in response to the other boy's beam. "One day, when the war is over..."

"We'll meet again." Quatre turned away for a final time, smiling this time.

"And she will be loved/ She will be loved..."

"Duo! DUO! Wait!" Duo turned from the jeep that was to take time away, and back to the Alliance, to see Hilde, his traitorous ex-colleague.

"I just...wanted to say, I'm sorry." She shifted uncomfortably, before looking him in the eye. "I know you trusted me...but...I had to do what I did. I'm really sorry for betraying your trust." She looked between him and the floor, evidently deeply ashamed.

"Forget about it." Duo smiled sincerely. "Truth be told, I'm beginning to understand why you did." Blushing and relieved, Hilde grinned, happy to be forgiven, before extracting something from her pocket, and passing it to him. Again, she had a good deal of trouble meeting his eye. Opening his hand, Duo found that she had given him her Alliance dog-tags.

"I don't know." She muttered, scuffing the ground with her shoe. "Just to remember me by, I guess."

"Good-bye, Hilde." A sad, soft expression in his eyes, Duo took one last look at her.

"Good-bye Duo." She whispered in reply, choking up as he climbed into the van.

"She will be loved/ And she will be loved...Please don't try so hard to say good-bye..."