Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the characters of it. I wish I did, because then I could marry Duo sigh (you know you need a boy friend when you start fantasizing about cartoon characters at the age of 18...You know you need a life when you're working onfan fiction about sed characters for five hours a day. :) )

ENJOY! And please review!


Chapter Ten: Flash Back

Jericho wasn't in school the next day. I looked for her before Homeroom and again during History. She was no where to be found.

The math test wasn't hard, and I finished early. While I sat quietly in my seat waiting for the period to be over, I thought about Jericho. Maybe she'll be at lunch, I thought.

After Math, Jeff caught up with me in the hall. I mentally groaned. I had been hoping I wouldn't have to deal with him and the others that day. "Hey, Duo, you think you did okay on the test?" he asked as if everything was just like it had been the day before.

"Yeah, I did fine. It was easy," I replied, looking straight ahead and not at him.

"That's good…Listen, Duo, the guys and I were talking last night, and we're not gonna let what happened yesterday affect our view of you. You're new around here, and you don't understand the way things work."

I stopped in my tracks and turned to him. "Wait, let me get this straight," I said. "You're not gonna let what I did affect your view of me? Hello, Jeff, I'm not the one who was shoving a girl around for kicks!"

Jeff frowned. "Duo, listen, you don't understand how things work around here--"

"No, you're wrong Jeff. I understand perfectly how things work around here. And I don't like it one bit. And what I don't like, I fight."

"You're gonna fight a whole school?" Jeff asked.

I shrugged and gave Jeff a bitter smile. "Wouldn't be the first time the odds were against me. Now," I said, shifting my bag on my shoulder, "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna be late to Phys Ed."

I turned and stalked to my next class.

Jericho wasn't in lunch either. I didn't sit with Jeff and all them, and I noticed that James was glaring at me as I walked by. I felt tempted to drop my tray and launch myself at his jugular vein. I'd show him what it felt like to be treated like dirt. Controlling myself, I went and sat at the table that Jericho usually sat at. I ate my sandwich and drank my lemonade in silence.

When I got to Biology, I once again sat at the table where Jericho normally sat. It was the only other free seat in the classroom besides the seat at Jeff and Brian's table, and I didn't feel like sitting next to them. The teacher was taking down the names of science fair project groups. I sighed. I didn't want to work with Brian and Jeff. Luckily, the teacher asked me who was in my group before she asked them.

"I guess I'm gonna work by myself," I told her. Across the room, Jeff and Brian reacted with shock.

After she took down the names, she looked over the list. "Is anyone working with Jericho?"

"Probably not," one girl replied. "She always works alone on stuff like this."

The teacher shrugged and continued the lecture from where she had left off the day before.

When I got home, I put Benny out on his run instead of taking him for a walk. It was Friday, and I didn't much feel like doing anything outside the house. Benny seemed disappointed about not going for a walk, but he didn't complain.

I went into the front room and turned on the radio to a rock station and lay down on the couch on my back. I closed my eyes and zoned out, trying not to think about anything, especially Jericho or the kids at school.

The nurses had moved me to a quieter waiting room off the main waiting room. I guess all the activity in the main waiting room had been making me edge because they had said something about how me being in that room was a better arrangement for everyone involved.

"Duo! Are you all right? We came as soon as we heard." Quatre hurried into the room, followed by Relena. "We contacted Heero and the others. They're on their way from the hotel. Is there anything we can do?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah, you can stay here with me," I said, my voice shaking a little.

"Sure thing, Duo." They sat down, Quatre on my right, Relena on my left.

Heero, Trowa, WuFei, and Sally all hurried in a few minutes later.

"What happened Duo?" Trowa asked as Sally left again to find out what was going on.

"Hilde and I were going home from the park. She ran ahead, and didn't look where she was going. There was a car. It was a red light, but there was a car anyway. It didn't stop. Hilde…" I stopped, not wanting to say what had happened next.

"Is Hilde alright?" Heero asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know. She was conscience until just before the ambulance got there, but then she blacked out..." I took a deep breath.

Sally came back just then. "Duo, there's a doctor outside. He says he has news about Hilde. Do you want him to come in here, or do you want to go out into the hall and talk to him?"

"Send him in," I replied, standing up. I was shaking. Dear God, please let it be good news, I silently prayed.

The doctor came in. "Are you Duo Maxwell?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," I replied.

"I'm Doctor Tisdale. What relationship do you have with Miss Shubieker?"

"I'm her boyfriend. How's Hilde?"

The doctor took a deep breath and met my eyes. They were filled with more sympathy than I had ever seen before. "I'm sorry, Mr. Maxwell…"

"Oh God," I gasped. "Oh God, no!" My knees buckled and I fell over. WuFei managed to catch me in his arms.

"NO!" I screamed and I slammed my fists into WuFei's shoulders, as if hitting him could possibly lessen my pain. "NO!" I hit WuFei again.

"NO!"

I woke up shouting and hitting at the air with my fists. I glanced around me, unable to remember where I was for a minute. Then, as I became more awake, I remembered that I was on the couch of the Christopher's front room.

I sat up and rubbed my face with my hands. My cheeks were wet. I had been crying in my sleep. As if this wasn't already one of the most stressful days of my life, now I have to start having flash backs again…

I realized my hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking. I stood up and went into the kitchen, grabbing the cordless phone off the wall.

I sighed and slumped to the floor, leaning back against the fridge. The flash back had been so real. I felt like the doctor had just given me the news for the first time. Dr. Thomas had said that having flash backs was normal, but it had been more than two months since the accident. Wouldn't the flash backs have stopped after that much time? They had stopped. They had stopped two weeks after the accident. So why were they starting up again?

Maybe they weren't starting up again. Maybe the stress of the day had just triggered that one randomly. Maybe it wasn't something I should worry about. Maybe I didn't have to call Heero about it.

No. I had to call Heero. That was our agreement. I was supposed to call him whenever I had a flash back about anything, just so that someone would know. Where was he? I remembered him mentioning a conference at the Sanc Kingdom coming up. Maybe he and Relena were there…

I picked up the phone and dialed 0.

"Operator, how may I help you?"

"Yeah," I said. "I want to connect to the Sanc Kingdom."

"One moment please," the operator said. There was static for a moment, and then a voice prompt came up asking for me to dial the number I wanted.

I punched in the number without having to think about it. My hand was still shaking, but somehow I managed to hit all the right numbers. The phone on the other end rang twice before it was answered.

"Thank you for calling the Peacecraft School of Politics. How may I help you?"

"Hi, this is Duo Maxwell. I'm a friend of Minister Darlian's. I need to speak with her." I figured that if I could find Relena, Heero wouldn't be too far away.

"What's the nature of this call?" The secretary asked.

"It's nothing business related, but it's very important. I just need to talk to her for a few minutes." I finished. I was tempted to say that it was a social call but how could it be a social call when I wanted to talk to the most anti-social person in the world?

"I'm sorry, but the Vice Foreign Minister is in a meeting with several very important diplomats, and she can't be disturbed."

"You don't understand," I said through clenched teeth. I wasn't in the mood to be told to call back. "This is important.Just tell her it's Duo Maxwell."

"I'm sorry, sir, but--"

"JUST TELL HER!"

The secretary sighed. "Just a moment." I was put on hold with corny elevator-sounding music playing on the line.

"Hello, Duo?" Relena's voice suddenly broke the music just as I was getting into the song. "This is a surprise, and I'm glad you called, but I'm sorry, I can't talk at the moment, I'm in the middle of a meeting—"

I cut her off. "That's okay Relena. Actually, I need to talk to Heero. Is he there?"

"Heero? Yes, Heero's here. Let me hand him the phone."

I could just picture the scene. Vice Foreign Minister Darlain talking on the phone while a huge round table of delegates sit patiently, waiting for her to politely explain that she was unable to speak at the moment. Then, to the surprise of everyone in the room, she turns stands up, excuses herself for a moment, goes to the door, and hands the phone to her young bodyguard that is standing just outside the door. I could just picture the look of disbelief on the faces of the other delegates. It made me smile a little.

"Yes?"

"Hey, Heero buddy!" I said.

"Duo."

"Boy, you're just as talkative as ever, I see," I said, grinning.

"What do you want Duo? I'm busy right now," Heero said.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the fridge. "I had another flash back."

Heero was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, I could hear the shift in priorities in his voice. Being Relena's bodyguard was suddenly second, and being my friend was first. "When?"

"Just about fifteen minutes ago," I replied.

"What was it about?" he asked.

"The hospital. The waiting room. You know, when the doctor came in…" My voice was shaking again. If I wasn't careful, the flashback could come back. That had happened before, for me to have a flashback when I was telling Heero about a different one.

"Take a deep breath, Duo. You'll be fine. Do you know what triggered this one?"

"No. Well, nothing specific. Stress maybe?" I suggested.

"Hn. Has it been that stressful on Earth?" Heero asked.

I snorted. "Stressful doesn't begin to scratch the surface, buddy."

"I'm sorry I'm not there. If I was, I'd drag you to the park and make you play catch or something."

I laughed at that idea. It would normally be me dragging Heero to the park to play catch, and he'd probably end up pulling a gun on me and marching me back home.

"You're laughing," he observed. "So you can't be that badly shaken. Go do something to get your mind off it. And if you're still having problems later, call me back."

He gave me his cell phone number, and we said goodbye.

I hung up the phone feeling much better. I took Heero's advice and went upstairs to the den and turned on MTV. I zoned out for the next hour or so watching music videos. I didn't tell Jon or Diana about the flash back. I didn't want to worry them.

That night when I got into bed, I pulled Jericho's locket out of my backpack and looked at the pictures in it again. They were such innocent pictures. The married couple looked so in love, and the family looked so happy. I fell asleep with the locket in my hand and dreamed of being part of a happy, loving family for once.