Disclaimer: Er. . .uh. . .sorry, can't think of anything to say, heh. If anyone knows the exact time in Gundam Wing that the Gundam Boys tried to ambush OZ (the episodes when Heero first fought with Zechs), I'd be grateful for the info so I can make my story special, heh.

Chapter 15

"Chang, we haven't had a vacation in months, over a year in fact! We didn't even celebrate our anniversary for more than 10 minutes before 'something' came up and you ran off to your precious office! When are you going to be free from this endless work!"

"When I'm done. . .don't nag. . ."

"Don't nag! If I don't nag, you won't even notice I'm here! I might as well just go on a vacation by myself, you wouldn't tell if I had left or not anyway!"

"Asuka, why are you bringing this up now! You know I'm too busy to concern myself with anything else!"

"Oh, of course. . .no breaks, no sex, no kids. . .that's about right, isn't it?"

"Not the kid thing again. . .we've been over this before!"

"And nothing has happened but fights and arguing! I only have so many bearing years left in my life and you don't seem to give a care! Don't you want a son or daughter to pass on your knowledge to!"

"Some day, but not right now."

"Quatre's having a child and he's busier than you. . .I think you just don't want to have to deal with the responsibility."

"I wouldn't be a good father to anything but my work at the moment, you know that!"

"Right. . .I know everything. . .you're full of it, Chang Wufei!"

"I will not have such disrespectful talk spoken to me, woman!"

"Don't call me 'woman'! I don't see how we ever thought this relationship would work! All we ever did was fight and pick on each other, how could I have said yes to such a pigheaded fool!"

"Well if that's what you think I am then why do you stay with me!"

"I honestly don't know, perhaps I have pity for you being so stupid!"

"Stupid! I won't take this, leave before I say something I'll possibly regret!"

"Oh I'll leave. . .goodbye, Wufei."

"Asuka. . .wait, come back, I didn't mean it. . .Asuka. . .Asuka!" Chang shot up out of bed, his near naked body drenched in cold sweat. Gasping, he stared at the door to his bedroom, thinking, It. . .it was just a dream. . .no, it wasn't. I really said that to her. . .it really happened. . .Asuka, you were right, I am stupid. Stupid for telling you to leave, stupid for not trying to stop you. . .stupid. . .now I've lost you forever. . .

"Asuka. . .I. . .I didn't. . ." Falling back, Chang ran his fingers slowly through his hair, staring up at the ceiling in an attempt to evade the hot tears creeping into his eyes.

"Now the Chinese Prime Minister's wife is crying. . .why is this happening!" Mr. Hearn stared at Asuka's perplexing display of emotions, his mind empty of answers to his questions. Shaking his head, he looked down at the life support status report, muttering, "She should be in a deep, dreamless state of sleep. . .it should be impossible for her to even think! Why. . .why is this happening? I don't understand, my work is foolproof. . ." With an aggravated sigh, he turned and walked across the room, entering a side chamber with similar technology set up. Pressing a few buttons on the console, he watched as two containment structures rose up like the others', revealing two women deep in slumber. His eyes full of contempt, Mr. Hearn said, "I don't have all the answers, mom. . .Christina. . .I don't understand why they're overriding my serum! Could. . .could they have such a strong emotional bond with their freedom and friends that they're fighting it? Full of so much hope. . .ha, hope. . .that's something I don't have. I couldn't hope to be strong enough to save you two, I know I'm not. Dad died cause he had hopes of saving us from these monsters, but I ended up condemning you by working for them in return for your safety. I had hoped to save you some day but. . .the serum's most likely set you into a coma, beyond any help I can give to bring you back. I promise you, if I can't save you I WILL destroy those who've done this to you. . .that much I can give you." Just then, he heard the elevator doors open and footsteps echo across the metal grated floors. Quickly, he shut down the systems on his family's units, hurrying over to the prisoners and their company. Sara stood staring at them with her back to Mr. Hearn, arms crossed over her chest.

"Where did you run off to, Mr. Hearn? I thought I told you to interrogate these two. . ." Sara said, not turning to face him.

"I was checking into some data, I was just coming back. . .what does it matter? They're gonna die soon anyway. . .isn't that what you want?" Mr. Hearn shot back spitefully as he took his place at the control panel again.

"Don't get fresh with me, just do what you're told. We only have 12 hours left until their time is up. . .don't make me remind you of what happens if you don't do your job. . ."

"Wouldn't dream of it. . ." Mr. Hearn mumbled under his breath.

"Good, now I'm bushed, don't bother me unless it's an absolute emergency. . ." Sara turned and walked off to the elevator, getting back in and leaving Mr. Hearn to back talk her to her back.

"She expects me to stay up all night doing her every passing whim? It's already 2 in the morning and I'm not a robot, I can't keep going without sleep. She won't know if I took a nap. . .and forget her if she does." Shutting down the systems, he walked off to his quarters far off in the corner of the prison level and went inside for the night.

"Uuuuuugh, are we there yeeeet!" Iceman moaned, itching to get up and move around after sitting for over 8 hours.

"Not yet. . .same as 10 minutes ago when you asked the same question." Sopher responded, starting to get irritated. Beginning to bounce in his seat, Iceman said, "Yeah well. . .I reeeaaally want to get on the ground. . ."

"Why!"

"I GOTTA PEE!"

"Awe man, can't you hold it!"

"I've been holding it for the past 2 hours, dude! I'm gonna explode!"

"I hope not literally. . .cause I'm not cleaning it up. . ." Playa commented. With a groan, Iceman said, "How much longer?"

"It's an hour to the nearest commercial airport."

"Uuuunngh!"

"Well, there's always a small airport in the area. . ."

"How far!"

"About 30 minutes."

"GAAAH!"

"20?"

"MY BLADDER!"

"Well, what do you want me to do!"

"Land on a road, in a lake, on a mountain, I don't care just get this thing on the ground NOW!"

"ALRIGHT! Just chill, man. . .I'm doing the best I can!"

"Tell that to the backup inside me!"

"Ugh, dude, keep the details to yourself. . ." As they searched for a closer airstrip-or anything flat, for that matter-Iceman bounced, crossed and uncrossed his legs, whimpered, and moaned all the way down to the ground. 15 minutes later, they were landed in a small airport with barely enough room for one plane to land in.

"OUTA MY WAY!" Iceman had his buckle off within seconds as he ran for the hatch, quickly getting it open and racing out of the plane, heading for the closest building he could find.

"Man. . .and you wanted to wait!" Dextosterone said, getting up with the others to get out.

"Geez, some people have no endurance. . ." Sopher shook his head, shutting down the systems and getting up. As they walked out of the plane, Iceman came walking back across the runway, saying, "Ah. . .I feel like a new man!"

"Awe, and I liked the old Iceman. . .don't tell me you flushed him down the toilet!"

"Guys, we have 11 hours and 40 minutes left until the clock stops ticking, we need to find transportation and fast!" Dextosterone reminded the group.

"Right! Let's move out!" Sopher said, trooping on across the asphalt.

"Hey, Sopher, you're on a runway, work it!" Iceman shouted to him. Suddenly, Sopher's body went into a strut, walking sharply forward a few steps before turning and striking a pose. The guys hollered and cheered and Sopher grinned, turning around continuing on as he said, "Who am I!"

"Sopher: The sexiest gopher!" They yelled in unison. Pointing to the sky as he worked it, he said, "You know it! Now. . .let's do this thing!" As they walked past the hangars at the far end of the airport, Iceman froze and let out a low whistle. Quick to his side, Sopher grabbed him, saying, "Babe! Where!"

"No, it's one of THE hottest cars EVER! LOOK!" Iceman said, licking back the saliva creeping to his lips as he pointed in the direction of what made him feel so lusty.

"Duuude, it's a cherry red GT 500. . .oh baby. . .but we can't fit in that thing, we need something bigger!" Dextosterone said, joining in the droolfest.

"Well, you guys can hitchhike to Cumberland College, I'm riding in style!" Iceman said with a grin, running over to the car and jimmying open the door, quickly shutting off the alarm and working on jumpstarting it. The others followed him over and Playa said, "We're a team, remember? You can't just leave us behind!" Suddenly, the car roared to life and Iceman looked quite pleasured by the hum of the engine.

"Listen to that baby purr. . .either you guys can pile in and we can go to the nearest car rental place or walk there!"

"Oh forget it, let's go!" Sopher immediately called shotgun and the others squished in somehow. They tore out of the parking lot, roaring off down the road to the nearest car rental.

I can't sleep. . .maybe I'll go downstairs and read through the information logs again and do some paperwork. . .Heero thought to himself, softly rolling out of bed and quietly sneaking over to the door. Taking a glance back to make sure Relena hadn't woken, he opened the door and slid through, slowly closing it behind him before heading for the stairs. As his foot touched the first step, a barely audible sound echoed upstairs and he froze, quickly leaning to the wall and crouching, his ears tuning in to the noise to distinguish its source. He stayed in his crouched position, creeping stealthily down the stairs and sneaking over to the hallway. As he approached his office door, he heard mild clicking echoing in a rhythmic flow.

Someone's on my computer. . .a spy? I would have sensed someone breaking in, must be someone inside. Heero thought to himself, gently wrapping his hand around the doorknob and slowly turning it till it stopped moving. He stood facing the door, easing it open and peeking in to see Trowa staring intently at the monitor. As soon as he opened the door, Trowa's eyes snapped to him and he jumped to his feet.

"What are you doing on my computer?" Heero asked in a demanding tone as he walked in.

"I couldn't sleep so I decided to do some research to get my mind off things. . ." Trowa said, slowly easing back down into the chair. Heero walked around the desk and leaned against it, looking over Trowa's shoulder to see what he was up to.

"Researching what?"

"The kidnappers."

"I thought our inside workers said there was a virus covering their pasts. . ."

"I didn't look them up directly, I looked up Chang's secretary. . ."

"Since she's sisters with one of them."

"Exactly. I found a link to the others on her page and easily found out about their pasts."

"Really. . ."

"Stacy is Sara's sister and our informant-Miguel, is it now? He's Chris' brother. They all knew each other in high school and went to 4-H together back when it still existed."

"4-H?"

"It's some organization for homeschool kids, I guess. . .it's like a club."

"I see. . .where are you going with this?"

"Well, before they graduated and went their separate ways, they knew some people from all over their state who died in the war sometime along the way. . .here comes the interesting part. . ."

"I should hope so."

"Several of them stood out more than the others. For one, a guy by the name David Schroder. . .I used that name as a cover one time while I was in Germany. Another is Alyssa. . ."

"Precious' sister?"

"Yes, she spent a year as a transfer student and knew a family involved in 4-H so she went to several events with them, thus meeting our four people."

"Interesting. . ."

"What's more interesting is this guy David's recorded girlfriend, whom is said to have died with him. . .her name's Rachel."

"Our Rachel?"

"What do you think?" Trowa showed him a file photo of her and his eyebrows went up.

"That's her alright. But how can someone exist in time with himself or herself? I thought that was impossible."

"Their recorded deaths were around May 22nd, A.C. 195."

"That's when Rachel appeared. . .could her death in this dimension have drawn her here by accident?"

"I don't know but she seems to have appeared the split second after this world's Rachel died."

"Hmm. . .if there's a Rachel in both our dimensions, could there be forms of ourselves in her world as well?"

"I suppose. . .there couldn't be a form of Duo though, since he was able to go into her world safely."

"Maybe it doesn't matter, as long as they don't cross paths. . ."

"Yeah, true, that's what happened in Time Cop 2. . ." Trowa mused.

"That was just a movie, Trowa. . .return to reality. Maybe Rachel knows these people in her world too. . .we should ask her."

"Right, she shouldn't mind being woken for this. . ." Trowa got up.

"She's not in her room." Heero said, stopping Trowa.

"Where is she?"

"In Duo's room." Trowa stiffened momentarily before saying, "Really. . ."

"I saw her go in with him at 1 and that door hasn't opened since then, and Rachel doesn't use her powers without reason so. . ." Heero trailed off. Trowa held back the hot fire burning in his gut as he said, "They're both adults, it doesn't matter what they do behind closed doors. . ."

"I think it matters to you." Trowa glared at him, saying, "Why would it?"

"Because you want her for yourself, you always have but never been man enough to go after her."

"Don't talk about things you know nothing about, Heero. . ." Trowa left the room and Heero mumbled to himself before following suit, "Well when I actually do, I'll have to stop myself. . ."