A/N: I am terribly, terribly sorry it took me this long to update! I didn't forget about it, I was just having severe writer's block for the past three months. I apologize for making you wait so long; please forgive me *makes puppy dog eyes*.

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"…And that's what happened," Noin said dully, leaning gingerly on the old, oaken table. "I don't know what I should do; I think I overreacted, but I'm not sure…" She sighed tiredly, rubbing her sore cheek attentively. "What?" she added, glaring at her comrades.

Relena stared at her with a mixture of shock and horror, the same expression mirrored on Deidre Keeri's face. Even Hilde (dragging along a sobbing, mournful Dorothy) joined in at the table to hear what happened. Relena glanced down to the oak surface, grabbed her beer bottle, and glided it across the table to Noin. "Here," she said monotonously, sounding distant or as if in a stupor, "you need this more than I do, Lu."

"I'm DD-ing, remember?"

"I'll get Merrick to give us all a ride. Try to make the day end a bit better, and have some fun killing brain cells."

Noin gave a bitter smile and reluctantly took the amber bottle. She swirled the glass container, watching the contents bubble against it, and set it back on to the table. Sighing tiredly, she replied, "I can't quite yet, I'm not in the mood."

A stifled sob escaped Dorothy's lips, her head cradled in her arms, and the drunken girl shuddered slightly. Dee gave her a comforting pat on the arm, trying to consol her. Slowly her shaking sobs quelled, and she raised her head again, her eyes puffy and red. "I'm sorry I'm such a wreck you guys," she spoke embarrassedly, dabbing at her eyes with an old napkin, "I must be so annoying…"

"Don't worry about it; you've had a tough time yourself," Hilde said softly, passing Dorothy a cleaning serviette to wipe her eyes. "We've all been having a tough time. Well, all of us minus Relena."

"Do you want to pick up where we left off in our fight, or need I remind you the damage I can do?" Relena spat angrily, rising off her chair and stepping forward to Hilde.

"Fine by me, just don't expect me to be so lenient on you twice," Hilde retorted, likewise pushing her chair roughly back and stood, fists clenched.

"Girls, please- not now," Madame Keeri said quietly, a tired but stern edge in her voice. Reluctantly Relena and Hilde sat back into the chairs, glaring icy daggers at each other. Dee carefully sat back down, glancing between the two, and making sure they didn't change their minds. When she decided they were safe, she returned her attention to Lucrezia. "What are you going to do, Lu?"

Noin watched at her for a moment, contemplating a response. "I don't know," she finally said exasperatedly, picking up the beer Relena had gave her and took a swig. She swallowed loudly, scrunching her eyes together as the contents burned down her throat. "What should I do?! Should give him a chance, ignore him completely, press charges? I feel – I feel so lost."

"Kick his ass," Dorothy suggested, blowing her nose into the serviette she was given. "Kick him up and down the street, then make him beg for your forgiveness."

"Dorothy, you're talking about my brother!" Relena said haughtily.

"You were the one who was going to kick his ass before I told you what happened," Noin reminded her.

"So?" she retorted, crossing her arms and leaning deep into her wooden chair. "It's not like I couldn't…"

Dee shook her head exasperatedly, rubbing her throbbing temples lightly. "You've stopped making sense, dear; I'm going to get you another beer."

"Can I have my fifth shot of tequila too, please?" Hilde shouted to her, looking over her shoulder as Dee dug behind the mahogany counter.

"You've already had nine shots," she retorted irritably.

"I've forgotten how to count, so what? Giiimme liquuoooor!" Hilde whined, leaning as far back as possible in her chair. Relena took this as her chance and struck her foot sharply outwards, connecting with one of the chair legs Hilde was balancing on. Landing on the floor with a sharp thud, Hilde caught her head on the edge of the table behind her. A string of unmentionable curse words blurted from her mouth as she pulled herself into a sitting position. "Omae o kurosu," she said fiercely to Relena, who was grinning smugly, and Hilde struggled to resist her urges and punch that smile off the blonde witch's face.

"Try it and Merrick will cream you," Relena replied confidently, adding a sickening-sweet "Thank you Dee!" before accepting the beer Madame Keeri gave her as she returned to her seat. Hilde glared at her from across the table, refusing to lift her gaze even while she accepted her new rounds of tequila.

"Actually," a voice said from far back in the bar, somewhere around the vicinity of the entranceway, "from what I know, Merrick refuses to hit a woman, at least in theory."

Hilde grinned widely, wincing slightly as she rubbed the freshly forming bruise on the back of her head. Even through the fog of inebriation, she recognized to whom the voice's owner. Calling out in the direction of the door, Hilde said, "What are you doing here, Samantha? Are you lost?"

"Not at all," the redhead replied smilingly, marching between the tables to the girls. Pulling up an extra seat and setting her coat on the back of it, she sat down amongst them. "It was lucky I caught up with you guys, considering I can't even find my way around with a map and compass. I ran into Merrick as I was touring the city; he told me where to find you, Relena." Raising her eyebrow as she looked from girl to girl (noticing the bruises on Hilde and Relena's faces, as well as Dorothy puffy, red eyes), she continued, "That wasn't the only people I ran into. I saw you two ladies' exes," pointing to Hilde and Dorothy. "Duo and Heero were carrying a rather drunk Quatre on their way out of the Tight End bar. I told them where I was heading, and I invited them to meet me back here once they dropped the lightweight off at his house."

"WHAT?! Why would you do that?! I don't want to see Duo after what happened today!" Hilde sputtered, nearly choking on her tequila shot.

"And why didn't you force them to bring Quatre with them?! I wanted to try and talk to him about today…" Dorothy whined, trying (though not too successfully) to hold back a fresh burst of tears brimming in her eyes.

Samantha shrugged nonchalantly. "I thought it'd give me a good chance to get to know them. You here are about the only people I know in this damn city besides Merrick." Gesturing to Dee and Lucrezia, she asked, "Any who are you two anyway?"

"Lucrezia Noin; Preventor."

"Deidre Keeri, proprietor of the bar you sit in now."

"A bar owner?" Samantha said, intrigued. "You've got good taste in friends, Hilde. I'm Samantha Grey; mobile suit pilot." She extended a hand to each of them and proceeded to give them a shake. "Could I get a scotch on the rocks? No ice?"

"Um (on the rocks with no ice?) … All right; I'll be right back," Madame Keeri said (a bit tiredly), pushing out from the table. Relena thought she distinctly heard Dee muttering something like "…After all, it's not like walking back and forth from the bar all night isn't tiring…" before wandering back to the bar. Shrugging and raising her eyebrows slightly, Relena turned back to face the rest of the silent guests around the table.

After a moment of tense silence, Samantha clicked her tongue. "Well…this sure is a riveting conversation. I'm so glad I'm spending my time hanging with you guys instead of cruising around the city."

"No one's making you stay!" snapped Dorothy impatiently, obviously still miffed that Quatre wouldn't be coming.

"Don't take your issues out on me, girlie."

Silence continued for a bit, only interrupted by the sound of a ringing telephone and a muffled "Oh for – what now?!" from Madame Keeri in the back.

Clicking her tongue again, Samantha made another attempt at conversation. "I'm sensing that I walked in on…something going on here, and if you don't want to let me in on it, that's fine, but I don't think I can stay awake much longer if this is all we 'talk' about."

"I don't know if you can be let in on this, Sam," Hilde said carefully, giving a sideways glance towards Noin. "It's not really mine to decide."

Catching the meaningful glance, Samantha looked to Noin. Sighing, Lucrezia said in a mock-careless tone, "Fill her in if you want; if you three already know, then the whole damn country will find out about it by noon tomorrow anyway." Grinning at Lu, Hilde turned to Samantha and began explaining. Dorothy's arms lay on the tabletop, her head resting comfortably on them. Relena sat and watched the others, eyes struggling to stay open, as if on the verge of being sick (from the drinks) or passed out.

"Where's Madame Keeri off to? She hasn't come back yet…" Dorothy said suddenly, causing Relena to jump in her seat and sit bolt upright.

"Don't do that, Dorothy!" Relena said angrily, "With a lurch like that to the system, I coulda puked everywhere!"

"Ew, nasty mental image, ew…" Dorothy replied, squinting her eyes and rubbing them, as if in hope to drive the images away.

"I'm back," Madame Keeri said cheerfully, setting Samantha's drink down and beamed, smiling, at them all. "You would not believe who just called."

"Who?" asked Noin, intrigued.

"My sister, Danielle," Dee continued, still smiling widely. "She informed me that she won two tickets to a two-week vacation in Italy!"

"Really? That's awesome!" Hilde exclaimed, "When is she going?"

"Well, that's part of the reason why she called me. Apparently, she can't make it, as she has to go to a conference scheduled halfway through the vacation time." Dee Keeri paused for a moment, contemplating how to continue. "She said I could have the tickets, or at least give them to someone who could use them," she continued, grinning at Noin. "Guess who I plan to give them to?"

"Who?"

"You, Lu, duh! If anyone needs an escape from reality, it's you. You can go visit your old base, see old friends –"

"But what about my Preventors' job? We're really starting to get busy, and they need –"

"You need some time off, girl," Dorothy interjected. "You seem to be really stressed."

"Plus you and Milliardo will get apart time," Relena added, "You can have some time to yourself, figured out what you want to do, not to mention see Italy!" The girls squealed in excitement, clapping their hands together animatedly.

"I'll miss the RMSTC, though. It'll have finished by then, and I won't get to see Hilde and Samantha win first place…"

"No, you won't," Dorothy responded, "The final competition is a couple days shy of three weeks from now. you'd be back in time to see the last three days!"

"But -"

"'But' nothing! Do it! You deserve it," Dee interrupted, placing her arm around Noin. "Come on, I'll even find you a nice boy to fly along and stay with you…"

Noin blushed slightly, "You guys really think that I should –"

"DO IT!" They all screamed together, laughing and pounding their fists together as one on the table.

Lucrezia sighed, smiling slightly. "Who am I to argue with the majority vote? I'll go -" she added, interrupted by another roar of tumultuous giggling/cheering  "-but with whom?" The girls paused to contemplate.

"I got it," Relena said, snapping her fingers. "Catherine."

"Catherine?" Hilde asked, frowning slightly. A look of recognition dawned across her face and she added, "Catherine! That's perfect! She'd love a chance to get away from that house and all those chores!"

"Call her right now, if it's settled," Samantha suggested, downing the last of her scotch.

"I think I will," Noin said smiling, and pushed away from the table and marched to the back of the bar.

Dorothy looked at them with an odd expression, as if she was suppressing a laugh. Finally, when everyone was staring at her, she said, "Do you realize that Catherine is going to be woken up at two in the morning by a bunch of giggling, drunk girls who want to take her to Italy? She'll think we're all right out of our skulls!" and the rest of the girls laughed as well, feeling better than they had all day.

When Noin had returned from her call, the girls bombarded her with questions, wanting to know what Catherine said.

"She sounded really sleepy," Lucrezia said, the girls giggling madly, "but she agreed that she'll come with!"

"Well then," Dee said, clapping her hands together once, "I do believe that this occasion deserves a round of drinks, on the house!"

"It's official," Relena whispered, smiling at Dorothy, "Madame Deidre Keeri is my new best friend!"

Smiling back, Dorothy called out "I'll have a margarita if that's all right, Dee!"

"Me too!"

"Another scotch here."

"How about a Long Island ice tea?"

~*~*~*~

Half an hour later…

~*~*~*~

"Hey you guys, I just thought of something," Samantha said to the group, tugging the sleeve of her coat straight and buttoning the front, "Heero and Duo were going to meet us later; what do you think they'll do if they show up and we're not here?"

"Who cares? I don't think they'll be coming at almost three A.M." Hilde replied, likewise pulling her coat on (rather clumsily due to alcohol) and making towards the door.

"Even if they do show, let's act as if we're standing them up," Relena added, her feud earlier with Hilde no longer relevant. They were back to being friends, although Relena still felt (and quite justifiably) that Hilde was envious of her luck in a new man. Dorothy was already ahead of them, waiting down the street with Noin, holding the taxi that would take them all to their respective homes.

"Come on, hurry up you three," she called to them, waving her arms to attracting their attention.

"We're coming!" Samantha called back, "We're waiting for Dee to lock up; she's closing early."

"Three A.M. is early?!"

"Apparently."

Appearing behind them, escorted by the sound of jangling keys, Dee sighed and rubbed her hands against her arms for warmth. "It's a chilly night, is it not?"

"That's just because of the rain," Relena replied, her coat still damp from earlier. "It makes everything cold and…sparkly." The taxi up ahead honked the horn impatiently, and Dorothy and Noin were already clambering in. "We better hurry," Relena added, and ran toward the yellow car, laughing as Hilde ran after her and Dee tried desperately not to get her shoes wet from the puddles.

~*~*~*~

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshinin' day

Oh yes, I can make it now the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I've been praying for
It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshinin' day

Look all around, there's nothing but blue skies
Look straight ahead, there's nothing but blue skies

~Jimmy Cliff, "I Can See Clearly Now"

And don't forget…please read and review! Thank you!