Yay, I'm back! I'm reeeeaaaaaly sorry it took me forever to update, but oh well, been kinda busy… sort of. The problem is that I've got like 20 other ideas for new fics, revolving around my brain and I somehow lose the ability to concentrate on one… I promise I won't put up any new fics until I'm done, or nearly done, with the ones currently here.

Anyways, now that I'm back once more, I expect to update regularly since now my ideas for this fic are complete in my brain, all I have to do is write them down, which will take a much shorter time.

Thanks a bunch to all those who reviewed in past chapters and I hope you're still around, patiently waiting for the next one… here it is!

XXX XXX XXX

Nothing Better To Do

Dawn found Duo Maxwell at the gym, working out. Well, if trying to beat the stuffing out, just for the heck of it, is actually considered real work out. He wore black pants along with a tight black tank top. Over the time, the muscles of his arms had become more defined as well as those on his chest and abdomen. He now had a fair chance at defeating Heero in a fist fight, considering past experience. Apparently he had already been there for a while, since the top was damp with sweat.

For a moment he simply paused, holding the punching bag and trying to steady his breath. He looked down and caught sight of the sweat drops making their way to the floor from the tip of his nose. It was only then when he noticed that the sun was slowly creeping up.

He parted a few steps from the punching bag, letting his body cool down, and with one last swing, he kicked the bag sending it rocking back and forth on its hinge.

"I see you're up early, Mr. Maxwell"

A female voice brought him out of his musings and Duo parted his view from the swaying bag to turn and face none other that Lady Une herself. She was dressed already in her uniform and her hair worn loosely behind her back. The head of the Preventers was leaning at the doorframe where the entrance to the gym was, just a few feet away from Duo.

"So are you" answered Duo reaching out for a towel on a nearby bench and wiping the sweat off his face.

"Well, it's my duty to be up this early in the morning. Especially with all those government bastards at my neck"

Duo forced a smile on his face. "Then I take it the quarantine is nowhere near over"

"You guessed right" Lady Une sighed tiredly and took a seat near the entrance. Duo went to get some water and returned with a half-empty bottle. You could tell by looking at her face that Lady Une was really overdoing herself. Her eyes were red, and underneath them were bags showing off how much she hadn't slept. This had to be over soon, or she would fall ill as well.

"So Lady, what brings you here with the lesser mortals?"

"I was on my way to the labs when I heard noise coming from here. I saw you… is there something troubling your mind? I mean besides what's going on lately"

Duo unconsciously gripped his bottle tighter. He had come to the gym at such hour because he had been unable to stay asleep any longer. Nightmares where Heero died kept assaulting him. He was just too afraid to lose anyone close to him, and he felt so powerless, being locked in there as they all were now.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" suddenly blurted out Duo.

"What?"

"Am I an idiot? Am I useless?"

Lady Une studied the boy in front of her. There was a certain bitterness to his voice, and the usual light that shone in his eyes had left. She had never seen Maxwell this sad, he was usually the one to make jokes, no matter how inappropriate, full of energy and stamina, cheerful enough for the entire colony now sunk in distress.

"Why do you ask that, Duo?"

"Well… I don't know… it's just…"

"I know you're a joker Maxwell, and that you are usually making out-of-place comments, but that doesn't make you an idiot" put in Lady Une turning to look at the slowly rising sun. It had truly been a long time since she had had any time to do such a thing… she had forgotten how beautiful it was.

"But everyone else thinks so! Everyone says that I don't understand anything, that I just don't get the graveness of the situation and that I'm a hopeless fool that's just in the way!" by now Duo had crumpled the bottle and had forgotten all about the water still inside. Tiny drops were pouring out as the boy shook with anger.

Lady Une stood up and lifted Duo's chin with her gloved hand. His face had reddened with anger and his eyes shone with what unmistakably unshed tears. He was blinking furiously, keeping them at bay, forbidding himself to cry.

"Follow me" said Lady Une looking straight into his violet eyes.

She left the gym, leaving Duo behind. He looked down and noticed the bottle in his hand; the moving fluid inside seemed to be urging him on. He hastily put on a sweatshirt and ran behind Lady Une catching up to her just as she was about to enter the elevator.

"Where are we going?" he asked before she punched any number.

"Down" she said as she pressed the number of one of the lower levels.

XXX XXX XXX

Apparently, Duo hadn't been the only one unable to stay asleep that day. Wufei himself had been tossing and turning continually in his bed until he realized that it was pointless to pretend to be resting. Being hours before dawn, the place was a bit chilly, regardless of the fact its climate was controlled by a rather sophisticated heating system, so he decided to wrap at least a jacket around his naked torso.

It would take hours before the rest woke up and he decided to take advantage of it. He so desperately needed to be alone to think and meditate. It was usually hard to do so since no one was doing anything and they always found a way to be stuck together, the other pilots and him, that is. Wufei had never been a fan of being surrounded by large groups of people, considering four a large group already, but somehow the others proved to be nice enough to hang out with.

However, after a whole week of Maxwell's continuous jokes and loud comments Wufei rediscovered the value of solitude. And considering he had no real occupation well, he had plenty of time to meditate. The lonely, dark corridors of the Preventers headquarters proved to be enticing of this particular desire and all he had to do was allow his feet to carry him wherever they wished.

The Chinese pilot was only dimly aware of his location. He did notice various corridors and staircases, but being as concentrated in his thoughts as he was, he never actually kept track or the general direction he had been walking to for the past minutes.

The previous night he'd been at Heero's room, sharing his own suspicions about the scientist's unexpected death. He agreed with Heero's idea that it was more than just a mere coincidence or accident. Even if it really was a virus, you'd consider one of the leading scientists to at least be more cautious.

"But no one really knows how's it transmitted" that was when Maxwell entered the room, "no matter how cautious they get, their proximity to that thing endangers them just like it does to anyone else"

At that point, Maxwell hugged Heero round the middle and Wufei totally forgot about his reply. Duo had rested his chin atop one of Heero's shoulders and even though he was dealing with a very stoic Japanese youth, Wufei could still notice a certain relaxation in Heero's features. It was more than obvious that they were happy together.

Once more, as he remembered this particular image, the strange thoughts assaulted him. Thoughts about being with someone… someone who would understand him and care for him… someone who would wait for him to come back, safe and sound, after this whole thing was over. All his friends had such a person, even Heero, who proved to be rather difficult to deal with, and they were all happy, they all fought harder than any ordinary person, and it was all thanks to that one soul that kept waiting for their smile, their touch, the sound of their voices…

"Hmph…" Wufei made a grunting sound, desperately looking for something else to think about. This particular train of thoughts was unnerving him and he was almost… afraid to think along these lines.

Wufei scared himself when he faced his own reflection in a darker corridor. He was staring at himself on a glass wall. After a while, his destination was revealed and to prove it were dim lanterns positioned evenly along two lines behind the glass wall. Wufei had just reached the entrance to the hall were the very few victims of the Disease that had been spotted in time, lay resting in their cryogenic freeze state.

Just behind a door located to his left was the passageway that, after some meters of walking, led to the rows of capsules inside of which rested those poor people, sleeping in blissful unawareness of their present condition. Only those with special clearance at the Preventers had access to that zone, and Wufei was one of those few privileged. He'd actually been there before, just a couple of times, before the cryogenic process was even discovered.

Back then, he remembered, people were just laying on beds, some crying, very frightened, others simply resigned to their terrible fate beyond tears. It had surprised him to see that all the patients, about twenty, were young, the eldest barely reaching his thirties. So young and already doomed… was that justice?

For a strange reason, unknown to Wufei, he walked over to the entrance. A retinal scanner and a seven-digit code were all that separated him from those poor souls. And somewhat impulsively he just entered, after being cleared and allowed entrance. Only after the door shut hermetically behind him did he realize what had he done.

Sunlight didn't reach that place, it was too deep underground, instead, electric light illuminated the place during the day, being the lights programmed to turn themselves on when the sun rose, kind of like simulating real daylight. Right then only the dim lanterns showed him a way trough the narrow corridor. Stifling a yawn he made his way all the way down to a new crystal door and trough it to a big hall with large glass cases, lit with their own lights.

They were like capsules, long and cylindrical, large enough to fit a tall person. Only five were occupied, the rest were dark. The five had bluish-green liquid inside and many cables, all connected to a sleeping person. They were all lined up in a row, three to the left, two to the right, and at the very end Wufei saw something that made his heart stop.

A girl, about his age, was sleeping in one of those crystal cases. She was pale and had raven black hair, slim body and short. Looking around he realized she was the only woman in there, the rest were grown men, around their twenties. The Chinese pilot couldn't really understand why, but he was enticed with the girl.

"It could've been her…" he thought. An image of possibly meeting the girl, getting to spend some time with her and ending up liking her danced like mad in his brain. What if this was his soul mate? The disease could've taken her and he wouldn't have even met her. Or maybe the disease had already taken the one meant to be with him, and now he was destined to spend the rest of his life alone and empty.

Wufei gasped and took a few steps backwards, scared. In just a second it dawned to him how much damage something like this. His heart pounded loudly in his chest and cold sweat ran down his face. Somehow, he just discovered how sad and terrifying this sickness could be…

"Wufei?"

All of a sudden the lamps overhead all turned on, signaling the rise of the sun, and a voice called out to a now shaking Wufei. Trying to calm himself as best as he could, Wufei turned and met no other than Duo Maxwell and Lady Une looking puzzled at him.

"You ok?" asked Duo.

"I'm fine Maxwell" answered in what was a miserable attempt of sounding calm and collected.

"But…"

"Good morning" Wufei said nothing else and walked outside past the two newly arrived. Why was he feeling such things? Why was he panicking about the Disease? Why was he sad about being alone… was that really justice?

XXX XXX XXX

As he rolled around he discovered a certain coldness to the place. Feeling about with his right hand, he soon realized that he was alone. Heero lifted his face from the pillows he had buried it onto and groggily stared at the spot next to him. He nudged himself deeper back into the pillow as he groaned. It was not like Duo to leave this early in the morning.

In one last attempt to catch his lover's slender figure he propped himself up against his elbows and looked around. It was his room. The Preventers hadn't exactly built rooms for couples so, considering their endless love for each other and a good bout of altered young hormones, Heero and Duo had to improvise.

His room was plain and quite empty. Apart from the bed, the tiny closet and the bathroom, there was only a desk where his laptop was currently being recharged, with its corresponding plain black chair, and right next to it a small window, the only one in the room. It lacked any other furniture or ornaments to make it cozier. Still, Duo liked it there, mainly because of Heero's presence, but other than that, Heero found his place to be rather empty, soulless and lifeless.

Duo was usually the one to stay asleep until late. Heero was already used to waking up before dawn and had something like a biological timer. This time, however, it was before dawn but Duo had already been missing for a while. Heero wondered how come he hadn't noticed his lover's absence, since the slightest stir would be enough to trigger his senses. He figured it had something to do with feeling safe and at ease in the braided pilot's company.

Finally he left the bed. Looking around the place for his clothes, dressed only in dark-green boxers, the pilot took some dark trousers along with a white shirt and a Preventers jacket. Right at the door he wondered now whether he should go and look for Duo before having breakfast, but decided that if Duo had left that early in the morning, then he had his reasons for being alone. Besides, knowing his lover, he'd meet him at the dining hall anyways, sooner or later.

The halls were fuller than usual. Most of the staff at the Preventers had their own houses in the colony they were based at, but after the incident with the scientist and the whole quarantine affair, they were forced to stay all cluttered together. Most of the workers at the hall were still nervous and uneasy, and little by little the trust between partners and friends was fading away. They were all scared of the Disease and they didn't want to hang around an infected person.

Heero found his way to an empty table carrying his tray already full of healthy food, exactly the one Duo disliked the most to his lover's amusement, and began chewing on his fruit salad looking around. No matter what others thought, Heero firmly assured himself after seeing the various expressions on every person that passed, and no matter how dangerous, he would never abandon his friends, especially not Duo… But, how about them? Would they abandon him if he was found infected?

…no, they wouldn't. They really were friends, and Heero was sure they'd stick together no matter what. And even if they didn't, Heero would sure be grateful it had been him the Diseased instead of the rest. He'd rather die a thousand times a paiful death than cry over Duo's death, or whomever else's.

Suddenly he was abruptly cut off his thoughts when a tray dropped to his side. Next to him Wufei was taking a seat and in front, absorbed in his thoughts looking intently down at his tray, and slowly making his way towards their table was Duo himself.

"Good morning" said Heero.

"Morning" answered Wufei. Duo sat and said nothing, not even bothering to lift his sight from the tray.

Heero turned to look at it as well and saw very few food, quite unlike Duo. He soon started to panic when his thoughts from a while earlier returned to his mind.

"Duo, are you okay?" he asked trying his best to control his voice. Duo finally looked at him and his eyes seemed to brighten up.

"Good morning Heero" he said, half-spiritedly, "did you sleep well?"

"Er… well, yes but-"

"That's good. Well, let's eat!"

Wufei at his left was also unnaturally silent and they both were eyeing their food with certain discontent. None had started on their breakfast and they were just poking at their respective servings.

"What's wrong with you two?" asked Heero in a much more serious tone.

First and awkward silence, then, "we went down to see the frozen people" answered Duo once again not lifting his face. Heero now understood. "They were all abandoned by their families, according to Lady Une. She said that, most of their families had brought them here, in hope of finding a cure, but had left afterwards, afraid for their own health… Most of their families didn't even come to visit before the quarantine"

Wufei said nothing, but nodded after Duo finished. Heero sighed and took Duo's hands between his own. Wufei's eyes darted towards this gesture.

"People are scared, Duo" Heero said trying his best to cheer him up, "and they just don't understand this… Besides, I suppose they had to leave…"

"How can you say that!"

"Well, suppose the parents of a victim get the Disease as well and die… once the cure was found and the victim woke up, who would be waiting for him or her?"

"…Heero… if I get sick… would you be waiting for me?"

"Of course Duo"

"Injustice!" Wufei startled them both, "they shouldn't have left them… they shouldn't be there in the first place… someone should be there for everyone…" carefully listening and looking, one could've told both his voice and hands were shaking.

Suddenly he lifted himself up and stomped out of the dining hall.

XXX XXX XXX

Tipping woke Trowa up. Dazed by the light entering the room trough a tiny window, he had to squint to see the source of the tipping. Sitting in a chair with light blue trousers on was Quatre, working on his laptop. Trowa rubbed the sleep off his eyes and yawned loudly making the blond pilot turn around and smile at his sleepy sight.

"Good morning!" he said briskly.

"Mornin'" answered Trowa trying hard to fight another yawn.

He rubbed his eyes once more and then sat on the edge of the bed. He stretched and walked over to his love. Trowa traced light kisses on Quatre's naked back and made the small pilot giggle.

"Care for some coffee?" asked Quatre turning around and stopping Trowa's attack on his exposed back.

"Nah… I care for something sweet, actually"

Quatre looked around quizzically hoping to find something sweet to offer his lover. However, Trowa suddenly turned the chair around and pulled him out of it and onto the bed. Trowa leaned over him and grinning, he placed a kiss on Quatre's rosy pink lips.

"Ah…" he sighed satisfactorily, "this is exactly what I needed"

"Well I'm glad for you, but I'm hungry for something more substantial" said Quatre in an apologetic tone giving Trowa the irresistible puppy look, "I was actually waiting for you to wake up so we could go and have breakfast together"

Trowa bit his lips and smiled, lifting himself up and starting to get dressed to comply with his lover's wishes.

On their way to the dining hall they met Lady Une.

"Boys! Am I glad to see you!" she said happily walking towards them.

"Good morning Lady Une" said Quatre politely.

"What is it that you need us for?" asked Trowa.

"It's about the main computer. I was just at the labs with the rest of the leading scientist and they said that the computer is now fixed"

The pilots gaped at their employer. This meant quarantine would be nearly over, once everyone at the headquarters had been checked and they were sure there was no trace of infection anywhere.

"I need you guys to look for the rest and tell them to meet me at the labs after breakfast. We still need to test the reinstalled programs and I really was hoping you wouldn't mind helping us there"

"Don't worry Lady, we'll be glad to be your guinea pigs!" said Quatre smiling happily.

"Um… I'm sorry, but yes, I do think that would be the term…"

"Don't worry Lady, we'll tell the rest. We'll meet you down there in a while"

They left Lady Une behind and quickly found Duo and Heero at a table in the dining hall.

"Guys!" Quatre practically skipped over to his friends in his happiness.

"Hey Q! Tro!" greeted Duo in a much happier note that he'd been a while ago. "What's up?"

"We just met Lady Une, and boy do we have great news for you"

"She said that the main computer was finally repaired and she needs us to go down to the labs to help her test some of the programs" Trowa took over, afraid that the little blonde would get too carried away in his blissful happiness and forget all about the message. Quatre pouted, obviously disappointed he couldn't be the one to deliver the news, but still looked eagerly at the perplexed couple.

"So this means…" began Duo.

"…that we'll be able to get the research up once more" finished Heero.

"Precisely" continued Quatre, "and she wants to meet us at the labs once we finish breakfast."

"Where's Wufei?" interrupted Trowa.

"He was here a while ago, but he just left to kami knows where" answered Heero.

"Well, we have to find him so we can all go and check these programs together, right?" exclaimed Duo, affected by Quatre's joy.

TBC…