Thanks Guys for your reviews! It's great to know that people are reading. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, i even stayed home from school today so i could type it all out, though i only had one class, so i didn't miss too much. R&R
I don't own gundam wing.

Recall from Chapter 2:

She looked at the clock as she stifled a yawn. This better be Quatre explaining things, or else I'll fall asleep before I learn what the hell is going on.

She answered, and Quatre faced her through the videophone.

"Everything is going to change. I'm sorry for everything."

Chapter 3

"What? I should be apologizing, Quatre. I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anything to counter what Stevens said. I've been thinking about it and I think I may see a way to –"

"Relena," Quatre interrupted. His voice was harsh and he was angry. He had undergone a complete change from his first statement. "I thought I told you not to get involved. You shouldn't apologize either. You did nothing wrong."

"Relena," he said in a softer voice, as he smiled, "you have done enough for us. We are eternally grateful. And we are not going to rely on you any longer."

"What do you mean?" she asked warily. She looked past him into his living room. Papers were scattered everywhere. A mug half full of coffee was placed carefully on a coaster. Usually Quatre would never drink a caffeinated drink, but Relena could tell this stressful night had tired him out. She thought he deserved the coffee.

He was dressed in his casual attire, a blue vest on a plain white shirt. Ever since he was a child he had been wearing the same type of outfit. When Relena once asked him about it, Quatre seemed surprised that she noticed. The thought of something new was unappealing to him. In fact he was always the same cheery guy; always happy to see her, always worried about her well-being, and most of all always offering a kind word or gesture.

This jumpy, angry Quatre had Relena sitting nervously at the edge of her seat, waiting for the explanation she knew was coming.

"The five of us are revealing out identities." Relena gasped at Quatre's revelation. "Well, actually, I'm not sure if we are. I think we should, and I told the others just that. I didn't want to be disturbed for a while and I told them to phone you with their answers. I'm sure Trowa agrees, he pretty much came up with the same plan I proposed. So did Heero but, I don't know if he is going to agree to go through with it though. He just knew it was the right thing to do, you know? Duo didn't want to, but I think he'll do it anyways. And I can never really tell with Wufei. So what did they say?"

Relena sat dumbstruck. They're revealing themselves? They'll be tormented by the media, by politicians, and by fans or gundam haters! Relena knew she would never believe this was the right course of action. She had fought this so many years ago, and she was still going to fight it now.

"Rel?" Quatre questioned. "What did they say?"

She just looked at him and shook her head.

"They said they agreed. But I don't."

Relena was in her bathtub. It was four in the morning and she had just gotten off the videophone with Quatre. She was finally able to relax in peace, but her mind kept racing. She still could barely believe that the gundam pilots were going to tell the media who they were. She had spent the better part of three hours arguing with Quatre about the reasons why they should not have to do that. He had won though; he had forced her into submission, and she agreed to stay out of it.

Yeah, right, she thought bitterly. She was going to be right in the middle of it, along with the five of them. She would stand by their sides through the entire ordeal. She had conviced Quatre to tell her where they were staying when they came to Earth, and she was surprised to find out that they were going to live in Quatre's mansion in the former Sanc Kingdom. It was close to the Earth Capital, and close to her own house.She would be there, and stand by their sides through the entire ordeal.

Her stomach fluttered as she imagined standing by one particular pilot's side. She started berating herself for thinking about it again, but then the message he had left on her videophone came to the foreground of her memories. He had smiled at her, and told her he would see her soon. The fluttering in her stomach resumed in full force.

I'm going to see him again, she thought. She closed her eyes and smiled, and she let her mind drift out of its worry into imagining futures with Heero Yuy. No, Heero Sato, she corrected, wondering what the difference was.

"What do you mean suspended vacation?"

Heero glared at his boss, the Coordinator of the Mining Satellite.

"Must I explain again? I need some time off. I don't know when I'll be returning. And yes it's been approved by the head office in the L4 colony cluster. Make do without me for a few months."

"But you're the Chief Engineer of the entire Satellite!" the Coordinator continued. He kept on providing reasons for why Heero ought to stay, but he had left the room.

The Coordinator started to follow him out, but saw that Heero was heading for the front door. He sighed and called a meeting. It was going to be murder to try to replace that mysterious boy.

Heero opened the door to his house to find Duo Maxwell lounging on his couch.

He had expected this. The L2 colonies where Duo lived were in a bigger orbit around Earth than the L1 colonies, and the two clusters and Earth were in alignment for the next few weeks. Heero had supposed Duo would stop by on his way to the safe house on Earth so that the two could go together.

He even expected Duo to be on his couch. He had kept in touch with Duo – more true is that he kept up with me, and I allowed it, Heero thought – and Duo had always made himself at home when he was at the Sato's.

Duo looked over at him guiltily. Heero immediately felt on his guard. Duo had never felt guilty about breaking into Heero's locked house, so Heero was worried about what Duo had done. Heero looked at him questioningly.

"Uh… well when you weren't home, I called Ella to find out where you were. I also asked her about… your travel arrangements. I… um… kinda figured you would have told her about leaving." Duo smiled sheepishly, his blue eyes looking like they belonged on a six year old again. "And she made me buy two tickets for her and Jayden too."

Heero sighed as he sat tensely on the couch next to Duo.

"Sorry," Duo apologized. "Hilde wouldn't stay either. She'd come right now, but I convinced her to finish a few things at the junk yard. She's coming in a week."

Duo ran a junk exchange yard with his fiancée Hilde. They did extremely well, especially since Quatre and the Winner Corporation were their main customers. Duo had become semi-respectable; he even had a few suits, which he wore to meetings of higher caliber, and which he hated with a passion. Today he was in jeans and his leather jacket covered the white shirt he was wearing.

"I guess I'll pack," Heero stated in a monotone voice. He did not want to leave his family, but he did not want them to come along either. He wanted to finish this on his own. He stood and began to walk to his room. "Did she say when she was coming home? The flight is at three." He was hoping she would come home late so she would only have time to pack and no time to get mad at him. She was probably furious at him for not telling her what he was planning on doing the moment he first planned to do it.

"Nope," Duo yelled from the living room.

He packed lightly. Since he only needed the essentials because Quatre would provide the rest, he was done quickly. He was scanning the house for any forgotten items when the door opened.

"Heero! You get out here right now!" Ella was home. Heero entered the living room again and saw her in the doorway with a crying Jayden in her arms. Looking at Ella, he realized that she was close to tears as well.

"Ella, I'm sorry –" Heero started.

"You're not going to stop us from coming, Heero." She said strongly and loudly. "I'm not losing you again. You know that. I'm going with you."

"But –"

"No buts. Sit on the couch with Duo. And don't move until we're done packing," she said as she twirled on her heel and stormed to her room to pack clothes for her and for Jayden.

Heero sat with a scowl on his face. His arms were crossed in defiance over his denim jacket, but he knew he was defeated. He saw Duo open his mouth, and silenced him with a look. Heero could admit defeat, but he would rather die than have Duo mock him about it.

Duo just went back to watching the news while Heero wallowed in self-pity. Heero looked at the television, but was not really watching until Duo's picture flashed on screen.

Duo looked just as startled as Heero felt. Both of their hearts were in their throats. The news reporter had just been talking about a planted explosion at a plant in Duo's home colony. She had previously reported that there were no suspects.

"We have just been sent this picture of the culprit." Her voice was strong and clear. Her brown eyes were glistening with anticipation. "This is Duo Maxwell. He was residing a house a few blocks away from the plant. He is reported to be on one of the L1 colonies. It has been reported that he made his get-away early this morning, before the bombs had gone off. The bombs were timed and he had put them there and set off their timers directly before fleeing the colony. One camera from the plant has been recovered, and footage of him planting the bombs has been revealed."

Heero and Duo watched the screen carefully. The image of a dark hallway was shown. A figure about Duo's height came into view. A baseball cap covered his face, but the brown waist length braid was visible even in the dark light.

"It wasn't me," Duo whispered. "I mean there can be others who are six feet tall with braided hair right?"

There was a knock at the door. "It's the police! Open up! We know who you have in there!"

"I'll take the right half, you take care of the left," Heero began as he stood to open the door.

"No Heero. This would ruin Quatre's plan! We're supposed to be passive right? I'll go quietly, and explain. Don't do anything rash."

Heero opened the door, and five armed men in Preventers uniforms rushed into the room. Duo stood and held up his hands, and said that they had the wrong guy. They handcuffed him and were directing him outside when he stopped to listen to the last report from the television.

The same reporter came on screen, and a small square blinked open next to her. A picture of the Gundam Deathscythe was shown as she told the entire Earth Sphere United Nation that the terrorist who destroyed a plant in an L2 colony was a gundam pilot.

A strangled sound came out of Duo as he continued out of Heero's house into the car that would take him to jail.

Heero sat down on the couch again as footage of Duo being arrested in front of his house was broadcast across the entire nation. Ella and Jayden had come into the living room to witness it, and both girls were immediately at his side, Ella with her arm around Heero's shoulders, and Jayden holding his hand. The reporter continued on.

"It seems that Marcello Stevens had a point yesterday in bringing up the secret identities of the pilots. This could easily have been prevented. He will no doubt be making a statement about this incident. Relena Dorlain will also be involved. She fought to keep their identities unknown, and look what came of it. Drastic –"

She was cut off as Heero turned off the television.

"Come on," he said, "this doesn't change our plans. I need to go to Earth."

Well? what did you think?

And to RedLion - i realize that Quatre's revelation might be a little anti-climatic. But it's a big deal for these guys to tell everyone. At least in my head it is.

And to all my reviewers: Thanks for reviewing! aslong as you keep on liking what i write, i'll keep on writing.

I especially enjoy the fact that most of you seem to be feline: Alaskantiger, Jellybean-kitty and RedLion2. I'm definately a cat person and this makes my day!