A/N: So this chapter is a bit shorter than I originally intended. My sister came to visit with her four kids and I haven't had as much time to work on it as I wanted. She's staying for a month so I don't know how much I'll get done until she leaves. Thanks again to everyone reading!

Chapter 14

Quatre met Heero in the hall. "Duo said you wanted to see me?"

Heero nodded and led the blonde to an empty room down the hall. "I've just spoken with Une and Sally about the girl," he said, shutting the door. "What are your thoughts on her?"

"She's still scared, but I think she isn't as scared of us as she was before."

Heero nodded. "Sally said she was there for five years."

"Yes…and that's what I called you about earlier. Five years of being held prisoner in a sex ring and she wasn't assaulted? That seems really fishy to me."

Heero nodded. "I agree. Either she wasn't there for that or she's lying."

Quatre frowned. "She isn't lying."

"So you say," Heero answered dismissively. "The point is that we need her to talk to us and tell us everything that went on while she was there. She's our only lead at this point."

"If you think she's lying what good would it do for her to tell us what went on?" Quatre snapped.

"Okay fine…for now, let's say she's telling the truth. We'll sort out the lies later."

Quatre frowned. "Heero…"

"Just…get her to talk, Quatre. Sally asked me to come by tomorrow with the books for this case."

"Start with one."

It was Heero's turn to frown. "The sooner she looks at them the better."

"Start. With. One. I'm not going to destroy her mental and emotional health further just to get an asshole in jail."

"The sooner she cooperates the sooner she can stop being afraid of him."

"She will cooperate unless you push her too much. You could make her sick and then she'll be completely useless."

Heero grunted. Quatre knew logic would win him over.

"Heero…I want this case finished as much as you do but the girl isn't like us. She isn't physically strong but she has managed to survive a very deadly environment for longer than she should have. Her will to survive must be stronger than we know. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the only thing that kept her alive."

"I will bring one book tomorrow. But if she is up to it, I want her to look at more."

"That's fine, Heero. Just let her set the pace. She needs to be able to trust us or she'll never recover. I know Sally's still worried about her even if she hasn't come out and said it."

Heero nodded.

"Another thing…any negative body language frightens her. Even frowning makes her cringe. It doesn't matter if you're actually angry; she thinks you're going to hit her."

"Hm…I will try to keep that in mind."

"Thank you, Heero."

"If you notice anything else, alert me immediately."

Heero opened the door and the two Preventers headed back to the girl's room. Quatre knocked and waited for Duo to open the door.

"All set?" Duo asked as Quatre came in.

"Yes. How is she doing?"

"Fell asleep a couple minutes ago."

Quatre nodded. "Okay. Did she seem okay to you?"

"You mean other than actually liking the Kings?" Duo shrugged. "She seemed fine to me. Still not talking…still jumping at every little thing. But she did seem to be a bit more comfortable around me than usual, so I guess she's getting used to us."

"Great. Thank you, Duo."

"No problem. I'll see you in a few hours when I come on shift."

"See you."

Once alone with the girl, Quatre silently made his way over to her bed. He carefully brushed her arm with his fingers. She felt so peaceful compared to the first time he'd felt her emotions. Sure, she was still a little stressed but he supposed he couldn't expect her to be completely at ease just yet. As long as they were making progress, Quatre was happy.

The girl slept peacefully for the rest of Quatre's shift. Duo spent the first half of his shift being very bored. Television programming had been taken over by telemarketing. It didn't help that he'd turned off half the lights so the girl would stay asleep. The boredom was making him want to sleep. Too bad his stomach was in the mood to remind him it was empty.

"I can't believe people pay money for this shit," he groused as he flipped through the channels yet again.

A light knock on the door was a welcome distraction.

"Hey 'Ro! Didn't expect to see you!"

Heero came into the room. "I brought some videos for you…I figured the television wouldn't have anything on this late."

Duo grinned at his boyfriend. "Aw…you are too sweet sometimes, you know that? You didn't happen to bring me any dinner, did you?"

Heero frowned. "No. I thought you would have ordered from the cafeteria."

Duo sighed. "I know. I just…after that six months I spent in this hell-hole I can't stomach it anymore."

Heero nodded, remembering that botched mission. They were taking out an illegal military installation in the Sudan. Duo's team was supposed to sneak in, set some dynamite to lure everyone out of the building and fall back while the other teams rushed the joint. Some cocky greenie had insisted on setting the charges and had placed one too close to Duo's location. Duo had thrown himself over one of his subordinates and taken the full brunt of the blast himself. Aside from the foot of hair singed off his braid, he'd suffered 3rd degree burns over his back and legs and had to have skin grafts to repair the damage. Once Duo had been released from the hospital it was another eight months of physical therapy before he was considered fit for duty again. The first week he'd been in the hospital had been pure agony for Heero. They weren't sure he was going to make it. His first day home, Duo had insisted on eating an entire large pizza in order to "reset his taste buds" and hadn't touched hospital food without adamant protest since.

"What would you like? I can get you something."

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm to the point that I'm so hungry nothing sounds good."

"Do you want me to pick you out something?"

"Would…would you mind watchin' the kid for about twenty minutes and I'll head to the diner down the street and get something? I'm hoping that something pops off the menu at me."

"I suppose…"

"She hasn't been having near as many terrors as she was before. And she's been sleeping since before Quat left so—"

"It's fine, Duo. But hurry…just in case."

Duo pecked Heero on the cheek. "Want me to bring you some pie or somethin'?"

Heero shook his head. "I'm good."

"Right. Sally's at the nurse's station if you need her. Back in a few!" Duo waved on his way out the door.

Heero silently flipped through the stations. He was right about there being nothing on. He picked out one of the movies and put it in. Duo could change it after he left if he didn't like it. As the movie started he heard rustling coming from the bed.

The girl was tossing and turning, her breathing becoming more erratic as time passed. He stood over her and debated how to wake her. She screamed.

"HEY!" he yelled, shaking her shoulder. He probably shouldn't have grabbed her sore shoulder, but it was closest to him and he thought that the pain might wake her up a little quicker.

The girl's eyes popped open and she immediately stopped screaming. She sat up and looked around the room, her eyes a little unfocused. She had beads of sweat on her forehead. She calmed down and leaned back against the pillows. She looked up at him, flinching as she did so.

He wanted to frown, but remembered Quatre's warning. The lights were low so he wasn't sure how much of his face she could really see, but he decided not to risk Quatre's wrath.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded after a moment of thought. Perhaps she wasn't so difficult to handle after all. Maybe it was like that movie Duo liked so much. He just had to ask the right questions before he could get into the labyrinth that was the girl's mind.

"Was it a nightmare?"

Again, the girl nodded, though this time with a little less hesitation.

"I'll be right back." Heero went out to the nurse's station.

"Heero? I didn't know you were here," Sally greeted him.

"Duo needed to get some dinner so I'm watching the girl until he gets back."

"Is something wrong?"

Heero nodded. "She's having nightmares. I thought you could give her something to help her sleep a little better."

"Are they that bad?"

"You didn't hear her scream?"

"I was with another patient. I only got back just now."

Heero nodded. "Well…I got her to wake up but I don't know if she'll sleep again. Quatre said she needs to rest or she'll get sick and won't be of any use to the investigation. We can't have that. She's our only lead on this and if we can't stop him—"

"I understand Heero. Relax. I want that bastard found as soon as possible, too. I'll give her something but you have to promise me that you won't get worked up over this investigation. You know Duo worries that the stress will make you flash."

Heero glared at her. "I'm being careful."

Sally smiled. "I know. Now I can tell Duo that I reminded you and he'll get off both our cases for a bit." She stood. "Let's get the girl settled."

Heero led the way back to the room and held the door for Sally, who smiled at the girl.

"I'm going to give you something so you can sleep a little better, okay?"

The girl looked sad, as if she wasn't sure whether she was in trouble or not.

"Just relax," Sally said as she adjusted the flow to the sedative. "You're not in trouble. We just want you to be able to rest."

Heero watched as the girl's eyes drooped and she gradually went completely limp.

"I really hate doing that to her," Sally admitted. "But if she can't rest she won't heal."

There was a light tap on the door and Heero opened it.

"Hey, 'Ro, I hurried…" Duo trailed off as he realized Sally was in the room. "Did uh…did something happen?"

Heero nodded, closing the door behind Duo. "She had a nightmare. Sally gave her something to help her sleep."

"Aw, gee, 'Ro…I'm really sorry. Did she get to you?"

"I'm fine, Duo," Heero assured him. "She didn't trigger anything."

"She should sleep through the rest of the night," Sally told Duo before slipping out the door.

"Well…I guess that's good," Duo said as he set down his take-out dinner.

"I see you found something to eat," Heero commented as he leaned against the wall.

"Yeah. They had some pot roast thing that looked pretty good. D'you want to try some?"

"I'll pass. I might steal a bite of your pie, though."

Duo grinned. "I thought you might. That's why I got two pieces."

Duo had discovered that while Heero didn't generally go in for sweets, he did tend to enjoy a slice of pie more often than any other dessert. Not just any pie, mind, but fruit pie. Duo figured that Heero was able to justify enjoying the treat as it had fruit, which was healthy…well…it was healthy before being marinated in sugar but Duo didn't see any reason to point that out. Duo particularly liked the pies that came from Ma's, the old diner down the street. He didn't know what they did differently than other places but their pie was divine. Tonight's pie had been "Peach Berry" which Duo was told had peaches, raspberries, and strawberries. It smelled wonderful.

Heero pulled his piece of pie from the bag and sat in the chair. Duo pulled a second chair over and dug into his pot roast and mashed potatoes.

"How's the pie?"

"…"

"That bad?"

"No…" Heero took another bite. "Tha' goo'."

Duo almost snorted pot roast out his nose. Duo found Heero talking with his mouth full hilarious. It also meant it must be really good because Heero was constantly on Duo's case about his poor manners, which Duo attributed to his days on the streets. He'd told Heero that if Sister Helen couldn't teach him manners, Heero had no chance and to learn to deal with it. Heero, of course, doggedly kept trying to improve Duo's manners. He was largely unsuccessful but everyone knew Heero loved a challenge, so Duo let him keep trying. He even had a running bet going with Wufei. Duo bet that Heero would one day give up. Wufei bet that Heero would wear Duo down and make him civilized. They'd made the bet two years ago and so far neither was close to winning.

Heero finished his pie and waited for Duo to finish his meal before speaking.

"I should get going. I have a meeting with Une in the morning."

"About what?"

"Do you remember that lawyer that showed up at the house and ordered me to leave?"

"Yeah."

"He talked to Colonel Une. She wants to talk to me about what we should do about him."

"Then you're right, you better get going. You should be well-rested before trying to outwit a lawyer. I'll see you when I get off shift then," Duo said, giving Heero a peck on the cheek.

Heero returned Duo's peck and left.

Duo looked through the movies Heero had brought and picked out one he particularly liked. He put it in and settled into the chair. With the girl drugged and a bunch of movies to watch, Duo decided that this babysitting gig was getting sweeter by the minute. Now all he needed was his own tub of ice cream and his night would be darn near perfect.