A/N: Super long chapter for me but I'm sure you don't mind. There just wasn't a good place to split this one...Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Duo looked at the door at Quatre's cry. He jumped up to catch the girl but Trowa was faster.

"Shit! I'm sorry! I—"

"Duo it's okay," Trowa told him quietly over the girl's head. He carefully held the girl, not wanting to accidentally hurt her as she stiffened in his arms. "Hey, what's this?" he asked the girl softly.

The girl went limp and burst into tears. Trowa could only hold her as sobs racked her body.

Quatre attempted to take a step into the room but the assault on his emotions was too much for him to handle. He had to settle for standing in the doorway. "Trowa, what happened?" he asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Can you calm her down? Please?" Quatre begged. Her hysteria was increasing and the longer she stayed upset the worse it got for Quatre.

"Trowa…please…it hurts."

Trowa looked over at the blonde. He looked like he was about to pass out. Trowa turned his attention to Duo, who was biting his lip, unsure of what to do.

"Duo, take Quatre out while I calm her down. See if you can tell him what brought this on."

Duo nodded and led Quatre down the hall.

"Breathe, Quat…that's it. Here, sit down." Duo pulled a chair over for Quatre to sit in.

"Wh-what h-happened tonight, D-Duo?" Quatre choked out as he rubbed his chest, willing the pain to subside.

Duo scratched the back of his head. "Honestly? I'm not really sure what set her off."

"Duo? Quatre? Are you okay?"

The two pilots looked up to see Wufei coming down the hall.

"Hey, 'Fei. What're you doin' here?"

"Not that it's any of your business but I was coming to see Sally. What's wrong Quatre?"

"The girl is really upset about something. Duo was watching her when it happened but…he's not sure what caused it," Quatre explained, still focusing on trying to filter out the girl's pain.

"Do I need to get Sally?" Wufei asked.

"Not just yet. It might be not be serious."

Duo snorted. "Yeah, right."

Quatre was suddenly overcome with anger that wasn't his. He looked around Duo to see Heero getting off the elevator.

"Heero? What's wrong?" Quatre asked, getting to his feet with some effort.

Duo turned and frowned as he saw how angry his boyfriend was. Most people probably wouldn't have been able to tell, but Duo could. "What's got you riled up, 'Ro?"

"Where's the girl?" Heero demanded.

"In her room with Trowa. What's going on?"

Heero grunted and headed for the girl's room. The three pilots exchanged confused looks before following.

Back in the room Trowa held the girl for a moment after they were alone. He was surprised when she brought her good arm up to hug him as she cried. He thought she would push him away but instead it was like she was trying to accept his comfort.

Trowa wondered if she would tell him what had upset her. "Shhhh…it's okay."

He picked her up and sat on the bed, holding her in his lap as she continued to cry onto his shirt. He wondered how Quatre was doing as he rubbed gentle circles on her back. "Calm down, everything will be all right," he told her gently. It took a few more minutes but she finally calmed down enough to stop crying. She sat limply, hiccupping in his lap, worn out from her outburst.

"Would you like to try and tell me what happened?" He asked after it seemed like she was done bawling. He didn't want to set her off again by making her talk, so he looked around and spotted her pen and paper, which he handed to her.

Her hands shook as she took the writing implements from him. She stared at the paper. The longer she stared, the more he wondered if she would be able to tell him. He was relieved when she finally started writing.

'Lawyer = Perdu'

He had a hard time deciphering it, but it didn't matter. He had no idea what she was trying to say. "I don't understand. Can you give me a little more to go on?"

The girl looked disappointed and stared down at the paper again. Trowa let her think. It couldn't be easy to have to write everything that was going on in her head and she wasn't even able to use her dominant hand. He figured she deserved a little patience.

The door burst open, making Trowa reach for his gun, but he left it holstered as it registered that Heero was the one who had entered without clearance.

"You," Heero growled as he pointed a finger at the girl. "You've been working for them the whole time haven't you?" He glared at her, daring her to defy him.

The girl stiffened in Trowa's arms as her eyes widened in terror.

"Oh, Heero, how can you even ask that?" Quatre asked from the doorway, where he was being supported by Wufei and Duo. The girl had calmed briefly but Heero had undone most of it. Had Quatre had the energy, he would have chewed Heero out.

Heero turned on the blonde. "Did you watch the press conference?" he demanded. "Her parents said she's only been gone a week. Funny how that's how long she's been here, isn't it?"

Quatre shook his head. "Heero, she's not the one lying."

"What the hell makes you so sure?"

"I can feel it, Heero." Quatre came into the room, Duo and Wufei still at his sides.

"Quatre, she's playing on your empathy." Heero was certain of it. He knew Quatre had a soft heart and Heero considered it to be both a strength and a weakness. Today it was a liability. The girl was manipulating him.

"She doesn't know about my empathy. No one told her. And the only people that know about it are in this room." Well, Sally knew as well but that was a minor detail.

Duo watched the exchange. Quatre looked ready to collapse and Heero was furious. A glance at Wufei told Duo that if Heero made a move, Wufei would take him down. Duo decided to let him. Heero was stronger than Duo was, he wasn't too proud to admit it. He was stronger than Wufei, too, but at least Wufei had years of martial arts experience to fall back on. Duo could always jump in and help when Heero started to get the better of the Chinese man. The two of them had a chance to take him. It would be better if Trowa was in a position to help but the girl was clinging to him. Duo knew Trowa would do everything to keep the girl safe from Heero, but it would be difficult to do much with her on his lap.

Heero turned to look at the girl. He narrowed his eyes. "They reported that you were going to school to be an actress. I have to say you were pretty convincing."

The girl just stared at him. Heero almost smirked. He had her now. She'd have to come clean with him.

Wufei didn't have to be an empath to see that the girl was trying to comprehend Heero's accusation. Wufei couldn't believe that she was lying to them. There was too much evidence against it.

"Heero, you can't fake her injuries," Wufei said. He was sure Heero would turn on him and he wasn't disappointed.

"It's all part of the setup. And it explains why her parents never bothered with a missing persons report." There. Concrete evidence that it was all a lie. Heero was triumphant.

Quatre felt the need to throw up. Heero wasn't helping the girl to calm down at all. She wasn't panicked like someone caught in a lie. She was genuinely upset about this.

"Heero, I told you. I could feel her all the way down at the cafeteria. She isn't faking this," Quatre insisted. Why couldn't Heero see that?

"You feel her guilt," Heero spat, his voice dripping with disdain.

That tore it. "I FEEL HER BETRAYAL!" Quatre yelled, giving in to his own anger at the situation. He saw the girl recoil and her jaw trembled as she fought against more tears. He had to calm himself down or risk terrifying her anew. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths and focusing on quashing his anger. "Duo, what happened right before all of this?" He spoke slowly and deliberately. They needed an answer if they were going to help the girl and convince Heero of her innocence.

Duo cleared his throat, trying to buy time while he remembered exactly what had happened that evening. "Well, uh, she was looking through that book that Heero left for her and I was looking for something on TV when I chanced across that press conference. I figured it was something I shouldn't ignore, so I watched it. Next thing I know, she's standing there, gaping at the TV. When I finally managed to get her attention, she pointed back and forth between the TV and the book. I have no idea what she was getting at. I figured it was upsetting her so I went to change it and she grabbed the remote. I don't know what it was exactly that set her off; just that she was trying to tell me something about the book and the TV."

The men digested the information, each trying to make it make sense.

"I didn't see the press conference, so this doesn't make any sense to me, but see if this makes any sense to you, Heero." Trowa gave Heero the paper.

Heero took it, certain it wouldn't make any difference. He looked up sharply at the cowering girl. "You're sure about this?" he demanded.

The girl nodded, tears filling her eyes. Looking at the girl, Heero could see the despair in her eyes and decided to trust her. There was no faking that look.

"Shit. We need to move her. Tonight." Heero started pacing. He had to come up with a solution.

"What's wrong, Heero?" Duo asked. He could see his boyfriend slipping into perfect soldier mode and he wanted to groan in protest. Heero could be impossible to reason with in 'mission mode'.

Heero stopped pacing. "Perdu is Donovan Chase, the lawyer hired to represent every single member of the trafficking ring. I thought there was something fishy about that. Colonel Une already okay'd him to visit here tomorrow to see for himself if she is who he claims she is."

The girl's eyes went wide and she shook her head vigorously. Trowa held her as she trembled in terror.

Quatre closed his eyes, trying to keep his dinner down. She was more scared than when they first found her. This was bad. He was going to be physically sick if she didn't calm down soon.

Duo watched Quatre out of the corner of his eye. The blonde had gone gray and was swaying a little on his feet. He hoped Quatre wouldn't pass out. It might freak out the girl and she was upset enough as it was.

Heero ran a hand through his hair. "No one will believe us if we come right out and accuse him. Especially since he's got those people claiming she's only been gone since we took her last week." He gave the girl a calculating look. "Those weren't really your parents, were they?"

She nodded and burst into tears again. Heero was a bit surprised. She didn't look like those people. He wondered if there was more to this than there seemed. He knew most parents cared about their children even if his never had. And the girl was so upset about finding out they didn't care that he surmised that they must have cared about her once, or at least they pretended to. He planned to interrogate them and get to the bottom of this.

Trowa held the girl tightly against her sobs and murmured in her ear. "It's okay…calm down. We'll get him. Relax…you're safe. We won't let him near you."

Heero looked at the other pilots. "They'll need to be kept away from her as well. If they didn't care enough about her to even file a missing person report, they don't need to see her. Wufei, see if you can get Sally here while we figure out what to do. She'll need to weigh in on this."

Wufei nodded and immediately went in search of the doctor. He asked at the nurse's station and was told where he could find her. He thought about paging her, but decided that it wouldn't be fair to the other patients. Yes, this situation was a bit of an emergency, but if necessary, they could move the girl without Sally and fill her in later. Wufei wouldn't be able to forgive himself if someone died because he made Sally leave someone that really needed her help. So instead he headed down to the third floor to find her.

Once there, she wasn't hard to locate. She was at the nurse's station filling out paperwork. He walked up to the desk silently and cleared his throat.

Sally looked up at him and smiled. "Wufei to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Wufei kept his expression neutral. "We've had a bit of a situation on the fifth floor. Heero needs to speak to you."

Sally stood. "What happened?"

"Calm down. It's nothing life threatening. It isn't safe to talk about here but we need your input."

Sally nodded and fell into step with Wufei.

Quatre leaned against the wall as Wufei left. The girl was a tiny bit calmer but it wasn't enough to keep him from wanting to puke. He watched the girl as she cowered in Trowa's arms. She seemed to be trying to stop crying, which was a good thing, but inside she was still upset, which didn't help Quatre at all.

Heero stood against the door, effectively blocking any unwanted entries. He had agreed to believe the girl and that meant taking no chances with her safety.

Trowa caught Quatre watching the girl and looked down at her. She appeared to be done crying for the moment so he set her on the bed. She immediately curled up her knees and wrapped her good arm around them. Her eyes were unfocused and troubled as she stared off into space.

"That must have been quite a shock to her," Trowa said softly as he approached Quatre.

Quatre could only nod. He still wasn't sure he'd keep his dinner down. It still hurt to breathe. If this was how he was feeling he wondered how much worse it was for the girl.

"You need to sit. Come on."

Quatre shook his head. He was afraid if he moved from the wall he'd fall over.

Trowa frowned. "Duo, help me."

Duo and Trowa each took a side and helped Quatre get to the chair. As he moved, the pain in his chest increased. Quatre clutched at his chest, mentally begging the pain to go away and let him breathe but he knew it wouldn't do any good. He couldn't block out the girl and it would be unfair to expect her not to be upset at the situation.

As his friends guided him to a chair, Quatre felt a refreshing breath of concern swirl around him. But it didn't just come from Trowa and Duo. Most of it came from the girl. He looked up at her as he sat. He rubbed his chest to help the pain dissipate.

"Thank you, for being concerned, but it's nothing. It will stop soon."

The surprise that replaced the girl's anguish made Quatre chuckle. "I should explain how this works while we wait for Sally." He shifted in the chair. It was really uncomfortable today. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. "I'm an Empath. Do you know what empathy is? Explained simply, it's when you can feel what other people feel. As an Empath I feel more intensely what other people feel, especially when their emotions are running high, like yours have been. I don't know exactly what causes the emotion, but I can usually guess and it sometimes makes it seem like I'm reading your mind. Normally, I can only feel people who are close to me physically, or those that I've had a deeper connection with, like Trowa, Heero, Duo and Wufei. Your emotions tonight were so strong that I felt your anguish in another wing of the hospital. That's why Trowa and I happened to arrive just as you collapsed."

She frowned and looked down as she absorbed the information. Quatre could feel different emotions warring inside her. She felt confused and then guilty and then unsure and then guilty again. He had to get her to stop before he got dizzy.

"Don't worry about keeping your emotions in check around me. It helps for me to know what you're feeling, especially where you aren't talking. It's how I've been able to correctly guess what you need and also how I knew that touching you that first night hurt you."

That seemed to work. The girl stopped jumping from emotion to emotion so quickly but she still felt unsure. He wanted to laugh as he felt her distrust begin to melt away. She seemed genuinely surprised at it.

He wasn't sure he could believe the change either. He cocked his head and grinned at her. She was definitely startled by the change in herself and Quatre couldn't help but chuckle at her. She blushed.

"Now Quat, what did we say about using your powers for the dark side?" Duo chided in a teasing voice. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the girl had responded positively to Quatre.

Quatre wasn't the only one relieved at the development. Trowa had been afraid that she would be unable to get over the shock. Duo had wondered if she would refuse to communicate at all anymore.

Quatre feigned a pout. "You ruin all my fun, Duo. Besides, it isn't like she was feeling anything bad." He winked at the girl who flushed a little more.

Heero opened the door at a knock, stepping aside to let Wufei and Sally in the room.

"What happened?" Sally wanted to know as she moved to inspect her patient. She frowned and carefully lifted the girl's chin. The girl's eyes were red. She'd been crying. Sally rounded on the five men. "What have you been doing to make her cry?" she demanded.

"Sally, we know who Perdu is," Heero told her quietly.

"What!?" Sally couldn't believe it. The girl had actually identified him.

"You've met Donovan Chase?"

Sally frowned. "Yes," she answered carefully. "Colonel Une had me meet with him this morning to give approval for his visit tomorrow."

"Chase is Perdu."

"No!" How could they have been so blind? Why else would a random lawyer be so set on seeing the girl? Sally was sick. They'd almost let him have access to her again.

"Unfortunately, yes. And it was pure dumb luck that Duo happened to be watching that press conference tonight. Otherwise we would've found out tomorrow and I can only imagine how that would have gone over."

Quatre didn't have to wonder. He would have been violently ill and the girl would have retreated past the point of no return. As terrified as she was it was a wonder she was even capable of responding tonight.

"Why does he always use the term 'dumb' when it comes to my luck?" Duo grumbled. He knew Heero didn't always say that but he had hoped that his complaint would help ease the stress in the room. Unfortunately, all he got was an eye roll from Heero. Nobody else seemed to be paying any attention to him.

"He can't see her," Sally decided. "I'll just tell Une that she took a turn for the worse and I don't know when she'll recover. We can fake her charts until he loses interest."

Heero shook his head. "It isn't that easy. Considering what she knows about him and the investment he's made with her already, I highly doubt he'd give up soon enough for your charts to be believable. She'd have to recover sometime and he'd still be waiting. However, I think you should go along with that ruse for a few days while we relocate her. It will give us a head start."

"Anything to help, Heero. Just let me know what you want me to do and I'll do it." Sally didn't want to see this girl hurt anymore.

"I knew we could count on you, Sally. I think it would be wise to keep Une in the dark until she's relocated as well. It gives her plausible deniability." Heero knew he was asking a lot of Sally. Lying to a superior officer was grounds for a court martial. However, Heero had faith that Une would be reasonable about it and go easy on Sally once the circumstances were revealed.

"Nice, Heero. Use the lawyer's own terminology against him," Duo said with a grin. And still nobody was paying attention to him. Maybe he should give up.

"So where are you going to take her?" Sally asked. She needed to know what kind of supplies the girl would need and what would be available where they were taking her.

"We haven't really gotten that far," Wufei admitted. "That's why we needed your input. We wanted to make sure wherever we sent her would be safe for her."

The pilots all thought for a minute.

Quatre was about to suggest Iria but decided against it. Her wedding was coming up and she was swamped with planning it. The L4 media was having a heyday covering the preparations. He'd had to ask Rashid to provide security for his sister after an incident with the paparazzi. Iria's background as a doctor would have been nice to have for the girl but Quatre was afraid that the girl would be caught by the media and her cover would be blown.

"We could take her to one of the safe houses," Quatre suggested slowly. "Unfortunately, the Maganacs are spread a little thin right now so one of us would have to stay with her."

Heero shook his head. "The biggest downside to that is that as soon as one of us goes missing, everyone will know something's up. Is there someone else we could trust her with?"

"How about Howard?" Duo proposed. Howard was currently in the middle of the Pacific Ocean clearing debris out of the ocean. Nobody would think to look for her there.

"Not a good idea. Being stuck on a ship surrounded by unfamiliar men is not the best place for her," Wufei said with a frown. A woman would be better for her to stay with, though that wouldn't necessarily fix the problem of security. "What about your friend Hilde?"

Wufei hadn't spent much time with the woman but she was a former soldier and from what he'd seen, she could hold her own when necessary. She would be capable enough.

Duo shook his head, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "Naw…she's too busy getting her scrap yard up and running. Besides, I don't trust her boyfriend. I keep telling her she needs to leave him, but she doesn't want to see him for the dick that he is."

He'd done a background check on the guy (unauthorized of course but that was beside the point) and come up with a rap sheet that included a domestic violence charge and public intoxication on a number of occasions. So far Hilde hadn't complained to him about anything but Duo wondered if that was because he had changed or if it was because Hilde was being stubborn and refused to admit that Duo had been right.

"Okay, we're not putting her in that kind of a mess. What we need is someplace safe, with someone we can trust to keep her safe. Someplace they wouldn't think to look." Heero rubbed the back of his neck. "Relena's too high profile and I don't trust Dorothy as far as I can throw her."

"Cathy."

"Trowa, that's brilliant!" Quatre exclaimed happily. He frowned as a thought hit him. "Oh, but would she be able to take her?"

"She will if I ask." Trowa was certain Catherine wouldn't turn the girl away. And with the circus moving every few days it would make it hard for Chase to find her unless he knew she was there.

"D'you think she'll be safe there?" Duo asked. "I mean, no offense, but your sister isn't really much of a fighter."

"You've obviously never seen her throw knives." Trowa said with a smirk. "Besides, if she's with Cathy, the rest of the circus will protect her."

That was good enough for Heero. Besides, they didn't exactly have time to beat this around forever. "Call her, Trowa."

Trowa nodded and went into the hallway.

He checked his watch as the phone rang. "Pick up," he muttered. He hoped he hadn't tried to get her in the middle of a performance.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Trowa! It's so nice to hear from you! You really don't call as much as you should, you know. It makes me worry."

"Cathy—"

"You know the Manager's been asking when you'll be back and I have to tell him I don't—"

"Catherine! I don't have a lot of time here."

"Oh, sorry."

Trowa loved his sister but she was a bit of a bubblehead sometimes. "It's okay. Look, I need a favor."

"Okay."

"Where are you now?"

"We're still at the training grounds. We start touring soon. What's going on?"

Trowa looked up and down the empty halls and lowered his voice. "Long story short, I need to bring someone to you for safe keeping. I don't know how long I'll have to leave her with you."

"Trowa, we go on tour in a week. I can't stay behind to babysit."

"I don't expect you to. In fact it would be better if you took her with you. Please, Cathy."

"Well…"

"Don't make me beg. I really need you to do this for me. I promise to explain everything when I get there."

Cathy sighed. "Fine. When will you be here?"

"It depends on how soon I can leave. I expect around three or four in the morning."

"Okay. I'll try to be up to let you in. But I expect you to explain the new addition to the Manager. You know how he is about taking in runaways."

Trowa knew. The Manager had made him prove he was an asset and not a hindrance before letting him join up. Trowa wasn't sure the girl would be capable of doing anything that would really help out the circus but he knew the Manager was a kind man who wouldn't refuse sanctuary to the girl once he was told the situation.

"That's fine. I'll see you in the morning then."

Heero continued to give out orders. "Sally, I'll need you to set her up with any prescriptions she may need. I don't know how long we'll have to hide her."

"Say no more, Heero. I'll take care of it." She hurried out. It might take a few minutes for the pharmacy to find everything the girl needed and Sally didn't want to be the reason their departure was delayed.

"Quatre, can you set up transportation? We'll need a couple of decoys as well."

"I'm on it." Quatre left to call Rashid. He would deliver exactly what they needed.

"Duo and Wufei, you keep guard on this room. No one comes into this room except us. No exceptions."

They nodded. If Duo's charm didn't convince people to go away, Wufei's sour attitude would.

Heero looked at the girl. She was obviously frightened and seemed a little confused. Perhaps he should give her something to do. It might distract her enough to keep her from panicking and shutting down. "You make sure you're ready to go. We'll get you out of here as soon as we can."

She nodded and slid carefully off the bed. She went into the small bathroom but didn't shut the door. She came out a moment later with a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and a few other small toiletries. He watched as she pulled shopping bags out from under the bed and put the items inside. She frowned and picked up the book of suspects that was still splayed out on the floor, putting it on the bedside table. She picked up the book that was already on the table and held it out to Wufei, who was also watching the proceedings with what seemed like little interest.

In all actuality, he was quite interested to see how she was able to gather her few possessions with one hand. She used the brace as a make-shift basket and used her free hand to balance the objects and keep them from falling onto the floor. It was efficient enough he supposed. At least she didn't have to retrieve objects one at a time.

"Hold onto it," he said, holding his hand up. "Don't think you're getting out of studying just because you're running away to the circus." He gave the girl a small grin to let her know he was trying to lighten the mood and was pleased to see her return one before turning to place the book inside one of the bags.

The girl slid socks over her bare feet and picked up the brush, awkwardly trying to get her hair under control.

After watching her struggle for a few minutes, Duo shook his head.

"Let me help you with that." Duo quickly brushed the snarls from her hair and pulled it up into a ponytail. It would keep her hair out of her face at least.

Once Duo was done, he left her sitting on the bed and went out the door to stand guard with Wufei. Trowa came in as they were going out.

"It's all set. Cathy will take her," Trowa told Heero quietly.

"Good. We'll get you out of here as soon as possible. We're just waiting for Sally and Quatre to come back."

Trowa nodded and leaned against the wall. He would be sitting for several hours. He watched the girl. She seemed nervous and unsure. He wondered if he ought to say something to her.

Heero frowned. "Don't you have shoes?" he asked the girl.

She shook her head and looked down.

"Don't be too hard on her, Heero. It isn't like it's her fault and she didn't plan this," Trowa reminded his friend quietly.

Heero glared at him. "I know that," he hissed. "I just figured that with everything else she has she had a pair of shoes somewhere."

Trowa looked at the shopping bags. "Quatre said Sally just bought her that stuff today. She probably didn't even think about shoes since she wasn't planning on releasing the girl so soon."

Fortunately Quatre came back just then with a tray of food. Heero stuck his head out the door to ask Wufei if Sally was coming yet and was annoyed when the Shenlong Pilot shook his head. Heero came back into the room and leaned against the wall as he waited.

Quatre took the tray of food over to the girl. "Sorry this took so long. I was going to bring it earlier, but then you were upset and it kind of got lost in the confusion," he explained. He'd been lucky to catch a cafeteria worker just as they were closing up. Unfortunately the only thing they had was microwave oatmeal which the worker had messed up by putting way too much water in it. It looked like soup. Quatre had taken it because it was better than nothing. Of course he'd grabbed a candy bar for her as well. At least that would still taste good. His heart sank a little as the girl just stared at the soupy oatmeal. Maybe it reminded her of what she'd been given to eat before.

Heero could see the blank look on the girl's face. "Eat." If she hadn't eaten recently then she needed to eat now. Heero didn't know how far it was to the circus and he wasn't going to ask. The less he knew the more he could deny.

The girl automatically lifted the spoon to her mouth, chewed and swallowed but she looked empty. Heero understood the feeling. How many times had he blindly followed orders before Duo had taught him how to feel? Until the girl was over her shock she would be no better than a mindless drone, able only to follow orders, unable to think or act for herself.

Quatre sat next to the girl. She was still upset but not as much. For now she was bit numb. She needed a distraction. "You don't have to eat that if you don't want to." He put the candy bar into her hand and took the tray from her, setting it on the small table next to the bed. "You can always eat this later."

She looked at the chocolate then gave him a shy grin before putting the candy into one of her bags. He put an arm around her and she pressed into his side. She was still worried.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of this," he told her. "You'll like Trowa's sister. Believe it or not Trowa talks more now than he used to so she won't mind if you don't. I'm sure if you want her to she'll teach you how to throw knives. Trowa showed me the lions once, they're huge and you haven't seen anything until you see them react to him. It's amazing. It's almost like he's one of their own. Hey," he said with a frown. She was trying to hide her panic. "What did I say about keeping your emotions in check? Don't you worry about that."

She nodded and her cheeks tinged pink.

He chuckled. "You keep that up and you're going to be emotionally dizzy."

She graced him with another shy smile.

Quatre continued telling her about the circus. He told her about the clowns and the trapeze act and the side show. It was a bit taxing to try and keep her calm, especially when it didn't seem to be working so Quatre was grateful when Sally finally showed up.

She set about removing the needle from the girl's hand, bandaging the small puncture hole. "Okay, dear. Put this in with your things. This is a letter I want you to give Catherine. It'll fill her in a little on what you need and the schedule for the pills you'll need to take for a couple of weeks. There's also a recipe for a nutrient shake. You still need that to make up for the holes in your diet right now."

The girl took the bottles and the letter and put them in a bag.

Sally went over to Heero. "Is everything set?"

"Everything except how to get her out without being seen. Can you create a diversion of some kind?"

"How about I order a drill? You can go while everyone is on lockdown."

Heero nodded and went to get Wufei and Duo.

"Okay, here's the plan. We take three vehicles and follow scramble pattern delta. Trowa, you'll take her to your sister. Wufei, you and Sally will stay here to keep up appearances. Quatre and Duo, you'll take vehicle one, I'll take vehicle three. It's 2100 hours now, the three of us will rendezvous at point F at 0100 hours. Any questions?"

The four pilots and Sally shook their heads. It was a straight forward plan.

"All right. Move out."

Quatre gave the girl's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. You'll be fine."

Quatre and Duo left first, heading casually to the parking garage where their vehicle was waiting. Sally followed shortly after. Heero would leave after Trowa and the girl while Wufei stayed to keep up the pretense of guarding the sick girl.

Trowa grabbed the girl's bags for her. He didn't want her to have to struggle with them. He opened the door for her and was surprised to see she was still next to the bed. "What's wrong? Did you forget something?"

She shook her head but seemed a little troubled. Just then an announcement came over the hospital intercom, making her jump.

"Attention staff. This is a lockdown drill. Please proceed to your stations. In the event of an actual emergency this message will be followed with instructions. For now, please remain in your stations until the end of drill signal is given. Thank you."

"Get going," Heero said urging them out the door.

Trowa headed through the hall and down the stairs as the girl padded softly behind him.