Chapter 23

Trowa found a burger joint in the next town. It wasn't the healthiest option, but they were open and had a drive-thru. He didn't want to leave the girl alone in the car and without shoes, she wouldn't be allowed in most establishments. He glanced at the menu and back at the girl. There wasn't much she would be able to eat.

"Do you like chocolate?"

She nodded, looking a bit confused.

He ordered a hamburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake. He checked the girl again as they waited for their food.

"You doing okay?"

She nodded. She did seem much less afraid than she had earlier. That was good. Maybe getting a little food in her would help.

"That'll be 8 credits," the girl at the window said.

Trowa handed her some cash and was surprised to see how angry the girl was. He followed her gaze to the girl beside him and he understood. She thought he had done that to her. She gave him his change and a different girl brought their food. She, too, gave him a dirty look. Trowa wondered if he should show them his badge and tell them to mind their own business. Instead, he handed the girl her shake, making sure the fast food girl saw that at least some of the food wasn't his, and drove off.

He absently ate his burger, wondering if he should have handled that situation any differently. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. The girl had snatched a couple of his French fries and was watching him to see what he would do.

He grinned. Did this mean she wasn't afraid of him anymore? That was good. "Not too many, I don't want you sick, okay?"

Sally hadn't completely cleared her for heavier foods and he wasn't sure what the greasy fries would do to her stomach.

The girl didn't seem upset at the restriction and happily ate a few more fries as she sipped at her milkshake. After a while, she set the shake down. Trowa wasn't sure she'd finished it. He was kind of thirsty and regretted not getting himself a soda or something. Since she wasn't going to finish the shake, he picked it up and finished it off. She looked a little surprised that he would do something like that, so he smirked at her, and she rolled her eyes. At least she didn't think he was taking it out of spite and didn't seem to mind that he finished it. Besides, she'd snitched his fries and turnabout is fair play.

They drove in silence for another couple of hours. He glanced at the girl and said, "We'll be there in about twenty minutes. You doing okay?"

She nodded and tried to hide a huge yawn. Trowa was glad they were so close. He was tired as well and was looking forward to sleeping in a bed. The training grounds were just up ahead. It was just as he remembered it. Cathy's trailer was near the edge, which was good. It meant fewer people would notice their arrival.

Trowa pulled up next to Cathy's truck and went to the girl's side of the car. He took the jacket from her lap and wrapped her up in it to keep away the chill of the early morning. She didn't need to catch cold on top of everything else. He carefully shifted her in his arms and knocked on the door

Cathy was sitting on the couch, watching an old movie while she waited for Trowa to show up. She glanced at the clock. It was four o'clock. Where was he?

She jumped as someone knocked on the door. Depositing her long-empty popcorn bowl in the sink, she turned on the kitchen light and opened the door.

Trowa carried a girl who looked like she'd been beaten. She was covered with bruises and looked like she needed to be fed. The girl looked up at her with wide, scared eyes.

"My God, Trowa, what happened?"

"Cathy, relax. She's not as bad off as it looks."

Cathy shook her head as Trowa brought the girl inside and deposited her on the couch. The girl curled up and looked at the new surroundings with suspicion. Trowa went back outside and Cathy took the opportunity to look at the girl a little closer. Her bruises were different colors, suggesting that she hadn't gotten them all at the same time. Cathy wondered how she'd come to be under the protection of the Preventers. Trowa would tell her.

Trowa came back inside with the girl's bags of clothes and frowned as the girl cringed under Cathy's piercing look.

"Catherine, give her a break. We've been driving all night," Trowa said to distract Cathy from her scrutiny of the girl. "Where do you want us to crash?"

Cathy pulled her attention away from the girl and said, "Your room is just how you left it. One of you can use that and I'll just pull out the couch for now. We'll worry about more permanent arrangements later."

Trowa nodded. "Fine."

The girl stood off to the side as Trowa and Cathy got the couch bed set up. The girl looked unsure of if she should be helping or not. Trowa gave her a gentle smile to help her know she wasn't in trouble, but he wasn't sure she saw.

"Will you be okay out here? I'm a little too tall to fit on the couch anymore." His question made the girl jump. Clearly her thoughts were elsewhere, but she nodded and got into the bed.

Trowa made sure the blankets would keep her warm. "If you need anything I'll be in that room and Cathy will be in that one, okay?" He wanted her to know where Cathy was in case the girl felt more comfortable going to his sister than to him. And he wanted her to know where he was so she wouldn't accidentally walk in on him if she got lost. It wasn't that he would be upset with her, but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable or trigger a flashback in her.

The girl nodded and her eyes drifted shut. She was asleep almost immediately.

"Trowa?"

He turned to his sister.

"You promised to tell me what was going on."

Trowa sighed. "I know." He ran a hand over his face. "I'm exhausted. Can we discuss this in the morning?"

"Technically speaking, it is morning."

Trowa rolled his eyes. "Later in the morning, then."

"Fine. But don't think you're dumping this girl on me without telling my why."

Trowa nodded and went to his room, glad that he'd thought to leave a few sets of clothing with Cathy when he'd moved out. Normally he slept in his boxers, but with the girl here he decided it was safer to wear pajamas. He hoped she was exhausted enough to sleep undisturbed for a few hours but given her history with night terrors, he didn't want to rely on it.

Wufei flipped through the channels again. There was nothing on. He wished he had a book to read. There was a light knock on the door.

"Everything okay, Wufei?" Sally asked as she popped her head through the door.

"I suppose so. You wouldn't happen to have a book I can read, would you?"

Sally came in. "No. But I'm off shift." She sat in his lap and kissed him. "Any word from the others?"

"Heero called and said everything went off without a hitch. Duo and Quatre were followed but they lost him and Trowa wasn't bothered at all. So now all we can do is wait."

"Well…that's not all we can do," Sally said with a smirk.

Wufei grinned and kissed her again.

Trowa had barely gotten to sleep when a scream woke him.

"Not again!" he muttered as he jumped out of bed.

He dashed into the living area to see the girl thrashing about, tangled in the blankets. She screamed again.

"Trowa, what's wrong with her?"

Trowa ignored Cathy for the moment. He ripped the blankets off the girl, effectively detangling her. Her eyes opened and she looked around in a panic, not recognizing where she was.

Trowa knelt next to the bed. "It's okay. You're safe here. Remember? I brought you here to be safe."

It took a few moments before the girl recognized him but when she did, she threw her arm around his neck and burst into tears. Trowa held her, letting her cry out her fears.

"It's okay," he murmured.

"Trowa? Is she okay?" The concern in Cathy's voice caused Trowa to look up.

"She'll be fine. Go back to bed."

Cathy was about to when there was a knock on the door. Trowa thought of a few choice curses. He hadn't realized the girl had been so loud.

Cathy answered the door to see the Manager and Torvald, the strong man, at her door.

"Is everything okay, Cathy?" the Manager asked. "Tristan said he heard screaming coming from your trailer."

"Everything's fine, Manager. I'm sorry about that. I've got a…well…" Cathy wasn't exactly sure how to explain this to the Manager. Trowa was supposed to do that.

"Whatever is wrong, we can fix, yes?" Torvald asked. The girl's sobbing was loud enough to be heard from the door.

"It's just that Trowa asked if I could watch someone for him and she had a nightmare. He's supposed to discuss her with you later, Manager."

The Manager nodded. "See that he does. He knows we can't take on dead weight, especially this close to the tour."

Cathy nodded. "I know. I'm sorry for the disturbance. We'll try to keep it from happening again."

The Manager and Torvald left and Cathy shut the door. The girl seemed to be calming down.

"Do you need any help getting her back to bed, Trowa?"

Trowa looked up at her again. "No, go back to bed. We'll be fine."

Cathy nodded and went to her room.

Once she was gone, Trowa got the girl to lie back down and put the blankets over her again. She looked up at him with large eyes.

"Go back to sleep. You're safe here."

He turned to go back to his room but felt a tug on his pajama pants. He looked down to see the girl's lip quivering and her eyes full of unshed tears.

"Do you want me to stay for a while?"

She nodded.

"Okay." Trowa laid down on top of the blankets and the girl snuggled up to him, wrapping her arm around him as she trembled.

He gently patted the top of her head. "It's okay, you're safe. I won't let anyone hurt you," he murmured. It wasn't long before her breathing evened out and she was fast asleep. Trowa allowed himself to doze, but kept himself alert enough to notice if she started having another nightmare. After a couple of hours she shifted and rolled over in her sleep, but she didn't wake again.

Quatre woke, feeling calmer and more refreshed than he had in a very long time. He rolled over and fell off the couch.

"Ow," he muttered as he pulled himself off the floor.

Quatre picked up the blankets from the floor and looked around. That's right, he'd gone home with Duo and Heero last night. He didn't remember going from the car to the couch so he must have been exhausted. There was no sign of Duo or Heero this morning.

Quatre headed to the kitchen to make some tea and start the coffeemaker for Duo and Heero. He'd been over often enough that he knew where everything was.

As the water for his tea heated, Quatre wondered how he had slept so well. The couch wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world. He had been pretty emotionally drained yesterday, especially after the girl saw that press conference.

Quatre got into the cupboard and pulled out the box of tea Duo kept for him. Quatre steeped his tea and went back to the couch to drink it. He could hear Duo and Heero stirring now. The shower was going.

"Mornin' Quat!" Duo greeted him a moment later. "Didja sleep okay? We didn't keep you up did we?"

"Good morning, Duo. I slept just fine, thank you." Quatre turned pink as what Duo asked sank in. Maybe that was why he felt so relaxed this morning. He buried his nose into his tea to hide his embarrassment.

Duo smirked from the kitchen as Quatre's ears turned bright pink. He knew exactly what he'd implied and had done so on purpose. In reality, he and Heero had been tired and gone to sleep once they'd gotten the blonde on the couch. Quatre had been so exhausted he hadn't stirred when the two pilots pulled him from the car and dumped him on the couch.

Heero came out of their bedroom and gave Duo a kiss as he accepted a cup of coffee. "Thanks, Love. Did you sleep alright last night, Quatre?"

Quatre nodded from the couch. "Yes, thank you, Heero."

Quatre could feel the bond between his comrades. It was amazing to him that he'd never felt it this way before. He'd been over numerous times and even stayed the night before. At work they hid their relationship so it made sense to him that he didn't feel it as strongly there. But this…this was a whole new level of intimacy he'd never been privy to before. It made him feel a bit like a peeping Tom, like it wasn't any of his business but there was nothing he could do about it.

"QUAT!"

Quatre jumped and nearly spilled the last of his tea. "Wh-what, Duo?"

Duo chuckled. "I just asked if you wanted breakfast, man. Are you sure that stuff's decaf?"

"I'm sorry, Duo. I was thinking." Quatre stood. "Can I help with breakfast?"

"Sure. Wanna make some omelets?"

"Duo…don't make Quatre cook. He needs to relax. Yesterday was a bit much, don't you think?" Heero asked as he hugged Duo from behind.

"I'm fine, Heero," Quatre insisted.

Heero kissed Duo's neck and looked over at Quatre. "Are you sure? We can help you relax if you want." He kissed Duo's neck again and rubbed his nose against his boyfriend, breathing in his intoxicating scent.

"Thank you, Heero but that's uh…that's really not necessary," Quatre said as his face turned bright red.

Duo and Heero had a somewhat tumultuous relationship but there was no doubting how much they loved and cared for each other. The emotions exuding from their apartment reflected that and Quatre found it relaxing and rejuvenating without Heero and Duo doing anything else to help. Anyone who had only seen Heero and Duo at work or in public would probably never believe they could be so into each other.

"Lay off, 'Ro, before Quat's face catches the place on fire," Duo teased.

Heero gave Duo a last kiss on the lips before going to set the table.