Chapter 47

"Thank you for your patience today, Mr. Carruthers. I trust everything has been resolved to your satisfaction?"

Mr. Carruthers nodded. "Yes, Colonel Une. Thank you for being so prompt to set this straight, though I am still not happy that I had to come down here in the first place."

"Well I will see to it personally that this paperwork is correctly filed so it won't happen again."

"See that you do."

Une kept the smile plastered to her face until Angus Carruthers was out of her office and safely in the elevator on his way out of the building. Then she let out an exasperated sigh and called Heero.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"I have the information you requested."

"Understood. I will be there momentarily."

Duo got into Hilde's car and she sped away.

"Whoa! Hil, slow down!"

"I can't, Duo. You came at a really bad time!"

Duo looked at his friend. She had a black eye and her lip was swollen. Her wrist was a deep black color and she winced whenever she moved it. "Was he hitting you when I called?"

Hilde sighed. "No. I was packing to leave him. That's why it took me so long to get down here."

Duo had a million questions run through his mind. He wasn't sure where to start, so he picked one at random. "How long has this been going on?"

Hilde shrugged. "About two years."

"Why didn't you leave him earlier? Or at least tell me? I would've made him stop!"

Hilde slammed on the brakes at a red light. She looked at Duo, a mix of sorrow and murder in her eyes. "You wanna know why I didn't leave him? Because every time he hit me, he always came crawling back, begging me not to leave him, swearing he'd do better. Every time. And I was stupid enough to believe him. And I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hear 'I told you so' from you. Happy now?"

Hilde sped off again as the light turned green.

"No, Hil, I'm not happy. I'm pissed that you let your pride get the hell beat out of you. You're better than that. You deserve better than that."

Hilde snorted. "Kind of hard to find better around here," she muttered.

"So why don't you go somewhere else?"

"I can't."

"Sure you can."

"No, I can't."

"If it's because you need money I can give you some."

"It's not about money, Duo."

"Then wha—oof!" Duo had to brace himself against Hilde's sudden stop. He was grateful he'd put on his seatbelt. He probably would have flown through the windshield without it.

Hilde buried her face into her hands and burst into tears. "You wanna know the real reason I didn't call you? He did something to my phone. I can't call anyone on it. I can only accept calls. He told me if I ever let anyone know what he was doing he would sell me to the brothel he frequents. He destroyed every friendship I've ever had except the one with you because I lied to him and said we only met the one time during the war. He even paid someone to follow me and make sure I don't talk to anyone. The only reason I wasn't followed today was because I…I hit the guy he hired with my car and then sped off! I'm so scared that he's going to find me, Duo! I...I thought about going to the shelter but he'll hunt me down! I know he will! I don't know what to do anymore!"

Duo reached out and pulled Hilde close. "It's okay. You can come live with me and 'Ro until we can find you your own place, okay?"

"It's not that simple, Duo," Hilde whispered as her tears drenched his shirt.

"He won't find you. I'll make sure of that."

Hilde shook her head. "That's not why. I can't go to Earth right now."

"Why not?"

"Duo." Hilde looked at up at him, her eyes brimming with more tears. "I'm pregnant."

Sally opened her eyes as the smell of stir fry filled her nostrils. She stretched. Her headache was gone and she couldn't remember the last time she'd slept so well. After freshening up in the bathroom, she slipped on her robe and went out to the kitchen.

Wufei was at the stove, humming to himself as he cooked. Sally slipped up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She laid her head against his back.

"Do you feel better now?" Wufei asked as he concentrated on not burning the vegetables in the pan.

"Yes, thank you. Have you been stuck here all day?"

Wufei chuckled. "I wouldn't say 'stuck.' And I did run out to the store. When was the last time you went shopping? All that was in your fridge was a jar of pickle juice and a box of baking soda."

Sally shrugged with her arms still wrapped around her boyfriend. "I'm sorry you missed work."

Wufei turned off the stove and turned to return Sally's embrace. "I didn't miss anything. I've been in touch with Heero. He'll let me know if anything important turns up." After a moment Wufei asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Famished."

Wufei kissed the top of Sally's head. "Go sit at the table and I'll bring the food over."

Sally leaned up and gave Wufei a peck on the lips before going over to the table. If he wanted to spoil her, Sally was going to let him.

Wufei brought over their lunch and just as they were about to start eating, Sally's cell phone rang.

"I'll get it," Wufei said as he jumped up from his seat. "If that's Une I'm going to give her a piece of my mind."

Sally shoved a forkful of rice and stir fry in her mouth. She wasn't getting in the middle of that fight.

"Yeah, hang on, Duo," Wufei said as he came out of Sally's room with her phone. "Duo needs to talk to you."

Sally swallowed and took the phone. It wasn't usual for Duo to call her directly. "What's wrong, Duo?"

"I need to know how safe it is for a pregnant woman to travel between the colonies and Earth."

Sally was flabbergasted. "Why do you need to—"

"Just tell me!" Duo demanded. "It's kind of important!"

"How far along is she?" Sally ignored Wufei's raised eyebrow. Apparently Duo hadn't told him what was going on, either.

"I'm not sure, hang on."

Sally could hear Duo asking the question and a muffled response.

"Four months, she thinks."

"Well, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that she can go between colonies for another two months. The bad news is she can't travel to Earth. Even with the advances in shuttle technology the depressurization process will cause a pregnant woman to miscarry after the first trimester. Since the process isn't as extreme when traveling between colonies, women are usually fine until their third trimester. Even on Earth women are advised not to travel much during the third trimester so you'll need to get her settled before that point, just to be on the safe side."

"Damn. Okay. Thanks, Sally."

"Can I ask what's going on?" Sally asked.

"I'll explain it later. I've got a few more calls to make. Once I get this taken care of, I promise I'll let you know."

"Okay. Let me know if there's anything I can do."

"I will. See ya."

Duo hung up and Sally looked at her phone for a moment. "Do you know what Duo's doing right now?"

Wufei shook his head and pulled out his phone. "No, but Heero does."

"Hey, Quat, I need a major favor."

"Whatever you need, Duo," the blonde blindly promised.

"I need a private shuttle and a safe place to hide someone, preferably on L3 or L4."

Quatre frowned. "Okay," he said slowly. "When do you need this?"

"As soon as humanly possible. It's kind of a matter of life and death."

Quatre pulled out his laptop and started to send out messages. "Are you being melodramatic or serious right now?"

"Dead serious," Duo assured him.

"Where do you want me to have the shuttle pick you up?"

"I'll send you the coordinates."

Quatre was surprised when the text arrived. "What are you doing way out there?"

"I had a couple of things Heero asked me to check out but I hit a snag."

"I can have Rashid extract you in about four hours. Is that fast enough?"

"If that's the soonest you can manage, it'll have to do. But it ain't me he's pickin' up. I ain't leavin' yet. I got business to take care of."

Quatre's frown deepened at Duo's dark tone and the way he reverted to L2 street talk. "What details can you give me, Duo?"

"Hilde's not safe here. She needs to get away so I can do what I came to do."

Quatre remembered the Duo's feisty female friend. He'd always liked her no-nonsense attitude and the way she handled Duo's immaturity. "Rashid is on his way. Where are you staying until he arrives?"

"We'll probably keep moving. Unless I happen to see her asshole ex-boyfriend. Then I'll probably go to jail."

Quatre wasn't sure how much of that Duo was joking about. "I have a place near your location you can stay at. It should be fully stocked." He sent Duo the address and the codes to deactivate the alarm system.

"Thanks, Quat. I owe you a couple."

"Just stay safe, Duo. And don't trash my safe-house."

Duo chuckled. "I'll do my best, Quat. Over and out."

"Thank you for getting this, Colonel," Heero said as he collected the tea cup with Carruthers' fingerprints and the paperwork he'd signed. "I just hope we don't end up with another dead end. They're getting annoying."

Une leaned back in her chair. "Maybe they only seem to be dead ends. Many investigations are not a straight line but more like a labyrinth. Perhaps you just aren't looking at things the right way to see the openings that could lead to new paths."

Heero grunted. He didn't know why Une was trying to lecture him. He'd been on difficult cases before. A little patience and perseverance generally yielded the results he wanted.

"Will you tell Agent Chang that I have the report he requested from me as well?"

Heero nodded.

"Thank you, Agent Yuy. Was there anything else?"

"Not at this time, Colonel."

Heero took his leave from the Preventer's office and was just getting into his car when the phone rang. "Yuy."

"Heero, it's Wufei. Sally just got a call from Duo."

"Is he alright?"

"Calm down, Heero. He's fine. But he wanted to know if pregnant women can travel between the Earth and the colonies. Any idea what he's up to?"

"I sent him to check something out. Apparently he found something. He should be checking in with me later tonight and I'll get more information then. I don't dare contact him first. I might interrupt something."

"Understood."

"Wufei, before you go Colonel Une said she had a report you requested."

"Ah, yes. The suicide reports. I'll pick them up tomorrow. Maybe by then I won't want to rip Une's head off."

Heero knew Wufei would be pissed about Une getting Sally drunk. He only wished Duo had been around to place a bet on it. He probably could have gotten his boyfriend to cook dinner for a week. "How's Sally doing this afternoon?"

"She's fine. She was pretty sick earlier, though. I think she's lucky not to have alcohol poisoning."

"That's good. Let me know if you hear from Duo again."

"Sure thing, Heero."

Trowa rubbed his eyes. If he never had to fill out another report it would be too soon. It was his own fault, though. He'd been trying to keep himself busy so he wouldn't be tempted to call Cathy every other day and see how the girl was doing. He wasn't sure why he was so worried about her. Cathy was more than capable of taking care of her and he knew if anything happened Cathy would tell him.

A light knock prompted him to get up and open his office door. He wasn't really surprised to see Quatre. What surprised him was a lack of paperwork. The blonde had been steadily supplying Trowa work (at Trowa's request, of course). He raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Trowa. No paperwork today. I think we're all caught up."

"So, what are we working on next?"

Quatre knew Trowa had been pushing himself. He knew that Trowa wasn't sure of his feelings and was trying to push them away rather than deal with them. He also knew that unless Trowa handled his emotions, he would keep up this destructive path of overworking himself. So he'd come up with a plan to push Trowa in a direction that would, hopefully, help the Heavyarms pilot to work through his feelings.

"Une knows that we moved the girl. Apparently she got Sally drunk and cornered Heero with the information she coerced out of Sally. Heero really didn't have much choice but to confirm her information and Wufei is pretty pissed about how Une got her information."

Trowa shrugged. "We were going to tell Une anyway."

"Yeah, well I think she's going to want an update on the girl. I thought perhaps we ought to check on her."

"I haven't heard anything from Cathy, so she's fine."

Quatre resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm sure she is, but I really don't want to be around when Wufei tells Une off. We all know what she's like when she gets in a bad mood."

"So go check on her then," Trowa said dismissively before turning to go back to his computer.

"I would, but I don't think it's a good idea to go by myself."

Trowa turned back to Quatre and leaned on his desk. "Cathy won't eat you."

"It isn't that," Quatre assured him. "I don't think it's wise to go alone because if I'm followed and I don't realize it, I'll be revealing the girl's location. It's better to have someone else help me verify if I'm being followed."

"So take Duo."

"I can't. He's checking into something on L2."

"What?"

"Heero sent him to check something out and I got a call from him earlier asking for help extracting his friend Hilde. Apparently she's in some kind of trouble. He didn't have time to give me details and I haven't heard anything from Rashid yet. He's supposed to update me as soon as it's safe to do so."

Trowa didn't say anything. He was torn. Part of him wanted to check on the girl and part of him wanted to stay here and get his mind off of her. It couldn't be healthy to think about her as much as he did when he wasn't buried in paperwork. He didn't even know her name. She was just another victim. So why couldn't he get her out of his head?

"Besides, I need you to go with me because I'm not really sure where the circus is at right now," Quatre said.

Quatre had a point and Trowa knew it. Besides, maybe if he could see that the girl was fine he would be able to quit worrying about her. "Fine. When did you want to leave?"