Bennit had been out for nearly an hour on his break from watching the Maxwell family and home. With the pouring rain outside, Sharpe was beginning to wonder about the man's whereabouts and why he was taking so long to return. Randall Bennit took his job very seriously as he wished to get a promotion within the next year, and it was unlike him to be so late and not even call.

Sharpe had been attempting to get ahold of Bennit for quite a while now, but the man refused to answer his cell phone for some reason. Again, which wasn't like him at all, but Sharpe just hoped that Bennit was just getting crappy reception with the storm raging all around them. Though he knew in his mind that wasn't the reason at all, it was all he could do was hope it was because there was no way he would be able to go out and search for Randall himself.

"Hey asshole, where's your buddy?" Duo had made his way downstairs without even alerting Sharpe to his presence. "Don't tell me he went out in that fucking storm, that would be a true suicide mission. But then again, you guys are supposed to go do stupid- I mean heroic things like that, right?"

The teenager slumped down in a chair in the living room across from the officer, which the worry on his face had grown obvious even to the uncaring suspect. "Shouldn't you be finishing your homework? Or doing something you know your father disapproves of and enjoying disobeying him thoroughly?"

"Nah, I'd rather fuck around with you first." Duo smirked at the police officer and waited eagerly for the man's reaction, but when there was a lack of one the teenager began to suspect that something really was amiss. "Come on, no response? No witty comeback or something to further piss me off?"

The lights flickered once again, but this time couldn't recover and all electricity shut off in the house. Sharpe watched Duo from being the calm, collected interrogator to startled as he seemed surprised by what had occurred. But then there was still something about the look that had flashed over Duo's features that resembled fear, and Sharpe then knew exactly what it was.

"Scared of the dark, eh? Or is it just that it reminds you of that night when you murdered your mother?"

"Fuck you! How many times do I have to tell you I didn't fucking kill her?!" Duo had gotten out of the chair and began heading towards the stairs, but stopped when he saw Heero. "What's wrong now?"

"I don't know, I just lost reception without any warning. I can't figure why because my phone was working just fine a few minutes ago." Heero came all the way down the stairs and stood beside Duo, he glanced at Sharpe and then his gaze remained there.

Sharpe chuckled as he stood up and made his way toward the dining room, "Shouldn't you be going home Mr. Yuy?"

"In this weather? How the hell do you expect him to get home?" Duo followed the older man, and Heero followed Duo as well. "Unlike you, I'm not going to just shove my friend out the door and wait for him to get lost in that fucking storm."

Sharpe continued walking but he could feel his blood pressure steadily rising the whole time, he couldn't believe Duo's father could put up with him all the time. Then again, he probably didn't always act like this when the two of them were by themselves. The older man rummaged through the nearly empty refrigerator and then shut the door wondering why he had even bothered, after all apparently no one in this house actually went to a grocery store.

"Listen kid, Randall can take care of himself. He's a grown man after all, and children like you should watch your language." Sharpe ended up finding an unopened can of tuna and peeled back the metal top carefully, and then went in search of the silverware. He still had yet to familiarize himself with this big kitchen, but Duo was nice enough to find one for him.

"I'm not a child, and for your info not all grown men can take care of themselves. Com on Heero, we've got some more homework to finish up." Duo went upstairs first and went in search of a flashlight while Heero remained downstairs.

Sharpe glanced over his shoulder to see the teenager observing him, then he suddenly turned around and headed up the stairs. Something about the way Heero was watching him made Sharpe uncomfortable, but he just chalked it up to his inexperience with teenagers to be the reason.

----

Catherine had been busying herself with her cooking dinner when the electricity went out. She hadn't been expecting it, not that anyone could predict something like that, but she knew now her dinner she had originally planned on making was ruined. She waited for a while hoping that the electricity would come back soon, but after another half hour of nothing she knew there was no hope.

She dumped her unfinished dinner into Samson's food dish and the dog happily ate it. She began looking for something that didn't really require any preparation. Catherine could only find a bunch of junk food, so she decided just to go ahead and eat anything since there was no real dinner anymore.

Just as she was about to sit down, there was someone knocking at the front door. Samson rushed at the door barking madly, and then he abruptly stopped and began growling. "What's wrong with you Samson? It's probably just the neighbors asking if we have any electricity over here, like they always do."

She looked out the eyehole in the front door and found a tall blonde man at their door, but she didn't say anything since she had no idea who he was. Just seeing him gave her chills, which was quite unusual for Catherine. Trowa came out of the hall to see his sister's hand on the doorknob, yet the look on her face clearly showed she didn't want to open the door.

"Sis, are you okay?" Trowa put his hand over Catherine's hand that was on the doorknob, and it seemed to snap her out of whatever trance she was in. "Let me look before you answer the door next time."

Catherine just nodded and she walked back to the kitchen while Trowa stayed at the door in disbelief that the man had found his house. Even after all the trouble he had gone through hopping fences in the pouring rain, and yet here the man was. The teenager opened the door and the blonde man kept a perfectly indifferent expression.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I just wanted to give you a friendly little warning, but it depends on whether or not you answer my questions correctly." Piercing blue eyes looked directly into Trowa's stunning emerald eyes. "Where is Duo Maxwell?"

"Fuck off, I don't know him."

"Then what about Heero Yuy?"

"I already told you, I don't know either of those guys." Trowa was almost ready to slam the door in the guy's face, but what he said next made him hesitate.

"Then should I ask Quatre? I'm almost positive you know him, so please tell me where I can find him." The blonde man had kept the same emotionless expression the whole time, but Trowa had been careful to guard his emotions as well. "You'll really regret not answering my questions when you don't hear my warning."

"I already told you to leave me alone, so don't bother asking anymore. I won't answer questions I can't answer, and since I don't know any of these people I don't know why you insist on asking their whereabouts." Trowa shut the door and walked back towards the kitchen to see if his sister was alright.

He never did get the chance to ask her as all of a sudden, something literally crashed into their house. Trowa didn't have time to react as he saw whatever had crashed had completely destroyed the kitchen, where Catherine was.

"Catherine!" When he could clearly see the object that had rammed into the side of their house, he couldn't believe it was a car. Trowa couldn't believe any of this was happening as he tried to look over all the debris to see any sign of his sister, and when he did he immediately rushed over to her. "Catherine! Are you alright!?"

She was unconscious and most likely was seriously injured, and it made Trowa feel even more desperate to get her out of there. He began digging away at the rubble and after a while he managed to be able to pull her out. Somehow the dog Samson had been barely hurt and began whining when he saw his master in that condition.

Most of her body was covered in small cuts, but the worst bleeding came from a gash in her head and one on her thin arm. She was so fragile in this state, and Trowa began trying to call for an ambulance when he heard some frantic knocking at the door. He ran over to the door and flung it open to find a few of the neighbors already gathering around the house.

A small woman named Rosemary was Trowa's immediate neighbor and had always taken care of them, so he grabbed her hand and pulled her to where Catherine was lying. "You've got to help her Rose, she's really hurt."

"You look alright though, how is Catherine hurt?"

"She was in the kitchen and that's where the car crashed, but I was out here." Trowa stopped by Catherine and watched as Rosemary began to carefully apply pressure with her dress to Catherine's head wound. "Can you drive her to the hospital? I should check on whoever the hell was driving that damn car."

"I'll take care of her, please help me carry her to my car outside."

Trowa obliged to the woman's request, and carried his injured sister out into the pouring rain. Once the two of them had got her in the car, Rosemary immediately began honking at the people behind her car that were in her way. In no time, they were off to the hospital and Trowa went back inside his own house to go see the driver. It amazed him that none of the other bystanders had bothered coming to his aide or the driver's, instead they all stood around looking fearful and panicked.

The car was actually a police officer's, and Trowa was having a hard time reaching the man inside. So he did something reckless, and grabbed a random blunt object and broke the windshield open so Trowa could at least try pulling the man out of the car. But when he first touched the man, Trowa could already tell he was dead and had been for a little while.

Even knowing that, Trowa continued to try and get the man out until he eventually succeeded. He double checked the man's pulse to make sure he wasn't mistaken, but it was undeniable. This man had been dead for at least half an hour now, but he couldn't be completely sure.

Samson went over to Trowa and whined for attention as he was obviously terrified. Trowa carried the man away from the wreckage and laid him on the couch. He suddenly heard someone enter the house and saw the blonde man again.

"Didn't I told you didn't I? Aren't you regretting not answering my questions in the first place?" The man smirked now at the teenager, "So will you answer me now?"

----

Was this exciting enough for everyone? Hah, just kidding. Anyways, I guess this is an Independence Day present to all the readers out there who are craving for more. Anyways, I would love to know what everyone thinks of all of this so far, and I don't care whether you love it or hate it. I would just love to know what you feel!

And I guess I finally got my act together since I have now finished planning out the rest of this series. So now I know exactly what I want to happen and how many more chapters before I end it, but I'll leave that a surprise for you guys. (wink)

Hope ya'll enjoyed!

Please R & R!

Shari Maxwell