I did stay for dinner; we ate in the living room, not in the dining room which Quatre said was downstairs and was where everybody usually ate. I felt more comfortable eating with just them, and I think they realized that. The meal was simple, but still better than the fare at the church; I tried to eat a lot at school so I wouldn't have to worry about not having much at home, even though Father Maxwell and Sister Helen pressed me to eat more than them, saying I was still a growing boy and they didn't need as much. It made me feel a little bit guilty, and I was glad to stay and eat with the three of them. I hoped that if everything turned out all right, I would get to eat with them a lot, and save myself the guilt.

"Do you need a ride home?" Trowa asked me as he cleaned off the table. I felt useless; they had insisted I didn't need to help clean up because I was their guest.

"I can walk."

"But I though you said you lived all the way across town." He had me there; I had told them approximately where I lived, but not that I lived in a church. On some level I was ashamed to let them know that, even though I didn't know why. It wasn't usually something I worried about.

"Just let him take you home!" Quatre scolded me with a smile, and I was forced to accept.

Heero left his post at the sink, dried his hands, and came over to give me a hug. "Take care. See you tomorrow." I nodded as I hugged him back, and as I looked over his shoulder I caught Quatre smiling at us again. He seemed happy that everything seemed to work out between us, even though I hadn't really accepted—it was just one of those things which had managed to happen.

Trowa picked up his jacket from the back of the couch, checking the pockets to make sure his keys were there. "Come on, then."

There was a small, fairly nice neighborhood about six blocks away from the church, and I told Trowa to just let me off at the end of one of the streets. He wouldn't hear of it.

"Which house?"

"I can walk." It wasn't that I was stubborn; I just, for some reason, didn't want to lie to him—although I also didn't want him to discover the truth.

"If this isn't where you live, that's fine," he said finally. "I just want to make sure you get home okay. Heero would kill me if I told him I just dropped you off at the end of a street and drove away."

I thought about just getting out of the car, since he was sitting at a stop sign, but I felt that might be pushing it a little so I stayed in the car and debated what to do. In the end, I gave in and directed him to the church. He didn't say anything as I got out and entered through the side door.

I rested inside the door for a moment, trying to calm myself down in preparation for the verbal attack I knew would come from Sister Helen as soon as she caught me sneaking back. After thinking about it, I found I didn't want to tell her about my new friends after all—especially about Heero. I hadn't given it a thought before, since I didn't practice their religion, but I remembered that Catholics tended to frown upon any sort of a relationship which wasn't between a man and a woman. I didn't know if what existed between Heero and I counted as a "relationship," but I didn't want to test it with Father Maxwell and Sister Helen in case they disapproved. It was easier to just avoid talking about it at all.

I thought about it a bit longer, and then opened the door and slipped back out before Sister Helen even realized I had come in. I didn't feel like confronting her just yet, and I felt the need to take out some of my aggressions—mostly what I felt towards Wufei and his "holier-than-thou" attitude, and also a little towards Zechs and his accusations.

Not caring that it was dark and that taking the shortcut through the back alleys might be dangerous, I went that way anyway to save time. As I went, I considered where I would go for the hunt. Back to the other side of town was out of the question; I didn't know how often any of them went out and I didn't want to risk running into Wufei or Zechs—or any of the others, if I got angry enough to lose my control again and change.

I arrived safely at the abandoned club, and retrieved my sword from its hiding place. Strapping it to my waist and securing it there, I returned to the alley and started wandering randomly until I settled on a specific direction and broke into a jog.