Disclaimer: I haven't done this in a while. I do not own Gundam Wing or the characters, nor do I own Stargate and their characters. (for this and all chapters before and after this)

Chapter 23:

"Okay everyone through!" John called Heero moved his Gundam forward to move through the wormhole. He stopped short when the Wormhole closed suddenly. They waited for a moment while Rodney looked down at the device in his hands and shook his head confused. "Rodney?" John asked. "What happened?"

"The Wormhole time line expired," Rodney said.

"What does that mean?" John asked.

"It means we were too late," Rodney replied looking almost hurt.

"What happened?" came Heero's voice over their radio.

Rodney blinked a few times and whispered softly to John. "They may never be able to go back."

"What can we do?" Teyla asked.

"We have to go back to Atlantis and I have to figure out more options," Rodney said.

"Is there no other option?" Teyla asked.

"We could let them wonder around Earth for a while, maybe get some clothes or something," John said. "It is going to be a while before we can go back to Atlantis."

"I will ask one more time," Heero said over the com, "what happened?"

"There was a slight oops," Rodney answered. John looked at him in that 'what are you doing way'. Rodney turned off the com with Heero. "Its better to tell them the truth then to led them around."

"I agree with Rodney on this, it would not be wise to leave them in the dark," Teyla replied.

"What do you mean oops?" Heero questioned.

"It means we will have to wait or try and find another option," Rodney answered. "You see, it seems there is a time window that happens at random times, now in order to make it more stable I an going to have to go back to Atlantis and reconfigure the device so that it can create a more stable worm hole, here and get you back safely to your galaxy."

"So we have to wait longer?" Duo asked.

"There is no telling what could have happened already, the colonies could have been destroyed," Quatre came from the jumper's side.

Rodney looked out the jumper window and looked to John. "Don't worry, Rodney will come up with something hopefully."

"Yes put it all on my shoulders why don't you?" Rodney asked. "Look, I cant do anything right now, and the Daedalus isn't going to be leaving for Atlantis for a while, I say we go to earth and enjoy it for a while," he said.

There was silence on the other side of the com for a moment. "Where shall we land?" was Heero's reply. John nodded his head and Rodney sighed. That could have gone over badly.

Badly was what Rodney had hoped for now. It was worse then bad. Duo had managed to escape the base and was out in the city somewhere as a teenage boy. He didn't think that he couldn't handle himself that is what Rodney feared. These boys were dangerous and before Jack could explain the rules about earth and weapons, Duo was gone. In fact, they had been at Stargate command for less then an hour. The boys fully understood about weapons, though Rodney doubt that they left them all behind. So they were walking the streets of the down town city, he, John, Teyla and the four boys. Yeah they didn't look odd.

"Can you think of anywhere he could be?" Rodney asked.

"Knowing Maxwell it could be anywhere," Wufei supplied.

"I would check arcades and food places first, Duo has shown a fancy for pizza," Quatre put up.

"Ah yes, typical teenage behavior," Rodney said.

Looking in all the places that they thought that Duo would be, they did not found him. No one had even seen anyone matching Duo's description. They ate lunch and looked in more places, stores, playgrounds, and the library, finally they had to call Stargate command and see if he had come back to base. They also have not seen the braided pilot. Sitting around a table outside they thought of all the places they haven't looked that he may be.

"I don't know where else to look," John said.

"He's a teenage boy, a war trained teenage boy but still," Rodney shook his head.

"Maxwell is known for his hiding abilities," Wufei said.

"He will be found when he wants to be found," Trowa finished and looked around him.

"And you guys have no idea where else he could be?" John asked.

"None, we really didn't know each other the greatest," Quatre answered. "At first we were fighting against each other, not knowing we were on the same side."

They sat in silence for a bit, Teyla looked off into the distance of the small restaurant. "The garments that Duo's wears, you called then priest robes a couple of times. He has spoken to me of a Father Maxwell – I assumed his father, when we went on trips to the main land," Teyla noted.

Rodney snapped his fingers. "A church," he said. They were standing up and leaving the table a few minutes later and heading for the closest church.

It was an old stone building with painted glass. They walked in and looked around. It was a simple church with rows of pews, there was a man standing at the front of the room he was reading a book; he was also dressed in a Cassock robe. John and Rodney slowed down and scanned the pews. Rodney saw him first, he was leaning back against the back of a pew watching the stained glass windows catch the light.

They walked over to him while the rest of them stayed by the door. "We looked all over for you!" Rodney almost yelled. "Why are you here?" he asked and looked around.

Duo turned his head slowly to them, his expression strange to them for just a moment before the Duo like grinned appeared on his face. "Been here all day, didn't feel like doin' nothing else," he answered and stood up. He lifted his hand to the Priest. "Have a good eve Father." He then stuck his hands in his pockets and walked towards the others.

John followed, but Rodney asked the question that was on his lips before he could, "you believe in God?"

Duo stopped and looked down, he was silent for a moment longer then Duo was normally before he answered, "God has forsaken me long ago, when I turned to the God of Death," Duo answered and started to walk again.

When they got back to Stargate Command, Duo got an earfull from Jack and a few others of the staff and some more from Quatre, an remark or two from Wufei, a glare from Heero and nothing from Trowa. Teyla watched him as if she could see something the other's couldn't.