Disclaimer:We do not own or profit from Gundam Wing. For who could love Dorothy's eyebrows?

Authors:Foxy Mcgee and Cltcmistress

A hand paused over both of the phones setting upon the cabinet and it's owner growled. "Dammit, Wufei..." He'd picked out a phone identical to the asian pilots and it was easy to get them mixed up. It wasn't like Wufei to set his phone down, though, so it must've been important. He grabbed his keys and the phone sitting the closest to them - it had to be his - the other had some distance away from the his stuff, then pocketed both. He was still nervous about this conference, more so since he'd 'talked' to Quatre. He flushed slightly, thoughts wandering off to the day before.

Wufei entered, grabbed his things, and looked at Duo. The braided idiot had been bouncing all over the place, super jumpy. "Will you please calm down? It's not like this is some big mission. We're just doing Quatre a favor as extra security. Heero is already waiting outside." He frowned at the pilot as he headed for the door. "Trowa called and said the meetings are starting late. So they'll be in in late this afternoon. He said to give him a call when we leave here and he'll tell us where to be."

Duo rolled his eyes while following Wufei. "That's never stopped anyone from attacking any where, you know that. And my spider senses are tingling." Duo glared at Wufei before he pulled out his cell, flipped it open and dialed Trowa's number, all while glaring at Wufei. He didn't look down at the phone until it was ringing and he quickly placed it to his ear. "Hey, Tro, we're leaving now... Sorry!" He listened for a minute. "Fei was late as usual.... you know how he is in the bathroom... Right, okay. Bye." He looked at the Asian pilot. "Trowa says you're pretty enough to tell you to hurry."

"Hm." He continued to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. "Duo called and let them know we're on our way." Heero nodded, starting the engine and waiting for Duo to climb in. Wufei looked over the back of his seat at the braided pilot. "Now, it's going to be a couple hours till we stop again. So I packed some snacks and juice in the the bag next to you." He snickered and looked back out the windshield. "Did you pack your extra hairbrush?"

"Yes, mother-Fei." Duo glanced in the bag next to him. "Awww, you brought my favorites!!" I'd kiss you if you weren't up there and armed!"

Quatre sighed as he closed the door to his office and let his head rest against the door frame briefly. This conference was going to take a lot longer than he had expected. No one could agree on anything and people were starting to get testy with each other. As it was, this was the first break for the day: 3 o'clock in the afternoon. They'd been at it since 7:30 that morning. Another sigh and he turned to look where Trowa in the chair across from his desk. "Have they called yet?" The others should be there soon. He knew it wasn't necessary for all of them to act as security, but Relena had suggested they could be helpful after she had dealt with some of the same diplomats a few weeks before.

"Got a call from Duo a little while ago. Heero called and said they'd been here in about 10." Trowa stood and headed towards the blonde. "You look stressed."

"No one is willing to agree on anything in that room." He rubbed his temples and leaned back against the door. "It's ridiculous. They're all acting like children. There is no reason why I should feel like the oldest person in that room."

Trowa smiled. "You could always go in with a buster rifle..." He held a hand out to the blonde. "Lets go meet the others for a quick lunch."

"That sounds like a great idea." Quatre took the offered hand and pulled himself upright. "Thanks again for doing this. I know waiting on these meetings to get over can't be all that thrilling." He chuckled as they went out the door and down the hall.

"You don't need to thank me, I'm here because I want to be." He turned towards the blonde just as he heard a loud bang. Reacting purely on instinct he dived at Quatre, pulling the blonde to his chest as he rolled to land on his back. There was a loud groan before the floor buckled and was gone. Trowa barely had time to tighten his grip on the blonde as everything crashed down around them.

Quatre came to slowly, aware of only a throbbing in his skull and that his body ached all over. His eyes opened and he turned to look around. In the weak light he could see a broken metal bar poked through the rubble in front of his face. Something warm trickled down his forehead and reaching up he felt a cut bleeding where the bar had just missed his skull, scraping him as he fell. Then awareness fully set it. "Trowa? Trowa!" He shifted as well as he could. Whatever caused the explosion it had done a fair amount of damage. He couldn't see much as they were buried in the rubble of the collapsed building. Feeling around he found Trowa lying still underneath him. "Trowa, are you ok?"

Trowa hissed, but kept his body still as the blonde wiggled around. "Please, don't move." He opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the blonde. "Are you wounded?" Trowa could feel where he'd been pierced from something during the fall, but Quatre's head was in the way blocking his vision. He needed to make sure the blonde was alright, first, then he could tend to himself.

He held still and gave the taller pilot a look over. "I'm alright. Thanks to you pulling me closer my brain missed the rebar by a fraction. I've just got a few cuts and scrapes." Carefully, he leaned away from Trowa and felt around his body cautiously. His fingers grazed over the pilot quickly, assessing the damage. "You've got something on your legs, can you feel them?" He continued his check, when his fingertips brushed cold metal at Trowa's shoulder. "Shit."

"Hm." Trowa grabbed the blonde's fingers. "Don't worry about it." He ran his fingers over Quatre checking for and damage. "My legs are pinned, not sure of the damage yet. Can you move?"

"I'm fine. I told you." He shifted again but was met with resistance from the rubble on all sides. "I think we're stuck here. I'd push some of this stuff away for more room, but I'm afraid of causing a collapse. There's enough room for me to sit beside you, but not enough room to stretch out." With a frown he felt his way back to Trowa's shoulder and the bar. "You've got a piece of rebar through your right shoulder. Can you wiggle your fingers on that arm?"

"Barely, not that I want to." Trowa groaned as he tried to reach his other pocket. "We need to call the others, see if you can dig my phone out."

"You hold still." Quatre carefully dug into the pocket and retrieved the phone. Flipping it open he frowned at the broken screen. It still lit up, but the LCD was busted. Hitting call he tried for the last dialed number, but the cellphone only beeped in response. "No signal. And I left mine in my office. Who knows where it is now."

"Hm." Trowa snagged the phone from Quatre to shine it on his forehead and frowned. "That's a bit more than a graze. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself. It's just a scalp wound. Those tend to bleed worse than they actually are."

Trowa let the phone drop onto his chest and sighed. "I'd rather not think about it, if I can help it." He only meant to close his eyes for a minute, but he could feel his mind slipping away already.

Quatre wiggled around to shrug out of his jacket. "Here, lift your head." Wadding it up, he stuffed it under Trowa's head as best he could. "That should at least make your head more comfortable."

"Hm." Trowa kept his eyes closed, listening as Quatre spoke, it seemed to keep him anchored. When the blonde quit talking he cracked an eye open. "Talk to me."

He leaned over and looked at Trowa's eyes. "You gonna be ok, Trowa?" The pilot's eyes looked a little glassy and spaced out. "Keep your eyes open and talk with me, ok?" Quatre gave him a timid smile and started to undo his shirt. "I'm going to do what I can to stop the bleeding. We'll have to leave the bar in for now or it will make things worse."

"Just light headed. Feeling drifty. It'll pass." He held the phone up for Quatre, trying to give him some light to work with.

"Good. I don't want you passing out on me." Using his teeth he managed to get some of the stitches in the shirt ripped out so he could tear the fabric into strips. As he worked he continued to talk. "I suppose this means the meetings aren't going to continue today. Ha! I guess that's one way to look at this. When we get out we'll get you fixed up and I'll have Duo come up with a list of movies and we'll watch them with you in the hospital. What are your favorite movies?"

Trowa winced a little, not sure if it was the wound in his arm being jarred or the mention of the braided pilot. "Anything is fine." He bit his lip, effectively holding back the sigh trying to come out.

"Sorry! Did that hurt?" Quatre did his best to be gentle as he continued. "What kind of movie is your favorite? I don't see you watching them very often. If movies aren't your thing we could borrow Duo's video game system and play. Though that might be hard with your arm."

"Hm." Trowa closed the phone gently, preferring to hide himself in the darkness. "I'm ok without either. I'd rather read."

"Well, what sorts of books do you enjoy?" Quatre tied off the last of the wrapping and used a scrap to tie around his head over the cut. Sitting back he hugged his knees and watched Trowa's face.

"Fantasy..." He sighed and examed the rebar for the first time. "I guess I could read anything and be ok. I don't intend to be out of commission that long."

"Right. But while you are hurt, you're going to take care of yourself for a change. Ok?"

"If you insist." He turned his eyes to Quatre's. "Do you think they'll find us?"

He looked up and around their little space then back at Trowa. "The others knew we were in the building. They can't be that far away. And there were plenty of other people here as well. It may take a bit, but yes." He frowned. "Why would you even question that?"

Trowa hissed as he tried to adjust himself. "Because we were on the bottom level of a rather large building. And I'm bleeding."

"Don't move!" He reached out and adjusted his jacket under Trowa's head. "What do you need? Maybe I can help?"

"Just an uncomfortable position. Nice subject change." He grabbed the blonde's hand and held it.

Quatre watched Trowa as he took his hand. "I wasn't changing. I just don't see the need in worrying unnecessarily."

"You always were optimistic like that." He smiled a bit. "I can't fight it any more Quatre, sorry." Trowa's eyes slowly slid shut.

"Fight what?" He took his hand back and tapped it on the pilot's face. "Trowa, look at me and open your eyes. Don't you pass out on me."

"Hm?" He opened an eye before it slid shut again. "Sorry."

Quatre took Trowa's face in both of his hands and leaned over him careful. "Hey, wake up! I need you to stay awake with me. Tell me about the last book you've read. What was it about?"

"...Rats." Trowa smirked a bit.

"What about the rats?" He kept one hand on the taller pilot's face and used the other to check his work. The bleeding had slowed, but the shirt was soaked.

"You're persistent." Trowa noted. "It was a study of them."

"Yeah, well if it gets me through things and keeps you awake right now." He smirked and looked back at Trowa's face. "So what did it say about rats? I thought you said you liked fantasy?"

"I prefer fantasy." Trowa grabbed the hand again and pulled it to him. "Do you need me to stay awake?"

"Yes. I need you to help listen for anyone looking for us." Quatre's eyes watched closely as Trowa took hold of his hand again. He held still and waited. "Are you tired?"

"Very, but my head is clearing some. It helps to focus on your voice."

"As long as you're still with me." He smirked and looked down the pilot's body to the rubble. "How're your legs? Can you feel them yet or is the pain still focused on your shoulder?"

"I can feel them. Not broken, but probably bruised and cut." He tried to lift his head, but quit when his shoulder throbbed. "I'm kind of nauseated." He turned his head to the blonde and blinked. "Adrenaline is wearing off, too."

"Hmm. We'll talk about something else then, while we wait." His eyes looked back to his hand, still gripped by Trowa's. "Any suggestions?"

"Just.... talk. I like to hear your voice."

Wufei rolled his eyes the the braided pilot skipping along-side. "Maxwell, would you please walk right and behave?" The car ride had been long enough with Duo singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" the whole way. Twice. He suppressed a small smile at the memory and looked at him again. "Why don't you call Trowa and tell him we're on our way up."

Duo smirked. "Right-o, Wu." He pulled out his cell and flipped it open, coming to a dead stop with his mouth hanging open. There were two very different things about his cell phone. The first being that his banner now said 'Chang,' which honestly wasn't so bad. What really stood out was the picture of Duo as the background. The very picture Wufei had taken near Christmas. With this very phone. He turned slowly and spun the phone around. "Double U, TEE, Effff, Wufei?"

"What?" Wufei looked at the phone in shock and pulled his, Duo's, from his pocket. Flipping it open he saw a picture of Quatre. His eyes went to Duo's, then the phone, to the phone in his hand and finally back to Duo. "I... Hm. It was a good picture." He glared at the offending phone.

Duo flushed and stared at Wufei's phone again, completely confused. "It..." He was completely speechless. Wufei had a picture of him.He glanced at Heero, then Wufei, then both phones again. "A good picture?"

Heero shrugged and kept walking. Wufei took his phone back from Duo and handed the stunned pilot his own. "Yes. Now can we please just get in there?" He walked forward to pass Duo just as an explosion rocked the building in front of them. Time seemed to slow as he saw debris fly through the air. He turned and tackled Duo. Stone and shattered glass flew everywhere and he landed hard on top of the other pilot. After the initial shock of the explosion was over he propped up on his hands to look down at the body beneath him. "Duo? Are you ok?"

Duo stared at the debris that had fallen where he'd been standing, when his eye's snapped up to Wufei's. "Quatre, Trowa.. they were still inside!" He pushed the other boy aside as he climbed to his feet.

"Duo, wait!" Heero grabbed the pilot's wrist. "You can't just run in there."

"Like fucking hell I can't!" Duo spun around and glared at Heero. "They could be-" His voice trailed off as his eyes widened. Dead. They could be dead."Hurt." A sense of guilt tore through Duo and he looked away from Heero. "We have to get them out."

"Getting yourself killed falling on a piece of broken glass isn't going to help them." Wufei stood and frowned. "We'll get them out, but you have to calm down." He turned as the sound of sirens started in the distance. "Let's go help who we can, but you have to be careful. We'll find Quatre and Trowa as soon as we can." He stepped forward and looked at Duo's eyes. "Look at me. I don't think you have a concussion, but you should take a minute to breathe. Heero will go start looking."

Duo turned to look the chinese pilot in the eyes. "Wufei..." He ran a hand through his bangs, trying to keep himself in check. "What if they... you know? I shouldn't have touched him." Duo shook his head.

Wufei gripped Duo's shoulders and looked in his eyes. "Whatever is done is done. But whatever nonsense you have about losing people is irrelevent at this moment. They're not dead yet. Understand?"

Duo nodded slightly. "You're right. I'm sorry." He smiled, but it was forced. "It was just shitty timing. Let's go see what we can do."

"Duo. They'll be ok. They know how to handle themselves. This wouldn't be the first explosion either of the has survived." He gave the braided pilot a concerned look then turned to the remains of the office building. "Come on. Let's help some of these people out and see if we can find them."

See? All downwards.