Disclaimer- I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters from the series and will never claim to own them. However, the plot, Anita, Blaine, and the little children all belong to me.

A/N- Please don't flame me if you don't like the story. If the characters are OOC, that's something that's almost unavoidable as none of the Gundam Wing characters belong to me, and they never will. Basically, if you don't like what you're reading, stop reading it and hit the back button on your browser. I don't want to hear your fussing just because something isn't to your liking. Fuss to yourself, not me.

Also, please note that the characters are kind of a lot a bit older than in the series. And please also take note that I honestly never really thought about where this story was taking place, so just think of it as where ever. Thanks and enjoy~

"So you're from France, huh?" Duo asked peering over at Anita from the corner of his eye. "What part?"

"Bordeaux." Anita replied. "Why the hell does it even matter?"

"Sorry." He winced. "I was just curious. You don't have to bite my head off."

"It sounded like you were doubting me." She replied, folding her arms and kicking her feet up on the dashboard.

"I'm not."

Silence filled the cab yet again, but this time it was because Anita was closing her eyes and finally trying to go to sleep. Of course, sleep sounded nice, but there was nowhere for Duo to pull over yet so he would have to keep driving until he came upon a rest stop or something. The road seemed to go on forever with no end in sight, but something about that seemed perfectly fine to him. Maybe then he could try and get Anita to at least smile, even if it was only for a brief moment. That would make this a trip across the country with no destination in sight, but that sounded like an interesting adventure.

However, it would be far more enjoyable if he could get his traveling companion to be less of a grouch. But after what had happened, it was no wonder she was the way she was. The thought crossed his mind to turn around and go find out if anyone else had made it out alive after the fire, but they were too far away now. Maybe it would be on the news. They liked covering the sad stories.

With that in mind, Duo turned on the radio and tried to find a news station every time he had to stop. Aside from a few random stations that were playing all sorts of music, he mostly got static and eventually gave up on his search. He could try again in the morning, but, for now, there was a rest stop in sight and it would do the two of them no good if he were driving around with no sleep.

Anita woke up to the sun blaring in her eyes and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. The seatbelt caught her in the neck and she ended up deciding it would be better to just sit up and try and wake up completely. Much to her surprise, when she sat up, a jacket flopped into her lap and she just stared at it, confused about where it had come from. But then she remembered Duo and realized it had been the jacket he had been wearing. However, the truck was parked and Duo was nowhere in sight.

She considered crawling into the driver's seat and taking off, but the keys were gone and she wasn't about to hotwire her own truck. So, she chose the second best option and got out to stretch her legs. Right as she got out of the truck, she spotted Duo off at a payphone chatting away like there was nothing better in the world. Now that it was bright out and she could actually see him clearly, she was thinking he was probably the type that was really popular with girls. It would be a very big shock if it turned out that he wasn't.

He looked up from the payphone for a second and waved at Anita before saying what she assumed was "goodbye" because hhe turned around and hung up the phone immediately afterward. She sat down on the side of the seat as he walked up with a goofy grin on his face. It wasn't hard to tell that he was about to share what he considered to be "good news". Or something.

"Your hair is red." He said, and suddenly Anita felt the need to punch him very hard in the face.

"Actually, it's red-brown." She corrected him. "However, I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Sorry." He laughed. "I couldn't see it that well before because there wasn't much light, but now I can and I like it."

"That's…" She paused. "Nice. Thanks. Is that all you were going to tell me?"

"No," He replied, leaning against the side of the truck. "So I was just talking to that friend I'd mentioned and explained to him that I'd managed to get lost. I told him where I was and he gave me directions to the place he's staying in right now. It's not that far from here, so we can go there after I stop and get some gas again."

Anita really wanted to punch him now. She recalled telling him just last night that she really didn't want to go around socializing with his friends and here he was all happy about finally finding out where his friend was. And it was kind of cute. When she actually registered that last thought, she choked on air. She wasn't sure why the hell she was even thinking of stupid stuff like that, but it was there as plain as day and she wanted it to go away just as quickly as it had come.

"Are you okay?" Duo asked, placing his hand on her back.

She jumped and slipped off the car seat on onto the ground. She wasn't sure how she'd managed to do it, but she hit her head on the door and was now holding it tightly and moaning. It didn't help that Duo was laughing more than he was showing concern for the fact that she'd just fallen and hit her head, but then she realized just what was so funny about it and tried to choke back a laugh. However, it was too late and he had already seen the smile on her face before she had a chance to cover it up.

"There!" He said, reminding her somewhat of a puppy. "See! That's not so hard, is it? Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah." She replied as he helped her to her feet. "I just smacked my head against the door, but, other than that, I'm fine."

"So, how about we get some coffee and something to eat before we head out?"

That didn't sound at all like a bad idea, but that's when the thought that he was trying to get her to go somewhere she didn't want to go came back in full force. And suddenly she felt the need to refuse. Sure, her stomach was growling and she was thirsty, but she'd be conned into going to some stranger's house, or whatever, after this and that was exactly what she didn't want. So, she declined, causing all the tension between the two of them to come right back and suddenly it wasn't all "happy fun times" anymore. Not that it should have been in the first place, but who could judge someone based on a momentary slip of mindset?

Duo sighed and got inside the cab before looking at Anita and telling her to get in, as well. Not wanting him to take off with her truck, she obliged to his wishes and got in. And, just like that, they were off again, but Anita wasn't going to get her way no matter how many times she tried to argue her point. Duo was dead set on having her meet his friend and he seemed so sure that this guy could actually help her that he wasn't going to listen to her at all. So the only stop that was going to be made was one at the gas station to fill up the gas tank and to get something to eat and drink for the trip before they made their way off to what the redhead assumed was some place in the middle of nowhere, much like her make-shift home had been. However, this place was likely to be a little nicer considering someone actually paid for the electricity and water and all that good stuff.

"I asked around if anyone had heard about the fire." Duo said suddenly, making Anita become very tense. "Just thought I'd mention that."

"Don't just trail off like that!" She snapped. "What did they have to say?"

"Someone told me that they'd heard people from the town near there had gone in after the blaze died out." He began, seeming slightly annoyed that this was the only thing she wanted to talk about. "They knew you guys were living there and were worried that you'd all been caught in it, so they went searching for bodies. From what I was told, they didn't find any bodies. Other than that, I don't really know much."

At that very moment, it felt like a great weight had been lifted off of Anita's shoulders and she sighed in relief. Duo felt a great relief because the tightly wound knot that Anita had been caught in was now loosening up just enough for her to be able to relax. However, there was no telling for how much longer because he already knew she wasn't going to stop worrying about whether they were injured or not.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence because Anita had decided to take a nap, using Duo's jacket to keep the sun out of her face. Honestly, she'd wanted to comment about how it smelled funny, but it was doing the job she'd intended it to do, so she wasn't going to complain. However, she could complain about being woken up right as she was getting into a nice, deep sleep. She didn't want to be here, but it wasn't up for her to decide that and she found herself being dragged inside some fancy looking building and off to some room with big double doors that were kind of intimidating to look at.

"Duo, really!" She argued, trying to pull her arm back. "I already told that I don't want to go around meeting your friends."

"Quatre Raberba Winner!" He shouted as he threw open one of the doors, leaving Anita to feel as if her words went completely unheard. "And Trowa, too, apparently. Long time no see!"

"Please knock before you come barging into the room like that." The platinum blonde seated at the desk said, his face lighting up in a rosy color, his brown-haired companion calmly browsing a bookshelf beside the desk as if nothing had happened.

"Duo!" Anita hissed, hiding behind her kind-of companion.

"Who's that?" Quatre asked, trying to get a look at the redhead, but finding it rather difficult as she was doing her best to keep herself hidden.

"Someone I want you to meet, but she's acting really shy." He replied, turning around to face Anita and place his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't want to meet your friends." She said in a hushed tone. "Can we please just go? I don't want to be here."

"Please just take the time to introduce yourself." He replied in an equally hushed tone. "If you still don't want to stay here after that, we'll leave. I promise."

"Fine."

And all it took was that one word for Duo to spin her around to face Quatre and Trowa. However, her face suddenly paled significantly when she locked eyes with the blonde man behind the desk. His name had sounded vaguely familiar, but it was matching it up to a face that really made her feel just a little bit nervous.

"Cassarah Noble!" Quatre beamed.

"H-Hi." She squeaked. "I-It's nice to… see you again. Huh. Small world, isn't it? It's, uh. It's-It's Cassarah Arkwright now, though."

Duo suddenly felt like he was missing a few pieces to this puzzle. However, before anyone had any time to question the situation, Anita decided she was going to make a nice fast trip to the floor. Luckily for her, Duo's reflexes were fast enough that he actually caught her before she smacked her head against the marble below. But now there were many he felt the need to ask when she finally came to.