AN: ^_^ Got this finished, so I figured I'd go ahead and post it tonight! Thanks to Kidishcaresh for allowing me to use the name Rin! Next chapter is almost done, and all credit for it will go to Violet Eyed Demon, because she is so very bouncy and pretty much co-wrote every single line of the Heero-Trowa conversations! And it will be dedicated to my Emily-chan because I promised it to her like... 30 chapters ago when she made the YouTube video for this! Oh, speaking of which, please go check it out! It is amazing! It's Waking Up In Vegas by Yamiyugiangleofdarkn. So... on with the show!

Waking Up In Vegas

Chapter 44

Cecilia blinked at her phone in surprise as she read the rather extensive text message.

"Cil?" Howard asked, looking at her. "What's the matter?"

"It's Duo," she frowned. "He's... he's in New York."

"New York?" Howard raised his sunglasses up so he could blink at his wife. "Um... this is going to be a stupid question... but why is Duo in New York? When did he go there?"

"He went with that Heero fellow... Emily, from the market- sweet girl, really... and... Oh, my. Midii Une."

"My son is in New York with Trowa's ex?"

"Apparently so. He say's they just landed a little bit ago, and Heero had to drop by a friends house to pick something up before they headed towards where Trowa and Quatre were. Oh, my." Cecilia's eyes prickled with tears as she looked up at her husband. "Why are all my children so... spread out. My poor, poor Duo..."

"Ma? Duo? What..." Cecilia and Howard spun around to the sound of their daughter waking up. Delana's indigo eyes blinked at them. "Duo? In New York?"

"Yes, dear," Cecilia rushed to the side of Delana and Cathy's shared bed. The nurses had tried... once... to get Delana back into her own, but to little avail. Cecilia had to smirk at her daughter's tenacity. Tenacity? She was as stubborn as a mule.

"But... what? Why?" Delana tried to sit up. "Why's Duo..."

"MAMA! PAPA! LANA!"

"AUNT CECI!"

Cecilia and Howard turned to stare at the door where Maia and Vanny were rushing into the room. Cecilia caught the speeding girl as her daughter threw herself at her.

"Vanny? I thought that..."

"Mama!" The girl cried.

Cecilia looked up to where a young petite woman was walking into the room. She carried a small brown haired girl, and the man beside her carried and equally small blond boy. Between them was a young girl with black hair pulled into two ponytails.

"Meiran," Cecilia cooed, holding out her hand for her granddaughter. The girl took a step back. Delana blinked.

"Ow, my head hurts," she muttered, then sat up a little more. "Mei-rei. Come to Aunt Lana," she held out her hands. The girl immediately rushed up to the bed.

"Aunt 'Lana," the girl sobbed. "Where's Duo and Wufei?" she sniffled. "I"m scared."

Howard lifted the girl to set her on the foot of the bed... since there wasn't much room anywhere else on the bed for her.

"Megan?" Cecilia asked of the woman.

Meg nodded. "We were... followed. And since we were close to Huntsville, anyway, we drove around and lost them, then decided to come here. The girls were all worried, and truthfully so were we."

"Followed?" Cecilia gasped.

"We lost them," the man assured her in a warm Spanish accent. "Vanny seems to know her way around this city," he chuckled. "She almost lost me... so trust me, we lost them. But I'd still feel safer if all of us were together, rather than all broken up."

Howard nodded as he embraced Maia and Vanny. "I agree, sonny. I fell better with my kids near me. At least I know I can protect them. And protect them I will..."

"Wha's with all th' noise?" Cathy grumbled, turning over. Delana brushed a hand over Cathy's hair.

"Shh. Go back to sleep. Don't worry, Cathy. Everything will be just fine."

Delana looked around her. At her two sisters. At her mother... her father. Her niece. At her friends and their two children. Something dangerous was going on, she thought. She had no idea what it was... but she prayed that she wasn't lying to her love when she said that everything would be fine.

She hoped everything would turn out okay.

#

"You look like shit."

Trowa looked up at the candid bartender. "Aren't you guys supposed to be helpful?" He downed rest of his whiskey shot in one go. The woman, probably no older than thirty or so, glared at him balefully. Her black hair had liberal red streaks in it all over, and all but the slicked over bangs was short and spiky. Kohl lined her black eyes, and made her seem a bit younger than she really was. She wore a black tank top and had multiple piercings in each ear... though none visible anywhere else. Edgy, but not quite over the edge.

Trowa liked her, but truthfully he didn't much care about the bar... or the bartender. All he cared about was getting as drunk as possible, so as forget Quatre. He usually didn't drink, but like all things... if it was worth doing, it was worth *over* doing, as Duo said about the time Trowa'd had to pick him up from a bar he'd gotten thrown out of because he was so drunk he couldn't sit down, much less stand up.

"Name's Rin," the woman said simply. "And I tell the truth. Looks like you've got love problems. Girl cheating on ya?" She steadily filled other patrons' glasses, but it was rather slow in the run-down bar Trowa'd found a few streets over from Sandrock. "Hmm. Maybe you've met someone else and aren't sure what t'do?"

"No," Trowa said softly. "Nothing like that. And it's a *he* not a she," he added quietly.

"Ah. So what's got you down? Or is that the reason you're down?"

"Bartenders giving advice to to the love-lorn is sort of cliche', don't you think?" Trowa asked, motioning for another. She topped his shot glass up with prime Jack before tilting her head.

"So? What's that got t'do with the price of tea in China?"

Trowa chuckled. "Yeah," then he looked at her thoughtfully." What if the person you thought you loved... was someone entirely different than you thought of them as?"

"Huh?"

"If you found out the one you loved had done something terrible... and wasn't sorry for it? And refused to do everything in his power to correct it?"

"I'd ask if what he'd done was really that terrible or if there were shades of gray," the bartender said evenly. "And if you really loved them... it wouldn't matter. True love is unconditional."

"Can you form true love in less than a week?" Trowa asked.

Rin smiled. "True love isn't 'formed' or 'made', pal. True love is *found*."

"Trowa?"

Trowa looked up, shocked and surprised to see, of all people in the world, Duo standing in the door of the bar, flanked by Wufei, Emily, Midii, and Quatre's friend Heero. What the hell? Hadn't he left them in Tennessee? How...

"What..."

"Brother mine, what the hell are you doing in a bar in the seedy side of town?"

"Hey," Rin said. "Heero, don't let your buddies trash talk in my bar. I run a respectable business in a reasonably *more* than *less* than respectable part of town," she grinned with the last part.

"Sorry, Rin," Heero apologized, barely nodding his head. "We're kind of on the run right now."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "On the run? From who or to what?"

"From the bad guys... to Jezzy."

The black eyes narrowed. "But isn't that your dead sister? The one you were all tore up over when you first got here?"

"Apparently she's not that dead," Duo drawled. "Now, Tro, come on. Where's Quatre?"

"Why the hell should I know?" Trowa demanded. The three shots of Jack had loosened his tongue a bit without actually making him drunk. It could not be said that despite his not drinking much he didn't have a good tolerance for alcohol.

"Because he's your husband?" Duo quipped. "Duh."

"I made a mistake," Trowa frowned. "A huge mistake over one night of too much alcohol in Vegas... and some silly notion that just because he made me draw again he was like some sort of saving grace for me. I made a mistake."

"Remember what I just said, pal. Love is found... not formed," Rin said from her station at the bar.

"She's right," Heero nodded. "She usually is. Best advice I've ever gotten comes from her. Well... her and my father."

Heero frowned. He could tell something had happened. Last he'd seen, Trowa'd been head over heels for Quatre. What could have happened in a day that could have Trowa thinking he'd made a mistake? That could have him trying to drown himself with Jack Daniels?

"Wufei." Heero turned towards the Chinese man... by far, with Emily, the sanest of his four companions. Heero handed over one of the two backpacks he'd picked up from a shady apartment just down the block, right before Duo'd seen Trowa through the bar's window. The one he handed over was the smaller of the two. "Corner of Zodiac and Maguanac Streets. Sandrock company HQ. Ask Kim at the front desk. Ask for Quatre or Zechs. Tell her Heero sent you. Don't let that bag out of your sight... and if worse comes to worse... use it. I'm going to see what's wrong with him," he nodded towards Trowa.

Wufei looked worriedly between the two. One of his best friends... or a man he knew nothing about and who could be lying to him. But for all that... Wufei trusted Heero. Somehow...

Wufei nodded, shouldering the camouflage green backpack. "Duo. Come on. We're going to get Quatre and get some answers."

"But... Trowa..."

"Duo. Now," Wufei ordered in a tone that brooked no objections. Duo squeezed his brother's shoulder, and followed his husband.

"Take care of him," Duo growled to Heero. "You don't... then I'll personally take care of you. I don't care if you're Rambo or GI Joe or whoever. I will take you out."

And then Duo was gone... leaving Heero alone with Trowa and a very curious bartender.