Disclaimer - They are not mine. I am doing this solely for the fun of it.

Waiting for Heero to Call:

'They're refusing to tell me anything,' Trowa flung the 'phone down and glared at it. 'Apparently the Winners have issued strict instructions that no information is to be given out on Quatre's condition, except to people they've approved.. Duo, haven't you found anything on their computer records yet?'

'Nada, Tro. I'm sorry.' I glanced up from my laptop, where I'd been doing a little light hacking. Wufei was in his study, looking up flights to L4, and Zechs was beside me on the couch, simultaneously monitoring the news channels for updates and fielding 'phone calls from practically everyone we knew who'd heard the news.

According to their homepage, the Green Oasis Clinic treated all the L4 elite, and hacking into their heavily encrypted records had posed an interesting challenge. 'They have him down as being admitted to Emergency less than an hour ago, but nothing else.'

'They haven't had a lot of time to update, especially if he's still in ICU,' Wufei remarked, coming down the stairs. 'Trowa, we've just missed the early morning shuttle to L4 - the next isn't until one this afternoon.'

'That's too fucking late; there must be something before then. I can't just wait around for hours not knowing...surely I can take a connecting flight or hire a private shuttle?'

'I've tried, Trowa. I've looked into all that but you'd just spend hours waiting around for connections; you wouldn't actually get there any faster. I've booked seats for both of us; you'll want someone with you.'

'No, I'ml going with him.'

Oops, had I just said that? I didn't - I really didn't - want to go to L4. It probably made me a horrible, evil person, not to want to rush to Quatre's bedside, but his voice was still echoing in my brain, all those things he'd said.

'You can't seriously have ever thought that Heero would ever want to stay with you?'

Well, they were all staring at me, so I'd obviously said something. Damn.

'Duo, you don't have to….feel this is something you have to do, alright ? I'll understand if you never want to see Quatre again...Oh, fuck! This is all my fault. I should have been there to protect him. This would never happened if I hadn't left him alone.'

'Tro, you don't know that. You don't even know what's happened for sure.'

'I'm going to call Relena,' Zechs announced suddenly. 'That clinic won't dare refuse to give her any information.' He took off to the kitchen, Wufei following and saying something about making tea.

'Heero,' I said suddenly. 'He's on L4 right now - he'll be able to find out what's going on. Let me the 'phone.' I speed-dialled 01 and it was answered almost before it had a chance to complete one full ring.

'Duo? Are you alright?'

'I - yes, I'm fine.Thank you.' He always started off asking how I was, like he actually cared or something.'It's Quatre. I guess you haven't seen the news this morning, have you? He's been admitted to hospital, he's critical and we can't find out anything..'

'What hospital? The Green Oasis? Right, wait one minute,' I could hear him rapping out questions to someone. 'Duo? My assistant is getting their number now; apparently, the Clinic's only about a twenty minute drive from here, so I'll leave as soon as I get a car and...' He broke off again and I could distantly hear a female voice talking in the background, and Heero grinding his teeth impatiently. Or maybe he was grinding some poor lackey's bones into flour. He must be hell to work for.

'No, I don't have time to wait for a cab...fine then; just give me your keys...Duo, I have to hang up for a minute. I'll try calling the Clinic while I'm in the car...I assume Trowa's there with Quatre?'

'No, he's here with us. Look, that's not important now. Heero, we need you to find out what's wrong with Quatre. Even if the Clinic won't talk to you, you're friendly with one of his sisters, aren't you? You should be able to find out something.'

'Mission accepted,' he said drily and the 'phone went dead.

'He's on his way to the clinic. And he'll call back as soon as he knows anything.'

I fiddled with my laptop and Trowa paced around the room, doing a realistic impression of a caged lion.

'For fuck's sake, Duo, how long can it take him to make a bloody 'phone call?'

We both dived on the 'phone when it rang five minutes later, but it wasn't Heero; it was Cathy. She's a sweet girl, but hell to get off the line. When Trowa eventually convinced her to hang up (by putting the 'phone down) Heero had already called and left a message.

'Duo? It's me. Sorry, I took so long, there seems to be some sort of problem with your cellphone. I couldn't get through to the Clinic but I've just spoken to Yasmina Winner. They think he's out of danger. He took some sort of overdose; he's had his stomach pumped and they don't think there should be any complications. I'm just driving into the Oasis car park now; I'll call you back once I've found out exactly what's going on, alright?'

'He tried to kill himself,' Trowa said bleakly, sagging down on the couch beside me. 'Because I left.'

'Tro...he's alive. That's the important thing, right? Anything else can be fixed.'

'Yeah.' He slumped against me, as if he just couldn't even handle his own weight any more. Trowa Barton, the one who had it all together, needing my support. It had only happened once before, in all the years we'd been friends, and I knew he had to be reliving it.

'He swore, the last time, that he'd never do it again.'

'I know. I know, Tro. I was there too.' Oh, God, I thought I'd managed to lock those particular memories securely away, with a very large neon 'Keep Out' sign and guard dogs equipped with razor-sharp fangs.

Trowa on one side of the hospital bed and me on the other, each of us holding one of Quat's hands. and Quatre looking so small, and so pale because he'd lost so much blood and at the start the doctors weren't sure if he'd make it, even after the transfusions.

He should have been the one to have it easy after the War. The only one of us who'd ever had fairytales read to him as a child, the only one to believe in happy endings. I think he was the only one who believed that, after all we'd done, we were entitled to a happy ever after.

And Quatre was our prince, the one with a huge family who adored him, a boyfriend who loved him more than life, and all the trappings that came with his position as the Winner heir.

Yeah, like the adoring family who weren't quite so adoring when they found out that their precious Quatre was gay, and very much involved and in love with another man, and had no intention of changing. I'd never found out exactly what they'd said to him, but for Quatre, whatever they'd said couldn't have been so bad as sensing what they'd privately felt about him. Whatever, he'd slashed his wrists about four months after the end of the War, less than a week after returning home to L4.

'He promised me, Duo.' Trowa repeated, sounding like he couldn't quite believe what had happened.

I slid out one arm around his shoulders, and he somehow ended up sprawling half-on, half-off the couch, with his head in my lap. I reached out and stroked the long hair back from his face, the way Quatre used to do, teasing himthat there had to be two eyes hidden there somewhere.

'You don't have to come to L4 with me. Wufei already offered.'

'It's OK. If Wu goes, Zechs will insist on going with him, and then I'll have to go anyway, just to keep the two of them from getting arrested for gross impropriety.'

'I shouldn't be involving you in all this. I can understand if you're furious with Quatre right now. Hell, I'm furious with him right now.'

'Honestly, I don't know how I feel right now,' I said wearily. 'My therapist always says I have serious problems with expressing anger; maybe he's right for once.' I still hadn't really had time to think about it; whenever my mind skittered anywhere near the subject of Quatre Winner, I could his voice, flaying every insecurity I possessed.

Instead, I started to flick channels; they were mostly showing the same pictures over and over again; shots of Quatre's family arriving at the clinic, surrounded by bodyguards, interspersed with earnest discussions on what could have happened, an assassination attempt being the most popular theory.

There was also some old footage of Quatre with his 'fiancee' - I couldn't remember her name - Daphne? Della? - on the night they'd announced their engagement.

'Did she know? That it was all a set-up?'

Trowa shifted slightly. 'She knew it was a - business arrangement. Arranged marriages are still fairly common there, especially among the upper classes. She was happy enough with it, given that her parents had been trying to marry her off to a sixty year old widower with seven children.'

'Did she know about you two?'

'I would imagine so. She's not quite so flaky as she looks on TV; she thought she should look deliriously happy and overdid it a bit…. It's...not unknown on L4, Duo. I suppose it's accepted provided the men are outwardly leading flawless family lives and no one disturbs the status quo.'

'Like Quatre wanted to do, right?' Well, he'd wanted to do it once, was adamant that he loved Trowa, wasn't remotely ashamed of their relationship, and had no intention of pretending otherwise, just to keep people happy.

'I suppose.' He looked terrible. His eyes are beautiful, on the rare occasions they're visible, but it hurt now just to look at them, to see the anguish he was going through. And he was way too young to have that crease developing between his brows. 'He only ever wanted to...shit, there's the 'phone!'

He grabbed it, flicking the silent button. Something that we never do; it was like losing one of my senses, listening to the one-way conversation.

'Heero, how is he? No, it's Trowa. Yes, he's here; he's beside me. Quat is going to be alright? You're sure he...what? No, I already have...early this afternoon... ..I've already made reservations...Duo, probably...yes, he said he………they did what? ...oh, no they can't fucking do that, Yuy...I don't care, I'm going...what the fuck do you mean, restraining order?... Of course I'm going to see him...listen, Yuy, I'm going to see Quat and nothing is going to stop me...No, Heero, you can't possibly imagine that I'm just going to wait here and ...well, screw you...just because you could stay away from your own boyfriend when he...'

'This isn't about Heero and me!' I hissed, snatching the 'phone from him. 'Let me talk to him!'

'Fine. But you can bloody tell him that I'm going to see Quatre and I don't care who tries to stop me.'

'Heero? Are you still there?' Absently, I watched Trowa stalk out, heading for my room, probably to pack. 'What the hell is going on? What restraining order?'

'The Winners have had one issued against Trowa if he comes anywhere near Quatre or attempts to contact him.'

'What? They can't do that! Don't they have to have some sort of reason?'

'This is L4, Duo. The Winners could have the tooth fairy arrested if they chose to. And... according to Yasmina, they do have a reason. Apparently several members of Quatre's household staff have testified that they overheard Trowa shouting at Quatre and that on at least one occasion, Quat had bruises which he claimed were caused by falling down the stairs. Do you have any idea what's going on?'

'I don't know exactly what happened.' I hedged. 'I know they've been having problems but..., are you serious about Tro not being able to see him?'

'God, yes. Duo, he'll be arrested as soon as he steps off the shuttle. Can you persuade him to stay there, at least until I get in to see Quatre and get this stupid order lifted?'

'OK. Look, just hang on for a minute, please?' I yelled for Zechs and Wu and gave them a quick rundown on what was happening. 'Just knock him on the head or tie him up or something. But he can't go to L4.'

'How soon do you think they'll let you see Quat?'

'I don't know, Duo. Most of his family is here and the doctors won't want him having too many visitors at first. I'll let you know as soon as I can.'

'OK. I - thanks. I know this is terrible timing, with your trial starting today and everything.'

'It would be, if it hadn't been cancelled.' Even from half the world away, I could hear the snap of frustration in his voice.' My client decided that an L4 courtroom would be less than sympathetic to a sixteen year old girl who wants to go to University, rather than marrying a contemporary of her father's.'

'Oh. Heero, I'm sorry. But can't you...appeal somewhere, even if you did lose? Take it to the ESUN or somewhere?'

'I could, of course, but by current legislation a case can only be appealed if the person making the appeal presents his or her own case. Even if I could persuade a shy teenage girl who's never been outside her home without her mother or aunts to travel to Earth, her family would disown her for the shame she' brought on them. Johara isn't prepared for that.'

'That sucks.'

'It does, yes.' He was silent for a few moments, and I supposed he was getting ready to say goodbye. Then - 'How's the shuttle design going?'

'Oh, fine.' This is what Heero and I talk about these days; work. Well, mostly his to be honest. He's a human rights lawyer and a lot of his cases get media attention, so I usually know what he's working on. We do sometimes talk about mutual friends, or politics, and at Sally's wedding, we'd actually had a conversation about a movie we'd both seen, but mostly work is a nice, safe, impersonal topic.

'I - um - should probably let you go.' I didn't want to, but somehow it was a little less painful if I was the one to suggest it.

'I'll call you as soon as I talk to Quatre. Try to stop Trowa doing anything stupid.'

He didn't say goodbye; we never had, and it was one habit that had somehow survived everything else.

Zechs stuck his head in the door.

'Trowa decided to take a little nap.' He was grinning in a way that suggested the little nap hadn't been entirely voluntary.

'Oh, God. Did you really knock him on the head?'

'Not exactly. My clever brilliant boyfriend gave him tea with sedatives in it. He'll be asleep for the next few hours. What exactly is going on anyway? I thought we were all going to L4.'

Heero called back late that night. Quatre had approved the restraining order and was apparently considering pressing charges for assault.

The next couple of days were a nightmare. Tro vacillated between being furious with us from stopping him storming off to L4 anyway, furious with Quatre and furious with himself.

Quatre was kept in ICU for slightly longer than expected, owing to 'unforeseen complications', which were never explained.

Zechs and I watched the first press conference he held from his private ward. He apologised for causing so much pain and anxiety to his family and especially his 'beloved fiancee' and explained how he had arrived home late, following a long and stressful day, and suffering from a severe headache. He had taken the incorrect dosage of painkillers, which he claimed was due to inaccurate labelling on the bottle, and he planned to raise this issue with the Product Safety Standards division of the ESUN. He was determined, he said, to force all pharmaceutical companies to revise and clarify instructions on all medications, particularly potentially lethal ones, because 'no other family should ever have to suffer such trauma, which could so easily have been avoided.'

'He's something else, isn't he? I can't imagine anyone else who would manage to turn his own failed suicide attempt into some sort of personal crusade. The media is going to lap this up.'

'Mmm.' I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. My laptop was open on my knee; I'd just hacked into the Green Oasis website again to take a look at Quat's medical file.

He'd taken about four times the recommended amount of pills.

And the dosage would have made him sick, but there was no way that it could have been lethal, unless he'd had some sort of allergy.