Note - Apologies for the delay in updating. This one was a nightmare to write, and is dedicated to Kaeru Shisho, with many, many thanks for providing support, suggestions, lots of lovely reading material while I was utterly blocked, and some delicious goodies!

Finding Sandrock:

It was nearly two years since I'd been to L4. 'Fei and I had visited all the time before then, and then Quat began to dabble in politics, and preferred not to consort too openly with a couple of gay mass-murderers. It felt really odd being back; it would have even without all the hoo-ha surrounding Quatre's disappearance.

The grey light of early morning was already starting to show a pale apricot blush as we drove away the dock; some engineer's idea of a perfect sunrise. Not quite six am, not yet warm enough to need car's air con-system, but we would soon. One of the things I hate about this colony is how they've made the air so artificially warm during the day so that the only way to survive in any comfort is to have everything indoors air-conditioned. I was going to expire in my cashmere and suede once the heat really kicked in.

Tro was concentrating on driving through the traffic; anywhere else, it would have been people going home after a late night on the tiles, but on L4 work starts early. Heero, in the back, had Trowa's laptop balanced on his knee - no idea what he was doing; probably not playing solitaire, anyway - and I was keying contact numbers into the 'phone Steph had lent me on condition that I'd replace it with a brand-new model if anything happened to it, and looking out of the window, watching the first skyscrapers appear as we got closer to the city.

'Tro?' I asked suddenly, reminding of something. 'Those Winner buildings that got blown up. Does anyone know yet what exactly happened.'

'Not yet,' It was Heero who answered. 'Noin was sending in teams to investigate; I don't think they've had the opportunity to analyse any findings yet.'

'Right,' I twisted my head to smile back at him; it just seemed so natural to have him there, happily occupied in his own little laptop-land. Like we'd somehow travelled back in time.

'Can you put on the radio, Duo?' Heero smiled back at me. 'See if you can find a local news channel? Or a current affairs talk show?'

'Sure. What's up?'

'I've been looking at some websites for the local media.' Oh, OK, he hadn't been playing games then. 'There are all sorts of wild theories flying around concerning what may have happened to Quatre. The favourite seems to be that the ESUN is somehow behind it, and that the Preventer investigation will only be a cover-up.'

'That's ridiculous,' Trowa announced. 'I can't believe the media is reporting such nonsense.'

'They will if it's a big enough story,' Heero told us. 'Apparently, there are demonstrations organised for today all over L4, and it may spread to the other Colonies; there are pro-independence groups on all of them, who'll seize any excuse for media coverage.'

'Maybe it's not all that absurd,' I swivelled around in my seat to look at Heero, the hunt for radio channels forgotten. 'Quat's not the most popular guy on Earth, is he? I mean, he's been lobbying for more independence for the Colonies for over a year now. Maybe they got sick of him stirring things up.'

'Of course they didn't, Duo; the ESUN doesn't operate like that. You know Relena would never countenance anything like that.'

'Maybe she doesn't know. It's not like she's Queen of the World anymore, is it? She's just another Head of State. There's probably all sorts of dodgy groups in the ESUN running things behind the scenes.'

Heero sighed. 'I think you've been reading far too many thrillers, my love. Now, the radio, please? I'd like to hear what's being said on air.'

'OK,' I flicked it on, feeling a silly little glow at the endearment he'd used, and the world suddenly whirled out of focus.

'….still no exact details as yet,' the newsreader was saying, 'of the shuttle which exploded just before docking. No information has been released, but it is believed that the shuttle had taken off from Florence, Italy and….'

'Duo!' Heero was saying urgently. 'Duo, it's all right. It can't have been them. Duo!'

'What?' I blinked up at him, not quite able to focus. Tro had pulled the car over, and was leaning over his seat to look at me, and somehow I had teleported from the front seat to the back, and was now slumped against Heero, with his arm around my shoulders. ''Ro, 'Fei and Zechs…they were flying here from Florence.'

'It wasn't them,' he said gently. 'It couldn't have been; there's no way they could have got here this fast. It's OK. Everything's OK.'

'Oh.' Of course, he was right. We'd only been on L4 an hour; there was no way they could have caught up so fast.

'Shush, love,' he murmured. 'Just breathe, all right?'

'It was a Preventers shuttle.' Trowa said quietly. 'They're saying it was some sort of engine malfunction.'

'On a Preventers ship?' Heero wondered. 'With their safety standards, that seems…rather unlikely.' They exchanged glances over my head. 'Noin told me there was a forensics team flying out from Florence; they'd been finishing a case on Earth so they couldn't go with the others. I think I knew some of them.'

'I'm sorry, 'Ro,' I fumbled to take his hand in mine, squeezing gently.

'We'd better move,' Trowa said finally. 'I'm not supposed to be parked here; the last thing we need is some local cop booking us for traffic violations.'

'I didn't know if you still had those attacks or not,' Heero murmured, low enough for Trowa not to hear.

'Apparently,' Trowa commented dryly from the front. Damn, he's always had hearing like a bat.

'Sometimes.' Damn. They'd actually happened too often lately, something I really preferred not to have to think about. I hadn't had one for months until that fight with Ben a few weeks ago; some of the things he'd said to me. That hadn't been a terribly bad attack, as they go. I'd known it was coming; I'd had enough time to pull over and try the deep breathing thing.

I'd known it was coming; I'd had enough time to pull over and try the deep breathing thing. I can usually deal with the panic attacks myself, if they're not too serious; I've always had them to some extent.

Actual blackouts are rare, thankfully. Until all of this happened, I hadn't had one in a year. I'd started driving again; even thought that maybe, if they were really over, I might be able to pilot again one day.

Then I'd had two in the space of a week, both serious. The time with Adam, in the garage at Steel; I still had no exact memory of what I'd done. It really scares the hell out of me when that happens. I'd been out over ten minutes, according to Wufei. That's a fairly long time to lose out of your life, especially when you use it to half-kill a guy, and then punch out one of your best friends..

The second episode, after Quatre's 'phone call, had been the absolute worst. Bad enough that Wufei had given me some sort of sedatives; enough to calm me down, not enough to stop me having nightmares about Heero self-destructing.

I rested my head on Heero's chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart, trying to slow mine down. He'd always been able to talk me out of them, better than anyone. The simple fact of his presence, now, was managing to pull me back to normal.

'You don't want to know how much time and money I've wasted on therapy and I still get them. My therapist says it happens when I get emotionally stressed.' I took a deep breath, trying to hold it for as long as possible and exhaled slowly. 'Stupid PTSD. How long was I out this time?'

'Just a minute. You came to once you heard my voice. '

Some things never change, do they?

'Oh.' Damn, but he felt good. It felt safe. It would have been nice to stay like that for ever; I wrestled that particular temptation back into the box and dialled Wufei instead.

Wufei's cellphone was engaged; Zechs picked up his after the first ring.

'Zechsy? It's me. I just heard about that shuttle accident. Is 'Fei there?'

'I know. We've just been talking to Noin,' he sounded slightly distracted. 'Wufei's trying to find an alternative place to land; they've closed the main shuttle port. I don't think it was an accident, but they're trying to cover it up right now, given the situation on L4.'

'Yeah,' I sighed. 'We've been listening to the news. It's pretty crazy here.'

'Ah, you haven't spent the whole flight snuggled up to Heero then?'

'Actually no,' I retorted, which was perfectly true. Not the whole flight, anyway. Just a fairly significant chunk of it. I was glad he couldn't see my blush anyway, very glad that I hadn't pressed the speaker function and Heero hadn't heard.

'You mean he hasn't made a move, yet? Do you want me to talk to him; maybe give him a few pointers?'

'No, thank you,' I muttered. Heero definitely didn't need any pointers. He never had. Setting the pace would be totally up to me, I'd known that. And that he wouldn't do anything until I was very clear what I wanted. Oh, he'd gone along with my teasing up to a point, but there was a line he wouldn't cross until I'd issue the official invitation.

I could rationalise, now, of all kinds of arguments against sleeping together so soon, but on the shuttle, I knew the reason we hadn't gone further than we had was because he'd stopped.

'He's there with you, isn't he?' Zechs crowed, loving every minute of this. 'You seriously haven't slept with him yet? Christ, Maxwell, I've never met anyone like you for complicating things. Heero's gorgeous, and he's crazy about you. Can't you just enjoy that without worrying?'

'Oh, shut up, Merquise. It's nothing to do with you. And my life would be a lot less complicated if your boyfriend didn't keep trying to run it.'

'Maybe it would help if you didn't let him?' he suggested.

'I actually called to talk to 'Fei, not you. How is he?'

'He should be with you in a minute,' He lowered his voice slightly. 'He's fine; he's calmed down a little bit. Don't take what he said earlier too much to heart. He's just worried about you, and he's scared that you're mad at him for what he said.' His voice dropped a little more, enough that I had to strain to hear. 'You're important to him, Duo, you do realise that, don't you? He's just scared he's going to lose you.'

'Of course he's not going to lose me. He's my best friend.' I mumbled, all too aware of Heero's arm around my shoulders. 'Nothing's ever going to change that.'

'Good. OK, here he is.'

'Duo? Is everything all right? I'm sorry about earlier.'

'No, I'm sorry,' I grinned idiotically into the 'phone. Wufei was safe, and we weren't fighting any more. Sheer relief. 'I shouldn't have hung up on you.'

'Typical Maxwell response,' he teased. 'Run and hide. You heard about the shuttle blast, didn't you? We're being diverted to another port, but we should be with you by lunch time at the latest. We'll come and pick you up, and we can head straight back home.'

There was a pause. 'Is that all right?'

'I guess.' OK, it wasn't perfect, but Trowa was determined to stay here, and Heero had pretty much said he'd stay with Tro, at least for a couple of days, and ….'This was all pretty stupid of me, wasn't it? I've just been worried about Quat and then I guessed what Tro was up to and just felt I had to do something. Maybe not the smartest thing I've ever done, huh?'

'Possibly,' Wufei said dryly, 'but then you have done some incredibly stupid things. Duo, I'd better go; I'll see you soon. Take care.'

'You too.'

'Is everything OK?' Heero asked quietly.

'I think so. I'll be going back to Earth with them.'

'That's probably for the best. I'm sorry, Duo, but it's the sensible thing to do.'

Sensible, yeah.

'What's going to happen? You're staying, aren't you?'

'For a few days.' His arm tightened around me. 'If you don't mind? I'll be able to keep you updated on what's going on, and I'll be here in case Trowa needs me.'

In case anyone tried to finger Tro as a suspect again, he meant. It was possible that Trowa might need a friendly lawyer close by, plus Heero has all sorts of connections. It made perfect sense. That didn't' mean I had to like it. We'd be on opposite sides of the world for an indefinite period of time, with nothing really resolved between us.

'And then what happens? When you get back to Earth?'

'It might be nice to have a date that doesn't get interrupted, for a start.' He grinned at me. 'And I think we need to sit down and talk things out, don't you? Decide what we both want?'

I tried to smile back, but it was hard. Of course, he was right; that was exactly what we needed to do. Talk and make sensible, mature, adult decisions about our respective futures and what we both wanted.

I didn't know when I'd get to see him again, even if he did come straight back to Earth. It wasn't like I'd be able to share his house on a 'friend' basis again; to go back to sleeping in his guest room, and making polite conversation over the breakfast table - not when my mouth and skin and every nerve ending I possessed were clamouring to be touched by him.

I wasn't sure where that left us. Nowhere I particularly liked. The thought of staying with Wufei and Zechs, and meeting Heero whenever he had some time to spare from his job didn't sound very appealing. My reality for the immediate future was a court case, engineered by my closest friend. That prospect kept looming up in unguarded moments and wasn't pretty.

'Oh, Duo,' I was suddenly wrapped in an embrace that threatened to crush my bones as well as several major organs. 'Don't look like that. Please. I meant everything I said earlier, I swear. I want to be with you just tell me what you want.'

What I wanted. Sure. Right after I figured out exactly what in hell that was..

Well, that was the vital question, wasn't it? Reluctantly, I had to agree that he'd been right about one thing; we did need space and time just to sit down together and talk this whole thing through. Letting him sweep me off my feet probably wasn't going to solve anything in the long run, tempting and all though it might be.

'If you could tear your hands off him for one second, Heero, we're here.'

One brief look at Heero and I knew we both had the same thought; how unlikely a place this was for Quatre to be. Sure, he'd stayed in some pretty squalid safe houses during the War, but since then, it had been glittering skyscrapers and marble mansions all the way.

It was hard to envisage him in a place like this. Towering apartment blocks that shut out the sky; some were plainly still under construction, but others looked like they'd been abandoned half-finished, and others looked like they were falling down, surrounded by rubble. Building companies get some sort of grants on L4 for providing low-income housing; the trouble is, the money's paid out before the buildings are completed, so half the time, they're just abandoned while the construction firm moves on to an urgent new project. Quote, unquote.

'Right,' Trowa unfolded his long legs and stood. 'According to Noin, Quatre's email originated from that building over there.' He pointed. 'I'll check it. Duo, can you wander around and maybe talk to some locals. See if anyone's seen anything.'

'I'll go with you,' Heero announced instantly as Trowa walked away.

Oh-kay. No way was that going to work. He'd taken undercover missions when he'd been a Preventer, but that had been years ago. No one would ever take him for a causal bystander anymore; he had law enforcement stamped all over him.

I looked at him, trying to think of a polite way to tell him he'd stick out a mile, and decided just to say it.

'Sorry, 'Ro. You'd stick out too much,' I gave him an apologetic little smile. 'You just look way too - official.'

'I do not!'

'Trust me, you do.' He'd gone for the 'smart casual' look for our date; a duck-egg blue shirt that set off his eyes perfectly, and darker pants. Miraculously, he still looked as neat and pressed as when he'd picked me up from the Sanque Embassy the day before.

I was more on the 'ratty and rumpled' side; my snazzy cashmere and suede designer clothes hadn't coped up too well with snuggling up to Heero, not to mention lying on the floor of Steph's cabin, but that would fit in OK with my image of bored, well-heeled tourist looking for some fun on the wrong side of the tracks before going back to some fancy hotel for breakfast.

Heero couldn't have looked more like a Preventer than if he'd had a flashing neon halo announcing the fact. 'Maybe you could stay here and guard the car?'

He shot me a withering look that told me exactly what he thought of that suggestion. 'You can't just go off by yourself. You're not even wearing a wire! What if something goes wrong?'

'Heero, chill. Nothing's going to happen. I'll call if I need back-up. Hell, I won't be going far; you'll probably hear me if I raise my voice.'

He gave me a look that was on the disgruntled side of indecisive.

'Trust me, babe, OK?'

He grimaced at the name; he'd always hated me calling him that. No one was watching us, so I reached over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. 'I'll be fine. Don't worry.'

'Hn.'

God, I seriously couldn't imagine Quatre Winner somewhere like this. He contributed huge amounts to charity but he'd probably never visited places like this in person to see just how less fortunate mortals had to live. Sure, we'd stayed in all kinds of shitty places during the War, but since then it had all been boardrooms and ballrooms for him.

OK, deep breath, Maxwell. Quat was tough; way tougher than he looked. He'd be all right.

There weren't that many people around, that early in the morning; a couple of guys hanging around, elaborately casual, and trying to melt into the landscape, whom I straightaway pegged as the Preventers Noin had assigned to keep a watch. Otherwise, an elderly couple were opening up a café; a few people were straggling off to a bus stop. All busy and probably wouldn't appreciate being asked a few simple questions by a perfect stranger.

I tried, anyway. I bought a cup of tea at the just-opened café; helped a young woman life her baby-stroller over some rough pavement, bought a newspaper from a street-vendor. I tried to open a conversation with every single one of them, did my best to charm the hell out of them, and not one little fishy was biting.

It looked like every last person in this neighbourhood had been afflicted with chronic blindness in the past twenty-four hours. What I needed someone who was just hanging around, watching the traffic; someone who needed a cash injection.

Eureka!

There were four of them in a straggly, loose knot at one corner; two boys in their mid teens and two younger girls. The girls melted away behind the crumbling stonework as I approached; the older boy struck a pose that made the most of too-tight jeans and a fitted mesh top and shook back his shoulder-length red hair. Probably supposed to be provocative.

'How's business?'

'You buyin'?'

'Maybe. How much?'

The boys both looked me over, taking in the Italian designer clothes, and exchanged glances. The redhead suggested a price that made me raise my eyebrows. 'For that, you get me for one hour. And nothing too weird.'

'You must be joking! For that, I'd expect both of you for the full day. And anything I wanted.' I flicked my braid over one shoulder, trying hard to sound nonchalant.

Fuck. If I even started to think about what I was saying to these kids, I'd start to fall apart. 'And I mean, anything.'

They swapped glances; the red haired guy giving his buddy a vaguely perceptible nod. Good, they were desperate enough to consider it, to talk about the things no one else apparently was going to. And that might just mean they were desperate enough to peddle some information. 'We can .. maybe come to some agreement. Special deal for our first customer. I'm Nathan, this is Ali if you're interested. What's your best price?'

'We'll talk about that in just a minute. What I'm really interested in right now is some information. I think a friend of mine might have been here yesterday; blonde guy, my age, bit shorter than me. Think you might have seen him?' I tapped the wallet in my hip pocket with one finger. 'I'll be happy to pay for it.'

The kid's eyes glanced furtively over my shoulder, towards one of the - ahem! - undercover Preventers. God, wouldn't that make things perfect? If I got arrested for soliciting sex with underage kids?

'You're with those guys?'

I snorted, hiding a grin. So much for their attempts to blend in with the locals. 'Do me a favour! You think they could stick out more if they really tried? Know what they're looking for?'

'Dunno.' Two identical, ostentatious shrugs. 'They were asking all sortsa questions, before you came. Lookin' for some guy.'

'Must be an important guy, huh? You know what he did?'

'Screw this,' Ali said suddenly, jumping up. 'I'm not getting into this shit. Nat, it's your ass if anyone finds out you talked. I'm heading over to the bathhouse. Might pick up some trade there.'

Nathan shivered slightly; I didn't blame him, if bathhouses here were anything like they'd been on L2. I'd never been into one; they cost money or favours and Solo'd never allowed it, but I'd heard stuff. We used to hang around outside sometimes, waiting for the guys to come out all scrubbed and shiny and mellow; easy marks for pick-pocketing. 'How much will you pay?'

'Enough to get your little sisters some new clothes. And a few good meals. Maybe a place to stay for a while?'

He gave me a terse little duck of his chin. Poor sod. Just a kid trying to survive, and look after his sisters.

'You saw something, didn't you?'

Another reluctant nod.

'You saw him? My friend?'

'Nah.' He shook his head, red hair falling over his face, and brushed it back with one hand, twisting a few hairs around one finger. The exact same as the little nervous gesture I've never managed to break. 'There's this guy. Kyle. He stands here mostly. He's a mate, you know? Lets us stay in his place sometimes when he's working.'

'I know.'

'Sure you do,' he said sarcastically. 'I saw him yesterday, just for a sec. He was talking about some guy he'd meant. Sounded like your friend. Blond. Good-lucking, yeah?'

I nodded, trying to work out how the hell Quatre Winner had got himself into this.

'Kyle said he was real cute.' He suddenly realised he was playing with his hair, thrust both hands into his pockets. 'They killed him.'

Shit. Shit. 'My friend? Someone killed him?'

Nathan, thank God, shook his head firmly. 'Nah. Kyle,' he dashed one hand across his eyes, daring me to comment. 'I think your friend was OK. He sounded pretty tough; from what Kyle was saying. He was talking about this blond guy who'd knifed Harry Mitchell. He's this big guy who hangs around - hung - and pimps for some of the guys.'

Oh fuck. My mind was swirling in all sorts of weird places; Quatre abducted by shadowy forces within the ESUN or alternatively running around the L4 slum districts killing people.

'What happened, Nat? What did you see?' It took a huge effort to remain calm, not to grab the kid and physically shake him until the truth came out. All those meditation sessions with 'Fei were obviously paying off.

He haltingly told me the rest of the wretched facts, not much but enough. I didn't think he was faking; it's hard to fake shock like that. He'd seen his friend shot down in the street by a group of men who'd moved in military formation. They'd gone into the building where Kyle lived and emerged later with a body slung over one of their shoulders. Hiding in the shadows with his little sisters and desperately trying to keep them quiet, Nat hadn't been able to see anything else.

He'd thought the person was alive though; just because they'd been carrying him carefully.

The word had gone around, later, that nothing had happened; that no one had seen anything. Nat hadn't elaborated on that; he hadn't needed to. I'd grown up in places like this. I knew how fast information could travel.

'That's all I know. I swear.' Nat licked his lips nervously. 'You wanna find a place now? I'll give you a good price.'

'Not now.' I took out my wallet, peeled off a wad of notes that made his eyes widen. 'Why don't you take your sisters and get them some breakfast? Whatever that café has cooking smells good.'

He nodded; not quite sure how to handle this situation; not quite sure he trusted this much good fortune would come without some sort of catch. It wouldn't, of course. He'd told me way too much. I wasn't sure if he'd been that desperate for cash, or if he just wanted to talk about what had happened to his friend.

'Listen. Those new faces hanging around this morning? They're the good guys. They'll help you, if you tell them what you just told me.'

'The good guys?' he scoffed. 'How would I know one of them?'

'Ask to see the badge. If they're genuine, there'll be this little hologram of a dove. Like a picture in silver.' Well, there would be if they were either genuine Preventers, or if they knew the same forgers Heero apparently did. 'If they're not - '

'Shit, man, I know what to do if they're not.' Nat looked at me as if I were an idiot and then disappeared in the direction his sisters had taken.

I had to take a couple of deep breaths before taking out my cellphone.

'Heero? It's me, no, I'm fine. Listen, I need you to call Noin and ask a favour. There're three kids here and they saw something, but they're scared to say too much. Can you get her agents to pick them up and bring them somewhere safe? Yeah, and make sure to tell them to ID themselves as Preventers, not clients. It's a boy of about fourteen and two little girls, all with red hair. They're hanging around outside one of the derelict houses near the apartment. They'll need a good meal and someone to look after them a bit. Listen, I'll meet at the entrance to that building, OK?'

I hung up and called Trowa, giving him directions to where Nat had said Kyle lived.

'We'll meet you there in a sec. I think Quat was there last night.'

Once inside the building, I headed for the stairs; Heero for the elevators. That made me smile; he's so innocent sometimes about things.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you, 'Ro. It won't be working in a place like this, and you probably don't want to know what the locals use it for instead.' Yeah, an over-crowded building, probably not much of a water supply, or basic hygiene facilities. The elevator was bound to be…unpleasant.

'What are you talking about?' The elevator doors swung open and he gave me an odd look. 'It's fine. The janitor must have just been here.'

Yeah; places like this have maintenance staff; I don't think so. I actually took a step back; it was that freaky. It was clean. Not even a scrawl of graffiti on the walls, let alone anything else. The air was still heavy with the smell of some sort of cleaning product.

'I think we'll walk up.'

'Seven floors?' He lifted an eyebrow. 'What's wrong? What did you find out?'

'I'll tell you when we meet Tro. There's something weird about this. Look, can we just take the stairs and I'll tell you when we get upstairs. Race you to the top?'

I beat him, just about, but only because I'd cheated, taking off while he was still poised to step into the elevator. The interesting thing was that we must have made a lot of noise, clattering up those flights of stairs, but not one person looked out to see what was happening.

Kyle's room, like I'd expected, had been given the same ruthless sanitation routine. On top of that, it was totally empty.

Trowa was slumped against the door frame.

'What boy?' Trowa stood up straight. 'Duo, what's going on? Who told you about this room?'

'Just listen, OK?' They did, letting me tell the whole sordid little story. They both looked ready to commit murder when I'd finished.

'He must have given you the wrong directions' Heero said. 'This can't be the right place; there's no one even living in here.'

'No, this is it,' Trowa said definitely. 'You're not going to get empty rooms in an overcrowded place like this. Even if someone moved out of this place, someone else would take it over straightaway, and they sure wouldn't bother to give a good scrub first.'

I looked over at Trowa. 'You didn't check the elevator, did you? That's been all cleaned up as well. Guess someone's got something to hide, huh?'

'Looks like they did a thorough job,' Tro commented. One hand swept the bangs away from his forehead. 'What the fuck is going on with all of this? If we'd got here earlier, of those damn Preventers had done their job properly…fuck!'

'If Quat were really here, he might have left some sort of a sign,' I suggested. 'Come on, this is Quatre Winner we're talking about. If he knew he was being chased, and he must have known they were after him, and that someone would trace the signal from his email, he'd try to--

'Yes,' I could see the first tendril of hope stirring in Trowa's eyes, the idea that maybe we could salvage something from all of this. 'He'd do that. There must be something…'

We divided up the room between us, with me getting the door and its frame. In truth, there wasn't a lot to search; shabby walls, torn linoleum on the floor. I could see Heero didn't think much of the idea, that he was playing along to humour us both.

Maybe he was right. Damn. I didn't know what I was even expecting. A nice little carving saying Quatre Raberba Winner was here, April 2nd 203? QRW heart TB? Yeah, sure. Then I saw it.

'Shit! What's--?'

No… yes, it was a little doodle of Sandrock's crossed blades….

'I've got it. It's Sandrock!'

'What?' Heero actually glanced toward the door, as if a Gundam might suddenly materialise there.

'Here! Look, it's Quatre's little drawing of Sandrock.'

'Duo, it's just an imperfection in the wood. That's all.'

I snorted. 'This isn't wood, 'Ro. It's some sort of crappy imitation; no grain. It's Sandrock; that little doodle Quat does all the time.'

'He's right,' Trowa elbowed Heero out of the way. 'He's always having to get documents recopied because he draws on them. He was here. We need to call Preventers now. We've got proof.'

'It's an official crime scene,' I agreed. 'They'll need to seal it off, talk to everyone. Shit. Quat was brought up here by the guy who lives here. They would have taken the stairs. A forensics team might be able to find something else.'

'Duo…'Heero was looking at me as if I'd lost it. 'We can't seal off an entire building full of people. The Preventers already talked to them.'

'This building is full of immigrants; there's no way the illegal ones want to talk to the authorities, even the ones with some sort of permits know how easy they can be deported. They're not going to volunteer information for nothing, not if they think they'll get into trouble. You need a full scale investigative team here, and they'll need to lean on people. Heero, either you call Noin now or one of us will.'

'Fine.' He took out his cellphone. 'I'll do it.'

'Thanks, babe,' I flashed him a quick grin as I reached over to press the speaker function as he dialled. No point only getting one side of a conversation.

'Noin? Yuy here. We have a new development.' He started to fill her in, with me prompting, then stopped suddenly gesturing me to stop talking. 'Lucrezia, I think it's time we stopped this masquerade. We both know Duo's here with me. I need his presence on L4 sanctioned.

'Yes, I know you don't have that authority. Commander Une does. I need you to get her to authorise a statement saying that Duo's indispensable to this investigation. From her, that will override the court documents.'

'Heero, you know I can't do something like that.'

'Yes, you can. Duo's only been on L4 a couple of hours, he's already found three possible eye-witnesses, he's located the room where Quatre was being held, and he's found a clue that Quatre left. All of which your agents missed or ignored. In addition, he's Winner's closest friend. Now I need you to contact Une straightaway; if there's a problem, tell her to call me. Also, Duo's going to need some sort of authority to issue orders. Right, I'll talk to you later.'

'You really think Une's going to agree to any of that?' He nodded. 'You know, you could have just done that hours ago and made things a lot easier.'

'I was trying to keep you out of it,' he said tersely.

'Asshole,' I muttered.

'Baka,' he retorted.

'So … what does 'reasonable authority' mean, anyway? That I get to boss everyone around?'

'No!' He looked like he seriously regretted having said that. 'It means…..you have the authority to make reasonable requests of Noin's agents, if you believe they're necessary.'

'You do realise that there are many ways to define reasonable, don't you?'

Heero raised his eyes to Heaven. 'Behave yourself, Maxwell.'

'Or what? You'll give me a spanking?' I stuck my tongue out at him, grinning.

'God, don't tempt me! And don't stick that out unless you're prepared to use it.'

'I might be.' Trowa's back was to us, studying the little drawing of Sandrock like it was the Mona Lisa or something. The building was going to be a hornet's nest of Preventer agents in the very near future, so it seemed a pity to waste that little bit of privacy.