Disclaimer - I do not own any part of Gundam Wing and I am writing this purely for fun.

Note - Many thanks to Kaeru Shisho for the edits and suggestions; to Dyna and Wolfje, whose reviews of chapter 46 inspired the second half of this one; and to everyone who's been reviewing.

Warning - Cliff-hanger of Doom…..

Intensive Caring:

'Well now,' Heero wolf-whistled at me when I came out of the bathroom. 'You look nice.'

'Nice?' I threw him a mock glare. 'I get all dressed up, in the clothes that you picked out for me, and all I get is nice?'

Even I'd thought I rated a bit higher than that, glancing at myself in the bathroom mirror. He'd bought me a slate-grey linen suit, the sort of thing Zechs wears all the time, and a funky plum-coloured, silk t-shirt to go underneath.

'Very nice,' he amended, smirking. 'I'd say you looked so good in those clothes that I want to rip them off and ravish you, but I'm trying to get you accustomed to compliments gradually.'

'Good save, Yuy,' I muttered, letting him slide one arm around my waist, and pull me against him.

'You look fantastic,' he breathed, flicking his tongue around the shell of my ear. 'Did everything fit all right?'

'Everything fit perfectly,' I said politely, knowing just what he was asking. Along with the snazzy designer clothes, he'd ordered me a selection of underwear; some simple cotton briefs and a couple of pairs of boxers in pure silk, just a shade darker than my eyes, exactly like he'd promised.

'And?'

'And maybe you'll just have to find out for yourself. Later.' I grinned. 'But you'll be glad to know that - everything - fit exactly right. I think I'm going to hire you as my personal shopper, by the way.'

'Good,' he positively purred. 'I like dressing you. I take it I'm giving satisfaction so far?'

'Adequate,' I grinned. 'We're going to have to work on your stamina, though.'

He snorted. 'Speak for yourself, Maxwell. I seem to remember you coming in the bath before I'd scarcely touched you.'

'It was the way you were looking at me,' I defended myself, 'and what you were saying.' I shivered suddenly in his arms, remembering.

'I know, it's still hard to believe, isn't it?' He cradled my chin in one hand, tilting it up slightly, and I wondered if it would be physically possible just to be absorbed into his eyes, if I stared into them long enough. His other hand slid down to take mine in a firm hold. 'It's partly why I was scared to fall asleep last night, that I'd wake up and you'd be gone.'

'Oh, my love. I'm here. Always.'

Damn, I could feel the prickle of tears again. I'd lost it in the bath, less than an hour earlier; I'd started crying for all the years we hadn't had together, all that lost time, but I'd thought I was pretty much all cried out.

Apparently not.

'I'm very glad to hear that.' The hand on my chin slid around to stroke my face, teasing loose some of the hair from my right temple.

''Ro, seriously; if you keep doing that, we'll never leave this room.'

'Would that be so terrible?' The smile in his eyes died slowly, as he brushed some loose strands of hair aside. 'Love, you're starting a massive bruise just there. If Chang sees it, he'll be after me with a blunt katana.'

'I won't let him hurt you,' I promised. 'We…should probably go, actually. I called him a few minutes ago and said I was on my way.'

He let my hand fall as we walked out the door, and I grabbed it back. 'You said you weren't going to let me go ever again, remember?'

'Of course. I just wasn't sure if you'd want to - advertise it.'

'I think everyone in the universe knows I'm gay at this stage, pretty much. And I don't care if people know we're together.'

'Good,' he held my hand all the way to the steps of the main hospital, tightly enough to turn my bones to powder. It was kind of strange - he'd never given a damn about what people thought, but I'd never been all that comfortable with the public display thing, especially not in a conservative place like L4.

A couple of student nurses did stare at us but in a way that suggested they thought we were kind of cute, rather than hopeless perverts, but most of the other people around seemed more than occupied with their own concerns.

'See you later?' He asked when we were standing outside the main door.

'Later,' I affirmed. 'Ah, 'Ro, you might want to let me go now.'

'I don't want to,' he gave my hand a last squeeze and reluctantly let go. 'Call me if you need anything.'

I nodded, not quite meeting his eyes. 'Yeah. This is …hard, isn't it? Saying goodbye?'

'It isn't goodbye,' he told me firmly. 'I'll probably be at Preventers most of the day, but we could have dinner later, if you liked?' He grinned at me. 'Order room service again?'

'I'd like that.' I could feel myself blushing furiously. 'I, ah, didn't realise you'd reserved that room for tonight.'

His eyes warmed as he smiled at me. 'It's ours for as long as we want. You said you wanted to live there, remember? Although I may have to sell Honey and Lucca to settle our bill.'

'You don't have to do that. I thought we'd decided you were going to be my toy-boy? I'll pay and I'm sure you can find some way to pay me back.'

'In that case, we may never leave the room.' One hand gave my braid a brief tug. 'Go, love, before I drag you back to bed. I'll see you later. I promise.'

I'd agreed to meet Wufei in the little juice bar in the juice bar in the hotel courtyard. Apparently, Zechs had insisted he take some time away from the ward, and get some fresh air. He didn't look any too happy about it, though, frowning into his smoothie and flicking through a newspaper.

'Are you all right?' He looked up as I approached, and pulled out a chair.

I grinned faintly. 'I was just going to ask you that. Listen, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you last night. Really.'

He shrugged it off. 'You've done more than enough already; you needed a break.' He gave me one of those direct, dark-eyed looks. 'So does this mean that you and Heero are …back together?'

'I guess we are. I mean, we had a long talk yesterday and cleared up a lot of stuff. It's still a bit weird though. Sometimes, it's like we never spent any time apart and sometimes it's like he's a total stranger.

'I imagine you've both changed. He probably feels the same way about you. Are you… happy?'

'Yeah.' I fiddled a napkin someone had left on the table, folding it into a series of little squares. 'Seriously, Wu, how weird is all this for you?'

'It is …odd,' he confessed. 'Duo, I want you to be sure about this. I know how much he hurt you, before. You can't take him back until you're quite sure that isn't going to happen again.'

'I know. He's explained a lot of things; I hurt him too, you know. Did lots of stupid things.' I sipped at my juice. 'We still need to sort a lot of stuff out.'

He snorted disdainfully at that.

'Fei,' I tried to pick my words very carefully, 'I know you have a problem with all of this. With Heero. But I .. I still love him. I don't think I ever stopped, not really. I don't, exactly, know what I'm going to do, but you do know nothing is going to change between us, don't you?'

'I don't know that, Duo. How can I? Of course, it isn't going to be the same! I don't even know if you'll be going to live with him? That you won't be coming home with us?'

'No! I swear, it's not going to be like that. Heero says he'll do whatever I want; we still have to discuss it properly, but we'll probably wait 'til after my trial, and after all this stuff with Quat is sorted out, before we decide anything definite. It'll work out, I promise.' I wasn't entirely sure anymore which of us I was trying to reassure. 'And you guys are going to be married soon, remember? Maybe it'll be a nice change for you having the place to yourselves?'

'Duo, is that what all this is about?' He looked positively stricken. 'That you think we won't want you around any more? Because if that's what's worrying you…'

'Stop, 'Fei. It was just a stupid joke; of course I don't feel that you don't want me around! Hell, you two have been inseparable practically since you first met; I'm not going to start feeling threatened just because you sign a bit of paper and have confetti thrown at you.'

'Good,' he said quietly. 'It's just that I'll miss you.'

'I know. It's been nearly six years, huh? Since you took me in.' Almost three of those years with just the two of us, before Zechs had come on the scene. 'Since Quat twisted your arm to give me a place to stay?'

'I'm glad he did,' he assured me softly. 'I just assumed you'd always be there.'

'I will,' I assured him. 'Come on, Wu, nothing's ever going to change that. And it's not like I was always there anyway. I mean, I was in Florida for eight months.'

'That was different!' He snapped. 'We still saw you almost every weekend, and it was only for a certain period of time. I - I don't know how I'm going to manage without you, that's all. You've always been the one person I could depend on. Damn it, Duo without you, I'd have blown my brains out the first month after leaving Preventers.'

Oh, shit. This is one of those things we do not - ever - talk about. I didn't even know how much, if anything, he'd told Zechs about that part of his life.

'Well, you've always been there for me, too,' I said haltingly. 'If it hadn't been for you, I'd probably be dead in some back alley years ago, because I'd let some guy go too far.'

God, I really didn't want to be having this conversation right now. Not when the day had started so well. Didn't want to start dealing with those old nightmares, those months when I truly hadn't given a fuck about what happened to me.

'Your moving in was the best thing that ever happened to me,' he said firmly. 'I mean that. I'm probably just being selfish, but I'm going to miss you so much, Duo.'

'I'm not going to leave you, you fool,' I said roughly, 'You have got to believe that.'

'I know.' He nodded, not entirely convincingly.

Damn.

'Ah, I spoke to Tro earlier, and he sounded like shit. Have you seen him this morning?'

'Briefly. Gods, Duo; I don't know what we can to help him. He is so desperately worried about Quatre, and he's convinced the Preventers aren't doing enough to find him. He had a shouting match with Noin earlier, when she came to visit Zechs.'

'Oh, that's all we need. Do you think he's right? About them not trying very hard? They did mess up that whole apartment search.'

Wufei shrugged. 'Lucrezia seems to be doing everything humanly possible. I think the only thing that would satisfy Trowa would be for her to rip the colony apart, in case Quatre's still here.'

'Not much chance of that, really; is there? He could be anywhere by now.'

'I know. I'm worried about Trowa; you know how he is about Quatre. If the Preventers don't find something damn soon, he's going to charge off by himself and get himself into more trouble. He's not even officially supposed to be here, but Noin's been turning a blind eye. Maybe you could talk to him, Duo; you're good with people. He's planning to go down to the Preventers HQ later and he'll probably end up getting himself arrested.'

'I'll try,' I promised. 'But you know, I'm not exactly the best person to talk up the Preventers.'

He grinned wryly. 'But maybe you could get…Heero to talk to him. Trowa trusts him.'

'I'll do my best,' I twiddled with the end of my braid. 'It's a - bit awkward right now. He sort of liked me more than I liked him. You know. I thought I was just the rebound guy after Quat, but we talked about it a bit on the shuttle here, and he seems pretty adamant that they're over. I mean, it's bloody obvious that Tro still loves him, but he's saying they're finished.'

'Quatre hurt him a great deal. You know that.'

'Yeah. 'Fei, could you forgive Zechs if he did all that shit to you.'

'I don't think so.' He looked up from his intense scrutiny of the table top. 'Unless he had an exceptionally good reason.'

'I've been thinking that. But damned if I can figure out what it is.'

Wufei looked at his watch. 'I have an appointment with Zechs' doctor in five minutes. I'll be up after that. Why don't you go and talk to him? Lucrezia's there right now, but she's heading back to Preventers soon.'

'OK. I want to see Zechs, then I'll try talking to Tro. I might go down to Preventers with him afterwards, see if I can keep him out of trouble. I should go and see those kids for a bit as well. I've practically abandoned them over the last two days.'

Yeah, and the fact that 'Ro would be there, and I'd probably get to see him even for a couple of minutes, just happened to be a bonus.

In the elevator, I flicked a couple of buttons on the control panel to jam it between floors, and dialled Heero's number, just wanting to hear his voice.

'Duo. I was just going to call you. How are you, love?'

'Kinda weird,' I muttered. 'I just had a chat with Wu; he's not exactly overjoyed about all this.'

'I can imagine,' he sighed. 'Duo, is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I could talk to him?'

'Maybe later on, sometime. I think, right now, he's so stressed about Zechsy that nothing else is really getting through. Thanks for the offer, though.'

'I don't want you to fall out with your friends because of me,' he said tentatively.

'We didn't fall out. It's just - we've been together for years, the two of us. We've helped each other through some really rough spots, you know? I'm not sure how it's going to work out.'

'We'll sort something out. I promise. Maybe we could arrange some sort of joint custody agreement?'

That actually made me smile. 'Maybe. So were you just calling to say hi or was there something special you wanted?'

'There was something, actually. Duo, you remember the first time you talked to Nat? There was another boy with him; you said he left soon after you arrived.'

'I remember. His name was Ali. Why? I told 'Zia about him, that first day; she was going to have her guys keep an eye out for him, in case he knew something.'

'We think his body's been found,' Heero said bluntly.

'Ah, shit. He was just a kid, 'Ro. What happened?'

The little hesitation before he spoke told me all I needed to know.

'He'd been tortured. Badly. I've seen the pictures.'

'Shit,' I said again.

'It wasn't your fault, love,' Heero said gently. 'Anyone could have seen him with you, and put two and two together. Or you don't know who'd he'd talked to. Or even if it was unconnected.'

'It possibly wasn't my fault,' I corrected him, knowing I'd never really know for sure. That there was at least a chance he'd died because someone had seen him with me. 'Did anyone tell Nat? If not, I'd like to. They seemed to be friends.'

'No one's told him yet. We only just found out.' He paused. 'Duo, I hate asking you to do this, but we're going to need you to ID the body. Some locals have confirmed he was a friend of Nathan's but we need to know if it was the boy who saw you talking to him. I'd rather not ask Nat to do it.'

'Hell, no. I'll do it. How urgent is it?'

'Moderately; we need to establish if it might be connected to Nathan's conversation with you, or if it's…'

'Or if it's just some street-kid who turned up dead. Not worth Preventers valuable time and resources to investigate?'

'Duo,….I didn't mean that. I'm sorry.'

'No, I'm sorry. It's not your fault.'

'Not yours either,' he said firmly. 'I can arrange a car to pick you up.'

'I guess; not yet though. Can you give me an hour or so? Listen it's nearly half eight; how about you arrange the car for ten and if I need longer I'll call you? I want to see Zechs first, and I'd like to have a word with Tro. Wufei said he's planning to go down to Preventers later, so I might hitch a ride with him then. Oh, listen, I forgot to ask you earlier; did you find out anything about that company on L3?'

'Triton Holdings? Lucca called me back yesterday. I'm sorry, I thought I'd told you. It doesn't lead anywhere, Duo. It's a small company that organises temporary accommodations on L3 for Winner employees.'

'Oh, well, thanks for asking. The name just seemed odd; you know? Triton.'

'Just a weird coincidence; the management office is located on Triton Street. Still, it was worth checking out, just in case. Let me know what you decide about coming over, OK?' He dropped his voice a little, like he was worried someone might overhear him. 'I'm missing you already. Later?'

'Later,' I repeated, smiling a little in spite of everything. We'd already got our own little private shorthand up and running. I unlocked the elevator doors and they opened to reveal Lucrezia Noin and a guy in maintenance overalls.

'Ah, the problem appears to have miraculously fixed itself,' she remarked dryly. 'I suppose I should have known.'

'Hey, 'Zia,' I grinned at her. I'd got to know her pretty well after the War; first as one of Heero's fellow Preventers; and later as a friend of both Zechs and 'Lena. 'Sorry about that. Just needed a few minutes' privacy.'

'To talk to Heero, I imagine?' She lifted an eyebrow at me.

'How exactly do you know that? Damn, we're not on the news or something, are we?'

'Not yet,' she smirked. 'But you two weren't exactly discreet, were you? I imagine it won't take too long for someone to sell the story to the media. You know, you really should think about buying shares in a newspaper, and actually benefiting from all your own publicity.'

'Thanks a bunch,' I muttered sourly. 'But, yeah, I was talking to Heero. He told me about that kid. Said what had happened.'

Her teasing smile withered straightaway. 'I hate everything about this damn case. Everything. Every damn clue turns into a dead end, now we've got a dead kid in a dumpster who's been tortured, Quatre's apparently disappeared off the damn planet, and we still basically have only one suspect.'

'Trowa.' I said bitterly. 'You know it wasn't him, right?'

She nodded firmly 'Of course I do. But what I believe doesn't count for very much, when his sisters and most of this damn colony think Tro's guilty. He'd have been pulled in by now if I wasn't leading this investigation.' She sighed. 'I'm not sure I'll be doing it for much longer at this rate. Duo, I'd better go. I've got a meeting back at HQ in an hour.'

'If you see Heero, tell him I said hi.'

'Will do.' She hesitated. 'I'm glad you two finally got it together. It's about time.'

'Oh, Mr. Maxwell, may I have a word?' The nurse sitting outside Zechs' ward looked up as I approached.

'Sure, Leila. What's up?' I grinned at her; she was one of the youngest of the nurses, probably just finished her training, and thrilled to be nursing a real life prince. She'd probably been reading too many hospital romances.

'Those flowers arrived earlier for His Highness,' she indicated an elaborate arrangement of rosebuds. 'I know you said he's allergic to roses, and I wasn't sure what to do with them.'

'I'm sure Prince Milliardo would like you to have them. Was there a card with them?'

It was only a piece of paper with a flamboyant 'J' sprawled all over it; I shoved it into one pocket. Zechs would probably know what it meant.

He looked perfectly all right, just a little paler than usual. You'd never have known there was anything wrong if you hadn't seen the tubes and the ventilator. Oh, God. I'd spent hours the first day sitting with Wufei, assuring him that of course his fiancé would be fine. I'd never dared let myself worry that maybe he mightn't. Seeing him like that, wide awake and apparently fine, unleashed all that tension I'd been keeping walled up and I just collapsed on the side of his bed, letting him pull my head down to his shoulder, and stroking my hair.

'Fuck, Merquise, you scared the shit out of me and 'Fei,' I muttered finally. 'I swear to God, when you get out of here, I'm going to kick your royal ass for getting shot.'

'It was rather careless of me, wasn't it?' he acknowledged wryly. 'I'm sorry.'

''S'OK,' I sat up, feeling a bit stupid for bawling all over him. 'Sorry I haven't been in before now.'

'I gather you've been otherwise occupied,' he smirked. 'Good to see you finally got laid.'

I gaped at him. 'How the hell can you know that?'

He grinned evilly. 'I know these things. And you did spend the night with Heero; the odds are hardly in favour of you discussing Greek philosophy. Could you remember what to do?'

'Yes, actually,' I shot back. 'And it hasn't been that long anyway.'

'No?' One pale eyebrow lifted. 'I hope you didn't say that to poor Heero; he'd be dreadfully insulted.'

I made a face at him; he was obviously better if he was talking like that. He was probably the only person I could really talk to about Heero in any case; most of my other friends would probably be trying to have me committed. Well, the ones who hadn't already tried that, anyway.

'Heero, so it happens, has no reason to feel insulted in that area, believe me.'

'Well, well,' he murmured, 'miracles will never cease. You actually slept with Heero and you're not wallowing in angst and guilt and thinking up a million reasons why you shouldn't have done. Amazing.'

'Yeah.' I grinned at him; finding I just couldn't stop smiling. 'No angst, no guilt. The only thing I regret is that we didn't do it sooner.'

'So you're back together? Does that mean you're going to finally tell me which of you gets to be on top?'

'No way.'

He shrugged. 'It doesn't matter. I know anyway.'

'Correction, I shot back. 'You think you know, but you'll never know for sure because I'll never tell you.'

'You're such a prude, sometimes. I tell you all about 'Fei and me.'

'And oddly enough, I never want to hear any of it.'

'How is my beloved taking all of this anyway?'

I grimaced. 'He's not exactly planning a party for us; put it like that.'

'He'll come around, when he sees you're happy with Heero. I'll talk to him if you like. And speaking of 'Fei, I have to thank you for all you've done since I've been here.'

'Don't be stupid. I haven't done anything.'

'That isn't what I've heard. I gather you somehow persuaded my surgeon to let him stay with me all the time, strictly against hospital regulations; that you convinced the security staff not to have him arrested, and you even stopped him from rampaging around the universe to find the people who were behind this.'

'Keeping him here was easy; I just told him you'd have a relapse if he wasn't there when you woke up. Really, Zechs. It was nothing.'

'I appreciate the total lack of effort on your part, in that case.' His lips quirked slightly, and then he went all solemn. 'I assume he's told you about our planned wedding date?'

I nodded. 'It's still on, then? I wasn't sure if you'd have to postpone it.'

'I…very much hope not. That date is special for both of us, and we just want a very small, private ceremony in any case.' He hesitated, uncharacteristically fidgeting with the edge of his sheet. 'I appreciate, more than I can say, everything you've done for him, Duo. But I would like you to trust me to take care of him from now on.'

Whoa.

'Are you - asking me for his hand in marriage or something?'

'Well, I'd like more than just his hand, actually. You two are so close, it somehow seemed appropriate to ask permission. I should have asked before, really.'

'Well, you did sort of. That night last Christmas.'

Wufei had been out for dinner with some friends from the University; Zechs and I had stayed in and watched TV and drunk Irish coffee and at some point, he'd asked me how I'd feel about him marrying Wufei.

'I told you then that I was fine with it and I still am. I trust you to look after him. More than anyone else in the damn universe. And just so you know, if you hurt him, I'll fucking kill you.'

'Oh, I know that. I've always known it.'

'Good.'

Wu himself came in a few minutes later and after I'd filled them both in on the most recent developments, and told them I'd be going to Preventers for a bit, I left them cosying up together. Trowa called as I was walking out of the door.

'Situation red, Maxwell, I'm in the TV lounge at the end of the corridor. Quick.'

Oh, shit.

Now what?

He watching TV, long legs spread out in front of him.

On the screen, a heavily-pregnant young woman was wiping tears from her face, a little girl curled in her lap.

'Hassan was a good man,' she was saying brokenly. 'We were married five years ago and we we've always been so happy. He would have done anything for anyone. His cousin, was only eighteen; it was his first job since he left school and he was so proud, talking about what he wanted to do with his first salary.'

'Tro? Why are we watching this?'

'Wait a sec, all right?'

'And how do you feel, Mrs. Abrami,' asked the sickly sweet, oh-so-concerned voice of an off-screen reporter, 'about the fact that your beloved husband, the father of your unborn child, was brutally murdered by a former terrorist, an ex-Gundam Pilot, in fact, for no apparent reason?'

'What the fuck?' I exploded. 'Trowa, what's going on?'

'The story just broke a quarter of an hour ago. I was going to call you but you were in with Zechs.' He killed the sound on the TV and swivelled to face me. 'It's on all the major networks. It's about those jeeps Wufei blew up; some reporter is saying they were legitimate employees of the shuttle port on their way to work. They were apparently even driving company vehicles.'

'No way. What, they think Zechs shot himself? Or 'Fei did it? And then decided to blow away a couple of passing vehicles on a whim? That's crazy.'

'No one thinks 'Fei shot Zechs; there was another car that had left the shuttle port just ahead of them. It was captured on CCTV at the port.'

'Oh, Wu told me about that. It was some friends of Zechs who met them off the shuttle. What, they're supposed to have done this?'

He shrugged. 'This reporter claims he's tried to contact them both, and they've both vanished. His story is that they tried to kill Zechs for whatever reason, and then managed to escape. The jeeps came along and - well, you know what happened.'

'Shit,' I muttered. 'That can't be right, Tro. One of those guys, Fichtner, is a friend of Zechs'. He wouldn't have done that.'

'You know him?'

'Not exactly. But I know Zechsy trusts him; he gave me his contact number back when I left India, in case I needed to call someone. He'd never have done that unless he trusted him completely. You know that. God, I still have his number.' I flicked my 'phone open but the number was registered as out of service. 'Damn. There were two guys in the car,' I said remembering. 'One of them was here at the hospital when I arrived. Wufei seemed to know him; he might have a number for him.' I frowned. 'Wasn't he mentioned in the news report?'

'Oh, yes. It said there were two men, but the security cameras only got the back view of the other one. They haven't managed to ID him yet. Another thing; Fichtner entered L4 under a false passport. No one seems to know exactly where he's from.'

'Germany or South Africa, I think, from his accent.' Damn, I'd started all this; calling Fichtner and asking him to see what was happening on L4. He owned a business that operated partly on the colony; there was no real reason for him not to use his own ID unless he'd been planning to fly under the immigration radar, for some reason. Trowa frowned when I mentioned this.

'Another thing. I've seen footage of the two jeeps; it looked like Wufei hit them with a fucking anti-aircraft cannon. Either they somehow smuggled weapons onto L4, which is possible since they arrived in diplomatic shuttle, or Fichtner supplied them on arrival. This is insane, Duo. They could both be in serious shit over this; I've been talking to that doctor - the woman who's so friendly with you - and she said that before you arrived and got him calmed down, 'Fei pulled a gun on the Chief Surgeon. Can you imagine what the press would do with that story?'

'Yeah. Noor told me about that. Tro, I don't get this. Wu wouldn't have attacked those guys without good reason.'

I tried to remember exactly what Wufei had said, but I don't think he'd really been thinking clearly; desperately focussed on protecting Zechs and getting them out of there. He had said there'd been no more shooting after Zechs was hit, which he'd found odd at the time, but he'd never exactly said that he'd seen where those shots had been fired.

Oh, fuck.

'I know that,' he sighed. 'The problem is, we don't have any proof. He shook his head. 'On one hand, you have four honest, hard-working L4 citizens whose grieving families are talking about their loss on TV, and on the other, you have…'

'The man who tried to destroy the Earth, and his partner, a former terrorist, who was also the star Preventers agent for a couple of years,' I filled in. 'Wait a sec, wasn't one of the jeep guys still alive? Has he died?'

'Not yet. But he's in Intensive Care, and they don't think he'll ever regain consciousness.'

Shit. 'What's going to happen next?'

Trowa rubbed his forehead. 'God knows. According to the news service, there are already protestors gathering outside the Sanque Embassy, and the main Preventers building calling for an official enquiry.'

'Great. Like things aren't bad enough already. Who's the reporter behind all this anyway? It sounds like he's done a pretty comprehensive investigation.'

'That's another weird thing, Duo. No one's being credited with the story.'

'Very weird. If someone went to all this trouble to research this story, you think he or she'd want to be damn sure they got the credit for it.' Honestly, just when you think the universe, or God, or whatever is actually cutting you a break for once, something like this always happens.

'I hate this,' I muttered, remembering Noin's parting words. 'Nothing makes sense. Tro, this hospital isn't safe, is it? It's too big too guard properly; there're too many people in and out all the time. Zechs isn't in the ICU anymore; we need to get him and Wu somewhere more defensible, just in case.'

'Zechs won't be able to handle space travel for another week at least, not with his lung,' Trowa noted. 'Fuck, this just gets worse, doesn't it? And now we've got Relena to worry about as well. This probably isn't the best time for a staunch ESUN supporter to be on L4.'

'The Sanque Embassy is pretty secure, isn't it?' I nibbled my braid, trying to remember. Back when we'd visited Quat all the time, I'd been to few functions there.

'Too obvious,' Trowa commented. 'I think I might know somewhere but I'll need to make a few calls.'

'OK. Damn, Tro. I've just thought of something else. Half of those security guards around the hospital work for Fichtner; he has a private security firm. If he's really behind this…'

'We need to tighten security measures immediately,' he finished, standing up quickly. 'At least, we can trust the palace guards from Sanque.'

'Absolutely. I don't want any one else near Zechs,' I said crisply, following him out the door. 'Not Preventers, not anyone.'

He nodded. The next hour was a blur of activity; Relena wanted to spend time with her brother, so it was easy enough to post her bodyguards on outside Zechs' ward, and 'relocate' the others. Somehow, I still ended up at the hospital main entrance at a minute or two before ten, waiting for my car. Hopefully, the whole process wouldn't take too long and there wasn't an awful lot I could do at the hospital anyway.

The driver arrived precisely on time, looking like he was ready to pose for a Preventers recruitment poster. I could see my reflection in his shiny shoes and dark glasses, and he somehow managed to managed to throw me a starched-up salute, wish me Good Morning, flick open his ID, and fling open the same door, all the same time. He'd obviously aced all his multi-tasking classes at the Academy.

Getting through the hospital gates took almost ten minutes; once we'd made our way through the security guards, there was a milling crowd of protestors outside.

'What's all that about?'

'Your friend, Mr. Chang, I imagine.' He pointed to some of the placards being waved. Sure enough, Wufei's name featured prominently on most of them, usually coupled with words like Executioner and Gundam Murderer. 'I gather you've seen the news? It didn't take long for them to gather, did it? Considering the story broke just over an hour ago.'

Damn, he was perfectly right. Demonstrations can happen spontaneously, but most of those present had been waving professional-looking signs that detailed Wufei's supposed crimes. They hadn't just appeared out of nowhere.

'You know, I think that blue SUV's been following us for two blocks,' I noted, looking back. The thing had pulled out of the hospital grounds after us, and was still sitting on our tail.

'I know,' the guy - Agent Walsh - opined, flicking a glance in his wing mirror. 'Probably a coincidence, though; this is the most direct route into the city. Still, it wouldn't hurt to shake him off.'

Agent Walsh's way of 'shaking off' a possible tail was to do a sudden U-turn in the middle of a five-lane highway, cut across the upcoming traffic, and zoom down a side road off.

'Well, that worked. I can't believe we don't believe we don't have a dozen traffic cops after us, though.'

'Preventers' vehicle,' he grinned over at me. 'I can do whatever I like.'

'Wow. Bet Une just loves you.'

The grin broadened. 'Oh, I wouldn't say that. I've never exactly been her favourite person.'

'Join the club,' I couldn't help thinking that if Agent Walsh happened to be straight and single, he might make a nice boyfriend for Marlie. The two of them could start a whole dynasty of baby Preventers who wouldn't follow the rule book. Heh heh…

'Where are we anyway?' I looked out the window, trying to orientate myself. Walsh's zig-zagging flight had brought us to some sort of industrial district, a wasteland of warehouses and factories.

'Not sure, to be honest; maybe I got a bit carried away back there.' Yeah, no kidding. 'I think we need to go east for a bit. Maybe you could turn on the SatNav system?'

'Sure.' I leaned forward, keying in our co-ordinates. 'You need to go east for three blocks and then turn onto.. Oh, shit!' Turning the corner in front of us was a dark blue SVU. 'How the hell did they find us?'

'Oh, they knew precisely where I was going, Mr. Maxwell.' Agent Walsh informed me.. 'You could almost say they got here first as a welcoming committee. My employer has been looking forward to making your acquaintance for some time now.'