Apres La Guerre

by waterlilylf

Post War Fic, mostly Duo POV set seven years after the end of the War and absolutely oozing angst and sap and humour and confusiona and Duo-suffering...it's also a long 1x2 get-together fic. Finished, finally.

57. The Blame Game

Disclaimer - I don't own any part of Gundam Wing, and this is purely for my own entertainment.

Note - As always, many thanks to KS, for super-editing.

The Blame Game:

'You mean that this man, this … friend of Milliardo's actually abducted you?' Heero was looking like he wanted to chew nails. The steel sort.

'No!'

Shit! I'd been trying to tell him and Wufei the details of what I'd found out from Jack and Theo, and they were both obsessing over this one piddly little fact. My own fault, really, for telling them that my going off with Jack had been ...less than voluntary to begin with.

I'd tried to fudge the details a little at the start, but they both knew me too damned well and they'd started firing point-blank questions at me.

'Look, it was nothing like that,' I said quickly. 'Come on, 'Fei, you've met him, and I'd seen him at the hospital that first day. It wasn't like he was some total stranger or anything.' Well, not after I'd recognised him anyway.

Heero and Wufei exchanged glances. No way were they buying any of this. And I still hadn't told them that there'd been a second, back in the car with Jack, when I'd thought his intentions had been less - less than virtuous. They wouldn't like that at all.

'I am truly, truly sorry you both had to worry about me, OK? But it was just - unfortunate timing. And when I did try to call, the satellite network was down, and I couldn't get through. You know I didn't mean to scare you deliberately. I promise, I won't do anything like that again.'

Heero grunted. 'You certainly won't. In future, I've no intention of letting anything like that happen.'

'What's that supposed to mean? You're planning to assign me a personal security detail or something?' I snorted at the idea of it. 'Come on, Heero. It's not like anybody's deliberately going to set out to abduct me, is it?'

'Hn. From now on, if you decide to run to run off by yourself, you take one of us with you.'

'That kinda defeats the object of being alone, doesn't it?'

Damn. In some ways, things had been easier when those two hated each other. Heero still hadn't elaborated on what had happened to get them talking; simply saying that they had cleared up a 'misunderstanding' between them.

'Heero's right,' Wufei stated firmly. Two little words that threatened a scary alliance between those two. Life was going to be hell if they started ganging up on me. Standing up to either of them individually was hard enough; I didn't know if I could cope if they were both on the same side.

'Whatever,' I muttered. We could hash out the details of the Duo Maxwell Protection Society later on. 'Look, can't we move on from this? We need to talk about what Jack told me; I think that's the most important thing right now.'

Wufei nodded, somewhat reluctantly. 'Trowa just called to say he's been slightly delayed; he should be here in about fifteen minutes. We can meet in the library and discuss it then.'

'I'll call Lucrezia. She needs to be aware of this,' Heero decided. 'Wufei, can you ring Trowa and check his ETA? Then we need to do a quick online search of this David Souhef, and look up these co-ordinates.'

Wufei had his 'phone out, dialling before Heero had even finished speaking,

'Right,' I said, not that either of them was paying any attention to me any more. Still, that was something of a relief. Unbelievable; how seamlessly those two seemed to be fitting back together, after all those years of non communication. 'You guys do that, and I'll go and see Zechs. Where is he, anyway? I thought he'd be here.'

'He's in bed upstairs,' Wufei informed me.

'What? He's all right, isn't he?'

'He's fine. But the doctors said he needs to be kept quiet for a few more days; try not to excite him, all right? And don't stay too long.'

Yeah, 'Fei, I'll try not to do a strip tease in front of him. Will that do?

Relena, looking suspiciously red-eyed, was just starting to descend the staircase as I reached the top.

'Hey, 'Lena. You OK?'

'Milliardo's just given me a long lecture,' she confessed, not the usual poised young woman, but a girl who'd been chewed out by her older brother. 'And Heero's furious with me as well,' she fished out a little lacy handkerchief from her bag and blew her nose delicately. 'He said it would be all have been my fault if something had happened to you.'

'What?' I stared at her. 'You had nothing to do with any of that.'

Relena sniffed miserably. 'Heero said that if I hadn't distracted everyone with my 'silly publicity stunts', then he would have noticed you were missing earlier, and he could have been searching for you. I've never seen him so angry, Duo. I thought he was going to hit me at one point and then Doro would have shot him.'

'I'll talk to him, OK? He was just really worried about me; I'm sure he didn't mean to take it out on you. You know what he's like when he goes all protective.'

She nodded, and it struck me that she was the one other person in the universe who would know. He'd been her bodyguard, and then her boyfriend; something Heero and I still hadn't really talked about. Something I'd been trying rather hard not to think about.

'Don't worry about it,' I gave her a quick hug. 'They're both just mad that you were maybe putting yourself in danger. Now which is your brother's room?'

'The one at the end of the corridor.' She pointed it out. 'He's really not in a terribly good mood, though.'

'I think I'll survive.' I grinned at her

Not in a terribly good mood turned out to be rather an understatement.

'What the fuck happened to you, Maxwell?' He demanded as soon as I stuck my head around his door.

'Didn't 'Fei tell you any of it? I assumed he'd been up to see you.'

'Then your assumption was incorrect,' he said flatly. 'Apparently Wufei has other priorities at the moment. I was informed that you'd gone missing, and thirty minutes ago, Wufei told me there had been some sort of misunderstanding. Nobody has deigned to tell me anything more.'

Oh, God. That was all I needed; for those two to fall out.

'Here's what happened,' I said quickly; unlike the other two, he listened to my account without interrupting. When I'd finished, he just said, 'I'm sorry, Duo. This is all my fault. I should never have given you those numbers and got you involved.'

'Sheesh; don't be stupid. Is there something about the air on this colony that automatically makes everyone blame themselves for everything that goes wrong within a hundred mile radius of themselves?'

'Well, you should know,' he observed.

Ah.

'I take it someone told you about Ali?' He nodded.

'Lucrezia's told me the basics. Duo, it wasn't your fault. It's a tragedy that a young boy is dead, but there is no proof that you're responsible. You know perfectly well how precarious that sort of life is; the sort of dangers that these children face every day.'

I shrugged. 'That's what Heero said, too.'

'Then it must be so,' he gave me a faint grin. 'He seems to have managed to cheer you up a little; I gathered you were more … upset when you first arrived.'

I shrugged; wondering what little birdie had shared that particular piece of information with him. Probably Relena; she'd seen me step out the chopper and virtually swoon into Heero's arms.

Granted, it wasn't like Heero had kissed my boo-boo and made everything all better, but it had helped. Just being with him, knowing he was trying to support me, had helped.

'You are allowed to be happy,' he said softly, pulling himself up on his pillows. 'Just because the world is going to shit doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to appreciate what you and Heero have.'

'I guess. It just seems - wrong, you know? I mean, Quat's been missing for days now, and I can see Trowa going seriously ballistic if he doesn't find out something, and two kids are dead, and …'

'Now who's suffering from the L4 guilt complex?' he teased. 'Duo, listen, you are doing everything in your power to help your friends, and I'm sure they wouldn't grudge you a few minutes' happiness.'

I nodded; he was probably right. It still felt - just plain weird - to be holding on to this little piece of pure joy in the middle of everything else that was going wrong.

'You trust Theo, right? I can't figure out why that guy gave him Trowa's name?'

Zechs shrugged; that elegant motion he can do with one shoulder that sends his hair rippling down his back. 'Dying men say strange things; we both know that. Perhaps he just associated Barton's name with Winner? What did you say the other name was?'

'Souhef. David Souhef,' I told him. 'It's weird; his name sounds familiar from somewhere. He's some hot-shot tycoon, according to your buddy Jack, so I must have seen him on the news or something.'

'Souhef,' he said slowly. 'We've both met him. Do you remember that charity art auction we all went to in Montreal? Souhef bought one of my paintings, and we were introduced to him. Don't you remember?'

'Not really. You never I can never take in half the people at those things.'

He grinned. 'Well, he was rather taken with you, as I recall. Admittedly, you probably weren't paying a whole lot of attention. Mikhail had insisted on buying you that little Picasso sketch, and you were furious with him.'

'Well, it cost a damn fortune,' I muttered defensively. Mischa had always insisted on lavishing me with gifts; something I'd never been particularly comfortable with. I remembered that particular occasion now, a couple of months before we'd broken up.

Damn; I didn't want to have to deal with Mishca right now. He'd called Wufei to ask about me and I still hadn't got around to calling him back. It was probably that little jet of irritation that made me ask 'So talking about exes, should I ask the obvious question about Jack?'

'Probably not, no.'

'Sheesh,' I raised my eyes to the ceiling. 'You're lucky 'Fei's a tolerant guy, you know that?'

'Wufei and I are both adults,' he informed me, with just the faintest edge to his voice.

'Naturally, we've both had previous relationships before we met each other.'

'That kind of works more in your favour than his, doesn't it?'

Sure, 'Fei had dated a few times before Zechs, but Zechs was the first guy he'd been with properly. I'd always been just the tiniest bit jealous of Wu over that; that he'd been madly in love with the first guy he'd ever slept with.

Zechs frowned at me; not particularly relishing the teasing. Damn, there was definitely something up between them, then. He's not usually so - sensitive.

'I noticed he was wearing the ring you told me about,' I said, trying to cheer him up a little. 'It finally got here then.'

He lay back and regarded the ceiling. 'Did he show it to you?'

'Um, not exactly. But we were having a big discussion and Heero was there, so it maybe wasn't the best time. Did he like it?'

He shrugged, a perfect swathe of fair hair falling smoothly over one shoulder. 'He said he did. I'm not sure; maybe he just accepted it to please me.'

'Don't be stupid, Merquise! He's just been worried sick about you and he's upset over all that stuff that happened in the desert. That ring sounded perfect for him. You know how much he loves old stuff.'

'Perhaps. He didn't seem particularly enthralled when I gave it to him. Perhaps it was a mistake.'

Ah, shit. Next he'd been saying the proposal had been a mistake too. 'Don't be such an idiot. Listen, we're supposed to be meeting them in the library in a few minutes; after that, I think you should sit down and talk to him.'

'I shan't be there. According to my doctors, I am to stay in bed, and Wufei has informed me that he will personally tie me down if I try to get up.'

'Well, you like that sort of thing, don't you?' Oops, another joke that fell totally flat. 'Listen, you need to be there; you know Jack and Theo; you can vouch for them. There's a sitting room beside your bedroom; we can have a meeting there just as well as anywhere else. I'll run and tell Heero we've changed plans a bit.'

'Any excuse to go running after Heero, hmmm?' he asked, but he was smiling.

'Pretty much,' I admitted. Damnit, I was not going to blush in front of him! Or think of what Heero and I had been up to less than an hour ago….

Instead, I said, 'You know, Hilde's going to kill me when she finds out Heero and I are an item again. She's got serious issues with him.'

He grinned. 'I wouldn't worry too much; she'll probably go after Heero first so you'll have a chance to escape. Besides, she's what; five months pregnant at this stage? It's not like she can run move very fast.'

'She knows people, though,' I muttered. 'And if - when - she does freak out, it's going to be really bad for her blood pressure.'

'She just wants you to be happy,' he told me. 'Once she sees you're happy with Heero, she'll come around.'

'Yeah, maybe,' I dragged my braid over one shoulder and tugged it. 'Quat will freak out, as well. He's got serious Heero problems.'

'Oh, for God's sake, Maxwell,' he cut in. 'Over the past couple of weeks, Winner's tried to have you committed; he's practically set you up to have sex on live TV and he's thrown every insult in the book at you ….I hardly think you need to worry too much over what he thinks about your new boyfriend.'

'I suppose you're right.' It was just - weird, not caring what Quatre would think of something I'd done. 'OK, I'll tell Heero and 'Fei to come up here.'

'Duo,' I turned back to face him, one hand still on the door handle. 'Do you know what happened between them?'

Oh.

'Not really. I asked Heero, and he said they'd had a misunderstanding and they'd cleared it up.' I snorted. 'Some misunderstanding, right? I mean, they were best friends for months after the War; they worked together at Preventers on and off, they used to train together, everything.' I bit my lip. I'd tried not to mind; after all, I'd had Hilde and Quatre and it was only fair that Heero would have had a close friend of his own. It had still hurt though; that Wufei had sometimes seemed to be his refuge whenever he got tired of playing house with his needy boyfriend.

'Then they had this big row, and Heero wouldn't even let me mention his name. I think it was something about me. Seriously, you don't know what Wu was like back then. He thought I was this total waste of space who kept getting into trouble and needing Heero to rescue me.'

I'd always thought that he'd probably said something about me to Heero and Heero had flipped. I'd tried a few times to get 'Ro to talk about it, and he'd made it very clear that he wasn't interested.

'I have zero idea what's going with them, except they suddenly seem to be best friends now.' And I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I welcomed that particular development. I pulled the door open. ''Kay, I'll be back in a few minutes. See you then.'

Heero and Wufei were both standing at the foot of the stairs; neither of them spoke as I walked down, just watched carefully to make sure poor, feeble little Duo didn't fall down the steps or lose his footing on a tricky expanse of polished wooden parquet.

'We're all waiting for you in the library,' Wufei sounded mildly irritated. 'And I told you not to stay long with Zechs; he's supposed to be resting.'

'Change of plan,' I informed him calmly. 'Zechs needs to hear what I've got to say, so we can meet up in your sitting room upstairs. Heero, could you maybe let Noin know where we are? And then come up.'

'That's out of the question,' Wufei objected. 'I had a long conversation with his medical team before he was released, and they were adamant that he needs bed rest to recover, and that he shouldn't be under any stress.'

'If he can lie in bed, then he can lie on a couch. And, Wu, I know he's not supposed to be agitated and all that, but he needs to know. Trust me, keeping him in the dark about what's going on isn't going to help; it's way better to tell him the truth. He can handle that; what he can't take is you shutting him away and making him feel useless.'

He opened his mouth to protest. 'No, 'Fei. I know damn well what he's going through, OK? One of the worst things for me after the accident was people not telling me exactly what was going on. And yeah, I know you were all trying to protect me and shit, but it didn't work. If you don't keep Zechs in the loop, he'll just imagine things are way worse than they really are, and get even more stressed. And another thing; after this meeting, I want you to sit down and reassure the hell out of him that you still love him.'

'Of course I do!' His eyes widened. 'What did he say to you?'

'Between the two of us, I think he's starting to feel a bit insecure about things. You might want to check if whatever medication he's taking might cause mood swings or depression, Wu. And tell him you love that ring he gave you; he's convincing himself you don't like it, and he'll probably move on to thinking you don't want to marry him anymore.

'Of course I still want to marry him!' He twisted the ring around his finger and I wondered if he'd noticed that he'd started that particular little habit. 'I love him, and I love the ring he chose, although it's quite ridiculously valuable.'

'Good. Seriously, you need to tell him that.'

'I will,' Wufei promised, and then his expression darkened, as we walked into Zechs' room. 'If I have the chance.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Zechs demanded from the couch, and Wufei's eyes widened. He obviously hadn't expected his lover to be up and about.

'Lucrezia wants me to go back with her after this to the Preventers Building, to answer some questions.'

'Absolutely not!' Zechs snapped.

'It's all right,' Wufei tried to sound soothing. 'Heero says it's just a formality, that in the circumstances she needs to be seen to have covered all the possibilities.'

'So you've already told Heero, I take it? I suppose I should be flattered that you've bothered to inform me at all.'

Oh dear. Fortunately, Heero chose that moment to arrive, Noin, Relena and Dorothy in tow.

Zechs glared at poor Lucrezia. 'If you've come to arrest Wufei, may I point out that he is a Sanque citizen, currently betrothed to a member of the royal family, and that you have no jurisdiction in this embassy. Furthermore any attempt to convict him based on wholly spurious evidence will be regarded as an act of hostility against the Sanque Kingdom.' He snapped each word out, as if he were breaking its neck. 'Is that understood?'

'I haven't come to do anything of the sort!' Noin protested quickly. 'I have some good news; I've just received the findings from the team of agents who were investigating the crime scene in the desert . There's no possible doubt that the damage to your car was caused by one of the SUV drivers. Tyre marks on the road, and the location of the bullet holes in your car bear it out.'

'I didn't have any doubt in the first place,' Zechs glared at her.

'Zechs, please,' Noin begged. 'I didn't want to do any of this; I never believed that 'Fei was guilt, but four men are dead, who were all legitimate employees of the shuttle port en route to work, and there were no weapons found on the scene.'

'What?' I sat up straight. 'Nobody told me that!'

I'd have to call Theo and see if he'd taken them. On the one hand, he hadn't seemed like the kind of guy to leave good weapons lying around; on the other, he hadn't mentioned it. Maybe he hadn't. He'd presumably left before the Preventers arrived, so possibly someone else had turned up and doctored the evidence slightly.

Relena cleared her throat. 'On that subject, I just want to apologise to all of you for what happened earlier. I realise now it was a stupid thing to do, but I wanted to do something, and when that journalist rang, and offered me an interview, it sounded like a perfect opportunity.'

'He rang you?' Heero frowned at her. 'When exactly? And aren't these requests for interviews supposed to go through the palace.'

'I think it was about nine o'clock, wasn't it?' Relena glanced at Dorothy, who nodded.

'And yes, journalists normally don't contact me directly.' She frowned. 'I never thought of that; he must have had my private number but I didn't notice at the time. I was so worried about my brother and all those awful news reports on television. It seemed such a wonderful chance; he said he wanted to give me a chance to talk directly to the people on L4. Dorothy checked his credentials and he's done work for all the major networks, most of them supporting the ESUN.' She shook her head. 'I can't believe I was so stupid, really. But I've never had anyone talk to me like that before. And those things he said about my brother and Wufei were utterly appalling!'

Zechs smiled faintly, reaching out to touch his sister's hand. 'I haven't thanked you for supporting us yet, have I?'

She smiled back. 'You were too busy yelling at me earlier.'

'Heero interrupted that touching little scene. 'Do you have the man's name?'

'Of course.' Relena handed him a card. 'Horrible man! He was so nice on the telephone; he said he greatly admired me, and everything I've done. I've never had anyone speak to me like that before.'

'This isn't Sanque,' Heero reminded her gently. 'Lucrezia, you may want to look into this man and find out exactly how he obtained Relena's classified number. As far as I'm aware, that should be restricted.'

'It is,' Dorothy glared at him. 'That number is given out only to the Princess's close personal friends.'

'And apparently the occasional trouble-seeking journalist,' Heero commented. It was probably for the best that Trowa chose that moment to arrive.

He ignored the rest of them, crossing the room to stand in front of me. 'Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?'

'I'm fine. Seriously.'

'Good.' He nodded, and then cut straight to the point. 'Tell me what you found out.'

'Trowa, please,' Noin interrupted. 'This is my investigation. Can't you let me...'

'It's my lover who's missing,' he cut her off without skipping a beat. 'And you've done fuck all to find him so far. Now, Duo?'

Trowa let me talk, interrupting only to clarify a point or two. When I was done, he looked over at Zechs.

'Do you trust these two guys? You believe what they say?'

'Absolutely.'

'Right. Noin, you need to pull in this David Souhef; Quatre knew him, so there's a connection.'

'He was a friend of Quat's?' I blurted.

'Hardly a friend. They knew each other professionally. Souhef's company was given the contract to construct a number of new WEI buildings last year.' His mouth thinned. 'I disliked the man, but Quatre claimed he was a competent businessman, and nothing else mattered.'

'There's a definite connection between them,' Heero pounced. 'Lucrezia, you have to pull him in for questioning. He must know something.'

'David Souhef?' Noin asked sharply. 'Heero, I can't question someone like him without evidence. You don't have any real proof that he's involved in this, only what Nat told Duo, and no court on this Colony is going to believe the word of a teenage prostitute, or the evidence supposedly given by a dying man to someone who's currently wanted by the Preventers.'

'Then find proof,' Heero told her. 'If Souhef set Ali up in his own apartment, he must have visited him there. You'll need to have a team go through the apartment for fingerprints and DNA, and check any CCTV footage for the building. Talk to the neighbours; someone must have seen him visit at some point If you can find any evidence that Souhef was there, you can take him in for questioning about Ali's murder. He's got to be involved in this, somehow.'

'Heero, you know that I…' Noin started to protest, and would immediately cut off by Trowa.

'You have accomplished precisely nothing, as far as I can see. I assumed it was pure incompetence at the start, but with what Duo's just told us about Preventer corruption maybe it's something more than that.'

'Trowa, I swear, every agent I brought from Earth is known to me personally. Their loyalty is beyond question.'

'Loyalty to whom, exactly?' he snapped, standing up. 'I'm sorry, Lucrezia, but I've had enough of your agents. They haven't found out one damn thing so far; if it hadn't been for what Duo's discovered, we would have no leads at all, and that's presumably what somebody wants. I've had enough of this; it's about time someone actually did something to find Quatre, and if it that means breaking a few laws along the way, then that's too bad!'

'You can't just matters into your own hands. You're the chief suspect in a possible murder investigation!'

'You have absolutely no evidence of that,' Trowa shot back. 'I've submitted to being questioned twice, I've had a polygraph test. What's next; you want to torture me?'

'Trowa, please.' Noin was looking as if she seriously regretted her career choice. 'I swear, I will do everything in my power to speed up the investigations. I've already filed a request to the Winner family to land on their satellite and then….'

'You do that. In the meantime, I'm going to find Quatre.'

'You can't just go off like that!'

'You're welcome to try to stop me.' Trowa stood up, flicking his hair back. Damn, it was weird how he was able to do that trick of seeming taller when he was mad. 'I wouldn't advise it, though.'

Lucrezia half-rose to follow him as he stalked out, then sagged back down in her chair. 'He's going to be in so much trouble over this! The Commander wanted me to arrest him days ago; she's taking over that investigation and she'll want to pull him in. I'm supposed to be monitoring him.'

'You know he'd never do anything to hurt Quatre; that's why,' I supplied, and then jumped up. 'I'd better let him know he's on Une's hit list.' I was out of the room before anyone had time to object and caught up with him in the hallway.

He's always been fast; this time, he'd swivelled around, gun in hand, before I'd even put my foot on the lower stair.

'Um, don't shoot?'

'Shit, Duo! I'm sorry. I thought Noin had sent her agents after me.'

'Nope. I think she sort of agrees with you, even though she won't say so. The thing is, you have to be careful. Une is flying out here to take over the investigation. Apparently, she wants to have you arrested and 'Zia's been shielding you.'

He shrugged. 'Une won't find it that easy. Thanks for the warning though.' He threw me a curious look. 'Aren't you even going to try to talk me out of it?'

'No,' I said simply. 'I think you're right. I was going to offer to come with you, if you think I'd be any help.'

'Oh! Heero would just love that, wouldn't he?'

'It's not Heero's decision.' I took a deep breath. 'I love him, Trowa, but I'm not going to let him run my life. Not this time. I'd only end up resenting him again.'

'You really would do anything for Quatre, wouldn't you? Even after everything he's done to you?'

'Probably,' I said honestly. 'And I know that you would too. But this isn't actually about Quatre; it's about you. I don't want you to go off like this, not by yourself. You're going to need some back up, Tro.'

His face softened a little. 'Thank you, Duo. I'm not sure what aspect of your helping me would make Heero more furious; that I'm on the run from Preventers and making you an accomplice, or that I'm your most recentex?'

'Well, he'll just have to deal with it all. If I can live with him being friendly with 'Lena, he'll have to learn to cope with my past as well.'

'So what am I ...your version of Relena?'

We both grimaced. 'Yeah, that is pretty weird, isn't it? Tro, I'm just - I'm really sorry about everything that's happened. You know?'

'I know,' he said softly. Then the gun was slipped away and he'd pulled me against him. 'Maybe in some quantum universe somewhere, hmm?'

'Could be,' I slid out of his arms, guiltily aware of just how good it had felt to be pressed against him. Damn. Should not be having those sort of thoughts. Not unless they were prompted by Heero. Certainly not for Trowa Barton. 'So - you want me to come with you or not?'

One eyebrow zoomed straight up his forehead. OK, not the best choice of words. Then he grinned, letting me off my own hook.

'No. But if you really want to help, there is something you could do.'

'Anything. You know that.'

'This morning, when we wanted to get Zechs out of the hospital to somewhere safe, I thought of our cottage. You remember our little holiday place?

I nodded, not quite sure where he was going. 'Of course I remember.' It had been their private getaway on the other side of L4; a guest cottage on one of the Winner estates.

'It seemed like the ideal place. Then Wufei and Zechs eventually decided to come here, instead, but not before I'd called Rashid, and asked him to check on the place. We haven't been there for a couple of months, and I wasn't sure what condition it would be in.'

'And?' I prompted

'And someone had apparently been there. Rashid double-checked the alarm system, and he called me to say that it had been keyed at the start of April, a few days before Quatre disappeared.'

'Someone broke in?'

He shook his head. 'Only Quatre, Rashid and I had the code, and there's no evidence that the system was tampered with.'

'You don't think Quat could actually be there?'

'No. Rashid called me just before I came here; that's why I was delayed. No one's there, but he's double-checked the alarm, and someone was there for about an hour. It had to have been Quatre, Duo; I was planning to go straight there but maybe you could go instead. You know him as well as I do, and you've been to the house. You should notice if something is wrong. Here's the security code and Rashid's number. Let him know what time you arrive at the estate and he'll arrange transport. And, Duo?'

'Don't go alone, OK? Just in case. Take Heero or 'Fei with you.' He offered me a shadow of a smile. 'Not that I'll imagine Heero will be letting you go off by yourself in any case.'

I nodded, as he left. Wasn't that the truth? I was surprised Heero had even let me out of his sight for this short period, and sure enough, he arrived downstairs as soon as the door had closed behind Tro.

'What's happening? Noin's heading back to the Preventers HQ and I think Wufei and Milliardo want to be alone for a bit. I was feeling rather superfluous to requirements up there.'

'We're going on a little overnight trip, if that's OK with you?' I filled him on what Tro had told me; surprise, surprise, he didn't even try to talk me out of it, just nodded. While I called Rashid to let him know we were coming, Heero arranged for a 'plane to take us around the Colony.

'It won't be ready for an hour or so,' he informed me. 'Is there anything else you need to do?'

'I'll run up and say goodbye to the guys before we go,' I considered. 'Otherwise, I should go and talk to the kids; let them know I'm not just going to abandon them here. And I need to talk to Marlie; I've basically pulled her away from her real job to be a babysitter. She might be sick of it at this stage; I really hope not though. The kids have taken to her like crazy.'

'I'll come with you. I think Marlie was going to take them for a walk in the garden. They've been cooped up for too long in that Preventers Building.'

'I know,' I admitted. 'This'll be a better place, at least for a while, 'til we sort things out a bit.'

'We'll have to arrange something more permanent,' Heero said seriously, as we walked into the flower garden. 'I know Marlie's worried about them. Gemma hardly talks and Lily seems fine but she has nightmares, and she won't talk about them. And Nat pretends he's all tough but he's just a kid.'

'I know,' I said wearily. 'I know none of this is perfect, but at least they're not in any danger here. That's the main thing for now. I'll try to arrange some sort of therapy for them. That might help a bit.'

'Duo, stop that,' Heero suddenly stopped and looked straight at me. 'Stop beating yourself up, love. Those children are alive and safe and that's all thanks to you.'

'Thank you,' I took a deep breath. 'I'm sorry I got you involved in all of this, you know. Bet you never thought any of this would happen when you invited me on that picnic, back in Florence?'

'It wasn't exactly on my agenda, no,' he admitted, but he was smiling. 'And I'm certainly not complaining, am I?'

'I don't know,' I murmured, sliding one hand into his. 'Are you?'

'Not right now,' he squeezed my fingers gently and then leaned over to slide his mouth over mine.

One of those rare moments of pure perfection; me in Heero's arms in a scented rose garden and a kiss that was blossoming in the afternoon sunlight.

'Oooh!' squealed a shrill voice, somewhere around my elbow level. 'Look! Duo's kissing Heero!'

Well, Duo had been kissing Heero at any rate. We sprang apart; nothing like being observed by a little girl to spoil the mood.

Lily was giggling at us, while Marlie strolled up, a huge grin plastered all over her face. Nat and Gemma were standing a little apart, although Nat flicked me a brief thumbs-up sign.

'Hello there,' I greeted them, trying to sound all composed, and amused that Heero looked about as embarrassed as I felt. 'I just wanted to check that you guys were all right, that everything's OK.'

'Oh, everything's perfect,' Marlie assured me airily, her smirk a sure sign that watching the two of us had added greatly to her present happiness. I'd have to report her to Une for voyeurism if she kept this up.

'Good.' Lily ran off after a butterfly - she was obviously fascinated by anything with wings - and I gave Marlie a serious look. 'I thought we should have a little talk, if you don't mind. I know I pretty much shanghaied you into helping me with the kids, and I don't know if you're happy to stay with them, or if you'd rather be assigned back to what you were doing before?'

'Of course I want to stay,' she said firmly. 'I love the kids, and beside, I'm helping to protect three vital witnesses, aren't I?' She hesitated. 'Do you think I could maybe get to meet Agent Chang sometime?'

'Absolutely.' I grinned at her, relieved of one less worry for a while. 'If you want to take a break for a bit, we'll take them around the gardens. I need to talk to them.'

'Why?' Nat demanded. 'What's gone wrong?'

'We met a lady who said she was a princess!' Lily babbled, interrupting before I could answer her brother. 'She's not, really, is she? She didn't even have a crown or a long dress or anything.'

I had to laugh at Heero's expression; it might be fun to tell 'Lena that a little girl had accused her of princess-impersonating. 'Actually, she really is a princess. She's sort of on holiday right now, but she does have a crown at home.'

'Does she live in a palace?' Lily demanded.

'Absolutely. With towers and dungeons and everything. It's pretty cool.'

Three sets of eyes widened. 'Can we go visit?' Gemma breathed.

'Oh, I'm sure she'd let you visit if you ask her really nicely. Listen, guys, you like it here, don't you? Will you be OK if I leave you here tonight? Marlie's going to be here, and the princess lady and some of my other friends. One of them is a real live prince and you'll love meeting him. Will that be all right?'

'I like it here,' Lily informed me breathlessly. 'Can we stay here for always? Can we?'

'For a while.' That seemed to satisfy her and she tore off, laughing.

The rest of us walked on, and I noticed that Gemma had slipped her hand into Heero's.

'What do we have to do to stay here?' Nat looked up at me inquiringly, and I suddenly wondered if David Souhef's house had been like this, if it was bringing back some sort of memories.

'Nothing like that, I swear,' I said quickly. 'You don't have to do anything like that again.'

He shrugged, thrusting both hands in his pockets. Well, he had no real reason to trust me, had he? In his place, I'd probably have headed for the hills already.

'Listen, Nat, OK? I think those guys who hurt Ali did it because he was seen speaking

to me; I'm scared they might come after you and your sisters, because you've talked to me as well. It would really help if you could remember any more about that night; the night you saw those guys take my friend.'

'I told you already,' he muttered. 'I didn't really see anything. It was too dark; just the black van and guys in dark clothes.'

'The van was blue, not black,' Lily chipped in, skipping up beside us. 'Really dark blue.'

Nat swivelled around, glaring at her. 'I told you not to look. I told you to stay away!'

'You went,' Lily glared back. 'And I liked Kyle too. He was my friend.'

Nat looked as if he wanted to say something else, and I laid one hand on his arm, squatting down to face the little girl. 'Listen, sweetie, do you remember anything else about the van you saw?'

She nodded solemnly. 'The flying horsey.'

Oh, great. Flying llamas, flying horses. What the hell was next? Flying penguins?

'She doesn't know anything,' Nat muttered. 'She just makes things up.'

'Do not!' Lily exclaimed, stamping her foot. 'It was a flying horsey, Duo. It had wings and everything!'

'Wait,' Heero said suddenly, fishing a notebook out of his pocket. 'Duo, draw Pegasus for her.'

'What?'

'The flying horse. The one from the Greek myth. Remember?'

'Not like that,' Lily informed me, leaning over my shoulder to watch me draw. 'He was standing on two legs. Like that!.' She held up finger and thumb, about an inch apart. 'He was pretty, all shiny.'

'Shiny like this?' Heero pushed back his sleeve to show his silver watch strap, and she nodded.

'A logo,' Heero looked over at me, then suddenly bent down and kissed the top of Lily's head. 'Wonder how many dark blue vans are going around with a winged horse logo, hmmm?'

'Not that many, probably,' I answered. 'It's an unusual sort of thing, isn't it?'

Another lead, maybe.

I knew I had to be wearing this ridiculous grin as Heero lifted Lily up to his shoulders as a reward, letting her stretch her arms out and pretend to fly. Partly the fact that maybe - maybe - we were getting a little closer to finding out what was going on with Quat, but partly it was just the flowers and sunshine and children laughing, and Heero's smile as he looked over at me.