Alright... I couldn't hold out. Sorry, but I'm not going to make it until May. So, you're getting what I have now. I actually stopped at a place that isn't so much of a cliffhanger. Another plus is that I get out of school in May, so at most you'll only miss one month's update and be late on another. But being this far ahead is just killing me, because I have to watch everything I can say when talking to reviewers, and I could actually use some advice. I'm not too sure how everything is coming out, or what I'm going to do with the second half of the summer. But, anyway, here you go. Sorry I couldn't hold out any longer.

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I felt a sense of accomplishment as Heero and I rode home Sunday night, even though it was nearly dark and I was sore from head to toe, from more than just the ride. I couldn't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, I was staring to get the boys settled. After the lives of constant fear and change they had lead, I felt that I was starting to give them a solid foundation for normal life. I thought I could just see the end of the long road the boys were on.

But I was wrong. If I only knew how far we had left to go.

I slept like the dead Sunday night, feeling only a slight pang of regret that Heero wasn't in my arms. Still, Heero had chosen to room with Duo, and I wouldn't put Wufei out of his bed a second time. It was bad enough that all the other boys fought with anxieties, I didn't want to give Wufei a reason to be anxious by moving him around whenever one of the boys caught my fancy. I wasn't so shallow, though I did miss having Heero in my arms once in a while. Heero liked to curl up on my chest, while Wufei preferred to sleep in my arms, beside me. Both had advantages and disadvantages. I liked having Heero so close, but I would often regret it in the morning. On the other hand, having Heero on my chest prevented him from rolling away, as Wufei often did, so that I would have to chase after him in the middle of the night.

The next morning I slept late and skipped breakfast, going straight into another meeting about my financial situations. Preventor's salaries were good, but not nearly enough to get me into Collar. Of course, I wasn't facing any kind of deficit where money was concerned, and I could well afford to entertain myself with the pleasures of Collar, but I found losing a little money here and a little money there did much more damage than large purchases when dealing with thousands of different investments. A thousand little trickles eventually lets the money flow away. Even though I only handled the largest investments, there were still several hundred that needed watched, and my employees were constantly giving me requests to add or remove money from investments that were losing or gaining in profit revenues. Keeping track of my inheritance was almost like running a business, except that I didn't have to deal with investors or bureaucracy. I was literally playing with money, but it sucked anyway.

I spent the first three hours of the morning listening to the pros and cons of taking on new businesses that looked risky, then took a break to see how the boys were fairing. Duo even managed to get me to verse him on his new video game, though I did leave after his character exploded mine's head. Then it was on to another two hours of hearing why I should or shouldn't pull money out of businesses that seemed close to failure. This part of business was always the hardest for me, because I knew that by pulling money out of the business I would risk shutting down the company entirely, and losing jobs for hundred of workers. I salvaged any business in low-class areas that looked like there was a possibility they might come back, but there were several that I knew would shut down with or without my help. I was just putting them to sleep early.

By the end of that work period I was more than ready for a break. I took an hour for lunch, even though I had very little appetite, a feeling that Quatre seemed to share with me.

"Quatre, aren't you hungry?" I wondered. It was odd for a boy his age not to be hungry, ever.

"Ah-... That is, I had a big breakfast," he replied, blushing a little. I hadn't been at breakfast, and no one else protested, so I took him at his word, even if Trowa looked a little confused about his comment. Still, Quatre didn't have the look of someone who had eaten more than enough. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought he looked hungry.

From there it was back to working with my stocks and bonds for the rest of the afternoon, and Wufei had to call me three times for dinner before I could get away. But it was a sacrifice I would have to continue to make if I wished to remain wealthy and officially jobless. My unofficial job certainly didn't make me enough to maintain this lifestyle.

To be honest, it usually wasn't this hard. Normally I would check up on my stocks, bonds, and savings one day a week, either at the office or by phone. The reason I was having such trouble catching up was that, in preparing for this mission, I hadn't checked on my finances in nearly three months. Combined with all the extravagant recent expenses I had been racking up and I would soon face financial trouble if things weren't put in order, and I couldn't allow that. Financial trouble could mean expulsion from Collar, which would lose me more than just money. If I didn't get my money straightened out soon I risked losing the boys and not completing the mission, and that was something I couldn't risk.

So I found myself in the awkward position of trying to balance working, playing, maintaining five different relationships, training five slaves, and trying to recuperate five damaged teenage boys. It was not a pleasant situation to be in, or one that helped at all with my stress levels. But I couldn't let the boys see me floundering, I couldn't let them think that there might be some danger of me falling and taking them down with me, so I took great pains to keep them from seeing how much stress I was under, and did so with almost complete success.

Quatre was to be my next worry, I found over the next few days. His trend of not eating continued, though he attempted valiantly to cover it. Repeated questions toward his health were positively responded to, and if he wasn't sick then I couldn't figure out what in the world was wrong with him. He wasn't depressed and his energy certainly hadn't suffered. I even found him running a few laps on the treadmill in his free time. But if he wasn't sick or depressed, why wasn't he eating? I couldn't figure it out.

I contemplated asking Sally fro advice, but she wouldn't be back for a consultation until Thursday, and I didn't want making a trip out here if it was nothing. Still, I also didn't want Quatre to go an entire week barely eating. Eventually, I became so confused that I once again resorted asking Wufei for advice.

"What do you want me to tell you? I'm barely closer to Quatre than you are," he hedged and continued to place books on the shelf. I had thought that catching him in the library would make it easier for us to talk in private, but it seemed I had only made it easier for him to run from me.

"What about Trowa? I know he holds you in high regard. Hasn't he said anything?" I asked, following him as he moved around the library. Wufei gave me a semi-offended, semi-annoyed look.

"First of all, if Trowa had said something in confidence to me, I would not repeat it to you. Second of all, what makes you think he's said anything at all to me? That boy could give a mime a run for his money."

"Stop avoiding this," I said sternly, taking Wufei's hand to keep him from moving away. "This is serious, Wufei. I need to know if Trowa has said anything to you," I said, holding Wufei's eyes with my own. After a moment he looked down, then pulled away slowly and set the rest of the books on the table.

"He's been depressed in class lately, but he won't tell me what's wrong. I'm not sure even he knows, and it's probably driving him just as crazy as it is you."

"Damn," I swore and plopped down on one of the wooden desk chairs. I had hoped that Trowa had told something to Wufei, because I wasn't sure he would tell me. Trowa was very protective of Quatre, and if he thought whatever was wrong with the other boy might cause trouble he certainly wouldn't rat him out. And if even Trowa didn't know what was wrong with Quatre there weren't great odds that I would find out either.

"It's probably nothing," Wufei said, shuffling the books on the table. "From what you told me, it could be lots of things."

"Like what?" I asked, suddenly wondering if Wufei might know more than he was letting on.

"Like... ah... hormones," he hedged again, suddenly nervous.

"Hormones make teens cranky, weepy, and prone to bouncing between the two. It does not kill their appetite. What else?"

"Ah... he could be anxious about something."

"There's nothing coming up soon that would worry him, and he's happier than ever. Try again."

"He could... ah... that is..." Wufei stuttered, backing away as I advanced toward him.

"I don't have time to play games about this, Wufei. What do you know?" I growled, backing him into a corner and glaring down at him. Wufei, far from cowering, merely bit his lip and looked away.

"Slaves that are... slimmer and more feminine often have a tendency for... eating disorders," he admitted cautiously.

"Eating disorders?" I wondered, stunned. "Like he's purposefully starving himself?"

"Yes, and no. Slaves with eating disorders usually don't have a lot of control over it. They don't see themselves as attractive enough to be safe, so they starve themselves to look better. It's a vicious cycle with feminine slaves, because the less they eat, the worse they feel, the more they believe they need to diet. The more masculine slaves have a similar disorder, though it is slightly reversed. They all use steroids and eat to gain muscle, so they all keep getting bigger, so they all need to eat more to be competitive. Many face health problems because of it, and quite a few die. Feminine slaves have become more popular recently, though, so it's more likely see a slave with a weight loss problem than a weight gain. Surrounding slaves, our peers, so to say, are often vicious and compound the problem by humiliating the slave. Some masters, though, don't see it as a problem, and even encourage their slaves to have these disorders."

"You don't think I would..."

"No. I never thought for an instant that you would encourage Quatre's problem, but..." he hesitated, biting his lip again.

"What is it?" I prodded, desperate for more information. I had never even contemplated the possibility of an eating disorder with one of my slaves, though now it seemed a natural occurrence for these inhuman conditions.

"Knowing about Quatre's problem might not be of any help to you. It can take years for a person to overcome an eating disorder, and I've never known a slave to overcome a severe case of it."

"So you think this is severe?"

"I don't know. There was a long period of time where Quatre was eating normally without any prodding, so it could be that he is simply feeling anxious about something and is trying to make himself safer by becoming more attractive to the master. On the other hand, there could be many other reasons to explain his period of normality in a long term disorder."

"Like what?"

"He could have been expecting you to starve him, so he would have tried to put on weight to last him through that. He could have been attempting to recover from his sickness by keeping his strength up, and now that he's well he's decided to get skinny again. He could be on some sort of long term binge and purge thing where he eats for a few weeks then quits for a few more. Hell, it could come and go in phases. I don't know!" he admitted, sighing in frustration. I backed up and sat down again at the table, giving him some space and time to cool down. But I still needed his help, so I couldn't wait for long.

"So... should I confront him?"

"Don't be stupid. He'll just make up an excuse, eat fine for a couple of days, then fast again. You could even drive him into a real binge and purge sequence. He needs therapy."

"I could have him talk to Sally."

"It won't help. By the time she gets him to trust her we'll probably already be back at Collar. Besides, there's no way he'd believe that everything he says to her won't get back to you. If it's something related to you causing this behavior, which it most likely is, then it would just be a waste of time."

"Then what can I do?"

"I don't know," Wufei admitted sourly. "There aren't a lot of masters who pay enough attention to their slaves to notice this kind of thing, and the ones who do don't talk about it. I just... You're a good man, Zechs, you'll find a way to help him," Wufei assured, laying a hand on my shoulder. "I know you will."

"And if I don't?" I asked him. "What then? Do we leave Quatre to die?"

"He won't die."

"People die from this all the time."

"Weak people die from this. Quatre is strong, even if he is a slave. He will overcome it, but he needs help. You will not disappoint him."

"And if I do?"

"You cannot. It is not who you are. You will help him, no matter what you have to do."