Disclaimer: I do not own GW – seriously? I mean if I owned it, it would have been WAY different (obviously) and well – I'd be richer. :D

Thanks to my reviewers, especially priscel, angelyn and inuyashalover45. Reviews make me write... Yatta!

CHAPTER 16

Duo had been swimming in Quatre's lake, a past time he enjoyed during his last pregnancy and quickly remembered why. Water was so soothing. Duo was convinced buoyancy was God's gift to pregnant... people. Quatre, Trowa, Gemma and Camille had been with him until recently when Quatre and Trowa offered to return them to the house for a nap while Duo dried off in the sun.

At 6 months pregnant with the twins, gender still a mystery, Duo wasn't able to go out and about much without raising eyebrows. People either assumed he was a woman (Duo blamed his braid) or he was grossly overweight (probably had something to do with his huge belly). Though Duo never really saw himself in a mirror full term with Camille, he felt sure he wasn't this large. And even if Heero had felt gracious enough to lift the driving ban, Duo didn't push it because there was no way he could fit even semi-comfortably behind the wheel at this point. Nope, it looked like it would be chaffeurs for him until the end of this pregnancy. Thought he would never tell Heero this, he didn't really mind that much. In part because he had stolen back a set of keys for his car and he could easily hotwire his bike if he really needed to go out.

When Heero found Duo, he had his arms under his head, face to the sun. It was late afternoon, so the sun's heat had lessened, allowing Duo to rest with his shirt on. Heero sat next to him, unwilling to wake him.

After a few minutes, Duo stirred and opened his eyes. Startled to see someone next to him, he rolled to his side and laboriously pulled himself to a sitting position. "Heero!" Duo gasped, "Wake me up next time, you nearly stopped my heart!" Regaining his breath, Duo put a hand on his stomach, massaging it gently.

"Are they moving?"

Duo smiled, "When aren't they?" For the past few weeks, the babies seemed to realized that mobility was an option and had begun to stir like crazy. When Duo described it he said that if felt like there was an octopus on the loose in his stomach. Heero put his hand on Duo's stomach and felt the rapid kick or punch of one of the twins. It was amazing to Heero and even though it irritated Duo, he said he preferred that to stillness. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Heero feared ruining this blissful moment.

"Duo," Heero began tentatively. Duo looked at him suspiciously. Something in Heero's tone made him wary. "Relena has asked me to assist her with this peace conference."

Duo nodded, knowing that Heero had been working hard on setting it up for weeks now. Heero wasn't sure Duo was understanding, "She wants me to go with her for a couple weeks."

Duo closed his eyes, his expression staying neutral, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, on one condition." Heero had expected a much longer battle and more than one condition. Duo seemed much more reasonable this pregnancy than he had last time.

"What is the condition?"

"A phone call. Every day, you call me, tell me that you are doing well. I will tell you how I am doing and I won't have to worry about you."

Heero studied Duo's face suspiciously, "That's all?"

"That's all," Duo confirmed, "Oh, and don't die."

"I think I can do that."

Wufei sighed as he helped Heero finish loading Relena's aircraft, the two of them doing constant security checks to make sure it had not been compromised. Heero was going to be the pilot, leaving Wufei to deal with the passengers. There had been no way to avoid flight attendants, they all had been in the Vice Foreign Minister's employ for years, but people could be corrupted.

This job forced cynicism on a man, knowing to what lengths people would go for money, power and personal gain. Sometimes even the most pure intentions could drive a man to murder. So Wufei trusted very few people. He had come to trust Heero, it was necessary to trust your associates in this setting, nonetheless, he occasionally checked up on Heero, and he knew the dark haired man did the same to him.

One of the delegates that had attempted to attend had found that all the air crafts available had been tampered with. Her country had deemed the security breach too dangerous and they pulled out. Another country's pilots had gone missing. They however still had sent him, just by land, an option not available to all. Because of this, several delegates were traveling with Relena deciding her exceptional security made up for the higher risk a delegate of her standing would create.

Finally, the two men deemed the aircraft safe and they boarded. Neither were nervous, as nervousness would leave them high strung; but they were were ready and on alert. The flight was event-less and they arrived in much the same condition they arrived in. The passengers were probably a bit more relieved, a little more cramped. Two of Relena's other personal guards had been monitoring the landing pad all day, as Heero landed, they hurried forward and then stood in the shadows as she emerged for the news cameras.

Heero handed the plane off to another pilot to secure and then he and Wufei joined in with the other guards in their silent protection of one of the most influential people in the world and beyond.

Relena had gathered together a group of diplomats and ambassadors that she knew. The conference wouldn't start for a few days as people slowly arrived. Heero and Wufei had talked her away from transporting all the attendees, but it would take several days nonetheless.

Afterward, Heero and Wufei followed her to her suite, leaving other guards at attention outside. Heero went in with her and Wufei guarded the door. Heero checked the room out, testing the windows and doors. He drew the curtains and turned back to the fair haired woman. Seeing that she was out of view, she slumped back onto the couch and put her feet up on the table.

Heero stood, his arms crossed, smiling softly. Relena had been one of the first people to reach out to him during the war, at first it was really uncomfortable, she didn't understand his position as a soldier and he didn't understand her need to save him. Slowly over time, Heero saw her mature and change. She took on a tremendous burden by becoming a politician as she had. People expected a lot from her, considering who her family was. Speaking of whom, her brother was supposed to be joining her at some point.

"I hope this works," She sighed. Heero murmured an agreement. "I wish we could find out who was sabotaging our efforts. Then I'm sure the countries would rally together against this common foe, but as it stands everyone is suspicious of everyone else."

"Do you want me to look into it?"

Relena opened one eye, "Just ask around, see if anyone has any justifiable suspicions." Heero nodded.

Duo smiled as he hung up the phone, it had been ten days since Heero left and he had faithfully called every day, twice one day, and assured him that all was going well. The peace talk was going. It would be easier if everyone agreed that the fighting was useless, but many countries felt that there was clearly a threat present and disbanding their armies would be foolish. Duo shook his head, the fighting was started behind some meaningless border dispute. It didn't seem as if anyone really knew the true reason for the war, but all the countries felt the need to partake.

Still, if they could stop the fighting with diplomacy rather than fighting. . . Duo felt hopeful. Relieved from his daily phone call from Heero, Duo went to gather up his daughter to go swimming. Camille loved the water as much as her father and they visited as often as they could. Duo had valiantly worked on his shop's accounts and had gone in yesterday after hours to work on some cars as much as possible. Trowa had gone with him and had shown an unexpected knowledge of the contents of a car under the hood. While he had less experience than Duo, the braided man felt sure with a little time and training he would make an excellent mechanic.

After a couple hours in the water, Duo joined Quatre, Trowa and Gemma for dinner and they spent the evening playing with the girls and watching a movie. Too tired to stay awake and talk, Duo went to bed after his daughter and slept soundly.

The next day passed in much the same fashion. When Camille had gone to bed though, Heero still hadn't called. Heero had warned that today would be busy. Duo forced himself to be patient. When midnight rolled around, he called Heero's phone. It was off. Trying not to worry, he went to bed. If he hadn't heard from Heero in the morning. . . well, he could take things from there.

When Duo woke up that morning, he tried to ascertain what felt wrong. He was sure he had had another nightmare, but ever since his accident, the nightmares about losing his family were endless and horrifying. His pregnancy pillow – a gift from God. . . . and Quatre – was lying under his side. Duo rolled onto his back. His babies seemed to be sleeping still, nobody was trying to wage war inside of him. Duo was certain they were boys, Camille was never this antsy.

With a gasp, Duo sat up. Heero. Heero hadn't called. Duo grabbed his phone from the bedside and dialed one quickly. It rang. Relief poured into Duo. The phone probably lost power or something.

On the third ring, it answered, "What?"

A chill ran down Duo's spine. That was not Heero's voice. Being careful to keep his voice from wavering, Duo demanded, "Who is this?" No immediate answer, he heard voices in the background, someone yelling to hang up. It sounded like Heero.

Automatically, Duo ended the call. He felt frozen, who were those people? Was Heero in trouble? The phone rang. Duo stared at it blankly. It was Heero. He wasn't going to answer. Heero said to hang up and he did. Heero would leave a message or find another way to call him. When the call ended, no message came up.

Duo stood and began pacing the room. The babies sensed Duo's anxiety and began gently pummeling the side of his stomach. He thought about going to Trowa, but what could he do about it. Duo felt nausea threaten, he swallowed. This was no time to be sick.

Resolve surged through him, he marched (or waddled) downstairs, dialing the number 5 as he did.

Duo felt nervous. The babies seemed to sense it and were doing there best to turn his kidneys into cream and his diaphragm into a pincushion. An urgent meeting with Relena could never, ever be a good sign. He'd tried Heero's phone. It was still turned off.

He had been waiting in the security room for well over an hour now. Duo didn't want to leave, didn't want to miss anything, but his bladder was about to burst. With a resigned sigh, he stood and went to the restroom as quickly as possible. On his way back he heard a broadcast about the peace conference, thinking that it could be his best way to learn anything, he stopped and listened.

"The delegates at the conference are calling for an immediate meeting with all peoples involved. There is some outrage as a few countries can not or will not send their ambassadors. Understandably, after today's events, many people are wondering if it is even worth continuing if the culprit can not be caught-"

"You should not be listening to that."

Duo turned to see Wufei standing right behind him. "Wufei? What the hell? You call me here and then make me wait around for an hour?" Duo hadn't meant to yell, but his anxiety was manifesting itself.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Wufei nodded his head and then asked Duo to follow him. Duo didn't like Wufei apologizing, since he had first met the stoic Asian, he had never apologized for anything. Duo hid from his fear by sticking with his anger. It was easier.

Wufei led him back to the security room, motioning to a chair. Duo refused. "Just tell me whats going on."

Wufei took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled slowly. "The peace conference was meant to unite those in a desire for peace and help discover who may be causing the-" Wufei paused "-the current unrest."

Duo groaned. He knew this – he lived with Heero. None of this was new information, and he got the feeling that Wufei was pussyfooting around the issue. Duo snapped, "I know this Wufei, what are you not saying?"

Another breath, "Heero disappeared yesterday morning." Duo began pacing, his braid twitching as he shook his head. His body felt electrified and he needed to move, to be doing something. The braided man did not like how this was sounding. "He was doing some. . . reconnaissance for Relena. When we didn't hear back from him, we sent others to look for him-"

Wufei was interrupted as the door smashed open. "Sir! You need to see this," a young woman in uniform rushed in, turned a television set in the corner on. The screen seemed to be showing an amateur video, there was no narration. Annoyed at the interruption, Duo still found himself drawn to the screen. There was something familiar about the figure.

Though the quality was low, details were still visible. It was silent, but no sound was needed to understand what was happening. The image zoomed in to the figure. The figure was restrained with cuffs on both wrists and ankles to wooden kitchen chair. The room was nondescript, some wooden pallets with cellophane wrapped packages. The edge of a forklift could be seen at the back of the concrete floored room.

The figure had messy brown hair, he wasn't struggling, he was looking straight into the camera. It looked like he was saying something, repeating it over and over again. The screen focused on the figure for about 30 seconds. Duo ached. It was Heero. He was trapped. He needed him. Duo had to help, but he couldn't take his eyes off the screen.

There was no change in the dark haired man's face. The only difference was he stopped mouthing whatever message it was he was trying to get across. The chair he was in smashed backwards and a dark red stain bloomed on his chest, just a little to the left of center in his chest. There was no twitching, no movement, nothing.

Duo stepped backward numbly to a chair. He heard Wufei dismiss the woman, saw him turn the television off, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. His whole body felt empty. A dull terror was pulsing in the background. It was too much, too overwhelming. Duo could not process what he had just seen. If he did he would disappear. Disappear into the fear, pain and grief that he felt crowding the edges of his shock filled numbness.

Someone was saying his name, but he couldn't respond. If he did, he would be acknowledging that he was here, alive and cognizant. Something that Heero –

Duo couldn't breathe. It was overwhelming, if Heero was gone. . . the thought sent his heart racing, air wouldn't come in. He'd forgotten how to breathe. It was supposed to be natural, but if Heero wasn't there anymore, than nothing was natural anymore. Voices. He heard voices. He couldn't understand them. It probably wasn't important.

A distressed punch from his insides did pierce his panicked fog. Duo gasped, feeling himself come together. He was alive, he did know how to breathe. That was all he could focus on right now. He knew how to breathe, in and out, in and out.

Gentle, aqua eyes were connecting with his, but Duo didn't want to see the sorrow there, so he turned away.

"Duo?" It was Trowa's voice. "We need to go home now. Can you walk?" Duo looked at Trowa, saw the dark haired man's face. He saw some of the pain there that he was feeling himself. Duo wanted to reassure him, but he couldn't, so instead he nodded.

Duo was aware of getting into the car, conscious of the vehicle moving, of arriving at the mansion, but that was it. An awareness, no active participation. Minutes, hours, days later, Duo realized he had been sitting for some time at the desk. The room was empty except for the computer that Duo had been using for his shop's accounts.

An urgent need overcame him as he remembered something, with trembling fingers, he hit the power button. The screen began to glow and soft hum indicated the machine was working. Fingers sent commands, searching and opening files. It wasn't hard, the video was all over the internet. He clicked it, made it fill the screen and watched.

What had Heero been saying? What was his last message to the world? To him? Heero's lips moved in the repetitive, robotic motion. Duo restarted it before the end and watched again. Over and over as he stared at the poor image, mentally filling in the gaps. Stopping the video, Duo pulled back. The message was to him and it was simple.

Goodbye, I'm sorry.

Tsutsuku

Yes, that just happened.

have a good day!

Annie