Heidi watched as another boy of hers started to cry, but she was still holding one. "Mandy?"

"Oh, Heidi. What are you going to do when I'm not here helping you anymore," Mandy said as she picked up another one. "You shouldn't get so close to that gundam pilot. That is not looked upon well around here. You know that."

"There's nothing wrong. He's technically a member," Heidi pointed out. "I feel bad for him, he just wants to find his friend. I don't get where all the hate in this group comes from. I was broken before I was broken. Or more like broken, before I got fixed."

"He might flip out and think you are his friend," Mandy warned her. "What if he tries to drag you or your kids away?"

"Oh, come on. It's simple math," Heidi said. "If I were Hilde, I'd have been gone three months. No time to have my children."

"He makes me nervous," Mandy said. "We don't need this following us. We are fugitives, and you are rubbing up against someone who can contact really high people."

"Sorry, sorry." Mandy really didn't like it. "He was missing his wallet. When I gave it back to him, he asked questions. He's just curious. They are never allowed in the nursery sections. They probably just think we are all the same gun-toting angry women."

The zero system messed them all up so bad. They were trying to get their life together, but it wasn't easy. Whether it was Mandy with her quadruplets, Marilyn with her secrets of a Phillips baby, Mae trying to find a husband outside of RTL while she was slim in her pregnancy, or Platinum with her twins doing her best not to go anywhere ever.

All messed up. None of them had futures. "Are we all going to live together when RTL is finally gone?" Heidi asked her softly. "So many of us rely on this place. For the kids, for resources, for shelter. Our little jobs, it just won't cut it when it's all becoming voluntary. Mandy?"

"Everything is getting thinner," Mandy agreed with her. "I'm afraid something's gotta give soon. With everyone working and sharing a house. I think we'll be okay. I'd say we have a little more time left. I should be able to have the quadruplets safely here."

"Do you realize if we all get one big house, it's 11 babies?" Heidi pointed out. "Once your little herd is born, 11 babies and five women."

"Five women can watch 11 babies. We just need a tight schedule and to get on a routine," Mandy insisted as she balled up her fist. "We can manage this. It'll be tough, but I know we can do it. We'll decide who takes night jobs, and who takes mornings. Who watches who, and we'll take any conditions into account. We'll figure it all out until one day we can go it on our own."

"With a powerhouse of five women, we can't mess up," Heidi agreed. "You're right. We just need a good strategy."

"A good strategy is always needed. With a good strategy, people can win anything. We'll eventually make it out there on our own too. We'll find our own ways in life," Mandy smiled. "I know we will. We are strong, and I have faith we'll pull through this, Heidi. Did you have any fun today?"

"I played cards," Heidi said to her. "Briefly. It was more boring and colder down there. Heat is always higher up here with babies and kid corners."

"I dream when I can play cards." Platinum came into the room. "Tiger's Eye. Purple Gem."

"Don't call me that," Mandy told her. "You can go by your gem name, but I'd rather not anymore. Not like I'll be going on missions any time soon."

Platinum placed her boy and girl down in their cribs. "Loyalty always holds a point. I noticed an interesting conversation as I walked by. Are you two really contemplating on us doing that?"

"Well, Heidi over here is becoming friends with 02, Duo Maxwell." Mandy just had to call her out.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Even Platinum had to be angry with her. "Do not become friends with gundam pilots! You'll be sent to jail after this is all over, idiot!"

"He wouldn't do anything right now," Heidi said. "I just wanted to give him his wallet back."

She groaned. "Do you remember who you really are?" Anger poured out of her. "You better not tell him anything. They are not our friends. Mandy?"

"Yes, I can watch them for a bit," Mandy agreed. "You're right though, Catty. We're all villains."

"No, we aren't," Heidi disagreed. "We were messed up by the zero system. We are staying out of the way, so the pilots don't get confused by RTL's tricks."

"It doesn't matter the excuse, Heidi," Mandy reminded her. "Every single member of RTL was arrested. Tried. Imprisoned. If you did it, justice says you pay. You've seen our rap sheets. There is no turning back from this, or we'll lose everything," she declared.

"So being friendly is a bad idea," Platinum warned her. "Do not trust anyone."

"Well, I told on Marilyn. She can't survive in Antarctica by herself with Triton," Heidi warned them. "I don't get the sense he'd hurt her, I'm pretty sure she's Middie Une. If she is, then she'll be protected."

The others all groaned.

"Her rap sheet is the only one that makes no sense. The dates. Nothing. She doesn't match it at all, it's like someone just grabbed a profile and threw it at her. She doesn't match." Heidi was certain of it. "Her son would be Alec Barton's age too. A simple blood test, and she'd be safe."

"And if she's not her?" Mandy pointed out.

"She is heavy into her art. That really matches. Middie Une did art at the circus, and that doesn't grace her profile at all. Her circus was destroyed. She got her son back shortly after losing him? How?" Heidi threw it all their way. "Her art is strange and special. It would clearly be in her profile. She is Middie Une, I know it."

"Well then, we could have used that information for a safe escape," Platinum chided her.

"It creates trust. If he sees that we really aren't a threat, then maybe we can just . . . go?" she said hopefully.

"Sure, sure." Platinum glanced over her with a thin sigh. "I'm glad we are getting along, Mister Gundam Pilot. By the way? Do you think you could do something about my rapsheet? I've just committed burglary, larceny, kidnapping, first degree manslaughter, second degree-"

"Stop it!" She didn't want to hear it.

"We did these things," Mandy said to her. "I'm sorry, but we can't just pretend it can be wiped away. We are better now, but it won't let us get past all the horrific things we did. All we can do is run with our families and try to give them a better life than we led."

"If you don't want the law to get ahold of your darling little musketeers?" Dorothy gestured to her boys. "You know what state the adoption system is in. You've seen work orders come through. They'll end up living on the streets like strays."

"They won't." Heidi went over to look at her boys. "I'll stay in contact with Marilyn, and find a safe way to give her back to the people who love her." She touched one of their little hands. "She doesn't deserve this kind of life, when she did nothing wrong." She started to wipe at her tears.

"Okay," Mandy agreed. "I think we can get a blood test for her, find the truth, and then find a way to give her back if she is her."

"Please, do not do that," Platinum insisted. "Did you forget that Middie Une herself was a spy in the battlefield? She will have to be given directly to the pilot who wants her. No exceptions. Anything else will expose her to a world of prison."

"Agreed," Mandy said. "We would have to run a DNA test, and then give her back to Trowa Barton himself. But not until after a test. So? How are we going to manage one of those?"

One hundred percent. One thousand percent. One million percent. Duo relaxed in Lucille's room while she chewed on a snack. He was trying to figure out what to do. That's her, I know that's her. But it's not her, it can't be her. Triplets? That would be so much longer than she's been missing.

"You're sad, Mister," Lucille noticed. "Did someone take your toy?"

Heh. "I don't really know, and I'm scared to leave until I know."

Hilde.

Comfortable. Safe. Fun.

Hilde was trying to hit those notes after the whole zero system experience. It wasn't quite the notes, but he had to give her a break. Not like she was going to be completely okay after all that. She even seemed to want to distance herself a little bit by getting a boyfriend. Still?

"Duo?"

He picked up a whisper behind him. It was the one outside before that he swore was Hilde. "Hilde?"

"Sorry, Duo. Everywhere still has cameras. I don't know which ones are on or off, I just know the one place they never bothered were the children's rooms." She went to his other side. "I've been trying to figure out where you were, Duo. This was an insane tactic of RTL. I don't know where the others are, but I want to get back already. Oh, but that's the end of our shuttle course training for me probably. Does abducted fit for an excuse?"

She knew things. That had to be Hilde. Why would they let her remember? "Hilde?"

"Second time you said that, Duo," she said sharply. "Come on, let's go. I'll move first toward Deathscythe."

She was with me for six months. But the smile and the way I just wanted to . . . hang around the other one. That was the reason he liked staying with Hilde in the first place years ago. It was the reason he kept coming right back. He could have left, taken off, gone anywhere. He could have left the little sap of a new pilot as soon as he fixed Deathscythe.

He always liked being cheery, and not talking about the past. Just focusing on the present, cheerily. Even when things got rough, they never planned for the future. Only the present mattered.

"What's wrong, Duo? I'm sorry I had to put on a show for you outside," she said. "I had to make sure I could come here without being watched closely."

He felt himself getting tucked away to run with her to the Deathscythe. It's Hilde. This is Hilde. She went straight over to the Deathscythe and smiled at him. "Let's go."

How should I feel about this? Always being in the present. Only talking about the present. It made her . . . "Oh, you know I spaced it out for two people?" Duo asked as she moved away. Probably toward the zero room. It's Hilde. This is Hilde. It's gotta be Hilde. Is it? Yeah. I am a sick friend. I am a terrible friend. I'll have to tell her one day that I can't tell her from a bunch of others that look like her. He said bye to Lucille real quick and headed toward a gundam.

Starving for normality. Starving for someone to just have a good time with? Anyone to have a good time with? That's gotta be it. Worried too, I mean triplets. But, that can't be true. That lady was so happy with them. Hilde didn't want kids. He moved up toward Deathscythe where she stood hiding around the lift. Plus, you don't have triplets in two months. "If you remember, how come you never left, Hilde?"

"Not now, Duo, we need to go," she insisted. She took the lift up with him. She smiled all the way up there. "We are almost out, I'm so glad."

"Yeah." Duo looked at Deathscythe. Why is Deathscythe screaming at me? "Get in."

Her smile was changing? "Well, hurry up, Duo."

Duo opened the compartment and watched her buckle up. "Hang on, Hilde." He grabbed her tightly. "Something's wrong with Deathscythe, help me out." He kicked open the steering compartment like last time. Seriously needed to get that fixed later. "What do you think's wrong?"

"What, why are you asking now, Duo?" she asked. "Seriously, it's been three months since I've been stuck here. Let's go."

"What is it, Hilde. It takes two seconds to say it." No. This can't . . . in fact? No? No. No?

"What's wrong with you, Duo?" she stalled again. "Seriously? Hey, come on, Duo. We spent months together. We even spent so much time at the burner house."

"You don't even know you are looking at the steering," Duo glared at her.

"My mind's been through the zero system," she glared back. "Forgive me for forgetting about your gundam, instead of retaining my own memories, Duo!" She grabbed Duo's arm. "Let's go already, before we are caught. I'm sorry, okay? I'm not me, anymore, I get it. Please? We need to go."

"Why do you still have your memories?" he asked again.

"Because. I? I fell out of the Deathscythe. I had terrifying experiences and visions inside the zero system," she wailed. "I didn't . . . remember everything, but I knew who I had been. I'm Hilde, and you told me everything was okay."

But, was she as okay as he thought? "That's when you lost some of your memories?"

"I still had vague memories of stuff," she admitted. "Really. I knew I would eventually have to tell you when something happened that I didn't know." She shrugged. "Nothing happened that I never knew, Duo. You never talk about the past or things I should know. We always just live in the moment. You know?" She smiled sadly. "Please? I just want to leave. I just, need to remember where home is again."

Duo got it. "You forgot where we lived." She forgot all about him way before he thought.

"I forgot where we used to live, yeah. I'm sorry," she said as she rubbed her hands together. "My mind is fractured. I remember certain things, but not others. I waited patiently here, knowing you'd find me one day if I just stayed put. This reachout area is really good, a lot of women kind of look like me. It seemed like a good place to get some notice." Another smile. "Come on, Duo. I really want to leave."

"Later." He had to think. "I'm watching over a little girl I rescued this morning. So, you can just wait around until I'm good and done."

"Why so sour, Duo?"

"You didn't tell me you lost memories."

"I said I'm sorry, Duo. Duo?"

Duo went down, and walked back off. He walked back toward Lucille's room.

He glanced backward. Hilde was right there, following him. But, was she Hilde? "Prove to me your Hilde."

"Well, your brother is an insensitive moron," she started with. "He treated Middie Une really bad for something that she did to try and escape torture. Shortly after that, you told me to go to our room."

"Farther," Duo insisted.

"Duo? Are you punishing me for forgetting?" she asked. "Do you really . . . ?" She started to tremble. "Are you going to leave me behind because I'm too corrupt by the zero system? You don't even recognize me, am I that bad off now?" She showed him her arm. "Do I really have to show this to prove myself?"

"No!" No! What am I doing?! I've been waiting for her! I even made her drag out that damn soldier scar. "I'll take you back!" He could hear Deathscythes screams again. Heero warned him they would be screwed up by the time they got them back. I should be glad this is all she forgot. "I'll gladly take you back home, I'm sorry, Hilde-Babe." He wrapped his arms around her. RTL just . . .

He put her in the safety of Deathscythe next to him. Afterwards, he'd let Trowa know exactly where Middie had been. He could use Lucille as basic permission to get over there as long as she was there.

Trowa would figure out how to befriend the little girl. For him? Done. No more twisted RTL.