Disclaimer: Own Gundam Wing? Who me? What, do I look like, the manager of Sunrise Asahi? In other words, no, not mine, but I wish they were.

Hey guys! Well, dis is da second part to da fic, I dunno why I'm using da instead of the, but dere has to be a good reason. I'll figure it out later. Yeah, so have fun and enjoy DA fic! (hee hee, couldn't help myself...)

Dorothy smiled, sitting in front of the vanity as she stared at her own reflection. A mask of cynicism, she reflected, tracing the contours of her own face. The eyes, the lips...if there was any pain in her heart, she hid it well, presenting only what the world wanted to see: her confidence, her control over herself. There was a slight knock on the door and Dorothy glanced up, momentarily startled.

"Who is it?" She called, and was rewarded by the Releena's muffled voice. Dorothy opened the door, smiling inside when she saw Releena's radiant face. Only a few weeks ago, she had been as pale a wraith, colorless and listless. The sparkle was back in her eyes again, a slight flush of color touching her curved lips. A grin curved Dorothy's own lips as she asked, "I see having visitors agrees with you, Miss Releena."

Releena laughed, closing the door to Dorothy's room, "Oh Dorothy, I can never thank you enough for-"

"Yes," Dorothy interrupted, "You can. You've been thanking Quatre and me for the last three weeks, Miss Releena! I assure you, it was sincerely no trouble at all." Dorothy managed a disapproving glare, her eyes pressed tightly together even though her eyes were pleased. "Now really, Miss Releena, why have you come into my room?"

"Well," Releena sat down on the bed, smoothing her pale cream dress around her, "I invited everyone over for a little banquet tonight, and I was wondering if you would like to attend."

"Of course, Miss Releena!" Dorothy's smile was genuine and slightly surprised before she hid it, "I would enjoy seeing them again."

Releena caught the slight, unnatural hesitancy in Dorothy's voice and glanced at her in mild concern. She seemed so surprised, almost as if she didn't think they liked her or wanted to meet with her. Why? Releena wondered, but Dorothy merely smiled, sensing an unspoken question, and shook her head, changing the subject.

"You're delegation speech was wonderful, Miss Releena. I do believe that the foreign minister of the Western Empire was most impressed."

Releena frowned, her attention diverted as she answered in an exasperated, half-puzzled voice, "Yes, he did seem most amiable, didn't he? The last time we spoke, he considered the concept of peace quite implausible, refusing to even speak of such an ideal. Does it bother you that he has totally reversed his stance, Dorothy?" Dorothy furrowed her brow, tapping a painted nail against her lip with growing distrust.

"Now that you mention it, Miss Releena, that does seem a little strange...but he signed some rather binding treaties of peace in the last conference. " Unfortunately, scum rarely abides by written word... Dorothy thought privately, not wanting to worry her friend with additional burdens, "I'm sure that he will be honorable enough to abide by the Mobile Disarmament clause, Miss Releena. Don't worry. Besides," Dorothy smiled, "You have to get ready for your guests. Especially Mr. Maxwell."

Releena laughed helplessly, all too willing to forget the previous discussion as she shook her head, "Duo? Dorothy, I' m quite sure that boy is hopeless. He doesn't have a serious bone in his body!"

Dorothy smiled. "I'm just worried about the furniture, Miss Releena. With Chang Wufei attempting to hack everything in sight with his katana..." The two girls laughed, voices intermingling on one pure note. Because it was good to laugh and it was better to laugh together, knowing there was a friend to turn to around the next corner.

***

Dorothy walked into the room, greeted by explosions of laughter as Duo Maxwell, the irrepressible American pilot with the long braid ribbed Wufei, who was scowling irritably at everyone in general, but Duo in particular. "No, Maxwell! Damn it, onna, what did you get me into??" Sally just laughed, leaning against Noin as they both choked in a gargled response to the thunder in Wufei's expression.

"Come on," Duo wheedled, following the Chinese pilot with adorable puppy eyes that were holding in his laughter with remarkable restraint. "Just one drink!"

Wufei growled, "Maxwell, last time you got me to take 'one drink', I found myself standing butt naked on stage singing the blues to a karoake machine! Injustice!!" Duo grinned widely, remembering the incident very well. It had been a few weeks after the 'Barton incident' as it was now dubbed, Duo had found Wufei on the verge of a breakdown, which was freaking the rest of the Preventors out. So he had taken him to a local bar and...well...how was he supposed to know that Wufei couldn't hold a drink?!

"Oh come on, we'll make sure you don't get drunk this time. Loosen up, Wu-man! This is supposed to be a party!!" That's when Duo glanced towards the door and saw Dorothy standing there, amusement written across her face. He grinned, waving cheerfully, "Hey blondie. How's life?" The others glanced immediately to her, their regard cautious, yet not hostile.

Dorothy raised her brow, "My name is Dorothy Catalonia. And life has been very good, thank you, Mr. Maxwell."

Duo winced, "The name is Duo, DUO, not Mr. Maxwell." He scratched his head, "Mr. Maxwell my foot. What do I look like, a lawyer??" Hilde swatted him over the head, glaring at him in mock affront.

"It's your fault for calling her 'blondie' in the first place. Idiot." There was a trace of affection in her voice for the pilot even as Hilde pushed him to one side, and held out a hand to Dorothy. "Nice to see you again, Miss Dorothy. On the same side this time, I hear."

Dorothy laughed, clasping Hilde's hand lightly in hers, "So it would seem, Miss Hilde. But never fear. I believe we will be getting enough excitement tonight without needing to resort to Mobile Dolls and crossed swords." Hilde grinned, relaxing slightly.

"With Wufei, Duo, and Heero in one room?" She shuddered, "God help us all." The others burst into laughter, even Trowa's lips quirking in a slight smile though his face remained hooded and impassive. Duo gave Hilde an offended look while Wufei began muttering about the disrespect of women for their men, which made Sally give him a less than good-natured glare.

"Where's Quatre?" Dorothy asked in an offhanded manner, her smile gleaming as she allowed herself to relax a tiny bit.

"Oh, returning from the colonies, I would be assuming." Catherine Bloom made her way to them, her face still open and in good humor after all these years. "He said he would definitely make it in time. By the way, we thought Heero and Releena would never get together. I was told you had a large part in finding him."

Dorothy shrugged, "It was nothing. I merely paid back a part of a large debt I owe Miss Releena."

"Speaking of who..." Duo practically pounced on the former Zero pilot as he entered with Releena, punching him on the arm playfully. "Hey ojousan! Heero, you lucky devil, when's the big day?"

Releena glanced at Duo in slight confusion then blushed a crimson red. "Duo!" She protested, making Hilde come forward again to sock Duo in the head again. Dorothy winced slightly at the force of the blow, hiding her smile behind a demure mask of amused indifference as she watched the couple glare at each other.

"You," She glared at him, hands on her hips, "are an idiot."

Duo smirked, although he was still rubbing his head in a little pain, "But you love me anyway, babe." Hilde rolled her eyes and grabbed Duo's braid before she turned to Releena.

"So?"

"Uh..."

"We're going steady." Heero's face was still as blank as a refrigerator door as he watched the people around him fall to the ground in surprise and horror, Duo actually twitched a little in convulsions. But his Prussian blue eyes gleamed with good humor and a trace of exasperation on the situation he now found himself in. Not that he would ever tell Duo that.

"WHAT???!"

"Well, you see, Milliardo decided that we were too young to marry right now," Releena put in with diplomatic haste. "He's somewhat right, of course, since we're only nineteen. So we decided to wait for a while. Right, Heero?" Heero made an affirmative, but his eyes told a different story even as he resigned himself to his fate. Overprotective brothers. This world could well do with one less of them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zechs and Noin come in, a puzzled look on Noin's face and an annoyed one mingling with growing anger on Zechs'. Dorothy also noticed.

Oh dear. Dorothy thought, noticing a tick start to develop in Zechs' cheek as he obviously tried to contain his annoyance. I hope Miss Releena has plenty of stain remover. I have a feeling that this is going to get slightly bloody. She grinned in her raptorial way, picking up a glass of wine. This struck her funny bone forcefully and she was not about to leave until she had seen this to the end.

Duo was grinning, oblivious to Zechs' entrance, and predictably finding humor in their situation as he gasped, "Oh boy. You finally got the nerve to propose and you still haven't got her? What's up with that?" There was a sudden click of the safety valve on a gun being removed and Duo looked up into the barrels of not one, but two loaded weapons held by two equally impassive men that regarded him with cool annoyance.

"I'll shut up now." Duo said quickly, backing up, but before the other two men could do anything or their women could stop them from committing murder, a servant rushed in, looking extremely upset as he almost stumbled in his haste. "Miss Releena! Mr. Milliardo!"

Slightly alarmed, Releena put a hand on Pagan's back, "What's wrong, Pagan? Did the west renege on its treaties?"

The old man shook his head, his face already lined with age now lined with worry. "No, Miss Releena. A transmission just came in from the Preventor's office. Mr. Quatre's shuttle has just disappeared from the monitors!" Releena's face went pale and there was a stunned silence in the room, Duo still held at point-blank range by Heero and Milliardo, but all three of them forgetting that fact in the light of the new revelation.

Suddenly, Dorothy felt pain in her hand and looked down. The stem of her champagne flute had snapped, glass shards imbedding themselves into her palm like the claws of a beast...or the touch of a saber's kiss.

***

"Hey, Hilde, what's up with you and hitting me on the head in this fic?"

"Do you need to ask? You're being so immature, Duo! Sheesh! Besides, the author told me to and I thought it was a great idea. So I did it."

"Hey!!!" Duo glares at author, "What's up with you anyway??"

"What?" Author looks innocently up from her keyboard, fingers still typing.

"What did I ever do to you??"

"Nothin'."

"Then stop hitting me!"

"I'm not hitting you."

"If you tell Hilde to hit me one more time, I'm gonna get DeathScythe in here to destroy your stupid CPU! So there! What are you gonna do about that, huh? HUH??"

*sigh* "Hilde?" WHACK. "Anyway, thanks for reading the fic! Tell me what you think of it, what you don't like about it, and if you think I'm going a little overboard with the Duo hitting (He really does need his remaining brain cells to function, don't you think?)"

"I heard that!"

"r&r please! I hope you enjoyed it! Duo, put down that god d*mn scythe!!"