Disclaimer: Well, they aren't mine, that's for sure. But the lack's sure not from wishful thinking!

The communications system bleated forlornly, ignored by a silver blonde-haired girl as she maneuvered the small shuttle carefully into space, making minute adjustments to the angle of ascent. "Can't have us getting burned up in the atmosphere before we arrive, can we?" Her voice echoed hollowly amidst the metal hull before reverting to silence except for the continuous sound of the comm and the quick tapping of long nails against the controls.

Suddenly, an authoritative voice crackled loudly, "Dorothy, just what do you think you're doing?"

Dorothy smiled in a predatory manner, her eyes like cold aquamarines as a tiny laugh escaped her lips, "Why, Miss Releena. Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't use that tone with me," Releena's voice had taken the turn from Releena Peacecraft to Vice-foreign Minister Dorlain, Dorothy noted with absent amusement, toying with the ends of her hair. "Why are you trying to go to space, Dorothy? Why didn't you tell us first?" There was a small touch of hurt in Releena's voice that would have at any other time caused Dorothy to respond in reassurance and warmth. But the coldness inside of her wouldn't allow her to, so Dorothy merely smiled as she flicked on the vidphone.

"It's so much better when we can speak face to face, isn't it, Miss Releena? Yes, I'm taking a little trip to space, but don't worry too much about it." The miniature depiction of Releena was definitely stern and worried as she stared back sightlessly into the monitor on her end of the communications.

"Dorothy, now is not a time for you to be playing fun and games! Quatre's already missing, we don't need to lose two of you in one day!" Releena's expression melted into the concern of a friend as she held out a hand imploringly to the monitor, "Dorothy, please come home. It's not a very safe time to be flitting around in space, not alone. We'll find Quatre, but you've got to come back. You've got to trust me on this."

Dorothy closed her eyes, leaning back in the pilot's seat as the need to find herself, and the need to erase the expression of fear on her friend's face grappled inside of her. Forgive me Miss Releena...but this, I must do alone. Her eyes snapped back open, filled with carefully contrived mockery as a cool smile played around the edges of her mouth. "And you, Miss Releena, must learn to trust me."

"Dorothy, your being foolhardy! You can't possibly succeed!"

"To the contrary, Miss Releena. I will succeed. Don't worry about me. Continue your quest for peace and I will continue mine." Off to a side, Heero stood unemotionally by Releena, eyes glaring at the screen and Dorothy smile grew wider, "Why, Mr. Yuy. You must do something about that expression of yours. It doesn't become you."

"You're going to try to find Quatre alone." There was no emotion in his voice, but no condemnation either as he crossed his arms across his chest, "It won't be easy."

"Heero!" Releena exclaimed furiously, but the Dorothy and Heero ignored her as they studied each other, almost like fencers squaring off for the attack. His Prussian blue eyes that warmed only for Releena dark and cold.

"So I've been told," Dorothy countered, using her words as her rapier. She hadn't listened to Releena debate in political circles for nothing. "However, Mr. Yuy, there is no feasible alternate considering that you and the others must be there to protect Miss Releena. This attack might have been made for monetary purposes, considering Mr. Winner is the sole heir to the Winner fortune. What's not to say that they will not send people to eliminate Miss Releena as well? She is a powerful political figure. With her gone..." Dorothy waved her hand negligently, eyes never leaving the face of the perfect soldier.

"Really Dorothy, I'm perfectly able to take care of myself," Releena began, but they were still paying no attention to her.

"Hn." Heero muttered, still glaring at the blonde with the ice-cold eyes. She's being foolish, letting her emotions run away with her. It will get her killed. On the other hand... "Fine," Heero abruptly made his decision. Releena looked at him in angry resignation but did not say anything. There was no talking to him in this mood. "He was last seen on the L3a near sector 43. You will report to Preventor headquarters tomorrow morning, or upon sighting Quatre's shuttle."

Dorothy rolled her eyes at the chauvinistic demands, but nodded nonetheless. "Take care of Miss Releena, Mr. Yuy. Or I assure you, you will need more than a Gundam to combat the forces I'll send after you if she is hurt." Heero merely lifted a brow at the threat before Dorothy signed off, the screen going dark. Releena's dark blue eyes snapped furiously as she regarded Heero, fists tightly knotted.

"Heero, was it wise to allow Dorothy to go alone to the colonies?" Heero blinked once before looking at Releena. Gently, he took one of her fists and forced them open, enfolding her hand with his own, massaging the palm and the tense muscles of her wrist until it relaxed slightly. A small smile lurked in his eyes as he watched her animosity lessen slowly and then dissipate altogether.

"One should always follow his emotions." He let a hand trail across her silken locks of hair before kissing her lightly on the lips.

Releena sighed, tilting into him with a semi-annoyed look on her face as she brushed away the bangs that always seemed to fall into his face. "You don't play fair." He merely looked at her, holding her against him soothingly, willing her to forget her worries for a brief moment. Her face showed her anxiety and fear for Quatre and now Dorothy, but it was a fear that could not be shown to anyone else. Therefore, Heero alone had her deepest confidence amongst the millions he shared her with everyday, amongst the millions that leaned against her for support and turned to her for comfort, it was she that leaned against him for support and comfort when life became rough.

She had been likened to a dove many times, a dove of peace, they said. So few people knew the strength she held inside, a core of iron surrounded by the satin, sometimes naïve façade she presented to the world. Yet in other ways, she was so fragile, like glass, breaking at the slightest pressure from a cruel hand.

"Aishiteru, Heero." Releena wrapped her arms around his waist, peeking up at him with hesitant blue eyes. Heero let a slow smile, quite likely his first in a long time, cross his face, bringing an enigmatic light to his eyes as he grazed his knuckles along her upturned cheek.

"Aishiteru...Releena."

***

Dorothy sighed irritably, tapping her manicured nails against the cool metal console with barely concealed impatience. "Now...if I had kidnapped a man worth a few billion dollars, where would I stash him?" Dorothy smiled predatorily and initiated a scan to sweep amongst the asteroids that floated lazily around the colony. In the war, they had served an admirable job in colonial defense, making it hard for large ships to penetrate the asteroid fields without becoming crushed by the dangerous floating rocks. Later, they had been transformed into mining fields for gundanium and iron ore as teams of miners took their equipment in to extract these precious metals from useless rock.

Because they could not take large machines in to collect it for the same reason the large spacecrafts could not penetrate it, usually, these were smalltime miners that had equipment contained the bare essentials: a small drilling unit, maybe even picks. They then sold the fruits of their labor to the bigger mining companies that had more lucrative business elsewhere. These companies then refined and purified the ore, turning them over to be marketed to building companies and others. So it was all a circle, each part playing an intricate part in this process. The loss of one meant the destruction of the entire cycle, which would inevitably lead to the downfall of the economy..., something that Miss Releena had stopped even though such metals were not needed to produce Mobile Dolls anymore.

"Mr. Winner...come out come out where ever you are..." Dorothy snorted at her own childish whim, a sardonic smile lighting her lips. "Well, anything that works." Her computer beeped, taking her attention as it reported no life signs on the asteroid field. Another dead end...wait a minute. No life? Dorothy frown came back full force. Even in the cold winters when the sun turned away from the colony, some miners still stubbornly refused to leave, groping for that one bit of ore that would be their ticket to higher living.

"Computer, scan again." There was no difference in the report...which was an anomaly in itself. Even in the span of five minutes, space was continuously changing, as rocks bumped into each other, broke off from each other...this report was exactly the same! Blue eyes narrowed as skillful hands led the ship into the field, carefully airblasting away the few meteorites that did bump against the hull of the ship.

Suddenly, the ship jerked in an attempt to neutralize a very large shock, and Dorothy cursed, trying to scan for her attacker, which had consequently fired repeatedly on her. Her ship registered nothing out of the ordinary, which made her even more furious. "The best of technology, and this is it??" She banged her fist against the controls and grabbed her spacesuit, slipping into it quickly. She unbuckled her sword belt, sliding the saber out of its sheath.

"Then we'll have to go back to the old fashioned way!" There was a deadly click, and Dorothy spun around, saber going to a space-suited man's throat, her blue eyes frosty with ill-concealed anger. Unfortunately, he also held a gun to her head, the safety lock off. For a moment, they froze, a tableau of silence in a silent ship. A man appeared at his side and grabbed the tip of the saber, forcefully yanking it out of her hand as the other one came to slap her face. She hissed, barely feeling the pain as her arms were grabbed in brutal fists that twisted them behind her back.

"Where has the honor gone when two men must fire upon an unarmed woman?" She asked challengingly as they shoved her in front of them.

They didn't say anything, just maneuvered her, with much manhandling and unnecessary shoves and threats into their own ship, that had docked right next to hers without her knowng. It was a sleek pleasure yacht, of all things, that had been heavily modified to accommodate for the turrets and missile hatches that had been installed into its sides. Dorothy tumbled through the hatchway, falling in a pile on soft red carpet. She snarled furiously at herself, even though her face was schooled to reveal nothing but a cold emotionless visage.

"Miss Catalonia! Tell me, what drives you and young Gundam pilots to come careening through the gates of my little home unexpected and unannounced? I daresay that's quite rude of you." Dorothy jerked her head up and narrowed her eyes. The only thing that kept her on her knees were those stupid ropes that had been generously wound around her.

"I'll kill you for this." Grey eyes danced mockingly back at her.

Author's note: Well, that's the end of the, what, fourth part? Yeah, so they finally meet together and why is Dorothy so furious? For the people that actually write REVIEWS *ahem, ahem* tell me how I'm doing on this and give me comments, criticisms, flames, etc. I look forward to the former, but I'll still take into consideration the latter. Thanx!

On a totally unrelated matter, I just wanna say its Christmas, or near enough to Christmas. So remember, when you're shopping for friends and family, don't forget the homeless stranger on the street that has neither, and slip him a bill or a kind word, okay? They're still people for all they've come down on hard times.