Lucrezia was busy cleaning the kitchen when she heard the front door slam. She walked over to see Heero standing in the entryway. "You're back early."

"Sorry about the door." he said while walking past her. He went into the living area and sat down on the couch.

Noin chuckled and sat down beside him. "Chris driving you nuts again?"

Heero was sitting bent over with his head resting on his hands. He nodded. "I have been back three months now and the man is still asking questions about what I did at the conference. Things are only going to get worse when Duo gets here tonight."

"Relena will be here tonight as well. She and Duo are on the same flight."

Heero looked over at her. "Maybe it would be best if I stay with Chris until they leave."

Noin crossed her arms. "And I thought that Chris was driving you nuts."

"I'll gladly put up with Chris over having to look at the fiancÈ of Relena's any day."

Noin started to laugh. "I don't think that you will have any problems there, he's not coming."

"He's actually letting her come here alone knowing that I'm here, and will be in the same house."

Noin stood up. "Heero I have some things that I have got to get done before they get here." She took a few steps away from him then stopped. "I wasn't suppose to tell you this, they called off the wedding last month." she smiled then walked out of the room.

'They called the wedding off.' A small smile crossed his face. Heero was lost in thought when he felt the ground tremble.

"Heero!" Noin yelled from the kitchen. 

Heero jumped up to check on her. "Are you ok." She nodded. "I'm going to go and find out what happened. Stay here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heero managed to make it down to the lower level and luckily found Zechs in the mess of people and debris. "Zechs."

Zechs tuned when he heard his voice. "Yuy. I'm glad to know that you weren't in that."

Heero looked at the north tunnel. It was a newer tunnel that they just starting digging a few weeks ago. "What happened?î

"There was a unknown pocked of loose rock that was sitting above the area that we were digging. It finally gave way and collapsed."

Heero kept looking at the tunnel. "Was anyone down there?"

"There were two other teams down there beside you and Chris. We don't know if anyone had a chance to make it to the shelter. No one has contacted us yet."

Heero stared at Zechs "I wasn't even down there yet today. I was talking to Noin." 

Zechs looked worried. "Chris checked in Heero."

Heero started to walk toward the tunnel. "I'm going in then." 

Zechs caught up with him. He knew not to argue with Heero. He would go even if he forbid it. "Be careful. If it looks like you can't get through then you need to fall back and I mean it Heero." 

Heero started to squeeze his way through a small opening near the top of the rubble. He looked back at Zechs. "It looks like there's enough room to get through."

Zechs handed him a radio. "Stay in touch with us." Heero nodded and then disappeared into the darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Duo held Relenaís drink in his hand as she brushed by him to sit in her seat. They both had shared a few drinks together, and were feeling a little lightheaded. They started drinking ever since she started telling Duo about what happened after Heero had kissed her in the lobby of the hotel. 

"So let me get this straight. Michael saw you and Heero kissing in the lobby. Later that evening he was furious and he decided to tell you that he didn't want you seeing him anymore. Not even to say hello. And he also wanted you to stay away from me because I was a friend of Heero's."

She nodded while taking her drink from his hand and taking a sip. "I had to pretty much give up my friendship with the two of you just to keep my future marriage with Michael strong. I loved him Duo. I was willing to try and I did for two months. But my ties to the two of you were stronger than my love for Michael in the long run." 

Duo smiled at her. "So what about now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Heero." He nudged her. " He did kiss you didn't he. Isn't that enough to let you know that he loves you. Believe me I know he does. He has only told me so numerous times. And the five nights that I spent with him, he must have only whimpered out you name in his sleep a dozen times or more. And it sounded like he was having some very interesting dreams."

"Duo!" Relena smacked his arm. She was embarrassed and shocked. 

Both of them started laughing. 

"I think that we have both had enough to drink" she managed to gasp out.

"I haven't had this much fun in awhile. You're right though, drinking does take the edge off of a long flight. And makes it entertaining. But enough is enough."

They both sat in silence for a few minutes catching their breath. Before Duo broke the silence and moaned out her name, causing both of them to break out laughing again.

"Youíre lucky that weíre the only ones of this flight Duo." Relena was holding her sides in pain.

Duo stopped laughing and looked at her. "Relena." She looked at him. "I'm only kidding about Heero. I don't want you to think badly of him. I just thought that it would be funny." he smiled.

"That's ok Duo. I didn't think that you were serious anyway. It was a good laugh though."

"Yah." Duo leaned back his chair and closed his eyes. "Weíre still a good four hours away so I'm going to try to sleep this off. I don't need to say something like that in front of Heero and get my ass kicked."

Relena giggled. "Sleep well Duo."

He cracked a smile without opening his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four hours later Noin had greeted them when they stepped of the shuttle. She gave Relena a hug and shook Duo's hand. Relena had a knack for knowing when something was wrong and she could tell that Lucrezia was worried about something.

"Lucrezia is something wrong?" Relena asked when they sat down in the runner that Noin had motioned for them to sit in.

"Nothing for you to worry about Relena." she sat down and started the vehicle. 

Lucrezia reached out and turned on the radio. 

"Don't get much stations out here huh?" Duo asked as the sound of people talking came over the radio. Noin didn't reply to him. Duo leaned back in his seat and looked around. 

Relena was fascinated with they way that they were able to build the city so fast underground. She was watching people enjoying each others company when she herd something over the radio that caught her attention. It was her brother voice.

- Damn it Yuy where in the hell are you! You were supposed to report in an hour ago.

- I'm almost there now, but I ran into some trouble.

- What?

- (Heero was coughing) There was some loose rock yet. The dust in here is bad I can barley see. 

- Then pull out and head back.

- I can't.

- What do you mean you canít? You agreed that if you ran into a problem you would get out of there.

- I'm not leaving Zechs. Not until I find Chris.

- Damn it Heero! 

Noin reached over and turned off the radio. 

"What's going on Lucrezia?" Relena looked at her.

"I'll explain everything when we get home."

Relena looked back at Duo, who looked at her in return and smiled a smile that seemed to say don't worry about Heero.

Once reaching her place Noin had ushered them in and showed them to their rooms. After she gave them a tour of where everything was she sat them down in the living room and explained what she knew about what was going on. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heero had managed to squeeze through the rubble until he came to a small opening where he was able to stand hunched over instead of crawling. He looked around and saw some of the vehicles that were being used to dig so he knew that he was where he wanted to be. 

After searching around for an hour and checking in with Zechs to inform him that the three people that he found were dead, he finally found Chris. The man was in bad shape. Heero bent down and checked his pulse. There was one there, but very faint. Heero reached out and tapped his cheek. 

"Chris wake up." When Heero heard him moan he let out the breath he had been holding. 

Chris opened his eyes and smiled. "Your ok." his voice was rough and filled with pain.

"Why didn't you wait for me you idiot?" Heero started to run his hands over Chris's arms and legs.

"Heero what are you doing?"

"Checking to see if you broke anything." Heero watched his face to see if he flinched any.

"For a sec. there I thought that you were feeling me up." Chris tried to laugh but only a whimper came out.

"This is no damn time to joke." Heero glared at him and touched his stomach. Chris cried out in pain. "I got to figure a way to get you out of here."

"Heero will you promise me something?" Heero nodded. "At the dance, ask her to dance with you. Then tell her."

"Stop talking and rest."

Chris gathered what strength he had left and yelled at Heero. "Promise me damnit Heero!" he then lost consciousness.

Heero gathered him in his arms and started to head back the way that he came. "Ok Chris. I'll tell her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later Duo got up and paced the living room floor again for the third time that night. Once he heard the door open he stopped and looked to see Zechs walking toward them. Once he was in view Relena jumped from her seat and hugged him. 

"Relena. I'm sorry that you had to come here at a time like this."

"What's going on Millardo? Where's Heero?"

"We were digging a new tunnel on the north side of the compound today. We had sent three teams down. Two were to start digging and one was to make sure that they were out of harms way. Heero was supposed to be on that team with his friend. A couple of hours ago that tunnel collapsed on the three teams that were in there. Relena's eyes grew wide with fear. "Heero wasn't in the tunnel at the time. He went in later to see if anyone survived."

"Is he ok?"

Zechs pushed some loose hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. "Yes Relena he's fine. Just bruised up and a few cuts."

"And Chris and the others?" Noin asked.

"Chris is alive, but I donítí think he's going to make it. He suffered too much trauma. We lost a lot of good workers today Noin." Zechs looked over at Duo. "If you would excuse me I'm going to bed for the evening." He hugged Relena and kissed her forehead. "Good night Relena. Noin are you coming?" She nodded and stood up.

"Good night Relena, Duo." she followed Zechs down the hallway.

After they left Duo looked over at Relena. "You look tired Relena. Did you sleep any on the shuttle?"

"No."

Duo walked back over to the couch and sat down and patted the cushion beside him. Relena smiled and walked over and sat down next to him. She leaned on his shoulder and sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Heero arrived home later that evening he quietly went to the kitchen to get a drink. Before he left he glanced in the living room to see Duo and Relena on the couch. They were both sleeping. Duo had his feet resting on the coffee table and was leaning back into the couch. Relena had her head resting on his shoulder and she had her legs tucked up next to her. Heero smirked and walked over and shook Duo's shoulder. Duo opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Heero."

Heero placed his finger to his lips and walked toward Relena. He carefully picked her up.  "What room is she staying in?" he whispered to Duo.

"The fist one."

Heero carried Relena to her room and laid her gently down on the bed. She stirred a little and he froze in place watching her. Once she didn't move again he grabbed the extra blanket on the chair near the bed and covered her up. He watched how peaceful she looked, how beautiful. He so badly wanted to kiss her lips to wake her up and to. 'No get that thought out of your head. Now is not the time.' He leaned toward her and laid a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Good night Relena." he whispered. He got up and quietly left her room closing the door behind him. Walking down the hallway he passed Duo, who was leaning on the wall watching him.

Duo glanced up at Heero when he passed by. "Heero are you ok? Do you need to talk, or do you need me for anything?"

Heero stopped and turned slightly, before entering his room, to look at Duo. "No. Good night Duo." 

Duo managed a small smile. "Well, you know where I'm at if you need me."

Heero walked into the room closing the door behind him. He flopped down on the bed without bothering to turn on the lights or changing. He was to exhausted to change. And for the first time in a long time he let his mind wander to the past and the mistakes that he made over the years. Every time he makes a mistake someone that is close to him gets hurt. It was time that he went after what he wanted most in his life. And what he wanted was the woman sleeping down the hallway from him.