Switch (Part 2)

Heero watched Relena walk away. "I'll be leaving soon, Quatre."

"Do you have to?" Quatre asked. "Food will be here soon."

"I have a lot of work to do," Heero insisted. "See you around." He walked out, not needing to pack anything. He could pick up essentials later. One week. He went toward the kitchen trash and looked at the test kit he switched.

Zeches would watch his sister well, and he would return her back to take that next test. However, if she had been positive, Zeches wouldn't have just said goodbye forever to his sister. He would have started to try and track him. Even one person trying to track and find him like Zeches would make it more likely they would be spotted. It's how Relena found him in the past. He couldn't allow that to happen this time.

Throwing everyone off for now was a better idea.

Heero had switched a one strip line positive box, with a colored test strip. Her line was pink. If it had been blue, he wouldn't have had to lie. That wasn't the way his life ever worked though, and whether she hated him afterward for bringing her down into his worlds, she would have to deal with it.

Because pink meant pregnant, and danger would be following.

Getting everything done without someone hanging around him was better too. In fact, if RTL figured out Relena was with Zeches, they probably wouldn't be trying to kill her. They'd have to wonder why he wasn't with her, and Zeches and Noin would be watching her carefully.

For one week. Throw everyone's scent off track. His gut instinct told him the more he zig zagged instead of curved, the safer Relena would be. It was better that way.

"I don't know if you should have done that, Heero." Quatre's voice came from behind him.

Heero turned around. Of course Quatre figured it out.

"Why would you do that?" Quatre asked. "You switched boxes, but why? All that's going to do is make Relena more certain nothing's wrong. It's going to hurt that much worse when they meet you back on Earth."

Heero didn't answer, just watched as Dorothy Catalonia came through the door. "Just take care of your own responsibilities, Quatre, and I'll take care of mine."

"Miss Relena." Noin greeted her aboard Zeches' ship. "It's so good to see you. How are you?"

Before Relena answered, Zeches said, "She is coming with us, Noin. RTL messed up, she isn't pregnant."

"That's great news!" Noin hugged her.

"Not completely," Relena answered. "It's 80-90% sure. I have to take an Earth test on Earth's surface to know for sure. We'll meet Heero next week."

"I wouldn't worry too much," Zeches assured her. "A high percentage is a high percentage. You should start readying a speech about this whole mishap."

"Yeah. It might be able to help Dorothy Catalonia too," Noin said. "You have a way with words like no one else."

Relena didn't know about that. "I shouldn't assume anything yet. I should not be making any kind of waves until I know for sure. We'll meet Heero in a week first."

"We could find our way down now?" Noin suggested. "Home is on Earth. It'll be some distance, and a few days, but it'd be worth it to get back home, wouldn't it?"

"We have to find our way down because it's going to take time," Relena agreed, "however, I'm not taking a second test without Heero Yuy. I could tell. He wants to be there."

"Okay then. I have no problem with that," Noin agreed. "Let's find our way through the thick of this all then."

It seemed impossible to wipe the smile off of Noin. She was so please to her okay. Zeches was also in a good mood, though it was harder to tell without knowing them. Everything is fine. It's okay, yet Heero's words and expression. It bothered her. "We'll all find the correct path home."

Although, in a way, it was disheartening. She enjoyed Heero's presence, always had, and could never explain it away. Even now, this much older and with this much trouble. I will miss you, Heero. Til' we meet again in one week.

Waiting Terminal

Middie waited in a corner. They couldn't go through any further. Even with the family of Gin's help, it couldn't get them through quickly. Gin was looking around, trying to figure out how to stay undiscovered while they waited in a terminal overnight.

He needed to find the answer to problem two. Concern to take off as quickly as possible so No Name couldn't catch up led them to another problem. Middie was in terrible shape. Even walking, people could see she wasn't an ordinary person with no problem. She had a long shirt that Gin had paid someone off for to hide her bruises on her arms, and a hoodie that he paid someone off for too. They each helped to hide the bruises but she had to keep looking down at the ground, away from everyone.

Her entire face had to be hidden in order to get through.

"One night here," Gin said as he came over toward her. "Unfortunately, the route of safety zig zags. It'll take a few days to make it through." He sat close to her. "At least there aren't many here. Makes it a little easier to rest. Then again, makes it a lot harder to find what we need to cover you up. Oh, if I just hadn't been so gungho to get out, we could have bought make-up or veils or something."

"It's okay, Gin," Middie replied. It wasn't the first time in her life she was stuck somewhere unpleasant. It was still a secure safe location with guards. No one knew their purpose yet. Even if they found out her abuse, they would only send them back to Earth to get it documented before they allowed her through.

She simply scrunched up on the floor, her legs pulled up with her arms hugging them. She tucked her head over them, but down and unseen. It was the most comfortable way she could think of to sleep.

"At least we already got hot tips from the media. She was last in some healing colony, almost arrested but rescued by someone. If we can figure out that 'someone', then we can find where they took her."

Middie didn't respond. Rest was all she wanted.