"Whitewater "

Written By: Yanagi

Disclaimer: I don’t own the Gundam Boys. I just borrowed them

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: the usual

Pairings: 1x2

Summary: Fic 5 in the Bounty Hunters Series

" Whitewater "

Duo slapped the cuffs on their latest pickup and sighed. “Damnit! I hate it when they make me sweat.” He grabbed the man by the back of his jacked and pulled. “Get up.” Duo shoved the man into Heero’s waiting hands and brushed himself off.

Heero got their pickup by the arm and shook him. “Idiot! You’re no runner but you have to rabbit anyway. What the hell made you think you could outrun a gundam pilot.”

Their pickup was a middle aged card forger with a bit of a middle. “He’s so ... so small. I figured ... well, how can someone that short run so fast?”

Duo snorted. Heero rolled his eyes. They shoved the man into the back seat of their SUV and took him to the police station, checked him in and collected their bounty.

Duo checked his phone to be sure the bounty had registered. “Ok, that’s that. One bounty, collected, registered and banked. What is it lately? Seems we’re the only ones working.”

“Ramsey broke his leg, Jones got shot, McKensey retired ... so did Buck. We’re it on the West Coast for the foreseeable future.” Heero frowned as a tiny smart car tried to bull in front of him. The resultant honking as he refused to yield made him scowl. “Idiot. This SUV could crush that tin can like ... well, a tin can.”

Duo tapped at his phone for a moment. “There’s no outstanding bounties. We’re more than flush. Let’s take a vacation. No contact with any bail bondsmen. What’d ya say?”

“Good idea. White water rafting? Or hang gliding?” Heero snarled as another SUV got too close.

“White water. I don’t like gliding as much on Earth as I did on a colony.” Duo absently gave the SUV driver the finger then snorted at his indignant glower.

Heero sighed his relief as he pulled off the freeway onto a side street. “I’ll make reservations as soon as we get home.” He slammed on the brakes and swore while blaring his horn. “Fuck. The idiots get worse every year. And our street is rapidly becoming a thoroughfare rather than a residential street.”

Duo agreed then announced, “Never mind the reservations. I got them. We’re scheduled to pick up our raft and supplies from Northwest White Water in three days. They number their drop points by how far they are from the end point. I picked 85, that ok?”

“Fine. It’ll take us how long?” Heero pulled into the garage with a sigh of relief. “Thank space.”

“It should take us about a week. Average 10 miles a day, loafing. I thought we’d spend a whole day at one point. Good fishing. Ok?” Duo slammed the door, opened the tailgate and grabbed his go bag.

“Fine. Toss me my bag.” Heero plucked the bag out of the air one handed and headed for the back door.

Duo followed, easily shouldering a bag that weighed in heavier than a Preventers ruck. “What’s for supper? I’m starved and we need to start cleaning out the fridge, don’t want any new life forms in residence when we get back.”

Heero dumped his backpack on the floor and unlaced his boots, he put them down beside his pack. Duo followed suit, then went to rummage in the freezer and refrigerator. He called over the top of the door, “We’ve got pork chops, frozen mix veg and potatoes. There’s enough lettuce for one more salad.” He rummaged a bit more, “There’s some juice, eggs, about six rashers of bacon and ... that’s about it. Except for condiments that will keep.”

“Ok, we’ll eat out until it’s time to leave.” Heero smiled a bit. He’d found a new restaurant and wanted to take Duo there. They’d been so busy that he’d tried twice already and had a call out both times.

Duo caught sight of the smile. “Ok, what was that for? Should I run now?”

“No, you idiot. I was just thinking. There’s a new restaurant down on the bay, Greek. Wanna go? I got reservations twice and we wound up chasing some jackass instead.” Heero grinned at his lover fondly.

“Yeah, I do ... last week you really looked pissed. That why?” Duo picked up the chops and tossed them in the pan.

“You got it. Second time. I was ready to murder someone. But ... third time’s a charm.” He dumped some frozen veg into a bowl and stuck it in the microwave. “Nuked veg ... yum.”

Duo made a face of disgust and agreed. “Freezer burnt even. But ... half the time the fresh stuff goes over the fence on us. So ... what can ya do?”

“Eat frozen or eat out. I’m still more in favor of out. But ... who has time?” Duo nodded at that and turned the chops. “You want me to stick the potatoes in ... oh.” Heero laughed, Duo was slicing the unpeeled potatoes into thick slices. “Won’t the chops be dry before that’s done?”

“No, I’m going to smother them with onions and gravy. They’re a bit freezer burnt too.” Duo plopped the potatoes into another frying pan with a satisfied nod.

Heero picked up the onion. “Want me to slice this?” At Duo’s absent nod he picked up a knife and started to slice the onion into thick slices. “And in half?”

“Yeah.” Duo turned, only to burst into snickers at the tears that were rolling down Heero’s cheeks. “Aw, don’t cry, babe, I’ll always love only you.”

Heero batted at him without ire then dried his cheeks with a paper towel. “Idiot.”

Duo blew him a raspberry and went back to his cooking.

When they sat down to eat, they both realized that this was the first time they’d done so for more than a week. They really did need a vacation.

“Duo? You finding that the traffic is bad, or is it just me?” Heero cut a bite of chop and forked it into his mouth. “Mmmm, good.”

“I ... traffic is murder and it’s getting worse by the day.” He chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “I really do think that us colonials just ... don’t cope well with traffic.”

Heero agreed, “Yeah, the older colonies were built on the ‘Earth like’ plan. And they’re all breaking down after only two hundred years or so.” He poked at the rather soggy veg for a moment. “But the newer colonies, the one’s that admit that they are what they are ... they’re booming. Why?”

Duo sighed, “Not sure but ... I wish we ... Quat wants ... never mind. I’m tired and this vacation is looking better by the second.”

Heero didn’t question Duo, he would talk when he was ready and not before. White Fang had found that out the hard way. “Just relax. We’re not taking another pickup, no matter what.” he finished his chop and started on the last of his potatoes. “These are so good.”

“Butter.” Duo’s absent reply left Heero behind.

“We’re out.”

“I know. I used the last of it to fry the potatoes. I use a combination of olive oil and butter.” Duo smirked a bit as Heero caught up. “We need to check all our gear and make sure it’s in good condition.”

“Tomorrow. And I, for one, am sleeping late.” Heero finished his food and picked up his plate, still chewing.

“Will you sit down. Finish chewing before you do anything else. You’ll ruin your digestion.” Duo knew it was hopeless but he kept trying.

“Won’t. Can’t. The professors made sure of that. You too.” Heero put his plate in the dishwasher and turned to the refrigerator. “We need to see exactly what’s in here. Might even give everything away and start new when we get back.”

Duo nodded as he finished his food. “Not really a bad idea. There’s stuff in there that I don’t even remember buying. Not good.”

“No, it’s not. And dangerous.” he pulled an unmarked, undated package from the freezer. “Like this. What the hell is it? And when did we put it in here? We need to start labeling things, seriously.” he wrinkled his nose at the unidentified grayish lump.

Duo eyed it over his shoulder for a moment. “Um ... not sure I even want to know. Just toss it.” he reached over Heero’s shoulder to pluck something else into the light. “And this. I think it’s meatloaf.”

“But we haven’t had meatloaf for ... at least three months.” his face scrunched as he realized what Duo was saying. “Oh, man, that’s just nasty. We seriously need to clean this thing out.”

Duo agreed. “We really should just toss everything and start new. Clean this thing out and leave it open and unplugged until we get back.”

Heero nodded. “You’re right. And that trick with baking soda and old newspaper doesn’t work.”

Duo just wrinkled his nose. “Remember that house that Quatre found? The old one in ... um ... France? Rock and plaster, cold as hell and that fridge was an antique. Stank of mold and rotten ... something.”

Heero gave a dramatic shudder. “Fish ... I think. And, yes, I do. God, we were so young.”

“And we’re so old now.” Duo chuckled. It was always a problem, something the ‘old geezers’ had done had kept them looking young. Duo looked no more than 19 at most, at somewhere around 25 now, maybe. Heero wasn’t any better at a top appearance of the same 19 years. If you got a close look at their eyes, they looked a bit older. They used a few tricks to look older but it was an annoyance.

Quatre had paid several very expensive doctors to check into this and several other quirks. The doctors had tested, hemmed and hawed, and admitted that they had no idea. All five of them had given up on finding out exactly what had been done to them. The only time it was really a problem was when they came up against people who couldn’t, or didn’t want to, believe that they were competent. Wufei got the worst of that.

This prejudice was one reason that both Duo and Heero had rejected Preventers as a career. Duo had tried to run his own company, transporting cargo between colonies while Heero had taken up bounty hunting. Duo’s transport company had crashed and burned, as he said, because he looked so young. While Heero had succeeded, his youthful appearance working for, instead of against him. He’d found Duo, stranded in a dead end job, and just kidnapped him. Duo had joined him the second he realized what was going on. They’d been together ever since.

Now, they were lovers and partners, and very happy together. Heero eyed Duo and announced. “Bed.”

Duo just snorted and headed in that general direction. “We’ll clean out the fridge tomorrow and check gear.”

“Right.” Heero ended conversation with a heated kiss.

Duo pushed him away gently. “Sorry, babe, really not in the mood.”

“Don’t be sorry. We agreed, right?” Heero wasn’t the least bit put off that Duo wasn’t in the mood. They’d agreed early in their relationship that they’d both be honest. If one of them wasn’t interested, there was always tomorrow.

“We did.” Duo kissed Heero on the cheek then crawled into bed, grumbling, “I’m just really tired. Vacation. Sweet.”

Heero followed him, planning absently.

Morning came, as morning does, and Heero woke Duo with a raspberry on the neck.

Duo jumped out of bed with a yell, “Son of a ... Heero, I’m going to murder you!”

Heero laughed and ran for his life, straight to the kitchen. “I’ll start breakfast.”

“Idiot!” Duo rubbed the slobber off his neck, laughing softly. The effects of the promised vacation were already obvious.

Duo rummaged in drawers and on shelves for clothing, pulling on his selections and dumping others on a chair for Heero. He picked up the pile and headed for the kitchen, yelling, “Heero, no naked cooking, we agreed.”

“I’ve got shorts on.” Heero called back.

They’d agreed within the first week that cooking in the raw was not a good idea. Not that either one of them had that much body hair, but pubes in the soup was just so disgusting that they’d agreed not to chance it.

Duo ambled into the kitchen with Heero’s clothing draped over one arm. “Here. Threads. Get dressed. Then we’ll clean out the fridge and freezer.” He flopped down on his chair. “Where are you taking me for dinner tonight? Some place really good?”

“Yeah, I give up on keeping it a secret, Mr. Detective Man. There’s a new restaurant down on the bay; Greek, I think. I got reservations twice, we had to cancel ... or, rather, I had to, twice. Got a call out both times. I’m not going to bother with a reservation this time. We’ll just go. Sound good?” Heero cocked his head at Duo’s expression. He really looked pleased.

“Great. There’s two. One is Greek and the other is Dim Sum. The Greek place is really supposed to be good. Great idea. Now ...” He opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a garbage bag. “Fridge.”

Heero sighed and stood to hold the bag. “No breakfast?”

“No, clean first, then make breakfast out of whatever’s still good.” Duo replied, rather absently, as his head was in the fridge.

He started pulling things out and examining them. “Um ... why, may I ask, do we have a bottle of taco sauce with about a tablespoon in it, dried up, at that?”

Heero gave an exasperated grunt and shoved the trash bag into Duo’s hands. “Let me do that. If you do it, we’ll be at it for an hour. I’m hungry.”

Duo just blew his bangs out of his eyes and obediently held the bag. Heero ruthlessly threw out anything that he didn’t consider breakfast. Duo only complained once but shut up when Heero announced that the sauce he wanted to save had separated.

It took Heero five minutes to finish a job that he knew Duo would drag out to three times that. “Ok, we’ve got bacon, eggs, some cheese sauce stuff and ... bread. There’s tea, coffee or milk. I recommend the milk as it’s about to blink.”

“Ok, I’ll fry the bacon, scramble the eggs in the grease and you melt the cheese stuff in the microwave. We’ll pour the cheese over the eggs. Make coffee for us while I deal, Ok?” Duo got out a frying pan and plunked it on the stove. “Need a bowl for the cheese?”

“No, I’ve melted it in the microwave before. Just have to be careful ‘cause the jar gets hot. Pot holders?” Heero stuck the jar in the microwave then turned to start the coffee. “I’ll need them.”

“Ok, you going to start the cheese already?” Duo started cracking eggs.

“No. Just put it in there to get it off the counter top.” Heero checked the bread for mold and, not finding any, started toast. “How many slices do you want?”

“How many are there?” Duo checked the pan.

Heero snorted softly. They’d argued about this since the wars. Duo put the bacon in a hot pan, while Heero insisted that it should start in a cold pan. Either way worked fine but they both held that their way was the only ‘right’ way. “Counting the heel, five.”

“Throw out the heel.” Duo refused to eat the heel, unless that was all there was. Too many years of getting nothing but had left him less than willing to eat it.

“Ok, frankly, I don’t like them much either. Unless I’m making dressing for a chicken or something like that. They don’t get as soggy.” Heero started the first pot of coffee. “Is there any cereal?”

Duo opened a cupboard. “Nope.” he shook the milk carton. “And there’s just enough milk for one glass. Or a small one each.”

“Don’t care that much for milk. You know it upsets my stomach sometimes. You have it.” Heero knew that Duo liked milk more than he did, so he let Duo have it.

Duo put the bacon on some paper towels to drain then poured the grease into a small paper cup, leaving a bit to scramble the eggs in. “Thanks. Save yourself a bit if you want white coffee.”

“No, black is fine. I only like it white when it’s one of those stupid latte things.”

“But you drink them.” Duo checked the eggs.

“I do. And they are tasty but still, they’re stupid.” Heero tossed the first two slices of toast onto a plate.

Duo wrinkled his nose in thought. “So, you think they’re silly, but you drink them? Sense? Not.”

“Not everything I do has to make perfect sense. You said so.” Heero checked the coffee pot. It was still dripping. “I think we need a new coffee pot. This one’s so slow.”

“When’s the last time we descaled it?” Duo checked the eggs. “Start the cheese.”

Heero poked the microwave. “Got it. Don’t remember, but ... quite a while.” The last of the toast popped and Heero plated it and put the plates where Duo could reach them. “Plates.”

“Put the bacon on them, please.”

It took moments to get the eggs on the toast, pour the cheese sauce on top of that and add the bacon.

Heero put Duo’s milk beside his plate, as well as a cup of black coffee. He took his place and waited for Duo to bring the plates. They’d had a couple of disasters where they’d tried to each get their plate; so, now whoever had cooked brought the plates to the table. That avoided all sorts of mess.

It didn’t take long to clean up, get dishes into the dishwasher and the last of the contents of the fridge and freezer into the garbage. They deposited the bag in the outside can and returned to check their camping gear.

.

Heero did what Heero always did, he sat down and composed a MISREP.

Duo leaned over his shoulder. “MISREP for a camping trip? Bit extreme, don’t cha think?”

“No, a mission report establishes expectations and parameters. We know what we want and what needs to be done. Sit.” Heero pointed to Duo’s desk.

It didn’t take them long to make a list of all the equipment that they were going to bring. Some of it was considered essential, some wasn’t; but they wanted it and they could carry it so, it came. This meant that they were going to be carrying around 90 pounds apiece, not that that would really bother either of them.

Duo nodded his satisfaction as they finished their check. “Ok, all the gear is good. We need to get food. MRE’s?”

Heero nodded, “And energy bars, drink mix, trail mix and ...” He glanced at his list. “chocolate bars. anything else?”

Duo grinned, he loved the ‘all season’ chocolate bars; not because they were especially good, but because they were the first chocolate he’d ever tasted. “Not that I can think of.” He wrinkled his nose. “Oh, some of that dried vegetable soup mix.”

Heero agreed. “Yeah, we both love that stuff. And, it’s easy to fix. We just need to stop by the grocery store. But we need to vacuum seal it; it draws damp like a sponge. Remember the last time we took some camping?”

Duo grimaced in disgust. “Yeah. It drew moisture and ... ugh ... moldy dried veg soup mix. Blarg!”

They spent the next hour organizing their packs and getting them into the SUV.

A short drive later, they were in front of their favorite military surplus store.

Duo slammed his door and trotted for the entrance to the store. Heero nearly trod on his heels.

“Man, I haven’t been this up for something in ... well, longer than I like to think.” Heero hauled the door open against the resistance of the double doors. The store used an old access hatch for a front door. This made a very nice vestibule that kept wind and weather out of the store but the doors were heavy and, if the inner door wasn’t open, a slight vacuum. No one much complained since the owner was a retired Marine Gunnery Sargent.

“Hey, Gunny! Front and center!”

Heero’s shout brought the huge man from the back of the store. “Yo, squirt. How’s it hangin’?”

Heero laughed. “None of your business, you old fart.”

Duo snickered. “Boys, boys. Do I have to put you in different corners?”

This resulted in him being pelted with a variety of soft objects, mostly rolled up socks and rolls of washcloths. “Oi! Enough! I give!” Duo shielded his head with his arms and scurried behind a rack of jackets.

Duo set to wander around to see if there was anything much he wanted. Heero, on the other hand, had a list. Gunny just took it and started filling it.

It was easy to fill, just find a box of what was on the list and dump it on the counter. One case mixed MRE, one case mixed powdered energy drink, one case mixed energy bars, one case emergency ration. Duo had wrinkled his nose at that one.

Emergency rations were exactly that, for emergencies. The new ones were better than the ones they’d eaten during the war as they didn’t get rancid. But they were still the same tough, cracker like slabs they’d always been. They contained 2000 calories each, had no particular flavor and were amazingly dry for something that was that tough. The bar also contained a days requirement of vitamins and minerals. The package contained two bars and a packet of drink mix which had all the required electrolytes for a day. Needless to say, they weren’t desirable, except when you wanted to avoid starving.

Duo caught sight of something. “Heero, you want to get one of those new distillation units?”

Heero perked up at that. “The self-contained, pocket size?”

“Yeah.” Duo picked up two of the units. They were about the size of a thick paper back book. Not that there was actually such a thing anymore, e-readers had taken care of that except for a few applications. There were a lot of people who still liked ‘paper’ books, although the ‘paper’ was actually made from plankton.

Duo wandered a bit more, adding a few things to his armful. When Heero called, he came up to the counter and dumped his finds onto the pile already there.

Gunny eyed the pile and remarked, “What the hell are you two doing? This looks like enough food for both of you for a month. If you supplement it with hunting and fishing.”

“That’s about it. Duo and I are both just done. We’ve been on back to back to back pickups for months. We’re the only hunters on the west coast. Have been for six months or so.”

Gunny shook his head, “Oh, please. There’s hundreds of hunters out there.”

Duo nodded. “True, true. But ... do you actually know the names of any of them?”

Gunny gave him an incredulous stare then acknowledged, “No, not right off hand. And you are both gundam pilots. That counts for a lot.”

“Exactly. And we’re done. But the only way to get away is to go white water rafting. Which is exactly what we’re going to do. A week on the water, then ... if we still haven’t unwound, we’re going to do something else.” Heero started counting, he winked at Gunny. “Three ... two ... one.”

Duo, finally putting two and two together, yelled, “And after rafting ... What? Where? When did you decide this? Why ...” Heero put his hand over Duo’s mouth. Duo batted at it.

Heero snorted softly then said, “We’re both wound tighter than a dollar watch. If we don’t decompress, we’ll self-destruct. So, we play until we’re better. We can afford it.”

Duo nodded. He was very proud of their fortune. It wasn’t as big as Quatre’s by any means but they were more than comfortable and it was invested well, which gave them a good income in interest. And bounties were still pouring in. So taking as much as a month off wasn’t a problem.

Gunny, well aware of who and what his friends were, just nodded. “Must be nice. I’ve just got my pension and whatever the store brings in.”

Duo mimed rubbing his eyes with his fists. “Oh, Boo-hoo. You’re a gunnery sergeant and this place brings in a fortune.”

“So true, but still ... If it wasn’t for this store, things would be different. But, look on the bright side. I give you a discount.” Gunny grinned at them and started ringing up their purchases. “You better get a couple of those collapsable buckets and water containers.”

Duo added the items to the pile, saying, “Water containers are light and you can never have too many. These are really nice.” And they were. The containers were collapsable, like the buckets, but they could be crushed down to the size of a fist. When they were filled, they held about five gallons. The best part of their set up was, they could be attached directly to a purification unit.

“Ok, we got every thing?” Duo hopped up onto the counter top and lounged there, kibitzing while Gunny rang up their purchases.

Heero just leaned next to him and ignored the whole process. He found ringing out boring.

“Well, the damage is ...” Gunny turned the display around so they could see the numbers. It wasn’t that much, as such things go, but it would have made many people blanche. Duo just handed over his card. “Thanks.”

Heero glanced up from his study of a display of knives when two men walked in.

They were typical ‘red-neck’ good ol’ boys. The sort of men that usually gave Duo and Heero trouble. They just couldn’t get it through their heads that both young men were very dangerous and tended to play pranks or tease; as they would with younger members of their families. Or they thought they could bully them. Neither activity went over well.

This time, they were to be pleasantly surprised.

One man went directly to the back to look at tents while the other headed for the sleeping bags.

Gunny just grimaced. The last time Duo and Heero had been in here with red-necks, the fight had been - messy. It had taken him the best part of the night to get ready for business the next day. Both young men had helped out and the fines and reparation had taken care of breakage but it had been a nuisance.

He just hopped that, this time, no one got a smashed kneecap. Or nose, or anything.

“Hey, Hank! There’s a nice three man here. It’s marked down because of a stain. What’d ya think?” The man looking at tents turned around to try to catch sight of his partner.

“Damnit, George, who cares about a damn stain. It’ll look like shit by the time we get back.” The other man didn’t even look up from the sleeping bag he was examining.

“Ok, ok. This one then. Bags?” George struggled to stuff the tent into its carry bag, unsuccessfully. It refused to fold properly.

Duo glanced at Heero who nodded. Gunny wouldn’t go help. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. He was one of the few people who rejected prosthetic limbs, he was on crutches. That made it nearly impossible for him to fold a tent without sitting down on the floor, which he wouldn’t do.

Duo ambled over and offered, “Need a hand?”

George looked up then smiled. “Sure. These damn things always defeat me. Hank’s good with them, but he’s over there ... doing nothing to help!” His raised voice made Hank give him the finger over his shoulder. “Oh, nice.”

Duo just efficiently folded, twisted and poked, getting the tent into the bag in seconds. “Here you go. It works better if you lay it out flat first.”

“Thanks. Now, I’d better go see what Hank is buying. He’ll get a bag too short for me, if I don’t watch him.” George nodded to Duo and turned to go check on his friend.

Hank, for his part, was contemplating two different bags. Neither one of them was expensive, but both were good, sturdy and comfortable. He glanced over his shoulder at his friend. “When you’re done getting that kid in trouble, come see which one of these is long enough.”

Duo smirked at Heero who just raised an eyebrow back.

Hank and George, it seemed, were just two men who needed camping gear. Heero was glad they weren’t some sort of intolerant assholes, he got enough of that with some of the people they picked up. It got old real quick.

Hank glanced up to smile at the stern faced young man near the register, then he did a double take, poked George and nodded at Heero. “You know him?”

“Looks familiar. Can’t place him.” George thought for a moment then shook his head. “Friend of your son?”

Hank snorted then replied, “Don’t I wish. Unless I went blind recently, that’s Heero Yuy. The other kid, now that I get a good look, can only be Duo Maxwell.” He poked his friend. “Don’t stare.”

George, for his part, was flabbergasted. “Damn, they’re so young. Gundam Pilots? Really?”

“Yup. And dangerous as a sack of rattlers. If you poke them.” Hank eyed Duo carefully.

“Which I am not about to do. Thankyouverymuch.” George nodded to Heero, trying to look harmless.

Heero, who read lips as well as Duo did, just nodded back. He smirked a bit at Duo, who had also read their lips.

Hank and George turned back to their shopping, digging through the rack of unrolled sleeping bags hug up with clip hangers. They didn’t seem to be making much headway so Duo took pity on them.

“Seriously, if you need help, why don’t you just ask?”

Both men jumped out of their skins as Duo’s voice sounded from right behind them.

“Oh, shit! Old man here. You’re gonna give someone a heart attack.” Hank clutched at his chest, grinning.

“Sorry.” Duo’s smile was bright and unrepentant.

George answered Duo’s question. “Don’t like to make Gunny come down on the floor, if we don’t have to. He’s a good guy, ya know, but a bit clumsy in amongst these racks an’ things.”

Duo nodded. “Let me help.” he tugged at one sleeping bag. “What are you looking for?”

“Just general use bags. Our old ones died a good death.” He grinned. “My daughter took them to a sleepover. Nail polish just won’t come out and polish remover tends to melt the shells.”

They all had a good laugh over that one. Duo told some improbable story and helped them find long bags that would suit them.

“Well, there you go. Good all purpose, general use bags. If you buy the liners, that’ll help keep the bags clean longer so you don’t have to wash them to death. One of these thin ground cloths is a good idea too.” Duo dumped his selections into George’s arms and ambled off, his self imposed mission accomplished.

Gunny just shifted on his stool. He was never quite comfortable unless he was standing up or laying down. Standing got old, and laying down in the shop was not a good idea, so he was generally uncomfortable and grumpy. He smiled at Duo. “Thanks, kid. Nice of ya.”

“Welcome.” Duo leaned on the counter next to Heero.

Heero ran a hand through his messy bangs and remarked, “Looks like things are going to go good on this vacation.”

Duo gave him an open mouthed look of utter horror. He groaned, “Oh, man, Heero! Talk about a jinx! You’ve cursed us for sure.”

Heero scoffed, “Superstition.” then moved out of George and Hank’s way so they could check out.

Gunny checked them out then realized that he hadn’t cleared the register after Heero’s card cleared. “Fuck. I have to do this all over.”

Duo smacked Heero on the back of the head, “See?”

Heero just rolled his eyes then turned to help Gunny by unpacking all the merchandise while he cleared the register.

It didn’t take long to get the error corrected and the two men on their way.

Heero picked up half their purchases, stacked neatly to one side while Duo had helped out, and headed for the SUV. Duo gathered up the rest and followed, calling over his shoulder, “See ya, Gunny.”

Gunny just waved, his smile fond.

.

Heero sighed, “Tell me one thing.”

Duo leaned back in his seat. “Ok, tell you anything, actually.”

“Why don’t we ever surf?” Heero glanced at the nearby ocean.

“Um ... don’t actually know. I can, you know, Wufei taught me. But ... the waves just here, they’re not that good. Australia, now, they have great waves. Hawaii, same. Farther down the coast, or up. But right around here. Too much traffic, beach isn’t right.” Duo gazed out the window at the bay.

“So. If we were to decide, after white water, to go surfing, where would you like to go?” Heero returned his attention to his driving just in time to avoid a box truck cutting in front of him. “Come stain!”

“He is.” Duo agreed amiably. “As to where to surf. Somewhere different.”

“Maybe South America? Or Asia? We can do some research, if we decide.” Heero swore colorfully as he was cut off yet again.

Duo scowled, this was getting annoying. “Heero, we don’t have a perp in the back, will you get off the brakes.”

Heero just floored it. The huge SUV went from a loafing float to a barreling battering ram in half a second, vehicles of all sorts scattered, honking in outrage. Heero grinned like a lunatic, he was so tired of putting up with outrageous traffic that the release caused by ignoring traffic made him a little high.

Duo let out a yell, just for the fun of it. He settled back then asked, “Heero, you ever wish we still had our Gundams?”

“Sometimes. Why?” Heero divided his attention, most of it still on his driving and just enough over to carry on a semi-intelligent conversation.

“There’s days I’d just love to step on an idiot driver’s vehicle. Ya know?” Duo flipped someone the finger and stuck out his tongue. “Blah!”

“I do. Some people shouldn’t be allowed on the road. They have absolutely no sense at all. I mean, really, you’re driving a dinky little smart car, who, with any sense cuts off a three ton SUV? Seriously!” Heero blared his horn at someone doing exactly what he’d just complained about.

“Asshat!” Duo shook his fist. “Heero, we’re having way too much fun at this.”

“Ya think? We so need this vacation.” Heero yanked the wheel over, cut off a box truck and dove into their exit. Ten minutes later he pulled into their driveway. “Finally. Home.”

Duo scrambled out of his seat. “Heero, instead of waiting, why don’t we finish the packing now. Then we can go eat and leave after dinner. We were going to drive, weren’t we?”

“Yeah. It’s about a hundred miles or so. Near Mt Shasta, I think. North-west Cali, at any rate.” Heero rummaged in the back, dumping their shopping on the floor.

“Dude, you mean you don’t know exactly where we’re going?” Duo gave Heero an incredulous, wide-eyed look.

“Nope, not yet. We’ve got GPS, maps, two smart phone slash tablets, watches ... not exactly worried about getting lost. It’s not a real mission, or a pickup. If we get too lost, we can always call them. I’m sure they’re used to people getting lost up there.”

Duo shrugged. “Ok. Bet you’re right. Used to be some population up there, but now ... there’s areas that haven’t known human foot in nearly a century.”

“Exodus did a lot of small towns in. Especially up there. There’s only people there now who are ... anti-social.” Heero checked something on his data pad. “Did you know that the population of SanFran complex was a over six million in 2012 OC?”

“Wazzat?” Duo thought for a moment. “That’s Old San Francisco, Alameda, Oakland, Freemont and a few other old calendar cities, right?”

“Yeah. Most of what we call SanFran is what was nine counties and a hundred or so cities, the whole bay area. The Alliance rearranged city and county lines for their convenience. We never really went back. But the population of this whole area was about three times what it is now. Can you imagine the traffic? Holy shit.”

“No kidding. We think traffic is bad now!” Duo shook his head in amazement.

They gathered up their stuff and hauled it all into the living room.

It didn’t take them long to sort everything out, divide it up and get it into their packs. The packs were Preventers regulation and capable of holding a couple of hundred pounds. And they were capable of carrying up to a hundred easily. They’d been in better shape when they were fighting but neither one of them was in any way out of shape. They were young, active and kept themselves in top condition. Not to mention that they loved physical activity and regularly ran several miles, worked out to an outrageous extent and ate like teenagers.

Duo eyed the MRE’s. “We going to have enough?”

Heero nodded. “I brought up the half case we had downstairs. And the river we’re going to be on offers plenty of fishing.” He thought for a moment. “We ought to by some coating mix of some kind. You’ve got that frying pan packed, right?”

“Yeah, and that new solid shortening packs well. It’s even packaged in flat pack. Just pop it into the backpack.” Duo sorted through some of the groceries they’d also picked up. “Ha! I thought I’d gotten some coating mix.” He held up the box in triumph. “We’ll have to dump it into some sort of zip bag, this box is going to explode. No doubt.”

“You’re right. Here.” Heero pulled a zip bag from the box at his side. “And we can just use the pack bag for a ...” he stopped at Duo’s head shake.

“No, just ... ugh. If we use it as a coating bag, we’ll contaminate the whole thing. Then, we’ll wind up with the GI’s or something. We’ll take along a bunch of zip bags. They come in handy for all sorts of things. After we’re done packing, I’d suggest we divide up the last of the boxes and just stuff them in somewhere.” Duo poked doubtfully at something, shrugged and stuffed it into a side pocket.

“Ok, sounds like a plan.” He locked down his pack, checking to make sure all the zippers were zipped and sealed. “Done.”

Duo finished his own pack. “Me, too.”

Heero stood up. “I’ll call the service. Let them know we’re out of town until we call them again.”

“Good. Last of the laundry is done and put away. Fridge cleaned, cupboards bare. All clothing packed in the packs, or that one suitcase. Anything else?”

Heero gave his list one last look. “Nope. Done, done and done. We’ll get dressed in something nice that’s washable and head out. About two hours?”

Duo agreed and headed up to the bathroom, leaving Heero to get everything into the SUV.

.

Duo was still working on his hair when Heero got up to their bedroom. He just stripped off, stepped into the shower and buried his hands in the mass of hair. It took them a few minutes to finish washing out the shampoo then Duo dumped about half a bottle of conditioner into Heero’s outstretched hands. Heero slathered it over the mass of wet hair then combed it through.

“There. Let that cook a bit.” Heero spluttered as he got a face full of washcloth.

“Cook? Thanks for that picture.” Duo moved out of Heero’s way so he could get under the shower heads. “Wash, Mr Stinky.”

Heero just swatted Duo on the shoulder and obeyed. “Fine. Call me names. See if I help you ... Ack!”

Duo just snickered as Heero yelped. A pinch on the butt usually did that.

They fooled around, laughing and splashing, rinsed Duo’s hair, scrubbed each other’s backs and generally acted their age.

When they were finally dressed, exactly one hour and thirty minutes later, they climbed back into the SUV and headed for the restaurant.

.

Duo looked around. “I can see why they call this place the Athenian Room. It’s huge.”

The restaurant was much more elegant than they’d expected. It was huge, done in white and gold, with massive tables set three feet apart in each direction. The center of the round room was taken up by a wet bar done in glass and steel.

Heero glanced at the Maitre d’ Hotel then back at the room. “We’d like a table for two, please.”

The Maitre d’ looked down his nose at the two, he constantly had trouble with kids who wanted tables but couldn’t afford them. He decided that these two might respond favorably to his most used tactic. “I need to see ID and proof of ability to pay. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, owners policy.”

Heero just pulled out his credit card and handed it over. The Maitre d’ swiped it and blinked, he recognized the name easily and the balance was more than adequate. “Thank you very much, Major Yuy. Please, this way.”

“It’s Mr. Thank you.” Heero followed the Maitre d’ with Duo right behind him.

The Mater d’ seated them at a small table in an inconspicuous area. He explained his decision as he held Duo’s chair for him. “I thought you might like this seating as it’s rather romantic and leaves you able to see the room without being ogled by the hoi polloi. If you’d prefer some other seating, I’ll be happy to move you.”

Duo glanced around, looked at Heero and nodded. “Fine.”

Heero just grunted and nodded.

The Maitre d’ handed them menus, said, “Your server will be here in a moment.” and left, breathing a sigh of relief. He was well aware that the two, innocuous looking young men were quite capable of destroying the entire place without breaking a sweat. Not that they would, unless forced into it. But who knew what they might consider force. And they both looked tense.

Heero sighed, “Everyone looks at us like we’re about to mount up and ride out.”

Duo nodded in agreement. “No idea why, either. Neither one of us has been in the papers for doing anything ... violent. So ... what gives?”

Their server came up just then, looking nervous, and asked if they were ready to order. They weren’t and said so. Heero nodded to the server and said, “I’ll signal when we’re ready. Ok?”

“That would be fine. I only have three tables, so I’ll keep an eye on you.” He went away, breathing a sigh. The two gundam pilots didn’t seem like they wanted to tear anyone up. But they were so tense that it made everyone around them edgy too.

He went back to have a word with the chef and found the Maitre d’ already there.

“Look. I don’t know what their problem is, but they’re both on a hair trigger. Just don’t screw up. Everything has to be perfect. I do not want a scene in the dining room. Got me?” The Maitre d’ looked like he wanted to strangle the chef.

The chef was a rather arrogant man, supremely confident in his skills, brought from one of the best Greek restaurants in Greece. His reply just made both the Maitre d’ and the server shudder. “I can cook anything they ask for, and do it perfectly. If there’s a complaint, it won’t be my fault. You just deal with their egos and let me deal with the food.”

The server looked over at the Maitre d’ who shrugged. He shrugged back then announced, “If they’ve got a bitch, you’re dealing yourself. I’m not dealing with a pissed off gundam pilot. I’ll walk first.”

The Maitre d’ sighed. The man was one of their best servers and he really didn’t want to lose him. But the chef was the best Greek chef in the business. He decided, if there was a problem, the owner was refereeing the mess.

“Ok, I’ll deal ... by calling Ralph. You two get back to work.” The Maitre d’ walked back to his station, dialing his phone as he went.

While all this was going on Heero and Duo were still deciding what they wanted to eat. Heero was all for a family style Greek dinner, while Duo wanted gyros. He didn’t care that it was ‘street’ food, that was what he wanted.

Heero signaled the server and asked, “Can we get gyros meat on the family style?”

Marco just nodded, yes, he was Italian working in a Greek restaurant and tired of the questions. That was why he didn’t care that this restaurant didn’t offer the servers names. “Yes, sir, the complete dinner comprises of Meze; entrees of olives, feta, spanakopita, hummis and eggplant dip, served with pita. Then lamb souvlaki and pork gyros meat, tzatziki sauce, sliced onions, chopped tomato, served with a side of Orzo and Shrimp salad, and baklava and coffee for afters. If you want a basket of extra pita, just ask. I can suggest wine, or just give you the wine list and let you chose yourselves.” He settled to wait.

Duo just nodded. “If I can get fries with that, I’m a happy man.”

Heero just folded his menu and handed it to Marco. “Sounds good to me. You pick the wine.”

Marco sighed, Chef was going to throw a fit. He swore that every American wanted fries with everything, something that irritated him. Marco was of the opinion that, if the customer wanted fries, they should get fries. They were paying the bill, after all.

He handed in his ticket and announced, “Before you throw one of your fits, it’s the Gundam Table. So, if I were you, I’d start frying potatoes. If you won’t do it, you go tell ‘em.” And with that, he stalked off to pick wine.

The chef decided to just give in and make the damn fries, if so many customers wanted fries, fries they would have. He barked orders and started the table.

While the chef was working his magic, Marco was picking wine. Wine and food were his real passion and he didn’t see any reason that a semi-sweet rose wouldn’t go with everything. He picked a white for the Meze, then the rose, and brandy for after. He brought the bottles to his station and set them in the box for Duo and Heero’s table.

Chef sliced, fried, chopped and fiddled. He wound up with a huge platter of Meze, each food arranged in rows down the platter with a bowl of hummus on one end and a bowl of eggplant dip on the other. Marco examined it carefully then took it out. The expediter just sighed. He had a good idea what was going on and he was as nervous as everyone else.

It took a bit longer than they liked, but when the food finally arrived, it was great. Duo dipped a triangle of pita into the hummus and popped it into his mouth. “Mmmm, very good. Feta and olives?”

Heero took the pita. “Yes, thank you.”

They nibbled their way through the appetizers, discussing their expectations from the rafting expedition they had planned. Duo was a bit concerned about the water levels. It had been raining up stream from their entry point which might mean the water levels were higher, making the water run faster and a bit smoother.

Heero, on the other hand, was worried about their supplies. He was sure he’d forgotten fish hooks. Duo reminded him that the area where they’d leave their SUV was sure to have bait and tackle stores. They had decided to take the tour company up on their offer of secure parking in the nearby town. This included a stay of two nights at a motel. They’d spend tonight there then one night at the end of their trip.

Duo scrapped the last of the hummus out of the bowl with a scrap of pita. He held it out to Heero, asking, “Want?”

“No, you have it.” He emptied his wine glass and put it down.

Marco stepped forward and asked, “Are you finished?”

Both Heero and Duo said that they were so Marco picked up the dirty dishes. “Your next course is nearly ready. It shouldn’t be more than five minutes. I’ll just get the wine, shall I?”

Heero smiled slightly. “Yes, that will be fine.”

Duo just nodded.

The next platter arrived, covered with slices of meat, rounds of pita and wedges of onions. Golden brown french fries filled a paper towel lined basket. The bowls containing the chopped tomato and tzatziki sauce were placed beside that and the smaller bowls of salad went just above the forks. Marco poured the wine, waited while Duo sipped then approved of it with a nod. “Very good. Signal if you need anything.” And, with that, he was gone again.

Duo couldn’t help the grin he flashed at Heero. “He even brought ketchup.” and with that rather gloating remark he proceeded to build himself a gyros sandwich, dripping with tzatziki. He took one of his patented huge bites and chewed happily. He swallowed carefully then took a sip of his wine.

“This is so good.” Duo nodded at Heero’s fork. “How’s the salad.”

“Excellent. Not too much lemon. Some places drown it in lemon juice.” He forked up another bite.

“Exactly and bottled at that. I wonder if they have some little navy back there who does nothing but squeeze lemons all night.” Duo chuckled at the mental picture and forked up a bite of his own salad. “Mmmm, it is really good.”

Heero speared a golden fry and bit off half, after chewing quickly, he offered, “Really good fries.”

“Yup. And this wine is really good.” Duo took another appreciative sip.

It didn’t take them long to devour the whole platter. Marco was happy to remove it as well as their salad bowls.

The last offering was baklava, coffee and brandy.

Marco eyed the two young men and decided that a short brandy was enough. They’d had two bottles of wine. He just hopped that neither one of them was driving.

Heero caught his odd look and poked Duo in the ankle under the table. “Looks like we’re about to get the ‘don’t drive drunk’ lecture.”

Duo shrugged. “Well, he’s right. But ... how fast do you burn alcohol off again?”

“I burn it off at about triple the normal rate.” Heero smirked. “But, we really shouldn’t torture the man. He’s been jumpy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs all evening.”

Marco approached with their baklava and coffee. “Perhaps just a short brandy?” He put the deserts in front of them, then poured coffee into the delicate cups. “Sugar? Cream?”

Duo shook his head. “No, thank you.” he gave up the fight with his catlike curiosity. “What is wrong with everyone? You’re all nervous as a vi ...” Duo winced as Heero kicked him under the table. “Very nervous. What’s the deal?”

Marco sighed. He’d thought he’d managed to keep his professional face in place. It seemed he’d failed. “Well, it’s ... we know who you are. And you seem so tense.”

Heero blinked twice. “Oh. Um. Duo?” He was completely at loss as to how to explain.

Duo, on the other hand, knew exactly what to say. “Oh, man. Didn’t know my game face had slipped that much. We’re just really tired. We’ve done too many pickups in too few days.” Marco looked at him blankly. “We’re bounty hunters now. Crime does pay, if you’re on the right side of the cuffs.” He grinned at Marco, who smiled a bit faintly back. “See? So, we’re going on vacation, starting about an hour ago. Relax, we’re not about to start breaking tables or something.”

“Ah, I see.” Marco did see. He was used to high powered businessmen coming in and throwing a fit over nothing, and other’s ignoring having a five thousand dollar suit ruined. “If I might suggest taking it easy on the brandy? You’ll need to stay over your coffee for at least an hour.”

Heero made a snap decision. “I’ll skip the brandy. I’m driving. But, don’t worry. I burn off alcohol at an amazing rate, so, I’ll be safe to drive in half an hour. But ... we’ll stay a while longer.”

Marco just set the brandy by Duo’s coffee and walked away. He was sweating and he knew it. That one laser like glower from brilliant violet eyes had left him well aware that he was skating on very thin ice. But, he knew his responsibilities and not letting a customer drive drunk was one of them.

He was very glad that the two young men had seen things his way. He’d call them a cab, if they asked.

While the staff was worrying over their driving, Heero and Duo were enjoying their desert.

They took nearly an hour to finish their desert and coffee. Heero was amused to find that, before they were allowed out the door, he had to ‘blow the meter’. Marco had rather sternly told them that he’d rather give up his tip and piss them both off than have Heero drive under the influence and have a wreck.

Heero just blew into the device, laughed when it registered ’Sober As A Judge’ on the face and then handed Marco a huge tip. Duo tipped the bartender and they left.

“Well, that went well. But they’re both wound tighter than a ...” Marco gave up on comparisons, “Well, a really tight something.”

The bartender laughed and shook his head. “Considering who they are and what they do for a living now, I’m not a bit surprised.”

.

Heero dug a coin out of his pocket, something unusual as even vending machines accepted cards now. “Heads or tails.”

Duo eyed the antique silver dollar he’d given Heero as a lucky piece several years ago. This was now their usual way of settling arguments about who went first. “Heads.”

Heero flipped the coin and Duo caught it out of the air. He slapped it on the back of his hand and said, “Ha!” But it was tails. Duo snarled good-naturedly, “Luck on your part. But, I really wasn’t supposed to drive anyway.”

“You keep thinking that.” Heero laughed. “You burn alcohol as quickly as I do.”

“It’s my ...” Duo ducked the swat aimed at his head with a yelp. “Hey, not the hair.”

“Get in the damn car.” Heero climbed in and started the SUV. “You get to drive later. In the mountains, at night ... and, possibly, in the rain.” He smirked at Duo’s grumbles and pulled out of the parking lot and into the light late evening traffic. “Gotcha.”

“Idiot.” Duo settled back in his seat, trying hard to sulk and failing.

They drove for three hours, talking companionably about all sorts of things; work, the dinner they’d just eaten, the fact that they seemed to be the only accredited bounty hunters on the West Coast. And their nearly crushing work load.

Duo announced, “You know, we’ve forgotten one thing.”

Heero, concentrating on a rather confusing interchange, just grunted, “What?”

“We can say no. Just firm up your jaw and ... No.” Duo exaggerated the pronunciation. “We just keep taking every nickel and dime job that someone calls us on. How are the other teams supposed to get experience, if we take all the jobs. We need to establish some sort of guide lines on what we’ll take and what we won’t. Then we need to ... pick a company, or team, that we trust to had off jobs to. See?”

Heero nodded. “I do. There’s a mini-mart. Potty break and hand off?”

Duo shrugged, “Sure.”

So they went into the mini-mart to get drinks and let out the drinks they’d already had.

Duo went into the Men’s room first, while Heero paid for their stuff. Heero handed the bag off to Duo to take out to the SUV and went into the restroom himself.

Business taken care of, Heero returned to the SUV to find Duo listening to the latest ‘organic rock’ song. He still wasn’t too sure exactly what organic rock was, it all sounded like noise to him. He was a died in the wool J-rocker himself.

“Ready?” Duo started the SUV

“As I’ll ever be.” Heero checked the GPS. “We should be there by midnight, if we keep up the pace.”

“You know me.” Duo cackled madly and drove out of the parking lot, easing onto the highway, he put the pedal down and rocketed off into the night.

.

They got to the motel at 11:30pm and checked in with a bored clerk who hardly looked at them. He was watching some sort of launch from one of the scientific stations in the L3 colonial cluster and barely glanced at their sign in. He just handed over a key card and mumbled, “Checkout at 10:30am, unless you’re staying another night.”

“One night.” Heero’s monosyllabic grunt made Duo cringe.

“ ‘K. Need anything, dial nine and ask.” He didn’t even take his eyes off the screen.

After the rather frustrating check in, they went back to the SUV and cruised slowly down the long structure, looking for their room. It didn’t take long to find it as it was one of three without a vehicle in front of the door.

“Ok. Grab our day bag while I unlock. Ok?” Heero hopped out of the SUV and headed for the door. They always did this. There was no telling whether the accommodations were actually acceptable, occupied or just filthy. Duo remembered one place where they were actually expected to share with a family of five. Another where the filth and bugs drove both of them, as Quatre said, screaming into the night. Neither one of them had actually screamed, the owner/check-in clerk had.

Duo waited for a second at the door then walked in. “It ok?”

“Yeah. But I’m never taking chances again. I really hate it when someone tries to stab me.” Heero flicked on the lights.

Duo agreed, replying, “No shit. That’ll really screw up your day, or night. How’s the bed.”

“A bit lumpy. But ...” Heero leaned over to sniff the duvet. “it smells nice. Lavender dryer sheet, smells like. Towels?”

Duo, checking out the bathroom, called back, “Two bath, two hand, two washcloths. And three of those tiny soaps that no one really uses.”

Heero offered, “We could wet them now and I’ll mash them together. Should be a decent bar by morning.”

“Na, let’s just use our own. That motel soap is usually harsh as sandpaper. I’m for bed. You?” Duo started stripping down to his boxers.

“Just staying up long enough to check the weather and river conditions on the local link.” Heero pulled his phone out of his pocket. He still loved his laptop, but wouldn’t unpack it for just one night. His phone had so many apps and bells and whistles Duo swore it had artificial intelligence. He never denied that his phone was worse.

Heero checked and found that the weather was supposed to be clear and mild with light cloud cover. The river was running about six inches high, to be expected with all the rain up stream.

Duo just held up the covers when Heero put his phone away. Heero crawled into bed with a sigh. “I’ll be glad when we reach the river. Do you want a two man canoe or raft.”

“Raft. A canoe with all our stuff will be a bit difficult to handle. A raft will carry everything we want, keep it all dry and still be maneuverable. Night.” Duo rolled over, presenting Heero with his back, punched his pillow and promptly passed out.

Heero kissed the back of his neck, settled in and dozed off himself.

.

Heero blew into Duo’s ear. Duo swatted at the annoyance, grumbling. Heero did it again. “Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacy.”

Duo groaned, pulled the covers completely over his head and announced, “If you’re going to talk baby talk, I’m going back to sleep.”

Heero laughed and pulled the covers off Duo and dumped them at the foot of the bed. “Up!”

So Duo got up, bitching all the way. As he dressed, he enumerated the things he wanted for breakfast. Heero just nodded. He knew what Duo was quite capable of eating most of what he wanted. What Duo couldn’t finish, he would.

“Duo, stop bitching. I’m hungry too. We just need to go to the desk, find out where a good place is and then get to the tour office on time.” Heero ducked a pillow with a snicker.

“Yuy, I swear, one of these days.” Duo huffed his irritation but finished dressing quickly.

They did a quick check to make sure that they hadn’t left anything and went to the front desk to check out. The day clerk was in and a much more helpful person than the night clerk. She directed them to a small local ‘Mom an’ Pop’ restaurant, saying that the food was good even if the place was a little worn.

They entered to the cheerful jingle of a tiny bell hung on a wire so the door would hit it to make it ring.

A woman looked up from her newspaper. She was sitting behind the register so she obviously worked here. “Mornin’. Jean will be out in a sec.” She thrust menus in their general direction. “Here. Have a seat.”

Heero just took the menus then followed Duo to a booth near the back. “Nice.”

Duo snorted. “No, just homey. People like that don’t tend to stand on formalities. Bet the food is either really, really good. Or, it stinks.”

Heero sniffed for a second. “Grease smells clean. Bet it’s new this morning. Food can’t be bad if they’re that particular about the grease.”

Duo thought about that for a moment, then allowed, “You’re probably right. And the prices aren’t hair raising.”

Heero studied the menu for a while longer then folded it and put it on the edge of the table.

Just as they were beginning to want coffee a voice called, “Mom! What are you thinking? Those poor guys are probably starving. We’ll never keep customers if you keep them waiting. You should have called me.”

Mom yelled back. “Well, you were in the john and your Dad isn’t here yet. So what was I supposed to do?”

“Mom! For heavens sake.” Jean’s embarrassment was obvious. “Give ‘em some damn coffee to keep ‘em happy. And Dad’s not coming in today, he’s got that stomach thing. Remember?” Jean was so obviously not happy that Heero couldn’t help grinning at Duo.

Duo just snickered behind his menu. They both had to bite their lips to keep from laughing when a red faced teen age girl scurried up to the table with a coffee pot in one hand and a stack of cups and saucers in the other. “Coffee for you gentlemen?” She didn’t wait for an answer, instead she plopped the cups down and filled them quickly. “I’ll be right back with your orders. Dad’s down with the flu, so I’ll be cooking.” She grinned, “And don’t worry ... I learned to cook from Dad. Mom can’t cook worth shit. She’d burn water, if we let her anywhere near the stove.”

The woman behind the register just yelled, “Hey! I resemble that, girl.”

Jean stuck her tongue out at Mom and flounced off in a flurry of ponytail and flannel.

Heero tried to keep a straight face and failed, he and Duo both nearly fell out of the booth with laughing.

Mom just yelled at them, “Don’t laugh to hard, you’ll make yourselves sick. And Jean’s food is too good for that.” She got out from behind the register and ambled over with a pad. “So. Made up your minds yet?” She stood by the table, ready to take their orders.

Duo nodded, “Number 3. Eggs, scrambled; toast, whole wheat; hash browns, crisp; bacon the same. Double it.” He grinned up at her as she scribbled.

Heero waited until she turned to him to say, “And for you?”

“Number 6. Steak rare; biscuits; eggs, over easy; hash browns, crisp. Double mine too.” He handed her the menus.

Mom looked at the ticket for a moment then asked, “Let me get this right. You ...” she nodded at Duo. “want two number 3 breakfasts. And you ...” She glanced at Heero. “want two number 6’s. Right?”

Heero nodded. “Big appetites. And we’re going to be on the river for a week.”

“Ok. Just making sure. We don’t serve city size portions out here.” Mom smiled. “But, we can always put it in a carry out box.” she wandered off to hand the ticket through the window and into the kitchen.

Jean almost immediately yelled, “You sure?”

“They said!” Mom yelled back.

Duo managed to stifle his snickers, barely.

Mom just grinned at him. “We’re small town here. You’ll get used to it.”

Heero laughed softly. “Colonials are about the same. Some never get out of their quadrant and know everyone there. It’s nice.”

Duo nodded. “It is. Earth is so big.”

“Really? I’d think space is huge.” Mom settled in for a gab.

“Space is huge, colonies are usually not. And that idea that there’s one colony at each L point is ... stupid. There’s hundreds. You can actually tell approximately how old a colony is by it’s number.” Heero sipped the coffee, grunted his approval and waited.

“How’s that? It’s number? Like L4 and what not?” Mom settled, hip shot, and waited. This was actually interesting.

“Well. The LaGrange points are immutable and there’s only five. Never be more. It’s physics. Humans didn’t make them, they just exist. I won’t go into the physics. If you’re interested, there’s lots of books.”

“Ok.” Mom was sure that Jean would know all about LaGrangian points. “Now, numbers? How’szat.”

Duo took over. “Each LaGrange point has a number, 1 to 5. So colonies are numbered with their L point and a number that’s usually some combination of the date it was started, plus an arbitrary number, assigned by the point manager. So, L4-20166, which really does exist is at LaGrange point 4, was started in 201 and was assigned two more numbers to make it ‘official’. Some have a letter appended to the number which designated a speciality. Like X for experimental, or B for biological, in other words, a farm colony. See?” Duo loved explaining things and Heero loved watching him. This happened all the time.

Heero grinned at Jean’s face, framed in the kitchen window. He was still asocial, he didn’t avoid people but he wouldn’t go out of his way to meet them either. Duo was, on the other hand, quite social; which dragged Heero into society nicely. He didn’t object but he had been known to just simply, politely, refuse.

Jean nodded when she realized that Heero was looking at her and returned to her cooking.

Ten minutes later, minutes in which Duo explained colony life as best he could, food came to the table. Jean brought out two plates while Mom brought out the other two. They put the plates down then went up to the register, where two stools, side by side told their own story. The ladies settled down to watch Duo and Heero eat, making no attempt to hide their interest.

Duo glanced up once then ignored them in favor of munching his way through two number 3 breakfasts. “Heero?”

Heero looked up from his steak. “A?”

“How’s your steak?” Duo slathered a piece of toast with jam.

“Good. Eggs are perfect, too.” He stabbed another bite, dipped it in egg yolk and ate it. He stopped eating long enough to put his silverware down and rip a biscuit open. “Butter?”

“In that bowl.” Duo squinted for a moment. “Gold foil is butter, the silver is margarine.”

“Thanks.” Heero buttered his biscuit and went back to his food.

Duo poked the hash browns, listening appreciatively as the crisp crust snapped. “Mmmm. Love good hash browns.” He nibbled on a piece of bacon, laughing softly as it crunched between his teeth deliciously.

“So good.” Heero smiled. He checked his watch and nodded to himself. “We’ve got about two hours before we have to check in.”

“Good. Gives us time to just look around a bit.” Duo piled the last of his eggs on half a triangle of toast and crammed it into his mouth. He washed it down with a gulp of coffee then waved the empty cup at Jean.

She hopped off her stool and brought the pot over. “How’s everything? Looks like you enjoyed it.” She poured carefully, she didn’t want to slop the cup over or dribble on a customer. Mom sorta frowned on that.

“Good. Everything was really good. I could use more creamer.” Duo emptied the last of the cream into his coffee.

“That’s not creamer. That’s real cream.” Jean was proud of the fact that they didn’t keep artificial much of anything in the restaurant. People who used creamer or artificial sweetener could just go elsewhere. “We raise our own ... just about everything. Chickens for meat and eggs. Our own milk cow.” She grinned. “We supplement Bessy with milk from an organic farm down the valley. And vegetables from local farms. We’re real proud of that.”

“I bet. That’s the reason it’s all so good. Where do you get the bread?” Duo was perfectly willing to gossip with Jean.

“Mom gets the bread from a friend of hers. Widow woman, needs the income. The biscuits, I make from scratch.” Jean nodded once, pride evident in her face and voice.

“Well, all I can say is, you should be really proud of yourselves. The food is excellent.” Heero glanced around. “And the place is really clean.”

“Thank you. We do try. You wouldn’t believe how nasty even the most expensive places can be.” Jean shuddered dramatically. “The health department closed down one of the most expensive places in the area. Roaches.” She shook her head. “And not the smokin’ kind.”

Heero made a face. “That’s just disgusting.”

Duo nodded his agreement, adding, “You’d think, what with the prices some places ask, that you could eat off any flat surface. I try to sneak a peek into the kitchen before eating, no matter where it is.”

“Don’t blame you a bit.” Jean nodded in the direction of their kitchen. “Wanna take a look?”

“No, don’t need to. We need a bill, though.”

A head jerk in the direction of the register and the information that they didn’t need a bill, as they were the only customers.

Mom tapped the screen on the register, saying, “I don’t believe you two actually ate all that. But ... growing boys.” She told them the total, accepted a debit card from Duo and sent them on their way with a cheery, “Don’t be strangers.”

.

The drive to the tour company office took about five minutes, as Mom said, “Drive out the driveway, turn right, three blocks, turn left and go until you see a giant red canoe on a pole. Right there.”

Duo had to stand in the parking lot and stare at the canoe for a moment. He blinked, shrugged and drawled, “Ok, and we have a canoe on a pole ... why?”

Heero glanced at it once then said, “Advertising?” but his doubtful tone said it all.

Duo conceded, “Maybe. Just ... really weird.”

They dragged their gear out of the back of the SUV and locked it. They’d been assured that their car and contents were insured against everything short of being stepped on by a gundam. Duo had laughed at that.

They ambled into the building to see a rack for their packs and a check in desk set across one corner of the room. The girl behind the desk smiled, pointed and said, “Stick your ruck on the rack until we get all the paper work done. Easier on your back.”

They hung their backpacks, which the girl had referred to as a ruck, and went to lean on the counter. Heero pulled a wad of paper out of his back pocket, making Duo snicker.

When they’d been in the war, and for sometime after, Heero had been obsessive about keeping his papers neat, no matter what they were for. He’d even gotten upset when he was given papers that were less than pristine. Now, he didn’t much care, as long as they were legible.

Heero turned to Duo to demand, “What?”

Duo just laughed gently. “Nothing. I’ll tell you later. Give the lady our papers.”

Heero handed the receptionist the papers. A quick glance told them that her name tag said, “Marny.”

“Here you go.” Heero smiled easily at the girl, who managed a weak grimace, disguised as a smile back. Heero noticed the expression and decided to ask, “You ok? You don’t look so good. Um ...” he gave Duo a slightly wild-eyed look.

“Heero! Never tell a woman something like that. Idiot.” Duo poked him in the side.

“Sorry, sorry. I just meant ...”

He was saved by Marny herself. “Stop it, both of you. I’m hung over like whoa. I wasn’t supposed to come in today. But the idiot who was, quit. So here I am.”

Heero just dug into his pocket and produced two foil packets. “Here. Take it all, lots of water. Do not try hair of the dog. Doesn’t really help. And when does our transport leave?”

Marny took the packets with a grateful expression, ripped them open, gulped the pills and sighed. “Thanks. Ten minutes?”

“About that. We can sit down until you feel better, or ... not?” Heero waited patiently for the girl to decide.

“Now, rather than later. The chopper leaves in about twenty. Raft is already up there. We trucked it up yesterday, along with the canoes for the other party. They’ll be ahead of you in a day, so don’t worry about them being in your way or visa-versa. Ok.” She tapped at her data terminal for a moment. A paper popped out of a printer under the counter. She handed it to Heero, who passed it off to Duo. “That’s your ticket. You eaten yet?”

Duo nodded. “Yes, we ate at some Mom n’ Pop place on ... um ... Echo. Corner of Echo and Larch. Great food. Said they had their own cow and chickens.”

“They do. And that’s the best place in town for breakfast and lunch. They don’t do dinner. There’s some coffee for while you wait, or tea, if you don’t mind bag.” Marny pointed to a table on the other side of the room.

The table was set beneath big windows, between two chairs, other seats were scattered around the area.

They got coffee and tea then settled on a love seat to wait for their ride.

It wasn’t long before they were interrupted by the other party. A party composed of a father, mother and two teen aged boys; and their giggly, idiot girl friends. Heero rolled his eyes and muttered, “Disaster, anyone?”

Duo, known for his patience, muttered, “Would you mind if I just kill them now?”

“Nope. I’ve even got a shovel.” Duo winced as one of the girls let out a super-sonic squeal. “Damn, she sounds like a pig in a fence.”

Heero just announced, “I’m going outside, if I have to sit in here with them; I’m liable to commit homicide.”

“Me too. For the same reason. I don’t understand how girls can act like that. I’d much rather have someone quiet and intelligent. But then ... that’s what I have.” Duo grinned at Heero.

“Here. Need help to get it on?” Heero blanked for a second as he realized what he’d said.

Duo, on the other hand, cackled like a hen laying an egg. “No, I think I can manage.” He shouldered his pack and walked out the door, Heero on his heels.

Heero put one foot up on the bottom rail of the porch railing and sighed. “Well, are we having fun yet?”

Duo patted his shoulder. “Yeah, we actually are. Breakfast was fantastic. I enjoyed telling Mom and Jean about colonies. Those idiots won’t bother us much.” He eyed the group then said, “Bet the older lady gets sick in the chopper. The two younger girls scream at least once and the two younger men say something stupid to me within the first ten minutes of the ride. Dad ... I’m not too sure about him ... but he’s either going to throw a fit about something or give us a lecture for some imagined fault. A tenner.”

“Wouldn’t take that bet if it was twenty times that. I’d lose.” Heero shrugged his pack into a more comfortable position. “Oh, look. Chopper.” Heero pointed to a small dot just rising over a mountain.

“Sure is. Good. Maybe we’ll get started early.” Duo squinted to try to see what kind of chopper it was.

Turned out that it was a Huey, huge and old but well maintained. They’d painted it in the company colors, which made it look interesting. A chopper painted with waves, a red canoe and a bear was a bit different. They both had to fight to keep from falling over, laughing. Their snickers attracted the attention of the two giggling girls.

“Well, what are you laughing at?” The blond put one hand on her hip and scowled at Heero.

Heero scowled back, making her cringe. “That chopper. Is that a bear or ... a dog?”

She looked at the chopper and demanded, “You seriously telling me that you can see that far?”

“I am.” Heero glowered at her friend, on general principles.

They both giggled, fiddled with their hair and wandered off toward the rest of their group. The older man glowered at them, the two younger one’s, latched onto them like a dog on a pork chop. Mom just rolled her eyes, sighed and gave them a dirty look. She also gave Heero an apologetic one.

The father took matters into his own hands, turned to Heero and Duo and said, “I’m Dan Landers; this is my wife Alice, our two sons, Jim and Clark ...” He pointed to each person in turn.“ And their girlfriends, Emmie and Kim.” The girls waved. He offered his hand to shake asking, “And you are?”

Heero took his hand, careful as he always was, not to crush it. “Heero Yuy.”

Duo accepted the hand off, saying, “I’m his partner, Duo Maxwell.”

They shook hands all around, ignoring the giggling of Emmie and Kim. They made bland, general conversation while they waited for the chopper to land in the open field behind the tour office building.

Heero and Duo both gathered up their packs and trotted for the chopper. The Landers group wandered behind them like lost sheep.

Duo tossed his pack to the tour guide in the door and scrambled in, Heero followed suit. The guide caught first one pack then the other. He offered Heero a hand which Heero accepted. Not that he needed it but because it would be rude to refuse.

The guide nodded to their packs and shouted over the rotors, “You sure you can carry all that?”

Heero smirked at him. “I can. So can he.” He jerked his thumb at Duo. “Thanks anyway.”

“You look familiar.” The guide glanced from one to the other, a puzzled half smile on his face.

“Yuy, 01. Maxwell, 02.” Heero had finally conquered his reluctance to tell people who they were. They’d found that most people didn’t care; and the one’s who did, usually were more interested in stories about the Gundams than they were which side they’d been on. Or they knew that they were now bounty hunters and wanted stories about their hunting activities. Then there was the third reaction; which was to rabbit because they were wanted.

The guide blinked then asked, “The Gundam Pilots turned bounty hunters?”

“Right in one.” Duo grinned from the seat he’d flopped down in.

Heero joined him silently, but he managed a brief smile for the guide. They took the orientation packages they were handed and stuffed them away without looking at them.

The Landers’ managed to scramble in the door, with liberal help from the guide, pilot and navigator. Duo had to hide his face in Heero’s shoulder as Alice had to be pulled from one end and pushed from the other. She didn’t seem to be able to figure out how to get a hold on any helper strap, anywhere. So Dan pushed while Phil pulled and Alice managed to get into the chopper.

The younger girls did the smart thing and hopped up to sit on the edge of the door then stand. All the men accepted the hand up from Phil. They also took the packages without bothering to do more than glance at them.

The next problem was the seating. Huey’s don’t have ‘seats’, they have benches. These benches have been around since who knew when. They were a construct of pipe and webbing, with a back of a flat piece of padded ply wood that flattened the curved side of the chopper. Needless to say, the girls all took one look and demanded to know where first class was.

Duo gave up and howled, Heero snickered along with him. The crew made the expected faces and explained that the chopper was repurposed military surplus and didn’t have first class. The area behind the seating was for cargo and the area where the ladies expected first class was the ‘cabin’. This was different than the military setup, they’d had to partition it off to keep the tourists from getting in the way of the pilot, co-pilot and navigator. Some people never could get the idea that they weren’t allowed to touch or grab the controls, bother the pilot or demand to be allowed to fly themselves.

Everyone gapped at this pronouncement. Dan summed up everyone’s opinion. “Well, I don’t want anything to do with the pilots compartment. I just need to know where the convenience is.” The rest of the family nodded.

A simple snort greeted this. Phil asked, “You see anything resembling a head?”

Heero interjected, “Go now, then hold it. Or not. Just sit across from me. Ok?”

The expected shrieks of dismay and exclamations of disgust were endured with dignity.

“We ready, or do we have disembarkation for potty?” Phil waited a moment then headed up to the front to start up and begin check for takeoff.

It turned out that all the women wanted one last pit stop. This meant that they had to scramble back out, moaning about the need for a ladder or a step. No one bothered to explain that a step was impossible due to landing considerations and no one with any sense would have something like a ladder banging around in a passenger compartment.

In the time it took the ladies to finish, Phil finished his preflight check list and they were ready to go. The bitching and moaning about the seats took a back seat to the moaning and wailing about the rotor noise.

Nathan, the co-pilot, called out, “Noise is good, quiet, not so good. We’re taking off in five. Get seated, belted and braced.” with that advice, he slid the door shut with a sharp click.

Heero belted in, while Duo started to help the others. Charlie told him to seat himself, he was used to dealing with ‘greenies’. Duo just belted and let him do his job.

The take off was smooth but resulted in all three women squealing and Clark gripping his belts with white knuckled hands.

Duo checked his watch, did some mental calculations and announced, “We’ll be there in about an hour, might as well make ourselves comfortable.” then he leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest and his ankles in the aisle. Heero copied him and they both fell asleep.

They were awakened ten minutes before touchdown but a kick to the feet. “Up. Touchdown in ten.” Charlie wasn’t about to shake anyone who could sleep in a Huey, especially in that particular position, by shaking them. It wasn’t good for your health.

Both Duo and Heero just raised their heads. The Landers, as a whole, just looked confused.

Charlie, used to the confusion of first timers, issued orders, “When we land, wait until the door is open before you release your belts. That does not include Maxwell and Yuy. When you disembark wait for me to hand you your packs, do not try to find them yourself. Touchdown in ...” he glanced at his watch. “six.” he seated himself in a seat attached to the partition between the passenger compartment and the cockpit.

Of course, someone thought they knew better than the crew. It turned out that Jim thought he was a combat vet or something. He released his belts and stood up just before the landing. This resulted in him falling right into Heero’s lap.

Heero just grabbed him in a hug to keep him from busting his ass. “Idiot. Keep still, or I’ll make you.” Heero tossed him into the seat next to him and braced him with an elbow in his chest; painful but not extremely so.

Dan snarled at Jim. “Sit down! You’ll wind up with a sprained ankle or something.”

Jim just sulked while Kim and Emmie snickered behind their hands. Clark eyed Heero uncomfortably, he’d handled the hundred thirty something pounds of his older brother way too easily for his peace of mind.

The chopper set down softly, the rotors wound down, and Phil and Nathan went through shut down while Charlie started tossing the packs down to an obediently helping Heero. Duo took them from Heero and set them out in a line on the ground.

The Landers jumped, read fell, out of the chopper and lined up to accept their packs. Only Heero wasn’t handing them out, neither was Duo.

Heero barked, “Well? What the hell are you waiting for, engraved invitations? Find your damn packs and get ‘em on. We’ve got six miles to the river and they’re not gonna hike themselves.”

Charlie nearly hurt himself, he laughed so hard. “He’s right. I don’t hand out packs, you’re all on your own from here on out. Got your maps? Compass? GPS? You signed up for expert, so I hope to hell you are. It’s too late to change your mind, unless you want a ride back on the Shame Express, that is.” He shrugged then waited. He was used to this and about half the tours backed out at this point. He always hated this sort of tour anyway. He didn’t like just dumping a group at a trail head and leaving them to their own devices, but they signed releases so what could he do? He did like his job.

The crew, Heero and Duo were all surprised when Kim and Emmie just went to find their packs. Dan followed her, leading a slumping set of sons and a disgusted wife. Alice didn’t like camping much, despite the fact that she was good at it. The boys just wanted to impress their girls and the girls were, despite the giggling and posturing, very good at white water.

They got their packs sorted in short order and started out. Alice just kept her mouth shut and hiked. Emmie and Kim stayed close to their respective boyfriends. Dan led the way. Heero and Duo followed, not because they were especially in need of guidance, but because Heero didn’t want to listen to the grumbling and whining of the two boys. The wind was from them to the other group so most of the noise was blown away from them.

It didn’t take them long to realize that they were either going to have to pass the other group or slog along behind them at what they considered a snail’s pace. They decided to pass.

Heero hiked his pack up a bit and tightened the belly and chest straps. Duo did the same and they checked all the buckles. “Let’s go.” and they did. They left the family group behind in seconds and moved on, happy to be shed of the complaints, squealing and general noise.

Duo chuckled softly. “Well, that was nice ... not. I swear, every time we go on vacation something goes wrong. If anything goes FUBAR on this one ... well, it just better not. I’m killin’ something if it does.”

Heero just snorted, “Maybe we should take Q up on his offer to visit him on the Intisar, he lives there full time now, doesn’t he?”

“He does and that’s not as bad an idea as you might think.” Duo ducked under a limb causing Heero to swear. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not. And I would appreciate a heads up.” Heero’s complaint was without heat as he should have been watching for exactly that sort of thing. He dragged his attention back to matters at hand, instead of picking at that nagging sensation that he’d forgotten something.

Duo noticed his expression and demanded, “Ok, you got a bug up your butt about something. Spill.”

“I don’t know. I just get the feeling I’ve forgotten something, but what it is? Can’t get it.” Heero shrugged his pack. “And this pack keeps dropping onto my hips.”

Duo glanced around. “Next wide spot we’ll stop. I’ll adjust the straps for you. Mine could use a bit of fiddling too. I swear, they get out of whack just sitting in the closet.”

“Ok. Good idea.” Heero sniffed the clean air appreciatively. “We’re not on a forced march, so there’s no reason not to stop when we want to. And the Landers won’t catch up to us. At least, I don’t think they will. The kids are too busy screaming at the bugs and flirting with each other. I don’t envy Dan and Alice a bit. I just hope they don’t wind up in real trouble.”

Duo agreed, then added, “And I have no idea why they think they’re capable of handling a class IV or V river. This whole area was reclassified a couple of years ago. That big quake rearranged everything up by a factor of two or three.”

Heero glanced at the map he held. “You know. I don’t think we’re where we’re supposed to be. This map says ‘White Salmon River’. That’s in Oregon? How the hell?”

Duo just dragged his phone out of a pocket and announced, “I’m callin’ in.” He dialed, spoke to someone then actually took the phone away from his ear to glower at it. “Excuse me? I mean, you have to be kidding me. We’re supposed to be in California, one of those rivers with just a number.” he listened again. “Fifteen minutes? No. More like ... hang on a sec.” He turned to Heero to ask, “Flight time?”

Heero looked at his watch did some mental calculations and announced, “Over an hour. More like hour and a half.”

Duo conveyed this message to the person on the other end of the phone then listened again. He blinked, then barked, “We’re fucking where?” He took his map out of a pocket looked at it carefully then snarled, “Well, at least we have the right maps. I’ll be speaking to someone when we reach home. You can bet on it.” He hung up, pocketed his phone and kicked a rock. “Heero, we’re in fucking Washington state. Up near Canada. This is all class five or more, especially at this time of year. Husum falls, only ten feet, but it’s still a fucking waterfall. Damn.” He took a deep breath. “And the chopper broke down, so no pickup. Well, we might as well enjoy it, as there’s no other way out.”

Heero just snorted, “So, we get a free trip. Cause I’m not paying for this mess. Let’s get going.” They were both forgetting something rather important, the Landers group.

It didn’t take them long to reach a wide spot in the trail. They stopped and dropped their packs to take a drink, eat some trail mix and figure out exactly where they were. The paper maps were compared to GPS coordinates from their phones and they realized that, while they weren’t where they were supposed to be, they weren’t lost. They were on the White Salmon river, up stream of both Husum and BZ falls. There used to be towns up here, but they’d all dried up and blown away, as the saying went, it the after colony migrations that had moved three-quarters of Earth’s population into space. This whole area was wilderness with a few ghost towns dotted here and there. The old highway 141 was even gone. So, they were on their own to get out of the area, not that they were worried about it. They were perfectly capable of handling anything the spring weather and water conditions could throw at them. The chopper being down was an inconvenience, nothing more.

Heero re-shouldered his pack and Duo checked the straps. “OK, here’s the problem. When we put the packs away, the pressure is off the adjusters, the slack creeps.” He pulled on one strap to tighten it and checked the fit. “There. That should do it.”

Heero jumped in place a few times, to make sure that the pack wouldn’t fall onto his hip bones again. “Yeah, it’s good. Now you.”

Duo held still as Heero fixed his pack. He also hopped in place. “Good. Ok. We need to adjust our plans. We don’t want to run out of supplies or something. But ... I’ve got line and hooks.”

Heero returned, “I’ve got a couple of snares and a slingshot. No gun.” He scowled at the lack.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got that collapsable bow and some arrows. They’re in one of the tubes of my pack frame.” Duo grinned at Heero’s expression.

Quatre was always sending them camping gear. WEI had a finger in nearly everything; but, being colony based, was a bit hard up for testers for camping gear. Duo and Heero benefited from that and enjoyed it, especially such things as the collapsable bow and the solar powered satellite phones. Since they’d recovered Quatre’s personal yacht from his sticky fingered sister, Quatre had been inviting them to spend some time with him on it. They’d turned him down for the last three years, but they’d always said that they’d take him up on his offer soon.

“Heero?” Heero grunted in reply. “We’ve been promising Q a visit for years, we really ought to put him on the todo list.”

“You’re right. We’ll call him when we get to civilization again. I’m inclined to allow him to spoil us a bit.” Heero smiled. “I did love that yacht. It was ... something.”

Duo avoided a puddle with a quick hop and announced, “You know he wanted me to captain that thing, right? I’m almost tempted. Almost.”

Heero hopped the same puddle, landing with a soft plop on the other side. “I do. But ... would you actually be happy doing milk runs and putting up with idiot businessmen?”

“No, but ... right now, it seems like a rest. We’ve been going like mad ever since Canada. And I’m tired of it. But, you know we won’t rest by doing nothing.”

Heero grumbled a bit but agreed then went on to say, “You know I got an email from Hidalgo. His group has all moved on to that new colony in the L3 cluster. He says the updrafts in some areas are excellent. Might give him a visit. Wonder what Jessica is doing?”

Duo laughed. “She’s still doing what she has always done, only she works for WEI now. Got a newsletter from her. You should have gotten one too.”

Heero thought for a moment. “Don’t recall. But I might have mistaken it for spam and deleted it. Tell.”

So Duo got Heero up to date on several of their friends from around the solar system. He kept track, Heero didn’t have the patience. But it all worked out in the end. They complimented each others weaknesses.

It didn’t take them long to finish the hike to the insertion point. They’d both had a good laugh at that. To them, an insertion point was the beginning of a mission, not a vacation. In this case, insertion point meant where they put their raft into the river.

Heero glanced around the large clearing. There was a sandy spot right on the, otherwise rocky, bank of the wild water river with a four man raft pegged down nearby. Three canoes rested beside it, as well as a pile of extra equipment.

“Well, that’s nice. We should check out the extras. See what we might need on the long haul.” Heero started doing exactly that while Duo made sure that the raft was water worthy. After the SNAFU of their chopper trip, they weren’t taking any chances.

The pile contained extra food in the form of packages of dried soup mix, jerky, trail mix and energy bars. They took a third and split it between them. It didn’t really make that much difference as they were both going to be on the same raft, but the chances of losing both packs were slim and none. In fact, the chances of either one of them losing their pack were nearly nil.

Duo had considered taking more of the food but decided not to be greedy, they’d brought enough for a week themselves. The extra they’d taken would put them up to the requirements for two weeks. If it took more than two weeks to get down stream to the pickup point, they’d have to live off the land. Something that both of them wanted to avoid, if they could. So they took what they figured they were entitled to.

The extra equipment turned out to be tents, sleeping bags and some tools. Neither one of them wanted a tent, they had their own, much better one. The sleeping bags were also rejected as they had, not only better bags, but puncture proof, inflatable ground mats. They did take a shovel, axe and hatchet. They had cutting utensils but not anything particularly useful in their present circumstances. Their combat knives were exactly that, but they were commando style with tanto blades that were serrated for half the length from guard toward tip. Heero allowed that they were handy. The contents of the hollow hilts were handy too.

Duo examined the hatchet and remarked, “I remember a time when I would be really worried that this thing won’t throw worth shit. Now ... Meh! Don’t care.”

Heero laughed, “And I’d be freaking out that I don’t have a side arm. I could use one but it really wasn’t worth the hassle of getting it through all the damn checks. If we were on a pickup, different story.” He smiled easily. “We’re ... twenty five or so?”

Duo nodded. “About that, according to the docs. Don’t feel nearly that old. I feel younger than I did right after the wars. Strange.”

“No. Not really. We’re both tired, stressed from all the pickups we’ve done in a short time. But, the stress isn’t nearly what it was during the wars. And it’s intermittent.” He finished rearranging his pack and put it in the raft. “You want to launch now ... or wait until in the morning?”

Duo eyed the rapidly setting sun. “Morning. We could launch right now and get a good start ... but why?”

“Not a good idea. We’d be trying to find some place to pull out before you know it. An hour and a half; two, tops? No way.” Heero started gathering up the makings for a good fire. “I’ll build a fire. Ring’s already here. We’ll fix some soup, get a good night’s sleep and leave bright and early.”

“Ok. Good.” Duo started pitching their tent. “Double bag or individual?”

They sometimes zipped their bags together, making a double bag, so they could cuddle. Other times they slept separate. Heero decided, “Double. I want to cuddle. Maybe even something more.”

Duo stopped to swat at some gnats that insisted on swarming under the bill of his hat. “Damn bugs. I swear, this is the only thing about Earth that I truly despise. Bugs. Gah!”

Heero snickered, they were both colony brats but they had acclimatized to Earth. They loved Earth with all it’s climate changes. Duo loved sunrise and sunset. Heero confessed to loving snow, in moderation, when he could get out of it when he wanted. They both loved the beach and rain.

But they loved the colonies too. They regularly went ‘up’ for visits to Quatre and Trowa, catching them when they were colony based for a while. Wufei joined them when he could, which was more and more often as his duties allowed for regular vacations. He was a rather visible Inspector General now, his resignation had not been accepted. Une had nearly begged him to come back, promising him anything he wanted. So he was now an Inspector, but suspicious things happened when he was inspecting. The public didn’t catch on, Preventers denied that there was any sort of problem. All very above board and so on.

They were both a bit startled at the sudden noise of crushing brush, stumbling and chatter. The Landers all entered the clearing in full cry. Heero just rubbed his forehead in disgust. Duo sneered.

“Well, here we are. And there they are. We’ll be all together. Isn’t that nice.” Kim’s voice echoed in the quiet of the wilderness like a gun shot in church.

Duo just gave up. “Will, you shut the hell up. You’re so noisy. There won’t be a rabbit or anything within miles.”

“Well, ex-cuse me.”

Heero spoke up then, in his best Perfect Soldier monotone. “No. Shut up. Be quiet. We’ll be headed down river in the morning. As soon as we split up, you can make all the noise you want. Until then, no squealing, no screaming, no yelling. Nothing. Conversation in inside voices. Got me?”

Then Duo had to have his two cents worth. “And I’d really like to know why you think you’ve got the skills for a class five or six river.”

Dan looked like he’d swallowed a bug. “Oh. My. God. We signed up for a class three. I’m not qualified, neither are any of the rest of my family. Girls?”

Both girls shook their heads. Emmie whispered, “Class four, with my Dad.”

Alice said it for all of them. “Well, isn’t this a fine kettle of fish. What now?”

Duo gave Heero a wide eyed pitiful look and Heero just shrugged. “What can we do?”

Duo flopped down beside Heero and snarled, “Rescue their dumb assess. But I’m not puttin’ up with any shit from any of them.”

Dan, being the manly man sort, said, “We’ll be happy to let you come with us. We can just portage around anything we don’t think we can handle.”

Heero gave him a sour look then just grunted, “Map.” and went back to feeding wood into the fire.

Duo was just in time to prevent Emmie from entering their tent. “No. That’s our tent, keep out.”

“But I want to...” Emmie had that girly whine down pat, but it didn’t work on her Mom, Duo, Heero or Alice.

“Don’t care what you want. That’s our tent. Go set up yours, then you can do whatever you want. And stay out of our stuff. Rucks, backpacks, whatever you want to call them. Sleeping bags, tents, raft etc. I’d detail it better but you get the idea. If you don’t, I’ll explain it better, louder, with profanity and hand gestures. Got me?”

Her sullen ‘yeah, sheesh.’ made Alice wince and shoot them an apologetic grimace.

Dan remarked that it wasn’t necessary to be so selfish about it. Heero retorted that, if they were going to travel together, they had to get along. Stepping on Heero or Duo’s toes wasn’t the way to do that.

Heero snarled, “We don’t have to travel together, if you think you can reach pickup without help. But, if I were you, I’d take a good look at that map first.”

So Dan and Alice sat down to look over the map before it got too dark. They were both horrified to find that the places they should portage around were in such horrible terrain that they couldn’t. Not with all the stuff they needed just to survive the two weeks they’d take to get back. Dan demanded to be allowed to make a call on Heero’s phone.

Heero just handed it off to him without comment. All he said was, “You break it and I’ll break you.”

Dan sighed, this wasn’t going to be fun, no matter how you looked at it. His phone call was less than reassuring. The man on the other end flat out told him they were on their own. Dan threatened to sue, he was told that he could sue away, the disclaimer plainly stated that weather and breakdowns had to be taken into consideration. Seattle and Portland were both socked in, beside the fact that their only chopper was out of commission for the next three to five weeks, depending on the availability of parts. They were very sorry for the mistake and would provide appropriate refunds upon request.

Heero eyed Duo. “I’ll call Chang but I don’t think it’ll do much good. Weather is weather, Preventers or not.”

Duo thought about it for a moment then sighed, “Might as well. He’ll laugh his ass off. How the hell we wound up several hundred miles away from where we’re supposed to be, I’ll never know.”

Heero just sighed. “Hung over, pissed off clerk. No idea who was supposed to be where. She probably just printed of the first thing that came to mind. I bet there’s a really hacked group that was supposed to be here instead of taking an easy five day.”

Duo nodded wisely at this. “Probably right. So ... suck up and deal. Fucking last damn time I go on a fucking vacation.”

Alice didn’t think, she just reacted, “Language!”

She wound up with twin laser glowers aimed at her.

Duo hated having anyone tell him how to talk and Heero wasn’t too fond of anyone who upset Duo. Duo just shrugged, glared harder and snarled, “You’re not my mother so don’t think you’re going to get away with telling me how to act, we’ll have a real falling out if you do.”

Alice sighed. “I’m sorry. Just ... you’re way too young to have such a sewer mouth. It’s going to go against you on your job.”

Heero glanced at Duo, who still looked put out. “Ma’am, we’re bounty hunters by profession. Former Gundam pilots. We talk the way we do. Leave it.”

Dan had heard the whole thing and just patted Alice on the shoulder. “They’re grown men. Keep your eye on our kids. We’re in a hell of a mess.”

Emmie and Kim were goggled eyed, they’d both known they knew the two gorgeous creatures but couldn’t place it. Jim and Clark were indifferent, they were both more worried about how they were going to get out of this mess. Adults sometimes seemed to focus on the stupidest stuff.

Heero got out his orienting gear and figured out exactly where they were. “Well, we’re about a hundred miles up the White Salmon. River’s rougher than a whore’s tongue. Class five most of the way, a few class six spots, no portage anywhere. Terrain is rough enough that hiking out is a no go. We got a Charlie Foxtrot in spades.”

Duo grumbled, “Well, at least we have maps, GPS contact and a real idea of exactly where we’re going and how to get there. Plenty of food. So why do I get the feeling that we’re fucked in the ass, and not in the ‘ooo, that feels so good’ sort of way.”

Heero eyed their companions and shuddered, “Because we’re lumbered with ... them.”

Dan was ready to say something but Jim cut him off. “Look, I’m really sorry we got off on the wrong foot, but you are going to help us. Right?”

The kids managed hopeful looks all around so Heero just sighed and said, “Ok, right. Here’s the deal. We’ll help you on one condition. You do what you’re told, when you’re told to. You got questions, keep ‘em ’til later. If I’m yelling, it’s obey time. I’m not going to get myself hurt or killed because you think you’re tough. Nor Duo either.”

Dan decided it was time to put his foot down. “Now, see here. We’re the adults here and we’ll make the decisions. We need to make sure that all the equipment is in one place, so that we can find it. And you’ll need to give me that GPS, it’s better than mine.”

Heero’s disbelieving, nearly open mouthed look made Duo crack up completely. His flat, no nonsense, “No.” made Dan angry.

Jim and Clark consulted with Kim and Emmie, coming to the conclusion that they needed to just stay out of it and let the older couple learn by experience. Kim summed it up easily, “We just stay out of the way, until the Gundam pilot slash bounty hunters get pissed. Then we grovel and beg.”

Emmie nodded her agreement and added, “And no more girly girl. Knuckle down and get real. Sorry, guys, but all bets are off. We’re in a world of shit.”

Jim and Clark, who’d both been reconsidering their need to date idiots, just shrugged.

“Bout time.”

Clark slugged Jim, saying, “Belt up, idiot.”

Duo intervened before the boys did more than shove each other a bit. “OK, guys, no more of that. No horseplay, no messing around. We don’t need an accident.”

“Ok. Um ... so, do I call you sir?” Clark wondered.

“Could do. There’s some question as to our pay out rank. Major seems to be the most popular. But we do hold rank as reserve Preventers. Heero?”

Heero just grunted, “Colonel. Not that it really matters here.”

Alice just shook her head. “You’re both much too young. Why do you young people insist on lying like this.”

Heero just ducked his head, this was catastrophic. The woman had made the same mistake that many others had. She’d taken one look at them and dismissed their experience because of their looks.

Duo hated being called a lier. He’d duck and dodge, tell half truths, or bits of truth in a way that mislead people, but he’d never outright lied in his life.

“Excuse me. Are you calling me a lier? For real? Or was that just a slip of the tongue.” Duo didn’t care that Alice was a woman and twice his age, he was ready for a smack down.

Emmie saved the day by exclaiming, “Mrs. Landers! Duo Maxwell doesn’t lie! Ever. Please apologize, right now.”

Alice gave up, not because she believed, but because it was better to smooth things over. “Well, I’m sorry I called you a lier. Just ... you’re too young.”

Clark finally clicked in on something that had been said earlier. “Oh, shit. Gundam Pilots? Operation Meteor started and you were ...”

Heero shrugged, never looking up from his maps. “Fifteen. Now. We’ve got two ways to go. You can go your own way, absolving us of all responsibility. Or, you can come with us, and obey orders.”

Duo added, “Or you can squat here until you fall over dead. Make up your minds.”

This was when the elder Landers got a clue. “Oh, yes, well. Colonials.”

Kim groaned. “Oh, man. We’re so toast.”

Emmie decided that she was going with Heero and Duo, no matter what Dan or Alice said.

Jim and Clark just braced themselves for a lecture on colonial bias. It didn’t come.

Duo pulled out his phone and dialed. After the Cold Case fiasco, both of them had made sure that they’d never be out of phone contact again. He knew that Wufei couldn’t do anything for them. They weren’t in imminent danger and the weather was foul at the airport where Preventers aircraft were stored. But, if he didn’t call, Wufei would cut him a new one. And, he was hoping that Wufei could convince the Landers to cooperate.

He listened to the phone ring then said, in his most cheery, Shinigami voice, “Hey, Wufei, how’s things?”

Since he’d put it on speaker Wufei’s return of, “I already heard. What the hell?”

“No idea. Silly cow at the reception desk admitted to being hungover. So, who the hell knows. We’re up shit creek, but we’ve got a paddle. And a bunch of civvies on our hands. Dad seems to think he ought to be in command because he’s an old fart. Any hope?”

Wufei’s sigh was loud. “Sorry. We’re socked in for at least a week. Anyone bleeding? Sick? Broken bone?”

Heero grumbled, “Well, shit.” Then said louder, “No. No. And no. So, you can’t come get us?”

“Sorry. Since you’re all capable and healthy times two, and Preventers reserve, you’re it. You’re now on duty Preventers authorized to carry out a rescue of six civilians in distress.”

“Fuck you, Chang.” Duo was past irritated. “They don’t want us any more than we want them. Alice called me a lier.” The last was said in an outraged, indignant tone.

Wufei exclaimed, “She what?” with considerable heat. “How unjust! Put them on speaker.”

“They are.” Heero just held the phone at arms length. “Listen to him.”

The whole group gathered around to listen to Chang Wufei tell them, “I am Chang Wufei, Inspector General and Regional Director Preventers, West Coast. Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy are now authorized to take what measures are necessary to get you all to safety. Obey their commands. They are experienced in every skill needed to see the job done. Questions?”

Dan started to say something but Alice was now putting the same two and two together that the younger members had earlier. “Dan, shut up. I know who they are. We need to listen to them.”

Dan, a smart man, listened to his wife, only remarking, “Well, Preventers, well, ok then.”

Heero sneered at him a bit absently, then started giving instructions. “Alice, start dividing up the supplies, make sure everyone has their fair share of everything.”

Dan had to question this. “Shouldn’t we consolidate our resources?”

Duo glanced up from his continuing conversation with Wufei. “No, you’re thinking like a businessman; inventory, rather than safety. We split everything up. That way, if someone loses their pack, we still have enough to go around. And Heero and I can hunt, if we have to. I’ve been asking Wufei if we can get a supply drop. No go, weather’s going to be too bad. But, if the weather clears, we’ll get one later.”

Heero nodded. “Good, good. Thank Chang.” Duo did so before he hung up.

Emmie asked, “Do you mind if I say something?”

Duo grinned at her and answered, “You just did, but go ahead.”

“Well, we’re stuck, see? So, my idea is ... we make the best of this that we can. We’re not in a rush, there’s plenty of food and stuff. So, let’s all make nice and have the fun we came out here to have. Ok?”

Heero thought about it for a moment. “Sounds good to me. We’ll vote on it. All in favor of making a mad dash for home.” he waited. No one raised a hand or said anything. “All in favor of just having what fun we can.” Every hand went up. “Ok. Here’s what we’ll do. Duo and I will play guide. We’ll divide up the camp chores. Anything you don’t know how to do, ask. If you don’t like that particular chore, tough. You won’t be doing it all the time. Duo?”

“Got nothing. We’re all adults, or nearly so, I suggest we all get along. Now ... Alice, if you would do the honors for supper. We’ll help you finish dividing up the supplies after. Clark and ...Emmie?” They nodded. “You’ll be responsible for policing the camp after we eat. Pick up all the trash, which better not be tossed carelessly on the ground, and burn it. Any leftover food gets burned too. We don’t need bears wandering into the camp. If anything is still in it’s package, condiments, comfort supplies or anything else, the person who’s meal it was in should store it for later, or give it to someone else. Dan, check all the gear to make sure it’s in good shape, except for ours. And no one has the right to be in anyone else’s gear, no one. Jim and Kim, gather what wood you can find, we’ll keep a fire going all night. Again, bears around here won’t like it. Got it?”

Everyone nodded. No one asked what Duo and Heero were going to be doing, it was already apparent; they were going to be checking out the raft and canoes. While they were gone, the younger group ganged up on the two adults. Kim took lead, “Look, we know you’re older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wiser. Those guys are Gundam pilots, Preventers and bounty hunters. That means they’re the best of the best. We do what they say, when they say. We ask for explanations later, if at all. If we don’t, I wouldn’t put it past them to leave us where we are. They’ll send back help, they won’t just leave us in the lurch but ... I don’t want to stay out here that long. So, suck it up.”

Dan opened his big mouth to make some sort of indignant rejoinder, got a good look at the group and shut up. He was a major executive in a minor company and he was used to being in charge of everything, but he was also smart enough, now that he thought, to know when he was out of his depth. He was up to his chin and the water was rising. “Ok, ok. I just hope we all don’t live to regret this.”

Duo, overhearing everything, and more inclined to butt in than Heero, just called, “Or die regretting not listening when you should have. Get to work.”

They all scrambled to their chores.

Alice was smart, she just tended to leave too much up to Dan. She really didn’t like camping, but Dan did, so she went. Now, she applied good housekeeping to the situation. She handed out meals then, after everyone had one, she announced, “Ok, tonight, I handed out MRE’s. After tonight, you’ll all have your own. If you don’t like what you have, trade it with someone. Do not waste food, we’ll run a bit short as it is. Do not pig out on the energy bars, save them for last. And don’t throw out anything, either give it to me, or Heero or Duo, to store for later. Now, eat.”

Duo nodded to her, he and Heero now had another ally in their fight to keep this mess under control.

After they ate, standard military MRE’s, Duo collected the odds and ends that no one wanted and packed them away. He took the time to explain how he sorted the packages.

“See, ziplocks are your friend. Put the condiments in one, if one accidentally leaks, nothing gets ruined as its all in wet proof packaging. Drink mix of any kind and sugar, creamer and stir stixs together as you use them together. Comfort products in a third for the same reason. Don’t throw anything away without asking if someone else wants it.”

Kim nodded. “Oh, and stuff like bandaids and pills?”

“Keep ‘em on you. You’ll wind up wanting something quick and taking off a pack to fish for it is a pain. Just put it all in a zip bag and stuff it in a thigh pocket.”

“Good to know.” Kim started sorting.

Heero blinked for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “Anyone have first aid supplies?”

Dan silently produced a family size first aid bag. “I’ve got this.”

Alice handed over another. “I brought mine.”

Heero handed them to Duo. “Take inventory then return them. We just need to know what’s in them. Add the inventory to ours. Anyone else have anything?”

Emmie blushed heavily but announced, “Feminine hygiene ... stuff.”

The boys both blushed just as red. Duo couldn’t help his remark if someone had paid him. “Well, guys, get over yourselves. It’s a fact of life and, if you’re going to live with a woman, get used to having conversations about it. Now, Alice, make sure all three of you have personal product to hand.”

“Ok.” She smiled. “I brought extra, just in case. Girls?”

Kim just shrugged. “I brought twice what I might need. Emmie?”

“Me too. And we use the same brand.”

Alice finished the conversation by saying, “All three of us use exactly the same brand and style. And I brought enough for all three of us. Enough about that.”

Heero grinned at her then got back to business. “Good. Now, raft is in good shape as are the canoes. You’re going to have to learn as we go. We’ll teach you everything we can about white water, but most of the skills you need, you know, you just haven’t had much experience in the class we’re on now. So ... who’s the weakest?”

Emmie and Kim looked at each other. Kim finally said, “Well, we both are fairly good at class four and lower, both our families are into that sort of thing.”

Dan continued, “Alice and I are both rated for class four; good solid four. But I’m afraid we’ve never even been on anything higher. The boys are ... a bit better than we are but ...”

Clark jumped in. “We’re rated for class five, but in kayaks on commercial, man built waterways. Not too sure about an open canoe on a wild river.”

Duo rubbed his face and said, “Well, fuck me.” He glanced at Heero who shrugged. “We’ll have to split up, Heero. I hate it, but needs must.”

Dan agreed with him, to everyone’s surprise. “You’re right. I don’t like it either but ... if we put four in the raft and all the packs split up in the canoes, that ... keeps all the weaker people safer. But ... I think ... just a suggestion. Put you two in a canoe with your packs. Alice and I in another canoe with our packs and all the kids in the raft with their stuff. That won’t over load the raft, it is meant for four and packs. We leave the last canoe here. With you two experts in the same canoe, that means you can help anyone who gets in trouble. Input?”

Duo nodded. “Sounds like a plan. But we make sure to take all the extra paddles. A broken one is really bad.”

Clark announced, “My meal is hot. I’m gonna eat now.”

Everyone went to check their meals to find that they were all hot. Alice had set them all to heating while they were talking, handing them out as she added water to the heater packs. She explained, “I heated everything that would take it. We need hot meals as often as possible. You have no idea how cold it gets up here.”

Heero grinned at Duo. “No colder than Alaska/Canada in late fall. With snow and freezing rain. Ga!”

“No shit. Cold Case Chase was so bad. I swear I felt like a Popsicle for a month.” Duo shuddered. Neither one of them would forget the chase through the wilds of Canada in pursuit of Trask.

This lead to the Landers demanding details. Duo obliged, talking through the meal, and clean up after. He only stopped talking when he realized that his story telling was keeping Jim and Kim from gathering the needed wood. He finished his last story with, “Ok, enough with the stories. We need wood, Kim, Jim, get with it. Heero and I will help, just this once. From now on, we’ll be running traps.”

Duo nodded. “Rabbit is good. We’ll make stew instead of roasting it. We’ve got some dried veg mix to make soup or stew with. And, I swear, last time we had a vacation, we wound up in a mess. The one time we took off with Quatre on his yacht, we had fun. Heero, we’re going hang gliding on the moon next time.”

Heero snorted, “Our luck, the station will be breached.”

Duo just groaned.

Everyone went to take care of their final chores without complaint and they all went to bed; Kim and Emmie in one tent, Clark and Jim in another. Heero and Duo had their tent and the elder Landers theirs.

.

Heero woke Duo by tapping his foot. “Wake up. I’ve started the fire and found some goodies.”

Duo grabbed his boots and stepped into them. “I’m up. Just a sec while I lace up. What did you find?”

“Remember that cabin in Canada? The owners had canned stuff?” Heero’s smile rivaled Quatre’s brightest.

“The canned butter, bacon and lard?” Duo grinned back.

“Yeah. There’s about ten cans of each in a cache over there. And cheese.” He pointed back up the hill a bit. “We didn’t see it before because the shadows hid it. We’re taking it all with.”

“You bet we are. I’m so happy. If we had eggs, it’d be perfect. But eggs, camping; not so much.” Duo finished lacing his boots and hurried after Heero.

Alice was pleased to see the canned goods, exclaiming over the concept of canning bacon. “I’ll make omelets for breakfast today. I brought along just enough powdered eggs for a feast first day.

.

While all this was going on, Chang Wufei was on the phone to Anne Une. She was not pleased, he was not pleased; this meant that the owner of the tour company was not pleased.

Northwest White Water was in a world of hurt, all because a young, hung over girl punched the wrong button.

Une’s call to Wufei was interesting.

“Chang, what the fuck?”

“No idea. I am personally investigating this mess. First intel is that it’s a SNAFU on the part of the clerk at the tour company. Hung over, young, not happy, inefficient.” He descended into a rant on young, foolish women and inefficiency.

“Back on track, Chang. What can we do?”

“Not much. The weather won’t be cooperating for at least a week. We don’t have anything that will take off in fog combined with rain and a cloud cover that’s practically on the ground. We’re waiting for clear weather to make a fly over. In the mean time, I’ve activated Yuy and Maxwell and authorized them to do whatever they have to to bring the rest of their party out in one piece.”

You could hear Une sizzling right over the phone. “Excuse me? Rest of the party?”

Wufei swore that he was going to wrap both his friends in bubble wrap and duct tape and send them into space with Quatre. “Yes, rest of the party. It seems that there’s a family of four, mother, father and two teenage sons, with girlfriends up there too.”

“Oh. My. God.” Une took a deep breath. “Well, do you at least have phone contact?”

“Yes. Both Heero and Duo have high end smart phones with GPS and every bell and whistle you can think of. We’ll triangulate on them constantly. When we get any sort of clear air; I’ll, at least, send up a care package. Including arms. All they’ve got are a couple of knives and whatever Duo has in that braid.”

“Well, that’s something. Keep me informed. And leave that white water company to me.” She hung up the phone and turned to her secretary.

.

Duo’s comment over breakfast that, at least this vacation was going better than the last, led to more stories about their ‘vacation’ in Cambodia. Heero’s mild interjection that he thought it was Thailand was met with a dismissive wave of Duo’s hand.

“Doesn’t matter a bit. It was jungle, all sorts of crittie crawlers all over. Butterflies the size of sparrows, one nearly scared me into falling out of a damn tree.” He brightened as he said, “But I did get to blow stuff up. I love blowing stuff up.”

Heero chuckled, “Yes, you did, love. But you bitched, whined and complained the whole way.”

Duo just retorted, “Jungles are nasty. They’re full of weird noises, smells and bugs.”

Clark shuddered, “I don’t think I’d like real jungle. It’s nice on TV, all green and stuff, but I’m not that fond of bugs. Especially spiders and centipedes. Nothing should have that many legs ... or eyes.”

Emmie shuddered too. “And monkeys. Evil little creatures. A friend of my Mom has one. It’s got the worst personal habits. It actually throws ... poo. Disgusting. I won’t be in the same room with it.”

Kim nodded. “It’s nasty. Tell us something fun.”

Heero eyed Duo for a moment then said, “I’ll tell you about the time the boarding school we were hiding in had a ball.”

Duo make puppy eyes at Heero, moaning, “Nooo, ‘Ro, you never.”

“I did. I sneaked in to watch from the rafters.”

“Oh. Well, did you see me dancing with that ... Dorothy Catalonia? She was a beauty. If you like snakes in the grass. She knew something, but I managed to confuse her. Relena? She stalked you like a deer.”

“No shit.” He shook his head. “I can still hear her.” He mimicked her. “Heeerooo, come kiiilll mmeeee! Jesus on a crutch. The silly thing nearly got us arrested more than once. I’d still like to know how she found us.”

Kim thought that over for a moment. “Relena Peacecraft?”

“Right.” Heero wondered how she knew.

“Ok, here’s how I see it. Exclusive, high end boarding schools. They’re all full of air heads and gossips. All she had to do was have a decent pic of you, post it and ask around. The mill grinds slow but it’ll grind you to bits. She just put out a want on the net and someone told her where you were.” She nodded wisely at an open mouthed Duo. “You really want to find someone who thinks they’re off the grid? Post a pic on social media and stand back. If they’re above ground someone will see them.”

Heero sighed. “I see. Well, shit.”

Alice winced but didn’t say much. She cleaned up the last of breakfast, washing the steel plates, cups and utensils with cold water and campers soap. She then dropped them all into a kettle of boiling water. “There. Now. Everyone has their name engraved on their mess kit. I expect you to wash up your own. And keep your gear together.”

Heero smiled, Duo had already taken their tent down and put it and their camp stools away in their box. They’d kept the camping gear from their mission to Asia and used it constantly. It held tent, stools, summer sleeping bags, ground mats and bug nets; all in a box about the size of a dictionary. Top of the line stuff. The majority of the weight they were carrying was food and water. And electronics.

Duo absolutely refused to go anywhere without his tablet or his computer. The few times they’d done that, or lost what they had, had proven to be disasters. Now, both Heero and Duo carried a phone, tablet and a PC. Not that any of that stuff took up that much room. Heero’s PC was hand made by him and was top of top of the line. All their electronics were experimental, this meant that his PC was about the size of a pack of cards. The monitor was projected from the tiny box as was the virtual keyboard. Their phones had more bells and whistles than a teenagers smart phone. The tablets were the equivalent of most desktop PC’s.

Heero checked his phone. There was a message from Wufei. “Fei sent a message. Check your phone for one too. Ok?”

Duo nodded. “Wonder ... you know? What is he actually doing that kept him in Preventers after that disaster last year?”

“Don’t want to know. Inspector General? What, exactly, is that? And, think about this, Seattle? That odd explosion about three months ago. And before that, Chicago. That drug lord who died of ... heart failure. But he didn’t have heart problems. And before that ... need I say more?”

Duo made a face. “Wouldn’t think ‘Fei would be the type to do wet work. But then, he’s not as tight assed as he used to be. Bet he’s going to quit Preventers again within three years, and this time, it’ll be final. He did love working for Quatre for the short time he did.”

“True, but he’s not running himself ragged anymore, either. And he takes vacations. He’s actually taken more than we have.” Heero tended to agree with Duo. Une had guilted Wufei into returning for an indefinite length of time, so that she could train his replacement. It had been more than a year and he was still waiting for her to assign him a trainee. He was not pleased; not vocal about it, but you could tell, if you knew him.

“Well, enough of that. I say we invite him to join us again. Still dispensing justice, only not putting up with a lot of bureaucratic crap and hand jiving.” Duo checked his phone and found the same activation form on it. “Ok, we’re official. Not that I really give a flying fuck, but still.”

Heero scowled, he was still irritated at Wufei. They’d taken him on as a partner and been working quite well together; then, Wufei had gone back to Preventers simply saying that he was needed. The guilt trip had worked. For now.

Duo stretched, “I wonder when Quatre is going to finish the salvage mecha. He’s still on that. Sisters seem to be falling into line.”

“Yes, after he threw that cat fit and fired, and or, arrested that bunch from Singapore.”

Duo thought for a few moments. “I bet that’s why Wufei is just marking time, training a replacement, my ass.” he snorted. “Quatre is really keeping things close to his vest.”

Heero shrugged, “He’ll tell us everything, when there’s something to tell. Let’s get ourselves out of this mess before we jump into another one.”

“But ...” Duo pouted dramatically. “I wanna get my hands on that Deathscythe clone again.”

“You will. Later. Whitewater mess now.” Heero eyed the group. “We send out Alice and Dan first. Then the kids. We go last. That way, if anyone gets into major trouble, we can rescue them.”

Duo accepted the change of subject without objection. “Ok. Sounds like a plan.”

By now Alice had finished her part of cleanup and was watching Jim and Kim burn the trash. She held a handful of packets of this and that. Handing them to Duo, she said, “You should keep these, you seem to know what you’re doing. We’ll be ready to go in about half an hour. Faster if we need to.”

Duo shook his head. “Don’t need to. We’re not going to push it if we don’t have to. Too much chance of having a disaster. We’ll take it easy.”

Heero just stood, waiting until everyone was gathered around the fire. “Ok, put out the fire and get ready.” He looked around. “Yeah, Heero and I are going to skip most of the camp chores. That’s because we’re going to be working to keep you all from killing yourselves. Alice, you and Dan go first in one of the canoes, Jim, Kim, Clark and Emmie, you go next in the raft. We’ll follow in the other canoe. Do not mess around. I do not want to have to drag all four of you out of whitewater. Have fun, but use common sense. We’ll leave as soon as we get all the packs tied down.”

Duo added, “If you need to pull out before lunch, signal. Lunch is going to be at marker ... um ... 141. So look for it.”

With that, they broke to get their gear into their assigned raft or canoe and get it tied down so it wouldn’t wash out. This didn’t take very long, so they were on their way in good time. Heero noted the time on his watch. It was 07:00, he was satisfied.

Duo was too. It looked like they weren’t going to have the problems they’d worried about. Now that Dan and Alice had gotten on board, the kids would fall in line. As long as neither of the boys tried to show off for the girls, or the girls for the boys, they had it made. Duo should have known better.

The first day went well, the water wasn’t that rough. Heero decided that they’d been dropped where they had to give them some class III water to warm up on. Duo agreed with him when they stopped for lunch. Heero pointed out to the whole group that the water got progressively rougher every day until, on day three, they were going to be heading into class four and five. There was class six, but it was sometimes called ‘Suicide Water’. Not for nothing either.

The pull out for lunch was just a narrow beach in a curve of the river where the water was calm enough that they didn’t have to fight to reach it. There was a ring of stones and some firewood. Alice used river water to make the MRE’s, then heated some in a collapsable kettle for coffee or tea. She also had hot chocolate and apple cider. She offered but said, “I really think we ought to save it for night. Sort of a treat for making it through the day.”

Heero finished his MRE and got out an energy bar. He knew that he and Duo burned up more calories than anyone would believe. Their MRE’s were even specially made just for them. He was happy to note that Alice made sure that they got meals from their own supplies. He and Duo had told Alice and Dan that they could get into their gear, if it was in way of camp chores.

Alice had caught Duo while Heero was checking the perimeter and suggested that she be allowed to do all the cooking, unless either he or Heero wanted to take a hand. Her simple explanation was, “Dan can’t cook, period. The girls, they’ll get distracted by the boys and that’ll be that. The boys can cook but same deal as with the girls. Man, I’ll be glad when all those hormones settle down. But, I really believe that it would be better if one of us three cooked.”

That was when Duo had explained about their meals and the need for them to stay on their high calorie diet. “We’ll need to eat our own, specially prepared meals. We burn calories at an amazing rate, and all the work we’ll be doing until we get to pick up ... well, I hate being hungry.”

Alice had patted his arm and reassured him, “I’ll see that you don’t. And, if you cook, I would really appreciate the help.”

So, Heero had gotten Duo, Alice and Dan together and they’d set up a complete schedule of chores. The cooks rotated, each one making all the meals for one day. The chores were split up between the rest of them, neither Duo nor Heero had thought to tell the others that one of them would walk the perimeter of the camp at least every two hours, just to make sure that there was nothing going on. Dan had happily done this, being very good at scheduling. The other’s had let him. Duo had just mumbled, “Hate scheduling, I always feel like I’ve forgotten something. Let him do it. He’s an executive, probably does it all the time.”

Heero had just grunted and gone on about his work.

While they were pulled out, Clark took it upon himself to check the raft for problems. He didn’t find any but did note a rough spot. He pointed it out to his brother and the girls. They decided not to worry about it. They’d just check it out once in a while.

Lunch was finished, the trash burned and the extras put away in good time. Duo got out his map and put it on a rock. Heero’s map was to be kept in a waterproof map bag, in his thigh pocket as a backup. “Now, here’s where we are.” Duo pointed. “Here’s the night camp. At least the tour company got supplies where they should be. The group that was supposed to be running this river was larger, so we’re really set for supplies. Thank space. We’ve got about four hours to get where we’re to spend the night, so let’s get going.”

They cast off and paddled back into the main current of the river. The rest of the day was fun. The rapids were just challenging enough to make them work, but not so rough as to make them really work. Heero and Duo were loafing. The rest were not.

Duo had to shout to be heard over the rush of the water. “Heero, we’re going to be in trouble if we hit any class six. The water’s rising. Not very fast but it is.” Duo paddled hard to take them around a large rock.

Heero dug his paddle in too, helping steer. He shouted back, “I know. This isn’t bad on us. But ... I’m not sure we should trust that we don’t get some class six. And I don’t want to think about going over BK or Husum.”

Duo paid attention to his course for a moment. The water was just rough enough that it was safer. Both of them were happy to see that Dan and Alice were just keeping their canoe pointed down stream, keeping the raft in sight.

When they got to the pull out, they were all soaked to the skin. Heero ordered, “Everyone get your tents set up, then change into dry clothing. This is one of the reasons some people come back sick. You’ve got to stay dry at night. If you want to go swimming, that’s on you, but get dry and stay dry after dark. And everyone does their own laundry. I do not want to see any of you dumping your filth on her, she’s got enough to do. If you don’t wash your stuff, you’ll wear dirty until you get around to it.”

Alice nodded to Heero. “I’ll be happy to give each of you a one time only lesson. I have a wash line in my gear. Dan will rig it on demand, but you have to have your stuff off it before breakfast. Before dew, if you’re smart.”

Duo laughed, “Yes, ma’am. There’s no reason to hang stuff to dry then let it had dew settle on it. Heero will be happy to call you out before then, I’m sure.”

Heero glance at him then allowed, “I’ll take your laundry down, but I’m just throwing it in the tent. I don’t do fluff and fold.”

There was some laughter over that.

Emmie announced, “I can do my own, thank you. Mom insisted that I know how to do hand wash. But ... Clark, you do your own. We’re not serious enough that I’m handling your dirty shorts. Yuck!”

Clark flushed but laughed. “Ok, ok. Mom will teach me. About time I learned anyway.”

Jim just eyed his girlfriend then shrugged. “Every man, or woman for himself.” He picked up a pair of shorts. “This is all I have that needs washing now. Tomorrow, I’ll have a shirt, another pair of shorts and some underthings.”

Alice eyed him for a moment. “Up to you. You want to wind up wearing the cleanest dirty, that’s on you.”

“Moooommm.” Jim’s whine made Duo crack up. Jim eyed him as he clung to Heero’s shoulder to keep from falling down. He refrained from remark just grumbling loudly then stuffing the shorts into a net bag for tomorrow.

Alice barked, “Do not Mom me, young man. You’ll do your own laundry and, if you don’t, you’ll wear dirty.”

Dan felt he had to interject, “Although, with all the water, I really don’t think we’ll get too dirty.”

Kim shook her head at that. “You won’t believe how sweaty we’ll be, and a dunk in cold water, no soap, won’t get it out.”

Heero nodded. “She’s right. But there’s several bars of cold water, general purpose soap in the common supplies. Use it.”

Supper was ready in about thirty minutes, Alice took time to wash out her underthings and a pair of socks. The girls did the same.

Duo glanced at Heero then took their things down to the stream to wash. Heero would do wash the next time they needed it.

While Duo was doing that, Heero was starting the fire and carrying water for Alice. The two boys were pitching their tent and helping the girls pitch theirs. The flirting was so heavy that Dan felt it necessary to call them to order.

Alice watched with a bit of concern. Duo took it upon himself to relieve it. “Don’t worry. First sound of a zipper going down, Heero will be all over them like white on rice.”

She smiled. “That’s good. We don’t need any babies yet.”

“No, we don’t. How old are they?” Duo had found that, while he was good at figuring out how old adults were, anyone under about 18 was fairly hard.

“The oldest are both 16, the two younger ones; Clark is 14 and Emmie is just 15.” Alice cast a quick eye over the kids.

“Wow, they act so damn young.” Duo shook his head in wonder.

“And what, may I ask were you doing at that age? You ... seem so much older than your years. Surely, you did silly things when you were that age?” Alice was a grown woman but Duo felt suddenly, several years older than her.

“Um ... at 13 I started training to fly a gundam, at 15 Operation Meteor was just starting. By 18, I was running salvage out of a piece of junk ship and worrying about getting it repoed. It was, and Heero came and got me. By 19, we were bounty hunting together.” He peeked at her from under his bangs. “And we’re partners, in every sense of the word.”

Alice, who had no prejudice about their sexuality, like most people, just laughed. “Bounty hunting sounds so ... romantic.”

“Yeah, romantic. Some idiot who beat up his Mom, gets bail from Dad, jumps it and we spend three or four days in our SUV, chasing his ass all over Cali. It’s 80 per cent, sit and wait; 10 per cent, drive all over hell’s half acre; and 10 per cent pure adrenalin rush. Really fun ... so not.” Duo grimaced at the memory of hours spent in a too cold, or too hot, SUV; watching some door way or alley mouth.

“From the expression on your face. Not romantic at all. That’s too bad.” She smiled at him then stood up from her laundry. “Well, I just wish I could wring this out better. It might actually dry before dark.”

Duo just held out a hand. “Give. I’m not Heero, but I can wring it almost dry.”

Alice watched in amazement as Duo twisted the jeans, producing a stream of water from cloth that she was sure was as dry as it could be wrung. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Still got a grip like a gorilla. You should see Heero. He has to be careful on some captures so that he doesn’t break an arm or something.” Duo cheerfully handed her back her laundry and trotted off to hang his stuff on the line that Dan had already put up.

.

Supper was done and cleaned up after, everyone was just sitting around the fire waiting to be sleepy enough to go to bed. Then Jim and Kim whispered to each other then got up. “Um ... I need a bush. Jim is going with. Scare the bears away, that sort of thing.”

They scurried into the brush, Kim giggled a bit then Jim snickered. Dan started to get up, this was not good.

Heero just waived him back to his seat. “They think they’ve got us fooled.” His grin was not nice. “We’ll see. Duo’s not back from his potty break yet.”

Alice put a hand on Dan’s arm. “Duo said something about hearing a zipper. Wait.”

Heero cocked his head a bit. He could hear Duo whistling. The whistle was not coming from where Duo was. Heero had no idea how he did it, but Duo could throw his whistle somewhat like a ventriloquist.

Suddenly, there was a loud growl, then a scream. Kim came running into the clearing with Jim right on her heels. Duo dropped out of a tree a second later. “And let that be a lesson to you. Shinigami isn’t the only bad thing out there.”

Heero just slowly fell over sideways, snickering like a loon.

Duo flopped down beside him, pulled Heero’s head into his lap and said, flat and dangerous. “If I ain’t gettin’ any, you ain’t gettin’ any. Got me?”

Alice added her opinion, in what Duo later called, Mom voice. “I do not want any hanky-panky between you four. We’ve got a lot of things to worry about, someone getting pregnant should not be one of them.”

Heero just snarled, “If I have to drag two of you out of the woods, half dressed, you’ll regret it.”

Jim got pissed and demanded, “And I suppose you two wouldn’t do the same, if you had a pretty girl out here?”

Duo’s owl eyed look made them stare back.

Heero glanced at Alice then Dan. Dan shrugged then told them, “You’re not as worldly wise as you think you are. They’re lovers, girls never entered the picture. Now, stay out of the woods and out of trouble. I mean it.”

Clark just punched his brother on the shoulder, snarling. “Now you’ve done it. We’ll have one of them breathing down our necks every second.”

Duo finally got his brain back on track, which meant he fell over backward, laughing like a maniac. Heero managed to keep from copying him by holding his breath until he turned red. One laughing fit a day was his limit.

The rest of the short evening was spent staring into the fire, finally Dan announced that they’d all better get to bed. He excepted Duo and Heero as being old enough to know when they should get to bed.

The sound of zippers zipping tent flaps shut echoed off the water, proving Heero’s point.

Heero did rounds at midnight and four. Duo did them at two and was up again at six. They were well aware that each time they got up, Dan checked to see who was moving around.

Alice woke at six and started to get up but Duo scratched on the tent then whispered, “Go back to sleep. I’m cook today. I’ll call you about eight. The kids were up, whispering to each other for hours. They won’t want to get up for a while yet.”

Alice just rolled over with a grumbled, “Thanks.” and went back to sleep. Dan was truly awake, so he went ahead and got up.

Heero rolled over and determinedly went back to sleep. Duo had said that he needed to learn to stay in bed, he was working on it. He did have to admit that lazing around, once in a while, was nice.

So, while everyone else slept, Duo and Dan started the fire and heated water. The MRE breakfast choices were fairly easy to fix. All MRE’s are, actually, open pouch, take out condiments and anything you don’t want heated. Then, open heating tab, drop in bag, add water, close. After three to five minutes, hot food. And, due to constant work on the part of the manufacturers, it wasn’t bad at all. Heero said it was ‘common’ restaurant quality.

Dan watched as Duo got two meals out of their supplies then got four out of the gear they had.

“I know you’re on a special diet, but ... why? You look healthy enough to me. Does it have something to do with being a colonial?” Dan was actually interested. Now that he’d gotten off his ‘adult’ high horse, he realized that these two young men were their salvation so he was interested. Call it pragmatic selfishness.

“No, and yes. Heero and I were, and are, Gundam pilots. We’ve been tinkered with. Stronger, don’t get sick. That sort of thing. And we eat like two horses to keep up with our metabolism. Our MRE’s are compounded especially to provide us with enough calories. And our energy bars contain about 2000 calories each.” Duo stripped off the outer packaging from his two meals.

“I see. So ... how many normal meals would you have to eat to keep up with yourselves.”

“Three or four, depending on what it is.”

Dan blinked for a moment then said, “Well, that’s ... a lot.”

“Yeah.” He changed the subject to something more important to him. “How are we doing on wood.”

“Not bad. There’s enough for a good fire to cook by. But not much more. Do you think we ought to chop some?” Dan wasn’t happy with the thought of having to waste time on chopping fire wood.

“No, we’re not supposed to have to do that. We can, if we need to, but I’m not messing with it.”

They sat by the fire while the sun rose over the horizon then Duo went to wake Heero.

“Heero.”

“I’m up.” Heero crawled out of the tent and started breaking it down for storage. “Breakfast?”

“Soon. I’ll wait until everyone is up. I’ve got hot water for tea or coffee. I’d rather have tea, myself. That instant coffee is ... gross.”

Heero, who liked coffee, but only certain kinds, nodded. “It’s supposed to be ... real grounds. But it tastes instant. What’s up with that?”

Duo shrugged and started helping Heero fold the tent. It was easier to do with two people as it was a three man tent and just big enough that one person couldn’t grasp both ‘fold points’ at the same time.

He finally offered. “Maybe Alice will know. I’ll ask.”

Heero snarled as the tent popped out of his hands and expanded again. “Fucker.”

“Yeah, but it’s nice an’ big.” Duo wrestled with it again and they finally managed to twist the self poles into the infinity shape that allowed them to fold it into a small, round package. They then stuffed it into it’s zipper bag and the bag into the camp box.

“Well, that’s that.” Heero shoved the box into his backpack and tossed it into the canoe. “Tie that down, will you? I’ll make tea for us both. You cooking?”

“Yeah. So, why, pray tell am I putting away the gear.” Duo smirked at Heero and dangled the pack from one hand.

“Ok, ok. I’ll put it away.” Heero grinned at Duo and took the pack to tie it down properly.

He came back just as Duo finished prepping the MRE’s. “It’ll just be a few minutes now. Alice? Will you wake the girls. I don’t want an eye full of something I shouldn’t see.”

“Sure thing. Dan’ll wake the boys.” Alice went to unzip the flap and shake the girls awake.

It proved to be a bit more difficult to wake the boys. They just rolled over, pulled their sleeping bags over their heads and refused to wake up.

Heero dealt with that easily. He just grabbed a bag, dragged it out of the tent and unrolled it’s occupant. The screaming and bitching made the girls snicker, but the boys were up. And sort of dressed. They had gone to sleep in unbuttoned jeans and t-shirts.

They now struggled to wake up, button up and find their boots. After they managed this, and woke up a bit more, they took down their tent and stored it. Then the boys took down the other two tents, while the girls folded the sleeping bags into their storage and deflated the mats. Everything was done in just a few minutes.

Duo had to snicker up his sleeve a bit. The group had polarized in a way that he’d expected. The boys all looked to Dan, while the girls all looked to Alice. He was sure that the girls were perfectly capable of handling anything they needed to, while the boys were still at the age where they considered some things beneath their masculine dignity. Something he was looking forward to seeing punctured.

“Duo, food. Now.” Heero jerked his head. He was hungry and not in the mood to deal with any more teenaged foolishness.

Duo just snickered and got to work. He handed out the meals without comment and watched with some amusement as everyone seemed to want what someone else had. The trading and bitching was just camp standard. They’d both experienced it during the wars.

“Heero, remember that time that we got rations from that Korean group? Every single meal had Kim Chee in it. Hot? Man. Not even Chang could eat it. And no starch except rice. I thought Quatre was going to flip.”

“He likes rice, just not brown. But the brown is better for you and keeps better.” Heero poked into his meal with a tool commonly called an eatin’ tool. It was the oddest thing Alice had seen. A stainless steel spoon/fork hybrid that had no handle, just an elongated sideways sort of rectangle that was pierced with several holes that were hex shaped, a handy small socket set. There was also a bottle opener and one edge was ground down to work as a screwdriver. The things had been around since the 20th century, a war called Desert Storm.

Duo nodded, then elaborated, “He doesn’t like brown rice. Don’t know why.”

Alice explained, “I don’t know what country Mr Quatre is from; but, in some countries, eating brown rice is a sign of poverty. Even though it’s better for you. The bran, the brown part, has most of the vitamins in it. Like potatoes, the nutrition is in or just under the peel.”

Duo looked interested. “Oh, now I know. And it’s not Mr Quatre, it’s Mr Winner.”

The conversation drifted then, from the state of the river to the quality of the meal, and several things in between.

When they went to put the canoes into the water, Duo stopped Heero with a hand on his arm. “The river is higher.”

“I know. It’s raining up stream. This is so not good.” Heero eyed the rushing water with a worried eye.

“We need to step up the pace.” Duo turned to watch as the raft was put into the water. It bobbed easily but the water tugged at it in an impatient way.

Dan eyed the river too. “Alice, we need to move faster, the river is rising.”

“Doesn’t look like we’ve got much choice on speed. We’re going to have to buck the current to slow down.”

Heero overheard them and agreed. “You’re right. So be very careful. This is looking more and more like a class five river every hour. We may wind up going over land.”

Duo snarled. “We don’t have enough supplies. Could we do an air life or life hook?”

“No. You need training for that, civilians don’t have it.” Heero couldn’t see any of the group sitting on the ground, waiting to be snatched into the air via air lift hook. Or managing to get into a hovering helicopter. And there was no place to land within three or four days hike away from the river. This whole area was completely undeveloped.

Duo sighed, “Charlie Foxtrot on the horizon.”

Heero just returned, “Oh, yeah.”

Alice looked at Dan and mouthed ‘Charlie Foxtrot?’ Dan shrugged, he didn’t know what it meant either.

“Assume the Marine position.” Duo headed for the canoe they were using and started tying down their gear.

“Excuse me, Mr Yuy. But what is the Marine position and what is Charlie Foxtrot.”

Heero eyed Dan then Alice. “Marine position is bent over. Another way to say BOHICA. Charlie Foxtrot is beyond TARFUN which is ten times SNAFU.”

Dan blinked. “Is that some sort of code?”

Heero shook his head, “Sorry, forgot that you’re basic civilians. BOHICA is bend over, here it comes again. Charlie Foxtrot is polite for cluster fuck. TARFUN things are really fucked up now, SNAFU situation normal, all fucked up. And my especial favorite. Not.”

Alice winced. “Such language. But ... this is normal for you?”

Heero nodded. “Yeah. We’re used to being so deep in the shit that light is a dream we had. Except ... we’re not getting shot at. That river really worries me.” He realized that Duo was holding the canoe for him. “We better get boots down and moving.”

Dan and Alice launched quickly and paddled out of the way of the raft. Heero and Duo held up until the kids and raft were in the middle of the current then followed. They both had bad feelings about this day.

They traveled for about an hour then Duo asked, out of the blue, “Heero, do you think these canoes would carry three and gear?”

Heero gave that some consideration, “Probably, especially if the gear was halved.”

“Oh, ok, that’s good.” Duo paddled silently, watching the river.

They pulled out for lunch which Duo made quickly. Dan waited until the group settled to eat then said, “I think we need to think about a backup plan. That river is getting very high and really fast.”

Duo glanced at Heero. Heero just cleared his throat. “Yeah, about that. There isn’t one. We’re just going to have to tough it out. Unless you can think of something.”

“We could hike out?” Alice asked more than said.

Heero shook his head. “Duo and I could hike out. The terrain is way too rough for you six.”

Clark objected, “You sure? We’re all pretty experienced.”

“Ever do any rock climbing?”

“No.” Clark sighed. “Terrain’s that bad?”

Duo nodded. “Yeah, it’s that bad. We don’t have any equipment either. And the weather is still socked in. Wufei called last night.”

That had not been a good call. Wufei was stressed and not telling them something. Heero had put all the pressure on him that he could manage over a phone. Wufei said he just had some things to work out. He implied that Une was not part of the problem.

Heero wondered, not for the first time, exactly how someone had pressured Wufei to return to Preventers when he hadn’t wanted to. He shrugged that worry away, for now. He had every intention of finding out. He’d turn Duo loose on him, if he had to. He grumbled and returned his attention to the river.

The next two days were spent in much the same way. Get up, eat breakfast, battle the river, eat lunch, battle the river, eat supper, sleep. Repeat. Shooting rapids was fun, the pull outs were interesting. Supper included stories all around, Duo insisted. When Alice and Dan found out that neither one of them had had an actual childhood, they told stories about simple, family things which both Duo and Heero found fascinating.

Clark continued to keep an eye on the rough patch on the raft. He never thought to tell anyone else about it. He was confident that he and Jim had it well in hand. But four days of rough water were taking their tole on the fabric of the raft. The rubberized skin hadn’t changed much in centuries, every improvement was to materials, rather than construction. The skin was made of canvass impregnated with rubber, each seam carefully heat sealed, covered back and front then sealed again. The same materials and treatments were used in high end construction space suits, but they were still vulnerable to wear and tear. In this case, the seams were good but that rough patch was the beginning of a rupture.

The rupture made itself known on the afternoon of the fifth day. They entered the first set of rapids, which were class four, unless the water was up. In this case, the water was up enough to make them class six, more than the raft was capable of now.

Heero eyed the mess then turned to Duo and said, “We’re in a world of hurt. That raft is good up to class four; but it’s barely capable of class five. It’s not deep enough. That rise has made the rest of the river class six. So.” He rubbed his face. “Now what?”

Duo frowned at the map. “Call Wufei? Maybe he has an idea?”

Heero nodded. “I hope so. This is getting way too dangerous.”

The odd hissing sound attracted everyone’s attention. “What?”

Jim groaned. “Oh, man. The raft.”

Clark shook his head. “This is bad.”

Emmie and Kim had managed to keep their head’s down, keep working, and keep the ‘girly giggling’ to a minimum. Now they looked at each other. this was not going to be good, no matter how you looked at it.

Heero went to examine the raft. Jim pointed out the place, which was now bulging in a very unpleasant way and hissing like a snake.

“Shit.” Jim poked at the bulge. “That’s really soft. I’m not sure where the leak is but ... it’s really bad.”

Heero nodded. “You’re right. Why didn’t you tell someone about this?” His tone of voice wasn’t accusatory, he just wondered.

“Well, it was just a rough spot. Clark and I have been keeping an eye on it. But ... there’s no repair kit. We looked for one right off.” Jim bit his lip. He knew that they were in trouble, just not how much.

“Well, you did the best you could. Although, I do wish you had told someone.” Heero motioned Duo over. “We would have planned a bit differently.”

“Oh. I just thought ... you all have so much to worry about, it was just one more thing no one could do anything about. I’m sorry.” Clark nodded at Jim’s logic.

Duo smiled gently. “Ok, guy’s, relax. You’re not in trouble. Just ... now what?” He gave the sadly collapsing raft a poke with a toe. “Not good. And ... I rechecked. He’s right. No repair kit. Probably in the guide’s gear.”

This was a constant source of irritation to both Duo and Heero. They had been scheduled for a loafing trip down an easy river without a guide. They were now on a hard trip down a rain swollen river, still without a guide, but in need of all the things a guide would have brought in his gear. As Duo said, “It’s SNAFU, combined with FUBAR, covered with Cluster Fuck sauce.”

Dan, after examining the raft, shook his head. “This isn’t going to work out. How are we all going to get down that river?”

Duo, after consulting with Wufei on the phone, announced, “We’re not. Each canoe will carry about ...” he consulted his text “... twelve hundred pounds, man and gear. So that puts us in a quandary. We need to figure out what to leave behind ... or who.” He gave Heero a significant look. “So, ladies, honesty counts. How much do you weigh?”

After some hemming and hawing, all the ladies gave their weight. Dan confessed to 240, which was true. Duo did the math in his head, he was perfectly capable of that as he regularly did much more complicated loading figures for space ships, just for the fun of it. He’d even told Quatre on one occasion that the fuel load for his yacht was wrong. A check of the contents of several cargo holds proved him right.

Duo ran the figures twice. “Ok. Here’s the problem. We’re going to have to put three people in a canoe built for two. That limits the load more than you’d think. Space, rather than weight is the problem. You just have to have certain things out here. Tents and bags, for one. Food, and a lot more than you realize. We’re lucky that none of you weigh in heavy.”

Alice started to say something, closed her mouth, then looked at her husband. Dan had an equally unhappy expression on his face.

Emmie realized what was planned and said, flatly, “No! No way. Not gonna happen. We do not leave anyone behind. No.”

Heero smiled at her. “You’re not leaving us behind, we’re sending you on ahead.”

Kim let her feelings be known. “My Dad’s a Marine. No one left behind, ever. He’ll be so pissed at me. No.”

Jim and Clark were just a vocal about this idea. Jim summed it up for both brothers. “You might be all hot Gundam pilots and BAMF, but we’re not the sort to leave you high and dry. Tell ‘em, Dad.”

Dan sighed. “We don’t want to do this. Isn’t there any alternative?”

Heero took over. “We have six people, you four, and us. The canoes are meant to carry two, the raft four. You do the math. Each canoe can carry three, if you leave some gear behind. We’ll have to figure out what to leave behind, but anything you leave, Duo and I will be able to use. Alice?”

Alice was crying softly, but managed to reply, “I did the math. Dan and the girls in one canoe and the boys and I in another, leave us a gear load of about ...”

Duo broke in, “A bit over six hundred pounds. And I’d like to keep it down to four. The higher in the water you’re riding, the less chance of being swamped in rapids.”

Dan put his arm around Alice while both boys embraced their girlfriends. None of them could believe what Heero and Duo were suggesting. How were they to leave two young men out here in the middle of nowhere?

Duo, reading their thoughts, just smiled cheerily. “Hey! Ease up. This is nothing, we told you about trekking through Canada? Right? And we’re on Earth, so we don’t have to worry about running out of oxy. Easy stuff here.”

No one seemed reassured but they finally agreed, after checking Duo’s math, twice, themselves, that there didn’t seem to be any other way.

Alice, Emmie and Kim cried, Jim and Clark swore. Dan just stood, looking as miserable as a man could. Heero wanted to do something, but he wasn’t sure what. Duo finally pulled him over to the pile of gear and told him, “You can’t help them. They have to work through this for themselves. We better start sorting gear.”

So Heero and Duo sorted gear while the rest of the group got themselves together again.

They wound up with three piles of gear, one for the main group, everything they would absolutely have to have to make it down river, another for Heero and Duo and a third that was gear that wasn’t absolutely essential to either group. This, they decided would be divided up by who could carry it.

Alice, ever the voice of reason, declared that Heero and Duo should have first choice.

They didn’t argue, they just took everything they were sure the other group wouldn’t need. They even found some rope; thin, survival stuff but still rope. They took all their special food, and as much of the other as they thought safe. They kept their camp box and all it’s contents and were pleased to find that Dan insisted that they keep the only fire starter. There were also matches, Dan admitted that none of them knew how to start a fire with the starter.

After divvying up the equipment, they were happy to see that there was only a small pile of stuff that none of them really wanted to mess with. This they put in a storage box, just like the one’s they’d found at every pull out. They’d all been empty, or nearly so. Duo had told Wufei, who’d asked a few pointed questions and found that the boxes were supposed to contain emergency supplies. No one at the tour company knew why they didn’t, they were ‘looking into it’. Wufei had ranted about idiots, inefficiency and criminal negligence. Duo had agreed, told Wufei to turn Preventer and WEI lawyers loose on it and forget it. He agreed.

Duo took the opportunity to ask, “Wufei, I really need to know. What the fuck ...”

Wufei interrupted, “Not now, Maxwell. Suffice it to say, someone, not Une, put some pressure on me. Now, I find that they ... over stepped themselves by a great margin. I asked Une what I had done to make her do what she did. She denied any knowledge of ... my circumstances. I’ve officially resigned, again. This time it’ll stick. Quatre want’s me to come off planet and help him with a few things. I’m going.”

Duo snickered. “Une’s got her knickers in a twist, right?”

“Exactly. She turned a very alarming shade of purple when I told her that ... someone ... had threatened Quatre, and your licenses, to keep me in line. She said that all three of us have life time certifications from Preventers. No revocation possible.” Hearing Duo’s hiss he cut off a rant. “And don’t lose your mind. I’ll explain everything to you face-to-face. Calm down.”

Duo hissed one more time then announced, “Ok, but I get first shot at whoever it was.”

Wufei returned to the problem at hand. “Well, enough of that. What are we going to do?”

Heero took the phone from Duo. “Duo and I are going to hike out. The Landers party is going to go on down the river. Without the raft, it should take three to five days. I just hope they’re up to it. But there’s no chance at all if we overload the canoes and Duo and I are the only one’s equipped, mentally or physically, to hike in this terrain. Ideas?”

Wufei offered, “Well, once the cloud cover is gone, we can air drop you anything you need. I’m more concerned about the Landers group than you two.”

Duo’s sarcastic, “Well. I like that.” made him snort.

Heero bopped Duo on the shoulder. “Shut it, you. I’m worried about them capsizing in the first really rough water. Don’t fancy getting to civilization and finding that someone drowned.”

Wufei sighed. “I don’t either. But what can we do? We can’t get to you. The cloud cover over both Seattle and Portland is so thick that we can’t get anything off the ground. When we do, we’ll pick you up. Do you want to stay there, or try to hike out?”

Heero snorted his opinion of staying. “We came up here for a vacation. Hiking is a vacation. We even found some rope.”

Wufei refrained from voicing any more concerns and just wished them luck. They hung up after saying their goodbyes.

Both Dan and Alice had looked over the pile of gear that Heero and Duo were going to take with them, Dan voiced their misgivings. “Are you sure you can carry all that? That’s a hell of a load.”

Duo laughed softly. “Biologically enhanced. Heero could carry all of it, except for the difficulty of the bulk of it. I can carry ... probably two thirds. Stop worrying.”

Alice announced, “I’ll worry if I want. Now, we know that we have to keep going, but ... Kim’s phone will work all the way down the river. It’s one of those new WEI sat phones.”

Kim cleared her throat. “I called my dad while you were talking to your friends. Um ... he said not to worry about leaving you behind. He said to tell you that Master Gunnery Sargent Sanders said, ‘Semper Fi.’ ”

Heero replied, “Ooo-rah.” causing the rest of the group, except for Duo, to give him a rather odd look.

Duo wondered, “Where do you know the Master Gunny from?”

“Sanders. I never thought of it until just now. You remember that tall drink of water that used to make the good hooch in Africa?”

Duo nodded, brightening, “Yeah, I do. Always told us that he didn’t want any of us any where near his daughter. Well, wadayaknow.”

Heero grinned at Kim. “Your Dad’s a great guy. Listen to him.”

Kim nodded back. “Still don’t like it, but Daddy said. So, it must be ok. I think. And my Dad was making Hooch? He’s so going to hear about that.” She grinned in teenaged satisfaction at finding out something ‘good’ about her Dad

After a bit more fiddling around, they decided to spend the rest of the day there and take off in the morning. Alice said that she was making breakfast, no matter who’s turn it was. No one argued with what Heero called ‘Mom face’.

.

Heero got everyone up with the sun. They took their time about packing up, making sure that everyone had what they were supposed to. Both Kim and Emmie watched them carefully.

Jim and Clark noticed but neither one of them said anything much. Jim patted Kim on the shoulder and whispered, “They’ll be ok. Really.”

“I know, Daddy said they’re tougher than old boots, but ... it just feels wrong.” Kim hugged Jim for a moment.

The same thing was going on between the other two couples. Alice was most distressed, she flatly told Dan. “This is it. I don’t like camping at the best of times and I’ve only done it because I know you love it. But, no more. You and the boys can go anytime you want, I’m staying home.” She shrugged in an irritable way that Dan knew meant she was unhappy.

“I’m sorry. I always thought that it was just a matter of time before you learned to love it as much as I do. But ... you’re right, no more. The boys and I can rough it alone from now on.” He patted her shoulder. “And I know why you’re in such a snit. I would be too, if I wasn’t just so pissed. This is ... wrong. We shouldn’t have to leave them behind.”

Heero’s sharp ears heard all this. He just called them all over and announced, “Ok. Stop it. We’ll be fine. We’re Gundam pilots and we can handle this. We both appreciate it that you don’t want to leave us, but ... there’s no other way. Now. We’ve all got phones. Duo’s phone, and mine, will cut through the cloud cover easily. We’ll call our friend, Chang Wufei, he’ll call on to you. We’ll keep in touch, so you’ll know we’re ok. Now. We need to get going. Pack it all up.”

So they packed, and both bounty hunters wound up being hugged by all three ladies, slapped on the back by Dan and the boys. They narrowly avoided being hugged by Dan. Both Jim and Clark rolled their eyes at that and just offered their hands to shake.

The formalities over, Heero and Duo helped them launch their canoes and watched them out of sight. Duo opined, “Well, they’ll make it, I think. They’re better than they think they are.”

Heero nodded. “Four days of observation convince me that they’re going to be fine. Now ...”

“Yeah, lets load up and get ta sloggin’” Duo went to finish sorting out his pack.

When they were done, they had about ninety pounds of gear each. Mostly food, water and first aid. The camp box was negligible in weight but a necessity. They could live off the land if they needed to but it would slow their progress considerably. And, believe it or not, fresh water might become a concern. The fact was, forest didn’t usually have that many sources of fresh water. Many animals traveled miles every day from grazing ground to water and back. This was the reason so many backpacks, rucksacks and hiking packs had built in water containers of one form or another.

The packs that Duo and Heero were carrying had built in hydration bladders that could hold two gallons. And they had a device which could purify almost any liquid that claimed to be water. The only problem would be finding a source.

“I’ll fill the water bladders. We have any purification tablets?” Heero unzipped the bladders from the packs.

“Yeah. Alice insisted that we take most of them. She said that they could boil water, we can’t.” Duo fished a package of tablets out of the pile of gear and tossed it to Heero.

Heero snatched it out of the air with practiced ease. He took out two and stuffed the rest in to a front pocket of his pack.

He filled the bladders, dropped in a tablet and shook them. “We done?”

“Done. Give me that.” Duo took the bladder, zipped it back on his pack and threaded the tube and mouth piece through their holders then clipped the mouth piece into its holder on one shoulder strap.

A quick look around assured them that they hadn’t left anything that they wanted behind.

Heero checked his map, the other had gone with the river group, against data from his phone. He rubbed his forehead and sighed, “What did we say about never going anywhere without a computer?”

“Never, ever.” Duo shouldered his pack.

“So ... why don’t I have my PC with me?” Heero mirrored Duo.

“Because this is supposed to be a vacation in which we wanted to be just out of touch enough that no one wanted us to do a pick up.” Duo fiddled with buckles and straps, getting comfortable. “Need a hand?”

Heero got his pack on then put the map and his phone in a pocket on the belly band. “No, just getting things situated.” He looked at the compass built into his watch and pointed. “That way. I think our best bet is to find what’s left of old 141. The surface is mostly broken into gravel but it’s still going to be smoother.”

Duo gave Heero a skeptical glower. “Ya, ok. So, what’s between us and that?”

“No idea. The map isn’t topographical out that far. Not much detail at all and my phone doesn’t have the resolution. We’ll just have to wing it. Might be a bit of rock climbing in our future.” Heero led off, muttering direly about resolution, detail and not having his PC.

Duo followed, grinning at Heero’s back. He muttered,”Trust us to get into a mess and need the one thing we don’t have. Oh, well. We’ll manage.”

Heero called over his shoulder, “Of course we will, we always do. But, the second we reach civilization, or get picked up. I’m calling Quatre. We’re holing up on his yacht for the foreseeable future.”

Duo grinned. That meant that Quatre would coddle them into oblivion. Not a bad thing at all.

Heero led and Duo followed, for two hours, then they changed places. They didn’t hike in silence, no matter what anyone might think. The lead person always broke the way, snapping off dangerous twigs and telling his companion about stumbling blocks in the path. It was more tiring than you might think so they changed places regularly.

As he passed Heero, Duo asked, “How long are we marching?” He accepted the map Heero handed him and looked it over.

“As long as we can see, I guess. If we march for six to eight hours, we can get to ... it’s unnamed on the map, but township number 36394, in about four days. There’s nothing much there, as far as I can find out. Just a gas station and post office. But we can get transport from there out.” Heero checked the GPS on his phone against Duo’s. They were synced so they went on.

As they walked, Duo chattered. Heero found it strangely comforting.

“Watch out, round rocks. I’d love a cheeseburger right now. Not one of those Micky D’s or King’s, though. Remember that little place we stopped at in ... Nebraska?”

Heero grunted, “Ya.” as he stepped over the rocks.

“It was hand patted, just the size of the bun. No excess meat sticking out or bun either. And the cheese was just melty enough. The onions were so sweet, I wonder if they soaked them in sugar water? And the lettuce was perfect, none of that garnish shit, real salad lettuce, shredded just right. And pickles. No mayo. Who the hell puts mayo on meat?”

Heero smirked at that. “Spacers. To hide the fact that it’s either slightly spoiled or that soy/meat combo that’s just nasty.”

“Right in one. And ketchup belongs on fries, not burgers ... or meatloaf. I bet they put ketchup on meatloaf for the same reason spacers put mayo on burgers. Duck.”

Heero ducked under the branch that was just high enough to hit him in the face and too thick to snap off easily. “Hn.” He glanced at his watch. “Next stopping place ... lunch?”

“Ok, it’s almost time to trade. I’ll go until we stop to eat then we’ll switch.” Duo eyed the narrow stream for a moment. “Hydration bladder is nearly empty. And my bladder is full. Stop for an empty and refill?”

“Good. I gotta go too.”

They stopped there long enough to relieve themselves in the bushes and refill their water. Additional purification tabs were dropped into the bladders, despite the fact that they had a definite taste.

Heero remarked on this when Duo grumbled, “I really don’t want a case of the runs. I’ll put up with the iodine taste.”

“Me too, but I still wish they’d come up with something that tastes better, or not at all.” Duo reshouldered his pack. “Ow! I’m getting a hot spot. We got any fleece?”

Heero nodded, “In the medical. Can it wait, or should I dig it out now?”

Duo jounced his pack a bit. “It can wait.”

They walked for another half hour, stopping in a wide clearing on the deer path they were following.

Heero dumped his pack and immediately started searching for the med kit. It was right where he expected it to be, it wouldn’t dare not to be. He fished it out, opened it and found the fleece. Contrary to its name, fleece didn’t come off sheep, not this sort, at least. This fleece was a sticky backed woven substitute, twice as absorbent, antibacterial and easy to cut. Heero opened the six inch wide, nine foot long roll and cut off a square. He handed it to Duo, asking, “Need more?”

Duo opened his shirt, pulled up his henley and stuck the square on his shoulder on the area between his neck and shoulder where the pack strap pressed into the muscle. “Don’t think so. This seems to be big enough. Thanks.”

They settled to eat, fixing their meal while playing a game called ‘Anywhere But Here.’ in which one person described where they’d rather be and the other tried to guess where it was. The fewer clues needed to guess, the more points gained. The person with the most points in three rounds won.

After the second round, in which Heero took six guesses, Duo asked, “And what is the prize, anyway?”

Heero thought about that. “The loser buys the winner their favorite meal. Or gets the Mauganacs to make it. Which ever.” He grinned.

Duo exclaimed, without heat, “Cheat! You know darn good and well that Ali will do anything for you.” he poked at his meal for a moment then said, sourly, “Ground beef stroganoff. Yum.”

Heero eyed his, “You want mine. I got ... um ... mystery meat, in pseudo soy-beef gravy, with ... dehydrated, reconstituted potato substitute and ... something green. Either mushy peas or spinach. Not sure.”

“These things are supposed to be good.” Duo sighed and started eating.

“Well, most of them are at least as good as a meal in a standard cafeteria.” Heero started eating too.

“And most of them are. But the failures are ... spectacular, to say the least.” Duo knew that most of their meals were experimental, from WEI. They got a survey sheet about once every two months. This particular batch of meals was going to get very mixed reviews.

“I do like that oriental vegetable stir fry thing. The rice is even fairly good.” Heero managed to choke down the last of his meal. “But this qualifies as calories and not much more. I get another and I’m tossing it. Seriously.”

“Don’t blame you. I’m tossing the stroganoff, it’s ... tasteless, gluey and really just ... not good.”

Heero just dug out all the meals. “I’m not carrying anything I’m not going to eat. Parts of both meals are acceptable and there’s the condiments and comfort pac. Let’s separate out what we’ll use and what we won’t.”

“Ok, anything that lightens the load is good.”

It took them about an hour to open all the stroganoff and, what Heero called dog food, and toss out what they knew they wouldn’t eat. Between what they kept from both packs they had a full meal, and they only tossed twelve entrees. That meant they had six acceptable meals, without entree, but they didn’t care, it lightened their load by about three pounds each. Not a bad exchange.

Duo’s quick inventory brought the information that they had full meals for two weeks, plus energy bars and drink. They also had all the trail mix and snacks. Duo tugged at his braid and said, “Alice, you little sneak.”

“Remind me to thank her tonight.” Heero shouldered his pack. “Let’s go.” He lead off, checking compass and phone to make sure he was headed in the right direction.

They walked easily for the rest of the afternoon, stopping near dusk as they found a good camping site. They used the last hour or so of sunlight to gather fire wood and set up camp.

A quick phone call got them the information that Seattle was clearing, while Portland was socked in still. The river party was fine, the river rough enough that they weren’t happy but could handle it. Quatre was trying to get them more supplies but even his choppers couldn’t navigate.

Heero laughed and told him, “No more of that mystery meat, or stroganoff. Both are barely dog food. But we could use some chocolate and more coffee. Real coffee, not that ground/instant mix. It’s neither flesh nor fowl nor good red meat. Rather drink boiled. Or tea.”

“Ok, sorry. I knew that stuff wouldn’t pass muster but the experts insisted.” Quatre’s merry laugh made both men smile. “And, when you get back, you’re coming up with me.”

Duo just cheered loudly.

Heero agreed without argument. “Ok, sounds good. With a personal secretary to screen all calls. All calls. We’re not going on a pick up for a while. Let the second string carry the load. And see what is really up with Wufei. Someone put pressure on him and I don’t like it. Threatened us somehow.”

Quatre already had that information, “Une’s on the warpath. Seems someone in one of the more secretive departments decided that his skills were needed and also decided that he wasn’t cooperative enough. They threatened to ruin me, get your bounty hunting licenses suspended or revoked and several other improbable things. I do wish Wufei was a bit more worldly.” the audible sigh expressed Quatre’s feelings. “There’s no way anyone could ruin me, personally, or in the person of WEI. They might get your licenses revoked, but that’s only for the state of California. The mandate from Preventers can only be revoked by Une herself. And there’s also the fact that you have enough money that you could become hangers on to my retinue without worry.”

Duo snorted, “As if you’d let us pay for anything, anyway.”

Heero just laughed. “Poor Wufei. Take care of him. And tell him, from me, that he’s an idiot.”

Quatre snickered, “I ate his ass out. He’s still smoking. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Heero negated that. “Don’t. I keep my phone turned off, except for navigational functions to conserve the battery. I’ve got the solar charger, but it’s no good, too much cloud cover. And I don’t fancy having to use a crank charger, too much work. I’ll call you at 1900.”

“Ok. That’ll do.” Quatre hung up after a cheery goodbye.

Heero added some wood to the fire. “You want to keep that going all night?”

Duo thought for a moment. “No, the chances of a bear or wolf deciding to check us out are slim and nil. We’ll let it burn down then bank it. Coals for morning start up, hopefully.”

“Ok. We’ve got enough wood for hot water for drinks. Want to fix some cocoa now?” Heero gave Duo a hopeful look.

He loved cocoa but he wouldn’t fix it just for himself. Duo couldn’t figure out why and Heero’s only answer was, “Just doesn’t feel right.” Duo often cursed the ‘mad five’ for messing up all of them.

Heero, seeing the rather glassy look in Duo’s eyes, reached over to pat him on the leg. “Functional is good enough. Stop.”

“Ok. But ... I’d still like to know what the hell they were thinking.” Duo had given up on understanding the doctors long ago, but he still wondered.

“Probably that we wouldn’t survive the conflict. So, it didn’t make any difference how messed up we were. I really think J didn’t expect me to show, but he’d set the sleeper so he waited. He’s surely dead by now. He looked like total crap, last I saw of him.”

“Well ... ok, then. But ... the best revenge is living well. Right?” Duo handed Heero the packets of mix. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Heero shook them down, holding the top and flapping them to settle the contents to the bottom of the pack. “Is there any extra creamer?” Duo, well aware of the way Heero made cocoa, handed him several. “Marshmallows?”

“Nope, sorry.”

“Oh, well.” Heero mixed the cocoa in the cups and handed one to Duo. “Here you go.”

They sat in companionable silence, sipping their drinks and watching the stars peek in and out of the clouds.

“Looks like we might get a clear day tomorrow. Quatre will probably find us via chopper and pick us up.”

Heero was to be sadly disappointed, the morning dawned bleak and dreary. It rained intermittently while they broke camp and had breakfast. Heero’s only comment was, “Well, fucking shit.”

They slogged through dripping trees and muddy deer trails all day. Heero slipped and fell, coating his butt and back thighs with mud. Duo fell next, rolling over to get up got his chest and one leg wet.

Noon saw them dog tired and wet through. “How about we hole up for the rest of the day. Both our phones can act as readers. If we crank charge them now, they’ll be good for the rest of the week, even with constant use. We can listen to music and read.”

Duo groaned as he dropped his pack beside Heero’s. “Sounds like a plan to me. I’m wet through and muddy. So are you. I suggest we hang our muddy clothes on a tree and let the rain rinse off the worst of the mud. There’s a stream just up ahead, we can wash them out there and just hang them off our packs.”

“Ok. Let’s get the tent. Glad we’ve got that, at least.” Heero dumped his pack too and dug in for the tent.

He pitched the tent by himself as Duo went for wood. He alternated stripping off his clothing with staking down the tent.

Duo returned in time to see Heero, clad in nothing but underwear, finish the last stake down by ramming the stake into the ground with his bare hands. “Well, very nice view at any rate.”

Heero turned to grin at him. “Hurry up before it starts raining again.” He waved a hand at his clothing, hung muddy side up, on a nearby bush.

Duo obediently stripped off his muddy clothing and picked a bush. He spread his things across the bush then took the opportunity to towel his braid. Another of the things they had in abundance were backpacking towels. These microfiber, super absorbent towels were so thin that you wouldn’t believe they could absorb more than a few drops of water, but they sucked up liquids like a kid with a soda. They absorbed more than ten times their weight in water and held it without dripping. After drying his hair and body, Duo handed the towels to Heero, who did the same then wrung the towels out.

They scrambled a bit to get into the tent as it had started raining again.

Duo sat in the open flap of the tent and grumbled, “Well, I’m glad we had an entry fly. At least we can leave the door open and not have it raining in.”

Heero, seated in the middled of the tent, cranking his phone, agreed. “Yeah, and it’s not pouring down. But that persistent drizzle is ... cold, to say the least. I swear, I’m not going on vacation on Earth again. One of those Holiday Stations for me.”

Duo nodded, his braid swishing against the tent. “Yeah, anything you want to do. Surf? It’s up on level fourteen. Swim, same place. Ski? That’s on level twenty. Hang glide? Level ...”

Heero sighed, “Duo, will you shut up? It’s bad enough without you enumerating all the pleasures we’re missing.” He smiled gently to take the sting out of his demand.

Duo smiled back. “Sorry. You know that Holiday Stations used to be called Holiday Inn? Wonder why?”

“No idea. Ask Quatre, he owns the whole company. And DQ. What was that, before it was just initials?” Heero knew one way to entertain Duo was with Earth trivia. He was fascinated with it.

Duo shook his head, “Don’t know. But they have the best soft serve ice-cream, ever.”

Heero finished cranking his phone and detached the crank from the seat. “Here you go.” he handed to crank to Duo, who stuck it into the seat in his own phone and began cranking. They’d only brought one crank because it was one of the heaviest bits of gear they’d brought.

Cranking the phones wasn’t physically taxing, they only took one revolution every second to do a good job. It just took a fair amount of time and was mind numbingly boring. Duo cranked and chattered, entertaining himself and Heero with what Trowa called ‘stream of consciousness babble’.

When Duo was done, they set up one phone to play music from the embedded memory chip. Heero’s was full of audio books but Duo’s was full of music, transferred over from his precious music chips.

The meals were good this time, Vegetable Stir Fry for Heero and chicken gumbo for Duo. Both meals were declared to be excellent. Then they policed the tent and settled down to read, Duo got to pick the music from his phone. Heero didn’t care, Duo did. The little external speaker Duo used was about the size of a lipstick but powerful enough to fill the tent with pleasant jazz.

Heero wriggled a bit, getting comfortable on the inflatable pillow. “You reading that new navigational article?”

Duo pursed his lips in disgust. “I’ve forgotten more than that idiot knows and knew everything he knows by the time I was twelve. And I got it right.”

“You ought to write a rebuttal.” Heero knew that Duo had thought about it.

“I thought about doing exactly that. I would ... but I don’t have a computer. And I’m not about to try to write anything more than a long text on my phone.”

Heero just sighed, “Pen and paper. We have it, use it.”

Duo snickered at himself. “Well, electronic me.” He accepted the hand bound book that Quatre had given him to use as a vacation journal. He just hadn’t had the heart to leave it behind. Now, he was going to use it to write a rebuttal to some idiot’s idea of a new way to navigate. A way that spacers had tried and found wanting over a hundred years ago. A rebuttal with details, anecdotes, tons of equations and some bad language.

Duo wrote for a while then offered into the musical silence, “This is nice.” Heero nodded. “Really. Nice music. And I really like this paper and pen deal. I don’t remember when I’ve taken time to just think and write. I’m always in such a hurry to get it down, go on to the next thing. Wonder where Quatre gets these books.”

“Binds ‘em himself. Hobby. That huge Koran that’s on display in the Muslim center in Chicago Metro Museum? He bound it. I think he did the calligraphy too.”

Duo was properly impressed. “Really? Quite the job.” He returned to his own writing.

They finally just dropped off where they were, Duo flat on his stomach with his cheek next to the journal, Heero leaning against the pillow with his phone on his chest. Duo’s phone played soft jazz.

.

Duo woke first, for once. “Heero, wake up. Time to get goin’.”

“I’m awake. Sort of.” Heero stretched and yawned, displaying white teeth.

“Yeah, I’ll start the fire. Dig out a couple of breakfasts and an energy bar for me. You might ought to have one too.” Duo pushed one pack in Heero’s direction. “I’m glad we decided on a three man tent for the two of us.”

“Me too. It’s nice to have the packs in the tent, rather than hanging from a tree.”

That had always been a complaint, the need to hang their packs from a tree to keep ‘critters’ out of them. Bears were a problem, but not actually the main one; coons, possums and wild dogs were more of a problem. Bears were dangerous but tended to avoid men. Coons, possums and dogs weren’t afraid of men and would wander right into the camp, doing considerable damage before anyone woke up. Bears are noisy, scavengers usually aren’t.

So they kept their packs in the tent. Any creature brave enough to try to get into the tent Duo just called ’stew’. Heero agreed.

Duo started the fire with a few banked coals from the night before. The dirt he had put on the still burning wood had saved them from the intermittent drizzle. Duo eyed the sky with disfavor, clouds loomed ominously, promising nothing but more rain. He grumbled, “I just hope it holds off until after breakfast, at least. I want something hot to drink.”

Heero handed him the requested MRE’s as well as a package of energy bars. “I dug out the apple cinnamon ones you like.”

“Thanks.” Duo ripped open the the outer bags and set out the contents. The breakfasts both contained a pouch of ready made oatmeal, a breakfast burrito, instant coffee, a tea bag, a comfort pack and condiments suitable for breakfast food. “Heero. Tea or coffee.”

Heero, involved in taking down the tent just grunted, “Tea.” and returned his attention to the tent. It didn’t take him long to roll the sleeping bags and deflate the mattresses and pillows. It all fitted neatly into the camp box. Heero left the box open on the ground and went to get his breakfast. “You done with the pot?”

“Yeah, done. Get it into the camp box and put it away. OK?” He set Heero’s meal out on the outer packaging, which he’d ripped open and flattened.

Heero put the last of their gear into the box and stashed that in the backpack. He put Duo’s pack near his leg and settled his own on the ground by his feet. He accepted the improvised trencher from Duo and put it in his lap. The cup of tea went between his feet. “Sugar?”

Duo nodded, speaking around a mouthful of oatmeal. “Already in it. I figure two packets each. Not too sweet but enough sugar to help the calorie load.”

“Good.” Heero dug into the pack of oatmeal. “Oatmeal is good. What’s in it besides oats?”

“Maple sugar, powdered milk and dried cranberries. I like it.” Duo finished his oatmeal and started on the burrito. His face scrunched up “Yuck.”

Heero tried a bite. “Not that good. Bit common and the wrapper thing is tough.”

Duo sighed. “This is so bad. I mean, we’re out in the middle of nowhere, no way out except on foot and we’re bitching about the food? When did our priorities shift so much.”

“When we got peace. Used to be, all we cared about was, ‘do we get to eat?’ Now, we have the leisure to complain about taste and texture and ...” He waived a hand. “Other stuff.” He finished his burrito and agreed with Duo. “Not that good. So ... let’s get on the trail. I want to be somewhere dry before I start to mold.”

“Or is that mildew. Right on it.” Duo finished his tea and fastened the cup to its camp heater/pan companion and put it away. “I’m ready.”

And they headed off on their way. As they walked, Duo checked his phone, the map and his mental log of how far they’d gone. “How much farther?”

Heero also had kept a mental track of things. “To 141, about two more days. Then, if we don’t get picked up, somehow, another three. We should meet with the new coast highway on our eighth or ninth day. Why?”

“Just wondered, that’s my figures too. We’ve got plenty of food and no major rivers to cross. We should be good to go.” Duo crossed his fingers.

Heero nodded. “Want to call Wufei. We missed earlier.”

“Yeah, we should. The Landers should be at base by now. You think?” Duo ducked under a branch, yelping as he got a wash of cold water down the back of his neck. “Fuck.”

“Sorry, should have warned you.” Heero cast the apologetic words over his shoulder, turning around wasn’t an option, between his pack and the narrowness of the trail, it just wasn’t practical.

Duo dialed his phone. Wufei picked up on the first ring.

“Chang.”

“Wufei. How’s the cloud cover? And, have the Landers checked in yet?” Duo stepped over a puddle.

“The Landers have been picked up. They made the next to last pull out in good time. We had a truck waiting for them. They’re fine. I told them how you were doing, turned them over to the medics and took reports. They’re going to sue the tour company and suggest you do the same.”

Duo grumbled, “And what good will that do?”

“It’ll post a warning to every company that this is not acceptable, there will be consequences for careless bookings. It’s more for the safety of others. Make an example of them to prevent this happening again.”

“Oh, never thought about that. You’re right. So ... you going to deal with the paper work?”

“No, WEI Legal is.” The smirk in Wufei’s voice made Duo snicker heartily before he hung up.

The next two days were more of the same. They hiked with grim determination, stopping to rest and eat, read and listen to music. Duo finished his rebuttal and carefully wrapped the journal in a couple of MRE outer packs to water proof it. Every stitch they had was now damp, the sleeping bags were wet through and the tent had developed a tiny leak. All in all, they were miserable.

Day Six dawned, grey and over cast, and Duo had had enough. “Heero, how adverse are you to a forced march. I’m wet and chilled and sick of this.”

“I’d do it in a second. All you have to do is say.” Heero was also tired of being damp and chilled.

“We’ll stop at the next good spot and dump everything we don’t need. Cache it somehow.” Heero sped up.

Duo kept pace, planning in his head exactly what they needed to keep and what could go. “Phones, food, med kit. Heero?”

Heero added, “Clean socks, not that we’ve got many of them. Your rebuttal. We can leave all the camping gear behind. We’ll just tough it out. I’m for stopping early today and sorting, sleeping early and starting late.”

“My idea exactly.”

So that was what they did. Heero discovered that the tent was now leaking more than ever and one of the main reasons that their bags and clothing stayed wet. He taped the rip with some duct tape but announced, “Well, that’s as good as it gets. Won’t hold more than tonight but that’s really all we need.”

Duo eyed the seam and announced, “We need to find out what company made that tent. It’s flimsier than it looks.”

They settled in to sleep after eating two meals each.

Morning was a repeat of the last few days. Wet, dreary and cold.

Heero handed Duo the meals he’d picked out. “I’ll sort, you cook. Or I’ll cook, you sort.”

Duo tossed the meals back to Heero. “I cooked yesterday. I’ll sort. How much do you want to carry?”

“As much as we decide to keep. We’ve both carried as much as ninety pounds on a forced march.” Heero started opening the meals.

“True, true. But most of that was ammo. I think between forty and fifty pounds. That’s all the food. Water will get lighter and heavier as we drink and refill. I put the inline sediment filters in. Our phones are nearly fully charged. You want to keep the crank or leave it.”

“Keep it. We carry what we keep. We can always cache it later.” Heero handed Duo the meal. Oatmeal again. But this time we have ... um ... sausage and scrambled eggs, tea and jelly and crackers. I recommend putting the jelly in the oatmeal and saving the crackers for later.”

“Sounds good to me. Ok ... done.” Duo zipped the last pack up, checked the hydration and settled to eat.

Heero shoveled the food down quickly. They’d slept late and were going to take a slow start, but build up to full trot within thirty minutes. “I got a bad feeling. We need to get a move on.”

He was right, but he didn’t know it. The rain up stream had continued even heavier than what they’d been enduring. Now, a gully which usually had a trickle of water at the bottom of it, was bank full and beginning to over flow. If they didn’t get there within a few hours, they’d have to take a detour that would take a week. They didn’t have the supplies to make it that far without hunting, and they were abandoning their hunting bow and arrows as too much weight.

Heero had held onto that and a few other rather heavy bits of equipment until they decided to make a forced march of it. Then all those things went into a sling and up a tree. Quatre would retrieve them later.

“Ok, I’m ready. Let’s get moving.” Duo tightened his shoulder straps, fastened the chest and belly bands and led out.

Heero followed him after securing his own pack. Neither one of them wanted the blisters and hot spots a loose pack could cause.

They took off and within the half hour were moving at a smooth, hard trot that ate up the ground under their feet at an amazing rate. Both of them had done this before, in much worse conditions; as Heero remarked, “At least no one’s shooting at us.”

Which was true, but the Powers That Be are bastards, at best. It started raining hard, and kept it up for most of the day. They were actually steaming within three hours. Heero snarled, “That does it. I’m cold, wet and no end in sight. I’m going to do what Quatre has been nagging me to do for years.”

Duo had also been grousing about the lousy weather so he demanded, “What’s that?”

“Take a year off and loaf. He’s offered us quarters on the Intisar half a dozen times. We’re taking him up on it. Unless you have some logical objection.”

“Me? Hell no. Buck’s retired, and so did Jeremy. There’s a hundred wanna be’s hanging around the other bail bond offices like flies around rotten meat. Let them take over.”

“What about when we come back?” Heero already knew the answer.

“You really believe we can’t get something? Preventers will throw all the rotten jobs we can handle our way. If we can’t get jobs from the really desperate bonds men, we can just pull a poster and hunt that mother down.”

Pulling a poster was simple, a hunter just went to any Preventers office and asked to see the most wanted list. Then they could pick any person on that list and ask for a warrant. A Preventer warrant was good anywhere, Earth or Colony. Most of the people on the most wanted list were violent, hardened criminals; mostly escapees from prison who wouldn’t go without a fight. But the bounties were in triple digits.

“We really want to do that?” Heero had doubts about that, he still didn’t want to chase after someone he knew he’d have to kill, if worst came to worst.

“No, but we can. We’ve got a shit ton of money put back. We can’t spend it in our lifetime. Even if we did, do you really think ESUN would allow us to live on the streets?” Duo was well aware that the media frenzy that would result in any of them living less than well wouldn’t be pretty.

“Ok, ok. How long do you want to take off?” Heero was fairly sure of the answer but he needed to be sure.

“Until I sleep the night through without waking up to check the locks.” Duo was constantly checking the locks. Heero himself had to check at least once a night. And they both slept with a knife or gun to hand. Heero wasn’t too sure that they’d ever rest their way out of that. He’d been sleeping with a hand gun since the age of seven. Duo admitted, when pressed, that he’d started sleeping with a knife in his hand at about the same age.

“So, we just stay until we’re played out, then come back down to Earth and take up where we left off?”

“Yeah, sounds about right.” Duo ducked under a low hanging branch then warned Heero. “Branch.”

Heero ducked too and they kept on their way, slogging through the now muddy trail with determination.

Several hours later Heero asked, “Wanna stop?”

“Long enough to eat. I’m good for at least another eight hours.” Duo pointed, “There. We’ll build a fire to make our drinks.”

“I kept a chemo stove.” The stove Heero was referring to was an odd looking thing, stamped out of steel. It was centuries old and hadn’t changed much in all that time. It was simply three pieces of steel, hinged together to make a three sided rectangle. The open ‘top’ had a small tab on each side which could support either a cup or a six inch square grill. The bottom piece had a depression with a pick in the middle of it on which a chem tab was impaled. This chem tab would burn for about ten minutes. Long enough to heat a cup of water. The stove fit inside a kidney shaped cup, which also held the chem tabs. The entire unit was about six inches long by four inches wide by three inches deep.

Duo snickered, “So did I. Great minds think alike. I’d still like a fire, just to see if I can’t dry some socks.”

“If we cut some branches, maybe we can put them around the fire with a sock on top. Might dry out a bit better than putting them on the ground.” Heero started looking for appropriate limbs. “Get the fire started, I’ll cut some branches.” he went after the first couple he’d spotted.

Duo built the fire by the simple expedite of piling wood in a fire ring he’d built out of round stones from nearby then sticking a fire tab under it. The tab dried the underside of the wood enough that it caught. This produced a rather smoky sullen fire, but it was hot enough. Duo was very glad they’d kept their survival stoves, the smoke definitely wouldn’t add to the flavor of their tea.

Heero stuck his drying racks around the fire. “There. Far enough away that we don’t burn anything, close enough that the heat will dry them. I hope.”

Duo had his boots off and was examining his feet. “I’m getting something. Not sure what. My feet have been wet so long that ... it’s not good.”

Heero eyed Duo’s feet. They were white, water wrinkled and covered with red patches of irritation. “That’s not good.”

Duo shook his head. “Nope, not good at all. You better check your feet.”

Heero obediently shucked off his boots and socks. His feet looked much the same as Duo’s. “Um ... I’m in trouble too. Now what?”

“We get our feet as dry as possible and hope.” Duo scowled into the sullen fire.

“We’ve got to keep going ... at least until we find a place a chopper can land.” Heero dragged his pack over and pulled out a camping towel. “Here.”

Duo just smirked at him. “Got my own. It’s a bit damp but, if you’ll give it a good wring, I can get mostly dry.”

Heero obligingly wrung. “Here you go.”

“Thanks. I’ll be glad to get out of the damn rain. I’m sick of being wet.” Duo knew he’d said this about ten thousand times, but he was.

“I know. And cold. I thought we had the last of that in Canada. Cold up there.” Heero shivered. “Guh.”

“Um ... Heero? We’re only about a hundred miles south of ... what was the name of that trading post?” Duo thought for a moment. “Or did it have a name?”

“The one where the old man gave us breakfast?” Duo nodded. “Don’t think it had a name. And ...” Heero’s brain finally caught up. “You’re shittin’ me.”

Duo shook his head. “Nope. Just a big difference in what side of a mountain you’re on and the season.”

They settled back to wait for their meals to heat. While they waited, Duo whistled softly. They were saving their phone batteries as they didn’t want to have to stop long enough to charge them again.

“What’s that tune?” Heero like it and said so. “I really like it.”

“Baby Elephant Walk.” Duo went back to his whistling.

Heero checked their meals. “Food’s hot.”

Duo just held out a hand for his share. “Are the socks dry?”

Heero checked before settling back to eat. “Not quite. But they probably will be by the time we’re through eating. You want to stop for night?”

“No. Our flashlights are good enough. Full moon tonight. We can make good time.”

“Ok. We’ll need to stop tomorrow night, or we’ll be running on empty. Don’t want to do that. Don’t want to take a chance of falling and breaking something.”

Duo agreed. “Me neither. Not worth it. But I’m sick and tired of disaster after disaster. What god or goddess did we tick off?”

Heero just shrugged, since his mouth was full of beanie weenies.

After finishing their meal and burning the trash, they packed up all but one pair of socks and got their dry socks and boots on. They quickly fell back into the hard trot that they could keep up for miles.

.

Quatre Raberba Winner was not a happy man. And everyone in his office, Preventers HQ in Sanq and on several other phone feeds knew it. He had voiced his displeasure, not loudly, but in a firm, quiet voice that made those who knew him shiver.

Trowa was just silently working on fixing this mess. His first priority was to find Heero and Duo. The second was to get to them with aid, a chopper, something. He’d already gotten the Landers party back to their homes, to the grateful thanks of two sets of parents. The Landers, Malone's, and Sanders were planning to sue. Quatre offered the aid of his legal department. This was the last they were to hear about that, except for Christmas cards every year.

Trowa checked in with the satellite control crew to see if they’d had any luck finding a signal. The head tech said that they had, the new phones couldn’t be blocked by anything short of an inch of hull plating. But ... there was still no way to get to them. They knew exactly where they were, right in the middle of nowhere, under an umbrella of cloud cover that no one with a lick of sense would try to fly in.

Quatre tapped his fingers on his desk. “Trowa? Is the new mobile suit available?”

Trowa nodded. “It is. But, it’s ... I ...” He started to grin. “Wufei.”

“Exactly. I can’t fly it, I have to be here to control the incipient panic. You’re too big. But ... Chang Wufei, he’ll fit.” Quatre’s smile was brilliant, and a tiny bit evil. “So. Make the calls.”

Trowa called three places; one, the station where the new Deathscythe ‘clone’ was docked; two, the only WEI ship the suit would fit in and; three, Wufei. Wufei was half way across town, in a hotel. His reply was in Shanghai dialect, crude and profane. It translated as, “Hell, Yes!”

While they were getting the suit down from the station, which was in orbit around Earth, thank goodness, Wufei was making some preparations of his own. He’d traveled via suit carry, once. It was not a mode of transportation that he favored, so he made a request of WEI Fabrication.
The men laughed at the idea and immediately set to work, promising that he’d have what he wanted by the time the suit arrived.

After making his arrangements, Wufei went to the airport to wait for the suit. He took his laptop with him so he could keep track of where Duo and Heero were.

Quatre, meanwhile, called Heero’s phone, then Duo’s.

Duo answered, “Yeah.”

“Duo, Heero’s not answering.” Quatre was worried, he’d never known Heero to turn off his phone.

“Yeah, we’re saving battery life. When mine’s dead, we’ll turn his back on. What’s up?” Duo didn’t stop hiking.

“We know where you are. You’re about ten miles from a fairly large clearing. One that we can find. Stay there until Wufei comes for you.”

“Ok. Ten miles? Won’t be long. You got an ETA on Wufei?” Duo stopped for a moment to wiggle his toes, checking for wrinkles in his socks. Heero stopped too.

“About three, four hours. Not longer than five.” Quatre wasn’t about to spoil the surprise of being picked up by a mobile suit.

Heero just grunted, resettled his pack and moved out. Duo followed, still speaking to Quatre. No matter how he wheedled, cajoled or whined, Quatre wouldn’t tell him how Wufei was picking them up. He finally hung up, pissing and moaning about how mean Quatre was being.

Heero just mumbled, “Bitch, bitch, bitch. Give it up. You know Q loves his surprises. And when have they ever been bad?”

“Well. I remember one time. He ... well, that turned out ok. But, then there was the other time ... no, that turned out ok too.” He blew a raspberry at Heero then walked on in silence, wondering what the surprise was.

Heero walked in silence too, happy that Quatre had managed to take Duo’s mind off his miseries. Heero was miserable too. He hated being cold and wet as much as Duo did. He liked Earth, but this uncontrolled weather was obscene, was the only word he could come up with. He realized that, while he did love Earth, he was a colony brat.

Heero realized that Duo had stopped. “Oh, shit.”

Heero echoed Duo. “Yeah. We better get across that, quick.”

“There’s not supposed to be a stream here.” Duo eyed his map.

“Well, tell that to the Marines. There’s a stream now, and a fast one.”

Duo nodded, his expression dismayed. “No shit. And it’s rising. We better get across while we can.”

“Right. If we don’t move now, we’re not gonna. And I really don’t fancy making a detour of ... never mind how far. We don’t have supplies to last that long. Move.”

Heero got out the rope, tied a rock to the end and used that to try to rig up a safety line. He managed to tangle the rope twice, he was tired enough that even his nearly perfect coordination was off. But he got it wrapped around a tree and, when he pulled, it stayed.

“Ok, Duo, you first. I’ll tie off this end and follow once you’re across.” Heero rubbed his temples irritably.

“Ok. Headache?” Duo knew that Heero sometimes got a headache when he was exceptionally tired

“A bit. I’m just worried now. This is getting worse and worse. Never, ever ask ‘What could go wrong?’. Seriously.”

Duo suggested, “You think we should tie off this end?”

“No, if we do, we’ll have to leave it behind. I don’t want to do that, we might need it later.” Heero nodded at the end, to which he’d tied their packs. “I’ll wedge that between those rocks, then we can pull it loose and get the packs over.”

Duo nodded. “Ok, but I’m keeping my pack with me. I feel better about it.”

Heero thought about that for a moment. “Ok. You keep yours. I’ll use mine to anchor the line until I get across. Move.”

Duo moved. The stream was getting higher and faster by the second. The few seconds they’d spent talking had seen it up by another inch, at least. He swore as the water rose to his thighs as he waded farther and farther toward the middle of the now raging stream. “Fuck, Heero. This is getting really deep. We better put a wheel under it or we’re going to be separated.”

Heero eyed the stream and decided. “Forget the rope. I’m tying it off and coming over now.” He tied the rope off around a tree, put his pack on and waded out after Duo.

They managed to get across, even though the water was waist deep on them at the middle. Heero slipped and nearly fell just as they were climbing the bank. Duo saved him from being washed away by grabbing the hang loop on the top of his pack. He got soaked to the skin; thankfully, his pack was water tight and he’d zipped it properly.

Heero swore wearily. They were both just tired enough that they were going into what Quatre called zombie mode, still moving but on a sort of auto pilot. They just weren’t up to going for several days without sleep, not anymore. He remembered with a shudder the hours of deprivation training he’d undergone. He was more than glad that those days were done.

“Heero? You shivered.” Duo pulled the pack off Heero’s back and started rummaging for a towel.

“I’m ok. Bad memory. Damn, I’ll be glad when we get somewhere warm.” Heero accepted the towel and started trying to get the cold water out of his pants.

Duo cocked his head. “Shhh! What’s that?” He listened harder.

Heero just grumbled. “Verners.” Then he replayed his words in his head.

He jumped up, scanning the sky. “Verners? A gundam?”

Duo jumped up and down, whooping, “Deathscythe. It is! It is!” He spotted the machine as it dropped below the cloud cover. “There! There!” His excited pointing made Heero laugh.

“Yes, I see. It’s that machine Quatre confiscated in Cambodia, or where ever. Who’s piloting?”

Heero squinted. “Can’t see. But it has to be Wufei. The three of us are the only pilots that would fit in the cockpit. That was one reason the pilot that screw loose hired couldn’t handle him. No juice.”

“You’re right. He’s setting down. Right in that clearing we were headed for. Let’s go.” Duo set off, trotting hard. He was eager to see Wufei, and get out of this wet misery.

Wufei smiled to himself, this was going to be good. “Heero, Duo. Pleased to see that you’re still upright. Get into the cabin, I’m not going to dismount, it’s too much trouble. And, I’m sure you’d rather get out of here than stand around yacking.”

Heero eyed the, so called, cabin. It looked like nothing so much as a gondola from a ferris wheel. But, it was warm and dry. They climbed in to find that it contained a curved bench seat, curved because the back of the cabin was. But, best of all, a heater. They stripped out of their wet things, right down to their underwear and wrapped up in the pre-warmed blankets piled next to the heater. They were asleep before Wufei took off.

Wufei picked up the gondola, and that was what it was. He’d had a crew set up to make it from scratch but one of the men had found the gondola in the scrap behind their factory. It had been made for a ferris wheel in Paris, but had turned out to be extra. They’d just plated over the windows and installed the single seat, made from a restaurant booth with extra padding. The heater was liberated from a camper. They’d also added a standard web cam camera so that Wufei could see, and talk to, Heero and Duo.

Wufei, satisfied that his passengers were settled, took off carefully. It didn’t take long to fly back to Portland. He landed in the parking lot of the local hospital, right outside the emergency room door.

The emergency personnel scurried out, yanked the door open and found ... two peacefully sleeping young men. The doctor eyed them for a moment then said, “No bleeding, obvious broken bones. Nothing.” He smiled at Wufei, who was landing from the zip line. “I’d say ... just let them sleep right where they are, as long as the heater will keep up.”

Wufei eyed his friends with a very satisfied expression. “Oh, that heater will keep up. They do look cute.” He whipped out his cell phone and took a picture. Several of the nurses managed to sneak a peek. The ‘Aww! Ain’t that cute’ factor went through the roof when Duo snuffled and snuggled closer to Heero.

The doctor motioned his people back, announcing, “No problems here. Back inside.” the group managed one last look and went back to their business.

Wufei smiled at the doctor. “I’ll stay here. I’ve got an eye on them. Camera in the ceiling.”

“Ok. I’m good. You see anything you don’t like, come get someone.” The doctor headed back to the emergency room.

“I will. Thank you.” Wufei bowed slightly, little more than a dip of his head.

He returned to the pilots seat of the gundam and settled in, wondering idly why they called it a gundam. It wasn’t made of gundanium, so, technically it wasn’t a gundam. But it wasn’t a common mecha either. He turned on some music and settled in to read, keeping one eye on his monitor.

He’d only been reading for a few minutes when he realized, “Ai ya! Damn, where’s my head? Quatre is going to kill me.” He put his reader down on the console and got his head set. He slapped it on any old way and said, “Wufei to WEI Control.”

Quatre was on at once. “WEI Control to Wufei. You have them?”

“I do. They’re cold, exhausted and hungry. But fine. They’re asleep. Just a sec.” He sent the picture to his onboard computer which uplinked with WEI Control. A second command sent the picture to Quatre.

Quatre looked at the picture then demanded, “You have an eye on them?”

“Yes. Want live feed? It’s not much, just them sleeping.”

“I’d like a physician to look at them.” Quatre’s worried tone made Wufei chuckle.

“I’m standing in the parking lot of the hospital here in Portland. I’ll bring them up to station when they wake up. I do not want to try getting this suit up with that gondola. It’s good, but I’m not sure I trust the seals that far.” Wufei knew that the fabricators said the gondola was air tight and contained an hour plus of air. He just wasn’t about to take a chance when he didn’t have to. They’d go back up station in the shuttle dedicated to the suit.

“I think that ... what did you call it? ... gondola. That is a great idea. I’ll have the man you had design it, submit the blueprints to our award team. Excellent. I’ll see you when the shuttle docks.”

“Very good. I’ll wait until our sleeping beauties have eaten, and cleaned up. Hotel accommodations might be in order.” Wufei hoped Quatre got them rooms somewhere where he could park the suit in safety.

He was not disappointed. He got a call from Trowa within ten minutes.

“Wufei. I’ve got reservations for you at a Sunshine Inn. It’s on the outskirts of town, huge parking lot. I’ve gotten permission for you to fly there from air control. I’ll send you your flight plan. Have a good laugh. They’re treating you as a light air craft.”

Wufei snorted. “A hang glider? What next. But I’m sure Heero and Duo will be glad of the rooms. I’ll take them over now. I just hope I don’t wake them up.”

Trowa replied, “Do you have a speaker in the gondola?”

Wufei nodded at his image in the main monitor. “I do.”

“Then just tell them what you’re doing. I doubt they’ll wake up.” Trowa signed off with a slight smile.

Wufei activated the speaker and told his sleeping friends what was going on.

Neither one of them woke up more than enough to grumble a bit then drift back off. But Wufei was reassured that they knew what was going on.

His landing at the Sunshine Inn complex was greeted with a flurry of photographers and reporters. The suit had been spotted by some bright someone, who’d panicked and called the police. The reply, via police radio, had been picked up by a reporter, or two. The resultant mob now crowded the parking lot, making it impossible for Wufei to put the gondola down, or even walk the suit.

Finally, he gave up in disgust and announced over the loud hailing system, “If you do not clear the lot so I can put the gondola down, I will step on you. Now, clear the area.”

Needless to say, the reporters scrambled to get out of the way. Not because they were afraid of being stepped on, but because they wanted to interview the passengers inside.

This didn’t happen either. The police arrived just in time to hear Wufei’s threat. The captain of the squad was sure that Wufei wouldn’t actually carry out his threat, but he used it as a good excuse to put the much despised reporters off the lot completely. They went with protests abut censorship, grumbling about police states and with many backward glances. The photographers set up at the end of the drive, telephoto lenses pointed at the mecha.

Wufei very helpfully turned on the scramblers. He knew they would interfere with all radios so he politely warned the police before he did it. The squad leader warned the head of communications, who passed word to the chief of police. Word was circulated. Most of the officers who heard about it, laughed themselves silly.

The reporters on the other hand, couldn’t figure out what had happened to their communications, while the photographers nearly cried. It seems that a scrambler will erase everything on a memory chip, and damage the programing of computer aided telephoto lenses. Thousands of dollars worth of equipment went south. Wufei’s opinion was summed up in one short sentence, “It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of idiots.”

The police, having withdrawn to an area outside the scramblers range, just sat back and watched. Reporters and police have always had a rather adversarial relationship, centuries of contact hadn’t changed that in the least.

The reporters finally left, watched by the police and security from Sunshine Inn. Security that was very glad to see them leave. If they hadn’t, the manager had orders from the owner to demand that they leave the inn’s property and not block access.

.

It was nearly four hours before Duo woke, Heero woke at about the same time.

“Heero?” Duo looked around, then opened the door. “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

“Kansas? When the hell were we in Kansas?” Heero joined Duo at the door.

Wufei’s voice from beside them said, “Wizard of Oz, you Philistine. He means, you’re not where you went to sleep.”

Heero thought about that one for a moment. “Oh, Ok. Bath?” He managed to look hopeful.

“Yes, and food and a real bed. Come this way.” Wufei led the way.

Duo gave a little cheer then trotted happily after him. Heero tacked himself onto the end of the small parade. He was just as happy as Duo, he just really wasn’t the cheering sort. His wide smile was good enough.

“As you can see, Quatre has set you up with the best available. You’ll stay here until you’re rested enough to go up station. Then, his orders are, “Bring them up. Even if you have to tie them up.’ And I will.” He smiled at them, handed them key cards and ambled off singing softly to himself.

Duo blinked for a moment then said, “Wow. I’ve never seen him so laid back. There’s a story there and I want it.” He yawned widely. “But not just yet. Shower.”

“And food.” Heero realized that he was really hungry. “I want fresh eggs, not scrambled. Fruit. And ... cheese. Real coffee and lots of it. Later. Now, I really want to be clean.”

Duo made it through the living room in a second. He started the shower and checked on the towels. “There’s, like, hundreds of towels. Man.” He took one out of the cabinet, “And thick and fuzzy and ... warm. Mmmm.” He ran a hand over it then put it back in the warming cabinet. “Nice.”

Heero made a call to room service. His instructions were clear. “Food. Eggs, not scrambled. Cheese, fruit, tea. I’d ask for coffee but we’re going back to sleep once we’ve eaten. In about thirty minutes. And be sure to knock and announce yourselves.” There had been a rather nasty incident a few years ago, the bellboy hadn’t thought, he’d just entered, to be greeted with two hand guns in his face. The poor man had wet himself. So, to avoid a repetition of that event, they told both room service and housekeeping to knock and announce themselves.

He then returned to the bathroom and Duo.

Duo was in the shower, leaning against one wall with water cascading down his back. His hair was down and soaked through, streaming mud. He was also nearly asleep.

“Duo, you’re going to drown if you fall over.” Heero propped his lover up with one hand and grabbed a bottle of shampoo with the other. “Here. Scrub.” his simple commands spurred Duo into motion.

It took a while to get all the mud, sticks, leaves and unidentifiable bits and pieces out of the long hair, but they finally succeeded. Duo shuffled out of the shower to dry himself and his hair. Heero vaguely wondered why he always thought of Duo, then his hair. Like the braid was a separate individual. He shrugged the question off as silly and quickly finished his own shower.

There were plenty of towels, so Heero wound up with a towel wrapped around his waist, one around his shoulders and a third to dry his own hair with.

“Duo?” He glanced around the living area and found Duo seated at the small table in front of the sliding glass door. He was serving himself from a platter of fried eggs, hash browns and sausages.

“Why breakfast?” Duo scrunched his nose up as he decided between pancakes and waffles. Finally, he took one of each.

“It’s quick and easy to keep warm. Toast?” Heero snagged the toast rack and took a slice.

Duo shook his head, mumbling around a mouthful of sausage, “No, thanks. Waffle and pancake. Pass the syrup please.”

Heero passed syrup, fruit and a bowl of whipped cream. He then plated up almost the same meal that Duo had, except he had toast. It didn’t take them long to finish most of the food.

Duo pushed back from the table, belched loudly and sighed.

Heero grimaced, amused, and said, “Nice. Bed.”

“Right, bed. Um ... Wufei?” He ambled toward the bed, absently braiding his hair as he went.

“He left a note. We’re to call him, or Quatre, when we wake up. He says he isn’t in the mood to deal with us sleep deprived. He says we’re singularly silly.” Heero put the note back on the desk and followed Duo.

They slept the clock around and woke again at about 7 am. Another shower and clean clothing made them presentable. They decided to stay another day just to rest up.

Duo remarked that the clothing Wufei had left was spacer reg. The multi-pocketed pants and vests, worn over a skin suit, were standard ship wear; unless you were a ‘suit jockey’, in which case, you’d wear a jumpsuit. They had standard spacer boots for foot wear. All their other clothing was missing, probably picked up by someone for washing.

Heero made coffee in the ‘boil water’ pot by boiling water then dumbing grounds in. It was, as Duo often said, a bit crunchy; but it woke them up. He took his cup out onto the balcony to drink it. He was back inside and shutting the drapes with a whish of cords. “Damn it. The reporters are all over the place, like flies on shit.”

Duo grumbled, “Son of a bitch. I really wish reporters could be shot. They’re a menace.”

Heero shrugged. “Well, we did make a bit of a splash. But ... they’ll get tired soon. They always do. We’re going up station as soon as we can. Hang out with Quatre for a while. That sort of thing.”

“I want to go hang gliding. I’d like some surfing but ...”

“Holiday Stations. That’s where I’m thinking.” Heero nodded in satisfaction as they heard a loud hailer start ordering the reporters and photographers to disperse, as they were on private property and the owners wanted them off.

Duo finished his coffee by the simple method of pouring it down the sink. “Heero, you do know that boiled coffee is ... criminal? Let’s blow this pop stand.”

“On it. I’ll call Wufei to come and get us.” Heero dialed as he spoke. “Wufei?” He listened for a moment. “Ok. Trowa, we’re ready to be picked up. How long?”

Duo made a face but Heero grinned at him, five minutes later, they were starting up the SUV that Quatre had delivered while they slept. The instructions in the console were simple, “Drive to the airport. Report to the WEI desk.”

Heero let Duo drive. In fact, he told him, “Hit it. And don’t spare the horsepower.”

Duo snickered, started the engine and floored it. A drive that usually took a good half hour, in good traffic, took fifteen. The traffic was congested and Duo left a trail of honking horns and screeching tires behind. As well as the swarm of paparazzi that had attempted to trail them from the motel.

They pulled up just outside the main airport building with a screech of tires. Duo jumped out, tossed the keys to a man wearing the WEI uniform and yelled, “Here! Deal!” they ran inside, laughing at the expressions on people’s faces. It was rather unusual to see laughing spacers running through the airport. Heero let out a maniacal cackle when security shut the doors in the paparazzi’s faces and refused them entry, claiming that they were rioting. His threat to call the riot squad if they didn’t disband was met with yells of outrage.

It really didn’t matter, though, because Heero and Duo were met at the WEI terminal by a public relations representative who rushed them through the back side of the terminal, by the luggage belt and straight into a cart which took them to a shuttle. “Here we are. Your pilot should be available in about five to ten minutes.”

Duo quirked an eyebrow at the man and asked, “In about five to ten minutes? A bit on the vague side aren’t you? Let’s leave off the about as an excessive modifier and go with five to ten minutes. And who is he, or she?”

Heero snickered. Duo, as a sweeper, had a few ideas about certain quirks Earth English had picked up in the last century or so. Inexactitude in speech, led to inexactitude in thought, as Howard was wont to say. Duo agreed. “Duo, give the man a break. It’s the way he’s been taught. The more vague he is, the less chance he’ll get hauled over the coals. Most times.”

Duo pouted. “Well, alright. But I’m ... really ready to leave. Never thought I’d say that, but I am. If one more thing goes wrong, I’m going to hole up on Quatre’s yacht for the next ten years.”

“Nothing else is going to go wrong.” Wufei’s voice announced from the door of the shuttle. “Not on my watch.”

Heero just called, “I’m going to hold you to that, Chang.”

Duo just scrambled out of the cart and headed for the door, yelling, “Wufei, buddy, pal, bestie. You’re our pilot?”

“Yes, I am. Hurry. I heard that the paparazzi have found out that you’re headed up station. I do not want to have to threaten to step on any of them again. It’s not good for my reputation.” Wufei slapped Duo then Heero on the back as they entered the shuttle.

“Not good for your reputation? How’s that?” Heero started to settle in a passenger seat.

“Not good, when I fail to keep my word. Don’t sit there.” Wufei smirked at Duo.

“Why not?” Heero obligingly got back up. Duo just cheered happily.

“Only reason we’re taking off so quickly is ... one of you is co-pilot the other navigator. We’re all certified as engineer, so I’ve got a full compliment.” Wufei led the way to the front.

When Duo started to settle in the co-pilot’s seat, Wufei just poked him in the opposite direction, the pilot’s seat. Duo glanced over his shoulder at Wufei. Wufei just gave him an encouraging nod. “Captain Maxwell.”

Heero took navigation, at least, he tried to. He nearly sat on Wufei’s lap, causing all of them to laugh. “Ok, ok. I get it.” Heero settled in the co-pilot position.

Duo started flicking switches. Heero picked up the data pad and started checking them off. The two fell easily into the chatter of pre-flight check lists, radio checks and flight plan registration. The flight plan had been sent in hours ago, but the pilot still had to officially register it. This was always done at the last minute, to allow for changes.

Wufei checked his instruments, going through his own check list. “I’m good to go.”

Heero echoed the phrase. Duo checked off the last of his list. “Ok, that’s that. Heero enter the lists into the onboard.” Heero tapped the command on his data pad and the onboard computer obligingly beeped, accepting the files.

There was a bump and a cheerful voice over their radio announced, “Tow attachment beginning now.” Another bump told them that the tow motor was hooking up. “Prepare for tow. Warn your warm cargo. Commencing tow in one.”

Duo replied, “Only warm cargo is three souls. Pilot, co-pilot and navigator/engineer. We’re ready for tow at your pleasure.”

“Well, WEI has the juice to run empty. What’s up? Not that it’s any of my business, but you’re eighth in line. That means you’ll be on tow for at least thirty minutes.” The tow operator’s cheerful chatter made Duo smile. Heero shook his head while Wufei just settled back to listen.

Duo and the tow man, who’s name was Doug, chatted while they were towed into line. When Doug found out that he was towing three gundam pilots, he freaked out a little. Duo calmed him down with a cheerful, “Man, chill. We’re just regular guys.” and a couple of anecdotes, in which either Heero or he featured in some way. Heero just sighed and blushed. The story about the time he fell into the swimming pool because their pickup pushed him in was embarrassing. The pick up was a seventy-two year-old grandmother who’d been framed for check kiting. She was pissed and took it out on Heero. She apologized with oatmeal raisin cookies.

Wufei couldn’t help snickering about the stories. He loved listening to Duo tell stories, even if he’d never admit it.

They chatted with Doug until the tower told them to shut up. Duo gave them a raspberry but quit talking over a general frequency. They waited about twenty minutes then heard Doug say, “Hooking up to catapult. Hot jets and clear space, guys.”

There was a loud clunk and a jerk. Duo told the tower, “Hook up competed. Ready to launch.”

The tower replied, “Ready to launch in ... five ...” The nearly mechanical voice concluded the count down with, “Launch!”

Duo threw the controls to launch position, the rockets bellowed, he yelled, and the shuttle threw itself into the air. The g-forces were not that bad, Duo announced that they were negligible at about three G or so. As soon as they were in orbit, Duo turned on the ‘nul-grav’ light and unbuckled his seat belts.

“Welp, that’s that. Now, all we have to do is catch up to the station, dock and go sooth Quatre’s ruffled feathers.” He hooked a leg around an anchor point and got his tablet out of his pocket. “I’m going to read until then.” he eyed his two friends hopefully. “Unless you two would rather play cards?”

Heero snorted. “No fucking way. I still owe you two foot rubs and a blow job from last time.”

Wufei shook his head, making his pony tail drift back and forth. “No. I still owe you too.”

Duo grimaced, “Too bad. Just because you’re both sore losers.” He smirked at them and went back to his book.

Wufei also produced a book and settled down to read.

Heero just enjoyed looking out the forward windows at the stars, some of them man made. He glanced at something flickering out of the corner of his eye and tensed. “Duo! Is there supposed to be a beacon off our starboard wing?”

“No.” Duo jammed his book back in his pocket. “Fuckityfuck. Damn it.” He clattered keys for a moment then snarled. “That’s not a beacon. That’s a marker buoy. Something’s drifted into low orbit.”

Heero joined Duo in acquiring the beacon number, checked a data base to find out what it was and sending the information, raw and compiled, to the proper authorities. Some pencil jockey sent back, enquiring what they were going to do about it.

Duo got on the radio and demanded to speak directly to him. “Now, what the hell are we supposed to do about a bit of unexpended ordinance? That’s your bailiwick, not ours. So send up someone who knows what they’re doing and get it out of the traffic lane. Before there’s a disaster.” He punched off.

“Well, it seems that you are the nearest expert. And, what with you being reserve Preventers, it’s your duty to see to it. If you need any equipment, feel free to requisition it.” His smug tone made Duo swear.

Wufei just took over communications. His weary, “And you really believe you’re going to get away with that.” made Heero give him a hard look.

Control replied, “Just see to it. Or I can call Lady Une.”

Heero snickered, “Oh, please do.”

They stayed where they were, judicious use of maneuvering jets kept them ‘pacing’ the beacon. They stayed just in case some other pilot was stupid enough to try to recover the thing.

The whole problem was, there was enough junk in the solar system that was dangerous. Unexpended ordinance covered a variety of things, all of them dangerous; many unstable in the extreme. Duo checked it over visually then with instruments. He was withholding any opinion until they found out whether they were going to be forced to deal with it or not.

The controller was soon back on line. “Well, it seems that Lady Une is not in favor of you handling this with the equipment at your disposal. I understood that you had some sort of mobile suit at your disposal. Your manifest lists it.”

Duo replied, “We have one on board but ... one, it’s experimental ... no one is sure how space tight it is. And, two, there’s no way to launch it. This shuttle is pure transport, no launch capabilities. I’d suggest that ... the next time you want to get shitty with someone ... you read first. Right? You can read? Yes?”

The controller’s sour return was that, yes, he could read, and no he didn’t realize that experimental meant experimental. He didn’t say exactly what he meant by that and Duo’s sweeper cant reply left him even more in the dark.

Heero glanced at Wufei, one eyebrow raised. Wufei just shrugged, “One condition of me not suing Preventers into oblivion is, I can’t even be asked to do anything for them. They can send me files and let me decide, but that’s all. And I’m not dealing with unexpended anonymous ordinance.” He eyed Duo for a moment. “Might be one of his proximity bombs. Not something I want to deal with.”

Duo remarked, “There’s a story behind that remark that I really want to hear.” his sideway look at Wufei made it clear that he was going to have his answers.

Wufei said, “After this mess is over, I’ll give you all the details. But the crux of the matter is, a general, who thought he knew better than Une, put pressure on me that I thought was coming from Une. I did things I did not want to do, in order to protect you all from persecution. I am ... ashamed of myself.”

Heero just floated over to put one hand on Wufei’s shoulder. “It’s ok. We understand. Thank you.”

Wufei sighed. He felt very foolish over being manipulated like that. Quatre had been furious. His remark, “Wufei, I don’t think you realize exactly how rich I really am.” Wufei had shaken his head. “I, in my person, not WEI, could buy Preventers; lock, stock and barrel, out of petty cash.” He’d grinned, “It built up quite a bit while I was fighting.”

Wufei had been suitably chastised and promised to stay with Quatre until he found something he wanted to do. Now, as navigator/engineer it was his duty to call their destination and ask for refueling. They’d have enough, just barely, but Wufei was well aware that Duo would skin him with a rusty knife if he let them come in on fumes. So he called.

The reply came from Quatre himself. “Wufei, what kind of trouble are you in, now? Really, I’d expect something like this from Duo.”

Duo’s cheerful, “Hey! I resemble that.” made Quatre laugh.

Heero got on line to finish explaining what was going on. Quatre snarled. He was not happy about this at all. “I’m going to start a salvage company of my own. I subcontract that now. But ... no more. Duo. Write up a prospectus for my consideration.”

Duo gave Heero a deer in headlights look and croaked, “Wa’? Me? Wuzzat?”

Wufei started laughing. In fact, he laughed so hard that tears drifted out of his eyes and floated in the cockpit.

Heero would have smacked him but the results of that in zero grav were not funny. Instead he just said, “Ok. Wufei ... in or out.”

“In.” Wufei addressed Quatre. “Quatre, we’ll send you a prospectus. The three of us. Or ... what?”

Quatre signed off with, “We’ll discuss the particulars as soon as you’re aboard Intisar.

Heero grunted as he settled into his seat and buckled up the belts. “I thought the name of his yacht was Ameena or something.”

Duo corrected him, “No, that was the name of the sister. She christened his ship ... forget the name ... he had her rechristened a bit later. After the stink drifted away.”

Wufei asked, “Isn’t that bad luck?”

Duo shook his head. “Not if the name wasn’t hers to give. Quatre, as owner, has right of naming. That ... sister didn’t have rights to the ship, nor the naming. So, he changed it.”

Heero, more used the the vagaries of what Duo called Spacer’s Luck, just turned his attention back to the beacon. “We got company.”

They all moved to watch the salvage ship. There wasn’t much else to do, except leave, and no one was about to do that. Duo admitted that he wanted to see what the salvage crew did.

What they did was ease up to the broad side of the round, spiky thing and send out several probes to take pictures. The ordinance seemed to be a mine, it looked very much like the 20th century sea mines, except it wasn’t chained to anything. The current use of mines was to just release them into an area of space and let them drift. This one had obviously drifted way off course somehow. The first thing that the salvagers needed to do was figure out exactly what this mine was supposed to do.

The salvage ship withdrew to a safe distance, very close to the shuttle, and started their routine. They found out that the mine was booby trapped, when it blew up rather spectacularly.

Duo just shook his head. “Well, shit. That was something unexpected.”

Wufei just called it in while Heero jockeyed the maneuvering jets to keep them in place.

The salvagers obviously did more or less the same. They then hailed the shuttle. “Merry Miss to Shuttle WEI 314. You alright?”

Duo nudged his mic with his chin to turn it on. “Yes. You?”

“Fine. What the hell was that?” the beep signaled that Merry Miss was done speaking.

“Damned if I know.” Duo answered back.

“Maxwell? That you?”

“Yeah, who’s it.”

“Mark Hampton. Got my own ship now.” His pride was obvious.

Duo couldn’t help but one up him. “Lost my pile of junk a few years ago. Got a new berth, bounty hunting with Yuy.”

“Wow, bad luck on the front end but ended up cushy. How’s it going?”

Duo lounged back, obviously settling in for a gab. “Not bad. Luck’s changed, thought. Bad stuff happening. Wonder which god of what pantheon we’ve offended in what way. Ya know?”

“I do, I do. I heard about two guys who got dropped in the wrong place with six civilians. That you?”

“Yurp. Not so good. See?” Duo eyed the ship through the window. Something was wrong. “I see a cloud on your skin. You better check.” he rattled off a string of numbers and letters that told the crew exactly where the cloud was.

“I’ll send someone to take a looksee. Gimme a few. I’ll get back in ... ten.” The double beep let them know that the man had shut down the frequency.

He was back in the stated ten minutes. “Well, lucky us. Sprung plate. Glad you saw it. Wouldn’t have given us a blow out, just a nasty leak. Thanks. We’re going ground side and get it fixed. See ya on the flip side.”

They exchanged pleasantries then cut the connection.

Duo blinked at nothing for a moment. “Well, that was good.” he grinned at Wufei. “I even got an explosion that I didn’t have to make myself. Nice.”

Wufei just groaned and started computations to get them to their transfer point. It didn’t take him long to realize that, due to all the maneuvering they’d done, they were going to be down to their last pounds of fuel at docking.

“We need to link up for a refuel?” Duo settled in the pilots chair and buckled in. He took the data transfer from navigation to pilots display and examined it. “Don’t like the looks of that. But ... we’re so close to turn around that I think we’ll give refueling a pass.”

Heero eyed his main display. “You sure?”

“Yeah. We can coast in, if nothing else. Or have a tow meet us and bring us in. Much as I hate to look like a newbie who ran out of fuel.” Duo’s rueful expression let both his friends know his opinion of that.

Wufei announced, “Anyone says anything, send them to me. I’ll explain their dishonor and injustice, carefully, at length and loudly.” his satisfied smirk made Duo snicker.

“I just bet you will. One of these days I’m actually going to listen to one of your lectures.” Duo rolled his eyes dramatically.

Heero muttered, “Rants.” then went back to his controls. He was reading off all the gauges to Duo, who was recording the figures in his laptop. They were bored and rechecking the figures the onboard computer had spit out. It was right on the money which meant they were going to arrive at the station with just enough fuel to dock safely. Maybe.

Duo babied the jets, carefully husbanding his fuel for docking. He knew he was coming in ‘hot and hard’ but there was no help for it. He just hoped the cushions would hold. His conversations with the tower were filled with their complaints and his flat rejoinders. They seemed to think that he could conjure fuel from nowhere, he wanted to know why he couldn’t get a refuel. Their explanation was that ‘it just wasn’t feasible’; his reply was rude, nasty and couched in Sweeper cant. The only part of it that Wufei understood was a remark about the traffic controllers sexual habits that made Wufei mutter to Heero, “Is that actually physically possible?”

Heero shook his head. “Don’t know. Not planning on finding out.”

Duo finally snapped, “Look, if you can’t refuel me, say so. If you can’t, you better be ready for the consequences. And I don’t give a flying fuck about protocols. We’re about to dock on fumes. Idiot.”

“I’m sorry. But, if you wanted a refuel, you should have submitted the proper forms in advance.”

Duo blew up. “You moron! What part of emergency refuel don’t you get? If I had planned on this, I wouldn’t need a refuel. I’d have taken on more in the first place. Get your fucking head out of your damn ass and use it for something beside a dildo. Christ on a fucking cracker. Jackass.”

Wufei sighed, this was not going to be good, cursing at the air traffic controllers usually resulted in a reprimand.

None of the crew were surprised to hear Quatre say, over the open channel, “I don’t care what it takes. Either refuel them or prepare for a hot and hard docking. Q.R.W. authorization.”

“Q-man! Thank space monkeys. What do I do?” Duo needed to get permission to damage WEI docking facilities, if he couldn’t get a refuel.

“What ever it takes. I don’t care. Just don’t kill yourselves.” Quatre really didn’t care, he could afford it.

“Ok. Refuel? Or hot?” Duo winked at Heero. Wufei just snickered.

“I’ll see about a refuel. But if you have to come in hard, do what you have to. I’ll speak to the tower. And do something about that misbegotten son of a camel that you’ve been dealing with.” Quatre signed off and went to yell at people.

Duo acknowledged the sign off and cut communication, muttering, “I’ll show him camel. Idiot!”

Wufei held it for a few seconds then laughed so hard he nearly drifted out of his seat. “Duo! I’m scandalized! Really!”

Heero got ready to step into the argument that was sure to arise if Wufei sparked Duo’s temper.

But Duo was made of sterner stuff. “No! Really? Over what? The idiocy of that controller? Or the fact that he’s obviously gotten away with it before? Forms for an emergency refuel? Seriously?” Duo snickered. “Puu-leeeze!”

It turned out that the chief air controller took over all communications. He was an older man, with no nerves. He asked Duo exactly how many pounds of fuel he had, what tanks it was in and what his payload was. After getting the figures, he went off the air for a few minutes. When he got back the first words he said were, “SNAFU. It’s a real cluster fuck. You could come in on what you’ve got, but you’ll damage the dock at the speed you’ll still have. Or, we could refuel you. If we had a tanker. The only one we’ve got is empty and it’ll take 12 hours to get it refilled and hot. That’s being investigated this very minute but it doesn’t help us now. So ... just keep the damage to a minimum. Ok?”

“Gotcha. I’ll do the best I can.” Duo reran his figures. “If it wasn’t for that mecha, we’d be fine. I bet whoever fueled us didn’t take it’s true weight into account. Fuck. But ... we’ll make it. Damage be damed.”

Duo used every trick he’d learned, or invented, while he’d been salvaging alone. It got him a few extra pounds of fuel, via shorting the jets while maneuvering. It was just enough to keep them on course and slowing down properly.

They all knew when the fuel ran out. The first clue was, the sound of the jets coughed a few times then stopped, roaring silence followed. The second clue was Duo’s furious swearing.

“Welp, we’re dry. But, the good news is, we’re pointed in the right direction and ... there’s a tug at hand. Can’t help us slow down, but they can take us in tow if we start drifting. So, brace for crash.” And with that he took the position crudely known as ‘kiss your ass good-bye’.

Because of the lack of belts for the lower limbs, the usual space or nul-grav crash injury was a broken leg. So the crash position was to draw the legs up to the chest and wrap your arms around them. They all did that and waited for the inevitable end to this mess.

It was a bit anticlimactic. The tug managed to get a line on them and slow them down. It broke quickly, but slowed them enough that; while they did hit the dock, the clamps weren’t damaged enough that they failed to close over the docking hooks. The hooks engaged and Duo started shut down procedures. It didn’t matter that the tanks were empty, they still had to be sealed, and other things needed to be done.

There was a clunk as the dock hands connected the utilities. Another crew began to assess the damage. Duo just tossed the data pad on the console and flopped back in his chair. “Well, that went well.”

Heero supplied the rest of that sentiment. “Not.”

Wufei sighed, “Duo, that was some of the most amazing piloting I’ve ever seen. Excellent work.”

“Thanks, man.” Duo rested his head on the head rest and closed his eyes. “I feel like I’ve run ten miles.”

It didn’t take long for the docking crew to unbutton the shuttle and attach the debarkation tube to the side of it. Since there was going to be an investigation into the fuel shortage, the inspectors boarded, rather than having the crew leave the shuttle. Duo just sighed heavily, then grumbled, “This is so not going to be fun. Crap.”

There had always been someone in charge of investigating plane crashes, ship wrecks and so on. In this case the authority was a branch of Preventers called the Incident Investigation Authority. Duo just called them the ‘Crash Cops’.

The three officers entered the ship and took over. Or thought they had. The first request, read demand, was for the ‘black box’, which was neither black nor a box. This Duo unplugged and handed over without protest. The second request was for the ships manifest, the document that told everything about the cargo, ship and passengers.

This was also handed over without comment. But, when they demanded all weapons be turned over to them for automatic destruction, Duo just said in a flat deadly tone, “No.”

The officer demanded, “What?”

Heero just repeated, “No.”

And Wufei added, “Which part of that simple word didn’t you understand, the ’n’ or the ‘o’?”

There was some indignant sputtering then a second officer barked, “You will turn over all weapons or you will be arrested.”

Then the Crash Cops were faced with something that no one had ever seen. Heero, Duo and Wufei all drew their badges and a weapon. They got a good look at the working end of three hand guns and the glittering of three badges, two that said ‘Fugitive Recovery Agent’ and one that said ‘Preventer’. All three of them had the good sense to back down. One of them grumbled, “Well, it’s standard procedure.”

Wufei shook his head at that. “And whose idiot idea was that?” He took a look at their faces and continued, “Never mind, I’ll ask Une.”

This lead to Wufei staying in the cockpit, despite the agents complaints that it wasn’t procedure, and calling Preventer HQ to ask some rather pointed questions. He got answers that satisfied him so he signed off and went to find Duo and Heero.

What he found was a hysterically laughing Duo, leaning against Heero, who looked like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or what. The three Crash Cops were just standing in the huge cargo hold, staring at the recreated Deathscythe Hell. One of them was making whimpering noises.

Wufei snapped, “Will you two quit it? Quatre will have a cow.”

Duo pulled himself together enough to say, “No, he won’t. He’ll just call his research and development people and have that bunch flooded with permits and I don’t know what all. Let’s get the tourists back on track, shall we?”

Wufei shook his head then barked, “Will you get on with it? If you don’t have the common sense to deal with this investigation, I’ll ask Une to assign someone who can.” He was satisfied to see that the men got themselves together. But he nearly scattered their wits again when he added, “Oh, and your commander is up for investigation. Confiscating weapons from ships is ... well, one, illegal without proper paper work that describes the weapon in detail with serial numbers, and two, a really good way to get most sweepers to avoid your station like a plague. Notice that income is going way down?”

All three of the men turned pale at that, one of them took a step to the side and got out his phone. His conversation made him turn red, then white, then red again. He hung up, motioned to his compatriots and announced, “We do our investigation without confiscating anything for any reason. Orders from the top.”

The snarky one demanded, “How far up?”

His chief officer just handed him the phone. He looked at the display, turned white and handed it back. He stormed off to start his download of the black box and other data. The other two officers began their job of matching every box and package to the invoice.

Duo turned to Wufei to ask, “Why are they double checking the cargo manifest?”

Wufei’s answer made sense. “One of the major reasons shuttles run out of fuel is undeclared cargo. So the first thing they’ll do is make sure that all the cargo is on the manifest and the weights are correct. That way they eliminate about two-thirds of the suspects.”

Heero nodded. “Right. And Quatre’s people miss-weighed ... what? That suit is actually lighter than the gundanium original. What else is in the hold?”

Duo got out his personal computer and checked. “The buster rifle. The thermal scythe. Some boxes of thermite for mining purposes. And ... several boxes of personal items.” he shrugged at Wufei’s look. “That’s what it says. Personal Items addressed to Quatre. Probably furniture for the Intisar. And the weights look about right. A little on the heavy side, if you ask me. So ... why we ran out of fuel is rather obvious. All that maneuvering to stay near that ordinance to warn off traffic until the salvagers got there.”

Heero agreed. “Yup, easy-peasy. Unless you’re some bean counting bureaucrat with illusions of grandeur. Spare me.” He rolled his eyes and grumbled about the weird artificial gravity in the landing dock. “And don’t tell me that it’s just the way it is. It’s funky. Someone should do something about it. There’s no ... up or down. Everything’s down.”

Duo agreed. “It is weird. All the deck is down. Everything not deck is up. It’s confusing.”

Wufei nodded. “It is what makes many people ill. Their middle ear just can’t compensate for the oddity. Someone really should do something. I’ll speak to Quatre about it. And make sure that he gives credit where credit is due.”

Heero blinked a couple of times then shrugged and went to check up on the Crash Cops. Who knew what idiocy they’d come up with next.

He stopped to call over his shoulder. “We need to get back with Quatre to find out what he wants done with that suit.”

Duo pulled out his phone calling, “On that.”

It took them nearly three hours to get the Crash Cops satisfied. They really wanted to dismantle the mobile suit. They even called Sanq HQ, only to be told that putting one finger on it would find them fired, sued and in the sights of Shinigami. Since none of them wanted anything to do with any one of the three threats, never mind all three of them, they left.

The mess they left behind was easily cleared away. The papers were just left where they lay, Preventers cleanup would tidy them away. The disaster the men had left in the computers as they moved files around, looking for who knows what, was also easy to deal with. Duo just activated a program he’d written himself that he called simply ‘Tidy’. This program found everything that had been moved, up loaded or down loaded and either put it back where it belonged according to its internal log, deleted it, or warned them of their existence. It then presented a list of everything that had been done from the time mark on.

Duo went over the list, deleted the snoops the Crash Cop had tried to sneak in, made sure that everything was back where it should be, and sent out a virus that deleted anything the cops had taken that wasn’t theirs to take. He also sent a formal complaint to Quatre to do with what he would. Duo was pretty sure Quatre would forward it to Une. This was a great idea, in his opinion, Preventers had enough trouble without an officious pain in the ass bean counter making it worse. But that was just his opinion so he left it up to Quatre.

It took them another hour to do final shutdown and lock up. Wufei grumbled the whole time about how unjust it was that they had to do all this after putting up with a bunch of dishonorable idiots. His sidelong glanced let both Heero and Duo know that it was mostly for show and their amusement. They finally managed to get their docking done and head for their hotel.

.

The hotel manager greeted them himself. Quatre had called ahead and made all the arrangements. Heero stifled a sigh, he hadn’t realized that the hotel was one of the most expensive on the station. Duo poked him in the side. “Shhh. I’ve made up my mind. If Quatre makes the arrangements, we bill it to him. He won’t give a damn.”

“Duo.” Heero’s protest was silenced easily. Duo just kissed him until he gave up.

“Don’t want to hear it. I’ll explain in the room.” Duo nodded to the waiting manager. “Where is it?”

The manager just smiled. “It is not a room. Mister Winner reserved the Presidential Suite. He asked me to tell you that he was paying and that he and Mr. Barton will see you tomorrow. They’re on their way here.”

Heero accepted the key card the manager handed him. “Thanks. We’ll have baggage by tomorrow.”

“I wondered about that. The authorities kept it?” The manager knew exactly what had happened.

This station was just a way point between Earth and the Moon, on the way to the colonies. So it was small, and everyone knew everyone else’s business. The manager was well aware that they’d crashed into the dock. The whole station knew. He was also aware that their luggage was in impound until it could be inspected. Bureaucracy being what it was, he was sure that their luggage was in impound.

Duo grinned at him, one of those wicked, sly smiles that made you check for explosives in the john. “Oh, most of our stuff should be along fairly soon. It’s just ... we don’t need to deal. We’ll let Quatre deal.”

Wufei sighed. “Maxwell, you are pure evil.”

“You betcha. Let Quatre loose on those idiots, I’m bushed.” And, with that, Duo opened the door to their suite and ambled in. Heero and Wufei just followed, leaving the manager to breathe a sigh of relief. He’d been sure that at least one of the young men would throw a fit of some sort, over something. He was never to know that Trowa Barton, in the person of Quatre Winner’s personal assistant, did the fit throwing. And at the proper people. The luggage showed up about half an hour after the guests did. He had it delivered by a bellman who bragged about the tip for years.

.

They had to stay on the station for three days, while Preventers carried out their investigation. Even Une couldn’t speed the process much. But she did make it clear that neither Duo nor Heero nor Wufei were responsible for the fuel problem.

While they waited, they moved the gundam from the shuttle to a dedicated, launch capable ship.

This was interesting, and fun.

Duo watched as a crew pulled the recumbent gundam out of the cargo hold and maneuvered it to a gantry. He had offered to just stand it up and walk it but no one wanted to take the chance. He’d poked Heero in the ribs and asked, “And how the hell do they think we got them on and off those flatbeds?”

Heero shrugged. “No idea. They just follow protocol like ... the blind leading the blind. Just let them do their thing. Then tell Quatre that, as we’ve taken possession of the mecha, no one else is allowed to move it. And no one is allowed to mechanic it without our express permission. And oversight.” He smirked at Duo who grinned maniacally back.

Quatre appeared just as the crew was trying, unsuccessfully to get the gantry in position to lift the gundam upright. Something that it wasn’t designed to do.

His shout of, “Stop right now!” froze everyone in their tracks. When Quatre yelled, everyone listened. “I want the crew chief, here, now!” Quatre pointed to a spot right in front of him.

The chief hurried over and stood before his boss. Quatre looked the burly man up and down then asked, in that dangerously quiet way of his, “Now, will you please explain two things to me? One, why are you ignoring the advice of the man who piloted and maintained the gundam that this is a copy of? And why are you over stressing a gantry that was never intended to move the mass of that gundam.”

The chief blinked then sneered, “Because ...” he held up one finger. “The pilot isn’t here yet.” he held up another finger. “The gantry is meant to move that mecha.”

Quatre just hid his eyes in one palm. “You’re an idiot ... without a job. Go, clean out your desk, locker, what ever and get.” he pointed to the exit and waited.

Duo slipped up behind the man and whispered, “Best get ta gettin’. He’s not happy. And neither am I. And I am the original pilot of Deathscythe Hell. Of whom that...” he pointed to the suit. “is an exact copy.” He looked over the crew chief’s shoulder to Quatre to ask, “Or is that who? I’m never exactly sure.”

Quatre waved that away as not important. “I don’t know either. Go ... take care of things. I’ll just stand here and watch. And snicker.” he glanced around. “Where’s Trowa.”

Heero pointed. “Over there. Keeping some idiot from getting us all killed.” He gestured in the general direction of the main motors of the gantry. “I think he’s over heated something.”

Duo snorted, “Yeah. Me. I’m gonna kill the lot of them before this is all said and sifted. Come on.” He grabbed Heero by the shoulder and dragged him off in the direction of the unhappy whining sounds and smell of burning insulation muttering imprecations under his breath.

Quatre settled back with his hands in his pockets to watch the fireworks.

Duo just shook his head. “Ok, gundam suit.” He rubbed his face as every one on the crew headed for the gundam. “Not that one. Mine, the one I wear in the gundam so I don’t suffocate or something.

Several old timers, standing in the shadows, watching, snickered. Duo pointed to them. “Yeah, yuck it up. Get over here and do something useful.” They all moved to stations they had occupied during the war and got Duo into his vacuum suit.

Then Duo climbed onto the suit and got into the cockpit.

This was more difficult than you’d expect as the suit was flat on its back. It was meant to be piloted in nul-grav, or from an upright position. This meant that Duo was flat on his back in the suit and had to stand it up.

Servomotors whined, unidentified things twanged and groaned. And Deathscythe Hell Mark II stood up. This was when the scientific crew realized that they really did have a machine of war on their hands. The old hands just cheered.

Duo walked the suit to the gantry and stepped back into the clamps. He activated the clamps which closed over its limbs. He started the shutdown sequence, announcing over the loud hailing system. “Starting shut down now. And the next time I find that this suit has been left in standby, I’ll shoot someone.”

Quatre just snickered at the wide eyed expressions on the scientists faces. “I don’t want to hear that this has happened again either. And, as of now, Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy are in charge of that suit and all the research on it.” He whirled on them both and barked, “And I do not want to hear any excuses of how you can’t.”

Duo’s laugh over the loud hail was a blast from the past. Heero just stepped back a step, hands held up in a warding gesture. “Don’t look at me like that. What ever you say.” He laughed heartily at the expressions on most of the research crew’s faces.

The whine of the zip line lowering Duo to the deck broke the staring contest.

Heero grinned. “That was great. Walks good in artificial G. How about space?”

Duo shrugged. “I really want to make sure that he’s tight.”

One of the scientists corrected the ‘boy’. “She. All ships are she.”

Duo just curled his lip in a sneer. “Teach your Mom to suck eggs, do you?” He pointed to Deathscythe. “Suit.” He pointed to the shuttle. “Ship. Notice the difference? Ships are she, but suits are he. Go do something useful.”

Trowa, who’d been standing by watching the fun in silence and taking names, frankly howled. Quatre giggled behind his hand.

Heero watched this and made his decision. They’d stayed on Earth for several years, built a thriving business and had a happy home. But they’d both been restless lately. A restlessness that both recognized but couldn’t identify. Now, he knew, they needed a change of scenery. At least for a while. He’d have Trowa make arrangements to close up the house, or rent it, or something. He’d know what was best to do. They were staying with Quatre, working on this new suit project, until they were both bored with it, then they’d move on to something else. Or go back to Earth and re-establish themselves.

Duo wandered over to Quatre and smiled. “Well, well. This is nice.”

Wufei shook his head. “What?”

“All of us are in one place for the first time in ... not sure how long. It’s nice.” Duo nodded in the general direction of Deathscythe. “How many of those are you going to make? And how are you going to slip them by Preventers?”

“One for each of us. And I don’t have to slip them by Preventers. I’m simply going to explain that they’re not gundams as they’re not made of gundanium. And I’m going to make these suits much more versatile. They’re ostensibly for salvage operations. And they will be used for exactly that. I’m going to have to clear out a huge volume of space for a project. The clearance is projected to take about ten years. After that, I’ll have to examine my options again. The clearance, however, has to be done. That’s where that last ordinance came from.” he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “No one is sure how that stuff is getting out of quarantine, but it is. And it’s dangerous. So ... that means we take care of it.” He grinned happily. “But, for now, we make suits.”

Duo just gave Heero that look that begged without him saying anything. Heero smiled back, “Ok, you can have your toy. Put away that look.”

“Thanks, man. I love you.” Duo hugged Heero. “I was gettin’ awful restless. Bad.”

“I know. So was I. I love Earth, but I’m space to the bone.”

Duo nodded. “I know exactly what you mean, me too. So. House?”

Heero pointed to Trowa via a jerk of his head. “He’ll deal.”

“Jobs?” Duo didn’t really want to have to go back to deal with this.

“No prob. Notify all the bondsmen that we’re working for Winner for the foreseeable future. No need to tell them on what.” Heero waited for the next quibble.

Duo just sighed. “Ok, I think that’s all the stuff we need to deal with. I’ll send out notifications from my address book. Anything you can think of?”

Heero thought for a second. “No. If I come up with anything, I’ll tell Trowa or deal with it myself. Now ... where will we live?”

Quatre answered that one. “For now, on the Intisar. Later ... a ship of your own. Duo, have you kept up your pilots license?”

Duo gave him a look, then said, “You know I have. How else could I get that shuttle off ground?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Quatre looked at him with amusement. “There’s ways.”

“Evil, evil. That’s what you are, Winner. As if.” Duo smirked at Quatre, who gave him that super innocent ‘who me?’ look that didn’t fool the pilots. “Man, put that look away. You can’t fool me. You’ve got something planned that we’re all going to love but it’s gonna give Preventers and Une fits.”

“I do? Me? You must be thinking of my older, evil twin.” Quatre looked so satisfied with himself that Trowa smacked him on the shoulder. “Ow!”

They all laughed companionably.

Wufei waited until they were all calmed a bit to say, “And I’m oversight. Believe it or not.”

Heero blinked at Wufei for a moment then snickered, “Oversight? You? Where’s the justice in that?”

This led to Wufei launching himself at Heero, who took off at a dead run. Wufei chased Heero around the docking bay for a while, with all the civilians watching in confusion. The suit personnel just ignored them in favor of getting signed up with the dock master. This job was going to pay way too well to miss out on. Beside the amusement factor of Gundam Pilot vs. scientific research and development.

Heero dodged Wufei and ducked behind Duo. Wufei went one way, Duo went another and that resulted in Wufei tagging Heero. Duo called a halt to the foolishness by saying, “Heero, knock it off. Chang, you too. We need to make arrangements if we’re going to stay here.”

Wufei just shrugged, “Already made mine. You might want to get on the ball, though.”

It didn’t take Duo and Heero long to get all the necessary arrangements done, mainly because they dumped them all off on Trowa. Trowa just smiled slightly, ducked his head and wandered off to deal with things. After all, there was no use having one of the most well respected housekeeping companies in the solar system, if you didn’t use it. They’d have the house, cars and anything else, cleaned and sealed; ready for occupancy in 48 hours notice. He had all their clothing and any equipment dealing with bounty hunting, weapons and so on, packed up and shipped to the Intisar. Who knew what they might want and having your own equipment on hand was worth the effort.

After dealing with the arrangements on Earth, Trowa dealt with arrangements on the ship. This was necessary as some of the quarters hadn’t been more than cleaned out since Quatre had repossessed his ship from his idiot sister. That meant that Trowa had to get furniture into the rooms. He knew which quarters Quatre would want his friends in, so that was good. Trowa also was well aware of the tastes of his friends. The only problem was, Chang actually didn’t favor the homogenized oriental style popular for the last century or so. He liked a simple style called, horrifically enough, Neo-Modern Danish. Simple shapes, comfortably padded, with metallic trim, glass and steel side tables and knick-knack shelves. Heero and Duo didn’t much care as long as it was comfortable. He settled on the same style for them, that made it easy to get furniture into the ship quickly. He signed off his phone and told Quatre, “All arrangements are made. Now what?”

Quatre shrugged, “I’m hungry. You?”

“Starved. Heero? Duo?” His call made them look his way. “Hungry? Chang?”

Wufei nodded. “I could eat.”

So they all trooped off, headed for a restaurant that Quatre liked, leaving the crew and scientists to deal with each other as best they could. Quatre announced as they walked out the door, “Why no, Duo, I don’t believe there will be any problems here. At least there had better not be.” just loudly enough that the whole bay could hear him.

Duo gave him a look then snickered, “Mean.”

They went into the restaurant, to be greeted by a hostess who nearly groveled before Quatre. He just asked, politely, “We don’t have a reservation. Will that be a problem?”

She shook her head. “Oh, no, sir. I’ll just give you the owners private table. He’s on Earth for a week, so he won’t mind. Please ... this way.” She made a graceful motion with one hand, clutching menus in the other.

“Thank you, that will be more than adequate.”

They settled into their seats and examined the menu. It was a rather simple thing, which impressed the whole group much more that some elaborate, unpronounceable thing meant to impress the ignorant and overly sophisticated. The upper levels of society had favored a simpler style for years now.

This menu was divided into fish, red meat, fowl; two dishes each; and vegetables. There were three appetizers, which you were served according to what you chose as a main. Each main came with wine, as did the desert. There was a choice of non-alcoholic drinks, such as coffee, tea, juice drinks and such, for those who didn’t drink.

It didn’t take long for them to make their choices. The waiter just stood and listened as Heero explained what he wanted. When he turned to Wufei he got a bit of a surprise. Wufei handed him a pen and small tablet, saying, “Here. Write it down. I do not care for this affectation of not writing down orders. If the manager says anything to you tell him this: Rule number one is, the customer is always right. Rule number two, if the customer is wrong, see rule number one.”

The waiter just bowed slightly took the pen and pad and started writing. “And how would sir like his steak?”

They finished their orders and watched the waiter walk away, pad in hand, muttering to himself.

Duo nodded his satisfaction. “I bet they issue pads to every waiter now. We’re all just picky enough that we change half the dishes in some way.”

Heero scrunched up his nose. “I don’t understand why I should eat fresh tomatoes, when they upset my stomach; or why Wufei should feel shorted, when he’s used to twice the amount of rice they usually serve. Nor does it make sense to me that the waiter doesn’t write my order down. It avoids all sorts of mistakes.”

Quatre waved a hand in a negligent way that Duo dubbed ‘totally gay’, and said, “It’s the fashion just now. I don’t like it either. I think I’ll get several of those little pads and hand them out. And ... Trowa. Call the head of my restaurant division and tell him that that particular silliness is to be stopped in any of my establishments at once.”

“Right. Now, or after lunch, dinner. Which meal is this?” Trowa frowned at his data pad for a moment. “This damn thing isn’t telling me.”

Duo plucked it out of his hands. “Let me.” He poked at it for a moment. “Ok, here’s the problem. The station is on 24 hour schedules with three shifts. So meals are ... a bit iffy. Just order whatever meal your internal clock says you should be eating. This restaurant is on second shift time table. So ... dinner.”

Wufei sneered, “I’m so relieved. I’d hate to order lunch when I should have ordered dinner.” He was a bit irritated with the whole meal thing right now. If one more person offered him tofu, he was getting out his sword. Contrary to popular belief, not every Chinese person liked it. As far as he was concerned, it was good; if it was prepared in certain ways. But the way they usually fixed it in space was to mash it and add something intended to hide its taste, or lack there of.

“Cranky Dragon?” Heero eyed Wufei.

Wufei took this as an opportunity to explain exactly why he wasn’t happy. At length.

No one interrupted him. They were all used to his ways, and happy to listen to him when he needed them to.

When the food came, it was perfect. The waiter winked saucily at Wufei and waggled the pad. He started to offer it back to Wufei, but he just smirked and said, “Keep it. My treat.”

They finished their meal with coffee, cheesecake and brandy.

As they were finishing their meal, Heero smirked at Quatre and said, “Well, next time we take a va...” He didn’t get any farther.

Duo slapped a hand over his mouth, and hissed, “Do. Not. Say. That. Word.”

Heero, unhurt by Duo’s gentle swat, let his eyes do the smiling. He gripped Duo’s hand, easily moving it away from his face. “Vacation.”

Duo took his hand back and slapped both of them over his ears. “Can’t hear you.”

Wufei just nodded wisely. “You really shouldn’t poke him, Heero. He’ll come up with some spacer luck thing.”

Duo snorted indignantly, “Will not! There’s no spacer luck about a rotten vacation. But, I swear, I’m never planning one again.”

Heero thought about that for a moment. “Ok, how will we figure out where we want to go, if we don’t plan anything?”

“We’ll just jump in our ship, a car, on a train ... or whatever, and go.” Duo sipped his coffee happily. “But for right now, why don’t we just say ... There’s no Spacers Luck in a vacation.” He smirked at his friends as they all groaned.

Names of family
Dad - Dan Landers- blond - blue eyes
Mom - Alice - blond - brown eyes
Son #1 - Jim - sun bleached light brown - blue
Son #2 - Clark - same
Girlfriend #1 - Kim Sanders - blond - brown
GF #2 - Emmie Malone - multi color - green via contacts

Chopper group/guides (no last names)
Pilot - Phil
Co-pilot - Nathan
Navigator/guide - Charlie

Quatre’s yacht is named Intisar (triumph)

 

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