Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Duo's Dilemma ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer - It's not mine. Never was.

--------------------

Duo's Dilemma

Chapter 9

Secrets Revealed

--------------------

"You okay over there, Bella?" Duo asked when they finally got away from the office building and into the traffic leaving the central business district. The woman had remained utterly silent ever since sending her vice-president back into the building with orders to pull the tech specialist out of her own office to help clean up the mess. She had stared out of the slightly tinted window of the SUV and watched as the scenery passed by on the way back to the plantation.

The apparent attack on her office building had scared her, that much was easy to see. But what had him so confused was the way she had just. For lack of a better description. Shut herself off from the people around her. His only consolation that she hadn't turned into a statue was the way her hand was resting on her lower abdomen, tapping slightly as they passed out of the city and into the less densely populated suburban areas surrounding New Orleans. "Bella?"

"Yes?" she answered, her voice hollow and right on the verge of cracking.

"I know this is a stupid question, but are you okay?" he asked.

"You want the truth, or you want me to lie to ya'?" she said simply, still not facing him.

"Truth would be nice."

"No, I'm not okay."

"You wanna tell me what this is all about?" he asked

"Not particularly." she answered. "And you don't need to worry yourself. What just happened in there has absolutely nothing to do with Relena."

"And you know this, how?"

"I just know it."

The rest of the trip to the plantation house was in silence. And when they arrived back, Senator Covington and his wife were the first to meet them, along with Relena. Duo got out of the vehicle and caught Heero's eyes, nodding in his direction in acknowledgement while Bella spoke quietly with her father in rapid French. Apparently whatever was being discussed between the father and daughter was not to be heard by the others present. After a few moments, Kenneth Covington leaned down and murmured something into his wife's ear, causing the woman to nod. Before Duo could get around the vehicle, and Relena could get to Belladonna to see if she was alright, the eldest daughter had pushed her way past everyone and into the house with her father right behind her.

"What is going on, Mrs. Covington?" Relena asked, turning to the slight woman in front of her. "What's wrong with Belladonna?"

"I'm afraid I don't have the rights to answer that question, Miss Relena." the older woman said, shaking her head sadly. "You'll have to ask her yourself." Relena seemed flustered with not being able to get an answer, and went inside to see if there was something she could do to help her school time friend. Mrs. Covington followed behind her, not exactly knowing what to do.

"What happened Maxwell?" Heero questioned his subordinate immediately.

"Her office was completely destroyed." Duo said, rubbing his head in confusion. "The place was trashed. And someone decided to leave her a lot of nasty little words painted all over the walls."

"Words?" Wufei asked. "What kind of words?"

"Regular words, 'Fei." he said. "None of them were too pretty. I can tell you that much."

"Did it look like a stalker's work?" Heero asked.

"Not really." Duo answered. "Whomever it was knew their way around. And could get into the building without any trouble. Nothing was stolen, according to the vice-president guy. It was just trashed." The three men's attention was quickly drawn back to the entrance to the large house when Bella came out of it, caring a large duffle bag as well as her bag for her laptop and talking on her cell phone to someone.

"Yeah, I know. I will. Bye." Bella flipped the phone shut and popped the hatch to her SUV, throwing the duffle bag and her laptop bag in the back. By the time she got it shut, her father was standing at the front door, a frown on his face, and his head shaking.

"Where you going, Bella?" Duo asked, watching as she walked over to her father and gave him a hug, whispering something in his ear. She turned back around and walked down the steps towards her vehicle. "Bella?"

"I'm getting out of here before I get anyone else killed." she said firmly, opening the door to her SUV and sliding in, buckling herself into the seat and starting the engine.

"What are you babbling about, woman?" Wufei asked, pinning her with a glare that would rival Heero's own at times. "No one's dead."

"And I intend on keeping it that way." she growled, getting ready to pull out of the driveway until Margureite came walking out of the house with a cordless phone in her hands and waiving for Bella to wait. Belladonna glared at her younger sister and stepped out of her vehicle, taking the phone and listening to whomever was on the other line. No words were uttered from Bella, but everyone present could see how she paled considerably before handing her step-sibling the phone and leaning up against the door for support.

The sisters began to converse in French, and Duo shook his head, wondering why they couldn't just talk in English. However, he wasn't given much time to contemplate when a ringing slap was heard, and all four men in the yard looked up to see a grim face on Belladonna and a startled and angered Margureite standing in front of her, holding her cheek as it turned red.

"Belladonna!" her father called, the warning evident in his voice. "Do not hit your sister!"

"This little bitch isn't my sister." she said, glaring at Margureite one last time before climbing in and settling herself down to leave. "She's a jealous little girl who gets angry when things don't go her way."

"Belladonna..." her fathered warned. "Now is not the time."

"You know where to find me, daddy." the angered older woman said. "I'll call when I get there." And with that, she was pulling out of the driveway of the large estate.

Heero looked over the situation, trying to piece together what had just happened in front of him. He frowned when he noticed the slight smile on Marguerite’s face, although it was hidden slightly by her hand. Covington did not look all that happy. And his other two Preventors looked just as confused about what had just happened as he was.

"Mr. Covington, where's she going?" Duo asked, slightly confused. "Shouldn't she have some sort of protection after what just happened this morning?"

"She will have, Mr. Maxwell." he said wearily.

"Where's she going?" Wufei asked.

"She's going home." Margureite said spitefully. "About damned time too."

"You mean she's going back to her house?" Heero asked.

"No, Mr. Yuy." Senator Covington said. "She's going back to where she grew up."

"Which is?" Duo asked, waiting for the older man to expound on the explanation.

"Outer space." he said sadly. "She's going back to L2."

---------------------

That evening, Relena was more than just restless, she was worried to death. After a subdued dinner, everyone had went their separate ways. Margureite had tried to coerce her into going shopping in the French Quarter and then going to see a movie, but she had declined; telling her that she was tired and only wanted to go to sleep. It seemed as though things were completely thrown off course with Belladonna's sudden departure earlier that day. Heero and Wufei were on edge because they couldn't find out what had happened to cause the usually vibrant woman to react so suddenly; Duo was broody because of Marguerite’s unwanted attention; and Mr. and Mrs. Covington were pacing the floors. The only person that seemed relatively normal was Margureite.

Fortunately, the two eldest Covington's finally calmed down later that evening when the phone rang, and Bella apparently assured them that things were okay where she was. Relena did not get to talk to her at all, but she was glad to hear that she was alright. Later, Relena had managed to con Heero into getting a hold of Sally back at Preventors Headquarters and getting her to dig up more information on Belladonna so they could try and find out what was going on. Sally promised to do what she could, then get back in touch with them within the next forty-eight hours.

The next day, Relena and Senator Covington sat through meetings and councils for the majority of the time they were at the Peace Summit. When they got home, everyone was cranky, even Heero. Dinner had been pizza and soft drinks. It seemed like everyone was in a depressed state with Belladonna gone. Duo had managed to get his hands on the information from the police about the break in at Belladonna's office building, and had showed a copy of the pictures of the damage to Heero, Relena, and Wufei.

Heero was still overly concerned that this was somehow related to the attack on Covington's house a few days before, and tried once again to talk Relena into leaving. Unfortunately for the stubborn Preventor, the Vice Foreign Minister was still not willing to budge from her spot. Relena did agree to leave should something else happen to her, but she was not going to leave just because Heero had a hunch that something was going to happen.

Duo was probably the worst of all of them, save Mr. and Mrs. Covington. With Belladonna's departure, the poor guy had been subjected to Marguerite’s constant attention any time they were in the same room, and it started the minute Belladonna had left. It finally got to the point where Duo told her to get lost and leave him alone. But Margureite was nothing, if not persistent. Duo was ready to snap without Belladonna there to run interference for him from her younger sister.

Luckily, they got a call from Sally right before they were getting ready for bed on Tuesday evening. The timing could not have been any better, because Relena and Senator Covington had just found out that Bella's Board of Directors had withdrawn their funding and backing for quite a number of suggested large projects the Summit delegates were to discuss. Unfortunately, without his own daughter's backing, Kenneth Covington had had a hard time arguing his case to his opponents. Senator Covington had not seemed surprised at the change in events, and that had left Relena suspicious that he knew something but was not telling them.

Heero had transferred the call to the vidcam in Covington's office and gathered Relena, Duo and Wufei to hear the news.

"What did you find, Sally?" Heero asked, sitting down in a nearby chair across from Wufei. "Anything that can be useful as to what is going on around this place?"

"Not really." the blonde woman answered with a sigh. "But I did turn up some dates that matched those two you gave me, Duo. Surprisingly enough, they do have something to do with Covington's daughter. But two of the three names you gave me, Christopher and Justin, never show up once. The name Gaylan shows up plenty, though."

"Give us what you got." Relena said seriously.

"Well, it seems that Belladonna Saucier was involved in an accident about two years ago." Sally said, reading from a folder of information. "It happened March 14, A.C. 199 right outside of New Orleans. Apparently, she was with a friend, and they were driven off the road by another vehicle, and straight into oncoming traffic. There were three fatalities, and one woman was put into a coma."

"You got the names of the ones that died?" Wufei asked.

"Yeah." Sally answered, flipping to another page of the folder. "The guy driving was Joseph Gaylan. He was a Preventor with the New Orleans branch, but hadn't been working there for very long. Another was Justin Bienville. He was a marketing analyzer with SouthTech Corp. But I haven't been able to find out the third."

"What about the girl who was put into a coma?" Duo asked.

"Maria Sanchez." Sally said. "She and the Bienville guy were the ones that were responsible for running Ms. Saucier and the other guy off the road. She was in a coma for a little over three months before she died on June 22nd, A.C. 199. The only thing that has me confused is the fact that this story was never released to the public. It was written up and put in the paper, but later taken out. One copy was printed and given to the editor to go over, but he took the story out. No reason is given as to why."

"What were the causes of death?" Duo asked. "Did you get your hands on the coroner's reports?"

"Of course." Sally said. "Bienville died instantly of a broken neck and spine. Gaylan had massive internal hemorrhaging, and bled to death on the scene. Bienville and Sanchez's blood alcohol levels were slightly above legal as well. Saucier walked away with a number of cuts, bruises, and broken bones, as well as a major concussion. Other than that, her alcohol level was right at what is legal in Louisiana. So she wasn't clinically drunk. Gaylan had just a light trace in his system, not nearly enough to inebriate him though."

"Any connection between the group of them?" Wufei asked. "Did they know each other?"

"Apparently Gaylan and Ms. Saucier had been dating for a while." Sally said, referring to the report in her hands. "The Bienville guy was tied into them through Saucier's younger sister, Margureite. Apparently she had been dating his older brother Phillip when he was killed. As for the Sanchez girl, I haven't figured out where she fits into all of this yet. But I do know that her father is one of the delegates at the Summit Meeting."

"Manuel Sanchez?" Heero guessed, remembering that he was the one who had vetoed some proposal Relena had written for the meetings before they had ever gotten to the United States.

"Yep." she said. "Good guess."

"You have anything else for us?" Duo asked. "Like where she's headed right now?"

"Well, I ran through the databases at the shuttle ports near New Orleans like you asked, and found out that your girl is headed to the L4 colony cluster for two weeks, then heading to L2." Sally said. "As for what she's doing there, I don't know."

"Is there anything in either of the colony clusters related to her job?" Heero asked. "Refining plants, storage facilities, stuff like that?"

"There's a research lab on L4 that works under her corporation. Most everything else around the place is Quatre's domain." Sally said. "And as for L2, there is a refining plant on one of the outer resource satellites that is owned and operated under the SaucierCorp. name. It says here that L2 is her home colony cluster anyways. Maybe she plans on laying low for a while. Letting things blow over, you know."

"This still doesn't explain why she ran." Duo said. "There's more to this. There's got to be."

"I agree." Relena said. "Bella's never been the type to just up and run. She's not afraid to fight."

"Sally, see what else you can turn up about that other fatality." Heero said.

"I'll see what I can do, Heero." she said.

"Keep us posted." Duo said.

"Will do. Sally, out." Sally's face disappeared from the screen and Duo flipped the monitor off with a gruff growl.

"Lot of good that did." he mumbled.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Wufei answered solemnly. "Although there is still more unanswered questions."

"There's nothing else we can do for the night." Heero said. "We'll see what else we can dig up tomorrow after the Summit Meetings. Maxwell, take your position outside for the watch. The rest of us are going to get some rest." The group said their goodnights, and parted ways once again. Duo was still more than a little angry at Belladonna, and wished he could talk to her and see what was going on.

Apparently his wish was heard by some higher being, and his cell phone rang a few hours into his nighttime patrol of the grounds. When he looked at the number and didn't recognize it, Duo immediately suspected it was Hilde.

"Maxwell." he said, his eyes absently scanning the grounds around him for any signs of intruders.

"Well, don't you sound all cheerful." came an amused voice from the other end of the line. "Hello to you too, Duo."

"Who is this?" Duo asked, a frown on his face as his mind ran the voice he was hearing through his head.

"I'm hurt, Maxwell." the woman pouted. "I've only been gone two days, and you've forgotten me already."

"Bella?" he questioned, not believing his luck. "That you? How'd you get this number?"

"Took you long enough." she laughed. "I figured you would see the new number and think I was Hilde or something."

"The thought did cross my mind." he conceded, a small frown on his face as he took a seat on the porch swing at the front of the house. "What's going on? Where are you at?"

"Currently, I am en route to the L4 colony cluster." she said with a sigh. "How's everything down there?"

"Quiet as a mouse." Duo said. "Nothing out of the ordinary at all. In fact, I think Yuy is getting paranoid because things are so quiet."

"Is Relena okay? Can I talk to her?"

"Princess is fine." Duo said. "But she's sleeping right now. It's a little after one in the morning here."

"Oh, I didn't realize. Sorry about that." Bella said sincerely. "I kinda forget the time when I've been in space for a while."

"I know the feeling." Duo said, remembering the countless days and nights he had spent in space when he still piloted his beloved Deathscythe. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why'd you leave?" Duo asked. "Everyone down here is worried sick, especially your parents."

"Everyone?" she asked. "I have a hard time believing that one."

"Well don't. Even Wufei is all grumpy without having anyone to argue with." Duo said grimly. "Relena is worried sick about you, which puts Heero in a bad mood. And have I mentioned the way that guy acts when he's in a bad mood? It ain't pretty, I'll tell you that much. I just got my head back on straight after he bit it off and spit it out somewhere in the back yard. And I don't feel like losing it again."

"What about Margureite?" Bella asked. "What's she doing?"

"Annoying the holy hell out of me." Duo grumbled. "Is she really that dense, or is she just acting that way 'cause she thinks it's cute?"

"Well, if I told you she was acting, I'd be lying to you." Bella said. "I'm sorry, Duo. I really am. But..I've got some things I need to take care of before I get back to Earth."

"When do you plan on coming back?" Duo asked.

"Probably a few weeks after the Summit Meeting ends." she said. "Things will have cooled down by then. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. I was just wondering what's making you run so suddenly." Duo said. "You don't seem like a person who just ups and leaves when things get tough."

"Things, Duo." she answered. "Just some things that I don't want to deal with right now."

"You mean you aren't gonna tell me?" Duo whined playfully, a grin on his face even though she couldn't see it. "Come on! I'm a good guy. You can trust me. Scout's honor!" He heard Belladonna laugh and could almost see her shaking her head at his antics.

"I can't see you as a boy scout." she said after finally getting control of herself.

"That's beside the point." he said, waving it off. "Besides, Relena wants to know if there is any way she can help you. I'm telling you, the last time she was this worried, Heero had taken off on some mission and she hadn't heard from him for over two weeks!"

"Can you get Relena to call me tomorrow after she gets back from the meetings?" Bella asked. "I'd like to talk to her, but I can't risk calling the house. I should be at my hotel by then."

"Why not?"

"Margureite." she said.

"You think your own sister has something to do with what happened at your office?" Duo asked.

"I have a hunch." Bella said. "And a strong one at that."

"She's one of the ones who knew what the dates on the wall would mean, huh?" he asked. "The day you wrecked, and the day that Sanchez girl died, right?" There was a few moments of silence, and Duo realized that he'd opened his mouth and put his foot in it. "Bella?"

"How'd you know about that?" she asked quietly.

"We looked it up from the old newspapers." he said. "Princess wanted to find out what she could in case you needed any help."

"That information was not supposed to be printed. And I really wish you wouldn't have been digging in that stuff." she said stonily. "Some of that is personal, very personal."

"I know. I know." he said. "But Princess wanted to know what was happening. And since no one else was up to giving any information out, we had to find out ourselves what was going on."

"Duo, yours, Heero's, and Wufei's job is to keep Relena safe." Belladonna said simply. "Not go digging into stuff that happened to me two years ago. And you can't be focusing all your attention on Relena's safety if ya'll are compiling dirt on me."

"We didn't mean to pry." Duo said. A grumble was heard on the other end of the line that sounded suspiciously like 'And what the hell were you doing? Looking for some light evening reading?' , and Duo winced. "Okay, well maybe we were, but still.... By the way, who was that third fatality? Bienville and Gaylan were named, but we couldn't find a name for the third person who died in that accident." He heard a sharp intake of breath from the woman and wondered if he'd just done some major irreparable damage. "Bella, who was it? Why weren't they named?" The other end of the phone remained utterly silent, and Duo was beginning to think that she had hung up on him. But Bella finally broke the silence after a few more pregnant moments of awkwardness, her voice strained and on the verge of cracking.

"Duo, listen to me, please." she said. "I haven't known you that long. What's it been? Two weeks, give or take a few days, since you guys got to the States?"

"About." Duo said, wondering how this related to the question he had just asked her.

"Exactly. Like I said, things happen in that blasted town that no one needs to know about." Belladonna said. "Most of the people in high positions around the city have done some nasty things to get there. Hell, even the mayor has a rap record half a mile long!"

"You're kidding me?"

"No, I'm not." she said. "But the thing is, the majority of the people in the city don't know how crooked and corrupt their so called 'civil leaders' are."

"You say this like you know it for a fact."

"Corporate espionage happens to be one of my more favorite hobbies." she said saucily. "It's good to know who not to piss off around there."

"But what have they got on you?" Duo asked. "Your record came back clean when we ran you through Preventor's databases." He could hear a slight chuckle in the background and wondered what she found so funny.

"I came back clean, did I?" she asked. "Well, imagine that."

"Why do I get the feeling you're hiding something from us?" Duo growled, growing impatient with the woman he was talking to. "Something that we need to know."

"Don't get your britches in a twist, Maxwell." Bella answered. "I'm not hiding anything illegal if that is what you're worried about. My dealings with my company are completely legit. You could search all day, audit every part of the business and you'll never find one thing to get me on. It's clean, and if you don't believe me, go check yourself. Hell, I'll even give you the passwords to find the records, not that you'd need them anyways."

"Cool your jets, Belle." Duo said. "I wasn't accusing you of anything. We just wanted to know why you're running if you've got nothing to hide."

"I've got nothing to hide from anyone as far as my corporation goes." she said, sighing slightly. "It's just some things that happened that I don't want to have to face."

"So it's something personal?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you are too damned inquisitive for your own good?" she asked, "Not to mention too damned observant."

"It's a gift."

"Hmph. That's one thing to call it." she grumbled.

"It is." Duo said. "And does this have anything to do with your Board of Directors pulling their funding and backing from a couple of the projects that are to be presented at the Summit meetings for discussion? You do realize that little action on your part left a lot of people in a tough spot today during the arguments."

"Like I said, you're too damned observant." she mumbled. "Look, Duo, just get Relena to call me sometime tomorrow, okay. Just tell her to make sure Margie isn't around."

"You really think your sister has something to do with this don't you?"

"Yes. I do."

"No family love between you two, is there?"

"You're just now figuring this out?" she asked. "I thought it was quite apparent with the amount of tension in one room anytime we were within yelling range of each other."

"But she's your sister!"

"Doesn't matter." Bella said. "I know a guy who turned his father into the police on embezzlement charges just to get his hands on the family company. His dad wound up with a life sentence in the state pen because his son got greedy and power hungry. Besides, Margie is not as...innocent...as she'd like to make you think she is."

"This is one screwed up town." Duo muttered.

"Tell me something I don't know, hun." Bella said. "Anyhow, I've got to go. There's some paperwork I need to go over before tomorrow and I want to get it done before I go to sleep. You'll give 'Lena my message right?"

"Yeah. I'll tell her." Duo said. "One question though."

"I'm all ears."

"Why did you tell me this?" Duo asked. "You said yourself I just met you two weeks ago."

"Well, considering you are guarding possibly the most important figurehead in our world while she's stuck in the middle of a city with the world's probably most corrupt politicians, I figured you had the right to." Bella said simply. "That and the fact that Relena trusts you, so it's okay with me. I figure if you've gained her trust then you can't be all bad, right?"

"Thanks for that wonderful vote of confidence in me." Duo said dryly. "I'm touched, really I am. But how do you know I'm not some psycho terrorist whose just playing the part of a faithful Preventor in order to get closer to Princess before I assassinate her?"

"Because Heero hasn't killed you yet." she deadpanned. "That's why."

"Point taken." Duo said, scratching his head. "I hadn't thought of that one."

"Well, cover all your bases next time." Bella said, a slight hint of teasing in her voice as the connection began to cackle with interference.

"You still there, Bella?"

"Yes, but we're going through something that's cutting the connection." Bella's broken voice said. "Get 'Lena to call me later on, Duo. Please? I need to talk to...."

"Bella? Bella? Hey, can you hear me?" he asked, only to receive no answer to his inquiry. "Well, I guess not." The braided Preventor only shook his head and stood up from the swing, going back to his rounds after a few more minutes of internal contemplation and running his and Bella's conversation through his head.

He seriously wondered why he was so concerned about the young woman's well being. Like she had pointed out, his job was to protect Relena, not concern himself with her. But something on the inside of him kept telling him that Bella needed more monitoring that Relena did. Now, he knew he was not one to worry un-necessarily about other people. He had gotten used to being worried about Hilde not long after they had started dating after the war, but most of that was centered around his concern of her infidelity.. But when they had broken up, he had told himself that he was not going to get involved with another woman for a long time.

Now, he found himself concerned about some woman who he'd known less than two weeks, and who obviously was on the run from some demons from her own past.

"Hell, she's not even all that pretty." he grumbled, pulling his jacket tightly around him as the cool February winds kicked up again. "What's got me so damned hung up on her, and willing to go through the same shit Hilde put me through once again?"

Of course, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself, -mostly because he didn't want to admit that he'd found Bella to be a better person than Hilde had ever been- Duo knew that his slight attraction to the young woman did not stem from her physical appearance, but more from her attitude. She wasn't the prettiest woman he'd ever seen. Hell, if he was going to be brutally honest with himself, he'd seen plenty of women who looked better than she did. Which wasn't saying she was a hag, but she wasn't drop dead gorgeous either. But what had kept his attention from the first time he'd set his eyes on her was the way she carried herself.

Belladonna Saucier was a strong woman who knew what she wanted, and what she had to do to get it. She was focused, and she was grounded. Two qualities that Hilde had seemed to lack the more Duo had gotten to know her. Belladonna was no angel, and didn't pretend to be one for the sake of impressing anyone else. She was moody, and rude, and blunt. Three traits that most women of Bella's status tried to hide away under a cheery exterior.

Hell, he'd seen Relena do it more times than anyone. Many people of the world still saw the blonde woman as a human manifestation of peace. A symbol of hope and cooperation who was as pure as the driven snow. Someone who was always there to lend a helping hand to those in need, and seemingly never had a bad day in their entire life. Of course, none of that held truth. Relena's position as the Vice Foreign Minister forced her to appear as the 'dove of peace' every time she stepped into the spotlight...just to hold up appearances. It wasn't who she was in real life. Duo knew the stress and hard work often drove the young woman close to nervous breakdowns, and he was forever grateful knowing that Relena could be herself around him and a select few others...moodiness, grumpiness, and sarcasm included.

But Belladonna...there was no false mask stopping her. She was a normal, approachable woman who had the mentality of 'Here I am. This is what you get when you deal with me. Don't like it, then get over it. Cause I'm not about to change to suit anyone else's whims.'

"You're losing your mind, Maxwell ol' boy." Duo muttered to himself as he passed by another Preventor and nodded in recognition. "Leave her alone, and things will even themselves out. Get your mind on your work and forget about her. You're job is to keep Princess safe, not butt in on someone else's life. You're only asking for trouble."

It was unfortunate for him that his conscious did not obey commands as easily as his subordinates did.

-----

Belladonna shut her cell phone off and tried to relax into her seat, thanking the heavens that she had gotten a hold of Duo when she had called. She really needed to talk to Relena, but knew that calling her own house was a good way to get into more trouble. She had already received two more letters threatening her family and employees if she did not get out of town and not come back until the Summit Meetings were over with. One had been on the door of her house, and she had found it after she'd left her father's house two days before. The second one had been in a locker at the shuttle port where she had left Earth. Whoever it was that was threatening her had known where she would be heading in order to get out of town. And the only people who knew where she would head were the ones in her family, which strengthened her belief that Margureite had something to do with it.

The mess at her office had been enough to scare twenty years off of her life. And it was then that she had realized that whoever it was that was causing all this trouble for her meant serious business. So, she did the only thing she could logically think of...she left. She didn't like the idea of running away, but she rationalized her departure as an opportunity to check in on some of her research laboratories and refining plants in space. Besides, she was long overdue for a visit to some of her dear friends on L2, and going home for a while would give her time to re-orient herself and get a firm grounding of what was going on before returning to Earth. She trusted Daniel and Corey to run the company, and could always keep in touch via e-mail if need be, so that was not an obstacle.

Now her only problem was keeping Relena and her bodyguards from digging up information that she had tried to bury two years before. Her little accident on Mardi Gras could have caused not only her ruin, but her father's as well, and she had used every contact she'd had at that time to stop the story from being published. Thankfully stopping any ridiculous scandal that the paparazzi could have cooked up when they found her with Joseph Gaylan, a Preventor for the New Orleans branch who she had been dating at the time.

Joseph Gaylan had been her knight in shining armor when she'd met him, or so she'd thought. The only problem was...he was already dating another girl, Maria Sanchez. She was the daughter of some political figure around the area, but Bella hadn't cared. It had been love at first sight between Bella and Joseph, and it had not been long after that when he had called his relationship with Maria off, and turned to Bella, who had welcomed him into her world with open arms. Needless to say, Maria had not been a happy woman, accusing Bella of stealing her boyfriend and trying to wreck her life.

Nearly a year had passed, and Maria was still demeaning Bella every chance she got. The day of the crash, a very drunk Maria had cornered Bella and Joseph while they were at a parade in the city and started yelling and shouting like a banshee. She had eventually calmed down and left with her friends, but Bella had been concerned and Joseph had suggested that they leave before things got out of hand.

Bella's eyes clouded in anguish as she remembered the man who had practically held her heart in his hands for such a long time. She had loved him more than anything, and his death had been hard on her. She could have dealt with his death, given time, but the hardest thing about the whole fiasco had been when the doctors had told her that she had been pregnant when the crash occurred. And the accident had caused her body to abort the baby, her and Joseph's baby, because of what had happened.

'That's the third fatality that they couldn't find.' she thought sadly, looking out through the window of the shuttle and into the inky depths of space. 'Our baby wasn't named when the accident happened because neither Joseph or myself knew I was pregnant.' Her heart sank at the familiar feelings of despair and loss that had never went away since the day she had found out her baby was dead. They were a constant reminder of her recklessness while in love with Joseph.

'It wasn't the threats that made me run.' she realized with a sigh. 'I could have dealt with the media finding out about what happened. I ran because I was afraid of facing what I was responsible for. I ran because I can't face the memories of my child lying dead in my arms because of my foolishness. Maria's anger to me and Joseph was the cause of my baby's death. It's my fault he's not with me right now. ' Bella wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes and shook her head in order to clear her thoughts.

What had happened was in the past, and there was no way she could change what she'd done. She'd moved on with her life after the death of her son and her boyfriend, immersing herself in work to make up for the lacking or relationships outside her family. Now, with the arrival of her school time friend Relena Dorlian and her crazy bodyguard known as Duo Maxwell, she was beginning to realize what she had missed out the past two years while she was hoarded up in her office.

Relena had always been the one who she could turn to during school, and she'd hated the fact that they'd drifted apart during the years of war. But now that she was back in touch, Bella did not intend on losing ground with her friend again.

And Duo, well that was another story all together. Bella smiled, knowing that the braided Preventor was probably mad at her for the lack of information on her part during their conversation earlier. He was a kindred spirit to her. Someone who could make her laugh and act childish again without being condemned. Something only Joseph had been able to do. He was a good guy who held as much faith in Relena as Heero did, and Bella had no doubt that he would stand beside his friends until the very end. She once again shook her head to clear her errant thoughts about the friendly man who she had gotten to know over the past two weeks.

'You're getting in over your head, girly.' she thought as she pulled paperwork out of her briefcase. 'He's 'Lena's bodyguard. Besides, he's already got one girl chasing after him. And I'll be damned to an eternity in the hottest layers of hell before someone else accuses me of trying to steal their man!' That had already happened one time, and it had eventually lead her to where she was now:

Sitting on a shuttle, running from her past because she couldn't face what she'd done.

And she'd be damned if she was going to go through that kind of hell again.

--------------------------------------------------------------

A/N- I hope you guys are enjoying the story. This chapter should have cleared up a few things. It didn't go the way I had it planned, but...c'est la vie! So if you are still confused, please feel free to email me at I'll be more than willing to answer any questions.

Later,

A.A.