"I...had no idea that this would happen," commented a stunned Quatre.

Duo shook his head before saying, "Well, this is the kind of crap that happens when you try to give Heero a birthday party." Duo turned to Heero. "You just had to freak out when everyone yelled 'surprise'. What the hell is wrong with you? What kind of person places bombs in his host's house and then has the detonator in his pocket with his finger on the trigger?"

When Heero showed no reaction, Duo added loudly, "Because of you, this house looks like it was taken out by a giant load of flaming buckshot!" They were all on the lawn with the residuals of a three-story fire in front of them, a fire that the firefighters were still in the process of hosing down.

Finally, under the weight of Quatre's, Duo's, as well as the other guests' stares, Heero commented, "The explosives were for a distraction in the event that I needed to escape. You were all plotting against me."

Duo shook his head and walked off to join someone who was less trying. He stood by Trowa as he said, "Talk him down to the point where we can reason with him."

Trowa considered the demand for a few seconds before saying, "Quatre would be a better--"

Duo looked back at Trowa. "Quatre's got to call his insurance company and explain that one of his nutbar friends accidentally took out most of his house with explosives."

From behind Duo and Trowa a familiar voice commented, "They should be separated before what happened sinks in."

Duo and Trowa turned around to see Wufei and then they followed Wufei's gaze. Quatre and Heero were talking and walking together, strolling in fact. Quatre had a hand on Heero's back, guiding him.

"Not all of the explosives detonated," noted Trowa. "Heero has a habit of setting off 8 in an octagonal formation. I only heard 7 explode. Where they're walking should be the location of the last potentially live one."

Duo shook his head before noting, "Quatre's found a way to have Heero appreciate the damage he's done. The only catch is that Heero will--" Duo turned to Trowa. "Wait a minute, Heero's not dimwitted enough to forget where he put--Why is he just calmly walking over there with Quatre?"

"It's because of the hand," commented Wufei.

"Heero, I would like to understand what went wrong," stated Quatre inquisitively.

Out the corner of his eye, Heero watched Quatre. The blonde man was too calm given what had transpired.

When Heero said nothing, Quatre placed a hand on Heero's back and said, "Misunderstandings happen all the time. I want to know how we caused this."

"You admit that everyone led to this scenario?" queried Heero cautiously.

Quatre smiled. "I want to hear what we did wrong, Heero."

As they were walking, Heero took note of the pressure of Quatre's hand on his back; it was light, reassuring. It was suspicious, but he was distracted by Quatre's benign words. The blonde man was open to understanding that he had been pushed to blow up the Winner mansion.

Quatre's hand began to move in circles on Heero's back. Even Heero had to admit to himself that it was strangely comforting to have his back rubbed that way, and it caused him to lower his guard and leak details.

"It all began with the folder," commented Heero. "On your computer."

"I believed you had stopped hacking your friends' computers, Heero. It was a promise. I can see that you decided to ignore that."

"This is a matter of the contents of that folder," stated Heero defensively.

"Which folder, Heero?" asked Quatre in a soft tone.

"The one labeled 'Preparation H.' At first, I believed it was about--"

"Ointment," finished the blonde. "The folder was labeled 'Preparations for H'. It's been apparent for a number of months that you need to have your eyes examined."

Undeterred by Quatre's comment, Heero continued, "But then it became clear that the folder was about a mission to lure me here under false pretenses."

"Heero, the folder contained drafts of an invitation for your birthday party. They explicitly said--"

"I don't have a birthday."

"Heero, a year ago, you, Duo, Wufei, Trowa, Relena and I gathered together to make sure everyone had a birthday to celebrate." After Heero's silence Quatre noted, "You forgot the date of yours and now my house has been gutted and is only a shell."

There was only silence from Heero as he stopped in his tracks. His sudden halt also caused Quatre to stop. It was not Quatre's words that had reached Heero and caused him to pause. It was the realization that Quatre had easily brought him within 20 feet of the last of his explosives without him noticing. Slowly, Heero turned to stare at Quatre with new apprehension.

There was an unnervingly jubilant smile on Quatre as he asked, "Do you believe in eye-for-an-eye, Heero?"

"Not when it involves me losing some of my limbs."

A voice came from behind Quatre and Heero.

"Hey, you two don't want to be over there. Come on. Relena has offered to host the party at her place."

The voice was Duo's and both Quatre and Heero turned to face him. It was then that they both noticed that Trowa was at Duo's side. Quatre noted their strategic positions. Trowa was in front of him and Duo was in front of Heero. As he expected, he was maneuvered away from Heero by Trowa and Duo took Heero by the arm and hurriedly dragged him away.

Once they reached the other guests, Trowa said to Quatre, "We called the bomb squad. They'll take care of the last one."

"That's fine," responded Quatre. "But, after tonight, I don't think Heero will ever have another birthday again."

Trowa didn't question the suspicious comment, but he made a mental note to keep all means of retaliation out of Quatre's reach.