Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Overboard ❯ Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Deep in the red-brick Child Welfare building, under the legend saying Established 1924, Une signed the letter that would take an abused child from its natural parents and place it into foster care, probably indefinitely. She sealed it with finality into a white, windowed envelope, then rocked back in her chair, removing her glasses and tiredly scrubbing her hands over her face. Just at that moment she hated the little white Child Welfare name badge, the smart suit, the conservative hair-do that made her head ache. Jerkily she removed pins, unwinding the two coiled plaits, and dragged her fingers through her hair again and again, until it lay limply against her cheeks.

Her face softened and her mouth wobbled alarmingly.

Paedophilia cases always upset her the most.

The mother had been so shocked. Couldn’t believe that her Dan could do such a thing to their little girl. Stared accusingly at the poor girl as if it was somehow her fault. Said the neighbours were lying. Screamed, then cried, and finally fell silent, in the midst of all that chintz and wall-to-wall carpet. Hands limp at her sides, eyes huge and hurting, like a refugee from a war zone. Everything gone.

Une’s eyes stung and she dug the heels of her hands into the sockets, pressing hard, trying not to see. Trying not to see herself, locked in memory, standing just like that, in just such another living room, while Milliardo’s parents stated coldly that they were withdrawing the charges against her husband. The knowledge that Milliardo had refused to testify hanging unspoken between them.

But there were conditions. Of course. The Peacecrafts never gave anything away.

Moving away was one of them. Well. He’d already gone by then, leaving her with their home. And their daughter, although after her breakdown Welfare had had things to say about that. And she understood. Really she did. Would have made the same decision herself if it had been one of her cases. But that didn’t help the pain. Absently she lifted the photograph of a young girl from her desk, reaching out a fingertip to stroke flaming red hair lovingly.

Not teaching was another condition. Not that he was able to, after the publicity. And, of course, no contact with Milliardo. But that she couldn’t guarantee, because they’d both gone.

Disappeared, and it seemed that no-one knew where to find them.

Although eventually, of course, Milliardo came back.



+++



Duo poured crepe batter into two frypans; one large round pancake for Cody, and in the other pan, five small rounds, because Tyler wanted flapjacks but Cody wanted pancakes, with lemon no less, and be damned if he was going to mix up two separate lots of batter. He wondered if he should start Heero’s then decided to wait until he came downstairs.

Tyler poked at the flat discs suspiciously with a chubby finger, dislodging the icecream that he was having on them in Heero’s absence, even though it was breakfast time.

“These aren’t flapjacks. They’re flat. Flapjacks’re s’posed to be puffy.”

Duo grinned at him, around an enormous mouthful of pancake and syrup. He would have preferred flapjacks himself, but just because it was a pancake was no reason why he couldn’t smother it in syrup. He chewed and swallowed.

“Yeah…that’s right buddy. These’re flat jacks. They’re special. They’re thinner, so you can stack ’em higher. Look…instead of two measly things…you get five! How cool is that?!”

“Oh…”

Tyler counted laboriously, with a finger now covered in syrup.

“…Five. Cool!!”

Duo sighed with relief around another mouthful of pancake. Another crisis averted…

He was piling the dirty dishes haphazardly into the sink when Heero finally shuffled into the kitchen.

“Hiya sleepyhead.” Duo glanced around, then abruptly turned to face him “Woah!! What’s up with you?!!”

He pushed Heero firmly down into a chair.

"You look like shit," he said bluntly, sliding a cup of tea towards him.

Heero didn't argue. He knew he looked like shit. Felt like it too. He was hot and shivering cold by turns and every muscle ached. He huddled into his chair and forced down a tasteless mouthful of tea, but it did nothing to soothe his sore throat.

Duo was still hovering, studying him with concern, cataloguing pale skin, dark circles, and bedraggled hair even more tousled than usual.

"Why don't you go back to bed?"

Heero shook his head, felt the world spin, and clung to the table, glaring woefully at the tabletop. Gulped another mouthful of tea, but it tickled on the way down and started a spasm of coughing that, once started, just wouldn't stop. He convulsed over his cup, shaking and spluttering.

Duo took the tea from him firmly.

"Bed." He marched him irresistibly upstairs with a firm hand under his elbow then sat him down on the bed, and knelt to undo his shoe laces. He looked up at him, dragging the ratty, old, yellow sneakers off. “Stay home today. Rest now and you’ll be better tomorrow. What clients were you seeing? I’ll ring ’em up.”

“…can’t…I…have to…” Heero knew he should argue but he couldn’t seem to form the words out of the cotton wool in his head. Instead, he lost himself in the concerned violet of Duo’s eyes, swaying slightly where he sat. He couldn’t refuse those eyes…

From some depths he dredged up a name. “Uh…Kanawa. It’s…”

“In your client file on the laptop. I know. I’m on it. Don’t worry.” Lips thin with worry, Duo leaned up and unbuttoned Heero’s work shirt and slid it off his shoulders, then pushed him irresistibly down on to the bed. Heero was too woebegone to remember how he’d often imagined this very thing. Although, it was usually the other way around. Instead, the cool, soft cotton welcomed his feverish cheek and his heavy eyelids slid closed of their own accord. Duo started to unbutton Heero’s jeans, but Heero had just enough foggy presence of mind left to bat his hands away, blindly finishing the job himself, but when Duo tugged them down over his hips he didn’t resist, just clung tightly to his boxers and lifted his hips to let him drag the jeans off.

He huddled on the bed in T-shirt and boxers, already half asleep, and Duo pulled up the covers carefully, then smoothed his hair out of his eyes with cool, gentle fingers, so soothing to a hot forehead.

“Sleep. I have to get the guys off to school, but I’ll be back to check on you later ’kay?”

When Duo pushed open the door a little later, laptop under his arm, Heero was asleep, face flushed and sweating, covers tangled around his legs. He moaned softly and struggled to roll over.

Duo straightened the covers gently, then felt Heero’s forehead again, frowning. Heero was quite sick.

His hand cupped Heero’s cheek gently and his thumb caressed hot skin, his eyes lingering on Heero’s face. With one last gentle touch, he moved away from the bed, settling himself and the laptop into the easy chair in the corner.

Now to find Kanawa…



+++



Heero tossed feverishly, tangled, hot and sweaty, in damp sheets. The universe contracted to the pounding in his skull. It was dark. The boys… What time was it? He had to get up. He struggled against the covers. Groaned in frustration. The boys would need him. He had to get up. Then, from out of the darkness, came cool hands that gently untangled him, and stroked his hair away from his damply-flushed face.

“The boys I…” He struggled for breath. His voice a parched, weak thing.

“It’s all right Heero. I’m here.”

That voice… who? He was alone. Always alone. No one had ever touched him like that except…

“Sara… ? Sara I…” But something was wrong. No wildflower fragrance. And that voice…too deep. Not Sara then. He struggled to focus. Sara was gone, but who…?

“Who…?”

“It’s me. Duo.”

Duo? He chased thoughts fragile as soap bubbles, knowledge floating just out of reach, but the relentless pounding in his head smashed them apart, before he could catch them.

The gentle hand slid behind his back, eased him upwards. “Here.”

Glass clinking against his teeth and water dribbled down his chin, spilled between his lips, so soothing to his raw throat. He swallowed greedily. So hot…

“Try to swallow these.” Bitter tablets on his tongue.

He forced heavy eyelids open, looking up into concerned violet eyes, shadowed in the dim light from the hallway. A soap bubble of thought shimmered iridescently. Ah. Duo.

“It’s all right Heero. I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry. You go back to sleep.”

Sleep.

Don’t worry.

Duo.



+++



Duo lay back down on the thin, rubber mattress beside Heero’s bed, and huddled into his quilt. Joe had found him the mattress, under Cody’s bed, when Duo had worried that the futon downstairs in the living room was too far away for him to hear Heero, or anyone else that needed him.

It was chilly. His bed had grown cold while he was with Heero. He shivered and curled up into a ball, staring into the darkness, towards Heero’s bed.

Who was Sara?



+++



With Heero sick it was a golden opportunity for Duo to play with Heero’s truck. And working on the truck was a great way for Duo to distract himself from ceaseless, circular thoughts of a mysterious someone called Sara. Who was she, that Heero would call her name when sleeping? An old girlfriend? He felt a sharp pang of jealousy at the thought. And where was she now?

That afternoon, Duo was lying in the driveway, buried under the pickup changing the oil, thinking of worn engine mounts and not much of Sara, when an anguished cry jolted him out of his contented mechanical haze.

“Duo! Duo!!” The cries escalated with a note of panic. “Duo!!!”

“Hell!!” The wrench slipped sharply off the welsh plug that he was tightening, and his knuckles smashed against the bottom of the block. He reared up with a yelp of pain, completely forgetting where he was, and struck his forehead sharply on the clutch housing.

“Shit! Oww!” He slid out from under the truck, nursing his bleeding knuckles. “Freaking hell! Cody!! Ow! I’m here!!” He rubbed his head tenderly, fingering a fast-rising lump. “Ow! Hell! Ow ow ow.” Why did kids never come to you instead of bellowing from the other end of the garden? He jammed his knuckles into his mouth then abruptly pulled them out again, staring at them in disgust and swiping at his mouth. “Ugh!!! Yuk…oil. CODY!! WHAT??!”

Cody was charging towards him around the side of the house with a panicked expression on his flushed face.

“Duo! Duo! Don’t let him!”

Shit. Was Cody fighting with the twins again?? “What? Don’t let him do what??! Who??”

“Take Rex! Don’t let him Duo!”

“What the heck…??” Duo slid his wrench into the back pocket of Heero’s blue overalls and started towards Cody, wiping his oily hands on the rag that was dangling from the other pocket

He hurried through the side gate into the garden, dragging it shut behind him, just as Cody reached the fence, panting and gasping for breath, red-faced and sweaty and looking on the verge of tears.

Duo dropped down onto one knee, grasping his shoulders firmly, so that he could look him in the eye. He gave him a little shake.

“Cody! Cody it’s all right! Calm down! Nobody’s going to take Rex. I won’t let them. Now tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s Trant. He says Rex’s been stealing his newspaper.”

“Oh…” Hmm. Possible. Rex adored newspapers, waiting for them to be delivered and chasing them as they sailed over the fence, then Retrieving them from whichever bush they’d ended up in. Duo’s ready smile twitched, but then he looked into Cody’s desperate face and lost all urge to laugh.

Thinking about it, he realised that it was a while since he’d seen Rex, who’d been under the truck wanting to help change the oil, but had been discouraged with a well-placed foot.

Cody looked miserably at Duo and his voice wobbled. “He s… says that he’s going to t… take him to the pound and they’ll … they’ll… sh… shoot him!! Don’t let him Duo!!! They’ll k…k…kill him!!” Cody dived forward and flung his arms around Duo, sniffling into his neck.

Duo blinked in bemusement then wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly and patting his back awkwardly, trying not to get oil everywhere.

He rested his cheek on Cody’s soft, brown bristles. “There there…it’s okay buddy. I won’t let anything happen to old Rexy. Promise. Where is this Trant guy anyway?” He drew back and looked down at Cody, who sniffed loudly and released him.

“Out the front.” Another sniff and a swipe of a hand. “He’s got Rex! Now! You’ve got to do something Duo!!!” His voice climbed alarmingly.

Duo grasped Cody’s cleaner hand tightly before things could escalate again and marched the two of them back around the house.

“You just lead me to him,” he said firmly. “There’s no way that any-body’s taking Rex any-where.”

As they neared the front of the house Duo became aware of frantic growling and whining, loud enough that he would have noticed it for sure if he hadn’t been so engrossed in the pickup. Alarmed, he sped up.

They rounded the corner of the house in time to see a tall, rangy man shuffling awkwardly sideways towards the front gate, dragging Rex with him, his hand jammed possessively through Rex’s collar and a vindictive expression on his face. Rex’s ears were layed back against his head and he twisted and squirmed, digging his feet in.

Duo called out quickly.

“Oy! You there! Excuse me!!”

The man turned at Duo’s voice, keeping a tight grip on Rex’s collar, and hurrying self- righteously into speech, glowering at Cody.

“Little bastard’s had his final warning. Mutt’s off to the pound!”

Duo eyed the possessive hand in Rex’s collar through narrowed eyes, giving Cody’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

He smiled easily at the man, a bright cheerful smile, that didn’t touch the little spark of anger burning in his eyes. “I don’t think so. That’s my dog you’ve got there. I’m sure if there’s a problem we can sort it out.”

The man frowned. “Your dog? Bullshit! Where’s Yuy?”
“Not here.” Duo was terse. He glanced up at the bedroom windows, checking for semi-delirious silhouettes. Luckily Heero’s room was on the other side of the house, overlooking the back garden. The last thing Heero needed was to be dragging himself from his bed of pain to pop some idiot on the nose. If there was any popping to be done, Duo would do it for him. With an effort Duo held the smile on his face, feeling as if his cheeks were cracking. He held out his hand. “Duo Maxwell.”

The man frowned down at Duo’s oil-stained hand, then ignored it.

“Clark. Trant Clark” His voice was grudging. “Friggin’ dog keeps stealing my papers.” He glared down at Cody, his voice rising. “I warned the kid what’d happen if he didn’t keep him in. Mutt’s goin’ to the Pound and that’s final. Nothin’ ya can do about it…” He looked Duo up and down pointedly, and his lip curled sardonically, eyeing Duo’s hair. He was half a head taller than Duo, his own muddy brown hair shorn aggressively short. He turned away dismissively. “…nancy boy.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t think you heard me.” Duo dropped his hand and smiled again, frigidly polite. He toyed with his braid idly. “That’s my dog there and he’s not going anywhere.”

Clark’s grip tightened on Rex’s collar and he stared down at Duo scornfully. “Too bad pal. I already warned the kid about lettin’ it out. Well he’s had his last chance!”

Rex whined and wriggled, straining towards Cody, and Clark jerked his collar viciously towards the gate, making him yelp. Cody dived to his knees with an outraged squawk, flinging his arms protectively around his dog. Rex turned his head to swipe at Cody’s ear with a long, pink tongue, and sat down, panting happily, content again now that Cody was there. Cody glared up at Clark indignantly. “He didn’t steal your rotten newspaper. It’s just lost!!”

“Tough luck kid.” Clark turned towards the gate again, attempting to drag both dog and boy. “Mutt shouldn’t have been out! It’s goin’ to the Pound.”

“He’s not yours!” Cody tangled his fingers tightly into Rex’s long, golden coat, clinging for grim death, and bracing his foot valiantly against the fence post. Rex licked him again, and grinned happily at this new game. “You can’t take him! Duo! Don’t let him!!!”

Enough was enough. Duo had been rooted to the spot, staring in amazed disbelief at a man who would even consider fighting with a little boy, but this was getting ridiculous. He jerked into action, striding towards Clark. “Don’t be an idiot! Leave the freaking dog alone!!”

With a curse, Clark leaned down and started roughly trying to untangle Cody’s hands from Rex, one-handed, hampered by his reluctance to let go of Rex’s collar. As soon as he unloosened one small hand the other wormed tighter, with the tenacity of a seven year old that hadn’t yet learned that the good guys didn’t always win.

“I’m warning you. Freaking well get your hands off him now!!!” Duo voice crackled with anger and he reached out to pull Clark away.

Clark shook him off furiously, keeping tight hold to Rex, who growled forbiddingly, hackles rising.
“Not till the little bastard lets go of the dog!” He grabbed the back of Cody’s shirt and tried to haul him backwards off Rex, managing to lift him bodily into the air, feet first and kicking, but not succeeding in making him let go. He dumped Cody back on the ground and shook him roughly. “Let go of the blasted dog!” Cody yelped.

“I said…get… your freaking hands… off Cody now!!”

Duo grabbed Clark, and yanked him forwards across Rex, dragging him off-balance. Slapped Clark’s hand from Cody’s shirt then shoved him bodily backwards, where he collided heavily with the fence post, and slid to the ground.

Winded, Clark clambered slowly to his feet, coughing and gasping.

Duo loomed protectively over Cody and Rex, one hand reassuringly on Cody’s shoulder, the other hand suddenly hefting the wrench from his back pocket, his face bearing a look of such furious rage that Clark stepped back a pace. Duo’s face was twisted like a wild thing, hair half out of it’s braid and glued to his cheeks with thick, black smears of oil, a scarlet trickle of blood tracking its way down through the mess from a cut on his forehead.

“You are trespassing ass-hole!! Now get the freaking hell away from my family or I’m calling the cops and charging you with assault!!”

Clark inched backwards, trying to remember why he was so worried about that stupid mutt in the first place.

“And if you ever…ever…go near Cody again you won’t know what hit you! And you’d better believe it. Now get the hell out of here before I throw you out!!”

“Yeah!” Cody leapt to his feet and clenched his fists, glaring pugnaciously at Clark. Rex jumped up with a delighted bark and added his two cents worth, gambolling around Cody, almost knocking him over in his excitement.

Duo blinked down at them, taken aback by their support, then his mobile mouth twitched and he chuckled. “Yeah!” He slipped the wrench back into his pocket and shut the low front gate with finality on Clark, then turned them and headed them back around the side of the house.

Clark stared after them as if they were deranged and sidled away down the street, looking back at them over his shoulder and muttering. “Yeah…well…next time…think yourself lucky… yeah damned right… damned kid… next time it’ll be different… mangy mutt…friggin’ faggot fairy nancy boy…”

They ignored him. Cody’s hand slipped into Duo’s and Duo grinned down at him. “Come on. Cookies. And a wash.” He swiped at his cheek, grimacing. “Then let’s go check on Heero.”



+++



It felt strange, to Heero Yuy, to be in bed during the day time. Odder still, to have someone looking after him. Fussing over him.

He doubled up with another paroxysm of coughing, curled up sideways in the bed. He’d be all right to get up, he was sure, if only he could get rid of this damned cough.

“Heero?” Duo’s voice was unusually quiet. “Here. Sit up and try some of this” He slid an arm behind his shoulders and eased him up, handing him a Ventolin puffer

Heero glared at it weakly. “That’s…Tyler’s.” More coughing.

“It’ll work for any cough. Just try it dumbass.” Duo took the puffer from him and held it insistently to his lips, much more gently than his tone would have predicted. After a stubborn moment, Heero opened his mouth, and Duo puffed. Heero coughed.

“I asked Iria about it when I bought the cough medicine, and she said it was the best thing. Have another puff. A-a-and…” His eyes twinkled mischievously. “She said to give you her very best. Told me to take care of you. Said you were the cutest thing to come out of Darke’s Cove since the lobster cutter. Whatever that is. Hmm…”

Duo turned his head to inspect Heero, his eyes suddenly very close. And violet. “…think…she’s right…” There was a moment’s thoughtful silence, during which Heero thought panicked thoughts, unsuitable for an invalid, and coughed nervously. Distracted, Duo offered Ventolin, leaning back He grinned suddenly. “Oh…and she told me to ask you about The Pinnacles. And about Trowa and the slug gun pellets…”

Heero glared indignantly. He was going to kill Iria, just as soon as he got out of bed.

Duo grinned back sympathetically. “Aww…don’t worry about it. She’s just a chick babe. You know what chicks are like.”

Heero stared at him impassively. No. He didn’t. And he was still going to kill Iria.

“Oh. Well. Maybe you don’t. Chicks lo-o-o-ve to gossip.” Duo nodded at Heero knowledgeably, completely failing to question his own superior knowledge of chicks. “Give ’em something to drink…” Duo made an expansive hand gesture, which could have described anything from weak, black tea, no sugar, to a Slow Comfortable Screw, hold the ice, no straw. “…and someone to bitch about and they’re happy as Larry. It’s just the way they are. No need to get all bitter and twisted about it.”

Heero glowered dismally at nothing in particular. Duo had obviously not been brought up in a small town. Heero still had horrific memories of Alex, and Mueller, and all the chaos that had followed.

The puffer was back again.

“Again. One more. Here you do it. It’ll work better.”

After Heero had puffed, Duo offered him tablets, which tasted foul, and a glass of water, all of which he swallowed unquestioningly, the cold wonderfully soothing to his ticklish throat. Duo shook up the pillow one-handed, then lowered him back down again.

“Better?”

Heero grunted something. He hated being sick. Never was sick. Hauled the covers up to his ears.

“Anyway…” Duo grinned at Heero, ignoring his pointedly hunched shoulder. “Don’t stress out about Iria. She’s not so lily-white herself. Howard says that…”

Heero’s one visible eyebrow twitched. Howard?

Duo interpreted with an ease that Trowa would have been proud of.

“Howard. You know Howard. Pointy beard. Sunglasses. Has that furniture shop in the street up from the wharf. He’s a great old guy.”

Something about Howard’s Fine Furniture and Gift Emporium called to Duo. Whether it was the hodge-podge of beautiful objects casually displayed, priceless antiques and modern art pieces dotted about the more traditional stuff, or Howard himself, he wasn’t sure. He’d often found himself there last week, sanding something back, or helping Howard move furniture around.

“Any-way. Howard says that a couple of weeks back she and that Rashid guy…you know…that enormous bouncer at the Lansdowne…I think he owns it actually…and his cousin Abdul has that great kebab shop…anyway…she and Rashid got arrested for driving under the influence.” He grinned broadly. “On a ride-on mower!! Can you believe it?!! They had a private party…” Duo’s fingers made quotes around ‘private’ and he winked broadly. “…and ran out of booze, but didn’t want to drive so they took the mower. Dumbasses thought that they wouldn’t get booked because it wasn’t a car! Police picked ’em up on the way home by following the big, bare patch in the median strip. And the bottles. They were so wasted that they couldn’t remember how to turn the blades off! What a pair of freaking idiots!!” He gurgled with laughter.

Heero’s lips twitched at the thought of blonde, sophisticated Iria, drunk on the back of a lawn mower, and he started to cough again. Duo offered water. “No more Ventolin. You’ve had enough.”

“Anyway it must be true.” Duo was talking again. “Duke Dermail says it is too. You know…the school bus driver guy?” Heero didn’t know. He nudged the covers up over his ears. “The guy who has trotters? Hey…did you know that he’s restoring an old Triumph? A Super Seven. I said I might go over and give him a hand with the panels one day. They’re pre-curved timber and he’s gonna have to soak them in the bath before he bends ’em. I’ve got this funny feeling that I’ve seen something like that somewhere before …”

Timber? Heero poked his head out of the covers again.

“…I said you might like to help too, seeing as you’re the wood expert and all…”

Heero nodded agreement. Felt his eyes beginning to close, letting the flow of chit-chat wash peacefully over him, even though he was starting to enjoy Duo’s acidic and often hilarious observations about Darke’s Cove’s inhabitants. Duo, navigating with ease the code whereby, in small towns, every one was known by their maiden name. Shops, named for their second-last previous owner, rather than the name on the sign. You’d think that Duo had lived there his entire life. Unlike Heero, who never remembered that the Bluebird Café was Spiro’s, and always ended up getting chips from the wrong shop.

Right now Heero was just too tired. Duo’s conversation was hypnotic, a bit like a running stream, a constant unceasing flow, with occasional eddies of emotion and ripples of mirth, intermittently bringing something useful bumping up against Heero for him to inspect.

Quite girlie in fact.

And very soothing.



+++



Hilde took a lady-like gulp of her take-out, skim milk latté, and rang her old friend Relena.

She just had to talk to somebody, or she was going to go mad. She was sure she was. Duo was still lost, and she was at her wit’s end. Clients were ringing her up constantly, and every time she closed her eyes she saw visions of Duo’s drowned body washed up against some rocks somewhere. He’d be all tangled up in that stupid hair of his and fish would be… Damn. She gulped and swallowed hard. If only she knew that he was really dead then she could get on with her life, but this hanging in limbo was horrible. And the Court wouldn’t grant probate without a body. She’d always known that it was a mistake to be Joint Partners. It meant that all her assets were tied up with Duo’s.

Relena was distracted on the telephone and not a lot of help. She’d found a snake in a terracotta pipe, under a pile of sacks, behind the garage that morning, and was concerned, because it didn’t seem to be moving, despite the icy frost on the ground. And she could tell by Hilde’s lack of response that Hilde didn’t know a lot about snakes. Not everyone was cut out for the Animal Rescue business.

“The point is Hilde… it should have been out trying to escape the cold. An animal’s natural instinct is to seek warmth.”

The snake might be frost-bit. She had it sitting safely on a blanket-wrapped, hot water bottle, near the heater. It was very important to ensure that the heat-source was well covered, as a hypothermic animal could receive serious burns.

Hilde was not very interested in Relena’s pet snake. The point was she had her own problems. She’d have to get bridging finance if Duo wasn’t found soon. She’d already contacted the Coastguard of course, but they knew nothing. Maybe she should try the police again. Maybe they had new information.

Feeling slightly better now that she had a plan, Hilde took another gulp of her drink and settled in for a nice, long chat.

“And how’s Boz…your boyfriend?” Hilde’s eyes filled with tears and her voice hitched. Damn Duo for falling overboard anyway.

There was a tactful silence from the other end of the phone. Hilde sniffed with quiet dignity and finished her coffee. Breathed deeply.

“Hello? Relena?”

“Relena?”

Maybe it wasn’t a tactful silence…

Was that somebody screaming?

“…Relena??!?”



+++



D uo was having trouble sleeping. The older boys had been watching some movie, about convicts taking over an airplane, and for some reason the crash scene kept re-playing itself over and over in his head, getting more and more real the more he tried not to think about it, until he could almost feel the seat belt crushing his stomach, feel shrapnel slicing into his chest and shoulders. But the screaming was the worst…

He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Heero had woken him, coughing, and he’d given him some more of Tyler’s Ventolin and then seen that he was feverish again and fetched two paracetamol tablets. Now he just could not get back to sleep. It was infuriating.

Gradually he became aware of a small muffled noise, coming from the hallway. He must have woken one of the boys, moving around. He lay listening for a moment, then sighed and climbed back out of bed. He didn’t know if he was up to comforting small boys with nightmares, but there was no one else to do it. He’d just have to learn. He quietly eased the bedroom door shut behind him and stood listening in the dim hallway.

There it was again. A soft, choked little sound from one of the bedrooms. He felt his way along the hallway towards the boys’ rooms. Tyler and Cody’s room was opposite Heero. Duo stood in the doorway peering into the darkness, but the two small lumps were unmoving. Cody had kicked his covers off and he tiptoed to the bed to tuck him in, stumbling over his rollerblades on the way. Cursing softly, he nudged them under the bed, before some idiot…him…broke his neck on them.

Joe was next door. Joe’s door was firmly shut, but all seemed quiet. That left…

There it was again. A little, gasping noise from Silas and Zac’s room, next to Heero.

“Zac?” Duo tentatively sat down beside him on the bed, uncertainly rubbing his back with his hand. “It’s okay buddy. I’m here.”

Beneath Duo’s hand, Zac was a little, huddled ball under the covers, his shoulders shaking with gasping sobs.

“D… Duo?” Zac’s face lifted from the pillow to face him, and abruptly he twisted to fling himself on Duo, wrapping his arms around his waist and burying his hot, damp face in his stomach.

“Hey buddy...” Duo wrapped an arm awkwardly around his back, stroking the back of his head gently with his free hand, slowly gaining confidence as Zac didn’t jerk away. “It’s okay. I’m here now. Wanna talk about it?”

Zac shook his head violently, nuzzling in deeper, his voice muffled against Duo’s t-shirt. “Noo… ohh…” Duo bent over him, straining to hear. “oh…Mom…n…no...”

“It’s okay Zac. It’s okay now. There there buddy…”

Zac shivered and shook under his stroking hand. “No…o…”

“She’s dead. They both are.”

At the bald statement, Duo’s breath caught, and he twisted to look behind him. Silas was sitting up in bed, knees hugged tightly to his chest, his face a pale oval in the darkness, his voice strained.

“Mom and Dad. They died…” His voice hitched. “In a plane crash.” He buried his face in his knees.

“Oh shit… I didn’t know… That freaking movie…Oh Silas. C’mere buddy.” At the pain in that small voice, Duo forgot his uncertainty and held out his free hand, still hugging Zac with the other.

Silas stared at the hand for a moment, then silently wriggled from the bed and burrowed into Duo’s side, kneeling beside him on the floor. Duo wrapped his free arm around Silas’s back, hugging both boys to him.

Gradually they calmed, and Duo squirmed around to sit up properly in the bed, under the covers with his back to the headboard, dragging the twins in beside him, one tucked under each arm.

His voice was very soft. “You want to tell me about them?” He waited patiently, resting his cheek on Zac’s head, the fiery red spikes tamed by darkness.

And, haltingly, they did.

“Mom and Dad…”
“Odin and Sara…they…”

“They died in a plane crash…”
“When we were six…”

“No…seven. We were seven remember? We were in Miss Noventa’s class.”

“Oh yeah. She gave us candy…”

They snuggled down into the bed, cuddled against him.
Duo hugged them tightly, his heart aching for the two, sad, little voices in the darkness. Some hidden part of him grieved with them, for a mother dead in a plane crash, but he banished it with the revelation that here was Heero’s mysterious Sara.

“So Sara…your Mom…was Heero’s sister?”

“Nuh uh…”

“But he’s your uncle…” Duo was confused, and, still, a little worried about Sara.

“Heero’s Dad’s brother.”

“Step-brother...” Zac interjected sleepily, then fell silent.

“Same diff’rence. His little brother. Niichan. Whatever. Real little.” Silas struggled sleepily to explain on his own. Zac was asleep. “Mom was kinda like his Mom too.”
“He lived with us…and then…” There was a gigantic yawn from somewhere under Duo’s arm. “And then afterwards he looked after us…and then…” Another yawn and Silas slid all the way down into the bed. “…you came.”

Duo’s side felt cold, without its warm, Silas-blanket, and Duo wriggled down beside him where it was warm, a twin on each arm, their moist faces buried in his neck. They were warm and cozy and smelled cleanly of no-name, generic-brand shampoo, and it was a very long way back down the hall to the next room, and his cold mattress. He listened for Hero, but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Duo thought that he might shut his eyes, just for a minute.

And then it was morning.



+++



It was late afternoon when Heero woke up, and stretched luxuriously, staring at the ceiling.

He felt much better. The pounding headache that had plagued him was gone, and he was finally able to breathe comfortably again. But… He sniffed, grimacing, and wrinkling his nose. He desperately needed a shower.

He rolled out of bed, and almost stumbled headlong over a pile of bedding in the middle of his floor. He was still a bit wobbly. He eyed the tumble of quilts and pillows suspiciously. Duo’s quilt? What was Duo’s quilt…that’s right. He remembered now. Duo had been sleeping on his floor. Every time he opened his eyes, Duo had been there.

Showered and dressed, Heero wondered what had happened to the boys. It was very quiet. Too quiet. No thump of roller blades, no drums, no dog, no television… He hoped that they hadn’t killed each other in his absence. Maybe Duo had sent them around to Trowa’s. Or taken them out to MacDonalds. That was always good in an emergency. How long had he been sick? It seemed like forever. Days at least. Duo must be sick to death of them. They were a handful on your own.

He wandered downstairs then stopped. There was a murmur of voices coming from the kitchen, and he drifted towards it, feeling rather like a ghost in his own house, to stand silent and unobserved, haunting the doorway.

They were all in the kitchen.

The boys were sitting around the kitchen table, a plate of chopped fruit in the middle, Duo wedged between the twins, their backs to the door. Duo held Silas’s upper arm and was pointing to something, making Silas giggle, while Zac wrote industriously. Heero strained to see over his shoulder. Humerus. Ahh. Bones. Tyler and Cody sat opposite, paper spread in front of them, heads down, writing lists of some sort. Heero blinked. Fruit? Homework? Joe stood at the sink doing the dishes, his back to the door.

Heero stared, bemused. It all looked so…organised. Peaceful. Not normally two words that he associated with the boys. Or Duo. But it looked like Duo was coping just fine.

Duo looked up at Joe. “Joe? Would you stir that please? Thanks Champ.” And Joe turned to the stove and stirred something in a large, steaming pot. Heero sniffed. Spaghetti Bolognese. Abruptly he was starvingly hungry, for the first time in days.

At that moment Joe turned from the stove and spotted him in the doorway.

“Heero!!”

And Heero was dragged back into the land of the living, into the light and warmth of the kitchen, and exclaimed and fussed over, told excitedly just why it was called your funny bone, and then homework was whisked away, and it was time to eat.



+++



Howard clamped his cigar between his teeth, and took his after-dinner coffee into the backroom of Howard’s Fine Furniture and Gift Emporium, to inventory the furniture he’d picked up from the high school refurbishment. He smiled in satisfaction. These old-style wooden school desks with the seats attached sold like hotcakes. And were getting hard to find. People liked ’em for kids bedrooms. These ones even had inkwells.

Although they’d need a bit of …ugh…chewingum…cleaning up first.

A lot of them would have to be sanded back. A shame. It’d wreck the provenance. But there were big gouges in some of them. You couldn’t write on a desk with holes in it. Like this one. Treize carved into it with a penknife. Took up half the desk. How could the teacher not have noticed a kid doing that? A kid pulling out a penknife these days’d get locked up.

Kid had an obsession with this Treize. Must have written it hundreds of times, over and over. Kinda cute really. Treize is hot… Mil loves Treize…Treize 4 Milliardo only… MP L TK 4 EVA…

This other desk’d need cleaning up too. More graffiti. Swastikas…dope leaves…a big skull with a snake through its eye. Kinda well done actually. Kid must have spent the entire lesson on it. More writing…Alex and Mueller rule…Heero L ?… Megadeth… Krushenada is a homo prick…oh…hmm… Mr Krushenada sucks …the rest hidden by an inkblot. Peacecraft is a prick-t… Peacecraft. Hmm. Maybe they’d all better be sanded back. Might be safer. He could end up getting sued. And he couldn’t sell them with obscenities on them anyway. Kids. Sheesh.

Still. He puffed contentedly. A great buy.



+++



Winter was nipping at the heels of Autumn, sneaking up in the night to frost the grass and ferns, and leave discs of ice in the dog’s dish for Cody to find and glory in, and Heero had swapped his boxers for his old, favourite, flannel pyjama pants, the blue stripes softened to warm grey from many washings. He scratched pleasurably at his belly beneath the waistband as he meandered down the stairs and into the living room.

He stood in the doorway, blinking sleepily at the bundle of quilts on the futon. Two heads on the pillow? A tuft of blonde hair. Tyler?

Fabric bunched and shifted and a pair of red, beady eyes peered fiercely at him from the muddle of quilts. Tyler and Fez. How nice for Duo. Heero knew from experience that Tyler kicked. Heavens only knew what Fez did. Heero’s lips twitched in amusement. Not that Duo seemed to mind, judging by the peaceful snores. Fez oozed from the cozy darkness beneath the quilt and slithered over to Heero, undulating warmly around his bare ankles, then rolling over to have his tummy scratched. Heero picked him up obligingly, cradling him belly-up in the crook of his arm and scratching absently, still watching the sofa bed. He felt a strange pang of some-thing. Hunger probably.

He shivered slightly in the cool air. It looked so warm and cosy in there…

He was shoved roughly out of the way as Cody barrelled past.

“Shove over Ty! You’ve got all the blankets!”

Blankets surged and rolled as Cody wriggled up under the sheet from the foot of the bed, squeezing himself in between Duo and Ty.

“Ow! Don’t kick!”

“I’m in the middle.”

“I was here first!”

“Ouch!” A lump on the far side of the bed resolved itself into Silas and rolled off the mattress, landing on the floor. Heero’s eyes widened. How many people were in there anyway? Oh. Zac too.

It was like one of those jokes…how do you get five people onto a futon? Obviously the answer was…put Duo in there.

The twins headed, shoulder to shoulder, for the bathroom, brushing past Heero on the way.

“Morning …”

“Morning …”

“Heero.”

“Heero.”< br>
“Hm.”

Something inside Heero glowed with vicarious warmth at the thought of his boys all in bed with Duo.

Duo surfaced, blinking owlishly.

He grinned sleepily at Heero and levered himself up on one elbow, lifting a corner of the quilt. “Hiya Heero. Still room for one more.” He grimaced comically, peering under the quilt. “Maybe.”

His cheeks were creased and warmly flushed from sleep, and wispy tendrils of hair had escaped from his sleep-mussed braid. As he lifted the covers higher, the sheet slid down over his bare shoulder, revealing tantalising glimpses of smooth, lightly-tanned skin, a muscular curve of shoulder and bicep, the broad plane of chest, a hint of rosy brown nipple. A sleepy-eyed siren tempting Heero to his doom.

Heero stood spellbound, feeling the blood warming his face. Involuntarily, he stepped forward, towards their cosy island of warmth, then abruptly remembered that Duo was off-limits, and blinked, dropping the surprised ferret to the floor with a frantic windmilling of legs and claws.

“Breakfast,” he grunted and turned on his heel to escape into the kitchen.



+++



Safe in the kitchen, Heero collapsed into a chair and slumped forward over the kitchen table, pressing his burning cheek to the cool tabletop, then banging his head gently against the wood.

Gaaah! He wanted Duo so much his teeth ached.

He couldn’t do it.

Couldn’t live in the same house and not touch. Maybe he should just explain to Duo and hope that he would understand. But what if he didn’t? What if he left, and Welfare took the boys? Heero couldn’t afford to take that chance. He sighed gustily and gritted his teeth.

It was for the boys. He had to do it.

Three months. How was he going to last?

Hell.

A place that Heero Yuy was becoming quite familiar with.



+++



Duo huffed with frustration and flopped backwards onto the overcrowded futon, narrowly missing the two lumps who were wriggling about beneath the sheet at the bottom of the bed. He curled up into a tight little ball of disappointment.

Why did Heero avoid him all the time???! Geez Louise! The boys were in here too! Did Heero really think that Duo would jump him with them there or something? All he wanted was a cuddle. Well. Not really, but it would be better than nothing.

Surely a cuddle and a kiss, or something, wasn’t too much to ask of one’s boyfriend. And yet. Every time Duo moved closer to Heero, even just standing beside him to help with the dishes, Heero would either twitch like a frightened rabbit, and disappear, or start reorganising the cutlery drawer with a military precision that ignored attempted cuddles.

And Duo would have left him in peace if he thought that that was what Heero really wanted. But it was fairly obvious that Heero wanted Duo just as badly as Duo wanted him, but, for some Heeroic reason, was refusing to do anything about it. Maybe he was being gallant, waiting for Duo to get his memory back or something.

Well Duo didn’t want to wait. He wanted Heero and he wanted him now.

His eyes took on a steely glint of determination, while his lips curved in anticipation.

Tonight.

Tonight was the night.

Tonight he was going to seduce Heero Yuy.