I do not own anything Gundam wing. The only thing I own is Janice.

Ch. 1 Uncertainty

Quatre sat alone at the magnificent dinning room table in his empty house. His hands rested on the arms of his chair as he stared down at his untouched meal. The special meal that he had cooked to celebrate Heero's return from his most recent mission, but dinner had once again been canceled when Heero had received orders from Preventers for another mission. He had been gone over a month the last time and had barely walked in the front door that evening when the phone rang telling him to report to head quarters immediately.

There had been no apology from Heero as he turned on his heel and strode out. What bothered him was there was no hello, good bye, I missed you or be back soon, nothing, just cold silence and a blank face. In the past year that they had been together he had seen Heero maybe four days in all that time. When they were together, things were great, Heero became the loving boyfriend that visited him at work when he was having a particularly hard day; comforted him when he had nightmares from the psycho that nearly killed him last year. He would even take care of him when he had, had too much to drink the night before after partying with the rest of the ex-pilots.

Now, now everything was different. When Heero had returned to work, after they had mandated that he take a two week vacation, his work load seemed to double, then triple until there was no more time for a them. Oh, they were still together, Quatre knew that, but the distance being forced between them was creating a strain on their relationship.

He sighed and pushed his chair back and left the table, the food having gone cold hours earlier. Zeus' padded paws made a soft pitter patter sound as he followed Quatre throughout the house, telling Quatre the he was just as lonely. Living in such a large house with no company was depressing and what made it worse was that Heero had moved in with him, though he still had his apartment.

His thoughts drifted back to the conversation they'd had a month ago. Heero had stumbled in the front door the night before, bruised, dirty and dripping blood every where. He had been relieved when he found that none of it was Heero's. Sleep deprived and exhausted, Heero could barely make up the stairs and into the shower.

There was so much he had wanted to say but decided to wait until morning since Heero had showered and passed out on the bed naked and still wet from his shower. Drying him off as best he could and pulling the blankets up, he had settled down next to him and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The following morning had not been much better than the night before. He was beginning to think that Heero was really pushing his limits with all the missions. Heero had lost a considerable amount of weight after the past few and he wasn't doing anything to gain it back. His tanned skin had taken on a pallor the screamed malnutrition. The confrontation he had with Heero about it hadn't gone well.

Quatre had asked him how long he would be back. When Heero had responded with three day, he pleaded with him to request time off, explaining that it wasn't healthy for him to be put under such stressful situations and physical demands. Things were worse now than they had been during the wars. Heero had shrugged him off saying that it was his job and he wasn't going to request 'time off', he didn't need it. Angry, Quatre had lashed out him screaming something to the effect that they weren't in a war and Heero couldn't deal with the fact that they no longer needed him as a soldier. That night Heero had left with another set of orders from Lady Une, they mission he had just returned from.

There was a soft mew next to him and he looked down at Zeus who giving as confused look, as if to ask why they had stopped in the middle of the stairs when he could be on the bed. Quatre smiled, picked him up and carried him up the stairs and into the bedroom where he set him down on the bed. Zeus gratefully curled up into ball in the middle of the bed and started purring looking very much like he did when Heero had first held him.

He pulled off his shirt and tie, tossing them to the floor at the foot of the bed before he started running the water for his shower. There hadn't been time for him to change or shower when he had first got home. As soon as he walked in the door, he had taken off his jacket and set to work on the dinner he was preparing for Heero.

"Ha!" he said out loud to himself; a beautiful dinner that was now sitting down stair going to waste. He supposed he could put it all in the fridge and eat it another day, but what would be the point when he would have to eat it alone.

Undressing the rest of the way, he stepped into the steaming hot shower, letting all the tension disappear as the water ran over him. He braced his hands on the wall letting the water hit his back and tried to remember the last time he had showered with Heero standing behind him. The thought brought a smile to his lips and bitter tears to his eyes as he turned around to wash. He could not really remember the last time they had showered together; in fact, he could not remember the last time they had done anything intimate at all. He quickly finished washing, rinsed his hair trying to forget his previous thoughts.

Back in the bedroom, he sought out his favorite pair of black pants, the pair that Heero had bought for him while he was in the hospital the year before. They were pretty much the only thing he had from Heero, besides Zeus, but he belonged to both of them. Finally locating his pants, under the bed where Zeus had playfully hid them, he slipped them on. It was then that he noticed the cat dancing around on the bed excitedly, looking at the clock he realized that he hadn't fed Zeus yet and it was now eleven at night.

"Come on." Quatre said to the cat as he motioned for him to follow.

He almost fell down the stairs as Zeus rushed by in his frenzy to eat. Rounding the bottom of the stairs he remembered that dinner was still sitting on the table, cold and untouched. Bitterly, he cleared the table, putting the meal in the fridge; after spending so much time on it, he was not going to let it go to waste, even if he had to eat it alone. Pouring some milk for Zeus he started to make his way upstairs when he remembered that Heero had brought the mail in with him, it was still sitting on the entry table. Grabbing the mail from the table he sorted through the junk mail so it could be discarded at a later time. He had not gotten very far when the door bell rang. Answering it he found a mail carrier holding out a letter from Duo. He accepted it and the man went on his way and for a moment he wondered why a mail carrier was out so late. He turned back to the mail in his hand. There was not much, a few bills, some things from work, a letter from Duo and an envelope that had no return address just his name printed across the front. It was probably another invite to one of Relena's parties. He could look at that later, right now he was more interested in why Duo was writing him when he could just call.

Quatre put the bills in his study, to be paid at a later date, tossing out the junk mail and took the rest up stairs to the bedroom. Zeus feet padded softly behind him as he entered the room, he waited patiently for the cat to enter before shutting the door for the night. He buried himself deep into the covers while Zeus took up his spot at the foot of the bed. Opening the letter he was happy to see Duo's handwriting scrawled across the paper.

Quatre,

You are probably wondering why I'm writing you when I could just call. I haven't been able to reach you at the office or home and I hate answering machines. If it isn't human or Deathscythe, I don't want to talk to it.

Quatre stopped to laugh at the irony in the last sentence, gundams where, after all, nothing but a machine. Then again, none of the pilots had ever thought of them as such, well, except maybe Heero. They had been their companions, comrades and friends, even if they were just made of gundanium. When it came time that they were no longer needed, they had all lost a little part of themselves along with the gundams. Quatre continued on knowing that Duo only wrote when it was important.

By now you are probably wondering what my point is for writing this letter since I never write without good reason so I'll get right to the point. I'm worried about Heero. I was called into Preventers today and saw Heero on his way out. I don't think I've ever seen him look so bad. I stopped to talk to him but he said that he was on his was home to see you. Not wanting to hold him up I went on my way to get instruction for a case that they "desperately" need my talents for. When I was leaving Heero was on his way back in saying that Lady Une had called him in for another mission.

I think he's working way too hard and needs to take a break, but of course you've already told him that I'm sure. Something has to be done about this. There's no way that Une and WuFei haven't noticed this if Trowa and I already have. What I don't understand is why he is pushing himself this hard. He never does anything this extreme without having very good reasons to back it up.

If you have a plan on this let us know. Trowa and I would be more than happy to drag him home and strap his ass to the bed!

There was a huge smiley face after that sentence that made Quatre smile; Duo's sense of humor did that to him.

Trowa and I both agree, if you're lonely in that enormous thing you call a house, you're more than welcome to come to ours. In fact, please do, it would be nice to talk to someone who has a sense of humor.

There was a bunch of scribbles at this point.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that, Trowa just smacked me in the arm for that comment. I think I'll have a bruise by morning.

Another smiley.

Anyway, take care and we hope to see you soon!

The God of Death

Hahaha ok, not any more.

Duo

Quatre folded up the letter and put it back in the envelope. So Trowa and Duo had noticed Heero drastic change as well. The were right, something had to been done immediately about Heero. First thing in the morning he would go to Preventers and talk to Lady Une about it. Setting Duo's letter down he grabbed the invitation wondering what event they were celebrating this time. Inside he found that there was no invite, just a small piece of paper that turned out to be a business card. Turning it over, to his horror he discovered it was one of his business cards with the initials MD.

(o)(o)(o)

Well chapter one is now out on the sequel to Desert Love. Hope you all enjoy this one as much as the first story. Let me know what you think. If the intro to this sounds a little familiar, I wrote something similar in another story where Heero stood Duo up for dinner in Confessions from the Perfect Soldier.