Author: Fugu
Archive: WD ML Archive
Warning: after Endless Waltz, major OOC, major sap, angst and oh yes, pretty plot less
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: purely for entertainment purposes; own some creative copyright on the plot.
Title: In the Depth of Winter
Pairing: obviously most incredibly sappy 2x5(x2). Also 3x4, 1xSally, etc.
Notes: Second arc of PlumWars. See Important Notes below before reading this chapter.
In the Depth of Winter
Chapter 2
Wednesday morning...
Something warm and very bright was caressing his eyelids, stopping him from going back to the hot sexy dream where he was licking an entirely made of chocolate Wuffy.
"mumble mumble hmm...Wuuufffyyy...*happy sigh*...choooclaaat'...grumble."
Duo turned to the side where his lover's warm body lay and *squeezed*.
*hackle*cough*wheeze*
Duo shot up, eyes wide open, strangling Wufei's pillow. Still half asleep, he looked wildly around for the foreign noise. His eyes fell on a 'cocoonified' creature -in the thick Scottish quilt patterned afghan- sitting beside the window in the only bedroom's chair. One golden hand shot out to rub one of the groggily blinking dark eyes, the only thing visible from the wool envelop.
/What!?/ Duo tossed the sheets away and was up and beside Wufei.
"Fei!?" He crouched in front of him, both hands resting on where the nees should be. " Have you been up all night?"
Wufei cleared his throat.
" Not all night, no." His eyes followed Duo's hand as it dug under the afghan and rested on his forehead. " Duo, stop that. I'm not sick."
"Well," The American muttered. "no fever at least." He stared at his Asian husband. "Then why aren't you in bed sleeping? You really don't look too good."
Wufei smiled as he thought about giving a teasing retort on the last comment but then he really looked at Duo's concerned and very sober eyes. The smile fell and he just felt too tired.
"I don't know. I just, " He closed his his eyes and leaned heavily on the chair's back. "I just feel really uncomfortable and instead of tossing and turning and waking you up I decided to sit here. And well, I guess I just dozed off."
Duo was thoughtful. "We forgot the sleeping pills last night, right."
The Asian nodded.
"Well okay." Duo's face brightened up but it didn't reach his eyes. He reached a hand to his lover's hair, combing through it to than rest his hand on one pale golden cheek.
"Fei? Fei?"
"Hmm?" He opened his eyes and looked down at the still crouching man.
"Why don't you go lie down. I'll get some orange juice for your throat and the sleeping pills."
Wufei raised his eyebrows. "Now? Duo, Relena is arriving today. I can't go to sleep now."
"Hey she's coming this afternoon. You've got plenty of time for a quick beauty sleep!" Duo smirked.
"Okay."
"Good." Duo patted the supposed knees and rising, gave Wufei a sweet lingering kiss. "By the way, good morning."
Wufei smiled. " Morning."
"Right." Suddenly Duo was all bounces as he dressed himself. After putting some pants on to join the rippled t-shirt he had slept with he tried to quickly finger comb his hair down but his fingers kept getting stuck halfway. He gave up, tying his tangled hair into a low ponytail at the nape instead. On his way out he tossed a cheerful "Be right back" over his shoulder while shooting a look to the man who was slowly threading towards the bed. Once in the hall, his cheer vanished and he quickly went to get Sally.
It was already late when he woke up, so it wasn't surprising that he bump into Sally as she was coming up the stairs.
"Duo" She smiled cocking an eyebrow at his rumpled self. "The monster in you tummy wants sustenance" She joked.
"Hum? Oh Yeah." He gave a halfhearted smile.
Immediately, Sally sobered.
"What is it?" She willingly kept pace as she was brusquely led by her arm to the Maxwell-Chang rooms.
" It's Wufei." He said worriedly. "He still didn't sleep last night." The brunette stopped outside the door. "He really isn't doing well. He could really use something to help him sleep. Do you have any?"
"Who needs sleeping pills?"
Both Sally and Duo jumped as Heero materialized before them.
"Ahum, hum." Duo cleared his throat, trying to bring his pulse back to normal speed. "Wufei needs 'em."
Heero raised an eyebrow at that.
Sally however was less amiable. "Heero, would you stop doing that! The war is OVER and it's just creepy!"
Heero's second eyebrow went to joint its airborne partner.
Sally just rolled her eyes. "Anyways, Duo." She said as she shifted her attention to the snickering young man. "Why don't you let me check on him?"
"Okay." He let her in. "Do you need your medic bag?"
She was already sitting by the bed, checking dozing Chinese man.
"Hum. Oh yeah." She said distracted while she was counting his pulse.
"Be right back." And Heero 'beamed' out of the room.
"Ah. Heero, could you bring a glass of orange juice too!" Duo hastily asked the already empty hallway.
"Sheesh!" Sally shook her head exasperated.
Duo laughed as he joined her to sit on the other side of the bed. He tenderly passed a hand on Wufei's pale forehead. He didn't look up when he asked Sally how his husband was doing.
"Well, at first glance I'd say that he's suffering from severe sleep deprivation and it does explain his lack of appetite."
She had finished the preliminary check of his vitals finding them acceptable considering the situation. Her hand was now slowly rubbing Wufei's forearm.
"The question is why is he not sleeping?"
"He told me he felt uncomfortable."
The one they were talking about stirred and frowned, blinking open heavy lidded eyes smudged by dark rings. Sally focused on them. They took some time to focus and when they did the pupils stayed dilated.
"Duo?" Those same eyes slowly found the purple ones staring worriedly down at him.
" Yeah babe. I'm here." A creamy hand went down to caress a pale gold cheek. "How're you feeling?"
Wufei attempted a shrug but it really was just a stir. "Donknow. Tired I guess."
The sloe eyes blinked close and groggily opened again.
Duo pointedly looked at Sally. She nodded briefly. Although she wasn't as close to Wufei as Duo was, she was still his best friend, as much as Heero was Duo's. Therefor, she knew enough of his mannerism to catch the neglect in his speech.
"Wufei, could you tell me why you're not sleeping? Nightmares?"
Duo's eyes shot open. How could he not have thought of that! True they both had been doing well for some time, but both knew that it only took a particularly vivid experience in their present Preventer lives to propel them down Memory Lane for a couple of angsty weeks, until next time. After all, although peace had come,they could never separate from the violence, integrate part of themselves, essential as blood was to the body.
Considering what he'd heard about Wufei's last mission, there seemed to be reasons for the resurfacing of said nightmares. Duo berated himself. How could he have forgotten!
Wufei looked confused. "No, why? Jus' uncomfortable."
"Are you sure babe?" Duo insisted.
Wufei looked at him for a while. "You'd know."
"Well, I could've..."
"You'd know." Wufei insisted and closed hie eyes.
"O, okay." Duo answered surprised by the vehemence.
Sally smiled, but before she could ask more questions an arm extending to a hand holding a glass of grape juice appeared near her face.
"Ghya!"
Duo unfazed took the glass without looking up.
"Thanks Heero. No more orange juice?"
"Nope."
He handed the medic bag to his glaring wife who snatched it out of his hands. She found her composure back and went about the situation at hand while pointedly ignoring him.
Footsteps were heard coming their way, from the hall and Quatre's blonde head peered the corner of the door.
"Morning. We met Heero downstairs. How is he?"
Duo looked up and smiled "Hey Q!" Than the seriousness came back. "Not to good. Sally's checking him."
The blonde moved in followed by Trowa who was carrying two breakfast trays. Yep, circus skills did come in handy.
"Well," The pig tailed doctor said. "His pulse is okay, but a bit fast. He doesn't have temperature. That's good..."
She reached blindly into her bag while shinning a light into Wufei's dazed eyes. It didn't come out. The hand dug further with much gusto but still couldn't find what it was looking for. She frowned and closing the light was ready to take her bag on her lap to search in earnest when;
" It's not there."
"What?" She looked up at her Japanese husband.
"You broke it, remember?"
"Oh crap, should have stole one from the infirmary." She mumbled.
" What?" Quatre asked. " What's broken?"
"My stethoscope and I haven't gotten a replacement yet." She frowned contrite. "Oh well, I'm going to give him the minimum dosage, just to keep him down under."
She shook out a small pill out of the bottle she'd pull out of her bag and snapped it under her fingers handing half of it to Duo.
Quatre who was standing beside Duo, looked on worriedly.
"Are you sure that he's going to be alright? Maybe we should bring him to the village's clinic?"
Sally nodded. "I thought about that, but let's see how he'll be after a good sleep. Than if things aren't looking better, I vote for the clinic." To Duo, " Give it to him with the juice, he should be out like a light."
Duo nodded. She gathered her things , putting them in her bag and closed it. She stood after patting Wufei's hand and arranged her nightgown, which was the reason why Duo found her coming up the stairs. She was heading for her room to change after breakfast. She bent down to check Wufei's pulse again.
"He should be fine ." She winked at Duo. She took Heero's arm and they left quietly. Heero shot Duo a pointed look and the American nodded and winked back.
Quatre hugged Duo from behind.
"Call if you need anything."
Duo squeezed one of the forearms around his neck.
"Yeah, thanks and...sorry for the trouble." He sighed. " I really thought that getting away from home would like get him 'away' from trouble!" His face fell. "Guess not. I should'a insisted more and earlier for some time off. I mean I'm supposed to take care of him." He muttered vehemently.
Quatre quickly sat beside him and brought the man's face up to look at him.
"Hey, hey! Stop that now." He said forcefully. " You're both family and to say the truth, I'd rather have you here to check on you; So that we can all check on each other. That's what family is for, no?"
Duo nodded, sheepishly averting his eyes.
" As for vacation time, you were both busy and even if someone else could have been sent in the stead of Wufei, when the mission degenerated it turned out he was the right man for it, no? What would have happened if it had been someone else?"
"The possibility of fatalities would have been higher." Trowa put in.
" That's right."
"I know, I know." Duo sighed. " I mean I would've been angry if he wasn't there to help, but it just sucks sometimes, you know?" He gave Quatre a small but genuine smile. " Thanks."
Quatre hugged him again.
" Like I said, if you need anything. We're downstairs."
The brunette nodded and he felt Trowa's hand rest heavily on his shoulder. He looked up into the forest eyes with gratitude.
"Now, I think we should go. Duo needs to give Wufei his juice and the kitchen needs tidying."
Quatre got up surprised. "Oh yeah!"
Trowa smirked." That's what happens when you implement your 'no staff' policy, chores and no orange juice."
"Trowa! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of a 'two' story house. Even if it's at the base of a mountain, the village is only fifteen minutes away after all. Not only that but it wouldn't be fair to not give them their holidays even if the staff isn't christian."
Quatre was miffed as Trowa led him out. The tall European waved a hand at Duo before closing the door. The American still had the time to hear a couple of last retorts thought.
" I never said anything of the sort..."
" Don't play innocent with me Trowa. I can 'feel' stuff."
" Yes, Luv. " Trowa sighed.
Duo chuckled. Quatre was right, it made all the difference to know that he wasn't alone in this. That he had people he could lean on.
He looked down at his dozing husband with the glass in on hand and the pill in the other.
"Now, you'd better be alright." He whispered fiercely.
As predicted Wufei had gone down pretty fast and not even an earthquake could have woken him up.
Everybody had gone about their routines, which basically consisted in doing nothing but their was a suspicious tension hanging in the air. They couldn't deny that they were worried for the Chinese man but for the sake of Duo, they controlled themselves.
Sally had gone to check on Wufei twice and she was pleased to see that he seemed to be doing better. Some color had come back to his cheeks already so she decided to wait until they went to pick up Relena to buy a new stethoscope.
Duo was now sitting on their bed, brushing his long hair in hopes of braiding the abominable mass.
He'd gone out, watched T.V. - or at least tried to-,made lunch for everyone -he was a mean cook-, but eventually couldn't kid himself anymore and had sat beside his lover for the past three hours.
An hour ago he'd taken a shower and dressed up. He'd than fidgeted on the same chair where he'd find Wufei that morning for about fifteen minutes before he decided to sit on the bed. With his back against the headboard, he'd stretched his legs out. Wufei was way far in La La Land yet, he had felt his husband near him and had quickly turned sideways, resting his cheek on the American's thigh after throwing an arm over his lap.
Duo put the brush down a minute and caressed the ebony silky mass, pushing strands away from the face of the sleeping man. He was immensely relieved to see him sleep so well.
He looked at his watch.
"Well time to go Wuffy. I know you wanted to go with us but your sleeping so well. I'll wake you up when we come back."
He got up and watched as Wufei seized the pillow he had been leaning on and quickly buried his face in it, breathing heavily. Duo chuckled and braided his hair, than checked for wallet, keys, etc. When he had everything he stooped and kissed the ebony head.
" 'll be back soon, Luv. Sleep tight."
It took thirty minutes to get to the nearest city, fifteen more to get to the airport, and twenty more to wait for Relena's delayed flight.
Finally, it had arrived and they were watching as people filed out from other nearby gates while trying to spot Relena in all this mass . Duo was especially excited, as usual, but it wasn't gonna make Relena come out any faster.
" Hey guys! What are you looking at?"
As a whole, they all turned around to find the former Queen of the World smirking mischievously. As she took in the various looks of surprise -except for Heero of course- her smirk widened, her light purple eyes shinning.
She mimed picking her nails. "Haven't lost my touch, I see."
Duo was the first to come out of it, again as usual, and picked up the petite woman in a fierce hug. She laughed.
" God, Relena! It's been such a long time!"
" You too Duo, you too. I haven't seen you like in two years!" She lightly reprimanded.
As soon as he let go of her she was picked up again and swirled by Heero! She squealed with joy.
" Put me down you goof." She laughed breathlessly. " Put me down!"
The rest of the welcomes were less demonstrative but as fierce.
Relena as the others had changed greatly.
She looked at all of them happily but curiously nonetheless.
"Hum. Where's Wufei?" Her smile faltered. " Don't tell me he's working this year again!" She opened her back-pack taking out her cell. " If it's the case, I'll call Une right away and have him relieved. It's been two years since I've seen tha stubborn man!"
Duo hastily took the phone away from her, flipping it closed.
" No, no, relax Relena." He laughed. " He came but he's at home sleeping."
They quickly put her up to speed to the latest events. A frown now creased her forehead.
"Well," She said putting on her coat. " I'm finished here. These," and she pointed towards three large travel/sports bags. " are all I've got. Let's get going."
Important Notes: I have in mind to write up a saga on three parts that will become a crossover with Valrave. This should be the second Arc. Also, there isn't much plot. If you have read my other fics, you know that I just write for the sake of Sap and hurt/comfort; you know that I don't start arcs chronologically either. More so, I'm not a prolific writer, but I need to finish what I start. I hope that publishing will help me finish this story in the next two years? If any of the things are peeves, then you shouldn't be reading this story. Cheers ^_^
