Quatre quickly found that he would not be getting as much sleep as he probably should have. He had laid down, and made the attempt. And he had gotten a few hours in, but he was still in 'mission mode' as they used to call it. So he slept lightly, and each time a nurse came in to check on Duo, he would wake up. And then he would be awake for some time after that, mentally plotting the next day. He had not gotten nearly enough work done the day prior, he needed to field a lot of stuff over to the board, and do it personally. That meant, at the very least, video meetings. He refused to leave the base, he had made that very clear the day prior. And he was looking at a prolonged stay on base.
And so his sleep was interrupted and light. Not that he couldn't deal with it, he could. He could go several weeks at the current rate if he had to. He finally decided to give up on sleep around six in the morning, or so. A nurse had just made his rounds, and Quatre just could not slow himself down to sleep any more. He wandered off to shower and change, purposely not taking very long. On the way back, he snagged something unidentifiable from the cafeteria. It was some sort of burrito, not that he tasted it as it went down. Food was food, he had survived on worse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he re-entered Duo's room and found nothing amiss. He sat down beside his best friend and patted the still arm before wrapping his fingers around Duo's once more. He glanced down at his phone and chuckled a bit.
"I'm sure you would be proud to know you have the entire board of directors 'flipping shit' as you would call it." He said with a bemused tone as he flipped through his texts. The board was swarming like wasps, and Quatre sighed. Quatre had picked up many phrases and idioms from his friends, that he tended to use only around them. And one Duo and Heero particularly favored, and Quatre had no doubt Heero had learned it from Duo, was apt for that moment.
"I believe herding cats would be an easier task." He muttered to himself more than anything else, flicking emails into folders to sort through later. Grown men and women who acted like they could not function as a collective unit and bickered like schoolyard children. And then when anything even slightly broke down, all hell broke loose. He sorted quite a few emails that had been labeled urgent and really were not into a folder to read later. There few that did need tending to he took care of right on his phone. Video meetings could wait another day or two, at least until Quatre knew things were going to be all right. When he finally could do no more from his phone, he glanced at the clock on it. Half the day had gone by, he had barely noticed anyone that had entered or exited the room. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, only to hear a bemused chuckle behind him.
"That bad, Quatre?" Noin said, the chuckle still evident in her voice. He turned his head and offered the agent a tired smile.
"The board of directors seem positively convinced that the company is going to go under because I have taken emergency leave." The blond said with an exasperated tone, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand. Despite slight adjustments for comfort and to accommodate the nurses, Quatre had not let go of Duo's hand. Noin nodded and strode into the room, settling down into the chair next to him. The Arabian was a little surprised to note the lack of Zechs, but they did operate separate when needed.
"I do not envy you your job, Quatre. The worst we deal with is training new recruits, and they are not ornery businessmen and women." She said with a wry grin, and Quatre noted her scanning her eyes over Duo in an appraising manner. Despite the fact that they had fought on opposite sides of the war, they had formed fairly close bonds over the years. Especially the ex-pilots who had become full time agents. "Anyway, we have some more information for you. Well, I do. Zechs is supervising the forensics on the vehicles, we are trying to rule everything out, even though we seem to have the full story now." She said, a solemnness to her tone that set Quatre a little on edge. He nodded for her to continue.
"Well, the driver of the truck was rather intoxicated, according to the workers at the plant, he shouldn't have even left in that truck. There was a breakdown of communications within the shipping department, and the company is willing to take full responsibility." She stopped, and turned to appraise Quatre.
"And?" he asked, there was an and in her statement. And it seemed like one she was hesitant to share.
"The driver of the truck died on impact, and we were able to find why Duo's injuries turned out so serious. He was not wearing his seatbelt …" She trailed off and Quatre flinched. They were all very careful these days, yes, they had lived dangerously during the war, but they all had found things and people to live for.
"He had been having problems with the seatbelt jamming, that I know of. He was planning on fixing that." Quatre answered softly and Noin looked surprised for a moment before nodding.
"We had been very confused about that." She spoke equally as soft, and closed her eyes for a moment.
"Pure bad luck, then." Quatre said after a moment. He squeezed Duo's hand in reaction and turned his attention back to Noin.
"As far as we know now. Like I mentioned, Zechs is overseeing the forensics breakdown of the vehicles, because of who Duo is, who we all are, we're not taking any chances." Quatre nodded again, relaxing his shoulders. Yes, they could still find something more, some sign of foul play, but it was unlikely. And it set him a bit at ease to know there was not someone, or someones, out there actively trying to get at Duo or other other ex-pilots.
"Thank you, Noin." He replied, offering her another tired smile. She nodded and smiled back.
"Get some sleep, Quatre. You look like you need it." She said as she stood and walked out. Quatre heaved a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. Sheer unluckiness had caused all of this, and Quatre sincerely wished there had been something he could have done to change it. He knew Duo's past, as much as the other man had been willing to share. They all knew bits and pieces of it, but he suspected only he knew just how terrible Duo's childhood had been. He looked down at his friend and sincerely wished Duo was awake and that he could just hold his best friend.
The next several days went by both far too quickly and far too slowly by Quatre's standards. Four days that Quatre wished to never revisit in his remaining life. Each day was taken up with the CEO of Winner Corp managing a group of men and women who seemed to think they could not run a company on their own. And then the video calls with people that refused to be pushed back schedule wise. By the evening of each day, Quatre was as exhausted as he would have been had he been in the office. Still, he was adamant about not leaving Duo's side, much to the chagrin of his board of directors. Quatre had lost count of how many times they had tried to coerce him into going in to the office.
Quatre leaned against the wall and stared at the empty shuttle port. The current situation was the only one where he had chosen to leave Duo's side. He needed to see his friends and they needed to hear the news from him, not from someone else. And frankly, between the lack of decent sleep and the company running him ragged, all Quatre wanted to do was collapse in his husband's arms. He crossed his arms over his chest and worked on composing his outward appearance. The pilots were not due for another half hour, but Quatre knew shuttles were unpredictable sometimes, and he wanted to be there to see his friends.
Frankly, the only bright side to the past four days had been the steady and slow improvements to Duo's condition. The ventilator had gone the day before, much to Quatre's relief, and Sally had remarked on how well he was healing. She suspected he would wake within the next couple of days, which set Quatre more at ease than anything else.
The door near Quatre slid open, and he whipped his head around to see who it was. The shuttle port on base was usually quiet. There was no need for much here anyway. A couple of shuttles, the smaller scale ones, as many of the agents were also pilots, there was barely a need for on staff pilots. There were a few, but they were only called in when needed. So the waiting area was small, attached to the shuttle hanger by a sky bridge. The person finally came into view and Quatre was not terribly surprised to see it was the Commander. He nodded to her and she nodded back.
"They will be arriving shortly." She said and Quatre inclined his head. Of course she would have better information than he did, well, he could have had gotten if he had really gone looking. But he was taking the time away to de-stress a little.
"You look like hell." The Commander said, assessing him quite openly. Sally had said much of the same earlier that day. Quatre sighed.
"Yes. So I have been told." He answered, returning his gaze to the large windows in front of him, overlooking the runway.
"They are going to know something is wrong, anyway, by the fact that we are both waiting for them." Quatre added, heaving a sigh. "How I currently look makes no difference. There is something wrong, there is no hiding that. But once they are back, I know I can rest." He continued, watching the exact shuttle he was waiting for finally fly in. He relaxed visibly. Once the other pilots were filled in, he could relinquish his watch to one of his friends. They could return to that pattern of shifts they did for things such at this. He had no doubt Une was standing beside him to inform the pilots that they were on leave.
He watched the shuttle pull into the hangar and he pulled himself upright. He was on the verge of breaking down, he could tell. He was not sure he would make it until he saw his husband. He tried to compose himself further as he waited. He needed to at least be composed enough to get out the news. He slumped a little as he stood. Finally, there was movement on the sky bridge, and the sounds of Wufei and Heero conversing echoed to them. The door opened, and Heero, who was still turned to face Wufei, continued to speak, while both Wufei and Trowa stopped in their tracks. Heero, though, quick on the draw, swiftly turned and stopped dead as well.
Quatre heaved a sigh and locked eyes with his husband, who swiftly moved around his two comrades and walked up to Quatre, wrapping his arms around the blond, who, by that point, was easily a head shorter. Quatre just let his husband's presence wrap around him and soothe him, burying his face in Trowa's chest. He was not ashamed to say he was crying.
"You are all on leave, effective immediately. Your reports were already turned in, I do not want to see any of you in the office until this situation has cleared." Une said, before neatly turning and exiting the waiting area. Out of the corner of his eye Quatre saw Wufei and Heero exchange glances before approaching he and Trowa.
"Quatre, what is going on?" Heero asked, his voice gentle. It had surprised all of them how gentle Heero had become over the years, at least, within their tight knit group. Trowa turned, taking Quatre with him and loosening his grip on his husband. Trowa always knew what Quatre needed, often without words being exchanged. Quatre took a deep breath and turned away from his husband, and Trowa's grip adjusted so that he was still holding Quatre.
"There was an accident…" Quatre began, and he knew the rest had figured out it was Duo. Wufei was stiff and Quatre wanted nothing more than to be able to reassure the Chinese agent. But he could not, at least, not very well.
"Duo was in a car accident six days ago, it … It was bad. He's still in medical. He's healing, but it is slow. Sally is positive he will recover, though. It's just … it was bad." Quatre said, letting his husband support him. Wufei looked stricken, and Quatre flinched internally, the feeling coming off of Wufei twisted his gut. Duo's doubts about the other man were clearly unfounded, the depth of emotion from Wufei alone was enough to lay Quatre out. Heero was stricken as well, Duo and Heero were very close, but Heero was still hard to read, after all of these years. Still, from the Japanese pilot, Quatre got enough to know the he was upset and concerned in vast quantities. Trowa's presence wrapped about Quatre was easy to read, the Prussian was just as concerned, but for both Duo and Quatre. The blond squeezed Trowa's arm in reassurance. He was not the one injured.