Our four day weekend went well, until it rained. I knew we would be racing Saturday to get as much done as we could, but those great big thunderheads that had built up all day Friday finally got around to causing mischief.

It was just after lunch, Heero and I had drug a huge pile of brush to the burn pile when the first grumble of thunder tickled the skies in the distance. We looked up at the same time and then quickly looked at each other. Knowing him, he would try to push through a torrential downpour to keep on schedule. At first, even I agreed with that mindset… until the first raindrops began to fall that is. They started off tiny, striking us on the face in little pitter patters, but in very little time the rain decided to get serious and began to fall hard. We scrambled to put our gear into the back of the Jeep and then spent the next twenty minutes sitting inside as the day turned into a curtain of falling water.

"Well," I said.

"Mmm," Heero agreed.

"Look at it this way… we got a ton of work done. It looks great," I said. Well, the rain was obscuring our vision, but it did look great. The brush pile we were burning was taller than we were and we knew that the rain would let it smolder on out. The front of the property was actually clear at the road front now and was showing promise of what this place could truly be after a lot of hard work and love. I felt good, even if the rest of the day of work was going to be shot. I couldn't help the grin on my face.

"We only had a few more hours of daylight left anyway," Heero finally sighed in resignation as he cranked up the Jeep and gripped the gear shift. He sat for a little while longer, gazing out to the land through wipers that swept rapidly across the windshield. "I guess it's okay to pack it in early."

"Yeah," I agreed, sighing myself. Though my sigh was of contentment and accomplishment rather than his defeated "I can't work until sundown or beyond" sigh. "You said there's a creek out there, right?"

"Towards the back," Heero agreed as he put the vehicle in gear and slowly backed us out of the tangle of underbrush he had to park us in when we got there. The bushes and shrubs scraped the fenders as we slipped through them, and then we were on the road.

"Good, man, it's so quiet here. I wonder if we'll ever get used to the quiet." I felt an internal smirk when those piercing blue eyes honed in on me. I refused to look over at him, instead, letting the smirk grow as he continued to stare at me. "So quiet," I commented again as the smirk grew into a large boyish grin.

"Duo," Heero said as he put the Jeep into drive and began to creep down the road. "As long as you are living and breathing, there is no quiet in your direct vicinity. You may not be able to adjust to the "quiet"," he lifted both hands from the wheel to actually give me quotey fingers. "But I won't have a problem."

Leaning my head back, I burst into hearty laughter.

It rained hard on the way home, so hard in fact that he had to put on the emergency lights, just like the people in front of us. Some folks had even decided it would be best to pull over and wait for this heavy band of rain to pass by before going on down the road. Don't blame 'em, it was getting pretty nasty out. At least it wasn't cold and this was a great break from the humidity. On the other hand, now that the humidity had been cut, and we had gotten soaked, we were now shivering in our wet clothing.

"I hope we don't end up getting sick," I murmured as we passed another vehicle that had wisely decided to pull over on the side of the road.

"You don't get sick from getting wet," Heero grunted as he navigated around water that had pooled in the road.

"Yes you can."

"No, you can't."

"Maybe not a cold, but you can get sick," I reasoned with him.

He was quiet as he pondered that over.

"Yeah, humans tend to do weird things when we get wet," I deadpanned.

"I'm human," he said. Water struck the sides of the Jeep as he cut through another bit of ponding.

"Prove it," I said as I leaned close to him and then breathed out the word. "Sneeze." Heero cut his eyes over at me and then placed a well-meaning elbow into my ribs.

"Let's get something to eat," I said. "Then, we can huddle together for warmth while we look over one of the two thousand catalogues you have and decide on flooring."

"You like stone, right?"

"Yeah, stone's nice," I said. "But it's got to be the kind that has internal heating. You don't want to hit that shit barefoot first thing in the morning."

He grunted his agreement as we eased to the first stoplight, signaling that we had gotten to the outer skirts of the city. "How about bamboo?"

"I love bamboo," I said as I looked around, and then pointed at a local burger joint. He shook his head and pointed at a Chinese. I shrugged. I was good with anything to eat as long as it was hot and tasted good. He put his blinker on and we waited until we were able to pull into the parking lot. We sat in our space while the rain continued the fall. The drops were heavy, loud and they almost sounded eager. Eager to get their job done before the storm broke up and the sun came out only to draw it back up to the sky. Or to coat every living being in a fine sheen of sweat. I called in our regular order, and then set the phone on the dashboard. "Fifteen minutes," I said.

"Good. That should give this band time to move through. Maybe it'll be clear enough to drive home without incident," Heero said. I looked over at him, hoping it was casually. I don't know anymore. I keep finding myself staring at him, afraid of losing my cool and getting caught.

I looked at his forearms. Slender and strong, and then those wrists. Those perfect wrists that slipped into powerful and beautiful hands. The fingers were slender. They could have belonged to a surgeon, or a classical pianist. They were resting on his thighs and I had a brief mental image of running my hand up his thigh. He has great legs.

"You're staring at me," he said flatly as he continued to gaze beyond the windshield. He didn't sound upset, just more like he was stating a fact. Which he was, because I was staring at him. The fact that he didn't sound upset or took offense was nice. He is something awful pretty to stare at.

"I'm tired," I answered back quickly. And I was. Pooped. Neither one of us could sleep much last night. We were as giddy as kids waiting for Santa as we anticipated getting back to the land. Friday had been such an accomplishment and we wanted a repeat of that today. Why didn't either one of us think to check the weather? I don't know. Yesterday had been so perfect I guess we just assumed that fair weather and decent temps would be around all weekend.

"Me too," Heero answered softly and then closed his eyes while he leaned his head back against the headrest. Oh, there that long neck was. Did he know what he did to me when he so blatantly exposed that to me? How close he was to have it licked, suckled or even bitten? If he'd only give me half the chance, I think he'd like it. I loved his neck, but I couldn't decide which part of him was my favorite; it or his shoulders. He's got great shoulders, too. He's got a great everything, and while I pondered his shoulders another grumble of thunder came. This was a big one.

"I don't know if that's a good sign or not," I commented as I broke my gaze from him to lean forward and peer out of the windshield. The rain was letting up a bit, but it insisted on remaining steady. "Think if it eases up any time soon we can still try to get some work in tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Heero said. His deep voice complacent, but there was also that sound of satisfaction. "If not, we can try on Monday."

"At least make more piles with the stuff we cut today," I agreed. The timer went off on my phone, causing me to give a slight jump and him to crack open an eye. He shifted to get his wallet out, but I reached out, grasping his arm lightly. "I got this one, you just concentrate on getting us home safe and sound," I said as I opened my door and braced myself for the rain. "Be back in a tic!"

We bustled into our apartment holding our bags of food almost possessively, even though we were on the seventh floor and long out of the driving rain. The residual misery of getting so wet so fast was glued into our brains and we were drenched and cold as I kicked the door shut behind us. I trudged behind Heero into the kitchen, each with our own overloaded armload of bags. I always over-ordered Chinese, it was one of my favorite comfort foods and I loved to graze on it for as long as I could. The rain, as Heero had hoped, hadn't let up on the way home. It actually got worse. It was three thirty in the afternoon and almost night time dark. I set my cargo down onto the kitchen table as I peeled out of my wet shirt.

"Gonna turn on the TV and see what's going on with the weather," I said as Heero disappeared into the laundry room. "Hey, you've got a fresh pair of shorts and a tee in there, so do I, could you toss me mine out?"

"Was that English?"

"I think so," I said as his arm, holding my fresh clothing, extended through the small door. I reached out and grasped them before heading to change in the living room while I watched a storm track. "We got home in time!" I called. "It's gonna be a big one!"

"So I hear," Heero said as he came into the kitchen to fetch us some paper plates so we could load food onto them.

"Yeah, big one," I said as I pulled up my sweat shorts and tossed my braid behind my back. A huge cell was coming this way, a dark angry red that promised trouble. The stuff we had had to deal with on the way home? Pffft, that was just the little stuff that always runs ahead of the storm. Kind of like a probe a mother ship sends out to test the waters on the unsuspecting population before an invasion. I tossed my wet clothes into the hamper and then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before loading up my plate. I playfully bumped my elbow into Heero's while we served our respective meals and for just a tiny bit; he played back. As much as I wanted to flirt with him though, I was really into hearing the meteorologist discuss a possible impending doom with the weather. Soon enough, we were on the couch, sitting side by side with our feet up and watching with interest.

The heavy stuff didn't arrive when they thought. The storm tried to stall out on us and for a little while the sun actually broke through the clouds. It put our defenses down nicely however. We finished our meals and then showered; I got another load of laundry going and even changed the beds, chatting to Heero all the while about much bigger bedrooms while he straightened up the kitchen. We could have lazed about today but our heads were still work focused and why waste the energy, anyway? I was telling him about how I'd love to go shopping with Quatre for an antique bedroom set but his answer was drowned out by a massive rumble of thunder. I was so busy getting the sheets on my bed that I hadn't even noticed how my room had grown dark by creeping increments.

"Here it comes," Heero said. He knew I loved storms. That gave me a pleasant little tingle that buzzed along my spine. Heero knows what I like. Alright, Duo. No giggling.

"We're gonna lose power," I said as I tossed the last pillow into place. "Got your laptop charged up?"

"Yeah, you?"

"That and the spare battery. Might as well get a little work done since we can't get work done."

"You know what Noin said about that. Everyone is to take the weekend off."

"Yeah, but if a case load is just sitting there gathering dust, then what's the point of letting it set?" I argued as I peered into my closet.

"I said no," Heero answered back.

"Are you telling me not to work? You're scaring me, Heero. Do I need to come in there and check for a fever?"

"No," he droned out.

With a smirk, I headed into the living room. Alright, so I couldn't work on cases, but at least I could play video games on my laptop. I'd just keep it plugged in until the power crapped out. And in this part of town, and especially this building, the power loved to crap out in any kind of weather. I plopped down on my spot and kicked my feet up while I got ready to play something loud, fast and violent. Of course, Heero decided to push the coffee table away and start in on those knuckle pushups that absolutely drive me insane. I bit back a groan as the shirt came off and then tried to ignore him as he went down in front of the television.

"Really?" I said. "You just showered."

"I don't plan on breaking a sweat; I just want to get my heart rate up."

"Yeah, yeah," I said as I tried to focus on the loading screen. The boring, unsexy, not doing knuckle pushups in my living room shirtless and letting out those deep heavy breaths loading screen. "You hate being idle. Man, it's gonna suck to be you when you get old and have to mill about in a nursing home."

"Doubt it."

"Why? You already got plans to drive the staff crazy?" I paused when he turned his head to me and there was a slight glint of mischief in his eyes before he turned his face back down to the floor. "You have got to be kidding me, Heero!" I exclaimed. "Really? You've already got plans in case you're an invalid in a nursing home to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting staff?!"

"Let's put it this way, Duo," he said between effort laden grunts. "You do rub off on me."

I was too shocked (and impressed) to really say anything for a long while before I managed to splutter out. "Well, what am I supposed to do, then?"

"Be cranky, surly and acerbic."

"So… we're going to switch rolls when we get old? Will we even be at the same home?"

"Of course."

"You can't live without me, can you?" I smirked. He didn't answer at first, so I grinned, counting myself as having won this one as I got my game started. I guess when he answered, he didn't expect me to hear him because I had slipped on my gaming headphones, but I did. His answer grasped my heart, held it in warm strong hands and made parts of it long broken begin to heal.

"I can't."

Quatre answered on the second ring. "Duo!"

"Hey, Quatre, I don't have a lot of time to talk. I sent Heero out to get us some ice cream."

"What? In this weather? Is it still storming there?" I could hear the tell-tale sounds of him doing dishes.

"Nah, it's already passed us, good one though," I said.

"It was. Trowa and I sat in the day room and watched as it passed. The lightning got so intense at one point I was worried for our safety," he said. I could hear water running briefly before the jostle of silverware going into the draining rack. "What's wrong, Duo? You sound stressed."

I took a moment to slowly inhale to give my mind time to order itself before blurting out what had transpired between Heero and I that afternoon, ending with the affirmation that he couldn't live without me. More began to pour out of me as my blond friend patiently listened, and though he gave me plenty of room to talk, I could hear the smile in his silence.

"What do I do, Quatre? Tell me, you're experienced in this matter!"

"I say there's nothing to do," he answered back. More water ran followed by a clinking of dishes. "You know Heero better than anyone, and I-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all good and well, what do you think of him answering with that? Was it plutonic or is there more to it? I mean, what should I feel? I've never felt like this before, not really! I mean… feelings are for people who want to live, I've still got to get used to them because I never expected to live to be old enough to vote," I ended lamely. Quatre just chuckled. "What did he mean by that, Quatre?"

"He meant what he meant," came the most helpful answer in the world, followed by a soft bought of laughter as I let out a massive sigh. "He meant what he meant," Quatre answered again firmly. "But I will give you this advice, Duo. Don't push him. If there is anything between you at all; let it bud. If you rush in with haste to start pruning the bush, you'll kill this rose before it ever has a chance to bloom. Heero may indeed feel something for you, and strongly at that, but you have to remember that he is still deprogramming from a very hard childhood and life. Like you've always said, and this is something that I deeply agree with, Heero isn't human. Not in the conventional sense, Duo. He was never… expected to be. He's learning. Be gentle with him, take care of him. Love him, above all, as the best friend to you that he is."

"Yeah," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck thoughtfully. "I always will love him as my best friend."

"Then start with that," Quatre said gently. "I need to let you go."

"Alright, well, thanks for letting me rant," I said. "I'll see ya at work."

"So long, Duo," Quatre said and our connection was cut.

"Well, that was helpful," I said glumly as I walked back to the living room. "He meant what he meant… Heero always means what he means," I said to the television, which was currently displaying a ballgame that I wasn't interested in, on mute. "I mean, the guy doesn't play around, he doesn't know how to. Well, he knows how to joke… now. It's not like he's double minded or anything. Straight forward, but yet, how can I tell what he meant? Is it just that? Plutonic? Best buds and all? Where would he be now if I hadn't forced my friendship on him? Probably alone because he scares most normal people away. Did I just call myself abnormal?" I kicked my feet up and pulled my laptop back onto my lap where I stared down at my paused game.

"Alright… let's start reflecting," I said. "He's acting more comfortable around me than he ever has before. Walking around without a shirt, exercising in front of me which absolutely drives me insane, if I state I want something, even if I'm talking to myself he goes and gets it. He never tells me no unless the request is absolutely off the wall or against my own good. Or his. He's opening up to me more. He's even… more caring… more attentive." I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. That was true about Heero. He's being way more attentive to me than he was in the past. "Tender," I whispered.

I opened my eyes and looked about the small living room. Not much adorned the walls but what did was a combination of us both. There seemed to be no separation of personalities. When we discussed the house we were building, again, no clash of him and I between us, but a perfect blending of the two. The thought made me feel warm and before I could help it, I began to smile. What if… just what if Heero did have feelings for me? And in his way, perhaps… maybe he had already established some sort of relationship with me?

"What if he's just as afraid to say something as I am for fear of rejection?" I questioned the silent room. "What if he and I are both in a relationship with one another without letting the other know? That would be kind of a perfect thing to keep it secret, until our hearts get broken when we find a significant other. Well, I won't, because I want to be with him and didn't he promise me that that wouldn't be the case with him? Didn't he assure me, when we first started talking about buying the land that everything would be fine? Maybe we are too much alike…"

I pulled my lower lip between my teeth as I looked past the television to the window. It was night time now, I couldn't see the clouds to gauge where the storm was, but at least it had stopped raining. And even though that was the case, I still felt a twinge of guilt for sending Heero out for ice cream that I didn't really want. I just needed a moment to myself to talk to Quatre to get his take on this and even that didn't help. I'm still confused and second guessing myself and probably hoping far beyond hope for something good to come out of this situation.

"He meant what he meant." Quatre's voice came back to me.

"Yeah," I said. "But what did he mean?"