Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Thank you to WCInsane for being the amazing beta that she is! Any mistakes are all mine since I was the last one to have a hold of this chapter.

Enjoy!

Chapter 12: Missing

Posted on 9th April 2008

Saturday morning found Duo stretching lazily on the ground, soaking up the warm sunlight streaming in through the massive windows of Heero's bedroom. He felt his shirt hike up and his vertebrae pop into place as he sighed happily, leaving his arms stretched above his head and his legs pulled straight even after he relaxed.

The sun was warm, the day bright and the sounds of spring were clear. He could hear the quiet chirping of the birds, returned early for spring. The snow banks on the sides of the roads were starting to melt and flooding the streets. The temperatures had reached positives for the first time in months.

Aiko lay next to him, pressed against his side as she absorbed the sun as well. She was asleep, softly snoring. Duo reached down and pressed a hand into her soft fur, combing it slightly. She woke up, gave an approving growl that rumbled through her frame and then settled back into sleep.

"Spoiled brat." He said affectionately to her but she ignored him, rolling onto her back instead and letting him scratch her belly.

He closed his eyes and just enjoyed himself. He refused to think about the subway 'incident'. His gut told him that he should tell Heero, but his mind told him that nothing good can come out of it. What can Heero possibly do when he heard about it, other than to worry himself sick? There was absolutely no need to tell him anything.

"Duo…" Duo heard Heero call and he looked up to see him hovering near the doorway.

"Over here." He said and saw Heero turn in the direction of his voice. He walked to the centre of the room confidently before stopping again. Duo knew this process. Heero followed the sound of his voice and usually was able to gage a certain amount of distance easily. When he got too close though, he got cautious. "Aiko's here too. She's asleep, enjoying the sun." Duo started talking and saw Heero change his direction slightly and take careful steps towards him. Duo was lying on the carpeted floor, sandwiched between the bed and the wall, and so manoeuvring around the bed was tricky. "The sun's nice today." And that is all I am thinking about. The sun's nice. I am not thinking about goddamned Adam and how you deserve to know when your psycho ex-boyfriend threatens your current boyfriend. It has nothing to do with you.

Right.

"I can feel the heat." He said as he took two more steps before his shins hit the edge of the bed. He crawled onto it and lay down on his stomach, his arms crossed along the edge and he 'looked' down where he assumed Duo to be.

Duo was a couple of feet away and he rolled so that he was lying under Heero. He looked up into Heero's blank blue eyes. "Have I ever told you how pretty your eyes are?" Heero blushed slightly but nodded anyway. "Well I'll say it again. You have very pretty eyes." Duo said with a grin, trying to keep his attention from wandering to the subway incident.

Heero smiled and then reached down to run his fingers over Duo's face again. "Well, you have a nice nose." He said with a small smile.

Duo laughed and then sighed, looking at small clouds drifting in the sky through the window. "You know… when I was younger my Dad and I could lie in the grass and watch clouds all day." Duo said softly, nostalgia heavy in his voice. If I can't tell you about some things, I'll tell you about others. He thought, hoping to assuage his guilt of keeping things from Heero.

"Sounds like fun." Heero said, closing his eyes and turning his face a little into the light.

"Yeah… but Mom wouldn't let us. Dad had this bad habit, you know, where he would insist on repairing things, take them apart piece by piece and leave them as they were. Drove Mom nuts." Duo breathed in deeply. "So every time Dad tried to laze the day away, Mom would remind him of the broken toaster and half repaired washing machine sitting in the garage… then he would end up evading her the rest of the day."

"Where are they now?" Heero asked.

"Dad… he got into an accident at work. He worked as a mechanic and a jack broke while he was under a car. They couldn't get him out in time."

"Oh… I'm sorry." Heero said, sounding genuine and Duo gave him a smile for it even if Heero couldn't appreciate it.

"It's okay… it was a very long time ago."

"And your Mom?"

"She just… she loved my Dad a lot. She just pulled it together enough to get me through school and into college… then she just didn't wake up one day. She gave up I guess." Duo said, swallowing thickly.

Heero didn't say anything and instead reached down and stroked Duo's cheek lightly. Duo turned into the soft touch and smiled against Heero's palm, allowing him to feel the movement. A few moments passed and then Duo sat up, letting Heero's hand slip off his cheek.

"It's okay though… it's been a while." Duo said, his voice soft, and then placed a quick kiss to Heero's lips before standing up. "I'm going to head back home, pick up a few things and pack up some more okay?" Heero nodded. "I have to contact the phone company and stuff to have my number cancelled…" Now that he thought about it, he had a number of things to do before he moved. "Oh crap I have lots to do."

"Will you be coming back tonight?" Heero asked as he sat back up, his hands in his laps as he listened to the sounds of Duo moving around in the room.

"Of course, I'll be here sometime before dark. I won't be too late though." Duo said as he started heading out of the bedroom. Heero got off the bed and followed him out.

Heero grasped Duo's arm lightly, stopping him in his steps. "Duo?" He asked, flushing slightly. "There's a spare key on the coffee table… I had Trowa duplicate his."

Duo's attention honed in on the small shiny piece of metal sitting innocently on the glass coffee table. Heero had gotten him a key. He had his own key now. Then it hit him. "Oh my god I'm moving in." Duo said disbelievingly. "And I have my own key. I can come whenever I want."

"You still come whenever you want." Heero said, a smile in his voice.

"But now I have my own key!" Duo exclaimed ecstatically. He grabbed the key and added it to his keychain with a flourish.

Heero chuckled at the childish excitement in Duo's voice and Duo grinned widely at him. He gave Heero a lingering kiss and then headed out after saying his goodbyes.

He already couldn't wait to come back.

oOOo

Duo stared at the piles of boxes sitting in his living room. He knew he had to find that disk… and soon, but it looked like such a daunting task! The charity donation people were scheduled to be there in about an hour or so and pick up his furniture, which was also haphazardly piled up along with the stacks of cardboard boxes. The rest of the apartment was empty save for a couple of suitcases in his bedroom and a pair of jeans and a jacket hanging in his closet. There were too many cartons, too many nooks and crannies for the disk to be hiding in.

I can't do this alone. He decided and picked up the phone, dialling Wufei's number by memory. "Wu!" He exclaimed when the phone was picked up.

"Duo!" Meiran said instead. "Honestly now you won't even leave my husband alone during the weekend?"

"Of course not! I am the light of his life, he'd die if he didn't hear from me every day." Duo said dramatically. "And then you would be left with a shell of a man who wouldn't be able to perform in the bedroom."

Meiran snickered and then lowered her voice to a stage whisper, "See the thing is, that won't be all that different." Even before her sentence was completed Duo heard a faint 'Oi!' in the background and it sent him into peels of laughter. She had him on speaker didn't she?

He heard some scuffling in the background and Meiran's laughter before Wufei barked into the phone. "Maxwell!"

"Wuffy! Tell me how much you missed me! Tell me, tell me! Tell me how you found it hard to breathe without me by your side and how you felt like life wasn't worth living." Duo said with a wide grin on his face.

"I'll tell you how much I missed you. I missed you enough to kick your ass into next week when I see you."

"Oh I know about your fascination with my ass but isn't it a good idea to keep it hush-hush around the wifey?" Duo chuckled.

"What do you want?" Wufei said, sounding defeated and Duo could hear Meiran still laughing in the back.

"Wu-baby, I need you to come to my place pronto."

"No." Short and blunt. What crawled up his ass and died?

"No?"

"No."

"But I haven't even told you why!"

"It can't possibly be anything good. It's never anything good. This time I'm putting my foot down before I find myself succumbing to your questionable moral influences."

"Oohh big words Wu-baby, buy a thesaurus recently?"

"As a matter of fact I – wait, what do you want?" Wufei sounded frustrated now.

"Remember how I forgot about The Disk?" Duo asked sheepishly.

"I am not hacking into the database again Maxwell!" Wufei growled.

"Yes you've made that very clear. But see it's packed and I don't want to go through all those boxes all by my lonesome and I was wondering if you'll be willing to provide your best friend some company?"

There was silence for a moment and then Wufei huffed. "Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do today."

"Awesome! Now give call the wifey?" Duo said and then heard Wufei call Meiran. "Merry May?"

"Yes Duo?" Meiran said laughter evident in her voice. She knew when Duo called her 'Merry May' that he wanted something from her.

"Could you make some of those awesome egg salad sandwiches you make? Pretty please?" Duo said, not above begging.

"Sure Duo, anything else?"

"And tuna? And some of those really cool chicken sandwiches too? Maybe some coffee? Ooh, did you make pie recently?" Duo recited as he started getting more and more excited.

"Egg salad sandwiches it is then." Meiran said and then as though she could hear Duo pouting she added. "I'll see about the rest."

"Oh Meiran! If I hadn't recently discovered that I was gay I would have totally hit on you." Duo said, grin stretching from ear to ear. What? The guy liked to eat!

"You already have hit on me." Meiran deadpanned.

"Oh I have?" Duo thought for a moment and then it came to him, Wufei's wedding day… Meiran pretty in a white dress, Wufei blushing at every dirty joke, flirting with Meiran… oh yeah he remembered. "Oh yeah I have! Well I'm letting you know that you are the best wife ever!"

"Yes, yes Duo I know. Now tell Wufei the same and tell him to stop complaining. I'll go see about those sandwiches."

"Right! I'll see Wuffy soon then. Bye!" And he ended the call. Now all he had to do was wait and stare at the cartons some more.

oOOo

"I thought I was going to provide company, not do all the work!" Wufei complained as Duo tore into a tin foil wrapped sandwich and mumbled at him to get on with it while gesturing randomly towards the boxes.

Duo said something around the mouthful of egg that sounded vaguely like 'should have known better'. Wufei huffed and looked into the first box, gingerly moving stuff around to peer into it.

Soon enough there was knocking on the door and Wufei was forced to pretend to be Mr. Maxwell because the actual Mr. Maxwell was stuffing his face. The charity donation people were quick in their work efficiently moving every piece of furniture out.

"Wu?" Duo said quietly as Wufei peered into another box. He had to tell Wufei about his encounter with Adam at the subway station but he had no idea how to approach it or even if he should tell him to begin with. Well, technically he told Wufei everything so essentially that was a moot argument. "I met Adam yesterday."

Wufei looked up so fast that Duo was sure he pulled a muscle somewhere. "What? Where? Why? What did he say?"

"You know… same old same old." Duo said with a slight shrug as he took another bite of the sandwich in his hand and chewed it thoughtlessly.

"He threaten to kill you again?" Wufei asked as he sat down on the floor next to Duo and grabbed half a sandwich from the paper bag.

"Yeah, and the whole 'Leave Heero or else' spiel."

"Why aren't you more worried about this? You know Adam's capable of killing you, hell he's tried! So he's certainly not bluffing. Why aren't you worried then?" Wufei asked genuinely perplexed.

Duo frowned as he pondered Wufei's question. Really… why wasn't he worried? "I don't know Fei." He shrugged after a several minutes of contemplation. "Maybe…" He grasped for any possible reasons why this may be but comes up empty. "Maybe… I don't know… I really don't. Adam just doesn't scare me."

"That's not normal." Wufei said as he studied the braided man next to him.

"I'm not normal." Duo said with a grin.

"I'm serious Duo." Wufei snapped and Duo's grin fell. "There's a guy out to kill you in order to get to your boyfriend and he's scary enough that his boyfriend, who used to be your arch nemesis by the way, has to warn you!" Wufei ranted, picking up a sandwich from the paper bag and waving it in front of them, "And you're eating egg salad sandwiches!"

"What's wrong with the sandwiches? I'll tell Meiran you dissed her sandwiches man, not cool." Duo said as he grabbed the sandwich from Wufei's hand.

Wufei stared at Duo incredulously. Then he let his head fall back against the wall with a loud thud. He closed his eyes and then banged his head against the wall. "I give up. You're suicidal." He moaned. "No one can save you."

"I'm not suicidal! I just don't think that Adam…"

"That Adam will what? Not kill you? He tried dammit! That should tell you that guy's serious!"

"As serious as a heart attack?" Duo quipped and Wufei let his head fall back against the wall one more time.

"Stop joking!" Wufei got up, pacing in front of him. "This is serious! Would you take one thing in your life seriously? Please!"

"Dude, you do enough serious for the both of us." Duo said as he put the sandwich back in the bag. He knew he was getting on Wufei's nerves and figured it was time to placate the guy. "Look… what do you want me to do? Go on a vengeance quest and decapitate the guy with a machete? I'm doing the only thing I can okay? I'm moving in with Heero so I can protect him. That's enough for me."

Wufei just shook his head, disbelieving. They stayed quiet for a few moments as the movers got all the pieces of furniture out and with a handshake and a 'have a good day' they left.

"So… any idea which of these boxes could have the disk?" Wufei asked jerking his chin in the direction of the cartons.

Duo shrugged. "Why do you think I called you?"

Wufei sighed. "How about you move in with Heero and then unpack everything rather than doing it here, right now?"

Duo shifted slightly, feeling his butt go numb from sitting on the hard floor for so long. "Only if you promise to help me out."

Wufei huffed and then clapped Duo's knee once. "Sure, just give me a call." He said as he started getting up.

"Where are you going?" Duo asked as he kept his eyes trained on Wufei.

"I think I'll take Meiran out tonight." He said and attempted to avoid the catcalls and jeering that would undoubtedly follow by saying his goodbyes quickly and darting out the front door. He didn't leave quickly enough.

oOOo

Duo tightened his hand around Heero's as they strolled through the park leisurely. Sunday evening had brought cool breeze offset by the warm spring sun. The weather was perfect for a walk and they had decided that Aiko needed running space anyway. Duo glanced at Heero's profile as they walked. Heero had brought his cane with him this time and Duo didn't ask why. The soft tap-tapping of the cane against the gravel was somewhat soothing and when Duo was not staring at Heero he followed the sweeping motion of the cane with his eyes.

"You don't use the cane often." Duo said but it came out as a question.

"Hmm." Heero hummed. "Normally I don't go outside by myself, I always have Trowa or Quatre with me and I don't feel the need for it. When I go by myself I take it with me." He explained.

"But I'm here today." Duo said, a pout forming on his lips.

Heero chuckled. "Yes you are." He said gently, placating him with a soft touch to his arm. "I'm just having a bad day; I've been bumping into everything so I'm a little paranoid."

Duo flushed with shame when he heard that. He was halfway in the process of moving in and he was leaving stuff lying all over the place, not used to the kind of order that living with Heero needed. Duo grabbed Heero's elbow lightly and pulled him closer, tucking him under his arm. "I'm sorry." He said into Heero's hair. "My fault." Heero didn't say anything, just gave a small smile and Duo placed a kiss in his hair. "Tomorrow I wanna take you out for dinner."

"Hmm…" Heero hummed thoughtfully. "What time?"

"After work… maybe seven-ish?" Duo said frowning slightly. "What? Are you busy tomorrow?"

"I just…" Heero chewed on his lip, deep in thought. "Can we sit down for a minute?" He asked and Duo glanced around, noticing a bench not too far from where they were and he led Heero to it, Aiko following them happily, her tongue hanging out. When they were both seated, Heero continued. "I have to meet someone tomorrow. But I think I can make it back before seven."

"Ah…" Duo grunted, looking sideways at Heero. "Who are you meeting?"

"Just someone." Heero said vaguely. In front of them Aiko started barking loudly and Duo looked up to see a dark figure near the edge of the park. Duo rolled his eyes out of weariness when he recognized Adam. "What's wrong with Aiko?" Heero asked.

"Uh… nothing… just barking at a squirrel." Duo said distractedly as he watched Adam come closer and stand just far enough away from them that Aiko didn't feel threatened by him. Adam leaned against a tree and crossed his arms, watching Duo. Duo stared right back, unblinking. Adam's lips twitched and then he was smirking.

"Why so quiet?" Heero asked him and Duo broke eye contact with Adam to look at Heero.

"No reason." He said as he turned back to Adam and decided that he wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face. "Hey Heero…" He called and Heero turned his head instinctively. Duo leaned forward and captured Heero's lips in a deep kiss, pushing his tongue past his lips into a warm, wet mouth. Heero tasted of the sun chips they'd had earlier and he found himself losing his ability to think. He snaked an arm around Heero's neck and pulled him in closer, deepening the kiss even further. Heero fisted a hand in Duo's shirt to stabilize himself and then moaned into Duo's mouth. With a soft, wet sound Duo let go of Heero's mouth and turned a smug smile of his own at Adam, who had a stony expression and his lips set in a hard line.

"What was that for?" Heero asked, his voice a little husky after the kiss.

"No reason." Duo said again and placed another quick kiss to his lips. "Just felt like it." He looked back up to see that Adam was gone. He felt victory sing through his veins and he threw his hands up, mouthing 'score!' as he pumped a fist. "Come on Heero." He said as he pulled Heero up into a standing position alongside himself. "Let's go home so I can ravish you properly."

Heero gaped, "R-ravish? Duo…?" But Duo didn't listen as he wrapped an arm around Heero's waist and pushed him in the direction of their house.

"Oh just go with it." Duo said with fond exasperation. Heero was always so afraid of getting sexual… he was lucky Duo was so madly in love with him that he kind of didn't care.

oOOo

Duo sucked on a paperclip, moving it back and forth in his mouth as he stared at the papers in front of him. Monday mornings were always the worst. Work accumulated over the weekend and no one actually wanted to be working. Giving up for the moment he swivelled around in his chair in the small space of his cubicle, resisting the urge to call out 'whee!' and have the whole office glare at him. Slowing down for a moment he enjoyed the world tipping to the side and then grinned through the nausea that followed. No matter how many times he did this it never got old!

Just as he was preparing his experiment to see which pens fit best in his nose he heard a loud "Maxwell!" Surprised, he looked up with a pen sticking out of his nose at Derouche marching towards him. James looked worried and somewhat nervous. Duo plucked the pen out and put it away, raising a hand in greeting. "Cut the crap, where's Heero?" James said urgently, his eyes flashing with concern and Duo put his hand down.

The sense of danger that he was emanating didn't escape Wufei in the next cubicle and he got up too. "What's going on?" He asked as Duo pulled his cell phone out.

"I don't know where Heero is, should be home." He said, dialling Heero's cell number. It rang once, twice, three times… "Dammit! He's not picking up!" He said and he turned to look at Derouche. "What's going on?" Wufei turned to look at James as well.

"It's Adam, he called me just now. He sounded pissed and even though he didn't tell me what he was going to do he sounded like he was on edge." James said, his breathing slightly heavy.

"And you think he's going to hurt Heero?" Wufei inquired.

"Well, Duo's here isn't he? And Heero's missing." James said.

"He's not missing! He could be in the bathroom or something!" Duo said agitatedly.

Wufei got up, shrugging on his jacket. "I'll go talk to Butt, you head home and check up on Heero." He said, "I'll catch up with you there." And he rushed down the hall towards the main office. Duo gripped the edge of his desk tightly, knuckles whitening from the pressure.

"So are we going or not?" James asked and Duo looked up in confusion. "I'm coming with you." James added and Duo nodded once, white hot panic taking hold of him. He got up, leaving his computer on and his papers disorganized and ran.

oOOo

They burst into the house, the door slamming open.

"Heero!" Duo called and James followed shortly, calling out his name as well. They didn't get an answer. Duo rushed into every room, the basement and the backyard to make sure that yes, Heero was not home. "Aiko's gone too." He said, pulling his braid to the front so that he could twist and turn the loose hair at the bottom agitatedly.

"Damn…" James said, looking at him with eyes wide. "Well… if he loves him, he won't hurt Heero… will he?" He asked.

"We can't take that chance!" Duo said pulling at his hair, letting the sting keep him from panicking completely. "Okay, okay… calm down…" He muttered to himself, breathing deep and long. "We need to find him… we have to before Adam does something horrible." James just nodded. "Okay… okay disk… I need that disk… I need that fucking disk…"

"What disk?! Maxwell, your boyfriend is missing and you're worried about a disk?" James said loudly, worry and concern lacing his every word.

"What did he say to you?" Duo asked him instead, ignoring his rant. "Tell me exactly what Adam said to you."

"He told me that he's had enough and it was time to make sure Heero knew who he belonged to. And that's it."

"Oh god… oh god… he's pissed about yesterday… oh my god I did this to Heero." Duo felt himself pale and he sank to his knees, clutching his head and shaking slightly.

"Whatever you're on about I suggest you get over it right this second Maxwell! We need you coherent!" James said grabbing Duo's shoulders and shaking him slightly,

"What's going on here?" Both Duo and James turned around to see Wufei looking at them in bewilderment, hovering in the doorway.

"Duo's having a panic attack and Heero's missing." James explained.

Wufei huffed. "Typical." He mumbled and started checking Duo's jacket pockets until he came across his cell. He searched through the names in the contact list quickly and dialled. "Barton? ... Yes this is Chang, we met when the dog got sick… It's Heero, he's missing… Adam's responsible and we have to find him quickly… Fine, sounds good. We'll contact you if we find anything." He snapped the phone shut and turned to Duo. "Barton's organizing a search party with Winner. We're supposed to try and find any leads."

"Oh god… Heero…" Duo muttered and Wufei resisted the urge to slap him silly.

"Get your act together!" Wufei barked. "Honestly!" He grabbed Duo's arm and hauled him into a standing position. "You're no good to us pale and shivering! Come on!" He pushed Duo out of the house and James followed. "Let's start by asking questions, if Heero's been abducted, someone must have seen something."

They all nodded and then split up in different directions. James darted down the street while Duo and looked around a bit in confusion before then he seemed to shake his panic off and ran towards an old lady sitting on a bench to the side. Wufei spied a bunch of teenagers hanging around a bus stop and decided that they would notice something like a blind man getting kidnapped right?

Duo asked the old lady if she had seen an Asian boy about this height with dark hair and a cane. She nodded and pointed in one direction of the road and he ran in that direction hoping against all hope that someone had seen something. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to Heero because of his stupidity in angering Adam.


A/N: So the story's coming to a close. I predict about 3 chapters more (4 max). Thanks so much for reading!

Take care,
Persephone