/Tell me what you thought about
When you were gone and so alone
The worst is over
You can have the best of me/
Chapter Twenty Eight
Morning is supposed to dawn grey and muted, hesitant and slow. Morning is a subdued time of day; submissive to the night upon which it repeatedly encroaches. It is never the sunrises that blaze into being, searing across the sky in brilliant rainbows of colors; that is only for the sunsets. Dawn is not a time for warm shades of red and yellow, it is not a time for bright tones and cheerful sounds. The birds have never heralded the dawn- they mourn the loss of the eve.
Or at least I'd believed so until that morning, waking slowly to find myself faced with his sleeping form, so peaceful in the pink light of morning.
I smiled, brushing stray strands of hair from his face and marveling at the way all the worries he carried in the day melted from his features. It was as if he escaped it ./all by simply closing his eyes and dreaming away the troubles, at least until morning. I had always loved watching him sleep, so quietly. Duo was never a quiet person so rare moments such as these, on the occasions I awoke before him, were something I cherished.
Of course we had been up late the night before, both touching and talking and trying to keep a firm grasp on reality. I had started to describe to him my escape, or at least as much of it as I could remember, but in typical Duo-fashion he hadn't seemed to care how I had escaped so long as I had. In a way I think he was scared that if either of us talked about what we thought had happened, it would come true. He was strange like that- not wanting to mention the past lest it be brought about again by mere words. At any rate it was a relief to not have to relive everything and I was just as happy to lay quietly with him until sleep claimed us.
Now, things were finally better than good, a new day had dawned and with it came a lifetime of possibilities….
… Except for the incredibly annoying noise emanating from Duo's duffle.
Of course, in the early morning hours with sleep still fogging my brain, it took me several tries to guess what was making that noise. It was a phone. This was, to say the least, confusing to my addled mind. We had gotten ourselves a hotel room within reasonable distance from the aerospace launch areas, where most guests stayed before their flights. The next open shuttle wouldn't be around for a couple of days still so it wasn't like we didn't have the time to spend loafing around and enjoying one another. This also meant that we weren't staying anywhere where anyone would be able to reach us.
I'm sure you can see how this makes the presence of a ringing phone a little puzzling at six in the morning.
Thankfully, before I got a chance to confuse myself further, it stopped.
Only to start again five seconds later.
Groaning, I leaned over the edge of the bed and made a blind grab at the bag, wondering who put the phone in there. I extracted the object, staring at it with much confusion. It rang a third time, much louder than the previous times now that it was open to the air.
I was honestly surprised when the phone jangled again in my hands. Every time I'd called his cell phone in the past month I had been sent directly to his old voicemail. I hadn't figured I would get an answer- after all he'd had the phone on him when we were taken by the Marauders. If it had been destroyed there would be no phone to answer, even if he had been around to do so.
As I hated talking on the phone I wasn't about to answer it. Duo was already turned over and facing me anyhow, so I handed the phone to him and allowed myself to relish the sound of his sleep drugged voice.
"Hello?" He asked groggily and I didn't miss the note of irritation. Whoever was calling would get a worse reaction for having woken him. "Quatre?" He blinked, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes with his free hand as he tried to come to his senses faster. "Woah, woah, slow down! What the hell are you talking about?"
I could hear the fast paced, tinny voice on the other side of the line. I heard my name somewhere in there but that was the only word I caught. I quietly watched Duo who was looking at me and smiling more and more deviously with every second he remained silent. Whatever Quatre had to say was obviously amusing.
"So what are you trying to tell me? That Heero's alive?" I started to say something but he covered my lips with two fingers and shook his head. I stared at him, unable to believe he was going to be so cruel to our friend. Was he seriously going to let Quatre think I was still dead if I were sitting less than a foot away from him? He shot me a look that clearly told me I had better be quiet, and listened.
I tried to silently ask what was going on but was hushed with a waved hand. "Someone picked up a phone for his number? Have you called it?" He waited a second for Quatre to reply and then sighed. "Cat, couldn't it have been someone else? If they knew the number they could pick up the phone. I don't want to call and have to listen to some stranger on the line. Not when it should be Heero."
There was an awkward silence before I heard Quatre apologize and promise to call and find out for Duo. The two hung up after another silent moment. I socked Duo in the arm and he started laughing, grabbing my hand in his.
"You are a cruel, cruel individual. You should have told him." I chided, breaking his hold and twining our fingers.
"If you really thought that you wouldn't have stayed quiet." He returned, still grinning. "Where is your cell phone?"
"In my pants." I responded.
"…Where are your pants…?" He asked, looking around the room.
"Let's see, the last time I took them off…" I laughed as he elbowed me.
"Shut up, they're around." The phone began to ring again and he snapped his attention to the doorway of the hotel room. "Well?"
When it didn't look like I was going to move he rolled his eyes and bounded up, walking across the room to snatch up my jeans. I watched him move in the dim, golden light of the room and smiled. Even when he wasn't paying attention to how he walked, he moved in the same feline manner. It was in the way he hunted for the phone, the way he paced back to the bed, even in the way he smiled when he looked up at me, producing the ringing toy. Everything he did had a liquid grace to it, something that was unmatched by anyone I had ever seen. The knowledge of how lucky I was did not escape me as he tossed me the phone and slipped under the covers once more.
"Answer it before he hangs up."
I flushed and flipped it open, pressing the phone to my ear. "Hello?"
I was faced with stunned silence for a moment, so long that I thought for sure I'd waited too long. There was a strangled noise and Quatre's voice filtered through. "H-Heero?"
"Yes." I felt bad for the way Duo had pranked Quatre. I don't know how Duo could put up with hearing the hurt in Quatre's voice. As much as we didn't get along I was never able to handle him being sad. "Duo was being a prat- he already knew. He's right here."
"Hey!" Duo exclaimed from beside me, pinching my arm. "No fair!"
"He what?" Quatre said at the same time, sounding confused. "Why didn't he say anything? Why didn't you?"
Before I could answer the phone was snatched out of my hands. "I didn't because I wanted it to be a surprise!" Duo reasoned in apologetic tones.
The excuse sounded lame, but I don't think Duo had expected to hurt anyone by playing the trick. More than anything I think he'd pushed the whole incident, all the pain and loss to the back of his head because it wasn't real to him any longer. I think he had just forgotten that while it wasn't quite as raw a pain for him since I was right here next to him again, it was still awful for the others, especially Quatre. I could already see Duo feeling back about what he'd done, so I decided not to say anything worse. After all I could hear Quatre getting snappy with him already.
I couldn't hear exactly what he said in response, but Duo reluctantly handed the phone back to me as though it had bitten him. "Quatre?" I asked cautiously.
"What's going on?" He asked weakly. "I thought- We all thought you were dead!"
Duo, meanwhile, had managed to get his hands on me with obvious thoughts of being distracting while I was on the phone. I squirmed away with a smile and tried to keep my composure. "I know. I'm sorry. I should have at least called you but I didn't think I could handle it, after I was told you were the only one left." I made a grab for Duo's straying hand, giving him a warning look that was somehow less than serious.
I heard Quatre curse on the other end. "I worried about that happening but I didn't think... Oh, Heero, I'm so sorry! If I had known..."
Typical Quatre, the bleeding heart. "You know, it's in the past now." I interjected before he could go into a full apology. Duo had wriggled his hands from my grasp and turned his lips to my fingers. He was making it rather difficult to ignore him. "We're heading out to the L2 colonies next week."
"Can we do something before then?" He asked hopefully.
"No." I spoke neutrally, because I knew it would be difficult to explain without hurting feelings. "I don't think that it would be wise for all of us to be seen in the same place right now. After all the work you put into making everyone believe we're dead, it'd be a shame to ruin it by doing something that thoughtless."
He was silent for a moment while I battled with Duo for an extra few minutes of phone time. I made a grab for his hands once more, though with only one hand free it was impossible for me to stop him all together. Quatre didn't seem to notice the epic duel happening on our side or if he did he made no mention of it. Finally Duo halted abruptly and kissed me with a grin.
"Hurry up." He whispered. "I'm going to take a shower and you've got five minutes to join me before I lock the door."
I made an incredulous noise and watched him slip from the bed and saunter across the room. "Quatre?" I prompted as soon as Duo had closed the door. "Was there anything else?"
He spoke as though coming out of a daze. "Hm? Oh!" He cleared his throat. "What am I supposed to tell the others? They're going to want an explanation, especially Trowa. If you can't meet with me at least tell me what happened."
I sighed, knowing that I would eventually have to tell someone what had happened. After all, not everyone was like Duo; content with just knowing I was alive and well now. "I don't remember a lot of it, Quatre. I got caught on the streets the same as everyone else from what Duo told me. I woke up in that cell with those fucking cuffs and realized after four attempts that I really wasn't getting out of there. They drugged me and dragged me out there without an explanation, and shot me."
"We got that part." Quatre said softly. "We all watched that- they broadcasted it everywhere. There isn't a person alive who didn't see you when they did that…"
I winced. Duo had told me they broadcast it, but I still wasn't sure it hit home just how many people had assumed they watched me die. "The next thing I remember was waking up on a shuttle with people running all around me trying to keep me alive. Someone told me we were going to an L1 colony nearby and then I passed out again."
"Someone took you off colony?" He asked incredulously.
"No shit." I said defensively, wondering why I always got so riled up at Quatre. "When I woke up it was a few weeks later and there was nothing left but rubble and bad news. The nurse said the people who admitted me never returned and the news was splashed with the deaths of everyone who had been on the colony, including the gundam pilots. I thought about calling you but that just wasn't a life I wanted to return to, if so much was going to be missing."
"Better to start over?" He sighed, as though simply repeating something told to him previously. "Duo seemed to think the same thing." He took a breath, a sure sign that he was trying to think of what to do next. Finally I heard him shift and switch ears with the phone. "I suppose you're right that it's better if we're not seen in a group for a while. One or even two of us can be discounted as coincidental look-alikes but more than that and people will realize we're still out there. But that doesn't mean I'm giving you free reign to forget me. I'd better damn well get a call in a couple years, once things have settled down a bit. You hear?"
I grinned, suddenly remembering why Quatre and I were friends at all, despite the bickering we did. He was always there in a pinch, always willing to stand by you even if the situation looked bleak. He had a strength I knew I would never possess, no matter how much I trained, and I respected that a great deal.
"I hear." I said gently, smiling. "You'll be hearing from us."
"I'd better." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Have fun and try not to get so distracted you miss your shuttle."
The line clicked dead in my hands and I gave the phone a look of good humored disbelief. He might not always seem it, but Quatre really had a tongue on him sometimes. Not a bad thing, that's for sure. He had probably figured Duo and I would still be going to the L2 colony- Duo had said he told him earlier the day before.
I lobbed the phone gently at the nightstand and slid out from under the covers, heading for the shower. I could see the steam pouring out from the bottom already, even though I hadn't been on the phone more than a minute or two. I opened the door as quietly as I was able, hoping that Duo wouldn't be able to hear it over the rush of heated water. As he didn't raise a greeting, I assumed I was successful and closed it silently behind me.
With practices ease I pulled the shower curtain back just enough to slip inside. Duo always showered facing the shower-head when he was waiting for me or undoing his braid. Seeing as I had done him the favor of taking out his much shorter braid last night and he hadn't locked me out yet, I guessed that he was still waiting for me. When I placed my hands on his hips he started, then sank back into my touch with an almost purr. He reached a wet hand around to smooth back my hair as I kissed his jaw.
"Glad to see you could join me." He said silkily as I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him close. "Heero, showers are supposed to be for getting clean."
I smiled against his skin and put my lips close to his ear. "Is that a rule?" He shivered against me, his eyelids dropping closed.
"Yes." He replied on a breath.
"You know what they say about rules…" I gently nipped his shoulder, eliciting a breathy moan as he turned about in my arms to look me in the eyes.
"They're made to be broken?" He inquired mischievously, licking a drop of water from my nose.
Grinning, I leaned forward, close enough to feel his breath on my lips. "Exactly." I whispered, closing the last space between us to kiss him, slowly. He melted into the kiss, returning every ounce of emotion I put into it, and I knew.
We may not have led the best lives in the past. We'd done some horrible things, killed a lot of people who deserved to live more than either of us, and we'd done some magnificent things, saved more lives than anyone can count by bringing an end to an eighteen year war. We'd seen so much come and go, let so much pass us by and seized so much for ourselves. I had learned to feel everything from a broken heart to true love, knew happiness and grief, madness and crystalline sanity. Over my short life I had experienced more than any twenty people will ever go through in their entire lives.
But in all the time I've lived, everything I've seen and done and felt, nothing has ever been more perfect than it was in that one, single moment.
/End Chapter Twenty Eight, Through the Storm/
