The next morning when Duo woke up, he was *extremely* sore. Not only was he sore down there, but his entire body stung and ached, especially that gash. Slowly, gingerly, he sat up. Looking around, he realized that Heero was staring at him from his bed across the room.

"G'morning Heero," he mumbled as he slowly made his way to the bathroom, needing to have a shower to wash the spell of sleep off of him. //Man, I feel like I went through a paper shredder...//

After repeating his actions from the previous night, omitting washing his hair more than running water over it, he grabbed a tube of savlon (TM)[1] , and returned to the bedroom. Sitting on the bed in nothing more than a towel, he had access to most of the scrapes on his body, and applied the cool cream to them.

As he finished up with all of them that he could reach, he turned to Heero, who had been sitting on his bed throughout the display, and asked, "Hey Heero? Could you help me here? I can't reach my back," while turning his back towards Heero and offering the tube.

Without answering verbally, Heero came over to the bed, taking the offered tube, and began to apply it with a gentle touch onto the braided boy's injured back. When he was done with all of the cuts, he said, "Duo, lie down on your stomach,"

"Eh? What for?" Duo replied, confused

"Just do it."

"Okay, okay. I'm going already," he replied as he stretched out on his stomach, with his head cradled in his crossed arms, positioning his towel so that it wouldn't slip off. He tensed a little as Heero replaced his hands on his back, but relaxed almost instantly as he realized what Heero was doing, "Hey man, where'd you learn to give a massage? Feels s'good," Duo almost purred as Heero worked all of the knots out of his shoulders and back with his firm touch.

When Heero finished, Duo was almost asleep again. Jabbing him lightly in the side with one finger, Heero said, "C'mon Duo, don't fall asleep again,"

"Mmmmm, why not? Sleep's good," was the muffled reply from between Duo's arms.

"Not if you want me to brush your hair, it isn't," Heero bargained.

That got the desired effect, and Duo perked right up, "Huh? You'd do that for me? I was just going to leave it, my arms are too sore to hold over my head for that long," he admitted fingering a few stray strands of said hair.

"I know, that's why I offered. Knowing how much you complain when it's not brushed... that, and, well, I wanted to," he admitted, as he walked back over to the bed from where he had gone to retrieve the brush, "Turn around, and move to the end of the bed," he commanded as he climbed onto the bed.

"Okie dokie smokie, whatever you say" Duo replied, unwrapping his hair from the towel as he moved. This movement caused the towel around his waste to slip low, revealing the gash to Heero, who alerted Duo to this with a sharp intake of breath.

"Duo, what's that from? You haven't been back long enough to have stitched it up and have it almost healed like that," he asked while lightly running a finger along the mark on Duo's abdomen.

"I... I don't know what it's from, when I got back here last night I noticed it. I don't know what it's from, and in all honesty, unless it's like life threatening or something, I don't wanna know," he concluded as he hitched up the towel and turned his back once more towards Heero. "If you're going to brush my hair, you should probably do it now before it dries any more," Duo said, clearly indicating the end of that particular topic.

"Yeah, sure Duo. Whatever you say," Heero gave in, not pushing an obviously sensitive subject, and preceded to gently work all of the knots out of Duo's long mane of hair until he could run the brush all the way through without catching on any snags. Then he divided it into sections, and slowly, but efficiently plaited it into Duo's customary braid, tying it off with a black tie from around the handle of the brush.

Getting up from the bed, Heero replaced the brush onto the dresser where he'd gotten it, and turned back around, "You gonna get dressed or what?"

"Hmmmmmm, maybe I'll just relax for a bit..." Duo told him, giving a fake yawn, and stretching as much as his injuries would allow.

"Suit yourself. I'm going into town for supplies, see ya later Duo," Heero told him as he walked out the door into the hallway and closing the door behind him. He didn't move to walk down the hall though, and counted silently in his head //5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...//

Right on schedule, the door flung open to reveal Duo, wearing a red turtleneck, and trying to pull on a pair of black jeans while walking, and yelling "Hold up a minute man! Why didn't you tell me you were going to town? Didn'tcha consider that I might need some air?"

Grabbing Duo's arm as the pilot stumbled, and steadying the American while he pulled his pants on the rest of the way, Heero smirked at him.

"Hn. Hurry up then, I won't wait for you," and with that he released Duo's arm, almost causing him to fall over, and sprinted down the hallway towards the front door.

"Heeroooooo! Don't you dare leave without me!" Duo's cry echoed through the house as Duo took off after him, picking up his shoes on the way, and slamming the door behind him.

========================================

A couple of months later, with all five pilots at a new safehouse, Duo got sick, and with a sick Duo in the house, everyone was tense.

"Hellooooooo? Can anyone hear me?!?!" Duo called from his and Heero's room one morning, where he had cocooned himself on the bed with every blanket he could find. There was a loud thump, then a bang as the bathroom door was flung open.

Heero and Quatre, the only one's home at the time, came running into the room when they heard the noise. Looking around, they spotted Duo on the floor in the bathroom, retching into the toilet.

"Hey Duo?" Quatre asked tentatively from the doorway, when Duo sat back on his heels, "Are you okay in there?"

"OKAY?! Do I look like I'm 'okay' to you?!?" Duo snapped irritably, as he hauled himself to his feet. Going to the sink, he took a drink of water and started to gurgle. Spitting into the sink, he continued, "Sorry Q-man, didn't mean to snap at ya. I dunno, I'm just feelin' funny,"

"Duo, get some clothes on, I'll take you to the hospital, they'll tell us what's wrong with you," Heero spoke for the first time, throwing Duo his jeans, "And *no* arguing," he added as Duo opened his mouth, prepared to object.

"I'll stay here in case Trowa and WuFei come back. They'll probably want to know what's going on," Quatre said as Duo made his way out of the bathroom.

"Hn. Good idea," Heero told him as Duo searched out a clean shirt to wear, "We shouldn't be all that long, we'll call if anything comes up. Come on Duo, let's go," he called to the braided boy who was putting on his socks.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm coming, hold your horses," he said as he jumped up off the bed. That movement was too much for him, though, and sent him flying back to the bathroom. After he reemerged, he wiped his mouth saying, "C'mon Yuy! Can't ya see I'm dyin' here?"

========================================

When they got to the hospital, Duo was immediately shown to a room. A female doctor came in with a nurse, who went about the task of drawing some blood. Just as they were leaving, the doctor looked back and commented, "Make yourselves comfortable boys, it'll be a little bit before these results come back," and with that, she left.

Taking the invitation to heart, Duo flopped back on the bed, and kicked off his shoes with a large sigh, as Heero dragged a chair over to the side of the bed and sat.

A while later, the doctor came back into the room, looking a little flustered, and a whole lot confused, as she looked at the chart in her hands. "So what's the news doc? Why am I sick? Do I got the flu or some junk?" Duo asked, trying to get the doctors attention.

"Ummmmmmmm..." she replied distractedly as she continued staring at the chart in her hands as if it had bitten her.

"Doctor? What's the matter with my friend?" Heero asked as he approached her, trying to get a look at whatever was on that chart.

"Well ... ummmmmm ... you see ... Mr. Maxwell ... you're ... umm..." she sputtered, staring hard at the chart in her hands, as if trying to change what it said with sheer will power.

"What's the matter doc, cat got your tongue? Spit it out already!" Duo demanded, as he leaned forward on the bed.

The doctor gave the chart one last hard look, then turned to the two boys that were staring at her expectantly, and explained, "Mr. Maxwell, our tests indicate that you are..." looking at the chart one more time, and swallowing, "... pregnant." she concluded.

All of the colour drained from Duo's face, and he almost fell off the bed as he leaned even closer to the doctor to catch her words, "What?!?!" he managed

"All of our tests conclude that you, Mr. Maxwell, are pregnant. Ummmmm ... about 8 weeks along to be exact," she explained.

"Do any of your test's indicate who the father is?" Heero asked

"Ummmmm ..." she replied, flipping a few pages on the chart, "From what our gene banks have determined, the father is ... one Mr. Heero Yuy."

This time it was Heero's turn to go pale as he backed up into his chair and turned towards Duo, "But... I've never touched you..." he said as he sat down unexpectedly in the chair, his knees having given out.
===================================

[1] This stuff is better than polysporin [sp?] The best stuff on the face of the planet, it works great on everything from nicks, cuts, scratches, burns, bites and rashes. Is this product advertisement or what? .::pouts::. Though you can't get it in Canada, we have to put in an 'order' from my step-brothers to bring some over from England when they visit

============End Part Two============