Chapter Seven







"You think you're in love?" Hero crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against the door frame. "What do you mean?"



"It means . . . " Duo draws out his voice in annoyance. "That I am in love! What do you think it means?" Duo stares at Hero's blank expression before throwing his hands in the air. "What am I doing?" He huffs as he turns his back to Hero. "I'm talking to the Ice King. Of course he wouldn't understand." There is a long stillness in the room. Duo shifts a bit on the bed before continuing. "You know . . . "



"Idiot." Came the harsh voice of Hero. "Didn't Une tell you not to get involved with any clients?"



"Une." Duo laughs at his boss's name, the very woman who picked him off the streets and gave him this job. "Yeah, but . . . it's not a client."



"No?"



"Well, yes AND no. See, she didn't hire me. That was done by her friends. So she doesn't know that she is a client." Hero moves to speak but Duo interrupts him. "But that all will change! You see. I'm no longer going to take her as a client. She'll be with me because I plan it."



"You're still a fool. Haven't you thought about what might happen if she finds out about you?" Duo looks away. He has thought about that. He sees no way to hide it from her but to quit.



"I'll quit." He says simply.



"How? You have no skill in anything else, no education. What kind of résumé will you write? And what about Une? Is this girl really worth it?"



"Yes."



"What makes her special?" Hero says. Duo looks up at the ceiling and takes a deep breath. Hero take this time to sit down. He can tell this will be a long story.



"When I first saw her, I knew there was something about her. It was in the way she stood. So proud but yet so . . . so worn. As if that very moment she was going fall and never get back up. Yet she didn't. Something in her wasn't giving in. I guess that was what attracted me to her at first." Duo turns to face Hero. "However, when I learned about her from her friends, I was sadly disappointed. Her friends made her out like she was some weak girl who had her first break up. So I took the job for the hell of it." Duo starts a light chuckle. "But, when I spent time with her I learned that her friends had her all wrong. All wrong." Duo shakes his head as she stands.



"I don't see how this would make you "fall in love", Duo." Duo smiles as he starts to dress.



"I fell in love when she told me about herself."



"Really?" He says in disbelief.



"Yes. I'm in love with "her". In love with who she is." Duo sits back down. "Hero, you thought we have problems. Wait until you hear about her life . . . "



The club was fun but it came to be too crowed and too stuffy. So Duo and Hilde decided it to be best if they left. Hilde took a relaxed breath of air as she exited the club. The once annoying cold was now a delight. Duo followed shortly after Hilde and did the same as her, taking in a deep breath.



"It's still early. Lets go for a walk?" She said as she grabbed Duo's arm. "That's if you don't mind." She said sheepishly.



"Don't mind at all. In fact I insist we do." Duo hooked his arm around her and together they crossed the street to the park.



The park was quite and there wasn't anyone around. They had the whole park to themselves. They walk for a bit in silence. Both enjoying the night and each other. Hilde suddenly let go of Duo's arm and ran to the playground near by. She sat down on the swing and gave Duo an inviting smile.



"Is this seat taken My Lady?" Duo said in a poor imitation of a British Lord. Hilde nodded.



"Why no." Duo sat in the swing next to her. Another silence came over them. "I never really played on playgrounds when I was a kid." Hilde said in a distant voice.



"What did you do for fun?"



"Didn't have time to really do anything. I had to study." She said sadly. Duo laughed.



"Oh Hilde. You make the old saying true!"



"What old saying."



"That being young is wasted on the young." Hilde glared at Duo.



"I, my dear Duo, didn't have a choice. With my life I knew I was doomed to never have anything come easy. My mother, uh well . . . " Hilde thought for a bit. She didn't know how to word her mother correctly. "My mother had her own business that paid well . . . but . . . It wasn't enough to get me to college. The only way was to work for it. So I sold my childhood to go to college." Duo stared at Hilde. Not knowing what to say. Her words . . . they were so painful. Hilde turns her face away to hide her tears. ("Dammit. Why am I crying?") Hilde never cries in front of anyone...so why is Duo different. Hilde jumped when she felt something soft touch her cheek. Duo. He wiped her tear away with his finger.



"Want to talk about it?"



"About what?" She said softly.



"Anything you want."



"I..." Whenever Hilde was down her friends would ask the simple 'Are you ok?'. When she would answer with a 'I'm fine . . . ' they would nod their head and walk away. Oh how she longed to tell people her life story. Maybe people would understand her better. So if this is what she has always wanted, why the hold up? "I...well. I don't know what to say."



"Tell me about the childhood you sold."



"It wouldn't have really been a great childhood anyway. Even if I didn't give it up . . . "



"Babe. Let me tell you a secret." He whispered softly. She leaned in closer to hear his words. "Life sucks to begin with." Hilde pulled away, slightly insulted.



"I guess there is suffering all around. I just don't know how to handle it." She said in a flat voice. "But . . . I can't Duo. I can't put my whole life on you! I can't . . . it's just not right." Hilde pushed off the swing. She walked a few feet away, wrapping her arms around her. Duo stood to say something, he reached for her but stopped when something cold touched his hand. He looked up. It had started to snow. Duo looked back to Hilde and lost all thought. She stood with her back to him, arms wrapped protectively around herself. The light snow falls gentle on her . . . dusting her midnight blue hair. He had never seen a sight more beautiful than her in his life. Hilde looked up and noticed the snow. She glanced over at him. "I can't do that to you Duo. I..." she hesitated a bit. "I don't know you!"



"Then all the more reason!" He said as he took a big step to her. Duo grabbed her shoulders. "I don't know you. I can't judge you. I won't judge you, not until I know all. Hilde?" He smiled at her.



"Why do you care?" She said as she pushed away. "You don't know me? Why are you so insistent on helping me?" Her voice ringed with anger and pain.



"I have met a lot of people in my life. Hell, I have ended up being a shrink for most of my clients! So I have seen a lot of problems. Most, I feel, deserve what they have. But you . . . You I see as someone worth helping and I can tell you need help. Let me be your salvation. I know noting." Duo spread out his arms to emphasize his point. "It's a clean slate here Hilde. So let me have it. Don't tell me you don't need this . . . cause I need this."



"What?"



"I. Need. You." Hilde took a step back. Never in her life had anyone said that they needed her. "I have problems of my own. Believe me." Duo walked up to her. He wrapped his arms around her. They sat down on a near by bench. "Let's make a deal . . . " He whispered softly. "You tell me your story . . . and I'll tell you mine."



"And you know what Hero . . . she did." Duo finishes braiding his hair.



"So? You felt sorry for her. How does that make you fall in love?" Duo laughs as he sits next to Hero.



"It's what she said . . . "



"My mother . . . worked at home. My father. I don't know. He left my mother when she became pregnant. They both were young. He was nineteen when I was born, my mother seventeen. She told me he ran off the moment he saw me . . . " Hilde shifted into a more comfortable position. "But it didn't bother me. I didn't care. Too young I guess. But my mother made sure I knew every night. She told me to never trust a man until I marry. I didn't make sense but again, I didn't care. I never did, know I think about it. I never let anything bother me until one day. I was in third grade." Hilde took a long breath. "We were sent home early because we lost power . . . My mother didn't know I would be home so soon . . . I didn't know she would be at work." Hilde laughed. "I came in the house and a man was there. Didn't know him. He was leaving. The guy looked at me and smiled. "You have a nice mother kid." He said to me. I just looked at him. Then he left, leaving a roll of cash on the table. Somehow I knew . . . I knew what my mother was. I saw her at the top of the stairs. Her face was blank, no emotion. After that day, I couldn't look at her."



"I don't get it. Her mother was a prostitute?" Duo nods.



"Yes. And a drug addict. Her mom spent most the money on drugs."



"All right. She came from a broken home. Big deal. So have we. What makes her different from us?"



"She didn't give up."



"Most kids I guess would go into a deep depression after that but not me. I wasn't going to give up. Not even when my mother cut my hair or yell at me and called me horrible names."



"Cut your hair?"



"Yeah. She didn't want me to have long hair. Wanted me to have a boy's hair cut. Do you know what that does to someone. I almost lost it with that. But I couldn't. I knew that if I did well in school I could get out . . . get away from my mother, my life. Many thought I was a book worm. But my studies was my life line. Without it, I might have ended up like my mother."



"So she spent every night hitting the books. She kept on going. Even when her mother died, she still worked. Worked until she got the scholarships and the letter of admission. Now she's one year away from becoming a doctor! Now tell me Hero. Tell me that she's not someone of great strength?"



"Her mother died?"



"Yes. Of a drug overdose."



"What of her father?"



"Can't find him. But answer the question. Is she or is she not someone of great strength?"



"Yes. So you're in love with her strength?"



"That. And she might be my way out of here!"



"Really? How?"



"Remember what I told you about my life before I came here?" Hero thinks, it has been along time since Duo came in the group.



"The junk yard?" Duo crosses his arms.



"It's a salvage yard!"



"How can she help you with that?"



"You made a good point about my résumé. And if I quit I will need a job. So . . . I was thinking of opening the salvage yard the old man gave me when he died." The old man is a mechanic named Howard. He owned a salvage yard down town and for sometime it was the number one place to get 'junk' from. Howard one night caught Duo trying to steal from him. And in trying to escape, Duo broke some equipment. Howard told Duo he wouldn't call the police if he worked off the money he owned for the equipment. He even said he would let Duo stay. So Duo did and soon they became the best of friends. Duo was seven when he first met Howard, and came to be a son to Howard. But when Duo was fifth-teen, Howard died. He had no other family but Duo. So in the will it says Duo owns the yard. But what could Duo do? He had no skill in dealing with people, and once word got out that he was running the place, every yard came and tried to buy him out. Duo felt he had no choice but to close and take to the streets again . . . it would have been that way if he hadn't met Une . . .



"Open the yard. Good idea."



"Yeah. And with her . . . I can't fail. I need her strength to help me. All I have to do is ask."



"And tell her about your current job." Duo becomes pail. He stands up and nods.



"Yes, I guess I must. Wish me luck."



"I wish you all the luck." Hero watches Duo leave. "You damn fool."







Tomorrow is the wedding. Another friend moving onto a happier life . . . Usually this would bother Hilde but not tonight. She has other things on her mind. Many other things.



"Sigh . . . Just one more room and then lunch. " Hilde pushes the metal cart down the dark hall. The only light guiding her way is from the nurse's station behind her. Hilde can't keep Peter out of her mind. The words he said about Duo. Harsh, horrible words about wonderful Duo. The Duo who really showed he cared and who makes her happy just thinking of his name. She hasn't known him for even a week and he has become closer to her than any of her best friends. None of her friends really ever asked her how she was doing or showed they cared. Duo not only let her be open but he also opened up to her. And from what he told her . . . he wasn't that bad of a guy. So why would Peter be so cruel? Or better yet. Why did he care? Jealous? Hilde stops pushing the cart as she lets the last thought sink in. "No way would he care. He's just being an ass." Hilde opens the third door down from the end of the hall. She sticks her head in and pulls it out as she closes the door. "Another sleeper." Hilde checks off on her list of patients who needed a sponge bath. Rule is, if they are asleep, you don't give them a bath. Hilde turns the cart around to head back. That room was the last room. The others are empty. Or so she thought.



"Miss?" Says a weak voice.



("Damn. They're not asleep.") She thought. Hilde turns around to the room and opens the door when the weak voice sounds again.



"Where's my sponge bath missy!" Hilde steps out of the room. The voice came from the room next door. She looks at her clipboard. No one should be in that room. Hilde slowly walks in. The room is dark and she moves to turn on the light.



"NO!" Screeches the voice. "I don't like the light. Hurt my little eyes." The voice is coming from the only bed in the room that is covered by the curtain. Hilde sighs. She turns on the water in the sink and fills a pink tub with warm water. "I hope your cute missy. Don't want any ugly woman touching me." Hilde turns the warm water too hot water. She really hates old men like this. They always say she's cute and ask if she is married. Then they wish they were younger and if they where they would love to give her a sponge bath. "Come here little lady. I'm ALL ready for my sponge bath. And maybe after this I can give you one? Eh?" Hilde stops the water and puts the tub back on the cart. She wheels it over to him. ("If he so much as touch me or even pinch me . . . I'll kill him.") Hilde picks up the sponge and wishes that it were Duo she was going to give this bath too.



"Hmmm . . . " Hilde pauses for a moment as she lets her little fantasy linger a bit longer.



"Miss? Are you still there?" Came the voice. Hilde dips the sponge in and pulls it out.



"I'm right her sir." She says in a fake sweet voice. Hilde pulls the curtain aside. "Hold on and let me . . . " Hilde drops her sponge on the floor.



Plop.



The sponge hits the floor as Hilde sees who the body laying on the bed is.



"Hey babe. How ya doing?"



"Duo?" She says shocked.



"The one and only. So . . . how about that sponge bath?"



































I'm sorry. I know that chapter was pretty bad...but don't leave yet! There is more! Next time:



You find out what Peter said to Hilde. And Hilde asks Duo...



"Duo, where's my dress?"



Eeep! Is he going to tell her the truth? Or chicken out? Find out next time! Please?



Thanks!

R&R

^.^