Just a warning but there is cussing in this chapter. Oh yes, and angst.

Chapter 5

Duo grabbed his bag out of the closet and began throwing things into it as fast as he could.
Hilde stood by the door, arms crossed across her chest.

"Duo, what is this about? You still have another week."
"Remember my friend? The one I lived with. He's been sho.." He couldn't make
himself finish the rest. Tears clouded his vision. A sob threatened to break out.
Quatre had called with the news. He didn't know Heero's condition; all he knew was it was bad and Duo better get back to Earth as soon as possible. 'I shouldn't have left him alone. This never would have happened if I had worked harder to get home.'

"Oh Duo." She walked over to embrace him.

He held up a hand to stop her. "Don't. I just need to pack my things and go. Please tell
the boss what happened. I'm sure he'll understand."

"Right. Do you need any help packing?"

"Please, Hilde, just leave me alone." She gave him a hurt look and walked out. He turned
back to his bag and continued packing. Strangely, he had folded everything and put it
inside very neatly. Finally, he had put as many clothes as he could guess he would need
and walked out the door. A shuttle, he needed to find a shuttle. He felt frantic.
Heero's life was hanging in the balance and he was light-years away. He managed to hail a
taxi.

"The nearest spaceport please." Duo didn't hear the drivers' response. He was in shock.
How could this happen? Heero was the perfect soldier. He was always so damned careful.
'I'll kill whoever did this. They'll wish they had never been born when I'm through with
them.' He couldn't say why he felt so protective over Heero. Yes he could. They were
friends. He was one of the closest friends Duo had. Yet it was something more. He
couldn't lose that to some maniac with a gun.

Duo found himself at the ticket purchase counter, saw and heard himself buy a ticket to the
next shuttle bound for earth, felt himself sit down to wait for his flight, heard his
flight being called ten minutes later. All of this seemed like an out of body experience.
He wasn't really doing any of this, he wasn't going back to earth, and Heero wasn't laying
in a hospital fighting for his life. He boarded the shuttle and let himself get lost in
the passing stars.

~*~

Quatre sat in a chair in the waiting room. Heero had gone into surgery two hours ago and
no word had come back from the doctor. He felt Trowas hand in his. They hadn't exactly
told Wufei there situation, but seeing Quatre and Trowa hugging each other intimately,
holding hands, didn't seem to surprise him. Sally had stayed home. Wufei practically
wouldn't let her leave the house due to her 'condition'. Quatre would have smiled if the
current situation weren't so grim. He had called Duo a few hours ago, shortly before they
had left on a private jet, picking Wufei up on the way.

The conversation had been very short. Duo had picked up the phone; Quatre told him to sit
down and then tried to tell him everything he could as calmly as possible. As soon as the
words were out of his mouth, Duo stated he'd be right there and hung up the phone. Now they
were just waiting for him to get there.

He leaned back and sighed. Trowa looked over at him. "Do you want me to get you some
coffee?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice." He smiled at him. Trowa had just left when he spotted a frantic
looking Duo walking towards him.

"How is he?" He looked as though he wanted to cry, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"We don't know." He told him honestly. "We're waiting for the doctor to tell us any kind
of news." He led him over to the chair. He sat down heavily and put his head in his hands.
"It's all my fault. I shouldn't have left him alone." Tears began to fall into his lap.
All Quatre could do was to put a hand on his shoulder. A small show of support to his
friend. It was hard to see Duo like this. The forever joking, optimistic gundam pilot,
crying. Trowa got back with the coffee, not saying a word as he handed it to Quatre. He
had gotten one for himself, but placed it next to Duo instead and sat down. Wufei walked
over and sat down next to him.

"This isn't your fault, Maxwell." Quatre gave him a warning look, but he continued. "No
one could have prevented it. The man who did it is crazy."

Duo looked up suddenly, tears running down his face. "Who did this? Who is the fucking
maniac?"

"His name is Edward Vawter." Wufei continued. "We don't know any details, but he has been
arrested." Duo looked down again and sighed heavily. Quatre went and sat down next to
Trowa. They sat in silence for some time, Duo still staring at the floor but not really.
About a half hour later, a doctor walked in. Duo stood up as soon as he saw him. "How is
he?"

"The surgery went well but he's not out of the woods yet. We'll watch him closely
overnight. I'm not going to lie, it doesn't look good. He may be in a coma for a while."

Quatre looked over at him. "Can we see him?"

"Only one for the moment." They all looked at Duo.

"Thanks guys. This means a lot. And I don't just mean this. Just being here helps."

"Hey, we fought together." Said Quatre. "We can't just leave each other hanging." Duo
nodded. He stared at his back as they headed towards the intensive care unit.

~*~

As soon as he walked into the door he wanted to start crying again. Heero was hooked up to
a mass of machines, all keeping him alive. He was lead to a chair sitting next to the bed,
the door closed softly behind him. He reached for Heero's hand and held it in his.

"Oh Heero, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you all alone for so long. I couldn't
protect you." He did cry then. The tears falling freely like they did in the waiting room.
It felt like his entire world was lying in that bed, hanging in the balance. "Don't go.
You have to fight. If you don't, who's going to smirk at my smart ass comments and tell me
they're going to kill me?" He wanted Heero to open his eyes and tell him to stop being
stupid. He had to wake up. Duo felt like he couldn't live without apart from him ever
again. Hilde was no substitute for Heero. She hadn't shared the same experiences, didn't
know the burden of having killed hundreds of people and helping each other live through
that.

Duo Maxwell was not a man who usually prayed. But, at that moment, he found himself asking
whoever was up there to bring Heero through this. He put his head down on the bed and
stayed that way until he fell asleep.

TBC