He hurried into his room quickly and got his gun. He wasn't even sure if it was loaded but there was no time to check. He quietly went down the stairs sideways. Something was definitely not right. He first checked the front door, the lock was undone and there was no sign of forced entry. But he remembered he just checked it before. He was way too tired for this kind of thing. He heard something from the kitchen and headed that way. He moved across the living room, staying in the shadows. The carpet was damp under his feet. He reached the doorway and concealed himself against the wall, out of sight. From where he was standing he could make out the person in the dark. He went for the light switch and the person didn't face him once the lights came on.
"Who are you?" He demanded, cocking his gun to the person's back.
"Well isn't that a nice welcoming." Came the snotty response. The stranger turned around and Heero didn't seem very surprised when it turned out to be Duo.
"And you're in my house afterall." He added with half a grin. Heero put his gun down and just shook his head.
"I should have known it was you. Not too many thieves raid the fridge first." He said. Duo looked kind of offended by that but quickly shrugged.
"Well I'm not normal anyway." He admitted heading to the table. Heero regarded how slow he was going, he could only figure he was still hurt. Even after all this time. He got something to drink and went over as well. He put his gun down next to his glass.
"And here I had hoped you'd given up that nasty habit." Duo said as he ate. Heero was getting tired of the small talk from him.
"So why'd you come here so late and on a night like this?" He finally asked what had been bothering him for awhile now. He hadn't realized how wet Duo was from the rain. He was drenched and a puddle was beginning to form under the table.
"Well this was the only time a shuttle was coming here from L3. I was just going to sleep on the couch for tonight." He explained getting up to put his plate in the sink. He grabbed one of the dishtowels and tried to dry himself off a little bit. Heero perked up all of the sudden.
"So what did you do to Zero?" He asked in a demanding way.
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to it." He answered obviously not knowing what had happened to it.
"There's almost nothing left to it now. Quatre found it in space and it was pretty much destroyed. That seems like your handy work." He said still waiting for an explanation. Duo held his hands up.
"Hey it was in one piece when I last saw it. Well except for the cockpit being all smashed up." He admitted and sat back down at the table.
"There wasn't anything left of it? Some people who are part of the Sweeper Group found me. But I don't remember them mentioning anything about it blowing up." He added.
"Well that's how Quatre found it and you were nowhere in sight. It didn't look very good." Heero said back. Duo was looking down obviously thinking about what Heero was telling him. He quickly looked up, his eyes full of concerned.
"So you guys all thought I was dead? I figured Quatre would find Wing Zero empty and figure it out. I didn't know it exploded." He said almost defensively. "Oh man she's gonna kill me over this one." He added referring to Hilde. Heero heard something from upstairs. This was a familiar sound though. He stood up and got his gun off the table.
"You better go explain this to her then. She at least deserves that much, considering what she's been through." He said leaving. Duo let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.
"And clean up your mess." Heero finished the conversation and headed upstairs.
***
He went up the stairs quietly, just in case someone was sleeping. The closer he got to the one bedroom door, the more he could tell she was crying. He opened the door and saw her back was to him. This was going to be hard. How was he suppose to explain this kind of thing to her. And would she be mad at him or just glad to get that kind of news. All of this went through his mind as he got to the bed.
"I'm sorry I woke you up again, Heero. I must be having a bad night." She mumbled from the pillow. He sat down on the bed, near the top. He sat there for a while, still not sure what to do, he really didn't even have the right to apologize. She sniffled a bit but still didn't turn to see him there. He finally put his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath as he leaned down.
"I'm really sorry." was all he could think of saying to her. She didn't understand or even know who said it. At that she finally turned around. Her eyes met his and she covered her mouth when she realized it wasn't Heero. Duo really wasn't sure what to do now, he had never felt so uncomfortable around her before. She backed up a little from him then shook her head and looked down sadly.
"No..,you're just not real." She said, putting her arms around herself in comfort. Duo just sat there shocked but he didn't move from where he was. She started to sniff again and moved towards him.
"I don't care though." She added crying even more. Duo put his arms around her and let her cry into his neck.
"I thought I'd never see you again." She muttered against him. For once he had nothing worth saying. He knew that he had hurt her even if it wasn't his fault, he still took responsibility for it.
"I won't leave like that again." He said softly. She looked up at him and he gave her half a smile, still not sure of what she might say back.
"Just be quiet." was the sweet response he got and she hugged him tighter. He was still sore but didn't want to pull away. He owed her at least this one moment so he just sat there, wincing in pain. She finally pulled away from him and sat up noticing how wet she was now. He couldn't help but grin at that.
"Aw, you got me all wet." She said shaking her hands. That made him smile even more.
"This was suppose to be a nice quiet romantic moment and now it's ruined." She added. It was clear that she wasn't mad at him. Duo leaned over, a couple of drops flew at her off him. "Well we never seem to get those moments anyway." He answered. She pulled him closer to her face. "Didn't I say to be quiet?" She reminded him, not giving him a chance to answer. Heero thought about calling Relena to let her know what had happened but it was alot later now. He did call the Preventer's ship to let Sally know about the visitor they had had that evening.
"I can't believe it after all this time has gone by." Sally said after Heero had told her that Duo was alive. "What does Hilde have to say about this?" She asked.
"I wouldn't know since I haven't talked to her about it yet. But Duo's explaining it to her now so I figured I won't have to tell her anything. He can probably explain it better then I could anyway." He told her. "Well I need to get going, I keep saying I'm going to go to bed early but stuff keeps getting in the way. I'll see how things are tomorrow." He ended the conversation and headed up to bed.
***
The next morning Heero was the first one up. He went down to the kitchen and turned on the coffee, then decided to see if they were even awake yet. So he went back up and cracked Hilde's bedroom door. They were still in bed, Hilde looked very content with Duo's arms around her. 'Guess she didn't kill him afterall', he thought closing the door. Actually they both looked pretty happy now that he thought about it. Heero knew that he wasn't staying there much longer. Then he thought about how Relena would feel about that and he realized how he missed spending time with her. He went back downstairs. He wondered if Hilde was going to cook this morning. She hadn't since the accident almost four months before.
***
Hilde yawned and stretched some as she woke up. She moved to get up from the bed only to hear Duo behind her. She looked back at him, realizing he wasn't up yet and shook her head. Things had definitely gone back to the way they were before, which she had missed. She moved out of his grasp, causing him to stir even more and turn over. She pulled the covers up to his shoulders and straightened up, still looking down at him. She didn't want to leave but knew she was in need of coffee. She turned toward the door to get her bathrobe. She figured Heero was already awake, as she usually found him downstairs working on his computer or watching the news. A while later she headed down in her robe. Heero looked up as she entered the kitchen. She definitely seemed alot happier then when he last saw her. She poured herself some coffee and sat down at the table across from him. He didn't look up from his laptop as he typed. Hilde just sat there drinking her coffee.
"So did you notice that we had a thief break in last night?" Came a monotoned question from across the table. She looked over.
"Oh we did? I guess you took care of it then didn't you." She answered smiling at him. He usually didn't make jokes so she guessed it was one of those unusual times when he decided to be funny. There weren't too many of those.
"I still thought the whole thing wasn't real until I woke up." She laughed. Heero put the screen on his laptop down.
"So he's still sleeping?" He asked her. She nodded back.
"Yeah I figured I'd let him sleep in this one time. Did you eat breakfast yet? I could make us something." She offered standing up.
"You don't have to feed me even if I don't eat as much as some people. So, did you get any information out of him?" He replied leaning on the table.
"To tell you the truth he offered the information but I didn't want to hear it. I'm just glad he's okay." She answered. "Did you let any of the others know yet?" She added.
"I called Sally just to give her a heads up in case Duo decided to go to work." He replied.
"Well either way, one of us is out of a job. But I wouldn't mind it if she gave him back his old one." She picked Heero's mug up off the table and brought it over to the counter along with hers.
"Did you want more?" She looked over her shoulder to see his reply. He nodded to her. She refilled his cup along with her own and brought it back over. She sat back down and let out a sigh.
"So what are your plans today Mr.Yuy?" She asked sipping her coffee. She never really referred to him like that before.
"Well I didn't have too much planned. I was going to see if Relena wanted me to come to the Sanq Kingdom. I figured she has plenty of room for me there. Plus I think I should spend some time with her." He explained. Hilde put her cup down.
"You mean your leaving?" She asked in surprise.
"Well since Duo's back you really don't need me around. I'm sure the two of you don't want me here." He answered. She looked down.
"I didn't really give it much thought. I like having you around, you're a good listener." She admitted. "If it makes you feel better, I've always felt welcomed here. But now since the two of you are married I know you'll be better off without me. And trust me I don't think I want to be around a bunch of newly-weds. This is what's best for everyone." He told her. She looked back up at him and smiled as if agreeing with him. She glanced down at her watch and stood up.
"I'm gonna have to go get dressed. I was going over to the shop today to do inventory. I'd better get the sleepyhead up as well. It's his business too afterall." She said leaving the kitchen and going upstairs. Heero was glad she didn't make too big a deal about him leaving. The phone on the wall rang and he answered it.
"Hey Sally told me about last night! So Duo's okay then?" Quatre's excited voice came on. Heero had to pull the phone away from his ear.
"Yes he's alright. Why are you yelling?" Heero remarked.
"It's a bad connection. I just wanted to double-check that with you. Is he there? Can I talk to him?" Quatre was being very impatient but Heero understood why.
"He's still asleep but I'll let him know to call you alright?" Heero said.
"Okay." Heero could hear the disappointment in his voice. They ended their conversation. Heero went back over to the table and started typing again.
***
"Hey get up, it's late." Hilde said softly in Duo's ear. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. Duo just rolled over and didn't answer her. She tugged on his hair a little bit.
"You can't stay in bed forever." She told him. He still didn't give her an intelligent response. She was becoming impatient and got off the bed.
"Okay fine then you don't want me to make you breakfast. Guess I'll just go make something for Heero instead." She said leaning on the bedpost, waiting to see if he'd get up. He lifted his head above the covers and looked at her sleepily.
"What are you making?" He asked.
"Oh whatever you want." She smiled as she stood up. He looked at her as though he was thinking hard about it.
"This could take alot of thought." He said finally, tossing the covers off. "Afterall I didn't get any options at the hospital." He added making a face. Hilde was trying not to laugh. He was still in his Preventer's uniform...or what was left of it. His pants were all wrinkled. Hilde went over to the heater to get his shirt and tossed it to him. He sat on the side of the bed, buttoning it. She looked at the bed and sighed.
"You still managed to get the blankets wet. Now I'm gonna have to do laundry." He just stretched and smiled at her.
"Yeah well you could have always kicked me out." He answered and headed for the door.
She just smiled back and began pulling the blankets off the bed.
***
Downstairs Duo got himself some coffee. He was still tired and hoped that it would wake him up. Heero was still at the table starring at his computer screen. He didn't look up from it either when Duo sat down.
"Quatre called for you." He announced still not looking up.
"Thanks, you not the cutest secretary but you do a good job at least." Duo joked back. Heero glared over at him.
"Did I mention how quiet it was around here when you weren't here." He said.
"Ouch you didn't have to be like that. I was just playing with yah." Duo remarked sitting back in his chair. Heero let out a low sigh.
"Sorry but I'm busy here." He explained. Duo perked up and leaned over with a big grin.
"So did yah miss me?" He asked still smiling. Heero grit his teeth and looked back over again trying to show he was getting aggravated. That didn't help though and never had.
"Yes, Sally would tell me to do assignments that I wished I was working with someone who knew what they were doing. I don't know how some people got jobs there." Heero admitted. Duo sat back happily holding his cup with both hands.
"Yup, I knew they couldn't replace me. I should ask for a raise when I go in next." He boasted. Heero just went back to his work. There was a brief moment of silence.
"So did everyone else miss me?" Came another question from across the table. Heero finally shut the laptop and pushed it away. He wasn't going to get any work done that morning.
"Yes, everyone else missed you too." He answered. Duo thought about that happily as well.
"Since your so chatty all of the sudden, what's this about you being married?" Heero brought up. Duo just looked over at him and shrugged.
"Seemed like a good idea. I figured there was no point in waiting. Afterall I could be dead tomorrow if yah think about it." He said a bit sarcastic. Heero just closed his eyes and let out another sigh.
"Yeah, that sounds like you alright. Besides I don't know too many people who would put up with you like Hilde does." He muttered under his breath. Duo didn't seem to hear him since he quickly changed the subject.
"Even Wufei missed me?" He thought outloud. Heero looked over at him again in disbelief but answered anyway.
"Yes, he was alot crankier when you weren't around." Duo was surprised at that.
"Actually Sally had Wufei training the guy that was suppose to replace you and the guy completely fried their computers and they had to get an entire new system. It was such a mess. That guy didn't last long though." Heero explained. Duo looked at him in shock. He probably never heard Heero say so much in one sitting. Hilde walked in putting her basket of laundry down and went over to the fridge. Duo finished his coffee and put his cup down.
"Yeah well that's what they get for trying to replace me. It's not an easy task." He bragged putting his hands behind his head and sitting back. Hilde looked up from behind the fridge door.
"Yeah...um that's crazy..he he." She said then disappeared back into the fridge. Heero shot her a look but she dodged it. Duo followed his glare.
"Okay, somethin's going on here that I don't know about. I'll find out anyway so you might as well tell me now." He demanded. Hilde came up from behind the door with some eggs and shut the door behind her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied. He walked over to her and looked right at her. "Your a bad liar yah know." He mentioned. Heero just sighed.
"Fine I'll tell you. Sally really needed help on their ship after you had disappeared so she offered Hilde a position." He said. Duo looked back over at Hilde a bit surprised. She smiled nervously and held the eggs up.
"How'd you want your eggs?" She asked still smiling. Duo turned back to Heero instead of facing Hilde, that made her more nervous.
"So you joined the Preventer's, huh?...." He reiterated acting as though he was thinking hard about it. She gulped and nodded. Heero knew he wasn't mad at her about it. Duo finally turned around and smiled at her.
"That's great! Now we can work together even when I'm out of town. And you won't have to worry about me anymore." He said cheerfully.
"I don't know if I'll worry any less about you just because I'm there. But I'm glad your okay with it." She said back putting the eggs down on the counter.
"Hey after breakfast did you want to come with me to the shop to do inventory? It's gonna be fun." She suggested getting a skillet out as well. Duo looked down at his uniform then back at her.
"Sure but I need to change first. The hospital did wash this for me but still." He answered and left the room to go upstairs. Hilde turned back to the counter and started cracking a couple of eggs on the side of a bowl. Heero went back to the laptop now that he had a chance to actually get some work done.
***
After doing the inventory, Duo brought Hilde out for lunch, then they headed home. They had alot of time to make up for. When they got there Heero had all his stuff packed and by the door.
"Well that was quick." Hilde noticed as they walked in. He came out into the living room as they shut the door behind them.
"It's nice to see you at least waited until we got back." Duo said to him.
"Actually there's a reason for that. Sally called and wants all of us to get to the ship as soon as possible." He told them.
"Really, we just got back from there last night. What could be so urgent?" Hilde asked him. He put his jacket on and put his last piece of luggage down.
'I don't know but she said it was important." He added. They got what they needed and headed out the door.
"Who are you?" He demanded, cocking his gun to the person's back.
"Well isn't that a nice welcoming." Came the snotty response. The stranger turned around and Heero didn't seem very surprised when it turned out to be Duo.
"And you're in my house afterall." He added with half a grin. Heero put his gun down and just shook his head.
"I should have known it was you. Not too many thieves raid the fridge first." He said. Duo looked kind of offended by that but quickly shrugged.
"Well I'm not normal anyway." He admitted heading to the table. Heero regarded how slow he was going, he could only figure he was still hurt. Even after all this time. He got something to drink and went over as well. He put his gun down next to his glass.
"And here I had hoped you'd given up that nasty habit." Duo said as he ate. Heero was getting tired of the small talk from him.
"So why'd you come here so late and on a night like this?" He finally asked what had been bothering him for awhile now. He hadn't realized how wet Duo was from the rain. He was drenched and a puddle was beginning to form under the table.
"Well this was the only time a shuttle was coming here from L3. I was just going to sleep on the couch for tonight." He explained getting up to put his plate in the sink. He grabbed one of the dishtowels and tried to dry himself off a little bit. Heero perked up all of the sudden.
"So what did you do to Zero?" He asked in a demanding way.
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to it." He answered obviously not knowing what had happened to it.
"There's almost nothing left to it now. Quatre found it in space and it was pretty much destroyed. That seems like your handy work." He said still waiting for an explanation. Duo held his hands up.
"Hey it was in one piece when I last saw it. Well except for the cockpit being all smashed up." He admitted and sat back down at the table.
"There wasn't anything left of it? Some people who are part of the Sweeper Group found me. But I don't remember them mentioning anything about it blowing up." He added.
"Well that's how Quatre found it and you were nowhere in sight. It didn't look very good." Heero said back. Duo was looking down obviously thinking about what Heero was telling him. He quickly looked up, his eyes full of concerned.
"So you guys all thought I was dead? I figured Quatre would find Wing Zero empty and figure it out. I didn't know it exploded." He said almost defensively. "Oh man she's gonna kill me over this one." He added referring to Hilde. Heero heard something from upstairs. This was a familiar sound though. He stood up and got his gun off the table.
"You better go explain this to her then. She at least deserves that much, considering what she's been through." He said leaving. Duo let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.
"And clean up your mess." Heero finished the conversation and headed upstairs.
***
He went up the stairs quietly, just in case someone was sleeping. The closer he got to the one bedroom door, the more he could tell she was crying. He opened the door and saw her back was to him. This was going to be hard. How was he suppose to explain this kind of thing to her. And would she be mad at him or just glad to get that kind of news. All of this went through his mind as he got to the bed.
"I'm sorry I woke you up again, Heero. I must be having a bad night." She mumbled from the pillow. He sat down on the bed, near the top. He sat there for a while, still not sure what to do, he really didn't even have the right to apologize. She sniffled a bit but still didn't turn to see him there. He finally put his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath as he leaned down.
"I'm really sorry." was all he could think of saying to her. She didn't understand or even know who said it. At that she finally turned around. Her eyes met his and she covered her mouth when she realized it wasn't Heero. Duo really wasn't sure what to do now, he had never felt so uncomfortable around her before. She backed up a little from him then shook her head and looked down sadly.
"No..,you're just not real." She said, putting her arms around herself in comfort. Duo just sat there shocked but he didn't move from where he was. She started to sniff again and moved towards him.
"I don't care though." She added crying even more. Duo put his arms around her and let her cry into his neck.
"I thought I'd never see you again." She muttered against him. For once he had nothing worth saying. He knew that he had hurt her even if it wasn't his fault, he still took responsibility for it.
"I won't leave like that again." He said softly. She looked up at him and he gave her half a smile, still not sure of what she might say back.
"Just be quiet." was the sweet response he got and she hugged him tighter. He was still sore but didn't want to pull away. He owed her at least this one moment so he just sat there, wincing in pain. She finally pulled away from him and sat up noticing how wet she was now. He couldn't help but grin at that.
"Aw, you got me all wet." She said shaking her hands. That made him smile even more.
"This was suppose to be a nice quiet romantic moment and now it's ruined." She added. It was clear that she wasn't mad at him. Duo leaned over, a couple of drops flew at her off him. "Well we never seem to get those moments anyway." He answered. She pulled him closer to her face. "Didn't I say to be quiet?" She reminded him, not giving him a chance to answer. Heero thought about calling Relena to let her know what had happened but it was alot later now. He did call the Preventer's ship to let Sally know about the visitor they had had that evening.
"I can't believe it after all this time has gone by." Sally said after Heero had told her that Duo was alive. "What does Hilde have to say about this?" She asked.
"I wouldn't know since I haven't talked to her about it yet. But Duo's explaining it to her now so I figured I won't have to tell her anything. He can probably explain it better then I could anyway." He told her. "Well I need to get going, I keep saying I'm going to go to bed early but stuff keeps getting in the way. I'll see how things are tomorrow." He ended the conversation and headed up to bed.
***
The next morning Heero was the first one up. He went down to the kitchen and turned on the coffee, then decided to see if they were even awake yet. So he went back up and cracked Hilde's bedroom door. They were still in bed, Hilde looked very content with Duo's arms around her. 'Guess she didn't kill him afterall', he thought closing the door. Actually they both looked pretty happy now that he thought about it. Heero knew that he wasn't staying there much longer. Then he thought about how Relena would feel about that and he realized how he missed spending time with her. He went back downstairs. He wondered if Hilde was going to cook this morning. She hadn't since the accident almost four months before.
***
Hilde yawned and stretched some as she woke up. She moved to get up from the bed only to hear Duo behind her. She looked back at him, realizing he wasn't up yet and shook her head. Things had definitely gone back to the way they were before, which she had missed. She moved out of his grasp, causing him to stir even more and turn over. She pulled the covers up to his shoulders and straightened up, still looking down at him. She didn't want to leave but knew she was in need of coffee. She turned toward the door to get her bathrobe. She figured Heero was already awake, as she usually found him downstairs working on his computer or watching the news. A while later she headed down in her robe. Heero looked up as she entered the kitchen. She definitely seemed alot happier then when he last saw her. She poured herself some coffee and sat down at the table across from him. He didn't look up from his laptop as he typed. Hilde just sat there drinking her coffee.
"So did you notice that we had a thief break in last night?" Came a monotoned question from across the table. She looked over.
"Oh we did? I guess you took care of it then didn't you." She answered smiling at him. He usually didn't make jokes so she guessed it was one of those unusual times when he decided to be funny. There weren't too many of those.
"I still thought the whole thing wasn't real until I woke up." She laughed. Heero put the screen on his laptop down.
"So he's still sleeping?" He asked her. She nodded back.
"Yeah I figured I'd let him sleep in this one time. Did you eat breakfast yet? I could make us something." She offered standing up.
"You don't have to feed me even if I don't eat as much as some people. So, did you get any information out of him?" He replied leaning on the table.
"To tell you the truth he offered the information but I didn't want to hear it. I'm just glad he's okay." She answered. "Did you let any of the others know yet?" She added.
"I called Sally just to give her a heads up in case Duo decided to go to work." He replied.
"Well either way, one of us is out of a job. But I wouldn't mind it if she gave him back his old one." She picked Heero's mug up off the table and brought it over to the counter along with hers.
"Did you want more?" She looked over her shoulder to see his reply. He nodded to her. She refilled his cup along with her own and brought it back over. She sat back down and let out a sigh.
"So what are your plans today Mr.Yuy?" She asked sipping her coffee. She never really referred to him like that before.
"Well I didn't have too much planned. I was going to see if Relena wanted me to come to the Sanq Kingdom. I figured she has plenty of room for me there. Plus I think I should spend some time with her." He explained. Hilde put her cup down.
"You mean your leaving?" She asked in surprise.
"Well since Duo's back you really don't need me around. I'm sure the two of you don't want me here." He answered. She looked down.
"I didn't really give it much thought. I like having you around, you're a good listener." She admitted. "If it makes you feel better, I've always felt welcomed here. But now since the two of you are married I know you'll be better off without me. And trust me I don't think I want to be around a bunch of newly-weds. This is what's best for everyone." He told her. She looked back up at him and smiled as if agreeing with him. She glanced down at her watch and stood up.
"I'm gonna have to go get dressed. I was going over to the shop today to do inventory. I'd better get the sleepyhead up as well. It's his business too afterall." She said leaving the kitchen and going upstairs. Heero was glad she didn't make too big a deal about him leaving. The phone on the wall rang and he answered it.
"Hey Sally told me about last night! So Duo's okay then?" Quatre's excited voice came on. Heero had to pull the phone away from his ear.
"Yes he's alright. Why are you yelling?" Heero remarked.
"It's a bad connection. I just wanted to double-check that with you. Is he there? Can I talk to him?" Quatre was being very impatient but Heero understood why.
"He's still asleep but I'll let him know to call you alright?" Heero said.
"Okay." Heero could hear the disappointment in his voice. They ended their conversation. Heero went back over to the table and started typing again.
***
"Hey get up, it's late." Hilde said softly in Duo's ear. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. Duo just rolled over and didn't answer her. She tugged on his hair a little bit.
"You can't stay in bed forever." She told him. He still didn't give her an intelligent response. She was becoming impatient and got off the bed.
"Okay fine then you don't want me to make you breakfast. Guess I'll just go make something for Heero instead." She said leaning on the bedpost, waiting to see if he'd get up. He lifted his head above the covers and looked at her sleepily.
"What are you making?" He asked.
"Oh whatever you want." She smiled as she stood up. He looked at her as though he was thinking hard about it.
"This could take alot of thought." He said finally, tossing the covers off. "Afterall I didn't get any options at the hospital." He added making a face. Hilde was trying not to laugh. He was still in his Preventer's uniform...or what was left of it. His pants were all wrinkled. Hilde went over to the heater to get his shirt and tossed it to him. He sat on the side of the bed, buttoning it. She looked at the bed and sighed.
"You still managed to get the blankets wet. Now I'm gonna have to do laundry." He just stretched and smiled at her.
"Yeah well you could have always kicked me out." He answered and headed for the door.
She just smiled back and began pulling the blankets off the bed.
***
Downstairs Duo got himself some coffee. He was still tired and hoped that it would wake him up. Heero was still at the table starring at his computer screen. He didn't look up from it either when Duo sat down.
"Quatre called for you." He announced still not looking up.
"Thanks, you not the cutest secretary but you do a good job at least." Duo joked back. Heero glared over at him.
"Did I mention how quiet it was around here when you weren't here." He said.
"Ouch you didn't have to be like that. I was just playing with yah." Duo remarked sitting back in his chair. Heero let out a low sigh.
"Sorry but I'm busy here." He explained. Duo perked up and leaned over with a big grin.
"So did yah miss me?" He asked still smiling. Heero grit his teeth and looked back over again trying to show he was getting aggravated. That didn't help though and never had.
"Yes, Sally would tell me to do assignments that I wished I was working with someone who knew what they were doing. I don't know how some people got jobs there." Heero admitted. Duo sat back happily holding his cup with both hands.
"Yup, I knew they couldn't replace me. I should ask for a raise when I go in next." He boasted. Heero just went back to his work. There was a brief moment of silence.
"So did everyone else miss me?" Came another question from across the table. Heero finally shut the laptop and pushed it away. He wasn't going to get any work done that morning.
"Yes, everyone else missed you too." He answered. Duo thought about that happily as well.
"Since your so chatty all of the sudden, what's this about you being married?" Heero brought up. Duo just looked over at him and shrugged.
"Seemed like a good idea. I figured there was no point in waiting. Afterall I could be dead tomorrow if yah think about it." He said a bit sarcastic. Heero just closed his eyes and let out another sigh.
"Yeah, that sounds like you alright. Besides I don't know too many people who would put up with you like Hilde does." He muttered under his breath. Duo didn't seem to hear him since he quickly changed the subject.
"Even Wufei missed me?" He thought outloud. Heero looked over at him again in disbelief but answered anyway.
"Yes, he was alot crankier when you weren't around." Duo was surprised at that.
"Actually Sally had Wufei training the guy that was suppose to replace you and the guy completely fried their computers and they had to get an entire new system. It was such a mess. That guy didn't last long though." Heero explained. Duo looked at him in shock. He probably never heard Heero say so much in one sitting. Hilde walked in putting her basket of laundry down and went over to the fridge. Duo finished his coffee and put his cup down.
"Yeah well that's what they get for trying to replace me. It's not an easy task." He bragged putting his hands behind his head and sitting back. Hilde looked up from behind the fridge door.
"Yeah...um that's crazy..he he." She said then disappeared back into the fridge. Heero shot her a look but she dodged it. Duo followed his glare.
"Okay, somethin's going on here that I don't know about. I'll find out anyway so you might as well tell me now." He demanded. Hilde came up from behind the door with some eggs and shut the door behind her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied. He walked over to her and looked right at her. "Your a bad liar yah know." He mentioned. Heero just sighed.
"Fine I'll tell you. Sally really needed help on their ship after you had disappeared so she offered Hilde a position." He said. Duo looked back over at Hilde a bit surprised. She smiled nervously and held the eggs up.
"How'd you want your eggs?" She asked still smiling. Duo turned back to Heero instead of facing Hilde, that made her more nervous.
"So you joined the Preventer's, huh?...." He reiterated acting as though he was thinking hard about it. She gulped and nodded. Heero knew he wasn't mad at her about it. Duo finally turned around and smiled at her.
"That's great! Now we can work together even when I'm out of town. And you won't have to worry about me anymore." He said cheerfully.
"I don't know if I'll worry any less about you just because I'm there. But I'm glad your okay with it." She said back putting the eggs down on the counter.
"Hey after breakfast did you want to come with me to the shop to do inventory? It's gonna be fun." She suggested getting a skillet out as well. Duo looked down at his uniform then back at her.
"Sure but I need to change first. The hospital did wash this for me but still." He answered and left the room to go upstairs. Hilde turned back to the counter and started cracking a couple of eggs on the side of a bowl. Heero went back to the laptop now that he had a chance to actually get some work done.
***
After doing the inventory, Duo brought Hilde out for lunch, then they headed home. They had alot of time to make up for. When they got there Heero had all his stuff packed and by the door.
"Well that was quick." Hilde noticed as they walked in. He came out into the living room as they shut the door behind them.
"It's nice to see you at least waited until we got back." Duo said to him.
"Actually there's a reason for that. Sally called and wants all of us to get to the ship as soon as possible." He told them.
"Really, we just got back from there last night. What could be so urgent?" Hilde asked him. He put his jacket on and put his last piece of luggage down.
'I don't know but she said it was important." He added. They got what they needed and headed out the door.