AN: Same song, seventh verse!
Where Do We Fall
"Taking a vow of silence doesn't help in our case, my Lady." A black shot of irritation mingled with annoyance darted through Quatre's side of the link. "You could try being nice to the man who's carrying you on his back." Quatre shifted her weight to accommodate for the unstable sand they were crossing. He paid extra care to where he stepped as the sun's light began to fade into the horizon. One wrong step and they'd both be invalids. He winced as he thought about the pain that had slashed through their connection earlier and decided that he could do without another dose for a long time.
Rei had been walking ahead of him, leading in her usual fashion, when a firestorm of pain had flashed up from Quatre's foot and dropped him to his knees. He'd almost blacked out when Rei's yelling had brought him back to reality. Slowly, his body had sent messages that had revealed the truth. Quatre's foot was fine. Rei had stepped into a grass hidden gopher hole, and it was her toes that were broken and swelling like purple grapes. Quatre had realized quickly that her injuries were beyond his field medicine capabilities and that Usagi's Silver Imperium Crystal or Wufei's Sword were Rei's only hope for healing. With Rei protesting the entire process, Quatre had managed to get her onto his back with minimal jarring to her injured foot. She hadn't spoken to him after her first protests about being carried like some, "weak little girl."
Her continued silence was beginning to worry Quatre. Their link had dwindled to faint bursts of simple emotions since the accident, and he suspected that Rei was shielding him from the pain that she was experiencing. "Look out!" Rei's cry brought Quatre's thoughts back from their musing in time to see that the sand dune he'd been climbing was steeper than he's remembered it being. Instinctively he tried to slide down the sand path, but Rei's extra mass made his center of gravity higher than he was used to, so they pitched forward instead. With a quick twisting of his body, Quatre managed to land beneath Rei's back, her foot pointing to the sky, but no more hurt than before. The blonde boy on the other hand was having problem catching the breath that had been forced from his lungs. His initial alarm at being unable to breathe reached Rei's mind and it seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. A floodgate opened as Rei twisted in his arms and Quatre's face began to be washed with his mate's tears.
"Oh, Quatre," she sobbed. "Is this what its going to be like for the rest of our lives?" Air had finally breached the blockage in Quatre's throat, so it took him a minute to figure out what Rei was saying. "Will I bring you nothing but pain?" Instantly her meaning occurred to him. Laughter burbled up from deep inside him. Rei's tears dried immediately and she could only watch as laughter wrung moisture from his eyes.
"That's what had you so silent? God," he chuckled, "I thought that you were just pissed at me for carrying you like a sack of grain." Suddenly serious, he grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. "Don't block anything from me. The link is there to share pain as well as joy to lessen the former and double the latter." He tenderly kissed her fingertips. "I love you, my Lady of the Fire and I am honored to share your pain and laughter."
For one of the few times in her life, Rei was speechless. When she'd fallen into the gopher hole, her anguish had come from both the injury to her toes and the knowledge that she, like a coward, had passed part of her suffering onto her mate. She had been wallowing in her shame since that moment, but Quatre's quietly spoken words had freed her from her guilt. Life was sharing the joys and the sorrows. With feelings radiating out of her tear-splotched face, Rei bent her head and kissed her love.
Later, with the campfire guiding their path down the beach, Rei whispered into Quatre's ear. "Thank you for carrying me, but…" the mock menace in her voice made him grin, "if you tell anybody how I broke my toes, they'll never find all of your parts."
"Yes, my Lady," was all he said.
AN: Rei seems to have problems sharing her inner feelings, so I figured that Quatre would be a great contrast for her. Hope you like the update. Later!