Caught Between the Banister

by Hawk Clowd

One day on his way to work, Duo catches sight of a little boy in need of some help. Little does he know that this little boy is going to put him through the ride of his life... Yaoi.

6. Heero

CAUGHT BETWEEN THE BANISTER

Part Six: Heero

Disclaimer: don't own them.  Don't want them.  Don't need them.  I'll tell you if anything changes, but don't hold your breath.  Wouldn't want you to pass out or anything now, would we?

Warnings/Rating: Not much here to speak of.  More than a few "hints" of shonen ai and yaoi.  There are a few psychological references, if you can catch them.  My usual insanity.  Fun stuff like that.  This part is rated R for a few four-letter words and some gratuitous romantic subplot type things.  Don't get too excited, though.  It's nothing major.

---

It was early in the evening, almost thee hours after Heero's return and my landlord's uncouth phone call, before I heard anything from the police.  I jumped when the phone rang and bolted over to pick up the receiver, praying that it was good news.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Mister Maxwell, this is Officer Laytner from the precinct.  You have us looking for your nephew, right?"

"Yes!  Have you guys found him yet?"

"Nope.  But we did find a little toy car type thing by fifth and main.  Do you think it may be one of his?"

My heart sank.  "Quite possibly.  Was it an ambulance?  Or a fire truck?  Something--anything--along those lines?"

"Neither.  It was a dump truck--the kind dating back to pre-colony days.  Does it sound like one of his toys or anything?" Laytner asked.

"It could be."  If it had been any other colony, I would have dismissed it as a coincidence.  However, the chances of finding a toy car on this colony, especially only three blocks away from the apartment...  Well, those chances were pretty slim.  "So what are you guys going to do now?" I asked, biting my lip.

"We'll keep looking for about three days.  After the first twenty-four hours, we'll intensify the search.  If he hasn't turned up after the three days are up, we'll cease the active search.  We'll keep sending his name and pictures to news stations and the papers and all of that.  But he's only a runaway, really, and he's little, so he'll probably come back all on his own.  Most runaways do.  I wouldn't worry too much about it, if I were you.  Call us if he comes back on his own.  We'll bring him home if we find him, though, so you don't have to sit by the phone.  If you aren't home when we bring him over, we'll just leave you a note and let him stay at the station for a bit."

Well, that was better than nothing, right?  "Thanks," I said half-heartedly.  Then I hung up, still unhappy and no more optimistic than I had been only a few hours before.  Once I managed to collect myself again, I went downstairs to tell Heero what Officer Laytner had said.

Hesitating only slightly, I knocked on the door to his apartment.  It was a really pathetic knock, too, all timid and frightened.  I hate it when people knock like that, but I was too busy trying to figure out how I could shoot myself and make it look like an accident to worry about it at the time.  Heero answered quickly and let me inside without a word.  If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought that he'd been crying; his eyes were red and a little bit puffy.  But that wasn't possible, right?  Guys like Heero didn't actually have real feelings.  He probably just had something in his eye.

"Have you heard anything?" he asked.

"Sort of.  The cops found a toy car--a dump truck--a few blocks away, over by Fifth Street.  They're still looking, though, and they'll bring him up to my apartment if they find him.  We're supposed to wait.  That's all we can do, I guess.  Wait, I mean."

"Wait," he repeated dully, almost as if he had never heard the word before in his life.

"'fraid so."  He let out a frustrated noise and I frowned, trying to translate it.  "Ease up, man.  I want him to be back here just as much as you do, but if--"

"No," he interrupted.  "No, you can't possibly want him back as much as I do.  Don't pretend that you do because I don't want to hear it."  He glared at me.  "You have no idea what I want right now or what I'm going through.  You have no idea how I'm feeling or what's been going through my mind for the past several hours.  You have no idea."

I looked away, not willing to argue with him and not exactly willing to back down.  I did have an idea what he was going through--I did understand.  That kid was undoubtedly one of the best--and worst--things that had ever happened to me.  But Heero didn't need to know that.

A long and uncomfortable silence crept over us before Heero stepped towards the kitchen.  "I'm making coffee.  Do you want any?"

"Yeah, that would be great.  Thanks."  I stood awkwardly in the middle of the hall as though I had never been in his apartment before in my life.  All of a sudden it didn't feel like I had been living there for the past few days.  Even the sight of my overnight bag by the couch didn't make me feel more at ease.  It just didn't make any sense to me at all.

Heero puttered around the kitchen for a bit, adding more water and coffee grounds to the machine.  He had obviously been starting the process when I had knocked because the tin of grounds was still on the counter and there was water spilled on the counter, near the sink.  I watched him pour more water in the machine and saw that his hands were shaking, just enough for me to notice.

He eventually looked over at me and frowned.  "Do you intend to stand there all day or do you plan on sitting down at all?"

"Um...  Well, sitting is good.  Where should I sit?"

Shaking his head, Heero shrugged.  He obviously thought I was the stupidest man alive.  "In a chair, I suppose.  That usually works out well.  Try it.  You'll like it."

Feeling more than a little stupid, I did as I'd been told.  There was a long silence as Heero continued working in the kitchen.  Then, after a while, Heero handed me a mug of coffee.

"Do you want anything in it?" he asked.  "Cream?  Sugar?  A touch of Irish?"

I managed to grin.  "How sweet--you remembered.  But no, thanks.  I don't add anything to my coffee anymore, really.  And I never ever touch the Irish."

"That's good."  He sat down across from me, cradling his own mug.  There was another long silence, so I sipped from the coffee, more to avoid talking or looking at him than anything else, but I burned my tongue and pulled off quickly.

"It's hot," I told him.

"Coffee usually is."  He sipped from his own mug and I saw his eyes widen slightly.  "Mm," he admit, "it is too hot."  He set his mug down on the table.  "More so than usual."

"Told you."  I started looking nervously around the room, trying to find something to talk about.  "You really keep a clean house, don't you?" I asked finally.  "Real neat.  I could never do that--heck, you've seen my apartment.  Looks like a hurricane whipped through it or something, right?  Right."  I didn't give him a chance to answer.  "I mean, I could probably keep it clean if I wanted to, but I've got enough trouble just finding the time and all, you know?  What with finding a new job and the AA meetings and the random colony--"

"Shut up."

"Shutting up."  I sipped from the coffee, being super careful not to burn myself--a failed attempt, but at least I tried.  The silence that fell over us was an uncomfortable one.  I suppose that really was to be expected, wasn't it?  I mean, we hadn't sat down to have a civil conversation in over six years and our last chat hadn't exactly ended on friendly terms.  The fact that Heero's son was missing probably only added to the stress...

"Maybe I should go back up to my apartment," I said finally, shifting in my seat.  "I've got a lot of packing to do and all.  So I think I'm just going to--"

"Not yet," he interrupted.  He didn't say anything else.  I shrugged, cradling my mug in both hands and trying to ignore the awkward silence that had suddenly crept up and camped there.  It didn't work all that well.  Ignoring the silence, I mean.  The more I tried to ignore it the more obvious it became.  Go figure.

Heero sighed, picked up his coffee cup, and then set it back down.  It was still mostly full.  Of course, so was mine.  I was too nervous to drink anything.  Nervous about Mike, nervous about me, nervous about Heero...  I probably would have choked on the damn coffee if I had tried to swallow any of it right then.  I wondered if Heero felt the same way.  For some odd reason, I doubted it.  Heero was never nervous.

"So, um...  How have things been for you lately?  Before I showed up on your doorstep, I mean."

"Good," he said quickly.  "They've been good."

"Yeah.  That's... good."  We lapsed into yet another silence.  This one was even longer.  Heero kept looking at the phone, willing it to ring on command or something, and I started to drum my fingers against the coffee mug.  It was a nice looking mug, so far as that sort of thing goes.  It was a light blue--not a girly blue, though--and had something written on it in Latin.  "E Pur Si Muove."  Below that, in smaller letters, it said: "but not until after it's had coffee."  All the o's in there were tiny little models of the Earth.  It was a real neat mug.  I wanted one.  I even considered asking Heero where he had gotten it, but decided against it.  Sure, it would have provided some sort of conversation piece, but it was hardly appropriate, really.  Not right then.

A clock was ticking, rather loudly, in another room.

"How did your business trip go?" I asked finally.

"I don't know," he answered.  "I had to leave before the job was fully complete."  He paused, thinking of something to say.  "Did you and Michael enjoy yourselves?"

"Yeah, he was great.  Real great.  You're lucky to have him."  He nodded--he knew that already.  There was another long pause between topics.  What did people talk about in movies when there was nothing really interesting to talk about?  Oh, right...

I faked a grin.  "So, crazy weather we're having lately, huh?"

"We live on a colony," Heero pointed out dryly.  "There is no weather."

"Oh.  Right.  In that case, how about this crazy weather we're not having lately, eh?" I amended.

Heero snorted.  "Baka."

"That would be me, all right."

We looked at one another and smiled.  That was a start.  Starts were good.  Or at least they were usually good.  This time, however, no progress was made, so in the long run this start was not good.  Yet another silence lapsed over us, smothering us.

After what seemed to take hours, Heero sighed.  "Let's get this over with.  If you're anything as I remember you, you've been holding a grudge against me for a long time now.  So hurry up and start yelling or whatever it is you want to do so that we can get that out of the way and I can focus on more important things."

I couldn't say anything at all for a quite some time.  What exactly was there to say now?  Over the years I must have pictured that moment a million different ways, but I don't think I had ever expected him to go right out and tell me to yell at him.  And, to top it off, he wasn't exactly being the most civil person in the world right then, nor was he giving off a very receptive aura.  And how exactly are you supposed to start a conversation like that?  It's not exactly appropriate to go "it's all your fault, so you'd better start apologizing" or to start by saying "well, I'm sorry you're such an asshole, but..." And you can't really apologize for something you didn't really do without sounding totally hypocritical.  So I just didn't say anything.

Hey, I saw that.  Don't roll your eyes at me.

Anyway, Heero eventually gave up and threw his hands in the air.  "Whatever.  I'm tired of this!  Who cares?  It happened so long ago that I doubt we even remember exactly what happened!"

"Who cares?" I repeated incredulously.  "Who cares?  I'll tell you who cares!  I care!"

"Then why haven't you said anything about it?" Heero asked in a frustrated tone of voice.  "Look, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Yeah, right," I muttered.

Heero scowled.  "It was part of the mission."

"Leaving me there to die was part of your mission?"  I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.  "I get it.  I was expendable.  After all, I was just an orphan boy with a gun and a slight problem with his libido!  So what?  Who in their right mind fucking cares about a silly thing like that, right?  Just because you left me there to die doesn't mean a god-damned thing, does it?"

Heero slammed the palm of his hand against the table.  "God damn it, Duo!  I didn't know you were in trouble and Quatre was defenseless and needed help!  If I had known the rifle I gave you was dysfunctional, I wouldn't have left you behind!"

"Liar," I snarled.  "You did know that the bomb didn't work.  And you knew about the sniper, too, but all you left me with was a dud gun!  Quatre told me that you knew!"

"I knew that one of the rifles was not working properly, but I didn't know which one.  The chances of me giving you that one were one in one hundred!  And I had a feeling that there was something still there--I told you to be careful when I left!"  He sighed, running a hand through his hair.  "Look, no one is perfect, okay?  I spent all that time while you in the hospital kicking myself for having left you alone there.  It was a mistake.  I know it was a mistake.  But there was nothing I could do to fix it!"

"You left me there with no weapon and some guy fucking shot me!  I almost died!"

"It was a mistake!" he insisted.  Then he pulled back.  "And I knew you were going to hold it against me.  You hold grudges forever."

I glared at him.  "I would have forgiven you for it eventually," I said, "but you didn't say goodbye."  I lowered my voice to something barely more than a hiss.  "You should have at least said goodbye."

"I know."

"I could have died."

"But you didn't."

"No thanks to you."

"Let me also point out that you shot me--multiple times, actually--on the day we first met."

I narrowed my eyes.  "Two major differences there.  One, I thought you were going to hurt Relena, and I've never been one to promote domestic violence.  Two, we weren't fucking sleeping together at the time!"

He scowled in response.  "That was the first mistake I made, then."

I started.  "What?"

"Sleeping with you was a mistake.  I should have known better.  We never should have tried to be more than friends; it just wasn't worth it to have all those romantic ties mixed in with our professional lives."

I scowled.  "You are such a fucking bastard!"

"And you're a needy, selfish, petulant little slut!"

I growled.  "You take that back."

"You first," he replied smoothly, picking up his mug and taking a long sip from it.  I glared at him from across the table, and then leaned over the table to point my finger at his face.

"I swear, if you weren't such a--"

I was interrupted by a kiss.

I don't know how it happened, really.  One minute we were yelling and screaming at each other, more than ready to attack and go for the other person's throat if the situation presented itself, and the next minute we were locking lips.  I'm still not sure who kissed who--did I make the first move or did he?  It just sort of happened.  And the strangest thing of all was that I definitely sort of liked it. Talk about a major shift in the mood, there.

Heero's hands lightly circled my arms, just above the elbows, as he gently pulled me further towards him.  I was practically laying on top of the table now, but I didn't care.  I dove my fingers into his hair as I kissed him back.  It was euphoria.  It was sublime.  It was...

Over.

I shoved him away, backing off of the table.  "What the hell?" I cried.  "What the fuck did we just do?  What happened?"

Heero shrugged, running a finger over his bottom lip, sort of massaging it a little.  "We kissed."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious.  I think I could have figured that one out on my own."

"Then why did you bother to ask?"  Heero frowned.  "I think you meant to ask why that just happened.  And the answer to that is I have no idea."

"Fuck.  Where did you learn to kiss like that?"

"I was married at one point or another, in case you've forgotten," he answered, a touch perturbed.  "What's your excuse?"

"Step-by-step instructional videos," I told him, passing it off as a joke.  The real answer was that I'd had more than a few people to practice on over the years, but he didn't need to know that.

He sighed.  "That shouldn't have happened."

"No, it shouldn't have," I agreed.  We caught each other's eye and flushed, quickly looking away from one another.  I picked up my mug again.

"The coffee got cold," I observed brilliantly.  "I'm... uh... going to the kitchen.  To heat it up."  I went towards the kitchen, but he grabbed my arm as I passed, making me drop the mug.  It shattered on the floor, which was a shame, and the sludgy brown liquid spilled and started soaking into the carpet.  That was going to stain, but I really don't think he cared.  Then he yanked me down to his level and kissed me hard on the mouth, biting my lips and attacking me.  I wanted to run away or push him or something, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  And once his tongue found a way to slip into my mouth, I was hooked.  All thoughts of escaping vanished, disappearing as though they'd never been.

"Shit," I groaned against his mouth once I'd been given the chance to catch my breath.

Heero snorted, obviously amused, and rested his forehead gently against mine.  "Is that a good shit or a bad shit?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly.  "Do it again and let's find out."

He seemed to be satisfied with that answer and proceeded to attack my mouth again, releasing my arm and sliding a hand underneath my shirt.  I took refuge in his lap, sitting comfortably as he played with the nubs of my nipples and carefully explored my mouth.  My hands traveled down to the waistband of his pants, tugged at his belt, and eventually learned how to undo the buckle.  Once I'd managed to invade the inner regions of his pants, he pulled away, releasing my mouth.

"To the bed?" he asked hoarsely.

"Couch is closer."

He shook his head.  "I've lost more things in those couch cushions than I care to count."

I decided not to bother asking him about that one.  I got out of his lap and led him to the bedroom, avoiding the spilt coffee on the floor.  We were shedding our clothes as we went, dropping shirts and stuff all over the floor.  He followed without protest and shut the door behind us.

And this is where I'm going to pause this story and fast-forward for a bit.  Sorry, but I'm not one to fuck and tell, and it seemed like you were enjoying this story just a little too much.  Seriously, you need to get out a little more.

Anyway, a good bit of time passed.  I was laying next to Heero in his bed, propped up on one elbow and twirling my fingers in his hair for really no reason at all.  His hair was a little bit oily and stiff because of the hair gel he had been using, but I didn't mind too much.  It could have been worse, after all.  He was just looking up at the ceiling with a small smirk on his face, and I decided this was the perfect time to get some answers to those questions that had been roaming around in my mind for a long while.

"Hey, what's the deal with you and Stacey, exactly?"

Heero's smirk turned into a frown and he tilted his head back slightly to look me in the face.  "What do you mean?"

"Well, how did you get together in the first place?  What happened between you?  Why did you two separate?"  I tugged on a lock of his hair, not asking the one question I really wanted answered.  "I want details, buddy, and long stories, and you're going to be the one delivering the goods, kapeesh?"

He sat up and looked at me, his blue eyes wide.  "I don't like to talk about her, you know."

"That's nice.  Talk about her anyway."

"Hm."  It wasn't so much of a grunt as it was a groan, his way of giving in without putting up much of a fight.  I smiled, moving closer to him.  It was a start; I considered anything that wasn't a curse or an expletive to be a good thing at that point in time.

"Please, Heero?"

Heero sighed.  "Stacey and I met a little under six years ago, right after you were put up in the hospital and I left.  She was beautiful and I was confused and stupid."

"And you had sex.  Okey dokey.  So where did you meet her?"

"A bar."

That made me pause.  "You were in a bar?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes.  Do you want to hear about this or not?" he asked.  I gestured for him to go on and, after a minute, he did.  "We got married about two months later and Michael was born about six months after that."

I did some quick math.  "But--"

"He was a month premature.  And yes, she was already pregnant when I married her."

"Still, are you sure that Mike's really your kid, then?  I mean, do you have any idea where Stacey had been before you came around?"

Heero snorted.  "I'm not even sure where she went after I came around, to tell the truth.  No, I'm not entirely positive that Michael is my blood son, but does that really matter very much?"

It didn't and I told him so.  Besides, Heero's math had never been very good in any case and there was a distinct possibility that he was messing it up enough as it was.  I waited for him to continue with the story.

"Not to long before Michael was born, I started to realize that there was something seriously wrong with Stacey, but she refused to go see a doctor.  After Michael was born, things only got worse.  She suffered from hallucinations and would talk to people who weren't there.  And then there were the delusions of grandeur...  She was convinced that she had given birth to some sort messenger from the heavens or--"

"The next Messiah?" I inquired.

"That was it.  And she eventually convinced herself that I was trying to hurt Michael and started to become violent.  I put up with it for as long as I could, but three years of it was just too much.  I forced her to see a psychiatrist, he registered her for the colony's best mental institution, and I filed for a divorce.  Things have improved since then, I suppose.  Stacey visits us once or twice a year and Michael and I live happily by ourselves for the rest of the time."

"Well, I guess that explains that," I said.  "Now tell me why you didn't bother to contact any of us and tell us where you were after you left!"

Heero frowned at me.  "Do we really need to get into that again?"

"Well, let me think.  Yes."  I sat up and started stretching.  "You don't just fuck someone and then leave them behind without saying anything, even if you did just leave them in a strange place to die, all alone and miserable."

"Oh, please."  Heero rolled his eyes.  "Before we start that up again, do me a favor and explain something to me.  When I left, you were one of the heaviest drinkers I'd ever met.  What finally convinced you to quit?"

I ran my fingers through my hair.  "Long story, I guess.  After I quit the Preventers I started roaming, going from colony to colony and suddenly came to realize that maybe the reason I couldn't get a steady job was that I kept on coming to work with either a hangover or a hip flask.  Besides, Wufei was nagging me about giving up the bottle and I was getting sick of it.  So I shacked up with Wufei for a little while, joined a twelve-step program, and made sure Wu-bear kept me on track.  Not that it helped matters much--you know what my job record has been like."

"Right.  About that, why did you take a job with the Michino--"

I held up a hand.  "Don't go there.  I mean that."

"All right, I suppose that's fair."  Heero stretched out his arms.  "So you've quit drinking and can't keep a steady job.  What else has changed?"

"Nothing with me.  Wufei got married, though, and his wife supposedly went into labor last night.  Poor guy is probably going through hell."

Heero nodded.  "I know how that is.  If you happen to see any of my clothes over there, do me a favor and throw them over to me, will you?"

"I think I see your pants," I responded, leaning over and picking them up.  "Here you go."

"Thank you."  Heero took them from me.  "Do you think the police have found Michael yet?"

"You really know how to spoil the mood, don't you, Heero?  Your kissing skills may have improved--not to mention your bedroom etiquette--but you really have to work on the whole tact and subtlety thing, okay?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but it's a little bit difficult to forget the fact that my son is lost somewhere on this godforsaken colony!  Forgive me if I seem a little bit preoccupied!"

I smiled, turning back towards him and circling my arms around his neck.  "That's weird, Heero, because, you know, you didn't really seem all that preoccupied while we were doing bedroom aerobics, if you know what I mean.  And I'm willing to bet I could take your mind off of things for a little while longer."

He pushed me away, none too gently.  "No.  I'm not entirely sure we should have gone ahead and done that in the first place, Duo.  I'm glad we're speaking again, but maybe this was going a little bit too far.  Again."

I scowled at him.  "Is that so?  Funny, that.  You seem to say that a lot about a lot of people--if I didn't know any better, I would swear that you were asexual or something."

Heero frowned.  "I'm going to choose to ignore that.  But I'm serious, Duo.  Do you think the police have found him?"

"I don't know.  But you know, I think we'd hear them coming up the stairs or something on the way to my apartment, don't you?"

"Not if they took the elevator up."

I shook me head.  "Nah, they shut the elevator off this morning, didn't you know?  Some stupid old lady did something to the fuses and wires or something yesterday, so the building shut it down this morning for some repairs."

"I forgot about that; there was an out of order sign on it when I got back.  When is it supposed to start working again?" Heero asked.

I shrugged.  "I don't know.  Whenever they get it fixed, I guess.  Why do you ask?"

"Because I hate using the stairs."

I laughed.  "You are such a dork.  Maybe that stair thing runs in your family or something; Mike's not all that fond of--" I stopped.  "Oh my god."

"Excuse me?" he asked, looking over at me.  "What's wrong?"

"I think I may know where Mike is," I said.  "Come on, get dressed.  I think I may need your super soldier abilities in a minute or two."  With that, I rushed out the bedroom door and started rooting through the closet where Mike kept all his toys.  Heero followed me out, replacing his clothes as he went.

"Duo, what are you--"

"I think he's in the elevator."

Heero leaned over my shoulder to see what I was doing.  "What makes you say that?"

I looked over at him pointedly.  "They shut the elevator off early this morning, right?  Maybe it was around the time Mike ran away!  It would explain why no one has heard hide nor hair of him on this colony.  What if he's trapped in that elevator?"

Heero frowned.  "Wouldn't they check the elevator before the shut off the power?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it.  In this shabby place?  Please.  They didn't even know about Mike until all of this mess started, if that tells you anything at all.  They just don't bother in a place like this."

"I suppose," Heero agreed.  "But the chances of him being in the elevator would be almost a hundred to--"

"Heero, forget about all the numbers for a minute, okay?  It was sort of kinky in the bedroom, but now it's just dumb.  Christ, what are you, an accountant?"

"Hardly."  He frowned.  "Anyway, let's just pretend, for one minute, that he is in the elevator.  How are you going to determine what floor the elevator is on?"

I smiled, pulling something out of all the stuff I'd managed to throw on the floor.  "Easy," I replied, holding up a walkie-talkie.  "I'll use this.  It should work, right?"

"I suppose it will, provided he has the other one with him."

"Good.  Come with me."  I started to lead him out, but Heero stopped me.

"Duo..."

"What, don't you want to see if we can find your son or not?"

"Yes, but don't you think you should get dressed first?" he asked me.

I looked down at myself and grinned.  "Nah.  None of the old ladies who live here are going to care at all if I start walking around in the nude."

"Put on your clothes," he insisted, pushing me back towards the bedroom.  "And then we'll go check and see if he's in the elevator."

I had the feeling he was humoring me, but that was all right.  After I got dressed, Heero and I went out into the hallway towards the elevator shaft, where I flicked the walkie-talkie on.  "Hi-ho, hi-ho!  Duo Maxwell calling for one Michael Yuy.  Do you copy?"

There was nothing but static.

Heero sighed.  "See, he's not in there.  It was a ridiculous idea in the first place."

"Hey, ease off!  We may just be too far away.  Let's go down a floor or two and then try it again."

He agreed, albeit reluctantly, and so we went down the stairs to the next floor, and then the one after that, although with no luck.  So we finally went down to the first floor.

"Mike, you there?"

Static, again.

Heero frowned.  "I told you this was a--"

"Dad?"  Both of us stared at the walkie-talkie again, wide-eyed.  I held it up to my mouth again.

"Mike?"

"Hi, Duo!"

Heero tapped my shoulder.  "Duo, that's not the walkie-talkie," he told me.  The two of us turned around to see Mike standing between two police officers with a big grin on his face.

"Are you two friends again?" he asked.

Heero didn't answer the boy, but he did get on his knees and envelop him in a huge bear hug.  Then he pulled away, scowling.  "Don't you ever do that again!" he reprimanded sternly.  "What if someone had taken you away or if you'd gotten hurt?  What if I hadn't come back?  What would have happened if no one had found you?"

"Sorry," Mike said quietly, staring at his feet.  "I just wanted you and Duo to be friends again, that's all."

I frowned.  "Mike, running away is definitely not the best way to go and make us be nice to each other.  You're smart enough to know that.  And you scared the hel--heck out of me!  Do you know how freaked out I was when I woke up and saw that you weren't anywhere around?"

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"You had better be," Heero told him, "and you had better be ready to for a severe punishment."  He seemed to notice the officers standing in the doorway then and coughed, standing up with Mike still in his arms.  I could tell that he was more relieved than he was angry, no matter what he was saying.  "Thank you two for bringing him back."

"No problem," the dark-haired officer replied.  He turned to me.  "Mister Maxwell, I'm Officer Laytner; we talked on the phone.  And this is my partner, Officer Maclean.  We found Michael here wandering around a café a few blocks away."

"Thanks so much, you guys."

"No problem," Officer Maclean responded with a kind smile.  "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mister Maxwell."  They left then, leaving the three of us to our own devices.  We went towards the stairs and headed back up to Heero's apartment, where Heero sent Mike to his room, just to sit there, while he thought of something to do, and I just sort of hung out for a little while.

Night fell after a while and Mike decided he wanted to go to bed, but that Heero had to read him a story first.  So Heero went into the kid's bedroom, leaving me out there by myself, which was okay.  After a little while, I got bored and I peered in through Mike's bedroom door.  Mike was leaning against Heero, fast asleep.  Heero had one arm wrapped around the boy and the other holding a book in his lap, reading it softly aloud, seemingly oblivious to Mike's currently unconscious condition.  He turned a page.

"And on this page you see a little girl giggling at a hippopotamus," he read.  "I wonder why."  It was strange, really, that he put more emotion into reading those sentences aloud than he put into regular conversation.  It was still obvious that he was reading straight from the text, but there was a lot more of something in that recitation than there was in Heero's everyday life.  A lot more of Heero, maybe.

I cleared my throat quietly but Heero didn't even look up at me.  He flipped to the last page.  "The magic medicine worked," he said softly as he stood up, laying Mike on the bed.  The book was set on a dresser and Heero bent to kiss Mike's forehead.  I decided to let myself out and head back up to my own apartment.

Don't get me wrong!  All the feelings and stuff were really sweet, really, but they made me feel a little uncomfortable, especially watching Heero tuck his son into bed.  Maybe it was only then that all of this struck home--Heero was a father, Wufei was a husband, and I was probably the only one of the old Gundam pilots who still didn't have anyone in the world to care about them.  They had all gotten on with their lives and forgotten about the war while I had stewed in my apartment and tried to avoid society in general.  It's things like that which really make you wonder.  If I wanted to get all symbolic over it I could say that my life had somehow managed to trap me between a banister--for a while I'd had a purpose but then it had all stopped and I'd kind of imprisoned myself somewhere, like a banister.

The only good thing about that comparison that I could see was that people did eventually find a way to get out of the banister.  Usually.

Why couldn't I be that lucky?

Anyway, my apartment, when I went inside it, felt really empty.  I guess I had gotten used to staying with other people, especially kids, and not my one-person home was starting to seem a little lonely.  I was tempted to drag my old television out of the bathroom, just for the sake of the noise, but I didn't.  I called Wufei's cell phone instead, sighing to myself.

"Chang Wufei," he answered with a grunt.

"Glad you turned your phone back on," I said with a smile.  "Long day?"

"Maxwell?"  I heard a bit of shuffling in the background but I couldn't see it because he was on his cell phone, which meant there was no picture on his end.  "Did you find Mike?  How are things going back on the colony?"

"I should be asking you that last one, not the other way around.  How is Kyla doing?  Do you have a kid there yet?"

"Not yet.  Soon, we hope.  I'm on my dinner break, sort of.  Kyla's busy with her labor pains and I'm trying to eat something with a broken hand."

"She broke your hand?"

"She may as well have," Wufei replied with a grunt.  "Those injuries I suffered during the wars were nothing compared to this.  Why are you calling?"

"Because it's lonely around here," I told him.

"Lonely?  What, you didn't find Mike?"

"No, Mike's back.  But it's sort of late at night and he's at home, safe in bed."

Wufei, upon hearing that, paused.  "And where are you?"

"My own apartment.  I finally gave in and called Heero, so he's back now.  He has every intention of punishing Mike for running away like that and that's that.  I didn't feel like hanging around the place anymore.  It would have been way too awkward."

"Why's that?  What happened, Duo?"

"Oh, you know.  The usual.  We argued, had sex, and then went our separate ways."

"I see.  And so you--Wait.  You and Heero had sex?"

"Yup."

"Well."  Wufei paused for a moment.  "Was it good?"

"Wu-bear..."

"All right, all right.  I know better than to pry into your sex life.  So obviously you two have worked out a few of your issues and have kissed and made up, correct?"

"Not exactly.  We sort of just skipped over the whole working out our differences part and went straight to the whole making out bit, to tell you the truth.  I don't think I can stay here anymore, Wu.  I'm not quite as pissed at Heero as I used to be, but I really don't think I'll be able to face him anymore."

"Why not?"

I sighed.  "Because I've done a lot of thinking and I realized that I've been doing things wrong.  And the landlord is kicking me out of my apartment soon anyway, so I might as well just leave.  I'm going to buy a shuttle ticket and get out of here, once and for all.  It's time to move on with life, you know?"

"I understand.  If you need a place to stay, you are certainly welcome to stay with me, Kyla, and the new baby, if it ever gets around to popping out.  You'll be on diaper duty, but...  Ah.  Speaking of which, I think Kyla is summoning me back so she can break my other hand."

"Thanks, Wu.  I'll keep that in mind.  I hope Kyla gets over this quickly.  Have fun."

"Right, fun.  I'll talk to you sometime soon, right?"

"Of course.  Bye, Wu."

"Goodbye."

He hung up then so he could get back to his wife, leaving me to figure out what I was going to do next.  I knew I had to get out of that apartment complex, if not get out of the colony all together, but I didn't know where or how I was going to do it.  I had to get away from Heero.  I had to get away from this colony.  Everything just reminded me of my past, which was exactly what I had decided I needed to get away from in order to free myself from my own metaphorical banister.

--to be continued--