Hilde gasped with laughter as she opened the door to the apartment, grinning gleefully.

"Yet again, Duo Maxwell, I beat you again!" Duo came puffing, while holding his side in pain once again.

"That wasn't fair! How was I supposed to know that I was going to get a cramp right after I ate all that ice cream?" he whined. Hilde laughed.

"I ate more ice cream than you and I still won! I'm beginning to think you're losing your touch." Duo raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Oh is that so?"

"Yes, I can beat you at anything today!" Hilde said dreamily.

"Hmm, sure you could. Hey, I say we sit and play a game of chess, it's been a while since we did that." Hilde wanted to play, Duo could tell, but she refused.

"Sorry, I have to get some shut eye if I'm going to get up later tonight for work." Duo frowned yet again and yet again, Hilde had the urge to slap herself in the head.

"Duo, you even think about mentioning…"

"Hilde, you're going to quit that job!"

"Here we go again... it's income isn't it? We need to keep up with the rent!"

"Ok ok, how does this sound? I can talk to Heero and see if it's all right if I can settle down here for a while and get a job when I'm not on a mission, how does that sound?" Hilde was in shock. Duo was offering to get a job? It was amazing!

"R…really? Do you really mean it?" Duo grinned at her shock and yet felt fairly offended at the same time.

"Yeah, sure, a little work never killed anyone." He glanced at Hilde's skinny figure and thought twice about that one.

"But until then, I can't quit my night job."

"Hilde…" Duo said in warning, but Hilde gave him an equally warning glare.

"Duo, I really don't think that you have that kind of control over what I do. I can have the job I want and you have no right to any say in it." Duo's eyes narrowed.

"Exactly what is that supposed to mean?" he asked dangerously. Hilde's eyes widened. He had taken it completely the wrong way.

"Duo… I didn't mean for it to sound like you don't mean that you're not important, but I was just saying that…"

"So I have to become more important in order to give you suggestions and get you to do the right thing? I have to become more and better in your eyes?" Hilde saw the hurt under all the anger that was mounting. She knew that Duo's fuse was slow to light, but once it was lit, it took a long time for him to calm back down, especially since they had been under so much pressure over the last day or two.

"Duo, I didn't mean…"

"That's just it, you didn't mean!"

"Don't do this now that we finally managed to get back here!" she cried in frustration. That stopped Duo in his tracks.

"Back here? You mean back to where we were? Back to the wonderful friendship we had?" Hilde felt hurt and she knew why.

"Why are you speaking of our friendship as if it were in past tense?" He didn't have the patience to be considerate. He didn't want to be kind and weak.

"I don't know if it is Hilde. You tell me. Everything since yesterday has been flipping all over the place. I don't know where I'm standing anymore! It doesn't feel right to be friends anymore!" That was it for her. Hilde couldn't stand his childish behavior anymore.

"Then what do you think it is? Do you want me to leave you? Is that it? If that's what you want, then fine. I'll walk and you won't see me ever again." Duo felt the panic slightly as she began to turn red with anger and hurt, but then it became a shear terror when she threatened to leave him. He couldn't even stand the thought. Before he knew what was happening, he grabbed her and held her close in a steel embrace. He clutched her head and pulled it to his shoulder, as if he was afraid to let her go. Hilde let out a squeak of surprise as he hauled her up to him.

"Duo?" she asked unsurely.

"That was probably the most cruel thing you could ever say to me," he whispered. "Hilde the reason why I am acting like this is because I care about what will happen to you. I can also see that everything you're doing is because of me. I'm not stupid Hilde. I see you have gotten these jobs to keep the rent and not complaining to me because you only want me to be happy. But Hilde, I can't be happy unless I know that both of us are here together and having everything as they've always been. Do you see what I'm trying to say? I just want you to be here when I come back from my missions. I want to make sure that you will be safe and I won't have to worry about you following me into outer space. I know it's hard for you to just sit here while I'm out there fighting, but I would rather die knowing that you were here alive and safe." Hilde felt the tears and resented them. She thought of pulling away, but his warmth was so welcoming it was hard to resist. She hid her tears by turning her face into Duo's shoulder. She breathed in his sent. He had changed over the last year. It was so surprising to see what Duo was becoming, but she loved every one of the changes that took him. She loved everything about him. With that realization, she also knew that if Duo ever found out, they could never turn back and everything would be ruined. But what about that other night when he had kissed her so passionately. She had finally had a part of her dream come true. She had never been happier than in that very moment.

"Duo, what is happening?" she asked as she steadied her disposition. Her face was still buried in his shoulder.

"Babe, if I knew, you would be the first to know, but I'm just as confused as you are," Duo whispered hoarsely in an un-Duo like voice.

"Duo, my job… I'm not a stripper. I work at the strip joint, but… I was a waitress. The manager said that I didn't have the right stuff for that anyway. I settled for being a waitress," Hilde finally admitted. "If I had known you were so against it, I would have looked somewhere else, but it's my life, Duo." He turned his head and nuzzled her neck affectionately.

"It may be your life, but no matter what you say, I'll always have a say in it." Hilde smiled wryly.

"Really? Now how does that work?"

"Simple. I'll show you." Duo smiled as he leaned back to get a better look at her. Slowly, cautiously, he came forward and covered her lips. It was a fluid motion and as smooth as water. Hilde was not surprised at the grace, only shocked by the feeling. That was all she could do. Feel. Duo's arms tightened protectively around her waist and made sure there wasn't a bit of air between them. Hilde's hands came up and feather touched his braid and trailed her fingers down shoulders and arms. Duo almost felt his eyes roll up into his head when he felt her kiss him back. It was Hilde who showed more enthusiasm and passion at first and it was like a storm was swallowing the both of them very quickly. The excitement rose as Duo turned them so that he held Hilde up against a wall, not breaking the kiss. It was a glorious feeling for him. Heaven was his to control. With a touch of a finger and shifting his lips in a such a way, Hilde was his to take and taste. With that knowledge, he respected the power of it by lightning up a bit, but Hilde would have none of it. She pulled back and stared into his eyes fiercely.

"I swear if you stop now, I'll never forgive you Duo Maxwell." Duo smiled a little.

"Now we can't have that, now can we?"

He had her lips once again and in moments, they were tripping their way to one of their rooms. Hilde barely noticed whose room it was until they were falling onto the bed. It was hers. Her eyes roamed over Duo's face as he leaned over her, breathing in his sent, his very essence.

"I'm going to give you five seconds to say anything before this goes too far," groaned Duo. Hilde smiled.

"Then you've just wasted a good five seconds." Duo grinned and lowered his head down to her neck and began to proceed with what they had wanted for a long time.