Finally, they had reached the middle of nowhere. After blowing up a base they were nearly caught by the enemy but Heero had grabbed Duo's hand and had ran out into the blizzard with him. The heavy snowfall was a big advantage but they weren't invisible. Far from it. To Heero's left he had seen a small car and immediately turned, still pulling Duo along, and ran for it.

Once they got up to the car Heero ordered Duo to get in on the passenger's side as he got in on the driver side. Within mere moments it was hot-wired and they peeled out of there as fast as possible.

Now they were driving at lightning fast speeds down a deserted country road in the middle of the blizzard. Heero was wearing his normal green tank top with blue jeans and a jacket to match. Duo however, was wearing his normal attire and was kicking himself for it too.

After they had been driving for about 20 minutes Heero still hadn't slowed down. Duo looked over at him. "Hey…Heero...you can-" but Duo didn't get to finish that thought because the car swerved hitting a patch of ice. It spun around twice and then dove off the road and blasted into a tree. The boys both got heaved forward a little bit, Heero more so because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. Duo's however was in place and locked just like it was supposed to. But that didn't stop an ear piercing scream to come forth. Heero sat up and looked over at Duo, his forehead bleeding heavily. "What? Are you ok?" Duo let out some more cries then shook his head 'no'.

Heero looked down at Duo's legs and realized that the dashboard had crushed them. His heart flew up into his throat and he gasped looking back up at Duo. He had his eyes shut tight and was crying. "Heero…p-please…help me!" Duo cried as hard as he could and looked over at his long time secret love. The perfect soldier broke away from his shock and looked up at Duo.

"There's not much I can do here Duo. I'll go and walk to the nearest little town and get you some help…I'll-"
"NO! Heero! DON'T LEAVE!!" Duo reduced his voice to a whisper. "I don't wanna be alone…please…Im scared…" The braided boy looked up at Heero, who had begun to slide out of the car, his lips turning blue and his teeth chattering. He shivered hard and reached a hand out for Heero.

The cobalt eyed boy looked down at Duo's cold quivering hand and slowly took it into his own. Duo shivered again and Heero watched him with sadness in his emotionless eyes. He began to look around the messy backseat for a blanket or anything warm that he could wrap duo up in.

A small blanket was behind Duo's seat on the floor. Heero picked it up and unfolded it. He then draped it over Duo's body and took his hand once again.

A half hour later Duo had gotten very quiet save for the occasional post cry hiccup. "Are you in a lot of pain Duo?"
"Duo slowly turned his head and looked at the perfect soldier with big doe eyes and nodded. "Y-y-yeah…" Duo whispered. Heero noticed that his lavender eyes were slowly closing. Duo was too cold and too tired to stay conscious much longer. Then finally his eyes slid closed and his body went limp.

Heero realized that now may be his only chance and he got out of the car and began to run north, praying that there would be a gas station or SOMEPLACE where he could use a phone.

Heero ran a good 2 ½ miles before he came up to a small motel. Without a second thought he went in and asked immediately to use the phone. Of course since it was obvious there was an emergency of some sort, he was allowed.

After Heero dialed 911 and gave them the coordinates and make of the car Duo was in, he hung up the phone and sat back in the lobby to rest.

Duo slowly awoke to sirens in the near distance. He tried to sit up but gasped and let out a short cry as he learned the hard way that it was impossible. That's when he looked to his left. "Heero?" no response. "H-Heero??………HEERO!"

By then the sirens were directly behind Duo and then they stopped. Before the braided boy could adjust to anything there were paramedics all around him. Duo was officially terrified. "HEERO!! HEERO!"

The passengers side door opened and the EMT's began shining lights in Duo's eyes, asking him questions and checking him all over. All Duo wanted was for Heero to be by his side holding his hand, but he was nowhere to be found.

So Duo began to cry again. "H-Heero…where is he?? Where's Heero! HEERO!" Duo would've continued making a fuss But one of the EMTs began to speak to him. She asked him his name. Duo looked at her and said "Duo…Maxwell."
"Ok Duo… We have to get you out of this car and take you to the hospital ok. If you cooperate with us it shouldn't hurt too much ok?"
"Yeah…" Duo said trembling from the cold…and nerves. One of the paramedics had taken his blanket off of him.

When they were ready, they counted to three and lifted Duo from the car's seat to the gourny. Duo's eyes widened and he let out an ear piercing scream. He began to cry to the point where he could barely breathe.

Once he was in the ambulance they wrapped him in a couple blankets and continued to ask him questions. But Duo's eyes showed that he was lost to the world. He just stared up at the ceiling and cried. He was scared and wanted Heero with him.

Finally the medics gave up and let him rest on the way to the hospital. When they arrived Duo was examined and had x-rays taken of his whole body. The doctors then concluded that both his legs were broken in at least 3 places each. After that he was taken directly to surgery.

That night after Duo was finally done in surgery he was admitted to a room to rest… Complete with 5 pins in his right leg, and 8 in his left leg.

A week and 2 days after Duo was admitted to the hospital, he was still in serious pain and had a morphine drip on a stem above his bed on the top right corner. All he had to do was press the button if he was in pain and every ten minutes the drip would start again. Duo, who had ALWAYS been sensitive to pain medication was knocked out cold by the relief causing medication. NOTHING could wake him up short of taking his morphine away. But that wasn't a very smart thing to do.

The night of Duo's 9th day at the hospital Heero showed up to visit him and tell him that the doctors called him and said he was healed enough to go home the next day. It was well past 10:00 when Heero showed up and went to the front desk. "Which room is Duo Maxwell in?" he asked without even saying hello. The nurse at the desk, looked up at Heero and eyed him above her glasses. "He's in room 4512, but visiting hours are over dear."

Heero glared at her and walked off down the hall. The nurse stood up at her desk. "Sir! You can't come back here this late. Sir!" Heero ignored her and kept walking down the hall. He found Duo's room and quietly opened the door and slipped in, when he turned on the light he looked up at Duo and the sight of him took Heero's breath away. The braided boy was lying back on his bed that was poised in a sitting up position. It was obvious he was out cold. But lying there…he looked so young….so frail… 'Is this really the same braided baka I've always known?' Heero's heart skipped a beat and he forced his feet to move forward.

Quietly he came up on Duo's left side and sat next to him on the bed that made Duo look so tiny. Heero leaned back next to his friend and watched him sleep. Then before he even realized what he was doing, he had reached out and ran his fingers over Duo's cheek, then down the bridge of his nose then his lips. Then Heero leaned in and kissed Duo on the lips lightly.

Just then that nurse from the desk appeared in the doorway with a hospital security officer. "There he is officer! I told him that visiting hours were over but he didn't listen to me and kept walking." The officer took one look at Heero and said: "Come on boy…you can see your friend in the morning. Don't cause me any trouble and you wont BE in any."

Heero looked away from the security officer and back down at Duo. After giving him one more light kiss he whispered to him "Im sorry I caused you so much pain." He then got up squeezed Duo's hand and left the room without a fight.

The next morning, once Duo had woken, the doctor came in as the boy was eating his breakfast, and told him he was going home. Duo looked up at him and nodded. He was happy to be going home but the doctor noticed that he looked sad more than anything. Dismissing it as fatigue, the doctor left.

At 3:40 there was a knock on Duo's door. It wasn't a doctor because usually they just knock and come in anyway. "Come in…" Duo said. When the door opened Heero stepped into the room complete with the five stitches he received on his forehead.

"Hi Duo." For some reason, Duo blushed and looked away, a frown on his beautiful face. "Hi…." He said softly. Heero looked at him, with a slightly puzzled look on his face before he shook himself out of it and asked "Are you ready to go home?"

Duo nodded and slowly looked over at Heero. A nurse came in with a wheelchair and Heero gently lifted Duo into it and then pushed him outside where Quatre's "mom mobile" was parked. (a mom mobile is a van or something similar…like an SUV). Trowa opened the sliding door and helped Heero get Duo into the back.

When the four gundam pilots got home, Wufei greeted them and then Heero carried Duo upstairs. They were going to stay with Quatre and everyone else at the safe house for the rest of the week, then Heero was going back to he and Duo's apartment with him.

The week with the other g-boys was an uneventful one, Duo was in a lot of pain without his morphine, and tried to sleep as much as possible. It didn't always work though. When he WASN'T asleep, he was either moaning and complaining or TRYING to sleep. Not a lot of variance in hiss schedule.

Everyone else's schedule consisted of trying to make Duo comfortable…In other words, stop his complaining.

So Sunday evening everyone else was finally glad they could rest when Heero announced He was taking Duo back to the apartment they shared.

Duo slept the whole ride home but he awoke when Heero tried to carry him inside without waking him. He had accidentally bumped Duo's leg with his hand and apparently it was a sensitive area still. Duo had gasped and tightened his hand on Heero's shoulder.

Once Duo was safely planted on the Den's fold out couch bed, Heero went into the kitchen and began making Duo's favorite dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs.

While the sauce was cooking Heero went back to the den to ask Duo what he wanted to drink, but before he even got up to the door he heard sniffling and realized that Duo was crying. He was about to turn and get duo something to dull the pain but Duo said something out loud to himself. "Im sorry….I'm sorry Hee-chan…"

Heero who was standing hidden outside the door heard Duo and was a bit confused by it. 'If he said he was sorry…then he wasn't crying about the pain, but what did Duo mean??' Heero was about to go in and ask Duo what he was sorry about, but the phone rang. He had no choice but to go and answer it.

When Heero was off the phone he had to go check the spaghetti sauce. By the time he got back to Duo, the boy had calmed down and was watching TV, still with a solemn expression on his face of course. Heero decided to go for the direct approach.

"Duo?"
"Hmm?" said Duo not even looking up from the TV. Heero walked and stood in front of it. "Duo…"
"What Hee-chan?"
"I want to ask you something."
"Oh okaaaay." Duo looked at Heero strangely. "First I have to tell you that I heard you crying earlier and I heard you say you were sorry about something….What did you mean." Duo looked away with a fierce blush across his nose and cheekbones. "Duo?"
"I-I don't wanna talk about it…" The braided boy was beginning to cry again. "Duo this is obviously upsetting you…What's wrong? Please…tell me…" Duo sighed and looked at Heero. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't be stronger for you throughout all this…"
"Duo, you don't have to try to be stronger for me…I-"
"No Heero….I do…." Duo said gazing into his eyes. "Why?" Heero whispered, entranced by Duo's stare. "Cuz I love you Heero….that's why."

Heero smiled and sat next to Duo before wrapping his arms around him. "I love you too Duo…Forever." Heero said planting a gentle kiss on Duo's lips.