Author's note: I've come to the conclusion that no one reads the author's note. Still, I'll see if I can make myself understood again. This fic is a RE-POST – it was written and completed last year, so don't worry about me not finishing it. As for writing fast, that's the last thing I'm any good at! -Swordy

A Night to Remember – What Happened Next.

Chapter 2

Inside the apartment, Duo heard an unidentifiable thud as something hit the ground. "Heero?" he said again, more forcefully this time. "Are you still there?"

When he received no response, his sharp and ever-reliable instinct told him something was wrong. For a split second, doubt crept in as he wondered whether Heero had not answered deliberately, knowing that he would probably come down to investigate out of curiosity. But then, he knew Heero was not one to play games.

"Shit," he muttered, glancing around for the pair of jeans he had just discarded. Half dressed, he let himself out of his flat and bounded down the many flights of stairs to the front door. Flicking a light on in the entry way, Duo made his way to the door and peered through the spy hole.

"Heero?" he said loudly, frowning when he received no response. Had the other man run away? It certainly wasn't like Heero to lose his nerve if he'd taken the trouble to track him down and come all this way with something to say.

Cautiously, Duo unlocked the door and started to ease it open. Almost immediately he felt something pushing against it and he had to brace himself to stop the large wooden door from flying back and knocking him over. Once there was a large enough gap for him to look out he did so, scanning the view at eye level before his attention was drawn to the object below him, pushing against the door. The lamp from the hallway gave him enough light to see and with a gasp, he threw open the door and dropped to his knees.

"Heero!" he cried, seeing the handsome man and the blood. Too much blood… "What happened to you?"

His voice seemed to spark something in the fallen man and his eyes cracked open just slightly to see Duo gazing down at him. "I've been stabbed," he said, his voice barely audible. "I'll be okay."

"Shit," Duo growled, pulling off his shirt and using it to press down on Heero's stomach where most of the blood seemed to be coming from. His face was a rainbow of cuts and bruises and Duo didn't doubt that the rest of his body probably looked the same.

"We need to get you to a hospital, Heero."

As if he'd been electrocuted, Heero's hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Duo's arm. "No hospital," he rasped.

Duo shot him a cold stare. "Don't be an idiot, Yuy. You need hospital treatment." His tone and expression then softened as he put himself in Heero's shoes and realised that he would probably say something similar. "We're not in the war now, Heero."

Heero appeared to have lapsed into unconsciousness as any further arguments were not forthcoming, prompting Duo to reach into his pocket for his cell phone and make the nine nine nine call. He relayed the details quickly and then debated whether he should risk moving Heero, but decided against it. The night was warm and Duo wasn't sure he could carry Heero's well muscled body up seven flights of stairs to his flat. Instead, he concentrated on pressing his ruined shirt to the knife wound and supporting the other man's head whilst he waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Approximately ten minutes later he was greeted by the sight of blue flashing lights working their way up the street towards him. He contemplated standing and waving but the emergency workers had already seen the open door and knew where they were going. The first paramedic jumped out as his colleague parked the ambulance at the kerb, jogging up the steps to where Duo knelt, cradling Heero's limp body.

"Hi," he said, addressing Duo with an easy smile. "You made the call, right? What's his name and what happened here?"

"It's Heero and I don't know exactly," Duo replied, shuffling over so the paramedic had room to join him. "He rang my intercom but then must have collapsed while I was speaking to him. I came down and found him here."

"Has he been conscious at all since you found him?"

Duo nodded. "He told me he'd been stabbed before he passed out again. He hasn't regained consciousness since and his vitals are sluggish and dropping steadily."

The paramedic nodded, realising that the young man with incredibly long hair obviously had some life saving experience, although he'd never in a million years guessed that the slight, waif-like creature had once saved the Earth and colonies as a gundam pilot.

"Are you a relative?" he asked.

"Friend," Duo clarified. Ex-lover too

The second paramedic quickly appeared, bringing with him the stretcher that they loaded Heero onto with well practised haste. There was a lot of blood, both on the unconscious man and the floor where he had lain, and the two men knew that time was of the essence. Duo watched them work, his face a grim mask as he absentmindedly started to wipe the blood from his hands.

Once they were ready to leave, the first emergency worker turned to Duo, ready to tell him that he would have to make his own way to the hospital since he wasn't family. The violet-eyed man was already aware of this technicality - heaven knows it had happened every time they'd needed hospital treatment during the war, but he hadn't accepted it then and he wasn't about to accept it now.

"I have to come with you," he said firmly, no pleading tone in his voice. It was a statement, plain and simple. "If Heero regains consciousness during the journey then you could be in danger."

The two paramedics exchanged puzzled glances and were about to argue before Duo's solemn expression stopped them.

"Trust me," he said quietly, gripping the rail of the stretcher, his knuckles tinged white. "Let's just say living through a war makes you suspicious of everyone, even when they're trying to help you."

The older man's eyes narrowed at the seemingly strange comment, suddenly feeling that the long-haired boy looked familiar to him. What also was clear was that the American was not going to take 'no' for an answer, and so he simply nodded his assent.

"Get in," he instructed as he and his colleague prepared to load the stretcher into the back of the emergency vehicle.

They had been in transit approximately ten minutes, their sirens blaring loudly, when Heero started to show signs of life. The muscles in his arms began to tense and relax as he clenched and unclenched his fists as he fought against the blackness that enveloped him. Duo knew what he was doing; he was firing himself up so when he opened his eyes he would be ready to attack, catching his assailants unawares. Immediately Duo was at his side, his hand resting gently on his upper chest.

"Heero, off guard," he said firmly as the paramedic next to him looked on curiously. Instantly, Heero's body relaxed; the combination of those words and the voice that uttered them, allowing him to rest once more. Seeing there was more to the two young men in his ambulance than he first realised, the paramedic sat back and looked squarely at Duo.

"You were a gundam pilot, weren't you?" he said suddenly realising at last why the face was so familiar. "02, isn't it?"

There had been brief accounts of the five young men who had almost single-handedly brought peace to Earth and the colonies, accompanied by several snatched photographs. Relena had used her power to silence the media after that, but those with long memories would be unable to forget the five fresh-faced boys who had sacrificed everything for the conflict.

"Yes," Duo said flatly after a pause, although there was a slight tone of warning in his voice before he nodded to Heero's prone form. "And this is 01."

The paramedic nodded in comprehension, finally realising why he'd thought there was something that marked the young American out from the moment he'd met him. They travelled the rest of the way in silence until they reached King's College Hospital, where the now silent vehicle came to sudden halt in the ambulance bay. The back doors flew open and Duo was greeted by the sight of several nurses and a doctor waiting to take charge.

"Stab wound to the stomach. Time of assault not known, although he was found approximately twenty minutes ago. Victim's name is Heero Yuy," the emergency worker said as he helped the nurses remove the stretcher. "He's likely to need a transfusion as he's lost a lot of blood at the scene and en-route."

"Okay," the doctor said, surveying his patient before he turned to one of the nurses. "Get onto his records, we need to find his blood type…"

"A," Duo said, standing from his seat inside the ambulance and jumping out, his long chestnut braid trailing in his wake. "His blood type's A."

The doctor stared at the blood-stained young man with a look of disbelief before the paramedic intervened. "Trust him, okay?"

Duo gave the man a brief but grateful smile as the nurses started to wheel Heero away. Seeing Duo wasn't protesting about going too, the paramedic frowned. "What if he wakes up again? Won't they be in danger?"

Duo shook his head as he wrapped his wiry arms around his slender frame to block out the increasingly chilly breeze. "No. He's heard me tell him it's safe. That's enough." He shrugged as he turned to walk inside the building. "He trusts me."

The paramedic watched him go, his long rope-like hair hitting the backs of his jean-clad legs as he walked. He was small of stature and so slight of build that it was hard to believe that the young man had been such an instrumental part in achieving peace, even though he had confirmed it himself. However, the intensity of those violet-blue eyes had been more than enough to back up his words.

Inside the hospital, Duo made his way over to the main desk. The nurse behind the counter looked up from her paperwork, her smile of welcome faltering as she took in his blood stained appearance.

"Are you hurt?" she asked quickly, visibly relaxing when he shook his head in negation.

"No, I've come in with a friend who's been stabbed. They've told me to come here and give you his details."

The nurse nodded as she pulled the keyboard towards her and prepared to type.

"His name is Heero, spelt H-E-E-R-O. Surname, Yuy." He spelt that out too before giving Heero's date of birth.

"Okay, what's his address?" She looked up from the computer screen when Duo didn't answer.

"I… I don't know. He was just visiting London," he said, realising that their lack of contact over the last three years meant he had no idea where his ex-lover was living. Somewhere in Sanque he presumed.

"That's okay," she replied, in response to his blank expression. "I'm sure we'll be able to get the rest of the information from Mr Yuy himself later on."

Duo nodded numbly as he shivered from the cold. The nurse looked sympathetically at the young man who had clearly come unprepared and she reached into a jar under the desk and handed him a couple of coins. "Here," she said, smiling at him gently, "Get yourself a hot drink and take a seat. I'll come and find you if there's any news on Mr Yuy's condition."

Duo smiled at her gratefully, knowing that even at twenty years of age, his wide-eyed and somewhat childlike features made him irresistible to women, both young and old. He gave his name in before heading for the vending machine to invest in a cup of strong black coffee.

A full hour had passed before a doctor emerged through the swing doors at the end of the corridor. He headed first to the desk, then on learning his patient had been accompanied to the hospital, headed towards the man waiting patiently in the plastic chair, in the direction the nurse had indicated.

"Mr Maxwell?" he asked as Duo stood to greet him with a nod. "Mr Yuy is stable now, but I'm afraid he's not come round yet. We've repaired the wound and stopped the bleeding so he should make a full recovery. We'll keep him in Intensive Care tonight but we should be able to move him in the morning. He'll need to stay in for a couple of days yet though."

"Can I see him?" Duo asked, his face still set in grim lines despite the positive prognosis. The doctor nodded before gesturing for Duo to follow him. "I'll show you where he is."

Duo was taken through the intensive care ward to the room where Heero was. The doctor then excused himself and left, leaving Duo alone with his unconscious patient. Numerous facial bruises and a split lip was the damage Duo could see and it made him wonder just how much damage was concealed beneath the blankets and hospital gown. He was hooked up to several monitors, which displayed his steady heart rate; the rhythmic bleeping a somewhat comforting sound to the American who instinctively hated the silence.

"Hey, Heero," he said, moving towards the bed and gazing down at the handsome face below him. "Way ta scare the shit outta me."

A humourless smile passed his lips as he succumbed to the temptation of touching his ex-lover, his hand reaching out and pushing the messy brown hair away from his closed eyes. He sighed heavily at the realisation that he was far from over his first and only love, despite all that the other man had done to him in the past. He wanted to hate him, or at least be indifferent to him but adopting either stance would be a lie; and Duo Maxwell didn't lie, least of all to himself.

"Goddamnit, Heero," he said sadly, "Why did you have to show up?"

His musings were interrupted when a nurse came into the room carrying a small plastic bag. Seeing Duo, she smiled. "Here," she said, placing the bag on the bedside cabinet. "These are what's left of Mr Yuy's belongings. I'm afraid his clothes are all ruined."

The plastic bag was transparent and in it Duo could see Heero's wallet and cell phone along with his watch, the face of which was shattered beyond repair. When the nurse had gone, he glanced at the unconscious man recalling something Heero had said earlier. He was in London with the other pilots; surely they were wondering where he was?

Snatching up Heero's phone, he headed out of the main building, taking heed of the signs that proclaimed 'All Mobile Phones Must Be Switched Off' until he got outside. The phone's screen was also cracked and at first he couldn't get the handset to work, but after taking the back of it off and fiddling with the Sim card and its connections, it finally looked like it should work; the damage mostly superficial.

It was colder now and he crouched down to conserve his heat as he turned the device back on, praying that it would work, despite the damage. Almost immediately it started to ring, the caller ID displaying that Heero had several messages to listen to. The first was from Quatre wondering where he was; the second was Relena with a similar query, although she sounded more annoyed than worried. The third message was also from the blond Arabian, asking him to call as soon as he got the message. Evidently Relena had been on the phone to him too, demanding to know the whereabouts of her husband-to-be.

After he had listened to all the messages, Duo debated what to do. He had to ring one of them to let them know what had happened and it was a pretty easy choice as to which one it would be. He and Quatre had been close throughout the wars, ever since they'd met up and hidden out with the Maguanacs in the underground desert base.

Over his three years of self imposed isolation from the other pilots, Quatre was the one that he had missed the most, aside from Heero of course. The blond's easy manner and innate friendliness made him an irreplaceable comrade during the wars and Duo felt saddened that their friendship hadn't continued afterwards. Quatre hadn't really done anything wrong but the braided pilot had been angry and had decided to sever all ties with his old life as a result. It would be strange to speak to Quatre again after so long but it was either him or Relena, and since she had always hated him, Duo opted to ring his old friend.

He scrolled through the phone's address book until he found Quatre's cell phone number and hit the button to call it. Thankfully, it started to ring and was answered almost as quickly.

"Heero!" Quatre's relief-filled voice cried, obviously having seen the caller's identity on his phone's display. "Where are you? We've been really worried!"

"Uh, it's not Heero," Duo said, wondering how to start explaining all this. There was a brief silence before Quatre's voice came back on the line.

"Duo?" he said as if he could scarcely believe it. "By Allah, Duo, is that you?"

"Yup," the other replied somewhat sheepishly, "Hey, buddy, how's things?"

Clearly Quatre never heard the question as he struggled to try and understand what was going on.

"I'm with Heero," Duo said, breaking into the silence. "He's been hurt."

"He's been hurt?" Quatre repeated. "What's happened?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Duo answered, switching the phone across to his other ear as he huddled against the wall for warmth. "He showed up at my flat saying he'd been stabbed. He was bleeding badly."

Duo heard the word 'stabbed' in the background, presumably as Quatre relayed the news to the two other pilots, before the blond came back on the line. "Where is he, Duo?" he asked, sounding very much in mission mode.

"King's College Hospital. He's stable but unconscious. Just get here as soon as you can."

He ended the call, knowing his three friends would have a million questions to ask him when they arrived, before he turned the battered handset off and headed back inside.

TBC…