Author's note – A short chapter but it was hard to find a good place to break off! Thanks again for the reviews Swordy

A Night to Remember – What Happened Next

Chapter 5

They exchanged worried glances before they set off together at a faster pace, knowing the voices were almost certainly coming from Heero's room. The door was open and they raced in to find several hospital personnel standing around the bed. Instead of the medical emergency they were worriedly expecting, they found the doctors and nurses all trying to reason with Heero, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, his expression equally grim.

"What's going on here?" Quatre asked, before the argument could start afresh.

The hospital staff turned at the new interruption. The doctor stepped towards the four men. "And you are…?" he asked.

"We're friends," Quatre replied, the others flanking him in a stance that was unconsciously defensive.

"Well kindly tell Mr Yuy that discharging himself from hospital isn't a good idea."

The ex-pilots all looked simultaneously shocked. "Heero?" Wufei said, looking past the irritated medic. "Is it true?"

Heero nodded, his face still deathly pale. "I'm fine. There's no point me being here."

Duo stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak but Heero filled the air before him, his voice asking for understanding. "She'll find me here if I stay. I need time to think."

The braided man nodded in comprehension, realising Heero's fears.

"He can come and stay with me. I'll look after him."

The doctor's frown intensified as if he was unable to believe there was a second person in the room as crazy as his Japanese patient. "He was stabbed and operated on last night and has been moved from Intensive Care less than an hour ago. Did you not notice what ward he's on? HDU - that means High Dependency Unit, so he's not out of the woods yet. His condition needs careful monitoring to check he's not in danger from internal bleeding and encouraging him to leave hospital is both stupid and irresponsible and I certainly won't…"

"I'll be responsible for him," Duo said firmly. "Give me any medication or dressings he needs and I'll take care of him."

"Duo…" Quatre started to say.

"It's fine," Duo replied, his hand gesture telling his friend that this conversation was at an end. "I'll gladly sign anything that says we went against your explicit wishes."

The doctor looked at the other three men, waiting for one of them to start talking some sense but they remained silent. Separately Heero and Duo were forces to be reckoned with; together they were indomitable. Their friends knew better than to argue.

"This is insane," the doctor said testily, throwing his hands up in despair. "You people are crazy." He turned back to Heero and regarded him coldly. "You'll have to sign some release forms if you're serious about being discharged."

The Japanese man nodded. Seeing there was nothing more he could say, the doctor turned to leave, stopping in front of Duo before he went out.

"Any indication that something's wrong and you're to bring him straight back here, understood?"

"Understood," Duo repeated, nodding in agreement as his attention turned to Heero and offered him a small but reassuring smile.

The four pilots waited in the corridor as a nurse redressed Heero's stomach wound and helped him into the clothes they had brought.

"Are you sure about this?" Wufei asked as they waited. The other pilots turned to listen as Duo answered.

"You heard what he said, 'Fei. Relena probably realises something is going on by now and it's only a matter of time before she uses her connections to track him down. You said yourself it's not going to be pleasant. He needs to recover before he has to deal with her."

"But still…"

"Hey… we managed on our own in the wars, right?" Duo said, waiting for someone to try and deny it. "Knife wounds, gun shot wounds, broken bones. Besides, d'you think Heero would listen if we tried to talk him out of it?"

The others shook their heads, knowing he was right.

"It's strange that Relena hasn't called again," Trowa said, his gentle features creasing into a frown. "I know Heero's phone hasn't been on since you used it, Duo but I'd have thought she would have tried one of us again."

"Maybe she's decided to stop nagging him," Duo said dryly.

"More likely she's got official duties and hasn't had time to keep calling," Quatre replied.

They all turned simultaneously as the door opened and the nurse stuck her head out.

"Okay, Mr Yuy's ready to leave now."

The five young men left the hospital together; Duo pushing Heero in a wheelchair until they reached the main entrance. After signing the necessary disclaimer forms, they collected a supply of dressings and antibiotics, which Duo had assured the doctor he could administer intravenously. They caught a black cab back to Duo's flat, telling the driver to take it slow so that Heero was not jolted around on the ride home. He sat pale and grim faced throughout, his arm across his repaired abdomen, all the while assuring the others that he was okay.

When they reached Duo's lodgings, he found himself severely outnumbered when he tried to insist that he didn't need bed rest. And so he was duly ushered into Duo's bed once it was made up with clean sheets and instructed to stay there as the others busied themselves cancelling flights and their other commitments for the week ahead. The antibiotics left Heero drowsy and when he finally went to sleep, Quatre and Trowa returned to their hotel and made arrangements to stay for several more nights. Wufei had offered to stay on Duo's couch and they had all been surprised when the braided man agreed. He had later confided in Quatre that he was nervous about resuming their relationship and didn't want to deal with the 'heavy stuff' as he put it, until Heero was better and it had actually sunk in that they were an item again.

Much later, when Wufei had fallen asleep under a pile of blankets on the couch in front of the movie that he and Duo had been watching together, the American switched off the set and turned out most of the lights before moving through into his bedroom to check on Heero before he went to bed himself. Heero was sleeping peacefully, his features illuminated by the lamp next to the bed. Duo yawned and moved closer, admiring the beauty of the man he had always loved before he reached down and gently pulled back the blankets. He smiled at the t-shirt Heero wore; one of his own bearing the slogan 'South London Cow Tipping Association'. Carefully, he lifted it up to reveal the dressing, which he peeled back so he could examine the healing wound. Relieved to see that it showed no sign of infection, he taped the dressing back in place and readjusted the blankets. Heero stirred as he did so, his bright blue eyes blinking open sleepily.

"Hey," Duo said with a smile.

Heero yawned deeply and returned the expression, his eyes fixed firmly on the other man. "Come and lie down with me, Duo."

"But, your wound… I don't want to injure you any further."

His own nervousness surprised him and Heero sensed it. "I know this is hard, Duo," he said gently. "And I don't mean to rush you. I just wanted to be close to you for a bit."

Duo's expression softened and he moved forward. When Heero opened his arms, Duo lay down carefully beside him and melted into the embrace. They lay there in silence for a while, their rhythmic breathing the only sound. Eventually Heero reached up and stroked Duo's chestnut bangs away from his eyes.

"Thank you, Duo."

Duo frowned, shifting slightly so he could see Heero better. "For what?"

"For this. For giving me a second chance. Thank you."

Duo smiled, unable to imagine not giving Heero that chance. His anger at being pushed away had long since left him; all that had remained was the pain at being apart from the man he loved and this was also a chance for him to dispel that hurt.

The gentle breathing beneath him told Duo that Heero had fallen back asleep and he could feel himself growing drowsy. The last thing he remembered thinking was that he should really go and get in the camp bed he had made up for himself before he fell into a peaceful slumber with Heero's arms still wrapped around him.

The daylight beaming through the gap in the curtains was what woke him the next morning. Duo sat up, carefully slipping from Heero's embrace so as not to wake the sleeping man. He pushed his sleep mussed hair out of his face and yawned, stretching the stiffened muscles of his arms and back. He could hear someone moving around outside and he guessed it was Wufei. The Chinese man had volunteered to go and buy some clothes for Heero but obviously hadn't left yet judging by the sounds coming from the other room. Duo suddenly felt self-conscious, knowing his friend would see him coming out of Heero's room after he had stressed that they were going to take the newly resumed relationship slowly.

He stood, and after checking Heero was still sound asleep, pulled off his t-shirt and found a new one to change into. He was still tugging it on over his head as he opened the bedroom door and stepped out, his joker's mask in place to hide his embarrassment.

"Hey, 'Fei. I'm not smelling breakfast! Man, I shoulda told Quatre to stay. He'd have made a full English by now!"

He frowned at the lack of response, wondering if the other man hadn't heard him as he moved through into the living room and the source of the movement he had heard from his bedroom.

"Oy, 'Fei!" he said cheerfully, rounding the corner before he stopped dead in his tracks, his smile disappearing as fast as his good mood. The Chinese man was nowhere to be seen, but in the same place Duo had left him sleeping last night, now sat Relena, her posture formal as she looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello, Duo," she said, although the smile never met her steely blue eyes. "Long time no see."

TBC…