CHAPTER 7

Kody strode about the safe house cleaning up a bit. The others were due back late tonight or early tomorrow morning and she wanted everything to be in order. Duo, surprisingly enough, was helping to clean up the house.

It was about six o'clock now and they were eating dinner at a diner in town. Duo had insisted that Kody get out of the safe house and get some air. They went for their usual walk around the park after they ate. Duo having charged up a rather large tab at the diner.

"Are you glad that your friends are coming back?" Kody asked as she sipped at her drink she still had left over from dinner.

"They're your friends too you know."

"Yeah I know. But are you glad?"

"To be honest. No." Kody stopped and looked at him.

"Why not, Duo?"

"Because when they come back, I'm afraid I won't have time with you anymore."

"Of course we will. What could happen?" Duo shrugged and sighed as he continued to walk with her towards the safe house. Once they got back inside they settled down to watch a movie. All the while their conversation from the last night running through his head.

All right. We'll wait.

If your memory did come back right now...and you never did have anyone else...would you love me? Would you trust me?

Of course. How can I not after all you've done for me?

Duo smiled and raised a hand to stroke Kody's hair. It was time for bed. She had fallen asleep beside him. He picked her up and carried her up to her room, placing her in bed and covering her up.

*~*~*

Loving a second time is different.

An hour later, lying in his bedroom, hands clasped behind his head, Duo stared out the open window.

Kody's statement to him, What's weighing on your mind?, had stayed with him. Kept him up.

Duo knew he wasn't a complicated man. He felt what he felt, when he felt it. And he expressed it honestly. That was it-period.

But for the first time in his life, Duo wanted to examine not just what he felt, but why he felt it.

About Kody.

About Hilde...

The night was warm but not hot, and the moonlight was casting a glow around everything in his bedroom. It was quiet tonight, too. Except for the light sound of crickets chirping on the lawn outside, the world seemed completely at peace.

And ever since Kody had come into his life, so was he.

Hilde....

Duo sighed.

Loving Kody was different from loving Hilde, he realized lying there.

With Hilde, the love had been full of nervous anticipation, endless wishing. The only constancy about that relationship was the jittery thrill of never knowing when he'd see her again, whether they'd get caught, and whether they'd find a future that they could share happily.

Hilde was longing. Unreachable, unattainable longing.

Sure, their passion exploded every time they saw each other. But afterward, when the fire had died out, Duo had been left with nothing but long dark periods before they could be together again.

He'd never before understood that those bleak periods of waiting had dug a cold, deep canyon within him-an emptiness he had tried to fill with insubstantial fantasies about their future.

With Kody that emptiness never came.

Kody gave him a wholeness; a piece he'd never before felt in his life. With Kody, he would glimpse the kind of fulfilling relationship he's always dreamed of-the chance to share everything with a life partner. A soul mate.

Hilde had given Duo affection and her version of love. But she'd never really seen him. Not like Kody could see him, straight through his heart and soul.

Kody saw everything that lived inside him-the courage and the doubt, he strength and the weakness. And she accepted all of it. She accepted all of him.

*~*~*

The bed she was on was quite comfortable.

But tonight Kody couldn't sleep on it.

He kissed me. Right in this very house.

She closed her eyes trying to conjure the feeling again.

The picture window's blinds were pulled up so she could look at the midnight sky and the evening stars. Lying back Kody drew a pillow against her body and hugged it close pretending it was him.

His words replayed and replayed.

Tonight is about me...about what I can't stand to keep inside anymore...

Kody felt that way, too. Like she couldn't keep her feelings for Duo bottled up another day. He guessed that she "cared for" him, but she hadn't told Duo the truth:

That she loved him.

*~*~*

"Duo?"

The door was open a crack, and she gently pushed it. He was lying there on the white sheets on his large bed, his muscular arms hooked behind his head. Triceps bulging in a way that made Kody's knees weak.

"Kody? Did you call me? Is anything wrong?"

He bolted upright, looking worried. No shirt. Naked chest. Large, sculpted naked chest.

Exhale, Kody, she advised herself. Inhale and exhale.

"Nothing wrong, Duo. I just had an idea."

"An idea?"

Duo was about to reach for the nightstand lamp, but Kody asked him not to turn it on.

"The moonlight's nice," she whispered, moving closer to the bed.

"Yes, it is."

Duo shifted under the sheets, watching Kody move closer to him.

She was right about the moonlight. The heavenly orb was casting a glow around her that allowed him to make out the feminine curve of her figure in her thin cotton nightgown.

She hadn't worn her robe as she usually did around the house, and it was more than apparent that she had no undertings on. His eyes caught the loose swaying of her naked breasts, the dusky tips visible beneath the lightly patterned cotton.

He wanted her.

Now.

The need ripped through him like wildfire.

Exhale, Duo...Inhale and exhale.

His hands reached to check that the sheet and comforter were still covering his lower body. They were. Thank goodness.

He had boxers on, but he could barely control the natural reaction of his lower body to having Kody in his bedroom. In the moonlight. Without underthings.

"Kody, what sort of idea did you want to discuss?"

He was trying to keep the edge out of his voice, but he was failing miserably.

"An important one."

He watched her step closed and sit on the side of his bed. Tension mounted inside Duo as he felt the slight sinking of the mattress, smelled the subtle powdery scent of her evening bath.

She's so close.

He swallowed, hardly able to keep from reaching out to her.

"Can't it wait until morning?"

"No it can't."

Kody's beautiful silver-blue gaze took in his eyes, him mouth, his chest. She paused as if to gather courage, then reached out and lightly traced her fingers along the broad, hard line of his shoulder.

Duo's sharp intake of breath was the only sound in the room. He lashed out to still her fingers.

"Kody! What are you doing?"

"Touching you, Duo. Isn't that obvious?"

Duo's eyebrows rose.

"That's your idea? To come into my bedroom and drive me insane?" Kody smiled.

"It's actually the best idea I can remember having."

"That's no funny."

"Come on, Duo. It's hilarious."

"Kody, am I to understand that you're ready for us to-"

"Yes."

Duo closed his eyes a long moment. When he opened them, he took her hands in his.

"Kody, honey, believe me when I say that I want nothing more than to make love to you tonight. Right this second. But what's more important to me than what I want is what you need. And you don't need to feel rushed, to feel pushed into something you aren't ready for-"

"But I am ready."

"Sweetheart, just yesterday you agreed we should wait. Until you knew for certain about your past."

"But Duo, I suddenly realized something. There is a way for us to solve the problems of my past. Right now. Tonight."

"I don't understand."

"You and I don't know my past. That's true. But I don't know yours either, Duo. Let us from this night forward only look ahead."

Duo moved his hand to caress the soft cap of her hair, shimmering almost like a halo. He could feel the brightness of her spirit in the room. It surrounded him, enveloped him.

"Never look back." he asked her.

Kody nodded.

"Kody, are you sure you're ready for this? Isn't a part of you concerned that there might have been someone else in your life?"

"You're still not sure." Kody said softly.

"I'm sure about my love for you, Kody. But without knowing your history, there's so much we're not in control of."

"One thing I do know is that if we really want a future together, then we have to open our hearts completely. Trust in our feelings for one another. Do you understand that?" Duo nodded.

"Yes, I do, Kody. And I'm ready to."

"Good, because I'm ready too. And by the way...I love you Duo Maxwell. Did I mention that?"

"Come here."

He pulled her into his arms with more than tenderness. Kissed her with more than caring, and Kody reveled in he feeling Duo finally released his passion.

His tongue coaxed her lips to part for him, and she welcomed the intimate invasion. With patience he encouraged her to return his gestures-using her own lips and tongue she did.

He angled his head and moved his lips to her jaw, her throat, and her neck. His body leaned into her, silently urging her to stretch out beside him on the mattress, to allow him better access to her torso.

His strong hands moved over her with masterful skill, her thin nightgown barely a barrier to their tender ministrations. He cupped the swell of one breast, then the other, his palm hot as he fondled them. She gasped when his fingers found a tender peak, and he languorously began to tease the sensitive nipple into a hard bud. She was amazed that his tiny movement could electrify her body!

"I want to touch you, too," she whispered.

His brilliant smile flashed white in the moonlit room as he gently took her hand in his and spread her fingers across the center of his broad chest. She felt the smooth rock of his pectorals, his abdomen. Fighting her shyness, she reached lower, beneath the waistband of his boxers, wanting to please him, wanting to know him.

He closed his eyes when he found him. So hard and ready.

"Oh, God...not yet," he said in a strangled voice.

Then Duo sat up, pulled her across his lap, and began to touch her again-so sweetly, so tenderly, she nearly cried.

With delicate care, he pulled her nightgown off. She felt the cooler air in he room touch her skin; she realized she felt a little nervous to Duo's reaction to her nakedness.

Moonlight was splashing across her curves, and for the first time she knew what it felt like to see her own beauty in a man's eyes. Duo's eyes.

She saw the pleasure and love there for her. It was overwhelming. And in an instant any hint of self-consciousness about her body melted in the mounting heat within her.

Then his hands reached up to feel what his gaze had so lovingly caressed, and she sighed.

"Oh, Duo, it feels so good when you touch me."

"Kody, you're so beautiful. So sweet and beautiful."

He rolled her beneath him, and then his mouth and tongue were everywhere. His desire was growing more urgent by the minute, and she found her own rising to meet his.

"I love you, Kody."

Kody smiled her eyes dancing.

"I love you, too, Duo. It feels like I always have..."

Her hands took pleasure in roaming his strong muscled body. And her heart found indescribable satisfaction in hearing him moan with pleasure at her touch, feeling him shudder at her kisses. What an incredible blessing -to be able to give and give and give to someone she loved as deeply as Duo.

The realization gave her courage.

Courage to want the next step even more.

"It's time, Duo," she finally whispered. "I need you."

He smiled and moved away long enough to strip off his boxers, and then he was back in her arms, pausing above her.

"Are you sure, Kody? Absolutely sure?"

She took his face in her hands so he wouldn't miss a word.

"Yes! Absolutely. Let's take a leap. Now. Together."

"A leap?"

"A leap of faith. In each other. In our future-"

"Will you marry me, Kody?"

"Yes. Will you love me without fear of losing me?"

Could he?

Duo hesitated, looking deep into her eyes.

There was something bright and pure living there. Something that seemed to reach far inside him, past the most guarded place in his soul.

Duo had witnessed and endured so much pain and corruption, so many betrayals and uncertainties in this difficult, disillusioning world, that it wasn't easy to find purity again. Innocent and hope...trust and faith.

The world's hardships would never go away, Duo knew that.

But in this one moment, he suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Kody could help him find something more. Something stronger. A way to renew himself again. And he was read to let her. Read to open his heart completely once more-

"Yes, Kody," he answered with certainty. "I will."

"I love you, Duo."

"I love you, too."

"Then show me."

He did. Pushing past her awkward innocence, pushing past his last remaining doubts, they both found then love they'd been waiting for all their lives.

*~*~*

Duo's bedroom door slid open gently and in the shadows stood two figures. They both looked down at the sleeping couple covered up by the blanket. Quatre turned his head to Heero.

"I told you a week was long enough." And with that Quatre turned and left Duo's room. Heero remained there, his eyes trained on Kody. After a moment he spoke.

"Welcome home, sister."