Heero POV

Duo wouldn't let me out of bed for two full days after I had recovered from the Hell drug. Even though I hadn't really been in any danger and I barely had a fever, he watched over me like I was on my last legs. At first I was grateful, he didn't hate me or think any less of me and he had stayed by me that entire time, even though I was acting so crazy. But after a little while the novelty of it faded and left me feeling like an invalid. I know I was a bit of a... trial after that.

On the third day he did take me to see the waterfall, just like he said he would, and we went swimming. It would have been the perfect outing, the waterfall was gorgeous, the weather was great, and the water was fine, but he constantly had one eye on me, making sure I was okay.

It was like he didn't trust me to take care of myself.

To top it all off, Duo had to go help the others get the dragon eggs ready to ship back to the capitol and my nightmares came back. Before I had been too sick to have nightmares, but with the drugs completely out of my system and my time spent worrying over Duo's absence brought them back with a vengeance. I was probably getting just as much sleep as before Duo had come.

The most embarrassing thing that came from the whole thing was that Duo decided I needed a babysitter to stay with me when he wasn't there. He made it seem logical when he explained it to me; we had the only room with a private bathroom and little Mei had a tendency toward getting dirty, but there was a bathroom right down the hall. Besides, even if Mei needed a bath, there was no need for them to stay in the room with me all day. It was simply the fact that Duo didn't trust me, though I couldn't blame him. I had broken his trust when I left the room.

Today Quatre was watching me, since Sally had been called away to look over the body of Lord J. I wasn't sorry he was dead, only I was a bit curious as to why the entire compound wasn't being questioned as to who could have killed him.

Quatre had just finished giving Mei a bath, she was only a few weeks old and already she had found that if you squeeze the baby powder bottle hard enough it produces a very entertaining cloud of white stuff.

"Heero, could you come here for a second?" Quatre asked from the bathroom. I closed the book I had been reading and walked into the bathroom. Quatre had Mei wrapped in a towel, I could see the cloudy white water still in the small, sink-like basin that could be attached to the side of the tub. Quatre held out Mei in my direction.

"Here, take her for a minute. I have to clean up in here," Quatre told me. I took hold of Mei under the arms, holding her away from my body and wondering what I was supposed to do with the child. Mei gave me a weird look, like she was trying to decided whether to smile at me or throw up on me. I had no idea what to do, so I took her out of the bathroom and put her on the bed, then sat beside her to keep her from rolling off.

Quatre came out a moment later with Mei's clothes and began to dress her. While he had her out of the towel, I noticed something that astonished me.

"She has no wings," I commented, having not even realized I said it out loud until Quatre looked up at me.

"Of course not. Demon's don't grow their wings until puberty. It's not a very well-known fact, though, so don't feel bad. Duo didn't even know he was a demon until his wings started to grow."

"So Duo thought he was a human?"

"Sure. Duo's lived with humans for most of his life."

"Why? What happened to Duo's parents? Where did he live?"

"Heero, I think you should ask Duo those questions. It wouldn't be right for me to tell you and, truthfully, I don't know everything about Duo myself. Just know that Duo hasn't had an easy life."

Quatre moved to set Mei down and I digested that. Perhaps Duo and I had more in common than I thought. But what kind of hard life could Duo have had? And why would he be living with humans? How could he not have known he was a demon?

"Heero," Quatre said, coming to sit beside me on the bed, "I'm glad Duo found you. Duo has a hard time getting really close to people, he tries to keep them at arm's length, but he is very close to you and I think it's good for him."

"Duo isn't close to me."

I didn't want to wipe the smile off Quatre's face, but he was putting hopes in me that didn't belong there. I wasn't good for Duo, I was bad for him. All I ever did was kill and screw up. I knew Quatre was surprised by what I had said, but it was better than having him hope I could do something I couldn't.

"Why would you say that?"

"Duo doesn't trust me anymore."

"You mean all this?" Quatre asked, "I don't know if you'll believe me or not, but this is more for Duo than for you."

It was my turn to be surprised.

"I don't understand."

"Heero, you really scared Duo when you... broke down like that. He was so afraid you were going to die and then he felt so bad when you had those hallucinations... he blames himself. He's starting to think that by staying here with you he's asking for something bad to happen. I really think he would have taken you away from here if I hadn't convinced him to stay. He knows he has to complete his job here, but he's so afraid you'll get hurt again. I think he's starting to think this place is some sort of jinx. I just... I want you to understand that it's not you he doesn't trust, he's just scared of losing you right now," Quatre looked at me deeply, like he was trying to convey how much this mattered, "I know this is all annoying, but please understand, Duo was really scared that you would die. Most of the people that cared about him in his life had died, he was afraid the same thing will happen to you. Please, just be patient, you may not realize it, but Duo does need you. He would be sad if you left him."

I almost snorted. Like I had anywhere else to go. I must have shown a hint of what I was feeling on my face because Quatre frowned, leaned forward, and said, "It is your choice. No one can make you be friends with them, or anything else. If you want to leave, Duo will be hurt, but he'll understand. In time," he added affectionately, then a smile broke out on his face, "and probably three to five apple or cherry pies later he'll feel better. Duo has a tendency to eat when he's upset. I wish I had a metabolism like that," Quatre said and I could see him heading for normal conversation material which I was not interested in. Quatre had given me a lot to think about.

Duo came back that night exhausted and covered in sweat. Instead of heading straight for the shower, since he preferred the shower down the hall to bathing in our room, he came up and stuck his head in the room where I was reading and Quatre was playing with Mei.

"Hey guys and small girl child, how's it going?" he said, smiling, then went over and twirled Mei around, she giggled the whole time.

"One of these days, Duo, she's going to puke all over you and I'm going to laugh," Quatre told him, half-teasing. Duo faked a look of insult.

"Mei would never do that to me! Would you?" he asked the girl, who simply squealed and giggled some more.

Duo handed Mei back to Quatre and bound over to me.

"Hey Heero!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. I could see that he had spent most of the day doing hard, physical labor. His clothes were dirty, he was sweaty, and he needed a bath.

"You smell bad," I told him, he pouted.

"Didn't you miss me?" he asked, giving me puppy-eyes. I raised and eyebrow.

"That means yes in Heero's language! I knew you'd miss me! Well, I'm off to the showers, try to contain yourself while I'm gone," he shot and was out the door in a flurry of movement.

If I had just met Duo, I would have thought he was on a caffeine high. Having known him for several weeks, I could easily tell that Duo was exhausted. It wasn't his manner that gave him away, he did the same things he would have normally done, but his movements were slow and lethargic. I could tell all he wanted to do was bathe, eat, and sleep. I asked Sara to bring something for supper up to the room while Quatre was packing up Mei.

"See?" he asked me on the way out, "I said you were good for him. I won't say I told you so, I just want to make it known that I was right," he said, grinning cheekily, then left. I snorted, sometimes he was a bit too much like Duo.

When Duo came back to the room, fresh from his shower, Sara had already set up and left. Duo smiled, teasing me about just wanting to get into his bed, but I could tell he appreciated not having to go down to the hall to eat. I was very glad we had stayed in the room to eat when Duo fell asleep in the middle of his mashed potatoes. He was only lucky he hadn't gotten his hair in it or been anywhere anyone but me could see him. He would have probably never lived it down.

Smirking to myself, I picked up his lithe form and put him into bed, taking time to remove the boots he had worn coming down the cold, stone halls from the shower. I barely managed to contain a snort when he opened his mouth and let out a half-hearted snore. Careful not to wake him, I closed his mouth, effectively stopping the snores, and ran my hands through his hair.

"Mmm... Love you..." he muttered in his sleep, frowning a bit then turning over. I pulled back my hand with a startled gasp.

He couldn't mean me!

I shook my head, then lay down next to Duo and fell asleep wondering who he could be in love with. I had bad dreams all night long.