Alright I did it! Updated! YAY! I will try to do so weekly now, tell me when is the best day to do so, please, I will try to by then.

Disclaimer: I don't own GW, never will, at least for the rest of this fic. ^^* Thanks!

Sad news! My writing program died, so I am using Wordpad, I am not sure how it will come out so we shall see, ne? In the meantime, pray for my writing program!

****************

CHAPTER 9

Duo danced to his own music as he went through his apartment and did some cleaning. He may not mind the mess usually, but later, upon reflection, he was embarassed about it. He picked up a mug from behind a table, and was disgusted to find things growing in it. It was an ugly mug too, one Norris had won in a competition at his old work. Duo placed it on his kitchen counter, planning on returning it to Norris, as is.

With a disgusted sigh, he felt a hiccup build in his stomach and lurch out, escaping from within him. Duo filled a cup with water and gulped the whole thing down. Satisfied he waited, but was quickly lifted from his victor's throne, when another hiccup burst forth. Duo glared at the now empty glass of water. He opened his mouth and pulled in a massive amount of air, filling his lungs. He began to tingle and his eyes began to water as he longed for air, but still he held fast, hoping to guarantee success. The air was forced out of him as another hiccup emerged. Once more taking in a breath, Duo swallowed. He was startled out of his quest by the doorbell ringing. He hurried forward, opening it.

In front of him stood a petite, raven haired woman, bright turquoise eyes and a chipper smile set firmly in place.

"HILDE!" Duo exclaimed and rushed forward, pulling her into a massive hug. "You didn't tell me you were coming to Earth!?" He said amazed as he ushered her in, hiccups completely forgotten.

"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. I hadn't seen you in months!" She said, with a mock accusatory glare.

"Whoa, sorry babe, I was a little preoccupied." Hilde was Duo's long time friend, ever since he had lived on L2. She was like a sister to him, and he loved her dearly as such. Neither of them had much of a family, so they considered each other as there family. And as families have problems so did they, there personalities were so alike that they often clashed. That was why Duo came to Earth to start his garage and left the scrap yard they had been handling together, to Hilde and her then new boyfriend, now husband.

"So where's Norris?" She said, glancing around slightly. Her voice had lost some of it's shine, as her opinion of Norris wasn't that high.

A bit sheepishly, Duo realized he had never called her about Norris, or about Duo being the pregnant one and not Norris. "Erm, Norris isn't here anymore . . ." So Duo proceeded to tell her all about the Norris fiasco and events since, though he deliberately left out Heero, not sure how she would react until she met him. He wanted her opinion of Heero, before he gave her his.

She sat there silently a moment, before launching herself at him and wrapping him in a big hug. "Congratulations!" She watched him, somewhat uncertainly. "So what are you going to do now?" She faltered then continued, "Are- are you going to stay here? I mean . . . alone?"

Duo nodded his head, he understood her concern, and he knew she would offer to let him stay with them, but he didn't want to. Right now he was enjoying his time on Earth, and he had no desire to leave. "I know what you are offering. And I can't say yes, but if there was anything I would ask of you it would to be around when . . . it happens." He gestured at his stomach.

She smiled and willingly agreed. Sitting down she then demanded to be told every thing from work to his sock color. . .

~*~*~

Heero paced in his room, any exhaustion completely forgotten, as he mulled over everything in his mind. Quatre had said . . . well it could always be another Duo Maxwell . . . with the same, unusual hairstyle and magically in the same building. Yea right, it could be another Duo Maxwell. Heero ran his hands through his thick dark hair. There were so many reasons to just end what little relationship they had now. In fact he could only think of one reason why he would continue.

Duo made him happy.

But . . . there were others out there, he could find someone else. Or if not, he had been fine all these years on his own . . . Fine, but incredibly lonely. Sure he had friends, Quatre, Trowa, Relena, but they all had there own lives, divergant from his. Yet, he wasn't ready to delve into a relationship that serious. He didn't blame Duo, it wasn't as if they were telling each other there life stories or anything. Not yet, but he didn't think he was ready to be a father, which would be what a relationship with Duo would entail. He was angry, he didn't know at who, not Duo, perhaps at the universe, for it's unfair all the possibilities fate threw at him, but then added a fifty pound weight onto it.

Why?

Heero couldn't do it. Perhaps he did have a weakness. Who would have thought, the man described as the Perfect Soldier, the man who was envied and hated by all his enemies, the one person who wasn't supposed to have any weaknesses. But he did, and that weakness was making him lose the one thing that he had come close to treasuring. Resigned and determined, Heero picked up the phone. . .

~*~*~

Duo had decided to take Hilde to the park and then out to lunch it had been years since she had seen Earth and she was eager for a tour. They picked a small hot dog stand and sat down to eat. As always, Duo's eating habit's got the best of him as he choked on part of the hot dog. Hilde thumped his back and he took in a gasping breath, smiling up at her.

"Ya know, if you just slowed down while you were eating . . ." Duo rolled his eyes good-naturedly. They had been over this conversation a million times.

"Of course if I did, then there would be no need to have you around when I have hotdogs, and we both know how dangerous that could be . . . " He smiled and gave her a playful wink. Hilde laughed appropriately.

Soon after lunch, he took her to his garage, she gave him some ideas and he responded with his opinion of them. With a satisfied sigh, they boarded his car to go home, where they argued about how Hilde had to stay at his apartment, and she argued about how big an inconvenience it would be to him. In the end, Duo won, he always did, and Hilde came home with him for the evening. (a/n: Peers out window, forms gun with fingers, 'kills' bird singing outside) Hilde went upstairs to take a shower. Duo walked into his kitchen, saw the message light blinking. Pressing 'play' he listened to the message.

"Duo, I was hoping to talk to you in person," Duo's face lit up as Heero's lilting baritone came over the recorder, "I-I can't see you anymore, I am ill-prepared for this relationship and cannot handle the . . . pressures and responsibilties it demands. I'm sorry, it was fun." The message machine beeped, announcing the end of the message. Duo stood stock still, his face gone a morbid shade of white.

"Heero . . ."

Duo decided to head upstairs, he couldn't face Hilde, she would know, he wasn't ready to hide it from her. Duo's body was heavy as retained emotions seeped into every fold and pore of his body and soul. He had so much . .. hope for this relationship but . . . Why!? Why did he change his mind so soon after!? What could possibl- Unless . . . Norris.

Duo's face wrinkled in disgust. If it had been Norris, then he would pay. Duo needed to talk to Heero. He couldn't just let that go. No way. As he lay in bed, far too early for a normal person to be sleeping, he promised himself this would not be the end.

~*~ 8.5 Weeks since Operation ~*~

Duo felt Hilde watch him pick at his food. He just wasn't hungry . .. again. He watched her eyes glared at him worriedly. Duo sighed. It had been over a week in fact 9 days (it was now Tuesday) since Heero had called. In all that time he couldn't get a hold of Heero, he had waited at the park, calling him repeatedly, but today when he called, the operator announced that the phone line was no longer in service. In frustration he had smashed his phone on the counter, and now he didn't have a phone. Heero didn't want to talk, and he was driving Duo insane.

Somewhere in the rational part of Duo's mind, a voice told him to let it go. But Duo was too far in with Heero, in his head he had made connections, conversations, ideas and plans and he never even got a chance to try them. Heero couldn't just stop it like this. Something the resembled anger built up in Duo, but faded quickly as he found himself too tired to do anything about them.

He had gone straight to Norris' house, and confronted him and the doctor about telling Heero and both vehemently denied it. Norris was never one to hide anything he did, or be ashamed for any of his actions, so Duo believed Norris. Now he was left to wonder why. Why did he cut off there relationship so suddenly? Had he possibly been . .. spying on him?

NO! Heero may be strange and right now . . . cowardly but he would never stoop that low. Never. Duo was sure of it.

With a small sigh, Duo pushed his half empty plate back and announced that he was going to bed. Hilde watched him in worry, but simply took his plate from him and put it in the sink.

"Duo . . ." Hilde murmured to his back as he trudged to his room.

~*~*~

Hilde couldn't sleep, Duo had been acting so strange and yet refused to tell her why. He had been sick more and more often, especially after meals. His bright cheery facade had cracked and broken. He continued to work, if not more than usual, but began craving solitude. Once they spent hours at night talking and playing card games. Now she was lucky if she could get a conversation out of him at lunch. She knew something had to have happened the day she arrived, he had been fine that day, but the next day there was a considerable difference, he didn't want her to notice so she looked past it at first, but when the melancholy continued she inquired about it. He pretended to not know what she was talking about. When she persisted he blamed it on the pregnancy and smiled.

Hilde sat up as she heard movement in the hallway. Cautiously, she creeped out from the guest bedroom she was occupying and watched as Duo stumbled into the bathroom. She heard him vomit several times, any nutrients gained from supper gone. She frowned, he had also refused to talk to the doctor about it, saying he could solve it. After a few moments of silence, Duo staggered out of the bathroom. He leaned against a wall panting for breath, seemingly not noticing her. She stepped forward, he looked at her as if he didn't recognize her. His body trembled, he opened his mouth as if too speak, before falling limply to the ground.

~*~*~

Heero casually walked to his lunch date with Quatre and Trowa. They weren't due to arrive for another half an hour, so he wasn't worried. He didn't have anywhere to go between here and work, so he decided to get to the restaurant early. He walked in and to his immense surprise saw Quatre and Trowa sitting in a booth. Waving away the waiter, he sat down across from them.

"What happened to the meeting with the doctor? Rescheduled?"

"In a way, apparently there was an emergency," Quatre watched Heero's reaction carefully. "Apparently that young man I told you about has taken extremely ill and is currently in ICU, the doctor said not to worry . . . even left us a letter explaining things . . . Anyway we are here now." Heero's face had turned pale. Quatre felt a small amount of smug satisfaction. He knew something was up when he had first mentioned the beautiful braided young man to Heero. Now he just needed to figure out there . . . 'relationship.'

Heero asked politely if he could see the note, Trowa handed it over. Heero scanned its contents. It mentioned that this was brought on by too much upset, worry and stress on Duo. That he had gotten severely dehydrated and not to worry, it would be alright. Heero unconsciously clenched the note in his hands. He was worried, an hour hadn't gone by when his thoughts didn't turn to Duo at some point. He knew he was still attracted to this man, and apparently still cared for him. With a sigh, Heero leaned back in his seat. 'Now what?'

Tsuzuku

*************************

See I updated less than a week later! YAY! Alright, I thank you for reading this and I hope it was longer. When my writing program is working again I will fix this, as it was I had to try adn edit it by myself completely. So if anyone knows or is a beta reader, I think it would be very helpful! Thanks!

Arigatous!:

AtomicBlue: I suppose not, I certainly wouldn't want the world to end. SO I decided to post. ^^*

WhiteWolfSearching: YAY! SHE POS- erm I guess you mean me. Alright . . . hehe!

Chibidark Angel: Yes, he will . . . perhaps. yea Duo is nervous. I promise there will be more Shirtless Duo.

Emily Hato: Read above entry. ^_^

SuperPoodle: I think it was this review that got me writing! Wow, alrighty then. I suppose I am glad I elicit such passionate responses.

Darknesspeering: Alright, new goal, update weekly. I swear I will. But I do post more than some authors, I just don't realize how much time can go by so fast.

TaraSaturn: I am glad you feel better, I must say I laughed in your review it was so energetic, and there was something about high school in there . . . somewhere . . . o.O' ^_^;

devylzangyl: Sorry, Quatre told Heero, but Duo will talk to Heero about it . . . eventually ^^;

ALRIGHT! Thanks again! New goal! Update weekly! Hopefully I can keep it up! YAY! Alright thanks! Review please! It really does entice me to write . . . ^^*

~Annie