Just a Shadow
Disclaimer: - I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters!
Chapter 19: Hospitals and Carnivals
Thank you so much to everybody who reviews this fic, but it's come to my attention that if you write shout outs in your fic he you could be banned from the site for a number of days or weeks, so as much as I'd love to acknowledge you all personally, I cant until this new rule is lifted.
We are however allowed to write a short authors note and in this authors note I would like to thank the following people for their reviews of the last chapter…
KentouKurige
Kira May Maxwell
Safaia-Kurome
MILHARU
Silver Mirror
Ms Son – one of my best friend!
El Terrible Fizzy
TKM
Volume
10-midnight-01
Calli Maxwell – your email address didn't show
Stormhammer
Alerevenus
Aiko
Kikaru Itsuko
Silvertwighlight
Gravitiger
Thank you all so much!
Now on with the fic!
"Come on man!" Duo moaned "I know you can understand me so just stop being like this!"
Heero ignored the pleas from his friend and held on tighter to the beam. Trowa had a hold of one arm whilst Wufei had the other and Duo and Quatre were trying to pull the ex-pilot away or loosen his grip.
"I know you hate hospitals which is why we never told you!"
"NO!" Heero shouted and batted an offending hand away.
Unfortunately for Heero that hand happened to be his main grip on the beam and so in once swift tug, all the pilots were lying in a heap on the floor. The rest of the group watched in a mixture of amusement and awe at the scene in front of them. Zechs rolled his eyes and most of the women laughed.
The pilots picked their struggling friend off the floor and hauled him out side and into the car.
"We'll hold him down!" Wufei shouted
"You start the car!" Duo finished
Trowa nodded and jumped into the drivers' seat. Quatre was in the passengers while the other three were in the back. As soon as all body parts were in the car, Duo slammed the doors shut and Trowa fastened all the locks.
Heero scrambled from door to door, climbing over all his friends in the process, but found no way out, so opted to flop down across Wufei and Duo, glaring at the car roof.
"See" Duo soothed "It isn't so bad is it?"
Heero turned his glare on Duo and the lively American suddenly wasn't so lively any more. After a short silence, Duo spoke up.
"You know what?" he asked everybody in the car with a grin on his face "That's the first time Heero's glared at me since the accident"
"I still can't believe he spoke to you" Quatre smiled
"He speaks to al of us Quat" Duo grinned
"You know what I mean – you got to have a conversation with him!"
"I can't believe what a good actor he is!" Wufei snorted
"I can!" Duo laughed as he rolled his eyes "Don't you remember when we took him to that carnival in town?"
The pilots shared a knowing glance before all eyes fell on Heero. The Japanese pilot was fast asleep with his head and arms in Wufei's lap, one leg and his lower body on Duo's lap and one leg dangling off the seat. A small chuckle rose from the position of the sleeping man, but other than that, the boys were lost to their memories.
"A carnival?" Heero asked "Why?"
"Because we wanted to surprise you!" Quatre exclaimed happily
"Are you surprised?" Duo asked grinning
"He looks surprised to me!" Wufei smirked
Heero looked from one pilot to another before a small smile made its way onto his face.
"Thanks guys – are we leaving now?"
"Sure are!"
All the boys filed out of the house and into the car within the next 10 minutes and before they knew it were at the gates of the carnival. They had waited until the night time to tell Heero so that all the lights would be on and there would be less children and noise.
Heero stared around at all the attractions n awe. A carnival was one of the things he had never been to. Of course he had heard of them and been told about them, but experiencing it was entirely different.
As a child it had been one of the things he had wanted to do, but with constant mission with Odin Lowe and then constant training and conditioning with Doctor J, he had never had the time of permission.
The pilots grinned when they saw the expression of wonder on Heero's face. They watched as he slowly took a step forward and then another, hesitant on going in. Duo stepped forward and bowed in front of Heero before linking his right arm with Heero's left and holding out another to Wufei.
Wufei stared at the arm and smirked at duo before linking his right with Duo's left and holding out and arm to Trowa. Trowa and Quatre followed suit and they all walked in together.
A couple of hours later found the pilots struggling to carry all the prizes they had won. They had all won at a stall where if you came in first you could come back an hour later and pick up a hand made doll of yourself. The only thing that they didn't know was that the dolls were life sized.
The pilots had just arrived back to pick up their dolls and stared in awe as the man pulled out a life sized Heero.
"AH! I want it!" Screamed Duo as he snatched the Heero plushie from the man and glomped it.
"Duo!" Heero protested "That's mine!"
"Oh! Please Heero? Pretty please?" the braided man begged "I mean look! It even has the frown and messy bangs!"
Heero sighed and waved his hand in a gesture of defeat.
"Go on then"
Duo jumped around like a lunatic pulling the poor plush Heero with him. As the man pulled up the Wufei doll, said Chinese pilot quickly grabbed his plush and looked at it with judging eyes. After a short moment he turned to Quatre and Trowa.
"Is my face really that fat?" he asked embarrassed
"No Fei" Quate replied as he rolled his eyes "It's a plush, it's meant to be plump!"
"Oh" Wufei replied hugging his plush
Next a Duo plush was pulled out and Heero took it in his arms before dropping his hold to the braid and dragging the plush along by it.
"Hey!" Duo protested "That doll is a work of art!"
Heero snorted and few other people in the crowd watching chuckled. When Trowa and Quatre received their own respective plush's, they looked at each other before trading with a smile.
The other three pilots rolled their eyes. They all knew that the two were together in secret, but when they would admit it was a mystery.
A couple more hours passed and the boys were still walking along, happily chatting about random things. That was until Duo noticed the strained look on Heero's features.
"Ro?" he called "You okay?"
"Yeah" Heero replied
Duo eyed him warily, but from what he could tell, Heero was only out breath, which wasn't too uncommon – they had been walking a while after all.
"You want to sit down for a while?"
"No, I'm good"
Duo shrugged and slowed down his pace a little so that he was next to Heero. Midnight had long since passed now and the boys were seated in a gazebo watching the stars. Their attention was pulled away when a harsh cough rang through the air and all eyes turned to Heero.
"You okay Yuy?" Wufei asked
There was no reply and Heero's bangs were covering his eyes. The pilots looked at each other worriedly before turning back to their friend.
"Heero?" Quatre called "Are you okay?"
"… I … I'm not … sure …" Heero replied with a croaky voice
"What wrong man?" Duo asked as he scooted closer
"I don't feel so good … I … haven't all day …"
"What? Why didn't you tell us?" Wufei asked angrily
"I didn't want to … ruin … the fun … … … sorry …"
Duo placed a hand on Heero's forehead and quickly pulled it back.
"We better go guys" he stated "He's pretty hot"
Duo helped Heero to his feet and Wufei assisted. Before long they arrived home and helped Heero into bed. They knew he would be fine and just needed sleep – but why hadn't they noticed sooner?
"Heero's a pretty good actor" Trowa whispered as they left Heero's room "I had no idea he was feeling unwell"
"Oh me God it spoke!" Duo joked
Soft laughter and a few raspy coughs followed the joke and the pilots smiled. They walked downstairs and sat in the lounge. Quatre opened his mouth to speak when a buzzing caught everybody's attention.
Quatre jumped up and grabbed his mobile from his back pocket before flipping it open.
"Winner" he spoke into the phone "… Lady Une? … … Yes … yes … but … I understand … okay … yes … I see … we'll be there … yes ma'am … understood … no … no problem … goodbye"
Quatre hung up the phone and turned sad sea-blue eyes on his friends.
"We have to leave first thing in the morning" he sighed "We're needed back at the base"
"B-but what about Heero!" Duo objected "WE still have another week of holiday left with him"
"I'm sorry Duo" the young blonde apologised "It's not a request, it's an order, there's been another terrorist attack"
"When are we expected back?"
"We have to leave first thing tomorrow morning, to be there for the evening"
The pilots looked at each other sadly and sat back n their chairs.
"What are we going to tell Heero?" Wufei asked sadly
"You don't need to tell me – I heard" Heero replied from the stairs.
Four pairs of shocked eyes turned to look at the Japanese man. Heero smiled sadly at them as two tears fell from his eyes.
"We'll pack now and then we'll have more time in the morning" Heero stated "I'll run you to the airport and see you off okay?"
The pilot nodded and moved to comfort their friend. Heero accepted their offer of comfort and relaxed as they shared their second group hug.
"I love you guys" he whispered "I know you'll come back and I'll be waiting for you"
They broke apart and set off to pack their belongings. Heero watched with teary eyes.
"Well buddy" Duo grinned "We're here!"
Heero blearily looked at the hospital. He had just woken up and was still sleepy.
"Here we go" Duo whispered as he took a deep breath "Please let this work"
They all entered the hospital.
Heero's finally having the operation guys! And look the 'accident' is getting closer and closer – if you look back at chapter 1 you'll see it happened at the airport coz Quatre was in a plane!
Not long to go now! Please review?