Chapter Seven

Inner Workings of a Soldiers Heart

The morning passed in silence. Heero wondered if it was because everyone was feeling awkward, or if it was because everyone had a hangover; either way, he welcomed it. As noon grew nearer, people slowly began communicating again, Quatre being the first. He was still full of whatever energy Trowa had given him and it was starting to spread. Duo slowly became more alert and even Trowa was joking with them. Wufei hadn't been seen all morning and the ex-pilots assumed he was still with his wife. Nura, Adianna and Ryo made their way down stairs just after one; all with hair askew and sleep filled eyes. Duo smiled when he saw them, grateful that his hangover had passed by the time they joined him.

"Hey kiddo's!" He smirked and beckoned the children to him. "You sleep okay?"

Adianna, who seemed to be the most awake of them all, smiled and nodded. "Yup! Fun!" She giggled while Ryo climbed sleepily into his fathers lap.

"Good," Duo smiled and patted the seat next to him where Adianna struggled to climb into.

Trowa smiled as Nura approached him and rested her head on his knee. "I hope you three didn't have too much fun. You all look exhausted."

Nura nodded and looked up. "We heard something last night."

All four men present tensed, their war instincts reacting.

"What did you hear?" Trowa asked, leaning to look her in the eye.

Nura thought for a moment and placed her finger to her chin. "It was like…banging."

Trowa's face went white. "…banging?"

She nodded and turned to Adianna and Ryo. "They heard it too." She pointed.

Duo turned to them. "Did you hear banging last night, kids?"

Adianna nodded and Ryo dug his face into Duo's stomach. "Yes, Daddy!" She said happily. "It did…" She thought about it a moment and then jumped from the couch and ran over to the dining room chair. "It did this!" She said and began to bang the chair against the table. Nura nodded matter-of-factly and pointed to her.

"Yeah, it did that. Just like that."

All four men felt the color drain from their faces and Quatre grew bright red shortly after. Heero froze mid word in the book he was reading and Duo looked faint. Trowa leaned over to Nura and smoothed her dark hair. "It's okay, Honey. I'm sure it was nothing."

"But it was loud!" She protested and Quatre actually squeaked in embarrassment.

"And there was sounds!" Adianna pronounced, rejoining Duo and Ryo.

Duo swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "S-sounds?"

She nodded. "Like this…" She began imitating the sounds from the night and they suspiciously sounded like moans. Duo lunged forward and covered his daughter's mouth, his ears burning red. Trowa and Quatre exchanged looks of embarrassment and Trowa turned back to his daughter.

"Uhh…I think you and I need to talk." He stood and took Nura by the hand. He turned to Quatre and motioned that he should join them and together the three walked out of the room, leaving Duo and Heero staring at the two little three-year-olds.

Duo looked up and met Heero's eyes, pleading. Heero shrugged and returned to his book.

"It was nothing." Heero said coldly.

Adianna, as thought just realizing he was there, walked over to him. "You sure?" She asked suspiciously.

Heero hid a smirk. She was more like her father than he thought. He closed his book and stood up. Shooting a glare at Duo he nodded. "Yes, I'm sure." He turned and left the room without another word.

Duo sighed and looked at his children with a forced smile. "Yeah, he's right. It's nothing to worry about." He kissed their foreheads. "Come on, I'll get you some lunch." He said and picked them both up carrying them to the kitchen.

Whatever Trowa and Quatre told Nura, it seemed to satisfy her because when she came out of their bedroom she was happy and carefree like any child should be. Adianna and Ryo were distracted too much by the food to ask any more about the nightly sounds they heard and so everyone felt pretty safe about the whole situation. Quatre seemed even happier than he was at the reunion and was practically floating around the safe house. Trowa remained his usual self but exchanged more glances at the young blond than was deemed necessary. Heero couldn't take all of the happiness in the house and had left to train.

Always the soldier, Heero walked out to his old shooting range to practice. He had constructed this range during the war when he and the others were forced to hide here after destroying an OZ base. Several hay bails were set up for the targets with thick sheets of Gundanium on the other side so the bullets wouldn't fly through the other side. Heero approached the bails and ran his fingers over the medal. This was the last bit of Gundanium in the world. The pieces of their Gundams had all been melted down and destroyed, it having been too dangerous to keep around. He remembered these pieces too. They had been part of Wing Zero after he was damaged. These pieces were no longer needed to Heero decided to put them to use.

He sighed at the memory before letting loose a barrage of bullets into the hay bails. As usual, his aim was perfect and, as usual, it didn't get rid of the gnawing feeling in his gut that something wasn't right. He remembered that feeling happening a lot during the war only this time it was different. This time it didn't involve his physical life…it involved his emotional life. That was a part of his life that he wasn't used to dealing with. The minute he had started to let go and admit his feelings to the one person that mattered, it blew up in his face. Another barrage of bullets into the hay bails answered the question he wouldn't voice. He would not let his emotional wall down again. Not if it meant loosing another loved one; that was something he wasn't willing to sacrifice.

After several more bullet storms, Heero had finally exhausted his supply. He looked down and cursed himself for using them all. Now, if they were attacked, he wouldn't have his weapon of choice. He bent down and gathered the empty casings and walked back into the house through the garage entrance, tossing the casings in the trash as he went. It was already let afternoon and the sun was just beginning to set. Inside, he found Wufei carefully feeding Jun something that looked like soup. Heero was glad to see her up and about, though he had no doubt of her recovery; Wufei was one of the best in first aid. Duo was over in the corner teaching his children how to play Chutes and Ladders ("No, Adi, chutes mean you go down." "But I climb slides all the time!" "Well…these are different." "Why?" "Because they are!") and Trowa was sitting talking to Quatre with Nura flipping through a children's book on his lap. Heero smirked. It seemed that Nura was quite comfortable with Quatre. Heero made a mental note to speak with them later about their "relationship" but now, he was sweaty and dirty; he needed a shower. He walked past the group, ignoring their questioning stares and stalked into the bathroom that connected his and Duo's room. He paused when he entered and stared at the door leading to Duo's room.

How could he have been so drunk that he couldn't walk a few feet to put Duo into his own bed? Was he really that out of it? Or did part of him want to sleep with Duo? He shook that thought from his head and reached over to start the water. Steam began filling the room as Heero undressed and tossed his clothes down his chute to the basement. Long ago, Quatre had put five chutes in his safe houses, each with the name of a pilot on it, so they wouldn't get their clothes confused (he did this after a very embarrassing incident where Duo ended up with Quatre's underwear and proudly paraded through the house with them on his head asking who they belonged to).

Stepping into the hot water, Heero sighed, letting the water work out the kinks in his muscles. He wasn't sure what was happening with his head, but he knew that he had to put a stop to it before he lost control again. He couldn't let that happen.

Not again…He thought, …Not again…