The Forsaken
Chapter Twelve
Glancing briefly at the clock after being awoken by bright sunlight Duo registered it was a quarter to seven. Frank would be home in fifteen minutes. He moaned as he did not want to leave the warmth of his 'bed'. He closed his eyes again and took a deep, content breath as he snuggled closer to the radiator of his warmth, he figured it was the blanket, till he bumped his knee into something that was definitely not the back of the couch. His eyes shot open and was faced with Heero, who was still lying next to him. He rolled his eyes as he remembered last night, how could he forget? Was this not something he had always dreamed of, sleeping next to Heero, waking up next to Heero. He looked at the other pilot and noted with a frown that he was already awake and staring at him. The sun made his skin pale and his eyes an even intenser shade of blue. Before drowning into those depthless pools he forced himself to snap out of it and he grinned at Heero.
'Goodmorning.'
'Goodmorning.'
'How long have you been awake?'
Heero shrugged and looked away 'A while.'
He couldn't help but smirk at the thought that Heero had been watching him. He just hoped he hadn't drooled... that would be embarrassing. He stretched, feeling joints pop with a somewhat satisfying feeling. He yawned one last time before declaring: 'We should get out.'
'Hn.'
Duo smiled goofily as he noticed Heero's reluctance to get out of bed. 'Come on sleepyhead.' He jumped off the couch and pulled Heero along with him.
'Goodmorning.'
They turned to find Trowa watching them from his seat near the frontdoor, his expression was thoughtful. 'Goodmorning.' They replied as one.
Trowa nodded and got out of his seat, placing the chair back at the dining table to prevent Frank from noticing their distrust. His next stop was Quatre's bed, he checked his temperature and his pulse.
'How's he doing?'
'The same...' Trowa let out with in a sigh.
'Well, he'll be fine, we'll be in the city soon.' He looked around at the others 'We'll all be fine.'
'Since when did you turn back into the optimist?' WuFei, who was just crawling out of bed, asked.
Duo felt his cheeks burn at the memory of his little, no major breakdown. It was just hard to distinguish what his real feeling were as he had been cloaking up his true emotions for so long with an ever present smile. Well, he might have been pessimistic about their chances before but now he saw things a little brighter, after all, they had showered, slept in a real bed, well, most of them and soon they would be out of here. What could go wrong? Rescue was certain in his eyes. Nothing but a fingerlength away.
They all whipped around when the frontdoor quietly opened. Taking their stance ready to defend themselves as military instincts kicked in.
The door opened and Frank revealed himself. When he noticed they were all awake he called cheerfully: 'Goodmorning!'
Duo was the only one to respond 'Good morning.' He just figured he had been quiet because he didn't want to wake him up. Of course the others have different ideas about him sneaking in.
'Are you guys hungry? I make a mean omelet.' Frank said with pride as he shed his raincoat and his extra sweater. He hurriedly went to the kitchen and started cooking.
Though Heero was normally not one to look for company, for he wasn't the best of company himself, Heero offered to help him with preparing breakfast. Frank accepted 'Hailey's' help gratefully, not realising Heero only wanted to help so he could check which ingedients went into Frank's 'mean omelet'.
Duo appointed himself with the task of setting the table. But there was no moving WuFei nor Trowa. WuFei plopped down on the couch Duo and Heero had slept on, probably angry because his vision was still too poor for him to be of any help and Trowa remained nailed at Quatre's side.
'You can try give him some milk.' Frank said, handing Trowa a glass of said white liquid. 'It's the best we can get into him.'
Trowa nodded and served the cold milk to Quatre's lips. After a few moments of struggling and coaxing, he got the blonde swallowing most of the content of the glass. Fluids were the only thing that they could get succesfully into him.
'Mwuhahaha, behold my master piece!' Frank said with a strange voice that made Duo smile as the man filled all five plates with a large, very nicely smelling, omelet.
At seeing Heero's curt nod, it was okay to eat it, so none of them wasted any time and dug in. Table manners were set aside as Frank also didn't bother with etiquette.
'You are right, that was a masterpiece!' Duo called out conetnly, rubbing his belly through his shirt after eating the omelet in record time. He and Frank were the only one that already finished the food. WuFei and Trowa were almost done but Heero had more difficulty as breathing through his nose did not bring enough oxygen to his battered lungs and he refused to chew with his mouth open, even though Duo honestly wouldn't mind. Those things seized to matter after sleeping in mud, trees and eating beans out of a can with your dirty fingers, happily licking off the mud as well that had absorbed the taste of the beans. They seized to matter after walking around in the same underwear for over a week and stealing dusty, ugly clothes but wearing them gratefully.
Yeah, but try getting that into Yuy's thick skull.
He just settled for taking a break after each mouthful, sucking in as much as possible.
'You okay son?' Frank asked and laying a hand on Heero's shoulders.
Of course Heero pulled away and he nodded, a plain lie but no one commented on it. Knowing very well Heero did not like having his weaknesses pointed out for him and angering him would not help his condition.
'Frank, I was wondering if you would mind leaving for the city today, instead of tomorrow. Our friend really needs to go to a hospital.' Trowa said.
Frank looked thoughtful 'well, that's a possibility but we'll only be able to leave halfway through the day because it does take some preparing. Ya know, packing a tent and all, it usually takes me two and a half days to get there.'
'That's alright, but we can leave today, we can help with the preparations.'
'Yes, we can leave today, but I really need no help, no offence but I know my way around and you guys would only be in my way.' He rose from his seat 'If you guys clear the table I'll go get the engine of the jeep started and pack our necessities.' With that he left through the frontdoor.
'Don't say it.' Duo said before Heero could open his mouth to comment on the fact that it was strange he didn't want their help and that he was suddenly so eager to leave the house. 'We have to remember that this guy is helping us out a lot, okay?'
'That might be but it's nice to have an escape plan in case he is who I fear he is... Before we leave I want to check the tires.'
'Why?'
'Remember the tire tracks we saw next to body pit? If the print is a match we should seriosuly think of a way to overpower him.'
They nodded in agreement, though Duo was a bit reluctant even though his body had steeled at the remembrance of the tracks. He had really gotten to like Frank, even though they barely knew him there seemed to be nothing wrong with the guy. But maybe that was just him being TOO optimistic. He just hated the fact that as a soldier there was no one they could trust... he reckoned that, if not afraid, he would be sad to find out Frank was the murderer, he had a personality that resembled his own...
In silence they cleaned the dishes, Heero didn't help, he said in one of the chairs staring into thin air, probably planning battle strategies in case Frank could not be trusted.
Once done with the dishes they sat down next to Heero and waited for his conclusion.
'Duo, I want you to sit up front, you are relatively in the best shape, so you'll be the first line of defense. Trowa will sit in the middle in the back with me and WuFei on either side, Quatre can lay in our laps. If something happens and Duo is unable to take over the wheel from Frank, Trowa grabs Quatre and we jump out okay? No matter how fast the car is going. Duo, it's your job to get his gun, which I assume he'll take with him.'
'Then what?'
'If you have the gun we shoot Frank.'
Duo swallowed he didn't feel like killing him, though he was sure he would be capable if he was SURE Frank was responsible for all the death in that pit. But for some reason he didn't feel like it would go that far, he trusted frank, maybe because he was so much like him, so outgoing.
'If we shoot we must remember not to damage the car, because that's our ticket to freedom.'
'If the tires match, shouldn't we just overpower him immediately?'
'It's best to wait till we're in the car, give him the illusion that we don't know. That gives us the element of surprise. Also he can't hold the gun while steering.'
They nodded. So, the plan had been made but they couldn't help but feel nervous. Gundam pilots or not, they were facing a six foot tall big guy with a gun...
At two O'clock Frank came into the house and they all looked up hopeful, thinking it was time to leave, but instead, Frank had a job for them. Outside a tent was laid out flat on the ground, next to was a blue bag.
'You have to fold the cavas and put it in that bag, along with the supports.'
That was an easy job for a gundam pilot and they were finished within half an hour, despite the fact that it was a big tent and only a small bag in comparison. Once done Duo could feel Heero's anxiety to walk to the shed next to the house and check the tires. As he saw his partner moving towards it, he joined in, he signaled the others to stay behind.
Duo felt his heart pumping frantically as they neared the shed. Parked inside was a large, roofless white jeep and Frank was rummaging through a crate next to it.
'Can we help out?' Duo asked, blocking Franks view to give Heero the ability to inspect the tires unseen.
Frank looked up startled but his face quickly wore a smile 'No, I got it all covered. We'll be able to leave in less than hour.'
'You got the jeep working? I'm good with cars ya know.' Duo pointed out with a smile and leaned against the white jeep.
Frank shook his head and rose, a little out of breath, 'Nope, everything is fine, I didn't expect it to work after not being used for so long but she purred like a kitten.'
Duo nodded, taking in his sweaty form he had already noticed when he came to ask them for help. If the car worked just fine, what had he been doing that made him sweat so much? His eyes never wavered towards suspicious as he kept a friendly smile. 'So, what have ya all packed?'
'Some food and a few jerrycans with water... a spare tire... the tent... that's about it.'
Again Duo didn't comment on the fact that that could have been done in a total of an hour, while he had been busy from eight in the morning till two in the afternoon. Suspicious... he groaned inwardly, he really didn't want Frank to be a bad guy. When he was old he wanted to look back at this war and say to his grandchildren, if he ever got those being bisexual edging towards homosexual: 'Well, us Gundam pilots didn't do all of it ourselves ya know. We met a lot of nice people who helped us out a lot. We wouldn't have made it if not for them.' Thusfar Hilde was the only person on that list. He didn't even concider putting Relena on it.
He looked back, peeking behind the jeep where Heero had crouched down, but now his friend was no where in sight. Nodding to himself he turned back to Frank. 'Well, if you need no help I might as well stop bothering you.'
Frank nodded and watched Duo retreat.
'And?' Duo asked after coming back into the house and finding Heero sitting on the couch, looking a bit dazed and hopeless.
'The tires don't match.' He breathed out.
'Well, I did find something suspicious. It took him six hours to pack some food and water, how weird is that?'
WuFei nodded 'That left him with five hours to pick his nose...'
'He said we'd be ready to leave in less than an hour.'
Heero rose and walked towards the front door 'I'm going to snoop around. If Frank comes in say I'm in the bathroom, I'll climb back in through the bathroom window.'
Duo merely nodded and watched Heero go. He still prayed they all had it wrong but despite the tires, thus far things weren't looking good for Franks credibility.