Chapter Warnings:

A Grand Affair

Chapter Nine: Review to Reality

Heero opened his eyes and surveyed the scene around him. This backdrop was all too familiar. He dreamt about this kind of battlefield often. A battlefield riddled with debris and tragedy after an unsatisfying, indecisive fight. He sat in Wing Zero looking frantically for something among the debris. This is where the dream stayed all the time. Searching. Always, desperately searching. But for what? He knew if he saw it he'd know. Hovering above all the wreckage he sought something familiar. His palms were sweaty on the controls as his eyes combed every square inch. His heart was beating faster than in the heat of battle he felt an odd pain in his chest he had rarely experienced before. He was nervous and anxious above all else which, in turn, worried him that at last something had gotten under his ironclad skin. But what? What was it he was searching for?

A lone suit hovered above a grave and occasionally Heero would linger in one place more than another. He'd backtrack; feel as though he'd missed something. Still, it was all just a blur of metal and blood. And then, one piece of metal stood out from the rest.

It was the first time in Heero's life the dream had continued past its original point of endless searching and lack of fulfillment.

He saw Deathscythe lying, face towards the sky, scythe still in hand, motionless. The pain in his chest tightened and a single hand left a controller to touch the muscle over the left side of his chest. His heart was thudding in his ears, a rhythm that seemed to drive him frantically forward. The insistent beat got Wing Zero to the ground and Heero out onto the body of Deathscythe.

He was hoping desperately. The nervousness in him caused him to feel sick as he reached to open the hatch of the cockpit. His dream had never led him this far and he feared to see this vision turn into a nightmare. As he threw the hatch open he heard the barest sound of a cough. It was thick and strangled over some kind of liquid.

"Hey man," the signature husky voice greeted him in from the shadowy depths of the cockpit. "Didn't leave me for—cough—dead after all."

Heero's mind was reeling at the memory. This wasn't a dream! This was a memory. His mind was at last able to replay the one scene in his life he chose never to look back on. The single day that had changed his entire life. This was the pivotal day. When had he constructed a wall to block this out?

Against Heero's will, the memory of Heero spoke out as he had years ago. "I thought you were death," he spoke unemotionally though there was a slight rasp to it. As Heero reached into the cockpit, he could see a pale hand reach out to meet his halfway.

The moment their hands touched Heero knew what had finally slipped past his icy blockade. The Angel of Death himself. Heero's hand gripped Duo's firmly and his heart jumped out of elation and out of worry for the loosely returned embrace.

"Leave me here, buddy," Duo whispered in a rough voice. "I think I'll wish you luck and—cough—be on my way."

And right there. That was the moment. Heero's dark, stormy blue eyes met cobalt ones and he knew, that very instant, that if this fellow pilot died, all reason and all purpose would fall from Heero's existence—his world. When had the braided comic been able to take such control? Was it his endless patience? His never-dying friendship? His unwavering humor? His bottomless empathy? When had Heero, at last, begun to speak to the Shinigami in confidence? A year ago perhaps… In darkness, as sleep was just about to take them blissfully away.

Heero always thought it was because, out of the four other pilots, Duo was just the easiest to live with and that's why he chose to spend most of his time with the young and wryly optimistic man. But looking at Duo now, it had nothing to do with how tolerable he was compared to the other Gundam pilots. Duo represented Heero's last thread of hope. His last thread of reason to continue. If Duo died and the war ended what would Heero have?

Nothing.

And the seemingly endless wars, revolts and uprisings would end someday as they all did. So if he followed his logical conclusion through to the end, what did that really leave him with? Duo. And that was it. All he had in this world was the man dying below him.

"No." No, he would not leave Duo. No, he would not let him die. No, he would not let a cheap and insignificant battle take this man away from him or the world. No, this was not the end.

Heero's grip slid down to grasp Duo's wrist and he pulled the man up, out of the cockpit and into his arms. Duo was a mess. The violet-eyed youth had been the first into battle and Heero instantly blamed himself for not coming soon enough. Heero held Duo close to him as he looked down at the man who continued to smile weakly, though his eyes were closed in pain.

"No? Yeah, figures," he managed in a bare thread of a voice. "You don't need the luck anyways—cough—why wish it for you?"

Heero wanted to kill something. What was the fool trying to accomplish? Was he going to attempt joking his way up to heaven?

"I don't need luck," Heero affirmed as he gingerly carried Duo back to Wing Zero. He couldn't stop looking down at his loyal companion. He felt an obstruction in his throat, as though his body was trying its hardest to stop his mind from speaking. "I need you."

Through the pain, Duo's eyes snapped open and he looked hard into Heero's eyes. There was no humor anymore. In fact, Duo had never appeared grimmer in his life.

"W-what do you mean?" he rasped, demanding even in his weak state.

As Heero tried to open his mouth and answer, Duo's eyes began to flutter. Those purplish-blue eyes lost their focus and the slightest trail of blood began to slip from the corner of his mouth.

"I love you," Heero murmured frantically.

But Duo's body had already gone limp and his eyes had fallen into the back of his head. The trail of blood slid lifelessly down his jaw and on a slim neck, the braided head tilted back into a morbid position.

(O)(O)(O)

Heero's eyes shot open and he jerked awake. His heart was on fire and his blood was flowing through him like a large tidal wave. He moved to sit but resting on his chest was his motionless lover. Heero foolishly brought two fingers up to the man's pulse and felt it beating slowly, strongly. A sigh of relief fell from Heero's chest and out of his mouth. He had tried to forget that day since it had happened. Granted, he hadn't told Duo he'd loved him; somehow that part of the memory did turn into a dream. But the realization that his only purpose in life lay in his arms at this moment caused him to hold tighter.

Duo shifted in Heero's arms, murmuring the man's name in his sleep as one of his long, slim legs slid over the blue-eyed man's to entwine them further. Heero felt Duo's naked body alive against his and he caressed the warm flesh under his palms; a sign of life.

Duo stirred as he groggily came into consciousness. "You okay?" he mumbled.

"I'm fine. Go back to sleep," Heero said firmly though there was no hiding the trace of tenderness in his voice.

"M'kay." Duo supplemented the consent with a small kiss to Heero's bare chest before settling himself back in. He nuzzled further into the warmth of Heero's body before a rush of air left his body and his breathing all at once slowed.

Heero smirked. He was the farthest thing from a soldier but he had always fallen asleep like one, the withdrawn man thought as he closed his eyes again.

(O)(O)(O)

"God damn."

Heero used the monitor as a mirror to look behind him. Duo was futilely trying to sit up to eat. He had refused Heero's help a moment ago and now was the part where Heero waited in agony watching Duo suffer from a lack of independence and a loss of dignity.

Duo was breathing hard and gritting his teeth to block out the pain. He would do this on his own! He was not some poor, helpless child. He was an eighteen-year old man for Christ's sake.

"Shit," he cursed again, as though the only way he could exhale was by swearing.

After a few moments of struggling, Duo fell back against the bed with a sharp hiss. "Fuck," he exhaled again.

That word was usually Duo's word of defeat and Heero's cue to come to his aid. But Heero remained at his laptop, though his hands were motionless on the keys. Duo closed his eyes out of frustration and ran a shaky hand through his bangs before blowing them out of his face.

"I'd like to thank you for saving me but I just can't right now," he growled.

"I didn't save you for you," Heero pointed out sharply.

This silenced Duo and evened out his temper. Thinking back to last week seemed to have that effect on him. "That's right," he replied softly, all anger gone from his voice.

Heero swiveled around in his chair and with one push, was at Duo's bedside, reaching for the bowl of soup.

"This is so degrading," he murmured, nearly sounding dejected.

"No," Heero tried to argue in a quiet voice. He held a spoonful up to Duo's lips. The man, reclining on many pillows accepted the nourishment. "It shouldn't be."

"If you ever wondered what it was like to have a baby, now you know," Duo pointed out. Heero fancied that Duo was actually pouting.

"Hardly. It is far easier to understand your vocalized wants than a baby's."

This nearly caused Duo to choke. Heero had never believed in or used humor. And Duo was sure that's what had just happened. It was a bit dry and a little weak but…still…

"Yeah, I guess it isn't everyday you hear a baby spit out oaths."

"It isn't everyday I hear you swear either. There's no need for it. If you just relax and let yourself heal, you'll be back to normal in no time."

"Normal? What is normal? Fighting, taking orders, deciding who lives and who dies? Maybe I'm trying to draw this out. When I recover we're back to soldiers."

"We?" Heero echoed.

"Yes, when you don't have to care for me anymore that's all we are. Two soldiers surviving together."

"I thought we were friends," Heero replied, setting the half-empty bowl down.

Duo lowered his eyes. "I can't lie to you, Heero, above anyone else."

"Then, don't," Heero urged in an even voice. Despite his cool exterior, he felt giddy and nervous inside. He felt a huge confession coming on.

"You said you saved me because you needed me. What did you mean by that?"

Heero sat back, not having expected the confession to turn around on him. "Just that," he answered vaguely.

Duo sighed aloud. "Am I always going to have to guess around you?"

Heero had no answer for that.

Duo sighed again. "I guess so," he answered himself. "Heero, man, I never lied to you when I said you meant the world to me but somehow, you didn't quite get the gravity of that statement when I said it." Duo added, "And don't get all wise ass on me saying that we were in space when I said that."

"No," Heero consented, waiting for Duo to continue.

"Heero, when I was in that cockpit, all I could think about was you. What could have happened to us when all this ended? Would we end up in this apartment together, friends, maybe more than that? I wondered and I was so mad that I would never know. That I would never find out."

Heero swallowed hard. Hesitantly he began, "I had always planned to kill myself or get killed during my last battle. Life had no other meaning to it then. Until…you. You keep me alive," Heero fought to confess. "If I had let you die, I would have no future," Heero said it simply, though he couldn't meet Duo's gaze.

When at last he found the courage to, Duo had the barest hint of a smile on his face.

"You know what?" he murmured. Heero remained silent. Waited. Duo's smile grew wider. "That's close enough for me," he replied before he pulled Heero down and pressed his lips against the other's unsuspecting ones. The kiss was gentle, undemanding and infinitely tender. Heero felt his stomach knot and saw little white spots behind his eyes when he closed them. He had never understood why two people wanted to touch mouths to each other until now. The feeling was beyond comfort or attraction or belonging.

Duo let his head fall back against the pillow as he broke the kiss slowly and looked up at Heero to see if he had, for once, guessed correctly.

Heero's eyes were clouded over as he struggled to focus on Duo from his usually detached point of view. But it was impossible. He wasn't unattached from Duo anymore. And he never would be. Not from this moment on.

"Please, don't just sit there," Duo murmured nervously. "My blood pressure's high; you're going to give me a heart attack."

Heero couldn't find words. Were there supposed to be words in such a revelation? He opened his mouth as though to speak but his mind couldn't supply the lexis. So, he closed it and for the first time in his life, threw caution to the wind. He leaned forward and kissed Duo hesitantly but with feeling.

(O)(O)(O)

Duo groaned as he heard a loud knock on the door. Instantly, he remembered where he was and shot up in the bed. Heero was sitting up slower next to him. Duo slipped into his boxers and silently motioned that he'd be in the bathroom. Their immediate response to hide their relationship took over as they were caught unaware.

Throwing on a t-shirt and boxers from the floor, Heero made his way to the door, barely out of the haze of his last dream. Whoever had woke him up from his was about to get a piece of his mind.

As he opened the door a very anxious looking Millardo stood outside the door, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

"What is it?" Heero demanded, running a hand over his face to wake him up.

"We got the DNA sample we wanted," Millardo said in a cautious voice.

"And?" Heero continued for the wavering man.

"And, not only is this man not the father, this man is not the real Antonio Verducci. The guy locked up downstairs is a decoy. Employed by Verducci."

Heero didn't react at all. He simply nodded as though he knew.

"Well?" Millardo demanded. "Any thoughts?" Did the man not just hear what he said?

"Yes, for one, I'm moving out today with Duo. We're going back to the apartment and I'm going to be filling out those divorce papers. Second, I want you to release that man. We can't use him for anything; Verducci wouldn't expose himself for a pawn. Third, do not restrict any media attention that comes my way."

"Heero, you cannot just abandon ship here because you've had enough of hiding."

"I don't abandon ships, Marquis," Heero retorted in a curt voice. "The media attention was not for my sake."

This stopped Millardo and he physically seemed to back down.

"I don't understand. How can the media help us in this?"

Heero smirked as Duo timidly stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed and approached Millardo. "We did, actually, have a productive conversation last night," Duo defended himself. "Do you remember how this started?"

"Yeah, the press released the doctor's statement saying she was pregnant."

"Why would a doctor who has hid every family secret of yours, suddenly give away the one thing that would benefit him least?" Duo asked.

"He was forced to," Heero supplied for Millardo. "Enter Antonio Verducci. Young man jumping the fence into politics at the command of his superiors. He's ambitious but there's no money in it for him."

"We tapped into his bank account last night, something we should have thought of sooner," Duo continued.

"He's near broke," Heero cuts in.

"So he asks for a favor," Heero continues. "From the Italian side of his employment and he agrees, as his peers have done in the past, that if he supplies the greatest scandal of all time, he gets a cut from the media portion. It's one of their top revenues. And on top of that, he can blackmail Relena all he wants to keep his name a secret and thus keep her name as clean as it possibly can be after the media attack."

"We never liked her but her behavior was too extreme," Duo pointed out.

"Whenever I spoke to her she might have sounded defensive but that sounds almost identical to fear," Heero also contributed.

Millardo blinked several times. This was definitely not what he had expected to hear. He was waiting for something along the lines of anger, denial, sorrow…

"So, you knew that wasn't Verducci?"

"When Relena continued to fight once the man was cuffed that's when the red light went off," Duo explained. "If that had been Verducci as we thought, she would have been free. It shocked me that she wasn't relieved or angry at him. She was still angry at me."

"So you two stayed up all night and on a hunch conceived all this…" Millardo began skeptically.

Duo smirked. "We can't conceive much else."

"Once we found the bank account, we dismissed it as a hunch," Heero reasoned.

Millardo sighed heavily. It was a crime to separate those two under any circumstance. It was typical to put them together and an hour later have any mystery solved with several options for the Preventers to choose from.

"I don't know how you two do it," Millardo groaned.

Duo's eyes sparkled devilishly. "Well, it's not all that different from—oohf!"

Heero retracted his elbow and shrugged at Millardo. "You have to remember, we were once the bad guys. We understand him to a certain degree."

The Perfect Soldier voice was slowly creeping into Heero's tone. Millardo smirked at this.

"Then your mission is to hunt down the real Antonio Verducci and bring him to me personally."

Something pulled at the corner of Heero's mouth and he almost felt like laughing as he replied, "Mission accepted."

(O)(O)(O)

AN: hehehehehe, that was fun. There was a little something for you romantics, a little something for you comics and a little something for you action-seekers. The dynamic duo (no pun intended…) are back in action and you're just going to have to wait and see what happens next! No more moping around ;). Please, tell me what you think. I really hope that wasn't too corny for you but I needed to lighten the situation a little. So, please review if you liked it, and let me know what you think. School starts Monday so if you keep reviewing me and supplying me with that motivation I can assure you that this story will not be abandoned. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next! Thank you SO MUCH to the following reviewers: Patty 40, A. Minamino, camillian, Nikkler, datanali, stratagirl, Qualmi-chan, Modified Tam, Madwren, RosefaerietaleRed, Animouse03, lina, and Red Phoniex!