A/N: I think I've beaten off my writer's block for the moment. I hope the next update doesn't take 6 months...

Chapter 64

"I thought you would have brought Cathy with you," Quatre said as he let Trowa into Kiri's room.

"I did. She has a session with the psychiatrist."

"Ah, yes. Colonel Une ordered her to get help for her PTSD before returning to the circus," Quatre mused to himself. Turning to Trowa, he said, "Kiri's been asleep the entire time. I'll see you later."

Trowa frowned at Quatre's odd behavior but shook his head and shut the door. Quatre was definitely up to something but what it was was anyone's guess. Trowa pulled the chair closer to the bed before settling himself into it. He gently rubbed Kiri's arm, wondering if she would awaken soon. He sincerely hoped he was on guard when she did because he wanted to make sure she was okay without an audience.

He grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels on the television, trying to find something to help pass the time. A soft rustle from the bed caught his attention. He turned off the television and watched Kiri.

Kiri's face scrunched as she shifted in an attempt to get comfortable. He watched as she opened her right eye and, after a moment, reached up to her left eye and felt the bandages. She frowned and Trowa could see she was confused. He decided to let her know he was in the room.

"You had us worried," Trowa said softly.

Kiri turned to look at him. She still seemed a little out of it but Trowa didn't care. He was so relieved that she was awake that he pulled her into a hug and held her tightly.

"Thank you, for saving Cathy," he whispered. "I…I know that wasn't easy for you."

Trowa was trying so hard to keep himself together that he was shaking. He hoped Kiri wouldn't notice. He didn't want her to think something was wrong. The thought of everything that could have gone wrong with that whole operation made him sick to his stomach. Cathy had been kidnapped. She could have been violated. Kiri had been violated. Cathy could have been turned over to Decart. Kiri had nearly been taken back to Decart. Cathy got hurt. Kiri got hurt. Cathy could have died. Kiri could have died. Trowa could have lost one or both of them. He wasn't sure he could handle that.

"Y-You're…w-welcome," Kiri whispered softly. So softly that Trowa almost missed it.

The shock of Kiri finally speaking pulled him from his gloomy thoughts and made Trowa hold her at arm's length to stare at her.

"Are you…ready to start talking then?" Trowa couldn't believe it. He almost thought he'd imagined it.

Kiri suddenly looked scared and bit her lip. She shook her head.

Trowa hugged her again. He hated that she still thought she was in trouble but he was relieved that Carter's attack on her hadn't ruined all the progress they'd made.

"Whenever you're ready," he assured her. He wasn't about to push her and he wouldn't let the others do so either. In fact, he would probably keep the whole thing to himself until she was ready. It would be their little secret.

That had been the right thing to tell her. She reached up and hugged him back. As much as Trowa wanted to hold her forever, he knew that he should let her rest. Sally's orders. He gently lowered her back to the pillows and gave her the bed's remote control. He wasn't sure if she was quite awake enough to sit up yet and he wasn't going to push her. It took a moment before Kiri started to adjust the bed.

She was still fixing the bed to her liking when someone knocked on the door. Trowa opened it and Duo came in.

"Hey, Trowa, um…Heero wants to see you."

Trowa frowned. Duo seemed distracted. Trowa knew that Duo was still dealing with his guilt over the L2 raid, but he sounded hesitant to tell him that Heero wanted to talk. Why couldn't Heero have just come and talked to him here? Kiri had just woken up so there hadn't really been any time to let the others know yet. Trowa had a sneaking suspicion that what Heero had to say was going to piss him off. Which meant that he should probably get it over with.

He nodded and left Duo with Kiri. He knew that she would be safe and as soon as he was done talking to Heero, Trowa could come back and relax with Kiri. Maybe he'd order a movie to watch with her and get her something nice to eat. He wondered if the diner down the street would deliver.

Trowa knocked on the door to the room that Heero was using as a temporary office. Upon gaining permission to enter, he did, but instead of sitting in the chair opposite Heero, he stood with his arms crossed.

"Kiri just woke up. What do you need?"

Heero knew that Trowa wasn't one to waste words and he could tell by Trowa's tone that he knew something was up.

"Colonel Une has decided to send Kiri back to her parents."

"Excuse me?"

Heero looked evenly at Trowa. He could see the anger smoldering in Trowa's eyes. He had known Trowa wouldn't be happy about this. Quatre hadn't been happy, either, but it was out of their hands. Une had spoken.

"I don't believe I can make that any plainer. The girl is going home."

Trowa slammed his fist on Heero's desk. "WHY?"

"Because that is where she belongs."

"You know as well as I do that her parents didn't even bother to report her missing. She was in that shithole for five years, Heero. And I think her parents knew where she was. They did nothing to protect her and they don't deserve to get her back."

"Colonel Une is hoping that her parents will reveal new information to her."

"So basically, it's our turn to use her? Because it wasn't enough that Chase has been using her for the last five years and then Carter used her this week. Now it's our turn? This is bullshit, Heero and you know it!"

Heero sighed. He knew that Trowa was going to be angry and he also knew that nothing short of promising to go against orders was going to appease him.

"I'm going to see Une. If she won't stop this—" Trowa left the threat hanging. He wasn't sure what he could do if Une didn't agree to keep Kiri from her parents.

"Trowa, I understand your frustration at the situation. There is nothing you or I can do to change it. The Colonel has made it clear that she will not send the girl in there alone. Quatre will accompany her to check out the situation and she will have access to a communication device at all times. We will be monitoring the situation closely. If anything goes wrong we will immediately extract her."

Trowa still wasn't happy about the situation. "Can you at least make Une promise to ask Kiri if she wants to go in there for us? We'll lose her trust if we force her to do things she doesn't want to do and if you think she'll cooperate when she doesn't trust us you've got another thing coming."

Heero considered that. "You're right, Trowa. I will speak to Une and let her know of your concerns. Please don't do anything rash until all of the details are finalized. We will do everything in our power to keep Kiri safe. Okay?"

Trowa supposed it wasn't going to get any better than that. He nodded. "Anything else?"

"No, Trowa, I think that's all for now."

Trowa nodded and let himself out of Heero's office. He had to take several deep, calming breaths before heading back to Kiri's room. He wasn't going to be the one to let her know what Colonel Une had planned for her. He wanted to keep that information away from her as long as possible so she could relax and heal. She couldn't be allowed to go back to her parents in a condition that would allow them to take advantage of her again.

Quatre waited outside the psychiatrist's office for Cathy. He knew that she still didn't really like him but he also knew that if anyone could talk Une out of this cockamamie plan, it would be Cathy.

When Cathy came out, Quatre got up and followed her out the door.

"WHAT?" she demanded once they were in the hall.

"I need to talk to you about Kiri."

Cathy frowned. "What's wrong?"

Quatre put up his hands. "Nothing…yet."

Cathy narrowed her eyes. "You have two seconds to make sense."

"Colonel Une wants to send Kiri back to her parents."

Cathy gasped. "No! She can't!"

"I understand and I feel the same way, which is why I thought that you ought to see the Colonel. I think that if you talk to her, maybe she can be convinced that it's a bad idea."

"Why don't you just talk to her? Or is that too hard for you?" Catherine sneered.

"Heero has already tried to convince Une that this is a bad idea. However, as you've been supervising Kiri's progress you have a little more knowledge than the rest of us. I think that you know better than anyone how this could affect Kiri and I think that the Colonel might actually listen to you because of that. I'm not asking for me, Cathy. I'm asking for Kiri's sake. I don't want her to end up with those people again. They didn't report her missing and she was in Chase's possession for five years. They clearly don't care about her and I'm afraid they might try to hurt her again."

"Why didn't Trowa tell me any of this?"

"Heero's briefing him now."

"How long have you known?"

"I only found out this morning."

Cathy crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "What am I supposed to say to Colonel Une? I'm not an agent. She won't listen to me."

"She might because you're not an agent," Quatre told her. "She's not as intimidating as she has to make people think she is. Would you like me to go with you?"

Cathy frowned. "I'd rather that Trowa went with me but he's supposed to be watching Kiri right now. I don't want to take him away from that. It's too important."

Quatre chose not to point out that he would be willing to sit with Kiri because he didn't want Trowa to talk to Colonel Une. He wanted Cathy to do it. She wasn't an agent. She wasn't obligated to accept Une's decision. She could argue with Une and not get in trouble.

"Well, why don't we go see the Colonel and then you can see Kiri afterwards. She was still asleep when I left a few minutes ago and I think she'll be out for a while."

Cathy nodded. "Fine. Take me to Colonel Une."

Quatre was glad that she'd taken the bait. He led her to Colonel Une's office, being careful not to say or do anything that would annoy her and make her change her mind. Quatre knew that Cathy still hadn't forgiven him for attacking Trowa when he'd been driven mad by the Zero System and he was just grateful that she'd agreed to do this at all. Quatre truly felt that if Une would listen to anyone it would be Cathy.

When they reached Une's office, Quatre approached Grace, the Colonel's secretary. Grace was an older woman whose hair was starting to go gray. She was definitely the grandmother type, with a kind word and a gentle smile for everyone she came into contact with.

"Agent Winner, how may I help you?" Grace asked as he walked up.

"I don't know if you remember Catherine Bloom, Agent Barton's sister, but she'd like to speak to Colonel Une as soon as possible."

Grace looked at the Colonel's schedule for the day. "I don't see anything on her schedule for right now. Let me see if she's available to speak to you."

It didn't take long for Grace to get permission for Cathy to enter the Colonel's office.

"Do you want me to go with you or wait out here?" Quatre asked Cathy when Grace told her she could go back.

Cathy hesitated for a second. She didn't really care for Quatre but she didn't want to be in Une's office alone, either. She was beginning to think she should have waited for Trowa but there was no telling when the Colonel would be available next and if what Quatre had told her was true, Cathy needed to talk to the Colonel now.

"Would you come in? That way if I forget anything you can remind me."

Quatre nodded and followed the circus star into the lion's den.

"Agent Winner? What's this about?" Une asked with narrowed eyes as they came into her office.

"Miss Bloom would like to speak to you about Kiri," Quatre answered.

"I thought we discussed everything during the debriefing."

"You never mentioned that you were going to send her back to her parents," Cathy growled. "I won't allow it."

Colonel Une scowled. "That is not public information, Miss Bloom. How do you happen to have it?"

"I told her," Quatre admitted. "She wanted an update on Kiri and I told her that when she was well she would be returned to her parents. Miss Bloom feels it's a bad idea and I told her she would have to discuss the matter with you."

The Colonel took a moment to think that over. "Fine. Have a seat, Miss Bloom. Agent Winner, you are dismissed."

Cathy blinked in surprise. "Can't he stay?"

"No. Agent Winner, leave us."

Quatre hadn't counted on that. He nodded to the Colonel and hoped that Cathy wouldn't be angry with him later as he left. He figured that he could at least check in on Kiri while he waited for Cathy to finish her discussion with Une. Maybe by then he could come up with an apology that she would accept.

Duo watched Trowa leave and then turned to Kiri. He knew that Trowa wasn't going to be happy about what Heero had to say and he was fairly certain he'd get an earful for not warning him. Trowa scared Duo even though they'd known each other for years. Then again, knowing what Trowa was capable of was probably why Duo was secretly afraid of him. But Duo didn't want to think about that so he decided to engage Kiri in conversation to distract himself.

"So…are you talkin' yet?"

Kiri shook her head.

"Okay then." Duo shrugged. He wasn't going to force her to talk yet. That would be Heero's job if it came down to it. But it still bothered him. He wanted her to talk. He wanted to know that she was going to be okay after everything she'd been put through. He wanted to know that they hadn't been too late this time.

He fidgeted with the end of his braid. He wondered if she'd be mad if he just came out and asked her what he wanted to know. He looked at her and decided it was worth a shot. She wasn't talking anyway so it wasn't like she'd really be able to give him a worse version of the silent treatment.

"You know, I never woulda figured you for a chick that'd break a guy's dick," he said slowly. Duo wanted to torture the men that had killed those girls so he was sure that Kiri did, too. He felt guilty for wanting revenge (thanks for that, Sister Helen!) but at the same time, he didn't care. He wanted to hunt each one down and tear out their fingernails with a pair of pliers.

Kiri just stared at him. She hadn't started screaming so he took that as an invitation to keep going.

"I mean, even when we've tortured guys we haven't done anything like that," Duo continued conversationally. "I can't imagine that it was fun for anyone, but you can tell me. Did you enjoy it? Just a little bit? You know, making him pay for…well, whatever it is he did to you before?"

That seemed to be the point that crossed the line. Kiri got a sad look on her face and shook her head. She turned onto her side, facing away from Duo.

Now Duo felt bad because he'd obviously brought up bad memories for her. But he still wasn't 100% convinced that Kiri hadn't wanted revenge on that guy.

"I'm sorry," Duo told her. "I tend to talk without thinking, especially when…well, when I'm nervous."

Kiri didn't turn back or react. Duo had the urge to keep explaining himself to her. That was how it went when he couldn't keep his cool.

"It's just…well…I mean…you're gonna find out sooner or later anyway but…the Preventers are…well…" Duo scratched the back of his head. "They're gonna make you go back to your parents as soon as Sally thinks you're well enough."

That did it. Kiri bolted upright and stared at him.

Duo scratched the back of his head again. "Um…yeah…see that's what Heero wanted to talk to Trowa about and…well…he's gonna be pissed. Quatre too and trust me, you haven't seen pissed until you've seen Quatre pissed. But we have orders from Colonel Une and no matter what we say we haven't been able to change her mind." Duo knew that he should have kept his big mouth shut but he'd started rambling and hadn't been able to make himself stop.

Kiri's lip quivered.

Duo mentally swore as he realized that she was about to cry. Then she actually started to cry and he actually swore.

"Aw, shit, don't do that. Really, we don't want to make you go back but…" He realized his efforts to reassure her weren't working and he let his shoulders slump in defeat. "Look, maybe if Old Broke-Dick knows anything about your parents we can get Une to reconsider," he offered. "But she says that there's no proof that your parents are a danger to you."

Kiri dropped her face into her hands. Duo knew that telling her what Une had said would upset her. He just hadn't realized how much. She was crying and it didn't look like she was about to stop any time soon. He put his arms around her to try to comfort her.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he told her honestly. "I…I don't know how to fix this, but we're trying everything we can, okay?"

Kiri kept crying.

"Come on, quit crying," Duo begged. He really hated it when women cried around him. He always felt like it was his fault. Okay, this time it really was his fault but he hadn't done it intentionally. He had only meant to let her know what was going on so she wouldn't be completely out of the loop when Heero and the colonel showed up to talk to her.

"I'm sure that can't be good for your eye," he told her.

It didn't make Kiri stop.

"Sally's gonna be ticked," he tried with a teasing tone, hoping that Kiri wouldn't take it the wrong way.

That didn't work either. Duo just held her, silently praying to whatever deity would listen to him that she would stop.

A knock on the door made Duo let her go but as soon as he opened it, he wished he'd left it shut. Quatre stormed in.

"Why are you upsetting her?" he demanded as he pushed his way past Duo. He wrapped Kiri in his arms and she cuddled up to him. He could feel the stress, fear, and anger radiating from her. "Shhh, Kiri, it's okay," he soothed. "Everything's going to be okay." He started to stroke her hair as he held her, hoping it would help her to calm down.

It seemed like it was working. And then it suddenly wasn't anymore. Kiri's emotions started to run the gamut between feeling safe and being terrified again. A deep feeling of loss was accompanied by a fresh torrent of tears.

"Kiri, calm down. Tell me what's wrong."

Kiri kept crying. Her emotions were all over the place so Quatre couldn't pin anything specific down.

"What the hell did you say to her, Duo?"

"Um…well…I told her...what Une ordered," Duo muttered.

"YOU TOLD HER?" Quatre exploded. "THAT DECISION IS NOT YET FINAL, DUO! YOU HAD NO BUSINESS SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT THAT! AND NOW YOU'VE GOT HER WORKED UP AND CRYING! YOU KNOW HER EYE IS INJURED!" Quatre glared at Duo and lowered his voice. "Sally will be told that you're responsible."

Duo felt the blood drain from his face. Kiri peeked out at him, still wrapped in Quatre's arms. She looked a little nervous but she didn't try to pull away from Quatre.

"Quatre…I…I didn't mean to," Duo babbled. "It just…slipped out. You know that I tend to babble when I get nervous. I had to send Trowa to talk to Heero and between the two of you…I…I'm pretty sure that you'll gang up on the three of us in a dark alley and beat the shit out of us for not stopping Une. And then there's Johnson. You know he's pissed that Cathy got dragged into this and I'm sure he's had words with Une. And then Une's pissed because Johnson was supposed to be undercover and not get involved and then his cover got blown so now she thinks she'll need to send in another operative and—"

Quatre wasn't interested in Duo's excuse. "Duo shut up."

Duo shut his mouth. Quatre was pissed and Duo didn't want to push him further. The blonde might look sweet and innocent but he had a nasty streak when he got mad. Duo knew Quatre would find a way to take it out on him later if Duo didn't appease him now. Even Heero didn't mess with Quatre when he was ticked off.

Quatre put his hand under Kiri's chin and carefully made her look up at him. He frowned. There was blood beginning to seep through the bandage on her eye.

"Duo, get Sally. Kiri's eye needs to be checked and rebandaged."

Duo nodded and dashed out the door. Anything to get away from Quatre's wrath. Sally was at the nurse's station but Duo wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, Kiri would get seen to quickly but on the other…Sally was sure to be ticked at him for upsetting Kiri in the first place.

"Uh, Sally?"

"Yes, Duo?"

Duo cleared his throat. "Uh…Kiri's awake and she's kinda upset. Quatre wants you to check her."

Sally immediately headed for Kiri's room. Even if she was physically okay, her psychological state could affect the healing process. It was better to try and keep her happy and relaxed. Duo followed Sally into Kiri's room and pulled the chair out of the way and sat in it. He felt like an errant child as Quatre explained to Sally that he had been the cause of Kiri's tears.

"This is exactly why I said not to upset her," Sally scolded as she carefully pulled the bandage off of Kiri's injured eye. There was a lot of blood soaked into it but it didn't seem as though Kiri crying had really done any damage. It was residual blood from getting the stitches in the first place. Still, Sally wasn't going to take any chances and she carefully inspected each and every stitch in Kiri's eye before deciding that she was okay.

Quatre was standing near the bed, waiting for Sally's verdict, when Kiri grabbed at his arm. He looked at her and she pointed at her eye.

"You want to know what happened?" he asked.

Kiri slowly nodded. Quatre wasn't sure if she was worried about doing extra damage to her eye or not but he decided not to keep her in suspense.

"When Carter backhanded you, he still had the knife in his hand. Unfortunately, the knife cut your eye." He waited a second before telling her the bad news. "You…you might go blind in it. We won't know for sure until it's had a chance to heal."

Kiri looked like she was about to cry some more.

"We're doing everything we can to save it," Sally told her kindly, trying to reassure her so she wouldn't start crying again. "But you need to take it easy and let it heal. You also have a mild concussion so I want you to stay in bed and rest. You can watch television, but no reading. I don't want you to overstress your right eye." Sally didn't want Kiri stressing over the GED test she was going to take soon. Cathy had told her that Kiri was a dedicated student and was actually looking forward to getting the diploma. "You're going to be bored," Sally warned, "so just accept it now. We'll try to get you some movies you haven't seen before to keep you occupied, okay? But if you want something, just ask for it."

Kiri waited until Sally was done bandaging her eye before nodding that she understood.

Sally smiled. "You're going to be just fine. Your back looks great and you can eat whatever you want. Just tell the boys and they'll order it for you." Sally wanted Kiri to know that she wasn't on a restricted diet this time. She hoped it would help the girl to relax.

Sally glared at Duo. "No more upsetting her or I'll assign you to change out bedpans instead of watching her. Got it?"

Duo gulped and nodded. It wasn't often that Sally got angry but when she was, she was scary. Duo had a whole new respect for Wufei. The man was willing to try to have a relationship with her and heaven help him if he ever forgot an anniversary or birthday. Duo was almost tempted to ask Wufei if he'd ever seen Sally angry before. He knew that Wufei was likely to ask Sally to marry him soon. Duo wondered if it was his public duty to warn him about the woman's temper.

Sally left them and Quatre started in on Duo.

"Look, Duo, I know you didn't mean to upset Kiri. But you need to watch what you say. Une hasn't given the order to turn her over to her parents yet and I think that Cathy is talking to her about it. Une might listen to her as she's been helping to keep Kiri safe these last few weeks."

Quatre looked down with a slight frown as Kiri tugged on his shirt. He immediately felt bad when she flinched and let go of him. He rummaged around in the table drawer for the pen and paper.

"I thought I told them to make sure you had these," he said as he handed them to her. He wanted her to know that she wasn't being silenced and that she was still allowed to ask questions without being afraid.

Kiri took the pen and paper and wrote.

'Where else can I go? The circus isn't safe anymore. He knows I've been hiding there.'

Quatre sighed. He had hoped that she would be able to relax. It seemed that she was just getting worked up all over again.

"We have other safe places," he told her. "But…well, in all honesty, the circus was where we thought you'd be safest. We had hoped that the constant moving would keep Chase off your trail. I have another location set up, but…well…the only people we have to guard you right now are men."

Quatre was willing to pull some Maganacs off of other assignments to keep Kiri safe if that was what it took. However, given her history with men, he wanted to keep that a last resort. He didn't want to accidentally push her backwards in her recovery by surrounding her with strangers.

Kiri frowned.

"They're trustworthy," Quatre added hastily, "but…well, I would understand if you weren't comfortable with that. I…Kiri, I'm sorry that Carter…" Quatre couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He couldn't think of anything that didn't sound trite or insincere. He knew that what Kiri had been put through was terrible and no words could ever undo or heal what had happened.

Kiri tugged on his shirt to get his attention again. She showed him what she'd written.

'It's okay. It's not your fault.'

Quatre gave her a sad smile and then hugged her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I should have just shot the bastard but I was afraid I'd miss and hit Cathy. Trowa and Paul were afraid of the same thing. I'm sorry we didn't keep you safe."

They had promised to protect her and failed. Quatre wanted her to know that they knew they hadn't been able to keep their promise but it hadn't been intentional. Kiri seemed to understand. She hugged him back.

He was a little surprised when she pulled away from him but when she grabbed the paper he realized that she had something she wanted to say.

'Is Cathy okay?'

Quatre was glad that Kiri had bonded with Cathy enough to be worried about her. "Yes, Cathy's just fine. She was quite upset at what Carter put you through, though. She blames herself for putting you in that situation."

Kiri looked down. Quatre could feel the guilt coming off of her. It hadn't been her fault any more than it had been Cathy's. Carter was the one to blame for that particular situation and it made Quatre angry that the women were blaming themselves.

Quatre lifted her chin again so he could make sure she was listening to him. "Please don't let it upset you. None of us wanted you to have to go through that. If we'd known about Carter…maybe it wouldn't have happened."

Kiri grabbed the pen and wrote, 'No. It would still have happened. It might have been worse.'

Quatre frowned. "How could it have been worse?"

Kiri started writing. She suddenly froze, pen poised to write more. Quatre felt sick and realized it was Kiri he was feeling. He looked at what she'd written.

'He might have waited until he could kidnap me and'

"I get the feeling you think he might have done something to you before taking you back to Chase," he prompted softly. He didn't want Kiri to feel like he was pushing her but he couldn't help her if he didn't know what was going on.

Kiri gave him a small nod and then shook her head vigorously. Quatre could tell she wanted to throw up.

"Kiri? What is it?"

'Bad memories.'

Quatre was glad that Kiri was able to communicate but his worry increased as she curled up and started shivering.

Quatre put his arm around her, hoping to comfort her but it didn't seem to make any difference. She was freezing. He looked at Duo, who was still sitting in the chair on the other side of the room. "Duo, make yourself useful and find her another blanket."

Duo jumped out of the chair, grateful for an opportunity to get away from the irate Sandrock pilot. He went over to the nurse's station and smiled at Hannah, who was the nurse on duty.

"Agent Maxwell, what can I do for you?" she asked, returning his smile.

"Kiri's cold. Can we get another blanket for her?"

Hannah nodded. "Sure. Let me just get the key to the supply closet."

Duo knew he should probably be annoyed at the delay but the truth was that he was happy to stay out of Quatre's way for a bit longer. While he was waiting he noticed Trowa getting off the elevator. He looked pissed.

"Oh boy," Duo muttered under his breath. Now he had a pissed Quatre and a pissed Trowa to deal with.

Duo was almost grateful that Trowa didn't seem to notice him. But it didn't make returning to Kiri's room any easier. He knew that Trowa wouldn't be happy that he'd made Kiri cry. Hannah brought back two blankets for him.

"Just in case one isn't enough," she told him. "Let me know if you need anything else, okay?"

Duo thanked her with a smile and steeled himself to go back to Kiri's room.