A/N: Hey, kids...how's quarantine treating everyone? Are we all keeping six feet away from each other? Well, here's a chapter to ease some of the boredom. I hope everyone is working to stay healthy and safe.

Chapter 69

Duo led the way towards Kiri's room. Trowa and Quatre were coming behind with the milk. Cathy had gone to see if she could get some napkins and cups from one of the nurses. Ahead, he could see Wufei and Paul struggling with the extra chairs. They had apparently grabbed more than they could carry.

"Trowa, why don't you help them with the chairs?" Quatre said. "I can handle the milk by myself."

"Are you sure?"

Quatre nodded so Trowa passed him the other gallon of milk and went to help with the chairs.

"I'm gonna go ahead and make sure Kiri's still awake," Duo called over his shoulder as he sped off down the hallway.

Quatre rolled his eyes and plodded along, slowed by the extra weight.

"Do you need a hand?"

Quatre was genuinely surprised to see Cathy walking up to him. He knew she didn't like him so for her to offer to help was entirely unexpected. However, she seemed to be in a decent mood so he wasn't about to comment on it.

"Sure, if you've got a free hand."

Cathy held out her hand for one of the gallons and they continued towards Kiri's room, chatting with Trowa, Wufei and Paul as they walked.

As he rounded the corner, Duo spied Heero talking to Colonel Une outside of Kiri's room.

He grinned and sped up a little so he could catch them before they left.

"Hey, Colonel, hey Heero! We're gonna have a party. D'you wanna come?"

Colonel Une shook her head. "No, thank you. I have some things to attend to before tonight."

As she walked away, Duo turned expectantly to Heero.

Heero shook his head. "I want to finish up some things before my shift with Kiri starts. Besides, you know I don't care for donuts."

"Yeah, I know. But we got milk, too."

"No, thank you, Duo. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay. Love ya!"

Heero allowed himself a small grin before heading down the hall.

Duo let himself into Kiri's room and was a little surprised that she didn't seem to notice his entry. She had a small frown on her face as she stared at her lap. She seemed to be thinking about something and Duo suspected that Heero and Une had just told her they wanted her to go back to her parents. Duo hoped that it wasn't enough to upset her and keep her from having fun tonight. He hated when his surprises were ruined like that. He let her brood for a moment before deciding to intrude on her thoughts.

"Hey, kid! Brought ya somethin'!"

Kiri looked up as he walked in the door. He wasn't sure what she'd been thinking about but he didn't want her to feel like she had to explain herself so he grinned and kept the donuts hidden behind his back.

"I thought you'd like some real food."

He pulled the pink pastry box from behind his back and was glad when Kiri smiled.

"Come on, you can pick what ya like! I think I got all the different kinds. And Quat'll be up in a minute. He's bringing some milk. I didn't know what kind you like to drink so we bought chocolate and strawberry and regular kind, too, so dig in!"

It took Kiri a moment to look over the donuts he'd brought but she finally picked out the Bavarian cream filled one with chocolate frosting. She took a bite and the look of pure ecstasy on her face was proof enough to Duo that he'd chosen wisely.

Duo smirked. "I thought so. I knew you had good taste." He figured that Quatre should be there any minute so he went to the door and peeked down the hall. Quatre was leading a procession of Trowa, Cathy, Wufei, and Paul. He opened the door wider so they could enter.

Paul, Wufei, and Trowa brought in more chairs while Cathy and Quatre carted in the milk, cups, and napkins. Everyone got a donut. Duo made sure that Kiri got a glass of milk and everyone chatted until he raised his glass.

"This may be a bit premature, but I think we have a reason to celebrate tonight. With the information we've gotten from old Broke-Dick and Kiri, Une's gonna go after Chase. So thanks a lot, kid. It's all coming together because of you."

He raised his cup of milk to Kiri and the others followed suit.

"Here, here," Paul said.

Kiri turned almost as pink as her milk and took a drink. Sensing Kiri's embarrassment, the others left her alone for a few minutes. They passed around the donuts again.

"Hey, make sure Kiri gets another one of those. Sally's gonna try to stuff her with hospital food later."

Quatre passed the donuts back to Duo. Kiri rolled her eye as Duo held the box out to her. She shook her head, refusing a second donut.

Duo raised an eyebrow but shrugged and put the box down where she could reach it if she changed her mind. A knock on the door made everyone freeze. Sally had told Wufei that she would be up as soon as her rounds allowed it. But if it wasn't Sally at the door, then it was probably one of the nurses telling them that they were being too loud, which wouldn't be good. If they were too loud, the nurses could kick them out which would ruin the party.

Quatre took the initiative to open the door and Sally came in. She took in the small party and wondered if she ought to clear everyone out so that Kiri could rest but considering that Kiri seemed to be enjoying herself, Sally quickly banished the thought.

"I hope you aren't making yourself sick," she said to Kiri with a mock glare.

Kiri ducked her head but since she was grinning Sally was fairly positive that she wasn't really intimidated.

"Want one, Sally?" Duo asked as he held up the box of donuts.

Sally picked one and winked at Kiri. "I expect you to eat something decent later. Don't make me put you on a drip, okay?"

Kiri nodded.

Sally checked Kiri's eye, since that was the original purpose of her visit.

"This is looking better than it was earlier. But…I'm still not sure how much of the damage is going to be permanent." Sally felt it was better to prepare Kiri for that possibility than to get her hopes up and have them dashed to pieces.

Kiri nodded.

"So have you gotten any studying in for your GED?"

Kiri nodded again.

"I can help you study while you're here, if you like," Wufei offered before Cathy could say anything. Trowa had told him that Cathy had been helping Kiri study and it would be a shame to let all that work go to waste. Wufei would be taking turns watching Kiri and they could study then.

Kiri shot Sally an uncertain look. Wufei hoped it was more to ask permission to study than to express a fear of spending time with him.

Sally chose to interpret the look as one asking permission. "That's fine, but you're not to overdo it and I don't want you reading for a while yet. You need to give your eye a chance to rest and heal. Okay?"

Kiri nodded.

Wufei found he was actually looking forward to challenging Kiri. He'd heard how she had taken care of Carter so that the others could take him down and he suspected that she was very intelligent. He wanted to see just how smart she really was.

Sally noticed that Kiri was starting to look tired and she didn't want her worn out by the company. "All right, everybody clear out. I want Kiri resting. And Duo, you can bring her food, but make sure it isn't all sugar, okay?"

Duo stuck his tongue out when she turned her back. He didn't care if Sally told him not to bring Kiri treats. He was going to bring them anyway.

Cathy gave Kiri a goodbye hug and then left with Paul. They had decided to get dinner before heading back to the circus. Cathy was sad to be leaving Kiri behind but she knew that Kiri needed to be here where she could heal. She had to keep telling herself that Kiri would be safe. She made a mental note to tell Trowa to call her when Kiri was well enough to return to the circus. No matter where the circus was, Cathy would come and get her.

Quatre and Wufei grabbed the extra chairs and bid Kiri a good night before leaving. Duo and Trowa cleaned up the donuts and the milk.

"Should I leave some of these?" Duo asked, indicating the pastries.

Trowa shook his head. "I think if Kiri wanted more she would have taken them. Take them home with you so they don't go bad."

"Okay. Goodnight, Kiri. See ya later!" Duo grabbed the food and took it with him.

Once everyone was gone, Trowa secured the door and then went back to Kiri, where he hugged her.

"Thank you again. I don't know what I'd do without Cathy," he told her softly. He gave her a peck on the cheek.

He watched Kiri's cheeks turn red and he had to stifle a laugh. She was so adorably innocent. He let her go and was surprised when she grabbed the pen and paper and started writing.

'Does Cathy know that Johnson likes her?'

Trowa raised an eyebrow. Agent Johnson and Cathy? He wasn't sure how he felt about that. It wasn't like Paul was a bad guy but he'd never considered that they could be attracted to each other.

"I'm not sure," he admitted.

Kiri wrote again. 'I think they'd be cute together.'

Trowa laughed at the thought of Kiri playing matchmaker. "Well, I'll be sure to let her know you think that."

There was sharp knock and Heero came in before Trowa could answer. He raised an eyebrow at Trowa's proximity to Kiri. He really didn't want to have to discipline Trowa for fraternizing. He knew that Trowa would throw his and Duo's rule breaking relationship back at him.

Trowa seemed to take the hint. "All right, Kiri. Looks like Heero's on duty tonight. Let him know if you need anything."

Kiri nodded and Trowa left her in Heero's hands. Kiri was doing so much better that they had decided to let Heero guard her again. They figured that even if she had a nightmare Heero would be able to detect it before she could trigger another flashback. Of course he was only allowed to guard her when Sally was on duty just in case she needed to call Duo for him.

Back in Kiri's room, Heero sat in the chair and stared at Kiri. She started to squirm under his gaze.

"Have you thought about Une's proposal?"

Kiri nodded.

"And?"

Kiri rolled her eye and wrote, 'Yes, I'll do it.'

He nodded. "Good. Would you like something for dinner?"

Kiri shrugged. Heero gave her a menu. She took her time looking through it and finally picked out a grilled cheese sandwich. Heero added a side of mixed fruit and a glass of orange juice. He knew that Duo had brought her donuts and sugary milk not long ago and she needed to eat healthier foods.

"You need the vitamin C," he explained at her questioning look when her food arrived.

They ate their dinners in silence, which suited Heero just fine. He didn't mind that she couldn't talk because it meant she was less likely to ask him annoying or pointless questions and he wouldn't be required to engage in inane conversations. But once their food was gone, Heero realized he would have to find some way to entertain her. He opted for finding something on television. Normally he didn't watch much. That was more Duo's thing. But he figured that he could let her find a movie and entertain herself while he read a book or something.

He handed her the remote control so she could find something while he cleaned up their trays and handed them off to an orderly.

Kiri flipped through the channels for a few minutes before waving her hand to get his attention. She wrote something.

'Do you see anything you want to watch?'

"No. I don't normally watch television."

Kiri's brow furrowed as she considered that.

Heero took the remote. "Colonel Une has approved for you to watch movies on the pay channel."

He found the right channel and brought up the list of movies that Kiri could choose from. When she didn't seem interested in anything in particular Heero selected one.

"You might like this one."

Sultry Nights in Camelot was a movie that Relena regularly chose when they were traveling. Heero didn't see the appeal but he figured that most women would like the same thing.

Kiri wrinkled her nose. 'What makes you think I'd like that?'

Heero shrugged. "Relena watches it all the time."

Kiri snorted and wrote, 'I'd rather watch X-Men: All Stars.'

Heero was surprised. He'd also much rather watch the super hero movie, even though he still thought it was stupid. Anything was better than a musical about a sheik who defeated King Arthur and created a harem out of the Knights of Camelot's wives.

Kiri settled against the pillows and Heero selected start on the movie. He noticed that she fell asleep about half-way through but was pleased that she didn't have any nightmares during his shift. When Quatre came in the next morning, Heero filled him in on the happenings of the evening (which wasn't much) and went home to snuggle with Duo for a few hours before they had to be in to work again.