A/N: Thanks a whole bunch for the review, I'm actually updating much sooner in hopes of receiving more. I think though that I might have to wait until I get more reviews before updating so soon. If I don't get more, I still update, just not in a day or two like this one was. This fic is rated M… we haven't quite gotten to that part yet, but this chapter begins to approach one of the reasons for the rating. Just a wee bit of citrus… my first ever so tell me how it is! .
When Duo woke up the next morning, it was to sun coming in through the windows and an empty place in bed beside him. He assumed Hilde was eating breakfast and quickly dressed before walking down the hall and into the open kitchen. Hilde was there, eating a bowl of cereal and reading a page in the newspaper. Duo paused in the doorway, as he often did and just watched his wife, watched her living a normal life, in a normal house. Strangely, she fit, the ex-soldier from Oz, fit into the bright kitchen scene, sitting neatly at the small square table in the center of the white tile floors. The sun that filtered in through the lace curtains illuminated the light woods of the cabinets and cast shadows from the window panes onto the floral tablecloth, everything looked like the perfect, normal domestic home of a normal couple. He sighed contentedly and then walked the rest of the way into the kitchen; Hilde looked up at the sound of his footsteps and smiled a good morning.
As he passed her on his way to the fridge, Duo bent down to meet her upturned face, he planted a chaste kiss on her lips before moving on to the fridge. Duo opened the door and bent over to see clear into the back of the large fridge. He stood motionless for a moment as his eyes scanned the full fridge.
"Babe, there is nothing in this fridge. And I'm starving!" he complained loudly, looking over his shoulder to where his wife sat, grinning at him.
"I just went shopping yesterday, I know there's food in there," she laughed.
Duo gave her his best impression of a sad puppy and begged her sullenly, "Please make me some breakfast, baby. Please?" his look became sour as Hilde shook her head.
"Aw, come on, I'm a growing boy, I need my nutrients!" Duo bemoaned, "Now do the womanly wife thing and cook for your husband!"
Hilde arched one brow incredulously, "You're twenty-two years old, Mr. Maxwell," she drawled. "And the "womanly" thing," she nodded her head sarcastically, "I'm quite sure that would only work if you were Wufei and I were Sally." Duo scoffed, turning from the fridge and walking to the counter to pull down a bowl.
"And that may not even make it work," Hilde continued dryly, thinking of the strong-willed doctor. Hilde stood, gathering her bowl and walking over towards Duo where he stood at the counter surrounding the stove and sink. She placed her bowl in the sink and then turned back to the fridge.
"However, I am not above helping you make your breakfast," she smiled as she opened the fridge and pulled out a couple bags of assorted fruits from one of the clear drawers within. Duo grinned happily as his wife brought the fruit over to him and set it on the counter.
"When did we get all of theses?" he asked as he reached under the counter into one of the cabinets and pulled out a large, wood cutting board.
"I went shopping yesterday," Hilde admitted before quickly continuing on, "I'm sorry, I know you like to go with me, but we needed a few things. A lot of things actually."
Duo nodded and looked down to the fruit as he pulled two large knives from a wooden stand against the wall. "I'm sorry, I've been meaning to put time aside…" he paused and Hilde continued the awkward conversation,
"I know Duo," she smiled up into his face, "I think I managed to buy all of your favorites though!" Duo smiled back and the couple began chopping fruits and tossing the pieces into the large bowl on the counter top before them. When the brightly colored fruit salad was finished, there was more than enough for two people. Even if one of the people was Duo Maxwell. Hilde carried the bowl out the door of the kitchen which served as the house's back entrance and walked out onto the small porch. She placed the bowl on the small table that sat in a corner of the porch, accompanied by two comfortable looking chairs.
She turned to walk back inside to fetch forks and smiled as her husband came through the door, holding both forks, and two cups of orange juice. They each took a seat in their respective chair and began to eat, neither of them mentioning what the other had done the day before when they had been apart, or any individual plans they had for tonight. Until Duo mentioned possibly working late at the Junk Yard to fill an extra large order.
"What?" Hile gasped, "Duo, don't you realize what today is?" Hilde did not appear angry, simply shocked.
"No," Duo hesitantly admitted, "should I?"
"Woofy," Hilde reminded, hoping Duo would remember on his own. When Duo slowly shook his head no, Hilde sighed in slight exasperation.
"Wufei and Sally are doing their little BB-Q this evening, remember? It starts at four…" Duo suddenly caught on and slapped his forehead.
"Well, I guess I'll be filling that order tomorrow," he grinned ruefully. His grin waned slightly when he noticed Hilde's expression, "Babe, babe what's wrong?"
"Are you sure you can work late tomorrow?" she worried, "I mean, the only reason I know you're free to go tonight is because she's going too."
"What do you mean free?" Duo asked, confused. "And… her? Wha-" Duo cut his own statement off as he realized what Hilde was insinuating. "Hild, look, I know I've been spending a lot of time with her. A lot of time away from work and you. But I wouldn't if I wasn't truly worried about her."
Hilde nodded her head emphatically. "I know that, and that's not what I meant. It's just, she always seems to need you, and I don't know how you can make plans, even a single day in advance when you know you'll say yes the moment she calls, no matter when that is."
Duo simply sighed and stood, looking down at his beautiful wife. "She, she doesn't want me to be with her anymore, she wants to stay 'in' for a while," at Hilde's shocked face, Duo continued, "She told me to go home to my wife."
Hilde stood and moved closer to Duo, embracing him tightly. "I'm sorry Duo. I'm sorry you have to see her like this. We all love her, but you and her have that special bond." Hilde closed her eyes tightly as the traitorous monster of jealousy rose at the thought of that bond that Duo did not even share with his wife.
Duo returned the tight hug and just stood there, his head bent into the crook of her neck. Hilde was not certain, but she thought she felt the wet heat of tears on her neck before he pulled away, wrapping one arm around her waist and picking up the now empty fruit bowl with his free hand.
"Let's go get ready for work babe," Duo said softly as he led Hilde into the kitchen. He broke away from her to rinse the bowl in the sink and Hilde headed toward the bedroom. Duo followed and sat on the bed as Hilde went about getting ready for the day. As she sat at a desk more often now, she had to seem somewhat presentable, so she went through the pains of applying light makeup. When she exited the bathroom, she looked fresh and awake; she held a brush in her hand and climbed onto the bed behind Duo to brush his hair out and re-braid the long brown silk.
Duo was perfectly capable of doing his own hair, he had, after all, worn the braid all his life, ever since his hair had grown out long enough. But it was an intimacy they shared, Hilde running her fingers through the luscious hair right beside the brush, and Duo relaxing under the gentle massage-like tugging on his scalp. After brushing through his hair thoroughly long enough to ensure there were no tangles, she braided the long hair back away from his shoulders.
"Thanks babe," Duo stood and kissed her on the forehead. Then he helped her to her feet and they left the house together. Waling hand in hand up the road to the Junk Yard, Duo and Hilde talked of fickle things; things they would like to add to the house, things they found funny about their house, interesting clients that had come to them at the scrap heap. When they got to the junk yard, Hilde pulled out a lanyard heavy with keys from her pocket. She unlocked the heavy paddock on the gate and they both walked in.
"Quite the medieval security, wouldn't you say?" Duo commented as they separated. Duo went away to the heaps of metal and other salvaged items in order to fill orders he already had, and Hilde went to the office to receive any new orders and to update the inventory. She nodded as she went in answer to Duo's question about security.
A loud sigh ruffled brown bangs away from Cobalt eyes with flecks of purple in them. Staring at the underside of the truck, Duo repositioned himself on the roller board and moved further under the truck to examine it further for salvageable parts. Though it was already early November, the fall weather only settled in late into the evening, leaving the days hot and humid. Duo scrubbed a greasy forearm across his forehead, wiping the sweat from his brow. After taking a break for lunch which he shared with Hilde in the office, he had promptly returned to his currant project. He had removed his shirt and it now rested on the garage floor with his belt thrown over it.
"Duo?" Duo's purple eyes widened in pleasure as he hear his name called by his wife. He rolled out from under the truck and reached for the towel that was shoved into his back pocket after standing. He was in the process of wiping the majority of the grease from his hands when Hild entered the garage and stoped in her tracks.
Hilde stared at the man in front of her. Hereyes were drawn to the sheen of sweat that covered the expanse of his muscular chest, her eyes tracedd th ridges of his abs and she could not glance away from the light dusting of auburn hair that trailed down his lower stomach and disappeared into the pants that slung low, exposing his hip bones, with no belt to hold them up.
"See something you like?" Duo remarked candidly.
"Maybe," Hilde was surprised she could get the word out, her throat felt so dry. Duo sauntered slowly over to her and then languidly embraced her tightly transferring his sweat to her.
"Eew," Hilde complained boisterously, "you're disgusting Mr. Maxwell!"
Duo pulled back and cupped Hilde's face in his hands, intentionally smearing some lack grease over her cheeks. Hilde pushed him away from her and ran out of the garage laughing. Duo waited only a few seconds before chasing after her. Hilde shrieked then when she looked over her shoulder as she ran and saw him gaining fast on her tail. With an extra burst of speed she was able to make it to the gates of the Junk Yard. But her escape ended on her first step through the gate. Duo tackled her to the ground, managing to make a big show of putting her to the ground under his body and holding her captive there, and at the same time cushioning her fall so she was not hurt when she landed in the dirt.
He ducked down bringing his lips to hers in a sweet melding of silk and rose petals. His tongue traced the crease of her lips, seeking to deepen the kiss. Hilde opened her mouth and a fierce duel of dominance ensued. Just as Duo was winning the battle, he broke away to give them both some air. He smiled down at his gasping wife as she tried to reprimand him.
"We have to get ready for that BBQ," she gasped, sounding more frustrated with the BBQ than with Duo.
"Do we?" he asked mischievously bending to nuzzle the crook of her neck. Hilde gasped as Duo nipped at the lobe of her ear. She hit his upper arm with her balled fist and then tried to convince him again.
"We have to go get ready, and we're short on time as it is. And we need to get showers and everything!" She rolled her eyes as Duo waggled his eyebrows in absurd insinuation.
"We could always share the shower, cut the time in half…" he suggested.
" The point is to not be late. If you get in that shower with me, we'll definitely be late. You never keep your hands to yourself!" Proof to her point Hilde felt Duo brush his hand up her side before he stood and offered her his hand. When she too was standing, they walked the rest of the way to the house the way they had left it earlier, side by side, hand in hand.
When they were once more in their house, Hilde decided that she would be the first to shower, leaving Duo to make something to take to the BBQ, with strict instructions for him not to eat the food he was preparing. She now stood in the master bathroom, stripped of her clothes with a towel rapped around her. She stared into the mirror at her exasperating hair, too long to style, too short to look cute with out a style. She sighed and decided to deal with her hair after she was clean and walked over to the shower.
She pulled the curtain aside and leaned over the tub bottom to reach the knobs inside the shower stall. She turned two of the three knobs until she was satisfied with the temperature of the water and then turned the last knob so that the water poured out of the shower head. She lowered the toilet lid and dropped the towel on to the it before climbing into the shower. She pulled the curtain closed behind her and simply stood under the water, enjoying the relaxing warmth that worked all of the tight knots from her shoulders.
"We're going to be late…" she sighed and smiled as she heard the bathroom door open over the sound of the falling water. A moment later she shivered slightly as a shill blast of air accompanied Duo as he opened the shower curtain to join her. He closed the curtain as soon as he was in and then moved to gather his wife in his arms. Hilde felt warm again as Duo pulled her back against his solid, warm chest. She turned into his embrace and murmured a brief warning,
"You're making the excuses," a gravelly chuckle was her only answer as Duo's callused hand moved from her waist, up her ribcage, and to cup her breast.
"Ms. Relena?" the maid standing in the hall rapped lightly on the door with her free hand, balancing the food laden tray with the other. When she received no answer she opened the door to her mistresses room and walked in. The room was not lit and the curtains were closed to the sun. Relena lay in her bed, still in her night gown. Feebly, she lifted her head to see who was in her room. She groaned at the sight of the food and ordered it taken far away.
"I don't even want to think of food right now," she moaned, putting one hand to her head and the other to her stomach. She needed to call Sally, there was no way she could make it to the BBQ. After a small breakfast of toast and juice she had set about getting dressed. When she felt faint, she had stopped to rest. She went into the bathroom to wash her face, when she ended up kneeling before the toilet, vomiting up the contents of her breakfast.
"What's wrong with me," she moaned as her stomach turned again, threatening more visits to the bathroom with nausea that clung to the back of her throat. Though she had gotten the shot for it early in the season, the president was now stricken with a severe case of influenza.
"Sally?" Relena greeted wearily into the phone she held to her eat, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to make it. I think I have the flu. That or I've got food poisoning." Sally was sympathetic on the other line and though Relena appreciated it, she quickly said her good-byes and hung up the phone to close her eyes in exhaustion and try to sleep again.
"You're late," the young Chinese man remarked dryly from his position leanin against the door he had just opened to his guests.
"Well, hey to you to Wu-man!" Duo greeted cheerily, shoving the bowl containing deviled eggs at Wufei and walking in past his friend. Wufei had to grab or the food before it fell to his immaculately cleaned floor and was forced to move out of Duo's way as the braided American walked brashly into his house.
"Hilde," he nodded briskly in greeting. Duo's wife only smiled at Wufei as she walked in and scanned for her friends.
"Hey guys!" she exclaimed excitedly as she walked over to the three other people in the house, waving excitedly with both of her hands. She hugged Quatre companionably and smiled to both Sally and Trowa.
"Where's Relena?" Hilde asked after the greetings were done with. Upon entering the house she had scanned for her friend and was curious that the depressed president was not present. Hilde continued to look around and therefore missed Trowa's bright green glance jump to Quatre's, whose light blue eyes in turn deepened in shade with pain.
"She's not here," Sally answered softly. "And she's not coming. She called earlier. Apparently she's sick and plans on staying in bed all day.
"I wish she could have made it," Hilde murmured softly.
"Please excuse us for a moment," Quatre asked as Trowa pulled the shorter blonde man away from the two girls and toward the other two pilots present. Sally grasped Hilde's hand and led her into the kitchen to make drinks and prepare the meat to grill, a small task to pass the time until the boys were done talking Preventer business and were ready to head outside.
"I'm worried she's sick because she's so depressed," Sally finally brought the topic back to Relena, opening the plastic wrap on the thawed steaks.
Hilde nodded as she shook spices into a bowl of ketchup along with chopped inions, "I wish she wasn't like this." Only Duo had been affected worse than Hilde when Relena had fallen into depression after Heero left. Ever since the departure of Yuy, Hilde had felt a sharper pain of the departure of her closest female friend.
"It's because of him, and it makes me so angry that he would just up and leave like that!" Sally tenderized the meat, frustration in her voice, and in the fist that pounded the steak on the cutting board. "Has she told Duo anything about why he left?"
Hilde paused before answering, Duo had told her he didn't know, could he have lied? "No, she hasn't told him anything. And if Duo knows anything about where he might be, he's not telling me," Hilde lamented.
"I know what you mean," Sally laughed, "Wufei wont tell me a thing!"
"When does Woofy ever tell you anything?" Hilde laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Sally laughed along, both women were acting, as they both well knew.
"Has she told you anything?" Wufei asked softly of Duo.
"No, nothing. Not why he left, or where he may have gone. Nothing." Duo had not pressed to hard, but each time he had met with Relena, he had searched for information on Heero's leaving. He had learned nothing and now he listened with the others to Quatre's report form his intelligence.
Trowa nodded to what Quatre said and added his own opinion in the form of a plan. "I have to be on that colony soon anyway for Catherine, I'll look for him then." Trowa then apologized to Quatre, "I'm sorry Little One, but I promised her a long time ago, the holidays always bring in a large crowd.
"You have to be ready to track him down though Maxwell, even if you don't have to look for him and Trowa finds him, you have to go to him." Wufei continued at Duo's startled expression with an explanation. "Odd as it is, out of all of us, you're the one he'll listen to the most.
Duo nodded his understanding and agreement along with Trowa and Quatre, though Duo noticed Quatre was much less enthusiastic about it. Then the huddle of pilots broke and they walked into the kitchen where Hilde and Sally had drinks ready and plates that needed to go out to the grill.
'I'm sorry Hild, but I know it's going to come to me chasing him down,' Duo thought sadly as he hugged his wife and pulled her to a chair out on the porch, he sat down and pulled her into his lap. He held her struggling form there while everyone else took their seat and Sally took the meat and sauces over to the grill.
Duo received a sharp smack to the back of his head from a very irate Wufei a moment later when he tried to kiss Hilde."It's truly unjust to force us to watch your intimate moments with your wife," he scowled.
"Ah, bull! You're just jealous because you've yet to make a proper woman of Sally over there," Duo sneered playfully. Amoment later Hilde was jumping from her husbands lap and quickly moving to help Sally as Duo ran from Wufei. Everyone on the porch laughed as Duo tripped and Wufei neared him and then turned on his heel, returning with grumbles of worth and justice.
A/N: There, finally! Oy! Sometimes I hat my computer. Like when I've written five pages and forgotten to save and the computer "encounters an error" . But here it is! Chapter Two! And per request, Wufei and Sally were brought in. If there are any worries about Wufei seeming a little OOC, I plan to go more in depth about his POV on this situation in the next chapter! Thanks for reading. Please R&R
Miealie Faradae