Disclaimer – It's not mine, you idiots.

Only You

Chapter 4

Aftermath

"Maxwell!"

"Wufei, we managed to shake off – oh, my God, Duo! We need to get him to a hospital! Now!"

"...maintained severe hemorraghing (1). There are a few other minor complications, but it seems he'll be just fine."

"The surgery."

"It was a complete success, Mr. Yuy," the older, unfamiliar voice, seemed to assure. "The bullet was safely removed. His immune system is quick and efficient. Rather strong, actually. He might very well have bled to death if embolus hadn't occurred (2). We fixed that, as well. The bullet had gone through a major artery, after all."

"Which?" Heero snapped, and half-asleep though I was, I had to roll my eyes, at least mentally. Yes, Heero. That's right – give the poor innocent doctor heart failure. That would definitely help.

"It hit the brachial artery."

Heero cursed.

"Because of the hemorrhaging, hypovolemia has also developed (3). We have to slowly return the correct amount of plasma to his body, but other than that, he seems remarkably stable."

Duo was aware enough now that he could take that as a compliment, though he couldn't quite see just what the hell was so stable about him when he was trapped in a damn hospital bed.

"How long until his recovery?"

There was a short, distinct pause before the doctor said, "I cannot be sure. We would like to keep him here for a few days to see if he gets an infection, which could cause major complications, including-"

"I know the consequences."

Smartass. The big words were kind've going over his head, but Duo still wanted to get a few hints as to just how bad off he was, and Heero cutting the doctor off was not conducive to him getting a lot of information.

A short spasm of pain shot up his arm and he flinched on instinct. A beeping sound flipped a bit. Both men rather predictably shut up, and mentally Duo cursed. Dammit.

"Mr. Maxwell, are you awake?" Suddenly the doctor sounded all perky and happy. Optimistic. Did that mean his condition was worse than it'd sounded? Gods he hated hospitals.

The damn beeping jumped. The doctor's presence drifted closer, over next to my shoulder by the bed. "It's all right, Mr. Maxwell," the doctor said, his voice so soothing it put Duo on his guard, "you're in a hospital. You took a rather bad one. How do you feel?"

Duo dared to open his eyes and was promptly blinded by the damn lights. He heard movement, soft and fluid, and then the lights behind his eyelashes dimmed. He gratefully turned to the doctor, but the man hadn't moved from his side. That meant Heero. Heero had dimmed the lights for him?

Warmth spread through him before he could help it, and hope followed shortly after.

The heart monitor steadied beside the doctor. "Thanks, Heero," Duo called over, and he tried to sit up.

"Whoa, now. Calm down there, Mr. Maxwell," the doctor said, gently reaching out to grab his shoulders. "You've got to stay still. I know you Preventors don't enjoy being this vulnerable, but you've got to lie still, anyway." And the man took the chance to gently push Duo back into the bed.

Duo blinked at the man rather stupidly, his mind racing. You Preventors? The doctor thought Duo was part of the Preventors? He waited for Heero to argue, or maybe to just correct the man, but he said nothing. Did that mean Heero was somehow in on the deception? Maybe its leading member? But why?

In the silence Duo began to correct the doctor for Heero, but the ex-pilot cut him off. "Doctor Kanabi, would you leave us for a few minutes, please?"

The doctor nodded, and his eyes seemed to say that he believed Heero and Duo had something important to discuss. Something Preventor-like. Again Duo tried to fix up the misunderstanding. "Certainly, Mr. Yuy," the doctor responded, almost as if waiting for the moment to cut him off, and glared down at him, apparently warning him off from something. What the hell? "I hope you aren't like your partner here. Don't try to leave."

Duo's mouth hung like a carp's, rather flabbergasted by the maneuvering taking place around him, like fate itself was against him getting a word in edgewise. He figured he was better off just giving it up and closed his mouth with a slight snap.

The bastard doctor actually seemed pleased by his silence and, with one last nod, left the room. Heero was the only other in the room then, and the man was still standing slightly beside the room's light switches. Duo gave him a wary gaze and waited. Just what the hell was Heero making them alone for? There was no way in hell it could be an update on the goings-on; he wasn't a bloody Preventor, no matter what the doctor thought. So was it lecture time or something? Was he going to say a few words on his recklessness? Or maybe he needed an opinion on the woman's mental status, or was it about his random appearance in Taco Bell, of all places?

Or was the bastard just going to keep standing there staring at him like he was a piece of meat?

"What?" Duo demanded. He shifted very slightly, trying to get as comfortable as possible. Those damn blue eyes bore down on him, and again he got that feeling of being checked over, like Heero was deciding if he was good enough for something.

"Status," Heero snapped suddenly, and before Duo even noticed it he had responded, acting on pure, age-old instinct.

"Not in danger."

And then the Perfect Soldier snorted. "You had once taken two bullets to the back and you'd said you weren't in any fucking danger." The look on his face was just plain odd; for the life of him, Duo couldn't catalog it. "How are you really?"

The friendly voice coming out of that face couldn't possibly have been Heero's. It was a hallucination. Or a clone. Maybe he was still unconscious and this situation was simply a dream. Yeah. That sounded about right. It was certainly a dream-like situation, Heero asking him about his welfare.

When Duo responded, he did so carefully. "Heero, I'm fine."

"You just got shot!" the man immediately argued.

"Gee, Heero, I didn't know that. Really?" The words were out long before he thought about them, but he was given the immediate chance to regret them. Heero's strangely open face snapped closed again, back into the emotionless mask, and the man glared at him. He tried to backtrack. "Heero-"

"The subject was safely transported to a new safehouse thanks to you." Heero regarded him the same way as he had during the war, a transformation that actually hurt him. What the hell? He'd been freaked by Heero's... nice-ness... and now he was distraught by the return of that damn look.

Had Duo just... shoved Heero away?

"You'll receive word from the commander to commend you for your assistance," Heero continued, then, done with his little speech, turned away. He was right next to the damn door; it was opened before Duo managed to get his mouth working again.

"Heero," he called, "I didn't-"

But he walked out.

He was horrified to find hot tears in his eyes and, forced to lie down as he was, was rather hard-pressed to keep them down. Shit. Heero had been worried about him. The Perfect Soldier had worried about him. And had been nice to him. It had been so strange, so unnatural, compared to what he'd been used to, and on reaction he'd thrown on his mask, shot out a sarcastic joke.

And he'd paid for it.

1) heavy bleeding

2) a clot formed by platelets that blocks a blood vessel

3) a term which desbribes a condition of abnormally low intravascular volume with a decreased volume of circulating plasma in the body. It can be due to blood loss or dehydration.