'You're not alone, together we stand,

I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand.'

Keep Holding On, Avril Lavigne

Chapter Five:

The Morning After

Duo awakened to the sound of someone banging on the door.

"Duo!" Quatre called. "I know you went out last night... but I also know you you went to bed by three. It's a quarter past one in the afternoon. I need you to get up. Cara is gone. She hasn't left a note, and I'm worried. Duo? Duo!"

Duo started, lifted his head. Cara was snuggled up against his side, her head on his shoulder. And he was surprised to find that he liked her there. It felt good to have her up next to him, relaxed and still utterly spent.

"Wha..." she murmured sleepily, snuggling closer. Duo had just a second to fell a knee-jerk response of male pride before Quatre banged on the door again.

"DUO! You got to the count of three before I knock down this door! One..."

"Quatre?" she asked a bit softly, jerking upright, now fully awake. "Oh, Allah! No. This's not good."

"You got that right," Duo whispered, grabbing for the nearest clothes. At least he could confront Quatre with clothes on. Cara did likewise, grabbing the nearest piece of clothing.

"Two...."

The door rattled as Quatre banged.

Cara pulled the shirt down, belatedly realizing it was many sizes to large, and that it was Duo's.

"Three..."

The door slammed open, and Quatre stumbled in.

"Duo! What do you think..."

Quatre stopped dead in his tracks, and Duo could only guess at the sight they presented. Cara kneeling on the bed, Duo's shirt hastily pulled on. And Duo... uh oh. It finally occurred to him why the pants he was trying to pull on were too small- because they weren't his pants. It was Cara's sequin dress. And it was stuck around his knee. So much for confronting with clothes on.

"Quatre," Cara began. "Look, it's not..."

Quatre made a strangled noise... and looked about half strangled, considering the flush on his face and the bugged eyes.

He turned, nearly ran out the door.

"Quatre, wait!" Cara ran after him, forgetting that Duo's shirt was all she wore... and that it only reached half-way down her thighs.

Duo dropped the dress, and found his own pants and another shirt before leaving to find them. Somethings you let family deal with. Somethings, you had to step in and interfere

"Quatre, wait!. Please, it's not... oh!"

Duo found them. Cara blushing, Quatre enraged, standing in front of Trowa, Wufei, and Dorothy all sitting at the lunch table.

"What's all the commotion?" Dorothy demanded, then looked at Cara. "And what have you been up to? Or who, should I ask?"

"Quatre, listen..." She was ignoring Dorothy, begging at her brother.

"Cara..." Quatre said finally. "What on earth are you thinking? Have you no self respect? How low can you fall? To... to..."His voice rose, and finally cracked.

"Hey," Duo snapped. "Don't talk to her like that!"

"What's going on here?" Dorothy demanded, standing up and coming around the table, a hard gleam in her eyes. She knew exactly where Cara had been the night before, so she had a good idea about where Cara was this morning... even if Cara and Duo's appearance hadn't all but shouted it out.

"Cara!" Quatre screamed at his own lover. "I found her... I found her in bed with him!" He pointed at Duo.

Dorothy smiled. "Well, good for them."

Trowa's eyebrow raised.

Both of Wufei's eyebrows went up.

"Maxwell had sex with your up-tight, anti-social sister? I'll have to give him a raise in my estimations, althought I'm not surprised, considering."

"Hey," Duo and Quatre snapped simultaneously.

"Quatre," Cara pleaded. "Just listen to me..."

"Listen to what? You justify this? You have no self respect, no standards, no inhibitions. Did you even stop to think? This is so...Do you realize how..."

Cara's eyes had been steadily filling with tears, and they broke over. She let loose a sob and rushed away.

"Quatre," Dorothy admonished severely before rushing after Cara.

Duo had Quatre by the collar before Dorothy had left. He went nose to nose, lifting the shorter boy to his toes.

"Don't," he said, his voice low and cold, "Don't ever talk to her like that. Like she's stupid or something. She may be your sister... but you won't talk down to her like that for any reason. Say whatever the hell you like about me... but you will not talk to her like that!"

Quatre, surprised into submission, just stood there as Duo left to find Cara and Dorothy.

He heard Wufei comment behind him.

"If I didn't know the baka well enough, I'd say he cared about the girl."

Damnit, he thought. Why was it so hard for them to believe? What was it about him that made them think he was incapable of sustaining genuine human feelings? Was he that wishy-washy- that childish- to them? And was it such a horrible thought that Quatre had to act like the world was caving in just because his sister had slept with him- Duo Maxwell.

Was he good enough to trust to watch their backs in a fire fight, to trust with their lives, but not with the body- or maybe heart- of a beautiful, kind woman?

He found her in her bathroom, staring at the tub, filling with water. Her hair was a long mess of tangles, her eyes were dark, her skin pale under his black T-shirt. She looked so completely lost, such a mess. But she was the most beautiful mess he'd ever seen.

He crossed to the tub, turned off the tap and perched on the rim. He held out his hands, laced his fingers with hers and drew her forward.

"He'll come around. Don't worry. Quatre's not one to hold a grudge or stay mad long." It was a stupid thing to say, he knew. She probably knew Quatre alot better than he did.

"Why's he mad anyway?" she asked softly, leaning into him. Duo let his arms go around her waist, hold her close.

"I don't know. Maybe it's just shock. I mean," he grinned a little, "It's not every day that you walk in and see your best friend and your sister naked in bed together. Now is it?"

"No," she smiled a little, "I guess it isn't. That would be awkward."

Duo felt a weight lift off him. He'd been a little worried that Cara was so ashamed she didn't want to see him or speak to him, but no. She drew comfort from him- and that wasn't something he was used to.

"Come on," he said, drawing the shirt she wore up. He would distract her. "Let's get you in the tub and cleaned up."

"Alright. But only if you get cleaned up with me," she grinned wickedly, thoroughly distracted.

Duo pretended to think for a moment. The he smiled widely. "Sounds like a good deal to me."

AN: Eh... er. OOC for Quat. I know. Really OOC. But come on, like Duo said... if you walked in and saw your best friend (who happens to be mentally unstable ex-assassin and not very good at relationships) and your sister (who you've deemed shy and anti-social and who you think hates soldiers) in bed... together... naked... Well, hey, you might loose your cool a bit, too.