Wufei turned off his beeper before the piercing alarm could reach downstairs, packing up his clothes and loading his gun just as quickly. He had returned to work that morning out of necessity, anxiously leaving his boyfriend at home since he had regained a significant amount of his vision. As luck—good or bad he didn't know—would have it, he immediately learned upon entering headquarters how progress was being made on tracking down the rebel force.

His pace slowed traveled down to the living room, not sure how well Trowa would accept what he was about to do. Standing a few arm lengths away, he waited until Trowa noticed his presence and smiled. Trowa's smile quickly turned into a frown as he noticed the hazy colors of Wufei's clothes were still those of a Preventer's uniform, a drastic difference from the cool blues and whites he usually wore at home. "Why haven't you changed?"

"I have a mission."

Confused, Trowa spoke slowly, trying to understand the simple statement brought before him. "But you can't go on missions anymore. We resigned from mission work. Lady Une said it would be easy to transfer us into training positions when we turned in our papers last week."

"I only turned in your papers." Wufei couldn't bring himself to hand in his as well, not when those responsible for Trowa's near-death experience were still free. Still alive. "Heero and Duo will be joining me. Stay inside and rest yourself. Quatre will check on you tomorrow and I shouldn't be away from home long with their help. All that is left to do is to chase down the rebel force's ringleader, and his hideouts are numbered unless he dares the wilderness of the mountains."

"If you think I'll be here when you return, you're kidding yourself. You lied to me. You said no more missions for either or us. You promised you'd quit them if I did. My resignation was turned in, why wasn't yours?"

"I promise to explain it all to you when I return, but my intention was never to hurt you or to lie to you. Please understand that I have to see him taken down, for my own peace of mind."

Trowa glowered from his seat on the sofa, furious tears biting at the edges of his eyes. "Your presence won't change anything. If so little is left to do, they can do it without you. You wouldn't have gone on the mission if it was under normal conditions."

"This is not a normal condition." Wufei kept hearing that woman's voice over the phone playing in his mind, her voice practiced to sound sympathetic but stern. He knew she couldn't help him the way he had wanted her too, but he had asked her anyway. He knew because he was usually the man to make those calls, crossing off the names of the fallen as each family was contacted. I'm sorry to inform you Agent Trowa Barton was killed in action at…I'm sorry, Mr. Chang, I can't answer that…Mr. Chang, if you would like to participate in our grieving services…

He's dead? Why is he dead? Why is my love dead?

"I have to go." Wufei placed a kiss on Trowa's forehead, brushing back the tears that had yet to fall over. "I love you."

Not rising after the front door closed quietly, Trowa slept on the couch that night, waking often when the wind would force itself against the door, making him think Wufei had arrived back home. In the early sunlight, his heart jumped into his throat when the phone rang, terrified that he'd get a call similar to the one his love had received not long before. His fears were angrily released on the poor telemarketer who dared to greet him with an obnoxiously cheerful 'Good morning'.

Deciding to spitefully ignore Wufei's warnings to rest, he made his way out into his garden after breakfast. He had been wondering how his plants had fared after weeks of neglect and he welcomed the distraction away from his love life. Feeling along the flowerbeds lining the house, he came across tall, green shoots that he didn't remember planting. Leaning down and sniffing, he wrinkled his nose at the distinct smell of onion. Pulling up the onion grass by the root, he jumped at the sound of wheels on the driveway.

"Trowa? What are you doing out here? I thought Wufei said you were supposed to stay inside unless supervised."

Pouting, Trowa for once wasn't glad to welcome his best friend into his shared home. "He's overprotective and he's obviously too busy getting his ass kicked for no reason to keep an eye on me."

Chuckling, Quatre kneeled down, getting the knees of his khakis dirty as he helped weed the struggling garden. "Having a lover's spat?"

"So what? It's not like you and Relena never fight."

Having learned to take Trowa's insults as a red flag for evidence of the French man's insecurity, Quatre playfully nudged him in the ribs. "He loves you, which is what you've wanted for months. I know. You told me every single night since we joined the Preventers."

"You've made your point on that. But he's being hypocritical. He promised that he'd become a trainer if I did so there'd be no more dangerous missions for either of us. I was mad at first, but I realized just how scared I would be if I lost him. How hurt I would be if he got hurt, or worse. How empty life would be after finally feeling complete. Then he goes off on this escapade for his stupid sense of justice."

"You love his justice rants, which is a standing testimony of just how much you've fallen for him. But you know this isn't for justice. Or for revenge, as others of us are apt to indulge in."

"Then what is it?"

Quatre tried not to shriek as a worm fell on top of his ungloved hand, thankful Trowa could not clearly see the grimace on his face. "Your protection. He has to have proof with his own eyes that the man who hurt you won't be going after you again. Doesn't it feel nice to have a knight dash off to defend your person? If you stop looking at it as hypocrisy, you might find the romance hidden behind his actions."

Trowa had to smile, wondering how Quatre always knew the right words to say. "He has gotten rather romantic, hasn't he?"

"Please. It chokes the rest of us to watch how much he dotes over you."

"Hey, you could learn a lot from him! Relena wouldn't stay so ticked if you'd dote on her half as much as Wufei does me."

"She's a woman and I'm not Heero. She'd find something else to complain about."

"You're such a guy, Quatre. How did I love you back then?"

"I'm not sure even how Relena loves me now, much less how you loved me then. Speaking of time and its past events, remember when you started falling in love with Wufei?"

"You're changing the subject, but yes, I do. After Heero destroyed the last piece of Zech's ship in space, Wufei came to tell me goodbye, thinking we'd never see each other again. I was still nursing the heartbreak you gave me, fresh again since I had to relive it a second time when my memories returned."

"I'm sorry!"

"It's okay. Catherine was a little late in warning me you were straight though. Could've stood to have heard that a couple months earlier. Anyway, Wufei clasped my hand in his. Right hand and right hand. He got the handshake wrong. His hair was looser than normal, and he had a strand falling across his forehead."

"You're losing track of the story."

"You've heard it several times before. Why do you want to hear it again?"

"Honestly, I could stand not listening to it ever again, but I'm trying to get a point across."

"Drive it home, 04."

"You can't let a little argument get in the way of your love."

Trowa fingered the bud of a yellow rose, hoping his sight would fully return soon so he could watch it bloom. "You're right. You're absolutely right."

"Thank-you." Quatre picked up a discard onion, turning the grubby bulb in his manicured hands. "Out of curiosity, why are these killed? They have life within them too, just as the beautiful flowers do."

"Because they kill other plants. But if you start getting philosophical in my garden, you're going home."

Quatre laughed, a clear ringing sound that never failed to make Trowa feel glad to be alive, romantic love or no. "I brought you some of that ice cream you like so much. Since Wufei's been controlling your diet, I'm guessing you haven't had anything sweet lately. And according to Relena, sweets are the perfect indulgence after a fight with your boyfriend."

"I didn't think she was one to eat sugary foods."

"Eat them, throw them at me…At least it makes making up rather interesting when you're covered in cherry pie."

"Quatre, with all due respect, I really didn't want to know that about your sex life."

The Winner heir blushed, not having meant his words to be taken in a perverted manner. His flustered protests fell on deaf ears as Trowa's mind starting racing for a plan on how to welcome his beloved home.

As the two ex-pilots gardened underneath the hot sun, Wufei spent the afternoon sitting on a bank of snow, waiting for the Preventers helicopter to find a safe area to land after the previous night's blizzard altered the landscape in the mountains. Heero kept himself entertained by continuously walking the perimeter of the valley they found that morning, Duo by chatting constantly to Wufei, trying to keep the onyx-eyed agent's spirits up. Duo's feet were propped up on the corpse resting in the snow, the trickle of blood from its left lung frozen from the biting air.

Wufei tried not to remember that it was his bullet resting in the man's broken flesh. He believed his bullet deserved a better home than that. At least the ringleader hadn't been hard to find, not with the coordinates gleaned from the captured informant. Headquarters has specifically mentioned to bring the ringleader back in one piece, but they had forgotten to say in what state of life. Heero and Duo hadn't protested when Wufei pulled the trigger, considering they would have done the same if Wufei hadn't carried a larger right to the honor.

When the helicopter finally found stable land on a frozen lake, they all carried the dead body to the machine, strapping it in on the spare seat. Wufei dozed under the offered blanket, returning home from the Preventers long after the sun had set. As he reached his front door, he let out a deep sigh, wondering what battle waited inside the wooden door. Taking off his boots, still holding little packs of ice in their crevices, he walked inside, searching around for Trowa.

He found him in the kitchen, already dressed for bed. "You're still here. I'm glad."

"How was the mission?"

"Successful." Wufei tried not to sound unsure of himself, but he knew he was not allowed to share specifics about the ringleader's take-down with Trowa since the latter had been removed from mission work. "Have you kept busy?"

"Gardened. A lot."

"You did it alone?"

"Quatre."

"Oh. Did you have a good time? I know you've been concerned about the condition of your plants."

Trowa remained silent, opening the refrigerator and bringing out a carton of ice cream Wufei didn't remember buying, popping off the lid and pulling back the plastic sheet. "Can I help you with that?"

"I don't need your help. Haven't you done enough already?"

Wufei slowly stepped forwards, placing his hands on Trowa's shoulders, rubbing his thumbs against the tension built up under the pale skin. "But I want to help you. It's all I've wanted to do since we found you."

Trowa shrugged him off, turning sharply away from Wufei's still open hands. "Go get a shower. You're filthy."

"But—"

"Just go!" Trowa jabbed a spoon into the classic sweet, keeping his back turned away from the discouraged Chinese man.

Deciding not to aggravate the situation farther, Wufei did as he was told, scrubbing off under a pulsating stream of hot water, letting the hours of tramping through snow flow down into the drain. Keeping his hair down after the shower was over, hoping to gain at least an ounce of pity, he cautiously stepped back to the kitchen. Trowa was stirring the spoon around in the now melty ice cream, leaning against the refrigerator.

"Take off your shirt."

"What?"

Emerald eyes flicked towards him, unreadable and still slightly unfocused. "You heard me. Take off your shirt."

"Alright." Baffled, Wufei placed his t-shirt on top of the stove, nervously adjusting the elastic band of his pants as he waited for Trowa's wrath to pass over. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Gasp." With a smirk, Trowa plopped a generous helping of vanilla soft serve onto Wufei's shoulder, sending freezing rivers down his arm and indeed earning a startled gasp.

"Trowa! Dammit, I just got warm!"

"Don't worry so much. I'll clean it up."

Wufei nearly melted as well when the cold sensation was replaced by the moist heat of Trowa's tongue lapping up the white liquid. Gripping the countertop behind him tightly, he shivered under the dual feelings. "I thought you were mad."

"You thought wrong, for once. As adorable as you are dirty and sweaty, I'd rather not eat off unclean surfaces."

"You had me...ooh…"

"I had you?"

"Worried. Had me worried."

"Consider it payback for making me worry about you." Trowa squinted at the bronze blur in front of his eyes, running his fingers lightly across the muscled curves to see if all the ice-cream was gone. "Did I miss anything?"

"Mmmhmm." Wufei tapped his fingers against the curve where his shoulder met his throat. "Right here."

Following Wufei's arm to the designated spot, Trowa gently sucked on the sensitive skin, biting gently when he didn't taste any vanilla. "There's not any up here."

"I know. But it sure feels good."

"Tastes good too, you cheater."

"I'm not convinced that my cheating has any negative repercussions."

Trowa backed away, dipping the spoon back into the carton, bringing it to his lips and slowly licking the substance off the shining metal. "Oh, there's a punishment for cheating, Chang. As a trained fighter pilot, you should know better."

Wufei's eyes were intently focused on the mouth wrapping around the arch of the spoon, unconsciously leaning forward. With anyone else, he would have protested being toyed around with, but the teasingly seductive tone in his boyfriend's voice had his body already aching with anticipation. "And that would be…?"

"You're not going to get any sleep tonight."

"I'm not?" Wufei shook his head, trying to focus despite the fact there was now a turtleneck being discarded onto the floor. "You're still healing. Maybe if you hadn't been on your feet already today, but you've been working in the garden. You've strained yourself far enough as it is!"

"Shhhhhh." Trowa held up a slightly sticky finger to Wufei's lips, tracing the worried frown he found there. "If you're gentle, we don't have to worry about me getting hurt, now do we? Can you do that for me, Fei? Be gentle?"

Wufei swept Trowa in his arms, breathing in deeply the scent of the taller man that he had come to know so well. Kissing him softly, he tightened his hold in promise. "Always. No-one will hurt you again."

"I love you, Fei."

"I love you too."

"Are you up for this? You did just get back from a mission."

"Definitely."

"Mm. Don't forget the ice cream."

One more chapter to go!