Duo awoke the next morning to the sounds of singing outside his room. Opening the door, he startled the Hispanic woman who was in the hall, dusting the bric-a-brac on the tables against the walls. "Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Chang had to go to the office, but he said he'd be back soon. Miss Long left you a plate in the oven. They haven't been gone long."

"How long is not long?" Duo asked, for once glad that he had taken the time to get dressed before emerging from his room.

"Maybe five minutes. Mr. Chang walks her to the Maxwell Church school, then he goes to his office." She said, looking him over. "You know where that is, right?"

Now he remembered why he liked wearing the priest outfit, only the most brazen woman would hit on a priest, most just treated him like a brother. "I could kiss you, but instead you can have my breakfast." He ran towards the door and slipped on his boots, tying them as he slid down the stairs.

Emerging on the street, it only took him a moment to get his bearings. Though everything was new, the names of places had not changed, and these were the streets he grew up on. Wufei and Lien only had a five minute head start, if the woman he assumed the housekeeper was correct, and since Wufei was taller than the people who never left the colony, owing to the greater gravity of the place that made all its inhabitants short, it was quite easy for him to find the two, and without announcing his presence, he wrapped himself around Wufei, causing Lien to laugh as Wufei sputtered.

"Duo! What are you trying to do, get killed?" Wufei asked, putting away the gun he had pulled out of its shoulder holster.

"Duo, will you come and tell my friend Meghan the story?" Lien asked, pulling Duo away from Wufei. She was obviously up to being chaperone now.

Duo looked to Wufei for help, and the girl now took hold of his braid, knowing from the stories that her brother had told her it was his prized possession. He eeped, realizing now there was no escape, not unless he could pry those five fingers off his tail. She really wasn't playing fair.

Wufei laughed, "Why don't you take him and let him tell the whole class. That way he has something to do while I'm in conference with Father Stuart."

"Some rescuer." Duo muttered under his breath, feeling the little girl lean against his side. He looked down to her to see she was looking up at him with liquid pools of licorice, her lower lip quivering as she bit it.

"You don't like me?" She asked, on the verge of tears. She had wrapped her arms around his waist, and was about to make an awful scene.

"Don't cry. I like you. I ran here to see you off to school, didn't I?" He tried to pry her stranglehold off of him. "I don't mind telling anyone you want me to about the legend of the Maxwell Demon, I just don't like people messing with my braid."

She let go, looking up at him now with bright eyes that showed no signs of ever being about to cry. She grabbed his hand, letting the rest of him go and began to pull him into a faster pace to school. "Great! I'm sure Mr. Cooke won't mind a guest speaker during first period today."

He looked over his shoulder as he was lead away. Wufei was smiling. "She got you good, Duo." And he ran to catch up with his sister and best friend.

"Now I wish I had taken the time to eat breakfast," Duo muttered as they made their way down the street.

Wufei emerged from the school's finance office to see Duo and Lien sitting on the bench next to the principal's office, at the end of the hall. Getting closer, he could see they were wearing signs around their neck. Duo's read, I will not challenge the teacher. Lien's read, I will control my temper. He shook his head and walked past them into Fr. Stuart's office, where he found Mr. Cooke yelling in frustration.

"Ah, Mr. Chang. Could you please come in and give me your take on Mr. Cooke's situation." Fr. Stuart said, relief apparent on his face.

"That man is a bad influence on children. You know he was telling them that Operation Meteor was a bad idea." Mr. Cooke started, but went on no further as Wufei's hand went up to silence him.

"The original plan of Operation Meteor was a bad one. The concept was to drop a rather large object, like a colony, to earth, using the chaos ensued by it to cover up an invasion by Oz troops. If the Gundams hadn't been stolen, they too would have been used to prove that the colonists were a threat to the Earth Sphere, and martial law would now be prevalent throughout the colonies as well as Earth. Please, Mr. Cooke, explain to me how any of that is a good thing?" Wufei's defiant look silenced the man, who shook his head.

"Now why is Lien out there as well?" Wufei asked the defeated man.

"She was inciting a riot at Mr. Maxwell's words. As he and I debated the points of Operation Meteor, she got up and ran towards the front of the class, pointing this at me, calling me, well the other children said it roughly translated as a closed-minded baboon." He extended the now closed, mother of pearl handled, butterfly knife. "She said my mind was as big as those people who killed her family."

Wufei took the knife, pocketing it in his jacket pocket, while at the same time giving Mr. Cooke a brief view of the shoulder holster he wore. "Considering she became an orphan during the planning of the first attempt of Operation Meteor and lost the rest of her family during the second attempt. If you truly support its concept, I can understand her negative feelings to you. But I'm not excusing her behavior. She has been told repeatedly that you do not draw a weapon unless to defend yourself, so you, Fr. Stuart, have my leave to discipline her. I'll take Duo away now, and you, Mr. Cooke, will explain the true meaning of Operation Meteor and why the Gundam rebels had to stop it from happening."

Wufei entered the hall, "Fr. Stuart will see you now, Lien." He pulled the knife out of his pocket. "You'll get this back later."

She got up and bowed, going into the office.

Duo whistled when he saw the closed knife. "I thought she was just threatening him with a pen. May I?" He extended his hand out towards the knife.

"Careful, it's laser-edged Gundanium." Wufei said as Duo opened the knife. "A true lady's knife. Unfortunately, I think the Long clan is running true in her."

Duo nodded, "She is most definitely sure of herself. And very volatile. I can see now why you and Mei never really got together. You both were very headstrong people."

"Funny. It wasn't until she died that I realized she was probably the only woman in the world I could have spent the rest of my life with." And for the first time in his life, Wufei began to cry, to mourn her loss.

Duo pulled Wufei into his arms, allowing the stoic Chinese man a chance to cry, just cry, with no sarcasm in his actions this time. They had made it into the stairwell, and were alone so he allowed Wufei to cry as long as he needed to, telling his body to ignore the feelings Wufei's movements were stirring.

Wufei pulled away once his tears subsided, looking into the eyes of his comforter. Duo smiled back with compassion, placing a kiss on Wufei's forehead. "You'll protect her sister the way you were unable to protect her."

Wufei allowed Duo to pull him closer for a hug, but then it was Duo pulling away as he heard voices in the stairwell coming up to them. Wufei stood there, shocked look on his face as he felt Duo's absence as the American stood a distance away, looking at the nuns who were climbing the stairs.

"Duo? I'd recognize that braid anywhere. It does a woman's heart good to see you here. Too bad Sister Helen isn't here to see the fine man you grew up to be." One of the two nuns said, running up the rest of the flight of stairs to embrace him.

The other one held back, now seemingly becoming aware of the burn scars on her face. She bowed her head in order to hide her face in the fabric of her cowl. "Um... Hi... Duo." She was quite shy now, the total opposite of the boisterous girl Wufei had grown to know over the past few years.

"Kathryn?" Duo said, looking into the green eyes of the woman who was hugging him.

"That's Sister Kathryn to you, Mister. And what's with the suit? I thought you only believed in the God of Death."

"Nah. This is just my way of remembering Father Maxwell and Sister Helen." He let her go, turning to look at the other woman. "Come over here, Corrin, and give me a hug."

"Duo... I..." She turned away, seeking refuge behind Wufei.

"She gave up on your marriage proposal a long time ago," Katherin said, laughter apparent in her voice. "Not that you were serious anyway. She joined the convent after the fire. I guess she knew you were only kidding, especially after the way you left."

"No! It's not that! I knew you wouldn't want a monster for your wife." Corrin said, still hiding her face in Wufei's back. "Now I can't marry."

Wufei looked puzzled, so Sister Kathryn decided to offer some explanation. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chang. We've never told you our story. Back when we were all part of Solo's gang, I was his girl and Corry was Duo's, not really, I mean, we were just kids. Then when Solo died, Duo promised he'd take care of us like family, and said he'd make Corrin his wife so she could be mother to us all, especially the little kids we kept rescuing. But that was when Father Maxwell took us all in. You should have seen her back then. She was beautiful, like a model or something, with blonde hair and blue eyes. So full of joy and laughter all the time, she and Duo kept us all going through the hard times."

Duo sighed. "We were just kids then. We're all grown up now. Corry, you should have a family of your own. Any straight man would be lucky to have you."

Corrin's sad voice drew their attention. "You don't understand. Duo, when you left to steal that mobile suit for them, Kathryn gathered the kids. She took everyone out. I stayed behind, I had to distract them while she escaped. I should have died in the fire; no one should survive what I've suffered, what I saw, what they did to me. I should have died." She put a gloved hand on the back of her head, grabbing at the fabric of her cowl. "No one should have to see this every morning." She ripped the cloth off her head, coming out from behind Wufei. Patches of blonde hair grew among the mostly scarred surface of her head. She had one ear, and on the same side was half of an almost perfect face, with bright blue eyes looking back at him.

Duo looked on the verge of tears and she quickly replaced the material that hid her scars. "My Corrin, how did you survive? When I came back, I thought everyone was dead."

"The Paramedics came when the fire suppression system was activated. Sister Helen was lucky, they killed her. However they left me to live, to forever have the memory of what they did to me. They wanted me to suffer." She again bowed her head, burrowing the scars in Wufei's shoulder.

Wufei put his arm around the nun at his side. His heart had gone out to her when they had first met, but now, hearing her story made him want even more to do something for her. He looked over to Duo, who also had the same look of determination on his face and he knew the American would want to discuss it after the women left, if only so that she wouldn't have false hope that something could be done.

Off in the distance, a bell chimed causing both nuns to look at their watches. "Sorry to cut our reunion so short, Duo, but Kat and I have to help prepare lunch." The quiet nun said, and putting on a happy smile, she wormed her way out of Wufei's embrace, whistling as she skipped out of the stairwell, leaving Kathryn to follow.

"To tell the truth, she's never really let any of us take notice of her scars since I've been here." Wufei said as they watched the two nuns retreat. they seemed a bit happier than they had been during the brief encounter with their former brother.

Wufei looked at Duo, who shrugged before quickly recovering to his cheerful demeanor. "Why don't you let me show you my L2 and I'll see what you did to improve things for my people."

Wufei nodded, "But first I think we should stop for a bite to eat. I'm sure you didn't have anything for breakfast, and mine was rather a long time ago."

"Alright. Where do you suggest?" Duo asked, burrowing his hands deep in his own pockets.

"Well, Lu makes a wonderful breakfast. We should go home, that way I can change out of this stuffy outfit. I always wear business suits to walk around. Today I'd like to be a tourist." Wufei flashed a self assured smile, clasping his hands behind his back, and together they walked out the door.

Lu greeted them at the door, "I thought you'd be hungry, seeing as neither of you truly ate much of anything, so I've prepared brunch."

Duo sniffed the air as he took off his boots, it was definitely rich with the smell of food. His stomach protested its abuse making both Lu and Wufei laugh. "Go get this man fed. I've got to change and make a quick phone call to the office, let them know I won't be in again today."

Duo looked puzzled as Lu offered her arm to escort him away. He looked from the Chinese man to the Hispanic woman who he had thought to be the housekeeper before, then back to the man. "You haven't been to the office yet? I thought... well, where did you go this morning?" Duo asked.

"Ah, well Fr. Stuart was having a little problems with the new accountant he had hired, and subsequently fired, so he asked that I look over the books the new girl he hired had drawn up. To tell you the truth I think he was trying to set me up with her." Lu laughed at his words, knowing from her own vain attempts to get with him that it would be impossible for this new girl to get under his skin. Not the way she was sure that the man next to her had.

The uncomfortable silence that took over after her laughter subsided was unbearable. Neither man could look at the other and though everyone knew the reason why, no one was ready to admit it.

"Come on, then. Let's get you a bite to eat." Lu said, pulling Duo away from the foyer to the back of the apartment, where they had dinner the night before.

Wufei entered the kitchen wearing faded jeans and a royal blue shirt, so blue it was almost indigo or violet as the light reflected off of the lightweight silk dress shirt. Untucked and loose, the fabric seemed to glide over his body, the long sleeves had been rolled up twice at the cuff to give the appearance of being three quarter length sleeves, and the neck had been left open to the second button, revealing that he wore nothing underneath. He had brushed out his hair, gathering it back up in a loose ponytail, that afforded his long fringe to fall forward and frame his face, softening his appearance yet not detracting from his masculinity, but increasing it in such away that both Duo and Lu sighed dreamily as they watched him gather a plate of food.

Wufei tried to ignore the eyes he felt devour him as he made his plate from the dishes on the stove. He knew better than to be embarrassed by any of it. He was used to Lu's appraisal, as well as looks from other men and women alike as he walked down the street, but found he was growing ever more self conscious about Duo looking at him that way. He cleared his throat, bringing them both back into the room. "So has Lu told you her ideas for the sculptures yet?" He asked, turning to fully face the two sitting at the table.

"Oh! You're that Lu!" Duo's eyes went wide in amazement. "Now I feel so exposed. It's like you've seen me, well all of us, naked."

The Hispanic woman almost choked on the sip of coffee she had just taken, a blush rising to her face. "I assure you, it was purely professional, almost clinical. Your statue, in particular, was almost the epitome of innocence, even if it was one of three that showed everything. The viewer will be so caught up in what's emoted by the piece, you almost forget you can see your... erm... package."

Now Duo's blush was so deep it made his hair red. He was blushing not only in uncharacteristic modesty about this woman having seen all of him, but also embarrassment for thinking she was just the hired help. "So, if you're an artist, why do you hang out around here?"

"Oh! I forgot I didn't give you a proper introduction. Duo, this is Luciana Perez. Lu is my personal assistant, and she lives here, in the room next to Lien's." Wufei explained, taking his seat across from the two of them. "Perhaps I should give you a tour of the apartment before you give me a tour of the colony."

"No, that's not really necessary. He doesn't have to bother with Lien's side of the apartment, and you showed him the essential parts of your side last night, except maybe your bedroom." Lu gave him a mischievous wink, rising from the table to leave them alone in silence.

Duo was the first to recover, after five minutes had past and Wufei was still just staring at his plate. "Are you going to eat, or should we just get out of here?"

Wufei looked up at him, as if he had forgotten the American was in the room. "I shan't take long. You can go freshen up if you need to, then we'll go."

At noon they found themselves in front of the entrance to a market square, the old man who ran the fruit stand near the entrance looked suspiciously at them, for a moment, and Wufei stopped, causing Duo to stop and survey where they were. "I used to get all kinds of food here." Duo said, pulling Wufei towards the entrance.

"So I can see." Wufei said, gesturing with his head for Duo to look at the man who was following their progress with his eyes.

Duo looked, then blushed, pushing his hands deep into his pockets trying to feel around for his money. He left Wufei's side and went to the vendor, bowing slightly as he spoke. "I want to thank you for not killing us when you hand every reason and opportunity to. Sir, you helped us feed the orphans that horrible war caused, and I know I'll never be able to repay you for all the food we stole in our hunger, but today I'd like to actually pay for my fruit." He picked up an orange from the stand and pressed a folded up bank note in the vendor's hand, before returning to Wufei's side, taking the Chinese man's hand and pulling him out of the market.

The old man opened his hand, unfolding the bank note to see it was worth 100 credits, for a 1 credit orange. He smiled. "Thank you, Maxwell Demon!" he called at their retreating figures.

"What did you give him?" Wufei asked as Duo turned to look over his shoulder and wave at the vendor.

"A c-note. It was the least I could do." A little boy happened to be passing by, so Duo handed him the fruit, making his eyes light up as he ran to catch up with his mother who was waiting so they could cross the street.

"So I take it you stole from him often?" Wufei asked, as they, too, crossed the street.

"Wufei, we had no money. I stole from everyone often." Duo said, blinking back tears as he remembered the rest. "And often times they stole from me too."

Their eyes met, and both instantly blushed, and Wufei knew what he had meant when he said they had stolen from him too. Everyone always seemed to take from Duo the one thing that Wufei didn't even have the courage to ask for himself. They were silent now, as they walked through the streets, Duo making few comments here and there about different things, different places.

At 1700 hrs, they found themselves in front of a restaurant just as Wufei's cellphone rang.

"Miss Perez says she'll stay with me until you get back, so take your time, big brother. It's about time you got a life." Lien said and hung up the phone, not giving Wufei a chance to protest.

He grimaced at his phone, clipping it back to his belt. He looked up at the sign, it was one of those romantic places you would only take a date to. He looked over at Duo, who was just standing there shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "You hungry?" he asked.

Duo looked at the couples entering the restaurant and was suddenly uncomfortable. "Shouldn't we be getting back?" Duo asked even as his stomach grumbled loudly in protest.

"Duo, it's late, and Lu has probably already made dinner for her and Lien. Come on, it's just a restaurant. Surely you've gone out with Heero before." Wufei said, extending his hand to the American.

"Actually, with the exception of the occasional mission, he never took me out. He really wanted to keep our relationship a secret." Duo said, taking Wufei's hand. "Are you saying that this is a date?"

Wufei blushed, "If you want it to be."

"Alright." Duo moved closer, putting his arm around Wufei's waist. "We'll finally get to know each other, ne?"

Wufei nodded, settling against him. He realized that this is what he wanted, everything he had done since the war was to try to get Duo to a place he felt safe enough to be himself. Everything he had done was for Duo, but still he was unsure if he could jeopardize their friendship to see what more they could become. Finally he realized why Ryo was so reluctant to get involved with Dee, even though he was so obviously attracted to his partner.

They entered the restaurant and the maitre d smiled at them. "Ah, Mr. Chang. You're secretary called your reservation in. Your table is ready."

Duo raised an eyebrow, and Wufei shook his head. "I think she's got a tracer on me." Wufei whispered as they followed him to the secluded corner he led them to.

"And she has her own ideas of how your life should be." Duo whispered back, noticing the booth, and the chilling wine, all very picturesque and very romantic.

"She also took the liberty of ordering for you, so just relax and we'll take care of everything." he gestured over to the waiter who was standing to the side, who came forward at his gesture. "This is Pierre. He'll be your waiter tonight. If there is anything you need, ask for him."

Pierre smiled, blushed, and finally bowed. "It's an honor, Mr. Chang and Mr. Maxwell. I truly appreciate all you accomplished during and after the war."

Duo smiled. "Thank you. Now if we need you, we'll call." Duo covered Wufei's hand which rested on the table with his own, the gesture enough for the waiter to understand and leave the table.

"Boor." Wufei teased, "He's just a fan. You didn't need to chase him off." He withdrew his hand from the table, resting them both on his lap.

"I thought this was a date. Are you afraid to be alone with me? It's not like we're strangers, or we've never been alone before. Remember that time we were both stuck at the safe house, I had that awful cold and you were hiding out because there was a bounty out on you."

"There was never a bounty. I never left any witnesses. You were sick, I wanted to take care of you since no one else would." Wufei said, staring at the flame of the candle on the table, he couldn't bring himself to look at him.

"But, they really needed Nataku. Remember they almost failed at the mission until the Manguanacs finally showed up." Duo was surprised, and touched, that someone actually cared.

"I knew they would be fine. You were delirious, kept calling me Heero until I finally got your fever to break. Luckily you couldn't move, if you had tried anything in that state, thinking I was that... that thing, I probably would have killed you." Wufei hazarded a glance at the braided man, whose eyes widened even further at that revelation.

"Man, I'm truly sorry. But like you said, I was sick."

"Sick in the head." Wufei nodded. "It seemed like no matter how much shit he put you through you were always willing to take him back."

Duo didn't like the turn of the conversation. "I thought we were going to get to know each other, not argue about a man who is of no consequence to me any longer. I want to know more about who you are now."

Wufei blushed, he didn't want to argue about Heero either, but it still haunted him, he still haunted him, taunting him, mocking him. Even after they talked, Heero had said "I'll lead you to him, but he'll always come back to me. All I have to do is ask." And what scared Wufei the most was that Heero might be right, and would probably do it just to torture him. He sobered his look, such intensity of feeling in his eyes that Duo blinked, as if trying to diffuse the electricity between them. "One last question about Heero, and I'll drop the subject forever."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Alright. But I need a drink for this." Duo poured them each a glass of the wine. "To finally getting you to drop the subject of Heero." He raised his glass and took a drink, Wufei following suit, almost emptying the glass due to nerves.

Unfortunately, getting the butterflies in his stomach drunk only made them fly about more wildly, and he only hoped he wasn't making a mistake by asking the question in the first place. He set the glass down, clearing his throat. "What would you do if Heero came to you, solemn faced, and told you he had made a mistake, his life with Relena has been a lie, and he wanted you back?"

Duo sighed, shaking his head. "That didn't take long. I didn't expect it til at least the second date, or maybe right before I kissed you. But now is perfect, it won't ruin those moments when I want you to be thinking only of me. I wouldn't take him back. I couldn't take him back. If you only knew how long it took me to recover, he cut me to the quick and your strong shoulders, which held so many of my tears during the war, were nowhere to be found. You know, were it not for your shoulder to cry on, I probably wouldn't have taken him back as many times as I did."

"No, you would have died. I remember the first time I found you crying. Tears were plentiful, as was blood. At least you had cut yourself where it would take a long time to bleed to death." Wufei drained his glass and poured another. "I'm glad you're finally over Mr. Perfect Soldier. Now, as promised, I'll drop the subject forever. You are now free to ask anything you want."

"Have you really been living like a eunuch all these years?" Duo asked, smiling as Wufei again emptied his glass and poured another.

"Well, during the war, I didn't want sex to cloud my judgement, for the missions. Believe me, it took a lot of control, and meditation, but I never faltered. During college, celibacy was easy, especially since my roommate was just as celibate, like Sir Galahad the chaste Ryo Maclean was innocent and reserved. Then up here, I've had Lien to worry about, so there was really no time for a physical relationship with anyone."

Duo finally poured his second glass and gestured for Pierre to bring them another bottle. He brought them their first course first, and hastily retreated once he had replaced the empty bottle with a full one. "But you have gone out on dates before, right?"

"Ryo and I would go out occasionally, but it never really went anywhere. I think he got tired of me having to concentrate on calling him Ryo." Wufei blushed, he almost said too much. "Lu and I actually met on a blind date, Sally arranged it. Apparently she met Luciana Perez after the war, she was her adjunct during the Preventer years."

They talked during the rest of the meal, Duo noticing that while Wufei picked a little off of his plate, he almost finished two bottles of wine by himself, of the three they had consumed during the course of the evening. Duo was amazed that after dessert Wufei stood with no problem, and together they walked out of the restaurant, Pierre having called a cab to take them home.

----end Chapter Two----

Original Date Posted: November 2, 2005

disclaimer: I do not own the GW characters, or any other commercially released thing mentioned in the contents therein. I do however own the personas of the characters contained within, and any resemblances to any other author's characters (of the same name or real life persons for that matter) is purely coincidental and is not done with that intent in mind.