125 Days Since Last Communication

Duo set his foot up on the metal bar across the bottom of the buggy and looked over at Hilde, assuming the same position, a wicked smirk across her face.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Set!" she answered.

"Go!" they both shouted simultaneously, taking a carefully calculated and agreed upon five forward pushes with their right feet before launching off towards the opposite end of the Wal-Mart, whooping and shouting as they flew past cash registers and center aisle displays of five dollar movies and candy and razors – meaningless reminders of a life full of materialism.

The carts came to a slow halt only feet from one another somewhere in the toiletry aisles and Duo rubbed it in that he'd won once more – although he nearly always won.

"Well, you gotta buy me a Coke or something," she demanded and he bowed gracefully.

"I'll get ya a whole store full!" he offered with a cocky grin and she punched his shoulder as Cathy and Trowa walked up with their own buggies in tow.

The brother and sister duo they found only a week ago at a rare hospital raid but their shock and disbelief at seeing other living humans had them quickly accepting Duo's offer of hospitality. They spent a week showing them the ropes at the mansion they'd appropriated a few months back and now it was time for their first supply run.

"Here's how we work this," Duo explained, leaning an elbow on the cart. "We split it up. Someone get as much toilet paper and paper towels as you can and take it out to the truck. Same for canned foods, water, and toiletries – you know, soap, shampoo, what not."

Duo had entire rooms dedicated to the stockpiling of these items. More than likely this was unnecessary paranoia – if their cars broke down they could easily appropriate others, gas was plentiful as no one else was driving, and although he knew that there must be others still alive somewhere, having only the four of them find each other after so many days meant there weren't very damn many mouths to feed.

"I'll take canned food," Hilde suggested. "It's kinda tedious."

"I can help," Trowa offered quietly and Hilde beamed at him.

"Such a gentleman!" she teased and Duo rolled his eyes, knowing exactly how Hilde would start hooking her claws into him as soon as she laid eyes on the poor guy.

"Don't forget to check the back, hey?" Duo called after them as they wandered to the food department together and she threw back a thumbs up.

"I guess I'll take toiletries?" Cathy offered and Duo gave her a warm smile.

"Sure. I'll start with water and then maybe we can work together on tp when we're done?" She nodded but Duo could tell she was nervous about his departure and he winked. "Just holler if ya need anything, okay? We'll come find ya. We're in this together now, huh?"

She nodded again, seeming a little more confident, and he sauntered off to the bottled water though he got waylaid by the clothing section where he picked up a few packages of Heero's favorite undershirts and then was immediately distracted by a display of Batman action figures fashioned after the box office hit that no one even remembered now. They were supposed to go see it when Heero returned from DC. He chuckled sadly as he ran his thumb over the picture of the actor on the cover. He was dead now – just like the rest of them.

But he picked one up and put it in the cart before loading the thing up so heavy with bottled water it was hard to push before making his way out to the parking lot. Hilde and Trowa were already loading cans into the back of one of the pick-ups when he pulled up and she glanced over at his cart, immediately frowning at him.

Duo tried to ignore her as he started loading cases of water into the other truck but she apparently had no intention of allowing him to escape her so-called reality check. She grabbed a package of shirts and held it in his face.

"Really, Duo?"

He snatched it out of her grip and held it to his chest almost like a shield as she placed her hands on her hips.

"He'll need them when he gets back," Duo defended hotly, picking up another package and holding it close too.

"Duo! You have an entire closet full of this shit for him, he doesn't need these." She grabbed the remaining packages and threw them on the ground. "He doesn't need any of this stuff because he's not coming back!"

"He's vaccinated," Duo shot back as he moved to gather the hastily discarded items into his arms as well, ignoring her attempts to claw them away.

"But it doesn't take, what, a hundred and some days to cross the United States when there's no one on the fucking roads!" She grabbed at his arms, trying unsuccessfully to pry them from the packages.

"You know how long it took us to figure out how to siphon gas that deep! What if he broke down in, I don't know, Kansas or somewhere, and had to walk?"

The replies were familiar, the fight familiar, but it still hurt that she didn't have any faith. She was his best friend in the whole world and she couldn't believe in the one thing that kept him going. The one thing that kept them all going. He wouldn't have set up any of this if it weren't for the simple fact that Heero needed a home to come back to.

"Duo!" She drew his name out petulantly and stomped her feet in frustration. "You're just hurting yourself!"

He hated this part of the fight, where he had nothing left to say to her and she would start in on any number of potential scenarios in which Heero was dead and he was just holding on to a past that didn't exist. But it was different now, because a kind hand fell on his shoulder, and he looked over to see Cathy.

"Duo," she said softly, holding out her other hand to take some of the packages. He glared at her distrustfully, having only known her for a week and unsure of where her loyalties lay. "It's okay. If you think he needs these things, then we'll bring them back for him."

Hilde was obviously pissed at her interference but Duo spit his tongue out at her in a juvenile manner for getting his way and snatched up the Batman action figure before putting Heero's things in the front seat of the truck. They loaded the rest of the necessities in silence and the remainder of the supply gathering trip occurred with a minimal amount of conversation.

Cathy offered to ride with Duo back because he wanted to stop by their place and the face Hilde made clearly betrayed how she felt about making one more stop by 'that damned apartment.'

"It's okay, ya know," Duo offered after a few moments of uncomfortable silence with nothing but the stench to accompany them. "If you don't believe me, it's okay. I'm used to it. Hilde never did."

Cathy didn't speak for several long moments as she studied the landscape. But then, Duo felt her hand on his forearm once more, and she was looking at him thoughtfully.

"For four months we were convinced we were the only people still alive." The words were blunt and Duo knew the soul sucking agony of thinking you were utterly alone. "If you have reason to believe in him, then I can believe in that."

Duo felt his lower lip tremble and he bit down on it to try to force it to stop. For so long he had carried the weight of his belief alone and now, to hear it validated was nearly more than he could bear.

"She never knew him," he muttered, trying to distract himself and blink away watery eyes. "He's tenacious, resilient – he wouldn't give up. Not when he said –" But the words stopped abruptly when his voice became scratchy and he wiped his eyes on the back of his hand, Cathy's fingers tightening sympathetically on his arm.

The rest of the ride was quiet and when they got to the apartment Cathy looked up at the building cautiously.

"Can I see it?"

Duo stared for a minute, still surprised despite everything Cathy had said. Hilde hated going in there – she claimed it was a testament to his insanity.

"Sure."

They ascended the stairs together, Cathy gently appraising everything, and he pulled the key from under the mat, unlocked the door, and they walked in together. She stared for a long minute at the flawless living space, completely clean and free of dirt and dust. Duo sighed a little as he walked through the rooms, knowing not a single thing had been disturbed to indicate another human presence since his check-in yesterday.

"Not here," he confirmed and she nodded carefully.

"Not yet," she answered with a small smile and he returned the gesture.

"Yeah. Not yet."

They left and went back to the ranch together, unloading the truck carefully and Duo appraised the stockpile with satisfaction before gathering the few things he'd gotten for Heero and heading to their room. Though none of the rooms were small, he had claimed the master for them, and spent the better part of his time there transforming it into exactly what he thought Heero would want.

The shirts he put into his closet with all the other clothing he thought Heero might like that he had stockpiled over time. The action figure he removed from the packaging and set on the nightstand next to Heero's side of the bed.

Duo never much cared for Batman, thought it was stupid that he was a superhero who had no true powers, but Heero always loved him. Said that he was the only superhero who had to rely on himself and his own natural ability to get himself out of trouble. Duo would smirk and retort that Batman shouldn't be getting himself into trouble if he couldn't back his shit up. Heero would kiss him and reply that Batman couldn't help but get himself into trouble when trouble looked so damn good.

Duo laid down on his side of the bed and stared across the navy blue cotton sheets – Heero hated silk so Duo got cotton even though he could've gotten him the most expensive sheets sold – and imagined Heero was there with him, less than a foot away, and all he had to do was reach out his hand and touch his face. It was hard now to remember the little details – Heero was never big on photographs and he had none that survived the EMP blast. But he could remember his eyes, hard and blue, and the way his hair fell into them and Duo would spend so much time brushing it out only to have it fall right back in again. He remembered how smooth his skin felt under his fingertips and he remembered the soft, husky tone of his voice.

There were so many things they'd said to one another over the years as they would lie in bed, side by side – but the only thing he could remember were those last words before the world went silent. And the tears he held back earlier fell down his face at an alarming rate – faster than he could ever hope to wipe them away – shamelessly saturating the pillow.

"I will find you."