What's in that letter.(Part One)

Duo Maxwell, boyfriend extraordinaire to one Heero Yuy, helplessly watched his lover. Heero was sitting quiet and despondent next to Madame Bookkeeper's hospital bed. The kindly old lady was the owner of a bookshop the retired gundam-pilots often terrorized just down the street from Preventer HQ. Really, it had been WuFei that had first gone in but it wasn't long before she attracted the rest of the crew. People often called Duo gregarious and charming as well as obnoxious and annoying. Madame Bookkeeper was the former without the latter.

At first it disconcerted both Heero and himself that she was so warm and welcoming. She had a genuine interest in their mental and physical well-being. This is not to say she was one of those grannies that were doddering and sweet all the time. Actually, sometimes she was as cranky as an old codger with the sass of a teenage girl.

The first time Duo visited the shop WuFei had lured him in with Madame Bookkeeper's peanut butter brittle. They were putting in overtime at Preventers finishing paperwork. The whole time Duo whined to WuFei about how the best agents shouldn't be doing any gorramn paperwork. Though WuFei was inclined to agree he would never provide Duo with that satisfaction. So, instead WuFei promised to take Duo to have the best peanut butter brittle in the whole of the universe if Duo would shut-up and finish his work in the next half-hour. Duo rose to challenge immediately. Duo's logic followed as such: Wufei wasn't fond of sweets, therefore if Wufei praised these cookies they had to be damn good.

Half an hour later WuFei took him to the bookshop that very day. It was already past seven in the evening and Duo complained loudly that WuFei had lied. They were clearly standing in front of a closed hippie bookstore called Dreamerie. WuFei cuffed Duo's ear and swiftly proceeded to yell up at an open window. Apparently Madame Bookkeeper lived atop her shop. She tried to hide her delight but with her open face she failed miserably. In a shrill falsetto voice she yelled down at WuFei: "Oh Romo, Oh Romo, wherefore art thou, babe?" WuFei snorted and gave a much more Shakespearean response followed by a short lecture on crazy women running bookstores while mutilating good literature. This was when Madame Bookkeeper stunned Duo so badly that he nearly forgot to follow WuFei. Madame Bookkeeper told WuFei that with his attitude he could let himself in and then she swiftly flipped him the bird and disappeared from the window.

Duo didn't realize that WuFei had climbed up the ivy covered trellis until he saw the window filled with WuFei's austere visage with laughing eyes. At this point Duo was quite certain that WuFei had been replaced with a pod person or the woman in the window had been a witch. WuFei continued to stare down at Duo then finally arched an elegant brow as if to say, 'are you coming?' Duo shook off his goose pimples and dashed up the trellis.

Once inside, Duo could smell freshly baked goods and see crazy quilts with pointy triangles that looked like teeth. The room, the living room, was cluttered and mismatched but very cozy at the same time. Duo was scared. What sort of crazy old dingbat let some guy and some guy's friend into her home? There was no way WuFei knew her for more than a few weeks – a couple of months at most. He was distracted from his thoughts when aforementioned crazy granny emerged from a kitchenette with a tray full of sumptuous freshly baked triple chocolate fudge brownies lightly frosted with icing sugar and peanuts. To the side of the scrumptious snacks were cheap mismatched china with what he imagined to be tea inside. She carried three cups.

She paused briefly to give Duo a once over, gave a mock glare to WuFei, and proceeded down a short hall into her bedroom. Tea best have not been spiked with anything. WuFei grabbed Duo and followed after her. As soon as WuFei entered the room he huffed that she was supposed to be making peanut butter brittle, not brownies. She just gave him a saucy grin and enticed him to try one while offering Duo one at the same time. Duo wanted to question what was in the dark fudge goodness, but let his trust in WuFei win out. Boy, was he ever glad. The brownies were possibly the best thing his taste buds ever had the glory of tasting in his life. He quickly crammed another into his mouth as the old lady handed him some tea. WuFei after a wrinkle f his nose tried one and announced that he knew before hand the snack would be delectable but he had promised Duo some brittle.

The lady pouted, which Duo noted looked awful cute in a strange way on this prune, and then smacked Duo's thigh and told him that he must come back tomorrow then, during store hours. After that she toddled off to the kitchen and came back with a tray with a single enormous plate in the center laden with pasta. She put it on the center of her bed and pulled out three forks from her pocket. WuFei explained that he had a dinner date with the bookstore owner and had invited Duo on a whim. Then she explained that she hated doing dishes so they were eating from the same plate. Duo stared at the mound of pasta and could not control his salivary glands. It was an uphill battle from the get go.

He bounded to the bed with WuFei sedately following and dove in. It was bacon carbonara her dearly departed husband's favorite dish. It was not as good as the stuff her hubby made she said, but it certainly was better than when she first began. The lady had just seemed so open and honest about her life, which is probably what attracted WuFei, that by the end of the night Duo was laughing with her as they both shared their shenanigans. He just fell in love with her immediately.

That changed when he and Heero came in the next day for some of her promised brittle.

TBC…

*I'm so sorry! The only time I ever seem to write is laaate at night and it seems that I can never do it for long. Do forgive me but I hope you enjoy this chapter despite some typos! ~NawN-ee*