Disclaimer - Well, I don't own Gundam Wing or anything to do with them. This is purely for fun…

Note - Thanks to my wonderful reviewers, as always. Special thanks to Kaeru Shisho for all your help with this one; for serious morale boosting, playing dress-up, and suggesting the perfect place to finish up.

This one's back to Duo's POV. Less of an angst-fest than usual; possibly even a faint glimmer of hope…..

A Walk in the Park:

The fourth day I spent in Heero's house happened to be a Friday, and Heero had made muffins for breakfast. Sure, this sounds all sweet and shiny, but they were weird, compulsively healthy muffins, full of nuts and dried berries and some stuff that looked like birdseed, and (believe it or not) actual bits of grated carrot and zucchini. Is it just me, or is it utterly gross to put raw vegetables into baked goods?

I was doing my best to make them a teeny bit more palatable by slathering them with butter and honey, and surreptitiously dropping the worst bits on the floor for the dog to hover up, while Heero had vanished behind his newspaper.

After four days, we'd more or less developed a routine which was based on us avoiding each whenever possible. Yes, I do know the situation was slightly on the weird side, but the one real constant in my life has always been that whenever things are going well, it's a fair sign that something is bound to get screwed up. I'm pretty adaptable and I'd actually been in considerably worse situations.

Heero spent massive chunks of time in his study, doing whatever it was he did all day; my laptop had finally turned up, among various other goodies, as part of a package delivered from the Sanque embassy so I had something to play with.

The guys had finally made it to Sanque in their little 'plane, and then had to spend a couple of days hanging around until the next session of parliament, which was probably starting as we sat over breakfast. They had their flights to Italy provisionally booked for Monday morning so I'd be seeing them very soon.

Tro was still at the circus; I'd been able to hook my laptop up to the circus's CCTV system - some members of the Spanish royal family were due to attend a benefit performance that night and there were security cameras everywhere - so that although he was too busy to talk much, I could pretty much watch whatever he was doing.

I was looking forward to seeing him.

Things were looking up in lots of ways, but it didn't hide the fact that after four days of virtually being under house arrest, I was suffering from serious cabin fever. I didn't think Heero would let me go out alone, so I waited 'til he'd set down his paper and opened fire.

'I don't suppose we could go out for a bit this morning?'

'My assistant's coming over this afternoon with some files for me; if you need something, he can get it on his way.'

'I don't need anything; I just need to get out somewhere. I swear, if I don't get to go out for an hour, I'll be climbing the walls. What about poor Honey; I bet she'd like to go for a walk, wouldn't you, Honey-bunny? Wouldn't you like to go walkies?'

I couldn't believe I'd ever been scared of poor Honey; she was a sweetheart who tried to climb into my lap when Heero wasn't looking, and helped me dispose of food I didn't want, and seemed happy to lie by my feet for hours when I was working on the computer. Give me another couple of days and I'd be able to get her to bite Heero if I asked. Now, she leaped into action like a good conspirator, barking with excitement and gazing beseechingly at her master. I gave Heero my best imploring look from under my bangs and he crumbled, only muttering that we couldn't stay out for too long.

I'd half expected we might get a short walk around the block, but in fact Heero drove to a lovely wooded park on the city outskirts. It was still pretty early on a weekday but there were quite a few people around, mostly with dogs and young kids. There was a big grassy area beside the car park, and an elderly man was throwing a ball for two frantic little dogs.

'We should have brought a toy for Honey to play with. She'd probably love that.'

'She doesn't know how to play fetch, Duo. The people at the shelter rescued her from a security company. She was only a pup but they were trying to make her into an attack dog. No one wanted to adopt her in case she turned vicious.'

'Oh, that's terrible! The poor Honey-monster.' I dropped to my knees and gave her a hug. 'I bet we could teach her to fetch though. She's a very smart dog.'

So we tried to teach the dog to fetch sticks. I don't think she really got the point of it, but she was more than happy to run around us, barking, while we threw sticks for each other, and we got tired of the game well before she did, picking up sticks and trying to get us chase her as we walked out of the woods and down by an ornamental lake.

'Oh, there's a little shop down there. We could get an ice cream or something.'

'Duo! You just had breakfast!'

'And your point is?' I couldn't help grinning at him, surprised by a moment of sudden, ridiculous happiness, that I was outside under an intensely blue sky, with trees and greenery all around and sunlight on water, and Heero nagging me about my eating habits.

'Fine. Fine.' I surreptitiously tried to tidy myself a little as we waited in line to be served. Heero looked totally immaculate, in dark blue cargo pants and a paler fleece top; I had half the forest on me; pine needles, leaf mould and a fair smattering of mud. I have some sort of magical propensity to attract dirt and at some point, I was really going to have to go shopping; I'd brought most of my oldest clothes to India, for messing about on the beach and they weren't really ideal for Italy in early Spring.

'Still frozen strawberry yoghurt?' I asked, as we got to the counter. 'With a celery stick for dipping?'

'Still double chocolate chip ice cream with every conceivable topping?'

'Of course. My absolute favourite food.'

'I thought pizza was your favourite food.'

'It's one of my favourite foods,' I explained. 'I mean, come on. Who made up the stupid rule that you can only have one favourite food?'

'Maybe you should look up the word 'favourite' in the dictionary?' He gibed back, grinning at me. 'That might give you a clue.'

'And maybe you should stop being so boringly pedantic? Ever think of that?'

'I'm a lawyer, Duo, remember? It's what I get paid for. You want to sit down for a bit?'

We found a nice sunny patch of grass, a little away from the path, me sprawled full-length and propped up on one elbow, Heero neatly cross-legged and Honey between us, eyes shifting to watch us both in turn. I think she was surprised to hear us talking so much.

It was nice, but somewhat weird. I could replay whole arguments in my head, every insult we'd ever thrown, but I couldn't remember the last time we'd teased each other.

'Trowa said it's really beautiful, where you're living,' Heero commented, carefully licking yoghurt off his celery. (Bet you thought I was joking about that, right?)

'Mmmph,' I muttered, looking up from my ice-cream; well, at least I was assuming there were two scoops of chocolate chip in there somewhere, if I could only tunnel through the outer layers of chocolate shavings, toasted pecan nuts, mini marshmallows, and a thick blanket of whipped cream, most of which was trying to attach itself to my face.'

'It's gorgeous. Remember that DVD I used to have; the documentary about Grizzly Bears in the forest? It's sort of like that, totally surrounded by trees, with our own stream on the property and we're only about ten minutes' drive to the ocean.'

God, I felt homesick all of a sudden; I'd been trying not to think about everything I was missing. Not just the house and my car and my orchids, but hanging out with the guys and painting in the studio and going for hikes in the woods.

Damn.

I … wasn't entirely comfortable, either, with the idea of Heero and Trowa discussing me. For all sorts of reasons.

Honey inched a little closer, nudging my arm with her nose, eyes fixed on my cone and I couldn't resist slipping her one of the marshmallows.

'Duo, don't give her that; sweets aren't not good for her.'

'Oh, come on. It's not like one teeny little sweetie is going to give her heart disease and make all her teeth fall out.'

Honey's tongue snaked out to scoop up the treat, then she shifted a little closer to me, licking my hand. The first time she'd done it.

'Hey, look at that. I think she likes me.'

'Duo, you captivate every human you meet. Why should the damn dog be any different?'

'It didn't last long, did it? Me captivating you?'

I - don't think he'd quite meant to say that. I know I certainly hadn't, but now we'd opened that particular box, which had been locked and bolted for years, neither of us knew what to say next.

'You were the one who left.'

'You told me to.'

That was it, really, when you got down to it. The history of our whole damned, doomed relationship in ten little words.

He'd left.

I'd told him to and I don't lie.

I'd just never had the chance to say that I hadn't meant it to be forever; that I'd been furious with him and yes, I'd wanted him to go at the time, but that I'd spent months and years wishing I could change things.

I'd never told anyone that Heero had come to see me when I was in hospital, a few weeks after I'd regained consciousness. He'd purposely chosen a time when Quatre wasn't there and he'd stayed for precisely fifteen minutes, measured out by the clock hanging on the wall opposite my bed. A quarter of an hour. That was all it took for our already broken relationship to shatter irreparably.

We hadn't seen each other for over a year after that, but there'd been a couple of uneasy, stilted 'phone calls, while he punctiliously asked after my health, and I politely told him that I was fine

'I'm sorry, Duo. For everything.'

'Yeah.' Suddenly, I didn't want any more of my ice-cream; the sickly, gloopy mess was already leaking out of the cone on to the grass, and I had to push the dog away from it. 'I know. I'm sorry too.'

It was a relief after that when he looked at his watch and said it was time to head back. We drove home mostly in silence, a silence that teemed with all the unsaid things. My 'phone rang when we were almost back at the house.

'Hey, 'Fei. Everything alright? How did the hearing thing go?'

'Alright, I think. We should know tomorrow, but Relena seems to be quite confident. Duo, there's one other thing. Zechs proposed to me. Just now.'

'Seriously? Well, it's about time he made an honest man of you! You did accept didn't you?' OK, I was doing my best here to act all surprised but the truth was that Zechs had mentioned this a couple of months ago, wanting to know how I'd feel, how I thought Wu would react.

'I - yes. Yes, of course I did.'

'Cool! Hey, does that mean you'll get a title too? You don't have to be a princess, do you?'

'Of course I don't, you idiot! Duo, you do know that nothing is going to change, don't you?'

'Well, I didn't think you'd throw me out in the snow, just 'cause you get a ring on one finger! Listen, I am totally happy for you both. Where's your fiance, anyway? I need to have a few words with him.'

'He's with Relena. Actually, I should go; we're supposed to having tea with her. We'll call you later, OK?'

I couldn't resist telling Heero the good news, which was probably a bit stupid. I mean, he and Wufei seriously don't get on, but I didn't think the news actually rated a very lethal death glare.

'And you seriously don't have a problem with that? With the way they treat you?'

'I'm probably being stupid here, but I have not one single, solitary clue what you're talking about.'

'I'm talking about you three. Your - relationship, or whatever Chang calls it. He couldn't just be satisfied with you; oh no, he had to have Milliardo Peacecraft as well, he couldn't even be faithful to you…Oh, God! Duo, please don't cry, I never meant to upset you, I'm sorry…'

'I'm not upset, you idiot,' I lifted my head and wiped my eyes on my sleeve. 'I've never heard anything so funny in my entire life…. That poor Wufei is some sort of … some sort of sex fiend, and Zechs and I are his - his harem or something. I can't believe you thought that.'

'What was I supposed to think?' he asked defensively. 'You live with them, I've seen pictures of you in the papers…'

'Oh, and everything they print is true, is it?' I scoffed, and then felt a slow blush creep across my face. Back when we'd been together, we'd had some serious rows over certain photos of himself with Relena that had been published, or blazoned over TV screens, complete with coy little headlines, usually some variation of how the beautiful princess had found her knight in shining armour. Barf.

'Some of the pictures of you and Zechs kissing looked extremely authentic.'

'We were just fooling around. And come on, it's Zechs. He kisses everyone; he's like a Labrador or something! He probably even tried it with you…'

He didn't say anything, but there was just the faintest dusting of colour across his cheekbones. Wasn't that interesting? Something I'd have to tease Zechs about, when Wu wasn't listening.

'You really believed I was - with them?'

'Relena said…' He started and trailed off, taking a deep breath. 'Relena said that when you all stayed in the Palace two years ago, you slept in their room. One of the maids apparently told her.'

'Well, maybe Relena should stop listening to gossip.' I snapped. See? This is why I would never have servants in my house; they've nothing better to do than spread rumours. 'It's none of her business, or yours or anyone else's, but they're my friends, if you can understand that. Nothing more! Understand?'

He nodded, meekly enough, gaze fixed on the road, but with the tentative beginnings of a smile hovering around his mouth.

God, was that what everyone thought? Did the guys know? Zechs would just think it was a huge joke; I didn't think Wufei would be too happy. I was pretty sure I knew what particular night Heero had been talking about, but I had no intention of discussing it. I'm not the only one of the three of us who has nightmares; sometimes, I'm better at calming Zechs down. Wu tends to get upset, especially if it has anything to do with Treize.

It was a surprise when Heero pulled up outside his house; I hadn't been paying any attention, lost in my own thoughts. Even more of a surprise when Lucca arrived, just a few minutes after us.

I'd pictured Heero's assistant would be some poor sap whose idea of excitement was getting the latest issue of some legal journal. Lucca turned out to be drop-dead, drool-on-floor gorgeous; one of those darkly suave Italian types. He was also charming, chatty and just a little bit ditzy.

He gave the definite impression of being something more than a work colleague, very familiar with Heero's kitchen, producing biscuits for Honey and switching on the uber-complicated cappuccino machine - honestly, I have a Masters in Engineering and I couldn't work out how to even turn the damn thing on - and making coffees.

'So, Duo, are you enjoying Florence? I hope Heero's being a good host and showing you all the sights?'

'Well, he's been working a lot,' I said vaguely, noticing that Lucca shot Heero a sharp look, which I pretended not to see, 'and I've actually been here a few times already.' It was true enough, but not for the past eighteen months or so, not since Heero moved here permanently. 'I've done most of the tourist stuff. What I really have to do is to go shopping at some point, though.'

'Oh, I can take you if you like,' Lucca enthused, politely not looking at my very frayed jeans. 'I know some great places.'

'That would be nice,' I reached down and pulled Honey's ears gently, pleased that she'd chosen to sit beside me.. 'I'm not really supposed to go out without Heero for the time being.'

'He can come as well. If we leave now; it's still early and it won't be too crowded. We can go to Bruno's. They have everything there. And seriously cute assistants.'

'I think Duo just wants a few casual things, don't you?'

'No, Bruno's would be fine. I've bought stuff there before.' Bruno's was a horrendously expensive menswear shop off one of the main squares. Zechs had taken me there a couple of times, and there'd nearly been a riot over who was going to serve him. 'But I'm sure Heero has work to do.'

'I'm sure I could take an hour off. I just need to make a couple of calls.'

'I can't imagine you two working together,' I waited for Heero to leave the room, and took a sip of my coffee, carefully casual. 'Hasn't he threatened to kill you yet?'

'He needs me,' Lucca grinned at me, 'I'm the only person who can understand his filing system. And read his handwriting.'

'It's terrible, isn't it?' I thought I was going to like Lucca. He obviously had magic powers if he could entice Heero away from his job. Of course, his hair might be a bit of a drawback; it was fairly short, but he'd obviously used a lot of gel to sculpt it. Heero's always had something of a hair fetish and he probably wouldn't like getting his fingers covered in gloop. 'How d'you like working for him?'

'I love it. He's really dedicated to his clients, not like my last my boss, who only cared about making money. And the cases he accepts are usually really interesting, as well as being good causes. 'Course, it doesn't hurt that he's easy on the eyes.'

'I suppose not.' Question answered then, another swallow of coffee.

'Oh, it's nothing like that,' Lucca assured me. 'I mean, he's seriously cute, but he's not remotely interested in me.'

Shopping for clothes was one of the things I'd never done with Heero; back when we'd been together, I'd only had a couple of outfits to my name and he'd bought whatever was appropriate for missions, using his Preventer's clothes allowance. I'd half expected him to wait for us in the car, but he actually came inside and even trailed us around the different departments.

Lucca totally ignored my protest that I really only needed a couple of things and by the time we got to the changing rooms, we each had an armload of stuff. I was going to end up with a whole new wardrobe at this rate.

When I stuck my head out of my dressing room, looking for Lucca; Heero was there instead, sitting on the leather couch by the wall.

'Hey, is Lucca around? I was going to ask him to get me these pants in the next size.'

They had been one of Lucca's choices; snug-fitting dark brown suede, and he'd teamed them with a shirt in a rich russet-brown fabric, flecked with gold and a soft leather coat, the colour of buttermilk.

'He's gone off to chat up the manager. I can help if you want, but they look like look like a perfect fit. And the colour is good with your hair. It's - strange to see you not wearing black for a change.'

'Um, OK. Thanks.' I said it a bit taken aback by the compliment. Honestly, just when I think my life has managed to achieve its limit for sheer weirdness, something else happens. Heero offering to act as my valet or whatever it's called was way up there in the realm of freakiness, though. 'But you can't just sit around; you'll have to try on something as well.'

'I don't really need anything.'

'Sorry, but you need a new suit, judging by the one you were wearing yesterday.'

'The black one?' He'd put it in briefly in the morning, to make a conference call. 'What was wrong with it?'

'It was perfect, for an elderly undertaker with no sense of style. Honestly, you live in Italy; haven't you ever heard of designers? Wait there, and I'll see what I can find.'

'Wow.' He'd actually managed to look hot wearing the funereal suit; dressed in the dark grey Armani I'd chosen, he was in serious danger of spontaneous combustion. 'That's seriously sharp.'

'You don't think the shirt's a bit too - too pastel?'

'I think it's perfect,' It was a pale shade of lilac, the sort of colour Quatre had liked once and it complemented his eyes and softened the grey a little.

'Oh, my God!' That was Lucca, peering around the door and picking his jaw up from the floor. His hair was looking a little less perfectly arranged than it had been. 'I've been trying to get him to try a new look for ages. You're a miracle worker.'

'Duo doesn't believe in miracles,' Heero commented. He was trying to look slightly peeved, but you could tell he really liked the suit.

'Maybe he should start.' Lucca winked at me. 'I'm just going out for ten minutes to get a coffee, if that's OK? And, Duo, Mario from the Footwear Department wanted me to give you his telephone number. He'd love to take you out for dinner.'

'Tell him he'll have to bring me as well, then.' That was Heero, predictably enough.

'Mario won't mind that a bit,' Lucca twinkled. 'He'll probably be thrilled. I'll see you soon.'

'Honestly. Am I the only person in the universe who's not into threesomes?'

'I'm not. Anyway, I think it's my turn to pick something for you, isn't it?'

I would never, in a million years, have guessed what Heero would have selected for me. I would have thought he'd asked one of the assistants for help, except he hates admitting he's at a loss.

It was a shirt, in a silky velvet, shimmering somewhere between indigo and midnight. The buttons were carved out of jet, and there was a little bit of beadwork at the cuffs, only noticeable when it caught the light.

It was gorgeous.

'You don't like it? I just thought - the colour would match your eyes.'

'No. I love it.' I looked up from studying the intricate little pieces of jet at my wrists, surprised at how - unsure he'd sounded. Surprised that he'd wanted to please me that much. 'It's perfect.'

'Right, my turn to go out and forage. Do you still like spandex?'

'Is that a joke?'

'Maybe. Wait and see.'

I came back with an armful of heavy raw silk in a very dark red. It was another shirt, with a vaguely oriental cut and a mandarin collar, and managed to be very simple and elegant and exotic all at once.

He obviously wasn't too keen on it, frowning at his reflection in the mirror.

'You hate it.'

'No! Not at all. It's just - not the sort of thing I usually wear. I do like it, Duo, honestly, but - I don't think I 'd ever have the opportunity to wear it.'

'Oh, come on. You must go out sometimes, don't you?'

'Well, I take clients out for meals occasionally, and sometimes Lucca drags me out with him, but I don't really know that many other people here yet.' He gave me a quick sideways glance, and then looked down at the floor. 'I don't suppose you'd be interested in going out for dinner tonight so we could both dress up?'