Thanks, as ever, to the amazing Kaeru Shisho for editing, and to the people who have been kind enough to review.

Chapter 89 - Aftermath:

Five days.

That was all: five days since Zechs had been shot the first time, in the desert on L4, and here they were again, in another hospital, on Earth this time, Zechs unconscious again, himself and Duo sitting by his bedside.

It was different, somehow. He'd been – in control back then. Yes, he'd been terrified for Zechs, but there'd been a huge spike of adrenalin and anger as well, and he'd been driving a car that was a weapon in its own right, and he'd been utterly focused on saving them both, on taking Zechs to safety.

He'd guessed, even before the doctors confirmed it, what had happened to Zechs; known that a collapsed lung was dangerous, but in no way lethal; known that there hadn't been enough blood loss to pose any serious problems. He'd taken out the unknown attackers on a wave of pure fury, and there had been a savage exultation in that; in killing the men who had dared to hurt his lover.

This was so different.

He'd never, never meant for Zechs, still hardly recovered from his previous surgery, from a long space flight, from long hours of worry about Wufei and Duo, to get involved in any of the fighting. He'd never intended that for one heartbeat. If he'd guessed, if he'd had any idea that would happen, he would have consigned L4, all the damn colonies and the Earth, to perdition without a second thought.

He still would, if it would save Zechs.

'Hey.' Duo squeezed his hand. 'You OK?'

'No.' It was five past three: that doctor had told him Zechs should be awake by three. He was on his feet abruptly, forcing himself to look away from the still figure on the bed. 'Stay with him. I'll be back in a minute.'

People got out of his way as he stalked down the corridors: he'd left Zechs' side for five minutes to change out of the bloody Preventers uniform – soaked with Zechs' blood – only when the doctors had told him that it might transfer some sort of infection. He didn't give a damn about any of their other patients, but he wouldn't be the cause of making Zechs any worse. So, he didn't exactly look like a blood-soaked nightmare figure any more, dressed in some clothes one of the nurses had found for him, but the expression on his face was clearly enough to cleave a path through doctors, nurses, Preventer agents and Sanque guards rushed in from the embassy – too damn late – until he got to the doctor's office.

Wufei glared at the woman who'd performed Zechs' surgery. 'He hasn't woken up yet. You said he'd be awake by now.'

'Mr. Chang, I said he might be awake in half an hour, or it might take a little longer.' She sounded exasperated, and then looked at his face and her voice softened. 'This is not a bad thing, sir. Sleep is the best thing for his highness, right now. His body has suffered considerable trauma.'

'I know.' He did know, really, but he wanted Zechs to wake up, to look at him. To say something.

'I know this is a worrying time, but there is no reason to think he will not make a full recovery in time,' the woman assured him.

'How soon can he fly?' That was all he wanted: for Zechs to wake up, and be well enough for a transatlantic flight, so he could take him and Duo home. He could take care of them there; not like in this strange place, in a country where he couldn't even speak the language.

She blinked at the question, and a more gentle expression settled on her face. 'Mr. Chang, I'm sorry, but not for several weeks. At a minimum.'

'I see,' he said tonelessly. 'Thank you.' He nodded and walked back into the ward.

Duo looked up, shifted slightly on the couch beside the bed to make room for him. 'What did she say?'

'What they've been saying all along. He's as well as can be expected, given his injuries, and the amount of blood loss. I just – I want him to wake up. Even for a second. I want him to know I'm here with him.'

'I know.' Duo rested his head on Wufei's shoulder. 'God, this is the worst part, right? Waiting.'

'It's all been the worst part.'

Watching Zechs walk off with Duo had been terrible, but he'd known Duo would keep him safe, and anyway, he wasn't going to do anything dangerous in itself. Just talk to Noin. He wouldn't be in danger.

Then he'd taken off with Heero, and put his love, the centre of his life, entirely out of his mind, and focused on the mission, something that had been, in retrospect, appallingly simple to do.

He and Heero had always been perfect together.

Then Duo had come skidding round the corner, yelling that Zechs was down, and everything had just gone – grey. He knew he'd fired on some agents as he ran back to find Zechs; at the time he hadn't cared who they were, whose side they were on, and then he was in a narrow, dimly-lit corridor and Zechs was bleeding at the bottom of a staircase.

He knew it had taken twenty minutes for help to arrive, because he'd timed it. It had seemed like an eternity. Duo had been there for some of the time, and for some of it he'd been alone, trying to staunch the blood.

He'd taken out three other agents – two women and a man – during that time. He was fairly sure they'd been hostile, but by then he'd have killed anyone he didn't know who'd tried to come close, and he'd heard firing in other parts of the building; echoing gunshots and screams, and an explosion, too close for comfort.

Then Duo had been there again, and Heero, and Noin, and two medical officers.

He hadn't left Zechs alone for one second after that; he'd gone in the ambulance, and insisted on being present for the surgery.

'Oh, Gods. I just want him to look at me, for one second.'

'Yeah.' Duo, who loved Zechs too, rubbed one hand across his eyes. 'It – wasn't this bad on L4, was it? God, that seems like months ago.'

'Five days.' Something like that anyway. Maybe six or possibly four. The rebellion on L4; being abducted with Duo; Trowa flying to save Quatre; global war imminent. It had all happened far too fast to take in.

Zechs being shot. Again.

Not just once, this time.

'Five days, fuck,' Duo said. 'I was thinking that, that this is different. I don't know why.'

They'd been Preventers, he thought dimly, this time. They'd worn the same uniform he had, taken the same oaths to protect the peace. Was that it? He swallowed. 'This time, I really thought…that he might not make it. I don't think I ever thought that on L4. This time, I just felt so damn helpless.'

'You saved him,' Duo said softly. 'You do know that, right?'

He shrugged, leaning a little on Duo's shoulder. He was exhausted, and he didn't care about anything in the universe any more except that he wanted Zechs to wake up.

'Wu, was it … like this, when I was in my coma?'

Wufei thought for a minute; it was something they'd never really talked about.

Almost half a year lost of Duo's life; a half year in which Wufei had begun to know, to admit, certain things about himself. He'd got to know Quatre and Trowa properly, admitted he was gay – to himself and to Quat – accompanied the two of them to clubs, once or twice, although he'd been far too uncomfortable to do anything more than sit in a corner, nursing a drink, and hope no one would try to talk to him.

He'd taught Quatre how to meditate and to cook, and Quatre and Trowa had shown him what it was like to be in a relationship with someone you loved.

'Not really,' he said finally. 'The doctors told us you'd be unconscious for months; I think at the start, we thought you'd just wake up anyway, and then we realised that wasn't going to happen.'

He shook his head, remembering. In the beginning, Quatre, especially, had refused to believe that his best friend wasn't just going to wake up at any moment.

'The doctors said you'd be able to hear what was happening; at least to know there was someone with you. Trowa and I never really knew what to say, so we used to read aloud most of the time. I would read notes from whatever case I was working on, sometimes, or history books.' He smiled at a sudden, distant memory. 'Trowa was trying to be more involved with WEI; he used to read you accounts and reports. Business text-books, financial journals, that sort of thing.'

'Sheesh,' Duo snorted. 'No wonder I didn't want to wake up! You could have tried reading something exciting for a change. What did Quat do?'

Wufei laughed slightly. 'He played his violin, a lot. And he used to talk about all sorts of little things; recipes he wanted to try, films he'd seen, the apartment he and Trowa were renting. He used to bring you things he found in the hospital garden: leaves and feathers and stones; all sorts of things. '

'Yeah. I still have some of that stuff.' Duo squeezed his hand. ''Fei, listen. I get you're still pissed as hell with him, but that's – that's why I can't be. Not really. Not after everything. I just – I can't.'

Wufei sniffed. He didn't want to talk about Quatre Winner. It was his fault, at some level, all of this.

Quatre's, and Wufei's own.

He'd persuaded – forced – Zechs to be a part of all this, against his will.

''Fei, don't.' Duo slid an arm around his waist, pulling him into a hug. 'Stop doing this to yourself. He's going to be fine.'

'It's my fault,' Wufei said, the first time he'd said it out loud. 'He didn't want to be involved in this. I pressured him into it.'

'No!' Duo said firmly. 'It bloody well isn't. If it's anyone's it's mine. You told me to look after him, you trusted me, and I let him run into a fire-fight. Fuck, he wasn't even wearing a vest.'

'Not your fault,' Wufei said at once.

Duo sighed. 'OK, can we just blame that bastard Barton for everything and have done with it? Oh, phone.' He groped in his pocket as it started to ring.

'Yeah, this is Duo Maxwell. Sorry, who is this?' His brow furrowed. 'Yeah, I guess I am their guardian, kind of. Look, can you wait for just a second?'

He stood up, giving Wufei a confused look. 'Something about the kids. I'll take it outside. Kiss him for me if he wakes up, OK?'

'OK,' Wufei whispered. He knew he should be curious, worried, perhaps, on Duo's behalf, but he just couldn't bring himself to care about anything that wasn't Zechs.

Duo was back in a few minutes, shaking his head, and looking puzzled.

'What is it? Are they all right?'

'I dunno.' Duo sat down beside him. 'That was some guy from Social Services; apparently when the kids arrived on Earth, their names triggered some alarm somewhere. I couldn't really make head or tail of it; something about their mother remarrying years ago and taking them to L4 to live with her new husband. The grandparents didn't approve, but she was their legal guardian, so they couldn't stop her. But they tried, apparently, got the kids listed as missing or something. When they came back to Earth yesterday, it set off all sorts of flags.'

Wufei had no idea what to say. 'It's a good thing, isn't it? That they have family here to look after them?'

Duo set his jaw. 'The damn grandparents clearly didn't care all that much, if they never made any effort to find them in all these years.'

Wufei nodded, forcing himself to focus on this new problem. The children were part of Duo's gang now; part of the family. He'd spent time with Nat, back on L4; begun to teach him a few simple katas, given him books to read. And Zechs adored the little girls, and he had talked about how he'd like to have a daughter, one day. 'Have you thought at all about their future?'

'No, isn't that awful? I mean, there's never been time, has there? It was all about getting them off the streets, and then us all getting off L4. But I can't just let them go off with these strangers.'

'Of course not,' Wufei assured him at once. 'You do know, if you want to bring them home, Zechs and I wouldn't have a problem with it. We're both very fond of them.'

'Jeez, 'Fei.' He suddenly had Duo around his neck, half-strangling him. 'Thanks, man. I don't know. I don't know how to look after three kids, and um, I'm not sure what's going to happen with Heero.'

Heero. Of course. Wufei blushed, glad Duo's face was buried in his shoulder and he couldn't see. Of course Heero was going to be a factor from now on. How stupid of him to have forgotten. Did that mean Duo wouldn't – want to come back home?

'We'll sort it out,' Duo continued. 'These people can't just turn up out of nowhere and suddenly decide they want them. Can they? After all they've been through? We can't just hand them over to total strangers who've ignored them for years.'

'Call Heero,' Wufei said suddenly. 'He's a lawyer. He'll be able to tell you.'

'Good idea.' Duo brightened at the suggestion, jumping up and heading back out the door.

Wufei watched him go, noting the sudden spring in his step, the jaunty flick of his braid, at the mere mention of Heero's name, and smiled faintly, before turning to look back at Zechs.

Duo was out of the room for longer than he'd expected, and then he thought about it and wasn't surprised at all. Duo had come to the hospital with them, leaving Heero at Preventers. There'd been one brief phone call, after Zechs' surgery, but nothing else. Of course he needed to talk to Heero.

Still no movement from Zechs; he looked like a carved image, so pale against the white sheet. Oh, Gods.

He'd lost so much blood, spurting from his wounds regardless of how desperately Wufei had tried to staunch it. He'd thought he'd lost him once, hardly able to feel any flicker of a pulse.

''Fei! Stop that!'

Then he had Duo wrapped tightly around him again, murmuring words of comfort, begging him to stop crying. He didn't know he'd started, had no possible idea of how to stop.

'Listen to me, Chang!' Duo suddenly seized his shoulders and gave him a good shaking. 'You've got to stop this, OK? He is going to wake up, and he is going to be fine, and he is going to freak out if he sees you like this. Got it? You have got to calm down a little bit; do you really want him to wake up and to see you like that?'

That calmed him down, as nothing else could, and he subsided into Duo's arms, and just let his beloved friend hold him.

'It wasn't your fault,' Duo muttered. 'Blame that bastard Dekim Barton. Blame him for running blind into a gun fight, or me for not being able to stop him doing it. Not yourself.'

Wufei pulled in a deep breath, then another, and another. Duo was right. He had to keep calm. Keep calm and get on with things. Zechs would need him to be calm and strong. Duo needed him now.

'What did Heero say?' he asked finally, when he thought of it.

'Huh? Oh, yeah. Not to worry about it. Says the kids are wards of the Sanque government right now, and no one can take them anywhere. He says he'll clear it up.'

'Good.' At another time, perhaps, he might have felt a twinge of jealousy: Duo clearly regarded every pronouncement of Heero's as law, but he'd made Duo feel better. That was the important thing. The only important thing, even if Wufei didn't really think things were that straightforward.

'Yeah. Everything's good, out there, from what he says. 'Bits of isolated trouble; protests that got a bit out of hand, but things're calming down. On L4, even. Quat made some official announcement to the ESUN; Heero sent me the link. Want to hear?'

Wufei shrugged, not terribly interested, but Duo passed him the phone anyway.

Even steeling himself for it, it was still a shock to hear Quatre's voice. Not very clearly: there was too much static on the line, and he sounded very tentative.

'This is Quatre Raberba Winner, speaking on behalf of the L4 Colony.' As he spoke, his voice firmed, clear and bright and chiming. After everything, he shouldn't get to sound like that. ''We, the people of L4, appeal to the ESUN to be allowed to rejoin the other nations of Earth and the Colonies and…'

There was a loud, crackling burst of static and the sound died.

'Is that all there is?'

Duo nodded, taking his phone back. 'Yeah. Heero said there was more, he heard an official transmission, but that's what the media are playing.' He gave Wufei a look with a hint of challenge in it. 'Fei, I called him.'

Not a surprise. Not at all.

'What did he have to say for himself?' Wufei asked sharply.

'Not very much. He hopes we're all right. He's sorry.'

'He's always sorry.' Wufei turned his back on his friend, going back to sit by the bed. 'How's Trowa?'

Duo didn't immediately answer. Oh, dear Gods. Not Trowa too. 'Duo! What's wrong?'

'He's OK,' Duo said quickly. 'Totally saved the day, Quat said. He just – sort of collapsed when it was all over.'

'What? What do you mean, collapsed?'

'He's fine, seriously. Quat had a doctor look at him; just exhaustion more than anything. God knows when he last slept or ate properly. He was asleep when I called, and Quat didn't want to wake him.'

They were back together, then, by the sound of it. Hardly a surprise. Quatre had only ever had to look at Trowa.

'The war's over then,' Wufei said dully.

'Pretty much, yeah. Still some resistance on L4, Heero said. Barton's men. L3 as well. Nothing serious, I don't think.

'That's good.' It was, he supposed, except he didn't care about any of it.

'Yeah.' Duo sounded as uncertain as he was himself. 'Hey, you want something to eat? A drink?'

'Maybe some tea.' He didn't want anything, really, but Duo clearly needed something active to do, and it would give him a few moments alone with Zechs.

'OK.' Duo gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before he left, and Wufei moved closer to the bed, taking Zechs' hand in his.

He hadn't even given him a ring, he thought absently, looking at the circle of jade on his own finger; hadn't even made that small gesture of commitment.

He hadn't even thought about it.

'I don't deserve you,' he said softly. Zechs had given him everything imaginable, from the very beginning; had been infinitely patient and gentle and loving with him. 'I love you so much. Please, Mil, wake up. Please.'

He didn't. It took three more hours, and even then he didn't wake up as such. The monitor he was linked to began to show slight variations, and then the room was flooded with hospital staff, and he and Duo were shoved into one corner, listening to the rapid flow of Italian.

Finally, finally, the surgeon he'd spoken to before, came over to them, smiling. Yes, there had been some slight complications – she tried to explain but Wufei didn't understand the medical terms, and her English wasn't quite good enough to explain them simply – but his highness was comfortable now, and stable. Well enough for a few moments' speech, if he wasn't excited in any way.

'I won't,' Wufei promised immediately, and suddenly found himself beside the bed.

Zechs was the one, this time, who reached to take Wufei's hand.

'I'm – not supposed to excite you.' It was the best Wufei could manage, stammered out.

Zechs couldn't really say anything, with the tube down his throat, but he smiled around it.

He was all right. Dear Gods, he was alive, and smiling, and looking at Wufei with all his usual affection.

'You're an idiot,' Wufei said in a rush. 'You ran into a fire-fight and you didn't take any precautions whatsoever, and you weren't even supposed to be there, and it was all my fault for making you do it, and I never got you a ring and…'

'Stop,' Zechs managed, rasping the sound around the tube. ''Fei. Love you.'

'I love you,' Wufei said immediately. 'Oh, so very much. Always.'

'Me too,' Duo said suddenly, at his elbow. 'Sorry to butt in and all, but just wanted to say it.'

Wufei pulled him down beside him, and Duo added his hands to their joined ones, just for a moment.

Things were going to change, he knew that, but for now, it was just the three of them.