I arrived at Preventer's headquarters in full fledged pissed mode. Nothing seemed to be going right, starting with when I had arrived home dead tired the night before only to find that Quatre was sick. I had checked on him and he seemed fine, but I had spent half the night worrying anyway. I was probably just paranoid since Duo was in bad condition, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something disastrous was about to happen.

So I spent an almost sleepless night worrying about Quatre. This condition was only compounded by the fact that, after a month of being surrounded by the boys I had come to care so much for, I suddenly found myself sleeping completely alone. I kept waking to find myself reaching for one of them only to miss and grasp the air. More than once I found myself getting up to go check on them, only to force myself to lay back down. I couldn't give them a sense of normality if I was constantly looking over their shoulders, but it was so hard to put space between us, especially at that point.

The next morning began better, but quickly spiraled downward. I had woken early to find Wufei already up, and we had spent some time talking over tea. Wufei was an interesting young man and I longed to learn more about him, but I couldn't spare the attention from Duo to truly understand him.

Heero and Trowa meandered down the stairs some time later and I let the three of them start breakfast as I went to wake Quatre. I was relieved to find that he was feeling better and we went to enjoy our first breakfast in our new home.

Which is when I got the call. I had been expecting Sally to call me in the morning to tell me that Duo was awake and that I should come in. I had not, unfortunately, been expecting her to call me to tell me how his operation went.

What operation?

"The operation to re-inflate his lung, duh,. I got a three hour window this morning where the nurses I needed were here and the rest of the staff was gone so I took it. The operation is over and he's doing fine," Sally responded on the other side of the phone. I felt a migraine starting behind my eyes.

"What do you mean you already did it? Damn it Sally, you knew I'd want to be there!"

"And why, exactly, is that?" Sally asked, and I could hear her getting equally pissed. "Do you doubt my skills?" she asked.

"No, I trust you...:"

"Do you think that you would have been able to help? Are you under some kind of delusion that I would have let you into the operating room?" she hissed.

"No," I responded again, "I know I wouldn't have been any help but..."

"Then why the hell would I have called you at three in the morning? I knew you'd run straight down here like an idiot, so I went ahead with the operation without you."

"Damn it, that wasn't your call!" I hissed, extremely pissed off that I hadn't been there for Duo, even though there was nothing I could have done.

"And what about the rest of your boys? Are you just going to ignore them all the time because of this?"

"The other boys were fine," I defended.

"For one night. Duo's not going to be better in a day. You need to balance your time."

"They're still fine," I defended, then gave up, knowing neither of us would back down. "I'm coming down right now, and damn you, if you pull something like this again I'm going to kick your ass, woman or not. Where is he?"

"He's in recovery," Sally huffed. "Do you remember where that is?"

"Yes, I know where recovery is. I'm not senile."

"Sometimes I wonder," Sally teased. "You're as grumpy as an old man."

"What are his signs like?" I asked, ignoring her comment.

"Strong and stable. He's a tough little kid, I'll give him that," she assured, and I knew Sally wouldn't say anything she didn't really believe just to spare my feelings.

"Alright, I'll be there soon," I assured her, then rushed out the door. It was late, so I had to tell Heero that he couldn't come, which broke my heart. But most of the agents would already be at work and, as I already knew, I couldn't risk letting Heero be seen going into a place like Preventer's or being seen by that many people. This operation was far too delicate for that.

By the time I arrived at Preventer's my temper had calmed somewhat, but I was still upset, and remained so until I was able to get in to see Duo a few minutes later. He was resting peacefully, still attached to many tubes and wires, but considerably less than before. The tube down his throat, also, was conspicuously absent.

"The operation was a complete success," Sally said, coming to stand behind me in the doorway as I moved to Duo's bedside. "We'll have to put a tube down his throat to check for any more damage, but I don't expect there to be any. We can do it tomorrow or the next day, if he wakes up."

"He won't like it. He's a bit touchy when it comes to people touching him. He'll probably baulk at voluntarily feeling strangled."

"There's isn't an alternative, you know that. There's more risk if we do it while he's asleep."

"I want to be here."

"Of course. He'll be awake for this one, so there's actually a reason for you to be here."

"I'm glad to have your approval," I commented dryly, giving her a glare as I took a seat beside Duo.

"Call me if he wakes up, but it'll probably be a few hours at least before he does," Sally commented, heading out the door. I nodded, but she didn't see. Still, she knew I had everything in hand.

Duo took most of the day to wake up. I would have said he simply did it to spite me, but he actually woke up earlier than expected. I spent most of my day drinking coffee, reading newspapers, and typing up reports of what I had seen at Collar. Now that I was back I could type them freely without having to worry about being caught.

Duo opened his eyes sometime around dusk, making the most hilarious face as he tried to get his bearings. My laughter attracted his eye, but he probably thought I was some kind of drug indued hallucination from the way he looked at me. Oh, but it felt good to laugh.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, wiping my eyes as I finally calmed. Duo merely rolled his eyes. "Hit by a mac truck, huh? A collapsed lung will do that to you. Luckily, you're out of the woods. Sally wants to do an exam on you tomorrow, then it should only be a few days before you can go home.

"The others?" he mouthed, though he was smart enough not to try to talk.

"They're already at the house, waiting for you. Heero is worried nearly sick."

"Bring him?" Duo asked silently.

"I can't. It's too big of a risk."

Duo huffed, and I think he mouthed, "Bastard," but he turned away, so I couldn't really see. I patted his hand and rose.

"Get some rest. I'm going to tell Sally that you're awake and I'm sure she'll be in to run some kind of gruesome test on you," I said. Duo gave me a pained look, then closed his eyes. I didn't doubt that he was asleep before I was out the door.

Sally, as promised, returned a while after I spoke with her, but the tests she performed were neither gruesome nor painful. They were, in fact, merely superficial examinations of the basic necessities, like heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. Her monitors kept her informed of everything, including those conditions, but Sally was always double checking things like that. Sally had spent many of her days in the field putting soldiers back together, and having gone so long without modern technology she was wary of relying too much on it.

Once that was over Duo went back to sleep and I was forced out of the room. Knowing that Duo was out of the woods, I was able to relax slightly, and went home to catch dinner with the other boys. Duo's operation was scheduled for three in the morning, so I took a nap as soon as dinner was over and was well refreshed when I headed back to the hospital at midnight.

Duo, also, was wide awake and refreshed when I got there, which was good because it gave me time to explain the procedure to him. A lot of this operation relied on Duo staying calm, so it was imperative that he be well informed and unafraid of the operation. Having anything startle him into a panic could be disastrous, so Sally and I had set aside an hour ahead of time to show him all of the tools we would be using. It was also important for him to know what to expect it to do and feel like, but unfortunately Duo could not ask any questions, so would have to rely solely on my description. And, from the look of it, Duo wasn't too keen on the idea of the operation anyway.

"Look," I explained for the second time, "it's very simple. Sally needs to make sure there isn't any damage to the inside of your throat or lungs, so she's going to put a small camera down your throat so that she can see, alright?" I asked. Duo shook his head. "Is it not all right, or do you not understand?" I asked, but Duo couldn't answer a two part question, so I had to restate it. I found that, yes, Duo understood and, no, it was not alright.

"I know you don't like this, and I know it's scary. But this is actually the safest way for us to do the operation. Now if you don't think you can stand it we can put you under to do it, but there's a lot more risk if we do. Now, are you too afraid?" I asked. Duo gave me an offended look and shook his head haughtily. "Good. You'll have to remain calm through the operation, so Sally and I are going to go over the procedure as soon as she gets in."

The operation we were about to perform was indeed to look at or take samples from the throat and lungs. In it one would take a small camera and put it into the throat. Keeping the patient awake reduced the possibility of accidental suffocation, but it was hard on the patient's psyche.

We wheeled Duo to the operating room not long later, then waited a few minutes for Sally to appear. Once there, Sally began to show Duo the tools she would use to examine his throat. He, undoubtedly, was appalled and tried to verbalize this to Sally, though he failed.

"I think I can speak for Duo about this. Sally, you have one of the largest budgets for medical equipment on the planet. So, please explain to me why your using equipment from the 19th century? That thing looks like a roto-rooter."

"Oh shut up. If it was good enough for your forefathers it's good enough for you. Besides, we do have better equipment, but it takes twenty people to work and I can't get that many people," she said pointedly. The part she couldn't say was that she couldn't get clearance for that many people to see Duo. So we would have to do this the old fashioned way.

"She's right," I sighed, looking back at Duo, "It's either this or you'll have to transfer you to another hospital and add some time to your hospital stay. Do you think you can handle it? It only takes a couple of minutes," I informed him. Duo nodded reluctantly, still staring apprehensively at the instrument in question.

"You're lucky this is the only thing we have to skimp on," Sally informed haughtily while she set up her instruments. "If this had been a regular hospital you'd be taking months to recover from the lung instead of weeks. So count your blessings and open you mouth," Sally instructed, bringing over a small spraying instrument. Duo gave her a sour face, but did as she instructed, and she sprayed the back of his throat with a powerful numbing liquid. From my seat next to Duo's bed I was given a prime view of Duo's red and swollen esophagus, so I wasn't surprised when he began to cough and had to be turned on his side. By the time he finished and we turned him back, Duo was looking bleak indeed. I smiled, hoping to cheer him, but he only managed another sour glare. I chuckled and let him close his eyes for the remaining few minutes before Sally started.

And then it was time to begin. Sally tilted his head back and secured it with restrains to ensure he couldn't move, then used various instruments connected to the chair to hold his mouth open and keep his tongue out of the way. I stood and took his hand, hoping to bring comfort to the obviously frightened boy. Then Sally took the instrument, which really looked more like a long tube than anything I had implied before, and began to feed it down Duo's throat, carefully watching its progress through both his mouth and the television set up to her right. As the camera touched his throat Duo's eyes went wide and he gasped through his nose, struggling not to move. He began to shake and his grip on my hand went painfully tight.

"Talk to him, Zechs," Sally instructed tersely, never looking away from her work.

"Duo?" I questioned quietly next to his ear. "You're doing great. Just a few more minutes and you'll be done, alright?"

Meanwhile, my words were seeming to have no effect, and Duo was growing more and more tense. His hands were trembling violently and he was gasping for breath, but still holding still for Sally. The bright lights shown in his eyes, which were wide with fear. I wanted to reach out and hold him, but I knew that would be neither possible nor appreciated. Duo, despite the care I held for him, still hated me.

But that, honestly, had very little effect on the amount of pain I felt, seeing one of my boys stretched out in pain like that. I couldn't stand it, but I knew that I had to, because Duo was standing it and I had to be there for him.

"The worst is over now, I promise," I assured him. "Just a little bit more and it'll be all over."

Meanwhile, Sally was just reaching the half way point, and paused to examine a small scratch. I wanted to yell at her to hurry up, but I knew that doing a poor job would result in far more damage. Duo, meanwhile, was still struggling to stay calm, and only began to fail as Sally reached the end of his esophagus and found his lungs. By that time his panic had taken a firm hold. Instead of shaking, now he had taken a firm hold on the bed and his entire body was as tense as wire. He arched his back and managed to get one foot firmly planted on the bed, holding back his own struggling by mere seconds. I held him down, but he was so panicked that I worried I wouldn't be able to hold him down without hurting him. His breathing was erratic and pained, and his eyes were wide and terrified. He closed them, pushing two teardrops down the side of his face, still gasping and almost sobbing, and I knew he couldn't take much more.

"Sally, that's enough."

"Just a minute more."

"Sally, pull it!" I snapped, feeling that Duo was about to struggle and possibly hurt himself. Sally cursed under her breath and quickly pulled the instrument out, almost more quickly than was safe. As soon as it was out Duo began to gasp for breath, coughing and choking in his panicked state. I turned him to his side and rubbed his back until he calmed, then turned him back.

"Is there anything I can get you?" I asked, not really thinking about it.

"Heero," he mouthed, pleadingly, desperately. I was stunned, for a moment, by pain behind his plea, but quickly acquiesced.

"I'll send a car to get him," I told him, and the relief was visible in his face as he closed his eyes.