"Such problems you cause for me, little demon," I whispered, a sigh in my voice and a half-smile on my face.

It was only then that I noticed the hint of violet peaking between almost-closed lashes, and the hot tear creeping down Duo's cheek.

"Duo? Are you alright?" I wondered, my hand immediately floating to his neck to check his pulse. I had to stifle the urge to call for Sally, knowing that they were already outside and too far away to hear me. Duo's pulse, I found, was fine, and his temperature was good, so I could only assume that he was feeling the aftereffects of his near-death experience.

"It's alright, little one. Shh. It's okay," I soothed, rubbing his back, but Duo merely shook his head and continued to cry. I pulled him closer to me and was surprised when he fell into my arms, completely without his usual fear of touch.

"Please," he begged, and the sound tore at my heart as he pressed his face into my shoulder. "Please, don't give up on me. I'm trying. I really am, honest. Please…" he begged, then fell into a sobbing fit.

"Shh," I cooed, pulling him to me and wrapping my arms tightly around him. It felt as though a tight brace around my heart had finally fallen off. It was like I could breathe again. "It's alright. I know you're trying. I won't give up, I promise."

Could he have possibly known how much his words meant to me? Could he somehow have, like Quatre, sensed my mental state? But that was impossible, for Duo was certainly the least sensitive of my boys, which only made his admonition that much more sincere, and that much sweeter as well.

"I know," he gasped between sobs, "I know I'm a pain, and that I don't deserve any of this, and that I always screw everything up… but I'm trying! I'm trying really hard! I just…. I can't…" he gasped before the sobs overtook him once again. I merely held him to me and road out the storm, glad for this breakthrough, but even gladder that he was alive.

"It's alright," I told him once he had calmed enough to hear me. "I know you're trying. Just relax. You're safe now, but you need to rest."

"A-alright," he sighed, going limp against my side. "Damn, I'm cold," he said softly, some of his humor returning as he wiped the tears off his face. "Probably look like some kinda whore, snuggling up to you like this," he teased nervously, but staying against me anyway. He only rested for a moment, though, before tensing up again and asking a question that I had expected to hear since he woke up. "Where's Heero?"

"He's upstairs, sleeping," I replied. However, instead of getting upset, as I had expected, Duo looked dejected, lowering his eyes to look at the floor beside us.

"So he's still mad, huh?"

"At Zechs, possibly," Wufei commented as he entered, slightly damp but smiling. "It's good to see you awake, Duo. Heero will be very pleased, when he comes around. Zechs had him sedated."

"Well what did you want me to do? I couldn't let him charge into the wilderness to freeze to death!" I defended.

"And what is that you did? I think you've perfectly described your actions once Heero was asleep."

"I didn't freeze to death," I defended grumpily.

"Despite your best efforts," Wufei teased as he took a seat across the room.

"Where's Quatre?" I asked softly as I watched Duo's eyelids begin to droop.

"He went to help Trowa with the horses."

"Is something wrong? Is one of them hurt?"

"No, of course not. Trowa just wanted to make sure they didn't get sick, so he hooked up a heater in the barn and decided to stay out there until the horses were totally dry and warm."

"That's good. You should… mmm… give him a… a raise in allowance… or something…" I slurred, feeling my eyes getting heavy. Wufei chuckled, then I heard him get up from his chair.

"Why don't we talk about this tomorrow, when you're coherent?" he said, tucking the blanket around myself and Duo.

"But… Heero… someone should tell him," I protested.

"He won't wake until tomorrow anyway. The morning is soon enough. Now get some sleep," he said, and I was just too tired to do anything else.

I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but once it happened I was helpless to come out of it. I have no doubt that, if left on my own, I would have slept until well after noon. Unfortunately, that fate was not to be, and I found myself awakened by movement only a few hours after sunrise.

The scene I opened my eyes to was intense, and left me feeling like something of a spectator in my own home. Heero was kneeling in front of the couch, staring at Duo as though he didn't believe what he was seeing. Like he couldn't fathom that Duo was still alive.

Duo, meanwhile, must have awoke a few moments before me, because his eyes were locked on Heero's like a frightened sparrow. It looked like he would have preferred to fly out of his own skin rather than face Heero right then, but I have no doubt Heero would have pounced on him like a cat had he tried. It seemed that the emotions that had caused his sedation last night had been in no way reduced with a good night's sleep, and Heero had awoke in the same state he had fallen asleep in.

I could almost feel eternity drifting past as the two stared at each other, their eyes locked in a battle between fear and yearning. What could be going through their minds, I wondered. Certainly Duo was trying to decide if Heero was still angry about whatever little tiff they had been in, although the rest of us were aware that Heero probably didn't even remember the fight after all that had happened, let alone to still be angry. Heero, meanwhile, still seemed to be trying to wrap his head around Duo's presence. The moment stretched out between them, and I felt a strangely powerful need to remain perfectly still, so as not to disturb it. It seemed, just as Duo and I had made some sort of progress last night, here too the pair was about to take a leap of faith into each other. I worried that, were I to disturb them, they would both fall into oblivion.

It was Heero who broke the moment by finally accepting that Duo was neither a ghost nor ghoul. A small, pained gasp of such intensity that I cannot described it slipped past his lips, and for a moment I could hear just a hint of the emotions roiling inside him. In the next instant, he snatched Duo from the couch and pulled him into an embrace, like the ocean pulling in the tide. Could it be that he still feared that Fate would snatch Duo away from him, even after all she had done already?

Duo, on the other hand, allowed himself to be pulled into the embrace, his body limp with shock even as his shoulders were coiled tight with tension. His eyes were wide and uncomprehending, as though he too was struggling to fathom what was happening. As Heero's arms came around him, he let out a desperate gasp, almost identical in intensity to Heero's earlier expulsion. His shoulders relaxed and he melted against Heero, as though that simple breath had released all the tension from his body and all the anxiety from his soul.

Duo was pulled from the couch by their embrace and toppled to the floor. If they had been thinking in a manner at all similar to coherent thy would have realized that I could not possibly have stayed asleep through that, but I had no worries that they would realize it. I contemplated, for a moment, getting up and walking out of the room, just to see if they'd notice. An almost certainty that they wouldn't kept me in my place, along with a loathing to risk disturbing such a touching scene.

"Don't ever leave me again," Heero whispered frantically.

"I'm so sorry," Duo replied just as desperately. "For everything. I never meant to make you worry."

"I thought I'd lost you," Heero said, his voice thick with emotion.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," Duo replied, resting his head against Heero's shoulder. They were quiet for a long time then, just holding each other.

Actually, the two of them seemed perfectly happy to bask in the feeling of the other's arms for hours, but I was beginning to get impatient. My body was making it painfully clear that I had neither eaten nor urinated in at least ten hours, and it was not pleased. Unfortunately, getting up would alert the two lovebirds that I had been spying, so I would have to wait for a convenient noise to "wake me up."

Fortunately, someone upstairs came to my rescue, and I heard the sound of feet coming down the stairs.