Author: Merula

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.
Warnings from the first chapter are in effect.

Run and Hide + Part 2

I was busy at the stove when they entered the kitchen. "Hot water is on the stove, or there's orange juice in the fridge." I said without turning around. "We're not supposed to meet the guys until 6, so I was thinking that I'd run some errands today."

"We'll go with you," Heero volunteered.

"It's okay," I replied. "You guys had a hard week. I can go while you rest." Wufei kissed me gently.

"You forget, the pleasure of a weekend together is just that. We want to be with you after being without you all week." He smiled. "I still wish you'd consider a job with us." I started to speak but Wufei hushed me. "I know you didn't want to be an agent, and I understand why. But it's a bit frustrating to be away from you- to miss so much time."

"Even if I was an agent, it'd be the same," I replied. "Maybe worse since we'd be on separate cases all the time."

"That's true," he said, releasing me. "Maybe we should work in the bookstore." I laughed as he intended me to, and shook my head.

"Somehow I just don't see it. The first customer who yelled at you would get skewered." I sighed. "Not that I haven't been tempted a few times."

"If they only know who they were yelling at, ne?" Heero smiled. "So, what's on the list today?"

We ended up having a great day. Even grocery shopping can be fun if you're with the right people. Heero insisted on treating it 'like a mission' and we had fun dividing up the list and treating the whole trip like some kind of covert op. The chores around the house went fast with three of us to do them.

We went to get Quatre and Trowa at 6. Wufei had picked a theme restaurant where the waiters and waitresses all wore costumes and occasionally stopped to dance or sing. I was a bit surprised, since it seemed more to my and Quatre's taste than to the other three. Then I realized that he had probably picked it for that reason alone. It was nice to see Quatre relaxed and laughing and to see some of that tension drained out of Trowa. We were all laughing over a 'stupid criminal' story that Wufei was telling as we waited for our change when Trowa's eye lighted on me.

"Feeling better?" He asked me quietly and I shrugged.

"Yeah," I replied just as softly, "I guess." His eyebrow went up.

"Maybe we should come here for lunch," he said a bit louder and I realized that the others had stopped laughing and any more private conversation was impossible. "It's better than that awful deli you always take me to."

"What? You're the one that always insists on going there because of that cute counter girl."

"Cute counter girl?" He gave me a mock-scornful look. "You don't mean the one old enough to be my mother, do you?"

"Yeah, but you totally flirt with her Tro."

"I do not!"

"Then how come she always gives you extra dessert?" Trowa rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

"Well, at least I don't flirt with the busboy."

"You're just mad because he always refills my drink."

"Extra dessert is better than soda."

"In your world, maybe, not mine..."

"That's it," Wufei shook his head sadly. "They've passed the bend."

"Is it time for the straight jackets?" Heero asked. Quatre grinned.

"Oh, I have some restraints in mind." That made us all laugh.

"That sounds like a good idea." Wufei wrapped my braid around his hand as we stood up. "And Duo comes with one built in."

Later that evening as we curled up in Heero's bed, Heero took a deep breath and leaned his head on my shoulder. "Duo, talk to me?" Wufei was curled around him on the other side and he nodded encouragingly.

"What about?" I asked as I always did.

"Anything you want," Heero replied as he always did. "It's just- been awhile." It was one of our rituals. During the war when he and I had first started sharing a bed, I always had to talk afterwards. Sometimes I confessed my soul, sometimes it was just all the things I had wanted to say during the day and hadn't, sometimes it was just pointless ramblings. Heero would just lie there quietly and listen.

Back then, it hadn't been about love. At least, I don't think it was. It was about comfort. It was about proving that you were still alive, that you could feel. We had started sharing a bed after any major fight, unless one of us was too injured to move. It had been during one of my 'talks' that I had speculated how the other pilots worked it off after a battle that we realized that Wufei had no outlet. Quatre had Trowa, Heero and I had each other, Wufei only had his damn sword. He would practice with it until he dropped. So we invited him in with us after the next battle. I think it had surprised him that we offered. I think it surprised us that he accepted. But it had to have been hard being by himself. You crave the contact and it helps to have someone near you when the nightmares start. I will still never forget after that first time, when we all curled up together like this and Heero had told Wufei that 'now it's time for Duo to talk'. They had curled against me tightly and listened to me until we all fell asleep.

"Duo?' Wufei's voice sounded hesitant. "You aren't talking."

"Huh? Oops," I smiled. "Lost in thought I guess."

"What are you thinking about?" He asked me.

"The past. Our past." I paused. What in the hell I meant was unclear to me, but not to the other two.

"We won't leave you," Heero said softly.

"You can't promise me that," I answered softly. "Father Maxwell and Sister Helen didn't want to leave me either. But they were taken from me all the same."

"Duo-" Heero started and I shook my head.

"Not now. It's okay." I hugged them both tightly for a moment before launching into a ramble about the afterlife and all the kinds of holy hell we could raise as ghosts. They fell asleep to the sound of my voice and I dropped off soon after lulled by the sound of their breathing in the dark.

Sunday was lazy- my favorite kind of weekend day. We slept late; read the paper did all those lazy Sunday activities that we enjoyed. My depression had vanished for the moment and I was happy and content with my world. If only I had known what was coming.

[part 1] [part 3] [back to Merula's fic]