June 2000
Category: Adventure, Angst, Friendship, Romance.
Pairings: 3+4, 1+2
Rating: G
Time: After the events of OCT.
Disclaimer: Not mine, I make no money off this and seek none. I'm just enjoying getting to play with someone else's fascinating characters.
Archive: Please not till I'm done.
Duo stayed tense and watchful, not letting down his guard even when he was certain they were back on Winner land. Both he and Quatre were damp and cold but Duo refused to let himself think about his physical discomfort. He needed to get them both back to the house.
That was his mission objective. Period.
Exhausted, Quatre trudged ahead or behind as Duo directed him. Too focused on keeping his breathing steady and trying not to trip over branchs that grabbed at his ankles, to bother fighting with the American boy.
Duo heard the rustle of a leaf.
The sound should have been missed, it was so slight and innocuous but it seemed to explode in Duo's ears and he drove Quatre down to the ground, bringing his weapon up to his shoulder and swing around drawing a bead on the shadowy figure that ghosted out of the trees.
"Easy Duo. It's just us." Towa's calm voice seemed to echo through the dense forest.
Duo felt his heart slam into his throat as he looked around, seeing Heero and Wufei come out of the trees as well. Trowa went immediately to Quatre, laying his hand against the small blonde's back and rubbing gently as he knelt down whispering.
"Quatre?"
"I'm... I'm all right... just winded."
Trowa frowned and reached, as if wanting to pick the small blonde up. Quatre shook his head violently and pushed himself back up to his feet. "Come on, we need to get back to the house."
Duo watched as Quatre focused on putting one foot in front of the other, continuing on. Trowa stayed close to the Arabian boy's side, leaving Duo there with Heero and Wufei. Starting to follow, Duo dug into his pocket and pulled out the piece of jade. He stroked his thumb across it's cool surface then held it out to Wufei.
"It's not broken."
"I know. I didn't expect it to be."
"How did you know?"
"We drove by the Hummer and could see where Quatre crashed the Aston from the road." It was Heero who answered. The Perfect Solider walked just behind Duo, his hand laid against his lover's lower back in a subtle supportive manner. "We also heard the gunshots. When the outer alarms tripped we were able to pinpoint your position."
"Ah." Duo felt at a loss for words. Now that the emergency was over he felt drained and as exhausted as Quatre looked plodding along ahead of him. The five boys worked their way through the woods for a silent half hour before Duo spoke again.
"You know, Wu-man, I don't think I want to be a bodyguard. It's hard work."
Wufei took his eyes off the woods he was scanning for a moment to look to Duo. "It is an honorable profession Maxwell but you are correct. There is nothing *easy* about the job."
They cleared the woods as twilight was falling. With the house in sight, Trowa enforced a slowing of the pace for Quatre's benefit. The taller pilot had an arm around the little blonde's shoulders and was practically holding him upright. Free of the need to concentrate on where he placed his feet, Quatre drifted into his thoughts.
Paul Atrick.
Martin DuBois.
Carl Lefwequi
The three men who, it seemed, would stop at nothing to remove him from WEI. He'd unwittingly played into their hands by placing his support behind Operation Comet's Tail. Quatre had known that the project, with it's controversial and unconventional ideas would draw a lot of detractors. He hadn't realized that he would be building his enemies the very army they needed to destroy him.
Quatre closed his eyes and leaned against Trowa's strength for a moment. A horrible thought kept chasing it's own tail around in his head. Even though the danger he and Duo had just faced he hadn't been able to get rid of the niggling fear that 4 innocent people had died because of *him*.
Each boy blinked rapidly as they entered the bright study from the darkness of the garden. Reaching up to rub at his eyes, Quatre set the brief case down on the desk in front of him, leaning his hip against the large structure. Trowa took his shoulders and firmly guided the tired boy into the large chair, pinning him with a stern glare and making him stay put.
Across the room, Heero was settling Duo onto the sofa. Unconcerned about his muddy, damp state the American stretched out on the leather with a groan of relief. Wufei crossed his arms and leaned against the table that held the laptop he'd been working on earlier. Trowa exchanged a quick look with Heero and nodded as he headed out the door towards the kitchen.
Though the air was thick with questions, no one spoke. Trowa returned with five bottles of water and began to distribute them among the other four young men. Quatre's eyes didn't leave the briefcase sitting in front of him even when he reached up to take the bottle Trowa held out to him. He didn't want to see the evidence his heart was telling him sat in that locked case. He wanted to go upstairs and take a long hot bath and crawl into his bed, pull the covers over his head and hide in Trowa's arms.
Turquoise eyes flicker to forest green for a moment and in his lover's gaze he read that Trowa would allow him to do just that. That though the tall boy wanted to know what had been so important that his little love risk his life, he would wait until Quatre was ready. Quatre looked around to Duo who lay with his eyes closed. His normally expressive features were marred with the type of exhaustion that comes from severe mental and emotional stress.
Heero was watching Duo silently coaxing the other boy to take small sips of the water. Lastly he looked at Wufei who studied him with inscrutable dark eyes, waiting patiently.
They would all wait... if he asked them too. While they waited, danger grew against them all. While they waited patiently for him to find his courage their own lives were at risk trying to protect him.
Their courage helped bolster his own. Finishing a couple more gulps of water he leaned forward and reached for the briefcase. Keying the locks he flipped open the case and began to pull out the documents held within.
TBC
I know... a tad small and little introspective, still I hope everyone enjoyed. :D
Laekin
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