16-Aug-2002
revised: 07-Sep-2002
Title: Magic Happens/Part 14
Author: Ebonydove
Archive: aenai.steelsong.com
Warnings: language, yaoi, mild violence, angst
Spoilers: none that give away anything from the series.
Author's Notes: Duo and Heero are on earth trying to keep a very secretive code from falling into the wrong hands.
We must have been driving for quite some time because I had fallen asleep in the passenger's seat as Heero drove us Gods knows where. One minute I was listening to the quiet hum of the tread on the asphalt and sipping my icy cold soda and the next thing I knew I was waking up groggy and with a slightly detached feeling. In that very briefest of moments when I woke up and found myself in the car, I had a flash of Quatre and I; lost deep in the snowy woods on a mission gone bad from our days during the wars, and shivered.
I was still feeling a bit off from all my near death experiences in the last couple of days and combined with the trouble from L1 before that, I had no doubts as to why I might be a tad sleepy or jumpy. It didn't explain the slight case of spins I was getting though. I stretched as well as I could given the space, and caught Heero's small tentative look from the corner of my eye.
"Wha?" I asked with a sleepy smile as I rubbed the grit from my eyes, mindful of the bruise that was finally starting to fade, and tucked one leg underneath me. My smile must have faltered a little as I massaged my elbow, because when I looked back up to Heero to comment on how angry Wufei was going to be when he realized we had stolen his 'good car', and left him to take care of Lucky while we were on the run, he was frowning and looking just plain worried. I repeated my earlier half-asleep question with a bit more clarity. "What's wrong? And how long have I been asleep?"
He didn't say anything at first and seemed to be arranging his thoughts so I began digging around in the glovebox. You can always tell a lot about a person from what they kept in it. I was only slightly disappointed to only find a tiny package of tissues still in the original plastic, a book of matches, a container of band-aides, and a small box of mints. Wufei obviously had never heard of leaving anything other than the owner's manual and a few dull things in his glovebox for bored people like me to snoop through. I threw two of the mints in my mouth and turned back to Heero who still hadn't answered me. By then he had glanced back over to me to see if I was still waiting for an answer to my query, which I was. I rolled the mints around on my tongue and then stuck it out at him, who for some reason was still acting skittish. And that finally prompted him to spit it out.
"I spoke to Relena while you were sleeping."
"Oh." I was sorry as hell I missed that. "And?" I would have liked to hear him explain to her that we hadn't a friggin' clue about her brother's were-a-bouts yet, and were once again on the run.
"She was upset."
"Of course she was upset Heero. You really didn't expect her to be something other than upset did you?" I was trying to hold back the sarcasm, but as always, it seeped out in my tone and my body language was screaming 'annoyed'. So I wasn't surprised when his jaw clicked shut and he stopped stealing sidelong glances at me. I took a deep breath and turned to look out the window.
We were somewhere pretty deep in the country. Looked pretty rural; with fields on either side of us stretching out in golden waves of grass for as far as I could see. Every once in a while I could spot a farmhouse or barn somewhere in my plain of sight, but for the most part it was just miles of black road sprawled out ahead of us surrounded by flat, dry land. I had taken out a few band-aides and began replacing the ones I had on my fingers. On my left hand I had broken off two nails that still hadn't regrown, and on my right hand I had split the top of my thumb with a splinter of wood. I was glad that I hadn't had any nightmares of the grave, as I came to call them, while I had taken my nap. I had been fighting sleep for days so wasn't too awfully surprised it finally caught up with me.
I felt something drop into my lap and turned to Heero with a start before glancing down to where I found a cellophane wrapped sandwich laying in my lap. I know we hadn't packed lunch before we took off from Wufei's apartment, and I hadn't really thought about food until just then as my stomach growled in appreciation to Heero's foresight. The question must have been plain on my face because Heero began speaking quietly to me again.
"I stopped at a place before I got off the highway onto this route. You were still sleeping and I didn't want you to wake up. So I picked out the ham one for you. I remembered that you like ham."
I nodded and unwrapped the sandwich. It was warm, but I wasn't going to complain for his thoughtfulness. As I chewed I was also thinking that it was not a good thing that I had slept through a phone call, and a pit stop, and almost asked when it hit me. Like a bus. He had given me all the clues and I frowned when I looked at the half-drunk soda, now warm in the cup holder. "You gave me something didn't you?" I growled, momentarily forgetting the sandwich.
"Just a sleeping aid. No sedatives."
I took another bite of the sandwich and turned my attention back out to staring at the rows of corn that were now replacing the wheat fields I had been seeing for the past half hour as I tried to gage just how upset I was about that. He was waiting for me to put two and two together and throw a good fit. But truth be told, I found that I was only mildly irritated and not down right pissed about it. After all, good soldiers knew when the time was appropriate for things of this nature, and Heero had obviously thought it was a good time for me to sleep and simply helped me along. In a twisted way I could almost see it as being...sweet. Especially now that I realized the nervous glances he had been shooting me had nothing to do with Relena's call.
"Duo, please don't be angry. You really looked like you needed some rest. You've been through a lot in the past week."
I suppose me being quiet for too long equated to me being pissed at him. It was more that I was still chewing and it's damn rude to talk with your mouth full. Besides, I couldn't argue with that. It was the truth. I just shrugged and finished the sandwich he had gotten for me. It felt good to have something solid in my stomach. I dumped the rest of the warm soda out the window though, giving him a pointed look just for good measure as I exaggerated tapping the can against the side of the car to make sure it was empty before tossing it into the back seat. "I'd just appreciate it if you ask me next time."
He gave a snort at that and I was pretty sure that I knew what he was thinking. I very, very rarely take sedatives or sleeping agents on my own. It's usually more like me kicking and screaming all the way and the only one I couldn't totally frustrate enough that they gave up, was Trowa. Poor guy was always the one who was resigned to sitting on my chest and arguing with me about them when we fought together during the wars. Only second to Quatre, he is an amazing negotiator.
"I apologize, Duo. I will ask you next time."
I laughed at that. I was on to his little 'slip it in the soda' game and wouldn't fall for it twice. And judging by the slight smirk on his face, he knew it to. We both knew there wasn't going to be a next time, voluntary or not.
"How are you feeling?"
I did a quick inventory and assessed my condition. I'd had worse. But barely. My ribs were doing well. They were hardly noticeable unless I did something really strenuous. The bruise on my face was just about gone, my fingertips were better than they had been when I first found myself in the hospital, and my throat finally stopped burning every time I tried to eat, or drink, or speak. Even my elbow seemed to finally be healing and I was able to bend it completely without darts of shooting pain racing up my whole arm. "Other than a slight case of the spins, fine. So where are we anyway?"
He ignored the barb and answered quickly. "Lost."
I wasn't sure if this was the newly discovered Yuy humor or not and the look on my face must have shown it. I was about to ask again when he reached over with his right hand and wiped a bit of mayonnaise off the corner of my mouth. I was only embarrassed for the briefest of moments, until he flashed me that serene smile of his. It melts me every time and then I didn't care at all that I was a slob, because neither did he.
"The sandwich should help with that."
I nodded and smiled back at him, forgetting the obnoxious comment I was going to make. We hadn't had much alone time since our fast and furious night of romance in my apartment when Heero first arrived on earth with me. Things got pretty crazy after that and we really hadn't even talked about it. I assumed that everything was fine because I didn't have any reason to think that it wasn't the case.
I had done a lot of thinking after the fire and subsequent stay in the hospital and decided I needed to just come right out and tell him I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. He already knew that I loved him, now all he needed to hear was that I was committed to him too. In case there was any chance I hadn't made that clear yet. I figured now might be a good time for me to profess this undying love and devotion of mine to him. It certainly wasn't like there was anywhere for him to run to. Unless of course he flung himself out the car door... which one could never be too sure about when dealing with Heero. But I was feeling mighty confident.
"Duo, I need to talk to you about the phone call I had with Relena."
Oh yeah. That. "You said she was upset."
He went all stiff next to me and for a minute I wondered if perhaps some furry little country critter had run out in the road as he suddenly slowly the car and pulled us off onto the shoulder.
"Duo I need to explain something to you."
Those nagging little twitches in my gut that had been lacking for the time that I was busy getting my ass kicked where back with a vengeance making the digestion of the ham sandwich difficult at best. Something about the tone of voice he was using and the way his face lost all expression told me he was schooling his features into a neutral plate. Whatever he had to tell me, he knew I wasn't going to like it.
"I told you the night we first arrived at your apartment that things might get complicated."
I put on my most bored expression and tried to project calm. I figured the more reasonable I was the easier it was going to be for Heero to just speak his mind. "Things usually do when it concerns matter of interplanetary peace."
"This isn't about peace for the earth and colonies, Duo. It's about you and me. And Relena."
I hadn't realized that I had balled my fists up in my lap until he leaned over and put one arm around my shoulders and closed his hand over the fist closest to him. He rubbed his finger over the top of one of the band-aides and glanced up from underneath his unruly bangs.
"Relena is upset because I postponed our wedding."
It just hung there waiting for me to acknowledge it, but my brain just wasn't going to allow itself to recognize what he had just told me. Why he waited until now to tell me something like this was too much for me to try to wrap my mind around. I swallowed hard.
We had slept together.
I told him what he meant to me and he tells me he was going to marry the girl he left on L1 to come to earth.
But then again, I wasn't why he came to earth. I was just the decoy. The distraction.
This is only temporary...
Now I understood the look on Relena's face the night we left that party. She knew why I was there and she knew what was between them. She let him go with me. I felt the hot sting of tears prick my eyes but my pride raced up to my rescue before they could fall. I blindly grabbed at the doorhandle and threw the door open as I tumbled out of the car and out of Heero's arms. I almost ended up on my knees in the gravel, but quickly got a hold of myself and took off running across the asphalt. I practically flew over the ditch at the side of the road, ignoring Heero frantically climbing over the passenger seat to come after me as I raced into the cornfields. I could hear him yelling behind me to stop; to let him explain, but it only furthered my need to run from him.
I said I would follow him to hell and back. I told him I would do anything to keep us together. That nothing would come between us. I had been beaten, chased, burned and buried for him in the time that we had been together since I found my heart in his hands. Hell, I was committed! I gave him my body and my heart, but this...
This was just too much. If I could have, I would have run all the way to my dumpy little house on L2 and begged Hilde to just stay with me forever so I wouldn't have to endure the kind of pain I was in right now.
I settled for doubling back and racing along the side of the highway for a few minutes hoping he wouldn't figure it out too quickly. There really wasn't anywhere for me to run to, so I slowed and stood panting on the shoulder, trying to get great gulping gasps of air back into my lungs after what could have been a five mile dash. I could see Wufei's car down a bit on the side of the road where we had pulled over with the side door still wide open, but no sign yet of Heero. He was to figure it out soon enough so I started to make my way back towards it when I saw the glimmer of a vehcile approaching from the same way we had been coming from.
I jogged back to the car, glanced down the row of corn that I had burst through when I took off running and saw no sign of Heero yet. Then I heard his desperate yell again as he called my name over and over. I shook my head and wiped at my eyes, glancing quickly at the approaching truck. As soon as it was close enough I made up my mind and started to wave him down.
The huge semi came to a slow stop a few feet from me as I heard Heero's yelling get closer and closer. It was now or never. The door to the cab swung wide and the driver looked first at me and then at the car. He looked to the cornfield where Heero was still yelling for me before giving me a questioning look.
"Can I catch a ride to the nearest town?"
"All right. You wanna wait and tell your friend where you're goin'?"
"Naw. Besides, he already knows." I answered as I hauled myself up into the cab and slammed the door shut. The guy nodded and gave the field once last parting look before putting the truck in gear and heading off. I'm sure Heero would have heard the truck and was racing back to the car, but I hoped he'd just let me go. I knew he'd find me soon enough, but for now I needed to be alone.
"You in trouble or somethin'?" The driver asked me with a suspicious look.
I couldn't blame him. The circumstances must look odd. I had abandoned my Preventers jacket in the back seat of the car along with my gear. The only thing I still had with me in terms of personal stuff, were my replacement guns, my knives, my piks and the dog-eared photo of Heero and me. The tears started again to my embarrassment and I found myself trying to hide from his curious stare.
"No. Just time to part ways." I finally answered when I thought my voice wouldn't crack under the strain of repressing the sobs I could feel rumbling in my chest. I didn't look in the rearview or the side mirror to see him standing beside the car as the truck drove away. I just concentrated on watching the road as it stretched out in front of me.
End Part 14
(:./ebony/magic14)
