Hi there. This is actually a one-shot I wrote for the One True Pairing Novella Challenge ). I decided to split it up into fourths, to make it easier on multiple levels.

Notes: I don't own GW, yada yada yada. You know the drill. Please read and reply!

Duo squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to let any tears fall. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Why was this happening? What did he do? He had tried his best to keep Heero happy... what happened?

Confusion swirled in his head. He couldn't understand what was going on, why it had happened. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him, his body tingling in shock as if he were standing under a waterfall of freezing water.

The world had stopped, trying to give Duo time to adjust to the shock. But the news wouldn't sink in. The part of him that always put on the smile was immediately burying the emotions of fear, anger, hatred, betrayal and despair as they were initially felt, lessening the pain he had to endure. But no matter how strong he was, no matter how accustomed to hiding his weaknesses he was, nothing could stop Duo from experiencing the pain that overwhelmed his heart.

-{Six Months Earlier}-

Duo blinked his eyes open and squinted as a thick beam of light draped across the bed. He felt the warmth of it on his skin and was suddenly glad that he had left the curtains open last night. It had been a matter of laziness for himself at the time, but, he was reminded, Heero hadn't gotten up to close the wine-red curtains either. Maybe they were simply preparing to lie in bed as long as possible, as was almost necessary of a Saturday morning.

Reaching his arms above his head, Duo stretched, popping his elbows and spine while letting out an enormous yawn. As he stretched, his left thumb moved to play with the ring on his finger, twirling the golden band Heero had given him last week in circles. It wasn't an engagement ring or a wedding band or even a promise ring. Just a gift Heero had given him. Duo smiled, and when his body relaxed again, he turned over to snuggle into the sleeping body next to him.

Heero lay on his side, facing Duo, his mouth hanging slightly open in the tranquility of sleep. His hair was a nest of chocolate, as it was every morning, having been constantly ruffled the previous night. Duo watched him for a moment before moving closer. Instinctively, Heero wrapped his arms around Duo and pulled until there was no space left between them. Duo nuzzled into Heero's chest, soaking up the heat from his lover's body while not forgetting the comforting light the sun draped over them.

"Duo?" Heero mumbled from where his face was buried in the other boy's hair.

"Hm?"

"You know we have to get up soon, right?"

Duo had almost forgotten: they were supposed to meet everyone at Worlds of Fun Theme Park later that afternoon. Quatre and Duo had arranged the whole day so that they could all spend some time together. Trowa, Catherine, Wufei and Relena were all going to be there. He and Heero were supposed to be there as well. Duo, however, having found himself wrapped in paralyzing warmth, was quickly regretting having planned it that way.

"Duo?"

"M'yeah, I know," Duo grumbled, burying his face further between them. "M'wake up later..."

Heero let out a satisfied sigh and Duo was glad to know that Heero agreed. He didn't want to get up now. He wanted to remain in bed all day. He had had a busy week with work and now he wanted to relax with his lover until one of them gathered enough energy to get up and make something to eat. But for now, he was content to just lie in bed.

The loud beeping of their alarm didn't allow them to rest for long.

Heero turned the car into the park's entrance and quickly found a parking spot. Duo, dressed in a plain red t-shirt and jeans, was ready to ride every ride in the park and sample all of its food. Heero, in a gray marble t-shirt and jeans, not sharing his partner's excitement for the rides, was, however, eager to see his friends again. The pair hurried up to the entrance to the main park.

Quatre and Trowa had arrived first and, as they had been waiting before any of the others got there, were quick to greet Duo and Heero.

"Duo! I was afraid I was going to have to call you. I thought you'd still be asleep," Quatre laughed, giving his friend a strong hug.

"Heero set the alarm at full blast - I didn't have a choice," Duo laughed back.

Quatre then turned and gave Heero a hug, a motion the stoic boy returned somewhat stiffly. Heero had gotten a lot better with showing affection since the war, especially since he and Duo had moved in together the previous year. However, physical contact, even such a thing as simple as a hug, with anyone other than Duo himself, was still an issue Duo was working fervently on.

Trowa and Heero, both with an uncanny understanding, nodded towards each other and said hello.

It wasn't long before Catherine showed up and affectionately greeted her brother. Duo considered them siblings even though there was no blood connection - as far as anyone knew - and Duo often used the same term when thinking of the other pilots. None of them had a stable family so upon building friendships between each other, they had created a makeshift family. Trowa had refused to leave Catherine, an orphan herself, out of that.

They had to wait slightly longer for Relena to show up, the blonde girl arriving in her usual limo. Duo fought to suppress a laugh as the girl emerged dressed in what she called recreational clothing. In fact the outfit was nothing more than a pair of shorts and a white tank top. None of the others found the humor in it, but Duo, for some reason, just couldn't get over the girl's legs; they were slim and pale and looked as if they had never seen the light of day. He kept his opinion about it silent though, knowing Relena's sensitivity about her paleness and Heero's feelings about the girl.

Relena, though everyone knew she wanted more, had settled on being Heero's friend a long time ago. The former Wing pilot had informed her firmly that he was in love with Duo and that wasn't going to change. He was too considerate - since the war - to push her away completely. In all honesty, Heero enjoyed her company and had decided to continue to find out things about the girl that he liked. She was, after all, his boss, as he had taken the bodyguard position soon after the war ended.

Duo had remained friends with Relena mainly because she was Heero's boss and friend. Duo didn't like the feeling of being the bitchy lover who only wanted Heero to pay attention to him. To prevent this, when Heero had taken the job, Duo had decided to befriend the blonde girl. She was his friend and would be around no matter what Duo thought of her so he reasoned that he might as well make that time pleasant.

Another ten minutes passed before Wufei came waltzing up towards the entrance. He looked somewhat disgruntled and Heero silently assumed it was because Duo had been the one to give him directions. They all finished greeting each other and entered the park, gathering together around the large fountain that decorated the park's inner entrance.

"So where do you guys want to go first?" Quatre inquired, sliding his hands into the pockets of his faded blue jeans.

"Rides," Duo said firmly.

"Well, I want to go play some games," Catherine stated, teasingly frowning at Duo.

"I would assume no one is hungry yet," Wufei commented, looking around and examining the park, "so those are our choices I guess."

"You gonna go on some rides with me Heero?" Duo turned and raised his eyebrows, looking intently at Heero who returned none of the other boy's excitement about the rides. Heero remained silent, only raising one eyebrow to give Duo his answer. "Fine," Duo replied, his mood still intact, "Anyone else?"

"I'll go," Quatre answered with a smile.

"Me too," added Trowa.

Catherine and Wufei both agreed to go as well, forcing Relena and Heero to be carried along in the group's wake. They walked down the street, passing souvenir shops and food stands as they went.

Quatre turned and smiled at Duo. "I'm surprised you haven't stopped us yet; we've passed three funnel cake stands already."

Duo turned and a wicked smile crept across his features. "Well, I'm surprised you got the guts to ride some of these rides. You sure you're not too scared?"

"You're an ass hole," Quatre laughed.

"Oh am I?" Duo laughed back. "I dare you, our little blonde pretty boy, to go on the largest ride in the park, the Phantom. Right after dinner. Without hurling it back up."

Quatre smiled wickedly. "You're on."

Duo patted him on the back. "Good. Now, what do you say we start little, so you don't get scared. The Twister looks subtle enough."

Rolling his eyes, Quatre followed them towards the ride. His mind, however, wasn't on a lame a ride as the Twister. He cursed himself inwardly; he shouldn't have accepted that bet.

Later in the day, Duo was able to convince Relena to go on a few of the smaller roller coasters, but couldn't convince her to go on the water rides. Duo had made a comment earlier about her white shirt getting wet and she had then asserted that she wasn't going to get wet that day.

Wufei and Catherine, however, proved to be Duo's best ride buddies. Both were eager to go on any of the rides any number of times, a quality Duo treasured greatly in them. Catherine, Duo supposed, liked the rides because they were like the aerial stunts she had to perform in the circus (except for the fact that you were buckled into a seat of some sort). Wufei, though, Duo couldn't figure out, and when asked about it, all the Chinese man divulged was that one of the largest theme parks ever built had been located on L5.

Around seven thirty, everyone had grown tired of the rides, even Duo, who had abandoned the desire for thrill for the desire for food. The question now was where to get that food. It took everyone a good half hour to agree to eat at a sit-down restaurant that was diverse enough to have a little of every kind of food.

Sitting down, they all immediately reached for the menus placed in the center of their table. The restaurant, Andy's, was large and extensive, decorated mainly in dark red. It was well lit without losing its romantic appeal, and the smell from the kitchen penetrated the dining room, surrounding and exciting its guests.

"Man that smells good," Duo hummed as he scanned the menu. Twitching his head, he tossed loose bangs out of his eyes. The auburn hairs had come out of the braid in the midst of the many rides; Duo took it as a small price to pay.

"Are we paying for our own or... what?" Catherine glanced around the table, instinctively knowing that Trowa wouldn't let her get away with paying for herself.

"I'm paying," Quatre answered calmly. He didn't look up from his menu, even when half the table began to protest. He ignored them, knowing that eventually they would stop and accept that he had made up his mind.

"Heero?" Duo elbowed his lover in the side, catching the boy's attention and motioning to the menu. "What is Ma-ka-zushi?"

"Maki-zushi," Heero corrected. "It's a sushi roll."

"Oohoohoo." Duo licked his lips but left that prospect when his eyes fell on a picture of the restaurant's hamburger meal. "I'll have that," he said, pointing to the picture. He then tossed the menu into the center of the table and waited for the waitress to show up.

"I feel like pizza," Catherine commented, "But all they have is whole pizzas. I can't eat that much."

"Then get that," Trowa encouraged, laying down his menu and extending an arm over the back of Quatre's chair. "I'm sure others will snack on it." He gave Duo a smart look but turned away before the braided boy had a chance to respond to it.

"Hey Duo," Relena said, getting his attention, "want to share some Thai chicken with me?"

"OK!" he answered.

A few minutes later, the waitress arrived and took their orders. They mingled with small talk until their food arrived and then proceeded to eat while continuing their conversations between bites.

"How's that case you were talking to me about?" Quatre asked Duo.

"Not good," Duo told him, "The guys we're dealing with are smart and good at covering their tracks."

Quatre raised an eyebrow.

"Whoever they are, they hacked into the Preventers' weapons files. We know the file was hacked into but we have no idea as to what information they got out of it... much less who it was. Like I said, good at covering their tracks. Whoever they are, they know about computers and files."

"Did you try any of the 'techniques' we were taught during the war?"

"I suggested it, but everything has to be 'legal' now," Duo responded.

Quatre smiled and decided to change the subject. "So," he said, letting the others be distracted with each other in order to talk alone with Duo, "How are you two?" He nodded towards Heero.

"Good," Duo replied.

"Good? Just good? Gimme the details, man!"

Duo laughed and smiled at his blonde friend. The Arabian boy had always been private about relationship details, but as time went on, Duo found his best friend getting more and more confident. More and more perversion seemed to follow the confidence. "Like what?"

"Sex good?"

Duo nearly did a spit take with his soda but managed to keep it going down his throat. Once the bit of laughter subsided he simply responded, "Yeah."

Quatre smiled. "Good. I…"

The blonde was cut off when Relena's voiced rose over them in protest. "I do not!" she shouted at Wufei playfully, "That's such old news!"

"What?" Duo asked, instantly nosing in on what was going on.

Wufei turned to him without losing eye contact with Relena. "Relena still loves Heero."

"I do not!" Relena's cheeks reddened and only got worse when the majority of the table agreed to Wufei's statement.

Heero ignored them, more focused on finishing his pasta than their talk about him. Duo, completely unbothered by the topic of discussion, laughed at the boy next to him. No matter what was going on, Heero was able to sift through in order to listen to what he felt important. The subject of Relena's obvious infatuation with him was never something he was very interested in; though Duo did suspect he kind of liked the attention.

Long ago, he and Heero had talked about Relena and the situation she presented. Heero had assured Duo that there was no interest on his side of the fence, and Duo had no need to worry. Relena was nothing more than a friend Heero treasured and a boss he respected.

"Heero?"

Head snapping up, Heero turned his eyes to Wufei. "What?"

"You know Relena is infatuated with you, right?"

"I don't know," he replied calmly, "Nor do I really care…"

Their conversation was interrupted by the waitress bringing their check. She looked around, but before anyone could snatch it to prevent Quatre from paying as he always did, the blonde already signed and handed the check back to the waitress.

"Back to the park?" Duo stood from his seat, finishing the last bit of French fries before gulping the rest of the soda in his cup.

"Where do you guys wanna head now?" Quatre asked.

Wufei and Trowa shrugged. Heero remained quiet as he stood up and Relena turned to look at Catherine.

"I'd like to go plays some games at the arcade," Catherine said.

"I'll go too," Relena agreed.

"Well, Quatre and I have business with the Phantom," Duo interjected, elbowing the blonde in the side, reminding him of their earlier bet.

"Oh yeah." Quatre moaned inwardly and suddenly wished he hadn't eaten that fifth roll.

"Well I should like to see this," Wufei said, inviting himself along to see Quatre hold (or not) his dinner.

Trowa agreed to go as well, also wanting to see the blonde attempt the challenge.

"You want to come with us, Heero?" Catherine smiled at him.

Relena added, "Or d'you want to see Quatre throw up all over himself?"

"I think I'll go with you," Heero responded, motioning to the two girls.

The group made their way out of the restaurant and stood outside in the middle of the walking street. They agreed to meet at the front of the park at nine thirty, about when the park would be closing. The party then split, Heero, Relena and Catherine going downhill while Wufei, Duo, Trowa and Quatre all headed upwards toward the towering ride that was their destination.

"You think it wise to let Relena and Heero be together alone?" Wufei asked.

"They're not alone," Duo answered, his thumb caressing his ring as he walked.

"You know Catherine," Trowa pointed out, "She basically shuts out the real world when playing a game."

"You trust him a lot don't you?" Quatre ran a hand through his hair, trying to relieve himself of the nerves that continued to build as the ride grew increasingly larger as they approached.

"I don't see a reason not to," Duo replied plainly.

"That's good," Trowa stated, knowing almost no one was listening to him now.

They had come to the ride, now standing under the large construct that was the Phantom. It towered over them with its swoops and turns. The screams of the current riders caught their attention, causing Quatre to gape up at them as they went through a loop and wonder what he had gotten himself into.

"Ready Quat?" Duo smiled as his blonde friend put on a determined face and walked forward.

= = =

Throwing himself into his chair, Duo rubbed his nose to relieve the tension that was growing behind his eyes. He looked at the paperwork in front of him and sighed as another message popped up on his computer, indicating he had another email. It was moving in on one thirty and nothing new had arisen in the case. Maybe this was what he had been waiting for all day.

He opened the email and read it quickly, letting out a pained groan when he realized it was nothing more than a call to Merrie's office. They were going to be put on double duty, assigned another case on top of this one; Duo just knew it. Their staff had been reduced over the past few months and agents were beginning to have double assignments. Duo hated having two cases to work on; having two cases always meant double the paperwork.

After deleting the message, he stood from his desk, causing his two partners to look up.

"Call to Merrie's office," he said simply.

The three of them entered Merrie's office moments later, each taking a seat in the chairs in front of the large oak desk that sat in the middle of the room. The young woman, their boss, sat on the other side of the desk, waiting as a mass of papers printed out. She was in her late twenties, but showed little age. Her features were smooth and kind, covered with soft tan skin. The dark hair that hung past her shoulders was pulled into a loose ponytail, one stray lock falling over her eye.

She looked up when the papers finished printing and smiled at them. "Maxwell, Golding, Jeriko," she nodded to each of them. "You probably know why you're here. I need you to investigate a case for me; we don't have enough agents to cover it right now."

Duo sighed but nodded. Mark Golding, a young, ambitious black man from Canada, grunted his disapproval while Alex Jeriko, a young and stubborn Greek man, remained silent.

"I'm sorry guys, but I need your help," Merrie told them, a sweet pleading smile on her face.

"What is it?" Duo asked, impatient to start the case.

"Some of the state highway patrol intercepted a shipment of highly sophisticated weapons. There were some parts, and even some fully assembled weapons. All illegal." She took the pile of papers from the printer deck and handed them to Duo. "We know where the shipment was supposed to be taken and who ordered it. It hasn't been checked yet, but you have it know it's a false identity. But we need to find out who these people really are. This shipment had enough arms to equip a small army faction."

Duo raised his eyebrows.

Merrie nodded. "Yep. I need you to get on it, but you still need to work on that other case."

Duo nodded and stood up, leading Mark and Alex to rise as well. They went back to their office and each set to their tasks: Duo told Mark to continue researching the hacking case while he and Alex researched the new case. There was about forty five minutes of silence in the room, the only sound being their typing, when Mark suddenly gasped.

"Duo, come here."

Behind the other man in a moment, Duo looked over his shoulder to see what Mark had discovered. His eyes scanned the screen and fell on the spot where Mark pointed out an address.

"This is the location the hacker was at when they viewed the Preventer files," Mark told him. He recognized the address and was instantly worried when he recognized the site as the same place the illegal weapons had been heading to.

Duo nodded in understanding. "The cases are linked," he whispered to himself, "They hacked into the Preventer weapons inventory and then ordered the necessary parts to make illegal weapons. Smart."

"But careless to do from the same location," Mark added.

= = =

Duo waited patiently on the couch, flipping through channels on the television, never remaining on one station long enough to really tell what was on. He lie on his side, stretched on the couch with the remote in his right hand and his left arm resting behind his head, thumb lazily rolling the ring.

His thoughts were centered on the day's events; the details of his latest case rolling around in his head as he tried to make sense of them. The Preventers knew their files had been hacked into and viewed. They didn't know what specific information was gathered by the perpetrators. They knew where their enemies had hacked from, but they didn't know who those people were. They knew they ordered a shipment of illegal weapons and parts and arranged to have them be delivered to the same location that the hacking took place. Simple clues… all with no leads.

They quickly checked out the person who ordered the weapons and as Merrie had suspected, it was a false identity. If nothing else, Duo was glad that the two cases they had been assigned to had turned out to be connected. For now he was glad to be home with only cartoons to think about.

He had gotten home from work less than an hour ago, though it should have been a lot sooner. Certain circumstances prevented this and he only hoped Heero would like the surprise.

Hearing the keys rattling outside the front door, Duo leapt to his feet, turning off the television and tossing the remote aside. He couldn't reach the door in time but Heero was greeted with the surprise anyway.

Eyes wide with shock rarely shown, Heero stood completely still, letting the animal bounce around his feet. As Heero had opened the door, he was greeted by a large tan and black muzzle. Round eyes stared up at him in excitement and a docked tail wiggled upon a swaying rear end. Moving from paw to paw, the Rottweiler smiled up at him with his long pink tongue hanging out of his mouth. Slight whines escaped the dog's throat, his begging to be noticed.

"Surprise!" Duo moved forward and gave his shocked lover a hug. Reaching down, he grabbed the ecstatic animal by his red collar and pulled him back. "What do you think?"

"Um…" Duo smiled as Heero's eyes remained wide and his mouth continued to hang open.

"I stopped at the mall after work to pick up some things and they had some animals from the Humane Society there and I saw him and… look at him!" Duo knelt and hugged the dog around the neck. Seeming to know the need for appeal, the dog opened his mouth, letting his tongue fall out again and a large smile form on his face.

"Duo…"

"You love animals just as much as I do and you said yourself you'd like to have a dog and it's not like he's a puppy that needs constant attention, he'll be fine while we're at work, and-"

Duo was cut off by Heero's hand over his mouth. While his lover had been talking, Heero had moved forward to stand in front of Duo. Duo himself had since risen from kneeling on the ground and was now level with the familiar cobalt eyes.

"Duo." Heero stared at him, eyes firm. "Shut up." He then lowered his hand and smiled when Duo remained quiet.

No longer content with sitting while the two spoke to each other, the dog stood and continued his earlier venture of inspecting the newcomer's legs. Heero peered down at him only to be greeted with another gregarious smile.

"His name's Earl," Duo said, hoping it was true that naming something gave you an instant connection.

In the hour or so since he'd first seen the energetic Rottweiler, Duo had grown attached to him. He loved how the dog, immediately upon arriving home, seemed as though he'd found where he belonged. He'd adored that large friendly smile that formed when the dog opened his mouth to pant from the instant he saw Earl standing, wagging his rear end in the cage at the mall. He hoped that those things would quickly rub off on Heero.

Duo stopped looking at Earl, who was still rambunctiously circling Heero's legs, and focused on his lover's narrowed eyes. He could tell Heero was rolling over the idea in his head, laying out all the pros and cons of the idea of keeping the dog.

The two stood there for a good five minutes, Earl still hovering around Heero, until Heero finally seemed to make up his mind.

"All right," he said, and that was all there was to it.

Duo jumped on him, arms flying around his neck as he shouted, "Yeah!"

Fueled by their excitement, Earl began bouncing on his front legs, his whines increasing in volume until he was simply barking at them, begging for attention. Heero finally gave in and knelt down to pet him. Earl sat back and let Heero rub his head and massage his ears.

Duo smiled as the thought of his family growing larger, more permanent, more full, passed through his mind.

= = =

Duo turned the corner and headed down the dull hallway. He passed numerous offices and a couple Preventer officers, waving a 'Good Morning' to a few of them. Slowing down, he turned again and popped his head into Wufei's office.

"Hey buddy!"

The Chinese man moved his eyes to acknowledge Duo's presence but quickly returned to work. "Merrie is looking for you; she came by a few minutes ago."

Duo's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh? Thanks…" He left Wufei's office and headed straight to Merrie's office, noticing the woman frantically talking on the phone as he entered.

She looked up and her eyes widened slightly. "Duo! Wait," she said, returning to the person on the phone, "I'll have to call you back. Yeah, fine." She hung up and motioned for Duo to sit, which he did.

"I have some information pertaining to your case," Merrie told him, "I think it's related, anyway."

Duo raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was getting at.

"The Preventer's database was hacked into again. This time our officer files were viewed though, again, we don't know what was copied or taken. We do, however, know what files were seen."

"How do you know that?" Duo asked.

"I had Alex check it out this morning; he got here early," she replied. "But the reason I wanted to talk to you specifically was that the specific file hacked into was Heero's."

Duo frowned, a sudden chill running down his spine. "But Heero's not an agent; his files wouldn't be in our officer database…"

"I know," Merrie said quickly, seeing the nerves growing in the man in front of her, "But right after the war, when the Preventers were just starting, Heero was someone we wanted to join us. A file was made for him, but when he denied our request, we just… forgot to move or delete his file."

"So what does this mean?" Duo gripped the arms of the chair tightly in hopes it would flush some of the growing tension from his body.

"I don't know. I want you to research it today. Have Golding look for potential suspects to this and have Jeriko inspect the weapons more. I want this solved as soon as possible."

Duo nodded and stood. He left the room, his mind in a daze. So many thoughts flew threw his head that he couldn't even remember how he had gotten back to his desk.

What if Heero was the target of the perpetrators plan? The thought sent a thick dagger of fear through his chest. A lump formed in his throat and he suddenly felt very small and helpless. There were no leads to this case. No fitting suspects. No way to stop them if they decided to attack tomorrow… or next week… or next month… He would lose Heero.

He closed his eyes, ignoring the concerned looks his partners were giving him from their desks. His heart slowly returned to a normal rhythm and he was able to clear his head of the fearful thoughts. Paralyzing fear wouldn't help him right now. Heero's life, apparently, relied on his abilities to find these guys and stop them.

Duo's face hardened and he swiveled his chair so he faced his computer. Taking in a slow breath, he set to work.

= = =

Earl, having grown content in his not-so-new home, curled up on Heero's Laz-E-Boy chair, his favorite place to sleep while Heero was at work. Every few minutes the dog would get up, leave the living room and pace in front of the front door.

Duo watched him as he, again, settled into Heero's chair, a sullen look on his face. In the month and a half since Earl had arrived, Heero and the dog had formed a bond. Earl worshiped Heero. He responded to every command the boy gave him. He followed him around the house as he helped Duo clean on Saturdays and he had made it a regular habit to sleep on the floor, right next to Heero as they slept. Duo found it funny that no matter how long Earl slept in his chair during the day, and no matter how much dog hair remained when he finally got up, Heero never seemed to mind. The usual clean freak that Heero was, for some reason, didn't mind the black hairs that covered his favorite chair.

Everyday, as if he could tell the time, Earl would get up off the chair and sit by the front door around the time Heero would be leaving work. He would wait, staring at the doorknob until Heero made his entrance. Today, however, Heero hadn't come home on time and Earl's eyes portrayed every worried thought.

Duo shared the animal's feelings. Heero had been scheduled to be off work around five that day. It was now seven forty-nine and the stoic boy had not returned home.

Scanning his files on the case, Duo listened lazily as the television hummed in the background. The cartoons had been on for a good two hours but Duo hadn't really paid attention to any of it. This was very unlike Heero; his lover was always punctual and anytime he wasn't, there was always a warning call to keep Duo from worrying. This time there had been no call.

His thoughts flew madly around in his mind; one coming randomly after another. The couple had fought that morning when Heero had gotten frustrated with Duo's recent wave of overprotection. Duo had been so worried about Heero lately, after knowing he was a possible target for this terrorist, and Heero had had enough of it. Despite knowing that Heero was an ex Gundam pilot, Duo could help himself and still worried about his partner. The sense had been steadily growing over the past few hours with Heero's tardiness.

What if Heero had been killed? What if he had been captured? Why would the terrorists capture him? What would be the point in that? It would be more logical to just kill him. What if he was dead now, lying face down in a puddle of his own blood? What if he wasn't even intact anymore? What if they used all the weapons, blowing him to pieces? What if…

It was moving in on eight fifteen when the rattle of keys sent Earl bolting to the door. Immediately throwing the laptop aside, Duo rushed after the dog, a concerned and somewhat angry expression on his face that was blown away when he saw the shape Heero was in.

The boy's eyes were sunken in, his hair was disheveled and he looked as though he had just finished running a marathon in his suit. He closed the door behind him, threw his keys on the table next to the coat closet and dropped his bag. Completely ignoring Earl, Heero made his way to the bathroom, instantly grabbing the ibuprofen.

Duo followed him then to the bedroom. "Heero? What's wrong?"

He received no answer.

Heero, seemingly out of it, took off his jacket, shirt, shoes and socks in an almost mechanical way. He then sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his temples.

Duo closed the door before Earl could follow them into the room and switched on the light, noticing Heero hadn't bothered to do so, and moved to sit next to his lover. "Heero?" He placed a hand on the boy's arm, almost pulling away when the muscle beneath his hand jumped.

Ostensibly knocked back into the world, Heero suddenly turned to Duo, an expression Duo couldn't read painted over his features.

"What happened?" Duo asked.

Heero leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and resting his face in his hands. "Long day," he said simply.

"Everything ok?" Duo could tell that nothing was ok right now, but he couldn't make himself say anything else.

Heero nodded hesitantly.

Frowning, Duo moved behind him and began massaging his shoulders. Noticing the obvious stiffness, Duo couldn't help but feel worried as nervousness radiated from Heero, as though he were somehow uncomfortable being so close to him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Duo inquired.

"No," Heero responded quickly. As if he felt guilty for snapping, he added, "No, it's just been a long day, with the committee press conference and… I'll be all right."

Sensing his uneasiness, Duo grabbed the boys face and turned it towards him, kissing him softly. Heero kissed back at first, but soon pulled away, the strange look returning to his face. "I'm sorry, but can we just go to bed?" he asked quietly.

Duo looked at him for a moment. His heart ached seeing the pain in his lover's eyes. What was wrong? Why wouldn't he tell him? His concern wanted to push the matter, to find out what was wrong and how he could fix it, but he quickly decided against it. He could plainly see that Heero was exhausted and in no mood to discuss whatever it was. The topic of whatever was bothering Heero dropped and Duo relented.

"Sure." Duo rose from the bed and let Earl in, not wanting to upset routine.

When he returned to the bed, Heero had already stripped himself of his pants and was lying down. Duo removed his own pants and slowly slid into bed. They lie uncomfortably for a few minutes; Duo not knowing if Heero wanted him to be nearer, Heero not sure if he wanted Duo to move closer.

Duo sighed in relief when Heero pulled him closer and positioned himself to lie halfway on top of the other boy, arm draped across his chest and legs intertwined. Things would be better in the morning, Duo assured himself. And they were.

= = =