Author's note: Well, I hope you've all enjoyed this little tale. I'm glad that re-posting it has brought it to a new audience. I have a couple more Gundam stories to re-post and I'm hoping to write some new ones in the future. Thanks again for all the reviews - Swordy.

Warnings: sap!

Til the Clouds Roll By

Epilogue.

My memories are a jumble; snatches of wakefulness blend into visions that I know can't be true. Faces swim into view before fading back into the oblivion and I am unsure whether during their fleeting visits we have communicated or not. There are occasions where pain creeps into the haze, but it doesn't stay long as I presume I am pumped with more drugs. Eventually the blackness lightens to a fuzzy grey and the voices start to make more sense, leading me to the conclusion that I am more awake than asleep. All in all, I come to the conclusion that this is not a bad existence, floating in this sub-reality and so I am reluctant to respond when the voices become more insistent that I re-join their waking world. But Heero's voice stands out, amongst the general encouraging and cajoling of my friends and medical staff. He sound sad and lost, like a bewildered child who finds himself far from home as he pleads with me to come back to him.

"Please, Duo," I hear him say as he squeezes my hand. "Don't leave me. I need you. I don't care that you're blind, it doesn't matter. I'm sorry if I've treated you badly, please just come back to me so I can make it right."

So he doesn't care that I'm blind huh? That comment in itself is enough to draw me from my half-life, even if it is to protest that he certainly never gave that impression while we were together. Start a fight? Me? Never!

"Will you shut up?" I say through scratchy, neglected vocal chords. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Duo!" Heero exclaims with a mix of surprise and happiness, his cry punctuated by a clatter of his chair as it hits the floor. "Let me get a doctor!"

I hear footsteps leaving and then two sets of feet returning. Frankly I can't see what the big deal is since I've been here all the time, listening to their endless one-sided conversations as they try to provoke me back to consciousness. Ha! The joke's on you!

I turn my head slightly and see two blurry shapes, one much taller than the other. The taller one moves closer to the bed after he has leaned in to the plethora of machines and monitors and pressed a few buttons.

"Mr Maxwell?" he says at my ear and a little too loudly for my liking.

"I hear you," I reply. "Deaf is one of the few things I ain't."

The doctor clears his throat in annoyance and moves to stand near Heero's blur once again. "He seems fine, just try not to get him excited."

"I won't," Heero replies, sounding surprisingly meek. "Thank you, Doctor."

The taller blur merges with the peripheral haze of my vision but it is the sound of the door closing that informs me that he has finally gone. I intend to play it cool but I suddenly remember what I've been through and my concern for another overrides my initial instinct.

"Tyler!" I say suddenly, looking round and instantly expect to see him. "Is he okay?"

"Relax, he's fine. He was shot in the leg but he was released from hospital about a week ago."

"Thank God," I say, allowing myself to settle back in bed.

There is a pause where neither I nor Heero moves; not that I could do much even if I wanted to since my body feels as if it's been encased in lead. Now I know Tyler is safe I can re-adopt my defensive stance. It may sound dumb, but I'm not entirely sure why I'm acting this way. My mind is having trouble organising my thoughts and recollections prior to my prolonged 'sleep' but something, like an elbow in the proverbial ribs, is telling me to keep my guard up.

"Well? Are you going to come and sit down or would you like me to stand up?" I say, intending it to sound neutral but it comes out tinged with sarcasm. Am I upset? Angry? I think so, but I'm not entirely sure why. I'm hoping Heero might be able to fill me in as he finally picks up the chair he knocked over and sits down next to my bed. He quickly encases my hand between his rough digits.

"Oh, Duo," he says quietly, evidently choosing to ignore my coolness, "I've been so worried. You've been unconscious for almost two weeks."

"Did you miss me?" I say a little sharply although I allow him to caress my hand as I lie there. I look directly at him although my vision is still too impaired to identify his expression.

"Are you angry with me, Duo?" he asks and I noticed he has stopped the caressing.

"I don't know. Should I be?" I say, answering the question with one of my own. I'm being evasive I know, but the hurt is returning in huge sweeping waves. He told me he loved me before he went badmouthing me and warning Wufei off helping me, so why should I trust him this time? I know it sounds petty to bring this up again since we both nearly just lost our lives, but I need the air between us to be clear if we're to make this work. I can't contemplate a relationship without honesty.

"Duo?" Heero says, distracting me from my thoughts. "At least tell me why you're angry. Don't I deserve that?"

"No, but I'll tell you anyway." I pause and sigh heavily. "Why did you tell Wufei not to train me?"

"What?"

"Don't deny it, I heard you."

"I don't… but…"

"Wing Link. I heard you on Wing Link," I snap.

"You spied on me?"

"Whoah," I say, trying to sit up to lessen the vulnerability I feel at arguing in my prone position. "I'm not the one in the wrong here."

"You don't think spying on me is wrong?"

"Quite frankly no. Especially when you're saying one thing to my face and another thing behind my back."

Heero stands quickly, knocking over his chair again. He doesn't bother to pick it up before he moves to stand in front of the window opposite my bed. My guessing is he's putting a little distance between us to remove the temptation of smashing my face in. Poor Heero still has huge difficulty controlling his more extreme emotions, of which anger is one. When he speaks again, his voice is low and even.

"So what exactly are you accusing me of, Duo?"

"Of hurting me, Heero and lying to me. You told me you'd try and let me regain some independence and yet I overhear you, not intentionally I might add, telling Wufei to stay away when he has agreed to help me. You wanna tell me what's going on?"

No reply. Heero shakes his head although he doesn't know that I can see his non-verbal expression of frustration.

"Well?"

He finally turns back to face me. His moment of anger has passed and he is once again in control of his feelings. "Would you believe me if I tried to explain?" he says quietly.

"I can try," I say, prepared to at least hear him out.

Satisfied with this, Heero returns to my bedside although he doesn't sit down. "When the accident first happened, I had to inform Dr. J that you were out of commission, most likely permanently. I'll admit, I was afraid what his response would be but he asked me my opinion about what we should do with you. I told him I thought it was a shame to let your valuable skills go to waste. He told me to leave it with him as he had a few ideas. He contacted me a couple of days later to say he had found a possible solution, but he wasn't sure you'd be up to it."

"Which was?" I say, my interest now truly piqued.

"A derivation of the Zero system, which would allow you to pilot Deathscythe without sight. He had a prototype that he wanted me to test to see if it could really work. That was why I was away so often after the accident."

I let out a long slow breath, unsure what to say. "Why didn't you just tell me? At least I would have known you weren't just avoiding me."

Heero suddenly moves forward and for a split second I think he's going to hit me, but instead he falls to his knees next to my bed and grasps my hand.

"Why would you think I was avoiding you?" he asks, sounding truly shocked.

Here we go. More explanation of how normal people behave. "Because I'd been seriously injured and you seemed to be having a hard time coming to terms with that," I say trying not to sound as exasperated as I feel.

Heero's head droops. "I'll admit, it wasn't easy seeing you so badly hurt, but when Dr. J offered a solution I just threw myself into that. I never said anything because I didn't want to get your hopes up in case it failed." He pauses and when he speaks again his voice resonates with sincerity. "I love you, Duo, more than life itself and I just wanted to try and help you get back to doing what you do best. I couldn't imagine going on missions without you. I know that's selfish but I just wanted you there next to me."

I smile as warm emotions fill my heart before I am reminded of the original reason for this discussion. "But what about what you said to Wufei? Why did you not want him to help me?" I pause, unsure whether I should ask my next question or not. "Were you jealous?"

Heero shakes his head. "It wasn't that at all, well, not really. Dr. J had explained that mastery over the Zero system derivative would take extreme concentration and practice. I just didn't want you taking anything else on when getting you back inside Deathscythe was a priority."

I nod, although I'm a little disappointed that jealously wasn't his primary motive. Heero's head drops again, his face obliterated by the long bangs of hair. "I'm sorry if I hurt you, Duo. Will you forgive me so we can try again?" In order to beg my forgiveness he lowers his head onto my hand, which he is still clutching desperately like a child with a teddy bear.

I smile at my Japanese lover as his lips graze my hand, his warm breath tickling my cool skin. Now that I know the truth, there's nothing to forgive. "Uh, Heero?"

"Hai?"

"Not that I think you need an anatomy lesson or anything, but my lips are up here." I point to my face for emphasis as he raises his head. Without visual confirmation of his expression I am uncertain what he will do next as he continues to stare at me. I'm surprised to say the least when he begins to laugh; a rich chocolaty sound that fills the room and spills out onto the corridor beyond. Laughter suits him and I mentally will him to do it more often, in fact, I make it my personal mission to make sure he laughs more often. Heero's blur grows larger as he leans in but the sound of his laughter brings others into the room, interrupting his advance.

"Heero?" It's Quatre, sounding anxious as usual. "We just got here. Is everything alright?"

"It will be," my paramour growls, "when you've closed the door."

Quatre, sensitive as always, takes the hint and makes a hasty retreat. Heero is not a man you disagree with if you believe in self-preservation.

"That was mean," I say unable to mould my grin into a suitably disapproving expression. "I've been out cold for two weeks, they probably wanted to see me."

"Tough," he replies firmly as he invades my personal space to bring us nose to nose. "They'll just have to wait until I've finished."

My ear-to-ear grin is swallowed up by Heero's feverish kisses as he attacks me in the best possible way. We continue in this vein for several long minutes until he leans a little too far and presses on my damaged shoulder, or should I say my more recently damaged shoulder since I've done both of them in recently. My reaction is a cry of pain, which nearly deafens him as he jumps back in surprise.

"Oh shit, Duo I'm sorry," he says contritely.

My response is to burst out laughing despite the agony throbbing through my body.

"What's so funny?" he asks crossly.

"You swore!" I reply in between chuckles. "The great Heero Yuy swore!"

The blur puts his hands squarely on his hips. "Ha ha," comes the droll reply and I realise with each conversation, slip of the tongue, use of sarcasm, he inches his way towards humanity and the rest of us.

"No no," I say quickly, "I like it. You sound like me."

Heero snorts. Evidently he doesn't think that's such a good thing. I sigh contentedly before I realise that the others are still outside. "Maybe you should let the guys in," I say although I'm reluctant to end this moment of unity.

"Yeah," he replies, sounding similar to how I feel. "But one more question."

I raise a quizzical eyebrow. "Go on."

"Why were you spying on me via your Wing Link?"

I pause to think and then realise I haven't shared the most exciting news and now that we're no longer at odds with each other I figure there is no better time than now. "You remember that Sally called for me before we moved safe houses? Well I called her back and she had some very interesting news for me." I explain everything that Sally told me as Heero sits quietly and listens. When I've finished, he asks me if there has been any improvement. I nod.

"Whilst I was in the church in Lyndberg I realised I could see the difference between light and dark. When you appeared in Deathscythe I knew we were safe because I could make out the outline of the thermal scythe."

"Can you see me now?"

"Partially. I can see you, the shape of you anyway but not your expression. Everything's still too fuzzy."

"But it's improving?"

"Seems to be," I say with a faint smile. "I'm just thankful for any improvement."

"Yeah," he says, taking my hand and squeezing it gently, "And even if there isn't any, I'm just glad you're still here."

"Me too," I say with a smile. "Me too."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three months have passed since the incident at the Lyndberg church. I was released from hospital into Heero's care a week after I came round, and the whole time I was recuperating, he played the role of the ever-vigilant nursemaid with a dedication that would have put Mother Teresa to shame. Sounds like a dream doesn't it, but he nearly drove me demented with his constant pillow fluffing and repeated checking that everything was okay.

During my first month of enforced rest, I entertained a steady stream of visitors, including Howard and the entire Sweeper group (or it felt like the entire group with so many of them crammed into the front room of our latest safe house). Howard brought a note that had been sent via Bryn Fletcher from Marli and her family, thanking me for everything I'd done, although to be honest I really didn't do that much. Marli had also drawn a picture of me stood next to a young man wearing a crown and regal robes - my handsome prince. I tried to explain to Heero that the other figure was supposed to be him, but he didn't look entirely convinced.

Tyler also visited, on crutches owning to the bullet wound he'd received evading capture as he went to retrieve my laptop. Three months on he still walks with a pronounced limp although the other Sweepers reckon he puts it on in order to impress the ladies. Tyler of course strenuously denies it.

My eyesight continued to improve over the first month after I left hospital, although it's by no means as sharp as it was before the accident. There are still days when I see everything through a hazy curtain but I've learnt to compensate with my other well-trained senses. Even on bad days, I still feel confident behind Deathscythe's controls. After all Heero's hard work, I never actually required the use of the Zero system derivative, but I'll never forget that he did that for me. It means a lot that he wanted us to be a team again so badly. Sally reckons my eyesight's recovered as much as it will and that's fine with me. I'd learnt to accept my blindness so less than perfect vision is a stroll in the park.

So how are things between Heero and me I hear you ask? Heh, well I won't lie; we still fight like cat and dog over the most stupid things, but all in all, I'd say our love has grown since the Lyndberg incident. We talked long and hard about what we both wanted from our relationship and found that our desires really weren't that hard to achieve with a little communication. Heero still needs things spelling out for him from time to time, but I've learnt to accept that if I want Heero in my life, then his many foibles are all part of the bargain. I'm sure he thinks I've just as many shortcomings but he never tells me and I never ask.

So three months on, things seem to have returned to normal, if you can call a life at war 'normal'. Trowa and Quatre pretend not to fancy each other like crazy, despite the fact that you'd have to be blind to miss their obvious attraction to each other. Wufei pretends that he doesn't harbour feelings for the lovely Sally Po, despite the fact that he blushes every time he's in her presence, and me and Heero? Well we've finally stopped pretending. We'll never have a chocolate box, white picket fence, run-of-the-mill romance, but we've learnt to accept that despite all that, what we do have is pretty damn special and worth fighting for, whatever the odds.

It's a life.

The End.