Disclaimer: Gundam Wing still isn't mine. Dammit.

Sub Rosa

Chapter Nine

Unwind

"Wufei..."

"Shh, Heero. We've been given good news, remember?"

There was a creaking noise, as if someone needed to adjust themselves in a seat. "I just realized..." A shuddering sigh. "The poem."

Silence. "God."

"It's me. It's me, Wufei."

"Heero..."

"I'm the one who hurt him. It was... it was me."

Another short silence. Then, "Heero Yuy, if you give up, I will kill you."

A low chuckle. "...Understood."

I was sick and tired of waking up in an empty hospital room.

But as soon as I awoke and had that exact thought, Heero and Wufei both stepped through the open door.

"Duo!"

Both rushed to my side, though Heero was immediately given place by my head. Closest. I wondered if that was deliberate. I could vaguely remember telling him I loved him – the three words I'd once sworn to never utter. But his eyes didn't show hesitation or guilt or remorse or even discomfort. There was worry there, and concern.

"Morning," I whispered, remembering how dry my mouth had been before.

Wufei snorted. "It's afternoon, Maxwell."

I rolled my eyes. "Technicality."

Heero could only smile stupidly. He put his forehead on the bed's metal frame, sighing. I frowned. "Heero?"

He mumbled something unintelligible.

"Huh?"

Wufei scoffed. "Yuy, why don't you try looking at him when you say it?"

I flicked my gaze back and forth at the both of them, utterly confused. "Uh, does this have anything to do with my little confession?"

Wufei smiled warmly back at me. "Yes, thank God. Of course it ended up being you who did it first."

"First?" I echoed.

Heero shot Wufei a glare, but when he turned to me, his entire face was infused with joy. "I..."

I cut him off then, almost wild. "Look, uh, it was in the heat of the moment, 'kay?" I thought I saw hurt on Heero's face, so I hurried on. "Uh, not that I don't care about you guys or anything-"

Wufei sighed. "Maxwell, for the love of God, shut up."

I turned to him, then back to Heero. Those dark blue eyes of his were so sad it made my chest constrict. I winced.

"Does something hurt?" Heero asked, his eyes scanning over my undoubtedly injury-strewn body. I hated how that made me flush.

"Uh... no..."

"Yuy." Wufei nudged his partner. Hard. "Say it, for God's sake. He went first, and you not saying anything is-"

"I know," he snapped, then flicked his gaze back to me. He seemed... embarrassed.

I squeezed my eyes shut. He was going to say something to try to make me feel better without... to try to maintain a friendship while...

"Duo... look at me?"

I winced again. It would only be this last time, and then I could put that ridiculously idiotic action behind me. God, how could I have been so stupid? Opening my eyes was so much harder than it should have been.

But when I did, Heero was giving me a tremulous smile. His hands were gripping the metal frame, however, hard enough for it to break. "Duo," he started, then paused to give a glare to Wufei, who had seemed about ready to speak up again. Then it was back to piercing those eyes into me. "Duo, I... I love you, too."

My heart tripped. I distinctly felt my heart trip. It was probably why I suddenly couldn't breathe.

Of course the moment was ruined, as reality was wont to do – at the sudden skipping of my heart monitor, a nurse rushed into the room.

Heero and Wufei moved away, Heero's eyes remaining on me, and I let the nurse flutter over me, taking blood pressure and temperature and checking my chart. "How long...?" My eyes were glued to Heero's face. He looked more at peace than I'd ever seen him.

"A couple of days," Wufei said easily.

"You're lucky," the nurse chimed in. "With the injuries you already had, your newest could have messed you up permanently. You're very resilient."

I could've told her why, that I'd been trained since infancy to survive in the worst conditions, but I didn't know if that would go over too well. "Thanks," was all I said instead.

She turned to me, her gaze stern. "You can't afford to return for at least another few months. Do you understand?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Damn. There go my plans for the weekend."

The woman would not allow my jokes to make her smile. "Good." She finished the latest of whatever the hell she was doing and turned away. "I'll call the doctor in."

"Could he..." I hesitated, my eyes slipping back to Heero. I distinctly heard my heart monitor skip again. "Could he wait a moment?"

She raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "I suppose five minutes won't make or break you." She walked off, her heeled shoes clacking.

Heero came straight back to my side. Wufei just leaned back against the wall, letting the moment continue but apparently unwilling to leave.

My eyes tried to devour Heero's face. "Did..."

Of course fears would swamp me now. Of course I would doubt. Heero smiled. "I love you."

My heart monitor went into overdrive. "I..."

Heero's smile faltered for a short bit. "I understand that believing me will be... hard." His eyes seemed distant for a moment. "But I will prove it to you."

I couldn't fully understand the sudden change. All this time, hadn't he...? "I... don't know what you mean." I thought for a second. "You... like me?"

"Is that what I said?" Heero asked.

I couldn't imagine it. "But... how? Why?"

Heero laughed shortly, his face flushing a bit. It wasn't nervousness or embarrassment. If I had to guess, it was probably because he... he was so happy. "I have no idea how," Heero murmured, "and why would take days to explain. I would actually love to hear that answer from you."

Confused and over weighted with what could only be hope, I could only stutter. "I asked you first." Damn that sounded petulant.

Heero laughed. "Where to start?" He carefully traced his fingers down my arm, trapped in a cast. "Your concern for others, I suppose. Your strength." I snorted, but he blatantly ignored it. With a sigh, he dropped his head back down to the bars holding me in. "Everything. Even your stubbornness and recklessness."

I humphed. "Right."

Wufei moved slightly. "Maxwell, I can vouch for Heero's feelings for you. This past month alone I've had to sit listening to him mourn over you and second guess himself."

My eyes flicked between them, flashing to Wufei's serious expression before returning to see a new sort of flush on Heero's cheeks. He glared darkly at his partner.

I blushed, too. "Sorry," I said to Heero.

But Wufei cut in before Heero could formulate any words. "Maxwell, you have no idea how great a favor you have done me." At my confused look, he continued. "Now Heero doesn't have to come to me with his problems. You solved them. I am eternally grateful."

"Thanks for backing me up, partner," Heero growled. His eyes were studiously examining my cast. "I was afraid," he admitted, "after you... after you told me..."

After I'd confessed. "Uh-huh?"

"I thought... I was afraid I'd waited too long. That I wouldn't get the chance to tell you."

"But the doctors said you looked a lot worse than you actually were," Wufei cut in again.

Heero nodded. "They said you would be fine. And I swore that as soon as you woke up, I would tell you. No more doubts. But you just had to wake up when I was in the cafeteria, didn't you?" Heero's mouth quirked, then slid back down. "I never had the strength to say it. Wufei pestered me constantly for being a coward." I could just imagine. "Hell, if he hadn't... told you..."

I almost shrugged before noting how much pain doing such would cause. I settled for quirking my lips up. "It's true." I closed my eyes and let the feeling wash through me. The cuts and scrapes lacerating my heart almost burned at the feel of the salve placed on them. After all this time, could something like this really be happening? Maybe... maybe sometimes...

"Of course it's true, Maxwell," Wufei huffed. "Heero would never use those words so lightly."

Of course not. Of course he wouldn't.

I smiled so broadly it almost split my face. "You..." It seemed too cheesy to say it again, but the words mattered too much not to. I just had to close my eyes, that's all. "Again?"

Wufei covered a snort rather poorly, but Heero merely chuckled. "I love you."

There was no possible way to describe the elation inside me. It was like all of the shadows and pain and anguish was blistered away by the heat of the sudden light. It was impossible to keep my eyes closed.

All those times I'd thought I'd seen more. I couldn't believe I really had, that fighting my heart had been wrong, that all this time Heero's concern and fear and kindness truly were stronger for me than I'd let myself believe. It was all right there, right now, in an even more brilliant light, right there in his eyes. I'd seen it all this time and had never allowed myself to comprehend it.

I think I grinned at him like a loon.

Heero's eyes warmed just a bit more, just a bit more than I'd ever seen before, and then I saw him lean in, and in a split second I knew what he had planned.

I closed my eyes as he kissed me.

It was lightning. It was sweet. It was that punch of initial victory matched with the cool sensation of peaceful interludes. It was fire, burning, searing. And it was calm and cloying and deep. An ocean. If I hadn't felt the tears and forced them back, I would have wept. It was perfect.

Except that I couldn't wrap my arms around him and force him down when he decided to let me loose.

I scowled. "That's it?"

Heero laughed and nodded over his shoulder. "I fear for Wufei's health."

I turned my eyes reluctantly away from that face and saw Wufei glaring at the window, his face beet red.

"Sorry, 'Fei," I called out, but I really didn't feel sorry at all. Wufei's eyes flickered to me and cast a sardonic look at my less-than-repentant grin. He quickly looked away again.

The moment was ruined once more at the entrance of the infamous doctor. Heero stepped aside for the man.

"All right, Mr. Maxwell, let's see how you're doing."

I didn't even spare the man a glance. I was absolutely positive that I was doing just fine now.

"So Greaves escaped," I murmured, secretly pleased.

Heero stopped propping the pillows behind my head and back and nodded. "We never found him, despite the blood loss."

I nodded as well. "How much lost blood?"

"Not enough to kill him," Heero said carefully. Those eyes were piercing me. Wufei's eyes weren't nearly as able to split through my defenses. Another sign I'd pushed from my mind.

It was still incredible, still unbelievable, for me to think that Heero... that he loved me. My mind was still slightly numb. I knew it would catch on and hit me later. Only it was two days later now.

I shivered.

"Cold?" Heero asked in concern.

I had no idea how that could be possible, considering I was covered head to toe in blankets. I shook my head.

It was oddly comforting to be back at Heero's house, confined to bed rest or not. It was baffling to me, the changes I saw in it. Was it warmer, more welcoming than before? No, of course it was only my perception of this place that had changed. Amazing how such a thing could make even a simple house seem so much different.

It was a thousand times easier to look into those beautiful cobalt eyes now. "I'm glad I'm stupid," I said suddenly, my mouth working without my mind's permission.

Heero's brow furrowed. "What?"

"I'm glad," I continued. "Because if I were smart, I never would have said it."

Heero knew immediately what 'it' was. He shook his head. "You aren't stupid." He leaned over me, hands on the edge of the bed. How could I not blush at his position? It was girlish, but his blatant interest in me was still... odd. "You're just smarter than me. Or maybe more impetuous." He grinned. "Either way, I am forever glad, as well. And better yet, it got Wufei off my back."

It made me chuckle, though that in turn made me wince in pain. Heero's face showed chagrin. "Sorry."

I couldn't help it; I reached up with my good arm and pulled him down until, thank God, his warm lips were skimming mine. I smiled softly. "I love you," I whispered.

Heero's lips twisted to echo mine. "You are my heart," he responded simply. And when my breath rushed out in a shocked whoosh, he pressed his lips more fully against mine.

It was the same as the first, as electric and life-altering as when I'd first tasted him.

When we finally pulled apart, I sighed. "I'm..."

"Not stupid," Heero supplied warmly.

I quirked him a grin, but it left. "They'll find out eventually. That Greaves failed."

Heero grimaced. "Caribol."

I nodded. I'd informed him and Wufei about the situation after the doctor had left in order to ready both them and Preventors. "Yeah. And..." I felt the twist inside me, the usual fear. "And I can't-"

"Of course you won't do anything!" Heero snapped. I focused on him again, surprised by the sudden anger. His eyes sparked down on me. "Trust us to fight! I won't let..." He seemed to need to breathe for a second. He closed his eyes. "I won't let you get hurt anymore." Those Prussian blue eyes opened to plead with me. "Don't make me feel that again. Please."

I gaped like a carp. Unattractive, I'd bet. "Heero, I... it wasn't about that... I mean," I mumbled for a second. "I don't wanna hear you say that."

Heero sighed. "I haven't changed, Duo."

I jumped a bit. It hurt enough to make me wince. "Huh?"

"It may seem that I've changed, Duo, but I've always been like this. During the war, it was a part of me I didn't acknowledge, and... when you first returned... Duo, I thought you were still hurting too much."

I frowned. "Hurting?"

His eyes slid away from me. "Because of the person in the poem."

So forgive these broken wings of mine...

I hissed. "Fuck."

He smiled sadly. "It was me."

I cleared my throat. "It-"

"Will you explain it to me?" Heero whispered, digging that gaze into my soul. "Explain... how you thought I'd left you behind."

And that, disturbingly, IS THE END OF THE PINK SAGA!!!

?_? Yeah, that's the end of it. Short, huh? But fear not! It rolls immediately into the Enya Saga! ...Because I suck at names and stuff...

Yay! Sub Rosa goes on and on... _ Thanks for all who have continued for so long!!!