Warnings and disclaimers in first part
Trowa didn’t allow the passing days with no word to take away his hope, deciding to trust in Duo to bring Kaitlin back. Over the course of six days he did what the braided man had suggested, spending most of his time with Catherine and Jackson, offering support in any way he could.
During those six days, he had considered calling Duo at least a dozen times, not just for updates about Kaitlin, but also so he could simply hear the other man’s voice. Zechs warning and the shuttered look of Duo’s eyes stopped him each time, reasoning that Duo would call eventually with news.
At eight o’clock that night, he was thinking of the private investigator/bounty hunter again, washing the pots and pans from the evening meal. It had fallen to him to make sure his brother-in-law and sister ate, neither of them having the will to cook. He was rinsing the last pan when the phone rang.
Catherine answered it listlessly, the small act seeming to take all of her strength, so Trowa was stunned when she practically leapt from her seat, only to sit again, eyes so wide he feared they would pop out. “Are you certain?” she asked slowly, clearly afraid to trust what she had heard. A moment later she was nodding frantically, “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Jackson was beside his wife the instant she hung up the phone, “What is it?”
Catherine swallowed hard as tears began to streak down her face, “They found her. They found Kaitlin. She’s being taken to the police station right now. They want to ask her some questions if she feels up to it, but we’ll be bringing her home tonight.”
Following Catherine in his rental car after they left the house in a rush, Trowa was disappointed Duo hadn’t called. Did the smaller man want to forget him so badly that he couldn’t even be bothered to make a single phone call? Arriving at the police station, he saw that it was buzzing with activity, the cops in high spirits, but he remained silent at his sister’s side as they were seated in a small lounge.
“We have to thank you, Trowa, for everything you’ve done,” Jackson spoke fervently from Catherine’s other side, eyes wet with tears. “We had given up ever seeing her again. You never lost belief that she would be found.”
“Mr. Barton, it’s good to see you again.” The policewoman he had spoken to upon his arrival was standing in the doorway of the lounge, a cheerful smile on her face. “It’s rare we get to see such good endings to a case. I’m glad you took my advice about Maxwell. No one else could have found your niece.”
“He was the one that found her?” Trowa’s heart sank. It seemed Duo really didn’t want to see him again, or even talk to him.
“He found her. If not for him, we’d be wading through a load a jurisdiction red-tape right now instead of waiting for her arrival.”
Catherine leaned forward with eyes more clear than they had been in weeks, “There were jurisdiction issues?”
“There would have been. I assume you’re the girl’s mother?”
“I am. Can you tell us what happened? How did a private investigator solve what I guess is a serious problem?”
Coming to take a seat in the lounge, the detective shook her head, “The man, Holmes, had taken your little girl across the county line and had set up shop in a warehouse. Counties work together pretty well, but there’s always a bunch of red-tape because everyone wants the credit for a successful rescue. Maxwell got past the red-tape by sneaking into the warehouse and getting your girl out and then carrying her over the county line. As soon as your daughter’s feet stepped on soil in this county, we were able to take her.”
“What about Duo…Maxwell?” Trowa asked, stunned at the effort Duo had made to get Kaitlin home as fast as possible. “If he was such a help, why isn’t he here? Is he on his way, too?”
“Last I heard, he was on his way to the hospital.”
Trowa was surprised to find himself standing, all eyes on him. Feeling his face heat, he quickly sat back down again, “Why is he being taken to the hospital?”
The detective winced, “This is where the details get a little hazy. From what I understand, as soon as he made sure the girl was safe he went back. I don’t really know what happened, but I do know that an hour later he drug Holmes, unconscious and tied up, over the county line so we could arrest him. Some of the cops on scene said Maxwell was mad as hell and wanted a little justice. It’s hard to believe; I’ve never seen him mad in all the years we’ve known each other. I do know he doesn’t like people using kids to get what they want. He had enough abuse as a kid to know what it’s like.”
Trowa had a dozen more questions and no time to ask them as two uniformed cops appeared in the door, a small girl between them. He looked on as Kaitlin abruptly burst into tears and rushed into Catherine’s waiting arms, his sister whispering reassurances in a soft tone.
They remained at the police department for two more hours while Kaitlin was asked a series of questions. Trowa was glad to hear Duo’s assumption had been correct: she wasn’t harmed in any way. Holmes had been teaching the girl a number of tricks, from picking locks to lifting wallets the first few days, then teaching her about car parts that could make more profit if sold to the right people.
Kaitlin clung to Catherine as she related her tale, telling the officers she had cooperated while looking for a way out. She ended her story with a mournful wail, “He cut off my hair!”
The lead detective shook his head at the statement, crouching down to offer her a smile, “Your hair will grow back and be more beautiful than it was before. I don’t have that option,” he ruefully pointed at his balding head, earning him a watery smile. “You are a very smart and brave girl. I bet your parents are very proud of you.”
“Kendrick has been arrested,” Jackson noted as he stroked the girl’s back. “Will she have to testify?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary, but you never know what lawyers will do. His escape from prison and kidnapping charge should be enough. Prison guards were harmed during his escape and he was armed at the time of his arrest. If a testimony is needed, we already have a credible witness in Mr. Maxwell. He’s testified in trials for us before as an expert and has amazing control over his facial expressions. His reputation is well known and he is respected in law enforcement.”
“Where can we find Mr. Maxwell? I’d like to tell him how much we appreciate what he did for us,” Catherine asked quietly, her gaze shooting to Trowa for an instant. “We owe him more than we can ever pay.”
The man stood with a laugh, “If I know Maxwell, he’ll say you don’t owe him a thing; it’s what he always says in cases like these. If you insist on speaking to him, he was taken to County General and should be there for a few days.”
“A few days?”
The detective shrugged at Jackson’s confused inquiry, “Not even Maxwell can get up and walk out after taking a bullet. He’ll be confined to a hospital bed for a few days, at least.”
“Can we go home now?” Kaitlin asked in a small voice, visibly exhausted. “I wanna go home.”
“You can leave. An officer will escort you home and then come to your house tomorrow so you can sign the statement. If you’ll excuse me, I need to see what Holmes has to say about his actions, not that it’ll help him at all. I swear he won’t get out of prison until he’s too old to do anything like this ever again.”
Outside the police station, Trowa declined the offer to stay with the reunited family, “She needs things to get back to normal. I’ve never stayed there before,” he said softly, glancing at the girl almost asleep while walking, snugly nestled under Jackson’s arm. “I’ll come by in the morning.”
“Before or after you go to see Mr. Maxwell?”
“Probably after. I’ll tell him you said thank you.”
“I think you have more to tell him than that, Trowa,” Catherine said with a serious look.
Not asking how his sister could know such a thing, the emerald-eyed man shook his head, “There’s nothing else to tell. He’s made it clear there isn’t anything else.”
He fell silent as Kaitlin shifted, lifting her head and working her way out from under Jackson’s arm. “I forgot to give you something,” she said after a wide yawn, searching the pocket of jeans that were ripped and worn. “Duo asked me if I could give this to you when I saw you; I promised I would, but I forgot,” she added, looking down at the ground, obviously expecting Trowa to be angry.
“You’ve been a little busy,” he smiled, taking the piece of folded paper from her loose fingers. “I understand and I’m sure Duo would, too.”
Smiling weakly, Kaitlin leaned on Jackson again, looking at her uncle, “I like him, Trowa. He was really nice to me. At first I was afraid but after he told me he was your friend I decided to trust him. I was gonna walk with him, but he said after everything I had gone through I deserved to be treated like a princess.”
The last words were said in a mumble as the girl was settled into the car, her eyes closing as soon as her head touched the back of the seat. Trowa felt she wanted to say more but exhaustion wouldn’t let her. Stroking the roughly shorn and uneven hair, he met his sister’s eyes. “Take her home. Let her take a long bath before she gets into bed. It might help her to not have nightmares if she’s clean,” he reminded her what the counselor had said to them, suggestions for when Kaitlin was brought home.
“I heard what the counselor said, Trowa. I’ll do everything she told us to do. We’ll see you tomorrow?”
“I’ll be there after breakfast.”
Unable to believe what he was seeing, Trowa stared at the empty hospital bed. He didn’t know how long he stood there, but a low voice startled him from his thoughts, “He left sometime last night, Mr. Barton.”
Turning slowly, he regarded the tall blonde, “I heard he had been shot. The police were certain he would be here for days recovering.”
Zechs snorted, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his slacks, looking as if he had just stepped out of a magazine centerfold, “They underestimated him. Duo hates hospitals for reasons I don’t know; he refuses to spend a night in one. By now, he’s holed up somewhere to heal, somewhere he feels safe.”
“You don’t know where he would go?”
“I truly don’t, but I wouldn’t tell you if I did,” the blonde replied honestly. “Anytime Duo gets seriously injured, he vanishes for a few days. When I asked him about it before, he would only tell me he went to someone he trusted to recuperate.”
“You don’t know,” Trowa said quietly, depressed that his chance to see Duo again wasn’t going to be possible.
“I don’t want you seeing him again, Mr. Barton. Getting involved with you is the worst mistake I’ve known Duo to make. He’ll pay for forgetting his own advice about becoming intimate with clients.”
“Why do you hate me so much?” Trowa demanded suddenly, baffled why this man loathed him.
The blonde seemed surprised by the question. Taking a hand from his pocket, Zechs moved across the room, running his hand over the indention in the pillow where Duo’s head had lain. “I don’t hate you at all. My relationship with Duo is…complicated.”
“You don’t have a relationship with Duo.”
Zechs nodded minutely, “Not anymore, but we did. Before we were lovers, we were friends. I knew Duo before he signed up for the Army, yet he never trusted me, not fully. It isn’t fair that he couldn’t trust me after knowing each other for years, yet he trusts you and you’ve only known each other a few weeks.”
“You don’t like me because he trusts me?”
“I don’t like you because you’ll hurt him,” the blonde snarled, blue eyes cutting to Trowa. “The sooner you leave and go back to your life, the sooner he’ll be able to put you out of his mind. Duo has never trusted someone so quickly or easily and he’s never going to again.”
Stunned by the hissed statement, Trowa remained in the same place as Zechs strode past him and out of the room. Minutes passed before he pulled the folded piece of paper Kaitlin had given him the night before, unfolding it to read the brief message Duo had sent him. “I’m sorry, but it has to be this way, Trowa. I can’t trust myself around you. Take care of Kaitlin and yourself.”
It hadn’t been signed, but Trowa didn’t need a name to know who the note had been from even if Kaitlin hadn’t told him. It didn’t take a genius to figure out Duo was afraid to take the next step, fearing losing someone he cared about when Trowa left. It was the same fear Trowa had, the same fear that had kept him from saying what he had wanted to the last time he had seen the braided man.
Leaving the hospital, Trowa navigated the city streets, aiming for his childhood prison. He was almost there when he thought of what Zechs had said about Duo going somewhere that he trusted to heal. Refusing to think of what he would say, he made a turn that would lead him to Kaitlin’s school, stopping less than a mile away and walking to the small pharmacy owned by a couple he had only met once.
The bell over the door signaled his arrival, allowing him to easily locate the owners when they both glanced up at him from behind a counter. Their faces wore identical expressions of shock when he moved in their direction. Mr. Norman was the first to recover from his surprise, “It’s good to see you again. We were very happy to hear Katy was back at home with her mother.”
Having no clue what to say, Trowa asked the most important he could, “Is he here?”
“Who are you talking about?” Mrs. Norman asked with a vague smile.
Eyes on the man, he saw the slight wince. “Father, I need to see him. I have to talk to him for a few minutes. It’s important.”
“If you mean Duo, he isn’t here,” the woman stated decisively.
“If he wasn’t here, how would you know Kaitlin was at home?” Trowa retorted before returning his eyes to the man, expression pleading. “I need to see him.”
The former priest sighed as he motioned to a door behind the counter, a restraining hand on his wife’s shoulder, “Don’t expect him to be happy to see you, Mr. Barton. This is his haven, the only safe place he knows of where he can rest.”
“I won’t tell anyone else that he’s here,” Trowa vowed, understanding the couple was trying to protect someone they cared about. “If it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t have come.”
“Go up the stairs. The spare room is at the end of the hall on the right.”
Looking back at the couple after he reached the door, Trowa gave a soft smile, “Kaitlin is very happy to be home. You might even see her in a few days, although I doubt she’ll be alone.”
Closing the door behind him, the tall man ascended the steps until he came to another door that opened into a tidy apartment. He didn't take time to look at the dozens of photos scattered about, choosing to walk down the hall and stopping at the last door on the right, gazing at the man lying on the bed with his eyes closed.
Anyone else would have assumed Duo was asleep, but Trowa could see the way the slender body had tensed. “Catherine wanted me to tell you thank you, but you weren’t at the hospital like you were supposed to be,” he said softly, remaining at the door.
Duo’s eyes shot open, flashing with an emotion Trowa didn’t dare name, “How did you find me?”
“Zechs told me that when you were hurt you would go to someone you trusted. I guessed it would be here. You trust the Norman’s.”
“You don’t know me well enough to know who I trust.”
Giving an exaggerated glance around the room, Trowa finally stopped his perusal as his eyes landed on the man lying on the bed. “Apparently, I do.”
“You’ve come and told me your sister was grateful. Now that you’ve done what you came for, you should leave.”
The curt tone almost had Trowa leaving until he recalled how well the smaller man could hide what he felt. Keeping that in mind, he neared the bed, pleased when wary eyes followed his movements. “That’s not why I came. She asked me to pass along the message and I have. I’ve always believed it better to get or give a message in person rather than leave a voicemail or sending a note.”
Trowa sat carefully on the bed when Duo winced, “I didn’t think I would see you again, Trowa. It was better to send the note through Kaitlin. I knew she’d give it to you.”
“You said you’d call when you found her,” the tall man reminded softly, unable to stop himself from reaching out and pushing loose hair away from the other man’s mouth, thumb brushing over pink lips for a minute.
Duo’s eyes were wide, yet steady. “I was going to, but my phone has a bullet in it. I was shoved into an ambulance so fast there wasn’t any time to use someone else’s. By the time I was allowed near a phone again, I assumed Kaitlin was already with her parents and there was no reason to call.”
“You should have called; I was worried.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to your niece. I promised to find her for you.”
Unsurprised Duo had thought of the girl first, Trowa shook his head, “I was worried about you.”
“Why would you worry about me? I can take care of myself,” Duo defended, a baffled expression on his face.
Looking down at the scarcely clothed body, Trowa trailed his fingers lightly around the edges of the gauze on Duo’s thigh, frowning as he imagined the wound underneath. “You were shot, Duo. I didn’t know where or how bad it was. All I knew was that you had been hurt enough to go to the hospital. You didn’t think I would care?”
Duo averted his eyes when Trowa looked up, staring at the wall, “You shouldn't care. We don’t know each other enough to care.”
“You should be right, but you aren’t,” the tall man whispered, knowing Duo heard him when the small man jerked. “I shouldn’t know you well enough to find you in a city of thousands, but I do. I shouldn't feel things for you when we met a few weeks ago, but I do. I shouldn’t care if I see you again or not, but I do.”
“Trowa, what you’re suggesting goes against all logical, rational thinking.”
“I don’t care about logic or reason,” he retorted, soft yet firm. “I don’t understand why I feel the way I do, but I don’t want to lose that because it doesn’t make sense.”
Duo smiled for the first time, “If you don’t want to make sense, you’re doing a really good job. What you said just sounded bonkers.”
Shaking his head in frustration, the green-eyed man tried to figure out what he wanted to say, eventually admitting defeat. In lieu of words he leaned forward, carefully avoiding the other man’s leg, kissing Duo softly for a long moment. Pulling away with a sigh, he let his forehead rest against Duo’s, “Can you trust me enough to take a chance with me?”
“I already trust you. It’s why I didn’t want to see you again. It’s going to hurt when you leave,” Duo winced without looking away from Trowa’s eyes.
“Leaving doesn’t mean I can’t come back,” Trowa stated as he sat up, lifting his eyebrows when he saw the other man’s dazed expression. “You thought I wouldn’t come back?”
“I assumed you’d come back occasionally to see your family,” the braided man noted.
“I could also come back to see you.”
Duo’s response was immediate, “You must have a busy life, Trowa. I won’t ask you to come back to see me. Everyone says that long-distance relationships are impossible.”
The last hastily added comment had Trowa smiling, “We aren’t everyone. I’m an underwater welder that has quite a bit of free time and enough money to come here every time I’m off work if I feel like it.”
“That’s what you do? I was curious, but I didn’t want to pry,” admitted the long-haired man sheepishly.
“I’m employed with a company that sends me on jobs. Usually, I work for three weeks and then have three weeks off; it’s how I was able to make it here so fast. My shift starts again in another week.” He took a deep breath and took one of Duo’s hands, holding it between both of his, “It might not work out the way I hope, but I’d prefer to have a long-distance relationship with you than none at all.” Raising his head, he met the cobalt gaze again, “Will you take a chance with me, Duo? Trust yourself to make the right decision,” he pled when he saw Duo hesitate.
“We can try and see how it goes for a while,” Duo suggested after a minute. “It probably won’t work, but I’ll regret not giving us a chance.”
A long-distance relationship was difficult and often frustrating, especially when it seemed their schedules didn’t mesh for weeks at a time. In the year since Kaitlin’s rescue, Trowa had times when he felt like pulling his hair out because he missed the braided man so much.
There had only been a handful of visits between them, usually with Trowa making the trip to his hometown, although Duo did manage to visit him twice while he was off-shift. The time spent with the braided man had been amazing, almost magical in Trowa’s mind. Those fairy-tale moments, however, were often overshadowed by the pain and loss he felt when they were apart.
Time with his lover was much too rare, the space between visits much too long for him to remain content with the relationship. He hoped Duo would feel the same and understand the decision he had made after weeks of deliberation.
Getting out of his car, he stared at the house with a sensation of deja vu. The first time he had stood in that exact spot, it had been while feeling lost, confused, and worried for his niece. The house was different now; there was a yard of green grass outlined with colorful flowers, some of which he had planted himself. The house was freshly painted a deep blue, almost blending into the blue sky above it if you were sitting at the right angle.
The door was unlocked, not needing the key in Trowa’s hand. The unfamiliar car parked outside had him assuming someone was there, so he wasn’t surprised to find the living room empty, though there were signs of a presence in the house: a pair of shoes tucked into the corner, a half-eaten sandwich sitting on the counter forgotten. Taking his time, the tall man moved around the room looking at the new photos hanging in frames on the walls, his own face smiling from some of them. One of them had him smiling wistfully, realizing he was no longer Kaitlin’s favorite uncle, another man taking his place while he had been absent; letters and phone calls couldn’t compete with actual time spent together, it seemed.
Vowing to make up for lost time, Trowa decided Kaitlin was in need of some new clothes; it wasn’t a way to buy her affection, but perhaps it would work as an apology. If that didn’t work, groveling was the next best thing. Either option would have to wait until later; Kaitlin was at school and would be for several hours.
With more than one person to ask for forgiveness for being gone so long, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed quickly, the number one he wasn’t likely to ever forget. After one ring, the call was answered, “Hello?”
“It’s good to hear your voice again. It’s been too long,” Trowa said softly, having been unable to speak to his lover in two weeks.
“Trowa? I thought you were going to work for the next few weeks. I…damn, I really can’t talk right now. I’m with a client. Can I call you back?”
“No, that’s okay. I can wait. I might eat something while you finish up, although the sandwich you were eating obviously wasn’t very appealing.”
His observation was met by five full seconds of silence before he heard a crash, both through the phone and in the next room. He put his phone down just as the door flew open, having replaced the plastic curtain Duo had up when they had first met. The tall man wasn’t sure what to say as wide cobalt eyes studied him, smiling slightly as Duo passed through the kitchen, phone still clutched in his hand. “What are you doing her, Trowa?”
Swallowing hard, Trowa held his hands out, “Surprise?”
“I thought you were working on an oil rig and would be gone for a while.”
“Duo, you can hang up the phone.” The long-haired man gave the phone a baffled look before dropping it into the pocket of his shorts. “I was supposed to go with the rest of the crew, but while I was packing I realized I didn’t want to go. We would have been cut off and secluded for weeks. I didn’t want to go that long without hearing your voice, Duo. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to see you again. I don’t want to feel the emptiness when we’re apart anymore.”
Duo’s face remained blank, but Trowa could see the cautious light of hope in the strangely colored eyes as the smaller man took a step forward, “You’ll have to go back soon, won’t you?”
“I don’t have to go back at all. I quit.”
“What about your apartment?”
“My lease is up at the end of the month. I’ve already moved my things out and into storage and have paid the last month’s rent, letting the manager know I won’t be renewing my lease. Before I left he already had four showings scheduled. I don’t have to go back,” he repeated.
The long-haired man took another step forward, “You put all of your stuff in storage? What about all of your furniture?”
“Most of it came with the apartment and will stay there. Catherine is making arrangements for the rest of my things to be removed from storage and shipped here. She’s going to store it for me until I find somewhere to live.”
“You’re going to live here?”
“I haven’t looked at any available homes yet. I was hoping you would have time to go with me; you know the area better than anyone else I know. It’s changed a lot since I was a kid,” he replied softly, unsure what Duo’s reaction was going to be. When Duo said nothing, he shrugged, feeling more than a little nervous, “I was hoping we could continue the relationship without the distance, Duo. I’m tired of being away from you. Hearing your voice isn’t enough for me anymore.”
Tilting his head, Duo frowned, “What are you going to do for work?”
“I haven’t given it much thought. I have enough saved to live on for a while if I need to. Money isn’t much of an issue.”
“Well, I have been looking for a partner, someone I trust that doesn’t mind doing paperwork and making phone calls. If you’re interested, we’ll have to do some major training; I’m leaving to catch a bounty day after tomorrow.”
The suggestion made Trowa’s knees tremble, more than he had been hoping for, “It would be nice to work with you.”
“Also, this house is awfully empty when I’m here alone,” Duo moved closer to the tall man, not stopping until there was less than six inches separating them. “You’re more than welcome to stay here, with me.”
“If I stay here, I won’t look for a place of my own,” cautioned Trowa quietly, eyes fixed on Duo’s face.
“I wouldn’t let you look for another place, Trowa. I want you here, with me.”
Framing Duo’s face with trembling hands, Trowa lifted an eyebrow, “Are you sure?”
“I bought this house because it was secluded and quiet, two things I needed or I was going to go crazy. I never noticed the silence was total until you came here the first time. Now, every time you leave the place feels empty without you. I want you here, Trowa.”
Realizing the other man wasn’t going to turn him away, Trowa felt safe leaning down and kissing his lover, moaning when Duo’s tongue met his eagerly. His moan of pleasure turned to a groan of frustration when they were interrupted. “Mr. Maxwell, are you still here?”
Rolling his eyes, Duo called out, “I’ll be right there, Mrs. Banner. I need to introduce you to my partner.”
End
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