Warnings and disclaimers in first section.
Powering down the Hellion, I looked at the death grip my passenger had on the arms of the co-pilot’s chair. He was the third person to ever ride with me and the second passenger I had aboard willingly. “Mark, you’re about to rip the arms off. It’ll be okay, man, I swear.” I’d arranged a surprise for him, so I knew he’d be fine.
“I’ve never been to Earth before,” his face was pale, but he managed a shaky smile. Coming through the atmosphere and into Earth’s gravity had not been easy on him. “It’s pretty here.”
“It is. Here comes your welcoming committee,” I gestured with my chin to the group of people walking toward my ship. I didn’t know most of them, but Une was at the head of the pack, walking with confident strides.
“Don’t I need handcuffs or something?”
“You’re being an ass.”
My short sentence had him shaking his head before standing, his back straight. “You’re right. This was my choice.”
Holding his bag for him, I followed Mark out of the airlock, taking my first breath of Earth air in over seven years. He was right, this place was pretty and I’d missed it more than I realized. I’d look around later, Une was already there and holding her hand out to Mark, who was looking at it like it was some kind of trap.
When he finally shook her hand, I gave a short, strained smile when she spoke and he looked like he had been hit in the head by a brick, “Mark Fields, it’s a pleasure to finally meet the man that was instrumental in diffusing a difficult situation before it could become a full-blown rebellion. A lot of people owe you many thanks, including myself.”
“But…I didn’t do anything.”
“Captain Maxwell has already informed me of your heroic acts, Mr. Fields. It was very brave of you to create a diversion so he could rescue Mr. Winner and neutralize the threat that Harrison presented. We welcome you to the Preventers, Mr. Fields. I hope you will be pleased to serve with our newly created space sector after your training is completed.”
“I thought I was going to prison.”
“We aren’t in the habit of putting heroes in prison. If you’ll follow these men, they will take you to the barracks where you will stay while training. You should already be acquainted with a number of your fellow trainees; they are people you’ve worked with before."
Mark wasn’t an overly emotional person, but his eyes were filled with tears when he turned to me. “I’ll never be able to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, Duo.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for; I owed you more than this for helping me find the bad guys on the Shoe. Without your help, I would have been searching for a really long time.” I shoved his bag at him before he could do something weird like hug me; it looked like he wanted to, “Go get some rest and recover from reentry. I’ve heard the training process is grueling.” Mark’s step was a bit lighter as he walked away with the other men, heading for the Preventers training facility.
“You didn’t tell him what to expect?”
“He wouldn’t have believed me,” I faced Une with a shrug. “He was convinced he was going to prison. It didn’t matter that he only worked for Allbright and Harrison because they had threatened his family. He thought what he did was wrong. They’re making a memorial plaque on the Shoe, listing the men and women that died that night. Mark’s name could have easily been on that plaque.” One of his friend’s names was going to be there, not Jerry, but the man whose name I had later learned was Jim, Jerry’s brother.
“How many were killed?”
“Seventeen total. It could have been a lot worse. A lot of people decided to use the main fight to settle old disputes, so that didn’t help, but if Harrison had been able to rally those loyal to him, it could have turned into a massacre. Luckily, most of them weren’t on the colony, having gone away to secure more resources. I already sent them to you.” Those people were sitting in holding cells, waiting to go on trial for their efforts.
“I should toss you in jail for what you did. You were only responsible for finding out Winner’s location, not for getting him and my agent out and stopping a colony take-over. I should throw you in jail, but I’m grateful you were there to stop it before the situation could spiral farther out of control.”
“I didn’t do it alone. I had a lot of help, both before and after reaching the Shoe.” Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask…I had to ask, “How is Trowa, by the way? I wasn’t able to see him before their ship left.”
“He and Winner are both doing fine. Barton is quiet, efficient, and calm, as he always was. He’s more…focused on work now than he was before. Did something happen to make him more serious?” She studied me for a moment before shaking her head slightly, probably realizing I had no intention of answering, “Are you planning to leave soon?”
“I was thinking about staying a few days. I won’t cause any problems.”
She was smiling like she knew something I didn’t. Hell, with Une, she probably knew a lot I didn’t. “I happen to have a hotel room that’s reserved for families of training agents that’s open for the next week. Would you be interested in staying there?”
“It’s not on base, is it?”
“A suspected smuggler on Preventers soil would not be a wise decision. It’s a few miles away. I can take you there, if you want to go.”
“Let me grab my bag.”
The two days I had spent on Earth had been peaceful and relaxing…who the hell was I kidding? It had been relaxing, in a way. Not having to look over my shoulder all the time was a nice respite from the previous eight months, but there was something on my mind that kept me from really being able to enjoy being on Earth again.
It was little surprise that I thought about Trowa even more than I had before and I hadn’t thought that was really possible. With thousands of miles between us I had been able to put him out of my mind for stretches of time, like an hour or two. Now, with him in the same city, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
That might explain why I hacked the Preventers personnel files; I promised Une I’d stay out of trouble, but there was no chance of me getting caught, so that didn’t count. Getting Trowa’s address was ridiculously easy. The agency needed better security; their systems were way out of date.
I swore, at the time, I just wanted to know where he lived. I promised myself I wouldn’t go looking for him. It was highly unlikely that he wanted to see me. No matter how close he proved to be, I was going to steer clear of his home.
Of course, three hours later, I was standing across the street from his house. I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the little one-story house with dead grass and weeds covering the yard and choking the sidewalk. If there hadn’t been lights on inside, I would’ve assumed the house was abandoned. Someone like Trowa could do amazing things with that house and yard if he had put some effort into it. I wondered why he hadn’t bothered. He seemed like the type that would be obsessed with keeping his yard nice and tidy. The house could have used a good coat of paint, too.
The neighborhood was nice, not fully developed, but still nice. There were empty lots of land for sale on either side of Trowa’s house that were a lot neater than his, but even a colony brat like me could see the potential. The only drawback would be nosy neighbors; I’d been stopped by a young woman asking what I was doing walking around the place in the near dark. Since I didn’t think spying on a former lover would have made her feel better, I told her I was trying to find a way to surprise an old friend. She left me alone after a few minutes, telling me where she lived if I wanted to talk and smiling in a way that had nothing to do with offering some advice.
His door opened. God, he looked like he’d lost some weight since I last saw him, but he was still gorgeous. His head came up, glancing around before shaking it and getting in his truck. There was no way he could have seen me even if he knew where to look; I’d been hiding in shadows for a long time. He passed within ten feet of where I stood, letting me see his face in the dim backwash of dashboard lights and he looked tense or upset. Where could he be going at ten o’clock on a Wednesday night?
As soon as his truck disappeared I began the hour-long walk back to the hotel. I couldn’t bring myself to use city buses; too many people crowded together like sardines in a big metal can makes me nervous. Taxies were out of the question, too. They kept a log of where they picked someone up and dropped them off. As much as I loved my braid, it made people take notice of me. I could have rented a car, but I didn’t have a license. Unlike in space, someone would have paid attention to such a lapse…I’d never had a need for a license before.
The only stop I made on my way to the hotel was a fast food place. Burgers, fries, and milkshakes didn’t taste as good in space, possibly because you rarely find real beef or milk on a colony. In my room I set the bag of food down, blinking when I found that I wasn’t alone, my visitor watching me with a small smile. “Duo, I heard you were in town.”
“Does Une understand the concept of a secret?” He didn’t pose a threat to me, so I got the bag and sat opposite him at the small table, snorting when he took a fry and popped it into his mouth.
“She understands the concept, but she doesn’t like to lie when asked a direct question, much like you. Is your drink good?”
“Chocolate milkshake,” I nodded and handed it to him, shaking my head when he took a swallow. I bet his associates had never seen him do something as simple as drink a shake and eat French fries. “How are you feeling, Quatre? No leftover damage from the tranqs?”
“None at all. The doctor took very good care of us on the way home. I owe you my life.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t owe me a damn thing. I did the job Une hired me for and got paid very well for it.”
“We both know you would have done it without getting paid at all.”
“Yeah, Saint Maxwell.”
Quatre’s laughter was contagious. In seconds, I was chucking, holding my stomach. My amusement disappeared when he gave my stomach a look a pure guilt. “You could have died.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“I was awake, Duo. During the last few minutes you fought with that man, I was awake but I couldn’t move. I was able to hear everything you both said. I also recall your determination to get myself and Trowa off the colony.”
“Off the colony was the best place for you both. It got ugly, or so I heard. We had to take advantage of everyone being focused on what was happening instead of paying attention to what was leaving. There had already been too many close calls to take any chances.”
“I wasn’t questioning your decision to have me moved; I was the cause of that mess.”
“You didn’t do anything other than stick up for what was right. That mess was caused by two insane men that wanted power.”
His eyes were troubled, but he nodded as he stole another fry, passing the shake back to me. “I do understand why you got me off the colony, but why Trowa? He could have helped you a great deal. Did you think he was untrustworthy?”
“If I hadn’t trusted him, he wouldn’t have made it very far on my ship. That wasn’t the problem.”
“What was the problem?”
Finishing my burger, I wadded up the wrapper and leaned back in my chair, “It was too dangerous.”
“Trowa risks his life on almost every assignment he goes on. He’s capable of defending himself.”
“His job is to risk his life, but not defending me. I didn’t want something like this happening to him,” I yanked the bottom of my shirt up, revealing the jagged hole that had been created when the doctors at the clinic had to dig the bullet out. Unfortunately, high-tech tools are uncommon on places like the Shoe. “I knew if he was there, something like this could happen to him. It was a risk I refused to take. My life isn’t worth much, Quatre. Trowa’s a different story.”
“Your life is just as important as Trowa’s.”
“Not to me!” I didn’t mean to yell that, really. Clearly, Quatre was just as shocked as I was, but the little shit recovered faster than I did.
“You wanted him gone because you love him. That’s why you drugged him and sent him away.”
He expected me to deny it, but I couldn’t with him watching me. “Yeah; the odds of things going bad were pretty damn high, Quat. I had to do whatever I could to keep him out of that situation.”
“Trowa…was not happy when he regained consciousness, Duo.”
“I didn’t think he would be, but I couldn’t let him stay.”
“He demanded that we turn around. The only reason we didn’t was because the docks had been locked down. There was no way for him to get back on the colony.”
I had assumed and hoped the docks would be shut down in the wake of a revolution. On a colony like the Shoe, locking down the docks is a form of self-preservation. If no one can get in to stop whatever chaos is happening, it’d eventually sort itself out. “I figured they would. The only reason you guys were able to get off was because a friend of mine had already arranged the take-off. I didn’t want either of you mixed up in that. You’d both been through enough.”
“I think you’re underestimating how badly Trowa wanted to go back. He threatened to shoot the pilot and fly the ship himself.”
“Why in the hell would he do that? You were safe and on your way home.”
“You were not. You were trapped on a colony on the brink of imploding. Did you expect him to be happy with that knowledge?”
I hadn’t expected Trowa to really give a damn, to be honest. “It doesn’t matter, Quat. You’re home and safe and so is he. That’s the way things should be.”
Quatre got a smug smile on his face as he stole my shake again, the little thief. “He thinks he should be with you.”
“Don’t know why he would think that. It’s a bad idea, all around. What did he tell you?”
“He didn’t tell me anything, but I know how he feels about you.”
“You’ve got it all wrong.”
“I’ve never seen Trowa as upset as he was when he found out you were still on Witches Shoe and we were returning to Earth. It was quite enlightening.”
What can I say to that? Absolutely nothing.
“He refuses to talk about you.”
Ouch. That hurt a little. “There’s nothing to talk about, I guess.”
“I don’t believe that any more than you do. It hurts him to talk about you, Duo. Before this, he would ask about you, curious if anyone had heard anything from you, but now there’s only silence as far as you’re concerned.”
“So what?”
“You need to talk to him.”
“Nothing will make what I did to him better. He can hate me if he wants.”
“Trowa does not hate you. If he did, having to leave you would have been much easier. Will you talk to him before you leave again?”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll admit that I’d already planned to call him, I just have no idea what the hell to say.”
“If you want to make me feel better, don’t call him. Go see him, Duo, in person. If you do that, what you need to say will sort itself out.”
“You realize that anything I say is impossible, right?”
Standing up, he touched my hair in a way he used to do during the war, a silent offer of comfort. “Nothing is impossible, brother.”
I jerked out of nightmares, in the worst of which Trowa was with Deathscythe, a flaming whip in his hand as he told me it was time to pay for my actions, instantly realizing I wasn’t alone. To hell with Preventers security, this hotel was even worse. Did they just let anyone past the front door? Stupid question…they let me in, didn’t they?
Cracking open one eye, I looked at the man scowling down at me, arms crossed over his chest as he stood beside the bed. Immediately, I let him know how thrilled I was to see him. “Damn it, what the hell are you doing here? Was Quatre acting like the Ghost of Christmas past, so you’re filling in as the Ghost of Christmas present? You’re better suited the ghost of the future; I can see you walking around in a grim reapers outfit, silently pointing an accusing finger, Heero.”
“Are you drunk? What are you talking about?”
At least he wasn’t scowling. “Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley, and the three ghosts that…nevermind,” I sat up with a sigh. “Quatre needs to expand your entertainment repertoire. Get him to watch ‘Scrooged’ with you sometime.” There are other versions, but Heero might appreciate the humor…maybe. “What are you doing here…for god’s sake…it’s seven in the morning.”
“I wanted to see if you would like to spend the day with me. Quatre’s driver dropped me off.”
Okay, that sounded funny as hell. Falling back on the bed, I couldn’t stop the chuckles that came out, calming when he sat on the bed and glared at me. “I’m not drunk, but I didn’t sleep very well last night,” I defended.
“How long has it been since you had a decent night?”
It was the last time I had slept beside Trowa, unless you counted when I had been sedated for my surgery. I didn’t count that because I had been unconscious and having nightmares the whole damn time. “It’s been a while. You want to spend the day with me? Don’t you have to work?”
“I took a personal day. It’s something Quatre encourages me to do occasionally.” He moved quickly, yanking the blanket down so it pooled at my waist.
I grabbed the blankets, “Man, I don’t have anything on under here.”
Clearly he wasn’t concerned by my nudity, eyes focused on the scar on my torso. “Quatre was telling me how bad this was. I think he over exaggerated; it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”
“It wouldn’t be so ugly, but the clinic only had basic equipment. No laser scalpels or regen units anywhere in sight. I was lucky the doctor was damn good and was able to get the bullet out without more damage.”
“You shouldn’t have sent Trowa away. He could have kept this from happening.”
“Oh, hell, not you too,” I groaned, slapping his hand away when he drew fingers over the scar. You know you’re in deep shit when a hot guy touching you doesn’t evoke any emotion other than annoyance. “I did what had to be done to keep this from happening to Trowa. Leave it at that.”
“Unlike Quatre, I know exactly what happened between you and Trowa.”
“How do you know anything?”
“Because I asked him if something had happened.”
“Yep, that’ll do it.” Trowa wouldn’t have volunteered information, but he wouldn’t have lied, not to Heero. “What do you want me to say, that I’m sorry?”
“Are you?”
“I’m sorry that I felt it necessary to drug him, but it was the only way to get him off the Shoe without arguing. If it had been you and Quatre, you’d have done the same.”
“Are you sorry for anything else?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Neither is he.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing. Eventually, he sighed heavily, “Will you spend the day with me, Duo? I wanted to show you some things that won’t be in the tourist guides.”
Surprisingly, he seemed sincere, “I’d like that.”
“Get dressed and I’ll take you to breakfast.”
When he didn’t move, I lifted an eyebrow at him, “Heero, I have to get up to get dressed.”
“I know.”
“I’m totally naked here.”
“I know.”
“If I get up right now, you’re gonna get an eyeful.”
“I know that, too.”
“Heero, you are sleeping with Quatre on a regular basis, right?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious. The last time I saw you naked, other than the last time on your ship and I don’t count that, was during the war.”
It’s not something I was likely to forget. “You saw me naked once during the war and I was beat to hell at the time. That doesn’t count.”
“Are you scared?”
Never one to back down from a challenge, I tossed the blankets aside and stood. His dead silence as I gathered clothes and headed for the bathroom had me wondering what his verdict was. At the door I turned to him, “Well, did I grow up a little?”
“More than a little. If I didn’t have to worry about Quatre killing me and Trowa tossing my dead body into the ocean, I might try to seduce you.”
The words didn’t prompt heat as they would have in the past. Honestly, I was flattered, but that was all. “I’m telling Quatre you said that.”
“Don’t you dare.”
Laughing a little, I closed the door behind me and jumped into the shower. It was odd to hear Heero laughing, too. I never would have imagined us sharing jokes like that, but I could get used to it. It was going to be an interesting day.