Disclaimer and notes: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters, although I could really use a bit of Quatre-cuddlin right about now. Okay, hi everybody. It's been a really really REALLY long time since I last updated any of my work. To tell y'all the truth, I'm really not feeling motivated to. Over the school year a buncha shit happened, so I wasn't able to write much. But now I'm wondering if I should continue either of my fics. Does anybody out there want me to continue them, or are they simply lost causes? I would seriously appriciate a little input and/or support on this, so E-mail me at LittleWing983[ AT ]aol.com. I really could use some input on them, please, por favor. Muchos gracias mis amigos.
We were all laughing when we got home. Laughing and exhausted, especially Duo. Though he was normally bouncing around all day, there was a point in time (around one in the morning) when he just ran out of juice. He was still as just as goofy, but his normal outrageousness was replaced by snide wisecracks. No matter how much I would hate to admit it, he was quite the versatile comedian.
Everyone began to disperse to their rooms to change out of the extremely formal attire. I held back with Wufei, wanting to listen to the messages on the answering machine. Wufei slumped on the counter as he listened, the top few buttons of his shirt undone and his tie hanging untied around his neck. The drone from the machine was pretty much normal-the landlady complaining about how Duo played his music to loud (Wufei grumbled about his baka roommate), some people from Winner Enterprises trying to locate Quatre. All seemed the same. I flopped down on the couch, intending to wait my turn for the bathroom. Duo had already gone in and started his shower. I glanced over at Wufei, not listening to the messages. Wufei looked like he had seen a ghost. He was tensed up, his eyes wide with slight confusion, fear, and a little anger. He punched the stop button on the machine.
"What is it?" I asked him. He looked at me, his mouth gaping a little, and simply played for me one of the messages on the machine. I immediately tensed, as the Chinese boy had done.
"What do you make of it?" he asked, a little suspiciously.
"I don't know. Get the others in here."
"What for?" asked Quatre, walking into the room in his pajamas, followed by Katherine, who had obviously borrowed a big college T-shirt and pajama pants from someone.
"Listen to this," Wufei said, rewinding the message.
"Listen to what?" asked Trowa, entering in sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
"This," Wufei said, harshly, punching the play button.
A woman's voice came over the machine.
"This is Dr. Perez, from the County General Hospital. I was calling for Mr. Maxwell, in regards to his test results. They are in. Mr. Maxwell, I need you to come in to the hospital as soon as possible tomorrow morning. You can reach me at my home at (***insert random ten digit number here, preferably including 555***). I implore you, Mr. Maxwell, call as soon as you receive this message. I cannot stress the urgency enough." Then there was a beep, and then nothing.
Everyone was frozen where they were standing, just staring wide-eyed at us, at the machine, trying to understand what the message meant.
"Hey guys! What's up?" Duo chirped happily as he bounded out of the bathroom, only to be stopped short by our stares.
He spoke again, cautiously, seriously. "What's going on? What happened?"
Wufei simply punched the play button on the machine. We all stared at Duo, waiting for his reaction. He simply stood in place, introverted, listening. Not shocked, just listening.
"Duo," Quatre began, cautiously, "what's going on?"
Duo still stood, as though he hadn't heard him.
"Don't just stand there like an ass! What does it mean?" Wufei exclaimed. I couldn't help but glance at him, his voice was nearly screeching with…panic?
"The tests…" Duo began, seeming to snap back to reality for a moment.
"What tests?" Trowa said.
"Yesterday morning, I went to the hospital and had some tests done," Duo said. Then, slapping on his superficial smile "No biggie."
"Why would you have tests done, Duo? Are you sick?" Katherine asked.
"Not sick, I just haven't been feelin' myself lately, so I thought hell, I needed a checkup anyway," Duo said, widening his smile. "No biggie."
"Call her back," Wufei said, jaggedly holding the phone out to Duo.
"Huh?"
"Call her back," Wufei stressed, pushing the phone at him.
"Uhhh, okay Wufei." Duo punched in the digits and held the phone up to his ear, glancing at all of us, nervous under all of our stares. "I'm sure it's nothing guys," he stated, then turned his attention to the phone.
"Hello? Dr. Perez? Yeah, I'm really sorry to be bugging you so late, but…yeah, Duo Maxwell…you said I should call you? Yeah…yeah………." He trailed off, completely focused on the doctor's words. Then, in a slightly hushed tone, "Yes, I understand…yes, nine o'clock…Alright…Yes ma'am, I'll be fine…yes, alright…no I'm sure…goodnight then." He hung up the phone, then stared at it for a moment.
"Well?" I asked, surprised that I had been the first to speak.
Duo turned slowly, seeming scared of our persecution, and almost guilty.
"Duo, what is it?" Quatre asked, guiding himself and Katherine to a seat next to me on the couch. Trowa was sitting on the arm, and Wufei was still standing near the phone.
"I…I had some tests run yesterday, because…well, I had been feeling a bit under the weather, but," he scratched his head, searching for the right words. "Well, I had some tests run, a buncha tests, and they," he rubbed the back of his neck and looked at us, "they uhh, came back positive for leukemia." (***LW sobs as she realizes that she has just written herself into a hole. Sweet Chibi Quatre pats her back comfortingly, trying to console her, says to audience: "I suppose you all must know that Little Wing knows VERY little about certain medical things, especially leukemia, and she does not have the time or resources to research it, therefore, this fic will probably be very inaccurate, especially in the events to come, but please forgive her, she means well. There there, Little Wing, it's okay now…." Huggles LW***)
We all just stared at him, jaws gaping.
"What?"
"But how?"
"I thought they had eradicated that a hundred years ago."
"They did," Duo said, seeming so nonchalant it was almost frightening, "but, I guess…I was looking over Deathscythe's data and all, you know, for old time's sake, just a coupla' days ago, and I noticed that the radiation given off by the scythe was a lot more then I had originally thought. So I…I guess that's what did it."
We all just blinked at him.
"Duo," Quatre started, softly. We all knew what he was going to say, we had all wanted to say it, but Quatre was the best communicator and closest to Duo out of all of us. "Duo, why are you being like this about it."
Duo looked at him for a moment, completely comprehending what Quatre had said. "I don't know how else to be."
"So, do you think we should all be like this about it?" Quatre asked, seriously.
"I…I guess. I don't want it to be…I don't want things to be…"
"We understand, Duo. Perhaps we should all just treat this as Duo is," Quatre said, looking at us all. "It might be easier for Duo, if we all just…took it-" he looked to Duo, searching for the right words.
"If we all just went along like normal."
Quatre nodded and he and Katherine went into her bedroom. I glanced at Trowa, but he didn't seem worried about his sister. He turned and went into his bedroom.
Duo scratched the back of his leg with his other foot and looked at us, almost expectantly, licking his lips, nervously. We gave him nothing, so he slowly turned and went to bed, his eyes not leaving us.