Disclaimer: Look at one of the other chapters, I don't feel like typing it.
Author's note: Guys, I sincerely apologise for my long, long absence, I blame it all on exams, college interviews and writer's block. But I'm back now so hopefully there are good days ahead, I'd love feedback though, I feel like I'm on shaky ground with my writing for I'm so rusty!
Author's MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: Being stupid and all as I am, I didn't realise I could reply to anonymous reviews until now so I am seriously sorry to those of you who didn't get a reply, it won't happen again, I always make a point of replying when there's a reply needed. So review away, this time I've got it together!
Heero
It's been just over two weeks since this whole mess happened, two very long weeks.
But at last, I think we might be getting somewhere; I put forward my idea to Lady Une about getting Duo out of the hospital which she in turn willingly relayed to the hospital itself after witnessing Duo's inherent dislike of the such places during a short visit last week. The doctors were understandably very reluctant to even consider such a thing, letting a brain-damaged patient out after two weeks was unheard of; however they also were forced to admit that there was nothing more they could do for him at the moment: his physical injuries were healing up well and nothing could be done about his amnesia other than to let it play itself out.
Wufei had also pointed out that keeping him here may end up doing more harm than good, over the past week Duo had become more and more erratic, frustrated and panicky; while we were told that this was to be expected with brain damage, Doctor Bashir had to admit that the hospital environment may be aggravating those symptoms, which could be dangerous, a panic attack or emotional outburst could trigger a seizure or a complete relapse, something which could leave him quite a lot worse off, and he seemed to be having a lot of those.
I can't take it; I can't take it how my heart seems to race when I see him getting worked up, I just sit there and wait for it to happen, wait for the fit or the seizure, feeling so stupidly useless when there's nothing I can do. This week has been so long, there are points where I feel it's inevitable to happen, that it's just a matter of time.
Sally Po moved briskly into the corridor outside Duo's room, greeting the four pilots who sat and watched her anxiously.
'We got the green light to move him out.' She smiled at their simultaneous reaction, both happiness and relief, 'But there's still a few problems that need ironing out.'
Quatre sat up straight, his hands gripping his knees, 'Well of course, that's to be expected.'
Sally sighed as she surveyed them, 'There's been a leak to the media about the incident, as a result there's a lot of hype right now about the circumstances of what happened and the wellbeing of the pilot in question.'
Wufei nodded, closing his eyes, 'That explains the photographers in the car park this morning.'
'As you know though, the last thing we want right now is any kind of attention like this, the Preventers make it a priority to stay out of the media when at all possible; stories like this sometimes serve to expose or hint at weaknesses in the organisation and in turn lead to threats which we must deal with.' Sally spoke slowly, her dismay evident, 'With Duo's incident now made public, the entire Sinq Kingdom as well as the colonies know that the Preventers are missing one of their best, therefore, there will be some out there who will see this as an opportunity to attack where they otherwise mightn't have.'
'Is losing one former Gundam pilot going to be enough to provoke such a reaction?' Heero was skeptical, 'There are still four more of us, the odds should still in our favour, minus one isn't a big difference.'
Sally shook her head, 'Heero, Preventers is well capable of defending itself without any of you, we made sure of this at the beginning, it would not be fair to rely on you five so completely as was the case with Operation Meteor, you pilots showed us that much; we have to be able to defend ourselves. Besides, it's our aim to remove such threats in existence anyway, if this reaction provokes them to come to us, all the better that we don't have to go searching for them, we've just got to be prepared.' She smiled and looked at the Wing pilot who nodded in agreement, 'It's not the Preventers being targeted that is our main concern, it's the possibility of you guys being the ones in the line of fire.'
Wufei looked over sharply, 'How so?'
'As Gundam pilots you've made your fair share of enemies in the past, that's a given, and seeing as you're now one short, some might see this as an opportunity. Besides that, Une does not expect you to come back on duty after what has happened, you operate as a group and it's this closeness which merits success, minus one you are vulnerable and so Une has decided that it may be more beneficial for you and the Preveter organisation itself if you were all able to take a bit of time off, so to speak.'
The pilots stared at her, no one said anything as each pondered on what she had just said.
'Lady Une has since taken the liberty of acquiring a safehouse for you all, where Duo can recover out of the eye of the public and you can all take this chance to enjoy a little time off.'
Quatre smiled softly, 'I'm not arguing, I like the arrangement. I was planning on accompanying Duo out of here anyway, wherever he goes, I think he needs all of us.'
The other boys nodded in silent agreement, Trowa put his arm around the smaller pilot, 'Always considerate, Quatre, you're absolutely right, we'll all stick together on this.'
'Agreed.' Even Wufei was smiling, happy with the turn of events.
Heero nodded again, quietly happy with the situation.
'So who leaked it to the press anyway?' Trowa turned to Sally, genuinely curious.
Sally shrugged helplessly, 'We don't know yet, someone in the HQ is the most specific we've got; it's driving poor Une demented, you know how she hates this sort of thing.' she sighed, 'Thankfully, there wasn't too much leaked anyway, the media doesn't know the extent of his injuries other than for the word "serious", but there have been whisperings of head injuries going round. We held a press conference last Wednesday where Une simply confirmed that the incident had indeed happened and that the circumstances were purely accidental, no foul play involved. She didn't elaborate any further but to add that Duo was doing well.' she smiled, 'To look on the bright side, it's all good press, all sympathy and whatnot; I have to say, compared to the hated villain status you had three years ago, you've pretty much become Sinq Kingdom's darlings after the Operation Meteor fiasco.'
'Still..' Wufei frowned.
Sally pursed her lips, 'Une has advised no contact with the media if possible gentlemen, the safehouse she is arranging for at the moment is meant to protect you from them as well as any possible threats.'
'Where is this safehouse?'
'Surprisingly close to the hospital, the last place you'd expect it to be.' Sally winked conspirationally, ' The fact that Duo shouldn't be leaving this place at all factored into that decision, in the case of an emergency help is only ten minutes away, as well as that, he's going to have to come in for check-ups about twice a week and then start physiotherapy here once he's strong enough.'
Heero's face darkened at the thought of the deathscythe pilot having to go through physiotherapy, though of course it was necessary, the left side of his body had been affected and greatly weakened by the brain injury, this was the only way he could try and regain full mobility.
'It's a small estate,' Sally went on, 'Extremely quiet, so it should be easy enough to keep a low profile, there are shops nearby as well as the hospital and the Preventers can quickly access the area if we're needed in the case of an attack.'
Quatre by now, was beaming, 'So when can we make the move?'
Heero left the others to discuss the situation further and slid into Duo's room with a nod to the station nurse and gently closed the door behind him. Duo was asleep, most probably due to the strong medication he was on to combat the pains in his head; according to Duo, those pains never went away, they just varied in degrees of severity, from low throb to migraine like nought to sixty. Doctor Bashir claimed the culprit was probably a combination of stretched nerves in the brain and a small hairline fracture just above his right ear.
Heero took a rare moment to study the inert form, taking in details he could never have seen before due to Duo's inability to keep still. He marvelled at the long, dark eyelashes that now rested on pale cheeks in the heart-shaped face which had become somewhat gaunt in the last two weeks. Having been fed by a drip for over ten days, Duo had lost whatever weight he had to spare; his small stature hadn't hadn't helped take away from the apparent fragility of his body. He was like porcealain now, easily broken and vulnerable, a complete polar opposite to what he used to be.
He decided not to say anything to Duo about leaving the hospital until he had it set in concrete, a lot of good it would have done anyway given Duo's current memory. The perfect soldier stood up, unable to hold himself back, prussian blue eyes which had lost their characteristic coldness now gazed down with a rare tenderness, he leaned down tentatively, brushing Duo's chestnut bangs away from his face, his movements full of uncertainty, planting the tiniest, quickest, most afraid, of kisses on the cold forehead.
Not long now.
Okay guys, review if you can, as I said, I feel a bit shaky having not written in... a long time.