Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Due South ❯ Chapter 7

Due South - part 7

by KatiKat


Duo looked down at the child in his arms. The boy was now sleeping peacefully, dressed in dry clothes and snuggled contently in the warm blanket. But when Trowa burst into the sick bay and pushed the child in Duo´s arms, the boy was screaming, his little face red and streaked with tears. It took Duo quite a while to change Zechs´ diapers, dress him and calm him down enough for the boy to settle and fall asleep. And now the braided lifebearer was sitting on a stool by the bed, in which his unconscious lover was lying unmoving, and was rocking the baby gently, humming just loud enough to drown out the loud sound of the crashing waves.

Duo had still no idea what was actually going on. When Trowa appeared, together with Shinigami who was now lying at the braided man´s feet and looking at him with large, concerned eyes, the healer didn´t say much. He just mumbled something about Milliardo being hurt and broken windows before he disappeared again, leaving the care of the baby in the lifebearer´s arms. Duo was naturally worried about Mil, but nothing was more important to him right now than Heero and his welfare. On the other hand, the child served as a good distraction from the problems at hand.

The ship lurched again and Duo caught himself on the side of Heero´s bunk and winced as his burned, bandaged hand bumped against the wooden edge of the bed; he almost forgot about his own injuries, the shock of Heero´s injury helping him push feelings such as pain to the back of his mind. The oil lamps swung wild, letting the shadows dance around the room. Some of the sailors in the sick bay cried out as the violent movement jarred their wounds. But the one that meant the most to Duo didn´t react at all. With every passing moment the Enforcer lay unconscious, the pressure in Duo´s chest increased.

"Come on, love," Duo whispered, leaning closer and squeezing his mate´s hand. "Come on, please. Wake up for me." The other young man lay unmoving though.

Duo squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He felt the prickle in them and was determined not to let the tears fall, to hold his head high so that Heero wouldn´t have to be ashamed for him when he woke up. And he would wake up, of that Duo was convinced. The Enforcer wouldn´t leave him alone. He promised.

The hand on his shoulder startled Duo. His head shot up and he turned, his eyes wild. Immediately he calmed down though, noticing that it was only Rufus, crouching in front of him with a worried expression on his face.

"Are you all right, Duo?" the bear of a man asked in a gentle voice that didn´t quite fit his appearance.

The lifebearer sighed and straightened, rocking the child in his arms again. "No, I´m not," he admitted. "I thought that it was finally over, you know? All the stress and the problems. I thought that we could finally begin a new life. And now this..." He turned from the bearded man to his bruised, unconscious love and caressed the hand lying on top of the blanket. "He saved Treize´s life, huh?"

Rufus nodded and looked at the hurt young man on the bed too. "Yes. He was really brave. If it wasn´t for him, Lord Treize would be dead now," he said quietly, his voice laced with self-loathing. After all, it was his job to protect the Count and because of his incompetency, one young man had been gravely injured. It wasn´t right. It should have been him.

Duo nodded. "He is the bravest, most wonderful man I´ve ever met," he said softly, pride mixed with deep concern and fear radiating from his voice.

The big man nodded, looking searchingly at the pale, bruised young man. There was something he wanted to ask Duo... though he wasn´t sure if it was the right place and the right time, but... "Duo, I..." he started, his voice trailing off.

Shifting Zechs in his arms, Duo turned to the captain. "What is it?" he asked.

Rufus cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one leg to the other in his crouched position. "When I helped Trowa undress Heero, I..." The captain cleared his throat again. "I noticed the tattoo," he finally said so softly that Duo almost hadn't heard him.

The gentle rocking stopped and the child scrunched his little face in displeasure. Duo didn´t notice though, for he froze - body, heart and soul. Suddenly he couldn´t breathe, and his mind started to whirl. Rufus noticed the tattoo marking Heero as an Enforcer. That was one of the few secrets they kept from their new friends because for an Enforcer to leave his village was punishable with death. And it didn´t matter that there was nothing left of the village. When the village went down, the Enforcer died with it. No exceptions...

"I... I don´t know what you´re talking about," Duo said, lowering his head to the baby to hide his face.

Rufus sighed, then reached out, touched Duo´s chin and lifted his head. "I´m not trying to cause trouble," he whispered when he looked the lifebearer in his terrified eyes. "Gods know that I have secrets of my own and this one is not my business but... he should have the tattoo removed. When we arrive at the City, I can recommend you someone who doesn´t ask any questions when you pay him enough. It would be safer for both of you because sooner or later someone will notice it and if it got out..."

When Rufus let go of Duo´s face, the braided young man lowered his eyes and didn´t answer. The captain waited a moment longer, but after getting no reaction from Duo, he sighed heavily and got up. He turned to head for the door when a silent call stopped him. He turned to the younger man.

"Thank you, Rufus," Duo said softly, his words laced with gratitude. He glanced at the tall man, then quickly lowered his eyes again.

Rufus smiled. "He is a good man, a brave one. It wasn´t cowardice that caused him to leave his post. I don´t know what happened and I don´t even want to know. The fewer people that know, the smaller chance of somebody saying something they shouldn´t." Then his smile softened. "Take good care of him, Duo. He might play the tough guy, but he loves you very much. Even a protector needs protection from time to time." With that, the large man left.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Milliardo moaned silently, a sigh passing through his slightly open lips as his body shuddered with cold. Treize made a low hushing sound and pressed his naked body closer to his mate. He lay spooned beside the blond man, Mil´s head pillowed on his arm. The brown-haired aristocrat pushed the long blond bangs from his lover´s forehead, touching the pale, cold skin of his face.

Treize had no idea how much time had passed since they found Milliardo almost frozen to death in the ice cold water and he didn´t care. He concentrated his whole being on warming up his mate. To share their body heat was actually Trowa´s idea, for the healer couldn´t find any other way to raise Milliardo´s extremely low body temperature quickly enough on the cold ship where everything was wet, or at least damp, thanks to the storm. Treize didn´t mind at all when Trowa came up with this idea. It gave him something to do and he could hold his lover in his arms at the same time. And he needed that.

Milliardo shifted again, a slight frown settling on his brows. Treize caressed his cheek again, kissing the top of his head, careful as not to touch the sore spot on the back of his head where a large, discolored bump appeared. Trowa said that Milliardo had to have hit his head on the edge of the table or something similar, fortunately the wound didn´t bleed much, the bleeding staunched by the cold water. Trowa was still rather concerned and warned Treize that head wounds were a rather tricky thing and they wouldn´t know how Milliardo had actually fared until he woke up. The aristocrat prayed that it would be soon and that everything would be all right.

Treize laid his head on the pillow and pulled Milliardo even closer, letting his arm rest on the blond man´s stomach. He closed his eyes, for the dancing shadows of the wildly swinging lamp made his eyes hurt. But enclosed in the darkness behind his eye lids, his mind started to roam free, digging up pictures from the past, a past that made his heart clench and soul hurt.

When he had lost his first mate and their little boy, the pain almost killed him. But Mil had been there and had pulled him away from the edge of the abyss. For more than fifteen years, the blond boy turned man had been a steady part of his life, always there, never demanding anything, just needing, wanting to be there for him. Treize still couldn´t believe how stupid and cruel he had been when he had found out that Milliardo was pregnant, blaming the already overstressed man for trying to force him into bonding, pushing him away at the very moment Mil needed him the most. It was months later that he found out the secret about Milliardo´s origin, which explained why the blond man didn´t know he was a lifebearer, that he was capable of having children.

Since his son had been born by an Other, a woman - which was punishable by death - Zechs bribed the village healer to fake the examination before the ceremony of Coming of Age, marking the blond man as a Sire. The old lord had been afraid that a closer examination could reveal something disturbing, some malformation that would betray the secret of Milliardo´s origin and put them all in the headsman´s hands. He had no reason to believe that Mil, as a Sire, would feel attracted to another Sire since it was rather unusual thing even in their society. It wasn´t exactly condemned, but it was frowned upon, especially in the higher society. And so he believed that their secret was safe. Unfortunately, it almost destroyed his son´s life.

Treize sighed, guilt clenching his gut once again as he remembered the day when the leader of the desert rebels himself brought Milliardo - whom he captured during a battle just days ago - back to him, saying that his honor forbade him to use a pregnant Bearer for a hostage. From that moment on, everything went downhill and if it hadn´t been for this desert outlaw, he would have lost his lover forever.

During the awful time of Milliardo´s pregnancy, Treize almost lost him numerous times. And now he had come close to losing him again. How many times would the blond man cheat death before it caught him? The brown-haired aristocrat sometimes had the feeling as if it was his fault, as if bad luck followed him and touched every person he loved. Milliardo and little Zechs were the heart of his universe. He couldn´t lose them. Not now, not ever.

Milliardo moaned again, pulling Treize out of his thoughts. The nobleman lifted his head to look his mate in the eyes. "Mil?" he whispered and touched his cheek, willing the blond man to open his eyes.

Drawing his face in a grimace of pain, Milliardo blinked his eyes open slowly. "Treize?" His voice was soft and confused.

Treize smiled down at his lover. "Yes, it´s me. How do you feel?"

Milliardo furrowed his brows. "Head hurts. A lot. Cold too." Then he blinked again, narrowing his eyes. "Treize? Why is it so dark in here?"

An icy fist of fear gripped Treize´s heart. "It´s not dark. The lamp is burning." Unconsciously he glanced toward the swinging lantern. "You... you can´t see it?" he asked, his voice almost inaudible.

"No." Milliardo froze and clenched his fist into the bed covers, every fiber in his body quivering. His fear was almost palpable. "Treize, am I... am I blind?"

*-*-*-*-*-*

It was the touch on his shoulder that woke Duo up. His head shot up from where it was pillowed on his crossed arms, propped on the bunk on which Heero lay unconscious. Some time ago, Rufus brought in the wooden cradle that he had pried off the floor in the cabin of his Lord and hammered it to the floor just an arm´s length away from the braided young man. Little Zechs was now sleeping peacefully in his small bed, the cradle swinging gently as the ship danced on the stormy waves. Shinigami lay curled up next to the cradle, his attention skipping from the child to his two Masters.

Duo blinked, then tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. When he could finally focus, his breath caught in his throat and his heart started to hammer with joy. From the bed, Heero was staring at him solemnly, drinking in the sight of his love.

"Heero," Duo whispered, astonished, then threw himself on the bed, embracing the Enforcer as best he could, laying his head on the short-haired man´s chest. "Heero... I was so afraid." The lifebearer clenched his eyes tight, tears prickling behind his eye lids. He knew that he probably looked like some weepy weakling but he felt such relief, such a deep happiness that he couldn´t help it. "Don´t do this ever again, okay?" the lifebearer asked as he opened his eyes to gaze at Heero. He knew that it was impossible for Heero to give him such an oath. The need to save other people, to help them, was as much a part of the Enforcer as the love he felt for Duo. It made him who he was.

The Enforcer was watching his love intently, as if trying to memorize every detail of his face. There was a strange emotion in his eyes, an emotion Duo could not indentify, though it was achingly similar to fear. Silently, Heero lifted his hand again and touched Duo´s braid, then ran his fingers up the shining hair and let it rest on the back of his love´s neck. The lifebearer closed his eyes and squeezed his mate. The Enforcer lay silent, and for a moment Duo thought that Heero had fallen asleep.

But then Heero broke the silence that settled between them, his voice hoarse and just above a whisper. "Will you bond with me, Duo?"

The lifebearer´s head shot up, Heero´s hand sliding from the back of his mate´s neck to his jaw. Duo blinked at him, surprised. "What?" he managed to say. "You... we are... you claimed me already. In the village." The long-haired young man´s heart clench with agitation. "You don´t... don´t you remember?"

Even in his battered state, Heero managed to look amused. He lifted one of his eyebrows and his eyes, although filled with pain, danced with merry fire. "Of course I remember," he croaked out.

Duo frowned. "Then why...?" He didn´t understand.

"I want to do it properly. Before the gods and people," the Enforcer explained, caressing his mate´s cheek with his thumb.

The long-haired man´s eyes softened and a gentle smile settled on his lips. He leaned his face into the calloused hand. "You don´t need to do it. You claimed me and that´s enough for me. I don´t need any ceremony to prove what you feel." Duo took the hand that was touching his face in his and lay both of them on his chest, above his beating heart. "I know it here."

"But you deserve it," Heero whispered. "And I really want the gods to witness and bless our bond."

Duo looked his mate in the eyes searchingly and realized that Heero really meant it. He really wanted a proper bond with a proper ceremony. Suddenly Duo felt very selfish. He never considered that Heero might want this. The lifebearer slipped from one life to another with thousands of other problems to worry about, so the thought of an actual bond never crossed his mind. He felt like a heel.

Pushing all those thoughts aside, Duo smiled, putting everything he felt for the other man into it. "I would feel honored and very happy to bond with you, Heero Yuy. In front of the gods and people," he said.

For the first time since they started to live together, Duo saw his mate smile a wide and genuinely happy smile. The little lines of worry that always marred his forehead vanished and even the black and blue bruises on the side of his face didn´t look so terrible anymore. "Thank you," he whispered, his eyes closing as if now that this one worry was covered, he could rest easily again.

Duo reached out and lay his bandaged hand on the Enforcer´s cheek. "You don´t have to thank me. What would I do without you? You are everything, just... everything." His voice was thick with emotions.

Heero´s smile softened and he moved his head gingerly to press his cheek against Duo´s palm. But then he frowned, cracking one eye open. "Duo? What happened to your hands?"

Duo grinned. Yes, that was his mate, the mother hen. Everything would be okay again.

*-*-*-*-*-*

And outside, the storm started to quiet down...