On the Run - part 2

by KatiKat

Note: A big thank you to everybody, who liked the story and sent reviews. You´re great, folks! J

Heero submerged his hand in the water in the wooden tub to make sure it was only luke warm. He wanted to warm Duo up and not scald him. After checking the temperature, he turned back to the bed where the lifebearer was laying naked. For a second he stopped, his gaze traveling up and down the unnaturally pale figure.

Duo´s ribs were sticking out, just like his hip bones. He hadn´t eaten for too long already. During their monthly bleeding, the lifebearers weren´t allowed to eat solid food because their weakened system wouldn´t be able to process it. The second reason was the risk of infection resulting from the place where their birth organs were located. The only nutrition the lifebearers could consume was a strong tea or a mild broth. But since they were on the run, it was impossible to cook a broth or anything similar, which meant that Duo had been virtually living on water and tea for almost a week now. And it was showing. Very much. When Heero expressed his concern about Duo´s condition, Trowa assured him that the lifebearer´s system was used to dealing with such burden, though he had to admit that it was quickly becoming too much to handle for the longhaired young man. And coupled with the major blood loss that came with the bleeding that wouldn´t stop...

Heero swallowed painfully, stepped to the bed and lifted Duo in his arms. The lifebearer was feather light, nothing but bones and skin. The pale skin was ice cold but even though the room was slowly warming up, it was still pretty cold and Duo wasn´t even shivering. Heero´s heart clenched seeing the blood that marred the flawless skin of the longhaired man´s thighs.

Damn it to hell! Heero would NOT lose him! He refused to lose him so shortly after finally finding him again. If he had to move the earth and sky, he would, but he would keep him.

Heero moved closer to the bathtub that stood in front of the fireplace. Slowly, carefully, he lowered his love into the water. Although it was only luke warm, the pale figure in his arms still flinched and gasped as he was submerged. The water immediatelly started to turn pink.

Heero frowned. After letting Duo´s legs sink completely into the water, he pulled up the sleeve on his left arm which he used to keep the lifebearer upright, then he made sure that the long rope of hair was hanging over the edge of the tub and not getting soaked. He reached over to a small wooden chair on which the owner´s sons left a wash-cloth and a sliver of soap. When he turned back again, he almost gasped in surprise. Duo´s eyes were open and were following his moves sluggishly.

"Hey there," Heero whispered, dropping the cloth into the tub and lifting his hand to push the bangs out of the pale man´s eyes. "You´re awake now?"

Duo blinked again and licked his dry, chapped lips. "Yeah," he croaked out. "Where...?" he asked, his eyes moving around the room slowly, while his head lay heavily on the Enforcer´s strong arm.

"We´re in Dartville. Trowa found us an inn," Heero answered, then found the wash-cloth in the water and started to wash Duo´s skin slowly.

The lifebearer gasped as if Heero was hurting him, but when the Enforcer wanted to stop, with a small protesting sound, Duo encouraged him to continue and so the blue eyed man went on.

"Where... Tro...?" Duo whispered again, sounding incredibly tired. His eyelids started to droop again.

Heero washed Duo´s chest, then his arms. "He just stepped out for a minute." When Duo blinked and looked at him, the Enforcer continued. "He wants to try another tea since the one you´re drinking is obviously not working. The bleeding still won´t stop. Trowa thinks that maybe it´s just fatigue. Your body is simply too tired to handle the added stress anymore. He is convinced that the only thing you need is rest. Really long, uninterrupted rest." Heero nodded firmly, replacing 'thinks' with 'convinced'. ´He is convinced´ sounded much more reassuring than ´he is not really sure what´s wrong with you´, Heero thought.

Duo nodded slowly, then let his eyes roam around the room again. After a while he frowned. "Shini... gami...?" he asked, trying to find the beast he loved so much.

Heero sighed. "He ran away in the woods." The lifebearer gave him a worried look. "No need to worry, really. He´ll be okay. He can take care of himself. I´m sure he´ll be back before we know it."

Duo eyed him, still a little doubtful but any other conversation got interrupted by Trowa´s return. The healer stepped into the room, carrying a tray with various steaming bowls on it, then closed the door. Walking to the table, he noticed the longhaired man following him with his eyes, while Heero ran the thin wash-cloth over the lifebearer´s body.

"I see our patient is awake," Trowa said, setting the tray down on the table. "Perfect timing." He puttered around on the tray a bit, then walked to the tub and laid his hand on Duo´s cheek. The longhaired man was getting some color back. At the same time, the lifebearer began to shiver a bit. "You´re starting to warm up and beginning to feel again, that´s why you´re shivering," Trowa explained when Duo´s question didn´t pass through his chattering teeth.

Heero looked at his long time friend. "Maybe we should get him out then?" he asked. As an Enforcer he knew a lot about cleaning and sewing wounds caused by teeth, claws or sharp knives and hypothermia was not something completely unknown to him but... this was Duo and some small part of him needed to be reassured that he was doing it right.

Trowa nodded and helped Heero get their now shaking patient out of the tub. With joined forces, they dried him with the towels that came with the wash-cloth and the soap, dressed Duo in a warm shirt and underwear with fresh padding, then tucked him into the soft bed. The whole time the lifebearer
hung in their arms like a lifeless doll, his eyes almost closed, leaving only a small sliver of white and violet for everybody to see.

"No, no, no," Trowa said in a firm voice, when Duo closed his eyes and started to fall asleep. "First you have to eat something. We have to get some nutrition into you." With that, he returned to the table and took one of the white porcelain bowls in his hands. He took off the lid and immediately, the room was filled with the smell of chicken broth. When he returned to the bed, Heero had already propped Duo up and pushed two more pillows behind his back, so that he was almost sitting. The shaking did subside a bit, but he was still shivering unnaturally. Unfortunately, he didn´t look much more awake than a moment ago.

"Here," the healer said, pushing the bowl and a spoon into Heero's hands. "He has to eat it all."

Heero nodded. After the first spoonful, Duo tried to turn away, making a protesting sound deep in his throat. His body wasn´t used to eating anymore. But they had to force it to remember how to do it. No protesting helped and so, spoon after spoon, the small bowl of broth disappeared into Duo. It took quite some time, but with Heero´s infinite patience and warm encouragement it went down and fortunately stayed down, too.

When Duo swallowed the last bit of broth, Heero smiled at him - the first true smile in a small eternity. The Enforcer laid the spoon in the bowl, then reached out and smoothed the hair from Duo´s forehead. The lifebearer tried to smile, too, then blinked and his eyes closed.

Heero sat there for a long time just watching his charge sleep. His left hand still rested on the now slightly feverish brow, the other clutched the bowl so tightly that it threatened to break.

"He will be all right," whispered Trowa from behind him, letting his hand fall onto the Enforcer´s shoulder.

Heero swallowed painfully, then dropped his left hand into his lap. "How do you know?" he rasped, a world of anxiety in his voice. "Even after losing the baby he wasn't in such a bad state." He paused, then took a deep breath. "I´m afraid, Trowa," he admitted quietly. "I´m scared that I´ll lose him. I can´t lose him. He is... he is all I have..." His voice broke at the end of the sentence.

"I won´t let him die. I swear," the healer said in a serious voice, squeezing Heero´s shoulder tightly. "Now that we got him somewhere warm and safe, he can rest and gather strength. That´s what he needs the most." He let his eyes linger on the prone form of his friend, then continued. "Until now, I handled him like a normal lifebearer who got his bleeding, quite heavy ones, but that´s all. Obviously, I was wrong. Maybe I should think about him as ill. I tried a different concoction. One I used to stop heavy bleeding from wounds. I mixed it into the soup. I didn´t use it before since it´s quite powerful and may  cause a fever. Besides the patient needs to move as little as possible and you know yourself how we spent the past week. But now..."

Heero sat there for a moment, then nodded and cleared his throat as if embarassed by his own display of emotions. "I... I understand."

As if sensing how uncomfortable the whole situation was for Heero, Trowa let his hand drop from his friend´s shoulder and returned to the table. "We should eat, too, before it gets cold." Pointedly, he turned his back to Heero, letting the Enforcer gather his emotions. "Warrick´s mate cooked us some stew..."

Heero nodded even though his friend couldn´t see him. The Enforcer got up, the spoon slightly clattering in the bowl. He bent down and smoothed Duo´s wrinkled covers, then touched one of the lifebearer´s now flushed cheeks with the tips of his fingers.

Yeah, Duo would get better soon. And then they would begin their new life somewhere safe.

*-*-*-*-*-*

Trowa yawned as he was descending the steps to the inn´s main room, the spoons clattering a bit on the tray he was carrying. He couldn´t wait to get to bed. Heero already fell asleep sitting at the table, head resting on his arms. The healer decided to carry the tray down and ask for a kettle with fresh water that he could hang over the fire in their room. Soon it would be time for another cup of his concoction, so he should have the water ready.

He reached the foot of the staircase, then turned to the left where the bald bartender was nodding off behind the bar. Trowa didn´t even notice that it was already evening. The blizzard was still raging outside and the inn was still empty. The healer wondered how Warrick held his business above water during winter. Dartville was a small town that lived only from the small port the merchants used for trading with the people from the mountains. Small fields surrounded the town, but the harvest was meager and the only source of income were the sailors. And in winter...

Trowa set the tray on the bar and was about to wake Warrick, when he heard a scratching, whining sound at the door. Frowning, he looked at the door, then back to the bartender, who was still sleeping soundly. When the strange sounds continued, he moved closer and was about to lay his hand on the bolt, when there was a knock… well, rather a strong kick at the door.

Warrick´s head shot up and he blinked sleepily. "What the...?"

"Open the door!" came a muffled shout from behind the strong hardwood door.

Trowa laid his hand on the knife on his belt, then pushed back the bolt, ignoring Warrick´s loud protests. There was a blizzard outside after all and no one without a really good reason would be outside at this hour. He opened the door and needed to step aside, as a big black blur on four legs rushed in – Shinigami, the healer registered with a sigh of relief – followed by a tall man, to whom another figure clung desperately. The room filled with the wheezing, crying sound of the ice cold wind, but even over the eerie howl, Trowa heard the man shout.

"We need help!"

TBC