'Thinking'
"Speaking" _-_ Time passing or scene change
Author's Notes: This is a gift fic for Sharon because it was in part inspired by the picture for the Moments of Rapture Fall 2003 "Fic for a Pic" contest. Thanks go out to Sunhawk for letting me bounce ideas off her and for offering some useful suggestions along the way. Feedback is appreciated.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Duo? I - Heero - you..."
"Wha...?"
"You... you need to come over, right *now*."
Dragged from the depths of a sound sleep by the ringing phone, it had taken Duo a few moments to recognize the shaky, panicky voice on the phone as Relena's. "Relena? What's wrong?" he demanded, already tossing back the covers and reaching for a pair of pants.
"I... Just come. Please, Duo � hurry. Heero needs you."
"Relena..." The dial tone told him there was no point continuing. He would have to just rush over to Relena's estate and deal with whatever was wrong when he got there. Glancing at the clock, he realized just what time it was. 'Shit, didn't know Heero planned on spending the night there... He should've been off party-escort-slash-bodyguard duty hours ago. Guess maybe Relena's finally making some headway with him after all... Though I'd have thought he'd have said something in that case... As far as I know, he only took escort duty to that party tonight � hell, *last* night now � because Une ordered him to... Ah, shit, I don't know what the fuck's going on...'
Despite the fact that he couldn't imagine Relena calling him at home over a security issue � she'd have just hit the panic button that went straight to Preventers Dispatch � Duo automatically strapped on his gun and knives and slid his picks into place at the base of his braid. He tossed a quick glance into Heero's empty room on his way out of their apartment. He didn't really expect him to magically be there, but force of habit was stronger than logic, and this whole thing was a bit surreal anyway.
Why would *Relena* call if *Heero* was the one who needed him? 'Hell, I have *no* fucking idea what's wrong; all I really know is that she said Heero needs me...'
And although it would be nice to have *some* idea what kind of goddamn mess he was walking into, the fact that his best friend needed him was all that Duo really needed to know.
_-_
"You did *WHAT*?!!" Duo bellowed in disbelief. Being met at the driveway by Relena � barefoot and in a filmy bathrobe, eyes wide and panic-stricken, face tear-stained, jaw beginning to bruise, hands wringing in agitation � had been disturbing enough. But alarming as that had been, it had certainly not prepared him for *this*. "Where the *hell* did you ever get such a fucking *stupid* idea?! What the fuck ever made you think for even one *second* that it would be a good idea to drug him and cuff him to the goddamn bed?!"
"I thought... There were all these stories about..."
"*Stories*?! About *what*, for god's sake?" Duo snapped, barely resisting the urge to pick the foolish girl up and shake her like a ragdoll.
"About... about using..." Relena's face flushed and she stammered out, "b...bondage... about using bondage to - uh - get past - c...control issues..."
Duo bit his tongue. *Hard*.
Carefully � reminding himself that he really needed her conscious and not hysterical or completely petrified with fear, that searching the entire mansion room by room would take too damn long � he forced himself to listen to her painfully stammered explanation. When she finally finished, he said disbelievingly, "Let me see if I understand this correctly. You nagged him into coming in and having a drink with you after his shift as your bodyguard. A *drugged* drink. Specifically, a drink drugged with one of the few things that actually *works* on Heero � though of course it *does* have the minor unfortunate side-effect of causing nightmares, flashbacks, hallucinations, and a damn nasty migraine but, hey, it does in fact manage to render him deeply unconscious and vulnerable for a couple of hours so what the hell, right? Then you chain him up and sit around in a negligee waiting for him to wake up. And of course, after all that, he's just going to magically stop being a control-freak and fall head over heels in love with you. Does that about cover it, Relena?"
"Yes..." she whispered hesitantly.
"And you don't see anything *wrong* with this picture?!! You're lucky he didn't break loose and snap your pretty little *neck*!!" Duo snarled viciously. He was highly tempted to wrap his hands around said neck and at the very least give her a damn good scare himself.
Relena murmured something so softly that Duo didn't quite catch it. "Repeat that, Relena. I don't think I could have heard you correctly."
"He t..tried. He c...couldn't � c...can't. The c...cuffs are G...Gundanium," she stuttered.
Duo felt his face settle into the cold fury of Shinigami and his voice went icy with tightly-held rage as he ordered, "Give me the key and show me the room, Relena. Now."
"Okay," she squeaked out. The last vestiges of colour drained from her face as she reached into her pocket and her hand came out empty. "Oh no..." she gasped. She turned her pocket inside out frantically. "I... it was here..."
"Just take me to Heero," Duo growled furiously. 'Before I give in to the urge and strangle you, you stupid, thoughtless child...'
_-_
"Holy *shit*," Duo whispered. He'd been prepared for things to be a mess but... "God, Heero..."
The door to the bedroom hung crazily from one bent hinge. Heero was nowhere to be seen, but the room was a disaster area. Cracked stone surrounding a deep hole bore witness to where the cuffs must have been fastened to the wall at the head of the bed. The rail at the foot of the brass bed was severely bent and a broken leather strap lay on the floor. Duo turned on Relena, horrified, and demanded, "You *shackled* him *too*?!"
She swallowed hard and nodded faintly, avoiding his eyes. Duo grabbed her chin and forced her to meet his narrowed gaze. "What else, Relena?"
Her trembling became fullscale shaking and she closed her eyes. "He w...was b...blindfolded. And I... He's... his clothes... uh, weren't here... And... uh... he, uh, didn't seem to... to recognize me... S...so I w...was af...fraid to l...let him l...loose..." She choked on the words and Duo released her, disgusted.
What a fucking *mess*. Heero was running around here somewhere, probably wearing nothing but the sheet that seemed to be missing from the bed and Gundanium cuffs and shackles, probably at least half out of his mind from the goddamned drugs. 'Hard to say where he'll go... Depends how much of the drug's still in his system, how rational he is... what he remembers...
'If he woke up - drugs still in his system � blindfolded, *naked* for god's sake, and restrained... Last thing he remembered would have probably been Relena and the party...
'But if he didn't recognize her voice... ah, crap, no wonder he fought so damn hard to get loose. Probably thought he'd let her down and they'd both been captured by someone... Shit... So the question is � how much has he figured out by now and what the hell is he likely to do? Where would he go?'
Too many unknowns there. It was too hard to predict Heero's actions; he'd have to track Heero rather than try to intercept him.
Duo grabbed a blanket off of the bed, hastily folding it and tucking it under one arm. He started down the hall, spotting tiny blood droplets that spattered the stone floor at irregular intervals. Relena followed him several strides before he spun and ordered sharply, "Stay the hell out of my way."
"But I want to help..."
"I think you've done quite enough already," he snarled, taking a single menacing step towards her. She shrank away from him and he noted the fear in her eyes with grim satisfaction. "Just stay out of my fucking sight, Relena. Or we'll *both* regret it." He had no intention of ending up in jail for assaulting the Vice Foreign Minister, and the urge to slap or shake some sense into the thoughtless young woman was getting pretty damn hard to resist.
'Heero liked her and *trusted* her, for god's sake. Okay, so maybe he wasn't head-over-heels in love with her the way she wanted him to be, but why the hell she would think that something like *this* would make things *better*...' He shook his head in revulsion and kept following the tiny traces Heero had left behind.
_-_
Duo crouched beside the storage shed and kept calling softly, "Hey, buddy, you in there? S'okay now, Heero; it's just me, Duo. C'mon out and we'll get you out of those damn things." He knew damn well that Heero was in there; he could just barely hear him breathe if he held his own breath. But coaxing didn't seem to be working. Time for a change of strategy.
"01, *status*!" he snapped sharply, keeping his voice pitched low.
There was an agonizingly long moment of silence during which Duo tried to figure out another approach if this one didn't work. Then, shakily, a voice asked, "02?"
'Thank god...' "Affirmative, 01. Status?"
"Not � sure."
"I'm coming in," Duo warned.
He waited for the quiet "Acknowledged," in response before opening the door and slipping inside. He wasn't surprised to be immediately and violently shoved against the wall, chain pressing threateningly against his neck and cutting off his breath. Duo held perfectly still, waiting for Heero to reach a decision.
Heero had pinned him in the best-lit corner of the darkened garden shed. The small window at the shed's far end allowed a bit of illumination from the floodlights that blanketed the estate grounds to sneak inside. Since the light source was behind Heero, his face was hidden by shadow. Duo couldn't tell whether Heero had recognized him yet or not.
"Duo..." The chain dropped from his neck. "Off, get them *off*!"
The desperate urgency in that demand drove Duo's fingers into quick motion. Yanking his picks from his braid, he gently tugged Heero's wrists into the weak light and went to work with swift efficiency. The locks themselves weren't overly complicated, but he wasn't surprised that Heero hadn't managed to get them open himself. Without the proper tools, it would be a slow, awkward task and he wasn't sure that Heero's hands would even have held a pick if he'd had one.
Heero's wrists were bloody and puffy, his hands swollen and scraped. His skin was cold and clammy, and Duo strongly suspected he was going into shock. Careful though Duo was, Heero flinched and his breath caught sharply as Duo worked on the left cuff. 'Shit, that wrist is *broken*. And I dunno about the right one, it's sprained at the very least...' Duo's mouth tightened angrily as he worked.
Once he had the cuffs off, Duo tossed them to the floor. "Just a sec and I'll take care of the rest," he promised. He picked up the blanket that he'd dropped when Heero had grabbed him earlier and shook it out over Heero's shoulders, wrapping it around him snugly. "You want to sit down while I get these off?" he asked as he dropped to the floor.
"No."
"Okay." No real surprise there, Heero would feel less vulnerable standing than sitting.
Getting the shackles off took longer than removing the cuffs had. Duo had to work almost entirely by feel; the dim light in the shed was nonexistent at floor level and the fact that Heero was shivering violently didn't exactly help matters. But he wasn't about to suggest leaving the shed's shelter without Heero being completely free first.
Finally the last lock gave way with a sharp click and Duo laid the shackles on top of the discarded cuffs. He rose slowly, careful not to startle Heero. A glance at the awkwardly-knotted sheet around Heero's waist confirmed that it should stay put long enough for them to get out of here.
"You with me, buddy?" he asked worriedly, resting one hand carefully on Heero's shoulder. "You remember where we are and what's going on?" Heero was definitely shocky; his colour was poor and his skin cold and clammy. His breathing was too fast; Duo suspected that his pulse was weak and rapid but Heero's wrists were in no shape to check and Duo wasn't about to put his hands anywhere near Heero's throat at the moment.
"We're at... at the... the Vice Foreign Minister's estate." Heero shuddered, then continued, "Not � sure what happened � before. Confusing. Relena..." His brow furrowed with concentration.
"Relena is fine. Safe." Duo bit the words off sharply, carefully not adding the qualifier that her safety was only guaranteed as long as she stayed the hell out of his sight. Especially now that he'd seen how badly Heero had injured himself in his desperation to escape.
"Safe? Then what... How..." Heero flicked a glance towards the pile of restraints and shuddered again.
Duo caught his eyes and asked grimly, "You sure you want to know right now? I don't think you're tracking too well yet, buddy."
Heero swallowed convulsively, then shook his head fractionally. "No. Later." He paused, then asked again, "She's safe?"
"Yeah. You're the only one who got hurt." Duo didn't think Relena's bruised jaw counted. He figured she'd got off pretty damn lightly under the circumstances. She had no idea just how much *worse* this could have been.
Duo shrugged out of his long drover's coat and held it out to Heero. "Put this on," he ordered. He was relieved that Heero didn't even hesitate, dropping the blanket and sliding his arms into the sleeves. He fumbled with the buttons but Duo left him alone, knowing that, in Heero's place, he would rather struggle on his own than be babied. While Heero was doing that, Duo bundled the cuffs and shackles into the blanket for transport. He didn't know what, if anything, Heero intended to do about this whole mess but he wasn't about to leave *that* kind of thing behind. 'Shit � the clothes he was wearing tonight and his wallet and weapons...'
"You okay for now? Or should we wrap those lacerations before we leave?" he asked as Heero finally managed to finish buttoning up the coat.
"Leave. I just want to *leave*."
"Let's go, then." Duo opened the shed door and waved Heero through it. He cupped a steadying hand under Heero's elbow, not happy about his friend's bare feet but knowing that at least one of them had to stay respectably dressed in case they were challenged. He'd been in such a hurry after Relena's call that he'd crammed his shoes on without any socks, so he couldn't even give Heero *those*.
He headed them across the grounds towards his car, prepared to bluff his way through any challenges with a flash of his Preventer's badge and a tale about testing security. Security's complete failure to notice the two of them running around the place made him wonder whether maybe Relena had already given the guards some sort of story. Heero had trained Relena's estate security himself; Duo couldn't imagine them being *this* sloppy.
Duo dumped the bundle of restraints in his trunk and helped Heero into the car. He crouched down beside him for a moment. "Listen, buddy, I'll be right back. I'm just gonna get your stuff, okay? Just wait here for me." He waited for a tiny nod of acknowledgement before giving Heero's knee a gentle squeeze and standing. Closing the car door, he turned towards the house. His Preventers' passcard opened the front door and he headed back to the trashed room, hoping that he would find Heero's things there or nearby. If not, he'd have to find Relena and ask what she'd done with them.
"Maybe you're not a *complete* idiot after all, Relena," he muttered as he reached the room and discovered that Heero's clothing was now piled neatly on the bed, weapons on top of the pile and shoes on the floor below. He had no idea how the hell Relena was going to explain the damaged wall and door, let alone the bent footrail, to her staff, and frankly, as long as she didn't tell the truth, he didn't care. 'And I seriously doubt she'll be telling anyone the real story. She was *way* out of line. Hell, if she was anyone else, Heero'd be filing charges along about now...'
But since it was Relena, Duo doubted that he would do that. She deserved to be charged � she didn't set out to hurt Heero, but she'd done something damn stupid and she *had* hurt him. But Duo really doubted she'd ever do something quite so *dumb* again and prosecuting her would only create all kinds of problems in the government, potentially even threaten the delicate balance of power. He didn't think Heero would be willing to take that kind of chance.
He took one more look at the cracked stone wall, something inside him twisting painfully at the amount of panicked strength it had taken to rip a spike out of *that*, then gathered up Heero's things and left.
_-_
"I know your head's probably splitting by now, Heero, so I'll keep this simple. You've got two choices. Either I call Sally and we meet her at the Preventers' clinic or we drive an hour and a half to the nearest doc affiliated with the Sweepers, let him take a look at you. Your wrists are a real mess and your ankles aren't much better; you're gonna need them cleaned up. You'll have to have x-rays, and then god knows what else. What's it going to be?"
Duo was *certain* that Heero's left wrist was broken; these weren't injuries that he could just take care of with a little disinfectant and some gauze. They needed professional treatment. But if they were going all the way to the Sweepers doc � as he suspected they would be � he'd have to stop at their apartment and get Heero properly dressed and something hot and nourishing into his system first.
"I don't want..."
"Heero, I didn't ask what you *wanted*. You have to see a doctor, period. I'm just giving you a choice as to which one." He hesitated, then added, "Sally's going to insist on knowing exactly what happened and filing a report; I think we can pretty much count on that. Doc Sloan � well, he's used to not asking too many questions; Sweepers get themselves in some pretty odd messes when they get planetside leave after a long time in space."
"Doc Sloan then," Heero conceded reluctantly.
"That's what I figured," Duo grumbled. "Good thing neither of us is supposed to be on duty today." The rising sun was already beginning to tint the horizon with shades of red and orange. 'How's that old saying go? "Red sun in the morning, sailors take warning... " Seems appropriate; somehow I don't think we're going to be seeing any smooth sailing for a while...'
_-_
The silence in the car wasn't unexpected, but it still worried Duo. Once they'd started the drive to Doc Sloan's office, Heero had finally asked Duo exactly what had happened. That, too, was not unexpected. He'd known that once Heero was warm, secure, and over the worst effects of the drugs, he would want the details. Duo had given him as much as he'd found out from Relena along with what he'd observed for himself. He just wasn't sure how Heero was going to react to it now that he knew.
"I don't understand," Heero said finally, his words a mere breath of a whisper. "She thought � I wouldn't � or couldn't � admit to being in love with her because I had 'control issues'." His voice was a heartbreaking mix of bewilderment, hurt, and anger. Volume rising as he spoke, he continued, "She thought I didn't � trust her � enough to let her have that much control over me... How the *hell* was what she did supposed to make things *better*?!"
"I don't know, Heero. I don't pretend to understand her reasoning; all I can do is tell you what she said. That she'd 'read stories' that used bondage to overcome 'control issues'. I mean, I've *heard* of that kind of stuff before, sure. It's just � not something that I've ever thought too much about. Using something like restraints, something that'd give me flashbacks of being repeatedly and painfully beaten half to death, just isn't something I think I'd ever get off on, so I've never done any research on the subject. I guess maybe, for some people, it works. But one thing I'm pretty sure of is that both parties have to *agree* to that kind of thing if it's done right. You sure as hell didn't agree; you didn't even get *asked*.
"I really don't think that Relena did any actual research on the subject. From what she said, she just took a few ideas from whatever it was that she'd read and � improvised." Duo shrugged and stole a quick sidelong glance at Heero's virtually expressionless face. He winced internally at the sight. Regardless of Relena's intentions, what she'd actually accomplished was the undoing of *years* of *his* careful, patient work at drawing his best friend out of his tightly closed-off shell. Work that he'd started out of love for his best friend but that, somewhere along the way, had had the unexpected side-effect of him falling *in* love with Heero. He hadn't even noticed when it happened; he'd only just realized that it *had*.
_-_
The door into the tiny examination room opened. Duo broke off his conversation with a couple of old acquaintances waiting to see the doctor and stood. "All set?" he asked as Heero exited the room, one wrist wrapped and taped, the other in a cast.
"Yes. The doctor wants to talk to you before we leave."
Duo frowned thoughtfully as Heero continued out of the office. 'He's limping a bit, wonder if that's an ankle problem or just his feet from running around barefoot earlier...'
"Duo?" Doc Sloan waved him towards the privacy of the exam room. As soon as Duo entered, the doctor handed him a prescription. "I told him this already but I'm not sure how much of it really registered.
"He needs to take the full course of antibiotics. I prescribed pain meds as well, but if he's anything like *you*, I know he won't end up taking them. And watch the cut on the sole of his right foot, I cleaned and stitched it but it's going to need this," he tapped the prescription with his glasses, "applied regularly. Same with the raw areas on his ankles and wrists; I used one of those removable prefabricated casts because of that."
Doc put on his glasses and glared at Duo. "He didn't tell me what happened and I know better than to pry, but he's pretty shaken. Keep an eye on him. He needs to take it easy; he has hairline fractures in a number of bones in both hands and that right wrist is fractured as well as sprained but he wouldn't let me cast it, just the broken one.
"The pain meds have an anti-inflammatory ingredient; he's strained or pulled a lot of muscles so he's going to be damn sore for a while. He really should take the pain meds, at least for the first few days and at night. He's probably going to have trouble sleeping; is there any point giving him a prescription for a sedative, even just a mild one?"
"No," Duo answered without even having to consider it. Sedatives and nightmares were a bad mix; the nightmares came regardless of the sedatives but the sedatives didn't allow you to wake up from the nightmares. And former Gundam pilots had nightmares; there was no question about it. 'Plus after being drugged like that, Heero's going to react even worse to that kind of thing than before. Sedatives are *definitely* out.'
"Figured as much," Doc snorted. "Off with you, then, boy. And next time you visit, it better be purely for the hell of it, not for my professional services, young man."
Duo grinned sheepishly and gave the old man a back-slapping hug before darting out the door. He called over his shoulder, "Thanks, Doc!" and received a dismissive wave in response. Doc Sloan had patched him up lots of times before, during, *and* after the war. He preferred coming all the way out here to letting Sally work on him.
Doc Sloan had been one of the medical doctors working with G during Duo's training and he *knew* all of Duo's sensitivities and issues. Doc never failed to be completely upfront with him and the old man was considerably less by-the-book than Sally Po. He wouldn't shove medication down your throat just because it was the textbook response to a situation. If you didn't want sedatives, you didn't get them. If you didn't want pain meds, well, he'd prescribe them anyway � just in case � but he wouldn't practically force them down your throat or nag at you to take them. He handled Duo a lot like Duo handled Heero, actually.
'Push just enough to show I care - then back off. Be there if I'm needed, but don't be a pain in the ass. When he's ready for help, when he needs me, he'll let me know.'
_-_
Duo pulled into the pharmacy parking lot and turned his head towards Heero. "Thought I'd drop off your prescriptions to be filled, then we can grab a bite of lunch. After we eat, we pick 'em up and head back," he explained. "That okay?" he asked as he started to open his car door.
"No."
Duo pulled his door shut again. "Uh, okay. I'm flexible. What do you want to do?"
"I don't want to go back."
"Err..." Duo blinked and stared at Heero's stubborn, wary face in shock. 'He's all set for me to argue with him on this. Not gonna happen, buddy. If that's what you want, we'll figure it out...'
Duo took a deep breath and blew it out in a loud whoosh. "Ooookay. That's � gonna require a *lot* of flexibility... Uh, how about we do the prescriptions-and-lunch bit and you can explain what you want to do instead while we eat, okay?" He grinned wryly as Heero's expression changed to one of relief. Leaning over, he put his hand on Heero's shoulder and squeezed gently. "How many times do I have to tell you? Best friends. Whatever you need from me, you've got it." Even if it was only being best friends, never anything more.
