---------------------
     On the Wagon
~ A Moment of Haven ~
---------------------
	"Duo...?"

	"What?" Duo answered dully.  With his bed handily inclined, he 
kept his eyes fixed on the IV drip the doctor had adjusted.  His dosage 
had been dramatically decreased, very soon to be stopped altogether, and 
very much so against the doctor's recommendations, but the fact that he 
was still being dosed at all with the hated drugs made his skin crawl in 
revulsion.  Or perhaps that was just the drugs.

	Heero uncharacteristically fiddled with the cell phone in his 
hands before responding, trying to shake off the air of guilt he felt 
from thinking so practically in a time such as this.  "Do you think you 
could talk to Quatre for a bit?  I think he'd be reassured if he could 
hear your voice."

	"Quatre?"  Duo wasn't feeling *that* fuzzy.  What did Quatre 
have to do with anything?

	"He heard... about the situation.  Apparently Wufei had some way 
of finding out what happened.  He gave me a call not long after you were 
transferred to the ICU.  I briefed him, asked him to tell the others.  
Told him I'd keep him updated.  When I stepped out just now, I checked 
my voice mail, and Quatre had called.  I think he'd like to hear from 
you... if you want.  I cleared it with the doctors.  You're not in need 
of constant monitoring."  Yet, he added mentally.  "So as long as we 
keep it short and away from the equipment, it'll be fine..."  He trailed 
off before it seemed like he was babbling.

	Ulterior motives abounded.  Maybe talking to Quatre would cheer 
him up a bit, since there didn't seem to be much that Heero could do 
that could accomplish that at the moment.  If nothing else, Quatre would 
be cheered by hearing Duo's voice.  Heero didn't want to push the issue, 
but if the phone call was to be made, now was the time to do it.  Quatre 
would not be reassured at all to hear Duo in the throes of withdrawal.

	Duo blinked, sighed, and nodded after a few moments, so Heero 
flipped open his phone and dialed, knwoing it would be late evening at 
Quatre's home.  The businessman would be retired for the evening, but 
not yet prepared to sleep.

	"Heero?  How is he?" Quatre asked without much ado.

	He wished he could find a good way to answer that question.  All 
things considered, Duo was doing very well, but what had passed was 
hardly what was weighing on Heero's mind.  No, he was worried about the 
present and the future.  "Why don't you ask him yourself?" he dodged, 
holding the phone out to his partner.

	Duo reached up to take it with his left hand, frowned when he 
realized that there was a needle stuck in his skin, then switched to his 
right.  "Hey, Q," he greeted, his usual enthusiasm and energy somewhat 
lacking, although the effort was made to cover that.

	"Duo?  I heard what happened.  I'm glad to hear you're okay."

	"Yeah, well, what could keep me down?"  Maybe it was Heero's 
imagination, but he thought he detected a faint undercurrent of 
bitterness there beneath the light tone.

	"When will you be able to go home?"

	"Oh, a few days, they say," Duo answered imprecisely.  More 
accurately, it would probably be closer to five or six days, if his 
withdrawal symptoms peaked as expected in the next forty-eight to 
seventy-two hours.  "I just have to wait for all this crap to clear out 
of my system, is all."

	"You're going to go crazy, locked up in there, aren't you?"

	"Yup, going a little crazy is definitely on the menu."  Only he 
meant, crazy in a drug-induced, quite nearly certain there really were 
spiders crawling all over his skin, sort of way.

	"Well, I'm sure Heero will find some way to keep you distracted, 
for his own sanity, if nothing else."

	He frowned faintly.  "Great.  'Cuz you know how much of an upper 
Yuy can be."

	"I wish I could invite you to give me a call when you get bored, 
but I guess that, with the equipment and all, you probably aren't 
allowed, are you?"

	"I dunno.  Heero managed to get me a few minutes just now, but I 
wouldn't count on him being able to charm the docs on a regular basis.  
Actually, I wouldn't count on that as a one-time thing, either, if it 
hadn't already happened the once.  Anyway, speaking of, I'm probably 
hitting the end of my time limit, so I'm gonna hand the phone back to 
Heero, okay?  I'll call you again when I get out of here."

	"Alright, Duo.  Take care.  I'll absolutely be expecting you to 
call, so you better, okay?"

	"You got it, Q-ball.  Maxwell out."  Despite the bantering tone 
he had used to carry out the conversation, Duo held the phone out 
disinterestedly in his partner's direction when he was finished.  There 
was no reason for their fingers to brush during the exchange.

	Heero took it with an odd reluctance and informed Duo softly 
that he would take it outside before he exited the room.  "Hello?" he 
said into the receiver, wandering a little away from Duo's door.

	"Heero?"  Quatre's tone of voice had changed as well.  His brief 
conversation had been upbeat, but now he settled into a more concerned 
role.  Duo had been distinctly less chatty than usual.  It was hard to 
miss.  "Is Duo really alright?"

	Heero tilted the phone away from his mouth for a moment so he 
could exhale slowly in a silent sigh.  "He'll be alright.  He's a tough 
guy.  This will be nothing."

	"I'm hearing the future tense in that sentence, Heero.  What's 
his condition right now?  And how does he really feel about being in the 
hospital for the next few days?"

	He ran his free hand through his bangs, only absently 
registering that that was becoming a bad habit.  He reassured himself 
that he would be able to stop any time he wanted.  "Right now, he's 
fine.  In a day or two, he's going to crash from the withdrawal, and 
then after that, he'll be fine again.  As for how he feels...."

	Quatre finished the thought when Heero trailed off into another 
tired sigh.  "I know he can't be happy about it.  He hates hospitals and 
doctors.  Is he taking that out on you?"

	"Hn.  Not without reason.  I..."  He experienced the uncommon 
urge to talk to someone about the matter, and failing his regular 
discussion partner, he decided to go ahead and let Quatre know what had 
passed between them.  "I made a decision regarding Duo's treatment that 
he wouldn't have made himself.  He's not particularly happy with me 
right now."

	"What do you mean?"

	It took another deep breath for him to convince himself to go 
into more detail.  "Duo has a violent distaste for narcotic substances.  
I should have realized he would be displeased that I chose the safer 
route, to ease him off the drug gradually rather than doing it all at 
once."

	Quatre hissed in delicate understanding of the matter.  He could 
figure out what 'violent distaste' meant when applied to Duo's behavior.  
"Oh my.  He's holding a grudge against you for that?"

	"I wouldn't call it a grudge," he hedged mildly.  That made it 
sound petty.  While he didn't understand why Duo had such a hard time 
accepting his decision, he didn't have as much of a difficult time 
understanding Duo's anger.  He was a little angry at himself as well.

	"Don't apologize for him, Heero.  I'm not saying that one of you 
is right and one of you is wrong, but you made a decision, and it was 
made in good faith, and it wasn't even anything permanent, right?  Duo 
was able to make his own decision as soon as he was conscious enough to 
do so.  You didn't make a 'wrong' decision for him; you just held the 
fort down until he could do it for himself.  You don't have to feel 
guilty about that, Heero."

	"I'm not--"  He stopped himself from denying it.  There was no 
point in the face of Quatre's perception.  "It doesn't matter, Quatre.  
I made the decision, and I still stick by it, no matter what Duo thinks.  
Given the same situation--"  Given the same heart-pounding fear that 
came with the possibility of Duo's death.  "--I'd make the same decision 
again.  Based on the circumstances, it was the decision to make.  But 
that doesn't make him any less angry at me."

	"He'll get over it, Heero.  For all you know, it could be just 
the drugs in his system--"

	"No.  No, it's not."  No point in denying that, either.  Duo had 
been coherent enough before he had found out what was in his drip.  "I 
know him, Quatre.  This... this is how he would react, drugs or not."

	"I was merely offering an alternative," Quatre soothed.  "I 
don't think it's the drugs, either.  And I get the feeling that even 
mentioning anything of the sort in Duo's presence would be a very unwise 
idea.  Nevertheless, he's being unfair if he's angry you made a decision 
based on your concern for his welfare.  He's probably just upset with 
the situation in general."

	"That doesn't make him any less angry," Heero repeated.  "And 
now is certainly not the time to argue it with him."

	"Heero..."

	"Don't worry about us, Quatre.  It'll work itself out."  One way 
or another.

	"I'm sure it will.  I can't see much of anything breaking your 
friendship if you don't want it to."

	Heero supposed that, in a sense, he was glad this had nothing to 
do with any of the new facets of their relationship.  So far, that 
decision had not proved wrong.  "If any of the others contact you, can 
you let them know how things are going?  I don't think Duo will be in 
any mood to talk for the next couple of days, and I'll be staying with 
him, so my cell will be off.  I'll be checking my messages, though."

	"Of course."

	The conversation ended with a few more vague reassurances that 
did little to ease the concerns of either of them.

	After speaking to Quatre, Heero took a few moments for himself, 
and then re-entered Duo's room.  The bed-bound figure had managed to 
angle the head of his bed a couple more notches in an attempt to avoid 
the sensation of an invalid status.  His eyes flickered in Heero's 
direction, then turned away again in dismissal.  Instead, he fiddled 
with the remote control for the television in his room.

	Heero seated himself gingerly in the chair by Duo's bedside, 
silent as he watched Duo flip through channels.  Finding nothing on that 
captured his attention, Duo turned the monitor off and tossed the remote 
back on to his bedside table.  "What are you still doing here?" he 
asked, arms crossing over his chest.  Once again, his IV line got in the 
way before he could complete his intended move, and he took out his 
irritation on his partner.  "Aren't visiting hours over?"

	Heero nodded, getting that familiarly queasy feeling inside, 
knowing Duo was about to have something else to be miffed about.  "I 
talked the staff into letting me stay."

	Duo cast him a glare beneath a raised brow.  "Oh?  And how did 
you manage that?  Not by the force of your overwhelming charm, I 
presume."

	A muscle in his jaw twitched.  While he understood that Duo was 
upset with him and the situation, the snippiness was getting to him.  He 
found that he couldn't ignore it as easily as he once did.  "Someone 
should be staying with you through this.  I convinced them not to waste 
a staff member on it and let me do it instead."

	In retrospect, perhaps 'waste' hadn't been the best choice of 
words.  "So, what, I need a babysitter now?"

	Duo was misunderstanding him, and deliberately, he thought.  He 
took a breath to dispel the frustration, and chose his words with a 
little more care.  "Doing it this way, you'll need someone to sit with 
you, for whatever might happen.  Not everything will necessarily be 
something the machines can detect and monitor, so you'll need someone 
that can keep track of what needs doing."

	"Uh-huh.  And you elected yourself because you're just *so* good 
at knowing what I need and want, right?"

	That was justified, but still painful.  "I know you, Duo."  And 
he knew that no matter how much Duo might protest otherwise, Duo would 
prefer him over some random stranger on the medical staff.  "Regardless 
of whether or not you like me right now, I can read you better than 
anyone else.  Can you honestly say you'd prefer one of those vacuous 
nurses by your side?"

	He could see that Duo was on the verge of saying 'yes', but 
couldn't bring himself to finish the action.  That was nice to know, but 
not unexpected.  It would have been very disturbing if Duo had gone 
ahead with it.  From the way his eyes narrowed, however, Duo made it 
very clear that he wished it were otherwise.

	"You won't even have to talk to me, Duo," he said, repressing 
another sigh.  He reached down to the black faux leather carrying case 
on the ground beside him, putting it in his lap as he unzipped it and 
extracted the slim machine within.  "Here, I brought your laptop."

	Duo took it warily and set it down on his bed.  "And here I 
thought that was yours."

	He wasn't sure whether that had been a conciliatory attempt at 
conversation, or a criticism on the ubiquity of his computer, so he 
treated the statement neutrally.  "I brought mine as well.  You would 
hardly want me staring at you the whole time, now would you?"

	Duo snorted, then added a roll of the eyes and a shake of the 
head for good measure.

	Well, that was better than no reaction at all.  "I also raided 
the gift store.  They had a few books, though I'm not sure you'd want to 
read them.  A lot of them seemed to be medical-related, fiction or 
otherwise.  They had some cards, too," he added, pulling a deck out from 
his jacket pocket and setting it on the bedside table.  He reached down 
to pull something else out of a pocket in the laptop's carrying case.  
"And a book of crosswords.  They had a couple of coloring books as well, 
which I thought you might get a kick out of, but they didn't seem to 
have any crayons.  I'm sure I could hunt some down in the pediatric ward 
or something if you really wanted...."

	Duo had picked up the deck of cards, and was fingering the box 
carefully.  "This brings back memories," he murmured.  "In a reversed 
sort of way."

	Yes, only Heero hadn't been as irritable during his period of 
neurochemical adjustment.  Then again, he hadn't been deeply and morally 
opposed to an excess of neurotransmitters in his brain.  "We haven't 
played for a long time."

	"Heero..."  He let his partner's name linger in the air for a 
few expectant seconds before continuing.  "Why do I still have a needle 
stuck in my skin?"

	That hadn't been quite what Heero had anticipated, but he 
supposed he had sort of expected the unexpected.  He dealt with it with 
his usual aplomb.  "The nurse said she would be in to remove it.  I 
asked before I called Quatre.  ...But I suppose we can just take it out 
now and claim someone already took care of it."

	Figuring they might as well do things properly while they were 
in a fully-stocked medical facility, he stood, found some sterile gauze 
in a cabinet, and then came back to hold out his hand.  A moment passed 
in which he thought Duo might refuse and try to take it out himself, but 
Duo capitulated, and gave his hand into Heero's care.  Heero accepted 
the responsibility solemnly, peeling off first the transparent membrane 
covering the insertion site, then the two pieces of tape holding the 
needle in place.  Positioning his gauze, he carefully slid the needle 
out and applied pressure, lingering over the feel of Duo's hand in his.  
It was cold.  Heero was thinking of what he could do about that when 
Duo's voice pulled him back to the present.

	"Heero.  Dump the needle."  Duo's eyes were fixed on the length 
of metal that had recently been in his hand.  He didn't like needles.

	Heero blinked, then went back into action.  "Hold this," he 
said, indicating the gauze.  Once Duo's fingers had replaced his, 
brushing only in passing, Heero set about disposing of the needle, tape, 
and IV setup as he thought a member of the staff would.  He would 
impassively lie to any nurse that questioned the removal, but the less 
he had to, the better.

	When he was done, he came back to Duo's side.  The 
uncommunicative quiet between them was still there.  He broke it by 
nudging Duo's fingers aside and peeking underneath the gauze.  Seeing no 
further need of it, he removed it and disposed of it along with 
everything else.

	Duo flexed his hand experimentally, unspeakably glad the 
intrusive needle was out.  A few more moments fled the scene while Heero 
reseated himself before Duo spoke again.  "Heero."

	"Hm?"

	"...Thanks."

	It was murmured quite softly, but it was said nevertheless.  
Heero just wished Duo would look him in the eye as he said it.  That 
way, he'd be able to tell just what it was that Duo was thanking him 
for.  The opportunity passed entirely when Duo picked up the deck of 
cards again, broke the seal, and shuffled through it.

	"What did we used to play?"





_________________________________________
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The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, 
Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
of someone else.  The author can be con-
tacted at jchew@myrealbox.com.  This has 
been an entirely automated message.
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 10/9/2004 16:45:32 PST