This sidestory took place between Part 50 and the epilogue, after 'Relena's Resolve.'

Heero's Boon

I could tell he knew someone was following him. Duo has been on his own for so long this has become as natural as breathing to him. He noticed my presence right as he stepped off the curb in front of Target. His back quickly stiffened before slouching back to its previous state, his stride paused for just a fraction of a second before resuming, and he turned his head to the left, enough to get a sound from the wind and a glance out of the corner of his eye. Yes. He definitely knew someone was following him, and he knew where I was hiding too, even though he didn't acknowledge anything verbally.

I remained in the shadows even as he got into his car and drove away. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back a minute from now to confront me, thinking that I was some sort of criminal. He has rescued many women in distress because of his observant ways. All the more reason why he was such an irreplaceable part of me. Irreplaceable period.

Fifty two seconds later his car came by again, slowing towards the spot where I had been hiding nearly a moment before. I had easily scrambled up to the roof of the liquor store. He got out, squirming into his jacket (which told me he had his shoulder holster on) and quietly checked the alley for any sign of trouble. I remained on the roof, biding my time as he came closer and closer to the corner.

Even with the harsh lighting of the Budweiser logo illuminating the alley, he was beautiful. The neon blue heightened the color intensity of his eyes. The silver washed across his face, making his skin glow as if he wasn't human. And the yellow in the flashing sign made his movements fluid, as if his legs were only a decoration, not something needed for him to walk from one point to another. This reminded me of the story of vampires, how they were so beautiful yet dangerous and deadly. That fit Duo perfectly.

To get myself back on track, I pulled my helmet over my face and started my countdown. As Duo got closer to being underneath me, I shifted my position so that I could land relatively safely, slow him down, and move before he had a chance to shoot me. I also wanted to do this without hurting him. Not easy, but not difficult either. Besides, if he was able to get his gun out and shoot at me (which was most likely), he would aim to injure, not to kill. I hope.

Okay. He's stepping closer...closer...one more, jump!

I jumped off of the roof, bounced off the building's garbage bin before rolling off to purposely land on Duo. Just as planned I knocked him down, made it to my feet and flew out of the alley, past his Wrangler, across the street and onto my motorcycle. I had barely sat down when I heard Duo's voice shouting his demands for me to stop. With a smirk he couldn't see through my visor, I revved up the bike and shot down the street, smirking even more when I saw he was on my tail.

So far so good.

I drove down the street thirty miles over the speed limit with Duo in close pursuit. I moved from lane to lane, sped up, slowed down, took an exit, drove over gravel, on the sidewalk, and everything else that would keep him glued to me but a step behind. Glancing in my side view mirror, I could see the concentration on his face as he followed me through the neighborhoods, checking for pedestrians as we raced through. But at this time of night everyone was in bed, so it wasn't a major concern.

Soon enough we were arriving at my destination. Hitting the curb and jumping just right, I flew over a low bush and onto the grassy lawn of the neighborhood park. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Duo had taken the gravel trail, intending to cut me off at the pond. So I slowed to a stop, laid the bike on its side and stood there in the open. Duo immediately stopped, jumped out and raced towards me with his gun aimed at my chest.

"Don't move! This is a citizen's arrest!"

Smirking, I took off again. I could hear him swearing as he gave chase, and it almost made me laugh. He slipped slightly as we ran through the sandbox, and both of us nearly broke our necks running through the merry-go-round. I flung the swings at him to slow him down before jumping over another bush and slid down the slight hill towards the edge of the pond. I stopped, gratefully, to catch my breath, and a quick glance showed that nothing had been disturbed.

Duo landed with a soft thump and aimed his gun towards me again. His angry face crumpled into confusion when he saw the blanket and basket to the side, but it was only for half a second. "Hey asshole, I said ‘don't move' not ‘run until you felt like stopping!' Are you deaf?"

This time I did laugh.

"Heero." He said it flatly.

I pulled my helmet off and dropped it. "Yep. How did you guess?"

"Because no one else in the universe has that psychotic laugh except you," he snarled, dropping all three of his guns and holster to the ground. "Why the hell did you do that? What is wrong with you man? I'm thinking you're some perv who's going to hit an old lady upside the head with a brick or something."

"Who says I'm not?" I smirked again.

This time he just...looked at me. "This is the weirdest dream of you I have ever had."

"This is not a dream Duo," I said as I grabbed his wrist, walked to the basket, sat us down on the blanket and started pulling out the food. "I wanted to surprise you, and this is what I came up with."

"Oh."

He just watched me in silence as I pulled out our sandwiches, chips and pie. I sat the small boombox to the side but left the CD's in the basket. "I couldn't decide on what alcohol to get," I said after a while, "so I decided to get this. I hope you don't mind."

He laughed sharply. "Hi-C?! No man. As long as it's Fruit Punch I don't mind at all."

"Good." I smiled at him but looked down to my busy hands when I saw his scrutinizing stare.

"You went through all this for me."

I stopped what I was doing and looked him straight in the eye. "Yes."

He kept up his stare. "So that means you had to set THIS up," he waved his hand around the food and drinks, "know where I was, follow me, wait for me to come back to the alley so that you could lead me on a chase here. All to surprise me."

I didn't say anything.

His stare went from scrutinizing to distrustful. "Why?"

"Because I love you." Why would he ask me that?

"Heh, you said that as if it was that simple." He started to rub the back of his neck. He was anxious.

"It IS that simple."

"Then why did you have to break my heart?!" he shouted, rising to his feet to talk and pace. "Why did you have to hurt me the way you did? Why did you have to leave? Christ! Things were going so great! Then all of a sudden things went down hill. WE went down hill."

"And now we have a chance to start again," I said calmly.

He stopped and fixed me with that look again. "What makes you think I want to? Just because you and Relena aren't together anymore doesn't mean I have to be with you! I am not second pickings!"

I could feel my heart sinking into my stomach. "I know."

"And just because you did all of this doesn't mean I owe you anything either!"

I stood up, dug in my pocket and pulled out the ring. "I know."

"And just because you and Wufei nearly froze together doesn't mean....that better not be what I think it is."

I kept my expression neutral. "It's an engagement ring Duo." The silver band shone white in the moonlight, its gleam almost strong enough to make me believe that there was a diamond on it. But it was just a plain silver band, with the words ‘My Heart' etched in kanji inside of it. I knew he would be able to read it.

I wanted to laugh at the comical expression on his face, how his eyes were wide and his jaw nearly touched the ground. With him distracted, I was able to sit him back down on the blanket. When I got comfortable, I continued. "I want to marry you Duo. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, but that can't happen unless you want me too. So, I'm going to ask something of you I have no right to ask." He didn't say or do anything, so I continued. "I want you to take it, regardless of whether you'll marry me or not."

"What?! What sense does that make?"

"Plenty if you don't love me back," I said, not surprised at the sadness in my voice. "I love you Duo. Always have, and now I realize I always will. Things did go bad, and I did leave, but it wasn't all my fault. Some of it was yours too."

He sighed into his hand. "Yeah. You're right."

I tried to smile comfortingly. "I ran to Relena because...I had someone else to run to, and it was a new feeling to me to have someone else to go to, where all my life all I had was myself. And I always had feelings for her, so it was a logical decision for me. Now, I see the mistake. I want to start over, and we have the chance to do that." I handed him the ring, which he reluctantly accepted. He immediately saw the kanji on the inside. "This ring is my heart Duo. You are always going to have it in the metaphorical sense, so...." I shrugged.

"So you're giving me this ring, whether I say yes or no."

"Yes."

"No. I can't accept this." He tried to give it back, but I shoved it into his hands. "Dammit Odin!"

I wanted to kiss him for saying my name, but since he didn't notice his slip up I refrained. It would be something for me to hang on to. "Duo, please take it. It can only go to you."

"Maybe," he said as he stuck it in his pocket. "But I don't like this."

"I'm sorry." In an attempt to keep myself from drowning in my hurt, I picked up the nearest sandwich and handed it to him. "Here. Have some of this." As he took it, I handed him the chips and reached into the basket to get the knife for the pie and a CD. Placing the CD in the boombox, I waited until it finished spinning and hit the play button. The reaction I received was what I expected.

"Led Zeppelin! Oh my god, they were the greatest band ever!" [1]

"So you have always said."

"And I still do."

I smiled.

I will never know how long we were there, but as the music continued to play, we sat there and ate. When we were finished with that, we took off our shoes and socks, laid back on the blanket and just talked. The conversations were light and comfortable, mostly about Quatre's wedding and whatever preparations needed to be done. A few stories were told too, mostly about what dumb things Wufei tended to do when he was drunk. All in all, the evening was very peaceful and enjoyable. Then a song came on that I knew was one of Duo's favorites, and I couldn't help the need to be near him as he swayed to the opening strings of the guitar.

"Oh my god, I love this song," he said as he closed his eyes. "It's so incredibly sexy."

/And so are you/, I thought to myself. "Duo, get up."

"Hm?"

"Get up. Dance with me." I stood, dusting off my pants and held out my hand to him.

"What?"

"Dance with me."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

He seemed to think it over for a minute, before taking my hand and allowing me to help him up. I easily pulled him close to me, wrapping my left arm around his waist as his right wound itself around my shoulders. We held hands at shoulder height, and with his face in my neck and mine in his hair, we slowly danced by the still pond.

/Working from seven to eleven every night,
It really makes life a drag, I don't think that's right.
I've really, really been the best of fools, I did what I could.
'Cause I love you, baby, how I love you, darling,
How I love you, baby, how I love you, girl, little girl./

"I would be pissed if someone called me a little girl," I heard him mumble against my neck.

"Then it's a good thing you're not a girl."

"Even if I was, I'd still be pissed."

/But baby, since I've been loving you,
I'm about to lose my worried mind, oh, yeah./

We did some kind of quick step at the chorus Duo taught me a long time ago, before we settled back into our slow pace. Once again silence reigned. It was a comfortable silence, one that I was used to when I was in his presence, and one that I missed.

/Everybody trying to tell me that you didn't mean me no good.
I've been trying, Lord, let me tell you,
Let me tell you I really did the best I could./

"You're really serious about me keeping the ring?" he asked uncertainly.

"Of course."

"Even if I say no?"

I sighed in his hair. He shivered. I couldn't help the pleasure I received from that. "I told you. You'll always have my heart. There isn't anyone else for me, so if you say no, then you say no."

/I've been working from seven to eleven every night,
I said it kinda makes my life a drag.
Lord, that ain't right./

He was thoughtful for a moment. "You'll be alone for the rest of your life."

I held him tighter as I said, "That won't be your problem Duo."

/Since I've been loving you,
I'm about to lose my worried mind./

"It will be if I'm gonna be alone too." He slightly pulled away from me, took the ring out of his pocket and placed it on his ring finger. Before I had a chance to comment he wrapped his arms back around me and continued moving against me as if nothing had happened. I could feel my heartbeat pound fast and hard against his chest as I tried to keep my shaking under control. He had no idea how happy he had just made me. And to prove my point, I pulled back and kissed him so passionately I could have sworn we set a nearby bush on fire. He returned it with equal fervor, and for the rest of the night we continued to dance in our slow waltz, even after the music had stopped.

(the end)

I also plan on putting the song on the site once I buy some more space. Right now I'm b-r-o-k-e, broke!