Slow and Steady Part 9
Re-entry was never going to be smooth as silk, no matter who was at the helm, but Duo tried his best. Heero merely grunted once it was over and observed that he wasn't as young as he used to be.
They landed at the Preventers air field in the late afternoon. A ground transport was there to collect the gear Duo had brought with him. He signed off on the transfer documents and then turned to Heero. "Well. You ready for this?"
Heero released a puff of breath, then swiveled his chair toward the exit. "No point in waiting."
Duo carried their bags. Heero moved under his own power, with a bag of L1 local goods in his lap. They had received a message from Quatre as soon as they were within range that he was aware of their arrival and would be waiting for them, and indeed he was. Trowa was with him, the two waiting outside a side door.
Quatre came at them first. "Heero. I'm so glad you could join us." He knew Heero wasn't the hugging type, so he settled for a shoulder squeeze. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were injured. I might have been able to arrange something else."
"I wouldn't have wanted you to." He nodded past Quatre's shoulder. "Trowa."
Trowa nodded back.
Quatre clucked his tongue. "So Duo tells us you've been up to no good?"
"Well," Duo cut in, in his own defense, and Heero's as well. "In Heero's case, that means he's just been up to his usual." He paused for a friendly mutual laugh. "So, where'd you park?"
"Oh! I'm not going to make you go all the way out there. Let me fetch the car." And so Quatre was put off for a few more minutes. Trowa stayed behind with them and cast an inquisitive look at Heero, which was returned blandly. He shrugged philosophically and held his peace.
Quatre returned in short order, and after everyone was tucked away into the car, Heero promised a full accounting of his 'adventure' after they met up with Wufei, who would show up at the house after work. That gave them just enough time to settle in and refresh themselves, and then they were sitting around the kitchen for an informal dinner and Quatre insisted the tale would be a fine accompaniment to their meal. "So when did you get injured, Heero?"
"Shortly before my re-assignment."
A collective blink. "But that was..."
"It's why I was re-assigned, really."
"Why is that?" Quatre seemed to ask the obvious question only because it was the only question he could figure to ask.
"Because they have a specialist in spinal cord injuries there."
Duo winced.
Heero had made a point of showing off both his strength and his weakness during his grace period, hoping to head off some of the inevitable questioning. He could have stayed in his chair and played it safe, but instead, he tugged Duo into helping him in and out and about, to the best of his ability. It seemed wisest to establish within their recent memories that he was still partially mobile, with still more improvements yet to come.
The tactic seemed to be a success, insofar as anything could blunt their concerns for him. Heero made quick work of the rest of the story, almost reducing the tale to a series of bullet points.
Trowa was the first to laugh quietly. "A series of low probability events?" he asked, directing the question at Duo.
Duo raised his hands defensively. "Hey, his words, not mine."
Quatre shot them both an irritated glance before turning back to Heero. "But you're really going to be okay?"
He resisted the urge to sigh. "I'm not dying or anything, Quatre. I took some damage. I'm on the mend. The only difference between this and one of my regular misadventures is that the recovery period is a bit longer-term than normal."
Wufei took the first step in steering the discussion toward something slightly more conversational. "I recall that your work up there is nearly complete?"
"Yes." The accompanying nod was an acknowledgment of the appreciated shift in focus as much as in response to the question. "We only have one slot left open. If you know anyone that would be a good fit, we do pay a referral fee."
"What will you do when you're done?"
"I don't know. I haven't spoken with management yet. Would you pass the salad, Duo?"
Duo took the hint and passed the salad, along with a generous helping of conversational distraction.
~*~
"You really owned it tonight, Yuy. I'll give you that much."
They had the excuse of retiring early tonight since they'd had a long day of travel, but Heero refused to rest quite yet. After spending much of his waking hours on the shuttle exercising his motor control without the burden of gravity, he continued to work now in his bedroom on the ground floor, the weight of his own legs providing the resistance he needed for now. "That's a compliment, right?"
"Totally. I mean, you took it and you made it yours. And you just ripped that damn bandage right the hell off. I kind of questioned your approach at first, but, well, like I said, you owned it."
"If you say so."
"I mean, you took control of the dialogue," Duo translated for him. "You were just like, 'nothing to see here, move along,' and then you just willed everyone else into going along with it. I mean, it totally wouldn't have worked on me, because I have no manners and would have just ignored the hints if I'd felt like it, but you made it work tonight."
"Alright."
Duo caught Heero's leg gently with a hand to an ankle. "I know Doc K said it was time for a lot of muscle work, but I doubt you'll get it all done tonight." Message delivered, he released his hold.
Heero continued for another few cycles before coming to a rest position. "No. But I can get a good start."
"So you are excited."
He exhaled audibly. "It's something I can do something about. In a direct, unambiguous kind of way. I couldn't rush things before, and I still can't now, but it's not a waiting game anymore. And this... this is something I'm familiar with. I've never started this far 'in the red', but I know how to build muscle strength. It's..."
"Yeah." Duo smiled faintly in understanding.
Heero exhaled again, and this time, it sounded more like a wistful sigh. "I miss the endorphin rush. It's just not the same just doing an upper-body workout."
Duo added another wistful sigh on his behalf. There were probably another dozen and a half things that Heero missed, too. "I asked Ari if we could borrow a walker for the week, but he said no. Said I could serve walker duty just as well. Which I'm totally glad to do, of course, but, you know, maybe it'd be nice for you to, uh, just sort of take off when you wanted to, have a little alone time."
"It wouldn't have worked as well."
"Yeah, probably. If it wasn't me, it'd be somebody hovering around you, probably. Yeah, much as I love hanging out with everyone every year, it's always kind of like, cross your fingers that there's no drama, because there's no getting away from everyone here. You'll always trip over someone."
"Drama like showing up in a wheelchair?"
"Yeah, that works." He grinned with an undertone of smirk. "But showing up in a MS? Now that would be a dramatic entrance."
"I'll try to arrange it for next year."
"Nuh-uh. No way. Not unless I get to come with."
"Come with me in the MS? Or did you want one of your own?"
"Negotiable."
Heero chuckled. "That's not what I meant, anyway. About the walker not working as well. It's kind of ironic, actually. That day you saw me working with it, and I was creeping along so slowly? I wasn't exactly creeping when I first got on it."
Duo had a surprised look on his face. "How long were you on it? Sheesh."
"It wasn't that I got tired. It was because I was coasting along on upper body strength mostly. Feet just had to push a little. I had to work at... at not doing what I was instinctively doing. It's hard to not automatically compensate for your weaknesses. Had to start over a couple of times. Started out letting my legs do most of the supporting, but a few steps later, I'd be leaning on my hands again."
"Oh. That sucks."
"Ari's going to find something else, or modify the walker, maybe. Make the handles higher up so I can't use them for support, something like that. So in the meantime... Yes. You get to be my walker. As long as you promise not to carry too much of my weight."
"Oh. Yeah. Promise." He paused. "Irony's a bit of a bitch sometimes, ain't she?"
"Agreed."
TBC...
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