Alone Part 6
The nurse was chattering cheerily at me as she wrapped the bandage around my leg. I just kind of nodded at her in reply as I wondered what the hell I was going to do next. My head was aching badly and it wasn't helping my concentration any.
I had woken up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. That wasn't pleasant. Once here I refused to be put under again for them to get the bullet out of my leg. It wasn't that deep. The wound on my temple required a few stitches but that was minor as well.
I watched the nurse and thought about Trowa. He didn't want my apology. I couldn't really blame him. There was no way to make this up to him that I could see. If he was that angry with me there would be little I could say to make him change his mind. It had apparently been made up months ago when he hadn't told me the what was really going on after I had accused him of cheating. Otherwise, wouldn't he have said something then? Defended himself?
A part of me was furious that he hadn't said anything. Why wait until now to tell me the truth? But I had told him that I suspected him all along- and I had to wonder if I would've believed him if he had told me then. I had pretty much made up my mind that our relationship was irreparably broken.
It might be better to just back away from this situation for a while- but hadn't I done that already?
There was no hope of resurrecting our former relationship- I knew that, and accepted it as I had months ago when I had ended it. But if there was even a chance of rebuilding our friendship I would have to try.
Though how in the hell I was going to accomplish that- I had no idea.
The curtain around my bed was suddenly thrown back and a frowning Heero appeared. The nurse jumped. "Sir! You can't be in here!" She protested as Heero stalked to the side of the bed.
"Quatre," Heero's frown vanished and he looked relieved. "You're okay?"
"Fine," I replied, puzzled at his sudden appearance.
"Sir!" The nurse protested again. We both ignored her.
"Can you walk on that?" Heero asked, nodding towards my leg.
"Not well."
"Lean on me then. We have a bit of a problem." Heero held out a hand. I took it and nearly fell off of the bed when I tried to get up. Heero wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me upright.
"He needs to rest!" The nurse snapped.
"Unless you want a situation in your hospital, he needs to come with me." Heero snapped back and practically dragged me out of the emergency room.
My feet barely touched the floor. Heero was supporting all my weight with his arm. Which was good, since I doubted I could've made this walk by myself- especially at the pace Heero had set.
"Heero- what's going on?" I questioned as we headed down a hallway at a fast clip.
"A doctor told us you were dead."
"WHAT?"
"He made a mistake. However during the time that we believed you to be dead, Rashid accused Trowa of betraying you, Trowa punched him and things are now a bit tense."
I blinked, my head starting to ache more. Shit.
"Quatre? What happened?" I knew what he meant.
"Rashid took pictures of Trowa and Wufei on some mission where they had to pretend to be a couple. He brought them to me as proof that Trowa was unfaithful."
"And you believed him?" Heero shook his head. "I guess photos are good evidence..." His voice trailed off.
"I believed him without looking at the photos." I admitted. "Trowa and I- things had not been going well and I looked elsewhere for blame."
"But when Trowa explained things to you, didn't that make you think that you might've been incorrect?"
"Trowa didn't explain anything at the time. I didn't know that nothing had been going on until a few hours ago."
Heero's arm tightened slightly.
"Why didn't he explain? That's not logical!"
"I'm sure Trowa had his reasons," I sighed as we passed empty waiting rooms.
"BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU!" I heard Wufei's voice thunder. This was not going to be pleasant. Heero turned us towards a doorway.
Inside the room Rashid stood glaring at Wufei who was glaring back, practically vibrating with anger. Duo was standing between them, hands on both of their chests. Trowa was standing behind Wufei, his mouth set in a grim line.
"I did what I needed to do for Master Quatre," Rashid snapped.
"And I thank you for it," I replied before Wufei could say anything. They turned to look at me and the mix of expressions was interesting. "You have always been a good friend to me Rashid." I finished.
"He lied to you!" Wufei took a step towards me. "I would never do such a thing..."
"He did not mean to lie. He told the truth as he saw it." I countered when Wufei drew a breath. "No, it was not true, but he made his mistake out of concern for me." I wished the pounding in my head would stop. This situation looked- felt explosive and I needed to stop it before it blew up out of hand.
I let go of Heero and leaned against the door frame. "Rashid- please go get the car ready and wait for me there."
"But Master Quatre- I can't leave you here." Rashid looked at the other pilots narrowly. Duo frowned at that and opened his mouth.
"I will be just fine. I will join you soon," I let my voice harden just a little. Rashid knew the tone well. He nodded.
"Very well, Master Quatre." And he strode out of the room. I waited patiently as we heard his footsteps fade away.
"Quatre," Wufei started as I knew he would. "How could you believe such slander?"
"Jealousy is not logical Wufei," I replied. "As you know very well."
"But surely Trowa told you-"
"Trowa did not confide details of his assignments to me," I cut him off again. "That's against regulations and you know it."
"But when you showed him the pictures..."
I met Trowa's gaze and he nodded slightly. I was expecting him to explode into anger as well after what had happened earlier, but he didn't seem angry anymore.
"I didn't defend myself," Trowa said quietly before I could reply. "I didn't explain anything to Quatre until a few hours ago."
"WHAT?" That was Wufei and Duo. I felt Heero shift beside me.
Trowa moved closer to me and put out a hand to rest on my shoulder. "You're shaking Quatre. I don't think this is a good time to be having this discussion."
I blinked, surprised by his concern. "I'll be fine if I can sit down," I told him. "I think we're a bit overdue for it."
"I will go tell Rashid that Duo and I will be driving you home later." Heero said suddenly. "Duo, Wufei- come with me please."
"What?" Wufei started. Duo gave Heero a startled glance and then grinned. He grabbed Wufei's arm.
"Right, c'mon Chang!"
And just like that, Trowa and I were alone.
~*~
I slid an arm around Quatre's waist once the others had tactfully made their exit.
"Come sit down," I told him and helped him to the couch.
He really should've been resting. He was shaking and pale, sweating with the effort of staying on his feet. I eased him down onto the cushions and took a seat on the opposite side.
When he had appeared in the doorway I had been filled with a overwhelming sense of relief. The doctor's mistake had shaken me badly and I was glad that Heero had decided to simply return with Quatre rather than just tell us he was okay.
After Heero had left, the situation in the room had gotten ugly. Rashid had not given me a chance to explain anything to Duo and Wufei. His statement of : "Yes, let's hear what the back stabbing friend and the unfaithful lover have to say for themselves," set Wufei off like a match to explosives. Wufei resents his honor being questioned in any way. Luckily, Heero had worked quickly to get Quatre to us.
"Well," Quatre said softly. "Where do we start?"
"I'm not sure," I admitted.
"Me either." He smiled faintly. "The only thing that comes to mind right now is that I'm sorry, and I know that isn't acceptable." His hand rose to brush the bandage at his temple. "I should've asked you for an explanation when Rashid gave me the pictures."
"I should've insisted on giving you one, but I was just so hurt- angry with you." My anger seemed to have deserted me now and I was glad. I didn't want it to return- it hadn't done me any good so far. "Why Quatre? What was I doing that made you think something was going on?"
Quatre closed his eyes. "Trowa, towards the end- where were you spending most of your time?"
I had to think about that for a moment. The answer was enlightening.
"At work- Fei likes to work late..."
"And you don't feel right about leaving him with all the work." Quatre finished for me as if he had heard the answer hundreds of times before.
Thinking about it- I realized he had. Everytime he had asked me when I was coming home, if I would be able to meet him for dinner, if I could attend an event with him...
"We were working Quatre, nothing else!" I protested.
"Trowa, see it from my side, okay? Everytime I asked you to come home to go do something with me, you told me that you'd be working late with Wufei."
"Not every night!" I protested again, and then stopped. Right at the end there I had been working late every night. That trip into Quatre's office had been unusual for me. "But almost every night," I conceded.
"Just about," Quatre nodded.
"But that can't have been the only reason-"
"It's not." To my surprise, Quatre flushed.
~*~
Oh good gods, how do I explain this one? I wondered. Trowa had been very patient with me. I had honestly expected him to start yelling again, which was odd in and of itself. That had been the first time I had ever heard him raise his voice.
"What else?" He asked, leaning forward. As I wondered how to phrase it, he smiled faintly. "When did we lose the ability to say anything to each other? Do you remember that Quatre?"
"Of course," I replied. He was right, at one point this would not have been a struggle for me at all. We would not be having this awkward of a conversation. Somewhere along the way Trowa and I had lost that aspect of our friendship and our relationship had suffered for it. "I think we stopped talking to each other."
"Why?" He was frowning now, thinking hard.
"Well, a lot of the things you do at Preventers are classified. When I asked how your day was, you really couldn't tell me everything that you did."
"What about you?" His gaze narrowed a little. "You used to talk to me for hours about WEI. Then..." he paused, "you just stopped doing it. When I'd ask how your day went, you'd just say 'fine'."
"I didn't think you were interested anymore," I admitted. "I knew you hated all of that corporate world stuff and with the little time we spent together it seemed silly to talk about it at all."
"Little time? It wasn't- it wasn't until the last few months that I worked late all the time."
"But I did," I admitted. "You used to complain about it- remember?"
Trowa blinked. Then he shook his head.
"Yes. So, we spent too little time together, stopped talking to each other when we did, and- what was the last Quatre?"
"Stopped sleeping together." I added. "You'd get home late and not want to wake me up. I'd get home late and not want to wake you up. Or I was tired- or you were..." I shook my head- might as well be honest. "And I stopped wanting to once I began to think that you and Fei..."
"I can see that." Trowa rubbed his forehead and we sat quietly for a few moments before he broke the silence. "What now Quatre?"
"What do you mean?" I countered.
He smiled faintly. "I mean I've missed you. I think our relationship is damaged beyond repair, but do you think our friendship is as well?"
That made me feel hopeful. "I've missed you too. I'd like to try and fix our friendship- if we can."
"If we want to badly enough then we can," his smile increased slightly. "And as your friend I think it's time you went home to rest." His hand ghosted gently over my bandaged temple. "We'll have more time to talk later, right now, let's get you home."
"I think that's our cue," Duo leaned in the doorway and I widened my eyes at the sight of him. He looked a bit- rumpled.
"Really, Duo," Heero joined him, looking even more rumpled, "you could be more tactful and not pretend that you were listening."
"Where's the fun in that?" Duo strode across the room and offered me his hand. His knuckles were bloody.
"Duo?" I questioned, touching them gently.
"It's nothing Quatre," he smiled shark-like. "We just had a little... discussion with Rashid over whether or not we were capable of taking you home."
"Where is Rashid?" I asked, eyebrow raised.
"In the ER," Heero told me as he bent down to help me off the sofa. "He'll be home in a few hours. We called Abdul to come get him."
"And where is Wufei?" Trowa asked as he stood up next to me.
"He's in the ER too," Duo told him cheerfully. "He needed a few stitches. We'll come get him after we drop Quatre off at home."
"Tell you what," Trowa put a careful arm around my waist. "I'll take Quatre home and you two wait for Wufei, okay?"
"That okay with you Quatre?" Duo asked me.
"Of course it is." I wondered exactly what we had missed.
"Okay then," Duo nodded. "We'll wait for Wufei and take him home."
"And stay away from Rashid's room in the meantime," I added.
Duo's grin widened.
TBC...
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