Life Goes On Part 29
In the lobby, Danielle and Trent reluctantly stayed back from Duo and the other nekos so that the officers could go through their routine of handcuffing Doctor J and his men while reading them their rights. Already in 'mission-mode', as Heero and Duo called it, the couple used the time to use to place calls to the proper channels. The braided neko chuckled quietly to himself as he watched the two of them excitedly talking on their cell phones while directing people that came in and out to where they were needed.
Howard had already reunited with Duo and was just as shocked as Danielle and Trent when faced with the new batch of cat-eared teenagers. Not happy at all in seeing how poorly treated and malnourished Solo and his family were, the old man ran hurriedly to Treize's in preparation of their arrival.
As soon as J and his team were finally escorted from the building, Danielle closed her phone and ran to the bench where Duo was sitting along with his new friends. Bending at the waist, she wrapped her arms tightly around him and kisses his cheek. Instantly returning the embrace, the braided teenager buried his head in her shoulder as a few tears rolled down his face.
"It's all right," the young woman whispered soothingly when the boy in her arms started trembling. "It's over now." Gently, Danielle rubbed circles along Duo's back and told him, "Heero and your parents should be here soon. Trent and I just didn't want to waste any time getting here."
With a small chuckle against her shoulder, the braided neko muttered, "Good thing you didn't. You cut it pretty close-mew." When the small sound escaped him, he sighed deeply before pulling back to dry his eyes. His 'Ma' shuddered a bit at recalling just how close she had been indeed. Gingerly, she rested a hand over the blackening mark on his right cheek and helped him dry the wet trails away.
Gazing over the other fairly cut and bruised teenagers at the benches, Danielle's face reddened at the sight of the tattered clothing on them. In the light breeze that would blow in whenever the front doors opened, the frightened lot would shiver. Quickly glancing over her shoulder to some of the law officials walking about, the law firm owner shouted, "I thought that I asked for some warm clothes! These poor things are freezing over here!"
Instantly, the officers closest dashed off with hurried affirmatives. Straightening, Danielle folded her arms with a smirked, "I've still got it." Her smile saddened when the shaking, cat-eared teenagers all looked up at her, "There's nothing to worry about."
Gesturing with her head to her husband as he continued to talk on his cell phone, she stated, "My husband and I are already in the works to informing the right channels of your existence. Before long, you'll all be named citizens of the Earth, thanks to the law that the Supreme Justices established for Duo when they deemed that he should have the same rights as any other human. The same will go for each of you. You'll never have to worry about being someone's lab experiment ever again."
It was all too much for Solo and his family. The disbelief was evident in their wide eyes. Swallowing hard, Cassie was the first to speak up, asking, "W-what will we do with ourselves now? We've never been..." She paused with a shudder, then gestured to the glass doors and frowned deeply, "out there before."
"You can do whatever you wish," Danielle grinned. Lightly resting a hand on the too-thin girl, she reassured her, "And we'll help you find out whatever that is in time. Until then, we'll be working out the details of where you will all be staying. It's my intention to see that you all stay together while we work things out."
There was still a bit of apprehension in Andrew's stiff posture. Swallowing roughly, he asked, "What about Doctor J?" He gestured with his head to the said old man as he was being assisted into one of the squad cars. "Someone as powerful as that would have a lot of friends that would want to help him out."
Pleased at the young man's question, Danielle grinned, "We're working every angle in finding those friends. Before long, we'll have every connection to Doctor J that helped with everything from funding, to equipment, to manpower. Anyone that aided him will be treated as an accomplice and will be spending a very long time behind bars."
Her smile warmed as she vowed, "I promise you that you will no longer have to worry about Doctor J. I have many friends on both sides of the legal fence and I will see to it, personally, that he will spend the remainder of his days in prison for his crimes against all of you."
There was a collected breath of relief from Andrew and the others at her words. Having to fight off a few tears that filled his grey eyes, he whispered brokenly, "Thank you." His appreciation was echoed among his family.
Winking to them, the red-haired woman nodded replied, "My pleasure."
Little Danny's eyes grew wide when some white flakes began slowly falling outside. Squirming on Jenna's lap, he pointed to the sight and shouted, "Solo, look! Is that the snow stuff that you were telling us about!?"
The blonde teenager chuckled deeply, "Sure is, kiddo." Lightly rubbing the top of the child's red head, he smiled, "Wait until you get to see the fun you can have in it." Cassie, Carson, Jena and Andrew were all staring in awe at drifting flakes.
Danielle bit her lip, her heart breaking at how something as simple as snow was a complete mystery to the little family. They had so much to learn and experience before they could even begin to imagine what they would be able to do with their lives. Having the freedom to do as they wished was a wonderful thing. But, she could only imagine how terrifying a concept it could be for the nekos that had never known it before.
Just as a team of officers rushed in with a few bundles of blankets and warm clothes from the station, Heero entered the lobby along with them. His cobalt eyes widening on his lover, the Japanese teenager didn't even acknowledge anyone else. "Duo!" he cried out and ran towards the bench.
At the sight of his partner, Duo's eyes widened with a new batch of tears. Before he could completely stand, he was caught up in two strong arms that pulled him close and lifted him from the ground.
Biting back the small sob that tried to escape him, Heero whispered, "God, I was worried to death over you." Not caring about the fact that his mother, and dozens of other people were around, he leaned in and kissed the smaller boy fiercely.
When they finally broke for air, the Japanese teenager gently lowered the braided neko back to the floor, both their faces flushed. When he looked over to the bunch sitting on the benches, Heero's eyes widened as he sputtered, "W-what in the...?" Solo quickly ducked behind Cassie before he could be picked out.
Smiling widely, Duo held his hand out to the other nekos and told his lover, "Heero, these are our new friends." Starting from the furthest end of the bench and up, he introduced, "Carson, Danny, Jena, Andrew, Cassie..." He paused when he didn't see the blonde teenager and frowned deeply. Slowly, Solo peeked his head out over his girlfriend's shoulder when she nudged him with her elbow. His white ears were drooped and his brown eyes were wide with fear when they met the pair of cobalt watching him.
Heero just stared at the boy that he had damned for his involvement in Duo's capture. With this new turn of events, he couldn't even find his voice and his mouth hung open. Squeezing his stunned partner's shoulder, the braided neko grinned, "Solo's okay, Heero. J had threatened his life and his family's life if he didn't bring me to him."
The growing anger that was building in Heero's cobalt eyes quickly faded at that. Blinking in surprise, he only managed a small, "I see." To their amazement, the other nekos watched as he suddenly replaced any other emotion with the understanding that they had seen in their 'brother' when he came to know of their situation.
Duo wrapped his arms tightly around the art student's neck and grinned proudly to the lot, "Everyone, this is Heero. He's the one I was telling all of you about while we were waiting for the guards to show up." Smiles finally stated tugging at the nekos' faces and one-by-one, they extended their hands in greeting. With a small smile of his own, Heero exchanged firm handshakes with all of them.
Clearing his throat, Solo was the last to approach. Hesitantly, he walked up with his tail gripped in both hands and his ears still drooped. Lowering his gaze from the other boy, he frowned deeply, "Heero, I... I didn't mean..." The words just weren't coming. How did one go about apologizing for what he had done?
"It's all right, Solo," came the quiet response. With a small gasp, the white-furred neko lifted his head with shock-filled eyes. Heero smirked and told him, "We'll talk. Right now isn't the right place or time, but things certainly are not as black-and-white as I had thought them to be. And with that in mind, I would like to hear your side of the story."
Solo sighed deeply in relief. Nodding, he smiled gratefully, "I'd like that. Thank you." Returning the nod, Heero shook his hand firmly.
At that moment, Noin and Zechs flew fast the front doors. His violet eyes brightening, Duo shouted and waved, "Mom! Dad!" Meeting them half-way, he tightly held onto his parents in another tearful reunion.
Danielle and Trent walked up to Heero with armloads of blankets and shoes. Gesturing to the family still huddled close, the red-haired young woman informed her son, "We need to get them bundled so we can get them to Treize's house. He's waiting there along with Sally and Howard to look them over."
"Right," Heero nodded firmly. Running to the pile of sweaters that were waiting, he took up as many as he could handle.
Before long, the little family was warmly dressed and ready to go. Walking together towards the doors with their hands and tails tightly grasped, they headed for the doors as the small crowd gathered parted for them. Heero, Duo, Noin, Zechs, Danielle and Trent stayed close to the worried bunch to offer whatever support they could, but stayed back enough to give them the space that they needed as well.
As one, the nekos stopped just before the door and gazed out to the frozen world just beyond. Biting his lip, Carson took a deep breath. Forcing a smile to the others, he shrugged, "We're going to have to face the outside at some point."
His own lips curving up, Solo chuckled deeply and nodded. Looking to Cassie, Andrew, Jena and Danny, he asked gently, "Ready, everyone?" When they all gave small, hesitant nods, the blonde teenager reassured them, "We're all in this together."
Once again moving as a whole, the nekos stepped through the glass doors that slid open before them and into the unknown.
* * * * * *
Shaking her head, Sally sighed deeply, "Thankfully, there is no permanent damage caused from their experiments to any one of them. There were only a few cuts and bruises from their attack that needed to be tended to. But, other than being too thin and in need of a nice shower, they're perfectly healthy." Treize nodded his agreement to the assessment.
At that, Danielle breathed her own sigh of relief. "Good." She smiled sadly at watching the famished group eagerly eating from their pizza cartons at Treize's table. Chuckling deeply, she warned them, "Not too quickly. You don't want to make yourselves sick." They all mumbled affirmatives with their full mouths.
"You weren't kidding, Solo," Jenna giggled when she swallowed. "This pizza stuff is delicious." Solo was already taking another large bite from the slice he was working on as he nodded and hummed an 'Um hm.'
In the living room, Heero and Duo were sitting closely together on one of the couches with Howard kneeling in front the braided teenager. His eyes closed tight and squeezing onto the hand in his own, the neko prepared for the needle that his friend was about to inject. When Howard announced, "All finished," he blinked his violet eyes in surprise at not having felt more than a slight pinch.
Observing his exposed left arm as the balding man placed a band aid over the tiny puncture wound, Duo grinned, "That's really it?" Howard just chuckled deeply and patted the top of the boy's head with a look of amusement.
Despite the fact that Duo's reverting back to his cat state was needed to save him, Heero felt a lump forming in his throat that he tried to swallow past. "So how long before this takes effect?" he asked after clearing his throat.
"A matter of hours," Howard answered as he rose to his feet. Meeting the violet eyes watching him, he explained, "You're just going to feel very tired and go to sleep. The change will take place while you're unconscious, much the same way that you turned into the way you are now when you were in your last stage."
His ears drooping a bit, Duo nodded, "Okay. Thank you, How-mew." He shook his head and lowered it at his failed attempt to finish his thought. Heero kissed his temple and just held him close.
Smiling sadly, Howard squeezed the neko's shoulder and said softly, "No need for thanks, Kit. This is only going to be a temporary thing. You know that, right?" Slowly raising his cat-eared head again, Duo nodded. "Good. Now, let's get you home," the scientist grinned.
* * * * * *
Danielle and Trent along with Noin and Zechs opened their grand, shared estate to Solo and his family. When they all arrived at the large residence after the long drive home, Duo was already growing tired. In the living room, the braided neko hugged and kissed his two sets of parents and his friends-new and old-good night. Everyone stressed that is was simply a good night and not a goodbye.
Heero lifted his lover into his arms and carried him upstairs to their room when his violet eyes became heavy. Closing the door behind them, he carefully lowered Duo onto their bed and helped strip him down to his black boxers before shedding his own clothes. As he pulled the covers over them, the Japanese teenager held the neko close and kissed his bruised cheek.
Slowly opening his violet eyes, Duo smiled tiredly and muttered, "Love you. Always will." The more he fought to stay awake, the heaver his eyelids became. "Don't wanna sleep," he frowned deeply.
Biting his lip, Heero whispered, "I love you, too. Just rest now, little one. This isn't goodbye." Even as he spoke, small tears were already filling his cobalt eyes. "You'll be back to yourself before you know it and I'll be here waiting."
With his eyelids slipping closed again, Duo sighed softly, "'Kay." Heero cried silently when the neko's breath evened out as a sure sign that he had drifted off. Sniffling, he kissed his face lightly before his own fatigue caught up and sleep claimed him.
It was a couple hours past dawn when Heero began to stir. The sun was out for a change and a few of its rays were peering under the drawn curtains. Where his hand been resting on Duo's waist, he felt only the cold mattress. Everything came back in a rush and sitting up with a start, he looked down to the little brown cat curled in a tight ball beside him.
The long ears on the ball of fur twitched and with a wide yawn, the cat raised its head. Blinking large, violet eyes, the feline looked up to Heero and meowed as if in greeting. Arching its back in a stretch as he uncurled himself, the cat stretched up and began to lick away some of the tears that the teenager had been unaware were rolling down his face until then.
"Duo," Heero breathed. Gently lifting the cat in his arms, he blinked in shock, "You still remember me, don't you?" If a cat could smile, he could swear that this one was at the question before the brown creature purred deeply as he nuzzled his head along the teenager's cheek. Laughing quietly, Heero was finally able to release the breath that he had been holding.
Now he knew without any doubt. Duo's memory had stayed intact.
TBC...
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