[Give me all of your dreams
And let me go along on your way
Give me all of your prayers to sing
And I'll turn the night into the skylight of day]
--- Lyrics to 'Heaven Can Wait' performed by Meatloaf
Ray of Hope Part 26
Sighing deeply, Heero turned shifted onto his side as he fought the call to wake. His eyes remained closed as he reached out to the other side of the bed. When his hand fell on the cool and empty sheets there, his cobalt eyes finally blinked open. Quickly sitting up, he gazed around the empty observation room in concern.
Outside, the dark sky's rain clouds had cleared away to reveal its millions of twinkling stars. In the far distance ahead, the first sign of light was just beginning to rise over the horizon.
When there was no sign of his lover through the clear glass that enclosed the round room, Heero looked down to notice that Duo had managed to clean him off as he slept. A small smile tugged at the sailor's lips in thinking of the care that his partner would have taken to see that he was not disturbed.
Leaning over the side of the bed, he reached down underneath to turned off the emergency radio that was left on in the event of an accident. It was just one of the many provisions that Heero had insisted that Duo get when they started dating so that he would finally get a descent night's sleep. While reluctant at first, the lighthouse keeper was soon very grateful to have the handy little device. Having it certainly made the American more comfortable to turn in, knowing that he would be alerted at the first sign of trouble.
As he reached for his red boxers, Heero noted the pile of clothes mixed with his own. His small smile grew in the relief of knowing that Duo would not have gone far. Slipping his boxers over his bare hips and pulling on his pair of socks, he rose from the bed to climb the stairs leading to the lantern room.
Once up there, he quickly found his lover out on the deep green balcony. With a small smile in relief at the sight of the other young man, the sailor walked around the still glowing lamp and avoided the revolving mirrors as he moved towards the glass doors.
Before stepping out onto the gallery, Heero took a moment to simply watch the lighthouse keeper gazing out to the sunrise. The picture painted before him left him still as his breath hitched in his throat.
Duo stood with one of the white sheets from the bed wrapped around him, his hair still loose from the night before. In the dark, it was difficult for the sailor to appreciate how the long and wavy tresses fell about when his lover did not have it pulled back in his standard braid. The light breeze caused the long strands to float around the lighthouse keeper to make him look like a mystical creature with sparkling violet eyes staring out in thought and wonder to the sun that was slowly creeping over the horizon.
Even if he did not have his memory back, Heero was certain that he had never seen anything more beautiful before. It was an image that he quickly locked away in his mind where he could return to it whenever he wanted-silently willing to never forget it.
Reluctant to break the spell that was cast before him, the sailor's need to hold the enchanting being in fear that he might disappear outweighed his wish to simply watch any longer. Stepping through one of the glass doors and onto the gallery, Heero made sure steps towards his lover to close the distance between them quickly.
At the soft creaking of the door opening, Duo turned and smiled brilliantly at his partner. "Hey," he said quietly just as the Japanese young man wrapped his arms around him tightly. Sighing deeply, he closed his eyes and rested his head on a strong shoulder.
Gently kissing the head resting on him, Heero smiled back and whispered in kind, "Hey." He loosened his arms enough to look down to the grinning face and asked with concern in his voice, "I didn't..." His words stopped in his suddenly dry throat.
Shaking his head, a frown deepened on the sailor's face and he winced at the thought of his question being answered with a 'yes.' The lighthouse keeper had lifted his head to gaze up at him with worry in his own eyes.
Heero finally took a deep breath before managing, "I didn't hurt you, did I?" Inside, his stomach was in knots at the thought of possibly bringing the creature in his arms any pain. Intentional or not, hurting him in any way was just something that he would never forgive himself for.
Those fears were quickly remedied when Duo chuckled deeply. Lightly kissing the tip of his partner's nose, he reassured him softly, "I'm fine." His small smile grew as he shrugged, "Better than fine, actually." Tiling his head, his own smile faded and he bit his lip before inquiring, "You don't have any regrets, do-?"
Quickly cutting him off, Heero laughed and shook his head, "Absolutely not!" Pulling his love's frame up against his own with one arm, he caressed the heart-shaped face watching him with his free hand and smiled sincerely, "Duo, what happened last night was wonderful. I could never have any regrets at making love to you."
The brilliant smile on the lighthouse keeper's face quickly returned as he nodded firmly, "Good." He leaned in to claim the Japanese youth's lips with his own in a heated kiss. Opening his own arms, he wrapped the sheet around the both of them as he returned the tight embrace.
When the kiss ended, both participants panting heavily for air, Duo grinned, "Why don't we go down to the beach after breakfast? Just the two of us? Summer isn't going to be here much longer, so we might as well get some time in to enjoy it, right?"
Heero chuckled deeply, "That sounds like a great idea." Looking out to the ocean to watch the sun finally starting to come into view, he commented, "From the looks of things, it'll be a nice day for it."
"Great!" Duo exclaimed before leaning in to give a chase kiss. With the sky lightening over them, he pulled back and winked, "It'll only take me a few minutes to shut things down here if you want to head back home to clean up and get ready."
Nodding, the sailor replied, "All right. I'll get breakfast started, too." That said, he kissed his lover's forehead before hesitantly pulling away from their tight embrace. Wrapping the sheet back around his body, the light house keeper watched his departure with a wistful smile before looking back out to the sunrise.
* * * * * *
After a brief clean up in the bathroom adjacent to his bedroom, Heero finished splashing his face with cool water. Sighing deeply, he reached for the small towel he put at the side of the sink, he dried himself and straightened. As he lowered the towel to fold it once more, he opened the medical cabinet behind the round mirror before him as he did every morning.
Sitting along with the toothpaste, hairbrush and other little upkeep items sat the bottle of pills that Sally had given him almost a month prior. With a deep sigh, Heero took the half-filled bottle into his hand and removed it from the cabinet.
It had been a couple of weeks since he took any of he pills out of the lack of flashes from his past- the longest time that he had ever gone without anything that came back to haunt him. That had been the reason why he stopped taking the medicine that the braided doctor had given him. Perhaps he never would regain his full memory back.
...At least, that was what he had hoped.
Returning the bottle to the shelf, Heero removed the toothpaste tube and toothbrush to finish his morning routine. The bottle forgotten once more, he closed the medicine cabinet and stepped from the bathroom to head downstairs.
* * * * * *
"Man, this has been nice," Duo sighed contentedly as he sat atop his towel, wringing out his soaked braid. Lowering himself onto his back, he looking up to the clear sky with his arms folded behind his head. Beside him, an equally damp Heero was lying out on his stomach on his own towel as he hummed his agreement.
Several miles down the shoreline, the lighthouse tower rose over the treacherous rocky cliff side in the distance as a constant witness to all that happened on the remote island. All around, other residents were lounging on the safe and sandy beach or surfing and swimming in the ocean to enjoy the hot summer afternoon. White-tipped sails of boats in many different shapes and sizes drifted out along the sea.
One of those boats floated into the long dock a few yards to the boys' right. His violet eyes widening, Duo sat up and watched as the vessel slowed and finally settled to a stop. The lone sailor jumped from the craft to tie his small boat to one of the rigs before all but running down the dock and onto the beach.
With a laugh, the braided lighthouse keeper rose to his feet and waved excitedly to the approaching man. "Hey, Howie!" he called. Turning, Heero sat up on his towel to watch as a scrawny, white-haired man with large sunglasses walked up with a bright smile.
"I thought that my old eyes were playing tricks on me when I spotted you as I pulled in," the man chuckled deeply. He accepted the offered hand of the braided youth and pulled him in to a one-armed hug. "How the hell are 'ya, kid?" he asked with a wide grin as he smacked the lighthouse keeper's shoulder when they parted. The wide smile on the old sailor's face faded and he cleared his throat before saying quietly, "I'm sorry about the news on Septum."
Shrugging, Duo replied, "Oh, well I'm all right." His own smile returned as Heero rose to his to stand beside him. Making hand gestures between the two strangers as he met his lover's gaze, he grinned, "Heero, this is Howard. He owns one of the largest marinas here and cares for dozens of different ships at his place. He's been a family friend to the Yuy's for years."
Heero smiled warmly and shook hands with the old man and nodded firmly, "Nice to meet you. I'm-"
Howard cut him off with a widely smiled, "Heero Yuy. The poor bastard that crashed out here in the middle of nowhere." Raising his sunglasses to rest atop his head, he winked a sunken-in eye, "Word around here travels fast, as I'm sure you know by now."
The young sailor and lighthouse keeper laughed and shook his head in amusement as they ended their firm handshake. "Actually, I don't think that I'm so unfortunate," Heero commented sincerely. He turned to see the brilliant smile that his sentiment made on his partner's face. "Quite the opposite, actually," he concluded when he looked back to the old man.
A wide, satisfied smile tugged at Howard's lips as he folded his arms as he said, "Well, it's nice to finally meet you, young man."
Duo patted the white-haired sailor's back and told his lover, "My father owned three boats of his own that he would take out every now and then. Before he passed on, he gave them over to Howie, here, knowing that they would never be in better hands at his marina." Howard snorted and waved off the last statement nonchalantly.
His cobalt eyes widening, Heero looked to the braided young man blinked in surprise, "I never knew that your father sailed as well."
Seeing the interest in the Japanese sailor's eyes, Howard smirked, "Well, Yuy saw that the ships were in Duo's name. I just look after them." He turned to the violet eyes watching him and shrugged, "They're still in excellent shape and ready for sailing whenever you finally decide to stop by. We haven't seen you at the marina this whole warm season."
Duo gave him a light glare of warning as he responded, "Well, all things considered, I didn't think it was appropriate." He gestured to his lover and Howard's eyes widened in realization as he mentally hit himself and grinned sheepishly to the young sailor with a bow of his head.
At the exchange, Heero's heart swelled once more in knowing how Duo was trying to protect him. In all honesty, he never had an interest in being near a boat after learning of his accident. Most of his nightmares involved drowning or being crushed against jagged rocks since waking at the hospital.
Despite his initial fears... something had changed. Swallowing to dampen his dry throat, Heero forced a small smile and announced, "Actually, I wouldn't mind taking a look at those boats if we could."
TBC...
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