[But I'm down to my last
Well I'm ready but I'm wrong,
And I'm scared of it all]
--- Lyrics from 'Down to My Last' performed by Altar Bridge
Ray of Hope Part 4
As he took up the small bag of clothing that he had gathered for his guest, Duo gave his friendly smile and gestured to the log cabin. "Let's get you settled in," he suggested after Heero took in their surroundings. Breaking from his spell of overlooking their view of the ocean, the other young man followed his host up to the front porch of the cozy lodge.
With his free hand, the braided lighthouse keeper opened the front door. Making enough room for the Japanese stranger to walk past him, he bit his lip and commented, "It's not much, but I normally don't have guests all that often."
Heero nodded to himself, gazing around the living room. The large space was set with meager but tasteful furniture-two plain couches at opposite sides of the room and one recliner sitting by the fireplace at the furthest wall.
In considering how friendly and easygoing the American was, it was a surprise to the young sailor to hear that he lived as a recluse. He kept his questions silent, however, not wishing to test the limits of the other young man's hospitality.
Deciding to end the uncomfortable silence and put his host at ease, Heero meet his gaze and shrugged, "This is fine." Given his circumstances, he was lucky that anyone was willing to take stranger like him into their home the way the strange lighthouse keeper had. The fact that he had a roof over his head, let alone having an actual home attached to that roof, was more than what he could have hoped for.
Visibly relaxing at that, Duo's shoulders fell at ease as he sighed, "Good." Running a hand through his long bangs, he chuckled deeply, "I have my own bed inside the lighthouse, so I rarely stay here. The clean up work that this place needed before I went to pick you up from the hospital was brutal."
His cobalt eyes widening, Heero found himself at a loss. Not only had this braided young man opened his home to him, but he went beyond even that to make him comfortable. Unable to look into those violet eyes, he said quietly, "You didn't have to bother with all of that." The sincerity that he heard in his own voice surprised him. Just moments ago, wasn't he angry at the world and everything in it?
The softly spoken words seemed to have taken aback Duo as well, as he blinked his widened eyes. Recovering from his momentary shock, the lighthouse keeper grinned anew, "Aw, don't worry about it. This place needed a good dusting, anyway. Your staying here just gave me an excuse to do so."
Several frames of different shapes and sizes sat on the mantle over the fireplace. Drawn to them, Heero took up one of the largest of the pictures. In the image, his braided companion sat amongst a group of smiling faces, Sally's being the only other familiar one. The group was standing along the shoreline with their arms all around each others' shoulders as they posed in a tight line for the shot.
As he approached, Duo smiled, "This here is my family. We all more or less grew up together on this island out in the middle of nowhere, so we're a pretty tight-knit group." Pointing to the person furthest on the left and moving down the line, he 'introduced', "That's Trowa, Wufei and you know Catherine, Sally and me, then there is Hilde and Quatre."
"Do they all still live here on the island?" Heero felt compelled to ask as he set the frame back in its place amongst the other images of the band of friends. Lowering the image again, he noticed what looked to be the hook for a wall frame that was left barren over the mantle. Somehow finding that odd, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and his suddenly throbbing head.
Unaware of the gesture the braided American snorted, "Yep. And just to warn you, you'll probably be meeting all of them pretty soon. News of a stranger washing up on our shoreline is about the most exciting news in a small place like this. One of the nurses on duty the night I brought you went telling everyone she knew what happened."
Rolling his violet eyes, Duo sighed deeply, "Knowing my friends, they'll all just happen to be in the area one night with food and drinks once they figure out that you're staying here with me. But, I'll take care of that when we get to that bridge." With a gesture of his braided head, he announced, "Come on. I'll give you a quick tour of the place."
Following his walk through the kitchen, dining room and back deck, Heero was shown around the second level of the cabin. When they got to the top of the stairs, Duo gestured to the first closed door and stated, "This is the master bedroom, so this is where I set up your bed."
At seeing the confusion in the unruly-haired stranger's eyes when he peered over his shoulder, the braided lighthouse keeper shrugged, "I usually sleep in the lighthouse, remember." The other young man just nodded in response, recalling that his host had mentioned that earlier.
Opening the door and flipping the light switch on, Duo stepped aside again to allow his guest to enter before him. Before stepping inside, Heero thought that he noted another look of concern on the lighthouse keeper's face. The moment that he looked to his surroundings, he realized the reason for that unease.
In the center of the room was a large bed with all of the coverings and pillows needed for comfort. There was a large, wooden dresser at the right side of the space and two large windows that looked to open out to a balcony. But what drew Heero's attention instantly was that there was a large frame beside the dresser that was covered from the top of the frame to the base. He did not even need to ask what was beneath the black sheet.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Duo cleared his throat and commented, "Sally had mentioned that you haven't been ready to look at yourself yet, so I covered all of the mirrors in here and the bathroom that's attached until you're ready to take them down." Quickly, he apologized, "I didn't mean to offend you by covering them before asking you if it was all right. It just seemed like the right thing to do, you know."
His head nodding without his realizing that it was, the young sailor ended the American's ramblings. "You did right," Heero heard himself whisper. Stepping deeper into the pale blue painted room, he ran a hand over the bed's brass foot rail as he lost himself in his swarming thoughts again.
Quietly lowering the bag of clothes that he had been carrying around, Duo broke in quietly, "I'll give you some time alone to get more acquainted with the place. If you need anything, just call, 'k?" His only response was a firm nod from the back of his guest's head. Closing the door after him, the braided lighthouse keeper slipped out with a concerned glance over his shoulder.
Slowly walking around the foot of the bed, Heero sat at the edge of the soft mattress and sat in silence for a time. Looking up to the covered mirror, he sighed deeply. "You can't go on hiding forever," he told himself at last. With a deep breath, he pushed himself up from the bed.
Once he reached the black sheet, the young sailor reached up to the top of the frame with his uninjured arm. His hand rested on the fabric for a time in his hesitance, only to begin to shake almost violently.
Suddenly pulling his hand back as if it had been burnt with a small cry, Heero panted heavily. As sweat ran down his face, he turned to stare in shock at the digital clock on the table beside his bed. While he thought that he was only by the mirror for a few minutes, he found that nearly an hour had passed.
Looking back up to the covered frame, Heero told himself, "Maybe tomorrow."
* * * * * *
That evening...
At the sound of the front door closing, Sally looked up from the newspaper that she was reading. She smiled at the young man entering with his own little grin in greeting. Bending at the waist, the uniformed young man kissed her lips softly before pulling back.
Humming at the gesture, the doctor asked, "How was work, love?"
With a snort, Wufei undid his pistol holder from his waist and answered, "As exciting as law enforcement for a population of less than a thousand people can get."
All but collapsing onto the couch beside his girlfriend, the Chinese officer sighed deeply, "Looking into any leads on the John Doe that Duo pulled from the drink is about all the excitement we have to look forward to right now."
"Then I take it that means there are still no leads on what his identity may be?" Sally frowned deeply as she rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.
As he rested his own head atop hers, Wufei replied, "Knowing how slow the authorities are back stateside, not to mention the possibility that he could be from a different continent, our request for any missing person reports fitting his description will take quite some time to come in. A remote island like this is not exactly the first place that one would think to look for someone that just disappears."
Sitting up, the Chinese young man sighed deeply, "We have some two strikes against us in this search. The fact that he was traveling without any form of identification on him in his wallet is one thing. But then, we couldn't recover even a splinted of his ship before it was pulled out to sea. It's going to be an uphill climb."
"Well, if anything, that just means that Duo will have someone to keep him company for a while," Sally commented as she closed her eyes.
Nearly jumping from the couch as he rose to his feet, Wufei's eyes widened as he shouted, "He's living with Duo?"
Rolling her eyes, Sally smirked, "I hardly think that Duo is in any sort of danger in having someone with global amnesia staying with him. Besides just that, he insisted of having him move in."
Her smile faded as she glared up to her lover, "The chance of finding where he's from is pretty slim as it stands. And with no telling if he'll ever get his memory back, I am not about to order his being sent to an institution when he has the chance of maybe starting over to live a normal life."
Quietly considering her words, Wufei finally sat back down on the sofa. "All right," he relented. "I suppose that I can't argue with you on that." Raising an eyebrow, he warned, "Just don't tell Hilde or Quatre yet."
At that, Sally snorted, "I'm not that naïve. Heero needs some time to settle into his new lifestyle before he'll be ready to socialize comfortably." At the surprise in her partner's dark eyes in hearing the name of her patient, the braided nurse shrugged, "The name was Duo's suggestion as well."
Wufei mulled over that for a moment before nodding in acceptance. "I shouldn't be so surprised by that," he said at last. "It would be only fitting."
Smiling warmly, Sally kissed his cheek and reassured, "Stop worrying so much about your little 'brother.' He can take care of himself. This will be the best thing for the both of them. I'm convinced of that."
Through the window behind them, the rays of the lighthouse came to life as the last rays of daylight faded from the sky. Gazing through the opened shades, the pair looked to the tall, white tower rising over the edge of the city.
"For both of their sakes," Wufei's voice spoke softly as he kept his eyes on the lighthouse, "I hope that you're right."
TBC...
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