Woke Up One Morning... Part 54

Heero and I follow Wufei as he ushered a handcuffed Senator Laux to the black car waiting right outside of the official's building along with Lady Une. All around the streets are crowded with wide-eyed spectators and media crews, filing the arrest of who everyone once believed to be a good man.

Giving 'Fei and the Commander the space they need to secure our prisoner, my husband and I head across the street to the large, white truck where the rest of our friends are standing. My eyes falling on Trowa and Quatre, I ask, "Were you able to get the whole conversation in the office?"

With a firm nod, Tro answers, "All of it. The recording is being digitalized so it will be easier to archive in the Preventer records." A small smile tugging the side of his mouth, he slaps my arm and tells me, "Nice work in there." Chuckling, I smile in appreciation.

Stricken by a sudden thought, I rub my toes into the street and frown, "Um... I'm sorry, again, that we had to make all of you think that Ivanov was dead until we found out what we needed from him."

Quat snorts, "Nothing to be sorry about. You couldn't risk Senator Laux running if it was leaked to him that the only person who could tie him to the hit against the Assembly was alive and in Preventer custody. We all completely understand that." Trowa nods in agreement with a small grin to my relief, and my own smile grows.

I turn my head to peer over to where Relena and Scott are standing together... staring at the man being placed in the back of the car. At the sadness in Daily's eyes, I can't help but feel for the guy.

Walking over towards him while Heero stays behind to continue the discussion with our 'brothers,' I frown, "I know that Pete was a friend of yours for a long time, Scott. I know it was hard to come forward with what you knew, but it was good of you that you did." Grinning in pride, Relena looks back at her boyfriend and squeezes his hand.

His blue gaze turning towards me, he smirks and shrugs, "It was the right thing to do. Friend or not, I am not about to associate with a person capable of what Laux did. I'm glad that I was able to play even a small part in closing this investigation."

Beside the young couple, Zechs looks over at Scott and smirks, "Yea, well don't think that you're done proving yourself to me that you are suitable for my sister."

Glaring at her husband along with 'Lena, Noin smacks him in the chest and he laughs at her, "What? I have to give him a hard time. It's my duty as a big brother." The ladies roll their eyes as the newest member to our 'family' just snickers in amusement. Patting Daily on the back, I smile to myself.

Yea. He fits in just fine.

I suddenly decide that I need a moment alone. Quietly, I work my way around the truck to find just about the only area free of any other eyes. With a deep sigh, I sag heavily and all but fall back to lean my back against the vehicle. My hands shaking when the adrenaline begins to fade, I reach up to dry wash my face.

Even though I know that this is finally the end to this very long and trying case, it still hasn't really sunk in at the same time. Along with the relief of closing my last investigation as a Preventer is still the overwhelming sadness in knowing what a strike all of this will be against L2.

Maybe the Assembly representatives won't frown on the Colony, but there will be fewer people on the board pushing for the aid to the people there now. But whatever happens, I'll continue to fight for them... just as I always have.

"Hey," a soft voice calls, breaking through my thoughts. Lowering my hands, I turn to find Heero watching me with a tiny, sad smile on his face. Slowly walking towards me, he opens his arms and I throw myself into them. Wrapping me up tightly, he rubs the back of my head and kisses my cheek with a breathed, "I am... so damned proud of you, Duo."

The sincerity and raw emotion in his tone has my eyes watering as I cling onto him and bury my face in his shoulder with a sniffle. Just holding me all the tighter when my body starts trembling, 'Ro kisses my temple and whispers, "It's finally over." Smiling against his Preventer jacket, I nod.

It's over. I know I'll never get tired of hearing that.

*  *  *  *  *  *

One week later...

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Duo. Happy birthday to you," my husband and friends sing as Heero steps into our living room with a cream-cheese iced carrot cake lit up by twenty-three candles. Leave it to him to remember my favorite treat to make up.

Peering around our crowded room, I can't help but feel just a little emotional that literally everyone I've ever been close to came to celebrate this day with me.

Trowa and Quatre, Wufei, Sally and their daughter, 'Lena and Scott, Zechs and Noin, Hilde and her husband, Lady Une, Heather along with Tony and Carissa. Even Catherine and Dorothy made the trip out!

Of course, this is also the afternoon following mine and Heero's official retirement from the Preventers. Both completely healed up from our injuries, we were finally ready to make that big leap together.

The morning ceremony where we were both presented with plaques and medals for our service from a certain teary-eyed Commander, ended up being quite the crowded affair with all of our friends there and surviving fellow agents saluting us off.

For the event, most of the Assembly members had taken the time out of their busy schedules to be a part of the standing ovation we received. That... was one hell of an honor that's giving me chills just thinking about it.

At the end of the birthday song, Heero lowers the cake in his hands onto the table before me as my audience gathers in around him. Smiling lovingly and winking, he straightens himself and says, "Make a wish."

I laugh, unable to help it when I recall a day when he once believed that making a wish on anything was 'foolish' before I managed to get through that tough shell of his.

Since I already have everything that I could ever possibly have wished for myself, what I have to wish for is not for me. I would feel selfish asking for more than what any one person would ever need.

So, thinking of the people of L2 and my hope that they'll be able to find peace and happiness in their own lives despite their hard times, I lean forward in my seat on the couch while taking a deep breath.

All of the little candle flames come out in a single puff as my friends whistle and clap.

With a knife, plates and forks already available, the cake is sliced right there and passed around to everyone to enjoy. I look at the small pile of candles that were taken out.

23. I'm still young and yet ancient at the same time after having seen and done the things that I've been through in my lifetime.

When everyone has had their fill of cake, 'Lena suddenly announces, "Heero's gift first!"

Taken by surprise by the sudden cry, I jump a bit in my seat along with a bunch of the others. Snickering, my husband kisses my temple and rises from his spot beside me. I feel myself grinning from ear-to-ear as he moves from the room, past the stack of brightly wrapped gifts by the doorway. So his present isn't even in plain sight for me to guess what it could be.

I blink in confusion when Quat suddenly sits in my partner's place. Snickering, he covers my eyes with a black cloth blindfold with the warning, "No peaking, now." I smirk and play along, but give a forced sigh that has my friends laughing.

Several gasps and whispered words fill the air only a moment later, making me even more curious to what the hell Heero could possibly have gotten me. Then, I hear a the distinctive sound of something... sniffing around the floor.

No way! It couldn't be! And I get my confirmation to my guess when something thick and wet attacks my hands resting on my knees.

Throwing my blindfold back, I am greeted by the sight of a full-grown chocolate lab panting happily up at me with a shiny red bow hooked to the back of it's purple collar. "Heero!" I cry excitedly.

One quick glance down confirms the gender and I beam, "She's so cute!" And quite round for a lab, too. Clearly she ate well prior to her time in whatever shelter she came from.

Already, she's making quite the impression on our friends and she begins wandering around to make acquaintances. It's clear right away that she's a little lover of a pup, gladly accepting whatever affections she can get while returning the favor with licks and a quickly wagging tail.

My partner walks towards me smirking, "I went to the humane society looking to pick out a puppy."

Gesturing to the round ball of fur working the room, he says, "But when I went past the adult dog's kennels, she was watching with this... sad look and I was taken with her right away. I learned that she is three years old and the staff put weight on her after they found her as skin and bones from living on the streets, scavenging whatever she could to survive."

It's something that I could relate to... something that I am sure melted him even more to seal his want to bring her home... give her a chance at a good life.

I bite my bottom lip and rise to my feet to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him soundly. Normally, I would be embarrassed to well up in front of all of my friends, but I really don't pay any mind to them right now. "Thank you," I breathe when I pull back, a few tears running down my face.

"Thank you," he replies just as softly, stressing the 'you' as he wipes my tears away.

A light nudging on my leg has me looking down at our dog who is trying to get some attention from me again by tapping us with her brown nose.

Laughing, I fall to my knees and hug her tightly around the neck. When I look back to take in her wet, soulful brown eyes, I grin, "She looks like a Jolly Molly." Peering up at my husband I ask, "How does the name Molly work?"

Heero just smirks, "I like it." Chuckling softly when our pup rubs the side of her head against his leg, he reaches down to pat her head. Molly turns to lick at his hand and continues to pant happily, content to just sit and be near us.

This is easily the best birthday I've ever had.

*  *  *  *  *  *

It was late in the evening when our guests called it a night and crash in the spare rooms where they'll be staying through Thanksgiving later this week. And with Molly sleeping soundly on the dog bed that Heero had purchased for her, my husband and I head off to out bedroom hand-in-hand.

The second the door is closed behind us, Heero claims my mouth in the heated kiss that I've been dying for all day. Lost in the heat of it all, my toes curl in my socks. Pulling away to breathe again, he pants with a smiled, "Happy birthday, Duo."

Snickering while trying to collect enough air, I grin widely, "Thanks, 'Ro. It was fantastic." I gasp when I am suddenly scooped up and tossed onto the bed, laughing.

As I try to push myself up, my lover is above me, supporting himself to be inches over my body. Just when I expect him to begin ravishing me, he kisses the tip of my nose and shifts to sit beside me. "I have an idea," he announces, leaving the bed altogether to head for the small television and DVD player on the table across the room.

From behind the set, he removes a certain white video that I recognize without having to see the cover to know what it is. Smirking over his shoulder, he suggests, "Why don't we finally take a look at this? I hid this in here before our guests started showing and spotted it."

My eyes widen and blink in surprise... and fear. It's such a weird conflict of wanting to throw the disk into the machine myself and wanting to burn the thing at the same time.

Smiling nervously as I sit up on the bed, I chuckle, "Um... are you sure that's a good idea? I mean we woke up not even knowing we got married the night before. We couldn't have been in the best of shape for the ceremony."

With a shrug, Heero slides the DVD into the player and asks, "Is that why your curiosity hasn't gotten the best of you to watch this yet?"

I swallow roughly. "Well, yea," I admit in a near whimper when he turns the television to reveal the blue screen waiting to pull up the video. My heart starts hammering.

Quickly getting to his feet, my husband switches the ceiling light off and sits behind me. Pulling me back against him, he wraps the comforter around us while resting his head on my shoulder with a kiss to my temple.

I hold my breath as a simple image of two hearts joined with the words 'The Wedding of Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell' appear on the screen. And I am pretty sure that I feel sweat forming on my forehead right now.

When the first images of us standing, facing each other with our hands joined and the Justice of the Peace standing in at the front of the 'chapel,' I'm relieved to see that we're both standing upright without swaying. The site must have provided the suits that we were wearing for the ceremony, me in white and Heero in black to remind me of the Yin Yang we tended to be during the wars.

As the tall man in a gray suit reads over his opening words on marriage read from the opened book in his hands, I can see the kinds of a good buzz that I am covering up, but I am pleased that I am not nearly as bad as I had feared I might find. In fact, when I go onto my vows about how I was happy to be marrying my best friend, my words are with little to no slurring and not rambling in nonsense.

So... I'm actually happy with this so far.

Heero, though... I can't find a damned hint that he was feeling the alcohol he had been consuming up to that moment. Smiling warmly at me, it's his turn to give his vows and he tells my grinning recorded self, "I may have trouble telling you exactly how I feel about you..."

Wait. I sudden sense of deja vu comes over me at that phrase. and the tenderness behind them and I wrack my brain to recall how it seems so familiar to me.

Taking a deep breath, he breathes, "There is nothing in my life that is more important than you, Duo." It's the whole of his vows. Short, simple and meaningful...

...And exactly what he had told me that night on the beach after the first time we made love to each other. That memory snaps back to me in an instant when I hear those words.

My eyes widening, I slowly turn my head to look over at 'Ro who I find watching me nervously. Springing forward and off of the bed, I ignore the rest of the video as it rolls on. Spinning to face my husband and cry, "You knew exactly what was going on!" A deep frown forms on my face at the sudden wave of hurt I feel and I whisper, "You remembered everything about it and you never told me."

Heero pushes the comforter off of himself and rises to his feet to stand right before me. Biting his lip, he replies, "In my defense, I did forget about it first thing the next morning, when we were out celebrating after the fact. Not long before the flight out of Las Vegas, it rushed back to me and I did keep it from you because of the circumstances of it all."

That hurt is quickly forgotten, being replaced by intrigue at that sentiment. "What... were the circumstances?" I question hesitantly since I honestly can't remember a damned thing about that evening once I really got to drinking early on in our outing.

Smiling brilliantly as I can see the memory of that evening replaying in his mind, he tells me quietly, "You had told me that I was your best friend and that you always wanted to marry your best friend. Then you rushed out a sort of proposal and I accepted. We found the chapel not long after that and decided not to waste any time waiting to get married."

"But," I begin, still working my brain around everything he is telling me and what I just saw on the video. Pointing at him, I comment, "You were completely with it. That would mean..."

His smile growing a bit, 'Ro nods firmly, "That I really did want to marry you, yes. Let me tell you that you are not the only good one at hiding how you truly feel about someone."

I gasp at that confession, eyes widening again. Wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close against him, he tells me softly, "I love you." My knees go weak hearing that sentiment from him. Luckily, he is holding me up right now.

"And I have for a long time, Duo," he continues, "I just had no idea of how to tell you or if you felt the same. When you came up with that proposal, I really did not see the harm in two people who love each other getting married since that is what is needed for a marriage in the first place."

Shrugging, my husband smirks, "I admit that I was not really thinking things completely through, but that was the extent of what affect the alcohol had had on me up to that point."

The grin fades as he explains, "Once I did remember the wedding the next day, I kept it to myself because you were already suggesting we could end the marriage. I didn't want you to push the issue more. I know that how we married was not exactly how you would have liked. You would have been mortified and hidden how you really felt."

He's right about that. It's exactly what I would have done.

Running a hand through his hair, my lover sighs, "So, I have been chancing your being furious with me for not telling you sooner because I wanted to see if we couldn't just make it work since we both feel the same for each other."

I can feel tears coming on as I ask, "That's... incredible of you that you wanted to stay married that much, but why are you sharing all of this with me now?" My eyes grow as I realize out loud, "Or back on Peacemillion a couple weeks ago?"

Lightly brushing away a stray drop, Heero smiles and answers, "Because you had been commenting about how our wedding was a mistake when it really was not... at least not to me. It was about time you found out that we both went into it with the right intentions and I never saw it as anything but right."

"And..." he draws out while moving to his dresser to remove a small, red felt-covered box. Gasping sharply, I go completely stiff as he approaches with his smirk back in place. "It helps with my last birthday present to you," he comments, slowly dropping to a knee in front of me. The lid of the box is opened to reveal a silver ring, designed in a strange shape of waves.

Now I have to blink to clear the watery blur in my eyes so I can watch my lover take my hand and peer up with that loving smile he only shows me. "Duo Yuy-Maxwell," he begins. "Would you marry me... again? Only we'll make this wedding something we'll both remember the next morning and for the rest of our lives."

Falling to my knees, I laugh and throw my arms tightly around his neck. "Yes," I breathe, fighting off a sob at the same time. "God, yes." Heero latches onto me and kisses my cheek, not saying a thing to tease me about how I'm shaking right now.

As he pulls back, my husband removes the silver ring and grasps my trembling hand to slide it on my ring finger. Blinking in surprise, I understand the strange design now. It was made to clasp onto my gold ring in such a way that the two tones come out in the appearance of a woven braid.

My God, he really is such a romantic!

"Not too many couples can say that they both got to propose to each other," Heero chuckles deeply as he wipes away the remaining tears from my face.

Snickering, I shake my head and look up from staring at my new ring to meet his eyes. "No, they can't." I reach up to cup the side of his hand and whisper, "I love you, Heero Yuy-Maxwell."

Again, that gorgeous smile appears as he replies in kind, "I love you, Duo Yuy-Maxwell. More than you'll ever know." He laughs when I suddenly lunge for him, knocking us both to the floor and we lock in a deep kiss that turns into the total ravishing of each other that I have been looking forward to all day.

Yea. Best birthday ever.

TBC...

 

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