Author: Sunhawk

Pairings: 1+2

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Slight humor, Heero POV

Disclaimer: I do not own GW.

This last minute thing is getting to be a habit. Does it look like I'm stumbling? I think it looks like I'm stumbling. >_> So, since angst was so well received last month, I said to myself, I said, "Self... angst is good!"

So I sat down to write me some angst. But, as has become the norm with these guys... I got something that is not angst. Because God forbid the stupid characters just ever do what they're told. *sigh*

So this is sort of angst that took a right turn in Albuquerque and is kind of more humor. O.o

Yeah. Enjoy?

Happy unbirthday! *throws fic and runs*

Karma

I might have gotten a bit more information from the group of agents in the clinic waiting room if I hadn't 'accidentally' nailed Meadows with the door hard enough to knock him over a chair when I barged into the room. Nobody was much interested in answering questions while the man was flailing around on the floor, screeching like a monkey, and gasping for air around the chair embedded in his ribs.

Not that I was all that concerned with what they had to say anyway; Meadows and his two cronies had been in attendance the last two times I'd had to come to the clinic to check on my partner, and one doesn't have to be a trained professional to see a pattern that blatant.

Nor does one have to be a trained professional to know to linger outside doorways before entering. One just has to be suspicious enough to dismiss the notion that eavesdropping is unethical.

And overhearing the term 'long haired pussy' in the same sentence with 'over-rated Superman wannabe', kind of absolved me of any guilt over the whole fractured rib thing. As far as I was concerned anyway. At least I didn't kick him in his well positioned ass as I went by... though it was tempting.

As Duo would say; some people are just begging to get knocked down a peg or two.

It was just really starting to get to me that lately Duo was more often the knockee instead of the knocker. Two months ago, Meadows would have been in traction after his first little stunt and Duo would have walked away whistling, with a clean record, and a smug grin.

And the damn newbies would have known better than to mess with my partner again.

But that was before the accident.

Now the score was Meadows three, and Duo... a big fat zero.

I was starting to get pissed.

The first time had been a couple of stitches to an elbow. The second time had been a wrenched shoulder. The third time? I'd find out as soon as I found Duo.

Thankfully, the howler monkey imitation muted some as I pushed through the swinging doors into the clinic proper. I would have hated to have to punch Meadows to shut him the hell up or something. You can only pass so many things off as accidents before the Commander starts making you fill out forms.

I hate forms.

Almost as much as I hate Meadows.

It seemed to be a light day in the clinic, and they make that tracking down of errant partners thing easy, by keeping the lights shut off in unoccupied rooms. There were only a few rooms with patients, and when the first one proved to contain the very pregnant secretary from book-keeping making use of a bed for a nap, I homed in on the second room.

When I heard voices, I paused in the hallway and employed the eavesdropping technique that had already proven so successful.

Screw ethics, as they say... I wanted answers.

'... should just put your name on the door, Maxwell?' I recognized the voice of Sally Po, and could hear the broad hint of... tempered exasperation? in her voice.

'If I'm getting my own room,' I heard Duo drawl, 'I want a bigger one than this. Maybe something with a window?' The humor in his tone was just as broad, and obviously hoping to derail the lecture he had to have felt coming.

Sally ignored the joke and I heard a sound that indicated a clipboard dropping onto a table. There was a sigh, but I couldn't really tell from which of them. 'Want to tell me what happened this time?'

'Oh,' Duo tried in his best 'aw shucks' voice. 'You know how guys are... boys will be boys and all that.'

The snort of derision was all Sally. 'That would be fine if you were five years old. Try again; what happened this time?'

There was a noise of discomfort and I suspected Sally wasn't being her usual gentle self in examining... whatever there was to be examined. 'Just a little mishap on the range,' he said airily. A statement that said absolutely nothing since everybody and their brother already knew Duo's whole day was spent 'on the range' with the trainees until he was up to par again.

There was the sound of that sigh once more, and I was pretty sure it had to be Sally making that noise, because it was starting to take on a tone of... irritation.

I glanced up and down the corridor, but only saw a nurse pass by the end of the hall and she didn't give me a second glance. I tried to assume a pose of... patient waiting, and not so much patient spying.

In the room, Duo yelped, and I heard Sally adopt a tone of... benign cheer. It was chilling. 'You're in here until I say you are out of here, Maxwell. Now stop trying to play the cute and innocent card and spill. Now.'

Duo's next line was delivered, from the sounds of it, through gritted teeth, and it made me wish I dared peek around the doorframe to see what the hell was going on. 'Damn it, Sal... I just got blind-sided is all.'

'Again,' she replied, a flat statement, and there was the rattle of instruments on metal with a certain... firmness.

'I'll adjust,' Duo snapped, his own irritation finally rising to meet hers. 'It's a learning curve and I'm learning.'

She snorted; that same scornful sound. 'Assuming you survive long enough to learn jack shit. You're a target as tempting as Wyatt Earp, Maxwell. Every newbie on the force wants to prove their mettle against one of you five and right now... you're their best bet.'

There was a mirthless laugh from Duo. 'Oh, that's brave all right... let's count coup on the screwed up guy.'

'I don't pretend to understand man-logic,' Sally informed him with a touch of her humor coming back. 'But you know it's true. And your insistence on not having the problem fixed isn't helping...'

'We've had this discussion, Po,' Duo warned her, and this time her sigh was more frustration than annoyance.

'And I still don't understand.'

The 'aw shucks' was back as Duo teased, 'Come on... I'm just too damn dashing with the eye patch. Tell me I don't look angstily mysterious!'

'Try again,' Sally said dryly, and there was the sudden, harsh sound of tape ripping off a spool. It made me jump.

'I'm planning on going to the Preventers Halloween party as a pirate?'

'You're being a child,' she informed him. 'Ocular replacement technology has advanced to the point where it takes a trained technician to spot an implant. You would regain full...'

'And it would still be artificial,' Duo cut her off, his voice growing impatient with what sounded like an old argument.

'I could have your ass back out in the field in less than two weeks!' she snapped at him, something slapping down on a table with enough force to rattle instruments. 'And not wasting time trying to learn to compensate for the lack of something we can give you back, you idiot! How can you not want your sight back completely?'

I think her outburst surprised the both of them, because there was a long moment where the only sound was something round rolling to rest.

When Duo finally replied, his voice was subdued. 'Look, Sal... there's somebody in my life who has every reason to have trouble dealing with... with cyborg parts. And I have every reason not to want them uncomfortable with me. I will learn. I will adjust.'

She didn't answer right away, and I imagined them staring at each other, her with her hands jammed in the pockets of her white lab coat, and him with that odd cocked-head gaze he has now. 'This... person is that important to you?'

I could hear an odd little smile in his voice when he finally said, 'Yeah.'

'And aren't you important enough to them that they wouldn't want you back up to a hundred percent?'

He sighed a funny little sigh and I could picture the rueful half smile that went with the tone of voice. 'Dunno,' he confessed sheepishly.

I could hear her gathering up discarded wrappers and settling instruments in place. 'Well,' she finally told him, 'I hope he figures things out before you end up getting seriously maimed by the new kids trying to score bragging rights at your expense.'

Duo just chuckled, ignoring her fishing. 'Meadows is nothing but an annoyance; he's just trying to draw attention away from the fact that he's flunking out.'

Sally didn't comment on Duo's analysis, slapping him... somewhere, his back or shoulder, I hoped, and telling him, 'Well, it's just a sprain this time. You know the drill... ice it to keep the swelling down. Rest it. Let me check it in a couple of days.'

'Yes Ma'am,' Duo agreed dutifully, apparently happy to drop the previous conversation for the safer one.

'I'd give you a script for pain meds, but I know you won't take them,' she said, her voice telling me she was headed my way. 'And I'd give you a script for anti-stupid pills, but they don't make them... more's the pity. See you the next time you get your ass kicked, Maxwell,' she said airily, and then she was exiting the room with a jaunty little wave over her shoulder.

If I hadn't already figured out that the person in Duo's life with the alleged problem with cyberoptics was me... I'd have figured it out from the sock in the arm Sally gave me on the way by.

'That was your clue, moron,' she muttered, and then headed for the waiting room. 'Now what is that damn caterwauling?'

I didn't bother telling her I didn't need the hint. Nor what the caterwauling was... she'd figure it out.

Duo was still struggling back into his shirt when I stormed the room like a pissy avenging angel. If his shirt had actually been on, I'd probably have taken him by the front and shaken him until his teeth rattled. As it was, all I could do was grab at the hem and jerk the thing down so I could have the access to his face to actually get in it.

'Do not tell me that I have been struggling with a long line of temporary partners while you have been going through re-training, dealing with snot-nose greenies, and over entitled vets with more attitude than brains, because you got it in that warped brain of yours that I have some kind of issue with modern medical science! Dr. J was my mentor and while it would have been nice if he had had the resources and access to current medical technology to not have to rely on out-dated prosthesis, if he taught me anything, it was function over form! You do not compromise your ability because you are too damn concerned with what you look like! They can fucking fix you? And I can get my partner back? Before I end up on report for putting Meadows head in the toilet and showing him the step-by-step application of a swirly? You bet your ass you are getting this taken care of!'

Duo just sat and blinked at me for a long moment, cheeks faintly flushed and not even trying to sort himself the rest of the way into his shirt. 'But...' he began, then stopped, blushing all the darker.

'But what?' I snapped, temper well and truly lost.

'But... Dr. J was...' he tried again, not quite able to find the words he wanted.

'Was what? He was my teacher. He was a scientist. He was a genius. He was dedicated to the cause. He was... what? What screwy notion do you have in there?' I growled, and poked him in the forehead to emphasize my point.

Duo frowned and ducked away from my prodding. 'He was freakin' creepy, that's what!'

I snorted and stepped back to cross my arms over my chest where I could regard him. He used the space to jerk his shirt the rest of the way down into place. It was his left wrist, I noted, that was wrapped this time. 'And you base this assessment of the man on what? A single meeting?'

He ducked his head, an old habit, but then ended up cocking slightly to bring me back into range of his good eye as he peered up through his bangs. 'Uh... two, actually.'

I scrubbed at my face in open frustration. 'Duo... I lived around the man for years. I suppose I probably thought he was... creepy, when I first met him, but I got used to the way he looked, and didn't think a thing of it. It was just part of who he was.'

'But...' he said, not quite able to let it go. Or get his head around not creepy. Or some other damn Maxwell thinking that would probably never make sense to me. The man could over-think a grilled cheese sandwich. Did it really matter who the first person was that figured out you could make cheese out of milk?

No, it was not. Somebody invented cheese. Somebody else invented the sandwich. Neither of those things were required bits of information before one could make said sandwich.

And it was not necessary to understand just what it was about Dr. J that made Duo think I had nightmares about glowing metal eyes. The point was, I did not.

'Keep up, Maxwell,' I finally commanded. 'Dr. J in no way, shape, or form traumatized me to the point that I can not deal with you having a medical procedure that you need. If you want to dress up as a pirate, you can wear the eye patch without having to. And you look just as... what was it? Dashing? You look just as dashing without the eye patch. Get a grip and deal with your condition before I end up stuffing a temporary partner into a file cabinet. Without bothering to take the files out first. Got it?'

He nodded dumbly for a moment, staring at me intently, as though he couldn't quite believe me. Then he suddenly hopped off the exam table and headed for the door, leaving me to trail after him. 'So,' he ventured. 'You missed me?'

'Of course,' I responded. 'You do all the forms. I hate forms. I can't find a damn temp that will do the forms.'

He snorted, and might have come up with a return line, but then we got out into the hallway and he hesitated, attention going toward the waiting room door down the hall. 'What the hell is that noise?'

'The sound of karma in action,' I deadpanned, and steered him to the left, away from the sounds that might have indicated a chair extraction in progress.

He shifted and fell into step beside me, keeping me on his good side so he could glance over at me. 'So... does karma have a guilty conscience?'

'Karma, being a concept rather than a thing,' I chided, 'can not feel guilt.'

'I'm sure it can't,' he agreed and then smiled widely. 'I suppose karma can't feel smug then, either?'

We stopped in front of the elevator and I punched the call button before turning to face him. 'Suppose not. But I can.'

He rolled his one good eye heavenward, as though asking for patience with me. 'You gotta learn to let these things go, Yuy,' he said, but there was a smile tugging at his lips.

The elevator arrived and we stepped aboard. He pressed the button for our floor and we watched the numbers begin their upward climb for a moment before he let the smile take shape.

'But thanks anyway,' he conceded.

'Trust me,' I smirked. 'It was not a problem.'

OWARI

 

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