Title: Snowstuck Part 3 of 3 - Share
Author: Tsunami (Mistress_Tsunami@yahoo.com)
Archive: My site
(http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/dragoncave/story/snsfics.html)
If you want it, take it, but please just let me know
who you are and where your site is.  I don't like
randomly stumbling upon my own fics when I'm looking
for someone else's.
Warnings: NEW: Sappy.  *cries*  it's so saaaddddd!!!
um...angst, but mostly psychological (Heero).  I can
think of anything else.  I'm kinda messin' around with
pairings right now, so, we've got 3+4, 1+5, wishful
1+2+5, and 2+? .  Ok, that's a lot of new stuff for me
and pairings.  This is my first 1+5 that does NOT
include 2, so bear with me.
Disclaimer: if I owned them, then I wouldn't be
writing fanfiction, because, let's face it, I wouldn't
be a *fan*.  Don't sue, I've got a gun that tends to
give me (and others) sugar highs.
Notes: Ok, one of my friends from school just died
last night (as I'm writing this, a while until I post)
so I'm sorry if this comes out kinda rough.  The
ending though, was written long before this, so it
shouldn't be too bad.



Duo woke up pleasantly placed between two bodies
covered in sweat.  He felt comfortable, even though he
knew that the three of them would need a shower before
long.

He knew there was a smile on his face before he opened
his eyes.  He didn't want this moment to end, even
though he could never tell _them_ that.

Sighing, and giving into the inevitable, he opened his
eyes.  He found himself facing a sleeping Wufei.

Curious to see if the presence at his back was who he
thought it was, he turned.

And screamed out in pain.

Suddenly he was faced with four worried pilots
reaching out to him to help him, but not quite
touching him for fear of hurting him.  All of them
were asking what was wrong.

"...leg...foot...hurts..." he managed to creak out
against a sore throat.  He shivered as covers were
removed, but there was a warmth behind him that he
clung to.  He looked up to see Heero's worried face,
but closed his eyes again as Trowa picked up his lower
leg.

"The leg is simply stiff," Trowa announced.  "I think
it's mostly the ankle.  Looks like he twisted or
sprained it, and he probably tore several tendons in
the process.  It's going to hurt, but it needs to be
wrapped and iced.  Can you handle that?" he asked Duo.

Duo, biting his lower lip, nodded.  Heero's arms
instinctively wrapped around him.  And then there was
another warm body.  Wufei had joined them, and smiled
down at Duo.

Duo, personally, didn't mind at all, even if he was
slightly confused.

Then Trowa lifted the ankle to wrap it, and Duo could
feel the blood draining from his face.  He felt weak,
and sick. [1] The pain passed, however - if that's
even what you'd call it - and he felt the numbing ice
pack on his ankle.  Or rather, he felt the _pressure_
from the ice pack, he didn't think that the
temperature had really changed all that much.

And then he was lying back down, caught between Heero
and Wufei.

And it felt odd.

Okay, he could've handled it if was just Wufei, or
even just Heero, but both?  They had their own
relationship, and he felt like he was intruding on
something way too personal to share.  But he couldn't
say that it didn't feel nice.  No, quite the contrary,
he rather liked it, and soon fell asleep once more.

"Fei?" Heero asked once he was certain that Duo was
asleep and Trowa had led Quatre-the-mother-hen away.

"Yes?"

"Do we tell him?"

"Not yet."

"When?"

Wufei chuckled at his love's lack of experience with
emotional situations.  "When he's starting to feel
better and isn't in so much pain.  We don't want to
make it worse, or to scare him off.  Until then, he
stays with us.  I won't have it any other way."


Heero smiled, pleased.  "Okay."

"Did you tell Sally and Une to take care of the
reunion?"

"I had Trowa call.  He was acting like he wanted
something to do."

"Oh?"  Wufei raised an eyebrow.

Heero smiled, looking pleased with himself.  "He
wasn't doing anything and I think that was the same
full cup of cocoa he'd had for the past three hours."

Wufei chuckled.  "Well, love, at least you're
learning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Christmas Eve.  Heero and Wufei had managed to
get Duo to Sally and Une's without many problems, and
Trowa and Quatre had followed in the snowmobiles,
giving the three their privacy.

A lot of good that did, the whole trip was silent.

It was gift giving time, and since Duo couldn't play
Santa this year, Wufei _volunteered_ to do it for him.
Duo was laughing like no other, but he was happy.

The gifts under the tree were quickly given away, but
there was still more to come.  Trowa chose to give his
gift to Quatre first.  Kneeling infront of the blonde
boy, on one knee, he opened a small, black box, and
asked in a quiet, soft, almost frightened voice:
"Quatre...would you...marry me?"

With tears in his eyes Quatre proclaimed, rather
fervently, that yes, he would.

That was when something quite unexpected happened. 
With the puppies that Duo had given - one for
everyone, each already named with Duo's nickname for
the owner - playing on the floor, Duo stood and limped
over to Hilde, ignoring his crutches, and his face
slightly paling with the effort.  He got on his knees
and pulled out a small, velvet box, similar to
Quatre's, and Heero had to fight to choke back a
strangled gasp.

"And last, but not least, my gift to you, Hilde."  He
opened the box.  "Would you be my bride?"

She lovely accepted.

Everyone was happy for the two newly engaged couples,
and tears were shed for their joyful union.  Wufei
knew that Heero's constant repetition of 'I'm so happy
for you' was not normal, but refrained from saying so,
and managed to keep his love out of trouble.

Later that night, Heero and Wufei went home together,
alone except for their two new golden retriever
puppies, Hee-chan and Fei-Fei.  They had found out
that Duo had secretly been seeing Hilde for three full
years, and that he had not really tried to hide it,
but that was how their schedules had worked out.  He
had simply been waiting for the right moment to pop
the question, and with Trowa's success, had finally
had the courage to do so.

"Ya know," Heero commented as they crawled into bed,
"I feel kinda left out.  We're the only ones who
aren't engaged yet."

"Yet being the operative word here.  And besides,
asking tonight would seem kinda cliched, don't you
think?  That's why I didn't want to ask, I already
knew that Trowa was asking."  Heero smiled, but Wufei
knew him better than that now.  He could see the
sadness that was there.

And so Wufei held his lover as he cried, and
apologized, then cried some more.

Cried for all the missed opportunities.

Cried for what was.

Cried for what was not.

Cried for what could never be.

Cried for love lost.

Cried for love found.

Cried for completion.

Cried, and hoped.

Wufei, for his part, did his best to comfort his love,
promising forever, whether or not it showed, promising
himself, something never freely given before.

They both fell asleep with tears in their eyes.

Tears of sadness.

Tears of joy.

Tears of promise.

Tears of forever.

Tears of pain.

Tears of comfort.

Tears of love, freely given, freely received, and
freely returned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[1] I happen to know that this really does happen.  I
once had three tendons torn in my ankle, and was
literally crawling on the floor because I could stand
to have that much height distance between my head and
my ankle.  And it really did hurt whenever it was
moved.  Needless to say I had a three-day Kenshin
marathon :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End Part Three.

~Owari~

THE END
+{Previous Chapter} to Tsunami’s fics.