Note: Duo's POV
Erasure Part 2
"Duo- are you sure you've looked everywhere?" Quatre asked me for the fourth time. I refrained from throwing the phone across the office.
"I told you I did!" I snapped instead. "I can't find him. Are you sure he's not with you? You aren't hiding him from me?"
It was possible. Heero might have gone to one of the others. Might have asked them to hide him from me...
"Don't be an idiot. If he had come to me I would've explained and sent him right back- tied up if need be," Quatre snapped back. "You know that."
I took a deep breath. I did know that. My brain had just not been cooperating with the rest of me these last few days. "Sorry, Quatre. It's just after that fiasco with Une..."
He immediately reverted to soothing: "I still can't believe she didn't tell him it was part of your mission..."
"She claims she didn't know that's what he was upset about." I wrapped my hand around my braid and yanked it hard. Une did try to stay out of the personal lives of her agents, but in this case would it have killed her to show a little interest? She'd had Heero right in her office and let him slip away.
"He'll turn up," Quatre assured me. "He told Une he'd be back in a few days."
"It's been a few days." I looked at the empty desk across from me. "What if he just goes off again? Like he did after the war?"
"We'll find him if he does."
Not if he doesn't want to be found, I thought, but didn't say it aloud. "I still don't understand how things went so wrong so fast... we were planning on repainting the living room this weekend..."
It was surreal. Less than a week ago Heero had been sitting across from me and we had been talking about paint and brushes... and I had been happy. I had been sure of Heero's love and trust, had thought he was sure in mine... and now the desk was empty and Heero had vanished... I couldn't get my head around it. It had been so fast...
"I know, Duo, I know..." Quatre was trying to be soothing. "Look. Go home. You know Une told you that you didn't have to be there this week..."
"Better here than at home." Home was worse. Heero had cleaned off his desk in our office, but not anything at home. I still wasn't sure if that empty desk was better than his empty coffee cup on the sink, but they both still beat our bed. I was used to Heero beside me, used to fighting for covers...
I had to take another deep breath.
"I'll call you later, Q, okay? You'll call me if you hear anything?"
"Of course Duo." I put the phone down carefully and covered my face with my hands. The more time passed the more I worried that Heero wasn't going to come back... that maybe he couldn't... maybe he'd done something...
I should've broken regs. I should've told him about the mission. I hadn't expected him to come home early that day, hadn't expected him to walk in on Wufei and I practicing...
He known damn well that Wufei and I sometimes take undercover work down in the club district- hell, he'd gone with us as backup half the time! He didn't like the undercover aspect, and had been content to let Wufei and I do that part while he waited outside and monitored the missions.
The newest job was going to be a hard one. Usually we could playact a couple easily enough when needed, a lean in on a shoulder, a brush of hands... but this job demanded a little more- hugging, kissing... so we were choreographing it all so to speak... that's all! Something that Heero had suggested on one of the other missions when he claimed we were too uncomfortable with each other- that the choreographed moves would help us look more real because we'd know what to expect... He'd even teased us about it when we kept bumping into each other the wrong way...
That's all we were doing! Trying to make sure we didn't look like idiots if we couldn't manage a kiss without smacking noses. But Heero came home before I expected...
And was gone before I could catch him.
"Duo." I lifted my head at the sound of my name. Wufei stood in my doorway. "I think I know where he went." He lifted up the sheaf of papers in his hand. "A man matching his description went out to L1 two days ago. I ran a list of possible places for you there based on Master O's records and discovered that J had some bolt holes there. He might be in one of them."
I took the papers from his hands, feeling suddenly hopeful. "I'll go. You'll keep an eye out here?"
"Of course. I'll contact you at once if he returns." He paused and then said carefully. "Maybe you should take the other two with you though?"
"I lost him," I replied, "I should be the one to find him."
"There's several places," Wufei gestured at the papers. "You need to be able to spread out and check several at once. What if he's at one and monitoring another?"
Damn. He was right.
"Okay, I'll see if Quatre and Trowa can go with me."
"I already asked them." Wufei informed me. "And the next shuttle leaves in three hours."
"Not fast enough." I turned back to my desk and picked up the phone. "I want to be there tonight." Time to call in some favors.
An hour later and we were on a Sweeper ship heading for L1.
TBC...
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