[Oh I believe there are angels among us
sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
to show us how to live, to teach us how to give
to guide us with a light of love]
--- Lyrics to 'Angels Among Us' performed by AlabamaYearwood
Ray of Hope Part 20
The sun rising at the start of a brand new day, the lighthouse lantern flame had already been doused before a car came rolling up to the residence by the cliffs.
Heero sighed deeply in relief as he stepped back inside the cabin along with Duo and Noin. As late as it was when she finished tending to the young sailor, Sally invited them to stay at the house she and Wufei shared for the night. In his hand, he clutched the prescribed bottle of medication that they picked up from pharmacist first thing that morning.
At the sound of the door closing, both Solo and Zechs moved from where they had been waiting in the living room. Both with sincere grins of relief in seeing Heero, the younger of the two blondes greeted, "Hey, man. How are you feeling?"
With a polite nod, the Japanese youth replied, "Much better, thank you." Raising the bottle of pills, he stated, "Sally said this should keep another migraine like that from coming on so suddenly. Nothing serious."
Everyone around him seemed to believe his explanation for his fainting the night before... That was, at least, with the exception of one. "You're still a bit pale," Zechs frowned deeply as he tilted his head a bit. "Are you sure that you're all right?"
Forcing himself to remain expressionless and not give any hint to his inner panic, Heero commented, "Well, I am still a little queasy after everything. I never had a migraine like that before." It was not a complete lie. He was feeling quite ill after learning that like it or not, his past would be coming back.
Noin patted the sailor's shoulder and offered with a kind smile, "I'm going to make some herbal tea. That should help settle your stomach," Heero gave her a grateful smile and a quiet 'thank you' before she made her way to the kitchen.
Duo stepped forward to shake hands firmly with his brother as he told him, "Thanks for looking after the lighthouse for me, Solo."
Grinning from ear-to-ear, the blonde youth shrugged, "No problem. I'm surprised how much I remembered when it came to caring for it after all this time. Brought back memories of the good 'ol days." His smile faded as he spoke in concern, "You look like shit. You should go and get some sleep."
The dark circles under the braided lighthouse keeper's eyes darkened all the more as he attempted to glare at his brother. "I'm fine," he retorted. "I've worked on less sleep than what I got last night."
"You didn't sleep at all," Heero corrected as he turned to his partner, the concern clear in his own eyes. "Don't think that I didn't hear you pacing in Sally's living room almost all night, probably worrying over what would happen if something came up at the lighthouse while you were away for a whole night. Between that and waiting until I woke up in the hospital, how much sleep did you actually get?"
With a deep blush burning his cheeks at being caught, Duo lowered his head slightly before mumbling, "Maybe an hour or two." Quickly, he raised his head and insisted, "But I'm fine, really."
Raising a long eyebrow, Zechs smirked, "Duo, get some sleep before I get your mother on your case. I'm surprised that she didn't say anything just now, but then she was probably hoping you would just go to sleep on your own."
A quick assessment of the faces watching him made it clear to the American that he didn't have any allies in the matter. With a huff that moved his long bangs from his violet eyes, he relented with a grumbled, "Fine."
Just as he began to make his way upstairs, Duo paused to face to the three gathered in the hallway. "But I want someone to wake me up before noon," he ordered sternly. "While I was awake, I noticed that it rained in the middle of the night, so I have to clean the tower before it gets dark again."
Solo raised his hand a mock salute as he winked, "Yes, sir." Zechs and Heero chuckled deeply along with him as the braided youth stuck his tongue out at his brother before climbing the remainder of the stairs.
Once the Duo was out of earshot, Solo cracked his knuckles and grinned, "I'll just have to see that the tower's clean so he doesn't have to get up right away."
At that, Heero turned to face him with a pleased smile and stated, "I was just thinking the same thing. I'd be happy to help out."
Waving his hand, the short-haired blonde replied, "Nah, you should take it easy today after what happened." He looked up to smirk at his future step-father. "Though maybe Thor, here, wouldn't mind learning the ropes a bit," he commented with a playful jab to the tall man's ribs with his elbow.
Zechs chose to ignore one of the many playful nicknames the boys gave him. Instead, with a genuine and intrigued look on his face, he nodded, "Actually, that does sound interesting. Lead the way, Smart Ass." Solo's head fell back as he laughed.
As the two blonde young men walked towards the basement door, Heero shook his head in amusement just as the sound of the kettle whistle filled the air. With a small sigh of content, the young sailor made his way into the kitchen. As he stepped into the room, he watched as Noin finished pouring two cups of herbal tea that she managed to find from the drawers, her back facing him. "He kept everything just where I left it before we moved away," she whispered wistfully to herself.
Looking over her shoulder as she set the kettle back onto the stove, the mother of two blinked in surprise at finding that she had company. Her widened eyes realized along with her shoulders and she smiled, "I hope you don't mind if I join you. Aside from our brief talk over the vidphone, we never had a chance to talk one-on-one."
"I'd like that," Heero grinned sincerely with a small nod. Noin's own smile grew at the sentiment. Taking up the two large, steaming teacups, she moved towards the table along with her companion. As they sat across from each other, the young mother leaned forward to slide one of the cups of emerald green.
There was a companionable silence as the two sipped at their tea. Lowering her cup onto the table, Noin ran her right index finger along the rim as she asked, "So how long have you been dating my son?"
Nearly choking on the mouthful of tea that he was in the process of swallowing, Heero quickly set his own cup down as he coughed. As he finally caught his breath with wide eyes, he sputtered frantically, "I, well, we, uh..." Shaking his head as he ran a hand through his dark and unruly hair, he questioned, "H-how did you know?"
Chuckling deeply, Noin answered, "I would have to be blind to not figure it out. Duo would not leave your bedside at the hospital until you woke up, to say nothing of how he was nearly frantic when he came running for help after you collapsed."
She reached across the table to pat the worried young man's hand and smiled reassuringly, "It's all right, Heero. I've been hoping that Duo would find someone. And I can appreciate the fact that he would be hesitant to announcing it to me as we just met. And I can see that you sincerely care about him, considering the measures that you went through to see that he had his family around to support him at this time."
There was such a natural sense of warmth and comfort that came from her that Heero could not help but smile in relief. Taking her hand in his, he squeezed it as he whispered, "He thinks the world of you and Solo. And he misses Heero terribly." Despite his reluctance to bring up the man that Duo considered his father, it was important that she knew what n impact their family had made in his partner's life.
Gently squeezing his hand back, Noin swallowed hard as her head lowered. "We all do," she whispered sadly. Slowly, her small smile returned as she sighed deeply, "He was a wonderful man. We were married young and I was all but devastated when I learned that I could not bear any children. Instead of looking at the negative side of it, Heero was quick to say, 'Well, we'll just have to adopt, then.' He always had this natural gift of finding the brighter side of everything."
With a small grin spreading on his own face, Heero chuckled deeply and squeezed her hand once more. Laughing, Noin shook her head, "The orphanage staff thought that we were insane for adopting Solo. He was by far the oldest child that they had in their care, nearly fourteen at the time, and a professional troublemaker. But, we wanted to give him a chance, after seeing how no one else would. Even he was so surprised to finally be taken in that he came around before too long."
Her blue eyes losing their focus as she continued to think back to the past, the young mother frowned deeply, "And then we learned about Duo's father disowning him and throwing him out on the streets. He was one of my best students in high school, and a fast friend of Solo at that time in their lives. When I told Heero, we didn't even need to discuss bringing him in to stay with us, we all just went looking for him."
There was a long silence as Noin took another sip from her tea. When she lowered her cup again, she smiled wistfully as her eyes regained focus and turned to her attendant. "I love those boys as if they were my own," she spoke quietly, "Just as Heero did."
"It shows," the sailor nodded. "Considering how Duo's biological father treated him, I think it's safe to say that Duo gets his better personality traits from the two of you."
Chuckling deeply once more, the young woman grinned, "I'd like to think so." Gently pushing her chair back, she rose from the table along with her cup. Opening the doors to the large, enclosed back deck, she stood before its large windows, looking out to the ivory tower rising at the peak of the cliff side. As she looked back over her shoulder, she called into the kitchen, "Do you know why Duo wanted to take over the lighthouse after his father died?"
A bit confused by the question, Heero rose from his own seat with a deep frown. Moving to stand beside the young mother, he gazed out to the lighthouse along with her and answered, "He made a promise to Heero before he passed that he would take over for him."
Noin hummed quietly, "That's only a part of it. But, I believe that there is much more to it than just that." Her eyes narrowing, she growled deeply, "That poor excuse of a man that brought him into the world said that there was nothing good that could come of him. For the longest time, Duo truly believed him. He would cry on my shoulder as I would hold him and tried to convince him otherwise."
With another sip from her cup, the short-haired mother smirked out to the lighthouse. "I think that while he meant to make Heero proud," she stated quietly, "Duo also wanted to prove his father that he could be something of value in this life... A ray of hope to those who are lost and trying to find their way home safely."
At the notion, Heero's cobalt eyes widened. "Just as he had done for me," he breathed.
Turning to meet his gaze, Noin grinned, "I have the feeling that you and I are going to get along beautifully, Heero Yuy."
* * * * * *
Knocking at his lover's office door, Wufei cracked the door open and called, "Sally?" With a quick assessment, he found the room empty. "Must be wrapping up her evening routine," he thought to himself. He decided to just wait for her return as he sat before her desk.
His dark eyes narrowing, he noted one of the many files sitting on the doctor's desk. 'Heero Yuy' was one of those reports present. Biting his lip, the Chinese officer leaned his head back to see that no one was approaching the office.
Satisfied that all was clear, Wufei quickly rose from his seat and carefully removed the file from the pile. As he removed his notepad from his uniform belt, he smirked in anticipation. The sound of footsteps suddenly approaching had him quickly turning through the pages of notes Sally had made on her patient. The last of the reports had his dark eyes widening. "Odin?" he whispered to himself.
TBC...
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