"Greeting Cards"

Written By: Kaeru Shisho

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Yaoi, funeral practices, AU, fluff

Pairings: 1+4, 1x2x1, 3+H, 5xH, 3x4, 6x9

Summary: Each chapter is based on Heero’s greeting cards and Duo's mortuary.

"Greeting Cards "

Chapter 5 --

May's Flowers

I could tell that having all his friends invade his club date-gone-bad had embarrassed Duo and the further humiliation of having his boyfriend openly flirt with his employee had to hurt. I felt for him having to go back to work (and with said employee) on his evening off.

I nearly had to carry Quatre to get him away from the scene. I wanted to find out if he was really in love with Duo, not that I had any idea how I was going to make him divulge that kind of intimate information to me. I took him to the first place I could think of: the Sanc palace. He had never been there and was impressed to silence that I knew the occupants. I did not explain the circumstances; just that it was a long story for another time. I did not feel like inviting Quatre up to my room, giving away that I lived there, and I did not want him in my studio. He was curious why I seemed to be making my self at home, offering him a soda. He was astute and I was in over my head from the start.

"I want to know; that is, I noticed how you and Trowa or Duo, ah—" I had no idea what I was trying to spit out. I really did not, so it was fortunate that my babbling was interrupted, but by the wrong people.

Naturally, both Relena and Zechs visited us in the parlor. Did they not have anything better to do than plague my life? I had so little privacy. They glided into the room, reminding me of vampires in a terrible movie I had once seen. I would have laughed had I not been worried about what they would tell Quatre.

"Hello, ah, Relena, this is Quatre Winner. Quatre, this is Relena Darlian and her brother Lieutenant Zechs Merquise. I'm just visiting them as, uh, a guest."

Somehow, Relena caught on to my game and did not give me away. She crushed her brother's foot with her sharp heel once or twice until he understood. Neither of them brought up how we came to know one another or that I was like a leach on their household. She offered up a "friend of the family" explanation in passing and Quatre accepted it.

I was impressed with her perceptiveness and grateful for her sensitivity. Now, if only she would leave and take her nosy brother with her all would be well. Oh, God! I would drop the conversation and any thoughts about grilling Quatre for information—if only they would disappear. Not unlike vampires, my plea to God did not move them.

Quatre ingratiated himself with my patrons immediately. He spoke 'wealth' and had the manners of the elite. I had no chance, no opportunity to speak to him alone and ascertain how he felt about Duo. I remained a brooding mute, until Quatre yawned and Zechs offered to take him home.

"No trouble, since I am going out that way myself."

Which way was that, Zechs, I wondered? Must be the hell-way to campus.

"Two o'clock and my night begins," Zechs said.

Quatre actually laughed along with him. Then they were gone into the fleeting night world of the forever young and undead. That is when I realized that Zechs was leaving me alone with Relena so she could drill me (or suck me dry, but that had too many sexual overtones) -- that they had waited up for me to return that night. I was dead meat for sure. At least I would have Duo's hands on me in death. The crackling of paper disturbed my morbid musings.

Keeping her eyes on the papers she was gathering back up, Relena said, "Have you known Quatre a long time?"

"Yes." I waited.

"He's very attractive." Still not looking at me, she trapped the papers on the table, evening them up.

"Yes, he is."

"Is he a very good friend—oh, it's none of my business anyway."

"Why isn't it?"

"What?" Her eyes widened. Clearly not the response she had expected.

"Why isn't it your business?"

"Well...it just isn't. I mean, am I his business?"

"I don't know; I'll ask him."

"No! I mean, I don't care. I just thought if he's my business, I might be his business, if you know what I mean."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my face straight. "No, I don't know what you mean. Do you even know what you mean?"

Her look was fierce. "Oh, don't get smart." Face flushed, she picked up the folder and sailed out of the room, light hair flying, leaving me stranded.

When she was out of earshot, I nearly choked with laughter. She had been so kind covering for me, though, that I could not go on teasing her.

"Relena! I'm sorry."

She stopped and faced me. "You are?"

"Yes. Quatre is just a friend. I really am gay, but he's not one of my...interests. Just a friend. A, uh, friend of a friend. A boyfriend of a friend, that is."

"Thank you. I didn't think I could compete with such a delightful, well-mannered young man."

Her hopeful smile made me feel so sad. She did not understand me at all.

(0)

"Hey, Duo! Late night or what?"

"Hil, I'm asleep."

"Are you alone? 'Cause if you're not, I'd understand being in bed at two in the afternoon of this glorious day if there was a sexy body lying next to you--"

"I'm alone. Is it really afternoon?"

"Yes, indeedy!"

"You sound overly cheerful. Go away and come back in a fouler mood."

"Oh, Duo. I gotta share my news with someone and you're my bestest ever buddy."

"Fuck."

"How didya guess?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm dating Wufei now. He and Sally called it quits. They were not right for one another. We ALL knew that from the start, but now it is water under the street."

"Bridge. The saying goes: water under the bridge."

"More water runs in the sewers under our streets than any bridge and that was my point. Lots has transpired since Sally and Wufei were a couple. Now it's me and him."

"And you called to tell me you slept with him?"

"Well, it's been like a first, you know."

Her subdued tone did more to solidify my thoughts than what she had actually said. Then her meaning sank in. She had held out for "the one" longer than any one else I had known. "You are in love with him?" I left off the "so soon," which would have been an added insult. "I mean, you are sure, right? Man, that's so (sudden?) cool."

"Yeah, it is. You mean it? You're okay with me dating a cop and all?"

"Hilde—" How to put this... "If he makes you happy, I'm happy. He sure came through for me last night. Not that I couldn't have handled the prick but he was drunker than a skunk and then there was the dead girl."

"You have the worst dates. I actually feel sorry for Quatre."

"So did Heero, apparently."

It had been mostly my fault things turned out the way they did. I couldn't help but place a tiny amount of blame on Quat, though. If he had not been so particular about the route I had taken, then I might have used his safe little parking garage idea and avoided the whole debacle. Not debacle. Itsy-bitsy calamity. I should not have let his attitude get to me. He had been right, too, which was the worst part. That was why I was attempting to shrink the problem, because diminished it would fit into a box alongside my other numerous bad moments for safekeeping. What I couldn't shake was the annoying question that had haunted my dreams: why had Heero gone off with him?

"You've called him, haven't you?" she asked, knowing full well I had not done a thing.

"Him, who? Oh, Quatre. No. I was up until morning doing an emergency autopsy, which proved the drunken dude, who had attacked us, had just returned to the scene of his crime where he had previously pummeled his ex-girlfriend to death and tossed her through the window of the nightclub."

"Icky-poo, Duo! You gay guys live dangerously."

"This was a straight guy and Quat and I were at a straight bar, not on purpose, but that hadn't anything to do with it (not much)."

"So, was Trowa working late with you?"

"Yeah. He's the best assistant ever. When he can afford it, I'm thinking of offering him a partnership."

"That's nice. So, what happened to Quatre? Sounds like the date from hell was over after that."

"Chang didn't tell you?"

"If he did I forgot. No, he didn't. We had better things to discuss than your pitiful date."

"Thanks. Well, it was over, all right. Heero showed up. He and Trowa were having dinner with your cop buddy when I called. So they all got to see my failure."

"Doesn't sound all that bad." She didn't convince me she believed that.

"Quatre took off with Heero." Or was carried off by him.

"Heero and Quatre? That's strange. Heero doesn't like your boyfriend very much. I can't see him wanting to spend time with him. Unless..."

I was about to hang up on her.

"Unless he murdered Quatre. His hasn't called you yet, has he?"

She sounded worried. I checked my messages. "No."

"Then he might have killed Quatre and hidden the body."

"Hil, you read too many murder mysteries. Heero didn't murder Quat. He probably saw an opportunity and took it."

"Opportunity? Duo, you dipstick for a brain! Heero is crazy about you. He does not like your blond wonder boy. Heero wants to wrap your braid around his dick and—"

"He did not tell you that!" I shouted. "And don't tell me where you got that idea."

"Hey, if I wanna see hot nude guys, I look at the same internet sites you do!"

I groaned as I imagined what she had seen.

"I've learned all kinds of things I can't wait to do to my boyfriend. I have a boyfriend, now, did I tell you? Yeah. Ha, ha! And since I haven't any experience, I've had to become self-taught. You could learn a thing or two."

"No thank you. I do not need advice from my girl space friend on sex techniques with my boyfriend."

"Oh, so you are getting someplace now? You know, in the sex department? The guy was feeling you up in the coffee shop the other day. He can't be all that cold."

"I'm getting up. I got stuff to do."

"Okay. So, congratulate me."

"Congratulations for losing it to a cop."

"A damned cute cop with a hot ass."

"Yeah, I noticed his ass, but that can't be as important to you as me." I said that with a laugh at the end. Now that we were off the topic of me, I could see humor in everything.

"Do you really stick your finger up there when you kiss?"

Well, not everything. "Hil, good bye."

I would not, never ever ever, discuss gay sex with her. No. What I needed was some coffee and then to go shopping and then to run an errand. First, coffee--, which should be said as 'first, coffee' if you are a literal person.

"Call Quatre!" she reminded me then hung up.

(o)

I was unsure whether I should trouble Duo at his workplace or just wait and hope to catch him in the coffee shop. Sundays he did not always show up, but after the night he had had, and for all I knew he had spent the night at the mortuary, he might want some caffeine. While I stood outside the coffee shop pondering my entry, Duo rounded the corner and nearly ran into me.

"Hey, 'Ro. It's Sunday, isn't it?"

I shrugged, as if I could not make up my mind if it was or not, and asked, "Going in?"

"Actually, I was gonna grab a cup to go and run an errand."

I wanted to join him. I was not stupid enough to ask about Quatre. I absolutely left the mouths of every gift horse I had ever received firmly shut. If Duo asked me to join him, I would not question his decision. Something in my expression or body language must have given Duo a clue, because the next thing I knew Duo was dragging me along.

"It'll be fun, fresh air, exercise, everything."

"Okay." I could not resist.

Duo downed his caffeine en route. Between steamy sips, he explained his objective. "I have this friend, Mrs. Claremont, whose husband's in the hospital. I wanna take her something."

"Food?" I asked as we entered the upscale downtown grocery.

"Yeah, but since she can cook better'n me, I take her the basics."

And that is what he selected. Very raw. He rearranged the chicken parts, celery, carrots, and wine in the sacks so they were balanced, while the checker rang up the bill. I hefted one bag as Duo pocketed his change, and then Duo grabbed the other sack.

"Where does she live?"

"That's the fun part."

Duo smiled and I was awash in sunlight. It did not matter where we were headed, the moon even. The power of his smile captivated me and his charms enthralled me to follow him. I was so enchanted that I did not care where he led me or for how long, just as long as I was near him. It was very strange.

I was sure no one had ever felt the same way and I was crazy.

We crossed the busy street, walked a few blocks, and crossed the next. Duo was heading uphill. Posh homes dotted the heights further south, like the Relena Darlian Peacecraft estate where I was a guest. Still, any homes in the higher elevations were expensive.

"Do you live this way?"

"Who me? No way. I take the cross-town bus from the Bethel district. My money's sunk into the business, at least for a while. Though someday—"

I wanted to hear more about his "someday plans," but we had a break in the traffic stream and had to make a run for it.

"Aren't we trespassing onto private property?"

"No. Pretty clever of them, isn't it? This is a road even though the city no longer maintains it and the 'neighborhood watch' sign looks like a 'no trespassing' one."

I had walked past this entry hundreds of times and never thought it was a road. The pavement was broken in chunks, uneven, but obviously traveled. Here and there, driveways opened onto it and postboxes marked where several houses hid behind a tangle of bushes and trees.

"Take a deep breath and smell spring," Duo told me.

I did. I heard birdsong and felt light headed. I swooned, but caught myself without him noticing.

"Song sparrows migrating through," he said with a faint blush he could not hide from me, and added in a quiet voice, "Mrs. Claremont told me the other day."

I encouraged him to talk more with a smile of my own. "What about that bird?"

"Towhees have the black heads over there under the brush. That's a jay above them."

I knew what a jay was, but when the sunlight glimmered off Duo's stray hairs around his neck, all I could think of was reaching out and... He drew back from my hand and I brushed his skin.

"Bug," I said.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks. Bugs hatching out everywhere now. Flowers, birds--,"

"No bees. Too early and cold," I said automatically. Something heavy-scented was blooming. What was that called?

His eyebrows shot up into his bangs and his eyes shone, the sun showing them to be blue, but a violet blue I had never seen before. Then he grinned.

"Birds and the bees. I get it. Bet you've painted lots of flowers."

"Yes. Lots. Mostly roses."

A breeze blew his long bangs into his eyes. Cherry blossoms, pink and ruffled, cascaded from the tree overhead. A few settled in his hair. The rich reddish highlights glowed, setting his hair aflame. It contrasted dramatically with his near porcelain-perfect skin. Without the worry of work dragging him down, and probably more of the clean air and sunlight doing the magic, I thought he was gorgeous. He was gorgeous. He was stunningly gorgeous.

"Huh?"

Had I said any of that aloud?! I covered up my gaffe with a quick indirection. "Daphne. Can you smell it? It's just starting to open. A, ahhh, gorgeous scent."

"Yeah, nice, isn't it?"

I could not believe this neighborhood was so close to the middle of town. The sounds of traffic were gone. Birds and a dog barking in the distance was all I could hear. Nothing was fancy. You could see where an old place had been torn down and replaced with an over-sized modern home, but most of the homes were humble, some shoddy, but all with deep lots and plenty of trees for privacy. To the left opened a ravine filled with bramble and berry plants.

"We're headed to the right."

"No 'for sale signs' anywhere," I noted. "How does one get a place here?"

"Someone has to die. No, I'm not kidding. These places get handed down from father to son, mother to daughter." Duo laughed.

"Oh."

"You interested? Really? Occasionally the family doesn't want to keep the property, but it gets turned over fast. You know, if anyone dies, I hear about it first."

I shook my head and I did not hide my distaste.

"Too creepy?" Duo searched the distance for his answer.

"It sounds bad-- overanxious and rude."

"Not to mention heartless? I don't contact the families directly. There are agents whose job it is to do that. Anyway, up there's the house."

I do not know what I was expecting. English garden with pretty Mrs. Claremont picking armloads of flowers to take to her recuperating husband, possibly? The yard was a wild assortment of native plants in the shadows of towering firs. Her house was a single-story ranch with a long porch running the length of the front and dusted with needles from the trees. The woman who answered the door was, I guessed, seventy-five.

"Duo Maxwell! Hello again. How you spoil me. And you brought your boyfriend this time. Come in the both of you."

"Ah, this is my friend, Heero, Mrs. Claremont."

I could tell he wanted to clarify our relationship, but I think the woman thought he was embarrassed she knew he was gay. In any case, she ignored him, greeted me with a smile, and took both bags.

"Wine, too! That's the ticket! You boys stay put. I don't need help putting away groceries. You'd put them in the wrong place anyway—"

"I couldn't miss the refrigerator!" Duo called after her retreating back.

"You don't know a crisper from a meat compartment!" she shouted back.

"Crisper?" I asked.

He shrugged. "For cereal, I guess."

We had wine coolers and excellent cookies, while she opened her mail. "Why, you sent Moses one of lovely cards from that Japanese artist. Yuy something. Thank you, Duo."

I jumped. Thankfully, my drink was half consumed so it did not spill. Whether or not Duo knew I was the artist Hiro Yuy, I was not sure. I wanted him to know, and, yet, I feared his rejection if he thought I was pursuing him, chasing and hounding him with my cards. Mrs. Claremont and Duo were discussing the card, comparing it to others. I sat rigid, concentrating on my simple task, holding my wine cooler and cookie. I did not want to choke out of embarrassment.

"'Ro?" Duo's voice brought me out of my trance.

Mrs. Claremont repeated her question. When asked what I did for a living, I told her, "I'm an artist."

"So is my husband!"

"What kind of art?"

She seemed happier after that. I guess it was easier for her to talk about him after introducing his name into the conversation. She patted the new cards into a neat pile. I was glad to see my design on top, and the topic closed.

"He paints. Great big canvases the size of a wall. Would you like to see his studio?"

"Yes."

I wanted to see it more than anything if it was so large it could hold paintings like that. We toured part of the house on our way out the back door. Few knick-knacks but many books leaned in orderly rows or neat stacks on the shelves we passed. I liked the yellow walls and wood trim of the rooms.

"He built the studio himself, with a friend years ago. A Geodesic Dome."

Inside, natural light shone through several skylights, but artificial lights were everywhere. When she flicked on the switches, the place was completely illuminated and several ten by fifteen foot canvases in varying stages of completion sprang to life.

"Skies. Clouds, storms, moments before the sun sets or rises. Moses just loves to paint skies."

"They are fantastic."

"He hasn't finished this one of the rain clouds."

"No, but there will be plenty more rainy days for him when he gets home," Duo said.

The two chatted on while I examined the paintings more closely. The man was a fine painter. We did not stay long after that, because Duo had a funeral to prepare for and I had cards to design, if nothing else. We thanked Mrs. Claremont for the drinks and cookies and she handed us each a plastic bag containing more. Five cookies in mine. Then we left, out along the same road, but, instead of heading down and back to the city, we turned uphill.

"Know where this leads?" he asked me.

"No idea."

We passed a gate; the doors chained backwards, wide open. The road narrowed as the grade increased. Plastic forms, like six-foot long horse troughs leaned against a cyclone fence. Flattened mounds, weed and moss covered, lined the sides of the rutted road. As they walked further, the mounds appeared rounder and the weeds sparser, until I could make out fresh piles of dirt, one after the other.

"This is the back door to the cemetery," Duo said.

"Those are..."

"Castings leftover from digging the graves? Yeah. Looks like some discarded grave liners, too. Shouldn't leave stuff like that around."

"Dead giveaway," I said. It was a joke and he got it. We both smiled.

"I thought, since we were so close I'd stop by their office. I won't be a moment. Thought I might as well leave the message in person while we're so close. Personal touch. If you don't mind. Man, I should have asked first, shouldn't I've?"

"Take your time. I really have no timetable today." Not one I could not change. I could move back the card design work to make room for this and then cut into my reading later. I could slash the dinner hour short, too, if needed. My timetable, like my design work, was mostly cut and paste.

"Thanks."

We arrived at a low building after a few more minutes of pleasurable walking. I remained outside, taking in the fresh air while Duo conducted his business. He came out rolling up his shirtsleeves. He had worn a green and blue striped shirt over a gold t-shirt and well-worn jeans. Casual nice.

"Do you need to go home and change before the funeral?"

"No time. I got a viewing in an hour. No, I keep a suit in my office. Bathroom-- shoulda put in a shower. I have a mini fridge there for food, too. And I gotta tell ya, I've slept on my couch there more times than I wanna remember. Things are better now."

"That's good."

"I hired Trowa, you know."

"I heard." I smiled and let him do the talking.

"Yeah, of course. What was I thinking? He's working out great. Nice guy. Hilde didn't think he talked enough, but he was okay by me. Too bad they didn't hook up, and then maybe its better they didn't. I wouldn't want to hear her go on about my employee."

"No, that wouldn't be fair to him." I hoped he was not going to tell me they were going out, too. I could not bear hearing that.

"Hilde thinks he likes Quatre."

I did, too, but what was I to say? I did not know where Duo and Quatre stood these days, or ever. "Quatre's attractive and personable."

"Likable. Yeah, I got that. So, you like him too, eh? Well, he's a nice guy."

I did not like Quatre much at all! "He is friendly." That sounded noncommittal enough.

Duo sighed largely. That did not sound like a defensive boyfriend or possessive lover to me. Were they even sleeping together, I wondered? If Duo were mine, I would be unable to keep my hands off him. It was hard enough not touching him as we walked. The urge to hold his hand was killing me, and I am not a demonstrative person.

"Nice. Too nice." Duo sighed again. "I don't know if he's looking for refined or slutty, but I don't think I'm the center of his world, if you get my drift?"

Yes. Yes, I did! Duo was dead center in the heart and core of my world. If Duo was actually at both the center of Quatre's world and the hub of mine, then our worlds would be overlapping more of the universe than they were. No, Duo was occupying a place on the edge of Quatre's world, because Quatre and I shared nothing but him. But what of Duo? Was he a little bit in love with Quatre? Did he like me?

He was staring at me, his eyes penetrating my soul. "He said you took him to meet the Peacecraft's at the Sanc Palace. Or are they back to Darlian and Merquise? I can't keep the names straight."

"Oh." Yes, oh, because that meant that Duo had talked to Quatre earlier. I was his second choice, then. "Yes. It was on the way home. He seemed distraught and needed a distraction."

"Oh, okay." Duo turned away satisfied, I hoped. I was not ready to explain my living arrangements to him. It was just too pathetic.

"Which way?" I asked, since Duo did not look like he was going back the way we came.

"Short cut."

"Of course." I followed the bouncing braid to a narrow ditch-slash-trail, which led to a dog-width parting in a fence, which opened to a dead end street. How fitting. All roads I took were dead ends, especially by conversational tracks.

"Nice houses in this area, but pricier 'cause they're newer and the street's maintained." Duo seemed chipper again.

"Mrs. Claremont's home's very well situated."

"Yeah, I think she's got one of the best." Duo pointed out a street sign at the first intersection. "See where we are? Two blocks down and five over and we're back to where we started."

And that was the problem. I had spent my Sunday morning with Duo Maxwell. I had him all to myself, and what had I made of it? We were back to where we had started.

Except that at the tip of his braid he was wearing the blue hair tie I had put in his April card. I touched it and he looked me in the eye. I said, "Nice color."

"My favorite."

Our smiles met in the middle. "Mine, too."

Maybe I could alter things between us with my next card. After all, May 1 was May Day, and I had my special card ready for Duo.

(o)

The month of May began auspiciously. I showed Trowa how to update the schedule on the computer. He did not roll his eyes, but it was close. He had a more technical background than I had by far. We had oodles to do, including an autopsy to start the day. I excused myself to use the facilities as the phone rang.

"Get that for me."

Trowa picked up the phone and I ducked into the bathroom.

He was still on the phone when I came out a minute later. "Quatre wants you."

That was one way of putting it.

"I'll be in the morgue," I replied.

That was another way.

"He wants to know if you are still on for tonight."

"Yeah. Same time, same place."

It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to Quatre; I didn't want to think about him. I was whacked out with guilt. I was seriously falling for Heero and as much as I liked Quatre, I wasn't in love with him. I had no idea where I stood with Heero.

I knew Heero like Quatre. He'd admitted as much, even introducing him to his rich friends. Heero hadn't introduced me to anyone, much less the Peacecrafts! Fuck! How did he fit into that crowd? Quatre did. I didn't. And I guess Heero did, too. Fuck. I was in a foul, foul mood.

Well, I'd free up Quatre to do as he liked to whomever he liked, be it Trowa or Heero or some other Mr. Perfect who wasn't me. We were going out that night and I had decided to level with him. I didn't want to lose his friendship and I was afraid I would.

I was mourning it already.

Trowa was right on my heels. I pointed and he rolled the body from the cooler, up the elevator, and placed it on the autopsy table. He was experienced with the job now and so could transfer even this obese body from the carriage to the table without assistance. Since the comfort of the patient was not a consideration, the transfer was accomplished with what might appear to the uninitiated as a rather brutal combination of pulls and shoves, not unlike the way a thug might manhandle a mugging victim.

Trowa took the body's measurements, noting as he went along, "Big guy. Glad you invested in this total-body scale."

"Yeah. I thought of everything."

Together, he and I repositioned the body and Trowa placed the 'body block' under the cadaver's back. The plastic, brick-like appliance forced the chest to protrude outward and the arms and neck to fall back, thus allowing the maximum exposure of the trunk for the upcoming incisions.

"Ready," I declared.

"Onward then," Trowa muttered.

He turned on the tape recorder, adjusted the overhead lights, and then checked to make sure that the body named on the autopsy permit matched the toe tag. He read the ID number and name off into the microphone, and then, "Checking for abnormalities of the external body surfaces."

"Hold on," I said, stopping him. "The tape is bunching up and... oooh, looks bad for voice recording tonight."

"Figures," Trowa snorted. "We get us an autopsy and an embalming tonight and the equipment breaks. We could sure use another techie. I don't know how you did this alone."

I chose to ignore that. "Tell you what, you start making autopsy notes on the diagram and checklist, and I'll run through my list of resumes. I get them all the time, but nobody good. Still, there might be a kid who can do the grunt work. Maybe I should call Quat and cancel tonight. I'm in no mood to be pleasant."

I returned from my phone call with a creased brow. "He's not answering," I said, and then added on a string of unflattering descriptive words and applied them to the world at large.

Trowa stood back and let me take out my animosity on the cadaver. I am highly skilled with the 'bread knife', a large, scalpel-like knife, and this one was my personal prized property. I executed the initial Y-shaped incision in the trunk without a moment's hesitation. The arms of the Y extended from the front of each shoulder to the bottom end of the breastbone, and the tail of the Y extended to the pubic bone, making a slight deviation to avoid the navel. The incision was very deep, extending to the rib cage on the chest, and completely through the abdominal wall below that. I felt the return of my usual smile.

I must have looked more grisly than happy because Trowa avoided looking into my eyes. He didn't want to know what was going on inside my head, and if the 'eyes were windows into the soul', then he really didn't want to probe further.

"Quatre hasn't changed," Trowa said. "I recognize him from school."

"You don't say," I muttered as I set into peeling the skin, muscle, and soft tissues off the chest wall. This I did with deft strokes of the scalpel. "I didn't know you went to a private school."

"Yeah, private, rigid, narrow-minded, and insular in its attitudes toward anyone outside of the Winner clan. I lasted about a week."

We both laughed. "Not your shit?"

"No. I was a definite outsider. Anyway, Quatre hasn't changed much since then. He was a nice person then too, which made him memorable."

"Nice, yeah. And good looking no doubt," I said.

Coincidentally, I freed the cadaver's chest flap, and then pulled it upward over the body's face. The action exposed the front of the rib cage and the strap muscles of the front of the neck. Trowa made a face reflexively as the smell of human muscle, raw meat, reached his nose.

"He doesn't seem to remember you," I told him.

"Aside from the color of my hair, I don't look much like I did. I probably grew two feet, gained a hundred pounds. I didn't account for a second glance as a kid."

"Not to mention the piercings," I grinned. "I don't suppose you had earrings as kid."

"Actually, I did."

"Well, I would have remembered you."

Trowa frowned then chuckled deeply. "My ass wasn't developed until I took up gymnastics in college."

"There's more I notice about you than...that, although..."

Trowa turned on the electric saw, drowning out further conversation. We shared a grin then dug in, so to speak. To open the rib cage, he began with a single cut up each side of the front of the rib cage. This allowed him to separate the sternum and the ribs from the rest of the skeleton. I used a scalpel to dissect the soft tissues stuck to the back of the chest plate, and then helped Trowa peel it back, exposing the heart and lungs.

Trowa paused to record our progress.

"He died at the nursing home hospital," I read off the report. "I'll check for blood clots, then."

Before disturbing the organs further, I cut open the pericardial sac surrounding the heart, then the pulmonary artery where it exited the heart. I stuck a finger into the hole in the pulmonary artery feeling around for any blood clots which had dislodged from a vein elsewhere in the body, traveled through the heart to the pulmonary artery, lodged there, and caused the man's death.

"Bingo! Clotted up! Case closed. Let's wrap this up and leave the nasty part for the night crew."

"What night crew?"

"The imaginary one. The one I hire someday. Okay. You finish with this and call in the report. I'll roll up the next one."

The day was long, but with Trowa helping me, it seemed to fly by. Maybe that was because I was not looking forward to my date with Quatre. Damn it all. Why couldn't somebody be hot for just me?

"Duo?" Trowa checked the wall clock. "We have enough time to swab down the place, but no more. I'll start mopping."

"Yeah. Meet you at the door."

I discovered an envelope under the front door of the funeral home. I nearly missed it and would have if I hadn't checked the door lock before leaving for the day. I added it to the pile of mail in my hand. It wasn't unusual to get mail, but usually it was junk mailers jammed under the door.

"Whatcha got there?" Trowa asked. "Oh, another card from your secret admirer."

"Looks like it." I held it up. The card was gorgeous; covered with blowsy red roses water colored by hand. When I opened it, pressed flowers slipped to the floor. Purple violets.

"Roses are red, violets are blue," Trowa recited with a straight face.

"Friendship grows... from which sometimes love blossoms," I read.

"Someone's got it bad for you, like I said before."

"Maybe."

"Figured out whom, yet?"

"Maybe."

"Enjoying this?"

"Very little."

Trowa cleared his throat or laughed. I mixed the two sounds up.

"Better figure out where you're going with Winner first, don't you think?"

"I've figured it out."

"Good." He looked down at his keys. "See you tomorrow, then."

"Yep."

I was, in fact, meeting Quatre in fifteen minutes, or however long it took me to get to the campus pizzeria. Our date, dove-tailed between my work and his class work, would begin with dinner and end with either a great night of hot sex or, more likely, just end-- as in "end our attempts at dating."

I don't know any other guys that would hold out as long as we had. None. Ever. I wasn't getting any younger. No, mostly it was getting harder and harder to deny my attraction to the artist who liked spending time with me, unhurried, undemanding. He liked my smell and my eyes and my hair, if Hilde was to be believed. If Quatre was as disinterested in me as I figured, then it was time to quit the act and get on with things. Even if it freed up Heero and Quatre to start dating. No. I would not let that happen. I would step into the path of the love train and be mowed down, slammed and ground into the tracks of my tears—Oh, God, was I becoming maudlin!

Chapter 6

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