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"Diary of a Protected Witness"Written By: Snowdragonct Disclaimer: Don’t own any part of Gundam
Wing or the characters, more’s the pity. This is for fun...no
profit involved. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU , yaoi, swearing (lots), some OOC
(probably), violence, drugs, sex, Pairings: 1X2X1, 3X4, 5XC, (past 2X3X2, 6X2) Summary: Ever wonder what was running through Duo's mind at certain points in"Witness Protection?" Here are snippets of his point of view...a companionfic, that will not rehash the entire plot, but offer a new perspective ofcertain events. A/N: This fits with chapter forty nine of Witness. " Diary of a Protected Witness" Chapter Thirty Eight: Rabid Moose Seemed like it didn’t take any time at all between Heero’s news about the Feds, and him, Chang and I setting out on foot yet again. There were a couple of noteworthy differences from the last two times. First, we weren’t actually being shot at, which was very helpful, if not particularly reassuring. Secondly, I was better equipped for this cross country trek—with boots meant for rugged hiking, and more realistic expectations of what we’d have to face. And lastly, we were leaving behind a safe haven that was still intact, and a woman we’d all be worried about until she got herself off somewhere else. It kinda tugged at my heartstrings when Chang and Catherine said their goodbye. Even though I wanted to tease the shit out of the prudish cop, I couldn’t really indulge. His vulnerability was too touching. Equally touching was Catherine’s kind gesture of including tea for Wufei and knives for me in our baggage. She was a hot ticket all right—a woman as calm and quick-thinking under pressure as she was on a daily basis. And I told her what a doll she was when ‘Ro let us dare a phone call back to the farmhouse. I also found myself grinning irrepressibly at the way Heero’s stuffy partner’s voice went all warm and husky when he talked to her. Yeah, he had it bad. And it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy. I mean, Wufei was a truly hot guy—smart and ambitious, if a bit haunted. He deserved the attention of an equally intelligent woman—and even I could see that he was seriously in need of some loving care. It seemed like Catherine was eager to deliver that care. Lady-killer, indeed! Chang was going to have his hands full, unless I missed my guess. Moving right along with the story, though… I saw a moose! And fuck if it wasn’t more intimidating than a chubby-looking mama bear with cubs. It was freakin’ huge. Monstrous. And ugly as sin. Seriously, it looked like it was made of spare parts or something—with these gawky long legs and a face even a mother couldn’t love. After the teasing the gang had given me back at the farmhouse, I was properly intimidated by the big lug. If it hadn’t been for Yuy’s death grip on me, I’d probably have run like hell—all the way back to the nice, sturdy place we’d left behind. Khushrenada’s hit men had nothing on fifteen-hundred pounds of moose, I’ll tell ya! And I totally forgot about trying to blow one up. There was no way I was gettin’ close enough to toss a bomb at it. Anyhow, we survived the encounter, since we didn’t actually get so close that the monster felt like making paste out of us. But the rest of our hike, I was pretty much twitchy and tense, looking around non-stop to see if Bullwinkle had any buddies in the area. Rabid ones. Hey, I’ve said before I don’t know much about nature. But I do know that all mammals can get rabies. And think about it—if a rabid wolf attacked a moose and the moose stomped him into a spot on the ground, the moose still might’ve been bitten and exposed to the virus, right? Okay—yeah—I should just drop that whole train of thought and get back to the story. The third and final day of our hike, the sky opened up on us and it rained like hell. An’ I’m not talkin’ cats and dogs—more like mooses and bears—heh, heh. We found the amusement park just in time. I was starting to think we oughtta lash a few logs together and start makin’ a raft. But instead, we reached our haven, such as it was, and I picked the lock on the gate to let us in. Of course, Chang pointed out we were breaking and entering, but my flippant comment that it was what I was best at seemed to shut him up. Besides, considering our situation, it was likely we’d be breaking a few more laws along the way. Good thing I had lots of practice at it, hm? We took shelter in a dormitory, and actually had heat, lights, and musty old mattresses to sleep on. Not the worst place I’d ever spent a night. And with Heero curled up next to me in bed, it was definitely not the worst way I’d ever spent a night. In fact, his warm, reassuring presence was probably the only thing that enabled me to fall asleep. Without him, I’d have been obsessing about who was coming for us the next day, and whether the bad guys would get wind of the pickup and crash our party. Instead, I held close to my heart the fact that Trowa had gone into hiding with the orphans, safely out of Khushrenada’s reach, while Quatre was secure in his mansion with servants and security galore. And I held Heero even closer than that, feeling his love like a calming blanket wrapped as tightly around me as his arms. It was one of the most restful nights of sleep I’d ever gotten. Good thing, too, since morning brought with it a million things to do, and even more things to worry about. I woke to see Heero cleaning his gun, and after a little flirting about stroking barrels and lubricating hammers (oh baby!) we got down to business. Heero fitted me with two guns, one in my jacket pocket and the other in a shoulder holster, and then we set about exploring the whole amusement park. Damn, the place was awesome. I wished I’d been there under any other circumstances than these. There was a ‘coaster that looked like it’d make even the toughest stomach lose its lunch. Then there were themed rides, like a House of Horrors and Tunnel of Love and shit. (Yeah, I’d have liked to get Yuy onto that last ride; I’d show him a tunnel he could love...) Aside from the rides, there were about a million booths that would’ve been set up for games of chance if the park were up and running. Might’ve been nice to take the orphans there for a real day of fun. But I didn’t harbor any illusions; I was probably never gonna have that chance. Maybe I could at least suggest it to Trowa, if I got to see him during the trial an’ all. Anyhow, our tour of the park was short and sweet. We scoped out the terrain and discussed possible plans in case the wrong folks showed up at the rendezvous. Mostly we were gonna have to wing it, since we had no idea how many enemies might get wind of our location—if any. God, I hoped that for once we got a break and things went according to plan. I was a nervous wreck by the time eleven o’clock rolled around and we got ready by the main gate. We stashed our gear near the entrance booth, and I stuffed my pockets with my smoke bombs and the bigger “ball bombs” I’d had time to make, hoping beyond hope that I wouldn’t need either. Then Heero made some cute comment about my upcoming limo ride and I sort of snapped at him, realizing for the first time just how totally terrified I was. “Sorry. I’m just—.” “Scared,” he finished for me, his eyes warm with understanding and reassurance. “It’ll be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” “What about you?” I said back. Yeah, at that point I’d worked my way from worrying about my own sorry ass to worrying about his—and Chang’s. I couldn’t imagine trying to tell Catherine that another man she loved had died—protecting me. God, I’d just die if it came to that. If I had to break Catherine’s heart—. And worse—if anything happened to Heero—I already knew I’d have nothing to live for. Yeah, I knew I had Trowa and all—but Heero was more precious to me than anything in the world. His survival was the most important thing. “God, you really are scared,” he breathed as I wrapped my arms around him and he felt the pounding of my heart against his. “Only of losing you.” “You won’t.” And then Wufei made a comment about opening up on the bad guys if things didn’t go according to plan, and I realized that he and Heero no longer gave a shit about rules and regulations; they were all about survival—ours. It surprised me, even as it gave me renewed confidence. “C’mon, Maxwell,” Heero chided. “We’ve been dodging bullets for weeks. You expect us to get sloppy now?” “I just didn’t expect you to be so—ruthless.” “This isn’t a game. They’ve been ruthless, and now it’s our turn.” Chang chimed in with, “Might be nice to be the ones on the offensive for a change, hm?” “Shit, yeah!” I agreed. He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Stay out of sight, Maxwell. And do as we say. We’ll get through this together.” The conviction in his voice made me believe him. We would get through it. Then Heero sent me off to take cover behind the ticket booth, and got into position by the main gate, his binoculars trained on the road leading into the park—and we waited. And waited. And just when I was shifting restlessly in the cramped
shelter, I heard my lover mutter “Showtime.”
tbc... |
