"This Beautiful Life"

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters

Rating: R

Warnings: Romance & Friendship

Pairings: 2x5, others will be present but subtle.

Summary: 3 years after cutting ties with everyone from the war, WuFei Chang gets into a car accident in his way home from a company Christmas party and wakes up to another life.

"This Beautiful Life"

Chapter 13

It turned out that Sally had called while the boys were at lunch with Trowa. Duo found her message on the vid-phone and rang her up.

"How's he doing?" she asked.

"Alright. Right now he's looking in the backyard at the greenhouse we've been building. I'm trying to let him explore on his own, not crowd him, but at the same time, that's not exactly going about our lives normally, is it?" Duo replied. He leaned aside to get a look out the kitchen window at WuFei. The other boy had taken a seat on the bench that sat in the middle of where his garden usually grew, taking in his surroundings in small sips it seemed.

"I've taken a look over his MRI results," Sally said, "Everything looks fine. There's mild swelling on his left parietal lobe. After consulting with our neurologist, we think – hope – that the swelling is what's causing his odd memory condition. Once the swelling goes down, we believe his memory will begin to restore itself."

Duo let out a sigh of relief. They now had an actual tangible medical explanation for things. Swelling on the brain, it made sense, right?

"How are you doing?" Sally asked.

"I'm alright. It's been stressful, I'll give you that. We had lunch with Trowa, though, and that went well. Lady Une got your report, by the way," he eyed Sally and she shook her head.

"It wasn't my report," she told him earnestly, "Preventer's medical must have red-flagged the visit. I wouldn't have expected Harrisburg to process billing so quickly during the holiday season."

"Ah, I see. I guess I owe you an apology."

"One of these days, Mr. Maxwell, you're going to come around to trusting people," Sally said with a smirk, "I take it Une called."

"Yup, and WuFei gave her quite the tongue lashing," Duo laughed at the memory, "Sometimes, there are these glimpses of him. I'll think he's back to himself, and then it's gone, and he's cold again, and confused by so many people caring about him. I hate it. I hate the more I learn about these fake memories he's got. Right now, his memories are so sad and lonely, and I hate that those are what he thinks the past three years have been. I hate it even more because those are the memories he seems to want to be true."

"I don't think it's because he truly liked that life more than this one. I think if he believes he actually lived those three years then it's as if he's woken up to a different world, he's disoriented. His mind is having trouble reconciling the things he remembers with the reality he's facing," Sally ran a hand over her face, rubbing away the long hours of her day, "At least, I hope that's the truth of it."

"Trowa says that, no matter the memories, it's still WuFei in there, and he's right. At his heart, WuFei is WuFei," Duo said, "My baby is in there, we just got to pull him out. Show him that this is where he belongs. In this life, with us."

"Agreed," Sally replied, "So...what shall we do for dinner?"

"Trowa has a show over in Maricopa starting at six. I was thinking we could all meet at the circus, and after grab dinner in town with Trowa and Catherine?"

"An excellent idea. I haven't seen Catherine's knife throwing act in ages. It'll be nice to see those two again, as well, though I'm sure we'll see each other at the Christmas party."

"Great. I'll give Trowa a call. WuFei might actually be excited about it. He enjoyed lunch with Trowa so much he thanked me for it," Duo frowned, "Trowa said you both have been letting the others know to give us space, but I'm starting to think that might be the wrong approach. I want to surround him with as much love as possible, remind him how many people there are that need him here, show him how amazing his life is with us and make him want to forget being a high paid accountant in Bergonia."

"True. It's a good time of year for it. Everyone will be in town for the holiday celebrations, after all," Sally pressed her lips together into a fine line, her expression becoming serious, "I spoke with Dr. McKearney the other day. He let it slip that you came in for an examination."

Duo scowled, heat rushing straight to his head, "Ain't that a violation of patient-doctor confidentiality or something?"

"It was an accident on his part, and I reprimanded him accordingly. Duo..."

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it," Duo muttered.

"I know that you and WuFei fought the night of his accident."

"Are you trying to ask me something?"

"I just want to be certain you aren't using WuFei's current health problems as an excuse to ignore your own," Sally said.

"I'm fine," Duo repeated, "Don't worry about it."

"I have to worry about it," Sally said, "That's how it works when you care about someone. You worry about them."

"All that matters is making sure WuFei gets his memories back."

"I know, Duo, that's why I'm worried."

...

WuFei found Duo sitting at the dining room table staring into space lost in thought. He barely looked up when WuFei took a seat with him.

"I made arrangements to meet up with Sally at the circus later, we'll grab dinner with Trowa and Catherine after the show. She'll talk to you about your MRI results there. She said there's some mild swelling in your brain that might explain the memory problem," Duo said, his voice a low mumble.

"Are you sure you're alright to go out?" WuFei wondered, examining the other boy. Duo looked exhausted. The day had been long already, running around from the hospital to the town over and back again. Driving the forty minutes back out to see the circus show seemed excessive.

"Yeah. No, I'm good. Just thinking about things," Duo pushed his mouth into a smile, "Do you want me to make you some tea?"

"No. I will make you some tea," WuFei said, standing without waiting for a reply and going in search through the kitchen cupboards for a teapot. Duo whistled, and he gave the boy a glance. Duo was pointing at the lower cupboard closest to the fridge. WuFei found a teapot in there and set it up to boil on the stove. He rejoined Duo at the table.

"The party, three years ago," WuFei said, and Duo stirred somewhat, "Aside from our leaving the party together instead of my leaving alone, I'd like to know if everything else I remember is the same as your memories from that night."

"Sounded about right. But I don't know about the parts I'm not in. I showed drunk and belligerent like you said, though."

"You were angry, at all of us. You said things," WuFei faltered, he leaned against the table. His injuries were aching, he might've pushed himself too hard that day. They were both exhausted. Stress and frustration hovered over them like a black cloud.

"Yup, I did that," Duo conceded. He rested his chin in the palm of his hand, "We've gone over it before. You and I. We hashed it all out, and to be honest, I don't think I can go back through it all again. My thinking's not in the same place anymore, and anything I say at this point will sound like excuses."

"That's not fair," WuFei complained.

The teapot screamed from the stove and WuFei went to take it off the heat. Duo joined him at the counter, pulling the tea bags down from the cupboard over the sink. WuFei grabbed two mugs, and prepped them. He filled them with water and dipped an unwrapped bag into each. Duo helped carry them back to the table. The synchronicity of their actions gave WuFei the impression they'd done this routine many times before.

"Why does it matter so much?" Duo wondered, sitting down again and leaning back into his chair. He stretched his legs out under the table, his knee resting against WuFei's thigh. WuFei flustered but couldn't bring himself to ask the other boy to move it, he didn't want to disappoint Duo, not when he looked that worn down after spending the day trying to cater to WuFei's every need.

"Trowa might be right. Whether the memories or this reality are false, doesn't matter, they came from somewhere. That night seems to be the key. It's the last time I remember seeing you. Everything, except how it ended, we remember it the same," WuFei tapped the table, impatient because the puzzle felt so close to complete but those last important pieces were just out of reach.

"I was in a bad way, WuFei. I said those things because...because if I said them then that meant I could keep the attention on you and the others, and...that I could...I could keep everyone from seeing...seeing...seeing me," Duo lowered his eyes to the table, "Like I said, I don't have any answers that won't sound like excuses. I said terrible things, to all of you, and they weren't true. I was in a lot of pain and I let it blind me to your own. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you don't remember how sorry I am. I'm sorry that you don't remember everything we went through to move past those things. I'm sorry that you don't remember how much and how long I hated myself for hurting you that night."

"You spoke the truth," WuFei said.

Duo snorted softly, shaking his head, "No, baby, no I didn't. You said the same thing three years ago, it took almost a year for me to figure out how wrong I was, and so many months after to convince you of it. Please, don't do that to yourself again."

WuFei didn't know what to say from there. He'd spent so long holding on to that memory, letting it create a wall between himself and the other boys, using it to justify his and their choices and actions: he was a traitor so it only made sense that they ignore him and not want his friendship, he finally left the Preventers because he couldn't escape those accusations.

"What were you hoping for?" Duo asked, smirking, lifting his mug to his mouth to blow on it before taking a sip, "A way to convince me that I couldn't possibly love you because of the things I said that night and validate that this world, this life, is the lie?"

WuFei warmed his hands on his own mug. He didn't know. What was he looking for? Why couldn't he leave that memory alone? Why couldn't he erase the image of Duo's face from that night? Why couldn't he forget Duo's words?

"You want the truth, WuFei Chang? You are the strongest, bravest, most honest and loyal man I've ever known," Duo said, "And you are a good man with a good heart. That is the truth."

~ * ~

Chapter 14

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