"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 15

The next morning, WuFei woke to complete silence. He felt inexplicably alone and empty. He climbed out of bed, rubbing at his aching muscles. He wandered the house and somehow wasn't surprised to find Duo missing. There was a note pinned to the refrigerator: Went grocery shopping, be back soon.

WuFei took a shower and attempted to replace his bandages. He dressed in gray linen slacks and a white button down, and wondered when Duo came into the room for clothes without his noticing. He sat down in the living room with a book to read, but couldn't focus. He shifted chairs, moved to the dining room, put the book down and opted to stretch outside. He remembered living three years alone with no problem, yet somehow, after only a couple days he didn't know what to do with himself without Duo there.

Their backyard was large and beautiful. They had an outdoor dojo set up with a small shrine for burning incense. It connected to a small storage room for equipment off the side of the garage. The area where Duo claimed WuFei gardened was evident in the layout of empty plots and half-finished greenhouse, a stone bench in the center flocked by lanterns and a tiny dragon fountain, a stone-lined path leading towards the house.

To an extent, it reminded WuFei of the estate he'd grown up on in the L5 colony cluster. There were parts of it, however, stained glass windows and gothic arches around the dojo, twin gargoyle statues taking the place of the traditional shishi at the house door that were obvious Duo touches. Somehow, they'd managed to fuse together their different backgrounds into an elegant retreat.

Forgetting his stretches, WuFei examined the greenhouse. He could see how it was coming together, shelves for trays of seedlings, a row of planters down the center for older plants soon to be transferred to the garden. They had a system of pipes set up to mist the plants. He could imagine the kinds of things he'd grow.

As a practical man, he'd want function over style. The garden would have vegetables, herbs, maybe a fruit tree or two, and he recognized the barren trees amongst the plots. He thought about the lessons his grandmother taught him about what plants grew best together, which to keep apart, and started realizing where he would've set everything. He could almost see where the tomatoes nestled amongst rosemary, and the jasmine with mint and lemongrass, his favorite squash with...he paused, finding himself wondering what Duo's favorite plants would be, because of course, he would grow things for Duo as well.

A blush swept across WuFei's features. It was cold outside, he decided. He headed back into the house and could hear indication that Duo had returned. He felt...relieved? He dismissed the notion.

Duo rushed into the kitchen with his arms full of grocery bags. He stopped at the entry, surprised to see WuFei entering from the backyard.

"It's freezing outside. Where's your jacket?" he said.

WuFei opened his mouth to respond, shook his head and shrugged.

Duo sighed, "How you feeling?"

"I'm ready to drive out to Bergonia," WuFei said. Duo's eyes went wide. He dropped the grocery bags on the counter, "Maxwell, you agreed we would go today."

"Shoot. I know. I did. I completely forgot," he exclaimed, spinning round to unpack bags, "Just like I completely spaced until I saw the message this morning about Hilde bringing champagne over for brunch today. I didn't even have any ingredients in the fridge. Babe...er...'Fei, I'm sorry. I got to get a quiche and some pastries in the oven, take a shower, I still smell like circus...I should've put some tea on for you, too, I didn't even think about it. Let me get things going, and then we can talk about going to Bergonia, okay?"

WuFei bristled with anger. He'd played along with Duo throughout yesterday but this was the one request he'd made and the other boy was backing out of it. It almost felt on purpose, he didn't want WuFei to revisit that other life, to see for himself whatever there was to see. If this reality was true, what was Duo so afraid he'd find in Bergonia?

"I'll take myself then. It's fine."

"What? Take yourself where? All the way out to Bergonia? How? Your bike is totaled, and you're not in any condition to drive anyways," Duo argued, "We'll go, alright. I promise. After brunch."

"I can take a shuttle. I don't need you there, anyhow," WuFei said.

"Dammit, WuFei, why do you always have to be such a stubborn ass?" Duo demanded, "Don't you get that I can't let you wander off alone in the condition you're in? Running around to other towns!"

"I've managed to take care of myself my entire life without you, Maxwell, I think I can handle myself for a few hours without you," WuFei bit back, "You make it seem like I need you, but I remember being fine without you, I'm beginning to wonder if it's not you that needs me."

Duo lowered his eyes, heavy laden with dark bags. His face looked pale and he seemed small. WuFei thought of that photograph in the bedroom, Duo's ghostly appearance in it. He'd been hiding something since WuFei woke up in that hospital room. Lying, more like it. WuFei seemed to recall a distant memory of a younger Duo claiming he never told lies.

"Okay," Duo said, "I'll call you a ride."

...

It took a few knocks before Duo swung the door open. Hilde huddled on the doorstep, hugging a bottle of champagne to her chest.

"Sheesh, what took you so long?" she pushed her way inside, and slammed the door shut behind her. She held the bottle out to Duo, "I brought your fav."

Duo took it, looked at the label, silent. Hilde frowned, shrugging off her jacket and hanging it up in the side closet.

"Where's WuFei?" she asked, looking around the room as though expecting him to pop out from behind the Christmas tree. Duo finally met her eyes, tears glistening in his own, and for a second, she felt her heart stop in her chest. He turned away and headed for the kitchen.

"He went out searching for his life without me," Duo muttered.

"What?" Hilde rushed after him. In the kitchen were some pots, pans and mixing bowls dirty with half-finished recipes, and a cold pot on the stove, "Did you...did he...are you two...?"

She couldn't bring herself to say it. Duo shook his head.

"He'd have to remember our relationship to end it," Duo slammed the bottle on the counter, clawing at the foil. Hilde grabbed his shoulder, forced him to face her.

"Tell me what that means right now."

"He forgot. He forgot us. Not just me. All of us," Duo shuddered, tears falling free down his cheeks. He could wear a brave face for the others, keep the emotions at bay, but not with Hilde. He would never hide it from Hilde, "These past three years are gone. He doesn't remember them. He remembers something...something else. Another life, one without any of us in it. He says he left the Preventers to join an accounting firm – accounting! He won't even balance our checkbook! That he stopped talking to everyone, even Sally. And that night, Quatre's party, the night that changed everything, he says he went home alone that night."

"Wow. What?" Hilde gathered Duo into her arms, leading him into the living room to crash on the couch, "Let's start over. Where is WuFei?"

"Bergonia."

"What the hell is in Bergonia?"

Duo sniffled, rubbed his cheeks with the palm of his hand, "It's where he thinks he lives."

"In Bergonia?" Hilde wrinkled her nose. She tried to muffle it, but a smile pinched her cheeks until she started laughing, "Bergonia?"

Duo gave her an exasperated, tear-filled look. She put a hand over her face, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, Duo, I am. I know this is serious. I just...Bergonia? Really? You know as soon as he gets there he's turning right back around. The minute he hears people sleeping on their car horns, gets cut off by some asshole in a red sports car that immediately slams on his breaks – because he wanted to be in front but didn't really want to go fast enough to be there, and then, he'll see some guy in an overpriced suit on his mobile push into the front of line at the coffee shop, claiming to be the most important person there, and WuFei will turn tail and run. I still chuckle every now and then remembering his rant the first-time you boys went out there," Hilde said, "How did he describe it again? Like 'someone took all of the worst parts of civilization and crammed them all together in this one little city'."

Duo sat up on the couch and lay his head on Hilde's shoulder staring at the stockings he and WuFei had decorated for one another last year. He thought of the easy smile that WuFei wore when Duo showed off his finished masterpiece. It's the most perfect thing I've ever seen, WuFei had said in that genuine tone of his. They'd stayed up later into the evening, taking turns reading aloud from whatever book WuFei was reading at the time, eating spoonsful of gingerbread dough, because Duo never got around to baking them.

"Things have been so difficult since I picked him up at the hospital. It's like he doesn't want to remember. We had such a good night last night. We went to the circus, met up with Sally, Heero, and Relena. He loved seeing Trowa and Catherine perform, you could see it on his face. We all got dinner after and I thought...I thought...but this morning he's ready to drive out to Bergonia and we had a fight because I had promised to drive him out there but I forgot about brunch with you."

"You always could've cancelled. I would've understood, Duo."

"No, we needed to go over the Christmas preparations. You needed help decorating for the party, we got to go over those plans," Duo said.

"I love you, Duo, and there's no one I'd rather decorate with, but Quatre's got forty Magunac soldiers that can stand in for you if need be," Hilde brushed the bangs back from Duo's face, smiling down at him.

"He's choosing that life. For whatever reason, this one's not good enough for him. It was before he hit his head, and it's not now," Duo swiped at the tears tumbling down his cheek again, "He said he doesn't need me. That I'm the one who needs him. He's right. I do need him. We used to need each other, but what if he's right about that too? What if he doesn't need me?"

"You have to give it time."

"How much time though? When I do know to throw in the towel?"

"You don't," Hilde relaxed against Duo, "You don't throw in the towel. You told me once that it never mattered how the odds were stacked against you, how lost the battle looked, how close death seemed – no matter what, if WuFei was there, quitting wasn't an option."

"This is different."

"How?"

"Because that was fighting with WuFei on my side. This is fighting against WuFei. I can't fight against him! He never gives up. The guy once literally stopped his heart to save himself from suffocation," Duo folded his hands in his lap and glared across the room.

"You're not fighting against him, though, Duo. You can't think about it that way. You're fighting for him. He might not remember, but he does need you. You remember what his life was like before you moved in with him. He was already five feet in the grave. Going through the motions every day. Wake up, make tea, wash the cup – the same damn cup, the only dish he owned, stop for breakfast on his way into work, punch the clock, pick up dinner on the way home, katas, press his jacket, read for an hour, sleep, and do it all over again when his alarm went off the next day. Until one day he'd wake up and drink a cup of tea, wash the cup, and put a bullet in his brain," Hilde said, "Would you really throw in the towel and let him go back to that?"

~ * ~

Chapter 16

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