Zechs frowned down at the report, trying to decipher the scribbled notes that Duo had written into the margins. It had quickly become obvious over the last month, that Duo's handwriting decreased in legibility the more exhausted he was. Maybe I should point out to Une that overloading us this badly, is going to put him right back where he was two months ago; on the edge of burnout. Running one hand through too-long bangs, he squinted at the notes again. Better yet, maybe I'll have Sally tell her. She's been making concerned noises about all three of us lately. Maybe a day off would be a good idea for everyone.
Dropping the report back into the stack in front of him, he glanced over at the clock. It was only midnight, but he'd been operating on less than five hours of sleep a night for longer than he could remember. Even when he had the luxury of time to sleep... spending the majority of each day dealing with victims in varying states of decomposition had left him with little desire to close his eyes long enough to dream. The only thing giving him any peace of mind at all, was that somehow Solo and Treize had managed to find a way to keep any of them from actually appearing in the office, leaving him at least one safe haven.
'You know, killing yourselves is only going to deprive Une of her best team of investigators.' Treize seated himself on the edge of the table.
"Tell me something I hadn't already figured out," Zechs scowled at his friend. "Sorry... that was...."
'Don't apologize,' Treize shrugged. 'You need to let off steam occasionally. The least I can do is listen.' The ghost sighed. 'Actually, the most I can do is listen.'
"You do plenty." Zechs glanced up at his friend. "You keep me sane. And we would not have made it through the Glover case without you and Solo."
Treize shrugged. 'Perhaps.' He studied Zechs silently for a long moment. 'But I still worry, that you need someone to turn to...'
"Treize... don't even start that tonight." Zechs sighed. "Yes, I'm attracted to both of my partners. But I'm not sure that getting involved with either of them romantically is a good idea. Une put me in charge of this division, and so far it's working well; But you and I both know that having an affair with a subordinate officer is like walking through a minefield. I don't want to risk the friendships we're building if it blows up in our faces. We all need this too much to risk it."
'Our affair did not blow up in our faces...' Treize frowned.
"Didn't it?" Zechs dropped his face into his hands. "Then why the hell did we spend the last year of the war on opposite sides? As enemies?"
Treize winced. 'I... suppose you are right. And I was fully to blame for that, wasn't I? But I loved both of you....'
"And couldn't choose between us." Zechs sighed. "I understand it now... But at the time, all I could see was that you would throw away everything for a relationship that was destined to end badly. And you wonder why I am afraid to risk it myself? I care for both Duo and Dorothy, probably much more than I should given the risks we take every day. We have found a balance together than none of us could have imagined possible three months ago. I will not destroy it for a casual fling." He frowned a little. "Besides, it would be damn hypocritical of me to give into this... after the hell I gave you about claiming to be in love with both me and Leia."
'I... just hate to see you so lonely.' Treize shook his head. "And how could I consider it hypocritical, when I was the one arguing for so long that it was possible to love two people at the same time? I always hoped you'd be able to come to that acceptance someday. The fact that it happened after my death was... simply unfortunate.'
"I'm not alone anymore, Treize." Zechs glanced at his friend and smiled sadly. "I have you still, and now I have them. It's enough, my friend." The smile faded. It has to be.
The soft cry woke him, and he reached for Duo automatically. Dragging the trembling body into his arms, Zechs curled closer around his smaller partner; and stroked one hand soothingly through the long, loose strands of hair that cascaded around them. Wait. Loose hair...? Duo never sleeps with his hair loose... That thought finally penetrated the exhaustion, and he opened his eyes to find himself holding Dorothy instead.
"Doro...?" He whispered softly, still stroking her hair softly. "Wake up. It's just a dream." Glancing quickly around the dimly lit room, he determined that Duo wasn't there with them. "Come on, wake up...."
She shuddered, curling tighter into a fetal ball in his arms. Zechs dragged the blanket closer around them both, half sitting to drag her into his lap. She curled into the warmth of his arms, tucking her head under his chin much as Duo normally did. Not for the first time, he found himself realizing that his partners were very nearly the same size; and both fit all too well into his arms.
"Shhh." He rocked her slightly, feeling the shudders increasing. Even in her sleep, her hands had locked onto his shirt with a grip destined to rip fragile cloth. "Dorothy... come on Catalonia... wake up..."
The door to the outer office opened, and Duo poked his head in. His expression went from worried to grim when he saw Zechs trying to soothe Dorothy out of the nightmare.
"Zechs...?" Duo stepped into the room and crawled across the mattress towards them. A moment later, Solo appeared in the doorway as well. The ghost frowned, but looked more worried than angry. "Man, wake her up, will you? Epyon is freaking out or something...."
"What?" Zechs tightened his arms around Dorothy, as he stared at Duo in horror. "Shit."
"Uh huh... background is changing colors in a blur, and it's writing some kind of gibberish all over the screen."
"Dorothy, come on. Wake up..." When nothing happened except an increase in the trembling, he raised his head to meet Duo's eyes. "Shit. Turn it off..."
"But...."
"It survived the destruction of the Libra... it will survive this." I hope...
"Yeah, but what about her?" Duo hesitated on the edge of the mattress. "If they're linked... what happens to her when I pull the plug...?"
"Dammit..." Zechs hesitated as well, then quickly detangled himself from Dorothy as much as he could considering her deathgrip on his shirt. "She's not even touching it... how the hell is she picking up on it?"
"Or is it picking up on her?" Duo moved quickly back to help Zechs, wrapping his own arms tightly around Dorothy. Zechs winced, steeling himself silently, then slapped her hard. She gasped, sagging into Duo's arms with a strangled moan.
"...he's coming...."
"Doro...?" Duo brushed tear-damp hair out of her eyes. "Come on, I'm the only one allowed to do this..."
"...we have to...stop him...." She shivered, then went still in their arms.
"Stop who?" Duo met Zechs' eyes worriedly. The older man had no reply, just hugged Dorothy tightly. After a moment, she hugged him back, her arms winding around his neck tightly as she started crying. It was oddly surreal for both men, and Zechs found himself rocking her softly again. What the hell could make Epyon freak... and Dorothy cry? Somehow, he had the bad feeling he really didn't want to find out.
"Doro...?" He wiped the tears from her face with a corner of the blanket. "Shh. It's alright now. You're okay..."
She shivered, but gradually the tears stopped. Zechs leaned back against one of the couches, aware of Duo hovering worriedly nearby. Without thinking, he reached out to pull the younger man into the embrace as well. Duo sighed, relaxing against him, and his head slipped down to rest on Zechs' shoulder; his forehead resting against Dorothy's paler hair.
"Better?" Zechs asked quietly; when Dorothy's shaking had eased along with the tears.
"Y-yeah..." She muttered. "What the hell was... was that...?"
"Um... we were kinda hoping you could tell us," Duo muttered. "Christ, you scared the crap outta us. I thought the nightmare bit was my gig."
"I... I've never dreamed like that before..." She shivered. "It was... I can't describe it... it was..." She broke off helplessly.
"What were you dreaming about?"
"I..." She hesitated. "I don't know."
"But it scared you," Zechs sighed. "You said 'He's coming.' Who's coming?"
"I... don't know." She wiped her eyes. "I don't remember anything but a jumble of images, people's faces... blood. Static...."
Zechs met Duo's eyes over the top of her head. Static? How do you dream...static?
"Um, Doro, were you dreaming that? Or was Epyon?" Duo asked uncertainly.
"What?" She stared at him blankly. "I wasn't touching Epyon..."
"It was reacting to something..." Duo muttered. "Does it dream?"
"I... I don't know," She sighed. "It's hard to understand now. Ever since the suit was destroyed... it's like its trying to talk underwater or something. Sometimes even I can't figure out what it's trying to tell me."
"Hmm," Duo frowned thoughtfully.
"Computers don't dream, Duo," Zechs muttered, trying to reassure himself as much as his partners. "It must have been picking up on Dorothy through the link somehow."
"Computers don't freaking see the future or download themselves 'cause they're afraid of dying either." Duo frowned. "This is Epyon we're talking about." He shrugged. "Who knows what the hell it can do... or could do before it was damaged."
"I'll talk to Treize," Zechs sighed. "Maybe he'll have some idea what's wrong with it. He did build it, after all."
"I don't know if I would consider him an expert on it. Since I kind of got the impression he was pretty surprised by most of what it could do."
"He's the closest to an expert we've got," Zechs grinned suddenly. "Unless you want to call Yuy on L3 and ask him for help."
"Is cutting off my head first an option there?" Duo grumbled. Solo just rolled his eyes.
"I thought you and Yuy were friends," Dorothy asked, finally distracted enough to let go of Zechs somewhat.
"No. Trowa and I are friends. Yuy is Trowa's boyfriend. I am the jealousy-inducing 'other man' in Tro's life. I think any chance we had to be friends probably ended when they started dating." Duo shrugged. "Not that we were heading for a close friendship anyway. I was a little too... unstructured for Yuy. I confuse him."
"Oh. That must be hard for you and Trowa, then."
"You could say that. I was giving them plenty of room, so that maybe hopefully he'd calm down a little and start accepting that Trowa loves him. God only knows why. But apparently even hanging out with Tro once a month was too much for Heero- He asked Une for that transfer to L3."
"Is that why you didn't turn to Trowa for help, when the nightmares and visions started?" Zechs asked quietly.
"Yeah," Duo looked away, staring into the corner of the dark room. "He woulda insisted that I stay with them, or he would have moved back in... and Heero's currently fragile view of the world and love would have imploded right there. Couldn't risk it."
"You know Barton's going to be pissed as hell when he finds out that you were in trouble and didn't tell him?" Dorothy pointed out. "I would be, if I was him."
"It's probably not going to be a problem." Duo shrugged. "Not exactly likely to run into him anytime soon, am I?"
"True. But the riots have ended on L3. And thanks to Winner and Chang, the riots on L4 barely started before Preventers got them stopped. Une will have to bring them back sooner or later. We can only cover for the four of them, in addition to being the official Homicide division, for so long." Zechs scowled.
"Yeah... that is getting kind of old," Dorothy growled. "I should be helping you guys... and instead I'm stuck with guard-the-princess duty. It doesn't help that she would probably prefer Duo right now. At least she doesn't actively hate me anymore, like she used to, but things are very... awkward."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Duo muttered darkly. "Since my friendship with Trowa is responsible for Heero's transfer to L3, leaving her to the infrequent care of Donatello on the few occasions he's not been having major surgery...."
"My sister is a good politician and she's grown up a lot in the last year, but sometimes, logic just seems to escape her." Zechs shook his head. "I'll talk to Une though. Surely someone else can take that over. If she wants this new division to work, she's going to have to find other people to take over the slack now."
"She just got spoiled to us all working 18 hour shifts, and taking on any extra tasks that would guarantee we didn't have to go home," Dorothy sighed.
"She can get unspoiled," Zechs scowled. "She gave us the authority to run this any way we want to, and set us apart from the rest of the Preventers. She's got to deal with the consequences of that just like we do."
"You go," Duo muttered. "That mean we might get slightly more regular work hours? And occasional backup?"
"I'll see what I can do..." Zechs promised.
tbc