An hour or two later, Duo slowly began to wake up. He sat up in bed and stretched, yawning, then looked around and took in his surroundings. He was still in his bed, and Heero was still sitting next to him. The Japanese boy was no longer sewing, however, and neither the materials nor the doll clothes were anywhere in sight. What had happened to them, then?

"Hey, Heero. You done with the doll clothes, or did you just get tired of sewing?" he asked, stretching out his legs as well.

"The clothes are finished. I put them in a bag in the corner."

"Thanks, Hee-chan."

"Hn. You're welcome."

"Did it take you the entire time I was asleep to finish the doll clothes?"

"I finished close to fifteen minutes ago."

"Oh, well, I guess I'd better get straightened up a little before I go find that little girl and give her these doll clothes."

"I'll go with you. But first, I have a message to deliver to you. WuFei sends his apologies about earlier. I believe he is sincere."

A flurry of various emotions flickered across Duo's face. He didn't know if he should be happy, sad, angry, grateful, or what. He did know, however, that the fact that WuFei really did feel bad about hurting him, and braved facing a potentially crazed and homicidal Heero ready for revenge just to let him know so, made him feel warm inside.

"Really? Well, yeah, maybe I overreacted... I should go talk to him when we get back, ya know?" To his even greater surprise, Heero nodded and opened his mouth to reply.

"That... would be best, I think." He said shortly. "Now, get ready to leave. We should be taking the clothes to the little girl."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Duo hopped out of the shower, wrapped one towel around his waist and one around the majority of his hair, then darted out into the bedroom. "Clothes!" he exclaimed, holding out one hand. Heero threw boxers, a pair of pants, and a shirt at him. "Thanks."

Duo put his shirt on first, then his boxers. As he was struggling to get into his pants, Heero was brushing his hair in a quick, efficient manner. From the way they worked together, it was obvious that this was a typical way of getting Duo dressed.

Once all his clothes were on, Duo went in search of his shoes. "Closet, Duo." Heero said, beginning to part the other boy's hair.

"Oh. Well, why are they there?" came the reply. They hobbled over to the closet together, and as Duo slid into the shoes, Heero began braiding his hair.

By the time Duo had grabbed the bag and started heading out of the room, Heero was half done. As they were heading out the front door of the safe-house, Heero was just tying off the end of the braid.

"So, how long did we take this time?" Duo asked as he got behind Heero on the black and acid green motorcycle parked just outside the house. He made sure that the bag was clutched firmly in his hands, and sandwiched between Hero and himself.

Heero glanced at his watch. "Eight minutes, fifteen seconds." He replied.

"Hey, that's great! We beat our old record by a good twenty seconds!" Duo crowed, a huge grin. "Hey, hey... How about celebrating by taking me out for ice-cream?"

"I don't think so."

"But Heeerooo..."

"I sewed for you. That's enough for today. Don't push your luck."

"But, Heero..." Duo whined. "I want ice-cream!"

"You're beginning to sound like Relena." Heero said warningly, glaring at Duo over his shoulder as he started up the motorcycle.

"Eep... I think I'll shut up now."

"Wise choice."

They were a good mile away from the safe-house when Duo decided to speak up again. "After all, we can always go out for ice-cream tomorrow."

"... Baka."