BITTERSWEET MEMORIES: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (and boy is it!) ^_~

Disclaimer: Is it mine? Let's put it this waywhen the salami fairy comes and steals your deli meats away and leaves a quarter in your fridgethen you'll know that everyone has become insane and THAT'S when you know I've taken over Sunrise Asahi.

I finally got inspirationand it was from a piece of cold salami for God's sake! How does a piece of salami have ANYTHING to do with Gundam Wing, much less Duo???? *silence* I don't know either. All I know is that I looked at that piece of salami and said, "I gotta write." See how weird my mind is??? GahI would probably give a psychiatrist a field dayor a one way trip outta the office to an early resignationwhich ever comes first! ^_^ N'ways, enough of my mindless jabberon with the show!! (Or maybe it was the candyenough enough! Stupid subconsciousshush!!!)

Hilde massaged her temples. I can't believe this is happening to mewhy do these things happen to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? Oh God...why me, why me?

Duo's plaintive voice drifted from the bathroom to the hallway, "Onna? I think I need help" Hilde stiffened. Onna? I can tell that he's been spending too much time with Changthis is his fault isn't it? When I find Wufei, I'm going to skewer him! She closed her eyes, trying to ignore him, but if anything his voice grew even more pitiful as he asked, "Please? I think I need help." Hilde bit back a groan before walking down the hall, almost cringing as she peered into the room.

"Yes Duo?"

Amethyst eyes blinked and a small frown crossed his lips. "I can't geshget up."

What?! "What?! Are you hurt? Did you fall?" Hilde opened the door wider, forgetting her headache for a moment. "Duo, how clumsy can you get?" Grabbing a towel from the rack, she wiped Duo's mouth off before putting his arm around her shoulder, grimacing at the acrid stench. "Okay, let's go."

"The floor shpinning," He explained, a trifle petulantly, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, almost crushing Hilde with the dead weight. "And I shee pretty colors, all green and bwack and yellow and-"

"Okay, I get the message, Duo." Together, they staggered into the bedroom, Duo often overbalancing the two, and articles of furniture crashed to the floor behind them, some rolling around dolefully on the auburn carpet, some laying smashed into a thousand small fragments. Hilde sighed. "There goes the Ming vase." Topple. "The Medal of Honor." Crash. Hilde winced. "The eighteenth century painting of Louis the fourteenth....Goddamnit Duo! How did you knock that one down?? It was protected by glass casing!"

"I didn't do anything!" He looked at her with sulky violet eyes and Hilde almost grinned. He looked so-no! No, no, no, DOWN girlit...is...over! STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM!! Duo was still looking at her, smiling cheerfully at the almost-smile on Hilde's face, "Ha! I shaw you waugh!"

Hilde shook her head in exasperation, then barely kept him from careening into the lamp that perched precariously on the mahogany table-board, shoving into the plotted plant at the side of the door instead. The plant crashed. Hilde steamed. Duo babbled. "DUO!!!!" He looked back at her, a picture of innocence painted on his face before he slumped forward dizzily.

"O-kay shpinning. Thish's shpinning when'd we go on de merry-go-round?"

"Since you went round the bar once too many times!" Hilde replied sarcastically before dumping the Shinigami onto the bed in an unceremonious heap. "Wait here. I'm going to get you an icepack for that eye and a wash cloth for your face." Hilde touched the puffy lip, tracing the cracked edges before glaring at him. "You've been fighting again, Duo."

"Gee, when you figure that out?" He answered, grinning crookedly up at her. "I tink I wash winnin'when dat guy in da green tank-top came barging in. Who iss he b'da way?"

Hilde sighed, shaking her head. "Heero, Duo. You know, you're best friend?"

"Oh...I have a fwiend?"

"Something like that." Hilde called from the restroom, then came back holding a cloth in her hand. "Hold still." Gently, she patted the black eye with the cloth, grabbing his chin to hold it still when he pushed away.

"Hey....ow!"

"I told you to hold still. If you don't this is going to take longer!" He pouted, and hiding a smile, Hilde carefully resumed her ministrations, wiping the dirt and crusted blood from his face. "There, is that so bad? We just needed to clean it up a little so the cut doesn't get infectednow lie down." He opened his mouth indignantly, but with a silencing glare from Hilde, he sighed, flinging himself on the queen-sized bed, letting Hilde unlace his shoes and tug them off.

"Thish your bed?"

"Uh huh"

"That mean you shleep here, righ'?"

"Uh huh"

He smirked, leaning up on one elbow to grin at her with the famous Maxwell charm. "Does shat mean yer gonna be sleepin' here tonight?" Hilde froze then jerked back, her face flushing becomingly with heat.

"Duo!!" Glaring at him, she dropped the boot on the floor, then put her hands on her hips. "Do you just ask any girl to sleep with you after you've had more than one drink?"

Duo shrugged, then flopped back in the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Not reallybut shinsh it'sh you, babe"

"Since it's-Duo! You know who I am, don't you? You've been lying to Relena and Heero?" There was an incredulous streak through her voice, mixing with growing anger. "You aren't drunk, are you? You lied to me!"

Eyes blinked back at her as he shifted a little so he could pillow his head without actually having to get up from his position on the bed. "I'm not drunk, I never shaid I wassh!" Duo grinned evilly, then groaned as an injudicious movement sent the room weaving. "Now if only the walls would stop moving" He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, before peeking out of the corner of one. "Do you know yer cute when you're pissshed?"

"That's a cliché if I've ever heard one." Hilde snapped, "Duo, I can't believe you! You act totally smashed, then you turn the tables on me and show me that you've been acting all the time? How many drinks did you have, anyway?!"

"Six." He replied promptly then smiled with a kind of groggy cheerfulness. "But shtill not drunk" Hilde glared at him and stormed out of the room, muttering dire profanities underneath her breath as she grabbed a tray of ice cubes, emptying them into a dishcloth before wrapping them neatly into a packet before returning to the room. She dropped the ice on top of his black eye ungraciously, causing him to yelp as it hit him.

"Wha'was that for??"

"For lying!" She snapped, "And forcing me to take care of you tonight!" She folded her arms across her stomach, blue eyes as hard as sapphires as she demanded, "Don't you think I have enough to do? I have to get up tomorrow for work! I have to finish my tax forms! I don't have time for any more pranks, Duo!"

"Okay," Duo sat up, abandoning his drunken slur, "I give you that much babe. My fault for lying. But come on, three months of non-communication, isn't that a bit harsh? And ojou-san wasn't going to break anytime soon, even with the guilt trip, so I took measures into my own hands. I did drink at the bar you know," He spread his arms wide, grinning a trifle crookedly, "Even got myself all beat up. Do you know how humiliating it was? It was only a drunken fat guy and a couple of his pals! Come on!" He snorted disdainfully, "Nothing the Shinigami couldn't handle, but I did it cuz we need to talk, babe."

"I think we've talked enough, Duo Maxwell." Hilde replied, a little unnerved by his earnest violet-eyed gaze. She hated the way he could still make her feel, still make her blush with a word, make her feel loved"And since you are fully able to take care of yourself, I suggest you leave before I throw you out!"

"Nope, not moving!" Despite the tense situation, Duo's eyes danced with sudden mischief, "And you can't exactly toss me over your shoulder and drag me outta the room, either babe. Sowhatcha gonna do? Call the cops?" Hilde had to stifle a smile at his teasing tone, trying to force her face to cooperate with her. She was angry. She wanted him out. Then why did she feel like laughing? "Or are you gonna call the Preventers? I can just see it now." Duo held up a pinkie and a thumb, miming a phone call. "Hello, Preventers? This is Hilde Schliebeker. And I have a weirdo in my house." Hilde choked. "He refuses to leave and-Wufei? Wufei is that you?" Duo's voice switched to a deeper, bass voice, imitating Wufei's indignant intonation, and Hilde suddenly had a coughing spasm, hand held against her mouth as her shoulders shook with mirth. "Onna? Do you know
what time is this? Weakling! Injustice! I do not speak with weak onnas! Clickhmmmmand there you go, so that won't work either. Sothat comes back to the main question." Duo propped himself on the headboard. "Whatcha gonna do?"

Hilde eyed him and drawled, "Well I still do keep pepper spray in the kitchen cupboard, Duo"

Duo gave a mock cringe, "Oh no pepper spray! Wellall for the sake of lorelationships and all that." He amended, watching the smile fade from her lips.

At that wordor almost word, the humor fled from Hilde's face and she smiled hollowly. "Yeah. Right. One problem with that, Duo, is that we don't exactly have a relationship anymore, remember? I left."

Duo's mouth flattened into a line. "Yeah, well, I figured it was time for you t o explain that one, babe. And I'm not leavin' til I get an answer to my question, got it? Good." When Hilde remained mutinously silent, he cocked up a brow. "I'm waiting, Hilde."

"I don't answer to you Duo."

"You don't get rid of me til you do." Duo pointed out logically, and Hilde ground her teeth in frustration.

"Duo, don't you ever get it? It's over. O-V-E-R!"

Duo blinked. "I know how to spell. My education wasn't that great, but I did learn to spell." He said calmly. "Let me spell out something too. I don't think it is. I-D-O-N-"

"Duo!!" Hilde massaged her temples before glaring at the shadowed form that was lying on the bed. But he merely smiled back innocently, tossing the ice pack in one hand and she finally gave up with a furious sigh. "You suck, Duo. I hate you."

The smile died. "Yeah well I sorta figured that when you left." He said quietly, and let the ice pack drop on the cabinet with a muffled thump.

Hilde winced. She hadn't meant to say it like that, it had just come out wrong. Like she knew it would. That was why she hadn't wanted to talk to him before thisbut still, maybe it was all for the best "Duo, I think you pretty much know the reason I left, okay? Four years in the same house, living in each other's pockets, as Relena says, but we're missing one major factor here." Hilde held up a bare hand. "See anything missing Duo? Well, I do. What happened to that sparkly band that was supposed to go around my finger, huh?"

Duo blinked, then frowned, "Why do we need to get married for?" There was a look of bewildered confusion in his eyes. "I mean, we've been happy, babe"

"But it hasn't been real, has it Duo? I kept on asking you the last two years, and every time, it's been 'Someday, someday'." Hilde turned her back on him, hugging herself protectively. "You have a major problem with the word 'forever' Duo, andand so do I." She glanced back at him, moonlight sending silver through dark hair. "I can't wait forever while you figure it out, Duo. I have to get on with my own life too. And you, my beloved Shinigami," Hilde tried to smile at her jibe, but the luster failed to touch her eyes, "have a problem with tying the knot. SoI figured it was best if I put both of us out of our misery." She shrugged, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It wasn't." He replied flatly. "You shoulda talked to me about it, Hilde."

"Duo, I can't talk to you when you're running away at sixty-five miles per hour!" Hilde whirled around, glaring at him. "Anytime I said the word, 'couple' or 'married', the last I saw of you was a flying braid and a trail of dust! Hello!! That isn't the best way to answer a girl when she asks about your future together! Besideseven if we did talkwhat are the chances that you would have given me a straight answer about it?" Silence. "I thought so." Hilde leaned back against the wall, "So now you know."

"Yeah" For a while, neither of them spoke and the last of Hilde's hope died with the burgeoning stillness and blinking her eyes rapidly, she stood up.

"Well, get some sleep Duo. I'm gonna turn in after I finish a few things, so don't wait up."

Duo's eyes lit up in childish playfulness, the façade of the fool slid firmly back into place. "So you gonna come back to me after all, huh babe?

"What?!"

Duo smirked, "There's only one bed in the apartment. So that means" It was incredible how he switched gears so quickly, and suddenly, she was furious. What was this to him? Some sort of game? Well, two could play at that....she wasn't getting her heart snared by a Shinigami again

She walked purposefully towards the bed, her hands clenched at her sides. When she was right next to him, she smiled sweetly, bending down towards him. "In your dreams!" She ground out, emphasizing each word with a hard jab of her finger to his collarbone. "You, you drunk as a skunk pig, are sleeping right here. And I am going on the couch, next to the TV, after I clean up your stupid mess that you caused in your act. Got it?" Without waiting for a response, Hilde whirled on a heel and stormed out of the room. "Oh, by the way, you now owe me roughly twelve thousand dollars for the stuff you broke in the hall. And be glad I'm not charging you for room and board!"

"Hilde?" The soft-spoken tone froze her as she reached the door, hand resting on knob.

"What?!"

"Are you sure?" A slow grin crossed his lips and his eyes slanted seductively, "It might be fun." Hilde glared at him before opening the door. The resulting slam shook the apartment, causing the walls to shudder and the glass panes to rattle. Duo rolled his eyes back in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, watch the head, babewatch the headI've got enough elephants trumpeting in there" Duo winced. Maybe he had had one two many drinksbut nevertheless... "You might as well have said we have a one in a million chance, babe." He paused, considering his options, before a devilish smirk spread across his face. "Well, it's still a chance. And as long as there's a chance. Mwaha-ow!" He clutched his head. "Ow ow owDefinitely had one too many drinks." He grimaced. "Damn that Mai Taibut tomorrow"

***

Hilde fumed furiously, tossing and turning on the couch before finally getting up and throwing open the windows because it was too hot. Then half an hour later, she slammed them shut with a clattering bang, throwing herself on the couch again. Stupid stupid stupid Shinigami....why did he have to come back into my life?? I finally get moderately happy and-

Who are you kidding?

Shut up. Now is not the time for tiny voices in my head to be patronizing me!!

So when has that ever stopped me?

Great, I'm talking with myselfjust wonderful.

Shut up and listen. He's here, he's been looking for you. What more do you want?

A ring, a bouquet, and a garter that I can throw to my friends

He won't.

Then someone else willbecause I want that ring. I want security as well as love. I want forevernot a one-night standis that too much to ask?

It's been a FOUR-YEAR stand.

But there is always that fear that he'll leave, take my heart with him. If he loved me, he would understandor he would try to. Hilde rolled on her back, fingers absently tracing the contours of her stomach. Besides, if he never wanted a marriage, he would never want the babyright? Silence. Oh great. Only question I actually ask that really matters, and that stupid voice skips out on me. Hilde tossed fitfully on the couch until streaks of red and light orange streaked across the midnight sky, streaking the sky with the colors of false dawn before she finally fell into an exhausted slumber.

"Hilde"

"Hmmm .....go'way ....M'tired." Hilde buried her head in her pillow, away from that annoying, nagging voice.

"Heh heh I don't think so, babe. Maybe I can wake you up" Fingers tipped her chin back and suddenly, full and total alertness was shoved in her face as firm lips took hers in a kiss. She widened her eyes as several things clambered for attention. First of all, Duo was definitely not in bed, where he belonged. Second of all, he was definitely the one kissing the living daylights out of her. And thirdly, he definitely did not seem to be stopping any time soon.

Oh my GOD!!!

The voice was back, snickering. Girl you're at the mercy of the God of Death and you know from experience that his mercy is no mercy at all.

SHUT UP!!!

t b c

Author's Note: FINALLY!! Sorry ya'llI had a bout with the writer's block gremlin (do u know he's the cousin to the salami fairy?) but n'wayz, I FINALLY got it out! FINALLY!! ^_~ Nowthe next part*cringe* oh dearI'll come out with it as soon as I can! Luv u lots, ya'll! ^_^