Between Sunrise and Sunset... Part Six [DMxHS]

[Loyce]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

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Between Sunrise and Sunset
Part Six:Guilt and Losses
By Loyce
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She felt like a caged animal as she paced the small length of the sitting room. The adrenaline rush was beginning to subside, allowing her to finally gain control of herself. Although her hands seemed steadier and she could mumble coherent sentences, her heart was still racing in her chest.

Glancing at the closed door on the far wall, Hilde stopped pacing long enough to run her hands from her temples through her knotted hair. 'It wasn't supposed to happen this way.' The phrase repeated itself over and over again in her mind. She refused to even blink, because if she did, she would see Duo falling to his knees after he pushed her out of the way, taking the bullet meant for her.

Maybe he shouldn't have bothered to save her; maybe she would be better off dead, that way she couldn't bring any further harm to the people she loved. The thought jolted her out of her stupor. Did she love him? True, she had grown fond of him, but that didn't mean that she was in love. Was she even capable of love, with everything that had happened to her? The constant pounding of the rain against the roof was the only answer to her question.

Behind her, she heard the soft footfalls of the doctor's husband. Hilde kept her back to him as he twisted the wick higher in the oil lantern, the extra light chasing away the shadows where she had been hiding. For the second time that night, she felt his hand grab her shoulder and this time she flinched at his touch. When he had touched her the first time, she had been too worried about Duo to care about anything else.

She heard the familiar sound of china being placed on the table. "I brought you something warm to drink."

"Thank you, Wufei." Hilde replied, but she'd didn't move from her spot.

"He's in the best hands possible. Even though she is frowned upon in her profession, my wife is one of the best doctors in the territory. Sally will do everything in her power to save Maxwell."

His words were suppose to reassure her that everything would be fine, but the idea that Duo was fighting for his life just beyond the door caused her to pale considerably. She shook as a chill worked its way from the back of her neck to wrap around her entire body.

Wufei sighed. "Hilde, you need to remove your wet clothes before you become sick."

"I'm fine."

"Damn independent women." He growled as he left the room.

Contradicting her own words, Hilde shrugged off the soaked duster and placed it over the back of one of the chairs. A small fire had been lit in the hearth on the far side of the room. Moving closer to the heat, she began rubbing her hands over her damp clothing, hoping they would begin to dry out. Hilde closed her eyes and listened to the clock on the wall tick away the seconds of the night. She was so lost in the constant noise coming from the clock, that she nearly missed the small click of the doorknob as it was turned.

"Sally?"

Sally stepped around the door, pulling it closed behind her. Her golden blond hair fell down to the middle of her back as she pulled the kerchief from the top of her head. She turned her face toward Hilde, her blue eyes tired from the hour she had just spent in the operating room.

Hilde rushed over to stand in front of the older woman. "Sally, is he going to be all right?"

Placing her hands along her lower back, Sally tried to stretch her taunt muscles. "He'll be okay, Hilde. The force behind the bullet wasn't that strong and it became lodged in the muscles of his chest wall. I think the tough leather duster he had been wearing may have saved him from experiencing any further damage."

"But there was so much blood..." Hilde's voice died as she looked at her hands. Though she had scrubbed them until they were raw, she could still see his blood covering her hands.

"I won't lie to you. He did lose a good deal of blood. I had to dig the bullet out of the muscle. There was some tissue damage and he could lose some motion when moving his right arm. He'll have to be watched for infection over the next couple of days, and he's already spiking a high fever, but he'll pull through." Sally looked over the top of Hilde's bent head and noticed the look on her husbands face.

Wufei stepped completely into the room and walked over to his wife. He laid a supporting arm along her shoulders, in which Sally laid her head against. "Sally, you should rest now. I'll look after the patient."

"No. I'll look after him." Her outburst took both of them by surprise. Hilde cleared her throat and lowered her voice. "What do I need to do?"

Sally smiled. "There's a basin of cool water sitting next to the bed. Dampen a couple of cloths, placing one along his forehead and one wrapped loosely around his neck. Keep them moist. My husband will bring some tea mixed with herbs that will help to bring his fever down." Grabbing hold of her husband's other hand, Sally squeezed it tightly before leading them toward the doorway.

Hilde watched the retreating forms of the loving couple as the made their way out of the sitting room. She glanced over her shoulder at the door leading into the operating room for a moment before she made any motion to move. Throwing her shoulders back, Hilde padded across the wooden floor and placed a tentative hand on the doorknob. She found it hard to swallow past the lump that had formed in her throat as she turned the knob and pushed the door slowly open.

The faint light of a few candles mingled with the soft light coming from the oil lamp sitting on the table next to the door. Surgical instruments lay on towels, having already been cleaned with alcohol, which still held a subtle scent in the air. Hilde tried to keep her eyes focused on anything else in the room but him. However, against her own will, her gazed fell on Duo's still body lying on the table in the far corner of the room.

White gauze had been wrapped around his upper chest. Though Sally had assured her that the bleeding had stopped, Hilde couldn't help but gasp at the dark red blotches that marred the bandaging. A blue blanket had been pulled up around his waist, leaving part of his body uncovered. His skin seemed to have a healthy glow in the candlelight, but was bathed in a thin sheen of sweat from his fever.

Finding her feet, Hilde moved across the room and sank down onto the stool positioned by the side of the bed. At first, she watched the constant rise and fall of his chest and found herself timing her breathing with his. She reached out and brushed his damp bangs from his forehead. Leaning to her side, she picked up one of the cloth rags and dunked it into the bowl of water. When she thought the rag was ready, Hilde pulled it from the bowl and wrung out the excess water. After folding the cloth, she laid it against his forehead, taking note as to how warm his skin felt under her fingers. Hilde repeated the procedure again, this time laying a large rag around his neck, like Sally had instructed.

"Duo, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gone out and tried to take Oz on by myself. More importantly, I shouldn't have taken you up on the bounty." Hilde retrieved the nearly dry cloth off of his forehead and rewetted it. "For my own selfish reasons, I ended up dragging you into my quest for revenge. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I would have killed him. And because of me..." Drawing in a ragged breath, she continued. "And because of me, you were nearly killed."

Again, Hilde smoothed his spiky bangs away from his face. Under her fingers, Duo didn't stir as she wrapped another damp cloth around his neck. She knew he couldn't hear anything she was saying but it didn't stop her from talking. "You asked me twice why I became a bounty hunter. Well, I'll tell you. I became a bounty hunter so I could track down and bring my kind of justice to the ones that killed my family. And one by one, I've caught them all, except for one: Oz Blackburn. The one that stole everything from me and scarred my back with a horse whip and left me for dead."

She reached out and touched the cloth on his head. The rag was dry again and so she repeated the procedure once again. Duo's hair had come out of his signature braid. Taking his silky hair in her hands, she braided what hair she could without disturbing him. Hilde felt the tears burning at the back of her eyes as she heard him sigh in his sleep.

"I never meant for any of this to ever happen to you." Leaning forward, Hilde pressed her lips against his fevered skin. She pulled back and whispered. "I'll make it up to you, Duo. I promise I'll set things right."

Hilde straightened up and looked down into his face. His mouth was pulled tight as if, even in the drug-induced sleep, he could still feel the pain of his wound. Bringing her hands to her lips, she placed a chaste kiss on her fingertips and touched it to Duo's lips. She made her way half way across the room before she glanced back over her shoulder. Closing her eyes, Hilde committed a picture of Duo to her memory. Spinning on her heel, she made her way out of the room.

The sound of shifting wood within the hearth and the constant tick of the clock filled the air as she picked up her duster off the back of the chair. She was pulling it on when Wufei walked into the room carrying a tray of tea.

"Where are you going?"

She didn't even bother tying her hair into a knot on the top of her head. Picking up her hat, she placed it on her head and pulled the brim a little lower than normal. "Back to the hotel."

Wufei set the tray down on the table. "You want to tell me the truth."

"How'd you know?" Hilde asked as she lifted her chin and faced him. He didn't answer her question; he just continued to look at her with those black eyes of his. She felt as if he could see through her. "I'm going back to the hotel and retrieving my things. Then I'm finishing something that was started three years ago." She pushed past him on her way out of the building. Hilde opened the front door, but stopped to face Wufei. "You'll take care of him, won't you?"

"Yes."

With his reassurance, Hilde stepped into the storm outside and pulled the door closed behind her.

****************

Fire.

Pain.

Bitter tea?

Duo squeezed his eyes together as another shot of fire raced through his chest. Swimming in a veil of darkness, he tried to determine where he was. He knew he wasn't in heaven because there was no choir of angels singing to greet him at the pearly gates. Not that he would be going to heaven after all the things he had done in his life. And he doubted that the devil served his guests bitter tea.

Faint sounds floated around him and he could feel the sunlight warming his body. The only option left was that he was alive. Using his all the strength he could muster, Duo lifted his heavy eyelids and blinked slowly a few times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. He turned his head to the side, wincing at the tightness that had settled in his muscles and looked about the room.

It was a fairly small room. The bed, or table, he laid on, a table in the corner that held an oil lamp. There was a screen in the far corner with a heavy apron hanging from the frame. A stool, basin of water, and a table filled with medical instruments. Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, Duo tried to push up on his arms, only to feel pain radiating down his right side. He hissed and fell back on the bed with a loud thud.

"Damn that hurts." The words sounded hoarse as they escaped his dry throat.

He tried taking deep breaths to help ebb the pain. Closing his eyes, Duo reached back and searched for the reason why he was lying on this doctor's bed. A pair of cornflower blue eyes appeared in his mind and he knew he had his answer. The stupid little fool had a death wish, facing Oz when she wasn't thinking clearly. Justice, that was her excuse for her actions. The anger that had been growing inside of him died away when he remembered that he had nearly done the same thing with he found Solo dead.

Flashes of the episode ran around in his mind. The wild look in her eyes as she stood over Oz with her gun drawn. Oz drawing his hidden weapon and training it on Hilde. Pushing her out of the way, and taking the bullet meant for her. The echoing sound of her shouting his name; not Maxwell, but his actual name. After that he could only remember bits and pieces.

Lifting his left hand, he touched his cool forehead. He could remember a young woman hovering over him, her blond hair pulled away from her face, and a rag in her hand that she laid over his mouth and nose. She seemed so familiar, yet he couldn't place her. Then he heard her voice, Hilde's voice. The constant murmur of her voice had calmed his fears. He couldn't recall exactly what she had been saying, but he had felt her place her cool lips against his cheek, followed by the gentle pressure of her fingers on his lips. Then all was quiet. Her voice disappeared as quickly as it entered his mind. Something wasn't right, but his mind was still foggy, impairing his thinking.

At the sound of the opening door, Duo pulled his eyes open again and tilted his head to find out who had just entered the room.

"I see you're awake." The soft voice reached him from across the room, but it didn't belong to the dark-haired vixen that had been plaguing his thoughts.

"How long have you been up?" Sally asked, setting the tray of tea next to the bed as she took her place on the stool.

"Not too long, but long enough to do some thinking." Lying on his back, Duo turned his head and watched Sally begin to prepare a cup of tea. "That isn't that god-awful tea that I've been having nightmares about, is it?"

"The tea isn't awful, you idiot. It helped to break your fever, didn't it?"

The sound of the voice coming across the room had sparked a wave of memories and he now knew who had managed to pull him from the street and save his life. Duo chuckled. "Wufei, it's a good thing your wife is the one with the excellent bed side manner. If not for her, I doubt your 'cheery' disposition would have the people flocking to your door for that awful stuff."

"I should have let you bleed to death on the street." Wufei countered as he moved away from the doorway. "No need to worry about him any more Sally, his sense of humor is intact, though I can't say the same for his brain."

Duo scoffed and placed his left hand over his heart. "Aw, buddy, you wound me with your careless words. But could you help a poor injured man to sit up straight? I'm tired of lying on my back." Extending his left arm, Duo clasped onto the arm that Wufei offered and slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, swinging his stiff legs over the edge of the table that doubled as his bed. He winced as the movement caused some pain.

Sally pushed off the stool and grabbed a fresh roll of gauze and some more bandages. "I'm just going to redress you wound, Duo. I want to make sure you haven't pulled any of the stitches I've worked so hard on." With a steady set of experienced hands, Sally removed layer after layer of the white spongy fabric, careful not to disturb the healing wound. Using a small stick, she applied a generous amount of a foul smelling green salve over the stitches.

Duo pinched his nose between his thumb and index finger and faced Wufei. "I take it that's another one of your miracle herbal Chinese medicines?"

Wufei leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest. "It stops and prevents the infections in the wound. I still have no idea why I bothered to save your annoying hide."

"Admit it, it's because you like me." Duo laughed at the indigent look that was shot in his direction. "Speaking of which, what in the hell are you two doing in the New Mexico Territory?"

"My husband thought a move to the new territory would benefit the both of us. You know how women doctors are still not accepted in these times, even if they've earned degrees from universities, let alone a foreign doctor that doesn't use conventional medicine." She replied as she began wrapping the fresh gauze over his chest. "Besides, the West is supposed to hold a fresh start for everyone. At least out here, unlike in Shreveport, people are willing to accept medical treatment from us, rather than go without it."

Duo noticed the undertone of bitterness in Sally's voice. She pulled the bandaging tighter, causing Duo to whimper in pain and her husband to snicker. Sally's hands dropped the ball of gauze and flew to her throat. "Duo, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to take my frustrations out on you."

"It's okay." He stated as he place a comforting hand over hers, squeezing it as he smiled. "This isn't the first time you've pulled some lead from my body."

"Hopefully, it will be the last time." Wufei muttered. "By the way, Maxwell, what are you doing in this part of the States? I thought you were stationed in Texas."

"Still am stationed in Texas. I'm in the territory on business."

Wufei raised an eyebrow. "And the girl?"

"She's a long story." Duo sighed. "Ever heard of a bounty hunter in these parts that goes by the name 'Barton'?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Hilde *is* Barton." The look of pure shock that spread across Wufei's face was nearly worth getting shot.

"That tiny slip of a girl is the hard ass Barton!" Sputtering the statement, Wufei eyed his friend very carefully. "I don't believe you, Maxwell."

"Then sit down, because I have one helluva story to tell you."

Before Duo started his story, Sally walked out and retrieved some soup from the kitchen. Between spoonfuls of vegetable soup, they sat there and listened to Duo spin the tale of how he met up with Hilde at the bar thinking she was 'Barton'; hiring her to help him track down Oz, the sandstorm and all the events leading up to his injury. Duo included mostly everything, however, he didn't make any mention of the morning along the riverbank or his growing affections for Hilde.

"...And so here I am." Duo winced as he set the bowl and spoon down on the tray beside him.

Sally picked up the tray and moved it out of his way. "She sounds truly remarkable." Sinking back onto the stool, she clasped her hands in her lap and glanced up at her husband with a sad look.

Duo caught the look that passed between his friends and his eyes narrowed. "All right, I know something's wrong. What is it?"

Sally bit her bottom lip and turned her face away from Duo's intense stare. Placing his hand on his wife's shoulder, Wufei answered his question. "Hilde left here about three days ago, shortly after she knew that you were going to be okay and that we would look after you. She said something about finishing what was started three years ago."

Over the sound of his blood pounding in his ears, Duo heard her voice, as clear as the afternoon church bells. 'I'll make it up to you, Duo. I promise I'll set things right.' He slammed his fists down on the table beside him. "Damn her!"

Without a second thought, Duo hopped off the table, but when his feet hit the wooden floor, his knees gave out from underneath of him, pitching him forward. Wufei and Sally rushed to his side and caught him before he fell. Duo hissed as tiny bolts of pain raced across his chest.

"What are you trying to do, Maxwell? Re-injure yourself?"

"I've got to go after her. God only knows what crazy stunt she'll try and pull the next time she comes across Oz."

Sally shook her head. "You're in no condition to be traipsing across the territory on a horse searching for her."

"I don't have to look for her. I know exactly where Hilde's headed." Duo looked at Wufei standing beside him. "I'm asking you as a friend, help me."

Wufei relented when he saw the look in Duo's eyes. "Where's she headed?"

"Las Cruces. Oz is probably still making a run for the border, and she'll be tailing him."

"There's a train that heads south through town every other day. I believe one of the stops is Las Cruces. I'm not sure, but I think today happens to be one of those days."

Duo nodded. "Okay, Sally could you please get my money pouch out of the inside pocket of my duster?"

"Are you sure you're all right to stand?" She asked using her best authoritative voice.

"There's only one way to find out." Duo shrugged off the hands keeping him steady. Reluctantly, they moved away from him. His legs were still a little shaky, but for the most part Duo felt fine. Clicking her tongue, Sally left the room in search for his duster.

Duo clasped Wufei on the shoulder. "Go down to the station and find out what you can about the train schedule. I need to know when it will be coming through and if it will have a livestock car. I can't afford to leave Bandit behind; especially if I need to keep going once I've hit Las Cruces. There should be enough money in my pouch to purchase a ticket and add a livestock car to the train if necessary." He paused and thought for a moment. "How far is it from here to Las Cruces?"

Wufei's brow came together as he tried to think of the answer. "Most say it's about a four or five day ride during the summer. Water is scarce this time of year and you can't afford to push your animal or yourself too hard during the afternoons."

"And Hilde's got about a three day head start on me. I should be able to beat her into town if I take the train."

Sally cleared her throat and entered back into the room. "But here arises a problem." She held the money pouch in her outstretched hand.

Duo picked it up and a curious look crept on his face when he realized it felt extremely light in his palm. He pulled the drawstrings open, turned the pouch upside down and shook it. Only a small rolled up piece of paper dropped into his open hand. Taking it, he carefully unrolled the note and read. Torn between outright rage and laughter, he handed the note to Wufei.

"'Duo, I'll pay you back. Hilde.'" Sally read the short note out loud as she looked over her husband's shoulder.

Rubbing his face, Duo talked through his closed hands. "Before you go to the station, I need to you to send a wire to the US Marshal's office in Albuquerque. Tell them to send money." He laughed. "I can't believe she robbed me."

TBC...

[miyuchan]

She robbed him?!?! Oh dear....

This was another wonderful chapter. Poor Duo, how is he going to save the love of his life now? Thanks for sharing and I can't wait for part 7.

[sailorDH]

the awaited part 6 finally out!
yaaay!!

i love DxH fics!

[RosieG]

Brilliant fic! I have to say, you're my favorite D/H author on the web! Your writing is exquisite!

[PeRiDoTs13]

*gape* *gape* *gape* *gape* duo can't believe hilde robbed him, eh? well, i can't believe u left it at that!!!!!!!!!! i need part 7!!!!!!!!!!! part 7, u hear??????????