A/N: This chapter is for Raintenshi's birthday! It's a little early but... Hope you have a good one!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Morning After

Wufei didn't want to wake up.

He felt like his body had gone through one of Harris' angrier beatings - felt like his mind and his soul had been scrubbed until they were raw and bleeding, then left to blister in the sun. He tried to roll over or to burrow deeper under the covers and found that he was too tired to move.

"Wufei?" Quatre's voice sounded very close by. "Wufei - are you awake?"

Wufei managed a sound that he hoped was affirmative.

Quatre laughed. "Yes, Joining with Heero left us all feeling like that. Are you thirsty?"

Why yes, his throat did feel a bit like he'd been eating sawdust. He tried for the positive noise again.

Still without opening his eyes.

Quatre giggled, then Wufei felt an arm slide around his shoulders, lifting him carefully, and a cup tapped against his lips. He opened his mouth and tasted sweet, fresh liquid. It wasn't water, but he didn't know the taste. He tried to make his noise questioning.

"It's fruit juice, with honey. It's easier on your throat than water. Do you want more?" Quatre didn't wait for the noise, this time - he just put the cup back to Wufei's mouth and watched approvingly as the boy drained it.

He helped him lay back down on the bed, then curled up beside him, stroking his black silk hair. "You'll be tired for the next day or two, so we're staying here. Heero's up - he's pretty used to this by now - but he'll only manage an hour."

"Less than an hour," said a sour voice from the doorway, and Trowa and Duo entered the room, half-carrying and half-dragging Heero along with them. The Spirit Talent's face was relaxed and content, blue eyes closed.

"He's asleep already?!" Quatre asked, surprised.

"Fell asleep in his lunch," was Trowa's flat reply.

"Yeah, now move so we can put his heavy ass down!" Duo snarked. He knew Quatre would know he wasn't really angry, and Heero was heavy. Duo often wondered if he swallowed rocks when they weren't looking - there was no way a boy Heero's age and size should weigh this much! Of course, right now he was totally limp. That explained part of it.

He still sighed with relief once Heero was sprawled on the bed beside of Wufei, who had apparently also drifted back to dreamland. Their others watched - and grinned - as the two slowly shifted until they were curled up together.

"Aw, Quat!" Duo crooned in a falsetto voice, "aren't our children so sweet?"

"Why, yes, dear," Quatre pitched his voice ridiculously low, "how could they not be, when they take after you?"

Trowa groaned. "Wake up soon!" he pleaded with the oblivious boys on the bed. "Don't leave me alone with them!"

Quatre frowned, "Oh, dear, I believe our oldest is getting a bit rebellious."

Duo peered at Trowa from under his eyelashes, and suddenly started wailing. "Oh, where - where did I go wrong? Sixty-seven hours of labor, and this is what I get!"

Trowa stared.

Quatre blinked, then rallied. "Don't worry, darling..." he pulled Duo into his arms and stroked his hair, "he'll get through this stage soon enough. Trowa! You made your mother cry - go stand in the corner!"

Duo continued to weep.

Loudly.

Trowa continued to stare.

"Swollen ankles! Morning sickness! Getting so fat I couldn't see my feet! And all so that he can act this way!"

"I know, I know..." Quatre crooned, still stroking his hair and rocking back and forth slightly. "Don't cry, precious, I'm sure Trowa is sorry..."

Duo sniffled and turned big, watering, violet eyes to Trowa. He sniffled again and his bottom lip quivered. "Are you sowwy, Two-baby?"

Trowa was now gaping.

"Now, son, answer your mother," Quatre urged gently, his own blue eyes growing wider and filling with tears. "Don't disappoint us - after all the money we've spent on nannies and a good education..."

Trowa wondered vaguely if it was possible for his jaw to unhinge and fall to the floor.

A muffled snicker sounded from the bed and the three boys turned to see Wufei's dark eyes barely open, a half-grin on his face. Heero's amused blue eyes peered drowsily at them from just beyond Wufei's shoulder.

"...should be ...on stage," their First murmured, then burrowed his head down into the pillow and went back to sleep.

"...crazy..." Wufei whispered, then coughed dryly and swallowed.

Quatre immediately dropped his act. "Are you still thirsty?" he asked, reaching for the cup he'd used earlier and a pitcher on a nearby table.

Wufei nodded sleepily, watching while the blond poured the pinkish-orange juice into the cup. The sight of it just made him thirstier. He held out a hand, ignoring how it trembled.

Quatre handed the cup to Trowa instead, letting his Third take over. He could tell Trowa wanted to - sensed the longing radiating off the taller boy. He and Duo watched, smiling softly, while Trowa helped Wufei sit up and then drink the juice.

"More?"

Wufei shook his head. Instead of laying back down, he leaned his head on Trowa's shoulder and closed his eyes. Trowa gently lowered him back to the mattress and the other two boys watching saw the briefest flash of discontent flicker over their Fire's delicate face before he was deeply asleep again.

Trowa hadn't seen it. He'd been putting the cup back on the table and turned to meet two very large, toothsome grins. He blinked and automatically took a step back.

Duo took a matching step forward. "Hey, Trooooowa.... I think you got something to say to 'Fei today, don't ya?"

"Uh... do I?" Trowa squeaked, fighting down an urge to run.

"Why, yes, you do," Quatre purred, easing up beside him. "Remember Duo's little deal?"

"Deal?" Trowa knew exactly what they were talking about, but he feigned ignorance.

"Oh, don't try to fool us!" Duo whispered, tossing a casual arm around his shoulders - he had to stretch a little to do it, but he didn't mind. "It's been four days, at least, since I gave ya that long to tell 'Fei how you feel. I kinda lost track of time - but I'm pretty sure your's is up."

"So am I - we'll give you until Wufei is really good and awake. Then it's confession time, Trowa dear. Or mummy and daddy will put you in the corner, after all."

Trowa winced.

*

When Wufei opened his eyes again, the room was dark.

And rather chilly.

If there hadn't been four warm bodies cuddled around him, he would have been cold.

He cuddled closer against Trowa's chest and closed his eyes again. The arms around him - there were three of them, his subconscious noted - tightened a little and then relaxed.

He went back to sleep.

Duo peered over his shoulder at Trowa. "Did he just wake up?" he whispered.

Trowa nodded. "For a second, yes."

"Ah. We'll need to wake him in the morning and feed him, if he doesn't wake up again on his own."

Trowa nodded.

"You can feed him."

Trowa nodded again.

"And then have a nice chat."

Trowa cringed.

*

Soft voices woke him this time.

The voices of his Others, trying to be quiet, but he was used to waking at the slightest sound and the exhaustion from Joining only muffled that a little bit.

"...reason did she give?" That was Heero's voice, and he sounded tired. Wufei wondered if he should be up.

"She assumed, since we were traveling alone, that we had yet to find our Council or Healing." Quatre answered.

"So?"

"They haven't found their WarCraft - they were hoping it was us. She wanted to test it by Healing 'Fei."

"She was willing to risk hurting him to find out?! Why didn't she just ask if we were Joined to a Council? Or ask one of us to be present just in case the healing went wrong?" Heero sounded distinctly unhappy.

"Well... After we left the room, Greyso caught up with us. Ha apologized for her, said that when she gets an idea in her head it's hard to get it out. Apparently, she was very sure that we would turn out to be their WarCraft."

"Greyso is her Council - he should keep firmer control over her, if she is always acting that way."

"Yeah - but I think Tania's pretty strong-willed, and they haven't been married long. I think he's trying to get some control over her, though. Remember when he was watching her get ready to heal 'Fei? He asked if she was sure she wasn't too tired, that she didn't want any problems. I think he was hinting for her not to do it." Duo replied.

"Hn. He'll need to try harder than that."

"Yeah."

The room lapsed into silence.

"So, you told her about Zechs?" Heero asked.

"Yes," Trowa's low voice replied. "I'm not sure she believed us. I think she thinks it's a Common Joining and we're just too young to realize it. She said she didn't believe such 'young boys' should be involved in the war. I think she's against the Conflict."

"I'm not for it, myself," Quatre said, "but she's a Talent! If King Treize wins, we get peace and Talents are safe! If Nurek and Rhom win, we all die!"

"Worth fighting over," Duo said softly.

The others made soft murmurs of agreement, and silence settled over the room again.

Wufei was wondering if he should let them know he was awake - he was a little thirsty, but he felt too tired to get up and get something to drink.

And he rather hoped Trowa would put his arm around him to help again...

Just as he was parting his lips to speak, Duo started talking again.

"Hee-chan... was it bad?"

Was what bad?

"It wasn't good. It... he blocked some of it. I'm not sure how. Zechs may know... I'm going to try contacting him in a few minutes."

"Can you share some with us?" Quatre asked softly.

Wufei pried his eyes open in time to see Heero looking hesitant. "I'm not sure..."

"C'mon, Hee-chan. We can take it, and you know we need to know. He knows a lot more about us, now."

"That's true."

"So share."

Heero took a deep breath and closed his eyes. An expression of intense concentration crossed his face.

The other three boys' faces went blank, like they were far away from their bodies. Wufei wondered what they were doing. Whatever it was, it was apparently going to take a while. They showed no signs of budging.

He crawled slowly out of the bed, and found the cup and pitcher from earlier. He was just gulping down some of the sweet juice when he heard Quatre gasped. He jumped, nearly dropping the cup, and jerked around.

But the blue eyes were still closed - and there were tears running freely down his face. Wufei took a step forward, wondering if he should try and comfort him, when he saw that Duo looked like he was about to start crying and Trowa looked stunned.

He frowned. What were they doing?

"We are so going back to that place..." Duo's voice sounded thin, far away.

"Yes." Heero sounded just as faint.

"They... poisoned him...?!" Quatre now.

"Yes."

"Right in front of Wufei!" Trowa sounded furious. "That makes it even worse!"

Wufei realized what they were talking about - what Heero was sharing with them. His knees began to tremble and he crawled back onto the bed before they could give way. He wasn't sure he wanted all of his Others to know about that! Bad enough that Heero had to share the terrible memory...

The four boys sitting around the table went back to being silent and still for a long time. Wufei was half-asleep when Duo suddenly laughed. "Way to go, 'Fei!"

"Look at Alvis' expression!" Quatre was grinning now, despite the quaver of tears still in his voice.

"Look at the blond girl's!" Trowa sounded just as amused.

Why is he showing them that?! Oh, wait, he thought it was funny, too. I guess Alvis did look a bit amusing - with melted wax dripping down his nose...

"Keep going! Show us the flashes!" Duo half-pleaded, half-demanded.

Wufei watched as a rapid series of emotions flitted across their faces. He could only vaguely remember which images had flashed across his eyes as their Joining finished - Heero's were clearer than his own.

He lay back down and pulled the covers up to his chin when it looked like they were going to come out of their odd little trance.

He didn't know why he was still trying to hide from them, but he closed his eyes, anyway. He wasn't sure that he could handle the expressions on their faces.

A moment or so later, and a gentle hand brushed his hair back from his forehead. "Wufei? Are you hungry?"

He opened his eyes reluctantly and looked up at Quatre. He was surprised to see no pity in those lovely blue eyes, just concern. "A little."

"Want to eat here, or try getting up?"

"I'll get up." He knew how much of a mess eating in bed could make - it had been his job to clean up such messes.

"All right." Quatre stood beside him as he got up, ready to help him if he wavered, but Wufei made it to the table without wavering. Trowa set a bowl of soup in front of him and he smiled shyly at the taller boy, wondering why he was blushing.

Heero stretched in his chair and yawned.

"You should go back to bed," Duo chided him. "You still look half-dead."

"Oh, thank you. I'll lay back down after I try Speaking to Zechs."

"Do you think he's moving closer?" Quatre asked.

"I have no idea... why?"

"Well - why do you think you might reach him now, then? You couldn't yesterday."

"Ah, but I'll have a bit more power today," Heero said, smiling at Wufei.

His Fifth blinked at him. "You want to borrow from me?"

"We're Joined now. Will you let me?"

"Uh... yes... but... you'll have to be careful."

"And why is that?"

"I don't know..." Wufei shrugged slightly. "Torlin just told me, once, to tell my Others to be careful if they tried to borrow from me. He never told me why."

"Well..." Heero didn't look very worried, just curious. "Well, why don't we try it? Then we'll know."