Warnings: Christmas fic, some holiday and religious references, sap.

The Season is the Reason
by Dyna Dee

"Duo, please put baby Jesus back in the manger," the nun told him in a voice that was soft and slightly reprimanding. The boy didn't take her attempt at scolding him seriously for, as usual, her eyes gave her away, belying any anger as they sparkled with her natural good humor.

"It's not baby Jesus." Duo rolled his eyes at the absurd idea that Shanni's doll was the baby Sister Helen had been droning on about for at least three weeks. "It's just a dumb doll," he insisted while his right arm came up to swipe underneath his slightly runny nose with the rolled-up cuff of his over-sized sweater. His left hand rose forward to display the object of everyone's attention. The naked form resembling a baby dangled from his hand in an upside position. Somewhere along the way from the make-shift manger in the front room of the orphanage to the kitchen the battered looking doll had lost the dish towel that had been wrapped around it, which Sister Helen labeled as being swaddling clothes. The doll really was a sad looking synthetic replica of a baby even to the eyes of many of the children who hadn't even seen a toy or doll before coming to stay at the orphanage. With half its long brown hair hacked off from when one of the other kids tried to give it a hair cut and one blue eye missing, leaving an empty hole in it's place, it was some sort of miracle that it didn't bring nightmares to the little girls living in the orphanage instead of the many happy hours they enjoyed in playing mommy to it. And because it was the only doll left within the walls of the orphanage, it was given the privilege of holding the lofty title of Baby Jesus for four long weeks.

"Of course it isn't really Baby Jesus," Sister Helen replied, even toned and calm. "But it is a representation of him."

"What's that mean?" the inquisitive boy asked, lowering the doll down to his side again and without thinking, began to swing it back and forth.

A pleased, indulgent smile came to the nun's lips. "It's a reminder of the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. You remember the story we tell each night?"

"Jeez, like I could forget," complained the little boy with his hair in a somewhat tidy braid that fell to his shoulder blades and large, intelligent eyes that seemed to take everything in.

One Sunday night, that Sister Helen named December first, she pulled out a box that had once been filled with food sent to the orphanage by a charitable organization on earth. With many curious little eyes watching her every move, she proceeded to put some cut up rags in the bottom of the heavy cardboard box and took Shanni's doll and told them the story of Baby Jesus. Every night since then she had one of the other children re-tell the story as they sat around the box with rags and the beat up looking doll wrapped in a dish towel, correcting the child telling the story if they got too far off the mark. Duo didn't understand why the story was so important or why it was being repeated nightly, but he knew that for some reason it was very important to Sister Helen and Father Maxwell.

"Could you please, just to make peace tonight, put the doll back in the manger?" The sister asked sweetly and her soft smile implored the sometimes stubborn boy to do the right thing.

The boy sighed deeply, as if he was being heavily put upon. "Alright!" he huffed indignantly, hoping to keep up his tough guy image. "I'll put it back, but that box ain't no manger."

"Duo?"

Shaken out of his reverie of the past, the braided teenager looked startled for a moment before his eyes focused on his companion and the expression on his face changed to that of a sheepish look. "Sorry, Heero. I was just remembering something."

Heero studied the other boy's face a moment before he looked back at the nativity scene Duo had been entranced by a moment before. His partner wasn't a particularly religious person, though he wore a make-shift priest's outfit when he went out on his missions and a cross that hung on a chain around his neck. He wondered what Duo had been thinking about so deeply while his eyes were fixed on the creche, but knew better than to pry. Duo's past was not always something that the pilot from L-2 wanted to remember. "A good memory?" he asked, hopeful that whatever his lover was thinking about wouldn't start another chain of nightmares.

A slow smile crept up on the teen's handsome face and his eyes became slightly unfocused as his thoughts glanced back to the past again. "Yeah, a good memory."

Taking hold of the thick sleeve of the winter jacket Duo wore, Heero tugged the other boy away from the brightly lit display that stood in front of a church. "We'll be late if we take too long looking at all the displays," he reminded Duo, then looked down at his watch to make sure they would make it back to the safehouse in time to start the evening meal.

As they continued their trek towards their destination, the ice-crusted snow crunching under their feet became the only sound that passed between the two. It was Christmas Eve, and they had been in their current safehouse for three days. Oz had declared a temporary cease-fire of the war during the days just before and through the holidays of Christmas and New Year's Day. The five gundam pilots decided to take advantage of the temporary truce and began to search for a safe place to retreat to, looking forward to recouping physically and mentally from the labors of war.

Howard, having learned from Duo of the offered truce and the pilot's plans to do some serious r & r during that time, offered up a house to them that he'd purchased in North America earlier in the year with an eye towards a distant retirement. The five quickly and gratefully took him up on his offer.

They arrived by train four days before the national holiday, battle weary and exhausted. Trowa was sent out for groceries while the others unpacked and made the furnished house as comfortable as possible. They spent the next two days simply sleeping and eating.

On the second day of their stay in the cozy home, the five young pilots sat together at the kitchen table enjoying lunch together. The topic of the approaching holiday came up and was discussed amongst them. Since none of them, with the exception of Duo, had ever traditionally celebrated the Christmas holiday before, a quick vote was taken and the majority of the five voted to forego any celebration other than the dinner they planned for the evening known as Christmas Eve. Duo reluctantly went along with the vote.

Heero had noticed that since their arrival, Duo had been quiet. Too quiet. The usually active and engaging teenager appeared to be in a melancholy mood. It was enough of a mood change that the other pilots had also noticed it and appealed to Heero to find out what was wrong. He did his best, having Duo's confidence, he asked what was troubling him. His braided lover just shrugged and told him the reason for his odd mood was the season; that it always brought back so many memories.

Heero glanced at the darkness that surrounded them as they continued their walk up the vaguely familiar street. The sun hadn't bothered to come out that day and it had even snowed around lunch time, leaving a fresh white blanket of the cold, icy substance that gave a look of serenity and purity to the mid-sized city they were staying in.

It really was an odd feeling for Heero to find himself in a place of relative safety, where he didn't have to be constantly looking over his shoulder for the enemy. No, his main concern at the moment was getting warm. He was no stranger to being cold for life in space, in a ship or on a colony, was usually much cooler in temperature than on Earth; but the snow was a novel experience and the low temperatures were startling.

As he walked along the street with Duo, both of them at ease while they admired the brightly blinking lights of red, blue, green and white that lit up the front of many houses and businesses, he experienced a surreal feeling of the world being at peace. He momentarily felt as if he was living in a picture postcard, that he was finally living a perfectly normal existence without war, a life that he and the other pilots had often fantasized about between missions. It was a temporary daydream of living a life that he'd never really believed would be his, one where he and Duo would live together, work at productive, fulfilling jobs and enjoy the peace their labors during the war would bring them. He deeply breathed in the cold evening air and enjoyed the fantasy, wanting to hold onto it for as long as he could while knowing in the back of his mind that the dream would end when reality came crashing back as soon as the truce was over.

Deciding not to dwell on the war until it resumed once more, he turned his mind to thinking about the festive atmosphere this holiday brought. Most of the colonies had left behind some of the more traditional Earth holidays, including many of the ones Duo had learned about from the nun at the orphanage and Howard. With few exceptions, L-1 was one of those holiday-less colonies. So even though he knew of Christmas from his reading, this was the first time he'd ever really observed it being celebrated. He found it confusing at first, but enjoyed all the unique ways the people of North America celebrated the holiday in a similar fashion, but at the same time different from each other, blending their own unique traditions into their personal celebrations.

Duo was quiet again, he noted. His eyes were fixed on the houses they were passing and their front yard and window displays. With both arms filled with shopping bags, Heero nudged the other teenager with his elbow to get his attention. "What are you thinking about?" he asked. Heero figured that if he had a dollar for each shrug he'd seen Duo give in the last three days, he'd be as rich as Quatre.

Instead of answering the question, Duo asked a question of his own. "Do you remember the first time you saw a Christmas tree, Heero?" The braided boy stopped in front of a house to stare through the open-curtained window at a full-shaped Christmas tree with hundreds of small, multi-colored lights strung through it and many shiny, light-reflecting balls hanging from its branches, bearing them down just a little with their weight.

"I think I may have seen one in a mall that Odin took me to for training when I was about seven. I vaguely remember lights blinking, like that tree." He motioned to the front window of the home. Then curious, the Japanese boy asked. "Do you remember, Duo?"

"Yeah, quite vividly, in fact." Heero noticed the other boy's eyes took on that faraway look they would often display when he recalled the past. "It was my first Christmas at the orphanage." He then paused to chuckle, signaling to Heero that this was most likely one of Duo's better memories. "Before that time I'd never even heard of Christmas. All we knew as street kids was that a couple of times each year the soup kitchens had more food than they could handle and once in a while, we were given gifts covered with bright colored paper and were told it came from the kindness of strangers. We didn't care who it came from as long as nobody took the stuff away from us. Our favorite gifts were blankets, coats, pillows and mittens; those were the really good presents. But once in a while, one of us would get a toy, like a fire engine or dump truck." He chuckled and gave Heero a sad smile as he continued. "We couldn't figure out what the hell to do with it. You couldn't eat the damn thing, wear it, or burn it. All in all, toys were considered to be pretty useless gifts. Whenever we got stuck with one, we tried to trade off for something more useful, but usually nobody wanted that kind of stuff either and it was tossed or forgotten.

Any way." He grinned realizing he'd gotten off track. "Sister Helen had been telling us all about Christmas and her childhood memories of it. She always spoke of those times with longing and her smile would be soft and her voice warm as she talked of her home, the Christmas tree and decorating it, the caroling and the traditional dinner her mother would always make." He paused to laugh again, his warm breath sending a small puff of steam out from his mouth.

"What?" Heero asked, his own smile growing.

"I remember asking her what traditional meant, never having heard the word before. She told me it was something that was repeated time and again, like her mother serving ham and scalloped potatoes for Christmas dinner every year, and that they always had minced pie; she said that was traditional." Duo's eyes sparkled with humor at the memory. "I told her that we must be the most traditional people in space because we had mush every morning for breakfast, biscuits and gravy for lunch and canned meat in some kind of sauce poured over rice or noodles almost every night. I remember she laughed and said to the effect that I was a clever boy, and that having traditions, even the humble ones we had at the orphanage, were wonderful."

Heero returned his lover's smile, noting to himself that Duo had a sharp sense of humor even as a child. "The tree?" he reminded him.

"Oh yeah." Duo turned to face forward and they began to walk again. "Sister Helen told us about exchanging gifts as part of the Christmas celebration, and it wasn't until three days before Christmas that the charity boxes arrived. They were marked on the outside that they'd come from Earth's Catholic Charities. I remember seeing a look of relief pass between Sister and Father Maxwell as the armed delivery men lugged the two really large boxes through the orphanage's door.

That night Sister gathered us all in the dining room and told us we were going to make a Christmas tree. She had pressed out the newspaper that came wadded up in the boxes as packing material and showed us how to roll it up a certain way, then cut the top third down in thin strips. With her fingers pinching the inner circle, she pulled up the middle section of the rolled paper and stretched it out to a length of at least four feet. An odd looking spiral wand of sorts with fringed edges was produced which she proudly declared was a branch of a Christmas tree. Since none of us had ever seen such a thing, we believed her. We all made a branch and when we were done, she gathered the eighteen branches and taped them to the dining hall's wall into what she told us was the shape of a Christmas tree. She then got us busy using a flour and water paste to glue fabric pieces to bits of cardboard cut out to look like stars. Sister called them ornaments, which she artfully glued onto our so-called tree."

"And that was your first sighting of a Christmas tree?" Heero smiled warmly at Duo, picturing clearly in his mind the scene his lover had painted with his words.

"Well, that was my first sight of what was supposed to be a Christmas tree. I saw the real thing two days later, on Christmas Eve."

"Someone donated a tree to the orphanage?" Heero guessed, with the rise of one eyebrow.

"No," Duo grinned at the ridiculous idea. "The trees on L-2 had long since disappeared, used by the homeless for fuel. I never saw a real, living tree until I came to Earth in Deathscythe."

They still had several blocks to go and Heero was beginning to feel the cold seep more deeply through his shoes and socks. His nose and ears were starting to sting as the temperature dropped further and he decided it wasn't the most pleasant feeling. He needed a distraction from his discomfort. "So tell me about the real Christmas tree you saw."

Duo nodded, shifting the full grocery bag in his left arm to his right. "After every charity shipment came I did some snooping. Even though it was pretty much the same stuff every time: dried, packed food and bundles of used clothing and shoes, I always loved to see what was being sent to us as it was like manna from heaven, or that's what Sister used to call it. In the room called the Sacristy and under the table that housed the Father's vestments and the things for the sacrament, I found a stash of colorfully wrapped gifts like the ones I'd gotten from the soup kitchen when I was with Solo. I went straight to Sister to find out what they were for. She quickly took me aside and asked me in a conspiring tone, to please not tell the other children because the wrapped gifts were for Christmas and they were supposed to be a surprise. I didn't really understand the concept of giving presents because kids on the streets never freely gave away anything useful, so she explained to me that at Christmas people give gifts to others not only because it's a tradition, but because it's also a way to express your love and affection to them, even if you didn't have very much to give."

Duo's smile was wistful and sad as he continued. "I remember Sister's warm smile as she bent to kiss the top of my head as she gave me a hug while she told me that she considered it was one of the most wonderful blessings to be able to give someone a gift, just because you loved them. Even something as simple as a smile, a hug or a kiss."

Duo laughed, the tone a little bitter and in a voice that sounded suspiciously like a petulant child he said, "I told her, 'I don't love nobody and nobody loves me neither.'" He paused in his step to close his eyes, saddened at the memory. "She told me that I was wrong, that someone did indeed love me. She went on to list herself, Father Maxwell, the other kids in the orphanage, God, Jesus and more angels than I could count. I remember rolling my eyes and telling her that I wasn't sure I could believe what she was telling me, especially the last three that she named. I argued that if God was all powerful and Jesus was too, why didn't they give me parents and a home? Why did I spend most of my life cold and hungry? Why did so many people, including Solo and most of the gang, die of the plague? And angels? Well, I figured that if someone was recording all the good and bad things I did, they wouldn't love me at all."

Heero looked at Duo warily, not sure he liked the way this story was going. He thought it was a good memory the braided teen was recalling, but a lot of bad memories seemed to be mixed in with the good as far as Duo's past was concerned. Recalling such memories usually brought a slew of tormented nights to his lover. Ultimately, Heero knew the resilient American would get past it, if the memories brought back the nightmares, but he hated to see the bright ray of light in his life that was Duo Maxwell suffer any more than he already had.

"Anyway," Duo shook himself from the negative thoughts and went on to the rest of his story. "She told me she was going to bake cinnamon rolls from ingredients sent with the recent shipment and that they would be her gift of love to all the children on Christmas morning. Then pulling a small peppermint candy from her pocket, a treat her brother on Earth sent to her every month, she gave it to me and told me to practice the Christmas story as my turn was coming up to recite it.

I sucked on that hard candy, trying to understand what love and God and angels were as well as the concept of presents. It suddenly dawned on me what sister had told us about exchanging presents, and that she was giving us presents, but not one of us former street kids had anything for her and Father Maxwell.

I remember being so worked up about it that I accidentally bit into the piece of candy in my mouth, and that was something I wouldn't usually do because I liked to suck on it for as long as I could manage in order to make it last. I quickly ate the shattered bits and ran to find the other kids and rounded them up in our large, shared bedroom on the second floor. In a hushed voice I told them they each had to find a present for Sister Helen and Father Maxwell for Christmas. You should have heard the furor, everyone had a question and I felt kind of superior that I had the answers. I told them what Sister Helen had told me about presents and that there had to be all kinds of things just laying around the orphanage that we could give them as gifts. After all, most of the things the 'kindness of strangers' gave us were not always new, but were used and in good condition. I sent them out of the room in search of their gifts and told them to wrap up whatever they found in paper or clothing so that the presents would be a surprise. I repeated what Sister Helen had said to me, that Christmas gifts were supposed to be a surprise."

"What did you give them?" Heero asked, knowing it would have been something unusual. Duo was always good at giving creative, unconventional and even shocking gifts sometimes. Heero had been a blushing recipient of the last category several times.

Duo grinned. "Well I always considered myself a leader to the orphans there, and being in that exalted position, I couldn't give Father and Sister just anything, especially something that was just lying around. I figured it had to be something special if it coming from me. So," he took a deep breath and let it out in a quick puff of steam before continuing. "During the afternoon of Christmas Eve, I put on my church going outfit and snuck out of the orphanage while the other kids were busy with the project I'd given them. Father was getting ready for the midnight mass and Sister Helen was busy baking. I climbed out of the second storey window and carefully made my way down the outside wall by finding footholds on the edge of the bricks. The moment my feet landed on the pavement I was off and running and I didn't stop until I got to the better part of town where the people who actually had money to spend went shopping.

Duo turned to look at Heero as he continued with his story. "I'd only been in that part of the city once, with Solo. He told me not to go there to steal because the colony's security force patrolled it vigilantly, protecting the few wealthier citizens from the majority of the colony who were poor and desperate enough to lift their purses, wallets or packages.

I remember walking along the street, looking with wide, disbelieving eyes through the storefront windows. I'd never seen so many wonderful things in my life and could understand why there was so much security on the streets and in the businesses, protecting jewelry, furniture, clothing and even shoes.

Seeing all that merchandise kind of shocked me into the realization of the harsh reality of my own life, how totally destitute I had been all my life without knowing the full extent of it until that moment. I'd just kind of thought that everyone lived like we did on the streets and that those that lived in houses had the bare furnishings that we had in the orphanage. Seeing all those unfamiliar things in the store windows was a painful blow to my sense of reality and I came to realize there was more to life than I understood and another way to live than how I existed, a better way.

Instead of wishing for some of the unbelievable and luxury goods I was gazing at through the windows or daydreaming that I was rich enough to buy any of it, I got angry. I tried to figure out that if there were people on L-2 rich enough to shop in places such as the luxury stores I'd been peering into and could buy the things I'd seen and had never before even dreamed of, then why didn't they help those of us who were forced to beg, steal or bargain with what little we had for life's daily necessities?

I didn't understand it, couldn't comprehend it, and I was so caught up in my thoughts and resentment that at first I didn't realize what I was seeing through the iron-barred and glass front window of a clothing store. It took me a moment before I realized with astonishment that there was a brightly decorated, six-foot synthetic replica of a real tree standing proudly in the middle of the store. It had multi-colored lights that were blinking at random and woven throughout the tree's branches and ornaments of gold, blue and silver depicting creatures and people I couldn't even begin to guess what they were. I knew from Sister Helen's descriptions exactly what I was looking at and felt pretty damn lucky to be seeing what I believed at the time to probably be the only Christmas tree on the colony.

I stood there for a long time with my face pressed between the cold, metal bars with my nose pushed up against the glass window while I gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the foreign, almost mystical phenomenon. I stared at it for a long while before I finally worked up the nerve to go inside the store and get a closer look, maybe snatch one of the ornaments as a present. Because of my excitement and the fact that most kids weren't allowed out on the streets alone, the store's security picked up on me almost immediately. I must have been pretty obvious, looking over my shoulder every ten seconds to see if I was being watched because I recalled Solo's warning about that section of the city, the security and physical punishments that would be handed out if a thief got caught. I had purposely gone to that section of the city with the intention of stealing something as a present for Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, but I was more nervous than I thought I would be in the unfamiliar surroundings, and it must have shown.

I didn't last long in the store. The security guys let me get close to the tree but the moment I reached out to touch one of the ornaments, they were on me like white on rice. When they learned I was there without an adult, I was promptly tossed back out to the sidewalk.

With my hands in my pockets I reluctantly left behind the store with the tree and tried to refocus on my search for a Christmas present. The only businesses I'd observed that didn't seem to be as heavily guarded were the grocery stores, so I entered the next one I came across and hoped for some inspiration in my quest for a gift.

I walked up and down every brightly lit aisle and I swear to you, Heero, I was completely stunned by how many shelves there were and all of them were filled with boxes and packages of food. There was more food in that one store than I'd ever seen in my entire life, more than what the orphanage was given each month for their food supply. Most of the shelf goods I didn't recognize, but I knew the majority of them were meant to be eaten. It was such a foreign environment to me that I couldn't decide what to steal.

As I walked through the store, I checked for security cameras and saw a couple strategically placed high up in the four corners, but noted the middle aisle was free of surveillance. I moseyed down that aisle and looked for something small that I could slip into my pocket without any one catching the act. My eyes fell on a small package sitting on a shelf that was at the same height as my pocket and, without knowing what it was, I casually walked by, close to the shelves, and snatched it up, quickly slipping it into my pocket. I continued to casually stroll around the store for a few more minutes, trying to act inconspicuous before I made my way to the front door. I almost made it. Just as I placed my hand on the door handle, someone grabbed my upper arm and spun me around. I was faced with a tall, thin man with a stern, narrow face and beady eyes that were glaring at me in disapproval. I thought for sure that I was going to get a whipping, especially since the man reached into the pocket where I'd stashed the stolen goods and pulled the pilfered package out. His grip on my arm stayed firm as he glanced at the package then glanced back at me with a puzzled look written all over his face. He studied me closely, taking in my clothes and the patch sewn over the right pocket of my jacket that clearly labeled me as a resident of the Maxwell Orphanage."

The two young men turned the final corner to their street and Heero was eager to hear the end of Duo's tale more than he was to reach the warmth of the safehouse. "Did he hit you?" he asked, feeling his anger rising at the thought of anyone harming the little boy who had good intentions but had gone about acquiring a gift the wrong way, the only way a child from the streets of L-2 knew.

Duo shook his head. "No, he didn't beat me, but I'll never forget the look on his face as he asked me what the hell did I think I was doing? Like a good little thief, I'd learned to say as little as possible, the package in the man's hand was proof enough as to what I'd done, I sure didn't need my mouth condemning me even more.

The man waited for an answer and he had the most baffled look on his face. He then asked me why in the hell had I'd stolen a package of lentils. Well, I had no idea what lentils were so I didn't answer him other than to shrug my shoulders."

Heero couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at the scene that he pictured in his mind of the whole incident.

Duo shook his head and humor sparkled from his eyes. "He looked at the package again and asked me if I stole it with the intention of eating the contents and if I was really that hungry? I remember looking up to see the man's face had softened, and I knew I could get out of trouble by giving him the usual sob story. I remember a sudden pang of guilt as my conscience was pricked, reminding me that even though I was caught stealing, I couldn't lie. I'd made that promise to Sister Helen, that I wouldn't lie anymore, when I'd come into her care. I really had no choice, so I answered the man honestly, that I needed a gift for the people who took care of me at the orphanage.

The grocer got that puzzled look on his face again and asked if I really thought a package of lentils was a proper gift.

Once again I had to wonder what the hell lentils were because of the incredulous look on the man's face. I looked up to meet his eyes, noticing his face was lined with wrinkles and spotted with age spots, and blurted out the truth; that I honestly didn't know what most of the stuff in his store was, including lentils, so I just took one small thing, hoping it was something the two of them could share.

Despite trying, I could see in his eyes that the man couldn't completely fight the humor he felt at the situation. I didn't understand what was going on then, just that it didn't look like he was going to beat me.

He asked if the people running the orphanage were good to me and the other kids, and I told them that Father Maxwell was a good man and Sister Helen was the nicest lady I ever met and that they deserved a Christmas present more than anyone I knew.

The man seemed to contemplate something, his expression inscrutable. Then he startled me by abruptly calling out for another worker to come to the front of the store and told him, when he arrived, that he was in charge until he returned. With his grip still firm on my arm, he forcefully propelled me to the back of the store.

I remember my legs moving quickly as I tried to keep up, my pace severely out of line with the long legs and quick stride of the man as he led me to an office. Once inside, he firmly closed the door behind us and turned to look down at me. I felt a moment of panic that he was going to call the security force or give me that dreaded beating after all. Instead, he motioned towards a desk and told me to sit down. I followed his instructions and sat then watched as he also took a seat behind the metal table. He looked me in the eye and asked me about myself and what I knew about Christmas. I was a surprised by his questions, but I told him I was a street kid, had survived the plague and somehow landed in the orphanage. I proceeded to tell him what I'd learned from Sister Helen about the holiday and then more excitedly about the Christmas tree I'd seen about a half block from his store.

He listened with patience and then he told me that a package of lentils was not a proper Christmas gift and a poor food choice for stealing. He asked me how many kids lived at the orphanage and I told him I thought there were eighteen, and that three of the kids had recently been placed in homes. With the Father and Sister there were twenty people living under that roof. I remember sitting in a chair in front of the man's desk feeling a bit apprehensive as I tried to decipher his unreadable expression and wondered what he was going to do with the information I'd given him.

Sitting back in his chair and looking thoughtful, the grocer said, 'Tell you what, kid, I'll give you a proper gift to take back to the orphanage, if you earn it.'

That statement triggered warning bells to go off in my head. On L-2, paying for anything with something other than money usually meant some rather unscrupulous and unsavory activities. With all that I'd seen on the streets, I had a pretty good idea what those activities entailed and I was not going to do anything that my little mind came up with. I remember wrapping my arms defensively around myself and giving him my most evil eye when I asked him what the hell he meant. The man looked surprised at my response, then shocked understanding crossed his face. He was quick to say it was nothing like I had thought, he just meant that if I swept the floors of the store and took out the trash, I could earn the gift. He said it would mean a lot more to a priest and a nun if I didn't steal something as a gift for them, but earned it.

I knew the moment those words came out of his mouth that he was right. My gift to them would mean so much more if I earned it rather than if they found out I stole it. Revelations about my thievery and fighting always made Father Maxwell frown fiercely and Sister come close to tears. I'd somehow overlooked the fact that anything I took back to the orphanage as a gift would be construed as being stolen because none of us had any money."

Duo stopped speaking as they reached Howard's house and climbed the steps together to the porch where the welcoming light by the front door and shining behind the closed curtains told them that the others had finished their shopping and were waiting inside for their return.

"And?" Heero prompted as he stopped to look at his lover with anticipation.

Duo turned and pressed his cold lips against Heero's for a brief, invigorating kiss. "I'll tell you the rest later," he teasingly whispered, leaving the Wing pilot standing there with a perplexed look on his face while he turned, opened the front door, and disappeared through it receiving and returning the welcoming greetings from the other three inside.

Heero sighed, feeling frustrated. Duo always seemed to do this to him, he thought, bringing him to the crux of a story and then leaving him without the ending and wanting more. He wondered if Duo had planned it in advance, setting up his story and stretching it out just long enough until they got home, then leaving it unfinished. It was that damn dangling carrot again, the bait on the hook that always lured him in, he thought glumly.

With his hand on the doorknob, he paused at the door before opening it and going in. He frowned as a new thought came to him that Duo pulled that same tactic with him in other areas of their life. The way they finally got together was a good example of that. After they'd been working on joint missions for a while, the handsome Deathscythe pilot began showing an increased interest in him, casually touching him, talking to him in order to draw him out in conversation, and basically luring him in. When he finally succumbed to the other boy's charm and let down his guard and began to respond to the enticing and attractive pilot, Duo rewarded him with warm, promising smiles and eventually kissed him, then backed off to allow him make the next move. And just as they grew closer and began to share their lives and bodies with each other, Duo seemed to spook and without explanation, he disappeared.

After several days had passed, Heero had become worried about the boy he'd come to care deeply for and was fearful that maybe Duo had changed his mind and didn't want him after all. The more negative part of his mind argued that perhaps Duo had just been leading him on, teasing him for his own amusement. With his mind unsettled with the way things stood, he determined to find the braided brat, and no one, not even the clever thief from L-2, could escape Heero once he set his mind on finding them, and that was exactly what he set out to do. He wanted to hear from the American's own lips if his flirting and not-so-subtle advances had all been a big joke at his expense.

It had taken three days of vigilant searching before he located Duo in a hotel room about fifty miles north of their current safehouse. Heero shut down his laptop and left the safehouse immediately for the location of the Deathscythe pilot.

Once he arrived, he observed the hotel from a safe distance and watched the braided teen for the rest of the afternoon as he exited his hotel room to walk to a fast food restaurant where he lingered for well over an hour over a greasy meal, then talked to a homeless man sitting on a bench for about another hour. He then continued his stroll around the streets of the city he'd fled to.

As he watched the other teen, Heero noted the slump of Duo's shoulders, the listlessness of his walk and concluded that his friend was unhappy. As soon as night fell, Heero knocked on the hotel room's door and confronted Duo, demanding to know why he'd left and if his feelings for him had changed.

The memory of that night was permanently imprinted in his mind, and he paused a moment longer before he opened the heavy outer door to Howard's house to recall that particular, pivotal evening and of holding Duo as the other boy confessed his feeling, that he'd fallen in love with him and that it was his fear of losing Heero, as he'd lost every other person he'd ever cared for and put his trust in, that had prompted him to run. That was the night Heero Yuy fell undeniably and irrevocably in love with Duo Maxwell, and he'd vowed to the other boy to do everything in his power to stay alive, to survive the war and then work at making a life together.

He'd often wondered if he would have come to a full understanding of his feelings for the American and given those promises to him if his lover hadn't run. Would he have pursed only a physical instead of the more deeply emotional relationship they now shared without the knowledge and understanding of Duo's own love for him and the fear of what that very love might cost him? Would their relationship be something other that what they shared now? He was certain that if it was less than what they had now, they might have fallen apart and gone their separate ways when things had gotten tough Heero didn't want to think about the likely answers to those questions. Duo was his anchor, the holder of his heart and his reason to keep going. Maybe he shouldn't question his lover's actions and tactics, whether they were deliberate or not. If Duo wanted lure him in, so be it. He'd take the bait every time. So far, his lover hadn't led him anywhere but to a happiness that he'd never dreamed existed.

So with a returning feeling of warmth in his heart and a small smile on his face, Heero opened the front door of the safehouse and entered the warm room where he was quickly made to feel welcomed.

That evening the safehouse had a carefree ambiance to it that was rare for the five teenage Gundam pilots. There were no site plans of potential targets on the table or lists of their weapons and supplies, nor was there talk of repairs, injuries or stealing shuttles or cargo transports. Even Heero's always present computer was off and sitting on the desk upstairs in the bedroom. Instead, there was talk of the weather and a relating of what each pilot had observed on the day before the biggest holiday in this part of the world. There was laughter, friendship and camaraderie in the air, and best of all, there was love.

Each of the five were given a portion of the evening's meal to purchase and prepare. Quatre was to provide a beverage and bread. He procured a carbonated apple cider drink and both a sweet and sourdough loaf of French bread and herb flavored butter. All of it went well with Trowa's tossed salad of winter greens, feta cheese, dried cranberries, candied pecans, tossed with a light vinegarette that had a taste of orange to it. Wufei and Heero provided the main course; Wufei making a sweet and spicy orange beef dish and Heero a Japanese main dish of breaded, fried pork and vegetables. Both entrees went well with the rice that was served with it. Duo was to provide the dessert.

The majority of the evening was spent in preparation of the meal and then the five sat down together at the kitchen table and enjoyed the meal and each other's company. Quatre and Trowa's chairs were pushed closely together on one side of the table. Their frequent eye contact, knowing smiles and close proximity to each other clearly indicated their relationship was still going strong. Heero sat at the end of the table with Duo to his left and Wufei seated next to the American.

Heero noted, as the meal progressed, that an aura of happiness seemed to surround Trowa and Quatre, and it got him to wondering. He and Duo made an effort to be discrete in public about their feelings for each other, but he couldn't help but wonder if their eyes glowed like those of their two friends, so obviously in love. Did their exchanged smiles and knowing looks display their happiness, their intimate knowledge of each other? Their relationship wasn't anything he was ashamed of, but both he and Duo had decided to keep it private, known only to the others at the table, the only three in all the world and colonies that they fully trusted.

It was a well known fact that Relena had romantic aspirations towards him, always showing up at the schools where he'd hidden himself in plain sight, showing up during battles and even trying to intervene on his behalf while working as a pacifist to make the war end so that he and the other pilots wouldn't have to fight any more. After a long discussion, he and Duo decided together to let Relena keep that fantasy, that Heero was her knight in shining armor, as it seemed to give the girl the will to continue on in her drive for peace. They would tell her and anyone else that wanted to know about their relationship after the war.

"So what's for dessert?" Quatre asked, anticipation lighting in his eyes for whatever delectable delight Duo might have selected, knowing it would probably be chocolate, low in nutritional content, high in sugar and fat and most likely palate-pleasing and delicious.

"I thought we could have it later, after the dishes are done and we're in the living room."

Curious looks were passed between the other four, but they accepted Duo's suggestion. As the plates were being cleared, Heero came up behind his lover, standing in front of the sink, and wrapped his arms around him, kissing the nape of his neck. "I'll do the dishes for you tonight," he offered in a low voice, knowing Duo hated the task.

"Really?" Duo placed his arms over Heero's and pressed them even closer to his stomach. "Will I owe you something for that?" He turned his head to give a suggestive grin to his dark haired lover.

"Call it a Christmas gift," Heero replied, placing a kiss against the braided teen's temple and then reluctantly let him go.

Duo turned and immediately hugged Heero tightly and whispered into his ear. "I'll give you your present later," he said quietly seductive, letting Heero know they were in for another memorable night.

Heero watched Duo leave the room, his braid swishing back and forth across the jean clad bottom. He sighed longingly and turned to find Trowa and Quatre both smiling knowingly at him.

"You've got it so bad," Quatre snickered, plunging his hands into the sudsy water.

"Like you should talk," Heero returned a half grin, taking the hand towel Trowa passed his way.

"I've got nothing to complain about myself," the tall, Heavyarms pilot said, handing Heero a plate to dry and took up a wet glass and set to work on it.

"Alright you guys," Wufei interrupted and worked himself in between them, bringing another handful of dirty dishes to the sink. "I'm the token straight here, so I would appreciate it if you'd remember to keep your hormones in check."

"Sorry," the three said in unison then began to laugh with the good humor that had been present in the house that evening.

"This feels good," Trowa said with a lazy smile on his face.

Heero nodded his agreement, feeling something similar to what the Heavyarms pilot was expressing. "Is this what peace feels like?" he asked.

"Yes," Wufei replied thoughtfully. "Though one day I would like to take all of you to a place I discovered while I was in China, where a stream of water falls in flat sheets over a tall rock formation. The sound of the splashing and trickling water seem to promote a sense of serenity that erases thoughts of conflict, war and strife while giving nourishment to the lush and green ferns that surround it. The air there is clean and filled with moisture and it seems as though nothing in the world can harm you as long as you are there. To me, that place has the feel of true peace."

The other three nodded in agreement, having pictured the serene setting Wufei had eloquently spoken of. But in their hearts, they each knew they'd found the same peace their Chinese friend described and it wasn't in a place, but rather in a certain someone's arms.

It wasn't long before the dishes were washed, dried and put away, and the three retired to the livingroom with a cup of tea and were prepared to enjoy the rest of the evening with a fire burning in the brick fireplace and watching television until bedtime.

Heero stood in the doorway and surveyed the room with two steaming mugs in his hands. Duo was nowhere in sight.

"Where did he go?" Quatre asked.

"I'll check our room," Heero offered as he went to the stairway and began the short climb up the carpeted steps.

The bedroom door was slightly ajar, so he didn't need the use of his hands to open it further, just a gentle nudge of his shoulder. The room was relatively dark, yet Duo was easily found, silhouetted in the window frame as he sat on the upper window sill, a step above the wider, padded seat fitted within the alcove. The glowing lights from the city outside the window illuminated Duo's face enough to show Heero his lover was once again lost in his thoughts of the past.

"Duo?" He called out, not knowing if the other boy heard him enter.

The braided head turned in his direction. "Hey, you guys finished already?"

Heero approached him, holding out one of the steaming mugs, which Duo quickly accepted. They turned together to look out of the second storey window to gaze at the brightly lit houses that surrounded their temporary home, the curtains to many of the front windows were pulled back to openly display the prominently set Christmas trees.

"We should have gotten a tree," Duo sighed, then sipped loudly at the hot tea.

"If I'd known it was important to you, we would have."

Duo looked up at him and, even in the dim light, Heero could see the look of surprise on his lover's face. "I only meant that we kind of stand out, being the darkest house in the neighborhood without any lights or Christmas tree in the front window."

Heero just sipped his own slightly cooling tea, still wishing he'd thought of getting a tree, just to make Duo happy. Several minutes of silent contemplation of the beauty outside their window followed as the two enjoyed their warm beverage.

It was Duo who gently brought an end to the companionable silence. "But," he sounded a bit hesitant. "But maybe... if we. Next year..." he began again and stopped, not sure how to phrase his hope that there would be a next year and if there was what he wished for.

Heero understood perfectly what Duo was trying to say. "Next year we'll get a tree, even if it's just for our bedroom."

The sparkle in Duo's eyes were like precious jewels to Heero's soul. He bent forward with the intent of kissing the top of braided head only to have Duo lean over and tilt his head up, offering his lips and meeting him halfway. The taste of the sweet peppermint tea was pleasant as they kissed, each boy relishing the taste and touch of lips to lips and soul to soul. They parted several moments later to gaze into each other's eyes with their feelings of contentment and love radiating between them.

"I think we're ready for dessert," Heero said, reaching out to take back Duo's now empty mug and setting both of them on the nearby desk. He then turned to offer his hand to assist his braided lover up and noted the hand that clasped his own was cold from having been so close to the glass.

Duo stood and moved from him to the bed to collect the bag that was sitting on top of it. But as he walked towards the door, Heero forestalled his exit from the room by catching his wrist. "Are you going to tell me the end of your story?" he asked.

Nodding his head, Duo offered a warm smile. "Downstairs," he replied, then twisted his hand to take up Heero's, their fingers entwining, and led him from the room.

The five sat around the rectangular shaped coffee table, all eyes were on Duo as he reached inside the plain, brown paper bag that hid the evening's dessert. His hand stayed within its confines as he raised his eyes to them. "I'm assuming you guys know something about Christmas, right?"

Each nodded their head as he made eye contact with them. Seeing they did indeed know something, Duo pulled out of the bag one large orange, then repeating the action, pulling out two more and set all three in front of him.

"Oranges?" Wufei looked at fruit with a skeptical expression on his face. "Are they laced with alcohol or have some explosive device hidden within them?"

"No!" Duo said with a scrunched up face and a disapproving shake of his head. It quickly became obvious to the others that he was serious about his offering for the evening.

"You can't blame Wufei for his disbelief, Duo." Trowa spoke up, folding his arms over his chest. "For you to produce a fruit for dessert is highly suspicious. We expected some sort of chocolate confection."

"Normally I would come up with something different," Duo conceded. "But this is Christmas."

Sensing there was something special about his choice of dessert, the other four sat and patiently waited for the boy from L-2 continue.

Duo reached out and picked up one of the round, orange and slightly dimpled-skinned fruit. "A couple of years ago, I had my first Christmas," he began. "I told Heero a little about it today, but what I remember the most about that day was the giving." He looked at each of his friends as he continued. "A man on L-2, a grocer, caught me trying to steal something from the shelves of his store in order to have a present to give Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. He dragged me by my sleeve back to his office where I was sure I was going to get a beating or worse."

Wufei slammed a hand down on the table, startling every one of them. "Did he lay a hand on you, Duo?"

"No!" Duo answered quickly, seeing his friend had jumped to the same wrong conclusion that Heero had earlier when he'd told this part of the story. "He made me an offer."

Wufei's face began to turn an angry red before Duo could continue. "Not like that. Geesh," he huffed with irritation. "Just listen to me, okay? This isn't a horror story or one of abuse. It's nothing like that."

As soon as he decided the others had settled down and were once again ready to listen, he continued. "He surprised me by informing me that Father Maxwell and Sister Helen wouldn't appreciate a gift that had been stolen, so he gave me a few jobs to do around his store to make some money for a proper gift.

While I swept the aisles and took out the trash, the grocer went through his store trying to figure out what would be an appropriate gift from his store. When I finished, he came to me carrying three large oranges in his hands. Never having seen an orange before, I thought at first that they were balls, like the kind kids play with at school. He assured me they weren't toys, but that they were fruit and a very rare delicacy on L-2. He told me they would be a proper Christmas gift that I could give to the Father and Sister and that he would send me back to the orphanage with a note saying that I had gotten the oranges by doing honest work.

So with the oranges stashed in a plain brown paper bag, I said a rushed thank you to the man and hightailed it back to the orphanage. It was dark when I got back and just in time for dinner but, unfortunately, my absence had been noted and I got a good scolding from Father Maxwell for making Sister Helen worry. We ate our specially prepared dinner, had some kind of bread pudding for dessert, then after the dishes had been cleared and cleaned, we were called back into the dining room where our pinned-up, hand-fashioned paper Christmas tree was displayed on the wall.

Father and Sister left us sitting in our chairs while they went for the hidden presents that had come from the charity services a few days before. At my signal, the other kids quietly scrambled to our room to get the selected gifts they'd acquired for Sister Helen and Father Maxwell, and soon they all came back to sit in their chairs at the table, placing their gifts in their laps. We all shared happy, conspiring smiles and some of the little ones giggled behind their hands as their eyes sparkled with excitement.

We sat there, surprisingly quiet, but barely able to stay seated in our chairs with our growing anticipation for Christmas to begin. It was a relief when Father and Sister came back into the room carrying a large box filled with presents. We squirmed in our seats as they walked around the table, checking the names on tags placed on each of the packages as they handed them out to us.

Most of us had never seen pretty paper wrapped around objects before, so when we were told to go ahead and open the presents, we each carefully removed the wrapping paper, cautious not to tear it as we pulled the tape away from it. Afterwards, Sister Helen, never one to waste anything, helped us to fold it neatly so we could use it another time."

Duo smiled at the memory. "That year I got a plaid shirt and a green sweater," he remembered. "I liked the sweater, but Sister Helen never could get me to wear that dorky looking shirt." He exchanged a grin with Heero who knew of his preference for solid colored clothing.

"Once we finished, I asked Father and Sister to stay seated and told them that we had gifts for them, too. We started with the littlest of the group who produced her gift, proudly wrapped in her Sunday petticoat. Father Maxwell made a big show of accepting it, noting out loud the heaviness of the item in his hand and the odd shape. He carefully unwrapped it and blinked with stunned surprise to find one of the silver sacrament cups in his hand. He looked up from the chalice to Jessie's face as she stood next to him, her eyes filled with hope that he would like her gift. As I knew he would, Father gave her a loving smile and told her it was a wonderful present. From there the two adults began to unwrap clothing and towels from the gifts presented to them. Sister Helen's rosary, several crosses from off the walls, a bible, some of the better kitchen tools as well as a couple of slightly used candles and bars of soap were given to them. I remember the happiness that radiated from the faces of all the kids. Their gifts, though borrowed, had been given from their hearts and accepted by our two parental role models.

Then everyone's eyes turned to me, the last to present a gift. From under my chair I brought out the brown paper bag that carried my gift. I was a bit nervous because I really had no idea what I was giving them other than the fact that the man at the store showed them to me, told me they were a rare fruit on L-2, and that they were perfect for giving."

At this point in the story, Duo picked up one of the oranges and studied it. "I gave the bag to Sister Helen and watched for her reaction, suddenly feeling nervous and excited at the same time, hoping that my gift was acceptable, wanting and needing it to be good enough.

She reached into the bag and her eyes widened as she looked from me to Father sitting at the other end of the long table. She pulled one of the three oranges out and I heard her gasp.

She asked me where on earth did I find oranges and looked completely stunned as she held the orange, round fruit up in the air for all of the others to see. Her face and voice showed both awe and disbelief.

I proudly told her I didn't steal it and handed her the folded note from the grocer stating as much. I told her I worked at a store and the man there said this was a good Christmas gift and then I asked her if it was.

At first I couldn't tell if she liked it or not because her eyes got all watery like she was going to cry. I remember feeling panicked. The last thing I ever wanted to do was make her cry. I only wanted to make her and Father Maxwell happy. I was just about to bolt, not able to deal with the fact that I'd somehow made her feel bad, when she reached out and, with a surprisingly strong grip, drew me to her arms and hugged me tightly to her. She told me in a voice trembling with emotion that she hadn't had an orange since she'd arrived on L-2 fifteen years earlier.

I figured then that it was a good gift, and asked her again if it was, just to make sure.

She said it was a wonderful gift and thanked me again before finally letting go of me in order show Father Maxwell the orange. I proudly told them that there were two others in the bag, that they could each have one and a half."

Duo took out his pocket knife, opened it, and sliced off the very top of the orange. Then using the very tip of the blade, cut a line from the top edge and circled around it, then repeated the action, making four even sections. He then began to peel off the outer skin while the others watched as he continued his story.

"Father Maxwell went to the kitchen and brought back a paring knife and a plate and set them on the table next in front of Sister Helen. He stood by her side, giving me a warm smile and a pat on the back as she cut open the first orange, just like this." He motioned to the orange in his hand, partially peeled. He then proceeded to finish peeling it. "When the skin was off, she showed us the inside of the orange, then pushing her thumb into the top, she magically began to pull it apart. The room was so quiet that you could have head a pin drop, none of us kids had ever seen a fresh fruit before, much less one that divided naturally. Any fruit we got from the charity shipments always came dried or canned, so her opening the orange had us watching in wide-eyed wonder. She carefully split the orange into the tidy, neat sections and called them orange boats.

Sister sat still and studied the many pieces for a moment and I urged them to hurry up and taste it, eager to see their reactions. Sister gave one of the sections to Father Maxwell and he took a moment to study it before he put it to his lips, just as reverently as he would a wafer that represented the body of Christ. My eyes were glued to his mouth as he slowly bit down on the fruit and a drop of its juice slipped over his lower lip only to be caught by his tongue. He chewed it with his eyes closed, a smile forming and he said that so many memories came back to him with just one bite. Then he looked to Sister, silently telling her to enjoy a piece also. She did, with the same slow enjoyment of it that Father Maxwell had shown when he'd eaten his piece moments before.

Then Father Maxwell turned to us and asked if we all felt the wonderful feeling that came from giving. He said that one of the messages of Christmas was that it was better to give than receive. We all nodded that we did, even though the majority of the little ones didn't get it at all.

I watched him as he turned back to Sister Helen and gave Sister a knowing smile. Having worked for Father Maxwell since her arrival fifteen years earlier, they seemed to have this way of communicating even though words were not passed between them. She then began to take out the other oranges and peeled them and pulled them apart, setting all the many sections on the dinner plate. It was then taken up by Father Maxwell and he walked around the table, offering each of us was a section of the orange. We each timidly took one piece as it came to us. The plate made it around the table twice, then the few extra sections left were cut equally so that no one had more or less than any other. I remember the taste," Duo smiled and closed his eyes to sharpen the memory. "I'd never tasted anything like it before."

Duo the opened his eyes and met the gaze of each of his friends. He had sectioned the orange into pieces as he talked, then took out another one and repeated the same process of peeling it as he had the first. "He told us that the orange is the perfect fruit for sharing. My gift to them of the orange was shared with all the orphans on my first Christmas. And now," he smiled warmly at his friends and lover, "on our first Christmas together, I wanted to share my story as well as the oranges with you, my friends, to honor the memory of the good people I found in the midst of poverty and war. In telling it, I can keep the memory of all of them alive."

They each took the offered sections of fruit, given to them by the braided teen, and bit into the thin skin and juicy pulp, savoring not only the sweetness of the juice, but the moment of friendship. In quiet retrospection of the story that had been told, they received more of the sections of the sweet fruit as Duo continued to offer it to them and they ate until the sections of the three oranges were gone.

"That was a wonderful story, Duo." Quatre spoke first, breaking the relaxed silence in the room. "And in the same spirit of friendship, I hope each of you will accept a small token of my affection." He stood and moved to a corner chair and from behind it, drew out a large shopping bag. He brought it to the table and withdrew from it four rectangular boxes, wrapped in green, red, blue and gold foil paper. Each was cleverly decorated with ribbons and bows.

"I had the store wrap them," Quatre confessed, looking slightly embarrassed. After studying the tags with their names on them, he handed one to each of the four boys. "I know a little about the Christmas traditions and I think the one of giving gifts to the people who mean the most to you is a good one. Please accept this small token of my esteem and friendship."

As carefully as Duo had described opening his first Christmas present years before, the four teenage pilots opened the beautifully wrapped gifts, something three of them had never been given before, to reveal the contents. Sweaters. Quatre had given them all pull-over, long-sleeved cashmere sweaters. Heero received a green one, Trowa's was blue, Wufei's a complimenting black and Duo's a deep, rich brown.

Trowa stood unexpectedly, exited the room towards the kitchen and returned a moment later with four, twelve by three inch boxes, three inches thick, all wrapped in shiny red paper with gold stars on it. "Merry Christmas," was all he said as he checked the initials he'd written on the bottom of each and passed the identical looking boxes to the other four. Each received a beautifully hand-crafted throwing knife with their initials engraved on the bottom of the handle.

From behind the television, Wufei brought out a shopping bag and from it presented each of them with a small travel-size journal. He suggested they write on the blank pages of times such as this evening, so that when days were difficult and their faith in themselves and their cause came into question or hopelessness crept into their hearts, that a reminder of such moments would help them to remember their humanity, the righteousness of their cause, and that they weren't alone in their struggles.

Heero looked embarrassed as he went to the front closet and brought back an ordinary brown paper bag, mumbling an apology in advance for his lack of knowledge as to what was an appropriate gift to give. From out of the bag he handed each of them a pair of earmuffs, and while fingering one he'd purchased for himself, he stated that he'd noticed everyone's ears appeared red and cold on their walk into the city earlier that day. He thought they might appreciate something designed to keep them warm.

The four receivers of his gift put the ear warmers on and with silly grins, made even funnier by having their cheeks pushed in slightly from the headgear, they thanked Heero for his thoughtfulness.

A short while later and with his gifts neatly placed before him on the small table, Duo looked to be in complete and utter contentment as he leaned into Heero's side, enjoying the warmth and decadent softness of the new sweaters they'd put on moments before. He reached under the seat cushion behind him and produced a little square box.

"Just one more gift," he announced, catching everyone's attention. He took the foil wrapped object out of the box and smacked it soundly on the table. "Just following the instructions," he told them grinning. Peeling the foil wrapper off, he revealed a dark chocolate ball inside that had fallen into slices like that of an orange. "Orange flavored chocolate," he announced, and taking a piece out, he brought it up to Heero's lips and tapped it against the bottom one.

Heero's lips parted and, with his eyes still locked with his lover's, he took a bite. The flavor of orange and chocolate melted pleasantly on his tongue. "Um." he said appreciatively, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Duo was passing the rest of the candy out to the others with his other hand.

"I've got another one in our bedroom we can enjoy together," Duo said in a low, silky voice that was filled with all kinds of tantalizing suggestions.

"Take it upstairs," Wufei strongly suggested, earning a laugh from Quatre and a chuckle from Trowa.

"I'm ready for bed," Heero announced, even though it was early. Duo was the first to stand and extend his hand out to his lover, his eyes continuing to issue a silent invitation.

"Goodnight," said Trowa.

"See you in the morning," Quatre added.

"Try to keep it down," Wufei grumbled. But when Heero looked in his friend's direction, he could see the corners of his teammate's mouth were twitching upward.

"That will be my true gift to you, Wufei, a nearly silent night," Heero replied, and the other three looked up to see the mischievous sparkle in the boy's dark eyes. Heero's ability to joke was certainly a continuous surprise to them and they knew it was a side benefit from his involvement with Duo.

"Merry Christmas," Duo said sincerely, his fondness for the other three evident from the soft look on his face that intensified to something much more powerful when his eyes turned back to Heero.

The near silent footfalls up the stairs brought an end to the pleasant evening, and Wufei moved to the window at the front of the house to gaze through it the winter scene outside. With a rare feeling of contentment, he observed that the snow had begun to gently fall from the ceiling of clouds above the city once again.

It was strange, he thought, that in the middle of a war he and the others could find such moments of peace. That thought and Heero's parting words reminded him of a song he'd heard while standing in an elevator earlier that day, an old tune titled Silent Night. The sentiments expressed in that song was what he was feeling at the moment. The safehouse was quiet and still, and the friendship expressed on this foreign holiday felt...holy. All was calm and the street outside was bright with reflected light coming from the lights of the neighbors' decorations and bouncing off the freshly fallen white snow to dispel the night's darkness.

He turned, feeling a hand on his shoulder, to see Quatre gazing out the window with him. "Thank you, Wufei, for the gift," the blond said softly. "This is a wonderful night to remember, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," the Chinese pilot replied.

"Good night, Wufei. Sleep well." Trowa said warmly as he came from behind them and put his arm around Quatre's trim waist in a familiar pose of warmth and connection the two shared so easily.

"You too." Wufei smiled at them and watched as they moved together towards the stairway. Again the soft, unrushed footsteps moving up the stairs followed their leaving, signaling an end to their first Christmas Eve together. He sighed, sad for some reason for the loss of it, but silently hoped there would be more occasions for enjoying peace and celebrating with his comrades in the future.

Turning one of the chairs around to look out the window, he decided to spend a few moments in quiet contemplation. He pulled out a spare blanket from the nearby closet, threw it around his shoulders and then sat, looking out into the peaceful night. He watched everything and nothing at the same time, feeling completely enveloped in the silence of the night as the snow fell gently and the lights that dotted the darkness blinked happily. He thought again of the song he'd heard that day, saying the words in a whispered voice as his wish for all the people of the world and the colonies that he fought for, but mostly for his four friends upstairs. "Sleep in heavenly peace," he whispered in fervent wish for them all. "Sleep in peace."

The bedroom was awash in candlelight as the two young lovers came together in the middle of the room. As slowly and meticulously as they removed the wrapping from off their presents earlier, they gently worked at pulling off their new sweaters, then neatly folded and set them on the dresser. Fingers then got to work unbuttoning and unzipping the clothing remaining on each other's body. Their movements were slow and unhurried during this brief moment in time where peace had been granted them. And knowing that the respite was temporary, the two lovers were determined to make the most of it, to satiate themselves in the luxury of days without fighting, of passing hours in leisure activity with each other and their friends, and enjoying to the fullest the long winter nights they planned to spend making passionate love with each other.

A moment after hearing the door to Trowa and Quatre's room shut quietly, shirts dropped unceremoniously to the floor, belts joined them a moment later and jeans were stepped out of and abandoned where they fell. Hands that were calloused from the exertions of flying and repairing killing machines, of bringing death and destruction to the colonies' enemies, hands that had pulled triggers, wielded knives, had brought pain and death, and been bathed in too much blood, now defied their history of violence as they gently caressed the skin of their lover with reverent tenderness and continuing awe.

These rough hands, honed by hard lives, hands that should have belonged to much older and seasoned soldiers than these two, explored skin made imperfect by scars, kneading slender though muscled backs, chests, and slight though strong shoulders. Their calloused fingers slipped with ease past the waistband of the only barrier that separated the bodies of the two young lovers.

The boxers were also left on the floor as the two moved unhurriedly yet methodically, while their minds and bodies were otherwise preoccupied, towards the closest bed, not caring in the least whose it was. Heero made a slight tactical move in turning his back to the bed, and as soon as his knees touched the mattress, he eased himself down onto the cold surface of the comforter while keeping Duo pressed flush against his body, letting his lover know what direction he wanted their lovemaking to take that night.

Mouths were joined in something akin to a sacred union as their hands kept moving with the happy task of worshiping the body they each continued to caress.

There was none of the usual play for dominance, no words of heated desire spoken nor the usual sense of desperation that usually attended their lovemaking. Tonight, the peace in the safehouse and even within the city they hid themselves in seemed limitless. There was no need to be in a state of watchfulness nor the desire to rush to meet the end of what they had started for fear of being interrupted. There was no concern of being suddenly discovered by the enemy or of impending nightmares that this might be the last time they would have together before OZ or death separated them forever.

Time had no meaning to the two wrapped tightly in each other's arms as they continued the intricate, meaningful movements of lovers. The two silently expressed with their bodies their often hidden passion for each other, a passion that was kept from the world at large and those who would have deemed their relationship to be wrong.

Heero looked up at Duo's slender form looming above him. His movements were slow, unhurried and rhythmical, bringing pleasure with each fulfilling movement. In the soft candlelight, his beautiful partner was even more breathtaking, surely a gift from some divine being to the mortal realm, he thought. Once again, he found himself amazed that somehow this strong, willful, stubborn, capable and wonderfully alive human being was in love him. And he marveled at the change in himself, a person who was at times Duo's complete opposite. He'd been found by many to be cold, emotionless and without compassion. But those well-trained attributes of a soldier were set aside when his life became entwined with Duo's. He was more than happy to be inextricably drawn and bound to the other boy, who was as necessary to sustaining his life as air was.

"Heero." His name whispered raggedly from Duo's moist lips didn't take anything away from the sacred feeling of the act they were engaged in, but added to the pleasure that was about to overwhelm him.

Bringing his knees up higher, tilting his hips in order to accept more of what Duo was offering, he kept his eyes open, watching the sensuous rocking movements of his lover above him. He leaned up to capture the tantalizing lips and felt a hand snaking down his stomach to give attention to the neediest part of his body.

When at last they collapsed against each other, breathing raggedly, bodies moist from their intimate activity and feeling completely sated, they ignored the temporal discomforts and clung to each other.

The beating of their rapidly beating hearts gradually slowed and their breathing returned to normal as their bodies cooled. Duo left the bed momentarily to get a towel which he used to remove the physical evidence of their lovemaking from off their bodies. He then blew out the candles and returned to the bed, to Heero and his warmth. The two young lovers buried themselves under the thick blankets, arms and legs entwining comfortably.

"When the war ends," Duo began, his voice wistful in its tone. "I think I'd like to live on earth. How about you, Heero? Would you like that?"

The shaggy haired head rose from off of Duo's chest where the slow and steady heartbeat was the lullaby he liked falling asleep to. "I like it here," he answered. "But I'll go where ever you want to go. As long as I'm in your arms at night, I don't care where we live."

A sweet smile crossed Duo's face and he shifted just enough to kiss his lover once again, but this time, the kiss was one of gratitude for Heero's dedication to their relationship.

"One day I'd like to own a house, kind of like this one, with a big front window, a porch and a yard," Duo said after putting his head back on his pillow and smiling with contentment as Heero's head resettled on his shoulder once more.

Heero yawned then replied in a sleepy voice. "I'll buy you a Christmas tree every year so we can display it in that front window, and it will have white star-like lights strung through the branches and a lot of shiny ornaments." He yawned again, then added. "And we'll have presents under it, wrapped in red, silver and blue paper."

"I like your vision, Heero," Duo said softly, combing his fingers through his lover's coarse, thick hair.

They both heard the faint sounds of a solitary person climbing the stairs, then the slight squeak of the door opening and then closing to Wufei's room.

"And our friends can come visit us anytime they want, right? Especially during the holidays."

"Um," Heero replied with an agreeing nod of his head, then added. "And I'll buy oranges for you to share, and you can tell us the story again of your first Christmas, and we'll have our own traditions and all of us will be... content."

"From your lips to God's ear, Heero," Duo whispered, and in his mind he sent those dreams and wishes past the ceiling above the bed, through the roof of the house, and to the heavens far away, with his own silent prayer that they would all live long enough to make their dreams for a future together come true.

He felt moisture gathering his eyes and with his free hand quickly wiped it away. It seemed he was doomed to be sappy, melancholy and hopeful whenever Christmas came around. The reason for it had to be the season and all the memories it brought back to his mind. But they were good memories, filled with people and events that he wouldn't let go anytime soon.

Feeling Heero's body resting heavily against his own and hearing his breathing slow further, Duo tilted his head to kiss the top of the unruly head of hair and closed his eyes. "Merry Christmas, Heero," he whispered, then followed his lover into a sated, peaceful sleep.