The Greatest of These

All previous disclaimers apply.

“And then, the beautiful princess and the handsome prince were married. Their reign was long and prosperous and they lived happily ever after to the end of their days.” Duo closed the storybook he had been reading from and sighed happily to discover Sheira sleeping soundly in his arms. She had been fussy ever since she woke from her nap, refusing dinner, glaring at him when he tried to bathe her, kicking when he tried to changer her diaper. He knew why she was behaving as she did. She missed her daddy. But, Duo couldn’t let her see him. The logic behind keeping her away from him, however, was lost on a baby and she continued to fuss. Oh well, Duo thought, he’d rather have a fussy baby than a sick baby any day. He laid her carefully in the crib, turned on the small bedside lamp that projected the image of fairies onto the walls and flipped off the larger light. He left the door open so that he could hear her if she cried, hoping that she would make even the smallest noise.

He sighed and dragged a hand over his face, tired beyond tired and knowing that he couldn’t sleep quite yet. He still had to care for Wu Fei before he was allowed to get any rest. He walked into his room to see Wu Fei tossing and turning in the bed with fevered dreams. His bronzed skin was covered in a thick sheen of sweat and his cough was almost continuous. Duo sat quietly in the chair he had moved in from the dining room and soaked a washcloth in the cool water he had left to sit by the bed. Wu Fei moaned as the cloth was set to his warm forehead and sighed when Duo began to gently dab around his face and his neck. Duo took the other man’s temperature, almost hoping that it would be one-hundred and four so that he could take Wu Fei to the hospital. But, no such luck. The temperature readout revealed one-hundred and three. Duo winced at the sound of the deep cough in Wu Fei’s chest, but didn’t know what else to do for him beside make him rest. He could try cough serums, but chances were that they’d wear off too quickly. Beside, he didn’t want to have to wake Wu Fei to take one. He desperately needed the rest that his illness had forced upon him and Duo didn’t want to take the chance that he wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep once woken.

“Wu Fei,” he murmured, leaning over and indulging in a kiss to Wu Fei’s temple, “Why did you let yourself get so bad? You could have come to me. I thought you knew that. I never would have turned you away. You or Sheira. I could have mourned with you. You didn’t need to be alone. But, you’re always alone, aren’t you? The solitary dragon. You could have come to me. I’m here, Wu Fei. I’m right here. I’ve always been here. Waiting. Just waiting. I’m still waiting. If I have to, I’ll wait for the rest of my life. Because to me . . . you