She smiled at the young man before, and to her unending delight, he grinned back at her cockishly then wrapped her into the hug she so desperately needed right then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm he came around like he was dignified
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We're going to be together forever, right, Duo?" she asked, her voice teasing. She was trying her best to pretend that the world's weight itself did not depend on his answer. She was trying her best to pretend she could wear a joker's mask as well as he could.
"Of course, we are, Bunny," he whispered. He gently lifted her head and kissed her.
It was like something out of every shoujo manga she'd ever set eyes on. A warm, heady feeling eased down every part of her body, and she melted against him, her arms creeping up behind his neck to pull him even closer to her.
Without warning, the ground around them exploded, huge boulders flying up into the air. Smaller, sharper ones cut into her flesh, around Duo's protective hold on her body. A second explosion, this one so audible that it drowned out her hearing. Before her, Duo stiffened, a sharp but brief cry of pain escaping his lips, then he sank to the ground. The red, red blood from the bullet wound didn't even show up on his black priest outfit until it spread - so far! so quickly! - to the white of the collar and the sleeves.
But even before that, it had turned her white shirt a deep and horrible maroon shade as she gathered him in her arms once more, kneeling on the ground. "Duo," she whispered. Tears refused to fall. Without even thinking what she was doing, she ripped off a piece of her skirt and tried to apply pressure to the wounds.
"Are you hurt?" he whispered, his voice hesitant.
No need to tell him about the thin slice across her shoulder she'd received as the bullet kept going. "Hai. I'm fine," she answered.
"Good."
"Don't talk now, Duo," she whispered. "Don't talk; you'll be all right."
He shook his head weakly against her stomach. "No, I won't. Honestly, we both know it, Bunny." He coughed violently then reached up to brush blood fingers across her cheek. "I love you, Bunny. I always will," more coughing, "and I'll always be looking out for you."
"Ai - ai shiteru, Duo," she returned. "I love you too."
He smiled once more, then his entire form went limp. Her breath caught in her throat, and she choked on it for a long, heart-wrenching moment. Then it came, the scream. "No! Duo!" Her body folded in over his, and she clutched him to her even more closely.
She screamed until her voice broke. Even then she pleaded, "Don't leave me, Duo. We promised we'd always be together. Don't leave me. I love you, Duo."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He showed me what it was to cry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rough hands, hands that were too familiar, grabbed her by the shoulders. They yanked her to her feet and turned her to face their owner. Horror swept over her. "Mamoru! You -"
One of the hands released her, formed a fist, and punched her into unconsciousness before she could call him a bastard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well you couldn't be the man that I adore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next thing she wanted to remember, though certainly not the actual next thing she recalled, was a voice, deep, soft, and just a little bit nasal, whispering to her in Japanese that she would be all right. Her name was repeated several times, each with increasing urgency. She turned her head to see Heero.
Only then did the tears start. She threw her arms around him and wept. Wept for Duo. Wept for herself. Just wept. Heero sat on the edge of the small, dirty bed, letting her cry on him without saying a word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You don't seem to know - or seem to care what your heart is for
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just barely, through her pain, she felt him move just slightly, turning towards her. Alarm shot through her as his arms came around her, but his grip remained loose, nonconfining, just there enough to feel, and she relaxed again.
After a few minutes, he let her go. She clutched the thin sheet close to her chest and didn't meet his eyes. She felt so ashamed, so dirty, so ... used.
"Usagi-san?"
She slowly looked up at him. "Hai?"
"We need to get out of here."
"He... burned my clothes." Because Duo's blood was on them. He said he didn't want me to have anything to remember Duo by.
A hand, far too gentle to belong to the so-called Perfect Soldier, touched her uninjured shoulder, squeezing it softly. "Who is he, Usagi-san?"
"Someone... someone I thought I knew."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know him anymore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She barely remember Heero carrying her out of there, sheet and all. She barely remember them stopping long enough for Heero to steal her some clothes. She barely remember the long, long drive to Quatre's estate or Heero carrying her inside. The next clear thing in her memory was waking up to a strange blonde woman's face above hers and screaming.
"Daijoubu, Usagi-san." The voice, it was so familiar. "I'm Quatre's sister, Iria. I'm a doctor. I'm just checking you out, making sure you're going to be all right."
"I'm not going to be," she whispered, her voice harsh. She turned away from Iria and switched the television on.
"A terrorist's bomb leaves one man dead and a young woman kidnapped," the reporter was saying. "Although police have not yet issued a statement, sources tell us that the man killed was Duo Maxwell, former Gundam pilot and member of the Preventers." Duo's image flashed across the screen briefly. "The woman kidnapped is believed to be his fiancee, Usagi Tsukino." She stared at her own face before the scene changed to the park. It was... perfect, as if a bomb had never gone off there, as if Duo hadn't... died there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's nothing where he used to lie
My conversation has run dry
That's what's going on
Nothing's fine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, oneesan," Quatre impatiently asked as soon as Iria shut the door to the room he'd given Usagi, "how is she?" Beside him, Trowa was quiet, but his usually blank eyes now expressed worry. Across the room, Wufei and Heero were silent.
"In my professional opinion? Awful. She was apparently cut in the explosion, the bullet grazed her shoulder, and she was beat up." She was silent for a moment, apparently weighing the rest of the news.
"And?" Wufei prompted.
"Sit down," she stated, making the command into a sharp order. Except Heero, who had already been sitting, they all obeyed.
Worry glistening in his eyes, Quatre asked the question that was on their minds. "How bad is it, oneesan?"
"Bad. I'm not going to mince words. She was raped repeatedly, apparently by the same person. Don't be surprised if she's afraid of men from now on."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm torn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alone in that room, she shivered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite all her best efforts, her thoughts kept drifting back. Gods, what had she ever seen in Mamoru? He obviously had not cared for her. Even now, she could feel his hand crack smartly across her cheek in the exact same spot he'd punched her, apparently to keep her awake.
What choice did she have? She'd screamed until what little remained of her voice faded away. Tears refused to fall, and they would have done no good anyway. He thrust into her once more brutally, spending himself, got off her, pulled his pants back up, and walked out. He didn't say a word the entire time he was there, and somehow that made it worse, made her feel more dirty, used, and ashamed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next time she'd woken up in that cold barren room Mamoru had installed her in, she wasn't there. She was in the apartment she and Duo had shared, and she was lying in that large bed, and Duo had his arms around her, and...
The back of Mamoru's hand hitting her face woke her up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Illusion never changed
Into something real
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She awoke with a start, now at Quatre's house to the sound of thunder crackling loudly across the sky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Truly awake now, she felt arms around her. Panic cut through her like a knife, and she struggled as hard as her feeble and injured body would let her against them. One arm loosened slightly, and after a few minutes, she became aware of a hand running over her hair, stroking it in a way only one person ever had. Duo...
"I'm not going to hurt you, Usagi-san." But only one person here ever talked to her completely in her native language, but when had Heero's voice ever sounded so rough or hoarse?
"Heero-san?"
She felt him stiffen and start to move away. Belatedly, she realized that she had changed from calling him "Heero-kun" or, like Duo, "Hee-chan," she'd used the much more impersonal "san" title.
He has to know what happened by now, she thought to herself. So why is he being so... nice to me? I don't deserve it, not now. Not now that I'm so dirty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You're a little late
I'm already torn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She'd refused to go to sleep, to do anything, alone. Even after all the time she'd spent in bed, well past the time Iria had projected, mostly at Heero's insistence, she didn't want to be any place by herself. To Quatre alone did she confess the fear that Mamoru might come back from her again. She only allowed certain people to be with her alone though: Quatre, Trowa, and Heero. To herself, Quatre and Trowa were easily rationalized: they were interested in each other, not girls and certainly not her. Heero was a different issue; the closest she could come was because he had been the one to rescue her. He saved, took care of her till they got to Quatre's, comforted her after the nightmares.
And there were a lot of nightmares these days, at least two a night. On the nights Heero sat up with her, she sometimes wondered if he got any sleep. She hadn't heard a word from him of being tired, but even she was realistic enough to know he wouldn't say anything until the moment he collapsed of exhaustion.
But sometimes the dreams were of the past. She remembered going to a fortune teller's booth to ask advice about Seiya - and Mamoru. The violet-eyed soothsayer told her to go for the better man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I guess the fortune teller's right
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And standing on top of the school, watching the four streaks of light that were the Sailor Starlights and their princess, she'd looked up at the man she had chosen.
And for the first time saw the coldness in his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I should have seen just what was there and not some holy light
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now here she sat in some cool lawyer's office, three months after the explosion, putting her signature on the final dotted line to sell hers and Duo's apartment. It wasn't a matter of money (How could it be with a rich, worrying friend like Quatre? Any of the remaining Gundam pilots, to be honest, could purchase a small country.) and more the need to try to move on. Duo would have wanted her to do that; she knew it in her heart.
A warm and callused hand slipped around hers and squeezed it gently. She resisted the urge to jump and instead offered him a shaky smile. She just couldn't get used to this Heero, who was always doing these little things to make her feel better. And she couldn't help deciding she rather like him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But you crawled beneath my veins and now I don't care, I have no
luck
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After all, compared to the old Heero, this one was unbelievably kind. She'd come to expect his presence every night in that large armchair across the room from her bed; she couldn't go to sleep without it. When Quatre and Trowa were called to L4 on urgent business and Quatre's servants had been proposing to shut the house down until his return, as was standard procedure, she'd almost panicked again. Leaving Quatre's house meant going back to the tiny apartment she and Duo had been so happy in and being alone. But then this new Heero had stepped in and offered to let her stay at his own apartment, and that had been that; she'd come to L1 with him on the next shuttle.
Yes, she could like this Heero Yuy. And as for the Perfect Soldier...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't miss it all that much
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She sat back, coughing lightly, then flushed the toilet. Sick again. Whatever this was, she just couldn't quite kick it.
She allowed herself a small, private smile. Guess it was a good thing Heero had given her his bedroom with its adjacent bathroom; she'd hate to consider how he'd react to her being si-
There was a knock at the door, and she cursed for jinxing herself. "Hai?" she called.
"Are you all right?"
Jinx, jinx, jinx! "Actually, I feel a little sick," she answered.
She barely finished the sentence before the door burst open and she found herself scooped up yet again. "Wh- what are -"
"You're going to a doctor, and that's final?"
"This coming from the man who reputedly set his own leg?"
He growled and didn't respond, but all the same took her downstairs, deposited her in the passenger seat of his Jeep, and took her to the only doctor she knew he trusted. "Find out what's wrong with her," he sternly ordered Sally Po.
The Preventer doctor took one good look at her and prompted shooed both Heero and a rather smugly amused Wufei out of the room. "Usagi-san, how many times have you been sick in the last week?"
"It seems like everyday." A sickening thought occurred to her. "Masaka... you don't think.. I'm -"
"We're going to run a few tests to find out." It wasn't very professional, but she hugged the young woman lightly. "It'll be all right, Usagi-san."
A few hours and various pokes and prods later, the older woman turned back to her with a very serious face. She bit her lip in worry. "Well?"
"You are pregnant, Usagi-san." She felt a scream of denial building in her throat, but Sally headed her off neatly. "I did a genetics test on the fetus. Usagi-san, Duo is the father."
"You're staying with Heero right?" She nodded. "If you'd like, I'll tell him while you get dressed."
"Thank you, Po-san."
Sally walked over to the door then paused there, turning back to her. "If you don't mind me asking, Usagi-san, just what are you and Heero to each other?"
"He's my best friend."
The doctor smiled. "Between you and me, Usagi-san, us girls, I think he wants to be more."
She couldn't have been more surprised if Sally had stated Mobile Suits in pink tutus were dancing ballet outside her window. "Heero?"
"Just think about it, okay?" Sally slipped out of the room, and for the first time in months, she was alone with her thoughts.
And as hard as she thought, she couldn't quite get rid of the nagging sensation that maybe the doctor knew what she was talking about. She pondered that thought as she pulled her dress back on and stepped out of the private room.
Heero wasn't in sight.
Before she could even ask it, Wufei answered her question, "He said he needed to think. He left the keys and... asked me to take you home."
She nodded mutely. Now Heero's leaving me too. I'm cursed.
She was silent the entire drive and the elevator ride up to the correct floor. When Wufei had walked her all the way to the door, she finally said, "Thank you, Wufei-san."
"Heero should be back soon. I can stay until he gets back if you'd like."
She offered him a faint smile. "We'll be fine. Go back to work."
He nodded but waited until she'd locked the door behind her to leave.
She slowly curled up on the couch, where Heero normally slept after she was asleep for the night, and closed her eyes in thought. Mine and Duo's baby. A piece of him forever. I haven't completely lost him. She shivered as a sudden chill passed through her, wrapping up in one of the blankets Heero used.
A figure with dark wings and a long chestnut braid gazed sadly at the woman before it and pulled its hand back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's just so many things
That's I can't touch
I'm torn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was dozing, almost asleep when Heero came home an hour later. She awoke to the sound of white boxed packages with noisy crinkly tissue paper inside them being set down on the coffee table before her. He knelt in front of the couch and brushed her bangs out of her eyes.
"Where'd you go?" she asked sleepily.
He took a deep breath then spoke. "Before I answer that, tell me this first: is this good news or bad, Usagi-san?"
She paused, thinking over this seriously. "I don't know, but I think it's good."
She grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. Once she was standing, he didn't let go. "Okay. Then go get a shower and get dressed. I'm taking you out."
"But, why -"
"To celebrate."
"But, I don't have anything to -"
"Thought of that already." He handed her the top box. "This should fit."
Nervously she opened the box and slowly pulled out the silver dress within it. "This is... too beautiful for me to wear, Heero-kun." She didn't even notice herself slipping back into her old pattern of speaking.
With gentle hands, he turned both her and the dress still held before her and directed her back to the bedroom. "Get ready. The reservations are in an hour."
"Reservations?"
"Hai, to eat. Go, get ready." He handed her a second box. "Here are the shoes. Get ready, Usa-chan."
It wasn't until she stood under the warm spray a few minutes later that she realized what he'd called her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Heero-kun?" she asked, looking up from the menu to meet his eyes.
"Hai?" he seemed a bit distracted.
"Can you really afford all this?"
He laughed shortly, and she blinked sharply in pleasant surprise. She'd never heard him laugh, really laugh, before. "Don't worry about that. I've got plenty enough of Oz's money stored away and what Une pays me as a Preventer."
"So we're eating on Oz tonight?" she quipped, turning back to the menu with predatory eyes.
He laughed again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Illusion never changed
Into something real
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Usa-chan - I mean, Usagi-san..."
"Usa-chan is fine," she interrupted.
"There's something we need to talk about. It's kind of serious." She set down her menu and met his eyes calmly. "Do you know what you're going to do now."
She bit her lip "I hadn't exactly thought of it. Being pregnant at eighteen wasn't exactly one of my life goals." He's going to kick me out of the apartment. this whole dinner is just an elaborate way of -
" -stay with me," he was saying in a rush. "If you want to, I mean."
"Nani?"
He took a deep breath (He's doing that a lot lately, she inanely thought to herself) and repeated himself. "I'd like you to stay with me. But only if you want to."
"Heero-kun?" She leaned a little closer to him, looking carefully into his Prussian blue eyes. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying... that I'd like to... I'd like you to stay with me - both of you! - for as long as you'd like. I... want... I'd like to be a part of both of your lives, for as long as you want me around."
"Heero-kun?" she prompted again.
"I know I'm probably not saying this right, but I don't know how to. And I know right now probably isn't the best time to say it. But I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you, even it's just as friend, however you'll have me. But," he took yet another deep breath and finished off the rest in one breath, "I'd really like for you to marry me."
There was absolute silence for a long moment. It was broken by a clap of thunder from the colony's automated weather system.
~~~~~~~~
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
~~~~~~~~
"Heero-kun? I don't know what to say..."
"Then don't until you're ready." He smiled faintly at her; it look so forced. "Are you ready to order yet?"
~~~~~~~~
You're a little late
I'm already torn
~~~~~~~~
"Preventer Leader and Spokeswoman Une made a statement today regarding the latest operation. According to her statement, Mamoru Chiba was being investigated as the terrorist behind the death of Duo Maxwell, a Preventer. Chiba fled from the Preventers and was killed trying to escape -" The television sizzled into blackness; the made-man storm had knocked the electricity out.
She turned and stood before the only picture in her room. She and Duo stood before the camera before the camera, his arms slung possessively around her shoulders.
~~~~~~~~
There's nothing where he used to lie
~~~~~~~~
"What should I do, Duo?" she whispered, picking up the picture and clutching it to her chest, laying back across the full-sized bed. "Heero's been so good to me since I lost you. I don't think I could have survived without him. Demo... this is a big thing he's asking of me. What should I do, Duo? What should I tell him?" At the silence, twin tears slid down her face. "Maybe it would be easier if I weren't here anymore. I'm nothing but trouble, a damned and deadly jinx. Maybe Heero would be safe if I were dead."
~~~~~~~~
My inspiration has run dry
~~~~~~~~
At the head of the bed, a shadowy figure bolted up right in alarm. A soundless cry of denial came to its - his - lip. 'No, don't, Bunny!'
It was useless though; she couldn't hear him. But maybe...
It - he ran literally through the door to where the man who had been his best friend in life sat on the couch, a look of pure guilt on his face as he stared blankly at the floor.
~~~~~~~~
That's what's goin' on
Nothing's right
I'm torn
~~~~~~~~
'Heero!!' he called, nearly screaming in his friend's ear. The Japanese young man didn't even blink. Faintly, so faintly Heero probably couldn't even hear it, he heard the sound of glass breaking. 'Come on, Hee-chan. This is not the time for a guilt trip! Anytime but now! Come on! Snap out of it, Heero! Bunny needs you!'
~~~~~~~~
I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
~~~~~~~~
He bolted to his feet, eyes resolute, and quickly crossed the room, tapping lightly on the door. "Usagi-san?" There was no answer. "Usa-chan?" Still no answer. What to do?
Normally he'd leave, give her her privacy, but now... he couldn't. Something deep in him told him she was in trouble, she needed him.
~~~~~~~~
I'm cold and I am shamed
Lying naked on the floor
~~~~~~~~
He twisted the door knob hard, hearing the lock break, and slipped in the dark room. His eyes adjusted quickly to the lack of light as he'd been trained to do - and what he saw nearly stopped his heart.
The first thing he took in was her still form on the bed - then the broken shards of glass all over the room from the broken window.
His mind froze on a simple thought for a long moment: This is my fault. I drove her to this.
A loud sigh broke through the guilt.
Nande?
~~~~~~~~
Illusion never changed
Into something real
~~~~~~~~
She sat up slowly, setting the picture down on the dresser. She'd made up her mind at last.
A thin figure appeared between her and the window, the crunching sounds of the glass beneath his feet the only clue of his approach. As he slowly knelt down before her, she saw tormented Prussian blue eyes staring at her.
"Heero-kun?"
As if prompted by the sound of his name, his arms snaked around her waist and his head fell in her lap as if exhausted. "I thought... you'd killed yourself and it was all my fault," he confessed in a broken whisper.
"I'm right here, Heero. It's all right," she whispered just loud enough to be heard over the raging storm outside, her fingers combing through his dark hair.
~~~~~~~~
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
~~~~~~~~
"Heero?"
"Hmm?" He sounded contented at least.
"I will."
"What?" He looked up quickly to meet her eyes. Their faces were inches apart, his arms still around her waist.
"I will... marry you, Heero."
"You... you will?" There was something in his voice that sounded eerily like glee mixed with a great deal of apprehension.
"Hai, but I want you to know this now before we go any further."
"Hai?"
"It's going to be a long time before I feel... safe... having..."
~~~~~~~~
I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
~~~~~~~~
His lips brushed against hers in a chaste kiss. "I won't push you for anything you're not ready for, Usagi."
~~~~~~~~
I'm cold and I'm ashamed
Bound and broken on the floor
~~~~~~~~
The wedding was a quiet, small affair with only the other Gundam pilots, Iria, and Sally Po in attendance. Just as well anyway; Heero probably would have shot anyone who saw him blushing like that at the end of the ceremony.
A silent uninvited guest, with dark wings and a long chestnut braid, smiled at the happiness the woman he'd loved had found with his best friend. The smile change to a smirk. Maybe she'd get him to quit blushing if she kept kissing him like that.
His work here was done. He could finally move on.
~~~~~~~~
You're a little late
~~~~~~~~
"So why do you call your daddy Papa?"
"Because I have two dads: Papa and Daddy. But Daddy died a long time ago, before I was born, and now I have Papa!"
She giggled listening to the two five-year-olds talking in the living room. Heero would love to hear her explain the situation like that. She stuck her head in through the doorway. "Trin, pick up your toys. Your Papa will be home any minute now. Ken, are your parents coming over to dinner tonight?"
"Hai, Yuy-san, if Daddy doesn't get lost." He paused. "Yuy-san? Yuy-san is home."
She smiled. He was trying, but Japanese just wasn't coming to him, not since most people spoke English these days. "Pick up your toys, Trinity."
"Hai, Mama."
She picked her way through the living room and took up her position at the door. Ken and Trinity smiled, well used to this routine. When it opened a moment later and her husband appeared, though, she decided to deviate from the pattern and instead latched onto his arm. "Okaeri nasai, anata." She winked at him just slightly, letting him in on the prank. "Ryoga-san and Hitomi-san will be joining us for dinner."
"Mama?" Trinity Yuy's small voice asked petulantly.
"Hai, Trin-chan?"
"Aren't you forgetting something, Mama?"
"I am?"
"Hai, Yuy-san, you're forgetting something," piped up Ken.
She grinned and kissed her husband at last, laughing slightly against his lips, winding her arms around his neck and melting against him.
He still blushed every time.
~~~~~~~~
I'm already torn
~~~~~~~~
::Fin::
4 April 2001
Love it? Hate it?
Writing:
3 April 2001:
Begun 1:20 p.m.
Paused 2:32 p.m. Resumed 4:20 p.m.
Paused 5:01 p.m. Resumed 5:24 p.m.
Paused 5:50 p.m. Resumed 8:07 p.m.
Paused 8:11 p.m. Resumed 8:39 p.m.
Paused 9:33 p.m. Resumed 9:38 p.m.
Finished 1:02 a.m. 4 April
Typing:
4 April 2001:
Begun 1:03 a.m.
Paused 2:39 a.m. Resumed 11:41 a.m.
Finished 1:49 p.m.
Revision 1:
4 April 2001:
Begun 1:52 p.m.
Finished 2:07 p.m.
Revision 2:
14 January 2009
I'm so weird....
For those of you reading this at FanFiction.net, remember
this:
Reviews make me happy. When I'm happy, I write. When I write, you
get to read. So if you want to read more of my stories, review
more of my stories and I'll write more.
As for the second revisions, I am in the process of converting all my stories with Gundam Wing characters over to traditional spellings. So that means all my "Hiiro"s will become "Heero"s and all my "Ririna"s will become "Relena"s. For clarity's sake.