Candles in the Window
Skarla

++++

"Duo?"

"Yes, Father?"

"What do you want to be when you’re grown up?"

"I wanna… I wanna make it so tha’ dere’s no more kids on da street!"

"Well, if that’s your goal, I’m sure that you will achieve it if you stick to it. Remember, Duo, that God is watching over you."

"An’ Solo?"

"Yes, Solo too."



Time passed, and a war was won. Three years after the final battle, Duo Maxwell was buried up to his neck in paperwork and regretting that he’d ever made that promise to himself and Father Maxwell.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! Where the hell is that fucking form?!"

"Duo? You ok?" Hilde called from the next room.

"Just… just peachy," Duo called back. "Have you seen that new adoption certificate that we need to file in triplicate, and photocopy, and laminate, and put in a bloody frame on the damn wall?"

"You mean the one that you stuck to the notice board?"

Duo’s head whipped round and he smirked evilly as he narrowed his eyes at the form, sitting innocently behind his left shoulder, held in place by an obnoxious strawberry magnet.

"There you are…" raising his voice, he called "Hilde!? You’re an angel!"

"I know

." Duo grabbed his form and sauntered along the hall to the photocopier.

The Preventers base on L2 was nothing special. It was in the ‘nicer’ area of the colony – Duo was quite handily able to ignore the areas where he had grown up; they were right on the other side and couldn’t be seen, unless you were bending over backwards – and were six stories high.

Due to his status as a Gundam Pilot and the fact that he was one of the few newly fledged Preventers who knew how to survive on L2, he had been sent out there to establish ‘Preventer Presence’. Since then he had managed to get himself into a position where he was on call only if a mission requiring his specific skills came up, leaving him with plenty of time to pursue his old goal.

He was discovering how hard that goal would be to obtain. The coffee machine was awarded a longing glance as he passed it, but he hadn’t time to stop and indulge. Maybe on the way back from the photocopier…

The first step had been funding. Relena had supported his venture, but she could not send too much – she had her own war-torn country to worry about. So Duo found a use for all the finds he had hacked during the war. After all, they were just numbers in an account until they were used.

The next step was setting up a proper adoption program for L2. Somewhere along the way, this had been extended to the other colonies too. Duo still wasn’t sure how that had happened… he had a vague idea that it was Relena’s fault, some press conference where the information had been misinterpreted by the media.

He was just learning how damn hard it was to set up a chain of orphanages.

And the photocopier was out of paper. Fuck!



~*~

Duo mooched his way home through L2’s perpetual slight drizzle – the one that always occurred between 4 and 8 in the evening.

"Watering the plants my ass," he muttered as he tried to stay under awnings. "Bloody bastards up there just wanna make you want to stay in the office for as long as possible."

He toed off his combat boots as soon as he was in the door, and hung up his trench coat, shaking his head to try to get the water droplets out of his bangs. His braid gleefully started to soak his shirt, creating a long, wet line down between his shoulder blades.

"Terri? It’s me, honey. You can come put from under the bed," he called, taking care not to look at the last door on the left as he wandered into the living room and slumped onto the sofa.

A few minutes later, a warm, trembling form was pressed against his side.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked, taking care not to look at her. He felt her nod against his arm. "That’s good. Mine was ok. I lost a form and spent ages looking for it, but I found it in the end. That form means that lots more little girls like you can have people looking after them who love them." Still no verbal response, but the small hand around his sodden braid tightened slightly. "So, munchkin, I’ve done a hard days work and I’m ready for some dinner. Any preferences?" a slight shake of the head. "Pasta then. We’ve got some leeks I want to use up. Let me up, honey."

Terri moved away slightly, and Duo stood and walked into the kitchen. He had got the pans out of the cupboard and was chopping a leek when a silent, willowy form slipped into the kitchen on bare feet and climbed onto a stool.

"Hey, you

"Hi," came the almost unintelligible reply.

"Did you draw today?"

"Yes."

"Was there anything good on TV?"

"Cartoons. And News." There was long silence, and then "News were from Earth."

"Was there anyone from the pictures on there?"

By pictures, he meant the one of the five pilots over the TV, the one of Relena and Zechs in the hallway and the one of Wufei and Sally with their new baby, also in the hall.

"The girl in the hall."

So; Relena. Sally was ‘the lady with the baby’. Terri didn’t like to use names. She didn’t like to volunteer information, or speak unless she was asked a question. Duo was pleased that she had mentioned that the news was from Earth on her own.

"Was there anyone with her?"

"A lady wi’ long blonde hair an’ scary eyebrows."

"I know her too, she’s called Dorothy Catalonia. Call her scary-eyebrows-lady if you like."

"Scary… eyebrows… lady."

"That’s it, honey." Duo opened the oil, spread it around the pan and set the leeks steaming. He then filled up the large saucepan with water and set it to boil. "This won’t take long. We haven’t had it for a while, so I don’t know if you’ll remember it. Want to help?"

"Yes."

"Can you grate me some parmesan and get out the crème fresh?"

The chair scraped a little as Terri got out, and Duo pretended not to notice the way that she froze and turned fearful blue eyes to gauge his reaction. Instead, he turned and moved the chair so that it was parallel to the work surface, so that Terri could grate next to him. He then went in search of peas.



Fifteen minutes later he added the cheese and crème fresh to the leeks and peas, drained the pasta and mixed it all together. Terri silently set the table, getting them both glasses of water.

"There’s a muffin for dessert. Do you want blueberry or lemon?"

"Lemon."

"That’s good, cause I like blueberry!" Duo smiled at the little girl, knowing that she was now confident enough to allow him to look at her while he spoke without cringing. "The milk comes tomorrow, so I can make you chocolate milk. Would you like me to pick up some cookies on the way home too?"

Terri shook her head. Duo was careful not to frown in confusion – Terri had taken that expression the wrong way before.

"Why not, sweetie?"

"I… like… when we make ‘em… together."

Duo beamed. "Ok, then. I’ll get off work early and buy the ingredients. Chocolate chip or candy peel?"

"Candy peel."

"Candy peel it is then. Now, eat up before it gets cold."

As Duo ate, he was careful to watch Terri to see that she was enjoying her meal and eating all of it. She didn’t like new things, so he was careful to introduce every new dish with a variation of ‘we’ve had this before but it was a while ago’. He took her with him before getting anything new for himself or the house.

The braided man was pleased to see that she ate all of her dinner, and drank all of the water in the glass. It had taken a few months for her to get over the habit of storing food in odd places round the house – and he knew for a fact that there was still a stack of ration bars and some dried apricots hidden in the back of her underwear drawer.

They washed the dishes together, and then sat on the sofa while Duo read the next chapter of their current storybook. He realized with some delight that they were nearly at the end – that meant a trip to the bookstore sometime in the next few weeks.

Shopping with Terri was always an experience, but he loved it when she actually forgot herself a little and became excited over all the different options.

"Ok, sweetie, it’s bedtime now," he told her as he closed the book. "We’ll find out what happens next tomorrow, ok?"

"Kay," Terri said softly, rubbing her eyes and making no attempt to stifle a yawn.

"Go change, and I’ll come tuck you in, in ten minutes, ok?"

A nod was his answer, and silent feet padded their way quickly into the last door on the left of the hallway. Three minutes later a shadowy form darted across the hallway to the last door on the right, and the sound of running water could be heard.

Duo sighed and stretched out. He was wearing himself thin and he knew it. But there was no time for a holiday… and Terri wasn’t ready for one. Maybe in a few months. However, there was something that he deemed them ready for – contact with more than the psychiatrist and the occasional sales assistant. He had determined the date months ago, and now it was time. Time to call Quatre.

But before that, he had a little girl who needed tucking in.

Tucking in was the only time that he touched Terri, rather than letting her come to him. He stroked her blonde hair away from her forehead and tapped her gently on the nose.

"Don’ ferget da candle," she whispered softly.

"I never do," he replied, equally as quiet.

He set a new white candle in the holder and pulled a lighter out of his back pocket, knowing that bright blue eyes were watching his every move. The wick flared up and he set the light on the windowsill to burn throughout the night.

"Solo… Father Maxwell… Sister Helen… Chumps…. Dennis… Hari… Celeste… Maria… Toady…" the whispered litany fell from his lips in a familiar rhythm.

Barely audible, a second voice joined his. "Pete… Teddy… Anna… Boyo…. Nana… Nissy…"

"We will always remember you."

"Always remember you," came the quiet echo.

"Always light a candle."

"Light candle…"

"Always say your names."

"Say names…"

"Love you forever."

"Forever…"

And Terri was asleep.



~*~

Duo sat down in front of the vidphone and tried his best not to feel nervous. He had emailed Quatre before now, explaining that he was very busy and couldn’t talk for a while. That ‘while’ was now up, so why did he feel so nervous? It wasn’t like Quatre would be mad… he vaguely wondered if Trowa would be there too.

Before he let himself sit there and get more nervous, Duo punched in the number and sat back as it rang.

Three rings and he was looking at Quatre’s frazzled face. The blond had obviously hit the ‘accept’ button on his private line without looking at the caller ID. "Quatre here."

"Yo."

It was amusing to see how quickly Quatre managed to jump round when he recognized Duo’s voice.

"Duo! You managed to get the time to call! I’m so happy to see you!"

"Shh," Duo said instinctively. "Terri’s asleep. Keep it down, I don’t wanna wake her up. It’d freak her out to see me talking to you."

Quatre was silent a second. Then "Duo, who’s Terri?" he asked slowly.

"My… well, I’ve adopted her, but we’re carefully steering clear of any titles related with family."

Quatre frowned. "Wait a minute." He turned to his left, said something in arabic to someone off screen, and then turned back. "Ok, no interruptions. Start from the beginning."

"Ok." Duo found himself playing with the end of his braid. He had known that he would have to relate the whole tale… he hadn’t expected Quatre to be so direct. "I was walking home one day, when I hear this muffled thud. And then this smacking sound. I knew, uh, from past experience, that someone has just been thrown to the floor and hit. And that they were small, and not fighting back. I take off down this alley and see this gang of thugs beating this little girl up. So I see red.

"I took her to hospital, made sure that I was there when she woke up and that she knew what was going on. She didn’t like the hospital, but she remembered me saving her, and she clung to me slightly. So I took her home. This was a bit more than a year ago. Took a while to get her to talk. She doesn’t like names, so I call her by pet names like ‘honey’ or ‘munchkin’ most of the time. She’ll describe people, but she won’t say their names. I take her to therapy three times a week. We have a system, a routine. New things have to be introduced slowly."

"So, that’s why she would be scared to see you talking to me?" Quatre asked.

"Yeah. She knows you as ‘the blond one in the picture over the TV’."

Quatre smiled, and Duo was shocked to find exactly how much he had missed that expression. "Wow, almost as long as my real name!" the blond billionaire joked. "So, why the call now?"

"Terri needs to meet more people if she ever wants to live anything like a normal life. She needs to learn how to trust more people than me and the doc."

"That sounds sensible. How can I help?"

"I’m gonna spend about a week getting her acclimatized to the idea of me talking to old friends, then I’ll call you while she’s around. I’m hoping that she won’t go hide under the bed, but even if she does she’ll still be awake and know what’s going on. Eventually, I hope to be able to get her to say ‘hi’ to you – that’s a bit step for Terri. I need to be home for at least ten minutes before she talks to me. I’ll explain more later. There’s lots of little rules, like not addressing her by name, and not looking directly at her."

"Sounds like you lead a complicated life."

"But it’s great when she responds. Like at dinner today, I offered to get some cookies on the way home tomorrow. She said no."

"And that’s a good thing?" Quatre questioned.

"Yeah, it means that she’s not blindly agreeing out of fear. I asked her why, and she told me that she preferred it when we made them together, and even said what kind she’d prefer!" Duo grinned at the memory.

"What were the options?"

"Chocolate chip or candy peel."

"And she went for?"

"The peel, she likes the chewy bits."

Quatre sat back and smiled. "Duo… you’ve grown up a lot. I’d love to meet Terri some day. I’m not scheduled for a trip to L2 for about three months. Do you think that’ll be long enough for her to get used to the idea?"

"If she talks to you over the vid in half that time, I’d say yes."

"I’m looking forward to hearing from you."

"Wait a mo. I wanna hear about you now!" Duo protested.

Quatre laughed. "Not much to tell. Trowa left the circus, he came for a visit and decided that the Maguanac Corps weren’t enough security. So now I have a personal bodyguard."

"Is Tro around?"

"He’s getting me some coffee."

"Good man."

"Wufei’s still with the Preventers on Earth."

"I know… I occasionally talk to him through the network if I want advice or need someone down there to push something through for me. Always business, never personal beyond ‘how are you’s’, but we have talked. Have you heard from Heero?"

"No-one has, not even Relena. Though I think Lady Une has an inkling, or a private e-mail or something."

"Makes sense. If the world decides to end again he’ll be needed."

"Let’s pray that that never happens."

Duo nodded, and stifled a yawn. "Ok. I’m done. Bedtime for Duo. Tell Trowa that I say Hi, and I’ll catchya later, Q."

"Take care, Duo."

"You too."

Duo hit the off button and stretched his arms over his head, his back beginning to ache. It was definately time for bed.



~*~

With a few swift strokes on the touchpad, Heero closed down Word. That was it. Done. He was doing no more on that damn piece of coursework! His flatmate looked up, probably alerted by the absence of keyboard noise.

"You done?"

"Yeah."

"Great! We should celebrate, man!"

"Christie still has a way to go."

"Aw damn. Still, she’ll be mad if we don’t wait for her."

Heero pulled up his email program and tapped in the details needed for his work to be accepted as his. "You got that right. But we should do something… how about pizza tonight?"

"I gotta better idea."

Joe stood and walked over to him. Heero looked up at his flatmate, curious.

"I’ve been living with you for three years. I know quite a lot about you. And I know that there are old friends who would love to hear from you. Lets look them up."

"Joe…"

"You’re friends with the Queen of Sanq for chrissakes! And that Winner guy in the colonies. And I think I saw that top notch Preventer who was in the newscast with the Commander standing next to you when the broadcast that peace had officially started came out."

"Chang? Was in the news?"

"Chinese guy with hair in a tight ponytail. Looked constipated, but that could have just been me."

Heero grinned. "Duo said something like that once." His eyes strayed to the picture of Duo he had stuck to the wall by his desk.

"Ahh, it all comes out!" Joe crowed. "That chick’s called Duo, huh? Weird name."

Heero grinned. He could have fun with this. "Would you like to see more of Duo?"

"Yeah! Who is she, a former girlfriend?"

"Pilot."

"I didn’t think they let girls be pilots."

"Hilde Scheibecker was a pilot and a girl. She’s one of Duo’s friends."

Joe was hooked. Heero smirked. What better way to celebrate ending your final coursework than fucking with the mind of your roomie? He opened a picture of Duo dressed in drag for an infiltration mission. Joe sighed and said how cute. He found another of Duo watching the stars. And then he opened his personal favorite.

Duo, boiler suit tied around his waist, tank abandoned, bandana keeping his hair from his eyes, covered in grease and sweat, waving a wrench at him as he hung upside down from Deathscythe’s shoulder.

Joe gaped. "That’s… That’s a guy?!"

"Did I ever say otherwise?"

Joe thought for a moment. "You bastard." He concluded.

"Funny that, Duo used to say the same."

"Anyway. I’ll order that pizza. You can look up vidphone numbers."

"I’m only going to call one of them. Chang’ll make the least fuss."

Joe sighed . "Sometimes, Hiro, fuss can be a good thing."

Heero shrugged and turned back to the laptop. The Preventers database wasn’t that hard to break into – after all, he had designed the security, and had left himself a backdoor. He found Wufei’s number, memorized it, and calculated the time difference. He should have just got into the office.

"Pizza’ll be here in 15. Get the number?"

"Of course."

"Hiro… is that the Preventers network?"

"Yeah."

"Did you just hack it, in the time it took me to order a pizza?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I think I exaggerated when I said that I knew a lot about you."

"You do. Now. You don’t know a whole lot about my past. And I’m not going to tell you. It would disturb you… make you crazier than you already are. So. Let’s call Chang."

"It’ll cost a lot."

"His private line’s free – just in case."

"Oh."

Heero rolled his chair over to the vid and punched in the numbers. Wufei answered promptly.

It was amusing to see how quickly his expression changed.

"Yuy!" he roared.

"Yeah, it’s me. I was instructed to call you."

The Chinese Preventer instantly calmed down. "Why? Is there a mission? A problem?"

Heero shrugged. "I finished my coursework and my roomie said that we should celebrate."

"Oh. That’s good. …wait a minute. Coursework? Roomie? Are… are you at school Yuy?"

"No, university. We graduate in a few weeks. So I figured," there was a cough from behind him "sorry, Joe figured that I should look up some old friends. How have you been?"

Wufei spluttered for a short while, then shook his head. "I’ve been fine. Married Sally – couldn’t find an address to send your invite to. We have a baby now, I called her Meiran. I hear from Maxwell every now and again, when he needs someone Earthside to help push something through. Winner and Barton call about once a week."

"Push what through?"

"Hm? Oh, Maxwell? He’s setting up an adoption program on the Colonies. It was going to only be L2, but Relena was misunderstood at a Press Conference by an idiotic reporter. I’m almost worried about him; he’s looking so worn down these days. But I think they’re close to completing the hard work."

"Oh." Heero was shocked. Duo was doing something so worthwhile and he hadn’t had a clue? While he’d been studying, Duo had been out helping people.

"Yuy… Heero… you’ve changed."

"I have?"

"Yes. You’re face is much more expressive, and you seem much happier. I am glad that you have found peace."

Joe’s enthusiastic cry of "Pizza!" ruined the moment.

"I see that your food has arrived. Please, Heero, call me again."

"Come to the graduation," Heero said impulsively. "Shock everyone by turning up in some sleek black car with tinted windows and sweeping me off."

Wufei grinned, a sparkle in his dark eyes. "I see that you have developed a sense of humour as well. That sounds like… fun. Mail me the details, and I will be there if I can."

"Say hi to Sally for me, and Meiran."

"I shall. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

Heero hit the disconnect button and turned to the source of the delicious smell…



~*~

Waking up sucked, Heero concluded the next morning. His nose was cold, he needed a shower and the flat smelt of cold pizza. His roommate was a snuffly bundle on the next bed over and no help whatsoever in saving him from his misery.

It was at times like this that he thought of Trowa. After all, he had been the one to introduce Heero to coffee.

Heero shambled into the kitchen part of the main room, and flicked the switch for the coffee maker – they always set it up the night before, as neither of them were coherent enough to use the damn thing in the morning.

The smell of the beverage seemed to lure Joe from his nest of blankets, and three cups apiece later they were both feeling slightly more human.

Heero found the details of their graduation, and a map of how to get to the university, then hacked into Wufei’s terminal at the Preventers and set the map as his background and the details scrolling across his screen as a screensaver. Joe, looking over his shoulder, laughed.

"Bet he’ll be pleased to see that!"

"I’m just glad that I haven’t lost my touch."

"If you’re this good a hacker, why aren’t you doing a computer course?"

Heero raised an eyebrow at his roomie. "The point of coming here was to learn, not sit there, bored stiff, going over things I knew when I was eight."

"But you’re doing a mechanics course," Joe pointed out.

"I enjoy mechanics. And it’s only an evening course. And even if I do know how to fix a Gundam, and I knew everything on that course, I still enjoy doing it from a fun perspective. And restoring that motorbike was fun! I had half a mind to send it off to Trowa or Wufei, but I think I love it too much."

"But… why cooking? I just don’t get it."

"I never learned how to cook."

Joe shook his head. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You. Are. Goddamn. Weird, Yui."

"I don’t just cook. I do that English course too. And the one on chemistry."

"Only cause you like blowing things up."

"You’re mistaking me for Duo. He was demolitions."

"Someone’s feeling chatty today."

Heero shrugged. "You’ve put up with me for three years. Now I’m repaying you for not barraging me with questions, even though you wanted to ask them."

"For the first four months I was afraid you’d shoot me. You know… that Chang guy was right. You really have changed."

Heero laughed. "You’re telling me that it’s a bad thing?"

"Not at all. I like the person you are now. But… you should meet up with the other pilots. See how much you’ve all changed. Sorta like a reunion."

"I’ll suggest it to Chang at Grad. Now, don’t you have a workshop to go to?"

Joe looked at his watch. "Crap! But you do too; they want you in the Garages. I forgot to tell you yesterday."

"Damn. Now you say! Come on, let’s get going."



~*~

Heero met up with Christie for lunch. They went to a small French café that Christie had discovered in their second year, and ate leek and potato soup.

"So, Joe mentioned that you’ve finished your coursework."

"Aa."

"And called an old friend?"

"Aa."

"And hacked into the Preventers database, and then into a Preventer’s account."

"It was the old friend’s; he wouldn’t mind. Just scream about injustice for a while."

"Oh."

"I might go visit him after Grad, see the baby."

"Baby?!"

"Aa. Sally’s only three years older than him. Funny that…"

"Funny?!"

"Hn."

Christie’s curiosity got the better of her. "What’s the baby called?"

"Meiran."

"May ran?"

Heero spelt it out for her. "They’re Chinese," he added helpfully. "It was the name of his dead wife."

"Oh… that’s sad."

"She died a while ago. Even before L5 self-destructed."

"You’re very forthcoming today."

"Must be the relief at our imminent parting."

"Watch it, mister!"

Heero grinned at his lunch partner and rummaged in his pocket for enough credits to cover their meal. He stood, grabbing his roll to eat on the way home.

"Hiro! Wait up!" Christie called, hurriedly tying her sweater around her waist and jogging after him. "You paid again. I told you to stop doing that," she scolded. "Makes me feel like I need charity."

"One day, I’ll let you see my bank statement, and then you’ll stop worrying. Saving the world is a high paying job, you know."

"But-"

"But nothing. Besides, I wanted to," Heero admitted, looking at her from under his hair. Christie shook her head.

"You need a haircut," she muttered, but let the subject drop.

They walked along in companionable silence, Heero munching on his bread. That was the nice thing about Christie, he mused. She knew when to shut up. Unlike his loquacious roommate. But Heero had discovered fairly quickly that he needed some babble in his life. The absence of Duo’s cheerful voice was strangely grating. So he had looked at the notice boards, and there was one particular piece of paper begging in extremely cheerful and sarcastic terms for ‘an escape from the loving clutches of my current rudemates.’

He had called the number. He had got Joe. He had regretted it many times, but never to the point of actually kicking the other guy out. After all, his little one bedroom flat was too quiet without him.

Christie poked him. "You’re thinking too hard. You go all blank when you do that. And your eyes narrow in this sorta death glare. Quittit. It’s scary."

"It’s called a Glare o’Doom™" Heero told her with a grin.

"Who the hell came up with that one?" Christie asked incredulously.

"Doesn’t matter."

"Ah, you’re back to being evasive again. Here’s the Hiro Yui I know and love."

"Aw, Chris, you love me? I never knew!" Heero said theatrically. "Lets run away together and have lots of little maggot children!"

He then proceeded to throw his friend over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift and run off down the hill to his flat with her.

She shrieked and kicked the entire way, but he was quite pleased with himself. They made quite a sight after all.



~*~

Beep beep… Beep beep… Beep beep…

"Hello?"

"Hey, Q."

"Oh, Hi Duo! How are you doing?"

"Oh, same old same old."

Duo’s eyes looked worn, Quatre noticed. There were fly-away’s sticking out of his braid.

"Oh, that’s good. Trowa’s around here somewhere…" Quatre looked around at his tall bodyguard. "Come and be polite," he hissed. Duo laughed, and Quatre was glad to hear that sound.

"So, how’s the little princess?" Trowa asked, coming to sit in front of the camera with the blond.

"There was a beautiful picture today. It appeared mysteriously on the ‘fridge. It’s really pretty, want to see it?"

"Sure!" Quatre said smiling. Duo got up, and Quatre pointed excitedly at the small blonde head that could be seen over the arm of the sofa, the long hair shadowing the features. After Duo had been gone a short while, a small, worried blue eye appeared, glanced at the screen, and quickly vanished again. Duo came back and proudly showed them the picture, a crayon sketch of what appeared to be a view from a window.

"Wow!" Quatre said in pretend awe. "That picture show real skill, that it does!"

The girl on the sofa looked up quickly, and then hid again. Trowa winked.

"I love it. Think we could have a copy for the office?"

"I don’t know… it might be copyright. You’d have to ask the artist."

"Can we meet this young genius to ask?"

"I suspect its invitation only."

But a small hand had appeared on Duo’s arm. The braided man looked around and smiled. There was a soft hushing sound, almost too faint for the microphone to pick up, and then Duo turned to the couple with the widest grin Quatre had ever seen spread all over his face. "My oh my! This esteemed artist has given you permission. I’ll scan it in and send it to you. But right now I have a treat of hot chocolate milk to give to a certain someone."

"We wouldn’t want to deprive them of their treat," Trowa said.

"No, we wouldn’t. Take care, of both of you."

"Always do, Q. Bye!"

"Bye."

"Goodbye."

Quatre stared at the blank screen for a few seconds, then turned to Trowa and wound his arms around his partner’s neck. He breathed in his lover’s comforting scent, and sighed.

"She looked pretty cute, from what I could see," Trowa commented.

"Mmm."

"That went really well, from what Duo was telling us. She actually spoke to him while we were there."

"We couldn’t hear her, though," Quatre said, his voice slightly muffled by Trowa’s shirt.

Trowa thought for a few minutes. "Well, from what Duo told you before, the mike probably wouldn’t be able to pick her up unless she was leaning over it," he suggested, stroking Quatre’s blond hair.

"What kind of frame should we put the picture in? And should we have it in the office or in the penthouse?"

"I think the office… that’s where you told Duo that you’d put it after all. Let’s wait ‘till we have the picture before we decide on a frame."

"Ok."

"Now, don’t you have some work to do, love?"

"Oh yes… I’d better start it."

Trowa smiled gently as his smaller lover turned back to the paperwork that awaited him on his desk.



~*~

"This sucks!" Heero hissed, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. "Remind me again why the hell I went to Uni?"

"Obviously not because you wanted to graduate," Joe said with a grin, adjusting his own headpiece to sit at a jaunty angle.

"I look like a complete idiot."

"Maroon is not your colour, it has to be said."

"Why are we still following this outdated tradition?"

"I dunno. Maybe you should have taken a history course, then you would know. Come on, let’s get out of here."



"Can we ceremonially burn these after we graduate?" was the first thing Christie said when she saw them. She was tugging on the sleeves of her own… maroon… monstrosity? And looked extremely pissed off.

"Come on, let’s go!" Joe said, far too cheerfully, in Heero’s opinion. "This marks the end of three years of torture, guys!"

Christie whapped him on the back of the head, and the trio headed off to the front lawn, where the ceremony was taking place. It was a lovely sunny day, but neither Heero nor Christie were paying attention to the weather. Joe was too busy rubbing the back of his head to really care.

The ceremony went as planned. As Heero rose to take his scroll from the head, he noticed a sleek, black car with tinted windows pull up. He was careful to keep a straight face – wouldn’t want anyone suspecting that he knew anything about this ‘odd occurrence’ after all.

Once the final speech had been given, Heero walked over to the car. Wufei was leaning casually against the side, his hair slicked into a tight ponytail and sunglasses hiding his eyes from view. He was dressed in the typical Preventers style; white tank, jacket, dark trousers and boots. His dog tags glinted in the sun. He looked great, Heero decided. And he was attracting a hell of a lot of attention.

"Yuy!" Wufei barked. Heero could tell that he was enjoying himself immensely. "I have orders to take you away, whether or not you resist. Minor injuries acceptable. Will you come quietly?"

"Hai, baka. O genki desu ka?" Heero said, keeping his tone harsh and counting on the knowledge that no one else around him spoke Japanese, as far as he knew.

"Genki desu," Wufei said threateningly. Sally wa kisama ni aitakute."

Heero nodded and scowled. "Hai. Ikuze."

"Get in the car."

Wufei opened the door, and Heero climbed inside. All of his yearmates were gaping and whispering amongst themselves. As soon as they had pulled away from the curb, both Heero and Wufei burst out laughing.

"Oh man, that was great!" Heero exclaimed.

"They were completely taken in," Wufei agreed. "Don’t you want to say any goodbyes?"

"Naw… actually, where are we going?"

"To the Preventers Headquarters on the other side of this city. The local forces have greeted us with mixed awe and resentment. Awe because we’re pretty well known, resentment because they’re not quite sure why we’re here."

"Stepping on local toes, Chang?"

"Only if I have to."

"Well, seeing as we’re not going out of town, I’ll come back tonight and say my goodbyes then."

"All right. It’s good to see you again, Yuy."

"Have you spoken to any of the others recently?"

"Yes. Apparently Duo is emerging from his self-imposed isolation – which I think means that he’s getting somewhere with the adoption program. He’s been contacting Trowa and Quatre regularly for the last two months. I think Quatre has found a favorite niece or nephew; there are pictures in frames all over his office. He’s created a pattern of them on the wall facing the vidscreen. I do not know much about art, but they are nice and colourful."

"Just you wait till Meiran is old enough to draw, you won’t be able to see the walls in there."

Wufei grinned. "Probably not. Oh, we’re here."

They climbed out of the car and waved to the driver, another Preventer who had sat and smiled quietly through the charade.

"Who was he?" Heero asked.

"A local who took a liking to the baby. He overheard Sally and I talking about the plan and offered his services, seeing as we would probably have had trouble acquiring a car in a strange precinct," Wufei explained as they climbed the steps and entered the foyer. He showed his ID to the lady sitting at the desk and headed to the corner where the elevators were.

"Nice," Heero commented.

Wufei nodded and they stepped into the elevator. He pressed the button for the third floor, and took off his sunglasses. Heero watched as he folded them and set them into his breast pocket.

Sally was waiting for them in a small lounge next to the canteen. She had a baby girl with dark hair and pale blue eyes in her arms, and she looked extremely pleased to see Heero.

"There you are at last! How have you been? It’s been years!"

"I’m fine," Heero said, crouching down by the sofa and looking at the baby in awe. "Hi Meiran, how’re you doing?" he asked softly. The baby girl giggled.

"You can hold her if you like," Sally said, smiling. Heero looked up at her, amazed.

"You’d trust me with her?"

Wufei looked surprised. "Of course we do, Heero!"

"But-"

"No buts," Sally said firmly. She pulled him up onto the sofa and turned slightly to face him, then handed him the baby. "Hold her upright with the crook of your elbow… that’s it. Now, be careful she doesn’t grab your hair, or necklace- Heero? Why are you wearing a chunk of black gundanium around your neck?"

Heero looked down in mild surprise. "Huh? Oh, this?" He held the smooth curve of metal up to his eyes and grinned softly. "It’s from Deathscythe. Duo gave it to me."

"And you’ve held on to it all this time?"

"I hardly ever take it off; I forget that it’s there. Like dog tags, I guess." Heero shrugged. "It’s just a bit of gundanium."

But it wasn’t, Heero knew. It was the first present he’d been given since that little girl gave him a flower. It was a memento of a dear friend. And it was a reminder that Duo was always there for him.

Meiran cooed and grabbed for the shiny metal. Heero chuckled and gave it to her to play with. It was gundanium, after all. What could a baby do to hurt it?



~*~

Duo was pleased. Terri had actually sat next to him when he called Quatre for the past week, and their shopping trip for new clothes and a few new books had gone very well, even better than the trip before it, the one just after he’d called Quatre for the first time. He had managed to get the new adoption scheme working, and he had people converting old buildings all over the colonies. Mothers who had lost their own children in the wars were expressing interest in adopting war orphans or looking after the buildings. Relena had visited last week and they had gotten some good publicity when she decided to take him out to dinner, even if he hated leaving Terri alone. The partial completion of the project meant working less hours and getting more sleep, which was doing wonders for the bags under his eyes.

So when there was a knock at the door, he cheerfully called "Come in!" without thinking twice.

He wasn’t expecting to look up into a pair of achingly familiar blue eyes, staring at him from under a mop of messy brown hair.

"H… Heero?!"

"Hi, Duo."

Duo gaped. Not his most attractive expression, he knew, but the occasion seemed to call for it. "You… here… holy shit. Why? Where?"

Heero smiled. "Yes. I, uh, graduated and felt like dropping in?"

"Graduated? School?" Duo was still having trouble splicing a coherent sentence together.

"University."

"Oh… gimmie a minute and I might actually be able to carry out a decent conversation."

"I got you coffee," Heero said, handing him a take-away cup. "Black, loads of sugar. I hope you still like it that way, cause mine’s the same."

Duo nodded, slowly, his brain still trying to assimilate the knowledge that Heero Yuy, THE Heero Yuy was standing in his office and offering him coffee. Wait a minute, standing?

"Sit down, Heero. That chair doesn’t bite, as far as I know. It might hate you for some unknown reason, but no one else has complained about random chair attacks in this building, well, except for Hilde, but that was because it collapsed under her, not because it bit her." Heero was grinning at him over the rim of his coffee cup, his blue eyes sparkling. "What?" Duo asked defensively, his mind trying to cope with the changes in the ‘Perfect Soldier’. Since when did Heero smile at him?

"I missed your chatter," Heero said. "Joe’s just wasn’t quite of the same caliber."

"Who?"

"My flatmate."

"I think I’m shell shocked."

"Drink your coffee."

Heero’s matter of fact tone made Duo giggle, and suddenly he was at ease with his old comrade. "So, I guess you heard what I’ve been up to?"

"Yeah, sounds great. Really worthwhile."

"I made a… vow? A long time ago. I finally have the means to fulfill it. Say, what are you doing now?" Duo asked, not really listening to Heero’s answer. Heero was here. Talking to him, being friendly. Did that mean he wanted to be friends then? But what about Terri? Heero didn’t know about her, he was pretty sure of that. How would she take a new person in her life? And how would Heero react to her? He turned his attention back onto Heero in time to catch the end of his answer.

"…then term ended - I just graduated. Wufei decided to mess with a few heads by picking me up in a Preventers car, but I don’t want to go into Preventers – I don’t want to kill now that I have the choice. Do you have any places here?"

"There’s probably something. Talk to Hilde, she’d know. You staying at a hotel?"

"Yes. I checked in this morning."

"Sure didn’t waste any time, didya?"

"I came here to see you, Duo. Why on earth would I waste time? And waste it doing what?"

Duo shrugged, flattered that Heero had taken the time to seek him out. He sipped on his coffee and looked Heero over. The savior of the world looked good. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans – obviously faded through use rather than chemically – and a plain white shirt. There was a rather familiar chunk of gundanium hanging on a chord around his neck. Before Duo could comment, Heero looked at him with his dark blue eyes and smiled sheepishly. The open expression stunned Duo into speechlessness, and he could only nod blankly in answer to Heero’s request to use his vidphone for a long distance call.

"I didn’t really talk to my friends before I left, and I promised to call Joe as soon as I arrived, so that he knew that I was ok and not to worry."

"Uh, sure. Um, you know his number, right?"

"Oh yeah, he’s most likely still at the flat. I’ll try there first," Heero said, tapping a number into the vid with slim, tanned fingers. It rang a few times before a cautious voice said "Hello?"

"Hey, Joe, ‘tis me."

"Hiro!" the screen sparked into life and a tall teenager with short dark green hair and brown eyes grinned up at Heero. "I take it you made it ok then?"

"Yeah, though I hate flying when I’m not the pilot."

"Say, where are you now?"

"Duo’s office on L2."

"You guys met up again then? That’s good; you’re actually taking my advice!!"

Duo grinned. Joe did remind him a little of himself. Heero reached out without looking and snagged his sleeve, pulling him in front of the camera.

"Here he is," the former Wing pilot said, grinning at him. "One Duo Maxwell, alive and unharmed."

"Maa, Heero!" Duo protested. "Man, you really got him to lighten up, Joe!" He said to the green-haired teen on the vidscreen.

"Wasn’t easy, but I think you might have started the hard work before I met him," Joe said, looking a little more serious. "Take care of my buddy, ok? Make sure he eats, and don’t let him spend too much time on his laptop, or he’ll ruin his eyes."

"Oi, oi! What am I? Incompetent?"

"Yes!" Duo and Joe said in sync. They looked at each other in surprise, then laughed.

"Don’t forget to call Christie sometime," Joe said. "I’ll tell her that you rang so that she doesn’t worry. What do you want me to tell the other guys? Your exit left lots of rumors. There are people saying that you’re a government spy, and others that you’re a clone that escaped from a lab! All completely wrong and stupid, of course."

"Naw, let them speculate. Keeps them out of more trouble. Say, I’m running up Duo’s bill here, I gotta go. See you, Joe."

"Take care, Heero, Duo. Bye!"

"Bye!" Duo said, then ended the call. "He seemed nice."

"Yeah, Joe’s cool."

"Green hair."

"It was a dare. Mine is too, but it doesn’t notice so much."

Duo stared at his former partner blankly for a few seconds, his mind temporarily unable to cope with the changes in the Japanese teen. Heero chucked. "I know I’m different, Wufei commented too. He seemed to think that the change was positive."

"Oh, yeah, it is!" Duo said, "Not that you were bad before or anything," he amended quickly.

Heero grinned. "No, I was awful," he said ruefully, "And I apologise for it."

"No sweat. Now, not that I’m trying to get rid of you or anything, but I do have work to do. If you’re serious about wanting a job, go hook up with Hilde. I’m afraid you’ll still need to fill in an application form, despite us knowing you, so that she knows where you’ll be most useful. Her office is next door."

Heero stood up and smiled at Duo. "Thanks. It... It’s nice to see you. Think we could hang out sometime?"

"Sure, though I’m pretty busy. If you do end up working here, we can probably grab lunch together most days."

"I’d like that."

"Go talk to Hilde, Mr. I-have-green-hair."

"Going, going, gone…" Heero sang as he went out the door.

Once the door had closed, Duo flopped back into his office chair with a sigh. Man! That had been weird. It was nice to see Heero again, of course, but hell! This would complicate his life even more. He just hoped that Heero wouldn’t decide to show up spontaneously at his door…

Of course, now that he had thought that, it was going to happen. Fate was bitchy that way.



~*~

"Hey, lovely?"

"Yes?"

"You know the photo by my bed?"

A small nod.

"Well, the person in that picture showed up at the office today. He wants us to be friends again. He was at school all the time that we didn’t know where he was."

"Are you happy?"

"Yes. I’m very happy that he’s back. Now, it’s someone’s bedtime, if I read the clock right."

"Ok."

A small patter of feet, and the sound of a book being put down. A sigh. "Well, that went better than I had dared hope."

… The snick of a lighter and the soft whoosh of a flame. A clunk of glass on wood.

"Solo… Father Maxwell… Sister Helen… Chumps…. Dennis… Hari… Celeste… Maria… Toady…"

"Pete… Teddy… Anna… Boyo…. Nana… Nissy…"

"We will always remember you."

"Always remember you,"

"Always light a candle."

"Light candle…"

"Always say your names."

"Say names…"

"Love you forever."

"Forever…"

Soft breathing and quiet footsteps. A door is slowly eased closed.

"Goodnight, Terri," comes a soft whisper. "Love you."



~*~

Heero lay awake in his hotel room, staring at the ceiling. He was bored. Sleep had eluded him, and he couldn’t seem to stop thinking of Duo. There was something that he was missing, and sleep would continue to elude him until he managed to pin it down. Duo had been happy to see him; as far as he could tell, the emotion had been genuine. After all, they had parted on good terms.

The other pilot looked good, healthy and… tired? But that made sense, after all. Duo had been working hard on the adoption program. Heero was a little disappointed that he had not been invited to stay with Duo, but then again, that would have been an invasion of privacy, and if Duo was tired, he might not want to entertain a guest.

Duo hadn’t talked as much as Heero remembered, but it had been three years. Still… there was something that was missing, that Duo perhaps wasn’t telling him?

Heero groaned and cursed his active brain. It was nights like these that he regretted his training the most. The Japanese Graduate rolled out of bed and searched in his bag for his laptop. Once he had activated it, he connected to the web and ran a search for Duo Maxwell. There was a lot to be found.

As he scrolled through the first page of information, he briefly considered calling room service for some coffee, or maybe hot chocolate. But it was a ridiculous time of night, the night staff was probably dozing and he didn’t want to put anyone out, so he satisfied himself with a can of Mt. Dew he found in his bag.

After all, if he was going to pull an all-nighter, it was best to have caffeine around.



~*~

Duo woke immediately at the sound of a soft, quickly stifled sob, and a scuffle. He lay quiet for a few minutes, then quietly slipped out of bed and stole down the hallway on bare feet. He gave Terri’s door a light tap before he entered.

The room was still lit – barely – by the candle, which was almost burned out. The soft light washed over the plain walls and made the shadows jump.

Duo knelt by the bed, making sure that his sleep-mussed braid fell forwards over his shoulder to fall on the floor, a clear signal to anyone who knew him who he was. He was careful not to bend too far and peer under the bed itself. Instead he rested his cheek against the rumpled sheet and started to whisper softly.

"Hey, sweetie. It’s me. You’re safe in your room; no one can get you here. I made sure of that when I fixed the alarm system myself. I know that you didn’t see me set it, but if anyone tries to get through one of the windows, there’ll be an alarm, telling us that they’re there and giving you time to hide and me time to get my knives. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, honey, and I wish that I could protect your dreams the same way…"

A stream of comforting nonsense mixed with encouraging facts. It seemed to be working; a small hand had crept out from under the bed and was now firmly attached around the last few twists of his braid.

As he kept talking, Terri slid out from under the bed and climbed into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing against his bare chest. She was shivering, but he was careful not to hold her until she touched his hand, letting him know that it was ok.

"Bad dream, huh? Want me to sit with you ‘till you sleep again?"

She nodded.

"Shall I talk?"

A small shake of the head.

"Stay quiet?"

Another negative response. Duo wracked his sleepy brain. She wasn’t going to talk to him, so he had to figure it out…

"Oh! Do you want me to sing?"

She nodded, and he smiled. "Ok, sweetie, I’ll sing for you. Lemmie tuck you in first. Any requests for songs?" He received a blink in response.

"Ok… hm…

"It’s amazing how you can speak right to my heart

"Without saying a word, you light up the dark

"Try as I may I can never explain

"What I hear when you don’t say a thing…"

He took a deep breath before starting the chorus. Terri’s eyes were fixed on his, unblinking, and he tried his best to let her know how much he loved her through a look.

"The smile on you face lets me know that you need me

"There’s truth in your eyes saying you’ll never leave me

"The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me whenever I fall

"You say it best when you say nothing at all…"

Duo continued with the second verse of the old song, smiling as he watched Terri’s eyes slide closed. It could be Terri’s theme song, he thought. And then his thoughts turned to the other person he had once sung the song about. They had been ill with a fever, and had begged him to do something to keep the nightmares away. Singing had been the only thing that he could do at the time, as he was laid up with injuries himself.

Heero…



The next day was a Friday. Duo drove Terri to the clinic before work, and then spent his morning wondering if Heero was going to show up for lunch or not. He got a surprising amount of work done, considering how distracted he was. Hilde merely rolled her eyes and covered for him as much as she could.

Sure enough, at 12:30 there was a knock on his office door, and a familiar messy head of green-tinted hair cautiously appeared.

"Come in, Heero," Duo said. "Did you bring lunch or do I need to grab my coat?"

"I… uh… grab your coat? Man, you don’t believe in greetings or something?"

Duo laughed, causing Heero to raise an eyebrow at him. "Wow, role reversal. Used to be you that was all efficient, remember?"

Heero caught the joke and laughed as well. "Yeah. Times change, I guess."

"They sure do," Duo agreed, abandoning his desk and slinging his jacket over his shoulder. "Hilde? I’m going for lunch," he called.

"’Bout time too!" came the distracted answer.

"What did she mean by that?" Heero asked as he followed Duo out of the door.

"Uh… I’ve been a little fidgety all morning," Duo confessed. Luckily, Heero seemed content enough to leave well enough alone. "Where are we going?"

"Oh, this little café place I found the other day. You probably already know it."

"Maybe yes, maybe no; I don’t eat out all that much."

"I take it your cooking has improved since the war?"

"I take it yours hasn’t?"

"Hey!" Heero protested. "I was a fine cook. It was Quatre and Wufei who didn’t know the right end of a spatula."

"Remember the first time they got kitchen duty together?"

Heero chuckled. "How could I forget? The mess took hours to clean up, and they set off the fire alarm."

"There were casualties too, mainly that poor cat."

"Well, it shouldn’t have been sniffing around our kitchen, then."

"Probably attracted by the smell."

"It was rather fishy, wasn’t it?"

"I’ve never been able to figure out why, seeing as they claimed to be making spaghetti bolognaise."

"I’ve never dared ask."

The secretary grinned at the pair on their way out of the lobby, and Duo favored her with a wave. Heero ignored the petite blond. Duo was glad to realize that however much his old partner had changed, there were some things about him that stayed the same – namely his hostility towards anyone he did not know or trust.

The café, as he predicted, was one that he hadn’t been to before. It seemed like a nice, quiet little hole-in-the-wall place, and the smells from the kitchen were divine. They found a table where neither of them would have their backs to the door, and a waitress came promptly to take their order.

"Well, this is cozy," Duo commented after the waitress had bustled off.

"Yeah. You like it?"

"Uh huh. Smells good."

"I’m surprised you don’t know about it."

"Like I said, I don’t eat out much."

"According to office gossip, you don’t get out much, Duo."

"Ow! Stung!" Duo cried, clasping a hand to his chest dramatically.

"Baka."

"And proud of it. Seriously, though, I’ve been too busy."

Heero frowned. "I always thought that you would be the one to go out the most."

Duo shrugged. "I did when I first got here, before the work started piling up," before Terri came along his mind added silently. But Heero didn’t need to know about Terri. Unless he was planning to stay for a long time. Besides, if he knew, he would want to see her. And she wasn’t ready for that yet.

The arrival of their food cut short his musings, and they spend the rest of their time together chatting about the work still to go on the ‘orphanage project’, as Duo had taken to calling it.



Heero vanished after lunch, to go apartment hunting. Duo was both pleased and wary about the proof that Heero was apparently intending on staying for a while. The braided man decided that he would tell Heero about Terri next week, once he had found a place and was settled into the office.

Terri was quite cheerful that evening. She sat quietly at Duo’s side, watching the movie he had picked up for them on the way to the clinic. They ate pizza from the freezer for dinner, finished off with an apple pie Duo had made himself. Duo was almost sad when the evening came to an end.

"Hey, munchkin, want to bake a cake tomorrow?"

"Kay," Terri said, nodding.

"Chocolate? Lemon? Orange?"

Terri chewed on her lip. "Chocolate ‘n’ orange togevver?" she asked hesitantly. Duo beamed at her.

"Sweetheart, that’s a great idea! Shall we both go shopping tomorrow to get the stuff to make it?"

Terri nodded.

"Ok, precious. Now, it’s time for bed."

"Ok."

Terri scampered off, while Duo went into the kitchen to find his lighter and a new candle. He waited patiently while Terri finished getting ready for bed, and then stole softly into her room. He moved to the bed and pulled the covers up to Terri’s chin, before kissing the little girl on the forehead, then moved to the window and placed the new candle in the holder, knowing that Terri’s blue eyes were watching his every move as he lit it.

"Solo… Father Maxwell… Sister Helen… Chumps…. Dennis… Hari… Celeste… Maria… Toady…"

"Pete… Teddy… Anna… Boyo…. Nana… Nissy…"

"We will always remember you."

"Always remember you,"

"Always light a candle."

"Light candle…"

"Always say your names."

"Say names…"

"Love you forever."

"Forever…"

The yellow flame wavered, and then rose tall, mirrored by its twin in the glass.



Saturday was scheduled to be a sunny day, so long as there were no malfunctions in the weather system. Sometimes Duo missed the unpredictability of Earth, but the weather on the colonies sure did help with fore planning. Terri would also be scared by the differences on Earth. Still… he looked forward to taking her there when she was older.

Duo showered, re-braided his hair and moved into the kitchen to make waffles, their traditional Saturday breakfast. Weekdays, he ate toast and she had cereal. Sundays were pancake day.

Terri was already up, sitting quietly at the table with her colouring pad. Duo was careful not to look straight at her. He moved to the ‘cooking’ area of the kitchen and started fussing with the waffles and maple syrup, before casually saying;

"Good morning. Sleep well?"

"Yes."

"Maple syrup and ice cream on you waffles, princess?"

"Please."

"Remember what we planned to do today?"

"Bake cake."

"What flavour was it again?"

"Chocolate ‘n’ oranges."

"Mmmm, sounds almost as yummy as these waffles will be," Duo said cheerfully, getting the ice cream out of the freezer. He scooped a dollop onto the top of each steaming waffle, and returned the box. When he turned around again, the plates had ‘mysteriously’ migrated from the work surface to the table. Duo grabbed the maple syrup and some cutlery.

He spread the syrup liberally over both their plates, knowing that Terri would use hardly any if she was left to herself. If he didn’t know exactly how much he was being paid, he would scrimp too. But it was important to show Terri that she no longer needed to make every scrap of food last. The rest of the week, they both ate simply and saved any leftovers. But Saturday was splurge day, and Duo loved spoiling her.

"Um…."

"Yes, princess?"

"Photo by your bed man."

"What about him?"

"Still here?"

"Yes."

"Knows?"

"I didn’t tell him about you. I kept it secret."

"He safe?"

"Yes. And he’s a good fighter. He’s good at protecting," Duo reassured her.

"Coming here?"

"I don’t think so. I didn’t ask him to. But he might, lovely. If he does, you can hide, ok?"

"Kay."

"Is it ok to tell him you’re here?"

Terri considered for a moment, then nodded.

"Ok. I’ll tell him next week sometime."

"Kay. S’he… like you?"

"Yes, he’s a lot like me," Duo told her, knowing that he made her feel safe. "He’s quieter, and his hair is shorter. He has blue eyes."

"Like me?"

"Yeah, like you, darling."

Terri nodded, looking slightly happier. Duo had to fight to keep the shock and wonder from showing on his face. He was amazed that Terri had actually initiated that conversation on her own. Hopefully, if nothing happened to terrify her again – like that incident with the stray dog at the back door; she had been mute and shaking for a week after that scare, and Duo only wished that he had been home at the time – she should be fine for a visit from Quatre and Trowa in a month or so.



Shopping with Terri was always an experience, and not always a good one. Duo always sat her on his shoulders when they went out. She was small enough, and he was short enough that she could easily duck obstacles, and he was strong enough to carry her for long periods of time, not that she weighed a lot.

The little shops that he bought their food from were small enough not to freak her out, and the shop-keepers knew now not to talk to her unless she talked to them. She walked around the shop on her own, but hid behind Duo if another customer was near.

Terri gathered the oranges on her own, placed them in a little brown bag and put them into the basket. Duo gathered the cocoa; they were almost out, and grabbed another box of baking powder. He knew that they already had butter, eggs and flour. There was something else… sugar! That was it, he had no icing sugar.

The ingredients didn’t cost a lot, so Duo slipped a chocolate bar in when he was paying. It would be nice to grate it on top.

They took the long way back, wandering through one of the parks. Terri liked watching the trees and the ripples on the small lake.



By the time they got home, it was time for lunch. After lunch, Duo looked up the cake recipe on the net, just to check, and then they proceeded to get very messy. Duo was tempted to start a food fight, but he wasn’t sure if Terri would be ok with that. He settled for dabbing cocoa powder on her nose and grinning cheerfully.

By the time they were done, the kitchen was covered in flour, but that was easy enough to clean up. Duo gave Terri the bowl to lick, and set to wiping. After all, he needed space to make the icing.

After a bit of consideration, he decided to make butter icing. Water icing was nice, but nothing could beat the creaminess of butter icing. He could remember how Sister Helen had made a cake every Christmas. Always a chocolate sponge with butter icing, because they couldn’t afford a ‘proper’ Christmas pudding with all the fruit. It had been made with proper ingredients, and everyone in the orphanage had watched in awe.

He was very careful not to curse as he pounded the icing sugar into the butter. Despite the fact that it was wrist-wrenching work, swearing terrified Terri into a shivering mess, and he had no intention of spoiling their Saturday together.

He finally – finally! – finished the icing and set it on the side, his every moved watched like a hawk by Terri, who was crouched possessively over the mixing bowl at the table.

"What do you want to do after we finish the cake, pumpkin?" Duo asked, leaning casually on the workbench.

"Stories."

"You want me to read more of the book to you?" Duo questioned.

Terri shook her head. "Stories ‘bout you. People in pictures."

"Ok, whatever you want, precious. Now, I believe it’s time for lunch."

Terri nodded and slipped away from the table to get plates and glasses. Duo grinned, and opened the ‘fridge, taking out samosas and Mt. Dew. Very bad of him, he knew, to indulge his caffeine addiction and take his little girl with him, but he was not giving up the Dew for anyone! Besides, Terri liked the stuff.

"Samosa: cold or hot?"

"Cold."

"Cool, that’s nice and easy then," he said, unwrapping the food and placing it on the plates that she had laid out. He put two pita breads in the toaster and set it on low. "Humus ok? Or do you just want mayonnaise?"

"Both?" Terri asked tentatively, hiding a little behind her chair.

"Sure. That way we can mix ‘n’ match, yeah?"

He caught a sudden movement that may have been a nod out of the corner of his eye, and went to get the humus and mayo out of the ‘fridge.



Duo was impressed with his timing – the cake was ready just as they finished eating. He showed Terri how to gently press the top to see if it was ready, and then set it on some wire racks while they tidied the kitchen.

"Now, the cake won’t be cool enough to ice for a little while, so how about I tell you a bit of a story, then we can ice it, and then I’ll tell you the rest?" he asked.

"Can… can we call blondie instead?"

Duo looked at her in surprise, but quickly covered his expression up with a smile. "Sure we can! Um… time difference…Sunday… they’ll just be getting up, so let’s call Blondie and Green Eyes at home, ok?"

"Kay."

Duo moved into the living room and dialed Quatre’s home number, barely able to believe what Terri had just said. She had actually asked for contact with someone! Maybe soon she’d be able to maybe attend school, make friends – Duo stopped himself, knowing that he mustn’t get his hopes up.

Quatre answered, looking cheerful. Much too cheerful, judging by Trowa’s sleep fuzzed face in the background. The blond billionaire had always been a morning person.

"Hey!" Quatre said, having learnt that answering the phone by chirping ‘Duo!’ unnerved Terri. "This is an unexpected treat!"

"A little girl I know requested a conversation while the cake cools enough to ice," Duo said, grinning. Terri was pressed against his hip – of her own accord – and he figured that they could see the top of her head, and maybe her eyes.

"Really? What an honour," Quatre said, smiling gently. "I’m sure my partner is honoured as well, but he is currently too sleepy to do anything other than search for coffee."

"Long night?" Duo asked with a suggestive grin.

"Corporate parties," Trowa muttered. "I’m going to get something caffeinated. Back in a bit."

"Try not to offend the kitchen staff this time!" Quatre called, with a sweet smile that was obviously only reserved for Trowa and perhaps small puppies.

"So, what have you two been up to? I can tell from your faces that it’s been messy."

"Mess?" Duo questioned.

"Dork, you have flour in your eyebrows. And that blond sweetie I can just about see has cocoa powder on her nose."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Duo said, coughing self-consciously. "Munchkin, how about you tell Blondie about our morning?"

Terri nodded, and climbed into his lap so that she could see the screen properly.

"We had waffles," she began.

"Wow, tasty. With syrup?"

"An’ ice cream."

"Yum. Just what I want for breakfast. I’ll have to tell the cook."

Terri smiled. "Den shopping. Fer cake stuff."

"Didya have fun?"

"I chose oranges."

"I bet they were the best oranges in the shop!"

"Den we cooked. Messy."

"Is it all cleared up now?"

"Yeah."

"Have you had lunch yet?"

Terri nodded.

"Was it nice?"

"We got Dew."

Trowa, who had just come back into the room, carrying a tray, smiled. "Ah, caffeine! I see that you have been converted, Princess."

Terri grinned and leaned back against Duo a little. Duo pouted at the screen. "Are you accusing me of corrupting her?" he asked.

Trowa grinned. "In the best possible way, of course."

The four of them carried on chatting for a while, before Quatre said that they had to go eat breakfast. Terri grinned when Trowa asked the blond what he wanted and the billionaire childishly replied "Waffles with maple syrup and ice cream!"



~*~

Heero was bored. He had amused himself on Saturday, doing reconnaissance. It had been quite a while since he had been to L2, and he wanted to make sure that he knew exactly where everything was. He also needed to find a more permanent place, as Hilde had managed to find some work for him managing the network and creating databases of information on the kids who were going into the program.

He found that while housing on L2 was relatively cheap, decent housing was somewhat hard to come by. He also didn’t want to live too far from the office or from Duo. He ended up using the office as his starting point, as he wasn’t too sure how Duo would take to him moving close by.

Things could always change later. If there was one thing that Joe had taught him it was the value of living from moment to moment, day to day, shifting to go with the flow. It seemed to work as well in real life as it did at University, and while clubbing.

Heero ran a hand through his green-tinged hair as he followed the estate agent – an aging woman who seemed to be considering hitting on him – into the third flat. She smelt of cabbage.

Luckily for her, the flat didn’t smell like much of anything – already a point in its favour. The first had a distinct smell of wet cat, and the second was overpowered by the smell of spice wafting up from the Indian take out place underneath. There was one room that could be used as a bedroom, another as a study. The kitchen appeared functional, and there was a breakfast bar already installed. Great: he didn’t need to buy a table, just some stools. An archway led from the kitchen into the main room, which was the furthest away from the door. An odd layout that he liked. It made relaxing areas harder to get to for intruders. No way a salesperson could shoulder themselves in the door and sit on the sofa.

The reason for the odd room arrangement was soon clear; the view was fantastic. Sweeping floor length windows allowed the landscape of one of L2’s few parks to be seen, framed by the skyscrapers on each side.

"A lovely sight, isn’t it?" the woman said softly.

"Yes… why is this place still on the market?" Heero questioned.

The woman grimaced. "The, uh, bathroom leaves a lot to be desired. Follow me."

The bathroom did, indeed, leave a lot to be desired. The paint on the walls had not been the proper, waterproof kind normally used in bathrooms, and it was badly stained. The mirror was cracked, the toilet gruesome and the tiles of the shower and bath unit badly needed re-grouting. The plug chain was eaten away with rust and that particular trail that signaled a leaky tap was clear.

Heero looked around and sighed. Unfortunately, it was the best place that he had seen so far, and for some reason his heart decided that he really liked it.

"I’ll take it."

The woman looked like Christmas had come early. "Really?" she questioned. Regret at confirming immediately swept across her over painted face.

Heero was almost tempted to smile. Almost.

"Yes. I’ll take it."

As he was signing the papers, a sudden mischievous feeling overtook him. "You know," he said as he handed her back her copy, "You would look a lot better with a different shade of lipstick. Can I have the keys?"

The woman gaped at him for a few minutes, the smiled. "Impudent, aren’t you?" she said, passing him a brown envelope. "Here you are. I know you’re probably used to all these rules and regulations, but this is L2. This is your place now. Payment details will be sent to you in the post. Oh, are you looking to buy or rent? You were undecided before."

Heero mentally reviewed his accounts. He had more than enough to buy it straight out, and an apartment in L2 would be useful even if he didn’t stay. After all, he could always rent it out himself, couldn’t he? "I’ll buy it."

"All right, I’ll tell the accountant. And the landlord."

"I’ll come down with you and meet him on the way out."

"Going out already?" she seemed much nicer now that he was talking to her and had bought a place.

"To get my things from the hotel, and to buy some furniture."

"Very well. Let’s go meet the Landlord. Mr. Jameson. I think his first name is Pearce."



A quick call from a phone booth, and Heero had people coming by the next morning to look at the bathroom. He decided to stay at the hotel until the place was habitable, after all, he had already paid until the end of the week.

There were surprisingly few furniture stores on L2. After looking around at the minimal selection in the third shop and seeing nothing he liked, Heero made a snap decision and headed for a tool shop.

Blowtorch, mask and gloves… soldiering iron and a large roll of soldier, nails, screws, a basic tool kit and a selection of paintbrushes later, he was staggering back up the stairs to his new apartment. The gear was dumped into the living space, and his luggage into the bedroom. Heero rubbed his hands together, stretched the kinks out of his back and headed out again, this time in the direction of the junkyards. He had the skills, and nothing better to do. Why not make his own furniture?

Heero spent the bus ride to the yard pondering the likelihood of being able to convert old MS pilot seats into living room chairs. He decided maybe not, but to look closely at any he might be able to find in the yards. After all, it would be quite cool to set it on a swivel base in the study, so he could swing from monitor to monitor… Joe had made him watch too many sci-fi movies. Duo would approve.

The old Duo would approve, he amended. He wasn’t so sure about the new Duo, but surely someone couldn’t have changed that much?

The bus jerked to a halt, jarring him from his reverie. Out of the window, the scrap yards stretched into the haze that always seemed to surround everything on L2. Heero stepped out of the bus, nodding to the diver as he went. He received a yellow-toothed grin in return, before the doors hissed closed and the dusty machine took off back into the depths of suburbia.



~*~

The last thing Duo expected during his lazy Sunday morning was a knock on the door. Terri immediately bolted for her bedroom, leaving a glass of orange juice rocking slightly on the kitchen table. Duo reached out and steadied it before walking down the hallway. Dammit, salespeople didn’t usually come on Sunday, and Hilde knew better by now than to visit him at home.

A peek out of the spy hole showed him a mess of green-tinged brown hair. Heero. Fuck. Not someone he could just tell to piss off. Terri wasn’t going to like this. Duo opened the door, all the time contemplating the possibilities of pretending that no-one was home and the merits of various excuses, ranging from ‘I don’t feel too good’ to ‘I’m sorry, my living room ceiling just fell in, would you mind coming back another day?’

What he did say was "Hey, Heero."

"Hey," Heero replied, hands in his pockets. He was shifting from foot to foot. "Um, I wondered if I could, uh, that is, do you have pencils and paper?"

For some bizarre reason, the image of Heero drawing in one of Terri’s sketchpads crossed his mind. "Uh, yeah, I do."

"Would it be too much trouble if I came in and, uh, drew out some plans?"

"Plans?" Duo parroted, completely out of his depth.

"Yeah, I was thinking of creating my own furniture out of scrap metal, and I work better with some idea of what I’m doing."

"OH!" Duo almost yelled, cottoning on. Right, so that was why Heero wanted drawing paper. Of course. Because the idea of Heero drawing in Terri’s sketchpads was very stupid. Yes. "Um… there’s kinda something that you should know first though, ‘cause I’m not leaving her cowering under the bed while you’re here. So, come on in, take your shoes off and let’s see if I can figure something out. You weren’t supposed to come over for at least a week you know."

Duo closed the door behind a very confused Heero, who obediently bent down to take off his shoes.

"Uh, Duo?"

"Mmm?"

"Who’s under the bed?"

"Terri."

"Terri?"

"I adopted her."

"You have a kid?!"

"Shh! Do you wanna freak her out?!"

"?!"

Duo sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He dropped down to sit cross-legged in the hallway, and after a moment Heero did the same.

"Ok, ground rules: Do not call her by her name. Pet names, like honey, darling, princess, lovey, sweetheart, munchkin, are fine. Do not look her directly in the eyes when you are talking to her. Focus on something else around the room. Don’t touch her. Do not refer to any family-type relationships between me and her. Don’t start speaking in another language, because she won’t understand and will freak out. Got it?"

"Yes."

"She’s really sweet, and she’s been getting better recently – which is why you’re in the house rather than walking off down the road right now. Ok, don’t go into her room, just hover in the doorway."

"Gottit."

"Good." Duo took a deep breath and stood up. "Here we go. Best for you not to say anything at first. And it might be better if you’re kneeling when you’re introduced. You’re still pretty intimidating, you know."

Heero smiled at him, and winked one blue eye. Duo felt like he had run a marathon all of a sudden. Baka! This, whatever it was, could wait. Right now there were more important things, like scared little girls.

He walked into Terri’s room, careful to make sure that his normally silent footsteps were audible. She was under the bed, he could tell by the sound of her breathing, so he dropped to his knees by the mattress and sat on his heels.

"Hey sweetie, we have a visitor! His name’s Heero, remember that I told you about him? We’d better think of a nickname for him now that he’s visited, huh? Like Blondie and Green Eyes. Maybe Blue Eyes. Or Muscle Man. Something. You can decide, you’re much better at naming people than I am, honey. He is strong, so he can protect you the same as me. He likes protecting little girls; he did it back during the war too."

Behind him he heard Heero give a choked sort of gasp, but he couldn’t spare the time to think of that. Coaxing Terri out was much more important.

"Anyway, he came over because he wanted to borrow some paper and pencils, for drawing. Because he’s bought a new house, and he wants to make all of his own furniture. Hey, I might even help! And you’re great at drawing, maybe you could come up with some cool ideas for him? Well, he came over for paper and stuff, but then I remembered that great cake we made yesterday, and you know that it’s a little big for us to eat all alone, so I thought that it would be nice if he came and ate with us. But before that can happen, we need to get you two introduced, ‘cause that’s the proper way of doing things in Japan, or so I’m told. He’s part Japanese, and they have lots of cool customs. He might tell you about them sometime, if you ask nicely. But first you need to come out and be properly introduced. Then we can eat cake, and I’ll get you a glass of something. Orange juice or Chocolate milk, milady?"

Terri hesitantly wriggled her way out from under the bed, one hand clenched tightly around Duo’s fingers. He gently placed a hand around her waist, and turned her to face the door, and Heero. Duo was pleased to see that the other man was already on his knees, looking at him rather than at Terri.

"There we go, lovey. Are you going to say ‘hello’?"

"’Lo."

"Hey there, little one."

"Na, Heero, how about you greet her properly in Japanese?" Duo asked, smiling brightly.

Heero quirked an eyebrow, but bowed formally. "Ohayo gozimasu."

"Now, sweetie, you bow back and say ‘Ohayo gozimasu’ back to him," Duo coached.

"’hai yo goh zai mass."

"Wow, that was really good for a first try, wasn’t it buddy?"

"Yes, it was," Heero replied smiling. He was still looking carefully at Duo, and Duo gave him a wink. "I wouldn’t mind giving you lessons in Japanese if you’re interested."

"Hey, didya hear that, precious? That would be cool, wouldn’t it? I’d have to stay with you to make sure that he doesn’t teach you any naughty words though."

Terri turned and whispered in his ear. "C’n ya speak Jap?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure I can speak Japanese. It’s been a pretty long time though," he told her, stroking a hand over her hair. "Now, as we’ve all been introduced, how about we take this to the kitchen and cut some cake? I’ll fix you that drink I promised too."

"Kay."

"Sounds good," Heero said with a smile, rising to his feet. He still moved like a fighter, Duo noticed. No movement wasted, but the grace of a cat. Terri had calmed down pretty quickly, so it would be ok for Heero to stay for a little while. Duo hoped he didn’t want tea – he wasn’t sure if they’d ever had any of the stuff in the kitchen.



~*~

Heero had paused outside the doorway to Duo’s office. He was an employee now… would Duo still be ok with eating lunch together? It wasn’t like there were a whole lot of other workers, but still-

"Quit hovering and come in already," Duo had called from inside the office. "Is it lunchtime then?"

"Uh, yeah. How…?"

"I figured you’d come around then. Are we going out or eating in?"

And just like that a routine was established. They didn’t eat together every day. Often Duo was out talking to people, or Heero too busy. They started sending each other little mails, sorting out their limited social life through their computer screens. It was surprisingly easy to get used to, nothing like the confusion he had felt during his first few months at university. Duo was just so easy to talk to.



"Terri’s out tonight, isn’t she?"

"Yeah, she started that art club."

"That’s good."

"Yeah, it’s in the centre, so she’s in a familiar place and in safe hands."

"Want to come over and help me make my bed frame? It’s really too big for me to easily manage on my own."

"Sounds cool. I’d love to!"

"Any preferences for dinner?"

"Not really, so long as I don’t have to cook it."

"We could order pizza," Heero suggested. He wasn’t sure if Duo ate healthily for his own sake or Terri’s, but he suspected the latter. His suspicions were confirmed with Duo’s moan of delight.

"Ooh, pizza! Mmm, I haven’t had that for ages!"

Heero smiled. It wasn’t so hard after all.



They still worked well together, Duo humming along to the radio perched on the windowsill, Heero content merely to listen and occasionally comment. There were lighthearted arguments over the pizza toppings and who was going to pay for it – Heero won, as Duo was helping him out for nothing – and Duo gave his opinion on everything from Heero’s décor to the layout to the deliveryman’s uniform.

Once they had finished the pizza, Duo suddenly glanced at his watch. "Oh, damn, I’d better go pick up Terri now. I wanted to go early and talk to the doctor."

Heero shrugged, smiling at Duo’s stricken expression. "It’s fine. You can carry on helping next time she has the club if you want."

"That would be great!" Duo enthused, his braid swinging over his shoulder as he stepped into his boots. He straightened up with a flourish, and without thinking Heero stepped forward and pressed a soft kiss against his lips.

He stepped back hurriedly, blushing. "Anou… arigato. For helping," he stuttered, flustered enough to slip into Japanese.

Duo had an odd look in his blue-violet eyes, but he smiled, and stepped out of the door with his jacket over his shoulder. "See you tomorrow!" he said cheerfully, with a little wave. Heero waved back, then shut the door and slumped against the sturdy piece of wood.

Why the hell had he done that?



~*~

Duo sat in his car, shaking. Maybe he wouldn’t be talking to the Doc, it looked like he’d need the extra time just to calm down enough to deal with Terri.

What had that been about? Did Heero like him? As in, like him like him? Or was it just a by-product of J fucking with his head? Shit. It wasn’t like he was unattractive, and he had a nice smell. Duo would have had had to be blind to miss the stunning blue eyes and the way he pulled off ‘bed head’, making it almost look fashionable.

But… Heero? And him? What about Terri?

His lips were surprisingly soft. And Duo knew that his hair was too, after ruffling it playfully so many times. And it wasn’t like he was straight. No, experimentation when younger had firmly fixed the label ‘bi’ in his mind. But Heero?

Duo decided that he needed to stop thinking and go pick up Terri. This could sort itself out tomorrow. Or next week. Some time that was not now. Because now was bad. Yes, it was. Never mind that he could see Heero’s lighted window from here, and that was oddly comforting. Terri. Little girl, expecting praise for pictures and hot chocolate before bed.

Duo started his car and drove in the direction of the centre.

Maybe he should call Quatre and Trowa?



"Solo… Father Maxwell… Sister Helen… Chumps…. Dennis… Hari… Celeste… Maria… Toady…"

"Pete… Teddy… Anna… Boyo…. Nana… Nissy…"

"We will always remember you."

"Always remember you,"

"Always light a candle."

"Light candle…"

"Always say your names."

"Say names…"

"Love you forever."

"Forever…"

Duo shut the door quietly behind him and paused, making sure that Terri’s breathing was still soft and even. Once he was convinced she was asleep, he headed for the office and closed the door.

Click

"Hey Q."

"Hey, Duo! How are you?"

"Um… I’m fine."

"That’s non-commital."

"Shh, don’t bother him Trowa."

"Uh, guys?"

"Yes?"

"I’ve kinda got a little problem."

"Tell us what it is, and we’ll see what we can do to help."

"Is that a royal we?"

"Trowa!"

"Oh, I’m sorry. Duo, spill."

"Ok."

"…"

"…"

"… ….look, you’re stealing my ellipsis."

"I wasn’t aware that it was copyright."

"Duo!"

"Ok, ok. Heero just kissed me."

"Kissed you?"

"Yes."

"Heero and Duo, sitting in a tree-"

"Trowa!"

"Sorry."

"So, Duo, uh, why are you sharing this with us? Other than the obvious. I’m sure you don’t need sex advice."

"No. I’m sharing because I’m confused. I have a little girl who couldn’t cope with another person around on a regular basis – well, she might but it would be a long and difficult process getting her to trust him. And Heero… well, J messed him up. I don’t know how much. I don’t know what he meant by the kiss."

"He was in uni, you know. He would have gotten some life experience there."

"I know, Tro, but I don’t know the kind of people he was hangin’ out with. I mean, they could have been pot-heads for all I know. One of them does have green hair."

"That would be the one who reminded him of you."

"What?"

"What?! Trowa Barton, we need to talk. As soon as I’m through with this paperwork and the meeting is over."

"Speaking of meetings, sorry Duo, but I think we’ll need to cut this call short."

"Man, do you guys ever stop working?"

"I do, he doesn’t. Workaholic."

"I resent that remark!"

"Ha ha."

"Ok, talk to you some other time."

"Take care."

"Make wise choices!"

"Trowa!"

Beep



~*~

Despite misgivings, Heero knocked on Duo’s office door around one the next day.

"Is it lunch already?" came a distracted voice from within.

Heero pushed open the door and threw his jacket onto a spare chare. "Yes. I brought us baguettes."

"You are wonderful."

"I’m amazed that you coped for so long without me."

"Hilde used to make sure I ate, if she wasn’t too busy. Occasionally I’d remember myself. You’re much more reliable."

"Thank you."

"How are you and Hilde getting on?"

"We get by. She teases me about my hair. I reorganized her filing cabinets, and made her computer run faster."

"Sounds good. I may have to ask you to go visit some places with me soon – damn. Terri."

"Haven’t you been away from her before?" Heero asked, handing Duo his Mt. Dew

"No, not really. She might be able to spend a little extra time at the clinic. A babysitter isn’t really an option, and although I know that she could take care of herself in the apartment, if the phone rang or someone knocked…"

"Yeah. Tricky."

"Most of the field work was right at the beginning, or nearby. Anything that’s cropped up since I found Terri, Hilde’s covered. But this is going to involve colony-hopping."

"When?"

"A few months yet."

"What’ll it involve?"

"Opening ceremonies and meetings with local authorities, electing representatives, stuff like that."

"Ok. Why will I be there?"

"You look impressive. You have a perfect memory. And you remind me to eat."

"Ok. I’m in."

They sat and munched in silence for a few minutes, Duo watching the shuttles flying over the industrial district. Heero watched Duo. The way that the light glinted in the twists of his braid. The way he sniffed the food before he ate it. The way he tugged his cuffs up to the heel of his palm if they slipped down.

"Duo?"

"Mmm?"

"About last night. I, uh, I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry."

"Uh, that’s ok."

"I didn’t, um, mean to do that."

"You didn’t?"

"No."

There was a pause, and then Duo took a breath. "It’s ok. Really. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t like it or anything."

"You liked it?"

Duo was very carefully not meeting his eyes, but he did nod. "Yes." He grabbed for his drink and took a few long swallows. "I wouldn’t mind you doing it again. But there are issues."

Heero felt the hope that had sprung up wither.

"Terri."

The hope raised its head again.

"Terri… she won’t be able to cope with you being around the house for any length of time for quite a while. Staying the night is pretty much out of the question. And, uh, staying at yours equally impossible. Not only that… I have some baggage of my own."

"We both do."

"Yeah, I guess."

"We could, uh, work that part out when we get to it. Terri is the main… issue right now."

"Mmm."

"I know that being at your house would be tricky. But could you work me into some sort of schedule? Art club Tuesdays, Heero over for dinner Thursdays?"

Duo cocked his head to one side. "Hm… that might just work."

"And until then, there are always lunch breaks," Heero said cryptically, working to keep the goofy grin off of his face. He stood and tossed his rubbish into the bin, then moved over to the desk, snagging his jacket as he went. "Don’t work too hard." Before he lost his nerve, he dropped a quick kiss onto Duo’s parted lips, and walked out of the door.

Duo paused a moment, then a smile stretched his lips. "Heero?" he called.

"Yes?" came a tentative response.

"Walk me home?"

"Sure."



~*~

Lunch Breaks… Duo contemplated the phenomenon as one o’clock approached the next day, and the arrival of a certain ex-pilot was anticipated. Normally, one ate on a lunch break. Whether the food was hot, cold, home made or bought was up to the individual. Some workers ate at the office, some traveled home, or to a friend’s house. Some ate outdoors, in a restaurant or on the roof. A large park near his building was a popular lunching spot.

Duo had been informed of the intention of spending this lunch break at Heero’s place. They were eating vegetable soup with rolls, as far as he could make out. He wondered if Heero could cook. Maybe this was going to be canned or dried soup?

There came a familiar knock on his door. "You ready?" he object of his thoughts enquired.

"Yeah, coming!"

Duo pulled on his coat, sliding his braid over his shoulder while he put it on, and then tossing it back to fall between his shoulder blades. He opened the door and grinned at Heero.

"Maybe I should cut it all off?"

"Don’t you dare!" Heero threatened as they walked towards the stairwell. "I love your hair. It’s beautiful."

"Hmm."

"Besides, you’d give Terri a heart attack if you came in with short hair."

"You have a point, 01, you have a point."

Heero pouted. It looked adorable. "Don’t call me that, or I’ll call you 02 all the time!"

Duo was still recovering from the shock of seeing Heero ‘Omae o korosu’ Yuy pouting. Pouting of all things!

"Now there’s something I never thought I’d see," he muttered as he got into Heero’s car.

"Hm?"

"You pouted."

"Learnt from the best."

"Would that be me or Q?"

"No comment. I value my ass."

"Baka-yaro."

"Takes one to know one!"

"I dunno why you drive to work," Duo commented, changing the subject.

"I normally walk. But I knew that we would want to get there and back quickly today, so I drove."

"We can take a slightly longer lunch break, I am the boss you know. And we won’t be doing this every day, will we?"

"I don’t know. This is an experiment as it is. Just go with the flow."

"Never thought I’d hear you say that."

"Here we are."

"Good, I’m starving!"



Heero had done a lot of work to the apartment, but it was still far from a ‘home’. Still, what he had done so far seemed to suit him, and there was no rush. The soup – homemade after all – was simmering gently in a pot on the hob. Heero handed him a steaming bowlful and a spoon, then directed him to the sofa to eat.

"Haven’t quite got around to making a table yet."

"Naw, I always thought eating on the sofa was more decadent anyway."

"It’s defiantly more comfortable!"

"Did you make the rolls too?"

"No, my culinary skills don’t go that far. Can you make bread?"

"Never took the time to learn. I can cook though."

"I figured that you could. You have a little girl after all. How is she?"

"Terri’s good. I broke the subject of you coming over for dinner. She didn’t seem too upset, wanted to know if you’d talk Japanese again."

"That sounds good."

"It’s brilliant! If she’s ok with you this quickly, we might finally be getting somewhere. Apparently another girl at the clinic has been interacting with her without her freaking out. Maybe she’ll actually be able to go to school sometime."

"Hey, don’t get ahead of yourself," Heero scolded gently. "Don’t get your hopes up. I hate to see you disappointed."

"Aww, you’re so cute!" Dup enthused, setting his bowl aside and hugging Heero, who had to quickly put his down, or he would have had hot soup all over himself. Duo smiled and snuggled a little as Heero returned the embrace and kissed him softly on the forehead.

"We should finish eating first."

"I’d rather eat you," Duo said before he thought. Then he realised what he had said, and blushed bright red. Heero chucked, and moved so that Duo was sitting across his lap. He reached over Duo’s legs to pass him his abandoned bowl.

"Thanks."

They ate in silence, content in each other’s company. Heero finished first, putting his bowl on the as yet uncarpeted floor. He wound his arms around Duo’s waist and rested his chin on his shoulder as he watched Duo eat.

"This is nice."

"Yeah."

Duo’s spoon hit the bottom of the bowl with a thunk. The braided man set it on the floor, and twisted so that he was lounging next to Heero, with his arm over Heero’s chest. Heero smiled at him.

"Comfy?"

"Yeah."

"Kiss me?"

"With pleasure."



~*~

Duo was flapping. Heero found it vaguely amusing. His… boyfriend? They hadn’t consummated anything, so yes, his boyfriend was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"White wine or red? Do you think I should get some champaigne?"

"I’m sure they’d be happy with anything they’re offered."

"Do you think I should get Terri to dress up?"

"Does she enjoy dressing up?"

"Yes, we play the princess game and I do her hair in crazy styles."

"Then dress her up."

"In what?!"

"Whatever she wants to wear."

"Oh God! What should I wear??"

Heero rolled his eyes and grabbed Duo’s arm. He pulled him against his chest and ran a hand along his braid, knowing that the motion seemed to soothe him. "Calm down, Duo. It’s only Quatre and Trowa. They’ve both eaten ration bars and that rat stew you made us once."

"But that was in the war. It’s different now."

"Why should it be? We’re friends, aren’t we?"

"…Yes..." Duo said, peering up at Heero though his overly long fringe.

"So quit fussing."

Duo dropped his head onto Heero’s shoulder. "Ok."

"Now, get your jacket, and let’s go home and clear up the apartment. Terri’s still at the clinic, and their shuttle comes in at 5. You wait outside with Terri, and I’ll go meet them. Then they can greet Terri in the carpark, and we can all go back. Got it?"

"Got it."

There was a pause. "What are you waiting for then?"

The tips of Duo’s ears turned pink. "I kinda like it when you hold me like this."

Heero laughed.



The apartment was already mostly clean, as Duo had quickly discovered that letting things get messy and then clearing up in one go freaked Terri out. So he had learnt to tidy up as he went along. To compensate for this, his study was always a mess.

"Is there a spare bedroom here?"

"Oh, they’re not staying here."

"Terri?"

"Yeah. I’d love to have them, but they already said that they’d booked a hotel. It’s nearby."

"Ok. So why the huge tidy up?"

"Because they’re coming over for dinner!"

"Do you need to start cooking?"

"Ok, so they’re coming over for take out. Which you are fetching."

Heero rolled his eyes and flopped onto the sofa. "Everything is planned. So come here and let me hold you for a while."

"But-"

"Duo."

Hesitantly, Duo moved across the room and settled onto his chest, wrapping two arms around his shoulders. Heero started to gently rub his back and massage his neck, smiling as he felt him finally relax.

"Heero?"

"Yes?"

"I’m sorry."

"Hey, it’s ok. It’s the first time you’ve seen them for ages. It’s natural to be nervous."

"Mmm…" Duo sighed and settle more firmly against Heero. "I dunno what I’d do without you."

"Explode," Heero said with a soft smile.

"You know, I like the new you."

"Hm?"

"You never used to joke with me, and I could never imagine you doing anything like making me lunch or worrying about me."

"I was a different person then. And I wasn’t allowed."

"Allowed?"

"J wouldn’t let me. He monitored me all the time."

"Oh. That sucks."

"I survived, and it made me stronger."

"It also made you unhappy."

"It was a lonely life. But I have you now, so I’m not alone anymore."

"Aww. You’re so cute sometimes."

"I’m not cute!"

"…protesting just makes it cuter."

"….hn."

"Oh! Heero! Don’t start that again!!"



~*~

Heero stood at the gate, his hands in his pockets as he watched the people walk through security and into the arms of their loved ones. Shuttle ports… the one place where people of mixed nationality and background mingled with similar emotions. Annoyance, exhaustion and relief that another journey was over.

"Heero!"

Quatre’s high voice cut though the throng, Trowa an ever-silent shadow following. Behind the slender pair, Rashid’s muscular form loomed, followed by Abdul. The Mangunacs seemed to be carrying the baggage.

"Hi, Quatre, Trowa."

"I’ve missed you! Being a CO is so boring… if I didn’t have Trowa, I swear I’d go nuts! How have you been? You look well. Where’s Duo? And the princess?"

Heero smiled at Quatre’s babble, and turned to Trowa. "Any comments?"

Trowa’s one visible eye twinkled. "Is your hair green?"

"Yes it is."

"Ok."

"Maa, Heero-kun, how come you answer Trowa and not me?" Quatre said, pouting.

"Missed you too, I bet it is, I’m good, thanks, outside in the car park, with him."

Quatre blinked. Trowa laughed. "Well done. Let’s go."

"Master Quatre?"

The small, blond businessman – although he didn’t look the part, both he and Trowa were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Heero was in an untucked shirt and jeans, while both Rashid and Abdul were wearing suits – turned to his bodyguard with a smile. "You can get a taxi to the hotel. Or, if you like, you could sort out a car for while we’re here. Whatever you think is best."

"Yes, Master Quatre."

"Make sure you get some rest, and don’t forget to eat dinner. Trowa and I will be eating with Duo and Heero."

Rashid nodded, and moved off with Abdul in the direction of the baggage claim. Quatre hitched his rucksack higher on his shoulder. "Shall we?"

Heero nodded, and led them in the direction of the carpark.

Duo was leaning against the side of his car, talking to the little blonde girl sitting on the roof. The braided man was talking animatedly about something, while Terri nodded along, a little smile on her elfin features.

Heero guided the two visitors so that they slowly approached from the front, and halted them a short distance away. "Duo!" he called.

Duo turned around and smiled. "Trowa! Quatre!" He gave into his impulses and ran forward to give them a hug, leaving Terri on the car roof. Heero, seeing the lost look beginning to creep into the little girl’s eyes, moved forward and leaned against the car, a few inches away from touching her.

"You know Blondie and Green Eyes, don’t you Princess?"

He caught Terri’s nod out of the corner of his eye.

"They’ve been really looking forward to seeing how pretty you are in person."

He thought her mouth twitched upwards in a slight smile. But the real proof of how useful he was being was the way she shifted so that her foot now brushed against his shoulder.

"Do you want to get down from there and go meet them?"

"Kay."

Ninmu Kanryou. Now, hopefully, as she had spoken to him and touched him of her own accord, she would be ok with him lifting her off of the roof. Smiling, Heero turned around and held out his hands for her to jump into if she choose. She gave him a little smile in return and did so, trusting in him to catch her before she could fall. The feel of her little arms wrapping instinctively around his neck was one of the best moments of his life as he cradled her gently and set her on her feet. As they walked together towards the other three, her hand slid into his and he squeezed it gently.

"If you guys could stop talking for a moment, we have a lady present," he said, still smiling.



~*~

Heero rang the doorbell, balancing boxes of Chinese take-out precariously in his arms. There was a quick patter of feet, and then a bright eyed Duo pulled open the door and relieved him of half of his load.

"Missed me?" Heero asked, smiling. Duo grinned back and leaned in to place a kiss on Heero’s cheek.

"Always."

"Let’s serve this up before it gets cold."

"Sounds good to me. To the Kitchen!!"

As they passed the living room, Heero caught a glimpse of two blond heads leaning over a very colourful sheet of paper. Trowa was lounging in an armchair, looking on. Then Duo caught his arm and tugged him on, intent on his quest to find plates and chopsticks.

"Duo…"

"What?!" Duo asked, opening and closing cupboards.

"They gave me a set of wooden chopsticks with the meal."

Duo’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Heero… you didn’t tell me this?!"

Heero found himself backing into the fridge. "Sorry?" he offered hesitantly. Duo’s eyes softened a little, and he pressed a swift kiss to Heero’s lips before twirling round and making a beeline for the bags. Heero had to dodge to prevent the end of a silky brown braid whacking him on the nose.

Trowa sauntered into the kitchen. "Need help?"

"I think Duo’s got it covered."

"Shut up you, and help me carry things."

"Yes sir!"

Heero was pleased to see that Terri was relaxed with Quatre and Trowa, perhaps almost more relaxed than she was with him. She sat next to Duo and across from Heero. Heero quickly discovered that he was required to teach her the ‘proper’ way to use chopsticks.

"Wha’ d’ya say in Japanese when it’s time t’eat?" she asked. Even with his sensitive hearing, it was hard to hear her voice.

"Itadakemasu."

"Ee-ta-da-mass?"

Duo smiled. "Almost, princess. Itadakemasu. Ee-ta-da-ki-mass."

"Itadakimasu."

"Well done!" Quatre said, smiling. "Would you like some rice?"

"Yes please."



~*~

"Did you have fun tonight?" Duo asked as he set a fresh candle in the holder.

"Yeah."

"Blondie and Green Eyes are staying for a little while longer. Would you like to do more things with them?"

"Please."

"Well, you never know what might happen, princess." Duo lit the candle and watched the wick flare up. "Solo… Father Maxwell… Sister Helen… Chumps…. Dennis… Hari… Celeste… Maria… Toady…"

"Pete… Teddy… Anna… Boyo…. Nana… Nissy…"

"We will always remember you."

"Always remember you," Terri echoed

"Always light a candle."

"Light candle…"

"Always say your names."

"Say names…"

"Love you forever."

"Forever…"

Duo smiled at the little girl in the bed, then turned to go, leaving the room highlighted in a soft golden glow.



~*~

The next day, Duo and Heero had to work, Duo at the office and Heero out on site. After much begging, pleading, and checking with Terri, Quatre and Trowa were allowed to take Terri out for the day.

"No where crowded, she hates crowds. Don’t let anyone talk to her – stick her on Trowa’s shoulders, if she’s ok with that. Let her eat sweets if she wants, we eat pretty healthily, but not too many or she’ll be sick. Careful not to tire her out, she gets antsy if she doesn’t have the energy to escape-"

"Duo, I swear, you worry too much."

Duo glared.

Quatre giggled.

"We’ll be fine, and we’ll have a great time! Call me on my cell when you get in from work, and we’ll take her home. We have the number for the clinic, and we know the number to the private line in your office, and your cellphone number. Everything will be fine. Stop worrying so much, you’ll have a nervous breakdown."

"Ok, ok, you win!" Duo said, opening the front door. He bent down to give Terri a hug. "Be good for these two, ok sweetie?"

"Ok."

"Make sure you keep them out of trouble. Love you."



~*~

Duo made a face as he looked at the mess that had been one of his favorite shirts.

"Hilde!"

"I’m really sorry!" his crimson cheeked partner babbled, pulling out a pack of tissues.

"I don’t have a spare at the office!"

"I didn’t mean to spill coffee on you! Maybe you can borrow one of Heero’s?"

"He’s really busy right now, I don’t wanna disturb him."

"Duo… I’m so sorry."

Duo sighed. "It’s ok. I’ll go to his and borrow one. I have a spare key. I was going in ten minutes anyhow, and I’ll not get any work done now."

"Sorry."

"You’re forgiven."

Duo decided to take his car to Heero’s, rather than leaving it at the office. The only space left was right outside the apartment block, so he figured that he would leave that one for Heero. He parked in a side street and jogged over, his stained shirt damn and clammy against his skin. Did coffee stains come out? He hoped so.

Heero’s apartment was warm, and the sunset streamed in though the windows of the front room. Duo unbuttoned the shirt as he made his way to the kitchen, and placed it in the sink. He ran some water, to hopefully diffuse the coffee, and went to the bathroom to wash his sticky chest.

"Heero better get back soon," he muttered to himself. "I don’t really want to rummage through his closet on my own…"



~*~

Heero shut the door behind him with a sigh. Work had been hell. Gentle hands smoothed over his shoulders, making him jump.

"Duo!"

"No one else has the spare key.

"What about Terri?"

"Still at the clinic. She’s ok, I’m leaving to pick her up in about an hour and a half."

"Ok…" Heero relaxed into Duo’s warm embrace. There was something… different. Something missing. "Duo, where’s your shirt?"

A flush crossed Duo’s face. "I spilt coffee over it. It’s soaking in your sink, I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t want to borrow one of yours without asking."

Heero smiled. "That’s fine. Come on; let’s get you a new one. I want to get out of these clothes anyhow."

Duo smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "Thanks!"



Only it didn’t quite progress that way. Duo’s warm hands found his shoulders again once he had taken off his own shirt to change. They slid down his torso, one brushing a nipple as it passed. Heero reacted without thinking. He pivoted in the loose embrace and punched Duo in the face.

Duo stared at him in shock, a hand to his cheek, which was bruising fast. "Well, if you don’t want me, maybe you shouldn’t have led me on, and danced with me in the first place." he said slowly, his eyes blurring with tears. Boys did not cry. So he did the next best thing – he ran.

Shit.

Heero sighed, and lay back on his bed, a hand across his eyes. He had a pounding headache, he had just been a right bastard to Duo, and what was that about dancing? Heero’s breath caught in his throat as he remembered. A simple walk home through the dark. The sharp smell of hot metal in his nose quickly faded, replaced by the dusty smell of the L2 streets.

***

Duo smiled as Heero slipped an arm around his shoulders and spun him around, the yellow lights of the streetlamps glinting on the twisted folds of his hair.

"Dance with me?" he murmured.

"But there’s no music…" Duo protested, half laughing, half held trapped by the serious look in the dark blue eyes staring into his own.

"Sure there is…" Heero said, taking Duo’s free hand into his own and moving him across the shadowed pavement. "There’s no-one to see, the city is sleeping…"

Duo sighed, and he knew that it was a surrender. He began to move with Heero, and rested his head tentatively on his shoulder, feeling the harsh edge of his collar scrape his cheek. Heero’s breath was warm, blowing the small hairs that fluffed around his ears. His arms were steady, weaving them around the pools of gold drizzled along the pavement.

It began to rain, a soft drizzle that swept along buildings and glinted in the rays of light. Duo watched it’s approach, then tilted back his head as it hit them, feeling the cool drops smooth along his closed eyelids, slide down his cheeks in a mockery of tears. Heero held him a little tighter, and he forwent the sensation of the water in favour of his partner’s gaze. There was water in his long eyelashes, glittering and causing rainbows to arc across his vision. He blinked them away.

"Duo…" Heero whispered in a choked voice.

***

He had been so beautiful in the rain, with the raindrops gathering in his eyelashes. Heero stifled what could have been a sob. How could he have fucked up so royally?

He was only slowly beginning to realize that Duo was what he wanted, who he wanted. Suddenly Heero was up and moving, his legs moving without conscious permission from his brain. He grabbed his keys, swung the door closed behind him and jumped most of the first flight of stairs, nearly turning his ankle as he landed.

He needed to catch up with Duo. The braided man was going with the wrong idea in the wrong direction. The unexpected touch had made his old training flare up, and he had been powerless to stop it – although he had managed to pull the punch a little. Duo did not have a broken or dislocated jaw. But this was not a good beginning for them; he hadn’t reckoned on being tired and grumpy the first time Duo tried to get properly intimate with him. He was just lucky that it had been at his home, not Duo’s. Terri would have been terrified and would probably have never been able to trust him again.

It was frustrating. Every time he had to pause for traffic or was slowed by another pedestrian, he was reminded that Duo was further away. He had a good idea as to where Duo was headed – the park, or perhaps the observatory behind it. The glimpse of a chestnut head several blocks ahead spurred him to hurry faster.



~*~

Duo hurried as fast as he could, making a beeline for the observatory. He needed to see the stars. Stupid… he was so stupid. His cheek ached where Heero had punched it. How could he have read the signs so wrong?

He couldn’t have, he realized. There was no way. So… Heero must have changed his mind. Maybe realized that he didn’t want a guy with a kid. Well, tough, cause Duo wouldn’t give up Terri for anything. There were words echoing in his head, things that he could have said rather than running. They seemed to echo. He ignored them. He needed the cold dark of space, lit by sparks that burned alone, thousands of miles apart.

His world had just come crashing down. He needed calm anonymity to piece it back together.

Space glimmered through the large reinforced plastic panes, showing the tapestry of stars, glinting in their velvet bed. He felt a hot tear slide down his cheek. Boys didn’t cry. The bruise ached. The tear track felt cold, an icy scar down his face, tightening his skin.

A light in the corner of the window caught his attention, and he gasped in surprise as a pair of arms slid around his waist, and a chin rested on his shoulder. He was held so gently, but he knew that this was one embrace that he couldn’t break away from in a hurry.

"Watch…"

The green, blue and white sphere that was the Earth swung slowly into view, haloed by the light of the sun. He could feel the reflected light warming his face gently, melting away the scar of the ice.

"So beautiful… just like you."

Duo dropped his head, letting his hair shadow his face from the light streaming in through the window. But he wasn’t allowed to hide for long – long fingers pressed under his chin, and dry lips brushed his cheek.

"Duo… I’m sorry."

"Let’s go home."



OWARI!!