Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 1 Blood on the Window ❯ Warped ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

I watched Alex and Lea whispering together as they sat side by side on the shelf near the back door of the house. They were sucking on popsicles, and we were all content to let them play their own games without interference. I knew for a fact that I wasn't the only one who knew where they were, and I was a father. I'd expected the rest of them to accept me as babysitter and do what they would-Quatre, I mean. But he hadn't, and he wasn't the only one who poked his head into the kitchen.

"Like this," Alex said, gesturing with her frozen-treat, "Rana." she rolled the r perfectly.

Lea attempted to roll her own r and failed.

It was cute, listening to my daughter teach Spanish. The way she said things was never a way I would have thought about them.

"Tro," Duo said, looking like he'd been looking for me as he came into the kitchen, smiling at the girls who only gave him a moment's attention, "Heero's thinking about going out for dinner tonight, where would you want to go?"

I blinked at that, then shrugged, "I don't have a lot of cash to blow," I muttered, "So it can't be anything too fancy."

"He's paying," Duo qualified his question, "So with cash not an issue, where?"

"They set you up for that, didn't they?" I asked, grinning slowly at him.

Duo blinked like that wasn't something he'd thought about.

I scratched my nose, studying his eyes, "How about pizza?" I offered, "That way the girls don't have issues with it."

"What?" Alex asked, focusing on me.

I smiled at her and winked, "You're picky."

"Oh," she said, frowning, "I am not!" she added when she realized what I'd said, "I just don't like a lot of stuff!"

I nodded my concession, looking back to Duo who was grinning openly at them, then shook his head, meeting my eyes again, "I'll go see what they say."

"I'll just come up with you," I muttered, rising to my feet and refolding the newspaper I was holding, "Vamanos, mariposas, arriba."

"Okay," Alex said, hopping off the shelf and moving toward me.

"What's that mean?" Lea asked, following her friend with a confused expression.

"He said let's go upstairs," Alex returned, frowning at her.

"But what did he call us?" Lea pressed as Duo led the way.

"Uh…." Alex thought, "um…sedice, apa?"

"Butterflies." I returned, smiling at her.

"Yeah! Flutterbies!" she agreed, turning back to her friend.

Duo laughed.

"Que, Tio?" Alex frowned at him, her eyes curios. She knew he was laughing at what she'd said, but I figured she didn't understand herself that she'd said it.

"You're cute." he returned, winking at her, "That's all."

"That's funny?"

"No, you're cute and that makes me happy. When I'm happy, I laugh."

"Oh, okay." she smiled at him, then looked back to Lea, "My Abuela says that if we take food upstairs, we have to clean it up. So don't let juice drip on the floor."

"Okay," Lea agreed instantly.

I smiled more, glancing back at the pair as Alex continued explaining what her grandmother preached at her and Lea accepted it all as the law.

"They're precious," Duo muttered quietly, studying my eyes, "You're really lucky."

"Amen to that," I returned, smiling at him, "That's one thing I will pray for."

Duo grinned at me, heading back into Heero and Relena's room.

I paused a moment, thinking back to yesterday when she'd asked us to leave the room, wondering what she thought of us all being in there now.

The girls moved around me, moving to sit under one of the windows.

"Lea, what have you got?" Quatre asked her, leaning forward slightly from where he was sitting at Relena's vanity to study his child.

"Trowa gave me a popsicle." she replied, showing it to him with a smile-her mouth was encircled with orange, and her small white teeth were also tinted.

Quatre gave me a look, "Thanks, Uncle."

I returned the look, "And what will it do? Ruin their appetites? They aren't even out of their pajamas yet."

He looked at them again, then nodded slowly.

"I'll give them a bath when they're done," I added, moving to sit next to Duo on the bed, "Just put her clothes in the bathroom.

Quatre nodded, focusing on everyone else again, "So what's the plan?"

"Tro suggested pizza," Duo supplied before anyone could say anything.

"No," Heero muttered, "I don't want pizza."

"The girls will love it," I countered, "And that way they'll eat their fill instead of nitpicking whatever else we pick."

"What else do they like?" Heero pressed, frowning at me.

I frowned back and shrugged, thinking, "Mexican, Alexia loves fake-Mexican food."

"Fake?"

"Taco bell and crap."

"Oh," Heero shook his head again, "I want to go to a real restaurant."

"With two five year old girls?" that one left me confused.

This got me a level look.

"Well, really," I muttered, "It's not like Alex will eat anything she hasn't seen before, so we'd probably just have to buy them something to eat later anyway. Is Lea like that?"

"It's okay, apa!" Alex said, running across the room to stare sincerely into my eyes, "I'll eat whatever we get, okay?"

I blinked at her, wishing she had that attitude with me at home. Of course, Miraina would make her eat what was put in front of her, but Miraina was her grandmother and had that luxury.

"There's a place downtown called 'The Valley'," Heero said after a long pause, "It has a kid's play-room. If we go there we can get them pizza and have whatever else we want."

I considered that a moment, then nodded, looking to Quatre.

Quatre shrugged at me, "I'm not worried about Lea, she likes trying new things."

I nodded, looking to everyone else for agreement.

"I'm done, Daddy," Alex informed me with a grin as Lea moved up to her side, taking her popsicle stick and carrying both of them out of the room.

"What is she doing?" Heero asked, frowning.

"Throwing the sticks away in the only garbage can she knows of upstairs," Quatre replied with a smile.

"Is Lea taking a bath with me?" Alex pressed, placing her small hands on my shoulder to regain my complete attention.

"Yeah, if she wants to."

"Okay!" Alex ran off, grabbing Lea's hand and dragging her out of sight.

"And that's?" Heero asked, looking between us curiously.

"That's Alex getting her clothes so she can take a bath." I grinned at him, rising to my feet and starting for the bathroom myself.

Alexia and Marlea, I decided, was a very good combination.

.

"Dude," I muttered, tapping Duo's arm, "Check this out." I'd found a wicked looking hunting knife. It was the kind with a serrated blade. I thought it would be the perfect weapon for him to carry around. It suited his personality-sleek, shiny, nice to look at, but nasty when pressed against your skin and painful when under.

Duo slowed down, turning to look into the case, "Shit," he muttered, blinking at the thing.

Trowa stopped next, having heard that, and Wufei moved up behind me to look. A moment later, Quatre'd dropped behind the ladies and rejoined us.

Wufei let out a low whistle, "That looks painful."

"It's not, of course," the salesman said happily, spotting us all, "The animal is already dead. It helps break the skin easily," he pulled it out, tilting it in the light.

I don't think he realized that it was a weapon to us, and a threat.

"You guys ever hunt?"

We all shook our heads.

"Well," he muttered, changing his grip on the blade, "Once you've downed the animal, you want to gut it quickly-so you don't spoil the meat." he looked to us for our agreement on that, "So you take the skin like this…" he made a gesture like grabbing a handful of something before sliding the blade between his fingers, "And carefully cut along from anus on up." he flipped the blade so he was holding normally again, "It's really quite handy." he started to put it back in the case.

I met Duo's eyes.

"Let me see that," he muttered without prompting, extending a hand, "It's aesthetically pleasing."

"Yeah, it is quite the looker," the guy agreed, passing it over, "More people stop to stare. It's not the cheapest on the market by far, however," he indicated the price tag beneath the thing.

I was watching Duo, however, whose eyes were inspecting the razor-sharp blade with admiration. I could see the guy I'd known in that look.

"Buy it," I muttered at him quietly in Japanese, "You know you want to."

He blinked languidly in acknowledgement of my words, turning the knife to study the other side before balancing it on his finger.

"You look like a professional knife-thrower," the man muttered, studying Duo as well, "You know how?" he indicated over his shoulder a dartboard mounted on a much larger board.

I couldn't help but laugh excitedly when Duo took him up on the offer without acknowledging that, throwing it directly over the man's shoulder so it landed directly in the center of the dartboard, lodged well into it.

"Holy hell," the man gasped, staring at the still quivering thing and turning to look at us with huge eyes-Duo and I. I knew my laughter must have disturbed him, because I was getting a look from Quatre for it.

I scratched my head, not meeting his eyes.

"I know how to throw," Duo replied to his question, smiling at him, "Can you get it out?"

The guy studied him warily a moment before moving across the room to the board and yanking at the blade. He gave Duo a nervous look when it didn't budge, so Duo hopped the counter and joined him, yanking at the blade.

"You know, that's the worst of bad form." Trowa informed him, "If you can't even get it out and you threw it…"

"I know, I know." Duo muttered, "There we go." there was a crack and the knife slid free. "Hey, it's still sharp!" he exclaimed running the tip of the blade down his jacket-which cut it.

"The blade is good," the man muttered, "Takes a lot of work to make it dull…or scratch it." he took it carefully from Duo's hand to study it, "It's unmarred."

"Really, Duo," I said encouragingly, "I think you need that."

"This is the floor model," The guy muttered, "It's been thrown so many times it has a few nicks." he met Duo's eyes, "Are you interested?"

Duo grinned at him, "Let's see what kind of sheath it fits."

.

"Where have you been?" Relena snapped at Heero as we neared them. She and Hilde had come out of a toy-store, and both had a girl and a bag of toys.

"Oh, you didn't!" Trowa protested, moving forward to take his daughter from her-she looked sleepy.

"Of course we did," Hilde muttered, passing Lea over to Quatre, "Why wouldn't we?"

"Relena, you really shouldn't…" Trowa started, "I mean…I'll pay you back…"

"Shush," she dismissed him before he could say more, "I did it on my own, it's my own money, I can do what I want with it. It so happens that I want both your girls to be spoiled rotten." she flicked her hair, moving to kiss Heero, "It's your own fault, you know. You didn't ask me to watch her."

"I'm sorry," Trowa said instantly as Alex rested her head on his shoulder, "I thought you realized we'd stopped."

"What were you doing?" she pressed, meeting Heero's eyes.

"Getting Duo a new toy." he replied, smiling at her.

She looked to me, "We've asked you to keep him in check, Chang Wufei, you need to at least put out an eff…" she fell silent when Duo held his shiny-new blade in front of her face.

Whether or not this was because she was distracted by the thing, or distracted by the fact Duo was holding it as a weapon, was something else entirely.

"Ooh!" Hilde muttered, moving to take it from him.

"It's sharp," he cautioned before she could touch the blade, showing her the rip he'd made in his jacket, "Really sharp."

She giggled, running it over the end of her hair-which cut off a small lock of it.

"Why did you buy that?" Relena whispered at him.

"It's perfect for hunting," he replied, smirking at her slightly.

"You don't hunt." she countered.

He studied her eyes a long moment before taking it back from Hilde, "Good point." he put it back in it's sheath, and that back in it's box-and that back in it's bag.

Relena studied him, then focused on Heero. Heero did have a kind of effervescence about him.

His look was a challenge.

She sighed.

"Apa," Alex muttered, "Soy cansada…muy cansada."

"I know," he replied, running his hand over her hair, "Go ahead and sleep."

"Okay."

I smiled at Trowa, wondering if they spoke mostly English at home, or Spanish.

"How about you, Marlea?" Trowa muttered to Quatre's daughter, "Are you sleepy?"

"A little bit," Lea agreed, looking to her father and shaking her head, "But not much."

"Is she growing?" Duo asked Trowa.

"I'd imagine, she's five." Trowa replied, giving him a look.

Duo shrugged, "I don't remember any of the kids taking naps when I was younger…or when Lanni and I volunteered at the orphanage."

Trowa studied Duo's eyes a moment longer, "It comes and it goes." he muttered, looking to Hilde, "Did you buy her things?"

Hilde smiled at him, "No, we were going to head over to Lariatt."

He rolled his eyes.

"She wants to get me a princess dress, Apa," Alex muttered, not lifting her head, "Me and Lea."

"You don't need a princess dress, Alexia, you already are one."

Alex did sit up, frowning at him.

"I want to buy them some, Trowa. I saw some cute ones there a while ago that would be perfect." Hilde was frowning.

Trowa sighed, shaking his head, "If you want to, but…"

"They're intent on spoiling the little ladies," Duo consoled him, "So just let them."

Trowa turned and gave him a look before sighing and nodding.

"I'll buy Lea's," Quatre interjected, "Not that she needs another one."

Lea grinned at him.

"Don't ruin my gift!" Hilde protested, starting to lead us toward the little girl's clothing store.

I sighed, realizing that until Relena was in a better mood, that we'd have to follow the ladies from store to store. I knew I could shirk out on them, that it was only Heero who really had to follow, but I couldn't make myself abandon the guy. Even if I decided to, no one else would come with me.

I sighed, following the group into the store. I could tell Alexia had fallen asleep, and Lea looked about to as well.

"Look at this," Quatre muttered, ducking off to the right as we entered, picking up a small blue dress with a print of butterflies, "This is gorgeous!"

"Ooh! With her hair up in pigtails again!" Relena agreed instantly, moving up to start digging through the tags, "What size?"

"Five," Quatre replied in amusement, "Five-x."

"Ooh!" Relena found one pulling it out and looking at the girl.

"She has some black little mary-jane's as well," Quatre added, grinning, "But I didn't bring any of her frilly socks."

"I'll grab some," Hilde muttered, starting away.

"White," Quatre called after her.

I stared at him, blinking.

"She loves the silky kind," Quatre added, running a hand over the material.

"Stop staring," Heero whispered to me in Japanese.

I blinked, focusing on him and noticing that Trowa was digging through a rack of red dresses that matched what Quatre was looking at.

Heero frowned when Relena looked at him pointedly, moving to start digging through a pile of shirts.

I was given the same dirty look.

"Just look," Duo muttered, showing me a different shirt, "We'll get brownie points if we find something cute."

I laughed, not believing that.

"What?" Trowa asked, looking over at us, he was holding one of the dresses with a frown on his face, as if he were debating if he should buy it or not.

It occurred to me that Trowa was a working-man, and that a trip to a different continent for himself and his daughter would cost a pretty-penny.

"Let me get that for her," I muttered, taking the thing from him, "That way I get her love too."

Trowa flashed me a grin, "No, I've got it…"

"You're being encouraged to let other people spoil your daughter for you, Trowa." I muttered, "Just go with it."

"It's not like I can't spoil her," he said evenly, "It's just that I know what it can do."

"Ah, but I'm not giving you a choice." I added, taking the dress from him.

He gave me a slightly annoyed look, then focused on Duo, "Let me see."

Duo turned the pink shirt around to display the white kitten that was sitting proudly in the center, it said 'Kitty Cute' in darker pink lettering.

"That's cute," Trowa muttered.

"With a pair of little jeans," Duo agreed, folding the thing over his arm.

"You're not doing it, too, are you?" Trowa sounded upset.

"What?" Duo asked, blinking at him.

Trowa studied Duo for a long moment as Duo lifted a light blue shirt and studied it, having forgotten moved on.

I moved away from Trowa, having realized that my phrasing hadn't been the most tactful. I also had no idea what else to buy for this dress. Quatre had been going on about socks and shoes and hair-styles, but I had no clue what to get little girls.

"Here," Hilde muttered, passing me a pair of tights and a thing of hair…things, "Pick up a white sweater from that rack in a bit," she added, pointing at the rack Quatre was digging through, "Alex has shoes to go with the outfit, so don't worry about them."

"Thanks," I muttered gratefully.

"Next time you decide to be helpful," she muttered, "Be sure you know what you're getting into."

.

I yawned, shifting Lea's deadweight to my other arm. She was still sleeping, but because I was holding her, I didn't have to hold what I bought for her. Alex was still sleeping as well, and Trowa had fallen extremely quiet. Duo had disappeared into the store next to the kid's store, and Heero had followed him-which had Wufei looking at us a moment before going as well.

Trowa and I were strolling along behind Hilde and Relena who were busily listing the poorer points of the trio that had abandoned us.

"I'm gonna sit down." Trowa muttered loud enough for the girls to hear, though he was saying it to me.

"Good idea." I agreed, spotting a set of benches. Marlea might only be fifty-five pounds, but that was a lot of dead weight for mall strolling.

Hilde nodded back at us, so I sat, letting my girl's weight rest on my lap instead of my back and sighing.

"Why do they think they should buy me shit?" Trowa muttered darkly.

"Because you have a daughter to take care of, and this trip wasn't cheap."

Trowa gave me a dark look, "It's not like I can't afford shit."

"You looked extremely dubious on buying that dress for her," I countered.

"I was, it's a forty dollar dress."

"I know. I bought one, too."

Trowa sighed, "It makes me feel inadequate."

"I talked to Duo," I muttered, "After supper yesterday. You know how you all got pissed at him for not paying his rent?" he gave me the dirtiest look I'd ever seen, but I could tell he'd got my point, shrugging.

"I don't know…it's just…you're out here buying her any little thing you will, and…"

"And you have to compete for your daughter's piece of mind." I agreed, frowning at him, "The thing is, I get funding from a multi-million operation. I don't have to work, and the checks just go into my account. I can do this without thinking about my future. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, or inadequate…or anything, but I don't think about what I'm doing. I see something I like for my child and I get it." I met his eyes, "I'll stop buying her shit if you agree to let Relena and Hilde buy them both whatever they want to."

"It just…bothers me." he muttered, "I just feel…I mean, look at Duo. He just bought a four-hundred dollar knife, both of our girls new spring outfits, and is looking at god knows what in that store he's at now…"

"But think about that," I countered, "He couldn't even pay rent two days ago."

He nodded slowly.

"Heero hasn't bought a damn thing today," I went on, "And Wufei gets good tips at work, so he can afford to buy the girls stuff. I don't know, I understand what you're saying."

Trowa nodded slowly.

I was lost in my own thoughts for a long moment before grinning at Trowa, "Plus, Duo told Wufei they'd get brownie points if they found something cute."

Trowa blinked at me.

I rolled my eyes, "We were willingly looking at little girl clothing, and excited about it. Well, I was." I grinned, "So Wufei was kinda taken aback."

Trowa grinned, "I saw him watching us."

I shrugged, "So that's what that was all about."

I could tell this information helped him to feel better.

"Okay?" I muttered, studying his eyes.

He smiled at me, "Okay…" he shook his head, chuckling, "Sometimes Duo's something else."

"Often, Duo's something else." I agreed, glad I'd cleared his mind.

He chuckled, sliding down in his seat.

.

I sighed, staring at the ceiling, "I can't believe that it's almost over." I muttered, meaning that everyone was leaving. Today was Monday, they were all leaving Friday. Friday was the day that Duo and I went to the colony he'd lived on and got all his stuff, turned in his key, and paid off the last of the rent he owed. We'd already gotten him signed up on a cell-phone plan.

He nodded happily, smiling at me, "I think it will be fun."

I grinned at him, "Kayla called this morning."

His grin faltered and his eyes went distant.

"She was acting all cheerful, asking why you hadn't called."

He met my eyes again, his own scared.

I grinned more at him, "I told him I'd tell you later, but she knows me enough to know that I forget things easily. You don't have to call her back…but you can. No one would say shit about it."

He sat straighter, staring at me. My eyes landed on the spot on his throat I'd made…the ones Wufei and I had done…the ones Kayla had done were nearly gone.

How did that work?

"Of course, if you don't want to call her…" I started.

"That's not it." he said quickly, meeting my eyes again, "I mean…"

I smiled at him, "She was really upset, though. She thought you'd have called her back by now."

I could tell her was about to piss his pants.

"I mean…she said you were the best fuck she'd had in years, and that she'd thought you had enjoyed it. She added that if you didn't want to date or whatever, that it'd be fine…but…" I grinned at his nearly terrified expression, "she thought you'd at least call her once, even if it was to regretfully say you were busy."

"Heero, what are you doing to him?" Relena asked sweetly, moving up to my side and kissing my cheek before moving to the fridge.

"I want to see how big an issue I can give him." I explained, still studying his eyes.

They narrowed.

"Well, stop." she ordered, "It's unbecoming."

I laughed, bouncing out of my seat, "All right, are we still taking the girls to the zoo?"