Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Dear Cathy ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

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Dear Cathy

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing but I do own the twins Kristoff and Tristine. If you want to know who owns this lovely series, go and read the disclaimer in the first chapter.

Summary: AC 202. While their circus is on tour in the colonies, Catherine and Trowa receive a visit from Cathy's aunt, but she's not alone. With a new responsibility, Catherine and Trowa learn more about the thing called family.

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Chapter 2

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"Kristoff! Tristine! Breakfast is ready!"

Catherine huffed and walked over to the two blanket-covered lumps on the pull-out bed. A pair of sandy-blonde heads poked out from the top of the wool blanket. Sighing, the auburn-haired young woman reached out and softly laid a hand on one of the lump's shoulders giving said lump a shake.

"Come on you two. Do you want to eat another cold breakfast? I'm not going to wait for you two anymore, you're making me late for morning practice!"

The identical heads shook and small muffled giggles were heard from beneath the warm blanket. Catherine shook her head and pulled the blanket off, rewarded with a shriek as cold air rushed over the once-cozy children. They made a grab for the thinner of the blankets that had also been swept away with the larger, warmer one and pulled it over their heads in an attempt to ward off the cold. Catherine huffed and yanked the crisp blue linen off as well, awarded this time with whines and protests in a language she could barely understand.

"Time to get up! If you two make me late again I'll make you eat cold oatmeal instead of the nice warm pancakes you requested!" she said and began to fold both blankets before either child could pull at them. "You better keep your end of the bargain if you want to get anything nice from me!"

The twins picked themselves up from the bed and hurried to the bathroom, not bothering to put on their slippers, a decision that would soon be regretted as their small feet came in contact with the chilly tile floor of the bathroom. Tristine whined for her brother to get their slippers and he grudgingly raced back to the bed that Catherine was now folding into the couch, took up the two pairs of blue and green slippers, and then raced twice as quickly back into the bathroom, shutting the door loudly behind him.

Catherine groaned, "no slamming!" she repeated, maybe for the tenth time since yesterday. She couldn't help but smile though as she heard the bath being run followed quickly by squeals of surprise from Tristine followed by a squeal of pain from Kristoff. "No teasing either!" she called as she passed the bathroom door to place the neatly folded blankets and pillows into an adjacent closet. After finishing this small task she went back to setting the table for her two small cousins, listening to make sure that they were doing alright with their morning shower. When the table was set how she wanted she was about to head into her room to change when a knock came on her door.

"Coming," she softly called and rushed to unlock and open the door in order to save her visitor from the onslaught of the colony's weather system. It seemed that all the colony's wanted to give their inhabitants as much artificial snow as possible even before the holidays began. Upon opening the door she was greeted with a soft "good morning" by her surrogate brother.

"Oh Trowa! I didn't know you were going to pass by. Did you already eat?" She ushered him in and gave him a quick hug before allowing him to remove his jacket.

"I figured that you would be a little late so I thought I would wait for you here instead of inside the tent. It seems the colonist's like the idea of early winter snow." He eyed the couch and then the bathroom door, listening to the sounds of rushing water and humming that came from behind it. "Already awake?" he asked.

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Just awake, you mean. Actually, I don't even know if the state they're in can be described as fully awake." She shook her head and led Trowa into the kitchen where she poured each of them a mug of hot chocolate instead of the usual cup of coffee. Trowa leaned against the counter and sipped at his warm drink.

"Don't be too hard on them. They just flew in from earth a week ago. From what I can tell, they're still trying to get used to the idea of living apart from the only family they've ever really known."

Catherine thought about the words of her brother and nodded. She closed her eyes and inhaled the chocolate aroma rising from her cup and was about to reply when the door to the bathroom swung open and the two twins rushed out, both wrapped in one large towel.

"Katerine!" they called, trying not to shiver as the droplets in their hair ran down their naked little backs. They struggled with the towel, gripping the edges and huddling close together as they walked around on their slippered feet.

Catherine laughed and fetched another towel from the closet that rested next the bathroom door. She pulled out an equally large towel and proceeded to dry the water from their dampened heads. The twins squirmed, trying to escape from her towel-drying onslaught but found themselves powerless against their older, bigger and stronger cousin. When said cousin finished she disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a comb and tried to tame the tangled messes on each child's head but they pulled away toward the couch, laughing and tripping over each other in the process.

"No, no! We'll do it ourselves!" Tristine said as she and Kristoff curled up together on the couch. Catherine only smiled and threw the other towel at them followed by the plastic comb.

"You two better hurry up then! Your food is already cold and there's no way you can heat it up!" she said, reminding them of her strong belief against the uses of a microwave, therefore not having one in her trailer. The twins gave their acknowledgments and rushed in combing their hair and changing, letting Catherine retreat back to the kitchen where her amused brother and mug filled with hot contents waited.

"They're always doing everything together, hm?" Trowa mused.

"Yes, I know! They sleep together, bathe together, and will only eat if they're together on the same side of the table! They're too attached to one another!" Catherine finished her chocolate and washed it as well as the mug of her brother, who had finished his own cup while she had been busy toweling off Kristoff and Tristine.

Trowa turned around to lean against the counter on his folded arms. His voice became softer as he spoke the next set of words. "They're all they've got other than their aunt and their brother that they don't even know. It's obvious why they cling to each other the way they do." He didn't bother turning when Catherine's breath hitched. The atmosphere inside the kitchen grew tense for a few seconds but then moved back into it's ever familiar calm. Catherine decided not to reply to his statement, only to turn to him and ask him to join the twin's in breakfast, a request that he could never decline.

The two walked out of the kitchen and the moment the twins spotted Trowa they raced to either of his sides, grabbing his hands and pulling him to the set at the end of the table that lay to the right of their chairs. According to them, he was the only one allowed to sit there and nobody, not even Catherine who owned the chairs, could tell them differently. Trowa sat and helped himself to the platter of cold pancake, seeing as how the twins had already split up a sole pancake between themselves. Catherine sat at the opposite end, smiling and keeping the peace between the twins as they fought over the butter knife and syrup bottle while simultaneously conversing with their "lion friend." Both children swore that they had taken a liking to lions even before they saw Trowa's performance, only to deny one another's truth as false.

"Could I have some butter, please?" Trowa asked. Tristine and Kristoff both fought over who should be able to hand the stick of butter to their "cousin." Catherine had told them that Trowa was her brother so they took it that he was a cousin as well.

"You two quarrel a lot," Catherine said with a mock-frown, "if you're going to argue this much then maybe you shouldn't be allowed to have pancakes in the morning or to watch our early morning practice." She cast a look of merriment across the table to Trowa who only nodded in silent agreement at her statement. Catherine's chastisement caused the two children to apologize and sit up straight while downing their pancakes and milk. Their cousins smiled at one another and Catherine reminded them to hurry up or none of them would be able to attend the morning practice.

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Tristine and Kristoff swung their legs as they sat on the benches and munched on a shared bag of chips. They watched, for the fifth morning, as a man and woman whose names they didn't catch swung from the trapeze above. Catherine had been gone for over half an hour now, tending to a sick animal and Trowa had left a few minutes ago to take a call from some nameless friend, leaving the twins alone with the practicing performers. Neither of the children seemed to mind and were instead kept entertained by the routines that they seem to have almost memorized.

The chip supply began to run low and Kristoff stood up to find some more. "Just stay here," he whispered to his sister, not wanting to bother the performers. Catherine had told them not to make too much noise when people were practicing and the twins wanted to live up to the promise that they didn't necessarily make.

Tristine shook her head and stood up as well, still clutching the now empty chip bag. "I'll go with you," she whispered back. Kristoff rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You have to stay here so that when Katerine or Trowa get back, they won't think we ran away," he said, pushing his sister down a little too roughly. Tristine let out a small pained whine as her bottom landed roughly on the wooden plank of the bench. "Don't push me!" she cried out, giving her brother a small shove. Kristoff caught himself before he toppled backward over the lower bench. He shot his sister a glare but before he could make any move of retaliation a scream was heard from high above. Both children turned to watch as the woman, whose name Kristoff swore went along the lines of Apple, slipped from where her legs should have locked with that of her partner's and fell to the safety net below. She bounced up and down on the stretchy material and seemed to rest there in a daze for a moment before sitting up and sliding down to the ground. Her partner had climbed down from the trapeze and was already at her side, accompanied by a growing number of circus members who were either watching or had heard the scream from outside the performing area. l

Kristoff turned to Tristine and rolled his eyes. "Look what you did! Katerine told us not to make noise and look what happened! You're gonna be in big trouble!"

Tristine's eyes watered up and she pushed her brother again. "It's your fault too. You're trying to leave me alone!" She threw down the empty chip bag and huddled on the floor, hands buried in her face as she cried. Kristoff knelt down next to her and put a small hand on her shoulder but Tristine pushed him away. The little boy didn't know what else to do but squat next to his crying sister, apologizing vainly to her.

"Hey, what's going on?" Catherine said as she appeared at their sides. "Did you guys get scared? It's ok, Appel is fine." She put a hand on Tristine's back, rubbing small circles over it. The little girl immediately wound her arms around her cousin's shoulders, her crying long gone.

"Kristoff tried to leave me alone and he pushed me!" she cried out. Catherine frowned and looked to the other child who was guiltily looking at the retreated form of his sister, unsure of what to do.

"Kris, you didn't mean to hurt her did you?" Catherine asked softly. The child in question looked at her and shook his head, holding back tears of his own. Tears of guilt an embarrassment at being called out for doing something mean to his sister. Catherine smiled at him and carefully pried Tristine away from herself while motioning for Kristoff to get closer. "Come on now you two. No crying, ok? Just hug and apologize."

Tristine sniffed as her brother pulled her into a small hug, kissing her on the cheek to "make things better". She kissed him on the cheek as well and huddled against him. Catherine placed her hands on their heads and ruffled their hair. "It's almost time to feed the lions. Don't you want to help me?" she asked. Immediately, the twins perked up and gave their sharp replies of "yes, yes. Me, me!"

"Well, lions are pretty strong animals and don't like to see anyone crying, so you better wipe your tears before you come along. They don't want to be fed by little babies!"

Tristine and Kristoff made a face. "We're not babies!" they said simultaneously and stood up, tears already gone from their large green eyes. Catherine took them by the hand and together the three ran from the audience seats to the backstage entrance, laughing all the while and playfully taunting one another.

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"Don't stick your hand in. Just toss his food in, alright?"

"Okay!"

Tristine and Kristoff both picked up the slice of fresh unnamed meat and tossed it into the lion's cage, rejoicing when the large male pounced onto his meal. The meat had been cut into smaller pieces so that the twins could actually pick it up and throw it in. They watched as the lion devoured the small sliver of food before reaching into the bucket and taking out another fresh slab of meat to toss into the cage. Trowa closely supervised the two. He had been a bit wary at first to let two eight year olds feed an adult male lion but Catherine had told him to just let them go ahead and do it.

"Just let them toss it in. It's not like they're going to go into the cage. He's still your baby you know," she said with a wink. Trowa could only snort at the last statement. He didn't care whether or not the lion would remain his "baby" or not. He just didn't like the idea of having responsibility over two small children, namely Catherine's baby cousins.

The twins giggled and whispered to one another. Kristoff gave Tristine a light shove, pushing her closer toward the cage. Trowa quickly stood, eyeing the lion who was still occupied with his food.

"Hey," he called, "you're getting too close to the cage. Come over here." He motioned for them to come along beside him to where he was scrubbing away at the bear cage. The bear was in the tent practicing with another circus performer who went by the name Alphonse so it was perfectly safe to have the two roughhousing around it's cage while he cleaned.

The two left the lion to his meal and moved to sit down in front of the bear cage, watching as Trowa scrubbed at the floor of the cage with a mop. Tristine moved closer and pulled Kristoff along with her. She whispered something to her brother and the two giggled. Trowa caught the whispering and giggling and turned his head, raising a brow at them.

"What's all the whispering about?" he asked. The twins only gave him lopsided grins and giggled some more. Trowa shook his head and stopped his scrubbing. He pulled a glove off of one hand and reached into his pocket, pulling out a plastic bag filled with a crumpled object. He tossed the bag out of the cage and it landed in front of Kristoff's feet.

"One of the performers found this in one of the supply boxes. He told me to give it to you," he said and returned to his scrubbing.

Kristoff tore the bag open and pulled out the crumpled object inside which happened to be a deflated, plastic ball. From the looks of it, it was probably large enough to fit in an adult's hand. "Cool!" he exclaimed and began to unfold it.

"Let me see!" his sister said and helped him smooth out the plastic toy. They found the air nozzle and took turns blowing air into it. Their huffing peaked an interest in Trowa and once again he abandoned his cleaning task and turned to watch as the two tried to bring their newest toy to life. Seeing that their efforts were failing, he leaned the mop against the cage and pulled off both gloves, stuffing them into one pocket while heading out the cage and in front of the children. He knelt and took the still-deflated toy from them.

"Here, let me," he said and wiped the nozzle on his shirt before blowing air into it. The twins giggled at the way his cheeks slightly puffed out and Tristine went as far as to poke one of them. She and her brother laughed as Trowa made a mock-pained face and pretended to exert a lot of effort into blowing up the ball. Tristine poked his other cheek and burst out laughing when he pulled away during mid-blow and made a squeak noise. So unlike you, Catherine would say. But she would say it with a smile, Trowa thought.

He finished blowing up the ball and locked the nozzle to prevent any air from escaping. He held out the ball and when Kristoff tried to take it tossed it high above their heads behind another set of empty cages. The twins marveled at how far the ball had traveled and then pushed themselves up and raced each other to find it. Trowa stood as well and walked back into the cage to finish his scrubbing of the floor. He still had plenty of other things to do and as he thought of this while keeping an eye and ear out for the children, a hum began to lift from his throat. He stopped for a while but then continued, a little louder this time, to hum the nameless song that he'd always known. And Catherine, who stood hiding in the shadows of the tent curtains, could only watch and listen with a smile.

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End Chapter 2

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Preview for Chapter 3: The twins show Catherine and Trowa an album that their aunt left them with and when Catherine sees a picture of them as children, she can't help but cry.