Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Disappearances of Life, Love, and Truth ❯ ANSWERLESS QUESTIONS ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

“I said hello.” The boys chipper voice cut back into Wufei’s thoughts. Still the most he could mange to do was breathe, and even that seemed hard as his chest felt like it was constricting by the second. He just stared at the young boy with wide eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He was sure that if he had known Duo in his childhood, this is exactly what he would have looked liked, aside from the hair color. The little boy began to giggle slightly, and part of Wufei’s mind was aware that the kid’s laughter was due to the fact that his mouth kept moving and yet nothing could come out.

“LUKAS!” came the scream from further inside the apartment. Wufei’s still shocked face lifted finally from the boy and to the inside of the apartment.

“Damn it kid, what the hell have I told you?!?” the same voice, now identified as a young woman, came flying from a hallway and landed on her knees by the boy. She pulled him into a quick hug for a moment, before letting him go. Wufei managed a quick look at her even through his shock of seeing the boy. Kneeling like she was, she was actually shorter then the boy standing, his guess was that she had to be fairly short. A loose pair of gray sweat pants and black tank top was all she was wearing. At first glance she didn’t really have much of a figure either. Thin and lanky was a better way to describe her. As she pulled away from hugging the boy her shoulder length chestnut red hair fell into her face, blocking it from his view.

“Lukas, I have told you a hundred times, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!” She all but screamed at the small boy.

“But Momma I . . . ” The kid started to talk, but she was having none of it.

“I don’t care. This is not a safe area. You know that. And you know not to open the damn door.” Her hands were grasping at the boy’s shoulders, trying to hold back the urge to shake some sense into him.

“But . . . ”

“No buts. Go finish getting ready for school. You’re grounded until further notice.” The woman snapped at the boy.

“Mommy!” the whine in his voice went up three pitches.
“Don’t argue. I’ll deal with you tonight. Now go get ready.” With that the boy stormed off down the hall. Wufei just stood there in the doorway watching all of this and feeling his shock growing more and more by the minute. It would have been obvious to a fool who that boy’s dad was. With his looks, it had to be Duo’s child. Yet the person who ran to the door was the kid’s mom. And last Wufei knew, Duo was not a girl.

“Sorry about that.” The young woman said as she stood up then and turned to Wufei. He had been right, she was barely 5'3" and fairly flat-chested, with short chesnut brown, slightly redish tinted hair. But despite that she still did have a cute girlish charm about her.

“Look whatever . . . Wufei.” As soon as her bright violet eyes caught a hold of Wufei’s own onyx ones recognition passed across her face and his name fell from her lips.

“Excuse me?” Wufei asked her in confusion. Sure she looked like she might be familiar in a round about way, but not in any sense that she should know his name. Instead of answering him though, she simply slammed the door in his face. Wufei had to take a quick step back to avoid having his nose broken. He just stared at the closed door for a moment and tried to let everything that had just happened in the last five minutes sink into him. As it began to seep in, he grabbed the wall behind him to make sure he wouldn’t fall on the floor.

The facts as he now knew them were a little over whelming. D. Maxwell had disappeared six years ago to the town of Corner Barb in the southern sector of L-2. He also had apparently left with a girl on his arm and a bun in her oven too. At the moment Wufei was at least beginning to understand what ‘a better offer’ meant.

He shook his head to try and realign his thoughts and took a deep breath to try and steady his nerves. Then once again he was knocking on the door of D. Maxwell’s apartment.

“Mom, the door . . . ” he could hear the boy from inside of the apartment.

“Ignore it. Do you have everything ready for school yet?” The woman’s voice echoed back through the door as well. He shrugged and knocked again, harder this time, even though it was obvious that they had heard him before.

“Momma . . . ”

“Lukas, ignore the fucking door and get ready for school. Seaira is going to be here to pick you up any minute.” From the sounds of things inside the apartment Wufei was assuming that the woman and the boy were the only two there at the moment. But even at that he was sure that Duo couldn’t be to far away. He may have known Duo only as a teenager years ago, but that was well enough to know he wouldn’t abandon his child. And that alone tore at Wufei’s heart. If Duo had a child with this girl, and it was obvious that he did, he wouldn’t need, or want, anything Wufei had to give him. For the moment through he had to push that aside, his feelings for Duo and whatever was to come or not to come of it was only a bonus of the job. The real mission was getting Duo to help the Preventers out with Vurno Bindex, and he couldn’t forget that.

“Ma’am, please open this door. I’m here on official Preventers business and must speak to you.” Wufei called out loudly. And that did get a reaction from inside finally, just not exactly what he was expecting. The door flung open and before Wufei even had a chance to react the young woman had a hold of his arm and very roughly had yanked him inside of the apartment and slammed the door behind them both.

“Just what the fuck do you think your doing!?!” She screamed at him, her expression wild as she stared at him. Wufei’s mouth tried to form words, but once again he seemed to be at a loss.

“You don’t scream shit like that, shit about the Preventers, in a place like this unless you plan on dying soon.” She screamed at him. He didn’t even try to respond this time. He just stared at her. Wufei had topped out at just shy of 5'9", making him have to look down at her. For a second Wufei thought he did recognize her, her eyes were a bright purple that sparkled with a hidden depth, her cheeks were sank in slightly, as if they had been full once, to grace her with what would have been a heart shaped baby face, but a lack of proper nutrition had taken a toll on her. Her nose was slightly pointed, but small, her mouth was pressed in to a tight frown, yet he could imagine it in a smile at the same time. Her hair was a light chestnut that had a natural red cast to it, and all of it seemed to almost spark a memory of her from somewhere, but not quite. One of those things he knew he could spend forever trying to place, and only get a headache out of it. So for the moment he decided to simply push it aside.

As the two of them stared at one another, both trying to all but absorb the other with their eyes, a sudden honking was heard from the street below.

“That’s Seaira Momma. I gotta go.” The little boy who had opened the door earlier cried out as he came running over to where the two of them were. The woman finally turned from Wufei to the boy then.

“All right, go ahead before you’re late, I’ll watch from the window.” She told him.

“All right. Bye momma.” He said as he gave her a quick hug. “Bye Mr. Preventer man.” He called out to Wufei as he got to the door.

“LUKAS!” The woman screamed out then, stopping the boy. “Do not say that. In fact don’t say ANYTHING about ANY of this to anyone, not even Seaira . . . ” she started telling him. Her eyes wild with a cross of concern and fear.

“I know. And if anyone asks, I don’t know anything about it.” He told her in a tired tone, as if this hadn’t been the first time he was covering something up.

“That’s right. You are a smart kid.” The woman said as she walked over by him and ruffled his hair.

“I’d be a lot smarter if I actually knew half the stuff that I’m not allowed to know.” He told her simply, adding a pout to it Wufei could remember seeing a hundred times before on Duo face, on this boys father. The woman just laughed slightly and crouched down to look him in the face.

“You know, despite my best efforts, somewhere along the line you ended up with your dads brain instead of mine.” She told him with a smile. He looked at her as if contemplating that for a second.

“Is that a good thing, or bad?” he asked. She just laughed again.

“A little of both.”

“Okay. To you or me then?” he asked her in serious tone.

“A little of both.” She told him again. He just shrugged his shoulder with the face only a child could pull off. One that said he clearly didn’t understand it, but didn’t need to and would be happy just knowing. She pulled him into a tight hug and didn’t let go until the horn beeped again from outside.

“Oh shit! Seaira. She has two other kids in that car and now all three of you are going to be late. Not to mention she has work. Get going.” And with that she was pushing the boy outside.

“And straight home after school. You’re grounded remember.” She called to him in parting.

“Momma, you won’t be home anyway.” The whine was back in play even as the boy headed down the hall.

“Don’t. I’ll call Seaira and let her know.” She promised.

“You’ll forget.”

“Calling her now.”

“No you’re not!” and with that he disappeared down the stairs and the conversation ended. The woman turned quickly and went over to the window, to watch him exit the building and get in the car. Wufei gave a soft smile at the whole scene. It was sweet and touching really, and he felt like an outsider watching it. Standing there all but forgotten, seeing something he wasn’t meant to see. Seeing a snapshot of a happy family that wasn’t his, of Duo’s family.

“Now you.” The woman turned back away from the window and faced Wufei with an almost hatred in her eyes. “In the last ten minutes you have gotten my son grounded, made him and two other kids late for school, made my friend and his driver late to work, made me late for work, and not to mention alienated me from, and/or turned against me, the entire floor of this building by announcing that you were with the Preventers. So what do you have up your sleeve for an encore?” She ticked off her list on her fingers as she went along, growing either angrier or more sarcastic with each new one, Wufei really wasn’t sure which and didn’t want to press his luck either. He decided to just be blunt and to the point instead of testing what seemed to be very worn out patience.

“Ma’am, I am sorry for any trouble I may have caused you. I am just here on official business. I need to speak with the D. Maxwell whose name is on this apartment immediately.” He told her. Hoping to simply be told where Duo was, or when he’d be back. But he was learning that there was a large failure clause attached whenever a person dealt in hope.

“So what do you want?” she asked him simply.

“Please Ma’am, I can only discuss that with Mr. Maxwell, if you can tell me how . . . ”

“Mr. Maxwell?” she cut him off with a look of confusion. “There is no ‘Mr.’ Maxwell.” Wufei was taken back for a moment.

“But, D. Maxwell lives here and . . . ”

“Yeah, ‘D.’ Maxwell lives here. I’m D. Maxwell.” She told him in annoyance. “So what the fuck do you want?” Wufei knew his face was showing pure shock, but he couldn’t help it.

“But D. Maxwell, Duo Maxwell . . . ” he tried to explain.

“Duo? I don’t know where you can find any ‘Duo’ Maxwell. I’m the only one here, and the name is Daya Maxwell. So if that’s that, get the fuck out of my apartment.” And with that she was flinging the door open and gesturing him out. He thought for a moment about auguring with her about all of this. He had seen that boy, Lukas, there was no mistaken identity here, that was Duo’s son, it had to be. But instead he just nodded his head to her and stepped out. If she was hiding Duo, protecting him, he could find ways around it. As the door slammed behind him he already had the plan figured out in his head. He knew damn well Duo was around here, and he was going to get him. No matter what.


“Heero, I found him.” Were the only words that fell from Wufei’s lips when Heero picked up the line. He didn’t even let him have a chance to say hello.

“You what?” there was evident shock in his voice as his eyes went wide.

“I found him. I found Duo, Heero.” Wufei said again. His whole face was one huge grin.

“Duo, you actually saw Duo? How is he? What’s he been doing? Where is he now?” Heero all but lunged at the vid screen, eyes darting around behind Wufei as if he might be able to catch a glimpse of Duo hiding somewhere in Wufei’s hotel room.

“No, no. Calm down. I didn’t actually see him.” Wufei told him with a smile.

“Then how . . . ”

“I found him Heero. I may not have seen him yet, but I saw his family.” Wufei could see the same shock that he felt when he first seen Lukas pass over Heero’s face now.

“His, his family?” He asked as he set back in his chair letting the news sink into him.

“Yeah. Family.” Wufei waited for a second, until it seemed that Heero was ready to hear the rest of it.

“I just can’t see it. I mean, family like in, in what sense?” Heero asked out as he tired to wrap his head around the whole idea.

“I saw his kid Heero. His son.” Wufei told him then.

“His, his son? Duo, our Duo has a son? How can you be sure? I mean if you didn’t actually see Duo then . . . ”

“One look Heero, one look and you’d know too. The boy, Lukas, his name is Lukas, he looks just like Duo. There is no mistaking that, the only thing stopping him from being Duo’s twin is age and hair color.” Wufei was actually letting it sink into himself as much as he was Heero at this moment.

“What about, about a, I mean the boy’s mom . . . ” Heero asked him.

“I met her too. Young, our age. Kind of cute, but with short hair and not much of a figure. Tomboy type. Her name’s Daya. Daya Maxwell.” Wufei told him, saving that last little bit of information till the end.

“Daya Maxwell? He’s MARRIED?!” Heero’s eyes went wider then Wufei thought possible. “Wufei, I, I can’t even comprehend this. How? How did you find all of this out?”

“A phone book. I looked in a damn phone book.” Wufei told Heero with a laugh, unbelieving how he had actually found everything out. It was so unreal to believe that was how he had finally managed to do the impossible.

“A phone book? What and Duo Maxwell was just listed there?” Heero asked him skeptically.

“No, but D. Maxwell was. And that led me to Daya Maxwell.”

“You just went there, met this woman and she spilled everything to you about Duo?” Heero couldn’t believe it had been that simple.

“Well, no. Actually I went there, pissed her off, she denied even knowing a Duo Maxwell and then kicked me out of the apartment. But . . . ” Wufei explained.

“Wufei, hold up a second.” Heero interrupted him. “Daya also starts with a ‘D’ if you didn’t notice. Ever consider that maybe you just might have the wrong person?”

“First of all, not if you saw that boy. There is no mistaking who the kid’s dad is.” Wufei started.

“Yeah, but if . . . ”

“The woman is protecting him, Heero. Just listen.” He stopped Heero as soon as it looked like he was about to jump in again. “The phone has a security blocker on it, their living in one of the worst parts of town, a part that’s easy to disappear in. He may have let down his guard Heero, but not like you were thinking. This is Duo Maxwell we are talking about. And he is still doing his part to stay gone.”

“Fine.” Heero said as he studied Wufei’s face over the screen. He wanted to believe him more then anything. But he also didn’t want all of his hopes smashed if it turned out Wufei was way off base with all of this.

“But you still don’t really have proof. Do you?” Heero asked him, taking a much more reserved attitude. He wanted it to be true, but he already knew that if it wasn’t his heart couldn’t take the let down if he let it get to far ahead of him.

“I do.” Wufei told him simply. “Not guarantied proof, but enough to get surveillance going.”

“Surveillance? If Une is authorizing that you must have something. Or she’s desperate.” Heero said that last part half under his breath.

“She authorized it based on three aspects, and yes she does know she’s taking a big risk. But she’s trusting me not to lead her down the wrong path. And I know in my heart that I’m not.” Wufei told Heero.

“Well, what are they?” Heero asked him, a little unbelieving.

“One: Lukas Maxwell, the kid looks too much like Duo to not be related. Two: When I first met the woman, met Daya, she said my name.”

“What? You didn’t mention that before.” Heero interrupted him.

“Yeah, sorry. The first thing she said when she saw me was my name. She said ‘Wufei’. And I’ve never met her before that moment, so someone had told her my name . . . ” Wufei explained.

“There’s no way she should have known it. All right, I might go with that one. What’s the last reason?” Heero asked him with a small shake of his head.

“This one I saved for good reason. It’s proof he actually married the girl.” Wufei told him.

“Damn. Poor guy.” Heero mumbled under his breath. Wufei was kind enough to pretend he didn’t hear anything.

“I checked out the church earlier just like I had planned. At first all I learned was that there had been two weddings and three christenings held there during the opening ceremonies. And all five parties had at least one member with the last name Maxwell. I gave up with that lead at first. Until I met Daya, then I went back. I asked if they had by any chance had a registry book from that day. And they did, everyone who showed up in one of the parties signed it. And only in one of the parties, there was a separate registration book for people just coming to see the ceremony. The book didn’t classify which person went with which party, but all of the names were listed. And the names Duo Maxwell and Lukas Maxwell are both listed in it.” Wufei explained to Heero. Heero just shook his head again. It seemed that Wufei was grasping at any straw that even remotely pointed in the direction he wanted.

“And I take it Daya Maxwell was listed as well?” Heero asked him.

“No, if they were getting married Heero, the name wouldn’t have been Maxwell yet. And the list was ordered alphabetically by last names. I don’t have any idea what her name might have been before, so I didn’t know where to look for it.” Wufei told him, voice growing slightly sarcastic.

“It all seems pretty far fetched Wufei. I just don’t want your hopes to get too high if this doesn’t work out. And I am happy about this,” he said as he noticed Wufei was about to cut in. “I just don’t want MY hopes to be crushed either.”

“I know what your saying Heero, but this is it. I know it is. Weren’t you always the one to say ‘follow your heart’?”

“That was a life time ago Wufei, a life time ago.” Heero told him plainly.

“Well, either way the surveillance team is going to be here tomorrow morning to cover the place. Then one way or the other we’ll know something.” Wufei told him.

“But if she is simply hiding him, she’ll make sure he stays clear of that place.” Heero told logically.

“Yeah, but she’ll have to get in contact with him somehow to do that. I’ve gotta go, I have a lot more stuff to get ready and a lot of places to investigate right now. I’ll check in with you later. Just make sure everything is ready to go any second now from your side.”

“It is. And for everyone’s sake I hope that this is the real thing Wufei. Because the latest reports show that Vurno Bindex is getting ready to move onto something bigger, and soon. If all of this time and energy is wasted on nothing, we may not have a chance to do it all over.” Heero warned him.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t wasted time. It is the real thing Heero. Bye.” Wufei shut off the connection then. Heero had a right to be concerned, it was a long shot. But Wufei knew that it was the sure thing. Too many little things had led him right here, right to this point, right to the door step of Daya and Lukas Maxwell. And he knew that Duo Maxwell couldn’t be too far away either.


“All right Jenkins, Roberts listen up, once both her and the boy leave we go in.” Wufei announced to the two surveillance experts Une had sent him. They were all situated, in very cramped style, in an unmarked van outside of the apartment building that held Daya Maxwell and her son. Everyone had been in place since 6:00 A.M. that morning, but they couldn’t move in until they knew that the apartment was empty. Wufei had spent the majority of the day before finding out exactly when that would be.

Wufei had managed to find out that Lukas had school from 9 to 3, and from his experience the day before he knew that the boy left at about 8:30 or before to get to school. He had also uncovered that Daya Maxwell may have been trying to hide Duo, but not her self. All of her records were open to anyone who had the care to look. Daya held down one part time job and one full time job on a regular basis, and sometimes also worked part time at a day care center.

Her hours varied from day to day but for the most part she was out of the apartment every morning by 9:00 A.M., and wasn’t likely to be back until 12:30, and that was only if she stopped back home for a lunch. That gave the team three plus hours to rig up the apartment, and that should be more then enough time do everything that needed to be done. Or at least Wufei hoped so, if they blew this there wasn’t going to be a second chance and he knew that.

As Wufei and the team waited outside a small blue car pulled up to the curb and honked. A young woman with blonde hair sat in the driver’s seat and two children could just be seen in the backseat. The woman seemed to be more then impatient as she started laying on the horn again. It was only second or two later when the front door of the building flew open followed by a small blur as the boy came rushing out and over to the car. Almost right behind him was the young woman. She paused long enough to kiss the top of the boys head as he hoped in the car and then leaned in the passenger side window to say something quick to the other woman. Then the car was gone, and the woman was dashing down the street in the other direction.

“All right that’s it. Lets move and get this done as quickly as possible.” Wufei announced as soon as she had disappeared around the corner. The van door opened and the three Preventers and five suitcases of gadgets and gizmos poured out. None of them had anything on that would identify them as Preventers, Wufei had already learned that was not a good idea the day before. And if they had been anywhere else he might have been worried that three men carrying heavy suitcases and rushing into a building would be a little too conspicuous, but in this area he didn’t think anyone would notice. In fact if he to make a guess, it would be that anyone who did notice would never mention it anyway.

“Apartment 7-F. Lets get this done.” Wufei told the agents as they started up the stairs. Once they got to the door it was simple work to pick lock, the deadbolt took a bit longer but they finally got it. As they first stepped in Wufei took a moment to take it all in, like he couldn’t the day before due to shock alone.

The place was actually fairly small. Two bedrooms and a bathroom down a small hall right next to the door, a living room straight inside from that, a small combined dinning room and kitchen connected to it off of the side.

“Start with the bedrooms. Make sure to get any phones and computers as well.” Wufei told the men as he walked into the living room area.

“Do you want the security blocker disabled as well?” Jenkins asked him as he opened up one of the cases that they had brought in.

“No, leave it on and in tact. Otherwise they’ll know that the phones are bugged.” He told the man.

“Just so you know sir, that will mean limited coverage. Only incoming calls and outgoing calls that have been pre-approved off of the security coverage list. Anything that would need a separate code to be allowed in or out won’t be covered. And anything we do get will be voice only no matter what.” He explained to Wufei.

“I understand, Sergeant.” Wufei snapped, reminding the man of his place. “But it is less destructive to our purpose then to have her figure out that the line has been tapped.” The man just shrugged as if he still didn’t agree with the decision, but wasn’t about to fight with his commanding officer over it. Wufei just turned his back on him and continued to inspect the rest of the house.

There was a small balcony off of the living room, and with its sliding glass door it was the only window in the main area of the apartment. In retrospect Wufei guessed that it was a smart idea though, in an area like this especially, not to have to many windows. There also was a table pushed up against the door, showing that the balcony wasn’t used.

As Wufei began to look around more carefully though he began to realize things didn’t quite add up. There were only two chairs by the table, only one couch facing a small TV in the living room. A small stand in front of the couch cluttered with a newspaper dated over a week ago and a cup of coffee that looked to be a few days old. A small bookshelf by the TV held a spattering of romance novels, sci-fi stories, coloring books, and a very much used children’s movie. The kitchen didn’t hold much more. The cupboards were bare except for a box of Co-Co Crunch and a few cans of corn. Two plates, three cups, two of which had sippy lids, and barely enough silverware for two complete settings were all of the dishes that Wufei could spot. The refrigerator only offered a half empty gallon of milk, a tray of cut apple slices marked with a note that read ‘Your snack Lukas. No junk food, you’re grounded.’ The freezer was a stake of frozen dinners and an almost empty tub of raspberry and chocolate swirl ice cream.

Wufei shook his head and moved on to the bathroom. Hoping to find any sign of Duo lying around in there. Instead all he managed to come up with was a bag of bath toys, bubble bath, and a box of tampons that had instantly turned his face neon red.

“Sir, I just finished the boy’s room. Do you want in here covered as well?” Roberts asked him as he stepped inside of the small bathroom as well.

“No. Let them have some form of privacy. Get started on the living room and kitchen right away.” He told him as he moved to check out the bedrooms himself. The boy’s room was the first room he came to. A small bed with a plain blue blanket, a small makeshift table scattered with crayons, and a few random toy cars and stuffed animals made up the entirety of the room. A small dresser in the corner was barely even half full with clothes for the boy. There was only one small widow across from the door, and it was covered with thick metal bars. Wufei scowled a little at how completely bare everything in this house was. It didn’t seem a very good environment for raising a child. He could understand that in an area like this things were meager and money was hard, but he still thought that coming from the background that Duo had, he would have wanted to give his son more.

“Jenkins, what’s taking so long in here? Hurry up and finish so you can help Roberts get the rest of this place covered.” Wufei snapped as he walked into the other bedroom. The one that he had presumed to be both Daya and Duo’s room.

“I’m trying to sir. This whole room is set up in a way that it’s hard to bug anything without making it noticeable.” The man told him as he climbed down from reattaching the light back into the fixture.

“I figured as much. Maxwell would have assured that this place would be hard to bug.” Wufei said as he glanced around.

“Well, I think that’s it. I’ll help finish up the rest of the place.” Jenkins said as he gathered up his equipment, making sure that everything was just as he had found it.

“Make it quick. It’s already 11:30. We have less then an hour to clean out.” Wufei told him as the man left.

“Yes Sir.” And with that the man was scurrying out of the room. Wufei took a good look around the room then. A double bed, covered with a dark pink blanket, and all of the pillows were stacked up on the right side. Another small window, again covered with bars was across from it. The rest of the limited space was occupied by a small desk that only contained an old VID phone and a tablet of paper. As Wufei studied it closer he realized that the phone was the same main server as the one that was in the kitchen. Meaning that the entire apartment only had one phone line. Even his own apartment had come standard with three lines. But then again, if they were trying to keep things secure, disabling all but one phone line would keep things easier to control.

As he looked around once more though he again got that unsettling feeling. Things just didn’t seem to add up here. He spotted the closet door as he was on his way out and decided to check it out. He was still waiting to find any sign that someone other then the woman and boy lived here. But after opening the closest door, he realized he wasn’t going to find it in there. A basket of socks and underwear, all which were very distinctly female, and a few scattered shirts and pants hanging up were all that met Wufei. He had been expecting something to pop out at him and scream ‘Here’s your proof that Duo Maxwell is here’. But he didn’t find it. There was no evidence of any man at all living in here, much less Duo.

To an outsider this apartment housed a young woman and her kid, both who were scrapping by life anyway they possibly could. And that didn’t add up to Wufei, he couldn’t conceive of walking out on any child of his that he might someday have, and he didn’t see Duo doing it either. But then again as Heero had reminded him not long ago, it had been six years, six long years. And in that time things change, people change, lives change. And that meant Duo not only could, but probably did, change as well.

“We’re all done Sir.” Roberts told Wufei as he met up with them by the door again.

“Good. Make sure everything is just like you found it and lets get out of here.” Wufei told them both. A quick glance at his watch told him it was nearly noon. They had just made it under the dead line. It took another five minutes to double check the house, and ten minutes to get the deadbolt locked again. But with a stroke of luck that Wufei hadn’t had in a while everyone was situated back in the van by 12:20.

“Okay Sir, here is the digital receiver.” Jenkins told Wufei as he handed over what looked like a small palm top. Wufei studied it for a moment as Roberts started driving the van back to Wufei’s hotel.

“This is just a relay. Where’s the feed being recorded at?” Wufei asked. His hopes were to have everything at his immediate disposal.

“The feed is being relayed to that receiver, then it goes on to headquarters and is being recorded there. So you only have one shot to see anything on this before it moves on. If you have to go back to see or listen to anything again, you’ll have to go back to headquarters to get it.” Jenkins explained.

“Where to at headquarters?” Wufei asked a little bitterly. This wasn’t how he wanted things to work out.

“I don’t know Sir. Lady Une herself was in control of the main feed. I just set it up, she’s the one who directs where it goes. She said all of this was just being done for added security measures. Something about this being a sensitive case.” He further explained to Wufei. Wufei nodded, that did make sense. Especially now when everything pointed to growing movement and unease within the ranks of Vurno Bindex, the fewer people who knew anything about what he was doing the better. Through he still didn’t like the idea of the main feed and recording being done where Wufei wouldn’t have ready access to it, he knew that was also probably in part of the same security measures. Headquarters was a safer place to be able to store the information.

“Understood. All right then. That’s fine. Just get back to headquarters right away, and keep everything about this classified. Une is right. This is a very sensitive matter. The fewer people involved the better.” Wufei told both men as he climbed out of the van.

“Yes Sir.”

“Understood Sir.” Both men replied as the door of the van shut behind Wufei. Wufei had already all but forgotten about them. His main goal was to get inside and set up his receiver as soon as possible, after what he had seen, or actually not seen, today he needed to know just what was going on with Daya, Lukas, and his main goal, Duo. And he needed to know now. Time was running out. Heero had been more then right, this was the one and only chance he had at this.


It was just after 1:00 by the time Wufei had everything set up to receive the feed. He flipped it on just to see if anything was happening. He didn’t have much hope though, everything he gathered told him not to expect anybody back at the apartment until at least 3:00. But as everything else had been turning out on this quest, he was again surprised. Moments after the feed began he saw the door to the apartment fling open, and Daya stumbled into the apartment, barley kicking the door shut behind her.

“Damn, Damn, I’m so fucking late. Unreal.” She called out into the empty place as she rushed into the kitchen. Wufei followed her with a quick click of the mouse.

“OW! FUCK! God damn it Lukas.” Daya cried out as she tripped over a toy truck in front of the refrigerator, and proceeded to kick it hard enough it ended up somewhere in the living room. Wufei had chuckle slightly at that one before getting serious again and following her ever movement with a trained eye.

She grabbed a TV dinner from the freezer and threw it into the microwave. As it was cooking, she grabbed out a stack of what appeared to be neon pink post-it notes and started feverishly scribbling on them. Then she was taking off into the living room in with the stack of written on notes in tow.

“This has gotta go.” She said as she yanked the children’s movie Wufei had spotted earlier off of the bookcase. She took the disc out of the case and with a small hop proceeded to toss it on top of the bookcase. A post-it note went in its place, and the case went back on the shelf. Next she grabbed the TV remote and clicked it on. Wufei could just make out the parental control screen coming up as she punched a few buttons on the remote. Then the TV was back off again, a post it was placed on the screen, and she was heading down the hall. Another post-it went on the door to Lukas’s room, and then she disappeared into the bathroom with the last one in her hand. Wufei sat on his end, attempting to take notes on all of this, but wasn’t as of yet able to make enough sense out of anything to do so. He couldn’t figure out exactly what she was doing.

Daya emerged from the bathroom moments later, in what was obviously a uniform shirt, and minus the post-it. She rushed back in the kitchen, this time tripping over the same truck on her way through the living room. Wufei’s laughter was only slightly overshadowed by her swearing. She quickly checked the meal in the microwave, pulling of its plastic wrap and throwing it away. Then it was shoved back into the microwave and another hastily scribbled note was tossed on the front of it. One more quick note was scribbled on her way toward the main door. She quickly stuck it to the inside, near the lock, and was gone again.

Wufei just looked at the once again empty apartment baffled. Daya had been inside of the place less then ten minutes, and he couldn’t understand anything that she had been doing while in there. He finally decided to let it go, and simply scribbled down the times that she had been in and out. Knowing that while nothing else may be helpful, at least that could come in useful. As he checked his watch he realized that he still had about two hours before he could expect the boy back home. He wanted to get out into the field and do some digging on the two of them, but he knew he couldn’t just yet. He had to get a more precise schedule in place before he dared venture out, or he could run the risk of walking right in to one of them. And as much as he felt that another confrontation would probably be a good thing, he wanted to hold it off until he could do it under his own terms, with more information at hand as well. So he did the next best thing that he could think of at the moment, he once again picked up the phone that had started him on the path in the first place and started making some calls.

It only took Wufei an hour to finally get everything he needed to. Which to be more precise, was Daya’s exact schedule for the next day. She worked at a restaurant 10 blocks from her apartment from nine to noon, had one hour off for lunch, then came back and stayed until three. From there she went directly to a local convenience store another three blocks away and worked there from 3:30 until 8:00, with no lunches or breaks to make up for the half hour late that she came in every day. Lukas would be at school from 8:30, when a woman named Seaira picked him up, until 3:30 when she dropped him off. And tomorrow looked like it would be Wufei’s best chance at anything as well. After that Daya’s work schedule became even more erratic, and with the approaching weekend it meant Lukas wouldn’t be at school. Tomorrow was the one, and only, day he had been able to pin done an exact location for both of them at all times, and so that would be when he did his digging. The only variable that he had to worry about was Duo himself showing up at some point and discovering Wufei. But that he figured he didn’t actually need to worry about. If that happened, then his work was over and it was fine that the whole investigation was flushed down the drain. Because that’s what all of this was for, it was simply to get back Duo Maxwell and nothing more.


“Aw, what the hell?” Wufei mumbled as a loud clanking noise jarred him from the light sleep he had fallen in to after setting out his own schedule for the next day. It took him a minute or two before he realized that he had fallen asleep with the headphones still in his ears, and the volume set to maximum. The clanking noise was Lukas, home from school and opening up the door to the apartment. Wufei took a quick second to let his brain refocus, and to turn the volume down to something he could stand, before once again devoting his full attention to the screen before him. Now maybe that the boy was home he would be able to make some sense out of what Daya had been doing earlier with all of those post-it notes.

“Momma, I’m . . . never mind.” Lukas started to call out into the apartment, before he shut the door behind him and saw the note that had been placed there.

“Lukas, I won’t be home until after bedtime. Remember you’re grounded and have to go to bed at 8:00. Snack in fridge, dinner in, in, mi-cro-wave. Make sure to lock the door.” Lukas read off of the note as he yanked it off the door. The little boy just sighed and clicked the lock in place on the door. He shuffled half heartedly into the living room where his shoes, sweater, and backpack ended up in a heap next to the couch.

“Ouch!” he screamed out then as he tripped over the same truck that Daya had so much trouble with earlier on his way to the kitchen. He didn’t fair as well as she had though and ended up crashing out on the floor. Wufei was amazed though as he watched the little boy barely even let out a scream, and as he rubbed at slightly watering eyes Wufei could have sworn he heard the kid mumble ‘Boys don’t cry’. Just another thing that proved to him even more that Duo Maxwell was this child’s father. Now Wufei just had to stare at this screen for as long as he could until he figured out just where ‘Dad’ had slipped away to this time around.

“Apples! No fair momma.” Lukas yelled out into the empty apartment as he pulled the dish of cut apples out of the refrigerator.

“Your snack Lukas. No junk food, you’re grounded.” The boy read from the note. “Geeze mom, I get it already.” He mumbled as he took the plate of apple slices with him into the living room. It took Wufei a second to catch up as he had to stop his chuckling first. As Wufei finally clicked over Lukas had already found the note on the TV, and was working on reading it.

“Lukas, no TV or movies e-k-cep-t, ek-cep-t, ekcept for the ed-u-cat-I-on-al, educational channel and for the cartoon channel. And both shut off at 7:30. And ‘member to do your homework.” He read, stumbling over a few of the words, but Wufei was still amazed that a boy that young was doing that well in the first place. After reading the last note though, the boy didn’t really seem fazed, he just shrugged instead and walked over to the bookcase. Wufei had to smile already, he guessed that the boy was going for the children’s movie. And as Wufei had already seen, Lukas wasn’t going to get very far with that.

“UH! Lukas Makwell, I said no movies, got it.” The little boy read from the note that had been inside of the case. Wufei had to take a second to process what the boy said, the way he stumbled over the ‘x’ in his own name threw him off for a second.

“Figures. You’re so not cool anymore momma.” Lukas called out into the apartment again before settling down next to the small coffee table and pulling out his backpack. Wufei continued to watch the feed on and off as he worked on some of his other notes and also took a break to go out and grab something to eat. For two plus hours, minus the food run, Wufei watched as Lukas did his homework, turned on cartoons, and worked on a coloring book from the shelf.

“HUNGRY!” the boy suddenly yelled out, causing Wufei to jump slightly, and nearly drop the carton of Chop Suy he had got from the Chinese restaurant down the street, at the sudden shout. Everything had been completely silent for the last hour plus. But then again he figured the boy did it probably for that very reason. The constant silence was probably a strain on Lukas’s nerves.

Wufei looked on then as the boy made his way into the kitchen and over to the microwave, pulling yet another one of Daya’s notes off of it.

“Just press start. It will be heated up in one minute. Be careful, it will be hot.” Lukas read. “K, then.” And with a press of a button his dinner was heating up. Wufei just shook his head and turned back to his own dinner. Or at least the parts of it he could stomach. In his, slightly bias, opinion it tasted nothing like actual Chinese, and he had never even seen green and orange egg noodles before. And he wasn’t about to see if they tasted as bad as they smelled.

It wasn’t until another hour plus that Wufei’s half diverted attention was turned fully back to the feed. This time it was because of the sudden silence that filled his ears. As he looked over he realized the reason for this was because the TV had shut off in the apartment, signaling to him that it must already be 7:30.

“Unfairness, she’s not even here, and still manages to enforce a grounding.” The boy mumbled as he stood up from the couch and stretched.

“Mis’en go ta bed.” He said then, with what Wufei noticed was a less then enthusiastic tone. Lukas just left the mess he’d made in the living room, in both typical kid and man style, and made his way down the hall to his room. It took Wufei three clicks of the mouse before he found the hall camera, but at the slow shuffling pace Lukas had been going, he still made it in time to see the boy pull yet another note off of his bedroom door.

“Make sure and put on your jammas and brush your teeth before bed.” He read out loud, using a tone of voice that showed he was getting very sick of all of these notes, as Wufei could understand wholeheartedly. He would have been fed up with them too at this point. But also as an adult, he could see why Daya had left all of them.

“UGH!” Lukas then cried out as he turned around and headed to the bathroom. Wufei left the camera focused in the hall, beginning to think that maybe he should have gone ahead and invaded the privacy of the bathroom anyway. At this point it was just to satisfy his curiosity over whether or not Lukas really would brush his teeth more then anything. Five minutes later the boy reappeared at his bedroom door in a pair of dinosaur pants and neon green tank top, holding the last post-it that Daya had left.

“Lukas, love ya to death and be home soon to tuck you in. Good night baby boy.” Lukas mumbled out, barley looking at the note at all. Wufei’s guess was that if this was their normal routine, it was probably a note he saw a lot of. As he hit the appropriate button to follow Lukas inside of his room, his suspicions were confirmed. The first thing the little boy did was reach under his bed and pull out a box Wufei had missed when he had been in there earlier. The boy opened it to reveal what looked like a heap of multicolored post-its stuffed inside of it.

“One more.” Lukas said, in what could only be described as the most depressing voice Wufei could ever imagine hearing from a little kid, as he dropped the post-it inside and shoved the box back under his bed. Then he curled up on the bed, pulling a book out from under his pillow as he did so.

“Once ‘pon a time . . . ” Lukas stared to read from the book as he sat there, from Wufei’s guess waiting for Daya to come back home. Wufei gave the scene a saddened smile. He was amazed at how well the Maxwell house seemed to be running, when by all appearances it was a six-year-old boy who spent the most time in there, and only had post-it notes left by his mother to make sure anything got done. And it was that same thing that caused the amazement to quickly change in to sadness over the fact that the two of them had to live like this. As of yet there was nothing to suggest that they were getting help from anyone but each other to make life work out. And that sadness quickly turned in to anger. Anger that they didn’t have anyone helping them out, least of all Duo. Who was no doubt at all, in Wufei’s opinion, that boys father. And Wufei couldn’t conceive of anything in the world that would ever make him leave a child of his own in a situation like that, and couldn’t think of any reason that Duo would, could, much less should either. Even if things between him and Daya hadn’t ended up working out, to leave a child with nothing like that was completely beyond him. He wrote if off for the moment, taking down a couple of extra notes to hopefully figure at least part of that out tomorrow in his questioning. And with that he turned back to trying to keep himself busy while waiting for Daya to come back home. Much the same way Lukas was, but Wufei unfortunately didn’t even have a book of fairly tales to read, instead having to focus on the real reason that he was here doing all of this. The one and only, and missing, Duo Maxwell.

While Wufei could only count some of what he was seeing now as cowardly and lowlife actions by Duo, he still couldn’t yet make his heart see it that way. He heart was still convinced that there was an explanation for all of this. That Duo would show up any second and have a perfectly good reason for all of this. And as Wufei let his mind follow that same path, he also let that small glimmer of hope burn bright in him then. A glimmer that said, when he did get a hold of Duo finally, he would share the same longing feelings that Wufei had. That he would happily come back to Earth, not only to help the Preventers out, but also to share a life with all of them once again. And more so, with Wufei in particular.

It was almost nine when Wufei was finally pulled from his thoughts and back to the screen as a sudden flashing on it let him know that one of the other cameras had picked up movement.

“She’s back.” He said out loud, breaking the silence that before had only been disrupted by the quiet reading of Lukas through the headset. He flipped over the feed just in time to see Daya disappear from the hallway into the bathroom. She reemerged moments later, redressed in what Wufei could only assume were her pajamas, and headed straight for Lukas’s room.

“Lukas baby.” She called out as she walked in on the little boy.

“Momma!” He practically flew out of the bed and landed in her arms before she had barely got through the door.

“Oh, I missed you too baby boy.” She told him as she returned his hug just as fiercely, kissing him on top of his head before setting him down on his bed once again.

“I’m not a baby.” Was his only response as he moved to snuggle under his covers as she picked up his book, moved it over to the table, and snapped on the small nightlight next to it.

“You’ll always be MY baby.” She told him smiling as she turned back to him. Lukas just huffed at that, but not very convincingly as an ear to ear grin was also present on his face at the moment.

“It’s nighty-night time now though pumpkin.” She told him as she pulled his blanket around him tight and gave him yet another hug and kiss. “Goodnight Lukas.” She told him as she began to head back to his door.

“WAIT!” He called out suddenly, setting up in bed and reaching his hand out toward the corner of his room. “Momma! Shen-a-gum-ie!”

“Oh, Shinigami, almost forgot.” Daya said as she walked over to the stuffed animals in the corner and picked up a large teddy bear.

“Did you want Wing Zero too?” She asked him as she also held a frog up in her other hand and out to the little boy.

“Yeah! Wing too!” He said excitedly.

“There ya go kiddo.” She told him as she handed him the animals, gave him one more quick kiss, and then was back by the door once again. “Goodnight sweetheart.”

“Night night Momma.” He told her back as she clicked the over head light off and left. Leaving his door open a small crack as she did so. Wufei didn’t have the ability to follow her at the moment, he was too busy writing down the coding stamps on his note page. Making sure he would be able to pull that bit of footage easily once he was back at headquarters, or pass it on for Heero to pull for him.

“Shinigami, his stuffed animals are named Shinigami and Wing Zero.” He mumbled to himself as he looked in near disbelief at his notes. It was almost too perfect, if anyone else had been in doubt about his assumption before, now it was only too obvious that he had been right. A six-year-old didn’t name stuffed animals after Gundams unless a parent helped. And when they were named Shinigami and Wing Zero, there were only two ‘parents’ that could have helped in those names. And Wufei was damn sure the kid wasn’t Heero’s, there would have been another paternity suit on file if it was. So that meant that once again, there was yet more, conclusive proof, that Duo Maxwell was a father.

“And tomorrow, I find the real Duo, no matter what it takes.” Wufei spoke out loud to himself, still grinning from ear to ear with the latest revelations this ‘case’ had given him.


TBC….