Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the G Boys, I just borrow them from time to time and return them a whole lot happier. I do own the plot line and any other characters that appear here that are not in the Gundam Wing Universe; please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.

 

Warnings: Angst, sap, fluff, violence, Mpreg.

 

Rating: NC 17

 

Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5xS, HxOC

 

Summary: Sequel to Chimaera. Life in the Maxwell -Yuy household has undergone some big changes when Duo brings Keitaro home from the hospital. Hilde's wedding is approaching and the guys find there's more to this baby business than they thought. Struggling to raise a child, work at Preventer and keep the home happy is certainly a trial for both guys. Add an assassin's threats to prominent government officials' lives and both men find their lives are suddenly changed. Just how far will one go to protect the ones he loves?

 

Dedication: to all my lovely readers out there who enjoyed Chimaera and have since begged, threatened, pleaded, bribed and blackmailed me for a sequel. ^_^

 

Many thanks to Yami_tai for the beta.

 

 

"Family Ties"

 

January. 2007 ShenLong

 

Chapter 9

 

The following morning saw a bleary eyed Duo emerging from the bed. Keitaro hadn't slept too well and Duo had gotten up to the baby several times throughout the night. Keitaro had settled into a routine back home on Earth, sleeping pretty well through the entire night now. He'd always been a good baby, waking every three and a half to four hours for a feed, settling almost straight away once he'd been changed and 'burped'. At two and a half months he'd started to sleep through the night, taking his last feed at eleven and then sleeping until around seven the following morning.

 

Duo counted his blessings that he had such a good child. He'd heard 'horror' stories about babies that refused to settle, were colicky or woke every hour or two for feeding or changing giving the poor parents very little in the way of sleep. Sleep deprivation was one of the worst tortures around and Duo knew first hand just how badly a person could be affected by lack of sleep, having been subjected to it himself as a form of torture when he'd been unfortunate enough to have been captured by OZ during the war.

 

He'd forgotten about the time difference between earth and L2. The thought never crossed his mind that Keitaro might have trouble adjusting his body clock to the new 'time'.

 

“You okay?”

 

Heero's words drew the long haired man from his thoughts and he looked up from the bed into soft cobalt. “I'll be fine,” he replied.

 

Heero noted the dark shadows underneath his husband's eyes and frowned. “Keitaro didn't want to settle?” Heero had awoken a couple of times through the night when he'd heard the baby begin to whimper, but Duo had beaten him to the child and insisted that Heero go back to sleep. He didn't know that Duo had been up, walking around the room for the last five hours trying to soothe the baby back to sleep and had only managed to settle the infant an hour or so ago.

 

“You could say that,” Duo replied as he yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “I forgot about the time difference between earth and the colonies. I'd say his body clock is going to be out of whack for a couple of days.”

 

“Hn. Maybe we should try keeping him awake a bit more during the day, then hopefully he should sleep through the night. You look like you've been six rounds with a mobile suit, and lost.”

 

“Thanks a lot. Love you too,” Duo huffed.

 

Heero chuckled and climbed onto the bed beside his husband. He ran a gentle finger over the side of Duo's face before cupping his lover's cheek and drawing him in for a long kiss. “I'll get up to him tonight, you stay in bed and get some sleep.”

 

Duo nuzzled against Heero's palm. “Thanks, I just might take you up on that offer.”

 

In the cot, Keitaro began to stir. Duo sighed.

 

“Looks like someone's waking up and will want their breakfast.” Duo made to get out of the bed when Heero pushed him lightly back down.

 

“You stay there and rest a little longer. I'll fetch Keitaro and feed and change him.”

 

“He's going to need a bath too.”

 

“So do I. I'll take him in the tub with me.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Hai, why not?”

 

“You usually take a shower, Heero.”

 

“I know, but for ease and efficiency it makes sense to fill the tub up and take Keitaro in to bathe with me.”

 

“Okay. If you need any help, just call.”

 

“Will do.” Heero left his partner to catch a little more sleep and fetched his son from the cot, feeding the baby the first thing on Heero's mind.

 

* * *

 

The baby cooed and splashed, little feet kicking out in obvious delight at the size of the bath. Heero chuckled and shifted position slightly, cradling his son safely in one arm whilst he ran the wash cloth over the baby's skin. Once the baby was clean, Heero managed to place the infant in his arms and against his body in such a manner that Keitaro was in no danger of slipping under the water. With the child secure, Heero quickly washed himself.

 

Bath taken care of, Heero wrapped the child in one large, fluffy towel, placing the babe back in his cot whilst Heero dried himself off and pulled on some sweat pants. Duo was sleeping soundly under the blankets and Heero did his best to dry and dress Keitaro with minimal noise. Once the baby was taken care of, Heero finished dressing himself. He was just buttoning up his shirt when a knock came at the adjoining door and Duo stirred beneath the blankets.

 

“Who?” Duo began, only to be silenced by Heero.

 

“It's Nurse Brown. I won't be a moment.” Heero walked over to the adjoining door. “Hai?”

 

“Ah, Heero. It's eight thirty and I was wondering when you were planning on going down for breakfast, or are you having something sent up to your room?”

 

“We were planning on going down to the hotel restaurant. Duo's not quite ready yet, but if you want to go on ahead of us, that's fine.”

 

“Okay. I'll meet you in the restaurant then.”

 

“Be there soon.” Heero turned back to see the tail of a chestnut braid disappearing into the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

Breakfast had been a fairly quiet affair, Margaret a little worried over the dark circles under Duo's eyes. Duo had explained about Keitaro's restless night and let the nurse know what he and Heero had thought about to try and help the child to adjust to the different time zone and hopefully they would all get some sleep.

 

The nurse agreed that keeping the baby awake for longer periods during the day cycle could help. If it didn't then she was more than happy to have the babe sleep in her room so the two guys could get some much needed sleep. The two men agreed to give it a go and see what happened. If Keitaro didn't settle soon then they would take up Nurse Brown's offer.

 

Once breakfast was out of the way, the trio headed back to their rooms and prepared for their day ahead. Heero and Duo were being picked up by Hilde and Nurse Brown had decided to take advantage of the free time to do some shopping and take a look around the colony Duo grew up on. Duo found a map in the hotel foyer and passed it over to Nurse Brown. Taking a highlighter pen, Duo marked areas that may interest the nurse and was careful to also mark in a thick, black pen the areas to avoid.

 

With everyone now ready for their respective day out the three, along with Keitaro in his push chair, returned to the elevator and headed back to the foyer. Once there, Nurse Brown caught a cab, having decided to do her sightseeing first and her shopping later. She waved the guys goodbye and disappeared into the inside of the cab. Heero kept an eye out for Hilde's car whilst Duo browsed the windows of the souvenir shop situated in the hotel, Keitaro strapped safely into his pusher and taking in everything around him with a wide eyed innocence that all babies seem to have.

 

"She's here," Heero called from his position keeping watch.

 

Duo turned and pushed Keitaro over to where Heero stood and Hilde's car was now pulling up. Within a couple of minutes the trio were inside, pusher in the trunk and Keitaro strapped into a borrowed child safety seat. With everyone buckled up, Hilde was soon driving them towards the scrapyard.

 

The scenery passed by, not a lot had changed, Duo noted. But then again, this section of the colony, whilst not what one would call affluent, was by no means poverty stricken either. It was what passed on earth as the 'middle class'. Soon they were traveling down familiar streets, noting that not a lot had changed here in the time since their departure.

 

Hilde indicated and slowed down, Duo's face lit up in excitement as he spotted the familiar arch that led into the scrapyard. Pulling into the yard, Hilde drove behind the house and parked the car. She turned in her seat and addressed the two men. "How does it feel to be back here again, guys?"

 

"It feels good," Heero replied as he unbuckled his seat belt.

 

"It feels strange to me," Duo replied honestly as he also removed his seat belt and then began the task of getting Keitaro out of his seat and into the pusher that Heero had fetched from the trunk.

 

"Strange?" Hilde asked as she locked the car. "How so?"

 

Duo thought for a moment. "I'm not sure how to describe it really. On the one hand if feels really good to be back, seeing all the familiar things, and on the other hand it's weird as so much has changed. I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?"

 

"Actually, it does," Hilde replied. "There have been quite a few changes since you and Heero were here, and I don't just mean the scrapyard. The promised funding is starting to appear and the colony is improving. I'd say at this rate the colony should be rid of all poverty and doing quite well for itself in another ten or so years."

 

Duo frowned but declined to comment further. He followed Hilde, his husband and son into the scrap yard.

 

Hilde took great delight in showing the pair around the now much larger yard. With the joining of Mark's yard the business flourished. New contracts were able to be negotiated and the yard, along with the types of scrap it could handle, increased. Duo noted that there were many mobile suit parts amongst other things now in the yard and he wondered what Hilde and Mark wanted with that sort of scrap. Mobile suits had more or less disappeared with the peace, the Gundams had been sent into the sun and the use of such weapons of war outlawed.

 

It was just another part of the riddle that was L2. Putting his dark mood down to lack of sleep, Duo did his best to shake off his feelings of depression.

 

Once the yard had been explored, Hilde took them to the house. It was evident that a lot of renovations had been carried out to the house since the guys' departure. The kitchen had been given a complete overhaul, the master bedroom now had an en suite bathroom, the other two rooms had been returned to proper bedrooms and the office that used to occupy one of the bedrooms was now located downstairs, Mark having had an extra room built on just for that purpose.

 

"Once the wedding and honeymoon are over, we intend to live here," Hilde explained.

 

"What's wrong with Mark's place?" Heero asked as he removed Keitaro from the pusher and cradled him in his arms so the baby could see all around him. Mark lived in a slightly more 'upmarket' part of L2 so Heero naturally assumed he would want to continue to live there and take his new bride there as well.

 

"He's only renting the apartment there. It also makes more sense for us to live here on site, that way we're always on hand should the need arise."

 

"Can't argue with that," Duo snickered. "I just hope you manage to draw the line at taking your work home with you."

 

Hilde snorted. "There's no way I'll be bringing my work home with me," she huffed. “The office is simply for Mark or myself to work in during the day, doing the accounts and such.”

 

"Speaking of Mark, where is the doomed man?" Duo continued, ignoring Hilde's reply.

 

"Doomed?! Why I ought to..." Hilde launched herself at Duo and soon the pair were wrestling on the floor, Duo quickly gaining the upper hand and tickling the living daylights out of Hilde whilst Hilde was doing her best to fend him off.

 

"Ack! Stop, I surrender," Hilde managed to get out between giggles.

 

Duo released Hilde from his clutches and sat back, pushing his disheveled braid back over his shoulder and running his fingers through his bangs in an attempt to tame them.

 

"If you've quite finished, children."

 

Duo and Hilde looked sheepishly at Heero who was staring down at them with an amused smile on his face and a happy Keitaro in his arms.

 

"Sorry, Heero," the pair replied in unison and scrambled to their feet. Duo dusted himself off, Hilde doing the same as they tried to restore some sort of order to themselves and their clothes.

 

Hilde took them across the scrapyard to where a small office had been built for the purpose of dealing with the invoices, receipts and paperwork for the incoming and outgoing scrap. They found Mark inside, a stack of papers on the desk and a phone glued to his ear. Mark waved at them and indicated he would only be a moment, Hilde took that time to briefly explain what contracts they were currently tendering for and what ones they were supplying. Mark soon hung up and joined in the conversation.

 

After a couple of hours discussing the various aspects of the business, Keitaro let his parents know in no uncertain terms that he was wet and hungry. The baby started by giving soft whimpers which soon turned into much louder wails when his needs weren't immediately attended to.

 

Hilde took sympathy on the babe and asked if she could tend to his needs, Heero was happy for her to do so and they bid Mark goodbye, heading back to the house where a bottle could be warmed for the child.

 

It didn't take long for Hilde to have the infant changed and into a dry diaper, the baby cooing softly as he focused on a new face. Duo heated the bottle up and passed it to Hilde who fed the child whilst Heero made them all a coffee. Once the baby was fed and burped, bottle washed out ad placed back in the baby bag, it was time for the guys to bid a farewell to the scrapyard. Hilde was going to drive them to the car rental company that Heero had contacted the previous evening where they would pick up the hire car he'd booked. From the hire car company it would be back to the shuttle port to meet Trowa and Quatre. Their shuttle was due to arrive that afternoon and Heero had offered to pick them up, Quatre taking him up on the offer as neither he nor Trowa would be up to driving. With them both having worked that day and given the length of the flight from L4, both men would be bone weary and want nothing more than to rest. Quatre had also reserved a room in the same hotel as Heero and Duo so they wouldn't be going out of their way by picking them up.

 

Arriving at the shuttle port, Heero parked the car and assisted Duo to get Keitaro out of the baby seat and into the pusher. It wasn't easy as Keitaro was tired and had drifted off to sleep in the car. He wasn't too impressed with being woken up and put into his pusher again. He gave soft whimpers as Duo strapped him in.

 

“Sorry, sunshine, but we need to get your Uncle Quatre and Uncle Trowa. They haven't seen you in a while so they're going to want to greet you; and knowing Quatre, smother you.”

 

“Duo! That's not nice,” Heero stated.

 

“It's true though. Quatre will go all soft and sappy once he sees Keitaro, it's just something in Quatre's make-up. Guess having all those sisters had some sort of effect on him, made him more 'feminine' in his ways.”

 

“I don't think you'd better let Quatre hear you say that. If I remember rightly, Quatre can be quite ruthless when he wants to be. I don't think he's completely recovered from the Zero system.”

 

“Ohhh, a zero Quat. Now, that's scary.” Duo shuddered at the thought. “Although, from what I heard from Wuffers, Quat can be quite the terrorist when high on morphine.”

 

Heero couldn't help but snort as the memories of a certain ride in a hijacked police car with a 'high as a kite' Quatre came flooding back. It was something he had no desire to repeat - ever. “Come on, we're going to be late if we don't get a move on.”

 

“Lead on, McDuff,” Duo snickered and took up position behind the pusher.

 

Heero shook his head and headed for the terminal, he hadn't the courage to let his partner know that Duo at the helm of the pusher was almost as bad as Quatre in a motorized wheelchair.

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...