Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 27 ( Chapter 27 )

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. ^_^

 

 

 

"Family Ties"

 

January. 2007 ShenLong

 

 

Chapter 27

 

Wufei drove down the winding driveway to the front of the manor and brought the car to a stop. Keeping the motor running, he glanced at Heero who was collecting his things together.

 

“Thanks for the lift, Chang,” Heero said as he opened the car door and got out.

 

“You're welcome, Yuy. I'll see you in the office at eight tomorrow.”

 

“In the meantime if I find anything I'll call you.”

 

“Thank you, that would be most appreciated. Tell Maxwell I want a full briefing on what he's up to tomorrow.”

 

“I will. Drive carefully.” Heero shut the car door and turned towards the house. Wufei drove off, leaving the agent walking towards the front steps.

 

Heero frowned a little at the unusual silence about the place. Normally, Miracle would come barking to the front door as soon as she heard a car pull in. There was always the chance that the dog was out playing or on a walk with either Duo or Nurse Brown, Heero thought as he inserted his key into the lock and opened the door.

 

The silence was even more oppressive inside the house. Heero removed the key and turned to the small, electronic key pad at the side, automatically going to disable the security system. Flipping open the small cover, he paused. The system was off. Heero scratched his head, brow furrowed as he stared at the key pad. It was highly unusual for the security system not to be on.

 

A feeling of unease began to steal over Heero. “Duo?” he called.

 

No answer.

 

“Nurse Brown?” Heero tried again.

 

With the feeling of dread building, Heero dropped his bag quietly to the floor and removed his gun from his shoulder holster. Flipping the safety off, he began to move silently through the house.

 

He checked the lounge room, dining room and found nothing out of the ordinary. He thought he heard a noise coming from upstairs and paused to listen carefully. Moving slowly, he began to ascend the stairs, ears and eyes straining for the slightest sound, tiniest movement.

 

Heero crept along the hall way, checking rooms as he went. All were vacant, no sign of the occupants to be found. Heero was beginning to get worried now. He stepped into the nursery and noted Keitaro's baby bag and stroller were gone. With Nurse Brown also absent, Heero concluded that it was highly possible that the nurse was out somewhere with the baby.

 

But where was Duo?

 

His husband had left a note saying he would be at home checking on a possible lead, so why couldn't he find him? Cautiously, Heero stepped into his and Duo's room. There was no sign of his partner. A quick perusal of the room showed Duo's uniform tossed onto the chair, indicating his husband had come home. Heero was about to leave the room when he spotted something else. The closet door was open just a touch and something glinted in the depths. Heero went to check it out.

 

It was Duo's knife safe. Heero knew all about Duo's knives and the gundanium box he kept them locked away in. Duo only took them out to sharpen as a rule. The only other time they were removed was when Duo was on an assignment.

 

Heero checked the box. It only held three of Duo's knives. Duo wasn't on an assignment other than the one they were currently working on, so why would he remove his knives?

 

The puzzle deepened for Heero.

 

With the upper floor yielding nothing, Heero returned to his search of the lower floor. He heard a noise in the kitchen and silently moved in that direction. Gun poised, Heero slipped around the door of the kitchen ready to shoot. “Freeze!” he yelled.

 

“I surrender!”

 

“Barney!” Heero all but cried in relief. The Weiro was sitting on his perch, beady eyes staring straight at Heero's gun and if Heero didn't know any better he'd have sworn the bird was ready to raise his wings.

 

A whine and scratching at the back door told Heero where Miracle was. Putting the gun back in its holster, Heero gave the bird a sheepish look and went to let in the dog.

 

Miracle was overjoyed to see him and bounded around giving excited yaps and wagging her tail so hard her entire rear end was moving.

 

With so much noise going on, Heero would have expected Duo to have appeared by now; if he was working or in the house somewhere that was. He glanced around looking for a note, something, anything, that Duo would have left to let him know where he was. Nothing. Recalling what Duo had said about a possible lead, Heero made his way to the office. Maybe that would provide some clue as to where his lover was. Failing that, Heero was ready to search the grounds on the off chance Duo had been out with Miracle and some sort of accident had occurred.

 

That thought sent a tremble of fear through Heero as a distant memory of Duo when he was pregnant raced through his mind and he hastened his steps.

 

Entering the office, Heero could see the computer was turned on although the screen was in saver mode. A smile came to Heero lips as he watched Wing Zero and Deathscythe 'waltzing' around the screen. Heero moved the mouse and the last thing Duo had been working on came up.

 

He'd been hacking into the ESUN database.

 

Heero studied the screen for a moment. It appeared Duo had been taking a slightly different route into the database than Heero had. Deciding he would look into that a little deeper once he'd found his missing husband, Heero turned around and gazed at the dog who was sitting behind him. “Where's Duo, girl?” he asked.

 

Miracle just whined.

 

“Is he outside somewhere? Was he playing with you and something happened?”

 

Miracle whined again and lifted a paw.

 

Sighing, Heero ruffled the dog's ears. “Come on, let's take a look outside before it gets dark.” Heero headed for the back door and outside, Miracle trotting beside him.

 

* * *

 

Duo found himself shoved roughly down a flight of stairs and stumbled. He grabbed the railing to steady himself and looked around. “Keitaro!” he shouted when he spotted his son lying on the small bed. Letting go of the rail, Duo all but sprinted across the small basement to snatch up his son and cradle him in his arms. With the baby safe in his arms, Duo spotted the nurse sitting in the chair, her face looking upset. “Nurse Brown, are you okay?”

 

“I'm so sorry, Duo,” the nurse began, but Duo cut her off.

 

“No, don't apologize. You've done nothing wrong, it's these bastards that should be apologizing.” Duo turned his eyes towards Duric and glared at the man.

 

Duric just smirked.

 

Another man appeared behind Duric. “Boss said you might need a hand.”

 

Duric nodded. “It seems our Mr Maxwell needs to be taught a lesson. He doesn't take us seriously.”

 

“Then I suggest we give him that lesson,” Murphy sneered.

 

Before Duo had a chance to react, Duric pointed the gun directly at him whilst the other man moved swiftly across the room and dragged Nurse Brown to her feet. There was a startled gasp from the nurse followed by a sharp crack and cry of pain.

 

“You bastard!” Duo yelled and went to move.

 

“I don't think so,” Duric said in a low tone. “Move and the baby will be next.”

 

Duo hesitated and clutched his son closer to his chest. The gun was pointing directly at Keitaro now and Duo knew the man meant what he said. His shoulders slumped and he lowered his head in defeat.

 

“That's much better. Now, we will leave you alone to think about how serious we are. I suggest you cooperate completely with what the boss wants and avoid any further unpleasantness.” Words said, Duric and Murphy left the basement, leaving the light on and locking the door behind them.

 

As soon as he heard the key in the lock, Duo was across the room and beside the nurse who had slumped back into her chair. “Nurse Brown, what happened?” Violet eyes scanned over the nurse and came to rest on her hands. She was clutching her left arm defensively.

 

“He broke my wrist,” the nurse said through gritted teeth.

 

“Fuck!”

 

The nurse shot him a glare.

 

“Umm, sorry about the language and all. Here, let me take a look.” Duo sat Keitaro on the floor so he could reach out and see the damage for himself. Fingers carefully explored the rapidly swelling and discolored flesh.

 

“Ouch! Be careful, that bloody well hurts!” the nurse cried out.

 

Duo's eyes widened at the cursing.

 

“Well? What do you expect me to say? Please be gentle as it's very sore and hurting me a lot?” the nurse huffed.

 

Duo managed to contain the snicker, but was even more careful with his explorations. “It's definitely broken,” he stated.

 

“No kidding,” the nurse replied, the sarcasm evident in her tone. “I think the crack, my scream of pain and the way it's swelling would tell you that.”

 

“Uh, yeah,” Duo replied.

 

“Question is, what can we do about it?” The nurse paused to look around. “I really need to strap it somehow. By rights it should be x-rayed and then set in plaster, but that's not an option right now.”

 

Duo had never felt so helpless in all his life. Keitaro chose that moment to whimper. He was hungry, cold and needed changing. Duo suddenly had a thought. “Is the baby bag still here?”

 

“Yes. I know Keitaro needs feeding and changing, but you'll have to do that yourself, I'm not much use with only my right hand.”

 

“I know that. Keitaro can wait a moment.” Duo got up and located the baby bag. He fished around inside and gave a triumphant snort. “Perfect,” he muttered and returned to the injured nurse. He carried two of Keitaro's cloth diapers with him.

 

Nurse Brown eyed him suspiciously.

 

“We can use these to strap your wrist and make a sort of sling to take the pressure off,” Duo said with a smile.

 

“Not a bad idea,” the nurse replied. “I hope you picked out the clean ones.”

 

Duo gave her a look of disbelief. “Of course,” he huffed, then his eyes softened as he noted the pain in the nurse's eyes. She was trying to use humor to distract herself from all that was happening. Gently taking her broken wrist in his hands, Duo began to wrap his makeshift bandage around the wrist. “I'm probably not doing a proper job of this and all, you being a nurse would know how to do it the right way, but I guess you can't like this so you're stuck with me.”

 

“It's fine, Duo,” the nurse said as she grit her teeth. Pain was unavoidable. “I wish they hadn't taken my purse away, I could really use a couple of aspirin right now.”

 

“I'm sorry,” Duo said in a whisper. “This is all my fault.”

 

“No, it isn't,” the nurse stated firmly. “If it's anyone's fault, then it's mine. I should have been quicker to notice what was going on and avoided being kidnapped.”

 

Duo sighed and secured the makeshift bandage, then began the task of setting up the sling. “Really and truly no one is to blame other than those assho- err... idiots. Tell me what happened.”

 

Whilst Duo rigged up the sling, Nurse Brown related what had happened to her and Keitaro in the park. As she spoke, Duo could feel his rage simmering and building beneath the surface. He knew he had to keep a hold on his temper, these people had already demonstrated that they meant business and he wouldn't allow anything else to befall either his son or the nurse. The apparent leader of their group was already living on borrowed time as far as Duo was concerned for taking what was his. The man called Duric and the other fool were both dead men too, they just didn't know it yet.

 

When Nurse Brown finished her story, Duo had secured her wrist and was now changing Keitaro. “You did the right thing,” he said. “If you hadn't cooperated they may have killed you both,” he said as he silently thanked the nurse for being sensible and also prepared in making sure Keitaro's bag had plenty of diapers in it.

 

“Surely not!” the nurse exclaimed.

 

“I wouldn't put it past them at all, not if they are willing to break your wrist like they did.”

 

Margaret thought about that, then changed the topic slightly. “How did they contact you? And more to the point, what is it they want from you, us?”

 

Duo thought on that for a moment and then filled the nurse in on the phone call he'd gotten and the ensuing instructions. “As for what they want, I really don't know. I'm pretty sure it's me they are after, but what they want from me, I haven't a clue. So far all I've managed to figure out is they obviously want me to do something for them and are holding you and Keitaro as insurance that I will comply.”

 

“Oh, Duo. What are we going to do?”

 

Good question. Duo wasn't sure he had an answer to that right now.

 

* * *

 

Heero headed out the back door with Miracle at his heels. He scanned around the small expanse of garden close to the house and came up blank. He set off deeper into the grounds, calling Duo's name from time to time and searching everywhere that he could think of that the braided man liked to retreat to.

 

And found no trace of his missing husband.

 

He paused in his search, then a thought struck him. “The garage!” he said aloud. “Maybe Duo's working on the car which is why he wouldn't have heard me come home.” Knowing Duo's penchant for tinkering with anything mechanical, Heero took off at a run for the garage.

 

Opening the door and entering, Heero stopped in his tracks. Both cars were gone. He knew the nurse would have the sedan that Quatre had insisted they have to use for as long as they liked, given she was obviously out with Keitaro and the sedan was the car with the baby seat. But the pick up was missing too.

 

Now Heero was starting to get really worried. Duo always let him know where he was going or what he was doing. He'd left him the note saying he was going home to follow up on a lead and Duo had obviously been doing that; but why hadn't he left him a note or contacted him to tell him he was going out? The security system being disabled also sat uneasily with Heero. Then there were the missing knives...

 

The knot of fear grew.

 

Mind made up, Heero went back to the house intent on calling Chang. Two heads were better than one. The thought that he may be overreacting didn't cross his mind. Heero knew his husband, knew his lover well enough by now to know that this was completely out of character for Duo.

 

Stepping back into the kitchen, Heero noticed Barney sitting on his perch, seemingly still in shock from his earlier confrontation with a loaded gun. He moved over to the birdcage, opened the door and held his finger out. Barney immediately jumped on it. Heero withdrew his hand, Barney still sitting happily and ran a finger down the soft feathers at the back of Barney's head. “Where is everyone?” he muttered.

 

“Gone shopping, gone shopping,” Barney chirped and turned his head so he could nibble on Heero's finger with his beak.

 

Heero's eyes widened a touch. “Gone shopping?” he echoed.

 

A pair of beady eyes looked back at him.

 

“Who went shopping, Barney?”

 

“Baby shopping,” the bird chirruped.

 

Heero thought for a moment and studied the bird more intently. It was worth a shot. “Where's Duo, Barney?”

 

Barney cocked his head. “Going out, going out,” the bird responded.

 

Heero knew that much, or so he presumed. It was possible that Duo had gone with Nurse Brown and Keitaro to the mall. Given the missing pick up and his husband nowhere to be found, Heero could pretty much guarantee Duo was out somewhere. But why take his knives? Duo hated fighting, hated the killing and would only do so as a last resort. He was just as much an advocate for peace as Relena and Quatre were. “Gone out where?”

 

“Shit's gonna hit the fan,” the bird squawked.

 

Heero rolled his eyes. “I must be losing it, asking a bird for help,” he muttered to himself. Carefully, he put Barney back in the cage and went to make a phone call.

 

“Chang.” Wufei's voice came down the line.

 

“Wufei, I think I may have a problem.”

 

“Problem? You haven't tripped the security on the ESUN whilst hacking, have you?”

 

“No, nothing like that,' Heero replied. “Actually, I'm not sure if it is a problem or if I'm just being paranoid.”

 

“Yuy, what the hell are you going on about?” Chang was starting to get a little frustrated with the agent and the lack of information.

 

“Duo's not home. I can't find him anywhere.”

 

“Then I suggest you enjoy the peace and quiet while you can,” Wufei's voice said with a touch of sarcasm.

 

“Chang, you don't understand. He's not here.”

 

“And that should be a problem, why?”

 

“I'm not sure, Chang, but my gut is telling me there's something very wrong.”

 

“He's probably gone down the shops or something.” Wufei softened his tone a little, he could tell Heero was really worried.

 

“If he was going out somewhere, he would have let me know.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Heero snorted. “Of course! Duo always let's me know where he is or what he's doing. He either calls me or leaves me a note. Wufei, this is not like Duo.”

 

Wufei had to concede that point. Heero knew his spouse best and if he said Duo always let him know his whereabouts, then something wasn't right. “Have you asked the nanny where he is?”

 

“She's not here either, nor is Keitaro. Barney said they'd gone shopping.”

 

It was Wufei's turn to snort. “Since when do you take a bird's word as the truth, Yuy?”

 

“I know, but Barney is pretty smart.”

 

“Double check everything again, Yuy. I'll be there shortly.”

 

“Wufei?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Arigato.”

 

* * *

 

Duo sat on the small chair with Keitaro in his arms. The baby had been changed and Duo was now feeding the infant the last of the formula that had been packed into the baby bag. Idly he wondered if their captors would provide more formula for the child, or would they try to starve them? There were far too many questions and not enough answers. Duo was giving himself a headache trying to figure everything out. He glanced across at the nurse who was lying on the bed, the diapers were serving their purpose well enough in acting as a support for her broken wrist, but Duo knew she needed medical attention.

 

His thoughts turned again to their predicament and how they could get out of it. He'd talked in length with the nurse and found himself impressed with her recon of the basement they were being held in. He admired her resourcefulness in trying to find a way out and snickered over the 'toilet' facilities. He could easily picture the stoic woman refusing to use a chamber pot!

 

With the window being their only feasible option for getting out, Duo had gone over the framework and masonry thoroughly. He saw what the nurse had told him and agreed that the crumbling brick work would be their best option for escape. But there was only so much one could do with fingernails against stone. He mused over whether their captors would allow then utensils to eat with, providing they fed them of course. And if so, would he be able to pinch one to make the task of breaking the crumbling masonry a little easier?

 

All these thoughts and more ran abundantly through his head, Duo allowing them to flow, knowing that sooner or later, his mind would sort them out and analyze them, make better sense of them and come up with something to help them all.

 

The bottle finished, Duo sat Keitaro up and wiped the child's chin. He absently rubbed the small back until Keitaro brought up the wind then held his son close. His ears picked up on the sound of a key in the door. He turned his head to see Duric entering, gun poised.

 

“Boss wants to see you.”

 

The nurse had also woken from her light doze and looked at Duo. There was a mix of pain, fear and understanding in her eyes. “I'll look after the baby,” she said quietly.

 

With a nod, Duo got up and carried his son to where the nurse was lying. “He should sleep for a bit.”

 

“Duo? Be careful.”

 

“I will.” Giving the nurse a warm look, Duo squeezed her uninjured hand and turned to face his captor. “I'm ready.”

 

Duric motioned for Duo to ascend the stairs, all the while keeping his gun trained on the pair resting on the bed. “Don't try anything or they both get it.”

 

Eyes hardening, Duo gave his captor the once over, then climbed the stairs.

 

Duric shuddered. Those eyes that had been a clear amethyst now turned almost purple. Inside them, Duric could see the burning of an unholy flame.

 

And the promise of a Hell he couldn't even begin to comprehend.

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...