Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Kindergarten Heero ❯ Chapter 14

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Title: Kindergarten Heero
Chapter: 14/?
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: June 8, 2003
Genre: Shonen Ai/Yaoi, Drama, Romance, Fusion
Pairing: 1x2, 13x6, 5xM, TxH
Rated: R(?)
Warnings: AU, OOC, Swearing, Death (*not* one of the guys)
Archives: At Lev's Lair http://www.gwaddiction.com/levlair/ and at http://calic0cat.freeservers.com/ (my site) and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change

Author's Notes: This is a fusion with the movie "Kindergarten Cop". Blame that pic of Heero with a ferret and the fact that the "Kindergarten Cop" DVD was on a sale rack and caught my attention. Feedback is appreciated.

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Eyes closed, Heero maintained his position. Still leaning against the mantle, he said flatly, "You're right. It is time for the truth. The truth is..." He opened his eyes, gazing unseeingly into the fire. "The truth is that I'm not a teacher. I'm a cop."

'No. Oh god, no...' Duo shook his head sharply in denial. "No. You can't..."

Heero finally turned around and forced himself to meet Duo's wide eyes. "Yes, I am. I'm a cop, a detective on an undercover operation. I never..." He swallowed hard, throat tightening and chest aching at the stricken look on Duo's face. "I've done undercover work before and it's never bothered me to mislead the people I met while I was under. I've never met anyone that I wanted to know once the assignment was over, never wanted anyone to know the truth. I didn't expect this time to be any different. But it has been, right from the first day when I saw you in the main office. I wanted to get to know you, wanted you to get to know *me*. The real me. But I've never broken cover before and by the time I realized how badly I *wanted* to..." Heero swallowed again before forcing out, "By then, it was clear that I couldn't. That you were maybe involved with the case."

Frozen on the couch, Duo listened with a sense of almost - detachment - as Heero spoke. He shivered, idly wondering how he could possibly be cold when he was sweating. A fragment of first aid training popped up, pointing out that he was exhibiting signs of shock. 'Gee, I wonder why I'd be in shock. Couldn't possibly be because the guy I've fallen in love with just informed me that I don't really know him at all. Or because I just told a cop that I'm not a blood relation to Helen and that her dad doesn't know where she is. Or because probably the reason the cop's here is because her dad's looking for her. Nah, couldn't be for any of those reasons...' Duo fought back the almost irresistible urge to laugh hysterically. 'Well, at least I didn't tell him what Helen's original name was. If he doesn't already know, it'll take a little effort for him to find out. The name change itself is legal and official; we just didn't go through the standard official channels to accomplish it...' Oh god. He was going to be sick. He'd just put his promise to Leia at risk, put Helen's whole future at risk. And to top it all off, he'd fallen in love with someone who didn't really exist.

Clamping his hand over his mouth, Duo swallowed repeatedly, refusing to give in to the nausea. He was vaguely aware that Heero was still talking but the words were nothing but meaningless background noise. He had important decisions to make and he needed to make them *fast*. 'Think, Maxwell, *think*. Run? Or stay?

'Running's no good, we'd never be able to settle down. Can't do that to Helen; she deserves a stable home. Friends. Which means we have to stay.

'Gotta call Quatre. Gonna need money and a lawyer and I think he'll help.' He knew that Quatre had helped one of his sisters get out of a bad marriage and *that* help had involved hiring mercenaries - a number of whom remained in his employ as security - to sneak her and her kids out of the husband's homeland. He'd never told Quatre the truth about Elisa and Helen but Duo had a sneaking suspicion that the blond had guessed that there was more to the story than what he'd been told. He'd certainly made a point of emphasizing the house's security system to Elisa when he'd offered it for their use. 'Yeah, Quatre will understand and help. I know he will. As will our other friends.' They'd known Elisa, had known her wishes. They knew Helen, knew him. And Duo knew them. Knew that they would be prepared to help. He could trust them to stand by Helen and him.

'Of course, you thought that you knew Heero too. Thought that you could trust him. Thought that he'd fallen in love with you the way that you fell in love with him. Better hope you're not as wrong about the others as you were about him.' Duo pushed that thought away, unable to deal with the pain of Heero's betrayal right now. Helen's safety and happiness was more important than his own broken heart. 'Call Quatre. Now.'

"...Jaye will be furious that I told you all of this but I couldn't keep lying to..." Heero trailed off in mid-sentence as Duo, face pale and expressionless, rose from the couch and crossed to the phone. "Duo?" There was no response. Not even any sign that Duo had heard him. And he realized abruptly that Duo hadn't reacted to anything that he'd said since he'd admitted that he was a cop. 'Did he even hear any of it?'

Pressing the speed dial for Quatre's personal cell phone - only close friends and family had the number - Duo waited while it rang. He closed his eyes in resignation when it kicked over into voicemail. 'Must be a symphony night; that's about the only time he turns it off.' "Quat? It's Duo. I... I need your help. Helen too. I hate to ask but... we're... uh..." Duo stumbled over his words, finally forcing out in a humiliated rush, "We're gonna need money again. And the name of a lawyer who's... who's really good at custody battles. Tell you the details when you call back. Thanks."

Listening to Duo's phone call, Heero realized in dismay that Duo hadn't really heard anything that he'd said. 'He heard me admit that I'm a cop then he shut down. K'so. He doesn't understand that I'm not here about Helen.'

Standing with one hand resting on the phone, Duo tried to clear his mind enough to figure out what his next step should be. There must be something he should do while he waited for Quatre to call back... A hand tentatively touching his shoulder and the sound of his name reminded him of at least one thing he needed to do. Shrugging out from under Heero's hand without turning around, he said stonily, "Detective Yuy - or whatever the hell your name is - I think you should leave. Now."

"No. Duo, it's not what you think. You need to listen..."

Angry and hurt, Duo wheeled to face Heero and exploded, "Not what I think?!" Ever conscious of Helen's presence upstairs, he forced himself to keep his voice low as he hissed furiously, "I need to *listen*?! Listen to *what*, for god's sake! More lies? More bullshit aimed at tricking me into spilling my guts to you? God, you must've laughed your ass off at the gullible, naive schoolteacher who was dumb enough to believe that you were falling in love with him the way he'd fallen in love with you!" Despite his best efforts, Duo's voice cracked and broke, his throat closing off and his eyes burning.

Heero flinched at the bitter betrayal in Duo's voice. 'This was *not* the way I wanted to find out that he was in love with me too...' he thought miserably. Hopefully "was" did not turn out to be the critical word. "Please, Duo, you don't understand. It wasn't like that at all. At first, I didn't even know you had anything to do with the case. I was attracted to you and wanted to get to know you for *me*, not the investigation. I should have requested reassignment the moment I realized that you might be connected to the whole mess but I'd been after Khushrenada for so long that I didn't want someone else to be the one to finally put him behind bars. I did finally get my priorities straight and request reassignment but..."

Almost against his will, Duo listened to Heero. He was determined not to be fooled again but he couldn't afford to ignore information that might help protect Helen. 'Sure, Maxwell, keep telling yourself that. You just don't want to admit that you're hoping he really can explain himself. That you're still foolish enough to hope that he's in love with you...' Abruptly, what Heero was saying sank in. "Whoa, wait a minute. Put Khushrenada behind bars?" he interrupted. "I thought..."

Relieved that Duo was finally really paying attention, Heero stated clearly, "I'm not here about Helen. We were looking for Leia Barton-Khushrenada in the hopes that she would testify against her husband. We knew that she'd been seen entering the school with her daughter a few months ago but that was all we had to go on. Khushrenada knows too but he's in jail awaiting trial for murder. The witness is - a little less than ideal - so we were hoping to nail him on other charges too, preferably with more solid testimony. We'd hoped Leia would be willing to testify in exchange for immunity and protection." He left the money that Leia had supposedly taken out for now; it would only confuse the issue. Heero was pretty sure that *if* the money even existed - and he had some pretty serious doubts on the subject - Duo didn't know anything about it. The phone call that Duo had just made had only strengthened his belief. Duo was worried about custody of Helen, not ill-gotten gains. The gut reaction of someone with ten million dollars squirrelled away would not be to stand his ground and make a distinctly embarrassed request for money from a friend. It would be to grab the ten million and run like hell.

"You're not here about Helen," Duo repeated disbelievingly. "But... you're a cop. After what I told you..."

Heero shook his head. "Khushrenada never reported his daughter missing. Her mother left her in your custody. Without her father making a formal, legal claim - it's a grey area."

"A grey area," Duo echoed. "He never even *looked* for them?!"

"That's not what I said," Heero corrected him. He didn't bother pointing out that until Duo had just confirmed his ID of Helen as Khushrenada's daughter, he really hadn't been 100% certain. He didn't think Duo would appreciate finding out that little fact. "He never reported his daughter missing. Just like he never reported the ten million his wife supposedly stole from him. Though since it was illegal income from drugs, it's quite understandable why he didn't report it to the police. He simply put out word on the street and offered an unspecified reward for information about Leia."

Still struggling to deal with the idea that Helen's custody wasn't in immediate jeopardy, it took a few minutes for the comment about the "ten million" to sink in. But when it did... "Ten million!" Duo yelped. "All Leia had was some valuable jewellery and expensive clothes that she pawned for a pittance. She didn't have any cash or a bank account or even charge cards; Khushrenada wanted her to come to him for everything. Sounded to me like he got off on the power trip. The last few things that she hadn't pawned before she hooked up with me, she dropped in a Salvation Army donation bin. She didn't want whatever cash she could've got for them; didn't want any part of the profits from that filthy business of his. Even if she could've somehow gotten hold of some of his money, she'd have never touched it. It disgusted her; knowing she'd lived on it made her feel dirty and tainted. She sure as hell never made off with ten million!"

Heero scowled. Duo's version of the story fit. Far better than the version that Khushrenada had spread around the streets; he'd always thought there was something a bit off about that tale. But... "If he wasn't after Leia because of the money..."

"Oh god," Duo breathed. "It's Helen. He's after her..."

***

Meiran's spin-kick ended when her foot thudded against the heavy bag. The bag rocked under the blow; she resumed her stance and prepared to strike again. Sweat trickled down her back and between her breasts. Her muscles quivered with exhaustion. Despite the lateness of the hour and her growing physical weariness, she continued her workout. Her anger and frustration still burned as fiercely as they had when she'd first discovered Yuy's identity. She wished that she'd pressed Chief Gee harder for details regarding the investigation that Yuy was involved in.

Despite Yuy's assurances that he was genuinely interested in Duo, she had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. For one thing, if Yuy's interest in Duo was strictly personal, he couldn't be spending much time on the investigation he was supposed to be conducting. She doubted that his partner was doing all the work and letting him slack off; Yuy didn't strike her as a slacker and the woman didn't seem likely to let him get away with it if he was. Which almost inevitably led to the conclusion that, while Yuy might genuinely have a personal interest in Duo, Duo was also involved in their case.

Another blow rocked the bag.

A calm but firm voice spoke from the dojo's doorway. "Meiran. It is late. Enough. Come to bed."

Meiran shook her head. "No." She turned to face her husband. "Spar with me," she demanded.

One corner of Wufei's mouth lifted in a wry half-smile. "Not tonight, my fierce one. We learned that lesson the hard way, remember?" Early in their marriage, they had made the mistake of sparring while Meiran was upset over a case. The match had ended with a trip to the emergency room for them both. "Come," he urged, holding out his hand. "There are other ways to escape your thoughts for a while. Much more pleasant and successful ones."

Anticipation coiled in her belly at the promise in her husband's dark eyes. Yes, Wufei would make her forget, at least for tonight. And tomorrow - well, she would deal with it when it arrived; deal with it all the better for being relaxed and well-rested. Or relaxed and not-so-well-rested, for that matter. Gliding across the dojo, Meiran placed her hand in Wufei's in silent acceptance of the invitation. Side by side, they headed back to the house.

***

Hilde punched a number into the phone, stopping before she entered the final digit. Finger poised over the keypad, she grimaced then hung the receiver up again. 'No,' she decided with a sigh. 'I'll let him have tonight. Nothing we can do right now anyway; morning'll be soon enough to break the news.'

There was no point calling Maxwell's home number this late just to give Yuy the bad news. She already knew that he wasn't going to take any of it well. The loss of their only witness, Khushrenada's release, and the news that they were being pulled from the case unless they came up with the elusive - and, she was beginning to suspect, illusory - stolen money, were all going to be highly unpopular with her partner. He'd wanted off the case but not because it was being dropped. And if they were right about Maxwell's connection to Leia Barton-Khushrenada, Yuy was going to be *very* unhappy about Jaye's ultimatum regarding police protection. Very, *very* unhappy.

***

Standing beside Helen's bed, Duo gently stroked her hair back from her face. He didn't know what to do. 'God, Leia, I wish you were here. Wish I could share this mess with you; share responsibility for the decisions.' Besides which, if Leia was there, the chances of winning a custody battle against Khushrenada would be far greater. Right now - well, he wasn't sure what his chances were like. Without help from Quatre, they would likely be abysmal. With money and a damn good lawyer - it was hard to say.

Khushrenada's failure to look for his daughter through legal channels was a definite mark against him, as was his arrest for murder. Duo's own record was pretty squeaky-clean; his handful of childhood misdemeanours while he'd been living on the streets had been expunged from his record when he reached adulthood. He had plenty of good character witnesses and Helen's mother's wishes were also a strong point in his favour. The gay issue shouldn't matter since Khushrenada had an openly acknowledged male live-in lover. None of which guaranteed that he would get to keep Helen; it just gave him a fighting chance. He hoped.

Then of course there was the other problem he was facing. The problem waiting for him downstairs.

Heero.

Heero who, amongst all the lies and half-truths, had at least been using his real name. And, if Duo were to believe him, had been interested in Duo personally rather than professionally all along. He'd cut off Heero's explanation at that point, claiming a need to check on Helen. He *had* felt a need to check on Helen, to see that she was safely in her bed. But he'd also needed a few minutes away from Heero. Minutes to decide whether or not to give Heero a chance to continue that explanation. A chance to rescue the relationship that he'd just accepted as nothing but a foolish dream. He wanted to believe Heero, wanted to give him a chance. *God*, how he wanted that. But he was afraid too. Afraid of getting hurt, afraid of Helen getting hurt. Afraid of being betrayed again. Afraid to trust again.

'Should I trust him? *Can* I trust him?'

Tough questions. Questions that he needed to find answers for - and soon.

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