Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Past Meets Present ❯ Chapter 17 ( Chapter 18 )

Just then the phone rang. Both Meiran and Quatre jumped, startled by it. Being closer to the thing, Quatre picked it up. He must have known who was on the other end because he quickly launched into a conversation with the other person.

Leaving the room, Meiran made sure the door was locked before going off. Her feet were tired, as was she really, and she wanted to sit. Spying the couch open and no one in the living room, she laid down, hoping to take a little nap.

“I’m going to KILL you Maxwell!” Roared a very loud, very angry voice. It didn’t take Trowa long; maybe 1 second, to recognize Wufei as the one who had yelled. It was after dinner, in which the group had been surprised by the large Chinese feast Quatre and Mei had made. Well, Trowa wasn’t. He had been there when they had gotten all the supplies needed for the thing.

Flipping the next card, he waited for Hilde to make her move. The two were currently playing war. Their game had been going on for a little while now, neither really winning nor losing.

“Double war,” Hilde announced, her card a seven like Trowa’s. Sighing, he flipped over two new cards. Watching her, he raised his eyes, noting that they had both gotten two’s as the final card.

“Triple war,” he replied. Flipping more cards over, Hilde’s eyes widened a little. “Uh, quadruple war,” she said, not believing what she was seeing. The trend continued a few more times until each person only had three cards left. The huge pile of cards went to Hilde. After winning just one of Hilde’s cards, she took Trowa out of the game.

Stretching, the former clown stood up. By this time, the others had made their way into the game room. Duo was sitting by Heero, looking smug. Wufei, on the other hand, was scowling. It didn’t take Trowa long to figure out why the Chinese man had been yelling. His crutches were painted pink. Smirking, Trowa walked over to the bookshelf and started to look through the collection.

All was quiet for a while before Xin Xin suddenly ran off. Coming back a few minutes later, she shyly walked over to Wufei, a small crudely looking package behind her back.

“Happy birthday,” she told the man, giving him the package. A confused look passed over Wufei’s face; him not used to getting gifts from people. Oh sure, on his previous birthdays and Christmas, an English tradition Maxwell fully believed in, he had received things. But on his birthdays before, the gifts had been like a trip to Beijing from Sally that just so happened to tie in with some of their work, or going out to dinner on one of his friends. And with Christmas, everyone exchanged gifts with each other.

As Meiran watched Wufei unwrap the present Xin Xin had given the man, she wondered what it could be. Seeing the bright red and gold trim of Mr. Dragon, it was all she could do from showing her shock. Mr. Dragon was Xin Xin’s favorite stuffed animal, one of the last items that remained from L5, which made it very special to Meiran as well.

“His name is Mr. Dragon,” the small child informed her father. “And you need to take real good care of him because Niáng says Mr. Dragon’s from,” on this the child turned to face her mother. “Where’d you say he’s from again?”

“L5,” Meiran supplied. “One of the last things from the place.”

“Yep, just like Niáng said. So take real good care of Mr. Dragon or I’ll come after you!” The little girl ended with a threat, causing a few smiles to pop up around the room. Wufei nodded in promise, not quite knowing what to say.

“Good,” the little girl continued, sitting down next to him. Snuggling into his side, she yawned and was asleep in moments. He looked at the child for a moment and then turned to look at the others. Trowa had his nose in a book, Quatre and Heero pulling out the chess pieces. Duo had disappeared while Hilde was on the floor, looking at the ceiling. Only Meiran remained doing nothing.

“You don’t mind if I go make a call, do you?” She asked quietly. Shaking his head, Wufei watched her leave the room, all the while wondering why she had asked for his permission. With a shrug, he let his armrest around Xin Xin, reading a book Trowa had recommended.

She came back a little bit later and took Xin Xin upstairs. When she was done with the child, Meiran disappeared.

Duo looked up when the door to his room opened and saw Heero walk in. The guy nodded in recognization and crossed the room.

“I just got done talking to Relena.”

“What did she want?” Duo asked, sitting up.

“She wants me to become a part of her security detail;” Heero’s monotone voice came from the closet.

“Are you?”

“I have to think about it, but I probably will.” He came out of the closet.

Duo just flopped back down, not saying a word. Apparently, Heero thought the quiet was out of ordinary because he asked if something was wrong.

“Nothing. It’s just, you’re my best friend and I suddenly find out you’re probably going to go away for who knows how long,” was Duo’s reply, sounding too emotional in Heero’s opinion.

A/N: Okay, it’s short. I know, but I had to get an update up and this was all I had. Sorry! But, good news for me. I’m getting a cell phone tomorrow! I am so excited.

I own nada in this fic but little Xin Xin though if I owned Gundam Wing I would be donating quite a bit to the Salvation Army in the wake of Katrina.