Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Family Curse Arc ❯ Home for once ( Chapter 11 )

Warning: Angst, Possible OCC, Yaoi

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. I don't want to own GW. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Home for Once

Another two month passed in relative normalcy. Faith and Karl kept in touch, but Heero and Duo were still unaware that they had contact. Faith loved hearing about what was going on at home. Sure she could look in and see, but it was better to hear it from her love.

The day began like any other. Faith returned from her run and sat down to check her messages. There was only one note in her message inbox. Clicking it open she was shocked to see the Perventer logo instead of Karl's smiling face. She pushed the play button and Une's face came on screen.

"Greetings Preventer Fate. I would not have contacted you, except that we are in dire need of some one of your, particular skills. As you may remember I sent you details about an infiltration mission that I felt you would be perfect for. The mission still stands. I'm not going to order you to report to headquarters, sense you're not an active agent, but I do urgently request your presence. I'm aware of your status as a `runaway'. Preventer Light filled me in and gave me this address. I will not contact your parents. I will not tell anyone you are here if you do not wish me to. Contact me at my private number, listed below. Une out." The image faded except for a phone number.

Faith stared at the screen unsure what to do. "Call her back." Faith spun around and faced Trowa. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but you should call her back." Faith nodded and pushed the redial button. Trowa slipped back out of the tent as the phone rang. Une picked up on the third ring. "Faith. I've been expecting you to call. Can I guess that I'll be seeing you in my office for a briefing soon?" Faith's face was grim. "I'll be in tomorrow. Is there any chance I'll need my partner?" Une shook her head. "Not for the mission, but bring her in anyway. I have a package that was left for you and you may need her for that." Faith gave a small nod. "Rodger that. Preventer Fate out."

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Faith quickly gathered her things together. Bella and Cathy cried a little at her leaving, but neither one was going to hold her back. Cathy hugged her cousin. "You always have a place here if you need it." Faith just smiled and nodded.

Faith arrived on L2 in the middle of the night. Walking down the street toward her childhood home brought back so many memories. Scraped knees and mud pies. The tree house where all the children use to gather for games. Faith sighed. Arriving at the house she grinned at the sign out front of the scrap yard. `Schbeiker, Maxwell and Son'. Duo had just never gotten around to changing the sigh after she was born. Through the word `Son' was a black magic marker X and under it was written in a childish scroll `Daughter'. Faith remembered making that "amendment" to the sign when she was seven.

Striding up the front door, Faith reached out telepathically and made sure everyone with in was sound asleep and would stay that way. She then disabled the security system and headed for the hanger. When she reached Ebonyblade's cockpit she found a picnic basket and a note on the seat.

My Dearest Faith,

Une told me to be expecting you soon. I thought you might need something to help stay awake on the flight to Earth. There's coffee in the thermos and leftovers from dinner in the basket. I even made those cookies you love so much. You'd better come back to me in one piece young lady.

All my love,

Karl Yuy

Faith couldn't help but giggle. Moving the basket to the storage bin, she sat down in the pilot's chair and popped a diskette into the flight recorder.

Fifteen minutes later, she slipped into Karl's room and left the disk on his bed side table. With a soft kiss on his cheek, she was gone again.

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Bright and early the next morning, Karl found the disk. He popped it into his laptop and a window with two icons appeared. One was marked `Personal Message'. The other, `More Than A Joke'. When he double clicked on `Personal Message', Faith's smiling face appeared. "Hey jerk. Thanks for the food and coffee. Saved me having to raid the kitchen. I can't talk long. Gotta get on my way. The other file on this disk has some photos that I think Dad and Otosan will find interesting. Let me know how that goes. Love ya." She blew a kiss and the screen went black.

Hearing movement down stairs, Karl copied the picture file to another disk, pocketed it, and went down to breakfast. Duo sat at the table in his normal, blurry eyed way. Karl sat down as Heero emerged from the kitchen and began dishing out his `special' eggs. Karl groaned at the pile of yellowish brown goop on his plate. He was proud of the fact that his father tried so hard, but could never figure out how he could undercook and burn eggs at the same time.

After he had stomached as much as he could, Karl pulled the disk from his pocket. "Faith came by last night." Duo started, nearly spilling his precious source of morning caffeine. "Nani?!?" Karl placed the disk on the table. "Yeah, she came by to pick up Ebony and left a present." Heero scooped up the disk and popped it into his laptop. The disk opened to a picture of the circus. Then there were several shots of the sword dancer. The last shot was of Faith in the costume, minus the veil, smiling and waving at everyone.

Duo's face grew very red. He spun around to face Karl. "You knew didn't you? You knew exactly where she was and you didn't tell us?" Heero put a hand on Duo's shoulder. "Calm down Duo. We know she's safe and was well taken care of." An almost smile passed over Heero's face. "She's getting good with disguising herself. She fooled both of us right to our faces." Duo sighed and almost smiled too. "I guess she is."

Karl quietly got up and tried to make his escape. Just as he was almost free, a hand grabbed the back of his collar. "And just where do you think your going little mister? You have some `splaining to do."

2BC…

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A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out. Job hunting sucks. I've been looking for weeks now and I still can't find a job. Guess I've got to swallow my pride and look into fast food again. Sigh.