Disclaimer: We do not-- and probably never shall-- own the Original Gundam
Wing characters. So, meh.
- A Gundam Family Reunion -
Original Concept by Shanell, Chantal and Pippa
Written by Chantal and Pippa
It was a bright, sunny July day in the south of Germany. Every German went about their business like any other day. Just another lazy, old July day.
But it was different for a few select people. This was a day of celebration and reunion. Yep, this was gonna be one hell of a day.
"Yep, this is gonna be one hell of a day!" A braided man stated, his hands on his hips as he surveyed his huge backyard, the huge backyard behind his enormous mansion. He grinned the same grin he used to grin from so many years ago. "Yep, a hell of a day."
"Well, you could help a little sometime, Duo Maxwell!" A woman with curly blonde hair and gold eyes called up to the little man. He ignored her, still scanning the back with his violet eyes. "We can't do this alone!"
"We?" Duo asked, bringing his attention to his wife.
"Yes, we! Me, Mika, Vic, Kitaro, Elspeth and Lori!" She fumed. "Now get down here, Duo Maxwell, if you value your life!" Duo whimpered, fearing the woman's temper, and skipped down to her.
The date was July 2nd, AC230. Right then there were a whole lot of people in planes or cars heading towards the little town near Munich. It was a perfect day, only 10 in the morning yet and already the sun was shining bright and warm.
It was a perfect day for a family reunion.
Well, it wasn't a real family reunion. Sure, a lot of people were seeing their families again, but most were seeing old friends. Such as the old Blooms (Pippa and Trowa), the old Winners (Chantal and Quatre) and the old Maxwells (Shanell and Duo).
Duo was setting little sandwiches on a table, a very very long table. In fact it was a buffet table. He stole a couple of the little sandwiches, looking around to make sure the coast was clear.
"Stealing, are we?" Zechs suddenly accused, stepping out from behind the ice sculpture. Duo jumped high with a girlish shriek, Zechs Peacecraft smiled evilly and watched the poor little man hold his heart, gasping for breath.
"Don't do that!!" Duo exclaimed.
"You've never changed, Duo Maxwell." Zechs shook his head sadly.
"I wish people would stop calling me by my full name..." Duo pouted. "Hey, when did you get here?"
"Just now."
"Oh. Where's the family?" Duo followed Zechs' pointed finger and saw a purple haired woman standing with a pretty, young girl and a long haired boy. "Wow, Milliardo Junior sure does look like you."
"Yes, M.J. does." Zechs replied. Duo nodded slowly and started to back away slowly.
"Uncle Duo!!!" A little girl's voice shouted from down as Duo's legs were taken hostage by the hug of two little arms. "I missed you sooooooo much!!" She squealed.
Duo winced at the voice, and looked down, "Hello... Devonny..."
"You've grown so much, Duo! You're a lot bugger than me, yep! You are! Did you know that your leg is skinnier than daddy's? It is! And you're shorter and your hair is longer!" She babbled on and on, for Devonny was the unstoppable player of comments and questions. She was also the 5-year- old daughter of Trowa and Pippa Bloom. Why did they have a child so late in their lives, you ask? Well, my friends, that's a story for another day.
"Yeah, why don't you go say 'Hi' to Uncle Zechs, huh? He's right over there," Duo pointed to the slowly escaping, taller man. Zechs' eyes went wide as he watched Devonny's perky little face, with those big sapphire eyes and those unmistakable reddish pigtails, peer around Duo's legs and see the blonde man. Her smile grew remarkably as she darted to Zechs' legs and screeched, "Zeeeeccchhhssssiiieeeeee!!!!"
Upon hearing the little voice, Zechs' wife and children looked back at him, trying to feel sorry for him and contain their laughter.
"Wow! Your hair is sooooo blonde! And you smell funny and your shoes are really shiny!"
Zechs sighed.
Duo rolled his eyes and looked over to the door, scratching his head. "Hey, look who it is!" Said Duo in seeing his friends Pippa and Trowa walk in. Trowa was dragging a few bags behind him, and Pippa simply carried a petite purse.
"Duo!" She exclaimed, hurrying to him and giving the shorter man a hug. He stood but 5'6" whereas Pippa was 5'11".
Hey, Pip! How ya' doin'?"
"Better than ever, little dude!"
"That's great to hear!" Just as they broke their hug, Trowa approached Duo. "Hi, Tro!"
"..." was Trowa's reply. He looked exhausted: rungs under his eyes, crow's feet, a five o'clock shadow and streaks of grey in his thinning caramel colored hair.
"You don't look so great, man" Duo slapped Trowa's back. Trowa just made a sound.
"Oh, Duo," Pippa said calmly, "He's just not feeling himself lately-- under a lot of stress." And then she began to babble.
"That's too bad." Duo shook his head, replying as Pippa yammered on. Then, idea hit the little man! "Say! Why don't you go visit Zechs, huh Pippa?"
"Zechs is here?? Where??"
Upon hearing his name, Zechs looked at Pippa. She was hurrying towards him, looking very similar to her daughter, Devonny... Well, okay, so Pippa was 46 years older.... And had green eyes and free-slowing auburn hair... But you got the idea! Anyway, Zechs' eyes were wider this time around. He tried to turn and get away from the oncoming woman, but Devonny weighed him down, still latched to his ankle. Soon Pippa was leached to his arm.
"Zechsie!" She squealed like her daughter. And once again, the babbling commenced. This time, it was both mother and daughter, going at it in unison, neither one in sync with the other. Oh, the horror!
Duo sighed then looked back to Trowa, but received a start. There, next to Trowa, was everyone's favorite saucy little brunette-- Tobi Winner!
"Tobi! Hi!" He exclaimed, hugging the poor soul.
"Hello, Duo." Tobi said in a freaky voice, he was always so monotone, so very Trowa-like.... Duo wondered how he could be an actor when he was so monotone and eerily Trowa-like.
"You're looking great, Tobi! How old are you now, 25?" Duo commented. Tobi stared at him and nodded.
"Yes, yes I am."
"That's great... uhm, why don't you... Talk to Trowa... While I... Stand over here..." Duo backed away, shuddering internally. He turned quickly and walked away just as fast from the two.
Tobi turned to Trowa. Trowa turned to Tobi. They nodded at the same time.
"Trowa." Tobi nodded.
"Tobias." Trowa nodded.
"How are you?"
"Could be better. What about you, Boy?"
"Fine. It's all fine." Trowa nodded again. Tobi did the same. He was about to walk away when someone was hugging him tightly. "Ah!"
"Tobi! Oh, I missed you sooooooo much! You never call!" It was Chantal, Tobi's mother.
"Hello mom." Tobi pulled out of her grasp and looked at the graying woman, only an inch shorter than him. He smiled at her sweetly with that movie star charm, "You're looking great."
"Oh, you're too nice!" Chantal giggled.
"Hey, I try." Tobi smiled again. He watched as his father waltzed up to them.
"Hey, Tobi, long time no see." Quatre Winner said to his youngest son. They hugged and exchanged some words. Soon their little group was joined by the oldest of the Winner children, Athen, and his young, pregnant wife. (She was due at the end of August) Soon they all started to chat, the younger ones not noticed the older two start to wander off.
"Pippa! Shanell!" Chantal yelled when she spotted her two bestest friends in the whole wide world. Pippa and Shanell squealed and hurried towards the other two. Soon, the old hags had started their own little gossip circle.
Quatre joined Trowa and Duo and started talking with his two old comrades.
"How are you guys?" Quatre asked.
"Great!!" Duo grinned.
"Hn..." Trowa mumbled. They started a limited conversation about their "happy" little lives.
~~*
Devonny sat on the front steps of the house, watching down the road for any cars. Zechs had shooed her away, the mean old man.
"Wonder if big brother is coming soon. Big brother is fun." Devonny thought aloud. She leaned on her hands, staring down the road for a sign-- any sign-- of visitors. "I spy, with my little eye, something... Black! The road! Good job, Devie! Now, let's play again... I spy, with my little eye, something... Blue! The sky! Wow, Devie, you're really good at this game! Why, thank you, Devonny! I spy, with my little eye, something... Green! A car! Wow! You're so smart, Devie! Hey! A car! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them!" She began jumping. She turned around and opened the huge front doors, calling inside, "Mama! Chanty! S'nail! Duo! Daddy! Katcha! They're here!"
Who?" Shanell asked the little ball of energy.
"They are!?" Gasped Chantal. She looked at Pippa, who was looking at Chantal. And they went outside to Devonny.
The green sedan pulled up, and stopped just a few inches away from Pippa and Trowa's car, almost grinding it. Just as soon as the engine was turned off, the driver's door swung open and out came the very tall and very annoyed Atha Bloom, son of Trowa and Pippa. As his door was open the sound of two little children singing loudly 'Wheels on the Bus' was heard. His wife, Rachel, swung her door open and tried to stand. But, quickly, Atha rushed to her aide, seeing as Rachel was a good 9 months pregnant.
"Get the kids, honey." Rachel instructed Atha.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm goin-- Aah!!!" Atha exclaimed as he was suddenly overtaken by his very little sister, Devonny.
"Oniichan!!" Devonny said in her native language, Japanese, "You're finally here! I'm so happy!! I haven't seen you in months! Or years! Or eras! Or histories!!"
"Eh... Hello, Devonny..." Atha didn't much care for his sister, and yet she adored him.
"Did you cut your hair? Pick me up! I wanna hug you!" She reached up for him.
"I, uh... have to carry ... Dimitri!" That quickly reached into his car and grabbed his little blonde son. The little two year old boy just laughed at Devonny, and said, "Devie!!"
Devonny gasped, "'Mitri!!!"
Dimitri waved down at her from way up in his daddy's big arms.
"Why don't you hug your little sister?" Rachel ask her husband.
"No, my arms are full, see?" Atha held out Dimitri and shook the boy a bit towards Rachel. She crossed her arms and gave Atha a stern look. Atha improvised and grabbed his little Japanese daughter from the car, too.
"Devie!" The four year old daughter of Atha cried and waved her hands down at her aunt.
"Arisu!" Devie waved at the younger girl.
"Rachel!" Two women's cries came from behind her. Rachel turned, her blonde hair swinging in the slight breeze, smiling, and saw her mother and Pippa.
"Mom! Pippa!" Rachel held out her arms for a hug. Chantal and Pippa tried to hug her, but the woman's large belly was quite a restriction.
"What do you have in there, an elephant?" Chantal laughed.
"Hey, that's MY grandson you're talking about there!" Pippa told her.
"He's my grandson, too!"
"He's more mine!"
"No, mine!"
"Mom! Pippa! Be quiet! He's more mine, yeesh!" Rachel shut them up. They returned soon to their happy, grandmotherly selves again.
"So where's the cage for the children?" Atha asked Devonny. She took a deep breath.
"There's no cage for us! Duo said we-we can wander free like the little things we are and be happy and cheery and good!" Devonny let it all out in one breath. Atha sighed, stressedly.
"Daddy! Daddydaddydaddydaddy!" Arisu yelled at Atha, kicking her legs.
"Wwwwhat!??" Atha snarled.
"Put me down!" She stopped kicking and tried to adjust her little skirt, waiting for her father to let her go. He gladly put her down next to Devonny, moving Dimitri from his left hip to his right.
Arisu jumped up and down with excitement-- it wasn't often that the little California native got to play with her slightly older Auntie! They instantly began babbling about school and boyfriends and their dollies and such. Yes, boyfriends.
Dimitri started to stare at his father from the bare arms of the giant man. His green, yet Japanese, eyes were wide in a spaced-out stare and his mouth was hanging slightly ajar. And Atha simply ignored his bitty son, walking inside to try and avoid the wrath of his mama and mother-in- law. (For Rachel was Chantal's only daughter)
"Atha!" Called Shanell.
Atha turned and immediately regretted coming inside-- Shanell was on his arm as fast as Devonny had been on his leg.
"How are you? Oh, what a silly question! Of course you're great, what with your new family and all! My, look how big you've grown! Oh and look who else and grown so big! It's Dimitri!" She tickled the chubby little chin of the baby, resulting in insanely cute and insane laughter from the boy.
"Hey... Here's an idea! Why don't you take Dimitri for a while, Shanell?" He held out the baby.
"Really? Thanks!" She took the cooing child and began playing and talking to the child. Atha crept away underneath the blanket of shadows on one side of the room, heading towards the TV. But to his disappointment, there, watching the tele, was Athen. Atha's archenemy as well as brother-in- law.
Atha saw him, stopped, analyzed the situation and turned to go. But Athen caught Atha before he could leave.
"Hey, buddy! Where ya' goin' so fast?" Athen said. Atha froze.
"Eh... nowhere, why?"
"C'mere, buddy, sit down." He patted the couch.
"Um, I'm... Fine, really." He started backing away from Athen again.
"I insist! Come, watch the game with me, Atha!"
"Why are you suddenly so nice to me?" Atha stopped and stared at the tall, blonde child of Winner.
"Aw, come on, buddy, it's not like I don't have a heart! Come and spend time with the family. You are my favorite brother-in-law, after all." Athen explained, leaning back and drinking beer.
"I'm your only brother-in-law."
"Just come and sit. Rachel threatened to kill me if I wasn't nice to you this time." He finally confess. Atha smirked. The big ol' brute Athen was afraid of a little pregnant woman. Well, she could get pretty vicious sometimes. So Atha sat down and grabbed himself a beer. He sat in peace with his worst enemy. How ironic. Not... Really.
"So... How's the family?" Athen asked, grabbed yet another beer.
"Fine, I guess. I don't really know, Rachel does most of the work."
"When's the baby due?"
"Any day now. When we get back, hopefully." Atha gulped down all his beer and started on another one.
~~*
Shanell soon joined Pippa and Chantal and Rachel in their little talking group outside. The four of them were like a tornado of words, and now Dimitri was the center of attention.
"He looks just like Atha!" Shanell commented.
"Except blonde..." Chantal corrected.
"He's gonna grow up to be just like his daddy! Sexy, handsome and smart!" Pippa said, getting a couple of odd glances. All through this endless chatter, Dimitri looked like he was lost and Rachel beamed.
"And did you see that, Arisu?" Shanell asked, "She's a doll! So cute and energetic!"
"She looks too much like Pippa, I think." Chantal told them. Pippa crossed her arms.
"Oh yeah? Well, I bet this next kid is gonna look like you! Ugly!" Pippa shot back. Chantal glared at her and opened her mouth to retort when another car slid smoothly into a comfortable stop in the huge driveway.
"Caspian's here!" Chantal announced, scurrying to the car. Pippa stood where she had stood, still glaring at her friend's back as Shanell rushed to the passenger side of the car. Rachel went to the expensive red car, also, to greet the person who was stepping out.
Her second oldest brother, Caspian.
He stepped out, taking off his sunglasses, exposing his very Quatre- like blue eyes. In fact, he all around looked like his father. He ran a hand through his platinum blonde hair and smiled at Chantal and Rachel.
"Hello, you two." He chimed.
"Caspian!" Rachel exclaimed, hugging him the best she could around her tummy.
"Hey, Rach! Whoa, you're gettin' big! That kid's gonna pop out any day now!" Caspian said, kissing her forehead and moving to hug his mother. They hugged.
"Where's the kids?" Chantal asked, looking in the car. Soliel, Caspian's also pregnant wife as well as the second daughter of the Maxwells, stepped out of the car and hugged her mother, Shanell.
"They're in there, Chantal." Soliel said as Shanell asked her as many questions as Chantal had of everyone else. Rachel talked with her brother as Chantal opened the back door to find her grandchildren.
"Emma? Ian? Evan? You in there?"
"Gramma!!" A little girl yelled, jumping into Chantal's arms. It was Caspian's daughter, Emma, with long blonde hair and excessive destructive energy.
"Hello, Emma! Wow! Look how big you've grown!"
"Yep, yep, yep!" She had the unusual Devonny and Arisu energy. Chantal kissed her cheek and put the British girl down.
"Why don't you go find Arisu and Devonny, dear?" She took out the two year old twins, Ian and Evan. She kissed their little cheeks and brought them over to Dimitri. "There you go, you three get acquainted." Chantal set them in the grass and went off. Shanell placed Dimitri next to his cousins. Once he saw the equally aged boys, he glared at the two. Ian and Evan looked scared of the other boy and huddled together.
"Arisu!? Devie!?" Hollered Emma as she skipped towards the garden where Arisu and Devie were picking flowers.
"Hi, Emma!" Arisu said, straightening her little mini skirt.
"Whatcha doin'?" Emma rocked back and forth on her heels.
"Talkin' about our boyfriends." Arisu gloated as Devonny nodded.
"You have boyfriends? That's gross! Boys have cooties!"
"No they don't!" Devonny interrupted, "They have sperm!"
Emma looked confused.
"Anyway, MY boyfriend and I kiss, what about you Devie? What do you and Li do?"
"Kiss? No... I don't wanna have a baby yet..."
"Well, Olen and I are really hot and heavy."
"Hot and heavy? What's that?"
"It means that we are really, really in love and we are getting together like real people do, you know? Like we kiss all the time and he likes to look up my shirt and my skirt and stuff."
"Well, I'm not really for commitment yet." Devie explained.
Emma was truly confused.
"Hello, ladies!" Tobi appeared next to the three girls, hands in pockets, dawning that movie star smile.
Arisu and Devonny turned to see him and both sheepishly said, "Hi, Tobi."
"Watcha doing? Picking flowers, he?" Tobi smiled again.
"Uh... yeah..." Arisu said, trying not to blush. After all, Tobi was one hot tamale amongst the elementary age group, as well as the elder girls. Yes.
"For you! We're picking flowers for you so we can make you sexy!" Devie remarked. Okay, so he was a hot tamale amongst American elementary aged girls.
"Uh..." Tobi didn't smile, "Aren't I already sexy?" He smiled.
"Yeah, but you're not as sexy as Olen yet!" Arisu said, sticking flowers in his shoe laces and in his pockets.
"Uh--" Tobi watched her.
"Yeah, you needa look prettier-- I've seen a picture of Open and he's pretty-- wanna see it?" Asked Devie.
"Sure...."
~~*
"And that's how I sneak his fiber into his orange juice every morning!" Finished Pippa. Chantal, Shanell and Rachel looked a little scared at Pippa's story. And Soliel, she just looked disturbed. "Wanna know how I get him to take suppositories?"
"Uh, no, I think we'll all be fine for at least another twenty years." Chantal said. Shanell, Rachel and Soliel all agreed, nodding quickly.
"Okay!" Pippa chimed.
Just as the conversation ended, a shiny black car pulled up into the long driveway. All the women watched, mainly at Shanell, all of them not really knowing who it was.
The door swung open and out of the driver's side door stood a short Chinese man with hollow black eyes and shoulder length, jet black hair tied back into a little ponytail, with a little streak of white here and there. He wore little black sunglasses and his usual white get up. Before he even noticed his greeting crew, he looked around the premises within view range suspiciously.
From the passenger's side door came a taller, older looking, blonde Chinese woman. In her arms was a young Chinese boy. They were all dressed in traditional dress.
"Wufei? Cheng!! Sally!!" Shanell gasped, skipping over to hug the little Chinese man and his wife. The man looked at Shanell with no emotion as he was taken by her big hug was overwhelmed by so many questions. (He was the only Gundam pilot they had not seen much of since the war) Soon Pippa and Chantal joined Shanell. He answered all of their questions a bit slower than usual, seeing that in the 35 years since the war his English had diminished a bit.
Sally, Cheng Wufei's wife, still held the little boy. He had short, jet black hair with adorable little spiked bangs. He wore a blue ensemble and looked all around the area. Sally simply went up next to her husband and waited next to him, not really having much to say.
The little boy looked across the group to the gaggle of women pestering Wufei, and he burst out with a happy tone to his voice:
"Bloom-sama! Bloom-sama! Hora!" He pointed to Pippa. Pippa looked at him and burst out also, "Hora was! Li-chan!"
The young Li and the old Pippa began a conversation in Japanese. Sally just looked on with Chantal, Shanell and Cheng.
Because Li had originally come from China but recently moved to Japan with his mother, he knew no English so he could only converse with those who spoke Chinese and Japanese. And since he goes to the same grammar school as Devonny (he's her "boyfriend"), he knows Pippa!
"Bloom-sama? Doko ni Devonny?" Li asked.
"Ah..." She turned towards the garden and called, "Devie!! Devie- Wevie!!" Almost immediately, Devonny came skittering to Pippa.
"Hai, okaasan?" Devonny reported to her mother.
"Hora!" She pointed at the Chinese boy, who was waving at Devonny already.
Devie gasped, "Li-kun!!"
"Devonny-chan!" Li wriggled in Sally's arms. Sally put the struggling boy down. He ran to Devie and they hugged like little children do. They started chatting in Japanese and eventually wandered off to find Emma and Arisu again.
~~*
Dimitri had crawled closer to the two frightened twins. He had an evil smiled on his little baby face. Maybe he just wanted to play with his cousins, maybe he wanted to commit the very first of many, many mass murders. No one really knew. He was an odd child.
Evan stood up on his wobbly legs to accept Dimitri's challenge. Dimitri stopped and climbed to his feet. Ian looked up at his brother with unsure eyes, but Evan ignored the boy.
They started to talk closer together, looking each other in the eye. They were up to the challenge, whatever that was. We can't tell what babies think these days!
Nothing could stop them.
Except two excessively fast children running between them, knocking both boys down. The sat on the ground, staring at each other. The tears came soon after that. They started bawling their eyes out. Ian looked between the two and himself started crying
~~*
"So... How's the family? Aren't you two a little old to be having babies?" Chantal said to Cheng and Sally. Sally raised an eyebrow and replied:
"Li is our son's son."
"Wow! How old is your son, again??"
"He would have been 23... If he'd not been murdered." Sally said with no infliction on the her last few syllables. The only son of the Wufei's had been taken out by the Chinese mafia just weeks after he had married his wife and she had conceived her son. No the mafia wasn't after young Li Wufei, no, they were seeking revenge on Cheng Wufei, who seemed to be invincible. They figured, if they can't kill Cheng, why not kill his only pride and joy and the only successor to the Wufei name? And they did.
"Oh... Ha, right. I'm sorry, Sally."
"It's quite alright."
Shanell and Pippa worried about Chantal sometimes, seeing as the two of them already knew this information, as did Chantal. Guess she forgot.
"So, how are the daughters?" Pippa asked of Sally, watching as a pink Cadillac pulled up into the driveway.
"They're all doing very well." Replied Sally. The Wufei's had been blessed with-- or, in Cheng's word's, "punished with"-- eight daughters. Ouch.
The driver door swung open violently and out came a little man dressed in a nice tuxedo. He tended to the passenger door, leading a blonde woman dressed in a pink suit out. He went to the back seat and opened the door just as a very pissed looking Japanese man came bursting out and from the other side a young Japanese woman stepped out, slamming the door shut.
"Heero!" Chantal shouted, hopping over to Heero (the pissed man) and clung to his shoulder. "Wow! You looked great! How's the family? Are you feeling okay? You don't look okay. Are you sure??"
"Hn. Omae o korosu." The man spat at Chantal and gave her the patented death glare.
"Aw! Just like old times! Your threat STILL doesn't work!" Chantal exclaimed. Heero started to reach for his always-ready gun, until Pippa pulled Chantal away from the little man.
"Sorry, Bro!" Pippa apologized for Chantal's actions.
"Hey! Hey! I was talking to Heero, there!" Chantal whined as she was pushed away. Pippa proceeded to lead the conversation with Heero, talking about their families and such. (They were, after all, half-siblings) And near them, Shanell and Relena chatted like the good half-sisters they were.
Chantal inched her way over to the Yuy's only daughter, a 23-year-old Heero look-alike.
"Hey, Kira!" How's it going?" Chantal inquired happily.
"Hn." Was her response as Kira moved to the back of the house, followed soon by all of the adults.
Behind the house, most everyone stood around and chatted with various people. The only people out of sight were most of the Maxwell family.
But out came the first Maxwell, the one and only Duo Maxwell. He hopped through the crowd, saying scattered things, such as:
"Sorry" or "Excuse me, pardon me!" Or "Nice hat, lady!"
The man finally made his way to a table, which he climbed onto and waited for silence. None came.
"Okay! Everyone! Hello?" Duo called. Still no one listened. "Shut up!!" He screamed, which brought the attention to him. "Thank you. Alright, you're all here. Welcome to the reunion. Some of you have met. Actually, I would say that all of you have met sometime in your lives. So, um, the food is coming out really soon. The music will start. And we'll have some games! So have some fun and... Have some... Fun!" With the the little man jumped off the table and the music started.
Out came the food.
There was a ton of food, from meat to Jell-O. There were drinks and pastries; fruit and cheese; crackers, beer. Anything you could imagine was placed on the rows of tables.
Most of the 35 people there attacked the food, even Athen and Atha had decided to join the party. (Probably just for more food and beer)
Off to the sidelines, Tobi stood, drinking a can of beer. He observed the crowd around the table, spacing out as he usually did in the ever so Trowa-like fashion. As he did he practiced his lines for his newest movie in his head. While he was spacing out and practicing, something moved from the corner of his eye. Turning his head toward the moving thing, seeing a girl about his age disappear in to the house, he went after her.
~~*
Atha stood near the fruit place with his sister really close by. Rachel had waddled her way over to Atha, hanging around him, too.
"Oh, grapes!" Rachel reached for some, "Devie, you want some watermelon?" She asked of the little girl.
"Okay!" She was handed a slice by Rachel and immediately started eating it. Before long, Devonny noticed something on the rind of the melon. A sticker. "Oh! Kirei!" She peeled the little elliptical sticker. It's glossy face shone dully in the bright afternoon sun, the picture of a little watermelon, so pink, and the number "11345" read in bright green font. Her eyes glittered like the Sea of Japan.
She held up the sticker out above her head then stuck it to her little purple shirt, and turned to Rachel, tugging on the older woman's shirt.
"Rachel! Guess what!!"
Rachel turned around, "Yes, Devie?"
"Look! I'm a watermelon!" She pointed at the sticker on her chest.
"That's great!" Rachel replied.
Devonny ran to Atha and tugged on his pants. Atha looked down at her.
"Guess what, oniichan! I'm a watermelon! Eat me!!" She chirped.
Atha whimpered and looked at Rachel. "Rachel? What's happening?"
"What?" Rachel looked over at her whiny husband.
"She's telling me top eat her!"
"Don't eat her, Atha." Rachel turned back to the food.
"Eeeeaaaaatttt meeeeee, big brother!" Devonny demanded. Atha whimpered again. She laughed in an evil way and skittered off into the crowd.
~~*
Tobi crept up the winding stairs to a very open, airy tea room. It was all windows with only solid walls on the side connecting to the house. There was a sofa in the room, a calm pastel yellow, and a few comfy chairs around with a coffee table in front.
The girl he was following sat on the sofa the sunlight softly resting on her deep brown hair. Her tanned skin looked heavenly against the sofa and her black blouse. He didn't know how, but this mystery girl caught his attention like no one else, so far, had ever.
He took a deep breath, that actually wasn't that deep and sauntered over towards her. The girl heard Tobi's shoes click on the wooden floor and she turned her upper body around to see her visitor. Her eyes were angry, full of hate for something even as they were a dazzling Persian blue. Her long bangs hung in her face, shinning even in the shadows. There were three clips holding back more of her bangs and her hair back.
Tobi froze as her eyes caught his.
"Hello." Tobi simply stated.
"Hn," she replied sitting back forwards, "It's just you."
"JUST me?" Tobi came up and sat in a nearby chair to her, "Do you even know who I am?"
"You're Tobi. I've seen a few of your films."
"Whadja' think?"
"Okay, I guess." She looked at him briefly then went back to looked out over the vast forest that was the Maxwells' backyard. She had been there dozens of times before, knew the forest by heart from the few times she had been in it. Tobi actually had been in the forest more than thus tearoom-- he hadn't even known it existed until today!
"You're Kira, right?" Tobi confirmed.
"Duh." She replied.
"Sorry... It's just that it's been a very," he remember how she used to be and how much she's changed since he last saw her, "very long time."
~~*
"Miki!!!!!' Screamed Devonny as she saw her favorite, distant sister- in-law. (but she called Auntie) Mika McLock, the Maxwells' eldest child, turned around and almost grimaced.
Devonny stopped in front of Mika and grinned. "Mika! Eeeaaaaatttt Meeeeeeeee!!!" She pointed at the sticker on her shirt.
"Uhm..." Mika looked around for some help, but none could be found.
"Eat me, Miki!"
"Uh, why don't you go bother Zechs or someone," Mika tried to save herself, "He'll eat you."
"YAY!!" Devie exclaimed and ran to Zechs, "Eeaaaatttt Meeeeee, Zechsieee!!"
Zechs looked at the crazy girl oddly, "What?"
"I'm a watermelon! Eat me!" Devonny pointed to her chest where the sticker was stuck. She poked Zechs, then pointed to the sticker again. Zechs sighed.
"Children these days..."
"I said eat me!" Devie demanded.
"Are you sure?" Zechs said, looking down at the little auburn haired girl.
"Yes! Eat me!"
"Oh, alright." Zechs picked up the girl and bit her arm/ Devie stopped asking for people to eat her and slapped Zechs with her little hand.
"I'm telling my mommy!!" With that the little girl jumped out of the tall man's arms and ran to find her mother.
"What did I do?" Zechs asked no one in particular. He pouted as an angry Pippa came marching up to him, with a crying Devonny at hand.
~~*
"Why did you come?" Tobi asked Kira, who gaze out the window.
"My mother said it would be better to come and see my aunts and uncles and cousins, people like that."
"Oh." Tobi stood and went to a tray which held some tea. He carried it to the small table in front of the couch, sitting next to Kira, and getting himself some tea. "Want some?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Okay." Tobi sipped at his tea as he was brought up to do, looking out the window.
"Why are YOU here?"
"Hm? Oh, I just needed a break. And I wanted to see my family." Tobi explained, leaning back and propping his feet up on the table. "Escape the press, too. Those guys just never get off my back-- no matter where I go! I figured I'd be safe here."
"It must be hard, being a movie star and teen idol."
"Nah, it's fun. It can be hard, but it is the life I chose, right?" Tobi turned to her and smiled that dazzling smile. Kira softened at his look, knowing he wasn't as bad as she had initially thought.
"I remember... I remember the first and only time we met before now. It was ten years ago." Kira began, "I was thirteen and you were 15. You were so quiet back then, not like now."
"You were heartless back then... But still as pretty." Tobi didn't look at her with this comment. He just continued to sip his tea.
"You're not like the rest of them." Kira stared at Tobi.
"Who?"
"The movie stars. You're so much nicer."
"Oh, most are polite. Just the mean ones set a bad rep for us."
"You-you called me pretty earlier..."
"'Cause you are, Kira." Tobi turned his face to look at her. She blushed slightly and glanced her eyes away.
"You shouldn't compliment me like that. There are plenty of other girls who would love to have a chance to be sitting here, next to y--" Kira got cut off. How? Well, Tobi had leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. Making the first move, kissing the girl who was off-guard.
~~*
Dimitri was waddling around, with his little twin minions following closely behind. Evan and Ian had "decided" that joining forces with the older (only 3-4 months) boy would profit them greatly.
The three boys walked through the crowd on their small legs. When little Dimitri looked back to see if his companions were still with him, he walked right into someone's leg.
"Owie!" Dimitri fell back and look at the person. It was a man with jet black hair.
"Watch where you're going, kid." The man looked down at the child. Dimitri looked up at him with the patented death glare. Wufei glared back. "What do you want?"
"Ou hur me!" Dimitri stood up, standing to a wonderful 2 1/2 feet tall.
"I heard you?"
"Nah! Ou hur meee!!" Dimitri screamed. A few people turned and faced the commotion.
"Be quiet, child!" Wufei told him. Still, Dimitri glared.
"Evil Woofy!"
"Don't call me that vile name."
"Woofy?" Dimitri cocked his head to one side with an evil and amused grin. Wufei tightened up.
"You must be related to Maxwell."
"Nah!" Dimitri screamed again.
"Will you stop screaming, you insane brat?!" Wufei exclaimed, clenching his fists and glaring at the boy. Dimitri stopped screaming, glaring at the man above. He took in a deep breath. "Hey, brat, don't you even dare think about it...." Wufei warned. Dimitri closed his eyes and screamed.
"WOOOOOOOOOFFFFFYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!"
Everyone in the whole backyard turned towards the angry Chinaman, covering his ears, and the crazy, screaming child. Rachel gasped at the child, her own son, and started towards him at her pregnant pace. But Atha was faster, going to the still screaming child and picking him up briskly. Dimitri still screamed and screamed on.
"Dimitri Athen Bloom, shut your fucking mouth right now or I'll lock you in a Goddammed room in the basement for the rest of your life!" Atha yelled, holding the boy in front of him and shaking him slightly. He wasn't the least bit embarrassed to cuss out his son in front of his own family, but his wife sure was. Dimitri quieted down and glared at his father. Atha sighed and put the boy down. "Go away." Dimitri ran away at his father's command. Atha moved to Athen, grabbing another beer along the way. "What a nuisance"
"He's cute." Athen said, "I hope my kid's like that."
"He's just like you."
"Are you saying that being like me is bad?" Athen said, looking over at the younger man.
"Maybe I am." Atha looked over at the older man.
"Well then!" Athen marched off to where his best friend stood. Him and Kitaro started talking like the dumbards they were.
"Pinata time, everyone!" Duo exclaimed. Everyone turned and started to head toward where Duo and the pinata were. Like the rest of the crowd, Rachel headed over towards the game, but halfway there, she stopped, feeling something in her stomach.
"Are you alright, honey?" Pippa, the closest, asked. Stopping and putting a hand on her arm, Rachel smiled and nodded.
"It's alright, probably just indigestion or something."
"Are you sure it isn't the baby."
"Oh yeah, he isn't due for another week or so. Really alright." Rachel reassured her mother-in-law.
"Well, maybe you should sit down." Pippa started leading her towards a chair.
"Alright..." Rachel sat down.
~~*
Kira was surprised at first by Tobi's sudden kiss, but she soon was engulfed in his kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist, on the tearoom couch. Their mouths open, tongues were offered and taken. It was pure passion. Two young ones, sitting on a couch, alone. It was perfect.
Too perfect.
"What are you doing to my daughter?" A horribly deep, deadly calm voice founded from the door. It could only be the worst person to ruin their kiss. Heero Yuy, Kira's rarely content father.
Tobi almost fell off the couch when he heard the voice. But Kira just ignored her father and made sure Tobi stayed. Tobi really didn't want to be there for the specific reason of Heero's temper.
"I asked you a question, Tobias!" He said with absolutely no emotion.
"Mnnbrph! Nndth!!" Tobi tries to get away, but Kira was quite strong. Heero approached the two and pulled Tobi from Kira's grip.
"Dad!" Kira yelled.
Tobi looked frightened and stayed still. He prayed nothing bad would come of his actions. Slowly, Tobi turned to look back in Heero's eyes, the same brilliant Persian blue. The same endlessly deep abyss of anger and well hidden fears from forevers past. But he could tell that Heero's head was filled to the brim with thousands of thoughts as he held Tobi by the shoulder.
Tobi laughed and patted Heero's opposite shoulder:
"Wha? You really though I was SCARED?" Tobi put on a believable act. But still Heero narrowed his eyes more, them darted down to where Kira's hand was holding Tobi's larger hand. They narrowed even more when they returned to Tobi's eyes.
"Are you mocking me?" Heero said in a cold voice.
"No, sir! With all sincerity!" Tobi didn't laugh, because that would just further enrage the man.
"What were you doing to my daughter?" The angry father hissed. He was much too overprotective.
"Nothing, sire, you see. We were only having a tongue war." Tobi cracked up. He couldn't hold it back any more. Heero looked even more mad, seeing where he got this trait from. He looked over to his daughter, hoping that she would be more appalled than he was, but Kira only started laughing, leaning over onto Tobi.
"Shut up!" Heero boomed, "Stop laughing!" But they still laughed on. Heero reached down quickly and grabbed Tobi's collar, pulling him up, close to his face, glaring at the child of Winner and hissing, "Don't you ever, ever touch my daughter again, you got it? I never want to see you with my daughter again or you will forever regret it. Got it?" Still, Tobi laughed.
Heero's grip tightened, pulling Tobi's collar tighter and starting to choke the poor lad. Heero gave Tobi another deadly calm stare. Tobi laughed a little then looked back to Kira, who was smiling with evil thoughts on her mind. He looked back to Heero, laughed just a little more. His eyes soon showed their whites, rolling back, and he fainted.
~~*
Outside, Duo and Wufei were arguing of who would hit the pinata first. Everyone else was watching with amusement.
"5 bucks on Wufei!" Athen yelled, Kitaro cheered:
"You don't have a chance, dad!"
"Have some faith in me!" Duo whined, as he grabbed the pinata stick. Wufei grabbed the other end and they had begun a little tug-o-war.
While this went on, Chantal walked around to make sure all her children were around. And first was Athen.
"Hi, honey! How's it going?" She asked her eldest son. He just ignored her and watched the fight, cheering Wufei on. Chantal sighed and moved to her next son.
"Hi, Caspian!" She said cheerily. Caspian nodded and took a drink of beer.
"Hi."
"Have you seen Rachel anywhere?" Chantal asked. Caspian motioned to a row of chairs. "Okay, thanks." Chantal hovered to where her very pregnant daughter was, "Hi, baby!"
"Hi mom." Rachel sat back and sighed. Chantal sat next to the blonde woman.
"You feeling alright?"
"Yeah, just a little indigestion or something. I wish you'd all stop bothering be about it. I've already had two children and this one isn't sure for a week or so. Stop worrying!!" Rachel snapped. Chantal moved away a bit.
"Don't hafta be mean and all..."
"I'm sorry, mom, just a bit moody." Rachel apologized.
"It's okay, we all are when we're pregnant. Hey, have you seen Tobi anywhere?" Chantal looked around.
"Nope, sorry."
"Alright, if anything goes wrong, call me." Chantal moved away as Rachel half glared at her. Walking backwards, Chantal marched right into a fast moving Heero.
"Whoa, Heero buddy!" Chantal turned, getting a glare from him. She saw, attached to his hand, was a very angry looking Kira.
"Get out of my way."
"Hey, have you guys seen Tobi?"
"You mean that evil, arrogant, sex-craved lunatic?" Heero grumbled harshly.
"Um..." Chantal was unsure of what to say. She looked over to Kira.
"He's lying on the tearoom floor, unconscious." Kira explained. Chantal immediately looked at Heero, with quite an evil spell to her eyes.
"What did you do to him!?" She yelled. Heero narrowed his eyes.
"He was making out with my daughter and he was making me mad." Chantal stifled a laugh. Heero glared even more, "Are you mocking me?" Chantal patted his shoulder.
"Who would wanna mock YOU?" Chantal laughed, walking into the house and making her way into the tea room. There, lying on the floor between the couch and the coffee table, was Tobi.
Chantal went to the man and checked his pulse and his breathing. He was all fine. All Chantal had to do was wake him up, and that she did... by floating an alcohol pouch thingy underneath his nose. He immediately woke up.
"What the..."
"Hi." Chantal waved, sitting on the couch. Tobi sat up.
"Where's Kira?" Tobi asked, looking around.
"With Heero. I wouldn't go around him if I were you. He's very overprotective about his daughter and he's a Gundam pilot. One of the worst. I'd be careful, got it?"
"Yeah, sure." Tobi stood up. He started walking toward the door. "You know, I never felt this way before. It's a weird feeling inside my chest, ya know? When I first kissed her." He stopped at the door, hand on the knob. "It's almost like being in love." He turned the knob and left. Chantal smiled happily and follows the love-struck man, not closely, but enough to see him. He had a very happy gait.
~~*
Wufei stood proud, almost emotionless. He held tight onto the pinata baton, a foot on collapsed Duo's back. Duo, on his stomach, in the mud, with a rather pissed expression on his indigo eyes, had in fact been defeated.
Almost everyone was either laughing or cheering for the two men, glad the decision had finally been made. But now, with the vengeance building in Duo's soul, a need for recognition had arrived to everyone: They needed to beat open the pinata. And when they remembered Wufei's technique in actually GETTING the baton, they all knew that they stood little chance in victory with the Chinese man going first. He was quite the little "karate kid".
"Okay, Woofy!" Pippa started.
"Don't call me 'Woofy', woman."
"Geeze! Reer! Anyways-- wait -- did you just call me woman?"
"That's what you are, isn't it?" Wufei still remained emotionless, while a few shrill gasps of 'Could you get off of me? Wufei??' And such escaped from the beaten Duo.
"BBOOOOOOYYY!!!!!" Pippa called. Chantal came over to her.
"What are you doing?"
"You are not boy! Go away! This only involves Woofy, boy and me."
"What are you doing??" Chantal said again.
"Nothing, woman! Now leave!" Wufei told Chantal. Everyone watched as the three... Well, four as they waited for the pinata. Soon Atha came to his mother, a bit tipsy, wobbling as he walked.
"Whadya wan', ma'?" He said in his drunken state.
"Kill Woofy for me!!"
"Me too." Chantal added.
"Nah, I dun' wan' DAT big of a record." Atha said.
"Please?" Pippa begged, "He called us 'woman'!"
"He did!? Well then, tha' bas'ard's gonna get it now!" Atha pushed up his left sleeve, forgetting the right, and marched right up to the much shorter Wufei. Wufei just looked at the drunk with out a single care for what he wanted.
"Hey! Chinaman!" Atha shouted.
"Me?" Wufei pointed at himself, playing stupid.
"Yeah, you." He got ready to punch, and threw his left hook at the man, just barely missing.... And falling right on top of Duo.
"Ow! Get it off! Get it off!" Duo screamed, trying to wiggle from under Atha. He tried pushing him off, but it was futile. Atha lay on top of the drunk man, looking around confusedly.
"Huh? How'd I get down 'ere?" Atha asked no one in particular. The crowd around him laughed at his drunken stupidity. At the front of the crowd, Pippa was shaking her head slowly.
"Get up, Boy." Pippa told Atha, going to him and helping the man up. Atha stood near Duo, wobbling and staring at Wufei. Duo scrambled to his feet and tried to brush off his clothes.
"I get the stick after you, Wufei. Two swings is all you get." He explained, backing up and giving Wufei room to swing. The Chinese man got ready to bat at the Gundam shaped pinata when he noticed something.
"Hey! That pinata looks familiar..." He squinted his eyes and tried to look at the pinata more. Duo gasped and went over behind Wufei.
"'Cuz it's YOUR Gundam, buddy!" He patted the man's shoulder and strapped a blindfold on him so he could not see.
"Holy Nataku, it's Nataku! Maxwell! Get this thing off of me!"
"Not till you destroy that lovely pinata!"
"I refuse to destroy my beloved Nataku!" Wufei exclaimed. Duo sighed.
"You wimp." Duo mumbled. Wufei glared through the blindfold at the pinata he couldn't see.
"You dishonorable woman!!" He yelled, whacking once at the pinata. Soon there was no more pinata left and candy lay on the ground. Children and adults alike jumped on the candy to get their "fair" share.
Wufei ripped off the blindfold and beamed, slipping the baton into his beltloop.
"Aw! You ruined it for me, Woofy!" Duo whined. Wufei glared at him. Duo 'eep'-ed and ran away. Far, far away.
From her little spot, Rachel tried to watch the action. But she knew something was wrong. Her stomach felt weird, almost like she was going into labor.
Her eyes went wide.
"Mom! Pippa! Atha!" She shouted for them, not moving, scanning the crowd. But no one saw or heard Rachel. No one was in sight that could help her.
Except...
"Trowa! Trowa!!" She called at the former clown. He turned and saw her looking very frantic, and walked over to meet the girl at a rather slow pace.
"Yeah?" He asked, standing over her.
"I think I'm in labor!" Rachel told him over the noise around them. His eyes went wide.
"Why'd you call me!?"
"You were the closest! Now help me up!" Rachel demanded aggressively, her eyes flaming. Trowa readily complied, helping the pregnant woman up. When she was standing she sighed happily, making Trowa calm down. "It must've been false labor."
"Oh, great." Trowa started to slowly walk away.
Then, once again, her eyes went wide.
"Oh no..." Rachel said. Trowa wince and stopped, turning around slowly. He saw Rachel looking very scared.
"What's wrong?" Trowa asked carefully. Rachel looked down at the ground, as did Trowa. It was wet. Trowa raised his eyebrow and looked back at Rachel, who was now near to tears. He grabbed her wrist.
"Come on, we've got to find someone to drive you to the hospital." he started towards the crowd.
"Trowa! I want Atha."
"We have to find someone who knows where the hospital is."
"I don't care, just get him! I want Atha."
"He's drunk, he can't drive."
"So? Just go get him!!!"
Trowa made an angry sigh. He found Kitaro, Duo's son, and Athen and Atha all together. That's a first. Nearby to the three, Elspeth was watching Trowa when she saw panicking Rachel holding her tummy. Elspeth put down her plate of h'ordeurves.
"Rachel, what's the matter?"
"I'm... In labor!" She huffed.
Trowa quickly got Kitaro, who wasn't THAT drunk yet, to drive Rachel. They started back towards the cars, Trowa helping Rachel, Atha trailing at some distance behind, still a bit confused, and Kitaro racing ahead to get the car ready. Elspeth was along with Rachel, talking to her.
"Breath, Rachel! You'll be there in no time! Don't worry, just breathe!"
"I know-- owie! Ow!" She felt the first of her many contractions. At Rachel's surprise exclamation, Elspeth was startled. In fact, she was startled so much that her pregnant waddle run ceased and she held her own tummy, a frightened looked spread across her face. Rachel looked back and stopped, making Trowa halt.
"Elspeth?" Rachel said.
"Ah... Ah..." Elspeth's expression turned to pain when they all witness her water break from underneath her lovely floral skirt. "Ow..."
"Elspeth!"
Elspeth squeaked and stayed frozen.
"Come on, Elspeth! You need to get to the car."
She was still frozen
"Hurry up!" Rachel announced.
"Rachel! Trowa!" Kitaro yelled, "Hurry up before you have the baby here!"
Eventually, meaning a few seconds later, Atha appeared next to the car, having taken the long way, through the house, the drunkard.
"Where are they?" He asked Kitaro. Kitaro pointed at the non-moving group.
"Come on, Elspeth!" Rachel said to the woman. Elspeth finally walked up to Trowa and grabbed his free hand as they commenced the walking procedure.
"Elspeth? What's wrong?" Kitaro went to his ailing wife.
"I'm in labor! Hurry up and get me to the hospital!"
Atha went to Rachel and grabbed her free hand, as it was that the other was clamped onto Trowa.
"Okay, ladies! Get in the car, and let me go, please." Trowa tried to free his hand, but their grips tightened as Rachel had another mild contraction along with Elspeth. Trowa sighed and followed the girls into the car, stuck in the middle between the two. Kitaro hopped into the driver's seat and Atha slunk into the passenger's seat.
The two women held on to Trowa and their stomachs, slumping down and squeezing poor Trowa's hand to exert their pain.
As they pulled out, Kitaro got yelled at to drive softer. Then a bit down the road, they'd say drive faster. And when he hit a bump in the road, they would wail and yell at the poor man.... He was so confused and frustrated. And Atha was just babbling about what to do when they got to the hospital. And Trowa, he just wanted to leave.
"Ah! Atha, shut up!" Rachel yelled at the babbling idiot. Atha indeed did shut up as did the whole car, just before the drunkard spawn of Trowa began to sing "High Hopes".
Both Elspeth and Rachel cried out, squeezing Trowa's hands for dear life. Trowa winced at every squeeze, each one hurting more than the one previous.
"I haven't felt this much pain in years..." He grumbled. Atha kept up his singing in his drunken and Kitaro just kept on driving.
~~*
Back at the house, the crowd had split apart. Pippa, Chantal and Shanell had magically drifted together. They started chatting and soon the conversation lead to their grandchildren.
"Yep, another grand kid!" Pippa said happily, proud of her third grandchild-to-be.
"I already have six. And along with four kids, you guys and your families, Christmas is getting very hectic." Shanell stated.
"Yeah, me too. Well, almost six..." Chantal thought about it.
"Hey, did you guys notice that Trowa, Atha, Kitaro, Elspeth and Rachel are gone?" Pippa asked, looking around. Chantal and Shanell glanced around, too.
"Yeah... Let's call Atha's cell phone." Chantal whipped out her cell and dialed Atha's number. How did she know it? .... .... We don't know.
"Naaaaani?" Atha answered the phone. He still sounded drunk, as he still was. In the background the car could be heard driving and the screams of pains of two women and a man.
"Atha? Where are you?" Chantal inquired.
"Goin' to da' 'opital, Mrs. Winner!" Atha replied with a laugh, humming "High Hopes."
"The hospital? Why?" Both Pippa and Shanell watched on eagerly.
"That's why!" Atha held up the phone just as both women had a contraction, causing to Trowa to cry out in pain, also.
"Oh my god..." Chantal hung up the phone and looked at the women who were waiting expectantly. "Tro-- I mean, Rachel and Elspeth have gone into labor!"
"We hafta get to the hospital! Hurry and get the husbands and children, and let's go!" Shanell started hurry towards the car. Soon, Duo and Quatre were following the women, with Arisu, Dimitri and Devonny.
Shanell climbed into one car, with Pippa, Arisu and Dimitri. In the other, Duo, Chantal, Quatre and little Devonny. Why wasn't she with her mother? Again, ... we don't know. They had warned everyone where they were going and set off.
~~*
Tobi had heard the new, but he was only mildly interested in the births. He was watching Kira from across the yard with hungry eyes. She was with Heero still, his hand permanently latched to her petite wrist. He sat in a lawn chair, drinking a beer, and watching her every move.
Kira finally looked over at Tobi, probably with the same thing in mind. She nodded towards the house and Tobi understood. Standing up, he went unnoticed into the house.
Tobi ventured up into a small guest room with a bed and a dresser in it. He leaned against the wall, near the door, waiting for her.
Soon the door opened and closed silently, Kira not noticing Tobi until he pounced on her with several hungry kisses, pushing her against the wall.
"How did you get away?" Tobi asked in between kisses on her neck.
"I told him that I didn't feel well, so he let me go." Kira started edging off his shirt, throwing it to the side.
The two young ones started towards the bed, laughing and throwing various articles of clothing away from their bodies.
And they finally reached the bed
~~*
Kitaro finally reached the hospital. He leapt from the car and opened Elspeth's door and all three -- Elspeth, Trowa and Rachel-- piled out, Kitaro having to give them a pull start. Atha eventually got out after Kitaro pretty much yanked him out. Atha tripped forward on the sidewalk and threw his arms around Rachel to catch himself, scaring her halfway to birth.
"Everybody sing wit' me now! We've got.... Hi-igh hopes!" Atha belted out in his bassful voice, as Rachel let out a blood curdling scream. Elspeth soon followed in Rachel's scream, and Trowa bravely help the tears in.
Kitaro rolled his eyes and hurried the women into the hospital. The nurses quickly got them into wheelchairs, not wanting the peace to be disturbed anymore than it already had been. Atha was left behind as Trowa, numb hands and all, and Kitaro hurried up to the maternity ward with the women. Rachel was relieved to get rid of Atha for a while.
"Hey! Where's everybody go?" Atha asked himself. A few heads turned and gave him odd looks. No one spoke English.
~~*
"No! No shortcut, Duo!" Quatre exclaimed as Duo turned onto a valley road, loosing sight of the other car.
"Oh, c'mon, Quatre! Live a little! Right Devie?" Duo looked back at the little girl, just barely missing a tree roadside.
"Yeah! Live a little, Katcha! You're no fun!! C'mon, Dance!" Devie started dancing in her seat. Chantal laughed at the little girl, but still was worried about Duo's choice of route.
~~*
"Oh, Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!" Sang out Pippa, Arisu and Dimitri. Shanell just looked overly annoyed.
"Okay kids! Now Sha-Sha!" Pippa announced, beginning the chorus of singing the same song again, but instead of Mickey, singing 'Sha-Sha', as was Shanell's nickname, dubbed by Pippa. A few minutes later, the voice sang out 'Mitri' in place of 'Sha-Sha'.
Shanell sighed heavily, a large vein bulging on her forehead. She usually would join in on such festivities, but today she just had too much on her mind. And she wasn't drunk. Why was she stuck with these three???
~~*
"What floor is the maternity ward? Anybody?" Atha asked nearly everyone on the main floor of the hospital. A few of the bystanders and nurses looked at him. "Ma-ter-na-ty." He said. Finally, a short little woman, chubby and round, came up to him.
"You need help?" She said with a very thick German accent.
"Yes! Where is the maternity ward??"
"Oh, floor four."
"Thank you so much." He ran to the elevator and was quickly escorted to floor four. The door opened just in time for him to see his father disappear into a room. He let out a happy sigh and darted toward that particular room, running into the doorjamb, head on.
Rachel, Trowa and the Nurse just glanced at him and his cursing. Trowa tried not to snicker at the poor dumb soul.
"Ow... Rachel, did it happen yet?" He pulled up a chair next to her bed and took her hand. Okay, so sometimes he was nice.
"What!? No! Do I LOOK like I just had a freaking baby!?"
"Calm down, Rachel." Trowa said, leaving the room to check on Kitaro and Elspeth and the birth of their first child.
"Kitaro! Make it sto-- Ow!!" Elspeth was having a worse time than Rachel. Her contractions were gradually intensifying and getting closer together. This was, after all, her first baby and she hadn't prepared at all.
"I know! Push!!" Kitaro yelled in German, trying to relieve her pain.
"NO!" The doctors and nurses yelled at him. Elspeth kept up her breathing, now clinging to Kitaro's hand for dear life.
~~*
The hospital was in sight, and Shanell parked and jumped out.
"Alright! Let's go!" She ordered. Pippa got both Arisu and Dimitri out, hurrying after Shanell.
"Yo, Shanell! Where'd the other car go?" Pippa called, trying to keep Arisu in one hand and Dimitri in the other arm.
"Duo probably tried to take his short-cut again. No worries, they'll be here in about 30 seconds." Shanell entered the building and hurried to the fourth floor.
~~*
Not thirty seconds later, Duo's car zoomed into a parking spot and four people piled out.
"Fourth floor, people!" Duo informed, hurrying to the fourth floor.
Soon everyone was in either room, most Maxwells with Kitaro and Elspeth. Most Winners with Atha and Rachel. But we can't forget the Blooms! (Pip note: You better not!) They were with the Winners.
Rachel was gripping onto Atha's hand with all of her might.
"Look what you did, you bastard!" Rachel yelled at Atha as her parents and Devonny walked in. Pippa covered up Devonny's ears, Chantal covered Dimitri's and Quatre covered Arisu's. They all stared at Rachel, silently, with wide eyes. "What the hell are YOU looking at!?" She glared at them
"Calm down, Rachel!" Atha pleaded, trying to get his hand back.
"I'd like to see YOU give birth and stay calm!" She cried out as her contraction slowly died down. Atha sighed with relief and the older ones uncovered the small children's ears.
"Wow, we weren't even that aggressive when we were in labor!" Chantal commented, looking at Pippa who nodded in agreement. Trowa and Quatre chuckled nervously and looked away from their wives.
Then Rachel had another contraction.
-End of Chapter One-
-Review!!-
-Hmm... I wonder how many people actually made it this far...-
-...I think this story alone gave me carpal tunnel syndrome!-
- A Gundam Family Reunion -
Original Concept by Shanell, Chantal and Pippa
Written by Chantal and Pippa
It was a bright, sunny July day in the south of Germany. Every German went about their business like any other day. Just another lazy, old July day.
But it was different for a few select people. This was a day of celebration and reunion. Yep, this was gonna be one hell of a day.
"Yep, this is gonna be one hell of a day!" A braided man stated, his hands on his hips as he surveyed his huge backyard, the huge backyard behind his enormous mansion. He grinned the same grin he used to grin from so many years ago. "Yep, a hell of a day."
"Well, you could help a little sometime, Duo Maxwell!" A woman with curly blonde hair and gold eyes called up to the little man. He ignored her, still scanning the back with his violet eyes. "We can't do this alone!"
"We?" Duo asked, bringing his attention to his wife.
"Yes, we! Me, Mika, Vic, Kitaro, Elspeth and Lori!" She fumed. "Now get down here, Duo Maxwell, if you value your life!" Duo whimpered, fearing the woman's temper, and skipped down to her.
The date was July 2nd, AC230. Right then there were a whole lot of people in planes or cars heading towards the little town near Munich. It was a perfect day, only 10 in the morning yet and already the sun was shining bright and warm.
It was a perfect day for a family reunion.
Well, it wasn't a real family reunion. Sure, a lot of people were seeing their families again, but most were seeing old friends. Such as the old Blooms (Pippa and Trowa), the old Winners (Chantal and Quatre) and the old Maxwells (Shanell and Duo).
Duo was setting little sandwiches on a table, a very very long table. In fact it was a buffet table. He stole a couple of the little sandwiches, looking around to make sure the coast was clear.
"Stealing, are we?" Zechs suddenly accused, stepping out from behind the ice sculpture. Duo jumped high with a girlish shriek, Zechs Peacecraft smiled evilly and watched the poor little man hold his heart, gasping for breath.
"Don't do that!!" Duo exclaimed.
"You've never changed, Duo Maxwell." Zechs shook his head sadly.
"I wish people would stop calling me by my full name..." Duo pouted. "Hey, when did you get here?"
"Just now."
"Oh. Where's the family?" Duo followed Zechs' pointed finger and saw a purple haired woman standing with a pretty, young girl and a long haired boy. "Wow, Milliardo Junior sure does look like you."
"Yes, M.J. does." Zechs replied. Duo nodded slowly and started to back away slowly.
"Uncle Duo!!!" A little girl's voice shouted from down as Duo's legs were taken hostage by the hug of two little arms. "I missed you sooooooo much!!" She squealed.
Duo winced at the voice, and looked down, "Hello... Devonny..."
"You've grown so much, Duo! You're a lot bugger than me, yep! You are! Did you know that your leg is skinnier than daddy's? It is! And you're shorter and your hair is longer!" She babbled on and on, for Devonny was the unstoppable player of comments and questions. She was also the 5-year- old daughter of Trowa and Pippa Bloom. Why did they have a child so late in their lives, you ask? Well, my friends, that's a story for another day.
"Yeah, why don't you go say 'Hi' to Uncle Zechs, huh? He's right over there," Duo pointed to the slowly escaping, taller man. Zechs' eyes went wide as he watched Devonny's perky little face, with those big sapphire eyes and those unmistakable reddish pigtails, peer around Duo's legs and see the blonde man. Her smile grew remarkably as she darted to Zechs' legs and screeched, "Zeeeeccchhhssssiiieeeeee!!!!"
Upon hearing the little voice, Zechs' wife and children looked back at him, trying to feel sorry for him and contain their laughter.
"Wow! Your hair is sooooo blonde! And you smell funny and your shoes are really shiny!"
Zechs sighed.
Duo rolled his eyes and looked over to the door, scratching his head. "Hey, look who it is!" Said Duo in seeing his friends Pippa and Trowa walk in. Trowa was dragging a few bags behind him, and Pippa simply carried a petite purse.
"Duo!" She exclaimed, hurrying to him and giving the shorter man a hug. He stood but 5'6" whereas Pippa was 5'11".
Hey, Pip! How ya' doin'?"
"Better than ever, little dude!"
"That's great to hear!" Just as they broke their hug, Trowa approached Duo. "Hi, Tro!"
"..." was Trowa's reply. He looked exhausted: rungs under his eyes, crow's feet, a five o'clock shadow and streaks of grey in his thinning caramel colored hair.
"You don't look so great, man" Duo slapped Trowa's back. Trowa just made a sound.
"Oh, Duo," Pippa said calmly, "He's just not feeling himself lately-- under a lot of stress." And then she began to babble.
"That's too bad." Duo shook his head, replying as Pippa yammered on. Then, idea hit the little man! "Say! Why don't you go visit Zechs, huh Pippa?"
"Zechs is here?? Where??"
Upon hearing his name, Zechs looked at Pippa. She was hurrying towards him, looking very similar to her daughter, Devonny... Well, okay, so Pippa was 46 years older.... And had green eyes and free-slowing auburn hair... But you got the idea! Anyway, Zechs' eyes were wider this time around. He tried to turn and get away from the oncoming woman, but Devonny weighed him down, still latched to his ankle. Soon Pippa was leached to his arm.
"Zechsie!" She squealed like her daughter. And once again, the babbling commenced. This time, it was both mother and daughter, going at it in unison, neither one in sync with the other. Oh, the horror!
Duo sighed then looked back to Trowa, but received a start. There, next to Trowa, was everyone's favorite saucy little brunette-- Tobi Winner!
"Tobi! Hi!" He exclaimed, hugging the poor soul.
"Hello, Duo." Tobi said in a freaky voice, he was always so monotone, so very Trowa-like.... Duo wondered how he could be an actor when he was so monotone and eerily Trowa-like.
"You're looking great, Tobi! How old are you now, 25?" Duo commented. Tobi stared at him and nodded.
"Yes, yes I am."
"That's great... uhm, why don't you... Talk to Trowa... While I... Stand over here..." Duo backed away, shuddering internally. He turned quickly and walked away just as fast from the two.
Tobi turned to Trowa. Trowa turned to Tobi. They nodded at the same time.
"Trowa." Tobi nodded.
"Tobias." Trowa nodded.
"How are you?"
"Could be better. What about you, Boy?"
"Fine. It's all fine." Trowa nodded again. Tobi did the same. He was about to walk away when someone was hugging him tightly. "Ah!"
"Tobi! Oh, I missed you sooooooo much! You never call!" It was Chantal, Tobi's mother.
"Hello mom." Tobi pulled out of her grasp and looked at the graying woman, only an inch shorter than him. He smiled at her sweetly with that movie star charm, "You're looking great."
"Oh, you're too nice!" Chantal giggled.
"Hey, I try." Tobi smiled again. He watched as his father waltzed up to them.
"Hey, Tobi, long time no see." Quatre Winner said to his youngest son. They hugged and exchanged some words. Soon their little group was joined by the oldest of the Winner children, Athen, and his young, pregnant wife. (She was due at the end of August) Soon they all started to chat, the younger ones not noticed the older two start to wander off.
"Pippa! Shanell!" Chantal yelled when she spotted her two bestest friends in the whole wide world. Pippa and Shanell squealed and hurried towards the other two. Soon, the old hags had started their own little gossip circle.
Quatre joined Trowa and Duo and started talking with his two old comrades.
"How are you guys?" Quatre asked.
"Great!!" Duo grinned.
"Hn..." Trowa mumbled. They started a limited conversation about their "happy" little lives.
~~*
Devonny sat on the front steps of the house, watching down the road for any cars. Zechs had shooed her away, the mean old man.
"Wonder if big brother is coming soon. Big brother is fun." Devonny thought aloud. She leaned on her hands, staring down the road for a sign-- any sign-- of visitors. "I spy, with my little eye, something... Black! The road! Good job, Devie! Now, let's play again... I spy, with my little eye, something... Blue! The sky! Wow, Devie, you're really good at this game! Why, thank you, Devonny! I spy, with my little eye, something... Green! A car! Wow! You're so smart, Devie! Hey! A car! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them! It's them!" She began jumping. She turned around and opened the huge front doors, calling inside, "Mama! Chanty! S'nail! Duo! Daddy! Katcha! They're here!"
Who?" Shanell asked the little ball of energy.
"They are!?" Gasped Chantal. She looked at Pippa, who was looking at Chantal. And they went outside to Devonny.
The green sedan pulled up, and stopped just a few inches away from Pippa and Trowa's car, almost grinding it. Just as soon as the engine was turned off, the driver's door swung open and out came the very tall and very annoyed Atha Bloom, son of Trowa and Pippa. As his door was open the sound of two little children singing loudly 'Wheels on the Bus' was heard. His wife, Rachel, swung her door open and tried to stand. But, quickly, Atha rushed to her aide, seeing as Rachel was a good 9 months pregnant.
"Get the kids, honey." Rachel instructed Atha.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm goin-- Aah!!!" Atha exclaimed as he was suddenly overtaken by his very little sister, Devonny.
"Oniichan!!" Devonny said in her native language, Japanese, "You're finally here! I'm so happy!! I haven't seen you in months! Or years! Or eras! Or histories!!"
"Eh... Hello, Devonny..." Atha didn't much care for his sister, and yet she adored him.
"Did you cut your hair? Pick me up! I wanna hug you!" She reached up for him.
"I, uh... have to carry ... Dimitri!" That quickly reached into his car and grabbed his little blonde son. The little two year old boy just laughed at Devonny, and said, "Devie!!"
Devonny gasped, "'Mitri!!!"
Dimitri waved down at her from way up in his daddy's big arms.
"Why don't you hug your little sister?" Rachel ask her husband.
"No, my arms are full, see?" Atha held out Dimitri and shook the boy a bit towards Rachel. She crossed her arms and gave Atha a stern look. Atha improvised and grabbed his little Japanese daughter from the car, too.
"Devie!" The four year old daughter of Atha cried and waved her hands down at her aunt.
"Arisu!" Devie waved at the younger girl.
"Rachel!" Two women's cries came from behind her. Rachel turned, her blonde hair swinging in the slight breeze, smiling, and saw her mother and Pippa.
"Mom! Pippa!" Rachel held out her arms for a hug. Chantal and Pippa tried to hug her, but the woman's large belly was quite a restriction.
"What do you have in there, an elephant?" Chantal laughed.
"Hey, that's MY grandson you're talking about there!" Pippa told her.
"He's my grandson, too!"
"He's more mine!"
"No, mine!"
"Mom! Pippa! Be quiet! He's more mine, yeesh!" Rachel shut them up. They returned soon to their happy, grandmotherly selves again.
"So where's the cage for the children?" Atha asked Devonny. She took a deep breath.
"There's no cage for us! Duo said we-we can wander free like the little things we are and be happy and cheery and good!" Devonny let it all out in one breath. Atha sighed, stressedly.
"Daddy! Daddydaddydaddydaddy!" Arisu yelled at Atha, kicking her legs.
"Wwwwhat!??" Atha snarled.
"Put me down!" She stopped kicking and tried to adjust her little skirt, waiting for her father to let her go. He gladly put her down next to Devonny, moving Dimitri from his left hip to his right.
Arisu jumped up and down with excitement-- it wasn't often that the little California native got to play with her slightly older Auntie! They instantly began babbling about school and boyfriends and their dollies and such. Yes, boyfriends.
Dimitri started to stare at his father from the bare arms of the giant man. His green, yet Japanese, eyes were wide in a spaced-out stare and his mouth was hanging slightly ajar. And Atha simply ignored his bitty son, walking inside to try and avoid the wrath of his mama and mother-in- law. (For Rachel was Chantal's only daughter)
"Atha!" Called Shanell.
Atha turned and immediately regretted coming inside-- Shanell was on his arm as fast as Devonny had been on his leg.
"How are you? Oh, what a silly question! Of course you're great, what with your new family and all! My, look how big you've grown! Oh and look who else and grown so big! It's Dimitri!" She tickled the chubby little chin of the baby, resulting in insanely cute and insane laughter from the boy.
"Hey... Here's an idea! Why don't you take Dimitri for a while, Shanell?" He held out the baby.
"Really? Thanks!" She took the cooing child and began playing and talking to the child. Atha crept away underneath the blanket of shadows on one side of the room, heading towards the TV. But to his disappointment, there, watching the tele, was Athen. Atha's archenemy as well as brother-in- law.
Atha saw him, stopped, analyzed the situation and turned to go. But Athen caught Atha before he could leave.
"Hey, buddy! Where ya' goin' so fast?" Athen said. Atha froze.
"Eh... nowhere, why?"
"C'mere, buddy, sit down." He patted the couch.
"Um, I'm... Fine, really." He started backing away from Athen again.
"I insist! Come, watch the game with me, Atha!"
"Why are you suddenly so nice to me?" Atha stopped and stared at the tall, blonde child of Winner.
"Aw, come on, buddy, it's not like I don't have a heart! Come and spend time with the family. You are my favorite brother-in-law, after all." Athen explained, leaning back and drinking beer.
"I'm your only brother-in-law."
"Just come and sit. Rachel threatened to kill me if I wasn't nice to you this time." He finally confess. Atha smirked. The big ol' brute Athen was afraid of a little pregnant woman. Well, she could get pretty vicious sometimes. So Atha sat down and grabbed himself a beer. He sat in peace with his worst enemy. How ironic. Not... Really.
"So... How's the family?" Athen asked, grabbed yet another beer.
"Fine, I guess. I don't really know, Rachel does most of the work."
"When's the baby due?"
"Any day now. When we get back, hopefully." Atha gulped down all his beer and started on another one.
~~*
Shanell soon joined Pippa and Chantal and Rachel in their little talking group outside. The four of them were like a tornado of words, and now Dimitri was the center of attention.
"He looks just like Atha!" Shanell commented.
"Except blonde..." Chantal corrected.
"He's gonna grow up to be just like his daddy! Sexy, handsome and smart!" Pippa said, getting a couple of odd glances. All through this endless chatter, Dimitri looked like he was lost and Rachel beamed.
"And did you see that, Arisu?" Shanell asked, "She's a doll! So cute and energetic!"
"She looks too much like Pippa, I think." Chantal told them. Pippa crossed her arms.
"Oh yeah? Well, I bet this next kid is gonna look like you! Ugly!" Pippa shot back. Chantal glared at her and opened her mouth to retort when another car slid smoothly into a comfortable stop in the huge driveway.
"Caspian's here!" Chantal announced, scurrying to the car. Pippa stood where she had stood, still glaring at her friend's back as Shanell rushed to the passenger side of the car. Rachel went to the expensive red car, also, to greet the person who was stepping out.
Her second oldest brother, Caspian.
He stepped out, taking off his sunglasses, exposing his very Quatre- like blue eyes. In fact, he all around looked like his father. He ran a hand through his platinum blonde hair and smiled at Chantal and Rachel.
"Hello, you two." He chimed.
"Caspian!" Rachel exclaimed, hugging him the best she could around her tummy.
"Hey, Rach! Whoa, you're gettin' big! That kid's gonna pop out any day now!" Caspian said, kissing her forehead and moving to hug his mother. They hugged.
"Where's the kids?" Chantal asked, looking in the car. Soliel, Caspian's also pregnant wife as well as the second daughter of the Maxwells, stepped out of the car and hugged her mother, Shanell.
"They're in there, Chantal." Soliel said as Shanell asked her as many questions as Chantal had of everyone else. Rachel talked with her brother as Chantal opened the back door to find her grandchildren.
"Emma? Ian? Evan? You in there?"
"Gramma!!" A little girl yelled, jumping into Chantal's arms. It was Caspian's daughter, Emma, with long blonde hair and excessive destructive energy.
"Hello, Emma! Wow! Look how big you've grown!"
"Yep, yep, yep!" She had the unusual Devonny and Arisu energy. Chantal kissed her cheek and put the British girl down.
"Why don't you go find Arisu and Devonny, dear?" She took out the two year old twins, Ian and Evan. She kissed their little cheeks and brought them over to Dimitri. "There you go, you three get acquainted." Chantal set them in the grass and went off. Shanell placed Dimitri next to his cousins. Once he saw the equally aged boys, he glared at the two. Ian and Evan looked scared of the other boy and huddled together.
"Arisu!? Devie!?" Hollered Emma as she skipped towards the garden where Arisu and Devie were picking flowers.
"Hi, Emma!" Arisu said, straightening her little mini skirt.
"Whatcha doin'?" Emma rocked back and forth on her heels.
"Talkin' about our boyfriends." Arisu gloated as Devonny nodded.
"You have boyfriends? That's gross! Boys have cooties!"
"No they don't!" Devonny interrupted, "They have sperm!"
Emma looked confused.
"Anyway, MY boyfriend and I kiss, what about you Devie? What do you and Li do?"
"Kiss? No... I don't wanna have a baby yet..."
"Well, Olen and I are really hot and heavy."
"Hot and heavy? What's that?"
"It means that we are really, really in love and we are getting together like real people do, you know? Like we kiss all the time and he likes to look up my shirt and my skirt and stuff."
"Well, I'm not really for commitment yet." Devie explained.
Emma was truly confused.
"Hello, ladies!" Tobi appeared next to the three girls, hands in pockets, dawning that movie star smile.
Arisu and Devonny turned to see him and both sheepishly said, "Hi, Tobi."
"Watcha doing? Picking flowers, he?" Tobi smiled again.
"Uh... yeah..." Arisu said, trying not to blush. After all, Tobi was one hot tamale amongst the elementary age group, as well as the elder girls. Yes.
"For you! We're picking flowers for you so we can make you sexy!" Devie remarked. Okay, so he was a hot tamale amongst American elementary aged girls.
"Uh..." Tobi didn't smile, "Aren't I already sexy?" He smiled.
"Yeah, but you're not as sexy as Olen yet!" Arisu said, sticking flowers in his shoe laces and in his pockets.
"Uh--" Tobi watched her.
"Yeah, you needa look prettier-- I've seen a picture of Open and he's pretty-- wanna see it?" Asked Devie.
"Sure...."
~~*
"And that's how I sneak his fiber into his orange juice every morning!" Finished Pippa. Chantal, Shanell and Rachel looked a little scared at Pippa's story. And Soliel, she just looked disturbed. "Wanna know how I get him to take suppositories?"
"Uh, no, I think we'll all be fine for at least another twenty years." Chantal said. Shanell, Rachel and Soliel all agreed, nodding quickly.
"Okay!" Pippa chimed.
Just as the conversation ended, a shiny black car pulled up into the long driveway. All the women watched, mainly at Shanell, all of them not really knowing who it was.
The door swung open and out of the driver's side door stood a short Chinese man with hollow black eyes and shoulder length, jet black hair tied back into a little ponytail, with a little streak of white here and there. He wore little black sunglasses and his usual white get up. Before he even noticed his greeting crew, he looked around the premises within view range suspiciously.
From the passenger's side door came a taller, older looking, blonde Chinese woman. In her arms was a young Chinese boy. They were all dressed in traditional dress.
"Wufei? Cheng!! Sally!!" Shanell gasped, skipping over to hug the little Chinese man and his wife. The man looked at Shanell with no emotion as he was taken by her big hug was overwhelmed by so many questions. (He was the only Gundam pilot they had not seen much of since the war) Soon Pippa and Chantal joined Shanell. He answered all of their questions a bit slower than usual, seeing that in the 35 years since the war his English had diminished a bit.
Sally, Cheng Wufei's wife, still held the little boy. He had short, jet black hair with adorable little spiked bangs. He wore a blue ensemble and looked all around the area. Sally simply went up next to her husband and waited next to him, not really having much to say.
The little boy looked across the group to the gaggle of women pestering Wufei, and he burst out with a happy tone to his voice:
"Bloom-sama! Bloom-sama! Hora!" He pointed to Pippa. Pippa looked at him and burst out also, "Hora was! Li-chan!"
The young Li and the old Pippa began a conversation in Japanese. Sally just looked on with Chantal, Shanell and Cheng.
Because Li had originally come from China but recently moved to Japan with his mother, he knew no English so he could only converse with those who spoke Chinese and Japanese. And since he goes to the same grammar school as Devonny (he's her "boyfriend"), he knows Pippa!
"Bloom-sama? Doko ni Devonny?" Li asked.
"Ah..." She turned towards the garden and called, "Devie!! Devie- Wevie!!" Almost immediately, Devonny came skittering to Pippa.
"Hai, okaasan?" Devonny reported to her mother.
"Hora!" She pointed at the Chinese boy, who was waving at Devonny already.
Devie gasped, "Li-kun!!"
"Devonny-chan!" Li wriggled in Sally's arms. Sally put the struggling boy down. He ran to Devie and they hugged like little children do. They started chatting in Japanese and eventually wandered off to find Emma and Arisu again.
~~*
Dimitri had crawled closer to the two frightened twins. He had an evil smiled on his little baby face. Maybe he just wanted to play with his cousins, maybe he wanted to commit the very first of many, many mass murders. No one really knew. He was an odd child.
Evan stood up on his wobbly legs to accept Dimitri's challenge. Dimitri stopped and climbed to his feet. Ian looked up at his brother with unsure eyes, but Evan ignored the boy.
They started to talk closer together, looking each other in the eye. They were up to the challenge, whatever that was. We can't tell what babies think these days!
Nothing could stop them.
Except two excessively fast children running between them, knocking both boys down. The sat on the ground, staring at each other. The tears came soon after that. They started bawling their eyes out. Ian looked between the two and himself started crying
~~*
"So... How's the family? Aren't you two a little old to be having babies?" Chantal said to Cheng and Sally. Sally raised an eyebrow and replied:
"Li is our son's son."
"Wow! How old is your son, again??"
"He would have been 23... If he'd not been murdered." Sally said with no infliction on the her last few syllables. The only son of the Wufei's had been taken out by the Chinese mafia just weeks after he had married his wife and she had conceived her son. No the mafia wasn't after young Li Wufei, no, they were seeking revenge on Cheng Wufei, who seemed to be invincible. They figured, if they can't kill Cheng, why not kill his only pride and joy and the only successor to the Wufei name? And they did.
"Oh... Ha, right. I'm sorry, Sally."
"It's quite alright."
Shanell and Pippa worried about Chantal sometimes, seeing as the two of them already knew this information, as did Chantal. Guess she forgot.
"So, how are the daughters?" Pippa asked of Sally, watching as a pink Cadillac pulled up into the driveway.
"They're all doing very well." Replied Sally. The Wufei's had been blessed with-- or, in Cheng's word's, "punished with"-- eight daughters. Ouch.
The driver door swung open violently and out came a little man dressed in a nice tuxedo. He tended to the passenger door, leading a blonde woman dressed in a pink suit out. He went to the back seat and opened the door just as a very pissed looking Japanese man came bursting out and from the other side a young Japanese woman stepped out, slamming the door shut.
"Heero!" Chantal shouted, hopping over to Heero (the pissed man) and clung to his shoulder. "Wow! You looked great! How's the family? Are you feeling okay? You don't look okay. Are you sure??"
"Hn. Omae o korosu." The man spat at Chantal and gave her the patented death glare.
"Aw! Just like old times! Your threat STILL doesn't work!" Chantal exclaimed. Heero started to reach for his always-ready gun, until Pippa pulled Chantal away from the little man.
"Sorry, Bro!" Pippa apologized for Chantal's actions.
"Hey! Hey! I was talking to Heero, there!" Chantal whined as she was pushed away. Pippa proceeded to lead the conversation with Heero, talking about their families and such. (They were, after all, half-siblings) And near them, Shanell and Relena chatted like the good half-sisters they were.
Chantal inched her way over to the Yuy's only daughter, a 23-year-old Heero look-alike.
"Hey, Kira!" How's it going?" Chantal inquired happily.
"Hn." Was her response as Kira moved to the back of the house, followed soon by all of the adults.
Behind the house, most everyone stood around and chatted with various people. The only people out of sight were most of the Maxwell family.
But out came the first Maxwell, the one and only Duo Maxwell. He hopped through the crowd, saying scattered things, such as:
"Sorry" or "Excuse me, pardon me!" Or "Nice hat, lady!"
The man finally made his way to a table, which he climbed onto and waited for silence. None came.
"Okay! Everyone! Hello?" Duo called. Still no one listened. "Shut up!!" He screamed, which brought the attention to him. "Thank you. Alright, you're all here. Welcome to the reunion. Some of you have met. Actually, I would say that all of you have met sometime in your lives. So, um, the food is coming out really soon. The music will start. And we'll have some games! So have some fun and... Have some... Fun!" With the the little man jumped off the table and the music started.
Out came the food.
There was a ton of food, from meat to Jell-O. There were drinks and pastries; fruit and cheese; crackers, beer. Anything you could imagine was placed on the rows of tables.
Most of the 35 people there attacked the food, even Athen and Atha had decided to join the party. (Probably just for more food and beer)
Off to the sidelines, Tobi stood, drinking a can of beer. He observed the crowd around the table, spacing out as he usually did in the ever so Trowa-like fashion. As he did he practiced his lines for his newest movie in his head. While he was spacing out and practicing, something moved from the corner of his eye. Turning his head toward the moving thing, seeing a girl about his age disappear in to the house, he went after her.
~~*
Atha stood near the fruit place with his sister really close by. Rachel had waddled her way over to Atha, hanging around him, too.
"Oh, grapes!" Rachel reached for some, "Devie, you want some watermelon?" She asked of the little girl.
"Okay!" She was handed a slice by Rachel and immediately started eating it. Before long, Devonny noticed something on the rind of the melon. A sticker. "Oh! Kirei!" She peeled the little elliptical sticker. It's glossy face shone dully in the bright afternoon sun, the picture of a little watermelon, so pink, and the number "11345" read in bright green font. Her eyes glittered like the Sea of Japan.
She held up the sticker out above her head then stuck it to her little purple shirt, and turned to Rachel, tugging on the older woman's shirt.
"Rachel! Guess what!!"
Rachel turned around, "Yes, Devie?"
"Look! I'm a watermelon!" She pointed at the sticker on her chest.
"That's great!" Rachel replied.
Devonny ran to Atha and tugged on his pants. Atha looked down at her.
"Guess what, oniichan! I'm a watermelon! Eat me!!" She chirped.
Atha whimpered and looked at Rachel. "Rachel? What's happening?"
"What?" Rachel looked over at her whiny husband.
"She's telling me top eat her!"
"Don't eat her, Atha." Rachel turned back to the food.
"Eeeeaaaaatttt meeeeee, big brother!" Devonny demanded. Atha whimpered again. She laughed in an evil way and skittered off into the crowd.
~~*
Tobi crept up the winding stairs to a very open, airy tea room. It was all windows with only solid walls on the side connecting to the house. There was a sofa in the room, a calm pastel yellow, and a few comfy chairs around with a coffee table in front.
The girl he was following sat on the sofa the sunlight softly resting on her deep brown hair. Her tanned skin looked heavenly against the sofa and her black blouse. He didn't know how, but this mystery girl caught his attention like no one else, so far, had ever.
He took a deep breath, that actually wasn't that deep and sauntered over towards her. The girl heard Tobi's shoes click on the wooden floor and she turned her upper body around to see her visitor. Her eyes were angry, full of hate for something even as they were a dazzling Persian blue. Her long bangs hung in her face, shinning even in the shadows. There were three clips holding back more of her bangs and her hair back.
Tobi froze as her eyes caught his.
"Hello." Tobi simply stated.
"Hn," she replied sitting back forwards, "It's just you."
"JUST me?" Tobi came up and sat in a nearby chair to her, "Do you even know who I am?"
"You're Tobi. I've seen a few of your films."
"Whadja' think?"
"Okay, I guess." She looked at him briefly then went back to looked out over the vast forest that was the Maxwells' backyard. She had been there dozens of times before, knew the forest by heart from the few times she had been in it. Tobi actually had been in the forest more than thus tearoom-- he hadn't even known it existed until today!
"You're Kira, right?" Tobi confirmed.
"Duh." She replied.
"Sorry... It's just that it's been a very," he remember how she used to be and how much she's changed since he last saw her, "very long time."
~~*
"Miki!!!!!' Screamed Devonny as she saw her favorite, distant sister- in-law. (but she called Auntie) Mika McLock, the Maxwells' eldest child, turned around and almost grimaced.
Devonny stopped in front of Mika and grinned. "Mika! Eeeaaaaatttt Meeeeeeeee!!!" She pointed at the sticker on her shirt.
"Uhm..." Mika looked around for some help, but none could be found.
"Eat me, Miki!"
"Uh, why don't you go bother Zechs or someone," Mika tried to save herself, "He'll eat you."
"YAY!!" Devie exclaimed and ran to Zechs, "Eeaaaatttt Meeeeee, Zechsieee!!"
Zechs looked at the crazy girl oddly, "What?"
"I'm a watermelon! Eat me!" Devonny pointed to her chest where the sticker was stuck. She poked Zechs, then pointed to the sticker again. Zechs sighed.
"Children these days..."
"I said eat me!" Devie demanded.
"Are you sure?" Zechs said, looking down at the little auburn haired girl.
"Yes! Eat me!"
"Oh, alright." Zechs picked up the girl and bit her arm/ Devie stopped asking for people to eat her and slapped Zechs with her little hand.
"I'm telling my mommy!!" With that the little girl jumped out of the tall man's arms and ran to find her mother.
"What did I do?" Zechs asked no one in particular. He pouted as an angry Pippa came marching up to him, with a crying Devonny at hand.
~~*
"Why did you come?" Tobi asked Kira, who gaze out the window.
"My mother said it would be better to come and see my aunts and uncles and cousins, people like that."
"Oh." Tobi stood and went to a tray which held some tea. He carried it to the small table in front of the couch, sitting next to Kira, and getting himself some tea. "Want some?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Okay." Tobi sipped at his tea as he was brought up to do, looking out the window.
"Why are YOU here?"
"Hm? Oh, I just needed a break. And I wanted to see my family." Tobi explained, leaning back and propping his feet up on the table. "Escape the press, too. Those guys just never get off my back-- no matter where I go! I figured I'd be safe here."
"It must be hard, being a movie star and teen idol."
"Nah, it's fun. It can be hard, but it is the life I chose, right?" Tobi turned to her and smiled that dazzling smile. Kira softened at his look, knowing he wasn't as bad as she had initially thought.
"I remember... I remember the first and only time we met before now. It was ten years ago." Kira began, "I was thirteen and you were 15. You were so quiet back then, not like now."
"You were heartless back then... But still as pretty." Tobi didn't look at her with this comment. He just continued to sip his tea.
"You're not like the rest of them." Kira stared at Tobi.
"Who?"
"The movie stars. You're so much nicer."
"Oh, most are polite. Just the mean ones set a bad rep for us."
"You-you called me pretty earlier..."
"'Cause you are, Kira." Tobi turned his face to look at her. She blushed slightly and glanced her eyes away.
"You shouldn't compliment me like that. There are plenty of other girls who would love to have a chance to be sitting here, next to y--" Kira got cut off. How? Well, Tobi had leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. Making the first move, kissing the girl who was off-guard.
~~*
Dimitri was waddling around, with his little twin minions following closely behind. Evan and Ian had "decided" that joining forces with the older (only 3-4 months) boy would profit them greatly.
The three boys walked through the crowd on their small legs. When little Dimitri looked back to see if his companions were still with him, he walked right into someone's leg.
"Owie!" Dimitri fell back and look at the person. It was a man with jet black hair.
"Watch where you're going, kid." The man looked down at the child. Dimitri looked up at him with the patented death glare. Wufei glared back. "What do you want?"
"Ou hur me!" Dimitri stood up, standing to a wonderful 2 1/2 feet tall.
"I heard you?"
"Nah! Ou hur meee!!" Dimitri screamed. A few people turned and faced the commotion.
"Be quiet, child!" Wufei told him. Still, Dimitri glared.
"Evil Woofy!"
"Don't call me that vile name."
"Woofy?" Dimitri cocked his head to one side with an evil and amused grin. Wufei tightened up.
"You must be related to Maxwell."
"Nah!" Dimitri screamed again.
"Will you stop screaming, you insane brat?!" Wufei exclaimed, clenching his fists and glaring at the boy. Dimitri stopped screaming, glaring at the man above. He took in a deep breath. "Hey, brat, don't you even dare think about it...." Wufei warned. Dimitri closed his eyes and screamed.
"WOOOOOOOOOFFFFFYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!"
Everyone in the whole backyard turned towards the angry Chinaman, covering his ears, and the crazy, screaming child. Rachel gasped at the child, her own son, and started towards him at her pregnant pace. But Atha was faster, going to the still screaming child and picking him up briskly. Dimitri still screamed and screamed on.
"Dimitri Athen Bloom, shut your fucking mouth right now or I'll lock you in a Goddammed room in the basement for the rest of your life!" Atha yelled, holding the boy in front of him and shaking him slightly. He wasn't the least bit embarrassed to cuss out his son in front of his own family, but his wife sure was. Dimitri quieted down and glared at his father. Atha sighed and put the boy down. "Go away." Dimitri ran away at his father's command. Atha moved to Athen, grabbing another beer along the way. "What a nuisance"
"He's cute." Athen said, "I hope my kid's like that."
"He's just like you."
"Are you saying that being like me is bad?" Athen said, looking over at the younger man.
"Maybe I am." Atha looked over at the older man.
"Well then!" Athen marched off to where his best friend stood. Him and Kitaro started talking like the dumbards they were.
"Pinata time, everyone!" Duo exclaimed. Everyone turned and started to head toward where Duo and the pinata were. Like the rest of the crowd, Rachel headed over towards the game, but halfway there, she stopped, feeling something in her stomach.
"Are you alright, honey?" Pippa, the closest, asked. Stopping and putting a hand on her arm, Rachel smiled and nodded.
"It's alright, probably just indigestion or something."
"Are you sure it isn't the baby."
"Oh yeah, he isn't due for another week or so. Really alright." Rachel reassured her mother-in-law.
"Well, maybe you should sit down." Pippa started leading her towards a chair.
"Alright..." Rachel sat down.
~~*
Kira was surprised at first by Tobi's sudden kiss, but she soon was engulfed in his kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist, on the tearoom couch. Their mouths open, tongues were offered and taken. It was pure passion. Two young ones, sitting on a couch, alone. It was perfect.
Too perfect.
"What are you doing to my daughter?" A horribly deep, deadly calm voice founded from the door. It could only be the worst person to ruin their kiss. Heero Yuy, Kira's rarely content father.
Tobi almost fell off the couch when he heard the voice. But Kira just ignored her father and made sure Tobi stayed. Tobi really didn't want to be there for the specific reason of Heero's temper.
"I asked you a question, Tobias!" He said with absolutely no emotion.
"Mnnbrph! Nndth!!" Tobi tries to get away, but Kira was quite strong. Heero approached the two and pulled Tobi from Kira's grip.
"Dad!" Kira yelled.
Tobi looked frightened and stayed still. He prayed nothing bad would come of his actions. Slowly, Tobi turned to look back in Heero's eyes, the same brilliant Persian blue. The same endlessly deep abyss of anger and well hidden fears from forevers past. But he could tell that Heero's head was filled to the brim with thousands of thoughts as he held Tobi by the shoulder.
Tobi laughed and patted Heero's opposite shoulder:
"Wha? You really though I was SCARED?" Tobi put on a believable act. But still Heero narrowed his eyes more, them darted down to where Kira's hand was holding Tobi's larger hand. They narrowed even more when they returned to Tobi's eyes.
"Are you mocking me?" Heero said in a cold voice.
"No, sir! With all sincerity!" Tobi didn't laugh, because that would just further enrage the man.
"What were you doing to my daughter?" The angry father hissed. He was much too overprotective.
"Nothing, sire, you see. We were only having a tongue war." Tobi cracked up. He couldn't hold it back any more. Heero looked even more mad, seeing where he got this trait from. He looked over to his daughter, hoping that she would be more appalled than he was, but Kira only started laughing, leaning over onto Tobi.
"Shut up!" Heero boomed, "Stop laughing!" But they still laughed on. Heero reached down quickly and grabbed Tobi's collar, pulling him up, close to his face, glaring at the child of Winner and hissing, "Don't you ever, ever touch my daughter again, you got it? I never want to see you with my daughter again or you will forever regret it. Got it?" Still, Tobi laughed.
Heero's grip tightened, pulling Tobi's collar tighter and starting to choke the poor lad. Heero gave Tobi another deadly calm stare. Tobi laughed a little then looked back to Kira, who was smiling with evil thoughts on her mind. He looked back to Heero, laughed just a little more. His eyes soon showed their whites, rolling back, and he fainted.
~~*
Outside, Duo and Wufei were arguing of who would hit the pinata first. Everyone else was watching with amusement.
"5 bucks on Wufei!" Athen yelled, Kitaro cheered:
"You don't have a chance, dad!"
"Have some faith in me!" Duo whined, as he grabbed the pinata stick. Wufei grabbed the other end and they had begun a little tug-o-war.
While this went on, Chantal walked around to make sure all her children were around. And first was Athen.
"Hi, honey! How's it going?" She asked her eldest son. He just ignored her and watched the fight, cheering Wufei on. Chantal sighed and moved to her next son.
"Hi, Caspian!" She said cheerily. Caspian nodded and took a drink of beer.
"Hi."
"Have you seen Rachel anywhere?" Chantal asked. Caspian motioned to a row of chairs. "Okay, thanks." Chantal hovered to where her very pregnant daughter was, "Hi, baby!"
"Hi mom." Rachel sat back and sighed. Chantal sat next to the blonde woman.
"You feeling alright?"
"Yeah, just a little indigestion or something. I wish you'd all stop bothering be about it. I've already had two children and this one isn't sure for a week or so. Stop worrying!!" Rachel snapped. Chantal moved away a bit.
"Don't hafta be mean and all..."
"I'm sorry, mom, just a bit moody." Rachel apologized.
"It's okay, we all are when we're pregnant. Hey, have you seen Tobi anywhere?" Chantal looked around.
"Nope, sorry."
"Alright, if anything goes wrong, call me." Chantal moved away as Rachel half glared at her. Walking backwards, Chantal marched right into a fast moving Heero.
"Whoa, Heero buddy!" Chantal turned, getting a glare from him. She saw, attached to his hand, was a very angry looking Kira.
"Get out of my way."
"Hey, have you guys seen Tobi?"
"You mean that evil, arrogant, sex-craved lunatic?" Heero grumbled harshly.
"Um..." Chantal was unsure of what to say. She looked over to Kira.
"He's lying on the tearoom floor, unconscious." Kira explained. Chantal immediately looked at Heero, with quite an evil spell to her eyes.
"What did you do to him!?" She yelled. Heero narrowed his eyes.
"He was making out with my daughter and he was making me mad." Chantal stifled a laugh. Heero glared even more, "Are you mocking me?" Chantal patted his shoulder.
"Who would wanna mock YOU?" Chantal laughed, walking into the house and making her way into the tea room. There, lying on the floor between the couch and the coffee table, was Tobi.
Chantal went to the man and checked his pulse and his breathing. He was all fine. All Chantal had to do was wake him up, and that she did... by floating an alcohol pouch thingy underneath his nose. He immediately woke up.
"What the..."
"Hi." Chantal waved, sitting on the couch. Tobi sat up.
"Where's Kira?" Tobi asked, looking around.
"With Heero. I wouldn't go around him if I were you. He's very overprotective about his daughter and he's a Gundam pilot. One of the worst. I'd be careful, got it?"
"Yeah, sure." Tobi stood up. He started walking toward the door. "You know, I never felt this way before. It's a weird feeling inside my chest, ya know? When I first kissed her." He stopped at the door, hand on the knob. "It's almost like being in love." He turned the knob and left. Chantal smiled happily and follows the love-struck man, not closely, but enough to see him. He had a very happy gait.
~~*
Wufei stood proud, almost emotionless. He held tight onto the pinata baton, a foot on collapsed Duo's back. Duo, on his stomach, in the mud, with a rather pissed expression on his indigo eyes, had in fact been defeated.
Almost everyone was either laughing or cheering for the two men, glad the decision had finally been made. But now, with the vengeance building in Duo's soul, a need for recognition had arrived to everyone: They needed to beat open the pinata. And when they remembered Wufei's technique in actually GETTING the baton, they all knew that they stood little chance in victory with the Chinese man going first. He was quite the little "karate kid".
"Okay, Woofy!" Pippa started.
"Don't call me 'Woofy', woman."
"Geeze! Reer! Anyways-- wait -- did you just call me woman?"
"That's what you are, isn't it?" Wufei still remained emotionless, while a few shrill gasps of 'Could you get off of me? Wufei??' And such escaped from the beaten Duo.
"BBOOOOOOYYY!!!!!" Pippa called. Chantal came over to her.
"What are you doing?"
"You are not boy! Go away! This only involves Woofy, boy and me."
"What are you doing??" Chantal said again.
"Nothing, woman! Now leave!" Wufei told Chantal. Everyone watched as the three... Well, four as they waited for the pinata. Soon Atha came to his mother, a bit tipsy, wobbling as he walked.
"Whadya wan', ma'?" He said in his drunken state.
"Kill Woofy for me!!"
"Me too." Chantal added.
"Nah, I dun' wan' DAT big of a record." Atha said.
"Please?" Pippa begged, "He called us 'woman'!"
"He did!? Well then, tha' bas'ard's gonna get it now!" Atha pushed up his left sleeve, forgetting the right, and marched right up to the much shorter Wufei. Wufei just looked at the drunk with out a single care for what he wanted.
"Hey! Chinaman!" Atha shouted.
"Me?" Wufei pointed at himself, playing stupid.
"Yeah, you." He got ready to punch, and threw his left hook at the man, just barely missing.... And falling right on top of Duo.
"Ow! Get it off! Get it off!" Duo screamed, trying to wiggle from under Atha. He tried pushing him off, but it was futile. Atha lay on top of the drunk man, looking around confusedly.
"Huh? How'd I get down 'ere?" Atha asked no one in particular. The crowd around him laughed at his drunken stupidity. At the front of the crowd, Pippa was shaking her head slowly.
"Get up, Boy." Pippa told Atha, going to him and helping the man up. Atha stood near Duo, wobbling and staring at Wufei. Duo scrambled to his feet and tried to brush off his clothes.
"I get the stick after you, Wufei. Two swings is all you get." He explained, backing up and giving Wufei room to swing. The Chinese man got ready to bat at the Gundam shaped pinata when he noticed something.
"Hey! That pinata looks familiar..." He squinted his eyes and tried to look at the pinata more. Duo gasped and went over behind Wufei.
"'Cuz it's YOUR Gundam, buddy!" He patted the man's shoulder and strapped a blindfold on him so he could not see.
"Holy Nataku, it's Nataku! Maxwell! Get this thing off of me!"
"Not till you destroy that lovely pinata!"
"I refuse to destroy my beloved Nataku!" Wufei exclaimed. Duo sighed.
"You wimp." Duo mumbled. Wufei glared through the blindfold at the pinata he couldn't see.
"You dishonorable woman!!" He yelled, whacking once at the pinata. Soon there was no more pinata left and candy lay on the ground. Children and adults alike jumped on the candy to get their "fair" share.
Wufei ripped off the blindfold and beamed, slipping the baton into his beltloop.
"Aw! You ruined it for me, Woofy!" Duo whined. Wufei glared at him. Duo 'eep'-ed and ran away. Far, far away.
From her little spot, Rachel tried to watch the action. But she knew something was wrong. Her stomach felt weird, almost like she was going into labor.
Her eyes went wide.
"Mom! Pippa! Atha!" She shouted for them, not moving, scanning the crowd. But no one saw or heard Rachel. No one was in sight that could help her.
Except...
"Trowa! Trowa!!" She called at the former clown. He turned and saw her looking very frantic, and walked over to meet the girl at a rather slow pace.
"Yeah?" He asked, standing over her.
"I think I'm in labor!" Rachel told him over the noise around them. His eyes went wide.
"Why'd you call me!?"
"You were the closest! Now help me up!" Rachel demanded aggressively, her eyes flaming. Trowa readily complied, helping the pregnant woman up. When she was standing she sighed happily, making Trowa calm down. "It must've been false labor."
"Oh, great." Trowa started to slowly walk away.
Then, once again, her eyes went wide.
"Oh no..." Rachel said. Trowa wince and stopped, turning around slowly. He saw Rachel looking very scared.
"What's wrong?" Trowa asked carefully. Rachel looked down at the ground, as did Trowa. It was wet. Trowa raised his eyebrow and looked back at Rachel, who was now near to tears. He grabbed her wrist.
"Come on, we've got to find someone to drive you to the hospital." he started towards the crowd.
"Trowa! I want Atha."
"We have to find someone who knows where the hospital is."
"I don't care, just get him! I want Atha."
"He's drunk, he can't drive."
"So? Just go get him!!!"
Trowa made an angry sigh. He found Kitaro, Duo's son, and Athen and Atha all together. That's a first. Nearby to the three, Elspeth was watching Trowa when she saw panicking Rachel holding her tummy. Elspeth put down her plate of h'ordeurves.
"Rachel, what's the matter?"
"I'm... In labor!" She huffed.
Trowa quickly got Kitaro, who wasn't THAT drunk yet, to drive Rachel. They started back towards the cars, Trowa helping Rachel, Atha trailing at some distance behind, still a bit confused, and Kitaro racing ahead to get the car ready. Elspeth was along with Rachel, talking to her.
"Breath, Rachel! You'll be there in no time! Don't worry, just breathe!"
"I know-- owie! Ow!" She felt the first of her many contractions. At Rachel's surprise exclamation, Elspeth was startled. In fact, she was startled so much that her pregnant waddle run ceased and she held her own tummy, a frightened looked spread across her face. Rachel looked back and stopped, making Trowa halt.
"Elspeth?" Rachel said.
"Ah... Ah..." Elspeth's expression turned to pain when they all witness her water break from underneath her lovely floral skirt. "Ow..."
"Elspeth!"
Elspeth squeaked and stayed frozen.
"Come on, Elspeth! You need to get to the car."
She was still frozen
"Hurry up!" Rachel announced.
"Rachel! Trowa!" Kitaro yelled, "Hurry up before you have the baby here!"
Eventually, meaning a few seconds later, Atha appeared next to the car, having taken the long way, through the house, the drunkard.
"Where are they?" He asked Kitaro. Kitaro pointed at the non-moving group.
"Come on, Elspeth!" Rachel said to the woman. Elspeth finally walked up to Trowa and grabbed his free hand as they commenced the walking procedure.
"Elspeth? What's wrong?" Kitaro went to his ailing wife.
"I'm in labor! Hurry up and get me to the hospital!"
Atha went to Rachel and grabbed her free hand, as it was that the other was clamped onto Trowa.
"Okay, ladies! Get in the car, and let me go, please." Trowa tried to free his hand, but their grips tightened as Rachel had another mild contraction along with Elspeth. Trowa sighed and followed the girls into the car, stuck in the middle between the two. Kitaro hopped into the driver's seat and Atha slunk into the passenger's seat.
The two women held on to Trowa and their stomachs, slumping down and squeezing poor Trowa's hand to exert their pain.
As they pulled out, Kitaro got yelled at to drive softer. Then a bit down the road, they'd say drive faster. And when he hit a bump in the road, they would wail and yell at the poor man.... He was so confused and frustrated. And Atha was just babbling about what to do when they got to the hospital. And Trowa, he just wanted to leave.
"Ah! Atha, shut up!" Rachel yelled at the babbling idiot. Atha indeed did shut up as did the whole car, just before the drunkard spawn of Trowa began to sing "High Hopes".
Both Elspeth and Rachel cried out, squeezing Trowa's hands for dear life. Trowa winced at every squeeze, each one hurting more than the one previous.
"I haven't felt this much pain in years..." He grumbled. Atha kept up his singing in his drunken and Kitaro just kept on driving.
~~*
Back at the house, the crowd had split apart. Pippa, Chantal and Shanell had magically drifted together. They started chatting and soon the conversation lead to their grandchildren.
"Yep, another grand kid!" Pippa said happily, proud of her third grandchild-to-be.
"I already have six. And along with four kids, you guys and your families, Christmas is getting very hectic." Shanell stated.
"Yeah, me too. Well, almost six..." Chantal thought about it.
"Hey, did you guys notice that Trowa, Atha, Kitaro, Elspeth and Rachel are gone?" Pippa asked, looking around. Chantal and Shanell glanced around, too.
"Yeah... Let's call Atha's cell phone." Chantal whipped out her cell and dialed Atha's number. How did she know it? .... .... We don't know.
"Naaaaani?" Atha answered the phone. He still sounded drunk, as he still was. In the background the car could be heard driving and the screams of pains of two women and a man.
"Atha? Where are you?" Chantal inquired.
"Goin' to da' 'opital, Mrs. Winner!" Atha replied with a laugh, humming "High Hopes."
"The hospital? Why?" Both Pippa and Shanell watched on eagerly.
"That's why!" Atha held up the phone just as both women had a contraction, causing to Trowa to cry out in pain, also.
"Oh my god..." Chantal hung up the phone and looked at the women who were waiting expectantly. "Tro-- I mean, Rachel and Elspeth have gone into labor!"
"We hafta get to the hospital! Hurry and get the husbands and children, and let's go!" Shanell started hurry towards the car. Soon, Duo and Quatre were following the women, with Arisu, Dimitri and Devonny.
Shanell climbed into one car, with Pippa, Arisu and Dimitri. In the other, Duo, Chantal, Quatre and little Devonny. Why wasn't she with her mother? Again, ... we don't know. They had warned everyone where they were going and set off.
~~*
Tobi had heard the new, but he was only mildly interested in the births. He was watching Kira from across the yard with hungry eyes. She was with Heero still, his hand permanently latched to her petite wrist. He sat in a lawn chair, drinking a beer, and watching her every move.
Kira finally looked over at Tobi, probably with the same thing in mind. She nodded towards the house and Tobi understood. Standing up, he went unnoticed into the house.
Tobi ventured up into a small guest room with a bed and a dresser in it. He leaned against the wall, near the door, waiting for her.
Soon the door opened and closed silently, Kira not noticing Tobi until he pounced on her with several hungry kisses, pushing her against the wall.
"How did you get away?" Tobi asked in between kisses on her neck.
"I told him that I didn't feel well, so he let me go." Kira started edging off his shirt, throwing it to the side.
The two young ones started towards the bed, laughing and throwing various articles of clothing away from their bodies.
And they finally reached the bed
~~*
Kitaro finally reached the hospital. He leapt from the car and opened Elspeth's door and all three -- Elspeth, Trowa and Rachel-- piled out, Kitaro having to give them a pull start. Atha eventually got out after Kitaro pretty much yanked him out. Atha tripped forward on the sidewalk and threw his arms around Rachel to catch himself, scaring her halfway to birth.
"Everybody sing wit' me now! We've got.... Hi-igh hopes!" Atha belted out in his bassful voice, as Rachel let out a blood curdling scream. Elspeth soon followed in Rachel's scream, and Trowa bravely help the tears in.
Kitaro rolled his eyes and hurried the women into the hospital. The nurses quickly got them into wheelchairs, not wanting the peace to be disturbed anymore than it already had been. Atha was left behind as Trowa, numb hands and all, and Kitaro hurried up to the maternity ward with the women. Rachel was relieved to get rid of Atha for a while.
"Hey! Where's everybody go?" Atha asked himself. A few heads turned and gave him odd looks. No one spoke English.
~~*
"No! No shortcut, Duo!" Quatre exclaimed as Duo turned onto a valley road, loosing sight of the other car.
"Oh, c'mon, Quatre! Live a little! Right Devie?" Duo looked back at the little girl, just barely missing a tree roadside.
"Yeah! Live a little, Katcha! You're no fun!! C'mon, Dance!" Devie started dancing in her seat. Chantal laughed at the little girl, but still was worried about Duo's choice of route.
~~*
"Oh, Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey!" Sang out Pippa, Arisu and Dimitri. Shanell just looked overly annoyed.
"Okay kids! Now Sha-Sha!" Pippa announced, beginning the chorus of singing the same song again, but instead of Mickey, singing 'Sha-Sha', as was Shanell's nickname, dubbed by Pippa. A few minutes later, the voice sang out 'Mitri' in place of 'Sha-Sha'.
Shanell sighed heavily, a large vein bulging on her forehead. She usually would join in on such festivities, but today she just had too much on her mind. And she wasn't drunk. Why was she stuck with these three???
~~*
"What floor is the maternity ward? Anybody?" Atha asked nearly everyone on the main floor of the hospital. A few of the bystanders and nurses looked at him. "Ma-ter-na-ty." He said. Finally, a short little woman, chubby and round, came up to him.
"You need help?" She said with a very thick German accent.
"Yes! Where is the maternity ward??"
"Oh, floor four."
"Thank you so much." He ran to the elevator and was quickly escorted to floor four. The door opened just in time for him to see his father disappear into a room. He let out a happy sigh and darted toward that particular room, running into the doorjamb, head on.
Rachel, Trowa and the Nurse just glanced at him and his cursing. Trowa tried not to snicker at the poor dumb soul.
"Ow... Rachel, did it happen yet?" He pulled up a chair next to her bed and took her hand. Okay, so sometimes he was nice.
"What!? No! Do I LOOK like I just had a freaking baby!?"
"Calm down, Rachel." Trowa said, leaving the room to check on Kitaro and Elspeth and the birth of their first child.
"Kitaro! Make it sto-- Ow!!" Elspeth was having a worse time than Rachel. Her contractions were gradually intensifying and getting closer together. This was, after all, her first baby and she hadn't prepared at all.
"I know! Push!!" Kitaro yelled in German, trying to relieve her pain.
"NO!" The doctors and nurses yelled at him. Elspeth kept up her breathing, now clinging to Kitaro's hand for dear life.
~~*
The hospital was in sight, and Shanell parked and jumped out.
"Alright! Let's go!" She ordered. Pippa got both Arisu and Dimitri out, hurrying after Shanell.
"Yo, Shanell! Where'd the other car go?" Pippa called, trying to keep Arisu in one hand and Dimitri in the other arm.
"Duo probably tried to take his short-cut again. No worries, they'll be here in about 30 seconds." Shanell entered the building and hurried to the fourth floor.
~~*
Not thirty seconds later, Duo's car zoomed into a parking spot and four people piled out.
"Fourth floor, people!" Duo informed, hurrying to the fourth floor.
Soon everyone was in either room, most Maxwells with Kitaro and Elspeth. Most Winners with Atha and Rachel. But we can't forget the Blooms! (Pip note: You better not!) They were with the Winners.
Rachel was gripping onto Atha's hand with all of her might.
"Look what you did, you bastard!" Rachel yelled at Atha as her parents and Devonny walked in. Pippa covered up Devonny's ears, Chantal covered Dimitri's and Quatre covered Arisu's. They all stared at Rachel, silently, with wide eyes. "What the hell are YOU looking at!?" She glared at them
"Calm down, Rachel!" Atha pleaded, trying to get his hand back.
"I'd like to see YOU give birth and stay calm!" She cried out as her contraction slowly died down. Atha sighed with relief and the older ones uncovered the small children's ears.
"Wow, we weren't even that aggressive when we were in labor!" Chantal commented, looking at Pippa who nodded in agreement. Trowa and Quatre chuckled nervously and looked away from their wives.
Then Rachel had another contraction.
-End of Chapter One-
-Review!!-
-Hmm... I wonder how many people actually made it this far...-
-...I think this story alone gave me carpal tunnel syndrome!-