Title: His Daughter Is Not Weak

Summary: … And he somewhat pitied anyone who said she was. Wufei takes a moment to be a father to his five year old daughter. Written for the Endless Reflection Challenge, set approximately 15 years after the Eve Wars.

000

"They said a girl couldn't do it!"

Wufei watched with his chin propped up on his hand, from the kitchen table.

"But I could do it, daddy, I could."

He had remained silent since the mother from down the street had shown up on his doorstep with his daughter. The five year old was covered in mud and now standing nervously in front of him. This was not how he had hoped to spend his day off.

Thank god for hardwood floors or the mess would be so much harder to clean.

"If you knew you could do it, but that you would get in trouble, why did you do it anyhow, Mei?" When Wufei finally spoke, he made it a point to keep is voice very even. He knew that if his daughter even suspected he was raising his voice, she would become hysterical. He hoped it was an emotional phase she would grow out of, but he supposed he still had a few years left before he could be sure.

"I had to prove it, daddy," Mei replied, a hurt look on her little face. He inwardly winced.

And now his words came back to bite him.

He was always pushing his daughter to be her best, always telling her to prove to him that she could be the best. However, he usually meant it in regards to her studies. She was already almost a year ahead of her peers, and would probably start skipping grades after she completed her first full of year of school. Even if she was clearly more intelligent than the other kids in the area, she was still very impulsive.

And he knew she didn't get that from him.

"Mei, you must learn the time and place to show your skills. If you're tricked into doing something you know you should not, even if you know you can do it, you're going to keep getting into trouble—and much worse trouble than a few scrapes and bruises."

There were days that he wanted to use stories of Meiran as an example for his daughter. He wanted to tell her about the strong little girl who liked to beat up the boys in her class just to prove that she could. But he knew that starting tales of Meiran would ultimately end up with his daughter asking what happened to her. He hoped he would never have to use Meiran's transformation into Nataku as a cautionary tale against his daughter.

If he had to though, Wufei would tell her about the day that particularly strong, but foolish girl went off to prove herself to an even stronger and more foolish boy, and died in his arms. He would tell her if it would keep her safe and alive.

Wufei could see the tears starting to form in Mei's eyes and the way she bit her lip.

"There's more?"

She nodded.

"Well what is it? What else did those Donahue boys say?"

Mei sniffed and took a few breaths, trying to calm down before speaking again. "They said… they said…" She hiccupped. "They said that now that you have Li, you don't love me anymore. They said that you always wanted a boy and not a girl."

Those little… Well, I guess he understood now why Mei really beat the crap out of the boy a year older than her, now. He would have wanted to give him a good pummeling too for saying such a thing to his little girl.

If her mother found out, he knew he would have to stop her from marching over to the kid's house and giving him another round of smacking.

"You know I don't have to tell you that's not true," he sighed and sat back, running his hand through his hair. It was shorter now, if only to help hide the grays that kept appearing. He may have only been thirty but years of child-soldiering had taken their toll on his body.

Mei nodded and sniffled.

"Boy or girl, you're still my child and I'm proud of you. Now, I think I hear the car outside so you had better run upstairs and clean up before your mother sees you," he said and stood from his chair.

Mei turned to run down the hallway to the stairs but then stopped and looked back. "Are you gonna tell mommy?"

He wiped a hand down the side of his face and neck with a sigh, "no. I don't think she needs to hear about this. We'll keep it a secret."

Mei smiled and then disappeared around the corner.

Mostly, Wufei just didn't want to deal with a night of the woman angrily stomping around and threatening to call the Donahue's. Since Li's arrival, she had been getting less sleep and was more easily irritated, and he knew better than to instigate any unnecessary drama. He loved his wife dearly, but she could be a little…explosive. (Or perhaps that's why he loved her.)

There was creaking from the front porch and a loud sigh as the door opened. "I'm home. Where is everyone? I could use some help with the groceries… Wu-Li spit up all over himself, ugh, I need to go change him… "

There was a brief pause, and for a moment Wufei contemplated sneaking out the back door to get out of helping unload the car. However it wasn't exactly fair to leave the woman with a five month old and a week's worth of groceries on an eight five degree day.

"Wufei…" The woman called out with an oddly calm voice, "why is there mud all over the staircase?"

His shoulders slumped forward and he trudged out from the kitchen, trying to quickly come up with an excuse that didn't involve Mei using the Dragon Clan fighting style (that he wasn't supposed to be teaching her) on the neighbor boys.

000

Author's Note: I am a Wufei fangirl through and through, so it was only right that I wrote a brief snippet on his life. When I first read Episode Zero, I didn't care for Meiran (it was just too shocking for my young mind to fathom that Wufei was married! *gasp*) But when I've gone back and read it again, I've realized just how much that little bit of a back story had influenced the character of Wufei.

Especially when it comes to women.

So many people have disliked him because of his sexist views and remarks (don't forget that he's a 14-16 year old boy throughout the series.) However, I've determined that his guilt has made him think that he should have protected Meiran more, instead of just sitting around and letting her do what she wanted, and it's carried over into his own personal battle style. Maybe he's just more hyper aware of women—maybe every time he has to fight one, it crosses his mind that maybe she has someone who shouldn't have to watch her die. As much as I, personally, am all for gender equality, I can understand that he's from a culture that expects the men to go off to fight for honor, while the women should be protected.

Anyhow, that's the end of my mini rand. Moral of the story is: don't hate on Wufei because of how he was raised and his views as a 14 year old.

If any of you are reading my novel length Gundam Wing story, After Colony: Revelation, it's possible this could be canon. Or, maybe not. I suppose it all revolves around my final ending and what ultimately gets uploaded.

Thank you for reading! I hope to see many other stories posted for the Endless Reflection challenge so we can continue to spread the GWing love around!

A.F