Just going through a folder of stuff, I have a million stories that were started and never finished. This was one of them. But as Mia and Trowa are one of my favorite couples, I can't leave this one unfinished. So I edited what I had written into the first part of a storyline that I hope to continue once Hurricane is finished and ZERO is further along.

It's not going to be as lovey-dovey as my other Mia/Trowa fics, a lot more serious. But I put a lot of time in developing Mia's character, and it's time for the next step. I don't remember where it was going when I wrote it, so I'll pretty much be starting again from scratch. But just kinda wanted to give this as a sort of preview for you and a review for me...

We All Have Secrets

Part One

We were on Earth for a few weeks, staying at one of Quatre's smaller places. Heh… small… it still had five spacious bedrooms, each with its own master bathroom, a small library, a study, huge living room, kitchen, dining room and breakfast nook. And it sat on ten acres of land. I've seen a lot of Quatre's places and I definitely had to say this was the smallest one I'd seen… Though I suppose it was fitting since it housed the five Gundam pilots during one mission or another in the past.

Officially, Trowa and I were there for our quarterly meeting with Commander Une, which we could have done via a vid-conference, but we decided to take our vacation around that time, so we did it in person. Well, HE did it in person. I haven't been feeling a hundred percent. Damn morning sickness… I forgot how crappy the first few months of pregnancy were…

Maxwell and his wife, just happened to be down, too, visiting some of Hilde's relatives and they were currently babysitting me and our daughter, Angel… Well… babysitting Angel, because I could hardly chase down a five-year-old when I got dizzy nearly every time I stood up… And it really is nice to have a friend good enough to hold hair out of your face when you're puking your guts up.

I blinked at said five-year-old, my brows rising as she occasionally lifted my shirt to inspect my stomach. She poked it a few times and looked up to me, her brows knitted in a questioning manner, but she never voiced it.

"Sweetheart, what ARE you doing?" I asked, shooting the Maxwell's a glare on the couch on the opposite side of the living room. Neither of them laughed out loud, but I could see they wanted desperately to. Hilde was clutching Maxwell's braid tightly. Apparently that was the only thing that kept his mouth shut, more likely it was the slight tug she gave on it every now and then. Though, I admit, even I had trouble keeping a straight face as she answered. I looked back down to her.

"Unca Duo said my baby brothers are in there…," she said in all seriousness as she lifted my shirt again, poking at my stomach. Then she pressed her ear against it while she poked. Ever since we told her she's going to be a big sister, she's been dead set on the new twins being boys, and that's ALL we were allowed to refer to them as… "Are they supposed to be in your tummy? Did you eat him?"

That did it… Maxwell and Hilde burst out laughing and Angel beat me to the punch, sending a glare their way that would rival that of the Perfect Soldier… I held in my own snickers as their mouths shut, still failing to hide their amusement. She looked back up at me, the innocently curious expression back on her face.

How do you answer something like that? And manage to keep a straight face at the same time? "No, Angel, I didn't eat them. Yes they're supposed to be there, it's where they're growing until they're big enough and strong enough to live out here." Okay, I was proud of that answer and Duo and Hilde both gave me two thumbs up in response.

She poked my stomach again, apparently satisfied with the answer, until she had another question. "How long are they gonna be in there?" She pressed her ear against my belly again, concentrating, as if she could really hear something.

This got another rise of laughter from Maxwell and Hilde and she shot another glare their way, which apparently didn't have the desired effect as she looked back up at me, bottom lip quivering. "Moommmyyyyy," she whined, pointing to her aunt and uncle.

But her pouting was quickly forgotten as we heard the front door open and close. "Daddy's back!" She literally jumped out of the chair beside me, over the armrest, making a mad dash toward the hallway. The girl's just as acrobatic as her father, but doesn't have near the gracefulness… Of course… she's only six…

I didn't hear the typical greeting she gave her father, though,or his laughter that accompanied it. And our friends' laughter stopped as their attention was on the doorway behind me. I shifted in my chair so I could look, raising a brow. Trowa was standing there, but he didn't look happy. In fact, he looked downright pissed. That face, ever impassive, but those eyes, well, the one anyway…

Even Angel had learned to read these faces, and she stood just in front of her father, in the doorway, looking up at him, inquisitiveness written all over her face. But she never said anything, and he never even looked down to acknowledge she was there. Those eyes were on me. The meeting must not have gone well. But that was still no excuse for him to be so… cold. Even Angel had goose bumps when she slowly padded back over to us. Business had never affected him this greatly before.

I stood, ignoring the nausea and dizziness that just wouldn't leave me alone, giving Angel a nudge towards her aunt and uncle, who were also on their feet. "Guys, wanna take Angel to get her snack?"

They just nodded and even Maxwell didn't utter a word as he took her hand, following Hilde in the kitchen. And an unspoken request from Trowa had me following him down the hallway into the study, the room farthest from the kitchen. I hoped this wasn't going to turn into an argument. I didn't need to add rises and drops to the emotional roller coaster I was already on thanks to the pregnancy. But he was pissed, and I was involved in it, somehow. Was he mad that I got out of coming with him? Probably a little, but he would have never let something so trivial get to him this much. And even if the meeting didn't go well, he wouldn't be this visibly pissed.

He held the door open for me and I stood at the doorway a moment, studying him. His eyes made a quick glance towards the kitchen, just a light twitch, and I understood. This was NOT a conversation he wanted our friends or daughter to overhear. Considering Maxwell was a Preventer part-timer, not wanting him to know sort of made me think this had nothing to do with work. I nodded and walked into the study. He closed the door behind him.

He nodded to one of the leather armchairs and I slid into it as he handed me the manila folder I didn't notice he had been carrying. My brow rose as I took the folder… maybe it DID have something to do with work… then why didn't he want Maxwell to know about it? He slid into a chair across from me as I opened the folder, what looked like a simple personnel file.

What I saw, I hadn't expected. The first thing I saw was a photograph of me, though it was taken many, many, many years ago. And the name, or rather, label, attached to it was something I hadn't been called since I was forced to fight an endless, senseless war. I leaned back in my chair, releasing a long drawn out sigh, lifting my eyes to meet his.

"I know we agreed never to talk about our pasts," he said, his normally bland, emotionless voice trembled ever so slightly. Unless you KNEW Trowa… you wouldn't have noticed it. But he was trying hard to curb his anger. I still couldn't tell exactly who or what he was angry with.

We had agreed long ago to never discuss where we had come from. The past was always better left in the past, right?

We all have secrets… but it looked like it was time to reveal mine, or at least, as much as I knew.