Gundam Wing II
I'm not making money from this and these are not my characters. Special thanks to the creators of Heero, Trowa, Duo, Wu Fei, Quatre. Sandy is my own character.
Luke, Leia, Han, and company all belong to George Lucas.
Inu-washa: well peoples this is a whirred fic that my sister and I made but never finished! @_@ rei: I think there getting tired of your talking. *_* jordo: read!!!!!! $_$
The young tech sat bored, watching the screen. In joining Cayman Space Co., he had hoped for a little more excitement. But the only thing to watch on the screen was space dust. Suddenly, a large shape came on the view screen. Several lights started to flash, and the computer was going nuts trying to get adequate data on the unknown object. The tech stared at the screen for a while, then pressed a communication button.
"Hello, this Tech Officer Matthews. Is anyone there?"
"Hello Officer. This is 45-DK. Sending recognition code."
What? Matthews frowned as a series of unknown letters and numbers. Matthews grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Uh, someone get down here, quick!"
15 years later…
A young mother busily typed e-mail messages on the family's computer, as two rambunctious three-year-olds jumped on her bed.
"Duo! Come get the twins, will you!" she shouted.
Duo came in grinning, scooped up the kids, who screamed and shouted with delight.
"Park daddy! Park!" one demanded.
"Not today." Duo answered. "Daddy's busy today. Besides it's going to rain."
"Humph." The little boy crossed his arms, and he and his twin sister left the room.
Duo sighed and sat on the bed. "I can't decide whether they take after you or me."
"You." His wife answered. "Definitely you."
"Thanks." Duo got up, and walked towards the door. "Oh, by the way, Wu Fei and Sally are coming for dinner."
"Good." Hilde answered. "That'll make a full guest list. Can you run down to the store- wait, never mind. I'll go." Shutting off the e-mail program, she got up.
"If Quatre calls, tell him we don't need anything." She said as she left.
* * *
Sandy cleared her throat for the third time. Without looking up, Trowa asked, "Some thing stuck?"
Sandy rolled her eyes. "No. Have you forgotten something?"
Trowa looked up from the electrical job he was doing. "No."
Sandy sighed. "We're having dinner at the Maxwell's tonight, sweetie."
Trowa frowned. "I don't remember."
"You never do." Sandy said dryly. "Come get ready. You can finish that later."
"Hmm." Trowa answered, engrossed in his work. Sandy crossed her arms.
"Trowa."
"Hmm?"
"My head's on fire." She said, testing him. "See the flames?"
"Yeah, nice."
Sandy tried a different approach.
"My parents are coming over tonight."
"Hmm. What!" Trowa snapped his head up. Sandy grinned.
"Come and take a shower." She said. "Now!"
* * *
Quatre grinned at the screen showing Duo. "Are you sure Hilde told you to say that?"
"Yes." Duo smiled innocently.
Quatre gave him an I-don't-believe-you look.
"Come on, Quatre. It would be fun."
"For you or for Hilde?"
Duo frowned and sighed. "Okay, forget it. Just come, okay? The kids keep asking about you."
"That's nice. I'm glad they remember me." Quatre said, and shot a look at the remaining paper work on his desk, then sighed.
"Hard day?" Duo asked.
"Nooo." Quatre answered slowly. "Just seems that all these papers my father had keep popping up. I never seem to get rid of them."
"That's life."
"Yeah." Quatre brushed his hair away from his eyes. "Dorothy's been acting weird lately."
"Weird?"
"Weird." Quatre stopped talking as Annie, his secretary poked her head in.
"Your wife's here." She whispered.
"I gotta go. Dorothy's here." Quatre said.
"Okay. See you tonight."
"See you."
Duo disappeared, and Dorothy came in, looking rather pale, but very calm. No, calm wasn't the right word, Quatre decided. Her face was glowing. Dorothy sat down and smiled at him.
"Hi." She said softly.
"Hi." Quatre answered. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Dorothy bit her lip. "I need to tell you something."
"What." Quatre said, becoming a little nervous.
"I went to see the doctor today."
"Yeah."
Dorothy looked down at her hands, back at her husband, then at the desktop.
"Dorothy?" Quatre asked. She looked up, tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked, standing up and coming to kneel by her chair.
"Nothing's wrong." She swallowed and smiled at him. "We're going to be parents."
* * *
Sarah solemnly watched her father as he typed on the computer.
"How do you do it so fast?" the four-year old wanted to know.
"Hmm?" Chang Wu Fei looked at his daughter, realizing she was there for the first time.
"How do you do it so fast?" she repeated.
"Practice." He answered, then shut down the program. "Where's your mother?"
"Getting ready."
"Sarah!" Sally called.
"Coming." The little girl ran out. Sally appeared in the doorway.
"It's four-thirty-nine." She said. "The Maxwell's expect us at five."
"All right." Wu Fei answered. "I'm coming."
* * *
Duo looked around the room. Quatre was on the couch with the twins and Sarah, telling a story. Hilde was standing in the kitchen doorway, talking with Sally and Relena.
Heero, Trowa, and Wu Fei were talking about computers. Dorothy and Sandy were laughing about something. He grinned to himself. It was nice to get together.
"Hey Sandy." He said. "Haven't seen you for a while."
"Been busy." She answered. "My husband is a full time job." She added jokingly.
"How are you Dorothy?" Duo asked. Dorothy smiled softly.
"I'm fine." She said.
"Duo." Hilde called. "I need your help in here."
"Coming." He walked into the kitchen.
"Have you talked to Dorothy yet?" he asked.
"No." Hilde said, pouring a bag of chips into a bowl. "Why?"
"She looks kind of pale. She's got circles under her eyes." Duo silently recounted the hamburgers he had to grill.
"I'll talk to her." Hilde promised. The door opened, and Relena came in.
"Can I help?" she asked.
"Yes!" Hilde said. "Take the drinks out, will you?"
"Sure."
* * *
Sarah tugged on Wu Fei's arm. "Daddy."
"Yes?"
"Uncle Duo said that you didn't like mommy when you first met her."
Wu Fei frowned.
"I need to talk to Uncle Duo."
Heero hid a grin. "C'mere Sarah. Let's go outside."
* * *
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Sandy asked.
Trowa nodded, then looked at his wife of three months in some confusion. "I thought we were having your parents over tonight."
Sandy just about choked on a mouth full of soda.
* * *
The three kids had been fed, then shut in the playroom. The adults had begun to fix their plates.
"Boy they are bouncing off the walls." Duo said to Heero.
"Literally." Heero commented as there was a bump! on the wall.
"How have you been?" Hilde asked Dorothy.
"Oh, okay. I've been kinda sick lately."
"That's too bad." Hilde paused. She didn't know Dorothy very well, and wasn't quite sure what to say.
Quatre came over. "Excuse me." He said. "I need my wife for a moment."
Hilde smiled. "That's okay."
Sandy sighed next to her.
"What's wrong?" Hilde asked.
"Her hair."
"Huh?"
Sandy shook her head. "Nothing. I just wonder how she gets her hair so perfect."
Trowa overheard her and said, "Nothing's wrong with yours."
Sandy smiled. "I know." She rolled her eyes at Hilde, who giggled.
The three children burst out of the playroom, making flying and shooting noises.
"Hey," Duo said, "Back in your room Ter, Tom."
"I'm not Tom." The little boy said. "I'm Deathsythe. Boom!"
"I'm Sandrock." Terry said.
"You can't, you're a girl." Tom told her. Terry stuck her tongue out at him. Duo stood up, and guided the twins back to the room. Hilde smiled at Sarah, who still stood in the dining room.
"What are you, Sarah?" she asked.
"Nataku." The little girl answered, then ran back to the playroom. Wu Fei smiled to himself. Duo came back and sat down again. The meal was a pleasant one, though the parents had to get up more than once to settle the children down. Near the end, Quatre stood up and cleared his throat.
"Um, I have an announcement." He said, then looked at Dorothy. "Do you…?"
Dorothy shook her head.
"Okay." Quatre blew out a breath. "Um, we're, a, we're going to have a baby."
There was a short pause.
"Oh my gosh!" Hilde exclaimed. Relena gave Dorothy a hug.
"Congratulations." Duo said.
"Yeah." Heero looked at Trowa and Wu Fei. "You guys want to add something?"
"Don't ask questions about her diet." Wu Fei advised Quatre quietly.
"Why?"
"Just trust me."
* * *
The next day, Quatre was looking through some papers that had been old reports from a small scientific corporation that his father had, for some reason, backed. Most of the reports were usual; nothing particularly striking. But as Quatre read a few of the last ones, he found some thing very interesting.
He set the reports down, and paged Annie.
"Annie, can you find a Richard Matthews? He was a tech officer for Cayman Space Corporation about fifteen years ago."
* * *
"Cayman Space Corporation?" a graying, slightly overweight man chuckled to himself. "That's a name I haven't heard for years. What's a youngin' like you want to know about it?"
Quatre smiled, inwardly amused at being called a "youngin'". "My father backed it for several years I believe."
"I see." Richard Matthews blew out a breath. "Can't see what you would want with it. It went out of business years ago."
"I chiefly want to know about several reports filed by you, actually." Quatre slid a folder towards the man. Richard frowned in concentration as he paged through them.
"I remember this." He finally said. "It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. A great big ship. Must've taken at least two thousand to crew it. But it was only piloted by computers and robots; which were far superior to ours, I can tell you. But I only got the bare technical read out. To learn more, you have to find the scientists and engineers who went over it. I wasn't allowed to know about that."
"Do you know their names?" Quatre asked.
"Some. There was Rosalind Gonzalez. She's living on Earth, somewhere in Colorado, I think. Mike Hatch was the main engineer. He died a couple of years ago though; stroke. Um, let's see. Who's still left? Sam Goodwin lives in the L-4 colony. Connie Hatch is still alive; she worked with her husband. I think she's in L-3. Corrine and Isaiah Wiess. They live in Germany."
* * *
Quatre hurried home, inwardly a little guilty that he was almost half an hour late for dinner. He and Annie had been trying to track down the names Mattews had left them, and business had interrupted from time to time. It had been Annie who had called his attention to the time. He had got home as quickly as he could.
He opened the door to the apartment he and Dorothy shared. She wasn't at the sitting room, or the sitting at the table. He looked in the bedroom.
"Dorothy?" he called. Nobody home. He frowned. That was odd.
* * *
"Coming!" Relena went and opened the door. "Heero!"
"Uh, hi." He said.
"Hi." Relena answered. "Come in?"
"Sure."
Relena led the way to the tiny living room, where they both sat down.
"How are you?" she asked.
"Uh, okay." Heero answered. "Um, I was wondering-" he was interrupted by the telephone.
"Oh, just a minute." Relena picked it up. "Hello…yeah, I'm here…Uh, no I haven't…Are you sure?…Maybe she's at Sandy's…No…Yeah, I'll do that…Heero's here…No, he probably wouldn't…Okay, just a minute." Relena turned to Heero. "Have you seen Dorothy?"
"What?"
Relena repeated the question. Heero shook his head. Relena frowned, then put the phone up to her ear.
"He hasn't…I didn't think so…Have you checked every where…Yeah it is weird…You want help?…Okay…No, it's no problem…Okay, see you there…Yeah, bye."
Relena put the phone down.
"Dorothy's gone?" Heero guessed.
Relena nodded. "That's not like her. Quatre's going to the Park to look for her; she likes to walk there. She's not answering her phone, so she could've fallen or something. I volunteered us to help."
"Okay." Heero said. "Let's go."
* * *
Sandy frowned in concern as she hung up the phone. Quatre had called again, just to make sure. Trowa appeared in the doorway, his face a little red. Sandy sighed. One person made Trowa uncomfortable: her father, Will. It's not that he wasn't nice, but he was rather brusque and hard around the edges. And he seemed to know how to get reactions from Trowa.
"You surviving?" she asked. Trowa nodded. Sandy handed him a basket of rolls to take to the table. She knew that part of the problem was that she had married Trowa on one of the colonies, then had come to Earth to introduce him to her friends and family. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, it might've been better to wait, she thought. Her mother Margaret came in.
"Need any help, honey?" she asked. Sandy smiled thinly.
"No, mom." Sandy picked up a pitcher of ice water. "We're ready."
* * *
It had almost been three months since Dorothy's disappearance, and there had been no word at all. The group had seen little of Quatre, and what they had seen wasn't good, Duo thought, as he hunted for the dairy aisle in the super market. Quatre had become much paler, much thinner, and much older than he had been. Duo sighed, grabbed two gallons of milk, and headed to the bakery to get some bread.
* * *
Quatre looked up from his desk as Annie came in.
"There's someone here to see you." She said. "A Dr. and Mrs. Isaiah Wiess."
Quatre frowned. Where had he heard that name?
"Go ahead and send them in." he said.
A few minutes later, Isaiah and Corrine Wiess had joined them. Isaiah Wiess was about average height, broad-shouldered, and undeniably good – looking. His graying hair was once a dark blonde and he had friendly hazel eyes.
Corrine Wiess was pretty, with a curvy figure, long white-blonde hair, laughing blue eyes, dimples, and a ready smile. They introduced themselves, and Quatre invited them to sit.
"You wanted to see me?" Quatre asked.
"Actually," Corrine said. "We were told that you wanted to see us. Richard Matthews got in contact with us."
It clicked. Isaiah and Corrine had been an engineer and an archeologist who had investigated the strange ship that had showed up suddenly.
"Uh, yes, I did." Quatre told them. At least I did three months ago. He added silently.
"It was about Aperen, wasn't it?" Isaiah asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Aperen. It was what we named the ship." Isaiah explained. "It's an Medieval English word for appear."
"Oh." Quatre said. "Yes I did want to ask you about it. I don't really have any set questions…"
"Oh, that's all right." Corrine smiled. "I love to talk, and can probably tell you every thing I know."
"Good." Quatre said, somewhat relieved.
"Let's see." Corrine mused. "It was about fifteen years ago when it was first sighted. It took a couple of months to determine no life aboard the ship, then to pull it in and land it. Then Aperen was placed in quarantine for another four months. We didn't start working on it right away. Rosalind called us. She knew Isaiah at grade school and thought that he might be interested in it. We came and that's when things got interesting."
// "You see here." Rosalind said with her thick Spanish accent. Isaiah bent over.
"Interesting." He said. Corrine bent over as well.
"Oh, looks like something got shot out." She looked at Rosalind. "Did you pick up any escape pods?"
"No. We didn't detect anything at all." Rosalind frowned. "We've just begun work two days ago. Actually, I'm surprised you got here so fast." //
"So something had definitely been shot out?" Quatre asked. Corrine and Isaiah nodded in unison.
"There were burn marks on the seals." Isaiah explained. "I don't know about most of the system; that's the wife's department, but I'd say something had been shot out and under a lot of stress."
"And you agree with him?" Quatre asked Corrine.
"Oh yes."
"Didn't you tell anyone?"
Corrine frowned. "Well, yes. We told Rosalind and a few others, but we got no response."
"We asked, or rather, Corrine asked Rosa about it a few days later, but she wouldn't give us a conclusive answer. It wasn't till after we left the project that we found out that hardly any of the staff had been notified." Isaiah paused to take a breath, as if he was not used to speaking so much.
"It was weird." Corrine took up the story. "Whenever we mentioned it, people would look at us weird. They were covering it up for some reason."
"But you didn't know why?"
"Well," Corrine sighed. "I first thought that it might have had something to do with the whole war and all that. Every one was busy, and this might not be as important as survival."
"War?" Isaiah asked.
"Go back to sleep dear." Corrine said, then went on. "Rosa was troubled about it. Here," she grabbed a pen and a business card out of her purse. "I'll give you the number of my daughter's. That's where we're staying. Rosa is with us."
She handed him the card, then she and her husband stood up to leave. Quatre stood as well.
"Thank you very much." He said.
"You're welcome." Corrine said. Then they both left. Quatre sat, and looked at the card thoughtfully.
* * *
Dorothy sat in her "cell". It was really more like a motel room, only no windows. It had been a nice change than what she had been in; a little metal room that was four steps from wall to door and three from wall to wall. She placed her hands on a now very swollen stomach. Sometimes she would talk to the unborn baby, to keep from going insane. Quatre would've laughed at her, but – that thought brought a stab of pain in her heart. Quatre didn't know where she was. He would be worried, most likely blame himself. She closed her eyes and tried not to cry.
* * *
Hilde put up balloons. It was the twins fourth birthday, and as usual, everybody was coming over. She had sent Duo out for some emergency groceries, not sure if that was the brightest idea in the world. The door opened, and Heero came in, with a few bottles of soda and two presents. Hilde climbed down from the ladder, and greeted him with a smiled.
"Hey!" she said, taking the soda. "Presents go over by the TV."
Heero complied.
"You're awful early." Hilde commented as she continued tacking balloons to the ceiling.
"Yeah well." Heero shrugged. "Where's Duo."
"At the super market."
Heero cocked an eyebrow. "You actually let him go all by himself?"
"Yeah, I know." Hilde moved the ladder to a different spot. "But I needed to finish the cake, and the decorations. Plus the kids' presents weren't wrapped."
"Want help?" Heero asked.
"Yeah." She gave him a huge paper chain. "Tack this around the dining room, will you?"
* * *
"When can we open presents?" Terry asked. Duo looked at his watch.
"Soon." He promised.
"Where's Uncle Quatre?" Tommy demanded. "He said he would come."
"I'm sure he's on his way." Duo said, then sighed as the twins went to go see what Sarah was doing.
"Where's Quatre?" Trowa asked, walking up behind him.
"That's the question of the hour." Duo commented dryly. "He's just a little late. Maybe had extra office work."
"Maybe he heard something about Dorothy." Trowa said.
"I hope so."
* * *
Quatre parked, then grabbed two gift bags. What was it about him being late all the time? After the Wiess's had left, he had sat in thought for a while, then realized how late it was. He quickly moved up the short stone walkway, and knocked on the Maxwell's door. Hilde opened it.
"Quatre!" she opened the screen and gave him a hug. "Good to see you. Come on in!"
He walked into the living room. "Hi."
Relena looked up from the piano. "Did you bring your violin?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's in the car."
The twins and Sarah came racing down the stairs, shouting "Uncle Quatre!"
"Hey!" he laughed as the bowled into him. "Don't smash the presents."
"Can we open 'em now Daddy?" Terry asked. Duo looked at Hilde.
"I guess we can have cake afterwards." She amended.
"Yay!" The twins shouted.
* * *
Sally came and sat down next to Quatre as the excited four-year-olds ripped their gifts open.
"Hi." She said. Quatre nodded.
"How have you been?" Sally asked.
"As well as can be expected, I guess." He answered. "Why?"
"I'm wondering if you're ready for a shock."
"What?"
"Well, the Preventer's intelligence unit thinks they may have found Dorothy's former whereabouts."
"What?!"
"Like I said a shock." Sally smiled. "Come over tomorrow. I'm off work, and we can talk."
"Okay."
Rei: that was soooo sad !!!!!!!!!!! *_* jordo: that was rely sad!!!!!!!$_$ inu-washa: it's so post to !!! @_@ Rei: revue!!! #_#
I'm not making money from this and these are not my characters. Special thanks to the creators of Heero, Trowa, Duo, Wu Fei, Quatre. Sandy is my own character.
Luke, Leia, Han, and company all belong to George Lucas.
Inu-washa: well peoples this is a whirred fic that my sister and I made but never finished! @_@ rei: I think there getting tired of your talking. *_* jordo: read!!!!!! $_$
The young tech sat bored, watching the screen. In joining Cayman Space Co., he had hoped for a little more excitement. But the only thing to watch on the screen was space dust. Suddenly, a large shape came on the view screen. Several lights started to flash, and the computer was going nuts trying to get adequate data on the unknown object. The tech stared at the screen for a while, then pressed a communication button.
"Hello, this Tech Officer Matthews. Is anyone there?"
"Hello Officer. This is 45-DK. Sending recognition code."
What? Matthews frowned as a series of unknown letters and numbers. Matthews grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Uh, someone get down here, quick!"
15 years later…
A young mother busily typed e-mail messages on the family's computer, as two rambunctious three-year-olds jumped on her bed.
"Duo! Come get the twins, will you!" she shouted.
Duo came in grinning, scooped up the kids, who screamed and shouted with delight.
"Park daddy! Park!" one demanded.
"Not today." Duo answered. "Daddy's busy today. Besides it's going to rain."
"Humph." The little boy crossed his arms, and he and his twin sister left the room.
Duo sighed and sat on the bed. "I can't decide whether they take after you or me."
"You." His wife answered. "Definitely you."
"Thanks." Duo got up, and walked towards the door. "Oh, by the way, Wu Fei and Sally are coming for dinner."
"Good." Hilde answered. "That'll make a full guest list. Can you run down to the store- wait, never mind. I'll go." Shutting off the e-mail program, she got up.
"If Quatre calls, tell him we don't need anything." She said as she left.
* * *
Sandy cleared her throat for the third time. Without looking up, Trowa asked, "Some thing stuck?"
Sandy rolled her eyes. "No. Have you forgotten something?"
Trowa looked up from the electrical job he was doing. "No."
Sandy sighed. "We're having dinner at the Maxwell's tonight, sweetie."
Trowa frowned. "I don't remember."
"You never do." Sandy said dryly. "Come get ready. You can finish that later."
"Hmm." Trowa answered, engrossed in his work. Sandy crossed her arms.
"Trowa."
"Hmm?"
"My head's on fire." She said, testing him. "See the flames?"
"Yeah, nice."
Sandy tried a different approach.
"My parents are coming over tonight."
"Hmm. What!" Trowa snapped his head up. Sandy grinned.
"Come and take a shower." She said. "Now!"
* * *
Quatre grinned at the screen showing Duo. "Are you sure Hilde told you to say that?"
"Yes." Duo smiled innocently.
Quatre gave him an I-don't-believe-you look.
"Come on, Quatre. It would be fun."
"For you or for Hilde?"
Duo frowned and sighed. "Okay, forget it. Just come, okay? The kids keep asking about you."
"That's nice. I'm glad they remember me." Quatre said, and shot a look at the remaining paper work on his desk, then sighed.
"Hard day?" Duo asked.
"Nooo." Quatre answered slowly. "Just seems that all these papers my father had keep popping up. I never seem to get rid of them."
"That's life."
"Yeah." Quatre brushed his hair away from his eyes. "Dorothy's been acting weird lately."
"Weird?"
"Weird." Quatre stopped talking as Annie, his secretary poked her head in.
"Your wife's here." She whispered.
"I gotta go. Dorothy's here." Quatre said.
"Okay. See you tonight."
"See you."
Duo disappeared, and Dorothy came in, looking rather pale, but very calm. No, calm wasn't the right word, Quatre decided. Her face was glowing. Dorothy sat down and smiled at him.
"Hi." She said softly.
"Hi." Quatre answered. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Dorothy bit her lip. "I need to tell you something."
"What." Quatre said, becoming a little nervous.
"I went to see the doctor today."
"Yeah."
Dorothy looked down at her hands, back at her husband, then at the desktop.
"Dorothy?" Quatre asked. She looked up, tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked, standing up and coming to kneel by her chair.
"Nothing's wrong." She swallowed and smiled at him. "We're going to be parents."
* * *
Sarah solemnly watched her father as he typed on the computer.
"How do you do it so fast?" the four-year old wanted to know.
"Hmm?" Chang Wu Fei looked at his daughter, realizing she was there for the first time.
"How do you do it so fast?" she repeated.
"Practice." He answered, then shut down the program. "Where's your mother?"
"Getting ready."
"Sarah!" Sally called.
"Coming." The little girl ran out. Sally appeared in the doorway.
"It's four-thirty-nine." She said. "The Maxwell's expect us at five."
"All right." Wu Fei answered. "I'm coming."
* * *
Duo looked around the room. Quatre was on the couch with the twins and Sarah, telling a story. Hilde was standing in the kitchen doorway, talking with Sally and Relena.
Heero, Trowa, and Wu Fei were talking about computers. Dorothy and Sandy were laughing about something. He grinned to himself. It was nice to get together.
"Hey Sandy." He said. "Haven't seen you for a while."
"Been busy." She answered. "My husband is a full time job." She added jokingly.
"How are you Dorothy?" Duo asked. Dorothy smiled softly.
"I'm fine." She said.
"Duo." Hilde called. "I need your help in here."
"Coming." He walked into the kitchen.
"Have you talked to Dorothy yet?" he asked.
"No." Hilde said, pouring a bag of chips into a bowl. "Why?"
"She looks kind of pale. She's got circles under her eyes." Duo silently recounted the hamburgers he had to grill.
"I'll talk to her." Hilde promised. The door opened, and Relena came in.
"Can I help?" she asked.
"Yes!" Hilde said. "Take the drinks out, will you?"
"Sure."
* * *
Sarah tugged on Wu Fei's arm. "Daddy."
"Yes?"
"Uncle Duo said that you didn't like mommy when you first met her."
Wu Fei frowned.
"I need to talk to Uncle Duo."
Heero hid a grin. "C'mere Sarah. Let's go outside."
* * *
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Sandy asked.
Trowa nodded, then looked at his wife of three months in some confusion. "I thought we were having your parents over tonight."
Sandy just about choked on a mouth full of soda.
* * *
The three kids had been fed, then shut in the playroom. The adults had begun to fix their plates.
"Boy they are bouncing off the walls." Duo said to Heero.
"Literally." Heero commented as there was a bump! on the wall.
"How have you been?" Hilde asked Dorothy.
"Oh, okay. I've been kinda sick lately."
"That's too bad." Hilde paused. She didn't know Dorothy very well, and wasn't quite sure what to say.
Quatre came over. "Excuse me." He said. "I need my wife for a moment."
Hilde smiled. "That's okay."
Sandy sighed next to her.
"What's wrong?" Hilde asked.
"Her hair."
"Huh?"
Sandy shook her head. "Nothing. I just wonder how she gets her hair so perfect."
Trowa overheard her and said, "Nothing's wrong with yours."
Sandy smiled. "I know." She rolled her eyes at Hilde, who giggled.
The three children burst out of the playroom, making flying and shooting noises.
"Hey," Duo said, "Back in your room Ter, Tom."
"I'm not Tom." The little boy said. "I'm Deathsythe. Boom!"
"I'm Sandrock." Terry said.
"You can't, you're a girl." Tom told her. Terry stuck her tongue out at him. Duo stood up, and guided the twins back to the room. Hilde smiled at Sarah, who still stood in the dining room.
"What are you, Sarah?" she asked.
"Nataku." The little girl answered, then ran back to the playroom. Wu Fei smiled to himself. Duo came back and sat down again. The meal was a pleasant one, though the parents had to get up more than once to settle the children down. Near the end, Quatre stood up and cleared his throat.
"Um, I have an announcement." He said, then looked at Dorothy. "Do you…?"
Dorothy shook her head.
"Okay." Quatre blew out a breath. "Um, we're, a, we're going to have a baby."
There was a short pause.
"Oh my gosh!" Hilde exclaimed. Relena gave Dorothy a hug.
"Congratulations." Duo said.
"Yeah." Heero looked at Trowa and Wu Fei. "You guys want to add something?"
"Don't ask questions about her diet." Wu Fei advised Quatre quietly.
"Why?"
"Just trust me."
* * *
The next day, Quatre was looking through some papers that had been old reports from a small scientific corporation that his father had, for some reason, backed. Most of the reports were usual; nothing particularly striking. But as Quatre read a few of the last ones, he found some thing very interesting.
He set the reports down, and paged Annie.
"Annie, can you find a Richard Matthews? He was a tech officer for Cayman Space Corporation about fifteen years ago."
* * *
"Cayman Space Corporation?" a graying, slightly overweight man chuckled to himself. "That's a name I haven't heard for years. What's a youngin' like you want to know about it?"
Quatre smiled, inwardly amused at being called a "youngin'". "My father backed it for several years I believe."
"I see." Richard Matthews blew out a breath. "Can't see what you would want with it. It went out of business years ago."
"I chiefly want to know about several reports filed by you, actually." Quatre slid a folder towards the man. Richard frowned in concentration as he paged through them.
"I remember this." He finally said. "It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. A great big ship. Must've taken at least two thousand to crew it. But it was only piloted by computers and robots; which were far superior to ours, I can tell you. But I only got the bare technical read out. To learn more, you have to find the scientists and engineers who went over it. I wasn't allowed to know about that."
"Do you know their names?" Quatre asked.
"Some. There was Rosalind Gonzalez. She's living on Earth, somewhere in Colorado, I think. Mike Hatch was the main engineer. He died a couple of years ago though; stroke. Um, let's see. Who's still left? Sam Goodwin lives in the L-4 colony. Connie Hatch is still alive; she worked with her husband. I think she's in L-3. Corrine and Isaiah Wiess. They live in Germany."
* * *
Quatre hurried home, inwardly a little guilty that he was almost half an hour late for dinner. He and Annie had been trying to track down the names Mattews had left them, and business had interrupted from time to time. It had been Annie who had called his attention to the time. He had got home as quickly as he could.
He opened the door to the apartment he and Dorothy shared. She wasn't at the sitting room, or the sitting at the table. He looked in the bedroom.
"Dorothy?" he called. Nobody home. He frowned. That was odd.
* * *
"Coming!" Relena went and opened the door. "Heero!"
"Uh, hi." He said.
"Hi." Relena answered. "Come in?"
"Sure."
Relena led the way to the tiny living room, where they both sat down.
"How are you?" she asked.
"Uh, okay." Heero answered. "Um, I was wondering-" he was interrupted by the telephone.
"Oh, just a minute." Relena picked it up. "Hello…yeah, I'm here…Uh, no I haven't…Are you sure?…Maybe she's at Sandy's…No…Yeah, I'll do that…Heero's here…No, he probably wouldn't…Okay, just a minute." Relena turned to Heero. "Have you seen Dorothy?"
"What?"
Relena repeated the question. Heero shook his head. Relena frowned, then put the phone up to her ear.
"He hasn't…I didn't think so…Have you checked every where…Yeah it is weird…You want help?…Okay…No, it's no problem…Okay, see you there…Yeah, bye."
Relena put the phone down.
"Dorothy's gone?" Heero guessed.
Relena nodded. "That's not like her. Quatre's going to the Park to look for her; she likes to walk there. She's not answering her phone, so she could've fallen or something. I volunteered us to help."
"Okay." Heero said. "Let's go."
* * *
Sandy frowned in concern as she hung up the phone. Quatre had called again, just to make sure. Trowa appeared in the doorway, his face a little red. Sandy sighed. One person made Trowa uncomfortable: her father, Will. It's not that he wasn't nice, but he was rather brusque and hard around the edges. And he seemed to know how to get reactions from Trowa.
"You surviving?" she asked. Trowa nodded. Sandy handed him a basket of rolls to take to the table. She knew that part of the problem was that she had married Trowa on one of the colonies, then had come to Earth to introduce him to her friends and family. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, it might've been better to wait, she thought. Her mother Margaret came in.
"Need any help, honey?" she asked. Sandy smiled thinly.
"No, mom." Sandy picked up a pitcher of ice water. "We're ready."
* * *
It had almost been three months since Dorothy's disappearance, and there had been no word at all. The group had seen little of Quatre, and what they had seen wasn't good, Duo thought, as he hunted for the dairy aisle in the super market. Quatre had become much paler, much thinner, and much older than he had been. Duo sighed, grabbed two gallons of milk, and headed to the bakery to get some bread.
* * *
Quatre looked up from his desk as Annie came in.
"There's someone here to see you." She said. "A Dr. and Mrs. Isaiah Wiess."
Quatre frowned. Where had he heard that name?
"Go ahead and send them in." he said.
A few minutes later, Isaiah and Corrine Wiess had joined them. Isaiah Wiess was about average height, broad-shouldered, and undeniably good – looking. His graying hair was once a dark blonde and he had friendly hazel eyes.
Corrine Wiess was pretty, with a curvy figure, long white-blonde hair, laughing blue eyes, dimples, and a ready smile. They introduced themselves, and Quatre invited them to sit.
"You wanted to see me?" Quatre asked.
"Actually," Corrine said. "We were told that you wanted to see us. Richard Matthews got in contact with us."
It clicked. Isaiah and Corrine had been an engineer and an archeologist who had investigated the strange ship that had showed up suddenly.
"Uh, yes, I did." Quatre told them. At least I did three months ago. He added silently.
"It was about Aperen, wasn't it?" Isaiah asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Aperen. It was what we named the ship." Isaiah explained. "It's an Medieval English word for appear."
"Oh." Quatre said. "Yes I did want to ask you about it. I don't really have any set questions…"
"Oh, that's all right." Corrine smiled. "I love to talk, and can probably tell you every thing I know."
"Good." Quatre said, somewhat relieved.
"Let's see." Corrine mused. "It was about fifteen years ago when it was first sighted. It took a couple of months to determine no life aboard the ship, then to pull it in and land it. Then Aperen was placed in quarantine for another four months. We didn't start working on it right away. Rosalind called us. She knew Isaiah at grade school and thought that he might be interested in it. We came and that's when things got interesting."
// "You see here." Rosalind said with her thick Spanish accent. Isaiah bent over.
"Interesting." He said. Corrine bent over as well.
"Oh, looks like something got shot out." She looked at Rosalind. "Did you pick up any escape pods?"
"No. We didn't detect anything at all." Rosalind frowned. "We've just begun work two days ago. Actually, I'm surprised you got here so fast." //
"So something had definitely been shot out?" Quatre asked. Corrine and Isaiah nodded in unison.
"There were burn marks on the seals." Isaiah explained. "I don't know about most of the system; that's the wife's department, but I'd say something had been shot out and under a lot of stress."
"And you agree with him?" Quatre asked Corrine.
"Oh yes."
"Didn't you tell anyone?"
Corrine frowned. "Well, yes. We told Rosalind and a few others, but we got no response."
"We asked, or rather, Corrine asked Rosa about it a few days later, but she wouldn't give us a conclusive answer. It wasn't till after we left the project that we found out that hardly any of the staff had been notified." Isaiah paused to take a breath, as if he was not used to speaking so much.
"It was weird." Corrine took up the story. "Whenever we mentioned it, people would look at us weird. They were covering it up for some reason."
"But you didn't know why?"
"Well," Corrine sighed. "I first thought that it might have had something to do with the whole war and all that. Every one was busy, and this might not be as important as survival."
"War?" Isaiah asked.
"Go back to sleep dear." Corrine said, then went on. "Rosa was troubled about it. Here," she grabbed a pen and a business card out of her purse. "I'll give you the number of my daughter's. That's where we're staying. Rosa is with us."
She handed him the card, then she and her husband stood up to leave. Quatre stood as well.
"Thank you very much." He said.
"You're welcome." Corrine said. Then they both left. Quatre sat, and looked at the card thoughtfully.
* * *
Dorothy sat in her "cell". It was really more like a motel room, only no windows. It had been a nice change than what she had been in; a little metal room that was four steps from wall to door and three from wall to wall. She placed her hands on a now very swollen stomach. Sometimes she would talk to the unborn baby, to keep from going insane. Quatre would've laughed at her, but – that thought brought a stab of pain in her heart. Quatre didn't know where she was. He would be worried, most likely blame himself. She closed her eyes and tried not to cry.
* * *
Hilde put up balloons. It was the twins fourth birthday, and as usual, everybody was coming over. She had sent Duo out for some emergency groceries, not sure if that was the brightest idea in the world. The door opened, and Heero came in, with a few bottles of soda and two presents. Hilde climbed down from the ladder, and greeted him with a smiled.
"Hey!" she said, taking the soda. "Presents go over by the TV."
Heero complied.
"You're awful early." Hilde commented as she continued tacking balloons to the ceiling.
"Yeah well." Heero shrugged. "Where's Duo."
"At the super market."
Heero cocked an eyebrow. "You actually let him go all by himself?"
"Yeah, I know." Hilde moved the ladder to a different spot. "But I needed to finish the cake, and the decorations. Plus the kids' presents weren't wrapped."
"Want help?" Heero asked.
"Yeah." She gave him a huge paper chain. "Tack this around the dining room, will you?"
* * *
"When can we open presents?" Terry asked. Duo looked at his watch.
"Soon." He promised.
"Where's Uncle Quatre?" Tommy demanded. "He said he would come."
"I'm sure he's on his way." Duo said, then sighed as the twins went to go see what Sarah was doing.
"Where's Quatre?" Trowa asked, walking up behind him.
"That's the question of the hour." Duo commented dryly. "He's just a little late. Maybe had extra office work."
"Maybe he heard something about Dorothy." Trowa said.
"I hope so."
* * *
Quatre parked, then grabbed two gift bags. What was it about him being late all the time? After the Wiess's had left, he had sat in thought for a while, then realized how late it was. He quickly moved up the short stone walkway, and knocked on the Maxwell's door. Hilde opened it.
"Quatre!" she opened the screen and gave him a hug. "Good to see you. Come on in!"
He walked into the living room. "Hi."
Relena looked up from the piano. "Did you bring your violin?" she asked.
"Yeah, it's in the car."
The twins and Sarah came racing down the stairs, shouting "Uncle Quatre!"
"Hey!" he laughed as the bowled into him. "Don't smash the presents."
"Can we open 'em now Daddy?" Terry asked. Duo looked at Hilde.
"I guess we can have cake afterwards." She amended.
"Yay!" The twins shouted.
* * *
Sally came and sat down next to Quatre as the excited four-year-olds ripped their gifts open.
"Hi." She said. Quatre nodded.
"How have you been?" Sally asked.
"As well as can be expected, I guess." He answered. "Why?"
"I'm wondering if you're ready for a shock."
"What?"
"Well, the Preventer's intelligence unit thinks they may have found Dorothy's former whereabouts."
"What?!"
"Like I said a shock." Sally smiled. "Come over tomorrow. I'm off work, and we can talk."
"Okay."
Rei: that was soooo sad !!!!!!!!!!! *_* jordo: that was rely sad!!!!!!!$_$ inu-washa: it's so post to !!! @_@ Rei: revue!!! #_#