Authors Note: Hey Ya'll! Well, you found it. My newest story. I hope you guys enjoy it. It's different from other stuff on my page. This has a bit of a more serious note to it. I will try and update as much as I can. Reviews really help me to motivate me to do so! :). Any who. On with the story...
This is set a few years after Endless Waltz. There are a few things that don't follow along with the facts of the show but stay with me. Heero has a wife and child that are attacked one night an now its up to him and the rest to figure out who dun it and why. I know Heero is a little Out of Character but I think after years of going through the war and being trained not to feel anything, he's deserved someone to help him out. I like to think that the characters are able to grow and learn some new interactions. Not everything is about War. It's time to live life and love what your given. Let me know what you think!
"Alright Ari! Come on time for bed!" Faith called to her four year old daughter who was brushing her teeth for the night. Sitting on her daughter's bed she pulled back the sheets and pink comforter while situating her favorite teddy bear to lie beside her.
The padding of small feet signaled her entrance to the bedroom. Her small fists rubbing her eyes, her nose slightly stuffy and a bit red, she looked tired, she had traits from both her parents. Dark chocolate hair that fell to the middle of her back like her mothers, its unruliness from her father made the daily brushing and styling a bit of a chore, but thankfully it stayed in the pony tail from earlier that day. Her dark blue eyes were tired from the slight illness that would appear was making itself at home inside the child.
"Momma, hold me?" She sniffed and held her arms up for her mother.
She smiled scooping the young child into her arms. Resting her cheek against her forehead she felt it was a bit warm. Kissing her lightly she rocked her side to side humming a soft lullaby she had been singing to her since before she was born. It was comforting for both of them. Feeling her daughter start to drift off she shifted her to lie on her bed and covered her making sure she was completely tucked in.
Brushing the unruly bangs from her face only to have them fall right back in their place she whispered. "I'm going to get you some medicine before you fall to sleep." Heading to her bathroom she found the children's fever reducer and measured out the medicine into the blunt syringe.
"Ok baby, open." She quickly administered the meds and kissed her again. "Sleep tight, Daddy should be home in the morning." She smiled.
"Will Daddy make pancakes?" She yawned her eyes already half closed?
"Perhaps, sleep now." She turned off the lights which kicked in her favorite Scooby-Doo nightlight.
"Good night Momma." She yawned again rolling to her side letting her arm dangle off the edge.
'Just like her father.' Faith inwardly chuckled. "Goodnight little dove." Leaving the door open slightly she leisurely headed down stairs to do another check of the home. Making certain the windows and doors were shut and locked before arming the alarm and flicking on the porch light, letting it serve as a beacon for her returning husband.
Making her way up to her bedroom she shared with the former Zero- One pilot. Gazing out the window between her bedroom and her daughters she sighed, the night was beautiful, a spring rain had doused the city earlier giving the grass and trees a shiny new gloss. The thicket behind their home was dense and full of lush underbrush, pine and maple trees, on days like today it they gave off a pleasant aroma. New life and damp earth made for one intoxicating spring evening. This was definitely one of the perks of being the last house on a dead end street.
Shaking her head she went to change into her own pajamas, flannel pants and a tank top. Turning on the TV she sighed before sitting at the head of her bed and quickly tying her own long tresses into a messy French braid, the end just dusting the middle of her back.
Nothing new on the 9pm news, as the old saying goes; no news is good news, however knowing the work her spouse does she was aware that no new could also mean big trouble. She had no idea where he was only that he was to be returning either tonight or early in the morning according to Hilde and Dou.
Settling into her plush king sized bed she rubbed her favorite lotion on her arms and stomach, the light sent of orchids, hibiscus and spices filled the room relaxing her even further, while she settled on some cheesy lifetime movie.
Just as she was dozing, almost asleep, she thought she heard a thump so she muted the TV listening intently for any other sound. Again she heard a thump and a light muffled bang. Creeping over to her door she grabbed the solid wooden bat from behind the door. She didn't want to take the gun Heero instead on keeping in the lock box in the night stand; she knew how to shoot but didn't want to risk an accident especially if it was only Heero making noise, exhausted from his mission.
She crept out to the landing that over looked the entrance hall, listening closely she heard gruff voices and someone, or many some ones, riffling through Heero's home office. 'Definitely not Heero.' She thought before hightailing it quietly to her daughter's room, trying to quietly move her daughter's dresser in front of the door as a temporary barricade.
"Ariya." She whispered shaking her daughter lightly to wake her. "Ariya, wake up little bird." She whispered.
She groaned and rolled onto her back sniffling her stuffed up nose before sitting up tiredly. Watching as her mom dig through her closet producing her jacket, boots and a hat. "Momma?" She rubbed her tired eyes with her chubby little fists still trying to breathe through her stuffy nose.
"Shhhh." She pulled her blankets back. "You have to get up sweetie." Helping her sit on the edge of her bed she shoved her feet into her hiking boots that Heero had bought her so she could accompany him on the different trails behind her house. Slipping on her jacket she tucked her hair under the thick wool hat she placed on the top of her head. "Remember when daddy showed you how to get out of the house quietly and wake Miss Turner?"
She nodded with unshed tears in her eyes. "Yes."
"Good, baby I need you to do just what daddy showed you and go wake her up." She pushed the emergency ladder out the window praying the men wouldn't hear it clatter against the siding. She waited a moment before hearing footsteps coming up the stairs.
She motioned for her to be silent and helped her out the window and onto the ladder hoping she would make it quickly enough for the right people to be alerted so the intruders would be caught quickly. Kissing her daughters cheeks she whispered. "Fly little dove, just like daddy showed you; don't stop until you reach Miss Turner."
Her daughter nodded and began her slow decent to the wet ground below before running as fast as she could before disappearing into the thicket.
"Hey I think there is someone in here?" A gruff muffled voice was heard from the other side of the door. She dropped the ladder out the window before taking up her weapon, prepared to cause some severe damage.
Dou had taught her long ago the perks of being able to swing a bat properly. There had not been a safe watermelon that hot summer day.
She just had to hold on long enough for Ariya to get to safety; the elderly widow would then call the police which would then trigger an alert to Preventer HQ once her address was set in by dispatch.
Three men busted door right off its hinges. Pushing aside the solid wood dresser like it was made of paper they entered the room.
"Well well well, aren't you a pretty little thing." The taller one sneered he was long and lanky, she couldn't make anything else out, they all wore black ski masks, black long sleeved shirts with a red band on their right biceps, and standard black cargo pants and boots.
"Where is the girl?" The middle man demanded as he walked deeper into the room.
"Her grandmothers." She lied shifting to the balls of her feet ready to swing if they got to close.
The silent one came closer, she swung with her full strength, and surprisingly he caught it and used her momentum against her causing her to lose her balance. Recovering quickly and releasing the bat she jumped onto the twin sized bed when he reached for her.
"Come now love, let s play nice."
That voice, something about it was disturbingly familiar. She had heard it before but couldn't remember where.
"The brat went out the window!" The tall one growled as he looked down and saw the discarded escape route. "They were not supposed to be here." His calm demeanor wavered slightly giving voice to the anger beneath.
Making a split second decision she made a dash for the door, just as she entered the hall she tripped on what assumed was one of the masked men making a grab for her. She didn't look back to check but she began to crawl as fast as she could to try and get to her room to the gun in the night stand. Seeing no weapons on the men she knew she would gain the upper hand if she could get there. Apparently they assumed no one would be home, which would have been true if their plans had not changed last minute.
She and Ari were supposed to be at the Maxwell home for an overnight stay but with the young Yuy child showing signs of a cold she didn't want to risk infecting the three month old twin boys, Eric and Grayson, so they canceled last minute and stayed home watching movies.
"Get her!"
She crawled as quickly as she could, feeling a great weight latch on to her lower half, the man flipped her over onto her back, she screamed and saw he had removed his mask, presumably because of the heat, sweat poured down his face, she clawed at his face aiming for anything she could get her hands on, screaming for help. She managed to draw blood from his neck, and he hissed in pain pulling back out of her reach.
"God damn it!"
"Shut her up man!" The tall one sounded panicked.
He growled and bared his teeth, pulling back his fist he let it fly, connecting with her face snapping her head to the side, black spots swam before her eyes, it was the last thing she saw before everything went dark, and she never felt the blows that followed.
\m/\m/\m/\m/
The space port was slow, only a small clustering of people spread sporadically throughout the different boarding areas. Cleaning crews were busying themselves, making use of the lack of crowds to clean the floors and empty the garbage's.
Standing at the baggage claim the tired preventer officer stood watching the carousel as he slid his wedding band back onto his finger. Smirking at the small silver band, he claimed his bag. Running a hand over his face and through his hair he exhaled slowly. Slinging the bag he had been living out of for the last 11 days, over his shoulder he zipped his Preventer jacket up and headed out to the loading zone to hail a cab to take him home. Luckily he didn't have to wait long for one to pull up to the curb and whisk the bushed agent from the spaceports last red eye flight. It was 2:30 AM and he couldn't wait to crawl in bed next to his wife.
He went on very few missions anymore, what with him having a family. The ones he did accept were brutal and made him appreciate home and family even more.
Giving the address he settled into the worn leather seat for the cab, closing his eyes to rest for the 37 minute ride home. Falling into a peaceful sleep rather quickly. That peaceful feeling however would soon be shattered.
\m/\m/\m/\m/
"Hey pal, this is as close as we can get." The grizzled driver called over his shoulder to his charge.
Heero startled awake, instantly alert when he saw the flashing red and blue lights of the emergency service vehicle, a small crowd had gathered at the end of the drive way. Throwing a fifty dollar bill to the driver he slammed the door and ran up through the crowd to find the drive way taped off with the standard yellow and black crime scene tape. Ducking under it a cop stepped into his path putting a hand on his chest and telling him to get back.
His heart pounded against his rib cage, his stomach felt as though it were in his feet and the blood in his veins turned to ice when he saw a stretcher coming out the front door of his home.
"Sir! I need you to get back behind the tape, "The cop was still talking to him.
"That's my wife!" He evaded the cop easily enough dropping his duffle bag on the lawn and rushing up to his spouse.
She was barely recognizable, bruises covered her face, neck and arms, she had scratches everywhere, blood matted her hair, and he was in shock himself. What the hell had happened? She had on a neck brace and oxygen mask. "Faith," He assessed her visually as the paramedics stopped. "Faith,"
"Heero," She croaked out before her eyes rolled back into her head and she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Faith, Faith, where is Ariya?" He panicked. Where was his daughter?
"Sir we have to get her to the hospital." One of the medics stated with urgency in his voice.
Letting his finger trail, ever so lightly, down her cheek he whispered to her. "I'll see you soon." He kissed a small patch of clean un-bruised skin at her temple before letting them load her into the waiting ambulance. Catching a medic he ordered them, "Take her to Preventer Medical."
The young medic nodded and ran to tell the driver there was a change of course.
"DADDY!" He spun on his heel quickly hearing the crying voice of his daughter. He scooped her up into his arms as she ran full force into him. Peppering her face with kisses and hugging her tightly as she cried, sniffling hard. Reassuring himself that she was unharmed he silently thanked whatever higher power there was.
"Mr. Yuy," The old white haired neighbor came up with rollers in her hair and disheveled robe over her flannel night shirt and untied tennis shoes.
"Thank you Noreen." He awkwardly shed his heavy jacket wrapping it around her shaking form, her skin felt warm to him. Looking at her he found her nose running and she was struggling to breath from the stuffiness and the crying. Rocking gently from side to side he tried to calm her the best he could he wanted her to breathe a little easier. He had no idea she was sick.
"That is one brave little girl you have." She wiped her eyes before a police officer pulled her aside to take her statement of what she knew what happened.
"Ari, breathe baby, it's okay, breathe," He wiped her face before pulling out a bandana he had in his pocket to wipe her running nose. "I'm here, it's okay." He felt his heart break when new tears made their way to her eyes. She wrapped her small arms around his neck hugging tightly letting her tears fall.
"HEERO!" Came at different times from several familiar voices, turning back around he found his friends racing towards him. He held tight to his daughter as they eyed the scene around them.
Dou was the first to reach him, followed by Trowa, and Quatre. Wufei was behind talking with a police officer. More than likely telling him Preventer would be taking over the investigation and would need copies of any and all reports.
"What happened? We received a call for a break in." The new father stated frowning up at the house, where police were entering and exiting from almost everywhere.
"I just got here. They're taking Faith to the medical center at Preventer." He sighed. "I…I have to get over there." He rubbed his daughters back soothing her sobs feeling her tiny hands wrap in his hair, it was a comforting action she had done since she discovered her hands could tangle in his locks.
"I'll let Sally know she's in route." Trowa pulled out his phone to make the call.
"Da,…Daddy." She hiccupped softly; it broke his already pained heart even more. Her voice was stuffy and she was too warm. He pulled back to look at her tear stained face, smoothing back the stay hairs that poked out from beneath the pink winter hat, he absent mindedly noted how her skin became blotchy like her mother's when she wept. "Is momma going to be ok?" She sniffed trying to wipe her own nose before returning her head to his shoulder her hand still tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck.
He looked up briefly before answering. "Yes sweetheart. Mama will be fine." He hoped.
During the Eve Wars he had broken almost every bone in his body, blown himself up, been shot numerous times, but he had decided that nothing came close to the pain that he felt when he heard the whimpering of his daughter, and seeing the condition his wife had been in. Whoever had done this would pay, they would pay dearly.
"Baby, can you stay with…," He didn't get to finish before she cried out and clung tighter to his neck shaking her head as a new wave of sobs wracked her small frame.
'I should have been here.' He reprimanded himself.
Quatre, being as empathetic as he was, sensed that his friend blamed himself and put a supporting hand on his shoulder.
"Ariya," Quatre rubbed her back. He knew she loved all her uncle's but next to Dou (her favorite uncle), Quatre was a very close second and could always sway the child easily enough. "Could you come with me? I have something in the jeep for you."
She clung tighter to her father still shaking her head her sobs subsiding slowly.
"You will be able to see him the whole time. I promise."
She looked at him through tired eyes, searching his face for truth in his words in much the same way her father does. Finding what she needed, she nodded and held her arms out to the blonde.
He cradled her gently in his own jacket as Heero pulled on his own. Quatre pulled out tissues from his pocket and handed them to her.
"I'll be right back." Heero went to find the officer in charge.
The former Sandrock pilot, true to his word carried her over to his jeep's tailgate; she clung as tight to her honorary uncle as she had to her own father. It clenched his heart to feel so much pain and fear coming from someone as small and innocent as his friend's daughter. He couldn't imagine what Heero was going through.
"Here we are." He held a small teddy bear he had stashed in the back, letting the tailgate drop he sat down on it. She held the small brown bear tight as if her life depended on it.
"Thank you Uncle Quat." Her voice strained and raw from crying, her nose was bright red and stuffed.
They sat side by side on the tailgate, he wrapped an emergency blanket around her shaking form, and he could tell she was fighting to stay awake the adrenaline from the event wearing off quickly. "You're most welcome sweetheart." He watched her watch her father like a hawk. Following her intense gaze, Heero's face was a blank mask. A technique he had perfected years before Ariya was even a thought.
"Ari?" He began softly. "Can you tell me what happened?"
She took a deep breath, never taking her eyes off her father, almost as if she were afraid he would disappear if he left her line of sight. "Mamma came into my room and told me to wake Miss Turner." She said simply.
"That was a very brave thing you did. Your brave just like your mother, you know that?" He smiled sadly at her. He hadn't seen her mother but if she was without her daughter she had to have been injured pretty badly.
"Daddy told me that being brave is…being scared but doing it anyway." Tears made their way to her eyes again and she crawled into his lap once again wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm scared now too uncle Quat."
Tucking her head beneath his chin he rocked her gently not knowing what to say to ease the small girl.
Trowa approached the pair quietly with a sad expression on his normally passive face. The whole situation was unsettling, how could someone have done this to a preventer agent, especially an ex gundam pilot? Sitting next to them on the tail gate he watched the scene before them.
"Dou is going to follow them to the hospital. Make sure they have everything and check in with Sally." Trowa watched the little girl's eyes fight to stay open. Exhaustion seemed to finally take over and she began to drift off quickly.
They all loved Ariya, she being the oldest child in their make shift little family followed by Zechs and Noin's three year old Abigale, Dou and Hildes new three month old twins, Eric and Grayson, trailed by a five month pregnant Sally and Wufei.
Quatre nodded gently. "We'll take care of everything here." He stated knowing it would be seen to personally by every member of their task force.
Faith was well loved by everyone she met. She had saved their stoic friend from himself more than once and helped to make Heero understand that there was more to life than just being a soldier. He found he could love and be loved, then Ariya had come along and he was ready to bolt from fear of being a father but she helped him to see he would not be alone and that he could give his child everything he had never had; a safe, secure, loving family.
Trowa nodded.
Heero returned to them looking as though he had aged years in the last 20 minutes. Running his hands over his face he sighed seeing his sleeping daughter with shiny streaks down her cheeks and her red nose.
"I'm heading over there. Sally's attending to her now and says if she stays stable for the next twenty four hours she'll be ok." He was shaking slightly as he scratched the stubble on his chin.
"We'll take care of things here." Quatre handed him his sleeping child.
"Thank you." He nodded once and made his way to the black Volvo XC90, the safest vehicle he could find. He had insisted on it once they had found out Faith was pregnant, he felt they couldn't be safe enough. Buckling his daughter into her purple car seat with practiced ease, he then tucked her favorite princess fleece blanket around her before the realization of how bad the situation could have been hit him and hit him hard.
Barely making it to the rear of the vehicle he doubled over leaning on the bumper as his stomach emptied itself of its meager contents, causing dry heaving and coughing when everything had been expelled. Through bleary eyes he found someone offering a bottle of water. He took it gratefully and rinsed out his mouth.
"You alright to drive man?" Dou asked slightly shocked, after everything they had been through during the war he had never seen him react to a situation this way. Not that this type of situation ever happened before, being a new father himself he couldn't begin to try and understand the feeling of having your life almost taken from you in an instant and being powerless to prevent it and or fix it.
Wiping his mouth he nodded. "You following?" He slid into the driver's seat and claimed the keys from the center console where they had been left like always.
Holding the door open he replied. "Yea, I'll call Hilde and let her know what's going on."
He nodded and let Dou shut the door as he put the key in the ignition turning the engine over and bringing the vehicle to life. Adjusting the side and rearview mirror he looked at his sleeping little girl.
The radio was tuned to Faith's favorite country station, playing softly; her purse was in the passenger seat, half empty bottle of water in the cup holder and her black and white scarf on the floor board. Everything seemed so normal and ordinary, just his wife's things waiting to be collected. He rubbed away the tears that sprung to his eyes at the thought of his wife.
Taking a deep steadying breath he waited until he saw headlights reflected in the mirror before putting the SUV in drive and heading to Preventer Medical.
DUN DUN DUN! So, what do you think? Please let me know. I like seeing the more human side of Heero and how he interacts with his daughter. AHHH. So sweet. I can just see him being that over protective father. He is very protective of his family. I think he likes to keep to his family. It's his safe place from all the terrors of the world. Any way. Thanks for taking the time to come to my little corner of the internet. Drop me a line and I'll see ya next chapter!