One

"Maxwell, have you been wearing a hairnet?"

Hearing the loud shout from the other end of the cookline, Duo Maxwell stopped chopping lettuce and reached frantically into the pocket of his jeans to find the stringy scrap. He had barely gotten his fingers untangled from it and slipped it over his head before a large-bellied man stood over him with a frown, his beady dark eyes fixed on the lopsided hairnet that barely covered the top of his head.

Duo met his gaze with innocence. "I've been wearing it."

The chef, Rogelio Santora, referred to not so affectionately as carbuncle by the staff because his specialty was carbonara, raised his thick fingers pinched together before Duo's face and dangled a nearly three-foot long strand of hair. "Care to explain where this came from?"

There was only one place it could have come from since the rest of the workers in the kitchen had short hair or if they didn't, it was neatly tucked under a small white cap or trapped inside a hairnet. The hat was too hot in a place that was already sweltering with heat from ovens and he couldn't hold all his hair in a net anyway without looking like he was carrying an anaconda trapped at the back of his head.

Regardless of his guilt, Duo shrugged and without looking away he said, "Maybe it's yours?"

All the typical man-made noise from the kitchen, the sound of metal clanging against heating elements or spoons used in pans stopped although the sizzle and bubbling from pots and pans continued. Duo didn't need to look to know that heads were turned to him, probably with a mixed bag of looks on the faces ranging from horror to anticipation. He had his friends in the kitchen and he had his enemies. Enemy number one swept off his white toque to reveal a shining pate that Duo could probably see his reflection in if he looked hard enough. The man didn't have a single strand of hair.

Despite the possibility that he might get his face jammed into a frying pan alongside a steak, Duo remarked, "I guess we know what happened to the last of your hair."

Carbuncle seized a handful of cloth at Duo's face and dragged him up so that they were nose to nose. "I don't care who you are or what you have done in the past, Maxwell, because you're nothing but a dungeon rat now and that's all you'll ever be."

The dungeon was the name most people used to refer to maximum security L2 Penal Sector 100947 where Duo had spent five years serving the sentence for a crime he did not commit. Whether he did or not, he had been found guilty during a sensational trial in which the colony government had a chance to prove that it would not tolerate any transgression, no matter who stood before the judge. Heero Yuy had come to speak on his behalf, but his recitation of Duo's deeds during the war only seemed to make his judges even less likely to grant leniency. Instead, they doubled his sentence, claiming that the damage his actions had done to the reputation of the colony was irretrievable. If they could have, they would have given him a public execution. Instead he was given a harsh penalty and sent to the worst of the many prisons scattered through the colony system. He did his best to be a model prisoner, but he never got a chance for an early release. On that last day when he stood before the prison doors, nothing in his hands to claim as his own, he was nervous that the guards would drag him back in, and once the doors had closed behind him, he had to suppress the urge to run away as fast and as far as his legs could take him.

"Rogelio!" An older woman dressed elegantly in black moved easily through the crowded kitchen to approach them. "Let him go."

Madame Chantal owned the restaurant, and despite Carbuncle's reputation as a fine cook, he owed his position to her. He released Duo so quickly that he had to catch his balance by seizing the edge of the worktable.

Her sparkling blue eyes swept over Duo before coming to rest on the chef. "There has been a complaint about a hair in the salad, no?" she asked, her French accent thick.

Carbuncle glared at Duo before responding. "A long hair. A very long hair among the romaine."

Madame Chantal looked beyond the hulking figure to see the romaine lettuce spread on the table over which Duo had been working. "I see. And what do you suggest that we do about it?"

"Put him on the streets," growled Carbuncle. "I've warned him over and over to ..."

She waved her hand. "Oui, oui! I know this. But we will not put one of our people on the street."

"He's not one of us," argued Carbuncle. "He's a ..."

"And what were you when I found you and gave you a chance?" she demanded of the huge man. "Did you forget what it was like to live in the gutter?"

The big man standing before the petite older woman lowered his head. "No, madame, I have not, and I am grateful to you, but ..."

"There is no but!" She dismissed him by moving past him and stopped when she stood before Duo. "Rogelio is right about something, though, my young friend. You have been warned repeatedly to cover your hair, and now you have damaged Rogelio's reputation for providing the finest meal on the colony. Instead of mocking him, you should be asking for forgiveness."

Duo looked at Carbuncle before turning back to face her. "Do I have to?"

"No. You may choose to return to the backroom."

Working on dishes in the steam-filled backroom meant few breaks, leaving the night soaked with his own sweat and being left out in sharing tips by helping in preparing the meals, but Duo couldn't bring himself to apologize. The chef had been a huge pain in his backside since he finally worked himself out of the backroom a few months ago.

Duo untied his apron, set it over the edge of the cutting table and flipped off his hairnet with his middle finger as he faced Carbuncle, then marched past the man to head to the passage to the far rear of the kitchen. He heard Carbuncle roaring to his staff to get back to work, and he was glad he wasn't in there although it meant a considerable cut in pay. The noise in the washroom was deafening and it was hard to breathe with all the steam and the stench of all manner of food being tossed into a garbage disposal. Too bad he had to lose his place in the kitchen on a night when fish was the evening special entree.

The others condemned to work in the washroom gave him a curious glance, but they probably weren't surprised that he ended up back there. His old rubber apron on which someone had used a permanent marker to draw a scythe as a joke that he didn't think was all that funny was still hanging where he had left it. Draped over it were the rubber gloves that would keep his hands from being burned off by the chemicals they used to wash the dishes so that they were completely sterilized to government specifications.

With not even a sigh of resignation, he slipped on the heavy apron, grabbed a pair of safety goggles that he fixed over his eyes, and after he pulled on his gloves, the others made room for him in the line. Working at the busiest restaurant on any location in the colony which was located across from the finest hotel and banquet center meant that they were busy all day, and when his shift finally came to an end, he was exhausted, but at least he didn't have to leave with Carbuncle glaring at him as he received his share of the tips. Now he stood in line with the other day workers to get his days' worth of colony credits.

When he came to the paymaster, he held out his card which the man took to pass under a scan before handing it back. He tucked it into his pants pocket and turned to leave only to find Madame Chantal blocking his way.

"Come to my office," she told him curtly and then turned on her high heels to march away.

Duo shoved a hand in his pocket to keep it on the card, a habit he had developed in prison lest his daily allowance would be stolen, and he followed her. He was afraid that despite her words to the contrary to Carbuncle she was going to fire him and where would that leave him? He was a convict and there were few businesses that would hire convicts although Duo sometimes wondered if they outnumbered the general population. It wasn't as if he could hide his status even if his story wasn't well known. He was the gundam pilot from their colony cluster that had been a hero and was now just a criminal. Their pride in him had crumbled to mockery, evidenced by the apron he wore to remind himself how far he had fallen.

He shut the door behind them and remained standing as she went to her desk and took out an electronic cigarette to smoke for a moment before setting it aside to look at him. Duo decided to speak first. "I'm sorry, ma'am, for breaking your trust in me."

She rolled her eyes heavenward and then met his gaze. "How many times, Duo, have I asked you to call me 'madame'?"

"Exactly? Probably two hundred and fifty-six counting just now."

The corner of her red lips lifted in a smile. "And yet you still do not."

"Sorry, ma'am, but it's not in my nature."

She put her elbows on her desk and rested her chin on her clasped hands. "What am I going to do with you, Duo?" She dropped her false French accent, a necessity for the owner of a restaurant called Le Beau Papillon, and she let out a long sigh. "You can barely make enough money working in the washroom to support yourself, and with the money withdrawn for child support, you can hardly have anything left to eat."

"I grab a few things from the plates when they come in with food scraps," he admitted to her. His stomach won over his pride when he didn't have enough credit to buy himself food.

Madame Chantal screwed up her face in distaste. "No one should have to do that."

"It is what it is," he said with a shrug.

"I can't give you a raise without causing a furor in the backroom," she remarked thoughtfully, "but no one will lift a brow if I give Ellie a raise. She's as much a draw to my restaurant as Rogelio's cooking."

"You don't need to do that on my account."

She shook her head. "I've made up my mind. Don't tell her. I will discuss the matter with her when she comes to work."

"Oui, oui, madame," he said with a tug at his bangs.

He could still hear her laughing as he walked down the hall to the back door at which he paused to make sure there weren't any thugs waiting to jump him to steal his credits. There were a few unsavory characters in the shadows, but he guessed they must have heard about his demotion because they didn't challenge him for his pay. One of the sous-chefs was the object of their attentions now, and while part of Duo urged him to help the woman, that part of him was drowned out by his usually silent common sense. If he got into any trouble, he would probably get sent back to the dungeon.

So, he continued through the alley, avoiding the main street where there was usually a lot of commotion, night and day between the arrivals and departures at the hotel and the coming and going at the restaurant. If he wanted to see well-dressed people who were so far up on the social ladder that they couldn't see below themselves, he could watch the street as if there were a parade. If you had power and wealth on the colony, chances were you made your way to the wide avenue at least once a day.

He turned onto a side street and walked until he was so far away from the avenue that he couldn't see or hear it, and yet he still walked. Duo couldn't afford to waste his credits on a light-rail ride across the city, so he had to walk over a dozen blocks before he finally reached a rundown sector that still had many buildings crumbling in disrepair with damage from the war that had been over for nearly a dozen years. One might think only rats could survive in such a place, and maybe they were right, but rats had to live somewhere too.

Coming to a building that had one side still standing while the other had been blown away from some mobile suit blast, Duo used a rusty metal fire escape to climb up. The whole structure might have collapsed long ago if some entrepreneur hadn't shored up the other side before his financial backers decided there would be no profit in repair. The work stopped, and the building was left vacant until poor, displaced colonists moved in. The government collected taxes from the residents in the form of rent while being quick to point out that the residents were squatting and would not be protected if the owner returned to evict them.

Ducking through the window of an upper story apartment, Duo closed it behind him. Hearing a shower running, he headed towards the bathroom, but he paused to look into a side room that was probably an enormous walk-in closet in better days. He stood in the doorway for a moment to watch a small child sleeping on a mattress on the floor before he sighed and went to the bathroom. He stepped over scattered clothing on the floor to the glass door, ignoring the naked form blurred by steam on the door.

He pulled open the door. "Make it quick, Ellie. I want a shower before the hot water runs out for the day." Shoving the door closed, he jerked off his clothing and when she still hadn't left the shower, he opened the door and stepped inside with her. He was dismayed to find that the water was already turning cold, but he didn't have a chance to scold the woman inside because she giggled and scampered from the compartment.

Not only did the water become frigid before he finished washing, it always petered out to a trickle. Water usage in this sector was strictly rationed, and while it was usually enough to satisfy the needs of those legally living in the apartment, since Duo wasn't a legal occupant, there wasn't enough for them.

He found an already damp towel and used it to dry off before wrapping it around his waist and leaving the bathroom behind. The woman who had been in the shower was in the living room already dressed in a pair of jeans and a white button shirt. She didn't even look up at him when he came to stand near her where she finished combing out her tangled, long blond hair.

"I have to talk to you, Ellie."

She looked up, her finely shaped brows arched over her pale blue eyes. "Can it wait, Duo? If I don't hurry, I'll miss the rail into the city. You don't want me walking through the city by myself, do you?"

Curved perfectly in all the right places with looks that could stop traffic, Ellie Maxwell was not a woman that should be on the streets alone. "Of course not, but I thought I should warn you that I was demoted today."

"Demoted?" She jumped to her feet, her nostrils flaring. "Do you know how I begged to have you promoted to the kitchen?" She didn't give him a chance to respond as she grabbed her purse and shoved him out of the way. "I'm not going to be late discussing this with you. Look after Mia and don't let her stay up late. It's the least you can do since you can't provide for her!"

Ellie slammed the door shut after her, and even though she was angry at him, he had an obligation to her, so he went to the kitchen. Slipping his hand behind the refrigerator to a hole in the wall, he retrieved a handgun and went to the fire escape where he perched and raised the gun to aim in her direction. If any of the degenerates hiding in the shadows so much as breathed towards her as she headed to the rail platform that was within his sights, Duo would make it his last breath. It was fortunate that the gun had a silencer so no one would know where the shot came from. One or two men started to approach her, but the train arrived, and she quickly stepped on. Duo watched until the train pulled away, and then he climbed back into the apartment and hid the gun.

After checking to be sure that Mia was still asleep, Duo went to the bedroom he shared with Ellie to find clothing that was cleaner than what he had been wearing. He would have to do laundry. He only had three sets of clothing and they were all dirty now. The closet was stuffed with Ellie's clothes and he knew she could go for weeks without wearing the same thing twice. In addition, the clothing she wore for her work as a singer in the nightclub attached to the restaurant was kept there.

With a sigh, he went to the kitchen with an armful of his clothing, dropped it in the sink, then waited at least a half hour before he was able to fill the sink with water that came from the faucet in a trickle. Once he had enough water, he scrubbed his clothing with a little kitchen soap, took another half hour to rinse it and then draped it over the rails of the fire escape. Upon stepping back inside, he found a bleary-eyed little girl standing a few feet from the door holding a tattered teddy bear in her hand by its foot.

"I'm hungry, papa."

Duo swept her up and propped her on his hip. "Me too! Let's find something to eat."

There wasn't much in the cupboard since both Duo and Ellie took their meals at the restaurant, but he managed to find a box meal for which he had most of the ingredients. When he finished cooking the abbreviated macaroni and cheese, at least it looked like it should although a taste test proved that it was far from complete. Mia didn't seem to notice as she bent her dark head over the bowl, scooping it up to eat one spoonful after another, Teddy propped on the table beside her bowl. Duo guessed Ellie hadn't fed her that morning and he wondered how the girl survived before his release from prison. Ellie shouldn't have had the baby in the first place, but having gotten herself in the mess, she knew how to turn it to her advantage.

"You have a visitor, flyboy."

Duo raised his brows and turned his head from watching a spider crawl across the ceiling towards a corner where it would probably spin a web. There were already two other spider webs in his cell, but he didn't mind because it kept down the population of other vermin.

"I have a visitor?"

"You need your hearing checked?"

Having encountered the penal colony's doctor once before, Duo decided death by any means was better than repeating the experience. "Who is it?"

"Says she's your wife."

"Wife?" Duo repeated dumbly and for one crazy moment he thought Hilde Schbeiker had come to see him. The only way they would let her in would be for her to claim to be his wife. Eager to have a chance to explain that he wasn't guilty, that someone had set him up, he hopped up from his bed and, ignoring the whistles and catcalls from the other prisoners who had gotten wind that he was on his way to a conjugal visit, he followed the guard.

When they reached a door, the guard unclasped the wrist cuffs, opened the door and smacked him in the middle of the back to send him stumbling into the room. The woman waiting for him was not Hilde.

"Duo!" She came around the side of the only piece of furniture in the room, a bed hardly big enough to accommodate two people but was probably enough space for its intended purpose.

"Ellie?" When she threw her arms around his neck, he was uncomfortably aware of her body pressed to his. Guys in prison didn't get soft curves against them very often.

She drew back to look at his face. "I heard what happened to you and I had to see you."

Ellie had been among the orphans he had spent years of his childhood with. The last he had heard, she had been adopted and was living comfortably in the colony, but then that had been many years ago. A lot had happened since then, especially since someone respectable like her would come to see him in prison.

"You are surprised," she surmised, stepping back. She took his hand and tugged him towards the bed. "You shouldn't be. I lost everything in the war."

As she told him about her family's home being destroyed and both her parents and her adopted siblings being killed, Duo held her in a comforting embrace. She finished with reading about what had happened to him in the newspaper and wanted to see him again. They had a common bond from their childhood, and even though her parents were gone, she had a good name and would use it to the best of her ability to get him out of prison.

The guard returned shortly after, not leaving them much time even if they were intending to have sex. He probably wanted to catch them at it and watch. She returned a week later to tell him that she was making progress in having his case re-opened, and a week after that with more information. By the end of that first month, they had become close, but it was Ellie who had initiated a more intimate relationship. He tried to resist, but he was a man and she was offering. The experience was clumsy and short, but not short enough to prevent the result. He didn't see her again for a month, so he guessed she was either in trouble or after their unpleasant encounter she didn't want to have anything more to do with him.

He was honestly surprised when the guard came to get him to visit his wife after over a month's absence. Duo hoped she didn't want the conjugal part of her visit because he didn't think he would be able to do it. He had enough time to realize she was more like a friend or a sister and guys didn't do what he had done with friends and especially not with sisters. Duo would be honest and tell her he didn't have those feelings for her.

Ellie hadn't given him a chance to speak when the guard shoved him in with his usual courtesy. "Duo, I'm pregnant!" she blurted.

He dropped onto the bed because his wobbly legs wouldn't support him.

"Don't worry about me!" she continued as she thrust out a paper to him. "I know there's nothing you can do about it, but I found a lawyer to help and all he needs is your signature."

"For what?" he finally found his voice to ask.

She was shaking as she held out the paper. "I can claim your military benefits to take care of your child since you are incarcerated. They can't take that away from you!"

Duo blinked away the moisture in his eyes, so he could see the paper she held out before him. He wasn't a genius, but he could see that he was signing away his rights to the benefits he could claim from the government if he signed the paper. There wasn't much left after a portion of the stipend was set aside to pay for his own incarceration, but the prison would be forced to share his benefits with his child.

"Is this legit?" he heard himself asking, still in a daze to realize that he was going to be a father.

Ellie stiffened, and she looked furious, but her eyes were glistening with tears and he could hear the shame in her voice. "Do you think I want this?"

He didn't point out that she could have done something to prevent it, like maybe not entice him during their last visit by wearing a lowcut blouse and a tight, short skirt. But in the end, he had behaved badly, and she had probably taken pity on him. After all that she had done to try to get him out of prison, he couldn't turn his back on her.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," he muttered as he went to the door to rap on it.

The guard swung it open almost immediately so he wondered if the man had a peep hole to watch the proceedings. "What do you want, flyboy?"

He requested something to write with, and after the guard produced a pen, Duo signed the document and returned it to him before looking at Ellie. She was staring at the paper, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I don't think it will be much," he admitted shamefully. How could he have been so stupid?

She took a breath and folded the paper. "Thank you, Duo. You didn't need to do that."

They both knew that he did. Without his support, she would probably get thrown in prison, her baby taken away when it was born. The government prosecuted women that bore children with no means of providing for them. She would have been given a two-year sentence and her child – their child – would have been put in an orphanage. By the time she would have gotten out of prison, it could have been adopted off colony.

"Your time is up, flyboy." The guard seized his arm and dragged him to the door, but Duo refused to leave before he had a chance to ask her, "Will you bring the baby to see me?"

She didn't look at him. "I don't think it would be a good idea."

Duo didn't even know what had become of Ellie or the baby, whether they had a boy or a girl until he had walked away from the prison and found Ellie waiting for him a block away holding the hand of a little girl. Ellie informed him that she needed him to watch the child while she worked and that she managed to get him a job in the kitchens at the restaurant where she was employed. They had been living in this apartment for almost a year. There was nothing between him and Ellie even if they were in the apartment for more than five minutes together. They had never been legally married although she claimed his name, and almost every credit he made working was poured back into her account to provide Mia with whatever she needed. Even with Ellie's good-paying job and what he added, they still couldn't afford to move from this pathetic apartment and there was never enough to eat.

"That was good, papa," announced Mia, her blue eyes fixed on what remained in his own bowl.

He could use a few more bites since he hadn't had time to grab food at the restaurant, but he pushed his bowl to her. "I'm full. Maybe you can finish mine?"

As she eagerly scraped away the remains of his meal with her spoon, Duo resolved to have a talk with Ellie about feeding Mia during the day when he was at work. This wasn't the first time she had gone without, and if he didn't put his foot down, it wouldn't be the last. He was a sorry excuse for a parent and he knew it, but he could at least make sure that Mia was fed. Tomorrow he would try harder.