"Come on, man. Cut me some slack here." Duo pleaded. "It's only for a few days."
The boy stared at him from hurt, mutinous eyes. "We're never apart." He reminded his father. "Not for very long, and not very far. Ever."
"Look, I can't take you with me." Duo said firmly. "End of discussion. You're staying with Carol and Eddie. You like Carol and Eddie."
Jazz glared at his father and then walked away without another word. A few seconds later the door of his bedroom slammed shut.
"He's really ticked. He gets all quiet when he's really upset and it's better just to leave him alone." Duo sighed. "He's right, we've never been apart before. I guess... he acts so grown-up most of the time and then every now and then I get reminded that he's still just a little boy."
Heero nodded. "He worries about you. Maybe he's worried you won't come back."
"Geez, it's not like I'm going off to another war. It's just a meeting, like you said, right?"
"Just a meeting." Heero promised. "No fighting."
"That's what I tried to tell him."
"He'll get over it. Kids recover fast." Heero said patiently.
"We did, because we had to. His life has been nothing like mine was. I've done everything I can to make sure of that. He knows I love him. It's about all I can do at this point." Duo stood up and stretched. "We'd better get going."
He rapped on his son's door. "Eddie has to finish up at the yard. He'll be here in about half an hour to pick you up. You give him a hard time, and the salvage yard is off limits for the rest of the summer. No pocky, either."
There was no reply.
"He's still sulking." Duo sighed. "I love you, kiddo. I'll see you when I get back. Don't I even get a kiss goodbye?"
Still no reply.
"Fine, have it you own way." Duo called. "We're leaving now. I thought you'd at least want to say goodbye to Heero. You're not mad at him... "
It was Duo's last effort, and it did not work.
He hoisted his shoulder bag. "Come on, let's go."
"Duo "
"He'll get over it, like you said." They left the house and Duo pulled the door shut behind him. He did not turn around.
If he had, he would have seen the curtains flapping in Jazz's open bedroom window.
/*/*
"Wow, this is nice." Duo bounced on a leather seat in the cockpit of the small craft. "Very nice."
"I'm fond of it." Heero smiled, leaning into the pilot's seat. "Your son did the same thing when I showed it to him the other day. Begged me to let him fly it. He kept insisting he knew how."
"He's a good pilot." Duo nodded. "Taught him the basics almost before he could walk."
"Maybe I'll let him have a go when the meeting is over." Heero decided, seeming unaware that he had committed himself to returning to L2. Duo noticed and smiled to himself, but said nothing. "And no, I'm not going to tell you what it's about yet so don't even ask."
"No fun." Duo leaned back as the ship lifted on the ground. "Nice and smooth." He noted. "Can I try? I mean, if you're willing to trust my 8-year-old with it"
"Sure, go ahead." Heero slid out of the seat and Duo took the controls. " The coordinates are pre-mapped into it."
He watched Duo's grin as he took over. It never took much to make Duo happy, he recalled. He'd taken a lot for granted when they'd been kids, Duo's friendship more than anything else. He'd missed the other pilot more than he wanted to admit to himself. Duo brought such light into wherever he happened to be, such a burst of pure energy that his absence was felt all the more keenly. Heero chided himself, steering his thoughts away from dangerous territory. For now. First things first.
Heero stretched out back in the other seat and decided to take a quick nap.
Heero awoke several hours later, the blackness of space around them. "We're almost there." Duo announced. "This puppy really moves, you know?" Heero nodded, he knew all too well.
His body suddenly reminded him that he was human and he made his way back to the craft's lavatory. He finished and was leaving when a faint noise caught his attention, in the far back near the cargo hold.
Instantly in soldier mode he crept toward the back of the aircraft. With a yank he pulled away a tarp. He'd been expecting a rat. What he found was longhaired little mouse trying to break open a pack of dried meat.
"Hey, Heero. Um, I know you and my dad are friends but would you mind putting that back and pretending like this never happened?" Violet eyes opened wide in the shadows. "Please?"
"Oh for all the... " Heero sighed. "Jazz, what do you think you're doing?"
The boy shrugged. "I'm going to Earth. Where're you headed?"
"To the cockpit." Heero picked up the boy and carried him bodily to the front of the craft. "Come on, Heero. I thought we were buddies!" Jazz protested. "You don't betray your buddies, right? I just want to see Earth, what's wrong with that?"
Duo was still staring out into space when Heero and the stowaway reentered. "Duo, we have company." Heero said, ignoring the glare he was getting from Jazz.
"What... JASON HEERO MAXWELL YOU ARE DEAD MEAT!" Duo hit the autopilot and jumped to his feet. "You are in more trouble than you've ever been in in your entire life. Remember how much trouble you got in hot-wiring your teacher's car? Well, it's nothing compared to this!"
Jazz wrapped his arms around Heero's neck tightly and clung to the other man. "Don't let him hurt me, please. I've got scars all over from where he beats me when he gets mad. And sometimes he starves me and I pass out. You won't let him do that, right?" He blinked at Heero. "You won't let him hurt me?"
"I'VE NEVER BEATEN OR STARVED YOU!" Duo yelled. "I'VE NEVER EVEN SPANKED YOU, YOU ROTTEN LITTLE LIAR!"
Jazz gazed up piteously at Heero. "He motionally abuses me too." Heero was staring back and forth between father and son, still holding the child who was almost strangling him.
"That's emotionally and I don't do that either! Heero, you know me. Put him down."
Heero untangled Jazz from around his neck and sat him on his feet in front of his father. Jazz gazed up. "Are you really, really mad, Pops?"
"Yes, I am really, really mad." Duo sighed. "What will Eddie think when he shows up and you're not there?"
"I left him a note." Jazz hung his head. "Pops... you need me. You forget stuff, important stuff. You need me to remind you. We're a team. Teams stay together. And... I want to see Earth. I've never been there." He looked up at his father, a single tear in his eye.
"And the Oscar goes to... " Duo snorted. "Okay, fine, it's too late to turn around and take you back but you're still in trouble. Don't think you're getting out of being punished for this. And you can't go into the meeting with me, either."
"Deal." Jazz laughed and immediately hugged his father. "Thanks, Pops. You're the best. I promise I won't get in the way."
"You better not. Now apologize to Heero for breaking into his ship."
"Sorry, Heero. You need better security though." The boy thought he should inform his father's friend. "I mean, if a little kid like me can break in... "
"I'll make a note of that." Heero smothered a laugh. The boy had a point. Something suddenly struck in his mind.
"Jason Heero Maxwell?" Heero said softly, gazing at his old friend.
Duo shrugged. "Jason after Jason and the Argonauts. Hilde really loved that story. But she let me pick out his middle name and well, I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have my son named after."
"I'm honored." Heero paused and then put his arm around Duo's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Thank you, my friend."
In the meantime, Jazz had slipped into the pilot's seat, watching the stars zip by and the Earth approach rapidly. It was beautiful and his breath caught. He'd wanted to see it his entire life and had begged his father to take him for a visit, but Duo had never had the time.
"Something, isn't it?" Duo laid his hand on Jazz's shoulder. "That's where we all came from. The start of it all."
"So why doesn't everybody live there?" Jazz asked. "Even if it is crowded?"
"Because it's not home." Duo explained. "Home is what you know, home is where your roots are. Home for us is L2. But we never forget, and we never will where it all comes from."
"After the meeting I'll take you to the beach where your father and I first met." Heero promised the boy. "If he promises not to shoot me, that is."
"Cool. I mean, cool cause I want to see the beach, not cool that he shot you." Jazz glanced up at his father. "Boy, it's good you're a lousy shot, Pops."
"I am not a lousy shot! If I'd wanted to kill him he'd be dead." Duo's pride was wounded.
"I can't wait to see the other guys again." Jazz jumped to his feet, too excited to sit. "Quatre's cool and Trowa knows some neat tricks." He paused. "But Wufei gets on my case a lot and tells Pops he's a bad influence."
Heero's lips twitched. "I can picture that." He'd missed his other friends too, though not as sharply as he had missed Duo, and he looked forward to seeing them again as much as Jazz did. "Do they come to see you often?"
"Now and then." Duo shrugged. "Wufei not as much as Quatre and Trowa. They're Jazz's godfathers so they like to come and spoil him now and then. Wufei's one too but he has a different take in the position than they do. He thinks it's his duty to correct all the bad traits he sees in Jazz. Bad trait as in anything he does that reminds him of me." Duo laughed out loud. "Oh, and you're one too but I didn't get a chance to tell you because I couldn't find you." He gave Heero a pointed stare.
The ship entered the Earth's atmosphere. Heero felt a warmth squeeze his heart. He would find a way to make his absence up to his friend, to make up for the lost time with the godchild he had been unaware he even had, the boy who carried his name.
But first, he had to make them understand why.