Title: The Children of War and Peace* Chapter 4
Author: Quality Paiges (aka Sailor Air)
Ratng: PG-13 (For Swears ,Sexual Reference and irresponsible drinking!)
Genre: Romance/Drama
Wow! I'm so happy with the response I've gotten so far! You guys really hate me! Okay that doesn't sound like a good thing but I only hate authors who haven't finished their stories yet when I really want to read them so if that's any sign it's great! And the more good response I get the more I wanna finish it quickly! So I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! Like I've said before not even *I* know who the father is yet but I will tell you guys it's definitely gonna be one of the Gundam Piolets!!! Oh yeah, you guys are lucky my entire town and a bunch of the surrounding ones were declared to be in a state of emergency and there are driving bans and everything so I can't get out of my house so some chapters are gonna come to you pretty fast! So pray for more SNOW DAYS for me!!!
Sally was cradling the baby in her arms. "Gosh baby you look small but after holding you in my arms for half an hour you get heavy!" She thought. She saw Noin, Hilde,and Duo at the other side of the room. They were all gaping at her. I don't blame them. She thought, I'd think it were odd to if I saw a friend walk in the room with a baby I've never seen before. Wufei was standing next to her and he did not look like a happy camper. Oh well, he has to be here she thought.
Getting closer to Noin and the others she said "Hey everyone how's it going?"
"We're all fine Sally but I've really got to ask you, what's with the baby?" Hilde asked.
"Well it's really odd you see I was picking up Wufei before we came here and the doorbell rang while I was inside. When I went to go to the door no one was there. When I looked down there was this little one all by it's lonesome and well we had to show up and we couldn't leave the baby so here we all are."
"Wow!" Duo exclaimed. "I can't believe someone would just leave their kid on someone's doorstep, how lame is that?"
"I agree but there's nothing that can be done now, after tonight I'm going to turn it over to child services."
Hilde thought back to her childhood stuck going from foster home to foster home living with people that didn't really care about her, only about the paycheck that came with her. Even though the war had taken place in A.C. 195 there had been tension between the Earth and the Colonies even then. She was eleven when her parents first spoke out about the oppression of the United Earth Nation. One year later on a sunny Tuesday afternoon her parents told her they were going on a trip and that she and her sister would be dropped off with some friends of theirs. Her older sister got mad at her parents, at time she didn't understand why. Her sister had yelledabout leaving them behind and stormed out. Of course her sister was wrong, that's what she thought because that was what her parents told her. They told her that she would see her again after her parents dropped her off at their "friends" for a very short time. Well their "friends" happened to be her first foster home and the only time she heard from her sister was a single letter saying that she had joined the United Earth Nations Army and that she was applying to get into OZ and that she promised that in a couple of years she would come and find her and take her with her. Well the years came and went and the day she turned fifteen she stopped believing in that one letter and went to join OZ herself.
"Earth to Hilde." Duo said.
How ironic Hilde thought, we're on a colony. "I'm sorry Duo I was just spacing out. Hey didn't you say Quatre, Trowa and Heero were coming?"
"Oh Heero's coming?" Sally asked.
"Yeah he said he would anyway, he's gonna be my best man." Duo said as he glanced around the room looking for the others.
Wufei looked rather uncomfortable wearing a suit andtie. He was just standing around fidgeting when an important commissioner walked towards Sally.
"Good evening Sally, how is everything? I hope it's all perfect. How's your little tyke? I didn't know you were married."
"I'm not commissioner, this little one isn't mine but right now wouldn't be the best time to explain. Everything's fine though."
"I'm glad everything is going well and I'm sure I as well as the other gentlemen here are glad you aren't married."
Sally gave a little smile that at closer glance would have seemed more like a smirk. "Well thank you, I think."
The others were staring down the commissioner like the bumbling idiot that he was. Most thinking "geezzzz I wish I could roll my eyes right now."
Not being totally oblivious the commissioner turned away from Sally, instantly she rolled her eyes and the other stiffled their laughter. "So Wufei, I'm glad you could finally make it, I know last year you had a urinary tract infection and the year before that the wart removal and the year before that..."
Wufei was looking pretty pissed right about now and was about to say something when Sally stepped in "Mr. Commissionerlet's not get into that. Let's talk about how you've been doing."
Wufei looked like he would kill Sally in a moment and the others turned away berrying their faces in their hands with laughter. The commissioner began to lead Sally away with his elbow and Sally slowly followed looking half interested and half annoyed, if there really was such a look.
"The nerve of that guy!" Wufei said.
"Oh come on Wufei lighten up Sally's the worst liar in the world but at least you didn't get in trouble for not bothering to show up." Noin laughed.
Wufei began to think that wasn't what he was actually talking about but he decided to let it go. The other were still laughing when Quatre tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey Wufei, long time no see why is everyone laughing?" "Oh forget it Quatre it was nothing." Noin replied before Duo could make things worse for Wufei.
Trowa walked up behind Quatre holding several glasses of champagne. "Here you all are, I got us some drinks." Trowa said handing out the drinks. Noin, Duo, Hilde and Quatre all accepted the drinks but Wufei declined. "Hmmm.... where's Sally?" Trowa asked. "I thought she would be here with you Wufei, I can give her this drink."
Wufei gestured with his hands as to where Sally was with the commissioner.
"Ha ha, so Sally gets stuck walking around with the commissioner again." Quatre said. "He's always hitting on her, poor guy Sally just acts oblivious to the attention."
"Really?" Duo asked.
"Oh yeah, this happens every year that he'll come up to her while she's in a group and then steal her away on some pretense and try to keep her to himself the whole dance or meeting all while Sally's trying to get away."
"Doesn't look like she's doing a good job of it." Wufei said.
"Sally love's being a Preventor and when somebody had your job in their hands you don't totally ignore them. By the way whose baby is that with her?"
"It's a weird story." Wufei said. "To condense it we found him on my doorstep just as we were leaving. He's on his way to child services tomorrow."
"Weird is right." Quatre said.
Duo started glancing around the room again looking for Heero. His attention turned to the bar when he saw some hot shot's daughter trying to chat him up.
"Hey I see Heero at the bar." He told the others. "I'm gonna rescue him from that girl, I'll be right back."
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The mysterious women's mission was complete. She had sabotaged the Doctors plans even if she hadn't done it in time. Now she could go on with her own life. What she would be doing with that life was still a mystery to her but now she could let go of all the awful things she had done. "Relena." She sighed "By saving your child I have made restitution with you. I only wish I could have saved you from the pain when you thought you lost him but time cannot go back, it cannot be erased and redrawn. For now this will have to do."
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Lei knew she would have to begin her mission instantly. With the doctor gone there was no time to waste. She pulled the red vial from her pocket and poured a small part of it's contents into the ultracentrifuge. The ultracentrifuge would separate the liquids content by density. Next she pulled out a small slide and added a drop of the liquid on carefully slipping it under an electron microscope. There was no more she could do than pull out the data their organization had gathered and compare it with the results. It was hard and tedious work a single error would ruin the entire work but this is what she had to do for the doctor for the organization OFUEA, and for the mission RB2. This may take awhile she told herself but the results will be explosive.
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Duo casually walked towards Heero and that girl that was hanging all over him. Heero just seemed to be casually sipping his martini, sitting on a bar stool in his tux. Duo could tell an attempt had been made on his unruly hair but it was to no avail as it was still all over the place. Duo stared at the girl some more. She didn't seem to be anything special that Duo could see and Heero was simply ignoring her but this didn't seem to stop the girl. There was only one girl Duo knew that could attempt to make Heero waiver from whatever went on in his head. No other girl was worth his time he supposed.
Duo lightly tapped Heero's shoulder also ignoring the girl sitting next to Heero and talking endlessly. "Hey man, what's up."
Heero didn't say anything but he did a half-shrug and half-head motion to the girl sitting next to him, almost rolling his eyes but not quite. He wasn't about to show that much emotion even if it was annoyance.
"Yeah well..." Duo said. "Why don't you just join the others and I?" Duo made a gesture towards the group standing in the corner of the room now speaking avidly obviously about the baby since they were pointing to Sally and the commissioner but only Duo knew about this.
Heero got up and they both began walking towards the rest of the group in silence when the girl actually caught someone's attention for once. "Hey I was talking!" This now obvious bimbo said.
"Yeah, we know." Heero said. "We know." In a more exasperated sort of tone.
"Hey man, Sally and Wufei have a baby with them." "Hmm?" Heero mumbled not really listening. He appeared unfocused and aloof but Duo went on anyway.
"Yeah, they found him on Wufei's doorstep. Sally made him bring the baby and come anyway but now she's off somewhere with some guy or whatever and she has the baby with her."
"So what are they going to do with him?"
"Well they mentioned that the baby would head over to child services tommorrow."
"That makes sense."
By this time Heero and the others had rejoined with the group and there were the usual "How have you beens?" and the "It's good to see you again's..." Then the conversation began to fade out and there was an awkard moment of silence.
"So where's Millardo, Noin? Isn't he supposed to be here too?" Hilde asked trying to get a conversation going.
"Yeah well he cut out since he's visiting Relena in the hospital."
Hilde had good intentions but this was to no avail. There was an elephant in the room and no one was mentioning it, partiallyout of respect for Relena, partially because nobody wanted to be the one to bring it up, but mostly because of the suspicions some of them harbored. The awkard moment of silence continued when Sally and the commissioner rejoined the group. Sally, looking bored out of her mind and the baby sleeping peacefully in her arms.
"So I see everyone is looking like they're having a good time." The guy said, obviously oblivious to the situation. Noticing Heero "Oh it's Heero Yuy, forgive me for not introducing myself sooner, I"m Commissioner Harper Lee." The others made a mental note of his name, they were all wondering if he had a name for calling him commissioner all night. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Yuy." He stuck out his hand to shake Heero's. Heero didn't often shake hands with anyone and he certainly wasn't going to shake hands with the commissioner. Heero simply turned his body ever so slightly. The commissioner looked befuddled but ignored Heero's cold stance and turned to Sally. "Sally, shall we dance? We talked of it earlier."
Wufei looked up a bit to see what was going on now.
Sally had a slight smile. "I explained Commissioner,I have baby with me I certainly can't dance with anyone tonight."
"No, none of this Commissioner business now, I'm just a man." Everyone rolled their eyes at this obvious pass at Sally except for Wufei who muttered something about injustice. Then, making sure not to look inapproiate, he turned to all of them. "Come now you must all call me Harper or at least Mr. Lee, I hate the formality."
"Well still... Har.. Mr. Lee, I certainly can't dance with the baby in my arms now can I? Besides, we don't want to disturb him, he looks so peaceful sleeping."
"Pish, Posh." Mr. Lee said. He pulled the baby from Sally's arms with not so much care as was to be desired. He placed the baby in Hilde's arms and it promptly began to cry from being handled so roughly. "Now there.. he said. "Miss Hilde may take care of the baby."
"Really, Mr. Lee!" Sally began to say more but the commissioner cut her off and practically dragged her,the whole way, Sally protesting the whole time.
Hilde was now bouncing the baby in her arms trying to get it to keep quiet while Duo was making faces at it. The baby only seemed to cry louder.
"Hey Hilde, Duo you might want to work on that." Quatre said.
"Huh?" Hilde and Duo both asked at the same time.
"Well soon enough you may have one of your own!" Quatre laughed.
Duo colored but Hilde beamed.
The baby cried anyway but in less than a moment Heero came straight towards the baby and lifted it up in his arms and it stopped crying. Much to Heero's surprise as everyone else's. The baby instantly fell asleep. It's unruly blonde hair already a bit long for a baby falling over his forehead
"Looks like he knows who he likes." Trowa said.
"Awwwwww man, this is so uncool, Heero's gotta be the coldest guy in the room but the baby shuts up for him."
"I'm sure you'd be a wonderful father Duo." Hilde said.
Duo colored for the third time tonight and shut up ,instantly wanting the attention off himself again.
Noin began to wonder about the baby. Who would just leave it on someone's doorstep? Better yet who would just leave off their baby on someone's doorstep and that doorstep would just happen to belongto a Gundam Pilot? But what was she thinking, the odds were zil that anyone would end up with a baby on their doorstep so why not a Gundam Pilot? she didn't think Wufei was having illegitimate kids anyway. Relena was the only one doing that, but she had a girl hadn't she and the baby was in the hospital. The connection was just too abstract.
"Hey Heero." Wufei said. "I'm gonna go get another drink, do you mind watching the kid?"
"Go ahead." Heero replied not looking away from the baby.
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Millardo left his sister's hospital room. It was about 9:00 PM and she was sleeping. It was a hard day for her he thought. He had promised not to ask Relena about the baby's origin's but he hadn't said he wouldn't do a little research himself. He hated feeling like he was betraying Relena. He couldn't hold it in though. It was killing him to know who the father was. Wouldn't he want to have a part in his baby's life? Even if Relena didn't want it was she right to keep the father from his child? Why Relena would do such a thing though, ponders me beyond all belief. He thought. Could the father have abandoned Relena when she told him she was pregnant. He couldn't imagine that either, Relena would never be with someone who wasn't reliable. What was he saying, this was Relena he was thinking about. What other option was there? This isn't any immaculate conception either. Tomorrow I will meet my new niece he thought but tonight I'm going to the ball and I'm going to find out what Noin thinks about all this. And he set off for his high speed jet.
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Wufei was sitting at the bar where Heero had been seated earlier which had a perfect view of the ball room's dancing floor. He ordered a beer and took a glance at his immediate surroundings. The girl Heero had slighted was sitting beside him remaining at the same spot drinking some wine when she appeared to be only sixteen. He simply starred at the ballroom floor where Sally was still dancing. For an idoit the commissioner seemed to be a good dancer. Smoooooooth. He thought. The girl beside him who was now officially drunk said. "You..." Wufei looked towards the girl. "Yeah you. What's your problem? Your at a party for God's sake. You can't even look happy?"
Wufei followed Heero's lead and ignored the girl.
"You think you can ignore me just like everyone else does. Do you? Well I happen to know exactly what your problem is, the person you want to dance with is dancing with someone else, hmmmm?"
"Little girl, I don't need to be bother right now so run along and find you daddy."
The "little girl" inflated her appearance and said "I'm not no little girl I'm 21 years old! I just look young. How do you think I got the drinks huh, fake ID's don't work anymore, found that out the hard way"
"No kidding, well whatever, you don't know what your talking about. Your drunk."
"You think I go out and get drunk for no good reason?"
"Well I don't know you do I?"
"Yeah... well the guy I came her with ditched me for another girl. Stupid bastard, I'll show that chick's sorry ass for taking away my man."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah see that bitch in the green dress out there. That's the slut that took my man!"
"You mean that one she's dancing with?"
"Who else? He's the only one for me. That's why I've been here all night trying to get him to come back to me by making him jealous."
The girl was indicating to the commissioner and to Sally. Wufei thought on this for a moment and asked. "What if I told you I could get you with your man in a matter of minutes but there would be a condition."
"I'd say tell me now damnit!"
"Well then I think you'll be interested to hear this then."
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Relena was sleeping and having a dream. Or perhaps a nightmare. Most likely it was the latter as she tossed in her sleep and cried out as if in pain. She woke up when she rolled over and hit her head on one of those metal bars that protected patients from falling out of the bed. She rubbed her head still disoriented with the faint memory of a bad dream and a worse feeling. She pushed her hair out of her face and rubbed her eyes. Oh yes she was in the hospital she looked down at her now deflated stomach and rubbed it. So weird. She thought, so very weird. Only hours ago had he stomach been as large as a basketball and now it was so much smaller, though the pregnancy had managed to add some weight. She patted her stomach and her mind wandered as she did so. It wandered to the faces of those she knew her newborn girl so sweet and unstained by life, Quatre a dear friend a face contorted in pain for her, Noin so frustrated at her, her brother holding her in his arms to comfort her when he himself was hurting, her adoptive father dying, telling her her destiny, the other Gundam pilots that had fought so hard for the peace she could only preach, but Heero stood out in her mind, his face in so much pain, looking at her as she purposely broke his heart. She kept thinking back and back into time, all the way back to Quatre's wedding. That was a two years ago. Everyone was there, all those who were involved in the war, at least those who hadn't died in the war or shortly there after. It took place on L3, even though we live in an age that is so tolerant, that was the only place same-sex marriages take place. The reception hall though was where all the fun took place. All the Gundam Pilots were there with herself and Sally, Noin, Millardo, Une, Dorothy, and Hilde. Along with a bunch of other people that were mostly Quatre's sisters and their families. Of course, Relena had danced and had fun, it was the most wonderful thing she had ever taken part of, but it all seemed to go down hill from there. The colonies were restless again and they were fighting over trival issues. She had had to work hard to ensure peace. Then came the pregnancy that tore her heart from her body. It's not that she wouldn't unconditionally love her children forever,but she was unsure of the father. No, not of who he was but of what he wanted. He always made her so confused. It was too much pain to handle, so she put up a wall and prayed he would attempt to break it down, even though she knew he wouldn't. He wouldn't do anything. He would just leave without saying a word, like he always did, like everyone always did. But that's not what happened.
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Heero held the baby in his arms. He felt at peace with the child in his arms, like it was only natural, but what could be more natural than a baby. So unscathed by the corruptions of others or the tradgedy of experience. A baby was always their own self. Never were they anyone else. This was because a baby didn't know how to put a mask of emotions on or hide their true feelings, they were as natural as can be.
Heero let his thoughts drift. Holding a baby usually made someone stupid, talking like total idiots pouring over the baby. But the baby made Heero think.
He allowed his thoughts to drift to Relena. There was something about this girl that he could never succeed in pushing totally from his mind. Hell, he'd tried suicide and her voice had made him come back, but why? He couldn't kill her and he couldn't be with her either. No, now that was impossible. But why, why did he care? He knew the answer to that question, it was because they were the same person. No matter how different they seemed to be, they shared a soul. He wanted to deny it but he couldn't. That was how he felt,and he always went on his feelings. He first realized it, even if he hadn't known it consciously, when they danced for the first time. She had told him that she was on his side and he looked right into her eyes and it was there. He was there. He could see his reflection and for once he didn't seem like such an awful person he had always seen in his own reflection. In her eyes he saw he his own soul. But Relena had given her's someone else, even after.... even after he showed her how he felt. She betrayed him and even if he said he would never forgive that. He desperately wanted too.
Did I leave enough cliff hangers? :) Hey Please Reveiw! Tell me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong! OKies?