TITLE: Hers, Yours, and Mine

TITLE: Hers, Yours, and Mine

Author: Sony_Mouse Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com

Parings: 1+2+1 (2+R in the past)

Warnings: well if you have gotten this far you KNOW someone is dead, angst and OOC. But it should lighten up…sooner or later.

Disclaimers: Not mine, somebody else's……that is all

Archive: Gundam Wing Addiction (www.qwaddiction.com)

PLEASE SEND COMMENTS :)

********************************

From Part 2: YOURS

Quatre turned to face Milliardo Peacecraft.

" Well I'm sorry too Milliardo, I'm willing to give Duo another chance. He must be getting better. He made them breakfast, BREAKFAST!! He doesn't even make himself breakfast. We'll give another him another go and see how he does. If it ends up like this again, I promise I will even fight your case for their custody."

Mad at the turn of events, and still very worried about his relatives, Milliardo nodded, knowing not what else he could do.

The kids were no longer under the custody of the Peacecrafts; their fate now belonged to Maxwell…

********************************

PART 3: MINE!!!!!

One of the things Quatre had been unwilling to admit to the former Oz pilot was what had happened when Duo had woken and found himself in a hospital, more to the point, outside of his beloved house. The young man had started to panic, throwing things at the nurses and yelling at Trowa and himself. They were forced to sedate him for his own good, but Quatre was sure he would be fine once they got him home.

So Duo was now more or less sleeping against his will, but Milliardo didn't need to know that. Either did the press who were now hounding the ex-pilots for the whereabouts for the Peacecraft children.

Using the night as a shield, Quatre had managed to transport Duo into the car, and they were now making their way home, with Duo still knocked out in the back. The kids had once again insisted on coming with him instead of driving with Trowa, so they too joined Duo in the back seat of the car. Both children were on either side of him cuddling up to his unconscious body, as if protecting Duo from the outside world.

Quatre was still cautious about the whole situation, but Elisabeth's words had confirmed his actions. Heero had a reason for doing this, and whether or not Elisabeth's childish theory was what he had had in mind, was beside the point. All that mattered was that it was Heero's wish.

Quatre had been wise and used the time that Duo laid passed out in the hospital to get some cleaning done. He had called practically a whole army to go into the house and sanitize EVERYTHING they could find. It was also a good chance to get the kid's rooms set up. Quatre hadn't had enough time to get anything major, but he was able to purchase a couple of beds, children's blankets, drawers, desks, and other such furniture that they would need, including a brand new TV for downstairs.

As the car pulled up to the driveway, the headlights flashed briefly over the cleaner house and onto the old broken down car. It had been Duo's favorite care at one time, he had been so proud of it, practically built the thing himself. Heero had only thought Duo was being silly, when he had had enough money to buy any car he could ever want, but still Duo insisted.

But now it was once again a piece of crap metal, lying useless in Duo's driveway, still smashed up from the accident that happened so many years before. Quatre didn't know much about the details himself, he just knew that the next time the first time he saw the car this way, Duo had never been the same.

By the time he got Duo settled into bed, had had the kids fed, washed them (it had been 3 days since they had last had a bath), and ready for bed themselves, it was way past their bedtime.

Quatre tried to get them excited about sleeping in their new rooms, but it was Elisabeth who refused once again to part with Duo. She claimed to be scared, and didn't want to be left alone. He offered to stay with her while she slept, but she insisted on sleeping in Duo's bed again, even after what had happened the last time.

To Quatre's surprise, she explained that it was the first time in ages that Nathaniel hadn't had any nightmares. The ex-Gundam pilot hadn't even been aware that he was having them in the first place, so against his better judgement, he agreed to let them sleep there.

The kids smiled warmly at the sleeping Duo before climbing into to bed with him. Again taking positions on either side of the young man, and trying to get as close to him as humanly possible. The site itself was adorable, and Quatre sincerely wondered what Duo could possible have done to earn their affection.

Taking the old, but now washed blanket, he spread it lightly over their bodies and leaned down to kiss the two children on the foreheads, before heading downstairs to his own designated couch.

Before Trowa had left to go to their home, he had confided in Quatre that this whole situation made him feel like an old man, even though he was only 27. Quatre, who was now 26, couldn't have agreed more.

It had been a long day, and the kids weren't the only ones who were exhausted, he plopped down on the couch and was out like a light, in a matter of seconds.

***************************

Quatre awoke the next morning to someone making breakfast in the kitchen. At first he thought it was one of the kids, but the reality hit him and he realized that Duo was up.

Picking himself off the couch, he quietly made his way to the kitchen and gave a loud gasp as he saw Duo trying to prepare what looked to be a breakfast of bacon and eggs. The table had been set with clean plates and glasses for all four of them, and real fresh orange had been made. Quatre couldn't believe his eyes. And before Duo noticed him, he showed this by yelling in surprise.

"Duo, what're you doing?"

Duo almost dropped the pan he was holding as he spun around to face the shocked Quatre.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh they're still sleeping, you might wake 'em up."

"But-but what are you doing?"

Just to knock Quatre further off his feet, Duo gave him a wide grin. "What do you think? I'm making breakfast, real breakfast."

"B-b-but WHY?"

Duo's face lost its mischievous look and became much more solemn. "I guess to say sorry for the way I acted when they first got here…and maybe to say thanks for taking me to the hospital."

Duo placed the eggs aside and pulled up a chair near the table and motioned Quatre to do likewise. "I don't know how to continue right now, this all happened so quickly, but I have to do something. They helped me, watched over me, I even saw them in my bed again this morning. I couldn't scare them off. *I*, the God of Death, couldn't scare off two small children, not like I did with Heero."

Quatre interrupted him. "You never scared him off."

"Yeah well either way I ended up alone, and I didn't want that to happen again. In fact I STILL don't want that to happen again, but I can't take it out on them, as much as I want to, I can't. After all I did to them when they first got here, and they still want to be with me, how can I compete with that?"

"So you'll keep them?"

Duo quickly got all defensive, and waved his hands in the air, in an attempt to slow Quatre down. "Now wait just a minute, I didn't say that, but-but maybe I could try it. I mean you did go through all that trouble to clean my house and I think I owe them something for what they did. Who knows, if they're not afraid of the wrath of Shinigami, then maybe they might survive living with me after all."

Quatre tried once again, " So you'll keep them."

"Quatre, you know what your asking don't you? Your asking me to completely jump being "Dad's old war buddy", skip being a friend, even miss being an Uncle, and be their damn FATHER! I don't' know if I can do that. I can only…I can only…I can only promise that I will give it a shot. I'm sorry but that's the best I can do."

"So you'll keep them!"

Flinging his arms up in defeat, Duo yelled at Quatre. "Yes, yes, you bastard, I'll keep them. Are you happy now?" But Duo was now smiling. "I'll give it a try, but only because I'm afraid Heero will come and haunt my nice new clean house if I don't."

Quatre thought that it was more likely that Heero had been haunting Duo these past ten years already, but didn't mention anything. He reached over and patted Duo on the shoulder.

"Good, I'm really proud of you for doing this, and I'm sure he is too."

"Yeah, well just don't expect me to start being Mr. Perfect or anything."

"Duo, I can safely say I NEVER thought of you as Mr. Perfect." Duo playfully swatted him on the head. He was far from healed or anything close to that, but at least he was trying. And that alone was something Quatre never thought he would see Duo do again.

Duo's smile suddenly vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared when he remembered about his forgotten eggs. "Ahh the food, it'll be all cold." He ran over to the counter and started to reheat them before the kids woke up, and demanded something to eat.

Quatre could only stare in silent joy as he watched Duo refry the eggs. IT really was a good sight to see. The sunlight was streaking in from the newly fixed windows, and gave Duo's hair an almost angelic look to it. His smile brightened knowing full well that Duo was no angel, but for the moment he was a devil reborn. And that at least, had some hope to it.

Just like his friend, Duo was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice a very small child walk into the kitchen and spot the cooking Duo. Nate's tiny mouth broke into a smile and he ran up to grab the swaying braid that graced Duo's too thin back. Giving a giving a good tug, he started to laugh as Duo yelped in surprise.

He did managed to save the eggs before glaring down at the giggling child. The glare quickly turned into a pout when he realized it had absolutely no effect whatsoever on one of Heero's kids.

Taking his abused braid out of the five-year-olds evil clutches, Duo whined in his most pathetic voice he could muster. "NAAAAAATE!!!! Gee, I take back everything I ever said about you being like your Mother; you are DEFINATLEY your Father's child."

Nate only continued to giggle as Duo gave up pouting and hoisted the little troublemaker up to the counter to sample some of the fresh eggs that had just been made.

Quatre, who had watched the whole seen, shook his head softly in disbelief. For the most part, their Duo really was coming back.

********************

After making sure they were all settled in, Quatre took his leave to let the three get better aquatinted. For awhile, while he was watching Duo teach Nate how to hold a spoon properly, he was almost convinced that they were going to have no trouble at all getting along. But his illusion quickly vanished, when Elisabeth had finally woken up and come downstairs to tell Duo just how upset she was at him for going to the hospital yesterday.

It had been a sight to see, an eight-year-old yelling at a twenty-six year old about his unhealthy habits. Duo had just stared down at his feet the whole time apologizing before he realized that he was being chewed out by a little kid and started to fight back. Quatre just wished he had brought his tape-recorder, the whole scene was just too funny.

There weren't two children living in that house, there were three.

He got into his car, and taking one last look at the house, made a mental note to call his gardener later, something just had to be done about that front lawn.

*******************

After Quatre had left, Duo fell to the couch exhausted. It had only been an hour and he was already ready to send them back.

After finishing breakfast he had been ready to move on to some other house project, in an attempt to keep himself busy, unfortunately this had gotten him another round of Lizzy's complaints about the way he had lived for the past few years. As far as she knew he had always lived like that. She went on to tell him that he couldn't just leave the dishes there, because Duo would never get them done.

He had assured her that he would clean them later, but for some reason she wasn't convinced. With Nate silently nodding in agreement to everything she said against him, he had reluctantly gone over and washed the dishes, even going so far as to put them away. Duo could almost swear that the girl was in fact the reincarnation of Sister Helen, sent back from the dead to force him to do his chores.

Sitting on the couch, Duo got about a minute of rest before a small chubby hand started tugging at his priest's shirt to get his attention. It was Nate and he was pointing at his own PJs, hinting that he wanted to be changed.

Calling Lizzy to him, he picked up the squirming boy, and led his sister upstairs to get them both changed. Getting them changed proved to be a harder task then he had first thought. Every time he turned his head, Nate would run out the door, trying to play hide-and-seek. After a few more escape attempts, Duo finally got the bright idea to just close the door, so he couldn't make a fun for it.

It even took him a full ten minutes just to get Nate out of his PJs, because the boy thought Duo was trying to tickle him, and kept squirming around on the floor, laughing and trying to get away.

Once that was completed, he let them go over to their still unpacked suitcases, and pick out their own clothes, mainly because he didn't know what they should wear. He immediately regretted the decision when he saw what they had picked out. Lizzy's outfit wasn't too bad; she had picked out a nice pair of jeans, with a white shirt to match. Duo could only cringe at the shirt, knowing that it would be any colour but white by the end of the day. But could at least dress herself, Duo only had to help her reverse the shirt, she had put it on inside out.

Nate on the other hand showed up holding a pair of black pants, a white turtleneck, and a black T-shirt. It was an obvious attempt to try and copy Duo's unique style of dressing.

So Duo spent the next 15 minutes trying to convince Nate that it would be a better idea to wear something else. The argument consisted of him pulling the cloths away from Nate, and Nate retaliating by crying. It was a lose-lose situation, but in the end Duo still got the child to at least agree to wear jeans like his sister's, and only the small black T-shirt.

When finished Nate jumped to his feet and proudly showed off his snazzy black T-shirt to his older sister, she didn't seem too impressed and was more concerned about getting her like she had had it a few days ago. Unfortunately it had been so badly done, that it hadn't even survived running out of Duo's room the morning.

Without a second thought, Duo got up and grabbed the brush from her hand.

"Hey, I can do it."

"I'm sure you can, but I might be able to teach you a few tricks, I know a thing or two about hair."

Looking up and down his long thick rope of chestnut hair, she reluctantly let him style her hair the way she liked it.

"There, now doesn't that look like the way your servants used to do it?'

"I told you already, we didn't have servants."

"Then who did your hair?"

"My mom did! And when she was too busy, my Dad would just put it up in a ponytail."

Duo looked mock annoyed at this. "Hey, he let you wear a ponytail??? *I* was never allowed to wear one, it had to be in a braid or sometimes loose for…uhh never mind."

Realizing what he was just about to admit to an eight-year-old, he quickly shut up and continued to brush the already finished blond hair.

"So what do you two want to do now. Quatre brought lots of games we could play, or we could watch a video, or I could find some fun filled chores to do. Nothing like sweeping the basement to make the hours fly by.

Both children wrinkled their noses and looked at him funny.

"Hmm don't like that idea eh? So what do you suggest?" He regretted the words as soon as he had said them.

Lizzy's eyes lit up and she practically screeched. "Let's go to the park, you said you would take us."

Looking horrified Duo shook his head. "Uh uh, I never said I was taking you two anywhere, and why would you want to go to the park, there are so many nicer things to do. We could learn some mechanics, or maybe I could teach you one hundred and one ways to break into a house, you never know when you might forget your key."

Nate's eyes became all watery and Elisabeth didn't look to far from crying herself. The girl seemed to be an odd mix of Duo's tormenter and a small child completely dependent on him at the same time.

"Ahhhhhh come on, don't cry again. This isn't a nice area, you wouldn't want to go. It was wrong of me to try and send you both before, what if something happened to you. And you know I can't take you. You said it yourself, I'm afraid of going outdoors, sorry but there's no chance in hell I am taking one step out of my house."

Looking up at Duo with wide prussian blue eyes, and pouts that they must have picked up from Duo, Nate silently pleaded as Lizzy, without knowing it, said the only thing that could make him leave that house. "But Daddy used to take us to the park everyday."

"Ahh DAMN IT! Damn it, damn it, damn it. Fine! I'll take you to the park, but if I don't make it back, I want you to know that I warned you. I haven't been outside voluntarily in three months and it's been longer than that since I actually took a walk around the neighborhood. Just stop using my own tricks against me and let me get my coat. I swear I have those pouts trademarked somewhere."

Both children started jumping for joy and clapping their hands. They were finally going to get to see the park, and Duo, their very own Duo, was taking them.

**********************

As if trying to hide every part of his body, Duo slowly unrolled the arms of his priest's shirt, put on his almost unused baseball cap, pulled on a pair of gloves, and placed his sunglasses over his eyes. He was dressed completely in black from head to two, and looked quite ridiculous. Nate was to the first to see him and broke out into a huge fit of giggles, something he seemed to do a lot around Duo.

"Ummmmm Duo, don't ya think that's too warm for today, I'm just wearing a T-shirt, and so is Nathaniel."

Pouting at the children, Duo reverted to his old smiles that would hide just how nervous he was felling. "Hey, you're the ones who wanted me to come along, if you think I am too embarrassing, then I just won't come."

"Nah, you just look all weird and stuff."

"Well thanks for your vote of confidence, now let's get this over with." Duo was the first to reach the door but before he could leave the house, he stopped dead in his tracks. There was no way in hell he was going to go through that door.

"You know, I just remembered I have laundry or something else to do right now, ya think we could do this later?"

They didn't even dignify the comment with a reply as Duo felt too tiny hands on his ass push him out the door. It wasn't that the five-year-old was strong, he just took Duo by surprise, and pushed him off balance, the end result was Duo falling flat on his face outside the door.

Before he could panic, he felt another slightly bigger hand link with his. Looking up he discovered Lizzy's bright prussian blue eyes urging him to continue, and for the first time in ages, he did. Slowly getting up, he took a huge breath and then tried to move forward. Once he had completed the first step, Duo felt Nate grab his other hand and pull him forward. Knowing that there was no going back now, Duo slowly but surely started to move forward, and surprising himself, made it all the way to the park.

Once there it was a different story, all his insecurities started to kick in again and he left the children to play on the swings as he ran towards the nearest bench in the shade, offering him some sense of protection.

From there, he was able to watch as the children played amongst themselves. He wanted to join them so much, but something kept him glued to the bench and he was unable to move. Noticing that the kids were just happy with him being there, he satisfied himself with just sitting the whole time. But Duo wondered if he would be able to make it all the way home.

For the most part of the hour, nothing out of the ordinary happened. But unfortunately for Duo, his earlier prediction about the neighborhood had been right. As Duo sat paralyzed on the bench, his heart stopped when he saw a group of men approach the park and surround the children. He tried to move but being so far away from the safety of his house and just the effort to get to the park had left him with no strength to live the bench. He was scared for the kids, but even more scarred to move.

The gang started to pick on the kids with seminally innocent questions, obviously brining discomfort to the small children who weren't used to anything of this sort. Very much like Duo, the kids themselves were afraid to move, in fear that the large men might do something.

As Duo watched the group close in on the kids, he felt something in his veins he hadn't felt in a long time. The largest of the men cornered Elisabeth and tried to speak with her. It was obvious that she had replied with some sort of smart-ass comment, because one of the bigger men hit her to the ground soon after, and began to yell at her. It only took one look from her eyes, to get a forgotten fire in Duo's veins to really burn again, and all he could see was red. Before he knew it, something had possessed him and he was off.

Elisabeth started to pick herself up from the ground where she had fallen, she was scared and didn't know why her Uncle hadn't done anything yet to help them. She stole another look in his direction and noticed that he was no longer there. A quick scan of the park revealed that he was nowhere to be seen. Now she was really scared.

The man began approaching her again, and holding her crying brother behind her, she started to whimper along with him. Just as the man reached for her arm, something quick and black came out of nowhere. There was a blur of motion, and within seconds the entire gang had been beaten and where now lying on the ground in pain. Looking up in surprise, she turned to stare into violet-blue eyes that screamed rage. They were so unfamiliar to her, that it took a bit to register that they were Duo's. He didn't seem to notice her, and was yelling at the group of men.

"Don't you EVER, EVER think of touching one of *my* kids again. Do I make myself clear? If I even hear that you gave them a bad look, you will have to deal with a very pissed off Shinigami. And I personally don't think that you'll survive the experience."

A few of the men nodded in pain, but the others were still unconscious, and didn't hear the pleasant speech. Duo turned to the kids, and motioned that they should leave. Instead of compliance, he only saw fear in their eyes. Falling to his knees, Duo let out a sigh and hugged the two close to him. "Don't worry, it's just me. I guess I'm not used to letting go that part of myself. It's been awhile."

Hugging him back, Lizzy raised her tear-streaked eyes and questioned Duo in a shaky voice.

"D-d-duo…what's a Shinigimi?"

Duo laughed as he ruffled her once neat hair. "Oh …well that's just me when I get mad. Don't worry about that though, I wouldn't get like that against you. I'm sorry I didn't help you sooner, but I-I-I, well I couldn't before, but I can now. Lets just not talk about it and go home." Lifting up the sniffling Nate into one of his arms, and taking Lizzy's hand in his own, they made their way back to the house as fast as Duo's feet could take them, practically dragging the still confused girl behind him. If he had his way that would be the last he ever saw of the outside world.

TBC………………

Well what did you think? I am just so happy about how this story is going. PLEASE send me your comments, I would REALLY appreciate them :)

Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com

Note on Princess Relena Cartoon: Ok, ok if there are any Europeans here I can share this with you. That was kinda a joke on a cartoon I used to watch in German (Though it is in French and other languages). The show is really called Princess Sissy, it is sugar coated honey sweet sickly version of the real life story of Queen (Kaiserin) Sissy (Elisabeth) of Austria and Hungary. She was a really amazing woman, wayyyyy before her time, and created peace between many countries, she was unfortunately assassinated later, and overall had a really depressing personal life (don't even get me STARTED on the king. Either way this show was an insult to her. I thought it would be a joke if they had done the same thing to Relena, though I don't like her, if they could do it to Sissy, then they could do it to Relena :)