POP GOES THE QUESTION
Hilde was busy straightening up in the kitchen when the phone rang. Startled, she jumped, almost dropping the glass she was putting away. She closed the cabinet door and ran for the phone.
"Hold on, hold on, I'm coming," she muttered as she looked for the handset. Darn Duo, she thought, I don't know WHY he can't ever put it back on the charger. She finally found it under one of the couch cushions. Fishing it out, she hit the talk button as she raised it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"…"
"Hello?" She began to feel a bit annoyed; this had better not be a prank call. Or Duo, over at the junkyard, calling to mess with her. Suspicious now, she growled into the phone. "Duo Maxwell, is this your idea of a joke? 'Cause it's not funny, you know!"
"Huh?"
Hilde paused, that wasn't Duo's voice. "Hello? Is someone there?"
"I'm sorry, I was looking for Duo Maxwell," came a soft voice from the speaker.
Abashed, Hilde tried to apologize. "Oh no, I'm sorry. I thought you were him and…" she trailed off, wondering who could be calling for Duo. She would have recognized Quatre and Wufei was never so soft spoken. "Who is this?"
"Trowa."
Hilde sighed in relief. She remembered Trowa from on board the Peacemillion. "Oh, hello, Trowa, this is Hilde. I don't know if you remember me or not."
"I remember you."
"Oh, okay. Were you looking for Duo? He's at work right now, with Howard over at the salvage yard," she said, propping one hip against the sofa.
"Could you give him a message?"
"Sure, Trowa, no problem. He'll be home soon anyway," Hilde reached for the block of Post-It notes and the pen that she kept by the phone. "Go ahead."
"Just tell him that the circus is on L-2 for the next three months and to come by if he has the chance."
"Okay, I'll do that, Trowa, and if you want to try back later on this evening, Duo'll be here," Hilde said as she scribbled on the paper.
"Thank you." And the line went dead.
"Well," Hilde said as she put the phone on the charger. "At least he was polite!" She looked at the clock on the opposite wall. It was two o' clock on the dot. "Oh, man, I didn't lay out anything for dinner. And Duo said that Howard would be coming over too." She headed for the door, snatching up a light jacket. Early spring still tended to be a bit chilly.
"Luuuuu-ceeeeeee, I'm hoo-OOME!" Hilde winced as she heard the front door slam open and bounce against the wall. Duo didn't believe in quiet entrances. She heard his footsteps heading for the kitchen and was unable to stop a wide grin from pulling at her lips. "Wow, something sure smells good!" She heard the thump of his heavy workboots hitting the floor and hoped that he would remember to move them out of the middle of the living room. He strode through the kitchen doorway, pulling off his grimy white t-shirt as he did. She quickly covered the pot simmering on the stove.
"Hi, Duo. It'll be a few more minutes on dinner, so you can take a quick shower if you want."
Duo stopped mid-track. "Are you saying I'm nasty??" He grinned and looked down at his grease covered jeans. "You do have a point. We stripped down an old Leo suit somebody found floating around out past the colony. Don't know how we missed it when we cleaned up after L3-19 exploded. I really thought we got everything." He went through to the laundry room and she could hear him removing the rest of his clothes. He strolled back into the kitchen, naked as the day he was born, and Hilde rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, it was a pretty good day," he continued as he opened the fridge and peered in. "Oh cool, thanks Hilde, you remembered." He stood, pulling out a red soda can. "Cherry Pepsi's my favorite." He popped the tab and chugged the soda down. "When did you go to the store?"
"This afternoon," she replied, opening the oven and placing a pan of rolls on the top rack. She lifted the lid on the rice pot and waited for the steam to dissipate before she peeked in. Almost done. She replaced the lid and turned to face Duo.
He was standing in the doorway, grinning mischievously at her, one hand behind his back. She eyed him suspiciously. She knew he was up to something. It was all over his face, along with several streaks of engine grease.
"What?" He stepped closer, his grin widening.
"Close your eyes," he said softly.
"I don't know, Duo, the last time I did that you dumped a tub of green ooze on me," Hilde said, taking a step back.
"I promise, no green ooze, babe," he looked down at her, violet eyes twinkling. "Trust me."
Hilde sighed, knowing she had lost the fight. Her eyes closed slowly and she heard him exhale gustily. Something feathery soft brushed against her chin and she jerked slightly. "Okay, open your eyes." Slowly, she lifted her eyelids, almost afraid to look.
A pale peach rosebud was held before her face. The long stemmed rose was surrounded by baby's breath and wrapped in green florist paper. "Oh, Duo," she sighed, "It's—" She broke off when she saw the delicate gold band encircling the stem. Her hand flew to her mouth and tears filled her eyes. She blinked and they overflowed, running down her cheeks.
"Hilde, babe, don't cry," Duo reached for her, feeling a spurt of panic. "What? Did I get the wrong ring? I'll go back and exchange it! Just don't cry anymore."
Caught between a laugh and a sob, she managed to speak. "Don't you dare, Duo Maxwell. It's perfect. I love it. I love you!" She threw her arms around his neck and held on as tightly as she could.
He breathed a sigh of relief and held her close. "I love you too, Hilde," he whispered. "Will you marry me?" Overcome, she nodded, pressing her face against his neck. They stood like that for several more moments, then Duo pulled away to look at Hilde. He lowered his head slowly and she reached upward, their lips meeting in a tender kiss. Hilde's hands slid up to tangle in Duo's hair and he deepened the kiss, opening his mouth against hers.
Hilde leaned in closer, a soft moan escaping her. Duo lightly teased the inside of her lips with his tongue, and she responded with her own. He wrapped his arms around her hips, lifting her to straddle his waist—
And a loud shriek scared the hell out of both of them. Duo staggered, almost dropping Hilde. She managed to get her feet under her and turned, wide eyed, to the oven.
"What the hell is that noise?" Duo shouted.
"My rolls!!" Hilde cried, grabbing a potholder and yanking the door of the oven open. A cloud of smoke billowed up, making them both gag. Duo ran back into the laundry room, throwing the back door open to let the smoke out. He came back in the kitchen to find Hilde pulling out a pan holding numerous charred lumps. She made a dash for the back door that he had opened and flung the cinders out into the back yard.
Duo was opening the windows above the sink when she returned with the pan. She dropped it in the sink with a loud clatter, disgusted with herself. "I had the oven turned on 450 to heat it up faster and I forgot to turn it down."
He retrieved the rose and held it back out to her. "I still love you," he said, giving her puppy dog eyes. She snorted, chuckled, then, unable to resist, burst into laughter. She grasped the back of one of the chairs and wiped laugh tears from her eyes.
"Just—just think about the story we'll have to tell our kids," she gasped out. "Daddy popped the question to Mommy and she almost burned the kitchen down." The thought was too much for Duo; he started laughing too.
"Let's make sure we leave out the part about Daddy being in the buff, while we're at it," he said, grinning.
"Go shower, you big doof," she said affectionately, giving him a push toward the doorway and a pat on the butt. She listened to him moving around upstairs as she put more rolls in the oven, this time making sure the temperature was turned down. Seconds later, she heard the hot water heater in the laundry room click on. Unable to resist, she picked up the rosebud and looked at the ring. It was dainty, with a princess cut diamond sparkling atop. She couldn't believe that he had remembered that she liked this very ring. She had seen it several months ago in one of the downtown jeweler's windows and had stopped to look at it every time they had gone shopping together. She slipped it off of the stem and placed it on her ring finger, biting her lip as it slid home. Oh, how many times did I imagine this moment? she thought, holding her hand out to admire the ring. Of course I always thought it would be in a dark, candlelit restaurant, with romantic music and an expensive dinner. She chuckled wryly. But that's not Duo's style. He hugged herself, felling like she was about to jump out of her skin. I don't care!! He asked me, that's all that matters!!! I don't care about anything else!
The doorbell rang and she went to answer it. Howard stood on the doorstep, wearing a gaudy lime and orange Hawaiiian print shirt. Still grinning, Hilde waved him in. "Hi there, Howard, come on in. Duo's in the shower and dinner's almost ready." She led him into the kitchen. "Can I get you anything to drink?"
"A Coke's fine, if ya got one," he replied, pulling out a chair and flopping down in it. Hilde got a can of soda from the fridge and handed it to him, knowing he didn't want a glass. She moved to set the table, nodding her thanks when he helped her set out the dishes.
"Ah, I see he gave it to ya then," Howard said, pointing at her hand. Hilde held it up, looking at her ring again, smiling. "Yeah, he went and got it on his lunch break. Never seen the boy so excited. I thought he'd pop before he got home, for sure." He grinned at her and shook his head. To be young again, he thought wryly as Duo came in. His hair was still damp, but he was squeaky clean. He gave Hilde a kiss on the cheek and dropped down in the chair across from Howard.
Hilde shook her head and went to set dinner on the table. Once everyone was seated, Duo said a short blessing, then proceeded to dig in. Hilde watched him for several seconds, always astonished by his hearty appetite. Howard was no slouch either and both of them were on seconds by the time Hilde halfway through her first.
"I heard that there's a really good show on the colony," Howard said, wiping his mouth with a paper towel.
"Really?" Duo asked, biting into a buttered roll.
"Yeah, a circus. They're supposed to be really good."
A light went off in Hilde's head. "Oh, that reminds me! Duo, your friend Trowa called, he said to tell you he was here on L-2 for the next few months. And to come by if you had the chance."
Duo looked pleased this news. "You don't say. Sounds like fun. Hilde, you wanna go to the circus this weekend?" She laughed and nodded. "It's a date, then!"
To be continued…