A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. I've been sick a lot lately it seems…..And I've been having computer problems too, so don't expect anymore for a while….this hunk of junk is touch and go right now…..

 This chapter starts with a flashback from when Faith was seven, then goes five years into the future. The part in italics is the flashback, just so ya know. Please review!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!! Especially Gundam Wing. In fact, I don't even have any models….

"Aunt Hilde, who are these people?" Seven-year-old Faith pointed at the picture for Hilde to see. Of course, Hilde recognized it immediately as the last one Heero and Relena had taken with their daughter before the bombing. They were quite the happy family in the picture, Heero was standing with an arm over Relena's shoulders, and Faith was sitting in her mother's lap. All three were beaming at the camera; a picture-perfect moment.

"Sweetie, that's a picture of you and your parents. You must have been around two years old when that was taken. If I remember right, it was a few days before Christmas, and your mother wanted to have a picture of the family to send to her brother on Mars."

"Oh." Faith was silent for a few moments, looking at the picture. She knew her parents were dead, though no one had ever said the exact words. The most she'd ever been able to get from anyone was that they were gone, but they would come back soon.

"Aunt Hilde," Faith said softly, "what were they like?"

Hilde looked down into Faith's Prussian eyes and saw that Faith really wanted an honest answer, not just a brush off. She took a deep breath before beginning to talk about two of her dearest friends.

Duo had walked in on them later that afternoon. Hilde had told Faith everything she could about Heero and Relena before she burst into tears. Duo found them that way, with Hilde sobbing on Faith's shoulder, and Faith begging her aunt to stop crying. When he saw what they had been doing, Duo took the old photo album off Hilde's lap and handed it to Faith.

"Their wedding pictures are in here too, Ladybug," he said to her. "Why not go upstairs and look at them in your room while I talk to your Aunt Hilde for a little while?"

"Alright, Uncle Duo. Please don't cry anymore, Aunt Hilde-it's not good for you in your condition. They died a long time ago, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to still be crying for them," Faith said softly as she went up the stairs, clutching the album like it was the last life preserver on a sinking ship.

Duo watched her go, and when her bedroom door had closed he shook his head and sighed. "Babe, I'm beginning to wonder if we should have told her everything in the first place. It would have saved us all a lot of pain and trouble."

Hilde only sniffled and snuggled closer to him, weeping her frustrations into his shirt. Duo cuddled his pregnant wife as close as he could, and let her cry herself to sleep before carrying her upstairs to bed and curling up next to her.

~*~ End Flashback ~*~

Faith smiled sadly and put the album back in her book shelf. It always made her feel funny to look at the pictures of her parents. In most of them, they looked so happy together, especially her mother. It was harder to tell with her father, but she sensed his happiness when she looked at his picture. She only wished that she had been able to know them better.

The doorbell rang, drawing Faith from the past into the present. Faith laughed, thinking it was Sara-Jane and Charlotte coming  to pick her up so they could get ready for the dance recital they had that afternoon. Either that or Marielle, their next door neighbor, bringing the twins home from little league practice. She grabbed her duffle bag off her dresser and ran out her bedroom door.

"I'll get it!" she called, bounding down the stairs and through the hall to the door.

"Faith!" Hilde yelled from the kitchen, "Don't run in the house! You're going to fall and break your neck one of these days!"

Faith sighed and slowed down. "Yes, Aunt Hilde," she said, walking down the hall to the front door.

Duo grinned over the edge of his paper. Faith was always so eager, especially when it came to answering the phone or the door. He was just glad that she hadn't gotten the phone during one of Heero's late night phone calls. But wouldn't Heero be surprised to see her now; at twelve Faith was nearly six inches taller than Hilde, and she looked like a female version of her father when Duo had first met him. The door creaked open, and there was silence for a moment and then a crash.

"Who's here, Ladybug?"  Duo asked. When Faith didn't answer, he put the comics section of the paper down and went to the door himself.

The only thing Duo saw was Faith lying unconscious on the floor. He forgot about everything else, including the person at the door and Hilde's favorite vase, which was lying in pieces across the threshold.

"Faith, wake up," he murmured, kneeling and gently smacking her cheeks. Their guest came and knelt next to him, fishing in his pocket.

"Here," he said, handing Duo a small tablet. "I always keep a of these few on hand; they're good to have around when your wife's a politician."

Duo thanked the man, not thinking about the familiar silhouette caused by the sun at his back, or the stabbing feeling Duo got from hearing his voice. He snapped the tablet in half and waved the pungent substance over Faith's nose, making her twitch and groan.

"Ya might wanna get back, buddy," Duo finally said. "When she wakes up, she wakes up swingin' if ya know what I mean. You might end up with a black eye or two if you get too close to her right now."

Faith twitched again and opened her eyes. Bleary and unfocused, they traveled from Duo's face to the guest's and back. "Uncle Duo," she said quietly, "Make the dead people go away."

She fainted again before Duo could find out what she meant. He only shook his head and picked her up, then turned to apologize to the visitor. "Sorry. She's usually not like this…I don't know what's gotten into her-"

"You told her we were dead, Duo?" The sudden realization of the man's identity hit Duo in the face, and he felt like fainting himself.

"He-Heero? It's you?! Wh-what are you doing here?" Duo managed to stammer, looking into those cold, Prussian eyes.

"You made me promise to come back to her as soon as it was safe, Duo. I remembered that, did you? And why did you tell her we were dead?" Heero asked, annoyed.

"I never did tell her you were dead. She asked about you, and we always told her that the two of you were gone, but you'd come back someday. She got that idea herself, Heero."

"Hn," was all Heero would say. Duo rolled his eyes. Some things would never change; mountains, oceans, Heero Yuy. Not to mention very few other things.

"Come inside, Hilde will be pissed if we stand in the hall with the door open all day. Where's Relena?" Duo led the way back down the hall with Faith in his arms. For a minute he considered handing her to Heero, but realizing that this would probably be his last chance to hold her, he decided not to.

"She's back in the Sanq Kingdom with a cold. She wanted to come herself, but since she couldn't she made me come here instead. Even after all this time she still misses Faith like crazy."

"Ah," Duo replied, setting Faith down on the couch. She grumbled and stirred, but Duo decided to leave her alone for once. Any other time, he would have taken her into the backyard and dumped her into the pool just for the fun of it. But then she would have reached up and pulled him in too, and they would end up getting into a splash fight, which would turn into chasing each other around the yard until Faith managed to catch up with Duo and tackle him. Then the twins would more than likely throw themselves into the middle of it all, and someone would end up being tickled senseless until Hilde came outside and broke it up.

"Will she be alright?" Heero asked, after standing still as a statue for five straight minutes.

"Yeah. She doesn't react well to unexpected situations. You could have called first, you know. What if we weren't home or something?" Duo asked, annoyed at Heero's bad timing.

"I couldn't find a pay phone."

Duo rolled his eyes. As if Heero needed a pay phone. He probably had a phone in his pocket. Stupid excuse, but typical Heero. The man would never change.

"Fine. What about email? Or even a letter! You could have sent something, Heero!" Duo said, banging his head against the couch arm. Faith groaned again and opened her eyes a crack. Heero saw, but only said, "I left a message on your answering machine two weeks ago."

"Would that be the order of a large pizza with extra toppings? In Japanese?" Faith asked, sitting up.

"I guess that's why the pizza never came…" Heero muttered.

The doorbell rang again, and Faith jumped. Duo frowned at her and got up to get the door himself, leaving Faith and Heero alone together. Faith looked at Heero warily and tried not to be too obvious when she scooted to the other end of the couch, and then followed Duo to see who was at the door. Sara-Jane and Charlotte were right on time.

"Faith!" they squealed when they saw her.

"We knew you were making fun of us, Mr. Maxwell," Charlotte giggled. Duo rolled his eyes at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Duo, not Mr. Maxwell?"

"Uncle Duuuooo!" Sara-Jane squeaked, "If you don't get out of the doorway, we won't get there on time!"

"See? She even calls me Uncle Duo," Duo said to Charlotte, who stuck out her tongue. "Girls, I don't know if I should let Faith go to the program; she passed out a few minutes ago."

"But I'm fine now, Uncle Duo!" Faith protested. "And I have to go or the rest of the group won't be able to compete!"

"Pleeease!!" The girls begged, looking up at him with three pairs of starry eyes. Duo sighed. He was getting to be as vulnerable as Hilde when it came to the puppy face. Duo gulped.

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm sure you can manage without her just this one time."

"Awww....Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Tell ya what, though. Come back after the show, and we'll all go somewhere and grab something to eat. Or else, we'll order a pizza and stay here for a while."

"Okay....Bye, Mr. Maxwell. We'll be back later."

Sara-Jane and Charlotte left, and Duo shut the door. Faith was watching him with wide eyes; he ruffled her hair and she managed a weak grin.

"Go upstairs and lie down for a little while, ladybug. I'll come talk to you later, okay?"

Faith nodded and did as she was asked.

A/N: Alrighty, if you don't get things so far, here's what's going on. Faith is Heero and Relena's daughter who has grown up with Duo and Hilde. At this point in the story, she's twelve years old. The flashback takes place when she's seven. Heero comes to get her, and things don't go very well. Oh…and Heero's mistake with the pizza turns out to be a whopper later on….I mean, it's got some bad results. And now for the characters. These are listed in no particular order.

Marielle-The Maxwell's next door neighbor. Her kids and the twins are on the same little league team, so Marielle has started a carpool.

Adam and Alex-Duo and Hilde's five year old twins. Incredibly hyper, more about them in the next chapter.

Sara-Jane and Charlotte-Faith's two best friends. Sara-Jane insists on both of her names being used, she won't go by just one. Charlotte has been raised to be very polite and proper, a habit which Duo continually tries to break.

And in our next chapter….when I manage to get it out……We will have a nice conversation with Heero (Hilde won't let the guys fight in the house).