When Duo came back into the living room, he found Hilde nearly strangling Heero with a joyous hug. It took nearly all Heero's effort to pry Hilde off of his neck without hurting her in the process.
"Go hug your husband, Hilde. Let me go."
"Duo, does Faith know that Heero's here?" Hilde asked.
"Yeah, babe. She's upstairs in her room-I don't think she's handling this too well."
Heero glared at Duo. "If you hadn't told her I was dead-"
"Heero, calm down. You're going to kill someone by looking at them like that one day...What did you expect us to tell her? You didn't say what you wanted her to know...I guess I'll go check on her." Hilde looked from Heero to Duo and back again. "And no fighting in the house, either."
Hilde got up and walked calmly upstairs before either of the guys could reply. Heero watched her leave before looking back at Duo.
"You told her we were dead, Duo?" he asked again, eyes cold.
Duo sighed. It wasn't like Heero to repeat himself. "For the last time, no! We didn't tell Faith anything about you, Heero, and she never asked. What was she supposed to think? I mean, it's not like you ever did anything for her! Never called, or wrote, you never even sent her a goddamn card on her goddamn birthday!!"
"You're forgetting, Duo, that Relena and I were trying to stay low," Heero growled.
"Don't pull that crap with me, Heero! It might work with someone who doesn't know you, but not with me! I know for a fact that you don't have any trouble getting a secure phone line hooked up, or sending someone a letter that's untraceable." Duo glared at Heero, who just sat there like a lump of granite.
"Do you even know when her birthday is, Heero? Or how old she is, at least?"
"No, I don't."
"You don't what?"
"I don't know when her birthday is, but she's ten. Are you happy now, Duo?"
"It's June fucking seventeenth, Heero. She isn't ten, she's twelve. And no, Heero, I'm not happy. How in the world can you do this?"
"I don't have much choice, do I, Duo? I promised, remember?"
"Heero," Duo said between clenched teeth, "If that is the only reason you came back, you can leave right now and forget about Faith and the rest of us."
"I came back because I had to. And Relena misses Faith even if I don't know what to do with her."
Duo was about to make another scathing reply, but the front door swung open again. Duo barely managed to turn in time to avoid being hurt by two human cannonballs. They still knocked him down, but the force wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"Daddy!"
"Dad!"
"Hey! So, did practice go alright?"
"Yeah!" both boys answered at once. Duo grinned and ruffled their hair.
"Adam, Alex," Duo said, determined to make this good, "I'd like to introduce you to your Uncle Heero. Why don't you go say hello?"
The twins excitedly jumped into Heero's lap at the same time, startling him. "Hi, Uncle Heero!".
Heero shuddered. "Heaven help us. Duo has reproduced. And there are two of them."
"Hey! They're mine too!" Hilde protested from the top of the stairs. "Boys, get off of him and go change out of your uniforms."
The twins jumped off Heero's lap and were upstairs before anyone could say another word. Hilde was tempted to laugh at them, but she didn't want Heero to think she was laughing at him. Looking closely, Hilde could see how much Duo's best friend had changed since she had last seen him. Even though he was barely thirty, there were strands of gray in his hair. His bright, Prussian eyes were as cold as ever, but they were bloodshot and weary as well.
Poor Heero, she thought. He must have been through so much. Maybe I should try talking Duo into going a little easier on him.
***
The lights were out in Faith's room, and the curtains had been closed. Hilde shut the door behind her quietly in case Faith had actually decided to rest for a little while.
"Aunt Hilde?"
"Faith. Do you want to talk about anything?"
"Aunt Hilde, why did all this happen? How come nobody ever told me my real parents were alive?"
Hilde sighed and sat down on the bed. "It's a long story, Faith, and I'm not sure how much Heero and Relena want you to know. I don't really think it's my place to tell you at all, sweetheart, especially since they know much more about the situation than I do."
"Oh."
Faith closed her eyes and curled up with her head on Hilde's lap. "Aunt Hilde?"
"Yeah?"
"I have to go with him, don't I?" Faith shivered and pulled the sheets over herself. "I don't want to."
"Why not? I thought you would like to live with your real family."
"I dunno, Aunt Hilde...He just seems so cold. Like the kind of person who wouldn't want a kid around to get in the way."
"Heero is that way sometimes; he's always been like that, but it isn't his fault. You see, Faith, when he was young; about as old as the twins, he was put into a plan to take over the Earth called Operation Meteor. The people there rewired his brain, trying to eliminate his humanity and turn him into a perfect soldier. Heero will never be able to change, and we just have to remember that."
"Oh. That's sad, Aunt Hilde."
"Yes. But things are peaceful now, Faith. Be glad that Heero fought his training enough to try and save the Earth rather than destroy it."
"I'll try."
"That's all we can ask, Faith. Here, get off me; I need to go make sure Duo doesn't try to kill your dad for something stupid, alright?"
"Okay. I want to stay up here for now, Aunt Hilde."
"Sure, Faith. I won't let them bother you."
"Thanks."
A/N: This sucks big time, but oh well. Next chapter: fairly unplanned so far, though I'm probably gonna send Faith back down to Earth.
