Disclaimer: And the shepherds heard a multitude of angels on high declare, "Kawaii Li'l Lia shall never own Gundam Wing."
Last Time: Duo proposed a holiday celebration and managed to get Quatre and Trowa to pool resources…and let Duo use the Winner mansion.
For the next two weeks, the phone became an extension of my body. I took a hiatus from the yard so that my plans could come to fruition. It took me most of that time just to find and call everyone, but the results were better than I'd expected. Though not everyone was planning on staying for the few days before, everyone I'd called was planning on attending Christmas Day at least. I was definitely surprised at such a positive response, Wufei being the only negation and even then, Sally told me that he was just being a stubborn jackass and would be coming anyways. Howard was the only one I couldn't get in touch with…other than Heero, that is. It wasn't until two days before Quatre's proposed date that Relena called with his number. I swear, that girl has the determination of a bloodhound when it comes to finding Heero.
She told me he was living in Kyoto, though why, she had no answers for. I knew reaching him would be a shot in the dark, because of the time difference, but I decided that Heero was worth the shot.
"I'm not home, leave a message."
Did I ever mention that I hate answering machines? Well, I do. Especially Heero's.
"Uh, hey Heero, it's Duo. I know this is kind of weird, me calling you out of the blue and all, but I've been trying to get in touch with you for a while now and Relena just gave me your number. Bet you knew she'd be the one to find you when none of us could. Anyway, I'm calling to see if you had any inclination to joining us…the other pilots and me…for a Christmas get-together at Quatre's. So, um, if you happen to get this message, call me, or Quatre, or even Trowa for that matter. We'd really like to see you, Heero. Quatre's kind of counting on your being there so…"
He picked up mid-prattle, the video screen flicking on. In the four years since we've parted ways, Heero has grown more handsome than ever. His hair is still pretty unruly, but it's seemed to tame, just a little. And he has glasses now, gunmetal gray wire-rimmed ones that make the harsh blue of his eyes less steely. He's really quite beautiful, and I found it hard not to jump the monitor.
"Duo." Oh God, his voice was like a choir of angels. I've missed hearing that voice, even if it was uttering death threats or screaming hoarse battle cries.
"Heero! God, you look great! How've you been?"
"Well enough, I guess. Working as the vice president of a technological firm in Kyoto now. You?"
"Still at Maxwell-Schbeiker Inc. hauling old mobile suit parts. So, um, what do you think about the Christmas thing? I mean, no pressure or anything, but I guarantee there will be no mention of anything associated with the word Gundam."
"Hn. Who's coming to it?" he asked. Heero sounds so far away to me, but his voice hasn't lost that cool temperance that always kept us from getting too cocky on the battlefield.
"Everyone, literally everyone. I mean, not everybody's going to be staying there. I think it'll just be the five of us, plus Hilde, Sally, Zechs and Noin. Maybe Dorothy, she's getting back to us on that. Other than that, everyone else is coming Christmas Day for dinner. You know, Une, Relena and the like. Sylvia Noventa is even dropping in."
"And you said Quatre wants me there."
"I've never seen him this happy before, Heero," I admitted. "Trowa's even looking forward to this. I think he's been working his ass off on a painting that he wants to show off. And you know Hilde, she's been cooking like she's preparing for Judgment Day. We'd all really like to see you, Heero. We miss you…I…miss you."
He sighed, this one declaring that he was seriously deliberating the offer. "When are you going over there?"
"The twenty-first, thereabout. Quatre said he's putting us all up in his place, no problem."
"Then tell him I'll see him in two days."
As I hung up the phone, Hilde began blasting music from the kitchen stereo. Ironically enough, it was Handel's Messiah, the Hallelujah Chorus. I slid out into the room in my stocking feet, trumpeting along with the singers. Hilde laughed, poking me with a wooden spoon as she started in on yet another batch of Schbeiker Family Recipe Christmas Cookies.
"What are you so excited about? What glad tidings have you, angel boy?"
"Heero! He's going to come! Don't know how I managed to pull it off, but I got Heero to come! Oh man, I've got to tell Quatre. He's going to be so psyched, this is going to be the best Christmas in the history of Christmases."
And as I skipped merrily off, Hilde just stared happily, hallelujahs reverberating down the hallway and throughout our little apartment.
"It took four years, but they're finally all going to be happy again. Whoever in heaven is responsible for this, thanks a heap."
When we got to Quatre's two days later, the bigwigs in charge of L4's weather patterns decided to run a light snow sequence. I don't think anybody really minded that the snow wasn't entirely real, it was the fact that snow was in the air and Christmas was merely days away. I'm not sure how Hilde managed to get all of her cooking past the security checkpoint at the shuttle station, or how we got all of our luggage on the shuttle. I suppose it's the power and precedence that comes with being a former Gundam Pilot.
Trowa answered the door. He doesn't look all that bad, considering he's still recovering from a near-death incident. It's still unnerving to see him wearing baggy pants, since all we saw him in for years were those skintight jeans of his. But other than some visible scars on his face and the obvious bulk of his leg brace, he's still the same old Trowa Barton.
"Hey guys, glad you could come. Quatre's in the other room, wrestling with the tree…Hilde, what is all of that?"
My petite counterpart grinned wildly. "Christmas cookies courtesy of Grandmamma Schbeiker's recipe book. The only thing this little OZ defect inherited."
Trowa nodded and we followed him into the house, tossing our jackets on a coat rack by the door and setting our luggage down next to it. Trowa shuffled his way towards the living room.
"Quatre, Duo and Hilde are here," he stated in that dark baritone of his.
Quatre, at that moment, was tilting precariously on a small wooden stool, trying to string the lights into the branches of his immense Christmas tree…I swear, it's at least eight feet tall. Pine needles were stuck in his hair and he did not look amused in the least bit.
"Not now, Trowa!" he chided. "Why do they keep blinking? They're not supposed to blink! Stop blinking!"
Dorothy sat on a little loveseat across from the tree, watching with wry amusement as her former enemy had a Zero System relapse over Christmas tree lights. "Do you want another string, Quatre? You have about seventeen over there."
"And none of them work, Dorothy."
Hilde wandered around the foyer in amazement. I don't know if she's ever been inside of the place, I don't think it's all that spectacular. Maybe it's because Quatre decorated it, so it has this homey, country living feel to it, rather than the grandiose Martha Stewart mansion I'm sure Hilde was expecting. It's very earthy, calm and peaceful, like the two of them, actually. I'm sure if it were his sisters living here, the house would have zebra print couch cushions and bright red floor rugs and stuff like that.
"Are you coming in, or would you rather just stand there?" Trowa asked, leaning against the doorframe. Hilde scampered in and sat down next to Dorothy, while I took my good sweet time, moseying on over to Trowa and leaning on the opposite side of the door.
"So…things have been good?" I asked casually.
"Yeah, Quatre's got until New Years' off, I've got a showing coming up, and I guess Catherine's got herself a boyfriend," he replied. "And oddly enough, out of all the people she could be dating, it's Abdul."
"No way! Abdul the Maguanac Abdul? That's crazy."
Trowa nodded. "And apparently Zechs and Noin won't be coming after all, since Noin's in the hospital."
"Hospital? She okay?"
Quatre leaned over far enough so he could be seen. "Better than okay! She's having her baby!"
Hilde gasped. "A baby? Omigosh, I love babies! And with parents like Zechs Merquise and Lucrezia Noin, that kid will be gorgeous."
The doorbell rang at that point, and I went to answer it, saving Trowa yet another slow and painful limp to the door. He hobbled his way to the nearest chair and flopped into it, watching Quatre as the little blonde continued to grapple with the lights. It was Wufei and Sally, the former scowling at the snowflakes and muttering something about the injustice of winter. That's Wufei for you.
"Merry Christmas, Duo," Sally remarked jovially. "I hope we aren't past the 'fashionably late' mark, Lady Une kept us doing paperwork right up until about five minutes before our flight."
"Nah, we just got here ourselves, Heero hasn't even shown yet, and your Preventer pals Zechs and Noin bailed at the last minute. Guess Noin's having herself a Christmas baby."
Sally's eyes went wide. "Noin's having the baby! Outta the way, I've got a call to make! She's not supposed to be due for another three weeks…if she forgets to name it after me I swear I will personally go out there and dispense some serious Sally Po justice…"
Wufei just shook his head as his fiancé plowed her way into the house. "Damn onna."
"But she's your damn onna, Wufei. What've you been up to? You look pretty good for somebody who's still running around saving our little civilian asses."
"Hmph, it's a living. So Heero's not here."
I shook my head, trying hard not to whip Wufei with my braid. The last thing I need is for him to get all pissed off and scream "Maxwell! Kisama!"
"Not yet. But he told me he was planning on coming, so…"
Wufei frowned. "You probably should've gotten it in writing. Knowing Heero, he's probably off blowing something up right about now."
"Or he's standing right behind you, wondering when you're going to get the hell out of the way because it's damn cold out," Heero retorted, staring dubiously at the front door and the two of us. It took all of my restraint not to fly at him and crush him in a monster hug. Now was not really the time for that.
"So you made it after all, Yuy. You'll be glad to know your old friend Zechs isn't here and won't be coming, although I can't say much about Relena," Wufei stated dryly.
"Hn. Duo," he stated with a nod, glaring impatiently at Wufei from over the top of his glasses. "Any day now, Chang."
"Shut up, Yuy. Nataku, you go away for years and come back the same unjust jackass you've always been."
Heero grinned, actually grinned, and not his blowing-up-your-mobile-suit-OZ-sucka grin. "I could say the same for you, Wufei."
Wufei grumbled about injustice and finally went inside, tossing his luggage and wandering into the other room to sit with everyone else. Heero and I just stood there staring at each other for a few minutes.
"Hn. You look good, Duo. Lose weight?"
"Nah, just haven't gained any. I swear Hilde's been sneaking healthy food in with my snacks. Wouldn't be surprised if I've been really eating carob and soy for the past couple of years without even knowing."
He chuckled quietly. "Right. What's with Trowa? I expected him to be around. Is he here or what?"
"Yeah, he's here, probably just hanging out on the couch. I don't think he can stay in an upright position for too long, too much strain, ya know."
Heero shot me a confounded expression. "What do you mean?"
"Oh…that's right, you were gone by then. Trowa fell off the high-wire last year, killed his leg. It's been reinforced with gundanium and put in a metal brace, but it's still too disfigured to be of a whole lot of use. Quatre took it harder than he did."
"Have they gone out with each other yet?"
"Hardly. They call dates folding the laundry or taking Trowa to physical therapy. I don't think they've had a real date since maybe just after we took out Dekim. I don't know if they ever will…even though we all know how mad in love they are."
"There's still time. Maybe God will be willing to pass out a few Christmas miracles for us. After all, we did prevent an early Armageddon, didn't we?"
I nodded, not without a small frown. "You've changed, Heero. A lot."
"We all change, Duo. I've just changed for the better. The time I've spent away I've used to heal, emotionally, physically. You're different too, not as…hyper."
"I'm saving up for Wednesday," I stated, quirking my eyebrows. "Just kidding. Actually, I've never really been all that hyper. Used it as a front to hide my insecurities during the war. Now that that's over, well…as Herman Melville said, 'all visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks.'"
"Moby Dick, not bad. Let's get inside, I could use some coffee and about two days of sleep."
Sally and Dorothy were in the kitchen making coffee by the time Heero and I got in, while Trowa and Wufei watched as Hilde performed miracles on Quatre's lights. Somehow she got them to cease their annoying blinking, and now the snakelike coil of twinkling white lights were allowing their diminutive masters to string them docilely along the fragrant piney branches. Victoria's Secret boxes full of delicate glass ornaments lay open on the floor, at the ready to be carefully distributed to every bough.
"Hello, Heero. Glad you could make it out here," Trowa said casually, his bad leg propped up with a sumptuous-looking silk throw pillow.
Sally came in with a tray laden with coffee mugs, setting it down on the table. "Oh, Heero! I didn't see you come in. Merry Christmas. And, everyone, you'll be happy to know that Noin is doing fine, no baby yet, but he's on the way."
"That's great, Sally!" Quatre remarked from his stepstool, trying to affix the angel to the top of the tree without falling into the branches. "Trowa, I'd ask you to help me, but you look too comfortable so…"
I offered my services, taking up the little angel and the stepstool, the angel being the tree ornament, of course. Quatre would kill me if I made any sort of comparison between him and some heavenly being. Although I have to admit, his angel bears a fair resemblance to him.
It was about this time that Dorothy came in with a large porcelain ramekin and one of those flame guns that were popular in the twentieth century of the AD calendar. She set the ramekin down on the coffee table with a flourish, displaying a large and very rich-looking plum pudding.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the time-honored tradition shared among my family for generations, the Christmas plum pudding. It is a longstanding ritual in our family to serve the pudding a flambé, and so…" Dorothy clicked the gun, setting the flame close to the dessert. The brandy in the pudding ignited, but unfortunately, so did the rest of the pudding. I watched in horror from the stool as Dorothy's dessert went up in flames, flames that spread onto the coffee table. Quatre let out a horrified yelp, running for the fire extinguisher. The smoke alarms in the house were going off by now, and the whole living room had dissolved into chaos. Heero whipped off his sweater and started beating the flames out until Quatre could come in and douse the whole thing with foam.
"Well," Trowa stated dryly, scrutinizing the smoldering remains of the coffee table and the plum pudding, "I suppose if we put a little custard and some whipped cream on it, it'll taste just fine. Hm?"
Dorothy laughed nervously. "I'm so sorry, Quatre, I'll buy you a new coffee table as soon as possible. And a new sweater for you, Heero."
"It's quite all right, Dorothy. I never really liked that one anyway. Too dark for the room. Besides, we'll always remember this as the Christmas Dorothy's pudding a flambé turned out more flambéed than we thought."
"I've got six other sweaters just like it, Relena always manages to give me the same one in a different color every major holiday. Don't worry about it," Heero added.
I didn't mind one bit that Heero was now sitting there in just jeans and a white wifebeater. And with his glasses perched on the very tip of his nose, he looked absolutely incredible. Like something out of a smutty Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue.
"Okay, since we won't be having plum pudding, how about I put another pot of coffee on and break out a tray of gingerbread men?" Hilde suggested. "Maybe we should try those a flambé?"
The others let out a resounding negation before breaking into peals of laughter. I just stood there smiling, overwhelmed and overjoyed at the success of my little holiday party. We'd barely been together again for a day, and everyone's spirits were already lighter. I may be changing my mind about Christmas after all.
That's it for today. Don't worry, though, there's always tomorrow for dreams to come true, believe in your dreams, come what may…God love those Rankin-Bass animated specials.
Next Time: Luminaries, presents, a bigger ham than Duo, and mistletoe for one and all. I still think mistletoe sounds like some sort of disease.