* * *
"I can't believe we're driving in this thing! I feel like such a 'somebody.'" Duo's voice rang through the closed cabin of the limo. Quatre knew their silly sports car and motorcycle wouldn't accommodate the purchases he planned to obtain today. Shingam and Killashandra need new, well, everything, not to mention the presents he planned to get them for Christmas; he did only have ten more days.
Shaking his head he turned to glance quickly at Trowa. His lover sat beside him, Killashandra situated comfortably in his lap. The little girl had a fist full of Trowa's trademark sweater and didn't seem to be ready to let go. Quatre had hand picked the sweater from their closet before they'd left the bedroom to collect the children. It held significant meaning to both lovers, in that it was the very same sweater Trowa'd worn the night they'd made love for the first time. He'd noted the recognition in Trowa's eyes the moment he'd carried it from the closet and presented it for approval. It was an unspoken promise of later, one that both knew would end the last long suffering week they'd been apart physically.
Across from him, Duo and Heero sat with Shingam next to Heero. The boy had been quiet since they'd left but while they'd still been in the living room, he'd been very different. Shingam had attached himself to Trowa, even starting conversations with his tall partner. He suspected that Shingam was duly impressed with Trowa's bathroom antics and no longer saw him as a threat. He couldn't be sure since he couldn't read the boy but there was an easy way Shingam now looked to both himself and Trowa, and Quatre was grateful beyond words.
"Duo, it's just a limo-a really long car. It's no big deal, I used to ride everywhere in them."
"Yeah, but that's just it, you were in them all the time, I hardly ever get to. By they way, how come we never ride around in this puppy anyway, it just sits in the garage."
Trowa smiled. "That's not true."
Quatre felt his cheeks color at the remembered memory of one dark night when he and Trowa had taken the limo to a very-secluded-area, and proceeded to add it to the list of objects they'd christened.
"Oh I see that blush! You and Trowa have had sex in this car, haven't you! Ohhhhh I'm jealous, Heero, buy me a limo!"
"No."
"But Quatre's got a limo, and I want one too. Think of all the fun things we could do in the back! It's got two seats, Heero." The last part was said in a seductive voice and Quatre had to laugh at the look of "shut up or die" lust that ran across Heero's face.
Hoping to end the sexual tension that now permeated the car, he turned to Shingam. "Well, are you and Killa excited about going shopping? We'll stop for lunch first and then buy you both some new clothes. There's only one store in town that specializes in ready-made children's clothes, and since the both of you need something to wear right away, we'll only have to hit one clothing store. Then we'll head over to the toy store and see if we can find you and Killa a kite. Does that sound good?"
Shingam paused for a moment before nodding his head and smiling brightly at Killashandra. "Killa's excited about the kite."
Beside him, Trowa snuggled the child in his arms tighter; Quatre smiled.
They continued into town in relative companionable silence. Once in a while Duo would say something, and Heero would shut him up, one way or another. Quatre on the other hand couldn't help driving Trowa crazy by lightly fingering the material of Trowa's sweater and barely moving the fingers he had wrapped around Trowa's inner thigh. Trowa was going to kill him pretty soon.
Then Duo said something that caught his attention. "Hey Q, with the tinting on these windows, we can't see out, and all those people that should be thinking I'm some Bigshot, can't see us right?"
Quatre nodded. The limo was made for absolute privacy, including state of the art tinting capabilities. Basically with the flip of a switch, the windows could be darkened to prevent all forms of enhanced mechanical spying technology from seeing the goings on inside. However, the passengers couldn't see out either, it was a trade-off he'd been willing to make at the time.
"Well, be a pal and let me stand in the spot light for a little while, their might be a really cute guy out there." Heero growled while Duo smirked.
Catering to Duo, Quatre released the tint control and watched as the windows went from pure black, to crystal clear.
"Better." Trowa said sighing.
"Trowa, why didn't you tell me you wanted the windows clear?"
His love shrugged. "It being black like that.it's almost like being in space."
The link flashed with checked but remembered fear, and Quatre firmly berated himself for putting Trowa in a situation that reminded him of the terrifying time he'd spent adrift in outer space. He reached his hand up to gently run through Trowa's bangs, a comforting gesture he'd learned long ago eased the tension from Trowa's body. How could he have been so stupid!
"KILLA, LOOK!!!" Suddenly, Shingam was up and standing on the seat, his faced pressed firmly against the window. Before any of them could say anything, Shingam jumped from his seat to Killashandra's and wrenched the girl from Trowa's grip; then proceeded to lift and push her up against the window.
Trowa reacted, grabbing Shingam about the waist and swinging the boy away from the window, to sit firmly planted in his lap, next he tugged Killashandra into a sitting position on the bench seat. Both children seemed not to notice, staring out the window at the traffic and mountain ranges beyond.
Startled and unnerved, Heero reacted first. "Shingam, you cannot do that again." This time, Shingam looked at Heero, a stunned look on his face. "It's dangerous for you not to be seated while the car is moving, do you understand, you could get hurt!" Heero wasn't loud, just very, very commanding, the same voice he used to use when he'd talked to them during the war.
In Trowa's lap, Shingam seemed to flinch under Heero's tone before softly nodding his head and turning back to watch the scenery pass by. Trowa caught onto the next part.
"Shingam, why did you get so excited when the windows were cleared?"
The boy looked at him as if he were crazy before turning to Quatre, a look of renewed wonder on his face. "We didn't know it was so big, Quatre?"
Confused he asked. "What was big?"
"The Earth."
His heart broke, cracked into a thousand pieces, and shattered. Around him the others felt the same way, and there was such sadness coming through the link to make Quatre want to cry. Had they really never seen the Earth? Hadn't they ever seen anything besides that torturous room they'd been in when he'd found them? God it hurt so much.
Duo somehow managed to save them all.
Reaching into Trowa's lap, Duo gathered Shingam close and held him tightly. "You know what Kid? The world's a lot bigger than what you and Killashandra can see from these windows. You see that mountain over there? Someday, I'll take you and Killashandra to that mountain and we'll climb to the top, and you can see half of the world. But until then, I think we'll get the two of you a globe and some really cool books on places all over the world. You'll love them! And I promise, someday, I'll take you to New America. My parents were from there, and we'll go visit my hometown or something like that. How's that sound? Oh and don't forget, we're all spending New Years in China with Wufei and Sally-trust me, you'll love the fireworks they have in that country, the most beautiful things you've ever seen."
Shingam listened intently to every word Duo said, absorbing every syllable and committing it to memory. It was written on his face, the fascination he felt that the world was bigger even that what he could now see. Quatre smiled. When he turned he saw too, that Killa was listening to Duo, and while her face held no expression, her eyes seemed to have brightened at the possibilities.
* * *
He'd wanted to go to a nice place for lunch, somewhere he could get Killa and Shingam something easily digestible and yet decent tasting.
Duo had convinced him to go to the mall food court.
That had been his first mistake in an afternoon that bordered on near intolerable.
The food court had been loud and obnoxious. Duo preferred fast food to all other kinds and had insisted that they all wait at one of the many tables for him to return with their orders. Mentally, Quatre had kicked himself even then, his instincts told him nothing good could come from this, and he should have listened.
"Ok, foods on!" Duo presented a tray for inspection before handing Quatre back his credit card. "I got something for everybody."
An assortment of high fat, low nutritional value foods lay on two day- glow orange trays, and Quatre shuddered at the unappetizing color staring him in the face. Then upon closer examination of the food he got testy.
"Duo, you were suppose to get the children soup. I don't see any soup here."
"Relax Q. I got them something better! Pizza!"
"Pizza! You idiot, they can't eat pizza!"
"Oh sure they can, all kids can eat pizza."
"Not my kids!" There was a menacing tone to Quatre's voice, and he ignored the people around them that began to stare. Duo didn't seem to notice.
"Lighten up! Here look." Duo lifted the plate containing one slice of pepperoni pizza and placed it in front of Shingam. For his part, the boy stared at the thing like it was from another planet. "Go on Shingam, try it, you'll love it!"
Turning the plate three times, Shingam finally lifted the slice of pizza to his nose and smelled it, then leaning forward, he took a bite.
"There! See Quatre, he likes it."
Duo didn't notice the disgusted look on Shingam's face. The boy tried to hide the look, but Heero called him on it. "Shingam, do you like the pizza?"
The boy said nothing, only turned slightly panicked eyes to Quatre.
Heero caught Shingam's chin, and turned the boy to look back at him. "It's alright if you don't like it. We'll just get you something else to eat." Heero must have seen something in Shingam's eyes then; "You and Killashandra will not be punished. If you don't like the pizza, tell me and we'll get you something else, but you and Killashandra, will not be punished."
They watched Shingam hesitate, saw him turn to glance quickly at Duo, before turning to look at Killashandra. The girl sat in a booster chair watching Shingam intently. Finally after a quick nod to Killa, Shingam turned with fear back to Heero. "I don't-don't like it." Again, Quatre watched, as both Shingam and Killa seemed to tense, waiting for a blow they thought would be delivered. He shared a quick look with Heero before he leaned over and gave Killa a quick kiss. Heero stunned them all by ruffling Shingam's hair and tickling him under the chin.
"Then we'll get you something else. Duo isn't mad, are you?" Duo shook his head before placing a loud kiss in Shingam's hair.
"Naw, it's cool, more pizza for me. Heero, why don't you take him to that place you like so much. What's it called again? The one on the vid, with the obnoxious clown from every kid's nightmares?"
"McDonald's. I like their fries." He smiled to Shingam, before lifting the boy out of his seat and reaching down to take his hand. "There are a lot of people here, so it would be best for you to hold my hand, that way we won't be separated." For a spit second, Shingam hesitated before he grasped three of Heero's fingers and turned back to look worriedly at Killashandra.
"Killa you stay here and don't move! I'll be right back! You do what Quatre and Trowa tell you, understand?" A moment later he looked up at Heero. "She understands, we can go now."
Heero nodded and smiled down at the boy before the two of them walked hand in hand across the way.
Smiling himself, Quatre watched them until a soft sigh escaped his best friend and he turned to look at Duo. The American's voice was soft, an airy quality to it. "He's going to make such a good father someday. Kids bring the best out of him."
Quatre smiled and nodded. "Did you talk to him yet about your feelings on children?"
Startled, Duo turned to him. "Oh, yeah, we talked about it. But we basically decided that we're still a little young; I mean I just turned twenty-one a few months ago. Besides, we've got plenty of time, and," he paused, "Maybe it's selfish, but I kinda just want Heero to myself for a while. Neither one of us really had much of a childhood, and to be honest, I think Heero's a little worried about how raising children is going to be for the two of us." Quatre wasn't fooled for a minute; Duo was just as nervous and scared as Heero, and they both had every right to be. Even he was scared, scared he'd somehow turn into his father when he least expected it, and he knew Trowa felt the same way; that blinding fear that abused children often grew up to be abusive parents. He shuddered at the thought.
"Open, Killa." Turning, he watched Trowa lift a cut up piece of Shingam's left over pizza to Killa's open mouth. He watched with amazement as the little girl worked at the bite, chewing over and over. Trowa turned to him and smiled when Killa finally opened her mouth for more. "I think she likes it."
"Oh no, just like Duo. These kids will never eat healthy!"
They laughed, and even Duo grinned as he reached for another slice of pizza and began to devour it. And then, it got bad.
"TIMMY!!!!" The shout rang across the food court. Quatre looked around for a moment, but turned back to Killa, ignoring the shout for mall noise. Quatre no baka!
Suddenly Heero appeared, Shingam in his arms. Silently, Heero walked over to the seat and dropped Shingam into it before squatting down to look the boy straight in the eye. They all watched stunned as Heero spoke to him.
"What you did was inappropriate and unnecessary. That is unacceptable behavior and you will not do it again, do you understand?" Heero's voice held a note of anger and Shingam readily nodded his head. Quatre turned, just in time to see Killashandra flinch.
"But Heero, that boy said mean things about Killa, and she's my responsibility! I won't let him say bad stuff about her!"
Adamantly, Heero shook his head. "That is not an excuse. You're a very smart boy, you don't need to push people to make them stop. If you don't like something someone says, then tell them not to say it again, or you come tell me, Duo, Quatre or Trowa; do you understand?"
A mad look rested on Shingam's face, before he tried staring down Heero. But the stoic pilot only stared right back, and eventually, Shingam admitted defeat and nodded his head. The irony of an ex-Gundam pilot, and perhaps the weapon created to kill him, agreeing on pacifist ideals went unnoticed.
Heero nodded. "Now what are you going to do if someone says something you don't like from now on?"
Shingam took a deep breath. "I'm gonna tell them to stop or tell you."
"And you're not going to, what?"
Shingam sighed again. "Push them."
"Good." And then Heero embraced the boy, hugging him close and offering him a kiss to the forehead. When he pulled away, Shingam didn't look so terribly mad or frightened. When Quatre looked, Killashandra was again opening her mouth for another bite of pizza.
"What happened?" Duo asked.
They didn't have to wait long to find out.
"What's the matter with you?! Didn't you see what your son did to my Timmy?!"
Quatre turned in time to see a very skinny, high maintenance woman standing across the table from him. She had one hand full of packages and one sniveling fat boy in the other.
Heero stood and regarded the woman. "I saw. I've taken care of it."
"Taken care of it! Your boy pushed my son into a wall! I'll have you arrested-"
"Whoa, whoa, let's calm down for a minute people!" Duo stood, his arm stretched out in both Heero and the woman's direction. "I'm sure there's no need to do anything drastic like that. Heero told the kid he'd been wrong, and I'm sure it was just a little shove. You know, boys will be boys."
"I can't believe that's how you discipline your son!"
Suddenly, Shingam couldn't take anymore. Standing on his chair he glared deathly at the woman and her crying son. "He said mean things about Killa! Then he said I was stupid and so was Killa. No one says bad stuff about Killa!"
Worried, Quatre left his seat to kneel before Shingam, pulling the boy to sit back down in his chair. "Shingam, it's alright. But you can't do things like that, you need to do what Heero told you." Then to show Shingam he wasn't mad, he hugged the boy before dropping a kiss into his hair.
He should have just told the whole place he had a bomb hidden somewhere in the building.
Scoffing, the woman threw her hands up. "Of course! No wonder he's such a bad child. It just goes to show you that fagots should never raise children."
Cringing under her brutal words, he missed the flash of rage in Duo's eyes before it was too late.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" In the blink of an eye, Duo launched himself at the woman, and only Heero's quick reflexes managed to stop his fist from making contact with her overly painted face. "Let me go Heero! This bitch and her whiney brat are going down!" Duo struggled in Heero's grasp and Quatre could see that it was all he could do to keep his partner from killing the stupid woman.
For her part, the woman took a step back and landed her butt right in someone's lunch. Yelping she spun around before thinking better of turning her back on Duo and turned back again. This time, she came face to face with Trowa.
"Heero won't be able to hold him long. I suggest you and your son leave. Now." Cold like ice, Trowa's voice drove the point home and the woman quickly gathered her packages and walked away; before remembering her son, coming back for him, and dragging the child at break neck speed.
Quatre dropped his head and sighed deeply.
"She's getting away, Heero! Let me go! The brat badmouths the kid, and then the bitch has the gaul to imply that you and Quatre are together! I'm killing that woman on principal!" Still struggling, Heero rolled his eyes before yanking hard and slamming Duo into his seat. Stunned, Duo only said, "Ouch."
Next to him, Trowa returned to his seat and once again began to feed Killashandra, unfazed as usual. Quatre watched his partner with stunned appall before rising and taking his own seat, shaking his head and mumbling under his breath. Shingam sat in silence, staring at the empty plate in front of him, while Heero did his best to calm Duo down.
Quatre was just waiting for what happened next.
A security guard walked up to their table and addressed the only person that looked half way reasonable, Trowa.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you and your party to leave the premises. The Sky Mall has strict rules about disturbances of the peace."
Looking up from Killa's chewing form, Trowa regarded the security officer blankly. Quatre stepped in.
"Sir, as you could undoubtedly see, that horrendous woman and her child were the cause of this. We're simply here to eat lunch and then buy some clothes."
The security guard was unaffected. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Don't make me escort you out."
Frustrated and angry, Quatre turned accusing eyes on Duo who had the decency to look sheepish before he turned to Heero. "Fine! Let's go! I absolutely hate this place!" Standing he grabbed his jacket before gripping Trowa's elbow and guiding him up.
His lover glared at the security officer before finally saying, "Are you sure you want to go, Quatre?" He paused for a moment, analyzing what Trowa was up to; and then it dawned on him. Trowa was saying that if he didn't want to go, Trowa would make sure they didn't. Trowa was doing the same thing he'd done the day before with both Sally and her security team.
More than anything, Quatre wanted to watch Trowa beat the shit out of this horrible man but he took one look at Shingam and sighed. It wouldn't do to have Trowa beat this poor man up, when they'd just told Shingam to use words rather than fists to solve problems. But still, he was tempted.
"No, it's alright. Let's just go. I want out of this place!"
Nodding, Trowa lifted Killa from her seat and into his arms. Before anything more could be said, Quatre wrapped a protective arm around his family, and walked them toward the exit. Behind him, Heero lifted Shingam into his arms and grabbed for Duo's hand.
But, Death wasn't finished yet. "That bitch and her brat had better be thrown out as well, or I'll sue for discrimination and don't think I won't do it!" Spinning around, Duo moved to Heero's side, and allowed his taller partner to wrap an arm about his shoulders and steer him to the exit.
Outside, Quatre fumed. It never ceased to amaze him the bigotry of the world.
"Are you alright?" Trowa's voice was soft, and the gently touch of the link helped calm his rage.
Sighing he nodded once, curtly. "I'll be fine. But now I don't know what to do. Shingam and Killashandra need clothes, today, and that store in the mall is the only one that sells children's clothing ready-made. It'll be at least a day until we can get them something decent to wear and I promised." He knew he was whining, but damn it, he hated this!
Next to him, Duo cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about that, Quatre. But that bitch was talking bad about Heero's parenting skills, not to mention that last remark. As if Heero was with you!" He scoffed and then quirked a smile at his own joke.
Still angry, Quatre rose to the challenge. "Duo, if I wanted too, I'm sure I could seduce Heero away from you. And besides, Heero and I would have beautiful children. His eyes, my hair!" He tried not to laugh at Duo's open mouth expression, but he failed when Heero nodded his head. Duo smacked his partner, and Trowa pulled Quatre tightly to him and said possessively, "Mine."
Shaking his head, he offered an apology. "I'm sorry, Duo. I'm just upset. Just ignore me."
Pretending to sniffle, Duo clung to Heero's shirtsleeve. "It's ok Quatre, I understand. Heero really is worth fighting over." Then Duo stood up tall. "But you can't have him, so give it up!"
Together they laughed, until Quatre remembered they still needed clothes. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm sure Killa and Shingam will understand. We'll go back and order their clothes over the vid."
"No Trowa, I can't. I promised them we'd get them clothes today. Damn it, I hate stupid people."
"Quatre what else can we do?"
And then suddenly it hit him.
He groaned.
He threw his hands into his hair.
He turned around in a circle, and groaned again.
He closed his eyes, prayed for strength, and then looked to his worried friends.
"Alright, everyone in the car! I hate this! I really, really hate this! Why does all the bad stuff in the universe happen to me? Why? Well come on, let's go, we haven't got all day!" Walking right past Trowa he walked up to the limo and held the door open for his lover and Killashandra.
"Quatre, are you alright?"
Growling Quatre answered. "When this day is over with, I'll be a much happier person." And with that, he pushed Trowa's beautiful butt into the car and then, climbed in.
"I can't believe we're driving in this thing! I feel like such a 'somebody.'" Duo's voice rang through the closed cabin of the limo. Quatre knew their silly sports car and motorcycle wouldn't accommodate the purchases he planned to obtain today. Shingam and Killashandra need new, well, everything, not to mention the presents he planned to get them for Christmas; he did only have ten more days.
Shaking his head he turned to glance quickly at Trowa. His lover sat beside him, Killashandra situated comfortably in his lap. The little girl had a fist full of Trowa's trademark sweater and didn't seem to be ready to let go. Quatre had hand picked the sweater from their closet before they'd left the bedroom to collect the children. It held significant meaning to both lovers, in that it was the very same sweater Trowa'd worn the night they'd made love for the first time. He'd noted the recognition in Trowa's eyes the moment he'd carried it from the closet and presented it for approval. It was an unspoken promise of later, one that both knew would end the last long suffering week they'd been apart physically.
Across from him, Duo and Heero sat with Shingam next to Heero. The boy had been quiet since they'd left but while they'd still been in the living room, he'd been very different. Shingam had attached himself to Trowa, even starting conversations with his tall partner. He suspected that Shingam was duly impressed with Trowa's bathroom antics and no longer saw him as a threat. He couldn't be sure since he couldn't read the boy but there was an easy way Shingam now looked to both himself and Trowa, and Quatre was grateful beyond words.
"Duo, it's just a limo-a really long car. It's no big deal, I used to ride everywhere in them."
"Yeah, but that's just it, you were in them all the time, I hardly ever get to. By they way, how come we never ride around in this puppy anyway, it just sits in the garage."
Trowa smiled. "That's not true."
Quatre felt his cheeks color at the remembered memory of one dark night when he and Trowa had taken the limo to a very-secluded-area, and proceeded to add it to the list of objects they'd christened.
"Oh I see that blush! You and Trowa have had sex in this car, haven't you! Ohhhhh I'm jealous, Heero, buy me a limo!"
"No."
"But Quatre's got a limo, and I want one too. Think of all the fun things we could do in the back! It's got two seats, Heero." The last part was said in a seductive voice and Quatre had to laugh at the look of "shut up or die" lust that ran across Heero's face.
Hoping to end the sexual tension that now permeated the car, he turned to Shingam. "Well, are you and Killa excited about going shopping? We'll stop for lunch first and then buy you both some new clothes. There's only one store in town that specializes in ready-made children's clothes, and since the both of you need something to wear right away, we'll only have to hit one clothing store. Then we'll head over to the toy store and see if we can find you and Killa a kite. Does that sound good?"
Shingam paused for a moment before nodding his head and smiling brightly at Killashandra. "Killa's excited about the kite."
Beside him, Trowa snuggled the child in his arms tighter; Quatre smiled.
They continued into town in relative companionable silence. Once in a while Duo would say something, and Heero would shut him up, one way or another. Quatre on the other hand couldn't help driving Trowa crazy by lightly fingering the material of Trowa's sweater and barely moving the fingers he had wrapped around Trowa's inner thigh. Trowa was going to kill him pretty soon.
Then Duo said something that caught his attention. "Hey Q, with the tinting on these windows, we can't see out, and all those people that should be thinking I'm some Bigshot, can't see us right?"
Quatre nodded. The limo was made for absolute privacy, including state of the art tinting capabilities. Basically with the flip of a switch, the windows could be darkened to prevent all forms of enhanced mechanical spying technology from seeing the goings on inside. However, the passengers couldn't see out either, it was a trade-off he'd been willing to make at the time.
"Well, be a pal and let me stand in the spot light for a little while, their might be a really cute guy out there." Heero growled while Duo smirked.
Catering to Duo, Quatre released the tint control and watched as the windows went from pure black, to crystal clear.
"Better." Trowa said sighing.
"Trowa, why didn't you tell me you wanted the windows clear?"
His love shrugged. "It being black like that.it's almost like being in space."
The link flashed with checked but remembered fear, and Quatre firmly berated himself for putting Trowa in a situation that reminded him of the terrifying time he'd spent adrift in outer space. He reached his hand up to gently run through Trowa's bangs, a comforting gesture he'd learned long ago eased the tension from Trowa's body. How could he have been so stupid!
"KILLA, LOOK!!!" Suddenly, Shingam was up and standing on the seat, his faced pressed firmly against the window. Before any of them could say anything, Shingam jumped from his seat to Killashandra's and wrenched the girl from Trowa's grip; then proceeded to lift and push her up against the window.
Trowa reacted, grabbing Shingam about the waist and swinging the boy away from the window, to sit firmly planted in his lap, next he tugged Killashandra into a sitting position on the bench seat. Both children seemed not to notice, staring out the window at the traffic and mountain ranges beyond.
Startled and unnerved, Heero reacted first. "Shingam, you cannot do that again." This time, Shingam looked at Heero, a stunned look on his face. "It's dangerous for you not to be seated while the car is moving, do you understand, you could get hurt!" Heero wasn't loud, just very, very commanding, the same voice he used to use when he'd talked to them during the war.
In Trowa's lap, Shingam seemed to flinch under Heero's tone before softly nodding his head and turning back to watch the scenery pass by. Trowa caught onto the next part.
"Shingam, why did you get so excited when the windows were cleared?"
The boy looked at him as if he were crazy before turning to Quatre, a look of renewed wonder on his face. "We didn't know it was so big, Quatre?"
Confused he asked. "What was big?"
"The Earth."
His heart broke, cracked into a thousand pieces, and shattered. Around him the others felt the same way, and there was such sadness coming through the link to make Quatre want to cry. Had they really never seen the Earth? Hadn't they ever seen anything besides that torturous room they'd been in when he'd found them? God it hurt so much.
Duo somehow managed to save them all.
Reaching into Trowa's lap, Duo gathered Shingam close and held him tightly. "You know what Kid? The world's a lot bigger than what you and Killashandra can see from these windows. You see that mountain over there? Someday, I'll take you and Killashandra to that mountain and we'll climb to the top, and you can see half of the world. But until then, I think we'll get the two of you a globe and some really cool books on places all over the world. You'll love them! And I promise, someday, I'll take you to New America. My parents were from there, and we'll go visit my hometown or something like that. How's that sound? Oh and don't forget, we're all spending New Years in China with Wufei and Sally-trust me, you'll love the fireworks they have in that country, the most beautiful things you've ever seen."
Shingam listened intently to every word Duo said, absorbing every syllable and committing it to memory. It was written on his face, the fascination he felt that the world was bigger even that what he could now see. Quatre smiled. When he turned he saw too, that Killa was listening to Duo, and while her face held no expression, her eyes seemed to have brightened at the possibilities.
* * *
He'd wanted to go to a nice place for lunch, somewhere he could get Killa and Shingam something easily digestible and yet decent tasting.
Duo had convinced him to go to the mall food court.
That had been his first mistake in an afternoon that bordered on near intolerable.
The food court had been loud and obnoxious. Duo preferred fast food to all other kinds and had insisted that they all wait at one of the many tables for him to return with their orders. Mentally, Quatre had kicked himself even then, his instincts told him nothing good could come from this, and he should have listened.
"Ok, foods on!" Duo presented a tray for inspection before handing Quatre back his credit card. "I got something for everybody."
An assortment of high fat, low nutritional value foods lay on two day- glow orange trays, and Quatre shuddered at the unappetizing color staring him in the face. Then upon closer examination of the food he got testy.
"Duo, you were suppose to get the children soup. I don't see any soup here."
"Relax Q. I got them something better! Pizza!"
"Pizza! You idiot, they can't eat pizza!"
"Oh sure they can, all kids can eat pizza."
"Not my kids!" There was a menacing tone to Quatre's voice, and he ignored the people around them that began to stare. Duo didn't seem to notice.
"Lighten up! Here look." Duo lifted the plate containing one slice of pepperoni pizza and placed it in front of Shingam. For his part, the boy stared at the thing like it was from another planet. "Go on Shingam, try it, you'll love it!"
Turning the plate three times, Shingam finally lifted the slice of pizza to his nose and smelled it, then leaning forward, he took a bite.
"There! See Quatre, he likes it."
Duo didn't notice the disgusted look on Shingam's face. The boy tried to hide the look, but Heero called him on it. "Shingam, do you like the pizza?"
The boy said nothing, only turned slightly panicked eyes to Quatre.
Heero caught Shingam's chin, and turned the boy to look back at him. "It's alright if you don't like it. We'll just get you something else to eat." Heero must have seen something in Shingam's eyes then; "You and Killashandra will not be punished. If you don't like the pizza, tell me and we'll get you something else, but you and Killashandra, will not be punished."
They watched Shingam hesitate, saw him turn to glance quickly at Duo, before turning to look at Killashandra. The girl sat in a booster chair watching Shingam intently. Finally after a quick nod to Killa, Shingam turned with fear back to Heero. "I don't-don't like it." Again, Quatre watched, as both Shingam and Killa seemed to tense, waiting for a blow they thought would be delivered. He shared a quick look with Heero before he leaned over and gave Killa a quick kiss. Heero stunned them all by ruffling Shingam's hair and tickling him under the chin.
"Then we'll get you something else. Duo isn't mad, are you?" Duo shook his head before placing a loud kiss in Shingam's hair.
"Naw, it's cool, more pizza for me. Heero, why don't you take him to that place you like so much. What's it called again? The one on the vid, with the obnoxious clown from every kid's nightmares?"
"McDonald's. I like their fries." He smiled to Shingam, before lifting the boy out of his seat and reaching down to take his hand. "There are a lot of people here, so it would be best for you to hold my hand, that way we won't be separated." For a spit second, Shingam hesitated before he grasped three of Heero's fingers and turned back to look worriedly at Killashandra.
"Killa you stay here and don't move! I'll be right back! You do what Quatre and Trowa tell you, understand?" A moment later he looked up at Heero. "She understands, we can go now."
Heero nodded and smiled down at the boy before the two of them walked hand in hand across the way.
Smiling himself, Quatre watched them until a soft sigh escaped his best friend and he turned to look at Duo. The American's voice was soft, an airy quality to it. "He's going to make such a good father someday. Kids bring the best out of him."
Quatre smiled and nodded. "Did you talk to him yet about your feelings on children?"
Startled, Duo turned to him. "Oh, yeah, we talked about it. But we basically decided that we're still a little young; I mean I just turned twenty-one a few months ago. Besides, we've got plenty of time, and," he paused, "Maybe it's selfish, but I kinda just want Heero to myself for a while. Neither one of us really had much of a childhood, and to be honest, I think Heero's a little worried about how raising children is going to be for the two of us." Quatre wasn't fooled for a minute; Duo was just as nervous and scared as Heero, and they both had every right to be. Even he was scared, scared he'd somehow turn into his father when he least expected it, and he knew Trowa felt the same way; that blinding fear that abused children often grew up to be abusive parents. He shuddered at the thought.
"Open, Killa." Turning, he watched Trowa lift a cut up piece of Shingam's left over pizza to Killa's open mouth. He watched with amazement as the little girl worked at the bite, chewing over and over. Trowa turned to him and smiled when Killa finally opened her mouth for more. "I think she likes it."
"Oh no, just like Duo. These kids will never eat healthy!"
They laughed, and even Duo grinned as he reached for another slice of pizza and began to devour it. And then, it got bad.
"TIMMY!!!!" The shout rang across the food court. Quatre looked around for a moment, but turned back to Killa, ignoring the shout for mall noise. Quatre no baka!
Suddenly Heero appeared, Shingam in his arms. Silently, Heero walked over to the seat and dropped Shingam into it before squatting down to look the boy straight in the eye. They all watched stunned as Heero spoke to him.
"What you did was inappropriate and unnecessary. That is unacceptable behavior and you will not do it again, do you understand?" Heero's voice held a note of anger and Shingam readily nodded his head. Quatre turned, just in time to see Killashandra flinch.
"But Heero, that boy said mean things about Killa, and she's my responsibility! I won't let him say bad stuff about her!"
Adamantly, Heero shook his head. "That is not an excuse. You're a very smart boy, you don't need to push people to make them stop. If you don't like something someone says, then tell them not to say it again, or you come tell me, Duo, Quatre or Trowa; do you understand?"
A mad look rested on Shingam's face, before he tried staring down Heero. But the stoic pilot only stared right back, and eventually, Shingam admitted defeat and nodded his head. The irony of an ex-Gundam pilot, and perhaps the weapon created to kill him, agreeing on pacifist ideals went unnoticed.
Heero nodded. "Now what are you going to do if someone says something you don't like from now on?"
Shingam took a deep breath. "I'm gonna tell them to stop or tell you."
"And you're not going to, what?"
Shingam sighed again. "Push them."
"Good." And then Heero embraced the boy, hugging him close and offering him a kiss to the forehead. When he pulled away, Shingam didn't look so terribly mad or frightened. When Quatre looked, Killashandra was again opening her mouth for another bite of pizza.
"What happened?" Duo asked.
They didn't have to wait long to find out.
"What's the matter with you?! Didn't you see what your son did to my Timmy?!"
Quatre turned in time to see a very skinny, high maintenance woman standing across the table from him. She had one hand full of packages and one sniveling fat boy in the other.
Heero stood and regarded the woman. "I saw. I've taken care of it."
"Taken care of it! Your boy pushed my son into a wall! I'll have you arrested-"
"Whoa, whoa, let's calm down for a minute people!" Duo stood, his arm stretched out in both Heero and the woman's direction. "I'm sure there's no need to do anything drastic like that. Heero told the kid he'd been wrong, and I'm sure it was just a little shove. You know, boys will be boys."
"I can't believe that's how you discipline your son!"
Suddenly, Shingam couldn't take anymore. Standing on his chair he glared deathly at the woman and her crying son. "He said mean things about Killa! Then he said I was stupid and so was Killa. No one says bad stuff about Killa!"
Worried, Quatre left his seat to kneel before Shingam, pulling the boy to sit back down in his chair. "Shingam, it's alright. But you can't do things like that, you need to do what Heero told you." Then to show Shingam he wasn't mad, he hugged the boy before dropping a kiss into his hair.
He should have just told the whole place he had a bomb hidden somewhere in the building.
Scoffing, the woman threw her hands up. "Of course! No wonder he's such a bad child. It just goes to show you that fagots should never raise children."
Cringing under her brutal words, he missed the flash of rage in Duo's eyes before it was too late.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" In the blink of an eye, Duo launched himself at the woman, and only Heero's quick reflexes managed to stop his fist from making contact with her overly painted face. "Let me go Heero! This bitch and her whiney brat are going down!" Duo struggled in Heero's grasp and Quatre could see that it was all he could do to keep his partner from killing the stupid woman.
For her part, the woman took a step back and landed her butt right in someone's lunch. Yelping she spun around before thinking better of turning her back on Duo and turned back again. This time, she came face to face with Trowa.
"Heero won't be able to hold him long. I suggest you and your son leave. Now." Cold like ice, Trowa's voice drove the point home and the woman quickly gathered her packages and walked away; before remembering her son, coming back for him, and dragging the child at break neck speed.
Quatre dropped his head and sighed deeply.
"She's getting away, Heero! Let me go! The brat badmouths the kid, and then the bitch has the gaul to imply that you and Quatre are together! I'm killing that woman on principal!" Still struggling, Heero rolled his eyes before yanking hard and slamming Duo into his seat. Stunned, Duo only said, "Ouch."
Next to him, Trowa returned to his seat and once again began to feed Killashandra, unfazed as usual. Quatre watched his partner with stunned appall before rising and taking his own seat, shaking his head and mumbling under his breath. Shingam sat in silence, staring at the empty plate in front of him, while Heero did his best to calm Duo down.
Quatre was just waiting for what happened next.
A security guard walked up to their table and addressed the only person that looked half way reasonable, Trowa.
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you and your party to leave the premises. The Sky Mall has strict rules about disturbances of the peace."
Looking up from Killa's chewing form, Trowa regarded the security officer blankly. Quatre stepped in.
"Sir, as you could undoubtedly see, that horrendous woman and her child were the cause of this. We're simply here to eat lunch and then buy some clothes."
The security guard was unaffected. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Don't make me escort you out."
Frustrated and angry, Quatre turned accusing eyes on Duo who had the decency to look sheepish before he turned to Heero. "Fine! Let's go! I absolutely hate this place!" Standing he grabbed his jacket before gripping Trowa's elbow and guiding him up.
His lover glared at the security officer before finally saying, "Are you sure you want to go, Quatre?" He paused for a moment, analyzing what Trowa was up to; and then it dawned on him. Trowa was saying that if he didn't want to go, Trowa would make sure they didn't. Trowa was doing the same thing he'd done the day before with both Sally and her security team.
More than anything, Quatre wanted to watch Trowa beat the shit out of this horrible man but he took one look at Shingam and sighed. It wouldn't do to have Trowa beat this poor man up, when they'd just told Shingam to use words rather than fists to solve problems. But still, he was tempted.
"No, it's alright. Let's just go. I want out of this place!"
Nodding, Trowa lifted Killa from her seat and into his arms. Before anything more could be said, Quatre wrapped a protective arm around his family, and walked them toward the exit. Behind him, Heero lifted Shingam into his arms and grabbed for Duo's hand.
But, Death wasn't finished yet. "That bitch and her brat had better be thrown out as well, or I'll sue for discrimination and don't think I won't do it!" Spinning around, Duo moved to Heero's side, and allowed his taller partner to wrap an arm about his shoulders and steer him to the exit.
Outside, Quatre fumed. It never ceased to amaze him the bigotry of the world.
"Are you alright?" Trowa's voice was soft, and the gently touch of the link helped calm his rage.
Sighing he nodded once, curtly. "I'll be fine. But now I don't know what to do. Shingam and Killashandra need clothes, today, and that store in the mall is the only one that sells children's clothing ready-made. It'll be at least a day until we can get them something decent to wear and I promised." He knew he was whining, but damn it, he hated this!
Next to him, Duo cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about that, Quatre. But that bitch was talking bad about Heero's parenting skills, not to mention that last remark. As if Heero was with you!" He scoffed and then quirked a smile at his own joke.
Still angry, Quatre rose to the challenge. "Duo, if I wanted too, I'm sure I could seduce Heero away from you. And besides, Heero and I would have beautiful children. His eyes, my hair!" He tried not to laugh at Duo's open mouth expression, but he failed when Heero nodded his head. Duo smacked his partner, and Trowa pulled Quatre tightly to him and said possessively, "Mine."
Shaking his head, he offered an apology. "I'm sorry, Duo. I'm just upset. Just ignore me."
Pretending to sniffle, Duo clung to Heero's shirtsleeve. "It's ok Quatre, I understand. Heero really is worth fighting over." Then Duo stood up tall. "But you can't have him, so give it up!"
Together they laughed, until Quatre remembered they still needed clothes. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm sure Killa and Shingam will understand. We'll go back and order their clothes over the vid."
"No Trowa, I can't. I promised them we'd get them clothes today. Damn it, I hate stupid people."
"Quatre what else can we do?"
And then suddenly it hit him.
He groaned.
He threw his hands into his hair.
He turned around in a circle, and groaned again.
He closed his eyes, prayed for strength, and then looked to his worried friends.
"Alright, everyone in the car! I hate this! I really, really hate this! Why does all the bad stuff in the universe happen to me? Why? Well come on, let's go, we haven't got all day!" Walking right past Trowa he walked up to the limo and held the door open for his lover and Killashandra.
"Quatre, are you alright?"
Growling Quatre answered. "When this day is over with, I'll be a much happier person." And with that, he pushed Trowa's beautiful butt into the car and then, climbed in.