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Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters or references.

Notes: "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, Dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, there they are all standing in a row, big ones…" I think eating something at this point would be a good idea. Notes, uh, do I have anything to say about this chapter, uh, not really. Oh, I'm sorry to all those wonderful, magnificent, generous and lovely people who reviewed for chapter one, but I've had to replace it for grammar errors and such and I'm sure I'm going to lose my reviews. But if lots of people review for this one I will be very happy indeed!

Chapter Five

(Questions and Answers)

Anna was in the kitchen, it was after dinner, and the flock of industrious little cleaners had fled. While helping to cook a meal was one of the most popular chores because you got the choicest cuts, so to speak, cleaning up after a meal was one of the most dreaded. The kids all tried very hard to do as little as possible and at the same time still look useful. Amazingly they always got done in a relatively good amount of time, and as soon as Anna was sure everything was as spotless as it could get, there was an immediate mass bolt for the door. It was rather amusing really, a lot of these kids had barely managed to scrape by on their own, they knew disease, malnutrition, humiliation, neglect and violence personally. Yet it seemed they considered nothing worse then doing the dishes. Anna heaved a sigh and sat herself behind the counter rubbing her face with her hands, which of course were now freezing. She didn't know if she had poor circulation or if she was just weird, but the only time her hands were warm was when she put them under hot water; even in the heat of summer they were ice cold. It was well known throughout the orphanage that those who refused to get out of bed would suffer the terrible fate of the Frost Fingers. She studied her short nails, perhaps she should consider getting permanent gloves.

"Anna?" She turned around in her seat and smiled at Caltha who was looking at her questioningly. She motioned for her come over, and helped her climb into the seat next to her.

"And what can I do for you?" She asked with a smile. Caltha wiggled in her seat and focused on the ever-present Sushi in her arms.

"Umm, I got a question," she said and pouted her lips, still looking at the stuffed fish. Anna watched her patiently. Caltha was an unusual child, she was very sensitive, and it was apparent to anyone who watched her play that she was also very smart. It wasn't unusual for Caltha to approach her with a question and fumble with how to say it. Often she didn't know what she was asking, but wanted to know the answer anyway. So Anna waited, letting her try and fraise whatever it was into a question. "Umm, Odin's… he… Why…mhhhmmmm, Odin doesn't like it when I jump on him." Now it was Anna's turn to have some difficulty. She had to pick apart the question and be very literal, if she took the first question at face value it usually led to something else. So, Odin didn't like when she sat on him, no, wait, that wasn't what she said.

"You mean he doesn't like you to sit on him?" Caltha shook her head

"Uh-uh, he doesn't mind that, he doesn't like it when I jump on him." Anna put her elbows on the counter and curled her hands under her chin, thinking. She still knew next to nothing about the strange boy, as far as she new he had yet to speak a word to anyone other then Caltha. She watched him from the corners of her eyes, observing how he acted and reacted, trying to find even the tiniest clue that would tell her something about him. For the most part he seemed not to care about anything. He went through the daily motions of staying alive with a mechanical kind of detachment. He kept to himself, rebuffing all attempts of friendship or compassion, as if such things were unimportant… or perhaps, incomprehensible? The only thing that seemed to effect him in the slightest was Caltha. He seemed to not quite know what to do with her, and every once in awhile, just for a second or two, he looked so very sad. She would watch his eyes fill with a nameless grief, the loss of something precious, and feel her heart wrench in sympathy. But as suddenly as it appeared the look would be gone, and he would be back to his indifferent self. But now she was getting off track.

Hmmmm, he was definitely jumpy, almost to the point of being skittish. He had the attitude of one, who knew violence intimately. He could have been beaten, or he might have been a soldier, even as young as he was it was possible. Towards the end of the wars the armies had been running low on bodies. So the requirement age went down, and down and down, until they were drafting children. It made sense, she thought. She'd never seen him play. He was wary around other people, children especially. He didn't like abrupt movements or sudden loud noises. That could very well be it, but how to explain something like Shellshock to Caltha.

"Well, Caltha, you're quite the hyper one" she said tickling the little girls toes. Caltha gave a tiny squeal and hid her feet. "I think your being so fast makes him a little nervous."

"Why," she asked. Anna thought for a moment,

"Well, do you remember when Bobby kept jumping out at you and saying 'boo' when you turned a corner?" Caltha stuck out her lower lip, still unhappy about the recurring incident. "And after awhile you started checking around corners to see if he was there?"

"Yeah, but that was smart," she said.

"Yes it was, that was very smart! So you learned to be careful so you wouldn't get scared, right?"

"Uh-huh,"

"Well, I think Odin learned the same thing, he learned to be careful so bad things wouldn't happen to him. Now nothing bad is going to happen, but he still thinks someone is around the corner, waiting to get him." She reached over and tucked a stray hair behind Caltha's ear. "It's a reflex, do you understand?" Caltha bit her lip and studied Sushi,

"I guess so." The two sat silently for moment each in their own thoughts, until Caltha said, "can I have a cookie?" Anna crossed her arms tried to frown.

"No Caltha, if I remember you had at least three fortune cookies after dinner, that's quite enough"

"Please?"

"No."

"Aaaaaaw, pleeeeeaaaaase Anna, pleeeeeeaaaaase?" Anna shook her head, the edges of her mouth tweaking up and threatening to turn her frown (which wasn't very convincing in the first place) into an all out grin. Unfortunately, Caltha saw this as a sign of encouragement and her plea's got all the louder. Finally Anna said very sternly

"You can ask all night and the answer won't change, however," she said, and walked to one of the pantries. "If you'd like a prune," She didn't have chance to pull it out before Caltha gave a,

"EEEEUUUUUW," and fled. Anna let the grin spread across her face before returning to the pantry and pulling out the box of tea packets. She set them on the counter, grabbed the teakettle and filled it with water. She put the kettle on the counter and pushed the on button, making sure to turn on the kettle's timer. This way the kettle would beep when it was hot enough and they wouldn't have another incident of the water completely evaporating and the kettle burning itself out, which had smelled positively awful. She reached to get herself a mug, her favorite one that said 'smile, it makes people wonder' and began humming to her self. It was a song from one of those very old animated movies that the younger kids liked so much. She giggled to her self, well, I guess when you start getting songs about dancing bobbins stuck in your head, you should take it as sign of something. She turned around and nearly dropped her cup.

Odin was sitting calmly in her seat, feet curled around the legs of the stool and leaning forward on his elbows against the counter top. His face was turned in her direction and he watched her in silence, his stare deep and steady from under his bangs. Anna fumbled with the mug, trying not to drop it in her surprise. He hadn't made a sound when he came in, no sneaker squeaks on the tile, no scraping of a moving stool, nothing. It was creepy how he just appeared that way. When she'd regained control of her rebellious cup, she shook her head and set it on the counter, calming her beating heart and seating herself opposite from her unexpected visitor. Odin's gaze followed her as she moved.

"Do you need something Odin?" she asked, not really expecting an answer at this point, but she felt she had to ask. There was silence. Odin inclined his head slightly to read her mug, then looked at her with a blank expression. Anna smiled and shrugged. She looked away to search through the tea box when he surprised her for the second time that night, and spoke.

"How do you do that?" He asked. Anna looked up with a tiny gasp. He talked, he said something! His voice was a surprise as well. He was so small that she hadn't expected his voice to be that deep. But, now that she heard it, it seemed to suit him.

"Uh, do what?" she asked, confused about what he wanted to know.

"How do you make her understand what you say?" Anna blinked, was he talking about Caltha? Had he been here that long?

"You mean Caltha?" he nodded. "Well," she said, thinking, while picking out a lemon tea packet "for complicated things you have to bring it down to her level, tea?" Odin hesitated, then nodded and picked out a mint tea.

"How?" he asked simply. Anna got up and retrieved a second mug from the cupboard; this one had pictures of old galleons all over it.

"You haven't had much experience with little kids have you," she stated and gave him the mug. There was an indecisive pause before he shook his head. "They don't think like us yet, their minds are still growing so there are a lot of concepts they just don't understand. Things are simple in their world. If you tried to tell them about something as involved, as, oh, Hamlet for instance, most would lose interest because they wouldn't understand. Do you see?" He nodded again and the kettle began to beep. Anna stood, turned off the kettle which was glowing with heat beneath it's protective covering and poured the hot water into both mugs. After setting the kettle back on the counter, she began dunking her tea bag and continued. "So a lot of the time when you're talking to young children you have to bring what you're saying down to their level. That doesn't mean you baby talk them though. Just simplify it and try to associate it with something they know. Caltha's five now and she's just beginning to understand the concept of death. That once a dying person goes to 'sleep' they never wake up, ever."

"Are they satisfied with your answers?" Odin said, sipping his tea. Anna laughed,

"Oh no, they'll ask the same questions many times as they grow older, and each time I'll tell them a little more, be a bit more detailed, until they understand completely." The two were silent for a time, sipping on their tea. Anna looked at him, his head was bent and she dipped her head to try and see under his bangs, he had that sad look in his eyes again. "Hey," she whispered, he looked up quickly, "penny for your thoughts?" He glared at her, and she felt like a bug under a microscope.

"Explain," he demanded.

"It's a way of asking someone what they are thinking, if you care to share that is". Again there was a very long pause, and Anna wasn't sure if he would answer at all. He was very careful about he said, and cautious with his questions, but eventually,

"Are all children like Caltha, at first?" she felt her heart flip flop when he asked that. How wonderful it would be if all she had to do was to take him into her arms and wash away all those problems with a hug. Yes, that would make her day, but of course things are never that simple, and Odin was certainly one of the most complicated people she'd ever encountered. Just when she thought she knew what was wrong, another problem would arise. The boy was practically swimming in them.

"Yes, we all start out like that, happy healthy and hyper. Different people have different personalities, different ways of thinking, but everyone starts with a smile." Odin nodded and slid off his stool, taking the tea with him and headed for the door. Just before he reached the door she called out "Odin." He turned his head and she said softly, "thank you."

"For what?" he asked. Anna shrugged and smiled

"Just, talking with me." Odin gave her a look, just for an instant, one she would have said bordered on consternation. Then he left, and Anna smiled down at her tea. "Well how about that," she whispered to her self. She stayed in the kitchen for awhile longer, leisurely finishing off her drink before she put everything away and set out on the impossible mission of herding the younger children to bed.

~~~~~

Odin sat on one of the top stairs, early morning sunlight shone through the windows along the hall, warming his back, and Caltha sat impatiently in front of him. Somehow, he wasn't quite sure how, he'd had gotten roped into doing her hair this morning. He thought his agreeing might have had something to do with trying to shut her up, but he couldn't be sure. If that had been his reason the plan had backfired drastically, as she was talking just as much now as she had been the other night. So here he was, braiding her pigtails and listening to her endless chatter. He wondered what the other pilots and Relena would say if they could see him now, then decided he'd rather not to know. Maybe the side effects of acid on vocal cords wouldn't be too horrendous. He had started on her second pigtail when she asked,

"Odin, where do babies come from?"

"Sex," he answered simply, around the hair tie in his mouth.

"Oh," she said, "what's sex?" Odin stopped braiding her hair. Oh, how had Anna explained this?

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