Disclaimer-I don't own Gundam Wing

A Past Life

"Are you really Uncle Wufei's daughter?" Helena asked, looking at Lien. Helena and Aralia had both been spying from the staircase.

"Mm-hmm," Lien said, getting down on the floor of Aralia's room. She had been sent out of the living room while the adults digested her information.

"I didn't know Uncle Wufei had a wife," Aralia said quietly, toying with the ear of her teddy bear. Aralia had her father's quiet nature.

"How come I never met you?" Helena asked.

"I've been living on Earth since I was born. Father and Mother are from the L-5 colonies. A0206." She had looked up all this information.

"My daddy and mommy's from L-2." Helena said.

"L-1 for Daddy." Aralia added. "Mommy's from Earth."

"What are you three up to?"

Lien, Helena, and Aralia looked up to see Mariemaia. Treize's daughter was now 15 years old, quite pretty, and often in charge of Aralia when Relena and Heero had to be away on diplomatic missions.

"We're talking about our parents," Lien answered. "Is Father…?" She couldn't think of a question.

Mariemaia, who had heard the whole thing, fiddled nervously. She saw where Lien was coming from. She herself had never known her father. Her grandfather had taken care of her, and when he died Lady Une had looked after her.

"He's in shock. It's pretty nerve-shattering to find out that you have a daughter."

"Lien, how come Uncle Wufei doesn't know?" Helena asked.

"Um…well…'cause I'm a test-tube baby."

"Just how in God's name do you have a daughter, Wufei?" Duo demanded. "When did you ever have a wife?"

"10 years ago," Wufei answered simply.

"Please, Wufei, just explain," Relena said.

"Yeah, I wanna see where this is going, too," Sally said.

Wufei stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke up. "My family…and my wife's…were exiled out of China in AC 133. Leaving the old land, though, apparently did not change the old ways. I was forced to marry Meilan when I was 14." He paused, wondering if he should tell them. "Meilan had another name. It was Nataku."

"Nataku?!" Duo exclaimed.

"But that's…" Quatre said.

"Yes, that's my Gundam."

"What happened to Nataku?" Sally asked.

"She died a few months after we were married. In the so-called "Sweep of A0206"."

Sally's faced blanched suddenly. ""S-sweep of A0206"?"

"Yes. She took out an MS to fight and went into space. I followed her with the Shenlong. Shenlong had no weapons. I was about to be finished off…until she ran her MS into my attacker."

There was a shocked silence.

"She died 10 minutes later."

There was another long silence.

"So, how do you have a daughter, Wufei?" Trowa asked. "If Nataku died a few months after you got married, how could you have a daughter?"

"That I do not know. We never volunteered to have children immaculately."

"Wait a minute," Dorothy suddenly said. "I remember something about that. There were crack doctors around then, who took DNA samples from people to make into children. Problem was they didn't have the parents' permission or even acknowledgment. And they experimented on the babies. They were shut down about 8 years ago. We have Miss Relena to thank for that." She glanced over at Relena.

"Yes, we sniffed them out and shut them down in 196," Relena said. "I think it's possible, Wufei, that these people could have gotten a DNA sample from you and your wife and made Lien. We know that these doctors kept files on the people they stole DNA from, but they were deleted before we could see them. That means…"

"That's there's a chance that Lien isn't your daughter, but at the same time, an equal chance that she is," Heero finished up.

"You know, I never knew my parents, either," Mariemaia said. "My mother left my father when she was pregnant with me. And she died when I was two years old. My grandfather took care of me until he died, and then Lady Une, my father's girlfr-er, consort, took me in when I was 7."

"I've lived in the orphanage all my life," Lien said. "And I hated it. I HATED it."

"Who took care of you?" Mariemaia asked.

"I don't know her name. All I know is that she's mean. But when I was really little, this guy called Master O took care of me. I looked that up."

Lien held one of Aralia's teddy bears. Much like her mother, Aralia loved teddy bears and always received them from her father.

"I want my father."

"Well, you have him now!" Helena said brightly. She hated seeing anyone sad. She had grown up in a warm, loving environment and had never heard of what Lien felt. It frustrated her that her new friend was upset. "You have a daddy now, just like me and Arali'." (That's Helena's nickname for Aralia, pronounce Uh-rail-ee)

"Wufei, what are you going to do if Lien IS your daughter?" Quatre asked.

"You're horrible with kids," Sally interjected. "I'm sorry, Wufei, but you're just too impatient with them. Especially with girl kids."

"That's not surprising," Trowa muttered. Quatre gave him a light elbow.

"We're not even sure if she's my daughter yet," Wufei said suddenly, shortly, and coldly. "Don't go jumping to conclusions. It's annoying."

He stood up. "I'll be out for awhile."

"Wufei, wait…!"

But Wufei had already left.

'Did you know about this, Nataku?'

'No.' The tomboy voiced resounded in Wufei's head.

'Then why are you still sticking around in my head?' Wufei demanded, frustrated. 'Why don't you leave me alone?'

'Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to leave you?!' Nataku's temper flared. 'Listen, you needed my help piloting Shenlong. I figured that I could leave when you joined up with Sally but it turns out that you still needed me. And by that time, I'd gotten so used to living inside you that I didn't…'

'Didn't what?"

'I didn't want…to leave.'

There was a silence.

'Lien looks exactly like me,' Nataku said softly.

'That doesn't mean spit.'

'Seriously, Wufei, what are you going to do if she IS our daughter?'

'…I don't know. Accept her as that, I suppose.'

'Will you love her?'

'What is this, 20 Questions?'

'I'm serious, Wufei. Don't get her hopes up and then dash them. That girl needs love in the worst way. And…you need it, too.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You'll see.'

I've always believed that Wufei carried Nataku with him. In the manga, he declared that Nataku's spirit resided in Shenlong. Now that Shenlong is gone, Nataku must be with Wufei. I don't see him leaving her behind at all.