Title: New Beginnings

Author: Something Like Human

Rating: PG

Warnings: YAOI (2x5x2), slight spoilers to GW, EW, and EpiZero

Disclaimer: Human doesn't own Gundam.

A/N: Again, I have really only read the manga. Although, my artificial little sister, juu, has acquired the DVD of Endless Waltz and we have drooled over that a few times. But regardless, my knowledge of the series is vastly different than one that has watched the entire anime.

Who would have thought things would turn out this way? When I left my parents home when I was fourteen to be married to a stranger and live the rest of my life being a devoted husband and father to my new family, I had no idea that by the time I was eighteen I would be where I am now. I am already a widow, a veteran of two wars, and now one of the top Preventers.

I guess that gets you up to where I am now. I am sitting in my new office looking out my window to an unfamiliar city. Une decided recently that the Preventers needed more offices throughout the world and sent her top agents out to set up headquarters. I don't know why she choose me to help set up a division in America but here I am. I am seemingly a fish out of water here but I think I will like it. Then again, I'm not alone here. Maxwell is here with me.

I was a bit leery about coming to this city but Maxwell jumped on the chance so I allowed myself to be drug along without so much as an argument. Most people wonder about us. We are seemingly so different but I guess that is what we want people to see. We both have first hand understanding about what it is like to loose everything to war even though our 'everythings' were vastly different. My rich and high cultured childhood and his poor and deprived one are hardly comparable other than the fact that we lost everyone we had ever loved.

But that's dealing too much in the past for my tastes. We are both getting a new beginning now. Here in the city, we are not known as 'Une's pets' because of our seeming uncanny ability to successfully accomplish difficult missions that the other agents who are twice our age could not. One of these days, I'm just going to tell those uninformed idiots that if doubt our abilities because of our youth, then they can take it up with our Gundams. But then again, none of us want the publicity that would come with the discovery that five teenagers flew those machines of death and peace.

I look back down to my desk and glance over the reports the new agents filed for the day. We've got a good group here. A few old soldiers and lots of new recruits make up the ranks here. Some of them had reservations about working for two boys who looked like they should be in high school, not wearing the uniforms of high-ranking Preventers uniforms. What doubt they did have is either gone or well hidden now because both Maxwell and I work them hard and prove to them daily that we know what we are doing.

My partner bouncing into my office holding the keys to the building's door interrupts me in my work. I look over to the clock and realize that it is past quitting time already. I would probably forget even to eat or sleep if Maxwell did not take it upon himself to drag me away from my office and take me home at night. Don't get me wrong, he works long hours too but he knows when to put the work away for the day and to resume life outside.

I tidy my desk, grab my jacket, and shut off the lights while Maxwell runs a check on the rest of the offices and turns off neglected lights and locks everything up tight. We both meet up and head out the front door, pausing only long enough to lock it before we start walking down the street towards the subway. We both could drive to work, Maxwell in his sports car or I on my motorcycle, but we liked doing something mundane everyday like riding a subway like normal kids our age.

As usual, my partner chattered away about what went on that day in the office. I listen even though I appear not to. I always watch the people on the street while we walk. I guess it's something that I picked up over the years of knowing the other pilot. At some point, he had shown me the fun in people watching and I got hooked. When we reach the subway train, we would both watch the other passengers and hypothesize the stories behind each of them.

The story of Preventer Monroe getting chased by a Chihuahua while investigating this morning was lost on me as something caught my attention. Across the street I could see two people moving through the crowded city streets. I stopped and blinked a few times trying to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Just before they slipped deeper into the throng of people, I saw them clearly enough to know that I was not hallucinating.

Maxwell tugged my jacket sleeve and I turned to look at him. I think my eyes were probably about as large and round as his usually are. He looks at me quizzically for a moment and I shake my head. He shrugs and then pulls me along after him. If we waste any more time we'll miss our train and have to wait for the next one.

When we finally reach our apartment, I still do not know what to think about what I saw. I try to ignore it and go about our normal after-work routine. Lady Une had apologized for the lack of funds to get two separate apartments for us but we assured her that it was no problem. Maxwell had never stayed in his room in the Preventers barracks when we worked with her, why would here be any different. No one needed to know that only one bedroom had been furnished as such and the other was the beginning of a library.

I get the can opener out to open the cat food for Sinatra, our blue-eyed kitten with more class than Trieze Khurenada ever had. Maxwell chuckles as said cat meanders his way over to his food dish with his tail held high. After feeding the master of the domain, I start to help the other human in the kitchen with making dinner. Maxwell wipes his hands on a tea towel and leaves the kitchen in search of dirty laundry. When we meet up again at the dinner table, we sit in silence for a moment. We both know that something has bothered me since our walk to the subway but as always, I am left to explain things when I am ready.

"Max," I begin quietly. He looks up at me gently. "I saw my family today on the street."

"Your family?" He gasps. "I thought your family had died during the war."

"Most of them did," I explain. "I know some are still living on Earth but I was never close to them as a child."

"I take it who you saw were not those relatives if it has been bothering you all evening."

"No, they were not," I state. "I thought those two were dead. I had not seen them since my marriage to Meilan and had assumed that they had died along with the others."

"Are you sure it was them?" He asks. "I mean, there is a large Chinese population in this city. Are you sure they didn't just look like them?"

"Max, it's very hard to mistake someone else for your own mother and brother."

Tbc…