Author's Note: Many thanks to Psycho Kitty for the German translation! Danke!

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"Hey Syd, you up for a bike ride?"

"What?" Heidi staggered under the weight of a laundry basket heaped with dirty clothing, doing what seemed to be her millionth load of laundry. "Sorry, Dad, could you say that again?"

Duo leaned against the doorframe of the laundry room. "Well, the guys and I will be off on lunch break in about fifteen minutes, so I was thinking we could go ride our bikes to the park and have a picnic lunch there or something."

"I think that's a great idea," said Heidi, dropping the heavy laundry basket next to the washing machine with a sigh of relief. "I'll go make some sandwiches. How many would you like?"

"Four… no, better make it five," said Duo. "Don't forget to pack the extra jar of pickles."

"And three root beers, right?"

"You know me like a book, babe." Duo winked and left the laundry room, heading back to the garage.

'Finally, some time with Dad,' thought Heidi, glad that her father had set aside a little father-daughter time for the two of them. For the past couple of days, it seemed like he was always busy, whether it was working in the garage, or, Heidi thought with a frown, being with Melanie. Heidi wasn't sure how much longer the charade would last, especially now with Melanie in the picture.

'At least Melanie won't be around today…'

~*~

After eating their lunches, Heidi and Duo went for a couple of circuits around the park's bike path. "Well, I was thinking," Duo was saying, "since you liked summer camp so much, how would you like it if we went camping for a few days? We'd be going to the L2 Forest Preserve, so it won't be exactly the same as it would be on Earth, but…"

"Camping? That would be great, Dad," said Heidi.

"Yeah, I'm thinking of inviting Melanie along…"

"Melanie?" said Heidi. "I don't know, she doesn't seem like the camping type to me, Dad." 'No, don't talk about Melanie, not now…'

"Speakin' of Melanie," said Duo, "what do you think of her, anyway?"

'Dodge the question.' "In what way, Dad? As a businesswoman? As your client? As your friend? As your…"

"Just… as a person. Whatever comes to mind."

"Well… she's pretty, she has nice hair, a nice car, has good taste in clothes, if a little expensive… She seems kinda high-maintenance, if you ask me, but that's just the impression that I get."

"Oh." Duo paused for a moment. "Well, do you get along with her? Is she nice to you?"

"Yeah, she seems to like me," said Heidi. 'Where is this line of questioning going?'

"And you like her too, right?"

"Um… sure," Heidi lied. "Honestly, Dad, she's a complete stranger to me. Why are you asking me all these things?"

"Well… because, honey, Melanie is a very special person to me. I know she doesn't seem like my type, but beneath her beauty queen exterior is a woman I've grown to love." Duo's bike came to a stop. "What I'm trying to tell you is… well, Melanie and I are—"

Heidi became increasingly alarmed as she began to sense the real reason her dad had brought her to the park. There was only one thing she could think of doing at the moment. "Race you back to the house, Dad!" she exclaimed, pedaling out of there as fast as her bike would allow.

"Sydney!" Duo shouted after her. "I'm trying to tell you something!"

~*~

Heidi jumped off her bike and ran into the garage, out of breath. "What am I supposed to do now?!" she exclaimed out loud into the empty garage, pacing back and forth. "I can't handle this by myself, I just can't; I'm in way over my head! I never expected anything like this; how was I supposed to know this was going to happen?! What am I going to do?!"

Howard's head appeared from behind the hood of a car. "What are you going to do about what?"

Heidi gave a small scream. "Howard! You scared me! What are you doing here?"

"I work here, remember?"

Heidi immediately wished she had gone to the house instead of the garage. "Yes, but shouldn't you be out eating lunch or something?"

"Well, let's think about that," said Howard. "I had to send the guys out to go eat at a fast-food restaurant for the third day in a row, because somebody, I can't imagine who, forgot to put our lunches out on the picnic tables yet again."

"I—I forgot," was all Heidi could say.

"You know," Howard went on, "you've been acting a little weird ever since you came back from camp, Syd."

"What—what do you mean?" Heidi asked nervously.

"For one thing, you used to wake up everybody at the crack of dawn, jumping at the gun to work in the garage. And now you've holed yourself up in the laundry room."

"Well, somebody's got to make sure everyone's got clean clothes to wear," said Heidi.

"Or how, out of the blue, you've been able to reprogram Jeff's computer to calculate financial figures using program commands that he didn't even know existed, when you used to be as bad at computers as your dad."

"Heh, he told you about that?"

"Or why your house, which used to resemble our junkyard in terms of tidiness, is all of a sudden as neat as a pin." Howard narrowed his gaze. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it's almost as if you were…"

"Almost as if I were who?" Heidi asked. 'If I can get Howard on my side…'

"Nah, forget it, it's too impossible," said Howard, turning to leave. "Forget I said anything."

"Almost as if I were… Heidi?"

Howard turned around. "How… how do you know about Heidi?"

"I am Heidi."

Howard took off his glasses and stared at her in shock. "You're Heidi?"

At that moment, Duo walked into the garage. "Sydney, there you are, I was lookin' all over for ya." He looked at Howard. "Howard, is something wrong?"

Next to Duo, Heidi's expression pleaded with Howard not to say anything. "It's just that… she's just so precious, and soon she'll be all grown up someday and…" Howard gave a huge sniffle. "She's like the granddaughter I never had." Howard blew his nose on his car rag. "'Scuse me…" He left the garage, now positively bawling.

Duo stared after him. "Sometimes I wonder if he's in his second infancy or something…" He turned to Heidi. "Sydney, why'd you run off like that? We really need to talk."

Heidi ran over to the car Howard had vacated and began plunking around under the hood, avoiding her father's gaze. "Sure Dad, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Sydney, this is really important." Heidi barely drew her hands back in time as Duo shut the hood of the car. "I'm being serious here."

"All right, Dad, shoot."

"Well…" Duo hesitated. "How would you like to make Melanie… a part of the family?"

"Really? Awwww, that's so sweet of you, Dad," said Heidi. "We've never really been able to find any blood relatives, which is why I think adoption's such a great thing to do. I mean, I've always wanted a big sister."

"Huh?"

"I always knew you had a big heart, Dad," said Heidi, hugging him. "Only… Melanie's parents are still alive, aren't they? How will they feel about the adoption?"

"Adoption?" Duo shook his head. "Sydney, I'm not going to adopt her, I'm going to marry her."

"Marry her? That's INSANE!!!" Heidi cried. "How can you marry someone young enough to be my older sister?! I can't believe this!!!" She began to rant in German. "Sie machen einen RIESIGEN Fehler! Haben Sie vollkommen Ihre Meinung verloren?! Sie kennen sie kaum sogar! Wie können Sie das zu mir tun?!? Ich kann nicht glauben, dass das geschieht…"

"Sydney, please don't be like this," said Duo. "Just calm down… wait a minute, you can speak German?"

Heidi stopped in mid-rant. "Um… um, I learned it at camp." She took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm sorry. Let's discuss this calmly and rationally like calm, rational people."

"And in English, please. Look, what has gotten into you lately? First you say you want a mom, then you completely pop your top when I tell you I'm engaged to Melanie…"

"It's—it's just… just… Dad, you can't marry her! You'll completely ruin everything!!!" she cried, twisting away from Duo and running out of the garage.

"Sydney!" Duo decided not to go after her. He sat down in a folding chair and put his face in his hands.

The honk of a car horn caused him look up to see Melanie's silver Mercedes pull into the parking lot in front of the garage. She got out of the car and sat on Duo's lap, putting her arms around him. "Hi, hon. You look stressed, baby; what's wrong?"

"I told Sydney," said Duo.

"You did? What happened?"

"She went ballistic. Started screaming at me in German. I didn't even know she spoke German!" Duo sighed heavily. "I just don't understand her these days."

Melanie patted Duo's shoulder soothingly. "Don't be upset with yourself; this kind of reaction is totally normal. I'd be worried if she didn't react this way. She's only eleven; children's emotions can be very fragile. She's probably never experienced something this major in her life. Look, why don't I talk to her? Men can put things badly sometimes; what she needs right now is an honest, woman-to-woman talk."

"I don't know… no… yes…" Duo sighed again. "I don't think she's willing to talk to me right now."

"Don't worry, she'll come around," said Melanie. "They always do."

~*~

Heidi sat at one of the picnic tables between the two houses, morosely playing solitaire. She was too upset at the moment to think about what to do next.

The brisk clicking of high-heels on the concrete indicated Melanie's presence. "Hello, Sydney. Can I join you?"

"Sure," Heidi said, shrugging.

Melanie sat down across from Heidi. "You must have been pretty surprised when you found out that your father and I are engaged."

"Surprised doesn't even begin to describe it."

Melanie nodded. "I can understand where you're coming from. For the last eleven years, you've been the only girl in your father's life."

"Exactly. And I'd really like to keep it that way. You understand, don't you?"

"Sydney, I'm afraid you're kind of missing my point. Your father and I have found true love with each other. You wouldn't want to destroy something special like that, would you?"

Heidi laughed sardonically. "I'm sorry, but I think I know exactly what my dad finds so special about you. You're young and beautiful and sexy in all the right places. I mean, my dad's human and he's male. It's a recipe for disaster when it comes to women like you."

Melanie raised an eyebrow. "Boy, your father really underestimates you."

"But you won't, will you, Melanie?"

There was a nasty pause.

"Now look here," said Melanie, trying to control her anger, "you've had your father all to yourself for eleven years and now it's time for you to step aside. I happen to adore your father. He's exactly the kind of man I've always wanted to marry. You're no longer the only 'babe' in Duo Maxwell's life. Get used to it."

"Well, if that's so, then my father's money has nothing to do with your desire to marry him, right?"

"You are unbelievably out of line, young lady." Melanie stood up in one haughty sweep. "So, do you pull this stunt on all the women who date your father? Because it won't work on me. I'm going to marry your father in two weeks whether you like it or not, and a little thing like you is certainly not going to stop me. So if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way. Is that clear?"

Heidi smirked. "As a bell."

~*~

TBC…