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

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

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"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"I'm positive it will," said Howard, making last-minute adjustments to his end of a two-way transmitter. "I assembled it myself. I'm not just a simple mechanic, ya know. I can do all sorts of electronics."

Heidi tried not to scratch at the wireless microphone in her ear. "You're sure I'll get the signal? It won't conk out on me or anything?"

"Of course not; how else do you think Treize Khushrenada gave his fancy speeches during the war? These things have stood the test of time. Trust me, you'll be fine."

Heidi took a deep breath. "So why am I so nervous?"

"Just pretend you're acting in a school play or something," said Howard. "You don't even have to memorize the lines, kiddo. You're gonna do great." He patted Heidi on the back. "Break a leg."

"Let's just hope Melanie doesn't break it for me…"

~*~

Heidi stepped out onto the patio where Duo and Melanie were sitting at a picnic table, discussing ideas for their honeymoon. "Dad? Melanie? May I have a word?"

Duo looked up. "Oh, finally my daughter decides to talk to me, after giving me the silent treatment for the past three days. Well, Sydney, what made you change your mind?"

Heidi cleared her throat, signaling Howard to begin. From his location in the garage, Howard began to read from the speech he and Heidi had prepared. "Dad, Melanie, I've come to apologize for overreacting about your engagement. Over the past few days, I've come to realize that…"

"…the two of you really love each other," said Heidi. "I figured that, since the two of you are getting married, the three of us should start our life as a family on good terms." Mentally reminding herself to yell at Howard later for making her say all this garbage, Heidi went on, "Melanie, I'm very sorry about the way I've been treating you and the horrible things I've said to you. I've been behaving in a spoiled, childish manner and have been nothing but rude and disrespectful towards you. I sincerely apologize for my behavior and I hope we can start over and develop a close bond with each other." Heidi clasped her hands together imploringly. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Melanie blinked, taken aback. "Well of course I'll forgive you," she said. "You don't know how happy it makes me that you've finally accepted our engagement."

Heidi turned to her dad. "Dad, I'm really sorry for ignoring you. If Melanie makes you happy, then I'm happy."

Duo completely fell for it. "Aw, thanks, Syd." He gave Heidi a hug. "It's nice to have you talking to me again. I'm glad we were all able to work this out."

"Me too." Heidi sat down at the picnic table. "So, you guys are planning your honeymoon, huh?"

"Yes, we are," said Melanie. "I'd like to go to Europe, but your father seems to insist on going to an island near the Equator…"

"If I could make a suggestion," said Heidi, "why don't you guys go down to Earth, check things out? I mean, the wedding's not for another week-and-a-half, right? This way you can check out a ton of places. See what you like the best. Or you guys could compromise. You could have the wedding in Europe, and the honeymoon on a tropical island. That way, you guys both can have what you want."

"Actually, that is a good idea," said Melanie. "I really don't want to have the wedding here in the colonies…"

"I wouldn't mind having the wedding on Earth," said Duo. "Seems better that way for all the guests… space travel can be a nightmare."

"So," said Melanie, "if we're going to take a look around in Europe, which spaceport should we go to?"

"Well, Brussels is the biggest one, isn't it?" said Heidi. "Since we haven't decided where we'll have the wedding, I don't think it matters which spaceport we arrive in. And while we're there, we might as well check out the city, right?"

"Sounds good to me," said Duo. "So when do we leave?"

"That's up to you guys," said Heidi.

"I don't see why we can't leave tomorrow," said Melanie.

"Well then it's set," said Heidi. "I'll be upstairs, packing if you need me. See ya," she said, sauntering inside the house. 'Wow, I never expected it to be this easy…'

Melanie watched her go with a sense of unease. Somehow, she couldn't help but feel that Heidi had something up her sleeve…

~*~

The contents of Hilde Schbeiker's closet were strewn all over her bedroom; unfortunately, none of them had yet made it into the still-empty suitcase that was lying open on the bed. Hilde was running around the room in a terrycloth robe, her hair half-in, half-out of a set of curlers. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she said out loud to herself. "I mean, the hotel's not even a half-hour away from here, so why am I stressing over what to pack? You'd think the man could just come over to my house, but nooooo, he wants to waste his money, at the swankiest hotel in Brussels, no less. He always did like to overdo things. What is he trying to do, impress me? Ugh, if he didn't make me so crazy, I'd still be married to him." Hilde glanced in the mirror. "Is that a grey hair?!?"

Sydney walked into the room and flinched at the mess, even with her own messy habits. "Uh… Mom?"

"Yes, what is it, Sydney?" asked Hilde from inside the closet. "I'm a little busy here…"

"I got the reservations from the hotel," said Sydney. "We're in… room 443."

"Remind me again why we've got to go to the hotel in the first place?"

"Because Dad wants a neutral meeting place," Sydney said instantly, providing the excuse she and Heidi had invented. "Things could get awkward if he came here to the house, you know? Especially if he has to stay longer than a day…"

"If you ask me, he's just scared to come to the house," said Hilde. "He always did avoid the whole confrontational thing." Hilde grabbed a lavender button-up blouse with long sleeves and an ankle-length black skirt from her closet. "I suppose this will do…"

Sydney watched her mother fold them and place them in the suitcase. "Mom, is that what you're packing?"

"Obviously, since they're going in the suitcase," said Hilde. "Why?"

Sydney reached into the suitcase and held the blouse up appraisingly. "Mom, you can't go to meet Dad in these clothes."

"Oh, and what's wrong with them?" asked Hilde, holding up another blouse. "I'll have you know that these are good, sturdy, practical clothes."

Sydney shrugged. "Suit yourself, Mom… I'm just saying, you and Dad haven't seen each other in eleven years… far be it for me to care if you want to make a good impression…" she said, leaving the room.

Hilde looked at the classy, but plain white blouse she was holding. She hung it back in the closet and went out into the hallway. "Sydney?"

Sydney poked her head around a corner. "Yeah Mom?"

"How would you like to go dress shopping?"

~*~

Hilde twirled around in front of the dressing room mirror, wearing a knee-length navy blue halter dress. "It's nice, but… I don't know, it's just not really me."

"I'll go look again, Mom," Sydney said determinedly, getting up.

"You sure, Syd?" asked Hilde. "We've been at this for four hours… I'm about ready to give up…"

"We're not going back until we find you a dress," Sydney said firmly. "Stay there."

Hilde shrugged. "Well, I suppose I'll try on the silver next…"

Sydney went back outside to the racks of dresses. 'Mom's dress is in here somewhere, I just know it,' she thought. A glint of red at the far end of the store caught her eye. 'Hmmm, I didn't see that there before…' She made her way over to the rack and began looking through the dresses. There; it was sandwiched in between two red, satin dresses with full skirts. She grabbed the dress from the rack and held it up.

Sydney couldn't believe her luck. It was a slinky, floor-length red dress with a plunging backline; spaghetti straps criss-crossed once in the back, and a slit on one side of the dress went up to mid-thigh. Thousands of tiny little red beads were hand-sewn into the fabric of the dress, making the dress glitter as it caught the light. 'Dad's going to need a blood transfusion from the nosebleed he'll get when he sees Mom in this dress,' Sydney thought gleefully. She checked the size; the dress was a size 4. Perfect.

Hilde frowned as she looked at the silver dress in the mirror. It looked like it had been designed for a woman with a bigger bust in mind. Hilde sighed. Well, if all else failed, she could always wear the black dress she kept in her closet for black-tie Preventers functions…

"Mom! Mom!" Sydney exclaimed, running into the dressing room. Hilde pushed her curtain aside to see Sydney's face flushed with triumph. "I've found the perfect dress. Here you go."

Hilde drew back upon seeing the red dress. "Oh my goodness, I couldn't possibly wear that."

"Mom, this dress was meant for you," said Sydney. "It's the only dress of its kind left on the rack, and it's in your size. Whoever oversees this kind of serendipity wanted you to have it."

"But—"

"C'mon, try it on, Mom. Then you can show Dad exactly what he's been missing out on for the last eleven years."

Hilde smiled in spite of herself. "You really are your father's daughter." She took the dress from Sydney. "Consider it sold."

~*~

Duo Maxwell was in the garage, doing some fine-tuning on a car. Howard was working on another car next to him, installing a new battery. Duo suddenly stopped and looked up. "Hey Howard?"

"Yeah?"

"Do ya ever get the feeling that something's gonna happen? Like a storm's brewing?"

"Can't say that I have," said Howard. "Why do you ask?"

"Because… I dunno. I just got this weird feeling all of a sudden. Never mind. Forget I mentioned it," said Duo, going back to work.

Under the hood of his car, Howard grinned. Something was gonna happen, all right…

~*~

TBC…