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

~*~

The Maxwell Trap

by Dorothy Winner

~*~

"You can't possibly be serious."

Duo ran a hand through his bangs. "I'm really sorry to have to put you through all of this, Melanie. You don't know how grateful I've been for your support…"

"Really, Duo, isn't this taking it a bit too far?" said Melanie. "I just don't see the point in having dinner with your ex-wife. Why don't you two just meet in the lobby, discuss the custody situation, shake hands, and leave?"

"The girls have never had dinner with both their parents their entire lives," said Duo. "How could I say no?"

"Can't you see, it's another one of their setups," said Melanie, finishing off her cappuccino and dabbing her lips with a napkin. "It's so obvious why they're doing this. Your daughters don't want me to marry you."

"C'mon, you know that's not true."

"I'm telling you, those girls are up to something," Melanie went on as she took out her compact and began reapplying her lipstick. "They see me as being the evil stepmother, Duo. Believe me, there's nothing they'd like more than to see you and their mother get back together."

"They're smart girls, Melanie; they know that's not possible," said Duo. "What Hilde and I were… that's in the past. You've got nothing to worry about, babe; we'll only have dinner just this once, for the girls' sake, and then we'll probably never see each other again."

"Are you so sure about that, Duo? What if—"

"There's no use worrying about what may or may not happen," said Duo. "It'll only be a couple of hours at the most. You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do, it's them I don't trust—"

"I think," said Duo, getting up, "I've got to go and get ready for dinner."

"But—"

"Here," said Duo, taking out his credit card, "why don't you go explore the city while I'm gone? The shopping here in Brussels is second best only to that of Paris. It'll help take your mind off this whole mess for a few hours."

Melanie's face lit up. "Really? I suppose that wouldn't be so bad…"

"Thanks for being so understanding, babe." Duo gave Melanie a quick kiss on the forehead and left the poolside café area.

Duo walked back into the hotel and headed toward the elevators but stopped short of stepping inside, instead deciding to go to the front desk.

"Hi," Duo said to the desk clerk. "Um… do you know of any shops around here that can have a suit ready in two hours?"

~*~

Sydney and Heidi stood outside the main lobby's front doors, eagerly waiting for their parents to arrive. They were wearing matching short-sleeved blouses and knee-length floral print skirts but in different colors, Sydney in light blue and Heidi in lavender. Both girls had put their hair half up in curls and wore the same shade of pink lip-gloss.

"They agreed to do this. They actually agreed to do this," said Heidi in wonderment.

"Well of course they did, they wouldn't have if they weren't still madly in love with each other," Sydney said matter-of-factly. "I just wish they would admit it to each other…"

Duo arrived first, wearing a black suit with a wine red shirt and black silk tie. Sydney and Heidi didn't fail to notice the bouquet of yellow daffodils he held—their mother's favorite flowers.

"Girls," said Duo, "I've had enough surprises for one day… just tell me where we're going."

"Trust us, Dad," said Sydney. "You're going to love it."

"So where's your mother?" Duo asked, looking around.

"I'm sure she's on her way," said Heidi.

Duo scratched his head. "Yeah, she always did take forever to get ready…" He stopped at the look that passed between Heidi and Sydney. "Hey, that doesn't mean anything, alright? So don't go getting any more ideas…"

"Right. We'll do that," said Sydney, smirking.

Just then, Hilde stepped out of the hotel, looking absolutely stunning in her red beaded dress, which glittered facets of red light with every movement. She wore a ruby and diamond teardrop vintage necklace with matching teardrop earrings, one of the few Schbeiker family heirlooms she had managed to hang on to during the war. Her hair was up in a simple but elegant French twist. "Hello. Duo."

It was a few moments before Duo could respond. "Hi… you look… nice," he said lamely, trying not to admire her… too openly. He held out the daffodil bouquet. "Here. These are for you."

"Thank you," said Hilde, taking the flowers and smelling their sweet scent. "Daffodils have always been my… favorite."

Duo caught Hilde's gaze for a long moment. "I know."

A little unnerved, Hilde looked away. "So, do you know where they're taking us?"

"No idea," said Duo, "they won't crack."

Hilde suppressed a smile. "Reminds me of someone I once tried to interrogate many years ago…"

Duo opened his mouth to say something only to be interrupted by the arrival of a gleaming, spotless black double-stretch limo, which pulled up before them right next to the curb.

"Is this our ride?" Duo said disbelievingly.

"Yep," said Sydney.

Hilde raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly did you pay for this?"

"Um… we pooled our allowances?" said Heidi.

"Even I'm not falling for that," said Duo.

"Well, we kind of tapped into… additional resources," said Sydney.

"What kind of additional resources?" asked Hilde.

"Um… we sorta… hacked into Uncle Wufei's bank account," answered Heidi.

Duo sweatdropped. "Did you ever stop to think that that might be illegal?"

"Dad, you told me yourself, anything and everything is legal as long as you don't get caught," said Sydney.

Hilde leveled an icy glare at Duo. "I can't believe you'd teach that to your own daughter!"

"Hold on, this is not my fault…"

"We promise we'll send Uncle Wufei an apology note," said Heidi. "Besides, we made it so that he won't notice the money's gone until three days from now."

"And how much money did you take?" asked Duo.

"Trust us," said Sydney, "you really don't want to know."

"Let's just forget about that and get into the limo, okay everybody?" said Heidi.

"Right-o." Duo crossed over to the limo and opened the door. "Ladies first."

Hilde shrugged and entered the limo first, causing Duo's eyes to widen as he saw the plunging backline of her dress. Sydney and Heidi followed and then Duo got in and shut the door.

"Okay," said Sydney, handing Duo and Hilde each a pair of dark sunglasses with large frames as the limo began to move, "put these on. You can take them off once we arrive at our destination."

"Are these really necessary?" asked Hilde.

"You guys did agree to leave yourselves at our mercy," said Heidi. "But don't worry, you'll be safe with us."

Duo put his glasses on. "Well, it could be worse, the girls could be behind the wheel, say…"

"You know, that's a cool idea… let's ask the driver…"

"Absolutely not!!!"

~*~

The limo slowed to a stop fifteen minutes later. "Hang on, Heidi and I will get out first; you guys can follow in just a sec," said Sydney. There was the sound of the limo door opening and the twins scrambling out.

"Oh excellent, this is perfect," Duo and Hilde heard one of the girls say. "Ok, you can come out and take the glasses off."

Duo and Hilde got out, removing their sunglasses. Their eyes widened as they took in the sight of a 150-foot white luxury yacht, all lit up and bobbing serenely in one of Brussels' main canals.

"She's ours for the night," said Heidi.

"Please tell me Wufei's bank account isn't empty," said Duo.

Sydney nudged her sister. "Is it?"

"I don't quite recall…"

"We must have left something…"

Duo groaned. "Wufei will find a way to blame all of this on me, I know it…"

"Okay everyone, right this way," said Sydney, leading Duo and Hilde down the dock steps and onto the boat deck. "And here we are!"

Sydney and Heidi opened a pair of double doors. "Ta da!"

Inside was a candle-lit table with a white tablecloth and silver edged white china. The ship's windows opened to reveal the lit nightscape of downtown Brussels. "Do sit down," said Heidi as she and Sydney both pulled out chairs for their parents.

As Duo and Hilde sat down something immediately became evident. "Uhhh… the table's only set for two," Duo pointed out.

"That's the other part of the surprise," said Sydney.

"We're not joining you," said Heidi.

"You're not?" said Hilde in disbelief.

"Nope," said Sydney.

"See ya!" chirped Heidi. The two girls disappeared behind the double doors. A steward dressed in ship's whites came out with a bottle of champagne and proceeded to pour some into each of their flutes.

"Well then, it looks like just the two of us," said Duo. He lifted his glass. "Here's to—"

"Our daughters," Hilde said quickly, holding up her glass.

"…Right," Duo said, although that hadn't been exactly what he'd had in mind. "To our daughters."

Their glasses met with a chime of crystal. "You know," said Hilde, "I always see you in Heidi. Something about her eyes."

"That's funny," said Duo, "I always see you in Sydney. Something about her smile."

They both silently sipped their champagne for a moment. "They turned out great, though, huh?" said Duo.

"We've been lucky," said Hilde.

"So, what do you think we should do? Now that they've met we certainly can't keep them apart."

"I could keep them for half a year," Hilde began, "and then you could—"

"They can't go to two schools every year."

"Every other year, then."

"Hilde, this is why we came up with the solution we have."

"Really? I thought it was because we decided never to see each other again," Hilde said in a quiet voice.

Duo looked away. "Not me, Hilde…"

The steward returned with two bowls of soup and placed them in front of Duo and Hilde.  Duo looked down at his place setting. "I can never figure out why they give us so many of these things. Outside in, right?"

Hilde bit back a smile. "Yeah."

Duo took the farthest spoon and started his soup. "So, how come you never got married again? I always figured by now you'd be remarried with a new family…"

Hilde looked up. "Me? No, no… no, no, no…"

Duo raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of no's…"

Hilde shook her head. "That's because I realized a long time ago that marriage wasn't for me."

Several moments passed by in silence. Duo looked out the window at the Brussels skyline. "Hilde?"

"Hmm?"

"I may never be alone with you again, so do you think… maybe we could talk about... what happened between us?"

Hilde stopped eating. "I didn't think there was anything more to talk about."

"I…" Duo sighed heavily. "I was so afraid of losing you… and then I lost you anyway."

Hilde set down her soup spoon. "I know you wanted to protect me, Duo, but becoming a Preventer was something I needed to do. It was important to me. It still is. I knew I didn't want to work at the garage for the rest of my life. But you couldn't bring yourself to let go. So I packed, got on the next shuttle to Earth, and… you didn't come after me."

There was a long pause. "I didn't know I was supposed to." Duo's expression was pained.

Hilde shrugged. "Well, it doesn't really matter now… let's just put on a good face for the girls and get this show on the road."

Duo looked crestfallen. "Okay. Yeah. You're right. Let's get the show on the road."

Not another word was said for the rest of the meal.

~*~

The atmosphere on the way back to the hotel was a very somber one. Sydney and Heidi's attempts at making conversation failed; Duo looked miserable, and Hilde's expression showed no emotion. Upon arriving at the hotel, the elevator ride on the way up to their floor was completely silent. Sydney and Heidi glanced at each other worriedly through the mirrored wall panel.

The elevator doors opened and everyone stepped out. Duo turned to Sydney and Heidi. "How about you girls stay in my room tonight? I'm gonna go see how Melanie's doing."

Sydney's face fell. "Um, alright, Dad."

Duo looked at Hilde. "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Hilde," he said, his voice rather constrained. "Good night."

"Good night to you too, Duo." Hilde turned toward the direction to their rooms. "C'mon, let's go."

"Good night, Dad," Sydney and Heidi said as they followed Hilde down one hall, Duo heading in the opposite direction. When they reached their rooms, Heidi took out her keycard and stuck it into the slot. "Good night," Hilde said as she did the same. "Don't stay up too late." The lock clicked open and Hilde opened the door and went in, shutting the door behind her.

Sydney and Heidi entered their room and let the door swing shut. Sydney sank miserably to the floor. "This is the end of the line. It's over. I mean, what else can we do?" She sniffled. "Dammit, I never cry."

Heidi went over to her suitcase. "We still have one more option."

Sydney looked up. "What are you talking about?"

Heidi rummaged around inside her suitcase and pulled out two sets of t-shirts and jeans. "Howard and I came up with this to be used as a last resort."

Sydney stared at her disbelievingly. "What good will a bunch of clothes do?"

Heidi's face broke into a wide grin. "These aren't just any clothes. They're exactly the same."

Realization dawned on Sydney. "You mean…"

"Remember when we said that if we couldn't tell ourselves apart, then neither could Mom and Dad? It's time to put it to the test."

~*~

TBC…