Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, but I do own my characters and my plot.

Pairing: eventual 2xOC, past 2xH


Chapter Three: New Home

"Welcome to your new home, Duo," Diana said as we pulled into their driveway.

'Home' for me now was a two-story blue house with a front porch, a two-car garage, and a rear patio that overlooked a small vegetable garden and back yard. The front yard was nice, with those weird pink flamingo decorations stuck into flower gardens filled with petunias and other classic garden flowers. The neighborhood surrounding us was nice, with lots of other petunia-and-pink-flamingo-filled flower gardens in front yards. The Christopher's house was one of the smaller ones on the block, but it had a charm that the rest of the houses didn't.

Inside, the house smelled like cookies and flowers. And dog. I heard Benny when we got out of the car, and I met Benny as soon as I stepped through the door. He was a big dog, almost as tall as me when he stood on his hind legs. He jumped up and down, barking at me and trying to lick my face. He seemed like a nice dog, but I was grateful that Sally had made me wear that thick denim jacket, because Benny's toenails seemed slightly on the dangerous side.

"Benny, down!" Diana hissed, grabbing the Lab by his collar and pulling him off of me. "Sorry about that. He loves meeting new people."

"It's alright," I said, patting Benny on the head. I was awarded with a big wet lick.

Diana began to half lead, half drag Benny to the back door. "Once he gets used to you, he'll be a lot calmer. I'm going to put him outside for right now, until you get a little more settled in."

"While she's taking Benny out, I'll give you a tour of the house," Jon offered.

We started into the entryway that led from the garage to the house. The entryway led to the kitchen, which had an island in the middle of it. On top of the island was a plate full of chocolate cookies. I took one as Jon led me through a swinging door into the dining room. Both the dining room and the kitchen had doors that led into what Jon referred to as the front room. It had a large window with a window seat, a very nice comfortable looking couch, two armchairs and a coffee table. In one corner on a stand was a large stereo, and below it as a large collection of CDs. A doorway on one side of the room led to the front hallway, where the front door and the stairs to the upstairs were located. At the top of the stairs and across the landing there was the den. It was where the TV was, and it had a futon that allowed the room to act as a guest bedroom whenever company came. After the den came the bathroom, then my room, then the office where Diana and Jon had their computer, and where Diana had a desk to grade papers at. Across the hall from the office was their room, with their own bathroom.

The door to my room was closed, and Jon said we would have to wait until Diana joined us. I was anxious to see the place I was staying, but I obliged, and Diana was with us soon after.

"Well, go ahead Duo, open the door and tell us what you think."

I opened the door and stepped into my room. It was a nice room. There was a bureau for my clothes, and a closet too. The bookcase had books on the bottom two shelves, but the top shelf and the top of the bookcase were empty. I had a desk, and on it sat a computer. The bed was made with light blue sheets and a dark blue comforter. One wall had a diagram of the space colonies and a map of the world on it. The other had a huge star chart with all the constellations marked on it. The rest of the wall space was blank.

My jaw dropped. I hadn't been expecting much more than a bed and a dresser in a blank room. This was incredible!

"You can redecorate how ever you want, Duo," Diana said, sounding slightly worried.

I looked at her, my eyes wide. "Are you kidding? What is there to redecorate? This is amazing!"

"You like it then?" she asked as I walked over to examine the diagram of the space colonies.

"Yeah!" I said. "This is one of the greatest rooms I've ever had!" I turned to them, hoping they could see just how happy I was since I couldn't express it in words. "Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me."

Jon smiled. "Well, getting it together was the most fun we've ever had decorating a room."

I laughed and turned back to the diagram. Jon excused himself to go start dinner while Diana stayed to help me unpack.

"There's not really much to unpack," I told her as we put my bags on the bed and opened them. "I didn't bring too much with me because I didn't really have too much to begin with."

She took the things out of my backpack. "What a pretty box! What's in it?"

"I dunno. My friend Trowa gave it to me. There's a trick to opening it, and I haven't tried to figure it out yet," I explained as I put my clothes from my duffel bag into my bureau.

"Oh." She fell silent, and I when I looked I saw that she was looking through the photo album.

"Those are my friends. That's Heero, Quatre, WuFei, Trowa, Sally, Noin, and Relena." I pointed to each of them as I said their names.

"They look like nice people."

We worked in silence again for a few moments until she asked "Is this another one of your friends?"

She held up my framed picture of Hilde and me. In the picture, we were sitting back to back on a park bench. Hilde looked like she was giggling, and I was grinning ear to ear. "Yeah, that's Hilde."

"What was so funny?" Diana asked, chuckling a little herself at the expressions we had in the picture.

"Oh, I don't remember. I think we had asked WuFei to take the picture for us, and then we had spent all day trying to find the perfect spot. I think right before he took this picture, WuFei mumbled something about injustice and integrity or something." Diana raised her eyebrow at me, and I laughed. "You have to know WuFei."

I took to photo from her and placed it on top of my dresser. It was the only really good picture I had of Hilde and me together, and I wanted it to be on display for everyone to see.

When we were done unpacking my stuff, Diana laid out the rules of the house. "We're pretty lax here," she assured me before we began, "but we still have some rules." Since I was almost seventeen, she said, they trusted me to make good decisions. The computer in my room was hooked up to the Internet, which would make it easy for me to keep in contact with my friends in space. As far as friends on earth went, they figured I was old enough to pick my own friends—and live with the consequences if I chose friends who weren't the best people. I was expected to be home by nine-thirty on school nights and twelve-thirty on weekends. They wanted me to call if I was going to be late, or if plans were changed. Basically, they didn't care where I went or who I went there with as long as I told them first. That seemed reasonable to me. I could have girls in my room or in the den, as long as I kept the door open. My room had to be relatively clean if I wanted friends over, and I was expected to do some chores around the house, "Just like any other kid," Diana said. I was also expected to keep at least a B average in school, or else privileges would be suspended.

"Does all this sound reasonable Duo?" Diana asked me when she was finished.

"Sure," I said with a shrug. "I've never really had anyone tell me to go here or do this or be home at such and such time since I was little. It'll be nice to have some rules," I admitted after a moment's thought.

She patted me on the back. "We're really happy that you're here, Duo. We just want to be a good family for you while you're here. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

Jon's booming voice came up the stairs. "Dinner's ready! You two had better hurry before I eat it all!"

Diana headed to the door. "And he really will if we don't get there."

I followed her, ready to have my first ever sit down dinner with a family.


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