Due South - part 2
by KatiKat
In the three days they had been at sea, Milliardo hardly saw his mate at all.
Treize was spending all his time in the company of the ship´s captain, pouring
over maps and correspondence, discussing the situation in the South where the
rebels had risen against the Emperor again. And thus, when he opened his eyes
in the morning of the fourth day and found the tall aristocrat leaning over the
cradle, Mil was really surprised.
"We should give him a name," the blond lifebearer said with an amused
smile, turning onto his side and propping himself on one elbow.
Treize looked at him from where he was bent over their son and laughed.
"Yes, we can´t call him ´the baby´ forever."
Mil laughed too, his eyes twinkling merrily. "People will start wondering.
At least Duo did."
A few seconds later, the smile disappeared from the brown haired man´s lips.
Touching his sleeping son´s head one last time, he straightened. "You and
Duo got awfully close during the ride." His voice was steady and casual.
Tensing, Mil narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?" he asked,
suspicious.
Treize shrugged and rearranged his long cloak. "I just wonder how much you
told him about yourself."
"I didn´t tell him anything!" the blond man snapped in anger. He
understood Treize´s caution. Mil´s origins could cause all of them to end up in
the headsman´s hands and no ranks or titles would save them. Humans just didn´t
mix with Others. On the other hand, his mate´s lack of trust in Mil´s judgement
hurt him deeply.
"Duo... But what about other people?" The look Treize directed
towards the blond man was dark.
"I told Trowa... and Heero heard, too." Seeing the clouds of anger
gather in the other man´s eyes, Mil protested quickly. "I needed to know
what impact my origins could have on my child!"
Treize stepped closer to the bed and clenched his teeth to keep himself from
shouting. The last thing he needed was to wake his child or let anybody hear
them arguing. "How could you do that? Do you realize that with your
actions you are not putting only your own life at risk or mine anymore, but the
life of our son, too?!" His quiet voice was full of fury.
Now furious as well, Milliardo sat up on the bed, wincing as he pulled his
still sore muscles. "I do realize that! But we are talking about our son´s
well being here, not only his safety. We have no idea how my heritage could
affect him in the future. It was important enough to me to take the risk."
"And you couldn´t tell me about it?" Treize snapped, leaning closer.
"And you couldn´t tell me about the trap you set up for that
mercenary?" Mil retorted angrily.
This seemed to really surprise Treize, for he straightened and blinked.
"That´s not the same," he replied, some of the anger retreating from
his voice.
Mil´s eyes blazed in fury and he had to restrain himself from raising his
voice. "Isn´t it? Since you realized that I was a lifebearer, your
attitude towards me changed drastically. You are treating me as if I could
break. You are not discussing your decisions with me anymore, you are keeping
things from me-"
"Because I fear for you!" Treize snapped, interrupting the blond man.
"Do you? Or do you simply consider all lifebearers weak?" Mil sighed,
his anger disappeared and left him feeling tired. He couldn´t remember how many
times they already had this argument since Treize found out that Mil was
pregnant. The lifebearer looked at his mate, reached out and caught the
brown-haired man´s hands in his. "I´m the same as I was two years back
when I fought on your side against the rebels in the South." He was
desperate for his mate to understand that Treize´s attitude was hurting him.
Treize tightened his grip on Mil´s hands. "I know," he answered
quietly.
"Then why? Why are you treating me differently?"
"Because you almost died on me!" the aristocrat snapped, his eyes
ablaze. "Since I found out about your pregnancy... you´ve cheated death so
many times since then..." His voice trailed off.
Mil tugged at his mate´s hands, forcing him to sit on the bed next to him.
"But I´m not dead, love," he whispered, touching Treize´s forehead
with his own. "And I´m no invalid. Please, don´t treat me as such."
The brown haired aristocrat sighed and closed his eyes. He retracted his hands
from Mil´s and ran them up and down his mate´s arms. For a couple of long
moments they stayed like that, touching each other in silent contentment. It
felt so good to be together.
"Zechs."
Hearing his mate utter the name quietly, Mil pulled back and looked at him.
"Huh?"
Treize raised his hand and touched the blond man´s cheek. "I would like
our son to carry your Sire´s name. Zechs." He smiled.
Milliardo answered with a smile of his own. "I think that´s a great
idea."
------
For the first time in who knew how long Duo was bone deep bored. Now that he
didn´t need to worry about Howard any longer, he wasn´t sure what he should
actually be doing or thinking. And the fact that they were on a ship didn´t
help much. On the deck it was way too cold to spend any prolonged amount of
time there, and their cabin was just too small and dark. Duo was starting to
get claustrophobic.
With no enthusiasm whatsoever, he pushed his meal around on the tin plate. He
was sure that being allowed to eat in their cabin instead of the long and
overcrowded galley was Mil´s doing. On the first day, the blond aristocrat
noticed Duo´s discomfort about the prospect of eating together with all the
ship´s men. The braided young man hadn´t been in the company of more than four
persons at once for weeks now and the crowd seemed to be rather overwhelming
for him. Duo remembered the wink Milliardo sent him. And the next meal they
were allowed to take in the privacy of their cabin. The braided lifebearer was
more than grateful for this small leniency.
But now he was sitting in their cabin all alone, staring at the contents of the
quickly cooling dish. His appetite left him quite a while ago, when he realized
that Heero and Trowa wouldn´t be eating with him. Trowa got rather involved
with the ship´s healer - Duo tried to follow their conversation once but all
the names of plants and medications escaped him and he felt completely out of
place with them. And Heero was practicing with Rufus, the captain of Treize´s
personal guard. Duo was sure that meal or not, there was a crowd gathered on
the deck around the two fighters, watching the sparring match. But after three
days, even watching Heero´s feline like movements started to bore Duo to tears.
Everyone was doing something they liked or were good at. Except for him.
That was when the child in the neighboring cabin started to cry. Duo frowned.
The baby seemed rather fussy the last three days. And so when the cries went on
and on and didn´t seem to be lessening, just the opposite, the braided
lifebearer stood up. He didn´t know anything about fighting or healing plants,
but he knew a lot about babies.
Shinigami following him like a shadow, Duo stepped through the door and walked
the short distance to the cabin the captain vacated for the special guests on
board. He knocked once and without waiting for an answer, he opened the door
and walked in.
Milliardo turned to him from where he leaned over the cradle. His face was
pale, dark circles under his eyes. Seeing the other lifebearer, the blond man
sighed in relief.
"Need some help?" Duo asked, a cheeky grin on his face.
Mil nodded hastily. "Yes, please. I don´t know what´s wrong with
him." He seemed rather desperate.
The braided man waited for the dog to enter too, then he closed the door and
stepped closer to the cradle. The little boy´s face was red and streaked with
tears.
"He isn´t sick, is he?" Milliardo asked fearfuly.
Duo laughed. "Don´t worry. Even though they seem fragile, children are
rather resilient. As long as you handle him carefully, he will be okay."
"So... what´s wrong then?"
"Hm... maybe he is hungry?" the braided man pondered aloud.
Milliardo shook his head. "No, I just fed him." He lifted the empty
bottle.
Duo´s smile grew bigger. "Aha, then I know what´s wrong." He bent
over the child and lifted him from the white bedsheets embroidered with blue.
"There," he said quietly and let the baby´s head rest on his
shoulder, holding him in place carefully. Then he gently started to pat and
massage the small back. The child´s cries stopped almost immediately.
The blond man looked at the other lifebearer in confusion. "What-"
But before he could finish, a loud burp echoed through the ostentatious cabin.
Milliardo blinked in surprise and Duo laughed, amused.
"Is he alright?" Mil asked, touching his son´s head.
Duo smiled. "Don´t worry. That´s normal. You have to help him burp after
every meal so that the gas doesn´t gather in his tummy." Seeing Mil´s
surprised look, a realization dawned on Duo. "Ah, you didn´t know. That´s
why the baby cried almost all the time the last couple of days."
Milliardo blushed and looked away. "Sorry."
The braided man waved his hand. "Don´t sweat it. It´s just... I´m a little
bit surprised that you didn´t know such a thing. I thought that all lifebearers
were taught these things since their childhood."
For a while Mil didn´t say anything, and it almost looked like he wouldn´t
answer Duo´s insinuation. But in the end, he raised his eyes to give the
braided lifebearer a brief look, then he turned to his son. He found him
already sleeping happily. "It´s... rather complicated," he answered.
"But would you... could you teach me more... things I should know? I don't
want to endanger my son in any way."
Duo blinked in surprise. He, a nobody from a nameless village somewhere in the
woods, would teach a nobleman? Mil´s request left him speechless. But seeing
the earnest look in the other man´s eyes, Duo nodded slowly. Although
Milliardo´s tired face looked rather expressionless as if counting on Duo to
refuse, his eyes betrayed him - they were almost desperate in his need for help
with things he knew nothing about.
"Of course I will help." He almost smiled, hearing the blond sigh in
relief. Maybe Duo found something he was good at for himself, too.
------
"That was a really good fight."
Heero turned around from where he was leaning against the rail, trying to catch
his breath. The sword was not his weapon of choice. He preferred knives. But
knowing about this weak point, he decided to dedicate the rest of the journey
to exercise. And in Rufus he almost found his master. Only their exhaustion,
and Treize calling their sparring match a tie, probably saved them from some
serious injury.
The Enforcer nodded at Treize´s compliment, then raised the sword to clean it,
and frowned when he found his arm shaking.
"You wouldn´t be looking for a job, would you?" the nobleman said and
leaned against the rail next to Heero. "I´m always looking for good
fighters for my personal guard."
The younger man looked at Treize, then lowered his eyes back to his sword.
"No. This is a job for a single man. I have Duo now to care for," he
answered after a short while.
Treize nodded, watching him clean his weapon. For a moment they were silent,
shouts of sailors echoing around them, white puffs of steam rising from their
mouths in the cold winter air.
Suddenly, the aristocrat broke the silence that settled over them. "I hope
you´ll keep Milliardo´s secret." His voice was calm, but there was a
threatening note in it.
For a moment, Heero´s hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. He didn´t like
being threatened. On the other hand, he understood Treize´s need to protect his
mate. Him asking Heero to keep silent could be considered a risk to the
nobleman. He and Trowa were the only ones beside Treize himself who knew
Milliardo´s secret. And now, at sea, surrounded by Treize´s men... they could
have just as good as become fish food. No one would be mourning for three
lowlifes from some backwater village in the mountains.
Calmly, in a deliberately slow motion, Heero sheathed his weapon, then turned
to the aristocrat, standing next to him. "I swear on my honor that I´ll
never tell anybody a word about what he entrusted to us." He paused for a
moment, then added in a low voice. "But I warn you, nobleman. Never
threaten me or mine again. It could cause you many problems."
Treize looked the younger man in the eyes, finding a strength of will matching
his. He didn´t need to do or say anything. They understood each other.
Suddenly a shout echoed from the rigging above their heads. They raised their
eyes to the sailor. The man was pointing to the south-east. Both Heero and
Treize turned to the shore the ship still held in sight during the three-day
journey.
"Peacemillion," Treize said, pointing towards the town that was still
only a small point in the distance that shone in the weak noon sun.
TBC
