Sincerity and (In)Sanity:
AN: As a change of pace, I'm writing this chapter in Duo POV, seeing as this is what I'm especially good at.

Chapter Three; Duo POV:

Sighing, I dragged myself tiredly toward home. I really wasn't surprised to see no one sitting outside of my door waiting for me. After all, this was certainly not something I hadn't been expecting. We were all former soldiers of a very dark war. This meant that any one of them could have easily picked the simple lock system I had on my door and gotten in. Granted, if I had wanted people to stay out of my place, I could do it without trouble. Yet there was so much more here than proving how smart I was. I wanted a place where some of the children I helped could get into if they really needed to talk. I lived right across from the orphanage, this way I was always readily available to the children.

"Quatre! I'm home!" I called, knowing Quatre would at least be waiting for me inside. I was correct, as well. Trowa and Wufei were missing while smells were coming from my kitchen area. Heading in the direction I was almost certain to see my blond friend at, I smiled at the vision that greeted my sight. Quatre was cooking in the kitchen, a pink and frilly apron on his slender figure. He was still short, but not as bad as he had used to be. In fact, Heero was the shortest of the group, at least, that's what I remembered. I hadn't seen him, though, so I didn't know for certain.

"Welcome home, Duo," Quatre said softly, offering me a warm smile. I smirked and placed my jacket over the back of one of kitchen chairs.

"Thanks," I answered, having missed having someone to come home to. "So, which one picked the locks and how long did it take?" Quatre chuckled lightly.

"Trowa did it. Took him five minutes, too." I snickered at that.

"He's losing his touch," I commented. Quatre nodded.

"I don't think he sees much need in those skills any more." Quatre then turned to check on something in the oven before walking over and taking a seat across from the one I was currently relaxing in. "Duo, can I get your professional help with something?" Quatre asked slowly. I blinked in mild surprise, but didn't show any other emotion.

"Sure, if you need to. Yet I'm kind of surprised. For as long as you've known me to be a psyche, you've never asked for my professional help. Why now, all of a sudden?" Quatre frowned softly. I hated to see that kind of look on his normally happy, cherubic face.

"I didn't think I had any problem. Yet I think the correct way of looking at things was that I didn't want to admit I had a problem. Watching some of the kids you work with come out of your office earlier, I realized the difference in them from the stiff child going in and the relaxed child coming out. It made me realize I could possibly use your brand of help." I sighed at that. It always took seeing other people getting better to realize things could get better for themselves if they accepted there was a problem to begin with. I glanced at the clock on the oven and smiled as I set my internal alarm.

"You've got an hour, Q-bean. So start talking."

"Thanks Duo," he said. I nodded and listened as he began to tell me about how he thought about his life in the past and about the first time he had ever met the Maganac Corps. I was amazed by how much venom was in his voice as he spoke about his past. He had really hated being a test tube child. Yet, if he had bothered to research his own past as I had, he'd have known the truth. Seeing as he had come to terms with himself now, I couldn't bring it upon myself to tell him the truth. After all, Quatre took a lot of things on himself that he didn't have to. Why, one of these days he'd blame himself for there being no oxygen in space. In fact, I told that to Heero when we were fighting the Eve's war.

"So, what brought all this up if you've accepted the fact you were a test tube child? I mean, I should think what matters is how you live your life, not how it was given to you. Not to mention, you have a family who loves you. Added to that, you are still your father's son, no matter what science accomplished. It still takes genetics to create life. I'm certain your father and mother both donated themselves to make you. Just as is the case for all of those sisters of yours," I spoke, knowing I was pushing it. If I leaned any further over, I'd be lying, and that was something I refused to do.

"Instructor H said something similar to that to me, back then. That's what made me realize I was being selfish. He told me: 'No matter your circumstances, once you've been given the gift of life, you must live a life you can be proud of.' That's when I stopped caring about how I was made, and started caring about what I did with the life I had been given. Yet my past was needed to be understood to understand my current problem." I raised an eyebrow at that and nodded, knowing he needed to speak.

"And what would this be?" I asked, wanting to help in anyway I could.

"Trowa says he wants us to have a child. One created from both of our DNA. Now I would love nothing better than to have a child made of our love, but I'm scared about it as well. What if our child becomes as spiteful about how he was made as I once was?" I smiled brightly, knowing I was getting privileged information. I then went into professional mode, knowing Quatre deserved the best I could give him.

"How long have Trowa and you been together?" I asked. He blinked.

"Duo, you already know that." I laughed.

"Humor me, Q-bean. How long have you two been together?"

"We've been together as a couple since the middle of A.C. 195. We got married in A.C. 201, after the passing of the equal marriage act, allowing gay couples to be recognized as a true relationship." I nodded.

"So you could say your love has held you together through some hard times, as well as some easy times, correct?" Quatre looked at me as if I had lost it. I know I knew the answers, but I wanted him to realize what I was getting at.

"Of course. Our love began during a war and survived it, as well as lasted through prejudice. Just what are you getting at, Duo?" I knew I couldn't play this little game any longer, especially since I heard a vehicle pull up outside.

"It means that if your love can survive all that, then it could survive your child being as you used to be. On top of that, if you love your child well enough, there shouldn't be any worries of how he was brought into this world. All you'd have to worry about is who gets up in the middle of the night." Quatre's serious expression told me he was really thinking over what I had said. He then smiled one of his mega-watt smiles and moved over to throw himself into my arms. I smiled back, hugging him in return.

"Thanks so much Duo. I knew you of all people would understand. Not to mention, such a great psychologist would of course already understand the problem before I could fully explain it." I patted his head and smiled up at Trowa and Wufei as they walked into the door. Wufei smirked while Trowa simply raised an eyebrow at Quatre and me.

"Trying to steal my husband, Duo?" Trowa asked. Although he asked it as seriously as he said anything else, I could tell by his eyes that he was teasing. Or should I say eye? After all, you still couldn't see both of them.

"Well, he can cook a pretty good meal. I may want to borrow him occasionally."

"If your cupboards are any indication of how you cook, then of course you'd want his cooking. Sandwiches just don't fill you up like an actual meal, eh Maxwell?" I snorted and nodded.

"Well, I suppose living off what I made in the war isn't a good idea, huh?" I asked in return, making Wufei smirk even wider. Yet Quatre looked at me with a confused expression.

"But Duo, I thought you ate your meals at the orphanage, seeing as it doesn't have a live in cook yet." I grimaced while Wufei and Trowa looked at me in surprise.

"You mean you can cook?" Trowa asked. I sent a glare Quatre's way. He swallowed and looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry Duo. I wasn't supposed to tell, was I." I shrugged it off, turning to Trowa's question.

"No one ever asked if I could cook. Everyone just assumed I couldn't because of the fact I always made sandwiches and other such simple items for our dinners. But to answer your question, Tro-man, I can cook just fine. I've never had any complaints from the kids, and they'll always be the first to let you know something tastes like shit." Wufei chuckled, causing me to look up at him. "What's so funny?" I asked, confused. I could tell Trowa and Quatre didn't know what was so funny either.

"I wouldn't have found it funny if you had admitted this back when we were still pilots. Yet it's possibly because of your way of cooking that kept us from all becoming fat. After all, Trowa was good with the European meals, Quatre made the Arabian dishes, Heero dabbled with the Japanese ones, and I with the Chinese. While the Japanese and Chinese meals weren't going to make us gain weight really fast, Trowa's and Quatre's dishes would have. Add to that what American's are known for, and you'd find over weight Gundam Pilots instead of what we were." I couldn't help but fall over laughing at that while Quatre and Trowa snickered as well. All in all, it was one of the more enjoyable nights I had had for a very long time.

The next morning I awoke bright and early. I took a quick shower before heading into the kitchen. This time, Trowa was the one doing the cooking. I raised an eyebrow at that, due to the fact that the smell of chocolate chip pancakes soon caressed my nose. I leaned casually against the door frame that led into the kitchen, simply watching Trowa. He was still as graceful as ever, even though he didn't work at the circus anymore. He was smiling softly, and his eyes were both visible. It was certainly a special day indeed.

"To what do I owe this unique pleasure?" I asked. He turned to me with a hopeful smile.

"Quatre told me about what you two had talked about last night. I suppose I just wanted to say thank-you." I laughed softly and shook my head.

"No need for it. He would have come to that conclusion himself if he had thought about it more. Besides, you two are totally in love. There is nothing you two wouldn't do for each other." Trowa looked at me a bit closer, and I could tell he was seeing behind my always cheerful façade. Trowa was the only one who knew I had once been in love with Heero. Hell, I still was in love with him. Yet unlike Trowa, I wasn't lucky enough to have earned his love in return.

"I don't think he would have been able to accept things as well as he did if you hadn't of helped." I smiled, crossing my arms over my chest, my white dress shirt perfectly pressed.

"Then I'm glad I could be of help." Trowa seemed a little distracted for a moment before he looked at me with a serious expression. "What's bothering ya, Tro-man. Ya aren't normally so talkative. So what is it that's on your mind?" He looked away from me.

"Can I borrow your professional ear for a moment?" he asked. I blinked in surprise. What was it with all of my fellow pilots wanting my professional help? They had never wanted to talk to me before.

"Sure, Tro-man, but can I eat at the same time. I've got to be at work within an hour." He nodded and served me up a plate of hotcakes. I began eating as he began talking.

"I was a mecernary for most of my life, Duo. I can't recall much from before I was four. At that time I was found by mercenaries and raised by them. I didn't see any value in living. There was nothing for me, at least that's what I believed. In A.C. 190 I had met a girl named Middie Une. I've talked to Lady Une bout her, but she can't recall anyone in her family named Middie. She stayed with the mercenaries and myself for a while. I even had a lot of people thinking I wasn't human. In all honesty, I simply just never bothered to let anyone get close to me. The mercenaries I had lived with were betrayed by Middie and everyone but myself had been killed. She said she was envious of me because I didn't care. I had no name, no home, no ties and thus I could do as I pleased when I pleased. Yet she didn't realize that I wanted to be just like her, with ties that would lead my loyalty in a single direction. I left her behind, and she called out my name, or rather, what I used to be called. When asked where No-Name was going, I had replied: 'You got the wrong guy. I'm not No-Name. I'm a traveler, looking for a place to go home to.'

"I had then set out for space. I think I was fourteen. I found a maintenance job on L-3 colonies. While there, I had earned a spot on the team that worked on my soon to be Gundam, Heavy Arms. I had also met the real Trowa Barton while there. Yet knowing him was short lived. I soon accidentally witnessed his murder. Walking over to Doktor S, I had told him I was felling pretty uncomfortable without a name, and that I wouldn't mind taking his. So, thus, I became known as what you call me by now." I looked at Trowa. That was amazing. I had never known all of this about Trowa, not to mention I wasn't the only one who wondered what Trowa's real name was. Catherine Bloom seemed to think he was the brother she had lost. Someday we'd have to run a check to see who he really was. Until then, there shouldn't be any worries as long as he could understand and deal with his name.

"Now, I hate to sound like the dumb one here, but why did you tell me all that? I'm fairly certain the only person to have heard everything about your past is Q-bean. So why tell me?"

"Because I want to know if finding out about who I really am is important. Quatre and I are going to have a child. I don't want that child to feel confused about who he is. I don't want him to wonder if his name is really his, or just something his father picked out of a need to have one." I raised an eyebrow at that. My name was something that had been picked out of a need to have one. I had gotten tired of being called 'Hey kid!' and 'Violet-Eyes!' Thus I had taken a spin off of my best friends name, which had been Solo, and began to call myself Duo. It was only after what had happened to the Maxwell Church that I had taken my last name, Maxwell. Thus, I suppose one could say I really had a name that I had picked out. Trowa seemed to realize this just then and his lips formed into the motions of an apology, but I stopped him before he could even utter the first letter.

"Don't. I'm not offended. Far from it, in fact. I know this is how I came to have my name. I played off a friends name and stole my last name. I'm not ashamed of me. I could be called Lavatory and I would still be me. I just don't think anyone would take me seriously with a name like that, is all. So what you have to realize is that a name is just a way for someone to realize who they are talking to or about. It's who the person really is that counts. No matter what your name is, your still Quatre's husband, a former Gundam Pilot, Former mercenary, and all around good friend. Do you understand where I'm going with this?" Trowa smiled then, nodding.

"Yeah. No matter what I'm called, I'm still me." I nodded in return and stood up, pulling on a black suit jacket and straightening my tie. I then gave him a little wave and headed toward the doorway.

"Thanks for breakfast," I told him. He merely inclined his head. Yet his words stopped me dead.

"Oh, and Duo," I turned to look at him, standing in the doorway of my place while he stood in the doorway of my kitchen. "Good call on Duo. I'd have had a really hard time talking to someone named Lavatory. Let alone even being a partner with him." I choked back my laughter at that comment. Only Trowa would come up with something like that. Sometimes I wondered if his time with the mercenaries hadn't warped his sense of humor for all time.

"I'll bare that in mind, Tro-man. See you at lunch!" He nodded and went back into the kitchen. I turned and headed off to work, knowing I'd have to try for some time off tomorrow. I wanted at least one whole day with my friends, especially since I was expecting Wufei to eventually come to me as well, and that was one person I really would be surprised to hear wanting my attention.