how hard can it be?

by armygundamgirl

Duo and Hilde haven't seen each other since Duo decided that he loved Heero. His daughter now has to deal with the loss of her mother, and meeting her father for the first time. But is her mother dead?

2. Chapter 2

Characters Ages

Zechs 36

Noin 36

Trista 19

Kevin 15

Sally 36

Wufei 34

Felix 18

Liao 16

Lian 16

Shen 7

John 35

Relena 34

David 13

Rose2

Hilde 34

Jen 17

Ashley 17

Heero 34

Duo 34

Jesse 18

Max 16

Jaime 15

Kyle 10

Daisy 8

Alyssa 8

Keily 2

Trowa 34

Quatre 34

Anna 17

Manuel 13

Relationships

Jesse and Jamie — brother and sister

Daisy and Alyssa – identical twin sisters

Kyle and Keily – brother and sister

All adopted by Heero and Duo except Max who is their test tube child.

Jen — Duo and Hilde's child from before Heero and Duo got together

Anna and Manuel — both Quatre and Trowa's test tube children

Zechs, Noin, John and Relena will eventually show up with their kids, though not for a few chapters. All of the kids plus John are my own creation, you want to use them, ask me. Everyone else is of course property of whatever company made them. I can't remember it right now and I don't feel like looking it up. Enjoy!

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"Ah crap." Ashley muttered under her breath before dropping her bag and following her friend. Duo and Heero blinked in confusion, and Wufei came up to them.

"Everything all right?" He asked. Heero and Duo turned to him, and Heero sighed.

"Not sure. That was Hilde's daughter, she was delivering this. I think you should take a look at it, you being a Preventer and all." Duo said and handed him the package, but keeping the letter for himself. He then turned to Heero. "What the hell possessed you to ask that question Love?" He asked. Heero shook his head.

"You look at yourself in the mirror and you didn't see the resemblance? She may be Hilde's daughter but she's the spitting image of you, and she looks about the right age." He said.

"But why didn't Hilde ever say anything? She never even told me that she was pregnant before she left." Heero shrugged.

"Beats me, I have no idea what goes through a girls head." Duo turned to Wufei, who had started flipping through the package.

"How about you Wufei? You married a woman after all." Wufei shrugged.

"And I still don't understand them, especially that one." He said referring to Sally. Duo sighed.

"I guess we better go after the girl and straighten this out, huh?" He said.

"Up to you. From her reaction it's more than likely Hilde only told her about you recently." Duo pushed his bangs back from his eyes.

"Let's go. Who knows what she'll do in the state she's in."

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"Dammit Jen, stop right now!" Ashley called out as she chased after her friend. Jen didn't slow down, she just kept running. Ashley rolled her eyes and easily picked up her pace. Jen may be one of the best at everything she did, but Ashleyhad always beenthe better runner. She caught up with Jen in the park and tackled her to the ground, continuing a fight that had been going on since the third grade. They wrestled around, not paying attention to any form, until finally Ashley had Jen pinned to the ground.

"Dammit Ash, let me up!" Jen demanded as she struggled against the hold.

"Not until you tell me what the fuck is going through your head!" Ashley shouted. Jen kicked her in the back of the head then rolled out from under her and came up in a fighting stance. Ashley did the same, and they watched each other warily as they circled one another.

"I don't know what to think right now." Jen said. Ashley threw a kick to the head which Jen caught and used to throw her to the ground. Ashley rolled and swept Jens legs out from under her.

"Not good enough Jen, I know you better than that!" Jen used her legs to jump off the ground, but she landed on her ankle wrong and twisted it, falling to the ground. Ashley just stood over her with her arms crossed as the first tears leaked out of Jens eyes.

"How would you feel," She started with. "If you found out for the first time who your father was. After a lifetime of dreaming about who he might be and why he wasn't in your life you find out and he's not what you expected." She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut against the tears. "And then, imagine finding out that your mother is dead, that she planned her death, and you don't even have time to mourn it before you have to run to a person that you know nothing about. And then to find out that said person has a life, a wonderfully happy life that you have no business interrupting. Tell me how you would feel dammit!" Jen all but shouted. Ashley wasn't able to answer.

"I guess I'd feel pretty lousy, not to mention scared." Duo said from behind them. They both turned to him in surprise, and then Jen turned away and Ashley sighed.

"I'm just going to be over there." She said and walked off to a park bench that was far enough away for father and daughter to have some privacy but close enough if Jen needed her. Duo crouched down next to Jen.

"I'm guessing from the way that you've been acting that I'm your father."

"So my mom told me."

"Never would have guessed that your dad was a former Gundam pilot huh?"

"I wasn't able to guess anything because my mom didn't tell me anything. All I had were dreams."

"Sometimes that's all one needs." They sat in silence for a while, until Jen tried to stand. She managed to make it up, but all of her weight was on her good foot, using the other one for balance only. Duo stood up with her.

"So am I?"

"Are you what?"

"Going to be a damn inconvenience 'cause if I am I'll leave right now." She started to hobble away, but Duo stepped in front of her.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because that's what's going to happen, isn't it? You're now going to feel obligated to try and talk, to get to know me. Well I really could care less, I've made it this long without a father, I can keep going."

"Maybe. But I know from experience that growing up without parents sucks." Jen finally looked at him, seeing all of the pain and hurt in his eyes that she felt in her own heart. She burst into tears, and he took her in his arms, rocking her back and forth. She felt safe, warm there, and she just let her tears flow. When she finished, Duo wiped the last of them from her eyes, then slipped an arm around her waist and pulled one of hers over his shoulder. "So, are you ready to meet your extended dysfunctional family?" He said with a smile. Jen couldn't help but smile back.

"They can't be anymore dysfunctional then my friends and I." She said as they slowly made their way to where Ashley was waiting.

"Well, since I don't know you and your friends I can't make a comparison, so you'll have to tell me who's more dysfunctional after you spend a few days with us." Jen nodded to Ashley, who stood up and took Jen's other side.

"You can meet one right now. This is Ashley, the most dysfunctional of my friends. She has to be if she hangs out with me. Ashley, meet Duo, my...father." Ashley nodded in acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you. And let me warn you, you're in for a ride if you're going to get to know her."

"Yeah? How so?"

"Because she's the She-Devil in disguise." Duo gave them both a grin.

"Well whatta ya know, I'm Shinigami himself." Duo extricated himself from Jen and let Ashley fully take over. "Here, I gotta call the others and let them know I found you." They both looked at him in surprise.

"You're not the only one who came after us?" Jen asked as she climbed onto Ashley's back, which was easier than trying to walk; they knew this from experience.

"Well yeah, with the state you were in we weren't going to just let you wander around an unfamiliar city. Besides, your mother may not have contacted me for the last 17 or so years, but she still holds a special place in my heart." Jen just blinked at him in confusion as he rang Heero on his cell. "Heero? Yeah, I found her. We're heading back to the house now. Tell Sally to have some bandages ready, she got in a fight with her friend and hurt her ankle." Ashley looked up at Jen.

"I really should beat the crap out of you, you know." She said.

"What for? And you've been trying since we met; you haven't succeeded."

"For being so scared. You can be such an idiot sometimes."

"Sometimes? I thought you knew me better. I'm always an idiot."

"Yeah yeah." They reached the house to find that most everyone was outside waiting for them, and they guessed that Sally was the one with the first aid kit in hand. Duo waved happily to all of them as Wufei and Heero also came up the sidewalk.

"Hey everyone! I'd like you to meet my daughter Jen, and her friend Ashley. Everyone say hi!"

"Hi Jen and Ashley!" They all said in some monotone, TV audience voice. Jen and Ashley just looked at each other before, literally, falling down laughing. Wufei shook his head.

"I have a very bad feeling about them." He muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Jen and Ashley looked up at them, ready with a quick retort about him not knowing them, but Sally beat them to it as she examined Jen's ankle.

"What makes you say that dear?" She asked.

"They both remind me of Duo." Jen and Ashley looked confused while everyone else laughed. Sally shook her head.

"Don't worry about him, he's harmless. I'm Sally Po-Chang by the way, Wufei's husband. All right, all set." She said as she finished wrapping Jens ankle and Ashley helped her to stand up.

"Thanks." Jen said. "Um, this may be kinda dumb, but who is everyone?" She asked, eyeing the rather large group of people. Everyone laughed.

"It's not dumb at all." Duo said. "I was about to introduce you to everyone anyway. First we'll start with my friends, though by the time we finish you probably won't remember everyone."

"If I were normal that would be true, but I am far from normal. Plus I have a photographic memory, I remember everything."

"Okay. First and most important to me is Heero, he's the guy that answered the door. He's uh…"

"The reason my mom left. It's okay, you can say it."

"Um, right. How is your mom anyway? Why didn't she come with you?" Jen dug into the ground with her toe, and Ashley answered.

"It's probably best if we talk about that later." She said. Duo nodded.

"All right then. The next one is Wufei over there, or Wu-man as I like to call him."

"Maxwell!"

"Yeah yeah, keep your shirt on. He's married to the lovely Sally though how she can stand him I don't know. They have four kids; Felix is the oldest at 18, everyone raise their hand or do something so they can place a face with the name." Felix nodded in acknowledgement. "Then there's Liao and Lian, 16 year old twins." They both nodded as well. "And the youngest is Shen at the most adorable age of seven."

"I'm not adorable! I'm a warrior like my father!"

"Like I said, adorable. Next we have Quatre Winner and Trowa Barton, married, and their kids are Anna at 17 and Manuel at 13." Manuel came over to shake hands politely, but Anna couldn't help herself, she jumped up and down with excitement.

"Hi! It's really nice to meet you! I'm Anna and I'm finally happy that there are more girls my age. And I've had a lot of sugar today." Trowa steered his daughter away from them with a nod of his own, and Quatre came to shake their hands warmly.

"It's a bit of a surprise but it's still nice to meet you." He said. Both girls looked up at him with wide eyes. He looked at them curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"Holy fuckin shit you're Senator Winner from Colony L-4." Jen said without any shame. Quatre burst out in a large smile.

"Yes, you could say it like that. And I hope that you don't take it the wrong way since we've only just met, but you are most definitely your father's daughter." He moved away with his arm around Manuel's shoulder.

"Now, if you can get over your shock of meeting a senator, I'll introduce you to Heero's and my little army. We have Jesse and Jamie, 18 and 15, adopted but no less loved; Kyle and Keily, 8 and 2, adopted also but no less loved; Daisy and Alyssa, 8 year old twins, adopted again but no less loved; and then there's Max, 16 and our very own creation. All of you little minions come over here and say hello." Jesse was the first to come up to them, dragging his sister with him and held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Jesse. My sister's being rude at the moment, but don't mind her. She's just in a bad mood cause her boyfriend dumped her recently."

"He did not dump me! I dumped him when I found out that he was cheating on me!" Jamie shouted indignantly and stuck out her hand. Kyle and Keily came over next, Keily toddling behind her brother as she held his hand and looked up at both girls shyly before her brother told her to wave hello. She then hid her face in her brothers pants leg. Kyle himself gave the most adorable bow and held out a flower to each of them that he had just picked from the lawn, then ran off with his sister to hide behind Jesse.All of the adults couldn't help but go 'ahhhhh' over the whole thing, and then had to jump out of the way when Daisy and Alyssa came running over, their faces sticky with whatever sugar they had gotten into.

"HIHIHIHIHI! We're Daisy and Alyssa. I'm Daisy, she's Alyssa!" Daisy said as the two girls jumped up and down. "We're twins, and we HATE to be dressed alike, even though Duo daddy likes to try. Papa Heero doesn't though, and it's really funny to watch him stop Duo Daddy from dressing us alike." Duo and Heero looked down at the twins, who both looked up and knew that they had been caught.

"Did you two sneak into the ice cream again?" Duo asked. Both girls bowed their heads and shuffled their feet. They knew it was useless to lie.

"Yes."

"Well, since that was supposed to be for later, you two can watch as everyone else eats their ice cream." All protests were silenced by a look from Heero, and it took all of their restraint to keep from laughing at the twins, who immediately latched onto Heero's legs. Duo had no such restraint, and broke out in a very large grin. Matt came up last, sauntering among all of them. He stopped in front of Jen, and the two of them had a staring contest for a few minutes.

"So you and I are blood related." He said, breaking the silence.

"Looks like it." Jen said, not really sure how to react to that. Matt then broke out in an identical grin to Duo's and swept her up in a bear hug, lifting her off her feet and swinging her around.

"This is awesome! Not like I need another sister, but you and I share the same blood! That makes it twice as cool!" Matt finally set her down on the ground, where she swayed a little unsteadily. She leaned out for Ashley and held on for support. They all looked at her curiously.

"Owww, my stomach..." Jen moaned. Matt looked at her apologeticly.

"Are you hurt? I didn't mean to, I swear! I was just so happy to have a blood sister that I couldn't contain myself." He said, truly looking like he was sorry. Ashley waved her hand dismissively.

"It's not your fault, Jen just got a little sick on the way over here and she's still recovering." She said. Duo was at once the protective father.

"Was it serious? You should be inside, resting!" Heero put his hand on Duo's shoulder.

"Calm down love, she looks fine. Let's all go back inside." He said, then turned to Ashley and Jen. You two must be tired. We've got a spare room if you don't mind sharing." Both girls shook their heads.

"We practically live in each others rooms on the weekends anyway, so it won't be that much of a change." Jen said.

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sorry about the weird ending, I couldn't think of a good way to end this, so I just did. And don't worry, the next chapter will show more of the children, plus physical descriptions once I figure them out; Heero's reaction to Jennifer and hers to him; what happened to Hilde and why Jen had to run; and depending on how long that turns out I may put more of the other pilots children in. If not the next chapter, then definately the one after that! Review please!