Yoo're In Trowble!

Whatever Duo and Hilde had been up to on their vacation it must have been a lot because Duo, believe or not had been away for about a month. So when Duo came back from his trip with Hilde he felt ready to face anything. Even Heero if it came down to that. So, it was very little surprise to see Duo whistling to himself on his way home.

Back at the Winner's household, Quatre had gotten use to Hotaru. In fact he was quiet taken by her and even helped Heero pick out new clothes for Hotaru when she grew out of them. Though Hotaru was proving to be quite the little ragamuffin, she had yet to grow out of her baby talk, was mischievous at best when it came to Wufei and was still a child in many ways.

On that day, Heero was looking for Hotaru. He saw had doll that he thought that Hotaru might like. She had for sometime now been taken by dolls in navy blue dresses, though he didn't know why. The only reason why she didn't want any was because she claimed they were the wrong hair colour. Hotaru wanted one with blond hair, a shade darker than the first dolly she got. Speaking of which…

Heero peered into Hotaru's room, she was still sleeping in a crib, but that was only because they hadn't found a bed for her yet. It was about time she got one. Relena had been looking for beds, but she wanted to ask Hotaru what she thought. After all, Hotaru would have that bed for the rest of her life.

"The rest of her life…" Heero thought, "How long is the rest of her life? She's been growing a year a week so far."

The room hadn't changed that much in truth. Just a few more toys around on the floor than he remember and more dolls on the toy chest as well. To add to her first three dolls, which were the long hair, blond one, the brown haired one and the blacked haired one, there was also a blue haired and an aqua coloured haired one. The one he was holding would be her sixth doll. He looked around, wondering where she could be. As he stepped out of her room he looked down the hall to see Hotaru looking up at one of the closed doors.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked.

Hotaru looked at him and pointed to the door, "Door?"

"That's Duo's room," Heero stated, "You're not allowed to go in."

"Du-o?" Hotaru said slowly.

He crouched down to meet her at eye level, "Yes Duo, your Uncle Duo."

Hotaru thought about this for a minute, "Duo… Duo's door…"

Heero nodded, out of the all of the pilots, Duo's name was the easiest to say. He gave her one of those rare smiles, well… kind of rare. It was one of those smiles that he gave only to Hotaru. Hotaru giggled back and for a moment both of them were quiet.

"I have something for you," Heero said gently.

Hotaru's interest peaked, "Someting?"

The Perfect Soldier nodded, "Something, but what do you say?"

"Please?"

From behind Heero's back was a doll with long dirty blond hair wearing a dark blue dress. Hotaru squealed in delight holding out her hands as Heero gave her the doll. She squeezed it tight to her chest, swinging back and forth.

"Tank yoo! Tank yoo!" Hotaru jumped and gave Heero a big hug.

Heero, unsure of himself gently hugged her back. As much as he hated to admit it, hugs and kisses were something he still needed to get use to. As far as he could remember he had never been hugged, unless you include one of those strangling hugs from Duo that is. Without him realizing it, he was sitting on the floor with Hotaru in his lap. Her head against his chest, murmuring something he couldn't hear.

Somewhere else, far, far away in the Gate of Time, only a few of the Senshi were watching. The others were dealing with the enemy. This strange new enemy who's Dark Queen wanted to keep Crystal Tokyo from coming.

Minako sighed to herself as she watched the little scene from where she stood beside Setsuna. They had felt it save enough to not watch Hotaru all the time. Even Haruka admitted that it seemed that Heero was more over protective than she was. After all how many people fired guns when people swore in front of their child?

Minako shook her head, "Is it just me, or is there something familiar about her dolls?"

"Who knows…" Setsuna trailed off, "There had been many unexpected things happening since she first came."

"Besides three uncles and another coming their way?" Minako asked.

"Yes."

Ami watched the two with some worry. She too, like Wufei was much of a scholar, of course she was the bookworm. What bugged her was that Hotaru had never grown that fast the last time she 'died'. If not that, then what would be the effects of being in a different dimension?

"Pluto," Ami then spoke up, "What are the side effects of Hotaru being in that dimension and growing at the rate she does?"

Pluto thought about this, "Sooner or later they'll discover she still sleeps a lot. Even as she grows older, since it does take a lot of energy to do so."

"But what about the dimension in general?" Ami asked.

Minako frowned, "Why are you wondering?"

"Think about it Minako," Ami wanted to make her fears known, "Hotaru in her last life or the one before the Outers started taking care of her, was never really healthy. She got tired quickly if she did certain things."

"I suppose the same would happen in that dimension, but…" Setsuna, "Some things could change, let's just hope for the better."

They all looked at each other knowing. There had been, despite the unexpected change in Heero a blessing to all of this. It was one thing for Hotaru to be raised by her fellow scouts, but to be raised by people that had no original connection to her was another thing. Sometimes, even the Scout of Destruction and Rebirth needed a family to call her own.

"Pttf!" Hotaru pushed the bottle cup full of milk away from her.

Relena gently pushed it back to her, "Come on Hotaru… you need to drink your milk."

Hotaru stuck up her nose, "No like milk!"

"Don't you want to grow up big and strong?" Relena tried a different tactic.

"Yuck!"

Quatre walked into the kitchen to watch this. It was another thing about Hotaru they had all gotten use to. As fast as she grew, so did the changes in her taste. Hotaru had grown to hate milk, for some reason or another.

"No luck?" Quatre asked.

Relena shook her head, "No, it's like she just woke up one day and decided she doesn't like milk!"

Quatre decided it was time to use a tactic that always worked, "Hotaru, you don't want to get in trouble do you?"

"Trowble?" she repeated.

"Yes, I'm sure Heero wouldn't be happy if he heard you weren't drinking your milk."

Heero, not daddy, Heero. That's what everyone including Relena referred Heero as. It was just too strange to even think of calling Heero daddy. None of the pilots could even bring themselves to call Heero daddy. Fortunately, somewhere along the line, Hotaru got the impression that Heero and daddy were one in the same. Just like Relena and mommy was the same person.

"No like trowble," Hotaru said, "No like milk more!"

So the tactic almost always worked. They were ready to give up when Wufei came into the room. It was one of the few times one would see Wufei reading. He even had his reading glasses one. Completely into the book he was reading while drinking soymilk from a drinking box. The Chinese pilot stopped at the table and absently looked up.

He pulled the glasses down, "What's the matter Winner? Onna?"

Relena frowned, then she looked at the untouched milk and then to Hotaru.

"Won't drink milk?" Wufei asked, "What's the matter Little Yuy?"

"Ptttf! No like milk!" Hotaru crossed her arms and pouted.

Quatre turned to Relena, "Have you tried chocolate milk?"

She nodded, "Heero, did and she ended up dumping it on Trowa."

"So that's why Barton had chocolate milk dripping from his bangs," Wufei nodded with understanding, "How about soymilk onna?"

"Soymilk?" Relena and Quatre repeated at the same time.

Wufei just rolled his eyes as he made his way towards the fridge. Knowing that this had something to do with her, Hotaru turned to see what Wufei was doing. All of the Gundam pilots had their own tastes, and so each one had their own stock of something. For some, to touch that would mean, depending on the pilot certain death. Wufei reached back into the fridge for his own stock. He pulled out a white carton with Chinese writing on it. Took another bottle cup and poured some into it before giving to Hotaru. Hotaru wrinkled her nose and sniffed it before sniffing the bottle that just had milk. She then slowly took the soymilk and sucked. Hotaru gave a small smile before drinking the rest of the soymilk. Relena and Quatre looked at Wufei in surprise.

Wufei shrugged, "It comes from plants not a cow. So it tastes a bit different, but it'll still give her the nutrition she needs. There's more in the fridge if you need any."

"Thank you," Relena smiled as she watched Hotaru drink up happily.

~ Half an Hour Later~

Duo was by all means in no hurry to come back home. When he finally did reach back home though it was late afternoon.

Duo bounded into the room with his traditional greeting, "GUYS! I'M HO-"

He stopped in mid-sentence at the scene before him. In the main hall where everyone came in was a long, spiraling, marble staircase. It was the scene happening on those stairs that caught his attention. On the stairs sat a little girl he'd judge to be about four or so. She had shoulder length, dark purple hair that contrasted with her pale skin. In truth the girl was incredibility cute in her yellow shirt and baby pink overalls, not looking at him, but looking down causing her hair to fall over her face. The 'girl' as Duo had dubbed her was holding a doll in a dark blue dress by the hair and was using safety scissors to cut the same hair. She didn't act like anything was wrong, instead she was humming to herself as she gave her doll the haircut. If it weren't for the fact the keys worked, Duo would have sworn he stepped into the wrong house.

As he watched this scene Duo muttered to himself, "This is a disturbing scene to come home to…"

"Duo, you're back," Trowa walked into the main hallway.

It was clear that Trowa didn't notice the little girl, since his eyes didn't land anywhere near her. Duo wondered for a brief moment if he was just seeing things.

"Uh, yea…" Duo pointed to behind Trowa, "Trowa, who's the kid?"

Trowa looked over his shoulder, "Hotaru! You know you aren't suppose to be cutting your doll's hair."

"Haircut," Hotaru looked up and smiled.

"No, Hotaru," Trowa shook his head, "You aren't even suppose to have scissors, not have you cut your blue-haired doll."

Hotaru turned away with her doll.

"Hotaru… scissors are for paper, not for cutting doll's hair," Trowa held out a hand, "Give me those scissors."

"No, want cut dolly's hair. She need haircut," Hotaru pouted.

The two men looked at the doll's hair, which was now half-cut. So now one half was really short and the other half was long.

Duo tapped Trowa on the shoulder, "Trowa, who is she and who in their right mind let you guys take care of her?"

"Her name is Hotaru," Trowa said calmly.

In more ways than one, Trowa would this slightly amusing. After all, Duo was about to get the shock of his life. Then he remembered about Hotaru and the doll.

Trowa turned back to Hotaru, "Hotaru, give me those scissors, or else I'll tell Heero," he gave her a look.

Hotaru blinked, pouted and gave Trowa the scissors.

Duo groaned, "Great! You mean Heero has all ready scarred her for life? Who's bright idea was it to expose her to the Perfect Soldier? The poor girl is going to be traumatized for life! She'll probably be running and screaming when he walks through the door! The girl is gonna need a physiatrist now! She-"

Trowa just stood there and let Duo rant. Though it was quite tempting to stop Duo right there and pointed out that Hotaru was Heero's daughter. That this so-called girl would just giggle each time her father shot his gun.

Duo brought him out of his thoughts, "TROWA! SHE'S GONNA HAVE NIGHTMARES FOR LIFE BECAUSE OF THAT TIGGER-HAPPY PHYSCHO!"

"Maxwell, it hasn't even been five minutes and you're already too loud," Wufei stated as he walked down the stairs, careful not to step on Hotaru.

"AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES SOMETHING WRONG WITH ALL OF THIS?" Duo yelled on the top of his lungs.

Wufei just raised an eyebrow at him and looked at Trowa. He noticed that Trowa was holding a pair of scissors and Hotaru was looking at them with keen interest.

"Barton, I suggest you raise those things up a bit higher because Hotaru wants them," Wufei commented.

Trowa crossed his arms, "Duo, a lots happened while you were gone."

"I can see that!" Duo snapped, "But the kid!"

"She's staying with us," Wufei explained.

Duo just threw up his hands, "Who is the parent crazy enough to leave her with us?"

"She's………" Trowa stopped for a moment, "Adopted."

He stopped, "Oh… so she's staying here because of that. Okay."

Adopted Duo could do, after all he was a war orphan himself, so it wasn't too unbelievable to him. Maybe except that it was someone he knew.

Duo thought for a minute, "Sally? Being a doctor and all she must have seen orphans before."

They both shook their heads.

"Noin?"

"No."

"Milliardo?"

"No."

"Hilde?"

Trowa gave him a look, "Duo, you've been with Hilde for the past month. How could she have adopted a kid?"

"Hey, anything could happen right?" Duo shrugged, "It would explain why the kid is staying with you. At least until she got back… Uh… Lady Une?"

"No."

"Relena?"

"No."

"Catherine?"

"No."

"Dorothy?"

"Maxwell!"

Duo took a step back, "What? From the way she's looking at those scissors right now it could be possible. So when is he or she picking her up."

Wufei looked at him, "Maxwell, she's staying here… permanently."

"Ah…" Duo looked like a light bulb had clicked over his head, "Quatre then! It figures, guy's got a big heart."

"Sorry Duo, but no," Trowa shook his head wondering if they should enlighten Duo.

"Uh… I doubt it would be Wu-man," Duo said.

Wufei gave him a look, "Maxwell I'd rather be burned alive than be a father now."

"Right," Duo said, "Trowa?"

Trowa shook his head.

Duo scratched his head, "Then who is it?"

It was quite clear at that point that Duo wasn't even going to consider Heero. Then again, who would? Heero was probably the furthest from his mind and it was time for Wufei and Trowa to enlighten him.

Trowa turned to Hotaru, "Hotaru why don't you introduce yourself to your Uncle Duo."

"Duo?" Hotaru said, "That Duo?" she pointed to him.

Duo grinned, "Yep! I may run and I may hide but Duo Maxwell never lies!"

Hotaru got up from her seat and smiled, "Ho-tar-u Yuy."

"Okay…" Duo nodded, "I thought you said it was one of us."

The other two reframed themselves from hitting their heads on their wall. It was clear Duo was going to be dense. Duo at the moment was thinking of any Yuy, but Heero Yuy. Wufei slowly walked up to Duo, and for a moment Duo thought he did something to anger the other pilot.

Instead Wufei put a hand on Duo's shoulder and simply said, "Duo-"

"Oh no…" Duo backed off, "Wufei when you say my first name, something's wrong, and you're scaring me."

"Duo, she's Yuy's daughter," Wufei then added after a pause, "Heero Yuy's daughter."

Duo stared at Wufei blankly and for a few minutes all was quiet. For a moment Trowa feared they had given the braided pilot a huge shock.

Duo suddenly laughed, "Oh, that was good one Wu-man! For a minute I really did consider the kid being Heero's daughter!" he grinned, "Really Wufei, did you think I fall for something as crazy as that?"

Wufei murmured so only Trowa would hear, "Was I ever in that much of self-denial?"

"Wouldn't know…" Trowa whispered.

Wufei shook his head, "Maxwell, I'm being serious here. Hotaru really is Heero's daughter."

"Come on Wufei, give it up," Duo grinned, "Come Hotaru, tell your Uncle Wufei here to give it up."

Hotaru looked really confused herself; she knew that Heero was her daddy.

Trowa sighed, "Duo… its no joke."

Duo stopped laughing and shook his head, "Come on! Stop with the funny business and tell me who in the hell is this girl's parents!"

Without a warning to Duo, the other two Gundam pilots braced themselves and Hotaru covered her ears as a gunshot ran through out the house. She lifted her hands from her ears in time to see Heero storming down into the main hallway.

"I thought I said-" Heero stopped in mid-stride, "Oh, it was you. Fine, you didn't know but-" he pointed his gun at Duo, "Swear in front of Hotaru again and I will kill you."

Hotaru jumped of from her seat, "DADEE!"

She took off in a running jump and landed into Heero's arms who caught her without any trouble. Heero smiled as she curled up in his arms.

She held up her doll, "Dolly want haircut?"

"Hotaru," Heero sighed with amusement, "You just got her."

"Now that," Hotaru pouted, "But haircut."

Now Duo jaw looked like it was going to go through the floor. He stared at Heero, and then at Hotaru and then back at Heero. Heero was smiling, at a kid who jumped into his arms. The girl called him daddy.

"S-s-she's H-Heero's d-d-daughter?" Duo pointed at Heero.

"That's what we've been trying to tell you Maxwell," Wufei said.

Duo nodded, "Yea, okay… So Heero's a daddy… He's smiling… He's actually happy for once… He's not threatening to kill her…"

He looked back at Hotaru who had her head on Heero's shoulder.

Duo nodded to himself, "I'm gone for a month and Heero becomes a daddy…"

THUMP

Everyone, including Hotaru looked at the floor. The God of Death himself had fainted dead away at the idea of Heero being a father.

Hotaru looked at Heero in the eye, "Duo go boom."

Author's Notes: I doubt in my life that Duo would ever be really dense but… If I were Duo I would think of anyone but Heero. Let's face it; in the beginning before this, you couldn't really see Heero as the fatherly type. Not with Hotaru anyways…

Anyhow… All of the pilots know! It's just the fact of all the nice trouble she could get herself into. Now the only thing they have to worry about is raising Hotaru, Milliardo, and Dr. J and his colleague. Well, they don't have to worry about Dr. J, but they don't know that.