We drove over to Quatre's house near noon. The mansion was still as huge, still as imposing as it had been five years ago. A servant opened the door and addressed Heero and Wufei with familiarity, telling them that the others were in the gardens at the back. I followed my…boyfriends? to the back and out in the sun.

"Heero! Wufei! Duo!" Quatre moved away from the barbeque grill and walked over to us, embracing Wufei first and then Heero. I was once again surprised by how easily Heero accepted the embrace. He really had changed.

Quatre embraced me too, squeezing me tight before pulling back. He smiled brilliantly at me and I couldn't help smiling back. He smile was infectious.

"I'm glad you could make it. Hope it wasn't any trouble."

"No, its no trouble at all." I replied, watching a smile light his face again.

"Come on." He led us to the sprawling backyard and I mean sprawling. There were many…many people. It was big. It was crowded. It was damn intimidating. And it didn't help that I knew none of them. Well…if you wanted to look at it the other way, you could say that I knew Sally, Noin, Une and Zechs. But its more of…I know more of them than I know about them. They were even more of a stranger to me than Heero and Wufei were. Or even Quatre or Trowa. But its still strange to be around people whom you haven't seen in over five years.

Quatre and Heero were walking in front of me, Wufei slightly behind me and to my left. I could feel his hand resting lightly on the small of my back. I'm still a little ashamed to admit how much I wanted that touch. It comforted me, encouraged me,. It made me not run away screaming. Shut up already.

We made our way towards the…larger crowd of people. I spotted Noin and Sally off to the side talking but when they spotted Heero and Quatre coming they turned towards them.

"Well?" I heard sally ask. I couldn't see her. Heero was in front of me. "You said you had a surprise. Where is it?" And that's when the gears engaged in my mind. Oh damn. This was not happening. No, not happening. Shit, yes it was.

Heero and Quatre simultaneously parted, I knew they were smirking, and let Sally and Noin see me. I involuntarily took a step back, but unfortunately, Wufei was right there. My back hit his shoulder and suddenly his arm was all the way around my waist.

"Duo!" Sally exclaimed, taking a step towards me. I grinned back at her, somewhat weakly and shot a glance over her shoulder at Heero. Asshole just smirked at me.

"Hey, Sally." I greeted her, once I turned my attention away from Heero.

"Oh wow. Duo…where the hell have you been all these years, Its been ages!"

"Yes, Duo," Noin said warmly. "Its been far too long."

I like Sally and Noin. They weren't gigglers. They weren't the women who tended to fawn over you and such. They were straightforward and blunt and you better listen to them when they have something to say.

And so I got dragged around, getting reacquainted with some and getting introduced to others. I had always known the entire group of Maganacs by name and they welcomed me back joyously. It was great. It was wonderful. It was damn painful. For the past five years, I had not known about their lives. They were people that I used to work with all the time at the garage, the kitchen, just about anywhere. And…it was wonderful, but still very…awkward.

After a while, when I was talking to Abdul, Heero appeared by my side. He inclined his head and flicked his eyes and I assumed that he wanted to talk to me. I said goodbye to Abdul and walked away with Heero.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked once we had walked away from the others.

"Nothing. Just…are you ready to go talk to Une." He asked me. I looked over his shoulder to see the crowd of people slowly starting to dissipate. Might as well get it over with.

"All right." I replied. He nodded, giving me a small smile before turning back and walking to the crowd. I followed a step behind him.

"Lady Une?" He called her attention away from Sally.

"Hello, Heero, Duo." I nodded back to her, forcing a small grin out. She had always been one scary woman.

"Duo?" Heero called to me, throwing the conversation ball in my court. I swallowed quietly and opened my mouth to speak.

"Ma'am, I was wondering if there is still a job available at the Preventors?"

Her eyes widened and she looked at me in surprise. I guess she wasn't expecting me to join. Can't blame her. After all, before I had left for L2, I had not wanted to join and Une had given up perusing me after the first two years.

"This is a …surprise, I must say. Why the…sudden change of mind?" She asked me. I gave a small shrug, focusing my eyes on the champagne glass that she twirled. The red liquid swirling gave me a sudden flashback and transformed itself into blood. Horrifying amounts of blood, along with church and the images of war, the countless that I had killed.

"…ok." I was brought back to the present when Heero touched my back gently. I vaguely remember nodding to all the things that Une said and promised that I would meet her the first thing in the morning. That would give me two days to wrap up the orphanage ties to L2 and find a new place and start the adoption process. That reminded me of Sammy and Kira. They weren't going to be my little kids anymore.

Why was all of this happening so fast? Four weeks ago, I was in L2 taking care of my kids and content living there. Now, I found my life getting complicated, having to make decisions that I never had to before. It made me go back to whether all of this was really a good idea or not.

We got back to the house a little later than five in the afternoon. Tricia and the kids were outside in the huge gardens. Emily and Kristina were chasing Adam around in circles while the other kids were playing their own games off to the side. I found myself unconsciously hunting for Kira and Sam. I need to stop that habit. Really.

In any case I found Sammy making his wobbly way towards me and saw Kira with Tricia. My 9-month old baby was trying to walk! With Tricia's help of course. But that didn't stop the huge goofy grin forming on my face.

"Hey." I turned to find Wufei beside me, with an amused smile on his lips. "What are you smiling at?" He asked, snaking one arm around my waist.

"Look." I pointed towards Kira and Tricia as I leaned into him, still unable to banish that silly little smile. It was simply too cute.

"She's walking." I heard myself whisper In wonderment, my eyes glued to the child. I saw her go onto his hands and knees once and I think I made some sort of a distressed noise. But she got right back up and attempted again.

A squeeze around my waist made me turn to Wufei, who was damn near grinning his head off. "What?" I asked frowning, my voice sounding like a petulant child even to me.

That got me a full fledged laugh and then got me kissed soundly. "You look like this…this happy parent who is seeing their child walk for the first time." He murmured to me, bumping his nose against mine before kissing me again. I felt the blood rushing to my face and ducked my head, burying it against his shoulder. I got that wonderful full throated laugh again and a spontaneous hug at that.

"Duo?" The voice of Sammy brought me back to where we were and I saw him standing in front of us, looking up with his adorable eyes.

"Hey, kiddo." I greeted him, picking him up when he raised his arms in a classic 'up' gesture.

"Where didja go?"

"I went to see some of old friends, sweetie." I told him. Old friends. Were they even my friends anymore? Was I their's?

"Oh, okay." He replied. "Will you go there again tomorrow?" Sounding so forlorn that it nearly broke my heart.

"No, I'm gonna stay here with you guys. We'll have lots of fun, right?" I asked him, tickling his ribs with one hand. He squealed and squirmed and I laughed right along with him. He was so cute.

"Yes!" He said once I had put him down, before scampering off. I sighed unconsciously and watched the little kids race around.

Warm, strong arms wrapped around me again, drawing me back into the gentle embrace. "You okay?" Wufei asked, his breath tickling my cheek. I nodded quietly, my eyes still watching my…the kids. They weren't going to be solely mine any longer.

"Come on, let's go inside." He gently ushered me into the house and led me to the recreation room where I was told to stay put or else. Knowing better than to refuse, I wisely stayed where I was and waited, thinking about what I had to do.

I still needed to get the adoption papers. Tricia could probably do it…but somehow I wanted a small part in it. If Sammy couldn't stay with me, at least let me be the one who is giving him away.

…

Oh god, I'm making it sound like he's some sort of…charity.

"Duo?" I turned my head to find Heero standing at the doorway. He took a few hesitant steps towards me but stopped a few feet away. "Are you all right?"

I frowned at him. Of course I was all right. Why-

…oh.

I suppose standing in the middle of a room with my hands clenched might have something to do with it. I loosed my hands and consciously relaxed my tense shoulder.

"I'm okay." I replied, trying out a smile that I hoped wasn't too fake. Heero seemed encouraged by it though and stepped closer to me, reaching to wrap one arms around my waist to pull me closer. His hand stoked my cheek tenderly and my smile became real as I closed my eyes to his touch.

After giving me a gentle kiss, he led me over to the couch and sat down, resting his back against the armrest and stretching his legs out, while I sat with my back against the pressed to his chest.

"So, did you enjoy this afternoon?" He asked, pressing his cheek against mine. I hummed an affirmative, fingers tracing idle patterns on his jean clad leg.

Again I found myself with questions. What will happen when I show up at the Preventors? Will they know about me and Heero and Wufei? What will people make of an ex-gundam pilot as a new comer? Will I have to do those training tests? Who would be my partner?

"Love?" The voice and the concerned endearment brought me back to the present and I turned to look at Heero. His beautiful blue eyes looked at me with concern and love.

"You seem awfully quiet." He ventured softly, his arms tightening around my waist. I grinned at him and said flippantly.

"Never thought I'd see the day when you actually wanted to hear my voice."

I had only meant to tease but then I saw his face awash with guilt and pain his eyes. I wanted to remove that god-awful look from his face; I wanted to take back that remark. What the hell had I been thinking?

Turning a little more, I place one hand against his chest to show him that I wasn't angry. "Heero, I didn't mean-"

"No, its not that." He shook his head, his bangs covering his precious eyes. "I know that you don't think that I…I mean…well, it's…" He was fumbling with his words which was very unlike him and that made me cautious. "God, Duo, I missed you!" He burst out, his voice sounding very much like a plea. "Those five years…when you left, I thought…I thought I would lose my mind." I was in a state of shock, hearing him say these things to me. I felt…damn guilty.

"Heero, I never-"

But he cut me off again, cupping my face in his hands. "I have loved you since forever. I lost my heart to you the damn day we met. And…I am…so very sorry that I didn't say anything for the past nine years. So very sorry, love." He kissed me softly, just the barest hint of a caress. "You and Wufei mean the world to me. I missed you, your voice, your everything for the past five years. If only I had known that you felt something for me back then, I swear, I would have told you."

"Heero, its okay." I soothed, brushing back his bangs so that I could look at his eyes. 'Really. What's done is done. Leave it be." I smiled for him, my hand drifting down to his cheek. "Besides, everything turned out fine in the end, didn't it?"

He didn't look convinced, but Wufei came in then with a bowl of popcorn and a movie. He stopped when he found us on the couch. A smile blossomed on his face and he heaved a little theatric sigh.

"Couldn't wait for me, could you?" He popped the movie into the DVD player before coming to settle to the couch to settle between my legs, pulling one of my arm around his waist and entwining our fingers together.

"You're too damn slow." Heero drawled back to him. Wufei huffed and playfully slapped Heero's thigh before turning his attention to the movie.

Unfortunately, Wednesday came by too soon.

(……)

Next: Duo meet's Une, dubbed the scary lady. Mwahahaha! XD