Author: Sparkle Itamashii
Title: Inheritance
Warnings: Respect the rating. Please see my profile for details.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing AC is NOT MINE.
Chapter Eleven
I woke the next morning to Heero's questioning voice in the doorway of our bedroom and ungodly bright lights. I sleepily agreed to whatever he was saying, hoping that it would make him leave faster. In an attempt to return to my blissfully warm sleep, I rolled over and wrapped myself in blankets, burying my face in the pillows. The fact that I knew I was going to have to wash the sheets later did not help to improve my irritation over being woken so early. Nor did the fact that seconds later those same sheets were stripped away, allowing the cold of morning to wash over my bare skin.
"Heeroo!" I complained noisily, making a grab for the stolen bedcovers and missing as I finally opened my eyes.
He was standing imperiously beside the bed. "Did you move my briefcase?" he demanded, as if he'd already asked me a million times. Which he probably had.
Did I move his- what the hell was he asking me that for? He knew I never touched his stuff without telling him. I rolled my eyes and turned over, half burying my face in the pillow again. "Do I look like I moved your briefcase? I can barely move myself." I smiled into the pillow, containing a laugh.
"You're sure?" He still sounded like he didn't trust that I hadn't move from our bed since… well.
"Yes, Heero. I must have hauled my lazy ass out of this bed just to move your briefcase so that you would wake me up and ask me stupid questions at-" I glanced at the clock, "six fucking thirty in the morning. Go to work already. You probably left it someplace weird because I tried to lock you out yesterday, remember?"
"Mm…" He didn't sound convinced. "Maybe." The floorboards protested weakly as he moved back toward the door. Just before he left, he turned and gave me a curious look. "Not going to be a morning person today?"
"I'm not a morning person any day," I griped. "I consider it a crime to be a morning person."
"Mm," he agreed absently, though I could practically see a sneaking smile at the edges of his lips.
"Make a smart-ass remark about punishment," I quipped before he could say anything else, "and you won't make it to work. At all."
"Sounds fun." He finally smirked, leaning against the doorframe. I definitely liked him better when he was acting like that.
"You'd think so," I purred sweetly, "until you realized I was putting you to work moving childcare things around the house instead of inviting you back to bed." Grinning, I raised an eyebrow. "Although I suppose I could do both…"
He snorted and shook his head, tossing the sheets across my ankles and heading down the hall. "I'll see you when I get home."
"Love you!" I called after him, knowing that it irked him when I did that. Oddly, I heard his footsteps stop and track back to the bedroom entrance.
Poking his head inside, he gave me a quick, thoughtful… almost worried once-over and then dropped eye contact. "Yeah. Love you too."
Wha… what?
Tossing the covers off my ankles, I slithered out of bed and followed him down the hallway. Heero almost never responded when I said… I mean, it's not like I thought he didn't return my feelings or anything, he was just so- well, himself. He expected me to understand and I did and I would for as long as he needed. So why? What was that look he gave me? Why, when he had said more than he ever usually said, did I feel like he'd said… so much less?
I snagged the edge of his sleeve wordlessly and he turned. I ran my eyes over his face but there was nothing there that gave any indication that he'd been acting strangely. He was the same Heero I'd known for years, wearing that same, flawless mask; the one that gave away no emotion, told no secrets.
The only difference was that this time, he was wearing it for me.
Without speaking he leaned over and kissed me gently on the cheek. Our hands brushed briefly and then he was smiling as he walked out the front door to work, briefcase forgotten. For a second I almost let myself slip. I almost believed that it was okay and that things were as normal as they ever got. But I couldn't shake the memory of that look; the one that was asking me for something I couldn't give, asking me to understand something I didn't know anything about.
I didn't know what to do, so I didn't do anything. I let it go because I knew there was not a single thing I could do until he chose to open up to me. He had to make a move because I didn't know where we were anymore.
I waited a few minutes after he'd closed the door to make sure that he was really gone before getting dressed and padding into the kitchen to forage. I was still a little miffed but I shoved those feelings to the back of my mind. I had a lot to do today and none of it involved trying to figure out Heero's weird moods. I only had a few hours before those people would be here to help me move things and I still had to take a shower and try to dry my hair.
Noting that Heero had left his own plate in the sink instead of putting it in the dishwasher, I grabbed a bowl to begin my breakfast routine. I glanced around but the dog was nowhere in sight. Whistling for Artemis, I ignored Heero's bad habit and snatched the open can of wet dog food from the fridge.
But she didn't come.
Confused, I set the can on the counter and wandered out of the kitchen, glancing into all of the rooms in the house. There was no dog, though on my way through the front room, I noticed the red number one blinking patiently on the phone base. For a moment I was confused, trying to remember who would have called, when I recalled that Quatre said he'd called and left a message. Before I could press the button, I heard Artemis scratching at the back door.
At first I thought that she wanted to go out, but when I got to the door… she was already outside. Curious and a little worried, I opened the door and let her in, thinking that in his weird mood Heero must have let her outside. She gave me a sulky look as she passed, heading for the kitchen.
"What were you doing out there, stupid?" I asked, following her to the kitchen. Of course she couldn't understand or answer me but I felt better talking to someone other than myself. We'd gotten Artemis because I was home far more than Heero and I hated being alone. Sure, I could defend myself against almost anything that intruded but it was more than just that. I had an imagination that 'overactive' didn't begin to describe.
I took as fast a shower as I could and actually managed to get my hair mostly dry before the doorbell rang. Cursing the fact that I'd chosen to eat before my shower, I answered the door. There were two men I didn't quite recognize standing on my front step, both of whom were smiling as if they expected me to know them. The one on the right was a little bit stockier but they could have been twins for all the rest. Twins I didn't know. I was handed a clipboard with a few sheets of paper and one of them disappeared without a word to return to the small moving truck parked in my drive.
"Hi." I said, glancing between the clipboard and the remaining 'twin,' trying to place where I'd seen him before. "You're a little early."
"I hope that's all right. We can wait outside for another three minutes if you'd like, until nine." I didn't miss the hint of a cheeky smile on the edges of his lips.
Grinning, I shouldered open the door with my good shoulder and allowed him access to the house. "I didn't say early was bad, sir…?"
"Call me Doc."
"Doc?" I repeated, certain it wasn't his real name. "Have we met?"
"In passing, sir." He smiled and motioned vaguely in the direction his partner had disappeared. "We're part of Master Quatre's Maguanac Corp."
Curses! Why I hadn't realized that was beyond me. Of course Quatre was still associating with his long-time friends and of course those would be the people he trusted to do anything important for him. I'd met most of them one time or another so I could recognize most of their faces. Not that I could be expected to remember names or anything like that but I still felt badly for not knowing.
"The others should be here shortly."
"Others?" How much stuff were they planning on bringing! There was already a small moving truck in the driveway.
"Quatre invited friends of yours, didn't he tell you?"
"Obviously not." I said dryly, watching the second Maguanac as he rolled some sort of dresser thing up the front walk. Giving up on watching, I moved inside and into the doorframe of the kitchen to allow them room to bring things inside. "How… much stuff did you bring?"
"Quite a bit." Doc said, moving out of the way as the dresser creaked through the front hall.
I took a step back into the hallway to watch. "The door to the guest room is open if you want to put it in there."
"Have you moved the other stuff out?" came a very familiar voice.
"Trowa!" I exclaimed, nearly dropping the clipboard I was still holding. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on that L4 colony…"
"I was," he said simply. When it came to talking, Trowa was often worse than even Heero.
"So…?" I prompted as he moved past me. "What happened?"
"Nothing." He greeted Artemis with gentle hands and she practically melted into him. I think that next to Heero, Trowa was quite possibly her favorite person. "Quatre wanted me to help you."
I smiled, amused as always at how carefully Trowa chose his words. "It's good to see you."
"Where's Heero?" He asked, moving farther into the house.
Giving a quick glance to make sure the Maguanacs would be okay unloading without me, I followed him. "He had to work today. Besides, he's not really good at the whole well, anything. Not around the house anyhow. Although he did fix the sink that one time when it started flooding the bathroom… And I suppose he helped paint the front room when we fixed it."
"Had you planned on painting this room?" Trowa asked idly, not even looking at me.
I stopped rambling and actually looked at the guest room we were planning on converting. It was very plain- white walls, a twin bed, a nightstand and a half-dresser, all lorded over by the brightly lit sun-window on the ceiling. "Don't tell me you want to decorate."
Glancing sideways at me, he gave me a little, almost imperceptible smirk. "I don't."
"Wha-"
"Duuuuoooo!"
Eyes widening in shock, I turned away from Trowa. "He sent Hilde?" I said incredulously as I moved down the hall. Behind me, Trowa chuckled and followed me.
I caught Hilde as she was taking off her shoes and she immediately enveloped me in a bear hug. "Did Quatre call you?" I asked, slipping out of her grasp to glance behind her. Catherine was coming up the front walk, carrying a basket and yapping at Doc's companion as he returned to the van.
"Trowa told Cathy and she called me." She grinned, slipping off her shoes. "And, well… let's face it. I knew you were going to need help the second I heard the news."
"It's just a kid…" I said a little sorely. Why did everyone make it seem like we weren't going to be able to handle this? I'd taken care of Heero and he was as much of a pain sometimes as any child could be.
"It's not just a kid, Duo." Catherine chided with a gentle smile, hugging me as soon as she was close enough. "She's a three year old girl coming to live with two completely inept guys."
"Inept!" I squeaked indignantly, immediately regretting the way my voice jumped at the implication. I was cut off before I could say anything else as she released me and I was caught around the shoulders by Trowa's hands.
"Don't worry!" Catherine grinned as she removed her shoes, obviously proud of the teamwork her and her brother were pulling off; almost as though they'd had it planned. "We're here to idiot-proof this childcare business!"
Hilde plucked the plastic bag out of Catherine's basket and shoved it into Trowa's hands. "Make sure he stays busy."
Catherine grabbed Hilde's sleeve and tugged her toward the interior of the house. "Come on, let's get started."
Waving to us, Hilde allowed herself to be dragged away. "Taa!" With that, the girls disappeared into the guest bedroom.
"But-" I protested weakly, making a move toward them. Trowa squeezed my shoulders as he pulled me into the kitchen.
"Leave them." He released me and took a seat, pulling something out of the grocery bag Catherine had handed him.
"But…" I turned and headed for the exit again. "Was that paint in that basket?"
"Probably," he said nonchalantly, rifling around in the bag.
"Pink paint…?" I couldn't- surely they weren't going to… were they? I had to stop them! I made a dash for the door, trying to think of an excuse as to why they absolutely could not paint that room pink.
Before I even reached the door, though, something hit me square in the center of my back and I whirled around fast enough to grab for it as it fell. The bag touched the tips of my fingers before hitting the ground. With a wary look to Trowa, who was still sitting placidly at the table, I bent down and snatched up the item. It contained what looked like small white sticks and plates as well as a packet of really little screws.
"What the hell are these?" I asked skeptically, digging my fingers into the plastic in an attempt to open it. Of course it was the type of plastic that just stretches impossibly until you get frustrated and knife it open.
"Cabinet locks," he said simply, as though that should explain everything.
"What?" I accepted his pocketknife when he held it out to me and sliced messily into the package. Very carefully I untangled one of the hooked sticks and examined it.
"They go on the doors and frames of cabinets to prevent them from being opened." He motioned to the device I was holding. "You have to push the tab before it'll work."
"Tell me again why we're trying to make my cabinets impossible to open?" I asked dubiously.
"What's in the cupboard under your sink?" He gave me a calm, patient look, obviously waiting for me to catch on.
"Cleaning stuff."
"Poisonous cleaning stuff."
"Oh. I think I see where you are going with this." I sighed, dumping the contents of the bag onto the table so I could sort through them. "Do they really get into things like that? Even if it's bad for them?"
"She'll get into things you don't even know you have." He got to his feet and left the contents of Catherine's plastic bag on the table.
"Where are you going?" I asked suspiciously. "Aren't you going to stay and help?"
"You can handle it without me," he said quietly, pausing and laying one hand against the doorframe as he glanced back to me. "Oh, and when you're done with those… Join me out back."
I groaned. This was going to be a long, long day. I suppose it didn't matter because at the end, when Heero got home, there would be an execution and I would appreciate my last day. With a sigh, I snatched the little screw-driver device Trowa had pulled from the bag, and set to work.
/End Chapter Eleven, Inheritance/
