Title: Learn from past and live for future
Pairings: 1x2
Chapter 8
...
"Daddy, Daddy, wake up," small hands where caressing Heero's cheek and on top of him Solo was waiting for Heero to respond and open his eyes. It was like Deja Vu for Heero to wake up how he did. His inner clock was telling him that he had slept well. It was the deepest sleep he had for a long time and he felt wonderful.
"Morin small bug, how long have you been awake?" asked Heero with sleeping voice and a small smile.
As a respond Solo raised his right hand and showed him one finger then he waited for Heero to continue.
"Oh, one hour, and what have you been doing while I was sleeping?" continued Heero while caressing Solo's hair tiredly.
"Coloring in the kitchen," replayed Solo, "how come you are sleeping in Uncle Duos bed?"
For a while all was quiet while Heero thought of a way to respond. Thankfully Solo patiently waited for his answer.
"Do you remember the story I was telling you; about two rabbits looking for a home and traveling through the entire world to find it?"
"Yes," Solo replayed waiting for Heero to continue, staring intently at his father.
"And what was the message of the story?" Heero asked back and waited for Solo to answer.
"Home is not a place but the people who love us," Solo promptly replayed.
"Exactly and the feeling of home for your daddy are you and Uncle Duo. That is why yesterday daddy asked Uncle Duo if he could share his bedroom with me."
The same as earlier, it took a while before Solo respond; absently caressing Heero's cheek, "Is that the reason why you slept so deeply?" asked Solo again.
"I don't know, how deeply did I sleep?" asked Heero his tone full of wonder.
Still absently caressing Heero's cheek Solo replayed "I could not feel you at all. There were no emotions I could get. It was total quietness."
"Oh, I'm sorry," replayed Heero not knowing how upset Solo really was.
"It's okay, daddy. I was listening to your heart," replayed Solo.
"You told me many times how safe I make you;" Heero asked, "do you remember?"
"Aha," Solo absently replayed.
"Uncle Duo gives your daddy that feeling. That is the only reason I was sleeping so deeply. There is nothing wrong with me, do you understand Solo? You don't need to worry."
"You've never slept so deeply before," responded Solo.
"No, and probably never would if not sleeping here," added Heero.
"Was mommy sad when she did not find you in her bad?"
And that was once again the proof of how observant small children can be and see more than grow ups ever believe. "Probably, but she never told me anything or showed me that she knew. Do you think she knew?" Heero wanted to see if Solo received some feelings he missed, he had not seen or was to ignorant to see.
"Aha," started Solo, "sometimes mommy looked at daddy with sad feelings. I think it was then when she knew. But when she looked my way she got a lot of different emotions like confusion, panic, anger and I think," continued Solo, "that she was scared of me. Am I am monster daddy?"
"When did you learn those words?" Heero wondered. For a five year old boy his son sometimes talked like adult. "Did you read a dictionary at home?" Solo did not respond verbally instead he simply nodded. "Where did that came from, anyway?" Heero continued pulling Solo down and hugging his son tightly to himself, "Of course you are not a monster. Did someone use that word around you?"
With very quiet and slightly shaky voice, Solo responded, "I heard mommy talking on the phone."
Stupid women thought Heero, deciding to give a proper response, instead of just insulting his sons mother, to Solo, "Most people are scared of things that is different and your mommy is one of those people. She is sometimes scared even of me, so don't thing about that anymore. You are perfect just the way you are and if someone doesn't see it that way then they don't know any better and it's wiser to just ignore them." To Heero's relief he felt Solo absently nodding while getting more peaceful.
"Now tell me something happy," Heero challenged Solo.
At hearing that Solo indeed got much happier than Heero expected, "We are having pancakes for breakfast. Uncle Duo is preparing them." He declared smiling.
"We are?" Heero started to sniff the air and indeed he could smell that breakfast was on its way. "Hurray," Heero happily responded "Did Uncle Duo send you to wake me up?"
"Aha," sort replay followed.
"Then we have to hurry up and make ourselves presentable. Up, up, up." while talking he got out of the bed and pulled his son into his arms. "First lets go into your new room so you can choose what you want to wear today."
Twenty minutes later Heero heard Duo calling for them to get their butts into the kitchen; that breakfast was all done and the day would not get any younger.
With one last look toward Solo to make sure his son was properly dressed, he left his new bedroom and followed his son who run ahead of him towards the living room and then into the kitchen.
"Not to fast Solo, you could fall and break something." While fallowing his son into the living room he saw television open and showing some animal documentary. "It looks like Solos done more than just coloring in the kitchen."
When he entered the kitchen he found both Duo and Solo already sitting behind the table waiting for Heero to appear.
"Really Heero, how long do we need to wait for you?" Duos voice was full of humor and mischief. "We both are really hungry and our tummies are on strike already." While smiling he tried to pull Solo into the talking, "Tell him, Solo,"
"Aha," Solo short replayed not taking his eyes out of plate overflowing with pancakes.
The answer again stopped Duo with his fun, "Solo, my man we will have to do something about those short replays. I cannot change your dad but we will have to work on you."
"Hm," was only sound Duo heard while watching Heero taking his place at the table.
"And I understand that replay as confirmation only because I know you buddy," he said that to Heero as to make a point.
"You have my blessing to broaden his horizons with talking," Heero replayed with a big smile on his face, "but now I do feel hungry."
And that was the start of very happy breakfast with Duo joking and making fun of so many different opportunities Heero could never believe there were.
After breakfast when Solo left to watch TV and cleaning of the kitchen started, Duo informed Heero of his morning and all that happened while he was asleep. Then both of them agreed on driving into the city to shop for stuff like clothes, furniture, and other small things they would need in near future.
"More precisely," Duo said, "Both you and Solo need more clothes and working boots for living on a farm. Also we need to go and see if we can find something good for Solos new bedroom."
From Heero's experience with Duo or Quatre he knew it was wiser to just go with the flow of that decision, even he did not like shopping very much. Therefore he just responded with a simple, "Okay, let's go."
...
The shopping Center that Duo drove them to was as big and as full of people as any typical shopping mall would be. To Heero it was like watching an anthill; people were always going into the center or leaving it. Once inside people were entering or leaving shops or sat in bars or restaurants talking, siting. Some were just waiting or simply standing in one place and looking around, some like security guards patrolled large corridors and so on. In different corridors a lot of small performances were being held like dancing, art show, live singing. One of those events would be the performance of strange animals or so the outdoor poster informed all newcomers.
To Heero's relief once they entered the big mall, Duo just stopped and let them get used to everything like the people, surroundings and shops. Deep down he automatically knew both Heero and Solo needed those minutes.
"I can see from both of your body postures it's not something you both are use to?" said Duo rhetorically while looking at Heero and then down to Solo.
"Yes, I never went into any shopping center with or without Solo," replayed Heero, "First, Relena did not approve of it and second Solo was too small."
"I fully understand," said Duo, "I have had problems with crowds to, but the time when I was traveling helped me out a lot."
Once Heero was sure he and Solo where more at ease with the crowds of people all around them, he made a nod towards Duo. "Okay, where do we start?"
And start they did.
First they went through every child clothe shop and looked through any possible clothes Solo could or would need in near future. To Heero's relief Duo quite regularly asked Solo for his opinions about colors, shapes or motives for any clothing he looked at. With it he pulled Solo into a game of who finds the most interesting clothes.
When Solos wardrobe could not get any larger, they went little bit quicker through shops for Heero. In those shops Duo let Heero mingle through the clothes he wished to have. If Heero did not respond or show any type of interests for clothes, Duo took it on himself to decide if they would buy something or just go out of the shop. Sometimes Duo even bought something for himself.
When both were provided with enough new clothes and shoes and all new items were safely stored into the trunk of their vehicle, they went back inside and started a new hunt. But this time they were hunting for all of what Solo's new bedroom would need. At that point Heero just moved behind Duo and Solo letting them choose, bargain and negotiate with every choice Solo wanted to have. To Heero it looked like Duo was unintentionally showing Solo how to bargain and speak up when he wanted something. At the end when all was picked out, payed for and also agreed on delivering Solo was happily jumping up and down near Heero, pleased with himself and his chooses of his new bedroom.
"Daddy, daddy did you see? Uncle Duo let me choose it all on my own. It will be soooo cool." While he was listening to his son happily praising all he would have in his room he watched Duo slowly walking towards them.
"The furniture and new bed will be delivered to us in few days. That will be enough time for Bobby to do his job on the walls," stated a smiling Duo.
"Did you talk to him yet?" asked Heero not remembering if Duo told him that yet or not.
"Did I not tell you that?" wondered Duo, at that Heero just shook his head and waited for him to continue.
"Sorry, then I forgot," replayed Duo. "Yes I called him before I got back to the house early in the morning. He was awake thank the God for that. He confirmed to have free time right now and would be willing to come to us. I also told him about Solos wish to have a rainbow and sunrise on his walls."
"It will be fun to see the end result," while saying that he looked down to his son and saw him being once again being calm at his side, waiting with all the patient of the world for Heero and Duo.
"It will be great. Bobby did great work on Quatre, Trowa and Wufei rooms, oh and you still have not seen their rooms." While talking they stared to move out of the store with small bags of things they actually could get home on their own.
"Later when we get back you can ask Wufei to show you his room while Quatre and Trowa can show you there's when they come to visit, which will be soon by the way."
"Oh that's what's Quatre talked about," wondered Heero.
"Oh," wondered Duo.
"Yes, I called to talk about my problems with Relena. I used his layers for divorce. While we talked he mentioned something about us seeing each other soon" explained Heero.
"Yes, they always come every second month," replayed Duo. "We never choose dates for safety measures."
"Agree," said Heero "It's wiser to be unpredictable and with Trowa in charge of their security we don't need to worry," added Heero.
While they were talking Heero watched his son getting restless, hunted and he watched everyone who came close to them.
"Small bug, you okay" Heero asked his son.
"I am hungry," chirped Solo beside Heero looking around and listening closely to something only he could hear.
"Is there anything special you want to eat," asked Heero looking down to his son.
"Spaghetti?" asked Solo with a hopeful tone, looking up to match his daddy's gaze.
"Sure we could, but I have better idea," responded Duo while looking around, "let go into an Italian restaurant and see which pasta meals they can offer us?"
While thinking about Duo's suggestion Heero remembered something else. "Solo, if I remember correctly you always wanted to try lasagna or?"
At that Solos eyes shined eagerly momentarily forgetting whatever bothered him, "Yes I do, I do, I do."
"Lasagna it is then," added Duo still looking around. "And if I remember correctly there was an Italian restaurant a while back or?"
"Yes, you are right," confirmed Heero, "and we went by it."
It took them fifteen minute of searching to get to the right restaurant. The place was bright with yellow painted walls and all the furniture in wood. It was very friendly atmosphere with some unknown Italian artist singing in the background. It took them an hour and a half to decide, select, order and then eat the meal they had chosen.
While being inside of the restaurant Solo once again acted normal so both Heero and Duo forgot about his strange behavior; but soon as they came out of it he once again got into paranoia state. His face went toward the floor not looking anyone into the face, making sure he was near Heero at all times.
"I say we got all of what we came for," commented Duo while looking at Solo. "You okay, buddy?" he asked, nearly slightly to level himself with Solo but got no respond from the boy. Because of it he looked to Heero to see if he knew what was going on, but all he got was shrug with his shoulders.
"Let's just go home," responded Heero, "we won't know what spooked him if we stay here."
Duo nodded once with his head while absently looked to his wrist watch to see that they been here already for 4 hours.
"I cannot believe we were inside that Mall for more than 4 hours," said Duo with astonishment as they headed for the exit.
...
Once out of the mall they all moved towards the car which was parked at the end of the parking lot so they had to walk for a some time to get to it.
"Again, whose idea was it to park the car so far away from the entrance?" asked Duo while both he and Heero carried bags from the furniture stores.
"As I recall someone pointing out when we arrived how good it was to park the car fare away to avoid problems such as crowd of people or lack of parking space and also how good for our bones it would be to have little bit of exercise," said Heero with irony.
"We should find that person and beat him to a bloody pulp," said Duo absently.
"It was you Duo," responded Heero with a smile on his face and a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, right," while sounding innocent his smile was as always devilish. "Next time we can vote," added Duo absently. All Duo got in responce was a shake of Heero's head; they knew one another way to much.
Once they got to the car Heero started to rearrange the trunk to get all new boxes they brought into it. While doing so he saw his son moving away from them and going toward the corner of the trash cans.
"What the heck is he doing," he wondered while not realizing he said it out aloud.
"What?" replayed Duo "Who?"
"Solo," Heero said with little bit of irk in his voice, motioning at his confusing son.
But Duo just looked toward where Heero was pointing with his head and saw Solo very slowly moving toward trash cans with very small steps like being spooked and scared to get to near.
"Do you think he saw something over there?" asked Duo.
"I sure didn't, so I cant agree or disagree on it. Maybe he felt something," replayed Heero.
"Let me go after him and see," while saying that he started to moving the same way as Solo had.
"I will be with you shortly," said Heero absently.
"Okay," responded Duo.
When Duo got to the small boy he did not expect to find him bend down towards a small cardboard box while crying his eyes out. And those tears flew like a water fall down his young face. In panic of seeing Heero's son in such a distress he moved to him and pulled him up without asking if he actually could do it.
"What happened?" he blabbered in panic "Why you crying? Did you found something?" he really was not used to small kids or maybe just crying kids. "Don't cry Solo, please. We will deal with everything that is troubling you."
"He… he is in such a pain" replayed Solo while still crying without stopping.
That was how Heero found them "What the heck," he asked in wonder.
"Exactly my point," said Duo, "I found him like that and he still did not tell me what is wrong, just told me that someone was in pain."
Heero looked all around them before asking "Who is in pain?"
"Here," Duo moved toward Heero "take him your presence may calm him down."
With quick movements they relocated Solo from one body to another. Once Heero got his son on him he started speaking quietly to calm him down; although it did not look like he would calm anytime soon. What he did get was Solo circling Heero with his small hands and pulling his face in his neck while still crying.
"I think it's something to do with that shoe box," Duo pointed toward the box now absent of Solo presence. "Whatever or whoever is inside of that box….." Duo shake his head, "it has to be bad, the way Solo reacted!"
"Yes, but at the same time it has to be small to get into that box," said Heero absently caressing Solos hair while watching Duo move back to the small box and bend down to open the cover.
"Oh, no," was all Duo could say with sad whisper.
"What," prompted Heero, "what is it? What's inside?"
"A small bloody puppy," said Duo with tears in his eyes "no wonder Solo is crying his eyes out."
"Let me see," prompted Heero. What he saw almost took his breath away. Inside the box small puppies of white fur lie on a side with blood everywhere. Heero couldn't say exactly from where it was coming "How the hell could someone throw a wounded animal away; like garbage and a blood puppy at that."
"Maybe someone who didn't have money or didn't want to have more problems on his or her hands," replayed Duo absently.
"Idiots! Whoever did it should be punished. That is a crime," responded Heero. While saying that Heero could feel Solos hands tighten more strongly around his neck.
"More important right now is to see if that pup is still a live," said Duo absently.
"You will only see it if you touch him Duo," replayed Heero.
"I know," said Duo, "but I don't want to touch him, he is so small and so much blood is on him. I don't want to give him any more pain, if possible."
Not knowing how to help Duo or the small puppy he turned to Solo, "Small bug please can you help us out? Is he is alive?" Then both of them just waited for Solo to respond.
"Yes," came his muffled replay from Heero's neck, "he is in a lot of pain daddy, so he sleeps, or tries to. His legs hurt, his back hurts and he is very thirsty."
"At last he is alive," added Duo while still looking down into the shoe box where the small puppy was still laying,"the poor little guy. How scared he had to be when his owner just left him. Its good we know a good doctor for him."
For a few seconds nobody said a thing, then Duo looked up toward Heero, "Do you think we should pull him out of that box?"
"Let's just take the whole box, it's neither large nor heavy and Doctor Evans will know what to do with him," said Heero.
"That's right," responded Duo with more enthusiasm then before, "If we drive fast we could be at his place in 30 or 45 minutes all depends on traffic".
Heero could tell Duo was as shaken as Solo was, "Okay, you take the box and I will hold Solo, he is still too upset to let go of me".
"Sure," while very carefully picking up the small box a small whimper could be heard out from it, "damn it, it looks like he is hurting more if I move him around".
"Let's just go. The faster we get him to a doctor the faster he can get something for the pain," said Heero.
The drive indeed took at last 30 minutes. Both Solo and Duo sat in the back seat while Heero took the steering wheel. The shoe box was placed in between them. It was a very unpleasant drive if Heero could say so, Solo was still crying quietly and Duo just sadly looked down into the box. To Heero it looked like neither wanted to look away from the bloody puppy. Maybe they were making sure that he was still breathing.
"Is he still kicking in there?" Heero asked nobody in particularly.
"If you talking about breathing then,yes," Duo replayed absently and Solo nodded without a word.
"Good," that was indeed good, "Duo am I on the right street?"
Before answering Duo looked around to see how fare they got. When he found what he was looking for, he pointed toward a cozy looking house, "It's that house."
The drive in was small and the whole property was surrounded with railings. To Heero it looked strange but he guessed it was because of the animals he could hear. When they stopped the car, all was quiet and nobody came out to check on them.
"Duo, we forget to check if he is actually at home," said Heero.
"He usually is," replayed Duo absently.
"That doesn't look like a veterinary clinic to me," prompted Heero.
"Outside it doesn't look like it but he divided his house into veterinarian and home space," explained Duo. "He is probably in his backyard where he keeps some wounded dogs. Probably he didn't hear us. Let me go look for him," while explaining Duo step out of the care and went toward the front door.
In the meantime Heero got out of the car then moved to the back to open Solos door. "Solo, please take the shoe box very carefully out and let's follow Duo."
His son was still very upset and was crying quietly but was doing as he was told. To Heero's surprise, when they got to the front door they were wide open and Duo was nowhere to be found.
"I guess your Uncle Duo is hunting doc. Evan for your puppy," said Heero absently.
"Really, he can be my puppy?" asked Solo in wonder with teary red wide eyes.
"Whoever his previous owner was threw him away like garbage, so you can bet on it. We are here only because you found him and so you have the first pick on him," explained Heero was a tiny smile. "But first we have to help him get better. That's why we are here. Doctor Evan will take a close look at him and help as much as he can. When he is okay, we will take him home and you will have a new best friend." Heero just hoped they could really help that small, broken puppy, if not his boy would have another broken heart.
At hearing that Solo pulled the shoe box a little bit higher so he could look easier into the box and said quietly. "Did you hear that little puppy, my daddy said we can take you home with us so please, please fight a little bit longer. I want you to be there when my new bedroom is completed."
"What about Uncle Duo? Will he allow it?" asked Solo.
"He already has two dogs so one more won't hurt anyone," explained Heero.
Right at that time Heero heard Duos voice coming nearer and nearer to the front of the house where Heero and Solo waited.
"No, I am telling you we were at the Shopping Mall and Solo found him outside at the corner where trash can section is. Whoever had him, put him into a small shoe box with the lead on and left him there like trash."
"Maybe we have luck and find him or her through the breeding owner." Doc Evan was explaining to Duo.
"What you talking about?" Duo asked as they approached
"If he was bought openly from some breeder he should have marks on himself. All breeders mark there puppies before they selling them to new families. If so we can contact that breeder and get the information we need to contact the correct authorities." The voice of Doctor Evans could be heard.
"Good," responded Duo.
"But first, I have to take a look and see in what condition he is." At that both Duo and Dr. Evan come toward Heero and Solo who patiently waited on the front door.
"Hey, Heero I found the Doc. he was in the backyard," explained Duo when he reached Heero. Then he looked down toward Solo and asked "How is he?"
"Very still," Solo replied still looking at the puppy.
With a nod towards the doctor, Heero moved away toward the wall to let doctor Evan come near Solo and take a look into the shoe box Solo was still holding in his hands. "I really hope we are not too late," he said while still looking at Duo.
"Me to," Doctor Evan said while taking first pick into the box. For almost a minute all was quiet and Heero could see how methodically the doctor took in all the injuries. While still watching he started explaining, "from what I can see he has broken or fractured lags or even spine. I won't know till I make an ex-ray and see his bones. Also its really a miracle that he is still alive." He took a note of what he said and that in front a crying kid, he tried to make it better. "Oh, I'm sorry, sometimes my mouth works faster than my brain."
"Your Uncle Duo told me how brave you where today and found that little puppy," Solo did not replay and Evan did not expect him to so when he got one all three grow ups look little bit surprised.
"Can you please help him," Solo asked with small voice still not looking up.
"I promise I will do all I can to make him better," responded doc. Evan.
"He is in a lot of pain," whispered Solo without looking at Doctor Evan.
"I will give him a medicine which will numb the pain and he will go into sleep. Then he won't feel it anymore. But first can I take him from you?" to Heero's credit he waited for Solo to nod and then for Solo to give him over.
"Thank you," doc Evan said. When the box was relocated he continued, "Please follow me.
...
TBC
To readers: thank's all who did/will read or even respond to new chapter.
To my beta reader "Poisonsnake23": thank you for doing great work.
Merry Christmas and Happy New year to everyone.