Hilde had said yes through her tears, making Duo the happiest man on Earth, or any of the colonies. That night, whilst sharing their double bed that rested on the floor for lack of an as yet constructed frame, Hilde and Duo simply enjoyed each other's company. They were close, but no intimate, simply holding and being held. A month later they were happily wed.

Relena stared at her reflection and her lip curled in hate at what she saw. Then her eyes filled with tears again and she stood up and turned away from her desk, flinging herself at the bed. She wept into her pillow, she cried out in self-loathing and asked forgiveness.

"God help me, I think I love Duo Maxwell."

Catch Me Duo

Chapter 3

Duo's purple eyes opened drowsily to the sun that shined in through the window and onto the bed he and Hilde slept in. A content smile on his face, he watched his wife as she slept peacefully. Her head rested on his bare shoulder, her small hand on his chest over his heartbeat. She stirred and the light cotton sheet fell from around her shoulders down to her waist, displaying deliciously bare skin to his gaze and his touch.

Duo gently brushed his fingers down her upper arm to her elbow and then back up and across her collarbone. Hilde shivered in her sleep and stirred, turning into his touch. The braided American chuckled under his breath and leaned closer, brushing light butterfly kisses across her brow, down to her nose and across her cheeks. Her long lashes fluttered open and their gazes met, smiling at each other. Duo grinned broadly and swept in to plant a warm kiss on her mouth; he stopped abruptly when Hilde paled noticeably and pulled away, one hand over her mouth, the other supporting her as she unsteadily rushed to sit up.

"Babe?" Duo's brows drew together in a worried frown as Hilde stumbled from the bed and rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. "Hild? Are you okay?" Duo stepped out of the bed and reached for a pair of boxers that rested folded on a chair. He stepped into them, grabbed the sheet from the bed and walked over to the bathroom and knocked tentatively on the door.

Duo winced as he heard the sound of retching followed by the toilet flushing. He waited patiently as sounds of the faucet running followed and then the door opened a crack. Hilde looked up at Duo, attempting to smile. "Hey," she rasped. Her eyes trailed down to his hand as he held out the sheet to her and she smiled thankfully and stepped out of the bathroom, wrapping the sheet around herself and moving across the room to the dresser.

"So are you gonna be okay?" Duo asked, moving over to stand behind her. She opened the drawer and ran her hands through the assorted garments and pulled out a pair of cotton pajama pants. Duo reached in over her shoulder and opened another drawer and pulled out a pair of his flannel pants and held them out to her.

"Thanks," Hilde murmured and opened another drawer to pull out undergarments. "And yea, I'm fine. Probably just got the flu or something, it's probably circling around. I'll just rest a little and then work through whatever symptoms don't go away."

"I don't think so. Your rump ain't goin' nowhere except for the couch or that bed. Dr. Maxwell orders you to bed rest." Duo turned from her to find a pair of jeans and a tank top to go work at the junkyard. "I gotta get to work soon though. I'll take the radio, just call if you need me, got it?"

Hilde nodded though it hurt her head. Truthfully she was very happy not to have to go to work today, she felt to bad and wanted nothing more than to lie down and relax. Duo walked with her through the hall into the front of the house and had her rest on the chair and walked into the kitchen to fix a large breakfast for himself and a few pieces of plain toast for her. Over the sound of hissing bacon he heard loud groaning and shuffling feet. When he leaned around the open doorway of the kitchen and looked down the hall he saw Hilde disappear into the bathroom in the hall and slam the door behind her.

Surmising that the smell must have set off her nausea again, Duo turned off the gas stove and took the entire frying pan with the eggs and bacon outside to dump it in the trash before coming back inside. When he came back, Hilde was back on the couch, a big bowl next to her on the floor.

"Sorry babe," he apologized. "I made you some plain toast if you want it," he put the toast far enough away that the slight aroma would not reach her on the couch, but close enough that she could get to it without having to walk too far. He kept some of the toast for himself and wrapped it in a paper towel to take with him to the junkyard.

"It's okay, thank you." She murmured, turning on the television.

"I'm off to work now, don't hesitate to call if you need anything, got that?" Duo squinted one eye at his wife and waited for her nod of agreement before he went to the front door and pulled his boots on and then walked out of the house.

The phone rang and Hilde glared at it for a moment, deciding if it was worth the effort to answer it. She decided it was and stood to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Hilde, did I call you at a bad time?" Sally's voice inquired over the line.

"Not particularly worse than any other time no."

"Are you alright? I called you at the office before I tried the house, anything the matter?"

"Just sick. The flu probably, it must be going around now."

"I'm sorry," Sally immediately switched into doctor patient mode with her friend, "Do you have a fever? Nausea? What about your chest, it doesn't feel tight or congested does it?"

"I'm fine Hilde, just some nausea and a head ache. I'm sure it'll pass soon," Hilde sighed in exasperation.

"Okay then, but promise me you'll check yourself into a hospital if it lasts for a week or longer. Or I'll tell Duo," Sally's voice made Hilde scowl with it's threatening sweetness.

"Fine, I promise. But why'd you call? Is everything all right over there?"

"Actually, I was wondering if Duo had mentioned a mission or anything to you. Wufei hasn't said anything either way, and it's not like definitely he has to be getting ready for one, but I just get this feeling that he's going to leave soon."

"No, Duo hasn't said anything along those lines yet, but I guess we haven't really talked that much as of yet about business. But Une hasn't called yet, or Wufei or any of the others and that's usually a good sign that nothing's going on."

There was a brief pause on the other end as Sally chewed on her lip. "I guess you're right, I just wish he would talk to me about it. Well, I have to go Hilde, work calls."

"Okay, talk to you later Sally." Hilde pulled the phone from her ear and turned it off and set it on the floor next to the radio Duo had left her and turned her attention back to the television.

"I'm sorry hon', I just don't feel up to a large meal today? I still feel sick," Hilde apologized to Duo's crestfallen countenance when she told him that she did not feel like going out to dinner.

"No, that's alright. But should you still be sick? The flu can be pretty serious and you've had it for almost a week now, maybe you should go to the doctors soon?"

"Fine," Hilde sighed, remembering Sally's warning, "I'll go in tomorrow."

"Thanks, babe. Do you want me to go with you?"

"No that's alright. I'll just call Sally and she can take me down there when she goes to work tomorrow. I know you want to get that order finished."

"I actually got the order finished, I've had a lot of time," Duo's smile faltered. "She hasn't called me in all this time. I haven't even heard from her since the barbeque."

"You haven't? Maybe you should go check on her tomorrow then," Hilde suggested. "It's not like you were going to be doing anything else."

"But I should be with you if I don't have work," Duo protested.

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry for me. We're all worried for her. Go see her tomorrow, make sure she's all right. I'll be here when you get back," Hilde smiled reassuringly and leaned forward to hug her beloved husband.

"I guess," Duo nodded his head and then stood up and moved through the living room where he and Hilde were to pick up the phone. "Make sure that Sally can give you the ride though," he tossed the phone over to her and she caught it deftly and dialed the number.

"Hey Sally," she greeted when someone picked up the other end. "Yea everything's fine, I was just wondering if I could catch a ride with you to the hospital tomorrow.

"Thanks, see you tomorrow. Yea, that's a good time."

Hilde handed the phone back to Duo who hung it up and then moved back to the couch to sit with her and turned the television to a movie.

"She says she'll be here tomorrow at nine."

"'Kay, that's good. I'll give Relena a call around eight then and head over there after you leave. Tomorrow's Saturday so I wont feel too guilty about closing the yard down."

"Time to wake up, darling." Duo gently shook Hilde's shoulder in an attempt to wake her. She moaned and then her blue eyes opened and she frowned.

"Don't wanna get up," she complained.

"But you have to, you only have an hour before Sally'll be here. I gave you as much time as you could afford."

Hilde sat up and ran her hand through her shoulder length black hair. "Did you call Relena?"

"Yea, she didn't answer though, her servants said she was busy. I'm just going to show up at her house and hope that that's enough."

Hilde nodded and got out of bed, stretching and then moved over to get dressed and then went into the bathroom to continue on with her preparations for the day.

Duo was already dressed so he left the room and went into the kitchen to make something light for breakfast and then sat at the table and waited for Hilde to join him. When she did she sat with him at the small kitchen table and ate a few slices of toast, this time with butter. Though she was still ill enough to check in with a doctor, she was feeling slightly better and her stomach seemed at least somewhat stronger.

The doorbell rang and Hild stood up and walked to the fridge, "Come in!" she called as she opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Sally came into the house through the front door and walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Hilde, ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me get my purse," Hilde walked over to get her purse that rested on the kitchen table and hugged Duo goodbye and then went back to Sally and walked with her outside.

"No, I'm sure she'll see me!" anger raised Duo's tone to almost a shout.

"The mistress will see no one, I'm sorry sir."

"Who's there?" Relena's voice asked of her retainer who stood at the door, barring Duo Maxwell's entrance into the mansion.

"It's me Princess, now tell this fucking moron to let me in!"

"Duo?" the sound of her voice was closer to Duo and then he saw her. Her servant moved out of the way and she stood in the doorway. Her hair hung limp and unbound about her shoulders, she still wore pajamas and her face looked as though she had been crying for quite some time. She backed away from the door and he followed her into the house.

"Are you okay, Princess? You were starting to worry me."

"Oh, Duo," Relena sobbed and broke down. Duo gathered her into his embrace and held her as she sobbed into his shirt.

"It's horrible!"

"What? What happened Relena?"

"I'm pregnant," she whispered brokenly. All of Duo's air escaped him in a long surprised hiss.

"Heero's?"

Relena's sobbing became louder and more desperate, answering Duo's inquiry better than a simple "yes" could have. Duo swore under his breath and rubbed Relena's back with his hand, trying to calm her. Duo understood now, or thought he had an idea, why Heero may have left.

"The bastard! He can't just leave or stay gone now. I definitely have to find him now," Duo thought, contemplating his options. "It's okay, Princess. I can fix this. Just have faith in me."

Duo motioned for one of her servants to come over and then instructed them to lead her to her room and to have someone watch over her. "Drug her if you have to," Duo murmured to another servant as Relena was led away. "I want her to rest. And someone needs to keep an eye on her, all the time. I'm not so sure she wont hurt herself the way she is now.

Duo slammed the door on the exit and walked with determination in every step over to his bike. He straddled the bike and pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Wufei.

"Call 03 and 04, I've got more information, we have to find the bastard, now." Duo hung up the phone, not waiting for Wufei's response and pulled the helmet over his head and raced off down the road towards Wufei's home.

"I can't believe it," Hilde murmured for the tenth time since entering the car with Sally to go home. She put her hand over her stomach and raised wide eyes to Sally.

"It's a wonderful thing," Sally smiled. "Just imagine how Duo's going to act."

"He's going to flip," Hilde groaned, "Probably treat me like glass or something."

"You can tell him that I said you have a clean bill of health and are allowed to return to work now that the morning sickness is starting to wear off. He can call me if he wants to, just to make sure we're telling the truth." Sally winked and then turned her attention back to the road. She pulled the car over and unlocked the doors so that Hilde could get out and go into her house.

"Just make sure that you rest and don't wear yourself out, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, thanks!" Hilde walked into her house, feeling as though she would fly away any moment, she was so full of happiness. A baby, her and Duo were going to have a baby. She glanced at the clock and read 4:30. Duo still wasn't home and she hoped everything was all right as she moved to the back of the house. She was tired from the excitement of the day and decided to take a nap before Duo got home.

She was still sleeping when Duo returned home from Wufei's two hours later. The pilots had discussed the new development in "the case" as they now handled it. Heero had to be made to come home, and Duo needed to search for him just as much, if not more than the others.

When Duo could not find his wife in the front of the house he walked into the back of the house and into their bedroom where he saw Hilde napping in the bed. He moved in on silent feet and stopped by her side of the bed and then sat gently on the edge, running his fingers through her soft sable hair.

"Sorry, love. I have to go, but I promise to be home soon." Duo stood again and pulled a mini-disk from his pocket and put it in the player by the bed. Hilde would notice the flashing red light when she woke. Duo then moved about the room as stealthy as he was on any of his past missions and packed a small bag with clothes and other necessities from the bathroom.

"Goodybye," he whispered, leaning over the bed again. He gently placed his lips over Hilde's in a caste kiss before leaving the room and the house. Outside Trowa sat in a car that would take him and Duo to the airport where Duo would catch a plane and Trowa a shuttle for the first leg of their mission.

"I'm sorry, babe. I don't think I'll be back by Thanksgiving, but I promise to be back by Christmas. I'm so sorry, but she's carrying his child, I have to do this. I love you. I love you so much."

Hilde glared at the screen of the disc player through tear filled eyes. She squinted her eyes closed and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, her blue gaze was filled with anger.

"What about me you jackass?" she shouted at Duo's countenance paused on the screen. "What about you wife?" she cried as she threw the remote and broke down in sobs.

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up. I can't believe how long it's been. I wanted to get another chapter finished as way of apology, but I don't know if I'll be able to. But I will update my other story as well. I'm sooooo sorry. Please forgive. And R&R!