The only effective way to describe how the rest of that conversation went would be... disastrous.

Luckily for Duo it hadn't turned into a violent altercation physically, just verbally. It was now evident to Duo that Heero would probably throw the kid back out onto the streets, but he couldn't bring himself to accept that future. All his life he'd been in the same situation as that kid, so how could he leave that boy alone? And the half-vampire had already promised Thomas not to abandon him.

Except his main problem was finding a way to make Heero to let the boy live with them. Obviously it had been a big betrayal of Heero's trust when Duo brought a person into the vampire's castle without even telling him. But how do you tell a person that you just brought an orphan home because you pitied him? How do you tell this to a vampire?

Yet now Heero had already stormed off to his room, leaving Duo, Thomas, and Hilde in the kitchen. All three of them were still in a daze from the furious tension Heero had created in the room. It was until Thomas began to cry silently that Duo snapped out of the trance he'd been in.

That was when Duo felt a wave of conviction washed over him that he left the room and went straight for Heero's room. He heard Hilde yelling at him not to do it and to stop, but he paid her no mind.

As soon as he reached the door, the half-vampire swung it open and the slammed it behind him. Heero was quick to glare at him and was going to say something else to Duo, but the half-vampire didn't give him the chance as he punched him in the face.

"I can't believe you'd be so fucking selfish and arrogant to act like that! You have so much room in this castle so why can't we share it with a child who needs our help? But I bet you could never understand that kind of longing to have a home and a family would you? I doubt you've ever experienced something as painful as that!"

Duo couldn't help but yell at Heero after how the vampire had acted with him. Yet the reaction from Heero came as a shock to the half-vampire as the he just remained silent.

"You really care about that kid, don't you?" Heero probably didn't intend to, but Duo could hear hints of envy in the question.

"Of course, I can empathize with him since I lived the past ten or more years in the same circumstance."

"Then I suppose he can... he can stay." Duo felt such an overwhelming feeling of delight that he kissed his lover on the lips. But Heero didn't let Duo do anything else as he spoke again. "But he'd best stay away from me. I still don't want to interact with some human not worth my time."

Duo hadn't expected Heero to even allow Thomas to stay with them, so he ignored the last part of what Heero said. It was just a good thing that Duo had actually persuaded the vampire after their huge argument.

It was still obvious how reluctant and uncomfortable Heero was with the thought of a young boy running around everywhere, but Duo promised to make it up to him.

----

Sally had been completely confused by Duo's behavior the night before, but after she thought about it that night she knew why. Duo had been an orphan the majority of his life and compared himself to the child he'd brought home.

Whether he realized it or not though, Duo was being selfish on his part. Bringing a young boy such as that into a world full of vampires and horrors no human should experience... As often as people hunted down their kind Duo should have thought about that possibility, and how people would react were the boy ever to speak of living with vampires.

People wouldn't just ignore him and ostracize him; there was the possibility that kid might be killed if he told people about his new 'family'. Yet when Sally later heard from the servants who were whispering about it that Master Heero was going to allow Master Duo to keep the child... She wondered if that was the real Heero.

From the short time she'd been roaming the castle; Sally had discovered things about Heero's personality. He was the kind of vampire that preferred to keep humans as far away from his territory as possible. And if a person ever did venture up here, they were usually thrown into the dungeon where she'd been stuck in.

Duo was an unusual case though as he had an enormous amount of influence over Heero, and this was just another example of how he usually got his way. Since he was Heero's lover, and Heero was the master of all of the vampires in this area it wasn't a surprise to most.

But Sally was still bothered by it sometimes. It also made her wonder about how long the two of them could really be together since Duo had yet to even become a full vampire. Being only a half-vampire, Duo didn't age normally and had some abilities beyond that of humans, but it was nothing compared to Heero.

Heero would never age or die unless somebody actually did murder him or he was out in the sun for too long, and he was physically and mentally superior to any human. So she couldn't figure out how Duo was ever going to keep up with Heero unless he finally allowed Heero to change him into a vampire.

It wasn't fair that Duo constantly ran around during the day while Heero was almost always confined to the darkness of his room. Even this morning with all the commotion the half-vampire had caused, Heero had to cover his body completely and even use his coat to shield himself from any sunlight.

That's where she came in. Heero has specifically asked her about preparing Duo for becoming a vampire. He already knew Duo wasn't going to be ready to throw away what little humanity he had left on a whim.

All Sally knew was that Duo was lucky to have someone like Heero by his side for eternity. Yet she was positive the half-vampire hadn't even considered that possibility, but Sally wasn't sure whether now would be the right time to have this sort of discussion.

But Heero had asked her to do it today no matter what, and that's what she intended to do. So that's why she was now in search of Duo, unable to find him anywhere Sally resorted to asking Quatre if he'd seen him anywhere. As she approached the library she already prepared herself for the stacks of books that were sure to be piled everywhere. As she pushed open the door, Sally already heard about ten books fall over with loud thuds, but it didn't even disturb the blonde sitting at the table reading.

He casually glanced up from the thick novel that he'd been completely focused on just a few minutes before. All the curtains were drawn to hide the sun from entering the room, now that Quatre had become more sensitive to the light he couldn't let even a little bit of sunlight seep through.

"Are you looking for Duo? You know he's not the type to usually read with his free time." Quatre had changed over the short amount of time he'd been a true vampire, and Sally supposed it came with becoming the living undead.

Even his innocent eyes had taken on a darker color of jade green and now he'd lost the childishness he'd had before. It wasn't as if he'd completely changed, but most of the time he was much more solemn than used to be.

"Actually I was wondering whether you've seen Duo since the commotion he'd caused earlier." Sally stole a chair and sat down across from Quatre. "You know at the rate you're reading these books, you'll probably be done with this library by the end of this month."

"Hopefully I'll be able to go out and get some more, but I'm not sure how much longer I want to linger here. I've been here long enough and I'm sure Master Heero wouldn't mind if I went off on my own for a while." The blonde shut the book without even thinking twice before getting a look of regret knowing it'd be impossible to find his place. "As for Duo... I last saw him go into Heero's room, so I wouldn't disturb them for now."

Sally had expected Quatre to leave much earlier than just now, but then again he probably hadn't left for Duo's sake. The half-vampire was awfully lonely whenever Heero wasn't around, but now the blonde may have found his chance with this new child to keep Duo company.

"It's a pity you've decided to leave so soon, but I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Thanks for your help."

Quatre watched as Sally stood up and then asked, "What about you?"

"What about me?" She knew what he meant, but preferred not to think about it.

"I know you're ready to get out of here as well, so why haven't you yet? Master Heero and Duo are both generous people, but we all have different plans to spend eternity. You can't tell me you'd want to spend it here."

Sally didn't answer Quatre, because she knew her what would happen if she thought about it. All it would lead to is her desperation to accomplish her own impossible dreams, and she could no longer endure the pain that accompanied these thoughts.

"Actually, there's no place I'd rather be."

She left the blonde alone in the library with only a deceptive smile on her lips.

----

Now the new challenge was going to get Thomas and Heero to become acquainted with each other. It was obvious to Duo that the two were like opposite magnets and resisted each other with invisible force fields. Yet the half-vampire wasn't going to accept that as the reality, and was determined to make the two at least be able to tolerate each other.

First Duo told Heero to meet him at sunset in his old room, so that he could properly meet his adopted 'son' as Duo now called the orphan. Oddly enough, Thomas seemed to be the one who refused to do as Duo asked. The boy through a temper tantrum when the half-vampire first asked and he ended up locking himself in the bathroom.

"Come on Tommy, you have to act mature. You're almost eleven years old, right? Boys that age don't act like such babies over such a simple thing." Duo consoled him through the bathroom door, but it began to worry him once he no longer heard the orphan.

Just as he was thinking of breaking the door down, the lock clicked and then Thomas hesitantly opened the door. He had a look of shame on his face for acting the way he had, but Duo just smiled and held out his hand. The boy took it and smiled at his new foster father that had obviously forgiven him already.

"You're not mad, Daddy Duo?"

Duo knew he couldn't be mad even if he really wanted to, "No silly! Now let's change you out of that and go get some real breakfast. From now on I want you to be on your best behavior and don't wander off without at least telling me where you're going. This castle is big and you could easily get lost."

Thomas nodded eagerly as Duo turned in search of some clothes that might at least fit him a little more comfortably than what he was currently wearing. Unfortunately Duo just had to take a pair of his pants and ripped the legs in half, and the found a shirt that he left loose.

He made a mental note to go to town and search for some clothes that would fit a boy his age. After finally dressing Thomas, the two of them headed down to breakfast together where Duo once again reminded the boy he'd meet Heero tonight.

This time there was no refusing and screaming, but still Thomas didn't look happy about it. As the two ate their breakfast (although it was more like brunch now) in silence they were joined by Sally who was examined by Thomas from across the table.

Unlike Heero, Thomas seemed to take a liking to her as he relaxed after only a few minutes. Duo suspected it was because she had smiled at him sweetly it made Duo sick to his stomach. It was obvious she wasn't the type of person who liked to be around children, and Duo was going to make sure that didn't happen either.

Breakfast was quiet between the three of them other than the clinking of silverware on plates. The room was so silent that when Sally first spoke to Duo, he jumped a little.

"Duo, are you alright?" Genuine worry showed on her face after startling the half-vampire, but once he nodded to show everything was fine Sally went right to the point. "Listen, after we finish breakfast I need to speak to you privately about an important matter at hand."

"You don't have to be so secretive about everything Sally, because eventually I'm going to explain everything to Thomas anyway." Duo flashed a carefree grin at the vampire, but she shot him a look that quickly wiped the smile off his face.

"This is something extremely urgent and not something the child needs to be worrying about."

Duo sighed as he knew this conversation was probably going to be one he wouldn't really want to have, but he agreed to meet after they finished eating. Thomas was watching as the servants were now tying all of the curtains to keep out the sunlight. Even half-vampires weren't capable of handling too much light at once, but there weren't as severe consequences as with full vampires.

Some more servants were now gathering up the dishes as there was no one else coming downstairs to dine. Right now Heero was sleeping, and it was a rare sight to ever see Quatre emerge from the library other than at night. More than likely the blonde was fast asleep on a pile of books he'd been reading, and Duo couldn't help but smile at the thought.

Thomas had run up to the half-vampire and was now yanking on his shirt as hard as possible. When Duo finally looked down to assure the boy that he had his attention, the question Duo had dreaded would come up was asked.

"Daddy Duo, can we go to the town so I can show everyone I'm not an orphan anymore?" He had such pleading eyes, but when Sally cleared her throat loudly Duo knew it wouldn't be possible. "All the other children always made fun of me because I never had a mommy or daddy, but now I can show them they're wrong!"

"You know Thomas, let's talk about this later. Remember Sally already asked me if she and I could talk? Why don't you go hang out with Hilde in the kitchen, but be careful!"

The boy's look of disappointment had quickly disappeared once he heard he could go talk to Hilde some more. The castle chef seemed to be another person Thomas really liked, and it made Duo wonder why the boy refused to like men. Sally was swift as she grabbed the half-vampire's arm and pulled him away from the dining room.

Most likely she knew there wasn't going to be another chance like this anytime soon, and once again got straight to the point.

"Master Heero's worried about the relationship between you and him. He feels that it's time for you to become a full-fledged vampire to stay by his side forever, but he's not going to force this upon you until you're ready." Sally had a serious look as she turned away and left Duo alone.

"Become... a full vampire..." He repeated the words over and over in his head, but he just couldn't believe it. To be honest it had never occurred to Duo that he couldn't stay a half-vampire forever if he wished to be with Heero. Still he couldn't imagine himself living for an eternity as a vampire... but there wasn't any reason that he shouldn't be able to. He'd already halfway to becoming a vampire, so what would be so different about being completely vampire?

Thomas suddenly grabbed onto Duo's hand and tugged hard on his arm to the point he almost lost his balance. "Daddy Duo, who was that lady? She seemed really nice, but you don't like her, do you?"

"I like Sally it's just our conversation wasn't too pleasant..." He trailed off in the middle of his sentence as once again his thoughts distracted him. Another tug snapped Duo out of his trance and he continued, "Oh and make sure you call her Ms. Sally. I want you to treat everyone here with respect."

Perhaps the boy didn't really acknowledge any of what Duo had actually said as he just grinned happily. "Daddy Duo can you take me outside to see the garden? Hilde told me it's beautiful outside, but she can't go out often to see it. I'm going to pick her some flowers and bring them to her."

"That's sweet of you Tommy, but call her Ms. Hilde, remember?"

----

Quatre sighed as he snapped the book shut and got out of the chair he'd been sitting in for the past four hours. Finally able to stretch his legs now that he'd finished the book he heard some noise outside and went to the covered window. He was able to look down at the garden without being hit by the sunlight to see Duo and the new child he'd heard about.

Apparently Duo didn't know how to not be so gullible with children, because from what he figured that child had manipulated him well. Yet the blonde also knew the orphan would be a good thing for him because he had his own unfinished business with a certain person.

It had been so long since he'd seen those stunning emerald eyes of the vampire hunter that his heart ached from longing. He knew the vampire hunters had been told never to return to the castle by the fortune-teller in town, but Quatre could no longer bear to be away. Even from a distance Quatre knew he'd fallen for the one named Trowa Barton, and now that Duo had someone to be by his side...

Now he had the chance to go out and find Trowa. First off he'd have to get permission from Heero about it, because whether he liked it or not the vampire was still his master until Heero said he was free.

"Finally I'll be able to see you again... Trowa..."

----

Chapter two is COMPLETE! I don't know about you guys, but I think this series has been going well so far. I haven't hit any obstacles so far with my ideas about the story, and it's nice that my muse hasn't began to hate me yet.

So I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please R & R!

Shari Maxwell