Gundam Wing

London Alleyways

Warnings: very slight angst, difficult accents, period fic, AU, intrigue, humor, semi-large age differences, OCs

Chapter 08: Benny and the Jets

Heero sighed and rubbed at his forehead. He had a missing shipment in his book keeping and he couldn't for the life of him remember where he put all of the last month's receipts.

Frustration finally getting the better of him he tossed the stack of papers in his hand across the room and slammed his head into his hands letting all the air out of his lungs in one long breath. It had been a rather hellish week.

Wufei refused to come back and help teach the children leaving Howard, Sally, and even Hilde to pick up the slack. Heero had his hands full with the running of his business and the sudden untimely conspiracy to over throw his company in Japan. Apparently one of his investors hadn't been happy with the way things were being run.

That little conflict had ended with one unsatisfied investor dead of assumed "ritual suicide" and another suspect in his possible murder. Heero had not been happy to read that particular letter.

Actually that is quite the understatement. He had lifted the coffee table off of the floor and flung in across the room nearly decapitating Howard.

Thankfully Duo, Solo, and Howard had been the only ones present for that unforgivable display of temper. Sally and Hilde had taken the children to the park to watch people fly kites on the soft summer breeze.

Regardless of how short the tantrum had been it had still rattled not only Duo and Solo but Heero as well. Howard seemed completely unfazed. Apparently Heero inherited his temper from his father.

Heero had been trying so hard to gain the street weary young man's respect and trust that the sudden loss of almost all of what little he had gained had dealt a frustrating blow.

No sooner had the coffee table left the floor had Duo and Solo both retreated faster than the eye could blink and crouched in the farthest corner of the parlor tense and ready for any kind of attack.

Duo had been privy to too many angry men and their tantrums. His deeply ingrained conditioning from his time on the streets and his protective nature had him pushing Solo behind him and into the corner faster than he could even register what had happened.

Howard had quickly defused the situation, calming ruffled feathers and smoothing jittery nerves, but ever since Duo had been cautious and weary around the handsome Japanese man, leery of leaving his boys in his presence without either him or Solo with them.

It was all so- so- frustrating! He was working so hard to help educate Duo and the gang, working so hard to gain their trust.

Well, Joe and Jimmy seemed to trust him, everyone pretty readily. Freddy was pretty easy going and Henry didn't seem to be fazed by anything. Solo and Duo, they were harder to read.

Solo seemed to trust him, at least with feeding, clothing, and educating them all. But Duo…

Heero could understand Duo's reluctance to rely on and trust someone other than himself for the well fair of his gang. For years Duo had had to fend for himself and take care of those younger and weaker than him. He had risked everything and done almost anything to provide for his misfit family. Trust wasn't going to come easily.

But he thought he had been making progress which made this set back that much more discouraging.

Sighing for what seemed like the thousandth time since he had opened that horrid letter from Japan, Heero rubbed at his temples willing he headache to go away.

The rain pattered softly on the windows of his study, occasionally interrupted by sudden bursts of lightning and thunder. It was nothing new to Heero, but it all culminated to create the most terrible headache for him. He wished he could just yank his brain out of his head, smooth out the wrinkles then shove it back in and get some bloody work done!

He had been concentrating on the misery that was his life at that moment so intently that he didn't even notice the two slightly hunched and shivering figures in his doorway until a sudden sob startled him.

"Ivan? Oscar?" Heero called to the two boys shrouded in the dark hall outside of his study. "What are you two doing out of bed?"

"N-nothing." Ivan stepped closer to his brother and clutched to his hand like a life raft. "We –uh- wanted to get some water."

"Yeah." Oscar's voice was hoarse and small. "Can we get some water?"

Heero frowned in concern. He had never seen the two mischievous and challenging boys like this before. "Alright. Come in and sit on the sofa. I'll go and get you both a glass."

The boys stepped hesitantly into the room and waited until Heero had walked around his desk and out of the room before rushing to the sofa and curling up in one corner their arms wrapped around each other, both shivering and holding back their tears of fright.

This was how Heero found them when he walked back into his lamp lit study. Oscar's face was buried in Ivan's shoulder. Ivan's arms wrapped tightly around his bother clutching at him like a life line, both shaking with suppressed sobs.

Heero walked to the coffee table in front of the sofa; placing the glasses of water down to one side he took a seat on the sturdy wooden piece of furniture. When the boys noticed his return they separated and wiped at their nearly dry eyes.

"Sorry." Their voices were quiet and strained.

"No need." Heero gave them a reassuring smile. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Oscar sniffled a little bit and leaned against his brother's side for comfort. Ivan wrung his hands in his lap and gave a couple of hiccups.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." Heero spoke in a soft kind voice. He could tell that the boys were fighting with themselves and with whatever it was that was hurting them. He didn't want to put pressure on them.

"You are welcome to stay in here for a while whilst I finish up my work." He gestured toward the glasses of water. "Sit and drink some water. It might make you feel better." Heero began to stand up and head back to his desk when two roughed hands suddenly clutched at his right cuff halting his movement.

"We saw a light on." Oscar looked down at his lap and released Heero's cuff.

"We don't like the dark. Not when it's raining." Ivan let go and clutched at his brother's hand.

Resuming his seat Heero watched the two fourteen year old boys. "The rain bothers you."

They nodded miserably. "It reminds us of our parents." Ivan whispered.

Heero knew there was more to the story than simple memories.

"We used to live on a farm with our parents." Ivan continued. "It was in Derbyshire. Always bright and clean and smelled of hay."

"Just kids, we was!" Oscar suddenly cried "They come and took 'em away!" His face suddenly soaked with tears.

Heero's heart lurched for the boys and before he knew what he was doing he was out of his seat and sitting between them on the sofa, their faces buried in his shoulders, their tears staining his shirt.

He let their bodies shake against his sides with muffled sobs, his arms wrapped comfortingly around them.

"We have nightmares about it." Ivan choked out hoarsely. "The fire and the thunder. I can still smell it. All that smoke." He shuddered and clutched tighter to Heero's waist where his arm was wrapped around it.

"I remember Mama's screams the most. When they-they…" Oscar's voice hitched and he curled himself tighter against Heero taking comfort from the older man's warmth.

"What-" Heero's mouth was dry and throat tight. "How did you survive?"

"We hid like Papa told us to. When they were gone the house, the barn, everything was on fire." Oscar closed his eyes and burrowed into Heero's side blocking out the light and memories running through his head.

"When the rain stopped," Ivan whispered. "We had no where to go, no one to take care of us. We got taken in by a band of gypsies."

"When they got to London they left us."

Heero closed his eyes and scooted further down in the sofa, adjusting his hold on the twins to a more comfortable position. "That's when you met Duo."

"We was on the street for about a year or more 'fore we met Duo." Oscar shifted closer to Heero and closed his eyes again laying his head on Heero's chest like he used to do with his father when he was a young boy.

"I'm glad I got you ta go and talk to Duo. You didn't want ta, remember?" Ivan mimicked his brother's action and sighed in comfort as warm memories began to chase away the cold ones.

"Shut up. It was my idea and you knows it too." Heero smirked as he caught a glimpse of Oscar's indignant scowl.

"Don' matter anyway." Ivan mumbled, his eyes beginning to close sleepily. "He's our family now."

A spike shot through Heero's chest when he realized that he suddenly agreed. He had lost his parents and was alone in the world like these boys curled up next to him, but he didn't feel alone any more.

Wufei had always been there for him, as had Quatre and Trowa, but there had always been a hole that couldn't be filled.

Heero searched and came up empty handed. The hole was gone. It had been filled and he had never been gladder that he had almost gotten mugged before in his life. It seemed that Duo had inadvertently adopted yet another stray.

A gently smile on his lips, Heero let all the week's frustration, his worry, and the twin's emotional turmoil slip away as he drifted off to sleep thinking about the young street rat and the hole he had filled in Heero's life.

Howard grumbled to himself as he made his way down the stairs toward the study. It looked like Heero had spent another late night at his desk looking over receipts and calculating the books. If that young man had fallen asleep at his desk again Howard was going to have a serious talking with him.

It was just barely dawn and Howard had gotten up to begin his chores and help Hilde and Sally start breakfast before the children began to wake when he had noticed the light blazing in Heero's study.

Going down to investigate Howard pushed open the study door quietly incase his employer was indeed asleep at his desk and was puzzled to find his desk chair empty.

Glancing around the room a boot hanging over the arm of the short sofa off to the left caught his eye. Stepping up to examine this phenomenon Howard was stunned motionless by the scene he had stumbled upon.

Heero was scrunched up on the sofa, his booted feet hanging over one arm, his head propped up on the other. Oscar was sandwiched in between Heero and the back of the sofa, face relaxed in sleep and arm wrapped around the Heero's chest. Ivan was laying half on top of the young business man to keep from falling off the edge, hair sleep messed and sticking up at all angles. Both of Heero's arms were wrapped around the boys in a visibly comforting hold anchoring them in place.

Howard had to admit that as uncomfortable as Heero looked he was loathed to disturb the scene and their rest.

Heero hadn't been getting sleep at all for the last few days between the stress of his business hiccups and the demand of educating the gang it was a miracle to even find him looking so relaxed, despite his accordion like position.

Ivan and Oscar rarely looked peaceful even in sleep. As if their restlessness could never be put to rest, but now they looked silent and still.

He didn't know what had happened the night before and he didn't really care as long as the boys, Heero, Ivan and Oscar, looked so at peace he wasn't going to disturb one hair on their heads.

Smiling softly to himself, Howard walked about the room turning off the gas lamps and plunging the study into the gray of the dawn light filtering in through the drapes. By the time the sun had risen enough to wake them breakfast would almost be ready and there would be enough time for them to wash up.

His foot steps were quiet as a mouse's as he walked out of the study and closed the door behind him so the kitchen sounds down the hall wouldn't disturb them.

Making his way to the kitchen he stepped through the door, the smells of bacon grease and steeping tea wafted over him. "You will never guess what I found in Heero's study."

Sally looked up from where she was mending a pair of Henry's trousers. "Please don't tell me Heero's dropped dead from exhaustion. Lord help us."

"No, no. Nothing like that." Howard waved a hand at her.

"Well what did you find?" Hilde glanced over at him from her place by the stove.

He took a seat at the kitchen table and poured himself a cup of tea. "I found Oscar and Ivan curled up with Heero on the sofa in his study."

Hilde spun around in surprise and stared at Howard as if he had grown a second head. Sally jumped and yelped in surprise as she pricked her finger with her needle.

"You mean they tied him up on the sofa?" Sally asked as she sucked on her finger.

"No Ma'am." Howard shook his head. "The three of them were curled up on the sofa like a bunch of cats."

The two women fell into silence trying to puzzle this phenomenon out.

"I don't understand, Howard." Hilde said, her finger tapping at her bottom lip. "What do you think happened last night?"

"Mm." Howard hummed and shook his head as he brought his tea up to his mouth again. "I don't honestly know. All I know is that they look peaceful. Heero hadn't slept that long in a few days and the twins always looked tense and ready to strike. I walk in there and they're all curled together looking peaceful." He shook his head in amazement this time. "I didn't want to disturb that."

Hilde frowned in thought, but turned back to her cooking. Sally pulled her finger from her mouth and stared down at Henry's trousers. "Perhaps they opened up to him."

Howard looked at her in confusion.

"I-" Sally frowned and started again. "I would walk past their room and hear one or the other whimper in their sleep. I think they had something that they needed to get off their chests. Perhaps they talked to Heero about it."

The older butler nodded in thought. That sounded reasonable. Any how, he would find out later when he cornered Heero after breakfast.

A thump and a loud giggle from upstairs spurred Sally to stand and tie off her last stitch. "Looks like the children are up. I'll go and help Joe, Jimmy, and Henry."

"Breakfast should be ready soon!" Hilde called after her and smiled to herself as she reached down to pull the biscuits from the oven. She hoped the twins were finally becoming comfortably in Heero's home.

They had been the hardest to adjust. That is, with the exception of Duo. He seemed to be adjusting well, but Hilde could tell that he was tense and weary. As if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Never the less one had to take such things in baby steps. Heero was coming out of his shell and Duo and his gang were meeting him half way. To her way of thinking this was progress indeed.

Sighing happily Hilde mumbled, "Today is going to be a good day." Unaware that Howard had heard her and agreed almost whole heartedly.

A/N: I know this chapter took awhile to get out and I thank those of you who kicked me in my butt to get something done! But wasn't it well worth the wait?! I know Duo wasn't in this one but I really wanted to focus a little bit on the other boys and Heero's thoughts and feelings. I wanted to add some depth to Oscar and Ivan. I love twins, have them on both sides of my family and had so much fun writing about them. Hope you enjoyed them too! Read and Review please!

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