Just Wait and See, a gundam wing/ac fanfic

Just Wait and See

Disclaimer: I swear I'm not trying to claim anyone except for Angel and Sophie. They're mine; it's just too bad I can't afford to buy the Gundam Wing Pilots. That would make my day. 

Prologue

Shinigami means the God of Death in Japanese. Too bad it means the same thing to me. I was a child on L2 and lost my whole family in a single bad night. Our great crime was to be abnormal. Most children died in the plague. I; however, was not like most children. I just wish I could find someone who had lived. Someone who knew what it was like. Someone who knew the fear. This is my last request and hopefully I will accomplish it before the end of my horrible existence.

From the diary of Angel (last survivor of the L2 plague)

Ch.1

Angel looked up from her computer screen as a tall blond man walked in. He was easy on the eyes and so was the gorgeous baby he had with him. "May I help you, Sir?"

He smiled and nodded, "My husband just loves the paintings you sell and he showed me one that I'm sure our good friend would just love. I was hoping that you might have it so that I can give it to him as a Christmas present?" Something told Angel she was not going to like which painting he wanted. "It's the one of the Maxwell Orphanage on L2 before it was destroyed. It's so pretty with the sun and the doves. He was from there and I know it makes him sad when he thinks of it as destroyed. My husband and I were hoping he would see the painting and remember it as it was before the fire."

Angel's breath caught in her throat, "he survived it?" She was trying to hold on to her emotions that were soaring in disbelief as the man nodded. "What's his name?" As she asked a picture formed in her mind of a smiling young man with violet eyes. 'No, he's dead,' she thought. He backed up at her outburst. "I'm sorry; I've been hoping to find a survivor for years. Please tell me his name?"

The man's eyes grew wide, "you survived it? Duo said no one did." The baby reached for Angel and she recoiled in slight horror. Babies were one thing she just couldn't deal with. She was going to die soon and the fact that she would never have one of her own just made her afraid of them. She was afraid that she would fall in love with one and fight her death. The man noticed, but said nothing. He thought for a minute before saying, "what are your plans for Christmas?"

Ch. 2

She took a deep breath as she stood outside the mansion on Earth. She held the painting closer to her as she summoned the strength to press the doorbell. It was Christmas Eve and she was finally going to meet this Duo. Every time she thought of that name the same picture would seep into her mind, but that kid was long gone. There was no way it could be him. However, she didn't remember any kids named Duo, but then again she didn't remember many names. She barely remembered hers, but the one she went by was made up, Angel, because the man that took her in for a year after the explosion thought she was as pretty as an Angel and Tanaka, because of his last name.

She had only lived with the man for a short while because he had been dying when he took her in, but he had tried to be nice to her. He told her shortly before he died that life wasn't worth living if you didn't have someone to love and share it with. Deep down she knew he was right, but she still didn't want to admit it to herself; at least not yet.

Duo was standing in the living room with Quatre, Trowa, Catherine, Sally, Wufei, Heero, and two babies (Quatre and Trowa's) while everyone opened up their presents. Quatre had decreed that presents should be opened Christmas Eve this year instead of Christmas Day like normal. The problem was that he wanted Duo to wait to open any of his presents. Any time he asked why, Quatre would reply that one of Duo's presents was late and he had to wait for it to get here. So, Duo sadly watched everyone open their gifts as he tried to sneak one of his. "Duo…"

Duo looked up sheepishly as his name was mentioned, "yes?"

"Put it back." The forever voice of authority came through loud and clear as Duo sighed sadly and put it back. Heero could be a buzz kill sometimes.

The doorbell rang and Quatre jumped. "It's her," he whispered to Trowa. Quatre then turned to Duo, "would you mind seeing who that is since we're busy and you're not?" It wasn't really much of a question, but Duo decided to play along. The whole way to the door he was calling Quatre every dirty name in the book. Not out loud of course because that would have hurt Quatre's feelings and seeing the Arabian's kicked puppy dog look was just not on his top ten things to do.

As he opened the door he saw a small woman with long curly dark brown hair and big hazel eyes. Her knuckles were white from holding onto her package so tightly and her mouth was hanging wide open. "Can I help you?" She mumbled something that he was unable to interpret as she stumbled back. "What in the world?" She dropped her package and turned to run. She slipped on the icy steps and slid down them on her backside. He tried to grab her, but she jumped up again and spun around. "Ma'am, are you okay?"

She began breathing wildly, as if she was hyperventilating, and whispered, "Shinigami, you live." Then she promptly passed out. Duo began yelling for the guys to come help him as he bent down to pick the woman up, but a locket slipped loose from underneath her shirt. Duo couldn't help but look at it. He felt drawn to it as if it was the only thing he could see and it was calling his name. It was open from a broken clasp and he noticed a picture. It was of a woman, a man, a little girl, and a little boy.

The little boy caught his attention most. The little boy had violet eyes, a huge grin, and shaggy brown hair. A memory suddenly assailed him of a little girl tickling him while a woman smiled and cooked blueberry pancakes. The words the woman said were vivid in his mind, "now, Shin, if you wouldn't take Kalyn's toys she wouldn't be punishing you."

Tears lightly streamed down Duo's face and he felt arms go around him. He looked up to see Heero on full alert. "What happened? Are you okay? Status now!"

He grabbed Heero's shirt and pulled him to him as he continued to cry. Quatre felt guilty, "I'm sorry, Duo, this is all my fault. I asked her to bring a painting here for you. She said she was a survivor of the orphanage and she wanted to meet you. I didn't think it would hurt anything." Trowa silently picked the girl up and carried her inside.

Duo couldn't look at Quatre; however, he did manage to squeak out, "Quatre, she's not just any survivor. That's my big sister, Kalyn." He took a deep breath, "I don't know how I know her name, but I remembered something from when I was a kid. It's really a memory, not something I just wish I had. It's from before I went to the orphanage and even before Solo. She was tickling me and a woman was smiling. There were even blueberry pancakes; they smelled so real that I could taste them."

Duo scrubbed the tears on his face with his long sleeve shirt. "However, she isn't supposed to be alive. When I first got to the orphanage Sister Helen told me that Kalyn was different and we couldn't be together. I never could remember who Kalyn was until now. She use to sneak over to the orphanage to see me until a few months before they attacked. She tried to warn me to leave and run away, but I thought she was just jealous that I had Sister Helen and Father Maxwell. I told her that I never wanted to see her again." Duo took a deep breath in between the sobs and finished with, "and I never did, until now."

Ch. 3

Angel woke up with a horrible headache. "Well, that's what I get for drinking all that tequila on the flight." Then the memory of seeing Shin came back and she threw the covers off. She was up and running before it even occurred to her that she had no idea where she was or if she was even still in the mansion. For all she knew they could have taken her to some other house. She had a gut feeling she was still in the mansion, but it was better to be cautious.

She slowed and began creeping stealthily down the hall. 'Remember,' she thought, 'Shin may not even know who you are. This may also be a trap and if it is at least you'll go down fighting.' She rounded a corner and heard voices coming from what she guessed was a bedroom.

"Duo, I know you want to go wake her up and ask her all kinds of questions, but Sally said it's better if she rested until she woke up on her own. I know you're upset and that's okay, you have every right to be. Just remember that I'm here with you because I love you and I'm not going to leave you because you had a temper tantrum when you were six years old."

Angel heard a small sob before she heard her Shin speak, "Heero, you just don't know how it feels. I didn't even remember her until I saw the locket. What kind of brother does that make me?" Her heart broke at his sadness.

She heard a soft laugh, "that makes you a bad one on some level, I'm sure; however, it doesn't count if you're so young that your mind blacks it out, so you don't get hurt by it. C'mon, baby, it's not your fault. I mean, you said she called you Shinigami, right? Well, maybe she knew of you during the war and that you called yourself that. How else would she have known? Then doesn't that make her a bad sister for not contacting you, even if she is a really good painter?"

Angel had heard enough and stepped into the room. "I called him Shinigami because that's his name," she stressed with all the emotion she had left out of her life in the last fifteen years. She knew the look on her face was deadly, but she didn't care. "Shinigami, that's your name! Mom, even though she was American, was a Japanese interpreter at Misawa Enterprises and she wanted your name to invoke pride, determination, and the strength to do what is necessary in life. She thought the God of Death would be able to handle the life she knew we would have. Mom was an empath just like your friend Quatre and that's what got her and dad killed."

Her legs gave out underneath her and she sunk to the floor. "Mom knew everything. That's why she took you to the orphanage the day before they were killed," she sighed sadly, lost in memories. "Misawa Enterprises was a front for the Federation and they only knew of one child. They only knew of me. Mom asked me if I wanted to be taken far away too. She said they would hunt me down and they might use you to get to me. I chose to stay with her and dad as a Federation Officer shot them both execution style."

She took a deep breath, "The Federation then locked me in a cage until the Gundam pilots took out the Federation. The times I broke out to see you at the orphanage I was punished severely." Her eyes narrowed trying to block out the remembered emotions. "Yeah, it hurt when you said you didn't want to see me anymore, but it hurt worse when I knew they were going to destroy the orphanage with you there. They knew you were there and they were trying to use you to make me do what they wanted. They wanted me to give them names of anyone that might become a problem for them in the future. They wanted me to "feel" out those who weren't loyal to them."

Angel knew that she didn't have long to explain life to him, but she didn't want him to hurt anymore. "Shin, I mean Duo, that doesn't make you a bad brother just because you thought I was jealous. I never told you what happened to mom and dad. I never told you the truth. The way you reacted just means you're human and capable of human emotions. I, on the other hand, feel more emotion in a given day that your friend Quatre feels in a year. I'm tired and I'm dying."

Duo, who had come to sit next to her while she was speaking, wrapped his arms around her tightly. "You can't be…I'm sorry for whatever I did, but you have to stay. You can't leave me like they did."

"Duo, the emotion that you are feeling isn't conducive to my health right now," she said in a joking tone.

"See, Duo, she is related to you. Only someone related to you could make a joke about dying." Angel and Duo let loose a small sad laugh. Heero offered his hand to Angel, "well, Kalyn, I'm Heero. You could say that I'm Duo's better half and he's mine."

Angel wrinkled her nose, "I haven't been Kalyn for a really long time now. It's Angel Tanaka. I took a new name after the guy that cared for me when I survived the explosion at the lab on L2. The one that happened when they were looking for you guys."

"How did you know what we were?"

She smiled at the look on their faces. "I'm not just an empath. I'm also a telepath." At the looks of disbeliefs she said, "Heero you first fell in love with Duo when he shot you on the pier trying to protect a girl named Relena.

"Duo you first fell in love with Heero when he jumped out of the window without a parachute; however, you didn't realize it until you guys were on a mission with the Preventers one night and you got sick. You guys hid in a cabin for three days in the middle of winter with no heat. Duo had a horrible fever and Heero was so worried that he didn't sleep the entire time. Heero sang to you the entire time, they were his version of what a lullaby would be like. Duo woke up in the middle of the night right before his fever broke and used it as an excuse to kiss you. For a week after that, Heero slummed around feeling so guilty about taking advantage of you. Then he saw you dancing in the club and decided that you were the one taking advantage of him and he was going to put a stop to it. You guys were married the next day."

Heero and Duo both looked at her completely dumbfounded so she explained, "you're worried about telling everyone you're married, so I see the events that led up to that fear. You shouldn't be so worried, though, they're pretty sure you guys are a couple and they're happy about it. Quatre's also noticed that you guys sleep in the same room even though there are almost fifty bedrooms here."

They turned sheepishly away from her as Sally began yelling for Duo that Angel was gone. They heard running as everyone in the house stampeded up the steps to see what was going on. As Sally came running into the room Angel took a look at her small stomach and smiled. "Sally, right?"

Sally looked at Duo harshly, "I told you not to wake her up!"

Angel decided to intervene, "Sally, he didn't wake me up. I woke me up and decided to take a tour of the place. By the way you shouldn't be running in your condition."

Sally's face turned white as what Angel had said hit Wufei, "what do you mean in her condition? Sally what's wrong with your condition? I mean what condition are you in? I mean…Are you alright?"

Sally looked torn between explaining to Wufei and her confusion as to how anyone knew. "How did you…?"

"Sally, answer me," Wufei demanded.

Angel shrugged her shoulders, "you're only three weeks, but it's going to be a real pig headed girl. I promise she'll be beautiful, but don't listen to him when he says he doesn't want to name her Meiran Sally Chang. He really does, but he's afraid it'll seem like a tribute to his late wife. In a way it is, but only in the fact that he knows he will be as proud of his daughter as he was of her and is of you. He doesn't want to put Sally first because he likes using your name and he thinks you'll kill him if he goes back to Onna."

Sally turned to Wufei, her eyes wide like a doe, "I swear I just found out this afternoon. That's what the call on the way over here was about. I was going to tell you tonight, but I didn't know what you'd say, so I wanted to wait until after everyone went to sleep. I'm sorry, Wufei."

Tears began threatening to spill from Sally's soft eyes as Wufei became suddenly interested in his feet. He mumbled something and Sally asked him to repeat it. "If…can …name….?" Sally asked him to repeat it again. "I said, if it's a girl can we name her Meiran Sally Chang like the girl suggested or not?"

Wufei's face was a little red from the embarrassment of having this conversation in front of his friends or family as he liked to think of them. "If you don't want to it is okay, I understand." He was still looking down at his feet not daring to look at Sally. He didn't really want to see the upset look he knew would be on her face. He was; however, really surprised when he was roughly seized and kissed senseless.

Duo leaned in and whispered something into Heero's ear, causing him to laugh. Angel smiled at the two, 'if I have to be dying at least I get to see my brother and meet his family before I go. Too bad I couldn't stay longer, maybe I could have done them some good in the few weeks I have left.'

A picture of a little girl popped into her mind. It was a girl she had never seen before. The girl was so tiny, only weighing about twenty-five pounds. She had a bruise on her cheek, but she was still smiling. Her shirt was slightly torn at the hem and her right knuckles were bleeding. The little girl was almost four years old with beautiful curly brown hair. A name flashed into her mind as well as a place and she knew what her last duty would be. "Shinigami, I mean, Duo, I need to go somewhere to get something would you like to go with me? I seem to be a little lightheaded still."

Duo frowned, "I can go get whatever it is you need and you can stay here to rest." He didn't like the idea of her out and about after her fainting spell. He especially didn't like the fact that he had just found his sister and she was dying.

She shook her head, "no, I need to go get it myself. It's a prescription and they have my picture in the computer. Sam also knows me by name, so only I can get it."

"Sally can write you a new prescription."

Angel saw this would be a hard battle to win, but she was determined. "I can only get it on L2. They don't have it here." She put her best sad doe eyes to work on him.

Duo saw the sad eyes and felt his heart melt. "Where is it?"

Angel wasn't sure that he was caving, so she added a little extra sadness to her facial features and made her voice a little wavery, "it's on L2 near the old orphanage."

Ch. 4

As Angel walked down the street on L2 with Duo by her side she took time to admire how the colony had changed since the last time she had been there. Things had been renovated and the air smelled fresher than it had when she was a child. People also seemed happier and less afraid. Children seemed content to play when before they would have remained indoors away from the homeless.

Angel felt slightly guilty for misleading Duo to come here. She wasn't lying about the pharmacy, sort of. She did know a Sam, he just wasn't a pharmacist. He was a computer geek on L3 that had her photograph. She also did need a prescription to save her life, but she couldn't get it on L2. Nope, the thing she was going to L2 to get was going to change a lot of lives in a short amount of time.

For the tenth time that trip Duo felt the need to talk to her about a specific subject. "Angel, what are you dying of?"

She thought about evading it once again, but figured it wouldn't stop him from asking in another ten seconds. "Duo, if I tell you I must receive a promise in return." He nodded and she continued, "promise me that when I'm gone, whenever that may be, at that moment you'll read this letter," she removed a small white envelope with his name written on it and handed it to him. "When you read it, remember that I know what the future looks like. I also know that if you follow this letter you will be happier than you ever thought possible."

Duo figured it was harmless to promise he would read it if he could figure out what was wrong with her. Because he hoped there was a way to save her. She was the only true family he had left. After she died there would only be the family he created. "Sure, Angel, anything for you."

"Duo, know first that nothing can save me. The disease is too advanced; I only have a few weeks left to live before it takes me. Long before the colonies were even thought of there was a sickness that took a lot of lives. It was called cancer and it came in all kinds of forms. I have one form as a result of certain gene mutations that the Federation tried to do. They didn't have the knowledge for it, but they tried anyways. Somewhere along the lines they messed up bad and these mutations just kept multiplying until it was too late to do anything about it. I honestly didn't want to do anything about it when it was first found. I was just so tired and alone that life didn't matter. I figured it would go on without me and I wouldn't be missing much. Now I wish I had more time, but I'm going to do something great with the time I have left. You just wait and see. Now remember your promise to me."

Duo gave her a tight hug as they reached the pharmacy, which just happened to be across the street from something that looked suspiciously like a school. Duo hated schools; they always reminded him of the orphanage. "Duo, would you do me a favor? Would you go ahead inside and ask them to get it ready. I'm going to sit out here for a minute on this bench. It's just too nice of a day." Duo nodded and went inside.

Angel whispered, "I love you."

Duo had been waiting in line to talk to the pharmacist when he heard a crash and people screaming outside. He dropped the two bottles of water he was going to purchase and ran outside. He didn't know what to expect, but he surely didn't expect this. Angel was lying in the middle of the street curled up with her back to the scene. A car had skidded sideways to a stop with its windshield and hood crushed in. Blood littered the scene. The man in the car jumped out as Duo ran to the still form in the street. "I didn't see her until it was too late," the man yelled.

As Duo reached Angel he first noticed the blood then he noticed that she wasn't alone; in her arms was a small little girl. The little girl was crying and shaking Angel. "Lady, wake up! I sorry, I won't do it again!"

Duo grabbed the little girl and asked a little harsher than he meant, "are you alright?" The little girl nodded and was momentarily forgotten about. He turned to Angel, "sweetie, open your eyes for me. You're going to be fine, we still have some things to talk about. Like…like whether or not Wufei's kid is going to be as stuck up as him." Duo felt for a pulse and began crying when he couldn't find one.

As the paramedics took Angel's body away Duo took the envelope she had given him out of his pocket. His vision was blurry with tears, but he had made a promise. He took the letter out and began to read:

Dear Duo,

So if you're reading this then I guess the little girl is alright, but I'm not. Oh well, at least I got to die for a good cause instead of the cancer. She's a pretty little thing too, so full of life and she's going to run both you and Heero ragged trying to keep up with her as she gets older. Her name is Sophie and her mom was a very mean lady who went to jail for killing Sophie's dad.

I had Quatre set it up (ya' know pull some strings) and she's yours and Heero's as soon as you sign the papers. She likes the color blue and loves pizza. She needs someone to love her and I know you guys will be up to the task. She's even going to dye Heero's hair one day, just wait and see.

My life was full of waiting and knowing without being able to do anything about it. Therefore, when I saw how much you were loved I knew what the one thing I would be able to give you was. I wanted to give you a daughter. I just had to trade my life for hers and that wasn't too hard of a choice, (ya' know since I was dying anyways.) I'll be watching the mistakes you make and I'll probably be laughing at most of them. I just hope you know that you deserve this and she does too. She's your baby girl now. Take good care of her and my brother-in-law. I love you very much.

One last thing, don't let her eat too many cookies before bed time because she'll get an upset stomach. You won't like the smell to your hair from that one. Also "Maxwell" really is our last name; Father Maxwell was also Uncle Maxwell. By the way Quatre already knows what was going to happen because I told him and Heero should be standing behind you right about now.

Love always,

Kalyn Maxwell or Angel Tanaka

Duo didn't have to look up to know he was. He smiled as he was engulfed in a hug. "Heero, how would you feel about signing some papers with me?"

Epilogue

Sophie was sitting in the office still crying about the nice lady that had saved her. One of the older kids had called Sophie a murderer and she had punched him square in the nose, which is how she came to be sitting in the office or so she thought.

The door to the headmaster's office opened and he called her in. There were two men sitting on the sofa across from the desk and she wanted to study them, but the chair the headmaster motioned for her to sit in didn't have a good view. "Sophie, do you know why you're here?"

She nodded, "Danny, called me a mur'erer an I hit him." She hung her head in shame. She didn't see one of the men behind her smirk.

The headmaster's head shot up and he frowned at the smirking man. "Mr. Yuy, this is a serious matter and if you are going to be a good father you should take it as such!"

"Sorry, she just reminded me of someone I know." The other man then elbowed Mr. Yuy in the side.

"Mr. Maxwell, I will not condone violence in my office!" The headmaster's face began to turn red and Sophie figured he was trying to keep his face from going kaboom like the older kids told her he did when he got really mad.

After a few seconds he schooled his face into a gentle look and said, "Sophie, that's partly the reason. The other reason is that I thought it would be appropriate for your new parents to be involved in this matter immediately rather than to just be informed of it."

"New parents?"

"Sophie, the man behind you with the long braid is Duo Maxwell, his sister was the lady that saved you from the car." The little girl's face dropped at the mention of the lady. The headmaster noticed and softened his voice, "and the other man behind you is Heero Yuy. He looks a little angry and psychotic, but so far he seems okay. Not a blemish on his record," the silent 'yet' was left hanging in the air before he finished with, "they adopted you. You're going to go home with them and they're really excited about it."

Sophie turned to look at the two men who smiled sadly at her, "hi."

The headmaster came and stood in front of Sophie. He bent down to be on eye level with her. "Sophie, this is a little bit of a weird relationship and you will notice it, so I'm going to try and explain it to you. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it at all, but you now have two daddies. There won't be a mommy in the house where you will be moving to. These two daddies will love you as much as your daddy did and neither one of them will hurt you or each other like how your mommy hurt your daddy."

Sophie thought this sounded good, but she didn't know about the guy with the long hair. "You look like a mommy."

This sent Heero into an uncontrollable laughing fit as Duo just sat there trying to look put out by the little girl's analysis of his hair. "I am not a mommy."

The little girl then reached into her backpack and pulled out something small, it looked like a small rectangle cardboard box. She handed it to the headmaster before going over to the couch. She reached her arms up and Duo obliged her by picking her up. She then sandwiched herself between Heero and Duo. She turned to Duo, "you be daddy" and she turned to Heero, "you be papa."

As their hearts were melting the headmaster got their attention, "alright everyone, smile for the camera."

A figure in Heaven smiled as her wish had finally come true and the locket around Duo's neck glowed.

From the diary of Angel (last survivor of the L2 plague)