Disclaimer: Don't own GW or the characters, just manipulate them for my own personal enjoyment. Bwhahahaha

CHAPTER 9

Six weeks had come and gone. Come and gone two weeks ago in fact. Heero hadn't returned and Duo was sinking into a depression. The only thing that saved him was his daughter. She was beautiful. She was crawling everywhere, trying to stand (not so successfully), eating everything she could get her hands on (with mild success) and pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards and making as much noise with them as possible (very successfully).

Duo did his best to keep his friends from realizing how sad he was becoming. He was still sick in the mornings, and he decided it was either Heero's fault for making him depressed, or it was Heero's fault for making him pregnant.

That particular thought was avoided quite vehemently right now. He wanted Heero here with him if it was true. Here with him when he "found out." Not to mention Dr. Croats was still slightly horrified about what happened with Quatre and had in fact asked Duo to avoid the whole pregnancy thing altogether. Duo snorted. He had agreed, seeing as Heero was gone anyway, but he had a sneaky feeling that while "suffering" from a fever he had done things to Heero that might have nulled his agreement with the good doctor.

Now Heero was two weeks late and Duo was getting frantic. He'd talked to Wufei, being unable to get a hold of Relena. He regretfully told him that Heero had been working independently for some time now. He promised to tie him up and deliver him home if they heard anything from him (Duo's words, not Wufei's).

Duo finally put his precocious child to bed. The nursery was still downstairs. It was easier for her to play with things from her room if they were downstairs. As Duo left her room, he heard something. He quietly shut the door to her room and picked up something heavy. It was a book, a big book of baby animals. It was quite heavy. Duo shrugged. It was the best he had.

He walked forward, peering around the corner towards his front entryway. The book dropped to the floor. It was Heero. Emotions surged forward, anger, joy, love, relief, happiness and other undefinable emotions. He said nothing, and instead walked forward, unsure of what he was going to do. When he reached his missing husband, he wrapped his arms around him. He had nothing to say. Duo breathed in Heero. It was wonderful. He hadn't known how empty he had felt until Heero returned and made him feel full again.

"Duo?" Heero asked, his arms came up and encircled the braided man attached to his chest. "I'm back."

"I know, Heero." To Duo's horror he heard his own voice crack. "I know." He pulled back and looked at Heero. He looked horrible. His skin was dirty, his hair was matted, there were deep circles under his eyes. They were empty. Not cold like before when Duo had found him, just drained. Duo smiled. "You look awful." Then with deliberate carelessness he slid off the bag Heero was carrying and tugged him towards the stairs. "Let me give you a bath." If Heero had looked up for it, Duo would have said it more mischievously. Right now, his soldier just looked tired.

Heero followed him up the stairs into the bathroom. Duo started the water and Heero began undressing himself but Duo stopped him. "Let me, Heero." Then with the same gentle motions he used to bathe Camille he used a bowl and poured the water over Heero's head and used one of her soft terry cloth wash clothes to wipe him down.

When Heero was clean, Duo led him to the bedroom where he dressed him and put him to bed. He could see in Heero's eyes that this was all he needed. Duo may not have been ready for bed yet, but if that's where Heero was, that's where he would be. Duo stripped down to his underwear, crawled next to his husband and wrapped Heero in his arms. Duo would be angry at him tomorrow, right now Heero just needed him.

XxXxX

Heero woke up to little tendrils of hair tickling his face. He pulled back, and in delight remembered he had made it home. Normally in the mornings he would get up right away and get busy. Today, however, he wanted to lounge here with Duo for a little while. He lay down next to Duo and pulled him closer. For some reason, Duo was lying on his back (instead of his side like he normally did), so Heero settled for draping an arm over him. He hadn't expected the welcome he had gotten last night. He really thought he was going to be yelled at. He had a plan for that though. He was going to drown Duo's complaints in kisses.

Heero wondered how Duo's leg was, so, ever so gently, he lifted the blankets and stared at Duo's perfect body. There was a fresh scar on Duo's leg. The shiny skin hadn't completely hardened yet, but at least it was mending. He let his eyes devour Duo's body, completely defenseless in his sleep. Heero used a finger to trace Duo's tummy which was the least toned part of his body. Heero frowned. It almost, just barely bulged.

Duo sat straight upright, startling Heero. He leapt out of bed and straight for the bathroom. After a brief, shocked pause, Heero got up as well and headed into the bathroom. Before he even got there, he heard Duo throwing up and he winced each time he heard Duo retch. He came in, pulled all of the stray hair away from Duo's face and rubbed his back gently.

"Are you sick, Duo?" Heero asked, prepared to carry him straight back to bed to rest.

Duo laughed, "Not exactly." Despite his laugh, his expression was guarded. Then he focused his eyes on Heero. "You're back." He stood and rinsed his mouth out, then stood up and watched his husband carefully.

"Yes, I'm back."

Duo folded his arms over his chest and took on a severe expression. "You're late."

Heero was thrown off balance. He had thought Duo was letting that go, but how silly he was to think he would get off that easily. "Duo. . ."

"Nope, no excuses." Duo narrowed his eyes. "You caused everyone a lot of problems. Cammi missed you." Duo recited, it looked as if he had this prepared beforehand. "I was lonely – I had to move Camille downstairs to take care of her. Quatre nearly died, Trowa was actually panicking, Wufei was annoyed by me constantly calling to find out where you are and mmph. . ."

After some brief consideration, Heero had decided that his original plan to silence Duo's anger was still a good plan so he put it into action. His lips covered Duo's and for a brief moment silence descended on the house.

The sound of a fussy infant broke the silence. Duo made to stand, but Heero stopped. "I'll go. If you aren't feeling well, why don't you go back to bed."

Even though Duo was feeling fine, the prospect of sleeping in again, which he hadn't done in quite awhile appealed to him. Duo crawled under the covers. He stared happily at the spot where Heero had slept. It looked slept in. It was wonderful. Today would be just them. Tomorrow Heero could return the world's messages and go visit people, but today. . .

Duo swallowed. There was something Heero needed to know, something important. He was actually very nervous to tell him – terrified even. He closed his eyes, but he heard a noise at the door and cracked an eye again. Heero had brought Camille up and he was looking at Duo, almost lost.

"She's so big."

"That's what happens when you disappear for two months." Camille reached her arms towards the ground and began squirming. Heero looked lost.

"Set her down. She crawls now." Tenderly, Heero set her on the ground. Duo propped himself up on his elbow and watched Camille scooch toward Duo on the bed, babbling happily. Heero watched her in wonder. Duo could tell, he wasn't used to being back yet. Unexpectedly, things had changed while he wasn't watching and now he had to try and catch up.

Duo wrinkled his nose, "You know what hasn't changed though?" Heero turned his head in question. "She still needs her diaper changed." Heero laughed, and pulled out the bin that they kept some spare diapers in from under their nightstand. He dragged the active child back and flipped her over.

Duo liked to watch Heero change Camille's diapers. He was so. . . mechanical about it. Camille squirmed for a moment, but then seemed to realize who was once again changing her diaper. When Duo changed her diaper she wriggled and moved and made a mess, but she knew that it was just easier to sit still for Heero.

Knowing there was safety in numbers, Duo decided now, while Camille was in the room would be a good time to bring up the whole. . . "sick" thing. He wasn't sure how to bring it up. Well, no point in dancing around the point.

"Do you want another child Heero?" Heero helped Cammi sit upright and then let her loose in the room.

"Hmm, isn't it too early to think about something like that? Camille isn't even one year old." Heero mused. "I suppose that yes. I would, eventually."

"How would you feel if I told you. . ." Duo stopped. He didn't actually know for sure yet. . . and now that it came to it, it was much harder to say. "That is to say. . . What I am trying to tell you is that I'm. . . grr." He growled. This was hard.

"Duo, it sounds like you are trying, not so successfully to tell me that you are. . . pregnant. That couldn't be, because there would have been surgery involved, correct?"

"Sort of. . . I mean nothing is certain."

"Duo, what are you saying?"

"Dr. Croats did something so that I could conceive in a more natural fashion. I was supposed to tell you the day you took me to the hotel. I didn't know I only had one night to tell you. . ."

"Why didn't you tell me after you had chased me all the way to Preen?" Duo could see the impatience on Heero's face. He gave Heero kudos for sounding so calm.

"I was distracted."

"So distracted that you couldn't tell me something important, like the fact that you could get pregnant?"

"Oh, right. Where would that have fit in? 'Oh Heero, by the way – I know I am bleeding from a hole in my leg – but just so you know I can have babies again'?" Duo glared, "Is that how it was gonna go?"

"Duo – " Heero started then stopped himself. Only Duo could get him so frustrated. If it was anyone else he would be able to deal with the situation more rationally, but Duo just affected him. He stood, walked out the bedroom door made a small circle in the hallway and returned to the room.

"Are you pregnant?"

"Possibly."

"Possibly yes, but there is no reason to believe so? Or possibly and you have strong suspicions that you are."

"I'm gonna go with the second one."

"Oh," Heero said and sat on the bed next to Duo. He stared at the wall. Duo watched him anxiously for what seemed an eternity. Unable to bear the silence, Duo didn't think he could wait much longer when Heero finally spoke. "Well, that's alright then."

Duo watched him, skeptical. "Alright?"

Heero started to smile, a big bright smile. "Yes, alright."

tsutsuku

Wow, yeah – I'm not even sure why I am posting this – now that it has been so long, but I was going through my files and I realized I didn't post this – its not quite finished, but I have some free time. If you want me to, I will work on getting this done.

Lets be honest – its me, so of course Duo is pregnant, all though it is a little less realistic in this one. :)

Let me know what you think!

~Annie