AH! Summer is over, summer is over! * throws things in the air and panics * Okay, I'm good. . .

Disclaimer: Don't own, just borrow the boys for a little torture now and again... or now and always.

CHAPTER 13

Quatre woke up to Trowa wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The blond snuggled closer to his beloved, but the sound of an infant crying made him move out of his arms. As he sat up, prepared to get out of bed, the crying trailed off. That was a pleasant surprise. His acrobatic lover had kept him up late last night and a little extra sleep seemed deserved. He nuzzled Trowa's neck.

"Hopefully that becomes a habit," Trowa whispered. Their daughter had a tendency to wake up at four o'clock every morning. She would be awake for a few hours and then settle down again for the rest of the morning. Needless to say, both of their sleeping schedules had been a little off since their daughter had joined the family.

Quatre awoke again a few hours later in a panic. He looked at the clock, 6:12. He hadn't heard Gemma even whimper in that time. He slid out of bed and resisted the urge to run to the nursery. He opened the door. Gemma wasn't in there. He felt panic bubble up inside him, but made himself take a deep breath. Where could she be. . .?

Smiling, Quatre headed for the guest bedroom. When he entered, he saw Gemma laying in her baby bouncer. Duo was on the floor, doing what appeared to be stretches.

"Are you stretching?" Quatre asked, moving to sit next to his daughter. Duo looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, dancing last night really twisted my back – that or being shot at." He laughed and then leaned forward one last time.

Quatre frowned, he didn't find last night's antics to be quite as amusing as Duo did. "Have you heard from Heero yet?"

Though Duo's back was to him, he saw his shoulders sag, "No, but he said I would see him today." With a deep breath, he turned around. "You weren't kidding about her being an early riser, though!"

"Yeah, thanks for taking her for a few hours." Quatre tickled his daughter's belly. "What were you doing up so early?"

"Oh, couldn't sleep, ya know. . ." Duo couldn't sleep because last night's events kept racing through his mind, over and over again. He was afraid Heero would try to use it as an excuse to leave again. It took a lot to keep Duo from sleeping, so he was, understandably, a little upset at missing his beauty sleep.

The two men heard the someone walking down the hall, and turned. Duo tried not to get excited, it was probably Trowa. He stood and peaked into the hallway and was overjoyed to see Heero coming. He was still only wearing his undershirt – apparently no one had replaced his top from the night before. Duo moved into the hallway and wrapped his arms around him. He had been afraid it would be two months before he would see him again.

Heero took a deep breath, "Are you okay, Duo?" Duo muttered something that sounded like 'of course, idiot' but he couldn't be sure about the last part. Heero looked up and saw Quatre and nodded to him, silently expressing his thanks for taking in his family last night. Quatre shrugged with a smile.

From the bedroom, Gemma seemed to realize she had been left alone and began to cry loudly. As Quatre hurried to get her, Camille woke up and joined in the chorus. Each child was retrieved, their needs seen to and then the four men and two girls settled down in the living room.

"So Heero, what exactly happened last night?" Trowa asked, leaning forward in interest. Though Heero's story telling skills were lacking compared to Duo's, he was able to retell the tale with sufficient detail to keep them interested. Duo sat up when Heero got to what happened after he had left.

"We took the one man to the hospital and the woman was taken to lock-down. I went to the hospital to talk to the injured man.

"He had regained consciousness, but was lucid enough to understand our questions." Heero sighed, "He didn't give us much, but we his face and fingerprints through the international database and found that he was previously cleared from espionage charges during the last war.

"It seemed most likely that he had returned to that career, but we have to find out who is working for." Heero sighed. "I left him with another soldier and headed to the where the woman was held. She had no shame, and admitted that she was working with the man she shot. She. . . . eventually told us what country she worked with, but not what their intentions had been."

"But Heero," interjected Quatre, "Why did she come after you?"

Heero looked regretfully at Duo before he spoke, "It seems the time I spent away I was discovered. They had a picture of me and eventually were able to narrow my location to this city." He pulled Duo closer to him, "They followed us to the club last night."

Trowa stood, "Heero, you should stay here until you can neutralize this threat." Heero began to protest, but Trowa quelled it with a look, "We have Quatre's security, the Maguanacs, undoubtedly you have people posted, and four people can better look out for each other than one or two."

Heero looked at his friend gratefully and saw that Quatre was nodding in agreement. Solemnly, Heero expressed his thanks. Heero looked over to Duo, who had been strangely silent this whole time. He realized how tired his braided lover looked. Heero vowed to make sure he wasn't exposed to anymore experiences like last night. Heero shivered, he was not sure he had recovered from seeing Duo shot at and sitting on the floor covered in blood. With a small shake of his head he realized Quatre was saying something about breakfast. He just nodded in agreement. Coffee and muffins were brought in for everyone and they continued their conversation.

A soft snore started emanating from Duo, who had slumped onto Heero's shoulder. Quatre explained how early Duo had been up. Heero just smiled and rearranged his husband so that he was more comfortable and allowed himself to enjoy this morning with his friends.

Duo woke up, he felt groggy and confused. He didn't remember falling asleep. Looking around, he located a clock. It blinked 3:00. Duo sat up. He looked at the window, clearly it was afternoon. Grouchily, he got out of bed, staggering a little. Looking around, he realized Heero was in the room too, but for some reason he had felt the need to sleep on a chair instead of the bed. Focusing more, Duo saw a laptop on the table next to him. Ah, fallen asleep while working.

Duo smiled, now that he had taken a moment to wake up, he didn't feel quite so cranky. He tapped Heero on the shoulder. His eyes snapped open. Just like that, he was awake. Duo rarely got to wake Heero up, but every time he did it was the same thing. There was no post-snooze confusion. He was ready to go the moment he woke up.

Heero smiled, "Finally awake, I see."

"Yeah, I can't believe I slept so long." Duo paused, "I can't believe you let me sleep so long."

Heero stood, stretching as he did, "You had a long day yesterday and Quatre said you were up early."

Duo nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, I think I slept through breakfast and lunch." In agreement, Heero and Duo headed to the kitchen where, since this was Quatre's house, there was enough food already prepared for a small feast. Duo set the table out with everything that look appetizing.

Heero snacked as Duo devoured several plates of food. As Duo seemed to be slowing down, Heero reached into his pocket and pulled something out, putting it on the table. Duo looked at it curiously, but finished his dish before asking about it.

"This is a phone, I can call you and you can call me." Heero flipped over the long slender object. It was about 12 x 6 centimeters and half a centimeter thick. It was a gleaming black but when Heero pushed in a button on the side, a screen lit up. "It's completely secure, but you can always get a hold of me and I can get a hold of you." He pulled out an identical one, showing Duo his.

Duo grinned, "Thank you," he said gruffly and then immediately began playing with the phone. He dialed the number one as directed by Heero and Heero's phone began to vibrate. Heero explained that he had the same numbers programmed into his phone. Duo was number two on his phone. Trowa's cell was number three, the Winner mansion was four and Wufei and Relena were five. Duo clutched it in his hand thankfully.

Duo stretched, feeling rested and full, "I'll have to admit, you looked pretty hot dancing with that lady last night."

"Was that before or after she pulled a gun on me?"

"Before, definitely."

Heero shook his head, "She was waving my arms all over the dance floor."

Duo chuckled, "It was still hot. Still, I prefer it when you are dancing with me."

"Me too, I don't constantly feel like my life is in danger."

"Oh, that could be arranged." He headed menacingly toward Heero, but stopped short, all the color draining from his face. He turned quickly on his heel and ran from the kitchen. Heero followed him, knowing he was probably headed for the bathroom.

He winced at the retching sounds that indicated Duo was decorating the toilet. He headed in and began rubbing his back and made sure his braid was not in danger of getting messy.

"Is Duo sick?" Heero looked up to see Trowa looking concerned at the door. He was holding Gemma carefully.

Before Heero could answer, Duo groaned from the toilet, "No, not sick Trowa – I just ate four plates of food in that many minutes." He laughed weakly. "It's a bad habit I have."

Trowa nodded, looking mildly amused. The expression disappeared as Duo returned his head to the toilet. Trowa took his leave and Heero continued ministering to Duo.

Later, after Duo had showered and brushed his teeth, Duo agreed that he shouldn't try to eat that much food in one sitting again ever. Then Heero brought up exactly what Duo hoped he wouldn't.

"Don't you think we should tell them?" Duo looked away, still a little jealous that Quatre had been able to keep a secret for so long. "Duo, how long can we keep it from them if we are staying here?"

Duo could see the logic, but he felt irrationally stubborn about this. "Let's just see how long we can keep it a secret from them, please?"

Heero sighed, "Alright, for a little longer."

It had been four weeks since Heero, Duo and Camille had moved in with them. It was nice to have people around and the Winner mansion was large enough to accommodate ten times their number without ever interacting. It helped as well, because between Duo, Quatre and Trowa, they could share daycare duty, which allowed each of them more time at their individual careers.

Quatre hadn't been able to do much more than random consulting for his company since the baby. He had many sisters and vice presidents who were more than willing to help take control for awhile, but he was glad to get back into it a little.

Heero was resolutely gone all day, but Duo seemed alright with it, so Quatre wasn't worried if Duo wasn't. Duo on the other hand was worrying Quatre. He was hiding something. Duo looked ill, and Trowa agreed. He was sick occasionally, but more than that. He always looked fatigued, most days he went into work looking tired, but when he came home he was exhausted. He tended to fall to sleep soon after Camille and they had found him sleeping on a sofa or chair more than once. He was barely getting dressed, spending his days in loose shirts and sweat pants. When they brought their concerns to Heero he just looked weary and promised to talk to them about it soon.

Now Quatre was observing Duo as he cleaned Camille's temporary nursery. Quatre had offered many times for the cleaning staff to keep Camille, Duo and Heero's rooms clean, but Duo seemed unwilling to accept the help. Quatre was sure that Duo was cleaning much more here than when he was at home. Despite Duo's obvious exhaustion, he said it gave him something to do. He was fun to watch clean. One thing he had no qualms about was the noise he made in Trowa and Quatre's home. Duo sang loud and boisterously as he cleaned, often dancing at the same time. Camille loved it and when she was around she would chase him, shrieking along with his singing.

When Duo played with his daughter, he made a mess three times greater than she ever could. Camille on the other hand seemed overjoyed to have her daddy throwing toys all over the place with her. She would run around her room (which was larger than her previous one) pulling things off any surface she could reach. After a certain point, if Duo didn't put it away, she wouldn't have anything to pull down.

Duo was moving pretty sedately today. He looked tired even now, his movements were slow, lacking the energy they usually had. Quatre wanted to ask him again, but he would just brush off Quatre's concerns. Quatre creased his eyebrows, Duo had paused and put his hand on his stomach. . . much like he had when . . .

The idea didn't go anywhere, once it had been thought, Quatre couldn't dismiss, only set it aside, which is what he did as Duo stumbled and grasped for something to steady himself on. Almost in slow motion, Quatre watched Duo fall to the floor, slithering down until he was lying still on the carpet.

"Trowa!" Quatre called, hoping his dark-haired lover would come quickly. He went to Duo and turned him over carefully. Duo's breath was quick and he looked pale, but otherwise he looked healthy. An impossible possibility crossed his mind.

"What happened?" Trowa asked, putting his hand on Duo's neck to check his pulse. "We should take him to a hospital, this has been going on too long."

Quatre stalled, his mind racing, "Maybe." Feeling a little embarrassed at invading his friend's privacy, Quatre put a hand on Duo's stomach. "Huh." He said in response.

"Maybe?" Trowa asked, "Do you know something I don't?"

Putting his hand once more on his friend's taut round tummy, he responded, "Trowa, I think Duo might be pregnant." As soon as Quatre said the words he felt like it must be true, it fit all the facts. In fact, as Quatre removed his hand, he marveled at how large Duo had become without them noticing. Duo began to stir.

Trowa's eyes widened. "H-how could he be? Wouldn't they have said something. . ." He trailed off coming to the same conclusion. "He is, isn't he? Duo's pregnant?" Trowa looked down and realized Duo had opened his eyes halfway.

Apparently, Duo had heard their conversation because he responded weakly, "Surprise."

tsutsuku

To Priscel: The methodology – through the magic of futuristic medicine and science: An artificial womb was placed in Duo in the beginning of the last story. This story, Duo was 'stocked' with eggs that were created containing his DNA. The artificial womb was set to release female hormones at the appropriate time, thus his body is changing. I am not a genetic scientist or a doctor, so...

I tried writing it in once or twice, but it seemed awkward and forced. Thanks for caring! ^^*

Okay, I am desperately trying to get more written before school starts. If you want that too, send me some review love and give me a kick in the pants. As authors, many of you must know how encouraging it is to get a review. You review and I promise to update soon(ish).

Annie