Title: Green Eyes

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Duo + Jessica

Notes: Challenge 215. Baby Series 4 #103. Takes place following Wise Advice.

Spoilers: None

Warnings: Extended Length

Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.

Title: Green Eyes

"Were you alone?"

"Sometimes, yes, I was. But usually I had some friends with me and it was much, much warmer when we were in our cardboard cave together."

"I'm much warmer when Jamie holds me."

"I'm sure you are, sweetheart. How old are you?"

"I'm six now. Soon I will be big enough to help Jamie and he won't be angry if I leave home."

Duo nodded, breaking the sandwich he had brought for his lunch in half and then one half into a quarter and offering it to his visitor.

"Sometimes I would get bored or really, really hungry and I would go for a walk and, if I was really lucky, 'things' that were good to eat just sort of fell into my hands. Would you like a piece?"

"Duo? That's a funny name." Big green eyes focused on the offered food and grew wider still.

"Is it? I don't think so, but then that's me, isn't it? I like my name. So what is your name?"

"Jessica."

"Ah, now that is a pretty name. It suits you because you are pretty. I have two names, do you?"

She was still eyeing off the sandwich he was offering and he knew she wanted it. Carefully he leaned forward and set the bread on a flat boulder closer to her then settled back, well clear of her.

"Here you go. Since I'm a stranger, but since you know my name now I'm not quite a stranger, I'll just stay here and you can sit down there and eat and not have to worry, right? So Jessica, are you far away from home? The weather doesn't look exactly great and if it starts to rain you really need to get down off the cliff, because it will be slippery and very dangerous."

"It's just down there. Thank you for the bread."

She sat neatly, the quarter of Duo's lunch vanishing in three quick, dainty bites. She might have been hungry, but not starving, he noted. She lacked that 'on the edge' desperation he had witnessed so many times. Someone was taking care of her.

"What does Jamie do?"

The bright head cocked to the side as he passed her the second quarter, careful not to touch her. "What does Jamie do?"

"Does Jamie work? I work measuring things." He motioned to the surveying equipment scattered around the site. "That's how I earn money so I can buy food and clothes and stay warm. Does Jamie work too?"

"I think so."

The second piece of bread vanished as neatly as the first. Duo cast a quick glance at the sky, noting the cloud build up. He had hoped to get the surveying completed today, but he was now far more concerned with this little girl who might have walked out of his past. But they were on Earth, in Sanc, not on a beaten up run down old colony in the L2 cluster.

She spoke well, as though she had not been reared to the streets. She was an oddity that scratched his 'something is off' bump and he wanted to know more about her.

"What is it?"

He arched an eyebrow. "What is what, little one?"

"Your other name. You said you had two names, so what is it?"

"Oh. Maxwell. My name is Duo Maxwell."

Serious green eyes stared at him for a long few minutes in which he broke off another section of his lunch and handed it to her in solemn silence. When the third quarter had been neatly devoured Duo offered a biscuit as he finished off his quarter of the sandwich.

"Do you live in a house, Duo Maxwell? Jamie says that one day soon we will live in a house again. I'll like that."

"Yes, I live in a house. A pretty big one, actually, but then I'm not the only one that lives there. Lots of people stay there."

"I wish I lived in a big house with lots and lots of people and with kids who like to play too. I miss school, but Jamie promised I'd go back to school. But I think maybe it would be better if I didn't go to school but went out and got jobs like Jamie does. Then he won't have to be out so much and we can read books like we used to, before the fire."

Duo nodded slowly. "Fires are scary, aren't they?"

Her bottom lip began to quiver and she hugged herself tight, green eyes losing focus but it was only for a few seconds. She looked up at him with brilliant blazing emerald eyes and nodded her head just once, decisively.

"Yes, they are. Fires are scary and they take away your home if they can and they hurt you bad, like they did to pa'pa. Jamie looks after me now and it's cold, but we don't want to let the monster fire escape again, so we keep him small and locked up."

End

Karina Robertson 2013