Title: A Challenge

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Duo

Notes: Challenge 217. Baby Series 4 #107. Takes place approximately 6 hours following Not A Stranger.

Spoilers: None

Warnings:

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: A Challenge

"Three down... Loves and defends a country... Fourth letter r...Patriot."

Duo pencilled the answer into the appropriate boxes though his mind was not really on the crossword but on a pair of sparkling green eyes, tattered coat and shining smile. What use was patriots and patriotism when the end result was innocents lived on the streets, scrounging for meals and warmth?

Sighing, he stared out the window and pushed the crossword aside. He had tried to follow them, discretely, but they had vanished. Disappeared somewhere in amidst the rocks, crevasses and scraggly bushes clinging to life on the cliff and that made him think they were not even living in a ruined building, but in a cave somewhere near the cliff.

The area was a honeycomb of caves, small and large. Many of them were ice caves, filled with run off from the waterfall and frozen for winter, but not all of the caves were natural freezers. Some would be habitable.

The waterfall was thawing out fast.

Spring was coming and that meant his project to begin laying the foundations for the ambitious power project would begin in earnest. He would be busy this year, sometimes spending days on site without returning to the palace and, whilst it would delay his courtship of Chang and the King, it would be a challenge he was looking forward to.

Besides, they were not love struck teenagers to moon about and bemoan the fortunes of the world. They were adults and they were, more, professionals. Life was about more than cuddling and kissing, it was also about moving and shaking the world. It was about leaving one's mark, of making a difference... Even if one did it from the shadows and remained unremarked by the general population.

He had chosen to make Sanc his home and he supposed his interest in Milliardo and the power station would lead to something like patriotism developing within him. He would be giving a large part of himself to Sanc in the construction and overseeing of this project and he would not exactly smile on anyone who rocked what he was more and more beginning to consider to be 'his boat'.

And getting the power station started would provide work opportunities for the people. They would need a great deal of general labour to get the project up and running, and maybe the down streaming from the increase in employment would somehow bring Jamie better fortune?

But no, he would not wait that long. Somehow, someway, he was going to make a difference for those two kids. It was not like there were no other war orphans roaming at large. There were too many people coming into Sanc for services to cope and people were falling through the cracks. He would have to see what he could do to help at least those two.

End

Karina Robertson 2013