Title: No Small Achievement
Author: Karina
Rating: PG
Pairing: Milliardo + Jamie
Notes: Challenge 229. Baby Series 4 #143. Takes place following Life's Preamble
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: No Small Achievement
"Staying... here?"
"We have ample room and you both would be safe. The world can be a dangerous place and, really, if there is no need to face it alone then why should we? It's a pity, because if we listened to each other, really listened, and worked together then the world could be a much safer place."
"I mean... Stay here? In this place?"
"Of course, it would not be a free ride." Crystal blue eyes studied the child and his face was carefully blank. "There is very little in this world that comes without a price. Everyone has a job to do. We work as a team. Whether it is maids making beds, cooks making our meals, secretaries sorting papers or the King looking through papers, and everyone in between... We all have a job to do. Even the children have their allocated work."
"I'm not afraid of work!"
He was careful not to smile. This boy had his pride and he had much to be proud of in Milliardo's view. He had kept young Jessica safe in less than hospitable conditions. No small achievement.
"Agreed, you are not afraid of work. Duo has told me how well you have looked after Jessica. How you fed her and clothed her and kept her warm. That was a great deal of responsibility and you have handled yourself well. You can be proud of that. Think how much more you could accomplish if you had a bit of help."
The red head dipped. "I don't... Some days...I..."
"It was not easy, was it? Some days you wondered where your next meal was coming from, and there were days you went hungry. And it was cold. Some nights you thought you must freeze. On special days, on Christmas and at the Sun Festival... You would come close to tears, because it was so hard not to remember what it was like when your family was there. It wasn't the presents you remembered, but the touch of their hands; the sound of their voices. Did you make the pilgrimage to the Circle on the Solstice? I did, that first year after Sanc fell. It was so hard. Perhaps the hardest thing I ever did, but I was very glad I made the journey. It reminded me that, though they were gone, there was still life. All around me. I was alive. I had something to live for."
He had taken the traditional offerings to the great stone circle. He had been aware the Sisterhood had been watching him, silent, unseen in the shadows, but he was, nevertheless, alone. Fulfilling their obligations to his bloodlines as he had made the traditional offerings to a religion that had existed in Sanc before Christianity.
It seemed a long time ago, but it had been a journey that had taught him much.
"How do you know what it is like? How do you know... when you live here?"
End
Karina Robertson 2014