Baby 4

by karina001

Wu Fei takes up the leadership of the Clan but has no intentions of abandoning the life he has made for himself. He intends to maintain his position in the Court of Sanc and continue his courtship of Milliardo and Duo.

150. Chapter 150 Grown Up

Title: Grown Up

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Duo

Notes: Challenge 231. Baby Series 4 #150. Takes place following Of Restlessness and Diversity

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: Grown Up

Duo resisted the urge to sigh in a manner that would betray more than a little of his relief. He was uncomfortable with his own reaction to something so simple and yet potentially dangerous. He wondered how warm Chang WuFei might find himself at this time and hovered on the brink of guilt that he was feeling such a sense of relief.

It was a simple thing but comforting on so many levels.

The decision had been made that the bunker's ventilation system could handle a couple of fires burning, so the few rooms they had chosen to heat for the children were now far more comfortable. Comfortable, yes, but by no means tropical. There was no guarantee how long they must stretch their resources.

They had been worrying about exposing the children and the elderly to colder temperatures in the long term, despite the warm nature of the clothing they provided for everyone. Young lungs and old were susceptible to a broad diversity of infections and disease, and though the children and Elders of Sanc were a hardy lot, they were still at risk.

Tests on the efficiency of the ventilation systems of the bunker that housed them had led to the decision to light two fires, warming two rooms to a more acceptable temperature bordering on 14 degrees Celsius. After the frigid temperatures they had been living with it felt tropical.

The children appeared happy enough, Duo mused. Laughing and playing in groups sorted by age for a lively game session that involved a lot of squealing and laughter. It was good to see and he only wished that the children he had grown up with on L2 could have been as fortunate as these children. It was long in the past, but there were days when the past haunted him.

They had been talking about cultural diversity earlier and Duo could only listen and wish that he had grown up in a society that had been as tolerant of diversity. L2 had its own brand of diversity, both in the past and present. Those with power topped the social standing and were few, and then there were those beneath them.

But no, he would not walk down that path again. Once he had been an angry young man, a very angry youth, in truth, but he had grown up. He liked to believe that with each passing year he had grown further beyond the anger and pain. He believed he had found something else to believe in.

Dark hair and onyx eyes flashed through his mind and he glanced at the moon spun silver of the big man seated amidst a pile of paperwork.

There was a lot to be said for an appreciation of diversity.

End

Karina Robertson 2014