Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 3 Ties That Bind ❯ Five ( Chapter 5 )

“Come on, Tomé,” Jun protested at the man. “You said yourself that you’d love to take Maxwell down.”

“I said I wanted him to lose power,” Tomé retorted. “I was drunk and I didn’t mean it.”

Jun considered that a long moment, not sure how to proceed. He didn’t know if his plans could still go without Tomé’s assistance.

Tomé made an amused noise. “Maybe, though…maybe I could get into the king’s inner circle another way, huh?”

Jun focused sharply on the man.

Tomé had an evil grin on his face. “What’s it worth for you to keep me quiet?”

“What’s it worth to you?” Jun purred in return. “Perhaps you forget who I am, Mr. Tomé. Perhaps you forget my power.”

“Swathe has no power in the Sanq kingdom,” Tomé retorted sharply. “The king himself took down everything you’d built up.”

“The king,” Jun spat in disgust. “Nothing but a damned assassin.”

Tomé looked unimpressed.

“A petty criminal with the calling card of a single dollar bill, you remember the news, huh? Another attack by the cheap killer? The man believed to be a hired assassin? Your sainted king is that self same man.”

Tomé raised an eyebrow. “The word of a felon means nothing to me.”

“You ask Heero who Tony Vanderin was, why don’t you? Ask him who Tailor Johnson was…maybe Chance…or Lindsay…and see what he says.” He thought back to the pilots and smirked. “Better yet, why don’t you go to Winner…go alone to Winner when no one can catch you and tell him you want to see Rob, huh?”

That got a highly arched eyebrow.

“Maybe have Steve come along…get Maxwell in there, too.”

“Who is Steve?”

Jun blinked at that, thinking a moment. He’d never heard the man’s last name, but he’d seen him on the council…

That was actually entirely beside the point.

“Go play up to you king,” Jun spat at the screen in disgust. “You go be a good little bitch and he might let Maxwell play with you if you’re real good.”

Tomé raised his eyebrows again.

Jun snorted in disgust and hit the disconnect button, taking a long pull off a tequila bottle and forcing himself up from the vid seat to stumble across his small apartment and drop onto his bed.

He’d been a king himself, once. He’d been in complete control once…and he hadn’t had to have a hovel to live in. He’d had cleaning staff and…and…his wardrobe had been proper…but then Heero had destroyed the entire building. A proper razing, Barton had said…Barton had seen to it that the entire complex was blown to the last foundation stone and thought it was funny.

Jun went to take another pull of his bottle and realized it was empty, staring in confusion as he realized something was wet. He blinked blearily at the bottle, then the area below it as it slowly connected that it’d spilled out.

He threw the empty across the apartment as the stupid boy below him continued to let his music pound with no concern to anyone.

Jun…almost wanted to die.

- -

July melted into August as only the summer months can, dripping down to fill the cracks ever so slowly…like an ice sculpture in the shade. You know it’ll happen eventually, but it takes a lot longer than you care to wait around for.

The business of running a kingdom had long-since lost its novelty…actually, the only time the job had really seemed worth my time was when we had a firm goal in mind—when we’d planned to take out the syndicates.

This wasn’t to say that I didn’t care if Relena, Faye, or Heero were protected, or the girls and Dusty…but the job was less than taxing on me, and I’d always driven myself.

I had, however, sworn myself to my king and my queen. If I took off, not only would I be leaving my wife and children, but all of my friends as well…not just the post.

It was slowly driving me insane.

Actually, to hear the others talk about me when I’d come back…after sparing Keith for Selena…I’d been insane then. That’s what they like to say—shit, even Wufei preached that I’d lost my damned mind consistently.

Was it wrong that I wasn’t happy? That I wanted more?

When we’d been young, I hadn’t thought about anything. I’d lived life day to day…with Lanni, the nun who’d seduced me away from my friends with visions of helping the needy and making a difference…to surviving on my home colony like I had during my youth. I’d helped so many young ones to understand the text-books they were given…to believe they were intelligent enough to pass the standardized tests…

Something gave and I jumped slightly…as ink dripped all over everything.

I stared at my hand in disbelief a moment before looking at the paper properly…ruined paper, I might add…and then at the pen tip itself.

How had I managed that?

The tip had bent sideways under the pressure, and that had broken the cylinder, and it had drained. It wasn’t the cheapest pen, but nothing extravagant either…

“Ah, hell,” I muttered, tossing the thing at my trashcan with a groan before nearly wadding up the paper.

Unfortunately, it was someone else’s form.

“Damn it,” I muttered irritably, grabbing a tissue and starting to wipe at my fingers.

“What’s up?” Wufei asked curiously, moving into the room…with a dangerously attractive boy behind him.

I blinked at them.

“New recruit,” Fei explained with a very brief and passing smirk. “What happened?” He leaned forward and took the paper I’d just ruined before looking back to my hand.

“Yeah,” I agreed dryly. “Don’t say anything.”

He grinned at me as the recruit saluted me without meeting my eyes.

“At ease, soldier,” I muttered, studying him with interest. He was nearly as tall as we were, meaning in the upper five-foot range. You could tell by the lines and curves of his faces that he’d only just matured. He had to be at least eighteen, if only because that was the joining requirement…he was wearing a simple t-shirt with ironed jeans and the type of shiny shoes I’d worn in my Lanni days…but the boy was built. The shape of his arms alone bespoke of long hours at the local gym.

“Duo,” Wufei muttered, smirking very slightly at me.

I met his eyes. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so,” he noted with that evil flash in his eyes again. “This is Som Ryu. Showed up this morning with his duffel of required things and parked his ass outside my office.”

“It’s a bit off-season,” I noted, glancing toward my calendar. “Recruiting opens October.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” he muttered, not looking at me. “If I’d waited, I wouldn’t have been able to come.”

“Care to explain that one?” I asked, blinking at him.

“I’m a colony boy,” he said, raising his dark eyes to mine briefly. “I…my dad is a citizen, but…”

I nodded my understanding.

“I…he came up for my graduation,” he added quickly, looking between us. “Said he had one ticket for me to come to earth and I could take it or leave it…and…well…”

“You liking earth so far?”

He smiled slightly and shrugged. “Kinda…freaky…when it storms.”

I grinned more at that.

The infamous thunderstorm phobia. The sky wasn’t supposed to make those kinds of noises without something there. Loud noises mean the maintenance team was scrambling to fix it before the endless vacuum of space took away your oxygen. The fact that hot and cold air hit…air shouldn’t be that loud…

“So if you had one ticket here,” Wufei asked, “then…why come now, before recruiting?”

He didn’t say anything, looking away from us.

So…either he didn’t like his father, his father was an asshole, or the return ticket expired before recruiting…I’d almost think his visa, but if his father was a citizen…

Wufei tapped the paper I’d ruined, studying my face. “You get to recopy this now.”

“Haha,” I retorted, yanking it from him.

“Can I…help?” Som asked, looking to me quickly.

I blinked at him.

“I can’t do anything with him until October,” Wufei informed me with that flash of a very evil smirk. “What do you think, sir knight?”

I studied him a long moment, wanting to really just give him a look that told him exactly what I thought. Those looks, however, were not appropriate for impressionable company.

“You work for me, you need to be fast and efficient,” I noted, not looking away from the defense minister.

“Uh…I can do that,” he noted.

I studied him a long moment, then thought. “Go to central and get another five-forty form,” I ordered. “Make sure it’s forty-D. Five minutes,” I added, turning to sit at my desk again.

“Where’s…central?” he asked blankly.

I raised my eyebrows and looked to Wufei…who also had his eyebrows raised.

Som hesitated a moment, looked between us, then turned and darted from the room.

“So, sir knight,” Wufei purred, moving to bend over the desk so he was face to face with me. “What’s our policy on internal relationships?” he tossed a packet of papers he’d been holding onto the desk.

The registration forms.

For the comfort of our soldiers we had a voluntary box that asked your sexuality, and any phobias.

He didn’t have a single phobia marked, but he did have the bisexual square checked.

I stared at that, then looked up to Wufei.

He grinned at me.

“You’re an asshole,” I snapped, snatching the packet up and smacking him with it.

He started laughing, taking the papers from me. “Am I bad?”

“Horrible,” I agreed darkly.

The Chinese man sniggered more, paging through the information. “Speaks Chinese,” he noted. “We’ll have to watch that…damn…boy knows about every one I know…”

“Would you stop?” I demanded, giving him a mildly disbelieving look. Until Ryu had been properly put through the system, his information was classified for Wufei and his staff only.

He sniggered again, closing the file and looking to me again.

“Sucks to be married sometimes,” I mused, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from a drawer. “Actually, it sucks to have your wife pregnant,” corrected as I pushed my seat back and rose.

He gave me a look, rolling his eyes.

I grinned innocently in return, but before he could speak the door flung open and Ryu moved in and saluted us before offering me two sheets of paper uncertainly.

I took them from him and met his eyes curiously.

“It’s not the same as that one,” he informed me, pointing at the one on the desk. “So I got that one, too.”

I grinned at that, setting them both on my desk and making a gesture. “Come on, kid,” I ordered. “Let’s talk.”

“Sir,” he muttered, moving out the door and looking to Wufei uncertainly.

“I’ll get these papers where they need to be,” he noted after us. “We’re having lunch, right?”

I nodded in return as the kid studied my face sincerely—there was more than innocent curiosity there, too.

“Ryu?” Wufei asked.

The kid focused on him instantly.

“We’re having lunch, right?”

The boy stared at him in disbelief before nodding slightly.

“Call it noon,” he mused. “Things’ll be ready by then.”

I nodded at him and he turned to walk away.

“Um…” Ryu looked up to me again as we moved into the courtyard.

“You don’t smoke, do you?” I asked as I moved to sit on a bench.

“No, sir,” he replied, moving to stand near me.

“Good, it’s a filthy habit,” I lit the tip and inhaled.

“Hypocrisy makes for complication,” he noted.

“Hypocrisy,” I retorted, exhaling. “Sit down, don’t stand in the smoke…I’m not addicted, I’ve just had a damn long day.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, sitting across from me.

“My wife is pregnant,” I returned with a smirk, meeting his eyes briefly. “About six months along now.”

“…congratulations?”

“Yep, gonna be a boy,” I agreed. “She wants to name him Keith…but I severely hate that name.”

He blinked.

“How about you? You like Keith?”

“With all due respect,” he muttered, looking away, “you can’t expect me to give you an honest opinion when you’ve stated you out-right hate it.”

I snickered at that, inhaling again.

“…why do you keep looking at me?” he asked, glancing at me with his eyes again.

“Not often I meet an eager young recruit,” I returned, exhaling again as I looked away. “I get to play with you until October. I’m just curious to know how hard it’ll be to make you break.”

“You can’t break me,” he retorted.

I grinned, inhaling again as I met his eyes. “We’ll see.”

- -

“So you just want me to skin you alive, don’t you?” I demanded of Wufei pointedly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Nira,” Fei returned innocently.

I looked back into the courtyard where Duo was sitting with some pretty little Asian boy and gave the Chinese man in front of me a very level look.

He sniggered and looked out himself. “He won’t cheat on you, but a little torture’s good for the soul.”

I smacked him hard in the arm.

Wufei laughed his naughty laugh, then pushed the door open.

“Ooh, baby!” Duo hopped up and moved to kiss me instantly, but I made sure he stayed arm’s length away as his expression turned to hurt confusion.

I pointed at the cigarette.

“Oh, shit,” he exhaled hard and tossed the thing to the table, where the new boy stopped its momentum and set it with the cherry over the side. “Sorry.”

“You smell like a club,” I retorted, kissing his cheek.

“We’re finding if we have any extra rooms right now,” Wufei informed the kid. “If not you might have to bunk with someone else.”

“Like?”

“A recruit…Maxwell or myself.”

My ass.

The kid nodded, standing as I moved around my husband to study him. “Ma’am,” he muttered, dropping his eyes.

I touched his face, which made him meet my eyes in confusion. I ran my fingers into his hair before forcing his chin up to get a proper look at him. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” he replied promptly.

“What’s your orientation?”

“Tcch, Nira,” Wufei snapped.

“Orientation?” he repeated blankly.

“You gay, little boy?” I demanded, meeting his eyes pointedly.

He flushed and pulled away from me.

“Where do you live?”

“My father lives over in Cowalles,” he returned, still not meeting my eyes.

“Where do you live?”

“No where,” he said, meeting my eyes again. I could see hurt anger in that gaze.

“So if Chang wouldn’t have taken you on, what would you have done?”

“Returned to my colony.”

I liked that he wasn’t entirely submissive, but I also knew it’d be that extra tease for my poor husband. Wufei hadn’t known Duo when I’d first met him. He didn’t get that the pretty little Asian boys had been Mike’s special treat. Personally, I assumed that’d had something to do with Wufei himself, if not Heero, probably both.

This was going to get hard very soon.

“Scared to answer me, baby?” I asked, staying right in his face.

“I don’t understand why it matters.”

“Who said it mattered?” I purred back.

“Then why do you ask?”

“Because you might be staying in my home, and if you’re going to be near my daughter I want the truth.”

“I’m bi,” he returned, his jaw clenched.

I pet his cheek, turning to look at my husband again before indicating his cigarette.

“Oh, shit,” Duo darted forward and grabbed it, flicking off the extra ash.

I leaned up and kissed him meaningfully. “Don’t be late.”

He smirked at me as I turned to sweep from the courtyard.

- -

“What was that?” I demanded of Duo as Selena swept off up the hall. “I thought you two were done fucking now.”

Duo had one lip between his teeth as he looked back to me and shrugged.

“That’s some woman,” Ryu muttered, staring at the door.

“That’s my wife,” Duo retorted, dropping back onto the bench. “And if I ever see this expression on your face in reference to her again I might just get upset.”

The almost longing moment passed and Ryu looked around to me again sharply.

“I should know by lunch if we’ll have to make arrangements for you or not,” I informed him. “Meanwhile, play tag-along and don’t let him break you,” I patted Duo’s shoulder, starting back for the building.

“I’m not so fragile,” he snapped to me in irritation.

I turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.

He dropped his eyes. “Sorry, sir.”

Duo smirked, meeting my eyes, then nodded slightly.

I rolled my eyes in response, and started for my office.

- -

Royal ceremony was hell when summer was taking her last breaths. Addressing the throngs for our yearly carnival wasn’t the issue, the issue was that we were in formal garb for more than an hour as the sun set in our eyes so the crowd could see us properly.

Duo tossed his gloves onto my coffee table, wiping his hands on his pants.

“Haha! Brutish table made of fine cherry,” I mocked a man’s tone, watching the knight expectantly. “I do protest your unsightly manner with your scattered cups and magazines, and here-by challenge you to trial-by arms! Defend yourself!”

Duo started laughing, dropping onto the floor beside it.

I giggled, reaching over to touch his hair.

“Don’t,” he muttered, leaning away from me to drop backwards on the floor.

“What’s wrong?” I persisted, raising an eyebrow at him as I considered his uniform. “In formal state robes you aren’t supposed to sit on the floor.”

“I challenged the table and lost,” he retorted. “Now he’ll be your champion.”

I giggled more, looking to Heero.

“So you’ll be the table?” Heero asked curiously. “But you…have to breathe and stuff…and how do you know it’s a him?”

Duo grinned at us. “He told me with his dying breath.”

“But you died,” I protested.

“Oh…he told me with my dying breath.”

I grinned appreciatively.

“What’s wrong, sir knight?” Heero muttered, moving to straddle the man.

I blinked at him.

“That’s not helping,” Duo retorted, shoving Heero over. “Leave me alone.”

“Selena can’t have sex,” I reminded my husband.

Duo gave me a look.

“Oh, yeah, huh,” Heero patted Duo low on the stomach and was rewarded with a punch to the arm for the effort, which made him laugh.

“I hate this part of the pregnancy,” Duo mused, looking to the ceiling. “In a couple months when Relena cries uncle I’m gonna laugh in your face,” he informed my king.

“Cries uncle?” I asked archly, raising an eyebrow at him. “If I start crying uncle that’ll mean the girls are there, and no one would be too happy about that.”

Duo laughed wickedly, and Heero hit him before giving me a look.

I smirked. “I heard you got yourself a boy-toy, too, huh, kitty?”

“Mommy’d take him away if she caught me playing rough,” he retorted, meeting my eyes. “I play nice with my toys.”

Heero smacked him again, and it caused our friend to react, bowling him over so he fell on his back.

“In formal state robes, you aren’t supposed to wrestle,” I snapped at them both.

“Get off the floor,” Hilde ordered the pair of them as she moved into the room tiredly. “You two are as bad as Dusty.”

Heero and Duo cast her identical innocent grins, but they did stop wrestling.

“These aren’t robes,” Heero added, yawning hard as he plucked at his shirt. “They’re uniforms, and they can be pressed and cleaned.”

I grinned at him.

“It’s hot,” Duo added with a sigh, fanning himself. “But I’m too lazy to get up…Heero, strip me.”

Heero guffawed at that.

“Tcch, Duo, really,” Hilde grumbled, waddling to sit beside me on the couch.

“Sorry, baby,” he returned, studying her. “You feeling okay?”

“If I go into labor now, he’ll be perfectly healthy.”

I grinned at her as she thought.

“So…” she met my eyes, “order me into labor, Lena.”

I considered that a long moment as I heard Quatre talking with someone in the hall, then shrugged. “Go into labor, Hilde.”

She considered it a moment and sighed, giving me a disappointed look.

“Wow, she can’t do everything,” Duo noted to my husband.

“She can if she wants to,” Heero teased. “Or if I want her to.”

Duo tsked and smacked Heero again, which caused Heero to give the submission gesture.

“Whoever invented August needs to be fried at the stake,” Hilde muttered, leaning forward.

“Fried? Steak?” Jacob appeared in the door giving us all curious looks.

“Yeah, in the fridge,” Heero gestured toward our kitchen as I grinned more.

Jacob sighed, moving in with Quatre a step or two behind him.

“You need to just…get them both wheel-chairs,” Wufei grumbled.

“Fei,” Selena whined.

“I should get one for Hilde,” Trowa mused.

“Daddy,” Lex protested.

“It’d probably help her back,” Lea noted.

“I’m hot, Wufei,” Faye whined. “I don’t want to wear this no more.”

“Dude, I’m not your father,” Wufei noted.

“Can’t really tell with the way you two look,” Duo muttered in Chinese…then grunted as not only Heero, but Quatre hit him.

“I didn’t fuck Wufei,” I mused.

“Mommy? Can I change?”

I was amused to note, when Wufei carried my daughter in, that Faye did have a sort of vague resemblance to her uncle, and Heero gave me a look. I nodded at my little girl.

“What?” Wufei asked, looking between all of us as he set the little girl down and swatted her rear…she disappeared toward her bedroom.

“I forget, did we have sex?” I asked him in Chinese.

“When?” he returned.

Heero sat up to look at him in disbelief as everyone else started laughing weakly.

“What’s so funny?” Lex asked as Dustin followed her to the door, but neither crossed the threshold.

“Lewd jokes,” Duo returned, extending his arms so Ashley moved from Lea to sit in his lap. The older girls disappeared with the little boy between them.

“I heard fried steak,” Jacob noted. “We should get room service.”

“I don’t feel cruel enough to make anyone fry us steaks in this heat,” I refused. “Let’s order cold salad and cold chicken. They’ll have that made in the fridge.”

“Okay,” Duo muttered, dropping backwards where he lay as Ashley tried to giggle.

“Come on, love, let’s change,” Selena sighed, extending her hand to her daughter.

I groaned myself, standing as Nira joined me and we both hauled Hilde to her feet.

“Yeah…we want lots of cold chicken and salad,” Duo muttered, having pulled out his cell phone. “We have popsicles for the little ones, right? All right…so maybe coolers…make it all nice and icy. Huh? Yeah, thanks…yeah.” He shoved himself up as Ash attempted to assist him, then turned to attempt to help Heero. “All right, wonderful.” Duo hung up before yanking Heero back to his feet and scooping his daughter up around the middle with one hand.

It said something that she was smiling and snatched his gloves off the table as he carried her like that…I wasn’t sure what it said, but it said something.

“We’ll be back,” Duo informed us from the door. “They said the food will take about five or ten minutes…I’m taking a shower, you should, too,” he nodded his head to Heero.

Heero saluted, and seeing as he was still in full dress without taking off his gloves or crown, it looked…very formal.

Duo grinned at him and swept off down the hall with Trowa helping Hilde behind him.

“Permission to bathe, sir,” he said to me in crisp military form.

Quatre groaned as Jacob started sniggering.

“Permission denied,” I retorted, turning away from him. “I’m showering first.”

Heero’d lost the stance when I’d refused, and at this darted for the bathroom.

“But, Ro, I’m pregnant!” I protested, scampering to follow him.

“Um…” I heard Jacob muttering as my husband tried to dive for the bathroom and I slid in his way with a sweet smile…and closed the door in his face.

He was openly smiling as he came up short. “Damn…”

- -

I hated going up and down the stairs, but none of us actually liked elevators…at least the castle was air-conditioned so I didn’t get any hotter. The nice thing about it all was that even with Trowa taking care of Dustin, I still had Alex to help.

“You okay, mom?” Alex asked, studying my face.

“I’m fine,” I reassured her, pulling my tank-top on properly and sighing as she offered me my underwear. I wasn’t bending too well right now, and she was intending to hop in the shower after me…I felt something slide down the inside of my leg, and she looked down as her eyes went wide…and it felt like I peed myself.

“Um…” she started, then raised her eyes to mine as comprehension lit them.

I nodded at her.

Her eyes rounded…and she darted out the door. “Dad!”

I laughed weakly to myself as I reached for my skirt and pulled that over my head, then down around my waist.

“Hilde?” Trowa demanded, stepping into the bathroom with Alex a step behind him. “Shit…Alex, clean up her legs…”

And we were off and running.

- -

“Her water broke?” I demanded in disbelief.

“What?” Selena asked blankly from where she was coming out of the bathroom.

“What?” Ashley asked, coming into our bedroom.

“Just now,” Trowa agreed. “We’re going.”

“We’ll be there,” I agreed, tossing the phone to Nira as I pulled my cell and hit the auto-dial.

“Sir Maxwell?” Cherry asked blankly.

“Barton’s water broke,” I replied promptly. “If the cars aren’t ready by the time she’s at the front, there will be a lot of openings in my ranks…advanced teams to the hospital, now!”

“Yes, sir!”

Selena giggled at me slightly. “I love it when you panic.”

“Get some clothes on,” I retorted…then went to take care of my daughter.

- -

“Relena!” I called, throwing the bathroom door open. “You won’t believe it!”

“Hilde’s water broke?” she asked sardonically.

“Yes!” I agreed, yanking off my uniform. “Hurry up!”

She stood stunned before pulling the curtain to look at me with wide eyes.

“I’ll get Faye,” I agreed, then darted to get myself dressed.

- -

“What?” I asked blankly, the towel I’d been using to dry my back almost falling from my hand. “Like…right now?”

“Yes, right now!” Alex squeaked at me. “We’re going to the front. I’ve got Dusty and Duo’s got the security teams working!”

“It’s not false?” I persisted, moving across the room to sit and pull a sock on. “This is real?”

“Her water broke,” Alex agreed as she was given crisp orders from her father, who could be extremely efficient under pressure. “I have to go…”

- -

“You’re not serious,” I protested as Lea moved out of her room in a summer dress with a dreamy smile and her hair-brush. “Oh, sweet,” I muttered, blinking at her. “Hilde’s water just broke.”

Lea focused on me sharply.

“I’ll brush it later?” I offered apologetically.

“Hilde’s water broke?” Jacob demanded, moving into the hall.

Lea started giggling as she dashed back into her bedroom. “At least she had the good grace of waiting twenty minutes so we could all be showered.”

I started laughing, hanging up on Trowa as I turned to pull my shoes on.

Some days…our life was just extremely amusing.

- -

E/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get back to this series. hehe, it gives it a sort of sense of realism, ne? Seven years passed between stories, so the wait was proper mind set? That works, doesn't it? lmao. I should probably note that standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Gundam Wing, etc.