Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 3 Ties That Bind ❯ Chapter Twenty ( Chapter 20 )

“Shush,” I muttered to Som, who was trying to protest at me. We moved down in front of Duo’s office, and I looked around to make sure my husband wasn’t near…and darted into the room, pulling the boy after. I closed the door after us and flashed him a grin before bouncing across the space.

“What are you doing?” he asked, frowning as he moved to follow me.

“I’m playing,” I returned, taking the pen that was in the middle of the desk and frowning at it.

“What?” he asked, tilting his head at me.

“This isn’t the pen I bought him,” I explained, looking around the desk. “I bought him a pen and he always used it.”

“He…broke one the first day I was here,” he suggested. “He had to get different forms…he had me do it.”

“Oh,” I blinked, wondering why he hadn’t mentioned it, then shrugged and flipped open the folder on is desk. I took a moment to write out a blond joke that was highly inappropriate, then offered the thing for my companion to read.

“Oh…jeeze…” Som muttered, walking away from the desk a few steps with a roll of his eyes, then glanced at his watch. “I’m gonna be late,” he muttered. “Wufei will kill me if I’m late…”

I laughed at that, bouncing to follow him from the room. I hooked my fingers into his belt as I went, and noticed him glancing over his shoulder at me.

“Hey…” Duo started, coming up a hall from the left and pausing to blink at us.

I smiled winsomely at him and followed the boy around a corner.

- -

“Well?” Jun demanded of Sunan.

“Well what?” Sunan retorted.

“What’s taking so long?” Jun snapped.

“You ask me like I know,” Sunan rolled his eyes. “I told you, the boy has to work in his own time.”

“You mean to tell me that he couldn’t have gotten into Maxwell’s pants by now? The damn Cat is always in heat and your boy is such fresh meat that he would have snatched it up immediately.”

Sunan glowered at that observation.

“I’m losing my patience, Sunan,” Jun growled at him irritably. “If this takes much longer I’ll make the call.”

“Leave the girl alone,” Sunan snarled, moving in to stand in Jun’s face. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“Mighty protective of a bitch that’s not even yours,” Jun retorted.

…Sunan punched him.

- -

“You look like hell,” I muttered, blinking at my father on the vid.

“Yeah, I pissed off the wrong people,” Sunan returned. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m going through training,” I noted pointedly. “What do you think? That I’d be here a month and move along happily? Seriously, Dad.”

“It’s been five months.”

“No shit?” I retorted. “Leave me alone.”

“Get into town and call me,” he snapped…and hung up.

“Someone looked a little worse for wear.”

I jumped hard, turning to look at Quatre…who was picking at a half peeled orange.

“Sir,” I muttered, saluting him quickly, hitting the disconnect button.

“What happened to him?” he asked curiously, glancing at the vid.

“He didn’t say…just that he pissed someone off.”

“That’s too bad,” he mused, pulling out another wedge. “Have some,” he suggested…and very nearly shoved the bit into my mouth.

I frowned at him, wiping at my lips as I chewed.

“You coming up for dinner, huh?” he added, moving so I could walk past him.

“I wasn’t invited,” I returned, frowning as he followed after me.

“What? Don’t be stupid…of course you’re invited. Why do you think I’m here?”

“Good day, sir,” the guard for the vid room muttered, saluting.

Quatre winked at him, moving to stand beside me. “Come on.”

“I want to get out of uniform,” I noted, looking down as we moved more into the empty hallways.

“What did you and Nira do in Duo’s office?” he asked curiously.

“She…she was playing,” I explained as we started down a completely empty hall.

“Here,” he added, shoving a bit of orange into my mouth. I stopped walking again…and he trailed his thumb over my lips.

I frowned at him.

He laughed a bit wickedly, his smile flashing a little too true. “I’m heading up. Get changed and come up.”

“I’d rather not intrude,” I muttered, feeling remarkably uncomfortable.

He leaned forward so we were eye to eye. “Get changed, and come up, huh, baby?”

I blinked at that as he laughed again…and turned away.

I watched him go, wondering what the hell that was supposed to have been. Quatre always struck me as weird, but that kinda took the cake.

I licked at my lips slightly as I started for the room, then wiped at my mouth.

So what had happened to my father?

…I really wanted to talk to Trowa.

- -

“So, husband,” Relena muttered, “you might want to join me at the doctor’s suite.”

“Oh?” I asked, stopping to stare at my desk.

“Yeah,” she returned. “I seem to have started going into labor…at least I assume, it hurts a bit…and a lot.”

I bolted for the door, catching the jamb to stop my motion as I turned to Robert, my work friend. “Relena’s going into labor,” I explained, then ran.

“Wait!” he shouted after me, but that was as far as that one went as I hung up on my wife and hit the two.

“Yo?” Duo asked curiously.

“She’s having it,” I returned, starting up some stairs and hanging up. I hit the three.

“I’m kinda busy,” Trowa noted to me politely.

“Too busy for a baby, huh?” I asked, darting along the corridor that Quatre’s office was in and pounding on the door as I passed. “Come on, Tro, we’re better friends than that.”

He started laughing and I hit the five as Quatre stepped from his office and met my eyes.

I wasn’t stopping.

“Damn,” he muttered, turning back into the room.

“What’s up?”

“Baby,” I returned…realizing that I needed to try full sentences. “Uh…Relena’s going into labor.”

“Shit, all right,” Wufei agreed.

I hung up and hit the six.

“Heero?” Hilde asked curiously.

“You with Relena?”

“Yeah, I am…I called Selena already.”

“All right,” I muttered, slowing slightly as I entered a more traveled part of the castle. “How much time do I have?”

“A while now, she’s not dilating very fast.”

“All right,” I agreed and hung up, hitting the eight.

“Yo?” Jacob muttered.

“Relena’s with the doctor, going into labor.”

“I’m on it, two kegs of beer and a very old bottle of wine.”

I laughed at that, hanging up…then slowed and realized I should probably get ahold of the press secretary.

“Mr. Yuy,” the woman muttered happily. “How can I help you?”

“I just thought you might like to know that Relena’s going into labor, thought it might be nice to share.”

“What?” she demanded. “What else do you know?”

“Nothing, she just called me about two minutes ago…might possibly be a false alarm, but she’s due tomorrow.”

“The kingdom’s holding it’s breath, waiting,” she noted in amusement.

I laughed at that. “I’m glad to do my duty…”

She laughed delightedly. “Well, be sure to let me know…I’ll get this to the news.”

“Awesome,” I muttered, hanging up and moving into suite before heading up the hall to the room. “Hey, what can I do to help?”

Relena smiled at me sweetly. “I hate you right now.”

“I’m sorry!” I protested, darting forward to grab her hand and hug her.

We’d decided mutually that our apartments would not be a good place for her to give birth. We had the doctor set up in a nice three roomed suite not far from the royal rooms…as in the next door down from the divide. Relena’d been spending her last week or so sitting in the doctor’s apartment and joking with the woman. She’d been the one to deliver Faye, so the pair got along.

“What do you want me to do?” Duo demanded, breaking into the room to look between us a bit wildly.

“Make sure the country doesn’t fall apart at the seams,” Relena returned happily. “I think I’m going to be in here all day.”

Duo grinned at that, moving over to kiss her forehead, before resting a hand on my shoulder.

“We do have plenty of time,” the doctor noted, moving into the room. “At least for now. There’s no reason to start the huddle yet.”

“I…just kinda called everyone,” I admitted.

She smiled at me as Hilde came in with a cup. “We’re going to need more tea for him, I think.”

“I’m not that bad,” I retorted.

“You’re worse than Trowa,” she countered, moving to sit on the far side of my wife and offer her the cup. “And he gets told to sit down by the doctors. I think you only didn’t pass out from sheer force of will last time.”

I grinned at that.

“I’ll…go get some files from your office,” Duo muttered, patting my back. “We can work on them as we wait.”

“I think my wife deputized you as temporary king,” I retorted. “You can do it.”

“I do it anyway,” he reminded me. “And I’m not doing it all, and it will make us look busy if any cameramen come in.”

I laughed and elbowed him in the thigh.

“Ouch…do that again.”

I turned and kicked him since he was on his way out the door, and he laughed happily at me before disappearing.

“Glad to see the boys haven’t grown up too fast,” the doctor muttered to Relena.

“You have no idea,” Relena muttered, rolling her eyes…and squeezing at my hand.

“Are you all right?” I asked, looking around for something to do to help.

Hilde giggled at me.

“Shut-up,” I muttered petulantly.

The doctor shoved a chair up behind me. “Have a seat, huh, Majesty?”

I grinned at her, then looked back to Relena.

“What’s going on?” Trowa asked, darting into the room. “What can I do to help?”

The doctor grinned.

- -

“We decided,” Relena noted, smiling at the camera from where she was holding her second daughter, “after some consideration…to name her Tasia Brie Yuy.” She smiled more, tiredly.

“Can we see her?” the cameraman asked, moving closer to the bed. “Or would you rather wait?”

“It’s fine,” Heero muttered, rising from his seat to take the little girl from his wife’s arms and fold back the receiving blanket. He moved closer to the camera, and smiled down at his perfect little girl.

I really liked that moment…when I’d gotten to share not only Dustin, but Mikhail with the country. That first glimpse they’d get of my baby. I knew Heero didn’t like it any less, and the baby’s eyes opened.

“She’s gorgeous,” the cameraman muttered as his assistant tried to move around to look, too.

“Just like her mother,” Heero noted, touching her cheek and smiling at the camera before turning and sitting again.

“I’m tired,” Relena informed the cameramen with a smile.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” the guy muttered, bowing to her as best he could under the equipment. “Thank you, very much.”

Relena smiled at him, and he started backing up carefully with the assistant beside him.

I sniggered. “Hey?”

The cameraman looked at me.

I gestured the assistant forward, and he gave me an utterly confused look. “Come on,” I suggested. “You didn’t get to see her, and that’s hardly fair.”

“Huh?” Heero asked.

“Camera was in the way,” I explained.

“Oh, huh?” Heero smiled and moved forward…offering the little bundle to the assistant.

Actually, he’d done the same thing with Faye when the cameraman filming now had been the assistant.

The kid, because he was barely any older than Som, took the baby and stared down at it before looking up to Heero in amazement. There was a sort of awe in that look, like the man considered himself blessed or something.

Heero didn’t realize how easily he gained the loyalty of the people. These little gestures, that probably didn’t mean much to him at all, showed a very sincere man. A man who cared about his people, and even if Heero didn’t give more than a passing shit about the matter, they did.

“She’s beautiful, huh?” Heero muttered, taking his daughter back from the man and smiling at him.

“Thank you, Majesty,” the guy muttered, bowing low to him and again to Relena…then turned and darted from the room.

I grinned.

“He just bolted like a bunny,” Heero noted to Relena.

“I think it had something to do with holding a royal princess when she’s only an hour old, dear,” Relena replied. “Give me my daughter.”

“Faye?” Heero called, barely raising his voice.

Relena giggled, and Heero passed the infant over before looking to me.

“Yeah, I know,” I muttered, pulling myself to my feet.

Relena’s labor had been slow, and not overly painful. She’d had the epidural with plenty of time, and she probably was very tired.

It was going on nine…we’d gotten the call that it was all starting around one.

Seven hours wasn’t too bad…but I’d never say that to any woman who’d ever given birth without expecting to get the shit beaten out of me.

“I’ll put the other knights to bed and make sure they obeyed the children.”

Relena giggled more.

“I’ll…go with you,” Heero muttered. “If Faye’s still awake she should come see her sister.”

- -

“Yay! No one’s pregnant anymore!” I muttered tiredly, dropping onto the couch next to Som.

Som grinned at me.

“You have any siblings?” I asked curiously, wondering what he’d say to that as I adjusted Dean slightly as I sat so I could hold his bottle better. I needed to figure out how far the extra training went before I mentioned anything to Q.

“A sister,” he returned, shrugging. “She’s the same age as Alex and Marlea.”

“She spoiled?”

“We aren’t exactly a rich family,” he shrugged a bit. “We get by, and when I get time off I’m gonna go home and buy her something.”

“Like what?”

He grinned and shrugged.

“You miss her, huh?”

“Almost…kinda,” he shrugged at me. “It’s weird not to have her around.”

“I never had any siblings of my own,” I noted, tapping the end of the bottle with my finger. Dean didn’t react to it and hadn’t really been sucking for a while, so I pulled the thing out of his mouth and set it on coffee table. “I dealt with a lot of kids, so I guess that counts.” I draped the burp-rag over my shoulder and situated the baby so I could burp him.

“I don’t get you,” Som noted, studying me seriously.

“Why’s that?” Selena asked, coming out of the bedroom and touching his hair.

“He never…he…” Som frowned, looking to Selena. “He’s all masculine, but then when he’s with the kids it’s different.”

“No it’s not,” she muttered, sitting in the armchair. “Any man worth the title cares for the young. When you have children, you’ll understand.”

“I always thought my dad was a man,” he noted, looking toward the floor. “Most of the men I knew growing up had nothing to do with their kids…take’em out for a day at the park or something, then leave with the mother and move on…even my sister’s dad did that.”

“It’s all too common anymore,” Selena noted. “He’s asleep, honey.”

“He hasn’t burped,” I protested, rubbing a little harder at his back.

“He’s sleeping…he’ll fuss when he’s ready.”

I sighed, moving to lay him in his bassinette again. “Where’s Ash?”

“She and Faye were down at Dustin’s earlier,” Selena shrugged. “I assume that’s where they are now.”

“Who called?” I pointed at the phone.

“Jane,” she replied dryly. “Informing me that she’s having her baby shower this Saturday.”

“She’s due like…next month,” I protested. “Or did they change the date?”

“I don’t know,” she rolled her eyes. “She still doesn’t know who the father is.”

I sighed, shaking my head sadly.

“What?” Som asked curiously.

“My sister is pregnant,” Nira shrugged. “I haven’t really had all that much to do with her ever, but I’m rich now, so she expects me to give her shit she can pawn.”

He blinked.

“Sorry, my sister…my mother, even,” she shrugged and made a face at me. “The only one I get along with is Keith, and he only tolerates him because Ash pays way too much attention to shit.”

“Why do I get the impression I don’t want to cross you?” Som muttered, studying my eyes.

I smirked, studying him over. “Because when I don’t care, I make sure it’ll be worth my time when I get over it.”

That got a moment of consideration before a blink and blush.

I grinned, stretching and popping my neck. “For some reason, I feel like oranges.”