Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chimaera ❯ Chapter 72 ( Chapter 72 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Please see previous parts for disclaimer, notes etc.

Chapter 72

Finally able to bring their laughter under control, Duo and Quatre headed back to the house with the defiant baby seat being carried by Quatre. "Any idea where the instructions for installation are?" Quatre asked.

"Not a clue. Heero unpacked it so I'm not sure where he put them. They may be still in the box or in the nursery somewhere. Guess we can always take a look. I was planning on sorting through some of the clothing and putting it away in the drawers anyway, so whilst I'm doing that you can look for the destructions."

"Destructions?" queried Quatre with a grin.

"Yeah, more often than not that's what tends to happen."

Quatre chuckled. It was good to have some of the old Duo back. They returned to the nursery and Quatre set the baby seat back down in the corner, already his mind was working overtime on things he could do to keep the braided man occupied and his mind off his missing lover. His attempts yesterday may not have been fruitful but he was not one to be easily deterred and given Duo's current state of mind he might just succeed in distracting Duo for a while at least. He rummaged through the box that the seat had come in whilst Duo busied himself fetching some of the parcels from inside the closet. "I can't find them in here," he stated after five minutes of looking through the box and packaging.

"Knowing Heero they could be anywhere. He's probably filed them away on his computer or something," replied Duo.

"Oh well, not to worry. I'll see if Trowa might have a clue later. Can I give you a hand, Duo?"

"Sure. I'm only getting the things out of their wrappings and putting them in the drawers," replied Duo.

Quatre walked over and picked up a singlet. He held it up, eyes misting at the size of the garment. "You know, it's hard to believe that a baby is this small," he said softly.

Duo gazed at the little singlet. "I know. I thought it was way too small when Hilde picked them out, but she assures me that they will probably be too big, Ow!" Duo suddenly gave a yell and bent partially over.

"Duo? Duo, are you okay? What's wrong?" The blonde dropped the singlet to the top of the dresser and hovered over the American, not sure what was happening or what to do.

Duo had suddenly stopped talking and was rubbing his belly. "I'm okay, Quat. Nothing serious, just the baby deciding to use my ribs as a trampoline," Duo replied and straightened back up.

"The baby is moving?" Quatre's eyes lit up.

"Shit! Quit it will you, you mini Wufei," growled Duo and glared at his stomach.

For a moment the Arab thought that the comment was directed at him and then realized what Duo had said. "Mini Wufei?" he questioned as he watched Duo rubbing his swollen stomach.

"Yeah, this kid's got a mean kick on it, just like Wuffers. Ow!"

Quatre laughed.

"It's not funny, Quat. I tell you! Ow, shit... What the hell did my bladder ever do to you?"

Quatre couldn't help it, his laughter increased as the pregnant man continued to curse and berate the child within him. Finally he managed to control his giggles and turned his gaze to Duo's stomach. His eyes widened as he saw Duo's stomach give a small twitch. Even though Duo was wearing loose sweat pants and an over sized T-shirt, the blonde could still see the movement of his stomach as the baby pressed against the inner tissues. "Duo? Can I...?" He reached a tentative hand forth.

Duo sighed; the baby really was doing a number on his insides today. "Sure you can, Quat, only watch out. Junior here packs one heck of a punch."

Carefully, Quatre placed his hand on Duo's belly. When he'd stroked the bump a couple of days ago he'd been in awe that there was a living, breathing being inside; well, maybe not so much breathing as in the technical sense of using its lungs, but alive none the less. With his hand pressed against the stretched skin he was delighted when the baby obliged him with a small kick. It wasn't much, just a light pressure against the palm of his hand for a fleeting moment, but it was enough to send the blonde into raptures.

"Oh, Duo. That's unbelievable," he cooed. "It's actually moving, I can feel it." Quatre's smile was so large it threatened to engulf his entire face.

"Yeah, so can I," muttered Duo. "Ow! Damn it! Will you get your fist or foot or whatever out of my lungs?"

"I think it's amazing. You can actually feel the child moving around. You're so lucky, Duo," the blonde sighed, ignoring the American's rants and then he grinned as another kick greeted his hand.

"I guess I am," Duo replied. "Although when the baby decides it's going to use my internal organs as a football at three in the morning it's not quite so amazing."

"You know," said Quatre as he straightened up and removed his hand. "No matter how many times I've felt a baby move, it never ceases to warm me. To think that there is another, living creature inside there is something that you just can't compare with."

"I guess you've felt a few with the number of sisters you have, Quat," snickered Duo.

"Yes, I have. It gets confusing sometimes, trying to keep track of which kid belongs to which sister," smiled Quatre. "But this baby, Duo... This one is unique and is going to be special."

"Now don't go sprouting all that shit about your empathy on me here, Quat. Telling me you can 'feel' the baby and all that. I can feel it too, usually just when I'm about to drop off to sleep it decides to do the tango."

Quatre snorted. "I might be an empathic, Duo, but that only means I can sense when someone is in pain, happy, hurting and so on. I can't read thoughts and I don't want to either, thank you. No, what I meant was this child is unique in the way that it was conceived..."

"If you don't know how a child is conceived by now, Quat, I'm going to have to have a serious talk to Trowa about your lack of education."

"Duo! I know how babies are made, I might be blonde but I'm not stupid! If you would let me finish..."

"Sorry, Q-ball."

"Apology accepted. I was going to say that your physical make up is what makes this child unique. The fact that you have enough female anatomy to conceive and carry a child..."

"I do not have girlie hips, or a female figure; as for the braid, don't even..."

"Duo!"

"Sorry."

"I didn't say you had girlish hips."

"You said about female anatomy."

"I meant a womb, ovaries..."

"One ovary to be precise."

"Who cares?!" Quatre almost shouted as his frustration grew. "The fact that you have female reproductive organs at all is a miracle and so is this child's conception. The baby will be special because it was conceived out of love and..…"

"And born out of wedlock if Heero doesn't make it back in one piece."

"...and born out of... I beg your pardon?" Quatre looked stunned.

"Don't worry, Quat. I know what you're trying to say. This child is special because of the love Heero and I share, the love in which it was..."

"No! Yes! I mean... Oh shit! Duo, back track here a moment and humor me will you? Did you just say something about wedlock?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well!!!?"

"Well, what?"

Quatre resisted the urge to tear his hair out. "Let's start at the beginning shall we?"

"Sure. You want to start from the unique or special bit?"

"I want to start from the wedlock bit!" Quatre's voice was now several notches higher.

The doorway darkened as Trowa's form entered the room. "Quatre? What's going on? Why are you yelling at Duo?"

"I'm not yelling!"

"Yes, you are," smirked Duo. Teasing the blonde was so much fun.

"If that's not yelling I'd hate to see what you term as whispering," stated Trowa as he walked towards his husband.

Quatre took a couple of deep breaths and tried to calm himself, a feat that wasn't easy with Duo's smirk and cryptic words. There was something going on here, something he didn't know about and if there was one thing that got under Quatre's skin more than anything else, it was the not knowing. Not that he was nosey or anything, at least that's what he told himself.

"I was just having a talk with Duo when the baby started to move. Duo very kindly let me put my hand on his stomach and feel it for myself, that's when I was trying to say how special this child is despite Duo's constant interruptions and then he dropped a bomb shell on me." Quatre finished his little rant in a slightly quieter tone and folded his arms across his chest, pouting adorably.

"Bomb shell?" questioned Trowa as he ignored the pout.

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't call it a bomb shell, Quat," said Duo with a grin.

"Then what would you call it?"

"Selective information?"

"Would someone mind telling me what this bomb shell is that you're talking about?" asked Trowa looking completely blank.

"I would if Duo would elaborate," huffed Quatre.

"What is it you want to know?" teased Duo.

"You said something about the baby being born out of wedlock if Heero didn't come back in one piece."

"I did?"

"Aggghhh! Trowa! Talk some sense into him will you?!"

Duo snickered.

"Okay, what's all this about wedlock, Duo? I didn't know you and Heero had tied the knot." said Trowa in his calm voice.

"And where was our invite to the wedding for that matter?" Quatre asked looking a little hurt.

"Same place ours was when you two got married," retorted Duo with a grin.

"That was different, Duo." Quatre colored a little knowing he hadn't invited anyone to his and Trowa's wedding, but then again it had been a spur of the moment thing and there hadn't been time to organize anything. One minute they had been walking down the street on their vacation when Trowa proposed and Quatre accepted. Next thing the blonde knew he was being dragged inside a registry office and the service was over before he knew what had hit him. Not that he ever regretted marrying his handsome, Latin lover, mind you. "I didn't know I was getting married until Trowa proposed and then dragged me inside the registry office. If we had planned it out then you and Heero would have had invitations."

"I know, Quat, I'm only teasing you," said Duo with a smile.

"You still haven't answered my question, Duo." Trowa fixed the pregnant man with his one visible eye.

Duo sighed and decided to come clean. "We haven't tied the knot yet. Heero proposed to me a few nights ago and I accepted. He feels strongly about the baby being born out of wedlock for some reason. I mean, you have to admit this whole pregnancy deal is certainly unusual so why being married before the child is born holds so much significance to Heero, I don't know. But if that's what he wants then I'm happy to become his spouse."

"That's really good news, Duo. May I be the first to congratulate you," said Trowa and walked over to give the long haired man a hug.

Quatre, meanwhile, was mulling over what Duo had just said and a glint came into his eye. Trowa spotted it and immediately alarm bells began to go off in his head. Duo also saw the gleam and a shiver ran down his spine.

"A wedding," mused Quatre. "Now that is great news. Have you started to plan anything yet? I know this really good caterer and a tailor. I'm sure they could be contacted and fit you guys in."

"Quatre..."

"Then there are the flowers and the celebrant..."

"Quat!"

"What about the wedding cake? You have to have at least three tiers and then there is the guest list..."

"QUATRE!"

"Yes, Trowa?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Trowa said and looked at Duo.

Duo flashed the Arab a grin and pointed to his swollen belly.

"Oh. Ummm... Yes, there is the small problem of the baby isn't there?"

"Quat, don't get me wrong here, I appreciate what you're saying and the fact that you would want to do so much for us as far as a wedding goes, but besides the fact that I'm male and pregnant; and you could imagine the shit that that's gonna cause for a start, Heero and I want to plan out our own wedding. We don't want anything extravagant, just a simple gathering of close friends is all. I'm supposed to be staying low anyway, if word of this pregnancy gets out... well suffice to say, I don't want to become a lab rat so the less people that know, the better."

"Sorry, Duo. I can't help it sometimes. You guys are my friends and I want to help you out in any way I can."

"Heero and I know that, Quat. You and Trowa are our dearest friends too, but this is something special to us and we want to do it our way. Please, don't be offended and I promise to let you know if there is anything you can help with."

Quatre smiled. "I know, and I do understand. I promise to keep out of it unless you ask for help."

"Thanks, Quat, and you too, Trowa." Duo smiled at the pair. "Now, if you don't mind I think I will pay a visit to the 'mother's' room and take a nap. I'm feeling a little tired."

Trowa sniggered at Duo's reference to the toilet but it went clean over the blonde's head. Quatre had heard the words 'tired' and 'nap' in the same sentence and his mothering instincts began to kick in.

"You all right, Duo? You sure there's nothing wrong? The baby isn't causing you pain or anything."

"Quatre... I'm tired, that's all. It happens to all pregnant people. I'll go take a nap for an hour or so and then I'll be fine. There's no need to fuss, I usually try to lie down for an hour during the day, Sally said it would help to get some extra rest so I'm following doctor's orders here." Duo couldn't help but feel a little smug with his explanation. True, Sally had told him to rest but he never thought the order would be useful in keeping mother Quatre at bay.

"Okay then. It's good that you're heeding Sally's advice. Look, while you take your nap, I'll get Trowa to have a go at this baby seat."

"Eh?" Trowa turned around to stare at his husband. "Baby seat?"

"Yeah," Duo laughed. "You were pretty good with working out things, Tro. See how good you are with that baby car seat."

"What's so hard about fitting a baby seat into the car?" Trowa really was puzzled. Obviously he was missing something here.

"My dear, Trowa. You haven't met this particular model. Here, meet the baby seat from hell," said Quatre as he picked up said seat and offered it to his husband.

"Surely it can't be that hard," said Trowa as he took a look at the various straps of the seat.

"Do not underestimate thy enemy, Trowa. I thought you would have known that having been a pilot," snickered Duo. "I'm off, I need the bathroom. Good luck," he stated as he left the room and went to his own.

Trowa turned his eyes to the blonde. "Just what does he mean by that?"

"Come on, Trowa," giggled Quatre. "You go fit the seat to the car, I'll get you the keys."

"You're not going to help?"

"I'm going into town, I've got some shopping I want to do, besides," Quatre snuggled up to his lover. "You're big and strong, you should be able to handle the fitting of a baby seat by yourself."

"Why do I get the feeling there is more to this that you're letting on? That there is something you're not telling me?"

"Awww, honey, would I do anything like that to you?" Quatre fluttered his eyelashes innocently.

"Yes, you would."

"Well, that's nice!"

"You go do your shopping, Quat. Could you bring me back a few things as well? I'll give you a list of what I want and I'll have this baby seat installed into the car well before you get back. "

"Don't be so sure about that," Quatre muttered.

"Pardon?"

"I said, sure, I can get all that."

"Okay." Trowa picked up the baby seat and followed his lover out of the nursery and down the stairs, leaving the seat by the door whilst he fetched his list. Minutes later Quatre was leaving the estate to do his shopping and Trowa was ensconced in the garage with the baby seat.

Upstairs Duo stretched out on the bed, eyelids heavy. As he drifted off to sleep so a snigger escaped his lips as Trowa's voice drifted up from the garage on the breeze.

"How the fuck does this thing go in? There's too many straps. Where does this one go? Shit! Where the hell are the instructions?"

~ * ~

tbc...