Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chimaera ❯ Chapter 83 ( Chapter 83 )

Please see previous chapters for notes, disclaimers etc.

"Chimaera"

By ShenLong.

Chapter 83

Duo sat out in the sun lounge on the patio of the mansion, mug of coffee in one hand and a half eaten Crunchie bar on the table next to him. Lying at his side was Miracle; the little pup had grown in the past four weeks, the combination of proper food and care showing in her smooth, luxurious coat. Duo looked up as Heero stepped out, still in his Preventer uniform, having just returned home from work. "Hey," Duo said softly.

"How are you feeling?" Heero returned as he bent to kiss his lover.

"Not too bad today," replied Duo as he ran a hand over his large abdomen.

"Sally said to tell you she will be a little late for your check up today,. She has a few urgent matters at HQ to finish up with." Heero took a seat next to his lover.

"That's okay," sighed Duo.

"Look what was in the mail," said Heero and waved a post card under Duo's nose.

"Oh, a post card," exclaimed Duo. "Is it from?"

"Hai. Here, read it." Heero handed over the post card and Duo took it, eagerly scanning over the picture before devouring the words.

Having finished reading he stared at the post card for a little while longer. "Sounds like they're having a great time," he said with a touch of melancholy to his voice.

"Hai, it does."

Duo read the card again. It was from Quatre and Trowa who were currently enjoying a vacation on the beaches of Fiji. He sighed.

"Duo?" Heero asked in concern, his lover had gone awfully quiet. "Are you sure you're okay? The baby... It's not hurting you at all."

Duo turned and gave his lover a small smile, placing his hand on Heero's. "Nah, just feeling a little sorry for myself, that's all."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Well, Trow and Quat, they're off enjoying a second honeymoon; you're at Preventer's all day and so's Wufei and I'm stuck here by myself. I get... lonely." Duo could feel the tears beginning to form behind his eyelashes and hastily blinked them away.

"Oh, Duo. I know you do and I'm sorry. I wish I could stay at home with you all day but I can't."

"I know that. It wasn't so bad before but now that Une's not sending me through cases to work on, anymore it's even more boring. At least then I felt like I was doing something."

"Duo, you know that Sally said it was for your own good and the health of both you and the baby that you do as little as possible."

"I'm sorry, Heero. I understand, really I do; but it doesn't make it any easier." Both men fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Duo knew he had to limit his movements, the last couple of ultra sound scans had shown that the baby was beginning to put on weight and grow. The fetus was now fully formed, all limbs and organs developed and there were only the last development stages to go through and of course the growth. As the child began to grow so it required more room and had ruthlessly pushed and shoved Duo's internal organs aside in its bid to gain that room. Sally was concerned with this, Duo's male body not being equipped to allow for a developing child and she was meticulous in her scans, keeping her eye on exactly how Duo's innards were reacting to the extra 'organ'.

Sally was also concerned about the uterus itself. So far it had managed to accommodate its burden quite well, the abruption had shown no signs of recurring which was a blessing, but the slightly deformed state of the uterus caused her some concern, She wasn't too sure if it could expand enough to accommodate the growing child, besides that, the uterus was floating completely free in Duo's abdomen aside from the tiny tube which was the under developed vagina. In a female this was never a problem with the body designed to cope with pregnancy and the organs arranged as such, but this was Duo; and Duo was male. Sally kept a close eye on the small tube, praying and hoping that the pressure and weight of the growing fetus, combined with its increasing activity wouldn't cause the tube to tear away from the large bowel that it was joined to. If it did then Sally knew there wouldn't be a lot she could do in terms of saving the child... and possibly Duo.

"Penny for them?" asked Heero softly.

Duo turned his eyes towards his lover and smiled. "Just thinking about sunshine and how this body of mine is coping."

"Do you regret..."

"NO!" Duo was quick to cut his lover off from that train of thought. "No," he repeated a little softer. "I don't regret anything, Heero. Even after all I've gone through so far I'd still have made the same choice. This child is a part of me and a part of you, there's no way I could not agree to carrying it. I want to give life, Heero; not take it away."

"I love you, little mother. I'm so proud of you; I know this isn't easy for you..."

"You got that bit right," snickered Duo.

Heero gave him a soft glare before continuing. "I can't even begin to imagine half of what this pregnancy has been like for you but I do know this..." Heero trailed his fingers along the side of Duo's cheek. "You're one hell of a brave person, Duo Maxwell, and I love you with all my heart and soul."

"Awww... Heero, do you have to go and get all sappy on me? Now I'm going to cry." Sure enough the tears began to spill and Heero cuddled his lover close as the hormonal backwash flowed through. Once the tears had subsided, Duo wiped his eyes and sat back again.

"Have you given any more thought to the wedding, Duo?" Heero asked, changing the subject.

"A little," replied Duo. Actually it was more than a little. Having nothing else to occupy his time, there being only so much training he could do with Miracle before the pup became bored, so Duo had spent a lot of his time searching the net and going through the many wedding magazines that Hilde had sent to him from L2 once she knew that Heero had proposed. Unfortunately they weren't a great help, being designed mainly for women, but Duo had gotten a few ideas from them.

"Want to share?" asked Heero.

"Come inside then, my notebook is in the office and I'll run you through the latest ideas to see what you think," replied Duo as he went to stand. Instantly Heero was beside him. "I can walk, Heero," Duo growled.

"I know."

"Then back off a little."

Heero sighed, he would be really happy once Duo's hormones returned to normal.

***

Sitting in the office a few minutes later, Duo picked up his note book. "Given the circumstances, aside from the fact that a male/male wedding is unusual to begin with, we are pretty much limited in our choices," began Duo.

Heero knew that much already. Whilst same sex marriages were now accepted and same sex couples enjoyed the same rights as hetro couples, there were still a few things that remained different. Add to that Duo's pregnancy and their selection of choices for their wedding became even more limited. "What's the problem, Duo?" Heero asked softly.

Duo sighed and flipped the page of his notebook. "Okay, let's do this in order, shall we?"

"Fire away."

"Venue. Well, that's not a problem as we've both already agreed to have the wedding here in the grounds of the mansion."

"Hai." They had decided on that much, Heero remembered. The grounds were a lovely place with the flowers all in bloom and when Duo had suggested the small gazebo as the place to take their vows, Heero had agreed immediately.

"Catering for the reception shouldn't be too hard as there won't be many guests and Siska has already volunteered to do most of it. Oh, Trowa also offered to help out with the catering."

"He's really getting into the cooking side of things, isn't he?" snickered Heero. Duo had taken great delight in filling Heero in on all the goings on at the mansion whilst he had been away on the assignment and Trowa's love of cooking had astounded Heero just as much as it had Quatre when he first found out.

"He sure can cook though," murmured Duo as his mind supplied him with the memory of some of the dishes Trowa had made. "That brings me to the guest list."

"Aa."

"Obviously we can't invite a lot of people."

"No, that would be asking for trouble," agreed Heero. "Who have you got down so far?"

"Well, there's Tro and Quat, Sally and Wuffles, Howard, G and Hilde Anyone else you can think of?"

"That is small, isn't it?" Heero thought for a moment. "What about Une? And then there's Nurse Brown too."

Duo scribbled their names to the list. "Anyone else?"

"Not that I can think of, I mean I can think of others but with your condition it wouldn't be appropriate."

"Yeah, I know." Duo chewed the end of his pencil for a moment. "What do you want me to do about invitations?"

"How do you mean?"

"Shall we just 'phone people up or do you want me to get the proper printed ones done?"

Seeing the longing in Duo's eyes, Heero's heart melted. He moved over to Duo and wrapped his arms around his lover. "Duo, I want you to have whatever your heart desires for this wedding. It's bad enough that you're going to have to have a small one due to the pregnancy, but that's where the restrictions stop. If you want gold embossed invitations, then you shall have them. If you want roses, carnations or orchids, you shall have them. If you want the wedding cake made out of Crunchie bars, then you shall have it."

"I draw the line at wearing a wedding dress," snickered Duo.

Heero stepped back and gave his fiancé a look of horror. "So do I!"

"It's okay, I have no intention of wearing a dress. Did you mean it when you said that the wedding cake could be made out of Crunchies?"

"If that's what you want, then that's what you will have, little mother. I want you to have a wedding to remember, Duo." Heero's eyes softened and his ran his fingers over Duo's cheek. "Nothing is too good for the man I love."

"Awww... Cut it out, Heero, you're gonna make me cry again." Duo began to sniffle a little as he leaned in close to his lover.

"Thought about what you're going to wear then if it isn't a dress?" teased Heero.

Instantly the fire was back in Duo's eyes. "Actually, I have, but I wanted to see what you thought first." Duo turned back to the books that were spread around the office. "Ahh, this is the one." He picked it up and returned to Heero. "What do you think about these?"

Heero took the offered magazine and studied the pictures. "They look perfect to me."

Duo smiled. "I thought this one for me," he pointed to one on the left side of the page. "And this one for you."

The two suits stood out on the page, one in cream and the other in charcoal. "Nice," said Heero. "What about shirts?"

"I kinda liked these ones," Duo pointed to a simple silk shirt with a slight ruffle down the front.

"Pale blue I think for the color," said Heero. "Would go nice with the cream and charcoal."

"Tie?"

"Black."

"Okay. The store has an online order section, if I send through the order along with the measurements, do you think you could pick them up when they're ready?"

"Of course I can," Heero stole a kiss. "Thought about the date yet?"

"Not completely sure," replied Duo. "I was thinking of about four weeks time if we can get everything organized by then. That way I won't be too much bigger."

"Whatever you want, Duo."

"October sound okay; say around the fifteenth?"

"Perfect." Heero bestowed another kiss.

"Would you mind contacting Trowa then and seeing if that's okay for him for the catering? I'll check with Siska. It should be all right as we're only having a simple buffet."

"I'll do that tonight."

"Thanks." Duo let his lover take his lips in a tender kiss and returned the kiss with his own passion. Then a dark thought hit him and he pulled away from Heero, tears evident in his eyes. "Fuck!"

"Duo? What's wrong?" Heero asked deeply concerned with his lover's sudden change of mood.

"I completely forgot about the most important thing. Oh, Heero. I don't think we will be able to get married after all." The last words were spoken with a hitch and it was clear that Duo was doing his best not to give in to the tears that threatened again.

"Why? Tell me, Duo, what's the problem?" Heero couldn't think of anything to make his lover react like this.

"The priest, marriage celebrant or whatever you want to call them. I know there are priests and such out there that are licensed to marry same sex couples but, Heero..." Duo stroked his hands over his swollen stomach.

"Shit!" The implications of having a celebrant or priest suddenly hit Heero. That would put Duo at risk. It was clearly evident that the young man wasn't overweight, that he couldn't be anything other than pregnant and having a stranger come in to marry them and discover Duo's secret, wasn't acceptable.

"What are we going to do, Heero?"

"I don't know, Duo." Heero pulled his lover into his arms and held him close, hands rubbing gently over Duo's back and soothing the man. "Stop worrying about it and I'll make some inquiries and see what I can do. Surely there has to be a way around this," said Heero softly.

"I can't see how, Heero."

"Hush, little mother. I promise you that somehow you will have your wedding, Duo." Heero gently kissed his partner. "There has to be a way and I give you my word that I'll find it."

"I hope you're right, Heero."

***

"Come in, Sally," said Heero as he opened the door for the doctor.

Sally stepped inside and immediately picked up on the tension in the air. She took a closer look at Heero's face and read the look of sadness and something else in his eyes. "Heero? Is there something wrong?"

Heero sighed. "Yes and no."

"Duo?" Sally's voice held an edge to it.

"No, well, not really. Well, I guess so, but not with the baby."

"Heero, slow down here, you're not making any sense."

"Sorry."

"Look, take a deep breath and tell me what the problem is."

Heero closed his eyes and took the deep breath. Then he began to explain to Sally about the wedding arrangements and the seemingly brick wall they'd just run into. "Sally, I don't know what to do. Duo has his heart set on getting married and so do I. I don't want this child to be born out of wedlock. Call me old fashioned if you like, but this..."

"I know, Heero." Sally placed a hand on Heero's arm. "I don't think you're old fashioned for wanting to be married when your child is born, actually I think it's very responsible; not to mention sweet."

"But what can I do, Sally?" Heero looked completely defeated. "I've scoured the internet, thought of anything and everything that I can but I still can't find a solution to the problem. If we get a celebrant or priest then they're going to know of Duo's condition and who knows what will happen from there. I know you can swear them to secrecy and all, but let's face it. Who wouldn't go blabbing about this? They stand to make a lot of money just from the story alone, and then people as well as scientists and such are going to hound us and take Duo away to study him and all that shit. I can't let that happen to him and the baby; I won't let it happen. But... I can't see any other solution and I don't particularly want to kill the priest or celebrant after the ceremony." Heero looked positively miserable. "I gave him my word that we would be married before the child is born... I don't break my word."

"Oh, Heero." Sally pulled the young man into a hug, offering what comfort she could; then her face lit up. "Heero?"

"Hai?"

"Are you inviting Howard to the wedding?"

"Hai, but I can't see what that has to do with the problem."

"Actually, it has a lot to do with the problem."

"Huh?"

"Heero, I think I may have just solved your problem for you."

~ * ~

tbc.........