Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chimaera ❯ Chapter 102 ( Chapter 102 )

Please see previous chapters for disclaimer, notes, etc.

 

"Chimaera"

 

October. 2003 ShenLong

 

Chapter 102

 

Duo took the offered baby bottle and looked at it as if it would bite him. "Umm... What exactly was it you wanted me to do?"

 

"I'd like to see how you intend to feed and burp the infant."

 

"Right. Errr... The bottle is empty."

 

Resisting the urge to throttle the man, Nurse Brown took a deep breath and tried to keep her sarcasm under control. "Then I suggest you fill it up," she said through gritted teeth.

 

"Ah. Roger that." Duo turned to the table where the formula sat in the jug that the nurse had mixed up. He looked at the jug then the bottle in his hand and 'baby' in his other arm. "Hmmm," he muttered under his breath. Maybe he should have had Trowa teach him how to juggle after all. A glance at the nurse's face though said that probably wasn't a good idea; something told him that the nurse was beginning to run out of patience with them. // How to fill the bottle with his arms currently full...? Ah, put the items down, Duo. // Duo put the bottle on the table and then without thinking, dropped the doll to the wooden surface as well. The doll immediately let out a loud wail that frightened the shit out of Duo and as he jumped so he knocked the table, sending the jug of formula as well as the sterilizing stuff and one doll tumbling in all directions.

 

"Duo!" cried the nurse as she leapt up to try and catch the falling doll.

 

"Duo!" cried Heero as he leapt up to rescue his husband.

 

"Wahhhhhhh!!!!!" cried the doll as it hit the floor.

 

"Aw fuck!" cried Duo as he surveyed the chaos around him.

 

***

 

Wearily the nurse took a look around at the now restored kitchen. Everything had been picked up and cleaned up, the sterilizing equipment now sat back in place, the tin of formula, a little depleted, was back on the table along with the bottle and other implements. The doll's cries had eventually been soothed; thanks to Heero removing the batteries when he'd had enough of the persistent wails that even the nurse couldn't still.

 

A debate (Heero called it a debate, Duo called it an argument) had ensued between Heero and the nurse over that tactic.

 

Heero had pointed out that the doll's cries were grating on his nerves and upsetting his husband.

 

The nurse had promptly replied that of course the doll was going to cry after being subjected to such rough handling.

 

Heero stated it was a mistake on Duo's part, a lapse of memory.

 

Nurse Brown retaliated with, “You cannot afford a lapse of memory with a baby.”

 

Heero's reply to that was that once the baby was here and they were looking after it he doubted very much that either one of them would harm the infant; that natural, maternal instinct would kick in.

 

The nurse muttered something about her doubts in regards to that and suggested again about getting a full time nanny.

 

Duo had to tell them both to knock it off before they sent him into early labor.

 

Glowering slightly, Heero took a seat and folded his arms across his chest, Nurse Brown resumed her seat and opted to ignore the Japanese man and focus on Duo.

 

"Seeing as how we are starting off from scratch again I suppose I'd better begin with mixing the formula," Duo said as he reached for the tin. "Now, let's see if I remember correctly. I need boiled water and the powder. One scoop to sixty milliliters."

 

Heero went for his notebook to check but found it missing. He was certain he'd put it in his pocket. He patted his pockets, glanced at the floor, looked over the bench top; he even took a sneak peek at the nurse to see if she'd pinched it but couldn't see it anywhere. It was frustrating. Then he spotted something familiar. There, on the table hidden partially by the sterilizing equipment was his notebook. He looked up from the table to Duo's face and the American gave him a wink. //Sneaky bastard,// thought Heero. //He's stolen my notebook.// It didn't really come as a surprise though, Heero should have known better. Duo hadn't been a master thief for nothing and Heero had just found out how good a thief Duo really was; he hadn't felt a thing when Duo had lifted the book from his pocket.

 

Duo, meanwhile, had poured the required amount of water into the jug and was adding the powder. He then mixed it up and looked at the nurse. "How am I doing so far?"

 

"You're doing fine, Duo," replied the nurse, completely unaware that Duo was using Heero's notebook to keep him on track.

 

With a grin, Duo placed the funnel into the bottle and poured the formula in. Then he screwed on the teat and ring before looking for the doll. The nurse handed him the doll and Duo sat down, positioning the doll in his arms as he'd been shown and picking up the bottle. As he settled ready to feed the 'infant', Duo forgot one major thing.

 

To test the temperature of the bottle.

 

Although the boiled water had cooled a bit it was still quite warm. Duo positioned the teat at the doll's mouth and went to feed the 'baby'. The mechanics of the doll saw the lips latch onto the bottle and the doll began to suck.

 

Then it opened its mouth and let fly with a scream.

 

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" screeched Barney from upstairs where the bird was caged and could hear the ruckus.

 

Nurse Brown went roughly six foot off the chair and into the air. Heero wondered if Trowa had a spot for the nurse in the circus, with skills like that she would make an excellent acrobat, especially given her age.

 

Duo realized immediately what he'd done, yanked the bottle out of the doll's mouth and tried to soothe the doll's cries; without much success.

 

Heero contemplated removing the batteries again.

 

Nurse Brown made a mental note to check the travel agents and see if they had any offers for a trip to Tahiti. A warm, Tahitian beach seemed to be exactly what she needed right now. Either that or a quiet nursing home somewhere in the back woods and as far away from pregnant men as possible where she could recover her sanity surrounded by nature; preferably without Weiros either.

 

 

* * *

 

After Duo's little 'mishap', the nurse patiently went through everything again with the two men and then let them have another go. This time Duo remembered everything and managed to feed the 'baby' without any problem. Heero also had a go and successfully completed the feeding stage. It was another story when it came to the burping bit though.

 

Resting the doll against his shoulder as the nurse had shown them, Heero patted the baby's back, encouraging the wind to come up. He was mindful of his strength this time and made sure to keep his pats as gentle as he could. Therefore it came as a big surprise to him when the doll 'burped' and regurgitated a lot of the milk with the wind.

 

"Omae o korosu!" he growled as he observed the state of his T-shirt and did his best not to strangle the doll for ruining it.

 

Seeing the state of Heero with the 'milk' soaking into the left shoulder of his T-shirt, Nurse Brown couldn't help but snicker. There had been a small measure of justice there.

 

Duo took one look at the mess, smelt the returned 'milk' and did a mad scramble for the toilet, his stomach going out in sympathy with the 'baby's'.

 

Scrubbing and sterilizing the equipment had been a trial. Heero had managed to destroy three of the bottle brushes before getting his strength under control. Duo had fainted when he opened the packet of chemicals and caught a full on whiff of the stuff used for the sterilization process; Heero had nearly had kittens as he watched his partner sink to the ground, diving forwards to try and catch him but missing. Fortunately Nurse Brown had been closer and managed to grab Duo's shoulders as he slipped into unconsciousness; unfortunately she wasn't very strong given her middle age status but she did help to cushion most of Duo's descent to the floor with her own body, although Heero didn't think it was by choice as he lifted his pregnant spouse off the poor, crushed nurse.

 

Smelling salts soon had Duo back on the conscious plane and a swift check revealed that all was okay with the braided man. Aside from a few bruises and a very battered ego, Nurse Brown was also considered fit for duty and decided that they had all had enough for one day.

 

Heero didn't get off scott-free though. He sported a rather nice black eye for a few days afterwards, courtesy of a right hook from Duo for daring to suggest that Duo reconsider his decision about hormone treatment and let Sally inject him with said hormones. Heero's logic was that it would be far easier for Duo to simply breast feed than for them to have to suffer through all the sterilization process, bottle cleaning and formula making.

 

Needless to say, Duo didn't agree and after a few choice words, another 'debate' and some input from Barney, the former 01 pilot didn't duck quick enough and now wore the scars of his battle.

 

Duo's knuckles were fine.

 

* * *

 

The little fetus yawned and blinked. It couldn't see much in its watery world though, mostly light and dark shadings. It tried to stretch out its legs a little, they were feeling a bit cramped from the curled up position the fetus had adopted to sleep. Trying to stretch those limbs was proving be quite a task in itself. There wasn't much room at all. Annoyed, the fetus pushed harder with its legs, only to be brought up short by a barrier. It tried a couple of kicks with the same result. Frustrated, the fetus attempted to move its arms instead. It had a little more luck with those appendages, managing to straighten them a little more before being halted by another, invisible barrier. The feet found a reasonably solid surface and the fetus pushed hard against it, propelling itself through the amniotic fluid only to be stopped rather suddenly when its head hit another barrier.

 

In a fit of temper the fetus struck out with its tiny fists, pummeling whatever it was that was stopping it from moving the way it wanted to. It rolled inside the protective uterus, turning around and trying a different way to see if it could stretch out its limbs but it was fruitless; there simply wasn't enough room for it to 'play' like it had before.

 

The mouth opened in a silent growl of protest, the fists and feet had a few more kicks and pummels before the fetus gave up, exhausted from its attempts and curled up again into a ball. The thumb found its way to the tiny mouth and the fetus sucked on it. The eyes closed and the small baby drifted back off into slumber completely unaware of the pain and discomfort it had just caused to its *mother*.

 

* * *

 

"Ouch! For shit's sake, settle down will you, Sunshine?"

 

"Duo? Are you okay?" asked Heero as he eyed his husband.

 

"Yeah. Ow! Fuck! That hurt." Duo moved a little in the armchair he was currently sitting in and trying to watch a movie with Heero. Sunshine though had other ideas about him resting.

 

"You don't sound okay," said Heero as he got out of his own chair and knelt at Duo's side. "What's up?"

 

"Freakin' Sunshine," growled Duo. "I think it is trying to tap dance on my innards."

 

Heero chuckled and placed his hand on Duo's bump. He could clearly feel the activities of the baby inside as his hand was pushed, kicked and pressed against. "Hn, certainly is an active little devil today."

 

"Active?! Feels like it is trying to go six rounds with Mike Tyson would be more to the point. I fucking swear if I hadn't seen the ultrasound myself I'd be betting I had an entire football team inside there," Duo groused. "Ow! That was my rib cage!"

 

 

Heero watched, spellbound, as Duo's belly appeared to be doing some sort of weird, erotic dance all by itself. It jerked and moved, a bulge appearing only to disappear seconds later and reappear a little further down. Heero tried to follow it with his hand and grab hold of the foot or fist but the fetus was too quick for him. He snickered and tried again, quite enjoying the game.

 

"If you've quite finished playing 'tag', Heero, can I have my belly back? I need to go pee," said Duo with an amused smile. It really was quite sweet watching Heero 'playing' with their unborn child.

 

"Sorry," said Heero sheepishly as he removed his hand but placed a soft kiss to Duo's abdomen before moving away completely and offering a hand to his husband.

 

Duo took the hand and eased himself out of the chair. "Thanks. Ow! Nice one, Sunshine. You kick my bladder like that again and I won't need the toilet, I'll be peeing my pants instead," Duo sighed.

 

"Come on, I'll help you," said Heero as he looked at his watch. "Sally will be here for your next exam in half an hour."

 

"Don't remind me," growled Duo as he waddled along, hand on his lower back to soothe the mild ache. At least Sunshine had stilled for the moment.

 

Duo managed to complete his toilet trip without any further problems and even let Heero help him up the stairs to prepare for Sally's arrival and ensuing exam. Now that he was getting closer to the due date he was not only anxious about the whole delivery thing, but also wishing it would all hurry up and just be over with. He wanted his body back. He'd shared it with the baby for nearly eight months now and he longed for his former, slim form; not to mention being able to see his toes again. He gathered that they were still there, he could feel them when he wriggled them but couldn't confirm it visually.

 

When Sally arrived, Duo was in the exam room and on the table awaiting her presence. The doctor breezed in with a smile on her face. "How are you feeling today, Duo?" she asked as she set her bag down and went to wash her hands.

 

"Okay, I guess," replied Duo.

 

"Oh. Feeling a little depressed? You sure don't sound like your usual happy self."

 

"Sunshine has been playing with my insides again and I'll admit, I'm starting to get a little fed up. I just wish all this was over with."

 

"Well, you will be pleased to know that what you're experiencing is quite normal. Most mothers-to-be generally get depressed, fed up and have had enough of the whole pregnancy deal by the time that get to this stage. Now, lift your shirt for me so I can put the gel on your stomach and we can have a look at what's going on inside."

 

Duo obediently pulled his T-shirt up, exposing his belly. Sally pulled his sweat pants down a bit and tucked a paper towel into the hem of them to protect Duo's clothes from the gel. She spread a generous amount over Duo's abdomen and then brought the sound head of the machine to his skin and spread the gel further. The machine was turned on and hummed into life. Scanning across Duo's abdomen, Sally was able to see the outline of the baby inside and she turned the monitor so Heero and Duo could also see.

 

"What do you think, guys?" she asked as she skimmed over Duo's abdomen.

 

"It's starting to look like a proper baby now," replied Heero as he studied the monitor. "I can make out its head and arms and legs."

 

"Look carefully," began Sally, "you can see the facial features too." Sally maneuvered the sound head a little and the baby's face came into clearer view.

 

"It has its eyes open," exclaimed Duo as he watched the lines on the screen. There was no doubting it now, the fetus definitely looked like a fully formed baby.

 

"Yes, Duo. At this stage of development they can and do, open and close their eyes. They can differentiate between light and dark too. The baby should also be able to focus but that is a skill that will be developed properly once it's born." Sally moved the sound head again. "Looks like he or she also has some hair on that head," she mused as she gazed at the screen.

 

Both Heero and Duo were enraptured with the pictures. All discomfort, pain and complaints were forgotten as they watched the miracle of life on the small monitor. The fetus began to move a little, pushing with its arms and then opening the legs to turn around.

 

"Ah, now if I'm quick enough I should be able to see what sex the baby is," muttered Sally as she moved the sound head around. "Hmmm... Looks like it's a..."

 

"NO!" shouted both Heero and Duo together causing Sally to jump and also the fetus inside Duo's womb. With the loud noise the fetus curled in on itself and rolled over, presenting its back to the 'camera'.

 

"Shit! You scared the living daylights out of me," exclaimed Sally. "Damn! Now I can't confirm what sex it is."

 

"We don't want to know, Sally," said Duo stiffly.

 

"We want to wait until the baby is born before finding out the sex of the child. I guess you could say we're old fashioned in that respect but it's, I don't know the surprise factor I suppose," Heero trailed off.

 

"Okay, guys. I can understand and appreciate that. A lot of people though prefer to know what sex the child is going to be before it's born so they can purchase their baby items in appropriate colors."

 

"Well, we're not a lot of people and we want to wait," growled Duo. "Besides, I don't give a shit if it's a boy or a girl, as long as it's okay. Most of the stuff we have for the kid is in neutral colors anyway and I can't see a baby protesting if it's a girl and you dress it in blue."

 

"I would protest if it was a boy and you dressed it in pink," muttered Heero.

 

"What is it with you and pink?" Sally asked in an amused tone.

 

"I don't like pink much," growled Heero clearly unwilling to elaborate.

 

"He saw rather a lot of pink during the war," snickered Duo. "I think it sort of put him off completely."

 

"I saw a lot of red during the war," replied Sally, "but it hasn't put me off the color, I still quite like it."

 

"Your red wasn't attached to a voice that continuously called out - 'Heeeerrrroooo; come and kill me, Heeeeerrrrroooo'," said Duo in the perfect imitation of a teenage Relena.

 

Heero scowled.

 

Sally laughed. "Point taken. Although she's not like that anymore."

 

"Thank god," said Heero and rolled his eyes. It was still a sore point with Heero that Relena had spent a large portion of her teenage years with a morbid fascination for him, Duo called it obsession, Heero called it stalking. After the war though and Heero's disappearance, Relena's involvement with the newly formed council for protecting and ensuring that the new found peace continued had seen her grow up and mature. She was no longer smitten by him, having realized it was merely a crush and had moved on with her life. In fact, they were quite good friends now. Come to think of it, from what Heero remembered, Relena didn't care much for pink either now.

 

"Well, Sunshine has moved so I can't tell the sex now even if I wanted to," Sally said as she wiped off the sound head and turned the machine off. She cleaned Duo's belly and then proceeded to give him an external exam. "I want to feel how the baby is lying, how much room is in there," she explained as her hands worked expertly over Duo's abdomen.

 

"Ohh, Sally," chuckled Duo. "I never thought I'd be getting felt up by you."

 

"Baka!" said Heero as he gave his husband a light smack upside the head.

 

Sally chose to ignore the comment and concentrate on the baby's position. With her exam complete, she quickly asked Duo a few questions, checked his blood pressure, breathing and heart rate before feeling his wrists and ankles for swelling. She frowned a little as she noted down her findings and the frown didn't get past Heero.

 

"What's wrong?" he asked as he watched Sally make her notes.

 

"Duo? Have you been on your feet a lot lately?"

 

"Not any more than usual; why?"

 

"Oh, it's nothing really to worry about. Just that your ankles are a little swollen, not much but there is definitely some swelling there."

 

"I wouldn't know," replied Duo. "I haven's seen my ankles in ages and the only reason I know they're still there is because I don't fall over when I walk."

 

"I'd like you to keep an eye on it anyway, if it increases much more then I want you to let either myself or Nurse Brown know."

 

"I'll keep an eye on them for you, Sally," said Heero. "No good asking Duo if he can't see them."

 

"Good point."

 

"Got a tape measure?"

 

"Pardon, Heero?" Sally turned to look at the Japanese man.

 

"What the fuck do you want with a tape measure?" asked Duo as he began to sit up.

 

"I can measure your ankles with it. Once I know what the circumference of your ankles are now I can measure them each day and see if the swelling has increased or not." Heero thought it was perfectly logical.

 

Duo rolled his eyes. "Christ! I feel more and more like a lab rat every day," he muttered.

 

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," said Sally.

 

Heero smirked at his husband.

 

Duo wondered if Preventer had ever dealt with a case that consisted of murder by measuring tape.

 

~ * ~

 

tbc.......

 

Again, all baby info in this chapter comes from the book: “Conception, Pregnancy and Birth” by Dr Miriam Stoppard.