Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 26 - ( Chapter 26 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Kyeian

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 26 

December 25, A.C. 204. Base. 7am

"Santa came!" Chip squealed delightedly from the living room. "Mom! Dad! Santa came!"

Chance groaned as he pulled himself away from his wife, blinking blearily around the bedroom before realizing why his son was shouting about Santa Clause.

He grinned slightly.

"What?" Shin asked blankly, sitting up. "What's he talking about?"

"Santa came in the form of one next-door neighbor," Chance whispered back, climbing from the bed and pulling his pajama pants on.

"What?" Shin asked blankly.

"I got Jor to bring it over last night," Chance whispered back. "Come on, I'm shocked he remembered."

"You were the busy pair last night, weren't you?" she muttered, pulling on her robe and following him.

"What do you mean, Santa came?" Chance asked happily, moving into the kitchen.

"It says an S like that!" Chip declared, bouncing up and down as he stood beside the large box. "Your name isn't like that, and Mom's name isn't like that! And this wasn't here last night!"

"Ooh, I guess you were a good boy this year," Shin noted, moving around to hug him with a smile.

To him, her name had two Ms in it...he couldn't read yet, but he was getting there.

"Can I open it?" he asked, looking between his parents almost breathlessly.

Chance nodded his approval, and Chip looked excitedly to Shin.

She smiled at him.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, then tore into the packaging.

Chance grinned at that, then noticed the plate of cookies and milk the child had insisted be left out. The glass was empty, and all but the last cookie was gone. The last cookie had a bite taken out of it, too.

That made the former pilot roll his eyes very slightly, though he did appreciate it. That, and Jor's forethought of disabling the warning beep for the front door.

"Whoa!" Chip exclaimed as the box for the toy mobile suit was revealed. It wasn't a technical mobile suit, not one of the war type ones, but it was one used in a cartoon the child watched. One he'd been dying to have and had asked Santa for at the mall.

"Wow," Chance muttered, moving forward to set the box up right. "He got it for you! I didn't think he would!"

Chip laughed happily, obviously too excited to know what to do with himself before throwing himself into Chance's arms. It only took him a few moments to re-gather himself, and then his eyes went wide and he looked to his father's face. "Now?" he whispered.

"Yeah, now," Chance agreed.

Shin gave Chance a curious look and the man nodded his head at the child, who had run across to the entertainment center and pulled a cupboard opened.

"What are you doing, baby?" Shin asked curiously.

"We got this for you!" Chip exclaimed, pulling the box from the thing and carefully carrying it to his mother. It was wrapped, but it was their surprise present.

"Oh, baby..." Shin muttered, pulling him into a pleased hug before looking up to Chance with smiling eyes.

He smiled back at her, wondering if anyone else would think she really was the most beautiful woman in the world. He'd heard Jor say something similar about Chai though...so maybe it was just him.

- -

December 25, A.C. 204. L-4. 7am

"Thank you so much!" a girl that stood about to the bottom of his rib cage threw herself around Quatre's neck to hug him gratefully for a toy he supposed was from him.

The empath was surrounded by love and affection, excitement and mild disappointment from all corners as all of his nieces and nephews tore into their mounds of packages. Not only them, though, but his sisters and gazillion brothers-in-law.

He didn't have Jordan to hide behind either.

He smiled at the little girl, not entirely sure whose she was. "It's no problem, baby. I hope you like it."

He couldn't puke now of all times...

The little girl ran off happily.

"Quatre?" one of his brother-in-laws asked, focusing back on him.

Quatre shook his head, climbing from his seat shakily.

"Did you drink last night?" Karen demanded from a ways away.

"Quatre, are you all right?"

The switch of just about everyone to concern was worse than everything else, and Quatre stumbled almost blindly from the room with them all calling after him.

He did make it into the hall before he threw up, at least.

"Did we eat something bad?" a boy about fifteen or sixteen asked, following him into the hall and recoiling at the mess as the various servants in attendance scurried to clean.

"Quatre?" Karen demanded.

"Leave the door closed!" he snapped, moving back to it to grab the handle...as the boy puked too.

"Coy?" one of his sisters called through the door. "Coy?"

Coy? That was the one Margarite had been saying had empath powers, right?

Unfortunately, Coy was also emptying his stomach onto the floor.

It was so much nicer on the base for Christmas...so much quieter and so much more controlled.

A far door swung open, since they'd gathered in the ballroom for the gift exchange, and Karen came scurrying out to stop and stare in horror at the mess on the floor. "You did drink...and...Coy?" she asked in disbelief before giving Quatre a very dirty look.

Quatre returned it as best he could, accepting the cup of water from a scurrying maid with a thanks.

"That's not what we meant by spending time with your kin," Karen noted to Quatre darkly.

"I didn't drink, Aunt Karen," Coy protested, frowning at her. "I think I ate something bad..."

"There's a chance that I might be an empath," Quatre noted to his sister darkly, overriding the boy somewhat. "And such being the case, I'd be exposed to every emotion from every person within a thousand feet of me."

She blinked at him, probably remembering that little bit fact.

"And it's altogether possible," he added, "that the trait runs in our family. And if it does then there should be more than one of those kids who can do it."

"Here," the maid muttered, placing a trashcan beside him. "Rinse your mouth out here, Master Quatre."

He cringed inwardly at the title, but didn't protest to her, doing as the woman suggested.

"Come on, Coy," he added to his nephew, moving carefully around the mess before kicking off his slippers. "We can go up to my suite and shower."

"Really?" that brightened the kid's outlook.

"Maybe you should check if his mother is all right with that," Karen noted pointedly.

"I am the family patriarch," he shot Ainslie's word's at her as he ushered the boy forward. "Besides, I'm pretty sure most of my sisters remember that I'm not normal."

Karen glowered after them as Sadie moved into the hall to frown as well, though she also nodded her approval to her son.

"You think I might be an empath?" Coy asked quietly, blinking up at him as he caught up.

"It's entirely possible," Quatre returned. "I'm interested to know what you felt back there."

"When I came out with you it was concern, because you were puking...but you were mad, weren't you?"

"In a manner of speaking," Quatre agreed. "But in the ballroom, what did you feel in there?"

"Ill," the guy noted, shrugging slightly. "Every time someone moved I could feel it, and they were all excited..."

"Happy," Quatre noted. "Excited...disappointed?"

"It was...it felt like a cloud of gnats or something," he looked to Quatre in concern.

"Gnats?" Quatre echoed, blinking at that.

It had felt like a field of bonfires to him...it had been everything from everywhere...except behind him.

His cell started ringing, and since he'd set his friends' to a certain tone to forewarn him, this noted it wasn't one of them. "Hello?"

"Quatre?" Margarite asked. "Are you all right? Is Coy?"

"I'm sorry," he said, noting that it was quiet behind her. "There were too many people in there and it made us sick...at least I think it made Coy sick. He saw me...and that might have been it."

"You going to be all right?" she asked gently.

"I'm feeling better now. We'll go shower before I try to brave that again...I'm sorry."

"All right," she said quietly...and he heard her start talking away from the phone as the line went dead.

"Who was that?" Coy asked curiously.

"Margarite," Quatre explained, turning toward the master wing. There were only three suites there, so he, Margarite and Kiley were taking them. Really, the third suite should have gone to Julie, because she was older than Kiley, but evidently the pair had worked out some sort of system where they traded off.

"Is it okay that I'm up here?" Coy asked hesitantly, looking around. "Mom says not to bother you guys."

"Bother?" Quatre returned, then grinned slightly at him. "Its fine, kid. This is my room, and in all reality I could claim this as my house."

Coy stopped as they entered the main room, looking around with interest. "Uncle Quatre?"

"Hm?" Quatre returned, pulling off his robe and heading for his room.

"You seem...mean...sometimes."

Quatre stopped to look at him.

Coy looked away with a shrug. "Sorry...."

"No," Quatre cut that off, studying him. "Don't apologize. What do you mean, mean?"

"You...we heard you telling Aunt Ainslie that you didn't want to read to the little ones...and you..."

"Mm," Quatre frowned slightly at him. "Your Aunt Ainslie and I don't get along...just like Karen."

"Why?"

"Because I know that war works and they're horrified by that," he returned, heading toward his bedroom again and grabbing the phone.

"Mr. Winner?" his butler answered happily. "I hear you messed up the hallway downstairs."

"I did seem to make a mess," he agreed. "But I wasn't the only one at fault...get Coy some clothing. He's Sadie's son, and he's going to shower up here in my suite."

"Okay," the man returned, seeming uncertain. "Anything you say...can I ask why?"

"Go ahead and use this shower," Quatre added to the boy, pointing at a second room. "Your clothes should be here by the time you're done."

"Thank you," he said quietly, disappearing into the room.

"Mr. Winner?"

"Because I think he's an empath and he was overwhelmed in there just the same as I was."

"Ah," the man agreed quietly. "He's not pestering you, is he?"

Quatre sighed, wishing he hadn't given them all the idea that he didn't like the various children. He was mostly fine with them one on one, or even in small groups. Actually, the mass of them hadn't even been bad because their excitement wasn't the same as all of the adults...and the older set was helping him controlling them.

"Mr. Winner?"

"He wouldn't be in my suite if he bothered me, all right? Just get him some clothes so we can go back down to the mass."

"All right," the guy agreed quickly. "Happy Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Quatre returned, hanging up as he started to strip and cross the room.

He couldn't wait to get home again.

- -

December 25, A.C. 204. Base. 1pm

"I don't understand why, but it worked," Jordan was summing up a story to Chance.

"Chance?" Shin asked, looking pointedly at her watch as she started to stand. "Come on, Chip, we're going to Gramma's."

The little boy froze a brief moment before grinning at her and darting across the living room to get his shoes on.

"Thank you for the food, and the dress," Shin noted, moving to hug Jordan.

"Any time," Jordan reassured her. "I wish you could stay," he looked to Chance with a wicked grin. "She smells good."

Chance rolled his eyes as Shin laughed and smacked him before moving on to hug Trowa. The others were perfectly willing to hug her and meet her eyes, until she got to Simone, who had been sitting quietly the entire time she'd been over.

"Oh, stop that," Shin muttered, leaning down to offer her arms.

"I'm sorry," Simone muttered, bouncing up to hug her properly. "Merry Christmas."

"Hurry up and leave so we can do our gift exchange," Wufei ordered Chance happily.

Chance flipped him off, moving to hug Chai as Chip started making his rounds.

"We'll be back late," Chance noted to Jordan, kicking absently at Trowa's leg.

"Hey! I didn't do anything this time!" Trowa protested.

"What are you talking about? It's affection," Chance retorted, then grinned at him and pretended the light kick Trowa returned hurt.

"Wow, you're special," Chai noted almost dryly.

"That is affection," Paris noted, studying Chance with interest.

"They would be what I consider my family," Chance returned, giving him an interested look.

Paris grinned back.

The group was larger than Chance had realized it would be. Paris, Morgan, Simone, Logan, and Wayne had also joined them. Jonathon Breer was going to show up for an hour or two, and while Chance had hoped it'd be earlier in the day, he figured he'd see the guy when he and Jordan actually had their sit down supper in a few days time.

"Come on, buddy," Chance muttered, lifting his son from the floor with a fresh wave of disbelief and pleasure that it was his son.

The moments were few and far between, but when they struck he felt fully proud that he'd supported Shin and helped her raise the child, even if their relationship hadn't been the best. He'd persevered, and now he had a lovely wife and son.

"Do you do that around Quatre?" Paris asked curiously.

Chance turned to give him a very level look as Shin waved one last time at the group, then he followed his wife from the house.

"Do what?" she asked as they moved back toward their place and the SUV.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Chance lied happily.

"Daddy, even I can tell that's a lie," Chip noted, studying his face with interest.

"Shh," Chance shushed the child quickly with a happy smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Chip grinned.

- -

December 25, A.C. 204. Base. 7pm

"So," Simone muttered quietly, looking between Jor, Trowa, and Wufei with interest. "Should I be leaving now?"

"If you have something better to do, feel free," Wufei returned, kicking his shoes off to stretch across his corner of the couch. "If not, make yourself comfortable."

"I'm not...imposing?" she asked, blinking at him.

"I'd have chased you off somehow or another if you were," Jor reassured her, kicking his own shoes off and stretching across the couch himself. "Shall we see what our blond friend is doing?" he added to Trowa.

"We should just wait for the tabloids to pick it up," Trowa suggested.

The rest of the gathered people had finally left, and Chai had wandered off with a muttered comment about making Jordan jealous. He'd responded to her words by claiming he'd get a replacement. Simone could tell it was an old joke, but she didn't quite understand the reference, especially when Chai took a load of laundry out to the garage.

"What?" Simone asked the guy in confusion.

"We'll hear all about what he's doing for the next month," Tro explained with a shrug, sinking lower into his chair. "The tabloids, at least, will make it entertaining."

"We'll have to pick one to believe," Jor noted, flicking the tv on.

"Who, though?" Simone asked blankly.

They all looked at her in disbelief.

She blanched slightly, wondering if it was all right that she felt stupid.

"Who...do we know that's blond?" Trowa asked her curiously.

"Um...Wayne Miller?" she offered.

"And?"

She considered the group a long moment. "Quatre?"

"Good job," he congratulated her like he was talking to a child.

"Don't mind him, he's an ass," Jordan reassured her, pointing at the screen.

Simone turned to look at a confusing amount of moving people before noticing Quatre himself...

The first thing she really noticed about his person was a very bright glint form his ear...a very large stone...but...he was wearing the sweater she got him!

She sat up excitedly.

"Look at her," Wufei whispered in Chinese. "She just lit up completely."

"Leave her alone," Jordan reprimanded. He thought her crush was damn cute, and the fact that Quatre was showing more than casual interest in her was pleasing to him. She didn't need to be embarrassed that she liked the guy, even if Quatre would get teased.

"He's got to be bored out of his damn skull," Trowa noted, pulling his phone out and looking to the others with a raised eyebrow. "Shall we entertain him?"

Jor shrugged indifferently, shifting to lay more properly across the couch.

The feed showed Quatre's attention shifting before he excused himself from the group and stepped away with his back to the camera.

"Hello?" they all heard him.

"No," Trowa said quickly. "Get back to your position. I'm using that rock on your ear for target practice."

Simone turned disbelieving eyes onto him.

Quatre didn't move for a moment before his shoulder started shaking and he turned to look around the area of the camera.

"No, no," Trowa said when he'd looked past. "Back two."

Quatre's focus changed very slightly before he looked directly at the camera.

Wufei and Jordan started laughing.

"What do you want?" Quatre asked as the woman commentating buzzed excitedly about the attention.

"You looked bored," Trowa returned. "Come on, you haven't even called us once to let us know how you were."

"I puked this morning," he noted, giving the camera a sort of quirky happy look. "It kicked ass."

Simone looked disbelievingly back to Trowa.

"One of my older nephews puked, too. We're not sure if it's because I was puking though."

"I'm so glad he's proud of that," Jordan noted.

"I can't read lips," Simone protested, looking back to Jordan.

Jordan rested his finger against his lips and pointed at Trowa.

"Mm, there's someone here who wants to talk to you," Trowa noted happily.

"Simone?" Quatre asked, instantly focusing on the phone.

Trowa laughed slightly wickedly and passed the phone to girl.

"H...hello?" Simone asked hesitantly.

"Hey," Quatre's entire visage changed. His eyes were sparkling and his shoulders didn't seem slumped. His body language lightened instantly. "How are you? Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," Simone noted, starting to curl a strand of her hair around one finger.

Actually, she was blond, too, wasn't she?

Jordan grinned very slightly, looking to Wufei.

"They have the tv on, don't they?" Quatre added after a second, looking back to the camera.

"Yes, they just turned it on."

"I could have used them calling an hour ago," Quatre said dryly.

"You like the sweater?" she asked in an almost small voice, still toying with her hair.

"My butler didn't understand why I wanted it washed last night," Quatre noted, smiling even more as the commentator started muttering about a commercial break.

Simone giggled as the screen changed.

"Aww, he's all gone," Trowa noted happily.

"What?" Quatre asked blankly.

"Mm...call me later," Simone said quickly, then passed the phone back to Trowa.

"Wait..." Quatre tried to protest.

"I'm sorry, my darling," Trowa returned happily in German. "But our princess is fickle."

"Shut up," Quatre retorted, though he sounded amused. "What did you mean?"

"The station went to commercial. You might give the people an interview; they noticed you looking at them and got all hot and bothered."

Quatre laughed wickedly at that. "I've got to go, people are now waiting to meet me...damn it. I'll see you guys in a few days...Jor gave her...have you guys given her my number yet?"

"Jor might have," he started, looking across the room.

Jor shook his head.

"Oh, not yet...he'll remedy that, I'm sure."

"Or you do, if not," Quatre ordered. "Later."

"Just keep your head still and I'll be able to focus my long-lens."

Quatre started laughing and hung up.

Trowa closed the phone, then extended his hand to the girl.

She blinked at him uncertainly.

"Phone," he explained. "Give it to me."

She blinked at him in confusion a moment, then hesitantly offered over her phone.

It took the former pilot a moment to figure out her menu buttons, but then he went to add Quatre's cell.

He'd never hear the end of it if she didn't get that number.

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