A Matter of Heart: Heirs to the Legacy 2 (The Second Set)
A Gundam Wing Fanfiction By: Andrea Readwolf
Email: andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com
Rating: YA/Mature
Families: First Generation
YMC Fam (Yuy-Maxwell-Chang Family: Trinity, Mara Jade,
and Dylan);
Winner Fam (Quatre + Trowa, Triton&Tristan, and little sis
Calista)
Peacecraft Family (Zechs Marquise/Milliard + Lucrezia/Noin
Peacecraft, Kit/Katarynna, Adrian, and Nicolette/Nicole)
Mazzolla Family (Mariemeia + Jake Mazzolla {OC}, Julian)
Catalonia-Dorian Family (Dorothy Catalonia + Relena Dorian,
Regina)
Une-Po Family (Lady Une + Sally Po, Marie Une*, Michael Braddocks,
Mark Braddocks, Matthew Braddocks)
Families: Second Generation
The Royal Peacecraft Family: King Adrian, Queen Trinity, twins Yuy (10-f)
and Maxwell (10-m)
The Winner Family (#1): Tristan + Mara Jade = Meiran (14-f), Dakota (12-f),
Jasmine (11-f), Galen (8-m), Bryce (5-m), Adrianna (4-f), Fletcher (2-m),
Hakeem (8 1/2 PN-m) *(a lot ^__^'')
The Winner Family (#2): Triton + Katarynna (Kit/Kat ^__^v) = Gabriel (6-m)
Pairings: Dylan Maxwell + Nicole Peacecraft (hoped for by Nikki); Julian
Mazzolla + Calista Winner (hoped for by Julian) [AN: has anyone else
noticed that really on Trinity and Adrian *wanted* each other from the
first? None of this 'hoped for' business...]
Archive: Yes-- www.gwaddiction.com
Warnings: The following story contains scenes that are humorous,
sappy,fluff, with rampant Incoherence, random PoV switching, and
Sexual innuendoes abound.
Original Characters are presented; all characters are IC according to
the author's interpretation of them. Mainly heterosexual
situations, with hints of YAOI and YURI (from the "older" crowd... and
*some* references to Dylan's past).
Spoilers: None to the original Gundam Wing Series at first; However, once
Julian has been commissioned by Calista for a special project, expect a lot
of rehashing of the series. It would be a plus to have read the previous
Matter of Heart Series Arc stories: "Dance of the Heart" Arc and "Oh Baby,
Baby" Arc. "Heirs to the Legacy" is built off of the stories forming
"Traditions".
Feedback: C&C is always welcomed and adored.
Acknowledgements: It's been three years... Three long bloody years. Hn.
And this damn story *still* isn't finished! Acknowledgements go out to all
the people who have helped me throughout this incredibly long Series--it
ain't over yet! Special Thanks go out to Zan, who must be my longest-kept
beta-reader to date! (And also a very good friend.... "How many more days
till A-kon?" "AW-what?" "What to you mean it's pronounced 'yeowie'? It's
spelt like 'ya-o-ee'." "Okay, now, seriously here; how squicked out do you
think people will be if I happen to mention the sexual relationship between
the twins? I mean, Triton and Tristan are very affectionate and all,
but...." ^___^)
Notes: This is the story of the children, the nine children of the 6
gundam pilots (Heero--Zechs) plus the grandchild of Treize
Khushrenada. This story will not focus primarily on the characters
from the series, but rather, the generation after them. This story is
not for all die-hard fans, but runs along the lines of a more
original piece.
Additional Note: 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 often times refer to each other as
"husband" [and thus the grandchildren might at one point refer to all five
men (six in Zech's case) as "grandfather"]; please refer back to "Promise of
the Rings" Part 13 if this causes confusion.
Additional Note 2: The chibis often times refer to their parents'
friends and partners as "Uncle" or "Aunt"--in this case, the
term is used simply as one of respect since, with the exception
of Kit & Adrian's relation to Relena, all of Quatre's sisters, and
Trowa's Catherine, none of the parents really have siblings.
Additional Note 3: As hinted at in Heirs to the Legacy #1, Zechs and Noin
have separated. Zechs has somehow been coerced into living with our boys at
Emerald Gardens (we've had the 5-somes; anyone up to a 6-some?)
Translation Note: Tousan/Otousan, father, represents Heero. Chichi is often
times used for Wufei. Daddy, Duo.
***These stories and the ideas contained within are copyright of the author. No reprinting or posting without permission of said author. ***
~Paris, France May AC 242 ~
He awoke to gentle kisses being carefully planted across his chest and murmured appreciatively at the gesture.
Nicole giggled as she playfully swiped her tongue across one pert dark little nipple, but before she could duck away hands buried themselves in her long loose hair, holding her to his chest. She smiled against his skin.
"Well? Finish what you've started, woman," he playfully ordered her.
"And if I refuse?" she taunted.
With a growl and a squeal they were rolling over, Dylan burying his face in her throat.
"Then I will take what I want anyway."
"Mmm, so good to know," she replied breathlessly, wrapping her arms around his neck and head as he began to feast on her breasts.
A hand made a bold quest down her flat belly and below, nestling deeply into the tawny curls at the juncture of her thighs. Moaning, Nicole gladly spread her legs for him, rocking her hips up for welcome friction against her sweet spot. All too soon, Dylan's lips were following the trail of his hand, stopping to dip a tongue into her belly button.
He watched her as he made his descent. Watched her throw her head back and moan; watched her arch her body up closer to him; watched her lips open and close again in silent begging for more. And then she looked down to him and said one word, "Onegai."
He found it was strange how a woman's taste changed. And, yet, he also found it terribly exciting, almost like a game, what's the special flavour of the day? It was incredibly intoxicating. The overwhelming scent, the tangy flavour, the silky flesh beneath his lips, teeth, and tongue, the way she moaned so beautifully, her fingers curling into his hair.
He learned quickly how to make her scream.
Panting, he crawled back up her body and stretched out beside, over her, leaving his hands to lazily sketch patterns over her exposed flesh.
"I love you."
Dylan smiled and kissed her shoulder. "I know."
"Happy Birthday."
"Yes, I think it will be," he replied, nuzzling her cheek and then kissing her.
There had been two more threatening letters since Nikki's birthday and nothing else.
Dylan couldn't believe it. He was beginning to think this whole thing just a scheme to get publicity, except, Nikki wasn't going to the press with this and the only people who knew she was even receiving these letters were members of the cast and crew.
They'd been on the road touring for the last four weeks now. A slew of things could have gone wrong, but aside from missing costumes or hairstylists who quit, nothing had. If this person, whoever he or she was, was intending to hurt Nikki, wouldn't they have done it already?
Or were they trying to install a false sense of security?
What were they after? What was it they hoped to achieve? No one sends threatening letters without planning on getting something out of it. So what? What would someone get by threatening Nikki's life?
Twenty feet away, Nicole was out there singing her heart for a crowd that adored her. He was right there with them; his girlfriend was about the most adorable person in the world right now. Gorgeous, beautiful voice, outstanding body, unbeatable spirit... and she loved him.
Or at least, she thought she did. She acted like one would expect a person in love would act. And what was really scary (or at least for Dylan) was that Dylan thought he just might be falling in love with her.
"You don't bring me flowers, you don't sing me love songs..."
She was dressed in sapphire blue tonight.
"You hardly talk to me anymore, when I come through the door at the end of the day."
The satin material hugged her curves like a second skin.
"I remember when, you couldn't wait to hug me, you used to hate to leave me."
It dipped close to her cleavage in the front and completely exposed her back.
"Now after lovin' me late at night~"
The rich blue material fishtailed at her calves, fanning out to the floor.
"When it's good for you, and you're feeling alright, well you just roll over, and you turn out the light..."
Fake diamonds and sapphires hung at her throat and ears.
"And you don't bring me flowers anymore."
Her silvery blonde hair was all pulled up, curls cascading down.
"It used to be so natural, to talk about forever."
There were tears in her eyes, though he doubted anyone really noticed.
"But 'used to be's' don't count anymore. They just lay on the floor, 'til we sweep them away."
He knew this song held special meaning for her.
"And baby, I remember, all the things you taught me."
Laying in bed one night, at the beginning of this tour, she buried her face in his shoulder and told him.
"I learned how to laugh, and I learned how to cry, "Well I learned how to love, I even learned how to lie."
This particular song reminded Nikki of her parents' separation and later divorce.
"So you'd think I could learn, how to tell you goodbye...."
Though, she knew they weren't happy together anymore, it still hurt.
"And you don't bring me flowers anymore...." (1)
Nikki loved the song, despite its sentimental association. Dylan agreed, and so, apparently, did the audience.
"I'm not telling you," she sing-sang teasingly, almost laughing with delight.
"Come on, Callie--" Julian was definitely not above begging-- "you *have* to tell me!"
Now she did laugh. "No I don't!" she took a moment to calm her hysterics. "Besides, I haven't even told them you'll be visiting, so you'll just have to be patient."
"This is completely unfair," the grown man on the other end of the vidphone pouting. "How am I possibly going to wait another five weeks for this once-in-a-life-time, possibly-the-best-thing-to-happen-in-my-career meeting?"
"Very patiently," Calista replied, having a very hard time wiping the shit eating face grin from her lips.
"You're a very mean woman, Calista Winner. Has anyone told you that?" Ah, but Julian was smiling, too.
The blonde winked. "At least once an hour. So how's your book signing tour going?" she asked, sipping from her water glass.
"Oh, you know. Here a city, there a city, everyone a city, city," Julian sighed. "I'd much rather be working on this project you promised me."
"All in good time, all in good time," she replied. "You know, Nikki's on tour now, too. If you two ever hooked up, you could go on tour together!" Calista teased but Julian wrinkled his nose.
"I don't know. That would seem too much like dating my sister," he grimaced. "Thanks, but no thanks. I have my eye on someone else, anyway."
Now this definitely pricked Calista's interest. "Oh, *really*... Do *tell*..."
"Nope, sorry, that's classified information," he teased. "But I'll let you know if things pan out or not, how's that."
Calista pouted. "Not as good as all the juicy details when they happen."
"So, come on, fill me in on all the family news," the dark auburn-haired man wheedled.
And Calista was back in control.
"Well, let's see, Galen won a Spelling Bee, but Gabriel won a Math Contest. Meiran's deciding between Sank Prep and St. Gabriel's--Mara Jade is rooting for Sank Prep, probably because she knows Trinity will keep an eye on her, but Uncle Heero and Uncle Duo seem to think St. Gabriel's would be a good choice. I'm sure there's some history there, but they wouldn't say."
Calista grinned at this, as though she *knew* what history was there but wasn't about to say.
"And, let's see, Dakota's suspended for beating up a boy, but Jasmine seems to be doing better. Only one detention last week. Yuy fell out of a tree last week and broke her arm. I don't know who was more scared, her brother or her mother, but I'm told Maxwell was in hysterics crying that she was going to die. Twins!
"Bryce is learning how to ride a two-wheeler, and Adrienne has graduated from big wheels to training wheels," Calista grinned. "She's a big girl now. And Hisoka's doing real well. He's walking completely on his own now and can say 'cookie,' 'no,' 'daddy,' 'poppy,' and 'sissie.' Dad insists he could say more, but he doesn't want to."
Julian chuckled. He remembered fondly his daughter, Leah, learning to walk and speak, ride a big wheeler and a two wheeler. He remembered giving her baths and reading her bedtime stories, curling up for naps on the couch, and staying up late watching movies...
"And Uncle Duo and Uncle Heero are in space this week helping Aunt Hilde out with the scrap yard. It must be hard on her what with her husband dying like that..." Calista shook her head sadly. "But I understand the kids are doing okay."
"It's hard to lose a parent, no matter how old you are," Julian added sympathetically.
"Hilde's talking about selling the yard since none of her kids want it," Calista continued, "and of course Uncle Duo isn't thrilled with the idea because, you know, he's the one who started it, but what can you do, right?"
Julian grinned. "Well, *you* could probably buy it," he teased.
Calista frowned. "I'd thought of that, but what would *I* do with a scrap yard? That's really more of Tristan's gig... unless I was to start buying up all scrap yards and run a monopoly..." The idea seemed to entertain the blonde businesswoman for several seconds before Julian cut in.
"I'm going to be in Asia this week," he said casually. "Why don't you take a break from that super important job of yours and come visit me? I'm all lonely here by myself like this."
"Auh, poor baby," Calista mocked, but later, when they got off the phone, she called up her secretary and reviewed her schedule for the week, seeing if a trip to Asia was really all that impossible.
It wasn't impossible.
By scheduling her entire week with impromptu inspections and foreign conferences while rescheduling some of her other conferences, Calista Winner, CEO of Winner Enterprises, was able to take the two hour commute, which she spent reviewing WEI's assets in the Asia continent as well as a short conference with her Head of Asia Department, while brushing up some of her dialects. She ignored her reasons for going through this hassle, quite satisfied with the excuse she'd given her secretary when he'd asked: "I'll have to do these inspections at some point anyway. Might as well get them over with while a friend of mine is in the area. Then I won't have to waste my evenings with pompous old fools who think they have a chance of getting into my bed."
Thankfully her secretary had also called ahead to alert the local Winner residence of her impending arrival. A carriage was waiting for her when she stepped off her jet, ready to escort her through the quaint city, up to the large house sitting on the edge of the mountain, high above all others. 'The house had been built by some Winner ancestor who wanted to feel terribly important and better than any of the local people, no doubt,' Calista thought with no little disgust.
She sent a runner down to the bookstore in town with a note to Julian. It gave only a place and time and nothing else. Smiling to herself, Calista switched out of her business suit and into a pair of shorts and a tank top that would keep her cool in the heated temperatures outside, and then she and the local shopping district had a date for the rest of the afternoon.
He seriously considered not going. After all, who sent a note and didn't sign their name? Who wanted to meet him in the first place? It could have been anyone! But his curiosity won, and at half past six he was looking himself over in the tiny mirror in his room.
'Not too shabby,' he thought, nodding to himself and picking up his room key on the way out the door.
It took him twenty minutes to find the restaurant named. He left his name with the host, and then he made his way towards the bar to order a drink.
"I suggest the sake," a warm voice purred into his ear.
He jumped as he flew around, and his eyes grew to the size of saucers gulping up the view before him.
Golden silk hair was fastened in two buns, tied with aqua-blue ribbons. The aqua colour continued in the form of a flowery kimono, cinched with a darker blue belt. Black slipper-like shoes completed the ensemble.
Julian blinked, hardly willing to believe his eyes, and managed to choke out, "Y-you came."
Calista smirked and bounced her shoulders in time to the music pumping out from the dance floor. "Yes, well, a trip to Asia was on my schedule this year, anyway. I just bumped it up a few months."
She winked, laughing. "Come, try the sake here. I think it's some of the best I've ever had!" she declared, thrusting a small white thimble-sized tea cup into his hand and tipping a decanter over. Warm clear looking liquid filled his cup, nearly spilling over the ends. She then filled a second cup and lifted it as in toast to his before tipping her head back and downing the contents of her cup.
Hissing, with a smack of her lips, Calista exclaimed, "Great stuff! I should get a case to send home," before giggling.
Julian couldn't help himself, he giggled, too. The sake was warm and tart as it raced over his tongue and down his throat. It seemed to pull in his stomach and he began to feel light-hearted and just a bit silly.
Calista was here. She'd come after all. But why? She said it was to do business, but then, she'd also said that business had been scheduled for a few months from now. Why would she bother to go through the trouble of rescheduling her agenda like that? It couldn't have been just because Julian had asked her to come, could it have been? What was she trying to achieve, coming half-way around the world like this?
But Calista was refilling his cup, several times over, and in a blur they were escorted to a small table somewhere in the back where they ordered bowls of steaming spicy chicken and vegetables over rice, with a lot more sake. She touched his arm, leaning in close to say something. Her knee bumped his thigh. Her eyes looked at him with heated invitation... or was that just his imagination?
She asked Julian to dance with her, not giving him a chance to decline as she dragged him out onto the dance floor. They danced close to the fast, hard pulsating music, their bodies rubbing eagerly against each other. Several of the songs, Calista seemed to know as she sang along to the lyrics, dangerously close to Julian's lips.
They left the restaurant several hours later--flushed, sweaty, and clumsily--tumbling into a hack that carried them back up the mountain to the Winner Residence. They didn't notice the beautiful scenery outside their window because each was too engaged with the other, kissing, teasing, touching anywhere, everywhere they could.
The pair fumbled into the house, stumbled up the stairs, and fell into the bed, completely and utterly out of their right minds.
Eleven decanters of sake will do that to a person.
They cuddled together in the narrow twin bed that had once been the bed of Hilde's youngest boy, Jacob. Malory's bedroom having been turned into a den the year she'd left for college, and Dennis Jr., Hilde's oldest, had taken a lot of furniture for his new family leaving only a twin sized bed and a night stand in the room he'd shared with his baby brother. The only other bed in the small house that was Hilde's home was the queen size in the Master bedroom.
Hilde had offered up her own bed for Duo and Heero, but they had refused. It just didn't feel right sleeping in someone else's bed like that. Besides, the twin bed was located in the room Heero used to have when the two had stayed here years upon years ago; the basement where Duo had housed himself had been renovated into a rec room.
Hilde's children and their families had all come and gone, leaving the small house feeling incredibly empty without the pitter-patter of tiny feet and squeals of little ones. Too empty for one woman getting up in years.
"Hilde's got herself a real nice family," Duo mused, snuggling closer to Heero's warmth.
"Mmn."
"Bet it's gonna get real lonesome for her here now with Dennis gone and all," the braided-silver-haired man continued, staring up at the ceiling.
Heero twisted, staring at Duo. "Spit it out," he said finally, tired of waiting for his husband to get to whatever it was he was scheming.
"Well," Duo drawled. "I was just thinking."
"A dangerous thing indeed," his husband replied deadpan.
Duo ignored him. "It's really not all that safe for one woman to be living by herself, especially at her age--"
"She's only a year older than us," Heero interjected.
"And we live in that big old house with Wu, Quat, and Tro-man and all those empty bedrooms..." Duo trailed off.
Heero relaxed back into the narrow bed. "I'm fine with it, but you'd better clear it with Quatre before you go saying anything to Hilde," he replied. "Besides, what makes you think she'd even want to come live on Earth? Away from her grandkids?"
"You heard her today," Duo sighed. "Dennis and them live in L3 now and hardly ever get back over here to visit. This was the first time in three years. And Malory's going through her divorce and custody battle..."
"You wanna call Quatre now or wait till morning?"
Duo grinned and kissed Heero's cheek. "I love you, you know that right?"
Heero squeezed back, smiling, "I know."
"Well, don't forget it, no matter what." He took the communicator Heero had fished off the nightstand and punched Emerald Gardens' code. (2)
End Part 7
(1) "You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore", the version I'm familiar with is a
duet preformed by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand and can be found on
Barbra's Greatest Hits Volume 2. I was originally planning to use this
particular piece as a songfic for two stories: the dissolvement of Zechs'
and Noin's marriage, and the possible end to Duo's and Heero's marriage
(mentioned in passing during a conversation between Heero and Zechs at
Trinity's and Adrian's wedding). I haven't gotten around to writing those
two stories, and I don't know if I will, but I think it works nicely here,
too.
(2) More friends for 'Mother Hen' Quatre to shelter & protect...protecting
his friends is one of Quatre's main motivations....but he does like to know
ahead of time. Strategists just do NOT like to be surprised!!!--Mistress
Beta-Reader Zan ^__^ ''
Andrea Readwolf
Please send comments to: andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com