August 8, 2000
Rating: Mature audience only, please...
Pairings: 3+4, 1+2+5, 6+N, R+D, S+11
Warnings: Yaoi and Yuri themes. Sappy in some areas (blame it on the romantic). Angst in other areas.
Spoilers: Episodes from the series and Endless Waltz...
Feedback: C&C is always welcomed and adored. Flames may be met with hexes and curses though! ^_^
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters belong to Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and are only being used for non-profit entertainment purposes. References to printed texts, films, sitcoms, musical pieces, and/or other fanfictions don't belong to me either. Sometimes they just get stuck in my brain and refuse to get out. ^_^
Notes: This story takes our favorite boys and subjects them to the worse horrors known to men. For time-line purposes, "Oh Baby, Baby" is approximately 8 years after "Have You Ever..." (203 AC), placing the boys at ~23-24 years of age.
The 'old gang' had gathered at the Winner Estate for a reunion/company picnic. While there, Quatre and Trowa mentioned that they were planning on having a child. Later, in their room, Duo said he'd been thinking about kids, too. Neither Wufei nor Heero were very happy about that.
<<One Week Later, CEO office of Winner Enterprises>>
"Yes, I know, Maxine, but please take care of it." –a sip from a tea cup-- "Yes, the entire next week." –a shuffle of papers-- "I'll be leaving in thirty-six hours. Thank you Maxine." –more papers shuffled-- "Yes, you have a good week too. Thank you, bye-bye." --a press of a button--
"Caroline? Yes. Please take care of the travel arrangements." --adjusting of the computer screen-- "Yes. Have the jet ready for take off--yes, yes. That will be perfect." –a couple keys tapped-- "Thank you, Caroline. Oh! And the--" –smile-- "You're a lifesaver, Caroline. Thank you. Yes, you have a safe trip--err," –laugh-- "That's right. Okay. Bye now." --another button pressed--
"Mark? How are the projects we discussed earlier coming along?" –turn from computer screen to more loose papers-- "Good, good. I'll be in the area within the next week. There's no problem with me stopping by and taking a peek at the progress, right?" –scribble a signature at the bottom of the last page-- "Good, good. Then I'll be seeing you sometime within the next week. Till then." --another button pressed--
"Joyce?" –pages flipped in a notebook-- "Add a visit to the L2-project Triple J site to my schedule next week, okay?" –scribble down a date and time with 'L2-JJJ'-- "Good. Oh, and fax over the papers on the K, L, and M projects, too." --return back to the computer-- "Thank you." --another button--
"Albert? I need you to--" –startled pause-- "Trowa? Trowa, what are you doing on my work line?"
"Quatre," the voice over the phone said patiently. "Would you please take a moment to look at the time?"
The blond man looked at the time counter on the computer on his desk and his marine-blue eyes nearly bugged out. "Oh! Trowa! I'm so sorry! I lost complete track of the time. Gomen--"
"That's alright," Trowa replied, opening the door to the office. "I'm used to it." The tall young man closed the door behind him as his love shot him an apologetic look. "I had Angela reroute all your calls for the next hour," he continued, walking into the large plush office, setting a large basket on one corner of the desk and his backside on the other.
Quatre groaned, his eyes closing wearily, but a smile on his lips. His head fell back against the large business, swivel chair. "An hour? That's it?" he sighed.
"I brought some lunch," Trowa answered, leaning over to open the basket.
"I'd rather have you," Quatre replied, shooting the other man a playful look.
Trowa smiled, turning to lean over the desk. "You already have me," he replied, kissing the blond man once, twice, and once more for good measure.
"Mmm," Quatre murmured. "Delicious." Lazy aquamarine eyes studied his love, the broad stretch of back covered by a gray turtleneck, the tight faded denim, the casual boots. Gorgeous.
Trowa smiled at him, and went back to emptying the basket. "So is everything ready?" he asked, already knowing the answer, as he laid out the mini-feast Maria, their cook, had packed for them.
"Just about," Quatre answered, already reaching for some of the pineapple chunks. "We'll be ready to leave by tomorrow. I just have a few last minute things to take care of..."
Trowa was still smiling. 'A few last minute things' could take more than just a few minutes when it came to his Quatre... He selected a ripe strawberry and dipped it in the whip cream provided, turned and slipped it between Quatre's busy talking lips.
Those aquamarine depths flared. A fire jumped in the emerald gaze that held his. He tried to speak, but found his throat to tight to get words passed. He swallowed, his chest rising and falling faster than normal. 'Eight years... eight years and he can still cause this reaction in me...' he mused.
"Did you get in contact with the others?" he managed after a moment. Trowa nodded, finishing off the strawberry himself. "And?"
"And Duo has business in the L2 area and was planning on heading out that way at the end of the week anyway. Heero and Wufei were already planning on joining him." Trowa lifted a shoulder in a small shrug, leaning over to feed a piece of pineapple to his love. "They don't mind catching a ride with us."
Quatre smiled. "Good, good," the blond man murmured, rocking back in his chair. "No trouble I hope?"
A shoulder rose and fell. "Nothing they can't handle," Trowa answered, brushing a hand through his russet bangs. "One of the kids had a run in with the law again." Trowa looked him, a look that seemed to say "Are you sure?"
Quatre continued to smile. "I want them there," he told his love again, as he'd been telling him for the past week. "I want their understanding and approval in this." He continued before Trowa could say anything. "I know it's not necessary, but I would like it anyway. This is going to be a big change for all of us, and..."
Trowa was frowning, but he nodded, biting off a piece of cantaloupe. "I understand," he said softly, looking out the window. A stray sunbeam struck the gold band on his finger and glinted off the ceiling.
"So what's this all about?" Duo asked fingering the gold band on his finger nervously as Heero finished stowing their carry on in the indicated apartment.
"Hmm?" The blond young man looked up from the open folder in his lap. Beside him, Trowa reached over, picked up the folder, and closed it. "Oh, but Trowa! I was reading that!"
"Quatre, the words aren't going to change--no matter how many times you read them," the tall, auburn-haired man replied. Quatre crossed his arms and made to pout, but a drop kiss on his nose chased away his frown.
"Why'd you want us to hop a flight with you guys?" Duo tried again, leaning back in the plush seat on the private jet.
"Why not?" Quatre returned, a nervous smile on his face.
Duo shot him a rueful grin. "We could've easily waited till the end of the week, Q-man..."
A small shoulder rose in a shrug. "But Trowa and I were already going up to space," Quatre returned.
"The captain says they're ready for take off," Wufei said, coming from the front. He leaned over Quatre and kissed Trowa, before back retreated to greet Quatre with the same 'hello'. Brushing the blonde's face affectionately, Wufei pulled back, taking his own seat beside Heero and Duo. "So what's this about?" he asked, buckling the safety belt.
"He hasn't said yet," Heero answered.
Wufei shot Duo an amused look. "Losing your touch are you?"
"I'm not losing any touch," Duo shot. "As well you know." He poked the Chinese man in the ribs before crossing his arms and pouting. Wufei and Heero ignored him, their twin gazes pinning on the blond man and his mate instead.
"Care to enlighten us?" Heero asked, relaxing into the seat as the small jet began its jaunt down the runway.
"Well, actually there is something..." Quatre began worrying his lower lip. A hand squeezed his and he looked over to Trowa, smiling. He turned back to his three friends who were waiting patiently.
"So...?" Duo wheedled. "Spill it." Okay. Two of them were waiting patiently.
"How much do you know about the Behenna Satellite?" he countered. The jet jumped beneath them as it lifted off the runway.
Three faces frowned. "Behenna Satelite?" Duo repeated. "That's one of yours, ne?"
Quatre nodded. "Yes," he answered. "One of my sisters does research there."
They waited. The jet vibrated beneath them as it struggled to break free from the Earth's atmosphere. Air swooshed into the cabin as it pressurized.
"So what's so special about Behenna?" Heero asked calmly.
"Do you have any idea what goes on at the Behenna Satellite?" Quatre continued. His three comrades frowned--a good signal of 'negative'. "Eight years ago, when my father died, Fantina asked for the funding to continue her research. Things were so hectic, what with what we were trying to do and then trying to head WIE at the same time, and than you disappeared," he said to Heero. He sighed. "I just looked at the payroll, saw the amount of people who were working there, and I agreed."
"Behenna Satellite is a genetic research facility," he told them after another moment.
"Genetic research?" Duo repeated. Quatre nodded.
"What *kind* of 'genetic research'?" Heero asked, a hard bite in his voice that the others associated immediately with 'The Perfect Soldier'.
"Gene splicing, primarily," Quatre answered truthfully.
"Gene splicing?" Wufei's arms had been crossed, his chin pressed down to his chest as the jet shot into the air and into space. Now he looked up, staring directly into the familiar face of loved ones.
"Y-yes," Quatre went on. "Last week, when Trowa and I said that we were going to have our--our own child?" Duo and Heero both nodded; Wufei frowned, having been absent. "We truly meant our own child, of our blood."
All three boys were frowning now.
"Quatre, man, we all know it's impossible for--well, to--uh--"
"Naturally impossible, yes," Quatre answered, still worrying his lower lip. "But Fatina believes she's finally succeeded in--"
"Quatre, I thought you were against test-tube babies," Heero cut in, scowling.
A tightness that had surrounded Quatre suddenly released, and he relaxed, leaning back into the seat. "I am," he admitted. "That's why we won't be using one."
"It's called an ectopic pregnancy," the small blonde woman said, not bothering to look at them. She was 5'1"--no heels, cropped blonde waves, intense teal eyes that hid behind multi-colored frames. She wore tan slacks, a baby-pink shell, and a white lab coat. The pencil and clipboard completed her get-up.
"The placenta attaches itself to something other than the mother's uterus," she continued, looking up at them. "It was first explored early in the twenty-first century A.C.E. in relation to male pregnancy. A total of sixty-one births were successful before society deemed it wrong and unnatural."
Fatina Winner stopped at a communal, looking over the young man's shoulder. "It's biggest opponents were women who felt that it infringed upon women's sole right to childbirth."
"And now?" Trowa asked softly, standing beside Quatre, a reassuring hand on the young man's back.
Fatina glared at that hand and then turned back around, continuing their tour of the facility. "And now it's practically unheard of--male pregnancy."
"But... not impossible," Quatre said, his voice begging for reassurance.
Fatina looked at her brother... something softening in her face. "No," she replied softly. "Not impossible." She cleared her voice and turned back around. "However, there are always risks with the pregnancy. Whether male or female."
"Risks?" Wufei repeated, the frown that had creased his beautiful Asian face since before leaving the jet, still in place.
"Yes," the blonde woman answered without turning around. "When the placenta does not attach to the uterus, it attaches to another organ. It can cause damage to that organ."
Heero was also frowning. He had enough first-hand experience to know damage to any organ was a bad thing. "What kind of damage?" he asked.
The blonde woman lifted her shoulder in a shrug. "It depends, really, on where the placenta attaches--the kidneys, the liver, the stomach, the intestines. You name it."
She stopped at another room, opening the door and ushering them in. "We think we've overcome this minor problem though."
"How's that?" Wufei again.
Fatina smiled. "Glad you asked." She opened a drawer in a cabinet and pulled out a rubber-looking bag and began pulling at it. "This is a synthetic womb. Not much to look at now, but when moistened it acts as a barrier for the fetus, just like a normal uterus." She put the 'womb' back. "The difference is, this one can be implanted in a male and attached to the stomach lining."
"But this isn't what you've spent years researching," Heero said stoically. "You said that these procedures were already done before."
Fatina frowned at the young man. She didn't like his attitude. Actually, she didn't like any of their attitudes, but these were Quatre's friends... and she needed Quatre's good favor to ensure the continual funding of her research....
"No," she told him, motioning them out of the room. "This is all just fluff, really. Minor projects that haven't even been tested yet." She began leading them back down the hallway to the elevator.
"The main purpose of my research revolves around genetics." She pushed a button marked 'GL-4'. "We think we've successfully managed to dissect the human DNA code and reconstruct it."
"Isn't that like playing God?" Duo asked quietly, speaking up for the first time since they arrived on the satellite.
Fatina shot him a startled look. It was one of many in the small elevator.
"Maybe some would see it like that, yes," she answered as the silver doors slid open--
--revealing a large, sparkling white laboratory with numerous cubicles. At one of those cubicles a woman looked up, saw them, and came to greet visitors.
"Fatina," she said pleasantly, nodding. "This must be your brother and his...friends. Hello, I'm Doctor Jackson."
Fatina nodded. "Quatre-sama, this is Hiroshima Jackson, leading geneticist here."
"Hiro--"
"--shima?"
The dark haired woman laughed at the young men's surprise, her dark eyes sparkling with amusement. "Yes, well, my father had a--a strange sense of justice," Doctor Jackson replied with a flashy smile. "You're welcome to call me 'Hiro' or 'Dr. J' if you--"
She broke off, startled by the five men's flushed faces. "Is something wrong?" she asked, blinking.
Fatina cleared her throat, smiling. "Let me finish the introductions," she said with amusement. "Hiroshima Jackson, this is Trowa Barton, Chang Wufei, Duo Maxwell, and *Heero* *Yuy*."
The stress on the Heero's name did not go unnoticed-- nor did the spark of interest that flashed in the woman's dark eyes as she looked over him in a new light. Heero, for his part, met her look evenly. She nodded, seeming pleased with her findings--which only served to annoy him.
"I see," she mused to herself. "Interesting... well, in that case, it would be unfitting for you to call me 'Hiro' now, wouldn't it?" She beamed a smile worthy of a certain braided-baka. "How 'bout we just settle on 'Dr. Jackson', ne?"
Quatre stepped forward, smile in place, hand outstretched. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms--Dr. Jackson," he said for them all.
She laughed. "The pleasure is mine, Quatre-sama. Tell me, do you like what we've done to the old place?" she asked, gesturing with flourish.
"Yes," he replied, stepping back into the comforting presence of his koi. "It is very aesthetically pleasing."
Dr. Jackson laughed again. "It's more than just that, m'boy!" she said, drawing him forward into the room. "This is the nucleus of the future! Come, let me show you!"
He was feeling uneasy, and he didn't mind the others knowing. Perhaps that was the biggest change in Heero Yuy. He allowed himself to feel and those closest to him to know *how* he felt. Or maybe it was just that they had become used to determining his moods.
Either way, it didn't change the fact that he was still feeling uneasy.
It was more than just the fact that they'd been roomed in five separate rooms--yes, that's right. *Five* separate rooms--and that each room was spartan with only a single bed and a single bureau. No mirror. No closet. No damn bathroom--that was three doors do--
<<KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK>>
"Hey, Heero," Duo was saying as the door slid open--not even waiting for the person inside to answer it. "Tell me this isn't just weird?"
The braided boy--er, young man, bounced into the room, plopping himself onto the bed. He propped his chin up on two balled fists and looked up at the frowning man standing over the bed.
"I mean, I haven't slept alone in a bed in over *how* many years?" He fell onto his back, pouting. "Do you think we could squeeze the three of us onto one bed?"
"Probably not," a third voice answered as the door slid open and shut again.
Duo tilted his head back, glancing upside-down at Wufei as the Chinese man entered the room before tossing the little rubber ball he'd brought with him up into the air for a solo game of catch.
"I'm really sorry about this," Quatre flushed, he and Trowa having scooted in right behind Wufei. "You don't have to stay here tonight. It's okay--"
"Nah," Duo said, twisting on the bed. "We could always just drag all the mattresses into one room and have a slumber party."
Smiles and grins teased the lips of all the occupants.
"We don't have any marshmallows," Trowa pointed out, his dark green eyes twinkling with amusement. Both Duo and Quatre turned a stunning shade of red.
"I think we can survive without any marshmallows," Quatre stumbled out.
"Hn."
Smiles and grins melted away as the four young men turned to the fifth.
"Okay, someone tell me I wasn't the only one freaked out about that," Duo said, falling back against the wall in a sitting position.
"You weren't the only one freaked out by that," four voices chimed at once.
"Okay, just checking," Duo quipped before going back to tossing the ball.
"It *could* have been just a weird coincidence," Quatre hesitated to suggest.
"Hn. Maybe," Heero returned. "Maybe not."
"Do you *think* there's a connection?" Wufei asked softly as he leaned up against one bare wall, arms crossed.
"I don't know," the Japanese man admitted, leaning back against the bureau.
"Well... what do you make of Dr. Jackson?" Quatre asked, leaning up against Trowa as they stood at the end of the bed.
"She seems like a nice old lady," Duo supplied.
"Honest, trustworthy," Wufei added. "At least that's what I caught from her."
"And very enthusiastic about her work," Duo said, tossing the ball suddenly to Heero--
--who caught it, and began tossing it in the air. "Yes. She definitely believes in her work." He tossed the ball to Trowa--
--who eyed it. "Yes, but was she telling us everything today?"
"You think she's hiding something?" Quatre asked, a frown worrying his angelic face. He took the ball from Trowa and tossed it to Wufei.
"Perhaps," the Chinese boy answered, catching the ball without opening a large onyx eye. He squeezed the blue rubber. "Perhaps not." He tossed the ball to Heero.
"What she said today," Heero said, also studying the ball. "It sounded crazy, but it made sense."
"Hey? Hey guys? Can I have my ball back?" Duo questioned, bouncing up on his knees. Heero smiled and tossed the ball.
Wufei caught it. "Cell splicing..." he said. "Yes, it sounds crazy." He tossed the ball to Quatre.
"Crazy, maybe, but if it's true... if it works..."
"Yes," Trowa said softly beside him.
Quatre tossed the ball to the very unhappy Duo--who smiled brilliantly as his toy was returned to him. "Well I think it's a neat idea," he said, tossing the ball into the air. "I mean, take some of your cells, take someone else's cells. Cut 'em in half, put 'em back together again, and BAM! You have yourself a new person!"
He looked at Trowa and Quatre. "Add that to the stuff your sister was tellin' us this afternoon, and you guys got yourself a kid, just like you wanted."
If there was a catch in his voice, the two didn't notice.
"Hn." Heero grunted, pushing off the bureau. "So, who's room are we going to set up the mattresses in?"
********** End of "Oh Baby, Baby" Part Four **********
Andrea Readwolf
Please send comments to: andrea_readwolf@hotmail.com