07-Feb-2004
Title: Children of Doctor Moreau
Author: Christine
e-mail: Devilkitty@speakeasy.net
Pairing: 4+3, 1+2, AllxAll
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, language, AU
Relena enjoyed the drive into town, but she liked the little side trip that Zechs insisted on taking. It had started causally enough, Duo pouting because he was in the back seat, so that he wouldn't fiddle with the controls for the radio. Zechs drove and Relena was very glad that she had braided her hair back, they had the top down and he was doing about sixty down the back roads. She was glad that the car was nimble enough that they were not going to get plastered by either another driver or hitting a tree.
"Can you drive stick?" Zechs shouted at her.
"No." Relena screamed back over the wind. "I never learned to drive even."
"Wanna learn?" Duo asked, grinning at her, hanging over the seat.
"She's learning whether she likes it or not." Zechs said firmly as they turned off into a deserted area. "It's a skill that might come in handy."
"Why?" Relena asked.
"So in case of trouble you can drive away, rather then run if you've gotten access to a car. And they do make a good weapon. Duo will teach you how to hot wire a car later, which is also a useful skill for you to learn." Zechs said. I don't want to have to worry about you if we get stuck somewhere. I also think that you would feel a lot better about what was happening here if you can see that we are content with what we are. Not happy, but then a lot of humans can't claim that either.
"Hmm... " Relena waffled, it did sound interesting, Illegal but interesting. And probably a lot more useful then the three years of Latin that she had taken.
"It's only bad if you do it not if you know it," Duo said, smiling at her. He had learned to do that before he learned how to drive, really. He had to know all that stuff though, more then the stupid economics or sociology that they taught them. Languages, math and history he could understand why they taught that to them, but not the other things.
"I suppose so, but... I really don't think that I'm going to need to know this," Relena said.
"Probably not, but... you might not need the alternative identity that we are working on for you either, just in case," Zechs said smoothly. I think that we might have to make you disappear someday. Glen would help because as cold as he is I don't think that he would like some of the things that they might want to do with you if Quatre is right in some of his suspicions.
After a week his smooth baritone no longer caused her to think about doing the horizontal waltz with him. She had gotten used to them all, their sexiness and the way that they moved. She no longer worried about her hormones betraying her. Duo she was used to, she wasn't even reacting to his purr anymore. But sleeping with him was interesting. He had crawled into bed with her every night it seemed. He had woken up her up a once, murmuring Heero's name and hugging her. She was torn between being amused and worried that he might do something to her in his sleep. Duo however seemed more embarrassed about his actions then anything when she mentioned them. She was going to have to have a long talk with him some time about puberty.
"You are creating an alternative identity for me?" Relena asked, curiously. She didn't think that it was that bad an idea that she might want to flee into the night and never see her father again. She felt guilty about that for a moment and then put it aside. She might have to run for her own good and his.
"It might be necessary for you to disappear for a while," Zechs told her.
"And the reason for that would be?" Relena asked, curiously.
"Any number of them... " Zechs started, "so that you can not be used as a hostage for your father, you might want to get away from us. Shall I go on?" Don't make me, please, because to talk about such things might make it happen.
"You don't have to," Relena replied faintly. They are worried about something that they don't want to tell me about. "Thank you. Do you think that it will work?"
Zechs shrugged. "You might have to dye and cut your hair. We are choosing a large enough school so that you won't be remembered. Also we are arranging for credit cards, a new social security number and other things that you will need. Since you don't know how to drive, learning will be good, since the package we are putting together does include a driver's license."
She pulled her mind back to the lesson at hand, how to drive a standard car. After about fifteen minutes, she stopped grinding the gears occasionally. Another twenty minutes and she felt confident that she could actually drive, if she was the only one on the road, in broad daylight, with someone holding her hand. She just had to remember to keep hitting the clutch instead of panicking.
Duo was giggling at her nervousness and she resisted the urge to smack him one. He always dodged them easily. Zechs was laughing to, but more at Duo's reaction to Relena's mistakes. "Don't let him bother you. Duo ground gears forever. He had to learn to fix cars to replace the ones he kept breaking."
"Not my fault!" Duo cried indignantly. "I was too small to hit the clutch half the time."
"No excuse, Heero was the same size and had no problem."
"Heero never has a problem," Duo said wistfully. "Just does things right the first time."
"Not always... " Zechs smirked, "Ask Quatre about the first time that they were together."
"I am so not going there. Do you people have no consideration?" Relena moaned. "I really don't have to know about your personal life... I got the message the first day." I really don't have to be reminded that you have no interest in me. I just want to be family, strange as that seems. However you shouldn't tease Duo about such things. That might be why he isn't doing something about his interest in Heero.
Zechs laughed evilly and shooed her out of the driver's seat. He loved teasing the humans, and Relena was just too easy a target. "I know, but... I like pushing buttons."
"Just because the idiots back there pushed yours all your life, don't take it out on me. I haven't anything to do with it... in fact... I think that the only reason my father thought of sex was because of the work that he was doing on you guys," Relena said.
She shouldn't be annoyed with Zechs. Teasing her meant that he trusted her, liked her even. He was usually polite and well behaved around the rest of the staff and the scientists. Was she the only one that saw the contempt beneath that politeness? Or was she the only one that cared? But he was nice to her and she was beginning to feel about her father and his colleagues the same way. If you weren't one of them, they did have a tendency to treat you like a retarded chipmunk. Some of the conversations that she had had with Glen and Ong made her feel like an idiot. They talked down to her and almost, but not quite, acted like she was an infant and talked to her in 'baby' talk. A comment or two on the latest bioresearch had stopped the baby talk, but she knew that they still considered her one of their less intelligent lab rats, just that she walked on two legs, but hadn't been modified by them.
"What are you talking about?" Duo asked, he hadn't been paying too much attention to the conversation, because there were a couple of birds that he was eyeing and thinking about pouncing on them for no apparent reason, besides that he could. He was just waiting for them to get back on the road and finish the ride into town. He wanted his ice cream, no matter how much fun it had been laughing at Relena while she was learning how to drive. They only time that he managed to get some 'bad' food. Gerald and Ong acted like it was poison. Just because they couldn't or wouldn't eat it, didn't mean that they rest of them couldn't enjoy eating ice cream. They should see half the stuff that they ate when they were out on a job. This balanced diet crap went out the window real fast. They lived for junk food and anything else that these people thought was bad. You couldn't overdue it, even his metabolism couldn't stand up to that, but it was nice to cheat.
"Adult conversation," Relena said, "The same thing that we discussed on my first night with you."
"Oh... like why you smelled so adult when we first started sleepin' together?" Duo asked.
Relena blushed and resisted the urge to bury her head in her hands. She didn't want anyone to know about that! She was right to call him Mr. Clueless at times. "Yeah, sort of. How my hormones forgot the fact that we grew up together. And the fact that I could dance naked through your rooms and the most reaction I'd get was Wufei telling me to put clothes on because I wasn't as in good shape as the rest of you and he didn't want to see me naked because of that."
"That would be interesting." Zechs laughed. "And probably right, Wufei... does not like humans. Usually too weak for him and he despises weakness. He and Heero, along with myself do most of the wetwork, which does not improve his opinion of humans." I don't know whose idea it was to send them out so young, but it did something to them. I think that they dislike humans so much because they learned how easy they were to kill so young. I know that is why I don't like them, plus the fact that most of them treat us like scum, because we do their dirty work. Duo hasn't had to kill anyone yet and I think that is why he is the way that he is. Innocent and bubbly.
"Wufei's got a stick up his butt, and you do not have to tell me if you've checked otherwise." Relena said, noticing that Zechs was about to open his mouth again. Would they ever stop rubbing it in that they had an active sex life and she wasn't going to ever get laid around here!
"How would he know?" Duo asked, curiously. He had heard the jokes but never really understood how things worked, besides if you didn't like the one that you were with or that they were nasty to you, it hurt. Trowa had told him that much.
"Didn't anyone cover this in sex ed? Or they skipped that part of your education?" God, all these people flirting with him and no one bothered to tell him the mechanics of what they wanted? No wonder he didn't have any interest in the others, he has no idea what they want to do to him and that probably worried him.
"Skipped, I'm afraid to say," Zechs told her. "By the time we were ten, they thought that it would be a distraction. And I or Treize did not want them to be reminded of it later... they might think that a breeding program would be the next step. If we prove to be cost effective and successful for the company, that would be something that they would consider, mostly likely as a long term project." I hope that you don't put it together because I don't want to panic you if we are just worried about something that is never going to happen. I don't think that the others would start a breeding program without telling Cinq Industries since they stopped them in the first place, but you never know. It is easier to be forgiven then to ask permission. I don't think that a late term abortion would phase any of them. Not with the number of failures that they had generated already with us.
"How? You guys are all guys... " Relena's voice trailed off, thinking for a second, before voicing her thoughts aloud. "Or get some more donor eggs, they've got the money thanks to your work, to see if you can breed. Or get some live subjects... might be easier. Or a mixture of both, I'm surprised that Une hasn't started knitting little baby booties." Oh SHIT. It's too easy to do now a days to get a surrogate mother, practically a cottage industry in some areas. They don't have to know that the baby isn't what they think that it is. Could that be one of the reasons that I would have to 'disappear'?
"It might be better if you go off to college, just in case they think of that," Zechs said seriously. "The medication would have to be stopped with Une and they don't want to do that." They're too afraid that she would loose control and kill them for everything that they have done to her over the years. Une can hate a good long time and she really didn't enjoy all the things that they did to her when she hit puberty. I'm just surprised that she didn't kill anyone back then.
"Sure, I've gotten some offers for college, just didn't know if I could take them, but it would be a six month delay if I tell anyone yes right now. But I don't put it past my Daddy, the Mad Scientist to see if it would work. And if we talk about this any more... I'm going to lose my appetite, so after the ice cream please," Relena said faintly. Shit, shit, shit! Would he do that to her? Did he have her just to see what the second generation would be like? She knew that he loved her, but she was too sure that he didn't love his work even more.
"What are you talking about?" Duo asked, since he had missed part of the conversation because of the wind. Even with his hearing couldn't understand a conversation that was being held in a wind tunnel.
"About making babies... you and a random human female... or me," Relena said.
Duo shook his head, his eyes getting hard and adult looking. "That would be rape. For both parties. If Sanderson was still alive I don't put it past him to have thought of it, the pervert. Jason and the others are just used to dealing with parts of the body and the gene codes, they don't step back enough to see what they are working with is person, not a bunch of randomly assembled DNA. Hopefully they won't think about it, but you never know. It just takes one stray thought, like the one that said combining animal and human DNA was a good thing. Nothing personal Relena, you don't smell right, so I really don't want to do that with you."
Relena stared and shook her head. That Duo came up with that was amazing. Une must have been right, the happy, bouncy Duo was a cover for the one that thought. "It was a good thing... I got you and the rest of my family, I don't think that I would be the person I am now unless that had happened," Relena said softly. "But I really don't want to have anyone's baby right now, thank you very much!" Good enough to cuddle, but not to make love to? I should be hurt... I'm not though. I don't want to do that with you either now. I know that you aren't human enough for me. Besides... Heero would kill me.
Duo shook his head and grinned at her, back into his happy mood. "Enough with the depressing stuff, we're almost to town and we're gonna get some Ice Cream!!! Plus some more shows on DVD. We order them instead of renting. We're supposed to get some good ones in now, some Hong Kong imports and Anime! So let's get the show on the road and head in."
Relena and Zechs laughed, willing to let the conversation go for now, but she would continue it at a later date, like the next time he crawled into her bed. There was a lot that she had to talk to him about. She wanted to plan her escape if she had to get out of there in a hurry. Also she wanted to know how he kept opening her locked bedroom window.
Duo was right... it was a small town. Since it wasn't more then a couple of streets and she wondered what people did here for entertainment. There was a small movie house advertising a film that had been out for months, along a greasy spoon and the ice cream parlor, which was right next to the post office. That was about all that was on 'main street', with the exception of a couple of empty store fronts. The only real store that was in town seemed to be an old five and dime store that advertised that you could rent videos, get your shotgun shells and your hunting license there too. The library was off to one side, next to a very small gas station, which had one bay to fix cars. Relena wondered how a place like this even survived.
"We have our ice cream and then pick up the packages," Zechs said.
"Okay!" Duo cheered, "Com'on Relena, last one in is a rotten egg."
Relena laughed and followed Duo into the ice cream parlor, giggling, Duo just had that effect on her at times. He was so fun to be with. The rest of the group was wary of her, wondering what exactly she was doing there. She wondered herself at times, wondered why she fought so hard to get back there, now that she was back home. They all wondered what her ulterior motive was for being there.
Had the scientists thought all along that she was back here for breeding with one of them? Scary thought, she was glad that Zechs talked to her about it. It might explain why Quatre was so hostile too. Or was he peeved at the attention that she was showing Trowa? She just wanted to show him that not everyone wanted him for his body. She just wanted to give him some love and hope that it helped him calm down a little around everyone. She made a mental note to talk to Quatre about things that might defuse some of the tension that she felt in him. Quatre might feel threatened by her and she didn't want him after her also, the rest of the stuff that she had to deal with was bad enough, she didn't need him peeved at her also. She had figured out that Quatre was the one that said frog and the other croaked for him.
Duo was a regular and apparently popular with the staff here, she noticed when they placed their order. Not as popular as Zechs was, she noticed the girls behind the counter eyeing him like he was a side of meat and giving her some very odd looks, wondering what she was doing with these two.
Zechs noticed her thoughtful look and smiled slightly at her. She watched as Duo ordered a large banana split, she didn't think that he was going to be able eat his supper after that. Zechs limited himself to a cup of coffee. Relena was content to get a small dish of sherbet, ignoring the glares that she was getting, especially after she tried to 'discreetly' hold Zechs' hand. She hadn't made sure that the group had all noticed that she was doing that, even if it was out of sight, underneath the table. That earned her a particularly hard stare from a gaggle of schoolgirls that had wandered in as soon as they sat down.
Zechs smiled and flirted with her, causing more of his fan club to be upset. Relena smiled and started teasing him, making semi suggestive gestures with her spoon and the sherbet that she was eating. Zechs played along and flirted back, he seemed pleased at her attention. Duo ignored them both, talking a mile a minute with the girls that gathered around them, apparently unaware of the fact that they were all upset with Relena and Zechs. He was more interested in the ice cream that he got then noticing the tension that was in that store because the favorite hunk seemed to have settled down with a big city stranger.
Relena was all smiles as she walked to the Post Office. She noticed that it was sharing space with every other 'official' function a small town had to worry about. Before they went in, she managed to get slightly ahead of Zechs and used the height that she got from the steps to give Zechs a kiss on the lips. She giggled a little and then whispered to him, "I'll explain to Treize that I was saving you from a hoard of icky girls. He might not kill me then."
Duo laughed and bounced past them, not caring about what games they were playing with the girls that lived here, now that he had noticed them. Zechs had been ogled for years. They all had been, which was one of the reasons that some of the rest of them didn't like going into town. Treize couldn't stand the girls chasing after him and Trowa didn't like how close they stood to him. Both of them only went into town when they couldn't avoid it. The rest of them didn't bother, knowing that him and Zechs were willing to put up with the humans outside of their assignments. Duo was still confused that Zechs went into town with any of them. He couldn't stand anyone that worked with them when they were sent outside. So was it that he liked seeing the sheep in their natural habitat that he did the mail run with him?
Duo opened their mailbox, glad that there was a notice in there that the DVDs that they had ordered had arrived. It wasn't like they could pick up anything good here; it was so isolated and conservative. The store that did rentals ran more towards family videos and romantic comedies then anything that they were interested in. None of them understood the concept of a romantic comedy, even after watching dozens of them. Actually he didn't mind the older ones, like the Tracy-Hepburn series, but the modern ones were too confusing for him. How did one go from being friends to having sex? He frowned at the notice that there was a box of books for them too, Wufei's stuff from the address on the note. The box would be heavy, so he'd leave that to Zechs. He and Relena could take care of all the junk mail and the videos.
"Will you two stop smooching!" he exclaimed. "We got stuff to do and I am sick of watching you kiss every five minutes!"
Zechs threw back his head and laughed while, Relena stuck out her tongue at him. They both knew that Duo was just doing that for their audience. He didn't think that Duo would care about anything that he and Relena did. Not that he was happy about that, because he wanted Duo to be very interested in him. He thought that he would be a delightful partner in bed. Channeling all that energy into sex would be interesting. Treize and he had speculated a lot about how Duo would be once he discovered hormones. Too bad Heero was making 'MINE' noises about him. While was very possessive of both Treize and Wufei, he also realized that they might not have the same view on their relationship. He was content that he was first in both of their lives and if what they did while he was not around was none of his business. At least he knew that they weren't doing something as disgusting as having sex with humans.
They quickly loaded the car with all the mail, Zechs easily carrying the heavy book boxes that were Wufei's. They all decided to ignore the conversation that they had had on the way out. Relena was in too much of a good mood to worry about her father suddenly deciding that he wanted to be a grandfather and doing some quick gene splicing with her and one of her brothers. She was more worried about how she was going to explain to Quatre that she just realized that she might be interfering with his relationship with Trowa.
Relena sighed and curled up around her pillow. Duo hadn't showed up yet, but it was still early. Or he may of, 'gasp!' fallen asleep with someone else. She didn't think that he would have, but he also might be off chasing mice or birds or something. He still did that on occasion, he told her, when he wanted to think. It wasn't like stalking a human, he had told her innocently, the humans were challenging, but the birds were just something to keep his body occupied while he thought about things. It also annoyed the hell out of the scientists was besides that point for him. They thought that it was something that he did because he wasn't mature yet. Relena didn't know if that was a habit that was going to get him into trouble with her father and the others one day and then they were just going to drag him into the lab and mess with his psyche and body some more. She thought that he would be safe until his 'bad' habits outweighed his usefulness. She hoped that it would never happen.
Relena had shuddered at the innocent implications in that sentence about stalking humans. That Duo actually enjoyed hunting down his targets showed a decided lack of something in his psyche. But he hadn't mentioned killing, so she didn't think that he did more then keep track of the target, the killing was left to either Heero or Wufei. She wondered how old they had been when they first killed someone and how it affected them. She could sense a lack of empathy for humans in most of the boys, she wondered if it was from their genes or the killing that they had to do. Duo didn't seem to suffer from it, along with Quatre and Treize. She was pretty sure that none of them had had to kill anyone for the company, no matter what else that had been told to do.
Heero was due back tomorrow; it had been a long three weeks without him. Duo was getting more excited then usual that Heero was coming home and had been running around all day. Relena was just hoping that Duo would sleep tonight and not get into trouble with the scientists. Ong still believed that they all were two and had to go to sleep on a schedule. Thankfully she hadn't figured out that most of the others didn't care about what she thought they should be doing or that Duo was sneaking into her room.
She eventually dozed, and was surprised when Duo finally did creep into her room, smelling of the woods, sweat and his own scent. He wordlessly curled around her, snuggling in to her body.
"Duo... " Relena mumbled. " You okay?"
"Just was thinking," was his quiet reply into her ear. "I was thinking about what you said the other night, when we were all watching the movies."
"Mmm... what did I say... I was drinking at the time, lucky that you poured me into bed," Relena told him.
She hadn't been drunk really, but things were a bit fuzzy. She hadn't gotten a hangover the next day, so she was happy. So she shouldn't be drinking at her age, but they kept pouring it for her, and they were all drinking. She trusted them, wasn't like they were going to pull something nasty to her if she passed out on them. Well not too nasty, more teasing then anything physical, because it wasn't like she had to worry about them physically hurting her, because she was one them almost. Quatre hadn't been as upset as she thought he would be.
"That Heero liked me," Duo said quietly,
"Uh-huh, I vaguely remember that. That he wants to... " God she must be insane to play matchmaker between the two of them, but Duo seemed interested, he hadn't woken up murmuring anyone's name but Heero's. Heero she knew was interested, but hadn't gotten anywhere. "But you seem skittish about it, you wanna talk?"
"I'm scared," Duo confessed softly.
"About what?" Relena wiggled about so that she was facing Duo.
"I don't know if I'll like it," Duo replied quietly. "Trowa didn't. If I don't like it with him, then that will upset Heero. He'll think that he had done something wrong."
"That's different.' Relena said. "That was rape and over a long period of time. A better example is Zechs and Treize."
Those two were all over each other when they were watching the movies that night, practically on each other's lap. They had stopped short of making out in front of the rest of them, but Relena knew that as soon as the rest of them were gone, the clothes would be off. She thought that the only thing stopping them was her presence. Quatre had been a little more discreet, he'd given Trowa a kiss and the occasional caress, but nothing more then that. May be because Trowa had retreated to hide behind Duo, literally, since Duo climbed on his lap and wouldn't move for the rest of the evening, when Trowa sent him a panicked glance, after Quatre got a little too friendly for him.
Duo and Trowa probably slept together that night, Relena knew she was alone for all of it and god knows where Quatre ended up, most likely with Treize and Zechs. But Quatre apparently wasn't angry about Trowa's rejection of his attentions. He seemed more sad then anything. She had watched the entire show that night and then decided that drinking would be a good idea, the tension in the room, sexual or otherwise was getting to her. At least Quatre knew that she wasn't interested in Trowa and was going to gut her for that. She had had that conversation with Quatre as soon as it had dawned on her that Quatre might be upset at all the attention that she had been paying Trowa. Trowa needed the hugs that she gave him and that was all that mattered to her. She was not trying to get him into her bed or anything else right now. Relena decided that she would start working on hugs with Wufei next, just because she was feeling a bit suicidal right now. Wufei needed to learn to lighten up and that not all humans were the scum of the Earth.
"Heero makes me feel funny at times," Duo said. "And... he doesn't sleep with me anymore. And we don't work together either. We used go outside together on assignments, he'd be my backup while I got the stuff."
"He likes you. It's just that, I think he's frustrated, like Quatre," Relena repeated. "I don't know why the two of you aren't together on assignments anymore. It might be that they don't want you to get too used to working only with one person so they keep pairing you with other people."
"Because of Trowa? But, Quatre at least shows Trowa that he's interested. Heero doesn't," Duo said, arranging his body so that he was curled around Relena.
She felt nice and she was willing to explain things to him. He felt weird talking about this to Quatre, Trowa he was not going to even mention sex to and the rest of them were more interested in having sex with him, then helping him sort out his feelings for Heero. Also he didn't want to admit to the others that he had no idea what to do, sexually with anyone, male or female. That was so embarrassing! He knew that he was a little behind the rest of them on that, but it didn't make him feel any better about not knowing what to do when he was sort of interested in Heero.
"And Trowa doesn't know how to take his interest. It has to do with the pack structure, I think. You and Trowa are on the bottom from what I can tell. I maybe wrong, since I never really studied this stuff. So Quatre, who is a higher rank is interested in him, but is leaving the choice up to him, which is it is confusing him. Me being here doesn't help either. Heero ask me to look after you, if he didn't like you, he wouldn't have asked that would he?
Also you are also confused about things because you have animal instincts a little and human training, but nothing really about the social stuff it seems. And... you guys are teenagers, its supposed to be confusing, all this relationship stuff. You guys are acting like normal guys that way. I had a lot of trouble figuring out stuff like this myself. I think that it's still working itself out for me, now that I am not around other people. Trust me though, Heero likes you a lot. He'll still like you that way even if you never do anything with him."
"I guess not," Duo admitted. "But if he's waiting for me to show interest... "
"You want me to talk to him?" Relena asked. "This all might work better if you have someone hash out the details ahead of time, though that sounds so unromantic."
"What's romance?' Duo asked. "It's not like we're normal on other ways, why start now. I understand that Heero's fooling around with the others. I don't mind, because it's scary sometimes and you need someone. And... well a successful assignment also includes pissing off our keeper. They all get really antsy about the fact that we are fooling around with one another. That is something that I don't understand. Why is it wrong? Everyone gets upset when they find out that we are having sex with each other."
"Because a lot of people, usually ones that are the muscle for this kind of business, get upset when two guys are involved like that," Relena told him. "So when they know that is happening, they think that other people will think that they are like that and think that they aren't macho enough to knock heads together anymore. It doesn't make sense, it just is. Most of the people that you will be dealing with are homophobes."
"They don't like other men?" Duo asked, vaguely remembering the little Greek that he had had.
"They don't like men that like men sexually," Relena told him. "But they really can't do anything about you all because, you can clean their clocks, since you have superior strength. That the others are rubbing it in their face that they are fooling around, doesn't help matters. Have you gotten in trouble because of it?"
Duo shook his head, "No... mainly because I'm not fooling around, as you put it. But, depending on whom I am with, there might be trouble, from either our wranglers or one of the others want to do more then I want to do, but they don't push it. The pack don't mean anything by it, but sometimes they do something and I don't know how I am supposed to respond. With the wranglers that we have when we are on an assignment, they ask me something or I mention something to them and then there's silence, like the first day you were here. Then I realize that I screwed up by breaking one of the stupid human rules or not being like the others."
"That shouldn't matter, I know that you sometimes have the oddest views on things, but... " Relena sighed. "Just remember to think before saying something. Also, 'I'm not sure' or 'I don't know' can cover a lot of topics of conversation. Stick to those and you should be covered, so that the muscle doesn't look at you cross eyed."
"I try and remember that, but... " Duo said. "I don't want to lie about that with them. If I say something stupid then I shouldn't be embarrassed because the wranglers feel odd."
"I don't know... but it seems so weird. I'm just surprised that no one thought of this before, they all know that Heero likes you, that he wants you." Relena told him.
"Because they all want to have sex with me," Duo told her bluntly. "They've all asked and I don't know why."
"You're a nice person. Happy, energetic and sexually attractive. If you haven't figured that out it's from improper socialization more then anything." Relena said, leaning over to kiss him on the nose. "But that seems to be the problem that you all have."
Duo and Relena looked up, startled by the small scratching noise that they heard on the outside. They were both surprised when Trowa climbed in through the window.
"I don't mean to bother you, but... " his voice trailed off and he looked embarrassed.
"Climb into bed," Relena offered, figuring out after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "I don't snore, at least Duo hasn't told me I did. But he purrs in his sleep, so he might not hear me."
"I didn't want to sleep alone," Trowa apologized.
Relena sighed, that meant that Quatre was spending time with Zechs and Treize. Trowa curled up on the edge of the bed and if he breathed the wrong way he'd fall off. "You're still sleeping alone, get in closer. I won't bite, Duo might, but he should have better manners then that."
Duo giggled and climbed over Relena so he was in the middle. "Better Trowa? I told you she was nice. That it was like sleeping with one of us."
"I... " Trowa shifted and curled around Duo, who in turn snuggled back into Relena.
"You know we are just so screwed if we're caught," Relena stated. "Ong will have my ass for keeping you people up past your bedtime."
Duo giggled again, he had been getting worried about how serious their conversation had been getting, too serious for him. Not that he wasn't a serious person, but the subject was one that worried him. Heero liked him, wanted him. He wanted things that Duo only had a vague idea about and wasn't sure if he wanted to learn more about. But, he might have to if he would get Heero to sleep with him again. He always smelled good, was safe feeling to Duo, aside from the butterflies that he caused in his stomach when he was with him sometimes. However, Heero didn't want to sleep with him, not since he started to have sex with the others and Duo didn't. Duo missed him. He'd do the sex thing with him if that meant that Heero would cuddle with him again.
"Relena said that she'd talk to Heero about stuff... you want her to talk to Quatre?" Duo asked sleepily.
Trowa shrugged, an amazing feat considering the position he was in. Duo shook his head, arranging himself so that he was more comfortable and then fell asleep, comforted by the warm bodies on either side of him.
Relena sighed, Duo was not helping matters here. "Quatre likes you. And he's not going to hurt you, but he's getting discouraged, I think. That night at the movies... he ended up with Zechs and Treize didn't he, like tonight? And you and Duo were together. He may have physically enjoyed himself with those two, but he would have rather just slept with you and Duo."
"I know... but... " Trowa trailed off. He was confused. Relena liked him, and all of the touching aside, didn't want anything from him besides to be her brother. Quatre... Quatre was scary. He wanted something that Trowa didn't know of he could give him.
"Hey, I know this sounds really stupid, but nothing ventured, nothing gained," Relena said. "You should try it at least. Just because one person hurt you and treated you bad, doesn't mean that they all will. Quatre should get a chance. Don't let Sanderson have you jumping at ghosts for the rest of your life. That would mean that the bastard won. And if it doesn't work out with Quatre, you at least tried."
"I'm worried," Trowa whispered.
"Before you go out on an assignment, don't you hash out the details ahead of time?" Relena asked, "You work up a plan and objectives and talk about what could go wrong. I know that it sounds really... strange is the only word that comes to mind, but talk to Quatre about all this, before you get naked."
"Treat Quatre like an assignment?" Trowa asked curiously.
"I read somewhere that is what S & M couples do, so they don't get their signals crosses or find out that they both want to be the bottom or have bad reactions to whatever you do when you play those games," Relena explained, blushing. She had been curious and all this stuff was on the Internet if you knew where to find it.
"You are so weird Relena," Duo mumbled before kissing her on the nose.
"Go back to sleep... or I won't talk to Heero for you!" Relena threatened.
Duo giggled and Trowa shook his head, before curling up to think about Relena had said.
Relena woke up the next morning, surprised to find Duo on the other side of her and Trowa cuddled around her on her other side. Also he seemed to be very awake this morning, judging what was pressing into her leg. She held her breath as Trowa snuggled in closer to her and hugged her tighter. Duo wiggled a bit and she noticed that he was also a bit more 'awake' then he had ever been with her. And she was tangled up with the two of them, her nightshirt ending around her waist someplace, instead of her knees.
Trowa's hips flexed and she shivered. That felt good, thankfully he wasn't anyplace that was dangerous, he was thrusting into her thigh and he was wearing pants. Relena wiggled, wanting to get out of bed before they woke up, because this was too embarrassing for her, because she felt herself responding to their sleepy attentions. Trowa's eyes popped open and he stared down at her in horror.
"Good Morning," Relena chirped. "And I would be oh so thankful if you let me out of here."
Trowa rolled out of bed and landed on the floor in a crouch, blushing.
"Trowa... " Relena started; worried that he was going to jump out the window. He wouldn't be hurt, but he was looking so panicked she thought that he was more interested in getting away from her then making sure that he would make the jump without getting hurt.
Trowa stared at her with frightened eyes. "I'm... I... please... " he whispered, "I didn't mean it."
Relena stared. Trowa could break her in two, no problem. But he terrified of her because he woke up with a hard on?
"That BASTARD!" Relena hissed. It had dawned on her why he was frightened. Sanderson had probably told him a bunch of shit that made him feel that it was his fault, the things that happened to him. It was worse then she thought.
Trowa jumped a little at her tone and Duo stirred behind her.
"Trowa... " Duo asked and then blushed. He figured out what was wrong. Trowa had done this with him a few times, the results weren't the same though. Trowa knew that he wasn't interested in doing anything. Relena scared him though, because she was a girl? Human? Smelled like she was interested? Duo caught the faint whiff of musk, but Relena said that she was their sister. Duo wasn't too happy that he was in the same condition. What had Relena thought when she woke up with the two of them? He was hoping that the floor opened up and swallowed him whole, this was so embarrassing for him. He didn't think that it was any better for the other two.
Relena softened her tone and tried to smile reassuringly at Trowa. "I'm flattered, but not interested. And Trowa... it just happens. That doesn't mean that you have to... "
"You're interested," Trowa whispered.
Relena blushed. "Well I got two hot guys in my bed, who wake up with their dohickies poking into me. My body responded. My mind is going... damn they're relatives and not actually interested in me. It was just that part of them is waving around, going 'pay attention to me'!"
Duo asked bemusedly, "Dohickies?"
Relena blushed, "Your penis... cock... dick... Mr. Happy... whatever you want to call it. I just really think it wouldn't too be reassuring to Trowa if I started talking dirty to him." Talking to him is scaring him also, maybe if I just disappeared into the bathroom and the two of them can make a break for it without too much embarrassment? "I'm heading into the bathroom, you guys want to sleep in I don't mind, but people are starting to wake up and I know that we are going to get in trouble if you guys get caught in here."
"I think that it would be better if we just leave now," Duo told her, blushing. "We'll see you at breakfast."
Relena sat down carefully and folded her hands on her lap. "Glen, I would like to talk to you, as an adult."
Glen looked back, reading her body language. It wasn't that hard, she was nervous, but that wasn't a new reaction. Most people he dealt with, outside those crazy scientists and their kids, were nervous around him. The scientists were too clueless and the kids were too cynical from their upbringing to be afraid of him.
He was high up in Cinq Industries and his climb to the top had been nasty, brutish and short. That Ong had contacted him about this project was part of his success. So he was willing to put up with some of the trouble that they gave him. The scientists from just being odd and the kids because they just didn't like anyone outside their own group, but other then that none of them went out of their way to cause trouble. Relena wasn't really a problem, but she might be one in the future. Depended on what she was after from him right now.
"What do you want Relena?" Glen smiled down at her.
Relena tilted her head back, staring into his eyes. It was a challenge to his authority that she was doing that, but she needed to do it or just dissolve into a bundle of nerves. Quatre had practiced with her, so that she wouldn't be nervous but talking to Glen now was still nerve wracking. She had no idea what his reaction would be to what she wanted.
"I would like to go to college. With my grades I can get into anyplace, I was thinking MIT or Cal Tech, for any number of things. I just want to know what you would recommend. I can get scholarships to both places, they did approach me a couple of months ago. Or was that something that you did?"
Glen shook his head, "Not me. Not us. They want your pretty little brain all on their own."
"Will you let me go? Major in what I want?" her voice was hard.
"I have no control over what you want to do," Glen lied.
"Bullshit. I'm as much of a puppet for you people as my brothers are," Relena still sounded tough to him, but sad too. "I want to know what I can do. I expect after I have my freedom, getting a college degree, then my Masters and PhD, hopefully. I will be working for you in some capacity after that, to keep me in line. And if you think that I am a liability, I will be eliminated. No questions."
"Relena, what gave you that idea?" Glen asked. He was genuinely curious. How did she figure it out, he thought that the others might tell her, but she could have put it together on her own.
"Glen... you have me watched since I left this place, I always sensed that. And let's not forget that as soon as the rest of my family went 'active', Cing Industries started making a profit. There is a lot of money to be made in industrial sabotage, theft and good old fashion killing. They were trained to do that."
"They were created to do that," Glen said gently, Relena knew a lot. She might be trouble.
"And if someone else gets their hands on them, they will be dissected to see what makes them tick. Or worse, destroyed by some idiot because they are not all human. I will keep my mouth shut to protect them."
"Not your father?" he asked in amusement.
Relena snorted, "He's my father, but he doesn't care about me. He loves me, but his work comes first and if he chose between the two, I would loose. I know that."
"I'm sorry," Glen was sincere about that apology.
No one should feel that unloved by a parent, he had had an excellent relationship with his parents. He never doubted that they loved him, even though his mother wasn't happy about his lifestyle. She was disappointed that he's never settled down with a nice girl and gave her a parcel if grandkids to spoil. If he had thought about it earlier, he should have arranged for them to meet Relena and her brothers, when they were growing up. The kids all needed someone that would love them and his mother would have been thrilled with children to spoil. It wasn't too late for some of them, she would just love Duo and Quatre to bits if she had the chance. He wondered at odd times whether she would approve of Une. He thought that she might, once she got over their age difference. He was old enough to be Une's father. But they didn't talk to each other about things like that. He made sure that they were taken care of, visited them at odd times, but didn't talk about what he did. They weren't happy about his work, because they knew that it was something shady.
"Don't be. I knew that for a long time. You are nice to me, another father almost, 'Uncle' Glen," Relena teased him. Glen smiled at her, glad that she teased him. Duo was the only other one that did that. Everyone else didn't care enough or was too afraid of him. "You didn't have to visit me all those years with my father. I do appreciate that you took the effort to do so."
"But back to your main question." Glen continued, oddly happy that Relena liked him. "You can get into either college or someplace else if you want. We won't stand in your way. Aside from the occasional escort job with your brothers, when you are older, as a cover for them, we won't bother you. Also you may not have to work for the company, just don't get all idealistic and work for the government. That's a no-no."
"You can make those promises?" Relena asked suspiciously.
"For now and... it isn't much. Not like you demanded that they all be freed or something."
"I know better, there isn't anyplace else that they can go, now. Who was it that said, 'Give me a child when he is seven and he's mine for life?' You've had them since they were born almost, they don't know anything else."
"True enough... " Glen agreed.
"So I should start making noises about attending college soon, then?" Relena asked Glen. "I... I think that I've realized that you can't really go home again. Not that I don't love my brothers, but I think that it would be better right now if I wasn't in their face so much."
End Part 2
Christine
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