March 19, 2001
Title: More Dangerous Liaisons: Interludes Maria
Author: Christine Devilkitty@speakeasy.net
Pairing: Allover
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Language, mention non-consensual sexual
activity
Maria fidgeted in class. She knew that she should be paying attention, but her mind was on other things and frankly, she was tired. She had spent far too much time last night going over what she had sent Trowa for a plan and information that went with it. She felt that it wasn’t a very good plan, but it was the best that she had to put together, but she knew that it lacked something. Maturity, coolness, (She was awfully peeved that her Duo was going away because of those two…adults!) confidence. She knew that any one or all of the others could have come up with something better, she just hoped that it passed their standards, that they would help her. And what it didn’t have for finesse, she made up for with intelligence, she hoped. She had all the info that Une had brought home, hopefully, Neechan wouldn’t mind that she had scanned a lot of it onto a disk, then passed it onto Trowa. It had taken her most of one night to do that. It also helped that she managed to charm some of the Preventers that had gone on the expedition, Deveroux in particular was very helpful, she had mange to worm some sort of information out of them. Thankfully Neechan hadn’t caught her with her poor, pitiful me act. Duo had worked very hard with her to teach her that. He told her that she was a natural and if things ever fell apart…they could survive with her pulling that act on the rubes.
Maria was pulled from her sleep-deprived haze by a poke in her ribs. She was younger then most of the kids that were in this class and some of them didn’t like the fact that she was a lot smarter and better educated then they were, which was why she was with them. Was it her fault that her Grandfather thought she was going to be a figurehead dictator and educated her for that office? That he realized school and oppression don’t mix? Unless you were in school and the teachers were the oppressors. She blinked and tried to focus. She couldn’t remember what class she was supposed to be in, never mind the question that was just asked of her.
“Uh?” was the only thing that she managed to get out and blushed.
She was going to get another note sent home with her about being inattentive in class and not cooperating with the teachers. They had tried to question her a few times about why she was flaking out, she didn’t tell them much beyond the fact that Duo was on ‘vacation’ and she missed him. The teachers thought that he finally was spending some long overdue time in the funny farm. And that was the truth, she missed him. Also there no way was she going to tell any of these people that she was burning the candle at both ends trying to find information about two underworld figures that threatened her family. And was worrying about what her father and his lover, her best friend and weird sort of mother were doing in the colonies. Never mind worrying about if those two underworld nuts were going to show up and hurt any of them because they might know where Duo or T-chan was. Not to any of these touchie-feelie graduates of the school of ‘sharing your feelings’ and ‘violence is bad’ mindset. She didn’t want to be seeing counselors for the rest of her school life, because she wanted to do a lot of violent things to Howard and Mirialdo Peacecraft. And she would if she told any of these people the truth. She thought that one of them was reporting back to the Jackass, if he found out what she was doing she’d be in reform school until she was old and grey!
“Ms. Barton, it would be nice if you pay attention in class.” The teacher stated coldly, “Or do you feel that you are beyond this somehow?”
“I just missed the question.” Maria said meekly, “Could you repeat it?” Well, she was so in trouble. Modern History, one of her worst subjects, because she sounded like an idiot half the time so she wouldn’t tell what she actually knew about and how it differed from the accepted histories that the school was using to teach them. And this teacher, Miss Morris was a graduate of the Relena Peacecraft school of unreality, Romafeller branch. She actually believed most of the half-truths and wishes that ‘Josan had preached about total pacifism, ‘Josan didn’t believe it most of the time! So she kept her mouth shut and let the poor woman have her fantasies. To do otherwise would get her in more trouble then she even wanted to think about. She couldn’t leave this school, the alternative had been a boarding school that the President offered, since the man actually thought that she was a threat to his power base. She just wanted a family; couldn’t he believe that? Okay Relena, Duo and Une were not anyone that people thought of as family, but they were family to her. And she wanted to get to know her father, see him laugh. Have Duo be healed and all sorts of crap that she couldn’t get if she was shoved into boarding school.
“In what manner was the ending of the war a brilliant political victory of Peace?” Miss Morris repeated slowly, like she was talking to a retarded cat.
Maria stared at the teacher and knew that she was never going to get out of seeing the school counselor now. She was beyond caring at this moment in time and the governor on her mouth left for a coffee break suddenly. She might as well give them something to actually worry about! She might as well tell them how she actually felt about all these illusions and pet theories that all these fools were in love with.
“That the stupid politicians claimed it was.” Maria started, wondering if she could stop before it was too late, if she really wanted to. In the split second that she wondered about this, she decided that she was tired and cranky, sick of people pretending that politics and statesmanship ended the war. She saw who did it, the soldiers and the others who had fought. She lived with the ones that were damaged, saw what they suffered because of that blasted war. Duo wasn’t the only one with problems, Une and Relena had a few nights that they didn’t want to get back to sleep because of their nightmares. The things that they had to do with because of the choices that they made then. “Never mind none of those people had ever been in a battle. Or that they actually suffered during the war. Or lost someone that was really close to them.” Maria paused, “I take that last one back. You can’t have twenty years of fighting without someone dying on you because of the war. But the politicians didn’t end the war…the soldiers did.”
“And how was that?” Miss Morris asked coldly.
Maria took a deep breath, aware of all the eyes in the classroom on her. Most of them were neutral, most of the class really didn’t care if she got into trouble, but this was entertaining to them. She didn’t make waves and tried to get along with the others, even if she was younger then they were and didn’t giggle about boys yet with the girls or think that that boys walked on water, like most of them did. She also was quite reserved about her home life, inviting only one or two of them back there, only if she was tutoring them and they couldn’t go anywhere else. Duo had usually showed up for anything that needed a parent, doing the parental thing with a strained smile and trying not to bolt, which had confused a lot of her classmates, since they did understand the relationship that they had. But Duo tried to be normal and friendly, it just didn’t work all the time. She was regarded as mostly harmless by a lot of her classmates, but she knew that there were one or two people that would be overjoyed that she shot off her mouth this way and got herself into trouble.
“They bled and died for it!” she hissed, then calmed down. Anger was counterproductive in an argument, no matter how good it felt. She just had to keep her temper, that was fairly easy, she just had to think that Dekim was watching this whole thing and critiquing her actions. And that he would punish her for any mistakes. That had been painful. “Was it the politicians that suited up and went out to protect the Earth from White Fang’s attack? Did the bother to support the Specials in their counter attack? Or did they sit at home and debate about the threat…one that they didn’t believe even though the cannon on that damned ship blew up an island?” Une crawled out of her hospital bed, Duo was tortured and he still fought. What did any of those old men ever do for this peace?
“Your language young lady!”
“What’s wrong with my language?” Maria asked innocently, “The Libra was damned, it did blow up and nearly take out the Earth, or does your version of history ignore that?”
Captained by a madman and enough power to destroy the Earth…it was a ship of the damned, not counting the fact that Duo and Relena lost so much in that ship. And the bastard didn’t have the decency to die in the explosion!
“I don’t care for your tone…”
“My tone or my answer?” Maria asked, matching snideness with snideness, interrupting the teacher. Might as well go all the way. Maybe they’d kick her out of this place. Boarding School, well she didn’t think that Jackass wanted to piss off Une right now, she had scared him some how according to what she overheard Relena tell Pargon. “Am I the only one that’s living with ex-military? Can we have a show of hands on this?” She knew that they thought she was talking about Une, but then most of them thought that Duo was some sort of servant, and wouldn’t believe that he actually had custody of her. But Duo was had seen more fighting by the time he was ten then anyone should. Trowa and Heero were the same.
A scattering of hands went up. Not a lot, this school was mostly filled with kids whose parents worked in the government, not died for it.
Maria shook her head. “How about those people whose parents or relatives are politicians or former Romafeller Foundation members?”
That was about third of the class. Maria noted that most of them seemed to be Romafeller, there was enough of the old ruling class around to warrant it and this was one of the main centers of the Earth Government. Miss Morris was doing her imitation of a fish, Maria thought that she might be in shock. Or hadn’t she figured out the politics of her class before this? What had this woman been doing? Did she even bother to find out about the twenty odd students that she had in her homeroom?
“How many here actually don’t give a flying fuck because it happened years ago and you had nothing to do with it,” she asked to round off her questions.
“Miss Barton!”
About 95% of the class’s hands went up, with a lot of glances towards the teacher, because of her choice of words. Maria shrugged and looked around. “And that was how it got so bad, so fast, Ladies and gentlemen. No one gave a flying fuck about the colonies after Heero Yuy was assassinated. In fact, some of the colony schools don’t mention the incident in their histories. Oz was real creative about what you learned at times. Sort of like here.”
“Miss Barton!” Maria idly noted that if her voice got any higher, she could shatter glass.
“Yes Miss Morris?” Maria asked, “Since you are a lot older then any of us, what were your memories of that war?” Maria decided that since she was going to get into trouble, she might as well get in trouble for age remarks also. Calling the teacher a lot older was something that was really tacky.
“I remember reports of the fighting…those terrible bombings and killings that happened.” Miss Morris said, her eyes softening as she remembered. It had seemed so unreal to her, even after she learned of her cousin’s death, at the hands of terrorists. But she was not going to let Maria get away with this, after her impromptu lecture, she was going to the principal’s office and then to the school counselor, she was out of control here.
“But was it real to you?” Maria asked. This might personally be a fiasco for her, but maybe she could have some of these compliant students understand something about war. That sitting back and ignoring a war didn’t make it stop. That if it wasn’t because of the Gundam pilots that they would be under a dictatorship controlled by her grandfather and his cronies, because no one really cared about who was running things.
Miss Morris shook her head. “News reports don’t make it real. At times, even with the most horrible of terrorist attacks, it was like watching a play or a movie. Tragic, but not something that you felt that you were involved in, even when I found out that I had a cousin that was killed in the Victoria base bombings.”
“Were you close?” someone asked.
Miss Morris smiled, “We always had a good time when we saw each other, at Christmas and other family holidays. And I was so angry at whoever did that…”
“But other then the death of your cousin, the war never hurt you. You never went hungry or were scared or were threatened by who was fighting for either side?” Maria persisted.
“Where do you think I was living?” Miss Morris asked angrily. Did this child think that she was a colonist?
“Until that last year of the war, the battleground was in Space, isolating colonies and putting them under military rule. If you lived on colony…you hoped that the Federation Military left you alone. It was a reign of military oppression, no matter how much the history books want to whitewash it.” Maria said, remembering some of the things that Wufei and Duo had told her. She shivered slightly when she thought of Wufei’s colony killing themselves to take out their enemies. That amount of fanaticism was frightening, she wondered how many innocents were killed because of the beliefs of a few.
“And who told you this Miss Barton?” Miss Morris asked incredulously; who was filling this child’s head with rubbish? That odd boy that they let live with them? He had the accent of someone that lived on one of the colonies and he was obviously not of the same class as Lady Une and Relena. That the two of them trusted him with Maria was disturbing on some level.
Maria smiled innocently, trying to reassure people that she wasn’t being crazy. “I live with Lady Une, she was part of the Special’s Intelligence Service, she does know a thing or two about the Federation actions towards the colonies. And we have a lot of people over to the house that like to talk a lot about the war.” Sally, a lot of the Preventers, some of Relena’s staff. I ask them questions and they forget that they are talking to a child, not that I am really one. I get a lot of info that way. And then there is everything that Duo and I or Wufei and I talked about, such conversations a child should have! No wonder Duo kept insisting that he wanted me to grow up ‘normal’!
“Lady Une’s career was quite…” Miss Morris began, then stopped, unable to really describe her career. She was an outstanding head of the Preventers, but in the small social circle that she and Relena moved in, a lot of rumors of her activity had been bandied about, a lot of the more colorful tales, especially the one about General Septum’s last flight. She had heard a lot of them, she made it her business to find out about Maria’s odd home life, that boy might have been abusing her. Or Lady Une, Maria did look a bit fatigued now that she thought of it. Was there something happening in that house that Maria would be better off living with someone else?
“Oh man, no wonder you let the shrimp do the parent thing with you, he is better then the pyschobitch…” Maria heard someone mutter in the background. She stiffened, ready to start giving that idiot a piece of her mind, when someone beat her to it.
“Lady Une is a gentle and refined lady,” came a voice from the doorway. Heero. What was he doing here?
The class turned in their seats to look at the newcomers. Maria grinned and squealed with delight before launching herself into Trowa’s arms. “ Uncle Tro-chan!! Hee-chan!!!”
Trowa caught her easily with a slight smile. “That was a very interesting discussion you were having.”
Maria shrugged and frowned, “How did you get in here? When did you start listening?” Then she whispered, “And I never thought that Heero would be so nice…”
Heero shrugged. “We walked in.”
Maria shook her head, “What about the guards?”
“None.” was Heero’s curt reply. Maria studied the two of them as she thought about that. Trowa and Heero looked good, they had dressed in Dockers and button down shirts that showed off their muscles and made them look…adult. She supposed that Quatre had picked their clothes out, he was about the only one out of the group that could dress. They both tended towards jeans and T-shirts when they could get away with it. Wufei loose pants and tank tops. Duo…anything that was too big and dark.
“No one stopped you?” Maria asked in shock, “You didn’t see anyone?”
“Not at all. And for the amount of money that Une is paying these people, their security is disgraceful.” Heero observed sourly. He was embarrassed about how easily they had walked in here. They could have gotten in here, half dead, leaving a trail of blood a kilometer wide and it wouldn’t have mattered. The guards were blind, deaf and dumb. He thought that the Alliance military was easy to get by!
“Maria…if you would be so kind as to finish your discussion?” Miss Morris asked.
“Actually, Maria is coming to the principal’s office with us, we’re withdrawing her from school, now.” Trowa said coldly. “I find that the conditions are not up to what I want for my niece.”
He was angry. Anyone can walk into this place off the street and grab Maria. And that was going to happen because Mirialdo wasn’t stupid, he would figure out where Relena was living and then find out about Maria. He was too good at those things and then they would have a hostage situation on their hands. He did not want that bastard to carve up Maria like he had Duo. Or…do something worse to her.
Maria frowned, “Tro-chan…”
Heero said flatly, “Security.”
“But…” Maria started. Damn they were worried if they showed up. She thought it was just an excuse to see if she could get more info for them. Trowa never wanted to be close before or did he think that he was muscling in on Duo and didn’t want to hurt him?
Trowa smiled slightly, “We will discuss this later, but…don’t you want to spend time with the rest of the family?” Please say yes, you’d enjoy the kids that are at Quatre’s right now. And I would get to spend some time with you. And I wouldn’t have to worry about you getting hurt.
“I can’t let you just walk out of here with Maria!” Miss Morris squeaked.
“But you really can’t stop us either,’” Heero pointed out reasonably. “That is why we are walking out with Maria. Your security is pitiful and I am not leaving her here with you one minute longer!”
“And who are you?” Miss Morris asked, trying desperately to regain control of the situation. These two did not look related to Maria, despite the way that she called one ‘Uncle’ And which one was supposed to be her uncle? The Asian with scowl and the blue eyes or the gangling one with the odd bang arrangement?
Heero glared at her witheringly and scowled. Trowa took pity on her and answered calmly, “I am her uncle. And we will inform the principal of what we are doing. And since Maria was happy to see us…I really don’t see what your problem is. Maria, gather your things and we’ll clean out your locker after we talk to the principal. I do want to point out the flaws in his security.”
Maria stifled a giggle at his grim tone, she did want to see this, Heero had a tendency to get really eloquent when he wanted to.
Heero scowled at her giggles and to get back at him, she slipped her hand in his and started walking towards the principal’s office, she knew the way by heart by now. Trowa messed up her hair and walked beside the two of them. He knew why she was holding Heero’s hand, she did it to annoy him. The smile that she gave him made up for the fact that she wasn’t holding his hand. He didn’t know if he should be relieved or upset that she was picking up on Duo’s old teasing habits. It was a change from the overly solemn child that she had been with her grandfather, but then the old bastard wouldn’t let her relax even if she could have back then. He had seen how she had been pushed and from his ambitions into a miniature adult, it was much better now that she could be herself.
“Hey Heero,” Maria asked, “I would never think that you would have something nice to say about Lady Une, she did make you self destruct.”
Heero shrugged, “She was a soldier doing her duty. And I was just as much a fanatic as she was. I blew myself up rather then turn over my machine to her.”
Maria shrugged, she really couldn’t say a lot about that. Both of them, at that time, must have been very intense people to be around. Very…disturbing…when you think about it. And Duo had been with them when they were at their best for anal-retentiveness.
They arrived at the head office with no problems, Maria was surprised that she didn’t see anyone trying to stop them, even after she had stopped to hastily clean out her locker. She got everything she could into one bag and would worry about the rest of it later. Miss Morris must have managed to pull herself together because she was waiting outside the office, looking concerned.
Heero grunted and almost walked past her except for Maria’s discreet tug on his shirt. That stopped him.
Maria smiled innocently at the secretary and said, “I know that it's last minute…”
The secretary sighed, “Go in. Principal Melton is waiting for you. And he has Lady Une on a conference call.”
“Good.” Trowa snarled. “This place is…’
“Save it Tro-chan, she can’t do anything about it.” Maria said, trying to calm him down.
Heero just stalked past the two of them and into the office. Trowa smiled and gestured for Maria to go in ahead of him. Maria shrugged and smiled back. A peeved Heero might be entertaining.
Heero was scowling at the Principal and the vidphone that Une was talking to him over. The principal was a tall, heavily built man that could make two of Heero and he was wilting under his stare.
“I am so glad that you decided to visit,” Une said brightly.
“Trowa and I walked in off the street. No one stopped us. The teacher couldn’t notify anyone that there was trouble in her classroom and if there were guards here I didn’t see them. This place is pitiful.” Heero growled. “I could have taken her anywhere in the country before you would have been told. In the world before there was an organized response. Into Space before you could stop me. That is if I didn’t slit her throat before that.”
The principal made a small gulping sound at Heero’s assessment of the situation. Trowa took pity on the man’s obvious distress at Heero’s bluntness and tried to sooth him a little.
“Heero is a security expert, he has a tendency to think that way. And he did promise Duo that he would take care of my niece.”
Melton muttered, “That explains a lot. He’s friends with that boy.”
Heero glared at him but Une interrupted before he could say anything. “That bad?” she asked.
“I would like Maria to leave earlier then planned. As in today, not a couple of weeks from now.” Trowa said carefully. He liked Une and had no problems with her caring for Maria while Duo and T-chan were gone. It was just that she was too vulnerable to anything happening to her with Howard and Mirialdo on the loose.
“Is the security that bad or is Heero overreacting?” Une asked.
Trowa shook his head, “I’ve seen him overreact only twice before, he isn’t overreacting. In fact, he has understated the problem. Considering the people who have children in this place, it is a prime target for a hostage situation. Never mind simple custody fights.”
“All right, we step up our time table and Maria leaves with you today.” Une replied. “I don’t like it, but it is for the best. Relena wouldn’t mind if any of you decided that moving in with us would be a good thing, but I don’t think that she would be…”
Heero interrupted her, “I’ll talk about that with the others.”
Une nodded, “Then dinner tonight and you all leave in the morning.”
Principal Melton cleared his throat, trying to get Une’s attention, “Under the custody arrangement that you have with the World President, you do have to notify him of any changes in Maria’s schedule…” his voice trailed off as he was caught in the glare of a two intense blue eyes and one green one. He wasn’t being paid to argue with these people. They seemed saner then the short one that had been with Maria before this, but with the glares that he was getting, they didn’t like the arrangement any more then he had. And Une was just looking at him, so he decided that he would keep quiet about everything, it would be better for his health.
“What you want for takeout?” Maria asked brightly, trying to defuse the situation. Glaring the principal to death might stop them from taking her off planet.
“Takeout?” Heero growled. He appreciated Maria’s attempt at defusing the situation, she would make a good diplomat someday.
“Duo did all the cooking and stuff. It’s been catch as catch can since he went on vacation, even with all that he prepackaged so that we wouldn’t starve to death.” Maria informed them. “I can cook a little, but Une and Relena can’t.”
“And shouldn’t because of their schedule.” Trowa said. “I’ll make dinner while you and Heero pack.”
Maria nodded; she did want to ask Heero a few questions, like could he teach her to glare like that. And if he liked her plan and was the information any good?
Maria had finished packing with Heero by the time that Relana and Une had arrived home. Both women were appreciative of the fact that dinner was waiting for them and it wasn’t something that had come out of a takeout bag or had been frozen at one time. She tried to keep things going, but between her and Pargon, they could make three things. And she got tired of macaroni and cheese.
“Mmm” Relena moaned, “Are you sure that I can’t tempt you away from Quatre?”
Trowa shook his head, “I make a rotten househusband, just ask Heero or Quatre,” he replied seriously. “Wait for Duo to come back.”
Relena wrinkled her nose and after a quick kiss to Une, went off to tease Heero and help Maria with the table. It would be the last time that she got a home cooked meal for a while with a family and she wanted to enjoy it. Teasing Heero would help with that. They had come to a very good understanding with each other since her lecture to him and Wufei in Siberia.
Une frowned, “It won’t be soon enough for me. And I should thank you for taking Maria, some of the things that we found.” She let her voice trail off, making sure that Maria wasn’t within range before continuing. “Some of the things that I found in that place. It is good that you checked on her when you did. I hadn’t realized that security was that lacking there. It is the school that she has to go to as part of my having custody of her. They want to know where she is most of the time. And I don’t want her being that vulnerable. And both of those men would do something to her if they felt that it would hurt either Duo or Treize-sama.”
“Trevor.” Trowa corrected absently, “You have to get used to that name.”
Une laughed, “T-chan. Like everyone else is going to call him.”
Trowa shook his head, “I have no idea where Duo came up with that name.”
Une smiled, “It was early on in their relationship, he was calling Treize-sama that when I walked in on the two of them.”
Trowa smiled faintly, “Do tell.” He had been curious if Une had known about the two of them, but never managed to ask Duo about it. He didn’t think that even Heero would be that tactless about asking about things after Treize’s death.
“It was their second meeting.” Une laughed lightly, “Meeting. It sounds so innocent when you call them that, a meeting. But what else could you call it? Anything else sounds so…sordid. And no matter what was happening, it was never sordid. I realized that he was going to be a fixture in Treize-sama’s life when he tried to be nice to me as well as Treize.”
“Nice?” Trowa asked quietly. He didn’t think that Une had too many people that were nice to her in her life. Not with the way she had acted during the war. Duo must have been a gift for the two of them, no matter why he was there.
“He cooked us lunch. And complained about the lack of food for Treize to eat. He fussed and it was adorable. The refrigerator was always full after that. Duo cooked for the two of us when he was there. We ate better with him cooking for us then I thought that we could. It wasn’t something that was very complicated, but it was always a meal that could be for the two of them and could be reheated later, after he was gone for Trieze and I for a couple of nights. And it did keep him occupied while Treize-sama was at a meeting or if he was busy when he showed up. Duo cared. It hurt me to see him being so torn between what he had to do and what he wanted to do.” Une said quietly.
"The killings.” Trowa said flatly.
“Among other things,“ Une replied. “He knew that it wouldn’t last, so few things in his life must of. But…even when he was down, he joked to cheer you, when he could. Even afterwards. In Cologne, we went to the reading of the will. He knew that I was hurting, but he tried to cheer me up. We talked about who might be doing this with me if Treize-sama hadn’t liked him. If Duo hadn’t have sent those flowers.”
“Flowers?” Trowa asked. And who did they think would have gone with Une to that meeting? Quatre? Wufei?
He vaguely heard the voices of Heero, Relena and Maria in the dining room. They were all talking while Maria set the table for dinner. Relena was teasing Heero about what he was wearing and telling Maria about how he used to live in spandex. Trowa was relieved the Relena seemed to have forgiven the Japanese pilot for the mistakes that he had made with Duo. Or she might have gotten it all out of her system with the lecture that she had given the two of them. Heero or Wufei wouldn’t say what she had yelled at them about. He had a vague idea what might have made Duo run that night, but he didn’t think about it. Too many of his own memories made him want to run at times.
“Duo sent him flowers. As an apology for not staying the night.” Une said with a soft smile. “I still have one of them, dried, in my room. Treize-sama was thrilled that he had sent flowers. It almost made up for the fact that he had poisoned him.”
Trowa was about to ask more about that when he heard the doorbell ring. He knew that Pargon was out, and the rest of the staff was gone for the day. Une frowned, she wasn’t expecting anyone. Trowa immediately snapped into soldier mode at that frown and grabbed the gun that he had hidden in the small of his back. He wasn’t too worried, Howard or Mirialdo weren’t going to be polite enough to ring the front door if they were going to break in, but he knew that this was trouble.
Heero was suffering with Relena telling Maria all about the fact that she enjoyed chasing after him during the war because of the spandex that he wore. The shorts had been comfortable, practical and above all, easy to get out of when he wanted to get down and dirty with Wufei.
“Very nice.” Relena was teasing him.
Maria just ignored the two of them. It was something that really didn’t interest her right now, but it would have been interesting to see the look on Wufei’s face, putting up with Relena trying to poach his man.
“Made me wish that I liked guys in that way, that spandex showed the world that you had a wonderful butt,” Relena continued.
Heero frowned, “How do you know that you didn’t like guys that way?” he asked softly. He was curious, he would have thought that Relena wanted him for something more then just chasing with the way that she acted sometimes. And he didn’t think that she would be this open with him later.
Relena frowned, her eyes dark. “Because my stepfather…well…he liked little girls, I guess. I never figured out if he took me in because of that or it was something he discovered later. But you might say that I knew what happens with between a male and a female, behind closed doors. And I didn’t like it.”
Heero shook his head, “That was when you were younger. If I felt that way, I would have never have tried with Wufei.”
Maria dropped the silverware that she had been holding. She really, really didn’t have to know about that. She had sort of guessed about Relena, what with the way she freaked out when she found out that she and Duo occasionally shared a bed. Maria had to answer all sorts of questions, did Relena think that Duo was sleeping with her because he wanted her father? Or was that just a raw nerve for Relena? She had answered all sorts of questions before Relena calmed down. But Heero and rape? He was so controlled, so strong. But you forgot that he must have been a little boy at one time, vulnerable to the attentions of the adults.
Heero and Relena looked at her. “I think that we shocked her.” Heero said quietly.
Maria blushed, “I know about Duo and that adults can be nasty…but I never figured…” she couldn’t say anymore. Heero had the same childhood as she had, just with a different focus. Would Dekim have started sneaking into her room at night when she was older? Maria started shivering and found out that she couldn’t stop.
Heero went over to hug her, patting her back and rubbing her arms. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.
“Just thought of Dekim sneaking into my room,” Maria explained, “It… freaked me out.’
“You wouldn’t have had to worry about that,” Heero explained carefully, choosing his words with care. Even after all these years it bothered him, he thought that he was over that ‘training’ incident. Any of the incidents that had happened. “Dekim liked them really young. And he liked boys. So if he hadn’t yet, he wasn’t going to.”
“You and Dekim?” Relena squeaked. “I thought that J…that…Dekim… I don’t know what to think now.”
They were saved from more awkwardness by the ringing of the doorbell.
Relena frowned at the sound, “I’m not expecting anyone.”
Heero let go of Maria and pulled his gun out of the holster on his back. “You two go into the kitchen and hide. Trowa’s armed also.”
Relena frowned, at the fact that he was armed. “How did you get those through customs?”
Heero grinned, “Winner private shuttle, good for smuggling former dictators off the Earth and letting his paranoid boyfriends bring their security blankets with them. No customs.”
Maria giggled involuntarily, Heero making a joke sounded so weird. But this was serious so she and Relena started heading towards the kitchen. There was a security station in the pantry, if there was trouble they could buzz Preventer Headquarters from there. Duo had that put in when they were remodeling the place, he said that Relena needed all the security that she could get.
Heero went to answer the door. The house was small compared to some of the places that he had lived; some of the Winner houses were the size of small villages. Houses built off of each other as the family expanded. And had about the same population with the amount of sisters, children and servants there. And he oddly enough loved it. After being alone for so long, he liked having a family. Children were fun; he was discovering that own his own. He didn’t think that he would be having any with Wufei, but they really hadn’t discussed it yet.
Heero checked the security camera that swept the grounds and the front door before answering it. He was impressed with the sophistication that went into the system. Duo may have been crazy but he knew the importance of keeping Relena safe still, she may not be Queen of the World anymore but her position was still one that might have crazies after her, besides her own brother.
He frowned at camera. Noin was at the front door. What was she doing here? Duo had mentioned that she didn’t talk to Relena anymore, now that she had moved in with Une. Something about the fact that she didn’t like the fact that Relena was gay, that she shouldn’t be in love with the woman that killed her father. And Trowa had also mentioned that she wasn’t too happy about the fact that Mirialdo and Treize seemed to be involved. So why was she here? And she looked very upset about something. He opened the door after shoving the gun back into the holster, no use in making her any angrier then she seemed to be.
“Good Evening, Noin.” Heero said neutrally.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Noin snarled. She took a deep breath and visibly calmed down. “Is Relena or Une home?”
“In the kitchen.” Heero informed her calmly.
He wondered what the hell had gotten her upset. And why was she angry that he was here. He was just thankful that it was Trowa that he was with and not Wufei, he knew that she still hadn’t forgiven him for Victoria, even if she was willing to work with him. But it had been decided that Trowa was legally Maria’s uncle, he did have the best chance of getting her out of school if they had been difficult about them taking her. He was surprised that the mission had been that easy, but he had been right, the place wasn’t set up for any kind of trouble. It was a quick in and out thankfully. And they had timed it so that the World President had been hard to get a hold of. By the time that he found out what had been done, Maria would be with the Winners and he would have a hard time getting a hold of her. Just in case he was going to be difficult, Quatre had the lawyers all ready to argue custody as Trowa was her Uncle.
“Where is that?” she asked.
“Follow me.” Heero said shortly.
He wondered what she was doing here, but he figured that she would explain everything once she got to talk to Relena and Une. He led her into the kitchen surprised to see that neither Trowa or Maria were in sight. They must have hid, just in case there was trouble. He thought that he saw Trowa’s shadow peeping out of the pantry.
Noin stopped when she saw Une and Relena standing calmly, looking at her.
“What a nice surprise,” Relena said quietly, her tone indicating that this wasn’t nice even if it was a surprise.
“Why didn’t you tell me!” Noin half screamed.
“Tell you what?” Relena asked, even though she had some inkling about what she was talking about. But she wanted Noin to tell her.
“That your brother was alive.”
“I no longer have a brother, Noin.” Relena said sadly, “I disowned him after he went crazy on the Libra.”
“That he decided to destroy that Earth was not a reason to do that.” Noin exclaimed. “You told me that people change. You told me that when you moved in with her,” she spat out, “So why can’t you forgive your brother?!”
“Because I disowned him for torturing Duo. I found him afterwards…” Relena’s voice trailed off. She knew that Maria was going to hear all of this hidden in the pantry, she didn’t want it to get too graphic, even if she knew most of what had happened.
“Noin, who told you that Mirialdo was still alive?” Une asked. She had hoped to keep it a secret from Noin, that the man that she was crazy over didn’t love her enough to tell her that he was alive. She knew that it would be hard to keep a secret, but she had hoped. She didn’t like Noin, but she didn’t want her hurt that way.
“I found out when someone had kindly dropped off the report on my desk. The report of the raid that you did on his house.” she snarled. “Were either one of you going to tell me?”
“No.” Relena informed her. “If my brother did not want to tell you that he was alive, I was not going to be the one to do so.”
“And why not?” Noin spat out. How dare this stuck up little bitch decide what she should know! She had covered her ass during most of the war, sacrificed her career and worked with that little terrorist cadet killer Chang for her peace. What right did she have to keep information from her!
“Because he never bothered to tell you himself. There were several times during the last two years that he could have, but he chose not to. He chose not tell you and ‘live’ with his lover, Treize Khushrenada.” Une told her sadly. She didn’t want to hurt Noin this way and if she found out the idiot that spilled the beans, she would rake him over the coals herself.
“So then how did you find him?” Noin asked.
“He helped kidnap Duo; we found out after he escaped from that place,” Heero said quietly.
“That little bastard couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it! He claimed that he was sleeping with Khushrenada because Mirialdo left him. That wasn’t true, we had been lovers for months before he left.” Noin hissed.
“As far as I can tell, Treize-sama and Mirialdo had been involved for years before he left him after that ‘test’ with Tallgeese.” Une said calmly. “And do you think that Treize hid anything from me? I knew about Duo and I knew about Zechs, Mirialdo or whatever he wanted to call himself.”
She was not going to let this woman badmouth Duo, because she refused to believe that Mirialdo was bisexual. Duo kept saying that Treize had been the innocent in this, but to a certain extent Duo had been the innocent in that mess, even though that observation would have had him laughing hysterically at the time.
“And what was this about being ‘kidnapped’ are you sure that he wasn’t just on a bender and came back with that stupid story?” Noin asked snidely.
Heero growled and stepped closer to Noin. She stepped back involuntarily, Heero scared her suddenly, she had never seen the other pilot like this.
“Duo disappeared from the hotel that he was on vacation in because I scared him. He was unnerved enough to get caught by that piece of scum. You think that Duo’s full of shit. That he lied about everything that was going on during the war? If he wasn’t involved with Treize and Mirialdo wasn’t pissed about that, why would be spent time carving the living shit out of him?” Heero’s voice rose. “You ever see Duo, after the Libra? He’s covered in scar tissue, scars that he could have only gotten on that ship. And your belovedMirialdo spent hours alone with him. So who do you think did that do him, the fucking Tooth Fairy? And if that crazed shit wasn’t angry with Duo about Treize, why would he bother? And before you start sprouting crap about how good and kindhe was, he also was using Epyon as a Gundam. If it was anything like the ZERO System, he was out of control the second that he got out of the thing, I should know.” Heero growled. “Duo woke up screaming that night, frightened because he thought that he saw Mirialdo and scared the crap out of him.”
“And then how did you scare him?” Noin asked nastily.
“Because he thought that Duo was still attractive and Duo couldn’t handle that.” Trowa informed her calmly as he stepped out of the pantry, with Maria behind him. He didn’t want this to get any more violent or graphic. Noin and everyone else might calm down if they remembered that Maria was here.
Noin jumped and whirled around, she didn’t know that there was someone else here. She blushed when she saw Maria half hidden behind Trowa, she did not want to lose her temper around this too calm, too controlled child and her quiet uncle. She still remembered how still she had been on the ride down to Earth. The only thing that had surprised Maria was Duo popping into the cabin and snatching her away. Noin still didn’t understand how she let him do that. And why the child willingly went with someone that had threatened to kill her.
“What are you doing here?” Noin asked Heero and Trowa. She was desperately trying to get the momentum back that she had when she stormed into this place.
“Maria will be safer with me.” Trowa said calmly, “so I am taking custody of her until Duo and her father return. I do not trust Mirialdo Peacecraft not to hurt her.”
“Treize is still alive?” Noin asked.
“My father was the second prisoner in that place,” Maria said calmly. “You might want to ask Mirialdo about that, if he decides that he wants to talk to you.”
Noin blushed, this child was too cutting in her observations like her father. It hurt that Mirialdo had never told her that he was alive. Didn’t he love her, he used to whisper such promises to her in the night, such things he told her. She conveniently forgot the bad times towards the end, when he made her cry more often then he made her happy. The bruises that she sported when he had gotten too rough with her.
“And how much did Treize care for Duo and the rest of you if hedidn’t bother to tell any of you that he was alive?” Noin asked, desperate to crack the confidence of everyone around her. Hurt them like she had been hurt.
“Treize-sama does not remember anything beyond the last two years,” Une said calmly. She didn’t like Noin, they had had their differences in the past, but she did not want to hurt her like this, no one deserved to feel this, the callousness of a former lover.
“He was injured by Wufei in the last battle, we thought that he had killed him. And when no one found the body…” Heero shrugged. “If he had remembered Duo or anything, he would have gone to him, they had made arrangements. He didn’t so we all thought that he was dead. That nearly killed Duo more then anything that Mirialdo had done to him.”
“He was content to stay with my brother, even…” Relena stopped. She was not going to tell Noin about what was found in that house, she could read it in that bloody report. “He left with Duo for reasons that neither one of them will tell us. And now they are in the colonies, because they don’t want to get caught by either my brother or Howard. You remember Howard, he was on the PeaceMillion.”
Noin nodded, “He liked the little…” she let her voice trail off. If looks could kill she would be dead. Even Trowa was staring daggers at her.
“I’m sorry that he hurt you,” Relena said softly, “he knows how to do that too well. But if my brother gets in touch with you, call for backup if you can. I don’t want him to hurt you.”
Noin opened her mouth to protest and then nodded. She had read the whole report. Mirialdo Peacecraft was not the man that she had fallen in love with. She didn’t know who this person was, but he was cruel and ruthless.
“And don’t you dare tell Dorothy what is going on,” Relena continued. “She likes stirring up trouble. And this is something that is beyond what she can handle. Mirildo’s ‘games’ are hurtful and they could turn deadly for her.”
“I thought that you didn’t like her?” Noin asked curiously.
Relena sighed, “That bitch was responsible for Duo getting captured, he had gone on the Libra to help me, to rescue the princess. It cost him more then it should. And it’s all her fault. She threatened to kill me if he didn’t surrender to her.”
“She followed you around, like she was your best friend.” Noin protested.
“She followed the chaos that I brought with me, the contact high that she could get from the violence that I was embroiled in.” Relena explained. “And in my stupidity and ignorance I thought that it was flattering.“
“You aren’t to blame for her problems,” Trowa informed Relena. “She was as screwed up as the rest of us were. You should have heard the things that she was screaming at Quatre when she was trying to kill him.”
“That did leave a nasty scar.” Heero muttered. He had heard the whole story one night, before Trowa returned to Quatre. And had seen the scar too many times before that, accidentally, when Quatre had been getting closer to him when Trowa was away.
“And how do you know that?” Noin asked.
Heero and Trowa smiled the same ‘cat in the cream’ smile and shrugged, not bothering to explain. Noin blushed and Une and Relena giggled a little.
Maria sighed. They enjoyed teasing Noin too much. Or were they that used to the reaction that people had when they found that Heero, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre were all together. It was going to be an interesting time for her, if she wasn’t leaving because she was being chased out of her house, she would be looking forward to making friends with all those kids that lived with them and watching the antics of the family she was going to get to know.
End Interlude
Christine
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