16-Aug-2001

Title: Hereditary Pains 1/2
Author: Sony_Mouse (Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com)
Pairings: If you've read the original (like you should've) you'll know the pairings. But come' on, what's the ONLY thing I write??????
Warnings: I can't think of any warnings, I can't think of any, there's nothing really you should be warned about. Normal Universe, Two OCs (Nate and Lizzy).that's it I think
Archives: www.gwaddiction.com If you've not read the original, 'Hers, Yours And Mine', I suggest you do. (or not, you'll just not like this one as much)
Disclaimer: GW not mine, kids are

Hereditary Pains by Sony_Mouse

Part One

"Good Morning Sank and welcome to 'Morning Time with Suzy Rhyme'. I'm Suzy, and I'm happy to introduce today's guests. Here with... "

Duo tuned out the annoying voice belonging to the country's best known morning talk show host. She was a whiney blond who never really knew what she was talking about, but she did get the best guests to come on her show.

So like every other morning, Duo faithfully tuned into her show to see who was on while he got dressed in his room. There were actually quite a few respected people on today, a few that Duo had actually met, but only at parties from long ago. There was no way they'd remember him today.

As Duo went to pull on his last sock, he nearly fell off the bed when they announced today's hot topic, HIM!

"Now ladies and gentlemen, we at SBC^[1] are just as concerned as the rest of the country about our future heirs." All guests nodded rapidly in agreement.

"They *are* this country's future, and we have no idea who or what is raising them. So my question is, is this Duo Maxwell able to bring up the royal heirs properly?"

A stumpy, balding man jumped in to give him two cents on the argument. "I've heard rumors about this man, I've heard that he may even have been a Gundam pilot, but we don't know that for certain. He could be any idiot living in some poor part of town trying to bring up our *royalty*. I hear he's not even from Sank, but from the 'colonies' of all places."

This time it was a stuck up brunette who interrupted. "I couldn't agree more with Dr. Noel. The man won't even have interviews to prove that he's able to raise these children. They should be with their family, not with some possible ex-terrorist that was so bad that no one's even heard of him, except from rumors that he was that Gundam Pilot who was captured during the war. I think we'd even be happy if Colonel Chang raised them! At least then we'd know a trusted person was taking care of them."

Suzy smiled smugly and was soon back in the game. "Recently the newspapers have discovered the location of the school that the children now attend. We are unfortunately unable to announce it on television due to court restrictions, but we are able to announce that it IS in some poor part of the city that they are being raised in, not even getting the proper education that they deserve. It's obvious that this man is incapable of doing the great task of rearing these children for royalty, the government should act now and remove the children from his dubious custody... "

The television suddenly went black as a very annoyed looking 12-year- old turned it off in a hurry.

"Duo, I'm going to be late for school, let's gooooooo!"

Realizing that he'd been so engrossed by the television that he'd forgotten, why he'd even bothered to get up at this ungodly hour, but Duo quickly recovered.

Placing a bright grin on his face, he jumped off the bed and tackled the surprised girl, swinging her over his shoulders and running downstairs.

"Ahhh, put me down, put me down!"

"I wouldn't want you to be late, besides, it's time to see how you've been doing in school." Duo placed the put-off girl on the ground so he could do up his shoes. The moment he was done he called Nate down and rushed the two children out the door.

The small 8-year-old boy was still half asleep, dressed up in a small pair of jeans and a dark red T-shirt, his hair still messy from sleep, just like it always was. He wasn't fond [...] On the way to school he even fell asleep on his sister's shoulder, much to her annoyance.

The bright yellow car was the very same one that Duo had crashed in all those years ago. After all that had happened, Duo had decided he would need a car to get around, and had enlisted the help of the two willing children to repair the damaged vehicle. All they had done was pass him a tool every now and then, but it was a great chance for them to really get to know each other.

And now they had a beautiful, very yellow, vintage car to drive around town with.

"Duo, please behave when you meet my teacher, I don't want you to get detention or anything, she's very strict."

The braided father figure couldn't help but smile at the girl's protectiveness over him; she'd been like that since day one.

"Yes, Mommy. But if she confiscates my toy then I make no promises"

"Duooo, be serious. I want the teacher to like you."

Briefly turning his attention from the road he grinned at her from the front seat. "Not like me? Impossible!"

"Oi, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Mr. Maxwell, I'm so happy you could take a moment from your busy schedule to come visit me."

Duo walked into the small classroom and warmly took hold of the stern teacher's offered hand.

"No problem, I was fortunately able to get away from my work today." The truth was that Duo didn't work at all. He'd smuggled enough funds during the war that he was able to live quite comfortably. Nothing like Quatre, but it was more than enough. That was the beauty of war time, funds were lost so easily, covered in so much paper work that no one would even notice it missing at all.

For about the first year after Lizzy and Nate's arrival, he'd just stayed home with the youngest child all day, but soon enough, even he had to start school. He'd been in been grade two for about a month now.^[2]

"I'm so glad, please take a seat."

Duo tried to find something big enough to actually sit down in, but was only able to spot many of those small chairs that they made for children. He somehow managed to seat himself without much difficulty.

"So what brings you to call on me. I doubt it's something bad, I mean she has great marks, and she makes lots of friends. She's a regular social butterfly."

Sitting down in the much larger teacher's chair, the stern lady looked down at Duo, slightly disapproving.

"I realize all that, Mr. Maxwell, but it has recently come to my attention who Lizzy really is."

A warning light went off inside Duo's head

"I can't believe I never made the connection myself, but you just never expect something like this to happen, Lizzy Maxwell is really Elizabeth Peacecraft. I have to say I'm quite displeased with the fact that you had her lie about her own name. Teaching deception at this age can be quite damaging."

Trying hard not to lose his temper, Duo slowly interrupted. "I realize your concern, but I'm afraid you have to see how this would be necessary. We're trying to keep them away from the media, bedsides, I've adopted her, so she really is Lizzy Maxwell."

The elder woman chuckled softly before continuing. "Mr. Maxwell, you can lie to the children, but I know as well as you do that you can't adopt them. That's ridiculous."

It took a great deal of Duo's self-control not to start yelling he instead decided to just drop the subject of adoption. What did this old lady know, anyway?

"Is this all you called me in for?"

"No, there's also the matter of Lizzy's, sorry Elizabeth's demeanor. Yes, she makes a lot of friends, but the wrong kind, I'm afraid. Most girls are starting to be concerned about their looks and makeup and impressing the right type of boy. But Lizzy isn't interested in any of those things. She wears loose, baggy clothes, and her hair is always in some silly braid, and she has a very controlling nature. She acts like some sort of hooligan who always speaks her mind. The kids love her for it, but it's very unacceptable for a young lady who will take over the throne, a fact that you've kept from not only from myself, but also from the entire school. I've already spoken with Nathaniel's teacher."

"Does she actually pick on any other students?"

The teacher looked around nervously before responding, "Well no, but the fact of the matter is that she is just as rambunctious as the most outgoing male in our class. The future heir is a tomboy for goodness sake!"

"So, what's wrong with that?"

"How will she relate to diplomats if all she wants to do is play sports and go looking for excitement. It would be fine if she was just some ordinary child, but she will be the queen. At the moment, she's nothing like her mother!"

"That's not surprising considering she *isn't* her mother. Maybe she takes after her father."

Another uncalled round of chuckles escaped the older woman's lips. "Oh please Mr. Maxwell, King Heero was about as vocal as a rock. If there's one thing she isn't, it's her father."

That was the last straw, before he knew it, Duo was on his feet yelling at the close minded, sexist woman. "How the hell would you know what 'King' Heero was like. I'll have you know he was very vocal when he felt strongly about something, just like Lizzy is. He just preferred to work behind the media, not for it. I'm proud of the way Lizzy is right now, and I have no problem with her being a tomboy. She's learning what the 'common' folk live like, I wouldn't want to change that for anything."

"B-but what about the aristocrats, how will she associate with them?"

"Screw the aristocrats, it's not for them that I'm raising her, and unless Lizzy is bullying other students, being a snob, or failing, then I'd ask you to mind your own business and let me raise her and her brother the way I want."

"But Mr. Maxwell, think of her mother, that great pacifist couldn't possible approve of such teachings, do you realize Elizabeth is learning martial arts from an expert? I'm not sure you know HOW to raise them properly."

"Oh course I'm aware of her learning martial arts, and she's good at it too. Maybe you're right and her mother wouldn't have approved of her kids, but her father would have been damn proud of her, and so am I." Without dropping his deadly gaze, Duo continued, but with an ounce of frustration in his voice. "You people don't seem to understand what it's like just jumping in and being the only parent for these children, I'm the doing the best I can, and if that's not good enough for you, then take it up with Queen Relena next time she's in town. Good bye."

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and left, slamming the door behind him.

"What's your name?"

The little boy being asked the innocent question looked up in delight at being noticed.

"Nate. what's yours?"

"Sam, so what's your dad do?"

"My dad?"

The taller boy gave a bemused look questioning the boy. "Yeah, your dad, what's his job?"

"I don't have a dad."

"Oh, then what do you have?"

"I have a Duo!"

"A Duo! What's that? Sounds stupid!"

"A Duo's not stupid, and he can do anything."

"Ok, so what's his job."

"I don't know... maybe being a dad?"

"That's sounds just as stupid. Besides my dad could kick your Duo's butt."

"Uh uh, Duo can beat anyone, he's... well I can't say, but I'd be afraid if I were you."

Just then, a tall, lean figure entered the room. He smiled grimly at the teacher, making it obvious that he did not want to talk to her right now, and then waved over a the small boy.

"See! That's a Duo."

"He looks just as stupid as his name, and he has girl hair."

"He does not, take that back!"

"NO, he does, and my dad could so kick his butt."

A deep scowl graced Nate's features as he clenched his small fists in anger. "Take it back!"

"NO!"

Without warning, the smaller of the two flung his fist back and slammed it hard into the taller boy's face, thereby knocking him to the ground. A brawl quickly followed, bringing the attention of not only the teacher, but also a very upset Duo.

"Nate! Stop it!" He leaned down and plucked his ward off of the other boy, who now had a bleeding nose and a very sore eye. Sam was crying out loud, laying all blame on Nate, who was still trying to wiggle free from Duo's grasp.

Nathaniel Maxwell Yuy-Peacecraft was in big, big trouble.

The ride back home was silent for the most part, but the tension in the air was loud enough to fill the gap. Nate tried to look everywhere but at the man who looked mad enough to kill him, or at least ground him for awhile.

Lizzy had decided to go home with a few friends. Duo didn't mind, he knew that she could take care of herself, and would be home soon enough.

As they drove on, Duo's mind was in turmoil. It was like today was some big boiling point for all the complaints he'd been getting from all sides. No one seemed to think he was capable of raising Lizzy and Nate properly, and now one of them had to go and start a fight, somehow proving Duo wrong. He wasn't mad at Nate, he was mad at himself, the world's worst father who apparently was unfit to raise anyone.

As soon as they spotted the familiar neighborhood, the braided ex- pilot took a few deep breaths and felt composed enough to ask the boy about what had happened.

"So, can you tell me why on earth you felt it necessary to give your new classmate not only a bloody nose, but a black eye?"

Nate tried his best to curl into the seat, hoping that it would engulf him or protect him in some way, no such luck.

"He... he asked for it..."

"Oh, he asked you to beat him. Ah, that explains everything."

A soft whimper came from the boy and tears welled up in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Uncle Duo, I didn't mean to, please don't be mad at me, please don't hate me."

Sighing to himself, he caught sight of the trembling lips and the tears that were now escaping the small prussian blue eyes. Duo decided to pull over to finish the conversation, he was just too emotional to really concentrate on driving right now.

"Don't cry Nate, I'm not mad at you, I'm just wondering if it was a mistake to teach you how to fight. Your mom would kill me for doing that, and so would the country it seems. Just tell me why you did it, maybe you had a good reason."

"He said some things."

"About?"

Gathering up his courage, the words started to pour from the small boy's mouth.

"He asked about my dad, and then started to talk about his dad and... "

Without even giving him a chance to finish, Duo interrupted, realization dawning on him.

"Oh Nate, I'm so sorry, I should've know it was about something like that. Boys always like to compare fathers." Unbuckling the crying boy, and scooping him up into his arms, Duo tried to reassure him once again that he wasn't at all mad at him. But Nate didn't seem to be finished talking.

"That wasn't why I hit him."

Confusion quickly spread over Duo's face. "Then why'd you hit him?"

"Because he called you stupid and said you had girly hair and said his dad could kick your butt and that having a Duo was stupid, so I hit him."

Running a hand through his bangs, Duo seemed genuinely surprised, "That was the last thing I ever expected you to say."

Duo gave Nate a tight hug and wiped the tears that stained the small boy's face. "But I'm afraid that's still no reason to go around beating up other people, he may be bigger than you, but he probably wasn't taught by an ex-Gundam Pilot, and long time street rat, how to fight. I taught you that to defend yourself, not to defend my honor, or your honor, or anyone else's honor."

Nate tired to avoid Duo's stern gaze at this point, choosing to look down at his nervous hands instead. "So what are you going to do to me?"

A small smile crept up Duo's face when he heard this. "Well I think you feel bad enough at it is. You're not exactly the type to go around hitting people, you're usually the first to try and stop a fight. So all your going to have to do is apologize to Sam tomorrow, and I mean sincerely." Before Nate could agree, he continued. "AND just try and think before you act next time, figure out if it's really worth hitting the guy over."

Nate nodded slowly, curling himself deeper into Duo's embrace.

Taking pity on the young boy, the braided man smiled down at the eight-year-old and whispered in his ear.

"Besides, we both know I could kick his dad's butt any day of the week, no need to go ahead and prove it. I am Shinigami after all."

Nate's eyes shot up in surprise, a grin breaking out before he could stop himself. Duo just winked once before giving him one last hug and placing the boy back in his seat.

As soon as his seatbelt was done up once more, Duo started up the car and drove off grinning to himself. Thinking that maybe the whole country was wrong after all, maybe he was a good father.

With the tension gone, and Duo in a much better mood, the bright yellow car sped off into the distance.

Saturday afternoon found Wufei once again visiting Duo's house. Because of his busy schedule, he was only able to make it out once a week. The children absolutely loved it when he or any of the other ex-pilots visited.

Duo tried to get them to visit often, and they needed no pushing. Although the braided man was going out a lot more these days, Wufei, Quatre and Trowa still remained his only real friends. His fear of making new ones was a habit that was just too hard to break.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, Wufei was teaching Lizzy how to do a few more advanced katana moves, while explaining the philosophies on fighting. She has asked about two years ago for him to teach her how to fight, he'd slowly become her unpaid teacher. Wufei insisted it was the least he could do for Heero. Though Duo suspected a little bit of guilt over his death still remained and helped him in his decision to teach.

Lizzy just loved it though, and for the last two years had worked hard in learning not only fencing, but martial arts as well, not to mention the street fighting that Duo had taught her and still continued to teach her as she improved. In all respects, she really was Heero's daughter, though a lot of Duo had already rubbed off on her.

They were now waiting for Quatre and Trowa to show up so they could spend a rare afternoon together, catching up on each other's lives.

They didn't have to wait long, Quatre showed up at the door smiling and bearing a jug of Iced Tea with him.

Wufei left Lizzy to work on some new movies while Nate happily sat near her doodling pictures of everything around him. Over the years Duo had discovered that the small boy had quite a passion for drawing. He enjoyed capturing the world around him on paper.

The three young men sat sipping their iced tea. Duo hadn't drunk any alcohol in over 3 years, not since Lizzy had decided to throw out all of his 'secret' stash in an effort to 'save' him. And Quatre, who now sat beside him sipping the bitter home-made drink, had never drunk alcohol to begin with; it was against the young man's religion. Wufei could have used a beer, but was more than happy to share iced tea with his friends.

Duo was the first to inquire about Trowa not being there.

"I think you forgot something Quatre, is it hiding in your car?"

"Oh Trowa can't make it today, he's held up with some paperwork, something to do with a pet project of ours, and his 'mid-life crisis'."

"So, Trowa's going through some kind of mid-life crisis."

Wufei seemed to be very surprised, not catching the teasing tones the two other men were using.

"Already? He's still twenty years away from being anywhere close to his midlife."

Quatre sat chuckling, knowing that it was more of an excuse than an actual mid-life crisis. " I know, I know. It's just that since he turned 30 he's wanted to start doing more than just living."

"Oh!" Duo lifted his eyebrow in suspicion. "And what does that mean?"

"Well, I guess it's just something us 29-year-olds can't understand, well maybe you can, but he wants to start a family."

Duo nearly spit out his bitter drink once he heard that. "I'm sorry, did you just say a family, I thought he had started one already, and you're it."

"He wants more than that. No, I should say, we want more than that. We want children."

"Let me be the first to talk you out of that silly notion, they are noisy, pushy, get into trouble easily and... "

"...and they make a great family." Wufei added with a smirk.

"Wu, you're not helping me out, here."

"Well, I think it's a great idea. They deserve kids."

"And just how to you propose getting said mini-versions of yourself? Using Catherine as a surrogate mother?" Duo addressed this to the cheerful blond at his side.

Quatre blushed but smiled remained. "No, actually we were thinking about adopting. I mean, it just makes sense since we caused so many orphans during the war, and I know that those orphans are now too old to be adopted, but there are other's out there, and we'd love to adopt them."

"All of them?"

Quatre swatted playfully at the braided man's head.

"No, just one for now."

"Well what can I say, I've tried to convince you otherwise, besides, I was an orphan, so I can respect you guys deciding to do that. And who am I to talk, I even adopted two kids."

Quatre's smile faltered for a few seconds, trying to digest what Duo had just said.

"Speaking of which, I had the oddest conversation with Lizzy's teacher the other day. She tried to make me believe that I hadn't adopted the two little munchkins, can you believe that?"

Both Wufei and Quatre stared at the braided man with uncertain looks, not knowing how to continue. It was Wufei who spoke first.

"Maxwell, you haven't adopted them. I've received no such paperwork at my office, and I'm personally in charge of that aspect there."

Gripping his glass nervously, Duo did not like the direction that their conversation was taking one bit. His permanent smile even faltered for a few seconds before going back to normal. "I didn't go through with any paperwork, I thought that was dealt with in the will. Heero gave them to me to raise, I thought that would mean I had adopted them."

Sharing a glance with Wufei, the blond man tried to carry on.

"Duo I'm sorry, we thought you understood. You haven't adopted them, and we never said you had, and you couldn't even if you wanted to, the government wouldn't allow it."

Glaring over at the innocent friend, Duo's temper began to flare dangerously. "Why the hell not, and no, I wasn't clear on that small little detail."

"Maxwell, calm down. Neither Quatre nor myself had anything to do with that. The fact is that they belong to the government as long as there is a regent, and *they* would normally have the responsibility of raising them, Heero just found a way to bend the rules, he didn't break them completely."

"So let me get this straight, I'm nothing more than an unpaid, long-term BABYSITTER!"

Quatre gave him a weak smile, but knew that there was really nothing he could say to cheer the man up.

"No, the government's going to compensate you, not that you really need it with your stolen funds, but it's something at least."

"No Quatre, it's nothing. I don't want compensation; I want to raise these kids as mine, like I thought they were. What if they got seriously sick, I would have no say as to if they had an operation or not. What about when it comes to High School, I won't get to pick where they'll go. Zechs and his lackeys will send them away from me to some overpriced private school that teaches them nothing but how to be a professional snob."

"Duo... "

Seeing the uncalled-for guilt in Quatre's eyes, and the regret in Wufei's, Duo quickly let the anger seep out of him, and apologized to the two men who were really the only ones besides Trowa who had stood behind him over the last three years.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I guess this will teach me never to assume. I didn't mean to get mad at you guys. But is there no way I can adopt them?"

"Sorry Maxwell, by law there's nothing you can do."

Quatre agreed with Wufei's statement before giving the braided man a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"But if you can think of something, you know we'll be behind you 100% of the way."

Duo turned his eyes to watch Lizzy practicing on the front lawn, oblivious to the rest of the world. Each swing was calculated and repeated constantly with such an intense look that it reminded Duo of her late father. And Nate sat drawing her without a care, enjoying the expression his drawings gave him. Both of them had bits of Relena and Heero in them, and Lizzy especially, could still remember her parents more or less clearly.

So Duo had to wonder, would they even want him to adopt them?

TBC

Notes:
[1] SBC, Sank Broadcasting Corporation, as opposed to ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
[2] In the Scandinavian countries, you don't start grade one until you are 7 years old, as opposed to 6 in most countries, and 5 in Canada. Since Sank is more like a Scandinavian country (just LOOK at Relena and Zechs, what else could the be?), then that would mean Nate is now entering Grade 2, and Lizzy is now entering Grade 6.

Well, it's back I guess. This is the first part of sequel one (there will be a sequel RIGHT after this one that takes place late on, deals with Heero a lot, and Lizzy's going to the throne.)

I actually find a pic that perfectly demonstrated what I thought about Nate. It was an official chibi pic of Heero in green Pjs dragging a pillow behind him (I was reminded of the scene where Nate was dragging the blanket behind him). THAT was Nate in my mind, that picture is what he looks like. Cute little guy isn't he?

OK, FEED BACK < I need lots of feedback if I'm going to get through all that I have planned, so please give it to me, I'm so nervous here.

(:./sony/pains1)