Worth Fighting For Part 4
Fruitless Searching
"Well, anything?" Wufei asked the silent hacker at the computer.
"Nothing." He replied, "Not even the smallest amount of dirt or shit on the Yuy's name."
"No reason as to why someone would want to hurt the Yuys." Duo muttered entering the office and Quatre came in immediately after.
"Maybe it's a money thing. Ransom you know?"
"No, it's not that."
"Why not?"
"Heero Yuy has been missing for nearly a week and there has been not a sound or squeak from his kidnapper," Duo pointed out settling down on the side of the desk by Trowa.
"We might have luck tomorrow, me and Trowa are going to visit his University and you and Wufei are going to Regenace Hall to look for cues."
Duo gave a soft grunt of agreement.
"You guys should call it a night." Mike put his head in round the door and smiled at his team. "Tomorrow is a new day and we can advance this case. I'm off now, make sure you aren't here much longer. Duo can I have a word?"
"Sure."
"Night Mike." Quatre smiled as Mike disappeared and Duo leapt off the table and padded outside the office to where Mike was leaning against the wall.
"Something wrong?"
"Not with me. Are you ok?"
Duo pulled a face. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Duo, I know today was hard on you. You've got a lot to deal with now. I need to know that you are going to be able to handle, what will and what is happening."
Duo gave Mike a sad smile. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm fine. This is just another case and these people... they are just clients and nothing more."
"They are more than just clients." Mike reminded Duo gently.
Duo gave him a sharp look. "That part of my life is OVER! I don't want to go back to the past."
"But it's too late. I'm sorry Duo, it's too late now. These people aren't just clients, these people are the people you grew up with and loved. If you need to talk, I'm here for you Chibi."
Duo gave a small light laugh at the nickname Mike's ex had given him when they had first met.
"Hai sensai, arigatou."
"Good night Duo."
"Night."
* * *
That night dinner around the Maxwell table was very quiet. No one spoke as they ate the food that had been cooked by Helen.
Solo glanced up at his family, Helen was eating, slowly but defiantly eating. Jane was doing her normally shoving food into her mouth as fast as humanly possible. And Relena was picking at her food, not really eating any of it, just moving it round her plate, looking lost in her world.
"Relena are you not hungry?"
The young woman raised her head and her blue eyes met her father's. "Not really."
"What's wrong?" He asked and Helen coughed. Solo fixed his wife with a glare but it wouldn't make her keep quiet.
"What is wrong with her? Solo you know what is wrong with her."
Relena didn't say anything and Jane stopped eating to listen even though she didn't truly understand what was going on.
"We are all upset about Heero, he will be home soon, sooner if we stop moping around the house and think positive thoughts. No point in not eating is there."
"I don't feel like eating because I'm not hungry." Relena told her father.
Solo gazed at her with pale blue eyes. "Tell me the truth."
"I am telling you the truth." Relena snapped at him.
"You can't lie to me." Solo informed her, his voice rising slightly in volume.
"I'm not lying." She told him.
"Solo please leave it."
The table fell silent.
Relena, under the watchful eyes of her father, forced herself to eat some of the food on her plate, but every mouthful made her feel like chucking up.
Helen smiled over at her eldest daughter.
"You don't have to eat it Relena. No one is forcing you."
Gratefully Relena put down her cutlery. Solo glared at the movement.
"There are people out there who would be grateful for a meal like that." Solo commented.
"Then I will give it to them." Relena replied. "May I be excused?"
"No." Solo ordered and he stood up, ignoring Relena's movements and the way Jane was watching them with wide-eyed wonderment. "I know why you are acting like this Relena..."
Then Solo stopped and so did Relena. Helen gasped silently as the memory came back to them.
~#~
"Get that thing out of your mouth."
Duo, age 14, just smirked back at his father, opening his mouth to show off the lip ring more clearly.
Relena gazed in wonder at the small silver ring that hung over her brother's bottom lip.
"No." Duo said calmly, his violet eyes sprinkling with mischief.
Helen reached out and got Solo to sit back down at the table. "Duo sit down and eat your dinner."
"I can't eat my dinner." Duo informed his mother. "I can't eat for 48 hours. Excuse me."
By this time Solo had gone red with anger.
"There are people out there who would be grateful for a meal like that." Solo commented.
"Then I will give it to them." Duo replied. "May I be excused?"
"No." Solo ordered and he stood up, ignoring Duo's movements and the way Relena was watching them with wide-eyed wonderment. "I know why you are acting like this Duo, you are testing me. You are a teenager and you are testing me to see how far I will go. Fine, if you want a lip ring have one. But you will not be excused from this dining table until everyone, including you, has finished their meal."
Duo flashed a smirk at his father and raised a hand to his lip and pulled off the ring. "Chill Dad, it's a fake."
Solo's eyes popped as his son cracked up with laughter.
~#~
Solo suddenly sat down.
"Go." He told Relena and waved her away.
"Take Jane." Helen say and Relena picked up his sister and left the room.
Solo looked at his wife and the person that was his soulmate. Helen didn't say anything as they both stood up and she hugged him tightly.
"What have I done?" He asked her.
Helen shook her head. "I don't know. Why, what have you done?"
"I pushed away my only son. And now I'm pushing Relena away."
"You're not pushing her away, it's just a hard time for her and for you. She loves you, she always will, she has always been a daddy's girl."
Solo looked deep into Helen's deep purple eyes. "When did Duo stop being a daddy's boy?" He asked her but inside he already knew the answer, Duo had never been a daddy's boy. "I've been a fool Helen."
"It's not too late to change the past."
Solo looked up at Helen and in her, he saw the boy, he mental corrected himself, he saw the man that Duo had become in her. Duo was his mother's son. He, himself, had never realized it before and that had been his big mistake with his son.
"Can he forgive me?"
"You'll have to ask him yourself."
* * *
Relena listened to her parents talking and gave a smile. It would take a while. But when Heero was back with them, she was going to get Duo and Heero back together and get her father and Duo to be as they once were. But even as the thought went through her head, she heard her mother ask a stupid question.
"But what of Duo and Heero?"
"Simple, if Duo wishes to be part of this family again, there will not be an issue of him and Heero because he will be forbidden to be with him and if Duo doesn't like that then he will not be my son."
Relena sighed sadly, there was no hope for her father and brother. Because her father was too narrow minded.
And with a heavy heart Relena went to bed, depression deep inside of her.
* * *
The blond preventer let his eyes roam across the university campus. Nothing seemed out of place and everyone was smiling and looking happy. Quatre tensed up as he felt someone walk up to him from behind. It wasn't Trowa, the footsteps were too heavy to be the light-footed Preventer.
"Quatre Winner?"
Quatre turned round and smiled at the familiar Maxwell heir.
"Miss Maxwell." He nodded his head to her; well aware of the fact that he and Relena used to be childhood friends, he had been just as close to her as he had been to her brother.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Preventer business."
"Oh." She gasped. "You are on Heero's case?"
"Preventer Sandrock at your service."
Relena studied Quatre.
"You've grown, you look more content with life since we last met."
"When Duo asked me to become a Preventer with him, I couldn't help but say yes, especially when I had the reunion with Trowa and found out that Duo had made Trowa the same offer he had made me and Trowa had accepted. I guess you could say that I'm at peace and I have Duo to thank for it."
Relena gave a sad smile. "Duo can make anyone do whatever he wants them to do. It's one of his gifts. Just like he can light up a room with one of his smiles."
"He hasn't smiled in a long time Relena." Quatre informed her gently and she bowed her head.
"No, I wouldn't imagine that he has."
There was a silence for a minute.
"He still loves you." Quatre reassured her. "It wasn't you that drove him away. He... he still cares deeply for him as well."
Relena didn't need to ask to know who 'him' was.
"He misses you both, and I know he deeply regrets not seeing Jane grow up."
"I have to go to class." Relena turned quickly to go. "Tell him that I still love him and there will always be a place in my family and in my heart for him."
"Why don't you tell him?" Quatre asked puzzled.
Relena gave Quatre a sad smile, similar to the one Duo had given to Mike the night before. "Because he doesn't want to listen to me." She sniffed once and then straighten her back. "Goodbye Preventer Sandrock." She held out her hand and Quatre took it. "It was nice to met you and I will be seeing you soon no doubt."
"Goodbye Miss Maxwell."
And Quatre watched her leave, doing nothing to prevent her from going and doing nothing to help the great pain of lose he could feel coming from her very soul.
* * *
Wufei glanced over at his partner, who was staring out of the car window deep in thought. He sighed as he watched the midday sun play across Duo's delicate features but the sun did nothing to warm up Duo's mood and Wufei couldn't offer his friend the comfort that he knew Duo needed.
The car pulled to a stop outside the main entrance to the University Relena was studying at.
The car breaking seemed to pull Duo out of his daze and he turned his eyes to watch the driver of the car get out and walked over to the Maxwell heir who had just finished her classes for that day. They talked softly for a few minutes before she followed the driver back over to the car and she climbed into the back of the car and sat down of the seat facing the two male Preventers.
"Good afternoon Miss Maxwell." Duo greeted her, trying to ignore the look of pain that flashed across her face at the very formal greeting. "As you already know, I'm Preventer Deathscythe and this is my partner Preventer Shenlong."
"Good afternoon." She replied. "It's nice to meet you."
Wufei gave the woman a smile. He, like Quatre, had also been a childhood friend of both Relena and Duo, and Quatre. Him, Quatre and Trowa has all been friends of the Maxwell and Yuy's children since they were born and had their holidays at Eaton Forest (1).
"Where to now Sir?" The driver asked.
"Regenace Hall please." Duo said and the driver nodded and the car fell into silence as it began the 15-minute journey to Regenace Hall.
TBC...
(1) It's the name of the forest that they stayed in Holiday From Hell. Doesn't exist as far as I know.
Back to Shinigami195's Fanfictions Page