Kindergarten Heero Part 16
The school was utterly deserted.
"I knew that we should have left last night," Khushrenada said as he climbed sulkily back into the rental car. "Now we'll have to wait until school starts on Monday to find Mariemeia."
Knowing better than to remind Trieze that not only had he been more than willing to delay their departure last night, but that he'd also been the one to make them late arriving at the airport this morning, Milliardo instead looked around for some indication of why the school was closed so early today. Noticing a flyer posted on a nearby lamppost, he retrieved it and took it back to the car with him. "This must be where everyone is," he commented, handing the flyer to the other man.
"A funfair. How very - rustic." Trieze sniffed disparagingly. "One would hope that Leia has not sunk so low as to take my daughter to such a thing."
Cautiously, well aware of his lover's rather inflexible stance on appropriate behaviour for his social class, Milliardo suggested, "However, if, perchance, she is in attendance, the jet is on standby..."
"...and we would not have to spend the weekend in this backwater," Trieze completed. "True. Very well, then. To the..." He made a moue of distaste. "...funfair."
***
"Uncle Duo! Look, cotton candy!" Tugging her uncle's arm excitedly, Helen tried to drag him towards the nearby cart.
Reluctantly pulling his attention away from the low-voiced conversation taking place between Heero and his partner, Hilde, Duo tousled Helen's hair absently. "In a minute, sweetie." He couldn't hear everything over the noise of the funfair, but at least if he had some idea what was going on, he'd have a better chance of making sure that Heero filled him in on the details afterwards.
"Please..." she pleaded. "Please please please please please..."
"Helen..." Duo warned. He knew that she wasn't having as much fun as she'd expected, due to the precautions that he and Heero were insisting on, but the whining was starting to get out of hand. If she kept this up, he really was going to take her home and send her straight to bed. This kind of behaviour wasn't acceptable, and she knew it.
Heero's voice interrupted before Duo had a chance to lay down the law. "Why don't you two go ahead?" he suggested. "Hilde and I still have a few things to discuss, and just standing around waiting isn't very much fun for Helen."
Frowning, Duo started to protest, "I have a right to know..."
"You do," Heero agreed immediately. "And I give you my word that I'll tell you everything later." He'd promised honesty earlier, and he intended to keep that promise.
Duo hesitated. If he and Heero were going to have any chance of making a relationship work, he was going to have to trust Heero, to have faith that Heero wouldn't lie or hide things from him. If he couldn't do that, then he might as well call it quits right here and now. 'Can I believe him? Can I trust him not to deceive me, not to hurt me or Helen?'
Heero's heart sank as the silence stretched out between them. Though he couldn't blame Duo if he wasn't quite prepared to accept his word, Duo's obvious hesitation hurt. And it made him wonder whether they could ever really get past the damage that his initial deceit had caused.
"O...okay," Duo finally stammered out. The brilliant smile that Heero gave him in response was almost enough to erase his lingering uncertainty.
"Yay!" Helen cheered. Yanking enthusiastically on Duo's arm, she dragged him away. "Cotton candy! Come on, Uncle Duo!"
"Easy there, just settle down a little," Duo told her firmly. "Stop pulling and behave yourself." He tugged her back to his side. She heaved a put-upon sigh, but didn't resist. Joined hands swinging between them, they walked the short distance to the cotton candy vendor's cart. "Okay, kiddo, which kind do you want? Pink? Blue?"
"Both!" she decided, pointing to the multi-coloured cone on display.
"You're going to have to brush your teeth twice tonight, young lady," Duo warned as they waited in line.
Helen wrinkled up her nose but nodded in acceptance. If that was what it took to get her cotton candy, then she'd do it. At least she was finally getting to do something that she wanted to. Uncle Duo wouldn't even let her go in the maze with her friends; he'd made her go through it with him and Mr. Yuy, and that wasn't nearly as much fun. He'd even made her use the porta-potty while he waited outside the door, instead of letting her go in the park washroom all by herself.
The line moved slowly ahead, and it was finally their turn. "One multi-coloured, please," Duo requested. "And one blue." 'What the heck,' he decided. 'The funfair only happens once a year, and eating cotton candy's just part of the experience.' Besides, maybe Heero would share it with him.
"Here you go, sir," the vendor said, holding out Helen's treat.
Duo released her hand in order to take it and pass it to her. While the vendor was busy making his cone, he pulled out his wallet so that he would have the payment ready when his own cone was handed over. Money and the candy changed hands, and Duo turned away from the cart. "Okay," he began, looking down to see if Helen had managed to get all sticky yet.
She wasn't there.
'Just take it easy,' Duo told himself, firmly reining in his immediate panicked reaction. 'She was here just a minute ago; she can't have gotten far. Calm down and take a good look around.' But as minutes of fruitless looking and calling passed, the panic grew. Finally, he decided to go back and get Heero and Hilde. Three could comb the grounds more quickly than one. 'Besides, maybe she went back there,' he thought, hoping desperately.
***
After Uncle Duo handed her cotton candy to her, Helen moved a few steps away from the vendor's cart, so that she could see past the line-up behind them. Watching the crowd move by, she caught a brief glimpse of a brightly flowered shirt. 'Coach Howie!' Wanting to say hi, she darted off in pursuit of that familiar shirt. "Coach Howie!" she shouted as she lost sight of him in the crowd, but she could barely even hear herself over the noise of the midway, so she wasn't really surprised when he didn't come back. Halting abruptly, she started to turn to go back to her uncle, but the person behind her didn't stop quite so quickly and ran into her.
Helen tried to catch her balance, but she dropped her cotton candy, and when she tried to catch it before it hit the ground, she stumbled and fell hard. Afraid of being stepped on, she scrambled back to her feet as fast as she could. Knees aching, hands scraped and stinging, she sniffled and tried not to cry. 'I want Uncle Duo!' Struggling through the crowd, she headed back to where she thought she'd came from, only to discover that she'd gotten turned around when she fell, and now she didn't know where she was. Jostled along by the flow of foot traffic, she managed to find a narrow gap between two midway booths, and slipped into its welcoming stillness for a few minutes.
She'd lost her cotton candy, and she was lost, and her hands and knees hurt, and Uncle Duo was going to be mad 'cause she was supposed to stay close, and... Helen sniffled and curled up on the ground behind an overflowing garbage bin. "...and I want my mommy!" she whimpered as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.
***
Heero watched Duo and Helen walk off through the ever-increasing crowd. 'He's giving me a chance, really giving me a chance. He hesitated, but he still decided to trust me...'
"Earth to Yuy, come in, Yuy."
A hand waved in front of Heero's face, blocking his view just long enough for the crowd to swallow up those he was watching. Turning back towards Hilde, he gave her an annoyed glare. It didn't wilt her amused expression in the slightest.
"Oh man, have you got it bad," she chuckled, shaking her head.
"Keep your mind on the case, and out of my personal life," Heero growled irritably. Things between him and Duo were much too fragile at the moment for him to put up with teasing, no matter how good-natured.
Unfazed, Hilde just laughed and gave him a commiserating thump on the shoulder. "Ah, but your personal life is part of the case," she reminded him with a smug grin.
Unable to deny it, he scowled and changed the subject. "Where's Khushrenada now?"
Instantly sobering, she told him, "According to the flight plan filed by his pilot, he should have landed at the airport here in Astoria an hour or so ago."
"He's here?!" Heero hissed in disbelief. "And you just let me send Duo and Helen off on their own?!"
Hilde rolled her eyes. "Relax, Yuy. Chief Gee was assigning someone to tail him; he won't get a chance to try anything. Besides, he doesn't even know who Maxwell is or what the kid looks like, remember? Let alone where to look for them."
"I think you need to remember that this is Khushrenada we're dealing with," Heero snapped, eyes scanning the crowd in search of Duo and his niece. "Anything is possible."
Huffing in exasperation, she responded, "Yuy, I think you've been chasing this guy a little too long. He's not some sort of superman."
"No, he's just as wily as a fox, and slippery as an eel," Heero retorted sharply. "Not to mention having the killer instincts of a piranha and the social conscience to match."
Just then, he spotted Duo coming towards them, very clearly distraught - and very clearly alone.
***
Helen didn't know how long she sat on the ground and cried. Long enough that her hands had mostly stopped bleeding, and her nose was running and her eyes were itchy, but not long enough for Uncle Duo to find her. 'I wanna go home...' Well, if Uncle Duo couldn't find her, she'd just have to find him. Still sniffling, she wiped her face on her shirt, got back to her feet, and started to walk again.
Suddenly, someone blocked her path. "Well now, I do believe that this is the young lady we're looking for."
She looked up. And up. The man in front of her was even taller than Uncle Duo.
"What's the matter? Don't you remember me?" he asked.
Helen frowned at him. "No. And I'm not s'posed to talk to strangers." She tried to step around the tall man, but someone else was in the way.
"But I'm not a stranger," the tall man said very seriously as he bent and picked her up.
TBC...
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