Kindergarten Heero Part 9
Heero waved goodbye to Duo and watched as his car drove away. He waited until Duo was completely out of sight before moving towards the door of the house that he and Hilde were staying at. The extra car parked in the driveway had him very tense. They weren't expecting any visitors. The Oregon plates didn't mean a thing; the car was probably a rental anyway.
Silently unlocking and opening the front door, Heero slipped inside and retrieved the gun hidden just inside the doorway. He crept quietly through the house, following the sound of low moans and whimpers to Hilde's doorway. Kicking the door open, he barked out, "Freeze!" and trained his gun on the stranger inside.
"NO!" Hilde yelled as the man squawked and dived off the side of the bed. She yanked the covers up under her armpits. "Yuy, no! This is Trent, my fiancé. Trent, honey, it's okay."
Heero stared in disbelief as the man slowly stood, clutching a pillow in front of his groin and another behind him. "Your fiancé?" he demanded.
"Yeah, my fiancé," she repeated. "Trent, this is my partner, Heero Yuy."
"Hi," the man said, shuffling around the end of the bed. He held out his hand to shake Heero's and ended up dropping the pillow he'd been holding behind him. Heero gave the man points for guts. He'd just been holding a gun on him and now the guy was offering to shake hands. Despite the fact that he was stark naked except for a pillow. And was clearly both nervous and embarrassed.
"Hello," Heero replied flatly, shifting his disbelieving gaze back and forth between his partner and her fiancé. This was definitely not standard operating procedure for an undercover mission. He'd thought bringing his ferret along was a bit questionable; bringing one's fiancé along was - well, considerably worse.
"I'll just - uh - be back in a minute," Trent sputtered, backing across the room and into the small ensuite bathroom.
"It's my birthday," Hilde explained.
"Congratulations," Heero deadpanned. He really couldn't see what the hell that had to do with anything.
"Trent took time off from the restaurant and came all the way up here to surprise me," she said happily. "And he made me my favourite. Seafood linguine." She picked up a plate from the nightstand and ate a fork full. "Mmm..."
"You're marrying a chef." Why was he not surprised?
"Not just a chef, a great chef," Hilde corrected smugly. She ate another mouthful of her pasta.
Heero shook his head. "Hilde, I..."
Trent emerged from the bathroom, belting a bright pink, frilly bathrobe around him. "Really, sweetie? A great chef?"
"Of course, baby," she answered.
"Hilde, I really..." Heero attempted.
"You didn't think it was overcooked a bit?" Trent asked anxiously.
"Of course not, honey, it was just the way I like it..."
Heero gave up. Obviously discussing anything with his partner was going to have to wait till her - company - left. He started to back out of the room.
"Here, take this," Hilde ordered, holding out the plate of food. Heero took it reluctantly and hurriedly stepped out of the room, pulling the door shut and hoping the broken latch would hold. He had no desire to accidentally see or hear more than necessary of the two lovebirds.
***
Checking through his e-mail messages from Headquarters, Heero was intensely relieved to discover one eliminating Relena Darlian as one of the possibilities to be Leia. Her ex and his lover had been located and were quite definitely not Khushrenada and Peacecraft. 'Thank god. I was afraid I might actually have to date the woman before the Chief would get around to replacing me on the case. Speaking of which...' Heero began to compose a new message to Chief Jaye, citing growing personal involvement and loss of professional detachment as his reason for requesting to be removed from the undercover assignment. The pointer hovered over the "Send" button for several long minutes as Heero debated his decision again. But he really couldn't see any other choice that he could live with.
His first mentor when he'd joined the force years ago, the man who'd been his father's partner right up till the day his father had been killed during a drug bust that went bad, had given him a piece of advice that he'd never really followed before. Odin Lowe had told him that he should always live according to his emotions. That otherwise he would live a very empty, lonely life. Heero had shrugged off the advice, channelling all of his energy into his cold, calculated, crusade to put an end to the narcotics trade that had killed his mother only a few years after his father. She had at least lived to see him accepted into the police academy even if she hadn't survived long enough to see him graduate.
Despite the fact that Khushrenada's organization was not directly responsible for his parents' deaths, Heero had come to see that one man that he couldn't seem to bring to justice as symbolizing the entire drug trade. Putting Khushrenada behind bars was personal. Giving up direct involvement in that was difficult.
But when he weighed that against probably losing any chance he might have with Duo... Against either breaking off that fledgeling relationship and trying to restore his professional detachment or continuing the relationship in direct violation of proper procedure despite the fact that when Duo found out he'd been lying to him the relationship would probably be destroyed anyway... Being personally responsible for taking down Khushrenada suddenly wasn't so important anymore.
Heero knew that his own parents had met, fallen in love, and married in a matter of weeks. They'd met at the police academy; his mother just a new recruit starting training and his father a visiting police officer from Japan, there to compare American and Japanese training methods. His father used to say that he'd fallen in love with America at the same time as he'd fallen in love with Jenny, Heero's mother. That that was why they hadn't gone back to Japan.
Growing up, Heero had loved to hear his parents tell the story of their whirlwind courtship. It had been like a fairy tale come to life; a story made even more magical by the fact that it was his hardworking, serious father and his quiet, slightly shy mother who played the starring roles. But he'd never, ever expected to experience that same phenomenon himself. To be prepared to turn his life upside down in order to be with someone he'd met a mere week ago. 'But I am...' Shaking his head in wondering disbelief, Heero clicked the "Send" button. Hopefully it wouldn't take long for Chief Jaye to arrange to replace him on the assignment. He didn't want to get in so deep that Duo would never be able to forgive him or trust him afterwards. He was already on pretty shaky ground and he knew it.
***
Wufei met Meiran's eyes and raised one eyebrow questioningly. She'd been gone all afternoon and the look on her face was one of frustration. She shook her head in response to his silent question.
"Nothing," Meiran said simply. She sighed heavily as she turned to hang up her jacket. "I know I've seen his picture at work recently. The only other place it could be is in the Chief's office. I'll try to check it out when I get a chance but..." she shrugged unhappily. It might take a few days. She'd have to have a legitimate reason to be poking around in Chief Gee's office. And about the only reason for something to be hidden away in there was if it involved an outside investigation; something out of local jurisdiction and very hush-hush.
Sighing, Wufei pulled his wife into a hug. "He was so happy when he came back to pick up Helen..." He dreaded the thought of having to tell Duo that his new love interest was not what he seemed to be. And if Meiran was right - and she almost always was where police matters were concerned - the new kindergarten teacher couldn't possibly be only what he appeared to be. Not if his photo was hanging around the police station. Heero Yuy was not merely a substitute kindergarten teacher. But who or what was he? 'And perhaps more importantly, what is his real interest in Duo?'
***
Duo pulled the covers up and tucked Helen in. He leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Night, munchkin. Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite!"
Turning to leave the room, he stopped as Helen asked, "Uncle Duo, do you like Mr. Yuy?"
Returning to perch on the edge of the bed, Duo smiled softly. "Yeah, I do, Helen. That okay with you?"
She nodded vigorously in response. "Yes! He's still not as good as Ms. Bloom but he's nice anyway. He tries real hard 'n' he doesn't let the other kids get too silly anymore." Helen was quiet for a moment, twisting the edge of her comforter in her hands. "I think Mommy would have liked him too. 'Cause he makes you smile 'n' laugh more like you used to before..."
Duo winced. He'd been trying so hard to be his usual self for Helen since her mother died but obviously not hard enough. He couldn't help it though, Leia really had been like a sister to him and he missed her. Missed her a hell of a lot.
Dearly as he loved Helen, she was a child and Duo missed having another adult there to talk to. Somebody to talk about art and sports and politics and literature with. Someone to share the responsibility of raising a child with. Though he'd been bearing all the responsibility for quite a while before Leia's death; she simply hadn't had the strength for much of anything beyond simply existing. Occasionally sitting through part of a T-ball game or making a brief appearance at a school function was almost more than she could handle.
"Yeah, he does," he admitted simply. He tweaked the tip of Helen's nose, playfully scolding, "Now, enough stalling missy. Bedtime!" He dropped another kiss on her forehead as he rose and headed for the door, flicking the light off as he left the room. "Goodnight, sweetie. Pleasant dreams."
"Night, Uncle Duo..."
Duo headed downstairs to check the locks and alarm system before going to bed himself. It was kind of early but - well, he was hoping for some pleasant dreams of his own. Dreams of a certain blue-eyed man and the wonderful afternoon they'd spent together.
'And maybe dreams of something more than that...' he admitted to himself as he made his nightly rounds. Dreams of a type of companionship that no one had ever provided him with.
Oh, he'd done a bit of fooling around - really, really mild fooling around - in college but that was about it. He - and most of the other teens at the orphanage - had made a promise to Father and Sister Helen years ago. A promise to wait for true love. To abstain from sex until then. It had been tough at times. Damn tough. But he'd kept his promise. He didn't know how many of the others had, if any; didn't even know where the others were actually, Leia was the only one he'd stayed in touch with. But what they did or didn't do had nothing to do with his own actions. He'd given his word and he'd stuck to it.
'I don't lie. Not even when no one else would know about it.'
Technically, he didn't even lie about Leia; they were raised together and had been siblings in every way that mattered. Leia had chosen the new names for herself and her daughter; Duo figured she had every right to change their names if she wanted to.
And neither of them had ever lied to Helen about her father. She knew that he was alive and that her mother didn't like him anymore. That he'd broken the law and her mother didn't think he would be a very good father. That he lived somewhere else. Luckily, she'd never asked for any further information so they'd never had to decide whether to tell her more details or not. He knew that wouldn't last forever; sooner or later Helen would want to know more about her father and he would have to make some difficult decisions when that time came.
He had some difficult decisions to make now too. Decisions regarding how much he trusted Heero and how much he was going to tell the man about Helen and her mother and Khushrenada. A mistake in judgement would spell disaster.
Legally, he had no claim on Helen. Oh, Leia had signed and notarized documents drawn up under both her real name and as "Elisa Maxwell" giving custody of Helen to him. But she'd never actually divorced Khushrenada. They weren't even legally separated. Legally, Helen belonged with her father, regardless of the fact that her mother hadn't wanted him to have her. If he told Heero the truth and Heero didn't understand the situation, if Heero reported the whole story to the police... Duo would either have to face losing Helen to the very man her mother had made him swear would never get his hands on her or he would have to take Helen and run.
But if he didn't tell Heero the truth...
Could he get seriously involved with the man while keeping such a huge secret?
He didn't know. He really hadn't known Heero very long; he didn't even really know what Heero's intentions were. He thought the man was seriously interested in him. Maybe even falling in love with him the way that he had fallen in love with Heero. But he didn't actually know that; Heero certainly hadn't come right out and told him.
'Wait,' he decided reluctantly. All he could do for now was wait and see how the next few days went. Maybe a little more time would make things clearer. 'I hope...'
TBC...
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