Author: Merula
Pairings: 5x6
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Yaoi
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.
For Plaid... very late, but I hope it answered the bunny you tossed me!
In the Fei/Zechs, niece Maggie 'verse.
Drabble 66
"Mr. Chang! Mr. Chang!"
For a moment, Wufei wondered if one of the students from the seminar was on the shuttle with him. He leaned forward in his seat and glanced down the aisle, only to find one of the flight attendants headed his way, looking agitated.
"Mr. Chang? Wufei Chang?"
"Yes? Is there a problem?" Why was she looking for him?
Relief swept over her features. "I'm so sorry sir, but there is an emergency transmission for you from Preventers' Earth Headquarters. They are demanding to talk to you immediately."
Wufei felt a small flare of panic. What had happened that couldn't wait until he got on the ground? He was only an hour or so out. Getting to his feet, he followed the attendant down the aisle and into the shuttle's communication room. Once he walked in, the shuttle's communication specialist handed over the receiver and headed for the door.
"You aren't staying?" Regulations said the comm officer had to be present for all shuttle communications.
"No sir. Preventers' orders. Strictly need-to-know," he said and exited, shutting the door behind him.
Turning to the screen, Wufei lifted the receiver to his ear and pressed the flashing hold button. The screen cleared and he blinked at the person on the other end.
"Maxwell?"
"Chang? Is that you?"
"Who the hell else would it be? What's going on?"
"Have you heard from Zechs recently? Like in the last 12 hours?"
Oh. This didn't bode well. "No. My conference finished too late to call last night and I got on the shuttle early this morning. I sent him a message that I was returning but he didn't reply. Why?"
Duo ran a hand through his bangs and sighed heavily. "Well... we have sort of a situation here..."
Patience, Wufei counseled himself when Duo paused. He couldn't reach through the screen and shake the answers out of the other pilot after all. "What sort of situation? Hostage? Natural Disaster? Third Eve War? What?"
"Relena had to go to the hospital- everything is okay- but they had to do the C section last night- earlier than planned-
"Is she all right? The baby?"
"Just fine. She has a beautiful son."
"And?" Wufei prodded. "You didn't call just to tell me this. What happened?"
"Well...you know her husband is on that diplomatic trip- and there was no one available to watch Maggie- except for-"
"No." Wufei's heart sank. "No. We went through this. Maggie's grandparents were supposed to take her-"
"Emergency meeting in Brussels."
"Trowa and Quatre-"
"On L4- Relena wasn't supposed to have the baby for a week yet, you know, so they hadn't made it down here-"
"You and Heero-"
"Mission- top priority- we left 48 hours ago and just got back this morning." Duo sighed. "There wasn't anyone else, Relena didn't have another option."
"So Zechs had to take Maggie." The panic was worse now. Wufei drew a steadying breath. "When?"
"Last night. He came over and got Relena to the hospital. They stayed during the procedure- but it was getting late and they only briefly saw Relena and the baby before he took Maggie home."
Wufei braced himself. "What happened?"
Duo looked miserable. "We don't know. No one has heard from him or Maggie since. They were supposed to be back at the hospital this morning, but... they didn't show. Relena is pretty exhausted, but she's starting to worry. I sent Heero over first thing this morning, but there was no answer when he rang the bell-"
"You have the extra key-"
"No one was home- car wasn't there- and there was a bit of a mess."
"A bit of a mess where?"
"Kitchen. Family room. Heero says there wasn't sign of forced entry, but he's keeping tabs on the place all the same- and calling the hospitals."
"And there hasn't been an answer to the cell? No texts? Emails?"
Duo bit his lip. "No. We've been trying Zechs' cell- do you have some other way of getting a hold of him? That's why I called-"
Wufei shook his head. "No, just his cell." He looked at his watch and did some mental calculations. "Visiting hours started when? Nine? So, only an hour ago-"
"Yes, but you know what happens sometimes with Zechs and Maggie..."
"I know. I know. Did you call his office? I know he had some meetings this week-"
"Of course we did! His assistant said there was a message from last night asking her to cancel his meetings for today."
Wufei closed his eyes for a moment. "Thinking logically, if something had happened, Maggie would be able to call someone. She knows how to use Zechs' phone, she knows her name and address- if something had happened to him- she would do something."
He should've taken that job on L1 that he'd been offered six months ago. Should've made Zechs move with him. It wouldn't have been that hard to persuade him to go. Zechs could do his work anywhere in the sphere... Damn it all to hell.
"I know," Duo rubbed his eyes. "But, I just keep thinking of what-ifs... and despite all of his recent work, you know there are some people who have it in for him. And, hell, if Maggie decided to show or do something while he was driving or..."
"You haven't taught or given her anything bad recently have you?" Wufei demanded and increased his glare when Duo seemed to shrink down in his seat. "What did you do, Maxwell?"
"Just- some hand to hand- you know- there was that rash of attempted kidnappings in Relena's neighborhood- I just wanted-"
"Be happy you are too far away for me to strangle," Wufei grated out. "I told you- no more damaging my significant other."
"I don't mean for her to damage him- I really don't!"
"Sure. If it turns out that it was something you taught her-"
"I know; you'll kick my ass. It's not my fault-"
"No, I'll kick Heero's ass. Just so you know what it feels like for me!"
"Now wait a damn minute, Chang, I admit this might be my fault and that I've been responsible for a few things, but you leave Heero the hell out of this-!"
"Make me."
"Wufei," Quatre's calm tones cut through the almost-argument and a moment later his image replaced Duo's on the screen. "Calm down. We're here now. Trowa is helping Heero. I'm sure it's nothing serious. When does your shuttle arrive?"
"In about forty five minutes."
"I will send someone to the 'port to retrieve you. In the meantime, try not to worry."
Wufei refrained from snorting in derision. "Thank you," he said instead, and ended the communication. Leaving the room, he nodded his thanks to the comm officer and returned to his seat. Leaning back in his chair, he removed his glasses from his nose and tried to calm himself down. He could do nothing until the shuttle was on the ground.
The slip in slide. The curtsey lesson. The catapult. The mini-helicopter. The pony ride.
Every other time Maggie had managed to afflict damage on her beloved uncle, someone else had been around to help. Of course, Maggie knew emergency numbers; they had drilled her for all sorts of situations, but....
It was too easy to imagine situations that she wasn't prepared for- and all too easy to imagine ways that she might have accidentally- it was always accidentally- damaged her uncle.
Damn it. He had never planned on having this sort of relationship with anyone again- not after what had happened with his wife. Zechs had sort of... slipped around his defenses and gotten close before he'd really realized it.
And now... well, he was pretty damn fond of the man. If something had happened... to him or Maggie...
He was going to do some damage himself to whoever was responsible...
When the shuttle finally landed, he was one of the first people off, baggage held close to his sides, glasses firmly back on his nose, his expression grim. Whoever was waiting for him had damn well better have some answers.
As he stepped off the ramp a small tornado hit him in the midsection and his breath came out in a sharp gust of relief. "Uncle Fei!" Maggie crowed, "I have a baby brother!"
Wufei looked up to find his lover a few steps away, smiling, looking as cool and collected as always. For a moment he wanted to throw his bag at Zechs and snarl. He'd been in a state of panic for nearly an hour! How could Zechs look so unconcerned?
Maggie let him go and tilted her head to the side. "Are you okay Uncle 'Fei? You don't look so good."
"Where have you two been? Maxwell called me on the shuttle! They've been looking for you all morning! You didn't get to the hospital and they've been calling your cell-"
"We left the cell phone at home because the battery was dead!" Maggie interjected.
"I forgot to plug it in last night in all the excitement." Zechs reached out and unhooked one of the bags from Wufei's arm. "We called the hospital and talked to Relena- when did we do that, sweetie?"
"This morning before we went to breakfast! Mommy didn't sound so good. Really tiiiiired." Maggie drawled out the word and things became a little clearer in Wufei's mind.
"We told her that we'd get breakfast and pick you up before we came back to the hospital." Zechs frowned a little. "I knew she was tired, but I thought she'd remember the call. Who has been looking for us? Everyone was out of town, as far as I knew."
"Well, they are all back in town and I am going to kill you," Wufei muttered under his breath. "Do you realize what a panic you caused? They've been scouring the city for you!"
"CHANG!" Another voice cut across the crowd and a moment later, Duo skidded to a halt beside them. "Sorry I'm- wait a minute..." He blinked at Maggie and Zechs and turned back to Wufei. "What the hell? Did you know they were okay and didn't tell us?!"
"I just found out myself," Wufei snapped.
"That's good," Trowa had joined them. He fished a cell phone out of his pocket and winked at Zechs. "I'll let everyone know you're alive, and Duo can't stop worrying that Chang is going to kill Yuy. Then we can go to the hospital."
Maggie turned and gave Wufei a big-eyed look. "Why are you going to kill Uncle Heero?"
"Well, I'm not going to do it now," he said and put a hand on her head. "Maybe we should head for the car while I explain?"
~*~
Wufei stretched himself out on the sofa, pulling off his glasses and tilting his head back against the armrest. "We're calling out for dinner."
"Good," Zechs leaned on the doorframe between the living room and kitchen. "I didn't mean to leave a mess, but Maggie wanted pancakes..."
"You can't cook, you know that. I don't know why you bothered to try."
"Because Maggie asked. I didn't think pancakes would be that hard. I mean, no one ever told me that they might explode like that."
Wufei refrained from commenting on his lover's cooking skills, deciding to focus on something else. "So, you will now reconsider my offer of finding a maid, I hope? Now that you know Heero was worried the mess you left might have been signs of a struggle?"
"He was over-reacting," Zechs rolled his eyes. "They all were."
"You can't blame them. I myself am rather surprised that you spent as long as you did with Maggie without sustaining any damage." He saw Zechs' shoulders stiffen slightly. "What?"
"Nothing," Zechs vanished back into the kitchen, but Wufei wasn't appeased.
"You're going to have to tell me at some point. You know you can't keep secrets from me."
Zechs reappeared and dropped down on the sofa beside Wufei, lifting Wufei's legs over his lap. "The worst thing that happened when Maggie was here were the exploding pancakes- and those weren't her fault. I didn't even let her mix the batter."
"But something happened."
"Sort of... I guess. It's weird..."
Wufei waited for a moment and then poked Zechs with his foot. "What?"
"So, last night, at the hospital- after Charles was born and all cleaned up- they had me hold him for a moment."
"And? You didn't drop him did you?"
"Of course not! He just... well, he was stretching or something I guess- it wasn't his fault-"
Oh no. Wufei knew that phrase all too well.
"He kicked me in the face. Not hard, of course, but... then things went okay with Maggie and I had to wonder if well... maybe it- whatever it is- passed down to him?" Zechs shook his head and laughed. "That sounds paranoid, doesn't it?"
All things considered, not really, Wufei thought. He sat up and looked Zechs in the eye.
"How do you feel about moving?"
OWARI
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