The Meaning of Life Part 9
In a great need for some air, Heero and Duo decided on a walk through their suburban surroundings. Hand-in-hand, they made their way through the streets while quietly discussing their plans for their civil service.
Knowing better than to wait until the neko was showing before the ceremony, their plans had been moved forward drastically.
His braided head turning to face his lover beside him, the neko asked, "So, did you pick your best man for the service, then?"
"I am going to ask Quatre," Heero answered as their eyes met. "We've been friends the longest out of our group, and I'm standing in the same role at his wedding for the same reason." Smirking, he chuckled, "Well, that and for also being the one that helped get him and Relena together in the first place."
Duo smiled, "That's great. I know he'll be thrilled when you ask him."
Squeezing the hand in his own, the artist quizzed, "And you? Do you have any idea on who you'll be asking to be your best man?"
With a nod, the cat-eared youth replied, "It wasn't an easy decision, considering how many friends we have. But, I want to ask Solo. We got to be really close over the last year. And Danny could be the ring bearer. "
Understanding filled Heero's cobalt eyes as he smiled, "That's a nice extension. Danny will be especially excited being a part of his big brother's union ceremony." At the cloud of worry in his partner's violet eyes, he reassured, "And I know that there will not be any hurt feelings from the others."
Relieved, Duo sighed quietly. "It is something that I was worried about," he admitted, looking ahead as they stepped down from the curb they were walking on to cross the street. "But, you're right. Our friends are not likely to take offense."
"And there is always the remainder of the bridal party," the Japanese young man reminded. "That we can mix with guys and girls since this is not a standard wedding. Then there are the ushers and other roles, enough that we can give just about everyone something to do. Relena, Cassie and Sally have already dubbed themselves the decorating staff."
Even more reassured, Duo's ears perked up and a grin lit his face once more. "I almost forgot how much was involved in these services," he snickered. "We're going to have to really start getting some things together soon, here, if we're going to be standing before a Justice of the Peace in a few months."
The discussion continued as the pair walked on, completely unaware of a camera shutter quietly clicking from the opened window of a car parked a few yards away.
Lowering her camera, Susan Weathers examined the digital screen at the shots she had taken. Quietly chuckling, she smirked, "Beautiful."
Satisfied with what she had, the young journalist turned on the ignition to her car and pulled out into the road to drive off completely unnoticed.
* * * * * *
Hours later...
"You are aware of the backlash that could come from this?" the editor in chief warned. While he was hesitant, there was a tone in his voice that made it clear he was not completely against the idea.
That gave Susan a reason to push.
Cell phone still pressed against her ear, she reached up to play with her blonde hair with her free hand while shrugging, "Yes, but the public has the right to know about this development. We are not fabricating what we have, nor can this be considered slander or deprecation of character. Not even Danielle Yuy would be able to make a case against us as doing anything wrong."
Pacing back and forth in her office, she argued further, "And can you imagine the number of magazines we will sell with this story thanks to our coming out with this first? It's only a matter of time before another journalist picks up on this. I can't help the fact that I happened to overhear the story of the century."
Lightly puffing on the smoldering cigarette now in her hand, she shrugged, "When will another opportunity like this come along?"
A pause followed by a sigh came in response. "All right," the editor in chief agreed. "Send me what you have so that we can have this printed for this week's release. And, Susan, make sure that you keep what you write as clean as possible. Even if Danielle Yuy-Clark might not be able to start a war with us for the article, Maxwell has a lot of fans out there that may come down on us for stirring this up."
Susan smiled smugly, "You almost make it sound as if I am incapable of writing a 'clean' story, Bobby." Her supervisor snickered over the line, but refused to comment. "Don't worry," the reporter reassured. "I have this under control."
Closing her cell phone before the editor could reply, the blonde journalist sat before her computer. As she typed away, her smirk returned when she hit the 'save' option. Attaching the images that she had taken earlier that day, she prepared to have the email sent off to her chief editor.
With a deep sigh of content, Susan folded her arms behind her head and leaned back in her cushy leather seat. Staring at he image of the young men holding hands on her screen, she smiled sadly, "Nothing personal, boys."
Her finger paused over her keypad for a moment before it fell to hit the 'send' button.
* * * * * *
Leslie giggled, stretching up for the neko's tall, furry ears as he held her in his arms. Snickering, Duo leaned his head down so that the child could gently pet the closest ear in reach. As his ear twitched, he laughed quietly, "That tickles, Lili." Only giggling all the louder at her nickname and the twitch, the little one ran her hand over the ear again.
Dorothy entered her living room with a wide smile on her face and a tray of steaming teacups in her hands. "You have a knack with children," she complimented her braided friend.
Sharing a grin with his lover beside him, Duo nodded to the law director, "Thanks, Dorothy." A loud laugh bubbled from Leslie as the long cat tail wove around to tickle her nose.
Trowa entered the room with a separate cup of tea in his hand. Carefully setting his offering before the neko, he said quietly, "This is the decaffeinated one that you asked for." Smiling, the braided teenager gave a sincere 'thank you' while rising to hand the little girl back to her father.
As his little girl wrapped her arms around his neck, the tall young man kissed her head with a proud glow in his emerald eyes.
"Having you both stop over like this is quite the pleasant surprise," Dorothy stated as the lot prepared their own cups of tea the way they liked with the cream and sugar on the tray she had brought in. Raising her eyes to her friends across from her, she asked, "I know that there is plenty of time, but have you started making any plans for your service?"
Quickly taking a sip from his cup, Heero cleared his throat and shifted on the couch. "Well, things are going to be moved up quite a bit, actually," he informed. "Right now, we're looking at having the ceremony in four months."
Blinking his wide eyes in surprise, Trowa repeated, "Four months?" Completely unaware of what was being discussed around her, Leslie was lowered to the floor by her father so she could walk over to her pile of toys close by.
"That's a pretty big shift up from your original plans to wait until you were both out of school in a couple of years." His wife beside him looked equally taken aback at the announcement, her cool blue eyes wide.
It was Duo's turn to shift uncomfortably in his seat. Lowering his cup back onto the table between them, he replied, "There has been an unexpected... development and so the plans had to be changed quite a bit. Namely, the date was the biggest correction that needed to be made."
Both looking concerned over that wording, the married couple glanced to each other before Dorothy focused back on their friends to frowned, "Is there something wrong, then? Anything that we may be able to help with?"
Raising a hand, Heero reassured, "Everything is fine. We just..." He paused and glanced at his lover from the corner of his eye. Finding the cat-eared boy's head lowered with a sad look over their having to keep the big news a secret from two of their closest friends, he took a deep breath.
His heart breaking, the artist changed his planned tactics and smiled widely to their friends, "Duo and I are expecting."
Gasping sharply, Dorothy's jaw fell along with Trowa's as their eyes widened anew.
Every bit as surprised, the neko's head snapped up to stare in disbelief at his partner. Meeting the stunned violet-eyed look, Heero smirked and shrugged, "What's the point in waiting? We both need someone that we can talk to that understands what we're going through."
By that, the artist was not only referring to the fact that Dorothy could assist Duo. Heero also meant that Trowa could assist him as being the expectant father, knowing what to do as their other half coped with the pregnancy.
Unable to help himself, Duo's face broke out into a huge smile as he lunged forward to throw his arms tightly around his lover's neck. Still reeling over the news, Trowa and Dorothy remained frozen in their chairs beside one another. A coo from Leslie as she found one of her favorite stuffed bears in her pile bought her parents back to life.
"Expecting?" the Latin young man managed. "Y-you mean..."
Dorothy shook her head in wonder and breathed, "A baby?"
Chuckling deeply, the neko pulled away from Heero and nodded, "Yea." Together, he and Heero went on to explain the situation in further detail of how the whole scenario came to be. They went on to share where they stood in waiting and hoping that the pregnancy would remain stable so that they could announce it to everyone of their friends.
At the end of their friends' telling, the young academic director rounded the table to wrap an arm around each of them, cheering, "Congratulations!" Kissing both of their cheeks, she pulled back. "You must be thrilled!" she laughed as her hands clapped and folded together.
Trowa was right behind his wife in exchanging handshakes and one-armed embraces while wishing his own congratulations. "That had to be one hell of an announcement to get," he snickered. Quickly wincing with a hiss at his arm getting swatted, he turned to his glaring bride. "I mean 'heck' of an announcement," he grinned sheepishly.
Just behind them, Leslie giggled while she half-walked-half-crawled to her parents. Dorothy picked their child up and grinned to their guests, "Well I am very honored that we are two of the first to know about this. And you can count on us to keep this between us."
Nodding, Heero smiled, "We were never worried about that. It's just been a lot for even us to take in these last couple of days that we've known."
"I can imagine," his tall friend commented. Rubbing his wife's back, he offered, "If there is anything that we can do to help, emotional support or advice, just let us know." Dorothy nodded her agreement to the sentiment.
With a smirk, Duo rose to his feet and let Leslie play with the end of his tail. "Actually, there is something," he began while turning to the other couple as the child giggled with her 'toy.' "We originally came here to ask in person if you would be willing to have Lili, here, be our flower girl."
His violet eyes falling on the surprised mother, he added, "With her mom's help, of course."
Blinking her wide eyes, Dorothy's lips curled up in a wide smile. "Why, of course," she responded. "Thank you so much for the privilege." Just behind her, Trowa's proud smile returned as he rested a hand on his life partner's shoulder.
Heero stood and nudged his long-time friend in the side, telling him, "I'd also like it if you would stand as one of my groomsmen."
Taken aback for a moment, the tall Latin faced the artist and grinned, "Like I'd ever say 'no' to that." As their lovers shared a one-armed hug, Dorothy and Duo looked on with warm smiles and Leslie between them as she continued to play with the tail in her hands.
When the two friends pulled away, the law director kissed her daughter's head before handing her over to the neko. "I believe have some left over cake from last night's dessert that we can cut to celebrate."
As she ran off, Heero and Duo smiled to each other and rejoined their hands over having yet another reminder of how real their engagement was. They were really going to be joined as life partners with a child of their own on the way.
Once again, everything was right in the world. And yet... there was a cautiousness in that thought.
* * * * * *
Later that week...
Going over the items in the grocery cart, Wufei compared the items to his list to make sure the important items needed for the week were checked off. "That should be all of it," he nodded firmly to his girlfriend.
"I still cannot get how much stuff we manage to use up in a week," Sally commented with a shake of her head in amusement. "How are we ever going to afford that dream wedding with weekly groceries like this?" she asked with a smirk.
As was part of their usual banter, the Chinese college grad-to-be snorted, "Whoever said I planned on marrying you?" His lover just snickered and lightly hit the back of his head as he pushed the cart towards the checkout lanes.
On the way there, the couple paused in finding a large group of people gathered around the magazine section. Murmurs of statements like 'Great, just when same-sex marriages weren't enough' and other remarks of the like rose from the folks standing and peering into the magazines in their hands.
Just as they were walking past, Sally rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath, "Why people can't get their own lives instead of worrying about what the tabloids have to say about others' lives is beyond me."
Wufei snickered his agreement and peered from the corner of his eye to the growing crowd. At the sight of the front cover of one of the opened magazines going around, he froze with a startled gasp. The cart screeched to a halt along with him.
Nearly tripping forward at the sudden stop, Sally's wide eyes followed her lover's gaze to the crowded stands. Quickly spotting the reason for his sudden shock, a gasp rose from her own throat.
On the front cover of one of the tabloids was a full color photo of Heero and Duo out for a stroll looking every bit the happy couple they were. Where their hands were joined, there was a magnified image of the neko's engagement band.
In big, gold letters was the headline, 'First Comes Love... Then Comes Civil Union"
Face pale, the braided doctor breathed, "Oh no." Before she could move, Wufei was already past her and making his way through the gathering swarm of people.
Grabbing one of the last copies of the tabloid magazine, he headed back to the cart and frowned deeply, "We better get a hold of them. Now." Sally nodded and hurried with him to the checkout line.
Along the way, she removed her cell phone to dial the Yuy household.
* * * * * *
Heero, Duo and their parents were already gathered in the living room by the time their friends arrived after their urgent call. Having already read the six-page article on the way, Wufei and Sally waited anxiously on one of the couches as the others paged through the story.
When they finished reading, the reinstated celebrities sat back in their chairs with shocked faces. Danielle ran a hand through her shoulder-length hair with a deep sigh. Trent shook his heads as he folded his arms, clearly frustrated. Noin and Zechs shared a worried look as the young mother rested a hand on their son's shoulder in support.
Catching the ring on a ring finger was one thing. But the overheard comments about a civil service left no argument of the couple's plans.
Swallowing roughly, Wufei broke the silence with a quiet, "I'm sorry that we had to be the bearers of bad news, everyone. We know how you had hoped to keep this under wraps from the public."
Another silence fell just before the phone rang. Nearly jumping at the sudden, shrill sound, Heero was the first to answer the vidphone on the table. Blinking in surprise at the face that stared back at him sadly, he greeted, "Quatre?"
The Arab held up his own copy of the tabloid and frowned, "I take it by your face you already saw this. I'm sorry Heero." In an attempt to lighten the mood, he smiled sheepishly and shrugged, "But on a lighter note, thanks for picking me as your best man."
TBC...
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