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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Chapter 18 L2 Cluster Colony L2-0397 [La Grange point 2. Serial Number 0397] 28th February 198 Time: 19:25 [Local time] Duo Duo walked the streets of the colony, looking with interest at the signs of progress. He was pleasantly surprised at the amount of change to be found in his home colony since the wars had ended. In the years since the One Year War had concluded, investment and government aid programs had changed the world he had grown up in. Even the oldest and poorest of the colonies was undergoing a change. Relena had made a difference here. Her position as Vice Foreign Minister and her knowledge of the Gundam Pilots had helped her to see where aid to the colonies was needed. He well recalled the long conversations he had had with the newly appointed Vice Foreign Minister. Reticent at first about revealing too much about his past he had, in the end, found himself telling Relena about the street gangs. He had told her what it was really like growing up in abject poverty, with no family you could rely on. He had been one of the lucky ones, finding himself a part of the group run by Solo. They had been as close to a family as Duo had ever known. His earliest memories were of Solo. He had grown older and become Solo's right hand. Until the plagues had decimated the ghetto's. L2 had its affluent sections, but it also had ghetto's. It was on the streets of the worst of these ghettos that he had been reared. Solo would not now recognize the streets of the L2 colonies. Money had been poured into the colonies, directed into aid programs and the rebuilding of the slums had been a large part of that aid. He found himself now walking streets far cleaner and ordered than he had walked not so many years ago. In truth, he thought it almost a different colony. This was so unlike the neighborhood he knew. Missions had sprung up everywhere and he found himself standing before the plot of land that had once been the Maxwell Mission. The ruins of the mission and church he had known had been cleared away after the massacre. The last time he was here it was to stare in disgust at the concrete and steel monstrosity of architecture that had been erected in its place. Gone was the small mission hall and the little wooden church built out of left over timber and bits and pieces. Gone had been the small play ground where he had learned to play as a kid. It had been here, under the care of Father Maxwell and Sister Helen that he had found there was more to being a kid than picking someone's pockets, or planning how to break into a house, or scrambling in garbage dumps for food. He had learned to play as a child in the small play ground on the rusted equipment. All had been gone. Nothing left. Not that there had been much left after the massacre. In its place had been erected a government office of concrete and steel, where no one cared about the street kids. No one here provided help for the homeless, hopeless and the hungry. No one had cared. Now he looked at that same drab government building with surprise. One thing he had learned was that life did not remain static on the colonies. Even in the slums life changed, usually for the worst. When it changed you had to adapt, and quickly, if you did not then you died. You learned that quickly when you lived on the streets. It appeared that with the influx of finances and aid that had recently been allocated to the L2 cluster, someone had made changes here. The streets were cleaner, there was a vitalized look in the people he watched. None of the children were dressed in rags and looked like near skeletal waifs. He stood across from the concrete monster he had expected to see and stared at the sign above the doors and fought the tears that threatened. It had to be Relena's doing. He had told her about his past. About Solo and the street gang. He had told her about Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. He had told her about his life, reluctantly at first, but as they had talked he had found her to be a good listener. The many interviews they had had, had left him wondering just how much she had really understood of the way he and too many others like him, had been forced to exist. He had wondered if she had understood. He was going to have to make a point of thanking her when next he saw her because he saw before him the proof that she had not only listened to him, she had quite plainly heard him. That much was obvious. Someone had listened and heard what he had been trying to say. Maxwell Memorial Orphanage. Duo shook his head slightly. A series of large bronze plaques were placed on the front facade of the building, telling of the massacre of the Maxwell Church. The deaths not only of the people who had lived and worked there, but of the children who had stayed there, was listed in tragic detail. The plaques told of the hope Father Maxwell and his staff had been for the area until the orphanage and mission had been wiped out. Now there was new hope. Duo could not resist. He had to see what had been built here. The walls, formerly drab gray concrete were painted in vivid colours, bright greens, yellows, reds and more somber browns and blues. The foyer within the glass doors was tasteful in faux wood paneling, but what caught the eye was a cross raised above the desk set opposite the doors. A simple wooden cross, timbers scorched and discoloured. A plaque beside it claimed the wood for the cross came from the original Orphanage buildings. Duo took a few minutes to steady himself. He felt as though he would cry at any moment. It had always been Father Maxwell's dream to have a Mission that would care for all of the children on the streets. A place where they could be fed, clothed and loved as they deserved. It looked very much like his dream had become reality. "Hello? May I help you?" He turned to see a young woman in the black work uniform of a nun of Sister Helen's old order. She was much younger that Sister Helen had been, but she had similar coloured hair and just the same helpful smile that he remembered. He felt his throat tighten, half expecting to see Sister Helen walking towards him. Horribly disappointed that she could not do so. "Ah, sorry to be a bother. I just... well... I was one of Father Maxwell's kids. I've been away and I didn't know that this place was here." he felt suddenly shy and awkward. "I just... I just thought I'd... well... look around, if I could?" "You were one of the children who sheltered here before the massacre?" she studied the gangly limbed young man, admiring the sharpening bone structure of a boy turning into a man. Not a boy any longer, but a young man. A striking young man, she thought who would have been all too cute as a child, especially if he had had long hair then. That thick, luxurious braid that wound down to a tight derriere was certainly hard to ignore. "Would you like a tour? We are quite proud of our work here and I would love to show you around." "I would like that, if you would. I'm Duo. Duo Maxwell." "Come right this way. My name is Sister Mary. Maxwell?" she smiled, but he could tell she was deeply curious about the coincidence of his surname. Duo found himself blushing. "No one really knew who I was. I was a survivor of the plagues and I was only known as Duo. After the massacre, I took the name Maxwell. I couldn't forget what happened here. I took the name to honor the Father." Her smile turned more gentle and she nodded slightly, signaling her understanding. "We can start with the soup kitchen." Sister Mary motioned toward a side door. "We try to keep to Father Maxwell's original plans for the mission. He wanted it to be more than an orphanage. It was to be for everyone on the streets. Still, you would know that better than most." For the next three hours Duo found himself immersed in the Mission. It was more than an orphanage, just as the Father had long ago told him he dreamed of. It was a drop in point for the homeless who needed food, clothing and shelter. With the passing of the wars the staff now found added work to do. Not just the homeless were fed and sheltered. Now the workers tried to relocate families separated during the wars. Here they sought out relatives for those orphaned hoping to relocate them into their true families. If no relations could be found amid the L2 cluster, they attempted to perform gene traces for relatives amid other colonies. Here, too, was the actual orphanage. A very different place from the Maxwell Orphanage he remembered. Much more modern and with none of the shortages he had known, but the genuine caring for the children was the same. Duo was a very happy man as he left the orphanage later that night. He had eaten with the children and heard some of their stories, and somehow it eased the terror he had always felt from the memories of that time when his world had died, again. There was hope. He could see it in the children's faces. He could see it in the faces of the homeless as they came in to eat. He could see it in the smiles of the staff who worked here. He could feel it when he walked through the corridor's and stood in the playground. //It was everything Father Maxwell told me he hoped he would one day create. A proper mission to minister to those in need, he called it. He would have been so pleased. // It was growing late and near to the time he was to meet with Hilde. The tour of the Orphanage had helped him get through the time while he was waiting, and now he made his way to the junk yard where he and Hilde had lived together for a year. He was nervous. Very nervous. Uncertain what to say or do. He wanted to see his son. Hold his son. He wanted to talk to Hilde. To understand why she had not told him. They had seemed to part amicably enough, though he knew she did not understand his decision, so why would she not let him know? He was almost afraid to ask. How was he to ask without causing a fuss he really wanted to avoid? He still liked Hilde, very much. He still wanted to be friends with her. Best friends, not acquaintances. Not just the ex boyfriend who just happened to father a child before he left. "Duo. Your early." He knew that voice. He froze, afraid to turn. That was so stupid, he had come here to see her, so why could he not bring himself to turn around. He could not mistake that voice. With a deep breath Duo forced reluctant limbs to move and managed to turn. Finding that he could move he simply looked, drinking in the sight of her. It was Hilde. Not quite the same Hilde he had known for years. Slender, pretty and smiling. Yes, that was the same as he remembered, but this Hilde was dressed in a conservative suit of deep green and was pushing a pram and had a basket of groceries balanced on one hip. This Hilde looked much more sophisticated than the girl he remembered. What did he say? "Ah, hi? Can I help with the groceries?" He felt like a fool. The pavement should swallow him up, it would be a blessing. Hilde smiled slightly and shrugged, holding out the bag toward him. He so desperately wanted to have a look in the pram, but sudden fear held him back. Une had told him to be careful with Hilde. He didn't want to seem pushy. He knew her temper of old and he knew only too well that she did not understand why he had left her to work for Preventers. Hilde had never accepted his reasons. "Sure. Come on. I'll make coffee when we get home." He almost crushed the groceries he was so nervous. His tote bag slapped him rhythmically on his thigh as they walked, stuffed full by the teddy bear he would give to his son. His son. Somewhere in the darkness of the pram lay his son. So close. Lost in the darkness of the pram where the street lights could not reach, was the tiny life he had helped to create. He was so close. Did he dare edge closer and try to get a peek? Would that be a mistake? "So, how have you been?" Hilde glanced at him and began walking again. No. At this time, he thought it would be a mistake to make the move he so desperately wanted to make. He could be patient. He would be patient. He would not move too fast and ruin everything. Hilde had been cooperating with Lady Une who was working on behalf of him. He would not make it any harder to get what he wanted. "Fine. Earth keeps me busy." he hesitated and decided to plunge. He had to talk about something and maybe he could begin with a question that had haunted him since he had been informed. "I hear you joined Preventers." "Yes. It seemed the logical thing to do." Hilde glanced quickly at him in the fading light of a flickering street lamp. "I had a long think after you left. I got to thinking about what you said about what you wanted. About how you said you wanted to make a difference. I understand, Duo. Really I do." "Hilde." he hesitated. Uncertain. He did not want to fight with her, certainly not in public. A fight was the last thing he intended. He wanted to see his son, to remain friends with her, and to know that she was safe. That his son would be safe. "I was wrong not to tell you." she shrugged. Words simply were inadequate for what she had to say, but words were all she had. "I'm sorry. I was confused and hurt. You left me for something that at the time I did not, and could not, understand. I was angry. Actually, that was an understatement. Then I learned I was pregnant and I just did not know what to do. I thought you had made your choice and I did not feature in it. I felt that I did not measure up to... I'm sorry, Duo. I can't explain it very well. I know I hurt you. Can we still be friends?" How he had wanted to hear those words. Can we still be friends. Oh, yes, he so desperately wanted for that to happen. "Ah, yeah. Yeah, sure, we can be friends. Forever." he wanted to believe her so badly. "Friends would be good. Is-is he a good baby? Does he keep you awake too much? I've been told babies do that a lot." Hilde laughed softly, looking more relaxed. "Well, he's three months old and yes, he does keep me awake some nights, but there is usually a reason for that, Duo. I just have to figure out what the reason is. Soon as we get home would you like to hold him?" "Yeah." eager. "Hilde." He had to get this said. She had to know that he meant it. So far things had gone so much better than he had dared to dream. "I'm sorry if I hurt you when I left. I wasn't ready to settle down. I thought I was. I really tried, but I found that I could not just sit on the side lines. I knew I could help keep the peace. I fought for it to happen, and I just could not stop caring about it. It wasn't me to sit on the side lines and watch. I... I'll be honest Hilde. I wasn't angry with you or anything like that. It was me. I just could not settle." "Are you ready to settle down now?" She was so going to slap him if he lied to her. She knew just how not ready he was. Duo sighed softly as he walked beside her. He could not quite see into the shadowed recess of the pram. Not in this poor light. He could not lie to himself. Having a son made a difference. A big difference in his life, but the world had changed. In too many ways, but in one thing it had not changed. Peace was still delicately balanced. If anything the world situation and its relations to the colonies was on shakier ground than before, when he had made his decision. If Hilde expected him to settle down with her now, she was not going to be very happy with him. "No. No, I'm not, Hilde. Sorry." //I might run and hide but I still don't tell lies.// "Don't be." she sighed. Relieved. He was still the same Duo. He was still honest. "Duo, I told you I understood. It's okay. I had a long talk to quite a few people about what happened between us. I was pretty messed up for a while. Its okay now, though. I had time to think about us and about the colonies and Earth. I had help to look at the real world around me. Having a baby changes your perspective on life quite a bit. I am happy with how things are now. Lady Une was very understanding when I talked to her. She helped me, perhaps more than most of the councilors I spoke with did. I do understand why you wanted to help keep the peace. Your one of her top agents, aren't you? You don't need to think I want you to come back and play happy families. I understand that we both have our own place. We both have different responsibilities." Words just did not seem to come out quite the way she intended them to. She only hoped that he understood the meaning behind the words. "You are a special girl, you know? A very special girl." He flashed her a manic grin, feeling lighter in the heart. He was sure it was going to be alright. He could stay friends with Hilde. Maybe one day they might be more than friends again. Maybe. He would not discount that possibility. "Actually, Duo, I am a young woman, not a girl." Hilde tartly commented. "I am a mother with responsibilities, and I am a Preventer Agent. I am also a business woman running the scrap yard on my own. I'm not a girl any longer, Duo." He blushed. "Sorry, Hilde." Yeah, that look in her eye told him plainly he was heading into thin ice and to back off. Lady Une was so right. He would have to be careful around Hilde. Motherhood had changed her. More that in her attitude and outlook to life. Duo took the time to really look at her, noting the changes that had been brought by pregnancy. Physically Hilde had changed, her figure showing a roundness and curves he had not noticed before, if indeed they had been there to be noticed. She was fuller in the breast than he remembered and she definitely had a bouncier step and if possible a healthier blush to her skin. Always pretty she positively bloomed now. "It's okay, just don't forget. Come on. Its getting late and I don't see that we have to stand on ceremony. I am sure we can still be friends and we have Aidan to talk about." "Why did you cut me out, Hilde?" He could have bitten his tongue when it slipped out, but done was done. He could have sewn his lips shut at the look he received. "I already said I'm sorry, Duo. Lets not talk about this." "I... I just wanted to know why you at least didn't tell me. Or give my name to him." He had started it and his mouth seemed to want to run away with itself. // God, I have to shut up. Why can't I shut up? // "Your name? You mean call him Duo?" Surprise evident in her voice. "No.'' Well, he was committed now. He might as well get it dealt with. "Maxwell. You could have called him Aidan Maxwell." "Duo, I had a fit of pique, okay? Leave it." She was glad the darkness covered her blush. She really wished he hadn't asked, but he had and she had no intention of answering. Duo sighed. "Sure." he might not get a whole heap of answers, he reflected, but he had time. He had to control his tongue and he would eventually get his answers. He could be patient, when he had to be. The scrap yard had become a little more ordered, he noted as they walked through it toward the small house. Hilde ran things in a more ordered fashion than he had, Duo had to admit. He had, of course, hacked the records of the scrap yard during his flight to L2, just for something to do, of course, and found that Hilde was very efficient, and making a reasonable living from the yard. Quite a reasonable living. His son would have everything that Hilde could provide for him, but Duo intended that they do the providing together. "Are you happy, Hilde?" The question, again, slipped out without him intending to ask it. If there had been a wall handy he would be beating his head against it in despair. He was supposed to be getting on her good side, not annoying her into banishing him. She paused at the door of the house and glanced at him. Shrugged. "Happy with what, Duo? Happy you left me? No, certainly not. Happy to be making a go of the business? Yes. I proved to myself I can make a go of things on my own. Happy with my work for Preventers? Yes. I actually do enjoy the work Lady Une has me do for her. Happy to have Aidan? You bet your boots I am. He's everything to me now. Happy to have met someone who, I think, will care for me in a different way to you? Yes." Hilde entered the house and the lights snapped on automatically, brightening a room full of well used comfortable furniture. Nothing in the room was expensive, but it was comfortable and durable and generally gave the house the impression of a home. In one corner of the living room a small pile of soft toys were stacked neatly. Brightly coloured toys. "Come on in and take your boots off. I put Aidan on the floor a lot." Duo was still trying to sort out her list of happy `yes' answers. He kept getting stuck on the last. For some reason the 'Happy to have met someone who, I think, will care for me in a different way to you' kept refusing to compute. Did that mean what he thought it meant? "You have a boyfriend?" Duo finally managed to get out. Hilde's voice floated from deeper in the house, a touch stilted. "Is it any concern of yours if I do? Boots, Duo. Get them off. We went our separate ways. You went off to do your rescue the world thing and I stayed with the scrap yard. We had separate lives. Nothing was said that we could not date anyone else. We split up. That means we were free to meet someone else. Free to date other people. You don't have to worry. Aidan will be alright. I'll see to that. I'll always see that he is safe." "Hilde. I just need to know that you and Aidan are going to be alright. I need you to know that I'll be here when you need me." "You'll be here when we need you?" Hilde appeared in the lounge room, frowning. "Come inside so I can shut the door and let Aidan out of the pram. There's a draft. And do get your boots off. Going to put your rescue the world career on hold, to stand in the shadows in case we need you, are you?" Duo blushed. "No, but I'm not going to vanish either." he slipped his boots off and ducked in the doorway, closing off the night air. "He's my son. Lady Une did a genetic scan for me. He's mine and that gives me certain rights. More rights than to just pay a bit of money for you to use for him." //Oh, god, now I've done it. Why can't I keep my big mouth shut?// "We don't need your money, Duo. We don't need you running our lives because you don't approve of some detail we see differently to you. We don't need you, but we will accept your part in our lives where it is needed. That does not mean interfering in my love life or telling me how to care for Aiden." "I know you don't." softly spoken. He was trying desperately to keep his wayward tongue under control. "You have the scrap yard and you are on the Preventers pay roll. You are going to be comfortably well off between the two. I'm a field agent for the Preventers, Hilde. Its what I do best. You knew me as a Gundam Pilot. Did you honestly think I could just sit at home and play with the scrap yard? It was a nice dream, but just not me. I found that out. I tried it that way and it just was not me." Hilde sighed and took the groceries into the kitchen, returning after a moment to bend over the pram. When she straightened it was to reveal a tiny figure wrapped securely in a blanket. Gently moving the blanket she turned to Duo and offered the bundle to him. "This is Aidan. Hold your arm up a little so you can support his head properly. That's better. Now sit down over there and get to know him while I make coffee and get ready to change him. You and I are just going to have to agree to disagree on certain things." Duo had been uncertain what his reaction would be to seeing his son. He had desperately wanted to see the baby and hold him and be a part of his life. He had not known how to go about this and his mouth kept running away with itself, ruining any chance he might have of Hilde looking favorably on his having prolonged access. Now, suddenly, instead of fighting with Hilde he had a tiny very warm and nice smelling bundle in his arms. A totally helpless, lovely bundle that looked at him with eyes a cross between blue and violet. Aidan Maxwell had a heart shaped face and the softest, pinkest skin Duo had ever felt. "He will have your eyes." Hilde commented from the kitchen. "Are you sitting yet?" Duo parked his rear promptly. "Yes, I'm sitting." "Good. He's quite definitely your son. Just look at that hair." Brushing back the blanket Duo found himself caressing chestnut brown, thin wisps crowning the tiny head. The baby stirred, tiny fingers flexing as they fought free of the blankets confines. He felt suddenly very proud that his son had more hair than that baby he had watched at the café on Earth. "Why are his eyes such an odd colour?" "Lots of babies are born with blue eyes, but the eyes change colour gradually. He'll have your eyes, no doubt about it. Blue that change colour with his moods." "Oh." he was pleased about that, too. "Will you let him grow his hair long and braid it?" he wasn't even sure where that question came from, and glanced up quickly to find Hilde standing in the doorway to the kitchen, an odd look on her face as she watched him with the baby. "I don't know, Duo. That's a long time away, yet. You look good, holding him." the last said softly, with a gentle smile. "Oh." he glanced down at the baby. "He's so small." "Babies come that way. He's a lot bigger than he was when he was born." Hilde chuckled. He could so easily get lost in the big blue-violet eyes. So easily forget that there was a world beyond the tiny body in his arms. "I brought Aidan something. It's in my bag. Would you get it for me, please?" The teddy bear was more than four times the size of the baby and seemed to have developed an inordinate liking for being stuffed in the tote bag. Hilde, when she finally extricated him from the bag, gave a delighted giggle and subjected the bear to a deep, stuffing threatening cuddle and chuckled softly. Caressing the tufted ears she planted a kiss on his nose and turned to Duo. "Its lovely. So you." "Huh?" He dragged his eyes up from the baby. "Don't worry about it." Hilde waved off the comment. "I know what I mean. I'll finish getting the coffee."
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