I do NOT own GW, and I make no money from this fic! Esmerelda Christine Maxwell (Aka: Esme) IS mine, however, as is Robert 'Robby' Cross. The story line is all me, as well, so hang on tight.! here we go!

Esme on the Town
By Caliko

Esme waved to everyone from the chair up on stage. Gone were the computer monitor and the keyboard. Gone was the garbage can. It was just Esme in her normal black clothes and the ever-present bottle of Sun Drop. Her chestnut hair was braided loosely, hanging in a charmingly mussed rope down her back, while black riding boots finished off her outfit.

Sitting on the steps leading off-stage was her father, dressed similarly to his progeny in black, with an intimidating frown on his face. Obviously, he was here to keep the story straight.

The sixteen year old looked back at him, then gulped. Duo nodded encouragingly, then leaned up against the wall to watch the show.

"It seems.. that I left out quite a few important details last time..." She winced, then continued. "Remember when I told you all what was going on with Rob? Well... It went a bit farther than I admitted. To be blunt.. we were going at it like rabbits, and Uncle Heero interrupted my very first marriage proposal.. with gunfire."

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"Esme..." Robby groaned, unable to believe that he lost control like that. He buried his head under her chin, and hugged her body closer to his. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, I'm fine." She glanced at her watch, and froze, realizing that they lost an entire hour somehow. "Hey, get up. We have to get dressed, fast."

"Hmmm.. not yet. I like you like this." He teased, nipping at her chin.

"Rob! HURRY! Bed check was fifteen minutes ago!" Esme finally got some leverage and flipped him over onto his back. Getting up, she picked up her hip huggers and panties, then shimmied into them before reaching for her shirt. She buttoned up the top button, then glanced down at the sprawled teenager.

He was lying on his back stark naked with his pride saluting the beautiful girl in front of him. Blushing, she turned around, only now regretting what will happen if they were caught.

"If you don't get dressed, I'm going to end up expelled, and then carted back to L2!"

"Don't worry so much, Ez. If You got sent back to L2, I'll follow you. From what I heard, Legal age is kinda young there. We can always run away and get married."

"Are you crazy? I'm sixteen years old!" She stood over him, hardly believing what she was hearing. "I don't want to get married until I'm at least 18!"

"What if your pregnant? We didn't use anything, Baby." Nonchalantly, he got up and pulled his jeans on, acting as if he didn't say anything important. "I mean, I don't want to miss out on my kid's childhood, and that's what will happen if we're not married. Your family will send you where I can't find you."

"Oh, God. I'm NOT thinking about this right now." She reached down and picked up his T-shirt. Throwing it at him, she slid her feet into her boots and bent to tie the laces.

Suddenly, something impacted into the sand near Rob's feet, followed closely by two more. Groaning, she stood up and turned around, wondering who it was.

"STOP shooting before you hurt someone!" She yelled up, still unable to see who it was, but knowing that it would have to be either Heero or Wu. Sister Rosemary must of called when she realized that she wasn't in her bed.

"ESMERELDA CHRISTINE MAXWELL!" The voice bellowed out from the cliffs, causing them both to jump, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uncle Heero..." She smiled weakly, mumbling behind her, "Robby.. RUN."

"I will not!" He hissed back, "Who is that guy, anyway?"

"That's my Uncle Heero. Remember, I told you my Dad was a gundam pilot! That's one of his best friends."

"Heero Yuy? Wait! Your dad.. he wouldn't be the one known as the God of Death.. would he?" His face broke out in a sweat, as he finally took her seriously.

"Hmmm..."

"What does that mean?" Robby yelled, "Hmmm Yes, or Hmmm No?"

/sigh/ "Yes. But I'll protect you, you big baby!"

"I'm waiting for an answer, young lady!" Her uncle yelled down again, oblivious as more lights began to flicker on in the castle.

"I WAS trying to get expelled!" She hollered back, refusing to lie about it. "What does it look like?"

"To me? It looks like target practice." Heero leveled his gun again, lining up his sight with Robby's family jewels.

"Ready to run yet, Rob?" She said, standing in front of Rob.

Esme was surprised to feel him push her behind him. "I'm not hiding behind you."

Heero sent one last warning shot between their legs. Robby jumped, then pecked her cheek. "I'll meet you on L2, k?"

Ignoring her amused look, he grabbed his boots and ran down the path that led off the beach. Minutes later, she heard his bike start up then fade away as he headed back to town.

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Duo stormed into the Yuy's kitchen with a murderous glare. Glancing around the room, he met Heero and Relena's worried faces, then muttered one low pitched order. "Out."

Instead, his best friend shook his head and sat down at the table next to Esme. He hadn't seen that face of the other pilot since the Eve Wars, and he wasn't about to force his niece to stand up to Shinigami alone.

"Maxwell, I already spoke to her. She knows what she did wrong, and already regrets it." He said, laying his hand over the girls shoulder. "Don't you, Esme?"

"Get OUT." the God of Death growled, refusing to be appeased. "You deal with your criminals, I'll deal with mine."

Esme nodded, then motioned for them to leave. She knew that she would have to face him alone eventually. "It's alright, Uncle. He's never spanked me before, he won't do it now."

"Your still young yet." Duo warned, turning a chair around to straddle it in front of her. "Leave, Yuy. This is between my daughter an me."

He watched as they left, then pinned Esme with his gaze. "Who was it?"

Esmerelda swallowed, but didn't back down. "No one you know." She stuttered, going down with the ship. :::NO need to bring Rob into this. After all, he was my victim, not me his.:::

"Esme!" He slammed his hand down on the table and stood up, towering over her sitting form. "I want a name."

"FATHER! You are not getting one. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I led the poor guy on until he honestly thought that I loved him, then used him to get expelled. He didn't do anything wrong."

"He touched you." Duo growled, pacing the floor.

"How old was Mama when you first made love?" She said, trying to reason with him.

"She was twenty! I respected her enough not to touch her!"

:::Humm.. for some reason, I thought they might have been younger.::: She grimaced. "If it makes you feel better, he never intended to have sex tonight."

"Sex? YOU HAD SEX?" His voice raised even higher, her first clue that Uncle Heero hadn't told him everything. "HEERO!" He shouted, "You said they were just making out!"

Her Uncle's voice floated into the kitchen from the living room, "They were fully dressed when I caught them!"

"Um.. er.. We-elll..." Esme giggled nervously, earning a black glare from her father.

"I - want - a - NAME!"

"NO!" There... She said it. "I'm sorry, Pop, but it's none of your business!"

His hands started to flex at his sides, and she started to wonder if she should have made Uncle Heero stay close. Slowly, he raised his hand, as if to slap her, then lowered it with a jerk as he stalked to the other side of the room.

"You are my sixteen year old daughter, and you had sex with some guy. Now you say that it's not my business? PLEASE tell me that you used some kind of protection!"

::::Should I lie? I mean... I might end up pregnant.. and then what do I tell him?::: She opened her mouth, intending to tell him that she did, when a lifetime of lectures against lying took over.

"We didn't intend to go that far, Daddy." Her voice was low, embarrassed. "We were only supposed to take a walk, maybe make out for a bit. I.. timed it so that Sister Rosemary would catch us before anything happened, but for some reason, she didn't take her normal walk."

Duo groaned, then punched the wall, disappointed and upset with her naive stupidity. The worst thing, was that he couldn't blame her. To be blunt, hormones were a bitch, and she didn't have a clue about controlling them.

:::I should have let her date more.::: He blamed himself, sitting back down.

Looking up into her face, he noticed the tears falling slowly to the table.

"Stop blubbering." He sighed, reaching out to brush it away. "There's nothing you can do to change what happened."

"I.. know." Esme sobbed, only now realizing that she was crying. "I just wish I went about things a little differently. Oh god, Daddy. I have never been so embarrassed until I realized that it was Uncle Heero shooting at him!"

Duo's lips twitched with appreciation, then he forced his mouth into a grim line. :::At least Heero did something right!::: "Don't make me laugh. I'm still pissed."

"Dammit! I wasn't trying to! GOD! Every girl dreams her first time was unforgettable... well, mine certainly was!" Hysteria was beginning to color her voice, and she started to howl even louder.

"Esme, be quiet. No one told you to have sex out in public on a beach where your entire school could have watched! Your mother and I did NOT raise you to be that way! I can't believe you did that! My daughter, the exhibitionist!" His flippant words dueled with his angry tone, and she had to admit, if it hadn't been so serious, it would be ridicules.

"You make me sound so ..well.. slutty!" Esme protested, then shrugged, realizing that she hadn't acted like the Virgin Mary. "/sigh/ Look, Dad. It happened, and it's over with. I'll probably never see the guy again, and I refuse to worry about being pregnant until I know for sure."

"Esmerelda, at this rate, you won't even see outside the garage unless it IS to give birth."

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"Do you think that I jinxed myself, somehow?" Esme scratched her head, then stood up. "I mean.. It was only the first time I had sex... and I got caught -" She snapped her fingers, "Like that."

"In more ways than one." Duo muttered low, earning an evil glare from Hilde.

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The sound of retching came through the bathroom door, causing Duo to stop dead instead of continuing down the hall. His face took on one of anguish, as he leaned against the door. Then, rapping lightly, he growled.

"You better not be pregnant in there!"

Esme lifted her head up from the bowl long enough to shoot an incredulous glare through the door. Did her father think she was doing this on purpose? Then, feeling the her stomach twist one more time, she buried her head once more in the commode.

:::God, isn't this where it all began?:::

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's right. I was pregnant. Enceinte. With Child, and all that rot, and my father just couldn't adjust to it. /sigh/" Esme glanced at her watch, then shook her head as she got up. "Well, that's my story. The moral? If your sixteen years old, and you have everything planned... think again. It WILL come back to smack you on the ass."

She left the stage quietly, deep in thought of everything she regretted, and trying not to think about the responsibilities that lay in wait, just a few months down the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, after the seminar:

Esme grabbed her coat and headed down to the garage to tell her father that she was leaving for work. He was slowly coming around, and had gotten into the habit of bringing little things home from the store for the baby when he thought no one was paying attention. Of course, Hilde and Esme had noticed the pile of stuffed animals and t-shirts getting larger, but had politically kept their mouths shut.

She stopped in the shop door, and peeked in, unprepared for what she saw. There, bent over a motor, in the process of refitting the bearings, stood Robby. He glanced up, saw her, and looked behind at where Duo sat at his desk doing email. Then, looking into her incredulous eyes, he winked, then gave a slow grin.

"I told you I would follow you!" He mouthed, before bending back to his work.

Esme started laughing, hardly daring to believe the boy's nerve. She never did tell Duo who the father was... but she had the feeling that he would find out very, very soon.

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A/N - so.. how did you like??? lol... This section is DONE.. but only because I want to get back to a more.. normal format. I want to finish Capture, tho, before I start Esme and Robby's story, so PLEASE.. be patient! ^_^

R/R, as well! I'm feeling unloved. lol