Cool! I asked, and I got! SO FAR, this chappy is a bunch of ideas from Liz, Saba, Lara_Winner, and, of course, myself! Couldn't have had better help anywhere! Thanks!
~ Marlene
Not mine!
Quiet Desperation : Chapter 4
By Caliko
Duo:
I sat at the breakfast table, staring at the two five year olds in front of me. Identical looks of curious awe shone from our faces, causing Hilde and the wicked witch to smirk. They definatly knew something, and they were not about to tell me.
At least I should be able to tell them apart. Becca wore blue shorts, and had her hair pushed back with a bandana. Mercy wore braids on either side of her head, and favored dark purple.
:::Small blessings!::: I sighed, relieved that they wouldn't be playing any mind games on me just yet.
Hilde finally broke the silence, with a chipper, "Daddy's taking you to the Zoo today, isn't that nice?"
They looked at each other, and then ran for their backpacks. I swear, just for a moment, that I had seen horns.. but .. Na!! They were only babies!! What kind of trouble could they cause?
Hilde:
I almost felt sorry for Duo. I mean, it wasn't nice to enjoy his suffering, but I couldn't help it. Those children were going to run him ragged, from one end of the park to the other, and back again.
Worried, I thought of something else.
"Did you bring your inhaler? You might need it."
If looks could kill! Damn, I forgot that he really COULD be stubborn when he didn't want to admit something.
Sighing, I shrugged my shoulders and went to help the girls get ready.
Sidney:
Ok, these kids needed some serious help. I know that you can see it, too, so don't yell at me for butting in!
Hilde was not going to get too pushy, as she was too afraid to rock the boat. She really wanted Duo to prove himself to her, and she was afraid that he might fail. My sister was not about to add an argument into the mix.
As for Duo.. He's pretty cool. A bit naive, and he doesn't plan things out well enough, but he's alright. Hell, if anything, at least I'd have someone to argue with at family reunions.
So.. that left it up to me. I would have to be the bitch, as usual. Thank God it's something I'm good at.
"Maxwell, don't be an asshole."
I said this while I grabbed his still half full plate of pancakes out from under his fork. The look of outrage was priceless, and I took notes to come between him and food as often as I could.
He dove for the plate, reaching unsuccessfully for it before I scraped it into the garbage can. Seeing his chagrin, I decided to be nice.
"Becca and Mercy are going to expect McDonalds for breakfast, so stop whining. You can eat there."
He looked slightly mollified, but continued to glare. Obviously, he remembered my earlier remark.
"She still cares about you, Maxwell. Whether it's love or not, I don't know, and neither will you if you keep giving her the evil eye every time she worries about you."
"Yeah, well, forgive me if I don't like to talk about it." He grumbled, looking away.
"No, I won't forgive you, nor will I leave you alone. You are acting like a spoiled child, not an adult. You're 23 years old, for god's sake! Grow up!"
Duo:
:::Grow up? This coming from the woman who was wearing bugs bunny slippers?:::
Hey, I know what she was saying, don't worry. I will even concede that I need to have a discussion with Hilde about my COPD... at least tell her enough so that she knew what the hell it was!
For now? Like I told her... I was going to take it slow.
The twins came back at that moment. I winced as I realized that they had changed their clothes. They matched, and from the satisfied smirk on Hilde's face, I knew that it was part of her payback. I shuddered, thinking what else she might have encouraged.
I looked hard, trying to find any slight marks or stains on the blue Tweety t-shirts and shorts... nope. Should have known better than to bother. Hilde-babe never let stains live long enough to be permanent. I looked at the ends of their braids, and was thwarted there, too. Both wore blue ribbons on the end. Hmm.. maybe I can buy them different shirts at the zoo, and talk them into changing there!
"Hilde, here's the number for my cell phone. I'm going to stop at my place, and change real quick, then we'll leave for the zoo."
I was herding the kids out to the car as I spoke, then, almost an afterthought, I turned real quick and kissed her cheek. She was stunned, and I left before she could start yelling, but DAMN! that felt good. Almost like a husband...
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Narrator:(that's me!)
The Zoo was some kind of Haven for the god of children. Runts of all shapes, ages and colors ran around, dragging half-asleep parents behind. Peacocks walked the grounds uncaged, waddling quickly away from young, sticky fingers that reached out for the psuedo eyes on their tails.
Duo kept a firm hold on each five year old, determined not to lose them in this mess. His ears were already ringing, and it wasnÔt quite nine am, yet. He was still pretty confident that he could handle this, however.
Upon entering the Mecca of parental torture, he spotted a map stand and walked over to examine it. It was one of those picture maps of the whole park, with the trees and shrubbery puffed together in indistinct masses of green squiggly lines. Cartoon animals were strategically scattered over the surface.
Strategically placed so that no two children would agree on what to see first. Becca wanted to see the lions, while Mercy wanted the snakes. Each section was on opposite sides of the park, and the God of Death was soon being pulled by little hands in both directions at once.
Thinking back, his mistake might have been allowing it to go on. He was amused at how these two girls glowed with his stubborn determination! Mercy was even grabbing onto one hand, with both feet resting on his knee cap as she leaned back in the direction she wanted to go!
An experienced parent would have wanted to end this before it got too far, but Duo was not experienced. He did not realize that these angelic children were doing what their Mama had asked... testing Daddy. He also didn't realize that these two clones of his were exactly that - clones. Each really WAS determined to get her way.
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Duo:
:::Ok.. what am I supposed to do?:::
It felt as if I was being torn in two, and I had no idea how to get back in the drivers seat so to speak. Mercy was trying to pull me in one direction, and Becca was trying to kick her twin off of my leg so that she could pull me over to lions!
:::OUCH! Ok.. which runt has the hair?:::
I heard a few snorts as people carefully walked around us, unwilling to become victims of my daughters tantrums. Turning quickly, I watched, brain-fried as Becca lost her balance and fell into the grass.
:::Hmm.. she must have had the hair.:::
Mercy took that opportunity to stick her tounge out at her sister, causing Becca to start gripping her hands into fists.
:::Oh shit... what did Father Maxwell always tell me?? OH yeah!:::
"Um.. girls.. fighting never solved anything."
"Yes it does." Mercy smirked, walking towards the big cats.
"Hey! I am NOT going!" Becca shouted, not budging from the grass.
"Then don't!"
She continued to walk away without us, and I had just about had it already.
::: How does Hilde DO this everyday?:::
From somewhere nearby, I heard another parent in a similar predicament.
:::Hmm.... THAT might work.:::
"Girls! We are going to start at the end of the park, and work our way back to the main gate. That way, we don't miss anything."
:::They can't argue with this!:::
"Which end?" Mercy got off the ground, interested.
"What?" How can I be confused by a five year old?
"Daddy... the park is a BIG square. Which end are we going to start at? Can we start at the snakes?"
Sure enough... the snakes were at the east gate.
"NOOO!! LOOK! The lions are over here!"
Shit.. they were at the west gate. Looking over to the southern side, I smiled as inspiration hit.
"We are going to start here, at Daddy's favorite. The giraffes."
They looked at each other and glared as they realized that they were out smarted. Putting their hands on their hips, they looked back at me, refusing to move.
"Giraffes are stupid." They practically sang as they spoke together.
"We can always go home." :::I remembered Sister Helen threatening me with that one.:::
Becca straightened, then smirked.
"You told Mama that you were taking us to the park." Obviously, she was the manipulator.
"Mama will understand that you were both too tired and cranky to be good. Maybe we could come back tomorrow.. after you two go to bed earlier so that you have enough sleep."
:::Oh wow.. that was good.:::
They communicated silently, then nodded.
"We're sorry, Daddy." Becca and Mercy sang, before latching onto my neck and showering kisses onto my chin. Large violet puppy-dog eyes begged me to let them stay.
:::Oh damn.. How does Hilde do it?:::
"Alright! But one more fight, and we're going home, understand?"
"Yes, Daddy!"
All bright smiles and bouncing bodies, they meekly followed me to the giraffes. I was suddenly feeling very good about this fatherhood bit. After all, I seemed to be a natural!
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Three Hours Later: (12:00 pm)
I groaned into my forearm as another hotdog hit me in the back of the head. Never again will I stay here until lunchtime. I would rather risk my dove gray interior to ketchup than become a munchkin target again!
All I said was that we had to leave right after lunch! Sheesh! It wasn't as if they didn't walk every square inch of the zoo! They had dragged me over hills and through bridges, onto a boat ride and then a train ride! They spent every
I slowly realized that the food missiles had stopped. Carefully, I raised my head, ready to hide it at a moments notice. I looked around, groaning as I didn't see the hell spawns.
I got up and circled around the immediate vicinity, hoping to find them right away. If I had to get the park police to help me, then Hilde would find out. If Hilde found out, then I would have failed as a father in her eyes. The worse thing, she would be right. I should NOT have taken my eyes off of them for a minute.
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One Hour Later (1:00 pm)
:::I need help.:::
My eyes drifted outside the gates, and fell onto the building across the street. Preventer HQ...
:::Hmmm.. Wufei! HE could help! And.. out of male loyalty, he wouldn't tell Hilde a thing!:::
Giving one last sweep of the area, I walked over to the nearest payphone and placed my call.
Chang answered immediately, as I expected. Forgetting that he had no idea what the hell I would be talking about, I got right to the point.
"Wufei Ôol buddy? I lost them."
"Lost what? Your keys? I told you the last time that you never gave me the spares back."
I cringed, knowing that he'll never let me hear the end of this one. Finally, haltingly, I explained that I lost my twin five year old hell spawn. I heard an odd croak on the other end, and then he spoke again.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the zoo. The entrance right across the street from HQ."
"We'll be right there. I just hope they aren't torturing anything."
He sighed as he hung up the phone.
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Wufei:
Leave it to Maxwell to not only have twins, but lose them. I got up from behind my desk, and went into my private bathroom that came with my promotion. Quickly changing into civilian clothes, I left the building, pulling Heero along with me as he walked towards the entrance.
"Baka boy lost his brats." I said in the way of explanation, not really surprised that he seemed to expect something like this.
"Where?" Yuy asked, walking with me.
I pointed towards the iron gates across the street, watching as Duo was looking inside of a plastic garbage can.
"Somewhere in there."
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Sorry this chappy was so long in coming! I was visiting my Dad in the Pocono's, and my in-laws in NJ.
~Caliko