'I don't own it. never have, never will

Oh.. I know.. by now, Duo's desperation is anything BUT quiet.. but.. TOO LATE TO RENAME!

Quiet Desperation: Chapter 5
By Caliko

Duo:

:::Hilde is going to kill me!::: I thought, ignoring the pain that started to tighten my lungs.

I lifted off the lid of the next garbage can, praying to see at least one pair of mischievous violet eyes.

No such luck. Instead, my eyes met the beady black ones of a rat eating the leftover remains of a chili dog. Shuddering, I replaced the lid and backed away.

:::I will never eat here again.::: I vowed, turning at the sound of my name.

Seeing Heero's way to observant look, I forced myself to calm down a bit. I knew that by now, my face must be a bit pale, but he would let it pass if I got control of myself.

"Where did you last see them?" Wufei asked, hoping to get this over with quickly.

"Food court. They were throwing food at me." I winced, knowing that I would never hear the end of this. Sure enough, his lips started to twitch as he fought down a smile.

"Ahh.... I can't say it. It's too mean. Ok, do you have a picture of the kids?"

:::A Picture? I just met them this morning, for Christ's sake! Wait.. I DID have a picture!:::

I reached for my wallet, and took out the snap shot I stole from Hilde's dresser. Glancing longingly at their cherubic faces, I handed it over to the professionals.

"Of course, they look like you." Wu said, rolling his eyes as if it was up to me. "I should have known when you said they had a food fight."

"I don't suppose you paged them." Heero broke in, heading off any petty bickering that was in the air.

"No. I was afraid that they would call Hilde." I confessed, hanging my head.

"Duo, we have to tell her. The girls won't know any better, and will just tell her anyway."

"Yeah, but by then, we'll have FOUND them!" :::Ok.. my reasoning sounded good to me!:::

/sigh/ "Maxwell, if we don't find them in twenty minutes, we're having them paged, and having the entrances blocked. To tell you the truth, they are probably hiding from you, testing to see how far they can push you."

I was just about to answer when I heard shouts coming from down the trail a little bit. The three of us didn't even bother to hesitate, we just ran. It HAD to be the little monsters.

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Heero:

Shouts of outrage flew through the air as we got closer. Running towards us where two miniature goddesses of death with an angry pack of older kids on their heels. Becca and Mercy saw Duo, stopped, then split up to the right and left. The mob was about to do the same, but Wufei flashed his badge, instantly earning thier awed wonder. Duo and I kinda half laughed, then took after the clones.

I had no idea who mine was, but Damn! She was quick! Either that, or I was getting old, and I was way to young to even consider that!

She ducked underneath a picnic table and I knew I had her caught. I could jump over that thing before she could climb out the other end. If she changed her direction, and went to the right or left, she would have stood a chance... but she didn't.

I hauled her up by the belt loops on her shorts, then threw her over my shoulder. The little brat immediately started to pound on my back, screaming "KIDNAPPER!"

Well, ordinarily, I would have been happy that she thought fast, but when a huge bruiser of a guy starts coming after you, and you can't fight back because you have a little girl over your shoulder, well.. things didn't look too good.

I placed the child on the ground, and held up a hand. Pulling my preventer badge out of my pocket, I started to talk really fast.

"I'm Preventer Yuy, and I was just retrieving my niece."

The guy looked from my face to hers, quickly and silently noticing the differences between my Japanese features.. and her European ones. The girl started to slip away, and I tightened my grip on her shoulder. The man noticed, his eyes narrowing as he flexed his muscles to intimidate me.

It was then that I groaned, realizing that it was probably going to boil down to a fight. Still, I had to try. With Duo as a father, the Kid had a lifetime of bad influence ahead of her, she didnÔt need mine.

"Look, Pal, I fought in the war with her father, and we consider ourselves brothers. She ran away from him earlier to avoid leaving so soon." I held my badge out again, pushing it under his nose and forcing him to take a good, long, hard look. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to catch up with her father so that we can go home."

Big, dumb and stupid glared, flexing his biceps again. He wasn't going to back down. The behemoth stalked closer, and I quickly looked around to weigh my options. Seeing the wall next to me, I casually looked over to see what it surrounded.

Below me was a steep, grassy knoll that fell sharply into a man made lake. On the other side of the lake were picnic tables, and a path to enter and leave. Smirking, I pushed my charge to the side, and waited.

Dipshit came closer, then rushed me. I ducked under his arms, and sprang up behind him. Kicking out, I sent him over the wall and ran to watch as the man rolled down the hill and splashed into the lake.

Grinning, I looked at Mercy/Becca or whoever she was, and laughed outright when she grinned up at me.

"Cool!" she screeched, jumping up and down to try to get a better view. "So.. do you really know my daddy?"

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Wufei:

I mentally snorted to myself as I got to the bottom of the situation. Despite what I initially believed.. the girls didn't start it. It took some tricky questioning, but finally, they admitted everything.

Mercy and Becca were supposed to be the victims, only.. they fought back.

Instead of giving their spending money to the older kids, they double teamed the boss and pushed him into the fountain. Needless to say, the flunkies chased the girls right to us.

I gave the brats the standard warnings of a lifetime of crime, and sat down to wait for Heero and twin number one to come back.

A little while later, my patience was rewarded. They came up, the girl riding on Heero's back, laughing, and talking about a big man in a lake.

:::Hmm.. Do I want to ask? No..:::

"Duo didn't come back yet?" Heero asked, looking around.

"No. She must be giving him a good run." I smirked, looking up at the girl on his shoulders. "Ok. Which one are you?" I asked, taking a marker and labeling tags out of my pocket, where I left them after packing up my old office.

"Who are you?" She asked, eyes scrunched, as her arms tightened around Heero.

"It's alright, Becca. This is Uncle Wufei."

I hurriedly scribbled ÔBecca' on a tag, then slapped it over her shoulder. Unlike Duo, I wanted to know who I was talking to.

"Becca, huh?" I asked, jerking her braid a little bit. "I heard what you and your sister did to that big kid. Gook work. I might have a job for you in a few years."

Yeah, that did it. She started to giggle, her little body shaking in mirth as she dug her fingers into Heero's hair to hold on. She looked down at me, her freckled nose wrinkled as she gave me a Ômean' look, then messed it up by breaking into more giggles.

:::You know, if she didn't look so much Duo, she'd be cute.:::

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Duo:

I left Heero and Wufei, taking off after Mercy as she ran down towards the lion enclosures.

:::Great. Now she wants to see the lions.::: I joked quietly, barely sidestepping a guy selling balloons.

I watched as Mercy turned around to look at the colorful orbs, obvious in her greed that she wanted one.

:::Dream on, bratfink..::: I thought, gaining about five feet on her before she turned back to watch where she was going.

I wish I did the same, because the next moment, I tripped over a rock and went down. When I got to my feet, my daughter was no where in sight.

Looking to the right and left of me, I wiped my pants off, cursing, as I found a tear in my favorite jeans. Limping down the track, I slowly followed in the only direction she could have taken.

Halfway down the trail to the lions enclave, I had to stop to rest against a tree.. My chest was starting to tighten up again, this time out of sheer tiredness. Looking around to see if anyone was watching, I took my inhaler out of my coat pocket and used it before sitting down against the tree. Thankfully, I remembered from earlier that this path led to a brick wall. The only way out was right past me.

About twenty minutes later, I got up to resume my hunt. Bu now, Mercy would be tired of staring at the lions, and would be starting back this way. At least... I thought so.

But, I hadn't taken two steps when I felt something hit me on top of my head, and a little giggle reached down from the tree. Looking up, I was victimized by a handful of acorns raining down on my head as my daughter broke into delighted shrieks.

:::Why me?:::

I shrugged, then took my coat off so that I could climb the tree easier. About halfway up, she hopped onto my back, and slid down to the ground, running.

I shook my head, and let go of the branch I had been hanging on, only to stay there, suspended in the air.

:::What the???::: I looked down.. and saw what was wrong. My belt was caught on a forked branch, and the only way down was the painful way.

I hung there awhile, unable to bring myself to inflict the torture that awaited me. I didn't worry about Mercy - Wufei would catch her. No.. I was more worried about hitting the ground. I was at least ten feet up, and I knew it was going to hurt.

Maybe I could call the guys.. and they can come help me? I reached for my back pocket, and the cell phone, only to fumble it out of my hands, have it hit the ground, and watch as it fractured into a dozen pieces.

:::Great, Duo. You still are the great destroyer...:::

Ok. I could hang here until Wufei and Heero worry enough to come looking for me... but do I want Wufei to find me stuck in a tree?

I rested my head against the trunk of the tree, and reached down to my buckle. I couldn't do it.

Wu-man would never let me live it down. I mean.. I was bested by a five year old. /sigh/ Ok.. on the count of three...

"One." I slipped the end of the belt through the belt loop.

"Two." I drew it back in the metal buckle and pulled the pin from the hole.

"Three." I let go of the belt, and immediately felt myself fall towards the hard, unforgiving earth.

I forced my legs to loosen up, and I bent my knees as I landed.

:::Sonofabitch! That HURT!::: I fell forward on impact, and used my hands to keep my face pretty. I cursed as I pushed myself up off the ground.

"MERCEDES MAXWELL!" I hollered, not really expecting an answer. "You have until the count of three to answer me, young lady!"

"Or what?" A tiny voice asked, her violet eyes meeting mine in challenge.

I grinned, the same evil smile I usually reserved for battle.

"Well, I can always spank you.. but I don't think it would faze you too much, would it?" Her face went white at the word Ôspank' and I relished it a little too much. "Or, I can ground you... no more trips to the zoo or the circus that is coming next week." There went the eyes.. thier icy gaze melted into true worry. "Or.. I can allow your Mama to decide your punishment. I'm sure she has enough practice figuring out what will affect the two of you the most."

Tears started to form and she started to quiver. The quiver turned into a full-fledged sniffle, which became a hard edged bawl. Needless to say, I now felt like an ogre.

"Or.. there is one more thing." I said, smiling slightly.

"What?" She asked once again, but in a tamer voice.

"You can come hug me and promise to never run away from me again...."

Mercy face broke out into sunshine, her smile reaching wide enough to reveal a gap in her front teeth. I opened my arms, and the bratfink ran into them, hugging me tight, and laying kisses over my cheeks... Now.. This was what fatherhood was all about!

I picked up my coat and the deceased remains of my phone. Matching her smile, I held out my hand, and we started down the trail to meet up with the others. Strangely, I barely felt the aches and pains I earned in the chase.

Oh, I knew that I let her go easy.. but I'm new at this, and this was the first Ôdate' I've had with the girls. I really didn't want to ruin it by grounding them!

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Heero:

I was sitting on the bench, playing Ôgo fish' with Becca when I saw them. Duo had his coat slung over his shoulder, and was holding Mercy's hand as he limped over to us. His jeans were torn, his shirt was missing half of it's buttons, and I swore that he had been wearing a belt earlier!

I looked closer, arching my eyebrow when I saw the red scratch that ran across his chest. By the looks of it, Maxwell had it rough.

They were both smiling, though, so I didn't say anything. We silently gathered up our cards and stood up to go home.

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That night, after we dropped Mercy and Becca off at home, we sat around Duo's kitchen playing poker. Sally was off visiting her family, and Relena was on L2 for some conference, so both Wufei and I had no where else to go.

Placing my discards down, I turned to ask Duo for two cards, when I noticed that he was biting his lip. I called his name twice, then shook his hand. Startled, he looked up, guiltily meeting our eyes.

"What's wrong, Maxwell?" Wufei asked, as confused as I was. "We found the girls, and they were safe."

"Na.. it's not that, Wu." Duo shook his head, handing me my cards.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"I just don't want to wait for Hilde to move back in with me!"

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Hmm.... What's Duo gonna do? You're guess is as good as mine, since I haven't planned this far ahead yet...

Leeko