Shortly after the war.......

Duo sat in the passenger side of the car in near tears. Slowly, he counted to ten, stopped, thought about it, and started over. He was NOT going to make it.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" he yelled at Hilde.

"Don't you yell at me! I'm doing the best I can!" she glared, waiting for the light to turn green.

"No, your not! If you were, you wouldn't have stalled the car ten times in the last four blocks! Hilde, you drove us all the way to the store perfectly, not making one mistake. Now that we're going home, you can't drive? I just don't understand....."

"I can drive!" she protested.

"Yeah, just not a stick shift!" he taunted. "Hilde, how can you pilot a mobile suit, but not a standard five speed?"

"I'm trying, Duo! Really!"

He sighed, before mumbling....

"Get out of the drivers seat. I'm driving home before you kill what's left of the clutch!"

"NO." She was determined to do this!

The light suddenly turned green, and Hilde took off, again, dumping the clutch in second. She was able to save it, but not until the car bucked halfway down the street.

Hilde glanced at Duo's clenched teeth and winced. There was no way he was ever going to try to teach her how to drive this thing again.

She pulled into the salvage yard and stalled it in front of the office. Head down, she inched out of the drivers seat and ran into the building before he could yell at her. It was a bit strange that she drove the five speed perfectly to the store, but screwed up on the way home. She just didn't understand it, and definitely didn't want to even try to explain it to Duo.

Hilde looked out the window as he got into the drivers side of the little blue compact and drove it around the block. Getting out, he looked at her through the window, and shook his head. Another clutch bit the dust....

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

3 years later

"Babe, you sure you will be alright by yourself?" Duo asked.

He really didn't want to leave her alone, but Wufei and Heero called. His expertise were needed. Still, they both agreed that he shouldn't be gone longer than a month or so, and Hilde had the boys in the yard if there was trouble.

"I'll be fine, Duo! Go, duty calls!" She kissed his cheek, determined not to cry.

"Alright, I'm going! Look, the transmission in the mustang is a bit iffy. I was going to swap it out this weekend, but this came up. If it dies, then have Alfonse switch it, ok?"

"I think I can handle it. Don't worry, if worse comes to worse, I can always drive the Trans am..." She teased, knowing full well that it was his baby.

"Don't even think about it, Hilde. You can't handle it."

His voice became dark, tinged with warning for a brief second before he let it go back to normal.

"Excuse me?"

"Hilde.. you wouldn't dare take my car out. You would crash it. Face it, Babe, it's too much for you!" He pecked her cheek and was in the cab before he realized that he just laid a challenge on his wife.

She walked downstairs to the garage and eyed the monster. It was an antique, alright. It had taken him four years just to have the parts he needed made. Not only was it precolony, it was pre everything. Sometimes, she wondered if he dreamed about this beast more than he did her. Ok, it was a jealousy thing. Who did he love more? Hilde, or her?

The petite woman walked around the car, eyeing up it's fat bumpers and the roll bar that took up most of the back seat. The blower stood up tall and proud, gleaming in the light of the overheads. It was a thing of beauty, blood red and evil, with a four-fifty four engine and duel carbs under the silver blower.

It's days were numbered, alright. She could not allow a rival in her house.

Going back upstairs, she called out to Alfonse to meet her in the office.

"Yes Mrs. Maxwell?" he asked

"I need you to swap out the transmission in my car. Duo was worried that it wouldn't last long."

"Oh, ok. I can do that tomorrow morning, if that's alright."

"That's fine. Now, I have to run to the store. Can you watch the shop for me?"

"Yeah, but I thought your transmission was bad."

"It is. I'm taking the Pontiac."
His eyes just about bugged out of his head, and he kept trying to say something.

"But.. but..."

"Yes?"

"Duo is NOT going to be happy."

"Let me worry about Duo, Al, ok?"

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

::::Ok... I can DO THIS!::::

She stepped on the clutch, and turned the key. The ignition caught at once, and soon she was being rocked by the motors rumble.

"One - place ignition into first gear... That can't be too hard..." She moved the stick to the appropriate position, and dumped the clutch. The car stalled immediately, causing Al to shake his head. He walked over to her window, and carefully explained what she had done wrong.

"Mrs. Maxwell, you did it wrong. Look, you need to let up on the clutch slowly, at the same rate you step on the gas. At some point, both feet should be even. Now, if you let up too slow, you'll wear the clutch unevenly. Let up too fast, you'll stall. Try again, ok?"

She nodded, again starting the car and putting it in first. Following his directions, she made it to the edge of the lot before she stalled it in second. Shaking his head, Alfonse put out the closed sign and locked the door. Grabbing his hat, he strolled over to the passenger seat and got in.

"Let's see if we can get you to fifth, ok?"

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

Four hour later, once she FINALLY got the hang of it...

"MS. MAXWELL!!!! Slow down!! OUCH! OH GOD!!! NOT THE TRACKS!!!"

Hilde smirked, imagining Al as Duo as she gunned the engine.

"I can handle it." She said, speeding up.

She hit the hump in the road, going airborne only to land and bounce twice before hitting the next set of industrial tracks and doing it again.

"NO!! OH SHIT!" He cried, hanging onto his seat as his head hit the roof of the car.

"OH!! wow.... that was COOL!" Hilde laughed, "I TOLD YOU I CAN DO IT, DUO!" she screamed into the air.

"Let me out, please, Ma'am?" Alfonse was in tears, clutching his chest. Hilde started to feel just a tad guilty for giving him a hell ride.

"Al?"

"Yeah, Ms. Maxwell?"

"I think you've earned the right to call me Hilde."

"Just.. get me home, Hilde." he whimpered....

They had gone maybe a block when a grinding noise was heard under the hood. Looking at each other in panic, they both got out to look at the damage.

Alfonse was the first to notice the trail of oil in the road. Groaning, he tapped her on the shoulder and pointed.

"Oh no..."

"Yeah, Hilde. You killed her."

"DUO!" she closed her eyes, cursing. "Can you fix it before he get's home?"

"Nope. The molds for these parts were specially made for Duo, and the company has since gone out of business. It would take at least six months to find a new supplier."

"Let's get it home... We'll think of something later..."

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

With the help of the flatbed, they got the car home. It didn't look that bad from the outside, but the engine was wiped. In layman's terms... it ate itself for lunch. She walked around the car, wincing as she imagined Duo's expression. Turning to the wall, she saw it. Laying in the middle of Duo's spare parts, was a brand new oil pan. Walking over to it, she checked, and smiled. Yup. Big block Chevy..... Could she? HELL YEAH!

Within the hour, she had the car jacked up on the lift, and the pan down. Smirking, she installed the new pan and lowered the lift. As a finishing touch, she shimmied under the car and took the oil plug out, leaving it on the ground under the pan. hehehehehehehe... Duo just MIGHT think that he started an oil change and forgot to finish it....

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

Two weeks later, Duo stumbled into the garage, tired and sore. All he wanted was to sleep, and to relax. Calling out to Hilde, he went looking for her, but she didn't answer.

"She probably went grocery shopping..." he mumbled.

He lay down on the couch to sleep, but he was too wound up. There was nothing on TV, either. Giving up, he went downstairs to the garage to tinker with his baby.

:::::Aahhh.. she's beautiful!::::: Stroking her red paint, he walked over to the drivers side and sat down in the leather interior. His hand stroked the gear shift, and he smiled.

:::Why not? I haven't had her out in a while...:::::

Turning the key, his ears were immediately assaulted with the sound of death. His face went white, and he fought tears.

::::OH NO! Oh no!::::

Opening the hood, he checked the oil... empty.

::::Oh no...::::

He climbed under the car, and saw it... The oil plug.

:::::I couldn't have... did I? Naaa.. I wouldn't forget THAT!::::::

He looked closely at the pan, and soon, murder appeared in his face. This was NOT the same pan....

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

Hilde walked into the door, whistling. Looking down in the hallway, she noticed Duo's bag. HE was home!

She dropped the groceries onto the couch, calling for her husband. She had just reached the stairs to the shop when she saw him. He was sitting on the landing, facing the top of the stairs... with two oil pans next to him. Eyes slitted, he looked at his wife, retribution in his eyes....

"Hilde, is there something you wanted to tell me?"

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