Daddy Duo
Chapter 21
Chibis
(AN: Final chapter. Aren't you relieved?)
"Mei!" yelled Solo, "Slow down!"
"She cheated, she had a head start!" he said to Tristan.
Tristan nodded, his curly honey blond hair falling into his face.
"She did," he said. The older six-year-old boy was his hero, so anything he said was agreed to instantly.
Mei looked over her shoulder and kept running. Her almond shaped green eyes were alight with mischief. Two dark brown braids flew out behind her slight form.
"Catch me!" she called to the two boys, running faster on the huge green lawn past the fishpond at Quatre and Trowa's estate.
"No fair, you had a head start!" yelled Solo, stopping and putting his hands on his hips. He swung his head back and forth, and his own long reddish brown braid swished back and forth across the back of his red T- shirt.
"Stay away from the fish pond," Duo hollered at his son. "You don't have any more dry clothes left!"
He shifted Anna on to his other arm and then handed her to Hilde.
"I'd better go get him, or he'll be wet again," said Duo.
"Go ahead," said Hilde. "But his other clothes are almost ready to come out of the dryer."
"I need to change Anna anyway," said Hilde. "I'll grab them just in case."
Duo took off across the lawn after the three children.
"Solo, Tristan, Mei," he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Get back over here, we're almost ready for the cake."
Relena came over to Hilde, holding onto her two year-old daughter's tiny hand.
"I'll take Mara inside too," said Relena. "She may not make it much longer without exploding unless she has a nap."
As if to illustrate her mother's words, Mara proceeded to stop in her tracks and sit down on the grass, glaring at Relena out of intense blue eyes.
"Oh uh, temper tantrum coming on," said Relena, bending over and picking up Mara before the show could get started.
"Being a diplomat was never this hard," said Relena, grimacing as Mara began to kick and howl.
"Let me have her," said Heero, coming up behind Relena.
"Quiet," he said in a low voice to his daughter and she scowled at him.
"Come here," he said. Mara held out her arms and he took her.
"T'-chan," she said.
"Daddy's girl," said Relena to Hilde as Mara quietly put her head down on Heero's shoulder and closed her eyes.
(AN: I have one of these and only Dad would do when she was cranky.)
"Whatever works," said Hilde. Anna began to whine.
"Time for a change," said Hilde. "We'll be right back." She headed up the short path to the house.
Duo was still chasing Mei, Solo and Tristan around the fishpond.
"Don't you dare jump in again!" he threatened Solo, who was managing to keep away from his father.
Quatre came out holding a large chocolate cake on a silver plate.
"Everyone ready for cake?" he asked, raising his voice above the din, holding up the artfully decorated dessert.
"Cake!" yelled Solo, dodging his father, running past his mother and up the path to stand in front of Quatre.
"Uncle Cat, I wanna big piece!" said Solo.
"Me too," said Tristan, looking up at his father.
"Then come and sit down," said Quatre. Trowa came out of the back door, carrying a large tub of ice cream.
"Ice cream!" said Tristan. "What kind, Dad?" he asked Trowa, trying to jump up and see what his father was holding.
"Vanilla," said Trowa, "But I have sprinkles."
"Yay, sprinkles!" shouted Solo.
"I like chocolate best," said Tristan, making a little disappointed face.
"We have chocolate cake," said Solo. "So vanilla ice cream is okay."
Tristan nodded reluctantly. "Okay," he said. "If you say so."
"You can't have chocolate everything, Tristy," said Solo. "You have to have vanilla sometimes or you get sick of chocolate."
(AN: This was an actual conversation between two of my own kids.)
"You never get sick of chocolate," said Tristan, disagreeing with his idol for once.
"Maybe the sprinkles are chocolate," he said hopefully.
"Hey, Mei is getting all the cake!" said Solo, turning around to see Mei being served a large piece of cake by Quatre.
"Mei, you big pig!" said Solo indignantly, coming up to the picnic table, "You didn't wait for us!"
"Solo, that's no way to talk to Mei," said Duo. "Tell her you're sorry."
"But DAD," protested Solo. "She didn't wait for us!"
"So?" said Duo, "It's not her fault she knows when to come and sit down when she's told."
Mei gave Solo and Tristan an arch look and took a big bite of cake, making loud yummy noises.
"Okay," said Solo, grimacing, "I'msorryMei," he said quickly and sat down at the table, looking at the cake.
"Very heartfelt," said Duo sarcastically, reaching over and giving Solo a one-armed hug and kissing the top of his head.
"Dad, don't kiss me in front of Mei," said Solo in a stage whisper. "She makes fun of me."
"Okay," whispered Duo back at him.
"Mei, can't you be nicer to Solo?" asked Sally, sitting at the end of the table next to Wufei.
"No, I don't think so," Mei said seriously, regarding her forkful of cake.
"He's a ben dan," she added, chewing the small bite.
Wufei pretended to drop his napkin to hide his chuckle. Sally elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted.
"Mei, you shouldn't call Solo that," said Sally in an admonishing tone. She gave Wufei an "this is all your fault" look and put down her fork.
"But Ba says it all the time," argued Mei, looking up with innocent doe eyes.
"What's a ben dan?" asked Tristan, his mouth full of cake.
"Never mind," said Quatre. "You know enough inappropriate words."
"What's inappropo?" asked Tristan.
"I'll tell you later," said Quatre. "Eat your cake." He gave Wufei a slightly crusty look from under his blond bangs. Wufei gave him a neutral look in return, owning nothing.
"Are the sprinkles chocolate?" Tristan asked Trowa.
"Yes," said Trowa. "I remembered they're your favorite."
He smiled shyly at his son, and Tristan gave him a similar smile back.
Rashid came out of the house with an infant in each burly arm.
"The girls won't take their naps without seeing you first, Master Quatre, Master Trowa," he said.
"Don't worry about it Rashid," Quatre said, putting down the cake server.
"Come here, sweetie," he said to the dark haired girl, Leila. She grinned toothlessly, and squealed with delight, her ice blue eyes crinkling at him.
The smaller red headed girl clung to Rashid's arm shyly and peeked at everyone from under her wild curls. Large brown eyes blinked slowly at everyone from an elfin face.
"Don't be shy, Maggie," said Trowa, "I'll get you." He scooped up the little girl in his arms and she hid her face in Trowa's shirt.
"That orphanage on L-2 was certainly a treasure trove for us," said Quatre to Duo.
"They're great kids, aren't they?" said Duo. His eyes misted.
"Remember when I told you years ago that I wished someone like you had come along when I was a kid?"
"I certainly do, Duo," said Quatre. He winced as Leila made a grab at his hair and gently pried her hand loose.
"Where do you think I got the idea of adopting more children?"
"I wondered," said Duo. "I'm glad I was your inspiration."
"If I could, I'd take them all, Duo," he said to his friend. "You know that."
"Just supporting the orphanage is enough," said Duo. "We can't fix everything or everyone, even if we want to."
Quatre looked at him. "I know that now. You just do the best you can. Children teach you that. You don't have to do everything perfect to be a good parent. They're amazingly forgiving."
"Ah sweetie, quit yanking Daddy's shirt," he said to Leila.
"She's a feisty one," said Duo, looking at the chubby-cheeked little girl who had a death grip on Quatre's blue shirt.
"She latched onto me from the moment I saw her," said Quatre. "She definitely has a strong will, wouldn't let me put her down."
"It takes one to survive," said Duo.
"We're back," said Hilde, coming up and handing a soundly sleeping Anna to her father.
"Worn out at last," said Duo, holding his limp year old daughter in his arms. He brushed off black strands of baby fine hair from her forehead with his fingers.
"They're so cute when they're asleep," said Trowa, who was holding a sleeping Maggie.
"We could put these rug rats in the girl's room," said Quatre, who had finally gotten Leila to close her eyes. "We'll put Anna in a crib with Maggie, she's a cuddler."
"Take this one too," said Heero, who had a sleeping Mara hanging off his shoulder. "She's getting heavy."
"We'll put her in with Leila," said Quatre.
"A baby girl slumber party," said Relena, the image making her smile.
Rashid and Trowa each carried two girls and went inside the house, coming back a few minutes later.
"How come I don't have a little sister?" asked Mei, suddenly looking up from her ice cream.
"Because you're an only child," said her father.
"That's a dumb answer," said Mei. "You should get me a sister," she said, "They have one." She pointed at Solo and Tristan. "It's not fair!"
"Tell your mother," said Wufei, casting his eyes toward Sally. "She's in charge of that department."
"Can I have a sister for my birthday, Mu?" asked Mei.
Everyone laughed or smiled.
Sally looked at Wufei. "See what you started?" she asked him.
"We'll talk about it later, sweetheart," said Sally.
"Unfair!" repeated Mei, licking the last bit of ice cream off of her spoon.
"It takes a long time to get a sister," said Wufei, trying to explain.
"Then you better get busy, Ba," said Mei, arching her eyebrows at him.
Duo threw his head back and howled with laughter as Wufei turned bright red.
Mei gave everyone a puzzled look and went to sit by her mother.
"Shut up, ben dan," growled Wufei.
"That's inapropo, Uncle Wufei," said Tristan, now sitting on Rashid's lap.
"I still don't know what a ben dan is," he said sadly to Trowa.
"It means 'idiot'," said Trowa.
"Oh, is that all," said Tristan.
The older kids were coming down from their sugar high into the drowsy post- hyper stage, and were actually sitting quietly on or near their parents.
Solo yawned loudly and put his head on his mother's lap.
"Mommy," he said, "Can I have a puppy?"
"No dear, we talked about that already," said Hilde. "We don't have room for a puppy."
"If we give Anna to Mei, then can I have a puppy?" he asked.
"We're not giving Anna away," said Hilde.
"Darn," said Solo, "I'd rather have a puppy."
"Solo!" said Hilde.
"Well, I would. Then Mei could have a little sister and I could have a puppy."
"You have a devious mind, my son," said Duo.
"Does that mean I'm smart?" asked Solo.
"Yes," said Duo.
"See?" he stuck his tongue out at Mei. "I'm not a ben dan."
The End
Chapter 21
Chibis
(AN: Final chapter. Aren't you relieved?)
"Mei!" yelled Solo, "Slow down!"
"She cheated, she had a head start!" he said to Tristan.
Tristan nodded, his curly honey blond hair falling into his face.
"She did," he said. The older six-year-old boy was his hero, so anything he said was agreed to instantly.
Mei looked over her shoulder and kept running. Her almond shaped green eyes were alight with mischief. Two dark brown braids flew out behind her slight form.
"Catch me!" she called to the two boys, running faster on the huge green lawn past the fishpond at Quatre and Trowa's estate.
"No fair, you had a head start!" yelled Solo, stopping and putting his hands on his hips. He swung his head back and forth, and his own long reddish brown braid swished back and forth across the back of his red T- shirt.
"Stay away from the fish pond," Duo hollered at his son. "You don't have any more dry clothes left!"
He shifted Anna on to his other arm and then handed her to Hilde.
"I'd better go get him, or he'll be wet again," said Duo.
"Go ahead," said Hilde. "But his other clothes are almost ready to come out of the dryer."
"I need to change Anna anyway," said Hilde. "I'll grab them just in case."
Duo took off across the lawn after the three children.
"Solo, Tristan, Mei," he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Get back over here, we're almost ready for the cake."
Relena came over to Hilde, holding onto her two year-old daughter's tiny hand.
"I'll take Mara inside too," said Relena. "She may not make it much longer without exploding unless she has a nap."
As if to illustrate her mother's words, Mara proceeded to stop in her tracks and sit down on the grass, glaring at Relena out of intense blue eyes.
"Oh uh, temper tantrum coming on," said Relena, bending over and picking up Mara before the show could get started.
"Being a diplomat was never this hard," said Relena, grimacing as Mara began to kick and howl.
"Let me have her," said Heero, coming up behind Relena.
"Quiet," he said in a low voice to his daughter and she scowled at him.
"Come here," he said. Mara held out her arms and he took her.
"T'-chan," she said.
"Daddy's girl," said Relena to Hilde as Mara quietly put her head down on Heero's shoulder and closed her eyes.
(AN: I have one of these and only Dad would do when she was cranky.)
"Whatever works," said Hilde. Anna began to whine.
"Time for a change," said Hilde. "We'll be right back." She headed up the short path to the house.
Duo was still chasing Mei, Solo and Tristan around the fishpond.
"Don't you dare jump in again!" he threatened Solo, who was managing to keep away from his father.
Quatre came out holding a large chocolate cake on a silver plate.
"Everyone ready for cake?" he asked, raising his voice above the din, holding up the artfully decorated dessert.
"Cake!" yelled Solo, dodging his father, running past his mother and up the path to stand in front of Quatre.
"Uncle Cat, I wanna big piece!" said Solo.
"Me too," said Tristan, looking up at his father.
"Then come and sit down," said Quatre. Trowa came out of the back door, carrying a large tub of ice cream.
"Ice cream!" said Tristan. "What kind, Dad?" he asked Trowa, trying to jump up and see what his father was holding.
"Vanilla," said Trowa, "But I have sprinkles."
"Yay, sprinkles!" shouted Solo.
"I like chocolate best," said Tristan, making a little disappointed face.
"We have chocolate cake," said Solo. "So vanilla ice cream is okay."
Tristan nodded reluctantly. "Okay," he said. "If you say so."
"You can't have chocolate everything, Tristy," said Solo. "You have to have vanilla sometimes or you get sick of chocolate."
(AN: This was an actual conversation between two of my own kids.)
"You never get sick of chocolate," said Tristan, disagreeing with his idol for once.
"Maybe the sprinkles are chocolate," he said hopefully.
"Hey, Mei is getting all the cake!" said Solo, turning around to see Mei being served a large piece of cake by Quatre.
"Mei, you big pig!" said Solo indignantly, coming up to the picnic table, "You didn't wait for us!"
"Solo, that's no way to talk to Mei," said Duo. "Tell her you're sorry."
"But DAD," protested Solo. "She didn't wait for us!"
"So?" said Duo, "It's not her fault she knows when to come and sit down when she's told."
Mei gave Solo and Tristan an arch look and took a big bite of cake, making loud yummy noises.
"Okay," said Solo, grimacing, "I'msorryMei," he said quickly and sat down at the table, looking at the cake.
"Very heartfelt," said Duo sarcastically, reaching over and giving Solo a one-armed hug and kissing the top of his head.
"Dad, don't kiss me in front of Mei," said Solo in a stage whisper. "She makes fun of me."
"Okay," whispered Duo back at him.
"Mei, can't you be nicer to Solo?" asked Sally, sitting at the end of the table next to Wufei.
"No, I don't think so," Mei said seriously, regarding her forkful of cake.
"He's a ben dan," she added, chewing the small bite.
Wufei pretended to drop his napkin to hide his chuckle. Sally elbowed him in the ribs and he grunted.
"Mei, you shouldn't call Solo that," said Sally in an admonishing tone. She gave Wufei an "this is all your fault" look and put down her fork.
"But Ba says it all the time," argued Mei, looking up with innocent doe eyes.
"What's a ben dan?" asked Tristan, his mouth full of cake.
"Never mind," said Quatre. "You know enough inappropriate words."
"What's inappropo?" asked Tristan.
"I'll tell you later," said Quatre. "Eat your cake." He gave Wufei a slightly crusty look from under his blond bangs. Wufei gave him a neutral look in return, owning nothing.
"Are the sprinkles chocolate?" Tristan asked Trowa.
"Yes," said Trowa. "I remembered they're your favorite."
He smiled shyly at his son, and Tristan gave him a similar smile back.
Rashid came out of the house with an infant in each burly arm.
"The girls won't take their naps without seeing you first, Master Quatre, Master Trowa," he said.
"Don't worry about it Rashid," Quatre said, putting down the cake server.
"Come here, sweetie," he said to the dark haired girl, Leila. She grinned toothlessly, and squealed with delight, her ice blue eyes crinkling at him.
The smaller red headed girl clung to Rashid's arm shyly and peeked at everyone from under her wild curls. Large brown eyes blinked slowly at everyone from an elfin face.
"Don't be shy, Maggie," said Trowa, "I'll get you." He scooped up the little girl in his arms and she hid her face in Trowa's shirt.
"That orphanage on L-2 was certainly a treasure trove for us," said Quatre to Duo.
"They're great kids, aren't they?" said Duo. His eyes misted.
"Remember when I told you years ago that I wished someone like you had come along when I was a kid?"
"I certainly do, Duo," said Quatre. He winced as Leila made a grab at his hair and gently pried her hand loose.
"Where do you think I got the idea of adopting more children?"
"I wondered," said Duo. "I'm glad I was your inspiration."
"If I could, I'd take them all, Duo," he said to his friend. "You know that."
"Just supporting the orphanage is enough," said Duo. "We can't fix everything or everyone, even if we want to."
Quatre looked at him. "I know that now. You just do the best you can. Children teach you that. You don't have to do everything perfect to be a good parent. They're amazingly forgiving."
"Ah sweetie, quit yanking Daddy's shirt," he said to Leila.
"She's a feisty one," said Duo, looking at the chubby-cheeked little girl who had a death grip on Quatre's blue shirt.
"She latched onto me from the moment I saw her," said Quatre. "She definitely has a strong will, wouldn't let me put her down."
"It takes one to survive," said Duo.
"We're back," said Hilde, coming up and handing a soundly sleeping Anna to her father.
"Worn out at last," said Duo, holding his limp year old daughter in his arms. He brushed off black strands of baby fine hair from her forehead with his fingers.
"They're so cute when they're asleep," said Trowa, who was holding a sleeping Maggie.
"We could put these rug rats in the girl's room," said Quatre, who had finally gotten Leila to close her eyes. "We'll put Anna in a crib with Maggie, she's a cuddler."
"Take this one too," said Heero, who had a sleeping Mara hanging off his shoulder. "She's getting heavy."
"We'll put her in with Leila," said Quatre.
"A baby girl slumber party," said Relena, the image making her smile.
Rashid and Trowa each carried two girls and went inside the house, coming back a few minutes later.
"How come I don't have a little sister?" asked Mei, suddenly looking up from her ice cream.
"Because you're an only child," said her father.
"That's a dumb answer," said Mei. "You should get me a sister," she said, "They have one." She pointed at Solo and Tristan. "It's not fair!"
"Tell your mother," said Wufei, casting his eyes toward Sally. "She's in charge of that department."
"Can I have a sister for my birthday, Mu?" asked Mei.
Everyone laughed or smiled.
Sally looked at Wufei. "See what you started?" she asked him.
"We'll talk about it later, sweetheart," said Sally.
"Unfair!" repeated Mei, licking the last bit of ice cream off of her spoon.
"It takes a long time to get a sister," said Wufei, trying to explain.
"Then you better get busy, Ba," said Mei, arching her eyebrows at him.
Duo threw his head back and howled with laughter as Wufei turned bright red.
Mei gave everyone a puzzled look and went to sit by her mother.
"Shut up, ben dan," growled Wufei.
"That's inapropo, Uncle Wufei," said Tristan, now sitting on Rashid's lap.
"I still don't know what a ben dan is," he said sadly to Trowa.
"It means 'idiot'," said Trowa.
"Oh, is that all," said Tristan.
The older kids were coming down from their sugar high into the drowsy post- hyper stage, and were actually sitting quietly on or near their parents.
Solo yawned loudly and put his head on his mother's lap.
"Mommy," he said, "Can I have a puppy?"
"No dear, we talked about that already," said Hilde. "We don't have room for a puppy."
"If we give Anna to Mei, then can I have a puppy?" he asked.
"We're not giving Anna away," said Hilde.
"Darn," said Solo, "I'd rather have a puppy."
"Solo!" said Hilde.
"Well, I would. Then Mei could have a little sister and I could have a puppy."
"You have a devious mind, my son," said Duo.
"Does that mean I'm smart?" asked Solo.
"Yes," said Duo.
"See?" he stuck his tongue out at Mei. "I'm not a ben dan."
The End