With Arms Wide Open, a gundam wing/ac fanfic

With Arms Wide Open

By Katsumi Tonicha

Author's Pre-Story Rant: This little song-fic takes place about five or so years after Endless Waltz; it doesn't matter to me what you come up with. I don't own GW or the song "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed. Although I wish I did. Cos I love that song. But, oh well. Please R/R! This goes out to my friend Joanna, whose most famous quote is "I love babies." Now, on with the story! Note: The part that goes with that particular section of music comes after that section is written.

~*~*~*~

*Hilde is sitting at a table, telling Duo something. "Duo, I'm going to have a baby." He looks as though gravity is going to claim him as a friend. In which it promptly does.*

"Well I just heard the news today"

*The scene cuts. It's now nighttime, the bright light of a not-too-distant moon shining in though a window, illuminating a bed. Duo is there, propped up against the head board, gazing at the ceiling. Hilde's sleeping next to him, curled close, the covers pulled around her chin.*

"It seems my life is going to change"

*Duo looks down at Hilde, a smile spreading across his face.*

"I close my eyes, begin to pray"

*Duo looks back up at the ceiling, closing his eyes, the smile still there. Or, rather, the I'm-The-Man grin is still there. He mouths something, ending the short statement by crossing himself.*

"Then tears of joy stream down my face"

*Duo lays down then, pulling Hilde close. She complies without a word or a flinch. She knows that no one else could ever get this close as long as Duo is there by her side. A small, almost invisible tear makes its way down Duo's face.*

"With arms wide open"

*The scene changes to a huge field full of flowers. In the middle are the objects of our attention, eating a picnic. Duo's laughing at something while Hilde glares at him. He obviously finds one of two things funny: a)the ever-rounding shape of her stomach, or b)how much food she's eating.*

"Under the sunlight"

*Hilde throws a paper plate at him, he ducks and stops laughing, fearing her next bomb will be a fork.*

"Welcome to this place"

*He offers her a weak smile, and Hilde laughs at his expense.*

"I'll show you everything"

*Duo grins, and scoots a few inches closer to Hilde, hugging her. He whispers, "I'm sorry. Forgivness?"*

"With arms wide open"

*Hilde smiles softly and kisses his cheek. "Forgiven." Duo smiles in response.*

"Well I don't know if I'm ready"

*The scene cuts to a doctor's office. Duo's sitting there by himself, staring at the door, thinking all of this over. He repeatedly mouths "Father, father, father..." in an attempt to make sense of this new-found responsibility. The door opens, and the doctor walks out, a pleased smile on her face.*

"To be the man I have to be"

*Hilde's not far behind, grinning like an idiot, something she picked up from being around Duo longer than anyone ever managed. She runs to him, hugging him around the neck. "It's a boy," she tells him.*

"I'll take a breath, take her by my side"

*The two are walking down a small street, carrying a few bags between them Okay, so Duo has all but one small bag, that one consisting of a huge M&M package, but oh well. Heero passes by them, going in the opposite direction. He stops dead in his tracks, face paling at the sight he just witnessed.*

"We stand in awe, we've created life"

*Heero runs down the street in his original direction, dashing for dear life, shouting, "RELENA!!! HELP!!! THEY'RE MULTIPLYING!!!"*

"With arms wide open"

*Hilde slaps Duo across the back of the head, shouting "WELL, GO FASTER!!!" Duo looks as though he wants to cry, but tries to go a little faster without crashing the car.*

"Under the sunlight"

*Duo pushes Hilde down the hall, her shouting insults and curses the whole way down, threats, you know. The usual. Just a little louder than normal. The doctors find her and help her into a room."*

"Welcome to this place"

*Duo's eyes widen in utter horror and Hilde's pained screams wrack about the small room. The God of Death's knees grow weak. He's seen a lot of things, but he has never, never wants to again, see this.*

"I'll show you everything"

*Duo passes out, but not before muttering "Praise Jesus, Hail Mary..." and crossing himself out of habit. Of course, Hilde has a few religious words of her own to say... "HOLY SHIT!!!"*

"With arms wide open"

*The camera backs out of the room and into the waiting room, where the other pilots, as well as Relena, are waiting, calmly covering their ears as another screamed curse resounds.*

"Now everything has changed"

*The screaming has stopped, and with the help of smelling salts, Duo's back on his feet. He's got that I'm-The-Man grin again as he looks down at his son, wrapped in a bunch of blue blankets. He's got big violet eyes, and wisps of dark blue hair clinging to his head. He's sucking on his thumb, his other hand gripping the end of Duo's braid. By Duo's permission, of course.*

"I'll show you love"

*There's a knock on the door. Duo says, "Come on in," and it opens revealing the waiting room gang.*

"I'll show you everything"

*Quatre walks in first, captivated by the baby. Even though he cam from a family of thirty kids, he has little experience with babies, since he was the youngest. What WAS going through his dad's head anyway?*

"I'll show you everything"

*He walks forward, first smiling at Duo, telling him "Congratulations," then at Hilde, who smiled lazily back, and then at the baby, who peered at him curiously.*

"With arms wide open"

*The others were not far behind, getting little grins at the sight before them, even Heero and Trowa. Babies do that to people, you know. Especially the really cute ones. "What's his name?" Relena asked, cooing at the little booger. "Solo," Duo replied, his grin fading to a smile at a memory of long ago. Relena turned to look at Heero. "See, Heero? Aren't babies so cute?" Heero gave her a Yuy Death Glare(c) and all discussion was lost. "Maxwell... Just a warning, keep your distance until he gets past that vomiting phase," Wufei advised. "Oh, for crying out loud..." Duo replied. The whole while, Hilde was just laying down, silent, smiling at those around her. Her friends.*

"If I had just one wish"

*The room is now free of people, except for Hilde, Duo, and Solo, who is now being carefully cradled in Duo's arms. Duo's looking down at him as though he's never seen a baby before.*

"Only one demand"

*"He's, like, a little person, Hilde-girl... A itty-bitty me or something like that," Duo whispered in awe. "Oh, so well put, Duo," Hilde replied with a roll of her eyes.*

"I hope he's not like me"

*"And, he's like... Part of me." Now Duo was in even more awe to think of it that way. Hilde smiled. "Yeah... Of course, not just you, Duo, me too, you know."*

"I hope he understands"

*"Then... I guess the best way to say it is that he's not a baby, he's not mine, not yours, although you went through a little more than me, but he's us." Hilde thought about that. "That's poetic. Where'd ya read it?" "I didn't, I just now thought it up."*

"That he can take this life"

*"God, what I wouldn't give for Relena to do her job well and keep this place war free. I don't want him growing up like I did... No family, no friends, all alone..." Hilde smiled. "Don't worry, Duo. Everything's gonna be fine for this generation."*

"And hold it by the hand"

*Duo looked up and smiled at her, then looked back down at Solo, who was stirring into wake.*

"And he can greet the world"

*As soon as those violet eyes were exposed, a wail escaped his mouth. "He's hungry. Hand him over," Hilde ordered gently, holding out her arms to take him.*

"With arms wide open"

*Duo stretched his arms out instead of getting up, since he was so close. Hilde took him and went about her business, while Duo pulled his hands down slowly. 'I swear, Solo, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you out of a war, but you gotta help keep your psycho-path dad out of it too.' A few minutes later, a whimper was heard, and Hilde laughed, knocking Duo out of his thoughts. He looked up. "He wants to go back, I guess," she told him. Solo was sitting in her lap, sniffing and whimpering, stretching his chubby little arms out to Duo... 'You just gotta help keep your psycho-path dad out of it too...'*

//..owari..\\