Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Bandai and Sunrise. Star
trek was created by Gene Roddenbery, I think Paramount owns it.
Deep Space Noin
Episode 9: The Art of Conversation
"How's Relena?"
"She's okay."
"Did she tell you why she was so upset?" Heero had a
clue, but was thinking that maybe it wasn't that, because
according to Wufei, women were very emotional and hence
unpredictable.
"Umm no, she just cried and then apologized for crying. At
one point she asked, 'How could he do this to me?', but I think
it was one of those rhetorical questions." Heero nodded.
"Oh, did you like it?" He asked.
"What?" Trowa didn't have a clue what Heero was
referring to.
"Holding her, when she cried. Was it nice?"
"It wasn't nice."
"I had a dream about Relena that started off like that. It
was a nice dream. I don't have dreams like that about Dorothy. I
think that I'm supposed to though."
"Why?"
"Because Dorothy and I have had a physical relationship.
That's supposed to lead to an emotional relationship, but it
hasn't." Not that Heero wanted one, but he had prepared for
the possibility.
"You have no feelings for Dorothy?"
Heero shook his head. "No."
"Do you think she made those transmissions?"
"Yes. Don't you?"
"I'm sure of it." Trowa paused for a moment.
"Heero, do you have any emotions towards Dorothy's
baby?"
"No. I watched Ilya and Carl with one of Duo's babies when
they were walking down the hall. I don't want one. It smelled
when I passed it."
"Will you sleep with Dorothy again?" Heero thought
about that for a minute.
"She's in the brig."
"They will probably let her out."
"I don't know. I don't think so. I don't want her to get
attached to me."
"Are you attached to Relena?" Heero looked surprised at
that.
"No, of course not."
"Then why do you care if you upset her?"
"She cares about me. I don't know why, but she told me
so."
"I don't think she cares about you anymore. Her jealousy has
made her very unhappy." Heero frowned slightly at this.
Maybe she wasn't lying when she said she hated him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo felt a sigh coming on. He had been thinking about this since
before the babies were born and seeing Carl and Ilya right now,
he knew he was doing the right thing. He loved all the babies and
it was hard to give any of them up, but he wanted to have some
sembalance of a normal life and that wasn't going to happen if he
had to take care of five girls. He wasn't sure if he could pull
it off with just three, but the odds were better this way. He
missed work and he missed his friends.
When he walked into his quarters and saw Ilya braiding Deanna's
hair, she had such a sweet smile on her face. Carl was rocking
two cribs at once, making little jibberish sounds. Duo knew that
they would make great parents, all the girls took to Carl and
Ilya like fish to water. They had been trying to have their own
baby for a long time with no luck. Duo thought that maybe he was
blessed with so many babies because someone up there knew that he
would do the right thing and share his bounty. The hard part was
deciding which ones to keep and which to give away. It was
practically impossible, but he wouldn't give up only one. He
wanted his girls to be together.
He wanted to keep Hilde, because one day he would tell the girls
about their mother. He wanted to keep them all. They each had
such unique personalities. Deanna was quiet, very docile. Hilde
was a troublemaker, just like her dad. Daria was the leader of
the pack. Delilah and Deidre were so similar it was hard to tell
them apart. They were both well behaved, but if you turned your
back on them, they'd get into a heap of trouble quickly. Deidre
was a bit more mischeivous, Delilah her faithful follower. They
were definitely the closest of the sisters and he couldn't
separate them.
Duo sighed again, it seemed that he had made his decision, he
just hadn't realized it until now. Of course once he told the
couple, he'd probably lose two of his best babysitters, but he
could handle that. 'Time to bite the bullet.' Duo thought.
"Hey you two any trouble?" Duo asked, making his
presence known. Both Carla nd Ilya looked up a little startled,
but then a hint of sadness crept across their faces. They knew
their time with the girls was up.
"Are you kidding they were absolute angels. All of
them." Ilya said with a big smile. She carried Deanna over
to her father. Deanna started humming once Duo took her in his
arms.
"Glad to hear it. Look you two, I know that you asked about
adopting a couple of the girls a couple months ago and that I
never really answered you."
"Duo..."
"No let me finish Carl. I appreciate that you didn't push
me. You know I love them all so much and I hate to be parted with
any of them, but I can't be the best father I want to be to them
if I am exhausted all the time. The simple fact of the matter is
I can't take care of all of them. I wish I could, but I know that
it's just too much for one person and you'd really be helping me
out if you still wanted some of them."
"Oh Duo!" Ilya had tears in her eyes and Carl was
smiling brightly now.
"You two are so good with them, I know you'd make great
parents." Duo had to keep from tearing up himself.
"Duo I can't thank you enough. You know we won't let
anything bad happen to them. We didn't want to put any pressure
on you, because you were going through so much, but we both know
how hard you've worked and that you haven't been able to resume
piloting or even been able to get to the holodeck to relax. I
think this is right for everyone and you won't regret this. I
promise you that." Carl offered his hand to Duo and Duo
shook it.
"Well you two better get out of here and get your quarters
ready. I was thinking that Delilah and Deidre might be the pair
that go with you, because they could probably acclimate to the
changes best. I mean if that's okay with you?"
"Oh Duo we'd take any of them, they're all so precious.
Thank you so much!" Ilya hugged Duo, but not too tightly, he
still had Deanna in his arms.
"Come on honey, let's leave Duo alone so he can get some
rest. Thanks Duo. We'll see you soon." Carl pulled Ilya to
him and left Duo alone with his babies. He could see that Duo was
getting emotionally worked up and wanted to be by himself.
Duo sighed again. He was sad. Now that he had said it, there was
no going back. But it was the right thing to do. He knew it was,
still he let a few tears fall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dorothy snorted. She didn't need any comfort. 'At least Sally Po
isn't alive, so when this ship gets blown to Hades, technically
she won't be killed. Her program will simply have been
terminated.' She thought to herself.
"Is the baby okay? Your stomach doesn't feel upset or
anything does it?" Sally asked with concern in her voice.
"I'm fine, the baby's fine. There's nothing to worry
about." She waved at Sally dismissively.
"Dorothy these are serious accusations. You are in a lot of
trouble." Sally pointed out.
"True, but I'm not worried about the future."
"Why not?" Sally asked rather surprised at her
assistant's total lack of concern.
"Because we are on the verge of a glorious battle. One that
will rock this ship to its very core." Dorothy clasped her
hands together and got a dreamy look in her eyes.
"What?! Dorothy what are you talking about?" Sally
asked in shock. But Dorothy didn't answer, instead she began to
dissolve. Sally sent a message to the bridge letting them know
that Dorothy had managed to transport off the ship, but before
anyone could respond a blast rocked through the ship. Then
another one which caused the lights to flicker. Power was being
rerouted and the holographic programs weren't emergency systems.
Sally disappeared.