Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence
1x2
Reflections of You
Timetables
"See, all nice and comfy!"
Scav grinned from the vid screen and then panned it so that it showed the hulking unit holding the fetuses. Several stuffed bears were set before the monitor window and Duo could just make out balloon stickers. Scav pushed the bears aside and Duo saw the faint outlines of two babies floating in their nutrient fluid.
"They..." Duo was at a loss for words as he put a hand against the screen in awe. His mind had still been thinking of them as bio eggs. Now, he was confronted by the reality of his situation. Those were children, babies, his babies.
Scav snickered, guessing his thoughts. "Looks like Mama and Daddy were so busy on their tour of the world, that they forgot about what it was all about."
"No," Duo retorted with a scowl and then his scowl smoothed out as he stared at his children again. "It just didn't hit me... until right now... They're..." He swallowed hard.
"People... little people... but people," Scav finished.
Scav ran hands through his hair and stomped around his workroom. He came back a moment later with a chart. He thumped it with a long finger. "See this. I've been keeping track of deep probes. Good thing I have deflectors or our ass would have been grass a long time ago. Some of these were too close for fucking' comfort."
His street brother was risking a hell of a lot, Duo thought. "Thanks, Scav. I owe you... big time."
Scav snorted and chucked the chart aside. "It all comes around eventually, Duo, you know that. We gotta look out for each other. Sides, these are the only nephews I'm gonna get, right?"
Duo went pale. "Boys... both of them?"
"Yeah," Scav replied with another grin, and then he scratched his head and said, "but you know, that doc managed a DNA scan, and you gotta know-"
There was a loud thrum. Scav became alert and he jumped for a power cable. He slammed it into a port and then swore as he began adjusting switches. "Damn assholes cut my source power again. Later, bro! I have to get out and link up to another cable before my generators lose juice."
The vid screen went blank. Duo ground his teeth, wondering what Scav had been about to say. He was afraid that it was bad news, but he had been prepared to learn that neither children had his DNA. The pain wouldn't be any less when he had it confirmed, but he was still ready to do the right thing and give the children over to one of his friends.
"I should call them," he mumbled as he pulled on his coat, wrapped his scarf around his throat, and left Heero sleeping in the bedroom as he went outside to get more wood for the fireplace. He tried to think of a way to explain, to tell Wu Fei and Trowa, or even Quatre, to prepare for a ready made child.
My career ruined, my reputation, and my record, Duo thought with mounting depression, as he flipped his braid behind him and reached down to pick up logs from a pile. The snow was deep and cold. His fingers fumbled as he tried to pull the logs out from under it. For nothing, his thoughts continued. Or was it? Two new lives were starting. Who knew what they would become? Maybe it was all going to be worth it...
Duo's side warned him that it wasn't going to take his abuse. Duo growled in annoyance as he began to drop the logs that he had been about to add to his armload. Hating that he had to make two trips, he was relieved when hands reached to take the logs from him.
"Thanks, Heero, " he began, but then looked up and froze when he saw that it was Wu Fei.
"Don't reach for your gun," Wu Fei warned in a bored tone. "I'm not here to arrest you."
"How did you find us?" Duo demanded as he looked around them, expecting agents to boil out of the trees at any moment.
"Yuy and I used this cabin during the war. I remembered it and took the chance that you would use it," Wu Fei bent to pick up more logs. He was dressed warmly all in white, to blend with the snow, and he was wearing a light pack. He nodded towards the cabin. "Shall we?"
Duo considered his options and then decided that he really didn't have any short of killing his friend.
"You should have called me," Trowa said to Wu Fei as he emerged from the woods, walking as if he had been taking a stroll. He too was wearing a light pack and a parka type coat.
Wu Fei and Duo both turned, startled.
"Well, I didn't know I was having a party," Duo growled sarcastically. "I hope you brought beer and chips?"
"How did you know about this place?" Wu Fei wondered, frowning.
Trowa smiled from behind his long hair and replied, "Quatre remembered a story Heero once told of being almost frozen to death in a cabin high in these mountains. Considering best places to place a hunting cabin, I checked several sites before I found this one."
"Okay, so I guess we have to be leaving now that everyone knows where we're living," Duo snarled angrily."While we pack, you can tell me and Heero why you're here."
"I can tell you now," Wu Fei replied as he shifted the weight of his load of logs. "I want to know if the children that you carried are mine."
Duo nodded, understanding that need, but he looked at Trowa and Trowa wasn't nodding. "What about you?"
"The children are four months from birth," Trowa replied. He put his hands in his pockets and regarded them both seriously. "Quatre has been attempting to contact you, without success. He's found out that the government is trying to pass legislation to allow the 'elimination' of birthed clones. Your crime prompted it."
"Which means they're clueless as to where we are," Duo grunted. He motioned with his chin towards the cabin. "Come on, let's fill Heero in. Be careful, though, his trigger finger is a lot quicker than mine and he doesn't like surprises."
Months slid by without contact from anyone, Heero and Duo convinced that silence was safest. Scav must have came to the same conclusion. He didn't contact them during that entire time. Forced into seclusion, Heero and Duo's relationship deepened. Duo was surprised to find that he and Heero were more like good friends than lovers. They weren't prone to romance or overt shows of affection. They both liked things easy and plain between them, even in bed. Duo had found Heero a strong, yet attentive lover and they had found each others likes and dislikes easily. Duo liked to be spontaneous, but he also liked the lights low when they undressed. Heero liked nothing better than to pump deep into Duo, but he did sometimes prefer that Duo rise above him and take him with slow patience. Out of bed, Heero hated onions and Duo hated greens. Duo liked scented, masculine soaps, and Heero was more concerned with their anitbacterial properties. Their ideas about raising children caused them to argue and make lists long into the evenings, but their idea of home was one in the same. A quiet town, a good school, and a peaceful community. Both of them had decided that their dangerous career as Preventers had to end. They had others to think about now.
The argument over cloning went on in the government, with Relena Peacecraft a surprising swing vote. She sat the fence with skill, never revealing her true thoughts on the matter, while postponing the vote time and time again. Quatre was a frustrated voice, always on the news vids denouncing the inhuman consequences of the law. Science was their enemy, though, and escaping the simple truth that cloning caused havoc, was impossible. They could see their loss looming large and Heero and Duo began to add false identities to their plans. It was very possible that they would never be able to come out of hiding.
Thinking those kind of thoughts, in a seedy motel room, Duo fingered his long braid. "I can pay someone to change my eye color and take some inches off my cheeks, but this hair can go for free."
Heero took hold of it and ran the braid through strong hands, frowning. "You'll look strange without it. Are you sure?"
Duo rolled eyes at him as he pulled away and flopped on the hard bed. "Unless I put on a skirt, everyone's going to be staring at the guy with the long assed braid. It's stupid to keep it tucked under my jacket for the rest of my life." He quirked a smile. "Don't really need it anymore anyway. I kept it braided because of Sister Helen and Father Maxwell. I owed them. I guess they got their revenge, and then some, though, so...it's stupid to keep it now."
Heero didn't understand. Duo had never told him about his need to avenge the only 'parents' he had ever known. Heero gripped Duo's shoulders and looked into his eyes as if trying to read there how Duo really felt about it. Heero suspected something, but not enough. Finally backing away, he said, "Don't. Not until we know for sure how the vote is going to turn out."
Duo let the braid go and turned on the news vids. "Hey, it's Trowa and Fei," he announced and sat on the edge of the bed with the remote. Heero turned to watch the screen, curious.
The news person talked about court orders and questioning while the images of their friends hovered behind her.
"Guess someone figured out they'd seen us," Duo snorted as he flicked the news off again. He flopped backwards again and let go of the remote. He lost his frown of concern as Heero climbed on top of him and looked down into his face, dark hair hanging in his blue eyes.
"Uhm, you want something there, Heero buddy?" Duo wondered.
"Yes," Heero replied in a very serious tone as he looked down between them as if searching for something.
"That would be...?" Duo wondered.
"You," Heero chuckled and then looked up again as he claimed a deep kiss. It turned predatory almost at once and his body lowered full length on top of Duo. His hands intertwined with Duo's, above his lover's head, and they clasped hands while Heero broke the kiss and nipped and licked along Duo's neck.
"You're good at that," Duo mumbled as he reached down and tried to make room in his jeans for his growing erection."Our friends are taking the fall for us and all you can think about is... you know?"
"Their choice," Heero said against the heat of Duo's skin. "I'm grateful to them. That doesn't preclude me from continuing on with.... this..." He claimed Duo's lips again and delved inside of Duo's mouth with his tongue.
"Hey! Not in front of the children!" Scav's voice said from the vid phone.
Heero shot up, gun in hand, and Duo was hardly slower as he shoved himself to a sitting position and jerked out a knife.
Duo took a shuddering breath and then shouted, "Scav! Stop hacking the vid line feed! I don't think you want an eye full of what me and Heero were about to do, am I right?"
Scav looked put upon as he sighed and swivelled the vid screen. They had a fuzzy view of his long fingered hands. "I'm bringing you good news, but if you'd rather screw...."
Duo was off the bed and bending over to glare at the dirty hands. "Look, asshole! You're the one that kept fricken' silence for four months. You tell me who should be pissed?! I wanna know what's going on!"
Scav chuckled and then he uncovered the screen. They had a view of a very clean room, two bassinets, their doctor looking pleased and embarrassed at the same time, and Scav as he backed away from the screen.
"We moved to one of my retreats," the doctor explained.
"Yeah," Scav interjected. "They were getting too damned close and I didn't want them catching our sigs. I've invested too damned much in these kids and my hidey hole."
Duo felt fear grip him as well as a hope he hardly dared voice. Scav grinned at him.
"Well?" Scav prompted. "Are you gonna ask?"
Duo reached out and gripped Heero's arm hard. The man was standing close to him now, leaning towards the screen just as he was. "Are those...?"
Scav laughed as he pulled the vid line up and angled it to look into the bassinets. Two babies, both with dark, fuzzy hair, squirmed under blankets. "Meet baby boy one and baby boy two, born five hours ago."
"Who's?" Heero asked in a choked voice as he reached out and touched the screen.
The doctor looked nervous. "Well," he said. "That's the problem."
"Spit it out!" Duo shouted. Heero gripped him around the waist and gave him a small shake. Duo took a deep breath to get control of himself. "Doc?" Duo grated.
The doctor blinked and then replied, "It was difficult getting samples from the other pilots to confirm my findings without giving away our position. Now that my conclusions have been confirmed, I can safely say, with certainty, that these children are not clones."
"But, I saw..." Duo cut that short and asked instead, "What makes you think that?"
"They are a combination of DNA samples from sperm," the doctor replied. "They have some of your genetic markers, but they also contain some from each of the other pilots as well."
Duo went red and spluttered. "You mean, while I was locked up with Oz, they... stole some... they took a sample?"
"Well, we can't know that for certain...," the doctor replied uncomfortably, "But we can assume so."
Duo stared at the children. It took his mind a long while to make any coherent thought. "Then, the other guys have just as much right to them as I... as we do."
"It would seem so," the doctor agreed. "There are no laws against mixing DNA from sperm."
"So, we're home free," Scav interjected, leaning his long body into the vid screen shot. "They passed that law against birthed clones a few minutes ago, with Mizz Relena signing onto it."
Duo scowled and Heero growled under his breath, "Relena!"
The doctor tried to calm them. "It was a necessary law," he replied. "I know it's difficult to conscience such things when you hold life in your hands... but the lives of millions, who might die from clone produced viruses and genetic defects, have to be taken into account as well."
"Candy coat it all you like, doc," Duo snarled. "I'm not going to stop being pissed because it isn't my kids on death row any more." He gripped the vid screen. "I want to know where you are Scav. I need to bring the other guys in on this now."
TBC
On to Chapter Five
back to chapter Three