Kindergarten Heero Part 15
"...all the details when you call back. Thanks." A beep indicated the end of the message and the dark haired man frowned as he handed the cell phone back to its owner.
"Well?" the blond demanded. "Still think I'm overreacting, Trowa?"
"No, Quatre, I don't. I've never heard him that badly shaken. And for Duo to actually ask for money..." Trowa shook his head in disbelief. Just persuading Duo to live in the vacant Winner house had been a major undertaking. Quatre had ended up secretly offering early retirement to the caretaker in order to convince Duo to stay there in exchange for taking over the caretaker's job. And it had taken weeks to persuade their friend to accept monetary help during the latter part of Elisa's illness. Things had to be very bad indeed for Duo to actually request both legal and financial assistance. "Something's seriously wrong. You call Akilah; I'll take care of the rest."
***
Zero's chittering drew Heero from a restless doze. It took him a few moments to remember where he was and why. The dim morning light filtering into the room and revealing the half-empty beer bottles still sitting on the coffee table reminded him. 'Duo let me sleep on the couch since it was so late and we'd had a few beers over the course of the evening. Maybe not enough to be over the limit but we were both tired and stressed out as well. I really wasn't fit to drive. He could have insisted that I call Hilde to pick me up but he let me stay instead...' The semi-reluctant invitation had been a welcome sign that maybe - just maybe - he hadn't completely blown his chance with Duo.
The very fact that Duo had let Heero explain had been encouraging. Duo had been wary and distant but he'd listened. Listened - and questioned. Heero had done his best to answer openly and honestly, both about himself and about Khushrenada; Duo was at least giving him the chance to explain. Duo could very easily have chosen to simply write the whole thing off and - at least so far - he hadn't. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly opening his arms and declaring all was forgiven either. Not that Heero could blame Duo; the entire situation was a damn mess and his own actions - or inaction to be more accurate - had only made things worse.
Wearily pushing back the blanket, Heero swung his feet to the floor, wincing at the protest of tired, stiff muscles as he sat up on the couch. Glancing at his watch, he realized that he'd had less than four hours of sleep. Not nearly enough but it would have to do; he needed to get back to his own place early enough to talk to Hilde before showering, changing clothes, and heading to the school.
Heero had one shoe laced up and was reaching for the other when he froze, struck by the sudden realization that running off without talking to Duo this morning would probably not be a very smart move. Of course, intruding on his bedroom to wake him up at five o'clock in the morning probably wouldn't go over too well either.
'Okay, so much for Plan A. Guess I'd better go with Plan B.'
***
Hilde's first blind grab for the phone missed entirely, sending the alarm clock crashing to the floor. Forcing her eyes open, she managed - after several fumbles - to grab it off of the nightstand. "H'lo?" The distant, muffled sound of a voice made her take a second look at the receiver in her hand. "Too damn early for this," she grumbled as she turned the handset right-side up. "H'lo?" she repeated, squinting at the clock where it lay face up on the floor. She scowled as she recognized the voice on the phone. "Yuy, d'you have any idea what time it is? This better be mighty damn important."
It didn't take long for her to realize that it was. Especially the "no stolen money" bit.
Jaye's ultimatum was not going to go over well with Heero. Nor was the news about their case dying along with the witness. And as for the fact that Khushrenada had already been released... Hilde winced at the thought. But Heero had to be told and unfortunately she was the one stuck doing the telling. Taking a deep breath, she interrupted, "Uh, Yuy - we've got a problem..."
***
Duo watched with itchy, aching eyes as the clock changed from 5:44 to 5:45. With a resigned sigh, he decided that he might as well get up. He wasn't sleeping anyway and lying in bed watching the clock tick away the minutes wasn't going to do any good. 'Funny Quatre never called back. Must've got home really late and forgot to check his messages. Either that or he didn't want to risk waking Helen up by calling in the middle of the night...'
Yeah, that was probably it. Quatre would likely call this morning so he'd better haul himself out of bed, tired or not, and get cracking. He should try to be ready for work before the call came, just to be sure that he didn't end up running late.
***
Hilde yawned widely as she pulled into the driveway. The yawn turned into a long, low, whistle of appreciation as she surveyed the impressive gates barring her path. "No wonder Yuy was so stunned the first time he came out here. Maxwell must be one hell of a good friend for Winner to let him use this place..." she muttered to herself. Rolling down her window, she reached out, pressed the security buzzer, and waited.
***
The strident summons of the gate security buzzer drew Duo downstairs. "Who on earth..." he grumbled as he descended the stairs. It was barely even six o'clock; he couldn't imagine who would be coming to visit this early.
Heero turned from the security control panel and gave Duo a guilty look. "Sorry," he apologized. "I called Hilde to bring me a change of clothes. And, well... she had some news that I think you need to hear."
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like what she has to say?" Duo muttered unhappily as he reached past Heero to punch in the gate release code.
"Because you're not," Heero answered bluntly. He certainly hadn't been happy about it and Duo was going to like it even less.
***
Duo struggled through his morning lesson plans. His concentration was completely shot; his mind kept returning to the fact that Khushrenada was free and probably on his way to claim Helen and he still hadn't heard from Quatre about a loan and a lawyer and then of course there was the whole issue of his relationship with Heero and whether or not he should even consider trying to salvage it... And of course the kids in his class were so excited about the afternoon funfair that their concentration wasn't any better.
The noise in the classroom rose above an acceptable level. Duo sighed and called the class to order yet again, reminding them that they couldn't attend the funfair unless they had their seatwork completed. Heads bent over notebooks and the sound of pencils scratching across paper replaced excited voices.
And Duo's own problems reclaimed his attention once more.
***
Finally released from a very long, intense meeting with Chief Gee, Hilde felt satisfied that the Astoria police would do their best to keep a close eye on Maxwell and his niece as well as on Khushrenada and his lover whenever they showed up in town. She'd even talked Gee into requesting that Jaye leave Yuy and herself in Astoria temporarily on the grounds that he wanted someone familiar with the way Khushrenada operated around to keep an eye on him and make certain that the man didn't try expanding his operations into Astoria. She hoped that Gee would be successful in persuading Jaye; Yuy had made it clear that he was staying, orders or not, but she couldn't afford that kind of insubordination. Yuy was willing to risk dismissal over this; she wasn't. Yet she liked Maxwell and the girl and wanted to see this through to the end.
A custody battle could drag on for months, in which case there was no way that Jaye would leave two detectives stationed here, but Hilde was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. Khushrenada might be cool as a cucumber when dealing with business but this wasn't business, it was personal. He'd already made one mistake by committing murder in front of a witness; maybe they'd get lucky and he'd make another one.
In the meantime, she had a partner to update and a funfair to attend. She could almost taste the cotton candy and caramel corn already...
***
"What would you like to do first, kiddo?" Duo asked, a grin tugging at his lips despite his worries. It was impossible to be too gloomy in the face of Helen's excitement.
"The pony ride!" Helen answered instantly, tugging on her uncle's hand.
"Okay, the pony ride it is." She released his hand and started to dash ahead of him. Duo lunged after her, "Helen, no!"
Heero lunged after her as well, just barely snagging her as she dodged through the crowd. "Hold it right there, young lady," he scolded as he swung her up into his arms. "What did we discuss this morning?"
"I'm not s'pose to go anywhere with strangers, even if they say they know my mommy or that they're my daddy, 'n' I'm s'pose to stay with you or Uncle Duo," she repeated dutifully.
"Which means you're not suppose to go running off by yourself," Duo interjected, having finally pressed through the crowd to reach the two of them.
"But you were both right behind me," she protested.
"That's not good enough; you have to hold either your uncle's hand or mine," Heero said firmly. In a crowd like this, it would only take an instant for her to vanish and Heero didn't doubt that Khushrenada would take advantage of any opportunity he might find. He wouldn't want to wage a custody battle in the Oregon courts; he would have a far greater advantage on his home turf.
Helen pouted. "But..."
"No arguing," Duo warned her. "Either you hold hands or you're going home." Frankly, he'd rather have taken her home. But she'd been looking forward to the funfair for weeks; he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her on the off chance that Khushrenada might show up and try to snatch her and take her back to L.A. where he would have the advantage in court. A custody battle could end up dragging on for months; they couldn't very well stay shut up behind the safety of their home's security system the entire time.
"Okay," she agreed grumpily.
"Okay what?"
"Okay, I'll hold hands," she huffed.
Heero set her down and she sulkily allowed her uncle to take her hand for the walk to the pony ride. He waited at ringside as her uncle lifted her into the saddle of a stout black pony; Duo joined him a moment later. Helen's pout turned back into a grin as the ponies began to walk around the ring and she waved happily. They both waved back.
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as they waited for Helen. The status of their relationship was still very much up in the air and Heero was being very careful not to pressure Duo for a decision. For one thing, he didn't want to give Duo the impression that his support and assistance in keeping custody of Helen was dependent on a relationship between the two of them; it wasn't. He was also taking hope from the fact that Duo hadn't come to a negative decision yet.
Duo leaned on the railing and gave Helen an absent wave as she circled the ring again. He was very aware - and, he admitted reluctantly, appreciative - of Heero's continued presence at his side. 'He isn't supposed to be here now; the money doesn't exist so he should be on his way back to L.A. But he isn't; he's ignoring his orders and staying here. With Helen and me.
'I don't think it's because of Khushrenada; a custody battle isn't likely to give him a chance to bust Khushrenada. I think he's staying because he meant what he said - that he's interested in me personally, not professionally, and he really does want me to give him a chance...
'Maybe I should. He told me the truth before circumstances would have forced him to. And... I can see why he acted the way he did. I wish he'd told me the truth sooner - before I told him about Elisa and Helen - but I do understand that he was in a difficult position and that he did the best he could... He's staying to help at the risk of his job. Helen adores him and he's really good with her; he accepts the fact that we're a package deal...
'I'm still angry and hurt that he lied to me, that he pretended to be someone he isn't. But... I'm still attracted to him... still in love with him, or at least the man I think he is...' And that, of course, was the problem. Even if he forgave Heero for deceiving him, the fact remained that he'd fallen in love with Heero-the-kindergarten-teacher, not Heero-the-L.A.-cop. How much of the man he'd fallen in love with was real? He didn't know. And there was only one way to find out - give Heero the chance to show him who he really was, the chance to make him fall in love all over again.
The chance to hurt him all over again. Was it worth taking the risk?
'If the real Heero is even close to the one I've gotten to know... Then yeah, it's worth the risk.' Decision made, Duo took a single step sideways, closing the distance between himself and Heero. "No more lies," he said quietly. "No half-truths, no evasions, no omissions. You've got a second chance to make me fall in love with the real you; don't blow it 'cause you won't get a third." He half-turned towards Heero and held out his right hand. "Deal?"
Relief rushing through him, Heero brought his hand up to meet Duo's in a firm clasp. "Deal," he agreed.
TBC...
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