Quatre sighed, watching Wufei's face contort into a temporary frown. He replied, "Wufei, the note said that the child is your responsibility, and obviously you are the only one that he/she will feel comfortable with. You're the only obvious choice we have for the baby."
Wufei looked down at the child, then back at Quatre. Finally, after a few moments of debating the issue in his mind, he replied to Quatre, "Okay, I will take care of the child until we can get back to Sally. When's the next time we see her?"
After thinking a minute, the Arabian boy said, "We won't be able to get to her for at least another 7 months..."
Wufei nodded. "Then I will take care of the child until then. But after that, it goes into a foster home." And that was it. End of disscusion.
The other pilots got the hint, and all began to file out of the room. Except for one who lingered in the door, twidling his braid nervously.
Wufei finally noticed him, after he had set down the baby back on the bed. "Yes, Duo, what do you want?"
Duo laughed nervously. "Well, uh...ya know...I used to work with children...I mean....I know how to take care of them....so I wanted to tell you that...if uh...you....need any kinda help, ya know...ummm...buying stuff for it...then you know who to ask....just uh wanted to tell you....that..." Mentally kicking himself for sounding like a total idiot, Duo turned to walk out of the room as well.
Wufei's voice stopped him. "Duo, wait. Umm...I'm going to go to the store in a little while to buy some supplies for the child. Perhaps you could accompany me, and tell me anything that I might have missed." Duo smiled and nodded, then walked away.
As he walked down the hall, he wondered to himself, 'Why was I so nervous, after all its only Wufei. Only total hottie Wufei...NO. Stop that. Wufei's not gay...least I don't think he is...'
Back in the room, Wufei sat down on the bed, the child still in his arms. He studied the child's face, and noted that it was an Asian baby, most probably a Chinese one, since Sally had written that it was the last of his clan. He wondered how it had managed to escape...and why he was stuck taking care of it.
He placed the baby on the bed, and immediatly, the large tilted eyes opened, and the child whimpered slightly. Wufei, listening to his instincts, placed his hand on its warm chest and began moving his hand in circles. The baby cooed softly, and began to drift off again.
Studying the baby's physical development and size, he guessed the baby must have been about a year old. Unbuttoning its diaper, he discovered it was a girl, and after he put the diaper back the way it was, he wondered what its name was.
"What should I call you, little one?" he asked the sleeping baby softly. "Hmmm...your skin is soft, like a flower's petal. Let's name you...Lien. Yes, I'll call you Lien, after the flower lotus." He trailed one finger down the baby's cheek, and shook his head. "Little one, you are going to be the cause of a lot of trouble in this house, no doubt. Ah, well, let's go find Duo, drop you off with Quatre, and then I'll go find you some food and clothing."
*~* Ten minutes later *~*
"Okay, we'll be back in a few hours," Wufei said to Quatre, shifting holds on the baby, who was now awake, so that he could hand it to the blond boy. Quatre took the baby, and put it on his hip. Lien's eyes immediatley went from Quatre to Wufei to Quatre, and she started to whimper.
Quatre looked at Wufei. "Have you thought up a name yet?"
Wufei nodded. "Her name is Lien. It means lotus." Quatre nodded, and began to try and soothe the whimpering baby. "Lien, its okay, its okay, I'll take care of you, Wufei just has to leave for a little while." Lien still whimpered, reaching out one small chubby hand to Wufei. Wufei sighed, and turned to grab his coat. Behind him, the baby began to cry.
As he got to the door, with Duo trailing behind him, he turned to look at Lien again. The baby was struggling in Quatre's arms, trying to escape. Finally, Quatre put her down, and Lien immediatley crawled over to Wufei. She sat down by his foot, and looking up at him with huge tears rolling down her cheeks, began to tug on his pants. When it came to no avail, the baby closed her eyes, and began to cry harder.
Wufei looked at Duo, who had opened the door and was standing on the porch. Duo sighed and said, "We'll just take her with us. She obviously loves you, and besides, to get her clothes, we need her size, so we actually need her there. I'll hold her on the way to and from." Wufei nodded, and picked up the crying child, who stopped her crying and began to coo, tugging softly on the Chinese boy's ponytail.
When they got in the car, Wufei drove and Duo sat in the passenger seat, holding on to Lien. The baby laughed and grabbed Duo's braid. Duo laughed, and tickled the baby, who squealed and began to chew on the end of it.
"Oh, no. Thats not a chew toy, young lady." The baby pouted at the loss of its new toy, and reached over to tug on Wufei's sleeve.
"What?" he said, looking down at kid. She really was a cute little thing, with big tilted brown eyes, and a shock of black hair pulled back into a ponytail. The baby smiled and tugged harder, hinting that she wanted to be held by him. Wufei smiled at her, and turned back to the road.
The baby pouted again, and contented herself by pinching Duo's nose, who laughed and began to tickle Lien again. Wufei looked over at them, and thought to himself, 'They look so cute together...Duo handles her so well....he's a very beautiful person...' Wufei menatlly hit himself. 'No. No such thoughts. You're just becoming weak because of the baby. Duo would never go for that. He's in love with Heero.'
Finally they reached the store. They walked in, with Lien in the chair at the front of a grocery cart, Wufei pushing the cart, and Duo walking in front. The first thing they needed, according to Duo, was clothing.
They began taking various articles of clothing and holding it up to Lien. Duo got things such as little booties with matching socks, and funny bibs with cute pictures on them. Wufei got things such as shirts, shorts, some pants, and one or two dresses. Lien just sat there and laughed, clapping her hands together as the two teenagers argued over whether she needed to wear a hat or not. Well not really that, just whether it should be black or white.
"Black is to morbid, Duo. White is better." "White is to boring, it should be black. Black goes with everything."
The baby, however, wouldn't wear either one of them. After throwing both on the ground and pouting, she chose a pretty blue hat with a yellow ducky on the front. The boys shrugged, and moved on to a different aisle.
After they bought food and lots and lots of diapers, along with baby wipes, powder, baby tylenol and motrin, and other things, they finally headed home. By this time, the baby was exhausted, and slept the whole way.
As soon as they got home Duo looked down at the child in his arms then at Wufei. "Umm Wufei, I think she needs a diaper change."
Wufei raised one eyebrow. "So change it."
Duo looked at him skeptically. "Nuh-uh. To smelly. You do it."
Wufei sighed. He was not in the mood for this. "I don't know how, you gotta help me."
Duo looked at him, then at the frowning baby in his arms. "Yeah, alright. I'll show you how."
They got as far as taking the diaper off, and had cleaned her up, before Lien began to squirm. First, she managed to grab the wipes, and threw them on the floor. While Duo picked them up, and Wufei was distracted, she grabbed the bottle of baby powder, and with one giant squeeze, managed to get the powder to explode outward with a small *poof*.
Duo coughed, then as he caught a glance of Wufei, began to giggle. Wufei was scrunching up his nose trying not to sneeze, and was covered from head to knee in white powder. All in all, a very adorable picture.
"Maxwell, whats so funny," he said, frowning and sending a glare Duo's way. Duo just laughed harder at him, and Wufei glared more. "What is so funny?"
Duo just pointed, for he was laughing to hard to say anything. Lien laughed too, waving her little arms around at Wufei and kicking her legs. Wufei looked down at the baby, and sighed. She was covered in powder too. "Little one, I think its time for a bath."
After her bath, the baby decided it was time to play. Wufei took her downstairs so she could play in the living room, while he got some dinner ready. Quatre smiled at the baby, and began to tickle her. She laughed, and waved her arms at him. "Well now, aren't you in a better mood."
Coming back out of the kitchen, Wufei carried with him some baby food and a small spoon. He sat her on the couch, and put a bib on her. But when he tried to feed her, she just turned her head away and giggled.
"Look kid," he said, pointing the spoon at her. "You are going to eat this if its the last thing I do." Lien responded by sticking out her tongue at him.
Wufei tried to make her eat the food, but as soon as he got it into her mouth, she smiled and spit it out at him, making it land on his blue tank top. He glared at the child, and she giggled again. She reached out to pinch his nose, and he just sighed and let his head drop. "Wu-ei papa!" she squealed when he pushed her hand away.
"What did you say?" he said, looking at her big brown eyes. She grinned again, and reached out to pull his ear.
"Papa papa!" she said, laughing and waving her arms at him, gesturing for him to pick her up. He sighed, when he did as she wanted, she squealed, and began to squirm, wanting to be let down.
Putting her on a blanket that had been laid out on the floor, he sat down on the couch and watched her crawl around. Finally, she settled for grabbing the edge of the blanket, and after laying down, began to chew on it, till she fell asleep.
*~*~*~*~*
