Title: Hereditary Pains 1/2

Author: Sony_Mouse (Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com)

Pairings: If you've read the original (like you should've) you'll
know the pairings. But come' on, what's the ONLY thing I write??????

Warnings: I can't think of any warnings, I can't think of any,
there's nothing really you should be warned about. Normal Universe,
Two OCs (Nate and Lizzy)…that's it I think

Archives: www.gwaddiction.com If you've not read the original, Hers,
Yours and Mine, I suggest you do. (or not, you'll just not like this
one as much)

Disclaimer: GW not mine, kids are


**********************


13 years after war...


"Good Morning Sank and welcome to `Morning Time with Suzy Rhyme'. I'm
Suzy, and I'm happy to introduce today's guests. Here with is ... "

Duo tuned out the annoying voice belonging to the country's most well
known morning talk show host. She was a whiney blond who never really
knew what she was talking about, but she did get the best guests to
come on her show.

So like every other morning, Duo faithfully tuned into her show to
see who was on while he got dressed in his room. There were actually
quite a few respected people on today, a few that Duo had actually
met, but only at parties from long ago. There was no way they'd
remember him today.

As Duo went to pull on his last sock, he nearly fell off the bed when
they announced today's hot topic, HIM!

"Now ladies and gentlemen, we at SBC [1] are just as concerned as the
rest of the country about our future heirs." All guests nodded
rapidly in agreement.

"They *are* this country's future, and we have no idea who or what is
raising them. So my question is, is this Duo Maxwell able to bring up
the royal heirs properly?"

A stumpy, balding man jumped in to give him two cents on the
argument. "I've heard rumors about this man, I've heard that he may
even have been a Gundam pilot, but we don't know that for certain. He
could be any idiot living in some poor part of town trying to bring
up our *royalty*. I hear he's not even from Sank, but from
the `colonies' of all places."

This time it was a stuck up brunette who interrupted. "I couldn't
agree more with Dr. Noel. The man won't even have interviews to prove
that he's able to raise these children. They should be with their
family, not with some possible ex-terrorist that was so bad that no
one's even heard of him, except from rumors that he was that Gundam
Pilot who was captured during the war. I think we'd even be happy if
Colonel Chang raised them! At least then we'd know a trusted person
was taking care of them."

Suzy smiled smugly and was soon back in the game. "Recently the
newspapers have discovered the location of the school that the
children now attend. We are unfortunately unable to announce it on
television due to court restrictions, but we are able to announce
that it IS in some poor part of the city that they are being raised
in, not even getting the proper education that they deserve. It's
obvious that this man is incapable of doing the great task of rearing
these children for royalty, the government should act now and remove
the children from his dubious custody... "

The television suddenly went black as a very annoyed looking 12-year-
old turned it off in a hurry.

"Duo, I'm going to be late for school, lets gooooooo!"

Realizing that he'd been so engrossed by the television that he'd
forgotten, why he'd even bothered to get up at this ungodly hour, but
Duo quickly recovered.

Placing a bright grin on his face, he jumped off the bed and tackled
the surprised girl, swinging her over his shoulders and running
downstairs.

"Ahhh, put me down, put me down!"

"I wouldn't want you to be late, besides, it's time to see how you've
been doing in school." Duo placed the put-off girl on the ground so
he could do up his shoes. The moment he was done he called Nate down
and rushed the two children out the door.

The small 8-year-old boy was still half asleep, dressed up in a small
pair of jeans and a dark red T-shirt, his hair still messy from
sleep, just like it always was. He wasn't fond On the way to school
he even fell asleep on his sister's shoulder, much to her great
annoyance.

The bright yellow car was the very same one that Duo had crashed in
all those years ago. After all that had happened, Duo had decided he
would need a car to get around, and had enlisted the help of the two
willing children to repair the damaged vehicle. All they had done was
pass him a tool every now and then, but it was a great chance for
them to really get to know each other.

And now they had a beautiful, very yellow, vintage car to drive
around town with.

"Duo, please behave when you meet my teacher, I don't want you to get
detention of anything, she's very strict."

The braided father figure couldn't help but smile at the girl's
protectiveness over him; she'd been like that since day one.

"Yes, Mommy. But if she confiscates my toy then I make no promises"

"Duooo, be serious. I want the teacher to like you."

Briefly turning his attention from the road he grinned at her from
the front seat. "Not like me? Impossible!"

"Oi, I have a bad feeling about this."


***************************

"Mr. Maxwell, I'm so happy you could take a moment from your busy
schedule to come visit me."

Duo walked into the small classroom and warmly took hold of the stern
teacher's offered hand.

"No problem, I was fortunately able to get away from my work today."
The truth was that Duo didn't work at all. He'd smuggled enough funds
during the war that he was able to live quite comfortably. Nothing
like Quatre, but it was more than enough. That was the beauty of war
time, funds were lost so easily, covered in so much paper work that
no one would even notice it missing at all.

For about the first year after Lizzy and Nate's arrival, he'd just
stayed home with the youngest child all day, but soon enough, even he
had to start school. He'd been in been grade two for about a month
now. [2]

"I'm so glad, please take a seat."

Duo tried to find something big enough to actually sit down in, but
was only able to spot many of those small chairs that they made for
children. He somehow managed to seat himself without much difficulty.

"So what brings you to call on me. I doubt it's something bad, I mean
she has great marks, and she makes lots of friends. She's a regular
social butterfly."

Sitting down in the much larger teacher's chair, the stern lady
looked down at Duo, slightly disapproving.

"I realize all that Mr. Maxwell, but it has recently come to my
attention who Lizzy really is."

A warning light went off inside Duo's head

"I can't believe I never made the connection myself, but you just
never expect something like this to happen, Lizzy Maxwell is really
Elizabeth Peacecraft. I have to say I'm quite displeased with the
fact that you had her lie about her own name. Teaching deception at
this age can be quite damaging."

Trying hard not to lose his temper, Duo slowly interrupted. "I
realize your concern, but I'm afraid you have to see how this would
be necessary. We're trying to keep them away from the media,
bedsides, I've adopted her, so she really is Lizzy Maxwell."

The elder woman chuckled softly before continuing. "Mr. Maxwell, you
can lie to the children, but I know as well as you do that you can't
adopt them. That's ridiculous."

It took a great deal of Duo's self-control not to start yelling he
instead decided to just drop that the subject of adoption. What did
this old lady know anyway?

"Is this all you called me in for?"

"No, there's also the matter of Lizzy's, sorry Elizabeth's demeanor.
Yes, she makes a lot of friends, but the wrong kind I'm afraid. Most
girls are starting to be concerned about their looks and makeup and
impressing the right type of boy. But Lizzy isn't interested in any
of those things. She wears loose, baggy clothes, and her hair is
always in some silly braid, and she has a very controlling nature.
She acts like some sort of hooligan who always speaks her mind. The
kids love her for it, but it's very unacceptable for a young lady who
will take over the throne, a fact that you've kept from not only from
myself, but also from the entire school. I've already spoken with
Nathaniel's teacher."

"Does she actually pick on any other students?"

The teacher looked around nervously before responding, "Well no, but
the fact of the matter is that she is just as rambunctious as the
most outgoing male in our class. The future heir is a tomboy for
goodness sake!"

"So, what's wrong with that?"

"How will she relate to diplomats if all she wants to do is play
sports and go looking for excitement. It would be fine if she was
just some ordinary child, but she will be the queen. At the moment,
she's nothing like her mother!"

"That's not surprising considering she *isn't* her mother. Maybe she
takes after her father."

Another uncalled round of chuckles escaped the older woman's
lips. "Oh please Mr. Maxwell, King Heero was about as vocal as a
rock. If there's one thing she isn't, it's her father."

That was the last straw, before he knew it, Duo was on his feet
yelling at the close minded, sexist woman. "How the hell would you
know what `King' Heero was like. I'll have you know he was very vocal
when he felt strongly about something, just like Lizzy is. He just
preferred to work behind the media, not for it. I'm proud with the
way Lizzy is right now, and I have no problem with her being a
tomboy. She's learning what the `common' folk live like, I wouldn't
want to change that for anything."

"B-but what about the aristocrats, how will she associate with them?"

"Screw the aristocrats, it's not for them that I'm raising her, and
I'd ask you that unless Lizzy is bullying other students, being a
snob, or failing, then to mind your own business and let me raise her
and her brother the way I want."

"But Mr. Maxwell, think of her mother, that great pacifist couldn't
possible approve of such teachings, do you realize Elizabeth is
learning martial arts from an expert? I'm not sure you know HOW to
raise them properly."

"Oh course I'm aware of her learning martial arts, and she's good at
it too. Maybe you're right and her mother wouldn't have approved of
her kids, but her father would have been damn proud of her, and so am
I." Without dropping his deadly gaze, Duo continued, but with an
ounce of frustration in his voice. "You people don't seem to
understand what it's like just jumping in and being the only parent
for these children, I'm the doing the best I can, and if that's not
good enough for you, then take it up with Queen Relena next time
she's in town. Good bye."

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and left,
slamming the door behind him.


*************************


"What's your name?"

The little boy being asked the innocent question looked up in delight
at being noticed.

"Nate… what's yours?"

"Sam, so what's your dad do?"

"My dad?"

The taller boy gave a bemused look questioning the boy. "Yeah, your
dad, what's his job?"

"I don't have a dad."

"Oh, then what do you have?"

"I have a Duo!"

"A Duo! What's that? Sounds stupid!"

"A Duo's not stupid, and he can do anything."

"Ok, so what's his job."

"I don't know... maybe being a dad?"

"That's sounds just as stupid. Besides my dad could kick your Duo's
butt."

"Uh uh, Duo can beat anyone, he's... well I can't say, but I'd be
afraid if I were you."

Just then, a tall, lean figure entered the room. He smiled grimly at
the teacher, making it obvious that he did not want to talk to her
right now, and then waved over a the small boy.

"See! That's a Duo."

"He looks just as stupid as his name, and he has girl hair."

"He does not, take that back!"

"NO, he does, and my dad could so kick his butt."

A deep scowl graced Nate's features as he clenched his small fists in
anger. "Take it back!"

"NO!"

Without warning, the smaller of the two flung his fist back and
slammed it hard into the taller boy's face, thereby knocking him to
the ground. A brawl quickly followed, bringing the attention of not
only the teacher, but also a very upset Duo.

"Nate! Stop it!" He leaned down and plucked his ward off of the
other boy, who now had a bleeding nose and a very sore eye. Sam was
crying out loud, laying all blame on Nate, who was still trying to
wiggle free from Duo's grasp.

Nathaniel Maxwell Yuy-Peacecraft was in big, big trouble.


******************************



The ride back home was silent for the most part, but the tension in
the air was loud enough to fill the gap. Nate tried to look
everywhere but at the man who looked mad enough to kill him, or at
least ground him for awhile.

Lizzy had decided to go home with a few friends. Duo didn't mind, he
knew that she could take care of herself, and would be home soon
enough.

As they drove on, Duo's mind was in turmoil. It was like today was
some big boiling point for all the complaints he'd been getting from
all sides. No one seemed to think he was capable of raising Lizzy and
Nate properly, and now one of them had to go and start a fight,
somehow proving Duo wrong. He wasn't mad at Nate, he was mad at
himself, the world's worst father who apparently was unfit to raise
anyone.

As soon as they spotted the familiar neighborhood, the braided ex-
pilot took a few deep breaths and felt composed enough to ask the boy
about what had happened.

"So, can you tell me why on earth you felt it necessary to give your
new classmate not only a bloody nose, but a black eye?"

Nate tried his best to curl into the seat, hoping that it would
engulf him or protect him in some way, no such luck.

"He... he asked for it..."

"Oh, he asked you to beat him. Ah, that explains everything."

A soft whimper came from the boy and tears welled up in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Uncle Duo, I didn't mean to, please don't be mad at me,
please don't hate me."

Sighing to himself, he caught sight of the trembling lips and the
tears that were now escaping the small prussian blue eyes. Duo
decided to pull over to finish the conversation, he was just too
emotional to really concentrate on driving right now.

"Don't cry Nate, I'm not mad at you, I'm just wondering if it was a
mistake to teach you how to fight. Your mom would kill me for doing
that, and so would the country it seems. Just tell me why you did it,
maybe you had a good reason."

"He said some things."

"About?"

Gathering up his courage, the words started to pour from the small
boy's mouth.

"He asked about my dad, and then started to talk about his dad
and... "

Without even giving him a chance to finish, Duo interrupted,
realization dawning on him.

"Oh Nate, I'm so sorry, I should've know it was about something like
that. Boys always like to compare fathers." Unbuckling the crying
boy, and scooping him up into his arms, Duo tried to reassure him
once again that he wasn't at all mad at him. But Nate didn't seem to
be finished talking.

"That wasn't why I hit him."

Confusion quickly spread over Duo's face. "Then why'd you hit him?"

"Because he called you stupid and said you had girly hair and said
his dad could kick your butt and that having a Duo was stupid, so I
hit him."

Running a hand through his bangs, Duo seemed genuinely
surprised, "That was the last thing I ever expected you to say."

Duo gave Nate a tight hug and wiped the tears that stained the small
boy's face. "But I'm afraid that's still no reason to go around
beating up other people, he may be bigger than you, but he probably
wasn't taught by an ex-Gundam Pilot, and long time street rat, how to
fight. I taught you that to defend yourself, not to defend my honor,
or your honor, or anyone else's honor."

Nate tired to avoid Duo's stern gaze at this point, choosing to look
down at his nervous hands instead. "So what are you going to do to
me?"

A small smile crept up Duo's face when he heard this. "Well I think
you feel bad enough at it is. You're not exactly the type to go
around hitting people, you're usually the first to try and stop a
fight. So all your going to have to do is apologize to Sam tomorrow,
and I mean sincerely." Before Nate could agree, he continued. "AND
just try and think before you act next time, figure out if it's
really worth hitting the guy over."

Nate nodded slowly, curling himself deeper into Duo's embrace.

Taking pity on the young boy, the braided man smiled down at the
eight-year-old and whispered in his ear.

"Besides, we both know I could kick his dad's butt any day of the
week, no need to go ahead and prove it. I am Shinigami after all."

Nate's eyes shot up in surprise, a grin breaking out before he could
stop himself. Duo just winked once before giving him one last hug and
placing the boy back in his seat.

As soon as his seatbelt was done up once more, Duo started up the car
and drove off grinning to himself. Thinking that maybe the whole
country was wrong after all, maybe he was a good father.

With the tension gone, and Duo in a much better mood, the bright
yellow car sped off into the distance.



**************************


Saturday afternoon found Wufei once again visiting Duo's house.
Because of his busy schedule, he was only able to make it out once a
week. The children absolutely loved it when he or any of the other ex-
pilots visited.

Duo tried to get them to visit often, and they needed no pushing.
Although the braided man was going out a lot more these days, Wufei,
Quatre and Trowa still remained his only real friends. His fear of
making new ones was a habit that was just too hard to break.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, Wufei was teaching Lizzy how
to do a few more advanced katana moves, while explaining the
philosophies on fighting. She has asked about two years ago for him
to teach her how to fight, he'd slowly become her unpaid teacher.
Wufei insisted it was the least he could do for Heero. Though Duo
suspected a little bit of guilt over his death still remained and
helped him in his decision to teach.

Lizzy just loved it though, and for the last two years had worked
hard in learning not only fencing, but marital arts as well, not to
mention the street fighting that Duo had taught her and still
continued to teach her as she improved. In all aspects, she really
was Heero's daughter, though a lot of Duo had already rubbed off on
her.

They were now waiting for Quatre and Trowa to show up so they could
spend a rare afternoon together, catching up on each other's lives.

They didn't have to wait long, Quatre showed up at the door smiling
and bearing a jug of Iced Tea with him.

Wufei left Lizzy to work on some new movies while Nate happily sat
near her doodling pictures of everything around him. Over the years
Duo had discovered that the small boy had quite a passion for
drawing. He enjoyed capturing the world around him on paper.

The three young men sat sipping their Iced Tea. Duo hadn't drunken
any alcohol in over 3 years, not since Lizzy had decided to throw out
all of his `secret' stash in an effort to `save' him. And Quatre, who
now sat beside him sipping the bitter home made drink, had never
drunken alcohol to begin with; it was against the young man's
religion. Wufei could have used a beer, but was more than happy to
share Iced Tea with his friends.

Duo was the first to inquire about Trowa not being there.

"I think you forgot something Quatre, is it hiding in your car?"

"Oh Trowa can't make it today, he's held up with some paperwork,
something to do with a pet project of ours, and his `midlife crisis'."

"So, Trowa's going through some kind of mid life crisis."

Wufei seemed to be very surprised, not catching the teasing tones the
two other men were using.

"Already? He's still twenty years away from being anywhere close to
his midlife."

Quatre sat chuckling, knowing that it was more of an excuse than an
actually midlife crisis. " I know, I know. It's just that since he
turned 30 he's wanted to start doing more than just living."

"Oh!" Duo lifted his eyebrow in suspicion. "And what does that mean?"

"Well, I guess it's just something us 29-year-olds can't understand,
well maybe you can, but he wants to start a family."

Duo nearly spit out his bitter drink once he heard that. "I'm sorry,
did you just say a family, I thought he had started one already, and
you're it."

"He wants more than that, No, I should say, we want more than that.
We want children."

"Let me be the first to talk you out of that silly notion, they are
noisy, pushy, get into trouble easily and... "

"... and they make a great family." Wufei added with a smirk.

"Wu, you're not helping me out here."

"Well I think it's a great idea. They deserve kids."

"And just how to you propose getting said mini-versions of yourself?
Using Catherine as a surrogate mother?" Duo addressed this to the
cheerful blond at his side.


Quatre blushed but smiled remained. "No, actually we were thinking
about adopting. I mean, it just makes sense since we caused so many
orphans during the war, and I know that those orphans are now too old
to be adopted, but there are other's out there, and we'd love to
adopt them."

"All of them?"

Quatre swatted playfully at the braided man's head.

"No, just one for now."

"Well what can I say, I've tried to convince you otherwise, besides,
I was an orphan, so I can respect you guys deciding to do that. And
who am I to talk, I even adopted two kids."

Quatre's smile faltered for a few seconds, trying to digest what Duo
had just said.

"Speaking of which, I had the oddest conversation with Lizzy's
teacher the other day. She tried to make me believe that I hadn't
adopted the two little munchkins, can you believe that?"

Both Wufei and Quatre stared at the braided man with uncertain looks,
not knowing how to continue. It was Wufei who spoke first.

"Maxwell, you haven't adopted them. I've received no such paperwork
at my office, and I'm personally in charge of that aspect there."

Gripping his glass nervously, Duo did not like the direction that
their conversation was taking one bit. His permanent smile even
faltered for a few seconds before going back to normal. "I didn't go
through with any paperwork, I thought that was dealt with in the
will. Heero gave them to me to raise, I thought that would mean I had
adopted them."

Sharing a glance with Wufei, the blond man tried to carry on.

"Duo I'm sorry, we thought you understood. You haven't adopted them,
and we never said you had, and you couldn't even if you wanted to,
the government wouldn't allow it."

Glaring over at the innocent friend, Duo's temper began to flare
dangerously. "Why the hell not, and no, I wasn't clear on that small
little detail."

"Maxwell, calm down. Neither Quatre nor myself had anything to do
with that. The fact is that they belong to the government as long as
there is a regent, and *they* would normally have the responsibility
of raising them, Heero just found a way to bend the rules, he didn't
break them completely."

"So let me get this straight, I'm nothing more than an unpaid, long
term BABYSITTER!"

Quatre gave him a weak smile, but knew that there was really nothing
he could say to cheer the man up.

"No, the government's going to compensate you, not that you really
need it with your stolen funds, but it's something at least."

"No Quatre, it's nothing. I don't want compensation; I want to raise
these kids as mine, like I thought they were. What if they got
seriously sick, I would have no say as to if they had an operation or
not. What about when it comes to High School, I won't get to pick
where they'll go. Zechs and his lackeys will send them away from me
to some overpriced private school that teaches them nothing but how
to be a professional snob."

"Duo... "

Seeing the uncalled for guilt in Quatre's eyes, and the regret in
Wufei's, Duo quickly let the anger seep out of him, and apologized to
the two men who were really the only ones besides Trowa who had stood
behind him over the last three years.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I guess this will teach me never to assume. I
didn't mean to get mad at you guys. But is there no way I can adopt
them?"

"Sorry Maxwell, by law there's nothing you can do."

Quatre agreed with Wufei's statement before giving the braided man a
reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"But if you can think of something, you know we'll be behind you 100%
of the way."

Duo turned his eyes to watch Lizzy practicing on the front lawn,
oblivious to the rest of the world. Each swing was calculate and
repeated constantly with such an intense look that reminded Duo of
her late father. And Nate sat drawing her without a care, enjoying
the statement his drawings gave him. Both of them had bits of Relena
and Heero in them, and Lizzy especially, could still remember her
parents more or less clearly.

So Duo had to wonder, would they even want him to adopt them?


TBC…


[1] SBC, Sank Broadcasting Corporation, as opposed to ABC (American
Broadcasting Corporation), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).

[2] In the Scandinavian countries, you don't start grade one until
you are 7 years old, as opposed to 6 in most countries, and 5 in
Canada. Since Sank is more like a Scandinavian country (just LOOK at
Relena and Zechs, what else could the be?), then that would mean Nate
is now entering Grade 2, and Lizzy is now entering Grade 6.

Well, it's back I guess. This is the first part of sequel one (there
will be a sequel RIGHT after this one that takes place late on, deals
with Heero a lot, and Lizzy's going to the throne.)

I actually find a pic that perfectly demonstrated what I thought
about Nate. It was an official chibi pic of Heero in green Pjs
dragging a pillow behind him (I was reminded of the scene where Nate
was dragging the blanket behind him). THAT was Nate in my mind, that
picture is what he looks like. Cute little guy isn't he?

OK, FEED BACK< I need lots off feedback if I'm going to get through
all that I have planned, so please give it to me, I'm so nervous here.

Sony_Mouse@hotmail.com