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" Kindegarten Heero"Written By: CalicOcat
Pairing: 1x2 Warnings: AU, OOC, Swearing, Death (*not* one
of the guys) Notes: This is a fusion with the movie "Kindergarten
Cop". Blame that pic of Heero with a ferret and the fact that
the "Kindergarten Cop" DVD was on a sale rack and caught
my attention. Feedback is appreciated. 'Thinking' "Speaking" *** Time passing or scene change ################################################# "Kindegarten Heero" Chapter 12 "Well *damn*." Hilde scowled at the results
of her latest research. The thin stack of yearbooks from Leia Barton's
high school had just - *finally* - arrived by courier today. They
proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Duo Maxwell had attended the
same high school as Leia Barton. And that "Elisa Maxwell"
had not. Which still didn't prove that Leia Barton and Elisa
Maxwell were the same person. But combined with the fact that she
couldn't find *any* proof that Elisa Maxwell had existed prior to
a few short years ago... And that Elisa Maxwell's death had occurred
*after* the alleged sighting of Leia at Astoria Elementary... Well, the evidence was piling up pretty heavily in support
of the theory. But that still didn't explain where the millions of
dollars stolen from Khushrenada by Leia had gone. Duo Maxwell simply
did not have that kind of money. Nor was it held somewhere under either
Mariemaia's or Helen's name. Hilde shook her head and leaned back in her chair. "It
just doesn't add up," she muttered to herself. "Where the
hell is all the damn money?" *** Wufei followed his wife into their bedroom, closing
the door behind them to ensure a few minutes of privacy. He waited
while she locked her service weapon safely away, then asked quietly,
"Did you find anything else out about Yuy?" Meiran's shoulders slumped slightly. She closed her
eyes and nodded silently. When no further explanation was forthcoming, Wufei put
two and two together, came up with an ongoing investigation that could
not be discussed, and said simply, "Oh." In a flash of temper, Meiran flung her belt and cuffs
across the room. They struck the wall and fell to the floor. "Sometimes
I hate this job!" "And the rest of the time it satisfies something
deep inside you," Wufei reminded her quietly. Enforcing the law
did not, unfortunately, always mean that justice was served for everyone
involved. Meiran never accepted those instances very well. He stepped
close to her and slid his arms around her in a gentle embrace. "Duo
has plenty of friends, good friends. We will be here for him, no matter
what happens." Meiran leaned her head wearily against her husband's, slipping her arms around him as she accepted the offered support. She could never right all of life's injustices but she would always do her best to fix those that she could. Especially when her friends were involved. Firmly, she vowed, "Yes. Yes, we will." *** Duo carried another armload of wood into the house and
piled it beside the fireplace. It was just barely cool enough to justify
lighting a fire tonight. He built the fire carefully, making sure
to use enough kindling to get it going nicely. Glancing at his watch,
he decided that he should have enough time to get changed before Heero
arrived; he really didn't want to greet him while wearing clothes
smudged with dirt and covered with bits of bark. Hurrying upstairs, he took a quick glance into Helen's
room to make sure that she was ready for their guest. "All set,
kiddo?" he asked. "Need help with anything before I get
changed?" Helen shook her head in response to the query. "I'm
ready." She'd tidied up her room in case her teacher came upstairs
and she was wearing clean, comfortable clothes. "You'd better
hurry up, Uncle Duo. It's almost time for Mr. Yuy to get here,"
she warned, pointing at the clock on her nightstand. "Don't worry, I've got time," Duo assured
her. "Wear that really soft purply shirt," Helen
suggested. "Mommy always said it brought out your eyes." Duo grinned and ruffled Helen's hair. "Alright,
my little fashion consultant. Any other instructions?" he teased. Helen tilted her head thoughtfully, then nodded firmly.
"Leave your hair down. It's your c...cr..." She frowned,
trying to remember what her mother had said. Swallowing hard, Duo offered, "My crowning glory?"
He'd offered to have it cut to make a wig for Leia when her own hair
had fallen victim to the treatments she was taking. She'd been horrified
at the suggestion; she'd called his hair his crowning glory and made
him promise not to cut it. "Yeah! That's it. Your crowning glory." Helen
nodded again, glad that Uncle Duo had recalled the right words. Sometimes
she had a hard time remembering things that her mother had said and
done; she didn't like forgetting. It made her afraid that, someday,
maybe she'd forget her mother entirely. "Well, it's kind of a pain to leave it down but
I'll see what I can do," Duo told her. His hair really was too
long to leave loose. Maybe a ponytail instead of a braid would be
a good compromise. He *did* want to look attractive for Heero, after
all. *** Holding the phone a cautious distance from her ear,
Hilde said, "Yes, sir. I understand, sir. But we *are* very close,
sir... "In fact, I believe that we've found Leia and her
daughter." 'Of course, Leia's dead and buried so she's not much
good as a witness...' Hilde qualified silently. She wasn't about to
tell Jaye that particular piece of information just yet; he was already
threatening to pull them off the case. "What about the money?" Jaye demanded. "We're looking into it..." "Have you located it?" Hilde frowned darkly and admitted, "No, we haven't
found the money yet." And she wasn't too sure that they were
going to. Something about this whole thing just felt - wrong. Chief Jaye instructed sharply, "Tell the woman
that Khushrenada knows where she is and that we're letting him go.
If she wants police protection, she'd better come up with the money.
Otherwise, I want you and Yuy on the next flight back here." *** Holding the door open courteously, the grey-haired attorney
apologized, "I'm sorry it took so long, Your Excellency." "Of course, your Excellency." The attorney
halted at the top of the stairs, leaving Treize to proceed down them
alone. He smiled in satisfaction as a tall form unfolded from
the driver's seat of a gleaming silver convertible. Pargan might not
have been able to handle matters efficiently but Milliardo had taken
care of things quite neatly. "Milliardo," he murmured, clasping
the hands extended to him. He brushed a kiss of greeting over first
one, then the other, side of his lover's face. "My beloved Milliardo...
My thanks to you." "It was my pleasure, my dear Treize..." Milliardo
responded. "Your private jet is on standby. Shall we be departing
tonight? Or," his voice lowered, becoming more intimate, "might
one persuade you to - celebrate - your freedom and your imminent return
to fatherhood before we depart?" Treize shivered at the sultry tone and hooded gaze.
He was eager to reclaim his daughter but after all this time, one
night would make little difference. It had been much too long since
he and Milliardo had been together. Still, it wouldn't do to appear
too eager. A persuasive Milliardo could be *very* creative. "I
could, perhaps, be persuaded... If one were to find the right incentive..." A soft, sexy chuckle and a toss of platinum blond hair
as Milliardo turned to open the car door greeted his words. "Oh,
I'm sure that one could come up with *some*thing..." *** Pulling up to the gate, Heero rolled down the car window
and pressed the buzzer, conscious of the security camera pointed in
his direction. A few moments later, the intercom crackled and a cheerful,
"Hi, Heero. C'mon up," was heard. The gate swung open slowly
and Heero pulled through, heading up the long driveway. In the rear
view mirror, he could see the gate slowly swinging closed again. 'The security here is good. Very good. Not perfect by
any means - but very good...' Which maybe wasn't all that surprising,
considering who the estate really belonged to - but still, it seemed
like serious overkill with just an elementary school teacher and a
kindergarten student living here. So many of the pieces of the puzzle
that was Duo Maxwell came so close to fitting yet didn't *quite* match
the pattern that seemed to be correct. Was Elisa Maxwell really Leia
Barton-Khushrenada? If so, where was the missing money? Did Duo even
know about the money? Tonight was personal, not police business. The house's door opened in welcome even as Heero parked
his car. Helen raced down the sidewalk and demanded, "Mr. Yuy,
did you bring Zero?" Heero chuckled and opened the back door to reveal Zero's
pet carrier. "Yes. Hilde doesn't like ferrets very much so I
try not to leave him with her very often. Go ahead and take him inside
but don't let him out of his carrier without asking your uncle first."
He didn't think that Duo would mind but he didn't want to make any
rash assumptions. "Okay!" Helen picked up the ferret's carrier
and headed inside, handling it very carefully. Heero closed the back door and went around to the passenger side to get the food out. Duo joined him, holding his hands out to help. "Fong's?" he said, noting the distinctive boxes. "Great, I haven't had Chinese in... well, in ages." Since Leia died, actually. Helen wouldn't eat anything other than the fortune cookies and it wasn't much fun ordering Chinese for just one. He liked lots of variety when he had it and leftover Chinese food really wasn't very good. "Umm, Helen's not too fond of Chinese; I'll just
fix her a burger..." Duo's voice trailed off as Heero smirked
and triumphantly retrieved a pizza box from the back seat. "I thought that maybe she wouldn't like Chinese,"
Heero explained. "She does like pizza, though, right? I didn't
get a lot of toppings on it..." Duo grinned and assured him, "Oh yeah. She *loves*
pizza. As long as you didn't get anchovies or pineapple - stuff that
leaves its flavour even after it's picked off - on it, she'll just
pull off anything that she doesn't like and eat the rest." "No, no anchovies or pineapple. Just extra cheese
and a couple of different kinds of meat." "Perfect," Duo assured him as they headed
into the house. '*Really* perfect, in fact,' Duo thought happily.
Despite the fact that tonight was supposed to be a date, Heero hadn't
treated Helen as an unfortunately necessary participant. Instead,
he'd taken Helen's wants and needs into consideration when making
his plans. 'He accepts that we're a package deal and he's still interested...'
Yep, it was definitely time to make a few careful admissions and see
what happened; time to find out whether Heero's interest in him could
survive even a fraction of the truth about Helen, Leia, and himself. ~ * ~ |
