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"Standing Outside the Fire"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Mine! Mine! Mine! Pairings: 2x5, 3x4 Warnings: AU, language, twisted humor, lime, lemon,
some angst, significant OC, brief moments of sap, romance, a bit of
violence Archived: On Gundam Wing Diaries Betas: Velvet *huggles* Author’s Notes: You know those dreams that
you keep dreaming over and over again for weeks? The ones that don’t
go away until you write them down? Yeah, that’s exactly what
happened. I passed the idea by one of my betas, to see if it was worth
putting on paper. Her response was “Write it. NOW.” So I
wrote it. The rest is…ah, what follows after my insane notes.
Feedback is my diet…and I’m getting
pretty lean so send me something to munch on, okay? Flames will result in me tormenting you for your
inability to read warnings. And I’m good at tormenting. Just
ask the boys. *emphasized* /thought/ //phone// "Standing Outside the Fire"
Love is for fools wise enough to take a chance.
The house was only three months old, and she had chosen to completely decorate and finish the inside before focusing on her landscaping. And it was only now that she had a chance to start on the backyard. The pool was in place, as was the gazebo, but nothing else was. /At least the grass grows by itself, unlike out in the west./ With a grunt of effort she attacked one of the stones and started to ‘walk’ it toward the hole she had dug for it. “Stupid…freakin’…rock…argh!” Another pair of hands grasped the rock on either end and lifted it easily into position. Jamie straightened, panting a little to stare at Heero. “That is so unfair. I want muscles like that.” He flashed her a grin before going to the next rock and putting it in. Before she could react Trowa came up to stand beside her. “You have a gap,” he noted quietly. She smiled at him ruefully. The gap he was referring to was a two foot distance between the last hole she had dug and the first step of the gazebo. “I know. I got tired and quit before that point.” “Hn.” Without a word Trowa went to the side of the house and picked up the shovel leaning against the brick. A small smile played on Jamie’s mouth as she watched the two quietly set to work. /They’re true gentlemen. Well, well. I thought they had stopped making those./ “You two definitely deserve a reward for this. What do you want for breakfast?” Heero looked up. “Blueberry pancakes?” he asked hopefully. Trowa nodded. “I second that.” “Blueberry pancakes, coming up!” + An hour and a half later the two were sitting at the kitchen table, devouring a large stack of blueberry pancakes with gusto. Jamie ate hers, thoughtfully staring at the ceiling. “Where’s Duo?” “Sleeping,” Heero informed her. Jamie gave at glance at the kitchen clock. “It’s almost noon.” “Fushigi Yuugi,” Trowa explained. “Right. I now understand completely.” Jamie rolled her eyes. Duo had been happily digging through the anime collection on the back wall of what Jamie thought of as the ‘playroom’ when she had gone to sleep last night. “There *are* no breaking points in Fushigi Yuugi.” “Hn.” Heero shrugged. “He’s never gotten to see the entire series. Just what we could catch in stores.” “Ah. How long was he up?” Trowa cocked a brow at Heero. “Three this morning?” “Four,” Heero corrected. “Well, we need to get him up. I’m taking you boys for some basic shopping today. You can’t keep borrowing my stuff. I’m running out of guy clothes.” She looked again at the ceiling, nodding as she reached a plan of action. “Gentlemen, would you be interested in helping me wake him up?” “Tickling?” Trowa asked hopefully. “Better,” Jamie promised. They followed her eagerly upstairs to the boys’ bedroom. Duo was sprawled on his back, arm flung over his head, snoring loud enough to beat the band. “Heero, if you would grab his shoulders? Trowa, his feet.” Heero gathered the slender shoulders in his hands, hooking his hands under the other’s armpits and hefting him up. Trowa grabbed his ankles and between the two of them they easily lifted him off the bed. Jamie nodded in approval, going to hold the door open. “And now to the pool we go!” Understanding lit in the teenager’s eyes and they shared an evil grin. As Duo was carried out into the hallway Jamie started singing, “What do you do with a sleepy camper?” Trowa joined in with a surprisingly rich tenor, “What do you do with a sleepy camper?” “What do you do with a sleepy camper ear-liii in the morning~?” By this point they had reached the ground floor and were headed for the back patio. “Throw him in the pool with his pants on backwards,” Jamie opened the patio doors, “Throw him in the pool with his pants on backwards,” now they were standing at the pool’s edge, “Throw him in the pool with his pants on backwards, ear-liii in the morning!” Duo stirred sleepily in his dangling position. “…wha?” “He’s awake,” Heero noted disappointedly. “No he isn’t,” Trowa grinned. Heero’s face split into an answering grin. “One…” “Twooo~” Jamie was watching Duo’s face as he rapidly put together where he was and what was happening. “No! Nononononono!” “Three!” they chorused. Duo was tossed in, sailing beautifully for all of a second before hitting the water with a tremendous splash and a yelp. When he came back up he was spluttering, hair going in every direction. “GUYS!!!!” “Good morning, Duo.” Jamie smiled at him genially. “Would you like some blueberry pancakes for lunch?” + After breakfast the next morning, while the dishes were being done, a very serious conversation was taking place. Jamie was busy editing something that she claimed *had* to be sent to her editor that day, so they knew that they had some time alone to discuss matters. “Guys, I know it’s only been four days but…can’t we stay here?” Duo was wiping the table down absently, eyes darting between Heero and Trowa. “I think she’s the real thing. I think we can trust her.” Heero paused in putting the food away, looking at Trowa. “I want to stay as well.” Trowa met both looks, nodding. “We stay.” Duo let out a breath that he hadn’t been aware that he was holding. “Cool. Do you wanna do the whole adoption thing too?” They didn’t even need to think about that. The answer was silent and unanimous. Duo’s grin threatened to split his face. “Even more cool. Let’s tell her now.” “Let’s finish first,” Heero corrected. The dishes were finished in record time. Duo led the way to the library—it still boggled his mind that the library took up half of the ground floor—and knocked softly on the door. “Come in!” a voice called. “Hey Jamie?” Jamie looked up from the computer, eyes taking in their expressions. Something was obviously up, so she pulled away from the computer completely. “What is it?” “We—” Duo licked his lips nervously, “—we’ve been talkin’ and we don’t need the whole week. We wanna stay.” Jamie shot out of her chair and grabbed him up in a bear hug, extending her arms one at a time to pull Heero and Trowa in as well. “Thank god,” she breathed, eyes closed to hide her rising tears. “Thank god. Can I adopt you as well?” “Yes,” Heero answered, wrapping one arm around her waist and the other around Duo’s. It felt good being hugged like this, and he felt Trowa lean into the contact at the same time that he did. Jamie made herself pull back after a long moment, but there was nothing she could do about her mile-wide smile. “The editing is going to have to wait, then.” “I thought you said it had to be done today.” Trowa frowned, glancing at the computer screen. “Some things take precedence.” Jamie reached over to save the file and shut the computer down. “First, let me call Judge Watkins. Then we need to do some *serious* shopping.” + Jamie led the way into the mall, towing three rather reluctant teenagers with her. As soon as they entered Gottschalk’s, she turned to them with a firm expression on her face. “You each have five thousand dollars to spend. I expect it to be spent *entirely* on clothes.” Duo choked. “Five thousand dollars?!” “Believe me, kiddo, it won’t be enough. Get school clothes, at least one suit, nicer stuff for parties, casual, swimming trunks, some winter clothes…the works, in other words. You don’t have to spend all of it in this store, but I figured this was a good place to start.” Jamie had to suppress a smile at their dazed expressions. “We’ll get to toys in a bit. Let’s start with jeans, shall we?” What followed was forever after referred to as “the shopping trip from hell”. For five hours Jamie led the three around the mall, buying everything from leather pants to tennis shoes. By the time they stopped and ate lunch, the three teenagers were convinced that not only was shopping an Olympic sport, but that Jamie could take the gold medal without trying. Once they had put away their packages in the truck, Jamie turned to them with an expectant expression. “Ready for round two?” Duo groaned. “Can’t we surrender yet?” “I thought you wanted toys,” Jamie said in innocent surprise. The boys exchanged a look, perking up a little. Toys were good. “You have an idea of what we already have at the house. If there are any Nintendo games or Playstation games that I don’t have, now is the time to get them. Same thing goes for movies. Other than that…what would *you* like to get?” Heero gave her an uncertain look. “A laptop?” “I think we can manage that, Heero,” she replied dryly. “Shall we go to Circuit City?” The salesman at Circuit City had no idea what hit him. It looked like a regular fifteen-year-old boy, but no fifteen year old should know that much about electronics. Jamie was just as stunned as the salesman. As they stood in line to pay for the laptop (top of the line, with features and buttons that she had no idea even existed, or what they did for that matter) she couldn’t help but ask, “How do you know so much about computers?” Heero paused a moment before answering in a subdued voice, “Both of my parents were engineers.” Jamie wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she slung an arm around his shoulders and hugged him briefly. He leaned into the embrace and smiled at her when she pulled back. “So, where are we going next?” “Paintball store!” Duo bounced around her to gain her attention. “Oh god, I should have known. Alright, paintball store.” She fixed him with a firm stare. “But no shooting in the house, okay?” Duo gave her an innocent ‘who, me?’ look. “Of course not.” “Uh-huh. Anywhere else?” Trowa shifted beside her. “The pound?” Jamie’s brows rose. “For…?” “I…I’d like to get a kitten.” “Ah. I should have guessed that,” she murmured. “Paintball store, then pound. Or…maybe we should make that paintball store, pet store, and then pound. I don’t have anything for cats.” Her cellphone went off. “Ooh. Maybe that’s the judge.” Pulling it out of her pocket she flipped it open. “Yes?” //Miss Jamie, this is Judge Watson.// Jamie had to control herself from laughing. Judge Watson always reminded her of that character on Popeye’s who asked for hamburgers. It was just the way the man spoke. “Good afternoon, Judge Watson.” //My secretary informed me that you called, something about adoption papers.// “Yes. The boys that I want to adopt were lost by Social Services. There isn’t any paperwork on them. Can you work a miracle for me? Somehow draw up adoption papers without that?” //Possible, possible…I want two batches of fudge and we’ll call it even.// Jamie had to clamp a hand over her mouth for a second to control her shout of victory. “That can be arranged. When do you want us to come in?” //Tomorrow. Come in at lunch.// “Alright. I’ll see you then.” As soon as she hung up Jamie let out her pent up laughter. “The judge is going to draw everything up for us. He’s demanding two batches of fudge in exchange.” “What kinda judge is bribed by fudge?” Duo demanded. “Although you make really good fudge.” Jamie snorted. “You three should know. You devoured a whole batch in an hour. And the judge is a seventy-year-old man that is restricted from eating any sugar by his wife. He gets it any way he can.” Heero nodded. “I’ll help you. Do we need to pick up more marshmallow cream?” “Yes, I think I’m out.” A line of tension that Jamie hadn’t noticed was gone from her boys and she drew them in one at a time for a hug. “Nothing to worry about, right?” They nodded in agreement. Nothing to worry about. + Just to be on the safe side, Jamie made three batches of fudge. The process was hampered by the fact that Duo would snatch the pot after each batch was made and scrape every smidgeon of fudge out of it before he would give it back. At lunch the next day she loaded everyone into the Titan, Heero holding the plate as he was the only one she trusted with a plate full of fudge, and drove to the judge’s office. His secretary eyed the plate greedily as it went past her and into the office. Jamie was well acquainted with Ms. Thompson and handed off a smaller plate as she went by, which was accepted with a blissful smile of anticipation. It did not go unnoticed by Jamie that the boys stayed close to her as they entered the office, and that they eyed everyone around them warily. She couldn’t really blame them, all things considered. Judge Watson was a stooped over little man that looked like a gnome. Bright blue eyes, wispy hair, a slightly smushed nose. He homed in on the fudge like a bloodhound. Jamie took the plate from Heero and set it on his desk with a flourish. “*Three* batches of fudge.” His hands started to inch toward the plate of their own accord, but his eyes had fastened on the boys in front of him. “Answer me this. Do you realize what it means to be adopted by Jamie? She’ll truly consider you as her sons when the paperwork is finished. Is that what you want?” Duo was the one that answered for them. “Yeah. It’s what we want.” “Good.” He handed her a file with one hand as his other started taking off the saran wrapping. “Just fill in their information, and it’s finalized.” “Do I give it back to you afterwards?” He nodded around the first mouthful, eyes shut in bliss. “Do I need to get a copy of it first?” Jamie knew that this was probably the last question she would get any kind of response to. He nodded again, popping another piece into his mouth. “Right.” Jamie rolled her eyes. “Then we’ll leave you to your…lunch.” Shaking her head, she gestured for the boys to follow her. “We’ll fill this in at home and bring it back later.” As they left the building Jamie pulled out her cellphone and dialed in a number. Duo frowned at her. “Who you calling?” “The emergency room.” Duo’s eyes flashed back to the building, understanding seeping into his smile. “Oh.” //This is Winchester Hospital.// “Can you put Dr. Terrence on the line please?” //What is the nature of your emergency?// “It’s not an emergency yet. More like a head’s up.” //Ah. One moment please.// There was some muffled movement on the other end, abrupt silence, then a grating baritone. //Hello?// “Terry? It’s Jamie.” //Hey! I haven’t talked to you in a while. How is life?// “Pretty good, actually. I just called to warn you that I needed a favor from Judge Watkins.” //Oh God. How much fudge did you give him this time?// “About three batches…which was mounded over on the plate.” //Are you trying to make my life difficult? Fine, I’ll have the stomach pump ready.// “That’s a good thing. I’ll catch you later, alright? I have three really good looking guys that I have to take to lunch.” //Guys? You don’t date.// “Who said it was a date? Bye, Terry.” Putting the phone away she looked at the other three. “So, what are we doing for lunch?” ~*~*~*~*~ Honor: Okay, boys! NOW Quatre enters the picture.
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