The Greatest of These

All previous disclaimers apply.

Duo allowed himself to come up out of his dreams slowly, naturally, though his training had taught him how to come awake in a moment. He smiled and sighed, stretching, when he was completely awake. He felt refreshed and ready to take on the world, certainly ready to take on his fussy, sweet, silent baby.

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Maxwell. Duo shook his head one more time, waking up completely, Sheira is not your baby. Sheira is Wu Fei’s baby. But, I sure wouldn’t mind the job. Duo growled at himself just a little when the far corner of his mind that he usually kept hidden even from himself, the wishful part, the part that hurt the most when it was let down, made it’s presence known. Sheira was not his baby, but, God, he wanted her to be. Just like he wanted Wu Fei to be his husband. Stop it! He scolded himself. The higher you reach the harder you fall.

But, only those who reach for the stars ever get to them, his betraying mind reminded him. He shook his head of the thoughts and followed his stomach into the kitchen when he smelled something heavenly. He did a double take when he saw the clock on the stove. Nearly seven o’clock. He had been tired. And he still felt like he could go to sleep in a couple of hours and not wake up until ten. There was a pot of something simmering on the stove and he opened it to reveal a red sauce that made his mouth water. Lena’s red sauce always made his mouth water. Oh, no. Lena. He’d only meant to sleep for a couple of hours, but now he had taken most of her day. He walked quickly out of the kitchen, but didn’t call for her as he searched, just in case Sheira was still sleeping. Or Wu Fei. He paused at the bathroom door and leaned against the door frame, smiling. He couldn’t help it. It was all too cute.

Relena was leaning over the side of the bath, stripped down to her bra and skirt, washing Sheira gently as the baby splashed and smiled at her. She was singing quietly, a sad lullaby that Duo recognized from an ancient video that told the story of Moses. A beautiful melody. One that had lasted hundreds of years to become something that every mother sang to her babies.

“Hey, sexy,” he called. Relena turned her head and smiled at him.

“Hey, sexy,” she responded, “You look rested. I’m glad.”

“Sorry we took so much of your time, today, Lena.”

She waved, dismissing the comment, “It was my pleasure, Duo. I’d forgotten how much I love having babies around. I can’t wait for this little one.” He smiled as she set a hand to her nearly flat belly gently. If Duo remembered correctly, she wouldn’t even start to show for another couple of weeks, maybe a month. He said she was lucky like that. She said, she loved every little thing that reminded her that she was pregnant, even gaining weight.

“How you feeling?” he asked.

“Good,” she answered, “Great actually, though in a month I’ll probably answer ‘tired’. After my fourth month I seem to get a little tired all the time. I mean, I only have one other pregnancy to go off of, but this one has been very similar.”

“You made red sauce.”

“I was wondering when you were going to bring that up. Yes, I did. I know how you love my red sauce. I made enough so that you can freeze some of it. It’ll reheat pretty well. I also made you a couple of casseroles. They’re in the freezer. And I left you a simple recipe for chicken soup on the counter and separated everything you need for it to the left hand side of the second shelf in your refrigerator. Wu Fei seemed pretty aware to me today and his fever’s hovering right around ninety-nine. I still think he needs a doctor for that cough, but he’s got some color and he was able to talk with me for a little while. I think in the next couple of days he’s going to need more than water, Jell-O, and saltines. You’ve taken very good care of him, Duo. He wanted me to tell you that he’s grateful, just in case he forgot. Oh, and I did the laundry.”

Duo’s breath had hitched when she had been speaking of Wu Fei, but his mind was caught on her last statement. He entered the bathroom, got to one knee and took her free hand while Sheira watched curiously, “Dear lady of my heart, I cannot live without you. Run away with me where no one can ever find us!”

She laughed and swatted him away, “Haven’t we already been through this? I love my husband and my children and hate sand in my ass, remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” he sighed, “I guess I’ll just say thanks, then.”

“You’re welcome,” she smiled, then looked down at Sheira, “Looks like she wants someone.” Duo’s heart jumped into his throat when he looked down and saw that Sheira was reaching for him. He smiled, grabbed her baby towel from Relena, laid it on the floor, then grabbed her out of the bath and laid her on the towel.

“Who’s the prettiest girl in the galaxy?” he murmured quietly as he began to dry her off and Relena pulled her shirt back on, “You are. Yes, you are. My Sheira is the prettiest girl in the galaxy. And now she’s all nice and clean, and such a sweet girl. How long did she sleep?”

At first Relena didn’t respond to the question because he had used the same tone of voice that he used when he was asking Sheira questions, but it finally registered when he looked up at her expectantly, “Oh, nearly as long as you did. She might stay up a little later tonight, but it shouldn’t be too much longer. See, she’s already getting a little tired. I’ve already fed her, but I say we eat something and then see what happens from there. I’ll go put some noodles on. Why don’t you get her into some pajamas?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he agreed, cradled Sheira in his arms, and got to his feet. He touched Relena’s shoulder when she was about to leave the bathroom, “Do you . . . think she’ll ever make any noises again? Wu Fei said she used to.”

“Well, babies can feel trauma and grief just as deeply as we can. She’s just a very little person. She probably didn’t understand that Sally had died, but she did know that she didn’t come back. And she probably didn’t understand that Wu Fei was grieving, but she did know that he was acting strangely. She dealt with her trauma and loss the only way she could. Everything around her was changing, so she did something to change herself, I suppose. I’m sure she’ll speak again some day. She just needs to feel that things are, well, normal again, I guess. I don’t think it will be too long. Like I said, soon she won’t even remember Sally. So, as long as nothing changes for a while, being with you here will probably become normal and she’ll begin to coo and babble and giggle and all that fun stuff.”

“How do you know so much about babies, Relena?”

“I have a couple of my own. But, that’s just my guess, Duo. I’m no expert by any means.”

“I think maybe every mother is an expert in her own way.”

“Charmer. Go get her dressed. Dinner will be ready when you get into the kitchen. Then, I’m going to have to head home.”

“Thanks for everything today, Lena.”

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s no problem?”

“At least three more.”

“Okay. Heero has a little bit more time off when he and the kids get back from the colonies. He wanted me to tell you that he wants to watch Sheira for a bit at least one day. He says it’s because he wants Cole and Aurora to know what it’s going to be like when the baby is born and they’re not the center of attention all the time anymore. But, I really think that it’s just because he misses having a baby around as much as I do. Under all that tough guy exterior he’s just got a soft, gooey heart.”

“Yeah,” Duo laughed, “Who’d have thought? Did he say how Quatre and Trowa are doing. I talked to them last week, but only for a few minutes. It was three o’clock in the morning for them.”

“With the new baby? Duo, you’re just cruel.”

“I didn’t mean to,” he whined, “I forgot about the whole time difference thing and the new baby and all that. I apologized.”

She smiled, “He did actually say something about them and I think that those men are both nuts.”

“Why’s that?”

“They’re already talking about another baby. Another little girl. They said that if they do end up adopting again they’re going to wait until Jayden’s a couple of years old. But, you know those two, no one has a much love to give to children as them. I don’t think they’ll last a year before they start the process for another little girl. I actually talked to Quatre for a bit yesterday. He has this look in his eyes. He was almost glowing. He really wants another girl. And somehow, I think that another little girl would complete their family.”

“Yeah,” Duo agreed, nodding, “Two girls, three boys. Didn’t he say something about that when we were younger?”

“You know what? I think I remember that, too. Well, whoever she is, whether she’s been born or not, she’s couldn’t go to a better home.”

“They were really cut out to be fathers, weren’t they?” He asked, shaking his head as he followed her out of the bathroom. She watched him walk down the hall, cooing and murmuring to Sheira as he took her to her nursery.

“Yes,” she whispered, her heart hurting a little from both happiness and sadness at the same time, “They were. But, so are you.”