New Haven

Chapter Forty: Inspection Time
Duo stared up in awe at the sight of the girders that would soon become the new emergency hospital. He looked up from under the brim of his orange hard hat at the men that looked like monkeys swarming over the hulking structure. There was nearly six floors of girders already in place. It called for eight floors and the bottom floors were already beginning to take shape.
Wufei quirked his lips at the awe on his love’s face. He had never seen such awe on his loves face. Not even the awe from love making could match the look. He held him so he wouldn’t fall over. Duo had his head tilted so far back that he was almost on the point of falling backwards. Wufei turned to look back at the scene of the building going on. His white hard hat glistening in the sun.
Sakura stood with her arms wrapped tightly around Duo’s leg holding him from the other side. She stared up in child like awe and excitement. The yellow hard hat on her head would have slipped from her head if not for Duo’s hand holding it securely to her head.
Brussels stood beside her with protective black booties on his feet and a silver hard helmet on his head. Nataku and Deathscythe stood beside Wufei. Nataku had the traditional black booties that all the other dogs had and a black hard helmet. Deathscythe had to be different from all the others and had a white hard helmet and booties. The other dogs had hard helmets of varying colors. Heavyarms’ was orange, Sandrock’s was blue, Wing’s was red, Mindy’s was purple, Jerry Lee’s was a dark golden color, BeeBee’s was a violet color that almost matched Duo’s eye color.
“We’ve started the renovations on several of the buildings. If Duo would like to take a look at what we have started?” Suki asked hesitantly waiting for the show of interest.
Wufei nearly roared with laughter as his love nearly fell over with his interest. “I think that this is a yes.” Wufei murmured as Duo whimpered at the tug of his wound’s stitches.
Duo grinned up wryly from his slightly bent over position. “Yeah, I want to see.” He slowly twisted to an easier position for his body. He took one more look at the building being erected behind him before motioning for Suki to continue the tour of work going on. Wufei made sure to catch Sakura’s hand before he aided his wraith over the now uneven ground.
Suki laughed as she moved toward the place that was going to become Dragon’s Lair. They had not started on the Angel’s Sanctuary because of the major construction that was going on beside it. There was the danger of falling debris and other heavier objects. She watched as Damian stood with one of the men working on the front entrance of the building in question.
Duo noticed Damian’s interest and grinned. The young man had shown some interest in all the furniture and wood work in their new home. He did so when he thought no one would notice it. It would seem that the young man had found his interest in the world. “Hey Damian,” He called as Wufei guided him on his way. “You can help and learn the crafts trade of these men. I’m sure they could use an apprentice for all the work they have to do.”
The man talking to Damian as he worked looked up at the young men, boss, and girl approaching him. “Dr. Yuy.” He greeted her calmly.
“Mr. Cantry.” Suki greeted him with a slight smile.
Wufei noticed the softening of the woman’s face and hid a grin. He had something to tease Heero about later. He made a note to remember this. “Suki would you introduce us.”
“Ohh, of course.” Slight coloring touched Suki’s cheeks as she tried to hide her feelings. “Chang Wufei, Duo Maxwell, Chang Sakura, this is the head carpenter Mr. Miles Cantry. Miles this is the wonderful Idea Maker of New Haven, Duo Maxwell. Mr. Chang is the amazing prosecutor for Preventers and Mr. Maxwell’s fiancé. This little angel,” Saki turned and scooped up a shy Sakura into her arms. “Is Wufei’s daughter Sakura.” She rubbed her nose over Sakura’s and got a giggle for her effort.
“A pleasure.” Miles Cantry murmured. “Damian was showing his interest in my work and asking what it would take education wise to learn what I do.”
Duo grinned. “Good. We plan on getting a tutor for him in the mornings and late afternoons or evenings. The time in between he can help work on the renovations.”
Damian blushed and slouched against the wall trying to hide from the eyes watching him.
Wufei chuckled. “I think it will be good for him. It is a calming, quieting, centering craft. He needs it.”
Suki rolled her eyes at the male posturing going on around her. “This Sakura is called ‘rooster posing’. Men do it when they are trying to prove who is top dog.”
Duo chortled. “I think that is our cue to ask to see what has been done to the house so far.”
Miles stepped into the house where young men were working at odd jobs. Duo followed with Wufei beside him and Damian slouching in behind him.
“These are young men that were in foster care homes all over the city.” Miles told Duo as he motioned for the young men to continue working. “They have already been promised residence here. I thought that it would be good to have them do the work on this place. This way they will have better care for the house when they live here.” Miles explained. “I’m having them take all the old and still good worked wood down. I thought I would reuse it in the house when we have redone the floors, stairs, walls, and ceilings. We also plan on extending the back a little further. We want to make a huge kitchen for the men to learn life skills. There is also plans for work rooms that will aide them as well in life skills.”
“That was what I wanted. I think that it is a good idea to have some of the residents working on the place. It will make them take better care of the house and protect it from others who don’t really care.” Duo murmured as he watched the youths carefully taking apart the lovely old mahogany banister. “I found the old layout of the building. The original. I thought we could try to keep it along those lines.” Duo turned to watch as a group skirted the larger open rooms. Sticking to the edges near the walls. “I take it the floors are rotting out?” Duo said as he watched yet another group taking the cupboards apart from his view point in the kitchen.
“Yes. The Kitchen is alright but it had to be reinforced because it is tiled. I talked with a tile layer and we thought we would cut out the tiles from all the kitchens in the building and make a design for the front entrance and path to the door.” Suki told them from behind. “We have groups of young men and women already doing work on other buildings.” She set Sakura down but kept a firm hold on her hand. “We also plan on keeping as much of the still usable bricks to make a bricked road for the main parts of the area. Like old cobblestone roads.” She looked at the young men working and smiled. “We thought that it would be wrong for the females to work in this house. We found some women carpenters to work on Angel’s Sanctuary.”
Duo looked at her with old understanding eyes. “A very good idea.”
Suki flinched at the old wisdom she found coming out of the depths of his eyes. She had only seen it in eyes of people who have seen the horrors of the world.
Wufei curled a hand over his loves cheek. “You look extremely tired and you need to have lunch. You have already seen what is being done for police, fire, and ambulance quarters.”
Duo nodded and smiled tiredly as his stomach let out a loud audible gurgle. Laughter from the teens around him filled the room. Even Damian smiled at the noise. “Hey Dam, Why don’t you stay and help. You’ll have to be back for supper but I am sure that they could use an extra hand here.”
Damian grinned and squeezed Duo’s good shoulder as he looked questioningly at the overseer.
Miles nodded and motioned for one of the groups to come closer. He gave orders motioning for Damian to join the group.
Wufei turned Duo away and motioned Suki to follow with Sakura. He grinned as Duo began to babble his delight at what he had seen and heard so far on his grand inspection. He knew that Duo was in sensory overload.