DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gundam Wing, just an evil cat named Sabastian.

WARNING: Sap, past angst and violence

This fic takes place later in the night after the events of "WAR". (read the fic)

Duo has won the war, and exhausted Hilde. ^_^

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The night was quiet as Duo lay tightly curled around his sleeping wife. He couldn't sleep, and was actually still aroused from thinking about earlier in the night when he'd really given her a work out after he'd won the 'war'; but he knew she was exhausted, so he let her sleep. ~she'll need all her strength for tomorrow!~ He smiled against her hair as he thought of the following day's activities.

She moaned a little as she rolled onto her back. His arm adjusted to her position change, and he held her around the waist. Her face was illuminated by the streetlight shining through the misting rain outside their bedroom window, making her skin look transparent and her features delicate. On the outside she appeared to be a fragile doll, and most people treated her as such, but they didn't know the real Hilde. Only he knew the real Hilde.

Everyone knew his past... they knew the tragedy of Solo's death, and the massacre at Maxwell church. He wasn't exactly subtle about it, and everyone thought him very strong to have come through such horrors and still be able to keep his sense of humor...but they didn't really know the real him either.

Hilde whimpered and her brow creased. He kissed her forehead gently and held her a little more tightly, "shhh it's ok. I'm here." His lips and touch seemed to ward off the impending nightmare, and he rubbed her stomach until she settled down peacefully once again.

Some nights were bad; the nights when he was asleep and unknowingly flopped to the other side of the bed instead of holding her, those were nights when the nightmares would take hold and nothing could wake her up.

He remembered never being so scared as when he had first witnessed one of her nightmares. She'd always been so strong for him when he was plagued by the demons from his past, so when he woke one night and heard her screaming, he'd grabbed his gun and ran to her room thinking someone had broken in and was attacking her. Instead he'd found her under the bed crying. She'd almost bitten his hand off as he tried to pull her out.

Once he had her held tightly, and she realized he wasn't going to hurt her, she stopped screaming and cried herself to sleep as he rocked her in his arms.

She had refused to tell him about her dreams, and continuously pushed him away emotionally. He knew she had loved him from the first moment they met, just like he loved her, but she wouldn't let it go any further than friendship. He finally decided that his true mission in life was to knock down Hilde's defenses and make her face their love. They were meant to be together.

Eventually he wore her down and after many nights in front of the TV, kissing and petting, they got a little carried away. Afterwards, Duo was in a conflicting mood, ecstasy one minute, 'cause he'd finally gotten his Hildie to admit she loved him, and panic the next because he was worried she would hate him if he'd gotten her pregnant. He'd then jumped at the opportunity and offhandedly asked her to marry him, citing the pregnancy possibility as an incentive for her to accept. However, the look of happiness on her face when he mentioned marriage, immediately disappeared at the word 'pregnant', and she ran to her room crying.

~Man, what an idiot!~ He'd followed her to her room, but she'd locked herself in and refused to talk to him, so when the nightmare came later that night he'd had to break the door down. At his seemingly violent entrance, she'd pulled a knife out on him, and came after him in a vicious rage. They'd struggled and fought until Duo managed to wrestle the knife from her and throw it out into the hall. He realized she was still asleep and laid with her on the floor, keeping her pinned down until she was too tired to fight anymore, and fell back into a deeper dreamless sleep.

He'd carried her to the bed and held her the rest of the night.

Hilde was staring at him when he awoke.... He was enamored of her gaze and could think of wanting nothing more than waking up to her every morning for the rest of his life. "Marry me Hilde. Please."

Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away. "I can't Duo."

He rolled over and put his arms around her, "Tell me why! Give me one good reason!"

She looked down at him as he buried his face in her neck. "You don't have to worry about me being pregnant from last night. I can't have any children."

He stopped nuzzling her neck, and just held her, slowly stroking her arm, waiting for her to continue.

~*~*~

She'd been born on earth, in the country of Germany, but when she was two her father had gotten a grant at the University in Prague. She and her family were happy there. Her father, a brilliant physicist, tinkered away blissfully in his lab, while she and her mother enjoyed frolicking in the beautiful country side exploring ruins and old castles. For Christmas, she'd even gotten the baby sister she'd asked her parents for.

Everything was perfect until 'they' came.

The soldiers were everywhere in the city; the streets crawled with them. Her father no longer smiled or hummed while he was at home, and her mother no longer let her go outside. Her only fun was playing with her baby sister Helga, and their cat, Anise.

Once she'd over heard her mother pleading with her dad to move back to Germany, or even to the colonies, but her dad refused. He had important work to do and he was not going to let any kind of political coup stop him. Hilde figured it had something to do with all the strange men who had started visiting their house at odd hours. She knew they weren't with the University, because her daddy had stopped going there a couple months before.

Life was turmoil, but as small children are apt to do, she adjusted. Life went on.

One night her mother ran into the room she shared with Helga and told them to get under the bed and not to come out no matter what they heard. She kissed them both, then ran back out of the room.

They laid there listening to the shouts and yelling of her parents and some other men, for what seemed like hours. Then there were screams that were cut off by gunshots.

Helga was silently crying when she suddenly remembered their cat Anise. She slid out from under the bed before Hilde could catch her and ran off to find the cat. Hilde heard boots running down the hall, then several thuds and the screams of her sister. The fingers Hilde had in her ears did nothing to block out the sounds.

Too scared to move, she saw the boots of the soldiers swarming into the room. The blood on their boots making nasty marks on the once pristine candy pink carpet. Hilde closed her eyes, then felt the hand that grasp her ankle and yanked her out from under the bed. The soldiers dragged her down the hall by her leg, past her little three year old sister who'd been slung against the wall until she was nothing but a bloody mess. By the little black kitty who had been crushed under the merciless boots of the evil soldiers, and finally through a puddle of blood from the execution of her parents. Once on the street, they had thrown her down and taken turns kicking her repeatedly until she was throwing up blood and her limbs were broken and twisted. They spit on her then, and laughingly left her to die a slow and painful death on the streets. One soldier even jokingly told her that maybe the rats would come and put her out of her misery.

A neighbor had taken pity on her after the soldiers left, and secretly took her to an old family friend in the colonies who happened to be a doctor. The route to physical healing was torturous, and long, but she had the will to live, and was determined to grow up and fight for peace, so that no other children would have to go through the hell she had.

~*~*~

Duo, in awe, ran his hand down the tiny body that had fought so hard to live as a child. A woman stronger than anyone else he knew.

Other than the nightmares, she was fine now, except that there had been so much scarring from the internal injuries, the doctor had told her it would be a miracle if she ever got pregnant.

She had known that he wanted kids. A lot of them, and that's why she'd kept pushing him away. He'd set her straight on that matter, rather quickly. He'd rather have her alone, than any other woman and a house full of kids.

She was still skeptical, but he'd pestered her for months until she'd finally given in. He'd rushed her to the Justice of the Peace that very day, and he had never left her alone since.

He snuggled down in the bed, pulling Hilde against his chest. He smiled with pride thinking of his strong, beautiful, healthy wife. His wife. He thanked God for her.

They were happy soul mates, total yin and yang, except on those rainy weekends when they used to get SO bored and bad tempered.... but that's already been covered. His eyes slid shut as he drifted off to sleep with visions of the next day....Hilde...fishnet...white frilly panties...

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The Spoils of WAR
The sequel to WAR and Quiet Reflection...The two days of Hilde's 'servitude' --(also located in the PWP section)...It's a MAJOR LEMON.

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