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February 13th, AC 200

Wait, they said. He hated waiting. He had always hated waiting. He wanted to be doing something, but this was out of his control, there was nothing he could do. The doctors were doing it all. Wait, they said and sent him down to the waiting room.

It was an ugly room, half creamed coffee beige, half faded mint green, exactly thirty-seven paces long, sixteen paces wide, not counting the magazine table, the single couch with its ripped plastic upholstery and the assortment of chairs, all inadequately padded. The man in black picked one chair and sat down. After a moment, he leaned forward and put his face into his hands, his long chestnut braid rippling down almost to the floor.

***********

He was thumbing through an old magazine, not really looking at anything inside it. A quick patter of feet approaching drew his attention.

"Duo! Duo!" It was the kids; their adopted children, Mikki with her golden braid almost as long as his own, and "the china doll made of pure Gundanium," XiaoXiang. He'd rescued them from the horror the press called "the X-778354 Revolution" two years ago and they'd woven themselves into his life and hers. That's why she'd been so excited and so worried when she discovered she was pregnant, half-afraid he'd say the girls were enough.

"School's out already?" he asked. They sort of scraped their feet and looked uncomfortable, but they didn't lie; not to him. He scowled. "Hey, what did I tell you about skipping out? You got homework? Well, pull up chairs and get to it."

"What about Hilde?" asked Mikki, tugging in nervous habit at the tie on the end of her braid.

"We just have to wait, that's what they told me," he said. The magazine table was a wobbly square in one corner of the room and the two dumped their books on it. He watched them settle into their homework with a twinge of pride. They were good kids.

***********

He had just gone for a round of sodas when he heard his name called. He should have known his friends would come. They had been through war, grief and heartache together.

"We came as soon as we heard," Quatre was in the lead. "Why didn't you call?"

"There's nothing to do but wait," Duo shrugged. He paused. Trowa and Wufei were here as well. "Hey, Papa Dragon's out of the nest, who's with the babies?" The three were single fathers and had teamed up together to care for Wufei's twin sons and Quatre and Trowa's single son.

"Catherine," said Trowa with his usual calm.

"Wow, he finally trusts her?" Duo grinned as Mikki and Xiao giggled.

"She's proved herself adequately," he said gruffly.

"What did she do, nail you to the wall with a knife?"

Wufei just glared, but it was half-hearted. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm all right." Duo passed out the sodas and scratched the back of his neck. "As all right as I can be. Geez! Here we are, with space colonies and settlers on Mars and we've still got women and babies dying in childbirth, you got to wonder." He sat down heavily in the chair. "I should've brought her back from L2 sooner."

"Don't start second guessing yourself, Duo," said Quatre quietly, sitting down next to him. Wufei sat down on the other side. Trowa wandered over to look over the children's shoulders at their assignments. XiaoXiang promptly showed him her math book.

"I know, I know. How could we know the babies would decide to come now when they're not due for another three months? God, I hate waiting," Duo confessed. "I hate it."

***********

". . . . Naturally, Catherine became angry. It looked like she and Lady Une were about to actually have a fight right there in the nursery," Quatre told him. "I said `shouldn't we do something?' and Heero said `sell tickets.'"

"He didn't say it that way. He said `sell tickets.'" Trowa dead panned in a better imitation of Heero Yuy's dry, emotionless tone.

Duo managed a chuckle. They were trying so hard. He stood up and paced again. The chairs had gone beyond uncomfortable long ago.

Wufei came back, herding the girls ahead of him, carrying a bag of take-out, for the hospital cafeteria had closed.

"I've called home," he reported. "Everything is fine."

"Anything?" asked Mikki.

"Nope, still waiting, honey," Duo ruffled her hair. He chewed on a burger listlessly.

**************

Midnight, February 14th, AC 200

Mikki and XiaoXiang were leaning on each other, napping. Quatre dozed on Trowa's shoulder and Wufei had gone to the machine for more coffee. Duo looked up at the clock. "Happy Valentine's Day," he sighed.

Quatre started awake at his voice. "Huh?" He rubbed his eyes. "Oh. What time is it?"

"Midnight," said Wufei coming back. He handed Trowa one of the cups of coffee. "I've called home. Everything is fine. Catherine was sleeping."

"I'm sure she didn't like that," Trowa guessed. He sipped the coffee and made a face.

"It's not the best cup of Java in the world," Wufei quoted at him.

"It certainly isn't," Trowa agreed.

"Papa Dragon isn't going to be satisfied until he's back guarding the nest. You guys better go home. You've got to explain to the Lady why I'm not showing up tomorrow, and can you do me a favor?" Duo shook the girls. "Come on, sweethearts; it's midnight. Wake up. Can you take the kids with you? Hey, hey, hey!" He pitched his voice over the storm of protests. "You've got school in seven hours and you need to spend some of that sleeping on a bed, not those chairs."

"But Hilde . . ." cried XiaoXiang.

"Nothing is going to happen to Hilde that you won't hear about, I promise," Duo said firmly. He pulled each one of his foster children into a hug and gave them each a kiss on the forehead.

"Are you sure about this?" Quatre frowned.

"I'll be okay, really," Duo nodded. "No sense everyone staying up." Quatre promptly hugged him. Duo gave a tiny grunt. Sometimes he forgot how strong the blond man really was. As he stepped back, the normally undemonstrative Trowa startled Duo by wrapping his arms around him.

"It's going to be okay," Duo heard his voice go husky. "You'll see."

Wufei grabbed his hand. "Call," he ordered gruffly. Duo nodded. They left and he sat down again. He rested his head against the wall.

***********

"What's the news?" asked a low, monotone voice over his head.

"I thought you were on assignment," said Duo, not opening his eyes.

"I'm back."

Duo opened his eyes. Heero was standing there in a black raincoat with a carry-on over his shoulder that still had the airport tag attached to it. "Better report in before the Lady has a fit."

"Lady Une knows I'm here," he put his bag in a chair next to Duo and then sat down. "Anything?"

"Nothing," Duo slumped forward again. "It's driving me crazy."

Heero reached over and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm staying."

"Thanks."

***************

"Duo Maxwell?" asked a woman's voice. Duo shot awake, his heart pounding. Heero had folded his arms and was snoring softly. Duo was surprised he didn't wake up.

"Mr. Maxwell?" he blinked and focused on the small woman smiling at him. She was wearing a nun's habit. "Hello, I'm with the chaplain's office. They thought you might like to see me."

"Oh, sorry, Sister," Duo rubbed his eyes. He stood up. "Sit down. It's awfully late."

"I know, I'm only sorry I couldn't come sooner," she sat down. "How long has it been since you've prayed the rosary?"

"Geez! I'm not sure," Duo felt the color mount in his face. "Not for a very long time." He'd learned it of course, with Sister Helena's instruction.

"Well," she passed over a "pocket rosary" - a silver ring with a short string of black wooden beads and a small crucifix. "You might want to try it again. You may find it comforting."

"Sister, I . . . ." She took out her own long strand. "Ah, well, all right." He slipped the ring over his left thumb and fingered the beads. His lips moved silently in the prayers with the sister. He did find some warmth and comfort in the familiar words. She reached the end of her string as he finished the repetitions.

"Do you feel better?" she asked.

"Yes, I guess I do," he admitted. "Here."

"Keep it, my son," she stood up. "You might want to get back into the habit." She took his hands. "Be comforted. All will be well."

"Thank you, sister," he sat back down, fingering the small strand. A nurse came down the hall. Heero started awake with a snort, reached inside his coat, pulled his hand back out empty and scrubbed it through his hair. Duo snickered.

"Now you wake up," he teased. Heero frowned at him, confused.

"Mr. Maxwell?" the older woman had a tired smile. "I have good news. Your wife is in recovery."

"She's all right?" Duo bounced out of the chair, wide awake and ready to explode.

"She's had a difficult time, but the doctors say she's doing fine," her smile grew wider. "You have two daughters."

"T-t-t," Duo stuttered. "T-Two daughters?"

"They're in the neo-natal nursery right now. Would you like to go and see--? EE-EEK!" She shrieked as he swung her off her feet and kissed her.

"I've got a baby girl! I've got two baby girls!" he crowed at the top of his lungs. "Which way?"

***********

"Well, blame Wufei, he said to call," Duo whooped into Heero's cell phone, his nose against the glass. "They're girls. Two girls. Yes, yes, oh, they're so small. You have to see them. One can't be any longer than Trowa's hand. They say they're going to be all right." He looked down into the incubator at the so-tiny pink creatures connected to monitors for heart and breathing that were twice as big as they were. "They haven't let me in to see Hilde, yet. Well, they keep telling me she's okay. Oh, sure, yes, I want you to come. Aw, Cat, don't you start crying or I'm going to . . ."

Heero turned his gaze to the ceiling and handed over a handkerchief.

**********

"I guess things got really dicey," said Duo over coffee at the small restaurant near the hospital. Quatre was still dabbing at his eyes after having seen the babies. Trowa was quietly beaming and even Wufei's smile was gentle. "They had to do an emergency hysterectomy, but they're all going to make it. This is it, but I really don't mind. Hey, I got my own harem, why should I complain? Well, here he is," Heero came up, frowning. "Oh, come on, Heero, everyone else is happy, why can't you be?"

"No nun," he said flatly.

"What do you mean, no nun?" Duo blinked.

"I mean, the chaplain's staff has a nun, but she wasn't there this morning."

"So, it was another nun! Stop making a mystery out of it." Duo held up the small rosary. "She was real, this is real."

"There's something engraved on the back," Quatre caught the crucifix. "Ugh, it's nearly scratched off. E-L-E-N-A, El-la-na? Ee-lay-na?"

"Let me see," Duo turned it around. "N-no, there's something just before the `E'," his face went white. "It looks almost like an `H' but it can't be! That would be `Helena' and that-that's impossible."

"You don't believe in miracles?" asked Trowa.

"No, I don't," but Duo's face was still pale. "There's an explanation, I know there is."

"Hn," Heero sat down and helped himself to the coffee pot. "Thought of a name yet?"

"The one nurse suggested "Valentina" seeing as they were born on Valentine's Day." Duo poked at a strip of bacon.

"Somehow, I fail to see a daughter of yours as a `Valentina'," Wufei shook his head.

Duo turned the small crucifix in his hand. "The name she took when she was ordained was Helena Catherine, she said." His eyes were far away, his face clouded.

"Hellcat," said Heero.

"What?" Duo flared.

"Helena Catherine, Hellcat," Heero repeated.

"Now, THAT I can picture your daughter being," Wufei remarked dryly.

"Or Lilith," Quatre added. "The first wife of Adam. Wouldn't take orders from him so she was turned into a demon."

"I can see your daughter being that too," Wufei chuckled.

"Very funny, you guys are a real riot," Duo scowled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 16th AC 200

(Tacked on several bulletin boards in Preventers Headquarters)

Duo and Hilde Maxwell proudly announce the birth of their daughters:

Helena Catherine Maxwell

and

Lilith Hope Maxwell

at

4:47 am February 14th, AC 200

~fin~

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Ruth