*AN*  Let's see.  Well, warning number one:  Yaoi!  If you got a problem with it, I suggest leaving now, while you still have got
the chance. Warning number 2- Lime!  Well, not in this part, but part two does.  Once again, if you don't like it, leave.
Flames are welcome.  They will be laughed at, posted, and I will flame you back.  Thank you and have a nice day.  *grin*

     Heero Yuy stood outside the house of Duo Maxwell.  He hadn't seen Duo in over ten years, since shortly after the Barton
problem.  They had been lovers before that, and Heero was there to make amends and patch up their ruined friendship.  Maybe
even their relationship.  At least, he hoped so.

     Knocking firmly on the door, Heero let his mind wander over the past decade.  After finally getting it across to Relena that he
was not interested and never would be, he had traveled through space, staying on each colony for less than a year.  Well, all the
colonies except for L2.  Then he had traveled to Earth, but not stopping anywhere long enough to become attached.

     Heero was snapped out of his trance by the sound of someone tugging open the front door .  To his surprise, he found that
he was nervous to how Duo would react.  Would he slam the door in his face, or welcome him in?  But Heero found that he
needn't have thought of any of that, for it wasn't Duo in the doorway, although the person looked very mush like Duo.  Very
young, only around eight or nine, the child had a long chestnut braid and violet eyes that peered at him in curiosity.

     "He. . .hello," Heero stuttered out.  "Is this Duo Maxwell's house?"

     "Yeah!"  the child said brightly.  Heero was strongly reminded of Duo  himself.

     "Can I see him?"  The child nodded vigorously, grabbing his hand and pulling him along.  The child reminded him of the little
girl he had met long ago.

                                         <<"Are you lost?"
                                     "I've been lost all my life">>

    Heero tried to calm his pounding heart, which sounded as though it may explode at any moment.  The girl stopped in front of
a wooden door and knocked.

     "Yes?" came the muffled reply.

     "There's someone here who wants to see you, Daddy." ‘DADDY!!’ Heero could feel his eyes roll out of their sockets.
Quickly regaining his usual neutral expression, he heard the reply.

     "Well, let them in, sweetheart."  The little girl pushed open the door.  Duo was looking down at the papers on his desk.  The
little girl let go of Heero’s hand and walked up to her father.

     "Hey, what can I do for. . ." Duo's voice faded as he looked up.  The two old lovers’ eyes met, and Heero saw the pain he
had caused.  Duo quickly looked away as the little girl sat in his lap.

     "Anou. . . welcome, Heero!  It's nice to see you again.  I see you've met Marilyn, my daughter?"  Heero nodded.  He could
have sworn Duo had emphasized my daughter.

     "Daddy, who's he?" Marilyn asked, holding her braid and toying with the ends just as Duo used to.  Duo smiled.

     "Ah yes.  Marilyn, this is Heero.  Heero, Marilyn."  The little girl grinned and looked at Heero.

     "Can I call you uncle, Mr. Heero?" she asked in her sweet little voice.  Even Heero had to smile.

     "Of course, chibi ichi.  If you'd like," he replied.  Duo seemed shocked at Heero’s answer, but grinned anyway.  The grin
seemed almost. . . fake, though.

     "Well, sweetie, I think you should go and get ready for bed," Duo told her, ruffling her hair.

     "But Daddy. . . !"

     "No buts.  Off to bed."

     Marilyn frowned a little, but grinned again.  "Okay Daddy. Oyasumi, Daddy, Uncle Heero."

     "Goodnight, Marilyn."

     "G’night, Merri-chan.  Ill come tuck you in soon."  Marilyn waved and went out the door.  Duo sat back in his chair, a tired
look crossing his features.  He turned to Heero.

     "Why are you here?" Duo said, his tone sharp and eyes narrowed.

     "To talk to you," Heero replied, his own tone rather sharp.  Duo stood up.

     "We have nothing to talk about."  Duo turned and looked out the window.

     "Yes, we do."

     "No, we don't."

     "Yes, I do!"  Heero’s answer made Duo jump.  "I need to explain why I. . ." His voice trailed off.

     "Why you broke my heart?  Why you ran away from me?"

     "I didn't want to hurt you, Duo."

     "Well guess what.  You did!" he snapped.  "I woke up the next morning and you weren't there, just that damn letter!"

     "I was afraid."

     "Of what!?  Three little words?!  Oh, I forgot.  This is perfect soldier boy.  If you don't know what to do, shoot it or run.
Only you can't shoot words, so you ran."

     Heero took a deep breath.  "I wasn't afraid of the words, I was afraid of what they meant."

     "Heero ‘The Rock’ Yuy is afraid of love?!  Well, this is interesting."

     "Duo. . . please. . ."

     "Let me tell ya something, Yuy.  Listen very carefully, cause I'm only saying this once.  I love you.  I always have, and I
always will.  There hasn't been a day in the past ten years that I haven't wondered where you were or how you been.  I've
missed you!"

     "Duo, me too.  I've spent the last ten years trying to forget you.  It didn't work.  So I came here, hoping to recover some of
what we had.  And I. . ."  Heero was cut off by a knock

     "Daddy?" a voice called.

     "What's amatter, Merri-chan?"

     "Aren't you going to tuck me in?"

     Duo turned to Heero.  "There's a guest room down the hall.  3 doors to your left.  We'll finish this tomorrow."  Duo opened
the door.  "Come, Princess Marilyn.  Let us bring you to your room."  Heero heard the sound of giggling.  Looking out the door,
he saw that Duo had picked up his daughter and was carrying her into a room.  Both were giggling madly.

     Heero sighed dejectedly and slouched against the door frame.  He was going to say that he loved Duo, but Marilyn had
interrupted.  And a good thing too, or who knows what may have happened.
 
 
 

  Three Little Words- Part 2

     Heero Yuy sat up.  ‘Where am I?’ he thought. Then he remembered what had happened the day before.  He had come to
Duo’s house, hoping to make amends.  They had begun an argument in which Heero had almost revealed his love for Duo, but
Duo’s daughter Marilyn had interrupted.  Speaking of Marilyn. . .

     A violet eye peered in the crack of the door. "Uncle Heero?" she called.

     "Yes, Marilyn?"

     "Daddy told me to tell you that breakfast is ready."

     "Thank you." The eye disappeared, and Heero could hear her skipping down the hall.  Swinging his legs over the bed, Heero
saw the suitcase he had had in his car. ’Duo must have brought it in.’

     After showering and getting changed, Heero walked to the kitchen. Marilyn was almost finished, and Duo was reading the
paper.  Marilyn waved cheerfully, eating her toast, but Duo didn’t seem to notice Heero enter.

     Whispering in his ear, Marilyn revealed why. "Daddy doesn’t like us talking when he’s trying to read about. . um . .
.whatever the newspaper’s about."

     Heero’s almost laughed out loud at the statement, but recovered just in time,  Putting on a serious face, he whispered back.
"I understand."  Marilyn beamed and went back to her toast. Heero smiled inwardly at the likeness between father and daughter.

     Remembering how Duo had cooked before, Heero looked apprehensively at the food in front of him.  It looked edible, but
could be very deceiving.  Especially when Duo had a hand in it.  Scooping up some eggs, he tried it.  To his surprise, it was fine.
No, better that fine.  It was delicious.  Heero dug in, watching Marilyn with amused eyes.  She was trying to feed her doll toast,
but the didn’t seem to want it.

     Duo looked at his watch.  "Merri-chan, it’s eight thirty.  The bus will be here soon."

     "Can Relena come with me?"  Heero almost choked on his toast at the doll’s name.  Duo glanced at him with amused eyes.

     "No Marilyn, Relena can’t go to school with you."

     "But I can’t leave her alone!"  she cried.

     I’m sure Uncle Heero wouldn’t mind taking care of Relena.  Would you, Uncle Heero?"

     ‘Duo, you spiteful little . . .’ "Not at all.  I’ll take of your baby, Marilyn."  Heero was careful to avoid the name.

     "Thank you, Uncle Heero!" Marilyn said as she handed him the doll.  Heero took it gently, feeling rather silly.  "Be careful,"
she warned.

     "I will."  Grabbing her lunch and kissing her dad, Marilyn ran out the door.

     When the door shut, Duo chuckled.  "Quite the responsibility she gave you."

     "Yeah." Placing the doll carefully on the table, Heero turned to Duo. "Duo, we’ve got to talk."

     Duo sat down.  "Heero, as I told you before, there’s nothing to discuss.  Ten Years ago you left me, a year and a half later I
married Hilde, nine months later Hilde died . . ." Duo trailed off.

     "And you raised Marilyn," Heero finished quietly. Duo nodded.  "She’s a great little girl, Duo.  You did a good job."

     Duo was silent.  It was one of those times in which Heero wished he could read minds.

     "shegretbutIdontwntoloseher," Duo mumbled finally.

     "What?"

     "She is great, but I don’t want to lose her,"  he repeated louder.

     "You won’t, Duo.  She’s too much like you."

     "Shinigami’s baby," Duo mused out loud.  Then he laughed.  "Who’d have thought Death could have children."

     The two sat in semi companionable silence for a long while, until they both spoke at the same time.

     "Duo, I’m sorry."

     "Heero, why did you leave?"

     The two looked at each other and laughed. "You go first, Heero."  Duo said.

     "No, you."

     "All right.  Heero, why did you leave me?"

     ‘Here it is.  The moment of truth.’ Heero said to himself. ‘Don’t screw it up.’

     "Like I said yesterday, I was afraid.  When you said ‘I love you,’ I froze.  I’ve never been loved by anyone, so I didn’t know
what to do.  So I ran.  You yourself said that if I don’t know what to do, I shoot it or run.  That’s completely true.  But in
running I realized I felt the same way.  I felt horrible about leaving, so I tried to forget.  Tried to forget everything we had.
Everything we could have been.  You have no idea how hard I tried.

     "It took me ten years to figure out that I couldn’t forget.  I came here hoping to get some of what we had back.  But now that
I’m here, I’m not sure that we can."

     Duo hesitated before responding.  "So that’s what you’ve been doing for the past ten years?  Running?"

     Heero sighed.  "More or less.  But what about you?"

     Duo put his head in his hands.  "After you left, I was a mess.  Totally and completely.  I drank to forget the pain."  Heero
winced inwardly at the thought of causing sweet Duo pain.  "Hilde found me, and cleaned me up.  I’ve always known she loved
me, but I never felt the same way.  I married here and we were really happy.  She got pregnant, and we anxiously awaited the
baby.  But there were. . . complications."  Duo paused and took a deep breath.  "Hilde went into false labor twice.  Once at five
months, again at six and a half.  The doctors got worried, but when it didn’t happen again, they let it go.  At seven and a half
months . . ." Duo swallowed hard.

    "At seven and a half, she began to have contractions.  Everyone, including the doctors, thought it was another false alarm."
Duo closed his eyes.

     "It wasn’t.  The contractions got harder and more regular, so I took her to the hospital.  The doctors prepped her for a
c-section . . . but she went into shock."  Tears began to slide down Duo’s cheek.  "She never pulled out of it.  Marilyn was born
normally, but her mom died not five minutes later."  Duo stifled a sob.  "She never go to hold her."

     Duo opened his eyes.  They were wet, but calm.  "That’s why her name’s Marilyn Hilde Maxwell.  Hilde wanted to name her
Marilyn, and her middle name is obvious . . .

     "Quatre and Trowa came to the funeral.  I couldn’t invite you, Heero.  It still hurt too bad."  Heero nodded.  "I don’t know
what I would have done without them.  They kept me sane while Marilyn was in the hospital for four months.  She had been
almost two months early."  Duo stopped talking.

     Heero didn’t know what to say.  "Duo, I’m sorry.  About everything."   He went to him and put a hand on his shoulder.  Duo
stood and wrapped his arms around Heero.  Taken by surprise, but not unwilling, Heero pushed Duo’s head down on his
shoulder as the smaller boy - no, man now, began to sob.  As Duo’s sobs became quieter, Heero relaxed his hold until Duo
stopped completely.  Heero let his arms fall to his sides as did Duo.  But something came over Heero, and he bent down to kiss
him.  The kiss was so passionate that Heero barely noticed Duo’s arms wrap around his shoulders, or the ringing phone until
Duo pulled away.

     "It’s Quatre," he said as the answering machine turned on.

     "Call him back," Heero replied.  In response, Duo kissed him.

     When both boys air supply had run out, they broke apart.  Duo laughed huskily.  "I guess we’ve got to make up for lost time,
ne Heero?"

     Heero smiled and said, "I suppose," before he captured Duo’s lips with his own.

I don’t own Gundam Wing, but God, I wish I did.