Title: A Way With Kids

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Duo + Milliardo

Notes:  Challenge 223.  Baby Series 4  #127.  Takes place approximately an hour following  Logistics.

Spoilers: None

Warnings:

Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.

Title: A Way With Kids

Jamie’s eyes travelled slowly upwards, widening impossibly the further he tilted his head back.  The man was huge!  Impossibly tall and very, very pale.  Beside him he heard a snicker but he ignored it in favour of staring at the object of his disbelief.

There was, after all, a lot to disbelieve!

He was in the Palace.  The palace of all places!  He had been bathed and dressed in clothes warmer than any he could ever recall wearing before.  And he was watching the man who could only be the King standing beside the staircase and the man called Maxwell was standing with one hand on his shoulder and the other holding Jessica’s hand.

“Duo?  These are your guests?”

“Yeah, Milliardo.  This is Jamie and Jessica.  Hey, kiddo’s, say hello to Milliardo.”

All Jamie could do was stare at the pale blonde giant, staring in utter disbelief at the figure who was in turn studying him with the clearest blue eyes Jamie had ever seen.  Such a strange colour blue too, intense, captivating and strangely there was nothing really frightening about him.  Jamie had heard so much about the King, about the war and about ‘atrocities’, whatever they were, though they did not sound good.  But this man... This man did not strike Jamie as being ‘bad’.

“Good afternoon.”

“Guess they are a bit tongue tied,”  Duo snickered. “I was just taking them to the kitchen to get something to eat.”

They were freshly bathed, he noted, hair still more than merely damp, and they were wrapped warmly in heavy winter clothing.  The temperature had been steadily falling and everyone had dressed for the height of winter.  He did not dare order a rise in the temperature for the palace, it would be too large a drain on their resources with what lay ahead of them.  Later, a section of the palace would be heated to a more comfortable level and they would all settle there for the duration.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I might just accompany you.  I could do with a hot drink before I return to work.”

Duo gently tugged the children out of their staring daze and the King fell into step with them, ignoring the wide eyed looks the children sent his way but, before they had reached the kitchen, the King had Jessica’s free hand ensconced in one of his and both of the children were smiling and laughing.

Milliardo, Duo reflected, had a way with kids.  It had not been apparent before the birth of his son, but he had a way of setting them at ease.  When the cook scolded the King for appearing in her domain unannounced the children stared in awe at the older woman and the man who charmed a hot chocolate out of her.

Of course, there was chocolate cake as well, though they had to eat a piping hot bowl of stew to get that! 

End

Karina Robertson  2013