Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.
Warning:Male /male sex, graphic, language, slight mpreg, cloning, violence
1x2
Reflections of You
Under
"Duo... wake up... Duo..."
Duo struggled to climb back to consciousness, feeling as if that voice had been calling him forever. The pain was still there, still eating him alive. He whimpered against it before he chewed down on one lip.
"That's it, Gundam boy," the doctor in his ear. "You've got work to do. No time for sleeping."
Duo finally willed his heavy lids open. Heero was looking down into his face and the doctor's face was close by it, looking anxious. Danger, Duo's mind surmised. He did have to wake up. They needed him.
"Won't let you in, right?" Duo guessed and shocked himself by how thin his own voice sounded.
"Security gate with an old beam cannon ready to fire," Heero explained.
"Scav was always good at getting the impossible," Duo snickered. "Just for show, though. You know that shit doesn't work. They all had their internals melted down."
Heero frowned as if insulted. "Yes, I do know," he retorted, "But, I can see signs that he has other weapons. I thought that you said that he had done well for himself?"
Duo snorted. "I didn't say legally. Why do you think he's off the grid?"
"Code?" a voice asked as if bored. "If you don't have it, I have nothing to say to you."
Duo looked around blearily and then saw the overgrown pipe they were crouched by. It had gundanium bars blocking it and an array of openings that Duo was certain held weapons. On top of the opening crouched the beam cannon, overgrown with ivy.
"Knock, knock, Scav," Duo managed weakly and couldn't help a tight grin. "You know we don't have any damned code. Stop shitting with them and let us in."
A voice chuckled. "I don't even need a voice verifier for that. You said you were hot, but I don't detect any scans in the area."
"They ain't lookin' for no rat in a damned hole, that's why," Duo drawled back, but then panted in pain and bit out. "Let's us in, Scav."
"You got it, kid," the voice replied. "Door's always open for you."
The gate popped it's lock and Heero and the doctor carried Duo inside along with their equipment. A tall, skinny man, with large, blue eyes, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans covered in holes, met them halfway up a tunnel. Those eyes widened when he saw the shape that Duo was in.
"You weren't kiddin'," he exclaimed. "You are hot! Get 'em in here!"
Duo faded. For how long, he wasn't sure, but it was a surface under his back, and administered shots, that brought him around again. He blinked and tried with a tremendous effort to keep himself in the here and now. "Quatre making the delivery?"
"En route," Heero replied. It had been taking a chance, having it delivered without knowing what their welcome would be, but Duo knew that his time was running out and that there hadn't been any choice.
"Looking good, Scav," Duo breathed as he smiled at his one time 'street brother'.
"Wish I could say the same for you," Scav replied. "You look like shit, Duo. What the hell's goin' on?"
"This is going to sound... stupid...," Duo replied, "but... can't have kids... messed up DNA. Found a batch of eggs with my DNA in a lab during a raid, embryos from before I was messed up. I... I stuck them in my body, thinking I could transfer 'em. Didn't work out like that, though. Government wants 'em dead," he slurred and fought to keep his eyes open. "Gotta run... gotta get them out now."
"He only has two hours, at the most, before he passes the point of no return," the doctor said as he set up his equipment.
"You're... pregnant?!" Scav finally burst out in disbelief, face pale.
Duo grimaced. "I jammed them into my side. I am not fucking pregnant, moron!"
"Stop talking," the doctor ordered sharply. "Conserve your strength for staying alive."
Heero pushed Scav backward and helped the doctor set up his equipment. Duo persisted in talking, though, knowing that he was losing the battle for consciousness. "Scav, I need ports for an artificial womb. If you tell me, in all this crap you're dealing in, that you don't have that..."
Scav blinked, stunned, and then came to life again as he nodded. "Ports for bio units are the same. They're for major accident victims. I know I've got some... somewhere around here." He looked dubiously around him at the racks and stacks of equipment and the blinking banks of computer screens.
"Gotta find them," Duo breathed and then had to close his eyes against the pain. "Can't take much more of this... hell, I'm ready to end it right now."
"What a load of crap!" Scav exclaimed in disgust. "You gotten soft, Duo?"
Duo glared without opening his eyes. "Fuck you!"
"Not likely, I'm not the gay one," Scav shot back with a snicker. "Hang in there, buddy. We'll get those freeloaders outta you in no time."
Duo nodded once and then grabbed the doctor's arm. "Please... another shot, okay?"
The doctor grunted and administered it. "When you wake up, you won't have the eggs any longer."
He didn't have to say that Duo might not be waking up at all.
It was confusing. There was a long time of almost waking and then falling under again... and then panicked voices and pain, terrible, pain.... and then nothing again. It wasn't good to be so aware of one's own mortality, one's own chances of survival, and Duo found himself waiting for death. Would there be an afterlife? Would he know when he died or would there just be an endless... nothing? The voices and touches he felt from time to time seemed only an unwelcome distraction from his inner contemplation. When consciousness returned, it was a sudden shock.
Bright lights, something crushing his hand, an irritating tube in his nose and in his arm, were his first indication that he was alive. He blinked, his brain trying to orient itself, and became aware that it was Heero who was holding tightly to his hand.
"What a tough little shit," the doctor's voice said on his other side and Heero gave a grim smile. "I wouldn't have put a dollar on his chances of pulling through."
"You call that pullin' through?" Scav's voice asked. "I've seen flattened road kill that looked better than that!"
"Love you too," Duo croaked and then winced as it moved the tube in his sore throat. He squeezed Heero's hand and tried to focus on his face. "You okay?" Duo managed.
Hero looked pale, his eyes dark and sunken, as if he hadn't slept in some time. He nodded tightly and replied, "So are our children."
Children. Duo had to think about that and didn't understand until he realized that 'children' was another term for the evil parasites that had been eating him alive. Combining it with 'Our' further confused him. "Are they... ours?" he wondered.
"I don't have any way of knowing," the doctor said as he inserted another tube into Duo's arm and taped it down. "With some DNA equipment..."
"I have a DNA sniffer," Scav offered. He was perched on a large engine block, his blue eyes concerned. "Won't do any good until they're born, though."
The doctor frowned. "That's something that I can't guarantee. The eggs were stressed and the womb is substandard, as well as not being designed for two babies. They may not survive."
Duo was finding it hard to care at that point. He had done his best for them, but now he was afraid for his own life. He felt shaky and not all together clear headed. He said, thinking his thoughts out loud, "If they aren't mine... or Heero's... They go to whoever they belong to."
"Aren't you a cold bitch of a mama," Scav snickered.
Duo glared, but could only see his one time street brother as a blur. "I ain't nobody's mama, asshole. If they aren't ours, then we don't have any right to them."
"Stop talking," the doctor warned. "You need rest, fluids, and antibiotics. The eggs need nine months to grow. You have plenty of time to acquire an internal DNA decoder, and to decide who will get them."
Duo blinked, trying hard to think. "We should go, Heero... lead any searches on a goose chase."
"I refuse to stay here nine months," the doctor complained. "I owe you a great debt, but I have a family."
"I'll take care of the tykes," Scav offered. "I always wanted to be an 'uncle'."
""I think you're right," Heero agreed. "The wombs only need power. They are entirely self contained units."
Duo tried to adjust the painful tube in his nose and the doctor slapped it away. "It's cleaning out your lungs," he warned. "You had fluid build up."
"How long before I'm mobile?" Duo asked.
The doctor shrugged. "If you're good, three weeks. I'll stay that long to supervise your recovery."
"Then we're out of here, Heero, okay?" Duo focused on Heero. He was still finding it hard to believe that the man was sticking with him. He was looking for doubt, regret, second thoughts, but, instead, he saw a firm determination.
"I know a few places that might be secure for short durations," Heero replied. "We'll make certain we're seen and then lie low."
"Scav, " Duo warned. "You mess this up and I'll..."
"Hey, when have I ever messed up?" Scav grinned. "I'll get stuffed teddies for the kiddies, tell them bedtime stories, and get nice stickers to put on their womb glass. Don't worry about a thing, mama."
"Call me that again and I'll shove that engine block up your ass," Duo snarled.
Scav laughed. "What happened to maternal instincts?"
Duo left long before the doctor prescribed, but Heero was there to help him, and there wasn't much for them to do, but move from one safe place to another and lie low. In a dilapidated cabin in the mountains, they found their longest opportunity to rest and make plans for their future.
The scenery was rugged, jagged mountain peaks punching through a vast expanse of pine forest and the threat of snow a constant worry. The cabin lacked electricity and running water, and was barely proof against the elements, but heating cells at night to supplement a fireplace, and a wood stove, made it bearable.
Huddled in blankets, and warm socks and sweaters, they kept their hands warm around mugs of coffee and kept their bed close to the fireplace. At first, they had tried to sleep separately, feeling as if they were on a mission and wanting things just as professional between them, but barriers had broken down quickly in the face of a freezing ice storm one night, and they hadn't separated their sleeping arrangements since.
It felt good to lean against Heero, Duo thought, and to not do it because he was weak or in pain. The wind howled outside, but they were in a comfortable globe of peace. It seemed the perfect time to finally talk.
"So, when did you realize that I wasn't just an annoying part of your day?" Duo asked softly as he stared into the flickering flames of the fireplace.
Heero tensed, maybe not having expected a personal talk, but then he relaxed and wrapped arms around Duo gently, still careful of his tender side. They hadn't indulged in anything other than what two friends might do together, but there had been an undercurrent of desire that they had both felt.
"I've always known, since the moment we met, that I was attracted to you," Heero admitted, "but I couldn't act on that feeling. There was always things that I had to dedicate myself to entirely. It seemed something that was going to forever go unexplored. Then, after the war, we both seemed to be 'waiting'. I didn't feel that it was the right time... and I don't think that you did either."
"No," Duo admitted, "But I thought about it a lot... about you."
Heero smiled and said, "I'm a difficult person to be with. I think that I wanted to become less of a soldier, to grow used to the idea that I didn't have to sacrifice everything anymore. It was hard to... stand down."
Duo nodded. "I saw that. I felt... like I was stepping where I didn't belong when I tried to get closer to you. I... I needed to grow up some more," he admitted critically.
"What..." Heero licked dry lips and then tried again. "If we do have children... how... how should we proceed?"
Duo chuckled and it sounded almost hysterical. "I don't have a clue," he replied. "I'm just as blind as you are. It was a spur of the moment thing, what I did. I wasn't making detailed plans at the time... or later. Any ideas?"
"They need a proper home, a schedule, and a good school," Heero began, but then frowned. "You wanted to be a father... did that include raising your children?"
"No, Heero, I intended to knock a few girls up and then take a vacation to L4," Duo teased. "Of course I was thinking I'd be in the picture; raising them, telling them right from wrong... though I was hoping someone else would be there to do diapers."
Heero grimaced.
Duo saw it and said, more seriously, "There's good and bad, Heero. You know that, right?"
Heero went very thoughtful and then he nodded gravely.
"So..." Duo stared at him, swallowed hard, and then said, "If that's okay with you, helping with diapers... and bad nights when they cry a lot... and... well, are you gonna be there?"
Heero's eyes came up and locked with Duo's. "Do you want me to be there?"
Duo shoved Heero roughly and grinned. "Who else, Bonehead?!"
Heero regained his balanced and smiled softly in return. "No one else," he replied firmly.
"No, " Duo agreed and leaned into Heero with other intentions. "No one else." Then he captured Heero's lips with his own.
TBC
On to Chapter Four
back to chapter Two