CHAPTER II- The Fairy Tale

Heero regarded the girl dispassionately, "What do you want to do?"

He could not handle children. He was a 'do not speak to me unless you passed the age of consent' sort of person. Relena had told him that she was considering Sidra as her child, and that he was not obligated to support her.

Heero knew he could not handle children of his own. What would the child say at school? He could imagine it already:

"And what does your daddy do?"

"He killed people! Lots of them! Now he tries to forget!"

Sidra smiled at him and climbed up onto his lap, and Heero was afraid to breathe, in case he scared her off, "We could play horsey!"

"Horsey?" he said impassively, as if he was considering a new mission.

Heero was not acquainted with childhood games.

"It's easy!" She climbed off of his lap and he felt as if a gift was being stolen from him. She took his hand in hers and dragged him to the cluttered floor, "You get on all fours- yes, just like that, and pretend to be my horse!"

"Oh no! We are not doing this!" He reared up but she was already on his back, giggling hard.

"Yee-hah!" She looked down at him expectantly, "Well? Giddyup!"

"I refuse to-"

She hugged his neck, "Pretty please?"

Fifty, no, one hundred mobile suits- no mobile dolls. He'd rather face one hundred mobile dolls than the one child who knew exactly which string to pull to make him her complete puppet.

Just like her mother!

"Fine." Stiffly, as if being jerked around, Heero circled the room.

"Can't you buck or jump or something?!"

"NO."

"Oh."

Finally, even Heero Yuy had had enough. "Sidra, I have work to do."

"Like mommy?" she asked softly.

"Yes." He put her down guiltily, "Look, you can color on that paper over there while I work."

She squealed cheerfully and stole pens from Heero's desk. The retired soldier sighed and began his work.

--FIVE MINUTES LATER--

"So, what do you do?" The coloring idea had been abandoned.

"I find stuff."

"Really?"

"Things people lost during the war, relatives, personal property that had been looted- that kind of thing."

"I see," Sidra said, meaning that she didn't.

"Look," he replied, "In this case, a man and his daughter got separated during the Eve Wars. They couldn't trace each other, so they've been living apart. I've just found the man's daughter. Now they can be reunited."

"Oh!" the little girl replied. Eagerly, she climbed into Heero's lap and stopped him from typing.

Visions of shouting several angry swear words danced in his head.

"Could you find someone for me?"

"Who?" he asked.

She grinned, "My daddy! It would make mom really happy," she said urgently. She paused and then added, "and me of course. I'll pay you. I have three credits in my piggy bank!"

A strange look flitted across her caretaker's face, and he put her down.

"I have work to do, Sidra."

"Can I read you my storybook?"

"No."

"Can I play with your hair?"

"NO."

"Can I call mommy?"

"NO!" Heero spun around, looking the six year old straight in the eye, "Your mother is working right now, she can't be disturbed."

"I will disturb her if you don't tell me a story!"

"Story?"

She sighed maturely and rolled her head, a mannerism she had stolen from her mother, "It obviously my naptime and I can't sleep without a story!"

"Fine." Heero really didn't have any other options.

He could not afford a ticket to L2 (for his financial situation was far worse than Duo's, seeing as he was liable to spend spare money one electronic gizmos and skip work to watch Relena when she visited colony L1). He could not return Sidra, because that would mean encountering Relena; and could not phone Relena and tell her what was happening for exactly the same reason. And finally, he could not call any of the other Gundam pilots because they were all such big gossips, that the news was sure to get back to (you guessed it) Relena.

Duo had, quite literally, tied his hands with gundamium handcuffs.

He would simply appease the child for the one week and then leave her in Relena's exit shuttle for her to find.

"What do you want to hear?"

She smiled up at him. "Something true."

His mind spiraled backwards, not slowly or carefully, as one does when remembering, but intensely and suddenly, in what can only be described as a 'flashback.'

She held out his hand to him, and he warned her about the lack of protection.

"Relena," he said, "I cannot be a father right now, or ever. I'm not good enough. We need to protect-"

"Shush, you have my official word that I will raise any resulting children from this association as mine and mine solely, no strings attached." She was so no-nonsense about the whole thing, that he had to kiss her to diffuse the tension- which, of course, diffused into something else entirely.

They were careful after that one night, but nothing is perfect. Nothing is entirely foolproof. Perhaps, even, that one night had been enough.

Heero jolted back to reality, "Well, first you'll have to get into bed."

She crinkled her nose at the sheets of his bed, so he laid her down on the broken couch, carefully feeling beneath for broken springs. Then, with the efficiency that made him well known, he spread a blanket over her. She sighed and snuggled deeper into the warmth.

"Something true?" he confirmed.

"Yes."

"Once upon a time, a horrible war was tearing two races apart. You see, one of them lived bound to a small little world, and that made them beautiful, delicate creatures. The others lived far away in space, and looked very, very different. They lived apart for so long, that they had forgotten one small, little secret."

"What?" Sidra asked daringly.

"That they all had come from the same mother in the beginning," Heero looked over at the child distractedly, "I'm not boring you, am I?"

"Go on!"

"One day, a warrior from the space-faring people and a princess from that planet fell in love. Together, they destroyed the differences that drove their people apart and dissolved fighting. The End."

Heero's idea of a story was straightforward and to the point. He tried to stand up, but Sidra grabbed his sleeve, "What happened to the princess and the warrior?"

He looked down at her sadly, "It didn't work out. They decided that they could lead better lives apart."

Sidra shook her head angrily, "Well then, I'm changing the ending! I say they lived happily ever after."

Heero unwrapped her fingers and stood up, "Sleep well."

Soon, the child was fast asleep.