AN: This is a collaboration with Melody at the Shooting Stars Collection. She's really into chibis (and who can blame her?), and she's written lots of really cute stories with the chibi pilots from GW in them. This is one of my contributions. It makes a little more sense if you've visited the gwg a lot, but it's amusing to read anyways. Enjoy!

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

Part 1: Accepting the Unexpected

Melody puttered around the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast. She loved the chibis, but they sure seemed to attract messes! Next time she asked John to cook for them, she would have to remember to specify 'No oatmeal'. She was busy wiping down the table and chairs, after finally getting the walls clean, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!!" an excited voice rang out and a braided chibi bounded down the stairs. Melody just shook her head and smiled as she heard Chibi Duo open the door and start talking to the visitor. After a few minutes of what sounded like a thrilling conversation, he entered the kitchen, tugging another familiar figure behind him.

"Look'it who came to visit!" he exclaimed, pointing to his older counterpart. The older Duo just grinned at her.

Melody gave him a searching look. "Well, it's nice to see you, Duo, but might I ask why the honor today? I thought you wanted to work on your Gundam this week."

The older Duo shrugged with an almost embarrassed grin. "Well, I thought I'd come by and say hi and all. Ya know, see how I'm doing and everything."

Melody raised an eyebrow at that. "So Du's on the warpath again, right?"

He laughed a bit nervously. "I wouldn't exactly call it that, but she wasn't too happy with the radio I installed in her car. I mean, she actually did ask me to install it, so I thought I'd add a few things while I was working on it. Granted, she can't pick up anything but AM right now, but I can fix that, if she'd just give me some time! She's really not in a good mood today, though, so I thought I should clear out for a while."

"Is that all?" she asked him, placing one hand on her hip.

"Well, now that you mention it, and ya know I hate to ask this, but you wouldn't happen to have a spare bed I could borrow for a few days, would ya?" He gave her his most charming smile with this question, while Chibi Duo stood uncharacteristically silent to one side with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Heero wouldn't let you borrow his safe house?"

He shook his head. "Naaa. He just laughed when I asked. Of course, that could be because he's rather annoyed with me for hotwiring his car a few weeks ago, but I can't be sure about that."

Melody rolled her eyes. She looked at the two Duos, each wearing an identical artfully innocent look. 'Two of them!' she thought to herself. 'But I just can't say no.' She sighed as she said, "You can sleep on the sofa for a few days. But I'll need you to help out around the here."

"No problem! What ya got that needs fixing?" he asked happily.

"No, there's nothing that needs fixing!" she said quickly, wanting to head off that train of thought. Not that Duo wasn't good at fixing things; in fact, he was very good at working with machines. But his desire to upgrade things sometimes caused disasters. She didn't want to lose the use of the furnace, or some other necessity, for any length of time, no matter how good his intentions were. "However, you can give me a hand by watching the chibis. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh sure! Hey, if I can raise myself, the others can't be that bad!"

Melody just smiled knowingly as Chibi Duo started jumping up and down excitedly; he very likely would have burst into flames if he had been quiet for any longer. She made a mental note of the date; this was probably a new record for the usually exhuberiant chibi.

"C'mon, I'll show ya the Nurs'ry! You'll love it 'cause it's in black and it's really cool!"

Duo grinned and allowed himself to be steered away. "Sounds neat, little dude. Let's see what's up there!" The two headed upstairs, talking rapidly to each other. Melody just shook her head again. This was going to be an interesting couple of days.

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

Part 2: The Rules

Duo followed his younger counterpart upstairs, adding appropriate sounds of exciment in response to the younger Duo's conversation. He had been a bit concerned that Melody might not have let him stay, but he was glad he was wrong. He could've afforded a nice hotel room, but he had gotten used to staying with people. Besides, he had a feeling that there were great times to be had for the next couple of days.

"...and that down there's Treize's room an’ that’s Miliardo’s room, and Relena's room's 'cross from ours. But she can't come in wifout our premission, so you don't hafta worry 'bout her comin' in! And then Melody 'n John's room's at the end of the hall, and so's Tegan’s!"

"So where are the other chibis?"

"They're in the Nurs'ry! We was playing robots 'fore ya came by!"

At this point, they had reached the nursery, and Chibi Duo bounded inside. "Hey, look'it who gets ta stay with us!" The other chibis looked up at this, and there was a general round of hellos. "So why're ya stayin' here?" Chibi Quatre asked him.

"Well, it's a long story. But I figured this would be a fun place to stay for a few days!"

Chibi Duo nodded at that. "We have lotsa fun! But ya gotta follow the Rules!"

Duo dropped his pack at the door and joined the other chibis in sitting on the floor. "OK, so what's the house rules, little dude?"

"No fightin'! That's a big one," Chibi Duo said.

"An' no name callin' either," Chibi Wufei supplied. "'Specially where Melody can hear."

"An' ya can't threaten nobody neither," said Chibi Heero. "Not even Relena!"

Duo laughed. "Well, you'll just have to save up then." He grinned. "So what ya'll up to?"

"We got some new mod'ls at th' store an' we're puttin' 'em together!" Chibi Duo brought his over to him and showed him. "I'm almos' done with mine, but it's only a snap mod'l. Melody won't let me get a glue one anymore."

"Why's that?"

"’Cause last time I had one, I ackadently glued th' newspaper to th' floor."

Duo nodded. "That makes sense."

"What’cha gonna do with your extra parts?" Chibi Quatre asked.

"Well, I dunno where they go, so I guess I'll stick 'em in my drawer."

"Oh, you just gotta improvise!" Duo grinned. "After all, a lot of things I put together don't have instructions. You gotta be creative!"

"I gots some extra parts too," Quatre said. "Can you help us?"

"Sure!" Duo said, grinning. "Heck, half the fun of puttin' stuff together is finding out where all the pieces go. Let's see what ya got!"

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

Part 3: Two of a Kind

A few hours later, Melody came upstairs to see how things were going. John was standing at the doorway of the Nursery, looking rather perplexed. She slipped in beside him and found Duo and Chibi Duo sitting together talking in one corner of the room, and the other chibis, including Relena, were watching with wide eyes.

"...an' then I said I would..."
"Really? I would've too, man. It's like when you..."
"Yeah! Just like that! That's when I..."
"Well that probably wasn't..."
"I know, that's what Melody said too an' then she said..."
"Well, she's right about that. Ya gotta learn some..."
"She said that too! But s'ok 'cause I won!"
"Yeah, but didn't you get into..."
"Yeah, but s'ok too cause I earned it!"

Duo and his younger self were talking very quickly to each other, each seeming able to finish the other's sentences and continue on. Melody was a bit startled at that; she felt a small tug on her hand. She looked down into Quatre's blue eyes, which seemed much larger than normal. "How'd Duo learn t' read minds?" he whispered urgently. She noticed the other chibis looking at her now, wondering the same thing. She smiled down at Quatre and then waved the other chibis over to her. "They're not really reading each other's minds. Since they're the same person, they think alike. So they can usually guess what the other is going to say."

"Ohhhhh," all the chibis replied, even though they weren't sure they understood. But as long as Melody wasn't worried about it, they figured it wasn't bad. She gave them each a hug and left them to watch the two Duos’ rapid conversation.

She and John left the room quietly, although they did leave the door open. "You know, it really is uncanny," John commented.

She nodded. "But at least they're keeping busy and out of trouble, as well as keeping the others occupied!"

He laughed. "That's just fine with me!"

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

Part 4: Gourmet's Delight

Later that evening the household was sitting around the table enjoying dinner. Several 'modified' Gundam models were lined up in the middle of the table as a centerpiece, including one with legs instead of arms.

"Did'ya see mine, Melody?" Chibi Duo exclaimed proudly, pointing to one with a hand sticking out of its chest.

"Yes, I saw it. It's definitely...unique," she replied with a patient smile. "Now, why don't you work on finishing your dinner?"

"Yes'm. But I don't know what it is."

"I wouldn't let that bother ya, little dude," Duo responded. "I've never made Chicken Alfredo without chicken before, but it came out pretty good." He had already polished off one helping himself and was cheerfully attacking a second.

"Yeah, but I still wanna know what it's got in it. What if it's something really gross?"

"Like what?" Chibi Trowa asked.

"I dunno. But it's got squishy bits, like worms!"

Over the chorus of 'Ewww's from the rest of the chibis, Melody fixed Chibi Duo with a stern look. "That's not appropriate table talk, young man."

"I'm sorry. But I was just wonderin'."

Duo grinned at that. "Nothing to worry 'bout--those're just eyeballs."

"Eyeballs??" All the chibis immediately took to poking the tofu, except for Relena, who eyed her plate apprehensively. Duo reached over and patted her hand. "Don't worry, Relena," he reassured her. "I cooked yours separately. You got tofu in yours.

"OK!" Relena resumed eating, glad that there was nothing gross about her meal.

Melody just sighed and closed her eyes. John reached over and patted her hand. "Don't worry about it," he said reassuringly. "They do seem to be enjoying it." He indicated the five little pilots, carefully chewing up their dinners.

Tegan laughed. "They’re just being boys, Mom."

Melody shook her head. "I guess so." Just then, Miliardo tugged on her sleeve. She leaned over to listen to him whisper, "That's not really eyeballs, is it?"

She smiled at him. "No," she answered. "It really is tofu."

"Oh." He and Treize resumed eating, looking slightly disappointed.

Melody sighed again. As much as she loved Duo's cooking, she wasn't sure she wanted to let him cook again!

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

Part 5: Bedtime Stories Galore

After dinner and a rousing game of 'Who Done It?', Melody glanced at the clock and uttered the two words that were a bane to little ones the world over: "Bed time!"

"Awwww!" The normal chorus of chibi voices greeted her announcement and six little forms solemnly made their way up the stairs. They knew better than to argue.

"I'll tell ya what, guys." Duo grinned up at them. "If ya'll can get in your jammies and all ready for bed in 15 minutes, I'll tell ya a special bedtime story!"

The chibis lit up at this promise and thundered upstairs.

"No running in the house!" Melody fruitlessly reminded them, and then turned a stern look on Duo. He shrugged and gave her his most disarming smile. "They must've forgotten to tell me that one."

"Riiight." Melody just rolled her eyes at that. Above, they could hear the shuffling of little bodies as the chibis hurried to get ready for bed. After a few minutes, the noises subsided, and a voice piped down from above: "We're all brush'd up, Duo!"

Duo winked at Melody as he headed upstairs; she was stifling a grin as she shook her head in exasperation. He couldn’t help it if the chibis were a bit…rambunctious. He poked his head into the Nursery and was surprised to see all the boys sitting up in bed in their animal pajamas, an expectant look on each little face. “A cow, a bunny, another cow, a duck and another bunny,” he thought. He smothered a grin before the chibis could see it. “Where’s Relena?” he asked instead, pulling the chair out from under the desk, straddling it and leaning his arms on its back.

"She's in her room," Chibi Heero replied, with almost a look of relief.

"Well, why don't ya'll ask her in? After all, I promised her she could hear the story too, and you should always keep your promises!"

"Even to girls?" Chibi Duo queried.

Duo nodded. "Yep--even to girls!"

The five chibis looked at each other. After a moment, Chibi Duo spoke up. "Heero, you should go get her. She likes you!"

Heero simply fixed him with his Smoldering Glare. "I'm not gonna do that. She'll wanna sit with me!"

Before the argument could get any further, Duo cut in. "Quatre, why don't you go get her?" As he watched the little bunny get out of his bed, he fought down another grin at the jammies that Melody had bought them. He wondered what animal Relena would be dressed as.

"OK," Chibi Quatre answered, and padded across the hall, his bunny ears flapping, to knock on Relena's door. "Relena? You wanna come ‘n listen to the story?"

Relena opened the door a crack and looked out across the hall. "Can I really?" she asked, her eyes hopeful.

Quatre nodded. "Yep! We all 'greed, so you can come in!"

Relena's smile lit up her face and she scampered across the hall. Duo was not disappointed when she came into the room in her lamby jammies and settled on the edge of Heero's bed. Heero threw Duo a long-suffering look as she did so, trying to ignore Chibi Duo's snickering.

The rest of the chibis settled down, fixing Duo with excited expressions.

"What'cha gonna read t' us?" asked Trowa, noticing that there wasn't a book anywhere near Duo.

"I'm not gonna read--I'll just tell stories that I know from memory," Duo answered. "I know tons of great stories! Even some good poems, like the first one I've got for ya."

"Oh, goody!" Relena enthused. "I like poemetry! So does Heero--don't 'cha, sweetie?" She slipped her arm through his and clung to his side, laying her head on his shoulder. One of the ears on the hood of her lamby jammies tickled his cheek, and he brushed it away, trying his best to ignore her. She didn't get the hint, however, just moved a little bit so that she was more comfortable. Heero decided not to say anything to her about being annoying because Melody had told them to behave especially well because they had a guest, so he didn't dare. But he made a mental note to remind her about how annoying she was after Duo went back home.

Duo gave a severe look to those who giggled at what Relena had said and the room suddenly went silent. Then the stories began.

Duo was in his element--he had an audience. He entertained them all with his own renditions of his favorite stories, adding the appropriate sound effects when necessary. After he regaled them with several of his favorite tales, he personally escorted Relena back to her room and tucked her in. He left the lamp on and made sure that he didn't close the door any farther than she had insisted it be kept open. He thought she looked a bit on the sick side, but decided that it was the lamplight that made her look so pale. He then said goodnight to the boys and went downstairs, where he saw that Melody had his bedding all ready for him. He didn't normally go to bed so early, but supervising such active little ones had worn him out! "How does Melody keep up with them day after day after day?" he wondered as he settled in for the night, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

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

Part 6: Imaginations Running Wild

Quatre was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling with the blankets pulled up to his nose to provide as much coverage as possible, his heart thumping in his chest. He was listening. "Guys??" he said timidly. "I can hear it! Can you?"

"W-what?" Chibi Duo asked nervously. "Did you hear that bird??" He was shaking and pale and had nearly covered his whole head with the blanket.

"N-no--listen!" Quatre replied, and they stayed very still, listening.

The wind began to howl as the predicted storm arrived. "Squeak! Squeak!" they heard as the wind put the porch swing in motion, but they didn't recognize what was causing it. There was a thudding sound as well when it crashed into the house from the force of the storm. They were trying to be brave, each one not wanting the others to know he was scared, but when they heard the front door close with a bang their fear overtook them.

"Save me, Heero!" Relena cried as she opened the door just as they were trying to open it and she collided with them. Everyone staggered to keep their balance. She quickly looked to see which cow was Heero and then grabbed onto his arm with a death grip that was very probably preventing necessary blood flow. For once, Heero didn't comment, he simply led the way as they ran down the hallway, down the stairs, and went straight to the living room. With one collective leap, they all jumped on the couch where Duo was sleeping.

"Huh? Whaa? Giant doughnuts?" Duo said sleepily, disoriented by being jolted awake in such a fashion. "What's the matter guys?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eyes.

"I heared it! I heared it!" Quatre cried.

"Keep it down," Wufei whispered harshly. "You don't want it to hear you, do you?"

Quatre bit his lip and shook his head.

"Hey, can you give a guy a little room here?" Duo said with a bit of frustration in his voice as he struggled to turn over under the blanket that was pinned down by six shaky little bodies. Everyone moved just enough so that Duo could sit up, but none of them had any intention of actually getting off the couch. "I still can't reach the lamp. Can one of you get it for me?" Duo asked after trying his best to reach the switch.

"NO!" they answered in one voice.

"Then it'll find us!" Heero explained, his normal monotone gone.

"We're better off if it's dark," Trowa solemnly informed him.

The front door slammed again and there were screams all around.

Melody appeared in the doorway after a moment, dripping water. "Now, what’s going on here?" she asked them as put down her soggy grocery bag and removed her raincoat. "You guys let Duo sleep. You can see him in the morning."

"Oh, Melody!" Relena cried as she ran to her webmommie for comfort. "You're so brave! How did you get in without it seeing you??"

Melody flipped the wall switch and the lamps on the end tables chased away the darkness.

"Don't do that!" the chibis all cried, running to the wall to turn them off.

"Where's John?" asked Wufei. "Did he go to bed early?"

"Nooo," Melody said warily. "He's closing the garage."

"What's taking him so long?"

"I have no idea."

"It gotted him! It gotted him for sure!" Chibi Quatre wailed, his bunny ears flapping in the shadow from the street lamp.

"We gotta save him then," Wufei stated boldly, trying to look brave.

Melody switched the light back on, causing all the chibis to latch onto her.

"Duo, what's this about? Do you know?" Melody asked as the life was being squeezed out of her.

"I dunno," Duo said, scratching his head and looking puzzled, still trying to wake up enough to make an educated guess.

The front door opened and the storm blew John in. At the sound of the screaming that followed, John quickly joined Melody in the living room, where he was hugged by all of the panic-stricken chibis.

"You're not dead!" little Quatre exclaimed with joyful wonder as he clung to his webdaddy's leg, his round blue eyes brimming with happy tears.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Dunno," Duo answered. "If you find out you can tell me."

Melody was able to breathe normally now, so she bent down to ask them what this was all about.

"Isn't John the Bravest?" Relena stated proudly.

"What are you frightened of?"

"We heared it!" Chibi Duo answered.

"Heard what?"

"The bird!" said Wufei.

"An' the heart too!" exclaimed Chibi Quatre.

"An' the chain from the penulum," Chibi Trowa added darkly. "I heared it loud 'n clear when the storm came."

Melody looked at Duo but she spoke to the chibis. "Does this have anything to do with your bedtime story?"

"Uh huh! Uh huh!" Relena replied excitedly as she bounced up and down as much as she could without letting go of John.

"What story did he tell you?"

"Well, there was a poemetry 'bout a bird," answered Relena. "It was scary. It kep' quoth-ing, 'Neveranymore'."

"An’ he told us 'bout the 'Tattletale Heart'," Quatre supplied, his eyes as big as saucers.

"An’ the one 'bout the penulum swingin' on a chain, slowly an' slowly!" Wufei added, his black eyes wide with terror as he remembered hearing the chain.

"But Heero pertected me!" Relena announced proudly. "He's my hero!"

"Dear, why don't you take them upstairs and put them back to bed?" Melody suggested to John. There was a bit of protesting but they went willingly when they were assured that the Maguanacs were keeping watch over the house as they did every night. That always made them feel safe.

As the chibis scurried up the stairs, Melody sat down on the couch with an exasperated sigh. Duo was scrunched up at the other end with the blanket still draped over his knees.

"Duo," Melody said with forced patience in her voice, "The 'Tales of Poe' are not exactly appropriate bedtime stories for children their age."

Duo looked over at her, still not completely awake. "They aren't? Why not?"

"Well, you saw how scared they were."

"Oh." Duo paused a moment. "Too bloody?"

Melody sighed again, covering her eyes with one hand. "Just do me a favor, OK?"

"Um, sure. What is it?"

"Next time you tell them a bedtime story, please clear it with me first. Okay?"

Duo shrugged. He didn't see the problem with Poe, who happened to be one of his favorite authors, but he did want to help. "No problem, Melody!" He gave her a bright smile to reassure her, one she wasn't taken in by.

"One of these days, Duo Maxwell, you're going to have kids. Then you'll know what I'm talking about." She smiled sweetly at him and wished him good night. Not that she didn't think he'd make a good father, but he still had quite a lot to learn about raising little ones!

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

Part 8: The Last Straw

Melody tied the belt of her pink quilted bathrobe snugly around her waist as she went down the hallway. She wanted to be up earlier than everybody else so that she could supervise the chibis while they helped Duo cook breakfast. After dinner he had asked if he could make breakfast the next morning with such a winning smile and big blue puppy dog eyes that she just couldn’t say no. However, as she walked down the stairs she could hear that the kitchen was already full of little helpers for the enthusiastic-but-unconventional cook. Melody sighed; she’d been sure that Duo would have slept later.

Melody entered the kitchen with not unwarranted fear and trepidation. She saw Duo helping Trowa to put the right amount of batter in the waffle iron but there was something wrong with the batter. She looked at the stack of waffles on a plate next to the waffle iron and couldn’t believe her eyes—they were green!

“Good morning!” Duo greeted her with a grin and the chibis did the same. Melody returned the greeting, minus the smile, speaking louder than normal to be heard over the din.

Quatre tugged on her soft pink sleeve. “We’re havin’ green eggs ‘n Wham!, jus’ like in the book but it’s vegetablearian ‘stead!” he proudly announced as he took the slices of bread from the toaster and started spreading a more than generous amount of butter on each one. “Wasn’t that a great idea?”

“But Duo says that we can’t make green toast ‘cause it wouldn’t work an’ would just make it all soggy,” Wufei added, yanking the stubborn refrigerator door open to get the jelly.

Relena was on a chair watching the scrambled eggs for Duo while he helped Trowa. Melody could see from where she stood that they were green as well. Miliardo lifted something out of the other frying pan with a fork and turned it over; she saw that in that pan were the slices of Wham, a vegetarian ham substitute, which was not its normal color either.

“Hey! It looks like mud! Well, kinda,” Chibi Duo announced delightfully as he stirred the contents of a large pitcher while Heero squeezed the last few drops of the food coloring into it. They had used the rest of the small bottle of food coloring to see if it would turn green if they used just a little more.

Duo wiped his hands on a towel and went to look at the strange brown liquid. “That looks great! But I told ya it wouldn’t turn green.”

“What is it?” Melody asked dubiously, crossing the room to get a closer look.

“It’s orange juice, a course,” Heero answered in disbelief. “You shoulda guessed that ‘cause you make us drink it every mornin’.”

Relena climbed onto a chair at the table to get a good look at the unappetizing-looking juice. “I’m not drinkin’ that!,” she declared. “An’ nobody can make me!”

Melody watched Treize remove the lid of the saucepan on the back burner, fearing that her suspicions about its contents would be correct, and they were — it was green oatmeal. She’d forgotten to tell Duo not to give them oatmeal because it was just asking for trouble.

“We’re just about done so take a seat,” Duo said happily.

“Why is everything green?” Melody asked.

“’Cause Duo says it’s funner that way,” Quatre answered, setting the plate of toast in the middle of the table.

The meal was surprisingly uneventful, except that Melody could not persuade Relena that it was only orange juice in the pitcher and there was absolutely no mud in it. However, she could hardly blame her for not wanting to drink it because it really did look disgusting.

When everyone was finished with their ‘funner’ meal, Melody unwisely decided to leave the cleaning up to Duo and the chibis. She was hardly out of the room when she heard Duo and Chibi Duo simultaneously shout, “FOOD FIGHT!”

The oatmeal was soon flying.

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

Part 9: SOS!

Melody dove for the telephone, to call the only person that could save the tattered shards of her sanity -- Dubird.

“…and not only did he scare them practically to death with his “Tales of Poe” bedtime stories, but they made green eggs ‘n Wham for breakfast with brown orange juice and green oatmeal. Now they’re having a food fight, which both Duos started. You’ve got to come and get him!" Melody's voice over the phone worried Dubird a bit. She sounded as if she was at the end of her rope, something that she hadn't heard before. "It's OK, Melody. Calm down. You said Duo made his way over to ya'll's house?"

"Yes. He agreed to help out with the chibis in return for sleeping on our couch for a few days."

Dubird briefly rubbed her eyes in exasperation with Duo. She had been wondering where he had disappeared to after trying, and failing, to fix the radio in her car. "I'm sorry, Melody. It's probably my fault for yelling at him. I know he means well, but you'd think after a while he'd learn to keep his hands off my stuff." She paused a moment at another thought. "He hasn't tried to fix anything, has he??" she asked, a bit alarmed.

"No, I put my foot down on that first thing!" Wise move, Dubird thought to herself. Apparently, Melody remembered him trying to fix the computer the site was housed on too. "I thought he could help out watching the chibis for a few days, which would give me a chance to work on some stuff around the house. But after yesterday and today, I'm honestly amazed he survived his childhood!"

Dubird nodded. "I know what you mean. I'm sometimes amazed that he hasn't blown himself up. Though, he's usually more careful with explosive things than with simple mechanics."

"I hope he doesn't find Chibi Heero's beam saber then!" Melody exclaimed.

"Well, even if he does, he does know better than to have dangerous weapons around little kids."

"Oh, really?" Melody didn't sound at all comforted by that.

"Well, he does take great care to lock everything up when the chibis come by to visit. I'd say you only have to worry about him trying to fix, or rather, upgrade something."

A crash sounded over the phone, interrupting the conversation. "Oh, I've got more to worry about than that! I've got to go see what that was!"

"I'll be by as soon as I can. Just hang on, the cavalry's on the way!" She wasn't sure her friend heard that, though, as Melody's voice was already demanding to know what happened as she hung the phone up. Quatre looked up from the computer as she gathered up her car keys. "What was that about?" he asked.

"That was Melody. She's found Duo."

"And you're on the way to rescue her?" he replied, knowing Duo's unintentional tendency to get in trouble as well as she did.

"Yeah. I think putting him together with the rest of the chibis over there was defiantly an accident waiting to happen! If I had known he'd make his way over there, I never would have yelled at him," she sighed, shrugging into her coat.

Quatre picked up his coat as well. "He does have to learn to leave your stuff alone," he reminded her, following her out the door.

She nodded as she unlocked her car. "Yeah. But we're really going to have to make it up to Melody for this! She hasn't done anything to be burdened with an extra chibi!"

"Duo's not exactly the age to be qualified as a chibi," he answered, snapping his seatbelt shut.

Dubird simply started the car and headed out the driveway. "I'm not talking about his age. I'm talking about the fact that he loves kids, and he feels the best way to relate to them is to play with them. And we both know what kind of trouble that leads to!"

Quatre laughed. "I think I know what you mean!"

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

Part 9: The Rescue

Melody sighed as she put the last dish away in the cabinet. Duo had helped clean the oatmeal off of everything, but after that she had sent him and the other chibis outside. She hoped that they would run off their excess energy in the back yard, away from most breakable things. Fortunately, only two plates had broken during the impromptu food fight after breakfast. She had gotten off the phone and come back into the kitchen to find all the chibis innocently helping carry dishes to the sink, and Duo picking up the remains of the two plates that had 'fallen off the table', as he put it. She noticed he was careful not to let any of the chibis near where the plate pieces were, telling them to stay out of the way so they didn't get hurt. He had also apologized for the mess, but the mischievous glint in his eyes told her that while he really was sorry for breaking the plates and causing a mess, he'd probably have done the same thing again, even if he had known what would happen. That's when she sent them all to play in the back yard.

She glanced out the window to see all the chibis, including Treize and Millardo, tackle Duo, and the ensuing tickle-fest made her smile briefly. The eight of them were obviously having a great deal of fun, and she almost wished he was staying a bit longer. She looked around to the leftover green oatmeal sitting on the counter, and stressed the 'almost' in her mind. The doorbell ringing broke her free of her thoughts, and she hurried to the front door.

She opened the door to reveal a rather apologetic Dubird standing on the front step, and the older Quatre a step behind her. She impulsively grabbed the two of them in the same hug. "Thank goodness you two are here!" she exclaimed at the same time.

Dubird patted her arm comfortingly, and extracted herself from the rather suffocating hug. "Sorry it took so long. Traffic at this time of the morning is pretty bad." The two of them followed Melody into the house. "So, where is our wandering chibi?" she asked.

Melody blinked at that, and then returned her look with one of perfect understanding. "They're all out back playing," she answered, leading the way. "I was hoping they'd wear each other out before too long!"

Quatre grinned at that. "Duo didn't have coffee this morning, did he?"

Melody shook her head. She leaned forward a bit and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I hid the coffee last night," she confessed, a bit sheepishly.

He winked at her conspiratly. "I've done that on occasion myself."

Dubird only laughed and headed out to the backyard. The tickle-fest was still going on, with all the chibis on one side, and Duo on the other. "So there you are!" she announced, crossing her arms over her chest. Duo grinned nervously at her, keeping the chibis between them.

"Hey, Du!" Chibi Duo ran over to give her a hug, followed by Chibi Quatre. "What'ya doin' here?"

"Well, I'm here to pick up Duo," she answered after administering the proper hugs.

All the chibis joined in the chorus of sad "Awww!" that her announcement provoked. "Does he really gotta go?" Chibi Relena asked her, her little face unusually serious.

Dubird nodded. "Yeah, he's really gotta go. But don't worry, he'll come back to visit someday!" She fixed Duo with a stern look. "After he finishes fixing my radio."

Chibi Duo tugged on her jeans to get her attention. "He's not in trouble, is he?" he asked, remembering Duo's comments yesterday morning. "He's been real good helpin' us and fixin' dinner and he made a good breakfast this morning too!" The other chibis nodded at this, and collected around Duo protectively. "We don't want him to go if he's gonna be in trouble! He can stay here and look after us! And he can sleep in the treehouse, and make breakfast for us every morning!"

Melody groaned softly under her breath at that comment. "Not in my house!" she shouted inside her head as Quatre slipped a supportive arm around her shoulders. Dubird simply shook her head. "Don't worry, guys. He'll be fine. I'm not kicking him out or anything! He just needs to finish my radio, that's all."

The chibis reluctantly parted ranks and let Duo through.

He tried his most disarming smile on Du as he headed for the door. "I'll go get my stuff, then." She simply raised an eyebrow, not fooled for a moment. He smiled at Melody as well, who simply smiled back, carefully hiding her relief. They all followed Duo back inside the house, the tickle-fest having come to a rather sad ending.

As they reached the back porch, Chibi Quatre tugged on his older counterpart's pant leg. "He's really not in trouble, is he?" Chibi Quatre's blue eyes seemed much bigger in his concern, and Quatre reached down to give him a hug.

"He's really not in trouble," he reassured his younger self.

Chibi Quatre heaved a sigh of relief, and scampered after the other chibis to help Duo pack.

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

Part 10: Farewell

Several of the chibis “helped” Duo carry his duffle to the front door by holding onto the straps and making moving forward generally more difficult for Duo, but he didn’t mind. He was sorry to have to leave the chibis so soon because he enjoyed spending time with them. In a way, it was sort of like living the childhood that he had lost whenever he had a chance to see them, but he kept that thought to himself.

“Well, guys, I gotta go now,” Duo told the little ones as he crouched down and held out his arms to give the chibis a big group hug. Then Heero whispered loudly in his ear,” Did ya find it?”

Duo smiled and slyly winked at Melody in such a way that the chibis wouldn’t see him do it. “Nope,” he whispered back, with a serious expression on his face. “Didn’t get enough time.”

Heero looked disappointed. “Maybe next time, huh?” he said hopefully.

“Maybe.”

Duo grinned at his expression. He had never seen little Heero look so happy—he had almost smiled! Melody only sighed. She knew exactly what Heero was looking for, and was glad that Duo was never really going to look very hard for it.

Chibi Duo stood directly in front of his older self and tugged on his pants leg. “You're commin' back, right?" he asked, his baby blue eyes wide and innocent.

"Of course I am, little dude! How bout next time I come we can..."
"Yeah! An’ then we can..“
“Yep, we sure will, little buddy. And then we can all go to...“
“Really?! We’ve never been there ‘fore but we always...“
“I think she’ll think you’re old enough now. That is if you guys don’t ever do...“
“I know,” Chibi Duo answered sheepishly. “We really got in trouble for that one. But we promised...“
“And you always gotta keep your promises, right?” Duo reminded him.
“Right,” Chibi Duo answered, “’Even to girls’—but ‘specially for our webmommie.”

“You’re gonna come back soon, right?” Chibi Relena asked with a wobbling chin and sad crystal blue eyes.

“Sure will,” Duo said brightly, which made her smile. “Just as soon as I finish with Du’s radio.” He looked at Du, who smiled in spite of herself. He turned to Melody. “Thanks for puttin’ up with me,” he said sincerely with such a look of innocence in his eyes that made Melody almost, but not quite, forget the chaotic events of the past 24 hours. She reached out and gave him a hug to let him know there were no hard feelings. "Next time, though, call us in advance. Please?" She returned his look of innocence with a wide-eyed stare that only moms can pull off, and he grinned a little sheepishly at her.

"Sure, yeah. No problem!" With that said, he shouldered his bag and sauntured out after Du and Quatre, waving goodbye. The chibis gathered around Melody on the step to wave goodbye as they drove off. When the car was out of sight, she felt a tug on her hand, and knelt down to look Chibi Duo in the eyes.

"Nex' time, can we invite him to stay a whole week? So you can take 'nother v'cation?"

~Fin~