Relena made her way through the street; cheeks flushed from walking in the wintry chill. She paused at the corner and stroked her abdomen. ‘Soon, there will be a new addition to our family.’ A small smile worked up her face. Briefly, she wondered how Heero would take the news. ‘No doubt shocked and proud that someone’s gonna start calling him "otouchan" and you’ll both be changing dirty diapers,’ a voice mocked.
 
 

‘No, he would be ecstatic. Someone’s gonna start calling me "okaachan". And that will make me so happy,’ she thought to herself as she drove back to the mansion. She and Heero had been married for almost a year, but it was as if they were married only yesterday. They never grew tired of each other because they could discover new things about the other and all in all, it was a great experience.

**************************************************************************************

"Koishii, where have you been?" Heero dropped the newspaper he was reading and got up to meet his wife. Crossing the room in three long strides, he enclosed his wife in a hug.

Relena smiled and shook her head. "Hon, I was only gone for half an hour."

Her voice was muffled against the fabric of his shirt and he laughed. "You know what a worrywart I am, darling."
 
 

"Ano…Hon?" Heero stopped laughing just as he heard the troubled note in Relena’s voice. He nudged her chin up with his knuckles.

"Nani?" The laughter in his dark blue eyes vanished and was replaced with a deadly calm. Relena looked at her husband and took a deep breath.

"Heero, I have news for you. You’re going to be a father. Omedetou gozaimasu, koishii."
 
 

It seemed that nothing would be more deafening than the silence that filled the room. But it was suddenly broken by Heero’s ear-splitting yell. "YESSSS! Oh, I love you, I love you, I love you!" He picked up his shocked wife in his arms and spun her around the room in a crazy waltz. "YEAH! CALL OUT FOR SUSHI! BRING OUT THE SAKE," he roared at the top of his voice.

Relena giggled. "Na! Heero, I’m getting dizzy!"
 
 

Zechs and Noin came running down the long flight of stairs, wondering what the racket was about and they smiled as soon as they chanced on Heero. "What’s all the shouting about, Heero? You could wake up the dead from here to the colonies," Noin smirked.

Heero set his spouse on the carpeted floor and grinned what seemed to be the biggest grin in history. "Zechs, Noin, I’m gonna be a DAD!"
 
 

Lee Noel and Lillias Marie appeared from the top of the banister. " Heero ojisan! We heard that," Lee yelled. Lily looked at her brother. "Oniichan, are we gonna have a new playmate?"

"To be exact, Lily, an itoko!" Lee gleefully slid down the railing, followed by Lily and they joined those downstairs. Zechs patted his jubilant brother-in-law before picking up his daughter. " Heero ojichan, doeth thith mean we’ll be one big happy family?" (A.N: Lily still hasn’t grown out of her lisp, but she will…)
 
 

Heero smiled and kissed Relena’s cheek. "Hai, little mei. That we will always be."
 
 

MONTHS LATER…
 
 

"Heeerooooo!" Relena’s scream penetrated through the hospital walls. Heero stood up, frantic and out of breath. All his friends were there and they jumped up, alert as ever.

Wufei sniffed. "I dread knowing the fact that I will be undergoing all of this with Sally." Sally Po heard her husband and slapped his shoulder. THONK!

"Ow! What was that for?"

"At least you’re not the one giving birth! Be thankful that you’re practically a man."
 
 

Duo grimaced. "Heero, I think she needs you in there."

"Hell’s Breath! She’s in pain and I can’t seem to do anything for her," the Japanese cursed. Quatre laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. "You can go inside there and try to distract her, so she won’t think of the ~" Before Quatre could finish his sentence, Heero had dashed into the delivery room. Without another word, his colleagues sat down. Except for Duo, who pressed his ear to the closed door.
 
 

"Heeerooooo!"

"I’m here, koishii. Just take my hand." Relena looked into Heero’s eyes for a moment and then sat up, making him jerk away.

"MORPHINE! I want MORPHINE! Let me have some," she screamed again.

"But, honey. You know what morphine does ~"

He was interrupted by Relena’s terse reply. "Oh, bullshit! Shut up! I hate you! YOU did THIS to me!"

He winced at her words and the nurse laughed. "Don’t worry, sir. She’s not thinking clearly. It’s part of the birthing process."
 
 

"Alright, Relena. On the count of three, push as hard as you can."

Relena glared daggers at Heero. "How can you be so calm about all of this?! If it weren’t for you, I would never have looked like THIS! People lie to me and come up to me saying, ‘Your skin looks positively glowing, Relena-sama.’ Even you said that!"

Heero nodded patiently. "I know, koishii. I know."

"OH YEAH?! You don’t know a shit! How would you like to lug this around for nine months to put a glow on your skin?!"
 
 

Outside, Duo was doubling over in laughter and he gasped between giggles. "I…believe…this is…what they call…PARENTHOOD! Hahaha! Heeheehee! Hoohoohoo!"

The others couldn’t help but snicker along with the lively American. All tried to imagine what Heero was going through, in there with his wife. Quatre coughed and tried to put on his best serious face, only to fail miserably.
 
 

"I think we should try to specify the baby’s gender." The blond Arabian ran a hand through his hair and chuckled again. Silently, he thanked the scientists for selecting the animated Duo to be one of the pilots. He always succeeded in breaking the tensions they often felt, like now. They were still as agitated as the time when Cathrine had given birth to Leon and Carol.
 
 

Meanwhile, Heero was still inside the delivery room, trying to soothe his wife. He almost cried out along with Relena when she grabbed his hand and squeezed. HARD. "AAAAAHHHHH!" Heero heard a distant cracking and he knew that he would probably have a few broken fingers after his ordeal. He wiped away the beads of sweat gathering on his wife’s forehead and tried his best to smile reassuringly.
 
 

"Heero, don’t leave me," Relena whimpered.

"I won’t, koishii. Look, I see the head coming out so you have to push. One…two…three…PUSH!" "HEEERRROOO! AAAAGGGHHH!" A sobbing baby emerged and one of the other nurses caught it. Heero thought it was over but when he looked back at Relena, he almost fainted to see that her belly was still swelling. She smiled weakly.

"Heero, I think there’s another one coming..."

"Aa, no wonder you were looking like a whale for the last few months," he replied, teasingly. "Heero no baka…"
 
 

A few moments later, Heero came out. Everyone nearly fell from their seats as soon the Japanese emerged. He looked nothing like the man who ran into the delivery room minutes ago. He looked drawn, haggard and strands of his hair were sticking out in different directions. "Good news, people. I have, not one, but two babies. Fraternal twins."
 
 

Duo recovered from his bout of laughter and slapped his pal on the back. "You stud, you! A little carried away, weren’t ya?"

Everyone groaned at his cryptic remark. They knew what he meant.

"DUO!"

**************************************************************************************

"Fraternal twins?!" Zechs screeched on the videophone. Heero had contacted him after Relena had given birth. Noin smiled and then cast a puzzled glance at Heero’s bandaged hand. " Well, congratulations, Heero. Welcome to the club. You are now a parent. Hey, what happened to your hand?"
 
 

Heero grimaced, memories of his poor hand coming back to him. "Oh, this’ll be fine in a few weeks. Let me tell you, never underestimate a woman’s hidden strength, Zechs. Your imouto gave my hand a hard time."

Zechs raised an eyebrow and then laughed. "Well, good luck with the babies. What have you got to say?" Heero smiled and replied. "Ninmu kanryo."

**************************************************************************************

EPILOGUE:

"Okaachan! Otouchan!" Two pairs of hands began to shake Heero and Relena on the shoulders. Gently at first and then growing stronger along with the volume of little voices. "OKAACHAN! OTOUCHAN!" Heero and Relena were practically pushed off the bed by their children. "Okaachan! Otouchan! Wake up, already!"

Heero opened one eye. "Alright, you little ~" He failed to finish when he found himself gazing at a pair of angelic faces. Three-year-old AJ was an exact replica of him, except that he had his mother’s aquamarine eyes and a band of freckles scattered across his nose. Elena, his fraternal twin, looked like a smaller version of Relena, but she had his ocean blue eyes and hints of dark brown showed up on her head of sandy-blond hair.

"Honey, I don’t think you’ll ever learn how to scold them without melting at their sweet faces on sight," Relena sighed, propping her head up with one hand and cuddling AJ with her other arm.

AJ looked up at his mother. "Okaachan, Elena and I wanted to ask you and otouchan a favor." Heero and Relena braced themselves.

Elena nodded and looked up at Heero, imploringly. "Please, otouchan? Please?"

Heero kissed his daughter’s forehead. "What is it, koneko?"

The twins stood up and said in unison, " WE WANT ANOTHER PAIR OF BABY TWINS!"

Relena looked at her husband and Heero groaned, shaking his head. Sighing, they hustled their children out of the room, sweat-dropping.

As soon as the door closed, Heero picked up his wife and carried her to the bed. "I believe, it’s time to do some Math again, koishii."

"Mmhmm. And I’ll help you, darling," she laughed. Heero remained quiet for awhile. "Honey, why are you quiet and why the heck are you closing your eyes?"

He grinned. "I was counting my blessings, koishii."

In another room, AJ and Elena smiled and gave each other a high five. "SCORE!"

Author’s notes:

1) If you people are wondering about the Japanese terms in the story, I thought of leaving it that way to make it sound more authentic.

2) NO! NO! NO! Cathrine is not Trowa’s sister! I make myself clear. In one episode, Trowa develops a mild amnesia and Cathrine poses as his sister for awhile. That was the episode when Quatre was under the influence of the Zero System.

3) I am fond of ballroom dancing. I thought that Heero and Relena dancing to "POR UNA CABEZA" would be good because the music fits them both. Sorta’ like a James Bond/Carlos Santana kind of thing.

4) If you’re wondering how old Heero and Relena are in this fic, they’re in their twenties. Approximately twenty-five, I think.

5) Thanks to the following people:

-Cyril, my dear brother. For always encouraging me to finish this thing. (Kung hindi ka lang makulit, hindi ko ‘to natapos! TY! TY! TY!)

- Maebelle, Veroge, Gabbey, Arisa, Camille, Lauren, Eileen, Nezza and my other good friends. Thanks for putting up with me.

- Claire Kennedy and Co. Thanks for the inspiration and thanks for dedicating a webpage to the fans of non-yaoi and non-yuri.

6) AJ Lowe was the name given to Heero by his mentor, Aiden Lowe. It suits Heero’s son a lot better, and Elena is extracted from Relena.

7) There will be another fanfic I’ll be making and it’ll include the whole cast and their offspring. I haven’t been able to finish it, but with your persuasion, I just might be able to (Maybe what I need is some encouragement from the cast, themselves).
 

INDEX OF TERMS:
 

1) Hai-Yes

2) Iie- No

3) Otouchan- daddy

4) Okaachan- mommy

5) Oniisan- big brother

6) Ojisan/ ojichan- uncle

7) Mei- niece

8) Itoko- cousin

9) Imouto- little sister

10) Koishii- darling, beloved

11) Omedetou gozaimasu- Congratulations

12) Nani-what

13) Doushite-why

14) Koneko-kitten

15) Ano- similar to "Um…uh"

16) Mou- expression of annoyance

17) Ojousan- Little Missy

18) ~sama- an honorific term. For those higher in ranking.

19) ~chan- term of endearment

20) Arigatou- thank you

21) Aa-Oh

22) Sou da ne- That’s right

23) Demo- but/however

24) Damare- Shut up

25) Yamete- Stop it

26) Oi/ Na- Hey

27) Baka/Ahou- stupid, idiot (Be careful when you use these terms. They mean more than what they say.)

28) Aishiteru- I love you

29) ~kun- another term of endearment (The honorific and endearing terms always come after the person’s name. E.g.: Tanaka-sama, Ichiko-chan, etc)

30) Kirei- pretty, beautiful

31)…ne? -Isn’t it? / Right? / Alright?

32) Gomen nasai- please forgive me, I’m sorry

33) Omae wa korosu-Heero’s trademark quote (roughly translated, it means: " I will kill you.")

34) Ryoukai-Roger that (another quote from GW)

35) Ninmu kanryo- Mission accomplished/Mission acknowledged

36) Maa, maa- "Now, now…"

37) Sushi- a kind of delicacy in Japan

38) Sake- Japanese wine. It is very strong and is used in ceremonies

39) Domo arigatou- Thank you very much
 

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