Here's part one.

	$And here we go...

 Second part should be out either tomorrow or Saturday. And
apologies in advance to Kichigai, who seems to know me better than I
know
myself.

	$Ah.  Knew you couldn't resist a few more fourth wall jokes.

 If you read the teaser, just skip to the new part. No major changes.

	$And such...  <snip>


Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The tantalizing aroma of breakfast filled the kitchen. Heero found
himself
admiring his skill at creating a meal high that was high in nutrients
and
would help his progeny grow up fit and in perfect health. Assuming she
continued maturing at her current rate, within five years she would be
able
to disable any eight standard military trained personnel in a single
fight,
and still have enough energy to pilot a mobile suit into battle and
emerge
victorious. When it came to more highly trained commandos and their ilk,
the
number she could handle all at once would probably drop to three.
Relena's
genes seemingly watered Heero's own impressive contributions down, but
it
couldn't be helped. Genetics was a part of life he had learned to put up
with long ago.

Heero was forced to wait patiently for an additional ten minutes after
the
meal was prepared before his seven-year old daughter chose to appear.
Selena's long, blonde hair was done up in its traditional single braid,
one
identical to her 'Cool Uncle Duo's,' a name she had dubbed him with,
even if
they weren't related. The amount of time it took for the girl to do such
basic things in making herself 'presentable' for the day was annoying.
Her
mother was the same way, taking up to an hour at times before they could
go
to some official dinner to meet foreign dignitaries and such. Again, it
was
nothing that could be helped. Relena had explained to him that women had
to
take ten times longer in the bathroom then men; it was genetic. Heero
could
not recall reading that in medical journals, but his spouse was fairly
knowledgeable about such things, and as a woman, she would know.

	$Hmm, no real problem, but I think that last 'would' should be
'should'.

Selena plopped herself down at the table and in front of her plate. Her
eyes
widened and she gave an almost inhumanly wide smile. She picked up a
fork

	$gave him an inhumanly wide smile. ?

and knife and held them high in triumph. "Oh joy! Scrambled eggs,
straight
from their MRE packaging. Powdered milk. And my favorite of all: gruel.
Yum,
yum, yummy!"

	$It figures.

Heero would have beamed if he knew how. "It's nice to see that you like
it
so much."

"Sarcasm, Daddy! Sarcasm!" Selena slammed the fork and knife on the
table
top, shaking it from the force of the blow. "Is it too much to ask for a
normal breakfast, like all the other kids get?

	$Yes.  She should already know better, but I admit that you needed to
have the scene for the reader's benifit.

	No wonder Relena skips out early.

 Maybe you could serve eggs
that aren't two years old and come in a foil covered square? Milk that
was
never in something other than liquid form? Maybe even *gasp* some kind
of

	$even, *gasp*, some kind

fresh meat?"

"All perishables. The food we have now is more practical. Not only does
it
fill all of your nutritional requirements, but it's easy to transport
and
will last months if we come under siege."

	$There is always the bodies of your freshly slain enemies.  If you
close your eyes and squint a little, they kind of look like long, skinny
pigs.  Tastes like it, too, or so I've heard.

"We live in the suburbs! No one lays siege to anyone out here,
Goddammit!"

	$Obviously, she's never seen two mothers fight it out over who's
daughter gets to be on the cheerleading squad.

	I'm having real trouble with her dialog.  She sounds too much older
than seven.  Perhaps you should up her age to ten or so?  She'd sound
about right, then.  Although, the cursing is perfectly fine for her age.
I knew that one when I was four, and could cuss like a sailor when I was
in kindergarden.

Habit made her grab onto her braid, threatening to pull it out by its
roots
in frustration.

Heero looked disapprovingly at the gesture. "You really ought to cut
that
hair short and lose the braid. It's too easy for an opponent to grab
onto it
and gain an advantage."

Selena looked aghast at the very idea. "Where else would I hide my lock
picks and collapsible stiletto?"

	$Well, there are a _few_ other options...  Just ask Uncle Trowa where
he hides his.

"So that's where you put them. I hadn't considered that. Very
ingenious."
Heero gave her a flat stare of approval. "You can keep the hair."

Relieved that her father was not going to press the issue, she returned
to
her original argument and pointed at the food at her plate again. "It's
just
I don't think it would be too much to ask to have fresher food instead
of
this military crap that dates back to the war. Some of us still have
functioning taste buds, you know."

Heero gave her his offended, flat stare. "You're spoiled. I'll have you
know
I grew up on food like this and counted myself lucky."

	$Oh, lordy.  Here it comes.

Recognizing what was to come, Selena covered her ears and shouted, "No!
I'm
sorry for arguing! I was wrong. Don't start telling me about what it was
like during--"

It was far, far too late as Heero, cast adrift on memories, never even
heard
his daughter's plea. "Why, back when I was your age, when we still had
things called wars, there were times when I had to lay low in the middle
of
nowhere and ran out of delicious MREs. I'd be forced to run twenty miles
through minus ten degree weather dressed only in a T-shirt and shorts

	$The concept of being properly equipped never crossed his mind.

 just
to find some tree bark to eat." He sighed. Those were the days. "I
didn't

	$For a minute I thought that 'Those were the days.' was dialog.

even have any water. I had to melt snow in my mouth to wash the bark
down."

"As long as you didn't drink the yellow snow," Selena said acidly.

	$eat the yellow snow,"

Heero looked at her curiously. "What was wrong with the yellow snow? It
was
the only kind that was flavored. I counted myself lucky when I could
find
some."

Having lived with him her entire life, Selena understood her father's
sense
of humor. That was to say, she understood he didn't have one. "Ewww!
That's
disgusting! You're giving me serious mental scarring here, Daddy."

	$I'll second that opinion.

"Mental scarring's good for you. It builds character. Just look at me."

	$Actually, that's true.  The world is so twisted and kinked that if
your parents don't warp you a bit, you'll never find a place to fit in.

There was no way she could argue that one. Resigning herself to the fact
that her father would remain unyielding on their breakfast fare, Selena
forced herself to consume it. Each mouthful was about as pleasant as
eating
wallpaper paste. Heero did the same.

	$Ahh, wallpaper paste.  I remember back when I was still in
kindergarden, and I had to fight my very best friend for just a little
bit of wallpaper paste.  It wasn't like today, when all kids have to do
is beg and they're given all the paste they want, we only had a little
and you had to fight _hard_ for it.

They were almost finished when Selena said, "Oh, by the way, Jimmy Lopez
is

	$Name seems familiar somehow.

coming over to play with me today. I'm warning you in advance since he's
the
first friend I've had that's willing to come over since the last time
you
screwed everything up with Tommy Thorton."

Heero looked at her in confusion. "Screwed everything up? I have no idea
what you mean."

"You locked him in a full nelson and mashed his face into the ground,
shouting out, 'Who sent you?' over and over again!"

"When I see some complete stranger furtively looking around my house, I
disable first and interrogate later."

"He was a scrawny seven-year old looking for the bathroom!"

	$I bet he didn't need it after that.

"He could have been a highly trained midget commando that was disguised
to
look like a scrawny seven-year old in order to lull us into a false
sense of
security." Heero snatched the butter knife thrown at him out of mid-air.
"You're getting faster."

"Just don't !#$% Jimmy's visit up!"

Heero noted that when the girl spoke like that, Relena would tell her to
watch her mouth. That always seemed silly to him; it was obvious from
her
choice of words that Selena knew exactly what she was saying.

	$Heheheheh.  I liked that one.

Heero took another bite of his meal, using the knife that had been
thrown at
him. "Very well, just make sure you frisk him before he enters the
house."

"Agreed. I'll even be extra careful and look for telltale scars, just in
case he really is a midget commando in disguise."

	$Ah, I bet she doesn't.

"That's the idea. Now you're being a good girl."

"No, just a sarcastic one."

	$I still think she needs to be a few years older.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The sky was clear of clouds and the sun shining brightly as Heero
emerged
into the backyard. It was like most of the others in the neighborhood. A
large bed of thick, luxurious, green grass covered the whole area, with
only
a small stone patio encroaching on the grassy terrain. A large oak sat
near
their next door neighbors' yard on the right, its leaves giving in to
the
inevitable approach of autumn and falling in a large circle that
encompassed
the span of its branches, decorating the ground in a multi-colored
blanket.
A sizable garden sat off to the side, a small distance away from the
house.
The yard itself was marked off by a high fence on all sides. That had
been
Heero's idea. The barrier that appeared as though it was light wood was
actually a disguised metal with a special plywood sheath that was
designed
to throw people off. Its resilience would serve to delay a mass of
attackers
momentarily, breaking up a decent rush and allowing Heero to hold them
off,
if not repel them outright.

	$I just spent the past two weeks helping build a large, underground
bunker (nominally a storm shelter, except for the size and it comes
equipped with a few, ah, necessities), and I'll probably be working on
it for sometime yet.  I've been a part of one survivalist group (which
disbanded a few years after the cold war was over), and I know people
living in fortified caves.  My veiwpoint may be a little skewed, but to
tell you the truth, I think Heero has a point.

The garden was Relena's idea, and she usually maintained it. She claimed
gardening helped relax her, easing the intense pressures that her job
forced
upon her. She also claimed sex relaxed her as well. Heero couldn't
figure
out the connection between the two.

	$Because none of the cucumbers never made it to the kitchen?  Oh, and
hey, there's fresh vegetables and stuff right there, assuming.  I'm sure
Selena has had at least _some_ home cooking.  Heero could think of it as
living off the land.

He mentally decided the order of the yardwork. Raking the leaves would
come
first, the garden would be tended to last. He grabbed a rake from the
garage
and headed for the leaves, keeping a close eye to the ground, mindful of
any
patches of freshly dug up earth that might indicate a land mine. He
hadn't
found any yet, but knowing how fate worked, the only time he didn't
check
would be the one time someone managed to plant one while the family was
out
of the house.

	$Heh, I think a family dog would be just what Heero needs.  It could
keep him endlessly busy.

Reluctantly, Heero admitted that he had a small measure of
consternation.
The peace had somehow lasted long enough that even he was in danger of
going
a little soft.

	$Not as soft as Doughboy Wu Fei.

 No one ever seemed interested in attacking him or his family.

	$It's because he's not involved enough in the neighborhood!  I'm sure
if he tried, he could make any number of deadly enemies.

There was the one incident with the stranger in the coveralls that had
been
lurking around the outside of the house in the middle of the afternoon a
couple of years back. Heero took care of him with a lug wrench applied
to
the back of the man's head. He had tied the stranger up, and was just
about
to start a little interrogating, when Relena came home and spoiled
everything by identifying him as a water meter man instead of a spy. For
some odd reason, the water company no longer sent anyone by. It made
things
frightfully boring.

There was only one bright spot. Selena, bless the little child, still
kept
him on his toes, and he returned the favor by doing the same for her. If
he
pulled a paintball gun on her, she was quick enough to get out of the
way
and counterattack with one of her own, though she did have a bad
tendency to
distract herself with cursing him out during the middle of their bonding
sessions. It was a bad habit he was trying to break her of, but having
little success. Kids, he thought with a touch of exasperation.

	$Heh.

Heero had started raking the leaves when the telltale sound of someone
moving on the other side of the fence reached his ears. He pretended not
to
notice the sound and continued raking, all the while priming his body
for
combat. Adrenaline rushed through his system, preparing him for what was
to
come. His knuckles whitened with how hard he gripped his tool.

It was easy to identify the sound of someone trying to climb the fence
right
next to where Heero stood. The ambushers were clumsy. Now aware of the
exact
direction of the attack, he mentally planned his counter. He would
plunge
the rake into the first attacker's eyes the moment his head poked over
the
top. Then, while his opponent was crying out in pain, Heero would vault
over
the fence and take the attack to the enemy. Odds were they would be
caught
off guard as they underwent the transition from hunter to prey within
two
heartbeats. He would use the rake to disable as many as he could in
close
quarters, then pick up one of the fallen weapons and use it against the
remaining personnel that were outside hand-to-hand range. It was the
perfect
plan.

	$Too bad he'd never get to use it.

A hand made its way to the top and a loud huff of air came from behind
the
fence. Whoever it was needed far better training. Even at the age of
seven,
Selena could climb four times as fast in far worse conditions and make
less
noise in the process.

	$Trying to get away from another one of Daddy's training sessions, of
course.

Heero inconspicuously positioned his rake so that it appeared he was
still
intent on piling up the leaves, all the while tensing and preparing to
lash
out with it. He could see the brown head of hair cresting the top.
Drawing
in his breath, he turned the tines of the rake upward so he could-

"Hidey ho, neighbor." A bespectacled face said in an inhumanly cheery
voice
as it peered over the top of the fence.

	$Yeah, a little predictable.

Heero scowled and released his breath. It was just his next door
neighbor,
Ed Flanders.

	$The name wasn't.  Cute.

 The man was no threat to anything, save Heero's nerves, which
he seemed to dance upon with a jackhammer. It did take Heero a moment to
loosen his grip on the rake. Gouging out the man's eyes with the garden
implement was a tempting thought, given how annoying Flanders was, but
Relena categorically prohibited him from killing anyone without her
approval, save in life and death situations, or if they broke her
antique
china. No one touched the china without her approval. Lady Une had come
by

	$Start a new paragraph with No one.

for a visit and done so once, taking nothing more than a tiny chip out
of
one of the cups when it slipped from her grasp. To anyone else, it would
have been unnoticeable, but not Relena. Even donning her glasses could
not
save Une from his spouse's rage.

	$Heheh.

 It was the only time Heero could ever
remember drawing back from violence being inflicted on another.

	$Heheheh.  Cute.  Selena still had nightmares, and Heero could almost
admit to a few himself.

 It was lucky
for Une Relena was a pacifist, otherwise the outcome could have been
worse
for her. Heero wasn't exactly sure how it could have been worse, but he
had
faith in his wife and her ingenuity.

	$Actually, it was probably worse that she was a pacifist.  Une would
have been given a quick death otherwise.

	Oh, and is she in a wheelchair now?  Does she still scream and faint at
the sound of breaking glass, or at Relena's approach?

Barely able to cling to the top, Flanders gasped out, "Wow! Your fence
sure
is mighty high."

"Not high enough."

	$Heh.  True.

Either missing or ignoring the meaning behind the remark, Flanders
turned
his attention to the sole occupant of the yard and whistled at the size
of
the pile of leaves Heero had accumulated. "Looks like you're really
hustling
there, Mr. Peacecraft."

Heero replied in an even voice, "My last name is Yui, not Peacecraft.
Relena
decided to keep her name due to her high profile and importance in the
government. She said I could keep my maiden name, though."

"Whoa ho! Sounds to me like someone's kept on a short leash."

"Relena only tried that once. She didn't care for it. She said I was
already
too obedient for it to turn her on."

	$Hah!  That figures.

"I love that way you fire off jokes by the minute." Flanders gave off
his
laugh, a high pitched giggly snort which caused animals to howl in agony
and
run away. It tended to have the same effect on people too.

	$Actually, I'd kinda expected part of his personality to be that of
Wilson, the neighbor from Home Improvement.

Heero scowled. Flanders annoyed him the way few ever had. There was
something about someone being so unnaturally cheery under any
circumstance
that rubbed him wrong. That and he never listened to what a person said.
Relena once told Heero it was because Flanders was the antithesis of
what he
was. He was also disappointed when Relena informed him that it was
illegal
to kill one's antithesis, no matter how annoying they were.

	$He could always make it look like an accident.  Everyone but Relena
would believe him.

Flanders, completely unaware of Heero's mental state, said, "Anyway, I
just
wanted to ask you if you wanted to come over for a little while and
spend
some time with me and the missus."

	$Heero: No.  Relena already said that I could only have a threesome
with her and someone of her choice.

"That's not in my mission profile." Thankfully.

Flanders dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Well, to be
truthful, Mr. Peacecraft, we're going to be doing something rather
naughty
and we sort of thought we might ask your advice on it. We're kind of
nervous
since we've never done this sort of thing before, but since you've been
around, having been a soldier and all and probably have experience, we
thought you might help us out."

Heero felt his heart skip a beat. "You're planning to launch a raid on a
military outpost and want me to help you with the assault?"

"Ah...no."

"Oh." Heero relaxed and went back to raking the leaves. He hated being
led
on like that.

	$Selena should watch this.  She'd enjoy it.

Keeping his voice low, Flanders said, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes. I would sooner die than yield any secrets. To ensure no others let
the
secrets out, I usually kill anyone else that knows about it, including
the
person that told me it. Don't listen to what others might tell you. Dead
men

	$that originally told me.

never tell any tales."

	$Unless they leave behind sealed documents in a secure place that they
have to send appropriate codes for once a week or it gets broadcast on
the public networks.

"Good one!" Flanders laughed again. "You see, the little wifey-pooh has
been
feeling very risqu� lately, and she's talked me into going through with
this. Actually we were thinking of playing Scrabble for...money. A penny
a

	$for..."  He dropped his voice to a whisper, barely audible even to
Heero.  "Money.

	It seems like that would work better.

point. Gambling Mr. Peacecraft. Ohh, it sends chills down my spine. I've

	$Gambling, Mr. Peacecraft.

	Heh, makes you wonder how many times Heero has told him about the name.

never gambled before, with it being a sin and all."

"Actually, I'd say you were gambling with your life right at the moment,
and
not doing a very good job of it."

	$Why?  Heero's not going to kill him, even if he does want to.

"Ha ho! You sure are a kidder, Mr. Peacecraft."

"My wife tells me I don't have a sense of humor. Everyone agrees."

	$That's true.  Heero could dress up in a clown suit, go to a children's
birthday party, and no one would laugh.

"Well, I sure think you're funny, Mr. Peacecraft. Those jokes of yours
kill
me."

"Hardly. Believe me, you'd know if I killed you."

	$Would he?  I thought Heero was good enough that no one would know?

Flanders nearly lost his grip. "That's great! You could be a stand up
comedian with the way you tell gags. Why, you could be the next Yahoo
Serious."

For a split-second, one of the muscles under the far end of Heero's left
eyebrow twitched slightly.

Ignorant of the tremendous emotional outburst Heero had just exhibited,
one
which would have sent even his fellow pilots heading for the hills,
Flanders
continued laughing. "What a riot. Anyway, I sure hope you change your
mind
about coming over. There'll be an open spot at the table for you. Hidey
Ho,
neighbor." Flanders looked down at the ground, then released his hold on
the
fence and dropped back down to earth. It was odd, but for a moment, just
as
he started to drop, he could have sworn something whisked over his head.

	$as he dropped below the fence, he could

	Because Heero probably would have nailed him if there was anything
still in sight.

Perhaps it was a low flying bird.

Heero scowled at where his target had been. His reflexes must have been
deteriorating. He hadn't anticipated Flanders releasing his grip when he
did, and the rake missed his head by a hairsbreadth. Duo referred to it
as
'Annoying Luck,' meaning the annoying always had luck.

	$Cute saying.

 Heero found himself
inclined to agree. Although this did settle one thing in his mind; he
was
putting barbed wire along the top of the fence, no matter how much
Relena
protested.

	$Good idea.  Electrified razor wire would be even better, and an
invisible laser beam that fries anything between the two points would be
even better than that.  It wouldn't even look obvious.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

It took ten more minutes for Heero to complete his task. He finished
raking
the leaves into a pile, then grabbed several lawn trashbags and took
them to
the incinerator in his basement. It was good to have an incinerator. One
never knew when one would need to dispose of messy things that could get
one
in trouble with the authorities, or worse, one's spouse, if said things
were
intact instead of unrecognizable piles of ashes.

	$So _that's_ what happened to the tupperware lady.  And the paper boy.
And the milk man. And the vacuum cleaner salesman.  And the...

Heero had just  finished burning the leaves, and was heading back
outside,

	$Extra space.

when the front doorbell rang. Rather than immediately head to it, he
walked
to one of the windows located on the porch close to the front door.
Being
careful to stay out of sight, he slid the window up quietly and grabbed
a
hand-held periscope he kept nearby for just such occasions, and peered

	$up quietly, grabbed a...occasions, and

toward the front door with it.

Using the periscope to get a view of the entire porch, Heero saw that
there
were only two people there. It took a moment to identify them as Dolph
Grenlund, a man that lived down the street, and his ten-year old son,
Jean-Claude, who had several bandages around his head and his arm in a
sling. When they had first moved in, Heero had secretly infiltrated
their
residence and searched it thoroughly, just in case they were spies sent
to
assassinate him or his wife. But their belongings indicated they were
just
what they claimed to be, he a high school phys ed instructor, his wife a

	$phys-ed

computer programmer, and his child a... child. He and Relena had no real
contact with them aside from greeting each other when one couple passed
by
the other on the street.

Just in case things were not what they seemed, Heero grabbed an umbrella
from the stand next to the door. It was inconspicuous enough that most
people would never realize how deadly he was with such a common
household
item. During the war, he had once incapacitated a whole platoon of OZ
soldiers with only an umbrella. Well, okay, Duo had helped out slightly
by
shooting a handful of rounds, no more than a thousand or so, from his
Deathreaper Gundam into their midst, but Heero could have taken them out
with just the umbrella. That he had been shot three times before he had
a
chance to get to them just meant it would have taken longer. Being shot
was
a hindrance; not an excuse to die, despite what most people claimed.

	$Dinky little 7.62mm rounds were like mosquito bites, anyway.

Heero threw open the door, catching the pair off guard. Dolph quickly
recovered. He brought his full, six foot six, two-hundred and fifty
pounds
of chiseled muscle to bear, He stood well over the five six, one-hundred
and

	$bear.  He

fifty pound Heero, and stared down contemptuously at the smaller man.
Slowly, almost as though he was reading lines from a script (quite
badly),
he said in a threatening tone, "Little man, are you the father of that
hellion, Selena Peacecraft?"

	$This is great.  I like this scene.

Heero noted Dolph's voice had a faint accent. "Yes."

"Look at what she did to my son the other day!" Dolph thrust his son
forward.

Heero looked at the boy more closely. He had a bandage over his left
eye,
and his arm was in a sling. There were several other bruises where his
flesh
poked out of his clothes. That made Heero scowl. "You say she inflicted
these injuries upon him?"

"Yes. She did it yesterday. It took me until today to get him to admit a
little girl did this to him. Now, are you going to do something about
it,"
He drew near Heero, easily encroaching on his personal space. "Or must I
break you?"

Heero scowled even more intently. "If what I suspect is true, my
daughter
needs to be shown the error of her ways. Would you assist me in this?"

	$I guess I'll second the opinions of the others who have commented on
this.

Dolph was surprised by Heero's quick and easy acceptance. He had heard
the
little man was some kind of hotshot tough guy, despite being a skinny
little
runt. Apparently his reputation was highly overrated, even if it was
painfully obvious Dolph could take him out at will. "Sure, I'll help."

"My thanks." Heero turned his head to shout into the house. "Girl!"

Moments later, Selena appeared, growling, "Goddammit, Daddy, I have a
name!
Why don't you... un oh." She caught sight of who was standing in the

	$Uh oh."

doorway. Her attitude shifted immediately as she bowed her head, her
whole
body giving off a resigned 'I've been caught being naughty and am in for
it
now.'

She stood a handful of feet behind her father. Heero pointed to
Jean-Claude.
"Did you do this to him?"

Finding some spine, Relena said defensively. "He's nothing but a bully
with
a bad accent that beats up all the younger kids. He told me my thighs
were
fat,

	$Little young for that to really carry any bite, isn't it?  Another
reason I suggested the age increase.

 ran over my foot with his bike, and said he was going to beat me up if
I didn't give him my lunch money. I was just defending myself!"

"That's no excuse, girl. Now tell me exactly what you did to the boy."

Rarely had Selena seen such an intense look coming from her father.
Reluctantly, she said, "When he went to punch me, I gouged him in the
eye,
then grabbed his arm in a lock and popped his elbow out of joint. Then I
continued beating him up." She bowed her head and said sincerely, "I'm
sorry
for messing up, Daddy."

Heero would have none of it. He said to Dolph, "Here's where I'm going
to
need your help."

Dolph nodded his head in agreement.

Heero said to Relena in an authoritative tone, "How many times do I have
to
tell you when you go to disable an attacker, especially one that is
taller
and stronger than you, you eye gouge first?"

	$But she DID eye gouge first!  And she's probably a lot stronger than
him, too.  It's wrong for him to emphasise it like that.  Either

	A: She caught his arm and dislocated it first, then eye gouged.  This
has the problem that it'd be difficult to tell which came first.

 He poked Dolph in the eye,
causing the big man to roar in agony. "The pain catches your opponent
off-guard, limits their vision, and gives you an opening as they
reflexively
cover their eye. Once the opening is presented, you then go for the
knee."

	$That was what she didn't do, apparently.

	So, B: you change Heero's dialog so that he emphasises the knee and
mobility.

He kicked Dolph in the knee, nearly breaking the joint. The big man
collapsed like a house of cards and began writhing on the ground in
pain.
"That neutralizes their mobility, allowing you far more options than
simply
disabling their arm would. Observe. You can go for the ribs." Heero sent
a
shot into the man's ribs which made him roll the tender area away from
his
attacker. "Or back." The point of Heero's foot met the middle of Dolph's
spine. " Or head." The shot to the temple nearly robbed the big man of
consciousness. "You have to quit going for the arm as your second move.

	$He says it here, right, but he shouldn't ask the question at the
start.  She clearly has that part down pat.

That's a really bad habit you've developed, and it's going to cost you
someday."

"I know, Daddy. I got caught up in the heat of the moment. I won't let
it
happen again."

Heero turned to the big man who was moaning in pain on his front porch.
"Thank you for your assistance. I don't know what got into my daughter.
Next
time she will disable your son in a proper manner. It was nice meeting
you.
Let's get together for lunch sometime." Taking the man's moans for an
agreement, Heero closed the door. That had been a major waste of time.
He
had to increase his rate of work and get back on schedule.

	$Should have added something about the little boy cutting and running,
or possibly wetting his pants.

He went out to the garage, having to move some pieces of equipment lying
around.

	$needing to move...  ?

 To the casual observer, it appeared messy, but there was an
unorthodox organization to it. Heero wasn't sure exactly what that
organization was, but it was there. He moved past a large, halfway
completed
piece of machinery, the hum of several running computers hooked up to it
filling the garage.

Some fathers wasted their time by teaching their children how to do
useless
things, like how to play sports or fly fishing. It was just so...basic.
Now

	$...  Basic.

Heero had the right idea in raising children. The machine was a perfect
example. With it, he was teaching Selena how to fix the sensitive power
and
response systems on mobile suits by building one from scratch. While it
was
true that there were no known mobile suits around anymore, as Selena was
happy to point out whenever they worked on the system, one never knew
when
someone might have found a mostly intact mobile suit in some destroyed
military base in Morocco when he had taken a personal vacation alone a
couple of years ago. And how it just might have found its way into a
large
warehouse where it might have been secretly stored on the outskirts of
town.
And how, in order to get it functional, he might need a sensitive power
and
response system, and someone to help him build the system so they
understood
all the intricate details of it just in case something happened to him
and
he was unable to use it for some reason. True, there were others who
could
operate it, like Duo, Quatre, or the spiky haired guy whose name was
escaping Heero at the moment (Blubberguts was out. He was too big to fit

	$You just won't leave it alone, will you?  ^_^

into the cockpit now), but there was something about Selena flying
around in

	$now.)

a mobile suit, terrifying ground troops, blasting other mobile units
into
their component parts while sending their pilots to freeze to death in a
vacuum, and threatening to blow herself and her suit up rather than
allow it
to be captured, that filled him with... pride of all things. It was most

	Pride

peculiar, but it felt right to him for some odd reason he couldn't
fathom.

	$Genetics.

It was all just supposition, or so he would claim even if he was
tortured.
Though perhaps he should look around and see if he could find a flight
suit
in Selena's size...

He shook his mind, clearing it of its useless wanderings. He had a
current
mission to perform. He went over to the center of the garage, where his
rider mower lay.

	$Another good Home Improvement reference here.  More power!  Ouh ouh
uggh!

Pulling the green tarp covering it aside, Heero gave a flat stare of
appreciation. Before him was a thing of beauty. He had built the rider
mower
from scratch, using parts from his old Gundam's head unit which he had
blown
up himself so many years ago. It was fifteen feet long and five feet
high,
composed of Gundanium alloy and weighing close to two tons.

	$It didn't so much cut the grass as run over it.

 There was even a
wraparound shield to protect the driver from small arms fire. It had a
fusion reactor, armor plating, a fuel injection system,

	$For a fusion reactor?

 and its own
self-destruct device to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. He had
wanted to install a chain gun on the side, but Relena expressly forbade
it.

His wife wasn't terribly fun at times.

	$She hadn't bought the argument that it was for pruning the hedges,
either.

With time still wasting, he began examining the entire machine, making
sure
everything was in working order and that no one had tampered with it in
any
way. Car bombs (and even mower bombs) were such a useful means of
eliminating problems when one didn't have the time to dispose of said
problems in a more personal fashion.

He was crouched behind the vehicle, almost finished checking it out,
when he
heard a footfall near the door that attached the house to the garage. In
less than a second, a pistol was in Heero's hand as he darted his head
and
gun over the top of the rider mower, using it for cover as he pointed
the
pistol at the intruder.

"Down!" Selena shouted as she tackled a normal-looking boy her age out
of
the line of fire, while simultaneously kicking an empty oil can towards
the
armed opponent as they ducked under the cover of the power and response
system.

A lesser man would have flinched, but Heero allowed the can to hurtle
towards him without reacting. It went sailing past the right side of his
head, coming close enough to brush against his hair before continuing on
to
hit soundly off the garage wall.

Nodding in approval,

	$Why?  She missed.

 Heero lowered the gun and placed it back into the
pocket of his shorts. The girl was getting fast. She was quick enough
that
if Heero had fired immediately instead of pausing to identify the
target,
the boy would have only been wounded instead of dead. In addition, she
had
employed the best possible counter-attack she could manage with the
tools at
hand.

Selena removed herself from on top of the young boy, whom she had
instinctively shielded from harm with her body. "Goddamnit, Daddy! I
specifically told you I was having a friend over and to not screw things
up!
Now look what you did!"

"What did I do?"

"You pointed a gun at Jimmy!"

"So? People pointed guns at me all the time, and I never felt offended."

	$Yeah, really.  I think Selena has this romantic idea of how the rest
of the world works.

"They pointed guns at you because you had a bad tendency to kill them in
large numbers and they knew it. I know if I had been on the other side
and
captured you, I'd have shot you on sight."

"Smart girl. If you had been with Trieze, he probably would have won the
war."

"You're missing the point. Sticking guns in people's faces is rude and
wrong."

"Your mother seems to think it's a sign of affection and sexual
interest."

	$He's got a point.

"I am so not going there," Selena spat in disgust.

	$Poor girl just can't win.

Jimmy's initial look of fear was replaced by one of awe as he turned his
gaze upon Heero. "Wow! That was great! Most parents just say 'hi'. I've
never had anyone point a fake gun at me. I loved it!"

	$Ah.  I had wondered if we'd see a kid like that.

Selena looked at her friend in disbelief, then rolled her eyes. She
walked
over to her father and held out her hand. "Daddy, gun."

He handed her the pistol.

She examined it briefly, then aimed at the bullet-riddled silhouette
target,
shaped like a person, attached to the far wall of the garage. She fired
a
single round. A deafening crack filled the garage as the bullet slammed
home, hitting the silhouette squarely in the head. She handed the gun
back
to her father and looked expectedly at Jimmy.

"Wow! That's even better!

	$He's quick, I'll give him that.

 I've never had anyone point a real gun at me
before. You've got a cool dad," he informed Selena.

The statement made her indignant. "No, I don't! He's stupid. All he does
is
act like we're preparing for a war. Instead of playing with me like a
normal
dad, he teaches me how to do things like shooting firearms, setting
explosives, engaging in extensive hand-to-hand combat, using field
surgery,
and repairing complicated computer equipment. Sometimes he makes me do
it
with one hand tied behind my back in case one of my arms ends up
immobilized."

	$Sounds fairly normal to me.  A lot more rigorous than my own
childhood, but then again, my dad was only Navy.

Jimmy whistled. "That sounds really neat. All my dad did was teach me
how to
play baseball and football, and I don't even like sports, except
bowling."

	$Bowling is fun.  Kinda surprised he never taught her fencing, too.
The rest of the cast certainly seemed to like it.

"Bowling's a pastime, not a sport. It's just like race car driving and
miniature golf," Heero stated.

	$Interesting opinion.  In that he has one, I mean.

Selena turned defensive as she pleaded to Jimmy, "But don't you want me
to
learn stuff like normal girls do and be feminine? Things like cooking
and
dancing and sewing?"

"I taught you how to sew," Heero pointed out.

"You taught me how to stitch myself up if someone stabs me!"

"Better than bleeding to death," Heero defended. "And what did you tell
me
happened when you dislocated your elbow playing kickball last month? You

	$Why is it always the elbow with them?  Shoulders get dislocated more
often.  It's the whole ball and socket thing.

reset it right there and kept playing, scoring the winning run for your
team."

Jimmy looked on Selena in awe. "You did that? Wow! That's really cool.
You're way neater than any of the other girls at school!"

	$Good way of seeing it.

Selena's face turned a bright shade of crimson. Suddenly finding the
floor
more fascinating than her guest, she mumbled, "Do you really think so?"

	$Again, I think this is a little bit much for a seven year old.  This
more than any of the rest of it.  (Sorry if I seem to keep harping on
it, I'm just explaining my POV.)

"Definitely. You're the neatest girl I've ever met. I'm really glad you
invited me over."

Shame and doubt turned to open pride. "Why don't I show you our
basement,
then?

	$What happened to 'family only'?

 Daddy dug an escape tunnel that leads to the next street in case
someone storms our home and he can't repel the attackers.

	$I fully understand why she'd tell him, but why is Heero letting her?

 He even has
charges set so the house will collapse in on itself, taking as many of
the
enemy as we can and hiding our escape. I helped him set up the
explosives,"
she bragged.

"Awesome. I wish I had a dad just like yours," Jimmy said as he let
Selena
escort him from the garage.

Right before she made it inside the house, Heero quietly said, "Selena."

She turned, unnoticed by Jimmy who continued on, looking for the door to
the
basement. "Yes, Daddy?"

"I like him. He can come over any time from now on."

	$He's a midget commando!  I just know it!

Selena's eyes bulged so far they nearly fell out of her head. Her father
never invited anyone to the house. Even his friends invited themselves
over,
rather than being asked. She doubted he knew how to spell the word,
'hospitality.'

	$I'm a little curious as to if you had to use the spellchecker for that
one, myself.

 But to have him not only approve, but encourage her to have a
guest nearly caused all of her seven-year old brain cells to fuse
together.
"Thank you, Daddy." They were the most sincere words that passed from
her
mouth all day.

In response, Heero returned to examining the engine of the rider mower.

A voice from the basement called out, "What's this red button next to
the
furnace do?"

"Don't touch it! That sets off the explosives!" Selena ran as fast as
she
could to the stairway leading downstairs.

Behind his mower, Heero smiled. Not eight years old and the boy already
wanted to blow things up. Such a nice child.

	$Seems normal to me.

 He hoped someday when the
gir... his daughter got older she found someone as normal and stable as
Jimmy to settle down with.

	$He'd be a good match, but just because Heero likes him I'm willing to
bet that he's a midget commando in disguise.  Not bet a whole lot, but
bet.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

End part 1

	$Nice, amusing, flowed well.  Well I'll be damned.  Part two showed up
in my mailbox just as I was writing 'When are you posting the next
part?'.

	C&C for it will be on its way ASAP.  Of course, my ASAP may vary.


-Ragun








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