Project Delta (sequel to Tragic Love)

-----part 1----- 

Heero clutched the braid he'd worn about his wrist for the past five years. Life 
had been hard for the group without Duo there to spread a little laughter into 
their midst. Each pilot had tried to lighten the others' spirits, but there was 
no way one of them could laugh or smile without all of them being reminded of 
Duo. As the time wore on, the smiles and laughter faded from them. Now, none of 
them could truly recall the last time they'd smiled, or the last time they'd 
laughed.

The phone rang and Quatre picked it up. "Yes?" He listened carefully. "Sir, none 
of us are up to taking on a new project. I'm sorry. Yes, sir, I understand. No 
sir, I do not think Alaska would be a good place to patrol, sir. Yes, we'll do 
it, sir." He hung up the phone. 

"The Brass." he muttered. "They want us to monitor Project Delta. Whatever the 
hell that is."

"For how long?" Heero asked, he wasn't really up to talking, but anything, he 
thought, to get his mind off how much he missed Duo.

"Unspecified." Quatre replied. 

"Question. What the hell is Project Delta?"

"I don't know. But we're supposed to pick it up at the airport."

"How are we going to pick up a top secret military project at a public airport 
when we don't even know what to look for?"

"They said we'll know it when we see it."

Heero nodded. "So, when are we to pick it up?"

"In ten minutes." Quatre replied.


They arrived at the airport and waited for several minutes, watching each 
passenger for any type of package that might contain military secrets. 

Heero suddenly jumped straight up several feet as a suction-cup dart struck the 
back of his spandex shorts. He removed it, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the 
crowd, searching for the child who'd shot him. He wasn't angry. He just wanted 
to give the kid their toy back.

The four year-old smiled up from under the rim of his cap as he accepted the toy 
back.

"Thank you." the boy said. "My name's Delta."

Heero blinked. "What?" he asked, sounding a bit flummoxed.

The boy smiled at the braid around Heero's wrist. "Cool! You got a braid, too? 
Here, check this out!" he took his cap off, revealing the braid which reached 
down to the middle of his back.

Heero felt the room spinning as shock overtook him.

"Duo." was the last thing he managed to say before he fainted.

-----part 2-----

Heero slowly opened his eyes. Quatre was kneeling over him, concernedly, while 
Delta sat on one of the nearby chairs.

"Quatre... Delta... he..."

"Good afternoon, Heero and Quatre is it?"

Heero and Quatre looked up. There was a man they'd never seen before standing 
there. He was in a military dress uniform.

"Yes, sir." Heero replied. "Sir, what...?"

"I see you've met Delta." the man said. "As you've noticed, he's very playful. 
Not as serious as he should be."

"What is it you're getting at?" Heero asked.

"We want you to train him." the man replied.

"Sir," Heero asked, "Delta looks like Duo."

"Of course he does." the man replied. "He's Duo's clone. We created him just 
after Duo died."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Heero asked. "Duo was my life mate. I had a right to 
know."

"He's not Duo, Heero. He's Delta."

"He's Duo's child." Heero retorted.

"His *clone*." the man emphasized.

"You took cells from Duo and used them to make a child." Heero pointed out. "That 
means Delta is Duo's child. You had no right to keep him from me."

"He was a top secret project." the man pointed out. "Now, I'm counting on you to 
make a soldier of him. Delta! Come here!"

Delta ran over to them. 

"Delta, you're going to be staying with Heero and Quatre for a bit. They'll 
train you."

Delta gave a salute that was almost serious except that he was sticking his 
tongue out at the man.

The man gave a more serious salute in return, then exchanged salutes with Quatre 
and Heero before departing.

"Come on, Delta." Heero said, offering the boy his hand, "Let's go home."

-----part 3-----

Wufei and Trowa paced their hideout. Where were Quatre and Heero? And what the 
hell was Project Delta? Quatre called a few of his contacts and found it was a 
biological experiment, but nothing more was forthcoming and they finally gave up. 
It was getting late, however, and they were worried.

"I'm going to..." Wufei began.

The door opened at that moment then, and Quatre walked in with two armloads of 
shopping bags. "How about a hand, guys?"

Wufei and Trowa both began clapping.

"Cute. Now, how about helping bring in some of this stuff?"

"Where's Heero?" Trowa asked.

Heero walked in a moment later, carrying Delta, who at this point was sound 
asleep. 

"Duo?" Trowa gasped, somehow managing to keep his voice below a whisper, albeit 
a very surprised whisper.

"This is Delta." Heero told them. "We'll talk more in the morning. Right now, I 
want to get his stuff settled in and get him to bed. We were clothes shopping 
for him all day and the poor dear's exhausted."

-----part 4-----

Delta opened his eyes blearily as Heero was tucking him into bed. Their eyes met 
and Heero realized what it meant to want to protect this small, fragile being, 
this piece of heaven his departed angel had in some way left behind. He realized 
what it meant to be a father.

"It's late." Heero told him. "Go back to sleep." he kissed the boy on the temple, 
then went to the door and turned off the lights. "Good night, Delta." he 
whispered, to boy, who was asleep again.

Heero walked away from the room that had once belonged to Duo and was now Delta's. 
He was heading for his room when he met Trowa in the hall.

"Delta settled in okay?"

Heero nodded. "Fast asleep." he replied. "Look, I want to talk to you about 
something."

"You're not going to train him, are you?"

Heero shook his head. "I can't. All of us were forced or tricked into fighting a 
war we all hate. A war we wish would end. I'll teach him enough to defend 
himself, enough to stay alive. But I'm not going to try to make him the perfect 
soldier. And he's not to be trained every day. Enough of his childhood has been 
stolen from him already. He's Duo's son and he deserves better."

"His clone." Trowa reminded Heero.

"His *son*." Heero insisted. "Calling him a clone makes him sound like he's 
nothing but a science project. He is a human being. He should be treated like 
one."

"You see him as your son, too." Trowa realized.

"Of course I do." Heero nodded. "He was the son of the man I married. I want 
only the best for him."


Heero woke the next morning and walked into the room where Delta was sleeping. 
He half-expected to find it empty, to find that he had been dreaming it all. 
Instead, he found Delta there, sound asleep. The boy looked so much like Duo, 
and yet, Heero fancied he could see a little of himself in him, too. But no, he 
was all Duo, Heero realized. He smiled and shook the boy, gently.

"Delta?" he asked. "Its time to wake up."

"Okay, Dad." Delta replied.

Heero's heart skipped a beat. To hear this boy, this little piece of Duo, call 
him 'Dad' brought a feeling of joy back to him that he thought he had lost 
forever. He closed his eyes and turned his face upward. "Thanks, Duo." he 
whispered.

Quatre, in the meanwhile, was on the phone in the kitchen.

"I understand you're supervising Project Delta." Dr. J was saying.

"The project was assigned to Heero." Quatre replied. "And how did you know?"

"You've been asking everyone about it." Dr. J explained. "Word travels fast 
these days. So, does Heero know."

"Know what?" Quatre asked.

"That Delta's his son." Dr. J replied.

"You want to run that by me again." Quatre asked. "I thought he was Duo's clone."

"Ah, so they didn't want him to know." Dr. J mused. "He's not a clone in the 
purest sense." he explained to Quatre. "He's the result of gene splicing. He's 
mostly Duo, but there's a little bit of Heero in him, too. I have to run." he 
concluded.

"Thanks." Quatre said, hanging up.

-----part 5-----

"Heero," Quatre said, "there's something you should know about Delta."

"He's Duo's son, Quatre." Heero replied. "That's all I need to know."

"He's your son, too."

Heero spun, letting the glass he was getting fall to the floor.

Everyone watched, stunned, as Delta dove and caught it just in time.

"My...?" Heero gasped. //So I wasn't just imagining it when I thought I saw a 
part of myself in him.//

"Here you are, Daddy." Delta beamed, proudly, holding the glass up to Heero.

"Thanks, son." Heero said, ruffling the boy's hair. "Quatre, how...?"

"Gene splicing." Quatre explained. "It's still pretty experimental, most of the 
research in the genetics labs has been going into cloning."

"Any dangers?" Heero had to know this.

"No." Quatre replied. "But it's unlikely he'll ever be a father. In the past few 
times they've tried gene splicing to produce people who would father or bear 
perfect offspring, the results were total failures. The prospective parents had 
everything, looks, intelligence, strength, health. But they were sterile." 

-----TBC-----