The Chibi Files

By Cat

Disclaimer: The Gundam Boys and friends don't belong to me. More's the pity. ~sigh~

This story may not be reproduced or archived elsewhere without permission of the author, Cat. Skippyscatt@aol.com

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Chapter Five - Never Trust a Chibi Bearing Coffee

The smell of coffee titillating my nose woke me Saturday morning. I yawned and stretched and finally opened my eyes to see Quatre holding my favorite cup with steam curling off the top. Duo stood beside him and the braided chibi was bouncing from foot to foot with an excited grin on his face.

"Good morning boys. So to what do I owe the pleasure of coffee in bed?" I asked sitting up and taking the cup from my little Arabian.

After the car seat issue I decided that they needed to be allowed a few of their old privileges. And even though they were small I had discovered that they really could still handle a number of things themselves. One of the first demonstrations was that Trowa made better coffee than I did and because the boys woke up about a half-hour before me it worked out perfectly. I was still in charge of the cooking though.

"Well you did say you wanted to start early this morning looking for the van," Duo answered scuffing the carpet with his foot.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was six AM. "That's true," I grinned back at him. "And by the time we've had breakfast and cleaned up and gotten ourselves on the road it will be just about time for the dealerships to be open."

Both boys smiled back at me looking relieved that I wasn't upset at being woken so early. I sat the coffee cup on the nightstand and reached for my bathrobe.

"Uhm, you might want to get dressed, Cat," Quatre told me wringing his hands.

I knew immediately that there was something more that they needed to tell me and that this something more was what had prompted the coffee in bed to butter me up. The boys had seen me in my long flannel night gown and fleece bathrobe over the last few days and weren't bothered.

"Okay boys, who's here?" I asked looking at them both. That's when I caught the sound of a deep murmuring voice from the living room. "Please tell me that's not Rashid with the rest of the Maguanacs."

"It's just Rashid, right now," my blonde chibi replied apologetically. "He got curious when the scientists asked him to send my violin and the flute for Trowa to them. He brought it in person and then demanded to know where I was."

I nodded in understanding. It would have been difficult to field questions from Catherine or any of the people around Quatre, when they were asked to send personal belongings without explanation. In the end only Heero, Quatre and Trowa had even had requests.

"It was because you asked for child sized versions wasn't it?" I questioned.

The Sandrock pilot nodded his head and sighed. "I should have known he'd have questions."

"Oh well it's done now," I said with an encouraging smile trying to let him know that it was okay. "We'll just have to figure something out."

"Thanks for not being mad," my little blonde smiled.

I reached out and patted his cheek. "How could I be mad just because he cares. Now out you two so I can get dressed and make sure the bathroom is free for me, okay. So I can get in there and do something with this rats nest on my head." I waved my long frazzled braid at them and they laughed running out of the room.

Ten minutes later I stepped out of the bathroom armed with my cup of coffee. I was feeling reasonably ready to meet the first of the many visitors I was expecting to show up. Even if I hadn't been expecting them quite this early.

"Good morning boys," I smiled at my chibis that were spread out around the living room nursing cups of coffee and tea and talking with the tallest, broadest shouldered man I'd seen in over twenty years. "Quatre would you like to do the honors and introduce me to our guest?"

My little Sandrock chibi nodded and came to stand beside me. "Cat this is Rashid ibn...."

The big man chuckled and placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Rashid will do, Master Quatre. Otherwise it's too much of a mouthful."

Quatre grinned and nodded in agreement. "Rashid this is Cat."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Rashid," I told the big man holding my hand out to him. His hand swallowed mine whole and I was glad that I wasn't an enemy. Or at least I hoped I wasn't being sized up as one.

"Yes, as it is to meet you. I must thank you for taking such good care of Master Quatre," he told me.

I could almost hear the 'but' in voice. "It's been no trouble at all the boys have been great and I've been enjoying having them here with me. Though I'm sure they would much rather be back to normal by now."

"Unfortunately, I would like to ...."

Here it came, Rashid was going to take them away and really I couldn't argue about it because they would be better off with the Maguanacs on one of Quatre's estates. I looked down at the ground wanting to hide the fact that I was only moments away from tears. I knew I'd get attached and I was trying to prepare myself for the day that the Scientists returned them to normal. But I hadn't thought that they might leave me before that.

I looked up in surprise as six sharp little voices said, "No!" almost in unison. Rashid also looked surprised as he looked at the chibis around us. The looks on their faces ranged outright anger on Heero and Wufei's, to alarm on Duo's and Milliardo's.

"But Master Quatre you would be safer with me and the other Maguanacs on your estates where we can protect you," Rashid argued gently, frowning down at the tiny boy.

"He's right boys," I murmured looking around at them. "Even though the wars are over there is nothing that says that there aren't people out there that might want revenge. In your normal states' I doubt that anyone would pull anything. But like this you might be too tempting for some of them to resist."

"No, we chose you for a reason you know that," Quatre said firmly. "And unless someone talks, no one should ever find out about us."

"Then I insist that you allow us to be here to protect you," the big Arabian stated, his voice showing that he would hear no arguments on the subject.

"Why don't we discuss this over breakfast," I told them all. "We might all feel better with full stomachs."

My little helpers went to work immediately leaving a stunned Rashid standing in the middle of my living room. Quatre cracked and beat eggs for scrambled eggs, while I started the bacon cooking. It was cute watching Duo reassure the big man that it really was turkey and not pork and that it was safe for him to eat.

Wufei and Heero set our coffee table while Trowa made a fresh pot of coffee and Milliardo began making up each person's toast choice. Duo was our gofer keeping us supplied with what we needed yet keeping our counters empty of clutter. We had actually only perfected our routine the morning before, but the boys made it look like we'd been doing it for months.

I knew that Rashid was watching us, not necessarily looking for problems or trouble. But simply wanting to see how I truly took care of the boys and what made them so adamant about staying with me. And I honestly didn't blame him for it really. I knew how attached he was to Quatre and it probably stumped and even hurt him a bit to have the Winner heir refuse him.

With the table set Heero and Wu started pouring juice and bringing the finished toast and bacon to the table. I was down to scrambling the eggs and Trowa poured the brewed coffee into a preheated carafe and put it on the table. Quatre and Duo were setting out jams, honey and the condiments for the coffee, while I finished up the eggs.

I smiled apologetically at the big man as I carried the eggs in and set them on my coffee table. The boys had left him one of the two ends while they sat on the sides, but it still was difficult and awkward for him trying to fit his long legs into the small space. Though I had to remember that this was actually pretty close to normal for the area he came from or I thought it was.

"How do all of you manage here?" he asked once we were all sitting down.

"Well it's not that bad," Duo spoke up from beside me on the right as he snatched several pieces of the turkey bacon and then handed the plate to me.

I shook my head with a little smile, I hadn't been able to impress on my little Shinigami that if there wasn't enough I could always make more. "It is a little crowded, but I called a realtor yesterday and have him looking for a five bedroom house for us."

Actually I'd told him that it had to have five big bedrooms, a full basement, family room and study along with the other normal rooms you'd find in a house. And most importantly, no less than three bathrooms. I didn't know how I was going to afford it, but I'd have to manage it somehow.

"Five bedrooms? Not seven?" Rashid questioned as he selected some toast from the plate that Miro had made up.

Heero scraped the last of the eggs onto his plate and looked at Rashid from where he was sitting beside Duo. "Duo and I will share a room," he stated in a tone that practically screamed final decision.

Quatre nodded and turned to look at Trowa with a smile. "Trowa and I too, we've just gotten used to being near each other," he explained as he carefully spread honey on toast.

"And you, Wufei and Zechs would take the last three?" Rashid asked me as he sipped from his cup of coffee.

"No Miro and I will have the third room," Wufei answered looking across the table at Milliardo questioningly. I knew they hadn't discussed it so this was news to me. I saw my little Chinese pilot smile as Zechs nodded in agreement.

"Then what would you do with the last room?" the big Maguanac asked.

"That would be a guest room or your room if you stayed with us to protect the boys. I couldn't have all the Maguanacs staying with us, but one..." I trailed off uncertain how to go on. I didn't want to give Rashid the wrong idea.

Like Milliardo he nodded accepting the offer and began to eat and I breathed a sigh of relief. One hurdle had been leapt, I wasn't sure how many more there would be. So we'd just have to handle them as they came.

"This morning we are going to go and look for a new car!" Duo announced excitedly. "Cat's is kinda small especially now that it has to have the booster seats," he pouted.

At Rashid's look of surprise Quatre explained, "Duo and I are too small to ride in a car without extra protection, so we have to use booster seats. Between them they take up most of the back seat of her car."

"Then how do you plan to take the boys looking for a new car?" Rashid inquired looking down the table at me.

"Fei, Trowa and I were going to stay here," Miro informed him as the other two nodded solemnly.

I had to hide a smile behind my napkin as Wufei threw Zechs a black look at the nickname but didn't say anything. So far the dragon hadn't taken to any of the nicknames he been saddled with and I tried hard not to use them. But this was the best reaction so far, though it might have simply been because we had company for all I knew.

"I see. You aren't concerned with the type of vehicle chosen?" he asked them looking a bit surprised.

"Actually we already picked what we want," Duo replied practically bouncing where he sat. "We found it on the internet at a car place real close by even. We ordered it on the computer and then called just to make sure. We just have to go and fill out all the papers and pick it up."

The big man laughed and inclined his head accepting that we were way ahead of him. I had to feel a little sorry for him because I'd had time to get used to having all six around and understanding that even though they looked like children they were anything but.

"The boys keep me on my toes," I told him placing my silverware in my empty plate. "They are almost always a step ahead of me. I'd just planned on going out and looking, but Heero suggested the net and it worked. We thought about doing that with the house too, but decided that a bit more of human touch would be better there. The care was just the most important thing for the moment. Once we have it, it will be easy for all of us to go out and actually see the houses that the realtor finds."

Looking around I realized that everyone was finished with breakfast and stood up picking up my plate and the serving dishes closest to me. The boys gathered up their own and anything I couldn't reach. Meal times made me very glad that I had a dishwasher. I hated the idea that water might be getting wasted but I couldn't even imagine doing dishes for seven people several times a day plus snacks and cookware.

The boys all scraped plates and then stacked them neatly in separate piles making it easy for me to load. We'd discovered quickly that only one or two people at a time could really work with the dishwasher at a time. So instead the boys took on other jobs, like sweeping, wiping the counters and unloading the dishwasher later. It sometimes worried me that they were afraid if they weren't helpful that I wouldn't want them to stay. But I also reasoned that after a while they'd feel more comfortable and then I'd find myself on my own as other things drew their attention.

I heard the TV come on in the living room and shook my head as I heard the news. I think Duo would have liked something else, but the other five normally outvoted him. A large shadow looming over me had me looking up surprised to see Rashid. He smiled and handed me the next dish to go into the washer.

"They are more than they appear aren't they?" he asked quietly, though I knew for a fact that the boys would hear him.

"Yes, more or less," I told him.

His brows drew together confused. "More or less?"

I nodded taking the next dish from him. "Technically they are children when it comes to their bodies. Their minds are still those of the pilots you knew, but I've noticed that some of their past memories are closer to the surface. They are a bit more emotional too, even Heero in extreme cases. Trowa is the only one that I haven't seen display any unusual characteristics like that. I don't know enough about his past, so I can only guess how young he was when he first turned off his emotions."

A small smirk curved his lips. "Then you may be glad that Master Quatre retains his adult memories."

"I heard that!" the pilot in question said huffily from the other room and was accompanied by laughter and chuckles from his fellow pilots.

"They also still have excellent hearing and reflexes," I laughed as Rashid's face colored slightly beneath his beard. "Because of the awkwardness of their position I've tried to keep things as much on a equal footing as I can. I let them tell me when they need something more."

He nodded and placed the last dish into the washer for me before thanking me and turning to walk back into the living room. I watched him apologize to Quatre, who quickly forgave him and steered towards the couch with a freshened cup of coffee to watch my national news station. It had taken them the last couple of days to agree on which one they liked best, but in the end they had and to my relief it was also the one I preferred if I was going to watch the news.

Stepping back into the kitchen I closed and started the dishwasher and rinsed my hands. I took the time to sweep the floor and clean the counters too so that the boys wouldn't have to then walked into the living room. I pulled Heero, Quatre and Duo's coats out of the closet and then my own and turned to Rashid.

"Well we are off, will you be okay here with the boys?"

I nearly burst out laughing not sure who looked the most offended, my three boys who were staying at home or Rashid at the thought that he might not be able to handle three chibi sized Gundam pilots. I supposed that he had a point there he did handle thirty-eight Maguanac warriors. And except for Miro and Wufei who could have their moments I was leaving him with three of the four best-behaved pilots. Quatre I was finding had a tendency to pout which horribly adorable and very hard to resist. Duo, well Duo was Duo and hyper, emotional and playful as he was had me wrapped around his little finger.

"We will be fine I assure you," the Maguanac answered finally watching as the four of us got ready to go.

"Okay then, we'll be back," I told them all and opened the door waiting for the boys to leave in front of me.

We bundled into the car working hard not to laugh as Heero gave the two in back a bit of a wistful glance as he buckled up in the seat beside me. The booster seats gave Quatre and Duo about four to six more inches so that they could now see out the windows. Heero on the other hand though he was heavier was only about an inch taller than the other two were so that he barely squeaked in under the wire. On the other hand it meant that he barely sat high enough to see out the window beside him and the dash blocked his view from the front. Luckily the new van we were going to pick up had great bucket seats and long windows so the boys would be able to see much easier.

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When we got home two and half hours later I knew something was wrong. Rashid looked a bit unhappy and more than a bit flustered. Trowa was outside on the porch feeding the squirrels, something I found that he did when two of the other boys actually fought, except when it was Quatre. Then he would stay quietly close to the small blond with the most menacing look I'd ever seen except on Heero almost daring the smaller pilot's opponent to try something. The when it was all over he would go out on the porch, normally with Quatre following him apologizing profusely.

I turned my eyes on the only two culprits left with a disappointed frown. The TV was mysteriously silent for a change and I bet my bottom dollar they were the reason. "Okay you two, what happened? I thought we had the problems all worked out?"

Wufei glared at Miro who glared right back at him neither one saying anything. "Wufei wanted to watch the History channel, they were showing a documentary on China. Zechs wanted to watch a show on the Discovery channel they were showing a program on the kingdoms of Europe."

I looked toward the balcony door to see Trowa coming in. I was immediately concerned by the over brightness of his eyes and the flush that was more than just the cold. "I take it that neither of them got to watch their shows."

"No I finally took control of the remote and turned it off," Rashid told me. I could tell he was frustrated meaning he'd probably tried to mediate and learned the hard way that when it came to disagreements Wufei and Miro were in a class of their own.

"How long has this been going on?" I inquired looking at the two culprits.

"About an hour," my HeavyArms pilot said huskily breaking off as a cough wracked him.

My eyes widened and I headed across the floor to where Trowa was waiting. I knew that Quatre was right behind me. "You've been outside for an hour in this cold?" I put my hand on his forehead, he should have been frozen, instead he was burning up. "Alright, you are heading to bed," I told him and put an arm around his shoulders.

He didn't argue with me, but Trowa rarely did, he usually just gave me a look and did his own thing anyway. I was getting used to it from both he and Heero. This time he didn't. That worried me even more.

"Cat?" Quatre was standing beside me and I looked at him taking in his worried aqua eyes.

"Hunny why don't you and Rashid take Trowa and put him in my bed, I don't want him on the floor out here," I stated passing the taller boy into the blond's hands. Even with the air mattresses and the insulated sleeping bags I didn't want my acrobat on the floor.

"Okay, come on Trowa let's get you to bed," Quatre said leading the other pilot out of the room. Rashid went ahead of them to start turning down the bed.

"Duo, Hun, will you take them his pajamas?" I asked as I started for the bathroom to get my thermometer and the children's cold medicine I'd picked up the first day. I certainly hadn't expected to use it so soon. "Heero will you get me a glass of juice for Trowa?"

Heero nodded and went into the kitchen. That left only Wufei and Miro, both of whom looked embarrassed and upset. I knew doing something to make Trowa ill had never been in their thoughts. The HeavyArms pilot could only take the blame for that. We'd have to find a different escape for him besides going outside in the cold.

"I know you didn't mean for Trowa to end up sick, that isn't your fault he knows better than to stay out in the cold that long. But we really need to work on you two learning to compromise," I told them with a rueful smile, before walking down the short hall and knocking on the door to see if they were ready for me.

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End Chapter Five