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Family Ties	By : Deb Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 19194 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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“Family Ties”

January 2007 ShenLong

Chapter 124

Heero gave his partner’s hand a squeeze and offered a smile of encouragement before vacating the chair next to the hospital bed for Gilbert to approach and swear his husband in.

Returning the smile, Duo squashed the feeling of fear that wanted to rise. He had nothing to be fearful of. Turning his eyes to Gilbert, Duo raised his right hand and placed it on the bible held out to him. He repeated the oath and made himself comfortable – as comfortable as he could anyway under the circumstances.

Kerferd approached and with his back to the vid screen, gave Duo a firm but encouraging nod of his head. “Please state your name and position within the Preventer organization.”

“Agent Night. I am a field agent and explosives expert within the Preventer group,” Duo replied clearly.

“Your position as a field agent within the organization I assume would involve assignments that are not only dangerous, but life threatening at times?”

“Yes. I am not allowed to divulge exact information in relation to the cases I work on, but they are dangerous and they can be life threatening.”

“I would also assume that field agents undergo specialized training?” Kerferd asked.

“Yes. All agents within the Preventer organization are required to undergo training specific to the field in which they are employed,” Duo responded.

“Without going into too much detail, could you please give the court an idea of some of the assignments and training a field agent of your caliber would be expected to undertake?”

“My line of work generally encompasses the riskier assignments, working to bring terrorists to justice, preventing attacks, rescuing hostages, infiltration, disarming explosives; things like that. The training is quite intense, not just the physical, but also the tactical and psychological. An agent is expected to have an in depth knowledge of weapons, explosives, terrorist tactics and the like, to be able to react in an instant to any and all possible scenarios.”

“You mentioned an in depth knowledge of firearms. I assume you are also trained in the use of weapons?”

“Yes.”

“Agent Night, your record of employment within the Preventer organization shows you to be a valuable, honest and reliable employee; one who is not just well liked by his fellow agents, but a hard worker with skills second to none...”

Duo’s face began to redden a touch with the unexpected praise and he fiddled with his blanket.

“From what I understand of the position you are employed in and some of the assignments you are expected to carry out, there are instances where you would need to draw your firearm or other weapon, need to protect both yourself and others; correct?”

“Yes.” Duo’s face darkened a touch.

“Agent Night, have you ever pulled your gun or weapon on another person during an assignment?”

“Yes,” Duo whispered.

“Tell me, Agent Night, the Preventer organization has protocols in place, rules and such on the handling of various cases, correct?”

“Yes, it does. All agents are required to learn the rules and regulations.”

“Agent Night, could you please inform the court of the rules relating to the use of firearms when on assignment?”

Duo patiently recited from memory the rules and regulations, much to Une’s and Wufei’s amusement. Wufei knew Maxwell had an excellent memory when he decided to use it, unfortunately that wasn't very often and Wufei hadn’t thought Maxwell had read up and studied the rules of the Preventer group – seemed he was wrong.

“An agent is to attempt any and all other options other than the use of a firearm available to him to secure the offender(s). Should those attempts fail, the agent is authorized to draw and use his weapon. However, life is to be preserved wherever possible,” Duo finished.

“How would you sum up that last regulation, Agent?”

“When all else fails, you can use your weapon, but do not aim to kill,” Duo promptly replied.

“Have you used your weapon in the line of duty?”

“Yes,” Duo replied, looking pale.

Sally shot the lawyer a warning look.

“Agent Night, when you have been in a situation where you’ve been forced to use your weapon, have you killed the other person?”

Duo closed his eyes. “No,” he replied. “I have followed the rules and incapacitated the offender.”

“Have you ever wanted to ignore protocol and take the offender down?”

Duo looked up sharply. “Yes, quite a few times. There are some people out there that really do not deserve to exist given the crimes they have committed, however, I am not the one to make that decision. My job is to bring them to justice, to face the law and pay for their crimes in the manner the law dictates.”

Lowering his head, Duo stared at the blankets covering his body. “Life is precious,” he added softly and gave his belly a subtle stroke.

“Agent Night, in your own words, please tell the court what happened on the day you got that call in regards to your son and his nanny and what happened from there.”

Violet eyes clouded for a moment as Duo composed his thoughts. Looking straight at the vid screen, he called forth the memories and began to speak.

The hospital room, along with the court room remained totally silent throughout Duo’s recollection. No one dared to even cough. Duo related the events that occurred in the Diner with Duric, leading up to his being taken to Nurse Brown and Keitaro. He told how he met with Nolen, put together two and two in regards to the body of Cropp that had been found in the ESUN headquarters.

His voice took on a darker tone when he related the request from Nolen that he assassinate the L1 ambassador. He told of his arguments with Nolen, his attempts to get the man to see reason and forget the violence, to approach the ESUN and associated parties with his concerns and demands.

When he reached the part of Nolen threatening Keitaro and the nanny, Duo’s voice turned angry. He confirmed what both Farrow and Nurse Brown had already testified, that Nolen had planned out the entire assassination, that he’d had Duric break the nurse’s wrist to show Duo that he wasn’t joking in his threats to harm the two should Duo fail to comply.

“If I’d wanted to kill anyone willingly, it was those bastards,” Duo hissed. “I wanted to break their necks for threatening an innocent child, for hurting an innocent woman, but I couldn’t. I was forced to comply with their orders, if I didn’t they would have done more harm to the child and nanny; and that was something I couldn’t allow to happen.”

Duo paused for a moment and took the offered glass of water. He swallowed quickly, wetting his parched throat and handed the glass back to Heero. Fingers touched briefly, but it was enough for Duo to know that Heero was with him all the way on this.

“Are you okay to continue?” Kerferd asked, “Or would you like a break?”

“I’d rather continue,” Duo replied. “I want to get this over and done with, the memories are not all that.. pleasant.”

Kerferd nodded. “What happened when the men came to get you that evening...?”

Taking another deep breath, Duo focused once more on his memories and drew them forth. “I was driven to the residence where the L1 ambassador was staying and given a communicator and a rather blunt knife...”

By the time Duo had finished recounting his story relating to the assassinations of the ambassadors and Senator Jefferies he was exhausted. Tears shone in his eyes when he’d told of the murders themselves and a few times he’d had to pause to regain his composure or breakdown completely. Heero had remained to the side through the entire confession, his heart breaking and arms aching to hold his lover, wrap him up and take him far away from here.

Sally had interrupted twice and insisted on checking her patient over. She had tried to get Duo to take a break, but the braided man refused. He insisted he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

Reluctantly, Sally had allowed him to continue.

Une seethed with anger at what her agent had been forced to endure. She was already well aware of what Night had gone through, having read his statements and sat through the debriefing. She was also aware of how Kerferd had planned on tackling this case, his decision to let Duo just tell it as it had happened rather than have the story told by question and answer.

It was a strategic maneuver, one that would be to Duo’s benefit; or so she had been told.

But still she felt the young man’s pain and felt for him at being put through all of this. It wasn’t fair, he shouldn’t be facing these charges at all, if anything, the people should be thanking him; him and the other agents for preventing what could have been a very nasty ending.

But Barton was another issue entirely and whilst related to this case, it wasn’t what was on trial now.

Une just hoped and prayed that Kerferd knew what he was doing.

“Agent Night, I realize how hard that must have been for you. Before I’m finished, I have a couple more questions for you. Were you forced to commit the murders of the L1 and L3 ambassadors and one Senator Jefferies?”

“Yes,” Duo said clearly and hung his head, unable to look at anyone.

“Agent Night, had the kidnappers not had your son and the nanny as hostages, would you have committed those murders?”

Duo’s eyes widened. “Hell NO!”

“No more questions, your honor.”

“Mr Rivers, do you wish to question the witness?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“You may proceed.”

Violet eyes watched as the prosecution moved towards the vid screen and stared at him. Duo swallowed nervously and chanced a glance out the corner of his eye, relieved to see Kerferd watching Rivers’ every move.

“Agent Night, I have one question for you. Did you kill the L1 and L3 ambassadors and Senator Jefferies?”

Duo looked helplessly at Kerferd whose face had gone red with anger.

“Objection!”

“Sustained.”

“Did you or did you not kill those men?!”

“Objection, your honor.”

In the court room and hospital room, the various people began to mutter amongst themselves.

“It’s a simple enough question...”

“Objection! Badgering the witness!” Kerferd declared hotly.

“Sustained!”

“It only takes a yes or no answer,” Rivers pushed.

“Objection, your honor!”

“Sustained!”

“You killed them in cold blood, didn’t you?” Rivers snarled.

“No!” Duo felt sick.

“You planned this out, killed them in cold blood and took pictures,” sneered Rivers.

The murmuring amongst those present rose.

“OBJECTION! Agent Night has already stated he was forced to kill those men,” Kerferd all but yelled.

The judge’s gavel banged down hard several times, startling everyone in the court room and hospital room alike into silence. “Objection SUSTAINED!” Judge Watkins roared. Then, in a softer tone he turned to face Duo through the vid screen. “You do not have to answer that,” the judge said, and then turning his attention to Rivers, he growled, “Rivers...”

“No further questions, your honor,” Rivers stated with a smirk at Duo before sauntering back to his seat.

The judge began to bang his gavel as people started to murmur once more amongst themselves. Heero was grateful the prosecution wasn’t in the same room, otherwise Duo wouldn’t be the only one facing charges of murder. Sally had watched Duo carefully and with the pushing of the prosecution her concern had risen. Seeing her patient turning slightly green, she stood up and was beside Duo in a second.

Despite the judge banging his gavel and calling for order, people were still continuing in their muttering to each other. Sally soon stopped them all in their tracks though.

“ENOUGH!” she yelled.

The silence was instant, even the judge pausing with his gavel in mid air to stare at the woman who had the audacity to take over his authority.

“As this agent’s physician I am concerned for his health and as such I am calling an immediate halt to these proceedings so I may treat my patient,” Sally barked in a tone that clearly brooked no argument.

The judge blinked for a moment then brought his gavel down hard upon the sound block. “Court is adjourned for one hour.”

* * *

Once the judge had declared an hour’s recess, Duo’s room had emptied out pretty fast. Gilbert had been the first one out the door, the technician hot on his heels as soon as he’d shut down the equipment. Kerferd had gone to approach his client when a glare from Sally stopped the lawyer dead in his tracks. Une had intervened and taken the protesting lawyer out of the room and along with Agent Fire, she took the lawyer to her office so she could discuss how the case was going with him there. Wufei had tagged along in the role of looking out for the Commander and also to glean what information he could from the man as to how the trial was playing out.

Only Heero remained other than Sally, and he had no intentions of going anywhere. Not caring who witnessed what, Heero was beside his lover a second after the gavel had connected with the sound block and pulled the distressed man into his arms.

“It’s okay, Duo,” Heero soothed, holding his lover close and running a calming hand down the American’s back. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that again. You’re safe now, I’ve got you.”

“Heero, I really need to check him over,” came Sally’s voice from the side.

“I know,” came Heero’s reply and he shifted slightly. Unfortunately, Duo only held on tighter, unwilling to release his lover and the safety Heero’s arms offered.

“Duo, it’s okay. Sally wants to check you over. I’m just going to move to the side so she can do what she has to. I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be right here with you,” Heero cajoled and did his best to move again.

This time Duo released his tight grip and allowed Heero to shift to sit on the side of the bed, but he took a firm hold of Heero’s hand. With a light chuckle, Heero slipped his arm around Duo’s shoulders.

“Damn lawyers,” Sally muttered as she proceeded to take Duo’s vitals. “They should all be taken out and shot. I knew I should have insisted this case wait to be heard until you were all healed up from the surgery,” she continued.

“Sally, there’s only one problem with waiting,” Heero said softly and placed his hand lightly on Duo’s belly.

“Yeah, I guess you have a point there, Heero. What I’d love to do to that prosecutor though if I could get my hands on him.”

“You might want to get in line.”

“Sally, I don’t feel so good,” Duo said quietly, interrupting the pair.

“Shit! Heero, grab that bowl, quick!” Sally ordered and Heero was in motion before she’d even finished speaking. Looking around and spotting what Sally was asking for on the side table, he grabbed the bowl and passed it over. Sally snatched it up it and managed to hold it in front of Duo just as the braided man gave the first of several heaves.

All Heero could do was watch and rub comforting circles on his husband’s back as Duo proceeded to empty the entire contents of his stomach into the bowl.

After a couple of minutes, Duo’s vomiting eased and he leaned back against the pillows, sweat running down his face. Sally handed over a glass of water and Duo dutifully rinsed his mouth out, spitting the water into the bowl. Whilst Sally disappeared to empty the bowl, Heero fetched a wash cloth from the adjoining bathroom, wetting it and wiping his husband’s face.

“Feel better?” Heero asked as he tenderly wiped away the sweat.

“A bit,” Duo replied, his eyes closed and body completely limp. He had no energy left at all.

Sally reentered the room, a clean bowl in her hand which she set down on the table next to Duo’s bed. “I need to check the wound site, Duo, make sure you haven’t busted any stitches. I’ll re-wrap your ribs too.”

Duo groaned, but let the doctor have her way. He was sore, the muscles he’d used to expel the contents of his stomach had pulled on the wound site and caused his ribs to ache fiercely.

Fortunately, no stitches had given way, although a couple looked to be a bit strained. The wound was given a fresh dressing, the ribs checked and also wrapped firmly again.

“Your temperature is up a touch, Duo and so is your blood pressure. I’m going to give you a mild pain killer, your next shot of antibiotic and I’ll also give you a very mild relaxant.” Seeing the protest about to happen – and not just from Duo – Sally got in first. “The drugs will not harm the baby in any way. The relaxant won’t impair you in any manner, just relax your muscles a bit and take the pressure off that wound.”

“Okay,” Duo consented.

“If you continue to feel nauseous, I want you to tell me and I’ll give you something for that too.”

Duo nodded, knowing that to argue wouldn’t get him anywhere.

Sally left the room to collect the drugs, leaving Heero and Duo alone for a few minutes. Heero immediately moved back to envelop his lover in his strong arms.

“Have I told you how damn proud of you I am?” Heero whispered as he feathered kisses across Duo’s forehead and down his jaw.

Duo moaned softly.

“Or how much I love you?” Heero took his husband’s lips in a searing kiss, one that told Duo in no uncertain terms just how much Heero did care for him. When they came up for air, both men were panting softly.

“I don’t think that will do much for my blood pressure,” Duo commented with a small smirk.

“Then I might as well raise your temperature too,” Heero replied and before Duo could reply, he stole those sweet lips in another, deep kiss.

Duo was completely dazed by the time Heero had finished kissing him and he hoped that Sally wouldn’t be taking his blood pressure again for at least another fifteen minutes.

A soft knock to the door told them Sally was back, along with a kidney dish that rattled suspiciously. The needles and syringes were withdrawn, along with alcohol swabs and Duo was duly ‘stabbed’ as he put it.

“Comfortable?” Sally asked as she tossed the last syringe into the trash.

“Yeah. Dunno for how long though,” Duo replied.

“Don’t worry, I’m not about to let you go through that again,” Sally growled.

“I might have to,” Duo said, his tone one that told how much he really didn’t want to have to answer any more questions.

“If they do require you to answer more questions then they will do it on my terms,” Sally stated. “I will be monitoring you at all times and the instant anything changes, that will be the end of it.”

“I’m not the one you have to convince,” Duo said, his hands going up in the air in mock surrender.

Sally shook her head. “Do you think you could drink something for me? A little sweet tea perhaps?” She knew better than to ask the man to eat, even if he did need it to keep his own strength up and assist the growing baby within. A cup of sweet tea would help to soothe the upset stomach and aid in bringing Duo’s blood sugar levels back up.

“Actually, a cup of sweet tea sounds really good,” Duo replied.

“I’ll go get you one. Back in a moment.” Sally disappeared to fetch the tea.

Heero blinked his eyes in disbelief.

“What?” questioned Duo when he saw the odd look on his lover’s face.

“Tea?”

“Um, yeah. I have drunk it before, Heero.”

“But you usually have coffee, to the point where I’m not sure if you have an IV of the stuff permanently attached to your arm.”

“So what. I feel like tea. Can’t I have tea without it turning into a complete drama?” Duo’s voice began to rise a little and his face took on a dark look.

Heero’s mind scrambled. Hormones, it supplied and the proverbial light bulb went off in Heero’s head.

“You can have all the tea you want,” Heero replied, sure to keep his voice neutral. “I’ll see if I can round up a couple of oranges later for you too if you want.” The light that appeared in Duo’s eyes with that comment told Heero he’d said the right thing.

“Would you?”

“For you, Duo, anything.”

* * *

The hour was up and the people began to return to their places. Duo was feeling a little better, the nausea had passed and the muscle relaxant was doing its job. Duo was feeling much more comfortable but still in complete control of his faculties.

The judge returned and took his place, waiting for everyone to be seated before he spoke. When he did, he directed his words to Sally first. “Doctor Po, is your patient medically well enough to continue?”

“Yes, your honor. However, I will be monitoring him continuously and should he show any signs at all of distress, I will call a halt to any questioning until I deem him medically fit enough to continue,” Sally stated clearly – and loudly.

“Accepted,” the judge replied. Turning his attention to Rivers, the judge spoke again. “Mr Rivers, listen carefully as I will only say this once. I do not wish to see a repeat performance of earlier. When you are asked to stop, you stop. Understood?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Kerferd, you may proceed.”

“The defense will continue with the current witness, Agent Night,” Kerferd stated and walked over to Duo.

Heero remained sitting in the chair beside the bed, refusing to leave his partner after the last fiasco with Rivers. No one dared to challenge him either. Heero’s eyes darted between his lover, Kerferd and the Vid screen.

“Agent Night, before I proceed I will remind you that you are still under oath.”

“I understand,” Duo replied.

“Agent Night, despite being told by the terrorists that you were not to try and make any form of contact with anyone, according to earlier witnesses, you did in fact, attempt some form of contact? Is it true that you did leave a type of message, left something behind in an attempt to alert the Preventers to your whereabouts and also prevent another assassination from taking place?”

“That is true,” Duo replied.

“Just to refresh the jury’s memory, would you mind telling us what you did in that capacity?”

Duo explained as carefully as he could about leaving the message in blood on the L1 ambassador’s pillow, he also confirmed he’d pulled out several strands of hair and placed them in the ambassador’s hand. He then went on to explain about leaving the cryptic message on the L3 ambassador’s computer, attempting to warn the rest of Preventer who the next target was intended to be.

“By leaving the unexploded device under the bridge supports I knew Preventer would locate it and those in the explosives division would recognize the device and who would have put it there,” he finished.

“Thank you, Agent Night. No further questions, your honor.”

The judge looked to Rivers, his posture indicating he wasn’t going to take any more of Rivers’ idiocy should the prosecutor wish to question the accused.

“No questions, your honor.”

Duo gave a deep sigh of relief and visibly slumped in his bed. Sally was right there to check him over, satisfied he was okay.

“The defense calls Agent Cloud to the stand.”

Agent Cloud was sworn in and the questions began again. Kerferd grilled the agent on his findings on the L3 ambassador’s computer, wanting to know what the agent had thought, how he had come to his conclusions and so on. Once he’d finished his questions, Rivers declined to ask any of his own.

“The defense recalls Agent Fire to the stand.”

Wufei was similarly put back through his earlier testament, going back over the findings at both residences for the benefit of the jury. Finally, Kerferd was finished, Rivers had no further questions or wished to recall any witnesses and thus the judge called a halt to the proceedings.

“Gentlemen, I will give you a ten minute recess to prepare your closing arguments.” The gavel banged down hard.

* * *

“As it has been made clear to the jury today, Agent Night killed those three, innocent men in cold blood. He entered the premises of the ambassadors in a manner that avoided detection – because he didn’t want to be caught. He killed the two ambassadors with a knife to the throat, and by his own admission, cleanly and efficiently as he had been trained to do – in other words, a trained killer. As for the Senator, he not only killed the Senator by using a bomb placed in the road, but had a second one waiting under the bridge should the first one have failed to take out the target! Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I trust you will do the right thing here, the evidence has been presented to you, the cold, hard facts of forensic proof that Agent Night committed those murders and did so willingly. Please, take this killer off the streets and put him behind bars where he belongs and cannot hurt any further innocent people.” Rivers concluded his closing address and with a nod to the jury, went back to his seat.

In the bed, Duo could feel his heart once again sinking to his feet. He knew he would end up in jail, there was no possible way he could avoid a conviction, not with all the evidence stacked against him like this. But he hadn’t counted on Kerferd’s closing speech.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” Kerferd began as he stood and approached the vid screen. “Yes, you have been presented with forensic evidence that puts my client, Agent Night at the scene of those murders. Agent Night has already confessed to having committed those murders, however, despite all the forensic evidence in the world, one must also consider the motives behind such murders...”

Kerferd continued in his spiel, his words striking home to those around.

“I have to ask you that when you are deciding this man’s fate, you also take into account the following evidence. Would a cold blooded killer go to the trouble of leaving forensic evidence behind? Would he deliberately leave strands of his own hair in the hand of his victim to be found and identified? Why would he take the time to leave messages behind, messages that warned of the next person to be assassinated? And why would he use an explosive device that he’d trained several agents on and leave the unexploded one behind to be found, knowing full well that whomever discovered it would know who had created it? Are these the actions of a person who had pre-meditated the murders? I think not.

As has already been testified, under oath I remind you, by several witnesses, Agent Night had no say in the matter. He had no choice but to do as he was told, failure to comply would have meant his own child and an innocent nanny would have been added to the list and the victims would have numbered five and not three. No, Agent Night didn't want to commit those murders and despite being forced to comply, he did his best to leave behind clues to alert the Preventer organization as to who he was and who would be next if the terrorists’ demands were not met. In short, Agent Night wanted to be found.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, when you decide this man’s fate, please remember all that has been said here today. I trust you will all do the right thing.” Kerferd gave the jury a small bow and returned to his desk.

Duo began to feel slightly better.

The judge banged his gavel down hard, drawing everyone's attention. “The jury will now retire to deliberate on their verdict. Once they have come to their decision, the court will reconvene.”

“All rise,” came the bailiff's voice and everyone stood as the judge left. The jury also filed out and once they were gone, both the court room and the hospital room relaxed a touch.

“Now we wait,” Kerferd stated.

~ * ~

tbc...
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Family Ties