07-Jun-2000
Category: Adventure, Angst, Romance, Friendship
Time: After OCT
Pairings: 3+4, 1+2 and numberous friendships highlighted.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being sought or made.
Notes: Again, Bonne's wonderful voice is Wufei and Duo in this part. All
praise for them should be directed to her.
Heero and Trowa did not take long in returning. In fact Quatre winced slightly as he heard the tell tale screech of abused tires as the two heavy motorcycles came wheeling off the main road up the gated driveway. Shaking his head Quatre looked over to where Duo and Wufei sat.
"If I ever tried to take that turn at that speed I'd end up wrapped around the elm, trees."
Duo chuckled. "I *have* taken the turn at that speed..."
Wufei didn't comment, he simply waited for the two boys to enter the room.
&Quatre gave Duo a sassy smile. "Indeed, and I believe you and Heero spent the next two weeks digging some of my rose bushes out of the grillwork of your bike."
Duo shrugged, unrepentant. "Outta practice. Just need to try it a few more times," he grinned. "Sorry about the rose bushes..."
Quatre made a soothing gesture with his hand. "They can be replaced, Duo. You can't. I think Heero turned five shades of pale as he watched you vault through the air."
Quatre remembered feeling his own heart slam into his throat. Trowa had also blanched though the taller boy had managed to mumble something about 'I'd give it a 9.5, he totally botched the landing.'
Duo stretched his arms up over his head, sprawling in the large leather chair he sat in and giving Quatre one of his 'devil may care' smirks.
"Life is for livin', little buddy. Better to go out that way, having some fun, than die in bed of the croup."
Quatre gave him a dubious look. "Practice a little more."
Heero and Trowa stepped into the house and wordlessly made a bee-lined for the study. Quatre's various studies had, over the years, become the defacto conference spot. The door opened, admitting the two quiet young men. Heero was wearing a frown that spoke of yet another dead end. Trowa was looking to Quatre as if making certain the small blonde was well, then his green eyes swung towards Wufei.
"Lead?" Trowa asked in his deceptively soft voice.
Wufei nodded looking up from his meditative pose. "While we were practicing in the garden, we had a visitor. He made himself quite at home. I didn't catch his full name, Paul something. He wanted to bring some people here for a meeting of some kind with Quatre. He was quite annoyingly persistent. Quatre... the rest?"
Trowa swung his eyes to Quatre, giving his lover a pointed look.
Quatre met the taller boy's gaze, read it and nodded. "Yes, that Paul. He actually wanted me to go back to the colonies with him for the meeting and when Wufei squashed that idea he suggested bringing people here. We dissuaded him, but while he was here I remembered something."
Quatre paused, still unsure about making an issue out of something he couldn't prove. Gnawing on his lower lip he peeked over at Wufei who was giving him a 'get on with' stare. Taking a breath Quatre continued.
"Paul... well I'd have to see the tapes to confirm it but I think Paul deliberately moved away right before I was shot."
Heero had drifted to behind Duo's chair, his hands resting lightly along the American's shoulders. At Quatre's words he looked up from his lover's braid and quirked a brow.
"As if he knew Quatre?"
Without looking towards Trowa, Quatre nodded. "Yes."
Wufei watched Trowa's face closely. Duo reached up, nibbling on a thumbnail, his mind working around the information. Though the taller boy's face did not undergo a riot of emotions, those who knew him well could detect the way the corners of his eyes tightened and how his lips thinned.
Trowa flattened Quatre with an intense stare. Quatre met it directly for a long moment but broke eye contact first. When he did this, Trowa's nostril's pinched. A sure sign of aggravation. Turning, Trowa addressed his questions to Wufei.
"Paul is headed back to the colony?"
Wufei nodded. "It's barely possible we might be able to stop him leaving Earth with a call to Preventer's HQ... Depends on what shuttle he's taking."
Quatre stepped around his large desk. "But I don't think we should. Heero, from your expression I'm guessing the lead ran cold... yes?"
Heero's dark blue eyes moved away from Trowa to Quatre and he nodded. "Mm."
Quatre sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I was afraid of that. We need to let Paul continue to move about freely. We need him as a lead."
Trowa looked as if he wanted to protest but the young man held his piece. However the expression he leveled on his blonde lover was... highly exasperated. Trowa looked as if he wanted to tear into Quatre about something.
Wufei's voice filled the sudden silence. "I didn't like it either." He looked down, scuffing one foot on the carpet idly. "However, it allows us time to prepare the proper method for... exploiting this man Paul... and by the way, Quatre has a new personal security agent. Me."
Quatre flushed a little. He was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the concept of having Wufei 'working' for him. Heero's brows rose a fraction but after giving the matter a lightening fast contemplation he nodded. Trowa looked a little bemused but surprisingly intrigued by the idea. Then his expression darkened yet again.
"It's a sound plan and as much as I'd like to get my hands around the man's throat if he was in fact connected to the attack, we're running out of viable leads." Trowa's tone was soft but reasonable.
Wufei glanced at Quatre. He was pleased the green-eyed one had justified his faith. However, Quatre's expressive heart betrayed him. He flushed beneath Wufei's glance, an acknowledgment that he had been wrong. It was a fleeting expression but Trowa knew every nuance of his little love's expressions and this confirmed his suspicion. The taller boy's head snapped up and his eyes flashed.
"You weren't going to tell me... were you." It was not a question.
Quatre's head came back up and he straightened from his lean on the desk. Stepping right into the accusation. "We still do not have any proof, just a very strong feeling Trowa. We need to handle this delicately."
Trowa snarled through his teeth and wheeling on his heel, paced from the room. Quatre fell back against the desk and lifted his small hand up to cover his face muttering a few choice curse words in Arabic.
Looking towards the retreating Trowa Duo blinked before he spoke. "So Wu-man... got a real job finally!" Though the moment was tense Duo smiled, feeling excited at the prospect of making some progress in this frustrating case.
"One of us had to," Wufei returned smoothly as he stood, shooting a look at Quatre to make him stay put as he followed Trowa. Firing a parting shoot off over his shoulder.
"And I knew it wouldn't be you, Maxwell."
Trowa hadn't gone very far. Down the hall a little ways to a bay window that he enjoyed spending time in. The afternoon sun fell through the glass, warming the comfortable window seat. Trowa had his hands braced on the cushions, his forehead pressed against the glass of the actual window. He was softly muttering under his breath.
"He was going to do it again... damn him."
"Trowa," Wufei said, taking a casual pose in the doorway.
Trowa's broad shoulders heaved with an agitated sigh and he pushed away from the cushions. Looking out the window over the back of the gardens.
"You talk him into telling us Wufei?"
Wufei let out air in a slight noise. "I told him to get over it. Now I'm making the same suggestion to you."
Trowa didn't turn around but his shoulders straightened.
"He did this before you know. With this whole damn project. I'd ask him and ask him." Trowa stopped and ran his hand over his face. His voice softening. "He'd come home from the meetings so weary Wufei. But all he'd answer was... 'Don't worry about it Trowa.'"
Trowa exhaled slowly and finally turned. "He gets into this bull-headed mind set Wufei and I swear he could rival Heero for the closed lip award. It's as if he doesn't trust anybody."
Wufei shrugged. "He was wrong this time. I can't say about any other time. But this time he realized it. There's something we all need to remember," he said, coming to sit on the window seat. "He is still in recovery. People don't turn on a dime. He hasn't completely assimilated the lessons from this event. You must help him... not make it harder by giving him something else to worry about."
Trowa turned and sat down in the far corner of the seat. Crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture he'd never completely given up. "Sometimes Wufei... You know compared to Heero, Duo and myself, you would think that Quatre had an ideal up bringing. But sometimes I think he was hard-wired from birth to believe he has to take on everything around him and carry it all by himself. It's like he... almost embraces the pressures and the duties and looks for more."
Wufei nodded. "I can... understand that," he said. "Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. We have to learn to use one and minimize the other. He does too. And he will. Don't loose faith in him now, Trowa. We haven't begun to see the reaction to this attack yet. It drives at the heart of everything he knows. His first excuse will be to look after you... that will help him keep from having to face what almost happened. Don't give him the excuse. Then be there for him when it does begin to show. He'll question everything, in time. That's when your faith will mean the most."
Trowa drew up one leg, relaxing his posture a little and wrapping an arm around his knee. "I do have faith in him Wufei. He's shown me so much. I just wish he wouldn't shut me out."
Trowa fell into his habitual silence for a long moment, watching a couple of birds till they took flight, then he turned back to Wufei with a concerned expression in his green eyes. "I've been so busy focusing on his physical health... what do you see coming Wufei?"
Wufei shrugged slightly. "We were all used to the idea of dying, during the war. We were soldiers. However, Quatre has been... returned to his home environment. A place that is supposed to be safe. I think when it sinks in, he'll feel a level of security that he didn't realize he'd been taking for granted, has been removed. I'm not sure how he will handle it. I hope..." he paused, then went on, "I hope.. we... can persuade him to share this battle with us, as we once shared the physical ones." He looked at Trowa directly. "And I am... here if you find you can do the same."
Trowa's green eyes fixed on a spot on the carpet and his thoughts flickered quickly and silently behind their emerald intensity. "I wonder if he's ever felt vulnerable before. I wonder if any of us have."
Wufei looked away, remember too vividly the vulnerability he'd felt after the fight with Treize. The man's sword had been at his throat... and he'd withdrawn it, let Wufei go. It had destroyed everything Wufei had built around himself. "I have," he said softly. "I think... I think we all have."
Trowa looked up and at the dark eyed boy sitting across from him. In a flash of insight he too remembered the silent way Wufei had plunged his Gundam into the ocean, just sinking. Nodding he straightened. "Yes. Well I guess I'd better go apologize for acting like a fishwife." Trowa deadpanned the dry comment.
Wufei nodded. "I... will keep him safe, Trowa," he said softly.
Trowa stopped, half way off the cushion. "I wonder if I'll ever forgive myself for not being there." Again, Trowa turned his head to look out the window, as if seeking the solace that nature always provided him with. "I've gotten used to his shelter without realizing it." Turning back he again meets Wufei's eyes. "Thank you Wufei."
Wufei bowed his head. "That's not necessary," he said quickly. "When I was at my lowest, and needed a human presence, you offered yours. You didn't know me, yet you gave me something I could not have asked for. I'll never forget it." He got up and moved back towards the study.
Trowa watched Wufei for a moment, then gave a nod and stood, matching steps with him and walking back to the study.
tbc
Laekin
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