06-Nov-2000
Category: Action, Adventure, Romance, ANGST
Pairings: 1x2, 3x4x5 (Combinations there of)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money being made or sought here.
NOTES: And so Companions of Fate continues! Bonne (bonnejeanne@yahoo.com) of Wufei, Relena and Heero. I'm responsible for Trowa, Quatre and Duo.
Quatre had given up trying to duck the reporters. Out in public he played his own role to the hilt. Like Trowa, he focused on being amused by people's natural attitude to side with the 'wronged-party'. Annoyance only broke out when he had to bend over backwards to 'handle' a client of WEI's who's morals had been offended by the private life of WEI's commander and chief.
The only other part of the facade Quatre found hard to maintain was lying to Relena. He cringed everytime he had to stand by and watch the Vice Minister deal with questions about Mr. Winner's private life. It galled him that reporters suddenly seemed to care so little about the work Relena was doing and wanted to grill her about *his* affairs. It also rankled that Relena gracefully dealt with the questions without knowing the truth of the situation.
Sometimes, Quatre almost let her in on the secret. After all, she had gone through the war with the five of them. He often felt that she deserved all their confidences. Then logic prevailed. Not only would the knowledge be dangerous, to Relena but it also meant one more person who knew the truth. One more chance for the barest of slips that would endanger Trowa.
So, Quatre kept his mouth shut and stood quietly, listening to the reporters bombard Relena with questions as if Quatre himself was not standing four feet off to the side of the dais. This day, this meeting, was no different.
Quatre stood, his hands tucked neatly behind his back, eyes averted from the vid cameras that blazed in his face. Relena had been finishing up her speech and had opened the floor to questions. For about ten minutes the questions had been legitimate, thoughtful requests for further information about the state of the L2 colonies.
Then Sally Cothe had gotten into the mix.
"Vice Minister. Can you truthfully tell us that your efforts on behalf of the L2 colonies has not been hampered by the scandal created by one of your key benefactors, Quatre Raberba Winner?"
Quatre nearly groaned outloud. He was beginning to thoroughly despise the sound of that woman's voice. He looked towards Relena, fighting to keep his face impassive.
Relena merely lifted her brows in a curious expression and gracefully turned to address Sally Cothe with the dignity of a princess as she addressed the base question.
"Scandals are created by people with too much time on their hands and too little to do. The personal affairs of Mr. Winner have no impact on the work he has done for the citizens of the Colonies and the Earth Sphere. I am, as always, extremely grateful to have his help and support on the *real* issues we are trying to solve here. If you journalists would focus your energies on helping to inform people of the facts surrounding the serious problems we are trying to solve, you wouldn't have any time left for stooping to become rumor mongers."
Most of the reporters had the grace to look abashed. However, Sally Cothe smiled her lizard smile, tilting her head in a way that was condescending towards the younger woman on the dais.
"Oh now, that is a wonderful sentiment Vice Minister but don't you think it's rather naive? I mean if Mr. Winner cannot handle his own "affairs" " She drew the word out to the maximum limit, making it sound as dirty as she could. "How is he supposed to handle his business?"
Relena had no intention of backing down from this 'despicable woman' as she'd referred to her once in private.
"Actually." Relena said with a sweet smile. "He seems to be doing just fine in handling both his business and his private life. After all, Ms Clothe, he has a very healthy and prosperous corporation and a large number of people who admire and support him. I don't suppose you can exactly be expected to understand unless you could in all honesty say the same."
Away from the dais, Quatre stood quietly, now fighting to keep his face politely neutral while inside he was grinning to beat the band and cheering Relena on. It was hard to keep perfectly still when he wanted to laugh.
Sally Cothe covered her momentary defeat by making notations in her notebook. She finished a few notes then she looked back up with a malicious grin on her face.
"Indeed. I suppose that sleeping with people does incline them to support you. Perhaps we should all take a closer look at just how Mr. Winner is collecting his large supply of benefactors. In fact, you yourself are being quite kind." Sally said it with just enough inflection to make her implication very clear.
Relena's eyes narrowed briefly and then she immediately said, "Frankly, Ms Clothe, I don't care *how* Mr. Winner is getting support for these programs we need so badly... if he has the stamina to go to bed with every single relevant party I can only consider that a new medal might need to be struck up in his honor. As for myself, if I ever find myself in a position to be in such a pleasant situation with such a caring and intelligent person, I will be happy to count my lucky stars. Now if you all are quite finished, we have real work to do to save people's lives."
Sally's lips tightened and she flounced back into her seat, scribbling madly. The rest of the journalists twittered amongst themselves for a moment, before one of the more stalwart members of the corps stood up and asked the Vice Minister a relevant and productive question.
After the last questions were asked and answered and they were allowed to escape to a 'backstage' area, Relena was heard to mutter, "Heero, if the opportunity to shoot that woman should ever arise, don't tell me about it ... just do as you see fit. Otherwise, I may be forced to forget I'm a pacifist."
"Hn." Heero answered, only the telltale slight shaking of his chest betray that he was masterfully suppressing a serious urge to mirth.
As always, Quatre was trying to think of a way to apologize to Relena for her getting caught in the situation. He hated that journalists like Sally Cothe were having a field day with this and detracting from the truly important issue. He was about to step forward when a hand tugged on his sleeve. Stopping, he turned and looked down into the face of a young child.
The child smiled sweetly up at him and handed him a piece of paper. Quatre automatically smiled back, taking the paper. By the time he looked down at it, recognizing the symbol from another piece of paper that had been delivered in a similar manner earlier that week, the child had melted away into the shadows.
Quatre flipped open the paper, unfolding the intricate design and reading the words. Away from the prying eyes of the cameras, at least till they moved to the limos, he allowed himself a deep frown.
"Is something wrong, Quatre? " Relena's voice was gentle, without the steel present when addressing the reporter.
He looked up quickly and smiled warmly to her. He had always had a strong respect for her, ever since she and Noin had given himself and Heero sanctuary in the Sanc Kingdom during the war. The respect had only grown and recently with the close work they had been doing, deepened into a feeling of true friendship.
"Oh. Hello, Relena. No, no. Nothing beyond the norm." He made a graceful gesture with the letter. He and his office had been fielding mail and messages expressing displeasure with his actions for the past weeks. Everything from people who felt they had the right to chastise him for a lack of monogamy, to some very strict folks who took it upon themselves to be offended by his sexual preferences and a lot in between. Quatre quickly scrunched up the paper and slid it into the pocket of his suit jacket, motioning Relena forward.
"That was a very inspiring speech you delivered today and I think a couple of the answers you were able to give the press will really help us with getting the community centers funded on the 4th."
Relena sighed, walking with the blond. "Thank you for the kind words. If giving pretty speeches is the only way I can help get this work done, I guess I'm glad that what I'm trying to say is coming out at least intelligibly," she said. Then she placed a hand lightly on Quatre's arm.
"Try not to let all this ... triviality get to you," she said. "Whether any one else realizes it or not, I know that without your help, this nearly impossible task would be completely impossible."
Quatre stopped, just shy of the door that would take them both back out into the lime light. He smiled gently and placed his hand over her's. "Miss Relena, do not sell the work that you have done short. Sometimes, making those pretty speeches is just what is needed to pry action out of people who would otherwise still be sticking their heads in the sand. Also, you're work has done something needed beyond even my contributions. It's given the people of the L2 hope. The will to fight and to accept assistance. To look for it again. Without that, nothing I or any of the others have done would have meant anything. You got those people to trust you and you're delivering on those promises." He smiled the bright, truthful smile that was seen so rarely these days.
Relena looked into Quatre's eyes and said softly, "I wouldn't have a single clue what to do in all this chaos, nor any more hope than the people of those beleaguered colonies, if it hadn't been for the existence and the actions of the Gundam pilots," she said simply.
She didn't lift her eyes from his but he could almost sense her thoughts turning to Heero, who was close by. "The events that took place during the war remain with me, as bright and clear as every sky full of stars and they guide me through these times when things seem so clouded and difficult. I'm not selling myself short, Quatre. I'm simply trying to let you know that ... each contribution lives on, for those who can see it."
Quatre fell silent, listening to her words. He had to resist the urge to look over at Heero when he felt Relena's attention shift in that direction, keeping his attention on her. He smiled gently and gave a little nod before removing his hand from atop of hers. Turning towards the door, he reached up and straightened his immaculate tie.
"Now ... if I could remember where I was going next today, I'd feel a lot better." He spoke the gentle quip with a comic expression on his delicate features.
Relena smiled. "Frying pan or fire, we only have a limited number of choices so how lost can you get?"
Then she turned and moved out of the door.
Quatre chuckled wryly. "You'd be surprised."
He took a quick step and exited the door close behind her, putting himself back onto display and hesitating slightly, giving the reporters the impression that he might answer a few questions which pulled their focus off the Vice Minister, allowing Relena to get to her transportation with limited interruptions.
As the reporters began to call out questions, there was a slight disturbance and the throng parted with remarkable promptness. The cause was quickly revealed as Wufei walked through the hastily-created opening. On a couple of occasions, they hadn't seen fit to make way for him fast enough and while there had been no serious injuries or broken bones, a few reporters had learned how unpleasant simple, nondisabling pain applied to the right pressure points could be.
Quatre had been turning to address the first question when he saw reporters beginning to bounce to the side like fish getting out of the way of a shark. He turned his eyes in that direction and he could no more have kept the smile of welcome off his face then he could have grown wings and flown with Sandrock strapped to his back. He did manage to smoother the sigh of pure relief, allowing the small grin of amusement to tickle his lips and his eyes as he watched journalists scatter.
Wufei met Quatre's eyes and acknowledged the smile with a raised eyebrow. In every way he was completely the Chang Wufei of old - cool, impassive, impenetrable. People might wonder what a ray of sunshine like Quatre saw in the Chinese security chief, but they never wondered how he could get what he wanted if he decided on something.
It had been remarked upon by a journalist panel of Sally Cothe's ilk. In fact it had been debated with as much fervor as the economic provisions that Quatre and Relena were trying to get passed. They had debated how Quatre could have chosen Wufei over Trowa, then it had been pointed out that Trowa Barton had not been an outgoing, expressive man either.
The whole situation had been picked apart with the panel making some wild assumptions about personality and what went on in their private lives. Quatre had been about ready to howl in fury when the end summary had instead sent him into a fit of the giggles.
The panel had decided, in their infinite wisdom, that Quatre should hook up next with the gregarious, bright eyed, young bodyguard with the long flowing braid.
The little Arabian hadn't stopped laughing hysterically, for almost half an hour.
Now, he stood calmly just outside the doorway on the top of the stoop. He didn't hide his smile of welcome or in anyway try to tone it down. He never did. Even when Wufei was being his most reserved. He folded his hands behind his back, tilting his head slightly towards the most vocal of questioners, while never taking his eyes off Wufei.
"Yes, Sam, I do think that the blanket tariff bill will pass into law for the L2 colonies and I think that it is needed. A blanket tariff for the first 10 years will help stabilize any corporations that go in there. No, I don't think that it will damage the other import/export business for the other colonies."
Sally Cothe and a colleague of hers, had been making a rather.. tail between the legs.. exit when her camera man tugged on her sleeve and pointed over towards the group and more importantly, Wufei. Sally Cothe believed in trash at any risk and she quickly moved forward with an evil gleam in her eyes.
Most of the reporters had learned their lessons. Cothe was hardheaded.
Quatre was in the middle of answering another well posed question when Sally's sharp voice cracked through the air.
"Now we have a public appearance! When do we hear news of the engagement."
Quatre almost lost his composure. In fact his shoulders flinched like a man expecting a blow. He caught himself and finished his statement before turning and looking with benevolent amusement at Cothe. The explosion of still-vid-flash nearly blinded him.
"Good afternoon Sally. I would have thought you had a deadline to meet."
"Not at all. I'm certain my loyal audience will wait to hear the happy news." Sally tugged at her camera man but the man showed the presence of active braincells and refused to step up and shove the camera in Wufei's face.
Wufei turned to look at the woman, his features the exactly opposite of Quatre's benevolent expression. "Good," he said curtly. "Then they can keep waiting."
Sally's quick piglike eyes, darted over both Wufei and Quatre, as if she were trying to get them both to move into the same camera frame. As she noted every detail of them both, her eyes fell on Quatre's pocket. A small corner of the letter he'd received was poking out of the top of the pocket.
Sally smiled, slow and viscously. Information had been leaked to her NewsDesk. She'd been uncertain as to it's validity or how to use it but as she studied the corner of the distinctive paper, she decided to take a risk. She was a risk taker after all and she usually got the juicy stories as a result.
"Now, that's not very nice Mr. Chang. I would think that you two would want all the positive support you could get. Given the negative press your, relationship, has generated. Why you two are being painted all sorts of villains, I'm sure the hate mail has just been littering your mailbox." She quickly focused on Quatre, catching the barest hint of his shoulder's stiffening. Her eyes flashed triumphant. *Gotcha!*
Quatre took a deep breath, keeping the smile on his face, fighting to keep it in his eyes. "Did you have a legitimate question Ms. Cothe?"
Sally smiled. "Well, you both seem to want to be coy about the engagement announcement. I guess there are some family issues you're still working out? More fundamental differences to be overcome? Religion questions ... culture, a mixed marriage can be a blessing but such work I imagine."
Quatre hid the growl in the back of his throat and by some superhuman effort kept his hand from going to his pocket. His eyes tightened a little. She was fishing, she was fishing and she had something. He was tempted to grab her and drag her into the limo for a little *chat* but he fought off the urge. Instead he reached up into his breast pocket and pulled out a small spiral notebook and a pen. Writing something down on a piece of paper he stepped forward and held it out towards her with a winning smile.
"I'll tell you what Ms. Cothe. You make this appointment and I'll answer your questions."
Wufei scowled visibly. "Enough dawdling with the press," he growled. "You have a meeting to get to."
Sally watched Quatre's eyes and he returned her gaze. The two tested each other's wills. Finally Sally reached up and grabbed the piece of paper. More sill-vid-camera's clicked. Quatre stepped back and tucked the notebook into his pocket as he nodded to Wufei.
"Of course, I'm coming."
He smiled brightly to the rest of the gathered crowd and made his way towards his limo. Wufei stuck to him like a magnet and got in beside him as the limo pulled away. The Chinese boy leaned back on the seat. He looked at Quatre quizzically.
"What was that all about?" Wufei asked.
As soon as the limo door was closed, Quatre dropped back on one of the long seats, laying there, catching his breath. As Wufei spoke, he sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, staring down at the floor of the long car. He wrinkled his pert nose.
Once again he was caught between wanting to protect his loved one and keeping his promise to that exact same person. Quatre lowered his hand and reached into his pocket, pulling out the note and turning it about in his fingers. He followed the fold lines as he spoke, getting the paper to fold back up into the original design.
"You know that there has been a lot of messages and mail from people being a little.. verbal in their opinion of the *break-up* with Trowa and the relationship between you and I." He peeked up at his lover, looking anything but the calm and collected young man from a few minutes ago.
Wufei nodded, looking like anything but the cold, harsh security chief. "That was the whole point - smoke screen for Trowa."
Quatre nodded, his nimble little fingers messed up one fold and he carefully went back to fix it. "I think someone, is testing the smoke screen." He finished the job and looked at the paper, making very certain that it was in exactly the same position as before.
Quatre held up the paper. It was folded in an ancient Chinese symbol of a very negative implication. The little blond was holding it upside down without realizing it. "This, mean anything to you?"
Wufei frowned, taking the paper, turning it correctly, then unfolding it to see if there was a message printed on the paper's surface.
The message was written in grammatically correct Arabic. Like as if someone had put the sentences together from a text book. They were printed with the classic ink and brush strokes of a very traditional Chinese writing style. It was a threat in every sense of the word. Stating not only intent to harm but the reason for harming.
~Chang Wufei should be with a young lady of the purest Chinese lines so that the clan may once again be made strong. You stand in the way of the clan's continued propagation and as such you will be removed. A simple snap of the neck from behind. I promise you will feel no pain. ~
Wufei studied the note and then handed it back to Quatre. He turned and stared out the one-way glass of the window for a while.
"I'm... not sure," he said finally.
Quatre again busied his hands with folding the paper back up. "It's the second one I've gotten. Both delivered the same way. When I'm at a function, in between meetings, a young child pops up behind me, gives them to me and then flits off."
Wufei reached forward with a sudden movement and pulled the paper out of Quatre's hand. He unfolded it and crushed it.
Taking a breath, he said. "Why delivered to you and not to me? You read it?"
Quatre moved too slowly to stop Wufei from crushing the paper. He blinked at the Chinese boy in obvious puzzlement. "Well, ... ah.. yes. Both of them. The first one told me to leave you alone or dire consequences ... this one got a little more specific on the consequences and also on why they wanted me to leave you alone."
"That's not what we were expecting," Wufei said, his eyes slipping back to the window. "We have... maybe a hundred such threats, directed at me..."
Bereft of his paper to fiddle with, Quatre steepled his fingers together. His head ducked a little. "I know." He still hurt for every single threat and nasty word aimed at Wufei. He couldn't help it. Even when he forced himself to 'consider the source'. Taking a slow breath he looked back up. "I didn't think anything of the first one. I didn't want to think anything about this one but... I saw Sally looking at my pocket, and what she was saying ... it was very pointed. Too close for a coincidence I think."
He gave a little grin, peeking at Wufei. "Besides, I am learning not to keep things from you guys."
Wufei nodded, a little absently. "Good, koi," he said. He looked out the window some more. Then he looked down at the crushed paper in his hand.
"When I..." he started, then stopped, then started again. "When I was growing up... we lived in a... a huge house, a compound really. The Changs were part of a large, extended, traditional family and the head of the family provided ... housing, clothing, food ... employment ... everything for the family members. My... Meiran was the daughter of the head of my clan and our marriage was arranged when we were ... well soon after we were born. We trained with teachers who were ... aunts, uncles ... cousins. Took care of younger cousins. Families had their own areas in the compound but it was like a... a small village."
Wufei looked out the window again, keeping his eyes there, or somewhere beyond. "There... I had a cousin, a teacher ... he used to summon me for lessons or errands or what have you ... he used to write his notes and fold them into intricate shapes ... it was his ... his signature. No one else could do it, and it was like an identity code in that warren where ... where people sometimes played games with each other ... politics...."
Quatre was silent as he listened to Wufei talk. Learning another little piece of Wufei's past. He watched his lover's profile as Wufei stared out the window of the limo. Raising his folded hands up to his lips he spoke softly. "Is the folding pattern the same as with these notes?"
Wufei glanced down at the crushed paper. "Not ... exactly. But he never... I carried a note for him once. To an uncle who had crossed him in some dealing or other. This pattern ... the man ... had an accident ... choked on his tea, a month later. I remember feeling ... worried and ... guilty afterwards."
Quatre studied Wufei, then he reached out a small hand and closed it over his lover's knee. "You were a child Wufei. How were you to know. I don't think the little ones bringing these to me have any idea themselves." He spoke softly, his fingers closing firmly around Wufei's leg.
Wufei placed his hand over Quatre's but his eyes were drawn back to the window.
"I thought ... they were all dead," he said softly.
"We don't know anything yet Wufei." Quatre said gently. "That's why I want to talk to Cothe. See if I can figure out what little fact she thinks she's going to lord over my head."
Wufei nodded absently. He was thinking of times and places far distant, no longer even in existence. That door had been so firmly closed ... to have it open now...
He turned and looked at Quatre finally. "I'll find out," he said with finality. "If ... if it is, I will take care of it."
Quatre frowned a little as he sat back. "Wufei ... there might be more to this then what you are thinking. Promise me you won't do anything without talking to me first." He felt stabbing fear at the ... bewilderment he was sensing from the young dragon.
Wufei leaned forward and kissed Quatre's lips gently.
"No," he said.
Quatre's pale brows lifted and his bright eyes flashed a little. "No?... No?"
"I won't dishonor you by making a promise I may not be able to keep," Wufei answered calmly.
"So ... let me get this straight." Quatre spoke very carefully, deliberately. A sure sign of Winner temper winding up. "I am supposed to come to you, with any and all possible threats. Whether they be, direct like these notes or round about, like attacks on WEI. But, when the situation skews slightly and becomes personal for you, you don't need to talk to me. Instead leaving me to worry myself sick about you." His brows perked upwards as he finished.
Wufei closed his eyes and water spilled silently down his smooth cheeks. He opened them, ignoring the lapse. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I don't know what else to say. Would you prefer a lie?"
Quatre sat there, leaning forward, looking at Wufei. He could see the tears and his heart tore at their presence, then he heard the words, like icy shards through his own chest. He looked into Wufei's eyes, seeing there, once again, the self-sufficient and reserved young man that he'd known during the war. The lone wolf as impenetrable as the Gundam he flew.
Quatre leaned back. He fell against the cushions of the limo and laid his head back on the headrest. He wanted to scream. He was feeling that want a lot these days and he bit his lip on the hysterical laughter that bubbled in his throat. The same laughter that had escaped him as he held his dead sister in his arms looking at the debris of what was left of the satellite and promising the colonies retribution. He swallowed that laughter as well.
Wufei moved, transferring to the seat beside Quatre. He reached out slowly and gathered the blond against him. Through the contact, Quatre could feel an invisible, bone deep tremor in his body being controlled by the harshest excise of will.
"I won't... I can't let this touch you," Wufei said, his voice still quite, controlled. "It must not..." Another flow of water escaped his overtaxed control and he blinked. "Don't ... be afraid. I won't vanish. I'll never leave you wondering. I just ... can't predict each action I may have to make."
Quatre let Wufei hold him for a long moment, then he pushed back, wearily. He'd felt the tremble in the compact body and his emotions twisted painfully in his chest. Tears watered his large eyes, wanting to fall, yet something held them back. He collapsed his head into his hand, looking at his shoes.
"'Never leave me wondering.' Can't say I was exactly left 'wondering' by Father, or Ira. I 'knew' " He took a slow, shuddering breath. "I feel like I'm doing this dance on quicksand and I'm not winning the fight." The last words were spoken on a strained whisper.
Wufei took Quatre's shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Quatre," he said. "I'm not your father. This ... this ghost ... is not strong enough to kill *me*. If he ... if anyone survived ... they did so by sneaking away like a coward. It's my ... duty ... to see to the honor of the soul of my clan. My last ... duty to them. Every other thing I have is yours ... every breath of my life. But this... I can't give you something pledged before we were joined. Not and still ... be myself."
Quatre sat quietly, listening to Wufei's words. He took a slow, steadying breath then reached for one of the hands on his shoulder. Taking it, he turned it upwards and kissed the calloused palm softly before giving the barest nods of understanding.
"I understand." He whispered before releasing the hand. His own folded demurely in his lap and he turned his head, looking out one of the darkened windows.
Wufei closed his eyes and then lifted Quatre into his lap, bending his head to rest it against Quatre's shoulder.
"I would not blame you if you didn't," he said softly. He closed his eyes, trying to find his strength. How can I ever explain to him what it is like to be born a Chang? To breathe duty in an unbroken line going back to the days of gods walking the Earth? How can I explain that what freedom I have is the result of the massacre of my family? I can't. I can never explain these things to anyone. They own me from the grave.
Quatre allowed himself to be settled into Wufei's lap. He didn't shake from his slight stupor until Wufei folded his head against the soft wool of Quatre's suit coat. Suddenly ... something broke within him and the anger and the confusion bleed the rest of the way out of his soul. Wrapping one arm around Wufei's shoulders, he reached up the hands of the other and stroked it softly through Wufei's hair. Shaking loose the neat pony tail, till he could complete the comforting action unfettered by restraint. He laid soft little kisses on the top of the dark head pressed against his shoulder as he combed his fingers through the silky hair.
The light touch was unexpected and Wufei almost gasped as Quatre's fingers stroked through his hair. His arms tightened until he all but cut off the Arabian's oxygen.
"I'm not ... worthy of you," he whispered. "But I won't give you up. Never."
"Shhhsss." Quatre whispered softly, laying a gentle kiss against Wufei's temple. Stopping the motion of his fingers for just a moment, he reached up and toggled the intercom to the driver. Speaking in a calm, normal tone he instructed the driver to head back to the hotel. He was done for the day. He was done with being on display and with having Wufei, Heero and Duo dragged onto display as well, especially Wufei. He was thrown a little into Wufei's body as the big car swung around and reversed course. His arms tightened around the Chinese boy then settled back into the comforting strokes of before.
Wufei felt himself calming with those touches. He relaxed his arms a little and lifted his head, looking into Quatre's face.
"I'm fine," he said quietly. "Are you sure you want to skip that meeting?"
Quatre took a long, slow breath. "Marylin can handle it." He gave a little chuckle and touched Wufei's lips gently. "And I'm not fine."
Wufei took a deep breath and nodded. "It is your call, koi. I'm... sorry for causing you pain." He swallowed and then said, in a firmer voice, "I want to see the other note, when you can arrange it."
"I'll give it to you when we return to the hotel." He said in a quiet voice.
Wufei was silent for a while, then he said, "Twisted though it is, the thing that is the most convincing is not the folding of the note but the substance. Even he ... whoever he is ... is compelled in spite of himself to act out of what he believes is his duty to the clan."
Quatre nodded a little, his lips quirking. "I'll remember that when ... how was it put...someone 'snaps my neck'. "
Wufei scowled, kissing said neck. "I stand between you and this ... ghost. Any neck snapping ... will not be yours."
End Part 2
Laekin
Please send comments to: seregill@aol.com or bonnejeanne@yahoo.com