23-Jan-2005
Title: Elbowroom
Author: Mookie
Pairing: Wufei/Sally
Rating: PG13
Word count: 1,530 (eep more than three times the 500 words I
needed)
Warnings: minor language, mildly spoilerish
Notes: Written GW Jeopardy category Innuendo for 500 points ("about a boy")
Wufei sat at his computer, mapping the coordinates he'd downloaded against existing satellite maps to narrow down their search. His partner was in a conference, one that he'd gratefully been excused from. He'd never seen the benefit of "think tank" approaches. Rather than having a synergistic effect, he'd found the clash of egos and the arrogance of the collective, all egotistical assholes, a waste of time.
If he could pick and choose his team members, perhaps that would be different, but he was no more likely to change his opinion than the others were, and a stalemate would benefit no one.
He didn't glance up when she returned, until he realized she'd taken her seat and started typing away without giving him the brief summary of the highs and lows as she usually did.
Wufei's brows furrowed and he turned his chair around to stare at her.
Sally Po had been his partner for over a year. He'd come to accept her unwavering confidence and determination as part of the job just as much as Une's often manic desire to right the wrongs she'd committed as well as maintain what she viewed as Treize Khushrenada's world philosophy.
He took in the set of her jaw and the tiny wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. They didn't belong there. She was not long out of her teens - when had the signs of age set in.
She hit a wrong key and the side of her fist came down on her keyboard - not hard enough to make the pencil sitting atop the number keys jump, but Wufei could hear the beep of protest from the computer. He shook his head and returned his attention to the work in front of him. Whatever was bothering Sally, as long as it didn't affect their working relationship, it was none of his business.
It was when he'd gone to the break room to pick up a couple of muffins that he found what he considered a reasonable explanation for Sally's behavior.
He recognized the agents in question, although not by name. If he didn't have Treize's memory for names of those who'd fought and died, he certainly had a knack for remembering faces. They were good at what they did, which was why Une had them on staff, but they were the sort that Wufei despised. Self confidence was one thing, but the group that had worked as part of the Treize Faction seemed to feel they were above everyone else, just for having worked with Khushrenada himself.
Wufei doubted very much that Treize would find their attitudes anything but insulting.
"You've seen the way she looks at them."
Ribald laughter followed that statement, and then, "That's because that's about as far as she'll ever get is looking."
"I don't know, maybe she just needs to let her hair down to get laid. Look what it did for the Colonel."
A few crude comments and some speculations about Lady's sex life were made, and then he heard Heero's name.
"If you ask me, the vice foreign minister isn't the only one who wants to get into his pants."
"Nah. She's saving herself for the tight ass."
A long whistle. "Now there's someone who needs to get laid."
A third voice interrupted the exchange. Wufei recognized it - one of the men he'd worked with on an assignment over a month ago. "They're good agents. Now if you two don't mind, you're blocking the coffee pot."
Wufei returned to the office he shared with Sally, empty-handed, and stood in the doorway. She either hadn't noticed his arrival or was studiously ignoring him.
His eyes traced the features of her face, the straight line of her nose, the smooth forehead, the delicate eyebrows. He'd seen those brows drawn together in concern, and the corners of those lips turned up in a sad smile.
Wufei had known a lot of delusional women in his life, but Sally was different. She accepted him the way he was but never hesitated to let him know what she was thinking.
His fingers curled into fists. He'd have loved to express his distaste for the comments he'd overheard, but that would have done nothing other than make him feel better.
He was tempted, though.
His first impulse was to confront Sally with what he'd heard, to lay things on the table and then move forward. That was basically the way she'd always treated him, and he found word games and beating around the bush tiresome.
But not here. Those assholes might have had no reservations about slandering one hell of a good agent, but that was a topic that didn't belong here.
She surprised him.
It was the end of the day, and they'd shut down their computers, straightened the papers on their desks, and were standing in the middle of the office when she toyed with a button on her jacket.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?"
Wufei narrowed his eyes. "No. Don't be ridiculous."
She nodded and brushed past him on her way to the door. His hand darted out and grabbed her arm. "Have dinner with me."
Sally looked like she was going to protest, then her shoulders slumped in defeat. It would have been nice if she'd not accepted the invitation with the attitude of someone on death row.
During dinner she refused to meet his eyes, something that Wufei found both annoying and rather telling. His partner didn't act like that.
He reached out and removed the silverware from her fingers, placing it on the table next to her plate before picking up her hand and holding it in both of his.
"Should I be uncomfortable?" he returned.
Her eyes met his. "I hope not."
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that wasn't an answer to his question, but he bit down on the words as he considered what she'd said.
Hope.
Had he learned nothing after all these years? All the people who had ever made Wufei doubt himself, who had made him strive to better himself, all of them possessed that elusive concept.
Sally looked down at their joined hands, marveling at the contrast of skin tones, and at the weathered appearance both of them had, making them seem far older than their years. Hands that had wielded weapons of death and destruction. She'd wanted hers to be used for healing, but there was more to saving lives than being a doctor.
She'd never been blind to the innuendo and rumors. She respected Wufei Chang and couldn't think of anyone she'd rather work with. There was a lot lying under the surface, and she considered herself lucky.
It wasn't the gossip mill that bothered her. Slander had existed for millennia, and she often thought that rumors were started more for entertainment purposes or to make people feel better about their own lives. Scandal sheets maintained their popularity, and the water cooler grapevine dated back for countless generations.
No, it wasn't having a starring role in a rumor that had apparently made the rounds several times that bothered her.
It was because she'd slowly come to realize that they were right.
She should have snatched her hand back before Wufei had clasped it, but she'd never been able to turn him away. To make the gesture seem unwelcome would go against everything she believed in.
Besides, she liked the way her hand felt in his.
One of Wufei's thumbs was massaging the space between her ring and little fingers, and the other was teasing at the skin between her thumb and forefinger. She felt a prickle of sensation run along her shoulders and at the nape of her neck.
This was the way she felt sometimes when he'd lean over her shoulder to point to something on her screen, or when during a mission she'd turn to say something and realize their faces were inches from each other. A thing that had no place in what they were doing and while they were working.
Wufei released her hand and she stared at it as if it should look different somehow, then raised her eyes to meet his.
He had that same determined, I'm-right-and-you're-an-idiot look on his face that he wore from time to time, the look that often made her rise to the challenge, to show him through example that what the words she spoke to him were ones she believed in.
If ever Wufei Chang had been an innocent young boy, he'd ceased being one long before she'd met him. It was time she stopped treating him like one.
Wufei realized it was the first time that day that Sally had smiled. His shoulder twitched slightly, and he scowled.
Sally picked up her glass of water and leaned back in her seat, stretching out her legs. Her boot bumped against Wufei's as she crossed one ankle over the other and held her glass up in a toast.
"On second thought," she said. "If you're not... I think I'll just have to try harder."
The sound of Wufei choking on his own water told her she was well on her way.
The End
(:./mookie/elbow)
