Candle light and soul forever

I'm finally back in the writing mode after being unable to

sit down and type out anything for the last couple of months!

*grins*  And of course the first thing that I wanted to

work on was something for the Strange Days contest.  This

pairing was a challenge issued by a friend who thought it

would be an interesting combination.

It's going to end up being a sappy romance thing, but

with something of a twist in the main pairing and the

side pairing that follows it.  So no hints yet!

Title: Two Become One 1/?

Author: Rhina

Pairings: ?????

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WARNING: None yet!

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Disclaimer: I don't own the GW boys or their female counterparts

otherwise I'd be retiring instead of dealing with the likes of the

school board.  I don't own the song "Two Become One" by the

Spice Girls either – thank goodness, who'd want to lay claim to

them?!

lyrics

~~~ scene change ~~~

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Candle light and soul forever

A dream of you and me together

~~~ Preventer Headquarters ~~~

"Sally," said Wufei in a psuedo calm voice as he entered

Sally's office.  His hands were folded behind his back in a

gesture meant to control his nervousness. 

It was rare that he was nervous around Sally these days, so

he did not understand why having this frank conversation

would upset him to this extent.  He had been meaning to speak

to her on this subject ever since her 24th birthday several

weeks ago.  It was there that he realized people were too often

assuming that he and Sally were a couple.  This bothered him

in particular because he knew that deep inside he could never

see Sally in a romantic way.

Oh, he respected her and valued her friendship and thought

she was an ideal working partner – for a woman.  But it

would never develop beyond that.  Despite a common

background, their temperaments were too different to

withstand an intimate relationship.  It would kind of be like a

dragon trying to swallow a volcano – all you would get is lots

of fire, not a lasting partnership.

He was not quite sure about Sally's thoughts on the issue

and that was worried him.  He had a sense that she did not

entertain silly romantic notions, for she was far too practical,

but with Sally one never knows for sure unless you ask. 

Garnering strength from an afternoon of mediation and

sword practice, he had resolved to come and straighten things

out with her.

"Yes, Wufei?" asked Sally without even glancing up from

the paperwork.  Her pen scratched across the multi-layered

form as she diligently worked to finish her assignment.

"Um," hesitated Wufei, unsure about her lack of a response. 

"There's something that we need to talk about.  Something

important."

"So talk," commanded Sally.  She smirked quietly to herself

as her pen continued it's frantic pace across the papers.  It

was rare indeed to see Wufei as nervous as he was right now. 

She was enjoying watching him squirm – perhaps just a

little too much.  She wondered idly where did the sadist in

her had come from.

Wufei stared at Sally for a moment, barely registering that

she wished him to discuss something this important without

her even paying attention.  He figured she must know best

though and cleared his throat nervously in preparation for

launching in to his prepared speech.

"Well, Sally, it's about us," said Wufei with a glare at the

top of her head.  She seemed to be enjoying this a little too

much for his tastes.

Sally continued to work, sighing mentally at his choice of

topics.  There was nothing she wished to discuss less than

their 'relationship'.  She was heartily sick of the whispers

behind her back whenever she and Wufei went out on a

mission together.  The taunts and teasing of how to spend

'quality partner bonding' time were too much for her

sensibilities.

And she never thought of Wufei that way.  There wasn't any

chemical attraction – something she considered rather vital

to a long lasting relationship!  In her mind, she still thought

of Wufei as a poor confused kid, even though a kid was

something he had really never been.  But he had been

someone to train and bring back humanity and foster a love

of life in too.  Now he had those human qualities again and

she was perfectly happy to shoo him on to the arms of

someone who would really care for him.

"You're not going to make any confessions of undying love

are you?" Sally asked wearily, looking up at Wufei.

The Chinese man was momentarily poleaxed at her words,

but quickly his features relaxed in to a smile.  "Quite the

opposite actually.  I was coming to make sure that you didn't

harbour romantic longings for me."

"Furthest thing from my mind," drawled Sally as she stood

from her chair and moved around the desk to lean against the

front edge.  "Look Wufei, I consider you a really good

friend and I have no desire to screw that up with any silly

romantic entanglements.  We make good partners and I

enjoy working with you and even going out after the day is

done, but that's as far as it goes – as far as it will ever go

where I'm concerned."

Wufei nodded in agreement.  "I feel quite the same way, but

with all the people examining our love lives like we were

some kind of huge human experiment, I wanted to make sure

that we were in agreement."

"Quite.  Besides," said Sally poking Wufei in the shoulder. 

"If I'm going to fall in love with someone, he should at least

be my height."

Wufei scowled at her jesting about the sensitive issue of his

height, a mere inch shorter than hers.  "I can still put you

flat on your back woman."

"And I like you that way," grinned Sally and a smile then

spread across his face and dark eyes in return.   She leaned

over and kissed his cheek gently then, asking silently for

forgiveness for the joke.

He bowed solemnly to her in return.  "Friends."

"Friends," she agreed, happy to have the matter settled. 

"Now get out of here and let me get my work done."

"And this is why I am still superior to you, woman," called

out Wufei with a smug smile as he exited the office, pulling

the door shut behind him.  "I'm already done."

There was a thud against the closed door and Wufei chuckled

to himself and he walked away.

~~~ L2 ~~~

"You should just go you know," said Hilde.  "You know you

want to.  It's a prime opportunity!"

"I know Hilde, but…" answered Duo, his gaze focused on the

official looking piece of paper in his had. 

"Don't tell me you're worried about me?" asked Hilde in a

tone filled with righteous disbelief.  "You know better than

that!  I can most certainly take care of myself!"

Duo looked up at the pint sized firecracker of a female and

smiled with pleasure at once again realizing how good a

friend she was.  "It's not that.  It's just…."

"Just what?" queried Hilde, sitting down next to Duo and

looking at him earnestly.  "We've been friends for years now

Duo and I've never know you to be afraid of anything."

"It's not afraid exactly," admitted Duo with some hesitation

as he worked to put his concern into words.  "It's that…."

Hilde rolled her eyes.  "Don't make me go and get the pliers

Duo."

He smiled weakly at her and then returned his gaze to the

shining white piece of paper emblazoned with the best job

offer a Sweeper like him could ever hope for.  Chief Engineer

of Development for the Preventers would definitely be a

great experience and the perks alone were worth the effort

of moving from L2 to Earth.  But still he hesitated.

Deep inside he still worried that Hilde was in love with him. 

Throughout it all, he still thought of her as his kid sister. 

Someone to take care of and protect, but not the person you

had romantic dreams about.  Now don't get him wrong, he

longed for that romantic love, that passion and a chance for

his own family more than anything.  But Hilde wasn't the

girl to give it to him.

Pleading violet eyes peered over at her and Hilde immediately

knew what he was thinking.  "I can't believe you're still

harping on that Duo.  I'm not in love with you.  Yes, I do

love you, but it's a far cry from that romantic love we're

both looking for."

Hilde reached across and smoothed back the strands of

chocolate brown bangs that always seemed to hang in his

face.  "I got over you a long time ago, Duo.  I want you to go

and have a good life.  I've got wonderful friends here – I

don't think I'll be lonely for long."

Duo smiled at the mischievous sparkle in her eyes and

sighed softly.  He was far more reassured now and more

willing to take the move to further his career.  "All right, I'll

call them and accept the job."

"Yeah!" cheered Hilde, jumping up and hugging Duo

impulsively.  "So that means dinner is on you tonight, right?"

Duo smirked, the teasing glint once more alight in his eyes. 

"I do believe it's you who has those frequent spillage

accidents."

Swinging wildly, Hilde managed to smack him resoundly in

the arm, which he immediately clutched in protesting howls

of pain.  "Come on!  It wasn't that bad of a joke!"

Hilde cried foul and immediately set up a pursuit as Duo ran

away laughing.  "I know, you want me to take you out to eat

because it's your turn to do dishes!"

With another howl of outrage, the chase was on and their

laughter, like those of good friends anywhere, rang across

the colony.