Title: The Circle Game
Chapter One: Thirteen Steps
Rating: R
Characters do not belong to me I am just borrowing.
Yuri warnings apply.
Chang Wufei sat in his favorite booth at the Irish style pub that made the best micro-brewed beers he had ever had. He seldom drank, but when he craved something, or felt a drink was needed, he would go to his pub. The fake I.D. he presented was never questioned, and if he chanced to be at the pub with Sally Po his I.D. was never asked for.
He had just brought his glass of stout to his lips. The dark and pretty much black liquid edged towards his lips with a bit of the white and creamy head that sat at the top of the glass. He sipped and savored the chocolate and coffee undertones of the beverage. Then he placed the beer on a coaster and took a deep breath. He looked over at Sally who was staring into her bourbon on the rocks.
"You need a woman." Wufei said and then picked up his glass and took another sip.
Sally blinked and shook the ice around in her glass. A grin tugged at the edge of her lips as her eyebrows rose to greet the unexpected statement. She didn't have anything to say in response. Wufei was the most unabashedly honest person she had ever met, so if he said it he thought it was truth. He was probably right though.
It had been six months since the end of the last Gundam War, and just a little over that since Noin had pretty much dumped her while she was in the middle of a battle. It wasn't exactly unexpected since Sally understood that Noin believed Zechs was still alive, but it didn't hurt any less.
She could have wallowed away in self pity and endless one night stands, because there were plenty of female Preventors who wanted to icomfort/i her. Instead, Sally opted to help Wufei adjust to life as a Preventor. She went out on missions, finished up the last of her training for her doctorate, and tried not to miss that warm sensation of someone sleeping next to her.
Wufei was about half finished with his beer. He looked over at her again and said, "I'm serious."
"I know." Sally replied and finally managed to bring her drink to her lips. "Any suggestions?"
"Don't be cute." He chided and then thought for a moment. "You need someone strong, honorable, just, graceful, and a little aggressive."
"I'll be sure to post that in the singles ad." She shook her head.
"Also," Wufei said quickly, "you should take the Chief Medical Officer position. I bet Une would give it to you."
"Why's that?"
"Because you're qualified and you understand the mentality of a Preventor."
Sally nodded. She set her glass on the table and sat back in her seat. She chuckled. "A woman."
****
"Is this happening now?"
Sally unbuckled her harness and quickly drifted over to the new recruit's station. The gravity had been hit and if they weren't careful the tiny craft would meet an untimely end. She hit a few buttons and the engine of the craft roared back to life.
"I-"
"Don't apologize yet," Sally commanded. "We still have to make it back to earth in one piece." She took a deep breath and then said calmly. "Trust your training, kid."
The young Preventor nodded and found focus he had previously lacked. After a few minutes a face appeared on the monitor and Sally felt a rush of relief.
"Ah, there you are," Lady Une said. "We have you in our sights and have taken care of the rogue mobile suits. Hold tight and we'll reel you in."
"Copy that," Sally said. "Nice to see you stretching your legs out here in space."
Une grinned. "Let's cut the chatter out there."
"Roger."
****
The medical officer on the rescue ship seemed a little intimidated to be prodding at Sally. Sally did her best to sooth the woman's nerves. While she was away on the mission her promotion had apparently gone through, and somehow everyone already knew. She wondered which of her staff or friends had felt the need to spread the information around so freely.
"You're good to go." The doctor said. "Perfect health."
Sally nodded. "That wasn't too terrible was it?"
"Uh…no. I just- Um…" She looked up and immediately stood. "Ma'am."
Sally looked over her shoulder and saw Lady Une leaning in the doorway. The doctor moved out of the room, Une entered and took a seat opposite Sally.
"Your young companion has had nothing but good things to say about you," Une said softly. "I wonder if you should really take the new job."
"I'm sure missions will still come up."
"Not as many as you'd probably like." She reached out and corrected Sally's collar. "Sloppiness there, Preventor Po."
Sally nodded and watched as Lady Une exited the small room. She tilted her head to the side and muttered, "What was that exactly?"
****
"Like Atalanta, you have to drop a few golden apples to get her attention," Trowa said as he dressed.
Wufei nodded. "I'm not sure the things Une has been dropping are shiny or blunt enough."
Trowa shrugged. "It isn't like the movies. We can't just hope their eyes meet just right and then they start making out."
"Hn." Wufei grinned.
"That's a bad sign."
****
Sally leaned back on the small stool the tiny medical bay of the ship had. She was leaning back because she was feeling a little too close to someone she was, by now, very attracted to, and not just physically. If it was just physical it would have been okay. This was verging on dangerous.
Lady Une slowly buttoned the shirt of her uniform. Sally tried not to let her eyes linger on the bullet shaped scars that marked the lady in different places.
"What's the diagnosis?" Une asked softly.
"Perfect health." Sally said and shifted her gaze so that she was looking Une in the eyes. "Any problems with the-"
"No." She tugged at the bottom of the shirt to straighten the line of it. Then she leaned forward and said, "Sally?"
"Hmm."
"Are you tired of circling yet?"
"Yes."
****
The phone was ringing. Sally was too busy to answer it. Later, she'd be glad she missed the call.
In the meanwhile she was a little lost in the sensation of Lady Une tugging gently at her lower earlobe with her teeth.
"Tired of taking things slowly?" Une whispered, and the words sent a chill down Sally's spine.
Sally didn't reply. Instead she turned her head and kissed the lady deeply.
****
Checking her messages Sally didn't know how to even react to the sound of Noin's voice. There was a request in the message. It sounded like it was meant to say, "Take me back." Under the new circumstances there were few ways to reply that wouldn't be taken as a cruel stab. So, Sally erased it and decided to wait until she got into the office to call Noin back.
She meandered back into her room and blinked (in that awestruck wonder only the first calls of love can induce) at the sight of Une asleep in her bed. She sidled forward and then slipped under the sheets. She tentatively kissed along the line of Une's neck until the lady's eyes fluttered open and her arms lazily circled about Sally's waist.
"Good morning," Une said.
"Yes," Sally confirmed. "Very good."
****
"So," Wufei began and took a sip from his coffee cup. He looked over at Sally who was grinning slightly as she shuffled through paperwork.
"I'm not telling you anything," Sally replied softly.
"But that tells me everything."
"Then run with that, but it's all you're getting from me."
He chuckled, and then as he turned to leave he whispered, "And so Atalanta finally picks up an apple."
Sally looked up and blinked. She shook her head and then called out, "I think you've forgotten what happens at the end of that story."
****
Une arched an eyebrow and stepped forward to adjust the olive green tie Sally was wearing with her suit. "This seems…Not quite your style."
"I may have lost a bet."
"And being you, you just can't pretend you wore a dashing suit with an off center tie." She grinned. "But now I'm taller than you in these heels."
"You're always taller than me in heels. It's an awful illusion." Sally sighed and then said, "Do you know I think we were set up?"
Lady Une nodded. "If I recall this has something to do with a Greek myth."
"Fiendish woman," Sally whispered pulling Une closer. "You knew the whole time."
"Most of the time." Une corrected. She kissed Sally and then said, "It wasn't as if I could just charge in and throw you over my horse."
"Why not? Wufei would have found it appropriate."
"You weren't ready." She stepped back and grabbed for her purse that was sitting on the small sideboard in the hallway. "Does it matter if the results were worth it?"
Sally shook her head. "We'll be late. The kid will kill us if we're late."
"Ah yes, distracted by that mushy stuff." Une smiled.
To be continued…