Disclaimer: Gundam Wing? Sure, it's mine. And also you're stupid.

Sub Rosa

Chapter Two

Hold Out Your Hand

It made sense.

It was disturbing, crazy. What the hell was Greaves doing hanging around here again? The last time he'd decided to meet up with me for a reunion, it was to kill my sorry ass. But if I tried to remember, he had said that he was a cyborg, and he had said something about Caribol.

It made sense.

"I remember you saying," Heero started, but I cut him off with a loud whoop.

"Heero, my man, you did it again!" I got up and laughed. "You're right; it makes total bloody perfect fucking sense. Why didn't I see it?"

"Because you weren't thinking, maybe?" he answered, smirking. "And do you need so many adjectives?"

"Do I what?" I glared at him. "No smart-person talk from you, Yuy. I'm excited here. Greaves is actually gonna help us find these guys. And I have no idea how, but I'll bet he only left that note because he's already found something. That suits his style. Awesome! Now you don't have to wait for a bomb to bash through a window."

Heero's eyes darkened. The stare he gave me said he'd been more concerned about something that had the capacity to move on its own. I cocked an eyebrow.

But then we had to buck up and call the others to tell them, and hell if Quatre didn't cancel a fucking speech and come straight over, Trowa in tow, wholly ignoring my complaint that we didn't damn well have anything yet, and when Wufei heard Quatre was coming he was hopping over, too, and to hell with my saying there was no point to it.

So within an hour – Quatre had refused to move far away for the recording of his speech, so the vultures and parasites had to come here. Quatre was going to get some serious flack for canceling, but he didn't seem to care.

And then we were all gathered around Heero's living room, me making sure Heero grabbed the couch and having Wufei join him; Quatre took the chair and Trowa leaned on the wall beside him. I took the floor beneath Heero and leaned against the couch, my legs underneath the coffee table.

Quatre was the first to lean forward. "So this Greaves guy, he can find the other three men the doctors chose before us?"

"Yeah," I confirmed.

Heero spoke up next. "He's one who attacked us earlier, when Duo was still recovering from Harlow."

I glared at him. Sure, let's introduce the man first as an enemy. That would help.

So we had to go over that whole damn thing with Quatre, who hadn't been given all the information there, either. I cast Trowa a wary glance; the man usually was so pissed off by anything relating me to any sort of danger that he would be trying to hold himself back from hurting me physically. But he was just listening, a hand on the back of the chair, ready to go to Quatre if he was needed.

I blinked when his eye caught mine, waiting for hell to break loose, but absolutely nothing happened. The man just looked at me, into my eyes, and seemed to see my nervousness. And then he smirked and turned back to Wufei, who was speaking now.

And I was left to wonder just what the hell was going on.

The explanation finally finished, and hell if Quatre wasn't frowning. "I'd heard Duo had been reckless, but I hadn't known quite how-"

And I cut him off right there, not willing to hear about how stupid I'd been. "So Greaves has apparently decided to show up again, this time minus the try-to-kill-me thing."

"The thing is, should we trust him?" Wufei asked. His eyes turned to me.

I shrugged. "I don't see why not. He was on orders to kill me, orders he'd needed to follow because he was pretty much owned by Caribol. He's not anymore; he's probably back to his merc ways. That means helping those who help you and are on your side. Simple as that." I looked to Trowa for confirmation, but he only shrugged and tilted his head. It was plain he was saying that even if that were true for him, it didn't mean it was true for Greaves.

"Strange," Quatre murmured. "Caribol might not have gotten such immediate attention from all of us if this Greaves guy hadn't come, right?"

"Technically," Heero admitted, his voice reluctant.

"That is exactly correct, Quatre, my man," I said, beaming, not letting Heero's cynicism control the emotional airwaves in the room. "Greaves is a good guy. He's like Heero and Wufei combined."

Heero and Wufei both sputtered.

Quatre seemed to accept my words and clapped his hands together. "So how do you think he'll be sending the information to you?"

"Hell if I know. Hopefully he won't be creative to the point of destructive again."

Heero passed me a rather droll look.

So we wasted another hour or so speculating, and then it was time to cook, and when I headed out, Quatre offered to help. I declined, but Trowa said he was going with me and the look he sent me had me gulping down any argument.

We left the room to Heero and Wufei and Quatre, Heero's gaze watching the both of us leave, warnings clear in those midnight blue eyes.

I blushed at the blatantly possessive stare. Please tell me nobody else saw it.

"I won't kill him," Trowa called back, and I just flamed. Trowa saw and laughed.

"Son of a bitch," I grumbled, but nonetheless led him into the kitchen and pulled out the pans we would be needing. "It's just simple chicken and rice and veggies," I mumbled. I was an okay cook, yes, but I wasn't anything to write home about, either.

"I'll save it," Trowa told me. I snorted.

We were quiet for a time. I took out the chicken and put it in the mike to defrost it. Trowa took out the rice, then the squash and zucchini. I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow and broke the silence just as the microwave dinged. "I don't know how to cook that crap."

"I do."

Smartass.

Then it was preparation and getting to learn how to move around one another in the room. We were silent again for a short time.

When we safely had the chicken in the oven and the water on to boil for the rice and whatever the hell it was that Trowa did for the zucchini and squash was done, too, Trowa moved us over to the table. Apparently it was Conversation Time.

This wasn't my story to start, so I just sat and waited, hands clasped in front of me on the table. Trowa leaned back in his seat, taking on that deceptively calm air he'd always had during the war. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm still not happy with you."

It was an interesting way to start the conversation, and I just lifted an eyebrow. "Uh... yes?"

He snorted. "But I've been watching you." Well that didn't sound stalker-ish or anything. "Carefully." Definitely stalker-ish. "And though you constantly placed yourself and those around you in danger, attempted to kill one of my best friends-" I flinched violently on that one "-and tried to cowardly run away from your responsibilities by killing yourself, something my Quatre wept over for weeks."

I flinched again, even as my mind caught, surprised and awed, th unconscious use of the possessive. My Quatre. And I think it finally clicked, why Trowa was so furious. I mean, it wasn't as if I hadn't known; obviously it was for Quatre. But I could see now that Trowa's life practically revolved around Quatre, though I couldn't understand how or why, and anything that hurt Quatre was physically painful to Trowa, and unforgivable.

It hit me, sharp and true, in that one sharp instant as pain wrapped around me, and I opened my mouth to speak, to apologize, now that I truly understood.

"Shut up," Trowa ordered. I shut my mouth.

Trowa got up for a moment, and I heard him doing something with the vegetables. It was about time for me to put the rice in the pot, so I got up and did that. It was awkward until Trowa seemed to decide to not wait for us to sit again, and while I was stirring the rice and he was... doing... something with the veggies, he spoke.

"But the two of you truly do love one another."

His voice was so soft I almost missed it, and when the words sunk in I jolted, almost spilling the hot water on my hand. I cursed and mumbled under my breath and turned on the fan over the stove, since a little water had fallen and was now sizzling and steaming all over the place.

"You and Quatre have a relationship I could never have with him, and I've seen it over and over again." Trowa sounded a bit sad by that, but I couldn't see his face behind all the damn steam. "And I've seen you changing over these past weeks. It's made me remember who you were. During the war."

It so seemed to echo what Heero had said earlier that it made me blink rather dumbly. I almost burned the pasta. With another curse, I turned the heat down.

"So I forgive you," Trowa finished, his voice low. Nevertheless I heard it, and I blinked owlishly at him.

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it, Duo Maxwell," Trowa growled, but through the receding steam I thought I saw a slight smile. "I told you, I'm still not happy with you."

I grinned; Trowa had practically let it go completely. "Thanks, man. I'll keep working on it."

"Do, and I'll call us even."

"...You got it."

I closed the door behind Quatre and Trowa, who had stayed longer than Wufei, the former still calling out assurances that they would not be returning to work for a few days because of skipping the meeting and informing us that we had only to call. Guests officially gone, I turned toward Heero. The man was leaning back against the back of the couch, and his shoulders were a bit slumped. He was exhausted.

I went over and grinned down at him. "Bedtime, sleepy-head?"

He turned a droll stare my way. "No."

"Yes," I argued primly, and leaned down. "Come on. Nappy time."

"Duo, I am going to hit you."

"Not with that injured collarbone, you're not." I watched as the man growled, then gave up and stood, slowly enough that he couldn't help but confirm my suspicions on how tired he was. He glared at me then, as if he knew what I was thinking, and finally let me help him up the stairs to his bed.

"Nighty-night," I whispered as I tucked him into his bed, and that glare of his turned up a notch until I gently kissed him.

I saw the flare of passion in his eyes and carefully pretended to be oblivious. It wasn't that I didn't want to go there with him – the fact that he and I had yet to have sex was driving me absolutely insane – but he was still injured and we had potential enemies to find. And now that I knew Greaves was around, the last thing I wanted to do was have sex, not knowing if the guy was watching.

Ew. That thought was just nasty.

Despite his tough-guy act, Heero was out like a light within seconds. I sneaked out of his room and went back downstairs to take care of the dishes.

When Trowa and I had come out with the food, the topic had changed to Zechs, and Wufei, Heero, and Quatre had been in a heated discussion over what they were going to do about Zechs' acts. In the end, they all decided to wait and see what Zechs had to say in his defense – something Quatre and I had been advocating from the start.

And then they'd all left, most likely respecting Heero's waning strength. Or maybe it was because Heero looked about ready to burst, so difficult was it for him to keep from bombarding me with questions about my conversation with Trowa. And no doubt that would be the first thing he worried about when he woke up, the first damn thing he asked me.

And I could actually give him some good news.

It made me smile, thinking about it. We may not be at full strength, but my relationship with Trowa truly was healing. Thank goodness. And even better, I was really starting to get the guy.

Yay. Warm fuzzies all around.

I finished washing the dishes – when I want some time to think, I just clean the dishes myself – and I was in the process of drying them when my back stiffened of its own accord. A tingling sensation swept up my arms and alarm bells rang rather loudly in the back of my head.

I turned to the back door.

Greaves was just stepping inside, his eyes carefully on mine. He closed the door behind him, absolutely silent, like a fucking ninja. I cocked an eyebrow. There was no way that door wasn't locked.

"Sorry to intrude," Greaves murmured, "but I couldn't help but notice that your lover was sleeping."

I didn't bother to correct him on the 'lover' portion. It was close enough. "And why exactly do you want to talk to me alone?" Though I also lowered my voice, unwilling to end up making the guy leave. He was our only possible link to our three missing predecessors.

"Because your lover wants to kill me for what I did to you earlier."

I was ready to argue, but it sounded true and Greaves only stated something as fact when he knew it as fact. So I shrugged. "Okay. So why did you come?"

The man smiled. "I'm glad I didn't kill you."

"Uh, yeah. Have to say I'm glad about that, too. And vice versa, man."

"I heard about what happened to you, and I decided to help you in return for taking down Caribol. After this, we're once again even."

"Yeah, sure thing. Do you want to sit down?"

"Thank you." I led him over to a chair and sat down myself. Really, Greaves looked completely human. He must have been one of Caribol's better creations, and I wondered how long he'd been kept in one of the tubes Heero had seen in Caribol before he'd gone missing. Then things flashed in my head and I cringed away from the thoughts altogether.

"So you've decided to help us find the other three pre-Gundam pilots," I said, trying to start the conversation again. Damn, I was having a lot of conversations. I was about filled to the brim with the damn things.

"Yes. I've already found one."

I blinked. "What? Really?" I leaned against the desk. "How? Who?"

Greaves outright grinned, and the shock of it froze me for a second. But then he simply said, "his name is Carn, and he is the predecessor to Quatre Raberba Winner. I believe the man was with you this evening."

I frowned. "You've been spying on us."

"Of course. I needed to speak to you alone, since only you would be certain to not attempt to fight with me."

"Yeah." I scratched my head and sat back. "Sorry about that."

"They care about you."

"Yeah, ain't it a kick?" I grinned and shrugged and sat back. It hit me, then, again, how sad Greaves seemed when he said it. "Hey, you know you can join the group, right?"

But Greaves just chuckled and shook his head. "No, thank you. I prefer my life as it is. I'm very pleased yours has changed, however. The life of a mercenary doesn't suit you. But this is not what I came for."

The man placed a tape in front of me. The thing was positively ancient, a bulky cassette with the recording tape not only visible but actually touchable from one end. I picked it up and stared at it.

"Preventors should have what you need to read that," he murmured, then carefully stood again. I did, too, on instinct. "I will return later, once needed."

"You're gonna disappear on me again?"

"Until needed," he repeated, and moved back toward the door. I followed after him, my pace unsteady. Greaves really was like Heero and Wufei together, and I couldn't quite understand him anymore. Had the whole Caribol mess changed him? But he was still the same guy. Just... different.

"Hey, thanks again, Greaves. You know I didn't take down Caribol for you. You don't have to do this."

"I'm repaying a debt." The man opened the door just as soundly as he had only minutes earlier, and when he closed the door, the only reason I knew was because I watched him do it. I locked it, then as a joke grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a quick 'Just knock!' on the thing and taped it up.

Then the night outside seemed to infect me, or I really did just lose my damn energy to all those stupid conversations, because suddenly I was just fucking exhausted. I clopped my sorry ass through the house, double-checking the locks and the windows and just fucking everything, and then I trudged my way up the stairs and into my room. The tape went under my pillow, and I couldn't find the wherewithal to pull my hand out from underneath.

I fell asleep without even pulling up the covers.