Ch. 2 A New Partner

"Where the hell is Heero?" Quatre demanded outraged, as he stood in Lady Une's office.

Une studied the angry blonde for a moment not really sure why he was so livid with her.

"He should be at home." She responded coolly, trying to diffuse the situation.

Quatre let out a short angry laugh. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and he did not have the patients to play games with her today. Sleep had not found him at all last night as he had tried to figure out how the man could have possibly survived.

"I know you sent him on another mission Une. You called the house last night telling him to report for his next assignment. Duo even saw him on his way out and Heero had told him that you were assigning him on another mission."

Now Lady Une was thoroughly confused and she speculated that Quatre might be on something.

"Quatre, I didn't send him on another mission." Une stated as she sat behind her desk.

"If it's a classified case I don't care, I need to know where he is!" He began pacing her office in an attempt to relieve some of his stress.

"Honestly Quatre, I didn't send him on another mission. In fact I threatened to fire him if he didn't take some time off."

Quatre stopped his pacing immediately to stare at her.

"If he's not on a mission, then where is he?" He collapsed into one of her office chairs resting his head on its back, eyes closed. "It's imperative that I find him Une."

"Janice, can you come in here?" Lady Une paged Heero's secretary. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

The office door opened as Janice entered, her hazel eyes sparking and long brown hair bouncing behind her.

"Yes, Lady Une, what can I do for you?" Her voice was cheery as it always was. She flashed Quatre a smile in greeting.

"Janice, did Heero come back to the office last night?"

"Yes, he said he had left some important paperwork behind and needed to retrieve it."

"Did he say where we was going?" Une inquired, hoping to find some information on Heero's whereabouts.

"No, but I assumed he was going home since you had ordered him to take leave or be terminated. He was in a frightful mood when he left." A worried look dominated her pretty features. "Why, is something wrong? Did something happen to him?" She had grown attached to Heero even with all his difficult personality. She would hate to have to work for someone else.

"No, everything is fine. Thank you."

With that Janice was dismissed to return to her work.

"I assure you that I'll look into this matter thoroughly and inform you if we find anything."

"Please Une; don't treat me like I'm a client or something. There is another reason why I'm here."

Lady Une leaned back, resting her elbows on her chair as she knit her fingers together. She watched as Quatre reached into his pocket for something and after finding it slid it across the desk to her. Une picked it up for a closer look, if there was surprise she didn't show it.

"I received that in the mail last night."

"This man died a year ago by Heero's hand. How can you have this?" She handed it back to him.

"I don't know, but either he's back or he has an apprentice." A chill ran up his spine as he remembered the last time he'd met one of the guy's apprentices. "That's why it's so important that I find Heero."

"Seeing that he's taken off and no one knows where he is, we'll just have to work this as is. I'll put an agent on it right away." She reached over towards her intercom.

"No." Quatre stopped her. "I would rather work this case on my own."

"Quatre, you're not a Preventer, I can't let you do that."

"Either way, I'm doing it. Heero and I did it last time; I can do it this time."

"Heero isn't here to help you this time so I'm going to assign someone."

Knowing that he wasn't going to get around it he let her page someone in when he had a brilliant idea.

"I would like to request someone, if you don't mind." He straightened in his chair.

"Okay, you know more about this case than I do, so who do you recommend?" She was a little curious to see who he would pair himself with.

His lips curved into a smile. "Janice."

(o)(o)(o)

"Mr. Winner, if you don't mind me asking but why did you choose to partner up with me?" Janice asked pleasantly as headed out towards his car.

"The only person that knows more about Heero than me is you." He glanced in her direction as he pulled out his cell phone to call Duo. "You want to be a Preventer, so here's your chance to prove yourself."

"Alright."

"That and you don't have any experience so you won't argue with me like the more seasoned agents do." He smiled at her as dialed Duo's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hey Duo, its Quatre. You got room for two more? No, Heero's not with me, I'll explain when I get there. Alright, see you then." Quatre hung up as he pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the car and then they were leaving the Preventers parking lot.

"Can we stop by my place then? I'm going to assume that we'll be gone for a while and I'd rather not wear my work clothes."

"Sure, I actually have to stop by my house too and Duo won't be home for another hour yet, we have plenty of time to kill."

"My apartment is just around the corner."

She directed him to a nice looking apartment complex with a well tended lawn.

"You can come up if you like."

Not really wanting to sit in the car and in a desperate need to occupy himself, he agreed.

"Make yourself comfortable, I'll only be a second." She said as they crossed the threshold.

He watched as she disappeared into the bedroom.

Hers was a small one bedroom apartment, but comfortable and well furnished. It had a small table with two chairs in the kitchen and a nice wrap around couch against the far wall with two end tables and a coffee table in the center of the room. A very expensive looking sound system was set up in the entertainment center along with a TV, game systems and a ton of movies and games.

There was something about it that brought comfort to him, a warm feeling. It was probably because this was a home that was lived in and appreciated, not just some place to drop by for a day or two and be off. Janice emerged from the bedroom with a small duffle bag and had changed out of her work clothes. She now wore tight fitting blue jeans with a black tank top and her hair was in two French braids that were almost as long as Duo's.

"I just have to leave a note and we'll be off."

Quatre nodded from his spot in front of the door, that he had never moved from, while Janice scribbled a quick note.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

Leading the way out of the apartment, he stopped to allow her time to lock the door, before continuing down to the car. There next stop was his house and it didn't take him long to get there. He was greeted by an overtly enthusiastic cat as Zeus jumped up and down on his leg as if he were a dog. He bent down to pet him affectionately.

"This would be Zeus." He said happily as he made his way towards the stairs. "Make yourself at home, but I warn you, he's attention crazed."

Her light laughter followed him up the stairs as she picked up the cat. He wouldn't need to change since he had never gone to work, kakis and a white shirt, he had wanted to be comfortable after the night he'd had. Tossing some clothes and toiletries into his own duffle bag, he made a quick phone call to tell his sister he would be on vacation, before making his way back down stairs to see Zeus practically mauling Janice for attention, which she gladly returned.

"I warned you." He said smiling as he collected the cat's dishes and some food from the kitchen. "Would you mind brining the cat?" He asked opening the door. "He's coming with us."

"Sure." By now Zeus was content to lay in her arms knowing that she would rub on him.

After throwing his things in the trunk of the car he grabbed the mail and tucked it in between the seats when one of the envelopes caught his eye. It was had no address just like the last one, with only his name printed on it. Opening it, he found another business card with the initials HY. They could only mean one thing.

(o)(o)(o)

Well, there's chapter two for everyone. Please R&R so I know if I should continue with this or not.