Ch. 4 Cooking and Egos

A few hours later Quatre woke to a soft rapping on his door.

"Dinners ready." Trowa's voice came from beyond the door.

"Oh, alright." He answered drowsily.

Sitting up be blinked away the remaining sleep that still blurred his vision. When had he fallen asleep? He could not even remember going to sleep. The last think he remembered was bringing his things up to the room. Everything came back in a rush and he remembered the real reason he had gone up to his room. Things were such a mess at the moment and he did not even know where to begin. First, he would start with dinner; he was starving and wondered what Duo could have possibly talked Janice into cook. Poor girl, she really had no clue how bad Duo really was. If it were possible, Dou could burn water.

With a heavy sigh, he climbed out of bed and headed down to dinning room. Trowa was already sitting at the table in his usual spot so Quatre sat down across from him and stretched. While the table had already been set, there was no food on it.

"I thought dinner was ready." He said looking towards the kitchen door.

"It is. Duo is very proud of his 'master piece'." Trowa replied as he leaned back in his chair, arms crossed firmly over his chest.

The thought that Duo had created another one of his 'master pieces' made him nervous. Last time he had created one, they had all gotten food poisoning. With any luck, Janice had stopped Duo from making another disaster. Just then the kitchen door swung open with Duo and Janice carrying two dishes. After setting the dishes on the table they took their seats, Janice next to Quatre and Duo, always by Trowa.

"Smells delicious." Quatre commented as the aromas started to fill the air. He was still a little wary of eating it and by the look on Trowa's face; he was having the same problem.

Janice leaned over and whispered into Quatre's ear.

"Don't worry, I did all the work, Duo just mixed what ever I handed him." She sent him a sly wink as she started to fill her plate with food.

"What is it?" Trowa asked, still skeptical about eating it, but decided that it was alright since Quatre was smiling while he filled his own plate with food.

"Mmmm." Janice said trying to finish the food she had just put into her mouth. "It's Chicken Cacciatore with noodles. It's a very simple recipe."

"It's good." Trowa commented sounding almost shocked.

"I cooked it," Duo said, then added as an after thought, "with a little help from Janice."

"I see." Trowa smiled inwardly, he had seen the wink Janice had given Quatre. It had told him everything he needed to know.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence and when the dishes had been cleared they all settled down in the living room. Trowa and Duo curled up on the couch reading the same book while Janice sat on the floor working on the laptop that Duo had lent her. Mean while, Quatre sat in a chair staring rather blankly at the wall. All he could think about was the problem at hand, how to find Heero and the killer.

"If you keep thinking like that, you're going to drive us all nuts." Trowa said.

"Hm." Quatre came out of his daze to find that Trowa, Duo and Janice were looking at him. "I can't help it." He folded his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. "I don't have any leads to go on so I don't know where to start."

"I have a suggestion to that." Janice said from the floor as she returned to her work.

Quatre looked down at her as she continued.

"Heero's been spending a lot of time on 'extra' things at work. Normally he hands me all the files he's worked on for the day. Lately, he's been doing a lot of work on something I'm not supposed to know about."

"How do you know that?" Duo asked curiously.

"Like all good secretaries, I know everything about my employer." She smiled up at them, mischief in her eyes. "And I peeked at his laptop one day when he went out to lunch. He had forgotten to close out of his files and lock it before he left. So when I went in there to retrieve a case that Lady Une wanted, I saw what he was working on."

"Curiosity got the better of you." Trowa said evenly from the couch as he continued reading his book.

"Of course. He's was researching that building you were at last year."

"Medical Research and Development?" Quatre questioned now leaning over the arm of the chair.

"Yeah. I'm not sure why and I couldn't stay long without someone noticed, but I bet if we hack into his computer we could find out more."

At the mention of that Quatre's enthusiastic face fell as he rested his head on top of his hands.

"You talk as if cracking Heero's code were easy."

"Well, not for us, but Dou is just as good as Heero, right?" She looked intently at Duo waiting to hear his answer.

"Whoa, back the train up. You want me to hack Heero's computer? The last time I tried that it was disastrous." Duo said, pulling himself out of his comfortable spot in the crook of Trowa's arm.

"Dou, you're the only one that stands the chance of cracking it." Janice said. A little ego stroking never hurts. "Aren't you the best?"

Trowa smiled, but remained silent. She really knows how to stroke a guy's ego. He thought as he listened to their conversation.

"Yes, but…

"Then here's your chance to prove it."

"You aren't going to let up on this, are you?"

"No." If was final and Duo knew it.

"Alright, when do you want me to do it?"

"Will tomorrow work?" she asked turning towards Quatre.

"That's fine. Maybe with some luck we'll be able to get in."

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Duo said proudly. "It'll be all skill."

Now she's done it. Trowa thought. She's stroked his ego just a little and now it's a big ego. He let out a soft laugh. How he loved Dou, even if, at time he could be persuaded by pretty words. Tugging on Dou's arm, he pulled him back down so they could finish reading their book.

(o)(o)(o)

The following morning they arrived at Preventer's headquarters and were allowed to go straight to Lady Une. After explaining the purpose for hacking Heero's computer, leaving out that part about Janice sneaking a peek at his files, she reluctantly agreed.

While Duo went to get some coffee, knowing that it would take a lot of time to crack the infamous Yuy security code, Janice sifted through her desk to find the spare keys she had to Heero's office and desk. After locating them she opened his office allowing them all entrance before closing it behind them.

"I hope you brought something to do." Dou said taking his position behind the desk to start working. "This is going to take some time."

"I can wait." Quatre said sitting in a chair in front of the desk.

"I'm going to catch up on some files while I can. If you need anything let me know." Janice left the room and went to her own desk.

"Do you think you can get past his security?" Quatre asked as he looked around Heero's office.

"Yeah, but it'll be annoying." Duo said as he set upon the keyboard and starting the arduous task of breaking into Heero computer.

(o)(o)(o)

Ok, so here's yet another chapter. I didn't think I would get this one out so fast, but the good stuff happens in the next chapter. Had to get the slow one out of the way first. Sorry if it's a little short. If I don't cut if off here, I'll be way to long.