Two inches

Chapter seven

part III

x_x

Noin twirled around in her chair holding a pen to her lips.

Zechs came home late again last night, she thought deeply. Zechs was so late that he missed dinner and came home at 1:30am. She bit down hard on her pen as her twirls became less gracious and more aggressive. Noin dug into her detailed memory and painfully remembered that the last time Zechs was consistently late was when he was cheating on her.

Noin put her twirls to and instant halt and pushed down hard on her pushy pen.

Cheating on her with a man.

It was happening all over again, her worst nightmare was now becoming an annual event. Why was it that every time around the Fall party Zechs had to be suspiciously unfaithful.

Last Fall party, Zechs openly flirted with every woman he could lay his eyes on, and he suspiciously left the Fall party early and didn't come back till the next day. The Fall party two years before, Noin found a pair of baby blue male brief which were a pair he didn't own, a hotel receipt booked for the honeymoon suite which she didn't go to, and male massage oil that was already opened in his possession which she never used.

These were all clear indicators that not only was Zechs a disloyal bastard, but as Noin would not so graciously put it,

A Gay.

And as Noin angrily sat there clicking away at her pen, she had come to the recent conclusion, after two years of searching, that there is or was more than one man that is or was fucking her future husband.

At the moment Noin only could come up with six men.

First she suspected Quatre Winner, since due to reliable gossip; she already suspected that Quatre was also a Gay. And given that Zechs and Quatre were in the same social class it would be ideal for them to be sleeping with each other. The only problem is they never talked unless it's necessary. And they always seemed to carry a fake politeness when they were around each, so it couldn't be Quatre.

Then there was Heero Yuy, but then that was an instant no, regardless of how extremely hot Heero was, Zechs and Heero only shared one common interest; their undying hatred for each other. Those two wouldn't even share air to save their own life much less a bed.

Then she thought of Trowa Barton, now there was one sexy man. But no, Trowa only cared about two things; animals, and Quatre. If a matter didn't concern either of the two, Trowa was no where to be found.

Next there was Duo Maxwell, the only man that Noin would never openly admit was potentially prettier than her. And to top it off, Zechs always made it a point to flirt with Duo at every given moment he had to spare. Still, no offense to Duo Maxwell, but he came from the same place as Hilde, and even though he wasn't trashy like Hilde, they did still come out of the same boat, correction, garbage can, and class will always trump beauty.

But she would keep Duo Maxwell in mind, he did come from L2 after all.

Then there was Chang Wufei, Zechs former best friend. Those two were inseparable before the alleged huge argument about the war that happened surprisingly two Fall parties ago, which made Wufei her prime suspect. And in any other case Noin would have confronted Wufei by now, but she needed more proof.

And then there was Jackson…No! As hot as he was, no explanation needed.

So Noin had narrowed it down, the men that were fucking her future husband were definitely working for the Preventers.

Of course Noin wasn't sure of this. She looked up at the bouquet of Gladiolus's and For-Get-Me-Nots and scowled, remembering two years ago when she found a bouquet of Gladiolus's that were not for her in Zechs office that was missing one stem, and the already used male massage oil that she never seen before right beside them.

But then again she thought, can't be sure of anything when it came to Zechs.

Noin glanced up and saw Sally Po making her way to her cubical. She instantly straightened up in her chair spreading a cherry smile on face and waved happily. She would save her misery for when she was alone; no one liked a girl who sulked.

"Good morning Sally" Noin said cheerfully.

"Well good morning Noin," Sally responded with a graceful smile. "And how is the morning treating you?"

"Quite well thank you, and you?"

"Quite well myself although traffic was horrible" Sally said sounding a little annoyed.

"I know right? On my way here Jones from Human resources cut me off, the nerve of that woman," Noin said as she dramatically rolled her eyes. "Her children must be driving her crazy. I heard that one of them got expelled from school the other day."

"Oh really?" Sally said. Noin knew that Sally wasn't much for gossip, but since they had been friends for so long she knew Sally had gotten use to the extra information.

"Yeah, I think it was her eldest son, they say that he was caught doing drugs at school."

And what's wrong with a little gossip to start a fresh day.

"Oh that is so unfortunate" Sally sympathized, Noin could tell that Sally was generally worried, as for Noin, she could barely care.

"Anyways Noin, I have actually come to inquire about Agent Terry" Sally leaning against Noin's cubical looking a little worried. "She was suppose to see me this morning but she did not show, and she did not call in advance to cancel the appointment, so I wondering if you had any idea where she might be?"

Oh man, Noin inwardly grinned, guess she wasn't the only one that noticed Agent Terry's disappearance, this only meant one thing. "Oh Agent Terry? I haven't seen her either. Why? What's her appointment about anyways?"

Gossip, and lots of it.

"You know that's confidential information Noin" Sally versed. Noin just rolled her eyes in response, she know she would find out eventually, she always did.

"Well today I heard she just suddenly left work early, said something about an emergency." Noin then leaned in closer to Sally and lowered her voice. "I heard that when she left she was really happy and snobby, saying stuff like, 'I don't need this job' and 'I'm rich bitches'".

"Oh well that's odd, have you called her?"

"Well yes several times, no answer. From what I've been hearing she probably quit" Noin then smirked wickedly "I think her pimp finally gave her that raise she was begging for."

"Lucreiza Noin!" Sally fake gasped as she covered her mouth to stop the laughter.

"What?" Noin daintily brushed off the side of her shoulder with her nose in the air. "Trashy girls like that need to disappear. If you ask me, she is doing the Preventers a huge favor.

As Sally tried to contain her giggles and began a new conversation, Noin glanced at Sally's waist and raised an eyebrow, she then gave her an over all look and noticed that Sally's clothes were baggy and tight...in all the wrong places. Noin then reached into her bag and pulled at a small carton and held it out to Sally with her most sincere smile.

"What is this?" Sally asked ignoring the fact she was cut off in mid sentence.

"Oh this…?" Noin said smiling "This is the new fat free yogurt that just came out, my favorites cherry and I grabbed peach by mistake" Noin watched as Sally kept staring down at the yogurt questionably and sighed.

"No thank you Noin I-"

"I was a little apprehensive at first given the regular yogurt taste a lot better." Noin then took Sally's hand and politely placed the yogurt in it smiling up at her and thinking, what are girlfriends for.

"Noin I do not-"

"Oh Sally don't be shy, every girl, especially at your age, tends to gain a little weight that's a little to difficult to get rid of, given the fact that we are stuck in an office all day."

"Noin that is not-"

"Will you just try it Sally, come on, you don't want to be standing beside Dorothy and start feeling insecure about yourself, like god bless the girl I do love her and all but she's like a stick-"

"Noin you know I am lactose intolerant."

"Oh." Noin said finally silenced, she then politely plucked the yogurt out from Sally's hand, put it on the desk, and smiled brightly and said. "Then lets go to the gym" and possible get you your own personal trainer while at it.

"Noin I'm-"

"No buts Sally" Noin said satisfied with herself, she clasped her hands in her lap. She was doing Sally a favor after all, "Trust me Sally I know how men think, and you don't want to scare poor Wufei away with that growing belly of yours now do you?"

"No I do not" Sally said sullenly.

Noin realized that she might of hurt Sally's feelings and started to feel bad…started to. "Sally I'm sorry if I embarrassed you I'm just looking out for your best interest."

"I know Noin and I do appreciate it, it is just I have so much work to do. So can we reschedule? How about another time maybe?"

Noin sigh dramatically and gave in, she tried didn't she? It was Sally's problem if she wanted to stay fat. "Alright, I'll call you?"

"That would be fine. Well I must be off to work now, see you later Noin" Sally said.

"Bye-bye Sally, do tell what goes on behind the dirty walls of the clinic."

Sally laughed as she was about to leave but then stopped and pointed at Noin's red and blue-ish-purple bouquet. Noin smugly blushed, she couldn't wait to give her rehearsed speech about how Zechs brought her a bouquet flowers every morning.

"Oh those are lovely-" Sally started as she let one of her fingers graze a branch.

"I know" Noin cut in, she didn't have to hear the rest of the compliment, it was over rated anyway, but still appreciated. "Zechs brings them to me every morning, they're For-Get-Me-Nots and-"

"Gladiolus's, Wufei loves those"

Wait. What.

"Wufei has pots and pots of them on his balcony, all different colors but mostly red," Sally light petted a petal in deep thought smiling sweetly "The red ones are his favorite…"

Noin was silent, her face frozen in a thin empty smile. Her world had become dead as it came to a complete halt. Could she have been right all along? It was time to get some proof.

"Sally?" Noin said with strained cheer in her voice.

"Yes Noin?"

Noin paused in mid breath, what do I do now? She thought. How did I get the answer without asking the question?

"Noin?" Sally lightly tapped Noin on the shoulder and quickly retracted her hand when Noin jumped. "Noin are you okay?"

"Oh yes" Noin smiled "Silly me it's just I have a little bit of a problem, embarrassing really"

"Oh?"

"Yes well you see" Noin beckoned for Sally to lower herself until they were close enough to whisper. "I was wondering if you could give me any advice on male undergarments? I know it's an odd question, but Zechs is one hundred percent perfect except for one thing" Noin then beckoned Sally a little close and whispered. "His underwear choice is atrocious."

"Noin!" Sally let out a bark of laughter which she quickly hushed into a more lady like giggle.

Noin let out a fake giggle of her own and continued. "I tried telling him to try a more attractive designs but he just doesn't listen, the stubborn man he is."

"Well I guess this is quite a predicament but why are you…"

"I know it's none of my business, but…" It was a long shot but she had to try. "…do you have the same problem?"

"Lucrezia Noin!" Sally gasped with a bight of laughter "and to answer you question no, Wufei's undergarments are quite attractive."

"Really?" Noin asked "What does he wear… so I can buy them for Zechs"

"Noin that's kind of…" Sally said with hesitation.

"Oh come on Sally, help me out here, you know I would do the same for you." Noin stuck the end of her pen in her mouth and began to nibble on it. The answer to her two year question was finally about to come out…literally.

"Okay…He wears briefs and they fit him quite well."

"Oh?" Noin said her mouth becoming increasingly dry. "And what color does he usually wear"

"Noin!"

"Oh just tell me" Noin said impatiently.

"Blue, well… More of a baby blue, it's like the only color he owns, but men usually have a lack of color selection so I don-"

"Thank you Sally" Noin sang as she jumped up and wrapped Sally in a big hug. "You helped me out so much."

"Oh your wel-"

"You don't know how much you helped me" Noin released Sally and sat back down at her desk like a statue staring straight at her computer screen "Oh look at all the work I have to do I better get to it, it won't work itself."

"Okay well see you later" Sally said a little uncertain.

"Bye Sally have a good day" Noin gleefully sang, not a hint of pain in her voice.

Once Sally was out of sight Noin face went from cheerfully to fury.

It wasn't much of evidence; men do have a lack of imagination and creativity when it came underwear, they pretty much only have ten choices in design and five choices in color.

But the evidence against Wufei was piling up. First it was the mysterious end to a very close friendship, and now that she thought about it… It was to close. Then there was the coldness that tended to circle them when ever one of them mentioned the other.

And there was the Gladiolus's, the only flower Zechs loved besides the For-Get-Me-Nots.

And when Noin thought back two years ago.

Wufei use to have a single stem of a similar flower at his desk everyday.

Noin pulled out one of the Gladiolus stem from the bouquet and ran her finger along the flower. She cupped one of the flowers, held it to her nose, inhaled deeply, then crushed it, letting her face twist into bitter disgust.

Who would have thought that the bitch who was fucking her future husband was no other than Chang Wufei.

Noin then glanced up at the other blue-ish purple flowers that were accompanying the Gladiolus's.

If Chang Wufei was Zechs's Gladiolus flower?

She then plucked then head off of one of the flowers of the stem and put it close to her eyes and grinned venomously.

Then who was his For-Get-Me-Not?

x_x

The board members exited the room and Relena stormed past them with an angry pout.

Things were not going her way.

She heard someone call her name but she ignored them, she was on the hunt.

And she had just landed her target.

She picked up speed until she was able to step directly in front of them, meeting them with a scowl.

"Relena my dear sister, you seem to be in my way."

"Milliardo" Relena growled. She so badly wanted to wipe that constant charm off his face that it almost killed her. "Why did you do that?"

"Why did I do what?" He yawned ruffling up his long hair and flipping it to one side.

God sometimes Milliardo was so gay.

"It doesn't matter" She did not want to talk about the board meeting, it gravely angered her, besides, there was a bigger issue she had to deal with.

"You were late to the board meeting" She stated.

"Oh…" Zechs looked up in the air as he casually flipped up his hand, "so I was." He began to walk away again but Relena intercepted him.

"Why?"

"Oh my" Zechs said with snobbishness leaking from his voice, "It appears you have learned some traits from Noin, what a shame."

Zechs was so snobby she was surprised he was able to breath.

"I saw you talking him," Relena spat, "with flowers in your hand-"

At that moment a group of board members walked by and both Relena and Zechs put on a plastic smile, one that they had been practicing for years.

Once alone, Zechs charming smile turned into an thin flat line.

She had succeed.

"What's it to you" He asked so icily that Relena back up a little, she was not afraid of Zechs, but whenever he got that look in his eyes it well… creeped her out.

"I just want to make sure you are not reverting back into your old life style practices" Relena hissed, she hated how Zechs always seemed not to take his family title seriously, but she hated his life style practices even more.

Zechs then chuckled, running his hand through his unreasonably long hair, Relena dreamed of chopping it off, it reminded her of Maxwell.

"You mean the same lifestyle practices as your dear solider boy?"

And just like that Zechs charming smile spread right back on his face. He then step passed her and kept on walking chuckling as he did.

Zechs stuck a nerve, and she knew it.

She glared at him as he walked away and bitterly thought, Zechs wouldn't get the impression that Heero was gay if Duo wasn't around.

And it was time she fixed that problem.

x_x

"So where to now?"

Heero glanced up to see Duo leaning on the door frame, shirt un-tucked, tie loosened, and in Heero's opinion, at his sexiest.

"Um", Heero said, and instantly felt embarrassed, he never said 'um' and was never at a loss for words.

Heero decided not to try it again, he broke off eye contact with Duo and held up a piece of paper with information written on it.

"Always the talker", Duo joked. He plucked the piece of paper out of Heero's hand and read it aloud.

"Blah, blah, blah, hotel, tenth floor, room 1002, blah, blah, blah, until alternate arrangements can be made, blah, blah, blah, signed 'I'm a bitch because my boyfriend died, aka Lady Une".

Heero smiled. "Not quite how the conversation went", he responded.

"How did the board meeting go"? Duo asked, "have they reached a decision". He walked over to Heero's desk and sat on the corner. He looked around, remembering when it use to be his office, before they were split up.

Heero caught his eye and gave him a knowing look. Those were the best of days.

"So..." Duo drawled out.

"No", Heero said shortly, "they haven't made a decision that I am aware of".

"Oh", Duo responded. "And how was your lunch with Relena". Duo knew his voice sounded like he was afraid to ask, and that probably was because he was.

Heero put his hands through his hair, something Duo found sexy, Heero had amazing hair, thick, messy and chocolaty.

"Not good". Ah, Duo was right to pick up that Heero was stressed when he came into his office.

Duo made a gesture with his hands indicating that he wanted Heero to elaborate.

Heero just sighed and rolled his eyes and...

"I'm sorry for what happened in the hallway today".

Changed the subject?

"Uh, Yeah, water under a bridge", Duo replied, "Relena, lunch?"

"She thinks were back together", Heero mumbled.

"What?" Duo exclaimed, he peeked out of the office door and noticed some agents finishing up their day.

"She thinks what?" He whispered.

"Back together as in, in a relationship, courting, dat-".

"I know what you meant Heero", Duo scowled. "This is ridiculous".

"Hn?" Heero asked, raising an eyebrow defensively.

"It's almost as if you want her running after you. You always claim that your no longer interested in her, she's responsible for some of the worse times in your life, but here you are, every time you see her, you are somehow back together. To top it off, have you even dated anyone else besides her?"

Duo spoke so fast he was almost panting, his cheeks felt flushed, but he knew it was out of frustration.

"Yes", Heero said calmly, as if nothing Duo said affected him. Duo knew better, if someone got to know Heero well enough, they knew that his eyes always gave him away.

"That's not what I meant, I mean for more than a week, more than one whole week!" Duo held one of his fingers in Heero's face to enunciate his point.

"I wonder why?" Heero said sarcastically. "who kept on advising me that they were all wrong for me and I could do better?"

"So, you advised me that Jackson was wrong for me...I still went out with him".

"And?" Heero said, crossing his arms.

"So, you were right", Duo huffed. "But that's not my point. My point is you continue to string Relena along, yeah I asked you to ask her for a favor, but I didn't say ask her back out".

"I didn't ask her out, she assumed our lunch was because we were dating".

"Did you correct her?" Duo asked, he slid off the desk and began toying with Wufei's side of the office, his old side.

"How would that help accomplish my objective", Heero asked, catching Duo's eye and holding eye contact.

"Wow", Duo commented, "everything is just a mission to you isn't it".

Heero said nothing; he simply stood up and began packing up his desk.

Heero suddenly turned to Duo, his eyes fiery blue, "why do you care anyway", he spat. "You're just going to run back to Jackson".

"Don't you dare bring Jackson into this", Duo raised his voice. "Were talking about you and your inability to tell Relena that you don't like her. Do you enjoy stringing people along", Duo nearly screamed. He knew at this point he was talking about himself.

Heero shrugged. "I never knew you felt so deeply about Relena, if you like her so much, date her".

"What?", Duo was now shouting at the top of his lungs, fuck the other agents in the office. He was sure they had heard gundam pilots argue before.

"Relena is a stuck up, rude, psycho cunt. I rather date her fucked up brother", Duo calmed down slightly and dramatically rolled his eyes, "and yes Heero, just like Quatre, I'm gay", he said sarcastically, referring to the conversation they had that morning.

"Are you jealous", Heero said with an angry glint in his eye. "Are you jealous of me and Relena".

Just Relena, Duo thought to himself. The lucky bitch.

"Fuck you, Heero" Duo spat, walking to the door. He grabbed the door handle and was about to slam it.

"Your forgetting something", came Heero's voice from inside the office.

"What?" Duo snarled.

"We have to take the taxi to the hotel", Heero said, "together".

"Argh!", Duo exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air. "I'm not paying for a shitty taxi ride".

"Fine", Heero retorted.

"What the fuck happened to your car?" Duo asked.

"We were chauffeured here from Quatre's house, remember?" Heero responded. "Because you wanted to come to work in a fucking limo. And you said 'it wouldn't be as fun if your best friend didn't come, I never ever, ever get to ride limos', "Heero quoted Duo sarcastically.

"Whatever", Duo mumbled.

They left the office in silence. The tension in the air was so heavy, if Duo could, he would press it at the gym for a fine work out

The taxi ride was even worse. The most either of them said was the address of the hotel. All through the ride Duo shot Heero dirty looks, annoyed when he stared straight ahead. If Duo wasn't so mad it would almost be funny, in a childish but not childish, I'm going to kill my best friend sort of way.

The taxi pulled up to the hotel and stopped the meter, Duo admired the outside, it was beautiful. It had a lovely ivory exterior and glass balconies. He was surprised, he thought Une would send them to a shit hole.

"Do you have any change, I'm short", came Heero's voice, it sounded like he resented even having to speak to Duo.

Duo sighed. "how much do you need", he spat annoyed.

"Three dollars and fifty cents..."

Oh my fucking god!

x_x

Duo didn't know what was more annoying, the fact that he had to scrounge three dollars and fifty cents out of no where, again. Or the fact that the elevator broke as soon as they got there and they had to take the stairs.

All ten fucking flights.

One thing made him happy though. He had taken the keys to their room before Heero so Heero now had to wait on him for the door to be open. Duo didn't care how immature it was but he took each step, one at a time, as slowly as possible, watching Heero clench his jaw in annoyance as he waited at the top of each flight.

If Heero didn't want to talk to him, that was perfectly fine. But he would make it the most miserable silence ever.

After a solid twelve minutes they reached the tenth floor. Duo was no Quatre, but as soon as he got off the stairs a creepy feeling entered his chest. Probably nothing, he ignored it.

He swiped the hotel card and keyed in the password provided. The door clicked open. Duo held his breath and opened the door the rest of the way.

Nothing.

Heero brushed past him, purposely elbowing him on his way in.

Asshole.

Duo flipped him off, then began looking around.

Just a neat kitchen. Neat living room, with anything that could possibly be made out of glass, made out of glass, and the smell of lavender...smelt good.

Duo walked in and tossed himself on the white couch, thinking to himself that this was more of a condo. The bedroom was a separate compartment to the rest of the room, this hotel was pretty fancy.

Maybe Une had selected it because she assumed that they would have to stay there for a couple of days and needed the convenience of a kitchen.

He pondered if the bedroom had two beds...hopefully not, as mad as he was at Heero, he was in love with him, and would do lots of questionable things to sleep with him, even if that only meant on the same bed.

He got up to check out the room when he ran into Heero. Heero's face was white. He grabbed Duo's arm and began to pull him towards the front door.

"Heero, what are you doing?" Duo protested. "Let go of my arm".

Heero complied, and Duo noticed a gun in his other hand.

Impossible, Duo thought, Une wouldn't send them to a compromised hotel. But Heero's expression, and how is eyes darted to every corner of the hotel room told Duo otherwise.

Duo immediately pulled out his gun and followed suit, scanning every inch of the condo as well.

"What's in the room" Duo asked quietly.

"I...its" Heero started, but then fell silent like he was in thought.

"Heero?" Duo asked impatiently.

"Candles"

"What?" Duo looked at Heero questionably "You're joking right?"

Heero's look said otherwise.

"Doesn't the staff give candles" Duo asked, "Come on Heero you can't be afraid of candles."

Heero raised an eyebrow. "one hundred and fifty lit lavender candles?"

Duo began to slowly walk towards the bedroom, gun held in front of him.

It was time he found out for himself.

Authors notes: Hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember to review, I would love to hear from you. Also sorry for the formating in part 2.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

- Noncomment.